The Milesians: Thales 3110315254, 9783110315257

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Introduction ..............1
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The Milesians: Thales

Traditio Praesocratica Zeugnisse frühgriechischer Philosophie und ihres Fortlebens Textual evidence on early Greek philosophy and its continuation

Volume 1

The Milesians: Thales

Edited by

Georg Wöhrle Translation and additional material by

Richard McKirahan With collaboration of Ahmed Alwishah With an introduction by Georg Wöhrle and Gotthard Strohmaier

ISBN 978-3-11-031510-3 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-031525-7 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-038199-3 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2014 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boson Typesetting: Dörlemann-Satz GmbH & Co. KG, Lemförde Printing and binding: Hubert & Co. GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ∞ Printed on acid-free paper. Printed in Germany. www.degruyter.com

Preface The purpose of this volume is to present all the known testimonia on Thales in the original languages (Greek, Latin, Arabic and Persian) with a facing English translation. The collection of testimonia is that of Georg Wöhrle (TP 1, 2009) supplemented by 23 additional testimonia that have emerged since then. The new testimonia (Th 40a, Th 40b, Th 65a, Th 482a, Th 508a, Th 512a, Th 520a, Th 520b, Th 520c, Th 526a, Th 529a, Th 529b, Th 557a, Th 557b, Th 557c, Th 563a, Th 563b, Th 564a, Th 564b, Th 569a, Th 569b, Th 569c and Th 569d) are integrated into Prof. Wöhrle’s collection in chronological order. I have translated the original text (not Prof. Wöhrle’s translation). Where my understanding of the text differs from Prof. Wöhrle’s, I print his translation in a footnote. Primarily responsible for the translation of the Arabic material is my colleague Ahmed Alwishah of Pitzer College, who labored mightily with me to find renderings that are faithful to the Arabic and that make sense in the context of the reception tradition of Thales. My colleague Arash Khazeni of Pomona College played a similar role in translating the Persian fragment. The Introduction by Prof. Wöhrle and Prof. Strohmaier was translated by Merryl Rebello on behalf of De Gruyter and reviewed by the original authors and by myself. The present volume also incorporates some other changes from the 2009 volume. Texts and translations now have indications of line numbers (which are reflected in the indexes as well). The indexes are fuller. The headings for some of the similia are different. Indications of the contents of many of the testimonia are given above the translation. There are some minor changes on p.23 of Prof. Wöhrle’s Introduction to reflect the new material included in the current volume. I have also made numerous small changes for purposes of consistency. I want to express my sincere thanks to De Gruyter for inviting me to contribute to the Traditio Praesocratica series in this way. Also to Pomona College for its generous support during the time I was engaged on this project. In addition I wish to record my debts of gratitude to Professor Wöhrle for his assistance on points of translation and his many useful suggestions

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throughout the process of editing this volume, to Elvira Basel for her help in translating German, to Prof. Sabine Vogt, Dr. Serena Pirrotta and Johanna Wange of De Gruyter for their wonderful collaboration during the entire period of work on this project, and most of all to my family, Voula Tsouna and Eleni McKirahan for their patience and understanding. Richard McKirahan Athens, July 2014

Contents Introduction (by Georg Wöhrle and Gotthard Strohmaier) Edition

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Appendix/End material Abbreviations

545

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547

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549

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571

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575

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581

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587

Textual Editions of the Arabic and Persian Authors Literature on Greek and Latin Authors Literature on Arabic and Persian Authors Catalogue on Testimonia

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589

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611

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617

Alphabetical Author Index Subject index

25

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Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

Concordance

1

Index of Names, Places and Peoples

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621

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643

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661

Persian – English Index

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673

Arabic – English Index

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675

Greek – English Index Latin – English Index

English – Greek/Latin Glossary

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683

English – Persian Glossary

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701

English – Arabic Glossary

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703

Introduction* 1. General remarks (Georg Wöhrle) More than is the case for any other era in the history of European philosophy, our information about the Presocratics1 is subject to interpretation, and thus to the changing interests of those who have transmitted the texts. Most if not all of the texts have come down to us indirectly, and – as is the case with the “Thales” testimonies presented in this volume – are initially based on the kind of hearsay which even someone as early as Aristotle had to rely upon. First of all, modern scholarship was, of course, interested in getting as close as possible to the original thoughts of these protagonists of ancient Greek wisdom. The greater amount of a text’s original wording survives, the more successful such an endeavour can be. In some cases, we can even get a rough idea of the contents and meaning of a particular book, poem or collection. However, and as a matter of course, even the transmission of verbatim quotes has to face the same problems that attend any other textual tradition that extends over a period of hundreds or thousands of years, ranging from mechanical errors occurring during the process of transcription and extending to contradictory interpretations due to the contexts in which the texts are reported. In order to advance to the authentic core of the ancient text by separating original passages from others that have been – whether by mistake, through misunderstanding or even as a result of deliberate forgery – added to the text, philology has undertaken the effort to trace the history of the textual tradition and reveal its filiation. Even so, and justified as these attempts at reconstruction may be, they cannot transcend the horizon of their own age. They themselves are products of their own time and of the methodology prevalent during that era. Especially now that the certainty of the ‘author’ has been abandoned in favour of understanding * 1

Introduction translated by Merryl Rebello On the origin of the term “Vorsokratiker” (Presocratics), Eduard Zeller’s role in establishing it, and its problematic nature, see the introductory remarks of Gemelli Marciano in her new edition of the Presocratics, Düsseldorf 2007, 373–85.

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Introduction

texts as complex and coherent conjunctions of signs whose reference structure is more or less open, it is time to shift the focus from re-reconstruction to the genesis of construction, i.e. to trace the process of reception – in cases where the textual remains allow us to do so. In facing this task, one should at least attempt to identify the immediate contexts in which this reception was framed. The new edition at hand is based on a fundamentally different approach from the ‘old’ Diels/Kranz edition. In his preface to the first edition of 1903, Hermann Diels acknowledged that an arbitrary selection of fragments inevitably results in inhibiting and patronising both teachers and students, which is why he sought to provide as complete a collection of fragments as possible, while at the same time he included relevant biographical and doxographical material. Nonetheless, the available material was subjected to a process of rigorous selection, since it was Diels’ objective to “trace the development of Greek thought in statu nascendi [Diels’ emphasis] by reference to original documents” (ibid.). Consequently, he says the following with regard to the second edition (1906): “Selecting the material took me more time and effort than if I had sent the entirety of my material to the printer. However, I believe that I have provided a service not only to beginners by limiting the texts to the relevant and original ones [my emphasis]. It was my intention to only carry the wheat into the barn while leaving the chaff outside, even at the risk of leaving some good grain behind here and there.” Let it be understood that it is not my purpose to criticise Diels’ procedure. His merits are not in question, and I assume he was familiar with most of the material in the present volume (except perhaps for the Syro-Arabic materials) – that were the ‘chaff’ in his metaphor. He was a child of his times, as we are children of our times, as well. By making this reconstructive selection, Diels set the standard against which, ultimately, thinkers like Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes and others were to be measured. Occasionally, a new fragment has been added which may have modified this standard slightly, but whenever someone speaks of or writes about a Presocratic author, they still usually have in mind the image of the author as it was sketched out by Hermann Diels. Thus, the objective of the present work is not – once again – to present a collection which may offer some ‘new’ elements or others, but which ultimately aims at reconstructing authentic thoughts and works. Rather than that, this edition – in accordance with the title of this new series: Traditio Praesocratica – seeks to document the history of (the adaptive) reception as

Introduction

3

it can be traced from the earliest extant evidence through the late Middle Ages. Perhaps the Milesian philosophers Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes are particularly suitable for this procedure, since there is no verbatim tradition. Therefore, we need not bother to reconstruct works which may never have existed as such. What actually survives amounts to testimonies about a doctrine which in the course of traditio has been viewed from different perspectives. It is all about this perspective,2 since it is not because of what our distant ancestors thought or uttered that we have arrived where we are now, but because of what history has made of these thoughts and utterances. To me, it makes sense  – at least in this context  – to speak of testimonies, but in the double sense of the word, referring both to the doctrine of the philosopher in question and also to the perspective of the author/text that has delivered this doctrine to posterity. While these texts are certainly in a fragmentary condition (especially in the light of every text’s semantic openness, which I mentioned above), it would be misleading to speak of an ‘incomplete tradition’ in a narrowly philological sense. After all, we are unable to identify what this ‘complete’ body of texts or doctrines would have been, at least for the Milesians, and most of all in the case of Thales. This approach certainly has its factual and methodological perils. If we want to trace the direction in which the reception moved, the material needs to be presented in chronological order. However, quite a few of our testimonies are found in authors whose lifetime – not to mention whose individual works – can be dated only approximately. In a few cases, datings even by experts may vary by several hundred years. A pragmatic approach needs to be taken to these problems, The dates given in this edition are those of Der Neue Pauly (DNP) or the Tusculum-Lexikon griechischer und lateinischer Autoren. However, in a few cases I have preferred to follow an individual editor’s judgment with regard to dating (which I have also done for authors not listed in DNP, especially for anonymous works). Since this edition’s objective is at least to suggest a context of recep2

The first to take this path was Serge Mouraviev in the second part of his monumental collection Heraclitea. Cf. esp. the preface to volume II A 1, x: “1) présenter ensemble tous les textes relatifs à Héraclite qui sont parvenus jusqu’à nous; 2) reconstituer à partir d’eux non pas la pensée et le verbe d’Héraclite lui-même [...], mais, plus modestement, ce que ses citateurs et ses témoins savaient et pensaient de lui et, à partir de là, ébaucher une histoire de la transmission et de l’interprétation de son livre et de ses opinions...”.

4

Introduction

tion, many of the testimonies presented here have been prefaced by short introductions on the author and his work. However, these are only provisional references, and in some cases very brief ones, too. The responsibility for shedding more light on these contexts rests on a commentator.3 Two examples are sufficient to show how Thales was exploited for various purposes. Pagan authors, on the one hand, generally acknowledged the tradition of Thales’ contact with Egyptian knowledge as genuine. Christian apologists, on the other hand, understood the same fact as evidence that Greekpagan wisdom did not pre-date Jewish-Christian wisdom, and backed their assumptions by chronological constructions such as Moses having lived earlier than Thales. The anecdote about Thales falling into the well, which is first found in Plato (Th19), is subject to various interpretations, as well. At first, it is taken to illustrate the sage’s ‘unwordliness’, but Christian authors, again, take it as evidence for the uselessness of pagan knowledge. Admittedly, the selection of testimonies is more or less arbitrary. However, this need not be regarded as a shortcoming, since even completeness could only aim at including what has come down to us in the first place. What should bother us instead is the fact that only testimonies mentioning the author by name are included. As a matter of course, Thales’ idea that water is the source of all things is to be found in many texts that do not mention the author. Had we included these testimonies, the material would have exceeded all limits. (Mistaken names in the context of gnomologies, i.e. if a maxim usually attributed to a different author is attributed to Thales in a particular context, are still a different problem).4 In order to prevent further confusion (which is bound to occur when rummaging through a heap of “chaff”, to put use Diels’ metaphor), the testimonies are provided with an apparatus of similia enabling the reader to access the material thematically. Keywords which allow a first approach to the content are assigned to each of the similia. Using the keywords makes tracing a doctrinal, biographical or gnomological attribution to Thales in the history of reception much easier. One can, for example, trace the development of the anecdote about Thales falling into a well from Plato down through the Christian Middle Ages. It goes without saying that this is not intended to entail direct dependence on particular earlier sources – although in some cases this is obvious and in others it cannot be ruled out , which is why similarities within a group of similia are occasionally pointed out. The diachronic arrangement shows 3 4

For a commentary on the ‘new’ Thales of Miletus see Schwab 2011. Names are the most unstable elements in this genre, see Strohmaier 2003, 16.

Introduction

5

which ‘motifs’ were passed on and which were not (and which ones were added), and it illustrates which topics have been particularly interesting to specific authors or at specific times. It is a shortcoming of the doxographic arrangement according to Peripatetic categories (e.g., principles, god, cosmos, meteora, psychology, physiology) that the testimonies of the authors are scattered among various lemmata. The user of the edition at hand, however, can tell at first sight which author considered which piece of Thales’ information worthy of being recorded and discussed, and why. It makes quite a difference whether the same story – for example that of Thales’ prediction of a solar eclipse – is told in the context of an historical account, in an excursus within a history of philosophy or in a Christian chronicle. This also applies to the doxographers in the narrower sense of the word, who today are mostly seen as a quarry for collecting fragments (which was hardly their intention). Authors such as pseudo-Plutarch and Stobaeus were interested in collecting important views on crucial problems – not in reconstructing ‘Thales’ or other authors.5 I have tried to counteract the ‘fragmentation’ of these collections of texts by adding the chapter headings in which the respective lemmata are found. Therefore, an artificial distinction between the indirect and the direct traditions, testimonies on Thales’ life and doctrine as opposed to fragments in the narrower sense (sections ‘A’ and ‘B’ in Diels’/Kranz’ edition) cannot be upheld. This is prima facie the case with the ‘Milesians’, who, in effect, are known only through the indirect tradition. With other authors such as Empedocles and Parmenides, this kind of approach is a step backwards in terms of method when compared to the insights of Schleiermacher and Diels, who were well aware that understanding testimonies depends upon understanding the authors who included them in their works.6 However, the goal of this collection is not primarily a reconstructive one. Moreover, the context, too, can be of vital importance in understanding a verbatim ‘fragment’.7 Furthermore, it is evident that so-called ‘imitations’ and ‘forgeries’ have to be taken into account, as well; for every age creates its own ‘Thales’, an image that may not withstand critical examination. Still, it is this very image 5 6 7

For the same reason, this edition does not include ‘Aëtios’, an author who is himself reconstructed. Cf. Mansfeld & Runia 2009. Cf. Most 1998, 1–15, esp. 10ff. In case of the original text of authors such as Parmenides and Empedocles, a reconstructive and synthetic presentation of what has been passed down literally is, of course, most desirable. This will undertaken in the corresponding volumes in the present series.

6

Introduction

and its development over the course of time that is interesting in itself. It is important to make clear from what angle Thales was viewed by readers at different times. Within the limits of an edition, however, this does not necessarily mean we need to judge this perspective (as one would by using the biased categorisation mentioned above), not even in the case of apparent or obvious misunderstandings. To put things somewhat sympathetically, these authors and texts are assigned a dignity of their own, which they lose when being regarded as mere reference points in the process of reconstruction. I would like to end this general introduction by emphasising that the way I have chosen to present the material does not obstruct further reconstructive efforts. It is possible to employ philological methods to reconstruct doxographical continuities. Material for doing this work for Thales is provided here, but it also allows further inferences to be drawn when this material will be considered together with material provided in future volumes of this series. Likewise, it is possible to engage in philosophical reconstruction. At any rate, one should bear in mind that the two disciplines mutually depend on each other: philosophy provides the intellectual framework for philological efforts, but at the same time it should not move beyond what is philologically possible and probable.

2. Preliminary remarks on the Syro-Arabic tradition (Gotthard Strohmaier) The Presocratics have been valued within Islamic culture to an extent comparable to their esteem among contemporary Christians. The extant testimonies on the Presocratics in Arabic share idiosyncrasies which I am going to illustrate with some examples. At the same time, I would like to critically discuss the approach to the material that has been taken up to now. On the one hand, less textual material was available, but on the other hand, this very fact (along with certain ideological factors) has facilitated a tendentious approach to these texts not found to nearly the same extent in the European tradition. The Arabic testimonies stem from the ancient school of Alexandria, which promoted a Neoplatonic interpretation of Aristotelianism. Together with the medical and philosophical authority of Galen, this had wide influence on Syro-Christian learning and, via this, on Islamic scholarship. Dimitri Gutas describes the situation fittingly: “... the fact remains that the philosophical activity in Alexandria during the fifth to the seventh centuries, its tendencies and intellectual orientations, as well as the written material it both possessed and produced, were determinative of the amount

Introduction

7

and nature of Greek philosophy that was transmitted to the Arabs. From this derives the first rule of thumb in Graeco-Arabic studies, which says that whatever was not available, either as an idea or a cited text, or as a discrete written work, in the philosophy of late antiquity is by the same token not to be expected to appear in Arabic.”8 This qualification also applies to speculations on natural philosophy made by early Islamic theologians, which are remotely reminiscent of Greek thought, but to my knowledge do not refer to Greek authors or works. They developed an atomism which, by analogy to matter, posited atomic units of time, as well. There also existed a counter-current which assumed that the qualities of things exist objectively, understanding change of things as the emergence out of a state of concealment, which is reminiscent of Anaxagoras. However, one should also take into consideration that Islamic scholars might have developed their speculations independently. If we wish to assume inspiration from outside, however, we should think of influence from Persia and India, as well. 9 Research on the so-called Graeco-Arabica has made considerable progress since the days of Hermann Diels and Walther Kranz, and this helps overcome the methodological difficulties that have led to harsh criticism from Arabic scholars, who have objected strenuously to the selection of Oriental testimonies made by these two scholars.10 Generally, the transition of our testimonies into Arabic has to be judged in the same way that we judge the transition into the Latin tradition. They are only included when they contain material missing in the Greek tradition and in case they contain important textual variants.. Their chronological order appears, as with the Latin ones, according to the dating of the texts where they are quoted. Moreover, only edited sources have been included. Given the number of manuscripts not yet edited, the corpus is bound to grow in the future. Unfortunately, the Arabic script is not suitable for rendering foreign proper names correctly. Even if the translators took care to render the foreign letters with utmost accuracy, so many mistakes later slipped in during the course of the manuscript tradition that it is frequently impossible to identify 8 Gutas 1994, 4941. 9 On the current state of research on this matter, see van Ess 2002. 10 De Smet 1998, 23 (“... indignes de philologues sérieux, trahissant un mépris manifeste pour la littérature arabe en général”).

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Introduction

the person referred to. The more common names like Arisṭū, Buqrāṭ and Ğālīnūs were saved from distortion since they had taken on an Arabic form, which is why even semi-educated copyists were somehow familiar with them. The Presocratics were less protected. It is even more difficult to identify the persons in question if instead of the Arabic wording only a medieval Latin translation of the text survives. One example of many is Nicolaus Damascenus with his work De plantis. Following the sense rather than the actual letters of the text, Hermann Diels took the name “Abrucalis”, which was being mentioned alongside Anaxagoras, to mean “Empedocles”; the orientalist Hellmut Ritter, though, retranslated it back into Arabic quite sensibly as “Proklos”. On editing the Arabic text, however, it became clear that the passage indeed referred to Empedocles.11 Matters were complicated further if the person translating the text into Latin happened to have received a humanist education and was thus unwilling to tolerate barbaric fantasy names. In the chapter on Anaxagoras in the edition by Diels/Kranz, the long fragment B 20 owes its prominent position to the long journey of Galen’s commentary on Hippocrates’ De aere, aquis, locis through the Syriac, Arabic and Hebrew languages to the Latin translation by Moses Alatino (1529–1605 CE). Now that the Arabic phrasing of this very passage has been identified, it is quite clear that the passage in fact (as was already assumed by Hans Diller) consists of only two short quotes from Hesiod’s Works and Days. Neither does the text surrounding them stem from some Hesiodic “Astronomy”, but was written by none other than the commentator himself.12 The broad Arabic reception of Greek philosophy, natural science and medicine in Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, which had been founded in 762 CE on the banks of the river Tigris, needs to be commented upon, especially since no similar activity is recorded for Damascus, the town of residence of the preceding Umayyad dynasty. In Baghdad the newly-converted Persian intelligentsia made their way into leading positions. Dimitri Gutas suspects the extent of reception to be indicative of some pre-Islamic Iranian governmental policy that aimed to retrieve the treasures of wisdom which had been stolen by the pernicious Alexander the 11 Drossaart Lulofs 1987, 5f.; cf. DK I 297, 2. 4f. with the addendum 499, 15f. 12 Sezgin 2001, 70. (= fol. 62v2–5); cf. DK II 41, 12–43, 5 and 420, 37–43; a critical edition of the Corpus Medicorum Graecorum, Supplementum Orientale, with commentary and translation is currently being prepared.

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Great.13 To me, another motive seems more natural: the flourishing activity of private teaching in Baghdad. Classes on Islamic theology, philosophy and medicine were available, and the teachers found themselves competing for the favour of a leisurely youth with well-to-do backgrounds. The overall situation was comparable to that of classical Athens, with the exception that in the fields of philosophy and medicine there was no need to discover new truths if one could absorb them from elsewhere. There are reports about debating societies in which Syrian Aristotelians educated in the tradition of the school of Alexandria occasionally had to defend their views quite forcefully. The polymath al-Bīrūnī describes a scene in which one of the translators ridiculed a Muslim theologian who refused to believe in the earth’s spherical shape.14 The Muslim audience naturally longed to read the texts in question in an Arabic translation. Persons of rank who had become rich by exploiting the provinces and their estates had the financial means to pay for expensive translations. And expensive they were, since the translators worked with an almost modern understanding of philological accuracy. The Arabic Nestorian Ḥunain ibn Isḥāq (809–873 CE), to name but the most important translator,15 collated as many Greek manuscripts as he could get hold of. In order to be able to do so, he did not spare the effort of travelling through the Near East, since sufficiently many Greek majuscule manuscripts were still to be found in this region, although the old Greek-Syrian bilingualism of the territory had been superseded by a Syro-Arabic one under the new regime. In order to find Galen’s major work De demonstratione, Ḥunain travelled via Syria and Palestine as far as to Alexandria. His perfect command of Greek might have been the result of a lengthy stay in Constantinople.16 Let me give one example to demonstrate how far his expertise extended. Galen mentions in Quod animi mores corporis temperamenta sequantur that the earth of Scythia has produced but one philosopher, without explicitly mentioning Anacharsis’ name. Ḥunain, however, knows who is referred to and adds the name to the translation, since Anacharsis would not be familiar to his readers.17 13 14 15 16 17

Gutas 1998, esp. 34–45. Strohmaier (Leipzig) 32002, no. 47. Anawati/Iskandar 1970, 230–49. Strohmaier 1980, 196–200 (reprint 1996, 222–6), Cf. 11: Müller 1891, vol. 2, 79, 21f. (= vol. 4, 822, 3f. Kühn) and Galen’s treatise That the powers of the soul follow the temperaments of the body in Arabic translation ed. by Biesterfeldt 1973, Arab. 43, 19 (translation 78).

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Introduction

The secrets of paper production, which had been given away by Chinese prisoners of war, introduced a much cheaper writing material to the market, and thus contributed to a flourishing of the book production business. In Baghdad, the booksellers even had their own market place. An academic proletariat existed, as well. They earned their living by copying the standard reference works in demand, and some of them seemed to be tempted to increase their meagre income by adding to their stock new bibliophilic rarities purportedly by famous authors.18 Only on rare occasions was the fraud actually discovered. Regarding the situation in antiquity, Lucian informs us that some blue-eyed bibliomaniac bought a forged compendium on rhetoric attributed to Tisias for 750 drachmas.19 Tisias, the inventor of the art of oratory on Sicily was well-known by name, but his works had vanished very early, which invited forgers to fill this gap. Compared to the situation in antiquity, the production of this kind of literature in the fields of philosophy and the worldly sciences had been on the increase, and sheer profit seems to have been a strong incentive. As mentioned below,20 we know of a man who earned a considerable amount of money by writing alchemical works which he then attributed to a Shiite authority. Whatever the motives for writing these texts might have been, they fulfilled certain expectations, as is proved by the fact that they were read, copied over and over again and sometimes quoted. These expectations had obviously been raised by the names of Greek authorities, among them the Presocratics, who were claimed to be the authors of those texts. The extent to which their very names were familiar to a wider public even at later times can be seen from the following example. Cairo manuscript Ṭal’at, ṭibb 550, which was written 1482 CE in the Persian city of Tabriz contains the unique text of Galen’s commentary on Hippocrates, De aere, aquis, locis. Galen here mentions Pelops, the name of his teacher in Smyrna, six times. The dots in the manuscript are generally applied rather negligently, but the name is each time clearly (and incorrectly) dotted as Tālīs, ¯ the characters being unimpaired.21 18 19 20 21

Strohmaier (Leuven) 2002 (reprint 2007). Pseudologista 30. See below (p. XX). Sezgin 2001, 131, 16 (= fol. 93r16); 132, 9f. (= fol. 93v9f.); 133, 5. 14. 17 (=fol. 94r5. 14. 17); the same as Tālīs in: Mohaghegh 1993, 55, 15, in which context the philoso¯ referred to, either, since the person in question contradicts pher cannot be the one an authority in the field of medicine.

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Since the Arabic tradition originates from the Alexandrian school, it includes many items to be found in the Greek tradition as well. This includes almost the entire Corpus Aristotelicum22 with the exception of the Politics23, the Eudemian Ethics, the Magna Moralia, the dialogues and the collection of constitutions. The following works containing information on the Presocratics were available in translations some of which are still extant, although not all of the extant translations have been edited and published.. The works in question are the Posterior Analytics24, theTopics25, the Sophistical Refutations26, the Rhetoric27, the Poetics28, the Physics29, De caelo30, De generatione et corruptione31, the Meteorology32, De anima33, De sensu34, De generatione animalium35, the Historia animalium36, De partibus animalium37, the Metaphysics38 and the Nicomachean Ethics39. Commentators whose texts were read in Alexandria, from Alexander of Aphrodisias to those of late antiquity, and who drew on works still extant during their times to provide evidence to illustrate Aristotle’s interest in the Presocratics, found their way into Arabic as well. Even in cases where the original texts are lost, information can survive in the works of later philo22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38

39

Cf. Peters 1968, 7–54. Brague 1993, 423–33. Ed. by Badawī 1980, vol. 2, 309–462. Ed. by Badawī 1980, vol. 2 and 3, 467–733. Ed. by Badawī 1980, vol. 3, 736–1018. Ed. by Lyons 1982. Ed. by Tkatsch 1929–32. Ed. by Badawī 1964–5; see the survey by Lettinck 1991 (with quotes by John Philoponus which go beyond Aristotle as far as information on the Presocratics is concerned, cf. the index). Ed. by Endreß 1966. The Arabic version does not survive, but we still have the basis for a translation into Latin and Hebrew, see Peters 1968, 37f. Ed. by Daiber 1975. Ed. by Badawī 1954. The Arabic version does not survive, but we have a compendium by Averroes, see Peters 1968, 45–7. Ed. by Brugman and Drossaart Lulofs, Leiden 1971. Ed. by Badawī 1977 (Ṭibā‘ al-ḥayawān). Ed. by Badawī 1977 (Ağzā‘al-ḥayawān); Kruk 1979. The Arabic text of the Metaphysics is accessible in an edition via the lemmata of the Long Commentary on Aristotle by Averroes, ed. by Bouyges 1938–52; cf. Martin 1984 and Genequand 1986. Ed. by Akasoy 2005.

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sophers. These passages, however, might not be clearly discernible from the context surrounding them. Olympiodorus and his short commentary on the Meteorology is a good example. It contains summaries of theories on earthquakes by Anaximenes, Anaxagoras and Democritus which are not found in the Greek version of his commentary, but do not seem to provide more information than could be extracted from the Meteorology.40 The situation is different for the following piece of information on Leophanes, who is sometimes reckoned among the Seven Sages and who is also mentioned by Theophrastus in De causis plantarum (II 4, 12). “Some people claim that if a man’s left testicle is tied up during intercourse, the child will be male, and if the right testicle is tied up, the child will be female. Leophanes has remarked this.”41 Empedocles is rejected on the grounds of his opinion on the so-called Pangenesis doctrine: “The pleasure during intercourse does not necessarily cause the semen to be secreted from the whole body, as Empedocles claims on account of the cause of arousal.”42 On milk, too, he has more to say than fragment 31 B 33 reveals: “Empedocles is mistaken when saying that milk is something rotten like pus, due to decomposition and lack of digestion.”43 Due to the close connection between philosophy and medicine in the Alexandrian curriculum, the treatises (some of them of considerable length) written by the physician Galen of Pergamum (129–216 CE), who was keenly interested in philosophy, were almost without exception translated into Arabic,44 and thus were read with interest even by non-professionals.45 Since this process preserved works which are lost in Greek, editing these Arabic translations has produced quite a few testimonies on the Presocratics, some of which were included in Diels’/Kranz’ edition.46 Galen’s commentaries 40 Badawī 1986, 133–5; cf. Olympiodori in Aristotelis Meteora commentaria, ed. by Stüwe, and Aristotle, Met. 2.7.365a17–25, b1–12. 41 Badawī 1986, 263, 6–8. 42 Badawī 1986, 246, 21f. 43 Badawī 1986, 267, 1f. 44 Strohmaier 1994 (reprint 2003). 45 Strohmaier (London) 2002 (reprint 2007). 46 On Thales, see below Th 483; on Diogenes of Apollonia vol. 2, 421, 28–40 (from De experientia medica XIII, 4f.: Galen on Medical Experience, ed. by Walzer 1946, 30, 9–16, translation 109); on Antiphon the rhetor, in case he is to be identified with the philosopher, vol. 2, 426, 17–24 (from De nominibus medicis: Galen Über die medizinischen Namen, ed. by Meyerhof/Schacht 1931: Arabic 19,7–12, translation 34, 11–9).

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on the Hippocratic Epidemics are only partly extant in the original, but survived entirely in the Arabic version. It is in this version that he refers to Anaxagoras in connection with two lexical problems. On the term νίτρον, which is here rendered with bauraq47, the text says the following: “We also find that water, if fire or the sun heats it exceedingly, is in a way inclined to saltiness, but different types of water differ according to their first nature in terms of how readily they take on a salty taste; for you cannot drink water which easily adopts a salty taste when heated, and in which this taste then dominates. Anaxagoras48 calls this kind of taste ‘natronic’, derived from the word ‘natron’, since natron is salt, too. And about that taste he49 says it is caused by heat, but the heat causing it is not so excessive as the heat that causes bitterness. This, however, proves that calling this taste ‘natronic’ does not quite fit, since the bitterness in natron predominates over the saltiness. Those, however, who gave this taste the most fitting name, are Hippocrates and Plato. Since Hippocrates calls it ‘saltish’ (ἁλµώδης) and Plato ‘salty’ (ἁλµυρός).”50 The second term discussed by Galen denotes an illness occurring among the Scythians which called κέδµατα: “Rufus51 claims that this word denotes the ache appearing in the muscles due to two kinds of weakening, and that ‘WL.R52 and others of the elders have employed this name. Sabinus53 stated that Anaxagoras54 had earlier used the term.”55 47 Cf. Dietrich 1992, 1035. 48 The lettering LAK:MR’ĠWRS is slightly ambiguous, but cf. the following, where Anaxagoras is cited on a lexical problem in a reliable reading, as well; here and in the following examples, I quote uncertain readings of manuscripts in capital letters and according to the rules of the German Oriental Society (Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft). Furthermore, a dot replaces the small clasp which is bent upwards when it is dotless, which could then be resolved into b, t, T, n and y. A lower-case o replaces the small circle with missing dotting, which in the¯ first and middle position can be f as well as q. 49 More likely still Anaxagoras and not Hippocrates, as is added by Pfaff. 50 II, 1, 10 (on vol. 5, 82, 9–11 Littré): Wenkebach/Pfaff 1934 (= CMG V 10, 1), 193, 6–20 (translation by Pfaff, with corrections; included in DK II 27, 14f.; cf. the manuscript Escorialensis arab. 804 (the photocopies which I consulted in the CMG lack proper pagination). 51 The reading RWFS is unambiguous. 52 The lettering cannot be identified. 53 A commentator on Hippocrates living around 100 CE, much appreciated by Galen. The reading S’..S does not pose any difficulties. 54 Here, the reading ‘B’oS’‘ZR’S does not pose any difficulties. 55 VI, 5, 2, 2 (on vol. 5, 320, 1 Littré): Wenkebach/Pfaff 21956 (= CMG V 10, 2, 2), 300, 9–12; cf. the manuscript Escorialensis arab. 805 (the photocopies which I consulted in the CMG lack proper pagination; Pfaff’s translation is incorrect).

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A statement about Empedocles’ concept of matter, which is mentioned along with Democritus’, but does not address anything in addition to what is already known, is to be found in De causis contentivis.56 An adherent of peripatetic natural philosophy, Galen devotes the entire thirteenth book of his major philosophical work De demonstratione to a discussion of Atomism. It is probably this very book to which belongs a snippet in the potpourri of quotations by Ibn al-Muṭrān, one of the personal physicians of Sultan Saladin. From this, it follows that Democritus attributed a random movement to the corpuscles, which he believed to be identical with the dust motes visible in sunbeams.57 This sheds light upon a testimony in De elementis ex Hippocratis sententia58, which has not yet been consulted. According to this passage, which was unfortunately athetised by the editor, Democritus (unlike Epicurus) assumed that the atoms were also moving upwards. Indirect evidence that Democritus did not employ ‘atoms’ as a set expression for his corpuscles can be gathered from Galen’s commentary on Hippocrates’ De aere, aquis, locis, in which he points out that Epicurus was the first to introduce the term.59 Galen’s interest in Democritus is also emphasised in another passage from De experientia medica, in which Galen stresses that Democritus ascribed great importance to experience gathered over the course of time.60 We may also assume that (at least to a certain extent) Galen still had authentic texts of the Presocratics at his disposal. An Arabic quotation, attested by various authors, from the recently discovered work De indolentia, (Jouanna/Boudon-Millot 2010. This Greek text is incomplete; the portion discovered does not contain the passages quoted in Arabic.) informs us that Galen lost works of Aristotle, Anaxagoras and Andromachus in a fire in Rome, since he had stored parts of his private library in a royal treasury. Andromachus was a personal physician of Nero and developed a recipe for theriac that was much appreciated by Galen.61 In the surviving Arabic parts of his Commentaries on Epidemics, we find a peculiar note that provides insight into how highly the early thinkers were esteemed by the representatives of the so-called Second Sophistic, who reveled in antiquarianism. The note states that Galen’s 56 5, 2f.: ed. by Lyons 1969 (= CMG Suppl. Orientale II), 58, 26–60, 4 (translation 59f.); cf. in: DK I 291, 22–6. 57 Strohmaier 1968 (reprint 1996). 58 2, 16: ed. by De Lacy 1996 (= CMG V 1, 2), 60, 21. 59 Sezgin 2001, 67,1f. (= fol. 61r1f.). 60 IX, 5: Walzer 1946, 19, 10–3 (translation 99; DK II 423, 17–24). 61 Badawī 1958, 291, 12–292, 1; A. Müller 1882, vol. 1, 84, 31–85, 2; cf. Halkin 1944, no. 181 and p. 63, and Ilberg 1889, 211f. (reprint 1974, 5f.).

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contemporary Lucian (undoubtedly Lucian of Samosata) forged a work of Heraclitus and let it be put into the hands of a connoisseur, who immediately started preparing a commentary on it. But the deceit was discovered, so there is no danger that parts of it have found their way into our collections.62 The Alexandrian school – and its successors among the more secularly oriented Syrian intelligentsia – were fixated on Galen and Aristotle (to whom they gave a Neoplatonic interpretation), and the keen interest in these authorities continued to exist in Arabic-Islamic culture. The Jewish scholar Moses Maimonides came from this background as well. Writing from Cairo, he recommended his translator Samuel ibn Tibbon, who lived in Southern France, to read Aristotle and his Greek and Arabic commentators. Maimonides continues by saying that other works such as the books of Empedocles, Pythagoras, Hermes and Porphyry are one and all “old philosophy”, and reading them is a waste of time.63 One must suppose, however, that he largely based his opinion on pseudepigrapha. Other Peripatetics recorded earlier ways of thinking in order for the progress achieved by Aristotle to be properly appreciated, and in order to dismiss aberrant ideas as reactionary. The polymath al-Bīrūnī, who was interested in physics rather than speculative philosophy, engaged in a disputatious correspondence with Avicenna on Aristotle’s De caelo and Physics.64 In these letters, al-Bīrūnī considered the possibility that the fire above the atmosphere is not an element of its own. Instead, he contended, air turns into fire because of the rapid movement of the lunar sphere. As a result, Avicenna criticised him for relapsing into the monism of ancient philosophy, without failing to set forth what this monism taught. Thales assumed water to be the only element, whereas Heraclitus thought it was fire, Diogenes – he refers to Diogenes of Apollonia – claimed that it is a substance intermediate between water and air, and Anaximander – as he erroneously calls Anaximenes – took air to be the only element while Anaximander was proposing the theory that air turns into water when it comes into contact with cold, whereas it turns into fire or ether when it comes into contact with 62 II 6, 29 (on vol. 5, 138, 6–9 Littré): Wenkebach/Pfaff 1934 (= CMG V 10, 1), 402; on that point see Strohmaier 1976 (reprint 1996) and Strohmaier 2013. 63 Cruz Hernández 1995, 484; a summary can also be found in Steinschneider 1893 (reprint 1956), 42. 64 Partly translated by Strohmaier 32002, no. 6–14, Strohmaier 2013.

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the rapidly rotating sphere.65 We do not know whether Avicenna added material to the theory when he followed al-Bīrūnī in considering the lunar sphere for the model, or whether his source for that suggestion is texts that have not come down to us. The Muslims had a vivid sense of history and (in spite of the rigorous rejection of early philosophy by the Peripatetics) displayed a keen interest in the origins of philosophy and the question who was the first philosopher. The constant number of the Seven Sages was time after time filled with various persons, but Thales was usually considered to be at their head.66 Even in the Persian epic on Alexander written by Niẓāmī (1141–1209 CE), the world conqueror – after having successfully disputed with Indians – invites the Greek sages, namely Aristotle, Thales, Apollonius of Tyana, Socrates, Porphyry, Hermes and Plato, to present their doctrines one after another.67 More often than not, the Muslim scholars followed some of the Church fathers in supposing the Greek thinkers to depend upon the Egyptians or on figures from the Old Testament. In doing so, they probably also used the old piece of information that Thales had travelled to Egypt. Muslims knew the Koranic figure of the pre-Islamic sage Luqmān (sura 31), to which figure al-‘Amirī, who wrote around 985 CE in Bukhara, establishes the following connection: “The first one to whom wisdom was attributed was Luqmān the Sage, as God says: ‘And verily we gave Luqmān wisdom’ (Qur’an 31:12). He lived at the time of the prophet David; they were both residents of the land of Syria. It is said that Empedocles the Greek used to keep company with Luqmān and learn from his wisdom. But when he returned to the land of Greece, he spoke on his own authority about the nature of the world, saying things which, if understood literally, offend against (the belief in) the Hereafter. The Greeks attributed wisdom to him because of his former association with Luqmān.”68

65 Ed. by Nasr/Mohaghegh 1352/1972, 30, 13–32, 9; cf. Avicenna’s long-winded refutation of Presocratic conceptions of matter in his main work Kitāb aš-šifā’, aṭ-ṭabī’īyāt, fann 3, faṣl 1–5 (ed. by Madkūr/Qāsim, reprint n.d., 77–121). In this passage, however, Avicenna does not mention the philosophers’ names. 66 Cf. the overview provided by Overwien 2005, 155f. 67 Nizami, Das Alexanderbuch. Iskandarname, translated by Bürgel 1991, 459–68. 68 Rowson 1988, 70, 2–6/Rowson 1988, 70,2–6 (translation 71,2–9); the same in Ṣā’id al-Andalusī, Ṭabaqāt al-umam, ed. by Bū ‘Alwān 1985, 72, 8–11 (translated in Rosenthal 1965, 61); similarly already Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 1.1.87.2–7 and 8.1.1.

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More reliable information was to be found in the doxographies which were translated from Greek. The Placita philosophorum, for instance, which dates back to the times of Galen and is usually attributed to Plutarch, was faithfully translated into Arabic by Qusṭā ibn Lūqā in Baghdad. In some cases, this version can help to correct and complete the Greek text.69 In the course of a popular description of the world given by al-Qazwīnī (around 1203–1283 CE), the view held by some Pythagoreans according to which the earth revolves around its own axis obviously stems from this version.70 It is not quite clear, however, whence the view of Democritus that the earth rests on air (which is also attested here) originates.71 Of the other ancient doxographies, the one by Diogenes Laertius did not find its way into the Arabic transmission, whereas we do have traces of a history of philosophy attributed to Porphyry.72 The Refutatio omnium haeresium by the bishop Hippolytus73 was accessible via Syro-Christian transmission, as were the doxographic passages in Cyril of Alexandria’s polemics against emperor Julian.74 Doxography soon became a playground for people in search for alternatives to Aristotelianism. Most of them sought to present their own monotheistic and creationist convictions as being closely related to other doctrines. The more fragmentary the textual transmission available to them, the more room it gave to reconstructionist speculations. Ulrich Rudolph observes a qualitative difference from the situation in antiquity in the sense that a completely new form of doxography emerges: the unidentified author’s own views are presented under the name of some well-known philosopher.75 I, however, would consider this to be but another variant of the rampant pseudepigraphical activity mentioned above, the difference being that people not only 69 Daiber 1980; cf. id. 1994, 4974–92, esp. 4975–84 (the latter also contains a rather lucid presentation of the further reception in Muslim works). 70 Kitāb ‘ağā’ib al-maḫlūqāt, ed. by Wüstenfeld 1849, vol. 1, 144f.; cf. Daiber 1980, 180–3 (III 13, 3). 71 Cf. Guthrie 1974, vol. 2, 310 and 424; in Daiber 1980, 184f. (III 15, 8) under Anaximenes. 72 Cf. the Arabic fragments translated by David Wasserstein in: Smith 1993, 11, 220f., 226, 229–32 and 249; furthermore Rosenthal 1937, 39–56 (reprint 1990, I). For present-day research, consult the comprehensive study by Emily Cottrell (2008, 526–9). 73 Cf. 1, 1–16, 2: ed. by Marcovich 1986, 57–75. 74 Stern 1972, 442f. (reprint 1983 XIII). 75 Rudolph 2005.

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circulated their own ideas under a false name, but – driven by the expectations of a wealthy readership – presented an entirely fictitious florilegium supposedly compiled from various ancient authorities. In fact, the Muslim target audience was interested in Prearistotelian rather than Presocratic wisdom. An outstanding example is the doxography of Pseudo-Ammonius,76 which has been made accessible in a most exemplary manner by Ulrich Rudolph: its content has little to do with historical reality, but many later writers taken it up and used it alongside of more reliable material. Whether the doxography’s source is of Greek or Muslim origin has been much debated. With due caution, Rudolph decided to date it middle of the ninth century CE, i.e. not before the Arabic period.77 Considering the problem, however, one should not neglect the interval between the Greek and the Muslim periods, when Syrian intellectual life arose in its many forms, even if there are but scarce traces of it left on account of the decline of this culture under Islamic rule.78 In Arabic bibliographies, we sometimes find notes stating that the work in question has only partly been translated from Syriac into Arabic. In cases where the translation was complete, such a note was unneccessary. Some passages reminiscent of phrases found in the writings of Hippolytus79 point in the same direction. The sayings of Syrian philosophers quoted by Diels/Kranz indicate that the writers had no scruples against composing longer pseudepigraphical sections.80 A typical manifestation of this tendency is the so-called pseudo-Empedocles, a fictitious character with wide-ranging impact, who – according to De Smet’s comprehensive study – made an appearance as early as late antiquity.81 Apart from that, however, some historians of science such as Ibn al-Qifṭī were more successful in establishing a more correct assessment: “As far as the materialists (Arabic dahrīyūn) are concerned, they are a group of elders 76 77 78 79 80

Rudolph 1989. Ibid. 13–6. Cf. Daiber 1994, 4975–9. Cf. Rudolph 1989, 82, 87, 90–4, 98, 100–6. Ryssel 1896; in the edition of DK I 276, 5–17; II 44, 7–22. 223, 12–23. 268, 18–26. 399, 25–7. 81 See De Smet 1989, 12f.: “Nous constaterons que cette doctrine s’avère très homogène, proche, par ses thèmes et son vocabulaire, des autres représentants du néoplatonisme arabe (surtout des Plotiniana Arabica), mais fidèle malgré tout à une exégèse d’Empédocle pratiquée par les derniers philosophes de l’Antiquité”. See Brague/ Freudenthal 2005.

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who deny the existence of a creator and ruler of the world, claiming that the world as such has always existed and did not have a creator who made it or any Being that deliberately established it, and that the rotation [of the spheres] did not have a beginning and that man has come from a drop of sperm and the drop of sperm has come from a man, and that plants have come from seeds and seeds from plants. The best-known sage of this group was Thales of Miletus, and he was the oldest one of those to hold this view.”82 In the late heyday of Neoplatonism in 16th and 17th century Shiite Persia, Mullā Ṣadrā Šīrāzī (1572–1641 CE) still knows of such views and nevertheless believes that Thales and the others did not advocate the world’s eternity and that the opposite interpretation only emerged in the works of later philosophers who were unable to relate to their earlier predecessors.83 Apart from tendentious developments, we can also witness change occurring rather accidentally, namely within the complex of the so-called gnomologies. Over the course of the history of Greek transmission, various maxims and anecdotes were attributed to particular persons in utter confusion, and this continued in the Arabic period.84 An overview, which for the first time considers the Greek as well as the Arabic collections, has been provided by Oliver Overwien.85 The extent to which these collections have been influential cannot be assessed. One of doubtlessly many translators to be named with certainty is Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq, who compiled a collection of Wisdom Teachings of the Philosophers”).86 A coherent though small collection is formed by The Pythagorean Golden Verses, the Arabic version of which that was published by Johan Elichmann in 1640 was the first text of its kind to be published in print in Europe.87 The verses as transmitted are accompanied by a the note that Galen read them every morning and every evening and copied them in golden letters.88 Smaller collections, with 82 83 84 85

Ta’rīḫ al-ḥukamā, ed. by Lippert 1903, 49, 19–50, 1. Horten 1913, 151; see also Rudolph 1989, 24. Strohmaier 2003, 3–16; cf. the contributions by Searby, Gerlach and Overwien Overwien 2005, 155f.; Strohmaier 2007, 401–4, and the recent introduction in Searby 2007. On the Syrian collections cf. Brock 2003, esp. 14f.; on an Ethiopian collection see Pietruschka 2005, 485f. (with further reading). When compiling a corpus in the future, one would have to take into account collections written in Coptic, Latin, Armenian and Old Church Slavonic, as well, see Strohmaier 1998 (reprint 2003). 86 Overwien 2003. 87 Thom 1995, 28f.; see also Fück 1955, 91. 88 Cf. Badawī 31983, 225, note 1.

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references to the Greek parallels, have been made accessible by Franz Rosenthal89 and Dimitri Gutas.90 Generally speaking, the Arabic collections are as reliable or unreliable as their contemporary Byzantine counterparts. An anecdote about Diogenes that appears several times in the Arabic collections is to be found in a Herculaneum graffito as well. In this case, the eruption of mount Vesuvius provides a reliable terminus ante quem.91 In spite of the confusion of names to be found in this tradition, the material deserves attention, not least because it has been taken seriously by some reputable doxographers and thus has had an influence on the image of the sage. Characteristically, in this type of literature anecdotes are used in the manner of Diogenes Laertius, that is, to reconstruct the sage’s biography. A chapter of is dedicated to each philosopher. In many cases, a collection of further anecdotes and maxims is attached to these chapters. The most influential work of this kind is the Ṣiwān al-ḥikma (The Cabinet of Wisdom), which up to now has been attributed to a certain Abū Sulaymān asSiğistānī al-Manṭiqī, who studied in Baghdad with Christian Aristotelians and died in 987 CE.92 The text survives in just two extensive excerpts, only one of which has been edited to date.93 The Dicts and Sayings of the Philosophers, a collection compiled by the Egyptian scholar al-Mubaššir ibn Fātik in 1048 and 1049 CE, consists of 20 chapters, twelve of which are provided with a biography of the sages in question. Of the Presocratic philosophers, Zeno of Elea and Pythagoras are included.94 The Kitāb al-milal wa-n-niḥal, the Book of Religious and Philosophical Sects written in 1127 by the Shiite aš-Šahrastānī, not only addresses religious and theological doctrines, but also contains passages on the philosophers dealt with. Via Theodor Haarbrücker’s translation of 1850 and 1851, knowledge of it spread rapidly, even beyond Orientalist circles.95 Particularly counterproductive was Franz 89 90 91 92 93

Rosenthal 1958, 29–54 and 150–83 (reprint 1990, VII). Gutas 1975. Strohmaier 1982 (reprint 1996). There is a debate about the author’s identity, cf. Rudolph 1989, 213, note 10. Ed. by Dunlop 1979; cf. Daiber 1984, 36–68; cf. a long list of partly unidentified names in Rosenthal 1965, 57–9. 94 Badawī 1958; cf. Rosenthal 1960–1. 95 Instead of the various editions of the texts that still leave much to be desired, I recommend using the translation by Gimaret/Monnot/Jolivet 1986/1993 (the introduction in vol. 2 by Jolivet is particularly important); see also Janssens 1993.

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Altheim’s attempt to prove parts of this late collection to be authentic,96 some of which unfortunately found their way into a compilation of material on the Greek atomists (Griechische Atomisten).97 An extensive collection containing 122 biographies of ancient and Muslim thinkers was compiled by the philosopher aš-Šahrazūrī (who died before 1305), its title being Nuzhat al-arwāḥ wa-raudat al-afrāḥ fī ta’rīḫi l-ḥukamā’ (The Delight of the Spirits and Garden of Pleasure with regard to the History of the Sages). Since this collection is based on the works mentioned earlier on, we should not expect to discover new testimonies on the Presocratics in it.98 Names of Presocratics keep surfacing every now and then in Arabic alchemical literature, and sometimes entire treatises are attributed to these persons, which proves that they were known to a wider public. Among them are Anaxagoras, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Democritus, Ecphantus, Empedocles, Heraclitus, Leucippus, Parmenides, Pythagoras and Thales.99 The alchemists, by the way, were an uneducated and scorned group on the fringes of Muslim society.100 Very interesting is the scathing criticism of the alchemists levelled by the philosopher ‘Abd al-Laṭīf al-Baġdādī, which has been made available in a doctoral thesis by Franz Allemann.101 The alchemists were particularly exposed to forgeries, especially by people who preferred taking advantage of the chaotic situation of the book market to earning their living in the laboratory. Giving mysterious hints in their pseudepigraphical concoctions, they pretended that the elixir’s secret had been discovered by the ancient Greek or more recently by Muslim sages.102 In one of these cases, the forger was identified by the above-mentioned Abū as-Siğistānī al-Manṭiqī, one of the most enlightened spirits of 10th century Baghdad.103 It is when these works were regarded worthy of a Latin translation that they became important for occidental reception, as well. This is the case for the Turba philosophorum, a fictitious debate among the Seven Sages which is led by Pythagoras. Before the characters talk about the secrets of 96 Cf. Strohmaier 2003, 14–6. 97 Ed. and translated by Jürß/Müller/Schmidt 31973, items no. 264, 269 and 288. 98 Cf. Overwien 2005, 160, and Gutas 1994, 4953f. The editions available are unsatisfactory, cf. Cottrell 2004–5. 99 Cf. the opus magistrale by Kraus 1942/3 (reprint 1989/6), see both indices; moreover Ullmann 1972, index; Sezgin 1971, index. 100 Strohmaier 1989, 175–7 (reprint 1996, 373–5). 101 Excerpts in Bürgel 2007, 267–73. 102 Strohmaier (Leuven) 2002. 103 See above (p. XX), and Kraus 1942, vol. 1, p. LXIIIf.

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alchemy, they present their respective cosmologies. Their Latin names are more or less deformed, but they can be identified. Eximedrus corresponds to Anaximander and also to Anaximenes, Pandolfus to Empedocles, Arisleus to Archelaus, Lucas to Leucippus, Locustor to Ecphantus, Eximenus to Xenophanes, whereas Anaxagoras and Pitagoras (sic) are written correctly. As recently as 1975, Martin Plessner still thought that this first part reveals an intimate knowledge of Presocratic doctrine.104 Ulrich Rudolph, however, observed that Hippolytus is the only Greek source for this material.105 In a ninth century catalogue of drugs, Democritus is mentioned as the author of a formula for brewing a potion that would provide its user with life-long immunity against all illnesses.106 Franz Altheim tried to prove this piece of information to be authentic, as well.107 Therefore, we may reckon that by attributing such discoveries to famous ancient thinkers, forgers ensured that there would be an increased demand for these medicinal texts, as well. A certain Badīġūras appears as the author of a list of substitute drugs. With the help of the Iranologist Werner Sundermann, Manfred Ullman was able to prove that this name can be read as “Pythagoras”, reasonably assuming a Persian stage in the course of its textual transmission.108 Contrary to his assumption that the person in question is an otherwise little-known physician, I would consider this more probably to be an instance of deliberate pseudepigraphy. In a notorious book of black magic by the so-called “Picatrix”, which was translated into Latin at Alfonso el Sabio’s request, Empedocles and Pythagoras are credited with laying the quasi-philosophical foundations for magic.109 In a superstition-ridden treatise on plague, the Turkish scholar Ṭāšköprüzāde (deceased in 1560 CE) recommends magic squares as a charm against the deadly illness, referring to Pythagoras and “the wise Thales of Miletus”.110 Moreover, there are quotations in which Democritus is mentioned as the author of a work on agriculture. Fuat Sezgin has traced the roots of this attribution back to antiquity.111 104 “[E]ine souveräne Kenntnis vorsokratischer Lehren”, Plessner 1975, 102; see also Sezgin 1971, 60–6. 105 Rudolph 1990; id. 2005. 106 Kahl 1994 and id. 2003, item no. 344. 107 Strohmaier 1972 (reprint 1996). 108 Ullmann 1973. 109 Ritter/Plessner 1962, see the indices. 110 Ullmann 1970, 249. 111 Sezgin 1971, 310–2.

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3. How to use this edition As explained above, the testimonies are presented in the chronological order of the authors transmitting them,112 without further distinction between Greek, Latin or Syro-Arabic texts. Longer testimonies are subdivided into several sections. In cases where several testimonies are to be found in different works by one and the same author, they have  – if possible  – been arranged according to doxographic principles. In some isolated cases where texts by Greek authors have been translated into Latin (e.g. Eusebius → Jerome) or Arabic (e.g. Galen → Ḥunain ibn Isḥāq), there is a reference under the name of the original author, whereas the translation (as far as it can be attributed to a particular person) is to be found under the translator’s name, in chronological order. In cases where an author transmitting a testimony is quoted by a later writer (as is the case with Alcaeus, who is referred to by Himerius), the reference is to be found under the original author’s name, the full quotation, however, under the name of the person quoting the text. In order to provide a quick overview to the users of this edition, a short summary of the quote’s basic statement is added to the initial reference. All testimonies are translated into English. Textual differences from the edition consulted are indicated in the annotations, as are occasional factual explanations. Discrepancies between the present English translation and Wöhrle’s German translation are identified. Professor Wöhrle’s original collection is supplemented by the texts supplied in the volume on Anaximander and Anaximenes in this series plus two more texts which he discovered too late for inclusion in that volume as well as four additional papyrus texts that were called to my attention by David Sider. The testimonies come with an apparatus listing the similia. These are usually not so much literally identical phrasings, but rather parallel passages in terms of content, in which similar information on the biography, doctrine, views and dicta of Thales is provided. In order to facilitate the access to this material, a keyword is added to each of the passages. Only on their first occurrence are all of the similia listed. In later passages, their first occurrence is referred to under “q.v.” (“quod vide/which see”). 112 An exception are scholia which (themselves often being only roughly datable) occasionally draw on even older material. For this reason, the scholia are presented as a group of their own at the end of this collection.

24

Introduction

As has already been said, this collection (on the basis of the indices and electronic resources available) aims at utmost possible completeness of those testimonies which mention Thales by name. This principle is only abandoned in cases where later testimonies render the attribution in question trustworthy. The so-called gnomological tradition on Thales, which has its own characteristic problems, and which, in spite of some valuable preparatory efforts,113 is still in need of further synthesis, could be taken only partially into consideration. The volume is provided with a Subject Index, an Index of Names of Persons, Peoples and Places, Greek-English, LatinEnglish, Arabic-English and Persian-English indexes to the translation and English-Greek/Latin, English-Arabic and English-Persian Glossaries, a Concordance with Diels-Kranz, a Catalogue of the Testimonia, An Index of Authors and a bibliography containing the editions used for the collection as well as secondary literature referred to in the footnotes.

113 For example the exemplary study by Overwien 2005. A good overview on the Seven Sages is provided by Althoff/Zeller 2006, 3–81. When broadening the idea of what constitutes a text, one would have to take into account images which represent Thales, as well. A mosaic from Baalbek dating to the 3rd century CE, for instance, shows Thales together with Socrates (see Grimm 2008, 59–61; cf. Th 168). Grammarians’ occasional notes on the declension of the name ‘Thales’ have been neglected.

26

Alcaeus – Xenophanes

Alcaeus Th 1 Fr. 448 Voigt, cf. Th 303 (Him. Or. 28.2)

Pherecydes of Syros Th 2 Fr. 2 Schibli, cf. Th 498 (Suda Lex. phi 214.1–9)

Th 3 Fr. 58 Schibli, cf. Th 241 (Diog. Laert. 2.46); Th 34 (Arist. Fr. 21.1 Gigon)

Th 4 Fr. 53a Schibli, cf. Th 533 (Tzetz. Chil. 2.869 f.)

Th 5 Fr. 53b Schibli, cf. Th 534 (Tzetz. Chil. 11.67 f.)

Xenophanes Th 6 Fr. 21 A 1 DK, cf. Th 243 (Diog. Laert. 9.18.11–12)

Alcaeus – Xenophanes

27

Alcaeus (7th–6th cent. BCE) Th 1 Himerius says that Alcaeus sang of Thales. Fr. 448 Voigt, cf. Th 303 (Him. Or. 28.2)

Pherecydes of Syros (6th cent. BCE) Th 2 The Suda states that Pherecydes was jealous of Thales’ reputation. Fr. 2 Schibli, cf. Th 498 (Suda Lex. phi 214.1–9)

Th 3 Diogenes states that in On Poets book 3 Aristotle says that Pherecydes tried to rival Thales. Fr. 58 Schibli, cf. Th 241 (Diog. Laert. 2.46); Th 34 (Arist. Fr. 21.1 (Gigon))

Th 4 and Th 5 According to Tzetzes, Thales was a student of Pherecydes of Syros. Fr. 53a Schibli, cf. Th 533 (Tzetz. Chil. 2.869 f.) Fr. 53b Schibli, cf. Th 534 (Tzetz. Chil. 11.67 f.)

Xenophanes (ca. 570–ca. 467 BCE) Th 6 According to Diogenes Laertius Xenophanes is said to have contradicted the doctrines of Thales and Pythagoras. Fr. 21 A 1 DK, cf. Th 243 (Diog. Laert. 9.18.11–12)

28

Xenophanes – Herodotus

Th 7 Fr. 21 B 19 DK, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.23)

Heraclitus Th 8 Fr. 22 B 38 DK, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.23)

Choerilus of Samos Th 9 Fr. 331 Suppl. Hell. (= Fr. 13 Kinkel), cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.24)

Herodotus Th 10

5

10

Historiae 1.74 (ed. Rosén) Μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα, οὐ γὰρ δὴ ὁ Ἀλυάττης ἐξεδίδου τοὺς Σκύθας ἐξαιτέοντι Κυαξάρει, πόλεμος τοῖσι Λυδοῖσι καὶ τοῖσι Μήδοισι ἐγεγόνεε ἐπ᾽ ἔτεα πέντε, ἐν τοῖσι πολλάκις μὲν οἱ Μῆδοι τοὺς Λυδοὺς ἐνίκησαν, πολλάκις δὲ οἱ Λυδοὶ τοὺς Μήδους‧ ἐν δὲ καὶ νυκτομαχίην τινὰ ἐποιήσαντο‧ διαφέρουσι δέ σφι ἐπὶ ἴσης τὸν πόλεμον τῷ ἕκτῳ ἔτεϊ συμβολῆς γενομένης συνήνεικε ὥστε τῆς μάχης συνεστεώσης τὴν ἡμέρην ἐξαπίνης νύκτα γενέσθαι. Τὴν δὲ μεταλλαγὴν ταύτην τῆς ἡμέρης Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος τοῖσι Ἴωσι προηγόρευσε ἔσεσθαι οὖρον προθέμενος ἐνιαυτὸν τοῦτον, ἐν ᾧ δὴ καὶ ἐγένετο ἡ μεταβολή. Οἱ δὲ Λυδοί τε καὶ οἱ Μῆδοι ἐπείτε εἶδον νύκτα ἀντὶ ἡμέρης γενομένην, τῆς μάχης τε ἐπαύσαντο καὶ μᾶλλόν τι ἔσπευσαν καὶ ἀμφότεροι εἰρήνην ἑωυτοῖσι γενέσθαι.

Xenophanes – Herodotus

29

Th 7 According to Diogenes Laertius Xenophanes admired Thales for his work in astronomy and his predictions of solar eclipses and solstices. Fr. 21 B 19 DK, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.23)

Heraclitus (ca. 500 BCE) Th 8 According to Diogenes Laertius, Heraclitus testified to Thales’ work in astronomy and his predictions of solar eclipses and solstices. Fr. 22 B 38 DK, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.23)

Choerilus of Samos (5th cent. BCE)1 Th 9 According to Diogenes Laertius, Choerilus reported that Thales was the first to say that souls are immortal. Fr. 331 Suppl. Hell. (= Fr. 13 Kinkel), cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.24)

Herodotus (ca. 485–ca. 424 BCE) Th 10 Thales’ prediction of an eclipse. Herodotus reports a war which the Lydians under King Alyattes, the father of Croesus, waged against the Medes under Cyaxares. The war ended with an alliance after a battle on the Halys during which the day became night. That it is a reference to the solar eclipse of 28 May 585 BCE (as is widely supposed) is not stated explicitly in the text of Herodotus.2 1

2

It is not completely clear whether this is Choerilus of Samos (5th cent. BCE) or Choerilus of Iasus (3rd/2nd cent. BCE). KRS 1983, 97, n. 2 argues for the latter, but cf. Classen 1986, 43, n.23 and Marcovich 1999, ad loc., who conjectures that the Barbarika of Choerilus of Samos is the source, but refers to KRS. Cf. Bowen 2002, esp. 313 f.

30

Herodotus

Sim. (solar eclipse) Th 75, Th 77, Th 91, Th 93, Th 105, Th 158, Th 167, Th 203, Th 237 (1.23), Th 244, Th 265, Th 277, Th 300, Th 307, Th 311, Th 355, Th 387, Th 399, Th 407, Th 455, Th 482, Th 487, Th 489, Th 495, Th 525, Th 535, Th 540, Th 578

Th 11

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10

Hist. 1.75 Ὡς δὲ ἀπίκετο ἐπὶ τὸν Ἅλυν ποταμὸν ὁ Κροῖσος, τὸ ἐνθεῦτεν, ὡς μὲν ἐγὼ λέγω, κατὰ τὰς ἐούσας γεφύρας διεβίβασε τὸν στρατόν, ὡς δὲ ὁ πολλὸς λόγος Ἑλλήνων, Θαλῆς οἱ ὁ Μιλήσιος διεβίβασε‧ ἀπορέοντος γὰρ Κροίσου, ὅκως οἱ διαβήσεται τὸν ποταμὸν ὁ στρατός (οὐ γὰρ δὴ εἶναί κω τοῦτον τὸν χρόνον τὰς γεφύρας ταύτας) λέγεται παρεόντα τὸν Θαλῆν ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ ποιῆσαι αὐτῷ τὸν ποταμὸν ἐξ ἀριστερῆς χειρὸς ῥέοντα τοῦ στρατοῦ καὶ ἐκ δεξιῆς ῥέειν, ποιῆσαι δὲ ὧδε‧ ἄνωθεν τοῦ στρατοπέδου ἀρξάμενον διώρυχα βαθέην ὀρύσσειν ἄγοντα μηνοειδέα, ὅκως ἂν τὸ στρατόπεδον ἱδρυμένον κατὰ νώτου λάβοι ταύτῃ κατὰ τὴν διώρυχα ἐκτραπόμενος ἐκ τῶν ἀρχαίων ῥεέθρων καὶ αὖτις παραμειβόμενος τὸ στρατόπεδον ἐς τὰ ἀρχαῖα ἐσβάλλοι, ὥστε ἐπείτε καὶ ἐσχίσθη τάχιστα ὁ ποταμός, ἀμφοτέρῃ διαβατὸς ἐγένετο. Οἱ δὲ καὶ τὸ παράπαν λέγουσι καὶ τὸ ἀρχαῖον ῥέεθρον ἀποξηρανθῆναι. Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν οὐ προσίεμαι‧ κῶς γὰρ ὀπίσω πορευόμενοι διέβησαν !ἂν" αὐτόν. Sim. (the crossing of the Halys) Th  170, Th  226, Th  237 (1.38), Th  535, Th 545, Th 561, Th 586, Th 587

Herodotus

31

Above all it is contested whether and how Thales could have predicted solar eclipses.1

5

10

Histories 1.74 Afterwards when Cyaxares demanded that Alyattes hand over the Scythians and Alyattes refused, war broke out between the Lydians and the Medes and continued for five years during which both the Lydians and the Medes won several victories. They even fought one battle by night. But in the sixth year of indecisive fighting a battle took place in which after the fighting had begun, day suddenly became night. This event had been predicted to the Ionians by Thales of Miletus, who set the limit for it in the year in which it actually took place. When the Lydians and the Medes saw that the day had become night, both sides stopped fighting and became more eager for peace.

Th 11 Thales and the crossing of the Halys. Peace was concluded with a marriage. Alyattes’ daughter married Cyaxares’ son Astyages, who was overthrown by Cyrus the Persian. Croesus decided to declare war on Cyrus and received the famous oracle that if he did so a great empire would be destroyed. During his campaign (547 BCE) he needed to cross the river Halys, which was the border between Phrygia and Cappadocia (now called Kyzylyrmak).

5

10

Histories 1.75 When Croesus reached the river Halys, he had his army cross it by the existing bridges. This is what I say, but according to the well known Greek account Thales of Miletus was responsible for the crossing: that those bridges had not yet been built and that while Croesus was at a loss as to how his army could get across, Thales, who was in the camp, caused the river, which flowed on the left side of the army, to flow on the right side as well. This is how he did it: beginning upstream from the camp he dug a deep crescent-shaped channel in order to divert the river from its old bed through the channel so that it would flow around the rear of the camp and after passing the camp it would return to its old course. And so as soon as the river was split in two both parts became fordable. Some maintain that the original river-bed was completely dried up; but I do not believe this – for then how would they have crossed it on their way back? 1

Detailed discussion in O’Grady 2002, 126 ff.; cf. also Schmitz 2000,144 f.

32

Herodotus

Th 12

5

Hist. 1.170 Αὕτη μὲν Βίαντος τοῦ Πριηνέος γνώμη ἐπὶ διεφθαρμένοισι Ἴωσι γενομένη, χρηστὴ δὲ καὶ πρὶν ἢ διαφθαρῆναι Ἰωνίην Θαλέω ἀνδρὸς Μιλησίου ἐγένετο τὸ ἀνέκαθεν γένος ἐόντος Φοίνικος, ὃς ἐκέλευε ἓν βουλευτήριον Ἴωνας κεκτῆσθαι, τὸ δὲ εἶναι ἐν Τέῳ, Τέων γὰρ μέσον εἶναι Ἰωνίης, τὰς δὲ ἄλλας πόλιας οἰκεομένας μηδὲν ἧσσον νομίζεσθαι, καθάπερ εἰ δῆμοι εἶεν. Sim. (Phoenician ancestry) Th 127, Th 136, Th 202, Th 204, Th 237 (1.22), Th 262, Th 327, Th 495, Th 574, Th 578

Th 13

5

10

Hist. 2.20 Ἀλλὰ Ἑλλήνων μέν τινες ἐπίσημοι βουλόμενοι γενέσθαι σοφίην ἔλεξαν περὶ τοῦ ὕδατος τούτου τριφασίας ὁδούς, τῶν τὰς μὲν δύο [τῶν ὁδῶν] οὐδ᾽ ἀξιῶ μνησθῆναι εἰ μὴ ὅσον σημῆναι βουλόμενος μοῦνον. Τῶν ἡ ἑτέρη μὲν λέγει τοὺς ἐτησίας ἀνέμους εἶναι αἰτίους πληθύειν τὸν ποταμὸν κωλύοντας ἐς θάλασσαν ἐκρέειν τὸν Νεῖλον. Πολλάκις δὲ ἐτησίαι μὲν οὐκ ὦν ἔπνευσαν, ὁ δὲ Νεῖλος τὠυτὸ ἐργάζεται. Πρὸς δέ, εἰ ἐτησίαι αἴτιοι ἦσαν, χρῆν καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ποταμούς, ὅσοι τοῖσι ἐτησίῃσι ἀντίοι ῥέουσι, ὁμοίως πάσχειν καὶ κατὰ ταὐτὰ τῷ Νείλῳ καὶ μᾶλλον ἔτι τοσούτῳ, ὅσῳ ἐλάσσονες ἐόντες ἀσθενέστερα τὰ ῥεύματα παρέχονται. Εἰσὶ δὲ πολλοὶ μὲν ἐν τῇ Συρίῃ ποταμοί, πολλοὶ δὲ ἐν τῇ Λιβύῃ, οἳ οὐδὲν τοιοῦτο πάσχουσι, οἷόν τι καὶ ὁ Νεῖλος. Sim. (flooding of the Nile) Th 33, Th 82, Th 100, Th 164, Th 237 (1.37), Th 404, Th 476, Th 491, Th 548, Th 560, Th 571 cf. also Lucretius 6.715–23

Herodotus

33

Th 12 Thales’ political advice. After the Ionians were subjected to Persian rule by Cyrus’s general Harpagus (546 BCE), Bias of Priene advised the Ionians to emigrate to Sardinia and found there a city for all the Ionians. Herodotus’s text continues:

5

Histories 1.170 This was the proposal which Bias of Priene made after the defeat of the Ionians; but another useful proposal had been made before the defeat by Thales, a man of Miletus, whose ancestry was Phoenician. He told the Ionians to have a single council-chamber and to locate it at Teos1, since Teos is in the center of Ionia; the other cities would continue to be inhabited as before and would be recognized as having the status of villages.

Th 13 Thales’ explanation of the flooding of the Nile. In his book on Egypt, Herodotus deals with the question of the flooding of the Nile. According to Seidlmayer, “The Nile rises from mid-July because of summer rains in the Ethopian highland and (before the modern projects to control its flow) would reach the plain of the valley, with maximum flooding occurring at the beginning of September, receding to its original bed at the end of October.”2 Since Herodotus found no answer in Egypt to the question why this phenomenon occurs, he turns to Greek theories. The first of them was taken by later authors as due to Thales

5

Histories 2.20 Certain Greeks in hopes of becoming known for their wisdom have taken three different approaches regarding this water, two of which I do not consider even worth recording except to mention them. According to one of them the etesian winds3 cause the river to flood by hindering the Nile from flowing into the sea. But in many years the etesian winds have not blown, and yet the Nile behaved as usual. In addition, if the etesian winds were the cause, the other rivers that flow in the opposite direction to them ought also 1 2

3

A port about 40 km. southwest of Izmir. Seidlmayer 2000, 942. For the possible Egyptian background of Thales’s theory and its larger tradition (also without naming Thales) cf. Bonneau 1964, 151 f.; cf. also Lloyd 1975, 91–107. The etesian winds are the northwest winds that blow in the summer.

34

Herodotus – Aristophanes

Democritus Th 14 Fr. 68 B 115a DK, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.22)

Th 15 Fr. 68 B 115a DK, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.23)

Hippias of Elis Th 16 Fr. 86 B 7 DK, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.24)

Aristophanes Th 17 Nubes 168–180 (ed. Wilson) ΜΑΘΗΤΗΣ Πρῴην δέ γε γνώμην μεγάλην ἀφῃρέθη ὑπ᾽ ἀσκαλαβώτου.

Herodotus – Aristophanes

10

35

to be affected in the same way as the Nile – and even more by the extent to which they are smaller and have a less powerful current. There are many such rivers in Syria and in Libya too, but none of them experiences anything like what the Nile does.

Democritus (470/60–380/70 BCE) Th 14 Diogenes Laertius states that Democritus and other sources said that Thales was the son of Examyas and Cleobuline and belonged to the Thelidae, who were Phoenicians. Fr. 68 B 115a DK, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.22)

Th 15 According to Diogenes Laertius, Democritus testified to Thales’ work in astronomy and his predictions of solar eclipses and solstices. Fr. 68 B 115a DK, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.23)

Hippias of Elis (5th cent. BCE, still active at the beginning of the 4th cent.) Th 16 According to Diogenes Laertius, Aristotle and Hippias said that Thales attributed soul to inanimate things and that he referred to the magnet and amber as evidence. Fr. 86 B 7 DK, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.24)

Aristophanes (ca. 450–ca. 385 BCE) Th 17 Thales the proverbial genius. In the Clouds, produced in 423 BCE, a student of Socrates informs the astonished Strepsiades about Socrates’ intellectual achievements.

36

5

10

Aristophanes

ΣΤΡΕΨΙΑΔΗΣ τίνα τρόπον; κάτειπέ μοι. ΜΑ. ζητοῦντος αὐτοῦ τῆς σελήνης τὰς ὁδοὺς καὶ τὰς περιφοράς, εἶτ᾽ ἄνω κεχηνότος ἀπὸ τῆς ὀροφῆς νύκτωρ γαλεώτης κατέχεσεν. ΣΤ. ἥσθην γαλεώτῃ καταχέσαντι Σωκράτους. ΜΑ. ἐχθὲς δέ γ᾽ ἡμῖν δεῖπνον οὐκ ἦν ἑσπέρας. ΣΤ. εἶεν. τί οὖν πρὸς τἄλφιτ᾽ ἐπαλαμήσατο; ΜΑ. κατὰ τῆς τραπέζης καταπάσας λεπτὴν τέφραν, κάμψας ὀβελίσκον, εἶτα διαβήτην λαβὼν ἐκ τῆς παλαίστρας θοἰμάτιον ὑφείλετο. ΣΤ. τί δῆτ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τὸν Θαλῆν θαυμάζομεν. Sim. Th 535

Th 18

5

10

15

Aves 992–1009 (ed. Wilson) ΜΕΤΩΝ Ἥκω παρ᾽ ὑμᾶςΠΕΙΣΕΤΑΙΡΟΣ Ἕτερον αὖ τουτὶ κακόν. Τί δ᾽ αὖ σὺ δράσων; Τίς ἰδέα βουλεύματος; Τίς ἡ ᾽πίνοια, τίς ποθ᾽ οὕρνις τῆς ὁδοῦ; ΜΕ. Γεωμετρῆσαι βούλομαι τὸν ἀέρα ὑμῖν διελεῖν τε κατὰ γύας. ΠΕ. Πρὸς τῶν θεῶν, σὺ δ᾽ εἶ τίς ἀνδρῶν; ΜΕ. Ὅστις εἴμ᾽ ἐγώ; Μέτων, ὃν οἶδεν Ἑλλὰς χὠ Κολωνός. ΠΕ. Εἰπέ μοι, ταυτὶ δέ σοι τί ἐστι; ΜΕ. Κανόνες ἀέρος. Αὐτίκα γὰρ ἀήρ ἐστι τὴν ἰδέαν ὅλος κατὰ πνιγέα μάλιστα. Προσθεὶς οὖν ἐγὼ τὸν κανόν᾽ 1 ἄνωθεν τουτονὶ τὸν καμπύλον ἐνθεὶς διαβήτην – μανθάνεις; ΠΕ. Οὐ μανθάνω. 1

For the punctuation see Gladigow 1968, 272, n. 3.

Aristophanes

5

10

37

Clouds 168–180 PUPIL: In fact the other day he [Socrates] was deprived of a great thought by a gecko. STREPSIADES: How? Do tell! PUPIL: He was investigating the paths and orbits of the moon, and as he gaped up at the sky with his mouth wide open, from the roof in the darkness a lizard shat on him.1 STREPSIADES: I love the idea of a lizard shitting on Socrates! PUPIL: And yesterday evening we had nothing to eat for dinner. STREPSIADES: Aha! So what clever trick did he find to get food? PUPIL: He sprinkled a thin coat of ash on the table, and bent a skewer, then taking a compass2 ... from the gymnasium, he stole his cloak. STREPSIADES: And why do we still admire Thales?

Th 18 Thales the proverbial genius. In the Birds, produced in 414 BCE, Meton, a geometer, who wants to make a profit from the foundation of a new city (Cloudcuckooland), is ridiculed.

5

10

15

Birds 992–1009 METON: I have come among you – PEISTHETAERUS: Oh no, here’s some more trouble! What are you up to? What kind of plan do you have: What is your intention? What is the omen of your coming? METON: I wish to survey the air for you and to divide it into acres. PEISTHETAERUS: Good Lord! What person are you? METON: Who am I? Meton! All Greece knows me – even Colonus! PEISTHETAERUS: Tell me, what are those things that you have there? METON: Rods for measuring air. To begin with, the air as a whole has a shape – like a sort of damper. So I first attach this bent rod at the top and

1 2

Cf. the anecdote reported by Plato and others (cf. Th 19), about Thales, who fell into a well during his astronomical investigations. For the sexual connotations of the passage see Sommerstein 1982, 169 f., rejected by Holzberg/Maier 1993, 111 ff. with further proposals.

38 ΜΕ. 20

25

ΠΕ.

Aristophanes – Plato

Ὀρθῷ μετρήσω κανόνι προστιθείς, ἵνα ὁ κύκλος γένηταί σοι τετράγωνος κἀν μέσῳ ἀγορά, φέρουσαι δ᾽ ὦσιν εἰς αὐτὴν ὁδοὶ ὀρθαὶ πρὸς αὐτὸ τὸ μέσον, ὥσπερ δ᾽ ἀστέρος αὐτοῦ κυκλοτεροῦς ὄντος ὀρθαὶ πανταχῇ ἀκτῖνες ἀπολάμπωσιν. Ἄνθρωπος Θαλῆς.

Sim. (“The man’s a Thales!”) Th 495, Th 591

Plato Th 19

5

Theaetetus 174A4–B6 (ed. Duke) ΣΩ. Ὥσπερ καὶ Θαλῆν ἀστρονομοῦντα, ὦ Θεόδωρε, καὶ ἄνω βλέποντα, πεσόντα εἰς φρέαρ, Θρᾷττά τις ἐμμελὴς καὶ χαρίεσσα θεραπαινὶς ἀποσκῶψαι λέγεται ὡς τὰ μὲν ἐν οὐρανῷ προθυμοῖτο εἰδέναι, τὰ δ᾽ ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ καὶ παρὰ πόδας λανθάνοι αὐτόν. ταὐτὸν δὲ ἀρκεῖ σκῶμμα ἐπὶ πάντας [174b] ὅσοι ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ διάγουσι. τῷ γὰρ ὄντι τὸν τοιοῦτον ὁ μὲν πλησίον καὶ ὁ γείτων λέληθεν, οὐ μόνον ὅτι πράττει, ἀλλ᾽ ὀλίγου καὶ εἰ ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν ἤ τι ἄλλο θρέμμα‧ τί δέ ποτ᾽ ἐστὶν ἄνθρωπος καὶ τί τῇ τοιαύτῃ φύσει προσήκει διάφορον τῶν ἄλλων ποιεῖν ἢ πάσχειν, ζητεῖ τε καὶ πράγματ᾽ ἔχει διερευνώμενος. Sim. (Thales’ fall into the well) Th 174, Th 210, Th 217, Th 222, Th 237 (1.34), Th 240, Th 251, Th 269, Th 328, Th 361, Th 444, Th 445, Th 446, Th 456, Th 513, Th 518, Th 564 (319), Th 582

Aristophanes – Plato

20

25

39

insert it like a compassi 1 – do you understand? PEISTHETAERUS: I don’t understand! METON: Then I will measure by applying the straightii rod so that the circle becomes square; and in the center is the market place, and straight streets lead into it towards the very center. Just like the rays of a star – the star itself is round but the rays shine straight out in every direction. PEISTHETAERUS: The man’s a Thales!

Plato (428/7–348/7 BCE) Th 19 Thales’ lack of practical wisdom; his fall into a well. A well known excursus in Plato’s dialogue Theaetetus (172B–177C) gives a portrait of Thales as an unworldly philosopher, totally dedicated to investigating the universe and the nature of reality. Anyone who lives like this invites ridicule from the general run of people, as an anecdote about Thales explains.

5

Theaetetus 174A4–B6 SOCRATES: For example, Theodorus, they say that Thales fell into a well while studying the stars and gazing aloft, and a witty and amusing Thracian servant-girl made fun of him because he was so keen to know about what was up in the sky but failed to see what was in front of him and next to his feet.2 The same joke holds for everyone [174b] who spends his life in philosophy. It really is true that a person like that fails to notice the person next to him or his neighbor; not only does he not notice what he is doing, he barely knows whether he is a human being or some other kind of creature, 1

2 i ii

Cf. Sommerstein 1987, 265: “efforts by modern scholars to make sense of 1001–4 as a sequence of geometrical operations [...] have met with little success.” However, see Gladigow 1968, 273, who conjectures that the procedure described here may to some extent go back to Thales. Cf. also Dührsen 2005, 99 ff. Cf. Plato, Phaedrus 249D7–8. For the reception of this anecdote see Blumenberg 1976. W: Ich lege also das Richtscheit an, setze hier oben den gebogenen Zirkel ein. W: senkrecht.

40

Plato

Th 20

5

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Protagoras 342E4–343B7 (ed. Burnet) Τοῦτο οὖν αὐτὸ καὶ τῶν νῦν εἰσὶν οἳ κατανενοήκασι καὶ τῶν πάλαι, ὅτι τὸ λακωνίζειν πολὺ μᾶλλόν ἐστιν φιλοσοφεῖν ἢ φιλογυμναστεῖν, εἰδότες ὅτι τοιαῦτα οἷόν τ᾽ εἶναι ῥήματα φθέγγεσθαι τελέως πεπαιδευμένου ἐστὶν ἀνθρώπου. [343a] τούτων ἦν καὶ Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος καὶ Πιττακὸς ὁ Μυτιληναῖος καὶ Βίας ὁ Πριηνεὺς καὶ Σόλων ὁ ἡμέτερος καὶ Κλεόβουλος ὁ Λίνδιος καὶ Μύσων ὁ Χηνεύς, καὶ ἕβδομος ἐν τούτοις ἐλέγετο Λακεδαιμόνιος Χίλων. οὗτοι πάντες ζηλωταὶ καὶ ἐρασταὶ καὶ μαθηταὶ ἦσαν τῆς Λακεδαιμονίων παιδείας, καὶ καταμάθοι ἄν τις αὐτῶν τὴν σοφίαν τοιαύτην οὖσαν, ῥήματα βραχέα ἀξιομνημόνευτα ἑκάστῳ εἰρημένα‧ οὗτοι καὶ κοινῇ συνελθόντες [343b] ἀπαρχὴν τῆς σοφίας ἀνέθεσαν τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι εἰς τὸν νεὼν τὸν ἐν Δελφοῖς, γράψαντες ταῦτα ἃ δὴ πάντες ὑμνοῦσιν, Γνῶθι σαυτὸν καὶ Μηδὲν ἄγαν. τοῦ δὴ ἕνεκα ταῦτα λέγω; ὅτι οὗτος ὁ τρόπος ἦν τῶν παλαιῶν τῆς φιλοσοφίας, βραχυλογία τις Λακωνική‧ καὶ δὴ καὶ τοῦ Πιττακοῦ ἰδίᾳ περιεφέρετο τοῦτο τὸ ῥῆμα ἐγκωμιαζόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν σοφῶν, τὸ Χαλεπὸν ἐσθλὸν ἔμμεναι. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 52, Th 68, Th 70, Th 71, Th 76, Th 81, Th 82, Th 83, Th 87, Th 89, Th 95, Th 127, Th 131, Th 137, Th 171, Th 172, Th 173, Th 176, Th 178, Th 199, Th 210, Th 236, Th 237 (1.22, 34, 40–42) Th 254, Th 264, Th 265, Th 271, Th 294, Th 295, Th 290, Th 304, Th 311, Th 313, Th 314, Th 315, Th 316, Th 329, Th 370, Th 385, Th 386, Th 470, Th 473, Th 476, Th 480, Th 482, Th 485, Th 505, Th 506, Th 509, Th 527, Th 530, Th 533, Th 535, Th 539, Th 540, Th 541, Th 553, Th 560, Th 561, Th 564a, Th 577, Th 581, Th 585, Th 587, Th 588, Th 589, Th 591, Th 592

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but he investigates what a human being is, what that kind of thing does and experiences that is different from other beings. And he makes a great effort to track these things down.1

Th 20 Thales the Sage. Despite appearances, the Spartans are the best philosophers: the sayings of the Seven Sages, who include Thales, are presented as a model of laconic philosophizing.

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Protagoras 342E4–343B7 Both now and in the past some people have understood that being a Laconian is much more a matter of being devoted to philosophy than to physical training. They know that to be able to produce sayings like that is the mark of a perfectly educated person. [343a] These have included Thales of Miletus, Pittacus of Mytilene, Bias of Priene, our own Solon, Cleobulus of Lindos, Myson of Chen, and, seventh in the list, Chilon of Lacedaimon. All these were admirers, lovers, and students of Lacedaimonian education. You can see that this was their kind of wisdom: brief, memorable sayings spoken by each of them. They met together [343b] and dedicated the first fruits of their wisdom to Apollo in his temple at Delphi, inscribing there the sayings that everyone recites: ‘Know thyself’ and ‘Nothing in excess.’ What is my point in saying this? That this is the way philosophy was done by the ancients: laconic brevity. It was in this context that the saying of Pittacus – “It is hard to be good” – was praised by the Sages and privately circulated.i

1

Cf. Aesop, Fable 40 ed. Perry (The Astronomer); Antipater of Sidon (Beckby AP 7.172).

i

W. does not translate the final sentence.

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Th 21

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Hippias maior 281C3–D8 (ed. Burnet) ΣΩ. Ἀτάρ, ὦ Ἱππία, τί ποτε τὸ αἴτιον ὅτι οἱ παλαιοὶ ἐκεῖνοι, ὧν ὀνόματα μεγάλα λέγεται ἐπὶ σοφίᾳ, Πιττακοῦ τε καὶ Βίαντος καὶ τῶν ἀμφὶ τὸν Μιλήσιον Θαλῆν καὶ ἔτι τῶν ὕστερον μέχρι Ἀναξαγόρου, ὡς ἢ πάντες ἢ οἱ πολλοὶ αὐτῶν φαίνονται ἀπεχόμενοι τῶν πολιτικῶν πράξεων; ΙΠ. Τί δ᾽ οἴει, ὦ Σώκρατες, ἄλλο γε ἢ ἀδύνατοι ἦσαν [281d] καὶ οὐχ ἱκανοὶ ἐξικνεῖσθαι φρονήσει ἐπ᾽ ἀμφότερα, τά τε κοινὰ καὶ τὰ ἴδια; ΣΩ. Ἆρ᾽ οὖν πρὸς Διός, ὥσπερ αἱ ἄλλαι τέχναι ἐπιδεδώκασι καὶ εἰσὶ παρὰ τοὺς νῦν δημιουργοὺς οἱ παλαιοὶ φαῦλοι, οὕτω καὶ τὴν ὑμετέραν τὴν τῶν σοφιστῶν τέχνην ἐπιδεδωκέναι φῶμεν καὶ εἶναι τῶν ἀρχαίων τοὺς περὶ τὴν σοφίαν φαύλους πρὸς ὑμᾶς; ΙΠ. Πάνυ μὲν οὖν ὀρθῶς λέγεις. Sim. (political activity) Th 70, Th 228, Th 237 (1.25), Th 454, Th 479, Th 497

Th 22 Res publica 10. 600A4–7 (ed. Burnet) ΣΩ. Ἀλλ᾽ οἷα δὴ εἰς τὰ ἔργα σοφοῦ ἀνδρὸς πολλαὶ ἐπίνοιαι καὶ εὐμήχανοι εἰς τέχνας ἤ τινας ἄλλας πράξεις λέγονται, ὥσπερ αὖ Θάλεώ τε πέρι τοῦ Μιλησίου καὶ Ἀναχάρσιος τοῦ Σκύθου.

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Th 21 Thales the Sage. Hippias is the prototype of the politically active Sophists. In the introductory conversation of the dialogue Socrates asks:

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Greater Hippias 281C3–D8 SOCRATES: But Hippias, what in the world is the reason that those meni of long ago whose names are still famous for wisdom – Pittacus, Bias, and Thales of Miletus and his associates, and still later ones down to Anaxagoras – that all or most of them clearly kept away from political activity? HIPPIAS: What else do you think, Socrates, than that their intelligence did not make them capable [281d] or competent to succeed in both areas, the public and the private? SOCRATES: Then, by Zeus, should we say that just as other crafts have made progress and the early craftsmen are worthless in comparison with today’s, your craft too, the craft of the sophists, has made progress and that the early practitioners of wisdom are worthless compared to you? HIPPIAS: You’re absolutely right.

Th 22 Thales’ practical wisdom. Republic 600A4–7 SOCRATES: Or, as happens with the achievements of a wise man, are many ingenious discoveries in the crafts or in other activities [attributed to Homer], as they are to Thales of Miletus and Anacharsis of Scythia?1?

1

A Scythian from a royal family (cf. Herodotus, Hist. 4.46 and 76 ff.). On the basis of his natural cleverness he was stylized as an idealized contrasting image of Greek civilization and was sometimes numbered among the Seven Sages.

i

W. jene alten philosophen

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Plato – Eudoxus of Cnidos

Th 23

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Epistula 2.311A1–7 (ed. Burnet) Οἷον καὶ περὶ Ἱέρωνος ὅταν διαλέγωνται ἄνθρωποι καὶ Παυσανίου τοῦ Λακεδαιμονίου, χαίρουσι τὴν Σιμωνίδου συνουσίαν παραφέροντες, ἅ τε ἔπραξεν καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτούς‧ καὶ Περίανδρον τὸν Κορίνθιον καὶ Θαλῆν τὸν Μιλήσιον ὑμνεῖν εἰώθασιν ἅμα, καὶ Περικλέα καὶ Ἀναξαγόραν, καὶ Κροῖσον αὖ καὶ Σόλωνα ὡς σοφοὺς καὶ Κῦρον ὡς δυνάστην.

Andron of Ephesus Th 24 FHG II 347.3, cf. Th 205 (Clem. Al. Strom. 1.21.129.3–4)

Eudoxus of Cnidos Th 25 Fr. F 371 Lasserre, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.29)

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Th 23 Thales the Sage. The politically powerful are frequently associated with the wise.

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Second Letter 311A1–7 For example, when people talk of Hiero and Pausanias of Lacedaimon, they enjoy mentioning Simonides’ connection with them and what he did and said to them. Likewise they usually celebrate Periander of Corinth and Thales of Miletus together as wise men, and also Pericles and Anaxagoras, and again Croesus and Solon, and they celebrate Cyrus as a ruler.

Andron of Ephesus (first half of the 4th cent. BCE) Th 24 Clement of Alexandria refers to Andron’s Tripod in reference to the dating of Thales and the other Sages. FHG II 347.3, cf. Th 205 (Clem. Al. Strom. 1.21.129.3–4)

Eudoxus of Cnidus (? 391/0–338/7 BCE) Th 25 According to Diogenes Laertius, Eudoxus and Euanthes say that Thales was honored by a friend of Croesus as the wisest of the Greeks. Fr. F 371, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.29)

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Heraclides of Pontus – Aristotle

Heraclides of Pontus Th 26 Fr. 45 Wehrli2, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.25)

Aristotle Th 27

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Ethica Nicomachea 6.7.1141b2–8 (ed. Bywater) Ἐκ δὴ τῶν εἰρημένων δῆλον ὅτι ἡ σοφία ἐστὶ καὶ ἐπιστήμη καὶ νοῦς τῶν τιμιωτάτων τῇ φύσει. διὸ Ἀναξαγόραν καὶ Θαλῆν καὶ τοὺς τοιούτους σοφοὺς μὲν φρονίμους δ᾽ οὔ φασιν εἶναι, ὅταν ἴδωσιν ἀγνοοῦντας τὰ συμφέροντα ἑαυτοῖς, καὶ περιττὰ μὲν καὶ θαυμαστὰ καὶ χαλεπὰ καὶ δαιμόνια εἰδέναι αὐτούς φασιν, ἄχρηστα δ᾽, ὅτι οὐ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα ἀγαθὰ ζητοῦσιν. Sim. (wisdom without practical reason) Th 110, Th 524, Th 531, Th 556 However, cf. Th  237 (Diog. Laert. 1.40) Dicaearchus's assertion that the Seven Sages (among whom he also names Thales at 1.41 = Th 36) were wise and capable lawgivers

Th 28

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Politica 1.11.1259a5–19 (ed. Ross) Πάντα γὰρ ὠφέλιμα ταῦτ᾽ ἐστὶ τοῖς τιμῶσι τὴν χρηματιστικήν, οἷον καὶ τὸ Θάλεω τοῦ Μιλησίου‧ τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι κατανόημά τι χρηματιστικόν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκείνῳ μὲν διὰ τὴν σοφίαν προσάπτουσι, τυγχάνει δὲ καθόλου τι ὄν. ὀνειδιζόντων γὰρ αὐτῷ διὰ τὴν πενίαν ὡς ἀνωφελοῦς τῆς φιλοσοφίας οὔσης, κατανοήσαντά φασιν αὐτὸν ἐλαιῶν φορὰν ἐσομένην ἐκ τῆς ἀστρολογίας, ἔτι χειμῶνος ὄντος εὐπορήσαντα χρημάτων ὀλίγων ἀρραβῶνας διαδοῦναι τῶν ἐλαιουργίων τῶν τ᾽ ἐν Μιλήτῳ καὶ Χίῳ πάντων, ὀλίγου μισθωσάμενον ἅτ᾽ οὐθενὸς ἐπιβάλλοντος‧ ἐπειδὴ δ᾽ ὁ καιρὸς ἧκε, πολλῶν ζητουμένων ἅμα καὶ ἐξαίφνης, ἐκμισθοῦντα ὃν τρόπον ἠβούλετο, πολλὰ χρήματα συλλέξαντα ἐπιδεῖξαι ὅτι ῥᾴδιόν ἐστι πλουτεῖν τοῖς φιλοσόφοις, ἂν βούλωνται, ἀλλ᾽ οὐ τοῦτ᾽ ἐστὶ περὶ ὃ σπουδάζου-

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Heraclides of Pontus (ca. 390–after 322 BCE) Th 26 According to Diogenes Laertius, Heraclides reported that Clytus1 said that Thales became a solitary recluse. Fr. 45 Wehrli2, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.25)

Aristotle (384–322 BCE) Th 27 Thales’ lack of practical wisdom. In Nicomachean Ethics 6.7 Aristotle discusses the difference between practical wisdom and philosophical wisdom.

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Nicomachean Ethics 6.7.1141b2–8 It is clear from what has been said that wisdom is scientific knowledge combined with insight,i and that its objects are the things that are by nature most valuable. This is why they say that Anaxagoras, Thales, and people like them are philosophically but not practically wise, when they see that they are ignorant of what is to their own advantage. They also say that they [the philosophically wise] know things that are remarkable, admirable, difficult and divine,ii but useless – because it is not human goods that they seek.

Th 28 Thales’ practical wisdom; the story of the olive crop. In contrast with Plato (cf. Th 19) Aristotle allows a place for practical wisdom in the life of the philosopher. Like Plato, Aristotle too illustrates this point with an anecdote about Thales.2

2

Wehrli2 reads καὶ αὐτός (sc. Thales) instead of κλύτος. For difficulties in ascribing this testimonium to Heraclides Ponticus, see Schorn 22. Cf. Kullmann 1998, 418 f.

i ii

W: sowohl wissenschaftliche Einsicht als auch intuitive Erkenntnis. W: Rätselhaftes.

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σιν. Θαλῆς μὲν οὖν λέγεται τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἐπίδειξιν ποιήσασθαι τῆς σοφίας. Sim. (the olive crop) Th 77, Th 225, Th 237 (1.26)

Th 29

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Metaphysica 1.3.983b20–984a7 (ed. Ross) [...] Ἀλλὰ Θαλῆς μὲν ὁ τῆς τοιαύτης ἀρχηγὸς φιλοσοφίας ὕδωρ φησὶν εἶναι (διὸ καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐφ᾽ ὕδατος ἀπεφήνατο εἶναι), λαβὼν ἴσως τὴν ὑπόληψιν ταύτην ἐκ τοῦ πάντων ὁρᾶν τὴν τροφὴν ὑγρὰν οὖσαν καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ θερμὸν ἐκ τούτου γιγνόμενον καὶ τούτῳ ζῶν (τὸ δ᾽ ἐξ οὗ γίγνεται, τοῦτ᾽ ἐστὶν ἀρχὴ πάντων) – διά τε δὴ τοῦτο τὴν ὑπόληψιν λαβὼν ταύτην καὶ διὰ τὸ πάντων τὰ σπέρματα τὴν φύσιν ὑγρὰν ἔχειν, τὸ δ᾽ ὕδωρ ἀρχὴν τῆς φύσεως εἶναι τοῖς ὑγροῖς. εἰσὶ δέ τινες οἳ καὶ τοὺς παμπαλαίους καὶ πολὺ πρὸ τῆς νῦν γενέσεως καὶ πρώτους θεολογήσαντας οὕτως οἴονται περὶ τῆς φύσεως ὑπολαβεῖν‧ Ὠκεανόν τε γὰρ καὶ Τηθὺν ἐποίησαν τῆς γενέσεως πατέρας [Hom. Ξ 201], καὶ τὸν ὅρκον τῶν θεῶν ὕδωρ, τὴν καλουμένην ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν Στύγα [τῶν ποιητῶν]‧ τιμιώτατον μὲν γὰρ τὸ πρεσβύτατον, ὅρκος δὲ τὸ τιμιώτατόν ἐστιν. εἰ μὲν οὖν [984a] ἀρχαία τις αὕτη καὶ παλαιὰ τετύχηκεν οὖσα περὶ τῆς φύσεως ἡ δόξα, τάχ᾽ ἂν ἄδηλον εἴη, Θαλῆς μέντοι λέγεται οὕτως ἀποφήνασθαι περὶ τῆς πρώτης αἰτίας. (Ἵππωνα γὰρ οὐκ ἄν τις ἀξιώσειε θεῖναι μετὰ τούτων διὰ τὴν εὐτέλειαν αὐτοῦ τῆς διανοίας)‧ Ἀναξιμένης δὲ ἀέρα καὶ Διογένης πρότερον ὕδατος καὶ μάλιστ᾽ ἀρχὴν τιθέασι τῶν ἁπλῶν σωμάτων, [...]. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 72, Th 85, Th 87, Th 94, Th 98, Th 116, Th 138, Th 140, Th 142, Th 143, Th 144, Th 145, Th 146, Th 147, Th 181,

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Politics 1.11.1259a5–19 For all these [stories about how people have succeeded in becoming wealthy] are useful to those who value the acquisition of wealth, as is the anecdote about Thales of Miletus.1 For this is an idea useful for acquiring wealth, but it is attributed to him on account of his reputation for wisdom, and it actually involves a general principle. They say that people used to reproach him for his poverty, which they believed to show that philosophy was a useless occupation. But he understood from his knowledge of astronomy that there would be a large olive crop in the coming year; so, since he had a little money, while it was still winter he put down deposits for the use of all the olive presses in Miletus and Chios, which he hired at a low price because no one was bidding against him. When the harvest time came, and many were suddenly wanted all at once, he rented them out for whatever price he liked and made a great deal of money. Thus he showed the world that philosophers can easily be rich if they like, but that this is not their aim. In this way Thales is said to have made a striking display of his wisdom.

Th 29 Water as the first principle. In the first book of the Metaphysics Aristotle contrasts his own doctrine of principles with those of his predecessors. According to Aristotle, for the most part, the earliest philosophers located the principles of all being in the material principles – natural substances that are always preserved and change only in their affections. Apart from that, they agreed neither on the nature nor on the number of their material principles.

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Metaphysics 1.3.983b20–984a7 [...] Thales, the founder of this kind of philosophy, states it [the principle]2 to be water. (This is why he also declared that the earth rests on water.) He may have got this idea from seeing that the nourishment of all things is moist, and that even the hot itself comes to be from this [the moist] and lives on this (the principle of all things is that from which they come to be) – getting this idea from this consideration and also because the seeds of all things have a moist nature; and water is the principle of the nature of moist things. Some believe3 that the people of remote antiquity who lived a long time 1 2 3

The same story about Democritus is found in Pliny, Natural History 18.68.273 f. The nature. See O’Grady 2002, 35. Cf. Snell 1976, 478–90, esp. 481 ff. Cf. also O’Grady 2002, 20 ff.

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Th 182, Th 184, Th 187, Th 188, Th 189, Th 190, Th 191, Th 193, Th 196, Th 197, Th 198, Th 206, Th 210, Th 213, Th 215, Th 229, Th 230, Th 232, Th 234, Th 237 (1.27), Th 254, Th 255, Th 259, Th 260, Th 261, Th 271, Th 286, Th 287, Th 288, Th 289, Th 291, Th 292, Th 293, Th 295, Th 309, Th 310, Th 311, Th 312, Th 317, Th 318, Th 319, Th 324, Th 329, Th 338, Th 320 Th 321, Th 343, Th 372, Th 390, Th 392, Th 409, Th 411, Th 414, Th 416, Th 417, Th 418, Th 423, Th 427, Th 429, Th 430, Th 431, Th 436, Th 438, Th 440, Th 447, Th 448, Th 452, Th 453, Th 459, Th 460, Th 462, Th 463, Th 464, Th 465, Th 467, Th 485, Th 499, Th 508, Th 519, Th 525, Th 528, Th 532, Th 537, Th 547, Th 553, Th 558, Th 570, Th 578, Th 579, Th 580, Th 583, Th 584; (the water hypotheses goes back to the first theologians/Homer) Th 94, Th 145, Th 147, Th 187, Th 189, Th 271, Th 286, Th 287, Th 292, Th 329, Th 460, Th 499, Th 532, Th 570, Th 583; (the first sage/philosopher) Th 138, Th 147, Th 189, Th 190, Th 192, Th 218, Th 219, Th 237 (1.24), Th 254, Th 256, Th 257, Th 271, Th 287, Th 292, Th 300, Th 321, Th 322, Th 409, Th 413, Th 419, Th 420, Th 437, Th 442, Th 460, Th 461, Th 473, Th 478, Th 500, Th 501, Th 520c, Th 525, Th 530, Th 541, Th 557, Th 569, Th 578, Th 589

Th 30

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De caelo 2.13.294a28–b6 (ed. Allan) Οἱ δ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ὕδατος κεῖσθαι [sc. τὴν γὴν]. τοῦτον γὰρ ἀρχαιότατον παρειλήφαμεν τὸν λόγον, ὅν φασιν εἰπεῖν Θαλῆν τὸν Μιλήσιον, ὡς διὰ τὸ πλωτὴν εἶναι μένουσαν ὥσπερ ξύλον ἤ τι τοιοῦτον ἕτερον (καὶ γὰρ τούτων ἐπ᾽ ἀέρος μὲν οὐθὲν πέφυκε μένειν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐφ᾽ ὕδατος), ὥσπερ οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν λόγον ὄντα περὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ τοῦ ὕδατος τοῦ ὀχοῦντος τὴν γῆν‧ οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸ ὕδωρ πέφυκε μένειν μετέωρον, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπί τινός [294b] ἐστιν. ἔτι δ᾽ ὥσπερ ἀὴρ ὕδατος κουφότερον, καὶ γῆς ὕδωρ‧ ὥστε πῶς οἷόν τε τὸ κουφότερον κατωτέρω κεῖσθαι τοῦ βαρυτέρου τὴν φύσιν; ἔτι δ᾽ εἴπερ ὅλη πέφυκε μένειν ἐφ᾽ ὕδατος, δῆλον ὅτι καὶ τῶν μορίων ἕκαστον [αὐτῆς]‧ νῦν δ᾽ οὐ φαίνεται τοῦτο γιγνόμενον, ἀλλὰ τὸ τυχὸν μόριον φέρεται εἰς βυθόν, καὶ θᾶττον τὸ μεῖζον. Sim. (the Earth rests upon water) Th 99, Th 101, Th 163, Th 210, Th 230, Th 387, Th 403, Th 409, Th 425, Th 426, Th 460, Th 526, Th 553, Th 554, Th 555, Th 572

Aristotle

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before the present generation and were the first to speculate about the gods had the same belief about nature too; for they made Okeanos and Tethys parents of generationi [Hom. Ξ 201] and made water, which the poets called Styx,1 the thing by which the gods swore their oaths. For the most ancient is the most honored, and the most honored thing is what oaths are sworn by. It is perhaps unclear whether [984a] this view about nature is early and ancient,2 but in any case this is how Thales is said to have expressed himself about the first cause. (Hippo no one would think worthy to give a place among these thinkers because of the triviality of his thought.) Anaximenes and Diogenes make air prior to water. In fact they make it the principle of the simple bodies, [...].

Th 30 Thales’ cosmology. In the context of his cosmology Aristotle contrasts his own views with earlier theories on the position of the earth in the cosmos and its motion or rest.

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On the Heaven 2.13.294a28–b6 Others say that it [the earth] rests upon water. This, indeed, is the earliest account that we have received, and they say that Thales of Miletus stated it: that [the earth] is at rest because it floats like wood or something else of that sort (for it is the nature of such things that they rest not upon air but upon water), as if the same account that holds for the earth did not hold for the water that carries the earth! For it is not the nature of water to be at rest in mid-air; it must have something to rest upon. [294b] Again, as air is lighter than water, so water [is lighter] than earth; so how can what is lighter lie

1 2

E.g., Homer, Iliad 15.37. For the interpretation of this sentence cf. Mansfeld 1985, 115 f. (1990, 131 f.).

i

W: [Welt]entstehung.

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Aristotle

Th 31 De anima 1.2.405a19–21 (ed. Ross) Ἔοικε δὲ καὶ Θαλῆς ἐξ ὧν ἀπομνημονεύουσι κινητικόν τι τὴν ψυχὴν ὑπολαβεῖν, εἴπερ τὴν λίθον ἔφη ψυχὴν ἔχειν, ὅτι τὸν σίδηρον κινεῖ. Sim. (nature of the soul/magnet) Th 165, Th 221, Th 237 (1.24), Th 301, Th 323, Th 336, Th 360, Th 422, Th 423, Th 442, Th 495, Th 516, Th 525, Th 558, Th 578

Th 32 De an. 1.5.411a7–8 Καὶ ἐν τῷ ὅλῳ δέ τινες αὐτὴν [sc. τὴν ψυχήν] μεμῖχθαί φασιν, ὅθεν ἴσως καὶ Θαλῆς ᾠήθη πάντα πλήρη θεῶν εἶναι. Sim. (all things full of gods/daimons) Th 76, Th 237 (1.27), Th 302, Th 340, Th 424, Th 443; (the cosmos/the universe/ everything has a soul) Th 126, Th 237 (1.27), Th 302, Th 340, Th 424, Th 443

Th 33 De inundacione Nili; s. Th 548.

Aristotle

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beneath what is by nature heavier? Again, if it really is the naturei of [the earth] as a whole to rest upon water, clearly the same holds for every part of it. But in fact this obviously does not happen. Any piece of earth goes to the bottom, and the larger it is the faster it goes.

Th 31 Thales’ views on the nature of the soul. In his treatment of the soul, Aristotle collects and criticizes the views of his predecessors on the nature of the soul. On the Soul 1.2.405a19–21 Thales too, to judge by what is reported,1 seems to have held that the soul causes motion, since in fact he said that the magnet has a soul because it moves iron.

Th 32 Thales’ views on the nature of the soul. In a later passage Aristotle criticizes other views on the nature of the soul. On the Soul 1.5.411a7–8 Some say that it [soul] is intermingled in the universe, and it is perhaps for that reason that Thales believed that all things are full of gods.2

Th 33 The Aristotelian work On the Flooding of the Nile is preserved only in a Latin translation. It contains arguments against Thales’ explanation, that the Nile is driven back by the etesian winds. De inundacione Nili; cf. Th 548

1 2

i

O’Grady 2002, 17 considers Alcmaeon of Croton as a possible source for Aristotle’s report. Cf. De An. 1.2.405a29 f. Cf. Plato, Laws 10.9.899B and Aristotle, De Generatione Animalium 3.11.762a21 with KRS 95–96, n. 1. W: in der Lage.

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Aristotle – Theophrastus

Th 34 Fr. 21.1 Gigon = 75 Rose3 [On Poets, book 3], cf. Th 241 (Diog. Laert. 2.46)

Clytus Th 35 FHG II 333.3, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.25)

Dicaearchus Th 36 Fr. 32 Wehrli2, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.41)

Theophrastus Th 37 583 FHS&G, cf. Th 111 (Plu. Sol. 4.7.80E)

Th 38 225 FHS&G; cf. Th 409 (Simp. in Ph. 23.21–33)

Aristotle – Theophrastus

55

Th 34 According to Aristotle, Pherecydes was jealous of Thales. Fr. 21.1 Gigon = 75 Rose3 [On Poets, book 3], cf. Th 241 (Diog. Laert. 2.46)

Clytus (student of Aristotle)1 Th 35 According to Diogenes Laertius, Heraclides reports that Clytus said2 that Thales became a solitary recluse. FHG II 333.3, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.25)

Dicaearchus (born ca. 375 BCE) Th 36 According to Diogenes Laertius Dicaearchus identified Thales, Bias, Pittacus and Solon as universally included among the Seven Sages. Fr. 32 Wehrli2, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.41)

Theophrastus (ca. 371/0–287/6 BCE) Th 37 Plutarch reports that according to Theophrastus the tripod was first sent to Bias, who sent it on to Thales, and so on until it returned to Bias and finally was sent to Delphi. 583 FHS&G, cf. Th 111 (Plu. Sol. 4.7.80E)

Th 38 Simplicius reports Theophrastus’s statement that even before Thales there were many who investigated nature; Thales, however, put them all in the shade. 225 FHS&G, cf. Th 409 (Simp. in Ph. 23.21–33) 1 2

Cf. Flashar 2004, 566. Cf. n. 1 on Th 26.

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Theophrastus – Demetrius of Phaleron

Th 39 226A FHS&G; cf. Th 410 (Simp. in Ph. 24.13–16)

Chamaeleon Th 40 Fr. 2a Wehrli2, cf. Th 200 (Clem. Al. Strom. 1.14.60.3)

Th 40a Fr. 2b Wehrli2, cf. Th 569a (Anecdota Graeca ed. J. Bekker (1814) I 233, 15)

Th 40b CPF I 1* (29 Chamaeleon 1T), p.403 (PSI 1093, 31-33 [II.13]), cf. Th 569b

Demetrius of Phaleron Th 41 Fr. 149 Wehrli2, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.22)

Th 42 Fr. 114 Wehrli2, cf. Th 362 (Stob. Ecl. 3.1.172)

Theophrastus – Demetrius of Phaleron

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Th 39 According to Simplicius/Theophrastus, Anaximander was the successor and student of Thales. 226A FHS&G, cf. Th 410 (Simp. in Ph. 24.13–16)

Chamaeleon (second half of the 4th cent. BCE) Th 40 Clement reports that according to Chamaeleon, the saying “Know thyself” originated with Thales. Fr. 2a Wehrli2, cf. Th 200 (Clem. Al. Strom. 1.14.60.3)

Th 40a An anoymous testimony provides further information regarding the saying “Know thyself.” Fr. 2b Wehrli2, cf. Th 569a (Anecdota Graeca ed. J. Bekker (1814) I 233, 15)

Th 40b A papyrus fragment provides further testimony to Chamaeleon’s interest in Thales. CPF I 1* (29 Chamaeleon 1T), p. 403 (PSI 1093, 31-33 [II.13]), cf. Th 569b

Demetrius of Phaleron (ca. 360–280 BCE) Th 41 According to the testimony of Demetrius, that Thales was called the first Sage during the archonship of Damasias (582–580 BCE) when the Seven Sages were first named. Fr. 149 Wehrli2, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.22)

Th 42 Stobaeus quotes many sayings of Thales, which were collected by Demetrius. Fr. 114 Wehrli2, cf. Th 362 (Stob. Ecl. 3.1.172)

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Eudemus

Eudemus Th 43 Fr. 134 Wehrli2, cf. Th 384 (Procl. in Euc. 352.14–18)

Th 44 Fr. 135 Wehrli2, cf. Th 383 (Procl. in Euc. 299.1–5)

Th 45 Fr. 143 Wehrli2, cf. Th 203 (Clem. Al. Strom. 1.14.65.1)

Th 46 Fr. 144 Wehrli2, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.23)

Th 47 Fr. 145 Wehrli2, cf. Th 93 (Heron Def. 138.11), s. Th 167 (Theon Sm. 198 Hiller)

Eudemus

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Eudemus (born before 350 BCE) Th 43 Proclus reports that Eudemus attributed the second congruence theorem to Thales, judging by the way Thales is said to have calculated the distance of ships at sea. Fr. 134 Wehrli2, cf. Th 384 (Procl. in Euc. 352.14–18)

Th 44 Proclus reports that according to Eudemus Thales discovered, but did not prove, the theorem that the opposite angles made by two intersecting straight lines are equal. Fr. 135 Wehrli2, cf. Th 383 (Procl. in Euc. 299.1–5)

Th 45 Clement reports the testimony of Eudemus that Thales predicted the solar eclipse that took place during the battle of the Medes and the Lydians, which had already been reported by Herodotus. Fr. 143 Wehrli2, cf. Th 203 (Clem. Al. Strom. 1.14.65.1)

Th 46 Diogenes Laertius refers to the report in Eudemus that Thales was the first to pursue astronomy and to predict solar eclipses and solstices. Fr. 144 Wehrli2, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.23)

Th 47 According to Theon, who refers to Dercyllides, Eudemus says that Thales was the first to discover solar eclipses and the inequality of the times between the solstices. Fr. 135 Wehrli2, cf. Th 93 (Heron Def. 138.11, cf. Th 167 (Theon Sm. 198 Hiller)

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Duris of Samos – Leandr(i)us

Duris of Samos Th 48 FGrHist II A 76 F 74, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.22)

Phoenix of Colophon Th 49 Fr. 4, 234 ed. Powell, cf. Th 235 (Ath. Deipn. 11.91.495D)

Leandr(i)us (= Maeandrius ?) Th 50 FGrHist III B 491–2 F 17, cf. Th 202 (Clem. Al. Strom. 1.14.62.1–63.2), s. Th 327 (Theod. Gr. aff. cur. 1.24)

Th 51 FGrHist III B 491–2 F 18, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.28–29)

Duris of Samos – Leandr(i)us

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Duris of Samos (4th/3rd cent. BCE) Th 48 Diogenes Laertius reports that according to Duris and other sources Thales was the son of Examyas and Cleobuline and belonged to the Thelidae, who were Phoenicians. FGrHist II A 76 F 74, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.22)

Phoenix of Colophon (4th/3rd cent. BCE) Th 49 Athenaeus transmits a poetic fragment of Phoenix, according to whom Thales received a golden bowl for being the best of men and the most outstanding astronomer. Fr. 5, 234 ed. Powell, cf. Th 235 (Ath. Deipn. 11.91.495D)

Leandr(i)us (= Maeandrius?, early Hellenistic period) Th 50 Clement and Theodoret report on the evidence of Leandrius and Herodotus that Thales was a Phoenician. FGrHist III B 491–2 F 17, cf. Th 202 (Clem. Al. Strom. 1.14.62.1–63.2), cf. Th 327 (Theod. Gr. aff. cur. 1.24)

Th 51 To Leandrius is due a variant on the story of the tripod on which, according to Diogenes Laertius, Callimachus relied: a bowl was given to Thales, and after making the round of the Seven Sages came back to him, and he sent it to Didymean Apollo. FGrHist III B 491–2 F 18, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.28–29)

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Callimachus Th 52

5

10

15

20

Iambus 1.52–77 = Fr. 191 Pfeiffer ⌊ἔπλευσεν ἐς Μίλητον‧ ἦν γὰρ ἡ νίκη Θάλητος, ὅς τ᾽ ἦν ἄλλα δεξιὸς γνώμην⌋ καὶ τῆς Ἀμάξης ἐλέγετο σταθμήσασθαι τοὺς ἀστερίσκους, ᾗ πλέουσι Φοίνικες. εὗρεν δ᾽ ὁ Προυσέληνο[ς] α̣ἰσίῳ σίττῃ ἐν τοῦ Δ̣ιδυμέος τὸν γέρ[ο]ντα κωνῄῳ ξύοντα τὴν γῆν καὶ γράφοντα τὸ σχῆμα, τοὐξεῦρ᾽ ὁ Φρὺξ Εὔφορβ⌊ος⌋, ὅστις ἀνθρώπων τρ⌊ίγ⌋ωνα καὶ σκ⌊αληνὰ⌋ πρῶτος ἔγρ⌊α⌋ψε καὶ κύκλον έπ[...]⌊κἠδίδαξε νηστεύειν τῶν ἐμπνεό⌊ντων‧ ο⌋ἱ̣ ⌊δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ οὐχ ὑπήκουσαν, οὐ πάντες, ἀλλ᾽ οὓς εἶχεν ⌊οὕτερος δαίμων. πρὸς δή [μ]ιν ὧδ᾽ ἔφησε.[ ἐκεῖ[νο] τοὐλόχρυσον ἐξ[ελὼν πήρης‧ ‘οὑμὸς πατὴρ ἐφεῖτο τοῦ[το τοὔκπωμα δοῦ[ναι], τίς ὑμέων τῶν σοφ[ῶν ὀνήιστος τῶν ἑπτά‧ κἠγὼ σοὶ δίδωμ[ι πρωτῇον.’ ἔτυψε δὲ] σκίπωνι τοὔδα[φος πρέσβυς καὶ τ]ὴν ὑπήνην τἠτέρῃ [καταψήχων ἐξεῖπ̣[ε‧] ‘τ̣ὴν δ̣ό̣σιν μὲν [οὐκ ἔγωγ᾽ ἄξω‧ σὺ δ᾽ εἰ̣ [το]κ̣εῶνος μὴ λό[γοις ἀπειθήσεις, Βίης [‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‘]ε̣ ι̣ λ̣[ . . . . . . *

Callimachus

Callimachus

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Callimachus (between 320 and 302–after 246 BCE) Th 52 Thales the Sage; variant on the story of the tripod. Iambus 1 tells among other things how Amphalaces of Arcadia fulfilled the instructions of his dying father to bring a golden cup to the best of the Seven Sages. From Thales the cup went to Bias, and after making the round of the Seven Sages returned again to Thales, who dedicated the cup to Apollo of Didyma with an inscription.1

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10

15

Iambus 1.52–77 He sailed to Miletus, for the victory belonged to Thales. In general he was clever in his judgment, and in particular it was said that he mapped the little stars of the Wain,2 by which the Phoenicians sail. And the Pre-mooner3 by happy chance4 found the old man in the temple of Didymean5 [Apollo], scratching the earth with a staff, constructing the figure discovered by Euphorbus6 the Phrygian, who was the first to construct triangles and scalenes and the circle ... and taught men to abstain from eating living things ... but they did not obey him – not all, but those who were possessed by the evil daimon.i To him he said thus ... after drawing from his bag the object of solid gold: ‘My father charged me to present this cup to the most usefulii of you Seven Sages; and I give the prizeiii to you.’ And the old man struck the ground with his stick, 1 2 3 4 5 6 i ii iii

Cf. also Scholia on Fr. 191 Iamb. 1, Dieg. VI 1–19 Pfeiffer. The Little Dipper. Cf. Aratus, Phainomena 42–44. A way of referring to the Arcadians, who boasted of their ancient origin – before the creation of the moon. Specifically, “under a happy bird-omen” (σίττη is a kind of bird [a nuthatch?]). The Didymaion was a sanctuary of Apollo near Miletus. Pythagoras, who claimed to have been Euphorbus, the Trojan warrior, in a previous life. W: der andere Daimon W: der Beste W: ich gebe ihn dir als ersten Preis

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Callimachus – Aristarchus of Samos

Σόλων‧ ἐκεῖνος δ᾽ ὡς Χίλων᾽ ἀπέστειλεν . . . . . . . πάλιν τὸ δῶρον ἐς Θάλητ᾽ ἀνώλισθεν . . . . . . . ‘Θάλης με τῷ μεδεῦντι Νείλεω δήμου δίδωσι, τοῦτο δὶς λαβὼν ἀριστῇον.’ Sim. (constellations/discoverer of the Great/Little Bear) Th  136, Th  178, Th 231, Th 235, Th 237 (1.23), Th 543, Th 573, Th 574, Th 578, Th 592; (Thales' prize/story of the tripod) Th 83, Th 95, Th 111, Th 235, Th 237 (1.27 ff.), Th 295, Th 375, Th 379, Th 504, Th 509, Th 536, Th 539; (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Timon of Phlious Th 53 Fr. 797 Suppl. Hell. (Diels Fr. B 23), cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.34)

Aristarchus of Samos Th 54 P. Oxy. 53.3710 col. 2.36–43 (ed. Bowen/Goldstein), cf. Th 91 (Komm. zu Od. 20.156)

Callimachus – Aristarchus of Samos

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25

65

and stroking his beard with his other hand, answered: ‘I will not accept the gift; but if you are not going to disobey your father’s words, Bias ... Solon. And he sent it to Chilon ... and the gift returned to Thales again.... ‘To the protector of the people of Neleus1 Thales dedicates me – this prize for excellence, which he twice received.’

Timon of Phlious (ca. 320/15–230/25 BCE) Th 53 Diogenes Laertius quotes a verse of Timon as evidence that Thales was an astronomer. Fr. 797 Suppl. Hell. (Diels Fr. B 23), cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.34)

Aristarchus of Samos (ca. 310–230 BCE) Th 54 A papyrus commentary on Homer’s Odyssey from the first cent. BCE contains a quotation from Aristarchus with information about Thales’ explanation of solar eclipses. P. Oxy. 53.3710 col. 2.36–43 (ed. Bowen/Goldstein), cf. Th 91 (Comm. on Od. 20.156)

1

Neileus, the mythical founder of Miletus. The cup which Thales dedicated is speaking.

66

Lobon of Argos – Hermippus of Smyrna

Lobon of Argos Th 55 Fr. 509 Suppl. Hell., cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.34 = AP 7.83)

Th 56 Fr. 510 Suppl. Hell., cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.39 = AP 7.84)

Hermippus of Smyrna Th 57 Fr. 10 Wehrli = FGrHist cont. IV A 3 1026 F 17, cf. Th 112 (Plu. Sol. 6.6.4– 7.3. 81D)

Th 58 Fr. 11 Wehrli = FGrHist cont. IV A 3 1026 F 13, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.33)

Th 59 Fr. 6 Wehrli = FGrHist cont. IV A 3 1026 F 10, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.42)

Lobon of Argos – Hermippus of Smyrna

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Lobon of Argos (3rd cent. BCE) Th 55 Diogenes Laertius says that Lobon reported that Thales’ writings consist of verses (Th 237 [1.34]). Moreover, Diogenes Laertius reports the inscription on the base of a statue of Thales, which rates him as the most noteworthy astronomer and which goes back to Lobon (ibid.). F. 509 Suppl. Hell., cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.34 = AP 7.83)

Th 56 Lobon also quotes a grave inscription which celebrates Thales’ fame. F. 510 Suppl. Hell., cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.39 = AP 7.84)

Hermippus of Smyrna (“the Callimachean,” 3rd cent. BCE) Th 57 Plutarch reports a conversation between Solon and Thales in which, on the occasion of the falsely reported death of Solon’s son, Thales produces an argument for his own childlessness, a story which according to Plutarch. citing the authority of Hermippus, goes back ultimately to Pataecus. Fr. 10 Wehrli = FGrHist cont. IV A 3 1026 F 17, cf. Th 112 (Plu. Sol. 6.6.4– 7.3.81D)

Th 58 Diogenes Laertius says that Hermippus attributed to Thales the saying sometimes ascribed to Socrates, that he is grateful for three things: that he was born a human, a man, and a Greek. Fr. 11 Wehrli = FGrHist cont. IV A 3 1026 F 13, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.33)

Th 59 According to Diogenes Laertius Hermippus names Thales as one of seventeen men variously listed among the Seven Sages. Fr. 6 Wehrli = FGrHist cont. IV A 3 1026 F 10, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.42)

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Hieronymus of Rhodes – T. Maccius Plautus

Hieronymus of Rhodes Th 60 Fr. 39 Wehrli2, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.26)

Th 61 Fr. 40 Wehrli2, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.27)

T. Maccius Plautus Th 62 Captivi 274–276 (ed. Lindsay) TYN. Eugepae! Thalem talento non emam Milesium, nam ad sapientiam huiius nimius nugator fuit. ut facete orationem ad seruitutem contulit! Sim. Th 63, Th 64

Th 63

5

Rudens 997–1006 (ed. Fay) TR Quo colore est? GR hoc colore capiuntur pauxilluli; sunt alii puniceo corio, magni autem; atque atri. TR scio. tu hercle, opino, in vidulum piscem te convortes, nisi caves: fiet tibi puniceum corium, postea atrum denuo. GR quod scelus hodie hoc inveni!

Hieronymus of Rhodes – T. Maccius Plautus

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Hieronymus of Rhodes (ca. 290–230 BCE) Th 60 According to Diogenes Laertius Hieronymus reports that Thales, in order to prove that it is easy to become wealthy, when he foresaw that there would be a large olive crop, rented the olive presses and made a huge profit. Fr. 39 Wehrli2, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.26)

Th 61 Diogenes Laertius refers to Hieronymus as a source for the story that Thales measured the height of the pyramids by the length of their shadow. Fr. 40 Wehrli2, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.27)

Titus Maccius Plautus (born ca. 250 BCE) Th 62 Thales the proverbial genius. In Roman comedy as well as Greek (see above Aristophanes, Th 18) Thales could be used as a prototype of a clever person. This is how the slave Tyndarus in The Captives praises his master Philocrates for his ability to imitate a slave: The Captives 274–276 Well done, my boy! I wouldn’t give a talent to buy Thales of Miletus. In comparison with this man’s wisdom he was just an amateur. How cleverly he’s altered his speech to sound like a servant!1

Th 63 Thales the proverbial genius. The Rope 997–1006 Tranchalio What color is it? Gripus The ones they catch that have this color are tiny. Others have red 1

A talent would be a low price for a Thales. But even if his price were so reasonable, Thales would be nothing in comparison with Philocrates for the same amount of money.

70 TR 10

15

GR TR GR TR GR TR GR TR

T. Maccius Plautus – Hippobotus

verba facimus; it dies. vide, sis, quoiius arbitratu nos vis facere. viduli arbitratu. itane? ita enim vero. stultus es. salue, Thales. tu istunc hodie non feres, nisi das sequestrum aut arbitrum, quoiius haec res arbitratu fiat. quaeso, sanun’ es? elleborosus sum.

Sim. Th 62

Th 64

5

Bacchides 120–124 (ed. Barsby) LY. An deus est ullus Suauisauiatio? PI. an non putasti esse umquam? o Lyde, es barbarus; quem ego sapere nimio censui plus quam Thalem, is stultior es barbaro poticio, qui tantus natu deorum nescis nomina. Sim. Th 62

Hippobotus Th 65 Fr. 6 Gigante, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.42)

T. Maccius Plautus – Hippobotus

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71

skins, but they’re big. There are black ones too. Tranch. I know. And I think that you will turn into a trunkfish yourself if you don’t watch out! First you will have red skin and then black. Gr. What a cursed mess this is that I’ve got into today! Tranch. These are just empty words. Time’s passing. Just tell me who do you want to decide this for us. Gr. Trunk. Tranch. Come again? Gr. That’s right. Tranch. You’re an idiot!i Gr. Hello, there, you Thales. Tranch. You will not carry that off today without appointing some trustee or judge by whose judgment this case will be decided. Gr. See here, are you sane? Tranch. No, I’m out of my mind!

Th 64ii

5

Thales the proverbial genius. Bacchides 120–124 Lydus Is there some god Sweetysweetiness? Pistoclerus Didn’t you ever suppose there was? You’re a barbarian, Lydus! And I thought you were so much wiser than Thales, but there you are – dumber than a barbarian babe in arms – at your age not knowing the names of the gods!

Hippobotus (active at the end of the 3rd cent. BCE) Th 65 According to Diogenes Laertius, Thales was listed as a Sage in Hippobotus’s catalogue of philosophers. Fr. 6 Gigante, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.42)

i ii

W. translates only this line and the next. W. does not translate this passage.

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Inscription in the Gymnasium of Tauromenium – Apollodorus

Inscription in the Gymnasium of Tauromenium Th 65a (ed. Blanck) Ἀναξίμανδρος Πραξιάδου Μιλήσιος ἐγέ[ν]ετο μὲν Θ[αλ]έω [...]. Sim. (Anaximander pupil/associate of Thales) Th 71, Th 80, Th 81, Th 134, Th 140, Th 143, Th 202, Th 211, Th 236, Th 239, Th 241, Th 265, Th 300, Th 311, Th 329, Th 391, Th 410, Th 431, Th 482a, Th 494, Th 540, Th 544

Sosicrates Th 66 FHG IV 501.10, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.38)

Apollodorus Th 67 FGrHist II B 244 F 28, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.37)

Inscription in the Gymnasium of Tauromenium – Apollodorus

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Inscription in the Gymnasium of Tauromenium (2nd cent. BCE) Th 65a (= Ar 23) Thales’ association with Anaximander. Inscription, probably from a list of the inventory of the library of the Gymnasium of Tauromenium. Anaximander of Miletus, the son of Praxiades. He was the [student, follower or the like] of Thales.

Sosicrates (flourished at the beginning of the 2nd cent. BCE) Th 66 According to Diogenes Laertius Sosicrates said that Thales was ninety years old when he died. FHG IV 501.10, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.38)

Apollodorus (ca. 180–ca. 110 BCE) Th 67 According to Diogenes Laertius, Apollodorus reported that Thales was born in the first year of the thirty-ninth Olympiad (624 BCE). FGrHist II B 244 F 28, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.37)

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Antipater of Sidon – M. Terentius Varro

Antipater of Sidon Th 68 AP 7.81 Ἑπτὰ σοφῶν, Κλεόβουλε, σὲ μὲν τεκνώσατο Λίνδος‧ φατὶ δὲ Σισυφία χθὼν Περίανδρον ἔχειν‧ Πιττακὸν ἁ Μιτυλᾶνα‧ Βίαντα δὲ δῖα Πριήνη‧ Μίλητος δὲ Θαλῆν, ἄκρον ἔρεισμα Δίκας‧ ἁ Σπάρτα Χίλωνα‧ Σόλωνα δὲ Κεκροπὶς αἶα, πάντας ἀριζάλου σωφροσύνας φύλακας.

5

Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

M. Terentius Varro Th 69

5

Res rusticae 2.1.3 (ed. Flach) Cum accepissem condicionem et meae partes essent primae [...] »Igitur«, inquam, »et homines et pecudes cum semper fuisse sit necesse natura  – sive enim aliquod fuit principium generandi animalium, ut putavit Thales Milesius et Zeno Citieus, sive contra principium horum extitit nullum, ut credidit Pythagoras Samius et Aristoteles Stagerites – necesse est humanae uitae a summa memoria gradatim descendisse ad hanc aetatem, ut scribit Dicaearchus, et summum gradum fuisse naturalem, cum viverent homines ex his rebus, quae inviolata ultro ferret terra.«

Antipater of Sidon – M. Terentius Varro

75

Antipater of Sidon (2nd cent.–1st cent. BCE) Th 68

5

Thales the Sage. Palatine Anthology 7.81 Of the Seven Sages, Cleobulus, Lindos gave you birth. The land of Sisyphus claims Periander as its own. Mytilene, Pittacus. Divinei Priene, Bias. Miletus that bulwark of Justice, Thales. Sparta, Chilon. The land of Cecrops, Solon. All were guardians of admirable prudence.ii

Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) Th 69

5

Thales’ views on the origin of animals. Res Rusticae 2.1.3 (ed. Flach) Since I had accepted the terms and the first parts were mine [...] I said, “Therefore, since both humans and beasts must always have existed by nature – for whether there was some beginning of the generation of animals, as Thales of Miletus thought, and Zeno of Citium, or to the contrary there was no beginning of them as Pythagoras of Samos believed and Aristotle of Stagira – human life must have descended gradually from the earliest memory to the present, as Dicaearchus writes, and that the earliest stage was natural, when humans lived on things which the unviolated earth brought forth voluntarily.

i ii

W: hehre W: Weisheit

76

M. Tullius Cicero

M. Tullius Cicero Th 70

5

De oratore 3.137 (ed. Wilkins) Sed ut ad Graecos referam orationem, quibus carere hoc quidem in sermonis genere non possumus – nam ut virtutis a nostris, sic doctrinae sunt ab illis exempla petenda – septem fuisse dicuntur uno tempore, qui sapientes et haberentur et vocarentur: hi omnes praeter Milesium Thalen civitatibus suis praefuerunt. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (political activity) Th 21 (q.v.)

Th 71

5

Academica priora sive Lucullus 118 (ed. Plasberg) Princeps Thales unus e septem, cui sex reliquos concessisse primas ferunt, ex aqua dixit constare omnia. at hoc Anaximandro populari et sodali suo non persuasit; is enim infinitatem naturae dixit esse e qua omnia gignerentur. post eius auditor Anaximenes infinitum aera, sed ea quae ex eo orerentur definita; gigni autem terram aquam ignem, tum ex iis omnia. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th  20 (q.v.); (Anaximander pupil/ associate of Thales) Th 65a (q.v.)

Th 72

5

De natura deorum 1.25–26 (ed. Pease) Thales enim Milesius, qui primus de talibus rebus quaesivit, aquam dixit esse initium rerum, deum autem eam mentem quae ex aqua cuncta fingeret (si dei possunt esse sine sensu). Et mentem cur aquae adiunxit, si ipsa mens constare potest vacans corpore? Anaximandri autem opinio est nativos esse deos longis intervallis orientis occidentisque, eosque innumerabilis esse mundos. [26] Sed nos deum nisi sempiternum intellegere qui possumus? Post Anaximenes aera deum statuit, eumque gigni esseque inmensum et infinitum et semper in motu; quasi aut aer sine ulla forma

M. Tullius Cicero

77

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BCE) Th 70 Thales the Sage. Cicero praises universal education as the foundation of eloquence.

5

On the Orator 3.137 But to bring my discussion back to the Greeks, who cannot be omitted at least in this kind of conversation – for just as we must look to our own people for examples of virtue, so we must look to them [the Greeks] for examples of learning – it is said that at one time there were seven persons who were both considered and called Sages. All of them except Thales of Miletus were the heads of their cities.1

Th 71 Thales the Sage; water as the first principle; Thales and Anaximander. There is great disagreement about the material principles of all things.

5

Lucullus 118 The first was Thales, the one of the Seven to whom the remaining six are said to have yielded the first place. He said that all things are made of water. But in this he did not persuade Anaximander, his fellow citizen and associate; he [Anaximander] said that there exists an infinitude of nature from which all things are generated. Afterwards his pupil Anaximenes held that air is infinite, but the things that originate from it are determinate; that earth, water and fire are generated, and then everything else [is generated] from them.

Th 72 Water as the first principle; his theological views. In De Natura Deorum 1.25–42, the Epicurean Velleius sets out twenty-seven different theological views beginning with Thales and extending to the second cent. BCE2 1 2

Cf. Th 21. On the question of sources and on the question of the influence of Cicero’s list on later authors (Minucius Felix, Lactantius, Augustine), cf. Gigon/Straume-Zimmermann 1996, 345 ff.

78

10

M. Tullius Cicero

deus esse possit, cum praesertim deum non modo aliqua sed pulcherrima specie deceat esse, aut non omne quod ortum sit mortalitas consequatur. Sim. (nature of god]) Th 73, Th 78, Th 90, Th 96, Th 121, Th 149, Th 150, Th 186, Th 207, Th 210, Th 216, Th 218, Th 219, Th 220, Th 229, Th 254, Th 258, Th 272, Th 338, Th 339, Th 340, Th 375, Th 376, Th 393, Th 424, Th 443, Th 458, Th 475, Th 485, Th 499 (however, cf. Th 311); (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 73

5

De nat. deor. 1.91–92 Etenim enumerasti memoriter et copiose, ut mihi quidem admirari luberet in homine esse Romano tantam scientiam, usque a Thale Milesio [Th 72] de deorum natura philosophorum sententias. [92] Omnesne tibi illi delirare visi sunt qui sine manibus et pedibus constare deum posse decreverint? Ne hoc quidem vos movet considerantis, quae sit utilitas quaeque oportunitas in homine membrorum, ut iudicetis membris humanis deos non egere? Sim. (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.)

Th 74

5

10

De re publica 1.21–22 (ed. Ziegler) Cuius ego sphaerae cum persaepe propter Archimedi gloriam nomen audissem, speciem ipsam non sum tanto opere admiratus; erat enim illa venustior et nobilior in volgus, quam ab eodem Archimede factam posuerat in templo Virtutis Marcellus idem. [22] sed posteaquam coepit rationem huius operis scientissime Gallus exponere, plus in illo Siculo ingenii quam videretur natura humana ferre potuisse iudicavi fuisse. dicebat enim Gallus sphaerae illius alterius solidae atque plenae vetus esse inventum, et eam a Thalete Milesio primum esse tornatam, post autem ab Eudoxo Cnidio, discipulo ut ferebat Platonis, eandem illam astris quae caelo inhaererent esse descriptam; [...] hoc autem sphaerae genus, in quo solis et lunae motus inessent et earum

M. Tullius Cicero

5

10

79

On the Nature of the Gods 1.25–26 For Thales of Miletus, who was the first to investigate these matters,i said that the origin of things is water, and that god is the intelligence that fashions everything from water (supposing that there can be gods who lack sensation). And why did he attach intelligence to water if intelligence can exist by itselfii without a body? Further, Anaximander’s view is that the gods are born, arising and perishing at great distances,iii 1 and that they are countless worlds. [26] But how can we conceive of a god that is not everlasting? Afterwards, Anaximenes made air a god and held that it is generated and is vast and infiniteiv and always in motion; as if air, lacking any definite form, could be a god – especially since god must not just have any appearance but the most beautiful one – or as if everything that has a beginning must not necessarily be mortal.

Th 73

5

Thales’ theological views. On the Nature of the Gods 1.91–92 And indeed you have fully recounted from memory the views of the philosophers on the nature of the gods, back to Thales of Miletus [Th 72], so I am delighted to express my admiration for such great knowledge in a Roman. [92] But do all of them who have decreed that there can be a god without hands and feet seem to you to be mad? When you contemplate the usefulness and suitability [to human activities] there is in human limbs, does even this not move you to conclude that the gods do not lack human limbs?v

Th 74 Thales as inventor of the celestial sphere. In the first book of Cicero’s De Re Publica, Lucius Furius Philus, one of the participants in the conversation, reports how once upon a time in the house 1

On the question whether longis intervallis is to be understood temporally or spatially, cf. Kahn 1960, 47 f.; Conche 1991, 104.

i ii iii iv v

W: Gegenständen. W: Allein. W: Zeitabständen. W: unbestimmt. W. does not translate the last sentence.

80

M. Tullius Cicero

quinque stellarum quae errantes et quasi vagae nominarentur, in illa sphaera solida non potuisse finiri, [...].

Th 75 Rep. 1.25 Erat enim tum haec nova et ignota ratio, solem lunae oppositu solere deficere, quod Thaletem Milesium primum vidisse dicunt. Sim. (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.)

Th 76

5

De legibus 2.26 (ed. Ziegler) Adfert enim haec opinio religionem utilem civitatibus, si quidem et illud bene dictum est a Pythagora doctissimo viro, tum maxume et pietatem et religionem versari in animis, cum rebus divinis operam daremus, et quod Thales qui sapientissimus in septem fuit, homines existimare oportere, omnia !quae" cernerent deorum esse plena; fore enim omnis castioris, veluti quom in fanis essent maxime religiosis. Est enim quaedam opinione species deorum in oculis, non solum in mentibus.

M. Tullius Cicero

81

of Marcus Marcellus, Sulpicius Gallus had explained the phenomenon of a double sun with the help of the celestial sphere of Archimedes, which Marcellus’s grandfather had brought from Syracuse.

5

10

De Re Publica 1.21–22 Although I had very often heard mention of this celestial globe because of Archimedes’ fame, I did not admire its actual appearance very much; for the other one, which the same Marcellus placed in the temple of Virtus and which was also constructed by Archimedes, is more beautiful as well as more highly esteemed among the people. [22] But when Gallus began to give a very learned account of the device, I concluded that the famous Sicilian had a greater share of genius than it would seem that human nature could produce. For Gallus said that the other kind of globe, which was solid, not hollow, was an early invention and that Thales of Miletus was the first to fashion that kind of globe,1 and later Eudoxus of Cnidus (a student of Plato, he claimed) marked it with the stars which are fixed in the heaven. [...] But this [newer] kind of globe, [he said], on which are found the motions of the sun, the moon and the five stars which are called wanderers, or, as we might say, rovers, – which could not have been marked out on the other kind of globe, which was solid [...]

Th 75 Thales’ explanation of eclipses. De Re Publica 1.25 For at that time this theory was new and unknown – that the sun is eclipsed by the interposition of the moon – a fact which Thales of Miletus is said to have been the first to observe.

Th 76 Thales the Sage. De Legibus 2.26 For this view [that the gods should have temples in cities] promotes a religious feelingi that is useful to cities, if indeed it was well said by Pythagoras, a most learned man, that piety and religious feeling are in our mindsii above 1

Cf. Diog. Laert. Vit. Phil. 2.2 (on Anaximander).

i ii

W: Achtung vor den Göttern. W: Herzen.

82

M. Tullius Cicero

Sim. (all things full of gods/daimons) Th 32 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Th 77

5

10

De divinatione 1.111–112 (ed. Ax) Rarum est quoddam genus eorum qui se a corpore avocent et ad divinarum rerum cognitionem cura omni studioque rapiantur: horum sunt auguria non divini impetus sed rationis humanae; nam et natura futura praesentiunt, ut aquarum eluviones et deflagrationem futuram aliquando caeli atque terrarum; alii autem in re publica exercitati, ut de Atheniensi Solone accepimus, orientem tyrannidem multo ante prospiciunt; quos prudentes possumus dicere id est providentes, divinos nullo modo possumus, non plus quam Milesium Thalem, qui ut obiurgatores suos convinceret ostenderetque etiam philosophum si ei commodum esset pecuniam facere posse, omnem oleam ante quam florere coepisset in agro Milesio coemisse dicitur: [112] animadverterat fortasse quadam scientia olearum ubertatem fore. et quidem idem primus defectionem solis, quae Astyage regnante facta est, praedixisse fertur. Sim. (the olive crop) Th 28 (q.v.); (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.)

Th 78

5

Div. 2.58 Sanguine[m] pluisse senatui nuntiatum est, Atratum etiam fluvium fluxisse sanguine[m], deorum sudasse simulacra. num censes his nuntiis Thalen aut Anaxagoran aut quemquam physicum crediturum fuisse? nec enim sanguis nec sudor nisi e corpore. sed et decoloratio quaedam ex aliqua contagione terrena maxume potest sanguini similis esse, et umor adlapsus extrinsecus, ut in tectoriis videmus austro, sudorem videtur imitari. Sim. (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.)

M. Tullius Cicero

5

83

all when we are performing religious rites, and in the saying of Thales, the wisest of the Seven, that people should believe that everything they see is full of gods, because then everyone would be more pure, as happens when they are in the holiest shrines. For there is a view that the gods can appear to our eyes as well as to our minds.

Th 77

5

10

Thales’ practical wisdom; the story of the olive crop. On Divination 1.111–112 Rare is that class of men who call themselves away from the body and are carried away by a concern and interest in the knowledge of things divine. The auguries of these men are due not to a divine impulse but to human reason. On the basis of [their knowledge of] nature they predict what will be, for example, floods and a future conflagration of heaven and earth. Some who are versed in statesmanship, as we have heard is the case with Solon of Athens, foresee the rise of tyranny far in advance. Wei can call these men prudent, that is, provident, but in no way can we call them divine,ii any more than Thales of Miletus, who, to refute his detractors and show that even a philosopher can make money if it is to his advantage to do so, is said to have purchased the entire olive crop in the plain of Miletus before [the olive trees] came into bloom. (112) Perhaps he had noticed because of some knowledge that there would be an abundant crop of olives. Moreover, he is said to have been the first to predict the eclipse of the sun that took place in the reign of Astyages.

Th 78

5

Thales as natural philosopher. On Divination 2.58 It was reported to the Senate that it had rained blood, that the river Atratus had flowed with blood and that statues of the gods had dripped with sweat. Surely you do not think that Thales, Anaxagoras, or any other natural philosopher would have believed such reports. Blood and sweat come only from a body. A discoloration produced by the contact of earth [with water] can be very like blood; and the moisture that forms on the outside of objects, as we see on plastered walls when the south wind blows, seems to resemble sweat. i ii

W.’s translation begins here. W: Prophetisch.

84

Nicolaus of Damascus – Strabo

Nicolaus of Damascus Th 79 FGrHist II A 90 F 68, cf. Th 503 (Const. Porph. Virt. 1.348.21–22)

Strabo Th 80

5

Geographica 1.1.11 (ed. Radt) Φανερῶς [δὲ κα]ὶ οἱ ἐπακολουθήσαντες αὐτῷ ἄνδρες ἀξιόλογοι [καὶ] οἰκεῖοι φιλοσοφίας. ὧν τοὺς πρώτους μεθ᾽ Ὅ[μηρο]ν δύο φησὶν Ἐρατοσθένης, Ἀναξίμανδρόν τε — Θαλοῦ [γεγο]νότα γνώριμον καὶ πολίτην — καὶ Ἑκαταῖον τὸν Μιλή[σιο]ν‧ τὸν μὲν οὖν ἐκδοῦναι πρῶτον γεωγραφικὸν [πίνα]κα, τὸν δὲ Ἑκαταῖον καταλιπεῖν γράμμα πιστού[μενο]ν ἐκείνου εἶναι ἐκ τῆς ἄλλης αὐτοῦ γραφῆς. Sim. (Anaximander pupil/associate of Thales) Th 65a (q.v.)

Th 81 Geog. 14.1.7 Ἄνδρες δ᾽ ἄξιοι μνήμης ἐγένοντο ἐν τῇ Μιλήτῳ Θαλῆς τε εἷς τῶν Ἑπτὰ σοφῶν, ὁ πρῶτος φυσιολογίας ἄρξας ἐν τοῖς Ἕλλησι καὶ μαθηματικῆς, καὶ ὁ τούτου μαθητὴς Ἀναξίμανδρος καὶ ὁ τούτου πάλιν Ἀναξιμένης· ἔτι δ᾽ Ἑκαταῖος [...]. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (mathematics/geometry) Th 92, Th 178, Th 237 (1.24), Th 252, Th 338, Th 380; (natural philosophy) Th 142, Th 151, Th 152, Th 153, Th 209, Th 210, Th 211, Th 212, Th 265, Th 267, Th 268, Th 408, Th 412, Th 413, Th 414, Th 419, Th 420, Th 441, Th 488, Th 522, Th 549, Th 550; (Anaximander pupil/associate of Thales) Th 65a (q.v.)

Nicolaus of Damascus – Strabo

85

Nicolaus of Damascus (born ca. 64 BCE) Th 79 In an extract from the Histories of Nicolaus of Damascus preserved by Constantinus Porphyrogenitus, it is reported how Croesus was rescued from being burned on the pyre by a thunderstorm which Thales had predicted. FGrHist II A 90 F 68, cf. Th 503 (Const. Porph. Virt. 1.348.21–22)

Strabo (before 62 BCE–between 23 and 25 CE) Th 80

5

Thales’ association with Anaximander. Geographica 1.1.11 It is clear that his [Homer’s] successors too were men of importance and they were familiar with philosophy.i Eratosthenes declares that the first two [geographers] who came after Homer were Anaximander, an acquaintance and fellow citizen of Thales, and Hecataeus of Miletus; that the former published the first geographical map, and that Hecataeus left behind him a work on geography,1 a work believed to be his on the basis of his other writings.2

Th 81 Thales the Sage and natural philosopher; Thales and Anaximander. Geographica 14.1.7 Memorable men were born at Miletus: Thales, one of the Seven Sages, the first among the Greeks to begin the study of natural philosophy and mathematics, and his student Anaximander, and in turn the student of the latter, Anaximenes, and Hecataeus as well.

1 2

γράμμα as opposed to the πίναξ of Anaximander. Cf. Conche 1991, 25 f., n. 3. The Περιήγησις or Γῆς περίοδος.

i

W. does not translate this first sentence.

86

Didorus Siculus – Didymos Chalcenterus

Diodorus Siculus Th 82

5

Bibliotheca historica 1.38.1–2 (ed. Bertrac) Ἐπειδὴ δὲ περὶ τῶν πηγῶν καὶ τῆς ῥύσεως αὐτοῦ διεληλύθαμεν, πειρασόμεθα τὰς αἰτίας ἀποδιδόναι τῆς πληρώσεως. [1.38.2] Θαλῆς μὲν οὖν, εἷς τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν ὀνομαζόμενος, φησὶ τοὺς ἐτησίας ἀντιπνέοντας ταῖς ἐκβολαῖς τοῦ ποταμοῦ κωλύειν εἰς θάλατταν προχεῖσθαι τὸ ῥεῦμα, καὶ διὰ τοῦτ᾽ αὐτὸν πληρούμενον ἐπικλύζειν ταπεινὴν οὖσαν καὶ πεδιάδα τὴν Αἴγυπτον. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th  20 (q.v.); (flooding of the Nile) Th 13 (q.v.)

Th 83

5

Bibl. Hist. 9.3.3 Ὅτι οἱ Μιλήσιοι ἀκολουθῆσαι βουλόμενοι τῷ χρησμῷ Θάλητι τῷ Μιλησίῳ [τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν] τὸ ἀριστεῖον ἐβούλοντο δοῦναι τὸν δ᾽ εἰπεῖν ὡς οὐκ ἔστι πάντων σοφώτατος, συμβουλεύειν δὲ πρὸς ἕτερον πέμπειν σοφώτερον. τούτῳ δὲ τῷ τρόπῳ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν ἀποποιησαμένων τὸν τρίποδα Σόλωνι δίδοσθαι δοκοῦντι πάντας ἀνθρώπους ὑπερβεβλῆσθαι σοφίᾳ τε καὶ συνέσει. τὸν δὲ συμβουλεῦσαι τοῦτον ἀναθεῖναι Ἀπόλλωνι‧ τοῦτον γὰρ εἶναι σοφώτερον πάντων. Sim. (Thales’ prize/story of the tripod) Th 52 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Didymus Chalcenterus Th 84 Symp. Fr. 4 Schmidt, cf. Th 201 (Clem. Al. Strom. 1.14.61.2–3)

Didorus Siculus – Didymos Chalcenterus

87

Diodorus Siculus (before 60–after 36 BCE) Th 82

5

Thales the Sage; his explanation of the flooding of the Nile. Bibliotheca Historica 1.38.1–2 Now that we have discussed its [the Nile’s] sources and its course we shall attempt to set out the causes of its rising. [1.38.2] Thalesi, who is named as one of the Seven Sages, says that when the etesian winds blow against the mouths of the river they hinder the stream from entering the sea and that this is why it rises and floods Egypt, which is a low and level plain.

Th 83ii

5

Thales the Sage; the story of the tripod. Bibliotheca Historica 9.3.3 Desiring to follow the injunction of the oracle, the Milesians wanted to award the prize to Thales of Miletus. But he declared that he was not the wisest of all and advised them to send it someone else who was wiser. In this way the rest of the Seven Sages rejected the tripod too, and it was given to Solon, who was thought superior to all men both in wisdom and in understanding. But he advised them to dedicate it to Apollo, since he was wiser than all.

Didymus Chalcenterus (second half of the 1st cent. BCE) Th 84 According to Clement, Didymus attributed the saying “Give a pledge and disaster is at hand” to Thales. Symp. Fr. 4 Schmidt, cf. Th 201 (Clem. Al. Strom. 1.14.51.2–3) i ii

W.’s translation begins here. W. does not translate this testimonium.

88

M. Vitruvius Pollio

M. Vitruvius Pollio Th 85 De architectura 2.2.1 (ed. Callebat) Thales primum aquam putauit omnium rerum esse principium. Heraclitus Ephesius, qui propter obscuritatem scriptorum a Graecis Σκοτεινός est appellatus, ignem; Democritus quique est eum secutus Epicurus atomos, quas nostri insecabilia corpora, nonnulli indiuidua uocitauerunt. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 86

5

10

Arch. 7. praef. 1–2 (ed. Liou/Zuinghedau) Maiores cum sapienter tum etiam utiliter instituerunt per commentariorum relationes cogitata tradere posteris, ut ea non interirent, sed singulis aetatibus crescentia uoluminibus edita gradatim peruenirent uetustatibus ad summam doctrinarum subtilitatem. Itaque non mediocres sed infinitae sunt his agendae gratiae quod non inuidiose silentes praetermiserunt, sed omnium generum sensus conscriptionibus memoriae tradendos curauerunt. [2] Namque si non ita fecissent, non potuissemus scire quae res in Troia fuissent gestae, nec quid Thales, Democritus, Anaxagoras, Xenophanes reliquique physici sensissent de rerum natura, quasque Socrates, Platon, Aristoteles, Zenon, Epicurus aliique philosophi hominibus agendae uitae terminationes finissent, seu Croesus, Alexander, Darius ceterique reges quas res aut quibus rationibus gessissent, fuissent notae, nisi maiores praeceptorum comparationibus omnium memoriae ad posteritatem commentariis extulissent.

M. Vitruvius Pollio

89

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (end of the 1st cent. BCE) Th 85i Water as the first principle. On Architecture 2.2.1 Thales declared that water is the first principle of all things. Heraclitus of Ephesus (who because of the obscurity of his writings was called Obscure by the Greeks), fire; Democritus, and Epicurus who followed him, atoms, which our writers have called uncuttable bodies, and some call them indivisible.

Th 86ii

5

10

Thales as author and natural philosopher. On Architecture 7, Preface 1–2 Our predecessors, wisely and with advantage, instituted the practice of passing down their thoughts to posterity in the form of treatises, so that they should not perish, but being improved over time and published as books, they should gradually attain over a lengthy period of time the highest refinement of learning. For this reason we owe them not a small debt of gratitude but an infinite amount, because they did not pass over them in jealous silence, but assured that their views on all kinds of things would be recorded in written works. [2] If they had not done so, we could not have known what happened at Troy, or the views on nature held by Thales, Democritus, Anaxagoras, Xenophanes, and the rest of the natural philosophers, or the goals of human conduct determined by Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, Epicurus, and other philosophers, nor would the deeds and purposes of Croesus, Alexander, Darius, and other monarchs have been known if our predecessors in their records and collections of opinions had not gathered all their precepts and published them in treatises for posterity for all to remember.

i ii

W. does not translate this testimonium. W. does not translate this testimonium.

90

M. Vitruvius Pollio – Anonymous

Th 87 Arch. 8. praef. 1 (ed. Callebat) De septem sapientibus Thales Milesius omnium rerum principium aquam est professus, Heraclitus ignem, Magorum sacerdotes aquam et ignem, Euripides, auditor Anaxagorae, quem philosophum Athenienses scaenicum appellauerunt, aera et terram [...]. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 88 Arch. 9.6.3 (ed. Soubiran) De naturalibus autem rebus Thales Milesius, Anaxagoras Clazomenius, Pythagoras Samius, Xenophanes Colophonius, Democritus Abderites rationes, quibus e rebus natura rerum gubernare[n]tur quemadmodumcumque effectus habeat, excogitatas reliquerunt. Sim. (writings) Th  108, Th  117, Th  181, Th  184, Th  191, Th  237 (1.23), Th 263, Th 300, Th 311, Th 314, Th 409, Th 422, Th 442, Th 461, Th 495, Th 501

Anonymous (Antipatros von Thessalonica ?) Th 89

5

AP 9.366 (Beckby) Ἑπτὰ σοφῶν ἐρέω κατ᾽ ἔπος πόλιν, οὔνομα, φωνήν. „Μέτρον“ μὲν Κλεόβουλος ὁ Λίνδιος εἶπεν „ἄριστον“‧ Χίλων δ᾽ ἐν κοίλῃ Λακεδαίμονι‧ „Γνῶθι σαυτόν‧ “ ὃς δὲ Κορίνθον ἔναιε „Χόλου κρατέειν“ Περίανδρος‧ Πιττακὸς „Οὐδὲν ἄγαν,“ ὃς ἔην γένος ἐκ Μυτιλήνης‧ „Τέρμα δ᾽ ὁρᾶν βιότοιο“ Σόλων ἱεραῖς ἐν Ἀθήναις. „Τοὺς πλέονας κακίους“ δὲ Βίας ἀπέφηνε Πριηνεύς. „Ἐγγύην φεύγειν“ δὲ Θαλῆς Μιλήσιος ηὔδα. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th  20 (q.v.); (wise sayings) Th  90, Th 96, Th 119, Th 120, Th 121, Th 122, Th 123, Th 125, Th 128, Th 137,

M. Vitruvius Pollio – Anonymous

91

Th 87i Water as the first principle. On Architecture 8, Preface 1 Of the Seven Sages Thales of Miletus declared that the principle of all things is water; Heraclitus, fire; the priests of the Magi, water and fire; Euripides, the pupil of Anaxagoras, whom the Athenians called the philosopher of the stage, air and earth [...].

Th 88 Thales as natural philosopher. On Architecture 9.6.3 Thales of Miletus, Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, Pythagoras of Samos, Xenophanes of Colophon and Democritus of Abdera left elaborate theories in natural philosophy about the entities that control nature, and how they work.

Anonymous (Antipater of Thessalonica ?, born ca. 1 CE) Th 89 Thales the Sage; his wise sayings. Antipater is accepted as the author of the poem about the Seven Sages that is transmitted in the Scholia on Plato’s Protagoras 343A (Greene) and is included in the Palatine Anthology. Palatine Anthology 9.366 I will say in verse the cities, names, and sayings of the Seven Sages. Cleobulus of Lindos said “Measure is best.” Chilon in the valley of Lacedaimon said “Know thyself.” Periander, who lived in Corinth, “Master anger.” i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

92

Anonymous – Commentary on Homer, Odyssey, book 20

Th 154, Th 200, Th 201, Th 207, Th 237 (1.35 f.), Th 290, Th 294, Th 295, Th 339, Th 341, Th 342, Th 351, Th 362, Th 363, Th 364, Th 365, Th 366, Th 367, Th 368, Th 369, Th 370, Th 371, Th 385, Th 386, Th 388, Th 395, Th 471, Th 495, Th 501, Th 510, Th 511, Th 525, Th 551, Th 552, Th 563, Th 563b, Th 564, Th 568, Th 578, Th 581 cf. Th 68, Th 137, Th 294 (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.).

Corpus Hermeticum Th 90 Fr. 28.1 Nock/Festugière (= Stob. 1.1.29a, vol. I, 34 Wachsmuth 1954 [= Th 339]) Θαλῆς ἐρωτηθείς, Τί πρεσβύτατον τῶν ὄντων; ἀπεκρίνατο‧ Θεός, ἀγέννητον γάρ. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Commentary on Homer, Odyssey, book 20 Th 91 Comm. on 20.156, P. Oxy. 53.3710 col. 2.36–43 (ed. Bowen/Goldstein) Ὅτι ἐν νουμηνίᾳ αἱ ἐκλείψεις δηλο[ῖ] Ἀρίσταρχος ὁ Σάμ[ι]ος γράφων‧ ἔφη τε ὁ μὲν Θαλῆς ὅτι ἐκλείπειν τὸν ἥλ[ι]ον σελήνης ἐπίπροσθεν αὐτῷ γενομένης, σημειουμένης τῇ κρύψει τῆς ἡμέρας,1 ἐν ᾗ ποιεῖται τὴν ἔκλειψιν, ἣ[ν] οἱ μὲν τριακάδα καλοῦσιν ο[ἱ] δὲ νουμηνίαν. Sim. (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.)

1

σημειουμένης τῇ κρύψει τῆς] coni. Haslam pro σημ̣ειουμε̣ [c.9]...τῆς: σημειούμε[νος τοὺς ὅρους] τῆς ἡμέρας κτλ. coni. Burkert 1993, 50.

Anonymous – Commentary on Homer, Odyssey, book 20 5

93

Pittacus, from Mytilene by birth, “Nothing in excess.” Solon, in holy Athens, “Look to the end of life.” Bias of Priene declared “Most men are evil.” Thales of Miletus pronounced “Avoid pledging.”

Corpus Hermeticum (1st–3rd Centuries CE) Th 90 Thales the Sage; his wise sayings. Fragment 28.1 When asked what is the oldest of existing things, Thales answered “God, for he is unbegotten” (cf. Th 121; Th 237 [Diog. Laert. 1.35]; Th 339; Th 564 [320a])

Commentary on Homer, Odyssey, book 20 (1st cent. CE ?)1 Th 91 Thales’ explanation of eclipses. Commentary on 20.156, Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 53.3710 col. 2.36–43 Aristarchus of Samos (Th 54) shows that eclipses occur at the new moon, writing: “Thales said that the sun is eclipsed when the moon comes to be in front of it, and that the day on which it causes the eclipse is marked by its concealment. This is the day that some people call the thirtieth and others call the new moon.2”

1 2

Cf. Bowen/Goldstein 1994, 696 f., 709, as well as Bowen 2002, 314 f. Cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.24).

94

Hero

Hero Th 92

5

Definitiones 136.1 (ed. Heiberg) Εὕρηται ἡ γεωμετρία πρῶτον μὲν ἐκ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, ἤγαγε δὲ εἰς τοὺς Ἕλληνας Θαλῆς. μετὰ δὲ τὸν Θαλῆν Μαμέρτιος ὁ Στησιχόρου ποιητοῦ ἀδελφὸς καὶ Ἱππίας ὁ Ἠλεῖος καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ὁ Πυθαγόρας ἄνωθεν τὰς ἀρχὰς αὐτῆς ἐπισκοπούμενος καὶ ἀύλως καὶ νοερῶς τὰ θεωρήματα διερευνώμενος καὶ μετὰ τοῦτον Ἀναξαγόρας καὶ ὁ Πλάτων καὶ Οἰνοπίδης ὁ Χῖος καὶ Θεόδωρος ὁ Κυρηναῖος καὶ Ἱπποκράτης πρὸ τοῦ Πλάτωνος. Sim. (mathematics/geometry) Th  81 (q.v.); (Egyptian influence) Th  108, Th 115, Th 116, Th 118, Th 147, Th 202, Th 204, Th 208, Th 214, Th 217, Th 237 (1.24, 1.27, 1.43), Th 249, Th 253, Th 262, Th 263, Th 271, Th 326, Th 374, Th 380, Th 426, Th 499, Th 500, Th 501, Th 507, Th 551, Th 578

Th 93

5

Def. 138.11 (Th 167) Τίς τί εὗρεν ἐν μαθηματικοῖς; Εὔδημος ἱστορεῖ (Th 47) ἐν ταῖς Ἀστρολογίαις, ὅτι Οἰνοπίδης εὗρε πρῶτος τὴν τοῦ ζωδιακοῦ διάζωσιν καὶ τὴν τοῦ μεγάλου ἐνιαυτοῦ περίστασιν, Θαλῆς δὲ ἡλίου ἔκλειψιν καὶ τὴν κατὰ τροπὰς αὐτοῦ περίοδον, ὡς οὐκ ἴση ἀεὶ συμβαίνει, Ἀναξίμανδρος δέ, ὅτι ἐστὶν ἡ γῆ μετέωρος καὶ κινεῖται περὶ τὸ τοῦ κόσμου μέσον, Ἀναξιμένης δέ, ὅτι ἡ σελήνη ἐκ τοῦ ἡλίου ἔχει τὸ φῶς, καὶ τίνα ἐκλείπει τρόπον. Sim. (solar eclipse) Th  10 (q.vs.); (sun’s orbit/solstices) Th  167, Th  178, Th 237 (1.23, 24), Th 265, Th 578

Hero

95

Hero (? 1st cent. CE) Th 92i

5

Thales and geometry. Definitions 1.36.11 Geometry was first discovered by the Egyptians. Thales brought it to the Greeks. After Thales, Mamertius, the brother of the poet Stesichorus, and Hippias of Elis, and afterwards Pythagoras, reflecting on its principles from above and investigating its theorems immaterially and intelligibly, and after him Anaxagoras, Plato, Oenopides of Chios, Theodorus of Cyrene, and Hippocrates who lived before Plato.

Th 93

5

Thales views on eclipses; his cosmology. Definitions 1.38.11 Who discovered what in mathematicsii? In his work Astronomy2 Eudemus (Th 47) reports that Oenopides3 was the first to discover the zodiac belt4 and the period of the great year. Thales [was the first to discover] the eclipse of the sun and that its path between the solstices is not equal.iii 5 Anaximander, that the earth is aloft and in motion6 around the center of the cosmos. Anaximenes, that the moon has its light from the sun and how it is eclipsed.

1

6

On the problems in the origin and dating of the last part of Hero’s collection of excerpts (Deff. 133–138), cf. Asper 2007, 80–1 with n. 164. On this title, cf. Bowen 2002, 311, n.8. Astronomer of the second half of the fifth cent. BCE The obliquity of the ecliptic? Cf. Szabó 1977, 343 with n. 11. Cf. Bowen 2002, 311, n. 10; KRS 83. Περίοδον is a conjecture of Fabricius for the transmitted text πάροδον. Cf. Th 237 (1.24). Or: lies (κεῖται); cf. on Th 167.

i ii iii

W. does not translate this testimonium. W: Astronomie. W: dass er [der Umlauf] nicht immer gleich verläuft.

2 3 4 5

96

Heraclitus the Stoic – Valerius Maximus

Heraclitus the Stoic Th 94

5

10

Quaestiones Homericae (= Allegoriae) 22.3–8 (ed. Buffière) Θάλητα μέν γε τὸν Μιλήσιον ὁμολογοῦσι πρῶτον ὑποστήσασθαι τῶν ὅλων κοσμογόνον στοιχεῖον τὸ ὕδωρ‧ ἡ γὰρ ὑγρὰ φύσις, εὐμαρῶς εἰς ἕκαστα μεταπλαττομένη, πρὸς τὸ ποικίλον εἴωθε μορφοῦσθαι. [4] Τό τε γὰρ ἐξατμιζόμενον αὐτῆς ἀεροῦται, καὶ τὸ λεπτότατον ἀπὸ ἀέρος αἰθὴρ ἀνάπτεται, συνιζάνον τε τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ μεταβαλλόμενον εἰς ἰλὺν ἀπογαιοῦται‧ [5] διὸ δὴ τῆς τετράδος τῶν στοιχείων ὥσπερ αἰτιώτατον ὁ Θάλης ἀπεφήνατο στοιχεῖον εἶναι τὸ ὕδωρ. [6] Τίς οὖν ἐγέννησε ταύτην τὴν δόξαν; οὐχ Ὅμηρος, εἰπών‧ Ὠκεανός, ὅσπερ γένεσις πάντεσσι τέτυκται, [7] […]; [8] Ἀλλ᾽ ὁ Κλαζομένιος Ἀναξαγόρας, κατὰ διαδοχὴν γνώριμος ὢν Θάλητος, συνέζευξε τῷ ὕδατι δεύτερον στοιχεῖον τὴν γῆν [...]. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th  29 (q.v.); (transformations of water) Th 179, Th 180, Th 195, Th 210, Th 259, Th 288, Th 289, Th 324, Th 415, Th 416, Th 421, Th 436, Th 448, Th 449, Th 450, Th 451, Th 452, Th 485, Th  523, Th  547; (the water hypothesis goes back to the first theologians/ Homer) Th 29 (q.v.)

Valerius Maximus Th 95

5

10

Facta et dicta memorabilia 4.1.7 (de externis) (ed. Kempf) Huius uiri [Pittacus] mentio subicit ut de septem sapientium moderatione referam. a piscatoribus in Milesia regione euerriculum trahentibus quidam iactum emerat. extracta deinde magni ponderis aurea Delphica mensa orta controuersia est, illis piscium se capturam uendidisse adfirmantibus, hoc fortunam ductus emisse dicente. qua cognitione propter nouitatem rei et magnitudinem pecuniae ad uniuersum ciuitatis eius populum delata placuit Apollinem Delphicum consuli cuinam adiudicari mensa deberet. deus respondit illi esse dandam, qui sapientia ceteros praestaret, his uerbis: τίς σοφίᾳ πρῶτος πάντων; τούτῳ τρίποδ᾽ αὐδῶ. tum Milesii consensu Thaleti mensam dederunt. ille cessit ea Bianti, Bias Pittaco, is protinus alii, deincepsque per omnium VII sapientium orbem ad ultimum ad Solonem peruenit,

Heraclitus the Stoic – Valerius Maximus

97

Heraclitus the Stoic (1st cent. CE, Augustus’s reign–Nero’s reign) Th 94

5

10

Water as the first principle. Homeric Questions (= Allegories) 22.3–8 They agree that Thales of Miletus was the first to hold that water is the cosmogonic element of all things. For the moist nature is easily fashioned to produce all things and take on many forms. [4] For when part of it turns to vapor it becomes air, and the finest part [of the air] is kindled and from air it becomes aether, and when water settles and changes into mud it turns into earth. [5] This is why Thales declared that of the quartet of elements, water is the element on the grounds that it is the most causal. [6] Now who gave birth to this doctrine? Not Homer, who said [Il. 14.246], “Okeanos who is the origin of all things,” [7] ... [8] But Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, who is known as belonging to the succession of Thales, joined earth to water as a second element [...].

Valerius Maximus (first half of the 1st cent. CE) Th 95i

5

Thales the Sage; the story of the tripod. Memorable Deeds and Words 4.1.7 (de externis) Mentioning this person [Pittacus] prompts me to speak of the modesty of the Seven Sages. In the area of Miletus it happened that when some fishermen were hauling in their net someone had bought their catch. A golden Delphic table of great weight was pulled out from it and there arose a dispute, with the fishermen asserting that they had sold a catch of fish, the other that he had bought the luck of the haul. Because of the unusual nature of the matter and the amount of money involved the controversy was brought to the en-

i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

98

Heraclitus the Stoic – Aristocles of Messene

qui et titulum amplissimae prudentiae et praemium ad ipsum Apollinem transtulit. Sim. (Thales' prize/story of the tripod) Th 52 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Th 96 Facta et dicta memorabilia 7.2.8 (de externis); cf. also Epitome Valerii Maximi 7.2.8. Mirifice etiam Thales: nam interrogatus an facta hominum deos fallerent ‚ne cogitata quidem‘ inquit, ut non solum manus, sed etiam mentes puras habere uellemus, cum secretis cogitationibus nostris caeleste numen adesse credidissemus. Sim. (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.) (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Aristocles of Messene Th 97 Fr. 1 Mullach (FPhG III 206) = Fr.1 Heiland. quotation from Aristotle, De Philosophia, book 7, cf. Th 268 (Eus. PE 11.3.1)

Valerius Maximus – Aristocles of Messene

10

99

tire population of the city, and it was decided to consult Apollo at Delphi as to who should be awarded the table. The god responded that it should be given to him who excelled all others in wisdom, in the following words: “Who is the first of all in wisdom? I declare the tripod to be his.” Then the Milesians by consensus gave the table to Thales. He yielded it to Bias, Bias to Pittacus, Pittacus then to another and so on through the entire round of the Seven Sages until finally it came to Solon, who transferred the title of greatest wisdom and the prize to Apollo himself.

Th 96 Thales the Sage; his wise sayings. Memorable Words and Deeds 7.2.8 (de externis) Thales too [said something] wonderful. Asked whether the gods fail to notice people’s actions, he said: “Not even their thoughts” (cf. Th 207; Th 237 [Diog. Laert. 1.36]; Th 564 [316]), so that we should wish to have not only our hands clean but our minds as well, if we believed that a celestial power is present when we have secret thoughts.

Aristocles of Messene (first half of the 1st cent. CE)1 Th 97 Eusebius cites Aristocles’ De Philosophia for the relation between Plato’s philosophy and that of the natural philosophers (including Thales). Fr. 1 Mullach (FPhG III 206) = Fr. 1 Heiland. Citation from the seventh book of Aristocles’ On Philosophy, cf. Th 268 (Eus. PE 11.3.1)

1

Cf. Moraux 1984, 89.

100

L. Annaeus Seneca

L. Annaeus Seneca Th 98 Naturales quaestiones 3.13.1 (ed. Hine) Adiciam, ut Thales ait, ‘ualentissimum elementum est.’ hoc fuisse primum putat, ex hoc surrexisse omnia. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 99

5

Nat. quaest. 3.14.1–2 Quae sequitur Thaletis inepta sententia est. ait enim terrarum orbem aqua sustineri et uehi more nauigii, mobilitateque fluctuare tunc cum dicitur tremere; ‘non est ergo mirum si abundat umore ad flumina profundenda, cum in umore sit totus.’ [2] hanc ueterem et rudem sententiam explode: nec !***nec"1 est quod credas in hunc orbem aquam subire per rimas et facere sentinam. Sim. (the Earth rests upon water) Th 30 (q.v.); (earthquakes) Th 101, Th 163, Th 210, Th 223, Th 338, Th 403, Th 485, Th 525, Th 526, Th 554, Th 555, Th 572

Th 100 Nat. quaest. 4A.2.22 Si Thaleti credis, etesiae descendenti Nilo resistunt, et cursum eius acto contra ostia mari sustinent: ita reuerberatus in se recurrit; nec crescit, sed exitu prohibitus resistit, et quacumque mox potuit in se congestus erumpit. Sim. (flooding of the Nile) Th 13 (q.v.)

1

lacunam indicavit Hine : nec !verisimile est terram in aquis natare, nec" ex. gr. supplendum esse uel non est quod scribendum esse coni. Hine.

L. Annaeus Seneca

101

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (ca. 1i–65 CE) Th 98 Water as the first principle. Natural Questions 3.13.1 I will add, as Thales says, “it is the most powerful element.” He thinks it was the first and that all things have arisen from it.

Th 99

5

Thales’ explanation of earthquakes. Natural Questions 3.14.1–2 The following view of Thales is silly. He says that the world is held up by water and rides on it like a ship, and because of its mobility, when it is said to tremble it is actually moving with the waves. “Therefore It is not surprising if there is plenty of moisture to make rivers flow since the whole earth is in moisture.” [2] Reject this crude and outdated view. Nor is there reason to believe that water enters this world through cracks and forms bilge.

Th 100 Thales’ explanation of the flooding of the Nile. Natural Questions 4A.2.22 If you believe Thales, the etesian winds hinder the Nile as it descends and hold back its current by driving the sea against its mouths. Beaten back in this way, it runs back on itself and does not actually increase; but since it is kept from flowing out it stops and, piling up upon itself, it soon bursts forth wherever it can.

i

W. has 0

102

L. Annaeus Seneca – Pamphila

Th 101

5

10

Nat. quaest. 6.6.1–2 In aqua causam esse nec ab uno dictum est nec uno modo. Thales Milesius totam terram subiecto iudicat umore portari et innare, siue illud oceanum uocas, seu magnum mare, siue alterius naturae simplicem adhuc aquam et umidum elementum. ‘hac’ inquit ‘unda sustinetur orbis uelut aliquod grande nauigium et graue his aquis quas premit.’ [2] superuacuum est reddere causas propter quas existimat grauissimam partem mundi non posse spiritu tam tenui fugacique gestari; non enim nunc de situ terrarum sed de motu agitur. illud argumenti loco ponit, aquas esse in causa quibus hic orbis agitetur, quod in omni maiore motu erumpunt fere noui fontes (sicut in nauigiis quoque euenit ut si inclinata sunt et abierunt in latus, aquam sorbeant, quae nimio1 eorum onere quae uehunt si inmodice depressa sunt, aut superfunditur aut certe dextra sinistraque solito magis surgit). Sim. (the Earth rests upon water) Th 30 (q.v.); (earthquakes) Th 99 (q.v.)

Pamphila Th 102 FHG III 520.1, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.24)

1

nimio Watt : (in) omni mss.: lacunam post in omni statuit Haase : impatiens Madvig : ui omni Gercke : enormi (et onere) Rossbach 1484 : ui Winterbottom : momine Shackelton Bailey | onere ed. Ven. : (h)onerum/(h)oneri mss.: onerariorum Michaelis 345 : motu (om. eorum) Leo : pondere (uel !pondere" eorum suppl.) Watt.

L. Annaeus Seneca – Pamphila

103

Th 101

5

10

Thales’ explanation of earthquakes. Natural Questions 6.6.1–2 That the cause [of earthquakes] is found in water is stated by more than one person and more than one account is given. Thales of Miletus judges that the whole earth is carried and floats upon moisture that lies underneath it, whether you call it the ocean, the great sea, or water of a different nature that is still uncompounded and simply the moist element. “On this water the earth is supported,” he says, “as a big heavy ship is supported by the water which it presses down upon.” [2] It is superfluous to give the reasons why he thinks that the heaviest part of the world cannot be carried by breath, which is so thin and mobile;1 for the present subject is not the earth’s location but its motion. He offers this argument that water is the cause of the earth’s agitation: in every major earthquake new springs usually burst forth, as it also happens that ships take on water if they tilt and lean to one side, and if they are pressed down too much when they are carrying excessive weight, either the water overwhelms them or it rises on the right and left sides more than usual.

Pamphila (mid-1st cent. CE) Th 102 According to Diogenes Laertius, Pamphile reports that Thales learned geometry from the Egyptians, that he was the first to inscribe a right-angled triangle in a circle and that he sacrificed an ox. FHG III 520, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.24)

1

Cf. Arist. Cael. 2.13 (above, Th 30).

104

Pomponius Mela – C. Plinius Secundus

Pomponius Mela Th 103

5

De chorographia 1.86 (ed. Parroni) Post Basilicum Ionia aliquot se ambagibus sinuat et primum a Posideo promunturio flexum inchoans cingit oraculum Apollinis, dictum olim Branchiadae, nunc Didym!e"i; Miletum, urbem quondam Ioniae totius belli pacisque artibus principem, patriam Thaletis astrologi et Timothei musici et Anaximandri physici aliorumque civium inclutis ingeniis merito inclutam, utcumque Ioniam vocant. Sim. (Thales as representative of astronomy) Th 106, Th 117, Th 136, Th 139, Th 156, Th 210, Th 224, Th 237 (1.23, 34), Th 307, Th 311, Th 387, Th 397, Th 409, Th 457, Th 468, Th 473, Th 538, Th 575, Th 585, Th 590

C. Plinius Secundus Th 104 Naturalis historia 1.1: Sources for lib. XVIII: Externis [...] (ed. Mayhoff) Dionysio qui Magonem transtulit. Diophane qui ex Dionysio epitomas fecit. Thalete. Eudoxo. Philippo. Callippo. Dositheo. Parmenisco. Metone. Critone. Oenopide. Conone. […]

Th 105 Nat. hist. 2.53 Apud Graecos autem investigavit primus omnium Thales Milesius Olympiadis XLVIII anno quarto praedicto solis defectu, qui Alyatte rege factus est urbis conditae anno CLXX. Sim. (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.)

Pomponius Mela – C. Plinius Secundus

105

Pomponius Mela (mid-1st cent. CE) Th 103i

5

Thales as citizen of Miletus. De Chorographia 1.86 After the Gulf of Basilicus, the coast of Ionia bends and twists, and when it begins its first turn after the promontory of Poseidon it enfolds the oracle of Apollo that was once called Branchiadae and now Didyma; Miletus, once the first city of all Ionia in the arts of war and peace, the fatherland of Thales the astronomer, Timotheus the musician and Anaximander the natural philosopher, and deservedly renowned for the celebrated abilities of other citizens as well, wherever they speak of Ionia.

Gaius Plinius Secundus (23/4–79 CE) Th 104ii Thales as author. Natural History 1.1 Foreign sources [of N.H. book 18, On Agriculture] [...] Dionysius’s translation of Mago, Diophanes’ summary of Dionysius, Thales, Eudoxus, Philippus, Calippus, Dositheus, Parmeniscus, Meton, Crito, Oenopides, Conon. [...]

Th 105 Thales’ prediction of an eclipse. Natural History 2.53 Among the Greeks the first of all to investigate [solar eclipses] was Thales of Miletus, who in the fourth year of the forty-eighth Olympiad (585 BCE) predicted the eclipse of the sun that occurred during the reign of King Alyattes, in the 170th year after the foundation of Rome.

i ii

W. does not translate this testimonium. W. does not translate this testimonium.

106

C. Plinius Secundus – Josephus

Th 106

5

Nat. hist. 18.212–13 Eorum, qui in eadem regione dissedere, unam discordiam ponemus exempli gratia: occasum matutinum vergiliarum Hesiodus – nam huius quoque nomine exstat astrologia – tradidit fieri, cum aequinoctium autumni conficeretur, Thales XXV die ab aequinoctio, Anaximander XXXI,1 Euctemon XLIIII, Eudoxus XLVIII. Sim. (equinox) Th 237 (1.23), Th 265, Th 495, Th 525, Th 538; (Thales as representative of astronomy) Th 103 (q.v.)

Th 107 Nat. hist. 36.82 Mensuram altitudinis earum omnemque similem deprehendere invenit Thales Milesius umbram metiendo, qua hora par esse corpori solet. Sim. (measurement of the height of the pyramid) Th 119, Th 237 (1.27)

Josephus Th 108

5

Contra Apionem 1.2 (ed. Reinach) Ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τοὺς περὶ τῶν οὐρανίων τε καὶ θείων πρώτους παρ᾽ Ἕλλησι φιλοσοφήσαντας, οἷον Φερεκύδην τε τὸν Σύριον καὶ Πυθαγόραν καὶ Θάλητα, πάντες συμφώνως ὁμολογοῦσιν Αἰγυπτίων καὶ Χαλδαίων γενομένους μαθητὰς ὀλίγα συγγράψαι, καὶ ταῦτα τοῖς Ἕλλησιν εἶναι δοκεῖ πάντων ἀρχαιότατα καὶ μόλις αὐτὰ πιστεύουσιν ὑπ᾽ ἐκείνων γεγράφθαι. Sim. (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.); (writings) Th 88 (q.v.)

1

XXXI Schol.Germ. XI.XX F1E. XXIX dv. XXX F2 D.

C. Plinius Secundus – Josephus

107

Th 106

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Thales as astronomer. Natural History 18.212–131 I will give one instance of disagreement as an example of people from the same countryi who have differing views: Hesiod – for there is extant a work on astronomy that bears his name – relates that the morning setting of the Pleiades occurs when the autumnal equinox takes place, whereas Thales puts it on the twenty-fifth day after the equinox,2 Anaximander on the thirty-first, Euctemon3 on the forty-fourth, and Eudoxus4 on the forty-eighth.

Th 107 Thales and geometry. Natural History 36.82 Thales of Miletus discovered a method of finding out their [the Pyramids’] height and of making any similar measurement, by measuring the shadow at the time when a body’s shadow is equal to its length.

Josephus (37/8–? 100 CE) Th 108

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Thales as astronomer and author; his association with Egypt. Against Apion 1.2 But as for the Greeks who were the first to philosophize about matters celestial and divine, such as Pherecydes of Syros, Pythagoras and Thales, everyone agrees unanimously that they wrote a few things after becoming students of the Egyptians and Chaldeans, and that these writings seem to the Greeks to be the most ancient of all, but it is hard for anyone to believe that they were written by those men.

1 2 3 4

W. incorrectly has 18.213. Cf. the reports on Thales’ astronomical writings (Th 237 [1.23], Th 495). Athenian astronomer and meteorologist of the fifth cent. BCE. Eudoxus of Cnidos, astronomer, mathematician and philosopher of the fourth centBCE.

i

W: in derselben Gegend [ihre Beobachtungen anstellten].

108

Plutarch

Plutarch Th 109 Solon 2.8.1–4.79E (ed. Ziegler) Καὶ Θαλῆν δέ φασιν ἐμπορίᾳ χρήσα σθαι καὶ Ἱπποκράτη τὸν μαθηματικόν, καὶ Πλάτωνι τῆς ἀποδημίας ἐφόδιον ἐλαίου τινὸς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ διάθεσιν γενέσθαι.

Th 110 Sol. 3.8.1–3.80B–C Καὶ ὅλως ἔοικεν ἡ Θάλεω μόνου σοφία τότε περαιτέρω τῆς χρείας ἐξικέσθαι τῇ θεωρίᾳ‧ τοῖς δ᾽ ἄλλοις ἀπὸ τῆς πολιτικῆς ἀρετῆς τοὔνομα τῆς σοφίας ὑπῆρξε. Sim. (wisdom without practical reason) Th 27 (q.v.)

Th 111 Sol. 4.7.1–4.80E Θεόφραστος δέ φησι (Th 37) πρῶτον μὲν εἰς Πριήνην Βίαντι τὸν τρίποδα πεμφθῆναι, δεύτερον δ᾽ εἰς Μίλητον Θαλῇ Βίαντος ἀποπέμψαντος‧ οὕτω δὲ διὰ πάντων πάλιν εἰς Βίαντα περιελθεῖν, καὶ τέλος εἰς Δελφοὺς ἀποσταλῆναι. Sim. (Thales’ prize/story of the tripod) Th 52 (q.v.)

Plutarch

109

Plutarch (ca. 45–before 125 CE) Th 109 Thales as businessman. At the beginning of his Life of Solon, Plutarch asserts that Solon engaged in trade, since in earlier times such an occupation and its associated travels were not at all objectionable. Solon 2.8.1–4.79E They say that Thales engaged in commerce, and so did Hippocrates the mathematician; and Plato covered the expenses of his travels by selling oil in Egypt.

Th 110 Thales as Sage; his theoretical interests. In view of Solon’s limited knowledge of natural philosophy Plutarch comes to the following general assessment: Solon 3.8.1–3.80B–C And in general, it seems that Thales was alone in his time in extending his wisdom beyond practical necessity to contemplation; the rest got their reputation for wisdom from their success as statesmen.

Th 111 Thales the Sage; the story of the tripod. Here too is told the story of the tripod (cf. especially Th 237 [1.27 ff.]). Solon 4.7.1–4.80E Theophrastus, however, says (Th 37) that the tripod was first sent to Priene for Bias, and next it was sent by Bias to Miletus for Thales, and so passed through all of them until once more it came around to Bias, and in the end it was dispatched to Delphi.1

1

Cf. also ibid. 13.155E (allusion to Bathycles’ cup).

110

Plutarch

Th 112 Sol. 6.6.4–7.3.81D ‛Ταῦτά τοι’ φάναι ‛ὦ Σόλων ἐμὲ γάμου καὶ παιδοποιίας ἀφίστησιν, ἃ καὶ σὲ κατερείπει τὸν ἐρρωμενέστατον. ἀλλὰ [6.7] θάρρει τῶν λόγων ἕνεκα τούτων‧ οὐ γάρ εἰσιν ἀληθεῖς.’ ταῦτα μὲν οὖν Ἕρμιππος ἱστορεῖν (s. Th 57) φησι Πάταικον, ὃς ἔφασκε τὴν Αἰσώπου ψυχὴν ἔχειν. Sim. (views on the family) Th 113, Th 129, Th 237 (1.26), Th 368, Th 369, Th 496, Th 512, Th 562, Th 564 (318)

Th 113

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Sol. 7.1.1–3.1.81D–E Ἄτοπος δὲ καὶ ἀγεννὴς ὁ τῷ φόβῳ τῆς ἀποβολῆς τὴν κτῆσιν ὧν χρὴ προϊέμενος‧ οὕτω γὰρ ἄν τις οὐ πλοῦτον, οὐ δόξαν, οὐ σοφίαν ἀγαπήσειε παραγενομένην, [2] δεδιὼς στέρεσθαι. καὶ γὰρ ἀρετήν, ἧς κτῆμα μεῖζον οὐδὲν οὐδ᾽ ἥδιον, ἐξισταμένην ὑπὸ νόσων καὶ φαρμάκων ὁρῶμεν, αὐτῷ τε Θαλῇ μὴ γήμαντι πλέον οὐδὲν εἰς ἀφοβίαν, εἰ μὴ καὶ φίλων κτῆσιν ἔφυγε καὶ οἰκείων καὶ πατρίδος. ἀλλὰ καὶ παῖδα θετὸν ἔσχε ποιησάμενος αὐτὸς [3] τὸν τῆς ἀδελφῆς ὥς φασι Κύβισθον. Sim. (views on the family) Th 112 (q.v.)

Th 114 Sol. 12.11.1–12.1.84F Ὅμοιον δέ τι καὶ Θαλῆν εἰκάσαι λέγουσι‧ κελεῦσαι γὰρ αὑτὸν ἔν τινι τόπῳ τῆς Μιλησίας φαύλῳ καὶ παρορωμένῳ τελευτήσαντα θεῖναι, προειπὼν ὡς ἀγορά ποτε τοῦτο Μιλησίων ἔσται τὸ χωρίον.

Plutarch

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Th 112 Thales’ views on marriage and family. In the sixth chapter (cf. Solon 5.1–2) Plutarch speaks of a visit of Solon to Thales in Miletus. Solon asked why Thales had no wife or children. At first Thales did not answer, but a few days later he got a stranger to tell Solon that he had returned from a trip to Athens. When Solon asked for news the stranger finally said that Solon’s son had died. Thales took Solon, who was extremely distressed, by the hand and laughingly said: Solon 6.6.4–7.3.81D “This, Solon”, [Thales] said, “is what keeps me from marriage and having children; it ruins even you, who are the sturdiest of men. But [6.7] don’t worry about these words because they are not true.” This is what Hermippus1 (Th 57) says Pataecus reported, he who insisted that he had Aesop’s soul.

Th 113i

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Thales’ views on marriage and family. Solon 7.1.1–3.1.81D–E Anyone who refuses to pursue what he should aim to acquire out of fear of losing it is peculiar and unworthy; for anyone who thinks like this cannot be contented with wealth, honor or wisdom, [2] in fear that he may be deprived of them. We even see cases where virtue, the most important and pleasing thing to possess, is lost through sickness and drugs. Even if Thales himself did not marry, he still would have had grounds to fear, unless he also avoided having friends, or relatives, or a country. On the contrary, he had an adopted son, [3] Cybisthus, his sister’s son, as they say.

Th 114 Thales’ practical wisdom. Plutarch refers to a prophecy of Epimenides of Crete (counted by some as one of the Seven Sages) about the Athenian fortress at Munychia: the Athenians would destroy this place if they knew how much misfortune it would bring in the future.2

2

Biographer (2nd half of the third cent. BCE). On the arrangement of the episode, cf. Bollansée 1999, 118 f., without mention of Pataecus; Wehrli 1974, 49 f. This was connected with the later Macedonian occupation under Antipater.

i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

1

112

Plutarch

Th 115 De Iside et Osiride 9–10.354D–E; 9.10–14 (ed. Sieveking) Ἡ μὲν οὖν εὐλάβεια τῆς περὶ τὰ θεῖα σοφίας Αἰγυπτίων τοσαύτη [ἦν], μαρτυροῦσι δὲ καὶ τῶν Ἑλλήνων οἱ [354E] σοφώτατοι, Σόλων Θαλῆς Πλάτων Εὔδοξος Πυθαγόρας, ὡς δ᾽ ἔνιοί φασι, καὶ Λυκοῦργος εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἀφικόμενοι καὶ συγγενόμενοι τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν. Sim. (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.)

Th 116 De Is. et Os. 34.364C–D; 33.24–34.3 Οἴονται δὲ καὶ Ὅμηρον ὥσπερ Θαλῆν [364D] μαθόντα παρ᾽ Αἰγυπτίων ὕδωρ ἀρχὴν ἁπάντων καὶ γένεσιν τίθεσθαι‧ τὸν γὰρ Ὠκεανὸν Ὄσιριν εἶναι, τὴν δὲ Τηθὺν Ἶσιν ὡς τιθηνουμένην πάντα καὶ συνεκτρέφουσαν. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.)

Th 117

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De Pythiae oraculis 18.402F–403A; 44.9–14 (ed. Sieveking) Οὐδ᾽ ἀστρολογίαν ἀδοξοτέραν ἐποίησαν οἱ περὶ Ἀρίσταρχον καὶ Τιμόχαριν καὶ Ἀρίστυλλον καὶ Ἵππαρχον καταλογάδην γράφοντες, ἐν μέτροις πρότερον Εὐδόξου [403A] καὶ Ἡσιόδου καὶ Θαλοῦ γραφόντων, εἴ γε Θαλῆς ἐποίησεν ὡς ἀληθῶς εἰπεῖν 〈τὴν〉 εἰς αὐτὸν ἀναφερομένην Ἀστρολογίαν. Sim. (Thales as representative of geometry) Th 103 (q.v.); (writings) Th 88 (q.v.)

Plutarch

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Solon 12.11.1–12.1.84F They say that Thales made a similar conjecture. He gave instructions for his burial in an unpretentious and neglected place in the territory of Miletus, predicting that someday that spot would be the market place of the Milesians.

Th 115i Thales’ association with Egypt. Isis and Osiris 9–10.354D–E So great, then, was the reverence of the Egyptians in their wisdom about religion. The wisest of the Greeks [354E] also testify to this: Solon, Thales, Plato, Eudoxus and Pythagoras, who all went to Egypt and associated with the priests.

Th 116 Water as the first principle. From Plutarch’s writing on the meaning of the Egyptian myth of Isis and Osiris we learn many peculiarities of Egyptian religion and culture. Isis and Osiris 34.365C–D They [the Egyptians] think that Homer1 too, like Thales, [364D] posited water as the principle and origin of all things, after learning [this doctrine] from the Egyptians; for Okeanos is Osiris, and Tethys is Isis, since she nurses and nurtures all things.

Th 117 Thales as astronomer and author. The discussion of the Pythian oracle centers on the question why wise sayings are no longer in meter but are given in plain prose. Comparable developments in philosophy and science are given to support the thesis that this should not be interpreted as a decline. Early philosophers such as Orpheus, Hesiod, Xenophanes and Empedocles had published their doctrines in the 1

Iliad 14.201.

i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

114

Plutarch

Th 118 Septem sapientium convivium 2.146D–E; 301.2–5 (ed. Paton/Wegehaupt/ Gärtner) Ἐβαδίζομεν οὖν ἐκτραπόμενοι διὰ τῶν χωρίων καθp [146E] ἡσυχίαν, καὶ μεθ᾽ ἡμῶν τρίτος ὁ Ναυκρατίτης Νειλόξενος, ἀνὴρ ἐπιεικὴς καὶ τοῖς περὶ Σόλωνα καὶ Θαλῆν γεγονὼς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ συνήθης. Sim. (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.)

Th 119

5

10

Sept. sap. conv. 2. 147A–B; 301.19–302.10 Ἐπεὶ σοῦ γε καὶ τἄλλα θαυμάζει, καὶ τῆς πυραμίδος τὴν μέτρησιν ὑπερφυῶς ἠγάπησεν, ὅτι πάσης ἄνευ πραγματείας καὶ μηδενὸς ὀργάνου δεηθεὶς ἀλλὰ τὴν βακτηρίαν στήσας ἐπὶ τῷ πέρατι τῆς σκιᾶς ἣν ἡ πυραμὶς ἐποίει, γενομένων τῇ ἐπαφῇ τῆς ἀκτῖνος δυεῖν τριγώνων, ἔδειξας ὃν ἡ σκιὰ πρὸς τὴν σκιὰν λόγον εἶχε τὴν πυραμίδα πρὸς τὴν βακτηρίαν ἔχουσαν. ἀλλ᾽, ὅπερ ἔφην, διεβλήθης μισοβασιλεὺς εἶναι, καί τινες ὑβριστικαί σου [147B] περὶ τυράννων ἀποφάσεις ἀνεφέροντο πρὸς αὐτόν, ὡς ἐρωτηθεὶς ὑπὸ Μολπαγόρου τοῦ Ἴωνος τί παραδοξότατον εἴης ἑωρακώς, ἀποκρίναιο ‘τύραννον γέροντα’, καὶ πάλιν ἔν τινι πότῳ, περὶ τῶν θηρίων λόγου γενομένου, φαίης κάκιστον εἶναι τῶν μὲν ἀγρίων θηρίων τὸν τύραννον, τῶν δ᾽ ἡμέρων τὸν κόλακα τοιαῦτα γάρ, εἰ καὶ πάνυ προσποιοῦνται διαφέρειν οἱ βασιλεῖς τῶν τυράννων, οὐκ εὐμενῶς ἀκούουσιν.’ ‘ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μέν’ εἶπεν ὁ Θαλῆς ‘Πιττακοῦ ἐστιν, εἰρημένον ἐν παιδιᾷ ποτε πρὸς Μυρσίλον‧ ἐγὼ δὲ θαυμάσαιμ᾽ ἄν’ ἔφη1 ‘οὐ τύραννον ἀλλὰ κυβερνήτην γέροντα θεασάμενος’. 1

ἔφην Onv II ἔφη Ο

Plutarch

115

form of poetry. But although this practice was later abandoned, it does not affect the value of the philosophical content. On the Oracles of the Pythia 18.402F–403A; 44.9–14 Nor did Aristarchus, Timocharis, Aristyllus, Hipparchus1 and their associates make astronomy less reputable by writing in prose, although Eudoxus2, [403A] Hesiod and Thales previously wrote in verse, if indeed Thales really composed the work Astronomy which is attributed to him.

Th 118i Thales’ association with Egypt. The Dinner of the Seven Sages3 takes place at a symposium held at the court of Periander, the tyrant of Corinth. Thales is present and his stay in Egypt is mentioned briefly. Dinner of the Seven Sages 2.146D–E And so we proceeded to walk, leaving the road and going through the fields at [146E] our leisure. Niloxenus of Naucratis was with the two of us, a capable man, who had associated with Solon and Thales and their group in Egypt.

Th 119 Thales and geometry, his association with Egypt and his wise sayings. Niloxenus, the emissary of Amasis, King of Egypt, says to Thales that Bias of Priene was not valued by the king only for his wisdom but also because, unlike the others, he did not refuse the friendship of kings. Dinner of the Seven Sages 2.147A–B ... since in fact he [the king] admires you for other reasons, and in particular he was immensely delighted with your method of measuring the pyramid, because, without making any big effort or asking for any special equip1

2 3 i

Aristarchus of Samos, astronomer and mathematician (ca. 310–230 BCE); Timocharis, astronomer in the time of Ptolemy I; Aristyllus, astronomer, contemporary of Timocharis; Hipparchus of Nicaea, astronomer of the second cent. BCE. Eudoxus of Cnidus, cf. n. on Th 106. The following passages from the Dinner, in which Thales plays a principal role, are an excerpt. W. does not translate this testimonium.

116

Plutarch

Sim. (measurement of the height of the pyramid) Th 107 (q.v.); (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 120

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Sept. sap. conv. 7.152A; 311.24–312.4 Μικρὸν οὖν ἐπισχὼν ὁ Σόλων ‛ἐμοὶ μέν’ ἔφη ‛δοκεῖ μάλιστ᾽ ἂν ἔνδοξος γενέσθαι καὶ βασιλεὺς καὶ τύραννος, εἰ δημοκρατίαν ἐκ μοναρχίας κατασκευάσειε τοῖς πολίταις.’ δεύτερος δ᾽ ὁ Βίας εἶπεν, ‛εἰ πρῶτος1 χρῷτο τοῖς νόμοις τῆς πατρίδος.’ ἐπὶ τούτῳ δ᾽ ὁ Θαλῆς ἔφησεν εὐδαιμονίαν ἄρχοντος νομίζειν, εἰ τελευτήσειε γηράσας κατὰ φύσιν. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 121

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Sept. sap. conv. 9.153C–D; 314.21–315.4 ‘Τί πρεσβύτατον;’ ‘θεός’ ἔφη Θαλῆς‧ ‘ἀγέννητον γάρ ἐστι.’ ‘τί μέγιστον;’ ‘τόπος‧ τἄλλα μὲν γὰρ ὁ κόσμος, τὸν δὲ κόσμον οὗτος περιέχει.’ ‘τί κάλλιστον;’ ‘κόσμος‧ [153D] πᾶν γὰρ τὸ κατὰ τάξιν τούτου μέρος ἐστί.’ ‘τί σοφώτατον;’ ‘χρόνος‧ τὰ μὲν γὰρ εὕρηκεν οὗτος ἤδη, τὰ δ᾽ εὑρήσει.’ ‘τί κοινότατον;’ ‘ἐλπίς‧ καὶ γὰρ οἷς ἄλλο μηδέν, αὕτη πάρεστι.’ ‘τί ὠφε1

Paton/Wegehaupt read τρόποις. I follow Ω Stob. M.

Plutarch

5

10

117

ment, you simply set your staff upright at the end of the pyramid’s shadow, and, since two triangles were formed by the contact of the sun’s rays, you showed that [the height of] the pyramid has the same ratio to [the length of] the staff as the one shadow has to the other. But, as I said, you have been slandered as being an enemy of kings, and some offensive statements [147B] of yours about despots were reported to him – for example, that when you were asked by Molpagoras of Ionia what was the most unexpectedi thing you had ever seen, you replied, ‘an aged tyrant’ (cf. Th 128; Th 237 [Diog. Laert. 1.36]; Th 564 [321e]). And again he was told that once at a drinking party when there was a discussion about animals, you said that the worst kind of wild animal is a tyrant, and the worst tame animal is a flatterer. Now even if kings claim that they are very different from tyrants, they do not take it kindly when they hear such words.” “But,” said Thales, “that saying belongs to Pittacus, and he once said it as a joke about Myrsilus. But I myself would be amazed to see,” he continued, “not an aged tyrant but an aged ship’s pilot.”1

Th 120 Thales’ wise sayings. Later comes the question as to what constitutes the fame or good fortune of a ruler.

5

Dinner of the Seven Sages 7.152A Solon paused for a moment and then said, “In my view a king or a tyrant would gain the highest reputation if from a monarchy he were to establish a democracy for the citizens.” Bias spoke second, saying, “If he were the first to obey his country’s laws.” After him Thales declared that he thought a ruler’s happiness consists in reaching old age and dying a natural death (cf. Th 367).

Th 121 Thales’ wise sayings. During the dinner a letter of Amasis to Bias is read out, which speaks of a contest of wisdom between Amasis and the King of Ethiopia. The Egyptian king had sent a question to the Ethiopian, whose answer did not satisfy Thales. He therefore gives his own answers: 1

Cf. Gigante 1983, 217 f.

i

W: Widersprüchliches.

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Plutarch

λιμώτατον;’ ‘ἀρετή‧ καὶ γὰρ τἄλλα τῷ χρῆσθαι καλῶς ὠφέλιμα ποιεῖ.’ ‘τί βλαβερώτατον;’ ‘κακία‧ καὶ γὰρ τὰ πλεῖστα1 βλάπτει παραγενομένη.’ ‘τί ἰσχυρότατον;’ ‘ἀνάγκη‧ μόνον γὰρ ἀνίκητον.’ ‘τί ῥᾷστον;’ ‘τὸ κατὰ φύσιν, ἐπεὶ πρὸς ἡδονάς γε πολλάκις ἀπαγορεύουσιν.’ Sim. (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.); (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 122 Sept. sap. conv. 11.154E; 317.8–9 Ἐπὶ τούτῳ Θαλῆς τὴν μήτε πλουσίους ἄγαν μήτε πένητας ἔχουσαν πολίτας. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 123 Sept. sap. conv. 12.155D; 319.1–2 Ὁ δὲ Θαλῆς ‘ἐν ᾧ πλείστην ἄγειν τῷ δεσπότῃ σχολὴν ἔξεστιν.’ Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 124 Sept. sap. conv. 15.158C; 325.7–11 ‘Ως δὲ Θαλῆς λέγει τῆς γῆς ἀναιρεθείσης σύγχυσιν τὸν ὅλον ἕξειν κόσμον, οὕτως οἴκου διάλυσις 〈ἡ τροφῆς κατάλυσις〉 ἐστι‧ συναναιρεῖται γὰρ αὐτῇ πῦρ ἑστιοῦχον ἑστία κρατῆρες ὑποδοχαὶ ξενισμοί, φιλανθρωπότατα καὶ πρῶτα κοινωνήματα πρὸς ἀλλήλους [...].

1

alternative reading: χρηστά.

Plutarch

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119

Dinner of the Seven Sages 9.153C–D What is oldest? “God,” said Thales; “for God is unbegotten” (cf. Th 90). What is biggest? “Place; for the cosmos contains within it everything else, but this [i.e., place] contains the cosmos“(cf. Th 351). What is most beautiful? “The cosmos; [153D] for everything that is orderly is a part of it.” What is wisest? “Time; for it has already discovered some things and it will discover the rest” (cf. Th 342).1 What is most widely shared? “Hope; for those who have nothing else have that” (cf. Th  371). What is most beneficial? “Virtue; for it makes everything else beneficial by putting it to a good use.” What is most harmful? “Vice; for it harms the greatest number of things by its presence” (Th 363). What is strongest? “Necessity; for it alone is invincible” (cf. Th 154; Th 341; Th 395). What is easiest? “What is natural; for people often discourage us from pursuing pleasures” (cf. in general the list in Th 237 [Diog. Laert. 1.34]; Th 564 [320]).

Th 122 Thales’ wise sayings. Dinner of the Seven Sages 11.154E [The best democracy.] After him Thales said that it is one that has citizens neither too rich nor too poor (cf. Th 366).

Th 123 Thales’ wise sayings. Dinner of the Seven Sages 12.155D [The best household.] Thales said, [it is the one] “in which it is possible for the head of the household to have the most leisure” (cf. Th 370).

Th 124 Thales’ cosmology. A discussion on vegetarianism. Cleodorus pleads for eating meat. Dinner of the Seven Sages 15.158C As Thales says, if the earth is destroyed it will be the ruin of the whole cosmos; in the same way [putting an end to nourishment] is the dissolution 1

Cf. Arist. Ph. 4.13.222b16 f.; Kahn 1960, 170 f.; Schibli 1990, 29, n.39.

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Plutarch

Th 125 Sept. sap. conv. 17.160E; 330.1–5 ‘Ὀκνῶ δ᾽ ἀκούσας Θαλέω ποτ᾽ εἰπόντος ὅτι δεῖ τὰ μὲν εἰκότα λέγειν, τὰ δ᾽ ἀμήχανα σιωπᾶν.’ ὑπολαβὼν οὖν ὁ Βίας ‘ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτ᾽’ ἔφη ‘Θαλέω τὸ σοφόν ἐστιν, ὅτι δεῖ τοῖς μὲν ἐχθροῖς καὶ περὶ τῶν πιστῶν ἀπιστεῖν, τοῖς δὲ φίλοις καὶ τὰ ἄπιστα πιστεύειν, [...]’. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 126 Sept. sap. conv. 21.163D; 336.5–8 Μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον ὁ Ἀνάχαρσις εἶπεν ὅτι τοῦ Θαλέω καλῶς ὑπολαμβάνοντος ἐν πᾶσιν εἶναι τοῖς κυριωτάτοις μέρεσι τοῦ κόσμου καὶ μεγίστοις ψυχήν, οὐκ ἄξιόν ἐστι θαυμάζειν εἰ τὰ κάλλιστα περαίνεται θεοῦ γνώμῃ. Sim. (the cosmos/the universe/everything has a soul) Th 32 (q.v.)

Th 127 De Herodoti malignitate 15.857F; 14.10–12 (ed. Häsler) Καὶ μὴν τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν, οὓς αὐτὸς σοφιστὰς προσεῖπε, τὸν μὲν Θάλητα Φοίνικα τῷ γένει τὸ ἀνέκαθεν ἀποφαίνεται βάρβαρον. Sim. (Phoenician ancestry) Th  12 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Plutarch

121

of the household. For when an end to put to it, that is the end of the hearthfire, the hearth, wine-bowls, hospitality and entertainment – the most humane and basic acts of community among people.

Th 125 Thales’ wise sayings. Later Gorgos, the brother of Periander, makes a contribution and informs them about his spectacular experiences. Periander says that he badly wants to speak about what they have just heard, but he is still hesitant: Dinner of the Seven Sages 17.160E “But I hesitate, since once I heard Thales say that we should say what is probable but be silent about what is impossible.” Then Bias interrupted and said, “But Thales also made this wise saying, that we should disbelieve our enemies even about the believable, and should believe our friends even about the unbelievable.”

Th 126 Thales’ Phoenician ancestry. Later are related miraculous stories about the fondness of dolphins for humans, which must have tested the listeners’ credibility: Dinner of the Seven Sages 21.163D Following him [Pittacus] Anacharsis said that as Thales had done well to suppose that there is a soul in all the principal and most important parts of the cosmos, it is inappropriate to wonder whether the most excellent things are brought to pass by the judgment of God.

Th 127 Thales’ Phoenician ancestry. On the Malice of Herodotus 15.857F; 14.10–12 Then again among the Seven Sages (whom he [Herodotus] calls “sophists”) he represents Thales as a Phoenician in origin (Th 12), of barbarian ancestry.

122

Plutarch

Th 128

5

De genio Socratis 6.578C–D; 468.9–19 (ed. Sieveking) Ταῦτα τοῦ Θεοκρίτου λέγοντος ὁ Λεοντίδης ἐξῄει μετὰ τῶν φίλων, ἡμεῖς δ᾽ εἰσελθόντες ἠσπαζόμεθα τὸν Σιμμίαν ἐπὶ τῆς κλίνης καθεζόμενον οὐ κατατετευχότα τῆς δεήσεως, οἶμαι, μάλα σύννουν καὶ διαλελυπημένον‧ ἀποβλέψας δὲ πρὸς ἅπαντας ἡμᾶς ‛ὦ Ἡράκλεις,’ εἶπεν [578D] ‛ἀγρίων καὶ βαρβάρων ἠθῶν‧ εἶτ᾽ οὐχ ὑπέρευ Θαλῆς ὁ παλαιὸς ἀπὸ ξένης ἐλθὼν διὰ χρόνου τῶν φίλων ἐρωτώντων ὅ τι καινότατον ἱστορήκοι ‛τύραννον’ ἔφη ‛γέροντα.’ καὶ γὰρ ᾧ μηδὲν ἰδίᾳ συμβέβηκεν ἀδικεῖσθαι, τὸ βάρος αὐτὸ καὶ τὴν σκληρότητα τῆς ὁμιλίας δυσχεραίνων ἐχθρός ἐστι τῶν ἀνόμων καὶ ἀνυπευθύνων δυναστειῶν. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 129

5

Quaestiones convivales 3.6.3.654B–C; 103. 5–13 (ed. Hubert) Καὶ γὰρ ὃ Ζώπυρος εἴρηκε νῦν, ἔχει τινὰ λόγον, καὶ τὸν ἕτερον καιρὸν ἄλλας ἀκαιρίας ἔχοντα πρὸς τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ δυσχερείας ὁρῶ. καθάπερ οὖν Θαλῆς ὁ σοφὸς ὑπὸ τῆς μητρὸς ἐνοχλούμενος γῆμαι [654C] κελευούσης † πῶς ὑπεξέφυγε παρήγαγε λέγων πρὸς αὐτὴν ἐν ἀρχῇ μέν ‛οὔπω καιρὸς ὦ μῆτερ,’ ὕστερον δ᾽ ‛οὐκέτι καιρὸς ὦ μῆτερ’, οὕτως ἄρα καὶ πρὸς ἀφροδίσια κράτιστον [ἔσται] ἔχειν ἕκαστον, ὥστε κατακλινόμενον λέγειν ‛οὔπω καιρός’, ἀνιστάμενον δ᾽ ‛οὐκέτι καιρός’.’ Sim. (views on the family) Th 112 (q.v.)

Th 130

5

De sollertia animalium 16.971A–C; 41.1–17 (ed. Hubert) Πανουργίας δὲ πολλῶν παραδειγμάτων ὄντων, ἀφεὶς ἀλώπεκας καὶ λύκους καὶ τὰ γεράνων σοφίσματα καὶ [971B] κολοιῶν, ἔστι γὰρ δῆλα, μάρτυρι χρήσομαι Θαλῇ τῷ παλαιοτάτῳ τῶν σοφῶν, ὃν οὐχ ἥκιστα θαυμασθῆναι λέγουσιν ὀρέως τέχνῃ περιγενόμενον. τῶν γὰρ ἁληγῶν ἡμιόνων εἷς ἐμβαλὼν εἰς ποταμὸν ὤλισθεν αὐτομάτως καὶ τῶν ἁλῶν διατακέντων ἀναστὰς ἐλαφρὸς ᾔσθετο τὴν αἰτίαν καὶ κατεμνημόνευσεν‧ ὥστε διαβαίνων ἀεὶ τὸν ποταμὸν ἐπίτηδες ὑφιέναι καὶ βαπτίζειν τὰ ἀγγεῖα, συγκαθίζων καὶ ἀπονεύων εἰς ἑκάτερον μέρος. ἀκούσας οὖν ὁ Θαλῆς ἐκέλευσεν ἀντὶ τῶν ἁλῶν ἐρίων τὰ ἀγγεῖα καὶ σπόγγων ἐμπλήσαντας καὶ ἀναθέν-

Plutarch

123

Th 128i

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Thales’ wise sayings. On the Sign of Socrates 6.578C–D While Theocritus was saying this, Leontiades was leaving together with his friends and we entered and were greeting Simmias, who was seated on his couch, very gloomy and distressed, doubtless because his petition had failed. Looking at all of us, he said: “My God! [578D] What cruel and barbarous characters they have! Didn’t Thales of old give an excellent answer when his friends asked him, after he had returned from a long stay abroad, what was the strangest thing he had found out, and he said “an aged tyrant” (cf. Th 119, Th 564 [321e]). For even someone who has not suffered any personal harm is an enemy of lawless and unaccountable power on account of his disgust at the oppressive and harsh ways of such men.

Th 129ii

5

Thales’ views on marriage and family. Table Talk 3.6.3.654B–C For what Zopyrus has just said has some sense, and I also see that the other time [that was suggested] has different difficulties and problems of timing. Therefore, the same way that Thales the Sage escaped when he was being bothered by his mother’s continual demands that he get married [654C], and misled her by saying to her at first, “It is not yet the right time, mother,” and later, “It is no longer the right time, mother” (cf. Th 237 [Diog. Laert. 1.26]; Th 564 [318]), so the best way for each man to deal with sex is to say, when he goes to bed, “It is not yet the right time,” and when he gets up, “It is no longer the right time.”

Th 130

5

Thales outsmarts a mule. On the Cleverness of Animals 16.971A–C; 41.1–17 There are many examples of cunning, but I will pass over foxes and wolves and the tricks of cranes and [971B] jackdaws, for they are well known, and use as my witness Thales, the first of the Sages, who, they say, was admired not least for getting the better of a mule by a trick. One of the mules that carry salt accidentally slipped after entering a river and, since the salt dissolved, the i ii

W. does not translate this testimonium. W. does not translate this testimonium.

124 10

Plutarch – D. Iunius Iuvenalis

τας ἐλαύνειν τὸν [971C] ἡμίονον. ποιήσας οὖν τὸ εἰωθὸς καὶ ἀναπλήσας ὕδατος τὰ φορτία συνῆκεν ἀλυσιτελῆ σοφιζόμενος ἑαυτῷ, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν οὕτω προσέχων καὶ φυλαττόμενος διέβαινε τὸν ποταμόν, ὥστε μηδ᾽ ἄκοντος αὐτοῦ τῶν φορτίων παραψαῦσαι τὸ ὑγρόν.

Th 131 De E apud Delphos 3.385D–E; 3.24–27 (ed. Sieveking) Λέγουσι γὰρ ἐκείνους τοὺς σοφοὺς ὑπ᾽ ἐνίων δὲ σοφιστὰς προσαγορευθέντας αὐτοὺς μὲν [385Ε] εἶναι πέντε, Χίλωνα καὶ Θαλῆν καὶ Σόλωνα καὶ Βίαντα καὶ Πιττακόν. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

D. Iunius Iuvenalis Th 132

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10

Saturae 13.180–191 (ed. Willis) ‚At vindicta bonum vita iucundius ipsa.‘ nempe hoc indocti quorum praecordia nullis interdum aut levibus videas flagrantia causis. quantulacunque adeo est occasio, sufficit irae. Chrysippus non dicet idem nec mite Thaletis ingenium dulcique senex vicinus Hymetto, qui partem acceptae saeva inter vincla cicutae accusatori nollet dare. plurima felix paulatim vitia atque errores exuit omnes prima docens rectum sapientia. quippe minuti semper et infirmi est animi exiguique voluptas ultio.

124 10

Plutarch – D. Iunius Iuvenalis

τας ἐλαύνειν τὸν [971C] ἡμίονον. ποιήσας οὖν τὸ εἰωθὸς καὶ ἀναπλήσας ὕδατος τὰ φορτία συνῆκεν ἀλυσιτελῆ σοφιζόμενος ἑαυτῷ, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν οὕτω προσέχων καὶ φυλαττόμενος διέβαινε τὸν ποταμόν, ὥστε μηδ᾽ ἄκοντος αὐτοῦ τῶν φορτίων παραψαῦσαι τὸ ὑγρόν.

Th 131 De E apud Delphos 3.385D–E; 3.24–27 (ed. Sieveking) Λέγουσι γὰρ ἐκείνους τοὺς σοφοὺς ὑπ᾽ ἐνίων δὲ σοφιστὰς προσαγορευθέντας αὐτοὺς μὲν [385Ε] εἶναι πέντε, Χίλωνα καὶ Θαλῆν καὶ Σόλωνα καὶ Βίαντα καὶ Πιττακόν. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

D. Iunius Iuvenalis Th 132

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Saturae 13.180–191 (ed. Willis) ‚At vindicta bonum vita iucundius ipsa.‘ nempe hoc indocti quorum praecordia nullis interdum aut levibus videas flagrantia causis. quantulacunque adeo est occasio, sufficit irae. Chrysippus non dicet idem nec mite Thaletis ingenium dulcique senex vicinus Hymetto, qui partem acceptae saeva inter vincla cicutae accusatori nollet dare. plurima felix paulatim vitia atque errores exuit omnes prima docens rectum sapientia. quippe minuti semper et infirmi est animi exiguique voluptas ultio.

Plutarch – D. Iunius Iuvenalis

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125

animal was lighter when it got up. It recognized the cause of this and remembered it. And so, every time it crossed the river it deliberately ducked down and wet the bags, crouching down and leaning to each side in turn. When Thales heard of this, he told them to fill the bags with wool and sponges instead of salt, to load the mule and drive [971C] it. So when it played its usual trick and soaked its load with water, it understood that its cunning was unprofitable and from then on it was so attentive and cautious when it crossed the river that the moisture never touched its burden even by accident.1

Th 131i Thales the Sage. Originally there were five Sages, not seven, and this gave rise to an interpretation of the letter E, as the fifth letter. The E at Delphi 3.385D–E; 3.24–27 For they say that those Sages whom some called sophists [385E] are five: Chilon, Thales, Solon, Bias, and Pittacus.

Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis (67–after 99/100 CE) Th 132

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Thales the Sage. Satires 13.180–191 “Vengeance is a good that is sweeter than life itself!”ii This is what the ignorant think, whose hearts you see on fire for the slightest of reasons or for no reason at all. However small the occasion, it is enough for their anger.iii But Chrysippus will not say the same, nor will the gentle genius of Thales or the old man who lived near sweet Hymettus, who would not have wished to give his accuser any of the hemlock he accepted in his cruel bondage.

1

Cf. Th 227 and also Babrius, Fable 111 (Lachmann); Aesop, Fable 180 (Perry).

i ii iii

W. does not translate this testimonium. W: schöner selbst als das Leben. W: Wie gering is nicht ein Anlass, dass er nicht dem Zorn genügte.

126

Sabinus – Agathemerus

Sabinus Th 133 Gal. in Hipp. de nat. hom. 1.15.24.14–25.6 = Mewaldt CMG V 9.1.15.11–18, cf. Th 182

Agathemerus Th 134 Geographiae informatio 1.1–2 (ed. Müller) Ἀναξίμανδρος ὁ Μιλήσιος, ἀκουστὴς Θάλεω, πρῶτος ἐτόλμησε τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐν πίνακι γράψαι. Sim. (Anaximander pupil/associate of Thales) Th 65a (q.v.)

Sabinus – Agathemerus

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127

Wisdom, which makes us happy, gradually rids us of our very many vices and all our errors, firsti teaching us what is rightii. For indeed revenge is always the pleasure of a small, weak and trivial mind.

Sabinus (1st/2nd cent. CE) Th 133 According to Galen, Sabinus writes that according to Thales man consists of water. Galen, Commentary on Hippocrates’ On the Nature of Man 1.15.24.14– 25.6 = Mewaldt CMG V 9.1.15.11–18, cf. Th 182

Agathemerus (1st/2nd cent. CE)1 Th 134 Thales and Anaximander. Geography 1.1–2 Anaximander of Miletusiii, the pupil of Thales, was the first who dared to draw the inhabited world on a tablet.

1

Cf. Diller 1975, 59.

i ii iii

W: in ihren Anfängen. W. does not translate rectum. W. does not translate ὁ Μιλήσιος.

128

Pseudo-Plutarch – Pseudo-Hyginus

Pseudo-Plutarch Th 135 Stromata: Strom. Fr. 179.1–40 Sandbach, cf. Th 260 (Eus. PE 1.7.16–8.3)

Pseudo-Hyginus Th 136

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De astronomia 2.2.3 (ed. Le Boeuffle) Incidit etiam compluribus erratio, quibus de causis minor Arctus Phoenice appelletur, et illi qui hanc obseruant uerius et diligentius nauigare dicantur: quare, si haec sit certior quam maior, non omnes hanc obseruent. Qui non intellegere uidentur, de qua historia sit profecta ratio ut Phoenice appellaretur. Thales enim, qui diligenter de his rebus exquisiuit et hanc primus Arctum appellauit, natione fuit Phoenix, ut Herodotus Milesius dicit. Igitur omnes qui Peloponnesum incolunt, priore utuntur Arcto; Phoenices autem, quam a suo inuentore acceperunt, obseruant, et hanc studiosius perspiciendo diligentius nauigare existimantur, et uere ab inuentoris genere Phoenicen appellant. Sim. (constellations/discoverer of the Great/Little Bear) Th 52 (q.v.); (Thales as representative of astronomy) Th 103 (q.v.); (Phoenician ancestry) Th 12 (q.v.)

Th 137 Fabula 221 (ed. Marshall) CCXXI SEPTEM SAPIENTES Pittacus Mitylenaeus, Periander Corinthius, Thales Milesius, Solon Atheniensis, Chilon Lacedaemonius, Cleobulus Lindius, Bias Prieneus. sententiae eorum sunt: 5

Optimus est, Cleobulus ait, modus, incola Lindi; ex Ephyre Periandre doces, Cuncta emeditanda; Tempus nosce, inquit Mitylenis Pittacus ortus; Plures esse malos Bias autumat ille Prieneus;

Pseudo-Plutarch – Pseudo-Hyginus

129

Pseudo-Plutarch (2nd cent. CE)1 Th 135 Eusebius cites (Pseudo-)Plutarch on the philosophers’ views about principles, stating that Thales was the first to hold water to be the principle of all things, for all things are from it and return to it. Stromata: Strom. Fr. 179.1–40 Sandbach, cf. Th 260 (Eus. PE 1.7.16–8.3)

Pseudo-Hyginus (2nd cent. CE) Th 136

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Thales as astronomer. On Astronomy 2.2.3 Very many people fall into error on the question why the Little Bear is called Phoenice, and why those who sail by it are said to sail more accurately and carefully, and why, if it is more reliable than the Great Bear, everyone does not sail by it. They do not seem to understand the background for the reason it is called Phoenice. For Thales, who researched these matters carefully and was the first to call it the Bear, was a Phoenician by descent, as Herodotus of Miletus says. Therefore all the inhabitants of the Peloponnese make use of the first Bear; the Phoenicians, however, [sail by] the one they learned about from the person who discovered it, and they are thought to sail more unerringly because they observe it more carefully, and truly they call it Phoenice from the race of its discoverer.

Th 137i Thales the Sage; his wise sayings. Fable 2212 The Seven Sages Pittacus of Mitylene, Periander of Corinth, Thales of Miletus, Solon of Athens, Chilon of Lacedaimon, Cleobulus of Lindos, Bias of Priene. Their sayings are these:

1 2

Cf. Diels 19582, 156 ff. Cf. Anthologia Latina 882 (Riese).

i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

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Pseudo-Hyginus – Maximus of Tyre

Milesiusque Thales Sponsori damna minatur; Nosce, inquit, tete, Chilon Lacedaemone cretus; Cepcropiusque Solon Ne quid nimis induperauit. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Maximus of Tyre Th 138

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Dialexeis 26.2.f.1–h.2 (ed. Koniaris) Καὶ Ὅμηρος μὲν ἀποκηρύττεται φιλοσοφίας, ὁ ἡγεμὼν τοῦ γένους, ἀφ᾽ οὗ δὲ τὰ ἐκ Θρᾴκης καὶ Κιλικίας σοφίσματα εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα παρέδυ, καὶ ἡ Ἐπικούρου ἄτομος, καὶ τὸ Ἡρακλείτου πῦρ, καὶ τὸ Θαλοῦ ὕδωρ, καὶ τὸ Ἀναξιμένους πνεῦμα, καὶ τὸ Ἐμπεδοκλέους νεῖκος, καὶ ὁ Διογένους πίθος, καὶ τὰ πολλὰ τῶν φιλοσόφων στρατόπεδα ἀντιτεταγμένα ἀλλήλοις [26.2.g] καὶ ἀντιπαιωνίζοντα, λόγων μὲν πάντα μεστὰ καὶ ψιθυρισμάτων, σοφιστῶν σοφισταῖς συμπιπτόντων, ἔργου [26.2.h] δὲ ἐρημία δεινή‧ καὶ τὸ θρυλούμενον τοῦτο, τὸ ἀγαθόν, ὑπὲρ οὗ διέστηκεν καὶ διεστασίασται τὸ Ἑλληνικόν, οὐδεὶς ὁρᾷ. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (the first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 139

5

Dial. 29.7.i.1–l.1 Τὴν δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀγέλην, τὴν σύννομον, τὴν ἡμερωτάτην, τὴν κοινωνικοτάτην, τὴν λογικωτάτην, κινδυνεύει διαλύειν καὶ διασπᾶν οὐκ ἐπιθυμία δημώδης μόνον, οὐδὲ ὀρέξεις ἄλογοι, οὐδὲ ἔρωτες κενοί, [29.7.k] ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ βεβαιότατον τῶν ὄντων, φιλοσοφία‧ πολλοὺς καὶ αὕτη δήμους ποιεῖ καὶ νομοθέτας μυρίους· διασπᾷ καὶ διασκίδνησιν τὴν ἀγέλην, καὶ πέμπει ἄλλον ἀλλαχοῦ, Πυθαγόραν μὲν ἐπὶ μουσικήν, Θαλῆ〈ν〉 δὲ ἐπὶ ἀστρονομίαν, Ἡράκλειτον δὲ ἐπὶ ἐρημίαν, Σωκράτην δὲ ἐπὶ ἔρωτας, Καρνεάδην δὲ ἐπὶ ἄγνοιαν, Διογένην [29.7.l] ἐπὶ πόνους, Ἐπίκουρον ἐφ᾽ ἡδονήν. Sim. (as representative of astronomy) Th 103 (q.v.)

Pseudo-Hyginus – Maximus of Tyre 5

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131

“Measure is best,” says Cleobulus, the inhabitant of Lindos. Periander of Ephyra, you teach that “All things must be planned carefully”. “Recognize the right time,” says Pittacus, born of Mitylene. “Most people are bad,” affirms that Bias of Priene. And Milesian Thales warns of loss to him who pledges. “Know thyself,” says Chilon, born at Lacedaimon. Cepcropian Solon commands “Nothing in excess.”

Maximus of Tyre (2nd cent. CE) Th 138

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Water as the first principle. Dissertations 26.2.f.1–h.2 And Homer, the leader of the group [of philosophers], is banned from philosophy from the time when sophisms from Thrace and Cilicia slipped into Greece, as well as Epicurus’s atom, Heraclitus’s fire, Thales’ water, Anaximenes’ breath, Empedocles’ strife, Diogenes’ jar, and the many camps of philosophers drawn up in formation against one another and [26.2g] shouting their war cries, everything full of words and whispering, of sophists battling sophists, but a frightening absence [26.2h] of results. And no one sees this famed thing, the good, on behalf of which the Greek world is at odds and divided into factions.

Th 139

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Thales as astronomer. Dissertations 29.7.i.1–11 The herd of humans, which grazes together most tamely, sociably and rationally, is in danger of dissolving and being torn asunder not only by banal desires or irrational appetites or pointless love, [29.7k] but by the most certain of all things, philosophy. This too creates many villages and myriads of lawgivers, but it tears asunder and scatters the herd and sends men in different directions, Pythagorasi to music, Thales to astronomy,

i

W.’s translation begins here and extends to “love.”

132

Sextus Empiricus

Sextus Empiricus Th 140

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Pyrrhoniae hypotyposes 3.30 (ed. Mutschmann) Περὶ μὲν οὖν τῆς δραστικῆς τοσαῦτα νῦν ἀρκέσει λελέχθαι‧ συντόμως δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν ὑλικῶν καλουμένων ἀρχῶν λεκτέον. ὅτι τοίνυν αὗταί εἰσιν ἀκατάληπτοι, ῥᾴδιον συνιδεῖν ἐκ τῆς περὶ αὐτῶν γεγενημένης διαφωνίας παρὰ τοῖς δογματικοῖς. Φερεκύδης μὲν γὰρ ὁ Σύριος γῆν εἶπε τὴν πάντων εἶναι ἀρχήν, Θαλῆς δὲ ὁ Μιλήσιος ὕδωρ, Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ ὁ ἀκουστὴς τούτου τὸ ἄπειρον, Ἀναξιμένης δὲ καὶ Διογένης ὁ Ἀπολλωνιάτης ἀέρα [...]. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (Anaximander pupil/associate of Thales) Th 65a (q.v.)

Th 141 Adversus mathematicos 7.5 (ed. Mutschmann/Mau) Φυσικὸν μὲν οὖν μόνον ὑπεστήσαντο μέρος Θαλῆς τε καὶ Ἀναξιμένης καὶ Ἀναξίμανδρος, Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τε καὶ Παρμενίδης καὶ Ἡράκλειτος, ὧν Θαλῆς μὲν καὶ Ἀναξιμένης καὶ Ἀναξίμανδρος κατὰ πάντας καὶ ἀναμφιλέκτως, ὁ δὲ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς καὶ Παρμενίδης ἔτι δὲ Ἡράκλειτος οὐ κατὰ πάντας.

Th 142

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Math. 7.89 Ἀλλ᾽ οὗτοι μὲν τοιαύτης μετεσχήκασι στάσεως, πρῶτοι δ᾽ ἔδοξαν οἱ ἀπὸ Θάλεω φυσικοὶ τὴν περὶ κριτηρίου σκέψιν εἰσηγήσασθαι. καταγνόντες γὰρ τῆς αἰσθήσεως ἐν πολλοῖς ὡς ἀπίστου, τὸν λόγον κριτὴν τῆς ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ἀληθείας ἐπέστησαν‧ ἀφ᾽ οὗ ὁρμώμενοι περί τε ἀρχῶν καὶ στοιχείων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων διετάσσοντο, ὧν ἡ κατάληψις διὰ τῆς τούτου δυνάμεως περιγίνεται. Sim. (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.)

Sextus Empiricus

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Heraclitus to solitude, Socrates to love, Carneades to ignorance, Diogenes [29.7.l] to labors, and Epicurus to pleasure.

Sextus Empiricus (2nd cent. CE) Th 140

5

Water as the first principle; Thales and Anaximander. Outlines of Pyrrhonism 3.30 Enough has now been said about the active [principle]. But we must also speak briefly of what are called the material principles. That these are inapprehensible is easy to conclude from the disagreement about them that has arisen among the dogmatists. For Pherecydes of Syros declared earth to be the principle of all things; Thales of Miletus, water; his pupil Anaximander, the unlimited; Anaximenes and Diogenes of Apollonia, air [...].

Th 141 Different views on the divisions of philosophy: Thales as natural philosopher. Against the Mathematicians 7.5 Thales, Anaximenes, Anaximander, Empedocles, Parmenides and Heraclitus conceived of only natural [philosophy]; everyone agrees on this without dispute as regards Thales, Anaximenes, and Anaximander, but there is no general agreement about Empedocles and Parmenides, or even Heraclitus.

Th 142

5

Thales as natural philosopher. Against the Mathematicians 7.89 Such, then, was the position shared by these men [Metrodorus and others]; but the natural philosophers beginning with Thales appear to have been the first to initiate investigation into the criterion. For they condemned sensation as being untrustworthy in many cases and set up reason as the judge of the truth in things-that-are, and starting out from this they organized their views about principles, elements and other things, the apprehension of which results from the power of reason.

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Th 143

5

Math. 9.359–360 Οἱ μὲν γὰρ σώματα ἔλεξαν εἶναι τὰ τῶν ὄντων στοιχεῖα, οἱ δὲ ἀσώματα. [9.360] καὶ τῶν σώματα φαμένων Φερεκύδης μὲν ὁ Σύριος γῆν ἔλεξε πάντων εἶναι ἀρχὴν καὶ στοιχεῖον, Θαλῆς δὲ ὁ Μιλήσιος ὕδωρ, Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ ὁ ἀκουστὴς τούτου τὸ ἄπειρον, Ἀναξιμένης δὲ καὶ Ἰδαῖος ὁ Ἱμεραῖος καὶ Διογένης ὁ Ἀπολλωνιάτης καὶ Ἀρχέλαος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, Σωκράτους δὲ καϑηγητής, [...]. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (Anaximander pupil/associate of Thales) Th 65a (q.v.)

Th 144 Math. 10.313 Ἐξ ἑνὸς δὲ καὶ ποιοῦ γεγενῆσθαι τὰ πάντα θέλουσιν οἵ τε περὶ τὸν Ἵππασον καὶ Ἀναξιμένη καὶ Θαλῆ, ὧν Ἵππασος μὲν καὶ κατά τινας Ἡράκλειτος ὁ Ἐφέσιος ἐκ πυρὸς ἀπέλιπον τὴν γένεσιν, Ἀναξιμένης δὲ ἐξ ἀέρος, Θαλῆς δὲ ἐξ ὕδατος, Ξενοφάνης δὲ κατ᾽ ἐνίους ἐκ γῆς. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Irenaeus of Lyon Th 145

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Adversus haereses 2.14.2 (ed. Brox) Et non solum quae apud comicos posita sunt arguuntur quasi propria proferentes, sed etiam quae apud omnes qui Deum ignorant et qui dicuntur philosophi sunt dicta, haec congregant et, quasi centonem ex multis et pessimis panniculis consarcientes, finctum superficium subtili eloquio sibi ipsi praeparaverunt, novam quidem introducentes doctrinam, propterea quod nunc nova arte substituta sit, veterem autem et inutilem, quoniam quidem de veteribus dogmatibus ignorantiam et irreligiositatem olentibus haec eadem subsuta sunt. Thales quidem Milesius universorum generationem et initium aquam dixit esse: idem autem est dicere aquam et Bythum. Homerus autem poeta Oceanum deorum genesim et matrem Tethyn dogmatizavit: quae quidem hi in Bythum et Sigen transtulerunt. Anaximander autem hoc quod immensum est omnium initium subiecit, semi-

Sextus Empiricus – Irenaeus of Lyon

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Th 143i

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Water as the first principle; Thales and Anaximander. Against the Mathematicians 9.359–360 For some have said that the elements of things-that-are are bodies, others that they are incorporeal. [9.360] Of those who have declared them to be bodies, Pherecydes of Syros said that the principle and element of all things is earth; Thales of Miletus, water; his pupil Anaximander, the unlimited; Anaximenes, Idaeus of Himera, Diogenes of Apollonia and Archelaus of Athens (Socrates’ teacher), [...].

Th 144ii Water as the first principle. Against the Mathematicians 10.313 Hippasus, Anaximenes and Thales hold that all things have come to be from a single thing that is of a certain sort; of these Hippasus and according to some Heraclitus of Ephesus bequeathed the opinion that things are generated from fire, Anaximenes from air, Thales from water, and Xenophanes (according to some) from earth.

Irenaeus of Lyon (2nd cent. CE) Th 145 Water as the first principle. In his work directed against the Gnostics (preserved only in Latin translation) Irenaeus accuses the followers of Valentinus and others for their dependence on pagan philosophy. Against the Heresies 2.14.2 And not only are they convicted of putting forward as their own views that have been proposed by comic poets, but they also amass the sayings of all who do not know God and who are called philosophers, and as if they are stitching together a patchwork quilt out of a lot of poor rags, by means of i ii

W. does not translate this testimonium. W. does not translate this testimonium.

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naliter habens in semetipso omnium genesim, ex quo immensos mundos constare ait: et hoc autem in Bythum et in Aeonas ipsorum transfiguraverunt. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th  29 (q.v.); (the water hypothesis goes back to the first theologians/Homer) Th 29 (q.v.)

Pseudo-Plutarch Th 146

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Placita philosophorum 1.2.875C4–D7 (ed. Lachenaud) (βʹ. Τίνι διαφέρει ἀρχὴ καὶ στοιχεῖα) Οἱ μὲν οὖν περὶ Ἀριστοτέλην καὶ Πλάτωνα διαφέρειν ἡγοῦνται ἀρχὴν καὶ στοιχεῖα, Θαλῆς δ᾽ ὁ Μιλήσιος ταὐτὸν νομίζει ἀρχὴν καὶ στοιχεῖα. Πλεῖστον δ᾽ ὅσον διαφέρει ἀλλήλων‧ τὰ μὲν γὰρ στοιχεῖά ἐστι σύνθετα, τὰς δ᾽ ἀρχάς φαμεν εἶναι οὔτε συνθέτους οὔτ᾽ ἀποτελέσματα‧ οἷον [875D] στοιχεῖα μὲν καλοῦμεν γῆν ὕδωρ ἀέρα πῦρ‧ ἀρχὰς δὲ λέγομεν διὰ τοῦτο, ὅτι οὐκ ἔχει τι πρότερον ἐξ οὗ γεννᾶται, ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἔσται ἀρχὴ τοῦτο, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκεῖνο ἐξ οὗ γεγέννηται. Τῆς δὲ γῆς καὶ τοῦ ὕδατος ἔστι τινὰ πρότερα ἐξ ὧν γέγονεν, ἡ ὕλη ἄμορφος οὖσα καὶ ἀειδής, καὶ τὸ εἶδος ὃ καλοῦμεν ἐντελέχειαν, καὶ ἡ στέρησις. Ἁμαρτάνει οὖν ὁ Θαλῆς στοιχεῖον καὶ ἀρχὴν λέγων τὸ ὕδωρ. Sim. (water as first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

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their refined eloquence they have made for themselves an artificial surface. They introduce a doctrine that is indeed new, because it has now been presented with a new art, but it is in fact old and useless since the same old doctrines have been sewn up out of old dogmas that reek of ignorance and blasphemy. Thales of Miletus said that the origin and beginning of all things is water; but saying that it is water is the same as saying that it is the Depth. Also Homer the poet dogmatized that Okeanos is the origin of the gods and Tethys their mother, which these people [the Valentinians] take over as the Depth and Silence. Anaximander introduced as the beginning of all things that which is immense, having in itself seminally the origin of all things; he declares that immensei worlds arise from it. This too they have transformed into their Depth and their Ages.

Pseudo-Plutarch (ca. first half of the 2nd cent. CE ?) Th 146 Thales’ identification of principle with element. In this passage, which shows Aristotelian influence,1 Thales stands for monists who admit only one material principle.

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Placita Philosophorum 1.2.875C4–D7 (2. What is the difference between principle and elements?) Aristotle and Plato believe that principle and elements are different, but Thales of Miletus thinks that principle and elements are the same (cf. Th 345). But they differ as much from one another as they possibly can. For elements are composite, but we say that principles are neither composite nor effects. For example [875D] we call earth, water, air and fire elements, but we call things principles for the reason that there is nothing prior from which they are generated, since in that case this will not be a principle, but rather the thing from which it is generated. But in the case of earth and water, there are certain prior things from which they have come to be: matter, which is without form or shape, and form, which we call “entelechy”, and privation. So Thales is wrong in calling water the element and principle. 1

Cf. Lachenaud 196–8.

i

W: unendlichen.

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Th 147

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Plac. phil. 1.3.875D8–F5 (γʹ. Περὶ τῶν ἀρχῶν τί εἰσιν) Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος ἀρχὴν τῶν ὄντων ἀπεφήνατο τὸ ὕδωρ. [875E] Δοκεῖ δ᾽ ὁ ἀνὴρ οὗτος ἄρξαι τῆς φιλοσοφίας καὶ ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἡ Ἰωνικὴ αἵρεσις προσηγορεύθη‧ ἐγένοντο γὰρ πλεῖσται διαδοχαὶ φιλοσοφίας. Φιλοσοφήσας δ᾽ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἦλθεν εἰς Μίλητον πρεσβύτερος· [ὃς] ἐξ ὕδατος 〈γάρ〉 φησι πάντα εἶναι καὶ εἰς ὕδωρ πάντα ἀναλύεσθαι‧ στοχάζεται δ᾽ ἐκ τούτου πρῶτον ὅτι πάντων τῶν ζῴων ἡ γονὴ ἀρχή ἐστιν, ὑγρὰ οὖσα‧ οὕτως εἰκὸς καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐξ ὑγροῦ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχειν. Δεύτερον, ὅτι πάντα τὰ φυτὰ ὑγρῷ τρέφεται καὶ καρποφορεῖ, ἀμοιροῦντα δὲ ξηραίνεται‧ [875F] τρίτον, ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ πῦρ τὸ τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ τὸ τῶν ἄστρων ταῖς τῶν ὑδάτων ἀναθυμιάσεσι τρέφεται καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ κόσμος‧ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ Ὅμηρος ταύτην τὴν γνώμην ὑποτίθεται περὶ τοῦ ὕδατος Ὠκεανός, ὅσπερ γένεσις πάντεσσι τέτυκται. Sim. (Ionian school) Th  148, Th  202, Th  236, Th  239, Th  242, Th  262, Th 271, Th 311, Th 344, Th 391, Th 472, Th 520, Th 520c, Th 540; (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.); (first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.); (the water hypothesis goes back to the first theologians/Homer) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 148 Plac. phil. 1.3.876D13–E2 (γʹ. Περὶ τῶν ἀρχῶν τί εἰσιν) Οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ἐφεξῆς ἀλλήλοις ταῖς διαδοχαῖς γενόμενοι τὴν λεχθεῖσαν Ἰωνικὴν συμπληροῦσι φιλοσοφίαν ἀπὸ Θάλητος. Sim. (Ionian school) Th 147 (q.v.)

Th 149 Plac. phil. 1.7.881D8 (ζʹ. Τίς ὁ θεός) [...] Θαλῆς νοῦν τοῦ κόσμου θεόν. Sim. (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.)

Pseudo-Plutarch

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Th 147

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Water as the first principle; Thales as the first philosopher. Placita Philosophorum 1.3.875D8–F5 (3. Concerning principles: what are they?) Thales of Miletus declared that water is the principle of things-that-are.i [875E] This man seems to have been the founder of philosophy and the Ionian school was called after him. For there have been very many philosophical schools. After practicing philosophy in Egypt he cameii to Miletus when already quite old. For he says that all things are from water and all are dissolved into water. He bases this conjecture first on the fact that seed, which is moist, is the principle of all living things. Thus it is likely that indeed all things have their principle from moisture. Second, that all plants are nourished and bear fruit because of moisture and dry up when they lack it. [875F] Third, that even the very fire of the suniii and stars is nourished by the exhalations of waters, and so is the cosmos itself. This is why Homer too lays down this thought about water: “Okeanos, which is the origin of all things.”1

Th 148 Thales as founder of Ionian philosophy. Placita Philosophorum 1.3.876D13–E2 (3. Concerning principles: what are they?) Now these [Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Archelaus], who came one after another in succession, constitute the philosophy known as Ionian, beginning with Thales.

Th 149 Thales’ theological views. Placita Philosophorum 1.7.881D8 (7. What is god?) [...] Thales [holds that] god is the intelligence of the cosmos.

1

Iliad 14.246.

i ii iii

W: alles Seienden. W: kam ... zurück. W: das Feuer der Sonne selbst.

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Pseudo-Plutarch

Th 150

5

Plac. phil. 1.8.882B1–7 (ηʹ. Περὶ δαιμόνων καὶ ἡρώων) Παρακειμένως δὲ τῷ περὶ θεῶν λόγῳ τὸν περὶ δαιμόνων καὶ ἡρώων ἱστορητέον. Θαλῆς Πυθαγόρας Πλάτων οἱ Στωικοὶ δαίμονας ὑπάρχειν οὐσίας ψυχικάς‧ εἶναι δὲ καὶ ἥρωας τὰς κεχωρισμένας ψυχὰς τῶν σωμάτων, καὶ ἀγαθοὺς μὲν τὰς ἀγαθὰς κακοὺς δὲ τὰς φαύλας. Sim. (daimons, heroes) Th 186, Th 275, Th 340, Th 394

Th 151 Plac. phil. 1.9.882C3–5 (θʹ. Περὶ ὕλης) [...] Οἱ ἀπὸ Θάλεω καὶ Πυθαγόρου καὶ οἱ Στωικοὶ τρεπτὴν καὶ ἀλλοιωτὴν καὶ μεταβλητὴν καὶ ῥευστὴν ὅλην δι᾽ ὅλης τὴν ὕλην. Sim. (matter) Th 276, Th 331, Th 346; (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.)

Th 152 Plac. phil. 1.16.883D4–6 (ιϚʹ. Περὶ τομῆς σωμάτων) Οἱ ἀπὸ Θάλεω καὶ Πυθαγόρου παθητὰ 〈τὰ〉 σώματα καὶ τμητὰ εἰς ἄπειρον. Sim. (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.)

Th 153 Plac. phil. 1.18.883E10–F1 (ιηʹ. Περὶ κενοῦ) Οἱ ἀπὸ Θάλεω φυσικοὶ πάντες μέχρι Πλάτωνος τὸ κενὸν ἀπέγνωσαν. Sim. (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.)

Pseudo-Plutarch

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Th 150

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Thales’ theological views. Placita Philosophorum 1.8.882B1–7 (8. Concerning daimons and heroes.) The account of daimons and heroes should be pursued in parallel with the account concerning the gods. Thales, Pythagoras, Plato, and the Stoics hold that daimons are spiritual substances; that heroes are souls that are separated from bodies, and that good [souls] are good [heroes] and evil [souls] are evil [heroes].

Th 151 Thales’ views on matter. Placita Philosophorum 1.9.882C3–5 (9. Concerning matter.) [...] Thales, Pythagoras and their followers, and the Stoics [hold that] matter is subject to change, alteration, modification, and is fluid through and through.

Th 152 Thales’ views on matter. Placita Philosophorum 1.16.883D4–6 (16. Concerning the division of bodies.) Thales, Pythagoras and their followers [hold that] bodies are subject to being affected and are divisible ad infinitum (cf. Th 348).

Th 153 Thales’ views on the void. Placita Philosophorum 1.18.883E10–F1 (18. Concerning void.) All the natural philosophers from Thales to Plato rejected the void (cf. Th 350; contrast Th 488).

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Th 154 Plac. phil. 1.25.884D13–E1 (κεʹ. Περὶ ἀνάγκης) Θαλῆς‧ ἰσχυρότατον ἀνάγκη, κρατεῖ γὰρ τοῦ παντός. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 155 Plac. phil. 2.1.886B8 (αʹ. Περὶ κόσμου) [...] Θαλῆς καὶ οἱ ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἕνα τὸν κόσμον. Sim. (one unique cosmos) Th 332, Th 352, Th 377, Th 396

Th 156 Plac. phil. 2.12.888C1–5 (ιβʹ. Περὶ διαιρέσεως οὐρανοῦ, εἰς πόσους κύκλους διαιρεῖται) Θαλῆς Πυθαγόρας οἱ ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ μεμερίσθαι τὴν τοῦ παντὸς οὐρανοῦ σφαῖραν εἰς κύκλους πέντε, οὕστινας προσαγορεύουσι ζώνας. Sim. (Thales as representative of astronomy) Th 103 (q.v.)

Th 157 Plac. phil. 2.13.888D3–5 (ιγʹ. Τίς ἡ οὐσία τῶν ἄστρων, πλανητῶν καὶ ἀπλανῶν, καὶ πῶς συνέστη) Θαλῆς γεώδη μὲν ἔμπυρα δὲ τὰ ἄστρα. Sim. (nature of the stars) Th 233, Th 274, Th 333, Th 354, Th 398

Pseudo-Plutarch

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Th 154 Thales’ views on necessity. Placita Philosophorum 1.25.884D13–E1 (25. Concerning necessity.) Thales: the strongest thing is necessity, for it rules the universe (cf. Th 121; Th 237 [Diog. Laert. 1.35]; Th 341; Th 395; Th 564 [320e]).1

Th 155 Thales’ cosmology. Placita Philosophorum 2.1.886B8 (1. Concerning the cosmos.) [...] Thales and his followers [hold that] there is one cosmos.

Th 156 Thales’ cosmology. Placita Philosophorum 2.12.888C1–5 (Concerning the division of the heaven, into how many circles it is divided.) Thales and Pythagoras and his followers [hold that] the sphere of the entire heaven is partitioned into five circles, which they call zones.2

Th 157 Thales’ cosmology. Placita Philosophorum 2.13.888D3–5 (What is the substance of the stars – both planets and fixed stars – and what they are made of.) Thales [holds that] the stars are earthy and fiery.

1 2

Cf. Schreckenberg 1964, 109. Cf. Th 353, Th 397. On the origin of the division of the heavenly sphere (and the earth) into zones, cf. Zhmud 1997, 211 ff.

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Pseudo-Plutarch

Th 158 Plac. phil. 2.24.890F1–5 (κδʹ. Περὶ ἐκλείψεως ἡλίου) Θαλῆς πρῶτος ἔφη ἐκλείπειν τὸν ἥλιον τῆς σελήνης αὐτὸν ὑποτρεχούσης κατὰ κάθετον, οὔσης φύσει γεώδους‧ †βλέπεσθαι δὲ τοῦτο κατοπτρικῶς ὑποτιθεμένῳ τῷ δίσκῳ†. Sim. (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.); (the nature of the sun/moon) Th 277, Th 334, Th 335, Th 355, Th 356, Th 489

Th 159 Plac. phil. 2.28.891D1–10 (κηʹ. Περὶ φωτισμῶν σελήνης) Ἀναξίμανδρος ἴδιον αὐτὴν ἔχειν φῶς, ἀραιότερον δέ πως. Ἀντιφῶν [...]. Θαλῆς καὶ οἱ ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου φωτίζεσθαι τὴν σελήνην. Sim. (moonlight) Th 273, Th 357, Th 400, Th 406, Th 434

Th 160 Plac. phil. 3.9.895C7–8 (θʹ. Περὶ γῆς καὶ τίς ἡ ταύτης οὐσία καὶ πόσαι) Θαλῆς καὶ οἱ ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ μίαν εἶναι τὴν γῆν. Sim. (unique Earth) Th 278, Th 401

Th 161 Plac. phil. 3.10.895D5–7 (ιʹ. Περὶ σχήματος γῆς) Θαλῆς καὶ οἱ Στωικοὶ καὶ οἱ ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν σφαιροειδῆ τὴν γῆν. Sim. (spherical Earth) Th 279, Th 402, Th 490

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Th 158 Thales views on eclipses; his cosmology. Placita Philosophorum 2.24.890F1–5 (Concerning the eclipse of the sun.) Thales was the first to say that the sun is eclipsed when the moon goes perpendicularly beneath it – the moon being earthy by nature. †This is seen by reflection if a mirror is placed underneath†. (cf. Th 489).1

Th 159 Thales cosmology. Placita Philosophorum 2.28.891D1–10 (On the phases of the moon.) Anaximander [holds that] it possesses its own light, which is somehow milder. Antiphon [...] Thales and his followers [hold that] the moon is illuminated by the sun.2

Th 160 Thales’ cosmology. Placita Philosophorum 3.9.895C7–8 (Concerning the earth, what is its substance, and how many there are.) Thales and his followers [hold that] there is one earth.

Th 161 Thales’ cosmology. Placita Philosophorum 3.10.895D5–7 (Concerning the shape of the earth.) Thales and the Stoics and their followers [hold that] the earth is spherical3 (cf. Th 490).

1 2 3

Cf. Plato, Phaedo 99D5–E1; Seneca, Nat. Quest. 1.12.1. Cf. Diels2 1958, 53. Cf. Panchenko 2002, 223–36. Cf. O’Grady 2002, 95 ff. (arguments for an attribution of this theory to Thales).

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Pseudo-Plutarch – Publius Aelius Phlegon of Tralles

Th 162 Plac. phil. 3.11.895E1–2 (ιαʹ. Περὶ θέσεως γῆς) Οἱ ἀπὸ Θάλεω τὴν γῆν μέσην.

Th 163 Plac. phil. 3.15.896B9–C2 (ιεʹ. Περὶ σεισμῶν γῆς) Θαλῆς μὲν καὶ Δημόκριτος ὕδατι τὴν αἰτίαν τῶν σεισμῶν προσάπτουσιν. Sim. (earthquakes) Th 99 (q.v.); (the Earth rests upon water) Th 30 (q.v.)

Th 164 Plac. phil. 4.1.897F1–5 (αʹ. Περὶ Νείλου ἀναβάσεως) Θαλῆς τοὺς ἐτησίας ἀνέμους οἴεται πνέοντας τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ ἀντιπροσώπους ἐπαίρειν τοῦ Νείλου τὸν ὄγκον διὰ τὸ τὰς ἐκροὰς αὐτοῦ τῇ παροιδήσει τοῦ ἀντιπαρήκοντος πελάγους ἀνακόπτεσθαι. Sim. (flooding of the Nile) Th 13 (q.v.)

Th 165 Plac. phil. 4.2.898B10–12 (βʹ. Περὶ ψυχῆς) Θαλῆς ἀπεφήνατο πρῶτος τὴν ψυχὴν φύσιν ἀεικίνητον ἢ αὐτοκίνητον. Sim. (nature of the soul/magnet) Th 31 (q.v.)

Publius Aelius Phlegon of Tralles Th 166 FGrHist II B 257 F 33, s. Th 495 (Suda Lex. theta 17.1–18.3)

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Th 162 Thales’ cosmology. Placita Philosophorum 3.11.895E1–2 (Concerning the position of the earth.) Thales and his followers [hold that] the earth is in the center (cf. Th 280).

Th 163 Thales’ explanation of earthquakes. Placita Philosophorum 3.15.896B9–C2 (Concerning earthquakes.) Thales and Democritus attribute to water the cause of earthquakes.

Th 164 Thales’ explanation of the flooding of the Nile. Placita Philosophorum 4.1.897F1–5 (Concerning the rising of the Nile.) Thales thinks that the etesian winds, which blow against Egypt, cause the mass of the Nile to rise because its mouths are blocked by the swell of the sea that comes against it (cf. Th 491).

Th 165 Thales’ views on the nature of the soul. Placita Philosophorum 4.2.898B10–12 (Concerning the soul.) Thales was the first to declare that the soul is always-moving or self-moving in nature.

Publius Aelius Phlegon of Tralles (died after 137 CE, freedman of Hadrian) Th 166 The Suda reports that according to Phlegon, Thales was already known during the seventh Olympiad [752–749]. FGrHist II B 257 F 33, cf. Th 495 (Suda Lex. theta 17.1–18.3)

148

Theon of Smyrna – Inscription of a representation on the wall

Theon of Smyrna Th 167

5

10

De utilitate mathematicae 198.9–199.3 (ed. Hiller) (~ Th 93 = in part Eudemus Fr. 145 Wehrli) Ταυτὶ μὲν ὁ Ἄδραστος. ὁ δὲ Δερκυλλίδης οὐδεμιᾷ μὲν οἰκείᾳ καὶ προσηκούσῃ τάξει περὶ τούτων ἀνέγραψεν‧ ἃ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ὑποδείκνυσιν ἐν τῷ περὶ τοῦ ἀτράκτου καὶ τῶν σφονδύλων τῶν ἐν τῇ Πολιτείᾳ παρὰ Πλάτωνι λεγομένων ἐστὶ τοιαῦτα. Εὔδημος (Th 47) ἱστορεῖ ἐν ταῖς Ἀστρολογίαις, ὅτι Οἰνοπίδης εὗρε πρῶτος τὴν τοῦ ζῳδιακοῦ διάζωσιν καὶ τὴν τοῦ μεγάλου ἐνιαυτοῦ περίστασιν‧ Θαλῆς δὲ ἡλίου ἔκλειψιν καὶ τὴν κατὰ τὰς τροπὰς αὐτοῦ περίοδον, ὡς οὐκ ἴση ἀεὶ συμβαίνει‧ Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ ὅτι ἐστὶν ἡ γῆ μετέωρος καὶ κινεῖται1 περὶ τὸ τοῦ κόσμου μέσον‧ Ἀναξιμένης δὲ ὅτι ἡ σελήνη ἐκ τοῦ ἡλίου ἔχει τὸ φῶς καὶ τίνα ἐκλείπει τρόπον. οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ ἐπὶ ἐξευρημένοις τούτοις ἐπεξεῦρον ἕτερα. Sim. (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.); (sun’s orbit/solstices) Th 93 (q.v.)

Inscription of a representation of the Seven Sages on the wall of a building in Ostia, Baths of the Seven Sages Th 168 The Tavern of the Seven Sages in Ostia (ed. Calza = Nr. 16–18 p. 146 f. Zarker) Ut bene cacaret ventrem palpavit Solon – Durum cacantes monuit ut nitant Thales – Vissire tacite Chilon docuit subdolus.

1

κεῖται Montucla (s. Bowen 2002, 311, Anm. 11 und Szabó 1977, 344 mit Anm. 19).

Theon of Smyrna – Inscription of a representation on the wall

149

Theon of Smyrna (mid-2nd cent. CE ?)1 Th 167

5

10

Thales views on eclipses; his cosmology. On the Utility of Mathematics 198.9–199.3 This is what Adrastus said. Dercyllides2 discussed this topic in no appropriate or proper order, but what he too suggests in his treatment of the spindle and whorl in Plato’s Republic is the following: Eudemus [Th 47] reports in his work Astronomy3 that Oenopides4 was the first to discover the zodiac belt5 and the period of the great year. Thales [was the first to discover] the eclipse of the sun and that its cycle between the solstices is not always equal.6 Anaximander, that the earth is aloft and in motion around the center of the cosmos.7 Anaximenes, that the moon gets its light from the sun and how it is eclipsed. Other men discovered other things in addition to these.

Inscription of a representation of the Seven Sages on the wall of a building in Ostia, Baths of the Seven Sages (mid-2nd cent. CE)8 Th 168 The Tavern of the Seven Sages in Ostia (ed. Calza = Nr. 16–18 p. 146 f. Zarker) In order to have a good shit, Solon patted his belly.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

On the date cf. Bowen 2002, 312, n. 12. Platonist of the first cent. CE. On this title cf. Bowen 2002, 311, n. 8. Astronomer of the second half of the fifth cent. BCE. The obliquity of the ecliptic? Cf. Szabó 1977, 343, with n. 11. Cf. Bowen 2002, 311, n. 10; KRS 83. περίοδον is a conjecture of Fabricius for the transmitted text πάροδον. Cf. Th 237 (1.24). Or: lies (κεῖται) according to a conjecture of Montuclas (cf. Bowen 2002, 311, n. 1). Cf. Calza 1939; Mols 1997.

150

Atticus – Lucian

Atticus Th 169 Fr. 1 Mullach (FPhG III 185) = Fr. 1 Des Places: Extract from the Atticus' work Against those who [explain] Plato through Aristotle, cf. Th 267 (Eus. PE 11.2.2–3)

Lucian Th 170 Hippias 2.10–14 (ed. MacLeod) Καὶ Θαλῆς δὲ ὁ Μιλήσιος πρὸ αὐτῶν ὑποσχόμενος Κροίσῳ ἄβροχον διαβιβάσειν τὸν στρατὸν ἐπινοίᾳ κατόπιν τοῦ στρατοπέδου μιᾷ νυκτὶ τὸν Ἅλυν περιήγαγεν, οὐ μηχανικὸς οὗτος γενόμενος, σοφὸς δὲ καὶ ἐπινοῆσαι καὶ συνεῖναι πιθανώτατος. Sim. (the crossing of the Halys) Th 11 (q.v.)

Th 171 Macrobii 18.8–19.2 (ed. MacLeod) Σόλων δὲ καὶ Θαλῆς καὶ Πιττακός, οἵτινες τῶν κληθέντων ἑπτὰ σοφῶν ἐγένοντο, ἑκατὸν ἕκαστος ἔζησεν ἔτη, Ζήνων δὲ ὁ τῆς Στωϊκῆς φιλοσοφίας ἀρχηγὸς ὀκτὼ καὶ ἐνενήκοντα. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (dates) Th 176, Th 205, Th 210, Th 218, Th 237 (1.37 f.), Th 264, Th 266, Th 281 (Th 304), Th 282 (Th  305), Th  283 (Th  306), Th  284 (Th  307), Th  285 (Th  308), Th  313, Th 314, Th 315, Th 373, Th 407, Th 454, Th 455, Th 474, Th 477, Th 478,

Atticus – Lucian

151

Thales advised the constipated to strain. Crafty Chilon taught how to fart silently.

Atticus (second half of the 2nd cent. CE) Th 169 Eusebius cites Atticus for saying that Plato was the first to have a comprehensive view of philosophy. Thales and his associates investigated only the nature of things-that-are. Fr. 1 Mullach (FPhG III 185) = Fr. 1 Des Places: extract from Atticus, Against those who promise [to interpret] Plato from Aristotle, cf. Th  267 (Eus. PE 11.2.2–3).

Lucian (between 112 and 125–after 180 CE) Th 170 Thales and the crossing of the Halys. Hippias 2.10–14 Before their [Archimedes’ and Sostratus’s] time Thales of Miletus, who had promised Croesus that he would bring his army across without getting wet, by means of a brilliant plan brought the Halys around behind the camp in a single night, even though he was not an engineer but was wise at finding ingenious plans and most persuasive at making people understand them.i

Th 171 Thales the Sage. Long-Lived People 18.8–19.2 Solon, Thales and Pittacus, who were among the so-called Seven Sages, each lived a hundred years, and Zeno, the founder of Stoic philosophy, ninetyeight.ii i ii

W: Er was kein Ingenieur, aber ein kluger Kopf und konnte eine Sache verständig machen und zu ihrer Ausführung überreden. W. does not translate the words after “Zeno.”

152

Lucian – Pausanias

Th 479, Th 480, Th 481, Th 482, Th 492, Th 495, Th 500, Th 501, Th 514, Th 525, Th 529, Th 533, Th 535, Th 541, Th 557

Th 172 Dialogi mortuorum 4 (ed. MacLeod) {ΑΙΑΚΟΣ} Οὗτος δὲ Σόλων ὁ Ἐξηκεστίδου καὶ Θαλῆς ἐκεῖνος καὶ παρ᾽ αὐτοὺς Πιττακὸς καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι‧ ἑπτὰ δὲ πάντες εἰσὶν ὡς ὁρᾷς. {ΜΕΝΙΠΠΟΣ} Ἄλυποι, ὦ Αἰακέ, οὗτοι μόνοι καὶ φαιδροὶ τῶν ἄλλων‧ [...] Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Pausanias Th 173

5

Graeciae descriptio 10.24.1 (ed. Rocha-Pereira) Ἐν δὲ τῶι προνάωι τῶι ἐν Δελφοῖς γεγραμμένα ἐστὶν ὠφελήματα ἀνθρώποις ἐς βίον‧ ἐγράφη δὲ ὑπὸ ἀνδρῶν οὓς γενέσθαι σοφοὺς λέγουσιν Ἕλληνες. οὗτοι δὲ ἦσαν ἐκ μὲν Ἰωνίας Θαλῆς τε Μιλήσιος καὶ Πριηνεὺς Βίας, Αἰολέων δὲ τῶν ἐν Λέσβωι Πιττακὸς Μιτυληναῖος, ἐκ δὲ Δωριέων τῶν ἐν τῆι Ἀσίαι Κλεόβουλος Λίνδιος, καὶ Ἀθηναῖός τε Σόλων καὶ Σπαρτιάτης Χίλων‧ τὸν δὲ ἕβδομον Πλάτων ὁ Ἀρίστωνος ἀντὶ Περιάνδρου τοῦ Κυψέλου 〈Μύσων〉α κατείλοχε τὸν Χηνέα‧ κώμη δὲ ἐν τῆι Οἴτηι τῶι ὄρει ὠικοῦντο αἱ Χῆναι. οὗτοι οὖν οἱ ἄνδρες ἀφικόμενοι ἐς Δελφοὺς ἀνέθεσαν τῶι Ἀπόλλωνι τὰ ἀιδόμενα Γνῶθι σαυτὸν καὶ Μηδὲν ἄγαν. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Lucian – Pausanias

153

Th 172i Thales the Sage. Dialogues of the Dead 4 Aeacus Here is Solon, the son of Execestides, and there is Thales, and beyond them is Pittacus and the rest; they are seven in all, as you see. Menippus These are the only ones who are happy and cheerful, Aeacus. [...]

Pausanias (ca. 115–after 180 CE) Th 173ii

5

Thales the Sage. Description of Greece 10.24.1 In the pronaos at Delphi are inscribed maxims useful for the life of humans, written by men whom the Greeks say were Sages. These were: from Ionia Thales of Miletus and Bias of Priene; of the Aeolians in Lesbos, Pittacus of Mitylene; of the Dorians in Asia, Cleobulus of Lindos; Solon of Athens and Chilon of Sparta; the seventh sage, according to the list of Plato the son of Ariston, is not Periander the son of Cypselus, but Myson of Chenae, a village on Mount Oeta. These men, then, came to Delphi and dedicated to Apollo the celebrated maxims, “Know thyself” and “Nothing in excess”.

i ii

W. does not translate this testimonium. W. does not translate this testimonium.

154

Aelius Aristides

Aelius Aristides Th 174

5

Aigyptios 353.20–354E1 (ed. Dindorf) Εἰ γὰρ μὴ συνίης, ὦ χαριέστατε Εὐθύμενες, εἰ ταῦτ᾽ ἀληθῆ Ἔφορος λέγει σοὶ φάσκων δοκεῖν, ὅτι οὐ λύεις ἀπορίαν, ἀλλὰ [354] κινεῖς μείζω καὶ ἀτοπωτέραν τῆς ἐξ ἀρχῆς, πῶς οὐκ ἀληθῶς ἔξω στηλῶν καὶ Γαδείρων φήσει τις ἐπισκώπτων εἶναί σοι τὸν νοῦν, ὥσπερ τὴν Θρᾶττάν φασί ποτ᾽ ἐκεῖνο εἰς Θαλῆν εἰπεῖν, εἰ ποταμὸν φεύγων ἀγνοεῖς εἰς τὴν θάλατταν ἐμπίπτων, ἀνὴρ ὁ σκώπτων ἐρεῖ. Sim. (Thales’ fall into the well) Th 19 (q.v.)

Th 175 ΠΡΟΣ ΚΑΠΙΤΩΝΑ 327.15 (ed. Dindorf) Ἀλλ᾽ οἷα δὴ εἰς τὰ ἔργα σοφοῦ ἀνδρὸς πολλαὶ ἐπίνοιαι καὶ εὐμήχανοι εἰς τέχνας, ἤ τινες ἄλλαι πράξεις λέγονται, ὥσπερ αὖ Θάλεω πέρι τοῦ Μιλησίου καὶ Ἀναχάρσιος τοῦ Σκύθου; Οὐδαμῶς τοιοῦτον οὐδέν.

Aelius Aristides

155

Aelius Aristides (117–177/8 CE) Th 174 Thales’ fall into a well. In his Egyptian Oration, Aristides criticizes different theories on the flooding of the Nile (without naming their authors). Thales’ theory is criticized at 331.15–334.10 and 358.5–10. Subsequently he discusses a theory of the geographer Euthymenes (ca. 500 BCE), which is treated ironically with a reference to the anecdote about Thales falling into a well.

5

Egyptian Oration (Or. 36) If you fail to understand, my dearest Euthymenes – supposing that these things that Ephoros says are true, when he declares that this is your view – that you are not solving the problem, but [354] that you are setting in motion a greater and more paradoxical [problem] than the original one, won’t people be right in jesting that your mind is beyond the Pillars of Hercules and Gadeira, as they say that the Thracian girl once made that remark to Thales, if the fellow says in jest that you don’t realize that in avoiding a river you are falling into the sea.

Th 175i Thales’ practical wisdom. Quotation from Plato, Republic 10.600A4–7 (Th 22) in the context of a critical examination of Plato’s criticism of Homer. Against Capiton 327.15 Or, as happens with the achievements of a wise man, are many ingenious discoveries in the crafts or in other activities [attributed to Homer], as they are to Thales of Miletus and Anacharsis of Scythia? No such thing has happened. [quoted from Th 22.]

i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

156

Tatian the Syrian – Apuleius of Madaura

Tatian the Syrian Th 176

5

Oratio ad Graecos 41.9–10 (ed. Marcovich) Δράκων δὲ περὶ Ὀλυμπιάδα τριακοστὴν καὶ ἐνάτην εὑρίσκεται γεγονώς, Σόλων περὶ μϚ, Πυθαγόρας περὶ ξβ (τὰς δ᾽ Ὀλυμπιάδας ὕστερον τῶν Ἰλιακῶν ἔτεσιν ἀπεδείξαμεν γεγονυίας τετρακοσίοις ἑπτά). [10] Καὶ δὴ τούτων οὕτως ἀποδεδειγμένων, διὰ βραχέων ἔτι καὶ περὶ τῆς τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν ἡλικίας ἀναγράψομεν. Τοῦ γὰρ πρεσβυτάτου τῶν προειρημένων Θάλητος γενομένου περὶ τὴν πεντηκοστὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα, καὶ τὰ περὶ τῶν μετ᾽ αὐτὸν σχεδὸν ἡμῖν συντόμως εἴρηται. Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Apuleius of Madaura Th 177

5

Florida 18.17–18 (ed. Hunink) Haec tanta ac totiuga inuitamenta communia non minus uos ad audiendum prolectant quam me ad aud[i]endum retardant, faciliusque laudes uestras alibi gentium quam apud uos praedicarim: ita apud 〈s〉uos cuique modestia obnoxia est, apud extrarios autem ueritas libera. [18] Semper adeo et ubique uos quippe ut parentis ac primos magistros meos celebro mercedemque uobis rependo, non illam, quam Protagora sophista pepigit nec accepit, sed quam Thales sapiens nec pepigit et accepit. Video, quid postuletis: utramque narrabo. Sim. (non-material wages) Th 178, Th 296

Tatian the Syrian – Apuleius of Madaura

157

Tatian the Syrian (ca. 120–after 172 CE) Th 176 Thales the Sage; his dates. Moses is more ancient not only than Homer but also than the pre-Homeric writers and the Seven Sages.

5

Oration to the Greeks [...] It is found that Dracon lived around the thirty-ninth Olympiad [624– 621i ], Solon around the forty-sixth [596/5–593/2], Pythagoras around the sixty-second [532–529]. We have proved that the Olympiads began 407 years after the Trojan War. [10] Now that this has been proved, we will briefly discuss the dates of the Seven Sages. The earliest of those mentioned above, Thales, lived around the fiftieth Olympiad [580–577], and I have briefly spoken of his followers.

Apuleius of Madaura (ca. 125–after 158 CE) Th 177

5

Thales the Sage. Florida 18.17–18 These great and numerous common inducements no less entice you to listen than they impede me from proceeding boldly; and I could more easily proclaim your praises anywhere else on earth than among yourselves: this is how modesty is an obstacle for each person among his own people, but before foreigners truth is free. [18] And so I praise you always and everywhere as my parents and first teachers, and I pay you what you have earned: not what Protagoras the sophist bargained for and did not receive, but what Thales the Sage did not bargain for and did receive. I see what you are asking for; I will tell you both stories.

i

W: 624/3–621/0 and similarly for the remaining dates in this testimonium. I have changed the style of referring to years in order to conform to the style used elsewhere in this volume.

158

Apuleius of Madaura

Th 178

5

10

15

Florida 18.30–35 Thales Milesius ex septem illis sapientiae memoratis uiris facile praecipuus – enim geometriae penes G〈r〉aios primus repertor et naturae rerum certissimus explorator et ast〈r〉orum peritissimus contemplator  – maximas res paruis lineis repperit: [31] temporum ambitus, uentorum flatus, stellarum meatus, tonitruum sonora miracula, siderum obliqua curricula, solis annua reuerticula, i〈ti〉dem lunae uel nascentis incrementa uel senescentis dispendia uel deli〈n〉quentis obstiticula. [32] Idem sane iam procliui senectute diuinam rationem de sole commentus est, quam equidem non didici modo, uerum etiam experiundo comprobaui, quoties sol magnitudine sua circulum quem permeat metiatur. [33] Id a se recens inuentum Thales memoratur edocuisse Mandraytum Prien[n]ensem, qui noua et inopinata cognitione impendio delectatus optare iussit, quantam uellet mercedem sibi pro tanto documento rependi. [34] ‘Satis’, inquit, ‘mihi fuerit mercedis’, Thales sapiens, ‘si id quod a me didicisti, cum proferre ad quospiam coeperis, 〈non〉 tibi adsciueris, sed eius inuenti me potius quam alium repertorem praedicaris.’ [35] Pulchra merces prorsum ac tali uiro digna et perpetua; nam et in hodiernum ac dein semper Thali ea merces persoluetur ab omnibus nobis, qui eius caelestia studia uere cognouimus. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th  20 (q.v.); (constellations) Th  52 (q.v.); (sun’s orbit/solstices) Th 93 (q.v.); (size/diameter of the sun) Th 237 (1.24), Th 578; (eclipse/phases of the moon) Th 265, Th 311, Th 358, Th 387, Th 432, Th 433, Th 434, Th 435, Th 500, Th 507, Th 515, Th 533, Th 535, Th 540; Th 567, (winds) Th 210, Th 485, Th 525; (the seasons) Th 237 (1.27), Th 389, Th 538; (mathematics/geometry) Th 81 (q.v.); (non-material wages) Th 177 (q.v.)

Apuleius of Madaura

159

Th 178

5

10

15

Thales the Sage and astronomer. Florida 18.30–35 Thales of Miletus was easily the most outstanding of those seven men remembered for their wisdom; for he was the first among the Greeks to discover geometry, a most accurate investigator of nature, and a most skillful observer of the stars; by means of small lines he discovered the greatest things: [31] the circuits of the seasons, the blasts of the winds, the wanderings of the stars, the marvelous resounding of thunder, the oblique courses of the constellations, the annual revolution of the sun; likewise, the waxing of the new moon, the waning of the old, and the obstacles that make it lose its light. [32] He also, when far advanced in old age, devised a divine theory about the sun, which I have not only learned but confirmed by experience, namely, by what multiple of its size the sun measures its own orbit.1 [33] Thales is reported to have explained this when he had just discovered it to Mandraytus2 of Priene, who was delighted by the new and unexpected knowledge, and asked him to name whatever amount of money he wanted to receive as a reward for so wonderful a proof. [34] “It will be enough of a reward,” said Thales the Sage, “if, when you begin to make known to others what you have learned from me, you do not attribute it to yourself, but declare that I, and no one else, is responsible for the discovery.” [35] A handsome reward indeed, worthy of such a man, and everlasting! For still today, and forever in the future, that reward will be given to Thales by all of us who are truly aware of his interest in the heavens.

1 2

Cf. Wasserstein 1955, 114–6 and O’Grady 2002, 150 ff. Or : Mandrolytus (Crusius).

160

Galen

Galen Th 179

5

De elementis ex Hippocrate 4.5–7 (ed. De Lacy = CMG V 1.2.88.9–18) Ἐπεί τοι καὶ Πλάτων ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰς ἄλληλα μεταβολῆς αὐτῶν ἐν Τιμαίῳ διείλεκται κοινὴν ὑποβεβλῆσθαι πᾶσιν ὕλην μίαν ἀποδεῖξαι βουλόμενος. ἀλλ᾽ οὗτος μὲν ὡς ἂν εἰδὼς ἀποδεικνύειν εἰς δέον ἐχρήσατο τῇ τῶν πρώτων σωμάτων εἰς ἄλληλα μεταβολῇ, Θαλῆς δὲ καὶ Ἀναξιμένης καὶ Ἀναξίμανδρος καὶ Ἡράκλειτος ἓν ἐξ αὐτῶν ὁτιοῦν ἄλλος ἄλλο θέμενος εἶναι στοιχεῖον ἐκ τῆς εἰς ἄλληλα μεταβολῆς αὐτῶν ἀποδεικνύναι πειρῶνται. καί μοί γε δοκοῦσιν ἅπαντες ἐκεῖνοι τὴν ὕλην ὀνειρώττειν, ἣ κοινὴ πᾶσιν ὑποβέβληται τοῖς στοιχείοις, καὶ ταύτην μίαν ὁρῶντες ἓν ὑπολαμβάνειν εἶναι καὶ τὸ στοιχεῖον. Sim. (transformations of water) Th 94 (q.v.)

Th 180 De elementis ex Hippocrate 9.7 (CMG V 1.2.128.13–16) Τὸ μὲν οὖν εἰς ἄλληλα μεταβάλλειν τὰ στοιχεῖα καὶ πρὸς τῶν ἀμφὶ τὸν Θαλῆν συγκεχώρηται διὰ τὴν ἐνάργειαν καίτοι μαχόμενόν γε ταῖς ὑποθέσεσιν αὐτῶν, ὡς ἐδείκνυτο. Sim. (transformations of water) Th 94 (q.v.)

Th 181

5

In Hippocratis de humoribus librum commentarii I 1 (16.37 ed. Kühn) Θαλῆς μὲν εἰ καί περ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος φησὶ συνεστάναι πάντα, ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως καὶ τοῦτο βούλεται [sc. μεταβάλλειν εἰς ἄλληλα τὰ στοιχεῖα]1. ἄμεινον δὲ καὶ αὐτοῦ τὴν ῥῆσιν προσθεῖναι ἐκ τοῦ δευτέρου περὶ τῶν ἀρχῶν ἔχουσαν ὧδέ πως‧ τὰ μὲν οὖν πολυθρύλητα τέτταρα, ὧν τὸ πρῶτον ὕδωρ εἶναι φαμὲν καὶ ὡσανεὶ μόνον στοιχεῖον τίθεμεν, πρὸς σύγκρισίν τε καὶ πήγνυσιν καὶ σύστασιν τῶν ἐγκοσμίων πρὸς ἄλληλα συγκεράννυται. πῶς δέ, ἤδη λέλεκται ἡμῖν ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (writings) Th 88 (q.v.)

1

for the completion, cf. DK 11 B 3.

Galen

161

Galen (129–ca. 216 CE) Th 179

5

Thales’ views on the elements. On the Elements according to Hippocrates 4.5–7 Since in fact Plato too in the Timaeus [56D1–57B7] has discussed their [the elements’] change into one another since he wanted to prove that a single common matter is a substrate for them all. But like someone who knows how to prove conclusions when he needs to,i he made use of the fact that the primary bodies change into one another, while Thales, Anaximenes, Anaximander and Heraclitus, each of them positing a different one of them [the primary bodies], attempt to prove on the basis of their change into one another that it is the element. But they all seem to me to be dreaming about matter, which is a common substrate for all the elements, and since they see that this is one they suppose that the element too is one.

Th 180 Thales’ views on the elements. On the Elements according to Hippocrates 9. That the elements change into one another is also granted by Thales and his associates because it is obvious, even though it contradicts their assumptions, as has been shown (88,4 f. De Lacy; cf. Th 179) .

Th 181

5

Water as the first principle. Commentary on Hippocrates, On Humors I 11 Even if Thales declares that all things are composed of water, he still wants this as well [namely, that the elements change into one another]. But it is better to add his own statement from the second book of On Principles, which goes something like this: “The famous four, of which we say the first is water and which we posit as if it is the only element, are blended together with one another for the combination, solidification and formation of the things in the cosmos. We have already said how in the first book.” 1

This text is regarded as a Renaissance forgery, which, however, includes some genuine passages of Galen (cf. Deichgräber 1972, 44).

i

W: verwendete die Umwandlung der ersten Körper ineinander nach Notwendigkeit.

162

Galen

Th 182

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In Hippocratis de natura hominis librum commentarii I 2 (ed. Mewaldt = CMG V 9.1.15.11–18) κακῶς δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐξηγητῶν ἔνιοι κατεψεύσαντο Ξενοφάνους, ὥσπερ καὶ Σαβῖνος (Th 133), ὡδί πως γράψας αὐτοῖς ὀνόμασιν‧ οὔτε γὰρ τὸ πάμπαν ἀέρα λέγω τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ὥσπερ Ἀναξιμένης, οὔτε πῦρ, ὡς Ἡηράκλειτος, οὔτε ὕδωρ, ὡς Θαλῆς, οὔτε γῆν, ὡς ἔν τινι Ξενοφάνης.’ οὐδαμόθι γὰρ εὑρίσκεται Ξενοφάνης ἀποφηνάμενος οὕτως. Sim. (water as first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 183

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In Hippocratis de natura hominis librum commentarii I 10 (= CMG V 9.1.24.22–25.1.) ἔνιοι δὲ τῶν φυσικῶν ὀνομασθέντων φιλοσόφων οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ὅπως ἐτόλμησαν ἀποφήνασθαι δόξαν ἀλλόκοτον ἅπασαν ἀνατρέπουσαν τὴν φυσικὴν θεωρίαν. ὁ ἓν γὰρ εἶναι τὸ ὂν εἰπὼν ἀναιρεῖ τῷ λόγῳ γένεσιν ἅπασαν. εἴπερ γὰρ ἓν τὸ γενόμενον, οὐκ ἦν ἔμπροσθεν, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ ἔσται μικρὸν ὕστερον. οὔτε γὰρ ὁ Θαλῆς οὔθ᾽ ὁ Μέλισσος οὐδ᾽ ὁ Ἡράκλειτος ἔμπροσθεν ἦσαν, εἰ νῦν εἰσιν‧ ἆρ᾽ οὖν ἀληθῶς ἄν τις εἴποι μὴ γεγονέναι τούτους τοὺς ἄνδρας;

Th 184

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In Hippocratis de natura hominis librum commentarii I 27 (= CMG V 9.1.37.7–11) καὶ ἄλλος τις ἐβούλετο τὸν πρῶτον καὶ στοιχειώδη χυμὸν εἶναι φλέγμα. μὴ τοίνυν ζητήσωμεν ὀνόματα τῶν τὰς ἀλλοκότους δόξας ταύτας πρῶτον ἀποφηναμένων, εἴ γε, ὅτι Θαλῆς ἀπεφήνατο στοιχεῖον μόνον εἶναι τὸ ὕδωρ, ἐκ συγγράμματος αὐτοῦ δεικνύναι οὐκ ἔχομεν, ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως ἅπασι καὶ τοῦτο πεπίστευται. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (writings) Th 88 (q.v.)

Galen

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Water as the first principle. Commentary on Hippocrates, On the Nature of Man I 2 Some commentators have wickedly brought false charges against Xenophanes, as Sabinus did (Th 133), who wrote something like this: “I do not say that man is entirely air, like Anaximenes, or fire, like Heraclitus, or water, like Thales, or earth as Xenophanes says somewhere.” For Xenophanes is nowhere found making this claim.

Th 183

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Thales as a monist. Commentary on Hippocrates, On the Nature of Man I 10 Some of those who are identified as natural philosophers somehow dared to state a strange opinion that overturns the whole study of nature. For anyone who declares that what-is is one, by his statement eliminatesi all generation. For if in fact what has come to be is one, it previously was not, just as a little later it will not be either. For neither Thales nor Melissus nor Heraclitus were earlier if they are now. So would a person say truly that these men have not come to be?

Th 184ii

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Water as the first principle. Commentary on Hippocrates, On the Nature of Man I 27 Someone else held that the primary and elementary humor is phlegm. But let us not investigate the names of those who first pronounced these uncouth views, since in fact we cannot prove from Thales’ treatises that he declared water to be the only element, but nevertheless everyone believes so.

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W: hebt theoretisch jede Entstehung auf. W. does not translate this testimonium.

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Th 185 On seven-month Children

Athenagoras the Apologist Th 186 Legatio pro Christianis 23.2 (ed. Marcovich) Πρῶτος Θαλῆς διαιρεῖ, ὡς οἱ τὰ ἐκείνου [διαιροῦντες] ἀκριβοῦντες μνημονεύουσιν, εἰς θεόν, εἰς δαίμονας, εἰς ἥρὡς. Ἀλλὰ θεὸν μὲν τὸν νοῦν τοῦ κόσμου ἄγει, δαίμονας δὲ οὐσίας νοεῖ ψυχικάς, καὶ ἥρωας τὰς κεχωρισμένας ψυχὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἀγαθοὺς μὲν τὰς ἀγαθάς, κακοὺς δὲ τὰς φαύλους. Sim. (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.); (daimons, heroes) Th 150 (q.v.)

Pseudo-Plutarch Th 187

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De Homero 2.93 (ed. Kindstrand) Ἀρξώμεθα τοίνυν ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ παντὸς ἀρχῆς καὶ γενέσεως, ἣν Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος εἰς τὴν τοῦ ὕδατος οὐσίαν ἀναφέρει, καὶ θεασώμεθα εἰ πρῶτος Ὅμηρος τοῦθ᾽ ὑπέλαβεν, εἰπὼν Ὠκεανός θ᾽ ὅς περ γένεσις πάντεσσι τέτυκται. μετ᾽ ἐκεῖνον δὲ Ξενοφάνης ὁ Κολοφώνιος, ὑφιστάμενος τὰς πρώτας ἀρχὰς εἶναι τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὴν γῆν, ἔοικε σπάσαι τὴν ἀφορμὴν ταύτην ἐκ τῶν Ὁμηρικῶν τούτων‧ ἀλλ᾽ ὑμεῖς μὲν πάντες ὕδωρ καὶ γαῖα γένοισθε‧ σημαίνει γὰρ τὴν ἀνάλυσιν εἰς τὰ γεννητικὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ παντός. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th  29 (q.v.); (the water hypothesis goes back to the first theologians/Homer) Th 29 (q.v.)

Galen– Pseudo-Plutarch

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Th 185 On Seven-month Children. Galen’s treatise of this name exists only in an Arabic translation; cf. Th 487.

Athenagoras the Apologist (end of the 2nd cent. CE) Th 186 Thales’ theological views. Embassy for the Christians 23.2 Thales was first to distinguish between god, daimons and heroes, as those who have exact knowledge of his views record. God he holds to be the intellect of the cosmos (cf. Th 149), daimons he considers to be spiritual substances, and heroes, souls separated from humans, good souls being good heroes and bad [souls] evil ones (cf. Th 150).

Pseudo-Plutarch (end of the 2nd cent. CE)1 Th 187i

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Water as the first principle. On Homer 2.93 Now let us begin with the principle and origin of the universe, which Thales of Miletus refers to the substance of water, and let us consider whether Homer was the first to hold this view, when he said, “Okeanos which is the origin of all things” (Il. 14.246). After him, Xenophanes of Colophon, who posited that the first principles are water and earth, seems to have derived this starting point from the following words of Homer: “May you all become water and earth.” For it signifies the dissolution into the elements that generate the universe.

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Cf. Hillgruber 1994–99, I 74–6.

i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

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Diogenes of Oenoanda Th 188

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Fr. 6.col1.1–2.7 (ed. Smith) [- - - - - - - - - - - - -] [- - - - - - - - - -τὰ δ]ὲ̣ [πρῶτα σώματα, ἃ κ]α̣ὶ στοι[χεῖα προ]σαγορ̣[ε]ύεται, ἐξ ἀρ[χῆς] μ̣ὲν ὑφεστηκότα [καὶ ὄ]ντα ἄφθαρτα, γεννῶν[τα δὲ] τὰ πράγματα, τίνα [ἐστί]ν, πα̣ραθήσομεν προ[διαλ]υ̣σάμενοι τὰς ἑτέ[ρων] δ̣όξας. Ἡράκλειτος [μὲν] ο̣ὖν ὁ Ἐφέσιος πῦρ εἶ[ναι σ] τ̣οιχεῖον εἶπεν, Θα[λῆς δ]ὲ ὁ Μειλήσ̣ι̣ ος ὕδωρ, [Διογέν]η̣ς̣ [δὲ ὁ] Ἀ̣πολλω [6.col2] νιάτης καὶ Ἀναξ̣ιμένης ἀέρα, Ἐνπεδοκλῆς δ᾽ ὁ Ἀκραγ〈αντεῖν〉ος̣ κ̣αὶ πῦρ καὶ ἀέρα καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ γῆν, Ἀναξαγόρας δ᾽ ὁ Κλαζομένιος τὰς ὁμοιομερείας ἑκάστου πράγματος, [...]. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Alexander of Aphrodisias Th 189

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In Aristotelis Metaphysica commentaria 24.7–25.10 (ed. Hayduck) [Metaph. 1.3.983b6] τίνες δέ εἰσιν οἱ τὴν ὑλικὴν αἰτίαν μόνην ὑποθέμενοι, καθ᾽ οὓς ἡ κυρίως λεγομένη γένεσις οὐ σώζεται, ἑξῆς παρατίθεται. ὧν πρῶτόν φησι Θαλῆν γενέσθαι (ἀρχηγὸς γὰρ οὗτος τῆς φυσικῆς φιλοσοφίας δοκεῖ τῶν μνημονευομένων γεγονέναι) καὶ σαφῶς ἐκτίθεται τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ. ἔδειξε δὲ γνωρίμως διὰ τοῦ παραδείγματος ἐπὶ τοῦ Σωκράτους, πῶς οὐ σώζεται γένεσις καθ᾽ οὓς τὸ ὑποκείμενον παντάπασιν ἐνεργείᾳ ἐστί, σῶζον ἀεὶ τὴν οἰκείαν οὐσίαν ἐν οἷς ἂν ᾖ‧ ἕκαστον γὰρ τῶν ἐκ τούτου γιγνομένων πως ἔχον τὸ ὑποκείμενόν ἐστιν. τὸ δὲ δεῖ γὰρ εἶναί τινα φύσιν ἢ μίαν ἢ πλείους μιᾶς, ἐξ ὧν γίγνεται τὰ ἄλλα σωζομένης ἐκείνης εἶπε καθ᾽ οὓς μὲν ἓν τὸ ὑποκείμενον καὶ ἡ ὕλη ἐνεργείᾳ τι ὂν ἤδη καθ᾽ αὑτό ἐστι, καθ᾽ οὓς δὲ πλείω, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς δι᾽ ὧν ἐπιφέρει δηλοῖ‧ οὐδὲ καθ᾽ οὓς πλείω, κατὰ τούτους οὐ τὰ αὐτά. διὸ εἶπε τὸ μέντοι πλῆθος καὶ τὸ εἶδος τῆς τοιαύτης ἀρχῆς οὐ τὸ αὐτὸ πάντες λέγουσιν, ἀλλὰ Θαλῆς μὲν ὁ τῆς τοιαύτης ἀρχηγὸς φιλοσοφίας. τοιαύτης, τῆς φυσικῆς τε καὶ θεωρητικῆς‧ αὐτὸς γὰρ τῶν μνημονευομένων φυσικῶν ἀρχαιότατος. ὅτι δὲ κατὰ τοῦτον τὸ ὕδωρ ἡ ἀρχή, καὶ διὰ τί, σαφῶς παρατίθεται‧ ὅτι τε γὰρ ἡ τροφὴ πάντων ὑγρά,

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Diogenes of Oenoanda (turn of the 3rd cent. CE) Th 188 Water as the first principle. Diogenes criticizes other philosophers’ doctrines of the elements before reaching the atomic theory. Only the beginning of the comparison with Heraclitus is preserved.

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Fr. 6.col1.1–2.7 [As for the first bodies,i which are also] called elements, which have on the one hand subsisted from the beginning [and] are imperishable, and [on the other hand] generate things, we shall set out what [they are]ii after first demolishing the views of others. Heraclitus of Ephesus declared that the element is fire; Thales of Miletus, water; Diogenes of Apollonia [6 col 2] and Anaximenes, air; Empedocles of Acragas, fire, air, water and earth; Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, the homoeomeries of each thing [...]

Alexander of Aphrodisias (turn of the 3rd cent. CE) Th 189

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Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle, Metaphysics 124.7–25.10 [Metaph. 1.3.983b6] He [Aristotle] also sets out in order who were [the philosophers] that posited only the material causeiii, according to whom what is strictly called generation is not preserved. He says that Thales was the first of these (for of those who are mentioned, he is held to have been the founder of natural philosophy), and sets out his view clearly. By his example of Socrates [983b13 ff.] he shows, in a way that can be understood, how generation is not preserved according to those for whom the substrate is fully actual, preserving forever its proper substantial natureiv in whatever things it is [found]; for each of the things that come to be from it is the substrate in

i ii iii iv

W. does not translate the words here translated as “first bodies.” W. does not translate the words here translated “what they are”. W: nur eine Materialursache. W: die eigene Natur.

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ἐκ δὲ τῆς τροφῆς ἑκάστῳ τὸ εἶναι, καὶ ὅτι πάντων τὰ σπέρματα, ἐξ ὧν ἡ γένεσις αὐτοῖς, ὑγρὰ τὴν φύσιν, καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ θερμὸν ἐκ τούτου γινόμενον, ἐκ τοῦ ὑγροῦ. ἐκ γὰρ τῆς ἀναθυμιάσεως τῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ ὑγροῦ τὴν γένεσιν τοῦ θερμοῦ τε καὶ πυρὸς οἱ περὶ Θαλῆν γίγνεσθαι ἐτίθεντο‧ καὶ γὰρ τρέφεσθαι ὑπὸ τούτου αὐτὸ καὶ εἶναί τε καὶ σώζεσθαι‧ τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ καὶ τούτῳ ζῆν. ὥστε καὶ τοῦ θερμοῦ τὸ ὑγρὸν αὐτοῖς ἀρχή τε καὶ στοιχεῖον, [25] εἴγε τρέφεται καὶ γίγνεται ἐκ τούτου‧ καὶ γὰρ ἐξ οὗ γίγνεται τὰ γιγνόμενα, τοῦτο αὐτῶν ἐστιν ἀρχή‧ ὥστε καὶ τοῦ πυρὸς τὸ ὕδωρ, εἰ ἐκ τούτου γίγνεται‧ γίγνεται δὲ ἐκ τούτου, ἐπεὶ καὶ τρέφεται. τὸ δ᾽ ὕδωρ ἀρχὴ φύσεώς ἐστι τοῖς ὑγροῖς, ἀντὶ τοῦ τὸ ὕδωρ ἀρχὴ καὶ φύσις καὶ αἰτία τοῦ εἶναί ἐστι τοῖς ὑγροῖς. εἰ δὲ τοῖς μὲν ἄλλοις ὡς καὶ τοῖς σπέρμασιν ἀρχὴ τὸ ὑγρόν, τῶν δὲ ὑγρῶν ἀρχὴ τὸ ὕδωρ, εἴη ἂν τοῦτο καὶ τῶν ὑπ᾽ αὐτὸ ἀρχή. εἰσὶ δέ τινες οἳ καὶ τοὺς πάνυ παλαιοὺς ἱστοροῦσιν, ὡς τῆς δόξης ταύτης καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἀρχαιοτάτους ἀναφερομένης ὑπό τινων καὶ τοὺς πρώτους εἰπόντας τι περὶ θεῶν‧ καὶ πῶς, λέγει. λέγοι δ᾽ ἂν περὶ Ὁμήρου τε καὶ Ἡσιόδου ὡς πρώτων θεολόγων. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (the first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.); (he water hypothesis goes back to the first theologians/Homer) Th 29 (q.v.)

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a certain state. “For there must be some naturei, either one or more than one, from which the other things come to be while it itself is preserved” [983b17 f.] – this he says in reference both to those according to whom there is a single substrate and matter, which, since it is something actually, already exists independentlyii; and also in reference to those according to whom the principles are more than one, as Aristotle also makes clear by what he says next. But they [the principles] are not the same even for those who hold that there are more than one, as he makes clear in what follows; nor do those for whom there are more than one all posit the same ones. Hence he says, “But they do not all agree about the number and kind of this sort of principle; but Thales, the founder of this kind of philosophy, [says the principle is water]” [983b20 f.]. [By] “this kind” [he means] natural [philosophy], which is theoretical; for he [Thales] is the earliest of the natural philosophers who are mentioned. He clearly explains that according to him [Thales] water is the principle, and why [it is the principle]: because the nourishment of all things is moist, and each thing has its being from its nourishment; and because the seeds of all things, from which they have their generation, are naturally moist; and because the hot itself comes to be from this, viz. the moist. For Thales and his associates posited that the hot and fire have their generation from the exhalation [arising] from the moist, and that in fact it is by this that they are nourished and exist and are preserved; for this is [what Aristotle means by] “and are kept alive by it” [983b24]. Consequently the moist was, in their view, the principle and element even of the hot, [25] if indeed the latter is nourished by it and is generated from it; for that from which the things that come to be are generated is their principle, so that water is the principle even of fire if this latter is generated from it. And fire is generated from it [water] because in fact it is nourished by it. “Water is the principle of the nature of moist things” [983b27] means that water is the principle and nature and cause of the being of moist things. But if the moist is the principle of other things including even seeds, and water is the principle of moist things, [then] the latter [water] will also be the principle of things dependent on it [the moist]. [He says,] “Some discuss even the very early [thinkers]” [983b27–28], as if some refer this opinion [about water] back to the most ancient [thinkers] and to those who were the first to say anything about the gods; and he states how [they make this connection]. He will be referring to Homer and Hesiod as the first theologians. i ii

W: Natursubstanz. W. has “als bereits aktuelle Substanz ist” for the words here translated “which... independently.”

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Th 190

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In Metaph. 25.13–18 [Metaph. 1.3.983b32] Ὃ βούλεται μὲν συνάγειν ἔστιν ὅτι οἱ τὸν τῶν θεῶν ὅρκον ὕδωρ ὑποθέμενοι παραπλησίως Θαλῇ ἀρχὴν τῶν ὄντων τὸ ὕδωρ ὑποτίθενται. διὰ τοιούτου δὲ συλλογισμοῦ τοῦτο λαμβάνομεν. τὸ τιμιώτατον καὶ πρεσβύτατον δηλονότι καὶ ἀρχή‧ ὅρκος δὲ τὸ τιμιώτατον‧ ὃ γὰρ ὄμνυμεν, ὡς τιμιώτατον ὄμνυμεν‧ ὁ ὅρκος ἄρα πρεσβύτατόν ἐστι καὶ ἀρχή. τοῦτο δὲ ἦν ὕδωρ‧ ἡ γὰρ Στὺξ τὸ ὕδωρ κατ᾽ αὐτούς. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (he water hypothesis goes back to the first theologians/Homer) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 191

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In Metaph. 26.14–23 [Metaph. 1.3.984a2–3] Θαλῆς μέντοι λέγεται οὕτως ἀποφήνασθαι περὶ τῆς πρώτης αἰτίας. Εἰκότως τὸ λέγεται οὕτως ἀποφήνασθαι‧ οὐδὲν γὰρ προφέρεται αὐτοῦ σύγγραμμα, ἐξ οὗ τις τὸ βέβαιον ἕξει τοῦ ταῦτα λέγεσθαι τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ὑπ᾽ αὐτου. [...] [984a3] Ἵππωνα ἱστοροῦσιν ἀρχὴν ἁπλῶς τὸ ὑγρὸν ἀδιορίστως ὑποθέσθαι, οὐ διασαφήσαντα πότερον ὕδωρ, ὡς Θαλῆς, ἢ ἀήρ, ὡς Ἀναξιμένης καὶ Διογένης. Sim. (writings) Th 88 (q.v.); (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 192

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In Metaph. 29.10–14 [Metaph. 1.3.984a27] Λέγει πάλιν περὶ τῶν μόνῃ τῇ ὑλικῇ τε αἰτίᾳ καὶ ἀρχῇ χρησαμένων‧ δόξει δὲ τὸ πάμπαν ἐξ ἀρχῆς προστεθεικέναι ὑπὲρ τοῦ δηλῶσαι τοὺς περὶ Θαλῆν καὶ Ἀναξιμένην, ἐπεὶ ὧν γε ἐμνημόνευσεν, Ἀναξαγόρας καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς δοκοῦσί τι εἰρηκέναι καὶ περὶ τῆς ποιητικῆς ἀρχῆς, ὡς καὶ αὐτός τε προϊὼν μνημονεύσει. Sim. (first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.)

Alexander of Aphrosidias

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Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle, Metaphysics 25.13–18 [Metaph. 1.3.983b32] What he [Aristotle] wants to prove is that those who suppose that what the gods swear by is water are supposing, in much the same way as Thales, that water is the principle of the things-that-arei. This we learn through the following syllogism: it is clear that what is most honorable and oldest is also a principle; but that by which oaths are sworn is the most honorable, for we swear by what we honor most; therefore, that which one swears by is oldest and a principle. But we have seen that this is water; for according to them [the theologians] the river Styx [signifies] water.

Th 191

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Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle, Metaphysics 26.14–23 [Metaph. 1.3.984a2–3: Thales in any case is said to have expressed himself in this way about the first cause.] The statement “is said to have expressed himself in this way” is reasonable, for no treatise of his can be produced from which one may be certain that he said these things in this way. [...] [984a3] They report that Hippo simply posited the moist in an indefinite way as a principle, without making it clear whether it is water, as Thales [held], or air, as Anaximenes and Diogenes [did].

Th 192

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Thales recognized only the material cause. Commentary on Aristotle, Metaphysics 29.10–14 [Metaph. 1.3.984a27] He is speaking again about those who employed only the material causeii and principle. But it seems that he has added the words “from the very beginning” to refer to Thales and Anaximenes and their associates, since at least of those he has mentioned Anaxagoras and Empedocles appear to have said something about the efficient principle as well, as he himself will remark as he continues.

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W: Dinge. W: eine einzige stoffliche Ursache.

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Th 193

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In Metaph. 45.14–24 [Metaph. 1.5.987a2] Παρὰ μὲν τῶν πρώτων. ὑπομιμνήσκει τῶν εἰρημένων ἀρχαίων, ὅτι οἱ μὲν ἀρχαιότεροί τε καὶ πρῶτοι σωματικὴν ἀρχὴν ἐποίουν καὶ ὑλικήν, ὡς ὕδωρ μὲν Θαλῆς, πῦρ δὲ Ἵππασός τε καὶ Ἡράκλειτος, καὶ τὰ τούτοις ὅμοια‧ καὶ ἀέρα γάρ, ὡς εἴρηκεν, ἐτίθεντο ἀρχὴν Ἀναξιμένης τε καὶ Διογένης. ἐν τούτοις δ᾽ ἂν καὶ Ἀναξίμανδρος εἴη ὁ τὴν μεταξὺ φύσιν θέμενος, ἧς δόξης ἐμνημόνευσεν ἐν τοῖς Περὶ γενέσεως. τοιοῦτοι δὲ καὶ Λεύκιππος καὶ Δημόκριτος‧ καὶ γὰρ οὗτοι ὑλικὰς τὰς ἀρχὰς ἔθεντο. καὶ τῶν μὲν μίαν τῶν δὲ πλείους. ἔθεντο μίαν, ὡς Θαλῆς Ἀναξιμένης Ἡράκλειτος, πλείους, ὡς οἱ περὶ Λεύκιππόν τε καὶ Δημόκριτον‧ κατὰ γὰρ τούτους πάντας αἱ ὑλικαὶ ἀρχαὶ πλείους, καὶ κατὰ Παρμενίδην. Sim. (water as first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (monism) Th 194, Th 419, Th 420, Th 421, Th 428, Th 436, Th 439, Th 466

Th 194

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In Metaph. 461.26–35 [Metaph. 6.1.1028a31] Ἐκ δὴ τῶν εἰρημένων φανερόν ἐστι, φησίν, ὅτι καὶ τὸ πάλαι μὲν καὶ ἀεὶ ὑπό τε τοῦ Πλάτωνος καὶ τῶν ἄλλων, νῦν δὲ ὑφ᾽ ἡμῶν ζητούμενον καὶ ἀπορούμενον, τί τὸ ὄν, τοῦτό ἐστι τίς ἡ οὐσία. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ κυρίως ὂν καὶ πρῶτον ὂν καὶ τῷ χρόνῳ καὶ τῷ λόγῳ καὶ τῇ γνώσει ἐστὶν ἡ οὐσία, τὸ ζητεῖν τί τὸ ὂν τὸ ζητεῖν ἐστι τίς ἡ οὐσία. τοῦτο δὲ τὸ ὄν (λέγων τὴν οὐσίαν) οἱ μὲν ἓν εἶναί φασιν‧ ὅσοι γὰρ μίαν ἔλεγον τὴν ἀρχήν, ὥσπερ Θαλῆς καὶ οἱ λοιποί, οὓς ἴσμεν, καὶ τὸ ὂν ἓν ἔλεγον‧ ὅσοι δ᾽ ἀπείρους, ὥσπερ Ἀναξαγόρας καὶ Δημόκριτος, καὶ τὰ ὄντα ἄπειρα ἀπεφήναντο εἶναι. διόπερ καὶ ἡμῖν, φησί, πρῶτον καὶ μάλιστα καὶ μόνως ὡς εἰπεῖν περὶ τοῦ ὄντως ὄντος καὶ κυρίως ὄντος θεωρητέον τί ἐστιν. Sim. (monism) Th 193 (q.v.)

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Th 193

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Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle, Metaphysics 45.14–24 [Metaph. 1.5.987a2] From the first philosophers. He is reminding us that of the early [philosophers] of whom he has spoken, those who were earlier and came first made their principle corporeal and material, as Thales did water, Hippasus and Heraclitus fire, and suchlike; for as he said, Anaximenes and Diogenes posited air as the principle.i Anaximander too would belong to this group since he posited an intermediate nature, a view that he [Aristotle] mentions in On Generation [328b35; 332a20]. Both Leucippus and Democritus are also to be included among these, for they too posited principles that are material. “And some of them [posited] one [material principle], others more than one” [987a5]. Some posited one principle, as did Thales, Anaximenes and Heraclitus; others more than one, as did those who associated with Leucippus and Democritus; for according to all these and Parmenides as well, the material principles are more than one.

Th 194

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Thales as a monist. Commentary on Aristotle, Metaphysics 461.26–33 [Metaph. 6.1.1028a31] It is obvious from what has been said that what was investigated and puzzled about both before by Plato and others and now by us, namely, what is that-which-is, amounts to the question what is substance. For since substance is what strictly and primarily is both in time and in formula and in knowledge, investigating what that-which-is is amounts to investigating what is substance. Some say that “this thing-that-is” (meaning substance) is one. Forii all those that we know who declared that the principle is one, like Thales and the rest that we know of, declared that that-which-is is one. But all those who [said that the principles are] infinite, like Anaxagoras and Democritus, declared that the things-that-are are infinite too. This is why, he says, we too must consider first and foremost and only, so to speak, what is that which really and strictly is.

i ii

W: als Prinzip. W. translates only this sentence.

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Th 195 In Metaph. 549.2–6 [Metaph. 8.2.1042b31–33] Ταῦτα εἰπὼν λέγει ὅτι δεῖ λαβεῖν τὰ τῶν διαφορῶν γένη‧ αὗται γὰρ ἀρχαὶ καὶ αἰτίαι ἔσονται ἑκάστοις τοῦ εἶναι τοῦθ᾽ ὅπερ εἰσίν, οἷον τοῖς μὲν ἀρχὴ ἔσται εἰδοποιὸς τὸ μᾶλλον, ὥσπερ Θαλῆς ἔλεγεν ὅτι τὸ ὕδωρ μᾶλλον μανωθὲν γίνεται ἀὴρ καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον πῦρ. Sim. (transformations of water) Th 94 (q.v.)

Th 196

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In Metaph. 670.19–23 [Metaph. 9.1.1069a26] Οἱ δὲ πάλαι τοὐναντίον οὐσίας ἔλεγον τὰ καθ᾽ ἕκαστα‧ ὁ μὲν Ἡράκλειτος οὐσίαν καὶ ἀρχὴν ἐτίθετο τὸ πῦρ, Παρμενίδης δὲ ἐν τοῖς πρὸς δόξαν πῦρ καὶ γῆν, Θαλῆς ὕδωρ, καὶ ἄλλος ἄλλο. τὸ δὲ κοινὸν καθόλου σῶμα τὸ κατὰ παντὸς σώματος κατηγορούμενον οὐδεὶς εἶπεν ἀρχήν. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Clement of Alexandria Th 197 Protrepticus 5.64.2 (ed. Mondésert) Στοιχεῖα μὲν οὖν ἀρχὰς ἀπέλιπον ἐξυμνήσαντες Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ Ἀναξιμένης ὁ καὶ αὐτὸς Μιλήσιος τὸν ἀέρα, ᾧ Διογένης ὕστερον ὁ Ἀπολλωνιάτης κατηκολούθησεν. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

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Th 195 Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle, Metaphysics 549.2–6 [Metaph. 8.2.1042b31–33: The kinds of differentiae must be grasped for these will be the cause of their being.] After saying this he declares that it is necessary to grasp the kinds of differentiae, for these will be the principles and causes for each thing’s being what it is, as for some the principle that gives form is the degree: for example Thales said that water becomes air when it is rarefied to a higher degree, and fire when [rarefied] still more.

Th 196i

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Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle, Metaphysics 670.19–23 [Metaph. 9.1.1069a25: The early philosophers to the contrary said that particular things are substances.] Heraclitus posited fire as the substance and principle; Parmenides, in his treatment of opinion, fire and earth; Thales, water, and other people other things. But no one stated that the common universal body which is predicated of every body is a principle.

Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150–211/16 CE) Th 197 Water as the first principle. Protrepticus 5.64.2 [The following thinkers] bequeathed us elements as principles, Thales of Miletus, who sang the praises of water, and his fellow Milesian Anaximenes, air, whom afterwards Diogenes of Apollonia followed [in maintaining this view].

i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

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Th 198 Stromata 1.11.52.4 (ed. Stählin/Treu) Στοιχεῖα δὲ σέβουσι Διογένης μὲν τὸν ἀέρα, Θαλῆς δὲ τὸ ὕδωρ, Ἵππασος δὲ τὸ πῦρ, καὶ οἱ τὰς ἀτόμους ἀρχὰς ὑποτιθέμενοι, φιλοσοφίας ὄνομα ὑποδυόμενοι, ἄθεοί τινες ἀνθρωπίσκοι καὶ φιλήδονοι. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 199

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Strom. 1.14.59.1 Φασὶ δὲ Ἕλληνες μετά γε Ὀρφέα καὶ Λίνον καὶ τοὺς παλαιοτάτους παρὰ σφίσι ποιητὰς ἐπὶ σοφίᾳ πρώτους θαυμασθῆναι τοὺς ἑπτὰ τοὺς ἐπικληθέντας σοφούς, ὧν τέσσαρες μὲν ἀπὸ Ἀσίας ἦσαν, Θαλῆς τε ὁ Μιλήσιος καὶ Βίας ὁ Πριηνεὺς καὶ Πιττακὸς ὁ Μιτυληναῖος καὶ Κλεόβουλος ὁ Λίνδιος, δύο δὲ ἀπὸ Εὐρώπης, Σόλων τε ὁ Ἀθηναῖος καὶ Χίλων ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος, τὸν δὲ ἕβδομον οἳ μὲν Περίανδρον εἶναι λέγουσιν τὸν Κορίνθιον, οἳ δὲ Ἀνάχαρσιν τὸν Σκύθην, οἳ δὲ Ἐπιμενίδην τὸν Κρῆτα. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Th 200 Strom. 1.14.60.3 Τὸ μὲν οὖν “γνῶθι σαυτὸν” οἳ μὲν Χίλωνος ὑπειλήφασι, Χαμαιλέων (Th 40) δὲ ἐν τῷ περὶ θεῶν Θαλοῦ, Ἀριστοτέλης δὲ τῆς Πυθίας. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 201 Strom. 1.14.61.2–3 Τὸ δ᾽ “ἐγγύα, πάρα δ᾽ ἄτα” Κλεομένης μὲν ἐν τῷ περὶ Ἡσιόδου Ὁμήρῳ φησὶ προειρῆσθαι διὰ τούτων‧ [...] οἳ δὲ περὶ Ἀριστοτέλη Χίλωνος αὐτὸ νομίζουσι, Δίδυμος (Th 84) δὲ Θαλοῦ [61.3] φησιν εἶναι τὴν παραίνεσιν. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

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Th 198 Water as the first principle. Stromata 1.11.52.4 Diogenes reveres air as his element, Thales water, Hippasus fire, and those who posit the atoms as principles, who pretend to be philosophers – those godless, pleasure-loving little men.

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Thales as Sage. Stromata 1.14.59.1 The Greeks say that after Orpheus, Linus and the earliest poets in their tradition, the first people to be admired for wisdom are called the Seven Sages, of whom four were from Asia: Thales of Miletus, Bias of Priene, Pittacus of Mitylene and Cleobulus of Lindos, and two from Europe: Solon of Athens and Chilon of Lacedaimon. Some say that Periander of Corinth was the seventh, others Anacharsis of Scythia, and still others Epimenides of Crete.

Th 200 Thales’ wise sayings. Stromata 1.14.60.3 Some suppose that the saying “Know thyself” is due to Chilon, but Chamaeleon (Th 40) in his book on the gods [says it is due to] Thales, and Aristotle [attributes it to] the Pythian priestess [3.2 Rose3, 29.1 Gigon].

Th 201 Thales’ wise sayings. Stromata 1.14.61.2–3 In his book on Hesiod, Cleomenes says that the saying “Give a pledge and disaster is at hand” was earlier said by Homer, for the following reasons: [...] but Aristotle and his associates believe that it is due to Chilon, while Didymus (Th 84) says that the advice is due to Thales.

i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

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Strom. 1.14.62.1–63.2 Φιλοσοφίας τοίνυν μετὰ τοὺς προειρημένους ἄνδρας τρεῖς γεγόνασι διαδοχαὶ ἐπώνυμοι τῶν τόπων περὶ οὓς διέτριψαν, Ἰταλικὴ μὲν ἡ ἀπὸ Πυθαγόρου, Ἰωνικὴ δὲ ἡ ἀπὸ Θαλοῦ, Ἐλεατικὴ δὲ ἡ ἀπὸ Ξενοφάνους. [...] [62.3] ἀλλὰ καὶ Θαλῆς, ὡς Λέανδρος (FGrHist III B 491–2 F 17, s. Th 50) καὶ Ἡρόδοτος (Th 12) ἱστοροῦσι, Φοῖνιξ ἦν, ὡς δέ τινες ὑπειλήφασι, Μιλήσιος. [62.4] μόνος οὗτος δοκεῖ τοῖς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων προφήταις συμβεβληκέναι, διδάσκαλος δὲ αὐτοῦ οὐδεὶς ἀναγράφεται, [...] [63.2] Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ Πραξιάδου Μιλήσιος Θαλῆν διαδέχεται, τοῦτον δὲ Ἀναξιμένης Εὐρυστράτου Μιλήσιος, μεθ᾽ ὃν Ἀναξαγόρας Ἡγησιβούλου Κλαζομένιος. Sim. (Ionian school) Th 147 (q.v.); (Phoenician ancestry) Th 12 (q.v.); (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.)

Th 203

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Strom. 1.14.65.1 Θαλῆν δὲ Εὔδημος ἐν ταῖς Ἀστρολογικαῖς ἱστορίαις τὴν γενομένην ἔκλειψιν τοῦ ἡλίου προειπεῖν φησι (s.  Th  45) καθ᾽ οὓς χρόνους συνῆψαν μάχην πρὸς ἀλλήλους Μῆδοί τε καὶ Λυδοὶ βασιλεύοντος Κυαξάρους μὲν τοῦ Ἀστυάγους πατρὸς Μήδων, Ἀλυάττου δὲ τοῦ Κροίσου Λυδῶν. συνᾴδει δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ Ἡρόδοτος ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ (Th 10). εἰσὶ δὲ οἱ χρόνοι ἀμφὶ τὴν πεντηκοστὴν ὀλυμπιάδα. Sim. (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.)

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Thales as founder of Ionian philosophy; his ancestry, and association with Egypt; Thales and Anaximander. Stromata 1.14.62.1–63.2 After the men mentioned above there have been three successions of philosophy named for the places in which they were pursued: the Italian, which originated with Pythagoras, the Ionian, which originated with Thales, and the Eleatic, which originated with Xenophanes. [...] [62.3] Buti Thales too, as Leandrus (FGrHist IIIB 491–2F17, cf. Th 50) and Herodotus (Th 12) record, was a Phoenician, but as others have supposed, a Milesian. [62.4] He alone seems to have met with the prophetsii of the Egyptians, and no one is reported as his teacher, [...] [63.2] Anaximander of Miletus, the son of Praxiades, succeeded Thales, and Anaximenes of Miletus, the son of Eurystratus, [succeeded] him [Anaximander], after whom came Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, the son of Hegesibulus.

Th 203

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Thales’ explanation of eclipses. Stromata 1.14.65.1 In his Astronomical Inquiries1 Eudemus says that Thales predicted the eclipse of the sun (cf. Th 45) that occurred at the time when the Medes and the Lydians joined battle while Cyaxares, the father of Astyages, was ruling the Medes, and Alyattes, the father of Croesus, [was ruling] the Lydians. Herodotus in his first book agrees with him (Th 10). These are the years around the time of the fiftieth Olympiad [580–577 BCE].

1

Or: History of Astronomy. Cf. Bowen 2002, 308, n. 2.

i ii

W.’s translation begins here. W: Priestern.

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Th 204 Strom. 1.15.66.2 Θαλῆς δὲ Φοῖνιξ ὢν τὸ γένος καὶ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίων προφήταις συμβεβληκέναι εἴρηται, καθάπερ καὶ ὁ Πυθαγόρας αὐτοῖς γε τούτοις. Sim. (Phoenician ancestry) Th 12 (q.v.); (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.)

Th 205

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Strom. 1.21.129.3–4 Ἀποδείκνυνται τοίνυν οἱ ἐπὶ Δαρείου τοῦ ῾Υστάσπου προφητεύσαντες κατὰ τὸ δεύτερον ἔτος τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ Ἀγγαῖος καὶ Ζαχαρίας καὶ ὁ ἐκ τῶν δώδεκα Ἄγγελος κατὰ τὸ πρῶτον ἔτος τῆς ὀγδόης καὶ τεσσαρακοστῆς ὀλυμπιάδος προφητεύσαντες πρεσβύτεροι εἶναι Πυθαγόρου τοῦ κατὰ τὴν δευτέραν καὶ ἑξηκοστὴν ὀλυμπιάδα φερομένου καὶ τοῦ πρεσβυτάτου τῶν παρ᾽ Ἕλλησι σοφῶν Θαλοῦ περὶ τὴν πεντηκοστὴν ὀλυμπιάδα γενομένου. [129.4] συνεχρόνισαν δὲ οἱ συγκαταλεγέντες σοφοὶ τῷ Θαλεῖ, ὥς φησιν Ἄνδρων ἐν τῷ Τρίποδι (Th 24). Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.)

Th 206 Strom. 2.4.14.1–2 Πίστει οὖν ἐφικέσθαι μόνῃ οἷόν τε τῆς τῶν ὅλων ἀρχῆς. πᾶσα γὰρ ἐπιστήμη διδακτή ἐστι‧ τὸ δὲ διδακτὸν ἐκ προγινωσκομένου. [14.2] οὐ προεγινώσκετο δὲ ἡ τῶν ὅλων ἀρχὴ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, οὔτ᾽ οὖν Θαλῇ ὕδωρ ἐπισταμένῳ τὴν πρώτην αἰτίαν οὔτε τοῖς ἄλλοις [τοῖς] φυσικοῖς τοῖς ἑξῆς. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

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Th 204 Thales’ Phoenician ancestry; his association with Egypt. The earliest Greek sages were non-Greeks and studied with non-Greeks. Stromata 1.15.66.2 Thales was of Phoenician origin and is said to have associated with the prophetsi of the Egyptians, just as Pythagoras too [is said to have associated] with these same people.

Th 205

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Thales the Sage; his dates. Stromata 1.21.129.3–4 Now it has been proved that the prophets in the time of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, in the second year of his reign – Aggaios [Haggai] and Zacharias and the Angel [Maleachi] who was one of the Twelve [minor prophets], who prophesied in the first year of the forty-eighth Olympiad [588–585 BCE] – are earlier than Pythagoras who is said [to have lived] during the sixty-second Olympiad [532–529 BCE], and than Thales, the earliest of the Greek Sages, who lived around the fiftieth Olympiad [580–576 BCE]. [129.4] Contemporary with Thales were the Sages listed along with him, as Andron says in the Tripod (Th 24).

Th 206 Water as the first principle. Stromata 2.4.14.1–2 By faith alone is it possible to reach the principle of all things. For every science can be taught, and what can be taught depends onii something previously known. [14.2] But the principle of all things was not previously known by the Greeks, so it was not previously [known] by Thales either, who knew the first cause as wateriii, or by the other natural philosophers who followed him.

i ii iii

W: Priestern. W: baut auf. W: der der Meinung war, dass das Wasser die erste Ursache sei.

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Th 207

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Strom. 5.14.96.4 Τί δ᾽; οὐχὶ κἀκεῖνα τοῦ Θάλητος ἐκ τῶνδε ἤρτηται; τὸ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων δοξάζεσθαι τὸν θεὸν καὶ τὸ “καρδιογνώστην” λέγεσθαι πρὸς ἡμῶν ἄντικρυς ἑρμηνεύει. ἐρωτηθεὶς γέ τοι ὁ Θάλης, τί ἐστι τὸ θεῖον, “τὸ μήτε ἀρχήν”, ἔφη, “μήτε τέλος ἔχον.” πυθομένου δὲ ἑτέρου, εἰ λανθάνει τὸ θεῖον πράσσων τι ἄνθρωπος, “καὶ πῶς,” εἶπεν, “ὅς γε οὐδὲ διανοούμενος.” Sim. (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.); (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 208

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Strom. 6.7.57.3 Κλεάνθης μὲν γὰρ Ζήνωνα ἐπιγράφεται καὶ Θεόφραστος Ἀριστοτέλη Μητρόδωρός τε Ἐπίκουρον καὶ Πλάτων Σωκράτην‧ ἀλλὰ κἂν ἐπὶ Πυθαγόραν ἔλθω καὶ Φερεκύδην καὶ Θάλητα καὶ τοὺς πρώτους σοφούς, ἵσταμαι τὸν τούτων διδάσκαλον ζητῶν κἂν Αἰγυπτίους εἴπῃς κἂν Ἰνδοὺς κἂν Βαβυλωνίους κἂν τοὺς Μάγους αὐτούς, οὐ παύσομαι τὸν τούτων διδάσκαλον ἀπαιτῶν, ἀνάγω δέ σε καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν πρώτην γένεσιν ἀνθρώπων, κἀκεῖθεν ἄρχομαι ζητεῖν, τίς ὁ διδάσκαλος. Sim. (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.)

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Th 207 Thales’ theological views. Stromata 5.14.96.4 The dependence of Greek philosophy on Hebrew philosophy.

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What is this? Don’t also those views of Thales depend on this [namely, on the insight that a person attains the goal if he brings his thought into agreement with the object of thought]? That god is glorified to eternity and is called by us the “knower of hearts”1 expresses this clearly. Indeed, when asked what is divine, Thales said (cf. Th 210; Th 237 [Diog. Laert. 1.46]; Th 564 [321d]) “that which has neither beginning nor end.” When someone else asked if anyone does anything without the divine knowing, he said “How could he, since he cannot even [do so] even if he is just thinking [of doing anything]” (cf. Th 96; Th 237 [ibid.]; Th 564 [316]).

Th 208

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Thales the Sage. Stromata 6.7.57.3 Cleanthes acknowledges his debt to Zeno [as his teacher], Theophrastus [does] to Aristotle, Metrodorus to Epicurus and Plato to Socrates. But if I turn to Pythagoras, Pherecydes and Thales and the first Sages, I come to a standstill when I look for their teacher, and if you say that they were the Egyptians or Indians or Babylonians or even the Magi, I will not stop looking for their teacher, but I bring you back to the first generation of humans and from then begin to investigate who was their teacher.

1

Cf. Acts of the Apostles 1.24; 15.8.

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Hippolytus of Rome Th 209 Refutatio omnium haeresium 1.pinax.3 (ed. Marcovich) Φυσικοὶ μὲν οὖν Θαλῆς, Πυθαγόρας, Ἐμπεδοκλῆς, Ἡράκλειτος, Ἀναξίμανδρος, Ἀναξιμένης, Ἀναξαγόρας, Ἀρχέλαος, Παρμενίδης, Λεύκιππος, Δημόκριτος, Ξενοφάνης, Ἔκφαντος, Ἵππων. Sim. (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.)

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Haer. 1.1 Λέγεται Θαλῆν τὸν Μιλήσιον, ἕνα τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν, πρῶτον ἐπικεχειρηκέναι φιλοσοφίαν φυσικήν. οὗτος ἔφη ἀρχὴν τοῦ παντὸς εἶναι καὶ τέλος τὸ ὕδωρ‧ ἐκ γὰρ αὐτοῦ τὰ πάντα συνίστασθαι πηγνυμένου καὶ πάλιν διανιεμένου,1 ἐπιφέρεσθαί τε αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα. ἀφ᾽ οὗ καὶ σεισμοὺς καὶ πνευμάτων 〈συ〉στροφὰς καὶ ἄστρων κινήσεις 〈γίνεσθαι〉. καὶ τὰ πάντα φέρεσθαί τε καὶ ῥεῖν, τῇ τοῦ πρώτου ἀρχηγοῦ τῆς γενέσεως αὐτῶν φύσει συμφερόμενα. θεὸν δὲ τοῦτ᾽ εἶναι, τὸ μήτε ἀρχὴν μήτε τελευτὴν ἔχον. οὗτος περὶ τὸν τῶν ἄστρων λόγον καὶ τὴν ζήτησιν ἀσχοληθεὶς Ἕλλησι ταύτης τῆς μαθήσεως αἴτιος πρῶτος γίνεται. ὃς ἀποβλέπων πρὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὰ ἄνω ἐπιμελῶς κατανοεῖν λέγων, εἰς φρέαρ ἐνέπεσεν‧ ὃν ἐγγελῶσά τις θεραπαινὶς Θρᾷττα τοὔνομα ἔφη‧ τὰ ἐν οὐρανῷ προθυμούμενος εἰδέναι, τὰ ἐν ποσὶν οὐκ εἶδεν. ἐγένετο δὲ κατὰ Κροῖσον. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (the Earth rests upon water) Th 30 (q.v.); (earthquakes) Th 99 (q.v.); (Thales’ fall into the well) Th 19 (q.v.); (transformations of water) Th 94 (q.v.); (winds) Th 178 (q.v.); (dates) Th 171 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 52 (q.v.); (Thales as representative of astronomy) Th 103 (q.v.); (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.)

1

〈εἰς αὐτὸ διαχεῖσθαι〉 ex gr. supplevit Mansfeld. Cf. Mansfeld 1985, 121.

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Hippolytus of Rome (ca. 160–235 CE) Th 209i Thales as natural philosopher. Refutation of All Heresies 1.pinax.3 The natural philosophers are Thales, Pythagoras, Empedocles, Heraclitus, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Archelaus, Parmenides, Leucippus, Democritus, Xenophanes, Ecphantus, and Hippo.

Th 210 Thales as Sage and natural philosopher; water as the first principle; his explanation of earthquakes; his theological views; Thales as astronomer; his fall into a well. Hippolytus’s refutation of Gnostic heretics begins with the presentation of the lives and doctrines of the Greek natural philosophers, since his strategy is to reveal the Gnostics’ pagan roots.

5

10

Refutation of All Heresies 1.1 It is said that Thales of Miletus, one of the Seven Sages, was the first to pursue natural philosophy. He declared that water is the beginning and endii of the universe. For from it all things are composed when it becomes solid and when it is dissolved again [they are liquefied into it],iii and all things float on it. From it come earthquakes, concentrations of winds and the movements of the stars. And all things undergo motion and are in flux, being carried along by the nature of the author of their generation.iv This [i.e., water] is god since it has neither beginning nor endv (cf. Th 207; Th 237 [Diog. Laert. 1.36]; Th 564 [321d]). This man occupied himself with discussing and investigating the stars, and he was the first person to introduce this discipline to the Greeks. While gazing upward at the sky and claiming that he was carefully coming to understand the things above, he fell into a well. A servant girl named Thratta laughed at him and said, “eager to know what is in the sky, he did not see what was at his feet.” He lived in the time of Croesus. i ii iii iv v

W. does not translate this testimonium. W: Ziel. Here I translate Mansfeld’s supplement, which W. prints but does not translate. W: in Übereinstimmung mit der Natur des ersten Urhebers ihres Werden. W: Das aber, was weder Ursprung noch Ende habe, sei Gott.

186

Hippolytus of Rome

Th 211

5

Haer. 1.5.1–6.1 Ἀλλ᾽ ἐπεὶ καθόλου οὐ μικρὰ γεγένηται ἡ σχολὴ πολλοί τε οἱ μετέπειτα φυσικοὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς γεγένηνται, ἄλλοι ἄλλως περὶ φύσεως τοῦ παντὸς διηγούμενοι, [καὶ] δοκεῖ ἡμῖν τὴν ἀπὸ Πυθαγόρου ἐκθεμένους φιλοσοφίαν κατὰ διαδοχὴν ἀναδραμεῖν ἐπὶ τὰ δόξαντα τοῖς μετὰ Θαλῆν, καὶ ταῦτα ἐξειπόντας ἐλθεῖν ἐπί τε τὴν ἠθικὴν καὶ 〈τὴν〉 λογικὴν φιλοσοφίαν, ὧν ἦρξαν Σωκράτης μὲν ἠθικῆς, Ἀριστοτέλης δὲ διαλεκτικῆς. [6.1] Θαλοῦ τοίνυν Ἀναξίμανδρος γίνεται ἀκροατής. Sim. (Anaximander pupil/associate of Thales) Th 65a (q.v.); (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.)

Th 212 Haer. 1.10.1 Ἡ μὲν οὖν φυσικὴ φιλοσοφία ἀπὸ Θάλητος ἕως Ἀρχελάου διέμεινε‧ τούτου γίνεται Σωκράτης ἀκροατής. Sim. (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.)

Th 213 Haer. 5.9.13 Εἶναι δὲ τὸν ὄφιν λέγουσιν οὗτοι τὴν ὑγρὰν οὐσίαν, καθάπερ καὶ Θαλῆς 〈ἔφη〉 ὁ Μιλήσιος, καὶ μηδὲν δύνασθαι τῶν ὄντων ὅλως, ἀθανάτων ἢ θνητῶν, [τῶν] ἐμψύχων ἢ ἀψύχων, συνεστηκέναι χωρὶς αὐτοῦ. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Hippolytus of Rome

187

Th 211i Thales as natural philosopher; Thales and Anaximander. After presenting Pythagorean philosophy, Hippolytus will turn to the other natural philosophers who followed Thales, beginning with Thales’ student Anaximander.

5

Refutation of All Heresies 1.5.1–6.1 Since the school was by no means small and there were many natural philosophers later who came from it, different ones relating different theories about the nature of the universe, I have decided to set out this philosophy beginning with Pythagoras and to go back in the succession to the views of Thales, and after stating these to turn to ethics and logic, of which Socrates was the founder of ethics and Aristotle of dialectic. [6.1] Anaximander was Thales’ pupil.

Th 212 Thales as natural philosopher. Refutation of All Heresies 1.10.1 Natural philosophy kept going from Thales to Archelaus. Socrates was the latter’s pupil.

Th 213 Thales as natural philosopher. Refutation of All Heresies 5.9.13 These [the Naassenes] say that the snake is the moist substanceii, as Thales of Miletus [said], and that absolutely nothing that is – immortal or mortal, animate or inanimate – can arise without it.1

1

Ophites [in Greek ophis = snake] (Naassenes), collective name for adherents of one of the directions of Gnosis pursued by various groups in the East. In their systems, which contained a body of thought derived from Greek mystery cults, Eastern cult myths, Hellenistic theology and the Old Testament, the snake had a central place both as a communicator of knowledge [...] and also as the bringer of ruin” (Brunner/ Flessel/Hiller 1993, 69).

i ii

W. does not translate this testimonium. W: Wesenheit.

188

Hippolytus of Rome

Th 214

5

Haer. 9.17.2–3 Ταῦτα δὲ 〈τὰ μυστήρια〉 οὐδὲ Αἰγυπτίων σοφοὶ ἐν ἀδύτοις ἐχώρησαν, οὐδὲ ὁ σοφὸς Ἑλλήνων Πυθαγόρας ἐχώρησεν, 〈ὃς τοῦ Ἠλχασαῒ πρότερος ἦν‧〉 εἰ γὰρ 〈τῷ ὄντι〉 τετυχήκει κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ 〈ὁ〉 Ἠλχασαΐ, τίς ἀνάγκη Πυθαγόραν ἢ Θαλῆν ἢ Σόλωνα ἢ τὸν σοφὸν Πλάτωνα ἢ καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς Ἑλλήνων σοφοὺς μαθητεύειν Αἰγυπτίων ἱερεῦσιν, ἔχοντας τὴν τοιαύτην καὶ τοσαύτην σοφίαν παρὰ Ἀλκιβιάδῃ, [3] [ἃ] τῷ θαυμασιωτάτῳ ἑρμηνεῖ τοῦ δυστήνου Ἠλχασαΐ; Sim. (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.)

Th 215

5

Haer. 10.6.4 〈Ἐξ〉 ἀποίου μὲν οὖν καὶ ἑνὸς σώματος τὴν τῶν ὅλων συνεστήσαντο γένεσιν οἱ Στωϊκοί‧ ἀρχὴ γὰρ τῶν ὅλων κατ᾽ αὐτούς ἐστιν ἡ ἄποιος ὕλη καὶ δι᾽ ὅλων τρεπ〈τ〉ή, μεταβαλλούσης τε αὐτῆς γίνεται πῦρ, ἀήρ, ὕδωρ, γῆ. ἐξ ἑνὸς δὲ καὶ ποιοῦ γεγενῆσθαι τὰ πάντα θέλουσιν οἵ τε περὶ τὸν Ἵππασον καὶ Ἀναξίμανδρον καὶ Θαλῆ τὸν Μιλήσιον. 〈ὧν〉 Ἵππασος μὲν ὁ Μεταπόντιος καὶ Ἡράκλειτος ὁ Ἐφέσιος ἐκ πυρὸς ἀπεφήναντο τὴν γένεσιν, Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ ἐξ ἀέρος, Θαλῆς δὲ ἐξ ὕδατος, Ξενοφάνης δὲ ἐκ γῆς. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Hippolytus of Rome

189

Th 214

5

Thales’ association with Egypt. Refutation of All Heresies 9.17.2–3 These [Mysteries] neither the Sages of the Egyptians in their shrines are capable of grasping nor Pythagoras the Sage of the Greeks, who lived before Elchasai.1 For if Elchasai had chanced to live in that time, what need would Pythagoras, Thales, Solon, or the Sage Plato or the other Greek Sages have had to go to Egyptian priests to learn, since they had such impressive wisdom in Alcibiades, [3] the most wonderful interpreter of the unfortunate Elchasai?

Th 215i

5

Water as the first principle. Refutation of All Heresies 10.6.4 The Stoics constructed the generation of all things out of a single body which has no qualities, for according to them the principle of all things is matter which has no qualities but which can be changed into everything. When it changes, fire is generated, or air, water, or earth. Hippasus, Anaximander and Thales of Miletus want all things to be generated from a single thing that has qualities. Hippasus of Metapontum and Heraclitus of Ephesus declared that the generation is from fire, Anaximander [that it is] from air, Thales from water and Xenophanes from earth.

1

Cf. ibid. 9.13.

i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

190

Quintus Sept. F. Tertullianus

Quintus Sept. F. Tertullianus Th 216 Ad nationes 2.2.10–11 (ed. Borleffs CCL I.43) Diogenes consultus, quid in caelis agatur, ‚numqu〈am〉‘, inquit, ‚ascendi‘. Item, an dei essent, ‚nescio‘, inquit, ‚nisi, ut sint, expedire.‘ [11] Thales Milesius Croeso sciscitanti, quid de deis arbitraretur, pos〈t ali〉quot deliberandi commeatus, ‚nihil‘ renuntiauit.

Sim. (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.) (cf. Cic. De nat. deorum 1.22.60)

Th 217

5

Nat. 2.4.18–19 (Borleffs CCL I.47–48) Merito ergo Milesius Thales, 〈dum t〉otum caelum examinat et ambulat oculis, in puteum cecidit 〈turpite〉r, multum inrisus Aegyptio illi: ‚in terra‘, inquit, ‚nihil perspici〈ens cae〉lum tibi speculandum existimas?‘ [19] Itaque casus eius per figuram 〈philosoph〉os notat, scilicet eos, qui stupidam exerceant curiositatem1 〈in res〉 naturae quam prius in artificem eius et praesidem, in uacuum 〈.......〉dum2 habituros. Sim. (Thales’ fall into the well) Th 19 (q.v.); (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.)

Th 218

5

Apologeticum 19.1.4 (ed. Dekkers CCL I.119–20)3 Deinceps multa et alii prophetae, uetustiores litteris uestris; nam et qui ultimo cecinit, aut aliquantulo praecucurrit aut certe concurrit aetate sapientiae auctoribus, etiam latoribus legis. Cyri enim et Darii regno fuit Zacharias, quo in tempore Thales, physicorum princeps, sciscitanti Croeso nihil certum de diuinitate respondit, turbatus scilicet uocibus prophetarum. 1 2 3

Borleff places a comma after curiositatem. The translation follows Oehler's conjecture for the lacuna in the received text. Fr. Fuld. 4 Dekkers CCL I.120 (Becker's arrangement of Tertullian 1954, 149–62): Cyri enim et Darii regno fuit Zacharias, quo in tempore Thales physicorum princeps sciscitanti Croeso nihil certum de divinitate respondit, turbatus scilicet vocibus prophetarum.

Quintus Sept. F. Tertullianus

191

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus (ca. 160/70–after 212 CE) Th 216 Thales’ theological views. The philosophers’ uncertainty about the nature of God. To the Nations 2.2.10–111 When Diogenes was asked what goes on in the heavens, he replied, “I have never gone up there.” Also [when asked] if the gods exist, he replied “I only know that it is advantageous that they should.” [11] When Croesus asked Thales of Miletus what he thought about the gods, after several delays to give him time to reflect he replied “Nothing.”2

Th 217

5

Thales as astronomer; his association with Egypt; his fall into a well. To the Nations 2.4.18–19 Therefore when Thales of Miletus was examining the entire heaven and was wandering with his eyes and shamefully fell into a well he was deservedly ridiculed by that Egyptian: “Since you do not notice anything on the earth, do you think that you should be exploring the heavens?” [19] Thus his fall figuratively marks philosophers, that is, those who direct their stupid curiosity toward the phenomena of nature instead of toward its creator and ruler, and thereby direct their efforts toward a futile goal.

Th 218

5

Thales’ theological views. Apology for the Christians 19.1.4 (ed. Dekkers CCL I.199–20) After that [after Moses] much happened and other prophets prophesied who are older than your writings. For even the very last [prophet] to sing was either a little earlier than your sages and lawgivers, or at any rate their contemporary. For Zacharias lived in the reign of Cyrus and Darius, at the time when Thales, the first of the natural philosophers, gave no certain answer when Croesus asked him about the nature of god – confused, I sup-

1 2

Cf. Tibiletti 1967/8. Or: “He gave no answer to Croesus.”

192

Quintus Sept. F. Tertullianus

Solon eidem regi finem longae uitae intuendum praedicauit, non aliter quam prophetae. Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.); (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.); (the first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 219

5

Apologeticum 46.8–9 (Dekkers CCL I.161) Adeo neque de scientia neque de disciplina, ut putatis, aequamur. Quid enim Thales, ille princeps physicorum, sciscitanti Croeso de diuinitate certum renuntiauit, commeatus deliberandi saepe frustratus? [9] Deum quilibet opifex Christianus et inuenit et ostendit et exinde totum, quod in Deum quaeritur, re quoque assignat; licet Plato affirmet factitatorem uniuersitatis neque inueniri facilem et inuentum enarrari in omnes difficilem. Sim. (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.); (first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 220

5

Adversus Marcionem 1.13.3 (ed. Braun) Vt ergo aliquid et de isto huius mundi indigno loquar, cui et apud Graecos ornamenti et cultus, non sordium, nomen est, indignas uidelicet substantias ipsi illi sapientiae professores, de quorum ingeniis omnis haeresis animatur, deos pronuntiauerunt, ut Thales aquam, ut Heraclitus ignem, ut Anaximenes aerem, ut Anaximander uniuersa caelestia, ut Strato caelum et terram, ut Zeno aerem et aetherem, ut Plato sidera […]. Sim. (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.)

Quintus Sept. F. Tertullianus

193

pose, by the words of the prophets. Solon advised the same king to look at the end of a long life, no differently from the prophets.

Th 219

5

Thales’ theological views. Apology for the Christians 46.8–9 So we are not equal, as you suppose, either in our knowledgei or in our teachingii. What certain answer did even Thales, the first of the natural philosophers, give when Croesus asked him about the nature of god – and the delays he was given in order to reflect were in vain (cf. Th 218)? [9] But every single Christian, even if he is just a laborer, finds God, shows Him, and assigns to Him in fact everything that can be asked about God, even if Plato maintains that the maker of the universe is not easy to find, and, when found, is hard to declare to all men.

Th 220

5

Water as the first principle. Against Marcion 1.13.3 In order to say something too about the alleged unworthiness of this world, the name of which among the Greeks also means adornment and culture, not uncleanness: its unworthy substances have been declared gods by those very professors of wisdom from whose clever theories every heresy takes its life – water by Thales, fire by Heraclitus, air by Anaximenes, by Anaximander all the celestial bodies, by Strato heaven and earth, by Zeno air and aether, and by Plato the stars [...].

i ii

W: Weisheit. W: Moral.

194

Quintus Sept. F. Tertullianus – Flavius Philostratus

Th 221 De anima 5.2 (ed. Waszink) Nec illos dico solos qui eam de manifestis corporalibus effingunt, ut Hipparchus et Heraclitus ex igni, ut Hippon et Thales ex aqua, ut Empedocles et Critias ex sanguine, ut Epicurus ex atomis […]. Sim. (the soul is water) Th 422, Th 440, Th 442, Th 516; (nature of the soul/ magnet) Th 31 (q.v.)

Th 222 De an. 6.8 Sed enormis intentio philosophiae solet plerumque nec prospicere pro pedibus (sic Thales in puteum). Solet et sententias suas non intellegendo valetudinis corruptelam suspicari (sic Chrysippus ad elleborum). Sim. (Thales’ fall into the well) Th 19 (q.v.)

Flavius Philostratus Th 223

5

Epistulae 68 (ed. Penella) Μιλησίοις. Σεισμὸς ὑμῶν τὴν γῆν ἔσεισε, καὶ γὰρ ἄλλων πολλῶν πολλάκις. ἀλλ᾽ ἔπασχον μὲν ἃ ἠτύχουν ἐξ ἀνάγκης, ἐλεοῦντες δέ, οὐ μισοῦντες ἀλλήλους ἐφαίνοντο. μόνοι δὲ ὑμεῖς καὶ θεοῖς ὅπλα καὶ πῦρ ἐπηνέγκατε, καὶ θεοῖς τοιούτοις ὧν καὶ οἱ ἑτέρωθεν δέονται καὶ μετὰ κινδύνους καὶ πρὸ κινδύνων. ἀλλὰ καὶ φιλόσοφον ἄνδρα προ. . . . . . . . .† ἡμεῖς Ἑλλήνων δύο † δημοσίᾳ τὸ πάθημα φήναντα [καὶ] πολλάκις, καὶ προαγορεύσαντα γινομένους τοὺς σεισμούς, αὐτόν, ὅτε ἔσεισεν ὁ θεός, ποιεῖν ἐλέγετε καθ᾽ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν. ὢ τῆς δημοσίας ἀμαθίας. καὶ πατὴρ ὑμῶν λέγεται Θαλῆς. Sim. (earthquakes) Th 99 (q.v.)

Quintus Sept. F. Tertullianus – Flavius Philostratus

195

Th 221 Water as the first principle. On the Soul 5.2 And I am not speaking only of those who say that it is made of things obviously corporeali as Hipparchus and Heraclitus [say it is made] of fire, Hippo and Thales of water, Empedocles and Critias of blood, and Epicurus of atoms [...].

Th 222 Thales’ fall into a well. On the Soul 6.8 But the powerful zeal which philosophy brings frequently [leads philosophers] not to look at what is in front of their feet. That is how Thales [fell] into the well. In addition it often happens that because they fail to understand their own doctrines they suspect a failure of their own health (that is why Chrysippus [took hellebore]).

Flavius Philostratus (ca. 170–after 212 CE) Th 223 Thales’ prediction of an earthquake. A letter to the Milesians, who wanted to hold the philosopher (Apollonius of Tyana) responsible for an earthquake which he had predicted.

5

Letters 68 To the Milesians. An earthquake shook your land, which has often happened to many others. But they suffered their misfortunes through necessity, and they clearly pitied and did not hate one another. But you are the only ones who have attacked the gods with weapons and fire – in fact the kind of gods that people from elsewhere too need both after dangers and before them. But also a philosopher... We ... two of the Greeks ... he who often predicted the misfortune in public, and foretold earthquakes that did occur, when the god shook the earth, you used to say every day that he

i

W: aus handgreiflich körperlichen Elementen.

196

Flavius Philostratus

Th 224

5

Vita Apollonii 2.5.25 (ed. Kayser) „Καὶ μὴν“ ἔφη „καταβήσεσθαί γε σοφώτερος ᾤμην ἀκούων, Ἀπολλώνιε, τὸν μὲν Κλαζομένιον Ἀναξαγόραν ἀπὸ τοῦ κατὰ Ἰωνίαν Μίμαντος ἐπεσκέφθαι τὰ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, Θαλῆν τε τὸν Μιλήσιον ἀπὸ τῆς προσοίκου Μυκάλης, λέγονται δὲ καὶ τῷ Παγγαίῳ ἔνιοι φροντιστηρίῳ χρήσασθαι καὶ ἕτεροι τῷ Ἄθῳ. ἐγὼ δὲ μέγιστον τούτων ἀνελθὼν ὕψος οὐδὲν σοφώτερος ἑαυτοῦ καταβήσομαι.“ Sim. (Thales as representative of astronomy) Th 103 (q.v.)

Th 225

5

VA 8.7.158 Τί οὖν ἐνταῦθα ἐρεῖ Σωκράτης ὑπὲρ ὧν ἔφασκε τοῦ δαιμονίου μανθάνειν; τί δὲ Θαλῆς τε καὶ Ἀναξαγόρας, τὼ Ἴωνε, ὁ μὲν τὴν εὐφορίαν τὴν τῶν ἐλαιῶν, ὁ δὲ πολλὰ τῶν οὐρανίων παθῶν προειπόντε; ἦ γοητεύοντε προειπεῖν ταῦτα; καὶ μὴν καὶ ὑπήχθησαν οὗτοι δικαστηρίοις ἐφ᾽ ἑτέραις αἰτίαις, καὶ οὐδαμοῦ τῶν αἰτιῶν εἴρηται γόητας εἶναι σφᾶς, ἐπειδὴ προγιγνώσκουσι. Sim. (the olive crop) Th 28 (q.v.)

Th 226 Nero 338.3–6 (ed. Kayser) Νέρωνα δὲ τῆς μὲν τοῦ Ἰσθμοῦ τομῆς οὐδ᾽ ἂν Θαλῆς μετέστησεν ὁ σοφώτατός τε καὶ φυσικώτατος, τοῦ γὰρ τεμεῖν αὐτὸν ἤρα μᾶλλον ἢ τοῦ δημοσίᾳ ᾄδειν. Sim. (the crossing of the Halys) Th 11 (q.v.)

Flavius Philostratus

197

was responsible. Whati publicii ignorance! And Thales is said to be your father!

Th 224

5

Thales as astronomer. Life of Apollonius 2.5.25 “And in fact, Apollonius,” he [Damis] said, I thought that I would come down [from the mountain] a wiser person, since I heard that Anaxagoras of Clazomenae investigated celestial phenomena from Mimas in Ionia and that Thales of Miletus [did so] from nearby Mykale. Some are said to have used Pangaion as their place for acquiring wisdom, and others Athos. But after ascending the tallest of these heights I will come down no wiser.

Th 225 Thales and the olive crop. Defense of Apollonius against the charge of practicing magic which was made simply because he predicted an epidemic.

5

Life of Apollonius 8.7.158 What, then, will Socrates say about the things he declared he learned from his daimonion? What will the two Ionians, Thales and Anaxagoras, of whom the one predicted a bumper crop of olives and the other predicted many celestial events? That they predicted these by witchcraft? In fact these men were brought to trial on other charges and nowhere in the charges was it said that they were wizards because they had foreknowledge.

Th 226 Thales as natural philosopher. Egyptian geometers attempted to dissuade Nero from his plan to construct a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth.

i ii

W’s translation begins here. W: allgemeine..

198

Flavius Philostratus – Claudius Aelianus

Claudius Aelianus Th 227

5

10

Natura animalium 7.42 (ed. Hercher) Κακουργίαν δὲ ὀρέως Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος ἠμύνατο, καταφωράσας πάνυ ἀπορρήτως. ἅλας ἡμίονος ἦγε φόρτον, καί ποτε διὰ ποταμοῦ ἰὼν κατὰ τύχην κατώλισθε καὶ περιετράπη. βραχέντες οὖν οἱ ἅλες κατετάκησαν, καὶ κοῦφος ὁ ὀρεὺς γενόμενος ἥσθη‧ καὶ συνιδὼν ὁπόσον τὸ μεταξὺ ἦν τοῦ μόχθου καὶ τῆς ῥᾳστώνης, τοῦ λοιποῦ τὴν τύχην διδάσκαλον ποιησάμενος, ὃ πρότερον ἄκων ἔπαθεν, εἶτα μέντοι τοῦτο εἰργάζετο ἑκών. ἄλλην δὲ τῷ ὀρεωκόμῳ ἐλαύνειν καὶ ἔξω τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἄπορον ἦν. τοῦτό τοι διηγουμένου ὁ Θαλῆς ὡς ἐπύθετο, σοφίᾳ ἀμύνασθαι τῆς κακουργίας τὸν ὀρέα ᾠήθη δεῖν, καὶ προστάττει ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁλῶν σπογγιαῖς καὶ ἐρίοις ἐπισάξαι αὐτόν. ὃ δὲ τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν οὐκ εἰδὼς κατὰ τὸ σύνηθες ὤλισθε, καὶ ἀναπλήσας ὕδατος τὰ ἐπικείμενα, ᾔσθετο ὅπως οἱ τὸ σόφισμα ἐτράπη ἐπὶ κακόν, καὶ ἐξ ἐκείνου ἡσυχῆ διερχόμενος καὶ κρατῶν τῶν σκελῶν ἀπαθεῖς τοὺς ἅλας διεφύλαττεν. Sim. Th 130

Th 228

5

Varia Historia 3.17.1–10 (ed. Dilts) Ἐπολιτεύσαντο οὖν καὶ φιλόσοφοι ἢ αὐτὸ τοῦτο μόνον τὴν διάνοιαν ἀγαθοὶ γενόμενοι ἐφ᾽ ἡσυχίας κατεβίωσαν. ἐπηνώρθωσαν γὰρ τὰ κοινὰ Ζάλευκος μὲν τὰ ἐν Λοκροῖς, Χαρώνδας δὲ τὰ ἐν Κατάνῃ καὶ τὰ ἐν Ῥηγίῳ, ὅτε ἐκ Κατάνης ἔφευγε. Ταραντίνοις δὲ ἐγένετο ἀγαθὸν Ἀρχύτας, Σόλων δὲ Ἀθηναίοις. Βίας δὲ καὶ Θαλῆς τὴν Ἰωνίαν πολλὰ ὤνησαν, Χίλων δὲ Λακεδαιμονίους, Μιτυληναίους γε μὴν Πιττακός, Κλεόβουλος δὲ Ῥοδίους. καὶ Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ ἡγήσατο τῆς εἰς Ἀπολλωνίαν ἐκ Μιλήτου ἀποικίας. Sim. (political activity) Th 21 (q.v.)

Flavius Philostratus – Claudius Aelianus

199

Nero1 338.3–6 Not even Thales, the wisest and most important natural philosopher, could have dissuaded Nero from digging through the Isthmus, since he was more passionate about the project than about singing in public.

Claudius Aelianus (before 178–between 222 and 238 CE) Th 227

5

10

Thales outsmarts a mule. The Nature of Animals 7.42 Thales of Miletus retaliated against the mischief of a mule he craftily caught in the act. A mule used to carry a load of salt, and once when it was crossing a river it slipped by chance and turned upside down. The salt got wet and dissolved, and the mule was delighted that it became lighter. Once aware of the great difference between hard work and idleness it made chance its teacher for the future and what first it suffered unwillingly it afterwards did willingly. There was no other way for the mule-driver to take that avoided the river. When he related the story and Thales found out, he thought it was necessary to retaliate against the mule’s mischief with guile, and he told the man to load the mule with sponges and wool instead of salt. It [the mule] did not understand the plot and slipped as usual, and when his load was full of water he understood how his cleverness had led to trouble, and from then on he crossed [the river] quietly, keeping control of his legs, and made sure that the salt remained intact.

Th 228 Thales as political adviser. Varia Historia 3.17.1–10 Philosophers too have taken part in government rather than spending their life in tranquility engaging in that activity [philosophy] after becoming good at thinking, and [doing] nothing else. For Zaleucus set public affairs straight at Locri, as did Charondas at Catane and at Rhegium after being exiled from Catane. Archytas was a good thing for the Tarentines, and Solon 1

The dialogue Nero is attributed to Lucian in some manuscripts. Modern scholarship discusses the attribution to one of three people named Philostratus.

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M. Minucius Felix – Hermias

M. Minucius Felix Th 229

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Octavius 19.4–5 (ed. Kytzler) Sit Thales Milesius omnium primus, qui primus omnium de caelestibus disputavit. idem Milesius Thales rerum initium aquam dixit, deum autem eam mentem, quae ex aqua cuncta formaverit. esto1 altior et sublimior aquae et spiritus ratio, quam ut ab homine potuerit inveniri, a deo traditum; vides philosophi principalis nobiscum penitus opinionem consonare. [5] Anaximenes deinceps et post Apolloniates Diogenes aera deum statuunt infinitum et inmensum; horum quoque similis de divinitate consensio est. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.)

Hermias Th 230

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Irrisio gentilium philosophorum 10 (ed. Hanson) Ἀλλαχόθεν δέ μοι Θαλῆς τὴν ἀλήθειαν νεύει ὁριζόμενος ὕδωρ τοῦ παντὸς ἀρχήν. Καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ὑγροῦ τὰ πάντα συνίσταται καὶ εἰς ὑγρὸν ἀναλύεται, καὶ ἡ γῆ ἐπὶ ὕδατος ὀχεῖται. Διὰ τί τοίνυν μὴ πεισθῶ Θαλῇ τῷ πρεσβυτέρῳ τῶν Ἰώνων; Ἀλλ᾽ ὁ πολίτης αὐτοῦ Αναξίμανδρος τοῦ ὑγροῦ πρεσβυτέραν ἀρχὴν εἶναι λέγει τὴν ἀίδιον κίνησιν καὶ ταύτῃ τὰ μὲν γεννᾶσθαι, τὰ δὲ φθείρεσθαι. Καὶ δὴ τοίνυν πιστὸς Ἀναξίμανδρος ἔστω. 1

eo: cod. esto coniecit Vahlen.

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for the Athenians. Biasi and Thales were a great help to Ionia, Chilon to the Lacedaimonians, Pittacus to the Mitylenians, and Cleobulus to the Rhodians. And Anaximander led the Milesian colony to Apollonia.

Marcus Minucius Felix (active between 197 and 246 CE) Th 229 Thales as astronomer; water as the first principle; his theological views; the first philosopher. Even outstanding philosophers reached the same view as the Christians about the unity of God.

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Octavius 19.4–5 Granted that Thales of Miletus was the first of all, since he was the first of all to discuss celestial phenomena. The same Thales of Miletus said that water is the origin of thingsii, and that God is the mind that formed all things from water.1 Here you have a theory of water and spirit too deep and sublime to have been discovered by a human: it was handed down by God. You see that the view of the first philosopher accords throughout with ours. [5] Then Anaximenes, and after him Diogenes of Apollonia, posited that air is god, infinite and immense; there is similar agreement with these men on the nature of God.

Hermias (text probably ca. 200 CE) Th 230 Water as the first principle; Thales and Anaximander. Derision of Gentile Philosophers 10 Thales promises me the truth from a different direction when he defines water as the principle of the universe. All things are composed ofiii mois1

Cf. Buchheit 2006, 350–8.

i ii iii

W.translates only the statement about Bias and Thales. W: das Prinzip aller Dinge. W: entsteht.

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Hermias – Achilles Tatius the Astronomer

Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (the Earth rests upon water) Th 30 (q.v.)

Achilles Tatius the Astronomer Th 231

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Isagoga excerpta 1.53–61 (ed. Maass) Τινὲς δὲ ἄλλον ἄλλο τι εὑρηκέναι. διὸ καὶ συμβέβηκεν εἶναι διαφωνίαν περὶ τῆς εὑρέσεως αὐτῶν. ὅτι δὲ ἄλλοι ἄλλο εὑρήκασιν, ἐκ τοῦ καὶ Θάλητα τὴν μικρὰν Ἅμαξαν εὑρηκέναι δῆλον. ὁ γοῦν Καλλίμαχός φησιν (Iamb. 1.52–55; s. Th 52) ἔπλευσεν εἰς Μίλητον‧ ἦν γὰρ ἡ νίκη Θάλητος, ὃς τά τ᾽ ἄλλα δεξιὸς γνώμην καὶ τῆς Ἁμάξης ἐλέγετο σταθμήσασθαι τοὺς ἀστερίσκους, ἧι πλέουσι Φοίνικες. Sim. (constellations, discoverer of the Great/Little Bear) Th 52 (q.v.)

Th 232 Isagoga excerpta 3.28–30 Θαλῆς δὲ ὁ Μιλήσιος καὶ Φερεκύδης ὁ Σύριος ἀρχὴν τῶν ὅλων τὸ ὕδωρ ὑφίστανται, [...]. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

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ture and dissolve into moisture, and the earth ridesi on water. Why, then, should I not believe Thales, the eldest of the Ionians? But his fellow citizen Anaximander says that eternal motion is an older principle than moisture and by means of this some things are generated and others perish. And so let Anaximander too be considered reliable.

Achilles Tatius the Astronomer (probably 3rd cent. CE) Th 231ii

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Thales as astronomer. Introduction [to Aratus’s Phenomena], Excerpts 1.53–61 Some [say] that different people discovered different things. This is why it has happened that there is disagreement about their discovery. That different people have discovered different things is clear from the fact that Thales discovered the small Wain. Accordingly Callimachus says (Iamb. 1.52–55; cf. Th 52): He sailed to Miletus, for the victory belonged to Thales. In general he was clever in his judgment, and in particular it was said that he mapped the little stars of the Wain, by which the Phoenicians sail.

Th 232iii Water as the first principle. Introduction [to Aratus’s Phenomena], Excerpts 3.28–30 Thales of Miletus and Pherecydes of Syros1 posit water as the principle of all things.

1

Cf. Schibli 41.

i ii iii

W: bewegt sich. W. does not translate this testimonium. W. does not translate this testimonium.

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Achilles Tatius the Astronomer – Athenaeus of Naucratis

Th 233 Isagoga excerpta 11.1–2 Θαλῆς μὲν δὴ γηΐνην ἔμπυρον εἶπε τὴν τῶν ἀστέρων οὐσίαν. Sim. (nature of the stars) Th 157 (q.v.)

Fragmentum Censorini Th 234

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Anonymi cuiusdam epitoma disciplinarum (fragmentum Censorini quod aiunt) 1.1 (ed. Sallmann) I De naturali institutione. Initia rerum eadem elementa et principia dicuntur. ea stoici credunt tenorem adque materiam; tenorem, qui rarescente materia a medio tendat ad summum, eadem concrescente rursus a summo referatur ad medium. Thales Milesius aquam principium omnium dixit, et alias opiniones supra rettuli. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Athenaeus of Naucratis Th 235

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Deipnosophistae 11.91.495D (ed. Kaibel) Φοῖνιξ δ᾽ ὁ Κολοφώνιος ἐν τοῖς Ἰάμβοις ἐπὶ φιάλης τίθησι τὴν λέξιν λέγων οὕτως (Th 49)‧ Θαλῆς γάρ, ὅστις ἀστέρων ὀνήιστος ... καὶ τῶν τότ᾽, ὡς λέγουσι, πολλὸν ἀνθρώπων ἐὼν ἄριστος, ἔλαβε πελλίδα χρυσῆν. Sim. (Thales’ prize/story of the tripod) Th 52 (66 f.) (q.v.)

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Th 233i Thales’ cosmology. Introduction [to Aratus’s Phenomena], Excerpts 11.1–2 Thales said that the substance of the stars is earthy and fiery (cf. Th 157).

Fragment of Censorinus (? 3rd cent. CE) Th 234ii Water as the first principle. Epitome transmitted as an appendix to Censorinus’s encyclopedia.

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Anonymous Epitome of the Disciplines (known as Fragmentum Censorini) 1.1 On the principle of nature. They say that the same elements and principles are the beginnings of things. The Stoics believe them to be tension and matter. Tension, which when matter is rarefied, stretches from the center to the extremity, and when it condenses again brings it back from the extremity to the center. Thales of Miletus said that water is the principle of all things and I have reported other views above.

Athenaeus of Naucratis (Deipnosophistae ca. 230 CE) Th 235

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Thales as astronomer; variant on the story of the tripod. Deipnosophistae 11.91.495D Phoenix of Colophon in his Iambics applies the word [pellis] to a bowl, saying as follows (cf. Th 49): For Thales, who was most useful regarding [knowledge of] the stars... and being far the best of the men of his time, as they say, took the golden bowl. i ii

W. does not translate this testimonium. W. does not translate this testimonium.

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Diogenes Laertius

Diogenes Laertius Th 236

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Vitae philosophorum 1.13.1–14.5 (ed. Marcovich) Σοφοὶ δὲ ἐνομίζοντο οἵδε‧ Θαλῆς, Σόλων, Περίανδρος, Κλεόβουλος, Χείλων, Βίας, Πιττακός. Τούτοις προσαριθμοῦσιν Ἀνάχαρσιν τὸν Σκύθην, Μύσωνα τὸν Χηνέα, Φερεκύδην τὸν Σύριον, Ἐπιμενίδην τὸν Κρῆτα‧ ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ Πεισίστρατον τὸν τύραννον. Καὶ οἵ〈δε〉 μὲν σοφοί. Φιλοσοφίας δὲ δύο γεγόνασιν ἀρχαί, ἥ τε ἀπὸ Ἀναξιμάνδρου καὶ ἡ ἀπὸ Πυθαγόρου‧ τοῦ μὲν Θαλοῦ διακηκοότος, Πυθαγόρου δὲ Φερεκύδης καθηγήσατο. Καὶ ἐκαλεῖτο ἡ μὲν Ἰωνική, ὅτι Θαλῆς Ἴων ὤν, Μιλήσιος γάρ, καθηγήσατο Ἀναξιμάνδρου‧ ἡ δὲ Ἰταλικὴ ἀπὸ Πυθαγόρου, ὅτι τὰ πλεῖστα κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν ἐφιλοσόφησε. [14] Καταλήγει δὲ ἡ μὲν εἰς Κλειτόμαχον καὶ Χρύσιππον καὶ Θεόφραστον [ἡ Ἰωνική]‧ ἡ δὲ Ἰταλικὴ εἰς Ἐπίκουρον. Θαλοῦ μὲν γὰρ Ἀναξίμανδρος, οὗ Ἀναξιμένης, οὗ Ἀναξαγόρας, οὗ Ἀρχέλαος, οὗ Σωκράτης ὁ τὴν ἠθικὴν εἰσαγωγών. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (Ionian school) Th 147 (q.v.); (Anaximander pupil and associate of Thales) Th 65a (q.v.)

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Vit. 1.22–44 Ἦν τοίνυν ὁ Θαλῆς, ὡς μὲν Ἡρόδοτος (Th  12) καὶ Δοῦρις (Th  48) καὶ Δημόκριτός (Th 14) φασι, πατρὸς μὲν Ἐξαμύου, μητρὸς δὲ Κλεοβουλίνης, ἐκ τῶν Θηλιδῶν1, οἵ εἰσι Φοίνικες, εὐγενέστατοι τῶν ἀπὸ Κάδμου καὶ Ἀγήνορος. (〈Ἦν δὲ τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν,〉2 καθὰ καὶ Πλάτων φησί (Th 20)‧ καὶ πρῶτος σοφὸς ὠνομάσθη ἄρχοντος Ἀθήνησι Δαμασίου, καθ᾽ ὃν καὶ οἱ ἑπτὰ σοφοὶ ἐκλήθησαν, ὥς φησι Δημήτριος ὁ Φαληρεὺς ἐν τῇ τῶν Ἀρχόντων ἀναγραφῇ) (Th  41). Ἐπολιτογραφήθη δὲ ἐν Μιλήτῳ, ὅτε ἦλθε σὺν Νείλεῳ ἐκπεσόντι Φοινίκης‧ ὡς δ᾽ οἱ πλείους φασίν, ἰθαγενὴς Μιλήσιος ἦν καὶ γένους λαμπροῦ. [23] Μετὰ δὲ τὰ πολιτικὰ τῆς φυσικῆς ἐγένετο θεωρίας. Καὶ κατά τινας μὲν σύγγραμμα κατέλιπεν οὐδέν‧ ἡ γὰρ εἰς αὐτὸν ἀναφερομένη Ναυτικὴ ἀστρολογία Φώκου λέγεται εἶναι τοῦ Σαμίου. Καλλίμαχος δ᾽ αὐτὸν οἶδεν εὑρετὴν τῆς ἄρκτου τῆς μικρᾶς, λέγων ἐν τοῖς Ἰάμβοις (Fr. 191.54–55 Pfeiffer; s. Th 52) οὕτως‧ 1 2

Νηλειδῶν Bywater/Tannery. Supplevit DK 11 A 1.

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Diogenes Laertius (work dated to mid-3rd cent. CE) Th 236

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Thales the Sage; Thales and Anaximander. Lives of the Philosophers 1.13.1–14.5 The following men were reckoned Sages: Thales, Solon, Periander, Cleobulus, Chilon, Bias and Pittacus. To these they add Anacharsis of Scythia, Myson of Chen, Pherecydes of Syros, Epimenides of Crete. Some also [add] the tyrant Pisistratus. These are the Sages. Philosophyi had two beginnings, one from Anaximander and one from Pythagoras, the former having been a pupil of Thales, while Pherecydes was the teacher of Pythagoras. One [kind of philosophy] was called Ionian because Thales, being an Ionian because he was from Miletus, was Anaximander’s teacher. The other [was called] Italian after Pythagoras because he practiced philosophy mainly in Italy. [14] The former stops with Clitomachus, Chrysippus and Theophrastus, while the Italian [philosophy stops] with Epicurus. For Thales was followed in turn by Anaximander, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Archelaus, and Socrates, who introduced ethics.

Th 237

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Diogenes Laertius’ biography of Thales. Lives of the Philosophers 1.22–44 As Herodotus (Th  12), Duris (Th  48) and Democritus (Th  14) declare, Thales was the son of Examyas and Cleobuline and belonged to the Thelidae, who are Phoenicians, and are the noblest of the descendants of Cadmus and Agenor. He was one of the Seven Sages, as Plato asserts (Th 20), and was called the first Sage when Damasias was archon of Athens [582–580 BCE], during whose archonship the Seven Sages received their title, as Demetrius of Phaleron says in his List of Archons (Th 41). He1 was admitted to citizenship in Miletus when he came with Neileus, who had been expelled from Phoenicia. But as most say, he was a native of Miletus and belonged to a notable family. [23] After engaging in political affairs he took up the study of nature. According to some he left no treatise, for the Nautical Astronomy 1

Thales, not Agenor (thus KRS 77). Cf. Maddalena 1940, 20 f.

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W.’s translation begins here.

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καὶ τῆς Ἀμάξης ἐλέγετο σταθμήσασθαι τοὺς ἀστερίσκους, ᾗ πλέουσι Φοίνικες, Κατά τινας δὲ μόνα δύο συνέγραψε, Περὶ τροπῆς καὶ Ἰσημερίας, τὰ ἄλλ᾽ ἀκατάληπτα εἶναι δοκιμάσας. Δοκεῖ δὲ κατά τινας πρῶτος ἀστρολογῆσαι καὶ ἡλιακὰς ἐκλείψεις καὶ τροπὰς προειπεῖν, ὥς φησιν Εὔδημος (Th 46) ἐν τῇ Περὶ τῶν ἀστρολογουμένων ἱστορίᾳ‧ ὅθεν αὐτὸν καὶ Ξενοφάνης (Th 7) καὶ Ἡρόδοτος (Th 10) θαυμάζει. Μαρτυρεῖ δ᾽ αὐτῷ καὶ Ἡράκλειτος (Th 8) καὶ Δημόκριτος (Th 15). [24] Ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν πρῶτον εἰπεῖν φασιν ἀθανάτους τὰς ψυχάς‧ ὧν ἐστι Χοιρίλος ὁ ποιητής (Th 9). Πρῶτος δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ τροπῆς ἐπὶ τροπὴν πάροδον 〈τοῦ ἡλίου〉 εὗρε, καὶ πρῶτος τὸ τοῦ ἡλίου μέγεθος 〈τοῦ ἡλιακοῦ κύκλου καὶ τὸ τῆς σελήνης μέγεθος〉 τοῦ σεληναίου ἑπτακοσιοστὸν καὶ εἰκοστὸν μέρος ἀπεφήνατο κατά τινας. Πρῶτος δὲ καὶ τὴν ὑστάτην τοῦ μηνὸς τριακάδα εἶπε. Πρῶτος δὲ καὶ περὶ φύσεως διελέχθη, ὥς τινες. Ἀριστοτέλης (Th 31) δὲ καὶ Ἱππίας (Th 16) φασὶν αὐτὸν καὶ τοῖς ἀψύχοις μεταδιδόναι ψυχάς, τεκμαιρόμενον ἐκ τῆς λίθου τῆς μαγνήτιδος καὶ τοῦ ἠλέκτρου. Παρά τε Αἰγυπτίων γεωμετρεῖν μαθόντα φησὶ Παμφίλη (Th 102) πρῶτον καταγράψαι κύκλου τὸ τρίγωνον ὀρθογώνιον καὶ θῦσαι βοῦν. [25] (Οἱ δὲ Πυθαγόραν φασίν, ὧν ἐστιν Ἀπολλόδωρος ὁ λογιστικός [cf. Diog. 8.12]. Οὗτος 〈γὰρ〉 προήγαγεν ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἅ φησι Καλλίμαχος ἐν τοῖς Ἰάμβοις Εὔφορβον εὑρεῖν τὸν Φρύγα, οἷον “σκαληνὰ καὶ τρίγωνα” καὶ ὅσα γραμμικῆς ἔχεται θεωρίας.) Δοκεῖ δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς πολιτικοῖς ἄριστα βεβουλεῦσθαι. Κροίσου γοῦν πέμψαντος πρὸς Μιλησίους ἐπὶ συμμαχίᾳ ἐκώλυσεν‧ ὅπερ Κύρου κρατήσαντος ἔσωσε τὴν πόλιν.

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that is attributed to him is said to be by Phocus of Samos. Callimachus knows him as the person who discovered the Little Bear, saying in his Iambics (Fr 191.54–55 Pfeiffer; see Th 52) as follows: and it was said that he mapped the little stars of the Wain,1 by which the Phoenicians sail. According to some he wrote only two works, On the Solstice and On the Equinox,2 since he believed that everything else was incomprehensible. According to some he seems to have been the first to pursue astronomy and to have predicted solar eclipses and solstices, as Eudemus states (Th 46) in his History of Astronomy.3 This is why both Xenophanes (Th 7) and Herodotus (Th 10) admire him. Both Heraclitus (Th 8) and Democritus (Th 15) testify to this. [24] Some, including the poet Choerilus (Th 9), say that he was also the first to say that souls are immortal. He was also the first to discover the sun’s path from solstice to solstice, and, according to some, the first to declare that the size of the sun is one seven hundred and twentieth of the solar orbit and the size of the moon is one seven hundred and twentieth of the lunar orbit.4 He was also the first to call the last day of the month the thirtieth,5 and the first to discuss nature, as some say. Aristotle (Th 31) and Hippias (Th 16) say6 that he attributes souls even to inanimate things, instancing the magnet and amber7 as evidence. Pamphile (Th 102) declares that he learned geometry from the Egyptians and was the first to inscribe a right triangle in a circle, and that he sacrificed an ox. [25] (But others, including Apollodorus the calculatori [cf. Diog. Laert. 8.12] [claim] that Pythagoras [was the one who discovered this].8 For he was the one who advanced furthest what Callimachus says in his Iambics that Euphorbus the Phrygian9 discovered, “scalenes and triangles” and everything else that belongs to the study of lines. He is thought to have given the best advice in political matters as well. At least, when Croesus approached 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

The Little Dipper. Cf. Aratus, Phainomena 42–44. On both book titles, cf. Majer 2002, 255 f. On the title of Eudemus’s work and on its content, see Bowen 2002, esp. 308 ff. See above n. on Th 178. Cf. Th 91. Cf. Snell, 19662, 119–128. For amber, see O’Grady 2002, 113 f. Cf. Diog. Laert. 8.12, Maddalena 1963, 25 f. Cf. Th 52 (59 f.).

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Κλύτος1 (Th 35) δέ φησιν, ὡς Ἡρακλείδης (Th 26) ἱστορεῖ, μονήρη αὐτὸν γεγονέναι καὶ ἰδιαστήν. [26] Ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ γῆμαι αὐτὸν καὶ Κύβισθον υἱὸν σχεῖν‧ οἱ δὲ ἄγαμον μεῖναι, τῆς δὲ ἀδελφῆς τὸν υἱὸν θέσθαι. Ὅτε καὶ ἐρωτηθέντα διὰ τί οὐ τεκνοποιεῖ, “Διὰ φιλοτεκνίαν” εἰπεῖν. Καὶ λέγουσιν ὅτι τῆς μητρὸς ἀναγκαζούσης αὐτὸν γῆμαι ἔλεγεν “Οὐδέπω καιρός‧” εἶτα, ἐπειδὴ παρήβησεν ἐγκειμένης, εἰπεῖν “Οὐκέτι καιρός.” Φησὶ δὲ καὶ Ἱερώνυμος ὁ Ῥόδιος ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ Τῶν σποράδην ὑπομνημάτων (Th  60) ὅτι βουλόμενος δεῖξαι ῥᾴδιον εἶναι 〈τοῖς σοφοῖς〉 πλουτεῖν, φορᾶς ἐλαιῶν μελλούσης ἔσεσθαι, προνοήσας ἐμισθώσατο τὰ ἐλαιουργεῖα καὶ πάμπλειστα συνεῖλε χρήματα. [27] Ἀρχὴν δὲ τῶν πάντων ὕδωρ ὑπεστήσατο, καὶ τὸν κόσμον ἔμψυχον καὶ δαιμόνων πλήρη. Τάς τε ὥρας τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ φασιν αὐτὸν εὑρεῖν καὶ εἰς τριακοσίας ἑξήκοντα πέντε ἡμέρας διελεῖν. Οὐδεὶς δὲ αὐτοῦ καθηγήσατο, πλὴν ὅτι εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἐλθὼν τοῖς ἱερεῦσι συνδιέτριψεν. Ὁ δὲ Ἱερώνυμος (Th 61) καὶ ἐκμετρῆσαί φησιν αὐτὸν τὰς πυραμίδας ἐκ τῆς σκιᾶς, παρατηρήσαντα ὅτε ἡμῖν ἰσομεγέθεις εἰσίν.2 Συνεβίω δὲ καὶ Θρασυβούλῳ τῷ Μιλησίων τυράννῳ, καθά φησι Μινύης (Th 566). Τὰ δὲ περὶ τὸν τρίποδα φανερά3, τὸν εὑρεθέντα ὑπὸ τῶν ἁλιέων καὶ διαπεμφθέντα τοῖς σοφοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ δήμου τῶν Μιλησίων. [28] Φασὶ γὰρ Ἰωνικούς τινας νεανίσκους βόλον ἀγοράσαι παρὰ Μιλησίων ἁλιέων. Ἀνασπασθέντος δὲ τοῦ τρίποδος ἀμφισβήτησις ἦν, ἕως οἱ Μιλήσιοι ἔπεμψαν εἰς Δελφούς‧ καὶ ὁ θεὸς ἔχρησεν οὕτως‧ Ἒκγονε Μιλήτου, τρίποδος πέρι Φοῖβον ἐρωτᾷς; Τίς σοφίῃ πάντων πρῶτος, τούτου τρίποδ᾽ αὐδῶ. Διδοῦσιν οὖν Θαλῇ‧ ὁ δὲ ἄλλῳ 〈σοφῷ〉 καὶ ἄλλος ἄλλῳ ἕως Σόλωνος‧ ὁ δὲ ἔφη σοφίᾳ πρῶτον εἶναι τὸν θεὸν, καὶ ἀπέστειλεν εἰς Δελφούς. Ταῦτα δὴ ὁ Καλλίμαχος ἐν τοῖς Ἰάμβοις (Pf. 191.32) ἄλλως ἱστορεῖ, παρὰ Λεανδρίου λαβὼν τοῦ Μιλησίου (Th 51). Βαθυκλέα γάρ τινα Ἀρκάδα φιάλην καταλιπεῖν καὶ ἐπισκῆψαι “δοῦναι τῶν σοφῶν τῷ ὀνηΐστῳ4”. Ἐδόθη δὴ Θαλῇ καὶ κατὰ περίοδον πάλιν Θαλῇ‧ [29] ὁ δὲ τῷ Διδυμεῖ Ἀπόλλωνι ἀπέστειλεν, εἰπὼν οὕτω κατὰ τὸν Καλλίμαχον (Th 52)‧

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καὶ αυτός (sc. Thales) codd. (Wehrli2 Herakl. Fr. 45). codd.: ἰσομεγέθης ἐστί Ménage, Marcovich.

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〈οὐ〉 φανερά add. Richards, Marcovich. Alternative reading πρωτίστῳ

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the Milesians for an alliance, he prevented it, which saved the city when Cyrus defeated him [Croesus]. Clytus (Th  35) says, as Heraclides reports (Th  26), that he became a solitary recluse. [26] But some say that he married and had a son, Cybisthus, while others say that he remained unmarried and adopted his sister’s son. When he was asked why he did not have children, he said “Because of my love for children.” And they say that when his mother tried to force him to marry, he said “It’s not yet the right time,” and later, when she persisted after he had become old, he said “It’s no longer the right time” (cf. Th 129; Th  368; Th  512; Th  564 [318]). In the second book of his Miscellaneous Notes (Th 60) Hieronymus of Rhodes also says that he wished to show that it is easy to be wealthy: when there was going to be a bumper crop of olives he realized it in advance, rented the olive presses and made a huge amount of money. [27] He posited water as the principle of all things and that the cosmos is animate and full of daimons. They say that he discovered the seasons of the year1 and that he divided it into three hundred and sixty-five days. He had no teacher except that he went to Egypt and spent time with the priests. Hieronymus (Th 61) says that he measured the pyramids by their shadow, measuring it when [our shadows] have the same length as we do.2 He was the companion of Thrasybulus, the tyrant of Miletus, according to what Minyes3 says (Th 566). The story is well known about the tripod that was found by fishermen and sent by the people of Miletus to the Sages. [28] They say that some young men of Ionia paid some Milesian fishermen for what they would catch. When the tripod was pulled up, there arose a dispute, until the Milesians sent to Delphi and the god gave the following oracle. Offspring of Miletus, you are asking Phoebus about a tripod? Who is first of all in wisdom? I proclaim the tripod to be his. So they gave it to Thales, and he gave it to another Sage, as did one after the other until it came to Solon. He declared that the god is first in wisdom and sent it off to Delphi. Callimachus reports it differently in his Iambics (Pf. 191.32), having got [his version] from Leandrius of Miletus (Th 51): on his death a certain Bathycles of Arcadia left a bowl with the instruction “to give it to the worthiest of the Sages”. It was given to Thales and after making the

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Rather: the cause of the seasons. See the elaborations of Goulet 2000, esp. 207 ff. Unknown. Possibly a corruption. Thrasybulus as tyrant successfully defended Miletus against attacks of the Lydians.

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Θαλῆς με τῷ μεδεῦντι Νείλεω δήμου δίδωσι, τοῦτο δὶς λαβὼν ἀριστεῖον. Τὸ δὲ πεζὸν οὕτως ἔχει‧ “Θαλῆς Ἐξαμύου Μιλήσιος Ἀπόλλωνι Δελφινίῳ Ἑλλήνων ἀριστεῖον δὶς λαβών.” Ὁ δὲ περιενεγκὼν τὴν φιάλην τοῦ Βαθυκλέους παῖς Θυρίων ἐκαλεῖτο, καθά φησιν Ἔλευσις ἐν τῷ Περὶ Ἀχιλλέως [FGrHist. I 296 F1] καὶ Ἀλέξων ὁ Μύνδιος ἐν ἐνάτῳ Μυθικῶν [=   Ἀλέξανδρος, FGrHist. I 189 F1]. Εὔδοξος δ᾽ ὁ Κνίδιος (Th 25) καὶ Εὐάνθης ὁ Μιλήσιός (Th 565) φασι τῶν Κροίσου τινὰ φίλων λαβεῖν παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ποτήριον χρυσοῦν, ὅπως δῷ τῷ σοφωτάτῳ τῶν Ἑλλήνων‧ τὸν δὲ δοῦναι Θαλῇ. [30] Καὶ περιελθεῖν εἰς Χίλωνα· ὃν πυνθάνεσθαι τοῦ Πυθίου τίς αὐτοῦ σοφώτερος‧ καὶ τὸν ἀνειπεῖν Μύσωνα, περὶ οὗ λέξομεν. (Τοῦτον οἱ περὶ τὸν Εὔδοξον ἀντὶ Κλεοβούλου τιθέασι, Πλάτων δ᾽ ἀντὶ Περιάνδρου [Prot. 343a].) Περὶ αὐτοῦ δὴ τάδε ἀνεῖπεν ὁ Πύθιος [cf. Diod. 9.6]‧ Οἰταῖόν τινα φημὶ Μύσων᾽ ἐν Χηνὶ γενέσθαι σοῦ μᾶλλον πραπίδεσσιν ἀρηρότα πευκαλίμῃσιν. Ὁ δ᾽ ἐρωτήσας ἦν Ἀνάχαρσις. Δαΐμαχος δ᾽ ὁ Πλαταιϊκὸς [FGrHist 2 A 16 F6] καὶ Κλέαρχος [Wehrli Bd.  3, Fr. 70] φιάλην ἀποσταλῆναι ὑπὸ Κροίσου Πιττακῷ καὶ οὕτω περιενεχθῆναι. Ἄνδρων δ᾽ ἐν τῷ Τρίποδι [FHG II 347.2] Ἀργείους ἆθλον ἀρετῆς τῷ σοφωτάτῳ τῶν Ἑλλήνων τρίποδα θεῖναι‧ κριθῆναι δὲ Ἀριστόδημον Σπαρτιάτην, ὃν παραχωρῆσαι Χίλωνι. [31] Μέμνηται τοῦ Ἀριστοδήμου καὶ Ἀλκαῖος οὕτως [Lobel-Page Fr. 360]‧ ὣς γὰρ δή ποτ᾽ Ἀριστόδαμόν φασ᾽ οὐκ ἀπάλαμνον ἐν Σπάρτᾳ λόγον εἰπεῖν‧ χρήματ᾽ ἄνηρ, πενιχρὸς δ᾽ οὐδεὶς πέλετ᾽ ἐσλός. Ἔνιοι δέ φασιν ὑπὸ Περιάνδρου Θρασυβούλῳ τῷ Μιλησίων τυράννῳ πλοῖον ἔμφορτον ἀποσταλῆναι‧ τοῦ δὲ περὶ τὴν Κῴαν θάλασσαν ναυαγήσαντος, ὕστερον εὑρεθῆναι πρός τινων ἁλιέων τὸν τρίποδα. Φανόδικος δὲ περὶ τὴν Ἀθηναίων θάλασσαν εὑρεθῆναι καὶ ἀνενεχθέντα εἰς ἄστυ γενομένης ἐκκλησίας Βίαντι πεμφθῆναι [FGrHist. III B 291 F4a]‧ διὰ τί δέ, ἐν τῷ περὶ Βίαντος λέξομεν. [32] Ἄλλοι φασὶν ἡφαιστότευκτον εἶναι αὐτὸν καὶ δοθῆναι πρὸς τοῦ θεοῦ Πέλοπι γαμοῦντι‧ αὖθίς τε εἰς Μενέλαον ἐλθεῖν καὶ σὺν τῇ Ἑλένῃ ἁρπασθέντα ὑπ᾽ Ἀλεξάνδρου ῥιφῆναι εἰς τὴν Κῴαν θάλασσαν πρὸς τῆς Λακαίνης, εἰπούσης ὅτι περιμάχητος ἔσται. Χρόνῳ δὲ Λεβεδίων τινῶν αὐτόθι γρῖφον ὠνησαμένων καταληφθῆναι καὶ τὸν τρίποδα, μαχομένων δὲ πρὸς τοὺς ἁλιέας 〈περί τοῦ τίνος ἂν〉 γενέσθαι, τὴν ἄνοδον

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circuit came back again to Thales. [29] He sent it to Didymean Apollo and according to Callimachus (Th 52) said as follows: To the one who rules the people of Neileus, Thales presents me, this prize of excellence which he twice received. In prose it goes like this: “Thales of Miletus, the son of Examyas, [dedicates this] to Delphiniani Apollo after twice receiving it as a prize from the Greeks.” The one who carried the bowl around was the son of Bathycles, named Thyrion, as Eleusis says in his work On Achilles [FGrHist. I 296 F1] and Alexon of Myndos in the ninth book of his Myths [FGrHist I 189 F1]. Eudoxus of Cnidus (Th 25) and Euanthes of Miletus (Th 565) declare that one of Croesus’s friends took a golden cup from the king to give to the wisest of the Greeks and he gave it to Thales. [30] It went around to Chilon, who asked the Pythian [god] who was wiser than he, and he answered Myson, of whom I will speak. (Eudoxus and his associates list him in place of Cleobulus, whereas Plato lists him instead of Periander [Prot. 343a].) The Pythian proclaimed the following oracle about him [cf. Diod. 9.6]. A man of Oeta, I declare, Myson, born in Chen, is better furnished than you with wise understanding. The one who asked was Anacharsis. But Daemachus of Plataea [FGrHist 2 A 16 F6] and Clearchus [Wehrli Bd. 3, Fr. 70] say that the bowl was sent by Croesus to Pittacus and then was brought around [to the Sages]. In the Tripod [FHG II 347.2] Andron says that the Argives offered a tripod as a prize for excellence for the wisest of the Greeks. Aristodemus of Sparta was awarded it, but he yielded it to Chilon. [31] Alcaeus too mentions Aristodemus as follows [Lobel-Page Fr. 360]: They say that once upon a time Aristodemus spoke in Sparta a word that was not reckless: money is the man, a poor man is never noble. Some say that a boat loaded with cargo was sent by Periander to Thrasybulus the tyrant of Miletus. It was shipwrecked in the sea near Cos and afterwards the tripod was found by some fisherman. But Phanodicus says it was found in the sea near Athens and after being brought to the city and an assembly was held it was sent to Bias [FGrHist. III B 291 F4a]. Why it was, I will say in my treatment of Bias. [32] Others declare that it was the work of Hephaestus and that it was given by the god to Pelops at his wedding. Then it passed to Menelaus, and was carried off by Alexander along with Helen.

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ἕως τῆς Κῶ 〈ποιῆσαι〉‧ καὶ ὡς οὐδὲν ἤνυτον, τοῖς Μιλησίοις μητροπόλει οὔσῃ μηνύουσιν. Οἱ δ᾽ ἐπειδὴ διαπρεσβευόμενοι ἠλογοῦντο, πρὸς τοὺς Κῴους πολεμοῦσι. Καὶ πολλῶν ἑκατέρωθεν πιπτόντων ἐκπίπτει χρησμὸς δοῦναι τῷ σοφωτάτῳ‧ καὶ ἀμφότεροι συνῄνεσαν Θαλῇ. Ὁ δὲ μετὰ τὴν περίοδον τῷ Διδυμεῖ τίθησιν Ἀπόλλωνι. [33] Κῴοις μὲν οὖν τοῦτον ἐχρήσθη τὸν τρόπον [Diod. 9.3.2]‧ Οὐ πρότερον λήξει νεῖκος Μερόπων καὶ Ἰώνων, πρὶν τρίποδα χρύσειον, ὃν Ἥφαιστος βάλε πόντῳ, ἐκ πόλιος πέμψητε καὶ ἐς δόμον ἀνδρὸς ἵκηται, ὃς σοφίᾳ τά τ᾽ ἐόντα τά τ᾽ ἐσσόμενα πρό τ᾽ ἐόντα 〈ᾒδει〉. Μιλησίοις δέ [Diod. 9.3.2]‧ Ἒκγονε Μιλήτου, τρίποδος πέρι Φοῖβον ἐρωτᾷς; καὶ ὡς προείρηται. Καὶ τόδε μὲν οὕτως. Ἕρμιππος δ᾽ ἐν τοῖς Βίοις (Th 58) εἰς τοῦτον ἀναφέρει τὸ λεγόμενον ὑπό τινων περὶ Σωκράτους. Ἕφασκε γάρ, φασί, τριῶν τούτων ἕνεκα χάριν ἔχειν τῇ Τύχῃ‧ πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι ἄνθρωπος ἐγενόμην καὶ οὐ θηρίον, εἶτα ὅτι ἀνὴρ καὶ οὐ γυνή, τρίτον ὅτι Ἕλλην καὶ οὐ βάρβαρος. [34] Λέγεται δ᾽ ἀγόμενος ὑπὸ γραὸς ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας, ἵνα τὰ ἄστρα κατανοήσῃ, εἰς βόθρον ἐμπεσεῖν καὶ αὐτῷ ἀνοιμώξαντι φάναι τὴν γραῦν‧ “Σὺ γάρ, ὦ Θαλῆ, τὰ ἐν ποσὶν οὐ δυνάμενος ἰδεῖν τὰ ἐπὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ οἴει γνώσεσθαι;” Οἶδε δ᾽ αὐτὸν ἀστρονομούμενον καὶ Τίμων, καὶ ἐν τοῖς Σίλλοις ἐπαινεῖ αὐτὸν λέγων (Th 53)‧ οἷόν θ᾽ ἑπτὰ Θάλητα σοφῶν σοφὸν ἀστρονόμημα. Τὰ δὲ γεγραμμένα ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ φησι Λόβων ὁ Ἀργεῖος εἰς ἔπη τείνειν διακόσια. Ἐπιγεγράφθαι δ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς εἰκόνος τόδε (Th 55)‧ Τόνδε Θαλῆν Μίλητος Ἰὰς θρέψασ᾽ ἀνέδειξεν ἀστρολόγον πάντων πρεσβύτατον σοφίῃ.

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It was thrown into the sea near Cos by the Laconian woman, who said that it would be a cause of strife. Later, when some people from Lebedos bought a netful of fish, the tripod was caught in it, and after quarreling with the fishermen about who it should belong to, they returned as far as Cos, and since they were making no progress they informed the Milesians about the case since Miletus was their mother city. But when the envoys they sent [to Cos] were disregarded, [the Milesians] went to war on the Coans. After heavy losses on both sides, an oracle was delivered that they should give the tripod to the wisest. Both sides agreed to give it to Thales. After it made the circuit [of the Sages] he dedicated it to Didymean Apollo. [33] The oracle proclaimed to the Coans was as follows [Diod. 9.3.2]: Strife between the Meropes1 and the Ionians will not cease until you send the golden tripod, which Hephaestus cast into the sea, out of your city and it arrives at the house of a man who in his wisdom knows things present, future, and past. The oracle proclaimed to the Milesians [Diod. 9.3.2] was: Offspring of Miletus, you are asking Phoebus about a tripod? and so on as was said above. So much for this. In his Lives (Th 58) Hermippus refers to him [Thales] the story that some tell about Socrates. Hei used to say that he was grateful to Fortune for these three things: “First, that I was born a human and not an animal; second, that I was bornii a man and not a woman; and third, that I was borniii a Greek and not a foreigner (cf. Th. 563).” [34] It is said that he was being led out of his house by an old woman to study the stars and fell into a trench, and that when he cried out the old woman said to him “Thales, since you can’t see what is underfoot, do you think that you will know about what is in the sky?” Timon too knows that he practiced astronomy and in his Silloi praises him, saying (Th 53): Thales, the sage astronomical wonder of the Seven Sages. Lobon of Argos says that his writings take up two hundred verses. The following is inscribed on his statue (Th 55): Ionian Miletus raised this man Thales and revealed him as an astronomer senior to all in wisdom.

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Merops is the mythological king of the Coans.

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[35] Τῶν τε ᾀδομένων αὐτοῦ εἶναι τάδε [Bergk iii. 200]‧ Οὔ τι τὰ πολλὰ ἔπη φρονίμην ἀπεφήνατο δόξαν‧ ἕν τι μάτευε σοφόν, ἕν τι κεδνὸν αἱροῦ‧ λύσεις γὰρ ἀνδρῶν κωτίλων γλώσσας ἀπεραντολόγους. Φέρεται δὲ καὶ ἀποφθέγματα αὐτοῦ τάδε‧ Πρεσβύτατον τῶν ὄντων θεός‧ ἀγένητον γάρ. Κάλλιστον κόσμος‧ ποίημα γὰρ θεοῦ. Μέγιστον τόπος‧ ἅπαντα γὰρ χωρεῖ. Τάχιστον νοῦς‧ διὰ παντὸς γὰρ τρέχει. Ἰσχυρότατον ἀνάγκη‧ κρατεῖ γὰρ πάντων. Σοφώτατον χρόνος‧ ἀνευρίσκει γὰρ πάντα. Οὐδὲν ἔφη τὸν θάνατον διαφέρειν τοῦ ζῆν. “Σὺ οὖν,” ἔφη τις, “διὰ τί οὐκ ἀποθνῄσκεις;” “Ὅτι,” ἔφη, “οὐδὲν διαφέρει.” [36] Πρὸς τὸν πυθόμενον τί πρότερον γεγόνοι, νὺξ ἢ ἡμέρα, “Ἡ νύξ,” ἔφη, “μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ πρότερον.” Ἠρώτησέ τις αὐτὸν εἰ λάθοι θεοὺς ἄνθρωπος ἀδικῶν‧ “Ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ διανοούμενος,” ἔφη. Πρὸς τὸν μοιχὸν ἐρόμενον εἰ ὀμόσῃ μὴ μεμοιχευκέναι, “Οὐ χεῖρον,” ἔφη, “μοιχείας ἐπιορκία.1” Ἐρωτηθεὶς τί δύσκολον, ἔφη, “Τὸ ἑαυτὸν γνῶναι‧” τί δὲ εὔκολον, “Τὸ ἄλλῳ ὑποθέσθαι‧” τί ἥδιστον, “Τὸ ἐπιτυγχάνειν‧” τί τὸ θεῖον, “Τὸ μήτε ἀρχὴν ἔχον μήτε τελευτήν.” Τί δύσκολον εἴη τεθεαμένος, ἔφη‧ “Γέροντα τύραννον.” Πῶς ἄν τις ἀτυχίαν ῥᾷστα φέροι, “Εἰ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς χεῖρον πράσσοντας βλέποι.” Πῶς ἂν ἄριστα καὶ δικαιότατα βιώσαιμεν, “Ἐὰν ἃ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐπιτιμῶμεν, αὐτοὶ μὴ δρῶμεν.” [37] Τίς εὐδαίμων, “Ὁ τὸ μὲν σῶμα ὑγιής, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν εὔπορος, τὴν δὲ φύσιν εὐπαίδευτος.” Φίλων παρόντων καὶ ἀπόντων μεμνῆσθαί φησι‧ μὴ τὴν ὄψιν καλλωπίζεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασιν εἶναι καλόν. “Μὴ πλούτει,” φησί, “κακῶς,” “μηδὲ διαβαλλέτω σε λόγος πρὸς τοὺς πίστεως κεκοινωνηκότας.” “Οὓς ἂν ἐράνους εἰσενέγκῃς,” φησί, “τοῖς γονεῦσι, τοὺς αὐτοὺς προσδέχου καὶ παρὰ τῶν τέκνων.” Τὸν Νεῖλον εἶπε πληθύειν ἀνακοπτομένων τῶν ῥευμάτων ὑπὸ τῶν ἐτησίων ἐναντίων ὄντων.

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[35] The following are some of his sayings [Bergk iii. 200]1 By no means do many words make an opinion sensible. Search for only one wisdom, Cherish only one thing – for you will unloose the endlessly talking tongues of chattering men. The following sayings too are attributed to him.2 The oldest of existing things is god, for he is unbegotten. The most beautiful thing is the cosmos, for it is the creation of god. The largest thing is place, for it contains all things. The swiftest thing is intelligence, for it quickly moves through everything. The strongest thing is necessity, for it rules all things. The wisest thing is time, for it finds out everything (cf. Th 564 [320a–f]). He said that death is no different from being alive. “Then,” said someone, “why don’t you die?” “Because,” he said, “it makes no difference.” [36] To someone who asked which came into being first, night or day, he said “Night – one day earlier.” Someone asked him if a man could do wrong without the gods knowing. He answered, “Not even if he is only thinking [of it]” (cf. Th 96; Th 207; Th 564 [316]). To an adulterer who asked if he should swear on oath that he had not committed adultery, he said “Perjury is no worse than adultery” (cf. Th 564 [317]). When asked what is difficult, he said “To know oneself.” What is easy? “To tell someone else what to do.” What is most pleasant? “Success” (cf. Th 362). What is divine? “That which has neither beginning nor end.” What had he seen that is hard to occur? “An aged tyrant” (cf. Th 119). How can one most easily endure misfortune? “If he sees his enemies even worse off.” What is the best and most just way to live? “If we do not do what we blame others for doing.” [37] Who is happy? “A person who is healthy in body, wealthy in soul, and well educated in nature” (cf. Th  564 [321a–h]). “Remember friends both present and absent,” he declares. “Do not beautify your face but be beautiful in the way you live.” “Do not acquire wealth in a bad way.” “Do not let your speech to your confidants accuse you.”3 “Whatever you have offered to your par1 2 3

On the following maxims, cf. Searby 2007, CP 6, 80–7. For the order of the maxims, cf. Classen 1986, 32. Alternate translation: “Do not let your speech discredit you with those who have given you their confidence” (Althoff/Zeller 2006, 37).

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Φησὶ δ᾽ Ἀπολλόδωρος ἐν τοῖς Χρονικοῖς (Th 67) γεγενῆσθαι αὐτὸν κατὰ τὸ πρῶτον ἔτος τῆς τριακοστῆς ἐνάτης1 Ὀλυμπιάδος (= 624 v. Chr.). [38] Ἐτελεύτησε δ᾽ ἐτῶν ἑβδομήκοντα ὀκτώ (ἤ, ὡς Σωσικράτης (Th 66) φησίν, ἐνενήκοντα)‧ τελευτῆσαι γὰρ ἐπὶ τῆς πεντηκοστῆς ὀγδόης Ὀλυμπιάδος (548–5 v. Chr.), γεγονότα κατὰ Κροῖσον, ᾧ καὶ τὸν Ἅλυν ὑποσχέσθαι ἄνευ γεφύρας περᾶσαι, τὸ ῥεῖθρον παρατρέψαντα (547 v. Chr.). Γεγόνασι δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι Θαλαῖ, καθά φησι Δημήτριος ὁ Μάγνης ἐν τοῖς Ὁμωνύμοις, πέντε‧ ῥήτωρ Καλλατιανός, κακόζηλος‧ ζωγράφος Σικυώνιος, μεγαλοφυής‧ τρίτος ἀρχαῖος πάνυ, κατὰ Ἡσίοδον καὶ Ὅμηρον καὶ Λυκοῦργον‧ τέταρτος οὗ μέμνηται Δοῦρις ἐν τῷ Περὶ ζωγραφίας‧ πέμπτος νεώτερος, ἄδοξος, οὗ μνημονεύει Διονύσιος ἐν Κριτικοῖς. [39]      Ὁ δ᾽ οὖν σοφὸς ἐτελεύτησεν ἀγῶνα θεώμενος γυμνικὸν ὑπό τε καύματος καὶ δίψους καὶ ἀσθενείας, ἤδη γηραιός. Καὶ αὐτοῦ ἐπιγέγραπται τῷ μνήματι (Th 56)‧ Ἦ ὀλίγον τόδε σᾶμα, τὸ δὲ κλέος οὐρανόμακες, τῶ πολυφροντίστω τοῦτο Θάλητος ὅρη. Ἔστι καὶ παρ᾽ ἡμῖν ἐς αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ τῶν Ἐπιγραμμάτων ἢ Παμμέτρῳ τόδε τὸ ἐπίγραμμα [= AP 7.85]‧ Γυμνικὸν αὖ ποτ᾽ ἀγῶνα θεώμενον, Ἠέλιε Ζεῦ, τὸν σοφὸν ἄνδρα Θαλῆν ἥρπασας ἐκ σταδίου. Αἰνέω ὅττι μιν ἐγγὺς ἀπήγαγες‧ ἦ γὰρ ὁ πρέσβυς οὐκέθ᾽ ὁρᾶν ἀπὸ γῆς ἀστέρας ἠδύνατο. [40] Τούτου ἐστὶν τὸ Γνῶθι σαυτόν, ὅπερ Ἀντισθένης ἐν ταῖς Διαδοχαῖς Φημονόης εἶναί φησιν, ἐξιδιοποιήσασθαι δὲ αὐτὸ Χίλωνα. Περὶ δὴ τῶν ἑπτά (ἄξιον γὰρ ἐνταῦθα καθολικῶς κἀκείνων ἐπιμνησθῆναι) λόγοι φέρονται τοιοῦτοι. Δάμων ὁ Κυρηναῖος, 〈ὁ〉 γεγραφὼς Περὶ τῶν φιλοσόφων, πᾶσιν ἐγκαλεῖ, μάλιστα δὲ τοῖς ἑπτά. Ἀναξιμένης δέ φησι πάντας ἐπιθέσθαι ποιητικῇ‧ ὁ δὲ Δικαίαρχος οὔτε σοφοὺς οὔτε φιλοσόφους φησὶν αὐτοὺς γεγονέναι, συνετοὺς δέ τινας καὶ νομοθετικούς. Ἀρχέτιμος δὲ ὁ Συρακούσιος ὁμιλίαν αὐτῶν ἀναγέγραφε παρὰ Κυψέλῳ, ᾗ καὶ αὐτός φησι παρατυχεῖν‧ Ἔφορος δὲ παρὰ Κροίσῳ πλὴν Θαλοῦ. Φασὶ δέ τινες καὶ ἐν Πανιωνίῳ καὶ ἐν Κορίνθῳ καὶ ἐν Δελφοῖς συνελθεῖν αὐτούς. [41] Διαφωνοῦνται δὲ καὶ αἱ ἀποφάσεις αὐτῶν καὶ ἄλλου ἄλλο φασὶν εἶναι, ὡς ἐκεῖνο‧

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ents,” he says, “expect to receive from your children” (cf. Th 362). He said that the Nile floods when its streams are driven back by the etesian winds blowing in the opposite direction. In his Chronicle (Th 67) Apollodorus says that he was born in the first year of the thirty-ninth Olympiad (624 BCE).1 [38] He was seventy-eight years old when he died (or ninety, as Sosicrates (Th 66) says). For he died in the fifty-eighth Olympiad (548–545i BCE), having lived in the time of Croesus whom he promised to bring across the river Halys without a bridge by diverting the stream (547 BCE). There were five others named Thales, as Demetrius of Magnesia reports in his Homonymies: the orator from Callatia who had an offensive, affected style; the painter from Sicyon, a genius; the third was very ancient, a contemporary of Hesiod, Homer and Lycurgus; the fourth is mentioned by Duris in his On Painting; the fifth is more recent, an obscure person mentioned by Dionysius in his Critica. [39] The Sage died from heat, thirst and frailty while watching an athletic contest, when he was already old. His tomb bears this inscription (Th 56): This tomb is small, but the fame reaches heaven. Gaze upon it – the tomb of Thales the great genius. There is also this epigram to him in the first book of my Epigrams, or Poems in all Meters [= A.P. 7.85]. Once while he was watching an athletic contest, Zeus, God of the Sun, you took the Sage, Thales, away from the stadium. I praise you for bringing him near you, for the old man could no longer see the stars from the earth. [40] His sayings include “Know thyself,” which Antisthenes says in the Successions was due to Phemonoe2 and that Chilon appropriated it to himself. Concerning the Seven (since it is appropriate to treat them generally here) the following kinds of accounts are given. Damon of Cyrene, who wrote On the Philosophers finds fault with everyone, and especially the Seven. Anaximenes3 says that they all applied themselves to poetry. Dica-

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The transmitted text is clearly the first year of the thirty-fifth Olympiad (640 BCE), which does not agree with the following information. The first Pythian priestess at Delphi. Anaximenes of Lampsacus (FGrHist 72 F 22).

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Ἦν Λακεδαιμόνιος Χίλων σοφός, ὃς τάδ᾽ ἔλεξε‧ “μηδὲν ἄγαν‧ καιρῷ πάντα πρόσεστι καλά.” Στασιάζεται δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ αὐτῶν. Λεάνδριος μὲν γὰρ ἀντὶ Κλεοβούλου καὶ Μύσωνος Λεώφαντον Γοργιάδα, Λεβέδιον ἢ Ἐφέσιον, ἐγκρίνει καὶ Ἐπιμενίδην τὸν Κρῆτα‧ Πλάτων δὲ ἐν Πρωταγόρᾳ Μύσωνα ἀντὶ Περιάνδρου‧ Ἔφορος δὲ ἀντὶ Μύσωνος Ἀνάχαρσιν‧ οἱ δὲ καὶ Πυθαγόραν προσγράφουσιν. Δικαίαρχος δὲ (Th  36) τέσσαρας ὡμολογημένους ἡμῖν παραδίδωσι, Θαλῆν, Βίαντα, Πιττακόν, Σόλωνα. Ἄλλους δὲ ὀνομάζει ἕξ, ὧν ἐκλέξασθαι τρεῖς, Ἀριστόδημον, Πάμφυλον, Χίλωνα Λακεδαιμόνιον, Κλεόβουλον, Ἀνάχαρσιν, Περίανδρον. Ἔνιοι προστιθέασιν Ἀκουσίλαον Κάβα ἢ Σκάβρα Ἀργεῖον. [42] Ἕρμιππος δ᾽ ἐν τῷ Περὶ τῶν σοφῶν (Th 59) ἑπτακαίδεκά φησιν, ὧν τοὺς ἑπτὰ ἄλλους ἄλλως αἱρεῖσθαι‧ εἶναι δὲ Σόλωνα, Θαλῆν, Πιττακόν, Βίαντα, Χίλωνα, 〈Μύσωνα,〉 Κλεόβουλον, Περίανδρον, Ἀνάχαρσιν, Ἀκουσίλαον, Ἐπιμενίδην, Λεώφαντον, Φερεκύδην, Ἀριστόδημον, Πυθαγόραν, Λᾶσον Χαρμαντίδου ἢ Σισυμβρίνου (ἢ ὡς Ἀριστόξενος Χαβρίνου) Ἑρμιονέα, Ἀναξαγόραν. Ἱππόβοτος δ᾽ ἐν τῇ Τῶν φιλοσόφων ἀναγραφῇ (Th 65)‧ Ὀρφέα, Λίνον, Σόλωνα, Περίανδρον, Ἀνάχαρσιν, Κλεόβουλον, Μύσωνα, Θαλῆν, Βίαντα, Πιττακόν, Ἐπίχαρμον, Πυθαγόραν. Φέρονται δὲ καὶ τοῦ Θαλοῦ ἐπιστολαὶ αἵδε‧

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Θαλῆς Φερεκύδει [43] Πυνθάνομαί σε πρῶτον Ἰώνων μέλλειν λόγους ἀμφὶ τῶν θείων χρημάτων ἐς τοὺς Ἕλληνας φαίνειν. Καὶ τάχα μὲν ἡ γνώμη τοι δικαίη ἐς τὸ ξυνὸν καταθέσθαι γραφὴν, μᾶλλον ἢ ἐφ᾽ ὁποιοισοῦν ἐπιτρέπειν χρῆμα ἐς οὐδὲν ὄφελος. Εἰ δή τοι ἥδιον, ἐθέλω γενέσθαι λεσχηνώτης περὶ ὁτέων γράφεις‧ καὶ ἢν κελεύῃς, παρὰ σὲ ἀφίξομαι ἐς Σῦρον. Ἢ γὰρ ἂν οὐ φρενήρεες εἴημεν ἐγώ τε καὶ Σόλων ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, 〈εἰ〉 πλώσαντες μὲν ἐς Κρήτην κατὰ 〈τὴν〉 τῶν κεῖθι ἱστορίην, πλώσαντες δὲ ἐς Αἴγυπτον ὁμιλήσοντες τοῖς ἐκείνῃ ὅσοι ἱερέες τε καὶ ἀστρολόγοι, παρὰ σὲ δὲ μὴ πλώσαιμεν; Ἥξει γὰρ καὶ ὁ Σόλων, ἢν ἐπιτρέπῃς. [44] Σὺ μέντοι χωροφιλέων ὀλίγα φοιτέεις ἐς Ἰωνίην, οὐδέ σε ποθὴ ἴσχει ἀνδρῶν ξείνων‧ ἀλλά, ὡς ἔλπομαι, ἑνὶ μούνῳ χρήματι

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earchus, however, says that they were neither sages nor philosophers, but intelligent people and lawgivers. Archetimus of Syracuse reported their conversation before Cypselus1 at which he says that he himself was present. Ephorus said that the conversation occurred at the court of Croesus without Thales. Some also declare that they met at the Panionion, in Corinth, and at Delphi. [41] There is also disagreement about their sayings, which are variously attributed to them, as in this case: It was the Sage Chilon of Lacedaimon who said this: “Nothing in excess.” “All good things come at the right time.” There is even disagreement about their number. In place of Cleobulus and Myson Leandrius admits Leophantus, the son of Gorgias, from Lebedos or Ephesus, and Epimenides of Crete. In the Protagoras Plato admits Myson instead of Periander. Ephorus admits Anacharsis instead of Myson. Others add Pythagoras as well. Dicaearchus (Th 36) gives four who are agreed on: Thales, Bias, Pittacus and Solon, and he names six others of whom we are to select three: Aristodemus, Pamphylus, Chilon of Lacedaimon, Cleobulus, Anacharsis, and Periander. Some add Acousilaus of Argos, the son of Cabas or Scabras. [42] Hermippus in On the Sagesi (Th 59) said that there were seventeen, of whom different people chose different ones. They are Solon, Thales, Pittacus, Bias, Chilon, Myson, Cleobulus, Periander, Anacharsis, Acousilaus, Epimenides, Leophantus, Pherecydes, Aristodemus, Pythagoras, Lasus of Hermione, the son of Charmantides or Sisymbrinus (or as Aristoxenus has it, of Chabrinus), and Anaxagoras. Hippobotus in his Catalogue of Philosophers (Th 65) has Orpheus, Linus, Solon, Periander, Anacharsis, Cleobulus, Myson, Thales, Bias, Pittacus, Epicharmus and Pythagoras. The following letters are attributed to Thales.2

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Thales to Pherecydes [43] I learn that you are the first of the Ionians who will reveal accounts of divine matters to the Greeks. Perhaps your proposal to publish the book is correct, instead of entrusting it to anyone at all to no profit. But if it is pleasing to you, I am willing to discuss whatever you are writing, and if you ask I will come to see you in Syros. For Solon of Athens and I would not

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Tyrant of Corinth for thirty years (before and after 600 BCE). Cf. Dührsen 1994 for an attempt to reconstruct a hypothetical letter-novel.

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πρόσκεαι τῇ γραφῇ. Ἡμέες δὲ οἱ μηδὲν γράφοντες περιχωρέομεν τήν τε Ἑλλάδα καὶ Ἀσίην. 230

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Θαλῆς Σόλωνι ῾Υπαποστὰς ἐξ Ἀθηνέων δοκέεις ἄν μοι ἁρμοδιώτατα ἐν Μιλήτῳ οἶκον ποιέεσθαι παρὰ τοῖς ἀποίκοις ὑμέων‧ καὶ γὰρ ἐνθαῦτά τοι δεινὸν οὐδέν. Εἰ δὲ ἀσχαλήσεις ὅτι καὶ Μιλήσιοι τυραννεόμεθα (ἐχθαίρεις γὰρ πάντως αἰσυμνήτας), ἀλλὰ τέρποιο ἂν σὺν τοῖς ἑτάροις ἡμῖν καταβιούς. Ἐπέστειλε δέ τοι καὶ Βίης ἥκειν ἐς Πριήνην‧ σὺ δὲ εἰ προσηνέστερόν τοι τὸ Πριηνέων ἄστυ, κεῖθι οἰκέειν, καὶ αὐτοὶ παρὰ σὲ οἰκήσομεν. Sim. (Phoenician ancestry, 1.22) Th 12 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages, 1.22, 34, 40–42) Th 20 (q.v.); (writings, 1.23) Th 88 (q.v.); (discoverer of the Great/Little Bear, 1.23) Th 52 (q.v.); (equinox, 1.23) Th 106 (q.v.); (orbit of the sun/solstices, 1.23, 24) Th 93 (q.v.); (solar eclipse, 1.23) Th 10 (q.v.); (Thales as representative of astronomy, 1.23, 34) Th 103 (q.v.); (first sage/ philosopher, 1.23) Th 29 (q.v.); (nature of the soul, 1.24) Th 31 (q.v.); (size/ diameter of the sun, 1.24) Th 178 (q.v.); (mathematics/geometry, 1.24) Th 81 (q.v.); (Egyptian influence, 1.24, 27, 43) Th 92 (q.v.); (political activity, 1.25) Th 21 (q.v.); (the olive crop, 1.26) Th 28 (q.v.); (views on the family, 1.26) Th 112 (q.v.); (the cosmos/the universe/everything has a soul, 1.27) Th 32 (q.v.); (all things full of gods/daimons, 1.27) Th 32 (q.v.); (Thales’ prize/ story of the tripod, 1.27 ff.) Th 52 (q.v.); (measurement of the height of the pyramid, 1.27) Th 107 (q.v.); (water as the first principle, 1.27) Th 29 (q.v.); (the seasons, 1.27) Th 178 (q.v.); (Thales’ fall into the well, 1.34) Th 19 (q.v.); (wise sayings, 1.35 f.) Th 89 (q.v.), cf. esp. Th 90, Th 121, Th 351, Th 362, Th 564; (flooding of the Nile, 1.37) Th 13 (q.v.); (dates, 1.37 f.) Th 171 (q.v.); (the crossing of the Halys, 1.38) Th  11 (q.v.); (circumstances of his death, 1.39) Th 495, Th 578; (correspondence, 1.43) Th 238

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be sensible if after sailing to Crete to investigate what is there and sailing to Egypt to talk with however many priests and astronomers are there, not to sail to you. For Solon will come too if you permit. [44] On the other hand you prefer to stay at home and rarely come to Ionia, and do not long for the company of foreigners. But, as I hope, apply yourself to only one thing, your writing. On the other hand, we who write nothing travel around Greece and Asia. Thales to Solon Since you have withdrawn from Athens, I think it might be agreeable to you to make yourself a home in Miletus, which is a colony of your people. For here too there is nothing to fear. But if you are worried that we in Miletus have a tyranny (since you have a strong hatred of monarchs), at least you will enjoy living with us as companions. Bias has invited you to come to Priene, and if the city of Priene is more pleasant for you, take up residence there and we will come and live with you.

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Vit. 1.122 (Φερεκύδης Θαλῇ) Εὖ θνήσκοις ὅταν τοι τὸ χρεὼν ἥκῃ. Νοῦσός με καταλελάβηκε δεδεγμένον τὰ παρὰ σέο γράμματα. Φθειρῶν ἔθυον πᾶς καί με εἶχεν ἠπίαλος. Ἐπέσκηψα δ᾽ ὦν τοῖσιν οἰκιήτῃσιν, ἐπήν με καταθάψωσιν, ἐς σὲ τὴν γραφὴν ἐνέγκαι. Σὺ δὲ ἢν δοκιμώσῃς σὺν τοῖς ἄλλοις σοφοῖς, οὕτω μιν φῆνον‧ ἢν δὲ οὐ δοκιμώσητε, μὴ φήνῃς. Ἐμοὶ μὲν γὰρ οὔκω ἥνδανεν. Ἔστι δὲ οὐκ ἀτρεκείη πρηγμάτων, οὐδ᾽ ὑπίσχνέομαι 〈κ〉ου τὠληθὲς εἰδέναι, ἅσσα δ᾽ ἂν ἐπιλέγω θεολογέων‧ τὰ ἄλλα χρὴ νοέειν‧ ἅπαντα γὰρ αἰνίσσομαι. Τῇ δὲ νούσῳ πιεζόμενος ἐπὶ μᾶλλον, οὔτε τῶν τινα ἰητρῶν οὔτε τοὺς ἑταίρους ἐσιέμην‧ προσεστεῶσι δὲ τῇ θύρῃ καὶ εἰρομένοις ὁκοῖόν τι εἴη, διεὶς δάκτυλον ἐκ τῆς κλειθρίης ἔδειξ᾽ ἂν ὡς ἔθυον τοῦ κακοῦ. Καὶ προεῖπα αὐτοῖσιν ἥκειν εἰς τὴν ὑστεραίην ἐπὶ τὰς Φερεκύδεω ταφάς. Sim. (correspondence) Th 237 (q.v.) (Diog. Laert. 1.43)

Th 239 Vit. 1.122 B Καὶ οὗτοι μὲν οἱ κληθέντες σοφοί, οἷς τινες καὶ Πεισίστρατον τὸν τύραννον προσκαταλέγουσι. Λεκτέον δὲ περὶ φιλοσόφων‧ καὶ πρῶτόν γε ἀρκτέον ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰωνικῆς φιλοσοφίας, ἧς καθηγήσατο Θαλῆς, οὗ διήκουσεν Ἀναξίμανδρος. Sim. (Ionian school) Th 147 (q.v.); (Anaximander pupil and associate of Thales) Th 65a (q.v.)

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Vit. 2.4 (Αναξιμένης Πυθαγόρῃ) Θαλῆς ἐκ καλοῦ 〈πότμου ἐλθὼν〉 ἐπὶ γήρας, οὐκ εὔποτμος οἴχεται‧ εὐφρόνης, ὥσπερ ἔωθεν, ἅμα τῇ ἀμφιπόλῳ προϊὼν ἐκ τοῦ αὐλίου τὰ ἄστρα ἐθηεῖτο‧ καὶ (οὐ γὰρ ἐς μνήμην ἔθετο) θηεύμενος ἐς τὸ κρημνῶδες ἐκβὰς καταπίπτει. Μιλησίοισι μέν νυν ὁ αἰθερολόγος ἐν τοιῷδε κεῖται τέλει. Ἡμέες δὲ οἱ λεσχηνῶται αὐτοί τε μεμνώμεθα τοῦ ἀνδρός, οἵ τε ἡμέων παῖδές τε καὶ λεσχηνῶται, ἐπιδεξιώμεθα δ᾽ ἔτι τοῖς ἐκείνου λόγοις. Ἀρχὴ μέντοι παντὸς τοῦ λόγου Θαλῇ ἀνακείσθω. Sim. (Thales’ fall into the well) Th 19 (q.v.)

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Letter of Pherecydes to Thales; Thales as author. Lives of the Philosophers 1.122 (Pherecydes to Thales) May you die well when the need comes. I was taken by illness when I had received the writings from you. Wasting away, I had a raging fever and I caught the ague. So I instructed my servants to bring the writing to you after burying me. If you and the other Sages think it a good idea, make it public, but if you do not, do not make it public. It did not yet please me, but there is no being sure about things, and I do not at all promise that I know the truth in all I declare as I speculate about the gods. But you should understand the rest. For everything I say is a riddle. Suffering even more from my illness I visited none of the doctors or any of my associates. To those who were standing by the door and asking what it was, I put a finger through the keyhole and showed them how I was raging from the disease. And I told them to come the next day to the burial of Pherecydes.

Th 239ii Thales as founder of Ionian philosophy; Thales and Anaximander. Lives of the Philosophers 1.122 B Those too who were called Sages, with whom some include the tyrant Pisistratus. But I must speak about philosophers, and I must begin with Ionian philosophy, which Thales founded, whose pupil was Anaximander.

Th 240 Thales’ death, variant on the story of his fall into a well; Thales as astronomer. Lives of the Philosophers 2.4 (Anaximenes to Pythagoras) By good fortune Thales reached old age, but he was not fortunate in his death. He went out from his home one evening with his servant, as he used to do, and was observing the stars, and while he was observing he stepped off a steep place (since he did not remember itiii) and i ii iii

W. does not translate this testimonium. W. does not translate this testimonium. W: in Gedanken versunken.

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Th 241 Vit. 2.46.6–11 (cf. 8.49) Τούτῳ τις, καθά φησιν Ἀριστοτέλης ἐν τρίτῳ Περὶ ποιητικῆς (Th 34), ἐφιλονείκει Ἀντίλοχος Λήμνιος [...]‧ Θάλητι δὲ Φερεκύδης (Th 3) [...]. Sim. (Anaximander pupil/associate of Thales) Th 65a (q.v.)

Th 242 Vit. 8.1 Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὴν Ἰωνικὴν φιλοσοφίαν τὴν ἀπὸ Θαλοῦ καὶ τοὺς ἐν ταύτῃ διαγενομένους ἄνδρας ἀξιολόγους διεληλύθαμεν, φέρε καὶ περὶ τῆς Ἰταλικῆς διαλάβωμεν. Sim. (Ionian school) Th 147 (q.v.)

Th 243 Vit. 9.18.14–16 Ἀντιδοξάσαι τε λέγεται (Th 6) Θαλῇ καὶ Πυθαγόρᾳ, καθάψασθαι δὲ καὶ Ἐπιμενίδου.

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fell. That was the end of the Milesians’ expert on the heavens. But we who conversed with himi remember the man, and so do our children and those who converse with usii. Moreover we have expertise with his doctrines. Let the origin of every doctrine be attributed to Thales.

Th 241 Thales and Pherecydes. Lives of the Philosophers 2.46.6–11 According to what Aristotle says in the third book of the Poetics [On Poets] (Th 34), Antilochus of Lemnos tried to rival [Socrates] [...] and Pherecydes [tried to rival] Thales (Th 3).1

Th 242iii Xenophanes and Thales. Lives of the Philosophers 8.1 Now that we have gone through Ionian philosophy, which originated with Thales, and [have gone through] the noteworthy men who contributed to it, let us now deal with Italian philosophy.

Th 243 Xenophanes and Thales. Lives of the Philosophers 9.18.14–16 He [Xenophanes (Th 6)] is said to have contradicted Thales and Pythagoras and to have attached himself to Epimenides.

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Cf. Schibli 1990, 13.

i ii iii

W: seine Schüler. W: seine Schüler. W. does not translate this testimonium.

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Porphyry

Porphyry Th 244

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In Aristotelis categorias 4.1.120.18–23 (ed. Busse) Ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ τὰς ἐκλείψεις τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ τῆς σελήνης γνῶναι καὶ προειπεῖν ἔστιν μέν, ὥσπερ καὶ εὕρηται, πρὸ μέντοι Θαλοῦ οὐδέπω ἦν ὄντος τοῦ ἐπιστητοῦ. ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ἐπιστητὸν ἀναιρεθὲν ἀνέλοι ἂν καὶ τὴν ἐπιστήμην, ἐπιστήμη δὲ ἀναιρεθεῖσα οὐκ ἂν ἀνέλοι τὸ ἐπιστητόν. πρότερον ἄρα τὸ ἐπιστητόν, ὑστέρα δὲ ἡ ἐπιστήμη, πρός τι δὲ ὄντα, οὐχ ἅμα. Sim. (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.); (relation between knowledge and the knowable) Th 432, Th 433, Th 434, Th 435, Th 457, Th 468, Th 515, Th 567

Th 245 203 F Smith (cf. Th 509) und 425 F Smith; cf. Th 375 (Cyrillus contra Julianum 1.38, 544D–545B)

Th 246 273 F Smith, cf. Th 365 (Stob. Anth. 3.21.26)

Th 247 194bT Smith, cf. Th 505 (Ibn an-Nadīm, Fihrist 245.12–15)

Th 248 204 F Smith, cf. Th 500 (Ṣiwān al-ḥikma 176–187), cf. Th 529 (Aš-Šahrastānī, Book of Sects and Creeds 2.167.9–13), Th 557 (Barhebräus, History of the World 51.1–8)

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Porphyry (ca. 234–305/10 CE) Th 244

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Thales’ prediction of an eclipse. Commentary on Aristotle’s Categories 4.1.120.18–23 Since it is possible to know and predict eclipses of the sun and moon, as has in fact been discovered, but prior to Thales [it was] not yet [possible] although the knowable [fact] existed. But whereas the elimination of the knowable eliminates the knowledge too, the elimination of the knowledge does not eliminate the knowable. Therefore the knowable is prior and the knowledge is posterior, since they are relatives but not simultaneous.

Th 245 Cyril cites Porphyry, who in his history of philosophy reported the report of the travels of the golden tripod. 203 F Smith (cf. Th 509) and 425 F Smith; cf. Th 375 (Cyril Against Julian 1.38, 544D–545B)

Th 246 According to Porphyry, Thales is possibly the author of the saying “Know thyself.” 273 F Smith, cf. Th 365 (Stob. Anth. 3.21.26)

Th 247 According to Porphyry, Thales was the first of the “Seven Philosophers.” 194b T Smith, cf. Th 505 (Ibn an-Nadīm, Fihrist 245.12–15)

Th 248 Dating of Thales through Porphyry. 204 F Smith, cf. Th 500 (Siwan al-hikma 176–187), cf. Th 529 (Aš-Šahrastānī, Book of Sects and Creeds 2.167.9-13, Th 557 (Barhebraeus, History of the World 51.1-8)

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Iamblichus of Chalcis

Iamblichus of Chalcis Th 249

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Vita Pythagorae 2.11–12 (ed. v. Albrecht) [...], μετὰ τούτου πρὸς τὸν Φερεκύδην διεπόρθμευε καὶ πρὸς Ἀναξίμανδρον τὸν φυσικὸν καὶ πρὸς Θαλῆν εἰς Μίλητον, [12] καὶ παραγενόμενος πρὸς ἕκαστον αὐτῶν ἀνὰ μέρος οὕτως ὡμίλησεν, ὥστε πάντας αὐτὸν ἀγαπᾶν καὶ τὴν φύσιν αὐτοῦ θαυμάζειν καὶ ποιεῖσθαι τῶν λόγων κοινωνόν. καὶ δὴ καὶ ὁ Θαλῆς ἄσμενος αὐτὸν προσήκατο, καὶ θαυμάσας τὴν πρὸς τοὺς ἄλλους νέους παραλλαγήν, ὅτι μείζων τε καὶ ὑπερβεβηκυῖα ἦν τὴν προφοιτήσασαν ἤδη δόξαν, μεταδούς τε ὅσων ἠδύνατο μαθημάτων, τὸ γῆράς τε τὸ ἑαυτοῦ αἰτιασάμενος καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἀσθένειαν προετρέψατο εἰς Αἴγυπτον διαπλεῦσαι καὶ τοῖς ἐν Μέμφει καὶ Διοσ〈πόλει〉 μάλιστα συμβαλεῖν ἱερεῦσι‧ παρὰ γὰρ ἐκείνων καὶ ἑαυτὸν ἐφωδιάσθαι ταῦτα, δι᾽ ἃ σοφὸς παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς νομίζεται. οὐ μὴν τοσούτων γε προτερημάτων οὔτε φυσικῶς οὔτε ὑπ᾽ ἀσκήσεως ἐπιτετευχέναι ἑαυτὸν ἔλεγεν, ὅσων τὸν Πυθαγόραν καθορᾶν‧ ὥστε ἐκ παντὸς εὐηγγελίζετο, εἰ τοῖς δηλουμένοις ἱερεῦσι συγγένοιτο, θειότατον αὐτὸν καὶ σοφώτατον ὑπὲρ ἅπαντας ἔσεσθαι ἀνθρώπους. Sim. (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.); (Pythagoras’ teacher) Th 252

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Vita Pythagorae 3.13–14 Ὠφεληθεὶς οὖν παρὰ Θάλεω τά τε ἄλλα καὶ χρόνου μάλιστα φείδεσθαι, καὶ χάριν τούτου οἰνοποσίᾳ τε καὶ κρεωφαγίᾳ καὶ ἔτι πρότερον πολυφαγίᾳ ἀποταξάμενος, τῇ δὲ τῶν λεπτῶν καὶ εὐαναδότων ἐδωδῇ συμμετρηθείς, κἀκ τούτου ὀλιγοϋπνίαν καὶ ἐπεγρίαν καὶ ψυχῆς καθαρότητα κτησάμενος ὑγείαν τε ἀκριβεστάτην καὶ ἀπαρέγκλιτον τοῦ σώματος, ἐξέπλευσεν εἰς τὴν Σιδόνα, φύσει τε αὑτοῦ πατρίδα πεπυσμένος εἶναι καὶ καλῶς οἰόμενος ἐκεῖθεν αὑτῷ ῥᾴονα τὴν εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἔσεσθαι διάβασιν. [14] [...], προσμαθών τε ὅτι ἄποικα τρόπον τινὰ καὶ ἀπόγονα τῶν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἱερῶν τὰ αὐτόθι ὑπάρχει, ἐκ τούτου τε ἐλπίσας καλλιόνων καὶ θειοτέρων καὶ ἀκραιφνῶν μεθέξειν μυημάτων ἐν τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ, ἀγασθεὶς κατὰ τὰς Θάλεω τοῦ διδασκάλου ὑποθήκας διεπορθμεύθη ἀμελλητὶ ὑπό τινων Αἰγυπτίων πορθμέων καιριώτατα προσορμισάντων τοῖς ὑπὸ Κάρμηλον τὸ Φοινικικὸν ὄρος αἰγιαλοῖς, ἔνθα ἐμόναζε τὰ πολλὰ ὁ Πυθαγόρας κατὰ τὸ ἱερόν.

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Iamblichus of Chalcis (ca. 240–325 CE) Th 249

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Thales’ association with Pythagoras. Life of Pythagoras 2.11–12 [...] With him [Hermodamas] he [Pythagoras] crossed over to Miletus to see Pherecydes, Anaximander the natural philosopher, and Thales. [12] He met with each in turn and conducted himself so well that everyone liked him and admired his nature and invited him to join in their discussions. Thales in particular was delighted with his presence. He was struck by the difference between him and the other young men, which was greater than the reputation he had already gained and in fact surpassed it by far. After teaching him as much as he could, blaming his old age and weakness, he encouraged him to sail across to Egypt and especially to converse with the priests at Memphis and Diospolis, since he himself had been educated by them in the subjects that gave him a reputation among the many as a sage. He used to say that in fact he had not achieved so many successes either by nature or by practice as he saw that Pythagoras would. And so he [Thales] proclaimed it as good news in every way: if he associated with the priests he had mentioned he would be divine and wise beyond all men.

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Thales and Pythagoras. Life of Pythagoras 3.13–14 He [Pythagoras] was helped by Thales in other things and particularly in not wasting time. For this reason he renounced wine, meat and gluttony most of all, limiting himself to light and easily digestible food, and as a result he needed little sleep and was alert and clean in soul and enjoyed the most strict and unimpaired health of his body. He then sailed to Sidon, since he had found out that it was by nature his native country and because he correctly supposed that from there his crossing to Egypt would easier. [14] [...] Moreover he had learned that there were some practices there [in Sidon] that were somehow derived from and descended from the rituals in Egypt and hoped as a result that in Egypt he would participate in better, more divine and authentic initiation rites. Delighted at the advice of his teacher Thales he crossed without delay with some Egyptian ferrymen who i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

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Th 251

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Protrepticus 14.P72–73 (ed. Des Places) Καὶ ταῦτα πάντα οὐδ᾽ ὅτι οὐκ οἶδεν, οἶδεν‧ οὐδὲ γὰρ αὐτῶν ἀπέχεται τοῦ εὐδοκιμεῖν χάριν, ἀλλὰ τῷ ὄντι τὸ σῶμα μόνον ἐν τῇ πόλει κεῖται αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπιδημεῖ, ἡ δὲ διάνοια, ταῦτα πάντα ἡγησαμένη σμικρὰ [P 73] καὶ οὐδέν, ἀτιμάσασα πανταχῇ πέτεται κατὰ Πίνδαρον τά τε γᾶς ὑπένερθε καὶ τὰ ἐπίπεδα γεωμετροῦσα, οὐρανοῦ τε ὕπερ ἀστρονομοῦσα καὶ πᾶσαν πάντῃ φύσιν ἐρευνωμένη τῶν ὄντων ἑκάστου ὅλου, εἰς τῶν ἐγγὺς οὐδὲν ἑαυτὴν συγκαθιεῖσα. Ὥσπερ δὴ καὶ Θαλῆν ἀστρονομοῦντα καὶ ἀναβλέποντα πεσόντα εἰς φρέαρ Θρᾷττά τις ἐμμελὴς καὶ χαρίεσσα θεραπαινὶς ἀποσκῶψαι λέγεται, ὡς τὰ μὲν ἐν οὐρανῷ προθυμοῖτο εἰδέναι, τὰ δὲ ὄπισθεν αὐτοῦ καὶ παρὰ πόδας λανθάνοι αὐτόν. Ταὐτὸν δὲ ἀρκεῖ σκῶμμα ἐπὶ πάντας ὅσοι ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ διάγουσι. Τῷ γὰρ ὄντι τὸν τοιοῦτον ὁ μὲν πλησίον καὶ ὁ γείτων λέληθεν, οὐ μόνον ὅ τι πράττει, ἀλλ᾽ ὀλίγου καὶ 〈εἰ〉 ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν ἤ τι ἄλλο θρέμμα‧ τί δή ποτ᾽ ἐστὶν ἄνθρωπος καὶ τί τῇ τοιαύτῃ φύσει προσήκει διαφέρον τῶν ἄλλων ἢ ποιεῖν ἢ πάσχειν, ζητεῖ τε καὶ πράγματ᾽ ἔχει διερευνώμενος. Sim. (Thales’ fall into the well) Th 19 (q.v.)

Th 252 De communi mathematica scientia 21 (ed. Klein) Φασὶ τοίνυν ὡς Θαλῆς πρῶτος ἐξευρὼν οὐκ ὀλίγα τῶν ἐν γεωμετρίᾳ παρέδωκε Πυθαγόρᾳ‧ ὥστε καὶ ὅσα παρειλήφαμεν μαθηματικὰ σκέμματα Θαλοῦ, δικαίως ἂν αὐτὰ προσοικειώσαιμεν τῇ Πυθαγορείῳ μαθηματικῇ. Sim. (Pythagoras’ teacher) Th 249; (mathematics/geometry) Th 81 (q.v.)

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most conveniently had anchored just then on the shore beneath the Phoenician Mount Carmel, where Pythagoras used to spend much time at the sanctuary.

Th 2511

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Thales’ fall into a well. Protrepticus 14.P72–73 (ed. Des Places) He did not even know that he did not know all these things, for he did not keep away from them for the sake of his reputation, but in truth the body lies and lives only in its own city, but thought, which considers all these things unimportant [P73] and as nothing, disdains them entirely and flies, as Pindar says, practicing geometry beneath the earth and on its surface, and practicing astronomy above the heaven, and everywhere investigating the entire nature of each whole entity among things-that-are, not condescending to the level of things nearby. For example they say that Thales fell into a well while studying the stars and gazing aloft, and a witty and amusing Thracian servant-girl made fun of him because he was so keen to know about what was up in the sky but failed to see what was behind him and next to his feet. The same joke holds for everyone who spends his life in philosophy. It really is true that a person like that fails to notice the person next to him or his neighbor; not only does he not notice what he is doing, he barely knows whether he is a human being or some other kind of creature, but he investigates what a human being is, what that kind of thing does and experiences that is different from other beings. And he makes a great effort to track these things down.

Th 252 Thales and geometry. On the General Mathematical Science 21 They say that Thales, who was the first to discover not a few things in geometry, passed them on to Pythagoras. And so it would be fair for us to assign to Pythagorean mathematics all the mathematical speculations we have taken from Thales.

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W. does not translate this testimonium.

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Iamblichus of Chalcis – Lactantius

Th 253 In Nicomachi arithmeticam introductionem 10–11 (ed. Klein) Τὸ δὲ ποσόν, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὸν ἀριθμόν, Θαλῆς μὲν μονάδων σύστημα ὡρίσατο (κατὰ τὸ Αἰγυπτιακὸν ἀρέσκον, ὅπου περ καὶ ἐφιλομάθησε). Sim. (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.)

Lactantius Th 254

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Divinae institutiones 1.5.15–16 (ed. Heck/Wlosok) Sed hactenus de poetis. ad philosophos ueniamus, quorum grauior est auctoritas certiusque iudicium, quia non rebus commenticiis, sed inuestigandae ueritati studuisse creduntur. [16] Thales Milesius qui unus e septem sapientium numero fuit quique primus omnium quaesisse de causis naturalibus traditur, aquam esse dixit ex qua nata sint omnia, deum autem esse mentem quae ex aqua cuncta formauerit. ita materiam rerum posuit in umore, principium causamque nascendi constituit in deo. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.); (the first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 255 Inst. 2.9.18 Heraclitus ex igni nata esse dixit omnia, Thales ex aqua. uterque uidit aliquid, sed errauit tamen uterque, quod alterutrum si solum fuisset, neque aqua nasci posset ex igni neque rursus ignis ex aqua. sed est uerius simul ex utroque permixto cuncta generari. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

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Th 253 Thales’ definition of number. Commentary on Nicomachus’s Introduction to Arithmetic 10–11 Quantity, i.e., number, Thales defined as “an organization of units”1 (in accordance with the doctrine held in Egypt, where he had pursued his studies).

Lactantius (ca. 250–325 CE) Th 254 Thales the Sage and natural philosopher; water as first principle; his theological views. Testimony of the poets and philosophers about God.

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Divine Institutions 1.5.14–16 Here I stop my treatment of the poets. Let us turn to the philosophers, whose authority is weightier and whose judgment more certain, since they are believed to have pursued not imaginary matters but the investigation of the truth. [16] Thales of Miletus, who was one of the Seven Sages and is considered the first of all to have investigated natural causes, said water is that from which all things were generated, and that God is the mind which formed everything from water (cf. Th 72). Thus he located the matter of things in moisture, but he established the principle and cause of generation in God.

Th 255 Water as the first principle. Heat and moisture as the divinely created fundamental elements of the world. Divine Institutions 2.9.18 Heraclitus said that all things are generated from fire; Thales said [they are generated] from water. Each saw something, but still each one was wrong. If there were only one of those two thingsi, water could never be generated 1

Cf. Aristoxenus Fr. 23 Wehrli2.

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W: Wenn nur ein Element existiert hätte.

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Th 256

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Inst. 3.14.4–5 Sed ille ut hominem laudauit, qui tamen ob id ipsum deberet pro deo haberi, quod sapere inuenerit. nam sic ait: ‚nonne decebit hunc hominem numero diuum dignarier esse?‘ [5] unde apparet aut Pythagoram uoluisse laudare, qui se primus ut dixi philosophum nominauit, aut Milesium Thalen, qui de rerum natura primus traditur disputasse. Sim. (the first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th257 Inst. 3.16.12–13 Praeterea illud quoque argumentum contra philosophiam ualet plurimum, quo idem est usus Hortensius, ‘ex eo posse intellegi philosophiam non esse sapientiam, quod principium et origo eius appareat’. [13] ‘quando’ inquit ‘philosophi esse coeperunt? Thales ut opinor primus. recens haec quidem aetas’. Sim. (the first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.)

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Epitome divinarum institutionum 4.3 (ed. Heck/Wlosok, verfasst um 320 n. Chr.) Longum est recensere, quae de summo deo uel Thales uel Pythagoras et Anaximenes antea uel postmodum Stoici, Cleanthes et Chrysippus et Zeno, uel nostrorum Seneca Stoicos secutus et ipse Tullius praedicauerint, cum hi omnes et quid sit deus definire temptauerint et ab eo solo regi mundum adfirmauerint nec ulli subiectum esse naturae, cum ab ipso sit omnis natura generata.

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from fire, nor fire from water. But it is more true that all things originate from a mixture of both together.

Th 256 Thales as natural philosopher. Philosophy is not wisdom

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Divine Institutions 3.14.4–5 But he [Lucretius] praised [someone] as a person who ought to have been regarded as a god, for the very reason that he discovered how to be wise, for he says: “Will it not be fitting for this man to be made worthy of a place among the number of the gods?” [Lucr. 5.50 f.] [5] from which it is clear that he wished to praise either Pythagoras, who first named himself a philosopher, as I said, or Thales of Miletus, who is reported to have been the first to discuss the nature of things.

Th 257 Thales the first philosopher. The superiority of wisdom to philosophy. Divine Institutions 3.16.12–13 Besides, that argument too, which the same Hortensius1 used, has much weight against philosophy: “From this it can be understood that philosophy is not wisdom, because its beginning and origin is apparent.”i [Fr. 52 Grilli] [13] “When did there begin to be philosophers? Thales was first, I think. Indeed, that time is recent.”

Th 258 Thales’ theological views. Epitome of the Divine Institutions 4.3 It is a lengthy task to review what Thales, Pythagoras and Anaximenes in earlier times, or later the Stoics Cleanthes, Chrysippus and Zeno, or what our Seneca, who followed the Stoics, or what Tullius [Cicero] himself de1

Lactantius refers to the character in Cicero’s work of the same name.

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Lactantius – Eusebius of Caesarea

Sim. (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.)

Arnobius the Elder Th 259

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Adversus nationes 2.9–10 (ed. Marchesi) Nonne vestrum quicumque est huic vel illi credit auctoribus? non quod sibi persuaserit quis verum dici ab altero velut quadam fidei astipulatione tutatur? Qui cunctarum 〈rerum〉 originem 〈ignem〉 esse dicit aut aquam, non Thaleti aut Heraclito credit? qui causam in numeris ponit, non Pythagorae Samio, non Archytae? qui animam dividit et incorporales constituit formas, non Platoni Socratico? [...]. [10] Ipsi demus principes et praedictarum patres sententiarum, nonne ea quae dicunt suis credita suspicionibus dicunt? Vidit enim Heraclitus res ignium conversionibus fieri, concretione aquarum Thales, Pythagoras numeros coire, incorporales formas Plato, individuorum Democritus concursiones? Sim. (water as first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (transformations of water) Th 94 (q.v.)

Eusebius of Caesarea Th 260

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Praeparatio Evangelica 1.7.16–8.3 (ed. DesPlaces), cites Plut. Strom. Fr. 179.1–40 Sandbach (Th 135) Τούτῳ δ᾽ ἂν εὕροις συμφώνους καὶ τοὺς πλείστους τῶν παρ᾽ Ἕλλησι φιλοσόφων, ὧν ἐγώ σοι τὰς περὶ ἀρχῶν δόξας καὶ τὰς πρὸς ἀλλήλους διαστάσεις καὶ διαφωνίας, ἐκ στοχασμῶν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἀπὸ καταλήψεως ὁρμηθείσας, ἀπὸ τῶν Πλουτάρχου Στρωματέων ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἐκθήσομαι. Σὺ δὲ μὴ παρέργως, σχολῇ δὲ καὶ μετὰ λογισμοῦ θέα τῶν δηλουμένων τὴν πρὸς ἀλλήλους διάστασιν. [8.1] “Θάλητα πρῶτον πάντων φασὶν ἀρχὴν τῶν ὅλων ὑποστήσασθαι τὸ ὕδωρ‧ ἐξ αὐτοῦ γὰρ εἶναι τὰ πάντα καὶ εἰς αὐτὸ χωρεῖν. [2] Μεθ᾽ ὃν Ἀναξίμανδρον, Θάλητος ἑταῖρον γενόμενον, τὸ

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clared about the highest God, since all of them attempted to define what God is and asserted that the world is ruled by Him alone and that He is subject to no other nature since every nature is generated by Him.

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Water as the first principle. Against the Heathens 2.9–10 Does each one of you not believe one author or another? What anyone has persuaded himself that another has truly said, does he not defend it as if by an obligation of trust? Does one who says that the origin of all [things] is [fire] or water, not believe Thales or Heraclitus? Does one who ascribes the cause to numbers not believe Pythagoras of Samos and Archytas? Does one who divides the soul into parts and posits incorporeal forms not believe Plato the follower of Socrates? [...]. [10] Finally, do not the originators and fathers of the above-mentioned views say what they say on the basis of a trust in their own guesswork? Did Heraclitus see things come into being through changes of fires, did Thales [see things come into being] through the condensation of water? Did Pythagoras see numbers combining; Plato the incorporeal forms; Democritus the collisions of indivisible bodies?

Eusebius of Caesarea (before 260–between 337 and 340 CE) Th 260

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Water as the first principle; Thales and Anaximander. Preparation for the Gospel 1.7.16–8.3 You will find that most of the Greek philosophers agree with him [Diodorus Siculus]. On the present occasion I will set out for you from Plutarch’s Stromateis their views on principles and their differences and disagreements, which arose from conjectures, not from direct apprehensioni. And not casuallyii but leisurely and with careful consideration observe the mutual difi ii

W: klarem Verständnis. W. does not translate σχολῇ.

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ἄπειρον φάναι τὴν πᾶσαν αἰτίαν ἔχειν τῆς τοῦ παντὸς γενέσεώς τε καὶ φθορᾶς, ἐξ οὗ δή φησι τούς τε οὐρανοὺς ἀποκεκρίσθαι καὶ καθόλου τοὺς ἅπαντας ἀπείρους ὄντας κόσμους. Ἀπεφήνατο δὲ τὴν φθορὰν γίνεσθαι, καὶ πολὺ πρότερον τὴν γένεσιν, ἐξ ἀπείρου αἰῶνος ἀνακυκλουμένων πάντων αὐτῶν. Ὑπάρχειν δέ φησι τῷ μὲν σχήματι τὴν γῆν κυλινδροειδῆ, ἔχειν δὲ τοσοῦτον βάθος ὅσον ἂν εἴη τρίτον πρὸς τὸ πλάτος. Φησὶ δὲ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ ἀϊδίου γόνιμον θερμοῦ τε καὶ ψυχροῦ κατὰ τὴν γένεσιν τοῦδε τοῦ κόσμου ἀποκριθῆναι καί τινα ἐκ τούτου φλογὸς σφαῖραν περιφυῆναι τῷ περὶ τὴν γῆν ἀέρι ὡς τῷ δένδρῳ φλοιόν‧ ἧς ἀπορραγείσης καὶ εἴς τινας ἀποκλεισθείσης κύκλους ὑποστῆναι τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας. Ἔτι φησὶν ὅτι κατ᾽ ἀρχὰς ἐξ ἀλλοειδῶν ζῴων ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐγεννήθη ἐκ τοῦ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα δι᾽ ἑαυτῶν ταχὺ νέμεσθαι, μόνον δὲ τὸν ἄνθρωπον πολυχρονίου δεῖσθαι τιθηνήσεως‧ διὸ καὶ κατ᾽ ἀρχὰς οὐκ ἄν ποτε τοιοῦτον ὄντα διασωθῆναι. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὁ Ἀναξίμανδρος. [3] Ἀναξιμένην δέ φασι τὴν τῶν ὅλων ἀρχὴν τὸν ἀέρα εἰπεῖν καὶ τοῦτον εἶναι τῷ μὲν γένει ἄπειρον, ταῖς δὲ περὶ αὐτὸν ποιότησιν ὡρισμένον‧ γεννᾶσθαί τε πάντα κατά τινα πύκνωσιν τούτου καὶ πάλιν ἀραίωσιν. Τήν γε μὴν κίνησιν ἐξ αἰῶνος ὑπάρχειν‧ πιλουμένου δὲ τοῦ ἀέρος πρώτην γεγενῆσθαι λέγει τὴν γῆν, πλατεῖαν μάλα‧ διὸ καὶ κατὰ λόγον αὐτὴν ἐποχεῖσθαι τῷ ἀέρι‧ καὶ τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἄστρα τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς γενέσεως ἔχειν ἐκ γῆς. Ἀποφαίνεται γοῦν τὸν ἥλιον γῆν, διὰ δὲ τὴν ὀξεῖαν κίνησιν καὶ μάλ᾽ ἱκανῶς θερμότητα [κίνησιν] λαβεῖν. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

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ferences of the authors I quote. [8.1] They say that Thales was the first of alli who supposed that water was the principle of all things, for all things are from it and return to it. [2] After him Anaximander, Thales’ associate, declared that the Infinite contains the entire cause of both the generation and perishing of the universeii, and that out of it the heavens, and, generally, all the cosmoi, which are infinite, have been separated off. He declared that perishing and, long before that, generation originated and that all of them [the cosmoi] were revolving from infinite ages past.1 The earth, he said, is cylindrical in shape, and its depth is a third of its breadth. He declared that what arose from the eternal and is productive of hot and cold was separated off at the generation of this cosmos,2 and a kind of sphere of flame from this grew around the dark mist about the earth like bark about a tree. When it was broken off and enclosed in certain circles, the sun, moon and stars came to be. He also said that in the beginning humans were born from animals of a different kind, since other animals quickly manage on their own and humans alone require lengthy nursing. For this reason they would not have survived if they had been like this at the beginning. These then are the views of Anaximander. [3] They say that Anaximenes declared air to be the principle of all things, and that this is indeterminateiii in kind, but is determined by the qualities attached to itiv, and that all things are generated according as this air undergoes a certain condensation or rarefaction. Its motion exists eternally. When the air was being felted, the earth was the first thing to come into being, and it is very flat. This is why it rides upon the air, as is reasonable; and the sun, the moon and the other heavenly bodies have the origin of their generation from earth. He said, for example, that the sun is earth, but through its swift motion it acquires a great deal of heat.

1 2

Conche 1991, 148 ff. translates αἰών as “force vitale infinie”. Or: at the beginning of this cosmos occurred the separation-off of that in the Eternal which was productive of hot and cold” (Finkelberg 1993, 246).

i ii iii iv

W. does not translate πάντων. W: des Alls. W: unendlich. W: ihrer Qualitäten.

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Th 261 PE 7.12.1 Θαλῆς μὲν ὁ Μιλήσιος ἀρχὴν τῶν ἁπάντων τὸ ὕδωρ εἶναι ἀπεφήνατο, Ἀναξιμένης δὲ τὸν ἀέρα, Ἡράκλειτος τὸ πῦρ, Πυθαγόρας ἀριθμούς [...]. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 262

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PE 10.4.17–18 Ὁ μὲν οὖν Πυθαγόρας τοιοῦτος. Πρώτη δ᾽ ἐκ τῆς τούτου διαδοχῆς ἡ κληθεῖσα ἰταλικὴ φιλοσοφία συνέστη, τῆς ἐπωνυμίας ἐκ τῆς κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν διατριβῆς ἀξιωθεῖσα‧ μεθ᾽ ἣν ἡ ἀπὸ Θαλοῦ τοῦ τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν ἑνὸς ἰωνικὴ προσαγορευθεῖσα‧ κἄπειτα ἡ Ἐλεατική, Ξενοφάνην τὸν Κολοφώνιον πατέρα ἐπιγραψαμένη. [18] Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Θαλῆς, ὥς τινες ἱστοροῦσι, Φοῖνιξ ἦν, ὡς δέ τινες ὑπειλήφασι, Μιλήσιος‧ Αἰγυπτίων δὲ καὶ οὗτος λέγεται τοῖς προφήταις συμβεβληκέναι. Sim. (Ionian school) Th 147 (q.v.); (Phoenician ancestry) Th 12 (q.v.); (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.)

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PE 10.7.10 (= Th 108) Ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τοὺς περὶ τῶν οὐρανίων τε καὶ θείων πρώτους παρ᾽ Ἕλλησι φιλοσοφήσαντας, οἷον Φερεκύδην τε τὸν Σύριον καὶ Πυθαγόραν καὶ Θάλητα, πάντες συμφώνως ὁμολογοῦσιν Αἰγυπτίων καὶ Χαλδαίων γενομένους μαθητὰς ὀλίγα συγγράψαι‧ καὶ ταῦτα τοῖς Ἕλλησιν εἶναι δοκεῖ πάντων ἀρχαιότατα καὶ μόλις αὐτὰ πιστεύουσιν ὑπ᾽ ἐκείνων γεγράφθαι. Sim. (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.); (writings) Th 88 (q.v.)

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Th 261 Water as the first principle. Preparation for the Gospel 7.12.1 Thales of Miletus declared water to be the principle of all things; Anaximenes, air; Heraclitus, fire; Pythagoras, numbers [...].

Th 262

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Thales the Sage and founder of Ionian philosophy. Preparation for the Gospel 10.4.17–18 [The Greek philosophers got their wisdom from the ‘East’] Such is Pythagoras. The philosophy known as Italian first arose out of his succession. It merited this name from the time he spent in Italy. After this [philosophy] came the one originated by Thales, one of the Seven Sages, and it was called Ionian. Next Eleatic [philosophy], which registered Xenophanes of Colophon as its father. [18] Buti Thales, as some record, was a Phoenician, or as others have supposed, a Milesian. He too is said to have conversed with the prophetsii of Egypt.

Th 263

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Thales as astronomer and theologian; his pseudonymous writings. Preparation for the Gospel 10.7.10 In fact everyone unanimously agrees that the first Greeks who philosophized about things celestial and divine, like Pherecydes of Syros, Pythagoras and Thales, were pupils of the Egyptians and Chaldeans and wrote little. And the Greeks believe that these [writings] are the earliest of all and they hardly believe them to be authentic.

i ii

W’s translation begins here. W: Priestern.

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Th 264 PE 10.11.34 (= Th 176) Καὶ δὴ τούτων οὕτως ἀποδεδειγμένων διὰ βραχέων ἔτι καὶ περὶ τῆς τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν ἡλικίας ἀναγράψομεν. Τοῦ γὰρ πρεσβυτάτου τῶν προειρημένων Θάλητος γενομένου περὶ τὴν πεντηκοστὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα καὶ τὰ περὶ τῶν μετ᾽ αὐτὸν σχεδὸν ἡμῖν συντόμως εἴρηται. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (dates) Th 171 (q.v.)

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PE 10.14.10–12 Τούτων δὴ τῶν ἑπτὰ Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος φυσικὸς πρῶτος Ἑλλήνων γεγονὼς περὶ τροπῶν ἡλίου καὶ ἐκλείψεως καὶ φωτισμῶν σελήνης καὶ ἰσημερίας διελέχθη‧ ἐγένετο δ᾽ ὁ ἀνὴρ ἐπισημότατος ἐν τοῖς Ἕλλησι. [11] Θάλεω δὲ γίνεται ἀκουστὴς Ἀναξίμανδρος, Πραξιάδου μὲν παῖς, γένος δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς Μιλήσιος. Οὗτος πρῶτος γνώμονας κατεσκεύασε πρὸς διάγνωσιν τροπῶν τε ἡλίου καὶ χρόνων καὶ ὡρῶν καὶ ἰσημερίας. [12] Ἀναξιμάνδρου δὲ γνώριμος ἐγένετο Ἀναξιμένης Εὐρυστράτου Μιλήσιος‧ τούτου δὲ Ἀναξαγόρας Ἡγησιβούλου Κλαζομένιος. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (originator of natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.); (sun’s orbit/solstices) Th 93 (q.v.); (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.); (eclipse/phases of the moon) Th 178 (q.v.); (equinox) Th 106 (q.v.); (Anaximander pupil/associate of Thales) Th 65a (q.v.); (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.)

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PE 10.14.16 Τούτου δὲ Λεύκιππος ἀκουστὴς γέγονε, Λευκίππου δὲ Δημόκριτος, οὗ Πρωταγόρας, καθ᾽ ὃν ἤκμασε Σωκράτης. Καὶ ἄλλους δὲ σποράδην ἔστιν εὑρεῖν φυσικοὺς φιλοσόφους πρὸ Σωκράτους γενομένους‧ πλὴν ἀλλὰ πάντες ἀπὸ Θαλοῦ ἀρξάμενοι κατώτεροι Κύρου τοῦ Περσῶν βασιλέως φαίνονται ἠκμακότες. Ὁ δὲ Κῦρος μετὰ πλεῖστον τῆς εἰς Βαβυλῶνα αἰχμαλωσίας τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους δῆλός ἐστι γεγονώς. Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.)

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Th 264 Thales as Sage; his dates. Preparation for the Gospel 10.11.34 (Citation from Tatian) [Moses and the Prophets came before the Greek thinkers (10.11.1).] Now that these things have been proved I will briefly discuss the era of the Seven Sages. For Thales, the earliest of the men mentioned above, was born around the fiftieth Olympiad [580/79–577/6] and I have briefly discussed the theories of his successors.

Th 265 Thales the Sage, natural philosopher and astronomer; Thales and Anaximander. A brief look at those who came after Moses.

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Preparation for the Gospel 10.14.10–12 Of these seven, Thales of Miletus, the first Greek natural philosopher, discussed the solstices, eclipses, the phases of the moon and the equinoxes, and he became the most distinguished of the Greeks. [11] Anaximander, the son of Praxiades and a fellow Milesian, was Thales’ pupil. He was the first to construct gnomons to determine the solstices, the time, the seasons and the equinoxes. [12] Anaximenes of Miletus, the son of Eurystratus, was Anaximander’s associate, and Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, the son of Hegesibulus was his [Anaximenes’].

Th 2661

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Thales the first philosopher; his dates. Preparation for the Gospel 10.14.16 Leucippus was his [Zeno’s] pupil, Democritus was Leucippus’s, and his [Democritus’s] student was Protagoras, during whose lifetime Socrates flourished. It is possible to find other natural philosophers too here and there who were born before Socrates. But all who began from Thales appear to have flourished under King Cyrus of Persia. Cyrus, it is clear, was born long after the Jewish people’s captivity in Babylonia. 1

W. does not translate this testimonium.

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PE 11.2.2–3 Ὅτι μὲν Πλάτων πρῶτος καὶ μάλιστα συναγείρας εἰς ἓν πάντα τὰ τῆς φιλοσοφίας μέρη, τέως ἐσκεδασμένα καὶ διερριμμένα ὥσπερ τὰ τοῦ Πενθέως μέλη, καθάπερ εἶπέ τις, σῶμά τι καὶ ζῷον ὁλόκληρον ἀπέφηνε τὴν φιλοσοφίαν, δῆλα παντὶ λεγόμενα. [3] Οὔτε γὰρ οἱ περὶ Θαλῆν καὶ Ἀναξιμένην καὶ Ἀναξαγόραν καὶ ὅσοι κατὰ ταὐτὸ γεγόνασι τούτοις ἀγνοοῦνται περὶ μόνην τὴν ὑπὲρ τῆς φύσεως τῶν ὄντων σκέψιν διατρίψαντες. Sim. (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.)

Th 268 PE 11.3.1 Ἐφιλοσόφησε δὲ Πλάτων, εἰ καί τις ἄλλος τῶν πώποτε, γνησίως καὶ τελείως. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀπὸ Θάλεω φυσιολογοῦντες διετέλεσαν, οἱ δὲ περὶ Πυθαγόραν ἐπεκρύψαντο πάντα. Sim. (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.)

Th 269

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PE 12.29.4–5 (= Th 19) Πῶς τοῦτο λέγεις, ὦ Σώκρατες; Ὥσπερ καὶ Θαλῆν ἀστρονομοῦντα, ὦ Θεόδωρε, καὶ ἄνω βλέποντα πεσόντα εἰς φρέαρ Θρᾷττά τις ἐμμελὴς καὶ χαρίεσσα θεραπαινὶς ἀποσκῶψαι λέγεται ὡς τὰ μὲν ἐν οὐρανῷ προθυμοῖτο εἰδέναι, τὰ δὲ ὄπισθεν αὐτοῦ καὶ παρὰ πόδας λανθάνοι αὐτόν. [5] Ταὐτὸν δὲ ἀρκεῖ σκῶμμα ἐπὶ πάντας ὅσοι ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ διάγουσι. Τῷ γὰρ ὄντι τὸν τοιοῦτον ὁ μὲν πλησίον καὶ ὁ γείτων λέληθεν, οὐ μόνον ὅ τι πράττει, ἀλλ᾽ ὀλίγου καὶ εἰ ἄνθρωπός ἐστιν ἤ τι ἄλλο θρέμμα· τί δέ ποτ᾽ ἐστὶν ἄνθρωπος καὶ τί τῇ τοιαύτῃ φύσει προσήκει διἁφορον τῶν ἄλλων ποιεῖν ἢ πάσχειν ζητεῖ τε καὶ πράγματ᾽ ἔχει διερευνώμενος. Μανθάνεις γάρ που, ὦ Θεόδωρε, ἢ οὔ. Sim. (Thales’ fall into the well) Th 19 (q.v.)

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Thales as natural philosopher. Preparation for the Gospel 11.2.2–3 Plato was the first person to assemble all the parts of philosophy into one and did so more successfully than anyone else. Previously they had been scattered and dispersed like the limbs of Pentheus, as someone said, but he revealed philosophy to be a body and a complete animal. [3] For neither did Thales, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras and their associates [manage to do this] nor did all those who were born in the time of those men and are unknown. All of them spent their time solely on the investigation of the nature of things-that-are.

Th 268 Thales as natural philosopher. Preparation for the Gospel 11.3.1 (from Aristocles, cf. Th 97) If ever anyone else has ever practiced philosophy truly and completely, it was Plato. For Thales and his followers spent their time pursuing natural philosophy, and Pythagoras and his associates concealed everything.

Th 2692 Thales’ fall into a well. Plato’s view of the true philosopher is quoted from the Theaetetus as well as the anecdote of Thales falling into a well.

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Preparation for the Gospel 12.29.4–5 What do you mean by this, Socrates: “For example, Theodorus, they say that Thales fell into a well while studying the stars and gazing aloft, and a witty and amusing Thracian servant-girl made fun of him because he was so keen to know about what was up in the sky but failed to see what was behind him and next to his feet. [5] The same joke holds for everyone who spends his life in philosophy. It really is true that a person like that fails to notice the person next to him or his neighbor; not only does he not notice what he is doing, he barely knows whether he is a human being or some other creature, but he investigates what a human being is, what that kind 1 2

W. does not translate this testimonium. W. does not translate this testimonium.

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Th 270 PE 12.49.6 (= Th 22) Ἀλλ᾽ οἷα δὴ εἰς τὰ ἔργα σοφοῦ ἀνδρὸς πολλαὶ ἐπίνοιαι καὶ εὐμήχανοι εἰς τέχνας ἤ τινας ἄλλας πράξεις λέγονται, ὥσπερ αὖ Θάλεώ τε πέρι τοῦ Μιλησίου καὶ Ἀναχάρσιδος τοῦ Σκύθου; Οὐδαμῶς τοιοῦτον οὐθέν.

Th 271

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PE 14.14.1 (~ Th 147) “Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος,” εἷς τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν, “ἀρχὴν τῶν ὄντων ἀπεφήνατο εἶναι τὸ ὕδωρ· δοκεῖ δὲ ὁ ἀνὴρ οὗτος ἄρξαι τῆς φιλοσοφίας καὶ ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἡ ἰωνικὴ αἵρεσις προσηγορεύθη‧ ἐγένοντο γὰρ πλεῖσται διαδοχαί. Φιλοσοφήσας δὲ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ πρεσβύτερος ἦλθεν εἰς Μίλητον. Ἐξ ὕδατος δέ φησι πάντα εἶναι καὶ εἰς ὕδωρ πάντα ἀναλύεσθαι. στοχάζεται δὲ ἐκ τούτου πρώτου ὅτι πάντων ζῴων ἡ γονὴ ἀρχή ἐστιν, ὑγρὰ οὐσία‧ οὕτως εἰκὸς καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐξ ὑγροῦ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχειν· δεύτερον‧ πάντα τὰ φυτὰ ὑγρῷ τρέφεταί τε καὶ καρποφορεῖ, ἀμοιροῦντα δὲ ξηραίνεται· τρίτον δέ, ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ πῦρ τὸ τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ τῶν ἄστρων ταῖς τῶν ὑδάτων ἀναθυμιάσεσι τρέφεται καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ κόσμος· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ Ὅμηρος ταύτην τὴν γνώμην ὑποτίθεται περὶ τοῦ ὕδατος‧ Ὠκεανόν, ὅσπερ γένεσις πάντεσσι τέτυκται”· ταῦτα μὲν ὁ Θαλῆς. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (Ionian school) Th 147 (q.v.); (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.); (the water hypothesis goes back to the first theologians/Homer) Th 29 (q.v.)

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of thing does and experiences that is different from other beings. And he makes a great effort to track these things down. Do you understand, Theodorus, or don’t you?”

Th 2701 Thales’ practical wisdom. Quotation of Plato’s criticism of Homer in Republic, book 10, with his comparison of Homer with Thales and Anacharsis (Th 22). Preparation for the Gospel 12.49.6 “Or, as happens with the achievements of a wise man, are many ingenious discoveries in the crafts or in other activities [attributed to Homer], as they are to Thales of Miletus and Anacharsis of Scythia?” There is nothing at all of this sort.

Th 271 Thales the Sage and founder of Ionian philosophy; his association with Egypt; water as the first principle. In the following passages from Pseudo-Plutarch, Eusebius mentions Thales among others to refer to the disagreements among the natural philosophers.

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Preparation for the Gospel 14.14.1 “Thales of Miletus”, one of the Seven Sages, “declared that water is the principle of things-that-are. This man is thought to have been the founder of philosophy and the Ionian school was called after him. For there have been very many schools. After practicing philosophy in Egypt he came to Miletus when quite an old man. He says that all things are from water and all things are dissolved into water. He bases this conjecture first on the fact that the seed, which is a moist substance, is the principle of all living things. Thus it is likely that indeed all things have their principle from moisture. Second, that all plants are nourished and bear fruit because of moisture, and dry up when they lack it. Third, that even the very fire of the sun and stars is nourished by the exhalations of waters, and so is the cosmos itself. This is why Homer too posits this judgment about water: “Okeanos which is the origin of all things.”2 Thales held these views. 1 2

W. does not translate this testimonium. Iliad 14.246.

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Th 272 PE 14.16.6 Θαλῆς τὸν κόσμον εἶναι τὸν θεόν. Sim. (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.)

Th 273 PE 15.29.3 (= Th 159) Θαλῆς καὶ οἱ ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου φωτίζεσθαι τὴν σελήνην. Sim. (moonlight) Th 159 (q.v.)

Th 274 PE 15.30.1 (= Th 157) Θαλῆς γεώδη μέν, ἔμπυρα δὲ τὰ ἄστρα. Sim. (nature of the stars) Th 157 (q.v.)

Th 275 PE 15.43.2 (= Th 150) Θαλῆς, Πυθαγόρας, Πλάτων, οἱ Στωϊκοὶ δαίμονας ὑπάρχειν οὐσίας ψυχικάς‧ εἶναι δὲ καὶ ἥρωας τὰς κεχωρισμένας ψυχὰς τῶν σωμάτων, καὶ ἀγαθοὺς μὲν τὰς ἀγαθάς, κακοὺς δὲ τὰς φαύλας. Sim. (daimons, heroes) Th 150 (q.v.)

Th 276 PE 15.44.2 (~ Th 151) Οἱ ἀπὸ Θάλεω καὶ Πυθαγόρα καὶ οἱ Στωϊκοὶ τρεπτὴν καὶ ἀλλοιωτὴν καὶ ῥευστὴν ὅλην δι᾽ ὅλων τὴν ὕλην. Sim. (matter) Th 151 (q.v.)

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Th 272 Thales’ theological views. Preparation for the Gospel 14.16.6 Thales [holds that] the cosmos is God. (cf. Th 149)

Th 273 Thales’ cosmology. Preparation for the Gospel 15.29.3 Thales and his followers [hold that] the moon is illuminated by the sun.1

Th 274 Thales’ cosmology. Preparation for the Gospel 15.30.1 Thales [holds that] the stars are earthy and fiery.

Th 275 Thales’ views on the nature of the soul. Preparation for the Gospel 15.43.2 Thales, Pythagoras, Plato and the Stoics [hold that] daimons exist as spiritual substances, that heroes are souls separated from bodies, and that good souls are good [heroes] and evil [souls] are evil [heroes].

Th 276 Thales’ views on matter. Preparation for the Gospel 15.44.2 Thales and Pythagoras and their followers, and the Stoics [hold that] matter is changeable and alterable, and is fluid through and throughi.

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Cf. Panchenko 2002, 223–36.

i

W. gives matter four attributes instead of the three in the text: umwandelbar, veränderbar, modifizierbar und im Fluss.”

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Eusebius of Caesarea

Th 277 PE 15.50.1 (~ Th 158) Θαλῆς πρῶτος ἔφη ἐκλείπειν τὸν ἥλιον τῆς σελήνης αὐτὸν ὑπερχομένης κατὰ κάθετον, οὔσης φύσει γεώδους‧ βλέπεσθαι δὲ τοῦτο κατοπτρικῶς, ὑποτιθεμένῳ1 τῷ δίσκῳ. Sim. (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.); (the nature of the sun/moon) Th 158 (q.v.)

Th 278 PE 15.55.1 (= Th 160) Θαλῆς καὶ οἱ ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ μίαν εἶναι τὴν γῆν. Sim. (one Earth) Th 160 (q.v.)

Th 279 PE 15.56.1 (~ Th 161) Θαλῆς καὶ οἱ Στωϊκοὶ σφαιροειδῆ τὴν γῆν. Sim. (spherical Earth) Th 161 (q.v.)

Th 280 PE 15.57.1 (= Th 162) Οἱ ἀπὸ Θάλεω τὴν γῆν μέσην.

Th 281 Chronica 13.19–14.1 (ed. Helm)

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I read ὑποτιθεμένῳ instead of the transmitted text ὑποτιθεμένην. Cf. on Th 158.

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Th 277 Thales’ explanation of eclipses. Preparation for the Gospel 15.50.1 Thales was the first to say that the sun is eclipsed when the moon, which is earthy, comes perpendicularly underneath it, and that this is observed in a mirror when a dish is placed below.

Th 278 Thales’ cosmology. Preparation for the Gospel 15.55.1 Thales and his followers [hold that] there is one earth.

Th 279 Thales’ cosmology. Preparation for the Gospel 15.56.1 Thales and the Stoics [hold that] the earth is spherical.1

Th 280 Thales’ cosmology. Preparation for the Gospel 15.57.1 Thales and his followers [hold that] the earth is in the middle (cf. Th 162).

Th 281 The Chronicle of Eusebius is preserved in Greek only in fragments. The second part of the work is preserved in a Latin reworking of Hieronymus (cf. Th 304–308). A complete version of the Chronicle is found only in an Armenian translation of the sixth cent. See notes on Th 306 and Th 308. Chronicle 13.19–14.1 (ed. Hahn)

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Cf. O’Grady 2002, 95 ff. (arguments for attributing this theory to Thales).

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Eusebius of Caesarea – Pseudo-Valerius Probus

Th 282 Chron. 88b.19(k) cf. Hier. Chron. Th 305

Th 283 Chron. 96a.9–12(b) cf. Hier. Chron. Th 306

Th 284 Chron. 100b.25(f) cf. Hier. Chron. Th 307

Th 285 Chron. 103b.12(h) cf. Hier. Chron. Th 308

Pseudo-Valerius Probus (scripta Probiana) Th 286

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Commentarius in Bucolica 6.31 (ed. Thilo) Sunt qui singulis elementis principia adsignaverunt: Parmenides Eleates terram, Hippasus Metapontinus et Heraclitus Ephesius, qui σκοτεινός appellatur, ignem, Anaximenes Lampsacenus, qui primus existimatur physica induxisse, aerem, Thales Milesius, magister eius, aquam. Hanc quidem Thaletis opinionem ab Hesiodo putant manare, qui dixerit: ἤτοι μὲν πρώτιστα Χάος γένετ᾽, αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th  29 (q.v.); (the water hypothesis goes back to the first theologians/Homer) Th 29 (q.v.)

Eusebius of Caesarea – Pseudo-Valerius Probus

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Th 282 Chronicle 88b.19(k), cf. Hier. Chron. Th 305 Chronicle for the year 747 BCE

Th 283 Chronicle 96a9–12(b), cf. Hier. Chron. Th 306 Chronicle for the year 640 BCE

Th 284 Chronicle 100b.25(f), cf. Hier. Chron. Th 307 Chronicle for the year 586 BCE

Th 285 Chronicle 103b.12(h), cf. Hier. Chron. Th 308 Chronicle for the year 548 BCE

Pseudo-Valerius Probus (scripta Probiana) (4th cent. CE) Th 286

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Water as the first principle. Commentary on Vergil’s Eclogues 6.31 Some have given the role of principles to the individual elements: Parmenides of Elea, earth; Hippasus of Metapontum and Heraclitus of Ephesus, who is called σκοτεινός [obscure], fire; Anaximenes of Lampsacus,1 who is thought to be the first to have introduced natural philosophy, air; Thales of Miletus, his teacher, water. In fact they think that this view of Thales derived from Hesiod who said, ἤτοι μὲν πρώτιστα Χάος γένετ’, αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα. [“First of all Chaos came into being, and then...”].2

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Confusion with the fourth-cent. BCE orator. Hesiod, Theogony 116. Cf. Th 532, Th 583.

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Chalcidius

Chalcidius Th 287

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Commentarius in Platonis Timaeum 280 (ed. Waszink) CCLXXX. Sed hi quidem omnes informem eam et sine ulla qualitate constituunt, alii formam dederunt, ut Thales, quem ferunt ante omnes naturalia esse secreta rimatum, cum initium rerum aquam esse dicat, opinor ideo quod omnem uictum quo utuntur quae uiuunt humectum uideret; inque eadem sententia Homerus esse inuenitur, cum Oceanum et Tethyn dicat parentes esse geniturae, cumque iusiurandum deorum constituat aquam, quam quidem ipse appellat Stygem, antiquitati tribuens reuerentiam et iureiurando nihil constituens reuerentius. At uero Anaximenes aera iudicans initium rerum, initium quoque corporum ceterorum et ipsius aquae, non consentit Heraclito caput rerum ignem putanti. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.); (the water hypothesis goes back to the first theologians/Homer) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 288

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In Tim. 325 CCCXXV. Sumpsit tamen, quo perfectius tractaret de mutua elementorum ex alio in aliud conuersione. Ait enim: Atque ita circuitu quodam uires fomentaque generationis corporibus inuicem sibi mutuantibus nec in una eademque forma perseuerantibus quae tandem erit certa eorum et a cunctatione semota comprehensio?   Nulla certe.   Merito; fingamus enim esse hunc ignem sincerum et sine ullius materiae permixtione, ut putat Heraclitus, uel aquam, ut Thales, uel aera, ut Anaximenes: „haec“, inquit, „si semper eadem immutabilia censeamus, multos et inextricabiles incurremus errores.“ Sim. (water as the first principle) Th  29 (q.v.); (transformations of water) Th 94 (q.v.)

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Chalcidius (4th cent. CE) Th 287

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Water as the first principle. Commentary on Plato’s Timaeus 280 [51A7] But all of these [Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics] establish it [matter] as formless and without any quality, whereas others have granted it form, like Thales, who they say investigated the secrets of nature before anyone else, when he said that the origini of things is water – I suppose because he saw that all nourishment of living things is moist. Homer is found to share the same view when he says that Okeanos and Tethys are the parents of generationii [Il. 14.201] and when he establishes water, which he calls Styx [Il. 15.37], to be that by which the gods swear oathsiii, attributing reverence to its great age and asserting that nothing is more revered than an oath. But Anaximenes, in judging air the originiv of things – the originv of water itself as well as the other bodies – does not agree with Heraclitus who thinks that fire is the principle of things.

Th 288

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Water as the first principle. Commentary on Plato’s Timaeus 325 [49D] In the cycle of the elements, [Thales’ water] appears never in the same form. [...] He assumes it in order to treat more completely the change of the elements into one another. For he says: “Since the bodies are in turn borrowing strength and nourishment for generation from one another in a cycle and do not remain in one and the same form, what certain and unhesitating apprehension can there be of them? None, of course.” And rightly. Letvi us suppose that this fire is pure and is uncontaminated by other matter, as Heraclitus thinks, or water, as Thales does, or air, as Anaximenes does: “If we think that these are always the same and unchangeable,” he [Plato] says, “we will fall into many incurable errors.” i ii iii iv v vi

W: Prinzip W: [Welt]entstehung. W: Eid[gegenstand] W: Prinzip W: Prinzip W.’s translation begins here.

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Chalcidius – Pseudo-Ausonius

Th 289

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In Tim. 332 CCCXXXII. Et concludit asserens omne quod bene atque affabre recepturum erit formas informe esse debere purumque ab his omnibus quae erit recepturum, hoc est, sine figura et sine colore, odore etiam et ceteris quae corporis naturam sequuntur. Etenim si erit, inquit, alicuius eorum quae in se recipit simile receptaculum, cum quid obueniet dissimile his quibus simile est, discordabit, opinor, 〈uultus eius cum introgressi corporis〉 uultu nullamque exprimet similitudinem. Quod dicit tale est: si aqua sit uniuersae rei silua siue substantia, ut Thales censet, habebit certe qualitates naturae suae proprias, quae numquam ab ea recedent, sed si necesse sit eam a natura sua declinare aliquatenus et ignescere, suscipiet certe rursum igneas qualitates. Humecta et ignea contrariae sibi sunt, quippe alterius humor et frigus propria sunt, alterius siccitas et calor. „Haec ergo“, inquit, „diversa sibi et repugnantia non patientur alterius sinceram exprimi qualitatem, cum calor quidem frigus inpugnet, siccitas demum interimat umorem“. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th  29 (q.v.); (transformations of water) Th 94 (q.v.)

Pseudo-Ausonius Th 290 Appendix A, Moralia varia, 2. De septem sapientibus ex Graeco (676 ed. Green) Septenis patriam sapientum nomina voces versibus expediam; sua quemque monosticha dicent.

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Chilo, cui patria est Lacedaemon, ‘noscere se ipsum’. Periander, ‘trepidam moderare’, Corinthius, ‘iram’. ex Mitylenaeis, ‘nimium nil’, Pittacus oris. ‘mensuram optimum’ ait Cleobulus Lindius ‘in re’.

Chalcidius – Pseudo-Ausonius

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Th 289

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Water as the first principle. Commentary on Plato’s Timaeus 332 [50E] The receptacle always receives everything without ever in any way taking on a form similar to any of the things that enter it [Timaeus 50B]. [...] And he concludes by asserting that everything that will be able to receive forms well and skillfully must be without a form of its own and free from everything that it will receive – that is, without shape or color, and also without odor or anything else that is an attribute of bodies. For if the receptacle is to be like anything that it receives, when it encounters anything that is unlike the things to which it is like, its features will be at odds, I think, with the features of the body that has entered it and it will express no likeness. Whati he means is this: if water is the matter or substance of all things, as Thales thinks, it will surely have qualities that are appropriate to its own proper nature that will never depart from it. However, if it is necessary for it to depart from its own nature to any extent, and become fire, it will surely take on fiery qualities in turn. But the moist and the fiery are contrary to one another, since moisture and cold are properties of the former and dryness and heat of the latter. “Therefore,” he [Plato] says, “these are different and opposed to one another, and neither of them will allow the quality of the other to be expressed purely, since heat will fight against cold and dryness will destroy moisture.

Pseudo-Ausonius (4th cent. CE ?) Th 2901

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Thales the Sage; his wise sayings. Appendix A, Moralia Varia, 2. On the Seven Sages from the Greeks I will set out in seven verses the lands, names and sayings of the Sages; they will speak every one of them their own single-verse sayings. Chilon, whose land is Lacedaimon: “Know thyself.” Periander of Corinth: “Control agitated anger.” Pittacus, from the shores of Mitylene: “Nothing in excess.” “Measure is best in things,” says Cleobulus of Lindos. 1

W. does not translate this testimonium.

i

W.’s translation begins here.

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Pseudo-Ausonius – Pseudo-Justin Martyr

exspectare Solon finem docet ortus Athenis, plures esse Bias pravos, quem clara Priene, Mileti fugisse Thales vadimonia alumnus. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Pseudo-Justin Martyr Th 291

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Cohortatio ad Graecos 3.1–2   (ed. Marcovich) Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδήπερ ἀπὸ τῶν παλαιῶν καὶ πρώτων 〈σοφῶν〉 ἄρξασθαι προσήκει, ἐντεῦθεν ἀρξάμενος τὴν ἑκάστου δόξαν ἐκθήσομαι, πολλῷ γελοιοτέραν τῆς τῶν ποιητῶν θεολογίας οὖσαν. [2] Θαλῆς μὲν γὰρ ὁ Μιλήσιος, ὁ πρῶτος τῆς φυσικῆς φιλοσοφίας ἄρξας, ἀρχὴν εἶναι τῶν ὄντων ἁπάντων ἀπεφήνατο τὸ ὕδωρ‧ ἐξ ὕδατος γάρ φησι τὰ πάντα εἶναι καὶ εἰς ὕδωρ τὰ πάντα ἀναλύεσθαι. [...] Οὗτοι πάντες, ἀπὸ Θαλοῦ τὰς διαδοχὰς ἐσχηκότες, τὴν φυσικὴν ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν καλουμένην μετῆλθον φιλοσοφίαν. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 292

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Cohort. ad Graec. 5.3–4 Γέγραφε γάρ‧ „Οὕτως γοῦν καὶ Ὅμηρος ἔφη‧ Ζεὺς δ᾽ ἔλαχ᾽ οὐρανὸν εὐρὺν ἐν αἰθέρι καὶ νεφέλῃσιν‧“ [Il. 15.192] βουλόμενος 〈μὲν〉 ἐκ τῆς Ὁμήρου μαρτυρίας ἀξιόπιστον τὴν ἑαυτοῦ δεικνύναι δόξαν, ἀγνοῶν 〈δ᾽〉 ὅτι, εἰ Ὁμήρῳ πρὸς ἀπόδειξιν τοῦ ἀληθῆ ἑαυτὸν λέγειν μάρτυρι χρῷτο, πολλὰ τῶν αὑτῷ δοξάντων οὐκ ἀληθῆ φανήσεται ὄντα. [4] Θαλῆς γὰρ ὁ Μιλήσιος, ὁ πρῶτος παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἄρξας, τὴν πρόφασιν παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ λαβὼν τὰς πρώτας αὐτοῦ 〈τοῦ Ἀριστοτέλους〉 περὶ ἀρχῶν ἀθετήσει δόξας. Αὐτοῦ γὰρ [Ἀριστοτέλους] θεὸν καὶ ὕλην ἀρχὰς εἶναι τῶν πάντων εἰρηκότος ὁ πρεσβύτατος τῶν κατ᾽ αὐτοὺς ἁπάντων 〈σοφῶν〉 Θαλῆς ἀρχὴν τῶν ὄντων ὕδωρ εἶναι λέγει‧ ἐξ ὕδατος γάρ φησι τὰ πάντα εἶναι καὶ εἰς ὕδωρ ἀναλύεσθαι τὰ πάντα. Στοχάζεται δὲ πρῶτον μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ πάντων τῶν ζῴων τὴν γονήν, ἀρχὴν οὖσαν, ὑγρὰν

Pseudo-Ausonius – Pseudo-Justin Martyr

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Solon, born in Athens, teaches us to “Wait for the end.” Bias, whom famous Priene [bore, teaches] that “Most people are bad.” Thales, the child of Miletus, to “Avoid giving pledges.”1

Pseudo-Justin Martyr (early 4th cent. CE)2 Th 291

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Thales the Sage and founder of natural philosophy; water as the first principle. Hortatory Address to the Greeks 3.1–2 Now since it is appropriate to begin with the ancient and first Sages I will begin from there and set out the view of each of them, which is far more ridiculous than the theology of the poets. [2] For Thales of Miletus (cf. Th 147), who was the first founder of natural philosophy, declared water to be the principle of all things-that-arei, for, he says, all thingsii are from water and all thingsiii are dissolved into water. [The doctrines of Anaximander and Anaximenes follow.] All these men, the successors of Thales, pursued natural philosophy, as they called it.

Th 292 Thales the first philosopher; water as the first principle. The religious opinions of Plato and Aristotle cannot be foundations for true belief. They contradict one another.3 Justin here fastens on a passage from the pseudo-Aristotelian On the World, in which God’s transcendence is emphasized with quotations from poetry.

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Cf. Spahlinger in Althoff/Zeller 2006, 163 f. Riedweg 1994, 52. Does this mean that Plato and Aristotle contradict one another, or that both Plato and Aristotle contradict true belief?

i ii iii

W: aller Dinge. W: alles W: alles

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Pseudo-Justin Martyr – Epiphanius

εἶναι‧ δεύτερον δὲ ὅτι πάντα τὰ φυτὰ ὑγρῷ τρέφεται καὶ καρποφορεῖ, ἀμοιροῦντα δὲ τοῦ ὑγροῦ ξηραίνεται. Εἶθ᾽, ὥσπερ μὴ ἀρκούμενος οἷς στοχάζεται, καὶ τὸν Ὅμηρον ὡς ἀξιόπιστον μαρτύρεται οὕτως λέγοντα‧ Ὠκεανός, ὅσπερ γένεσις πάντεσσι τέτυκται. [Il. 14.246] Πῶς οὖν οὐκ εἰκότως ὁ Θαλῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν φήσει‧ Δι᾽ ἣν αἰτίαν, ὦ Ἀριστότελες, τὰς μὲν Πλάτωνος ἀναιρεῖν ἐθέλων δόξας, ὡς ἀληθεύοντι προσέχεις Ὁμήρῳ, ἡμῶν δὲ τὴν ἐναντίαν ἀποφηνάμενος δόξαν οὐκ ἀληθεύειν Ὅμηρον οἴει. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th  29 (q.v.); (the water hypothesis goes back to the first theologians/Homer) Th 29 (q.v.); (the first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.)

Epiphanius Th 293 De fide 3.504.32–505.3 (ed. Dummer) Καὶ εἰσὶ μὲν αἱ ἐξ Ἑλλήνων αἵδε, ὧν πρώτην τάξαιμι ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς τὴν Θαλοῦ τοῦ Μιλησίου γνώμην τε καὶ δόξαν. [505] Αὐτὸς γὰρ Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος, εἷς ὢν τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν, ἀρχέγονον πάντων ἀπεφήνατο τὸ ὕδωρ‧ ἐξ ὕδατος γάρ φησι τὰ πάντα εἶναι καὶ εἰς ὕδωρ πάλιν ἀναλύεσθαι. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Pseudo-Justin Martyr – Epiphanius

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Hortatory Address to the Greeks 8.3–4 For he [Aristotle] wrote,1 “Homer said this too: ‘Zeus was allotted the broad heaven in the aether and the clouds.’” [Il. 15.192], wishing by the testimony of Homer to prove that his own view is trustworthy. But he did not know that if he used Homer as a witness to demonstrate that he is speaking the truth, many of his views will evidently not be true. [4] For Thales of Miletus, the first founder of philosophy among them, will take this pretext from him to deny Aristotle’s own opinions about principles. For whereas he [Aristotle] declared that god and matter are the principles of all things, Thales, the earliest of all their Sages, says that water is the principle of things-that-are; for, he says, all thingsi are from water and all thingsii dissolve into water (cf. Th 147). He bases this conjecture first on the fact that the seed of all living things, which is their principle, is moist; second that all plants are nourished and bear fruit because of moisture, and dry up when deprived of moisture. Then, as if he is not satisfied by his conjectures he calls Homer too as a witness as if he were saying something worth believing: “Okeanos, who is ordained the origin of all things.” [Il. 14.246] How, then, will Thales not reasonably say to him, “Why, Aristotle, when you want to eliminate Plato’s views, do you refer to Homer as if he is telling the truth, but when you state a view that is contrary to ours, you think that Homer is not telling the truth?”

Epiphanius (between 310 and 320–403/2 CE) Th 293iii Thales the Sage; water as the first principle. On Belief 3.504.32–505.3 These are the beliefs that come from the Greeks, among which I would rank first from the beginning the judgment and view of Thales of Miletus. [505] For Thales of Miletus, one of the Seven Sages, himself declared that water is the origin of all things. For he said that all things are from water and dissolve again into water (cf. Th 147).

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De Mundo 6.400a19.

i ii iii

W: alles W: alles W. does not translate this testimonium.

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D. Magnus Ausonius

D. Magnus Ausonius Th 294 XXVI Ludus septem sapientium 69–70 (ed. Greene) Thales 〈et〉 ἐγγύα‧ παρὰ δ᾽ ἄτα protulit, spondere qui nos, noxa quia praesto est, vetat. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 295

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XXVI Ludus sept. sap. 162–188 Venit Thales. ”Milesius Thales sum, aquam qui principem rebus creandis dixi, ut vates Pindarus. --dedere piscatores extractum mari. namque hi iubente Delio me legerant, quod ille munus hoc sapienti miserat. ego recusans non recepi et reddidi ferendum ad alios quos priores crederem. dein per omnes septem sapientes viros missum ac remissum rursus ad me deferunt. Ego receptum consecravi Apollini. Nam si sapientem deligi Phoebus iubet, non hominem quemquam, sed deum credi decet. is igitur ego sum. causa sed in scaenam fuit mihi prodeundi quae duobus ante me, assertor ut sententiae fierem meae. ea displicebit, non tamen prudentibus, quos docuit usus et peritos reddidit. 〈en〉 ἐγγύα‧ παρὰ δ᾽ ἄτα Graece dicimus; Latinum est ‚sponde; noxa 〈sed〉 praesto tibi.‘ per mille possem currere exempla ut probem praedes vadesque paenitudinis reos, sed nolo nominatim quemquam dicere. sibi quisque vestrum dicat et secum putet, spondere quantis damno fuerit et malo.

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Decimus Magnus Ausonius (ca. 310–394 CE) Th 294 Thales the Sage; his wise sayings. The Masque of the Seven Sages 69–70 But Thales produced “ἐγγύα· παρὰ δ’ ἄτα”, he who forbids us to give a pledge because disaster is at hand.

Th 295

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Thales the Sage; his wise sayings. The Masque of the Seven Sages 162–188 Thales comes. I am Thales of Miletus, who declared that water is the origin for the generation of things, as did the poet Pindar. ... [to whom] fishermen gave [the golden tripod] pulled out of the sea. For they had chosen me at the command of the god of Delos, because he had sent this as a gift to a Sage. I declined and did not accept it, and returned it to be taken to others I deemed superior. Then, when to each of the Seven Sages it had been sent and sent back, they brought it again to me. I accepted it and dedicated it to Apollo. For if Phoebus bids a Sage be chosen, it is fitting to believe that he does not mean any human but a god. That man, then, am I. But the reason for my appearing on this stage, as with the two who have come before me, is to become the proponent of my own saying. It will offend some, but not the sensible whom experience has taught and made clever. Behold: ἐγγύα, πάρα δ’ ἄτα, we say in Greek; in Latin, “Sponde; praesto sed noxa tibi.” [Give a pledge, but Disaster stands nearby.] I could run through a thousand instances to prove that bonds and bails are charged with the crime of regret. But I do not care to mention anyone by name. Let each of you mention such to himself and consider how many have suffered loss and harm by giving a pledge.

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D. Magnus Ausonius – Libanius

gratum hoc officium maneat, ambobus tamen. pars plaudite ergo, pars offensi explodite.” Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (Thales’ prize/story of the tripod) Th 52 (q.v.); (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Flavius C. Iulianus Apostata Th 296 Oratio 3.162.2–5 (ed. Hertlein) (γ᾽ τῆς βασιλίδος ἐγκώμιον) Ἐρομένου γάρ τινος, ὑπὲρ ὧν ἔμαθεν ὁπόσον τινὰ χρὴ καταβαλεῖν μισθόν‧ ὁμολογῶν, ἔφη, τὸ παρ᾽ ἡμῶν μαθεῖν τὴν ἀξίαν ἡμῖν ἐκτίσεις. Sim. (non-material wages) Th 177 (q.v.)

Th 297 Contra Galilaeos Fr. 39 (ed. Masaracchia) = Th 378 (from Cyr. c. Iul. 6.184B– D)

Libanius Th 298

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Declamationes 1.158 (ed. Foerster) (α᾽ Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους) Ἀλλὰ γὰρ τίς οὐκ ἂν στενάξειε Βίαντος κακῶς ἀκούοντος, τοῦ Σόλωνος ἑταίρου, 〈τοῦ〉 φίλου τῷ Πυθίῳ, τοῦ πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἐκ Δελφῶν νουθετοῦντος, καὶ μετὰ Βίαντος πολλῶν ἑτέρων δι᾽ οὓς σεμνὴ γέγονεν ἡ Ἰωνία; οὐ διὰ Μέλισσον καὶ Θαλῆν καὶ Πυθαγόραν ἤρχθησάν τε καὶ ἐστασίασαν οἱ τὰς πόλεις ἔχοντες, ἀλλ᾽ αἱ μὲν στάσεις

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May this service continue to bring pleasure – but to both parties! Clap, then, some of you; the rest, offended, hiss me off the stage.

Flavius Gaius Iulianus (Julian the Apostate) (Roman emperor 331/2–363 CE) Th 296 Thales’ reputation. Sometimes we should not ask for an immediate reward, but instead should follow Thales’ example. Oration 3.162.2–5 (Panegyric in Honor of the Queen [Eusebeia]) When someone asked him [Thales] how much pay he should give for what he had learned, [Thales] said “if you agree that you have learned from me, you will pay me my worth.”

Th 297 Cyril quotes a comparison Julian made between outstanding Greek figures (including Thales) and Moses. Against the Galilaeans Fr. 39 (ed. Masracchia) = Th 378 (from Cyril c. Iul. 6.184B–D)

Libanius (314–393 CE) Th 298 Thales and other philosophers are not responsible for political and military disasters. Declamations 1.158 (Apology of Socrates) But who would not lament if Bias has a bad reputation – the associate of Solon and the friend of the Pythian god who from Delphi gives advice to all men – and [if] along with Bias many others who

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κοινὸν τῆς ἀνθρωπείας φύσεως νόσημα, τὸ δ᾽ ὑπακούειν ἐκ τοῦ βασιλείαν σφίσιν ἐφορμεῖν μεγάλην συνέβη, τὴν δὲ Περσῶν ἰσχὺν οὐ Πυθαγόρας οὐδὲ Μέλισσος, ἀλλὰ Κῦρος Κροῖσον καθελὼν ἐποίησε καὶ μετ᾽ ἐκεῖνον Δαρεῖος.

Th 299

5

Decl. 2.9 (β᾽ κωλύουσι Σωκράτην ἐν τῷ δεσμωτηρίῳ διαλέγεσθαι καὶ ἀντιλέγει τις) Πονηρός τε καὶ κατεψηφισμένος ὤν. ἔστω πονηρός. μηδὲν ἄπιστον ἔστω τῆς γραφῆς μηδὲ τῆς Ἀνύτου καὶ Μελήτου καταβοῆς. εὖ οἶδα ὡς ἔσται χρόνος ἐν ᾧ ποτε σεμνυνεῖσθε Σωκράτει, ὡς Ἡρακλείτῳ μὲν Ἐφέσιοι, Πυθαγόρᾳ δὲ Σάμιοι καὶ Χείλωνι Λακεδαιμόνιοι καὶ Θάλητι Μιλήσιοι καὶ Πιττακῷ Λέσβιοι καὶ Περιάνδρῳ Κορίνθιοι καὶ ὑμεῖς αὐτοί ποτε Σόλωνι. πᾶσι γὰρ τοῖς σοφοῖς ζῶσι μὲν ὁ παρὰ τῶν πλησίον φθόνος ἀνταγωνίζεται, ἀποθανόντων δὲ καθαρῶς ἐξ ἀλύπου τῆς αἰσθήσεως ἡ σοφία κρίνεται.

Themistius Th 300

5

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Oratio 26.317A–C (ed. Maisano) Πρότερον μὲν γὰρ Θαλοῦ τοῦ Μιλησίου ὀλίγα ῥήματα περιφερόμενα ἦν Θαλοῦ τε αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων σοφῶν, ὧν καὶ νῦν ἐμπεπλησμένοι εἰσὶν οἱ τοῖχοι καὶ τὰ πινάκια, χρηστὰ μέν, νοῦν [B] ἔχοντα ἱκανὸν καὶ ὅσος ἂν πλεῖστος γένοιτο νοῦς δυοῖν ὀνομάτων, ἀλλὰ ψιλά γε πίστει καὶ ἐπιτάγματι προσεοικότα καὶ νουθετοῦντα πρὸς μικρὸν μόριον ἀρετῆς. Θαλῆς δὲ ὕστερον καὶ πρὸς γήρᾳ φύσεώς τε ἥψατο πρῶτος καὶ ἀνέβλεψεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὰ ἄστρα ἐξήτασε, καὶ προεφήτευσεν ἐν κοινῷ ἅπασι Μιλησίοις ὅτι νὺξ ἔσοιτο ἐν ἡμέρᾳ καὶ δύσεται ἄνω ὁ ἥλιος καὶ ὑποθεύσεται αὐτὸν ἡ σελήνη, ὥστε ἀποτέμνεσθαι τὴν αὐγὴν καὶ τὰς ἀκτῖνας. Θαλῆς μὲν δὴ τοσαῦτα εἰσενεγκάμενος οὐ κατέθετο ὅμως εἰς συγγραφὴν τὰ εὑρήματα, [C] οὔτε αὐτὸς ὁ Θαλῆς οὔτε ἄλλος τις τῶν εἰς ἐκεῖνον τὸν χρόνον. Ἐκείνου γεγονὼς ζηλωτὴς Ἀναξίμανδρος ὁ Πραξιάδου οὐ πάντῃ ὁμοίως

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made Ionia respected [had bad reputations]? It was not because of Melissus, Thales or Pythagoras that they were subjected and that men who had power in the cities fell into factional strife. Factions are a universal illness of human nature, and their being subjects resulted from the mighty royal power that attacked them, but it was not Pythagoras or Melissus who created the strength of the Persians, but Cyrus, by dethroning Croesus, and Darius after him.

Th 299

5

Thales’ reputation. Declamations 2.9 (They prevent Socrates in prison from conversing and someone objects.) “He is both wickedi and condemned.” Suppose he is wicked. Suppose that there is nothing untrustworthyii in the indictment and in Anytus’s and Meletus’s charges. I know well that there will come a time when someday you will revere Socrates as the Ephesians do Heraclitus, the Samians Pythagoras, the Lacedaimonians Chilon, the Milesians Thales, the Lesbians Pittacus, the Corinthians Periander, and you yourselves Solon. For the malice of their neighbors is set against all sages when they are alive, but when they are dead their wisdom is judged clearly by awareness that is without pain.

Themistius (ca. 317–ca. 388 CE) Th 300 Thales the Sage; his wise sayings; the founder of natural philosophy; his prediction of an eclipse; Thales not an author. In an excursus in his twenty-sixth oration, Themistius goes into the history of philosophy, which made progress through constant innovations. Oration 26.317A–C For earlier only a few sayings of Thales of Miletus were in circulation – of Thales himself and the other Sages. But nowadays walls and signs are covered with them – useful and intelligent [B] enough, with as much intel-

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270

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ἐζήλωσεν, ἀλλὰ τοῦτ᾽ εὐθὺς παρήλλαξέ τε καὶ ἐξετράπετο, ὅτι ἐθάρρησε πρῶτος ὧν ἴσμεν Ἑλλήνων λόγον ἐξενεγκεῖν περὶ φύσεως ξυγγεγραμμένον. Πρὶν δ᾽ εἰς ὄνειδος καθειστήκει τὸ λόγους συγγράφειν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἐνομίζετο τοῖς πρόσθεν Ἕλλησι. Sim. (solar eclipse) Th  10 (q.v.); (Anaximander pupil/associate of Thales) Th 65a (q.v.); (writings) Th 88 (q.v.); (first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 301

5

In Aristotelis libros de anima paraphrasis 3.13.21–25 (ed. Heinze) [de an. 1.2.405a2–b8] Ἔοικε δὲ καὶ Θαλῆς κινητικόν τι τὴν ψυχὴν ὑπολαβεῖν, εἴπερ διὰ τοῦτο ἔφη τὸν σίδηρον ἕλκεσθαι ὑπὸ τῆς λίθου τῆς ἡρακλείας, ὅτι ἔμψυχος ἐκείνη ἡ λίθος. οὕτως δὲ καὶ Ἀναξιμένης καὶ Διογένης καὶ ὅσοι ἀέρα λέγουσι τὴν ψυχὴν ἀμφότερα πειρῶνται διασώζειν, καὶ τὸ κινεῖν διὰ τὴν λεπτομέρειαν, καὶ τὸ γιγνώσκειν διὰ τὸ τίθεσθαι ταύτην ἀρχήν. Sim. (nature of the soul/magnet) Th 31 (q.v.).

Th 302 In de an. 3.35.26–29 [de An. 1.5.411a7–8] Ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἑτέρα τις δόξα παρὰ τὰς εἰρημένας περὶ ψυχῆς, ἐν παντὶ τῷ ὄντι μεμῖχθαι λέγουσα τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ διὰ παντὸς διήκειν τοῦ κόσμου καὶ πᾶν αὐτοῦ μόριον ἔμψυχον εἶναι. διὰ γὰρ ταύτην τὴν δόξαν καὶ Θαλῆς ᾠήθη πάντα πλήρη θεῶν εἶναι. Sim. (all things full of gods/daimons) Th 32 (q.v.); (the cosmos/the universe/ everything has a soul) Th 32 (q.v.)

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ligence as there can be in two words,1 but short on argument, in the form of commands, and urging us towards but a small part of excellence. Later on Thales in his old age was the first to treat of nature; he looked up at the sky, studied the stars, and predicted publicly to all the Milesians that there would be night during the day and the sun would set aloft and the moon would get in its way so that its light and its rays would be cut off. So much did Thales contribute, but he did not put down his discoveries in a treatise – [C] neither Thales himself nor any of his contemporaries. Anaximander, the son of Praxiades, became his follower, but did not follow him alike in all matters. He immediately changed this practice and went in a new direction by being the first of the Greeks we know of to dare to bring out a written account of nature. Writing accounts had previously been a disgrace, and was not customary among the Greeks before his time.

Th 301

5

Thales’ views on the nature of the soul. Paraphrase of Aristotle’s On the Soul 3.13.21–25 [de an. 1.2.405a2–b8] Thales too seems to suppose that the soul is something that causes motion, if in fact this is why he said that iron is attracted by a magnet2 because that stone is animate. In this way too Anaximenes, Diogenes and everyone who says that the soul is air attempt to preserve both properties, that it causes motion by its fine nature and that it has knowledge because it is posited as principle.

Th 302 Thales’ views on the nature of the soul. Paraphrase of Aristotle’s On the Soul 3.35.26–29 [de An. 1.5.411a7–8] There is another view about the soul in addition to the ones already mentioned – that the soul is intermingled in every thing-that-is and pervades the entire cosmos, every part of which is animate. This view is the reason why Thales too believed that all things are full of gods.

1 2

For example, Μηδὲν ἄγαν (“Nothing in excess”), Γνῶθι σαυτόν (“Know thyself”). Lit. “Heraclean stone.”

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Himerius – Jerome

Himerius Th 303 Declamationes et orationes 28.2 (ed. Colonna) (= Him. 30 Cod. Neap.) Ἦιδε μὲν Ὀλυμπιάσι τὴν Ἱέρωνος δόξαν πρὸς λύραν ὁ Πίνδαρος, ᾖδε δὲ Ἀνακρέων τὴν Πολυκράτους τύχην Σαμίων τῇ θεῷ πέμπουσαν ἱερά‧ καὶ Ἀλκαῖος ἐν ᾠδαῖς εἶχε Θαλῆν (Th 1), ὅτε καὶ Λέσβος πανήγυριν 〈ἤγειρε〉‧

Jerome Th 304 Interpretatio Chronicae Eusebii – interpretata Eusebii praefatio (13.19–14.1 ed. Helm = GCS 7) Homerus autem Solone et Thalete Milesio ceterisque, qui cum his septem sapientes appellati sunt, multo prior repperitur. Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Th 305 Interpr. Chron. Eus. – Chronicorum canones ad ann. a. Chr. n. 747 (88b.19) Thales Milesius physicus philosophus agnoscitur. Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.)

Himerius – Jerome

273

Himerius (ca. 320–after 383 CE) Th 303 Thales and Alcaeus. Declamations and Orations 28.8 Pindar sang to the music of the lyre of the glory of Hieron at the Olympic festival. Anacreon sang of the fortune of Polycrates which brought offerings to the goddess of Samos.1 And Alcaeus sang of Thales2 (Th 1) in his odes when Lesbos celebrated its festival.

Jerome (between 331 and 348–419/20 CE) Th 304 Thales the Sage; his dates. Translation of Eusebius’s Chronicle, Preface 13.19–14.1 Homer is found to be much earlier than Solon, Thales of Miletus, and the others who along with these men were called the Seven Sages.3

Th 305 Thales’ dates. Translation of Eusebius’s Chronicle for the year 747 BCE Thales of Miletus, the natural philosopher, is known.4

1 2

3 4

Cf. Völker 2003, 222, n. 6. Possibly as one of the Seven Sages (Classen 1986, 29). Cf. Völker 2003, 222, n. 8 (confusion with Pittacus?). Schenkl 1911, 421, n. 3 proposes that this is a different Thales. Cf. Frechulf von Lisieux, Historiae (Allen CCL 169A, 953C). Cf. Ekkehard of Aura, Chronicon Universale (Migne PL 154,541). Cf. Th 495.

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Jerome

Th 306 Interpr. Chron. Eus. – Chron. canones ad ann. a. Chr. n. 640 (96a.9–12) Thales Milesius, Examyis filius, primus physicus philosophus agnoscitur,1 quem aiunt vixisse usque ad LVIII olympiadem. Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.)

Th 307 Interpr. Chron. Eus. – Chron. canones ad ann. a. Chr. n. 586 (100b.25) Solis facta defectio, cum futuram eam Thales antedixisset […] Alyattes et Astyages dimicaverunt [582]. Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.); (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.); (Thales as representative of astronomy) Th 103 (q.v.)

Th 308 Interpr. Chron. Eus. – Chron. canones ad ann. a. Chr. n. 548 (103b.12) Thales moritur. Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.)

1

Helm points out here that Diels’ comment ad loc. (VS 11A7), that it must mean nascitur, is questionable (cf. the Armenian translation and Th 480).

Jerome

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Th 306 Thales’ dates. Translation of Eusebius’s Chronicle for the year 604 BCE Thales of Miletus, the son of Examyas, the first natural philosopher, is known.1 They say that he lived until the 58th Olympiad [548–545].2

Th 307 Thales’ prediction of an eclipse. Translation of Eusebius’s Chronicle for the year 586 BCE There was an eclipse of the sun which Thales had predicted would take place [...] Alyattes and Astyages fought a battle [582].3

Th 308 Thales’ dates. Translation of Eusebius’s Chronicle for the year 548 BCE Thales dies.4

1

2

3

4

Cf. Prosper Aquitanus, Epitome Chronicorum 165 (ed. Mommsen chron. min. I (1892) = MGH auct. ant. IX 394); Chronicum Integrum (Migne PL 51.543). Cf. Chronicum Gall. a. 511 (Mommsen chron. min. I (1892) = MGH auct. ant. IX 636, 170): “Tales Melezius primus phisicus philosophus”; Isidore of Seville, Chronicon 444, 158 (Mommsen chron. min. II (1894) = MGH auct. ant. XI): Thales Milesius primus fisicus clarus habetur, [qui defectus solis, acutissima perscrutatione comprehensis astrologiae numeris, primus investigavit]. Further, Frechulf of Lisieux, Historiae (Allen CCL 169 A 984B). Eus. chron. armen. ad ann. ab Abr. 1376–9 = 35th Olympiad (GCS Eus. 5, 185 Karst (1911)): “Thales of Amilus, the Milesian, was known as the first natural philosopher; and it is reported that he lived until the 48th Olympiad.” Eus. chron. armen. ad ann. ab Abr. 1433 = 49th Olympiad (GCS Eus. 5, 187 Karst): “The sun was eclipsed in accordance with the prediction of Thales the Sage. Alyattes and Azdahak fought a battle”. Cf. Petrus Comestor, Historia Scholastica (Migne PL 198.1427C–D). Eus. chron. armen. ad ann. ab Abr. 1468 = 58th Olympiad (GCS Eus. 5, 189 Karst): “Thales dies”. Cf. Ekkehard of Aura, Chronicon Universale (Migne PL 154.549).

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Ambrose of Milan – Tyrannius Rufinus

Ambrose of Milan Th 309 Exameron 1.2.6 (ed. Schenkl) Qui cum de aqua nomen acceperit, non putauit tamen dicendum quod ex aqua constarent omnia, ut Thales dicit, et cum esset in aula educatus regia, maluit tamen pro amore iustitiae subire exilium uoluntarium quam in tyrannidis fastigio peccati perfunctionem deliciis adquirere. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Tyrannius Rufinus Th 310

5

Clementina sec. translationem quam fecit Rufinus – Recognitiones 8.15.1–3 (ed. Rehm/Paschke) (cf. Th 580) Nam Graecorum philosophi de principiis mundi quaerentes, alius alia incessit via. denique Pythagoras elementa principiorum numeros esse dicit, Callistratus qualitates, Alcmeon contrarietates, Anaximandrus inmensitatem, Anaxagoras aequalitates partium, [2] Epicurus atomos, Diodorus amere, hoc est [ex his] in quibus partes non sint, Asclepiades oncos, quod nos tumores vel elationes possumus dicere, geometrae fines, Democritus ideas, Thales aquam, [3] Heraclitus ignem, Diogenes aerem, Parmenides terram, Zenon Empedocles Plato ignem aquam aerem terram. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Ambrose of Milan – Tyrannius Rufinus

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Ambrose of Milan (ca. 340–397 CE) Th 309 Water as the first principle. Hexaemeron 1.2.6 Although he [Moses] took his name from water, he did not think it should be said that all things are made of water as Thales did, and although he was educated in a royal palace he preferred because of his love of justice to undergo voluntary exile rather than live a life of sinning for the sake of pleasure in a powerful position under a tyranny.

Tyrannius Rufinus (345–410 CE) Th 310i

5

Water as the first principle. Pseudo-Clementinus, Recognitions 8.15.1–3 For when the Greek philosophers investigated the principles of the world, different ones went different ways. Indeed Pythagoras declared that the elements of principles are numbers; Callistratus, qualities; Alcmeon, contraries; Anaximander, immensity; Anaxagoras, equalities of parts; [2] Epicurus, atoms; Diodorus, amere, that is, things in which there are no parts; Asclepiades, masses, which we can call tumors or excrescences; geometers, limits; Democritus, ideas; Thales, water; [3] Heraclitus, fire; Diogenes, air; Parmenides, earth; Zeno, Empedocles and Plato, fire, water, air, earth.

i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

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Augustine

Augustine Th 311

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De civitate Dei 8.2 (ed. Dombart/ Kalb) Ionici uero generis princeps fuit Thales Milesius, unus illorum septem, qui sunt appellati sapientes. Sed illi sex uitae genere distinguebantur et quibusdam praeceptis ad bene uiuendum accommodatis; iste autem Thales, ut successores etiam propagaret, rerum naturam scrutatus suasque disputationes litteris mandans eminuit maximeque admirabilis extitit, quod astrologiae numeris conprehensis defectus solis et lunae etiam praedicere potuit. Aquam tamen putauit rerum esse principium et hinc omnia elementa mundi ipsumque mundum et quae in eo gignuntur existere. Nihil autem huic operi, quod mundo considerato tam mirabile aspicimus, ex diuina mente praeposuit. Huic successit Anaximander, eius auditor, mutavitque de rerum natura opinionem. Non enim ex una re, sicut Thales ex umore, sed ex suis propriis principiis quasque res nasci putavit. Quae rerum principia singularum esse credidit infinita, et innumerabiles mundos gignere et quaecumque in eis oriuntur; eosque mundos modo dissolvi, modo iterum gigni existimavit, quanta quisque aetate sua manere potuerit; nec ipse aliquid divinae menti in his rerum operibus tribuens. Iste [sc. Anaximander] Anaximenen discipulum et successorem reliquit, qui omnes rerum causas aeri infinito dedit, nec deos negauit aut tacuit; non tamen ab ipsis aerem factum, sed ipsos ex aere ortos credidit. Anaxagoras uero eius auditor harum rerum omnium, quas videmus, effectorem divinum animum sensit et dixit ex infinita materia, quae constaret similibus inter se particulis rerum omnium; quibus suis et propriis singula fieri, sed animo faciente divino. Diogenes quoque Anaximenis alter auditor, aerem quidem dixit rerum esse materiam, de qua omnia fierent. Sim. (Ionian school) Th 147 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (writings) Th 88 (q.v.); (Thales as representative of astronomy) Th 103 (q.v.); (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.); (eclipse/phases of the moon) Th 178 (q.v.); (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.) ; (Anaximander pupil and associate of Thales) Th 65a (q.v.)

Augustine

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Augustine (354–430 CE) Th 311

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Thales the Sage, founder of Ionian philosophy and author; his prediction of eclipses; water as the first principle; Thales and Anaximander. City of God 8.2 The founder of the Ionian kind [of philosophy], however, was Thales of Miletus, one of the men who were called the Seven Sages. The remaining six were distinguished for their way of life and for certain precepts for living a good life, while Thales,1 in order that he might have a series of successors, investigated the nature of things and presented his findings in writings which made him prominent. He was greatly admired for his ability to predict eclipses of the sun and moon through his understanding of astronomical calculation. Nevertheless he held that water is the principle of things and that from it are generated all the elements of the world, the world itself, and all that comes to be in it. However, over this work, which we observe to be so wonderful when we contemplate the world, he placed nothing that stems from divine intelligence. His pupil Anaximander succeeded him, but held a different view about the nature of things. He did not think that all things are generated from a single substance, as Thales [held that they are generated] from moisture, but that each thing is generated from its own proper principles. He believed that these principles of individual things are infinite, and that they bring into being countless worlds together with everything that comes to be in them. He thought that these worlds perish at times and at times are born again, depending on how long each one can persist. He too gave no role in these works to divine intelligence. He left as his student and successor Anaximenes, who assigned the causes of all things to air, which is infinite. He did not deny the existence of the gods or keep silent on the matter, but he believed not that air was created by them, but that they themselves came to be from air. But Anaxagoras, his pupil perceived a divine creator of all these things that we see, and said that [they come] from infinite matter which consists of particles of all things similar to one another, from which individual things are made, each from its own and appropriate kinds, through the agency of a divine intelligence. Diogenes, another pupil of Anaximenes, also said that air is in fact the matter of things from which everything comes to be. 1

Cf. Frechulf of Lisieux, Historiae (Allen CCL 169 A, 981B; ibid. 990B/C; ibid. 1002 A/B); Rodrigo Jimenez de Rada, Breviarum Historie Catholica 6.59 (Valverde).

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Augustine

Th 312 Civ. 8.5 Sed alii quoque philosophi, qui corporalia naturae principia corpori deditis mentibus opinati sunt, cedant his tantis et tanti Dei cognitoribus viris, ut Thales in umore, Anaximenes in aere, Stoici in igne, Epicurus in atomis, [...]. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 313 Civ. 18.24 Eodem Romulo regnante Thales Milesius fuisse perhibetur, unus e septem sapientibus, qui post theologos poetas, in quibus Orpheus maxime omnium nobilitatus est, σοφοί appellati sunt, quod est Latine sapientes. Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Th 314

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Civ. 18.25 Eo tempore Pittacus Mitylenaeus, alius e septem sapientibus, fuisse perhibetur. Et quinque ceteros, qui, ut septem numerentur, Thaleti, quem supra (Th  313) commemoravimus, et huic Pittaco adduntur, eo tempore fuisse scribit Eusebius, quo captivus Dei populus in Babylonia tenebatur. Hi sunt autem: Solon Atheniensis, Chilon Lacedaemonius, Periandrus Corinthius, Cleobulus Lindius, Bias Prienaeus. Omnes hi, septem appellati sapientes, post poetas theologos claruerunt, quia genere vitae quodam laudabili praestabant hominibus ceteris et morum nonnulla praecepta sententiarum brevitate complexi sunt. Nihil autem monumentorum, quod ad litteras adtinet, posteris reliquerunt, nisi quod Solon quasdam leges Atheniensibus dedisse perhibetur; Thales vero physicus fuit et suorum dogmatum libros reliquit. Eo captivitatis Iudaicae tempore et Anaximander et Anaximenes et Xenophanes physici claruerunt.

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Th 312 Water as the first principle. All the other pagan philosophers and theologians must give way before the Platonists. City of God 8.5 But let the other philosophers too, who held that the principles of nature are corporeal because their own minds are dedicated to the body, yield to these men [the Platonists] who are so great and who know so great a God. Such were Thales [who found the principle of nature] in moisture, Anaximenes [who found it] in air, the Stoics in fire, Epicurus in atoms [...].

Th 313 Thales the Sage; his dates. City of God 18.24 Also during the reign of Romulus Thales of Miletus is said to have lived. He was one of the Seven Sages who, coming after the theological poets (among whom Orpheus became famous above the rest), were called σοφοί, which in Latin means “sapientes.”1

Th 314

5

Thales the Sage and natural philosopher and author of treatises. City of God 18.25 At that time [the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish people] Pittacus of Mitylene, another of the Seven Sages, is said to have lived. Eusebius writes2 that the five others lived at the time when the people of God were held captive in Babylonia; when these are added to Thales, whom we mentioned above (Th 313), and this Pittacus, the total number that results is seven. They are these: Solon of Athens, Chilon of Lacedaimon, Periander of Corinth, Cleobulus of Lindos, Bias of Priene. All these,3 called the Seven Sages, who came later than the theological poets, were famous because they excelled the rest 1 2 3

Cf. Otto of Freising, Chronica, II 5 (p.73.21–3 Hofmeister). Hier. Chron. I 98, 18 (g); 101, 12 (e) Cf. Frechulf of Lisieux, Historiae (Allen CCL 169 A, 989 C/D); Ekkehard of Aura, Chronicon Universale (Migne PL 154.547); ibid. (539); Otto of Freising, Chronica, II 7 (75.4–11 Hofmeister).

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Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.); (writings) Th 88 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Th 315

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Civ. 18.37 Quibus si addamus etiam superiores, qui nondum philosophi vocabantur, septem scilicet sapientes ac deinde physicos, qui Thaleti successerunt in perscrutanda natura rerum studium eius imitati, Anaximandrum scilicet et Anaximenem et Anaxagoram aliosque nonnullos, antequam Pythagoras philosophum primus profiteretur: nec illi prophetas nostros universos temporis antiquitate praecedunt, quando quidem Thales, post quem ceteri fuerunt, regnante Romulo eminuisse fertur, quando de fontibus Israel in eis litteris, quae toto orbe manarent, prophetiae flumen erupit. Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Th 316

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10

Contra Iulianum 4.15.75 (ed. Migne PL 44.776) Convocasti etiam in auxilium turbam philosophorum, quasi susceptae tuae, si non possunt pecorum solertiae naturales, saltem doctorum hominum opitulentur errores. Sed quis non videat, doctrinae te quaesisse jactantiam in commemorandis nominibus doctorum hominum sectisque diversis, quando perspicit quicumque ista tua legit, ad quaestionem quae inter nos vertitur, haec nullatenus pertinere? Quis enim audiat, quod abs te commemorantur, «Thales Milesius unus e septem sapientibus, deinde Anaximander, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Xenophanes, Parmenides, Leucippus, Democritus, Empedocles, Heraclitus, Melissus, Plato, Pythagoraei,» unusquisque cum proprio dogmate suo de naturalibus rebus: quis, inquam, haec audiat, et non ipso nominum sectarumque conglobatarum strepitu terreatur, si est ineru-

Augustine

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283

of mankind in their particular praiseworthy manner of life and compressed a number of moral precepts into brief sayings. But they did not bequeath any literary monuments to posterity with the exceptions that Solon is said to have instituted certain laws for the Athenians and that Thales was a natural philosopher and left books containing his doctrines. At the time of the Jewish captivity Anaximander, Anaximenes and Xenophanes were also famous as natural philosophers.

Th 315 Thales as founder of natural philosophy; his dates; Thales and Anaximander. The pagan philosophers came later than the prophets.

5

City of God 18.37 If we add to them the earlier men also, who were not yet called philosophers, namely, the Seven Sages, and after them the natural philosophers who succeeded Thales and followed his interest in investigating the nature of things, namely Anaximander, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras and some others, before Pythagoras was the first to profess himself a philosopher – even those men do not precede all of our prophets. For Thales, who was earlier than the rest, is said to have achieved eminence during the reign of Romulus, the era when the stream of prophesy burst forth from Israel’s springs in the writings that were to irrigate the whole world.

Th 316

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Thales the Sage and natural philosopher. Against Julian [of Eclanum] 4.15.75 You have also summoned a crowd of philosophers to aid you in your undertaking, so that, if the natural cleverness of beasts cannot bring aid, at least the errors of learned men may do so. But who cannot see that you were aiming to make an ostentatious display of learning by mentioning the names of learned men and various schools, since anyone who reads those writings of yours sees clearly that this has nothing to do with the subject we are discussing? For who can hear the ones you have mentioned (cf. Th 325): “Thales of Miletus, one of the Seven Sages, then Anaximander, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Xenophanes, Parmenides, Leucippus, Democritus, Empedocles, Heraclitus, Melissus, Plato, the Pythagoreans” – each with his own theory about

284

Augustine – Servius Grammaticus

ditus, qualis est hominum multitudo; et existimet te aliquem magnum, qui haec scire potueris? Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Servius Grammaticus Th 317

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Commentarii in Vergilii Aeneida 3.241 (ed. Thilo) Pelagi volucres quia dicuntur Ponti et Terrae filiae: unde in insulis habitant partem terrarum, partem maris tenentes. alii dicunt eas Neptuni filias, qui fere prodigiorum omnium pater est: nec inmerito; nam secundum Milesium Thaletem omnia ex umore procreantur: unde est Oceanumque patrem rerum. hinc fit ut, quotienscumque desunt parentes, redeatur in generalitatem. sic et peregrinos Neptuni filios dicimus, quorum ignoramus parentes. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 318 In Aen. 11.186 Thales vero qui confirmat omnia ex umore creari, dicit obruenda corpora, ut possint in umorem resolvi. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 319 Commentarii in Vergilii bucolica 6.31 (ed. Thilo) Namque canebat uti magnum per inane coacta semina variae sunt philosophorum opiniones de rerum origine: nam alii dicunt omnia ex igne procreari, ut Anaxagoras; alii ex umore, ut Thales Milesius, unde est Oceanumque patrem. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

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natural phenomena. Who, I say, can hear this and not be frightened by the clamor of names and schools piled up (if like most people he is uneducated) and think that you, who can know them, must be a great person?

Servius Grammaticus (4th/5th cent. CE) Th 317

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Water as the first principle. Commentary on Vergil’s Aeneid 3.241 “Birds of the sea” [the Harpies] because they are called the daughters of Pontus and Terra. This is why they live on islands, and possess a part of the land and a part of the sea. Others say that they are daughters of Neptune, who is the father of almost all monsters; this is reasonable, for according to Thales of Miletus all things are generated from moisture. This is the source of [the saying] “and Okeanos, the father of things” (Georgics 4.382). And this is why we generalize whenever parents are missing. Thus we call strangers whose parents we do not know sons of Neptune.

Th 318 Water as the first principle. On differing burial customs in different cultures. Commentary on Vergil’s Aeneid 11.186 But Thales, who maintains that all things are created from moisture, claims that bodies must be destroyed in order to be able to be dissolved into moisture.1

Th 319 Water as the first principle. Commentary on Vergil’s Eclogues 6.31 For he sang about how seeds are driven through the great void. There are many views of philosophers about the origin of things: some, like Anaxagoras, say that all things are generated from fire; others, like Thales of Miletus, 1

Cf. Maddalena 1963, 57.

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Servius Grammaticus – Nemesius of Emesa

Th 320 Commentarii in Vergilii georgica 4.363 (ed. Thilo) SPELUCISQUE LACUS CLAUSOS [...] redditi narrabant lucos esse sub terris et inmensam aquam omnia continentem, ex qua cuncta procreantur: unde est illud secundum Thaleta Oceanumque patrem rerum. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 321 In georg. 4.379 Et Oceanum patrem rerum secundum physicos dixit, qui aiunt omnium rerum elementum aquam esse: in quibus Thales primus. Sim. (the first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.); (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 322 In georg. 4.381 Oceanumque Patrem secundum Thaleta, ut diximus supra (Th 317 ff.). Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Nemesius of Emesa Th 323

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De natura hominis 2.68–69 (ed. Morani) Πάλιν δὲ καὶ τῶν λεγόντων ἀσώματον εἶναι τὴν ψυχὴν ἄπειρος γέγονεν ἡ διαφωνία, τῶν μὲν οὐσίαν αὐτὴν καὶ ἀθάνατον λεγόντων, τῶν δὲ ἀσώματον μὲν, οὐ μὴν οὐσίαν οὐδὲ ἀθάνατον. Θαλῆς μὲν γὰρ πρῶτος τὴν ψυχὴν ἔφησεν ἀεικίνητον καὶ αὐτοκίνητον, Πυθαγόρας δὲ ἀριθμὸν ἑαυτὸν κινοῦντα [...].

Servius Grammaticus – Nemesius of Emesa

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[say that they are generated] from moisture, and this is the source of the expression “and Okeanos, the father.”

Th 320 Water as the first principle. Commentary on Vergil’s Georgics 4.363 After returning they told that there are groves beneath the earth and an immense body of water that contains all things and from which all things are generated, and this is the source of the expression “and Okeanos, the father of things,” in accord with Thales.

Th 321 Water as the first principle. Commentary on Vergil’s Georgics 4.379 He said “and Okeanos, the father of things” in accord with the natural philosophers, who declare that water is the element of all things. Thales was the first of these.

Th 322 Water as the first principle. Commentary on Vergil’s Georgics 4.381 “And Okeanos, the Father,” in accord with Thales, as we said above (cf. Th 317 ff.).

Nemesius of Emesa (text ca. 400 CE) Th 323 Thales’ views on the nature of the soul. On the Nature of Man 2.68–69 There has been an endless disagreement among those who declare the soul to be incorporeal, some saying that it is an immortal substance, others that it is incorporeal but neither a substance nor immortal. For Thalesi was the i

W.’s translation begins here.

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Nemesius of Emesa– Theodoret

Sim. (nature of the soul/magnet) Th 31 (q.v.)

Th 324

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De nat. hom. 5.169 Καὶ γὰρ Θαλῆς, τὸ ὕδωρ μόνον λέγων εἶναι στοιχεῖον, πειρᾶται δεικνύναι τὰ ἄλλα τρία ὑπὸ τούτου γινόμενα‧ τὴν μὲν γὰρ ὑποστάθμην αὐτοῦ γῆν γίνεσθαι, τὸ δὲ λεπτομερέστερον ἀέρα, τοῦ δὲ ἀέρος τὸ λεπτομερέστερον πῦρ. Ἀναξιμένης δέ, ἀέρα μόνον λέγων, καὶ αὐτὸς ὁμοίως πειρᾶται δεικνύναι τὰ ἄλλα στοιχεῖα ἐκ τοῦ ἀέρος ἀποτελούμενα. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th  29 (q.v.); (transformations of water) Th 94 (q.v.)

Julian of Eclanum Th 325

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Libri IV ad Turbantium 2.148 (ed. de Coninck CCL 88) (= Th 316) (Conuocasti etiam in auxilium turbam philosophorum [...] Quis enim audiat quod abs te commemorantur) Thales Milesius unus e septem sapientibus, deinde Anaximander, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Xenophanes, Parmenides, Leucippus, Democritus, Empedocles, Heraclitus, Melissus, Plato, Pythagoraei [...].

Theodoret Th 326

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Graecarum affectionum curatio 1.12 (ed. Canivet) Οἱ δὲ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν φιλοσόφων περιφανέστατοι, ὧν ἡ μνήμη παρὰ τοῖς ἐλλογίμοις μέχρι καὶ τήμερον πολυθρύλητος, Φερεκύδης ὁ Σύριος καὶ Πυθαγόρας ὁ Σάμιος καὶ Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος καὶ Σόλων ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, καὶ μέντοι καὶ Πλάτων ἐκεῖνος, ὁ Ἀρίστωνος μὲν υἱός, Σωκράτους δὲ φοιτητής, εὐστομίᾳ δὲ πάντας ἀποκρύψας, οὐκ ὤκνησαν ἕνεκα τοῦ τἀληθὲς ἐξευρεῖν καὶ Αἴγυπτον περινοστῆσαι καὶ Θήβας τὰς Αἰγυπτίας καὶ Σικελίαν καὶ

Nemesius of Emesa – Theodoret

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first to declare that the soul is always-moving and self-moving (cf. Th 165), and Pythagorasi [was the first to declare that it is] number that moves itself.

Th 324

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Water as the first principle. On the Nature of Man 5.169 For Thales too, who says that water is the only element, attempts to show that the other three are generated by it: its sediment becomes earth, its finest part becomes air, and the finest part of air becomes fire. On the other hand, Anaximenes, who says that air is the only [element], likewise attempts to show that the other elements are produced from air.

Julian of Eclanum (ca. 385–before 455 CE) Th 325

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Thales the philosopher and Sage. Four books to Turbantius 2.148 (You have also called a crowd of philosophers to aid [...] For who can hear the ones you have mentioned) Thales of Miletus, one of the Seven Sages, then Anaximander, Anaximenes, Anaxagoras, Xenophanes, Parmenides, Leucippus, Democritus, Empedocles, Heraclitus, Melissus, Plato, the Pythagoreans [...].

Theodoret (ca. 393–ca. 466 CE) Th 326 Thales’ association with Egypt. Cure of the Greek Maladies 1.12 The most famous Greek philosophers whoseii memory is still now legendary among those who are respected – Pherecydes of Syros, Pythagoras of i ii

W.’s translation ends here. W. omits the section “whose ... language” from his translation.

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Theodoret

Ἰταλίαν, καὶ ταῦτα οὐ μιᾶς βασιλείας τάδε τὸ τηνικαῦτα ἰθυνούσης τὰ ἔθνη, ἀλλὰ διαφόρων μὲν πολιτειῶν ἐν ταῖς πόλεσιν οὐσῶν, διαφόρων δὲ νόμων. Sim. (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.)

Th 327

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Gr. aff. cur. 1.23–24 Εἰ δὲ καὶ τὰς τέχνας καὶ τὰς ἐπιστήμας καὶ τῶν δαιμόνων τὰς τελετὰς καὶ τὰ πρῶτα στοιχεῖα παρὰ βαρβάρων ἐδιδάχθησαν Ἕλληνες καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς διδασκάλοις ἁβρύνονται, τί δήποτε ὑμεῖς, οὐδὲ ξυνιέναι τὰ ὑπ᾽ ἐκείνων ξυγγεγραμμένα δυνάμενοι, παραιτεῖσθε μαθεῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν παρ᾽ ἀνδρῶν θεόσδοτον σοφίαν εἰσδεξαμένων; [24] Εἰ δέ, ὅτι οὐκ ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἐβλάστησαν, τὰς ἀκοὰς αὐτοῖς ὑπέχειν οὐ βούλεσθε, ὥρα ὑμῖν μήτε Θαλῆν ὀνομάζειν σοφὸν μήτε Πυθαγόραν φιλόσοφον μήτε Φερεκύδην τὸν ἐκείνου διδάσκαλον. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ Φερεκύδης Σύριος ἦν, οὐκ Ἀθηναῖος οὐδὲ Σπαρτιάτης οὐδέ γε Κορίνθιος‧ τὸν δὲ Πυθαγόραν Ἀριστόξενος καὶ Ἀρίσταρχος καὶ Θεόπομπος Τυρρηνὸν εἶναί φασιν, ὁ δὲ Νεάνθης Τύριον ὀνομάζει‧ τὸν δὲ Θαλῆν οἱ μὲν Μιλήσιον λέγουσι, Λέανδρος (Th  50) δὲ καὶ Ἡρόδοτος (Th 12) Φοίνικα προσηγόρευσαν. Sim. (Phoenician ancestry) Th 12 (q.v.)

Th 328

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Gr. aff. cur. 1.37 Καὶ μέντοι κἀν τῷ Θεαιτήτῳ τοὺς μετεωρολέσχας διαβάλλων ὧδε λέγει‧ „Ὡσπερ καὶ Θαλῆν ἀστρονομοῦντα, ὦ Θεόδωρε, καὶ ἄνω βλέποντα, πεσόντα εἰς φρέαρ, Θρᾷττά τις ἐμμελὴς καὶ χαρίεσσα θεραπαινὶς ἀποσκῶψαι λέγεται ὡς τὰ μὲν ἐν οὐρανῷ προθυμοῖτο εἰδέναι, τὰ δ᾽ ὄπισθεν αὐτοῦ καὶ παρὰ πόδας λανθάνοι αὐτόν.“ Sim. (Thales’ fall into the well) Th 19 (q.v.)

Theodoret

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Samos, Thales of Miletus, Solon of Athens, and moreover Plato, the son of Ariston and pupil of Socrates, who surpasses all in the beauty of his language – did not shrink from exploring Egypt and Egyptian Thebes, Sicily and Italy for the sake of discovering the truth, even though in those times there was no single monarchy that ruled all the peoples, but there were different constitutions and different laws in the cities.

Th 327

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Thales’ ancestry. Cure of the Greek Maladies 1.23–24 But if even the Greeks were taught the crafts and sciences, the cults of daimons and their first letters by the barbarians and are proud of their teachers, why do you, who cannot even understand the writings of those people, refuse to learn the truth from men who have received god-given wisdom? [24]i But if you do not want to lend them your ears because they did not originate in Greece, it is time for you not to call Thales a sage or Pythagoras a philosopher or his teacher Pherecydes. For Pherecydes was from Syros, not Athens, Sparta or Corinth, and Aristoxenus, Aristarchus and Theopompus say that Pythagoras was a Tyrrhenian, while Neanthes calls him a Tyrian, and they call Thales a Milesian, but Leandrus (Th 50) and Herodotus (Th 12) called him a Phoenician.

Th 328 Thales’ fall into a well. The difference between wisdom and useless science is supported through quotations from Plato. Cure of the Greek Maladies 1.37 And in the Theaetetus (Th  19) he [Plato] attacks dabblers in astronomy, saying as follows:1 “Forii example, Theodorus, they say that while studying the stars, and gazing aloft, Thales fell into a well; and a witty and amusing

1

For the interpretation of this passage, cf. Siniossoglu 2008, 111.

i ii

W: [1.24] W. translates only the first few words of this quotation.

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Theodoret

Th 329

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Gr. aff. cur. 2.8–9 Εἰ δὲ δὴ τοὺς φιλοσόφους ἡμῖν προβάλλεσθε, εὖ ἴστε, ὡς καὶ οὗτοι πλάνον ὑπέμειναν πάμπολυν. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ μίαν ἅπαντες λεωφόρον ἐσχήκασιν οὐδὲ τοῖς τῶν προωδευκότων ἠκολούθησαν ἴχνεσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἰδίαν ἕκαστος ἐτέμετο τρίβον καὶ μυρίας ἐπινενοήκασι [τρίβους]‧ πολυσχιδεῖς γάρ που τοῦ ψεύδους αἱ ἀτραποί‧ [9] καὶ τοῦτο διαρρήδην αὐτίκα δὴ μάλα δειχθήσεται. Θαλῆς μὲν γάρ, τῶν ἑπτὰ καλουμένων σοφῶν ὁ πρεσβύτατος, ἀρχὴν πάντων τὸ ὕδωρ ὑπέλαβεν, Ὁμήρῳ γε οἶμαι εἰρηκότι πιστεύσας‧ Ὠκεανόν τε θεῶν γένεσιν καὶ μητέρα Τηθύν. Ἀναξίμανδρος δέ, τοῦτον διαδεξάμενος, ἀρχὴν ἔφη τὸ ἄπειρον‧ Ἀναξιμένης δέ, ὁ τούτου διάδοχος, καὶ Διογένης ὁ Ἀπολλωνιάτης τὸν ἀέρα ξυμφώνως ἀρχὴν προσηγορευσάτην. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th  29 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (the water hypothesis goes back to the first theologians/ Homer) Th 29 (q.v.); (Anaximander pupil/associate of Thales) Th 65a (q.v.)

Th 330

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Gr. aff. cur. 2.50 Εἰ τοίνυν τούτων μὲν κατὰ τὸν Πορφύριον ὁ Μωϋσῆς πλείοσιν ἢ χιλίοις πρεσβύτερος ἔτεσιν, οὗτοι δὲ παλαιότατοι τῶν ποιητῶν ἐγένοντο – μετὰ γὰρ τούτους καὶ Ὅμηρος καὶ Ἡσίοδος ἐγενέσθην, καὶ οὗτοι δ᾽ αὖ πάλιν Θαλοῦ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων φιλοσόφων πολλοῖς ἔτεσιν ἀρχαιότεροι, καὶ οἱ ἀμφὶ Θαλῆν τῶν μετ᾽ αὐτοὺς πεφιλοσοφηκότων –, τί δήποτε μὴ τούτους πάντας καταλιπόντες πρὸς Μωϋσέα τὸν τῆς θεολογίας ὠκεανὸν μεταβαίνομεν, „ἐξ οὗπερ“, ποιητικῶς εἰπεῖν, „πάντες ποταμοὶ καὶ πᾶσα θάλασσα“. Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.)

Theodoret

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Thracian servant-girl made fun of him because, she said, he was so keen to know about what was up in the sky but failed to see what was in front of him and next to his feet.”

Th 329

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10

Thales the Sage; water as the first principle; Thales and Anaximander. Cure of the Greek Maladies 2.8–9 If you cite the philosophers against us in your defense, know well that they too did a great deal of wandering. For they did not all have a single highway and they did not follow in the tracks of those who had gone before, but each one opened his own path and they thought up myriads of them. For the paths of falsehood have many branches. [9] And this will at once be shown explicitly. Thales, the earliest of those called the Seven Sages, supposed that water was the principle of all things, relying on Homer, I suppose, who had said, “Okeanos the origin of gods, and mother Tethys” [Il. 14.201]. But Anaximander, who succeeded him, declared that the infinite is the principle, while his successor Anaximenes, and Diogenes of Apollonia agreed in calling air the principle.

Th 330

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Thales’ dates. Cure of the Greek Maladies 2.50 Now if, according to Porphyry, Moses was more than a thousand years earlier than these, and these [Orpheus, Linus, Musaeus, etc.] were the earliest poets – for both Homer and Hesiod came after them, and these in turn were earlier by many years than Thales and the other philosophers, and Thales and his associates [were earlier] than those who practiced philosophy after them – why on earth do we not abandon all these men and turn to Moses, the ocean of theology, “from whom” (to say poetically) come “all rivers and every sea” [Il. 21.196]?

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Theodoret

Th 331 Gr. aff. cur. 4.13 Καὶ τὴν ὕλην δέ γε Θαλῆς μὲν καὶ Πυθαγόρας καὶ Ἀναξαγόρας καὶ Ἡράκλειτος καὶ ὁ τῶν Στωϊκῶν ὁρμαθὸς τρεπτὴν καὶ ἀλλοιωτὴν καὶ ῥευστὴν ἔφασαν εἶναι. Sim. (matter) Th 151 (q.v.)

Th 332

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Gr. aff. cur. 4.15–16 Οὐ μόνον δὲ ἐν τούτοις διαφωνίᾳ γε πλείστῃ, ἀλλὰ κἀν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐχρήσαντο. Καὶ γὰρ δὴ τὸν κόσμον Θαλῆς μὲν καὶ Πυθαγόρας καὶ Ἀναξαγόρας καὶ Παρμενίδης καὶ Μέλισσος καὶ Ἡράκλειτος καὶ Πλάτων καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης καὶ Ζήνων ἕνα εἶναι ξυνωμολόγησαν‧ Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ καὶ Ἀναξιμένης καὶ Ἀρχέλαος καὶ Ξενοφάνης καὶ Διογένης καὶ Λεύκιππος καὶ Δημόκριτος καὶ Ἐπίκουρος πολλοὺς εἶναι καὶ ἀπείρους ἐδόξασαν. [16] Καὶ οἱ μὲν σφαιροειδῆ τοῦτον εἶναι, οἱ δὲ ἑτεροειδῆ‧ καὶ οἱ μὲν μυλοειδῶς, οἱ δὲ τροχοῦ δίκην περιδινεῖσθαι‧ καὶ οἱ μὲν ἔμψυχόν τε καὶ ἔμπνουν, οἱ δὲ παντάπασιν ἄψυχον‧ καὶ οἱ μὲν κατ᾽ ἐπίνοιαν γενητόν, οὐ κατὰ χρόνον, οἱ δὲ ἀγένητον παντελῶς καὶ ἀναίτιον‧ καὶ οὗτοι μὲν φθαρτόν, ἐκεῖνοι δὲ ἄφθαρτον. Sim. (one unique cosmos) Th 155 (q.v.)

Th 333 Gr. aff. cur. 4.17 Καὶ τοὺς ἀστέρας δὲ Θαλῆς μὲν γεώδεις καὶ ἐμπύρους ὠνόμασεν. Sim. (nature of the stars) Th 157 (q.v.)

Theodoret

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Th 331 Thales’ views on matter. Cure of the Greek Maladies 4.13 Thales, Pythagoras, Anaxagoras, Heraclitus and the flock of Stoics declared that matter is changeable, alterable and fluid (cf. Th 151).

Th 332

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Thales’ cosmology. Cure of the Greek Maladies 4.15–16 Not only on these topics1 but on the rest as well were they in the greatest disagreement. For Thales, Pythagoras, Anaxagoras, Parmenides, Melissus, Heraclitus, Plato, Aristotle and Zeno agreed that there is one cosmos, but Anaximander, Anaximenes, Archelaus, Xenophanes, Diogenes, Leucippus, Democritus and Epicurus held that there are many [cosmoi] and in fact an infinite number. [16] And some held that it is spherical, and others that it has other shapes; some that it whirls around like a millstone, others2 like a wheel; some that it is animate and breathesi, others that it is entirely inanimate; some that it is generated in thoughtii but not in time, others that it is entirely ungenerated and uncaused; and these hold that it can perish, while those hold that it is imperishable.

Th 333 Thales’ cosmology. Cure of the Greek Maladies 4.17 In addition Thales called the stars earthy and fiery.

1 2

Matter and void. Anaximander, according to Diels 19582, 46. Cf., however, Conche 1991, 212, n. 40.

i ii

W: mit Pneuma [Atem, Hauch] W: Vorsatz

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Theodoret

Th 334 Gr. aff. cur. 4.21 Καὶ μέντοι καὶ τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην [...] Θαλῆς δὲ γεώδη [...]. Sim. (the nature of the sun/moon) Th 158 (q.v.)

Th 335 Gr. aff. cur. 4.23 Καὶ περὶ σελήνης δὲ ὁμοίως ὑθλοῦσιν‧ γεώδη μὲν γὰρ αὐτὴν ὁ Θαλῆς φησιν, Ἀναξιμένης δὲ καὶ Παρμενίδης καὶ Ἡράκλειτος ἐκ μόνου ξυνεστάναι πυρός. Sim. (the nature of the sun/moon) Th 158 (q.v.)

Th 336 Gr. aff. cur. 5.17 Θαλῆς τοίνυν κέκληκε τὴν ψυχὴν ἀκίνητον φύσιν. Sim. (nature of the soul/magnet) Th 31 (q.v.)

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Gr. aff. cur. 5.44–45 Τοσαύτην καὶ ξυγγραφεῖς καὶ φιλόσοφοι καὶ ποιηταὶ καὶ ψυχῆς πέρι καὶ σώματος καὶ αὐτῆς γε τῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ξυστάσεως πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἐσχήκασιν ἔριν καὶ διαμάχην, οἱ μὲν ταῦτα, οἱ δὲ ἐκεῖνα πρεσβεύοντες, οἱ δὲ τούτων τε κἀκείνων ἐναντίαν δόξαν ὠδίνοντες. Οὐ γὰρ τἀληθὲς μαθεῖν ἐπεθύμησαν, ἀλλὰ κενοδοξίᾳ καὶ φιλοτιμίᾳ δουλεύσαντες καινῶν εὑρεταὶ κληθῆναι δογμάτων ἐπεθύμησαν. [45] Διὰ δὴ τοῦτο καὶ τὸν πολὺν ὑπομεμενήκασι πλάνον, τῶν ὕστερον ἐπιγενομένων ἀνατετροφότων τῶν πρεσβυτέρων τὰς δόξας. Καὶ Ἀναξίμανδρος μέν, τελευτήσαντος ἤδη τοῦ Θάλεω, τοῖς ἐναντίοις ἐχρήσατο δόγμασι‧ καὶ Ἀναξιμένης δὲ μετὰ τὸν Ἀναξιμάνδρου γε θάνατον ταὐτὸ τοῦτο πεποίηκε‧ καὶ Ἀναξαγόρας δὲ ὡσαύτως.

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Th 334 Thales’ cosmology. Cure of the Greek Maladies 4.21 In addition, both the sun and the moon [...] Thales [called] earthy.

Th 335 Thales’ cosmology. Cure of the Greek Maladies 4.23 And they speak nonsense about the moon in the same way; for Thales declares that it is earthy, while Anaximenes, Parmenides and Heraclitus [declare] that it consists only of fire.

Th 336 Thales’ views on the nature of the soul. Cure of the Greek Maladies 5.17 Thales called the soul unmoved by nature (cf. Th 165).

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The Greek philosophers’ love of novelty; Thales and Anaximander. Cure of the Greek Maladies 5.44–45 Authors, philosophers and poets have had such great strife and quarrels about the soul, the body, and the very constitution of man, some championing these views and others those, and still others giving birth to a view that is contrary to both. For they did not desire to learn the truth but, slaves to vanity and ambition, they longed to be called the discoverers of new doctrines. [45]i This is why they did all their wandering, and those who came later overturned the views of their predecessors. Indeed when Thales was already dead, Anaximander made use of contrary doctrines, and after the death of Anaximander Anaximenes did the same, and likewise Anaxagoras.

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W’s translation begins here. His indication of an ellipsis should be placed before the marker for section 45.

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In canticum canticorum expositio 5.22–23 (ed. de Vregille/Neyrand) Quod autem secundo haec uerba repetuntur in Cantico hoc, ubi secundo dumtaxat per capreas ceruosque camporum adiurantur filiae Hierusalem, non pigebit priora alterius libelli repetere dicta. In priore enim filiarum adiuratione, in caprearum et ceruorum personas thalesianae et ferecidensis philosophiae intellegi diximus. Quae licet in Ecclesiae doctrina non inferatur, sicut caprearum et ceruorum animalia non sunt iussa Moysi in altario sacrificium Deo offerri, ut iussa sunt agnus, uitulus uel capra in altario immolanda, tamen inter immunda non sunt reputata et uesci iubentur populo fuso sanguine in terra: ita et praedicta philosophia non est immunda iniuriis creatoris, sicut aliorum philosophrum uita uel dogmata, qui bestiis, canibus et porcis comparandi probantur, libidinem summum bonum esse docentes, a quorum insania procul supradicta philosophia antedictis animalibus comparata esse dignoscitur. [23] De quibus Thales nomine initium omnium rerum aquam in suo esse dogmate pronuntiauit, et inde omnia facta subsistere ab inuiso et magno; causam uero motus aquae spiritum insidentem confirmat; simulque geometricam artem perspicaci sensu prior inuenit, per quam suspicatus est unum rerum omnium creatorem. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th  29 (q.v.); (mathematics/geometry) Th 81 (q.v.); (earthquakes) Th 99 (q.v.); (nature of god) Th 72 q.v.

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Water as the first principle; Thales and geometry. Commentary on the Song of Songs 5.22–23 Because these words are being repeated a second time in this Song [III 5],1 where for a second time “the daughters of Jerusalem are adjured by the roes and the stags of the fields,” it will not be displeasing to repeat the words of the otheri book. For in the former “adjuration of the daughters,” we said that in “roes and stags,” personifications of the philosophy of Thales and Pherecydes are meant to be understood.2 These doctrines are not permitted to be imported into Church doctrine, just as “roes and stags” are animals not commanded by Moses to be offered on the altar as a sacrifice to God, as lambs, calves and she-goats are to be sacrificed on the altar, but they are not reckoned among the unclean animals and the people are commanded to eat them after their blood has been spilled on the earth.3 So also the above-mentioned philosophy is not unclean for the reason that it harms the Creator like the life or doctrines of other philosophers, who are esteemed as comparable to wild beasts, dogs and pigs, because they teach that pleasure is the greatest good. The aforementioned philosophy is far from the insanity of these others and is distinguished by being compared with the above-mentioned animals. [23] Of these [philosophers], the one named Thales declared in his doctrine that water is the origin of all things, and that all things are made of and subsist by means of something invisible and great; he confirms, however, that the cause of motion is a spirit situated in water;4 and with his keen intelligence he also was the first to discover the art of geometry through which he supposed that there is one creator of all things.

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The first time was II 7. ”In reality it is Platonists and Stoics that are meant, not Thales and Pherecydes” (Vregille/Neyrand ad loc.). Cf. Schibli 1990, 109 f. Cf. Deuteronomy 12.15–16. ”And he affirms that the cause of the motion of the water is the spirit that resides there” (Vregille/Neyrand). W: in einem anderen Buch

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Iohannes Stobaeus Th 339 Anthologium 1.1.29a (ed. Wachsmuth/Hense) (ὅτι θεὸς δημιουργὸς τῶν ὄντων καὶ διέπει τὸ ὅλον τῷ τῆς προνοίας λόγῳ καὶ ποίας οὐσίας ὑπάρχει.) Θαλῆς ἐρωτηθείς, Τί πρεσβύτατον τῶν ὄντων; ἀπεκρίνατο‧ Θεός, ἀγέννητον γάρ. Sim. (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.); (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 340 Anth. 1.1.29b Θαλῆς νοῦν τοῦ κόσμου τὸν θεόν, τὸ δὲ πᾶν ἔμψυχον ἅμα καὶ δαιμόνων πλῆρες‧ διήκειν δὲ καὶ διὰ τοῦ στοιχειώδους ὑγροῦ δύναμιν θείαν κινητικὴν αὐτοῦ. Sim. (nature of god) Th  72 (q.v.); (all things full of gods/daimons) Th  32 (q.v.); (the cosmos/the universe/ everything has a soul) Th 32 (q.v.); (daimons, heroes) Th 150 (q.v.)

Th 341 Anth. 1.4.7a (περὶ ἀνάγκης 〈θείας〉 καθʹ ἣν ἀπαραιτήτως τὰ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ γίνεται βούλησιν.) Θαλῆς ἐρωτηθείς, Τί ἰσχυρότατον; εἶπεν‧ Ἀνάγκη, κρατεῖ γὰρ πάντων. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 342 Anth. 1.8.40a (περὶ χρόνου οὐσίας καὶ μερῶν καὶ πόσων εἴη αἴτιος.) Θαλῆς ἐρωτηθείς, τί σοφώτατον; 〈ἔφη,〉 Χρόνος‧ ἀνευρίσκει γὰρ τὰ πάντα. [...] Θαλῆς ἔφησεν, ὅτι σαφέστατος ἔλεγχος πραγμάτων ἁπάντων ἐστὶν ὁ χρόνος, οὗτος 〈γὰρ〉 τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐμφανίζει. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

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Iohannes Stobaeus (5th cent. CE) Th 339 Thales’ theological views; his wise sayings. Anthology 1.1.29a (That god is the creator of things-that-are and directs the universe by the Logos of providence, and of what substance he is.) When asked “What is the oldest of existing things,” Thales answered, “God, for he is unbegotten” (cf. Th 90; Th 121; Th 237 [Diog. Laert. 1.35]; Th 564 [320a]).

Th 340 Thales’ theological views; his cosmology; water as the first principle. Anthology 1.1.29b Thales [said that] god is the mind of the cosmos, that the universei is animate and also full of daimons, and that there pervades the elementary moisture a divine power that causes it to move.1

Th 341 Thales’ wise sayings. Anthology 1.4.7a (Concerning divine necessity by virtue of which things inexorably occur according to the will of god.) When asked “What is most powerful?” Thales said, “Necessity, for it rules all things” (cf. Th 121; Th 154; Th 123 [Diog. Laert. 1.35]; Th 564 [320e]).

Th 342 Thales’ wise sayings. Anthology 1.8.40a (Concerning the substance and parts of time and of how many things it is the cause.) When asked “What is wisest?” Thales said “Time, for it finds out 1

Cf. Kerschensteiner 1962, 26.

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Anth. 1.10.12.1–10 (περὶ ἀρχῶν καὶ στοιχείων τοῦ παντός.) Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος ἀρχὴν τῶν ὄντων ἀπεφήνατο τὸ ὕδωρ, ἐξ ὕδατος γάρ φησι πάντα εἶναι καὶ εἰς ὕδωρ πάντα ἀναλύεσθαι. Στοχάζεται δὲ πρῶτον ἐκ τούτου, ὅτι πάντων τῶν ζῴων ἡ γονὴ ἀρχή ἐστιν, ὑγρὰ οὖσα. οὕτως εἰκὸς καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐξ ὑγροῦ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχειν. Δεύτερον, 〈ὅτι〉 πάντα φυτὰ ὑγρῷ τρέφεται καὶ καρποφορεῖ, ἀμοιροῦντα δὲ ξηραίνεται. Τρίτον, ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ πῦρ τὸ τοῦ ἡλίου καὶ τῶν ἄστρων ταῖς τῶν ὑδάτων ἀναθυμιάσεσι τρέφεται καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ κόσμος. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

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Anth. 1.10.12.47–53 Ἀρχέλαος ἀέρα ἄπειρον καὶ τὴν περὶ αὐτὸν πυκνότητα καὶ μάνωσιν. τούτων δὲ τὸ μὲν εἶναι πῦρ, τὸ δ᾽ ὕδωρ. Οὗτοι μὲν οὖν ἐφεξῆς ἀλλήλοις ταῖς διαδοχαῖς γενόμενοι τὴν Ἰωνικὴν ἐκπληροῦσι φιλοσοφίαν, οὕτω προσαγορευθεῖσαν, διότι Μιλήσιος αὐτῆς κατῆρξεν ἀνήρ, ὁ Θαλῆς ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν Ἰώνων μητροπόλεως. Sim. (Ionian school) Th 147 (q.v.)

Th 345 Anth. 1.10.16b Οἱ μὲν οὖν περὶ Αριστοτέλην καὶ Πλάτωνα διαφέρειν ἡγοῦνται ἀρχὴν καὶ στοιχεῖα. Θαλῆς δ᾽ ὁ Μιλήσιος ταὐτὸν νομίζει ἀρχὴν καὶ στοιχεῖα.

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everything” [...] Thales declared that time is the clearest proof of all things, since it brings the truth to light (cf. Th  121; Th  237 [Diog. Laert. 1.35]; Th 342; Th 564 [320 f.).

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Water as the first principle. Anthology 1.10.12.1–10 (Concerning the principles and elements of the universei.) Thales of Miletus declared that water is the principle of things-that-areii, for he says that all things are from water and all things are dissolved into water. He bases this conjecture first on the fact that seed, which is moist, is the principle of all living things. Thus it is likely that all things have their principle from the moist. Second, from the fact that it is because of moisture that all plants are nourished and bear fruit, but dry up when they are deprived of it. Third, that even the very fire of the sun and the stars is nourished by exhalations from water, as is the cosmos itself (cf. Th 147).

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Thales the founder of Ionian philosophy. Anthology 1.10.12.47–53 Archelaus [held that] the air is infinite and that it undergoes condensation and rarefaction. Of these, the latter is fire, the former water. Now these men, who come one after another in the successions, make up Ionian philosophy, as it is named, because Thales, the man who founded it, was from the metropolis of the Ionians.

Th 345 Thales’ views on principles and elements. Anthology 1.10.16b Aristotle and Plato and their associates believe that principle and elements are different, but Thales of Miletus thinks that principle and elements are the same thing. 1

W. does not translate this testimonium.

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Th 346 Anth. 1.11.3 (περὶ ὕλης.) Οἱ ἀπὸ Θάλεω καὶ Πυθαγόρου, λέγω δὲ τοὺς μέχρι τῶν Στωικῶν καταβεβηκότας σὺν Ἡρακλείτῳ, τρεπτὴν καὶ ἀλλοιωτὴν καὶ μεταβλητὴν καὶ ῥευστὴν ὅλην δι᾽ ὅλης τὴν ὕλην ἀπεφήναντο. Sim. (matter) Th 151 (q.v.)

Th 347 Anth. 1.13.1d (περὶ αἰτίων.) Θαλῆς καὶ οἱ ἐφεξῆς τὸ πρῶτον αἴτιον ἀκίνητον ἀπεφήναντο.

Th 348 Anth. 1.14.1i (= Th 152) (περὶ σωμάτων καὶ περὶ τῆς τούτων τομῆς καὶ περὶ ἐλαχίστου.) Οἱ ἀπὸ Θάλεω καὶ Πυθαγόρου παθητὰ 〈τὰ〉 σώματα καὶ τμητὰ εἰς ἄπειρον, καὶ πάντα τὰ συνεχῆ, γραμμήν, ἐπιφάνειαν, στερεὸν σῶμα, τόπον, χρόνον.

Th 349 Anth. 1.17.1 (περὶ μίξεως καὶ κράσεως.) Θαλῆς καὶ οἱ ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ κράσεις εἶναι τὰς τῶν στοιχείων μίξεις κατ᾽ ἀλλοίωσιν.

Th 350 Anth. 1.18.1a (περὶ κενοῦ καὶ τόπου 〈καὶ χώρας〉.) Οἱ ἀπὸ Θάλεω φυσικοὶ πάντες τὸ κενὸν ὡς ὄντως κενὸν ἀπέγνωσαν.

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Th 346 Thales’ views on matter. Anthology 1.11.3 (Concerning matter.) Thales, Pythagoras and their followers down to the Stoics and including Heraclitus declared that matter is changeable, alterable, modifiable and fluid through and through.

Th 347 Thales’ views on the first cause. Anthology 1.13.1d (Concerning causes.) Thales and his successors declared that the first cause is unmoved.

Th 348 Thales’ views on matter. Anthology 1.14.1i (Concerning bodies and their division and about the smallest.) Thales and Pythagoras and their followers [held that] bodies are subject to being affected and are divisible ad infinitum, as are all things that are continuous: lines, surfaces, solid bodies, place, and time (cf. Th 152).

Th 349 Thales’ views on the elements. Anthology 1.17.1 (Concerning mixture and blending.) Thales and his followers [held that] blending is the mixture of elements associated with alteration.1

Th 350 Thales’ views on the void. Anthology 1.18.1a (Concerning the void, place and space.) All the natural philosophers who were followers of Thales rejected the void as truly void (cf. Th 152; Th 488).

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Cf. [Plu.] Plac. Phil. 883E1.

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Th 351 Anth. 1.18.1e Θαλῆς ἐρωτηθείς, Τί τὸ μέγιστον; ἔφησε, Τόπος‧ τἄλλα μὲν γὰρ ὁ κόσμος, τὸν δὲ κόσμον οὗτος περιέχει. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 352 Anth. 1.22.3b (περὶ τάξεως τοῦ κόσμου· 〈εἰ ἓν τὸ πᾶν〉.) Θαλῆς, Πυθαγόρας, Ἐμπεδοκλῆς, Ἔκφαντος, Παρμενίδης, Μέλισσος, Ἡράκλειτος, Ἀναξαγόρας, Πλάτων, Ἀριστοτέλης, Ζήνων ἕνα τὸν κόσμον. Sim. (the cosmos) Th 155 (q.v.)

Th 353 Anth. 1.23.3 (= Th 156) (περὶ τῆς οὐρανοῦ οὐσίας καὶ διαιρέσεως.) Θαλῆς Πυθαγόρας καὶ οἱ ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ μεμερίσθαι τὴν τοῦ παντὸς οὐρανοῦ σφαῖραν εἰς κύκλους πέντε, οὕστινας προσαγορεύουσι ζώνας.

Th 354 Anth. 1.24.1a (= Th 157) (περὶ οὐσίας ἄστρων καὶ σχημάτων, κινήσεώς τε καὶ ἐπισημασίας.) Θαλῆς γεώδη μέν, ἔμπυρα δὲ τὰ ἄστρα. Sim. (nature of the stars) Th 157 (q.v.)

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Th 351 Thales’ wise sayings; his cosmology. Anthology 1.18.1c When asked “What is greatest?,” Thales declared, “Place; for the cosmos contains everything else and this contains the cosmos” (cf. Th 121; Th 237 [Diog. Laert. 1.35]; Th 564 [320c]).

Th 352 Thales’ cosmology. Anthology 1.22.3b (Concerning the order of the cosmos; whether the universe is one.) Thales, Pythagoras, Empedocles, Ecphantus, Parmenides, Melissus, Heraclitus, Anaxagoras, Plato, Aristotle, and Zeno [held that] the cosmos is one.

Th 353 Thales’ cosmology. Anthology 1.23.3 (Concerning the substance of the heaven and its division.) Thales, and Pythagoras and his followers [held that] the sphere of the entire heaven is divided into five circles which they call zones (cf. Th 156; Th 397).

Th 354 Thales’ cosmology. Anthology 1.24.1a (Concerning the stars’ substance, shape, motion, and significance.) Thales [held that] the stars are earthy and fiery.

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Th 355 Anth. 1.25.3b (= approximately Th 158) (περὶ οὐσίας ἡλίου καὶ μεγέθους σχήματός τε καὶ τρόπων καὶ ἐκλείψεως καὶ σημείων καὶ κινήσεως.) Θαλῆς γεώδη τὸν ἥλιον. – Ἐκλείπειν δὲ αὐτὸν τῆς σελήνης ὑπερχομένης κατὰ κάθετον, οὔσης φύσεως γεώδους‧ βλέπεσθαι δὲ τοῦτο κατοπτρικῶς ὑποτιθέμενῳ τῷ δίσκῳ. Sim. (the nature of the sun/moon) Th 158 (q.v.); (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.)

Th 356 Anth. 1.26.1e (περὶ σελήνης οὐσίας καὶ μεγέθους καὶ σχήματος […].) Θαλῆς γεώδη τὴν σελήνην ἀπεφήνατο. Sim. (the nature of the moon) Th 158 (q.v.)

Th 357 Anth. 1.26.2 Θαλῆς πρῶτος ἔφη ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου φωτίζεσθαι. Sim. (moonlight) Th 159 (q.v.)

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Anth. 1.26.3 Θαλῆς, Ἀναξαγόρας, Πλάτων, οἱ Στωικοὶ τοῖς μαθηματικοῖς συμφώνως τὰς μὲν μηνιαίους ἀποκρύψεις συνοδεύουσαν αὐτὴν ἡλίῳ καὶ περιλαμπομένην ποιεῖσθαι, τὰς δ᾽ ἐκλείψεις εἰς τὸ σκίασμα τῆς γῆς ἐμπίπτουσαν, μεταξὺ [μὲν] ἀμφοτέρων τῶν ἀστέρων γενομένης, μᾶλλον δὲ τῆς σελήνης ἀντιφραττομένης. Sim. (eclipse/phases of the moon) Th 178 (q.v.)

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Th 355 Thales’ cosmology. Anthology 1.25.3b (Concerning the sun’s substance, size, shape, solstices, eclipse, signs and motion.) Thales [held that] the sun is earthy. – That it is eclipsed when the moon, whose nature is earthy, comes perpendicularly underneath it; this is seen by reflection if a mirror is placed beneath.1

Th 356 Thales’ cosmology. Anthology 1.26.1e (Concerning the moon’s substance, size and shape [...].) Thales declared that the moon is earthy.

Th 357 Thales’ cosmology. Anthology 1.26.2 Thales was the first to say that [the moon] is illuminated by the sun.

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Thales’ cosmology. Anthology 1.26.3 Thales, Anaxagoras, Plato and the Stoics, in agreement with the mathematicians [held] that it [the moon] makes its monthly disappearances when it comes into conjunction with the sun, since it is illuminated by iti; [it makes] eclipses when it falls into the shadow of the earth when it [the earth] comes between the two stars, or rather when the moon is screened (cf. [Plu.] Plac. 2.29.891F7 ff.)

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Th 359 Anth. 1.45.1 (πῶς ηὐξήθη τὰ φυτὰ καὶ εἰ ζῷα.) Πλάτων Θαλῆς καὶ τὰ φυτὰ ἔμψυχα ζῷα. Φανερὸν δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ σαλεύεσθαι καὶ ἐντεταμένους ἔχειν τοὺς κλάδους καὶ ταῖς ἐπαγωγαῖς εἴκειν καὶ πάλιν σφοδρῶς ἀναχαλᾶσθαι, ὥστε καὶ συνανέλκειν βάρη.

Th 360 Anth. 1.49.1a (περὶ ψυχῆς.) Θαλῆς ἀπεφήνατο πρῶτος τὴν ψυχὴν ἀεικίνητον ἢ αὐτοκίνητον. Sim. (nature of the soul) Th 31 (q.v.)

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Anth. 2.1.22. (περὶ τῶν τὰ θεῖα ἑρμηνευόντων, καὶ ὡς εἴη ἀνθρώποις ἀκατάληπτος ἡ τῶν νοήτων κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν ἀλήθεια.) Ἐκ τῶν Σερήνου Ἀπομνημονευμάτων. Θαλῆν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ὁρῶντα καὶ ἐμπεσόντα εἰς βόθρον ἡ θεράπαινα, Θρᾷττα οὖσα, δίκαια παθεῖν ἔφη, ὃς τὰ παρὰ ποσὶν ἀγνοῶν τὰ ἐν οὐρανῷ ἐσκόπει. Sim. (Thales’ fall into the well) Th 19 (q.v.)

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Anth. 3.1.172.4 (s. Th 42 = Demetrios v. Phaleron) (περὶ ἀρετῆς.) Δημητρίου Φαληρέως τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν ἀποφθέγματα. Θαλῆς Ἐξαμίου Μιλήσιος ἔφη‧ Ἐγγύα, πάρα δ᾽ ἄτα. Φίλων παρόντων καὶ ἀπόντων μέμνησο. Μὴ τὴν ὄψιν καλλωπίζου, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν τοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασιν ἴσθι καλός. Μὴ πλούτει κακῶς. Μή σε διαβαλλέτω λόγος πρὸς τοὺς πίστεως κεκοινωνηκότας. Κολακεύειν γονεῖς μὴ ὄκνει. Μὴ προσδέχου τὸ φαῦλον1. 1

Cf. Par.1 Thal. 6 (Tziatzi-Papagianni 1994): πατροῦ λοιδορίαν μὴ προσδέχου φαῦλον γάρ. Mon. Thal. 12 (Tziatzi-Papagianni): μὴ προσδέχου κατὰ τῶν φίλων φαῦλα.

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Th 359 Thales’ views on the nature of the soul. Anthology 1.45.1 (How plants grow and whether they are living things.) Plato and Thales [held that] plants too are animate living things. This is obvious from the fact that they shake and hold their branches extended, and the way they bend when pulled and then rebound violently, so that they even pull up heavy weights (cf. Th 405 and [Plu.] Plac. 5.26.910B4 ff.).1

Th 360 Thales’ views on the nature of the soul. Anthology 1.49.1a (Concerning the soul.) Thales was the first to declare that the soul is always-moving or self-moving.

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Thales’ fall into a well. Anthology 2.1.22 (Concerning those who interpret divine things and how the truth about intelligible things is essentially incomprehensible to humans.) From the Memorabilia of Serenus.2 When Thales was looking at the sky and fell into a pit, his servant, a Thracian woman, said that he deserved what he got since he was looking at the things in the sky and disregarding the things next to his feet.

Th 362 Thales’ wise sayings. Anthology 3.1.172.4 (Concerning virtue.) Demetrius of Phaleron (cf. Th  42), Sayings of the Seven Sages.3 Thales of Miletus, the son of Examias, said: “Give a pledge and disaster is at hand. Remember friends both present and absent. Do not 1 2 3

Cf. Drossaart Lulofs 1987, 11 f. For Serenus, cf. Overwien 2005, 58; Searby 2007, CP 3, 556. Cf. Althoff/Zeller 2006, 10 ff.

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W. does not translate this testimonium.

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Οἵους ἂν ἐράνους ἐνέγκῃς τοῖς γονεῦσι, τούτους αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ γήρᾳ παρὰ τῶν τέκνων προσδέχου. Χαλεπὸν τὸ εὖ γνῶναι. Ἥδιστον τὸ ἐπιθυμίας τυχεῖν. Ἀνιαρὸν ἀργία. Βλαβερὸν ἀκρασία. Βαρὺ ἀπαιδευσία. Δίδασκε καὶ μάνθανε τὸ ἄμεινον. Ἀργὸς μὴ ἴσθι, μηδ᾽ ἂν πλουτῇς. Κακὰ1 ἐν οἴκῳ κρύπτε. †Φθόνου χάριν μὴ οἰκτείρου.2 Μέτρῳ χρῷ. Μὴ πᾶσι πίστευε. Ἄρχων κόσμει σεαυτόν. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.), esp. Th 237 (1.36–37)

Th 363 Anth. 3.2.19 (περὶ κακίας.) Θαλῆς ἐρωτηθεὶς τί βλαβερώτατον, ἔφη ‛κακία‧ καἱ γὰρ τὰ χρηστὰ βλάπτει παραγενομένη’. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 364 Anth. 3.12.14 (περὶ ψεύδους.) Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος ἐρωτηθεὶς πόσον ἀπέχει τὸ ψεῦδος τοῦ ἀληθοῦς ‛ὅσον’ ἔφη ‛ὀφθαλμοὶ τῶν ὤτων.’ Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

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Anth. 3.21.26 (s. Th 246 (Porphyrios) = Aristotle Fr. 3.1R3) (περὶ τοῦ γνῶθι σαυτόν.) Πορφυρίου ἐκ τοῦ αʹ 〈Περὶ τοῦ γνῶθι σαυτόν〉. Τί ποτε ἦν ἄρα καὶ τίνος τὸ ἱερὸν πρόσταγμα τὸ ἐν Πυθοῖ, ὃ γνῶναι ἑαυτὸν τοῖς τοῦ θεοῦ δεησομένοις προσαγορεύει; μήτε γὰρ τιμῆσαι θεὸν τὰ προσήκοντα μηδ᾽ αὖ τυχεῖν τοῦ θεοῦ δεηθέντα τὸν ἀγνοίᾳ τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ἐνισχόμενον παραγγέλλειν ἔοικεν. ἀλλ᾽ εἴτε Φημονόη ἐπὶ πάντα λυσιτελοῦν τὰ ἀνθρώπινα τοῦτο ἐθέσπισεν, δι᾽ ἧς πρώτης ὁ Πύθιος λέγεται τὰς 1 2

Cf. Par.1 Thal. 14 (Tziatzi-Papagianni 1994): τὰ καλὰ ἐν οἴκῳ κρύπτε. inepte secundum Hense: φθονοῦ μᾶλλον ἤ Diels (VS 10.3): It is better to be envied than pitied.

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beautify your face but be beautiful in your practices. Do not get wealth in a bad way. Let no word accuse you in regard to those who have shared in your trust. Do not be reluctant to flatter your parents. Do not accept evil. Expect to receive from your children in your old age the same services you give to your parents. The good is hard to know.i The most delightful thing is to get what you desire (cf. Th 564 [321c]). Laziness is incurable. Lack of self-control is harmful. Lack of education is a burden. Teach and learn what is better. Do not be lazy, not even if you are rich. Hide evil at home. Do not be pitied for the sake of envy.1 Use moderation. Do not trust everyone. Ruler, rule thyself.

Th 363 Thales’ wise sayings. Anthology 3.2.19 (Concerning evil.) When asked what is most harmful, Thales [said] “Evil. Because when it is present it harms even things that are useful” (cf. Th 121).

Th 364 Thales’ wise sayings. Anthology 3.12.14 (Concerning falsehood.) When asked how far falsehood is from truth, Thales of Miletus [said] “As far as the eyes are from the ears.”

Th 365ii Thales’ wise sayings. Anthology 3.21.26 (Concerning “Know thyself.”) From the first book of Porphyry’s About “Know thyself” (Fr. 273 F Smith). What, then, was the holy command at Delphi and whose was it – the one that instructs those about to make a request from the god to “Know thyself”? For it seems neither to honor the god in the appropriate ways nor to pronounce that a person who is entan1

Cf. Tziatzi-Papagianni on Par.1 Thal. 14.

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W: Es ist schwer, sich selbst zu erkennen. W. does not translate this testimonium.

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εἰς ἀνθρώπους διαδοῦναι χάριτας, εἴτε Φανοθέα ἡ Δελφοῦ, εἴτε καὶ Βίαντος ἢ Θαλοῦ ἢ Χείλωνος ἦν ἀνάθημα, ὁρμηθὲν ἀπό τινος θείας ἐπιπνοίας‧ εἴτε Κλεάρχῳ προσεκτέον μᾶλλον τοῦ μὲν Πυθίου φράζοντι εἶναι παράγγελμα, χρησθῆναι δὲ Χείλωνι, τί ἄριστον ἀνθρώποις μαθεῖν πυνθανομένῳ‧ εἴτε καὶ πρὸ Χείλωνος ἦν ἔτι ἀνάγραπτον ἐν τῷ ἱδρυθέντι νεῷ μετὰ τὸν πτέρινόν τε καὶ χαλκοῦν, καθάπερ Ἀριστοτέλης ἐν τοῖς περὶ φιλοσοφίας εἴρηκεν. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 366 Anth. 4.1.134 (περὶ πολιτείας.) Τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν Περὶ πολιτείας ... Ἔπειτα Θαλῆς τὴν μήτε πλουσίους ἄγαν μήτε πένητας ἔχουσαν πολίτας [sc. κρατίστην εἶναι]. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 367 Anth. 4.7.47 (ὑποϑήκαι περὶ βασιλείας.) Τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν. δεύτερος δὲ Βίας εἶπεν, εἰ πρῶτος1 χρῷτο τοῖς νόμοις τῆς πατρίδος. ἐπὶ τούτῳ δὲ ὁ Θαλῆς ἔφησεν, εὐδαιμονίαν ἄρχοντος νομίζειν, εἰ τελευτήσειε γηράσας κατὰ φύσιν. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 368 Anth. 4.22b.58 (ὅτι οὐκ ἀγαθὸν τὸ γαμεῖν.) Θαλῆς τῇ μητρὶ γυναῖκα λαβεῖν δεομένῃ ‛οὔπω καιρός’ ἔλεγεν‧ εἶτα προβάς ‘οὐκέτι καιρός’. Sim. (views on the family) Th 112 (q.v.); (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

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ἀτρόποις Meineke: τρόποις S πρῶτος M πρῶτος τρόποις A.

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gled in ignorance of himself will not obtain from the gods what he requests. Either Phemonoe (who was the first through whom the Pythian is said to have transmitted favors to humans) proclaimed this for the sake of benefiting all human affairs, or Phanothea the daughter of Delphus, or it was an offering of Bias, Thales,1 or Chilon inspired by some divine purpose, or it is to be ascribed rather to Clearchus, who declared the pronouncement of the Pythian, and he proclaimed it to Chilon, who was inquiring what was the best thing for humans to learn. Also, even before Chilon it was inscribed on the temple founded after the temple of feathers and bronze, as Aristotle said in his work On Philosophy.

Th 366 Thales’ wise sayings; his political advice. Anthology 4.1.134 (Concerning the constitution.) The Seven Sages on the constitution.... Then Thales (cf. Th 122) [said that the strongest constitution] is the one that has citizens that are neither too rich nor too poor.

Th 367 Thales’ wise sayings; his political advice. Anthology 4.7.47 (Advice about kingship.) The Seven Sages. Next Bias said, “If he is the first to observe the laws of his country.” To this Thales declared that he considered a ruler happy if he died naturally in old age (cf. Th 122).

Th 368 Thales’ wise sayings; his views on marriage and family. Anthology 4.22b.58 (That it is not good to marry.) When his mother begged him to take a wife, Thales would say “It is not yet the right time”; and then in his old age, “It is no longer the right time”(cf. Th 129; Th 237 [Diog. Laert. 1.26]; Th 564 [318]).

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Cf. Flashar/Dubielzig/Breitenberger 2006, 133 f.

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Th 369 Anth. 4.22b.65 Θαλῆς ἐρωτηθεὶς διὰ τί ἀκμάζων οὐκ ἐπαιδοποίησεν, ἀπεκρίνατο διότι τὸ ζῆν οὐκ ἐβουλόμην λύπαις αὐθαιρέτοις κατεγγυῆσαι. Sim. (views on the family) Th 112 (q.v.); (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 370 Anth. 4.28.14 (οἰκονομικός.) Τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν περὶ τῆς κατὰ τὰς οἰκίας ἐπιμελείας. ὁ δὲ Θαλῆς, ἐν ᾧ πλείστην ἄγειν τῷ δεσπότῃ σχολὴν ἔξεστιν. Sim. (one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 371 Anth. 4.46.24 (περὶ ἐλπίδος.) Θαλῆς ἐρωτηθεὶς τί κοινότατον, ἀπεκρίνατο ‛ἐλπίς‧ καὶ γὰρ οἷς ἄλλο μηδέν, αὕτη πάρεστιν.’ Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Syrianus Th 372 In Aristotelis metaphysica commentaria 11.37–12.2 (ed. Kroll) [Metaph. 996a4] Εἰ δὲ Θαλῆς μὲν ὕδωρ τὸ ἓν καὶ τὸ ὂν ἔλεγεν, ἄλλος δὲ ἄλλο τι τῶν φαινομένων, δεδώκασιν εὐθύνας αἱ δόξαι παρά τε πολλοῖς καὶ διαφερόντως παρὰ τούτῳ τῷ δαιμονίῳ ἀνδρί. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

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Th 369 Thales’ wise sayings; his views on marriage and family. Anthology 4.22b.65 When asked why he did not have children when he was in his prime, Thales answered, “Because I did not want to pledge to live in griefs I had chosen for myself.

Th 370 Thales’ wise sayings. Anthology 4.28.14 (Estate manager.) The Seven Sages on the stewardship of households. Thales [said that the best estate manager is] the one who makes it possible for his master to have the most leisure (cf. Th 123).

Th 371 Thales’ wise sayings. Anthology 4.46.24 (Concerning hope.) When asked what is most universal, Thales answered, “Hope – for even those who have nothing else have this” (cf. Th 121).

Syrianus (first half of the 5th cent. CE) Th 372 Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics 11.37–12.2 [Metaph. 996a4] But if Thales said that water is the One and Being, and other people said that other things in the world of appearances are [the One and Being], the views found in the writings of many and especially in the writings of this divine man [Aristotle] have given account.

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Cyril of Alexandria Th 373 Contra Iulianum 1.14.520D (ed. Burguière/Évieux) Τριακοστῇ πέμπτῃ ὀλυμπιάδι Θαλῆς Ἐξαμύου Μιλήσιος πρῶτος φυσικὸς φιλόσοφος γενέσθαι λέγεται, παρατεῖναι δὲ τὴν ζωὴν αὐτοῦ φασιν ἕως πεντηκοστῆς ὀγδόης ὀλυμπιάδος. Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.)

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Contra Iul. 1.18.524C–D Εἶτα πῶς οἵ γε τοιοῦτοι καὶ χρηστομαθεῖν εἰωθότες κατημέλησαν ἂν τοῦ χρῆναι [524D] διαμαθεῖν ἱστορίας οὕτω σεμνάς, δογμάτων τε καὶ νόμων ἀρχαιοπρεπεστάτων ἀκριβῆ διασάφησιν; Καίτοι Πυθαγόρας ὁ ἐκ Σάμου καὶ Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος οὐκ εὐαρίθμητον ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ διατετριφότες καιρόν, συλλεξάμενοί τε τὰ ἐκεῖθεν καὶ μαθημάτων ἄθροισιν ἣν ἐσχηκέναι λέγονται συναγηγερκότες, εἰς τὴν ἐνεγκοῦσαν ἀνεκομίζοντο. Sim. (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.)

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Contra Iul. 1.38.544D–545B Πορφύριος μὲν οὖν, ὁ πικροὺς ἡμῶν καταχέας λόγους, καὶ τῆς Χριστιανῶν θρησκείας μονονουχὶ κατορχούμενος, τοὺς ὠνομασμένους ‘σοφούς’, τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντας ἑπτά, τὴν τοιάνδε κλῆσιν ἁρπάσαι φησὶν ἐξ αἰτίας τοιᾶσδε‧ γράφει δὲ οὕτως ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ βιβλίῳ τῆς ‘Φιλοσόφου ἱστορίας’ [= Porph. Fr. 203 F, 425 F Smith]‧ “Ἐννέα δὲ ὄντων, ἑπτὰ κληθῆναι ‛σοφοὺς’ ἐξ αἰτίας τοιαύτης. Ἁλιέως βόλον νεανίσκοις ἀποδομένου ἰχθύων, συνέβη χρυσοῦν τρίποδα ἐν τῷ βόλῳ εὑρεθῆναι‧ τοῦ δὲ ἁλιέως ἰχθῦς, ἀλλὰ μὴ τρίποδα πεπρακέναι λέγοντος, καὶ τῶν νεανίσκων εἰς τὴν αὑτῶν τύχην ἀναφερόντων τὴν εὕρησιν, ἔδοξε τῷ θεῷ τὴν κρίσιν ἐπιτρέψαι‧ τοῦ δὲ χρήσαντος διδόναι τὸν τρι- [545A] ποδα τῷ ‘σοφῷ’, Θάλητι πρώτῳ ὁ τρίπους προσηνέχθη, ὁ δὲ πρὸς Βίαντα ἀπέπεμψεν, ἐκεῖνον φάμενος εἶναι τὸν σοφόν‧ ὁ δὲ πρὸς ἕτερον πέμπει, κἀκεῖνος πρὸς ἄλλον, ἕως εἰς τοὺς ἑπτὰ τοῦ τρίποδος ἐκπεριαχθέντος καὶ πάλιν ὑποστρέψαντος ἐπὶ τὸν πρῶτον, ἔδοξεν ἀναθεῖναι τῷ θεῷ‧ τοῦτον γὰρ εἶναι πάντων τὸν σοφώτατον.” Ὁποῖαι τοίνυν

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Cyril of Alexandria (this work written ca. mid-5th cent. CE) Th 373 Thales’ dates. Against Julian 1.14.520D In the thirty-fifth Olympiad [640–647] Thales of Miletus, the son of Examyas, the first natural philosopher, is said to have been born. His life lasted until the fifty-eighth Olympiad [548–545] (cf. Th 306; cf., however, Th 500; Th 529; Th 557).

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Thales’ association with Egypt. Against Julian 1.18.524C–D Then, how could people of this sort, who were accustomed to love learning, have neglected the need [524D] to learn stories that are so revered, which accurately interpret the most venerable doctrines and laws? Indeed, Pythagoras of Samos and Thales of Miletus spent an amount of time in Egypt that is hard to calculate, and after gathering information from there and assembling a collection of the learning which they are said to have obtained, they brought it back to the land that bore them.

Th 375 Thales the Sage; the story of the tripod. In the context of the antecedence of Moses and Hebrew wisdom.

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Against Julian 1.38.544D–545B Porphyry, who poured down bitter words on us and all but danced in triumph over the Christian religion, declares that the men named Sages, seven in number, acquired this title for the following reason. This is what he writes in the first book of his Philosophus Historia [= Porph. Fr. 203F, 425 F Smith]. “Although they were nine, they were called the Seven Sages for this reason. A fisherman had promised to give a catch of fish to some young men, and it happened that a golden tripod was found in the catch. Since the fisherman claimed that he had sold fish but not a tripod, while the young men claimed

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αὐτῶν αἱ δόξαι γεγόνασιν, ἐπὶ καιροῦ λελέξεται πρὸς ἡμῶν‧ Θάλης μὲν οὖν ὁ Μιλήσιος νοῦν τοῦ κόσμου φησὶν εἶναι τὸν θεόν, Δημόκριτος δὲ ὁ Ἀβδηρίτης συμφέρεται κατά τι, προσεπάγει δέ τι καὶ ἕτερον‧ νοῦν μὲν γὰρ εἶναι τὸν θεὸν ἰσχυρίζεται καὶ αὐτός, πλὴν ἐν πυρὶ σφαιροειδεῖ, καὶ αὐτὸν εἶναι τὴν τοῦ κόσμου ψυχήν. Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ οἶμον ὥσπερ ὁλοτρόπως ἑτέραν [B] ἰὼν θεὸν διορίζεται εἶναι τοὺς ἀπείρους κόσμους, οὐκ οἶδ᾽ ὅ τι λέγων. Sim. (Thales’ prize/story of the tripod) Th 52 (q.v.); (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.)

Th 376 Contra Iul. 1.40.547D–548A Εἰ γὰρ δὴ βούλοιτό τις εὖ μάλα διαμαθεῖν τὸν ὀρθῶς τε καὶ ἀκιβδήλως ἔχοντα λόγον περὶ τοῦ πάντων ἐπέκεινα Θεοῦ, τὴν τίνος ἂν εἰσδέξηται δόξαν [548A] καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοι σκοποῦ; Θάλης μὲν γὰρ καὶ Ἀναξίμανδρος, ἕτεροί τε ὧν ἀρτίως διεμνημονεύσαμεν, εἰκῆ πεφλυαρηκότες ἁλοῖεν ἄν. Sim. (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.)

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Contra Iul. 2.14.571D–572A Πλούταρχος τοίνυν, ἀνὴρ τῶν παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς οὐκ ἄσημος γεγονώς, ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ βιβλίῳ τῆς τῶν ‛Φυ- [572A] σικῶν δογμάτων’ συναγωγῆς, οὕτω φησὶ περὶ τοῦ κόσμου‧ “Πυθαγόρας πρῶτος ὠνόμασε τὴν τῶν ὅλων περιοχὴν ‘κόσμον’ ἐκ τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ τάξεως. Θαλῆς καὶ οἱ ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἕνα τὸν κόσμον.” Sim. (one unique cosmos) Th 155 (q.v.)

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that the catch was their luck, they decided to turn the decision over to the god. When the god proclaimed in an oracle that they should give the tripod [545A] to the Sage, the tripod was first brought to Thales; but he sent it to Bias, declaring that he was the Sage. He in turn sent it to another, who sent it to another, until the tripod had gone around through the seven and returned again to the first. Then he decided to dedicate it to the god, for he is the wisest of all.” Wei will take this opportunity to state their views. Thales of Miletus says that god is the mind of the cosmos. Democritus of Abdera agrees to some extent1 but adds something else: he too maintains that God is mind, but [adds] that he is in a sphere of fire and that he is the soul of the cosmos. But Anaximander went an entirely different path [B], declaring that God is the infinite cosmoi – meaning I know not what.

Th 376 Thales’ theological views. Against Julian 1.40.545D–548A For if anyone should want to learn well the correct and genuine account about the all-transcendent God, whose opinion will he accept [548A] and not miss his goal? For Thales, Anaximander and the others we recently mentioned will be caught speaking random nonsense.

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Thales’ cosmology. Against Julian 2.14.571D–572A Plutarch, a man who was not without fame among them, says the following about the cosmos in the second book of his [572A] collection of Physical Doctrines [or Doctrines of the Natural Philosophers]: “Pythagoras was the first to name the extent of the universe ‘cosmos’ from the order it contains. Thales and his followers (Th 155) held that there is one cosmos.”

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Cf. DK II 68 A 74.

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Contra Iul. 6.184B–D (= Julian, Contra Gallilaeos Fr. 39 Masaracchia) Ἀλλ᾽ ἰδοὺ δὴ καὶ νῦν οἷς ἤδη προεῖπεν ἕτερα προστιθεὶς οὕτω φησί· πότερον οὖν χρή με κατ᾽ ἄνδρα ὀνομάζειν καὶ τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα ἢ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, οἷον Πλάτωνα, Σωκράτην, Ἀριστείδην, Κίμωνα, Θαλῆν, Λυκοῦργον, Ἀγησίλαον, Ἀρχίδαμον, ἢ μᾶλλον τὸ τῶν φιλοσόφων γένος, τὸ τῶν στρατηγῶν, τὸ τῶν δημιουργῶν, τὸ τῶν νομοθετῶν; εὑρεθήσονται γὰρ οἱ μοχθηρότατοι καὶ βδελυρώτατοι τῶν στρατηγῶν ἐπιεικέστερον χρησάμενοι τοῖς τὰ μέγιστα ἠδικηκόσι ἢ Μωσῆς τοῖς οὐδὲν ἐξημαρτηκόσιν. Αἰτιᾶται μὲν οὖν, ὥς γε οἶμαι, πάλιν τὸ πραχθῆναι δίκας τοὺς ἀπό γε τῶν Μωαβιτῶν, ὡς ὑφέντας τοῖς ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ τὰ τῶν γυναίων ἑταιριζόμενα, ἃ ταῖς τῶν σωμάτων ὥραις σεσαγηνεύκασιν εἰς ἀσέλγειαν οὐκ εὐαριθμήτους τῶν ὑπὸ θεῷ, καὶ τοῖς τῆς ἀποστάσεως ἐγκλήμασιν ἐνεῖσαι τοὺς ἀπατωμένους τελεσθῆναι παρεσκεύασαν τῷ Βεελφεγώρ.

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In Platonis Timaeum commentaria 20E, 1.81.6–13 (ed. Diehl) Λέγει δὲ καὶ 〈ἡ〉 περὶ τοῦ τρίποδος τοῦ σαγηνευθέντος ὑπό τινων νεανίσκων ἱστορία, κἂν μὴ πάντες αὐτὴν λέγωσιν, ὅτι τοῦ θεοῦ χρήσαντος τῷ σοφωτάτῳ δοθῆναι Θαλῇ μὲν προσηνέχθη πρῶτον, οὗτος δὲ πρὸς ἄλλον ἀνέπεμψε τῶν ἑπτὰ καὶ οὗτος πρὸς ἄλλον καὶ τέλος ἧκεν εἰς Σόλωνα, πάντων ἐκείνῳ παραχωρησάντων, οὗτος δὲ εἰς θεὸν ἀφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ ἀνήγαγεν εἰπὼν ἐκεῖνον εἶναι τὸν ὄντως σοφώτατον. Sim. (Thales’ prize/story of the tripod) Th 52 (q.v.)

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Th 378 A comparison of pagan generals with Moses in Julian’s writing proves the inferiority of the latter. The broader connection is the discussion of God’s providence, which extends to all humans and therefore favors the pagans (thus fragment 37). In the following passage, fr. 33, Cyril picks up (cf. palin) where for the Jewish-Christian presentation of a jealous God, which he rejects as a Platonist. Cyril already had treated the Moabite episode accordingly in book 5 (PG 76.752A–B). Here Julian uses it as an illustration of Moses’ cruelty.

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Quotation from Julian, Against the Galileans 6.184B–D But now consider other things he [Julian] added to what he had said earlier, speaking as follows (Th 297): “Now should I name individually the ways of life or the men, such as Plato, Socrates, Aristides, Cimon, Thales, Lycurgus, Agesilaus and Archidamus, or instead the classes of philosophers, generals, craftsmen, and lawgivers? For the most wicked and loathsome generals will be found to have treated the greatest wrongdoers more fairlyi than Moses did those who had committed no sin.” Now he is again, I think, finding fault with the punishment that was exacted from the Moabites for having supplied the Israelites with harlots who by the charms of their bodies ensnared countless numbers of the children of God in licentiousness, and after enticing them into the crime of apostasy prepared them to be initiated into the rites of Beelphegor.ii

Proclus Diadochus (412 – 485 CE) Th 379iii The story of the tripod. To Critias’s comment (Tim. 20D8–E1) that Solon was the wisest of the Seven Sages, Proclus introduces a version of the story of the tripod. Commentary on Plato’s Timaeus 20E, 1.81.6–13 Even if not everyone tells it, the story about the tripod caught in a net by some young men also says that when the god proclaimed an oracle that it should be given to the wisest, it was first offered to Thales, but he sent it to i ii iii

W: freundlicher W: sich dem Beelphegor zu weihen W. does not translate this testimonium.

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Th 380

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In primum Euclidis Elementorum librum commentarium Prologus 2.65.3– 11 Friedlein (= in part Eudemus Fr. 133 Wehrli2) Ὥσπερ οὖν παρὰ τοῖς Φοίνιξιν διὰ τὰς ἐμπορείας καὶ τὰ συναλλάγματα τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔλαβεν ἡ τῶν ἀριθμῶν ἀκριβὴς γνῶσις, οὕτω δὴ καὶ παρ᾽ Αἰγυπτίοις ἡ γεωμετρία διὰ τὴν εἰρημένην αἰτίαν εὕρηται. Θαλῆς δὲ πρῶτον εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἐλθὼν μετήγαγεν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα τὴν θεωρίαν ταύτην καὶ πολλὰ μὲν αὐτὸς εὗρεν, πολλῶν δὲ τὰς ἀρχὰς τοῖς μετ᾽ αὐτὸν ὑφηγήσατο, τοῖς μὲν καθολικώτερον ἐπιβάλλων, τοῖς δὲ αἰσθητικώτερον. Sim. (mathematics/geometry) Th 81 (q.v.); (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.)

Th 381 In Euc. 157.10–13 Τὸ μὲν οὖν διχοτομεῖσθαι τὸν κύκλον ὑπὸ τῆς διαμέτρου πρῶτον Θαλῆν ἐκεῖνον ἀποδεῖξαί φασιν, αἰτία δὲ τῆς διχοτομίας ἡ τῆς εὐθείας ἀπαρέγκλιτος διὰ τοῦ κέντρου χώρησις. Sim. (mathematics/geometry) Th 81 (q.v.)

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another of the Seven and he in turn to another and finally it came to Solon, since everyone yielded it to him. But he returned it to the god, declaring that he is truly the wisest.

Th 380 Thales and geometry. In his commentary on Euclid’s Elements, Proclus uses Eudemus1 to show a cultural development from the empirical knowledge of the East to Greek science.

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Commentary on the First Book of Euclid’s Elements Prologue 2.65.3–11 Just as the accurate knowledge of number got its beginning with the Phoenicians from their trading activities and commercial transactions, so also geometry was discovered by the Egyptians for the reason that has been given [measuring the land after the flooding of the Nile]. Thales, who had gone to Egypt, was the first to bring this studyi to Greece. He discovered many things himself and the principlesii of many others he set out for posterity, approaching some of them more generally and others in a way that is closer to perception. Also the following two reports probably go back to Eudemus.2

Th 381 Thales and geometry. Commentary on the First Book of Euclid’s Elements 157.10–13 They say that Thales was the first to prove that the circle is bisected by its diameter. The cause of the bisection is the undeviating progression of the straight line through the center.

1 2

Cf. Zhmud 2002, 297 f. Cf. Zhmud 2002, 268 as well as 284 with n. 91 on Porphyry as a possible intervening source.

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W: Wissenschaft W: die Anfänge

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Th 382 In Euc. 250.20–251.2; cf. Schol. in Eucl. El. 1.37 (Stamatis) Τῷ μὲν οὖν Θαλῇ τῷ παλαιῷ πολλῶν τε ἄλλων εὑρέσεως ἕνεκα καὶ τοῦδε τοῦ θεωρήματος χάρις. λέγεται γὰρ δὴ πρῶτος ἐκεῖνος ἐπιστῆσαι καὶ εἰπεῖν, ὡς ἄρα παντὸς ἰσοσκελοῦς αἱ πρὸς τῇ βάσει γωνίαι [251] ἴσαι εἰσίν, ἀρχαϊκώτερον δὲ τὰς ἴσας ὁμοίας προσειρηκέναι. Sim. (mathematics/geometry) Th 81 (q.v.)

Th 383 In Euc. 299.1–5 (= Fr. 135 Wehrli2); cf. Schol. in Eucl. El. 1.62.1–16 (Stamatis) Τοῦτο τοίνυν τὸ θεώρημα δείκνυσιν, ὅτι δύο εὐθειῶν ἀλλήλας τεμνουσῶν αἱ κατὰ κορυφὴν γωνίαι ἴσαι εἰσίν, εὑρημένον μὲν, ὡς φησὶν Εὔδημος (Th 44) ὑπὸ Θαλοῦ πρώτου, τῆς δὲ ἐπιστημονικῆς ἀποδείξεως ἠξιωμένον παρὰ τῷ στοιχειωτῇ. Sim. (mathematics/geometry) Th 81 (q.v.)

Th 384 In Euc. 352.14–18 (= Fr. 134 Wehrli2); cf. Schol. in Eucl. El. 1.88; 1.96–97 (Stamatis) Εὔδημος δὲ ἐν ταῖς γεωμετρικαῖς ἱστορίαις (Th 43) εἰς Θαλῆν τοῦτο ἀνάγει τὸ θεώρημα. τὴν γὰρ τῶν ἐν θαλάττῃ πλοίων ἀπόστασιν δι᾽ οὗ τρόπου φασὶν αὐτὸν δεικνύναι τούτῳ προσχρῆσθαί φησιν ἀναγκαῖον. Sim. (mathematics/geometry) Th 81 (q.v.)

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Th 382 Thales and geometry. Commentary on the First Book of Euclid’s Elements 250.20–251.2 We have old Thales to thank for the discovery of this theorem and many others. For he is said to have been the first to notice and state that the angles at the base of every isosceles [triangle] [251] are equal, except that he rather archaically called the equal angles “similar.”1

Th 383 Thales and geometry. Commentary on the First Book of Euclid’s Elements 299.1–5 Now this theorem proves that, when two straight lines intersect one another, their vertical angles are equal. It was first discovered by Thales, Eudemus says (Th 44), but was [first] thought worthy of a scientific demonstration by the author of the Elements.

Th 384 Thales and geometry. The second congruence theorem: two triangles are congruent if they have one side and both adjacent sides equal. Commentary on the First Book of Euclid’s Elements 352.14–18 Eudemus (Th  43) in his History of Geometry attributes this theorem to Thales. He declares that he must have used it, to judge by the method by which they say he proved the distance of ships at sea.2

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Cf. O’Grady 2002, 204 f.; Panchenko 1994, 37 ff. On the previous reconstructions of this hypothetical procedure, cf. Dührsen 2005, 87 f.

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Sidonius Apollinaris

Sidonius Apollinaris Th 385

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Carmen 2.156–163 (ed. Loyen) Nec minus haec inter ueteres audire sophistas: Mileto quod crete Thales uadimonia culpas, Lindie quod Cleobule canis: „modus optimus esto“, ex Efyra totum meditaris quod Periander, Attice quodue Solon finem bene respicis aeui, Prienaee Bia, quod plus tibi turba malorum est, noscere quod tempus, Lesbo sate Pittace, suades, quod se nosse omnes uis, ex Lacedaemone Chilon. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 386

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Carm. 15.42–50 Ilicet hic summi resident septem sapientes, innumerabilium primordia philosophorum: Thales Mileto genitus uadimonia damnat; Lindie tu Cleobule iubes modus optimus ut sit; tu meditans totum decoras, Periandre, Corinthon; Atticus inde Solon „ne quid nimis“ approbat unum; Prienaee Bia, plures ais esse malignos; tu Mytilene satus cognoscere, Pittace, tempus, noscere sese ipsum, Chilon Spartane, docebas. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

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Sidonius Apollinaris (430/1–480’s CE) Th 385i

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Thales the Sage; his wise sayings. Poem 2.156–163 And he heard these reports about the ancient sophists: Thales born in Miletus, you condemn pledges. Cleobulus of Lindos, you sing “Let moderation be best.” Periander of Ephyra, you contemplate everything. Solon of Athens, you do well to look at the end of one’s life. Bias of Priene, according to you the crowd of bad people is the majority. Pittacus, native of Lesbos, you urge us to recognize the right time. Chilon of Lacedaimon, you want all men to know themselves.

Th 3861

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Thales the Sage; his wise sayings. Poem 15.42–50 Here, then, reside those outstanding Seven Sages, the origins of countless philosophers. Thales born in Miletus condemns pledges. Cleobulus of Lindos, you command that moderation be best. Periander, you adorn Corinth as you contemplate everything. then Solon of Athens approves one thing “Nothing in excess”. Bias of Priene, you say that the majority are wicked. Pittacus, native of Mytilene, you taught [us] to recognize the right time. Spartan Chilon, you taught to know oneself.

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W. does not translate this testimonium.

i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

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Sidonius Apollinaris

Th 387

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Carm. 15.79–90 Thales hic etiam numeris perquirit et astris defectum ut Phoebi nec non Lunaeque laborem nuntiet anterius; sed rebus inutile ponit principium, dum credit aquis subsistere mundum. Huius discipuli versa est sententia dicens principiis propriis semper res quasque creari, singula qui quosdam fontes decernit habere aeternum irriguos ac rerum semine plenos. Hunc etiam sequitur qui gignere cuncta putabat hunc aerem pariterque deos sic autumat ortos. Quartus Anaxagoras Thaletica dogmata seruat, sed diuinum animum sentit, qui fecerit orbem. Sim. (Thales as representative of astronomy) Th  52 (q.v.); (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.); (eclipse/phases of the moon) Th 178 (q.v.); (the Earth rests upon water) Th 30 (q.v.) ; (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 388

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Carm. 23.97–110 His tu ciuibus, urbe, rure pollens, Consenti mihi gignis, alme, patrem, illum cui nitidi sales rigorque Romanus fuit Attico in lepore. Hunc Milesius et Thales stupere auditum potuit simulque Lindi est notus qui Cleobulus inter arces, et tu qui, Periandre, de Corintho es, et tu quem dederat, Bias, Priene, et tu, Pittace, Lesbius sophistes, et tu qui tetricis potens Athenis uincis Socraticas, Solon, palaestras, et tu, Tyndareis satus Therapnis, Chilon, legifero prior Lycurgo.

Sidonius Apollinaris

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Th 387

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Thales as astronomer; water as the first principle. Poem 15.79–90 Here also Thales investigates with numbers and stars in order to announce in advance the eclipse of Phoebus and the labor of the moon, but he posits a useless principle of things, since he believes that the world rests on water. His student has a different view, saying that each thing is always created from its own proper principles,1 and he decrees that individual things have certain springs ever flowing and full of the seeds of things. He in turn is followed by the one who thought that air generates all things, and who affirms that the gods are generated in the same way. Fourth is Anaxagoras, who preserves the doctrines of Thales but is aware of the divine mind that created the world.

Th 388

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Thales the Sage. Poem 23.97–110 Powerful in these, your citizens, your city and your fields, you, kindly one, gave life to the father of Consentius, a man whose sparkling wit and Roman sternness were accompanied by Attic elegance. Hearing him Thales of Miletus could have been amazed, and Cleobulus too, renowned among the citadels of Lindos, and you, Periander of Corinth, and you, Bias, whom Priene gave to the world, and you, Pittacus, the sophist of Lesbos, and you, Solon, who ruled stern Athens and surpassed the gymnasia of Socrates, and you, Chilon, native of Tyndarean Therapnae, who lived earlier than Lycurgus the law-giver.

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Cf. Th 311.

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Sidonius Apollinaris – Martianus Capella

Th 389

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Epistula 4.3.5 (ed. Loyen) Ad hoc unica singularisque doctrina et in diuersarum rerum assertione monstrabilis, cui moris est de singulis artibus cum singulis artificibus philosophari, quaeque, si fors exigit, tenere non abnuit cum Orpheo plectrum, cum Aesculapio baculum, cum Archimede radium, cum Euphrate horoscopium, cum Perdice circinum, cum Vitruuio perpendiculum quaeque numquam inuestigare destiterit cum Thalete tempora, cum Atlante sidera, cum Zeto pondera, cum Chrysippo numeros, cum Euclide mensuras. Sim. (the seasons) Th 178 (q.v.)

Martianus Capella Th 390

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De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii 2.212–213 (ed. Willis) Linum, Homerum Mantuanumque vatem redimitos canentesque conspiceres, Orpheum atque Aristoxenum fidibus personantes, Platonem Archimedenque sphaeras aureas devolventes. [213] ardebat Heraclitus, udus Thales, circumfusus atomis Democritus videbatur; Samius Pythagoras caelestes quosdam numeros replicabat, Aristoteles per caeli quoque culmina Entelechiam scrupulosius requirebat, Epicurus vero mixtas violis rosas et totas apportabat illecebras voluptatum. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Sidonius Apollinaris – Martianus Capella

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Th 389

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Thales the Sage. Letter 4.3.5 In addition, he possessed a learning unmatched and unique, remarkable for its ability to defend views on many subjects . His custom was to discuss the individual arts each with its own experts, not declining, if chance required, to hold a plectrum with Orpheus, a staff with Aesculapius, a rod with Archimedes, a horoscope with Euphrates, a compass with Perdix, a plumb-line with Vitruvius; a learning that has never ceased to investigate the seasons with Thales, stars with Atlas, weights with Zethus, numbers with Chrysippus, and measures with Euclid.

Martianus Capella (text probably ca. 470 CE) Th 390

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Water as the first principle. On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury 2.212–213 You could see Linus, Homer, and the poet of Mantua wearing garlands and singing, Orpheus and Aristoxenus playing their lyres, Plato and Archimedes rolling golden spheres. [213] Heraclitus was on fire, Thales moist, Democritus was seen surrounded by atomsi; Pythagoras of Samos was thinking about some celestial numbers, Aristotle was very carefully searching for Entelechy through the summits of heaven, Epicurus was carrying bouquets of roses and violets and all the enticements of pleasure.

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W.’s translation stops here.

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Pseudo-Galen

Pseudo-Galen Th 391

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De historia philosophica 3.1–6 (ed. Diels) Ἔστι τοίνυν ὁ πρῶτος ὑπὸ τῶν πλείστων ὑπειλημμένος τὸν φιλόσοφον τρόπον εἰς τοὺς Ἴωνας †εἰσηγμένος Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος, δι᾽ ὃν καὶ τὴν κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον φιλοσοφίαν Ἰωνικὴν ἅπαντες ὀνομάζουσιν. τούτου δὲ γνώριμος Ἀναξίμανδρος γεγονὼς ὁμοίως φιλοσοφῶν γέγονε καὶ τὸν Ἀναξιμένην μετὰ ταῦτα ζηλωτὴν εἶναι τῆς αὑτοῦ προαιρέσεως πεποιηκὼς Ἀναξαγόρου καθηγητὴν γενέσθαι παρεσκεύασεν. Sim. (Ionian school) Th 147 (q.v.); (Anaximander pupil/associate of Thales) Th 65a (q.v.)

Th 392

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Hist. phil. 18.1–7 Καὶ περὶ μὲν τῆς δραστικῆς αἰτίας ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον. διεξελθεῖν δ᾽ ἂν εἴη καιρὸς καὶ περὶ τῆς ὑλικῆς. οἱ φυσικοὶ περὶ ταύτης εἰπόντες εἶναι μὲν ἀρχὴν ὑλικὴν ἅπαντες ὁμοίως δεδώκασιν, οὐ μὴν ἅπαντες εἶναι τὴν αὐτήν. ἀλλὰ Φερεκύδης μὲν ὁ Ἀσσύριος γῆν εἶναι ταύτην ἐνόμισε, Θαλῆς δὲ ὕδωρ, Αναξίμανδρος δὲ τὸ ἄπειρον, Αναξιμένης δὲ καὶ Διογένης ὁ Ἀπολλωνιάτης ἀέρα, πῦρ δὲ Ἵππασος ὁ Μεταποντῖνος, Ξενοφάνης δ᾽ ὁ Κολοφώνιος γῆν καὶ ὕδωρ. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 393 Hist. phil. 35.10–12 (περὶ θεοῦ). Θαλῆς δὲ νοῦν τοῦ κόσμου τὸν θεὸν ἡγήσατο. Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ τοὺς ἀπείρους οὐρανοὺς θεοὺς εἶναι νομίζει. Sim. (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.)

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Pseudo-Galen (compilation completed ca. 500 CE) Th 391i

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Thales as founder of Ionian philosophy; Thales and Anaximander. On the History of Philosophy 3.1–6 Thales of Miletus is supposed by most to have been the first to introduce the Ionians to the philosophical approach. Because of him everyone calls his kind of philosophy Ionian. Anaximander became his acquaintance and came to practice philosophy in the same way, and afterwards made Anaximenes too a follower of his sect and prepared him to become Anaxagoras’s teacher.

Th 392ii

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Water as the first principle. On the History of Philosophy 18.1–7 So much for the active cause. But it is time to discuss the material cause as well. All the natural philosophers who have spoken about this have agreed in positing a material principle, but they have not all [posited] the same one. Pherecydes the Assyrian thought it was earth; Thales, water; Anaximander, the infinite; Anaximenes and Diogenes of Apollonia, air; Hippasus of Metapontum, fire; Xenophanes of Colophon, earth and water (cf. Th 140).

Th 393 Thales’ cosmology; his views on theology. On the History of Philosophy 35.10–12 (Concerning god.) Thales believed that god is the mind of the cosmos (cf. Th 149). Anaximander thinks that the infinite heavens are gods.

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W. does not translate this testimonium. W. does not translate this testimonium.

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Th 394

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Hist. phil. 36.1–5 (Περὶ ἡρώων καὶ δαιμόνων). Θαλῆς μὲν καὶ Πλάτων καὶ Πυθαγόρας καὶ πρὸς τούτοις οἱ Στωικοὶ γιγνώσκουσιν ὁμοίους1 εἶναι καὶ τούτους οὐσίας ψυχικάς. τοὺς δ᾽ ἥρωας ψυχὰς κεχωρισμένας τῶν σωμάτων, τὰς μὲν ἀγαθὰς τῶν τὸν βίον διαγαγόντων ἄριστα ἀνθρώπων, κακὰς δὲ τῶν πονηρῶν. Ἐπίκουρος δὲ οὐδέτερον τούτων συγκεχώρηκεν. Sim. (daimons, heroes) Th 150 (q.v.)

Th 395 Hist. phil. 40.1–2 (Περὶ ἀνάγκης.) Τὴν ἀνάγκην Θαλῆς ἰσχυροτάτην εἶναί φησι. κρατεῖν γὰρ αὐτὴν τοῦ παντός. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 396 Hist. phil. 44.2 (Περὶ κόσμου.) Θαλῆς ἕνα τὸν κόσμον. Sim. (one unique cosmos) Th 155 (q.v.)

Th 397 Hist. phil. 55.1–2 (Περὶ διαιρέσεως οὐρανοῦ.) Θαλῆς [τὸν οὐρανὸν οὐ] μεμερίσθαι τὴν τοῦ παντὸς σφαῖραν εἰς κύκλους τινὰς προσαγορευομένας ζώνας. Sim. (Thales as representative of astronomy) Th 103 (q.v.)

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ὁμοίους AB δαίμονας? (Diels).

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Th 394

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Thales’ views on the nature of the soul. On the History of Philosophy 36.1–5 (Concerning heroes and daimons). Thales, Plato, Pythagoras, and the Stoics as well think that these are similar, and that they are spiritual substances. Heroes are souls separated from bodies, the good ones belonging to humans who lived their life best, and the bad ones being [those] of wicked men. Epicurus agreed with neither of these [views] (cf. Th 150).

Th 395 Thales’ wise sayings. On the History of Philosophy 40.1–2 (Concerning necessity.) Thales says that necessity is most powerful, for it rules the universei (cf. Th 121; Th 154; Th 237 [Diog. Laert. 1.35]; Th 564 [320e]).

Th 396 Thales’ cosmology. On the History of Philosophy 44.2 (Concerning the cosmos.) Thales [said that] the cosmos is one (cf. Th 155).

Th 397 Thales’ cosmology. On the History of Philosophy 55.1–2 (Concerning the division of the heaven.) Thales [said that] the sphere of the universeii is divided into certain circles that are called zones (cf. Th 156, Th 353).

i ii

W: das Ganze W: des gesamten [Himmels]

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Th 398 Hist. phil. 56.1 (Τίς ἡ οὐσία τῶν πλανητῶν καὶ ἀπλανῶν.) Θαλῆς ὑπολαμβάνει γεώδη μὲν εἶναι τὰ ἄστρα, ἔμπυρα δέ. Sim. (nature of the stars) Th 157 (q.v.)

Th 399 Hist. phil. 66.1–3 (Περὶ ἐκλείψεως ἡλίου.) Θαλῆς πρῶτος εἶπεν ἐκλείπειν τὸν ἥλιον τῆς σελήνης αὐτὸν ὑπερχομένης κατὰ κάθετον οὔσης φύσει γεώδους. Ἀναξίμανδρος τοῦ στόματος τῆς τοῦ πυρὸς διεκπνοῆς ἀποκλειομένου. Sim. (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.)

Th 400 Hist. phil. 69.1–2 (Περὶ φωτισμοῦ σελήνης.) Ἀναξίμανδρος ἴδιον ἔχειν αὐτὴν φῶς εἴρηκεν, ἀραιότερον δέ πως. Θαλῆς δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου φωτίζεσθαι τὴν σελήνην. Sim. (moonlight) Th 159 (q.v.)

Th 401 Hist. phil. 81.1 (Περὶ γῆς.) Θαλῆς καὶ οἱ ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ μίαν εἶναι τὴν γῆν ὑπολαμβάνουσιν. Sim. (one Earth) Th 160 (q.v.)

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Th 398 Thales’ cosmology. On the History of Philosophy 56.1 (What is the substance of the planets and the fixed stars.) Thales supposes that the stars are earthy and fiery (cf. Th 157).

Th 399 Thales’ explanation of eclipses. On the History of Philosophy 66.1–3 (Concerning the eclipse of the sun.) Thales was the first to say that the sun is eclipsed when the moon, which is earthy by nature, goes perpendicularly underneath it. Anaximander [said that it eclipses] when the opening that lets fire blow out is closed (cf. Th 158).

Th 400 Thales’ cosmology. On the History of Philosophy 69.1–2 (Concerning the illumination of the moon.) Anaximander said that it possesses its own light, which is somehow weaker. Thales said that the moon is illuminated by the sun (cf. Th 159).

Th 401 Thales’ cosmology. On the History of Philosophy 81.1 (Concerning the earth.) Thales and his followers suppose that there is one earth (cf. Th 160).

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Th 402 Hist. phil. 82.1–3 (Περὶ σχήματος γῆς.) Θαλῆς καὶ οἱ ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ σφαιροειδῆ τὴν γῆν νομίζουσιν. Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ λίθῳ κίονι τῇ περιφερείᾳ ἐκ τῶν ἐπιπέδων. Ἀναξιμένης τραπεζοειδῆ. Sim. (spherical earth) Th 161 (q.v.)

Th 403 Hist. phil. 86.1 (Περὶ σεισμῶν γῆς.) Θαλῆς καὶ Δημόκριτος ὕδατι τὴν αἰτίαν τῶν σεισμῶν προσάπτουσιν. Sim. (the Earth rests upon water) Th 30 (q.v.); (earthquakes) Th 99 (q.v.)

Th 404 Hist. phil. 89.1–3 (Περὶ ἀναβάσεως τοῦ Νείλου.) Θαλῆς τοὺς ἐτησίους ἀνέμους αἰτιᾶται πνέοντας τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ *1 καὶ τῇ παροιδήσει τοῦ ἀντιπαρήκοντος πελάγους ἀντικόπτεσθαι καὶ πληροῦσθαι τὸν Νεῖλον. Sim. (flooding of the Nile) Th 13 (q.v.)

Th 405 Hist. phil. 130.1–3 (Πῶς αὔξεται τὰ φυτὰ καὶ εἰ ζῷα.) Θαλῆς καὶ Πλάτων τὰ φυτὰ ἔμψυχα ζῷα‧ φανερὸν δὲ ἐκ τοῦ σαλεύεσθαι καὶ ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς ἥκειν μετὰ βίας καὶ πάλιν σφοδρῶς ἀναχαλᾶσθαι, ὥστε καὶ συνέλκειν βάρη.

1

„ante καί hiat oratio“ (Diels).

Pseudo-Galen

341

Th 402 Thales’ cosmology. On the History of Philosophy 82.1–3 (Concerning the shape of the earth.) Thales and his followers think that the earth is spherical (cf. Th 161). Anaximander that [it is like] a stone column drum1, roundi with flat surfaces. Anaximenes that it has the form of a table.

Th 403 Thales’ explanation of earthquakes. On the History of Philosophy 86.1 (Concerning earthquakes.) Thales and Democritus attribute the cause of earthquakes to water (cf. Th 163).

Th 404 Thales’ explanation of the flooding of the Nile. On the History of Philosophy 89.1–3 (Concerning the rising of the Nile.) Thales attributes the cause to the etesian winds blowing towards Egypt, and says that the Nile is driven backii by the swell and becomes full when the sea comes against it (cf. Th 164).

Th 405 Thales’ views on the nature of the soul.

On the History of Philosophy 130.1–32 (How plants grow and whether they are living things.) Thales and Plato [hold that] plants are animate living things, that this is clear from the fact that they shake and the way it takes strength to bend them and that they rebound violently, so that they even pull heavy weights (cf. Th 359).

1 2

Cf. [Plut.] Plac. phil. 3.10.895D8–9. Cf. Daiber 1980, 242, 2–5.

i

W does not translate the rest of this sentence. The text is corrupt, and the present translation is conjectural. W: blokiert werde

ii

342

Iohannes L. Lydus – Simplicius

Iohannes L. Lydus Th 406 De mensibus 3.12.15–16 (ed. Wünsch) Θαλῆς δὲ καὶ οἱ ἀπ᾽ αὐτοῦ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου φωτίζεσθαι τὴν σελήνην ἐνέκριναν. Sim. (moonlight) Th 159 (q.v.)

Th 407

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De ostentis 9.30A–B (ed. Wachsmuth) (De solis lunaeque significatibus) 9 Ἰστέον ἐν πρώτοις ὡς μόνος ὁ ἥλιος καθολικὰς ἔχει ἐνεργείας, τῶν ἄλλων διοσημειῶν τοπικὰς ἐχουσῶν. δέδοται γὰρ ἅπαξ ἡλίῳ μὲν καλύπτεσθαι τῇ παρεμπτώσει τῆς σελήνης, αὐτῇ δὲ τῇ ἀντιπτώσει τῆς γῆς, καὶ τὸν μὲν ἐν συνόδῳ πάντων, [τὴν σελήνην] δέ, ὅταν ᾖ πλησιφαής. καὶ τούτου χάριν οὐδεὶς ἂν ἀμφισβητήσειε. προγνωσθῆναι δὲ τοῦτο λέγεται παρὰ μὲν Ἕλλησι πρὸς Θαλοῦ τοῦ Μιλησίου ἐπὶ τῆς ἐνάτης καὶ τεσσαρακοστῆς ὀλυμπιάδος, ἔτει ἑβδομηκοστῷ καὶ ἑκατοστῷ τῆς κτίσεως Ῥώμης ὕστερον, παρὰ δὲ Ῥωμαίοις ὑπὸ Σουλπικίου Γάλλου, μιᾷ πρόσθεν ἡμέρᾳ τῆς Περσέως τοῦ Μακεδόνος ἥττης. Sim. (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.); (dates) Th 171 (q.v.)

Simplicius Th 408

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In Aristotelis physicorum libros commentaria I Prooemium 6.31–7.1 (ed. Diels) Ἀλλ᾽ ὀλίγα ἔτι προσθεὶς ἐπὶ τὴν λέξιν τραπήσομαι. τῶν γὰρ πρὸ τοῦ Πλάτωνος φιλοσοφησάντων οἱ μὲν περὶ Θαλῆν καὶ Ἀναξίμανδρον καὶ τοὺς τοιούτους, ἅτε πρώτως τότε μετὰ τὸν κατακλυσμὸν καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀναγκαίων περιποίησιν φιλοσοφίας ἀρξαμένης ἐν τῇ Ἑλλάδι, τὰς τῶν φύσει γινομένων αἰτίας ζητοῦντες ἅτε κάτωθεν ἀρχόμενοι τὰς ὑλικὰς καὶ στοιχειώδεις ἀρχὰς ἐθεάσαντο καὶ ἐξέφηναν ἀδιορίστως ὡς πάντων τῶν ὄντων τὰς ἀρχὰς ἐκφαίνοντες.

Iohannes L. Lydus – Simplicius

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Iohannes Laurentius Lydus (John the Lydian) (490–ca. 560 CE) Th 406 Thales’ cosmology. On the Months 3.12.15–16 (Wünsch) Thales and his followers accepted that the moon is illuminated by the sun (cf. Th 159).

Th 407

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Thales’ prediction of an eclipse. On Portents 9.30A–B (Wachsmuth) (Concerning the signs of the sun and the moon.) In the first place it should be known that only the sun possesses universal activities, the other celestial bodies having only local ones. For it is granted uniquely to the sun to be eclipsed when the moon is in between [the sun and the earth] and to the moon [to be eclipsed] when it changes place with the earth, and that the [sun is eclipsed] when all are in conjunction, and [the moon is eclipsed] when it is full. And no one would doubt this. Thisi is said to have been predicted among the Greeks by Thales of Miletus during the forty-ninth Olympiad [584–581]ii, in the one hundred and seventieth year after the foundation of Rome, and among the Romans by Sulpicius Gallus one day before the defeat of Perseus of Macedon.1

Simplicius (ca. 490–560 CE) Th 408iii Thales as natural philosopher. Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics Prologue 6.31–7.1 I will turn to the text after adding a few more remarks. Of those who prac1

In the Battle of Pydna (168 BCE); Gaius Sulpicius Gallus is said to have given a scientific explanation of the lunar eclipse that occurred the night before the battle took place.

i ii iii

W’s translation begins here. W: [584–1] W. does not translate this testimonium.

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Simplicius

Sim. (natural philosophy) Th 81(q.v.)

Th 409

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10

In ph. 23.21–33 (ed. Diels = in part Theophrast Fr. 225 FHS&G) [Ph. 1.2.184b15] Τῶν δὲ μίαν καὶ κινουμένην λεγόντων τὴν ἀρχήν, οὓς καὶ φυσικοὺς ἰδίως καλεῖ, οἱ μὲν πεπερασμένην αὐτήν φασιν, ὥσπερ Θαλῆς μὲν Ἐξαμύου Μιλήσιος καὶ Ἵππων, ὃς δοκεῖ καὶ ἄθεος γεγονέναι, ὕδωρ ἔλεγον τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐκ τῶν φαινομένων κατὰ τὴν αἴσθησιν εἰς τοῦτο προαχθέντες. καὶ γὰρ τὸ θερμὸν τῷ ὑγρῷ ζῇ καὶ τὰ νεκρούμενα ξηραίνεται καὶ τὰ σπέρματα πάντων ὑγρὰ καὶ ἡ τροφὴ πᾶσα χυλώδης‧ ἐξ οὗ δέ ἐστιν ἕκαστα, τούτῳ καὶ τρέφεσθαι πέφυκεν‧ τὸ δὲ ὕδωρ ἀρχὴ τῆς ὑγρᾶς φύσεώς ἐστι καὶ συνεκτικὸν πάντων. διὸ πάντων ἀρχὴν ὑπέλαβον εἶναι τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐφ᾽ ὕδατος ἀπεφήναντο κεῖσθαι. Θαλῆς δὲ πρῶτος παραδέδοται τὴν περὶ φύσεως ἱστορίαν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐκφῆναι, πολλῶν μὲν καὶ ἄλλων προγεγονότων, ὡς καὶ τῷ Θεοφράστῳ (Th 38) δοκεῖ, αὐτὸς δὲ πολὺ διενεγκὼν ἐκείνων, ὡς ἀποκρύψαι πάντας τοὺς πρὸ αὐτοῦ‧ λέγεται δὲ ἐν γραφαῖς μηδὲν καταλιπεῖν πλὴν τῆς καλουμένης Ναυτικῆς ἀστρολογίας. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (the Earth rests upon water) Th 30 (q.v.); (writings) Th 88 (q.v.); (Thales as representative of astronomy) Th 103 (q.v.); (the first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 410 In ph. 24.13–16 [Ph. 1.2.184b15] Τῶν δὲ ἓν καὶ κινούμενον καὶ ἄπειρον λεγόντων Ἀναξίμανδρος μὲν Πραξιάδου Μιλήσιος Θαλοῦ γενόμενος διάδοχος καὶ μαθητὴς ἀρχήν τε καὶ στοιχεῖον εἴρηκε τῶν ὄντων τὸ ἄπειρον, πρῶτος τοῦτο τοὔνομα κομίσας τῆς ἀρχῆς.

Simplicius

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345

ticed philosophy before Plato – Thales, Anaximander, other such people, and their associates – since that was when philosophy was beginning in Greece for the first time after the flood and when necessities had been provided, these people investigated the cause of things that take place by nature, since they began at the bottom, and they observed the material and elementary principles and expounded opinions in an indefinite way, supposing that they were expounding the principles of all things-that-are.

Th 409

5

10

Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics 23.21–33 [Ph. 1.2.184b15] Of those who said that there is one principle and that it is in motion, whom he [Aristotle] specifically calls natural philosophers, some declare that it is limited – like Thales of Miletus, the son of Examyas, and Hippo, who seems to have become an atheist. They said that the principle is water, having been brought to this view by things that appear to perception. For the hot lives on the moist, dead things dry up, the seeds of all things are moist, and all nourishment contains juice – and it is the nature of all things to be nourished by the very thing of which they are composed. Moreover, water is the principle of the nature of moisturei and is what connects all thingsii. This is why they supposed that water is the principle of all things and declared that the earth rests on water. Thales is traditionally said to have been the first to reveal the study of nature to the Greeks, although many others had preceded him, as Theophrastus thinks too (Th 38), but he was far superior to them and so he eclipsed all his predecessors. He is said to have left no written works except the one called Nautical Astronomy (cf. Th 237 [Diog. Laert. 1.23]).

Th 410 Thales and Anaximander. Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics 24.13–16 [Ph. 1.2.184b15] Of those who said that [the principle] is one, in motioniii and unlimitediv, Anaximander of Miletus, the son of Praxiades, who was the successor and i ii iii iv

W: der feuchten Natur W: fähig, alles zu bewahren W: prozesshaft W: unendlich

346

Simplicius

Th 411

5

In ph. 36.8–14 [Ph. 1.2.184b15]   Ἀνάγκη δὲ ἤτοι μίαν εἶναι τὴν ἀρχὴν ἢ πλείους. Καὶ ὅσοι δὲ ἓν ἔθεντο στοιχεῖον, ὡς Θαλῆς καὶ Ἀναξίμανδρος καὶ Ἡράκλειτος, καὶ τούτων ἕκαστος εἰς τὸ δραστήριον ἀπεῖδεν τὸ καὶ πρὸς γένεσιν ἐπιτήδειον ἐκείνου, Θαλῆς μὲν εἰς τὸ γόνιμον καὶ τρόφιμον καὶ συνεκτικὸν καὶ ζωτικὸν καὶ εὐτύπωτον τοῦ ὕδατος, Ἡράκλειτος δὲ εἰς τὸ ζῳογόνον καὶ δημιουργικὸν τοῦ πυρός, Ἀναξιμένης δὲ εἰς τὸ τοῦ ἀέρος εὔπλαστον καὶ ἑκατέρωσε ῥᾳδίως μεταχωροῦν ἐπί τε τὸ πῦρ καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ὕδωρ, ὥσπερ καὶ Ἀναξίμανδρος, εἴπερ τὸ μεταξὺ διὰ τὸ εὐαλλοίωτον ὑποτίθεται. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 412

5

In ph 40.23–41.1 (Alexandrum excerpit Simplicius) [Ph. 1.2.184b16] ‘ Ἐκθέμενος τοὺς ἀκίνητον λέγοντας τὸ ὂν ἤτοι τὴν ἀρχὴν μεταβαίνει ἐπὶ τὸ ἕτερον τμῆμα καὶ φησὶν ἢ κινουμένην ὥσπερ οἱ φυσικοί, ἀντιδιαστέλλων τοὺς ἀκίνητον λέγοντας πρὸς τοὺς φυσικούς, ὡς μηδὲ φυσικῶν ὅλως ὄντων τῶν ἀναιρούντων τὴν κίνησιν, ὅπερ ἐφεξῆς σαφέστερον ἐρεῖ καὶ δείξει‧ εἰ γὰρ ἀρχὴ κινήσεως ἡ φύσις, πῶς ἂν εἴη φυσικὸς ὁ τὴν φύσιν αὐτὴν ἀναιρῶν. εἰώθασι δὲ τοὺς περί τι μέρος φιλοσοφίας σπουδάσαντας ἢ μόνον ἢ μάλιστα ἀπ᾽ ἐκείνου καλεῖν, ὡς ἠθικὸν μὲν ἐκάλουν τὸν Σωκράτην, φυσικοὺς δὲ τοὺς περὶ Θαλῆν καὶ Ἀναξίμανδρον καὶ Ἀναξιμένην καὶ Ἀναξαγόραν καὶ Δημόκριτον καὶ τοὺς τοιούτους’. Sim. (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.)

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student of Thales, said that the unlimitedi is the principle and element of things-that-are, and he was the first to introduce this name for the principleii.1

Th 411

5

Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics 36.8–14 [Ph. 1.2.184b15] It is necessary that there be either one principle or more. Everyone who posited one element, like Thales, Anaximander and Heraclitus, each of them had in mind its active nature and its suitability for causing generation. Thales [had in mind] the fertile, nutritive, connective,iii vital and malleable nature of water; Heraclitus the life-generating and creative nature of fire; Anaximenes the easily shaped nature of air and its ready ability to change in either direction, either to fire or to water; and likewise Anaximander, if indeed he posited the intermediate [as his element] because it is easily changeable.

Th 412iv

5

Thales as natural philosopher. Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics 40.23–41.1 [Ph. 1.2.184b16] [Quotation from Alexander] “After setting out the views of those who said that what-is or the principle is unmoved he passes on to the other division and says ‘in motion like the natural philosophers,’ distinguishing those who say it is unmoved from the natural philosophers on the grounds that those who eliminate motion are not natural philosophers at all, as he will state and prove more clearly in what follows. For if nature is a principle of motion, how could one who eliminates nature itself be a natural philosopher? People who study a particular part of philosophy either alone or chiefly, are customarily called from it, as they used to call Socrates an ethicist, and Thales, Anaximander, Anax1

Or: and he was the first to introduce the term “principle.” For discussion see Kahn 1960, 29–32; KRS 108 f.; Conche 1984, 55 f.; Maddalena 1963, 116 f.; Mansfeld 2002, 29 ff.

i ii iii iv

W: das Unendlich W: den Terminus ‘Prinzip’ einführte W: bewahrende W. does not translate this testimonium

348

Simplicius

Th 413 In ph. 113.27–30 [Ph. 1.3.186a19] Κατὰ ταύτην γάρ, ὡς ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος ἐξηγεῖται, δυνατὸν ἓν τῷ εἴδει λέγειν τὸ ὄν, ὥσπερ καὶ ἄλλοι τινὲς τῶν φυσικῶν ἔλεγον, Θαλῆς μὲν καὶ Ἵππων ὕδωρ λέγοντες, Ἀναξιμένης δὲ ἀέρα, Ἡράκλειτος δὲ πῦρ. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.)

Th 414

5

In ph 149.3–11 [Ph. 1.4.187a12] Καὶ γὰρ τῶν φυσικῶν οἱ μὲν ἕν, οἱ δὲ πολλὰ λέγουσι. καὶ τῶν ἓν λεγόντων δύο τρόπους εἶναί φησι τῆς ἐκ τούτου τῶν ὄντων γενέσεως. πάντες μὲν γὰρ σωματικόν τι τὸ ἓν ὑποτίθενται τοῦτο, ἀλλ᾽ οἱ μὲν ἕν τι τῶν τριῶν στοιχείων, ὥσπερ Θαλῆς μὲν καὶ Ἵππων τὸ ὕδωρ, Ἀναξιμένης δὲ καὶ Διογένης τὸν ἀέρα, Ἡράκλειτος δὲ καὶ Ἵππασος τὸ πῦρ (τὴν γὰρ γῆν οὐδεὶς ἠξίωσεν ὑποθέσθαι μόνην διὰ τὸ δυσαλλοίωτον), τινὲς δὲ ἄλλο τι τῶν τριῶν ὑπέθεντο, ὅ ἐστι πυρὸς μὲν πυκνότερον, ἀέρος δὲ λεπτότερον, ἢ ὡς ἐν ἄλλοις φησίν, ἀέρος μὲν πυκνότερον, ὕδατος δὲ λεπτότερον. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.): (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.)

Th 415

5

In ph. 180.14–16 [Ph. 1.5.188a19] Πάντες δὴ τἀναντία ἀρχὰς ποιοῦσιν ἕως τοῦ ὅτι μὲν οὖν τἀναντία πάντες ποιοῦσι τὰς ἀρχάς, 〈δῆλον〉. Καὶ οἱ ἓν δὲ καὶ κινούμενον τὴν ἀρχὴν ὑποθέμενοι, ὡς Θαλῆς καὶ Ἀναξιμένης, μανώσει καὶ πυκνώσει τὴν γένεσιν ποιοῦντες, ἐναντίας καὶ οὗτοι ἀρχὰς ἔθεντο τὴν μάνωσιν καὶ τὴν πύκνωσιν. Sim. (transformations of water) Th 94 (q.v.)

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imenes, Anaxagoras, Democritus and other such people and their associates natural philosophers.”

Th 413 Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics 113.27–30 [Ph. 1.3.186a19] In virtue of this [the material cause], as Alexander explains, it is possible to say that what-is is one in kind, as some other natural philosophers said too: Thales and Hippo, who declared that it is water; Anaximenes, that it is air; Heraclitus, that it is fire.

Th 414i

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Thales as natural philosopher; water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics 149.3–11 [Ph. 1.4.187a12] For in fact some of the natural philosophers say that it is one, others that it is many. He [Aristotle] says that those who say that it is one have two ways of generating things-that-are from it. They all suppose that this one thing is something corporeal, but some say that it is one of three elements, like Thales and Hippo who said that it is water, Anaximenes and Diogenes [who said that it is] air, Heraclitus and Hippasus [who said that it is] fire (for no one thought it right to posit earth alone because it is not easily changeable), while some posited something other than the three, something that is denser than fire and finer than air, or as he says elsewhere denser than air and finer than water.

Th 415 Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics 180.14–16 [Ph. 1.5.188a19: They all make the contraries principlesii ... that all make the principles contrariesiii is clear.] And those who posited the principle as one and in motioniv, like Thales and Anaximenes, and made generation occur through rarefaction and condeni ii iii iv

W. does not translate this testimonium. W: erblicken in den Gegensätzen Prinzipien W: erblicken in den Gegensätzen Prinzipien W: die ein einziges und bewegtes Prinzip postulierten

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Simplicius

Th 416

5

In ph. 202.32–203.5 [Ph. 1.6.189a34] Καὶ πάλιν εὑρίσκει συμφωνοῦντας αὑτοῦ τῷ λόγῳ τοὺς φυσικούς, οἳ μίαν φύσιν ὑποτιθέντες τοῖς ἐναντίοις, δι᾽ ἣν ἓν τὸ πᾶν ἔλεγον, ἐκ ταύτης γεννῶσι τὰ πάντα, ὡς Θαλῆς μὲν ὕδωρ, Ἡράκλειτος δὲ πῦρ, Ἀναξιμένης δὲ ἀέρα, Διογένης δὲ τὸ μεταξύ. καὶ γὰρ οὗτοι πάντες τὴν μίαν ταύτην φύσιν τοῖς ἐναντίοις ὑπετίθεσαν συγκρίσει καὶ διακρίσει ἢ μανώσει καὶ πυκνώσει τὰ ἄλλα γίνεσθαι λέγοντες ἀπ᾽ αὐτῆς. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th  29 (q.v.); (transformations of water) Th 94 (q.v.)

Th 417

5

In ph. 274.20–26 [Ph. 2.1.193a9] Ὥστε ὁ μὲν Ἀντιφῶν κοινῶς ἐῴκει λέγειν τὸ ὑποκείμενον τὴν φύσιν, τῶν δὲ ἄλλων ἕκαστος ὅπερ ἔλεγε πρῶτον ὑποκείμενον, τοῦτο καὶ φύσιν ἐκάλει τῶν ὄντων εἴτε ἓν ἦν τοῦτο, ὥσπερ Θαλῆς μὲν ὕδωρ ἔλεγεν, Ἀναξιμένης δὲ ἀέρα, Ἡράκλειτος δὲ πῦρ, εἴτε πλείονα, ὡς Παρμενίδης πῦρ καὶ γῆν, εἴτε τὰ τέτταρα, ὡς Ἐμπεδοκλῆς‧ γῆν δὲ μόνην οὐδεὶς εἶπεν, ἀλλὰ τῇ συνεκδρομῇ τῶν ἄλλων καὶ ταύτην τέθεικεν ὁ Ἀριστοτέλης. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 418 In ph. 452.30–32 [Ph. 3.4.202b36] Συμβεβηκὸς δέ τινι τὸ ἄπειρον ἐποίουν οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν φυσικῶν, οἱ μὲν ἀέρα ἄπειρον ὑποτιθέντες ὡς Ἀναξιμένης καὶ Διογένης, οἱ δὲ ὕδωρ ὡς Θαλῆς, οἱ δὲ τὸ μεταξὺ ὡς Ἀναξίμανδρος‧ Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

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sation, these too posited rarefaction and condensation as principles that are contraryi.1

Th 416ii

5

Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics 202.32–203.5 [Ph. 1.6.189a34] And again he [Aristotle] finds in agreement with his account the natural philosophers who posit a single nature for the contraries (which is why they said that the universe is one) and generate all things from this, as Thales [posited] water, Heraclitus fire, Anaximenes air, and Diogenes the intermediate. For all of these posited this single nature for the contraries, saying that the other things come to be from it by combination and separation or by rarefaction and condensation.

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Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics 274.20–26 [Ph. 2.1.193a9] Consequently, Antiphon seemed to be speaking generally when he said that the substrate is the nature, while whatever each of the others called the primary substrate, he also called the nature of things-that-are, whether it was one (for Thales said it was water, Anaximenes that it was air, and Heraclitus that it was fire) or more than one (as Parmenides said it was fire and earth) or all four (like Empedocles). No one asserted that it was only earth, although Aristotle posited it too on the analogy of the other elements [193a21].

Th 418iii Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics 452.30–32 [Ph. 3.4.202b36] But most of the natural philosophers made the infinite an attribute of something – some supposing air to be infinite, like Anaximenes and Diogenes, some water, like Thales, some the intermediate, like Anaximander. 1

188a22: καὶ οἱ μανὸν καὶ πυκνὸν.

i ii iii

W:als gegensätzliche Prinzipien W. does not translate this testimonium. W. does not translate this testimonium.

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Th 419

5

In ph. 458.19–26 [Ph. 3.4.203a16] Φυσικοὺς εἴωθε καλεῖν ὁ Ἀριστοτέλης τοὺς περὶ τοῦτο τὸ μόριον τῆς φιλοσοφίας καταγινομένους τὸ φυσικόν, καὶ τούτων ἐξαιρέτως τοὺς τῇ ὑλικῇ ἀρχῇ ἢ μάλιστα ἢ μόνῃ χρησαμένους. οὗτοι οὖν οἱ φυσικοὶ τὴν ὕλην ὑποτιθέντες τοῖς γινομένοις καὶ περὶ αὐτὴν τὸ ἄπειρον θεωροῦντες, εἰκότως οὐκέτι ὡς οὐσίαν ἀλλ᾽ ὡς συμβεβηκὸς ἔλεγον τὸ ἄπειρον. τούτων δὲ οἱ μὲν ἕν τι στοιχεῖον ὑποτιθέντες τοῦτο ἄπειρον ἔλεγον τῷ μεγέθει, ὥσπερ Θαλῆς μὲν ὕδωρ, Ἀναξιμένης δὲ καὶ Διογένης ἀέρα, Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ τὸ μεταξύ, [...]. Sim. (water as first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (monism) Th 193 (q.v.); (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.)

Th 420

5

In ph. 484.5–14 [Ph. 3.5, 205a7–205b1] Καὶ ὅτι ἀδύνατον ἀφωρισμένων τῶν τόπων εἶναί τι ἓν ἄπειρον, ὡς ἐναντιώσεως εὐθὺς οὔσης καὶ φθορᾶς τῶν λοιπῶν, δείκνυσι καὶ ἐκ τῆς τῶν ἄλλων φυσιολόγων ὑπονοίας τῶν ἓν ἄπειρον λεγόντων τὸ στοιχεῖον. οὐδεὶς γὰρ τούτων ἢ πῦρ ἢ γῆν ἄπειρον εἶπε τὸ στοιχεῖον, διότι ἀφωρισμένους ταῦτα τόπους ἔχοντα καὶ ἄπειρα ὄντα ἔφθειρε πάντως τὰ ἐν τοῖς ἀντικειμένοις ἀντικειμένην ἔχοντα τὴν φύσιν, ἀλλ᾽ ὕδωρ, ὡς Θαλῆς, ἢ ἀέρα ὡς Ἀναξιμένης, ἢ τὸ μεταξὺ ἐκεῖνο ὡς Ἀναξίμανδρος, διότι ταῦτα ἐπαμφοτερίζειν δοκοῦντα τοῖς τόποις καὶ ἄνω καὶ κάτω δυνάμενα εἶναι οὐκ ἦν φθαρτικὰ ὡς μηδ᾽ ἐναντία κατὰ τοὺς τόπους. Sim. (water as first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (monism) Th 193 (q.v.); (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.)

Simplicius

353

Th 419 Thales as natural philosopher; water as the first principle. The natural philosophers recognized that the unlimited is possible only as an attribute of something.1

5

Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics 458.19–26 [Ph. 3.4.203a16] Aristotle usually called those who devoted themselves to this part of philosophy – that which has to do with nature – natural philosophers, and especially those who made use of the material principle either chiefly or alone. So these natural philosophers who made matter the substrate of things that come to be, and regarded the infinite as surrounding iti – reasonablyii spoke of the unlimited as an attribute and no longer as a substance. Of these some posited a single element and called it infinite in magnitude, as did Thales water, Anaximenes and Diogenes air, and Anaximander the intermediate [...]

Th 420 Water as the first principle. The impossibility of an infinitely large elementary body.

5

Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics 484.5–14 [Ph. 3.5.205a7–b1] Also he [Aristotle] shows that there cannot be one infinite thing if different places are distinguished, both since there would at once be opposition and there would be destruction of the rest, and he also shows this through the supposition of the other natural philosophers who said that the element is one and infinite. For none of them [205a26] spoke of either fire or earth as the infinite element, because these, if they occupied distinct places and were infinite, would utterly destroy the things in the opposite [places] that had an opposite nature. But they spoke of water, as Thales did, or air as Anaximenes did, or that intermediate, as Anaximander did, because these seem 1

For Aristotle, infinity is a possible accident of an accident, and so in no way is there an infinite in the sense of a self-standing object. Infinity is only conceivable as a possible determination of a quantity, which in turn is conceivable only as a determination of something further, namely, of a substance. Every infinity is thus infinity of quantity (the number or extension) of an object (or group of objects). [...] The natural philosophers at any rate understood this correctly, that infinity is possible as the determination of something, for example as infinite water [...].” (Wagner4 1983, 498 f.)

i ii

W: an ihr W: natürlich

354

Simplicius

Th 421

5

10

In ph. 1319.17–27 [Ph. 8.9.265b17] Εἰπὼν δὲ ὅπως οἱ πλείονας ἀρχὰς τῶν γινομένων τιθέντες καὶ τούτων οἵ τε ποιητικὰ αἴτια παραλαμβάνοντες καὶ οἱ χωρὶς τούτου τὰς γενέσεις διακοσμοῦντες πρώτην τῶν κινήσεων ἀπελογίζοντο τὴν φορὰν ἐφεξῆς λέγει [265b30] καὶ ὅπως οἱ μίαν τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὸ στοιχεῖον λέγοντες, ὡς οἱ περὶ Θαλῆν καὶ Ἀναξιμένη καὶ Ἀναξίμανδρον καὶ Ἡράκλειτον, φυσικοὶ καὶ οὗτοι, τὴν φορὰν πρώτην τῶν κινήσεων τίθενται‧ διὰ γὰρ πυκνώσεως καὶ μανώσεως τὰς γενέσεις καὶ φθορὰς ἀποδιδόασι‧ σύγκρισις δέ τις ἡ πύκνωσίς ἐστι καὶ διάκρισις ἡ μάνωσις. οἰκείως δὲ οἶμαι οἱ μὲν ἓν λέγοντες πύκνωσιν καὶ μάνωσιν ἐκάλεσαν τὰ περὶ αὐτὸ πάθη, οἱ δὲ πλείονα σύγκρισιν καὶ διάκρισιν. καὶ ταῦτα δὲ καὶ ἐκεῖνα τὴν κατὰ τόπον ἐνδείκνυται κίνησιν. Sim. (transformations of water) Th 94 (q.v.); (monism) Th 193 (q.v.); (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.)

Th 422

5

In Aristotelis libros de anima commentaria 31.20–26 (ed. Hayduck) [de An. 1.2.405a19] Ἔοικε δὲ καὶ Θαλῆς ἐξ ὧν ἀπομνημονεύουσι. Ὅτι μηδὲν αὐτοῦ ἐφέρετο σύγγραμμα. τοσοῦτον δὲ περὶ Θαλοῦ ἱστορήσας, καὶ τοῦτο μετά τινος ἐπιτιμήσεως, ὅτι τῇ μαγνήτιδι λίθῳ ψυχὴν ἐδίδου ὡς κινητικῇ τοῦ σιδήρου, ἵνα κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον κινητικὴν εἶναι τὴν ψυχὴν πιστώσηται, οὐκέτι τὸ ὕδωρ εἶναι τὴν ψυχὴν εἰς αὐτὸν ἀνέπεμψεν, καίτοι στοιχεῖον τὸ ὕδωρ τιθέμενον, ἐπειδὴ τῶν σωμάτων τὸ ὕδωρ ἔλεγε στοιχεῖον, εἰκὸς δὲ ἀσώματον αὐτὴν ἐκεῖνον ὑποτίθεσθαι. Sim. (writings) Th 88 (q.v.); (nature of the soul/magnet) Th 31 (q.v.); (the soul is water) Th 221 (q.v.)

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to have no unambiguous places and can be above or below, and thus are not destructive since they are not contrary [to anything] in respect of their places.

Th 421 Thales as natural philosopher. Change in place as the basic kind of motion.

5

10

Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics 1319.17–27 [Ph. 8.9.265b17] After saying how those who posit more than one principle of things that are generated – both those who employ efficient causes1 and those who arrange the generation of things without this2 – reckoned locomotion to be the primary kind of motion, he [Aristotle] next says [265b30] how those too who say that the principle and element is one, like Thales, Anaximenes, Anaximander, Heraclitus, who are natural philosophers too, and their associates, posit locomotion as the primary kind of motion. For they explain generation and perishing in terms of condensation and rarefaction,3 and condensation is a form of combination and rarefaction a form of separation. In fact, I think that both those who say [that there is] one [element], calling its affections condensation and rarefaction, and those who say that there are more than one, [calling their affections] combination and separation, spoke appropriately. Both the former and the latter terms indicate motion in place.

Th 422

5

Thales’ views on the nature of the soul. Commentary on Aristotle’s On the Soul 31.20–26 [de an. 1.2.405a19: It appears from what they record that Thales too.] Because no treatise was attributed to Thales. He [Aristotle] reported only this much about Thales, and in fact with a touch of criticism, that he assigned a soul to the magnet since it causes iron to move, in order to confirm that according to him the soul causes motion. He did not attribute to him the view that soul is water, although he posited water as the element, since 1 2 3

Such as Empedocles or Anaxagoras. The Atomists. Cf. Kahn 1960, 55, who sees in the inclusion of Anaximander in the group of monists “who explain generation and corruption by condensation and rarefaction” a “carelessness on the part of Simplicius”.

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Th 423 In de an. 32.14–17 [de An. 1.2.405b1] Τῶν δὲ φορτικωτέρων καὶ ὕδωρ τινὲς ἀπεφήναντο, καθάπερ Ἴππων. Ἐτίθετο μὲν καὶ Θαλῆς ὕδωρ τὸ στοιχεῖον, ἀλλὰ σωμάτων, καὶ οὐχὶ τὴν ψυχὴν πάντως σῶμα ᾤετο. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (nature of the soul/magnet) Th 31 (q.v.)

Th 424

5

In de an. 73.19–23 [de An. 1.5.411a8] Ὅθεν ἴσως καὶ Θαλῆς ᾠήθη πάντα πλήρη θεῶν εἶναι. Ὅτι μὲν πλήρη πάντα θεοῦ, δημιουργοῦντος, ἀγαθύνοντος, συνέχοντος αὐτά, οὐδεὶς ἂν ἀμφισβητήσειεν. οὐ δὴ τοῦτο ἐπισημαίνεται, οὐδὲ τὸ ἴσως διὰ τοῦτο εἴρηκεν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ μεμῖχθαι. οὕτω γὰρ ἴσως καὶ Θαλῆς ᾠήθη πάντα πλήρη θεῶν εἶναι, τῷ μεμῖχθαι αὐτούς‧ καὶ τοῦτο ἄτοπον. Sim. (all things full of gods/daimons) Th  32 (q.v.); (nature of god) Th  72 (q.v.)

Th 425

5

In Aristotelis quattuor libros de caelo commentaria 520.26–31 (ed. Heiberg) [Cael. 2.13, 294a11 ff.] Καὶ πρῶτον μνημονεύει τῶν μένειν λεγόντων διὰ τὸ ἄπειρον αὐτὴν εἶναι, ὥσπερ Ξενοφάνης ὁ Κολοφώνιος, δεύτερον δὲ τῶν ἐφ᾽ ὕδατος ὀχουμένην μένειν, ὡς Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος, τρίτον δὲ τῶν λεγόντων μένειν αὐτὴν ἀνεχομένην ὑπὸ τοῦ ὑποκειμένου ἀέρος, ὃν ἐπιπωματίζει πλατεῖα οὖσα καὶ τυμπανοειδὴς ἡ γῆ καὶ οὐ συγχωρεῖ ἀναχωρεῖν‧ οὕτω δὲ Ἀναξιμένης καὶ Ἀναξαγόρας καὶ Δημόκριτος ἐδόκουν λέγειν. Sim. (the Earth rests upon water) Th 30 (q.v.)

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he said that water is the element of bodies; but it is likely that he [Thales] supposed it [the soul] to be incorporeal.1

Th 423 Water as the first principle; Thales’ views on the nature of the soul. Commentary on Aristotle’s On the Soul 32.14–17 [de an. 1.2.405b1–2: Some of the cruder ones, like Hippo, have also declared it to be water.] Thales also posited water as the element, but [as the element] of bodies, and he did not think that the soul was in any way body.

Th 424

5

Thales’ views on the nature of the soul. Commentary on Aristotle’s On the Soul 73.19–23 [de an. 1.5.411a8: This is perhaps why Thales also thought that all things are full of gods.] No one would doubt that all things are filled with god, who creates, perfects and sustains them. But that is not what is meant, nor did he say “perhaps” [a7] for this reason but with reference to being intermingled. For perhaps that is how “Thales thought that all things are full of gods,” by being intermingled in them. And that is absurd.

Th 425

5

Thales’ cosmology. Commentary on Aristotle’s On the Heaven 520.26–31 [Cael. 2.13.294a11 ff.] And first he mentions those who say it [the earth] is at rest because it is infinite, like Xenophanes of Colophon; second, those who say it is at rest because it rides on water, like Thales of Miletus; third, those who say it is at rest because it is held up by air that is underneath it, on which the earth, being flat and drum-shaped, fits like a lid and does not allow it to get out of the way – this is how Anaximenes, Anaxagoras and Democritus seem to speak.

1

Cf. Th 423.

358

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Th 426

5

In de cael. 522.13–18 [Cael. 2.13.294a21] Ἀλλὰ ταύτην μὲν οὐδὲ ἀντιλογίας ἠξίωσε τὴν δόξαν ὡς παντελῶς ἀπίθανον, ἐπ᾽ αὐτῇ δὲ τὴν Θαλοῦ τοῦ Μιλησίου τίθησιν ἐφ᾽ ὕδατος λέγοντος ὀχεῖσθαι τὴν γῆν ὥσπερ ξύλον ἢ ἄλλο τι τῶν ἐπινήχεσθαι τῷ ὕδατι πεφυκότων. πρὸς ταύτην δὲ τὴν δόξαν ὁ Ἀριστοτέλης ἀντιλέγει μᾶλλον ἴσως ἐπικρατοῦσαν διὰ τὸ καὶ παρ᾽ Αἰγυπτίοις οὕτως ἐν μύθου σχήματι λέγεσθαι καὶ τὸν Θαλῆν ἴσως ἐκεῖθεν τὸν λόγον κεκομικέναι. Sim. (the Earth rests upon water) Th 30 (q.v.); (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.)

Th 427

5

In de cael. 561.1–6 [Cael. 3.1.298b24] Διαστήσας οὖν οὕτω τὰς ἐναντίας ἀλλήλαις δόξας τρίτον προστίθησι τὴν τῶν κυρίως φυσικῶν λεγομένων δόξαν, οἵτινες πάντα γίνεσθαι λέγοντες ἓν μόνον ἔφασκον ἀγένητον ὑπομένειν, ἐξ οὗ τὰ ἄλλα γίνεται καὶ εἰς ὃ ἀναλύεται, Θαλῆς μὲν ὕδωρ, Ἀναξιμένης δὲ ἀέρα, Ἀναξίμανδρος τὸ μεταξύ, πῦρ δὲ Ἡράκλειτος. δῆλον δέ, ὅτι, κἂν ἀγένητον τὸ ἓν ἔλεγον ἐκεῖνοι, ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἀκίνητον, εἴπερ μετασχηματιζομένου αὐτοῦ τὰ ἄλλα γίνεσθαί φασιν. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 428 In de cael. 590.17–19 [Cael. 3.2.301a11] Μαρτύρεται δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους φυσιολόγους, τοὺς μὲν ἐξ ἑνὸς ποιοῦντας, ὥσπερ οἱ περὶ Θαλῆν καὶ Ἀναξιμένην καὶ Ἡράκλειτον, τοὺς δὲ ἐκ συγκεκριμένων, ὥσπερ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς. Sim. (monism) Th 193 (q.v.)

Simplicius

359

Th 426

5

Thales’ cosmology. Commentary on Aristotle’s On the Heaven 522.13–18 [Cael. 2.13.294a21] However, he [Aristotle] did not even consider this view [that the earth is rooted in the infinite] worthy of refutation since it is completely implausible. He next [Cael. 2.13.294a28 ff.] sets out the view of Thales of Miletus, who says that the earth rides on water like a piece of wood or something else of such a nature as to float on water. Aristotle refutes this view, which is perhaps more prevalent because it is stated by the Egyptians in the form of a myth, and Thales may have brought the doctrine from there.

Th 427

5

Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s On the Heaven 561.1–6 [Cael. 3.1.298b24] After thus distinguishing views that are contrary to one another, he [Aristotle] adds third the view of those who are strictly called natural philosophers, who said that all things come to be but that only one thing, which is ungenerated, persists and that the other things come to be from it and are dissolved into it. Thales [said that this one thing is] water; Anaximenes, air; Anaximander, the intermediate; Heraclitus, fire. Buti it is clear that even if those people said that the one is ungenerated, nevertheless it is not unmovedii, since in fact they declare that the other things come to be when it is transformediii.

Th 428 Thales as a monist. Commentary on Aristotle’s On the Heaven 590.17–19 [Cael. 3.2.301a11] He [Aristotle] calls as witnesses also the other natural philosophers, of whom some, like Thales, Anaximenes, Heraclitus and their associates, make [all things] come to be from one thing while others, like Empedocles, [make them come to be] from things which have been combined.

i ii iii

W: prozesslos W: prozesslos W: aux seiner Umgestaltung

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Th 429

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In de cael. 602.18–25 [Cael. 3.3.302a19] Ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὔπω δέδεικται τὸ εἶναι τέσσαρα στοιχεῖα, ἦσαν δέ τινες οἱ ἓν λέγοντες, Θαλῆς μὲν καὶ Ἵππων ὕδωρ, Ἀναξιμένης δὲ καὶ Διογένης ἀέρα, Ἵππασος δὲ καὶ Ἡράκλειτος πῦρ, καὶ τὸ μεταξὺ Ἀναξίμανδρος, εἰκότως προσέθηκεν, ὅτι, καὶ εἰ μὴ τέσσαρα εἴη τὰ πρῶτα σώματα ἀλλὰ ἕν, οὐκ ἐνυπάρξει ἐν ἐκείνῳ οὔτε κατ᾽ ἐνέργειαν οὔτε κατὰ δύναμιν τὰ ἐξ αὐτοῦ γινόμενα, ἀλλὰ προσθεωρητέον τὸν τῆς γενέσεως τρόπον· εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἐκκρίσει λέγει τις τὴν γένεσιν, ἐνυπάρχειν ἀνάγκη, εἰ δὲ κατὰ μεταβολήν, οὐκέτι. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 430

5

In de cael. 603.10–14 [Cael. 3.3.302a28] Πάντες γὰρ στοιχεῖον ἔλεγον, εἰς ὃ ἐνυπάρχον διαιρεῖται τὰ σώματα, αὐτὸ δέ ἐστιν ἀδιαίρετον εἰς ἕτερα τῷ εἴδει‧ ἀλλ᾽ ἡ διαφωνία γέγονε, καθ᾽ ὅσον τὴν τοιαύτην φύσιν οἱ μὲν ἄλλοις οἱ δὲ ἄλλοις σώμασιν ἐνυπάρχειν ἔλεγον, Ἐμπεδοκλῆς μὲν τοῖς τέτρασιν ἐκεῖνα λέγων στοιχεῖα, Ἀναξαγόρας δὲ ταῖς ὁμοιομερείαις, Θαλῆς δὲ τῷ ὕδατι, ἄλλος δὲ ἄλλῳ τινί. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 431

5

10

In de cael 615.8–21 [Cael. 3.4.303b4] Δείξας δὲ καί, ὅτι μὴ οἷόν τε ἀπείρους εἶναι τὰς τῶν σωμάτων ἀρχάς, καὶ ὅτι ἀνάγκη πεπερασμένας εἶναι, εἴπερ αἱ ἁπλαῖ κινήσεις πεπερασμέναι, ἐπὶ τοὺς ἓν τὸ στοιχεῖον λέγοντας μέτεισι. πλειόνων δὲ ὄντων ἄλλος ἄλλο τι τὸ ἓν ὑπέθετο τοῦτο, Θαλῆς μὲν ὁ Μιλήσιος καὶ Ἵππων ὕδωρ, ἐπειδὴ ἐξ ὕδατος τά τε σπέρματα τῶν ζῴων ἑώρων καὶ τὰς τροφὰς τῶν τε ζῴων καὶ τῶν φυτῶν, Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ Θαλοῦ πολίτης καὶ ἑταῖρος ἀόριστόν τι ὕδατος μὲν λεπτότερον ἀέρος δὲ πυκνότερον, διότι τὸ ὑποκείμενον εὐφυὲς ἐχρῆν εἶναι πρὸς τὴν ἐφ᾽ ἑκάτερα μετάβασιν. ἄπειρον δὲ πρῶτος ὑπέθετο, ἵνα ἔχῃ χρῆσθαι πρὸς τὰς γενέσεις ἀφθόνως‧ καὶ κόσμους δὲ ἀπείρους οὗτος καὶ ἕκαστον τῶν κόσμων ἐξ ἀπείρου τοῦ τοιούτου στοιχείου ὑπέθετο, ὡς δοκεῖ. Ἀναξιμένης δὲ ἑταῖρος Ἀναξιμάνδρου καὶ πολίτης ἄπειρον μὲν καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπέθετο τὴν ἀρχήν, οὐ μὴν ἔτι

Simplicius

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Th 429i

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Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s On the Heaven 602.18–25 [Cael. 3.3.302a19] Since it has not yet been proved that there are four elements and there were some who said that there is only one (Thales and Hippo [saying that it is] water; Anaximenes and Diogenes, air; Hippasus and Heraclitus, fire; Anaximander, the intermediate), it was reasonable for him [Aristotle] to add that even if the primary bodies were not four but one, the things that come to be from it would not inhere in it either in actuality or in potentiality, but one should also investigate the manner of their generation. For if someone says that generation occurs by separation out, it is necessary that they inhere, but if it does so by change, this is no longer the case.

Th 430ii

5

Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s On the Heaven 603.10–14 [Cael. 3.3.302a28] Everyone said that an element is that which inheres in bodies and into which they are divided, while it cannot be divided into things different in kind [from it]. The disagreement has arisen insofar as different people said that this kind of nature inheres in different bodies. Empedocles said it inheres in the four [simple bodies] and called them elements, Anaxagoras said it inheres in the homoeomeries, Thales in water, other people in others.

Th 431

5

Water as the first principle; Thales and Anaximander. Commentary on Aristotle’s On the Heaven 615.8–21 [Cael. 3.5.303b4] After proving both that the principles of bodies cannot be infinite and that it is necessary for them to be finite since in fact the simple motions are finite, he [Aristotle] turns to those who say that there is one element. There are several such people, and different ones supposed this one [element]iii to be different things. Thales of Miletus and Hippo [said it is] water because they saw that the seeds of animals and the nourishment of both animals and plants are made of water. Anaximander, a fellow citizen and associate i ii iii

W. does not translate this testimonium. W. does not translate this testimonium. W: dieses Eine

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ἀόριστον‧ ἀέρα γὰρ ἔλεγεν εἶναι ἀρκεῖν νομίζων τὸ τοῦ ἀέρος εὐαλλοίωτον πρὸς μεταβολήν. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 432

5

In Aristotelis categorias commentarium 191.2–7 (ed. Kalbfleisch) [Cat. 7.7b15] Ὡς γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ, φησίν, προϋπαρχόντων τῶν πραγμάτων τὰς ἐπιστήμας λαμβάνομεν‧ οὖσιν γὰρ αὐτοῖς πελάζομεν, καὶ ὅτε ἦμεν κομιδῇ βρέφη, τὰ μὲν ἐπιστητὰ ὕστερον ἡμῖν γενόμενα καὶ τότε ἦν, ἐπιστήμη δὲ αὐτῶν οὔπω ἦν, καὶ ἡ μὲν τῆς ἐκλείψεως ἐπιστήμη διὰ Θαλοῦ ὕστερον ἦλθεν εἰς τοὺς Ἕλληνας, ἡ δὲ ἔκλειψις αὐτὴ καὶ τὸ ἐπιστητὸν προϋπῆρχεν. Sim. (eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.); (relation between knowledge and the knowable) Th 244 (q.v.)

Th 433

5

In cat. 194.11–15 [Cat. 7.7b15] Ἰστέον μέντοι ὅλως μὴ εἶναί ποτε θάτερον τῶν πρός τι μὴ οὐχὶ καὶ τοῦ ἑτέρου ὄντος. ἡ γὰρ τῆς σελήνης ἔκλειψις ἦν μὲν καὶ πρὸ Θαλοῦ, ἐπιστητὸν δὲ οὐκ ἦν τοῖς Ἕλλησιν πρὸ Θαλοῦ‧ εἰ δὲ βαρβάροις τισὶν ἦν ἐπιστητόν, ἦν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπιστήμη παρ᾽ ἐκείνοις, ὥστε ἢ ἄμφω δεῖ εἶναι ἢ μηδέτερον. Sim. (eclipse/phases of the moon) Th 178 (q.v.); (relation between knowledge and the knowable) Th 244 (q.v.)

Simplicius

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of Thales, [said it is] something indeterminate which is finer than water and denser than air, because the substrate should be naturally adapted for changing in both directions; he was the first to hypothesize [that the element is] infinite, so that he could use it for generating things without stinting; and it seems that he posited infinite cosmoi and that each of the cosmoi [came to be] from this kind of an infinite element. Anaximenes, an associate and fellow citizen of Anaximander, also posited a principle that is infinite but not indeterminate as well; he said it is air, thinking that the easily changeable nature of air is sufficient [to account] for change.

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Thales’ explanation of eclipses. Commentary on Aristotle’s Categories 191.2–7 [Cat. 7.7b15] For the most part, he declares, we acquire knowledge of things that exist previously. For we approach what is already in existence, and when we were mere infants, what later became known to us existed then, while our knowledge of it did not yet exist; the knowledge of the eclipse came later to the Greeks, through Thales, whereas eclipses themselves and their knowability existed previously.

Th 433

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Thales’ explanation of eclipses. Commentary on Aristotle’s Categories 194.11–15 [Cat. 7.7b15] But we must know that in general one relative can never exist unless the other exists too. For the eclipse of the moon existed even before Thales, but it was not knownii to the Greeks before Thales. But if it was knowniii to any foreigners, then they had knowledge of it, and so either both must exist, or neither.

i ii iii

W. does not translate this testimonium. W: wissbar W: wissbar

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In Aristotelis categorias commentarium 118.4–25 (ed. Busse) [Cat. 7.7b22–24] Τὸ οὖν ἐπιστητὸν τῆς ἐπιστήμης πρότερον ἂν δόξειεν εἶναι φύσει‧ ἐπιστητοῦ γὰρ μὴ ὄντος ἐπιστήμη οὐκ ἔστιν, ἐπιστήμης δὲ μὴ οὔσης τὸ ἐπιστητὸν δύναται εἶναι. ἀμέλει φασὶ Θαλῆν τὸν Μιλήσιον πρῶτον ἐπιστῆσαι τῇ αἰτίᾳ τῆς σεληνιακῆς ἐκλείψεως κατανοήσαντα ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ ἡλίου ἡ σελήνη δέχεται τὸ φῶς, διότι ἀεὶ τὸ πεφωτισμένον αὐτῆς μέρος πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον νεύει, ὅθεν αὐξομένη μὲν τῇ ἀποστάσει τοῦ ἡλίου τὸ μὲν πεφωτισμένον μέρος ἔχει πρὸς δυσμάς, δυτικωτέρου ὄντος τότε τοῦ ἡλίου, τὸ δὲ κερατοειδὲς αὐτῆς καὶ ἀφώτιστον νεύει πρὸς ἀνατολάς. ἐπὰν δὲ γένηται ἀντιπρόσωπος ὅλη τῷ ἡλίῳ, κατὰ διάμετρον αὐτοῦ ἀποστᾶσα, τότε πᾶσα φωτίζεται ὅλη ὅλῳ τῷ ἡλίῳ προσβάλλουσα (ὅλην δὲ λέγω κατὰ τὸ πρὸς ἡμᾶς αὐτῆς νενευκὸς μέρος), ἡνίκα δὲ ἄρξηται μειοῦσθαι τῇ συνόδῳ τῇ πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον, τότε πάλιν τὸ μὲν πεφωτισμένον αὐτῆς μέρος νεύει πρὸς ἀνατολάς, τοῦ ἡλίου τότε ἀνατολικωτέρου ὄντος, τὸ δὲ ἀφώτιστον καὶ κερατοειδὲς πρὸς δυσμάς. ἐντεῦθεν τοίνυν ἐπέστησε τῇ σεληνιακῇ ἐκλείψει, ὅτι ἐπειδὰν ἐμπέσῃ εἰς τὸ καλούμενον σκίασμα τῆς γῆς, τοῦ ἡλίου κατὰ κάθετον αὐτῇ ὄντος ἐν τῷ ὑπὸ γῆν ἡμισφαιρίῳ, πάσχειν συμβαίνει αὐτῇ παντελῆ ἔκλειψιν, τῶν ἀκτίνων τῶν ἡλιακῶν μηδαμῶς αὐτῇ προσβαλλουσῶν. ἀμέλει εἰ μὴ ἐν πανσελήνῳ μόνῃ τοῦτο οὐ συμβαίνει. εἰ τοίνυν πρῶτος ὁ Θαλῆς ἐπέστησε τῇ σεληνιακῇ ἐκλείψει, δῆλον ὅτι πρὸ αὐτοῦ τὸ μὲν ἐπιστητὸν ἦν, λέγω δὴ ἡ σεληνιακὴ ἔκλειψις, ἐπιστήμη δὲ ταύτης οὐκ ἦν. Sim. (eclipse/phases of the moon) Th 178 (q.v.); (moonlight) Th 159 (q.v.); (relation between knowledge and the knowable) Th 244 (q.v.)

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Thales’ explanation of eclipses. Commentary on Aristotle’s Categories 118.4–25 [Cat. 7.7b22–24] The knowable would seem to be prior in nature to knowledge, for if the knowable does not exist there is no knowledge, but if there is no knowledge the knowable can exist. For instance they say that Thales of Miletus was the first to notice the cause of lunar eclipses since he had understood that the moon receives its light from the sun because its illuminated part always faces the sun, and this is why it happens that when it is waxing because of its [increasing] distancei from the sun13/ its illuminated part faces the sunset, since then the sun is further west, and its crescent and its unilluminated part face the sunrise. But when all of it comes to be facing the sun and it is diametricallyii opposite, then all of it is illuminated, entirely facing the entire sun. (By “entire” I am referring to the part of it that is facing us.) But when it begins to wane in its approach toward the sun, at that time its illuminated part in turn faces the sunrise, the sun at that point being further east, and its unilluminated part and its crescent face the sunset. Next he paid attention to lunar eclipses: the moon experiences total eclipse when it enters the so-called shadow of the earth when the sun is perpendicular to it in the hemisphere underneath the earth, where the sun’s rays cannot strike it. Of course this does not occur except at full moon. So if Thales 1

By apostasis he means the continually increasing angular distance between sun and moon during the moon’s waxing. If at the first appearance of the waxing moon (after new moon), an observer on earth gazes at the sun on the one side and the moon on the other, the two lines of sight enclose a small angle. As the moon travels through the constellations of the zodiac, this angle (as well as the illuminated part of the moon) becomes larger and larger until it reaches 180 degrees at full moon. Then the sun and moon are in opposition. Up to this point of time, the illuminated part of the moon faces west, and the unilluminated part east. That is exactly what changes when the moon begins to wane. Then the illuminated portion faces east and the unilluminated part west. Synodos is another term for the motion of the moon from its opposition to the sun (full moon) to its conjunction with the sun (new moon), through which the angular distance between the two heavenly bodies, which was 180 degrees at full moon, becomes smaller and smaller, until at new moon it reaches the value of zero degrees (a friendly tip from Dr. Harald Merklin, Freiburg in Briesgau).

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In cat. 123.18–30 [Cat. 7.8a6] Ὅταν οὖν τὸ ἐπιστητὸν ἢ τὸ αἰσθητὸν ἐνεργείᾳ ᾖ, καὶ ἡ ἐπιστήμη καὶ ἡ αἴσθησις ἐνεργείᾳ ἔσται, ἐὰν δὲ τὰ πρότερα δυνάμει, δυνάμει καὶ τὰ δεύτερα. εἴ οὖν τις τὴν ἔκλειψιν τὴν σεληνιακὴν πρὸ τοῦ Θαλοῦ ὡς ἐπιστητὸν προεπινοήσειε, δυνάμει ἔσται ἐπιστητὸν καὶ οὐκ ἐνεργείᾳ, καὶ ἡ ἐπιστήμη δὲ ταύτης πάντως καὶ αὐτὴ δυνάμει προεπινοηθήσεται‧ εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἦν πρὸ τοῦ Θαλοῦ ἡ ἐπιστήμη τῆς σεληνιακῆς ἐκλείψεως δυνάμει, οὐδ᾽ ἂν ἐκβεβήκει εἰς ἐνέργειαν ἐπὶ αὐτοῦ‧ ὃ γὰρ πρότερον οὐκ εἶχε δύναμιν τοῦ γενέσθαι, τοῦτο ἀδύνατον εἰς ὕστερον γενέσθαι‧ ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ ἵππος οὐκ ἔχων δύναμιν τοῦ γενέσθαι γραμματικὸς οὐδέποτε ἐνεργείᾳ γενήσεται γραμματικός, οὕτως εἰ μὴ πρὸ τοῦ Θαλοῦ δυνάμει ὑπῆρχεν ἡ ἐπιστήμη τῆς σεληνιακῆς ἐκλείψεως, οὐδ᾽ ἂν ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ εἰς ἐνέργειαν προήχθη. ἐνεργείᾳ δὲ ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῦ γενομένης τῆς ἐπιστήμης καὶ τὸ ἐπιστητόν, ἡ σεληνιακὴ ἔκλειψις, ἐνεργείᾳ γεγένηται. Sim. (eclipse/phases of the moon) Th 178 (q.v.); (relation between knowledge and the knowable) Th 244 (q.v.)

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In Aristotelis libros de Generatione et Corruptione commentaria 11.1–12 (ed. Vitelli) [GC 1.1.314a11] Ὅσοι, φησίν, ἑνὸς πλείω τὴν ὕλην τιθέασιν, ὕλην καλέσας τὰ πρῶτα παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς στοιχεῖα (κατὰ γὰρ ἐκείνους ὕλη ταῦτα, ἀμετάβλητα καὶ ἀναλλοίωτα αὐτὰ ὑποτιθεμένους), κατὰ τούτους, φησίν, ἕτερον γένεσις ἀλλοιώσεως. οὐκ εἰπὼν δὲ τίνες ἓν τὸ στοιχεῖον ὑπέθεντο, τοὺς πλείω λέγοντας προσέθηκεν, εἰπὼν Ἐμπεδοκλέα (οὗτος γὰρ τέσσαρα στοιχεῖα ὑπέθετο, πῦρ καὶ ἀέρα καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ γῆν), καὶ Ἀναξαγόραν ἀπείρους ὁμοιομερείας ὑποθέμενον, καὶ Λεύκιππον‧ οὗτος γὰρ καὶ Δημόκριτος ἄπειρα ὑπέθεντο σώματα, ἄπειρα δὲ καὶ πλήθει καὶ τῇ τῶν σχημάτων διαφορᾷ. εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ οἱ ἓν τὸ ὑποκείμενον ποιοῦντες, ὡς Θαλῆς μὲν τὸ ὕδωρ, Ἀναξιμένης δὲ καὶ Διογένης τὸν ἀέρα, Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ τὴν μεταξὺ φύσιν ἀέρος καὶ ὕδατος οὖσαν ἄπειρον, Ἡράκλειτος δὲ τὸ πῦρ.

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was the first to pay attention to lunar eclipses, it is clear that before him the knowable existed – that is, lunar eclipses – but there was no knowledge of it.

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Thales’ explanation of eclipses. Commentary on Aristotle’s Categories 123.18–30 [Cat. 7.8a6] So when the knowable or the perceptible is actually, the knowledge and perception will actually be too. But if the former are potentially, the latter are potentially too. So if before Thales anyone were to have understood a lunar eclipse as knowable, it will have been potentially but not actually knowable, and the knowledge of it [the lunar eclipse] will have been understood potentially. For if knowledge of lunar eclipses did not exist potentially before Thales, neither could it have emerged into actuality in that person’s time. For what did not previously have the potentiality to come to be cannot afterwards come to be. For just as a horse, which does not have the potentiality to become grammatical, will never become actually grammatical, so unless before Thales there was potentially knowledge of the lunar eclipse, it could not have been brought into actuality by him. But since it became actual knowledge in his time, also the knowable, the lunar eclipse, came to be actual.

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Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s On Generation and Corruption 11.1–12 [GC 1.1.314a11] All those who posit that matter is more than one, he [Aristotle] declares, calling their primary elements “matter” (for according to them these [primary elements] are matter, since they posit them to be unchanging and unalterable) – according to them, he declares, generation is different from alteration. Although he did not say who it was that posited that the element is one, he added [the names of] those who say there are more than one, mentioning Empedocles (for he posited four elements: fire, air, water and earth), Anaxagoras (who posited an infinite number of homeomeries), and

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Sim. (water as the first principle) Th  29 (q.v.); (transformations of water) Th 94 (q.v.)

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In GC 124.15–22 [GC 1.6.322b1] Διὰ τοῦτο πρῶτον τὸν περὶ αὐτῶν προχειρίζεται λόγον, εἴτε ἔστι στοιχεῖα τῶν γινομένων τὰ τέσσαρα ταῦτα τὰ πολυθρύλλητα εἴτε μὴ ἔστι, καὶ πότερον γενητά ἐστι ταῦτα ἢ ἀγένητα καὶ ἀμετάβλητα, ὡς ἐδόκει Ἐμπεδοκλεῖ, καὶ εἰ γενητά, πότερον ἐξ ἀλλήλων ἢ ἐξ ἄλλου τινός, καὶ εἰ ἐξ ἀλλήλων, πότερον ὁμοίως πάντα εἰς πάντα μεταβάλλει ἢ ἔστι τι αὐτῶν πρῶτον ἐξ οὗ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα μεταβάλλει, οἷον ὕλη τοῖς λοιποῖς ὑποκείμενον, ὡς δοκεῖ Θαλῇ μὲν τὸ ὕδωρ, ἀὴρ δὲ Ἀναξιμένει, πῦρ δὲ Ἡρακλείτῳ. Sim. (water as first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

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In GC 206.21–31 [GC 2.1.328b34] Κατασκευάσας ὅτι χρὴ περὶ τῶν γινομένων καὶ φθειρομένων τὸν λόγον ποιουμένους τῶν αἰσθητῶν σωμάτων τὰς ἀρχὰς ζητεῖν (ἐν τούτοις γὰρ ἡ γένεσις καὶ ἡ φθορά), νῦν χωρεῖ ἐπὶ τὴν ζήτησιν, καὶ δείκνυσιν ὅτι τὰ καλούμενα τέσσαρα στοιχεῖα οὐκ ἔστιν ὕλη κοινὴ τῶν αἰσθητῶν σωμάτων οὐδὲ κυρίως ἀρχή, οὔτε πάντα οὔτε ἕν τι αὐτῶν, ὥσπερ τινὲς ᾠήθησαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὰ αἰσθητὰ σώματά εἰσι γενητὰ καὶ φθαρτά. τίθησι δὲ τὰς δόξας τῶν οἰηθέντων ἀρχὰς αὐτὰ εἶναι τῶν γενητῶν καὶ φθαρτῶν. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἕν τι αὐτῶν ὑπέθεντο ἀρχὴν τῶν σωμάτων, ὥσπερ πῦρ μὲν Ἡράκλειτος ὁ Ἐφέσιος καὶ Ἵππασος, ἀέρα δὲ Διογένης ὁ Ἀπολλωνιάτης καὶ Ἀναξιμένης, Θαλῆς δὲ καὶ Ἵππων τὸ ὕδωρ‧ Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ ἄλλο τι παρὰ τὰ τέσσαρα στοιχεῖα ὑπέθετο τῶν ὄντων ἀρχήν. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

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Leucippus (for he and Democritus posited an infinite number of bodies, infinite both in number and in variety of shapes). And some indeed make the substrate one, as Thales [did with] water, Anaximenes and Diogenes [with] air, Anaximander [with] the kind of thing that is intermediate between air and water and is infinite, and Heraclitus [with] fire.

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Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s On Generation and Corrruption 124.15–22 [GC 1.6.322b1] This is why he [Aristotle] first undertakes to discuss their account – whether or not the elements of things that come to be are these four that are constantly mentioned, whether they are generated or ungenerated and unchanging, as Empedocles thought, and, if they are generated, whether [they are generated] from one another or from something else, and if from one another, whether each of them changes equally into each or whether there is one of them that is first, from which all the others change – as if it is the matter that underlies the rest, as Thales thought was the case with water, Anaximenes with air and Heraclitus with fire.

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Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s On Generation and Corrruption 206.21–32 [GC 2.1.328b34] After establishing that those who give an account of things that come to be and perish should investigate the principles of perceptible bodies (for it is in these that generation and perishing occur), he [Aristotle] now proceeds to this investigation, and proves that the so-called four elements are not the common matter of perceptible bodies, nor, strictly speaking, their principle – neither all of them nor any one of them, as some have thought – but that they themselves are perceptible bodies that are generated and can perish. He sets out the views of those who believed them to be principles of things that are generated and can perish. For some posited one of them as the principle of bodies, as Heraclitus of Ephesus and Hippasus [posited] fire, Diogenes of Apollonia and Anaximenes air, and Thales and Hippo water. But Anaximander posited something aside from the four elements as the principle of things-that-are.

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Th 439 In GC 237.22–25 [GC 2.5.332a3] Ἀνάγκη γὰρ τὸν ἀρχὰς σωματικὰς τῶν ὄντων ὑποτιθέμενον ἤτοι μίαν λέγειν ἢ πλείους‧ καὶ εἰ μίαν, ἤτοι ἑτέραν οὖσαν τῶν τεσσάρων, ὡς Ἀναξίμανδρος ἔλεγεν, ἢ ἓν τῶν τεσσάρων, ὡς Ἡράκλειτος καὶ Θαλῆς καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι. Sim. (monism) Th 193 (q.v.)

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In Aristotelis de anima libros commentaria I Prooemium 9.5–12 (ed. Hayduck) Τῶν δὲ ἁπλοῦν σῶμα εἰρηκότων τὴν ψυχὴν εἶναι οἱ μὲν εἰρήκασιν αἰθέριον εἶναι σῶμα, ταὐτὸν δέ ἐστιν εἰπεῖν οὐράνιον, ὥσπερ Ἡρακλείδης ὁ Ποντικός, οἱ δὲ πῦρ, ὡς Ἡράκλειτος, ἐπειδὴ καὶ πῦρ ἔλεγεν εἶναι τὴν ἀρχὴν τῶν ὄντων‧ οὕτως οὖν καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν πυρίαν εἶναι διὰ τὸ εὐκίνητον‧ οἱ δὲ ἀερίαν, ὡς Ἀναξιμένης καί τινες τῶν Στωικῶν, οἱ δὲ ἐξ ὕδατος, ὡς Θαλῆς καὶ Ἵππων ὁ ἐπίκλην ἄθεος‧ ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὴν γονὴν ἑώρων ἐξ ὑγρᾶς οὖσαν οὐσίας, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὕδωρ τὴν ἀρχὴν τῶν ὄντων ἐνόμισαν. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th  29 (q.v.); (the soul is water) Th  221 (q.v.) (cf. Th 516)

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In de an. 82.14–20 [de an. 1.2.404b30] Διαλαμβάνει δὲ τὴν διαφορὰν ἀπό τε τῆς οὐσίας καὶ τοῦ ποιοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ ποσοῦ, ἀπὸ μὲν τῆς οὐσίας καὶ τοῦ ποιοῦ ὅτι οἱ μὲν σωματικὰς οἱ δὲ ἀσωμάτους, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ ποσοῦ ὅτι οἱ μὲν μίαν οἱ δὲ πλείους. σωματικὰς μὲν οὖν τὰς ἀρχὰς ἐτίθεντο οἱ φυσικοί, Θαλῆς, Δημόκριτος, Ἀναξιμένης, Ἀναξίμανδρος, Ἡράκλειτος, ἀσωμάτους δὲ οἱ ἀριθμοὺς λέγοντες ὡς οἱ Πυθαγόρειοι καὶ Ξενοκράτης, δοκεῖ δὲ καὶ ὁ Πλάτων. Sim. (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.)

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Th 439 Thales as a monist. Commentary on Aristotle’s On Generation and Corrruption 237.22–25 [GC 2.5.332a3] For someone who posits corporeal principles of things-that-are must say either that there is one or that there are more than one. And if one, that it is either different from the four, as Anaximander said, or one of the four, as Heraclitus, Thales, and others [did].

Th 440 Thales’ views on the nature of the soul; water as the first principle. The Preface to Philoponus’s commentary on the De Anima gives the theoretical basis for understanding the nature of the soul, which is then explained in the commentary with the help of the De Anima. Philoponus also treats early views on this subject, beginning with the Presocratic philosophers. Different groupings are formed, including those that posit that the soul is a simple body.

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Commentary on Aristotle’s On the Soul Preface 9.5–12 Of those who have said that the soul is a simple body, some have said that it is an aetherial body (which is the same as saying that it is a celestial body), as did Heraclides of Pontus, while others have said that it is fire, like Heraclitus, for he said that the principle of things-that-are is fire, therefore the soul is fiery, too, because it is easily moved. Others have said that it is airy, like Anaximenes and some of the Stoics; still others that it consists of water, like Thales1 and Hippo, who was nicknamed the atheist. For since they saw that seed consists of a moist substance, they thought that the principle of things-that-are is in fact water.

Th 441i Thales as natural philosopher. Commentary on Aristotle’s On the Soul 82.14–20 [de an. 1.2.404b30] He [Aristotle] makes a division of their disagreement on the basis of substance, quality, and quantity. On the basis of substance and quality because some make them corporeal, others incorporeal; on the basis of quantity because some say there is one, others that there are more than one. Those 1

Cf., however, Th 442 and Th 422.

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In de an. 86.11–35 [de an. 1.2.405a18] Ἔοικε δὲ καὶ Θαλῆς ἐξ ὧν ἀπομνημονεύουσι κινητικόν τι τὴν ψυχὴν ὑπολαβεῖν. Δοκεῖ μὴ προσφυῶς τῆς Θαλοῦ δόξης μεμνῆσθαι‧ προκειμένου γὰρ τοῦ δεῖξαι ὅτι οἱ ἀποβλέψαντες εἰς τὸ γνωστικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκ τῶν ἀρχῶν ἐξ ὧν τὰ πράγματα ὑπετίθεντο εἶναι καὶ αὐτήν φασι, διότι τὸ ὅμοιον ὑπὸ τοῦ ὁμοίου γινώσκεται, ἱστορῶν τὴν περὶ Θαλοῦ δόξαν οὐδὲν εἶπε τοιοῦτον οἷον ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι τὴν λίθον τὴν ἕλκουσαν τὸν σίδηρον ἔμψυχον ἔλεγε τῆς ψυχῆς ἰδίαν λέγων τὴν κίνησιν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν εἰς τὸ κινητικὸν ἀπιδόντων ἱστορῶν τὰς δόξας, ἕκαστον ἔλεγε τὸ κινητικώτατον αὐτῷ δόξαν τοῦτο τῆς ψυχῆς εἰπεῖν στοιχεῖον, Δημόκριτον μὲν τὰς σφαιρικὰς ἀτόμους, τοὺς δὲ Πυθαγορείους τὰ ἐν τῷ ἀέρι ξύσματα, ἄλλον τὸ πῦρ, ἄλλον τὸν ἀέρα‧ ἐπὶ μέντοι τῆς τοῦ Θαλοῦ δόξης ἀρχὴν τῶν ὄντων τὸ ὕδωρ τιθεμένου οὐδὲν τοιοῦτόν φησιν. οὐ γὰρ εἶπε φέρ᾽ εἰπεῖν ὅτι Θαλῆς τὸ ὕδωρ ψυχὴν τίθεται καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἕλκειν φησὶ τὸν σίδηρον τὴν λίθον ὡς ἔμψυχον καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐξ ὕδατος οὖσαν. ταὐτὸ οὖν οὐκ εἶπεν, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι μόνον ἔμψυχον ἔλεγε τὴν λίθον. τίνος ἕνεκα; ἢ ὅτι οὐκ ἐφέροντο αὐτοῦ συγγράμματα ἀλλ᾽ ἀπομνημονεύματα, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἔφυγε τὸ φορτικὸν τοῦ λόγου ἀγράφως κατηγορῆσαι τοῦ ἀνδρός, ἢ ὅτι καὶ αἰδῶ τινα τῷ ἀνδρὶ ἀπένειμε διὰ τὸ πολλὰ αὐτοῦ ἀξιόλογα δόγματα ἀπομνημονεύεσθαι. φασὶ γὰρ ὅτι ἔλεγεν ὡς ἡ πρόνοια μέχρι τῶν ἐσχάτων διήκει καὶ οὐδὲν αὐτὴν λανθάνει, οὐδὲ τὸ ἐλάχιστον. διὰ ταῦτα τούτου μὲν οὐ λέγει εἶναι τὴν δόξαν ταύτην ὅτι ἐξ ὕδατος ἡ ψυχή, ἀλλὰ τοσοῦτον μόνον ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸς τὴν κίνησιν τῇ ψυχῇ ἀπένειμεν. ἐφεξῆς δὲ Ἵππωνά φησι τοῦτο δοξάσαι ὅτι ἐξ ὕδατος ἡ ψυχή‧ καὶ γὰρ τῶν πάντων ἀρχὴν καὶ αὐτὸς ἔλεγε τὸ ὕδωρ. Sim. (nature of the soul/magnet) Th 31 (q.v.); (writings) Th 88 (q.v.); (the soul is water) Th 221 (q.v.)

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who posited that the principles are corporeal are the natural philosophers, Thales, Democritus, Anaximenes, Anaximander, Heraclitus; while those who [posited that they are] incorporeal are the ones who say they are numbers, like the Pythagoreans and Xenocrates, and Plato too, it appears.

Th 442

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10

15

20

Thales’ views on the nature of the soul. Commentary on Aristotle’s On the Soul 86.11–35 [de an. 1.2.405a19–20: From what people report, it seems that Thales too supposed the soul to be something that causes motion.] It seems not inappropriate for him [Aristotle] to mention Thales’ view here; for since it is his present purpose to show that those who concentrated on the cognitive aspect of the soul declare that it too is composed of the principles from which they posited that things are composed – because like is known by like [404b17], in examining the view of Thales he says nothing like what he said about the others, but only that he [Thales] called the magnet, which attracts iron, animate meaning that motion is characteristic of the soul. Yet, while reporting the views of those that attend to its kinetic aspect [403b28], he said that each of them declared that what he held to be the most kinetic of all was the elementi of the soul, Democritus [identifying the soul with] spherical atoms [405a11], the Pythagoreans [with] motes in the air [404a18], another [with] fire [405a5], and yet another [with] air [405a21]; however, in the case of the view of Thales, who posited water as the principle of thingsthat-are, he says nothing of the sort. For example, he does not say that Thales posits the soul to be water and declares that this is why the magnet attracts iron, because it is animate and therefore consists of water. He does not say this, but only that he called the magnet animate. For what purpose? Either because no treatises of Thales have been handed down but only his sayings, and for this reason he [Aristotle] shied away from the vulgarity of criticizing his account without written evidence, or because he [Aristotle] has a certain reverence for him [Thales], because many worthwhile doctrines of his are reported. They declare that he [Thales] said that Providence pervades the extremities [of the cosmos] and nothing escapes its notice, not even the slightest thing. This is why he does not say that this view that the soul is composed of water was his [Thales’], but only that he too attributed motion to the soul. He next says that Hippo held this view, that the soul is composed of water [405b1]; for he, too, said that water was the principle of all things. i

W: ein Element

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Th 443

5

In de an. 188.12–18 [de an. 1.5.411a7] Καὶ ἐν τῷ ὅλῳ δέ τινες αὐτὴν μεμῖχθαι φασιν, ὅθεν ἴσως καὶ Θαλῆς ᾠήθη πλήρη πάντα θεῶν εἶναι. Ἑτέραν δόξαν ἐκτίθεται περὶ ψυχῆς. ὑπενόησαν, φησί, τινὲς ψυχὴν ἐν παντὶ σώματι μεμῖχθαι, ὡς πᾶν εἶναι σῶμα ἔμψυχον‧ ἐκ δὲ τῆς τοιαύτης δόξης καὶ τὸν Θαλῆν νομίσαι πάντα πλήρη θεῶν εἶναι, τοπικῶς ὑπονοοῦντος τοῦ Θαλοῦ πανταχοῦ εἶναι τὸ θεῖον, ἢ τῷ αὐτὴν τὴν ψυχὴν θεὸν ὑπονοεῖν, ἢ θείας μοίρας αὐτὴν εἶναι. Sim. (all things full of gods/daimons) Th  32 (q.v.); (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.)

Th 444

5

In de an. 571.1–7 [de an. 3.9.432a15] Ἡνίκα δέ φησιν Ἀριστοτέλης τὸ ὀρεκτικὸν κινεῖν, οὐχ ὡς τελικὸν αὐτὸ αἴτιον λέγει, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ποιητικόν‧ καὶ τοῦτο δῆλον, ἐπειδὴ ζητῶν τί τὸ κινοῦν φησιν ὅτι ἢ νοῦς ἐστιν ἢ ὄρεξις‧ ὁ δὲ νοῦς ποιητικός ἐστι καὶ οὐ τελικός † οὐδὲ ἄνευ κινήσεως δὲ οὔτε δύναται εἶναι τελικός.1 τοὐναντίον γὰρ ἡνίκα κατὰ νοῦν ἐνεργῶμεν, τῆς κινήσεως ἐκτρεπόμεθα‧ διὸ Θαλῆς ἀστρονομῶν εἰς φρέαρ ἔπεσεν. Sim. (Thales’ fall into the well) Th 19 (q.v.)

Th 445

5

In de an. 572.38–573.4 [de an. 3.9.432a15] Ἀντιπράττει γὰρ ὁ νοῦς τῇ κινήσει‧ οὐ γὰρ συναισθάνονται κινήσεως, ὅπου γε οὐδὲ στάσεως, οἱ περὶ [573] τὰ νοητὰ ἠσχολημένοι‧ διὸ καὶ Σωκράτης ἐν τῇ ἐπὶ Δηλίῳ μάχῃ νυχθήμερον στὰς οὐκ ᾔσθετο τῆς στάσεως, διὰ τὸ ἐννοεῖν τι. καὶ ὅτι εἰ ἐκίνει ὁ νοῦς τὸ ζῷον, οὐ πρὸς κακὸν ἂν αὐτοῦ ἐκίνει‧ εἴπομεν γὰρ ὅτι Θαλῆς ἀστρονομῶν εἰς φρέαρ ἐνέπεσε. Sim. (Thales’ fall into the well) Th 19 (q.v.)

1

Οὐδὲ ἄνευ – τελικός depravata sunt secundum Hayduck.

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Th 443

5

Thales theological views; his views on the nature of the soul. Commentary on Aristotle’s On the Soul 188.12–18 [de an. 1.5.411a7–8: Some also declare that it [the soul] is mixed in the universe, which is perhaps why Thales thought that all things are full of gods.] He [Aristotle] sets out another view about the soul. Some, he declares, suspected that the soul is intermingled in every body, so that everythingi is an animate body; and that on the basis of such a view Thales believed that everything is full of gods, since Thales supposed that the divine is everywhere in a spatial sense, either by supposing that the soul itself is God, or that it has a share of the divineii.

Th 444

5

Thales’ fall into a well. Commentary on Aristotle’s On the Soul 571.1–7 [de an. 3.9.432a15] But when Aristotle declares that that which is appetitive causes motion, he speaking of it as an efficient, not as a final cause. This is clear because when he investigates what causes motion, he declares that it is either intellect or appetition [433a10]. Intellect is efficient, not final, and without motion it cannot be final.1 On the contrary, when we are intellectually active we are distracted from motion. That is why Thales fell into a well while studying the stars.

Th 445

5

Thales’ fall into a well. Commentary on Aristotle’s On the Soul 572.38–573.4 [de an. 3.9.432a15] For intellect works against motion. People are not conscious of motion, and are not even conscious of being stationary, when they are [573] occupied with intelligible matters. That is why Socrates at the battle of Delium stood still for a night and a day without perceiving he was stationary, because he was thinking about something. And also because if intellect did cause the animal to move, it would not do so to its harm – for we have said that Thales was studying the stars when he fell into a well.

1

Cf. Charlton 2000, 63, n. 3 ad loc.

i ii

W: das All W: von göttlichem Anteil sei

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Th 446

5

In de an. 583.5–10 [de an. 3.9.432b26] Ἐντεῦθεν δείκνυσιν ὅτι οὐδὲ ὁ νοῦς ἐστιν ὁ κινῶν. καὶ ἃ μὲν λέγει Ἀριστοτέλης, ἐν τῇ θεωρίᾳ εἴρηται. ἡμεῖς δὲ καὶ ἄλλο ἔξωθεν ἐκ τῆς ἱστορίας προσευπορήσαμεν ἐπιχείρημα, ὅτι πολλάκις τις θεωρήματά τινα κινῶν καθ᾽ ἑαυτὸν οὐ μόνον τῆς προκειμένης ὁδοῦ παρεπλανήθη, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ κρημνῶν ἠνέχθη, ὡς καὶ Θαλῆς πέπτωκεν εἰς φρέαρ. ἐξ οὗ δῆλον ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ νοῦς ὁ κινῶν κατὰ τόπον. Sim. (Thales’ fall into the well) Th 19 (q.v.)

Th 447

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In Aristotelis physicorum libros commentaria 23.1–10 (ed. Vitelli) [Ph. 1.2.184b15] Μίαν μὲν τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔλεγον καὶ ἀκίνητον οἱ εἰρημένοι, τῶν δὲ μίαν καὶ κινουμένην λεγόντων οἱ μὲν πεπερασμένην ἔλεγον, οἱ δὲ ἄπειρον. μίαν μὲν καὶ κινουμένην καὶ πεπερασμένην ἔλεγεν Ἵππασος Ἡράκλειτος Θαλῆς Ἵππων ὁ ἐπικληθεὶς ἄθεος [...], Θαλῆς δὲ καὶ Ἵππων τὸ ὕδωρ διὰ τὸ γόνιμον, καὶ ὅτι τὴν γονὴν ὑγρὰν ἑώρων, καὶ τὰ σπέρματα δὲ εἰ καὶ ξηρά εἰσιν, ἀλλ᾽ οὖν οὐ φύει μὴ ὑγρανθέντα τε καὶ ἤδη λοιπὸν διαρρέοντα. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th  29 (q.v.); (transformations of water) Th 94 (q.v.)

Th 448

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In ph. 86.25–87.10 [Ph. 1.4.187a10] [...] Μίαν δὲ ἀρχὴν ὑποτίθενται Ἡράκλειτος μὲν τὸ πῦρ, Ἀναξιμένης δὲ τὸν ἀέρα, Θαλῆς δὲ τὸ ὕδωρ, Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ τὸ μεταξύ‧ τούτων δὲ διττοί εἰσιν οἱ τρόποι. οἱ μὲν γὰρ αὐτῶν μανώσει καὶ πυκνώσει τοῦ κατ᾽ αὐτοὺς στοιχείου, οὕτω γεννῶσι τὰ ἄλλα (οἷον Θαλῆς τὸν ἀέρα στοιχεῖον ὑποτιθέμενος, τοῦτον μανούμενον μὲν ἔλεγε ποιεῖν τὸ πῦρ, πυκνούμενον δὲ ἠρέμα ποιεῖν τὸν ἄνεμον, ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον πυκνούμενον ποιεῖν τὰ νέφη, ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ ἐπὶ πλέον τὰ γήινα πάντα), οἱ μὲν οὖν οὕτως ἔλεγον ἐκ τοῦ ἑνὸς τὴν γένεσιν γίνεσθαι [87], Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ τὸ μεταξὺ πυρὸς καὶ ἀέρος ἢ ἀέρος καὶ ὕδατος λέγων στοιχεῖον τὰ ἄλλα ἐκ τούτου ἐκκρίνεσθαι ἔλεγεν‧ ἐνυπάρχειν γὰρ ἐν τούτῳ ἀπείρῳ ὄντι τὰς ἐναντιότητας, εἶτα ἐκκρινομένας ἐξ αὐτοῦ ποιεῖν τὰ λοιπά. οἱ μὲν οὖν πυκνώσει καὶ μανώσει λέγοντες, ἀλλοιώσει τοῦ κατ᾽ αὐτοὺς στοιχείου γεννῶσι τὰ ἄλλα, ὥστε συμβαίνειν αὐτοῖς τὴν γένεσιν ἀλλοίωσιν λέγειν

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Th 446i

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Thales’ fall into a well. Commentary on Aristotle’s On the Soul 583.5–10 [de an. 3.9.432b26] Here he [Aristotle] proves that what causes motion is not intellect either. What Aristotle says is stated in his discussion. We have furnished an additional argument from outside his report: it often happens that when a person causes speculations to move in himself he not only wanders off his intended path but is even carried over precipices, as indeed Thales fell into a well. From this it is clear that intellect is not what causes motion in respect of place.

Th 447

5

Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics 23.1–10 [Ph. 1.2.184b15] Those who said that the principle is one and unmoved have been mentioned. Of those who said that it is “one and in motion,” some said it is finite, others that it is infinite. The following said it was “one and in motion and finite”: Hippasus, Heraclitus, Thales, Hippo (the one nicknamed atheist). [...], Thalesii and Hippo said [it is] water, because it is fertile and because they observed that seminal fluid is moist and that even if seeds are dry they do not grow unless they are first moistened and then only when they are already drenched.

Th 448

5

Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics 86.25–87.10 [Ph. 1.4.187a10] Heraclitus posits fire as his single principle; Anaximenes [posits] air; Thales, water; Anaximander, the intermediate. These men have two approaches. Some of them generate the other things by rarefaction and condensation of the element they identify (as Thales, positing air1 as his element, said that when rarefied this makes fire, and when condensed slightly it makes wind, when condensed more it makes clouds, and [when condensed] still more [it makes] water, and [when condensed] still more [it makes] all earthy things). Now some said that this is how generation from a single [element] occurs 1

Cf. Th 450 and Diels 21958, 145.

i ii

W. does not translate this testimonium.. W.’s translation begins here.

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(οὕτω γοῦν καὶ λέγουσιν ὅτι τὸ γίνεσθαι τοιόνδε καθέστηκεν ἀλλοιοῦσθαι [187a29]), Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ οὐκ ἀλλοιώσει τοῦ μεταξὺ γεννᾷ τὰ ἄλλα, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκκρίσει ἐνυπαρχόντων ἐν αὐτῷ. εἶτα θέλων σαφέστερον δεῖξαι πῶς ἔλεγεν ἐκκρίσει γίνεσθαι ὁ Ἀναξίμανδρος ἐκ τοῦ ἑνὸς τὰ ἄλλα, μέμνηται τῶν περὶ Ἀναξαγόραν καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλέα. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (transformations of the principle) Th 94 (q.v.)

Th 449 In ph. 110.4–7 [Ph. 1.5.188a19] Καὶ ὁ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τὰ τέσσαρα στοιχεῖα λέγων ἀρχάς, τὸ μὲν πῦρ θερμὸν ἔλεγε, τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ ψυχρά. καὶ ὅσοι δὲ μανώσει ἢ πυκνώσει τοῦ κατ᾽ αὐτοὺς στοιχείου τὰ ἄλλα γεννῶσιν, οἷός ἐστιν ὁ Θαλῆς, τὰ ἐναντία ἀρχὰς ὑποτίθενται‧ μάνωσις γὰρ καὶ πύκνωσις ἐναντία. Sim. (transformations of the principle) Th 94 (q.v.)

Th 450 In ph. 116.18–21 [Ph. 1.5.188a19] Ὁ γὰρ Παρμενίδης, καίτοι ἓν λέγων τὸ πᾶν, ὅμως ἐν τοῖς πρὸς δόξαν θερμὸν καὶ ψυχρὸν ἀρχὰς τίθεται τῶν ὄντων. καὶ οἱ μανὸν καὶ πυκνόν, ὧν ἐστι Θαλῆς‧ τὸν γὰρ ἀέρα ὡς ὕλην ὑποτιθεὶς μανότητι καὶ πυκνότητι ἐξ αὐτοῦ εἰδοποιεῖ τὰ λοιπά. Sim. (transformations of air) Th 94 (q.v.)

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[87], but Anaximander, who said that the intermediate between fire and air, or between air and water, is the element, declared that the rest are separated out of this. For the contrarieties inhere in this [element], which is unlimitedi, and then being separated out of it make the rest. Therefore some generate the rest by means of alteration of what they identify as the element, saying [that it happens] by means of condensation and rarefaction, so that they end up calling generation alteration. (This is how they say that “coming to be such and such is established as alteration” [187a29].) But Anaximander does not generate the rest by alteration of the intermediate [element], but by separation out of things that inhere in it. And then, wishing to show more clearly how Anaximander meant that the other things are generated by separating out of the one, he [Aristotle] mentions Anaxagoras and Empedocles.

Th 449 Contraries as the first principles. Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics 110.4–7 [Ph. 1.5.188a19] Also Empedocles, who said that the four elements are principles, said that fire is hot and the rest are cold. And those who generate the other things by rarefaction or condensation of the element that they identify, including Thales, all posit the contraries as principles, for rarefaction and condensation are contraries.

Th 450ii Air as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics 116.18–21 [Ph. 1.5.188a19] For even though Parmenides said that the all is one, nevertheless in his writings Towards Opinion1 he posits hot and cold as the principles of thingsthat-are. And “those [who say] rare and dense,” including Thales. For after positing air as matter he forms the other things from it by means of rarefaction and condensation (cf. Th 448/9).

1

This seems to be the title Philoponus used for part of Parmenides’ work. See C. Osborne, Philoponus on Aristotle Physics 1.4–9, London: Duckworth, 2009, p.141 n.87.

i ii

W: in diesem unendlichen Seienden W. does not translate this testimonium.

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Th 451 In ph. 123.14–17 [Ph. 1.5.188b26] Ὅσοι μὲν οὖν ἀρχὰς εἰλήφασιν ἢ τὸ θερμὸν καὶ ψυχρόν, ὡς Παρμενίδης, ἢ τὸ μανὸν καὶ πυκνόν, ὡς Θαλῆς, ἢ τὸ μέγα καὶ μικρόν, ὡς Πλάτων, οὗτοι τῇ αἰσθήσει γνωριμωτέρας λαμβάνουσι τὰς ἀρχάς, ἀλλ᾽ οἱ μὲν καθολικωτέρας οἱ δὲ μερικωτέρας. Sim. (transformations of the principle) Th 94 (q.v.)

Th 452

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10

In ph. 139.10–24 [Ph. 1.6.189a21] Καὶ τῶν ἓν εἰρηκότων οἱ μὲν ἕν τι τῶν τεσσάρων, οἱ δ᾽ ἕτερον παρὰ ταῦτα μεταξὺ τούτων. [...] τῶν δὲ τὸ ἓν τὸ ὑποκείμενον εἰρηκότων μᾶλλον τῶν ἄλλων ἀποδέχεται τὸν Ἀναξίμανδρον τὸ μεταξὺ εἰρηκότα, ὡς ἐγγυτέρω πως ὄντος τούτου τῆς ὕλης διὰ τὸ μηδὲν εἶδος ἔχειν τῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ γινομένων. μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον μᾶλλον κατορθοῖ ὁ Ἀναξιμένης τὸν ἀέρα ὕλην ὑποτιθέμενος‧ ἥκιστα γὰρ αἰσθητὰς διαφορὰς τῶν ἄλλων ἔχει ὁ ἀήρ. μετὰ τοῦτον Θαλῆς τὸ ὕδωρ ὕλην ὑποτιθέμενος‧ καὶ γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο πρὸς τῷ ἄποιον εἶναι καὶ τἀναντία ὑπομένει πάθη. θερμαίνεται γὰρ καὶ ψύχεται τὸ αὐτό, καὶ χεῖται καὶ πήγνυται ὑπομένον τὸ αὐτό (ὑγρὸν γὰρ ὂν καὶ “δυσόριστον τῷ οἰκείῳ ὅρῳ, εὐόριστον δὲ ἀλλοτρίῳ”‧ οὕτως γὰρ ὁ τοῦ ὑγροῦ λόγος ἐν τῷ Περὶ γενέσεως ἀποδέδοται), καὶ ξηραίνεται τὸ αὐτὸ κρυσταλλούμενον‧ ξηρὸν γάρ ἐστι τὸ δυσόριστον ἀλλοτρίῳ ὅρῳ, εὐόριστον δὲ οἰκείῳ. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th  29 (q.v.); (transformations of water) Th 94 (q.v.)

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Th 451i Contraries as the first principles. Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics 123.14–17 [Ph. 1.5.188b26] Those who have taken as principles either the hot and cold (like Parmenides) or the rare and dense (like Thales) or the great and small (like Plato) all take principles that are more familiar to perception, but some [take principles that are] more universal and others [take principles that are] more particular.

Th 452

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10

Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics 139.10–24 [Ph. 1.6.189a21: And of those who have said [that there is] one [element], some [have said that it is] one of the four, and others [that] it is something else besides these, intermediate between these.] Of those who said that the substrate is oneii, he [Aristotle] finds Anaximander more acceptable than the others, for having said [that the element is] intermediate, on the grounds that this is somehow closer to matter because it does not have the form of any of the things that come from it. After him the next most correct is Anaximenes, who posited air as matter. For air has fewer perceptible differences than the others do. After him, Thales, who posited water as matter. For this too, in addition to having no qualities, accepts contrary affectionsiii. For this same thing can be heated and cooled, and it becomes liquid and solid while remaining the same thing (for being moist, it is “not easily determinable bounded by its own limit yet easily determinable by another’siv.”1 For this is how the definition of the moist is given in On Generation [329b30 f.]), and the same thing dries up when it becomes ice. For the dry is what is not easily determinable by another’s limit but easily determinable by its own [ibid. 31 f.].

1

A paraphrase of GC 329b30–1.

i ii iii iv

W. does not translate this testimonium. die ein einziges Prinzip als Substrat angegeben haben W: Qualitäten W: das Feuchte ist “das, was sich schwierig in eine eigene Grenze fügt, leicht aber in eine fremde”

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Th 453

5

In ph. 407.13–20 [Ph. 3.4.203b11] Ὅσοι, φησί, τῶν πάλαι φυσιολόγων μὴ ἀπέβλεψαν εἰς τὸ ποιητικὸν αἴτιον, ὥσπερ Ἀναξαγόρας μὲν εἰς τὸν νοῦν, ὃν ποιητικὸν εἶναι αἴτιον ἔλεγεν, Ἐμπεδοκλῆς δὲ τὸ νεῖκος καὶ τὴν φιλίαν, οὗτοι ἣν ὑπέθεντο ὕλην εἶναι τῶν πάντων, ἄπειρόν τε αὐτὴν ὑπέθεντο τῷ μεγέθει καὶ ἀγένητον καὶ ἄφθαρτον, καὶ ταύτην εἶναι τὸ θεῖον, ὅπερ καὶ διακυβερνᾶν πάντα καὶ ἐπιστατεῖν τῇ τῶν ὅλων συστάσει, ἀθάνατόν γε καὶ ἀνώλεθρον, ὅπερ Ἀναξιμένης μὲν τὸν ἀέρα εἶναι ἔλεγε, Θαλῆς δὲ τὸ ὕδωρ, Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ τὸ μεταξύ, καὶ ἄλλος ἄλλο. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Iohannes Malalas Th 454 Chronographia 51.77–78 (Logos 4.6) (ed. Thurn) Καὶ ἔλυσε τοὺς νόμους Δράκοντος Σόλων. καὶ πάλιν ἐνομοθέτησε Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος. Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.); (political activity) Th 21 (q.v.)

Th 455

5

Chronogr. 118.41–45 (Logos 6.4) Μετὰ δὲ τὴν βασιλείαν Δαρείου ἐβασίλευσαν ἕτεροι βασιλεῖς Ἀσσυρίων ἕως Ἀστυάγους. καὶ λοιπὸν ὁ Ἀστυάγης ἐβασίλευσε Περσῶν, ὃς ἐπεστράτευσε κατὰ τῶν Λυδῶν, ἀνελθὼν μετὰ δυνάμεως πολλῆς. ἐν ᾧ χρόνῳ ὁ ἥλιος ἐξέλειψεν ἐπὶ πολλὰς ὥρας τῆς ἡμέρας, προειπόντος Θαλοῦ τοῦ φιλοσόφου τὴν ἔκλειψιν τοῦ ἡλίου. Sim. (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.); (dates) Th 171 (q.v.)

Iohannes Philoponus – Iohannes Malalas

383

Th 453

5

Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Physics 407.13–20 [Ph. 3.4.203b11] All the ancient inquirers into nature, he declares, who did not look to the efficient cause – as Anaxagoras looked to mindi, which he stated to be an efficient cause, and Empedocles to strife and love – whatever these men posited as the matter of all things, they posited it as unlimited in magnitude, ungenerated and imperishable, and they posited this as the divine, which also governs all thingsii and presides over the constitutioniii of all things, and indeed as “immortal” and “imperishable” – that which Anaximenes stated to be air; Thales, water; Anaximander, the intermediate; and different thinkers, different things.1

Iohannes Malalas (490/500–after 570 CE) Th 454 Thales as lawgiver. Chronicle 51.77–78 (Logos 4.6) Solon repealed Draco’s laws, and in turn Thales of Miletus established laws.

Th 455

5

Thales’ prediction of an eclipse. Chronicle 18.41–45 (Logos 6.4) After Darius’s rule other kings ruled the Assyrians until Astyages. And then Astyages ruled the Persians and led a campaign against the Lydians, marching with a large army. This is the time when the sun was eclipsed for many hours of the day, and Thales the philosopher had predicted the eclipse of the sun.

1

In Ph. 3.4.203b10–15 Only Anaximander is mentioned by name.

i ii iii

W: Weltvernunft W: alles Konkrete W: Bau

384

Olympiodorus

Olympiodorus Th 456

5

In Platonis Gorgiam commentaria 26.16 (ed. Westerink) Καταγέλαστοι γίνονται [484e1]: Καὶ γὰρ θέλουσιν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνοήτων καταγελᾶσθαι. οὕτω γοῦν καὶ ὁ Θαλῆς1 περιπατῶν καὶ τὸν νοῦν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἔχων καὶ ἀστρονομῶν εἰς τέλμα ἐνέπεσεν‧ καί φησιν αὐτῷ Θρῇσσα γυνὴ ὅτι ‘οὗτος τὰ κατὰ γῆν οὐκ οἶδεν καὶ τὰ ἐν οὐρανοῖς θέλει εἰδέναι’. δεῖ τοίνυν τῶν τοιούτων ἀμελεῖν, κἂν κατὰ κόρρης πατάξωσιν ἡμᾶς, πρὸς δὲ τὸ θεῖον ἀνατείνειν ἑαυτούς. Sim. (Thales’ fall into the well) Th 19 (q.v.)

Th 457

5

In Aristotelis categorias commentarium 108.32–109.2 (ed. Busse) [Cat. 7.7b15] Ὡς γὰρ εἴρηται, καὶ μὴ οὔσης ἐπιστήμης τὰ πρός τι ἔστι‧ δῆλον ὅτι οὔκ εἰσιν ἅμα τὰ πρός τι. καὶ τοῦτο μὲν τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ χρόνου ἐπιχείρημα. τὸ δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς φύσεώς ἐστι τοιοῦτον‧ τὸ ζῷον ἀναιρούμενον τὴν ἐπιστήμην ἀναιρεῖ, οὐ μέντοι γε καὶ τὸ ἐπιστητόν‧ δύναται γὰρ καὶ μὴ οὔσης ἐπιστήμης εἶναι τὰ ἐπιστητὰ ὡς πράγματα‧ τὰ γὰρ πράγματα πρὸ τῆς ἐπιστήμης. οὕτω καὶ τὰ τέσσαρα στοι-[109] χεῖα πρὸ τῆς Ἱπποκράτους ἰατρικῆς ὑπῆρχεν, καὶ τὰ ἄστρα πρὸ τῆς Θαλοῦ ἀστρονομίας. Sim. (Thales as representative of astronomy) Th 103 (q.v.); (relation between knowledge and the knowable) Th 244 (q.v.)

1

Cf. the scholion ad loc. in MS M in Westerink: τὰ περὶ Θαλοῦ, καὶ ὅτι τὰ κατὰ τὸν οὐρανὸν τοῖς ὄμμασιν διαθρῶν ἐμπέπτωκε τέλματι, καὶ τοῦ ἐπὶ τῇ πτώσει αὐτοῦ τῆς γυναικὸς λόγου.

Olympiodorus

385

Olympiodorus (born between 495 and 505 CE, still teaching in 565 CE) Th 456

5

Variant on the story of Thales’ fall into a well. Commentary on Plato’s Gorgias 26.16 They become ridiculous [484e1]: For they are even willing to be ridiculed by the foolish. Indeed this is how Thales fell into a swamp while taking a walk and paying attention to the sky and practicing astronomy. And a Thracian woman said to him, “This man does not know what is on the earth and yet he wants to know what goes on in the sky” (cf. Th 19). Buti we should disregard such people even if they hit us on the head, and we should elevate ourselves toward the divine.

Th 457

5

Thales as astronomer. Commentary on Aristotle’s Categories 108.32–109.2 [Cat. 7.7b15] For as has been said, even if there is no knowledge the relatives exist. It is clear that relatives are not simultaneous. And this is an argument based on time. The argument based on nature is the following. The elimination of animal eliminates knowledge, but it does not eliminate the knowable too. For even if there is no knowledge knowables can exist as things. Forii thingsiii are prior to knowledge. In this way the four elements [109] existed before Hippocrates’ medicine, and the stars before Thales’ astronomy.

i ii iii

W.’s translation begins here. W.’s translation begins here. W: Die Sachverhalte

386

Olympiodorus – Asclepius of Tralles

Olympiodorus (the Alchemist ?, perhaps identical with Olympiodorus, cf. above.) Th 458 Εἰς τὸ κατʹ ἐνέργειαν Ζωσίμου 2.20.4–5 (ed. Berthelot/ Ruelle) Καὶ σκόπει ὅτι ὁ Μιλήσιος Θαλῆς πρὸς τὴν οὐσίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀποβλέπων ἔλεγεν αὐτὸν ἄπειρον‧ ἀπειροδύναμος γὰρ ὁ Θεός. Sim. (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.)

Th 459

5

Εἰς τὸ κατʹ ἐνέργειαν Ζωσίμου 2.21 Μίαν δὲ πεπερασμένην ἀρχὴν τῶν ὄντων ἐδόξαζεν Θαλῆς τὸ ὕδωρ, ἐπειδὴ γόνιμόν ἐστιν καὶ εὐδιάπλαστον‧ γόνιμον γὰρ οὕτω, ἐπειδὴ γεννᾷ ἰχθύας‧ εὐδιάπλαστον δὲ, τὸ δυνάμενον διαπλᾶσθαι ὡσὰν βούλῃς νῦν‧ καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ ὡσὰν θέλῃς διαπλάττεις‧ ἐν ᾧ γὰρ ἀγγείῳ βάλῃς τοῦτο, πρὸς αὐτὸ διαπλάττεις τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ πρὸς ξέστην, καὶ πρὸς κεράμιον, καὶ πρὸς τρίγωνον, καὶ πρὸς τετράγωνον ἄγγος, καὶ ὡς ἐθέλεις. Καὶ μία ἐστὶν αὐτοῦ ἡ ἀρχὴ κινουμένη‧ κινεῖται γὰρ τὸ ὕδωρ. Πεπερασμένη δέ‧ οὔτε γὰρ ἀΐδιόν ἐστιν τοῦτο. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Asclepius of Tralles Th 460

5

In Aristotelis metaphysicorum libros commentaria 24.34–25.15 (ed. Hayduck) [Metaph. 1.3.983a24] Τὸ μέντοι εἶδος καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῆς τοιαύτης ἀρχῆς οὐ πάντες τὸ αὐτὸ λέγουσιν [Metaph. 1.3.983b19], ἀλλ᾽ οἱ μὲν ὕδωρ τὸ ὑλικὸν αἴτιον, οἱ δὲ πῦρ, οἱ δὲ ἄλλο. διό φησιν ὅτι Θαλῆς μὲν ὁ Μιλήσιος ὁ ἀρχηγὸς τῆς τοιαύτης φιλοσοφίας ὕδωρ φησὶν εἶναι τὴν ἀρχὴν τῶν πάντων. διὸ καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐφ᾽ ὑδάτων ὀχεῖσθαι ὡς ἀρχῆς οὔσης. ταύτην δὲ ἔσχε τὴν ὑπόληψιν ἐκ τοῦ ὁρᾶν πάντων τὴν τροφὴν ὑγρὰν οὖσαν (ἀδύνατον γάρ ἐστιν ἄνευ ὑγρότητος [25] τρέφεσθαι τὰ ζῷα) καὶ ὅτι τὰ σπέρματα πάντα, ἐξ ὧν τὰ ζῷα ὑπάρχουσιν, ὑγρά ἐστιν‧ ἀρχὴ δὲ τῶν ὑγρῶν τὸ ὕδωρ. καὶ πάλιν φησίν ‘αὐτὸ τὸ θερμὸν ἐκ τοῦ ὑγροῦ ἐστι’‧ δευομένη γὰρ ἡ

Olympiodorus – Asclepius of Tralles

387

Olympiodorus (the Alchemist ?, possibly identical with Olympiodorus – cf. above)1 Th 458 Thales’ theological views. Commentary on Zosimus’s Concerning Energeia 2.20.4–5 And notice that Thales of Miletus, looking at the substance of God, said that he [God] is infinite, for God has infinitei power.

Th 459

5

Water as the first principle. Commentary on Zosimus’s Concerning Energeia 2.21 Thales held that water is the one and limited principle of things-that-areii, since it is fertile and changes shape easily. It is fertile in that it generates fish. A thing changes shape easily that is able to change its shape however you now like. And you change the shape of water however you like.2 For you change the shape of water depending on the container you put it in, whether the container is a measure or a jar, and whether it is a triangle or square, and as you like. And this principle of his is single and moved, for water is moved. And it is limited, for it is not eternal.

Asclepius of Tralles (6th cent. CE) Th 460 Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics 24.34–25.15 [Metaph. 1.3.983a24] However, they do not all agree about the form or number of this kind of principle [Metaph. 1.3.983b19], but some [say that] water is the material cause, others fire, and others something else. This is why he [Aristotle] says that Thales of Miletus, the founder of this kind of philosophy, says that wa1 2

On the author and the work cf. Mertens 2006, 215–7. Cf. Aristotle, GC 2.2.329b34 ff.

i ii

W: grenzelos W: Dinge

388 10

15

Asclepius of Tralles

γῆ ἐκπέμπει τὴν καπνώδη ἀναθυμίασιν, ἐξ ἧς τὸ ὑπέκκαυμα, ὅ ἐστι τὸ πῦρ. ὥστε καὶ τὸ θερμὸν ἐκ τοῦ ὑγροῦ γίνεται [...]. τινὲς δὲ εἰρήκασι καὶ τοὺς παλαιοτέρους τῆς νῦν περιόδου, οὓς καὶ πρώτους φησὶ θεολόγους, τὸ ὕδωρ ὑπολαβεῖν ἀρχήν. διὸ ἔλεγον “Ὠκεανόν τε θεῶν γένεσιν καὶ μητέρα Τηθύν”, καὶ συνελογίζοντο οὕτως ‘ὁ ὅρκος τίμιος, τὸ τίμιον πρεσβύτερον‧ ὁ ὅρκος ἄρα πρεσβύτερος. ὅρκος δὲ τὸ ὕδωρ‧ τὸ ὕδωρ ἄρα πρεσβύτερον’. “καὶ τὸ κατειβόμενον Στυγὸς ὕδωρ“. τὴν ῥευστὴν γένεσιν διὰ τούτων ᾐνίττοντο. εἰ μὲν οὖν οἱ παλαιότεροι τῷ ὄντι οὕτως εἶχον ὡς εἰρήκασι κατὰ τὸ φαινόμενον, ἄδηλόν ἐστι‧ Θαλῆς μέντοι λέγεται τῷ ὄντι ὕδωρ ἀποφήνασθαι τὴν πρώτην αἰτίαν. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (the Earth rests upon water) Th 30 (q.v.); (the first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.); (the water hypothesis goes back to the first theologians/Homer) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 461

5

10

In metaph. 26.14–27 [Metaph. 1.3.984a27] Οἱ μὲν οὖν πάμπαν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἁψάμενοι τῆς μεθόδου ταύτης. Ἐξ ἀρχῆς λέγει πάλιν περὶ τῶν μόνῃ τῇ ὑλικῇ αἰτίᾳ τε καὶ ἀρχῇ χρησαμένων‧ δόξει δὲ τὸ πάμπαν ἐξ ἀρχῆς προστεθεικέναι ὑπὲρ τοῦ δηλῶσαι τοὺς περὶ Θαλῆν καὶ Ἀναξιμένην, ἐπεὶ οἱ περὶ Ἀναξαγόραν καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλέα ἐμνημόνευσαν τῶν ποιητικῶν ἀρχῶν, ὁ μὲν λέγων νεῖκος καὶ φιλίαν 〈ὁ δὲ νοῦν, ὡς〉1 καὶ προϊὼν ἐρεῖ περὶ αὐτῶν. οὕτως οὖν ὁ Θαλῆς ἀρχηγὸς τῆς τοιαύτης φιλοσοφίας‧ τῶν γὰρ μνημονευομένων φυσικῶν ἀρχαιότατος. καλῶς δὲ εἶπε τὸ “λέγεται”‧ οὔτε γὰρ φέρεται αὐτοῦ βιβλίον τοῦτο ἔχον. οἱ οὖν περὶ Θαλῆν καὶ Ἀναξιμένην οὐδὲ ἐδυσχέραναν πρὸς ἑαυτούς, ὃ ἔθος ἐστὶ τοῖς ἄτοπα ὑποτιθεμένοις‧ οἷον οὐκ ἐπέστησαν τῇ τῶν λεγομένων ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν ἀτοπίᾳ, οὐδ᾽ ἐμέμψαντο τοῖς λεγομένοις, ὡς οὐχ ἱκανῶς λελεγμένοις, οὐδ᾽ ἐζήτησάν τινα καὶ ἄλλην ἀρχὴν πρὸς τῇ ὑλικῇ ὡς οὐχ ἱκανῶς ἐχούσῃ τε καὶ λεγομένῃ ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν. Sim. (the first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.); (writings) Th 88 (q.v.)

1

lacunam indicavit et supplevit Hayduck.

Asclepius of Tralles 5

10

15

389

ter is the principle of all things. This is why the earth rests on water since it [water] is its principle. He got this idea from observing that the nourishment of all things is moist (for without moisture it is impossible [25] for animals to be nourishedi), and that all seeds from which animals existii are moist, and the principle of moist things is water. And again he says that even “the hot itself comes to be from the moist” [983b23 f.]. For when drenched the earth emits the smoky exhalation from which comes combustible matter, which is fire. And so even the hot originates from the moist [...] But some have reported that those who lived before the present period, whom he also calls the first theologians [983b29], supposed that water is the principle. This is why they said “Okeanos, the origin of the gods, and mother Tethys” [Il. 14.201], and deduce as follows: “What oaths are sworn by is honored, what is honored is older, therefore what oaths are sworn by is older. But water is what oaths are sworn by. Therefore water is older.” “And the flowing water of the Styx” [Il. 15.37]. In these words they were speaking enigmatically about the fluid originiii. Now it is unclear whether the older [theologians] actually held the view about the phenomenon that some have reported, but Thales is said actually to have declared that the first cause is water.

Th 461

5

10

Thales as founder of natural philosophy; water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics 26.14–27 [Metaph. 1.3.984a27] “Some people right at the beginning touched on this method.” He [Aristotle] says “at the beginning” again about those who employed only the material cause and principle. And it seems that he added “right at the beginning” in order to point to Thales and Anaximenes and their associates, since Anaxagoras and Empedocles and their associates mentioned efficient principles,1 the one calling them Strife and Love and the other Mind, as he [Aristotle] will say later on when he discusses these men. Now Thales was the founder of this kind of philosophy in the following way: he is the earliest natural philosopher to be mentioned. He [Aristotle] did well to say [that Thales] “is said” [to have held this view] [984a2], because no book of his is mentioned that has this content. Now Thales and Anaximenes and their associates were not dissatisfied “with themselves” [984a29] as is usual with 1

Cf. the version in Alexander (Th 192).

i ii iii

W: aufwachsen W: hervorgehen W: Entstehung

390

Asclepius of Tralles

Th 462 In metaph. 41.4–7 [Metaph. 1.5.986b8] Ἄχρηστος οὖν ἡ τούτων δόξα εἰς τὴν περὶ τῶν αἰτίων ζήτησιν‧ οὐ γὰρ ἀρχὴν καὶ αἰτίαν τὸ ἓν ἐτίθεντο οὗτοι, ὡς οἱ ὕδωρ ἢ πῦρ ἢ ἀέρα λέγοντες καὶ γεννῶντες ὡς ἐξ ὕλης τοῦ ἑνὸς τὰ ἄλλα, ὥσπερ ὁ Θαλῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕδατος ἐγέννα τὰ ἄλλα. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 463 In metaph. 42.36–43.2 [Metaph. 1.5.987a4] Οἱ πρῶτοι φυσιολόγοι σωματικὴν τὴν ἀρχὴν ὑπέθεντο‧ οἱ μὲν γὰρ ὕδωρ ὥσπερ Θαλῆς, οἱ δὲ πῦρ, ὡς Ἡράκλειτος, καὶ οἱ μὲν μίαν ὑπετί-[43] θεντο, οἱ δὲ πλείους, οἷον πῦρ καὶ γῆν, ὥσπερ Παρμενίδης‧ ἀμφοτέρας δὲ ὑλικὰς ὑπετίθεντο τὰς ἀρχάς. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 464 In metaph. 54.1–4 [Metaph. 1.7.988a18] Καὶ ἔτι ὅσοι ἀέρα καθάπερ Ἀναξιμένης, ἢ ὕδωρ καθάπερ Θαλῆς, ἢ πῦρ, καθάπερ Ἡράκλειτος, ἢ τὸ μεταξὺ καθάπερ Ἀναξίμανδρος, σωματικὴν ἀρχὴν ὑλικὴν ὑπετίθεντο. οὗτοι μὲν οὖν, ὡς εἴρηται, τῆς ὑλικῆς καὶ μόνης ἀρχῆς ἥψαντο. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Asclepius of Tralles

391

people who make strange hypotheses, since they did not notice the strangeness of what these men were saying and did not object to what they said for not being expressed well enough, nor did they look for some other principle in addition to the material one on the grounds that this was insufficient and insufficiently well stated by them.

Th 462 Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics 41.4–7 [Metaph. 1.5.986b8] The view of these people [Parmenides and Melissus] is useless for the investigation of causes, for they did not posit the one as a principle and cause in the way that those do who speak of water, fire or air and generate the other things out of the one as matter, as Thales generated the other things out of water.

Th 463i Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics 42.36–43.2 [Metaph. 1.5.987a4] The first enquirers into nature posited a corporeal principle. For some posited water (like Thales), others fire (like Heraclitus), and some posited one [43] and others many, such as fire and earth (like Parmenides). But both the principles they posited were material.

Th 464ii Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics 54.1–4 [Metaph. 1.7.988a18] And further all those who posited air (like Anaximenes) or water (like Thales) or fire (like Heraclitus) or the intermediate (like Anaximander) posited a corporeal material principle. Now these, as was said, touched on only the material principle.

i ii

W. does not translate this testimonium.. W. does not translate this testimonium..

392

Asclepius of Tralles – Elias

Th 465 In metaph. 58.24–26 [Metaph. 1.7.988b29] Ἕκαστον δὲ τῶν ἄλλων τριῶν στοιχείων εἴληφε κριτήν, φημὶ δὴ προστάτην‧ οἱ μὲν γὰρ πῦρ ὡς Ἡράκλειτος, οἱ δὲ ὕδωρ ὡς Θαλῆς, οἱ δὲ ἀέρα ὡς Ἀναξιμένης. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 466 In metaph. 111.17–20 [Metaph. 1.10.993a11] Καὶ τρόπον μέν τινα πᾶσαι εἴρηνται πρότερον αἱ τέσσαρες ἀρχαὶ ὑπὸ τῶν παλαιοτέρων, διότι οἱ μὲν αὐτῶν μίαν εἰρήκασι τὴν ὑλικήν, ὥσπερ Θαλῆς Ἀναξίμανδρος καὶ Ἡράκλειτος, οἱ δὲ δύο, [...]. Sim. (monism) Th 193 (q.v.)

Th 467 In metaph. 148.18–20 [Metaph. 2.1.996a4] Ἄλλοι δὲ ἀρχὰς τῶν ὄντων τὸ πῦρ ὑπετίθεντο, καθάπερ Ἡράκλειτος, διὸ καὶ μεγάλῳ πτώματι περιέπεσεν‧ ἢ ὕδωρ, καθάπερ Θαλῆς, ἀέρα Ἀναξιμένης. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Elias Th 468

5

In Aristotelis categorias commentarium 213.32–214.4 (ed. Busse) [Cat. 7.7b15]   Ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς ἐπιστήμης καὶ τοῦ ἐπιστητοῦ προτάττει τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ χρόνου τοῦ ἀπὸ τῆς φύσεως, ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς αἰσθήσεως καὶ τοῦ [214] αἰσθητοῦ προτάττει τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς φύσεως τοῦ ἀπὸ τοῦ χρόνου. φησὶ δὲ οὕτως‧ ἐπιστήμης οὔσης ἐπιστητὸν ἔστι πάντως, ἐπιστητοῦ δὲ ὄντος δύναται ἐπιστήμη μὴ εἶναι‧ ἦσαν γὰρ τὰ ἄστρα πρὸ τοῦ Θαλῆν ἀστρονομῆσαι. πρὸς ὅ φαμεν ὅτι ἦσαν τὰ ἄστρα οὐχ ὡς ἐπιστητά.

Asclepius of Tralles – Elias

393

Th 465i Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics 58.24–26 [Metaph. 1.7.988b29] Each of the other three elements has found an advocate, in fact a champion. For some (like Heraclitus) [proposed] fire, others (like Thales) water, and others (like Anaximenes) air.

Th 466ii Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics 111.17–20 [Metaph. 1.10 993a11] And in some way all four principles were stated previously by the earlier [thinkers], because some of them stated that the material [principle] is one (like Thales, Anaximander and Heraclitus), others two [...].

Th 467iii Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics 148.18–20 [Metaph. 2.1.996a4] As principles of things-that-are others (like Heraclitus) posited fire (and this is why they had a great fall) or water (like Thales), or air (like Anaximenes).

Elias (6th cent. CE) Th 468iv Thales as astronomer. Commentary on Aristotle’s Categories 213.32–214.4 [Cat. 7.7b15] However, in the case of knowledge and the knowable he ranks priority in i ii iii iv

W. does not translate this testimonium.. W. does not translate this testimonium.. W. does not translate this testimonium.. W. does not translate this testimonium..

394

Elias – Luxurius

Sim. (Thales as representative of astronomy) Th 103 (q.v.); (relation between knowledge and the knowable) Th 244 (q.v.)

Stephanus of Byzantium Th 469 Ethnica 452.15–17 (ed. Meineke) (Μίλητος). οὕτως καὶ Θαλῆς Ἐξαμύου πατρὸς Μιλήσιος ἐχρημάτιζε καὶ Φωκυλίδης καὶ Τιμόθεος κιθαρῳδός [...].

Th 470

5

Ethn. 692.13–18 Χήν, πόλις τῆς Λακωνικῆς. ὁ πολίτης Χηνιεύς‧ οὕτω γὰρ Μύσων τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν κριθέντων εἷς Χηνιεὺς ἐχρημάτιζεν. ἀλλὰ καὶ Χηνεύς, ὡς Πλάτων ἐν Πρωταγόρᾳ „τούτων τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἦν Θαλῆς καὶ Πιττακὸς καὶ Βίας καὶ Κλεόβουλος καὶ Σόλων ὁ ἡμέτερος καὶ Μύσων ὁ Χηνεὺς καὶ ἕβδομος ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς Λακεδαίμονος Χίλων“. Sim. (one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Luxurius Th 471 De sententiis septem philosophorum distichi (Anthologia Latina 346) […] Thales ingenio sapiens Milesius acri errorem in terris firmat non caelitus esse. […]. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Elias – Luxurius

5

395

time ahead of priority in nature, but in the case of perception and the [214] perceptible he ranks priority in nature ahead of priority in time. This is what he says: if there is knowledge the knowable must exist, but if there is a knowable it is possible for the knowledge not to exist. For the stars existed before Thales practiced astronomy. To this we say that the stars existed but not as things knowable.

Stephanus of Byzantium (6th cent. CE) Th 469 Thales as a famous Milesian. Ethnica 452.15–17 (Milesian). Thus Thales, whose father was Examyas, was called a Milesian, as were Phocylides and Timotheus who sang and played the cithara.

Th 470i

5

Thales the Sage. Ethnica 692.13–18 Chen, a city of Laconia. A citizen is called a Chenian. Thus Myson, one of those judged to be the Seven Sages, was called a Chenian. But also Chenan, as Plato [calls him] in the Protagoras: “Of these men were Thales, Pittacus, Bias, Cleobulus, our Solon, and Myson the Chenan, and the seventh was Chilon of Lacedaimon itself” (Th 20).

Luxurius (work written ca. 534 CE) Th 471 Thales’ wise sayings. Distichs on the Sayings of the Seven Sages (Anthologia Latina 346) [...] Thales of Miletus, wise with keen intelligence

i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

396

Anonymous On the Philosophy of Plato – Isidore of Seville

Anonymous On the philosophy of Plato Th 472 Prolegomena philosophiae Platonicae 7.4–8 (ed. Westerink) Ἦσαν δὲ πρὸ αὐτοῦ μὲν αἱρέσεις αὗται‧ ἥ τε ποιητική, ἧς καθηγεμόνες γεγόνασιν Ὀρφεύς, Ὅμηρος, Μουσαῖός τε καὶ Ἡσίοδος‧ γέγονεν δὲ καὶ ἡ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰωνικοῦ διδασκαλείου, ἧς προκατήρξατο Ἡράκλειτος καὶ Θαλῆς καὶ Ἀναξαγόρας‧ γέγονεν δὲ καὶ ἡ Πυθαγόρου καὶ Παρμενίδου. Sim. (Ionian school) Th 147 (q.v.)

Isidore of Seville Th 473

5

Etymologiae 2.24.4 (ed. Lindsay) (Cap. 24: De definitione philosophiae) In Physica igitur causa quaerendi, in Ethica ordo vivendi, in Logica ratio intellegendi versatur. Physicam apud Graecos primus perscrutatus est Thales Milesius,1 unus ex septem illis sapientibus. Hic enim ante alios caeli causas atque vim rerum naturalium contemplata ratione suspexit, quam postmodum Plato in quattuor definitiones distribuit, id est Arithmeticam, Geometricam, Musicam, Astronomiam. Sim. (the first sage/philosopher) Th  29 (q.v.); (Thales as representative of astronomy) Th 103 (q.v.); (Thales one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

1

Cf. the treatise De septem artibus liberalibus 218–20 bei Schindel (2004) 134.

Anonymous On the Philosophy of Plato – Isidore of Seville

397

affirms that error on earth is not due to heaven. [...]

Anonymous, On the philosophy of Plato (? second half of the 6th cent. CE) Th 472i Thales as founder of Ionian philosophy. Prolegomena to Platonic Philosophy 7.4–8 Before him [Plato] there were the following schools: the poetical school, whose founders were Orpheus, Homer, Musaeus and Hesiod; the one descended from the Ionian teaching whose leaders were Heraclitus, Thales and Anaxagoras; and the school of Pythagoras and Parmenides.

Isidore of Seville (ca. 560–636 CE) Th 473ii

5

Thales the Sage and founder of natural philosophy. Etymologies 2.24.4 (Chapter 24: On the definition of philosophy.) In natural philosophy the cause of investigating is discussed, in ethics, the order of living, in logic, the theory of understanding. Among the Greeks Thales of Miletus, one of the Seven Sages, was the first to thoroughly study natural philosophy. For before anyone else, he rationally contemplated the causes of the heaven and the power of natural things which Plato later arranged into four definitions: arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy.

i ii

W. does not translate this testimonium.. W. does not translate this testimonium..

398

Isidore of Seville – Theophylactus Simocatta

Th 474 Etym. 5.39.18 (Cap. 39: De descriptione temporum) Quarta aetas [...] Iosias ann. XXXII. Thales philosophus agnoscitur. [IVMDLXXXVII]. Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.)

Th 475

5

Etym. 8.6.18 (Cap. 6: De philosophis gentium) Theologi autem idem sunt qui et Physici. Dicti autem Theologi, quoniam in scriptis suis de Deo dixerunt. Quorum varia constat opinio, quid Deus esset dum quaererent. Quidam enim corporeo sensu hunc mundum visibilem ex quattuor elementis Deum esse dixerunt, ut Dionysius Stoicus. Alii vero spiritaliter intellexerunt mentem esse Deum, ut Thales Milesius. Sim. (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.)

Theophylactus Simocatta Th 476

5

Historiae 7.17.9–10 (ed. de Boor) Θαλῆς μὲν οὖν εἷς τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν ὀνομαζόμενος φησὶ τοὺς ἐτησίας ἀντιπνέοντας ταῖς ἐκβολαῖς τοῦ ποταμοῦ κωλύειν εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν προχεῖσθαι τὸ ῥεῖθρον, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο αὐτὸν πληρούμενον ἐπικλύζειν ταπεινὴν οὖσαν καὶ πεδιάδα τὴν Αἴγυπτον. [10] τοῦ δὲ λόγου τούτου καίπερ εἶναι δοκοῦντος πιθανοῦ ῥᾴδιον ἐξελέγξαι τὸ ψεῦδος‧ εἰ γὰρ ἦν ἀληθὲς τὸ λεγόμενον, ἅπαντες οἱ ποταμοὶ οἱ τοῖς ἐτησίαις ἐναντίας κεκτημένοι τὰς ἐκβολὰς ἂν ἐποιοῦντο τὴν ὁμοίαν ἀνάβασιν. Sim. (flooding of the Nile) Th  13 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Isidore of Seville – Theophylactus Simocatta

399

Th 474 Thales’ dates. Etymologies 5.39.18 (On the description of ages.) The fourth age [...] Josiah, 32 years.1 Thales the philosopher is known. [year 4587].2

Th 475

5

Thales as theologian and natural philosopher. Etymologies 8.6.18 (On the pagan philosophers.) The theologians are the same as the natural philosophers. However, they are called theologians since they spoke about God in their writings. They have various views when they investigate what God is. Some of them, like Dionysius the Stoic, said that God is this world that is visible to our bodily senses and made of the four elements, while others, like Thales of Miletus, understood God in a spiritual way, as mind.3

Theophylactus Simocatta (active ca. 610–640 CE) Th 476

5

Thales the Sage; his explanation of the flooding of the Nile. Histories 7.17.9–10 So Thales, who was called one of the Seven Sages, declares that the etesian winds blow against the mouths of the river and prevent its stream from entering the sea, and that as a result it becomes full and floods Egypt, which is a low-lying plain (cf. Th  82). [10] Although this account seems to be plausible, it is easy to prove it false (cf. Th  13). For if what it says were true, all rivers whose mouths are opposite the etesian winds would rise in a similar way.

1 2

3

Josiah, 639–609, King of the Kingdom of Judah. Cf. in particular Th  306 and also Annales Hildesheimenses I Iosias ann. 32 (4 ed. Waits); Venerable Bede, De Temporibus Liber 20 (ed. Jones); Lambert von Hersfeld, Annales (5.25 ed. Holder-Egger). Cf. Honorius Augustodunensis, De Haresibus (ed. Migne PL 172.236A).

400

Chronicon Paschale – Iohannes Antiochenus

Chronicon Paschale Th 477 Chronicon paschale 214.15–22 (ed. Dindorf) ιʹ Ὀλυμπιάς. [...] εʹ. Τούτῳ τῷ ἔτει Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος φιλόσοφος ἐν Τενέδῳ ἀπέθανεν. Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.)

Th 478 Chr. pasch. 268.9–11 νεʹ Ὀλυμπίας. ιϚʹ. Θαλῆς ὁ Ἐξαμύου Μιλήσιος πρῶτος φυσικὸς φιλόσοφος ἀπέθανεν ζήσας ἔτη Ϟαʹ. Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.); (the first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.)

Iohannes Antiochenus Th 479 Fragmenta 24.4 (ed. Roberto) Ἐκ τότε μετέπεσεν ἡ τῶν Ἀθηναίων βασιλεία εἰς ἀριστοκρατίαν, καὶ ἐγένετο πρῶτος Δράκων ὁ νομοθέτης, εἶτα Σόλων, μετὰ [τοῦτον] Θαλῆς, ἑξῆς Αἰσχύλος καὶ ἕτεροι. Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.); (political activity) Th 21 (q.v.)

Chronicon Paschale – Iohannes Antiochenus

401

Chronicon Paschale (between 631 and 641 CE) Th 477 Thales’ dates. Chronicon Paschale 214.15–22 Tenth Olympiad [740–736] [...] Fifth year [of Hiskias’s rule]. In this year Thales of Miletus the philosopher died on Tenedos.

Th 478 Thales’ dates. Chronicon Paschale 268.9–11 Fifty-fifth Olympiad [560–557]. Sixteenth year [of Cyrus’s rule]. Thales of Miletus, the son of Examyas, the first natural philosopher, died after living 91 years.

Iohannes Antiochenus (beginning of the 7th cent.) Th 479 Thales’ dates. Fragments 24.4 That was when the monarchy of Athens changed to an aristocracy and Dracon became the first lawgiver, then Solon, and afterwards Thales (cf. Th 454), and next were Aeschylus and others.

402

Georgius Syncellus

Georgius Syncellus Th 480 Ecloga chronographica 253.16–17 (ed. Mosshammer) Θαλῆς Ἐξαμοίου Μιλήσιος φιλόσοφος εἷς τῶν ζʹ σοφῶν ἐγνωρίζετο, ὃς λέγεται ζῆσαι ὑπὲρ τὰ ρʹ ἔτη. Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Th 481 Ecl. chron. 285.2–5 Πρῶτοι ὕπατοι Ῥωμαίων Κολατῖνος καὶ Βροῦττος. Σάμου τύραννοι Πολυκράτης καὶ Συλοσῶν καὶ Παντόγνωστος ἀδελφοὶ γεγόνασι. Θαλῆς θνήσκει. Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.)

Th 482

5

Ecl. chron. 286.13–22 Θαλῆς Μιλήσιος ἔκλειψιν ἡλίου σύμπασαν1 προεῖπεν. Ἴσθμια καὶ Πύθια πρώτως ἤχθη μετὰ Μελικέρτην. Οἱ ζʹ σοφοὶ ὠνομάσθησαν. Ἀστυάγης Λυδοὺς κατεπολέμει. Ἀναξίμανδρος Μιλήσιος φυσικὸς φιλόσοφος ἐγνωρίζετο. Ἄβαρις ἦλθεν ἐκ τῆς Σκυθίας εἰς Ἑλλάδα. Κατὰ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους τοὺς παρ᾽ Ἕλλησιν ζʹ φιλοσόφους ἀκμάσαι λόγος, ὧν τὰ ὀνόματα Σόλων Ἀθηναῖος, Θαλῆς Μιλήσιος, Πιττακὸς Λέσβιος, Χείλων Λακεδαιμόνιος, Βίας Πριηνεύς, Ἀνάχαρσις ὁ Σκύθης ἀγράμματος, Κλεόβουλος Λίνδιος. Sim. (dates) Th  171 (q.v.); (solar eclipse) Th  10 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

1

Lapini (1999, 115) proposes υμβᾶσαν (eclissi [realmente] accaduta).

Georgius Syncellus

403

Georgius Syncellus (died shortly after 810 CE) Th 480 Thales’ dates. Chronicle 253.16–17 The philosopher Thales of Miletus, the son of Examoios and one of the Seven Sages, was known (cf. Th 306). He is said to have lived over 100 years (cf. Th 171).

Th 481 Thales’ dates. Chronicle 285.2–5 The first consuls of the Romans were Collatinus and Brutus. The brothers Polycrates, Syloson and Pantognostus became tyrants of Samos. Thales dies (cf. Th 308).

Th 482

5

Thales’ dates; his prediction of an eclipse; Thales the Sage. Chronicle 286.13–22 Thales of Miletus predicted a total eclipse of the sun. The Isthmian and Pythian games were held for the first time after Melicertes. The Seven Sages were named. Astyages went to war against the Lydians. The natural philosopher Anaximander of Miletus was known. Abaris came to Greece from Scythia. In these times among the Greeks the account goes that the seven philosophersi flourished, whose names are Solon of Athens, Thales of Miletusii, Pittacus of Lesbos, Chilon of Lacedaimon, Bias of Priene, the illiterate Anacharsis of Scythia, and Cleobulus of Lindos.

i ii

W: die Sieben Weisen W. does not translate the remainder of this testimonium.

404

Frechulf of Lisieux – Pseudo-Ammonius

Frechulf of Lisieux Th 482a (= Ar 235)

5

Historiae 1.3.17 (ed. Allen CCL 169A, 990B-C) quibus etiam diebus solis facta defectio est cum futuram eam Thalus ante dixisset.1 quo in tempore Aliattes et Astiages dimicauerunt. tunc etiam Anaximander Milesius phisicus agnoscitur. cuius praeceptor Tales Milesius fuit […]. huic successit eius auditor Anaximander, qui de natura rerum mutauit magistri opinionem. non enim ex una re, id est ex humore, sicut Tales, sed ex suis propriis principiis quasque res nasci putauit. infinita rerum principia singularum esse credidit et innumerabiles mundos gignere, et quicumque in eis oriuntur eosque mundos modo dissolui, modo iterum gigni existimauit, quanta quisque aetate sua manere potuerit.2 Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.); (Anaximander pupil/associate of Thales) Th 65a (q.v.); (monism) Th 193 (q.v.); (water as first principle) Th 29 (q.v.) cf. Ar 128 and Ar 159

Pseudo-Ammonius Th 483 Kitāb Amūniyūs fī ārāi l-falāsifa 2.1–12 (34.3–35.4 ed. Rudolph)

5

َ ‫اﳌﺒﺪع ﰷن وﻻ ﳾء‬ ‫ﻣﺒﺪع وأﺑﺪع اذلي‬ ِ ّ‫ﻗﺎل اثﻟﻴﺲ إنّ اﻟﻘﻮل اذلي ﻻ ﻣﺮ ّد هل ﻫﻮ أن‬ ‫أﺑﺪع وﻻ ﺻﻮرة هل ﻋﻨﺪﻩ ﰲ اذلات ﻷنّ ﻗﺒﻞ اﻹﺑﺪاع إﻧّـﲈ ﻫﻮ ﻓﻘﻂ واﻟﺼﻔﺎت ّﳇﻬﺎ ﰲ‬ ‫ﻫﻮ ﻫﻮ وإذا ﰷن إﻧّـﲈ ﻫﻮ ﻓﻘﻂ ﻓﻠﻴﺲ ﯾﻘﺎل ﺣﻴﻨﺌﺬ هجﺔ وهجﺔ ﺑﻞ ﻫﻮ وﻛﻴﻒ ﻫﻮ وﲟﺎ ﻫﻮ‬ ‫وﻋﲆ ﻣﺎ ﻫﻮ داﺧﻞ ﰲ ﻫﻮ ﻫﻮ واﻹﺑﺪاع إﻧّـﲈ ﻫﻮ ﺗﺄﯾﻴﺲ ﳾء ﳑّﺎ ﱂ ﻳﻜﻦ وﺗﺄﯾﻴﺲ اﻟﴚء‬ ‫إذا أﻳّﺲ ﻟﻴﺲ ﻳﻜﻮن ﺣﻴﻨﺌﺬ ﳓﻮ ذات اﳌﺆﻳَّﺲ ﺑﻞ ﳓﻮ ﻣﺎ ﻫﻮ ﺧﺎرج ﻣﻨﻪ ﻓﻼ ﳏﺎةل أﻧّﻪ‬ 1 2

Cf. Hieronymus, Interpret. Chron. Eus. – Chron. canones ad ann. a. Chr. n. 586 (100b.25 f. ed. Helm ²1956) (= Th 307). Cf. Augustinus, Civ. 8.2 = Th 311 (ed. Dombart/ Kalb 51981).

Frechulf of Lisieux – Pseudo-Ammonius

405

Frechulf of Lisieux (first half of the 9th cent. CE) Th 482a (= Ar 235)

5

Thales’ prediction of an eclipse; his association with Anaximander; water as the first principle Histories 1.3.17 In these days there also occurred the eclipse of the sun when Thales had predicted that it would.i Alyattes and Astyages waged war against one another. At that time too Anaximander of Miletus, the natural philosopher was known. His teacher was Thales of Miletus [...]. He was succeeded by his pupil Anaximander, who held different views on the nature of things than his teacher. For he did not suppose that all things are generated from a single thing as Thales believed that they come from water, but that each is generated from its own principles. He held that the principles of individual things are infinite and that an countless worlds come to be and he thought that whatever arises in them and the worlds themselves perish in turn and in turn come to be again, according to how long each can last.

Pseudo-Ammonius (? mid-9th cent. CE) Th 483 Thales’ theological views. In the Arabic doxography ascribed to the Alexandrian philosopher Ammonius Hermeiou, but which according to the careful judgment of U. Rudolph was composed in Arabic in the mid-nineteenth century, the doctrines of the Presocratics are reconstructed in the spirit of a neoplatonically colored creationism and monotheism, with occasional extracts taken from Hippolytus. The views of the Philosophers 2.1–12 Thales said: the claim, which cannot be contradicted, is that [in the beginning] the Creator existed, but no created thing [did]. He created what He created without there having existed with him in his essence a Form of what he created. For before the Bringing-into-Existence He alone existed, and all properties were [contained] in [the statement] “He is He”. And when He alone existed, it cannot be said that at that point there were different aspects i

W: die Thales vorhergesagt hatte.

‫‪406‬‬

‫‪Pseudo-Ammonius‬‬

‫ﱂ ﻳﻜﻦ ذلكل اﳌﺆﻳَّﺲ ﺻﻮرة اﻟﺒ ّﺘﺔ ّ‬ ‫وإﻻ ﻓﻠﻴﺲ ﻫﻮ ﲟﺆﻳَّﺲ ﻓﺈذا ﰷن ﻫﻮ ﻣﺆﻳَّﺲ اﻷﺷـﻴﺎء‬ ‫ﻓﺎﻟﺘﺄﯾﻴﺲ ﻻ ﻣﻦ ﳾء ﻣﺘﻘﺎدم وﻻ ﳾء إﻧّـﲈ ﻫﻮ ﻣﺆﻳَّﺲ ﻓﺈذا ﰷن ﻛﺬكل ﻣﺆﻳَّﺲ اﻷﺷـﻴﺎء‬ ‫ﻻ ﳛﺘﺎج إﱃ أن ﻳﻜﻮن ﻋﻨﺪﻩ ﺻﻮرة اﻟﴚء ﺑﺄﻳﺴ ّﻴﺘﻪ ّ‬ ‫وإﻻ ﻓﻘﺪ ﻟﺰﻣﻪ إن ﰷﻧﺖ اﻟﺼﻮرة‬ ‫ﻋﻨﺪﻩ أن ﻳﻜﻮن ً‬ ‫ﻣﻘﺎران ﻟﻠﺼﻮرة اﻟﱵ ﻋﻨﺪﻩ ﻷنّ ﻣﻦ ﰷﻧﺖ اﻟﺼﻮرة ﻋﻨﺪﻩ ﻗﺎﲚﺔ ﻣﻨﻔﺼةل‬ ‫اﳌﺒﺪع اﻷ ّول إذا ﺑﻠﻎ ﻣﺎ ﻻ ﻏﺎﯾﺔ ﺑﻌﺪﻩ ﻓﺈﻧّﻪ ﻻ ﯾﻠﺰﻣﻪ‬ ‫ﻓﻼ ﳏﺎةل أﻧّﻪ ﻣﻘﺎرن ﻟﺘكل اﻟﺼﻮرة و ِ‬ ‫أن ﺗﻜﻮن اﻟﺼﻮرة ﻋﻨﺪﻩ ّ‬ ‫ﻣﺒﺪﻋًﺎ‬ ‫ﻣﺒﺪﻋًﺎ وﻟﻮ ﰷﻧﺖ اﻟﺼﻮرة ﻋﻨﺪﻩ ﱂ ﻳﻜﻦ ِ‬ ‫وإﻻ ﻓﻠﻴﺲ ﻫﻮ ِ‬

‫‪10‬‬

‫‪Th 484‬‬ ‫)‪Kitāb Amūniyūs fī ārāi l-falāsifa 5.5 (42.16 f.‬‬

‫وأﻣّﺎ اذلﻳﻦ ذﻛﺮوا أنّ اﻟﺒﺎرئ ّ‬ ‫ﺟﻞ وﻋﻼ ﺳﺎﻛﻦ ﻏﲑ ﻣﺘﺤ ّﺮك ﻓﺜﺎﻟﻴﺲ وﻓﻠﻮﻃﺮﺧﺲ‬ ‫†واﯾﻮﻗﻴﻮس† †واﺳﻘﺎﻟﻴﺲ† وأﻧﺒﺎدﻗﻠﻴﺲ‬ ‫‪Th 485‬‬ ‫)‪Kitāb Amūniyūs fī ārāi l-falāsifa 13.1–28 (48.17–50.12‬‬

‫وﰷن رأي اثﻟﻴﺲ‬ ‫اﳌﻠﻴﴘ أﺣﺪ اﻟﻨﻔﺮ اﻟﺴـﺒﻌﺔ اذلﻳﻦ ﰷﻧﻮا ﯾ ّﺪﻋﻮن أﺳﺎﻃﲔ اﳊﳬﺔ ﰲ‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫اﳌﺒﺪع اﻷ ّول أﻧّﻪ اﳌﺎء وﻫﻮ اﻟﻌﻨﴫ اﻷ ّول اﻟﻘﺎﺑﻞ ّ‬ ‫َ‬ ‫ﻟﲁ ﺻﻮرة وﻣﻨﻪ ُأﺑﺪع ﺳﺎﺋﺮ اﳉﻮاﻫﺮ‬ ‫ﻣﺒﺪع ﻻ أﻧّﻪ ّﻋةل ّ‬ ‫ّﳇﻬﺎ ﻣﻦ اﻟﺴﲈء وﻣﺎ دوﳖﺎ وﻫﻮ ﻏﺎﯾﺔ ّ‬ ‫ﰻ َ‬ ‫ﰻ ﻣﻜ َّﻮن ﺑﻞ أ ّول وﻏﺎﯾﺔ‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫ﰻ َ‬ ‫ﻣﺒﺪع واﺣﺘﺞّ ﻋﲆ ذكل ﺑﺄن ﻗﺎل إنّ اﻟﺰﻻزل واﻟﺮﱖ واﻟﻬﻮاء وﺣﺮﻛﳤﺎ اخملﺘﻠﻔﺔ ﻣﻦ‬ ‫اﳌﺎء وذﻛﺮ أﻧّﻪ ﻣﻦ ﲨﺪ اﳌﺎء ﺗﻜ ّﻮﻧﺖ اﻷرض وﻣﻦ اﳓﻼهل ﺗﻜ ّﻮن اﻟﻬﻮاء وﻣﻦ ﲨﻊ اﻟﻬﻮاء‬

‫‪5‬‬

Pseudo-Ammonius

5

10

407

in Him, but “He is He” includes “He,” “how He is,” “whereby He is” and “the manner in which He is”. And “creation,” however, is only bringing something from non-being into being. Now when something is brought-into-existence, this act is not aimed towards the essence of the very One who brings-into-existence, but towards the thing that proceeds from Him. For necessarily the One who brings-into-existence has no form at all – otherwise He will not be the One who brings-into-existence. Therefore if He is that which brings things into existence, then the bringing-into-existence was not from anything that existed previously nor from anything that is brought-into- existence. And if that is the case, then the One who brings things into existence is not in need of the Form of the [created] thing to exist in his Being. Otherwise, that is, if the Form were with Him, He would necessarily be together with it [i.e., the Form], for the One who as with him a Form that is subsistent and separate, must necessarily be together with that Form. But if the First Creator possesses the utmost perfection, He does not need to have any Form with Him; otherwise He would not be a Creator. That is, if the Form were with Him, He would not be a Creator.1

Th 484 Thales’ theological views. The views of the Philosophers 5.5 Those who mention that the Creator – the exalted and mighty – is at rest and unmoved, were Thales, Plutarch, ‘YWQYWS, ‘SQ’LYS,2 and Empedocles.

Th 485 Water as the first created thing; Thales the Sage; his cosmology. The views of the Philosophers 13.1–28 Concerning the first thing that was created, the opinion of Thales of Miletus, one of the seven who were named the Pillars of Wisdom, is that it is water. It is the prime matter that is susceptible to all forms. From it were created all the other substances from heaven to everything beneath it. It is the endpoint of every created thing, not the cause of everything that has become but the beginning and endpoint of every created thing. And he put forth an argument for this, saying that earthquakes, wind, air, and their dif1 2

Cf. the detailed commentary in Rudolph 1989. The transliterated names are unidentifiable.

‫‪Pseudo-Ammonius‬‬

‫‪408‬‬

‫ﺗﻜ ّﻮﻧﺖ اﻟﻨﺎر واﳌﺎء ذﻛﺮ واﻷرض أﻧﱺ وﻫﲈ ﻳﻜﻮانن ﺳﻔﻼ واانر ذﻛﺮ واﻟﻬﻮاء أﻧﱺ وﻫﲈ‬ ‫ﻳﻜﻮانن ﻋﻠ ًّﻮا وﰷن ﯾﻘﻮل إنّ ﻫﺬا اﻟﻌﻨﴫ اذلي ﻫﻮ أ ّول وآﺧﺮ إﻧّـﲈ ﻫﻮ ﻋﻨﴫ اﳉﺴﲈﻧ ّﻴﺔ‬ ‫واﳉﺮﻣ ّﻴﺔ ﻻ أﻧّﻪ ﻋﻨﴫ اﻟﺮوﺣﺎﻧ ّﻴﺔ اﻟﺒﺴـﻴﻄﺔ ﻓﻬﺬا اﻟﻌﻨﴫ هل ﺻﻔﻮ وهل ﻛﺪر ﳁﺎ ﰷن ﻣﻦ‬ ‫ﺻﻔﻮﻩ ﻓﺈﻧّﻪ ﻳﻜﻮن ﺟﺴﻤًﺎ وﻣﺎ ﰷن ﻣﻦ ﺛﻔهل ﻓﺈﻧّﻪ ﯾﺼﲑ ﺟﺮﻣًﺎ ﻓﺎﳉﺮم ﯾﺪﺛﺮ واﳉﺴﻢ ﻻ‬ ‫ﯾﺪﺛﺮ ّ‬ ‫وﰻ ﺟﺮم ﻣﻦ ﻫﺬﻩ اﻷﺟﺮام اﻟﻈﺎﻫﺮة ﻓﺈﻧّﻪ ﺟﺴﻢ ﻏﲑ ﻣﻠﻤﻮس وﻫﻮ ﰲ اﻟﻨﺸﺄة‬ ‫اس اﶆﺲ اﻟﺒﺎﻃﻨﺔ وﰷن‬ ‫ﲝﺲ اﻟﺒﴫ وابﳊﻮ ّ‬ ‫اﻟﺜﺎﻧﻴﺔ ﯾﻈﻬﺮ وﻳﻜﻮن ﰷﳉﺮم اﻟﻈﺎﻫﺮ ﯾﺪرك ّ‬ ‫ﯾﻘﻮل ً‬ ‫أﯾﻀﺎ إنّ ﻣﻦ ﻓﻮق اﻟﺴﲈء ﻋﻮاﱂ َ‬ ‫ﻣﺒﺪﻋﺔ ﻻ ﯾﻘﺪر اﳌﻨﻄﻖ أن ﯾﺼﻒ ﺗكل اﻷﻧﻮار‬ ‫وﻻ ﯾﻘﺪر اﻟﻌﻘﻞ أن ﯾﻘﻒ ﻋﲆ إدراك ذكل اﳊﺴﻦ واﻟﳢﺎء وﱔ َ‬ ‫ﻣﺒﺪﻋﺔ ﻣﻦ ﻋﻨﴫ ﻻ‬ ‫ﯾﺪ ِرك اﻟﻌﻘﻞ ﻧﻮرﻩ وﻏﻮرﻩ واﳌﻨﻄﻖ واﻟﻨﻔﺲ واﻟﻄﺒﻴﻌﺔ ﲢﺘﻪ وﻫﻮ ادلﻫﺮ اﶈﺾ ﻣﻦ ﳓﻮ‬ ‫آﺧﺮﻩ ﻻ ﻣﻦ ﳓﻮ ﺑﺪﺋﻪ وإﻟﻴﻪ ﺗﺸـﺘﺎق اﻟﻌﻘﻮل واﻷﻧﻔﺲ ﺷ ّﺪة اﻟﺸﻮق وﻫﻮ اذلي ّﲰﻴﻨﺎﻩ‬ ‫ﻣﺒﺪﻋًﺎ ﻻ ُﺗﺪرَك ﺻﻔﺘﻪ‬ ‫ادلﳝﻮﻣﺔ واﻟﺒﻘﺎء ﰲ ﺣ ّﺪ اﻟﻨﺸﺄة اﻟﺜﺎﻧﻴﺔ وﰷن ﯾﺬﻛﺮ أنّ ﻟﻬﺬا اﻟﻌﻨﴫ ِ‬ ‫وﻻ ﺗﺪ ِرﻛﻪ اﻟﻌﻘﻮل ّإﻻ ﻣﻦ هجﺔ آاثرﻩ ﻓﺄﻣّﺎ ﻣﻦ هجﺔ ﺟﻮﻫﺮﯾّﺔ ﻫﻮﯾّﺘﻪ ﻓﻐﲑ ﻣﺪرَك ﻣﻦ هجﺔ‬ ‫ﻣﻦ اﳉﻬﺎت وﻫﻮ اذلي ﻻ ﯾﻌﺮف اﲰﻪ ً‬ ‫ﻓﻀﻼ ﻋﻦ ﺟﻮﻫﺮﻩ ّإﻻ ﻣﻦ ﳓﻮ ﻣﺎ ُﻋ ِﲏ وإﺑﺪاﻋﻪ‬ ‫وﺗﻜﻮﯾﻨﻪ اﻷﺷـﻴﺎء ﻓﻠﺴـﻨﺎ ﻧﺪرك هل ا ًﲰﺎ ﻣﻦ ﳓﻮ ذاﺗﻪ ﺑﻞ ﻣﻦ ﳓﻮ ذاﺗﻨﺎ وﰷن ﯾﻘﻮل إنّ‬ ‫اﳋﺎﻟﻖ ﻫﺬﻩ اﻟﻌﻮ َاﱂ ﻟﻴﺲ ﲝﺎﺟﺔ ﺑﻪ إﻟﳱﺎ ﺑﻞ ﻓﻀﻴةل ﻣﻨﻪ وﻟﻮﻻ ﻇﻬﻮر ﻓﺎﻋﻞ اﻟﻔﻀﻴةل‬ ‫إﺑﺪاع ِ‬ ‫ﳌﺎ ﻇﻬﺮت اﻟﻔﻀﻴةل وﻟﻮﱂ ﺗﻈﻬﺮ اﻟﻔﻀﻴةل ﻋﻦ أﻓﺎﻋﻴﻠﻬﺎ ﻗﺪ ﰷﻧﺖ ﻓﻀﻴﻠﺘﻪ ﳓﻮ ذاﺗﻪ ﻓﻘﻂ‬ ‫‪Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (water as the first prin‬‬‫)‪ciple) Th  29 (q.v.); (transformations of water) Th  94 (q.v.); (earthquakes‬‬ ‫)‪Th 99 (q.v.); (winds) Th 178 (q.v.); (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.‬‬

‫‪10‬‬

‫‪15‬‬

‫‪20‬‬

Pseudo-Ammonius

5

10

15

20

409

ferent movements originate from water. [Moreover] he mentions that earth is generated from the freezing of water, air from its dispersal; from the gathering of water fire is generated. Water is male, earth female; both are situated beneath. Fire is male and air female; both are situated above. [Furthermore] he said that this element, which is first and last, is the element of corporeal things and bodily things, but not of things that are unqualifiedly spiritual. And this element has both purity and impurity. Its pure part becomes corporeal things; but its sediment becomes bodily things.1 Bodily things perish but a corporeal thing does not. However, of these visible bodily things, each one of them is a corporeal thing which is not tangible, but it will become visible at the second generation and [then] just like a visible body it will be perceptible by the sense of vision and by the five inner senses. He also says that above heaven there are created worlds. [However,] logic is unable to describe these luminaries nor can the intellect apprehend that beauty and splendor. They are created from an element whose light and whose profundity cannot be grasped by the intellect or [expressed] by logic. Soul and nature are beneath it. It is absolute eternity in relation to its end, not, however, as concerns its beginning. Intellects and souls long for it intensely. And that is what we call perpetuity and continuousness in relation to the second generation. [Moreover,] he mentions that for this element there is a Creator whose quality cannot be apprehended, and the intellects apprehend Him only with regard to His effects. With respect to His essential identity, He is inapprehensible in every aspect. He is the one whose names we cannot know, let alone His essence – except in relation to His creating, generating, and having providence of all things. And so we apprehend His name not from His essence but from our essence. [Moreover,] he said that the Creator has created these worlds not because he is in need of them, but rather because of his excellence. And without the manifestation of the subject of the excellence, His excellence would not have become manifest, and if the excellence was not manifest in His action it would have been [directed] only towards His essence.

1

On the concept of double bodies that in the Arabic is expressed through a differentiation of two synonyms (girm, translated by Rudolph as “Körper” (body), gism by “Feinkörper” (fine body), cf. Jolivet 1987–8, 28–48 (ND 1995, 90–110).

‫‪410‬‬

‫‪Pseudo-Ammonius – Ḥunain ibn Isḥāq‬‬

‫‪Th 486‬‬ ‫)‪Kitāb Amūniyūs fī ārāi l-falāsifa 24.29 (74.8 f.‬‬

‫اﳌﺒﺪع‬ ‫وأﻣّﺎ اﻷ ّوﻟﻮن ﻣﺜﻞ اثﻟﻴﺲ وأﻧﺒﺎدﻗﻠﻴﺲ ﻓﺈﳖّ ﻢ ﻗﺎﻟﻮا ﺑﺄنّ اﻹرادة اﻷوﱃ أﻋﲏ إرادة ِ‬ ‫اﳌﺒﺪع ﱔ َ‬ ‫اﳌﺒﺪع وﱔ ﻣﻦ هجﺔ َ‬ ‫اﳌﺒﺪع‬ ‫اﳌﺒﺪع ﱔ ِ‬ ‫ﱔ ﻣﻦ هجﺔ ِ‬ ‫‪Ḥunain ibn Isḥāq‬‬ ‫‪Th 487‬‬ ‫)‪Fī l-maulūdi li-sabati ašhur 337.69–71 (ed. Walzer‬‬

‫وﻗﺪ ﰷن ﲨﻴﻊ اﻟﻨﺎس اذلﻳﻦ ﰷﻧﻮا ﻋﲆ ﻋﻬﺪ أﺑﻘﺮاط ّ‬ ‫اﻟﺸﺎذ ﻣﳯﻢ ﻋﻠﻤﻮا أﻧّﻪ ﯾﻨﺒﻐﻲ أن‬ ‫ﯾﻀﺎف إﱃ ّأايم اﻟﺴـﻨﺔ وﱔ ﺛﻠامثﺋﺔ ﯾﻮم وﲬﺴﺔ وﺳـ ّﺘﻮن ﯾﻮﻣﺎ رﺑﻊ ﯾﻮم ﻓﻘﺪ ﰷن ﺑﻠﻎ‬ ‫ﻣﻦ ﻣﻌﺮﻓﺔ اثﻟﻴﺲ اذلي ﻣﻦ أﻫﻞ ﻣﻴﻠﺲ أن ﺗﻘ ّﺪم ﻓﺄﻧﺬر ﺑﻜﺴﻮف ﰷن ﰲ ﻧﻮايح‬ ‫أﻟﺴﻔﻨﻄﺲ ﻋﲆ ﻋﻬﺪ ﻛﴪﻛﺴﺲ اﳌكل‬ ‫‪1‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫)‪Sim. (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.‬‬

‫ورﺑﻊ ] رﺑﻊ‬ ‫اﻟﺴﻔﻴﻄﺲ ] أﻟﺴﻔﻨﻄﺲ‬

‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬

Pseudo-Ammonius – Ḥunain ibn Isḥāq

411

Th 486 Thales’ theological views. The views of the Philosophers 24.29 As for the ancients like Thales and Empedocles, they said that the first will, i.e., the will of the Creator, in relation to the Creator is that which is creating, and, in relation to that which is created, is that which has been created.

Hunain ibn Ishaq (809–873 CE) Th 487 Thales’ prediction of an eclipse. Since he was extremely busy this translator1 frequently entrusted the project of producing Arabic translations to his students, who worked from the Syriac version which he had prepared for a Syrian colleague. However, the translation of Galen’s On Seven-month Children, which now exists only in the present Arabic version, comes from the master himself.2 On Seven-month Children 337.69–71 And of all the people who lived in the time of Hippocrates, only the very few knew that it is necessary to add one quarter of a day to the days of the year – that is, 365 days. But the knowledge of Thales of Miletus3 had advanced so far that he predicted an eclipse which took place in the region of the Hellespont4 during the reign of King Xerxes.5 6

1 2 3 4

5 6

For him see also Introduction, p.20. Cf. Bergsträßer 1925, Nr. 63. MYLS is paleographically easy to correct to Mīlitus, which agrees exactly with Μίλητος. ’LSFYTS is, ignoring the false pointing of Y, as exact a transcription of Ἑλλήσποντος as is possible in the Arabic alphabet. Walzer has translated it as “Halysfluss” (“River Halys”), with Herodotus in mind (Th  10 (1.74)), but there can be no doubt that the translator was thinking of the Hellespont, unless Galen himself had given an only approximate reference to the location. Further it is not sure that the region of the Halys that Herodotus mentions (Th  11 (1.75)) is identical with the place where the battle was broken off because of the solar eclipse (so Weissbach, RE XI.2, Col. 2249). The replacement of King Cyaxares by the better known Xerxes (KSRKSS) in this case surely is due to the translator or a copyist. The text was adopted in DK I 486, 12–20, cf. Th 91 and similia.

412

Qusṭā ibn Lūqā

Qusṭā ibn Lūqā Th 488 Placita Philosophorum (Kitāb Fulūṭarḫus fī l-ārāi ṭ-ṭabīīya allatī taqūlu bihā l-ḥukamā) 1.18.1 (ed. Daiber)

‫إنّ اﻟﻄﺒﻴﻌ ّﻴﲔ ﲨﻴﻌﺎ أﺻﺤﺎب اثﻟﻴﺲ إﱃ أﻓﻼﻃﻮن ﰷﻧﻮا ﯾﻌﺘﻘﺪون ابﳋﻼء‬ Sim. (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.)

Th 489 Plac. phil. 2.24.1

‫إنّ اثﻟﻴﺲ أ ّول ﻣﻦ ﻗﺎل أنّ اﻟﺸﻤﺲ ﺗﻨﻜﺴﻒ ﲟﺴﲑ اﻟﻘﻤﺮ ﲢﳤﺎ إذ ﰷن اﻟﻘﻤﺮ ﰲ‬ ‫ﻃﺒﻴﻌﺘﻪ أرﺿ ّﻴﺎ ﻓﻴﺴﱰ ﻣﺎ ﻓﻮﻗﻪ ﻛﲈ ﻳﺴﱰ اﳉﺎم‬ Sim. (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.); (in nature of the sun/moon) Th 158 (q.v.)

Qusṭā ibn Lūqā

413

From the evidence contained in the Greek text of Galen there are likewise Arabic parallels from the school of Hunain. This is true for the De Elementis ex Hippocratis Sententia.1 There is not yet any edition of the Arabic version of De Natura Hominis2 (Th 182, Th 183 and Th 184).

Qusta ibn Luqa (died ca. 912 CE) Th 488 Thales as natural philosopher; his views on the void. This many-sided and original author and translator was one of the Orthodox Greeks born in Baalbek, Syria, who were active in Bagdad, where he was valued for his good Arabic style. Towards the end of his life he received a call to the royal Armenian court.3 His translation of the Placita Philosophorum, which even in the Arabic translation is attributed to Plutarch, contains in its entries on Thales the following deviations that are relevant to the meaning. Placita Philosophorum 1.18.1 All the natural philosophers, who were the followers of Thales, up to the time of Plato, believed4 in the void.

Th 489 Thales’ explanation of eclipses; his cosmology. Placita Philosophorum 2.24.1 Thales was the first to say that the sun is eclipsed by the passing of the moon beneath it. The moon is by its nature earthy. Thus it covers it like a bowl.5 1 2 3 4 5

Kitab Galinus fi l-ustuqussat, ed. by M. Salim Salim 1986.53.18–55, 6 (= Th 179) and 104, 13 f. (= Th 180); cf. 1996, 20–5. Ullmann 1970, 51; Sezgin 1970, 37 f. Harvey 1970, 244–6. Daiber suggests that Qusta may have read ἐπέγνωσαν for ἀπέγνωσαν; alternatively, Qusta made this conjecture. The last sentence stands for βλέπεσθαι δὲ τοῦτο κατοπτρικῶς ὑποτιθεμένῳ τῷ δίσκῳ (“This is observed in a mirror, when a bowl [filled with liquid] is placed underneath”, cf. the interpretation of Diels 1929, 53. gam (cup, glass, drinking vessel, bowl) corresponds to δίσκος and we must presume that the translator was uncertain about the meaning of the Greek sentence and reacted helplessly. With a paleographically plausible correction of gam to gamam, however, the Arabic becomes comprehensible:

414

Qusṭā ibn Lūqā – Symeon Logothetes

Th 490 Plac. phil. 3.10.1

‫أﻣّﺎ اثﻟﻴﺲ واﻟﺮواﻗ ّﻴﻮن ﻓﺈﳖّ ﻢ أﺧﺬوا ﻋﻨﻪ أنّ اﻷرض ﻛﺮﯾّﺔ‬ Sim. (spherical earth) Th 161 (q.v.)

Th 491 Plac. phil. 4.1.1

‫اثﻟﻴﺲ ﻳﺮى أنّ اﻟﺮايح اﻟﺸـﺘﻮﯾّﻪ إذا ﻫ ّﺒﺖ ﲟﴫ ﻣﻦ أﻣﺎهمﺎ ﺗﺰﯾﺪ ﰲ ﻋﻈﻢ اﻟﻨﻴﻞ‬ ‫ﯾﻨﺼﺐ إﻟﻴﻪ ﻣﻦ اﻟﻠﺞّ اذلي ﳜﺮﻗﻪ‬ ّ ‫وﺳـﻴﻼﻧﻪ واﻧﺘﻔﺎﺧﻪ ﲟﺎ‬ Sim. (flooding of the Nile) Th 13 (q.v.)

Symeon Logothetes Th 492 Chronicon 42.12.52–53 (ed. Wahlgren) Κατὰ τούτους τοὺς χρόνους Θαλῆς Μιλήσιος ἐν Τενέδῳ ἀπέθανε καὶ Σίβυλλα Ἐρυθραία ἐγνωρίζετο. Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.)

Qusṭā ibn Lūqā – Symeon Logothetes

415

Th 490 Thales’ cosmology. Placita Philosophorum 3.10.1 As for Thales and the Stoics, they [the Stoics] took over1 from him [Thales] the view that the earth is spherical.

Th 491 Thales’ explanation of the flooding of the Nile. Placita Philosophorum 4.1.1 Thales holds that when the winter winds2 blow against Egypt, the volume, the current and the swelling of the Nile increase because of what is poured into it from the sea and pushes its way in.

Symeon Logothetes (10th cent. CE) Th 492 Thales’ dates. Chronicle 42.12.52–53 In those years [the reign of king Hiksias] Thales of Miletus died on Tenedos (cf. Th 477, cf. AG II 263.31–2) and the Erythraean Sibyl was known.

1 2

“as the clouds cover”. The Greek would then be understood as a secondary clause which gives an instruction as to how one protects one’s eyes during these observations. In place of the verb, which the Greek omits, the Arabic text has ahadu ‘anhu (“overtaken by him”). This will refer to Metrodorus, who was previously named. Erroneous for the etesian winds that blow in the summer.

416

Suda

Suda Th 493 Lexicon alpha 425.65–68 (ed. Adler) (Ἀδάμ). Ἐντεῦθεν Ὀρφεύς τε καὶ Ὅμηρος καὶ ὁ τῶν ἀθεμίτων γονῶν ζῳγράφος Ἡσίοδος. ἐντεῦθεν ἡ Θάλητος δόξα καὶ ὁ κλεινὸς Πυθαγόρας καὶ ὁ σοφὸς Σωκράτης καὶ Πλάτων, τὸ τῆς Ἀθηναίων Ἀκαδημίας πολυθρύλητον σεμνολόγημα.

Th 494 Lexicon alpha 1986.1–2 Ἀναξίμανδρος, Πραξιάδου, Μιλήσιος, φιλόσοφος, συγγενὴς καὶ μαθητὴς καὶ διάδοχος Θάλητος. Sim. (Anaximander pupil/associate of Thales) Th 65a (q.v.)

Th 495

5

10

Lexicon theta 17.1–18.3 (ed. Adler) Θαλῆς, Ἐξαμύου καὶ Κλεοβουλίνης, Μιλήσιος, ὡς δὲ Ἡρόδοτος Φοῖνιξ (Th  12)‧ γεγονὼς πρὸ Κροίσου, ἐπὶ τῆς λεʹ ὀλυμπιάδος, κατὰ δὲ Φλέγοντα γνωριζόμενος ἤδη ἐπὶ τῆς ζʹ (Th  166). ἔγραψε περὶ μετεώρων ἐν ἔπεσι, Περὶ ἰσημερίας, καὶ ἄλλα πολλά. ἐτελεύτησε δὲ γηραιός, θεώμενος γυμνικὸν ἀγῶνα, πιληθεὶς δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ ὄχλου καὶ ἐκλυθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ καύματος. πρῶτος δὲ Θαλῆς τὸ τοῦ σοφοῦ ἔσχεν ὄνομα καὶ πρῶτος τὴν ψυχὴν εἶπεν ἀθάνατον ἐκλείψεις τε καὶ ἰσημερίας κατείληφεν. ἀποφθέγματα δὲ αὐτοῦ πλεῖστα‧ καὶ τὸ θρυλλούμενον‧ γνῶθι σαυτόν. τὸ γάρ, ἐγγύα, πάρα δ᾽ ἄτα, Χίλωνός ἐστι μᾶλλον, ἰδιοποιησαμένου αὐτό‧ καὶ τό, μηδὲν ἄγαν. [18] Θαλῆς ὁ φυσικὸς φιλόσοφος ἐπὶ Δαρείου (?) προειπὼν τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου ἔκλειψιν. καὶ Ἀριστοφάνης φησίν, ἄνθρωπος Θαλῆς (Th  18). ἀντὶ τοῦ ἄκρος τὴν ἀστρονομίαν. κλίνεται δὲ Θαλοῦ [...]. Sim. (Phoenician ancestry) Th  12 (q.v.); (dates) Th  171 (q.v.); (writings) Th  88 (q.v.); (circumstances of his death) Th  237 (1.39) (q.v.); (first sage/ philosopher) Th  29 (q.v.); (nature of the soul) Th  31 (q.v.); (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.); (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.); („The man’s a Thales!“) Th 18 (q.v.); (equinox) Th 106 (q.v.)

Suda

417

Suda (10th cent. CE) Th 493 The negative consequences of the Fall of Adam. Lexicon alpha 425.65–68 Then came Orpheus, Homer and Hesiod, the depictor of lawless offspring. Then came the glory of Thales and famous Pythagoras and wise Socrates and Plato, the far-famed pride of the Academy of Athens.

Th 494 Thales and Anaximander. Lexicon alpha 1986.1–2 Anaximander of Miletus, the son of Praxiades, philosopher, relative, student and successor of Thales.

Th 495

5

Thales’ Phoenician ancestry; his dates; Thales as astronomer and author; the Sage; his wise sayings; a natural philosopher; his prediction of an eclipse; the proverbial genius. Lexicon theta 17.1–18.3 Thales of Miletus, the son of Examyas and Cleobuline, according to Herodotus was a Phoenician (Th 12) and was born before Croesus in the thirty-fifth Olympiad [640–37],1 but according to Phlegon2 (Th  166) he was known already in the seventh [752–49] (cf. Th  305). He wrote on astronomical subjectsi in verse, “On the Equinox” and many other works. He died in his old age while watching an athletic contest, crushed by the crowd and faint from heat. Thales was the first to bear the title of Sage and was the first to say that the soul is immortal and to understand eclipses and equinoxes. There are a great number of his sayings, including the legendary “Know thyself.” For “Give a pledge and disaster is at hand” rather belongs

1 2

See above on Diog. Laert. Th 237 (1.37). Publius Aelius Phlegon from Tralles, freedman of Hadrian. According to the Suda, his chief work was called Olympiades.

i

W: Über astronomische Phänomene

418

Suda

Th 496 Lexicon theta 295.1–2 Θετόν: εἰσποιητόν, οὐ γνήσιον. Θαλῆν τὸν φιλόσοφον μὴ γήμαντα τῆς ἀδελφῆς τὸν υἱὸν θέσθαι. Sim. (views on the family) Th 112 (q.v.)

Th 497 Lexicon nu 472.1–2 (ed. Adler) Νομοθέται: παρ᾽ Ἀθηναίοις πρῶτος ἐγένετο Δράκων καὶ μετ᾽ αὐτὸν Σόλων καὶ μετὰ τοῦτον Θαλῆς καὶ μετὰ τοῦτον Αἰσχύλος. Sim. (political activity Th 21 (q.v.)

Th 498 Lexicon phi 214.1–9 (ed. Adler) Φερεκύδης (Th 2), Βάβυος, Σύριος‧ [...] ἐζηλοτύπει δὲ τὴν Θάλητος δόξαν.

Suda 10

419

to Chilon,1 who claimed it as his own. Also “Nothing in excess.” [18] Thales the natural philosopher predicted the eclipse of the sun during the reign of Darius. And Aristophanes says “The man’s a Thales” (Th 18) to mean “he is greatest at astronomy.” The genitive form is “Θαλοῦ” [...].

Th 496 Thales views on marriage and family. Lexicon theta 295.1–2 Θετόν: adopted, not genuine. Thales the philosopher, who did not marry, adopted the son of his sister (cf. Th 113, Th 237 [Diog. Laert. 1.26]).

Th 497 Thales as lawgiver. Lexicon nu 472.1–2 Lawgivers: Dracon was the first among the Athenians, and after him Solon, and then Thales and then Aeschylus (Th 454, Th 479).

Th 498 Thales and Pherecydes. Lexicon phi 214.1–9 Pherecydes of Syros (Th 2), the son of Babys: [...] he was jealous of Thales’ reputation.i 2

1 2

Cf. Th 200, Th 201, Th 237 (1.40),Th 525, Diog. Laert. 1.73. See Schibli 1990, 13. Cf. Th 53 and also Th 537 and Th 583.

i

W: er ahmte eifrig die Lehre des Thales nach

‫‪Ṣiwān al-ḥikma‬‬

‫‪420‬‬

‫‪Ṣiwān al-ḥikma‬‬

‫‪Th 499‬‬ ‫)‪Ṣiwān al-ḥikma 13–17 (Ed. Dunlop‬‬

‫اﳌﻠﻄﻲ ﻫﻮ أ ّول ﻣﻦ ﺗﻔﻠﺴﻒ ﲟﴫ وﺻﺎر إﱃ ﻣﻠﻄﻴﺔ‬ ‫ُذ ِﻛﺮ ﰲ ﺑﻌﺾ اﻟﻜﺘﺐ أنّ اثﻟﻴﺲ ّ‬ ‫وﻫﻮ ﺷـﻴﺦ وﺑﻪ ُ ّﲰﻴﺖ ﻓﺮﻗﺔ ﻣﻦ اﻟﻴﻮانﻧ ّﻴﲔ ﻓﻼﺳﻔﺔ ﻓﻘﺪ ﰷن ﻟﻠﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ اﻧﺘﻘﺎل ﻛﺜﲑ وﰷن‬ ‫ﯾﻌﺘﻘﺪ أنّ أ ّول ﻣﺎ ﺧﻠﻖ ّاهلل ﺗﻌﺎﱃ ﻫﻮ اﳌﺎء و ّ‬ ‫ﯾﻨﺤﻞ ﲨﻴﻊ اﻟﲀﺋﻨﺎت أ ّوﻻ إﱃ اﳌﺎء و َدﻋﺎ ُﻩ‬ ‫ﺗﻮﱒ ﻫﺬا أنّ ﲨﻴﻊ اﻷﺷـﻴﺎء ﻣﻦ اﻟﺮﻃﻮﺑﺔ واﺳ ّ‬ ‫إﱃ أن ّ‬ ‫ـﺘﺪل ﺑﻘﻮل أوﻣﲑس اﻟﺸﺎﻋﺮ ﺣﻴﺚ‬ ‫ُﻮدلا ّ‬ ‫ﻗﺎل إنّ أوﻗﺎاﻧﻮس ﻛﺄﻧّﻪ ُ ِﲻﻞ ﻣ ّ ً‬ ‫ﻟﻠﲁ‬

‫‪5‬‬

‫‪Sim. (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.); (nature of god) Th 72 (q.v.); (water‬‬ ‫‪as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (the water hypothesis goes back to the first‬‬ ‫)‪theologians/Homer) Th 29 (q.v.‬‬

‫‪Th 500‬‬ ‫‪Ṣiwān al-ḥikma 176–187‬‬

‫وﻗﻴﻞ إنّ أ ّول ﻇﻬﻮر اﻟﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ ﰷن ﰲ زﻣﺎن ُﲞﺘﻨﴫ وأ ّول ﻣﻦ اﺑﺘﺪأ ﻓﳱﺎ وﳒﻢ ﲠﺎ ﰷن‬ ‫اﳌﻠﻄﻲ ﻫﺬا اذلي ذﻛﺮان وإنّ أ ّول أﻃﺮف أﻫﻞ زﻣﺎﻧﻪ ﺑﻪ ﻣﳯﺎ أﻧّﻪ ﻗﺪ ﰷن ّ‬ ‫أﻇﻞ‬ ‫اثﻟﻴﺲ ّ‬ ‫ﻛﺴﻮف ّ‬ ‫ﳃﺮي ﲿﺴـﺒﻪ ﻓﺄﻧﺬرﱒ ﺑﻪ ﻗﺒﻞ ﻛﻮﻧﻪ ﻓﻠ ّﻤﺎ وﻗﻊ اﻟﻜﺴﻮف َﻗ ِﺒ َﻞ ﰲ أﻧﻔﺴﻬﻢ‬ ‫وﻗﺖ ٍ‬ ‫ﲟﺎ أﻧﺬرﱒ ﺑﻪ وﺻﺎر إﻟﻴﻪ ﺟﲈﻋﺔ ﻓﺘﻠ ّﻤﺬوا هل وﱂ ﻳﻜﻦ ﻗﺒﻞ ذكل ﰲ ﺑﻼد ﯾﻮانن ﳾء ﻣﻦ‬ ‫اﻟﻌﻠﻮم اﻟﱪﻫﺎﻧ ّﻴﺔ وإﻧّـﲈ ﰷﻧﺖ ﺣﺎﳍﻢ ﻛﺤﺎل أﻣّﺔ اﻟﻌﺮب اﳉﺎﻫﻠ ّﻴﺔ ﻟﻴﺲ ﻋﻨﺪﱒ ّإﻻ ﻋﲅ اﻟﻠﻐﺔ‬

‫‪5‬‬

Ṣiwān al-ḥikma

421

Siwan al-hikma (The Vessel of Wisdom) (10th cent. CE) Thales is mentioned several times in his doxography, formerly ascribed to an Abu Sulaiman as-Sigistani al-Mantiqi (d. 987 CE), which is enriched with gnomological material and of which only two extracts survive.1

Th 499

5

Thales’ association with Egypt; the first philosopher; water as the first created thing. The Vessel of Wisdom 13–17 It is reported in some books that Thales of Miletus was first to practice philosophy in Egypt. He went to Miletus when he was an old man. A group of Greeks were named philosophers on account of him. Philosophy often moved from one place to another. He believed that the first thing which God (be He exalted) created was water and that all entities dissolved first into the water. He was brought to this view by the fact that all things come from moisture. He also inferred this from referring to the saying of the poet Homer, that “Okeanos is as if he was made to be a generator of all things.”2

Th 500 Thales the first philosopher; his prediction of an eclipse; his dates. The Vessel of Wisdom 176–187 And it is said that the first time that philosophy appeared was in the reign of Buhtnasar,3 and the first to originate and make a start in astrology was 1 2 3

Cf. Daiber 1984, 36–68. The quotation from the Iliad (14.201) was mediated by the translation of Aristotle’s Metaphysics (1.3.983b30 f.). Modern Oriental studies distinguishes two Babylonian kings with the name Nabukudurri-usur; the first is placed in the second half of the twelfth cent. BCE, the second ruled from 605 to 562 BCE and is the Nebukadnezar who conquered Jerusalem and was known in Arabic as Bhutnasar. With Buhtnasar I is identified Nabonassar, with whose accession in 747 BCE begins the era employed by Hipparchus and Ptolemy.

Ṣiwān al-ḥikma

421

Siwan al-hikma (The Vessel of Wisdom) (10th cent. CE) Thales is mentioned several times in his doxography, formerly ascribed to an Abu Sulaiman as-Sigistani al-Mantiqi (d. 987 CE), which is enriched with gnomological material and of which only two extracts survive.1

Th 499

5

Thales’ association with Egypt; the first philosopher; water as the first created thing. The Vessel of Wisdom 13–17 It is reported in some books that Thales of Miletus was first to practice philosophy in Egypt. He went to Miletus when he was an old man. A group of Greeks were named philosophers on account of him. Philosophy often moved from one place to another. He believed that the first thing which God (be He exalted) created was water and that all entities dissolved first into the water. He was brought to this view by the fact that all things come from moisture. He also inferred this from referring to the saying of the poet Homer, that “Okeanos is as if he was made to be a generator of all things.”2

Th 500 Thales the first philosopher; his prediction of an eclipse; his dates. The Vessel of Wisdom 176–187 And it is said that the first time that philosophy appeared was in the reign of Buhtnasar,3 and the first to originate and make a start in astrology was 1 2 3

Cf. Daiber 1984, 36–68. The quotation from the Iliad (14.201) was mediated by the translation of Aristotle’s Metaphysics (1.3.983b30 f.). Modern Oriental studies distinguishes two Babylonian kings with the name Nabukudurri-usur; the first is placed in the second half of the twelfth cent. BCE, the second ruled from 605 to 562 BCE and is the Nebukadnezar who conquered Jerusalem and was known in Arabic as Bhutnasar. With Buhtnasar I is identified Nabonassar, with whose accession in 747 BCE begins the era employed by Hipparchus and Ptolemy.

‫‪Ṣiwān al-ḥikma‬‬

‫‪422‬‬

‫وﺗﺄﻟﻴﻒ اﻷﺷﻌﺎر واﳋﻄﺐ واﻷﻣﺜﺎل واﻟﺮﺳﺎﺋﻞ إﱃ أن ﳒﻢ اثﻟﻴﺲ ابﻟﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ وﻛﺬكل ﻋﲅ‬ ‫اﳊﺴﺎب واﻟﻬﻨﺪﺳﺔ واﳌﺴﺎﺣﺔ أﺧﺬوﻫﺎ ﻋﻦ اﳌﴫﯾّﲔ ﻓﺄﻣّﺎ وﺟﻮد اﻟﺸﻌﺮ ﰲ أﻣّﺔ ﯾﻮانن‬ ‫ﻓﺈﻧّﻪ ﻇﻬﺮ ﻓﳱﻢ ﻗﺒﻞ اﻟﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ وأﺑﺪﻋﻪ أوﻣﲑس اﻟﺸﺎﻋﺮ وﻫﻮ ﻋﻨﺪﱒ ﲟﲋةل إﻣﺮئ اﻟﻘﻴﺲ‬ ‫ﰲ اﻟﻌﺮب واثﻟﻴﺲ ﰷن ﺑﻌﺪ أوﻣﲑس ﺑﺜﻠامثﺋﺔ واﺛﻨﲔ وﲦﺎﻧﲔ ﺳـﻨﺔ ﳁﻦ ﻛﻮن اثﻟﻴﺲ إﱃ‬ ‫اﺑﺘﺪاء ﻣكل ُﲞﺘﻨﴫ ﲦﺎﻧﻴﺔ وﻋﴩﻳﻦ ﺳـﻨﺔ وأايم وأﻣّﺔ اﻟﻴﻮانﻧ ّﻴﲔ ﳒﻤﺖ ﺑﻌﺪ ﻣﻮﳻ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ‬ ‫اﻟﺴﻼم وإنّ اﻟﺸﻌﺮ ﺑﺪأ ﻣﳯﻢ ﻗﺒﻞ اﻟﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ ﺑامثﻧﲔ ﻣﻦ اﻟﺴـﻨﲔ وأ ّول ﻓﻴﻠﺴﻮف ﰷن‬ ‫ﻣﳯﻢ ﰲ ﺳـﻨﺔ ﺗﺴﻌﲈﺋﺔ وإﺣﺪى وﲬﺴﲔ ﻣﻦ وﻓﺎة ﻣﻮﳻ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ اﻟﺴﻼم وﻫﺬا ﻣﺎ ﺧﱪ ﺑﻪ‬ ‫ﻛﻮرﻟّﺲ ﰲ ﻛﺘﺎﺑﻪ اذلي ر ّد ﻓﻴﻪ ﻋﲆ ﯾُﻠﻴﺎﻧﺲ ﻓامي انﻗﺾ ﺑﻪ اﻹﳒﻴﻞ وذﻛﺮ ﻓﺮﻓﻮرﯾﻮس أنّ‬ ‫اثﻟﻴﺲ ﻇﻬﺮ ﰲ ﺳـﻨﺔ ﺛﻼث وﻋﴩﻳﻦ وﻣﺎﺋﺔ ﻣﻦ ﻣكل ُﲞﺘﻨﴫ‬

‫‪10‬‬

‫‪Sim. (first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.); (eclipse/phases of the moon) Th 178‬‬ ‫)‪(q.v.); (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.); (dates) Th 171 (q.v.‬‬

‫‪Th 501‬‬ ‫‪Ṣiwān al-ḥikma 398–416‬‬

‫اﳌﻠﻄﻲ ﻫﻮ أ ّول ﻣﻦ اﺑﺘﺪأ ابﻟﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ وﺑﻪ ُ ّﲰﻴﺖ ﻓﺮﻗﺔ ﻣﻦ اﻟﻴﻮانﻧ ّﻴﲔ ﻓﻼﺳﻔﺔ ﻓﻘﺪ‬ ‫اثﻟﻴﺲ ّ‬ ‫ﰷن ﻟﻠﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ اﻧﺘﻘﺎل ﻛﺜﲑ وﻫﺬا اﻟﺮﺟﻞ ﺗﻔﻠﺴﻒ ﲟﴫ وﺻﺎر إﱃ ﻣﻠﻄﻴﺔ وﻫﻮ ﺷـﻴﺦ وﱂ‬ ‫ﯾﻮﺟﺪ ﻣﻦ الكﻣﻪ ّإﻻ اﻟﻴﺴﲑ ﻟﺘﻘﺎدم اﻟﻌﻬﺪ وﺗﻄﺎول اﳌ ّﺪة وﻫﻮ ﻗﻮهل ّ‬ ‫اﳊﻖ ﻟﻴﺲ ﲟﻤﺪوح‬ ‫ﻟﻜ ّﻨﻪ ﳑﺠَّ ﺪ ﻷﻧّﻪ أرﻓﻊ وأﻋﲆ ﻣﻦ اﳌﺪح وإﻧّـﲈ ﳕﺪح اﻷﺷـﻴﺎء اﻟﱵ ﻧﻘﻮى أن ﳕﻴﻞ ﺑﻔﻌﻠﻬﺎ‬ ‫ﻣّﺮة إﱃ اﳋﲑ وﻣّﺮة إﱃ ّ‬ ‫اﻟﴩ وﻗﺎل رأس اﻟﻔﻀﺎﰁ اﻟﳰﲔ وإن ﺻﺪق ﺻﺎﺣﳢُ ﺎ ﻓﺈﳖّ ﺎ ﺗﻌ ّﻴﺒﻪ‬ ‫اﻟﻌﻲ واﻟﻐﻀﺐ ﻣﻦ ﺿﻴﻖ اﻟﻔﻜﺮ واﻟﺘﻨ ّﺪم ﻋﲆ ﻣﺎ ﻓﺎت ﻣﻦ اﻟﻔﺸﻞ وﻗﺎل ﻣَﻦ‬ ‫واﻟﺸﺘﳰﺔ ّ‬ ‫اﻟﴪ ً‬ ‫ﲻﻼ ﻳﺴـﺘﺤﻲ ﻣﻨﻪ ﰲ اﻟﻌﻼﻧﻴﺔ ﻓﻠﻴﺲ ﻟﻨﻔﺴﻪ ﻋﻨﺪﻩ ﻗﺪر وﻗﺎل إنّ اذلي‬ ‫ﲻﻞ ﰲ ّ‬

‫‪5‬‬

Ṣiwān al-ḥikma

5

10

423

Thales of Miletus, whom we have mentioned, and that [one of ] the first and most important things that his contemporaries said about him is the following. The time of a lunar eclipse drew near and he had calculated it and warned the people of it before it occurred. And when the eclipse occurred they acknowledged within themselves what he had warned them of, and a group of people came to study under him. Before then, in the land of the Greeks there were none of the demonstrative sciences. Their situation was like that of the Arabs before Islam (al-jāhiliyyah); the only [knowledge] they had was the science of language, and the composition of poetry, rhetoric, proverbs and letters, until Thales began with philosophy. Furthermore they [the Greeks] took mathematics, geometry and surveying from the Egyptians. As for poetry among the Greek people, it arose among them before philosophy. It was invented by the poet Homer, who has the same status among them as Imru al-Qays1 does among the Arabs. Thales was 382 years later than Homer. From the time of Thales until the beginning of the reign of Buhtnasar was 28 years and some days. The Greek people arose later than Moses (may peace be upon him), and poetry began among them about 80 years before philosophy, and the first philosopher among them was 951 years after the death of Moses (may peace be upon him). Cyril reports this in his book where he refuted Julian’s refutation of the Gospel.2 Porphyry mentions that Thales appeared in the 123rd year reckoned from the reign of Buhtnasar.3

Th 501 Thales as philosopher; his association with Egypt; his wise sayings. Later in the collection there follows a gnomological part. The Vessel of Wisdom 398–416 Thales of Miletus. He was the first to practice philosophy. A group of Greeks were named philosophers on account of him. Philosophy often moved from one place to another. This man practiced philosophy in Egypt and went to Miletus when he was an old man. Very few of his words have survived because he lived so long ago and so much time has passed. And these are his sayings: The law is not praiseworthy, but it is a noble 1 2 3

A famous pre-Islamic poet of the sixth cent. CE. Cf. Th 373: Contra Iulianum 1.13 f.; Stern 1972, 439 and 442 f. ad loc. (ND 1983, XIII). There is no corresponding entry in the collection of Smith 1993.

‫‪Ṣiwān al-ḥikma‬‬

‫‪424‬‬

‫ﳛﺲ ﺑﺄﻧّﻪ ﻻﺑﺲ ً‬ ‫ﺑﺪان ﻣ ّﻴـ ًﺘـﺎ ﻓﻘﻂ ﻓﺈﻧّﻪ ﲠﳰﺔ وﳚﺐ‬ ‫ﳛﺲ ﺑﺄنّ ﻓﻴﻪ ﻧﻔﺴﺎ انﻃﻘﺔ وإﻧّـﲈ ّ‬ ‫ﻻ ّ‬ ‫ﳛﺲ ﺑﺄن ﻓﻴﻪ ﻧﻔﺴً ﺎ انﻃﻘﺔ ﻏﲑ ﻣﺎﺋﺘﺔ ﻓﻠﻴﺲ‬ ‫أن ﻳﻜﻮن ﺷﺄﻧﻪ ﻣﺎ ﺗﻔﻌهل اﻟﳢﺎﰂ ﻓﺄﻣّﺎ اذلي ّ‬ ‫ابﻟﻮاﺟﺐ أن ﻳﻜﻮن ﺷﺄﻧﻪ ﻣﺎ ﺗﻔﻌهل اﻟﳢﺎﰂ ﻟﻜﻦ اﻟﻮاﺟﺐ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ أن ﻳﳣ ّﺜـﻞ أﻓﻌﺎل ّاهلل ﺗﻌﺎﱃ‬ ‫وﻗﻴﻞ هل ﻟِ َﻢ ﺻﺎر اذلﻳﻦ ﯾﻔﻌﻠﻮن ّ‬ ‫اﻟﴩ إﻧّﲈ ﯾﻌﺎﻗﺒﻮن ﻋﲆ أﻓﻌﺎﳍﻢ ﻣﻦ دون اذلﻳﻦ َﯾ ْﻨﻮُون‬ ‫اﻟﴩ؟ ﻓﻘﺎل ﻣﻦ ﻗﺒﻞ أﻧّﻪ إﻧّﲈ ﻣﺎ ﻗﺼﺪ ابﻻﻧﺴﺎن ﻻ ﻷن ﻻ ّ‬ ‫ﻓﻌﻞ ّ‬ ‫ﯾﺘﻔﻜﺮ ﻟﻜﻦ ﻷن ﻻ‬ ‫ﯾﻔﻌﻞ اﻟﺮديء ﳑّﺎ ّ‬ ‫ﯾﺘﻔﻜﺮ ﻓﻴﻪ وﻗﻴﻞ هل ّأي اﳊﻴﻮان اذلي ﻻ َﻳ ْﺸ َﺒﻊ؟ ﻓﻘﺎل اﻹﻧﺴﺎن اذلي‬ ‫َﻳ ْﺮﺑَﺢ وﻗﺎل اﻟﻜﺒﲑ اﳍ ّﻤﺔ اذلي ﻳﻜﻮن ﻋﻨﻒ اﻟﻨﺎﰠ ﻋﻨﺪﻩ أﻟﻄﻒ ﻣﻮﻗﻌًﺎ ﻣﻦ ﻟﲔ اﳌﻠﻖ‬ ‫َ‬ ‫ُﴪ‬ ‫اﻟﲀﴊ وﻗﺎل إذا‬ ‫وﻋﻈﺖ ﻣﺬﻧ ًﺒﺎ ﻓﱰ ّﻓﻖ ﺑﻪ ّﻟﺌﻼ ﳜﺮج إﱃ اﳌﲀﺷﻔﺔ وﻗﺎل ﻛﻮﻧﻮا ﻣﻦ اﻟـﻤ ِ ّ‬ ‫اﻟـﻤ ُْﺪ ِﻏﻞ أﺧﻮف ﻣﻨﲂ ﻣﻦ اﳌﲀﺷﻒ اﻟـﻤُـﻌْـ ِﻠﻦ ﻷنّ ﻣﺪاواة اﻟﻌﻠﻞ اﻟﻈﺎﻫﺮة أﻫﻮن ﻣﻦ‬ ‫ﻣﺪاواة ﻣﺎ اﺳـﺘﺨﻔﻰ وﺑﻄﻦ وﻗﺎل ﻣﻦ ﺳﻘﺎك اﳌ ّﺮ ﻟﺘﱪأ أﺷﻔﻖ ﻋﻠﻴﻚ ﳑّﻦ أوﺟﺮك اﳊﻠﻮ‬ ‫ﺣﱴ َﲣ َ‬ ‫ﺣﱴ ﺗﺄﻣﻦَ أﺑ ُّﺮ ﺑﻚ ﳑّﻦ آﻧﺴﻚ ّ‬ ‫ﻟﺘﺴﻘﻢ وﻣﻦ ﺧ ّﻮﻓﻚ ّ‬ ‫ﺎف وﻗﻴﻞ هل ْأﺧ ِﺮج ﻫﺬا‬ ‫اﻟﻐ ّﻢ ﻣﻦ ﻗﻠﺒﻚ ﻓﻘﺎل ﻟﻴﺲ ﺑﺈذﱐ دﺧﻞ وﺳُ ـﺌﻞ ﻋﻦ ﺣﺎهل ﺑﻌﺪ ﻣﺎ َﻫﺮم ﻓﻘﺎل ﻫﻮ ذا أﻣﻮت‬ ‫همﻞ‬ ‫ﻋﲆ ٍ‬ ‫;)‪Sim. (first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.); (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.‬‬ ‫;)‪(dates) Th  171 (q.v.); (wise sayings) Th  89 (q.v.); (writings) Th  88 (q.v.‬‬ ‫)‪(circumstances of his death) Th 237 (1.39) (q.v.‬‬

‫‪10‬‬

‫‪15‬‬

‫‪20‬‬

Ṣiwān al-ḥikma

5

10

15

425

thing, since it is above praise. For we praise things that sometimes incline us to do good and sometimes to do evil. He said: The oath is the beginning of disgrace. When the man who swears the oath remains faithful to it, it will make him vulnerable, and feebleness makes him ashamed, and he becomes angry about his narrow-mindedness and he regrets what has escaped him due to his failure. He said: If anyone does anything in secret that he is ashamed of doing in public, he has no respect for himself. He said: Anyone who does not feel that there is a rational soul in him and only feels that he is clothed with a mortal body, is an animal and thus he should do what animals do. He, however, who feels that there is an immortal rational soul in him, should not do what the animals do, but it is incumbent on him to imitate the activities of God (be He exalted). And it was said to him: Why should those who do evil be punished for their deeds and not those who intend to do evil? He answered: Because what we mean by human is not someone who does not think but one who does not carry out the evil that he thinks.1 And it was said to him: Is there any animal that is never satisfied? He answered: A man who makes profits.2 He said: A high-minded person is one who receives austere advice more kindly than smooth and sweet words from a malicious flatterer. He said: If you preach to a sinner, be kind to him so that he doesn’t make his sin publicly known. He said: Stay away from one who is discreet and insidious more than from one who is open and transparent, since it is easier to cure visible defects than to treat what is concealed and hidden. He said: Someone who gives you a bitter drink in order to cure you is more compassionate to you than one who gives you a sweet in order to make you ill. And someone who makes you afraid in order to make you secure, is better for you than someone makes you feel safe until you fall into fear. It was said to him: Cast this grief from your heart. He answered: It entered without my permission.3 1 2

3

This is also found under al-Mubassir; cf. below Th 510. The philologist and lexicographer Ibn Duraid (837–933 CE) cites a parallel text in which the speech refers more pointedly to a merchant; however, the reading of the name there is uncertain. Cf. Rosenthal 1958, 29–54 and 150–83, Nr. 43 (ND 1990, VII). Cf. also a consideration in favor of an alternative ascription to the Cynic preacher Teles (third cent. BCE) in Rosenthal 1991, 203, no. 40. This same saying is also found anonymously in al-Mubassir: Badawi 1958, 324, 19 and in Ibn Hindu: al-Qabbani 1900, 130, 10 f.

‫‪Pseudo-Ğābir ibn Ḥayyān‬‬

‫‪426‬‬

‫‪Pseudo-Ğābir ibn Ḥayyān‬‬

‫‪Th 502‬‬ ‫)‪Kitāb al-baḥt 2.331.9 f. (ed. Kraus‬‬

‫إذ ﻟﻴﺲ ّ‬ ‫ﰻ اﻟﻨﺎس أذﻛﻴﺎء وﻻ اتﻣّﻲ اﳋﻠﻖ ﻛﲈ ُﳛﲃ ﻋﻦ اثﻟﻴﺲ وﻓﻮاثﻏﻮرس وﺳﻘﺮاط‬ ‫وأﻓﻼﻃﻦ وأﻣﺜﺎﳍﻢ ﳑّﻦ ﱂ ّ‬ ‫ﯾﺘﻌﲅ ﻣﻦ أﺣﺪ ﺷﻴﺌﺎ وﰷن انﻃﻘﺎ ابﻟﻌﲅ ﻣﻦ ﺻﻐﺮﻩ وأ ّول أﻣﺮﻩ‬

Pseudo-Ğābir ibn Ḥayyān

5

427

Someone asked him about his condition when he had become aged. He said: It is what it is. I am dying slowly. Adjoined is a longer quotation (with minor variations) from Pseudo-Ammonius (416–425), which corresponds to chapter II of the text (p. 34 f., translated p.80 f.); see above Th 483.

Pseudo-Gabir ibn Hayyan (mid-10th cent. CE) In the extensive corpus of alchemical writings that has been attributed to a follower of the Shiite Imam Ga’far as-Sadiq (ca. 700–765 CE),1 several ancient authorities are invoked, including Thales.2 In a Kitab al-baht (Book of Investigation) he is mentioned in a narration of Archimedes.3

Th 502 Thales the Sage. Book of Investigation Not everyone is smart or exemplary in that way that is reported about Thales, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato and others who had nothing to learn from others, and who spoke of knowledge from his youth and his early age.

1 2

3

F. Sezgin (1972, 132–229) keeps the early dating. For the identity of the (or at least of one) forger, cf. P. Kraus 1942 (vol. 1), LXIII f. Kraus 1943 (vol. 2), 46, n. 1; 47, n. 1; 53, n. 5; 55, n. 4; 59, n. 1; 119, n. 2; 128, n. 5; 280, n. 2, 332 and 336 with quotations from the Placita Philosophorum, cf. also Sezgin 1971, Index s.v. Thales, and here esp. p.163, a long discussion between Socrates and Thales in a book on silver. Or should this be: in a narration about Archimedes?

428

Constantine VII Porphyrogennetus

Constantine VII Porphyrogennetus

Th 503 De virtutibus et vitiis 1.348.21–22 (ed. Büttner-Wobst/ Roos) Φασὶ δέ τινες Θαλῆν προϊδόμενον ἔκ τινων σημείων ὄμβρον γενησόμενον καὶ ἀναμένειν τὴν ὥραν ἐκείνην.

Th 504

5

10

15

De sententiis 38–39, 282.18–283.2 (ed. Boissevain) Ὅτι περὶ τοῦ χρυσοῦ τρίποδος ἀμφισβητήσεως οὔσης ἡ Πυθία ἔχρησεν οὕτως ἔκγονε Μιλήτου, τρίποδος πέρι Φοῖβον ἐρωτᾷς; τίς σοφίᾳ πρῶτος πάντων; τούτῳ τρίποδ᾽ αὐδῶ. οἱ δέ φασιν ἄλλως ὅτι πολέμου γενομένου τοῖς Ἴωσι πρὸς ἀλλήλους, καὶ τοῦ τρίποδος παρὰ σαγηνέων ἀνενεχθέντος, ἐπερωτῆσαι τὸν θεὸν περὶ τῆς καταλύσεως τοῦ πολέμου. ἡ δὲ ἔφη οὔποτε μὴ λήξῃ πόλεμος Μερόπων καὶ Ἰώνων πρὶν τρίποδα χρύσειον, ὃν Ἥφαιστος κάμε τεύχων, ἐκ μέσσου πέμψητε, καὶ ἐς δόμον ἀνδρὸς ἵκηται ὃς σοφίᾳ τά τ᾽ ἐόντα τά τ᾽ ἐσσόμενα προδέδορκεν. [39] Ὅτι οἱ Μιλήσιοι ἀκολουθῆσαι βουλόμενοι τῷ χρησμῷ Θάλητι τῷ Μιλησίῳ τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν τὸ ἀριστεῖον ἐβούλοντο δοῦναι‧ τὸν δὲ εἰπεῖν ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν πάντων σοφώτατος, συμβουλεύειν δὲ πρὸς ἕτερον πέμπειν σοφώτερον. τούτῳ δὲ τῷ τρόπῳ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν ἀποποιησαμένων τὸν τρίποδα Σόλωνι δίδοσθαι δοκοῦντι πάντας ἀνθρώπους ὑπερβεβλῆσθαι σο-[283] φίᾳ τε καὶ συνέσει. τὸν δὲ συμβουλεῦσαι τοῦτον ἀναθεῖναι Ἀπόλλωνι‧ τοῦτον γὰρ εἶναι σοφώτερον πάντων. Sim. (Thales’ prize/story of the tripod) Th 52 (q.v.)

Constantine VII Porphyrogennetus

429

Constantine VII Porphyrogennetus (906–959 CE) Extract from Nicolaus of Damascus, Histories, book 7 (cf. Th 79). The story of Croesus on the pyre (cf. Herodotus, Histories 1.86 f.), where at the last second he is saved by a sudden cloudburst.

Th 503 Thales’ prediction of rain. On Virtues and Vices 1.348.21–22 Some say that Thales foresaw from some signs that there would be rain, and awaited that time (cf. Th 10).

Th 504i

5

10

15

Thales the Sage; the story of the tripod. On Maxims 38–39, 282.18–283.2 When there was a dispute about the golden tripod, the Pythian priestess proclaimed the following oracle: “Child of Miletus, are you asking Phoebus about the tripod? Who is the first of all in wisdom? I declare that the tripod is his.” Some say differently, that when there was a war among the Ionians and the tripod had been hauled up in a fishnet, they asked the god how to end the war. She said that the war between the Meropes and the Ionians will never end until you send away the golden tripod which Hephaestus produced by his labor and it reaches the house of the man who has by his wisdom foreseen the things that are and that will be. [39] The Milesians wished to obey the oracle and wished to give it as a prize to Thales of Miletus who was one of the Seven Sages. But he said that he was not the wisest of all and he advised them to send it to someone else who was wiser. When the rest of the Seven Sages refused the tripod in the same way too, they gave it to Solon, who seemed to exceed everyone in wisdom [283] and understanding, and he advised them to dedicate it to Apollo, for he is wiser than everyone.

i

W. does not translate this testimonium..

‫‪430‬‬

‫‪Ibn an-Nadīm‬‬

‫‪Ibn an-Nadīm‬‬

‫‪Th 505‬‬ ‫‪Fihrist 245.12–15 (ed. Flügel)1‬‬

‫ﻗﺎل ﱄ أﺑﻮ اﳋﲑ ﺑﻦ ّ‬ ‫اﶆﺎر ﲝﴬة أﰊ اﻟﻘﺎﰟ ﻋﻴﴗ ﺑﻦ ﻋﲇ وﻗﺪ ﺳﺄﻟﺘﻪ ﻋﻦ أ ّول ﻣﻦ‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫اﻟﺼﻮري ﰲ ﻛﺘﺎﺑﻪ اﻟﺘﺄرﱗ وﻫﻮ ﴎاي ّﱐ أنّ أ ّول‬ ‫ﺗﳫﻢ ﰲ اﻟﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ ﻓﻘﺎل زﰪ ﻓﺮﻓﻮرﯾﻮس‬ ‫اﻟﻔﻼﺳﻔﺔ اﻟﺴـﺒﻌﺔ اثﻟﺲ ﺑﻦ ﻣﺎﻟّﺲ اﻷﻣﻠﻴﴘ وﻗﺪ ﻧﻘﻞ ﻣﻦ ﻫﺬا اﻟﻜﺘﺎب ﻣﻘﺎﻟﺘﲔ إﱃ‬ ‫اﻟﻌﺮ ّﰊ ﻓﻘﺎل أﺑﻮ اﻟﻘﺎﰟ ﻛﺬا ﻫﻮ وﻣﺎ أﻧﻜﺮﻩ وﻗﺎل آﺧﺮون أنّ أ ّول ﻣﻦ ّ‬ ‫ﺗﳫﻢ ﰲ اﻟﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ‬ ‫ﺑﻮاثﻏﻮرس‬ ‫)‪Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.‬‬

‫‪Also translated in Smith 1993, 220 f. (no. 194bT).‬‬

‫‪1‬‬

‫‪5‬‬

431

Ibn an-Nadīm

Ibn an-Nadim (died 995 or 998 CE) This Shiite bookseller from Bagdad was filled with especial reverence for Aristotle and the other Greek thinkers. His comprehensively organized book catalogue published under the plain title Fihrist (Catalogue), is also a treasury of details in cultural history.

Th 505 Thales the first philosopher. Catalogue Abū al-Khayr ibn al-Khammār1 said to me in the presence of Abū al-Qāsim Isā bin Alī,2 when I asked him who was the first who spoke about philosophy: “Porphyry of Tyre claims (Th  247) in his book The History, which is written in Syriac, that the first of the Seven Philosophers was Thales of Miletus, the son of M’LLS.3 Two chapters of this book were translated into Arabic. Abū al-Qāsim said that that was true and he did not dispute it. Others say that the first who spoke about philosophy was Pythagoras.

ʿ

5

1

2 3

ʿ

Christian doctor and philosopher, born in Baghdad in 942 CE, translated many works from Syrian into Arabic, went from Baghdad to Choresm, was kidnapped and taken from there to Afghanistan, where he died before 1030. Secretary at the court of the Caliph, was considered an expert in the Greek sciences, lived from 914 to 1001 CE. The name can be read as Mallos, which cannot be brought into agreement with with Ἐξαμύης, which is found in Diogenes Laertius and other authors, even if H. Diels wants to recognize in it a simple “corruption” (1888/89, 165–170; cf. also O. Immisch, 1888/9, 515 f. on Thales’ origin). Rather we should think of an independent local tradition which Porphyry, who came from Tyre, followed.

‫‪Al-Bīrūnī‬‬

‫‪432‬‬

‫‪Al-Bīrūnī‬‬

‫‪Th 506‬‬ ‫)‪Tarīḫ al-Hind 15.19–16.1 (ed. Sachau‬‬

‫إنّ ﻗﺪﻣﺎء اﻟﻴﻮانﻧ ّﻴﲔ ﻗﺒﻞ ﳒﻮم اﳊﳬﺔ ﻓﳱﻢ ابﻟﺴـﺒﻌﺔ اﳌﺴ ّﻤﲔ أﺳﺎﻃﲔ اﳊﳬﺔ وﱒ ﺳﻮﻟﻦ‬ ‫اﻷﺛﻴﲏ وﺑﻴﻮس اﻟﻔﺎرﯾﲏ وﻓﺎرايﻧﺪروس اﻟﻘﻮرﻧﱻ واثﻟﺲ اﳌﻠﻴﺴﻮﳼ وﻛﻴﻠﻮن اﻟﻠﻘﺎذوﻣﻮﱐ‬ ‫ﻓﻴﻄﻴﻘﻮس ﻟﺴﺒﻴﻮس ﻗﻴﻠﻴﺒﻮﻟﻮس ﻟﻨﺪﯾﻮس َ َ‬ ‫وﲥ ُّﺬ ِب اﻟﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ ﻋﻨﺪﱒ ﲟﻦ ﻧﺸﺄ ﺑﻌﺪﱒ ﰷﻧﻮا‬ ‫ﻋﲆ ﻣﺜﻞ ﻣﻘﺎةل اﻟﻬﻨﺪ‬ ‫)‪Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.‬‬

‫‪Th 507‬‬ ‫)‪Al-ātār al-bāqiya an al-qurūn al-ḫāliya 27.14–21 (ed. Sachau‬‬

‫ابﻟﺮ ْؤﯾَﺔ دون اﳊﺴﺎب إذ ﰷن‬ ‫وﻗﺪ زﰪ ﺑﻌﺾ اﻟﻨﺎس أنّ ﻫﺬﻩ اﻷدوار ﰷﻧﺖ ُﺗ ْـﺴـ َﺘـ ْﻌ َﻤ ُﻞ ُ‬ ‫اﻟﻨﺎس ﺣﻴﻨﺌﺬ ﱂ ﯾﻔﻄﻨﻮا ﲝﺴﺎب اﻟﻜﺴﻮﻓﺎت اﻟﱵ ﻻ ُﯾ ْﻌ َﺮ ُف ﻣﻘﺪار اﻟﺸﻬﺮ ّ‬ ‫اﻟﻘﻤﺮي وﻻ‬ ‫ﯾ ّﱲ ﻫﺬﻩ اﳊﺴـﺒﺎانت ّإﻻ ﲠﺎ وأنّ أ ّول ﻣﻦ وﻗﻒ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﰷن اثﻟﺲ ﻣﻦ أﻫﻞ ﻣﻠﻄﻴﺔ ﻓﺈﻧّﻪ‬ ‫ﻟـ ّﻤﺎ اﺧﺘﻠﻒ اﱃ أﲱﺎب اﻟﺮايﺿﺎت وأﺧﺬ ﻣﳯﻢ ﻋﲅ اﻟﻬﻴﺌﺔ واﳊﺮﰷت ّ‬ ‫ﺗﺮﰵ ﻣﻨﻪ إﱃ‬ ‫اﺳـﺘﻨﺒﺎط اﻟﻜﺴﻮﻓﺎت ّﰒ َو َﻗ َﻊ إﱃ ْﻣﴫ ﻓﺄﻧﺬر اﻟﻨﺎس ﺑﻜﻮن اﻟﻜﺴﻮف ﻓﻠ ّﻤﺎ ﺻﺪق ﺧﱪﻩ‬ ‫ﻟﲁ ﺻﻨﺎﻋﺔ ﻣﺒﺎدئ ﯾُﻨﳤـﻰ إﻟﳱﺎ ّ‬ ‫اﺳـﺘﻌﻈﻤﻮﻩ وﻫﺬا اﳋﱪ ﻣﻦ اﳌﻤﻜﻨﺎت ﻓﺈنّ ّ‬ ‫وﳇﲈ ﻗﺮﺑﺖ‬

‫‪5‬‬

Al-Bīrūnī

433

Al-Biruni (973–1048 CE) Al-Biruni was from Choresm, the ancient cultural oasis, south of the Aral Sea on the lower course of the Oxus. This exponent of an Islam that was liberal and open to the world and also thoroughly orthodox is commonly considered the most important and creative widely educated person in the entire Muslim middle ages. In his works he refers continuously to the Greeks, whom he valued highly.1 In his great monograph on India he compares the situation there with the ancient Greeks, among whom he mentions the Seven Sages.

Th 506 Thales the Sage. History of India 15.19–16.1 Before the rise of philosophy among the ancient Greeks that was due to the so-called Pillars of Wisdom, namely, Solon of Athens, Bias of Priene, Periander of Corinth, Thales of Miletus, Chilon of Sparta, Pittacus of Lesbos and Cleobulus of Lindos and the refinement of philosophy by those who came after them, one could say about them the same as about the people of India.

Th 507 Thales as astronomer; his prediction of an eclipse; his association with Egypt. In his Chronology he discusses whether Thales could really have predicted an eclipse. He is dependent on a tradition which concerns a lunar eclipse. He discusses the determination of lunar months and their congruence with solar years, which is found by recording eclipses, he names the Metonic cycle of nineteen years, and then he continues: Chronicle 27.14–21 Some claimed that these [astronomical] periods were worked out by observation and not by calculations, because at that time people did not pay 1

Cf. Kennedy 1970, 147–58; cf. also the Introduction to Strohmeier 32002, 9–31.

‫‪434‬‬

‫)‪Al-Bīrūnī – Ibn Sina (Avicenna‬‬

‫ﻣﻦ ﻣﺒﺪﲛﺎ ﰷﻧﺖ أﺑﺴﻂ ّ‬ ‫ﺣﱴ ﯾُﻨﳤـﻰ إﻟﻴﻪ وﻟﻜﻦّ اﻟﻮاﺟﺐ أن ﻻ ﯾُﻄﻠﻖ ﰲ ﻫﺬا اﳋﱪ‬ ‫اﻟﻘﻮل ﺑﺄنّ اﻟﻜﺴﻮف ﱂ ﯾُﻌﺮف ﻗﺒﻞ اثﻟﺲ ّإﻻ ابﺷﱰاط َﻣﻮاﺿ َﻊ دون ُأﺧﺮ‬ ‫‪Sim. (eclipse/phases of the moon) Th 178 (q.v.); (Egyptian influence) Th 92‬‬ ‫)‪(q.v.‬‬

‫)‪Ibn Sina (Avicenna‬‬ ‫‪Th 508‬‬ ‫)‪Kitāb aš-šifā 87.1–6 (ed. Madkūr/Qāsim‬‬

‫ﻓﻴﺸـﺒﻪ أن ﻳﻜﻮن أﻗﺪهمﻢ ﻣﻦ رأى أنّ اﻟﻌﻨﴫ اﻟﻮاﺣﺪ ﻫﻮ اﳌﺎء ودﻋﺎﻩ إﱃ ذكل ﻇ ّﻨﻪ‬ ‫أن اﻟﻌﻨﴫ ﯾﻨﺒﻐﻲ أن ﻳﻜﻮن ﻣﻄﺎوﻋﺎ ّ‬ ‫ﻟﻠﺘﺸﲁ واﻟﺘﺨﻠﻴﻖ ّ‬ ‫ﺣﱴ ﻳﻜﻮن ﻣﻨﻪ ﻣﺎ ﻫﻮ ﻋﻨﴫ‬ ‫هل ّ‬ ‫ﻓﲁ ﻣﺎ ﻫﻮ أﺷ ّﺪ ﻣﻄﺎوﻋﺔ ذلكل ﻓﻬﻮ أوﱃ ابﻟﻌﻨﴫﯾّﺔ ّﰒ وﺟﺪ ﻫﺬﻩ اﳌﻄﺎوﻋﺔ ﻛﺄﳖّ ﺎ‬ ‫ﺧﺎص ابﻟﺮﻃﻮﺑﺔ واﻟﻨﺎس ّﳇﻬﻢ ﯾﻌﺘﻘﺪون أنّ اﻟﺮﻃﻮﺑﺔ ﻣﺎء أو ﳾء اﻟﻐﺎﻟﺐ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ‬ ‫ﻓﺼﻞ ّ‬ ‫اﳌﺎء ﲾﻌﻞ اﳌﺎء اﻟﺒﺴـﻴﻂ ﻫﻮ اﻟﻌﻨﴫ ﻗﺎل وﻟﻬﺬا ﻣﺎ ﻧﺮى اﳊﻴﻮاانت ﻻ ّ‬ ‫ﺗﺘﺨﻠﻖ ّإﻻ ﻣﻦ‬ ‫اﻟﺮﻃﺐ وﻫﻮ اﳌﲏ‬ ‫)‪Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.‬‬

‫‪5‬‬

Al-Bīrūnī – Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

5

435

attention to the calculation of eclipses, without which one cannot know the length of the lunar month or how to calculate it. The first who did this was Thales of Miletus, for he went to mathematicians and acquired knowledge of astronomy and the movements [of the heavenly bodies] from them, and from that knowledge he found a way to deduce when eclipses would occur. Then he went to Egypt and warned the people of the occurrence of the eclipse, and when his statement proved true, they had regarded him highly. This story is possible, since every art has principles which one can reach, and the nearer it [the art] gets to its principle, the simpler it is for the art to reach it. However, we must not generalize from this report that eclipses were unknown before Thales, because they could have been known in other places.

Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna) (before 980–1037 CE) Th 508 Water as the first principle. Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna) was influential in the West as a philosopher and exponent of a neoplatonizing Aristotelianism.1 In the Kitab as-sifa (Book of Convalescence), his major philosophical work, he refers to the conceptions of matter of Aristotle’s predecessors, which Aristotle vanquished, without mentioning their names, but where even so he apostrophizes Thales as the earliest.

5

Book of Healing2 It appears that the earliest of them [the philosophers] held the view that the single element is water. What brought him to this view was his belief that an element must be amenable to formation and generation in order for [another] element to be generated from it. And that which is most amenable is most worthy of the status of elementality. Then he considered this amenity to be a distinctive character of moisture and all peoples believe that moisture is water or something in which water is predominant. So he considered pure water to be the element. He said: And thus we see how animals are generated only from moisture, namely, from sperm. 1 2

Strohmaier 2006. Cf. also the correspondence between Al-Bīrūnī and Ibn Sīnā, Al-as’ ila wa-l-ăwiba in Nasr/Mohaghegh 1972, 32, 2–4.

‫)‪Ibn Sina (Avicenna‬‬

‫‪436‬‬

‫)‪Th 508a (= Ar 243‬‬ ‫)‪Al-Asʾila wa-l-aǧwiba 32.3–9 (ed. Nasr‬‬

‫ﻣﺜﻞ اثﻟﻴﺲ ﺣﲔ ﺟﻌﻠﻬﺎ اﳌﺎء وﻫﺮﻗﻠﻴﻄﺲ أذ ﳚﻌﻠﻬﺎ اﻟﻨﺎر ودﯾﻮﺟﺎﻧﺲ اذ ﺟﻌﻠﻬﺎ ﺟﻮﻫﺮا‬ ‫ﺑﲔ اﳌﺎء واﻟﻬﻮاء واﻧﻜﺴﻤﻨﺪرس ﺣﲔ ﳚﻌﻠﻬﺎ ﻫﻮاء ‪ .‬و ﳚﻌﻞ ﰻ واﺣﺪ ﻣﳯﻢ الاﺟﺮام‬ ‫اﻷﺧﺮ و ّ‬ ‫اﳌﺘﻮدلات ﻋﻮارض ﺗﻌﺮض ﰱ اﳉﺴﻢ اﻳﺶ ﻣﺎ وﺿﻌﻮﻩ ‪ ،‬واﻧّﻪ ﻟﻴﺲ ﻳﻜﻮن ﻋﻦ‬ ‫ﺟﺴﻢ آﺧﺮ ‪ .‬وﯾﻘﻮل اﻧﻜﺴﻤﻨﺪرس اﻟﻘﻮل اذلى ﺣﻜﻴﺘﻪ انّ اﻟﺠﻮﻫﺮ الا ّول ﻫﻮاء ‪ ،‬ﻓﺎذا‬ ‫اﺻﺎﺑﺘﻪ ﻛﻴﻔ ّﻴﺔ اﻟﱪودة ﺻﺎر ﻣﺎء ‪ ،‬واذا ﲯﻦ ﻣﻦ ﲢﺮﯾﻚ اﻟﻔكل ﰷن انرا او اﺛﲑا ‪.‬‬ ‫)‪Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.‬‬

‫‪5‬‬

Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

437

Th 508a (= Ar 243) Water as the first principle Around the year 1000 there was an exchange of letters between the still young Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna) and the polymath al-Biruni (973–1048 CE).1 It began with eighteen questions of al-Biruni which had arisen in connection with his lectures on Aristotle. The questions and the answers of Ibn Sīnā alike are the object of the correspondence. The topic of the present dispute is the friction of the sphere of fire at the equator and the poles. Ibn Sīnā compares al-Biruni’s view with the idea of the Presocratics about principles and refers in this connection to Anaximander’s theory of air – obviously a confusion with Anaximenes.2

5

Questions and Answers 32.3–9 ... like Thales, since he takes water to be [the first substance], and Heraclitus, since takes it to be fire, and Diogenes [of Apollonia], since he takes it to be a substance [intermediate] between water and air, and Anaximander, since he takes it to be air. Every one of them takes the other corporeal things and the things that are generated to be accidents that occur in the body [viz. the first element] in a certain arrangement. For in no way does it [viz. the first element] come to be out of a different body. Anaximander says the saying that I mentioned above, that the first substance is air. If the air is exposed to the quality of coldness it becomes water and if it is heated by the motion of the orb it becomes fire or aether.

1 2

Cf. Gutas 1988, 97–8. Cf. Strohmaier 1992, esp. 121–3.

‫‪Al-Mubaššir ibn Fātik‬‬

‫‪438‬‬

‫‪Al-Mubaššir ibn Fātik‬‬

‫‪Th 509‬‬ ‫)‪Muḫtār al-ḥikam wa-maḥāsin al-kalim 34.7–36.2 (ed. Badawī‬‬

‫وﰷن ﺳﻮﻟﻮن أﺣﺪ اﳊﻜﲈء اﻟﺴـﺒﻌﺔ اذلﻳﻦ ﰷﻧﻮا ﰲ وﻗﺖ واﺣﺪ وﱒ اثﻟﻴﺲ وﺳﻮﻟﻮن‬ ‫وﺑِ ّﻄﺎﻗﻮس وابرايﻧﺪروس وﺧﻴﻠﻮن وﻗﻼوﺑﻮﻟﻮس وﺑﻴﺎس وأﻧﻜﺮ ﻗﻮم ﺑِ ّﻄﺎﻗﻮس وابرايﻧﺪروس‬ ‫وﺟﻌﻠﻮا ﻣﲀﳖﲈ أﺑاميﻧﻴﺪس اﻷﻗﺮﯾﻄﻲ وأانﺧﺎرﺳﻴﺲ اﻹﺳﻘﻮﰔ وﻗﻴﻞ إﳖّ ﻢ ﺗﺴﻌﺔ وأﺿﺎﻓﻮا إﻟﳱﻢ‬ ‫أانﺧﺎرﺳﻴﺲ اذلي ﻣﻦ ﺳﻘﻮﺛﻴﺎ ً‬ ‫أﯾﻀﺎ وﻣﻮﺳﻮن اذلي ﻣﻦ ﺧﻴﻨﻴﺎ وإﻧّـﲈ ﺣﺴـﺒﻮا ﺳـﺒﻌﺔ وأﺳﻘﻂ‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ﻣﳯﻢ اﺛﻨﺎن ﳌﺎ أذﻛﺮﻩ وﻫﻮ أنّ‬ ‫ﻣﻨﻘﻮﺷﺎ ﻟﻴﻠﻘﻰ ﺷـﺒﻜﺘﻪ ﰲ‬ ‫أﺣﺪااث وﻗﻔﻮا ﺑﺼ ّﻴﺎد ﻓﺪﻓﻌﻮا إﻟﻴﻪ‬ ‫اﳌﺎء ﳁﺎ أﺻﻌﺪﺗﻪ ﺑﺒﺨﳤﻢ ﰷن ﳍﻢ ﻓﺄﺧﺬﻩ ﻣﳯﻢ وﻃﺮح ﺷـﺒﻜﺘﻪ ﰲ اﳌﺎء ﻓﺄﺻﻌﺪ ﻃﺮﯾﺒﻮذا ﻣﻦ‬ ‫ذﻫﺐ ﻓﺄز َﻣ َﻊ اﻟﺼ ّﻴﺎد ﻋﲆ ﻣﻨﻌﻬﻢ ّإايﻩ واﺣﺘﺞّ ﻋﻠﳱﻢ ﺑﺄﻧّﻪ إﻧّـﲈ ابﻋﻬﻢ ﲰﻜﺔ وﱂ ﯾﺒﻌﻬﻢ ﻃﺮﯾﺒﻮذا‬ ‫ﻣﻦ ذﻫﺐ ﻓﺎﺣﺘﺠّ ﻮا ﻋﻠﻴﻪ أﻧّﻪ َ َ‬ ‫ﴍط ﻋﲆ ﻧﻔﺴﻪ أن ﯾﻄﻠﻊ ﳍﻢ ﺑﺒﺨﳤﻢ ﻣﺎ ﻃﻠﻊ ﳍﻢ ﻓﻠ ّﻤﺎ ﻃﺎﻟﺖ‬ ‫ُ‬ ‫ويح إﻟﳱﻢ أن ﯾﻨﻄﻠﻘﻮا‬ ‫اﳌﺸﺎﺟﺮة اﺗّﻔﻘﻮا ﻋﲆ أن ﯾﺘﻔﺎﺗَ ْﻮا إﱃ ّاهلل ﺳـﺒﺤﺎﻧﻪ ﳁﺎ أﻣﺮﱒ أﻧﻔﺬوﻩ ﻓﺄ ِ‬ ‫ﺑﻪ إﱃ ﺑﻌﺾ اﳊﻜﲈء اﻟﺴـﺒﻌﺔ وﯾﻘﺒﻠﻮا ﺣُ ْ َﳬﻪ ﻓﺄﺗﻮا ابﻹﻃﺮﯾﺒﻮذ ً‬ ‫ﺑﺪاي إﱃ اثﻟﻴﺲ ﻓﻮﺟّ ﻪ ﺑﻪ إﱃ‬ ‫ﺑﻴﺎس اﳊﻜﲓ واﺣﺘﺠﺰ ﺑﺄن ﻗﺎل ﻫﻮ أﺣﲂ ّﻣﲏ ﻓﺒﻌﺚ ﺑﻴﺎس إﱃ اﳊﻜﲓ اﻟﺜﺎﻟﺚ ﻓﺄرﺳهل‬ ‫اﻟﺜﺎﻟﺚ إﱃ اﻟﺮاﺑﻊ ﻓﲅ ﻳﺰل ُّ‬ ‫اﺣﺪ ﻳﺮﺳهل إﱃ اﻵﺧﺮ ّ‬ ‫ﺣﱴ ﺟﺎز ﻋﲆ اﻟﺴـﺒﻌﺔ اﳊﻜﲈء ﻓﺮ ّدﻩ‬ ‫ﰻو ٍ‬ ‫اﻟﺴﺎﺑﻊ إﱃ اثﻟﻴﺲ ﻓﺄﺟﺎب ﺑﺄن ُ ْﳚﻌَﻞ ﰲ ﻫﻴﲁ اﻹهل ﻋ َّﺰ ّ‬ ‫وﺟﻞ ﲾﻌﻠﻮﻩ ﰲ ﻫﻴﲁ أﻓﻮﻟﻮن‬

‫‪5‬‬

‫‪10‬‬

Al-Mubaššir ibn Fātik

439

Al-Mubassir ibn Fatik (11th cent. CE) The collection Muhtar al-hikam wa-mahasin al-kalim (Selected Maxims and Excellent Sayings), of the learned Egyptian scholar al-Mubassir ibn Fatiq, which was composed in the years 1048 and 1049 CE, contains no chapter on Thales, but in the context of Solon’s biography it recounts the story of the golden tripod.1 Franz Rosenthal has made it probable that it goes back via the Chronology of Abu Isa ibn al-Munaggim to the Philosophus Historia of Porphyry.2

Th 509

5

10

Thales the Sage; the story of the tripod. Selected Maxims and Excellent Sayings 34.7–36.2 Solon was one of the Seven Sages who lived at one and the same time: Thales, Solon, Pittacus, Periander, Chilon, Cleobulus and Bias. Some have dropped Pittacus and Periander and replaced them with Epimenides of Crete and Anacharsis the Scythian. Some say that they were nine and then they added Anacharsis the Scythian and Myson of Chenae. However, they were reckoned to be seven and the two I mentioned above were dropped for the reason I am about to mention. Some young men were standing next to a fisherman and gave him money to cast his net into the water, and whatever he hauled up by their luck would belong to them. He took it [the money] from them, threw his net into the water, and hauled up a golden tripod. The fisherman determined to deny to give it to them and argued against them that he had only sold them a fish and not a golden tripod. They argued back that he had committed himself to show them their luck by giving them whatever he caught. As the dispute became prolonged, they agreed to consult God (praise Him) and [said] they would do whatever He commanded. He revealed to them to take the matter to one of the Seven Sages and accept his verdict. First they came with the tripod to Thales, who turned the matter over to Bias the sage. He justified this by saying “He is wiser than I.” Then Bias turned it over to the third Sage, who turned it over to the fourth. So each of them sent it on to the next until it had made the round of the Seven Sages. And the seventh gave it back to Thales. He [Thales] gave the answer that it should be placed in the temple of the God (Almighty and Great).

1 2

Cf. Rosenthal 1960–1, 132–58. Rosenthal 1937, 40 f. (ND 1990, I); cf. Smith 1993, 225–8 (= Nr. 203aF).

‫‪440‬‬

‫‪Al-Mubaššir ibn Fātik‬‬

‫اذلي ﺑﺪاﻟﻔﺲ ﻓﺼﺎرت ﺳ ً‬ ‫ـﺒﻌﺔ ]اﻹﻃﺮﯾﺒﻮذ[ ﻟﻠﺴـﺒﻌﺔ اﳊﻜﲈء اذلﻳﻦ َﻣ َّﺮ ﻋﲆ أﯾﺪﳞﻢ وأﻣّﺎ‬ ‫اﻵﺧﺮون اذلﻳﻦ ﱂ ﯾ ّﺘﻔﻘﻮا ﻣﻌﻬﻢ ﰲ ﻫﺬا اﳌﻌﲎ ﻓﺄﻗ ُّﺮوا ﺑﻔﻀﻴةل ا ّﻟﺴﻦّ‬ ‫‪1‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪15‬‬

‫‪Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (Thales’ prize/story of the‬‬ ‫)‪tripod) Th 52 (q.v.‬‬

‫‪Th 510‬‬ ‫‪Muḫtār al-ḥikam wa-maḥāsin al-kalim 302.5–8‬‬

‫وﺳـﺌﻞ اثﻟﻴﺲ اذلي ﻣﻦ أﻫﻞ ﻣﺎﻟﻄﻴﻪ ﱂ ﺻﺎر اذلﻳﻦ ﯾﻌﺎﻗﺒﻮن اﻟﺒﴩ ﻻ ﯾﻌﺎﻗﺒﻮﳖﻢ ﻋﲆ‬ ‫ﻓﻜﺮﱒ اﻟﺮدﯾﺌﺔ وإﻧّـﲈ ﯾﻌﺎﻗﺒﻮﳖﻢ ﻋﲆ أﻓﻌﺎﳍﻢ ﻓﻘﻂ؟ ﻓﻘﺎل ﻣﻦ ِﻗـ َﺒﻞ أن اﻹﻧﺴﺎن ُﻗﺼِ ﺪ ﺑﻪ‬ ‫ﻷن ﻻ ﯾﻔﻌﻞ اﻟﺮديء ﳑّﺎ ﯾﻔﻜﺮ ﻓﻴﻪ ﻻ أن ﻻ ﯾﻔﻜﺮ‬ ‫)‪Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.‬‬

‫‪Th 511‬‬ ‫‪Muḫtār al-ḥikam wa-maḥāsin al-kalim 314.8 f.‬‬

‫وﻗﺎل اثﻟﻴﺲ اﳌﻠﻴﴘ اﻟﻮاﺟﺐ ﻋﲆ اﻹﻧﺴﺎن ان ﯾﻌﲅ إذا ﺟﺎء ﻣﻦ أﻳﻦ ﺟﺎء وإذا ﺟﺎء ﱂ‬ ‫ﺟﺎء وإذا اﻧﻘﻠﺐ إﱃ أﻳﻦ ﻳﻜﻮن اﻧﻘﻼﺑﻪ‬ ‫)‪Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.‬‬

‫ﺳﺎﺑﻌﺔ ] ﺳـﺒﻌ ًﺔ‬ ‫اﻹﻃﺮﯾﺒﻮذ‬

‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬

441

Al-Mubaššir ibn Fātik

15

And thus they placed it in the temple of Apollo at Delphi.1 That is why they became seven, because this matter passed among the seven wise men.2 As far as the others, who did not agree with them, they proposed to settle the matter by yielding to age. In an appended chapter are contained maxims and sayings which are attributed to various Greeks, including Thales.

Th 510 Thales’ wise sayings. Selected Maxims and Excellent Sayings 302.5–8 Thales of Miletus was asked why those whose job it is to punish do not punish people for their evil thoughts but only for their evil deeds. He answered: Because we should not expect of a man that he shall not think, but that he should not do the evil deed that he is thinking.3

Th 511 Thales’ wise sayings. Selected Maxims and Excellent Sayings 314.8 f. Thales of Miletus said: A person must know, when he comes, from where he comes and why he came, and when he returns [he must know] where he going to return.

1

2

3

The letters DLFS can also lead us to think of Delos, but since in majuscule script the endings are frequently abbreviated, the S at the end should be interpreted merely as a mistaken completion by the translation. The wording in the editions and manuscripts (fa-şārat sābi atu l-itÖrībūd li-s-sab ati al-hÖukama’ alladīna marra alā aidīhim) gives no sense. With a small correction and the deletion of al-itÖrībūd (“the tripod” if punctuated thus) as a secondary but dispensable marginal gloss, which has found its way into a wrong location in the text, I have conjecturally restored the sentence. The author or his original wanted to justify the canonical number seven, even though a larger number of ancient philosophers were known. Essentially the same is found above under the Şiwān al-hÖikma Th 499 12.

ʿ

ʿ

ʿ

442

Al-Mubaššir ibn Fātik – Peter Damian

Th 512 Muḫtār al-ḥikam wa-maḥāsin al-kalim 318.8 f.

‫وﻗﺎل اثﻟﻴﺲ ﻷﻣّﻪ وﻗﺪ ﻃﻠﺒﺖ إﻟﻴﻪ أن ﯾﱱ ّوج اﻣﺮأة ﻣﺎ آن ﱄ ﺑﻌﺪ ﻓﻠ ّﻤﺎ ﻃﺎل إﳊﺎهحﺎ‬ ‫ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻗﺎل ﻗﺪ ﻣﴣ وﻗﺖ اﻟﱱوﱕ‬ Sim. (views on the family) Th  112 (q.v.) (cf. Th  237 [1.26]). Cf. Th  129, Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.26), Th 368, Gnomologium Vaticanum (Th 564) no. 318.

Iohannes Mauropus Th 512a Epigramm 33.18 (ed. Lagarde)1 πῶς οὖν ἐκεῖνον τὸν Θαλῆν τις θαυμάσοι;

Peter Damian Th 513

5

Epistulae 5.139–40 (ed. Migne PL 144.337A–B) Philosophus quidam (92) nocte dum stellarum cursus, et meatus siderum subtiliter rimaretur, in puteum repente corruit, et hianti, sicut dicitur, immanitate profundum et obscenis sordidum squaloribus plenum (93). Cui nimirum philosopho domestica erat ancilla nomine Iambi, quae in dominum suum libere, ac prudenter invecta, per metrum Iambicum, quod ex ea postmodum tale nomen accepit, super eo plausibiliter dixit: „Dominus, inquit, meus ignorabat stercora, quae sub ejus pedibus erant, et nosse tent1

De Lagarde, P. Iohannis Euchaitorum Metropolitae quae in codice Vaticano Graeco 676 supersunt (=  Abhandlungen historisch-philologischen Classe der königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen 28), Göttingen 1882.

Al-Mubaššir ibn Fātik – Peter Damian

443

Th 512 Thales’ views on marriage and family. Selected Maxims and Excellent Sayings 318.8 f. When Thales’ mother asked him to marry a woman he said that it was not yet the time to do that. When she persisted for a long time, he said: The time for marrying has passed.

Iohannes Mauropus (ca. 1000–between 1075 and 1081 CE) Th 512a Thales the proverbial genius. Ironic interjection in a debate about the meaning of an epigram. Epigrams 33.18 (ed. Lagarde)4 How, then could anyone admire that Thales?

Peter Damian (ca. 1007–1072 CE) Th 513 Variant on the story of Thales’ fall into a well. Letters 5.139–140 A certain philosopher (92) by night carefully investigating the courses of the stars and the wanderings of the constellations suddenly fell into a well that had a huge gaping mouth, the story goes, and was deep and dirty, full of obscene filth (93).5 This philosopher had a housemaid named Iambe who

4

5

De Lagarde, P. Iohannis Euchaitorum Metropolitae quae in codice Vaticano Graeco 676 supersunt (= Abhandlungen historisch-philologischen Classe der königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen 1882. Cf. Blumemberg 1976, 30 ff.

444

10

15

Peter Damian – Michael Psellus

abat sidera.“ Hoc itaque modo fit in diebus nostris, fit rustici et insipientes quique, qui nil pene noverunt, nisi vomeribus arva proscindere, porcos ac diversorum [337B] pecorum captabula custodire, nunc in compitis ac triviis ante mulierculas, et combubulcos suos, non erubescant de Scripturarum sanctarum sententiis disputare: imo, quod turpe est dicere, in tota nocte subant [f. qui tota nocte cubant] inter femora mulierum, die non verentur tractare de sermonibus angelorum, et hoc modo sanctorum dijudicant verba doctorum. Sim. (Thales’ fall into the well) Th 19 (q.v.)

Michael Psellus Th 514

5

Opuscula logica, physica, allegorica, alia 3.31–35 (ed. Duffy) Ἓν μὲν οὖν εἶδος τῶν λόγων – ἢ εἰ βούλοιτό τις γένος καλεῖν – ἡ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν λόγων παιδεία τε καὶ συνάσκησις, ἧς διαιρεθείσης δόξαις ἑτερογνώμοσι προστάται τῶν παρ᾽ ἑκάστοις δοξῶν ἄλλοι ἄλλως ἐπέστησαν, ὧν πάντων ἐπισημότερος Πυθαγόρας ἐγένετο, Θαλῇ μὲν συνακμάσας τῷ Μιλησίῳ, πολὺ δὲ τὴν ἐκείνου σοφίαν διενεγκών‧ Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.)

Th 515

5

Opusc. log., phys., alleg., alia 51.828–844 Φύσει δὲ πρῶτον τὸ συναναιροῦν καὶ μὴ συναναιρούμενον καὶ τὸ συνεισφερόμενον καὶ μὴ συνεισφέρον δέ, ὡς ἐπὶ ζῴου καὶ ἀνθρώπου. εἰ οὖν φαμεν Θαλῆν τὸν Μιλήσιον πρότερον ἐπιστῆσαι καὶ ἐπιγνῶναι, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ ἡλίου ἡ σελήνη τὸ φῶς δέχεται καὶ ὅτι μακρὰν ἐκείνου ἀφισταμένη πλεῖον αὐτῆς τὸ φῶς καθορᾶται, πρὸς αὐτὸν δὲ ἐπανατρέχουσα καὶ τῇ πρὸς αὐτὸν συνόδῳ τὴν πορείαν ποιουμένη ἄρξηται μειοῦσθαί τε καὶ τὸ φῶς ἀποβάλλεσθαι καὶ τῷ σκιάσματι τῆς γῆς παρεμπεσοῦσα, τοῦ ἡλίου κατὰ κάθετον αὐτῇ ὑπόντος ἐν τῷ ὑπὸ γῆν ἡμισφαιρίῳ, ἔκλειψιν παντελῆ τοῦ ταύτης φωτὸς γίγνεσθαι, τῶν ἡλιακῶν ἀκτίνων ταύτῃ μὴ προσβα-

Peter Damian – Michael Psellus 5

10

15

445

spoke sharp words to her master freely and sensiblyi, in iambic verse, which later took its name from her, and in a praiseworthy manner said from above, “My master did not notice the dung that was lying under his feet and was trying to learn about the constellations.” And happens like this in our own days: rusticsii and fools who know practically nothing but how to plow fields and watch pigs and guard the stables of different kinds of [337B] beasts, now do not blush to dispute about the meanings of the Holy Scriptures in the streets and crossroads in front of mere women and of their fellow herdsmen. Indeed – and it is disgraceful to say it – all night long they lie in heat between women’s thighs and yet by day they are not reluctant to discuss the speeches of angels, and in this way they pass judgment on the words of the holy doctors.

Michael Psellus (ca. 1018–ca. 1078 CE) Th 514iii

5

Thales and Pythagoras. Opuscula Logica, Physica, Allegorica, Alia 3.31–35 Education and training in Greek discourses is one kind – or genus, if you prefer to call it by that name – of [philosophical] discourse. This was divided into differing views, each view with its own champions. The best known of these was Pythagoras, who flourished at the same time as Thales of Miletus, but was far superior to him in wisdom.

Th 515iv Thales’ explanation of eclipses. Opuscula Logica, Physica, Allegorica, Alia 51.828–844 First in nature is that which simultaneously eliminates but is not simultaneously eliminated, and what does not simultaneously imply but is simultaneously implied, as holds in the case of animal and man. Now if we say i ii iii iv

W: in kluger Weise W: ungebildete W. does not translate this testimonium. W. does not translate this testimonium.

446 10

15

Michael Psellus

λουσῶν – τοῦτο δὲ τὸ πάθος ταύτῃ συμβέβηκεν ἐν μόνῃ πανσελήνῳ –, εἰ οὖν πρώην ὁ Θαλῆς ἐπέστησε τῇ σεληνιακῇ ἐκλείψει, δηλονότι πρότερον ἦν πρὸ αὐτοῦ τὸ ἐπιστητόν, ἤγουν ἡ σεληνιακὴ ἔκλειψις, καὶ ἡ ἐπιστήμη αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἦν. οὐκοῦν καὶ χρόνῳ καὶ φύσει τὸ ἐπιστητὸν τῆς ἐπιστήμης προϋπάρχει καὶ οὐχ ἅμα τοῖς πρός τί εἰσι. καὶ αἰσθητοῦ δὲ μὴ ὄντος οὐδὲ αἴσθησίς ἐστι‧ ταύτης δὲ μὴ ὑπούσης οὐδὲν κωλύει αἰσθητὸν εἶναι πῦρ, ἀέρα, ὕδωρ καὶ γῆν. Sim. (eclipse/phases of the moon) Th 178 (q.v.); (relation between knowledge and the knowable Th 244 (q.v.)

Th 516

5

Opuscula psychologica, theologica, daemonologica 13.32.18–23 (ed. O’Meara) Τὴν ψυχὴν οἱ μέν φασιν ἀσώματον, οἱ δὲ σῶμα, καὶ τούτων οἱ μὲν ἁπλοῦν, οἱ δὲ σύνθετον, καὶ τούτων οἱ μὲν ἐκ συνημμένων, οἱ δὲ ἀσυνάπτων. τῶν δὲ ἁπλοῦν οἱ μὲν αἰθέριον ἤγουν οὐράνιον, ὡς Ἡρακλείδης ὁ Ποντικός, οἱ δὲ πῦρ, ὡς Ἡράκλειτος (ὅθεν καὶ πυρίαν αὐτὴν καλεῖ), οἱ δὲ ἀερίαν, ὡς Ἀναξιμένης καί τινες τῶν Στωικῶν, οἱ δὲ δι᾽ ὕδατος, ὡς Θαλῆς καὶ Ἵππων ὁ ἄθεος. Sim. (nature of the soul/magnet) Th  31 (q.v.); (the soul is water) Th  221 (q.v.) (cf. Th 440)

Th 517 Opusc. psych., theol., daem. 13.44.20–21 Θαλῆς ἐν παντὶ σώματί φησν εἶναι ψυχήν. πῶς οὖν ἐν πυρὶ καὶ ἀέρι τοῖς καθαρωτέροις καὶ λεπτοτέροις οὐκ ἔστιν; Sim. (the cosmos/the universe/everything has a soul) Th 32 (q.v.)

Michael Psellus

5

10

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447

that Thales of Miletus was the first to notice and recognize that the moon receives its light from the sun and that when it is far removed from it [the sun] more of it [the moon] sees its [the sun’s] light, and when it returns back to it [the sun] and makes its synodic cycle with respect to it [the sun], it begins to wane and to lose its light, and when it falls into the earth’s shadow because the sun is perpendicularly underneath it and is in the hemisphere under the earth, a total eclipse of its light occurs, since the sun’s rays do not strike it – this event happens only at full moon. Now if Thales long ago observed the moon’s eclipse, clearly prior to him it (I mean lunar eclipse) was knowable, and the knowledge of it did not exist. Therefore what is knowable exists both in time and in nature before the knowledge of it, and is not a simultaneous relative. However, if the perceptible does not exist neither does perception, but if the latter does not exist nothing prevents there from being perceptible fire, air, water and earth.

Th 516i

5

Thales’ views on the nature of the soul. Opuscula psychologica, theologica, daemonologica 13.32.18–23 Some declare the soul to be incorporeal, others [declare it to be] body, and of the latter some say it is simple and others that it is composite, and of the latter some say that it composed of continuous things and others of discontinuous. Of those [who say that it is] simple, some [say it is] aetherial, i.e., celestial, like Heraclides Ponticus, others fire, like Heraclitus (which is why he calls it fiery), others airy, like Anaximenes and some Stoics, others watery, like Thales and Hippo the atheist.

Th 517 Thales’ views on the nature of the soul. Opuscula psychologica, theologica, daemonologica 13.44.20–21 Thales says that there is soul in every body. How, then, is it not in fire and air [cf. Arist., De an. 1.5.411a9 f.], which are purer and finer?

i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

448

Michael Psellus

Th 518

5

Opusc. psych., theol., daem. 13.70.8–12 Ἀριστοτέλης βούλεται τὰς τρεῖς ψυχὰς καὶ μὴ ἓν εἶναι, καὶ οὐχ ἓν κυρίως‧ τὰ τρία γὰρ ταῦτα μίαν ἐμψυχίαν ποιεῖ. τὰ λογικὰ κινεῖ νοῦς, τὰ δὲ ἄλογα φαντασία, ὡς κρείττονα μέρη ψυχῆς λογικῆς καὶ τῆς ἀλόγου. Σωκράτης ἐν τῇ ἐπὶ Δηλίῳ μάχῃ νυχθήμερον στὰς οὐκ ᾔσθετο διὰ τὸ ἐννοεῖν τι, καὶ Θαλῆς ἔπεσεν εἰς φρέαρ. Sim. (Thales’ fall into the well) Th 19 (q.v.)

Th 519 Theologica opuscula 6.69–71 (ed. Gautier) Ἀλλὰ τίνες ‛οἱ καταφυγόντες ἐπὶ τὰς ὑλικὰς ὑποθέσεις’; οἱ μὲν καθ᾽ ἓν τῶν στοιχείων‧ Θαλῆς μὲν γὰρ τὸ ὕδωρ τοῦ παντὸς ᾐτιάσατο, τὸ δὲ πῦρ Ἀναξίμανδρος, τὴν δὲ γῆν Ἵππων‧ Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 520

5

Theol. opusc. 23.25–32 Μία μὲν οὖν αὕτη δόξα τῶν κακῶς ὑπειλημμένων περὶ τοῦ πρώτου αἰτίου. ἕτεροι δὲ ταύτην ὡς ἄτοπον καὶ ἀνόητον παραγκωνισάμενοι, ἐφιστῶσι δυνάμεις τῷ κόσμῳ τινάς‧ ἡ δὲ ὑπόληψις αὕτη πολυμερὴς καὶ τῷ ὄντι πολύαρχος‧ τοῦτο γὰρ εὖ ἴστε, ὅτι μὴ μία τις κεκράτηκεν ἐπὶ πάντων Ἑλληνικὴ δόξα, ἀλλὰ τοῖς σφῶν ἡγεμόσι διεμερίσθησαν, καὶ οἱ μὲν τοῖς Πυθαγόρου, οἱ δὲ τοῖς Πλάτωνος, οἱ δὲ τοῖς Ἀριστοτέλους προστίθενται‧ καὶ ἄλλοι τὴν Ἰωνικὴν ἀσπάζονται αἵρεσιν, εἰσὶ δὲ οὗτοι οἱ ἀπὸ Θαλοῦ‧ Ἴων γὰρ οὗτος ὢν τὴν οἰκείαν δόξαν Ἰωνικὴν ἐπωνόμασε. Sim. (Ionian school) Th 147 (q.v.)

Michael Psellus

449

Th 518i

5

Thales’ views on the nature of the soul. Opuscula psychologica, theologica, daemonologica 13.70.8–12 Aristotle claims that there are three souls, not one, and not one in the strict sense. For these three things make a single animate being. Mind moves the rational parts, and imagination moves the irrational parts – as being the ruling parts of the rational and irrational soul. Socrates did not perceive that he was standing a night and a day during the battle at Delium because he was thinking of something, and Thales fell into a well.

Th 519ii Water as the first principle. Theologica opuscula 6.69–71 [On Basil’s Homilies on the Hexaemeron 1.2] Who are “those who take refuge in material hypotheses”? Some of them [took refuge] in single elements. For Thales held water to be the cause of the universe, Anaximander fire and Hippo earth.

Th 520

5

Thales as a representative of Ionian philosophy. The erroneous doctrines on the first cause (On Greg. Or. 29,2). Theologica opuscula 23.25–32 This is one of the badly conceived views about the first cause. Others who have elbowed this aside as strange and foolish notice certain powers in the cosmos. There are many versions of this belief and in fact it has many champions. Know well that there is not a single Greek doctrine that has won out over all, but they are divided up among their own champions, and some attach themselves to the views of Pythagoras, others to those of Plato, and others to those of Aristotle, and still others embrace the Ionian school – these are Thales and his followers, for beingiii an Ionian he called his own doctrine Ionian.

i ii iii

W. does not translate this testimonium. W. does not translate this testimonium. W.’s translation begins here.

450

Michael Psellus – Iohannes Italus

Th 520a

5

Commentaria in Aristotelis Physica 6.5–9 (ed. Benakis)1 [Ph. 1.2, 184b20] ὁμοίως δὲ ζητοῦσι, φησί, καὶ οἱ τὰ ὄντα ζητοῦντες, ἤγουν κατὰ ταύτην τὴν ἀνελλιπῆ διαίρεσιν ζητοῦσι καὶ οὗτοι. ὄντα δὲ λέγει τὰ ἐν τῇ ὕλῃ εἰδοπεποιημένα, ἃ δὴ καὶ ἁπλῶς στοιχεῖά φασιν, ὡς ὁ Θαλῆς τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ Διογένης τὸν ἀέρα – ἢ καὶ Ἵππων ὁ ἄθεος – καὶ Ἡράκλειτος τὸ πῦρ. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 520b

5

10

In Ph. 41.21–42.9 [Ph. 1.6, 189a34-b3] διόπερ εἴ τις τόν τε πρότερον πρότερος μὲν ἦν λόγος ὁ ἐξ ἀναγκαίου παριστῶν τὰ ἐναντία ἀρχάς, δεύτερος οὗτος ὁ ζητῶν καὶ τρίτον αὐτοῖς ὑποκείμενον. εἴ τις γοῦν διασώσειν μέλλει καὶ ἀμφοτέρους, δεῖ ὑποτιθέναι καί τι τρίτον, ὥσπερ, φησί, καί τινες τῶν ἀρχαίων ἐποίησαν, οἱ μὲν ὕδωρ εἰπόντες, ὡς Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος, οἱ δὲ πῦρ, ὡς Ἡράκλειτος ὁ Ἐφέσιος, οἱ δὲ τὸ μεταξὺ τούτων, λέγων τὸ μεταξὺ κατὰ μέν τινας τὸν ἀέρα, ὡς Διογένης ἔλεγε καὶ Ἵππων ὁ ἄθεος, ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκεῖ λέγειν μεταξὺ τὸν Φιλόσοφον τούτων ἢ ἀέρος καὶ πυρὸς (πυρὸς μὲν πυκνότερον, ἀέρος δὲ μανώτερον) ἢ ἀέρος καὶ ὕδατος (ἀέρος μὲ πυκνότερον, ὕδατος δὲ μανώτερον)· φιλοσυντόμως δὲ οὕτως εἶπε καὶ περὶ ἀμφοτέρων. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Iohannes Italus Th 520c (= Ar 249) Quaestiones quodlibetales 137.5–10 (ed. Joannou) (ϟαʹ. περὶ τῆς φυσικῆς ἀκροάσεως.) δοκεῖ τοίνυν τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων ἀρχὴν εἰς φιλοσοφίαν ἔχειν Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος, ὃς καὶ τὴν διατριβὴν περὶ τὴν Ἰωνίαν ἔσχεν, ὅθεν καὶ τὴν τούτου φιλοσοφίαν οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν ἀρχαίων Ἰωνικὴν ἐκάλουν· μεθ’ ὃν Ἀναξίμανδρος φιλοσοφίας ἐραστὴς 1

Benakis, L. G. Michael Psellos. Kommentar zur Physik des Aristoteles (= Commentaria in Aristotelem Byzantina 5), Athen 2008.

Michael Psellus – Iohannes Italus

451

Th 520a

5

Water as the first principle. Commentary on Arisotle’s Physics 6.5–9 [Ph. 1.2, 184b20] “Also those who investigate the things that are,” he [Aristotle] declares, “investigate in the same way,” that is, they too investigate according to this exhaustive division. By “things that are” he means things that are given form in matter, which he also simply calls elements, as Thales conceived water, Diogenes air – or even Hippo the atheist – and Heraclitus fire.

Th 520b

5

10

Water as the first principle. Commentary on Aristotle, Physics 41.21–42.9 [Ph. 1.6, 189a34–b3] Consequently if [one supposes that] the former [argument is true]. The prior argument was the one that presents the contraries as principles, the second is the one that investigates a third thing as a substrate for these. Now if anyone in fact intends to preserve both, it is necessary to posit in addition a third thing, as, he declares, some of the ancients did, some saying that it is water, like Thales of Miletus, others fire, like Heraclitus of Ephesus, and still others what is intermediate between them, saying that according to some the intermediate is air, as Diogenes said, and Hippo the atheist, but it seems to me that by intermediate between them the Philosopher is referring either to air and fire (denser than fire but rarer than air) or air and water (denser than air but rarer than water), and he referred to both cases in this way for the sake of brevity.

Iohannes Italus (ca. 1023–after 1083 CE) Th 520c (= Ar 249)

5

Thales the first philosopher; representative of Ionian philosophy; his association with Anaximander Quodlibetal Questions 137.5–10 (91. On the Physics.) The earliest of all in philosophy seems to be Thales of Miletus, who belongs to the Ionian school. This is why most of the ancients called his philosophy Ionian. After him Anaximander became a devotee of philosophy and had no small reputation among the Greeks for having reached a more accurate understanding of it. After these came the

452 5

Iohannes Italus – Ṣāid al-Andalusī

γεγονώς, οὐκ ὀλίγην ἔσχεν ἐν τοῖς Ἕλλησι δόξαν, ὡς ἀκριβέστερον τῶν ἄλλων περὶ αὐτῆς διειληφώς· μετὰ δὴ τούτους Ἀναξαγόρας ἐπιγεγονὼς ὁ φιλόσοφος καὶ τὴν Μίλητον καταλιπών, ἐπὶ τὰς Ἀθήνας ὥρμησε [...]. Sim. (first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.); (Ionian school) Th 147 (q.v.); (Anaximander pupil/associate of Thales) Th 65a (q.v.)

Ṣāid al-Andalusī Th 521 Ṭabaqāt al-umam 82.2–4 (ed. Bū Alwān))

‫ﻓﻬﺆﻻء اﶆﺴﺔ ﱒ ﺳﺎدة اﳊﻜﲈء ﻋﻨﺪ اﻟﻴﻮانﻧ ّﻴﲔ اﳌﻌﺘﻨﻮن ﺑﻌﲅ اﻟﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ وﳍﻢ ﻓﻼﺳﻔﺔ‬ ‫ﻣﺸﻬﻮرون ﻏﲑ ﻫﺆﻻء ﻣﺜﻞ اثﻟﻴﺲ اﳌﻠﻄﻲ ﺻﺎﺣﺐ ﻓﻴﺜﺎﻏﻮرس‬

Th 522 Ṭabaqāt al-umam 94.9–11

‫ﻗﺪ ﰷن ﻗﺪﻣﺎء ﻫﺆﻻء اﻟﻔﻼﺳﻔﺔ ﯾﻨﺘﺤﻠﻮن اﻟﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ اﻟﻄﺒﻴﻌ ّﻴﺔ اﻟﱵ ﰷن ﯾﺬﻫﺐ إﻟﳱﺎ‬ ‫ﻓﻴﺜﺎﻏﻮرس واثﻟﻴﺲ اﳌﻠﻄﻲ وﻋﻮا ّم اﻟﺼﺎﺑﺌﺔ ﻣﻦ اﻟﻴﻮانﻧ ّﻴﲔ واﳌﴫﯾّﲔ‬ Sim. (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.)

Iohannes Italus – Ṣāid al-Andalusī

453

philosopher Anaxagoras, who abandoned Miletus and set off for Athens [...].

Sa’id al-Andalusi (1029–1070 CE) Th 521 Thales as famous philosopher. This historian, who lived in Spain, in a chapter on the sciences in Greek in his work Tabaqat al-umam (Classes of Peoples), mentions five individuals, namely, Empedocles, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, and then continues: Classes of Peoples 82.2–4 These five men were the chiefs of the wise among the Greeks who devoted their attention to the knowledge of philosophy. And there were other famous philosophers, such as Thales of Miletus, the companion of Pythagoras.

Th 522 Thales as founder of natural philosophy. Somewhat later in the text he says: Classes of Peoples 94.9–11 The ancient philosophers adopted natural philosophy, as it was established by Pythagoras and Thales of Miletus and also by the ordinary Sabians1 in Greece and Egypt.

1

”Sabians” was the name given to star-worshipping heathens whose religious center until the eleventh century was located in the city HÖarrān in upper Mesopotamia. Here the name is a synonym for the followers of all pre-Christian religions.

454

Iohannes Siceliotes – Eustratius

Iohannes Siceliotes Th 523

5

Commentarius in Hermogenis librum περὶ ἰδέων 6.90.22–31 (ed. Walz) Καί τις ἕτερος εἰς τὸν θεολόγον γράφων ἐγκώμιον τῇ φύσει πτηνὸν χιόνος ψυχρότερον προοίμιον ὑπεστήσατο, ὡδί πως εἰπών‧ τὰ γὰρ πλείω ὡς ἴλιγγον ποιοῦντα ἀφίημι, θείας μὲν ὑπόστασις οὐσίας καὶ φύσεως‧ λόγῳ δὲ Γρηγόριος οὗτος τὸ ὕδωρ ὡς ὁ Θαλῆς πῦρ ἐποίησε, καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν εἰς γῆν ἔκλινεν, οὐ καταλλήλως μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντη ἀνοήτως τῇ παραβολῇ χρησάμενος, οὗ τὰ πονήματά τινες ἐξελίττοντες, χαλκοκορώνη φασὶ τὰ μειράκια, καταβοῶσιν, οὐ γὰρ ἴσασιν, εἰ τὸ αἱρεθὲν φαίνεται μᾶλλον τοῦ παραιρεθέντος‧ Sim. (transformations of water) Th 94 (q.v.)

Eustratius Th 524

5

10

In Aristotelis ethicam Nicomacheam commentaria 20.331.4–16 (ed. Heylbut) [EN 6.7–8.1141b3]   Διὸ Ἀναξαγόραν καὶ Θαλῆν καὶ τοὺς τοιούτους σοφοὺς μέν, φρονίμους δ᾽ οὔ φασιν εἶναι, ὅταν ἴδωσιν ἀγνοοῦντας τὰ συμφέροντα ἑαυτοῖς, καὶ περιττὰ μὲν καὶ θαυμαστὰ καὶ χαλεπὰ καὶ δαιμόνια εἰδέναι αὐτούς φασιν, ἄχρηστα δὲ διότι οὐ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα ἀγαθὰ ζητοῦσιν. 〈ἡ δὲ φρόνησις περὶ τὰ ἀνθρώπινα〉 καὶ περὶ ὧν ἔστι βουλεύσασθαι. Δείκνυσι τὸ ῥηθέν, ὅτι ἑτέρα τῆς φρονήσεως ἡ σοφία, καὶ εἰσέτι διά τινος ἑτέρας κοινῆς ὑπολήψεως‧ περὶ δὲ ἄνδρας ὁμολογουμένους σοφοὺς Ἀναξαγόραν τε καὶ Θαλῆν. ἰδοὺ γὰρ οὗτοι σοφοὶ μὲν λέγονται, φρόνιμοι δ᾽ οὔ, διότι ἀγνοοῦσι τὰ συμφέροντα ἑαυτοῖς. περὶ γὰρ τὰ ὑπὲρ τὸν βίον τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τὴν κοινὴν αὐτῶν διαγωγὴν ἀπασχολήσαντες ἑαυτοὺς τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον συμφερόντων ὑπερεφρόνησαν. οὗτοι γάρ, φησίν, οἴδασι χαλεπὰ καὶ δαιμόνια καὶ περιττὰ καὶ θαυμαστά. Sim. (wisdom without practical reason) Th 27 (q.v.)

Iohannes Siceliotes – Eustratius

455

Iohannes Siceliotes (end of the 11th cent. CE) Th 523 Water as the first principle. The rhetorical skills of Gregory of Nazianzus are compared with Thales’ achievements in natural philosophy.

5

Commentary on Hermogenes’ On Forms 6.90.22–31 And someone else who wrote an encomium of the theologian [Gregory of Nazianzus] began with an introduction winged in nature but more frigid than snow, speaking as follows: “The majority of things I set aside because they make me dizzy – the existence of divine substance and nature. Buti in his discourse Gregory, like Thales, made water into fire, and he made the heaven tilt towards the earth,” – but employing a comparison that is not only inappropriate but also completely foolish. Some people on unrolling his efforts say that they are boys with bronze crowns; they cry out because they do not know if what has been taken appears more than what has been taken away.

Eustratius (11th/12th cent. CE) Th 524

5

10

Thales’ lack of practical wisdom. Commentary on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics 20.331.4–16 [EN 6.7– 8.1141b3–9: This is why they say that Anaxagoras, Thales and people like them are wise but not sensible, when they see them ignorant of their own advantage. They say that they know things that are extraordinary, wondrous, difficult and divine, but useless, because they it is not human goods that they seek. But good sense is concerned with human matters] and things about which it is possible to deliberate.] The quotation shows that wisdom is different from good sense through another common belief: with reference to Anaxagoras and Thales, men agreed to be wise. For indeed these are said to be wise but not sensible, because they are ignorant about their own advantage. For busying themselves about things that are above the life and ordinary pursuits of humans they despised

i

W. translates only the comparison with Thales.

456

Georgius Cedrenus – William of Conches

Georgius Cedrenus Th 525

5

Compendium historiarum 1.275 (ed. Migne PG 121.312A) Πρὸ τούτου δὲ γέγονε Θαλῆς, ὃς ἐπικεχείρηκε φιλοσοφίαν φυσικήν, ἀρχὴν τοῦ παντὸς καὶ τέλος τὸ πῦρ καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ εἶναι φήσας, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν τὰ πάντα συνίστασθαι‧ ἀφ᾽ ὧν καὶ τοὺς σεισμοὺς καὶ πνευμάτων συστροφὰς καὶ ἄστρων κινήσεις γίνεσθαι. Ὅτι πρῶτος ὁ Θαλῆς τὸ τοῦ σοφοῦ ἔσχεν ὄνομα, καὶ πρῶτος τὴν ψυχὴν εἶπεν ἀθάνατον, ἐκλείψεις τε καὶ ἰσημερίας κατείληφε. Καὶ ἀποφθέγματα πλεῖστα κατέλιπε, καὶ τὸ θρυλούμενον, „Γνῶθι σεαυτόν.“ Τὸ γάρ, „Ἐγγύα, πάρα δ᾽ ἄτη,“ Χίλωνος μᾶλλόν ἐστιν, ἰδιοποιησαμένου αὐτὸ καὶ τὸ, „Μηδὲν ἄγαν.“ Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.); (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (earthquakes) Th  99 (q.v.); (winds) Th  178 (q.v.); (nature of the soul/magnet) Th 31 (q.v.); (equinox) Th 106 (q.v.); (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.); (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.); (the first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.)

William of Conches Th 526

5

Dragmaticon Philosophiae 6.2.1 (ed. Ronca) (Cap. 2: De forma terrae) Philosophus: Vt superius praediximus, terra est elementum in medio mundi positum atque ideo infimum. In omni enim sperico, quod medium est infimum est. Cum uero sit infima, non est quo descendat: non est ergo necesse quod aliquo sustineatur. Sed quia de hoc satis superius diximus, de hoc taceamus. Illud uero quod dicit Thales, terram ab aqua ad modum nauis sustineri; uel quod dixerunt quidam, terram ruere, nec sentiri, qua in infinitum ruit, quia apertissime est falsum, dedignamur refellere. Sim. (the Earth rests upon water) Th 30 (q.v.); (earthquakes) Th 99 (q.v.)

Georgius Cedrenus – William of Conches

457

the things that are advantageous to our life. For these men, he says, know things that are difficult, divine, extraordinary and wondrous.

Georgius Cedrenus (11th/12th cent. CE) Th 525

5

Thales as natural philosopher; fire and water as first principles; his cosmology; Thales the Sage; his views on the nature of the soul; explanation of eclipses and equinoxes; his wise sayings. Compendium Historiarum 1.275 Before him [Pythagoras] was born Thales, who applied himself to natural philosophy, declaring that fire and water are the beginning and end of the universei, and that all thingsii consistiii of them, and that earthquakes, whirlwinds, and the motions of stars are due to them (cf. Th 210). Thales was the first to acquire the title “Sage” and the first to say that the soul is immortal, and he understood eclipses and equinoxes. He left many sayings, including the famous “Know thyself.” For “Give a pledge and disaster is at hand” is due rather to Chilon, who made it his own (cf. Th 495), and “Nothing in excess” as well.

William of Conches (ca. 1080–1154 CE) Th 526 Thales’ cosmology. Dragmaticon Philosophiae 6.2.1 (Chapter 2 On the shape of the earth.) Philosopher: As we said above, earth is the element located in the middle of the world and therefore it is the lowest.iv For in every sphere that which is in the middle is lowestv. But since it is lowestvi, there is no lower place for it to fall: therefore it is not necessary i ii iii iv v vi

W: das Prinzip des Alls und sein Ziel W: Konkrete W: entstehe W: unendlich W: unendlich W: unendlich

‫‪458‬‬

‫‪Ibn Bāǧǧa‬‬

‫‪Ibn Bāǧǧa‬‬ ‫)‪Th 526a (= Ar 250‬‬ ‫)‪Kitāb al-kawn wa-l-fasād 44.2–7 (ed. Puig Montada‬‬

‫ﲨةل ﻛﱪﻣﺎﻧﻴﺪس وﻣﺎﻟﻴﺴﺲ وﻣﳯﻢ ﻣﻦ ﺟﻌﻠﻪ ً‬ ‫‪ ...‬ﺣﱴ ﺟﺰم ﺑﻌﻀﻬﻢ ﻋﲆ إﺑﻄﺎهل ً‬ ‫ﻧﻮﻋﺎ ﻣﻦ‬ ‫الاﺳـﺘﺤﺎةل ﻛﺪﳝﻘﺮاﻃﻴﺲ واتﻟﻴﺲ وﻫﺮﻗﻠﻴﻄﺲ واﻧﻐﺴﻤﻨﺪروس وابﶺةل ﳁﻦ ﱂ ﳚﻌﻞ‬ ‫اﻟﻮﺟﻮد ابﻟﻘﻮة ‪ .‬و ﻗﺪ ﻧﻘﺾ أرﺳﻄﻮ أﻗﺎوﯾﻠﻪ ﻫﺎؤﻻء ﲟﺎ ﻓﻴﻪ ﻛﻔﺎﯾﺔ وﻛ ّﺮر اﻟﻘﻮل ﻓﻴﻪ ﰲ‬ ‫اﳌﻘﺎةل اﻷوﻟﻰ ﻣﻦ ﻛﺘﺎب اﻟﻜﻮن و اﻟﻔﺴﺎد ‪.‬‬ ‫‪1‬‬

‫‪2‬‬

‫‪This is how the editor, Puig Montada, reads the names. Manuscript B has Anʿsmdrūs,‬‬ ‫!)‪A has Anʿtmdrūs, M and even Anksāġūrs (= Anaxagoras‬‬ ‫‪So Eichner 2005, 50, n. 27, for aqāwīlihī (Ed. Puig Montada).‬‬

‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬

Ibn Bāǧǧa

5

459

for it to be supported by anythingi. But since we already have said enough about this, let us say no more. We do not stoop to refute Thales’ claim that the earth is supported by water like a boat (cf. Th 99), or what others have said, that the earth falls without being perceived [to fall] in that it is falling ad infinitum,1 because it is most plainly false.

Ibn Bağğa (ca. 1085–1139 CE) Th 526a (= Ar 250) Thales on the nature of being Ibn Bağğa (Avempace) is reputed as an exegete of the Arabic-Islamic philosophy in Andalusia, which reached its peak in Ibn Rushd (Averroes). He wrote numerous treatises, above all in mathematics and philosophy, and wrote commentaries on several works of Aristotle. In his explication of De Generatione et Corruptione2 he thoroughly discusses the concept of being (al-kawnu) and in connection with this he comes to speak of the views of the Greeks on this subject. These differed greatly from one another, as he says in his introduction. Book on Generation and Corruption 44.2–7 ... so that some of them, such as Parmenides and Melissus, firmly resolved on the abolition of it [viz. being], and others, such as Democritus, Thales and Anaximander, view it as a certain kind of change, and as most of these people denied being in potentiality. Aristotle has refuted the claims of these [philosophers] sufficiently, and he repeats his own view in the first book of On Generation and Corruption.

1 2

Cf. Sen. Quaest. nat. 7.14.3 f. Cf. Puig Montada 2007.

i

W: Sie muss also nicht gestützt werden.

‫‪Aš-Šahrastānī‬‬

‫‪460‬‬

‫‪Aš-Šahrastānī‬‬ ‫‪Th 527‬‬ ‫)‪Kitāb al-milal wa-n-niḥal 2.119.2–5 (ed. al-Wakīl) (= Jolivet S. 179‬‬

‫اﳊﻜﲈء اﻟﺴـﺒﻌﺔ اذلﻳﻦ ﱒ أﺳﺎﻃﲔ اﳊﳬﺔ ﻣﻦ اﳌﻠﻄﻴﺔ وﺳﺎﻣﻴﺎ وأﺛﻴﻨﺔ وﱔ ﺑﻼدﱒ وأﻣﺎ‬ ‫أﺳﲈؤﱒ ﻓﻬ ﻲ اثﻟﻴﺲ اﳌﻠﻄﻲ وأﻧﻜﺴﺎﻏﻮرس وأﻧﻜﺴـاميﻧﺲ وأﻧﺒﺎدﻗﻠﻴﺲ وﻓﻴﺜﺎﻏﻮرس‬ ‫وﺳﻘﺮاط وأﻓﻼﻃﻮن‬ ‫)‪Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.‬‬

‫‪Th 528‬‬ ‫)‪Kitāb al-milal wa-n-niḥal 2.121.19–122.12 (= Jolivet 183.29–184.19‬‬

‫ﻓﻈﻬﺮ ﲠﺬﻩ اﻹﺷﺎرات أﻧﻪ إﻧّﲈ أراد ﺑﻘﻮهل اﳌﺎء ﻫﻮ َ‬ ‫اﳌﺒﺪع اﻷ ّول أى ﻫﻮ ﻣﺒﺪأ اﻟﱰﻛﻴﺒﺎت‬ ‫ااﳉﺴﲈﻧ ّﻴﺔ ﻻ اﳌﺒﺪأ اﻷ ّول ﰲ اﳌﻮﺟﻮدات اﻟﻌﻠﻮﯾّﺔ ﻟﻜ ّﻨﻪ ﳌّـﺎ اﻋﺘﻘﺪ أنّ اﻟﻌﻨﴫ اﻷ ّول ﻫﻮ‬ ‫ﻗﺎﺑﻞ ﰻ ﺻﻮرة أى ﻣﻨﺒﻊ اﻟﺼﻮر ّﳇﻬﺎ ﻓﺄﺛﺒﺖ ﰲ اﻟﻌﺎﱂ اﳉﺴﲈﱐ هل ﻣﺜﺎﻻ ﯾﻮازﯾﻪ ﰲ ﻗﺒﻮل‬ ‫اﳌﺒﺪع اﻷ ّول ﰲ ّ‬ ‫اﻟﺼﻮر ّﳇﻬﺎ وﱂ ﳚﺪ ﻋﻨﴫا ﻋﲆ ﻫﺬا اﻟﳯﺞ ﻣﺜﻞ اﳌﺎء ﲾﻌهل َ‬ ‫اﳌﺮﻛﺒﺎت‬ ‫وأﻧﺸﺄ ﻣﻨﻪ اﻷﺟﺴﺎم واﻷﺟﺮام اﻟﺴﲈوﯾّﺔ واﻷرﺿ ّﻴﺔ وﰲ اﻟﺘﻮراة ﰲ اﻟﺴﻔﺮ اﻷ ّول ﻣﳯﺎ أن‬ ‫ﻣﺒﺪأ اﳋﻠﻖ ﻫﻮ ﺟﻮﻫﺮ ﺧﻠﻘﻪ ّاهلل ﺗﻌﺎﱃ ّﰒ ﻧﻈﺮ إﻟﻴﻪ ﻧﻈﺮة اﻟﻬﻴﺒﺔ ﻓﺬاﺑﺖ أﺟﺰاؤﻩ ﻓﺼﺎرت‬ ‫ﻣﺎء ّﰒ اثر ﻣﻦ اﳌﺎء ﲞﺎر ﻣﺜﻞ ادلﺧﺎن ﳀﻠﻖ ﻣﻨﻪ اﻟﺴﻤﻮات وﻇﻬﺮ ﻋﲆ وﺟﻪ اﳌﺎء زﺑﺪ‬ ‫ﻣﺜﻞ زﺑﺪ اﻟﺒﺤﺮ ﳀﻠﻖ ﻣﻨﻪ اﻷرض ّﰒ أرﺳﺎﻫﺎ ابﳉﺒﺎل وﻛﺄنّ اثﻟﻴﺲ اﳌﻠﻄﻲ إﳕّﺎ ﺗﻠ ّﻘﻰ‬ ‫ﻣﺬﻫﺒﻪ ﻣﻦ ﻫﺬﻩ اﳌﺸﲀة اﻟﻨﺒﻮﯾّﺔ واذلي أﺛﺒﺘﻪ ﻣﻦ اﻟﻌﻨﴫ اﻷ ّول اذلي ﻫﻮ ﻣﻨﺒﻊ اﻟﺼﻮر‬ ‫ﺷﺪﯾﺪ اﻟﺸـﺒﻪ ابﻟﻠﻮح اﶈﻔﻮظ اﳌﺬﻛﻮر ﰲ اﻟﻜﺘﺐ اﻹﻟﻬ ّﻴﺔ إذ ﻓﻴﻪ ﲨﻴﻊ أﺣﲀم اﳌﻌﻠﻮﻣﺎت‬ ‫وﺻﻮر ﲨﻴﻊ اﳌﻮﺟﻮدات واﳋﱪ ﻋﻦ اﻟﲀﺋﻨﺎت واﳌﺎء ﻋﲆ اﻟﻘﻮل اﻟﺜﺎﱐ ﺷﺪﯾﺪ اﻟﺸـﺒﻪ‬ ‫ابﳌﺎء اذلي ﻋﻠﻴﻪ اﻟﻌﺮش ) َوﰷنَ َﻋ ْﺮ ُﺷ ُﻪ ﻋ ََﲆ اﳌـﺎءِ(‬

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‫‪10‬‬

Aš-Šahrastānī

461

Aš-Šahrastānī (1086–1153 CE) Th 527 Thales the Sage. The comprehensively organized Kitab al-milal wa-n-nihal (Book of Religions and Sects) of the Shiite Aš-Šahrastānī, written in 1127 CE, lists the Seven Sages at the beginning of the chapter on Greek philosophers. Book of Religions and Sects 2.119.2–5 The Seven Sages, who were the Pillars of Wisdom from Miletus, Samos and Athens, and that was their home. As far as their names go, they were Thales of Miletus, Anaxagoras, Anaximenes, Empedocles, Pythagoras, Socrates and Plato.

Th 528 Water as the first created thing; Thales’ cosmogony. There follows a somewhat abbreviated and altered extract from Pseudo-Ammonius, which contains transpositions. In the edition of al-Wakil, Part 2, p.119, 17–20 (cf. Jolivet, p.181, 2–8) corresponds to the passage in Rudolf, chapter XIII, pp.6–9 (translation, p.90) and p.120, 1–13 (cf. Jolivet, p.181, 9–182,13) to the passage in Rudolf, chapter II, p.34, 3–35, 4 (translation, p.80 f.) and p.120, 21–121, 18 (cf. Jolivet, p.182, 27–183, 28) to the passage in Rudolf, chapter XIII, p.48, 17–50, 5; see above Th  483. Aš-Šahrastānī appends some thoughts:

5

Book of Religions and Sects 2.121.19–122.12 From these remarks [Thales] seems to suggest that water was the first created thing, that is, the principle of composition of bodies, not the first principle of celestial beings. However, since he believed that the first element can take on every form, that is, it is the origin of all forms, he affirmed that there must be a similar and parallel [first principle] that can take on every form in the corporeal sphere. He found no element as suitable for that as water. So he made it the first created thing of the composite things and from it originated all bodies, celestial as well as terrestrial. In the first book of the Torah [it is stated] that the principle of creation is a substance that is created by God (be He exalted). Then He looked upon it with awe and its parts dissolved and they became water. Then from the water steam erupted like smoke, and from it He created the heavens. And foam emerged on the surface of the water, like the foam of the sea. From it He then created the earth, and then He consolidated it with the

‫‪Aš-Šahrastānī‬‬

‫‪462‬‬ ‫)‪Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.‬‬

‫‪Th 529‬‬ ‫)‪Kitāb al-milal wa-n-niḥal 2.167.9–13 (= Jolivet 259‬‬

‫وﻗﻴﻞ إنّ وﺟﻮد اﻟﺸﻌﺮ ﰲ أﻣّﺔ ﯾﻮانن ﰷن ﻗﺒﻞ اﻟﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ وإﻧّـﲈ أﺑﺪﻋﻪ أوﻣﲑوس واثﻟﻴﺲ‬ ‫ﰷن ﺑﻌﺪﻩ ﺑﺜﻼﲦﺎﺋﺔ واﺛﻨﺘﲔ وﲦﺎﻧﲔ ﺳـﻨﺔ وأ ّول ﻓﻴﻠﺴﻮف ﰷن ﻣﳯﻢ ﰲ ﺳـﻨﺔ ﺗﺴﻌﲈﺋﺔ‬ ‫وإﺣﺪى وﲬﺴﲔ ﻣﻦ وﻓﺎة ﻣﻮﳻ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ اﻟﺴﻼم وﻫﺬا ﻣﺎ أﺧﱪ ﺑﻪ ﻛﻮرﻟﺲ ﰲ ﻛﺘﺎﺑﻪ‬ ‫وذﻛﺮ ﻓﻮرﻓﻮرﯾﻮس أنّ اثﻟﻴﺲ ﻇﻬﺮ ﰲ ﺳـﻨﺔ ﺛﻼث وﻋﴩﻳﻦ وﻣﺎﺋﺔ ﻣﻦ ﻣكل ﲞﺘﻨﴫ‬ ‫)‪Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.‬‬

Aš-Šahrastānī

10

463

mountains.1 So it seems as if Thales of Miletus is taking his doctrine from the prophetic niche.2 What he affirms about the first element, which is the origin of the forms, is strikingly similar to the Preserved Tablet which is mentioned in the Holy Scriptures.3 For in it are all factual judgments and forms of all existing things and the knowledge of what comes-into-existence. And [the term] “water” in the second statement is strikingly similar to the [term] “water” on which the [divine] throne stands: “His throne was over the Waters.” (Q : 11:7)4

Th 529 Thales’ dates; the first Greek philosopher. In 1127–1128 CE the Muslim savant and writer Aš-Šahrastānī composed his Book of Sects and Creeds (Kitab al-milal wa-l-hihal) with the goal of presenting objectively all the religious and philosophical ideas that were known up to his time. At the end of the chapter on Homer is the following appendix. Book of Sects and Creeds 2.167.9–13 It was said that among the Greek people there was poetry before philosophy. It was invented by Homer, and Thales came after him by 382 years. The first philosopher among them was alive in the 951st year after the death of Moses (peace be upon him). That is what Cyril reported in his book, and Porphyry claimed (Th 248) that Thales appeared in the 123rd year of the era of Buhtnasar.5

1 2 3 4 5

For the deviations from the Biblical and Koranic reports, cf. Jolivet 1993, 184, n. 12. Cf. Sure 24.35. Sure 85.22. Sure 11.7. Cf. Smith 1993, 229 (= Nr. 204F).

‫‪Aš-Šahrastānī‬‬

‫‪464‬‬

‫)‪Th 529a (= As 217‬‬ ‫)‪Kitāb al-milal wa-l-niḥal 253.13–15 (ed. Cureton) (= Th 527‬‬

‫اﳊﻜﲈء اﻟﺴـﺒﻌﺔ اذلﻳﻦ ﱒ اﺳﺎﻃﲔ اﳊﳬﺔ ﻣﻦ اﳌﻠﻄﻴﺔ وﺳﺎﻣﻴﺎ واﺛﻴﻨﻴﺔ وﱓ ﺑﻼدﱒ واﻣﺎ‬ ‫اﺳﲈوﱒ ﻓﺜﺎﻟﻴﺲ اﳌﻠﻄﻲ واﻧﻜﺴﺎﻏﻮرس واﻧﻜﺴـاميﻧﺲ واﻧﺒﺬﻗﻠﺲ وﻓﻴﺜﺎﻏﻮرس وﺳﻘﺮاط‬ ‫واﻓﻼﻃﻮن ‪.‬‬ ‫)‪Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.‬‬

‫)‪Th 529b (= As 220‬‬ ‫)‪Kitāb nihāyat al-aqdām fī ʿilm al-kalām 5.5–10 (ed. Guillaume‬‬

‫وواﻓﻘﳤﻢ ﻋﲆ ذكل ﺟﲈﻋﺔ ﻣﻦ اﺳﺎﻃﲔ اﳊﳬﺔ وﻗﺪﻣﺎء اﻟﻔﻼﺳﻔﺔ ﻣﺜﻞ اثﻟﻴﺲ‬ ‫واﻧﻜﺴﺎﻏﻮرس واﻧﻜﺴﲈﻧﻴﺲ وﻣﻦ اتﺑﻌﻬﻢ ﻣﻦ اﻫﻞ ﻣﻠﻄﻴﺔ وﻣﺜﻞ ﻓﻴﺜﺎﻏﻮرس واﻧﺒﺪﻗﻠﺲ‬ ‫وﺳﻘﺮاط واﻓﻼﻃﻦ ﻣﻦ اﺛﻴﻨﻴﺔ وﯾﻮانن وﺟﲈﻋﺔ ﻣﻦ اﻟﺸﻌﺮاء واﻟﻨﺴﺎك وﳍﻢ ﺗﻔﺼﻴﻞ‬ ‫ﻣﺬﻫﺐ ﰲ ﻛﻴﻔﻴﺔ الاﺑﺪاع واﺧﺘﻼف رأي ﰲ اﳌﺒﺎدي الاول ‪.‬‬ ‫)‪Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.‬‬

Aš-Šahrastānī

465

Th 529a (= As 217) Thales the Sage The Greek philosophers from Thales to Porphyry are treated there as well. Aš-Šahrastānī divides them into three groups. Alongside the so-called original philosophers and Aristotle and his followers, he also recognizes a third group:1 Book of Sects and Creeds 253.13–15 The seven Sages: They were the Pillars of Wisdom from Miletus, Samos and Athens. These are their countries: their names were Thales of Miletus, Anaxagoras, Anaximenes, Empedocles, Pythagoras, Socrates and Plato.

Th 529b (= As 220) Water as the first principle How closely religion and (Greek) philosophy belong together for Aš-Šahrastānī is shown in his work The end of the steps in knowledge (Kitab nihayat al-aqdam fi ‘ilm al-kalam), which is divided into 20 chapters and treats the different foundations of religion. For the contrast with the philosophical doctrines of the Greeks belongs to the tenor of this work. It must have been composed later the Book of Sects and Creeds (Kitab al-milal wa-l-nihal; see above As 217–219) because it refers to that work.2 The End Steps in the Science of Kalam 5.5–10 With them concur [on the one hand] the group of the Pillars of Wisdom and the elders of philosophy like Thales, Anaxagoras and Anaximenes and the inhabitants of Miletus who followed them, and like Pythagoras, Empedocles, Socrates and Plato among the Athenians and Greeks, and [on the other] a group of poets and ascetics. They have a detailed doctrine on the process of creation and different views on the first principle.

1 2

On these three groups, see Overwien 2005, 155–6. Cf. Monnot 1997, 215a–b.

466

Hugh of St. Victor – Heliodorus

Hugh of St. Victor Th 530 Didascalion de studio legendi 3.2 (ed. Offergeld) (Cap.2 De auctoribus artium) Theologus apud Graecos Linus fuit, apud Latinos, Varro, et nostri temporis, Ioannes Scotus de decem categoriis in Deum. Physicam naturalem, apud Graecos, Thales Milesius unus de septem sapientibus repperit, apud Latinos, Plinius descripsit. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.)

Heliodorus Th 531

5

Paraphrasis ethicae Nicomacheae 122.23–28 (ed. Heylbut) [Arist. EN 6.8.141a20–b19] Ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων δὲ δῆλον, ὅτι σοφία ἐστὶ νοῦς καὶ ἐπιστήμη, περὶ τὰ φύσει τιμιώτατα, ἅ εἰσι τὰ ἀναγκαῖα καὶ ἀεὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχοντα. διὸ Ἀναξαγόραν καὶ Θαλῆν καὶ τοὺς τοιούτους σοφοὺς μὲν λέγουσι, φρονίμους δὲ οὐδαμῶς, διότι τὰ μὲν αὑτοῖς συμφέροντα ἠγνόουν καὶ τὰ πρὸς τὸν βίον χρήσιμα, ἐγίνωσκον δὲ περιττά τινα καὶ θαυμαστὰ καὶ χαλεπὰ καὶ δαιμόνια. Sim. (wisdom without practical reason) Th 27 (q.v.)

Hugh of St. Victor – Heliodorus

467

Hugh of St. Victor (ca. 1096 –1141 CE) Th 530i Thales the Sage and founder of natural philosophy. Didascalion de studio legendi 3.2 (written ca. 1127 CE) (The orignators of the arts.) Linus was a theologian among the Greeks; among the Latins, Varro; and in our time John Scotus, in On the Ten Categories in Relation to God. Among the Greeks, Thales of Miletus, one of the Seven Sages, discovered natural philosophy, and among the Latins Pliny recorded it.1

Heliodorus (12th cent. CE) Th 531ii

5

Thales’ lack of practical wisdom. Paraphrase of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics 122.23–28 [EN 6.8.1141a20– b19: Th 27] It is clear from what has been said that wisdom is insight and knowledge of things that are by nature most valuable, which are things that are necessary and always in the same state. This is why they call Anaxagoras, Thales and people like them wise, but in no way sensible, because they were ignorant of what is to their own advantage and useful for life, but knew things that are remarkable, admirable, difficult and divine.

1

Cf. Auctor incertus, Excerptiones allegoricae I 24 (Migne PL 177.202C).

i ii

W. does not translate this testimonium.. W. does not translate this testimonium..

468

Iohannes Galenus Grammaticus – Iohannes Tzetzes

Iohannes Galenus Grammaticus Th 532 Allegoriae in Hesiodi theogoniam 305.30–306.3 (ed. Flach) Ἡσίοδος δὲ γεννᾷ τἆλλα ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος καὶ ἀρχαιότερον πάντων τὸ ὕδωρ τίθησιν, ἀπὸ τῆς χύσεως παρονομάσας αὐτὸ χάος‧ χυτὸν γὰρ καὶ ῥυτὸν τὸ [306] ὕδωρ. ἐξ αὐτοῦ δ᾽ οἶμαι καὶ τὸν Μιλήσιον Θάλητα τὴν δόξαν ταύτην σφετερίσασθαι καὶ Πίνδαρον, ἄριστον τὸ ὕδωρ λέγοντα. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th  29 (q.v.); (the water hypothesis goes back to the first theologians/Homer) Th 29 (q.v.)

Iohannes Tzetzes Th 533

5

Chiliades 2.872–80 (Ed. Leone) Θαλῆς σοφὸς Μιλήσιος εἷς τῆς σοφῶν ἑπτάδος τοῦ Ἀσσυρίου μαθητὴς ὑπάρχων Φερεκύδους, ἐκλείψεις περιόδους τε σελένης εὗρε πρῶτος, ἐν χρόνοις ὢν τοῖς τοῦ Λυδοῦ Κροίσου τοῦ πολυχρύσου, ᾧ καὶ προεῖπεν ἔκλειψιν γενέσθαι σεληναίαν. Οὗ γεγονότος ἅπαντας τότε πρὸς θάμβος ἦξεν· ἀσύνηθες εἰσέτι γὰρ ἔκλειψις ἦν σελήνης. Τινὲς μὲν τοῦτον ἔφασαν ἐφευρετὴν ὧν ἔφην. οἱ δὲ τῷ Ἐνδυμίωνι πορσάπτουσιν ἐκεῖνα [...] Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th  20 (q.v.); (eclipse/phases of the moon) Th 178 (q.v.); (dates) Th 171 (q.v.)

Th 534 Chil. 11.77 f. [...]    οὗτος ὁ Πυθαγόρας, σὺν τῷ Θαλῇ κατήκουσε τοῦ Σύρου Φερεκύδους (Th 5)

Iohannes Galenus Grammaticus – Iohannes Tzetzes

469

Iohannes Galenus Grammaticus (? first half of the 12th cent. CE) Th 532 Water as the first principle. Allegories on Hesiod’s Theogony 305.30–306.3 Hesiod generates the other things from water and posits water as the most ancient of all things, changing its name to “chaos,” from “pouring” (chysis). For water is something that is poured and is fluid. [306] From him, I believe, Thales of Miletus appropriated this view as did Pindar, who said that water is best (cf. Th 286, Th 583).

Iohannes Tzetzes (ca. 1110–1185 CE) Th 533

5

Thales the Sage and astronomer; his dates; his prediction of an eclipse. Chiliads 2.872–880 Thales of Miletus the sage, one of the Seven Sages, a student of Pherecydes the Assyrian (cf. Th 498, Th 534), was the first to discover the eclipses and periods of the moon. He lived in the time of Croesus of Lydia, rich in gold, to whom he even predicted that a lunar eclipse would take place. When it did take place it struck everyone at the time with amazement, for an eclipse of the moon was still an unfamiliar event. Some declared that he was the discoverer of the things I have said, but others ascribe them to Endymion [...]

Th 534 Thales and Pherecydes. Chiliads 11.77 f. [...] This Pythagoras together with Thales was a student of Pherecydes of Syros (cf. Th 498, Th 533).

470

Iohannes Tzetzes

Th 535

5

10

Commentarium in nubes 180a.1–b.1 (ed. Holwerda) Τί δῆτ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τὸν Θαλῆν: ἐνταῦθα μηδὲν προσφυὲς εἰπεῖν ἔχοντες οἱ γράψαντες πρὸ ἐμοῦ φασιν ἅπερ φασίν. σὺ δὲ σαφῶς τε ὁμοῦ καὶ συντόμως καὶ προσφυῶς τῇ ἐννοίᾳ νῦν ἄκουε. ὁ Θαλῆς οὗτος σοφὸς Μιλήσιος ἦν ἰσόχρονος τῇ τῶν σοφῶν ἑπτάδι τῇ κατὰ Σόλωνα. καὶ πρῶτος Ἑλλήνων σελήνης ἔκλειψιν, μᾶλλον δὲ ὑποσκίασιν μέλλουσαν γεγονέναι τοῖς περὶ Ἀλυάττην προεῖπεν. καὶ τὸν Κροῖσον δὲ μὴ περαιωθέντα τὸν Ἅλυν πεπερακέναι πεποίηκε μηνοειδέσιν 〈ἡμι〉κυκλίοις/ μηνισκοκύκλοις1 τῶν τάφρων ὀρύγμασιν. ὡς οὖν κἀνταῦθα ὁ Στρεψιάδης τὸ περὶ τῆς ἐνδείας καὶ τῆς τοῦ ἱματίου κλοπῆς μηχάνημα τὸ γεγονὸς τάχα παρὰ τοῦ Σωκράτους κατήκουσεν, ἐκπλήττεται καί φησι‧ τί δῆτα τὸν Θαλῆν ἐκεῖνον θαυμάζομεν τοιαῦτα ἐπὶ τοῦ Κροίσου μηχανησάμενον, νῦν τοῦ Σωκράτους μηχανωμένου τοιαῦτα; ἰστέον δέ σοι, ὅτι διττῶς γράφεται‧ Θάλης Θάλητος, καὶ Θαλῆς Θαλοῦ. Sim. Th 17; (dates) Th 171 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (eclipse/phases of the moon) Th 178 (q.v.); (the crossing of the Halys) Th 11 (q.v.); (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.)

Th 536

5

10

Commentarium in plutum 9.1–42 (ed. Positano) ((Ὅς)) θεσπιῳδεῖ: ((ἀντὶ τοῦ)) χρησμολογεῖ, θεσμολογεῖ. τρίπους ἀνάκειται τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι ὡς εἰδότι ((τὰ τῶν τριῶν χρόνων,)) „τά τ᾽ ἐόντα τά τ᾽ ἐσσόμενα πρό τ᾽ ἐόντα“. χρυσοῦς δὲ τρίπους ἀφ᾽ ἱστορίας τῆσδε‧ ἁλιεῖς Μιλήσιοι βόλον ἐκ θαλάσσης ἐξεῖλκον ἰχθύων, Κῷοι δὲ διερχόμενοι τὸ ἀναχθησόμενον ὠνοῦνται εἰς τύχην. ἀνήχθη (δὲ) χρυσοῦς τρίπους ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἰχθύες. οὗ φανέντος καὶ φιλονεικούντων Κῴων καὶ Μιλησίων περὶ αὐτοῦ, βαρὺν ἡ Μίλητος συρρήγνυσι πόλεμον – ἁρμοδιαίτατον γὰρ ἦν τοῦτοκαὶ ἡ Κῶς‧ παίζειν χρεὼν γὰρ καὶ γελᾶν γενειάδας σχεδεκδοτούντων καὶ στυγούντων τὰς βίβλους. τρυχόμενοι δὲ τῷ πολέμῳ Κῷοί τε καὶ Μιλήσιοι ἄμφω τινὰς στείλαντες τοῦτον ἀκούουσι τὸν χρησμόν‧ [...] πρώτως οὖν (ὁ τρίπους) ἐδόθη Θαλῇ‧ ἐκείνου δὲ σοφώτερον ἕτερον εἶναι λέγοντος ἑαυτοῦ, κἀκείνου δὲ ἕτερον, διὰ τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν ὁ τρίπους περιστρεφόμενος πάλιν εἰς τὸν Θαλῆν δευτέρως ἀνέκαμψεν‧ ὁ δὲ τοῦτον ἀνέθετο τῷ Διδυμαίῳ Ἀπόλλωνι, ἐπιγράψας τούσδε τοὺς χωλιάμβους‧ 1

μηνοειδέσιν 〈ἡμι〉κυκλίοις and μηνισκοκύκλοις are textual variants that are printed one above the other in the edition.

Iohannes Tzetzes

471

Th 535

5

10

Thales the proverbial genius; a Sage; his dates; his prediction of an eclipse; the crossing of the Halys. Commentary on Aristophanes’ Clouds 180 [And why do we still [admire] Thales?][Th 17]. Those who have written before me say what they say without having anything appropriate to say. But listen now clearly and briefly and in a manner appropriate to my thought. This Thales was a sage of Miletus, contemporary with the Seven Sages in Solon’s time. He was the first Greek to predict an eclipse of the moon, or rather he predicted a future darkening to Alyattes and his men. And when Croesus was unable to cross the Halys, he made it possible for him to cross it by digging semicircular channels in the form of half-moons. So here too when Strepsiades hears that the trick having to do with the lack of food and the theft of a cloak was the fast work of Socrates, he is astonished and says, “Why do we admire that Thales for those tricks he did in Croesus’s time, now that Socrates is doing tricks like these? Know too that the name is written in two ways: Θάλης Θάλητος and Θαλῆς Θαλοῦ.

Th 536i

5

10

The story of the tripod. Commentary on Aristophanes’ Wealth 9.1–42 Who sings in prophetic strain instead of “utters an oracle,” “utters a pronouncement.” A tripod is dedicated to Apollo as knowing the events of the three times: “things that are and that will be and that were before.” A golden tripod, according to the following story. When some Milesian fishermen were pulling up a catch of fish from the sea, by chance some Coans passing by bought for their luck what would be brought up. But what was brought up was not fish but a golden tripod. When it emerged and the Coans and Milesians disputed about it, Miletus and Cos went to war, since that was the most fitting thing to do. For it was necessary for the beards of editors and book-haters to enjoy themselves and laugh. Worn out by the war, both the Coans and Milesians sent some people and heard this oracle [...] Now [the tripod] was first given to Thales, but when he said that another was wiser than himself, and that one [said that] someone else [was], the tripod made the round of the Seven Sages and came back to Thales a second time. He i

W. does not translate this testimonium..

472

15

Iohannes Tzetzes

«Θαλῆς με τῷ μεδεῦντι Νείλεω δήμου δίδωσι, τοῦτο δὶς λαβὼν ἀριστεῖον». οὕτω χρυσοῦς τρίπους ἦν τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι. Sim. (Thales’ prize/story of the tripod) Th 52 (q.v.)

Th 537 Scholia in Lycophronem 145 (ed. Scheer) Πήναις ἀτράκτοις νήμασι παρὰ τὸ πένω τὸ ἐνεργῶ πίνα δὲ τὸ ζῶον παρὰ τὸ πῖνος, ὃ σημαίνει τὸν ῥύπον. δὴν τὸ πολυχρόνιον καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ δηναιὸς καὶ δηναιά. πολυχρονίαν δὲ καὶ παλαιὰν τὴν θάλασσαν λέγει διὰ τὸ πρῶτον εἶναι στοιχεῖον κατὰ Φερεκύδην καὶ Θαλῆν. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 538 Schol. in Lyc. 482 Ἀστρολογίαν γὰρ, ἐνιαυτόν, μῆνας, ἰσημερίας καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα Πᾶν Ἀρρκάδων βασιλεὺς ἢ Ἄτλας Λίβυς (879) εὗρεν ἀπὸ σελήνης τοὺς μῆνας συλλογισάμενος, ὕστερον δὲ Θαλῆς. Sim. (the seasons) Th 178 (q.v.); (equinox) Th 106 (q.v.); (Thales as representative of astronomy) Th 103 (q.v.)

Iohannes Tzetzes

15

473

dedicated it to Didymean Apollo and inscribed the following choliambic verses: To the one who rules the people of Neileus, Thales presents me, this prize of excellence which he twice received [Th 52, 76–77] And this is how the golden tripod came to be Apollo’s.

Th 537 Water as the first principle. Scholia on Lycophron Verse 145 Πήναις: threads on spindles, from πένω: to be active, but πίνα, the animal, comes from πῖνος, which means filth. δήν: long-lasting, and from it come δηναιός and δηναιά. He calls the sea long-lasting and ancient because according to Pherecydes and Thales it is the first element.i

Th 538 Thales as astronomer. Scholia on Lycophron Verse 482 Pan, the king of the Arcadians, or Atlas of Libya (879) discovered astronomy, the year, the months, the equinoxes and such things, calculating the months by the moon. Thales came later.1

1

Cf. Schol. in Aesch. Prometheum vinctum 438d1–10 (ed. Herington). Unfortunately the edition of the unknown part of the Iliad exegesis of Iohannes Tzetzes (Lolos 1981) was available to me for the first time only in the correction phase. Here are found some references to Thales on the principle water or on the cause of the flooding of the Nile.

i

I follow W. in omitting some etymological conjectures of Tz.

474

John of Salisbury

John of Salisbury Th 539

5

10

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20

25

30

35

Epistolae 209 (ed. Millor/ Butler/ Brooke) Ad tertiam progredior quaestionem: Quidnam sit mensa solis in sabulo, quam famosissimam inter gymnosophistas scrutator veritatis, et litterarum [0130C] diligentissimus persecutor Apollonius conspexit in sabulo, super quo omnes consului, qui in Francia primatum videntur habere Scripturarum, sed quia eos gentilis historia latuit, non multum reprehendo, si quod non didicerant, docere nequiverunt. Quidam tamen imprudentiam suam impudentius detexerunt, id solum inepta responsione persuadentes, quod a doctoribus, quos diu et multa mercede conduxerant, nihil scire didicerunt. Historia autem haec quam veritate refertus et litteris Hieronymus in praefatis apicibus tangit, apud Valerium Maximum reperitur in lib. IV, cap. 1, titulo De moderatione. Accidit enim, ut refert, quod a piscatoribus in Milesia regione everriculum trahentibus, [0130D] quidam jactum emerat. Extracta demum magni ponderis aurea Delphica mensa, orta controversia est, illis se capturam piscium vendidisse affirmantibus, hoc econtra dicente se emisse duntaxat fortunam jactus. Audita quaestione populus civitatis, propter novitatem et magnitudinem rei, causam ad consultationem Delphici Apollinis censuit referendam. Consultus vero respondit ei dandam esse, qui omnes alios sapientia antecederet, alioquin accipienti injucundam fore et noxiam. Itaque quia Thales Milesius judicio auditorum, inter septem, quos tunc prae caeteris Graecia celebrabat, sapientissimus habebatur, denuntiaverunt ei, ut jam dictae mensae possessionem adiret, qui, audita consultationis forma et responso Apollinis, [0131A] prudenti humilitate, non se, sed Biam Pyrenaeum, dixit Apollinis oraculo designatum. Aditus est et iste priori similiter, et in eumdem modum conditionem in Mitylenaeum Pittacum transtulit; interim mensa jacente in sabulo, et propter novitatem eventus et moderationem sapientum: et quia nullus de populo praesumebat invadere aurum, quod a se tanto studio sapientissimi removebant, casum hunc non tam mirabilem quam stupendum, talium praeconatrix fama longe lateque vulgavit. Mensa itaque famosissima facta est, dum ad singulos sapientum septem sic ipsius procedebat oblatio, donec ventum est ad Solonem, qui et titulum amplissimae sapientiae, et munus oblatum contulit in Apollinem, in quo sol colitur, quia omnia contemplatur, [0131B] et cujus virtus ignea sic penetrat universa, ut ei nihil possit esse absconditum: unde et mensa solis dicta est, quam Apollonius in sabulo jacentem, dum litteras persequeretur, inspexit.

John of Salisbury

475

John of Salisbury (ca. 1115–1180 CE) Th 539i

5

10

15

20

25

Variant on the story of the tripod. Letters 143 I proceed to the third question: What is the table of the sun in the sand, renowned among the gymnosophists, which Apollonius, the investigator of truth and the most careful student of learning, [0130C] noticed in the sand. I have asked everyone in France who seems to have pre-eminence in the Scriptures for advice about it, but because they are ignorant of pagan history, I cannot blame them much for not being able to teach what they had not learned. But some exposed their own imprudence quite impudently, and by their inept answer succeeded only in persuading [me] that from the teachers they employed for a long time and at a high wage they had learned to know nothing. However, Jerome, who is so full of truth and learning, refers to this story in the letter I mentioned earlier and it is found in Valerius Maximus, book 4, chapter 1, under the heading On Moderation. It happened, he relates, that when some fishermen in the area of Miletus were drawing in their net [0130D], someone had bought the catch. Finally a heavy golden Delphic table was pulled out, and a dispute arose, with the fishermen maintaining that they had sold a catch of fish and the other claiming that he had bought the luck of the catch, no more and no less. When the people of the city had heard the dispute, they thought it best to refer the case to Delphic Apollo for consultation in view of the strangeness and importance of the matter. When asked, he [Apollo] replied that it should be given to the one who excelled all others in wisdom; otherwise it would bring unhappiness and harm to the recipient. And so, because Thales of Miletus was considered in the judgment of the audience the wisest of the seven men that Greece was then praising above the rest, they told him that he would get the table. When he heard the form of the question and Apollo’s response, [0131A] with prudent modesty he said that not he but Bias of the Pyrenees had been designated by the oracle. That man was then approached in the same way as before, and in the same way and on the same terms he passed the gift on to Pittacus of Mitylene. In the meantime the table was lying in the sand both because of the strangeness of the event and the modesty of the Sages, and also because no one of the people ventured to lay hands on the gold which the wisest people were so careful to keep away from themselves –

i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

476

John of Salisbury – Philip of Harvengt

Sim. (Thales’ prize/story of the tripod) Th 52 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Th 540

5

Policraticus 7.5 (ed. Webb) (Cap. 5 De Ionico genere philosophorum, et auctoritate Socratis, et dogmate Platonis, et opinione ejus post mortem. [0643D]) Alterum vero philosophorum genus est, quod Ionicum dicitur, et a Graecis ulterioribus traxit originem. Horum princeps fuit Thales Milesius, unus illorum septem, qui dicti sunt sapientes. Iste cum rerum naturam scrutatus, inter caeteros emicuisset, maxime admirabilis exstitit, quod astrologiae numeris comprehensis, solis et lunae defectus praedicebat. Huic successit Anaximander ejus auditor, qui Anaximenem discipulum reliquit et successorem. Sim. (Ionian school) Th 147 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (solar eclipse) Th 10 (q.v.); (eclipse/phases of the moon) Th 178 (q.v.); (Anaximander pupil/associate of Thales) Th 65a (q.v.)

Philip of Harvengt Th 541

5

De institutione clericorum (Migne PL 203.1020B–D) (De silentio clericorum cap. 45.) [...] Thales Milesius surrexisse, qui unus, et primus septem Graeciae sapientium dicitur exstitisse, et pollens in physica per id temporis claruisse, quo et Judaea laetabatur praedicto Ezechia justius imperante, et Roma recens condita Romulo dominante. Post Thaletem Milesium sex alii fuisse memorantur, quibus illo priore addito septem sapientes Graeciae nominantur, et isti sex illo claruisse tempore perhibentur, cum jam filii Israel Babylonia captivi tenerentur. Horum autem nomina sunt haec: Pittacus Mityleneus, Solon Atheniensis, Chilo Lacedemonius, Periander Corinthius, Cleobulus Lydius, Bias Prieneus. Isti quia vita et scientia

John of Salisbury – Philip of Harvengt

30

35

477

rumor, the herald of such things, spread far and wide the event, which was not so surprising as astonishing. And so the table became very renowned while the offer of it was made in turn to each of the Seven Sages, until it came to Solon, who bestowed both the title of highest wisdom and the gift as an offering to Apollo, in whom the sun is worshipped, because it sees all things, [0131B] and whose fiery power so permeates all things that nothing can be hidden from it; and this is why it is called the sun’s table, and Apollonius gazed upon it as it lay in the sand while he was pursuing his learning.

Th 540i

5

Thales the Sage, the founder of Ionian philosophy; a natural philosopher and astronomer; his prediction of eclipses; Thales and Anaximander. Policraticus 7.5 (On the Ionian school of philosophers, the authority of Socrates, the doctrine of Plato, and his reputation after death. [0643D]) There is another school of philosophers, which is called Ionian and took its origin from the more remote Greeks. Their founder was Thales of Miletus, one of the men known as the Seven Sages. Since he investigated the nature of things and had stood out among the rest, he was greatly admired because through his understanding of astronomical calculation he predicted eclipses of the sun and moon. His pupil Anaximander succeeded him and left Anaximenes as his student and successor.

Philip of Harvengt (died in 1183 CE) Th 541

5

Thales as Sage and natural philosopher; his dates. On the Training of Clergymen ch. 45, (On the Silence of Clergymen) (Migne PL 203.1020B–D) There appeared on the scene Thales of Miletus, who is said to have been one of the Seven Sages of Greece, and indeed the first, and was famous for being excellent in natural philosophy at that time, when Judea was thriving under the just rule of the above-mentioned Ezechias and Romulus was ruling the recently founded Rome. After Thales of Miletus, there are reported i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

478 10

15

Philip of Harvengt – Eustathius of Thessalonica

caeteris sunt praelati, generali quodam vocabulo sophi sunt appellati, nondum usu obtinente, ut qui docti litteris haberentur, ad distinctionem multitudinis imperitae philosophi dicerentur. Dicti sunt etiam sophi, quod Latine dicitur sapientes, Anaximenes, Xenophanes, Thaleti Milesio succedentes, quin perscrutando rerum causas et naturas, eumdem magistrum imitantur, in suo tamen sensu abundantes singuli diversa plurimum opinantur. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (dates) Th 171 (q.v.); (first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.); Cf. Th 313–315

Eustathius of Thessalonica Th 542

5

Commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem II 647 (ed. van der Valk) Μίλητος δέ, ἡ Κρητικὴ αὕτη, προϋπῆρχε τῆς Ἀσιανῆς Μιλήτου, ἣν ἔκτισεν ὁ παλαιὸς Σαρπηδὼν ἀγαγὼν οἰκήτορας καὶ καλέσας αὐτὴν κατὰ τὸν Γεωγράφον ἐκ τῆς Κρητικῆς Μιλήτου. ὅτι δὲ πολλαὶ Μίλητοι, καὶ ὡς πολλὰς ἀποικίας ἔστειλαν, δῆλον ἐκ τῶν ἱστοριῶν. καὶ ἡ μὲν Κρητικὴ οὐ πολὺν ἔχει παρὰ τοῖς ἱστοροῦσι πλατυσμόν, ἡ δὲ Ἰωνικὴ πλουτίζεται τοῖς κατ᾽ αὐτὴν σεμνώμασι, τοῖς τε ἄλλοις καὶ τῷ περὶ αὐτὴν μεγίστῳ ναῷ ποτε, ὃς διέμεινε, φασί, χωρὶς ὀροφῆς διὰ τὸ μέγεθος, καὶ τοῖς σοφοῖς δέ, ὧν εὐφόρησε, τῷ τε Θάλητι καὶ τῷ Φωκυλίδῃ [...].

Th 543

5

Comm. ad Il. XVIII 489 Ἐν οἷς τὸ ἄμοιρός ἐστι λουτρῶν Ὠκεανοῦ ἀντὶ τοῦ ἄδυτός ἐστι καὶ οὐ δύνει εἰς Ὠκεανὸν οὔτε αὐτὴ ἡ καὶ μεγάλη καλουμένη καὶ Ἑλίκη, πρὸς ἣν οἱ Ἕλληνες, ὡς εἴρηται, ναυτιλλόμενοι ἑλίκωπες δι᾽ αὐτὴν ἐλέγοντο, οὔτε ἡ Κυνόσουρα ἡ ἐγγὺς αὐτῆς ἡ μικρά, ἥτις μεθ᾽ Ὅμηρον ὑπὸ Θαλοῦ τοῧ Μιλησίου εὕρηται, πρὸς ἣν Φοίνικες ἔπλεον. Sim. (constellations/discoverer of the Great/Little Bear) Th 52 (q.v.)

Philip of Harvengt – Eustathius of Thessalonica

10

15

479

to have been six others, and when the earlier one is added they are named the Seven Sages of Greece. The six are said to have been famous at the time when the children of Israel were being held captive in Babylonia. These are their names: Pittacus of Mitylene, Solon of Athens, Chilon of Lacedaimon, Periander of Corinth, Cleobulus of Lydia, Bias of Priene. Because they surpassed the rest of mankind in their way of life and because of their knowledge they are called “sophoi,” a general term, since the practice did not yet exist of calling people considered learned in letters philosophers to distinguish them from the ignorant masses. Anaximenes and Xenophanes, who succeeded Thales of Miletus, were also called sophoi, which means sapientes in Latin, because by investigating the causes and nature of things they imitate their teacher, being outstanding in their intelligence even though they individually hold very different views.

Eustathius of Thessalonica (ca. 1115–1195 CE) Th 542i

5

Thales as a famous Milesian. Commentary on Homer’s Iliad 2.647 The Cretan city of Miletus existed before the Miletus in Asia, which Sarpedon founded in antiquity, bringing settlers and calling it after the Cretan Miletus, according to the Geographer.1 It is clear from the histories that there were many cities named Miletus and that they founded many colonies. The Cretan Miletus does not get much coverage in the historians, but the Ionian [Miletus] is enriched by its majestic accomplishments, including the largest ever temple in its vicinity – which remained roofless, as they say, because of its size – and the wise men, Thales and Phocylides, that it produced.

Th 543ii Thales as astronomer. Commentary on Homer’s Iliad 18.489 Where “without a share in the baths of Okeanos” means “never setting” and neither does this [constellation, viz. Orion] set in the ocean nor the one 1

Strabo, 12.8.5

i ii

W. does not translate this testimonium. W. does not translate this testimonium.

480

Eustathius of Thessalonica

Th 544

5

Commentarium in Dionysii periegetae orbis descriptionem, epistola 208.9– 17 (ed. Müller) Ἦ γὰρ οὕτω μικροῦ πεποιήκασιν, ὅσοι τὴν τῆς οἰκουμένης πινακογραφίαν μεμελετήκασιν, ὀνυχιαίῳ που τάχα τινὶ διαστήματι τὴν ἀπείρονα περικλείσαντες, καὶ τὸ τοῦ κατὰ γῆν πληρώματος ἀπερίληπτον ἐπιπέδῳ βραχυτάτῳ καὶ οὕτω μικροδιαστάτῳ ἐμπεριγράψαντες. Οὗ δὴ τολμήματος κατάρξαι μὲν ἱστόρηται Ἀναξίμανδρος μαθητευσάμενος Θάλητι, Ἑκαταῖος δὲ μετ᾽ αὐτὸν τῇ αὐτῇ τόλμῃ ἐπιβαλεῖν, μετὰ δε Δημόκριτος, καὶ τέταρτος Εὔδοξος. Sim. (Anaximander pupil/associate of Thales) Th 65a (q.v.)

Th 545

5

Comm. in Dion. Per. 354.12–19 Ἡρόδοτος δέ φησιν ὅτι ὁ Ἅλυς ὥριζε μέν ποτε τὴν Μηδικὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ τὴν Λυδικὴν, ῥέει δὲ ἐξ   Ἀρμενίου ὄρους διὰ τῆς γῆς τῶν Κιλίκων‧ παραμειβόμενος δὲ Ματιανοὺς μὲν ἐν δεξιᾷ, ἑτέρωθεν δὲ Φρύγας, ῥέει πρὸς βορρᾶν, ἔνθεν μὲν Συρίους Καππαδόκας ἀφεὶς, ἐξ εὐωνύμων δὲ Παφλαγόνας. Λέγει δὲ καὶ ὅτι Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος ἔσχισέ ποτε τὸν Ἅλυν τῷ Κροίσῳ διὰ βαθείας διώρυχος εἰς εὐδιάβατον. Sim. (the crossing of the Halys) Th 11 (q.v.)

Eustathius of Thessalonica

5

481

that is called the Great [Bear] and Helike.1 It is said that Greek sailors sail by it and were called Elikopes from it. Nor does Cynosure, the Little [Bear], which is near it, [set in the ocean], which after Homer was discovered by Thales of Miletus, and by which the Phoenicians used to sail.

Th 544i

5

Thales and Anaximander. Commentary on The Description of the World by Dionysius Perigetes, Letter 208.9–17 Those who have concerned themselves with mapping the inhabited world have made it so small, enclosing the boundless [earth] in something the size of a fingernail, and drawing the unsurroundable amount of the earth in a tiny and small-dimensioned surface. Anaximander, the student of Thales (cf. Th 576), is reported to have been the first to dare to do this, and after him Hecataeus applied the same daring, and afterwards Democritus, and Eudoxus was fourth.

Th 545ii

5

Thales and the crossing of the Halys. Commentary on The Description of the World by Dionysius Perigetes 354.12–19 Herodotus declares that the Halys once was the border between the Median and the Lydian empires. It flows from the Armenian mountain through the land of the Cilicians. Passing through the Matians on the right and the Phrygians on the other side, it flows towards the north, leaving the Syrian Cappadocians on one side and the Paphlygonians on the left. He says also that Thales of Miletus once divided the Halys for Croesus by means of a deep channel in order to make it easy to cross.

1

Helike, lit. “twister,” from its revolving close to the Pole Star.

i ii

W. does not translate this testimonium. W. does not translate this testimonium.

‫‪482‬‬

‫‪Eustathius of Thessalonica – Niẓāmī‬‬

‫‪Th 546‬‬ ‫‪Comm. in Dion. Per. 362.12–17‬‬ ‫‪Περὶ δὲ τῆς πόλεως ταύτης καὶ τοιαῦτα γέγραπται‧ „Μίλητος πόλις‬‬ ‫‪Ἰώνων ἐπιφανής. Ἐκλήθη δέ ποτε καὶ Λελεγὶς διὰ ἐποίκους Λέλεγας, καὶ‬‬ ‫“‪Πιτύουσα δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐκεῖ πιτύων, καὶ διότι ἐκεῖ πρῶτον πίτυς ἔφυ.‬‬ ‫‪Ἐκεῖθεν ἦν Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος, καὶ ῥήτωρ Αἰσχίνης, [...].‬‬

‫‪Niẓāmī‬‬ ‫‪Th 547‬‬ ‫)‪Iskandarname 125 f. (ed. Dastgirdi‬‬

‫ﮔﻔﺘﺎر واﻟﻴﺲ‬ ‫ﭼﻨﲔ راﻧﺪ واﻟﻴﺲ داان ﲯﻦ‬ ‫ﺑﻪ ﺗﻌﻠﲓ داﻧﺶ ﺗﻨﻮﻣﻨﺪ ابد‬ ‫ﭼﻮ ﻓﺮﻣﻮد ﺳﺎﻻر ﮔﺮدﻧﻜﺸﺎن‬ ‫ﭼﻨﲔ ﮔﺸﺖ ﺑﺮ ﻣﻦ ﺑﻪ داﻧﺶ درﺳﺖ‬ ‫ز ﺟﻨﺒﺶ ﳕﻮدن ﲜﺎﰃ رﺳـﻴﺪ‬ ‫ﭼﻮ آﺗﺶ ﺑﺮون راﻧﺪ ﺑﺮق از ﲞﺎر‬ ‫ﺗﲀﺛﻒ ﮔﺮﻓﺖ آب از آﻫﺴـﺘﮕﻰ‬ ‫ﭼﻮ ﻫﺮ ﺟﻮﻫﺮ ﺧﺎص ﺟﺎﰃ ﮔﺮﻓﺖ‬ ‫ز ﻟﻄﻔﻰ ﻛﻪ ﴎ ﺟﻮش آﳒﻤهل ﺑﻮد‬ ‫ﻧﻴﻮﺷﺎﮔﺮ اﻳﻦ را ﳔﻮاﻫﺪ ﺷﻨﻴﺪ‬ ‫ﳕﻮدار ﻧﻄﻔﻪ ﺑﺮ راﺳـﺘﺎن‬

‫ﻛﻪ ﻧﻮ ابد ﺷﻪ در هجﺎن ﻛﻬﻦ‬ ‫ﺑﻪ داﻧﺶ ﭘﮋوﱓ ﺑﺮوﻣﻨﺪ ﺑـﺎد‬ ‫ﻛﻪ ﻫﺮﻛﺲ دﻫﺪ زاچنﻪ دارد ﻧﺸﺎن‬ ‫ﻛﻪ ﺟﺰ آب ﺟﻮﻫﺮ ﻧﺒﻮد از ﳔﺴﺖ‬ ‫ﻛﺰو آﺗﴙ در ﲣﻠﺨﻞ دﻣﻴﺪ‬ ‫ﻫﻮاﰃ ﻓﺮو ﻣﺎﻧﺪ از او آﺑﺪار‬ ‫زﻣﲔ ﺳﺎزور ﮔﺸﺖ از آن ﺑﺴـﺘﮕﻰ‬ ‫هجﺎن از ﻃﺒﻴﻌﺖ ﻧﻮاﰃ ﮔﺮﻓﺖ‬ ‫ﮔﺮﻩ ﺑﺴﺖ ﮔﺮدون و ﺟﻨﺒﺶ ﳕﻮد‬ ‫ﻛﺰ آﰉ ﭼﻨﲔ ﭘﻴﻜﺮ آﻣﺪ ﭘﺪﯾﺪ‬ ‫دﻟﻴﲆ اﺳﺖ ﻗﻄﻌﻰ ﺑﺮ اﻳﻦ داﺳـﺘﺎن‬

‫‪5‬‬

‫‪10‬‬

Eustathius of Thessalonica – Niẓāmī

483

Th 546i Miletus is remembered because of Thales. Commentary on The Description of the World by Dionysius Perigetes 362.12–17 The following is also written about this city. “Miletus, a notable city of the Ionians. It was once called Lelegis too because its settlers were Leleges, and Pituousa from the pine trees there, and because that is where the pine first grew. It was the birthplace of Thales of Miletus and the orator Aeschines.

Nizami (1141–before 1200) Th 547 Water as the first principle; Thales’ cosmogony. In the Persian Alexander epic the ruler invites the Seven Sages, including Thales, who expounds his doctrine.

5

The Book of Alexander 125 f. The Sayings of Thales Thus spoke Thales, the man of knowledgeable words / – that a new shah (king) came into an old world. With the learning of knowledge become strong. / With the search for knowledge become prolific. As the head of the rebellious ones said, / everyone shows what they possess. Through1 true knowledge it was proved to me / that in the beginning there was no matter present except water. Through violent movement it [the water] reached a state / in which fire was blown out from a hole. Because fire produced lightning from vapor / the air became saturated with water. The water was revealed because of its slowness. / From this bonding the earth was formed. Since every particular material reached a place / the world attained its harmony in accord with nature. 1

W.’s translation begins here.

i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

484

Niẓāmī – Anonymous

Sim. (water as the first principle) Th  29 (q.v.); (transformations of water) Th 94 (q.v.)

Anonymous Th 548

5

Liber Aristotelis de inundacione Nili 3 (ed. Bonneau, cf. Fr. 248 R3, cf. FGrHist III C 646 F 1.2) Thales qui quidem de Ameo Milesius a ventis annualibus repulsum inquit fluvium inundare: crescit enim si illi flant, et e regione fluit ipsorum. accidit autem contrarium: supernatat enim ad modicum desubtus, principium autem repletionis videtur deorsum. adhuc idem alios oportebat pati magis fluvios, qui ex opposito fluunt ipsis magis, et minores existentes faciles1 sunt cogi a ventis. frequenter autem et annuales non flant, fluvius autem videtur idem faciens. Sim. (flooding of the Nile) Th 13 (q.v.)

1

faciles sunt may be a dittography for facile sunt.

Niẓāmī – Anonymous 5

485

From the benevolence of all these things that came to a boil / the revolving firmament tied the knot and began to move. A new student will not listen to this / – that from water such a body appeared. But showing a drop of semen to the truthful / is the proof of this story.

Anonymous (13th cent. CE) Th 548

5

Thales’ explanation of the flooding of the Nile. Aristotle’s Book on the Flooding of the Nile1 3 Thales of Miletus, the son of Ameus,2 says that the river [Nile] floods when driven back by the annual [etesian] winds because it rises when they blow and it flows in the opposite direction. However, what happens is the opposite, [1] because it floods only a small amount from below [from its mouths], and the origin of its flooding seems to be from above [from its upper course].3 Also, [2] other rivers ought to display the same phenomenon to a greater degree that flow more directly against them [the winds] and that (since they are smaller [than the Nile]) are easily driven back by the winds. Also frequently [3] the annual winds do not blow, but the river is seen to exhibit the same behavior.

1

2 3

On the authenticity of the treatise cf. now Jacobi/Luppe 2000, 15–8. Cf. also Steinmetz 1964, 278 ff., who argues for Theophrastus as the author of the text (as part of the series of lectures περὶ ὑδάτων). The discussion continues, cf. Fowler (2000). The Latin version “De Ameo” arose from a misunderstanding of the Greek Ἐξαμίου. Bonneau 1979, 9 translates it differently: “The Nile graduallyl overflows its banks from below, and we see that the flooding begins from its lower reach.” Cf. n.4 ad loc. “The force of the winds turns back the current at the surface of the river: this is not what we observe.”

‫‪Ibn al-Qifṭī‬‬

‫‪486‬‬

‫‪Ibn al-Qifṭī‬‬ ‫‪Th 549‬‬ ‫)‪Tarīḫ al-ḥukamā 26.8–10 (ed. Lippert‬‬

‫وﰷن ﺣﻜﲈء ﯾﻮانن ﯾﻨﺘﺤﻠﻮن اﻟﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ اﻷوﱃ اﻟﻄﺒﻴﻌ ّﻴﺔ اﻟﱵ ﰷن ﯾﺬﻫﺐ إﻟﳱﺎ ﻓﻴﺜﺎﻏﻮرس‬ ‫اﳌﻠﻄﻲ وﻋﻮا ّم اﻟﺼﺎﺑﺌﺔ ﻣﻦ اﻟﻴﻮانﻧ ّﻴﲔ واﳌﴫﯾّﲔ ّﰒ ﻣﺎل ّ‬ ‫ﻣﺘﺄﺧﺮوﱒ إﱃ اﻟﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ‬ ‫واثﻟﻴﺲ ّ‬ ‫اﳌﺪﻧ ّﻴﺔ ﻛﺴﻘﺮاط وأﻓﻼﻃﻮن وأرﺳﻄﻮﻃﺎﻟﻴﺲ وأﺷـﻴﺎﻋﻬﻢ وﻗﺪ ذﻛﺮ ذكل أرﺳﻄﻮﻃﺎﻟﻴﺲ ﰲ‬ ‫ﻛﺘﺎﺑﻪ ﰲ اﳊﻴﻮان ﻓﻘﺎل ﻟـ ّﻤـﺎ ﰷن ﻣﻨﺬ ﻣﺎﺋﺔ ﺳـﻨﺔ وذكل ﻣﻨﺬ زﻣﻦ ﺳﻘﺮاط ﻣﺎل اﻟﻨﺎس ﻋﻦ‬ ‫اﻟﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ اﻟﻄﺒﻴﻌ ّﻴﺔ إﱃ اﻟﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ اﳌﺪﻧ ّﻴﺔ واﻧﳤـﻰ إﱃ أﻓﻼﻃﻮن رﺋﺎﺳﺔ ﻋﻠﻮم اﻟﻴﻮانﻧ ّﻴﲔ‬

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‫)‪Sim. (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.‬‬

‫‪Th 550‬‬ ‫‪Tarīḫ al-ḥukamā 49.19–50.3‬‬

‫ﻓﺄﻣّﺎ ادلﻫﺮﯾّﻮن ﻓﻬﻢ ﻓﺮﻗﺔ ﻗﺪﻣﺎء ﲧﺪوا اﻟﺼﺎﻧﻊ اﳌﺪﺑّﺮ ﻟﻠﻌﺎﱂ وﻗﺎﻟﻮا ﺑﺰﲻﻬﻢ إنّ اﻟﻌﺎﱂ ﱂ ﻳﺰل‬ ‫ﻣﻮﺟﻮدا ﻋﲆ ﻣﺎ ﻫﻮ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﺑﻨﻔﺴﻪ ﱂ ﻳﻜﻦ هل ﺻﺎﻧﻊ ﺻﻨﻌﻪ وﻻ ﳐﺘﺎر اﺧﺘﺎرﻩ وإنّ اﳊﺮﻛﺔ‬ ‫ادلورﯾّﺔ ﻻ أ ّول ﻟﻬﺎ وإنّ اﻹﻧﺴﺎن ﻣﻦ ﻧﻄﻔﺔ واﻟﻨﻄﻔﺔ ﻣﻦ إﻧﺴﺎن واﻟﻨﺒﺖ ﻣﻦ ﺣ ّﺒﺔ واﳊ ّﺒﺔ‬ ‫اﳌﻠﻄﻲ وﻫﻮ أﻗﺪم ﻣﻦ ّﻋﲅ ﲠﺬﻩ اﳌﻘﺎةل‬ ‫ﻣﻦ ﻧﺒﺖ وأﺷﻬﺮ ﺣﻜﲈء ﻫﺬﻩ اﻟﻔﺮﻗﺔ اثﻟﻴﺲ ّ‬ ‫وﺳـﻴﺄﰐ ﺧﱪﻩ ﻋﻨﺪ اﲰﻪ ﰲ ﺣﺮف اﻟﺜﺎء إن ﺷﺎء ّاهلل ﺗﻊ وﻫﺬﻩ اﻟﻔﺮﻗﺔ وﻣﻦ ﯾﻘﻮل ﺑﻘﻮﻟﻬﺎ‬ ‫وﯾﺘﺒﻌﻬﺎ ﻋﲆ رأﳞﺎ ﻳﺴ ّﻤﻮن اﻟﺰاندﻗﺔ‬

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487

Ibn al-Qifti (1172–1248 CE) Th 549 Thales the Sage and natural philosopher. The historian of science correctly places Thales in his history of the Sages as an exponent of ancient natural philosophy.

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History of Learned Men 26.8–10 The Greek sages adopted the earliest natural philosophy, as it was established by Pythagoras, Thales of Miletus, and the ordinary Sabians1 in Greece and Egypt. Then the later [philosophers] were more inclined toward political philosophy – Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and their followers. In his book “On Animals” Aristotle mentioned this when he said “It was a hundred years from the time of Socrates when the people changed their inclination from natural philosophy to political philosophy, ending up with Plato’s leadership of the Greek sciences.2 In two other places Ibn al-Qifti explicitly notes the materialistic and atheistic components of this early philosophy. Still Mulla Sadra Siraxi (1572–1640 CE), the influential exponent of late Persian neoplatonism, who, following Pseudo-Ammonius, admits Thales into the series of ancient witnesses to the truth, had to deal with this and says that the eternity of the world was first attributed to the Presocratics by later philosophers, since they no longer understood their doctrines.3

Th 550 Thales’ materialist and atheist cosmology. History of Learned Men 49.19–50.3 As for the materialists, they were a sect of the ancients who denied that there was a maker and designer of the world and claimed that the world is everlasting in and of itself and had no creator who created it, and no chooser who chose it and that the circular motion [of the heavenly spheres] had no beginning, and that man arises from semen and semen from a man, and a plant arises from a seed and a seed from a plant. The most famous of the

1 2 3

See n. on Th 522. Cf. De Partibus Animalium 1.1.642a26–31. Paper by Horten 1913, 151, 4–28; cf. Baffioni 1991, 310 f.

‫‪Ibn al-Qifṭī‬‬

‫‪488‬‬ ‫)‪Sim. (natural philosophy) Th 81 (q.v.‬‬

‫‪Th 551‬‬ ‫‪Tarīḫ al-ḥukamā 107.7–14‬‬

‫ـﻠﻄﻲ ﺣﻜﲓ ﻣﺸﻬﻮر ﰲ زﻣﺎﻧﻪ أﻗﺎوﯾهل ﻣﺬﻛﻮرة وآراءﻩ ﰲ اﻟﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ ﺑﲔ أﻫﻠﻬﺎ ﻣﺸﻬﻮرة‬ ‫اثﻟﻴﺲ اﻟـ َﻤ ّ‬ ‫ﲱﺐ ﻓﻴﺜﺎﻏﻮرس وأﺧﺬ ﻋﻨﻪ ورﺣﻞ إﱃ ﻣﴫ وأﺧﺬ ﻋﻦ ﻋﻠﲈﲛﺎ ﻋﲅ اﻟﻄﺒﻴﻌﺔ واﻟﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ وﻫﻮ‬ ‫ُﻮﺟ َﺪ هل ﺗﻌﺎﱃ ّاهلل اﻟﻌﻈﲓ واﺣﺘﺞّ هل أﲱﺎﺑﻪ أنّ اذلي ﲪهل ﻋﲆ‬ ‫أ ّول ﻣﻦ ﻗﺎل إنّ اﳌﻮﺟﻮد ﻻ ﻣ ِ‬ ‫ذكل ﻣﺎ ﺷﺎﻫﺪﻩ ﰲ ﻫﺬا اﻟﻌﺎﱂ ﻣﻦ الاﺧﺘﻼط ﻓﺘﺤ ّﻘﻖ أنّ اﳌﻮﺻﻮف ابﻟﺼﻔﺎت ُاﳊ ْﺴ َﲎ ﻻ‬ ‫ﺗﺼﺪر ﻋﻨﻪ ﻫﺬﻩ اﻷﻣﻮر اخملﺘﻠﻔﺔ ﻓﻘﺎل ﺑﺬكل وﻋﲆ ﻫﺬا اﻟﻘﻮل ﲨﻬﻮر أﻫﻞ اﻟﻬﻨﺪ‬ ‫‪Sim. (Egyptian influence) Th  92 (q.v.) (cf. Th  311); (wise sayings) Th  89‬‬ ‫)‪(q.v.‬‬

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489

Sages of this sect was Thales of Miletus, and he was the earliest to teach this knowledge. Information about him will come under his name in the letter Thā’ (God Almighty willing). This sect and those who affirm what they say and follow their opinions are called heretics.

Th 551 Thales the Sage; his wise sayings; his association with Pythagoras and Egypt; a natural philosopher and atheist. In the previously announced chapter, he says:

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History of Learned Men 107.7–14 Thales of Miletus was a famous sage of his time. His sayings were repeated and his theses on philosophy are well known among philosophers. He was a companion of Pythagoras and learned from him. He traveled to Egypt and learned natural science and philosophy from the learned people there. He was the first to declare that that existence has no creator (glorify God almighty). His companions defended him by claiming that he was led to this view because he observed that there are contradictions in this world and thus he was convinced that these contradictions cannot emanate from someone that is described by the most magnificent attributes. A great number of Indians claimed the same thing.

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‫‪Anonymous‬‬

‫‪Anonymous‬‬

‫‪Th 552‬‬ ‫)‪Fiqar al-ḥukamā wa-nawādir al-qudamā wa-l-ulamā 276 f. (ed. Badawī‬‬

‫اثﻟﺲ اﳌﻨﻘﻮل ﻣﻦ ﺣﳬﻪ ﻣﺎ ﻗﻴﻞ ﻋﻨﻪ إﻧّﻪ ﻗﺎل ﻟﺘﻼﻣﺬﺗﻪ اﻋﻠﻤﻮا أن َﻣﻦْ ﻳﻜﱶ اﻷﰻ ﻻ‬ ‫ﳚﺪ ّذلة اﻟﻌﺒﺎدة وﻣﻦ ﻳﻜﱶ اﻟﻨﻮم ﱂ ﳚﺪ ﰲ ﲻﺮﻩ ﺑﺮﻛﺔ وﻣﻦ أﺻﻠﺢ ﴎﻳﺮﺗﻪ أﺻﻠﺢ ّاهلل‬ ‫أﻣﺮ وﻓﻴﻪ ﻫﻼﻛﻪ وﰼ ﻣﻦ ﻣﴪور ﺑﻨﻌﻤ ٍﺔ أو رﺗﺒﺔ وﱔ‬ ‫ﺗﻌﺎﱃ ﻋﻼﻧ ّﻴﺘﻪ وﰼ ﻣﻦ ﳏﺴﻮد ﻋﲆ ٍ‬ ‫ﻣﻦ داﺋﻪ وإذا ﱂ ﯾﻘﻒ اﻹﻧﺴﺎن ﻋﻨﺪ ﻋﻠﻤﻪ ﳁﺎ ﻓﺎﺋﺪة ﻋﻠﻤﻪ وﻟﻴﺲ ّ‬ ‫ﰻ ﻣَﻦ ﻃﻠﺐ ً‬ ‫ﺷﻴﺌﺎ‬ ‫ﯾﻨﺎهل وﻻ ّ‬ ‫ً‬ ‫ﰻ ﻣﻦ ّ‬ ‫ﻣﻜﺮوﻫﺎ ﯾﻨﺠﻮ ﻣﻨﻪ وﻋﺎﻗﺒﺔ اﻟﻜﺬب اﻟﻨﺪم وﻋﺎﻗﺒﺔ اﻟﻈﲅ اﻟﺒﻮار‬ ‫ﺗﻮﰵ‬ ‫وإﺧﺮاب ادلاير واﻟﻌﺎﻗﻞ ﻣَﻦ ﻻ ﯾﻐﻀﺒﻪ ﻗﻮل ّ‬ ‫اﳊﻖ وإن ﰷن ﻋﲆ ﻧﻔﺴﻪ وﺣﻔﻆ اﻹﻧﺴﺎن‬ ‫ﻣﺎ ﰲ ﯾﺪﻩ أوﱃ ﻣﻦ ﺳﺆال اﻟﻨﺎس ﻣﺎ ﰲ أﯾﺪﳞﻢ وﻣَﻦ أﻗﺒﻠﺖ ادلﻧﻴﺎ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ َﻋ ّـﻠﻤﺘﻪ ﻏﻮاﻣﺾ‬ ‫اﻷﺷـﻴﺎء وﻣَﻦ أدﺑﺮت ﻋﻨﻪ ﺳﻠﺒﺘﻪ ﳏﺎﺳﻦ ﻧﻔﺴﻪ وأﻛﺴﺒﺘﻪ ﻋﻴﻮب اﻟﻨﺎس وﻣﻦ أﲷﺮ ً‬ ‫ﺷﻴﺌﺎ‬ ‫ﻇﻬﺮ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﰲ ﻗﻮهل ووهجﻪ ّ‬ ‫ورب رأي أﻧﻔﻊ ﻣﻦ ﻣﺎل واﳌكل ابﺻﻄﻔﺎﺋﻪ اﻟﺮﺟﺎل أوﱃ‬ ‫ﻣﻦ اﺻﻄﻔﺎﺋﻪ اﻷﻣﻮال ﻓﺈنّ ّ‬ ‫ﰻ درﱒ ﻳﺴ ُّﺪ ﻣﺴ ّﺪ ﻏﲑﻩ وﻣﺎ ّ‬ ‫رﺟﻞ ﻳﺴ ّﺪ ﻣﺴ ّﺪ ﻏﲑﻩ‬ ‫ﻛﻞ ٍ‬ ‫وﺻﺎﺣﺐ اﻟﺴﻠﻄﺎن ﻛﺮاﻛﺐ اﻷﺳﺪ ﳞﺎﺑﻪ اﻟﻨﺎس وﻫﻮ ﲟﺮﻛﻮﺑﻪ أﻫﻴﺐ وإذا ﰷﻧﺖ اﻟﻐﺎﯾﺔ‬

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Anonymous

491

Anonymous (Gnomologium from before 1260 CE) The work with the title Fiqar al-hukama wa-nawadir al-qudama wal-ulama (Excerpts of the Sages and Anecdotes of Ancestors and of the Learned), which was dedicated to Ayyubid ruler al-Malik an-Nasir Yusuf, a great-grandson of Sultan Saladin, before the year 1260 CE, is preserved in only one manuscript. It contains twenty chapters on famous Greeks and one Persian. The Presocratics treated are Pythagoras, Anaxagoras, Democritus and Thales. By not mentioning his own name, the author gives an example of how everyone can assemble a collection of this kind without ambitions as a author. Under the name Thales, which is in the fifteenth place, there is a lengthy piece of advice and two anecdotes whose content is as genuine as it is trivial, and which show hardly any contact with the rest of the recorded tradition.

Th 552

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Thales’ wise sayings. Excerpts of the Sages and Anecdotes of Ancestors and of the Learned 276 f. Wise sayings are related about Thales that he said to his students: Know that a glutton feels no joy in worship. He who sleeps much feels no blessing in his lifetime. If anyone improves himself inwardly, God (be He exalted) improves his public standing. How many are envied for something that would lead them to their ruin! How many delight in a blessing or a title, and yet it is a disease to them. If a man does not make use of his knowledge, what is the use of his knowledge? Not everyone who seeks for something obtains it, and not everyone who tries to avoid evil is safe. The consequence of lying is remorse and the consequence of injustice is ruin and the destruction of the country. Intelligent is he whom truthful speech does not make angry, even if it is directed against himself. A man should hold onto what he possesses rather than ask the people for what they possess. Becoming fortunate teaches one the mysteries of [possessing] things, and becoming unfortunate robs him of his goodness and leaves him to gain the vices of others. If anyone conceals something, it comes out in his speech and on his face.

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‫اﻟﺰوال ﳁﺎ اﳉﺰع ﻣﻦ ﺗﴫّف اﻷﺣﻮال ّ‬ ‫وذلة ادلﻧﻴﺎ ﻗﻠﻴةل وﺣﴪﲥﺎ ﻃﻮﯾةل وﻟﻴﺲ اﻟﻮﱒ‬ ‫ﰷﻟﻔﻬﻢ وﻻ اﳋﱪ ﰷﻟﻌﻴﺎن وﻟﻴﺲ اﻟﻌﺠﺐ ﻣﻦ ﺟﺎﻫﻞ ﯾﺼﺤﺐ ﺟﺎﻫﻼ ﺑﻞ اﻟﻌﺠﺐ ﻣﻦ‬ ‫ﻋﺎﻗﻞ ﯾﺼﺤﺐ ﺟﺎﻫﻼ وﺧﲑ اﻷﺧﻼق اﻟﻮرع ّ‬ ‫وﴍﻫﺎ اﻟﻄﻤﻊ وﺧﲑ اﻟالكم ﻣﺎ أﻏﲎ‬ ‫ِﺟ ّﺪﻩ وﻫﺰهل وﺧﲑ اﻟﻨﺎس ﻣَﻦ أﺧﺮَجَ ا ِﳊ ْﺮص ﻣﻦ ﻗﻠﺒﻪ وﻋﴡ ﻫﻮاﻩ ﰲ ﻃﺎﻋﺔ رﺑّﻪ وﺛﻮب‬ ‫اﻟﻌﺎﻓﻴﺔ ُ‬ ‫أﺣﺴﻦ ﻣﺎ ﻟﺒﺴﻪ اﻹﻧﺴﺎن‬ ‫واﳌﻨﻘﻮل ﻣﻦ ﻣﻠﺤﻪ وﻧﻮادرﻩ ﳁﻦ ذكل ﻣﺎ ﻗﻴﻞ ﻋﻨﻪ إنّ ﻣكل ﺑدلﻩ أراد أن ﻳﺮﺳﻞ ﺑﻌﺾ‬ ‫ﺟﻨﺪﻩ ﻟﻠﻐﺎرة ﻋﲆ ﺑﻌﺾ أﻋﺎدﯾﻪ ﻓﻘﺎل هل ّأﳞﺎ اﳊﻜﲓ ﻣﻦ ﺗﺸﲑ ّ‬ ‫ﻋﲇ أن أﻗﺪﻣﻪ ﻋﲆ اﳉﻴﺶ‬ ‫ﻟﳰﴤ إﱃ ﺑﻼد ﻋﺪ ّوي ﻳﺸﻦّ ﻋﻠﳱﺎ اﻟﻐﺎرات؟ ﻓﻘﺎل هل اﳊﻜﲓ َﻗ ِّﺪم ﻋﻠﳱﺎ ﻣَﻦ ﺗﻌﺮف أن‬ ‫ﺧﺼﺎل ﻣﻦ ﺧﺼﺎل اﳊﻴﻮاانت وﱔ ﲯﺎء ادلﻳﻜﺔ وﲝﺚ ادلﺟﺎج وإﻗﺪام‬ ‫ﻓﻴﻪ ﻋﴩة ٍ‬ ‫اﻷﺳﻮد و َر َوﻏﺎن اﻟﺜﻌﺎﻟﺐ وﲪةل اﳋﲋﻳﺮ وﺻﱪ اﻟﳫﺐ ﻋﲆ اﳉﻮع وﺣﺮاﺳﺔ اﻟﻜﺮﰾ وﻏﺎرة‬ ‫اذلﺋﺐ وﴭﺎﻋﺔ اﻟﳮﺮ وهمﺎﲨﺔ اﻟﻌﻘﺎب‬ ‫وﻣﻦ ذكل ﻣﺎ ﻗﻴﻞ ﻋﻨﻪ إﻧّﻪ رأى ً‬ ‫ﯾﻮﻣﺎ رﺟﻼ ﻗﺪ ﻗﺒﺾ اﻟﺴﻠﻄﺎن ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﺑﻘﻮل ﻋﺪ ّو هل ﺳﻌﻰ‬ ‫ﺑﻪ ﻋﻨﺪ اﳌكل ﻓﺒﺎﻟﻎ ﰲ ﴐﺑﻪ واﺳـﺘﺼﻔﺎﺋﻪ ﻷﻣﻮاهل ﻓﺴﻤﻌﻪ اثﻟﺲ اﳊﻜﲓ وﻫﻮ ﯾﺘﺄﻟّﻢ ﻟﻌﺪ ّوﻩ‬ ‫ﳑّﺎ ّﰎ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻣﻦ اﳌكل ﻓﻘﺎل هل اثﻟﺲ اﳊﻜﲓ أﻣﺎ و ّاهلل ﻟﻮ ﻛﻔﻰ ﻣﻦ ّ‬ ‫ﴍك وﺳﻌﺎﯾﺘﻚ ﻓﻴﻪ‬ ‫ﻷﻏﻨﺎﻩ ذكل ﻋﻦ ﺗﺄﻟّـﻤﻚ هل اذلي ﻗﺪ ﳖﺠﺖ ﻓﻴﻪ ﻣﳯﺎج اﻟﺴـ ّﻨﻮر ﻣﻊ اﻟﻔﺄر ﻓﻘﻴﻞ هل وﻛﻴﻒ‬ ‫ﰷن أﻣﺮﻫﲈ ّأﳞﺎ اﳊﻜﲓ؟ ﻓﻘﺎل ﻗﺪ ﺣﲄ أن ﻓﺄرة ﺳﻘﻄﺖ ﻣﻦ ﺳﻘﻒ ﻓﺄﲽﻲ ﻋﻠﳱﺎ ورآﻫﺎ‬ ‫اﻟﺴـ ّﻨﻮر ﻓﺒﺎدر إﻟﳱﺎ ووﺿﻊ ﯾﺪﻩ ﻋﻠﳱﺎ وﺟﻌﻞ ﯾﻘﻠﳢﺎ وﯾﻘﻮل ﺑﺴﻢ ّاهلل ﻋﻠﻴﻚ ﺣﺎﺷﺎك ﻣﻦ‬ ‫ﺳﻮ ٍء ﯾﻨﺎكل ﻓﻠ ّﻤﺎ أﻓﺎﻗﺖ ﻣﻦ ﻏﺸﻴﳤﺎ ورأﺗﻪ وﲰﻌﺖ ﻗﻮهل ﻟﻬﺎ ﻗﺎﻟﺖ هل ارﻓﻊ ﯾﺪك ّ‬ ‫ﻋﲏ‬ ‫ﻋﲇ وأﻣﻨﺖ ﻣﻦ ّ‬ ‫ﴍك ﻗﺪ ّﲰﻰ ّاهلل ﺗﻌﺎﱃ َّ‬ ‫واﻛﻔﲏ ّ‬ ‫ﰻ ﺳﻮء‬ ‫)‪Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.‬‬

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Advice may be more beneficial than money. It is more appropriate for a king to favor men than for him to favor money, since every dirham can be replaced by another, but not every man can be replaced by another. The companion of the Sultan is like someone riding a lion: the people fear him but he fears his mount even more. If the end of life is extinction, then why do we regret changes in our situations? The pleasure of this world is brief, and its grief is long. Illusion is not like understanding, and what is reported is not the same as what one sees. It is not surprising when one ignorant person accompanies another, but it is surprising when an intelligent person accompanies an ignorant one. The highest virtue is piety and the worst [vice] is greed. The best speech that which is valuable regardless whether it is spoken seriously or humorously, and the best man is he who has cast out desire from his heart and disobeys his passions in obedience to his Lord. The garb of health is the best clothing a man can wear. Amusing comments and interesting anecdotes are related about him. This following one is told. The king of his country wanted to send an army to conduct a raid against his enemy. So he said to him [Thales]: “O Sage, whom do you advise me to lead the army, to march with to the land of my enemy and launch an attack against it? The Sage said to him: “Appoint a person that you know possesses ten traits of animals – the generosity of the rooster, the meticulousness of the hen, the audacity of lions, the cunning of foxes, the steadfastness of the wild boar, the patience of the dog against hunger, the vigilance of the crane, the aggressiveness of the wolf, the courage of the tiger, and the rapacity of the eagle. It is also said about him that one day he saw a man who had been arrested by the Sultan because one of his enemies had informed against him to the Sultan. So he beat him severely and confiscated his money. Thales the Sage heard him [the informer] moaning as if in agony for his enemy on account of what the Sultan had done to him. Thales the Sage said to him: “If, by God, it would have been enough with your malice and your slander, then the person you informed against would not be in need of your suffering for him. Your conduct is like that of the cat with the mouse.” Then someone said to him: “How so, and what happened in that case, o Sage?” He said: “It was told that a mouse fell from a roof and was knocked out. Then a cat saw it, ran to it, put its paw on it and began to play with it, and said: “The name of God be upon you! He will save you from the evil that has befallen you.” When

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Albertus Magnus Th 553

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Metaphysica 1.3.3 (ed. Geyer) (Cap. 3. De opinione Thaletis philosophi, qui aquam omnium dixit esse principium, et de rationibus eius [Arist. Metaphys. 1.3.983b20]) Thales enim Milesius, qui unus fuit de septem sapientibus, quos Apollo probavit, 〈et〉 huiusmodi philosophiae maior princeps fuisse videtur, eo quod in ea maxime floruit et magis efficaces et proprias induxit rationes, aquam ait esse omnium principium. Quia vero vidit, quod principium, etsi sit subiecto unum, virtute tamen multiplex esse oportuit, ideo terram super aquam esse dixit 〈et〉 id quod virtute omnia est, per hoc quod in centro ponitur, aequalem ad omnia habere respectum. In minori enim mundo, qui est animal, sicut declaratum est in VIII PHYSICORUM, locus medius datur nutrimento, et quod est in minori, per convenientiam causatur ab eo quod in maiori, et ideo aquae ut nutrienti omnia dixit locum esse medium. Procul dubio enim iste fuit de opinantibus mundum esse animal, sicut fere omnes opinabantur antiqui. Quod autem sit principium omnium, forsitan inde opinatur, quia nutrimentum omnium est umidum. Nutrimentum enim oportet esse immanativum ei quod nutritur, et receptivum figurarum et formarum eius quod nutritur. Et ideo oportet ipsum esse ‘terminabile termino alieno et non terminabile proprio’, et ideo verissime dixit umidum actu esse nutrimentum omne. Cum autem etiam incorporabile ei quod nutritur, sit nutrimentum omne, umidum autem aeris, cum sit spirituale, non sit incorporabile, ideo dixit umidum aquae nutrimentum esse et non aereum. Adhuc, quia nutrimentum ad omnem nutriti corporis movetur partem, quod non facit aer, qui levis est in duobus elementis et ascendit, in uno tantum descendens. Omnia autem iste Thales nutriri dixit, eo quod omnia capiunt augmentum. Non enim augmentum est sine nutrimento. Ignem enim videmus ali umido, et cum deficit umidum, non remanet nisi cinis et deficit ignis. Adhuc autem aerem videmus ali nubibus, quae sunt aqua formam aeris accipientes. Terram etiam videmus umore cibatam producere, quae producit, similiter autem solem et lunam et planetas et universaliter astra umore nutriri Oce-

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the mouse came to and saw and heard what the cat was saying, it said to it: “Take your paw away from me and spare me your harm. The name of God (be He exalted) was pronounced over me and thus I am safe from all harm.”

Albertus Magnus (ca. 1193–1280 CE) Th 553

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Thales the Sage; water as the first principle; Thales’ cosmology; Metaphysics 1.3.3 (On the view of Thales the philosopher, who said that water is the principle of all things, and on his theories [Arist. Metaphys. 1.3.983b20]) For Thales of Miletus, who was one of the Seven Sages approved by Apollo and seems to have been the most important founder of this kind of philosophy since he had the most outstanding success in it and introduced more effectivei theories of his own, said that water is the principle of all things. Indeed, since he saw that even if a principle is one in subjectii, nevertheless it must potentially be multiple, he said that the earth is above water and that that which is potentially all things has an equal distance from all things because it is located in the center. For in the microcosm, which is alive, as is stated in the eighth book of the Physics [Alb., Phys. l. 8 tr. 1 c. 9], the central location is given to the nutriment, and what is in the smaller is brought about consistently with what is in the larger, for this reason too he said that the central location belongs to water as that which nourishes all things. For he was doubtless among those who believed that the world is alive, as almost all the ancientsiii believed. That it [water] is the principle of all things he may have believed because the nourishment of all things is moist. For nourishment must be capable of flowing into that which is nourished and capable of receiving the figures and forms of that which is nourished. Therefore it must be “something that is determinable by the limit of something else and not determinable by its own [limit],”1 and therefore he said most truly that all nourishment is moist in actuality. Moreover, since all nourishment can become corporeal in that which is nourished, but the moisture of air, since it is breathy, cannot 1

Cf. Arist. GC 2.2.329b30–31.

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ani et paludum Maeotidarum et ideo deprimi impleta et elevari vacua et aliquando cursu directa et aliquando esse stationaria, aliquando autem retrocedentia. Id enim quod influit et effluit subiecto manente, est nutrimentum secundum materiam, ut probatur in libro PERI GENESEOS; umidum aquae solum influit in omnia alia et effluit in pluviis et roribus; ergo ipsa est nutrimentum omnium aliorum. Propter hoc etiam iste diluvium dicebat ex huiusmodi causa fieri; multis enim temporibus minutissimis guttis aquae paulatim ingredientibus in alia elementa, paulatim dixit suspendi, et tandem vincentibus aquae partibus effluere de sublimi et imo et ex omnibus, et sic inundare diluvium. Cum igitur istis rationibus omnia dixerit nutriri aquae umido, intulit, quod cum ex eodem materiali principio generentur omnia et nutriantur, quod illud idem omnium generationis est idem umidum aqueum. Cum autem ipsa veritate cogeretur dicere duo esse, in quibus est vita, umidum et calidum, dixit calidum non esse per se vitae causam, sed umidi passionem; quaecumque autem est passio subiecti alicuius, secundum naturam principiatur a subiecto sicut a causa, et sic non calidum est causa vel principium, quia calidum vitale causatur ab umido; et ideo umidum simpliciter est principium; et ideo dicebat animal isto umido vivere. Nutrimenti autem actum ponebat vitae principium, quia cum Dionysio philosopho et pluribus aliis dicebat vitam esse motum generis nutribilis, quod est naturam assequens; et calidum naturale, quod est digerens, dicebant esse passionem umidi, sicut paulo ante diximus. Ex quo enim fit aliquid sicut ex materia et subiecto, hoc dicebat esse omnium entium principium. Hac igitur de causa eam quae dicta est, accepit opinionem. Amplius, vidit iste Thales, quod semina spermatica cunctorum umidam habent naturam. Cum enim semen sit, quod figuras suscipit generatorum, oportet, quod potentia ipsius secundum bene suscipere determinetur; potentia autem bene suscipiendi est umidum; spermatis igitur natura determinatur umido, et hoc quidem est in animatis omnibus. Sed quia potentiae factorum non sunt in eis nisi ex potentiis principiorum, videtur Thaleti, quod umidum sit principium, ex quo fiunt omnia; omnium autem umidorum prima natura, quae est materia, est aqua; igitur aqua est primum principium omnium. Haec igitur Thaletis est positio, et hanc propter inductas et similes istis dixit rationes. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.); (the Earth rests upon water) Th 30 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

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become corporeal, he said that nourishment is the moisture of water, not the airy [moisture]. In addition, [nourishment cannot be air]i since nourishment moves to every part of the body that is nourished, which air does not do since it is light in two elements and rises, while it descends in only one. Thales said that all things are nourished because all things undergo growth. For there is no growth without nourishment. For we see that fire is nourished by the moist and when the moist perishes nothing but ash remains and the fire perishes. We also see that air is nourished by clouds, which are water receiving the form of air. In addition we see that the earth produces its products when it is fed by moisture and likewise the sun, moon, planets and the stars in general are nourished by the moisture of the Ocean and of the marshes of Maeotia, and this is why they are lower when they are full and are higher when they are empty, and sometimes move forward in their course, sometimes are stationary, and sometimes move backwards. For what flows in and out while its subjectii persists is nourishment in respect of matter, as is proved in the book On Generation [Alb., de gen. et corr. l.1 tr. 3 c. 14]); only the moisture of water flows into all other things and flows out in rain and dew; therefore it [water] is the nourishment of all other things. For this reason he [Thales] said that floods are due to the following cause: when tiny droplets of water over a long time gradually enter the other elements, he said, they gradually come to be in a state of suspensioniii and finally, when the parts of water become dominant they pour from on high and from the depths and from all directions, and this is how flooding overwhelms. Since on the basis of these arguments he said that all things are nourished by the moisture of water, he inferred that since all things are generated and nourished by the same material principle, the [principle] of the generation of all things is that same thing – the same moisture of wateriv. However, since he was compelled by the truth itself to say that there are two things on which life depends, the moist and the hot, he said that the hot is not per se the cause of life, but is an affection of the moist; but whatever is an affection of some subjectv, by its nature has the subjectvi for a principle like a causevii, i ii iii iv v vi vii

W: [ist das Wasser die Nahrung] W: das zugrunde Liegende W: does not translate in alia elementa, paulatim dixit suspendi W: dasselbe feuchte und wässrige sei W: eines anderen zugrunde Liegenden W: dem zugrunde Liegenden W: wie von einer Ursache principiiert

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Meteora 3.2.4 (ed. Hossfeld) (Cap. 2. De opinionibus eorum, qui dixerunt aquam esse causam terraemotus) In genere autem causae istius, sed non in modo causalitatis, convenit philosophus, qui in libris Arabicis corrupti nominis est. Et dicitur Irhiminis de civitate, quae vocatur Xius, secundum veritatem autem vocatur Metrodorus, qui de civitate vocata Chius fuit. Hic enim dixit quod terra aliquando post humefactionem vehementer exsiccatur et ideo scinditur; et cum postea venit pluvia, influit aqua pluens in concavitates eius et occultatur in ea et congregatur in aliquo loco tanta quod terra natat super aquas illas; et cum postea declinat aqua sub terra ad concavitatem aliam, tunc terra, quae nataverat super aquam, descendit vel declinat ad latus, et illa concussio est terraemotus. In idem fertur opinio ‘Thalis Milesii’, qui dixit ‘totam terram’ esse ‘subiectam’ humore et totum ‘Oceanum’ esse sub terra et superiorem terram esse, quam

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and so it is not the case that the hot is a cause or principle, because vital heat is causedi by the moist; and therefore the moist is unqualifiedly a principle; and this is why he said that what is alive lives by means of the moist. He also posited that the actuality of nourishment is the principle of life because he agreed with the philosopher Dionysius and many others1 that life is the motion of a kind {of thing} that depends on nourishment and that is acting in accord with its natureii; and they said that natural heat, which distributes, is an affection of the moist as we said a little earlier. For he said that that from which something comes to be as from its matter and subjectiii is the principle of all things-that-are. Therefore for this reason he accepted the view which has been stated. More fully, Thales saw that spermaticiv seeds of all things have a moist nature. For since seed is that which takes on the shapes of the begettors, it is necessary that its potentiality be determined so as to be able to take on [those shapes] well; but the potentiality of taking on well is the moist; therefore the nature of seed is determined by the moist, and this is found in all living things. But since the potentialities of products are only in them in consequence of the potentialities of their principles, it seems to Thales that the moist is the principle from which all things come to be; but the first nature of all moist things, which is their matter, is water; therefore water is the first principle of all things. Therefore this is the view of Thales, and he stated it both because of the arguments that have been mentioned and because of other arguments similar to these.

Th 554 Thales’ explanation of earthquakes. Meteorology 3.2.4 (Chapter 2. On the views of those who said that water is the cause of earthquakes) The philosopher whose name is corrupted in the Arabic books is in agreement on the kind of that cause but on not the manner of causation . He is said to be Irhiminis from a city which is called Xius, but in truth he is called

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i ii iii iv

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sit, ‘aqua’, et ideo ‘portari’ terram ab aqua sicut quoddam ‘magnum’ ‘navigium’ quod, cum propter offensionem aquae ex vento vel ex hoc quod impingit in aliquid, inundat vel ad unam partem declinat; tunc fit terraemotus. Sim. (the Earth rests upon water) Th 30 (q.v.); (earthquakes) Th 99 (q.v.)

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Meteora 3.2.5 (Cap. 5. De improbatione omnium opinionum ponentium ex aqua esse terraemotum) ARISTOTELES autem nimis breviter tangit horum improbationem, et ideo oportet nos addere dictis eius, sicut addidimus, ubi enumeratae sunt opiniones. Ponit autem DICTUS PHILOSOPHUS duas rationes, quae sunt contra omnes opiniones istas in communi. Quarum una est quod, si ex aqua esset terraemotus, tunc fieret terraemotus in omni terra, quia aut omnis terra natat super aquas, ut dicit THALES, aut infunditur aquis, ut dicunt alii. Sed hoc est falsum, quia non in omni terra invenitur terraemotus. Secunda ratio contra omnes PHILOSOPHOS PRAEHIBITOS est, quia si terraemotus esset ex infusione aquae sub terra, tunc numquam siccus locus humectari posset, nisi terra ibi moveretur; quod iterum patet esse falsum, quia locus siccus humectatur et humidus exsiccatur absque eo quod fiat terraemotus. Est autem specialiter contra DEMOCRITUM, quia si ipse verum dicit, tunc loca fontium saepissime tremere deberent, et hoc non invenitur. Adhuc, numquam terraemotus deberet esse sine aqua. Et hoc non verum esse ostendetur INFRA, ubi dicetur quod tempore Herculis non aqua, sed cinis exivit de terraemotu, qui fuit iuxta Corinthum. Adhuc autem, terraemotus deberet semper esse cum ruinis terrae, quod iterum non semper invenitur; quia nos videmus quod hoc quod aqua cavat, ruit in praeceps et tremit tandem stans in eodem loco. Contra Metrodorum autem Chium est quod terra non est elementum, cuius proprium sit natare super aquas; sed potius terra descendit in aquas, et ideo nihil est, quod dicit terram subiectam esse aquis et secun-

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Metrodorus who was from the city called Chios. For he is the one who said that the earth after being moistened sometimes becomes very dry and in consequence splits apart; and afterwards, when rain comes and the rain water flows into its [the earth’s] cavities and is concealed in it, and so much amasses in some place that the earth floats on that water; and afterwards when the water sinks beneath the earth towards another cavity, then the earth which had floated above the water descends or sinks sideways, and the shaking that results is an earthquake. Thei view of “Thales of Miletus” points to the same thing. He said that “the whole earth” is “supported” on moisture and that the whole “Ocean” is under the earth and that the earth is higher up than “water” is, and therefore the earth “is carried” by water like some “large ship”(cf. Th 101), which, when struck by water that is driven by wind or by something that strikes against something, causes flooding or sinks in one direction; then an earthquake occurs.

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Thales’ explanation of earthquakes. Meteorology 3.2.5 (On the refutation of all views of those who positii that earthquakes are due to water.) Aristotle touches too all too briefly on the refutation of these people and for this reason we should supplement what he said as we did in recounting their views. The aforementioned philosopher poses two general arguments which hold against all those views. One of them is that if earthquakes were due to water, earthquakes would occur everywhere on earth, because either all the earth floats on water as Thales says, or it is inundated with water as others say. But this is false, because earthquakes are not found [to occur] everywhere on earth. The second argument against all the philosophers referred to is thatiii if earthquakes are due to an influx of water underneath the earth, then no dry place can become moist without the earth quaking there; but once more it is obvious that this is false, because dry places become moist and moist places become dry without earthquakes occurring. Moreoveriv there is [an argument] specifically against Democritus, that if he is saying the truth, then places where there are springs should tremble

i ii iii iv

W.’s translation begins here. W: der Ansichten all derer, die behaupten W: Die zweite Überlegung richtet sich gegen alle angeführten Philosophen, weil W.’s translation skips from here to the discussion of Thales.

502

25

30

35

Albertus Magnus

dum aquae cursum declinare. Adhuc autem, in loco fisso maxime secundum Metrodorum deberet fieri terraemotus, quia ibi plurimas aquas recipit influentes terrae. Sed contrarium huius invenitur per experimentum, quia locus multarum fissurarum minime tremit. Contra positionem vero THALIS est quod naturalis ordo elementorum est quod aqua sit super terram. Ergo aqua non est integraliter nec quantum ad radicem primam in terra. Adhuc, subtilioris elementi maior est locus. Sed aqua subtilius est elementum quam terra. Ergo maior est locus aquae quam terrae. Ergo aqua non est in terra, sicut dicit Thales Milesius. Adhuc autem, cum omnis terra sit subiecta aquis secundum Thalem, omnis terra deberet habere motum, qui est terraemotus. Adhuc autem, si motus terrae est sicut motus navigii, non deberet esse terraemotus nisi ad latus unum vel utrumque. Et hoc non videmus, quia INFRA ostendemus quod motus terraemotus plurimae materiae est sursum et deorsum. Adhuc autem, secundum Thalem aqua exiens a terraemotu non deberet nisi superfundi lateri uni motae terrae; et aliud deberet elevari ab ipsa, sicut in navi unum latus deprimitur sub aqua et aliud elevatur ab ipsa. Sim. (the Earth rests upon water) Th 30 (q.v.); (earthquakes) Th 99 (q.v.)

Th 556

5

De causis et processu universitatis a prima causa 1.1.2 (ed. Fauser) (Cap. 2. De dictae positionis improbatione) Epicurus autem ‘supercurans’ vel ‘super cutem’ interpretatur. Sortitus autem est hoc nomen eo quod primi philosophantes Epicurei fuerunt ‘supercurantes’ dicti a communi plebe, quae non nisi conferentia cogitat, eo quod de supervacuis, ut eis videbatur, rebus scrutarentur et de superfluis quaererent. Superflua enim reputabant, quaecumque ad vitae domesticae utilitatem non referebantur. Propter quod in VI ETHICORUM dicit ARISTOTELES [EN6.7. 1141b3–8] de Anaxagora et Thalete, quorum uterque Epicureus fuit, quod ‚omnes mirabantur

Albertus Magnus 15

20

25

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503

most frequently, and this is not found. Additionally there should never be earthquakes without water. And this will be shown not to be true below, where it will be said that in the time of Hercules ash, not water, was expelled by an earthquake that occurred near Corinth. And also earthquakes should always be accompanied by landslides, which again is not always found; we see that things that water hollows out collapse suddenly and tremble but remain in the same place. Against Metrodorus of Chios is [the argument] that earth is not an element which has as a property that it floats on water; instead earth descends in water and this is why there is nothing that says that earth is supported by water and that it sinks because of the flow of water. Also, moreover, according to Metrodorus earthquakes should particularly occur in places with fissures because there [the earth] receives large amounts of water flowing into the earth. But the opposite of this is found in experience because a place with many fissures trembles very little. Against the view of Thales is [the argument] that the natural order of elements is that water is above earth. Therefore water is not entirely or originally rooted in earthi. Also the place of the rarer element is larger. But the element water is rarer than earth. Therefore the place of water is larger than that of earth. Therefore water is not in the earth as Thales of Miletus says. And in addition if all the earth is supported by water, as Thales holds, all the earth ought to have the motion which is earthquake. And in addition, if the motion of the earth is like the motion of a ship, earthquakes should be to one side or the other. But we do not see this, because we will show below that the motion of an earthquake [is the motion] of very much matter up and down. And in addition, according to Thales the water that comes out in an earthquake should inundate only one side of the earth that is movedii, and the other side should be raised up by it as in a boat one side sinks beneath the water and the other side is raised up by it.

Th 556iii Thales’ lack of practical wisdom. On Causes and the Procession of the Universe from the First Cause 1.1.2, ch. 2, On the refutation of the stated view. [The name] Epicurus is interpreted as “Overcaring” [“supercurans”] or “Above the skin” [“super cutem”]. He was allotted this name because the i ii iii

W: nicht grundsätzlich und nicht einer ersten Wurzel nach W: über die Erde W. does not translate this testimonium.

‫‪Albertus Magnus – Barhebraeus‬‬

‫‪504‬‬

‫‪eos tamquam res admirabiles scientes et de conferentibus nullam habentes‬‬ ‫‪prudentiam‘.‬‬

‫‪10‬‬

‫)‪Sim. (wisdom without practical reason) Th 27 (q.v.‬‬

‫‪Barhebraeus‬‬ ‫‪Th 557‬‬ ‫‪Weltgeschichte 51.1–8 (ed. Ṣālḥānī); cf. DK I 75.22–5.‬‬

‫واﻋﲅ أﻧّ ُﻪ ﻗﺪ ﯾﻮﺟﺪ ﻓامي ﯾﻔﺘﺶ ﻋﻨﻪ ﻣﻦ اﻟﻜﺘﺐ اﺧﺘﻼف ﻛﺜﲑ ﰲ ﺗﻮارﱗ ﺳـﲏ اﻟﻔﻼﺳﻔﺔ‬ ‫اﳌﻠﻄﻲ ﻫﻮ أ َّول ﻣﻦ ﺗﻔﻠﺴﻒ ﻣﻦ اﻟﻴﻮانﻧ ّﻴﲔ وأنّ اﻟﺸﻌﺮ ﻇﻬﺮ‬ ‫ﻓﺬﻛﺮ ﰲ ﺑﻌﻀﻬﺎ ان اثﻟﻴﺲ ّ‬ ‫ﰲ أﻣّﺔ ﯾﻮانن ﻗﺒﻞ اﻟﻔﻠﺴﻔﺔ ﲟﺎﺋﺘﲔ ﻣﻦ اﻟﺴـﻨﲔ وأﺑﺪﻋ ُﻪ أوﻣﲑوس وذﻛﺮ ﻛﲑﯾﻠﻮس ﰲ‬ ‫ﻛﺘﺎﺑﻪ اذلي ر َّد ﻓﻴﻪ ﻋﲆ ﯾﻮﻟﻴﺎﻧﻮس ﻓامي انﻗﺾ ﺑﻪ اﻹﳒﻴﻞ أنّ ﻛﻮن اثﻟﻴﺲ ﻗﺒﻞ اﺑﺘﺪاء‬ ‫ﻣكل ﲞﺘﻨﴫ ﺑامثن وﻋﴩﻳﻦ ﺳـﻨﺔ وﻗﺎل ﻓﺮﻓﻮرﯾﻮس إنّ اثﻟﻴﺲ ﻇﻬﺮ ﺑﻌﺪ ﲞﺘﻨﴫ ﲟﺎﺋﺔ‬ ‫ﺳـﻨﺔ وﺛﻠﺚ وﻋﴩﻳﻦ ﺳـﻨﺔ وﻗﺎل آﺧﺮ إنّ أ ّول ﻣﻦ ﺗﻔﻠﺴﻒ ﻓﻴﺜﺎﻏﻮرس‬ ‫)‪Sim. (the first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.); (dates) Th 171 (q.v.‬‬

‫‪5‬‬

Albertus Magnus – Barhebraeus

5

10

505

first Epicurean philosophers were called “overcaring” by the common people, who think about nothing that is not advantageous, because as they thought, they [the Epicureans] were examining empty things and investigating unnecessary things. For they considered unnecessary anything that is not related to the usefulness of domestic life. This is why Aristotle says in the sixth book of the Ethics [EN 6.7. 1141b3–8 (Th 27)] about Anaxagoras and Thales, each of whom was an Epicurean, that “all wondered at them as if they knew wonderful things but had no sense about what is advantageous.”

Barhebraeus (1225/6–1286 CE) Th 557 Thales’ dates. This monophysite Syrian bishop, who is heavily dependent in his numerous non-theological writings on Arabic literature, has the following passage in his History of the World:

5

History of the World 51.1–8 Know that when one investigates the books about the chronology of the philosophers there is a major discrepancy. In some it is mentioned that Thales of Miletus was the first of the Greeks to practice philosophy and that poetry arose among the Greeks about two hundred years before philosophy, and that it was invented by Homer. In the book in which he refutes Julian’s criticism of the Gospels, Cyril claims that Thales was alive about 28 years before the beginning of Buhtnasar’s1 reign and Porphyry2 says (Th 248) that Thales was alive 123 years after Buhtnasar. Someone else says that Pythagoras was the first to practice philosophy.

1 2

Cf. Smith 1993, 229 (= no. 204F). Ibid.

506

Georgius Pachymeres – Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa

Georgius Pachymeres Th 557a (= Ar 274)

5

10

15

In Aristotelis Metaphysicam commentarium 15.20–17.3 (ed. Pappa) (= As 239) [Metaph. 1.3, 983b20–23] (κεφάλαιον γʹ. περὶ τῆς ὑλικῆς αἰτίας καὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτῆς δοξῶν τῶν παλαιῶν.) Θαλῆς μὲν ὁ Μιλήσιος ὕδωρ φησὶν εἶναι τὴν ὑλικὴν αἰτίαν, διὸ καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐφ’ ὕδατος ἀπεφαίνετο εἶναι, λαβὼν ἴσως τὴν ὑπόληψιν ταύτην ἐκ τοῦ πάντων ὁρᾶν τὴν τροφὴν ὑγρὰν οὖσαν1 (κἂν γὰρ ξηρὰν προσφερώμεθα, ἀλλ’ ὑγραινομένη τρέφει), καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ θερμὸν βλέπειν ἐκ τούτου γινόμενον, ὅτι εἰ μὴ ἔστι τις ὑγρότης ἐν τῇ ὑποκειμένῃ τῷ πυρὶ ὕλῃ, οὐκ ἂν ἐπιλάβηται ταύτης τὸ πῦρ ὡς τῆς φλογὸς ἐξ ὑγρότητος γινομένης. ᾠήθη δὲ οὕτω καὶ τοὺς παλαιοὺς λέγειν, ὡς Ὅμηρος· Ὠκεανόν τε θεῶν γένεσιν καὶ μητέρα Τηθύν, καί· ὅρκος παρ’ ἐκείνῳ θεῶν ἡ Στὺξ ἐστίν. Ἀναξιμένης δὲ ἀέρα καὶ Διογένης πρὸ τούτου, Ἵππασος δὲ ὁ Μεταποντῖνος πῦρ καὶ σὺν τούτῳ Ἡράκλειτος ὁ Ἐφέσιος [...]. [...] ἐπεὶ καὶ οἱ τὰς ἀτόμους φάσκοντες καὶ τὰ ἄπειρα σχήματα Ἀβδηρίται, Δημόκριτός τε καὶ Λεύκιππος, καὶ ὁ τὸ μεταξὺ ἢ ἀέρος καὶ πυρός, ἢ ἀέρος καὶ ὕδατος, ἀέρος μὲν πυκνότερον, ὕδατος δὲ μανώτερον Ἀναξίμανδρος, ὑλικὴν αἰτίαν ἐτίθουν ταῦτα. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa Th 557b (=As 234) ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ 36.11–14 (ed. Müller)

‫وﰷن ﰲ ذكل اﻟﺰﻣﺎن اﯾﻀﺎ وﻣﺎ ﻗﺒهل ﺟﲈﻋﺔ ﻣﻦ ﻋﻈﲈء اﻟﻔﻼﺳﻔﺔ واﰷﺑﺮﱒ ﻋﲆ ﻣﺎ ذﻛﺮﻩ‬ ‫اﲮﺎق ﺑﻦ ﺣﻨﲔ ﻣﺜﻞ ﻓﻮاثﻏﻮرس وذﯾﻮﻓﻴﻠﺲ واثون اﻧﺒﺎدﻗﻠﺲ واﻗﻠﻴﺪس وﺳﺎورى‬ . ‫وﻃاميانوس واﻧﻜﺴـاميﻧﺲ ودﳝﻘﺮاﻃﻴﺲ واثﻟﻴﺲ‬ Sim. (dates) Th 171 (q.v.)

1

Cf. Th 29.

Georgius Pachymeres – Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa

507

Georgius Pachymeres (1242–after 1307 CE) Th 557a (= Ar 274, As 239)

5

10

15

Water as the first principle Commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics 15.20–17.3 [Metaph. 1.3, 983b20–23] (Chapter 3. On the material cause and the views of the ancients on it.) Thales of Miletus declared water to be the material cause; this is why he declared that the earth rests on water. He may have got this idea from seeing that the nourishment of all things is moist. (For even if we eat something dry, it nourishes us when it is moistened), and from seeing that the hot itself comes to be from this because unless there is some moisture in the matter that is the substrate for fire, it will not catch fire since the flame arises from moisture. He thought that the ancients too spoke in this way, as Homer said “Ocean the origin of the gods and Tethys their mother” and he states that Styx is the oath of the gods. But Anaximenes and before him Diogenes [declared it to be air], Hippasus of Metapontum fire, and along with him Heraclitus of Ephesus [...]. [...] Since also the men from Abdera, Democritus and Leucippus, who speak of the atoms and the infinite shapes, and Anaximander who speaks of the intermediate, either between air and fire or between air and water, denser than air and rarer than water, posited these as the material cause.

Ibn Abi Usaybi’a (d. 1270 CE) Th 557b (=As 234) Thales the famous philosopher The physician Ibn Abi Usaybi‘a is remembered above all us for his comprehensive biographical work Sources of Information on the Classes of Physicians (Uyun al-anba’fi tabaqat al-atibba’), which treats of 380 physicians from antiquity until his own time.1 Among his numerous sources belongs the Chronicle of Physicians (Ta’rih al-atibba) of Ishaq ibn Hunayn the translator (d. 910 CE), dated to 902/903 CE. It in turn is based on a chronicle (Ta’rih) of John the Grammarian, of whom nothing at all is known from the Greek tradition. The present passage is concerned with the period between

1

Cf. Ullmann 1970, 231–2.

508

Theodorus Metochites – Sophonias

Theodorus Metochites Th 557c Semeioseis Gnomikai 14.2.2 (ed. Hult)1 καὶ Θάλητά φασι καὶ Πυθαγόραν πάνυ τοι πλεῖστον ἢ πάντες ῾Έλληνες καὶ Πλάτωνα μάλ᾿ αὖθις ἐπ᾿ Αἰγύπτου περὶ τὸ μαθηματικὸν γενομένους αὐτοὺς κομιδῇ πονῆσαι [...]. Sim. (Egyptian influence) Th 92 (q.v.)

Sophonias Th 558 In Aristotelis libros de anima paraphrasis 23.1.14.19–21 (ed. Hayduck) [de an. 1.2.404b27] Ἔοικε δὲ καὶ Θαλῆς, ἐξ ὧν ἀπομνημονεύουσιν, ἐκ τῶν ἀρχῶν τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ κινητικὸν ὑπολαβεῖν, εἴπερ τὸν Μάγνητα λίθον ἔμψυχον εἶπεν, ὅτι κινεῖ τὸν σίδηρον‧ λίθου δὲ καὶ πάντων ἀρχὴ κατ᾽ αὐτὸν τὸ ὕδωρ. Sim. (nature of the soul/magnet) Th 31 (q.v.); (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

1

Hult, K. Theodore Metochites on Ancient Authors and Philosophy. Semeioseis gnomikai 1–26 & 71 (= Studia Graeca et Latina Gothoburgensia 65), Göteborg 2002.

Theodorus Metochites – Sophonias

509

Plato and Asclepius II, the alleged teacher of Hippocrates. Famous physicians are first listed before saying:1 Sources of Information on the Classes of Physicians 36.11–14 As Ishaq ibn Hunayn recounts, at this time and even earlier there was a group of great and leading philosophers as, for example, Pythagoras, Diocles, Theon, Empedocles, Euclid, Sawuri (?), Timaeus, Anaximenes, Democritus, Thales.

Theodorus Metochites (1270–1332 CE) Th 557c Thales the geometer Didactic comments 14.2.2 They say that Thales and, more than the rest of the Greeks, Pythagoras, later Plato went to Egypt to learn mathematics and they very worked hard at it.

Sophonias (turn of the 14th cent. CE) Th 558 Thales’ views on the nature of the soul. Paraphrase of Aristotle’s De Anima 14.19–21 From what they record, it seems that Thales too supposed that of the principles the soul also causes motioni, sinceii in fact he stated that the magnet is animate because it moves iron; but according to him, water is the principle of the magnet and of all things.

1

The present passage is not found in the version of this Chronicle of physicians which Rosenthal 1954 edited on the basis of a manuscript in Istanbul, since the text it contains is incomplete.

i ii

W: bewegungsfähig W: falls

510

Sophonias – Thomas Triclinius

Th 559 In de an. 36.9–11 [de an. 1.5.411a7] Ἐσχάτη δὲ δόξα καὶ τελευταία περὶ ψυχῆς ἥδε‧ ἐν γὰρ τῷ ὅλῳ τινὲς αὐτὴν μεμῖχθαί φασι, καὶ ἅπαν σῶμα ἔμψυχον εἶναι ὑπέλαβον, ὅθεν καὶ Θαλῆς ᾠήθη πάντα πλήρη θεῶν. Sim. (the cosmos/the universe/everything has a soul) Th 32 (q.v.); (all things full of gods/daimons) Th 72 (q.v.)

Anonymous Th 560

5

De Lesbo – De Nilo Fr 1 (FGrHist III C 647 F 1.1 = Cod. Laur. 56.1 [13./14. Jh.] fol. 12) Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος, εἷς τῶν ζ σοφῶν, φησὶ διὰ τοὺς ἐτησίας γίνεσθαι τὴν ἀναπλήρωσιν‧ πνεῖν γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἐναντίους τῶι ποταμῶι, καὶ τὰ στόματα κεῖσθαι κατὰ τὴν πνοὴν αὐτῶν‧ τὸν μὲν οὖν ἄνεμον ἐξ ἐναντίας πνέοντα κωλύειν τὴν ἔκβασιν τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἐκπίπτειν εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, τὸ δὲ κῦμα προσπῖπτον ἀντίον τοῖς στόμασι καὶ οὔριον ὂν ἀνακόπτειν τὸν ποταμόν, καὶ 〈τὴν〉 ἀναπλήρωσιν οὕτως φησὶ γίνεσθαι τοῦ ποταμοῦ. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th  20 (q.v.); (flooding of the Nile) Th 13 (q.v.)

Thomas Triclinius Th 561

5

Scholia in Aristophanis nubes 180 (ed. Koster) {2Th2Tr1ƒ2} ὁ Θαλὴς [Th2] [Θαλῆς Tr1ƒ2] οὗτος Μιλήσιος ἦν, εἷς τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν. οὗτος ἄκρος μηχανικὸς ἦν. στρατεύοντος [Th2Tr1] δὲ [Th2] [στρατεύσαντος Tr2 γὰρ Tr1ƒ2] τοῦ Κροίσου πρὸς Κῦρον καὶ μὴ δυναμένης τῆς στρατιᾶς αὐτοῦ διαβῆναι τὸν Ἅλυν ποταμὸν μέγιστον ὄντα τοιόνδε τι μηχανᾶται. ἄνω τῆς στρατιᾶς ἰὼν τέμνει τὸν ποταμὸν ἑτέρωσε ῥεῖν‧ οὐ πάντα, ἀλλὰ τὸ ῥεῖθρον αὐτοῦ σχισθὲν τὸ μὲν ἓν εἰς τὴν ἀρχαίαν πορείαν ἐχώρει, θάτερον δὲ ὥσπερ ὑπ᾽ ἀγκάλης εἶχε τὴν στρατιάν‧ καὶ οὕτως ἐπεραιώθησαν. ἐποίησε δὲ τὴν εἰς δύο τομήν, ἵνα καὶ [Tr1ƒ2] ἐπανιόντες περαιωθήσωνται.

Sophonias– Thomas Triclinius

511

Th 559 Thales’ views on the nature of the soul. Paraphrase of Aristotle’s De Anima 36.9–11 The lasti and final view on the soul is the following. Some declare that it is intermingled in the universeii and suppose that every body is animate.iii This is why Thales too believed that all things are full of gods (cf. Th 32).

Anonymous (13th/14th cent. CE) Th 560

5

Thales the Sage; his explanation of the flooding of the Nile. De Lesbo-De Nilo fragment 1 Thales of Miletus, one of the Seven Sages, declares that the flooding is due to the etesian winds. For they blow against the river and its mouths lie facing their blast. Now the wind, blowing in the opposite direction, prevents the outflow of the river from entering the sea, and the waves striking against the mouths and driven by a favorable windiv drive the river back, and this is how, he declares, the flooding of the river occurs.

Thomas Triclinius (turn of the 14th cent. CE) Th 561 Thales the Sage; the crossing of the Halys. Scholia on Aristophanes’ Clouds 180 “Thales.” This man was a Milesian, one of the Seven Sages. He was an outstanding engineer. When Croesus was conducting a campaign against Cyrus i ii iii iv

W: äußerst W: mit dem All W: das All ein beseelter Körper sei W: erfolgreich

512

Thomas Triclinius – Nicephorus Gregoras

Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (the crossing of the Halys) Th 11 (q.v.)

Manuel Philes Th 562

5

Carmen 149.206–211 (ed. Miller) Θαλῆς ὁ δεινὸς φυσικοὺς εὑρεῖν λόγους Συζῆν γυναιξὶ τοὺς σοφοὺς οὐκ ἠξίου‧ Τὰς γὰρ περιττὰς ἐπτοεῖτο φροντίδας, Μήπως ἐπ᾽ αὐτῶν ὡς ἐπὶ πλοῦ φορτίδων, Ἀθυμίας λαίλαπος ἀντιπνευσάσης, Τοῦ νοῦ βαρηθὲν κινδυνεύσῃ τὸ σκάφος. Sim. (views on the family) Th 112 (q.v.)

Nicephorus Gregoras Th 563 Byzantinae historiae (Historia Romana) 8.383 (ed. Migne PG 148.569C) Ἦ σοφὸς ἦν ἄρ᾽ ἐκεῖνος, ὃς πρῶτον ἐν γνώμῃ τόδ᾽ ἐβάστασε καὶ γλώσσῃ διεμυθολόγησεν, εἴτε Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος ἦν, εἴτε Πλάτων ὁ Ἀρίστωνος, εἴτε καὶ ἄμφω, παρὰ θατέρου ἅτερος ἐκδεξάμενος, τό γ᾽ ἑαυτὸν μακαρίζειν ἐκθύμως, ὅτι μὴ βάρβαρος, ἀλλ᾽ Ἕλλην γεγένηται. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Thomas Triclinius – Nicephorus Gregoras

5

513

and his army could not cross the river Halys since it was very wide, he [Thales] contrived the following means. He wenti upstream from the army and cut off the river so as to flow on the other side [of the army] – not all of it, but the stream was divided there and one part kept going in its old channel while the other held the army as if in a bent arm. And that is how they crossed. He divided it into two parts so that they could cross again on their way back.

Manuel Philes (ca. 1275–1345 CE) Th 562

5

Thales’ views on marriage and family. Poem 149.206–211 Thales who was clever at discovering accounts of nature thought it was not right for sages to live with women. For he was fearful about having excessive cares, that because of these, as on a voyage of a freight boat when a violent storm of despondency blows against it, the vessel of his mind might be weighed down and in danger.

Nicephorus Gregoras (ca. 1294–ca. 1359 CE) Th 563 Thales’ wise sayings. Byzantine History (Historia Romana) 8.383 (ed. Migne PG 148.569C) Indeed that man was wise “who first conceived this in his judgment and expressed it clearly with his tongue”1 – whether it was Thales of Miletus or Plato, the son of Aristo, or both, the one receiving it from the other – to count himself blessed from the bottom of his heart that he was born not a foreigner but a Greek (cf. Th 237 [Diog. Laert. 1.33]).

1

Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 888.

i

W. does not translate ἰών

514

Nicephorus Gregoras

Th 563a

5

Florentios sive De sapientia 798–805 (ed. Leone)1 [ΝΙΚ.] «καὶ μήν», φησὶ Νικαγόρας, «Ἀριστοτέλους καὶ Πλάτωνος καὶ Θαλοῦ καὶ Πυθαγόρου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων φιλοσόφων αἱ γλῶσσαι μέχρις ἡμῶν οὐκ ἄλλως ἂν ἐπεδήμουν, εἰ μὴ ὡς διὰ πορθμείου τινὸς δι᾿ αὐτῆς. αὕτη γᾶρ ὁπλίζει τὴν γλῶτταν καὶ ἄρρενα πρὸς τὸ λέγειν καὶ γράφειν ποιεῖ καὶ ταύτης ἄνευ νοῦς ἀνεκλάλητος ἡ σοφία· διὸ καὶ τῆς ἐκείνων σοφίας καὶ γλώττης αὕτη τὰς βίβλους ἐμπιπλῶσα διαπερᾶν ποιεῖ τὸν αἰῶνα μετὰ τῆς μνήμης αὐτῶν. [...]»

Th 563b

5

10

Epistula 21.1–13 (ed. Leone)2 Θαλῆν τὸν Μιλήσιον ἔγωγε πάλαι ἀκούων ἑαυτὸν μακαρίζοντα καὶ χάριτας ὅλας ἀποδιδόντα τῇ τύχῃ ὅτι μηδὲν τῶν θηρίων ἀλλ᾿ ἄνθρωπος ἐγεγόνει, ἐς τοσούτον ἀπειπάμην συνθέσθαι τἀνδρὶ ὡς ἐγγὺς ἤδη καθῆσθαι τοῦ καὶ πολλοῦ γε ἐλλείπειν μὴ μέμφεσθαι. εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἅμα τῷ γίνεσθαι ἄνθρωπον ἀνάγκῃ καὶ ἀγαθὸν εἶναι ἑπόμενον ἦν, εὐκτὸν ἂν ἦν καὶ πρός γε δὴ τοῦ μακαρίζεσθαι οὐκ ἂν ὡς ἀληθῶς ἐνέδει· νῦν δ᾿ ἴσμεν πολλοὺς μηδὲν μήτ᾿ οἴκοθεν μήτ᾿ ἐκ γειτόνων χρηστὸν κεκτημένους· οἷς πολλῷ δήπου βέλτιον ἂν ἦν δυοῖν θάτερον, ἢ θηρίου φύσιν ἀλλάξασθαι ἢ πεσόντας ἐν βραχεῖ πολλὴν ἐπιθεῖναι γῆν, τοῦ ζῶντας πολὺν πρὸς τῶν δρώντων καρποῦσθαι τὸν γέλωτα, ὡς εὔδηλον εἶναι τοὐντεῦθεν μὴ ἂν ἀσφαλῶς ἔχειν δοκεῖν, εἴ τις ἁπλῶς οὑτωσὶ μακάριον ἑαυτὸν ὅτι ἄνθρωπος ἥγηται καὶ οὐδὲν ἐπεφύκει θηρίον, ἀλλ᾿ εἰ ἄνθρωπος γενόμενος καὶ δι᾿ ἃ μακαρίζεται ἄνθρωπος, ἔτυχεν ἔστιν ὦν. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

1 2

Leone, P. L. M. Fiorenzo o Intorno alla sapienza (=  Byzantina et Neo-Hellenica Neapolitana 4), Naples 1975. Leone, P. L. M. Nicephori Gregorae Epistulae II, Matino 1982.

Nicephorus Gregoras

515

Th 563a

5

Florentius or On Wisdom 798–805 “Indeed, “ said Nicephorus, “the words of Aristotle, Plato, Thales, Pythagoras and the other philosophers would not still be with us without some conveyance through it [grammar]. For this is what equips the tongue and makes a man strong in speaking and writing, and without this wisdom is intelligence that cannot be expressed. This is why it has filled books with their wisdom and words and enables them to pass through the ages together with the memory of those men.

Th 563b

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Thales the Sage; his wise sayings Letter 21.1–13 Long ago when I heard that Thales of Miletus considered himself fortunate and attributed all his blessings to luck because he had been born a human being and not a beast, I so strongly refused to assent with the man that I was close to finding fault with him. For if being born a human being necessarily implies being good too, it would be something to wish for and truly nothing else would be required in order to be blessed. But as it is, we know many people who have obtained nothing useful either from themselves or from their neighbors. For them it would be far better either to a beast or to die soon and be buried deep than to live a long life and reap the mockery of the successful. So it is very clear from this that it is not safe to think that someone believes himself to be so fortunate just because he is a human being and because he was not born a beast, but only if after being born a human being he obtains some of the things that make a human being blessed.

516

Gnomologium Vaticanum

Gnomologium Vaticanum Th 564

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Gnomologium Vaticanum 316–321 (ed. Sternbach) Θαλῆς ὁ σοφὸς ἐρωτηθεὶς εἰ λανθάνει τις ποιῶν τι τὸν θεὸν εἶπεν‧ „οὐδὲ διανοούμενος“. [317] Ὁ αὐτὸς ἐρωτῶντος αὐτόν τινος εἰ ὀμόσῃ, ὅτι οὐκ ἐμοίχευσεν, ἐκέλευσε μὴ ὀμόσαι φήσας τὸν ὅρκον μεῖζον αὐτὸν βλάψειν ἢ τὸ ἔργον. [318] Ὁ αὐτὸς παρακελευομένης αὐτῷ τῆς μητρὸς γῆμαι οὔπω ἔφησεν ὥραν εἶναι, ὕστερον δὲ ἀναγκαζόμενος παρεληλυθέναι ἔφη τὴν ὥραν. [319] Ὁ αὐτὸς ἀποσκοπῶν ποτε νύκτωρ εἰς τὰ μετέωρα καὶ διὰ τοῦτο κατενεχθεὶς εἴς τι φρέαρ, πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνου φωνὴν τὸ προσεδρεῦον αὐτῷ θεραπαινίδιον ἐλθὸν καὶ διὰ κλιμακίου μόλις ἀνελκύσαν τὸν δεσπότην εἶπεν‧ „ὦ Θαλῆς, τὰ ἐν οὐρανῷ σκοπῶν τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς οὐχ ἑώρακας“. [320] Θαλῆς ἐρωτηθεὶς (a) τί πρεσβύτατον τῶν ὄντων εἶπε‧ „θεός‧ ἀγέννητος γάρ“‧ (b) κάλλιστον‧ „κόσμος‧ ποίημα 〈γὰρ〉 τοῦ θεοῦ“‧ (c) μέγιστον‧ „[ὁ] τόπος‧ ἅπαντα γὰρ χωρεῖ“‧ (d) ταχύτατον‧ „[ὁ] νοῦς‧ διὰ παντὸς γὰρ τρέχει“‧ (e) ἰσχυρότατον‧ „ἀνάγκη‧ κρατεῖ γὰρ ἁπάντων“‧ (f) σοφώτατον‧ „χρόνος‧ ἀνευρίσκει γὰρ πάντα“. [321]. Ὁ αὐτὸς ἐρωτηθεὶς (a) τί δύσκολον ἔφη‧ „τὸ ἑαυτὸν γνῶναι“‧ (b) τί εὔκολον‧ „τὸ ἄλλῳ ὑποθέσθαι“‧ (c) τί δὲ ἥδιστον‧ „τὸ ἐπιτυγχάνειν“‧ (d) τί δὲ θεῖον‧ „τὸ μήτε ἀρχὴν μήτε τελευτὴν ἔχον“‧ (e) τί δὲ δύσκολον εἴη τεθεαμένος, „γέροντα [ἔφη] τύραννον“‧ (f) πῶς ἄν τις ἀτυχίαν ἄριστα φέροι‧ „εἰ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς χείρονα πράττοντας βλέποι“‧ (g) πῶς ἂν ἄριστα καὶ δικαιότατα βιώσαιμεν, „ἐὰν ἃ τοῖς ἄλλοις [ἔφη] ἐπιτιμῶμεν αὐτοὶ μὴ δρῶμεν“‧ (h) τίς εὐδαίμων‧ „ὁ τὸ μὲν σῶμα ὑγιής, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν εὔπορος, τὴν δὲ φύσιν εὐπαίδευτος“. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.); (views on the family) Th 112 (q.v.); (Thales’ fall into the well) Th 19 (q.v.)

Gnomologium Vaticanum

517

Gnomologium Vaticanum (14th cent. CE) Th 564

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Thales’ wise sayings; his views on marriage and family; his fall into a well. Gnomologium Vaticanum 316–321 When asked whether anyone does anythingi without god knowing, Thales the Sage replied, “not even if he is just thinking [of doing it]” (cf. Th 96, Th 207, Th 237 [Diog. Laert. 1.36]). [317] When someone asked him whether he should swear that he had not committed adultery, he told him not to swear, declaring that the oath would harm him more than the deed (cf. Th 237 [Diog. Laert. 1.36]). [318] When his mother encouraged him to marry, he said that it was not yet the right time, and later when he was being pressed [by her] he said that the right time had passed (cf. Th 129, Th 237 [Diog. Laert. 1.26], Th 368). [319] Once he was gazing at the sky at night and as a result fell down a well, his young servant girl who was attending him came when he called and with difficulty managed to pull her master up with the help of a ladder. “Thales,” she said, “because you were looking at things in the sky you did not see the things on the earth” (cf. Th 19 and similia). [320] Thales said, when asked What is the oldest of existing things? “God, for he is unbegotten” (cf. Th 90). What is most beautiful? “The cosmos, for it is the creation of god.” What is largest? “Place, for it has room for everything” (cf. Th 51). What is swiftest? “Intelligence, for it quickly moves through everything.” What is strongest? “Necessity, for it rules all things” (cf. Th 54, Th 341, Th 395). What is wisest? “Time, for it finds everything out” (cf. Th 342, cf. also the lists in Th 121, Th 237 [Diog. Laert. 1.35]). [321] The same man said, when asked What is difficult? “To know oneself” (cf. Th 362). What is easy? “To tell someone else what to do.” What is most pleasant? “Success” (cf. Th 362). What is divine? “That which has neither beginning nor end” (cf. Th 207, Th 210). What had he seen that is hard to findii? “An aged tyrant” (cf. Th 119, Th 128).

i ii

W: Unrecht W: unerquicklich

518

Georgius Gemistus Plethon – Minyes

Georgius Gemistus Plethon Th 564a ΝΟΜΩΝ ΣΥΓΓΡΑΦΗ 1.2 (ed. Alexandre) (β΄. περὶ ἡγεμόνων τῶν βελτίστων λόγων.) [...] τούς τε ἑπτὰ ἑκείνους τοὺς κατὰ Ἀναξανδρίδην τε καὶ Ἀρίστωνα βασιλεύοντας Λακεδαιμονίων μάλιστα ἀκμάσαντας· Χίλωνά τε τὸν Σπαρτιάτην, καὶ Σόλωνα τὸν Ἀθηναῖον, καὶ Βίαντα τὸν Πριηνέα, καὶ Θαλῆν τὸν Μιλήσιον, [...]. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Tesimonia of Uncertain Date: Euanthes of Miletus Th 565 FHG III 2*, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.29)

Minyes Th 566 FHG II 335.3, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.27)

Georgius Gemistus Plethon – Minyes 20

519

How should a person best endure misfortune? “If he sees his enemies even worse off.” What is the best and most just way to live? “If we do not do what we blame others for doing.” Who is happy? “He who is healthy in body, wealthy in soul, and well educated in nature” (cf. also the lists in Th 37 [Diog. Laert. 1.36]).

Georgius Gemistus Plethon (ca. 1355/60–1452 CE) Th 564a Thales the Sage Collection of Laws 1.2 (2. On the best guides for speeches) [...] Those seven men who flourished during the reigns of Anaxandrides and Ariston at Sparta: Chilon of Sparta, Solon of Athens, Bias of Priene, Thales of Miletus, [...]

Testimonia of uncertain Date: Euanthes of Miletus (date uncertain) Th 565 FGH III 2*, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.29) According to Diogenes Laertius, Eudoxus and Euanthes say that Thales was honored by a friend of Croesus as the wisest of the Greeks.

Minyes (date uncertain) Th 566 FGH II 335.3, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.27) As Diogenes Laertius relates, Minyes reports that Thales had close connections with Thrasybulus, the tyrant of Miletus.

520

Anonymous Commentary on Aristotle's Categories – Anonymous

Anonymous Testimonia of Uncertain Date: Anonymous Commentary on Aristotle's Categories Th 567

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Paraphrasis categoriarum 36.16–21 (ed. Hayduck) [Cat. 7.8a3] Εἰ δὲ ὡς αἰσθητὰ καὶ ἐπιστητά, κατ᾽ ἐνέργειαν μὲν οὔ (πῶς γάρ, μὴ οὔσης αἰσθήσεως καὶ ἐπιστήμης;) δυνάμει δέ‧ εἰ δὲ τοῦτο, εἴη ἂν δήπου δυνάμει καὶ ἡ ἐπιστήμη καὶ ἡ αἴσθησις, πρὸς ἃς ταῦτα λέγονται, συνυπάρχουσαι. εἰ γὰρ καὶ πρὸ τοῦ Θαλοῦ ἦν ἡ σελήνη, ὡς πρᾶγμα ἦν, οὐχ ὡς ἐπιστητόν‧ εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐπιστητὴ δυνάμει κατὰ τὴν ἔκλειψιν, καὶ ἡ τῆς ἐκλείψεως ἐπιστήμη δυνάμει δήπουθεν ἦν. Sim. (eclipse/phases of the moon) Th 178 (q.v.); (relation between knowledge and the knowable) Th 244 (q.v.)

Anonymous Th 568 Εἰς τοὺς ἑπτὰ σοφούς (Anecdota Graeca ed. Boissonade I 143; cf. Tziatzi-Papagianni (1994) 438–9) [...] ῞Υστατος αὖτε Θαλῆς εἶπεν ἀπηλεγέως‧ Ἐγγύῃ ἀγχίθυρος ναίει κακομήχανος ἄτη. Sim. (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Anonymous Commentary on Aristotle's Categories – Anonymous

521

Anonymous Testimonia of uncertain date Anonymous Commentary on Aristotle’s Categories (date uncertain) Th 567i

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Thales as astronomer. Paraphrase of Aristotle’s Categories 36.16–21 But if [perceptibles and knowables are taken] as perceptibles and knowables not actually (for how [could they be actually] if there is no perception or knowledge?) but potentially – if this [is done], of course both knowledge and perception, with reference to which these things [perceptibles and knowables] are spoken, will coexist potentially. For even if before Thales the moon existed, it existed as a thing but not as a knowable; but if it was also potentially knowable with respect to its eclipse, of course there was also potentially knowledge of the eclipse.

Anonymous (date uncertain) Th 568 Thales’ wise sayings. Poem on the Seven Sages (Anecdota Graeca I 143) Last in turn spoke Thales straight out: “Next door to a pledge dwells mischievous ruin.”

i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

522

Anonymous (date uncertain) – Anonymous (date uncertain)

Anonymous (date uncertain) Th 569

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Anthologia Latina 942 (ed. Riese) Quod cernunt oculi, deus est: fons nempe deorum est. Maiestas caeli vertitur orbe suo. Terra gerit gremio sese caelique suoque Et finem ingentis monstrat uterque globi. At quae se pelago tradit natura videndam, Luminibus dicit: ‘non ego finem habeo. Omnia me circum, super, omnia fundit aquae lex: Sic nusquam immensi terminus Oceani est. Hic oculos igitur rerum in primordia mittis, Exspirant omnes hic numeri atque notae: Nascitur hinc quicquid moritur retroque recedit; Huc redit, aeterno quicquid in orbe perit. Hoc perimit flammas elementum, alit evocat auget, Omnis abest sapiens aque Thalete procul.’ Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Anonymous (date uncertain) Th 569a Fr. 2b Wehrli2 (Anecdota Graeca ed. I. Bekker [1814] I 233, 15) γνῶθι σαυτὸν· ἀπόφθεγμα· οἱ δὲ Χείλωνός φασιν. Ἕρμιππος δὲ Δελφὸν εὐνοῦχόν φησιν εἰρηκέναι τὸ γνῶθι σαυτὸν καὶ ἐν τῷ ναῷ έπιγράψαι. Χαμαιλέων δὲ Θαλοῦ φησιν εἶναι τὴν γνώμην ταύτην. Sim. Th 200; (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Anonymous (date uncertain) – Anonymous (date uncertain)

523

Anonymous (date uncertain) Th 569

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Thales the Sage; water as the first principle. Anthologia Latina 942 What the eyes perceive is god; in fact it is the source of gods. The majesty of the heavens turns in its orb. The earth moves in the bosom of itself and of the heaven And each of them shows a limit of the huge sphere. But Nature who yields herself to be seen in the sea Says to the shining stars: “I have no limit. Everything that is around me and above me – everything the law of water pours forth. Thus nowhere is there a limit of immense Ocean. Here, therefore, do you direct your eyes to the ultimate origins of things, Here all numbers and signs breathe their last: From here is born all that dies and returns again; To here returns all that perishes in the eternal orb. This element destroys flames, and nourishes them, calls them forth, and makes them grow. Every Sage is far removed from Thales.”

Anonymous (date uncertain) Th 569a Fr. 2b Wehrli2, (Anecdota Graeca ed. I. Bekker (1814) I 233, 15) Thales’ wise sayings “Know thyself.” A saying. Some attribute it to Chilon. Hermippus declares that the eunuch Delphus stated it and had it inscribed on the temple. Chamaeleon declares that this maxim is Thales’.

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Anonymous (date uncertain) – Anonymous (date uncertain)

Anonymous (date uncertain) Th 569b CPF I 1* (29 Chamaeleon 1T), p.403 (PSI 1093, 31-33 [II.3] (2nd cent. CE) Χαμαιλ[έων δὲ Θα]λῆν τὸν [Ἑξαμύο]υ

Anonymous (date uncertain) Th 569c CPF I 1* (1 Lista dei scolarchi), p.81 f. (PDuke inv. G 178) col. I (4th cent. CE) φιλοσό]φων ἀρ[χηγέται [...] Θάλης Μι]λή[σι]ος, ̓[Αναξί]μανδρ[ος Μιλ]ή[σι]ος, ̓[Αναξιμέ]νης Μιλήσ(ιος,) [Ἀναξαγόρα]ς ἐκ Κλαζομενῶν, [Ἀρχέλαο]ς Ἀθηναῖος, [Φερεκύδ] ης Σύριος, [Παρμεν]ίδης Ἐλεά[τη]ς, [Διογένης ἐξ Ἀπολλω]νίας

Anonymous (date uncertain) Th 569d CPF I 1*** (102 Thales 1T), p.817 (PMilVogliano I 18, col. VI 10-19) Diegesis of Callimachus’ poems. ὁ δὲ ἐλθὼν εἰς Μίλητον ἐδίδου τοῦτο Θάλητι ὡς διαφέρ[ο]ντι τῶν ἄλλων· ὁ δὲ ἀπέπεμψε πρὸς Βίαντα τὸν Πριηνέα ... [τὸ δὲ ἔκπωμα] ὑπὸ τούτου [π]εμφθὲν [ἦλθε πάλιν εἰς Θάλητα· ὁ] δὲ ἀνατίθ[ησι] τῷ [Δ]ιδυμ[εῖ Ἀπ] ό[λλωνι δὶς λαβ]ὼν ἀριστε[ῖο]ν. Sim. (story of the tripod) Th 52 (q.v.)

Anonymous (date uncertain) – Anonymous (date uncertain)

525

Anonymous (date uncertain) Th 569b CPF I 1* (29 Chamaeleon 1T), 403 (PSI 1093, 31-33 [II.3] (2nd cent. CE) Chamaeleon Thales, son of Hexamyas1 ...

Anonymous (date uncertain) Th 569c CPF I 1* (1 Lista di scolarchi) p.81 f. (PDuke inv. G 178P (4th cent. CE) col. I Thales a famous philosopher The leading figures of philosophy ... Thales of Miletus, Anaximander of Miletus, Anaximenes of Miletus, Anaxagoras of Clazomenae ... Archelaus of Athens, Pherecydes of Syros, Parmenides of Elea, Diogenes of Apollonia

Anonymous (date uncertain) Th 569d CPF I 1*** (102 Thales 1T) (PMilVogliano I 18, col. VI 10-19) (2nd cent. CE) The story of the tripod Diegesis of Callimachus’ poems. When he came to Miletus he gave it to Thales on the grounds that he surpassed the others; but he in turn sent it away to Bias of Priene. [...] by him the cup was sent back to Thales. And he dedicated it to Didymean Apollo after twice receiving the prize.

1

“Chamaeleon” is nominative, “Thales” is accusative.

526

Scholia in Apollonium Rhodium

Scholia, chronologically arranged by their approximate date: Scholia in Apollonium Rhodium

Th 570 Scholia in Apollonii Rhodii Argonautica 1.496–8 (ed. Wendel) Ὁ δὲ Θαλῆς ἀρχὴν ὑπεστήσατο πάντων 〈τὸ〉 ὕδωρ, λαβὼν παρὰ τοῦ ποιητοῦ λέγοντος [H 99]‧ ‘ἀλλ᾽ ὑμεῖς πάντες ὕδωρ καὶ γαῖα γένοισθε’. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th  29 (q.v.); (the water hypothesis goes back to the first theologians/Homer) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 571 Schol. in Argon. 4.269–71a Θαλῆς δὲ ὁ Μιλήσιός φησιν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐτησίων συνελαυνόμενα τὰ νέφη κατὰ τὰ ὄρη τῆς Αἰθιοπίας αὐτόθι ῥήγνυσθαι‧ ὅταν δὲ τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἐξεναντίας συστῶσιν αἱ πνοαὶ προσπίπτουσαι τῇ θαλάσσῃ, ἐκ τῆς ἀποπεμπομένης πλήσμης τὰς ὑπερχύσεις ἀναδέχεσθαι τὸν Νεῖλον. Sim. (flooding of the Nile) Th 13 (q.v.)

Scholia in Apollonium Rhodium

527

Scholia, chronologically arranged by their approximate date: Scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes (9th/11th cent. CE The scholia were already constituted in the 2nd cent. BCE but go back to grammatical works of the time of Augustus)1) Th 570 Water as the first principle. Scholia on the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes 1.496–498 Thales postulated water as the principle of all things, taking the idea from the poet [Homer] who said “but may you all become water and earth” (Il. 7.99).

Th 571 Thales’ explanation of the flooding of the Nile. Scholia on the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes 4.267–271a Thales of Miletus declares that clouds driven by the etesian winds against the mountains of Ethiopia are shattered there.2 But when the winds fall on the sea and unite to oppose the river, the Nile overflows because of the floodwaters that are driven back.

1 2

Cf. Wendel 1932, 105 ff2. Cf. The explanation in Aristotle, Liber de Inundatione Nili, line 135 (Steinmetz 1964, 284 f.).

528

Scholia in Homerum – Scholia in Aratum

Scholia in Homerum Th 572 Scholia in Iliadem 7.455.1–2 (ed. Erbse) Ἐννοσίγαι᾽ εὐρυσθενές: κατὰ γὰρ Θαλῆν ὕδατι ὀχεῖται ἡ γῆ‧ ὅθεν καὶ χάσματα γίνεται. Sim. (the Earth rests upon water) Th 30 (q.v.); (earthquakes) Th 99 (q.v.)

Scholia in Aratum Th 573

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Scholia in Aratum 26–27 (ed. Martin) (Ἄρκτοι ἅμα τροχόωσιν) ἀντὶ τοῦ ἅμα τρέχουσι. διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ ἅμαξαι ὠνομάσθησαν. διτταὶ γάρ εἰσιν, ὧν τὴν μὲν μείζονα Ναύπλιος εὗρε, τὴν δ᾽ ἐλάττονα Θαλῆς ὁ σοφός. λέγει δὲ τὴν ἐλάττονα εἰκόνα εἶναι κυνός, ἥτις ἦν Καλλιστοῦς, ὅτι συγκυνηγὸς ἦν τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι. ἀποθανούσης δὲ αὐτῆς ἀπέθανε. τὸ δὲ ὄνομα ἔχει διὰ τὸ οὐρὰν κυνὸς ἔχειν. Sim. (constellations/discoverer of the Great/Little Bear) Th 52 (q.v.)

Th 574

5

Scholia in Aratum 39 (Τῇ δ᾽ ἄρα Φοίνικες) τῇ Κυνοσούρᾳ τῇ μικρᾷ‧ βραχεῖα γὰρ οὖσα ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ στρέφεται, καὶ ἔστι μᾶλλον εὐσύνοπτος, οὐ τῇ λαμπηδόνι (ἀμυδρὰ γάρ), ἀλλὰ τῷ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ στρέφεσθαι. ἡ γὰρ ἑτέρα ἐν τῇ περιφορᾷ μείζων κυκλουμένη οὐκ ἔστιν εὐσύνοπτος διὰ τὸ πολυφερές. πεπίστευνται δὲ ὡς ἀκριβέστεροι Φοίνικες τὰ ναυτικὰ καὶ ἐμπειρότεροι τῶν Ἑλλήνων πρὸς τὴν ἐλάσσω βλέποντες. ὁ γὰρ εὑρετὴς αὐτῆς Θαλῆς εἰς Φοίνικας ἀνάγει τὸ γένος. Sim. (constellations/discoverer of the Great/Little Bear) Th  52 (q.v.); (Phoenician ancestry) Th 12 (q.v.)

Scholia in Homerum – Scholia in Aratum

529

Scholia on Homer (2nd cent. CE) Th 572 Thales’ explanation of earthquakes. Scholia on Iliad 7.455.1–2 “Mighty Earth-shaker.” For according to Thales the earth rides on water, and this is the source of chasms [earthquakes?].1

Scholia on Aratus (2nd/3rd cent. CE) Th 573i

5

Thales as astronomer. Scholia on Aratus’s Phaenomena 26–27 The Bears revolve together which means “run together.” This is why they were named Wains, for there are two of them, the larger of which Nauplius discovered and Thales the Sage the smaller. He says that the smaller one has the image of a dog that belonged to Callisto who hunted together with Artemis, and it died when she did. It has this name because it has the tail of a dog.

Th 574ii

5

Thales as astronomer. Scholia on Aratus’s Phaenomena 39 The Phoenicians [steer their ships] by the other one – by the small Cynosure. For being small, it turns round in the same place and is easier to spot – not because of its brightness (for it is dim) but because it turns round in the same place. For the other one is larger in its revolution and is not easy to spot because it moves a great deal. The Phoenicians are trusted as being more accurate in things nautical and more experienced than the Greeks, and they look to the smaller one. For Thales, the discoverer of this [constellation], is descended from Phoenicians.

1

Cf. [Plut.] Plac. Phil. 3.15.896D11.

i ii

W. does not translate this testimonium. W. does not translate this testimonium.

530

Scholia in Aratum – Scholia in Platonem

Th 575

5

Scholia in Aratum 172 (ed. Martin) (Καὶ λίην κείνων) οὐκ ἀνώνυμοι, φησίν, αἱ ῾Υάδες αἱ ἐπὶ τοῦ μετώπου τοῦ Ταύρου. Θαλῆς μὲν οὖν δύο αὐτὰς εἶπεν εἶναι, τὴν μὲν βόρειον, τὴν δὲ νότιον, Εὐριπίδης δὲ ἐν τῷ Φαέθοντι τρεῖς, Ἀχαιὸς δὲ τέσσαρας‧ Μουσαῖος ε᾽‧ Ἱππίας δὲ καὶ Φερεκύδης ἑπτά. Sim. (Thales as representative of astronomy) Th 103 (q.v.).

Scholia in Dionysium Periegetam Th 576 Scholia in Dionysii periegetae orbis descriptionem, vita 428.7–9 (ed. Müller) Τίνες πρότερον ἐν πίνακι τὴν οἰκουμένην ἔγραψαν; Πρῶτος Ἀναξίμανδρος‧ δεύτερος Μιλήσιος Ἑκαταῖος‧ τρίτος Δημόκριτος Θαλοῦ μαθητής‧ τέταρτος Εὔδοξος.

Scholia in Platonem Th 577 Scholia in Platonis Timaeum 20d,ter,col.1 (ed. Greene) Τῶν ἑπτά. σοφοί Θαλῆς Σόλων Χίλων Πιττακός Βίας Τελεόβουλος (l. Κλεόβουλος) Περίανδρος [Ti.20d,ter,c2,1] πατέρες τούτων Ἑξαμύου […] [Ti.20d,ter,c3,1] πατρίδες Μιλήσιος […]. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.).

Scholia in Aratum – Scholia in Platonem

531

Th 575

5

Thales as astronomer. Scholia on Aratus’s Phaenomena 172 And very often is [the name ] of those [stars spoken]. Not nameless, he [Aratus] says, are the Hyades, which are found on the forehead of Taurus. Now Thales says that there are two of them, one towards the north and one towards the south, whereas in the Phaethon Euripides says that there are three, Achaeus that there are four, and Musaeus five, while Hippias and Pherecydes say that there are seven.

Scholia on Dionysius Periegetes (turn of the 5th cent. CE) Th 576 Thales’ relation to Democritus. Scholia on the Description of the World by Dionysius Periegetes, Life of Dionysius 428.7–9 Who had previously drawn the inhabited world on a tablet? Anaximander was first. Hecataeus of Miletus was second. Third was Democritus, the student of Thales (cf. Th 544). Eudoxus was fourth.

Scholia on Plato (after Proclus, 5th cent. CE) Th 577i Thales the Sage. Scholia on Plato, Timaeus 20d, ter, col.1 (ed. Greene, p. 280) “Of the seven.” The Sages: Thales, Solon, Chilon, Pittacus, Bias, Teleobulus, Periander [Ti.20d,ter,c2,1]. Their fathers were Examyas ... [Ti.20d,ter,c3,1] Their native lands were Miletus ...

i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

532

Scholion in Aristotelem – Scholia in Platonem

Scholion in Aristotelem Th 577a

5

10

Scholion in de Caelo 4.2.309b 29–31 ῾Ωσαύτως δὲ συμβαίνει κἄν τις ἄλλως διορίζῃ, μεγέθει καὶ σμκρότητι ποιῶν βαρύτερα καὶ κουφότερα θάτερα τῶν ἑτέρων κτλ. Θαλοῦ, φ‹ησί›, εἶναι ταύτην τὴν δόξαν. ἐλέγχει δὲ αὐτὴν ὅτι τῆς αὐτῆς ὕλης λέγει ἄμφω τό τε πυκνὸν καὶ τὸ μανόν. οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἡ αὐτὴ ὕλη τῶν βαρέων καὶ τῶν κούφων, ἐπεὶ ἔδει πολὺ πῦρ γῆς ὀλίγης εἶναι βαρύτερον ὡς ὁμόϋλα μέν, πλέον δὲ τὸ πῦρ. Δοκεῖ πιθανὴ εἶναι ἡ Θαλοῦ δόξα, ἐπειδὴ ἐν έκάστῳ τῶν δ' στοιχείων ἔστιν ἀποτεκεῖν ἄλλο. εἰ γὰρ πυκνωθείη τὸ πῦρ γίγνεται ἀήρ, τοῦτο δὲ ὕδωρ, τοῦτο δὲ γῆ, ἀνάπαλιν δὲ ἐὰν μανωθῇ ἡ γῆ, γίνεται ὕδωρ εἶτα ἀὴρ εἶτα πῦρ· πλὴν οὕτως κατὰ ταύτην τὴν ὑπόθεσιν οὐκ ἔσται ἁπλῶς κοῦφον καὶ βαρὺ ἁπλῶς. εἰ γὰρ τῆς αὐτῆς ὕλης εἰσί, πρός τι εἰσὶ κοῦφα και βαρέα. διὸ συνᾴδει αὕτη τῇ τοῦ Πλάτωνος τῷ μεγέθει διακρινούσῃ καὶ ἔσται πολλὰ λεπτὰ ὀλίγου πυκνοῦ βαρύτερα, ὡς εἶναι πολὺ πῦρ γῆς ὀλίγης βαρύτερον καὶ οὐδὲν κατὰ φύσιν βαρύ.

Scholia in Platonem Th 578

5

Scholia in Platonem, Res publica 600A1–10 (ed. Greene) Θάλεω.   Θάλης Ἐξαμύου Μιλήσιος, Φοῖνιξ δὲ καθ᾽ Ἡρόδοτον (s. Th 12). οὗτος πρῶτος ὠνομάσθη σοφός‧ εὗρεν γὰρ τὸν ἥλιον ἐκλείπειν ἐξ ὑποδρομῆς σελήνης, καὶ μικρὰν ἄρκτον αὐτὸς ἔγνω καὶ τὰς τροπὰς πρῶτος Ἑλλήνων, καὶ περὶ μεγέθους ἡλίου καὶ φύσεως, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄψυχα ψυχὴν ἔχειν ὁπωσοῦν ἐκ τῆς μαγνήτιδος καὶ τοῦ ἠλέκτρου. ἀρχὴν δὲ τῶν στοιχείων τὸ ὕδωρ‧ τὸν δὲ κόσμον ἔμψυχον ἔφη καὶ δαιμόνων πλήρη. ἐπαιδεύθη ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ὑπὸ τῶν ἱερέων. τούτου τὸ γνῶθι σαυτόν. ἐτελεύτησεν δὲ μονήρης, γηραιός, γυμνικὸν ἀγῶνα θεώμενος, ὑπὸ καύματος ἐκλυθείς. Sim. (Phoenician ancestry) Th  12 (q.v.); (the first sage/philosopher) Th  29 (q.v.); (solar eclipse) Th  10 (q.v.); (discoverer of the Great/Little Bear) Th  52 (q.v.); (sun’s orbit/solstices) Th  93 (q.v.); (size/diameter of the sun) Th  178 (q.v.); (nature of the soul/magnet) Th  31 (q.v.); (wa-

Scholion in Aristotelem – Scholia in Platonem

533

Scholion in Aristotelem (6th cent. CE) Th 577a

5

10

Scholion in Aristotelis de Caelo 4.2.309b29–31 “The same result follows if someone distinguishes these things differently, making things heavier or lighter than others...” He declares that this is the view of Thales, and he refutes it because it claims that both the dense and the rare have the same matter. For the matter of heavy things and light things is not the same, since in that case a lot of fire would be heavier than a little earth, since they have the same matter and the fire has more. Thales’ view seems to be plausible, since each element can give rise to another. For if fire is condensed it becomes air, and this [if condensed] becomes water, and this becomes earth; and contrariwise if earth is rarefied it becomes water, then air, then fire. But on this hypothesis nothing will be unqualifiedly light or heavy. For if they have the same matter light and heavy are relatives. This is why this concords with Plato’s view which distinguishes on the basis of magnitude, and many light things will be heavier than a little of something that is dense, and so a lot of fire is heavier than a little earth and nothing is naturally heavy.

Scholia on Plato (after the 6th cent. CE, possibly by Hesychius1) Th 578

5

Thales’ Phoenician ancestry; Thales as Sage and astronomer; his view on the nature of the soul; water as the first principle; his association with Egypt; his wise sayings. Scholia on Plato’s Republic 600A1–10 “Thales.” Thales of Miletus, the son of Examyas, was a Phoenician according to Herodotus (cf. Th 12). He was the first to be called a sage. For he discovered that the sun is eclipsed because the moon is beneath it in its coursei, and he was the first of the Greeks to recognize the Little Bear and the solstices and to study the size of the sun and its nature, and to claim that even inanimate things somehow possess soul, judging from magnets 1

Cf. Greene 1938, 272.

i

W: weil der Mond in den Weg kommt

534

Scholia in Platonem – Scholia in Basilium

ter as the first principle) Th  29 (q.v.); (the cosmos/the universe/everything has a soul) Th  32 (q.v.); (Egyptian influence) Th  92 (q.v.); (wise sayings) Th  89 (q.v.); (circumstances of his death) Th  237 (1.39) (q.v.)

Scholia in Basilium Th 579 Scholion in Basil. Hom. in Hexaem. 1.2 (zu PG 29.8A11) (ed. Pasquali) Τοῖς τοῦ κόσμου στοιχείοις] οἱ περὶ Θαλῆν Ἡράκλειτον Διογένην τὸν Ἀπολλωνιάτην καὶ ὅσοι τὰ στοιχεῖα τῶν ὄντων ἀρχὰς ἀπέλιπον· Θαλῆς μὲν γὰρ ὕδωρ... Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 580

5

Scholion in Basil. Hom. in Hexaem. 1.2 (zu PG 29.8A13/14) Συνέχειν τὴν φύσιν τῶν ὁρατῶν] ὅτι δὲ ἐκ πλειόνων τὸν κόσμον καὶ τὴν ὕλην συνεστάναι λέγουσιν οἱ πάντες Ἑλλήνων σοφοί, φανερόν ἐστιν‧ αὐτίκα γοῦν ὁ μὲν Πυθαγόρας τῶν ἀρχῶν τὰ στοιχεῖα ἀριθμοὺς καλεῖ, Στράτων ποιότητας, Ἀλκμαίων ἀντιθέσεις, Ἀναξίμανδρος ἄπειρον, Ἀναξαγόρας ὁμοιομερείας, Ἐπίκουρος ἀτόμους, Διόδωρος ἀμερῆ, Ἀσκληπιάδης ὄγκους, γεωμέτραι πέρας, Δημόκριτος ἰδέας, Θαλῆς ὕδωρ, Ἡράκλειτος πῦρ, Διογένης ἀέρα, Παρμενίδης γῆν, Ζήνων Ἐμπεδοκλῆς Πλάτων πῦρ ὕδωρ γῆν ἀέρα, Ἀριστοτέλης καὶ πέμπτον ἀκατονόμαστον. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Scholia in Platonem – Scholia in Basilium

535

and amber. He held that water is the principle of the elements, that the cosmos possesses soul and is full of daimons. He was educated in Egypt by the priests. “Know thyself” is his. He died a lonely old man while watching an athletic contest, done in by the heat.

Scholia on Basil (beginning of the 7th to end of the 9th Centuries CE1) Th 579i Water as the first principle. Scholia on Basil’s Homilies on the Hexaemeron 1.2 “[Some took refuge in material hypotheses, attributing the cause of the universe] to the elements of the cosmos.”] (PG 29.8A11) Thales, Heraclitus, Diogenes of Apollonia and their associates, and others who bequeathed the elements as principles of things-that-are: for Thales [bequeathed] water [...].

Th 580ii

5

Water as the first principle. Scholia on Basil’s Homilies on the Hexaemeron 1.2 “Comprise the nature of things visible.’(PG 29.8A13/14) It is clear that all the Greek sages say that the cosmos and matter consist of more than one thing. Pythagoras calls the elements of principles numbers; Strato, qualities; Alcmeon, oppositions; Anaximander, the infinite; Anaxagoras, homoeomeries; Epicurus, atoms; Diodorus, things without parts; Asclepiades, masses; geometers, limit; Democritus, ideas; Thales, water; Heraclitus, fire; Diogenes, air; Parmenides, earth; Zeno, Empedocles and Plato, fire, water, earth and air, and Aristotle added a fifth, unnamed element. (cf. Th 310).

1

For the dating see Pasquali 1910, 216.

i ii

W. does not translate this testimonium. W. does not translate this testimonium.

536

Scholia in Lucianum – Scholia in Hesiodum

Scholia in Lucianum Th 581

5

Scholia in Lucianum 1.7 (ed. Rabe) Τυράννους σοφούς περὶ Περιάνδρου τοῦ Κυψέλου λέγει, ὃς τῶν ἑπτὰ μὲν παρ᾽ Ἕλλησι σοφῶν εἷς, Κορίνθου δὲ τῆς πρὸς τῷ Ἰσθμῷ Πελοποννήσου τύραννος ἦν. τούτου καὶ ἀπόφθεγμα ἐν Δελφοῖς ἀνέκειτο τοῦτο ‘θυμοῦ κράτει’. ἦσαν δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων σοφῶν ἀποφθέγματα, ἃ καὶ αὐτὰ Πυθοῖ ἀνέκειτο, ταῦτα‧ Κλεοβούλου Λινδίου ‘μέτρον ἄριστον’, Χείλωνος Λακεδαιμονίου ‘γνῶθι σαυτόν’, Πιττακοῦ δὲ τοῦ Μιτυληναίου ‘μηδὲν ἄγαν’, Σόλωνος Ἀθηναίου ‘τέλος ὅρα μακροῦ βίου’, Βίαντος δὲ Πριηνέως ‘οἱ πλέονες κακοί’, Θάλητος Μιλησίου ‘ἐγγύα, πάρα δ᾽ ἄτα’. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (wise sayings) Th 89 (q.v.)

Th 582 Schol. in Luc. 29.34.7–8 Τὰ πρὸ τοῖν ποδοῖν τὸ τῆς Θρᾴττης τοῦτο ἐκεῖνο, ὃ εὐφυῶς ἐκείνη ἀπέσκωψεν εἰς Θάλητα τὸν φυσικόν. Sim. (Thales’ fall into the well) Th 19 (q.v.)

Scholia in Hesiodum Th 583 Scholia in theogoniam 116b.14–16 (ed. di Gregorio) καὶ Φερεκύδης δὲ ὁ Σύρος καὶ Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος ἀρχὴν τῶν ὅλων τὸ ὕδωρ φασὶ εἶναι, τὸ ῥητὸν τὸ τοῦ Ἡσιόδου ἀναλαβόντες. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th  29 (q.v.); (the water hypothesis goes back to the first theologians/Homer) Th 29 (q.v.)

Scholia in Lucianum – Scholia in Hesiodum

537

Scholia on Lucian (11th cent. CE ?) Th 581i

5

Thales the Sage; his wise sayings. Scholion on Lucian 1.7 (Phalaris 1) Wise tyrants. He is speaking of Periander, the son of Cypselus, who was one of the Seven Sages of the Greeks. He was tyrant of Corinth, which is next to the Isthmus of the Peloponnese. His saying “Master anger” is inscribed at Delphi. There were sayings of the other Sages too which were also inscribed at Delphi: “Measure is best” (Cleobulus of Lindos), “Know thyself” (Chilon of Lacedaimon), “Nothing in excess” (Pittacus of Mitylene), “Look to the end of a long life” (Solon of Athens), “Most people are bad” (Bias of Priene), “Give a pledge and disaster is at hand” (Thales of Miletus).

Th 582 Thales’ fall into a well. Scholion on Lucian 29.34.7–8 What is in front of your feet. This is that comment of that Thracian woman with which she cleverly made fun of Thales the natural philosopher.

Scholia on Hesiod (12th cent. CE ?) Th 583 Water as the first principle. Scholion on Hesiod’s Theogony 116b.14–16 Pherecydes of Syros and Thales of Miletus declare that water is the principle of all things, adopting Hesiod’s statement (cf. Th 286, Th 532).

i

W. does not translate this testimonium.

538

Scholia in Pindarum – Scholia in Aristophanem

Scholia in Pindarum Th 584 Scholion in Pindari Epinicia Olympica 1.1d (ed. Drachmann) ἄριστον μὲν ὕδωρ: ἀρχὴ γὰρ τῶν ὅλων κατὰ Θαλῆν τὸ ὕδωρ. Sim. (water as the first principle) Th 29 (q.v.)

Scholia in Aristophanem Th 585 Scholia vetera in nubes 180.1–181.1 (ed. Holwerda) Τὸν Θαλῆν οὗτος ἐγένετο τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν εἷς, Μιλήσιος τὸ γένος, ὃς πρῶτος τὰ περὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐξεῦρεν. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (Thales as representative of astronomy) Th 103 (q.v.)

Th 586 Scholia recentiora anonyma in nubes 180b (ed. Koster) Ὁ Θαλῆς […] [3] γὰρ Κροίσου […] [6] θάτερον δὲ πρὸς τὰ ὄπισθεν μέρη τῆς στρατιᾶς‧ καὶ οὕτω σμικρυθέντος τοῦ ῥείθρου ἡ στρατιὰ διέβη ῥᾳδίως τὸν ποταμόν. ἐποίησε […] [8] περαιωθήσωνται. Sim. (the crossing of the Halys) Th 11 (q.v.)

Scholia in Pindarum – Scholia in Aristophanem

539

Scholia on Pindar (before the 13th cent. CE) Th 584 Water as the first principle. Scholion on Pindar’s Olympian Odes1.1d Water is best (Pindar, Ol. 1.1); for according to Thales water is the principle of all thingsi.

Scholia on Aristophanes (13th/14th cent. CE) Th 585 Thales as astronomer. Scholia vetera on Aristophanes’ Clouds 180.1–2 (Th 17) Thales. He was one of the Seven Sages, a Milesian by birth, who was the first to make discoveries about events in the sky.

Th 586ii Thales and the crossing of the Halys. Scholia on Aristophanes’ Clouds 180b Thales [...] [3] for of Croesus [...] [6] one of the two to the rear of the army; and when the stream was diminished in this way the army easily crossed the river. He made [...] [8] them to cross.

i ii

W. does not translate τῶν ὅλων W. does not translate this testimonium.

540

Scholia in Aristophanem

Th 587 Scholia in nub. 180c alpha Οὗτος ὁ Θαλῆς εἷς ἦν τῶν ζʹ σοφῶν, μάντις, ὅστις διὰ τέχνης μαθηματικῆς ἐποίησεν εὑρεθῆναι εἰς τὸν Ἅλυν, μὴ δυνάμενον περάσαι ἐν τῷ ἑτέρῳ μέρει τοῦ ποταμοῦ τὸ φοσάτον. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (the crossing of the Halys) Th 11 (q.v.)

Th 588 Scholia in nub. 180d alpha Ὁ Θαλῆς οὗτος ἦν εἷς τῶν ζʹ σοφῶν, Μιλήσιος ὤν‧ ἦν δὲ πρῶτος ἐν ἐκείνοις διδάξας τοῖς καιροῖς περὶ τῶν οὐρανίων‧ ἀλλὰ καὶ γεωμέτρης ἄριστος [μηχανικὸς δὲ ἄκρος] ἦν καὶ μηχανικὸς πάνυ. [φυσικός.] Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Th 589 Scholia in nub. 180d beta Οὗτος ὁ Θαλῆς Μιλήσιος ἦν, εἷς ὢν τῶν παλαιῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν, ὃς ἐδίδαξε πρῶτος τὰ μαθηματικά‧ ἦν δὲ καὶ ἄκρος μηχανικός. Sim. (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.); (the first sage/philosopher) Th 29 (q.v.)

Th 590 Scholia in nub. 180e Τὸν Θαλῆν τὸν μετεωροσκόπον, τὸν παλαιὸν γεωμέτρην ἤγουν τὸν φιλόσοφον, τὸν σοφόν. Sim. (Thales as representative of astronomy) Th 103 (q.v.)

Scholia in Aristophanem

541

Th 587 Thales and the crossing of the Halys. Scholia on Aristophanes’ Clouds 180c This Thales was one of the Seven Sages. He was a prophet who through mathematical skill caused there to be found for the Halys, when the phosaton was unable to cross in the other part of the river.1

Th 588 Thales the Sage, the astronomer, geometer and engineer. Scholia on Aristophanes’ Clouds 180d. alpha This Thales was one of the Seven Sages, a Milesian. He was the first among them [the Sages] and he taught about the celestial bodies with reference to the seasonsi. He was also the best geometer and a superb engineer.

Th 589 Thales as mathematician and engineer. Scholia on Aristophanes’ Clouds 180d. beta This Thales was a Milesian, one of the Seven Sages of old, who was the first to teach mathematicsii. He was also an outstanding engineer.

Th 590 Thales as astronomer, geometer, philosopher and Sage. Scholia on Aristophanes’ Clouds 180e Thales – the astronomer, the ancient geometer, that is, the philosopher, the sage.

1

The corrupt text of this scholion may be partially remedied by understanding φοσάτον as a corruption of στρατόν (“army”).

i ii

W: die rechten Zeitpunkte am Himmel W: Naturwissenschaft

542

Scholia in Aristophanem – Scholia in Homerum

Scholia in Aristophanem Th 591 Scholia in Aves 1009.1–5 (ed. Holwerda) Ἄνθρωπος Θαλῆς: Ἐν σαρκασμῷ φησιν. ἔστι δὲ ὁ Θαλῆς οὗτος εἷς τῶν ἑπτὰ φιλοσόφων, ἐπὶ γεωμετρίᾳ διαβεβοημένος. Sim. („The man’s a Thales!“) Th 18 (q.v.); (originator of Greek geometry) Th 178 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Scholia in Homerum Th 592

5

Scholia in Iliadem 18.487.4–11 (ed. Heyne) Ἄρκτον θ᾿, ἣν καὶ Ἄμαξαν ἐπίκλησιν καλέουσιν. αὕτη τε ἡ μεγάλη ἡ καλουμένη καὶ Ἅμαξα, διὰ τὸ εἰς ἁμάξης τύπον κατηστερίσθαι. καὶ ἐγγὺς ἐκείνης ἡ μικρὰ ἡ Κυνόσουρα καλουμένη διὰ τὸ ὡς κυνὸς ἔχειν ἀνακεκλασμένην τὴν οὐράν. ἧς Ὅμηρος οὐ μέμνηται, ὡς ὕστερον εὑρεθείσης ὑπὸ Θαλοῦ τοῦ Μιλησίου ἑνὸς τῶν ἑπτὰ σοφῶν. Sim. (constellations, discoverer of the Great/Little Bear) Th 52 (q.v.); (Thales, one of the Seven Sages) Th 20 (q.v.)

Scholia in Aristophanem – Scholia in Homerum

543

Scholia on Aristophanes (beginning of the 14th cent. CE) Th 591 Thales the philosopher and geometer. Scholia on Aristophanes’ Birds 1009 The man’s a Thales! He says it sarcastically. This Thales is one of the Seven Philosophers and was renowned for his knowledge of geometry.

Scholia on Homer (date uncertain) Th 592

5

Thales as astronomer. Scholia on Homer, Iliad 18.487 And the Bear, which they also call ‘the Wain’ as an alternative name. This one that is called the Great [Bear] and the Wain, becausei it is a constellation formed in the outline of a wagon, and near it is the Little [Bear], which is called “Cynosure” becauseii it has its tail bent like a dog’s. Homer does not mention this [constellation] because it was discovered later by Thales of Miletus, one of the Seven Sages.

i ii

W. does not translate this clause. W. does not translate this clause.

APPENDIX/ END MATERIAL

Abbreviations – AG

= Anecdota Graeca: s. Cramer, J. A. (Ed.) Anecdota Graeca

– – – – – – – –

= = = = = = = =

AP CAG CC(L) CMG CP CPF CSHB DK

– FGrHist = – FHG = – FHS&G = – – – – – – –

FPhG KRS KRS (H) MGH PG PL PSI

= = = = = = =

– – – – –

R3 RE SC VS ZPE

= = = = =

Anthologia Palatina: s. Beckby, H. Anthologia Graeca Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca, Berlin 1882 ff. Corpus Christianorum (Series Latina), Turnhout Corpus Medicorum Graecorum Corpus Parisinum: s. Searby Corpus dei Papiri Filosofici Greci e Latini Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae VS = Diels, H.; Kranz, W. Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker (I 81956, II 61952) Jacoby, F. Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker Müller, K. Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum Fortenbaugh, W. W.; Huby, P. M.; Sharples, R. W.; Gutas, D. Theophrastus of Eresus I, II, Leiden/ New York/ Köln 1992 Mullach F. G. A. Fragmenta Philosophorum Graecorum Kirk/ Raven/ Schofield The Presocratic Philosophers Kirk/ Raven/ Schofield (Hülser) Die vorsokratischen Philosophen Monumenta Germaniae Historica J. P. Migne (Ed.) Patrologiae cursus completes. Series Graeca J. P. Migne (Ed.) Patrologiae cursus completes. Series Latina Pubblicazioni della Società Italiana per la ricerca dei papyri greci e latini in Egitto Rose, V. Aristotelis qui ferebantur librorum fragmenta, Leipzig 1887 Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft Sources Chrétiennes DK Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors Achilles Tatius the Astronomer (probably 3rd cent. CE) – Isagoga excerpta: Maass, E.  Commentariorum in Aratum reliquiae, Berlin 1898 (repr. 1958), 27–75.

Claudius Aelianus (before 178–between 222 and 238 CE) – De natura animalium: Hercher, R. Claudii Aeliani de natura animalium libri XVII, varia historia, epistolae, fragmenta I, Leipzig 1864 (repr. 1971), 3–436. – Varia historia: Dilts, M. R. Claudii Aeliani varia historia, Leipzig 1974.

Agathemerus (1st/2nd cent. CE) – Geographiae informatio: Müller, K. Geographi Graeci minores II, Paris 1861 (repr. 1965), 471–87.

Albertus Magnus (ca. 1193–1280 CE) – Metaphysica: Geyer, B. Alberti Magni opera omnia 16.1 u. 2 – metaphysica, Monasterii Westfalorum 1960. – Meteora: Hossfeld, P. Alberti Magni opera omnia 6.1 – meteora, Monasterii Westfalorum 2003. – De causis et processu: Fauser, W. Alberti Magni opera omnia 17.2 – de causis et processu, Monasterii Westfalorum 1993.

Alcaeus (7th/ 6th cent. BCE) – Voigt, E.-M. Sappho et Alcaeus. Fragmenta, Amsterdam 1971.

Alexander of Aphrodisias (turn of the 3rd cent. CE) – Hayduck, M. Alexandri Aphrodisiensis in Aristotelis Metaphysica commentaria (= CAG 1), Berlin 1891.

Ambrose of Milan (ca. 340–397 CE) – Exameron: Schenkl, C. Sancti Ambrosii Opera I, Prag/ Wien/ Leipzig 1897 (repr. 1962).

550

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

Andron of Ephesus (first half of the 4th cent. BCE) – Müller, K. Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum II, Paris 1848 (repr. Frankfurt/ Main 1975), 347–8.

Anonymous (date uncertain) – Boissonade, J.  F. Anecdota Graeca e codicibus regiis I, Paris 1829 (repr. Hildesheim 1962).

Anonymous (date uncertain) – Riese, A. Anthologia Latina I 2 (reliquorum librorum carmina), Leipzig 1906.

Anonymous (date uncertain) - Bekker, I. Anecdota Graeca, Berlin 1814, I 233.

Anonymous (date uncertain) - CPF I 1*, Firenze 1989, 81-2.

Anonymous (date uncertain) - CPF I 1***, Firenze 1999, 817-8.

Anonymous (13th/ 14th cent. CE) – De Lesbo-De Nilo-Fragment: Jacoby, F. Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker III C, Leiden 1958, 194–9.

Anonymous (Antipater of Thessalonica, ? born ca. 1 CE) – Beckby, H. Anthologia Graeca 9, München 1958, 226.

Anonymous, On the philosophy of Plato (? 2nd half of the 6th cent. CE) – Prolegomena philosophiae Platonicae (fort. auctore Elia, olim sub auctore Olympiodoro): Westerink, L. G. Anonymous prolegomena to Platonic philosophy, Amsterdam 1962, 2–55.

Anonymous Commentary on Aristotle‘s Categories (date uncertain) – Hayduck, M. Anonymi in Aristotelis categorias paraphrasis (= CAG 23.2), Berlin 1883, 1–72.

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

551

Antipater of Sidon (2nd–1st cent. BCE) – Beckby, H. Anthologia Graeca 7, München 1957, 58.

Apollodorus (ca. 180–ca. 110 BCE) – Jacoby, F. Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker II B, Berlin 1929, 1022–1128.

Aponius (5th cent. CE) – In canticum canticorum expositio: De Vregille, B.; Neyrand, L. Apponius, Commentaire sur le cantique des cantiques II (livres IV–VIII), Paris (= SC 421) 1997.

Apuleius of Madaura (ca. 125–after 158 CE) – Florida: Hunink, V. Apuleius of Madauros, Florida, Amsterdam 2001.

Aristarchus of Samos (ca. 310–230 BCE) – Bowen, A. C.; Goldstein, B. R. “Aristarchus, Thales and Heraclitus on Solar Eclipses: An Astronomical Commentary on P. Oxy. 53.3710 cols. 2.33–3.19”, in: Physis 31.3, 1994, 689–729.

Aelius Aristides (117–177/ 8 CE) – Aigyptios, Pros Kapitona: Dindorf, W. Aristides, Leipzig 1829 (repr. 1964).

Aristocles of Messene (1st half of the 1st cent. CE) – Mullach, F. G. A. Fragmenta philosophorum graecorum III, Paris 1897, 206. – Heiland, H. Aristoclis Messenii reliquiae, Giessen (phil. Diss.) 1925.

Aristophanes (ca. 450–ca. 385 BCE) – Nubes, Aves: Wilson, N. G. Aristophani Fabulae I, II, Oxford 2007.

Aristotle (384–322 BCE) – Ethica Nicomachea: Bywater, I. Aristotelis ethica Nicomachea, Oxford 1894 (repr. 1962). – Politica: Ross, W. D. Aristotelis politica, Oxford 1957 (repr. 1964). – Metaphysica: Ross, W. D. Aristotle’s metaphysics I, II, Oxford 1924 (repr. 1970). – De caelo: Allan, D. J. Aristotelis de caelo libri quattuor, Oxford 21973. – De anima: Ross, W. D. Aristotle. De anima, Oxford 1961 (repr. 1967). – Liber Aristotelis de inundacione Nili: Rose, V. Aristotelis qui ferebantur librorum fragmenta, Stuttgart 1886 (repr. 1967), 191–7. – Fragmenta: Gigon, O. Aristotelis Opera III, Berlin/New York 1987.

552

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

Arnobius the Elder (ca. 300 CE) – Adversus nationes: Marchesi, M. Arnobii Adversus nationes libri VII, Turin 21953.

Asclepius of Tralles (6th cent. CE) – Hayduck, M. Asclepii in Aristotelis metaphysicorum libros A–Z commentaria (= CAG 6.2), Berlin 1888.

Athenaeus of Naucratis (work composed ca. 230 CE) – Deipnosophistae: Kaibel, G. Athenaei Naucratitae deipnosophistarum libri XV, vol. I–III, Leipzig, I–II: 1887; III: 1890 (repr. I–II: 1965; III: 1966).

Athenagoras the Apologist (end of the 2nd cent. CE) – Legatio pro Christianis: Marcovich, M. Athenagoras, Legatio pro Christianis (= Patristische Texte und Studien 31), Berlin/ New York 1990.

Atticus (second half of the 2nd cent. CE) – Des Places, E. Atticus, Paris 1977. – Mullach, F. G. A. Fragmenta philosophorum graecorum III, Paris 1897, 185–203.

Augustine (354–430 CE) – De civitate Dei: Dombart, B.; Kalb, A. Sancti Aurelii Augustini Episcopi De civitate Dei libri XXII, vol. I, II, Stuttgart 51981. – Contra Iulianum: Migne, J. P. Sancti Aurelii Augustini Episcopi Contra Iulianum (= PL 44), Paris 1941.

Decimus Magnus Ausonius (ca. 310–394 CE) – Ludus septem sapientium: Greene, R. P. H. The works of Ausonius, Oxford 1991.

Callimachus (between 320 and 302–after 246 BCE) – Iambus: Pfeiffer, R. Callimachus I, Oxford 1949.

Georgius Cedrenus (11th/ 12th cent. CE) – Compendium historiarum: Migne, J.  P. Georgii Cedreni Compendium historiarum (= PG 121), Paris 1864 (repr. 1977).

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

553

Chalcidius (4th cent. CE) – Commentarius in Platonis Timaeum: Waszink, J. H. Plato latinus IV: Timaeus a Calcidio translatus commentarioque instructus, Leiden 1962

Chamaeleon (2nd half of the 4th cent. BCE) – Wehrli, F. Die Schule des Aristoteles 9, Basel 21957. – CPF I 1*, Firenze 1999.

Choerilus of Samos (5th cent. BCE) – Lloyd-Jones, H. Supplementum Hellenisticum, Berlin 1983, 146–53.

Chronicon Paschale (between 631–641 CE) – Dindorf, L. Chronicon paschale ad exemplar Vaticanum I (=  CSHB Chronicon paschale I), Bonn 1832.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BCE) – De oratore: Wilkins, A. S. M. Tulli Ciceronis Rhetorica I, libros de oratore tres continens, Oxford 111969. – Lucullus: Plasberg, O. M. Tulli Ciceronis scripta quae mansuerunt omnia Fasc. 42, Academicorum reliquiae cum Lucullo, Stuttgart 21961. – De natura deorum: Pease, A. S. M. Tulli Ciceronis De natura deorum libri III, Cambridge 1968. – De re publica: Ziegler, K. M. Tulli Ciceronis scripta quae mansuerunt omnia Fasc. 39, De re publica, Leipzig 71992. – De legibus: Ziegler, K. M. Tullius Cicero, de legibus (= Heidelberger Texte: Lateinische Reihe 20), Freiburg 31979. – De divinatione: Ax, W. M. Tulli Ciceronis scripta quae mansuerunt omnia Fasc. 46, De divinatione. De fato. Timaeus, Stuttgart 1965.

Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150–211/ 216 CE) – Protrepticus: Mondésert, M. Clément d’Alexandrie. Le protreptique (=  SC 2), Paris 21949, 52–193. – Stromata: Stählin, O.; Treu, U. Clemens Alexandrinus II, III (= GCS 52.15, 17), Berlin 31960 (II), 21970 (III).

Clytus (student of Aristotle) – Müller, K. Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum II, Paris 1848 (repr. Frankfurt/Main 1975), 333.

554

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

Commentary on Homer, Odyssey book 20 (1st cent. CE ?) – Bowen, A. C.; Goldstein, B. R. “Aristarchus, Thales and Heraclitus on Solar Eclipses: An Astronomical Commentary on P. Oxy. 53.3710 cols. 2.33–3.19”, in: Physis 31.3, 1994, 689–729.

Constantine VII Porphyrogennetus (906–959 CE) – De virtutibus et vitiis: Büttner-Wobst, T.; Roos, A. G. Excerpta historica iussu imperatoris Constantini Porphyrogeniti confecta 2: excerpta de virtutibus et vitiis 1, 2, Berlin 1906 (2.1); 1910 (2.2). – De sententiis: Boissevain, U. P. Excerpta historica iussu imperatoris Constantini Porphyrogeniti confecta 4: excerpta de sententiis, Berlin 1906.

Corpus Hermeticum (1st–3rd cent. CE) – Nock, A. D.; Festugière, A. J. Corpus Hermeticum III, IV, Paris 1954 (repr. 1972).

Cyril of Alexandria (work composed ca. mid-5th cent. CE) – Contra Iulianum 1, 2: Burguière, P.; Evieux, P., Cyrille d’Alexandrie. Contre Julien I (livres 1 et 2) (= SC 322), Paris 1985. – Contra Iulianum 6 (= Fr. 39 Iulianus Contra Galileos): Masaracchia, E. Guiliano imperatore, Contra Galilaeos. Introduzione, testo critico e traduzione (= Testi e commenti 9), Roma 1990, 134.

Demetrius of Phaleron (ca. 360–280 BCE) – Wehrli, F. Die Schule des Aristoteles 4, Basel 21968, 21–44.

Democritus (470/ 60–380/ 70 BCE) – Diels, H.; Kranz, W. Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker II, Berlin 61952 (repr. Dublin 1966), 81–129.

Dicaearchus (born ca. 375 BCE) – Wehrli, F. Die Schule des Aristoteles 1, Basel 1944.

Didymus Chalcenterus (2nd half of the 1st cent. BCE) – Schmidt, M. Didymi Chalcenteri grammatici Alexandrini fragmenta quae supersunt omnia, Leipzig 1854.

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

555

Diodorus Siculus (before 60 – after 36 BCE) – Bibliotheca historica: Bertrac, P. Bibliothèque historique I (livres 1, 2), IV (livres 9–12), Paris 1993 (I), 1970 (IV).

Diogenes Laertius (work composed mid-3rd cent. CE) – Vitae philosophorum: Marcovich, M. Diogenis Laertii vitae philosophorum I (libri I–X), Stuttgart 1999.

Diogenes of Oenoanda (turn of the 3rd cent. CE) – Smith, M. F. Diogenes of Oinoanda, The Epicurean Inscription, Napoli 1993.

Duris of Samos (4th/3rd cent. BCE) – Jacoby, F. Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker II A, Berlin 1926, 136–58.

Elias (6th cent. CE) – Busse, A. Eliae (olim Davidis) in Aristotelis categorias commentarium (= CAG 18.1), Berlin 1900, 107–255.

Epiphanius (between 310 and 320–403/ 2 CE) – Panarion (†Adversus haereses): Dummer, J. Epiphanius III, Berlin 21985.

Euanthes of Miletus (date uncertain) – Müller, K. Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum III, Paris 1849 (repr. Frankfurt/Main 1975), 11.

Eudemus (born before 350 BCE) – Wehrli, F. Die Schule des Aristoteles 8, Basel 21969.

Eudoxus of Cnidus (? 391/ 0–338/ 7 BCE) – Lasserre, F. Die Fragmente des Eudoxos von Knidos, Berlin 1966.

Eusebius of Caesarea (before 260–between 337 and 340 CE) – Praeparatio evangelica: DesPlaces, E. La préparation évangélique, Paris 1974–87. – Chronica : Helm, R. Eusebius’ Chronik und ihre Tabellenform, Berlin 1924.

556

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

Eustathius of Thessalonica (ca. 1115–1195 CE) – Commentaria ad Homeri Iliadem: Van der Valk, M. Eustathii Archiepiscopi Thessalonicensis commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem pertinentes, ad fidem codicis Laurentani, Leiden 1971. – Commentaria in Dionysium Periegetem: Müller, K. Eustathii Commentarii in Dionysium Periegetum (= Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum 26), Paris 1861; in: Müller, K. Geographi Graeci minores II, Paris 1861 (repr. 1965), 201–407.

Eustratius (11th/ 12th cent. CE) – Heylbut, G. Eustratii in Aristotelis ethica Nicomachea VI commntaria (= CAG 20), Berlin 1892, 256–406.

Fragmentum Censorini (? 3rd cent. CE) – Epitoma disciplinarum : Sallmann, N. Censorini De die natali liber ad Q. Caerellium, accedit anonymi cuiusdam epitoma disciplinarum (fragmentum Censorini), Leipzig 1983.

Frechulf of Lisieux (1st half of the 9th cent. CE) – Historiae: Allen, M. Frechulfi Lexoviensis episcopi opera omnia II: Textus (= CCCM 169A), Turnhout 2002.

Galen (129–ca. 216 CE) – De elementis ex Hippocrate: De Lacy, P. Galen, On the Elements According to Hippocrates (= CMG V 1.2), Berlin 1996. – In Hippocratis de natura hominis: Mewaldt, J. In Hippocratis de natura hominis librum commentarii III (= CMG V 9.1), Leipzig 1914, 3–88. – In Hippocratis de humoribus: Kühn, C. G. Claudii Galeni opera omnia 16.1, Leipzig 1829 (repr. 1965).

Georgius Gemistus Plethon (ca. 1355/60-1452 CE) Th 564a Νόμων συγγραφή· Alexandre, C. Pléthon. Traité des lois, Paris 1858 (ND Amsterdam 1966).

Gnomologium Vaticanum (14th cent. CE) – Sternbach, L. Gnomologium Vaticanum e codice Vaticano Graeco 743, Berlin 1963.

Heliodorus (12th cent. CE) – Heylbut, G. Heliodori in ethica Nicomachea paraphrasis (= CAG 19.2), Berlin 1889, 1–233.

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

557

Heraclides of Pontus (ca. 390–after 322 BCE) – Wehrli, F. Die Schule des Aristoteles 7, Basel 21969.

Heraclitus (ca. 500 BCE) – Diels, H.; Kranz, W. Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker I, Berlin 81956, 139–90.

Heraclitus the Stoic (1st cent. CE, Augustus’ reign – Nero’s reign) – Allegoriae (Quaestiones Homericae): Buffière, F. Allégories d’Homère, Paris 1962.

Hermias (work probably composed ca. 200 CE) – Irrisio gentilium philosophorum: Hanson, R.  P.  C. Hermias, satire des philosophes paiens (= SC 388), Paris 1993.

Hermippus of Smyrna (“the Callimachean” 3rd cent. BCE) – Wehrli, F. Die Schule des Aristoteles Suppl. 1, Basel 1974, 11–41.

Hero (? 1st cent. CE) – Definitiones: Heiberg, I. J. Heronis Alexandrini opera quae supersunt omnia 4, Leipzig 1903 (repr. 1976).

Herodotus (ca. 485–ca. 424 BCE) – Historiae: Rosén, H. B. Herodoti Historiae I, II, Leipzig 1987 (I = lib. I–IV), 1997 (II = lib. V–IX).

Hieronymus of Rhodes (ca. 290–230 BCE) – Wehrli, F. Die Schule des Aristoteles 10, Basel 21969.

Himerius (ca. 320–after 383 CE) – Declamationes et orationes : Colonna, A. Himerii declamationes et orationes cum deperditarum fragmentis, Roma 1951.

Hippias of Elis (5th cent. BCE, still active at the beginning of the 4th cent.) – Diels H.; Kranz, W. Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker II, Berlin 61952 (repr. Dublin 1966), 326–34.

558

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

Hippobotus (active at the end of the 3rd cent. BCE) – Gigante, M. “Frammenti di Hippoboto”, in: Omaggio a Piero Treves, 1983, 151–93.

Hippolytus of Rome (ca. 160–235 CE) – Refutatio omnium haeresium: Marcovich, M. Refutatio omnium haeresium (= Patrist. Texte und Studien 25), Berlin 1986, 53–417.

Hugh of St. Victor (ca. 1096–1141 CE) – De studio legendi: Offergeld, T. Hugo von Sankt Victor, Didascalion de studio legendi – Studienbuch (= Fontes christiani 27), Freiburg 1997.

Iamblichus of Chalcis (ca. 240–325 CE) – De vita Pythagorica: Von Albrecht, M. De vita Pythagorica, Darmstadt 2002. – Protrepticus: Des Places, E. Protreptique, Paris 1989. – De communi mathematica scientia: Klein, U. (post N. Festa 1891), Iamblichi de communi mathematica scientia liber, Leipzig 1975. – In Nicomachi arithmeticam introductionem: Klein, U. (post H. Pistelli1894), Iamblichi in Nicomachi arithmeticam introductionem liber, Leipzig 1975.

Inscription in the Gymnasium of Tauromenium (2nd cent. BCE) – Blanck, H. “Anaximander in Taormina (Taf. 71–72)”, in: MDAI 104, 1997, 507–11.

Inscription on a representation of the Seven Sages on the wall of a building in Ostia, Baths of the Seven Sages(mid-2nd cent. CE) – Calza, G. “Die Taverne der Sieben Weisen in Ostia”, in: Die Antike 15, 1939, 99–115. – Zarker, J. W. Studies in the Carmina Latina Epigraphica, Diss. phil. Princeton 1958.

Iohannes Antiochenus (beginning of the 7th cent. CE) – Roberto, U. Ioannis Antiocheni fragmenta ex historia chronica, Berlin/New York 2005.

Iohannes Galenus Grammaticus (? 1st half of the 12th cent. CE) – Allegoriae in Hesiodi theogoniam: Flach, H. Glossen und Scholien zur Hesiodischen Theogonie, Leipzig 1876 (repr. 1970), 295–365.

Iohannes Italos (ca. 1023–after 1083 CE) – Joannou, P. Ioannes Italos. Quaestiones quodlibetales, Ettal 1956.

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

559

Iohannes Malalas (490/ 500–after 570 CE) – Chronographia: Thurn, H. Ioannis Malalae Chronographia (= Corpus fontium historiae Byzantinae 35), Berlin 2000.

Iohannes Mauropus (ca. 1000-between 1075 and 1081 CE) – De Lagarde, P. Iohannis Euchaitorum Metropolitae quae in codice Vaticano Graeco 676 supersunt (= Abhandlungen historisch-philologischen Classe der königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen 28), Göttingen 1882.

Iohannes Siceliotes (end of the 11th cent. CE) – Commentarium in Hermogenis librum peri ideon: Walz, C. Rhetores Graeci VI, Leipzig 1832–6 repr.1968), 56–504.

Irenaeus of Lyon (2nd cent. CE) – Adversus haereses: Brox, N. Irenäus von Lyon, Adversus haereses – Gegen die Häresien II (= Fontes christiani 8/ 2), Freiburg 1993.

Isidore of Seville (ca. 560–636 CE) – Etymologiae: Lindsay, W. M. Etymologiarum sive Originum libri, Oxford 1911.

Jerome (between 331 and 348–419/ 20 CE) – Interpretatio Chronicae Eusebii: Helm, R. Eusebius Werke VII, Die Chronik des Hieronymus (= GCS 47), Berlin 1956.

John of Salisbury (ca. 1115–1180) – Polycraticus: Webb, C. C. J. Polycraticus sive de nugis curialum et vestigiis philosophorum libri VIII, Frankfurt 1909 (repr. 1965). – Epistolae: Millor, W. J.; Butler, H. E.; Brooke, C. N. The Letters of John of Salisbury, Oxford 1986 (1), 1979 (2).

Josephus (born 37/ 8–? 100 CE) – De Iudaeorum vetustate sive Contra Apionem: Reinach, T. Contre Apion, Paris 21972.

Julian of Eclanum (ca. 385-before 455 CE) – Libri ad Turbantium: De Coninck, L. Libri IV ad Turbantium (= CCL 88), Turnholt 1977, 340–96.

560

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

Flavius Gaius Iulianus Apostata (Julian the Apostate) (Roman emperor 331/ 2–363 CE) – Orationes: Hertlein, F. K. Iuliani Imperatoris Quae supersunt praeter reliquias apud Cyrillum omnia, Leipzig 1875 (1), 1876 (2). – Contra Galilaeos: Masaracchia, E. Contra Galilaeos. Introduzione, testo critico e traduzione (= Testi e commenti 9), Roma 1990, 134.

Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis (Juvenal) (67–after 99/ 100 CE) – Saturae: Willis, J. D. Iunii Iuvenalis Saturae sedecim, Stuttgart/Leipzig 1997.

Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius (ca. 250–325 CE) – Divinae Institutiones: Heck, E.; Wlosok, A. L. Caeli Firmianus Lactantius Divinarum Institutionum libri septem, München/ Leipzig 2005 (libri 1,2); Berlin 2007 (libri 3,4) – Epitome: Heck, E.; Wlosok, A. L. Caeli Firmiani Lactanti Epitome Divinarum Institutionum, Stuttgart/ Leipzig 1994.

Leandr(i)us (= Maeandrius ?, early hellenistic period) – Jacoby, F. Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker III B, Berlin 1964, 459–64.

Libanius (314–393 CE) – Declamationes: Foerster, R. Libanii opera V, Declamationes I–XII, Leipzig 1909 (repr. 1963).

Lobon of Argos (3rd cent. BCE) – Lloyd-Jones, H.; Parsons, P. Supplementum Hellenisticum, Berlin 1983, 251–7.

Lucian (between 112 and 125–after 180 CE) – Hippias, Macrobii: MacLeod, M. D. Luciani opera I, Oxford 1972. – De morte Peregrini: MacLeod, M. D. Luciani opera III, Oxford 1970.

Luxurius (work composed ca. 534 CE) – De sententiis septem philosophorum distichi: Shackleton Bailey, D. R. Anthologia Latina 1, Stuttgart 1982.

Iohannes L. Lydos (490–ca. 560 CE) – De mensibus: Wünsch, R. Ioannis Lydi liber de mensibus, Leipzig 1898 (repr. 1967). – De ostentis: Wachsmuth, C. Ioannis Laurentii Lydi liber de ostentis et calendaria Graeca omnia, Leipzig 1897.

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

561

Martianus Capella (work probably composed ca. 470 CE) – De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii: Willis, J. Martianus Capella, Leipzig 1983.

Maximus of Tyre (2nd cent. CE) – Dialexeis: Koniaris, G. L. Philosophumena – Dialexeis (= Texte und Kommentare 17), Berlin 1995.

Marcus Minucius Felix (active between 197 and 246 CE) – Octavius: Kytzler, B. M. Minuci Felicis Octavius, Leipzig 1982.

Minyes (date uncertain) – Müller, K. Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum II, Paris 1848 (repr. Frankfurt/Main 1975), 335.

Nemesius of Emesa (work composed ca. 400 CE) – De natura hominis: Morani, M. Nemesii Emeseni De natura hominis, Leipzig 1987.

Nicephorus Gregoras (ca. 1294–ca. 1359 CE) – Byzantinae historiae (Historia Romana): Migne, J. P. Byzantinae historiae (= PG 148), Paris 1865. – Leone, P. L. M. Fiorenzo o Intorno alla sapienza (= Byzantina et Neo-Hellenica Neapolitana 4), Napoli 1975. – Leone, P. L. M. Nicephori Gregorae Epistulae II, Matino 1982.

Nicolaus of Damascus (born ca. 64 BCE) – Jacoby, F. Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker II A, Berlin 1926, 324–430.

Olympiodorus (born between 495 and 505 CE, still teaching in 565) – In Platonis Gorgiam commentaria: Westerink, L. G. Olympiodori in Platonis Gorgiam commentaria, Leipzig 1970. – In Aristotelis categorias: Busse, A. Olympiodori in Aristotelis categorias commentarium (= CAG 12.1), Berlin 1902, 26–148.

Olympiodorus (the Alchemist ?, possibly identical with Olympiodorus, cf. above) Εἰς τὸ κατ΄ ἐνέργειαν Ζωσίµου: Berthelot, M.; Ruelle, Ch.-E. Collection des anciens alchimistes grecs II, Paris 1888 (repr. Osnabrück 1967), 69–104.

562

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

Georgius Pachymeres (1242 – after 1307 CE) – In Metaphysica: Pappa, E. Georgius Pachymeres. Philosophia X: In Aristotelis Metaphysicam commentarium (= Commentaria in Aristotelem Byzantina 2), Athens 2002.

Pamphila (mid-1st cent. CE) – Müller, K. Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum III, Paris 1849 (repr. Frankfurt/Main 1975), 520–2.

Pausanias (ca. 115–after 180 CE ?) – Graeciae descriptio: Rocha-Pereira, M. H. Pausaniae Graeciae descriptio, Leipzig 21989.

Peter Damian (ca 1007–1072 CE) – Epistulae: Gaetani, C. Epistulae (= PG 144), Paris 1853.

Pherecydes (6th cent. BCE) – Schibli, H. S. Pherekydes of Syros, Oxford 1990.

Manuel Philes (ca. 1275–1345 CE) – Carmina: Miller, E. Manuelis Philae Carmina, Paris 1857 (repr. 1967).

Philip of Harvengt (died 1183 CE) – De institutione clericorum: Migne, J. P. De institutione clericorum (= PL 203), Paris 1855.

Iohannes Philoponus (ca. 490–ca. 575 CE) – Busse, A. Ioannis Philoponi in Aristotelis categorias commentarium (=  CAG 13.1), Berlin 1898, 1–205. – Vitelli, H. Ioannis Philoponi in Aristotelis libros de generatione et corruptione commentarium (= CAG 14.2), Berlin 1897, 1–314. – Hayduck, M. Ioannis Philoponi in Aristotelis libros de anima commentarium (= CAG 15), Berlin 1897. – Vitelli, H. Ioannis Philoponi in Aristotelis physicorum libros commentarium (= CAG 16, 17), Berlin 1887 (16), 1888 (17).

Flavius Philostratus (ca. 170–after 212 CE) – Vita Apollonii: Kayser, C. L. Flavii Philostrati opera 1, Leipzig 1870 (repr. 1964). – Nero: Kayser, C. L. Flavii Philostrati opera 2, Leipzig 1871 (repr. 1964). – Epistulae : Penella, R. J. The letters of Apollonius of Tyana, Leiden 1979.

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

563

Publius Aelius Phlegon of Tralles (died after 137 CE, freedman of Hadrian) – Jacoby, F. Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker II B, Berlin 1929, 1159–94.

Phoenix of Colophon (4th/ 3rd cent. BCE) – Powell, J. U. Collectanea Alexandrina, Oxford 1925 (repr. 1970), 231–6.

Plato (428/7–348/7 BCE) – – – –

Theaetetus: Duke, E. A. F. Platonis opera I, Oxford 1995. Protagoras, Hippias Maior: Burnet, J. Platonis opera III, Oxford 1903 (repr. 1968). Res publica: Burnet, J. Platonis opera IV, Oxford 1902 (repr. 1968). Epistulae: Burnet, J. Platonis opera V, Oxford 1907 (repr. 1967).

Titus Maccius Plautus (ca. 250–184 BCE) – Captivi: Lindsay, W. M. T. Macci Plauti Comoediae I, Oxford 121968. – Rudens: Fay, H. Rudens, London 1969. – Bacchides: Barsby, J. Bacchides, Warminster 1986.

Gaius Plinius Secundus (23/ 4–79 CE) – Naturalis historia: Mayhoff, C. C. Plini Secundi Naturalis Historiae I, III, V, Stuttgart 1906 (I) (repr. 1967), 1892 (III) (repr. 1967), 1907 (V) (repr. 1967).

Plutarch (ca. 45–before 125 CE) – – – – – – – – –

Solon: Ziegler, K. Plutarchi vitae parallelae 1.1, Leipzig 41969. De Iside et Osiride: Sieveking, W. Plutarchi moralia 2.3, Leipzig 1935 (repr. 1971). De Pythiae oraculis: Sieveking, W. Plutarchi moralia 3, Leipzig 1929 (repr. 1972). Septem sapientium convivium: Paton, W. R.; Wegehaupt, J. (corr. H. Gärtner), Plutarchi moralia 1, Leipzig 31993. De Herodoti malignitate: Häsler, B. Plutarchi moralia 5.2.2, Leipzig 1978. De genio Socratis: Sieveking, W. Plutarchi moralia 3, Leipzig 1929 (repr. 1972). Quaestiones convivales: Hubert, C. Plutarchi moralia 4, Leipzig 1938 (repr. 1971). De sollertia animalium: Hubert, C. Plutarchi moralia 6.1, Leipzig 1954 (repr. 1959). De E apud Delphos: Sieveking, W. Plutarchi moralia 3, Leipzig 1929 (repr. 1972).

Pomponius Mela (mid-1st cent. CE) – De chorographia: Parroni, P. Pomponius Melae De chorographia libri tres, Roma 1984.

564

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

Porphyry (ca. 234–305/ 10 CE) – Busse, A. Porphyrii in Aristotelis categorias expositio per interrogationem et responsionem (= CAG 4.1), Berlin 1887, 55–142. – Smith, A. Porphyrii Philosophi fragmenta, Stuttgart/Leipzig 1993.

Proclus Diadochus (412–485 CE) – In Platonis Timaeum commentaria: Diehl, E. Procli Diadochi in Platonis Timaeum commentaria 1, 2, 3, Leipzig 1903 (1); 1904 (2); 1906 (3) (repr. 1965). – In primum Euclidis elementorum librum commentarii: Friedlein, G. Procli Diadochi in primum Euclidis elementorum librum commentarii, Leipzig 1873.

Michael Psellus (ca. 1018-ca. 1078 CE) – In Physica: Benakis, L. G. Michael Psellos. Kommentar zur Physik des Aristoteles (= Commentaria in Aristotelem Byzantina 5), Athens 2008. – Opuscula logica, physica, allegorica, alia: Duffy, J.  M. Michaelis Pselli philosophica minora, Leipzig 1992. – Opuscula psychologica, theologica, daemonologica: O’Meara, D.  J. Michaelis Pselli philosophica minora 2, Leipzig 1989. – Theologica: Gautier, P. Michaelis Pselli theologica 1, Leipzig 1989.

Pseudo-Ausonius (4th cent. CE ?) – Septem sapientium sententiae: Green, R. P. H. The works of Ausonius, Oxford 1991.

Pseudo-Galen (compilation completed ca. 500 CE) – De historia philosophica: Diels, H. Doxographi Graeci, Berlin 1879 (repr. 1965), 597– 648.

Pseudo-Hyginus (2nd cent. CE) – De astronomia: LeBoeuffle, A. Hygin, L’Astronomie, Paris 1983 – Fabulae: Marshall, P. K. Hygini Fabulae, Stuttgart/ Leipzig 1993.

Pseudo-Justin Martyr (early 4th cent. CE) – Cohortatio ad Graecos: Marcovich, M. Cohortatio ad Graecos. De Monarchia. Oratio ad Graecos, Berlin 1990.

Pseudo-Plutarch (ca. 1st half of the 2nd cent. CE ?) – Placita Philosophorum: Lachenaud, G. Plutarque. Oeuvres morales XII.2: Opinions des philosophes, Paris ²2003.

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

565

Pseudo-Plutarch (end of the 2nd cent. CE) – Vitae Homeri: Kindstrand, J. F. De Homero, Leipzig 1990. – Stromata: Sandbach, F. H. Plutarchi moralia 7, Leipzig 1967

Pseudo-Valerius Probus (scripta Probiana) (4th cent. CE) – Commentarius in Vergili Bucolica: Thilo, G. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii Bucolica et Georgica commentarii III.1, Leipzig 1887 (repr. 1961).

Tyrannius Rufinus (345–410 CE) – Clementina secundum translationem quam fecit Rufinus: Rehm, B.; Paschke, F. Die Pseudoklementinen II. Rekognitionen in Rufins Übersetzung (= GCS 51), Berlin 1965.

Sabinus (1st/2nd cent. CE) – Galenos, In Hippocratis De natura hominis (= CMG V 9.1; 15.11–18).

Scholia in Apollonium Rhodium (9th/ 11th cent. CE; the scholia were already constituted in the 2nd cent. BCE, but go back to grammatical writings of Augustus‘ reign) – Scholia in Apollonii Rhodii Argonautica: Wendel, C. Scholia in Apollonium Rhodium vetera, Berlin 31974.

Scholia in Aratum (2nd/ 3rd cent. CE ?) – Martin, J. Scholia in Aratum vetera, Stuttgart 1974.

Scholia in Aristophanem (13th/ 14th cent. CE) – Nubes: Holwerda, D.; Koster, W. J. W. Scholia in Aristophanem 1.3.1 u. 1.3.2, Prolegomena de comoedia. Scholia in Acharnenses, Equites, Nubes, Groningen 1977 (1.3.1), 1974 (1.3.2).

Scholia in Aristophanem (beginning of the 14th cent. CE) – Aves: Holwerda, D. Scholia in Aristophanem 2.3, Scholia in Vespas, Pacem, Aves et Lysistratam, Groningen 1991.

Scholia in Basilium (beginning of the 7th to the end of the 9th cent. CE) – Homiliae In Hexaemeron: Pasquali, G. Doxographica aus Basiliusscholien (= Nachrichten von der Königl. Ges. der Wiss. zu Göttingen, Phil.-hist. Kl.), Berlin 1910.

566

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

Scholia in Dionysium Periegetem (turn of the 5th cent. CE) – Müller, K. Geographi Graeci minores II, Paris 1861 (repr. Hildesheim 1965), 427–57.

Scholia in Hesiodum (12th cent. CE ?) – Scholia in theogoniam: Di Gregorio, L. Scholia vetera in Hesiodi theogoniam, Milano 1975.

Scholia in Homerum (2nd cent. BCE) – Scholia in Iliadem 7: Erbse, H. Scholia in Homeri Iliadem II, Berlin 1971.

Scholia in Homerum (date uncertain) – Scholia in Iliadem 18: Heyne, C. G. Homeri Ilias I, II, Oxford 1834.

Scholia in Lucianum (11th cent. CE ?) – Rabe, H. Scholia in Lucianum, Leipzig 1906.

Scholia in Pindarum (prior to the 13th cent. CE) – Scholia in Pindarum: Drachmann, A. B. Scholia vetera in Pindari carmina I, II, III, Leipzig 1903 (I),1910 (II), 1927 (III) (repr. Amsterdam 1969 (I), 1967 (II), 1966 (III)).

Scholia in Platonem (after Proclus, 5th cent. CE) – Scholia in Platonem: Greene, W.  C. Scholia Platonica, Haverford 1938 (repr. Hildesheim/ Zürich/ New York 1988).

Scholia in Platonem (later than the 6th cent. CE, possibly by Hesychius) – Scholia in Platonem: Greene, W. C. Scholia Platonica, Haverford 1938 (repr. Hildesheim/Zürich/New York 1988).

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (ca. 1–65 CE) – Naturales quaestiones: Hine, H. M. L. Annaei Senecae Naturalium Quaestionum libri, Stuttgart/Leipzig 1996.

Servius Grammaticus (4th/ 5th cent. CE) – In Vergilii Aeneida commentaria: Thilo, G. Servii grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii, Aeneidos librorum commentarii I, II, Leipzig 1878–81 (I) (repr. 1961), 1883–84 (II) (repr. 1961).

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

567

– In Vergilii Bucolica et Georgica commentaria: Thilo, G. Servii grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii bucolica et georgica commentarii III, Leipzig 1887 (repr. 1961).

Sextus Empiricus (2nd cent. CE) – Pyrrhoniae hypotyposes: Mutschmann, H. Sexti Empirici opera 1, Leipzig 1912. – Adversus mathematicos: Mutschmann, H.; Mau, J. Sexti Empirici opera 2, 3, Leipzig 21914.

Sidonius Apollinaris (430/ 1–480’s CE) – Carmina: Loyen, A. Sidoine Apollinaire I Poèmes, Paris 1960. – Epistulae: Loyen, A. Sidoine Apollinaire II Lettres, Paris 1970.

Simplicius (ca. 490–560 CE) – Diels, H. Simplicii in Aristotelis physicorum libros commentaria (= CAG 9 u. 10), Berlin 1882 (9); 1895 (10). – Hayduck, M. Simplicii in Aristotelis libros de anima commentaria (= CAG 11), Berlin 1882. – Heiberg, J. L. Simplicii in Aristotelis quattuor libros de caelo commentaria (= CAG 7), Berlin 1894. – Kalbfleisch, K. Simplicii in Aristotelis categorias commentarium (= CAG 8), Berlin 1907.

Sophonias (turn of the 14th cent. CE) – Hayduck, M. Sophoniae in Aristotelis libros de anima paraphrasis (= CAG 23.1), Berlin 1883.

Sosicrates (fl. at the beginning of the 2nd cent. BCE) – Müller, K. Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum IV, Paris 1851 (repr. Frankfurt/Main 1975), 500–3.

Stephanus of Byzantium (6th cent. CE) – Ethnica: Meineke, A. Stephan von Byzanz. Ethnika, Berlin 1849 (repr. 1992).

Iohannes Stobaeus (5th cent. CE) – Anthologium: Wachsmuth, C.; Hense, O. Ioannis Stobaei anthologium 1–5, Berlin 1884 (1–2); 1894 (3); 1909 (4); 1912 (5) (repr. 1974).

Strabo (before 62 BCE–between 23 and 25 CE) – Geographica: Radt, S. Strabons Geographika 1 (libri I–IV), 4 (libri XIV–XVII), Göttingen 2002 (1); 2005 (4).

568

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

Suda (10th cent. CE) – Lexicon: Adler, A. Suidae lexicon 1–4 (= Lexicographi Graeci 1.1–4), Leipzig 1928– 1935 (repr. 1967–71).

Symeon Logothetes (10th cent. CE) – Chronica: Wahlgren, St. Symeonis magistri et logothetae chronicon, Berlin 2006.

Georgius Syncellus (died shortly after 810 CE) – Ecloga chronographica: Mosshammer, A.  A. Georgius Syncellus. Ecloga chronographica, Leipzig 1984.

Syrianus (1st half of the 5th cent. CE) – Kroll, W. Syriani in Aristotelis metaphysica commentaria (= CAG 6.1), Berlin 1902.

Tatian the Syrian (ca. 120–after 172 CE) – Oratio ad Graecos: Marcovich, M. Tatiani Oratio ad Graecos (= Patristische Texte und Studien 43/ 44), Berlin 1995.

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus (ca. 160/ 70–after 212 CE) – Ad nationes: Borleffs, J. G. Ph. Tertulliani Opera I Opera Catholica: Ad nationes libri duo (= CCL 1), Turnholt 1954, 11–75. – Apologeticum: Deckers, E. Tertulliani Opera I Opera Catholica: Apologeticum (=CCL 1), Turnholt 1954, 85–171. – Adversus Marcionem: Braun, I. R. Tertullien Contre Marcion I (= SC 365), Paris 1990. – De anima: Waszink, J. H. Quinti Septimi Florentis Tertulliani De anima, Amsterdam 1947.

Themistius (ca. 317–ca. 388 CE) – Oratio 26: Maisano, R. Discorsi di Temistio, Turin 1995, 845–89. – In Aristotelis de anima: Heinze, R. Themistii in Aristotelis libros de anima paraphrasis (= CAG 5.3), Berlin 1899, 1–126.

Theodoret (ca. 393–ca. 466 CE) – Graecarum affectionum curatio: Canivet, P. Théodoret de Cyprian Therapeutique des maladies helléniques I, II (= SC 57), Paris 22000 (I), 22001 (II).

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

569

Theodorus Metochites (1270-1332 CE) – Hult, K. Theodore Metochites on Ancient Authors and Philosophy. Semeioseis gnomikai 1–26 & 71 (= Studia Graeca et Latina Gothoburgensia 65), Göteborg 2002.

Theon of Smyrna (mid-2nd cent. CE ?) – De utilitate mathematicae: Hiller, E. Theonis Smyrnaei De utilitate mathematicae, Leipzig 1878, 1–205 (repr. 1995).

Theophrastus (ca. 371/ 0–287/ 6 BCE) – Fortenbaugh, W. W.; Huby, P. M.; Sharples, R. W.; Gutas, D. (FHS&G) Theophrastus of Eresus I, II, Leiden/ New York/ Köln 1992.

Theophylactus Simocatta (active ca. 610–640 CE) – Historiae: De Boor, C. Theophylacti Simocattae historiae, Leipzig 1887 (repr. corr. v. P. Wirth 1972).

Timon of Phlious (ca. 320/ 15–230/ 25 BCE) – Lloyd-Jones, H.; Parsons, P. Supplementum Hellenisticum, Berlin 1983, 368–94.

Thomas Triclinius (turn of the 14th cent. CE) – Scholia in Aristophanis nubes: Holwerda, D.; Koster, W. J. W. Scholia in Aristophanem 1.3.1 u. 1.3.2, Prolegomena de comoedia. Scholia in Acharnenses, Equites, Nubes, Groningen 1977 (1.3.1), 1974 (1.3.2).

Iohannes Tzetzes (ca. 1110–1185 CE) – Chiliades: Leone, P. A. M. Ioannis Tzetzae historiae, Neapel 1968. – Scholia in Lycophronem: Scheer, E. Lycophronis Alexandra 2, Berlin 1958, 8–398. – Commentarium in Plutum: Positano, M. Johannis Tzetzae Commentarii in Aristophanem (= Scholia in Aristophanem 4.1), Groningen 1960. – Commentarium in Nubes: Holwerda, D. Johannis Tzetzae Commentarii in Nubes (= Scholia in Aristophanem 4.2), Groningen 1960.

Valerius Maximus (1st half of the 1st cent. CE) – Facta et dicta memorabilia: Kempf, C. Valerii Maximi Factorum et Dictorum Memorabilium libri novem, Stuttgart 21966.

570

Textual Editions of the Greek and Latin Authors

Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) – Res rusticae: Flach, V. D. Marcus Terentius Varro, Gespräche über die Landwirtschaft Buch 2 (= Texte zur Forschung 66), Darmstadt 1997.

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (end of the 1st cent. BCE) – De architectura II: Callebat, L. Vitruve, De L‘Architecture livre II, Paris 1999. – De architectura VII: Liou, B; Zuinghedau, M. Vitruve, De L‘Architecture livre VII, Paris 1995. – De architectura VIII: Callebat, L. Vitruve, De L‘Architecture livre VIII, Paris 1973. – De architectura IX: Soubiran, J. Vitruve, De L‘Architecture livre IX, Paris 1969.

William of Conches (ca.1080–1154 CE) – Dragmaticon Philosophiae: Ronca, I. Guillelmi de Conchis dragmaticon philosophiae (= CCL 152), Turnholt 1997.

Xenophanes (between 570–467 BCE) – Diels, H.; Kranz, W. Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker I, Berlin 81956, 113–39.

Textual Editions of the Arabic and Persian Authors Anonymous (before 1260 CE) – Fiqar al-ḥukamā wa-nawādir al-qudamā wa-l-ulamā (Excerpts of the Sages and Anecdotes of Ancestors and of the Learned): in: Badawī, M. (ed.) Rasāil falsafīya li-l-Kindī wa-l-Fārābī wa-bn Bāğğa wa-bn Adīy (Philosophische Sendschreiben von al-Kindī, al-Fārābī, Ibn Bāğğa und Ibn Adīy), Beirut 21980, 204–301.

Barhebraeus (1225/6–1286 CE) – Ṣālḥānī, A. (ed.) Ibn al-Ibrī, Tarīḫ muḫtaṣar ad-duwal(History of the World), Beirut 1890.

Al-Bīrūnī (973–1048 CE) – Sachau, E. (ed.) Fī taḥqīq mā li-l-Hind (History of India), London 1887. – Sachau, E. (ed.) Al-ātār al-bāqiya an al-qurūn al-ḫāliya (Chronicle), Leipzig 1878 (repr. 1923).

Ḥunain ibn Isḥāq (809–873 CE) – Translation of Galen’s On Seven-month Children: Walzer, R. (ed.) “Galens Schrift Über die Siebenmonatskinder”, in: Rivista degli Studi Orientali 15, 1935, 323–57.

Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa (died in 1270 CE) – ῾Uyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ: Müller, A. ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ (Sources of Information on the Classes of Physicians) I, II, Kairo/ Königsberg 1882, 1884.

Ibn an-Nadīm (died 995 or 998 CE) – Fihrist (Catalogue): Flügel, G. (ed.) Fihrist Bd. 1, Leipzig 1871.

Ibn al-Qifṭī (1172–1248 CE) – Lippert, J. (ed.) Tarīḫ al-ḥukamā, (History of Learned Men) Leipzig 1903.

572

Textual Editions of the Arabic and Persian Authors

Ibn Baǧǧa (ca. 1085 – 1139 CE) – Kitāb al-kawn wa-l-fasād (Book on Generation and Corruption): Puig Montada, J. Avempace. Libro de la generación y la corrupción (= Pensamiento Islamico 4), Madrid 1995.

Ibn Sīnā (before 980 – 1037CE) – Al-Asʾila wa-l-aǧwiba: Naṣr, S. H.; Mohaghegh, M. Al-Biruni and Ibn Sina. Al-Asʾilah wa’l-Ajwibah (Questions and answers). Including the further answers of al-Bīrūnī and al-Maʿsūmī’s defense of Ibn Sīnā (= High Council of Culture and Art 9), Teheran 1972. – Kitāb aš-šifā (Book of Healing): Madkūr, I.; Qāsim, M. (eds.) Aṭ-ṭabīīyāt, fann 3, Kairo o. J.; repr. Qom o. J.

Al-Mubaššir ibn Fātik (11th cent. CE) – Muḫtār al-ḥikam wa-maḥāsin al-kalim ( Selected Maxims and Excellent Sayings): Badawī, M. (ed.) Muḫtār al-ḥikam wa-maḥāsin al-kalim, Madrid 1958.

Niẓāmī (1141–before 1200 CE) – Dastgirdi, W. (ed.) Niẓāmī, Iqbālnāme (The Alexander Romance), Teheran 21957.

Pseudo-Ammonius (? mid-9th cent. CE) – Doxography: Rudolph, U. (ed.) Die Doxographie des Pseudo-Ammonios. Ein Beitrag zur neuplatonischen Überlieferung im Islam (= Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 49, 1), Stuttgart 1989.

Pseudo-Ğābir ibn Ḥayyān (mid-10th cent. CE) – Kitāb al-baḥt (Book of Investigation): Kraus, P. (ed.) Jābir ibn Ḥayyān. Contribution à l‘histoire des idées scientifiques dans l‘Islam 2 (= Mémoires présentés à l‘Institut d‘Égypte 45), Kairo 1943 (repr. Hildesheim/Zürich/New York/Paris 1986).

Qusṭā ibn Lūqā (died ca. 912 CE) – Translation of Pseudo-Plutarch‘s Placita philosophorum: Daiber, H. (ed.) Aetius Arabus. Die Vorsokratiker in arabischer Überlieferung, Wiesbaden 1980.

Ṣāʽid al-Andalusī (1029–1070 CE) – Ṭabaqāt al-umam (Classes of Peoples): Bū Alwān, Ḥ. (ed.) Ṣāid al-Andalusī, Ṭabaqāt al-umam, Beirut 1985.

Textual Editions of the Arabic and Persian Authors

573

Aš-Šahrastānī (1086–1153 CE) – Kitāb al-milal wa-n-niḥal (Book of Religions and Sects): al-Wakīl, Abd al-Azīz M. (ed.) Aš-Šahrastānī, Al-milal wa-n-niḥal, Kairo 1968. – Kitāb al-milal wa-l-niḥal: Cureton, W. Book of religious and philosophical sects, by Muhammad al-Shahrastani II, London 1846. – Kitāb nihāyat al-aqdām fī ʿilm al-kalām: Guillaume, A. Kitāb Nihāyat al-Iqdām fī ʿilm al-kalām (Book on Generation and Corruption), Bagdad 1960.

Ṣiwān al-ḥikma (The Vessel of Wisdom) (10th cent. CE) – Dunlop, D. M. (ed.) The Muntakhab Ṣiwān al-Ḥikmah of Abū Sulaimān as-Sijistānī, The Hague/Paris/New York 1979.

Literature on Greek and Latin Authors – Allen, M. (Ed.) Frechulfi Lexoriensis episcopi opera omnia (= CCL 169A), Turnhout 2002. – Althoff, J.; Zeller, D. (Eds.) Die Worte der Sieben Weisen, Darmstadt 2006. – Asper, M. Griechische Wissenschaftstexte (= Philosophie der Antike 25), Stuttgart 2007. – Beckby, H. (Ed.) Anthologia Graeca 7, 8, 9, München 1957 (7–8), 1958 (9). – Becker, C. (Ed.) Tertullians Apologeticum, München 1954. – Blumenberg, H. ”Der Sturz des Protophilosophen: Zur Komik der reinen Theorie – anhand einer Rezeptionsgeschichte der Thales-Anekdote“, in: Preisendanz, W.; Warning, R. (Eds.) Das Komische (Poetik und Hermeneutik VII), München 1976, 11–64. – Bodnar, I.; Fortenbaugh, W. W. Eudemus of Rhodes (= Rutgers University Studies in Classical Humanities XI), New Brunswick (USA)/London (UK) 2002. – Bollansée, J. (Ed.) Hermippos of Smyrna (= Die Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker (FGrHist) continued IV A Fasc. III), Leiden/Boston/Köln 1999. – Bonneau, D. (Ed.) Liber Aristotelis De inundatione Nili (= Études De Papyrologie IX), Cairo 1971, 1–33. – -------; La crue du Nil: divinité égyptienne à travers mille ans d’histoire (332 av. – 641 ap. J. – C.), Paris 1964. – Bowen, A. C. “Eudemos’ History of Early Greek Astronomy. Two Hypotheses“, in: Bodnar/Fortenbaugh 2002, 307–22. – -------; Goldstein, B.  R. “Aristarchus, Thales, and Heraclitus on Solar Eclipses: An Astronomical Commentary on P. Oxy. 53.3710 cols. 2.33–3.19“, in: Physis 31.3, 1994, 689–729. – Breitenbach, A. Das “wahrhaft goldene Athen“, Berlin 2003. – Brunner, H.; Flessel, K.; Hiller, F.; Meyers Lexikonredaktion (Eds.) Lexikon Alte Kulturen III (N-Zz), Mannheim/Leipzig/Wien/Zürich 1993. – Buchheit, V. “Vergil und Thales bei Minucius Felix“, in: Rheinisches Museum 149, 2006, 350–8. – Burkert, W. “Heraclitus and the Moon: The New Fragments in P. Oxy. 3710“, in: Illinois Classical Studies 18, 1993, 49–55. – Charlton, W. (Ed.) Philoponus. On Aristotle On the Soul 3.9–13 with Stephanus. On Aristotle On Interpretation, London 2000. – Classen, C. J. “Thales“, in: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft Suppl. X 1965, 930–47; in: Classcn, C.J. Ansätze, Amsterdam et al. 1986, 29–46. – Conche, M. (Ed.) Anaximandre. Fragments et Témoignages, Paris 1991. – Cramer, J. A. (Ed.) Anecdota Graecae codd. manuscriptis Bibliothecae Regiae Parisiensis, Oxford 1839 (repr. Hildesheim 1967). – Daiber, H. (Ed.) Aetius Arabus, Wiesbaden 1980. – Deichgräber, K. Hippokrates’ De humoribus in der Geschichte der griechischen Medizin (= Abh. Akad. Wiss. u. Lit. Mainz, Geistes- u. sozialwiss. Kl., Nr. 14, 1972), Mainz 1972.

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– Müller, A. (Ed.) Ibn abī Uṣaibi῾a, ῾Uyūn al-anbā᾽ fī ṭabaqāti l-aṭibbā᾽, Cairo 1882; Nachträge Königsberg 1884; repr. Farnborough, Hants. 1972. – Müller, I. (Ed.) Galenus Scripta minora 2, Leipzig 1891. – Nasr, S. H.; Mohaghegh, M. (Ed.) Al-Bīrūnī u. Ibn Sīnā, Al-as᾽ila wa-l-ağwiba (Questions and answers), Teheran 1352/1972. – Overwien, O. “Ḥunayn b. Isḥāq, Ādāb al-falāsifa: Griechische Inhalte in einer arabischen Spruchsammlung“, in: Piccione, R. M.; Perkams, M. (Eds.) Selecta colligere, I: Akten des Kolloquiums “Sammeln, Neuordnen, Neues Schaffen. Methoden der Überlieferung von Texten in der Spätantike und in Byzanz“ (Jena, 21.–23. November 2002), Alexandria 2003, 95–115. – ------- Die Sprüche des Kynikers Diogenes in der griechischen und arabischen Überlieferung (= HERMES Einzelschriften 92), Stuttgart 2005. – Peters, F. E. Aristoteles Arabus. The Oriental Translations and Commentaries on the Aristotelian Corpus, Leiden 1968. – Pietruschka, U. “Fälasfa ṭäbiban: Mäṣḥafä fälasfa ṭäbiban“, in: Encyclopaedia Aethiopica 2, Wiesbaden 2005, 485–6. – Plessner, M. Vorsokratische Philosophie und griechische Alchemie in arabisch-lateinischer Überlieferung. Studien zu Text und Inhalt der Turba Philosophorum (= Boethius 4), Wiesbaden 1975. – al-Qabbānī, M. (Ed.) Ibn Hindū, Al-kalim ar-rūḥānīya fī l-kalimi l-yūnānīya, Cairo 1900. – Ritter, H.; Plessner, M. (Eds.) “Picatrix“. Das Ziel des Weisen von Pseudo-Mağrīṭī (= Studies of the Warburg Institute 27), London 1962. – Rosenthal, F. “Arabische Nachrichten über Zenon den Eleaten“, in: Orientalia N. S. 6, 1937, 21–67; repr. in: Rosenthal, F. 1990, I. – ------- “Sayings of the Ancients from Ibn Durayd‘s Kitāb al-Mujtanā“, in: Orientalia N.S. 27, 1958, 29–54 u. 150–83; repr. in: Rosenthal, F. 1990, VII. – ------- “Al-Mubashshir ibn Fātik. Prolegomena to an abortive edition“, in: Oriens 13–4, 1960 – 1, 132–58. – ------- Das Fortleben der Antike im Islam, Zürich/Stuttgart 1965. – -------, Greek Philosophy in the Arab World, Aldershot 1990. – ------- “Witty Retorts of Philosophers and Sages from the Kitāb al-Ajwibah al-muskitah of Ibn Abī ῾Awn“, in: Graeco-Arabica 4, 1991, S. 179–221. – Rowson, E. K. A Muslim Philosopher on the Soul and its Fate: Al-῾Āmirī‘s Kitāb alAmad ῾alā l-abad, New Haven, Conn. 1988. – Rudolph, U. Die Doxographie des Pseudo-Ammonios. Ein Beitrag zur neuplatonischen Überlieferung im Islam (=  Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 49.1), Stuttgart 1989. – ------- “Christliche Theologie und vorsokratische Lehren in der Turba Philosophorum“, in: Oriens 32, 1990, 97–123. – ------- “La connaissance des présocratiques à l’aube de la philosophie et de l’alchimie islamique“, in: Viano, Ch. (Ed.) L’alchimie et ses racines philosophiques – La tradition grecque et la tradition arabe (= Histoire des doctrines de l‘antiquité classique 32), Paris 2005, 155–70. – Ryssel, V. “Neu aufgefundene graeco-syrische Philosophensprüche über die Seele“, in: Rheinisches Museum N.F. 51, 1896, 529–43. – Sachau, E. (Ed.) Alberuni’s India, London 1888. – ------- (Ed.) Alberuni, The chronology of ancient nations, London 1879.

Literature on Arabic and Persian Authors

585

– Salem, S. I.; Kumar, A. (Eds.) Ṣā῾id al-Andalusī, Science in the Medieval World. “Book of the Categories of Nations“, Austin, Texas 1996. – Salīm Sālim, M. (Ed.) Kitāb Ğālīnūs fī l-usṭuqussāt, Cairo 1986. – Searby, D. M. The Corpus Parisinum, Lewiston/New York et al. 2007. – Sezgin, F. Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums 3, 4, Leiden 1970/1. – ------- (Ed.) Galen‘s Commentary on the Hippocratic Treatise On Airs, Waters, Places (Περὶ ἀέρων, ὑδάτων, τόπων) in Arabic Translation (= Publications of the Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science. Series C: Facsimile Editions 65), Frankfurt am Main 2001. – Smith, A. (Ed.) Porphyrii Philosophi Fragmenta. Fragmenta Arabica David Wasserstein interpretante, Stutttgart 1993. – Stern, S. M. “Abū ῾Īsā ibn al-Munajjim‘s Chronography“, in: Stern, S.M.. et al. (Eds.) Islamic philosophy and the classical tradition: essays presented ... to Richard Walzer, Oxford 1972, 437–66; repr. in: Zimmermann, F. W. (Ed.) Medieval Arabic and Hebrew Thought (= Collected studies series CS183), London 1983, XIII. – Steinschneider, M. Die hebräischen Übersetzungen des Mittelalters und die Juden als Dolmetscher, Berlin 1893; repr. Graz 1956. – Strohmaier, G. “Ein Arzneitrank des Demokrit?“, in: Philologus 116, 1972, 142–5; repr. in: Strohmaier, G. Von Demokrit bis Dante, 1996, 22–5. – ------- “Diogenes im Wirtshaus zu Herculaneum“, in: Pompeji 79–1979. Beiträge zum Vesuvausbruch und seiner Nachwirkung (=  Beiträge der Winckelmann-Gesellschaft Stendal 11), Stendal 1982, 85–9 ; repr. in: Strohmaier, G. Von Demokrit bis Dante, 1996, 57–61. – ------- “Demokrit über die Sonnenstäubchen. Ein neues Fragment in arabischer Überlieferung“, in: Philologus 112, 1968, 1–19; repr. in: Strohmaier, G. Von Demokrit bis Dante, 1996, 3–21. – ------- “Übersehenes zur Biographie Lukians“, in: Philologus 120, 1976, 117–22; repr. in Strohmaier, G. Von Demokrit bis Dante, 1996, 88–93. – ------- “Homer in Bagdad“, in: Byzantinoslavica (Prag) 41, 1980, 196–200; repr. in: Strohmaier, G. Von Demokrit bis Dante, 1996, 222–6. – ------- “Al-Manṣūr und die frühe Rezeption der griechischen Alchemie. Ein Beitrag zur Rolle nichtliterarischer Kommunikation“, in: Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften 5, 1989, 167–77; repr. in: Strohmaier, G. Von Demokrit bis Dante, 1996, 365–75. – ------- “The Arabic Tradition“, in: De Lacy, Ph. (Ed.) Galeni De elementis ex Hippocratis sententia (= CMG V 1.2), Berlin 1996, 20–5. – ------- Von Demokrit bis Dante. Die Bewahrung antiken Erbes in der arabischen Kultur (= Olms Studien 43), Hildesheim/Zürich/New York 1996. – ------- “Das Gnomologium als Forschungsaufgabe“, in: Collatz, Ch. F.; Dummer, J.; Kollesch, J.; Werlitz, M.-L. (Eds.) Dissertatiunculae criticae. Festschrift für Günther Christian Hansen, Würzburg 1998, 461–71; repr. in: Strohmaier, G. Hellas im Islam, 2003, 43–9. – ------- “Der syrische und der arabische Galen“, in: Aufstieg und Niedergang der Römischen Welt, Teil II, Bd. 37, 2, Berlin/New York 1994, 1987–2017; repr. in: Strohmaier, G. Hellas im Islam, 2003, 85–106. – ------- “Avicenne et le phénomène des écrits pseudépigraphiques“, in: Janssens, J.; De Smet, D. (Eds.) Avicenna and his heritage. Acts of the International Colloquium Leuven – Louvain-la-Neuve. September 8–September 11, 1999 (=  Ancient and Medieval Philosophy. De Wulf-Mansion Centre. Series 1: XXVIII) Leuven 2002, 37–46;

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repr. in: Strohmaier, G. Antike Naturwissenschaft in orientalischem Gewand, 2007, 113–21. – ------- Hellas im Islam. Interdisziplinäre Studien zur Ikonographie, Wissenschaft und Religionsgeschichte (= Diskurse der Arabistik 6), Wiesbaden 2003. – ------- Al-Bīrūnī. In den Gärten der Wissenschaft. Ausgewählte Texte aus den Werken des muslimischen Universalgelehrten, Leipzig 32002. – ------- “The Uses of Galen in Arabic Literature“, in: Nutton, V. (Ed.) The Unknown Galen (= Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies. Supplement 77), London 2002, 113–20; repr. in Strohmaier, G. Antike Naturwissenschaft in orientalischem Gewand, 2007, 131–40. – ------- “Die Weisheit des kleinen Mannes. Das Gnomologium – eine ausgestorbene, aber dennoch amüsante Literaturgattung“, in: Piccione, R. M.; Perkams, M. (Eds.) Selecta colligere, I: Akten des Kolloquiums “Sammeln, Neuordnen, Neues Schaffen. Methoden der Überlieferung von Texten in der Spätantike und in Byzanz“ (Jena, 21.–23. November 2002), Alexandria 2003, 3–16. – ------- Avicenna, München 22006. – ------- Rezension von: Oliver Overwien, Die Sprüche des Kynikers Diogenes in der griechischen und arabischen Überlieferung, Stuttgart 2005 (= Hermes Einzelschriften 92), in: Gnomon 79, 2007, 401–4. – ------- Antike Naturwissenschaft in orientalischem Gewand (= AKAN-Einzelschriften 6) Trier 2007. – ------- “Lukian von Samosata privat”, in: Das Altertum 58, 2013, 19–26. – Stüve, W. (Ed.) Olympiodori in Aristotelis Meteora commentaria (= CAG 12), Berlin 1890. – Thom, J. C. The Pythagorean Golden Verses, Leiden/New York/Köln 1995. – Tkatsch, J. Die arabische Übersetzung der Poetik des Aristoteles und die Grundlage der Kritik des griechischen Textes I, II, (= Akademie der Wissenschaften Wien. Phil.-hist. Klasse. Kommission für die Herausgabe der arabischen Aristoteles-Übersetzungen 1), Wien/Leipzig 1928–32. – Ullmann, M. Die Medizin im Islam (= Handbuch der Orientalistik. Erste Abt.., Erg.Bd. VI, 1. Abschnitt), Leiden/Köln 1970. –----- Die Natur- und Geheimwissenschaften im Islam (= Handbuch der Orientalistik. Erste Abt., Erg.-Bd. VI, 2. Abschnitt), Leiden/Köln 1972. –----- “„Die Schrift des Badīġūras über die Ersatzdrogen“, in: Der Islam 50, 1973, 230–48. – Van Ess, J. ““60 Years After: Shlomo Pines’s Beiträge and Half a Century of Research on Atomism in Islamic Theology“, in: Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities VIII, 2, Jerusalem 2002, 19–41. – Walzer, R. “„Galens Schrift Über die Siebenmonatskinder“, in: Rivista degli Studi Orientali 15, 1935, 323–57. –-----. (Ed.) Galen De experientia medica XIII,4f.: Galen on Medical Experience, London/New York/Toronto 1946. – Weissbach, F. H. “„Κυαξάρης“, in: RE XI, 2, Stuttgart 1922, Sp. 2246–50. – Wenkebach, E.; Pfaff, F. (Eds.) Galeni In Hippocratis Epidemiarum libros I et II (= CMG V 10.1), Leipzig/Berlin 1934. – ------- (Eds.) Galeni In Hippocratis Epidemiarum librum VI commentaria I–VIII (= CMG V 10.2.2), Berlin 21956. – Wüstenfeld, F. (Ed.) al-Qazwīnī, Kitāb ῾ağā᾽ib al-maḫlūqāt, Göttingen 1849.

Concordance TP → DK Th 10 Th 11 Th 12 Th 13 Th 19 Th 28 Th 29 Th 30 Th 31 Th 32 Th 52 Th 72 Th 77 Th 99 Th 105 Th 106 Th 107 Th 108 Th 109 Th 114 Th 116 Th 117 Th 119 Th 147 Th 155 Th 156 Th 157 Th 158 Th 162 Th 164 Th 167 Th 176 Th 178 Th 181 Th 203 Th 237 Th 249

A5 A6 A4 A 16 A9 A 10 A 12 A 14 A 22 A 22 A 3a A 23 A5 A 15 A5 A 18 A 21 A 11 A 11 A8 A 11 B1 A 21 A 11 A 13b A 13c A 17a A 17a A 15 A 16 A 17 A5 A 19 B3 A5 A 1, B 1, B4 A 11

Th 296 Th 303 Th 306 Th 318 Th 340 Th 349 Th 355 Th 357 Th 360 Th 373 Th 380 Th 381 Th 383 Th 384 Th 409 Th 419 Th 426 Th 477 Th 492 Th 495 Th 575 Th 578

A 19 A 11a A7 A 13 A 23 A 13a A 17a A 17b A 22a A7 A 11 A 20 A 20 A 20 A 13, B 1 A 13 A 14 A8 A8 A2 B2 A3

DK → TP A1 A2 A3 A 3a A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9

Th 237 Th 495 Th 578 Th 52 Th 12 Th 10, Th 77, Th 105, Th 176, Th 203 Th 11 Th 306, Th 373 Th 114, Th 477, Th 492 Th 19

588 A 10 A 11 A 11a A 12 A 13 A 13a A 13b A 13c A 14 A 15 A 16 A 17

Concordance Th 28 Th 108, Th 109, Th 116, Th 147, Th 249, Th 380 Th 303 Th 29 Th 318, Th 409, Th 419 Th 349 Th 155 Th 156 Th 30, Th 426 Th 99, Th 162 Th 13, Th 164 Th 167

A 17a A 17b A 18 A 19 A 20 A 21 A 22 A 22a A 23 B1 B2 B3 B4

Th 157, Th 158, Th 355 Th 357 Th 106 Th 178, Th 296 Th 381, Th 383, Th 384 Th 107, Th 119 Th 31, Th 32 Th 360 Th 72, Th 340 Th 117, Th 237, Th 409 Th 575 Th 181 Th 237

Catalogue of Testimonia Alcaeus (7th/6th cent. BCE) Th 1

Fr. 448 Voigt, cf. Th 303 (Him. Or. 28.2)

Pherecydes of Syros (6th cent. BCE) Th 2 Th 3 Th 4 Th 5

Fr. 2 Schibli, cf. Th 498 (Suda Lex. phi 214.1–9) Fr. 58 Schibli, cf. Th 241 (Diog. Laert. 2.46); Th 34 (Arist. Fr. 21.1 Gigon) Fr. 53a Schibli, cf. Th 533 (Tzetz. Chil. 2.869 f.) Fr. 53b Schibli, cf. Th 534 (Tzetz. Chil. 11.67 f.)

Xenophanes (ca. 570 – ca. 467 BCE) Th 6 Th 7

Fr. 21 A 1 DK, cf. Th 243 (Diog. Laert. 9.18.11–12) Fr. 21 B 19 DK, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.23)

Heraclitus (ca. 500 BCE) Th 8

22 B 38 DK, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.23)

Choerilus of Samos (5th cent. BCE) Th 9

Fr. 331 Suppl. Hell. (= Fr. 13 Kinkel), cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.24)

Herodotus (ca. 485 – ca. 424 BCE) Th 10 Th 11 Th 12 Th 13

Historiae 1.74 (ed. Rosén) Hist 1.75 Hist. 1.170 Hist. 2.20

Democritus of Abdera (470/60–380/70 BCE) Th 14 Th 15

Fr. 68 B 115a DK, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.22) Fr. 68 B 115a DK, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.23)

Hippias of Elis (5th cent. BCE, still active at the beginning of the 4th cent.) Th 16

Fr. 86 B 7 DK, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.24)

Aristophanes (ca. 450 – ca. 385 BCE) Th 17 Th 18

Nubes 168–180 (ed. Wilson) Aves 992–1009 (ed. Wilson)

Plato (428/7–348/7 BCE) Th 19 Th 20 Th 21 Th 22

Theaetetus 174A4–B6 (ed. Duke) Protagoras 342E4–343B7 (ed. Burnet) Hippias maior 281C3–D8 (ed. Burnet) Res publica 10.600A4–7 (ed. Burnet)

590 Th 23

Catalogue of Testimonia Epistula 2.311A1–7 (ed. Burnet)

Andron of Ephesus (first half of the 4th cent. BCE) Th 24

FHG II 347.3, cf. Th 205 (Clem. Al. Strom. 1.21.129.3–4)

Eudoxus of Cnidus (? 391/0–338/7 BCE) Th 25

Fr. F 731 Lasserre, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.29)

Heraclides of Pontus (ca. 390 – after 322 BCE) Th 26

Fr. 45 Wehrli2, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.25)

Aristotle (384–322 BCE) Th 27 Ethica Nicomachea 6.7.1141b2–8 (ed. Bywater) Th 28 Politica 1.11.1259a5–19 (ed. Ross) Th 29 Metaphysica 1.3.983b20–984a7 (ed. Ross) Th 30 De caelo 2.13.294a28–b6 (ed. Allan) Th 31 De anima 1.2.405a19–21 (ed. Ross) Th 32 De an. 1.5.411a7–8 Th 33 Liber Aristotelis de inundacione Nili Fr. 248 R3 (ed. Rose) (= FGrHist III C 646 F 1) Th 34 Fr. 21.1 Gigon = 75 Rose3 [Über Dichter, 3. Buch], cf. Th 241 (Diog. Laert. 2.46)

Clytus Th 35

FHG II 333.3, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.25)

Dicaearchus (born ca. 375 BCE) Th 36

Fr. 3 Wehrli2, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.41)

Theophrastus (ca. 371/0–287/6 BCE) Th 37 Th 38 Th 39

583 FHS&G, cf. Th 111 (Plu. Sol. 4.7.1–4.80E) 225 FHS&G; cf. Th 409 (Simp. in Ph. 9.23.21–33) 226A FHS&G; cf. Th 410 (Simp. in Ph. 9.24.13–16)

Chamaeleon (second half of the 4th cent. BCE) Th 40 Fr. 2a Wehrli2, cf. Th 200 (Clem. Al. Strom. 1.14.60.3) Th 40a Fr. 2b Wehrli2, cf. 569a (Anecdota Graeca ed. I. Bekker (1814) I 233, 15). Th 40b CPF I 1* (29 Chamaeleon 1T), p.402 ff., cf. Th 569b (PSI 1093, 31–33 [II.13]

Demetrius of Phaleron (ca. 360–280 BCE) Th 41 Th 42

Fr. 149 Wehrli2, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.22) Fr. 114 Wehrli2, cf. Th 362 (Stob. Anth. 3.1.172)

Eudemus (born before 350 BCE) Th 43 Fr. 134 Wehrli2, cf. Th 384 (Procl. in Euc. 352.14–18) Th 44 Fr. 135 Wehrli2, cf. Th 383 (Procl. in Euc. 299.1–5) Th 45 Fr. 143 Wehrli2, cf. Th 203 (Clem. Al. Strom. 1.14.65.1) Th 46 Fr. 144 Wehrli2, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.23) Th 47 Fr. 145 Wehrli2, cf. Th 93 (Heron Def. 138.11), cf. Th 167 (Theon Sm. 198 Hiller)

Catalogue of Testimonia

591

Duris of Samos (4th/3rd cent. BCE) Th 48

FGrHist II A 76 F 74, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.22)

Phoenix of Colophon (4th/3rd cent. BCE) Th 49

Fr. 4, 234 ed. Powell, cf. Th 235 (Ath. Deipn. 11.91.495D)

Leandr(i)us (= Maeandrius?, early Hellenistic period) Th 50 FGrHist III B 491–2 F 17, cf. Th 202 (Clem. Al. Strom. 1.14.62.1–63.2), cf. Th 327 Th 51 FGrHist III B 491–2 F 18, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.28–29)

Callimachus (between 320 and 302 – after 246 BCE) Th 52

Iambus 1.52–77 = Fr. 191 Pfeiffer

Timon of Phlious (ca. 320/15–230/25 BCE) Th 53

Fr. 797 Suppl. Hell. (Diels Fr. B 23), cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.34)

Aristarchus of Samos (ca. 310–230 BCE) Th 54 P. Oxy. 53.3710 col. 2.36–41 (ed. Bowen/Goldstein), cf. Th 91 (Comm. onOd. 20.156)

Lobon of Argos (3rd cent. BCE) Th 55 Th 56

Fr. 509 Suppl. Hell., cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.34 = AP 7.83) Fr. 510 Suppl. Hell., cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.39 = AP 7.84)

Hermippus of Smyrna (“the Callimachean,” 3rd cent. BCE) Th 57 Fr. 10 Wehrli = FGrHist cont. IV A 3 1026 F 17, cf. Th 112 (Plu. Sol. 6.6.4– 7.3.81D) Th 58 Fr. 11 Wehrli = FGrHist cont. IV A 3 1026 F 13, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.33) Th 59 Fr. 6 Wehrli = FGrHist cont. IV A 3 1026 F 10, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.42)

Hieronymus of Rhodes (ca. 290–230 BCE) Th 60 Th 61

Fr. 39 Wehrli2, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.26) Fr. 40 Wehrli2, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.27)

T. Maccius Plautus (born ca. 250 BCE) Th 62 Th 63 Th 64

Captivi 274–276 (ed. Lindsay) Rudens 997–1006 (ed. Fay) Bacchides 120–124 (ed. Barsby)

Hippobotus (active at the end of the 3rd cent. BCE) Th 65

Fr. 6 Gigante, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.42)

Inscription in the Gymnasium of Tauromenium (2nd cent. BCE) Th 65a

(ed. Blank)

Sosicrates (fl. beginning of 2nd cent. BCE) Th 66

FHG IV 501.10 cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.38)

592

Catalogue of Testimonia

Apollodorus (ca. 180 – ca. 110 BCE) Th 67

FGrHist 2 B 244 F 28, Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.37)

Anonymous (Antipater of Sidon) (2nd-1st cent. BCE) Th 68

AP 7.81

M. Terentius Varro (116–27 BCE) Th 69

Res rusticae 2.1.3 (ed. Flach)

M. Tullius Cicero (106–43 BCE) Th 70 Th 71 Th 72 Th 73 Th 74 Th 75 Th 76 Th 77 Th 78

De oratore 3.137 (ed. Wilkins) Academica priora sive Lucullus 118 (ed. Plasberg) De natura deorum 1.25–26 (ed. Pease) De natura deorum 1.91–92 De re publica 1.21–22 (ed. Ziegler) Rep. 1.25 De legibus 2.26 (ed. Ziegler) De divinatione 1.111–112 (ed. Ax) Div. 2.58

Nicolaus of Damascus (born ca. 64 BCE) Th 79

FGrHist II A 90 F 68, cf. Th 503 (Const. Porph. Virt. 1.348.21–22)

Strabo (before 62 BCE – between 23 and 25 CE) Th 80 Th 81

Geographica 1.1.11 (ed. Radt) Geog. 14.1.7

Diodorus Siculus (before 60 – after 36 BCE) Th 82 Th 83

Bibliotheca historica 1.38.1.1–2.4 (ed. Bertrac) Bibl. Hist. 9.3.3

Didymus Chalcenterus (second half of the 1st cent. BCE) Th 84

Symp. Fr. 4 Schmidt, cf. Th 201 (Clem. Al. Strom. 1.14.61.2–3)

M. Vitruvius Pollio (end of the 1st cent. BCE) Th 85 Th 86 Th 87 Th 88

De architectura 2.2.1 (ed. Callebat) Arch. 7. praef. 1–2 (ed. Liou/Zuinghedau) Arch. 8. praef. 1 (ed. Callebat) Arch. 9.6.3 (ed. Soubiran)

Anonymus (Antipater of Thessalonica; ? ca. the birth of Christ) Th 89

AP 9.366 (Beckby)

Corpus Hermeticum (1st-3rd cent. CE) Th 90 Fr. 28.1 Nock/Festugière (= Stob. 1.1.29a, vol. I, 34 Wachsmuth 1954 [= Th 339])

Commentary on Homer, Odyssey, book 20 (? 1st cent. CE) Th 91

Comm. on 20.156, P. Oxy. 53.3710 col. 2.36–43 (ed. Bowen/Goldstein)

Catalogue of Testimonia

Hero (? 1st cent. CE) Th 92 Th 93

Definitiones 136.1 (ed. Heiberg) Def. 138.11

Heraclitus the Stoic (1st cent. CE, principate of Augustus/Nero) Th 94

Quaestiones Homericae (= Allegoriae) 22.3–8 (ed. Buffière)

Valerius Maximus (first half of the 1st cent. CE) Th 95 Th 96

Facta et dicta memorabilia 4.1.7 (de externis) (ed. Kempf) Facta et dicta memorabilia 7.2.8 (de externis)

Aristocles of Messene (first half of the 1st cent. CE) Th 97 Fr. 1 Mullach (FPhG III 206) = Fr. 1 Heiland. Quotation from Aristocles, On Philosophy, book 7, cf. Th 268 (Eus. PE 11.3.1)

L. Annaeus Seneca (ca. 1–65 CE) Th 98 Th 99 Th 100 Th 101

Naturales quaestiones 3.13.1 (ed. Hine) Nat. quaest. 3.14.1–2 Nat. quaest. 4A.2.22 Nat. quaest. 6.6.1–2

Pamphila (mid-1st cent. CE) Th 102 FHG III 520.1, Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.24)

Pomponius Mela (mid-1st cent. CE) Th 103 De chorographia 1.86 (ed. Parroni)

C. Plinius Secundus (23/4–79 CE) Th 104 Th 105 Th 106 Th 107

Naturalis historia 1.1: Sources of lib. XVIII: Externis [...] (ed. Mayhoff) Nat. hist. 2.53 Nat. hist. 18.213 Nat. hist. 36.82

Josephus (37/8 – ? 100 CE) Th 108 Contra Apionem 1.2 (ed. Reinach)

Plutarch (ca. 45 – before 125 CE) Th 109 Th 110 Th 111 Th 112 Th 113 Th 114 Th 115 Th 116 Th 117 Th 118 Th 119 Th 120 Th 121

Solon 2.8.1–4.79E (ed. Ziegler) Sol. 3.8.1–3.80B Sol. 4.7.1–4.80E Sol. 6.6.4–7.3.81D Sol. 7.1.1–3.1.81D–E Sol. 11.1–12.1.84F De Iside et Osiride 9–10.354D–E (ed. Sieveking) De Is. et Os. 34.364C–D De Pythiae oraculis 18.402F–403A (ed. Sieveking) Septem sapientium convivium 2.146D–E (ed. Paton/Wegehaupt/Gärtner) Sept. sap. conv. 2.147A–B Sept. sap. conv. 7.152A Sept. sap. conv. 9.153C–D

593

594 Th 122 Th 123 Th 124 Th 125 Th 126 Th 127 Th 128 Th 129 Th 130 Th 131

Catalogue of Testimonia Sept. sap. conv. 11.154E Sept. sap. conv. 12.155D Sept. sap. conv. 15.158C Sept. sap. conv. 17.160E Sept. sap. conv. 21.163D De Herodoti malignitate 15.857F (ed. Häsler) De genio Socratis 6.578C–D (ed. Sieveking) Quaestiones convivales 3.6.3.654B–C (ed. Hubert) De sollertia animalium 16.971A–C (ed. Hubert) De E apud Delphos 3.385D–E (ed. Sieveking)

D. Iunius Iuvenalis (67 – after 99/100 CE) Th 132 Saturae 13.180–191 (ed. Willis)

Sabinus (1st/2nd cent. CE) Th 133 (Gal. in Hipp. de nat. hom. 1.15.24.14–25.6 = Mewaldt CMG V 9.1.15.11–18), cf. Th 182

Agathemerus (1st/2nd cent. CE) Th 134 Geographiae informatio 1.1–2 (ed. Müller)

Pseudo–Plutarch (2nd cent. CE) Th 135 Stromata: Strom. Fr. 179.1–40 Sandbach, cf. Th 260 (Eus. PE 1.7.16–8.3)

Pseudo–Hyginus (2nd cent. CE) Th 136 De astronomia 2.2.3 (ed. Le Boeuffle) Th 137 Fabula 221 (ed. Marshall)

Maximus of Tyre (2nd cent. CE) Th 138 Dialexeis 26.2.f.1–h.2 (ed. Koniaris) Th 139 Dial. 29.7.i.1–l.1

Sextus Empiricus (2nd cent. CE) Th 140 Th 141 Th 142 Th 143 Th 144

Pyrrhoniae hypotyposes 3.30 (ed. Mutschmann) Adversus mathematicos 7.5 (ed. Mutschmann/Mau) Math. 7.89 Math. 9.359–360 Math. 10.313

Irenaeus of Lyon (2nd cent. CE) Th 145 Adversus haereses 2.14.2 (ed. Brox)

Pseudo–Plutarch (? ca. first half of the 2nd cent. CE) Th 146 Th 147 Th 148 Th 149 Th 150 Th 151 Th 152

Placita philosophorum 1.2.875C4–D7 (ed. Lachenaud) Plac. phil. 1.3.875D8–F5 Plac. phil. 1.5.876D13–E2 Plac. phil. 1.7.881D8 Plac. phil. 1.8.882B1–7 Plac. phil. 1.9.882C3–5 Plac. phil. 1.16.883D4–6

Catalogue of Testimonia Th 153 Th 154 Th 155 Th 156 Th 157 Th 158 Th 159 Th 160 Th 161 Th 162 Th 163 Th 164 Th 165

595

Plac. phil. 1.18.883E10–F1 Plac. phil. 1.25.884D13–E1 Plac. phil. 2.1.886B8 Plac. phil. 2.12.888C1–5 Plac. phil. 2.13.888D3–5 Plac. phil. 2.24.890F1–5 Plac. phil. 2.28.891D1–10 Plac. phil. 3.9.895C7–8 Plac. phil. 3.10.895D5–7 Plac. phil. 3.11.895E1–2 Plac. phil. 3.15.896B9–C2 Plac. phil. 4.1.897F1–5 Plac. phil. 4.2.898B10–12

Publius Aelius Phlegon of Tralles (freedman of Hadrian, died after 137 CE) Th 166 FGrHist II B 257 F 33, cf. Th 495 (Suda Lex. theta 17.1–18.3)

Theon of Smyrna (? mid-2nd cent. CE) Th 167 De utilitate mathematicae 198.9–199.3 (ed. Hiller) (~ Th 93 = partly Eudemus Fr. 145 Wehrli)

Inscription of a Representation of the Seven Sages on the wall of a building in Ostia, Baths of tre Seven Sages (c. mid-2nd cent. CE) Th 168 (ed. Calza = Nr. 16–18 p. 146 f. Zarker)

Atticus (ca. second half of the 2nd cent. CE) Th 169 Fr. 1 Mullach (FPhG III 185) = Fr. 1 Des Places: extract from Atticus, Against those who promise [to interpret] Plato from Aristotle cf. Th 267 (Eus. PE 11.2.2–3)

Lucian (between 112 and 125 – after 180 CE) Th 170 Hippias 2.10–14 (ed. MacLeod) Th 171 Macrobii 18.8–19.2 (ed. MacLeod) Th 172 Dialogi mortuorum 4 (ed. MacLeod)

Pausanias Periegetes (? ca. 115 – after 180 CE) Th 173 Graeciae descriptio 10.24.1 (ed. Rocha–Pereira)

Aelius Aristides (117–177/8 CE) Th 174 Aigyptios 353.20–354.1 (ed. Dindorf) Th 175 ΠΡΟΣ ΚΑΠΙΤΩΝΑ 327.15 (ed. Dindorf)

Tatian the Syrian (ca. 120 – after 172 CE) Th 176 Oratio ad Graecos 41.9–10 (ed. Marcovich)

Apuleius of Madaura (ca. 125 – after 158 CE) Th 177 Florida 18.17–18 (ed. Hunink) Th 178 Florida 18.30–35

596

Catalogue of Testimonia

Galen (129–ca. 216 CE) Th 179 De elementis ex Hippocrate 4.5–7 (ed. De Lacy = CMG V 1.2.88.9–18) Th 180 De elementis ex Hippocrate 9.7 (CMG V 1.2.128.13–16) Th 181 In Hippocratis de humoribus librum commentarii I 1 (16.37 ed. Kühn) Th 182 In Hippocratis de natura hominis librum commentarii I 2 (ed. Mewaldt = CMG V 9.1.15.11–18) Th 183 In Hippocratis de natura hominis librum commentarii I 10 (= CMG V 9.1.24.22–25.1.) Th 184 In Hippocratis de natura hominis librum commentarii I 27 (= CMG V 9.1.37.7–11) Th 185 Über die Siebenmonatskinder

Athenagoras the Apologist (ca. end of the 2nd cent. CE) Th 186 Legatio pro Christianis 23.2 (ed. Marcovich)

Pseudo–Plutarch (end of the 2nd cent. CE) Th 187 De Homero 2.93 (ed. Kindstrand)

Diogenes of Oenoanda (turn of the 3rd cent. CE) Th 188 Fr. 6.col. 1.1–2.7 (ed. Smith)

Alexander of Aphrodisias (turn of the 3rd cent. CE) Th 189 Th 190 Th 191 Th 192 Th 193 Th 194 Th 195 Th 196

in Aristotelis Metaphysica commentaria 1.24.7–25.10 (ed. Hayduck) in Metaph. 1.25.13–18 in Metaph. 1.26.14–23 in Metaph. 1.29.10–14 in Metaph. 1.45.14–24 in Metaph. 1.461.26–35 in Metaph. 1.549.2–6 in Metaph. 1.670.19–23

Clement of Alexandria (ca. 150–211/16 CE) Th 197 Th 198 Th 199 Th 200 Th 201 Th 202 Th 203 Th 204 Th 205 Th 206 Th 207 Th 208

Protrepticus 5.64.2 (ed. Mondésert) Stromata 1.11.52.4 (ed. Stählin/Treu) Strom. 1.14.59.1 Strom. 1.14.60.3 Strom. 1.14.61.2–3 Strom. 1.14.62.1–63.2 Strom. 1.14.65.1 Strom. 1.15.66.2 Strom. 1.21.129.3–4 Strom. 2.4.14.1–2 Strom. 5.14.96.4 Strom. 6.7.57.3

Hippolytus of Rome (ca. 160–235 CE) Th 209 Refutatio omnium haeresium 1.pinax.3 (ed. Marcovich) Th 210 Haer. 1.1 Th 211 Haer. 1.5.1–6.1

Catalogue of Testimonia Th 212 Th 213 Th 214 Th 215

Haer. 1.10.1 Haer. 5.9.13 Haer. 9.17.2–3 Haer. 10.6.4

Quintus Sept. F. Tertullianus (ca. 160/ 70 – after 212 CE) Th 216 Th 217 Th 218 Th 219 Th 220 Th 221 Th 222

Ad nationes 2.2.10–11 (ed. Borleffs CCL I.43) Nat. 2.4.18–19 (Borleffs CCL I.47–48) Apologeticum 19.1.4 (Dekkers CCL I.119–20) Apol. 46.8–9 (Dekkers CCL I.161) Adversus Marcionem 1.13.3 (ed. Braun) De anima 5.2 (ed. Waszink ) De an. 6.8

Flavius Philostratus (ca. 170– after 212 CE) Th 223 Th 224 Th 225 Th 226

Epistulae 68.1–12 (ed. Penella) Vita Apollonii 2.5.25 (ed. Kayser) VA 8.7.158 Nero 338.3–6 (ed. Kayser)

Claudius Aelianus (before 178 – between 222 and 238 CE) Th 227 Natura animalium 7.42 (ed. Hercher) Th 228 Varia Historia 3.17.1–10 (ed. Dilts)

M. Minucius Felix (active between 197 and 246 CE) Th 229 Octavius 19.4–5 (ed. Kytzler)

Hermias (text probably ca. 200 CE) Th 230 Irrisio gentilium philosophorum 10 (ed. Hanson)

Achilles Tatius the Astronomer (probably 3rd cent. CE) Th 231 Isagoga excerpta 1.53–61 (ed. Maass) Th 232 Isagoga excerpta 3.28–30 Th 233 Isagoga excerpta 11.1–2

Fragmentum Censorini (? 3rd cent. CE) Th 234 Epitoma disciplinarum (fragmentum Censorini quod aiunt) 1.1 (ed. Sallmann)

Athenaeus of Naucratis (Deipnosophistae ca. 230 CE) Th 235 Deipnosophistae 11.91.495D (ed. Kaibel)

Diogenes Laertius (text dated to mid-3rd cent. CE) Th 236 Th 237 Th 238 Th 239 Th 240 Th 241

Vitae philosophorum 1.13.1–14.5 (ed. Marcovich) Vit. 1.22–44 Vit. 1.122 Vit. 1.122 B Vit. 2.4 Vit. 2.46.6–11 (cf. 8.49)

597

598

Catalogue of Testimonia

Th 242 Vit. 8.1 Th 243 Vit. 9.18.14–16

Porphyry (ca. 234–305/10 CE) Th 244 In Aristotelis categorias 4.1.120.18–23 (ed. Busse) Th 245 203 F Smith und 425 F Smith; cf. Th 375 (Cyrillus contra Julianum 1.38, 544D–545B) Th 246 273 F Smith, cf. Th 365 (Stob. Anth. 3.21.26) Th 247 194bT Smith, cf. Th 505. Th 248 cf. Th 500, Th 529, Th 557.

Iamblichus of Chalcis (ca. 240–325 CE) Th 249 Th 250 Th 251 Th 252 Th 253

Vita Pythagorae 2.11–12 (ed. v. Albrecht) Vita Pythagorae 3.13–14 Protrepticus 14.P72–73 (ed. DesPlaces) De communi mathematica scientia 21 (ed. Klein) In Nicomachi arithmeticam introductionem 10–11 (ed. Klein)

Lactantius (ca. 250–325 CE) Th 254 Th 255 Th 256 Th 257 Th 258 CE)

Divinae institutiones 1.5.15–16 (ed. Heck/Wlosok) Inst. 2.9.18 Inst. 3.14.4–5 Inst. 3.16.12–13 Epitome divinarum institutionum 4.3 (ed. Heck/Wlosok, composed ca. 320

Arnobius the Elder (ca. 300 CE) Th 259 Adversus nationes 2.9–10 (ed. Marchesi)

Eusebius of Caesarea (before 260 – between 337 and 340 CE) Th 260 Praeparatio Evangelica 1.7.16–8.3 (ed. DesPlaces), quotes Plut. Strom. Fr. 179 Sandbach (Th 135) Th 261 PE 7.12.1 Th 262 PE 10.4.17–18 Th 263 PE 10.7.10 (= Th 108) Th 264 PE 10.11.34 (= Th 176) Th 265 PE 10.14.10–12 Th 266 PE 10.14.16 Th 267 PE 11.2.2–3 Th 268 PE 11.3.1 Th 269 PE 12.29.4–5 (= Th 19) Th 270 PE 12.49.6 (= Th 22) Th 271 PE 14.14.1 Th 272 PE 14.16.6 Th 273 PE 15.29.3 (= Th 159) Th 274 PE 15.30.1 (= Th 157) Th 275 PE 15.43.2 (= Th 150) Th 276 PE 15.44.2 (= Th 151) Th 277 PE 15.50.1 (= Th 158)

Catalogue of Testimonia Th 278 Th 279 Th 280 Th 281 Th 282 Th 283 Th 284 Th 285

599

PE 15.55.1 (= Th 160) PE 15.56.1 (= Th 161) PE 15.57.1 (= Th 162) Chronica 13.19–14.1 (ed. Helm) Chron. 88b.19(k) Chron. 96a.9–12(b) Chron. 100b.25(f) Chron. 103b.12(h)

Pseudo-Valerius Probus (scripta Probiana) (4th cent. CE) Th 286 Commentarius in Bucolica 6.31 (ed. Thilo)

Chalcidius (4th cent. CE) Th 287 Commentarius in Platonis Timaeum 280 (ed. Waszink) Th 288 In Tim. 325 Th 289 In Tim. 332

Pseudo-Ausonius (? 4th cent. CE) Th 290 Appendix A, Moralia varia, 2. Septem sapientum sententiae, (676 ed. Green)

Pseudo-Justin Martyr (early 4th cent. CE) Th 291 Cohortatio ad Graecos 3.1–2 (ed. Marcovich) Th 292 Cohort. ad Graec. 5.3–4

Epiphanius (between 310 and 320 – 403/2 CE) Th 293 De fide 3.504.32–505.3 (ed. Dummer)

D. Magnus Ausonius (ca. 310–394 CE) Th 294 XXVI Ludus septem sapientium 69–70 (ed. Greene) Th 295 XXVI Ludus sept. sap. 162–188

Flavius C. Iulianus Apostata (Roman Emperor, 331/2–363 CE) Th 296 Oratio 3.162.2–5 (ed. Hertlein) Th 297 Contra Galilaeos 194.7–18 (ed. Masaracchia) = Th 378 (from Cyr. c. Iul. 6.184B–D)

Libanius (314–393 CE) Th 298 Declamationes 1.158 (ed. Foerster) Th 299 Decl. 2.9

Themistius (ca. 317 – ca. 388 CE) Th 300 Oratio 26.317A–C (ed. Maisano) Th 301 In Aristotelis libros de anima paraphrasis 5.3.13.21–25 (ed. Heinze) Th 302 In de an. 5.3.35.26–29

Himerius (ca. 320 – after 383 CE) Th 303 Declamationes et orationes 28.2 (ed. Colonna) (= Him. 30 Cod. Neap.)

600

Catalogue of Testimonia

Jerome (between 331 and 348 – 419/20 CE) Th 304 Interpretatio Chronicae Eusebii – interpretata Eusebii praefatio (13.19–14.1 ed. Helm = GCS 7) Th 305 Interpr. Chron. Eus. – Chronicorum canones ad ann. a. Chr. n. 747 (88b.19) Th 306 Interpr. Chron. Eus. – Chron. canones ad ann. a. Chr. n. 640 (96a.9–12) Th 307 Interpr. Chron. Eus. – Chron. canones ad ann. a. Chr. n. 586 (100b.25) Th 308 Interpr. Chron. Eus. – Chron. canones ad ann. a. Chr. n. 548 (103b.12)

Ambrose of Milan (ca. 340–397 CE) Th 309 Exameron 1.2.6 (ed. Schenkl)

Tyrannius Rufinus (345–410 CE) Th 310 Clementina sec. translationem quam fecit Rufinus – Recognitiones 8.15.1 (ed. Rehm/ Paschke) (cf. Th 580)

Augustine (354–430 CE) Th 311 Th 312 Th 313 Th 314 Th 315 Th 316

De civitate Dei 8.2 (ed. Dombart/ Kalb) Civ. 8.5 Civ. 18.24 Civ. 18.25 Civ. 18.37 Contra Iulianum 4.15.75 (Migne PL 44.776)

Servius Grammaticus (4th-5th cent. CE) Th 317 Th 318 Th 319 Th 320 Th 321 Th 322

Commentarii in Vergilii Aeneida 3.241 (ed. Thilo) In Aen. 11.186 Commentarii in Vergilii bucolica 6.31 (ed. Thilo) Commentarii in Vergilii georgica 4.363 (ed. Thilo) In georg. 4.379 In georg. 4.381

Nemesius of Emesa (work dated ca. 400 CE) Th 323 De natura hominis 2.68–69 (ed. Morani) Th 324 De nat. hom. 5.169

Julianus of Eclanum (ca. 385 – before 455 CE) Th 325 Libri IV ad Turbantium 2.148 (ed. de Coninck CCL 88) (= Th 316)

Theodoret (ca. 393 – ca. 466 CE) Th 326 Th 327 Th 328 Th 329 Th 330 Th 331 Th 332 Th 333 Th 334 Th 335

Graecarum affectionum curatio 1.12 (ed. Canivet) Gr. aff. cur. 1.23–24 Gr. aff. cur. 1.37 Gr. aff. cur. 2.8–9 Gr. aff. cur. 2.50 Gr. aff. cur. 4.13 Gr. aff. cur. 4.15–16 Gr. aff. cur. 4.17 Gr. aff. cur. 4.21 Gr. aff. cur. 4.23

Catalogue of Testimonia Th 336 Gr. aff. cur. 5.17 Th 337 Gr. aff. cur. 5.44–45

Aponius (5th cent. CE) Th 338 In canticum canticorum expositio 5.22–23 (ed. de Vregille/Neyrand)

Iohannes Stobaeus (5th cent. CE) Th 339 Th 340 Th 341 Th 342 Th 343 Th 344 Th 345 Th 346 Th 347 Th 348 Th 349 Th 350 Th 351 Th 352 Th 353 Th 354 Th 355 Th 356 Th 357 Th 358 Th 359 Th 360 Th 361 Th 362 Th 363 Th 364 Th 365 Th 366 Th 367 Th 368 Th 369 Th 370 Th 371

Anthologium 1.1.29a (ed. Wachsmuth/ Hense) Anth. 1.1.29b Anth. 1.4.7a Anth. 1.8.40a Anth. 1.10.12.1–10 (= part of Th 147) Anth. 1.10.12.47–53 Anth. 1.10.16b Anth. 1.11.3 Anth. 1.13.1d Anth. 1.14.1i (= Th 152) Anth. 1.17.1 Anth. 1.18.1a Anth. 1.18.1e Anth. 1.22.3b Anth. 1.23.3 (= Th 156) Anth. 1.24.1a (= Th 157) Anth. 1.25.3b (= approximately Th 158) Anth. 1.26.1e Anth. 1.26.2 Anth. 1.26.3 Anth. 1.45.1 Anth. 1.49.1a Anth. 2.1.22. Anth. 3.1.172.4 (s. Th 42 = Demetrius of Phaleron) Anth. 3.2.19 Anth. 3.12.14 Anth. 3.21.26 (s. Th 246 (Porphyry) = Aristotle Fr. 3.1 R3) Anth. 4.1.134 Anth. 4.7.47 Anth. 4.22b.58 Anth. 4.22b.65 Anth. 4.28.14 Anth. 4.46.24

Syrianus (first half of the 5th cent. CE) Th 372 In Aristotelis metaphysica commentaria 6.1.11.37–12.2 (ed. Kroll)

Cyril of Alexandria (work dated ca. mid-5th cent. CE) Th 373 Th 374 Th 375 Th 376

Contra Iulianum 1.14.520D (ed. Burguière/Évieux) Contra Iul. 1.18.524C–D Contra Iul. 1.38.544D–545B Contra Iul. 1.40.547D–548A

601

602

Catalogue of Testimonia

Th 377 Contra Iul. 2.14.571D–572A Th 378 Contra Iul. 6.184B–D (= Julian, Contra Gallilaeos Fr. 39 Masaracchia)

Proclus Diadochus (412–485 CE) Th 379 In Platonis Timaeum commentaria 20E, 1.81.6–13 (ed. Diehl) Th 380 In primum Euclidis Elementorum librum commentarium Prologus 2.65.3–11 Friedlein (= part of Eudemus Fr. 133 Wehrli2) Th 381 In Euc. 157.10–13 Th 382 In Euc. 250.20–251.2 Th 383 In Euc. 299.1–5 (= Fr. 135 Wehrli2) Th 384 in Euc. 352.14–18 (= Fr. 134 Wehrli2)

Sidonius Apollinaris (430/1–480 CE) Th 385 Th 386 Th 387 Th 388 Th 389

Carmen 2.156–163 (ed. Loyen) Carm. 15.42–50 Carm. 15.79–90 Carm. 23.97–110 Epistula 4.3.5 (ed. Loyen)

Martianus Capella (text probably ca. 470 CE) Th 390 De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii 2.212–213 (ed. Willis)

Pseudo-Galen (compilation, ca. 500 CE, ) Th 391 Th 392 Th 393 Th 394 Th 395 Th 396 Th 397 Th 398 Th 399 Th 400 Th 401 Th 402 Th 403 Th 404 Th 405

De historia philosophica 3.1–6 (ed. Diels) Hist. phil. 18.1–7 Hist. phil. 35.10–12 Hist. phil. 36.1–5 Hist. phil. 40.1–2 Hist. phil. 44.2 Hist. phil. 55.1–2 Hist. phil. 56.1 Hist. phil. 66.1–3 Hist. phil. 69.1–2 Hist. phil. 81.1 Hist. phil. 82 .1–3 Hist. phil. 86.1 Hist. phil. 89.1–3 Hist. phil. 130.1–3

Iohannes L. Lydus (490 – ca. 560. CE) Th 406 De mensibus 3.12.15–16 (ed. Wünsch) Th 407 De ostentis 9.30A-B (ed. Wachsmuth)

Simplicius (ca. 490–560 CE) Th 408 In Aristotelis physicorum libros commentaria I Prooemium 9.6.31–7.1 (ed. Diels) Th 409 In ph. 9.23.21–33 (ed. Diels = part of Theophrast Fr. 225 FHS&G) Th 410 In ph. 9.24.13–16 Th 411 In ph. 9.36.8–14

Catalogue of Testimonia Th 412 Th 413 Th 414 Th 415 Th 416 Th 417 Th 418 Th 419 Th 420 Th 421 Th 422 Th 423 Th 424 Th 425 Th 426 Th 427 Th 428 Th 429 Th 430 Th 431 Th 432 Th 433

603

In ph 9.40.23–41.1 (Alexandrum excerpit Simplicius) In ph. 9.113.27–30 In ph 9.149.3–11 In ph. 9.180.14–16 In ph. 9.202.32–203.5 In ph. 9.274.20–26 In ph. 9.452.30–32 In ph. 9.458.19–26 In ph. 9.484.5–14 In ph. 10.1319.17–27 In Aristotelis libros de anima commentaria 11.31.20–26 (ed. Hayduck) In de an. 11.32.14–17 In de an. 11.73.19–23 In Aristotelis quattuor libros de caelo commentaria 7.520.26–31 (ed. Heiberg) In de cael. 7.522.13–18 In de cael. 7.561.1–6 In de cael. 7.590.17–19 In de cael. 7.602.18–25 In de cael. 7.603.10–14 In de cael 7.615.8–21 In Aristotelis categorias commentarium 8.191.2–7 (ed. Kalbfleisch) In cat. 8.194.11–15

Iohannes Philoponus (ca. 490 – ca. 575 CE) Th 434 In Aristotelis categorias commentarium 13.1.118.4–25 (ed. Busse) Th 435 In cat.13.1.123.18–30 Th 436 In Aristotelis libros de Generatione et Corruptione commentaria 14,2.11.1–12 (ed. Vitelli) Th 437 In GC 14.2.124.15–22 Th 438 In GC 14.2.206.21–31 Th 439 In GC 14.2.237.22–25 Th 440 In Aristotelis de anima libros commentaria I Prooemium 15.9.5–12 (ed. Hayduck) Th 441 In de an. 15.82.14–20 Th 442 In de an. 15.86.11–35 Th 443 In de an. 15.188.12–18 Th 444 In de an. 15.571.1–7 Th 445 In de an. 15.572.38–573.4 Th 446 In de an. 15.583.5–10 Th 447 In Aristotelis physicorum libros commentaria 16.23.1–10 (ed. Vitelli) Th 448 In ph. 16.86.25–87.10 Th 449 In ph. 16.110.4–7 Th 450 In ph. 16.116.18–21 Th 451 In ph. 16.123.14–17 Th 452 In ph. 16.139.10–24 Th 453 In ph. 16.407.13–20

Iohannes Malalas (490/ 500 – after 570 CE) Th 454 Chronographia 51.77–78 (Logos 4.6) (ed. Thurn) Th 455 Chronogr. 118.41–45 (Logos 6.4)

604

Catalogue of Testimonia

Olympiodorus (born 495-505 CE, still teaching in 565) Th 456 In Platonis Gorgiam commentaria 26.16 (ed. Westerink) Th 457 In Aristotelis categorias commentarium 12.1.108.32–109.2 (ed. Busse)

Olympiodorus (the Alchemist?, perhaps identical with Olympiodorus, cf. above) Th 458 Εἰς τὸ κατ´ ἐνέργειαν Ζωσίµου 2.20.4–5 (ed. Berthelot/ Ruelle) Th 459 Εἰς τὸ κατ´ ἐνέργειαν Ζωσίµου 2.21

Asclepius of Tralles (6th cent. CE) Th 460 In Aristotelis metaphysicorum libros commentaria 6.2.24.34–25.15 (ed. Hayduck) Th 461 In metaph. 6.2.26.14–27 Th 462 In metaph. 6.2.41.4–7 Th 463 In metaph. 6.2.42.36–43.2 Th 464 In metaph. 6.2.54.1–4 Th 465 In metaph. 6.2.58.24–26 Th 466 In metaph. 6.2.111.17–20 Th 467 In metaph. 6.2.148.18–20

Elias (6th cent. CE) Th 468 In Aristotelis categorias commentarium 18.1.213.32–214.4 (ed. Busse)

Stephanus of Byzantium (6th cent. CE) Th 469 Ethnica 452.15–17 (ed. Meineke) Th 470 Ethn. 692.13–18

Luxurius (text ca. 534 CE) Th 471 De sententiis septem philosophorum distichi (Anthologia Latina 346)

Anonymous, On the philosophy of Plato (? second half of the 6th cent. CE) Th 472 Prolegomena philosophiae Platonicae 7.4–8 (ed. Westerink)

Isidore of Seville (ca. 560–636 CE) Th 473 Etymologiae 2.24.4 (ed. Lindsay) Th 474 Etym. 5.39.18 Th 475 Etym. 8.6.18

Theophylactus Simocatta (active ca. 610–640 CE) Th 476 Historiae 7.17.9–10 (ed. de Boor)

Chronicon Paschale (between 631–641 CE) Th 477 Chronicon paschale 214.15–22 (ed. Dindorf) Th 478 Chr. pasch. 268.9–11

Iohannes Antiochenus (beginning of the 7th cent. CE) Th 479 Fragmenta 24.4 (ed. Roberto)

Catalogue of Testimonia

605

George Syncellus (died shortly after 810 CE) Th 480 Ecloga chronographica 253.16–17 (ed. Mosshammer) Th 481 Ecl. chron. 285.2–5 Th 482 Ecl. chron. 286.13–22

Frechulf of Lisieux (first half of the 9th cent. CE) Th 482a Historiae 1.3.17 (ed. Allen CCL 169A, 990B–C)

Pseudo-Ammonius (? mid-9th cent. CE) Th 483 Th 484 Th 485 Th 486

Kitāb Amūniyūs fī ārā᾽i l-falāsifa 2.1–12 (34.3–35.4 ed. Rudolph) Kitāb Amūniyūs fī ārā᾽i l-falāsifa 5.5 (42.16 f.) Kitāb Amūniyūs fī ārā᾽i l-falāsifa 13.1–28 (48.17–50.12) Kitāb Amūniyūs fī ārā᾽i l-falāsifa 24.29 (74.8 f.)

Ḥunain ibn Isḥāq (809–873 CE) Th 487 Fī l-maulūdi li-sab῾ati ašhur 337.69–71 (ed. Walzer)

Qusṭā ibn Lūqā (died ca. 912 CE) Th 488 Placita Philosophorum (Kitāb Fulūṭarḫus fī l-ārāi ṭ-ṭabīīya allatī taqūlu bihā l-ḥukamā) 1.18.1 (ed. Daiber) Th 489 Plac. phil. 2.24.1 Th 490 Plac. phil. 3.10.1 Th 491 Plac. phil. 4.1.1

Symeon Logothetes (10th cent. CE) Th 492 Chronicon 42.12.52–53 (ed. Wahlgren)

Suda (10th cent. CE) Th 493 Th 494 Th 495 Th 496 Th 497 Th 498

Lexicon alpha 425.65–68 (ed. Adler) Lexicon alpha 986.1–2 Lexicon theta 17.1–18.3 (ed. Adler) Lexicon theta 295.1–2 Lexicon nu 472.1–2 (ed. Adler) Lexicon phi 214.1–9 (ed. Adler)

Ṣiwān al-ḥikma (“The Vessel of Wisdom“) (10th cent. CE) Th 499 Ṣiwān al-ḥikma 13–17 (Ed. Dunlop) Th 500 Ṣiwān al-ḥikma 176–187 Th 501 Ṣiwān al-ḥikma 398–416

Pseudo-Ğābir ibn Ḥayyān (mid-10th cent. CE) Th 502 Kitāb al-baḥt 2.331.9 f. (ed. Kraus)

Constantinus VII Porphyrogennetus (906–959 CE) Th 503 De virtutibus et vitiis 1.348.21–22 (ed. Büttner-Wobst/ Ross) Th 504 De sententiis 38–39, 282.18–283.2 (ed. Boissevain)

Ibn an-Nadīm (died in 995 or 998 CE) Th 505 Fihrist 245.12–15 (ed. Flügel)

606

Catalogue of Testimonia

Al-Bīrūnī (973–1048 CE) Th 506 Ta᾽rīḫ al-Hind 15.19–16.1 (ed. Sachau) Th 507 Al-ātār al-bāqiya ῾an al-qurūn al-ḫāliya 27.14–21 (ed. Sachau)

Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna) (before 980–1037 CE) Th 508 Kitāb aš-šifā᾽ 87.1–6 (ed. Madkūr/Qāsim) Th 508a Al-Asʾila wa-l-aǧwiba 32.3-9 (ed. Nasr)

Al-Mubaššir ibn Fātik (11th cent. CE) Th 509 Th 510 Th 511 Th 512

Muḫtār al-ḥikam wa-maḥāsin al-kalim 34.7–36.2 (ed. Badawī) Muḫtār al-ḥikam wa-maḥāsin al-kalim 302.5–8 Muḫtār al-ḥikam wa-maḥāsin al-kalim 314.8 f. Muḫtār al-ḥikam wa-maḥāsin al-kalim 318.8 f.

Iohannes Mauropus (ca. 1000 until between 1075 and 1081 CE) Th 512a Epigramm 33.18 (ed. Lagarde)

Peter Damian (ca. 1007–1072 CE) Th 513 Epistulae 5.139–40 (Migne PL 144.337A-B)

Michael Psellus (ca. 1018 – ca. 1078 CE) Th 514 Opuscula logica, physica, allegorica, alia 3.31–35 (ed. Duffy) Th 515 Opusc. log., phys., alleg., alia 51.828–844 Th 516 Opuscula psychologica, theologica, daemonologica 13.32.18–23 (ed. O‘Meara) Th 517 Opusc. psych., theol., daem. 13.44.20–21 Th 518 Opusc. psych., theol., daem. 13.70.8–12 Th 519 Theologica opuscula 6.69–71 (ed. Gautier) Th 520 Theol. opusc. 23.25–32 Th 520a Commentaria in Aristotelis Physica 6.5–9 (ed. Benakis) Th 520b Commentaria in Aristotelis Physica 41.21–42.9 (ed. Benakis)

Iohannes Italus (ca. 1023–after 1083 CE) Th 520c Questiones quodlibetales 137.5–10 (ed. Joannou)

Ṣā῾id al-Andalusī (1029–1070 CE) Th 521 Ṭabaqāt al-umam 82.2–4 (ed. bū ῾Alwān) Th 522 Ṭabaqāt al-umam 94.9–11

Iohannes Siceliotes (end of 11th cent. CE) Th 523 Commentarius in Hermogenis librum περὶ ἰδέων 6.90.22–31 (ed. Walz)

Eustratius (11th/12th cent. CE) Th 524 In Aristotelis ethicam Nicomacheam commentaria 20.331.4–16 (ed. Heylbut)

Georgius Cedrenus (11th/12th cent. CE) Th 525 Compendium historiarum 1.275 (Migne PG 121.312A)

William of Conches (ca. 1080–1154 CE) Th 526 Dragmaticon Philosophiae 6.2.1 (ed. Ronca)

Catalogue of Testimonia

607

Ibn Bāǧǧa Th 526a Kitāb al-kawn wa-l-fasād 44.2-7 (ed. Puig Montada)

Aš-Šahrastānī (1086–1153 CE) Th 527 Kitāb al-milal wa-n-niḥal 2.119.2–5 (ed. al-Wakīl) (= Jolivet 179) Th 528 Kitāb al-milal wa-n-niḥal 2.121.19–122.12 (= Jolivet 183.29–184.19) Th 529 Kitāb al-milal wa-n-niḥal 2.167.9–13 (= Jolivet 259) Th 529a Kitāb al-milal wa-n-niḥal 258.9–260.5 Th 529b Kitāb al-milal wa-n-niḥal 269.4–5

Hugh of St. Victor (ca. 1096 – 1141 CE, ? composed ca. 1127) Th 530 Didascalion de studio legendi 3.2 (ed. Offergeld)

Heliodorus (12th cent. CE) Th 531 Paraphrasis ethicae Nicomacheae 19.2.122.23–28 (ed. Heylbut)

Iohannes Galenus Grammaticus (? first half of the 12th cent. CE) Th 532 Allegoriae in Hesiodi theogoniam 305.30–306.3 (ed. Flach)

Iohannes Tzetzes (ca. 1110–1185 CE) Th 533 Th 534 Th 535 Th 536 Th 537 Th 538

Chiliades 2.872–80 (Ed. Leone) Chil. 11.77 f. Commentarium in nubes 180a.1–b.1 (ed. Holwerda) Commentarium in plutum 9.1–42 (ed. Positano) Scholia in Lycophronem 145 (ed. Scheer) Schol. in Lyc. 482

John of Salisbury (ca. 1115–1180 CE) Th 539 Epistolae 143 (ed. Millor/Butler/Brooke)) Th 540 Polycraticus 5 (ed. Webb)

Philip of Harvengt (died 1183 CE) Th 541 De institutione clericorum (Migne PL 203.1020B-D)

Eustathius of Thessalonica (ca. 1115–1195 CE) Th 542 Commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem II 647 (ed. van der Valk) Th 543 Comm. ad Il. XVIII 489 Th 544 Commentarium in Dionysii periegetae orbis descriptionem, epistola 208.9–17 (ed. Müller) Th 545 Comm. in Dion. Per. 354.12–19 Th 546 Comm. in Dion. Per. 362.12–17

Niẓāmī (1141–before 1200 CE) Th 547 Iskandarname 125 f. (ed. Dastgirdi)

Anonymous (13th cent. CE) Th 548 Liber Aristotelis de inundacione Nili 3 (ed. Bonneau, cf. Fr. 248 R3, cf. FGrHist III C 646 F 1.2)

608

Catalogue of Testimonia

Ibn al-Qifṭī (1172–1248 CE) Th 549 Tarīḫ al-ḥukamā 26.8–10 (ed. Lippert) Th 550 Tarīḫ al-ḥukamā 49.19–50.3 Th 551 Tarīḫ al-ḥukamā 107.7–14

Anonymous (Gnomologium before 1260 CE) Th 552 Fiqar al-ḥukamā wa-nawādir al-qudamā wa-l-ulamā 276 f. (ed. Badawī)

Albertus Magnus (ca. 1193–1280 CE) Th 553 Th 554 Th 555 Th 556

Metaphysica 1.3.3 (ed. Geyer) Meteora 3.2.4 (ed. Hossfeld) Meteora 3.2.5 De causis et processu 1.1.2 (ed. Fauser)

Barhebraeus (1225/6–1286 CE) Th 557 Weltgeschichte 51.1–8 (ed. Ṣālḥānī)

Georgious Pachymeres (1242–after 1307 CE) Th 557a In Aristotelis Metaphysical commentarium 15.20–17.3 (ed. Pappa)

Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa (died 1270 CE) Th 557b ʿUyūn al-anbāʾ fī ṭabaqāt al-aṭibbāʾ 36.11-14 (ed. Müller)

Theodorus Metochites (1270–1332 CE) Th 557c Semeioseis Gnomikai 14.2.2 (ed. Hult)#

Sophonias (turn of the 14th cent. CE) Th 558 in Aristotelis libros de anima paraphrasis 23.1.14.19–21 (ed. Hayduck) Th 559 In de an. 23.1.36.9–11

Anonymous (13th/14th cent. CE) Th 560 De Lesbo – De Nilo Fr 1 (FGrHist III C 647 F 1.1 = Cod. Laur. 56.1 [13./14. Jh.] fol. 12)

Thomas Triclinius (turn of the 14th cent. CE) Th 561 Scholia in Aristophanis nubes 180 (ed. Koster)

Manuel Philes (ca. 1275–1345 CE) Th 562 Carmen 149.206–211 (ed. Miller)

Nicephorus Gregoras (ca. 1294–ca. 1359 CE) Th 563 Byzantinae historiae (Historia Romana) 8.383 (Migne PG 148.569C) Th 563a Florentios sive De sapientia 798–805 (ed. Leone) Th 563b Epistula 21.1–13 (ed. Leone)

Gnomologium Vaticanum (14th cent. CE) Th 564 Gnomologium Vaticanum 316–321 (ed. Sternbach)

Georgius Gemistus Plethon (ca. 1355/60–1452 CE) Th 564a Νόμων Συγγραφή 1.2 (ed. Alexandre)

Catalogue of Testimonia

609

Fragments of uncertain date: Euanthes of Miletus (date uncertain) Th 565 FHG III 2*, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.29)

Minyes (date uncertain) Th 566 FHG II 335.3, cf. Th 237 (Diog. Laert. 1.27)

Anonymous Fragments of Uncertain Date Anonymous Commentary on Aristotle's Categories (date uncertain) Th 567 Paraphrasis categoriarum 23.2.36.16–21 (ed. Hayduck)

Anonymous (date uncertain) Th 568 Εἰς τοὺς ἑπτὰ σοφούς (Anecdota Graeca I 143)

Anonymous (date uncertain) Th 569 Anthologia Latina 942 (ed. Riese)

Anonymous (Anecdota Graeca, ed. Bekker) (date uncertain) Th 569a Fr. 2b Wehrli2, (Anecdota Graeca ed. I. Bekker (1814) I 233, 15)

Anonymous testimonium on Chamaeleon (date uncertain) Th 569b Corpus dei Papiri Filosofici I 1* (29 Chamaeleon 1T), p.402 ff. (PSI 1093, 31–33 [II.3]

Anonymous Lista di Scholarchi (date uncertain) Th 569c Corpus dei Papiri Filosofici I 1* (1 Lista dei scolarchi), p.81 ff. (PDuke inv. G 178) col. I

Anonymous Diegesis of Callimachus (date uncertain) Th 569d Corpus dei Papiri Filosofici I.1*** (102 Thales 1T) (PMilVogliano I 18, col. VI 10–19)

Scholia arranged chronologically by their approximate date Scholia in Apollonium Rhodium (9th – 11th cent. CE. The scholia were already constituted in the 2nd cent. BCE, but go back to grammatical works of the time of Augustus) Th 570 Scholia in Apollonii Rhodii Argonautica 1.496–8 (ed. Wendel) Th 571 Schol. in Argon. 4.269–71a

Scholia in Homerum (2nd cent. BCE) Th 572 Scholia in Iliadem 7.455.1–2 (ed. Erbse)

610

Catalogue of Testimonia

Scholia in Aratum (? 2nd/3rd cent. CE) Th 573 Scholia in Aratum 26–27 (ed. Martin) Th 574 Scholia in Aratum 39 Th 575 Scholia in Aratum 172

Scholia in Dionysium Periegetam (turn of the 5th cent. CE) Th 576 Scholia in Dionysii periegetae orbis descriptionem, vita 428.7–9 (ed. Müller)

Scholia in Platonem (after Proclus, 5th cent. CE) Th 577 Scholia in Platonis Timaeum 20d,ter,col.1 (ed. Greene)

Scholion in Aristotelem (6th cent. CE) Th 577a Scholion in de Caelo 4.2.309b 29–31

Scholia in Platonem (after the 6th cent. CE, probably from Hesychius) Th 578 Scholia in Platonem, Res publica 600A1–10 (ed. Greene)

Scholia in Basilium (beginning of the 7th to end of the 9th cent. CE) Th 579 Scholion zu Basil. Hom. in Hexaem. 1.2 (PG 29.8A11) Th 580 Scholion zu Basil. Hom. in Hexaem. 1.2 (PG 29.8A13/14)

Scholia in Lucianum (? 11th cent. CE) Th 581 Scholia in Lucianum 1.7 (ed. Rabe) Th 582 Schol. in Luc. 29.34.7–8

Scholia in Hesiodum (? 12th cent. CE) Th 583 Scholia in theogoniam 116b.14–16 (ed. di Gregorio)

Scholia in Pindarum (before the 13th cent. CE) Th 584 Scholia in Pindari Epinicia Olympica 1.1d (ed. Drachmann)

Scholia in Aristophanem (13th/14th cent. CE) Th 585 Th 586 Th 587 Th 588 Th 589 Th 590

Scholia vetera in nubes 180.1–181.1 (ed. Holwerda) Scholia recentiora anonyma in nubes 180b (ed. Koster) Scholia in nub. 180c alpha Scholia in nub. 180d alpha Scholia in nub. 180d beta Scholia in nub. 180e

Scholia in Aristophanem (beginning of the 14th cent. CE) Th 591 Scholia in Aves 1009.1–5 (ed. Holwerda)

Scholia in Homerum (date uncertain) Th 592 Scholia in Iliadem 18.487.4–11 (ed. Heyne)

Alphabetical Author Index Only the first occurrence in this edition is reported

Achilles Tatius the Astronomer Aelian (Claudius Aelianus) Aelius Aristides Agathemerus Albertus Magnus Al-Bīrūnī Alcaeus Alexander of Aphrodisias Al-Mubaššir ibn Fātik Ambrose of Milan Andron of Ephesus Anonymous (Anecdota Graeca, ed. Bekker) Anonymous (Anecdota Graeca, ed. Boissonade) Anonymous (Anthologia Latina) Anonymous (Antipater of Thessalonica ?) Anonymous (De Lesbo - De Nilo Fragment) Anonymous (Gnomologium from before 1260CE) Anonymous (De inundacione Nili) Anonymous (De philosophia Platonica) Anonymous (papyri) Anonymous in Aristotelis Categorias Antipater of Sidon Antipater of Thessalonica Apollodorus Aponius Apuleius of Madaura Aristarchus of Samos Aelius Aristides Aristocles of Messene Aristophanes Aristotle Arnobius the Elder Asclepius of Tralles Aš-Šahrastānī

Th 231 Th 227 Th 174 Th 134 Th 553 Th 506 Th 1 Th 189 Th 509 Th 309 Th 24 Th 569a Th 568 Th 569 Th 89 Th 560 Th 552 Th 548 Th 472 Th 569b Th 567 Th 68 Th 89 Th 67 Th 338 Th 177 Th 54 Th 174 Th 97 Th 17 Th 27 Th 259 Th 460 Th 527

612 Athenagoras the Apologist Athenaeus of Naucratis Atticus Augustine Ausonius (D. Magnus Ausonius) Barhebraeus Callimachus Georgius Cedrenus Chalcidius Chamaeleon Choerilus of Samos Chronicon Paschale M. Tullius Cicero) Clement of Alexandria Clytus Commentary on Homer, Odyssey, book 20 Constantine VII Porphyrogennetus Corpus Hermeticum Cyril of Alexandria Demetrius of Phaleron Democritus Didymus Chalcenterus Dicaearchus Diodorus Siculus Diogenes Laertius Diogenes of Oenoanda Duris of Samos Elias Epiphanius Euanthes of Miletus Eudemus Eudoxus of Cnidus Eusebius of Caesarea Eustathius of Thessalonica Eustratius Fragmentum Censorini Frechulf of Lisieux Galen Georgius Cedrenus Georgius Gemistus Plethon Gnomologium Vaticanum Heliodorus Heraclides of Pontus Heraclitus Heraclitus the Stoic Hermias Hermippus of Smyrna Herodotus Hero

Alphabetical Author Index Th 186 Th 235 Th 169 Th 311 Th 294 Th 557 Th 52 Th 525 Th 287 Th 40 Th 9 Th 477 Th 70 Th 197 Th 35 Th 91 Th 503 Th 90 Th 373 Th 41 Th 14 Th 84 Th 36 Th 82 Th 236 Th 188 Th 48 Th 468 Th 293 Th 565 Th 43 Th 25 Th 260 Th 542 Th 524 Th 234 Th 482a Th 179 Th 525 Th 564a Th 564 Th 531 Th 26 Th 8 Th 94 Th 230 Th 57 Th 10 Th 92

613

Alphabetical Author Index Hieronymus of Rhodes Himerius Hippias Hippobotus Hippolytus of Rome Hugh of St. Victor Hunain ibn Ishāq ˙ Iamblichus of Chalcis Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa Ibn al-Qifṭī Ibn an-Nadīm Ibn Bāğğa Ibn Sīnā Inscription in the Gymnasium of Tauromenium Inscription of a representation of the Seven Sages on the wall of a building in Ostia, Baths of the Seven Sages Iohannes Antiochenus Iohannes Galenos Grammaticus Iohannes Italos Iohannes L. Lydus Iohannes Malalas Iohannes Mauropus Iohannes Siceliotes Iohannes Philoponus Iohannes Stobaeus Iohannes Tzetzes Irenaeus of Lyon Isidore of Seville Jerome John of Salisbury Josephus Julian of Eclanum Julian the Apostate (Flavius C. Iulianus Apostata) Juvenal (D. Iunius Iuvenalis) Lactantius Leandr(i)us Libanius Lobon of Argos Lucian Luxurius Iohannes L. Lydus Martianus Capella Maximus of Tyre M. Minucius Felix Minyes Nemesius of Emesa Nicephorus Gregoras Nicolaus of Damascus Niẓāmī

Th 60 Th 303 Th 16 Th 65 Th 209 Th 530 Th 487 Th 249 Th 557b Th 549 Th 505 Th 526a Th 508 Th 65a Th 168 Th 479 Th 532 Th 520c Th 406 Th 454 Th 512a Th 523 Th 434 Th 339 Th 533 Th 145 Th 473 Th 304 Th 539 Th 108 Th 325 Th 296 Th 132 Th 254 Th 50 Th 298 Th 55 Th 170 Th 471 Th 406 Th 390 Th 138 Th 229 Th 566 Th 323 Th 563 Th 79 Th 547

614 Olympiodorus Olympiodorus (the Alchemist ?) Georgius Pachymeres Pamphila Pausanias Periegetes Peter Damian Pherecydes of Syros Manuel Philes Philip of Harvengt Iohannes Philoponus Flavius Philostratus Phoenix of Colophon Phlegon (P. Aelius Phlegon of Tralles) Plato Plautus (T. Maccius Plautus) Georgius Gemistus Plethon Pliny (C. Plinius Secundus) Plutarch Pomponius Mela Porphyry Proclus Diadochus Michael Psellus Pseudo-Ammonius (? mid-9th Century CE) Pseudo-Ausonius Pseudo-Ğābir ibn Ḥayyān Pseudo-Galen (De historia philosophica) Pseudo-Hyginus Pseudo-Justin Martyr Pseudo-Plutarch (De Homero) Pseudo-Plutarch (Placita) Pseudo-Plutarch (Stromata) Pseudo-Valerius Probus (scripta Probiana) Publius Aelius Phlegon of Tralles Qusṭā ibn Lūqā Tyrannius Rufinus Sabinus Sā῾id al-Andalusī ˙ Scholia in Apollonium Rhodium Scholia in Aratum Scholia in Aristophanem Scholia in Basilium Scholia in Dionysium Periegetam Scholia in Hesiodum Scholia in Homerum Scholia in Homerum Scholia in Lucianum Scholia in Pindarum Scholia in Platonem Scholion in Aristotelem

Alphabetical Author Index Th 456 Th 458 Th 557a Th 102 Th 173 Th 513 Th 2 Th 562 Th 541 Th 434 Th 223 Th 49 Th 166 Th 19 Th 62 Th 564a Th 104 Th 109 Th 103 Th 244 Th 379 Th 514 Th 483 Th 290 Th 502 Th 391 Th 136 Th 291 Th 187 Th 146 Th 135 Th 286 Th 166 Th 488 Th 310 Th 133 Th 521 Th 570 Th 573 Th 585 Th 579 Th 576 Th 583 Th 572 Th 592 Th 581 Th 583 Th 577 Th 577a

615

Alphabetical Author Index Seneca (L. Annaeus Seneca) Servius Grammaticus Sextus Empiricus Sidonius Apollinaris Simplicius Siwān al-hikma (“The Vessel of Wisdom”) Sophonias Sosicrates Stephanus of Byzantium Iohannes Stobaeus Strabo Suda Symeon Logothetes Georgius Syncellus Syrianus Tatian the Syrian Tertullian (Quintus Sept. F. Tertullianus) Themistius Theodoret Theodorus Metochites Theon of Smyrna Theophrastus Theophylactus Simocatta Thomas Triclinius Timon of Phlious Tyrannius Rufus Iohannes Tzetzes Valerius Maximus Varro (M. Terentius Varro) Vitruvius (M. Vitruvius Pollio) William of Conches Xenophanes

Th 98 Th 317 Th 140 Th 385 Th 408 Th 499 Th 558 Th 66 Th 469 Th 339 Th 80 Th 493 Th 492 Th 480 Th 372 Th 176 Th 216 Th 300 Th 326 Th 557c Th 167 Th 37 Th 476 Th 561 Th 53 Th 310 Th 533 Th 95 Th 69 Th 85 Th 526 Th 6

Subject Index air

30; 448; 449; 450

alteration

436

astronomy

52; 93; 103; 106; 108; 136; 139; 155; 156; 157; 159; 167; 178; 210; 217; 224; 229; 231; 233; 235; 237,11-26.4950.125-128.129-132; 265; 273; 274; 300; 311; 333; 334; 335; 353; 354; 355; 356; 357; 358; 387; 388; 387; 398; 434; 457; 468; 473; 495; 515; 523; 525; 539; 540; 543; 573; 574; 575; 578; 585; 588; 590; 592

avoidance of political activity

21; 70

Babylonians

208

causation

444; 445; 446; 453; 461; 462

celestial sphere

74

Chaldeans

108; 263

daimon/daimons

186; 237,49; 275; 394; 578

dates

237,164-168; 264; 304; 305; 306; 313; 315; 330; 373; 474; 480; 492; 533; 541

death

237,175-176; 240; 308; 477; 478; 481; 495

disagreement

329; 331; 337; 520; 541

discoveries

22; 175; 270

divine

453

earlier thinkers

29

earthquakes

99; 101; 163; 210; 403; 525; 554; 555; 572

Egypt, Egyptians

108; 115; 118; 119; 147; 202; 204; 208; 214; 217; 237,5053; 249; 253; 262; 263; 271; 326; 374; 380; 426; 557c; 578

element

94; 143; 146; 179; 180; 181; 184; 187; 198; 234; 288; 310; 311; 340; 345; 349; 411; 437; 448; 449; 465; 508a; 519; 520a; 578; 579; 580

618

Subject Index

family and ancestry

12; 112; 113; 127; 136; 204; 237,1-3.7-9.39-44; 262; 327; 469; 496; 574

famous

546

first cause

347

generation

411; 414; 415; 416; 421; 427; 429; 431; 436

geometry

52; 92; 107; 119; 178; 237,30-35.52-53; 252; 338; 348; 380; 381; 382; 383; 384; 588; 590

god(s)

32; 149; 150; 186; 207; 210; 216; 218; 219; 229; 254; 258; 272; 339; 340; 375; 376; 393; 424; 443; 458; 475; 559

Halys

11; 170; 237,168-169; 535; 545; 561; 586; 587

impracticality

27; 524; 531; 556

intellect

444; 445; 446

Ionian philosophy

148; 202; 236; 238; 242; 262; 271; 344; 391; 472; 520; 520c; 541

lawgiver

454; 479; 497

lunar eclipse

244; 311; 357; 407; 432; 433; 434; 435; 515; 533; 535; 540; 567

material cause

189; 192; 392; 414; 460; 461

material principle

140; 193; 392; 408; 419; 463; 464; 466; 520a

mathematics

81; 253; 557v

matter

151; 276; 287; 288; 289; 331; 346; 348; 436; 437; 438; 462; 580

mind

393; 475

monism

144; 193; 194; 215; 411; 413; 414; 415; 416; 417; 420; 421; 428; 429; 431; 439; 447; 459; 466

motion

409; 410; 412; 415; 421; 422

mule

130; 227

natural philosophy/philosopher 78; 81; 86; 88; 141; 142; 178; 183; 189; 206; 209; 210; 211; 212; 217; 218; 226; 237,9.26-27; 254; 256; 266; 267; 268; 286; 287; 300; 305; 306; 311; 314; 315; 316; 321; 350; 392; 409; 412; 413; 414; 416; 418; 419; 421; 427; 428; 441; 460; 461; 473; 474; 475; 478; 495; 525; 530; 540; 541; 562; 582 nature

416

Nile

13; 82; 100; 164; 237,162-163; 404; 476; 548; 560; 571

olive crop

28; 77; 225; 237,45-48

619

Subject Index origin of animals

69

perceptible realities

438

philosophy, founder of

257; 292; 409; 520c; 553

Phoenicians

380; 543

Pillars of Wisdom

485; 506; 527; 529a; 529b

place

420

plants

405

political advice

12

potentiality/actuality

435

practical

109; 114; 524

prediction of rain

503

principles

29; 85; 94; 116; 146; 147; 187; 189; 192; 194; 195; 196; 197; 230; 232; 234; 237,48; 254; 260; 261; 271; 286; 291; 292; 310; 311; 312; 329; 343; 345; 380; 409; 411; 413; 415; 420; 427; 430; 431; 438; 439; 441; 447; 448; 449; 450; 451; 452; 453; 459; 460; 461; 462; 467; 508a; 529b; 553; 570; 578; 579; 580

proverbial for his wisdom

17; 18; 21; 23; 62; 63; 64; 223; 240; 378; 493; 512a

public life

228; 237,9.36-38

relation to Anaximenes

286

relation to Anaximander

80; 81; 134; 140; 202; 236; 239; 260; 265; 311; 387; 391; 410; 431; 494; 540; 544

relation to Democritus

576

relation to Epicureans

556

relation to Pherecydes

237,217-225; 238; 241; 498; 533; 534; 537; 542r\

relation to Pythagoras

249; 250; 252; 262; 514

relation to Solon

237,230-236

relation to Xenophanes

243

religion

76

sayings

20; 76; 89; 90; 96; 119; 120; 121; 122; 123; 124; 125; 128; 129; 154; 200; 201; 207; 210; 237,41-42.119-122.133162.186-187; 290; 294; 295; 296; 300; 313; 339; 341; 342; 362; 363; 364; 365; 366; 367; 368; 369; 370; 371; 385; 386; 395; 471; 495; 525; 563; 563a; 564; 568; 578; 581

seed

440

620

Subject Index

Seven Philosophers

591

Seven Sages

20; 21; 70; 71; 81; 82; 83; 87; 89; 94; 110; 131; 137; 171; 172; 173; 176; 177; 178; 199; 205; 210; 214; 236; 237,46.188-215; 254; 264; 265; 271; 290; 291; 292; 293; 299; 311; 313; 314; 315; 316; 325; 327; 329; 375; 385; 386; 388; 470; 473; 482; 495; 525; 529a; 533; 535; 540; 541; 553; 560; 561; 564a; 568; 577; 578; 581; 585; 587; 588; 589; 590

solar eclipse

10; 75; 77; 91; 93; 105; 158; 159; 167; 203; 244; 265; 277; 300; 307; 311; 355; 387; 399; 400; 406; 407; 455; 482; 482a; 495; 525; 540; 578

soul

31; 32; 126; 165; 221; 237,21-22.28-30.49; 301; 302; 323; 336; 359; 360; 405; 423; 440; 442; 443; 495; 516; 517; 525; 558; 559; 578

substrate

189

the cosmos

237,48; 351; 352; 377; 393; 396; 578; 580

the earth

30; 160; 161; 278; 279; 280; 401; 402; 409; 425; 426; 460; 526; 553; 554

the One

372

tripod

52; 83; 94; 111; 235; 237,55-118; 295; 375; 379; 504; 536; 539

water

29; 30; 71; 85; 87; 94; 98; 116; 138; 140; 140; 143; 144; 145; 146; 147; 181; 182; 184; 187; 189; 190; 191; 193; 195; 196; 197; 198; 206; 210; 213; 215; 220; 221; 229; 230; 232; 234; 237,48; 254; 255; 259; 260; 261; 271; 286; 287; 288; 289; 291; 292; 293; 295; 309; 310; 311; 312; 317; 318; 319; 324; 329; 338; 340; 343; 372; 387; 390; 392; 409; 411; 413; 414; 415; 416; 417; 418; 419; 420; 422; 423; 427; 429; 430; 431; 436; 437; 438; 440; 447; 448; 452; 453; 459; 460; 461; 462; 463; 464; 465; 467; 482a; 508a; 516; 519; 520a; 520b; 523; 525; 532; 537; 553; 558; 569; 570; 578; 579; 580; 583; 584

well

19; 174; 210; 222; 237,122-125; 240; 251; 269; 328; 361; 444; 445; 446; 456; 513; 518; 564$; 582

writings

86; 108; 117; 191; 237,10-11.16-17.129; 263; 300; 311; 314; 409; 422; 461; 495

Index of Names, Places and Peoples1 Abaris

482,4

Abdera

88,2; 375,16; 557a,13

Abû al-Khayr ibn al-Khammâr

505,1

Abû al-Qâsim ʿIsâ bin ʿAlî

505,1.4

Academy

493,3

Acousilaus

237,207.210

Acragas

188,6

Adrastus

167,1

Aeacus

72,3

Aeolians

173,3

Aeschines

546,4

Aeschylus

479,3; 497,2

Aesop

112,4

Agenor

237,3

Agesilaus

378,4

Aggaios/Haggai

205,2

Alcaeus

237,91; 303,3

Alcibiades

214,6

Alcmeon

310,3; 580,4

Alexander

86,11; 237,101; 413,1

Alexon

237,74

Alyattes

10,1; 105,2; 203,4; 307,1; 482a,2; 535,6

Ameus (see also Examyas)

548,1

1

Entries followed by “s” indicate cases where the name is not in the ancient text but is supplied in the translation.

622

Index of Names, Places and Peoples

Anacharsis

22,3; 126,1; 175,3; 199,6; 236,2; 237,85.202.206.210.214; 270,3; 482,7; 509,3.4

Anacreon

303,2

Anaxagoras

21,3; 23,4; 27,2; 78,3; 86,8; 87,3; 88,1; 92,5; 94,10; 148,1s; 188,7; 192,4; 194,8; 202,9; 209,2; 224,2; 225,2; 236,11; 237,212; 265,7; 267,5; 310,4; 311,19; 315,4; 316,8; 319,3; 325,3; 331,1; 332,2; 337,10; 352,2; 358,1; 387,11; 391,5; 412,9; 425,6; 430,5; 436,6; 448,18; 453,2; 461,4; 472,4; 520c,6; 524,1.7; 527,2; 529a,2; 529b,2; 531,3; 556,7; 569c,2; 580,4

Anaxandrides

564a,2

Anaximander

65a,1; 71,2.3s; 72,4; 80,3; 81,3; 93,4; 103,5; 106,4; 134,1; 140,5; 141,2.3; 143,3; 145,11; 148,1s; 159,1; 167,8; 179,4; 193,5; 202,7.8s; 209,1; 211,7; 215,5.7; 220,5; 228,7; 230,4.6; 236,5.7.10; 239,3; 249,1; 260,8.22; 265,4.6; 291,6s; 300,12; 310,3; 311,10; 314,12; 315,3; 316,7; 325,3; 329,9; 332,4; 337,8.10; 375,19; 376,3; 391,4; 392,4; 393,1; 399,2; 400,1; 402,2; 408,2; 410,1; 411,2.8; 412,8; 418,3; 419,8; 420,7; 421,5; 427,4; 429,3; 431,6.11; 436,10; 438,10; 439,3; 441,5; 448,2.8.15.17; 452,3; 453,7; 464,2; 466,3; 482,3; 482a,2.4; 494,1; 508a,2; 519,2; 520c,4; 526a,2; 540,7; 544,5; 557a,15; 569c,2; 576,1; 580,4

Anaximenes

29,16; 71,4; 72,7; 81,3; 93,5; 138,4; 140,6; 141,1.3; 143,4; 144,2.3; 167,9; 179,4; 182,3; 188,6; 191,6; 192,3; 193,4.8; 197,2; 202,8; 209,2; 220,5; 229,5; 236,11; 237,190; 240,1; 258,2; 260,22; 261,2; 265,7.7s; 267,4; 286,3; 287,8; 288,7; 301,3; 311,16.22; 312,3; 314,12; 315,4; 316,7; 324,4; 325,3; 329,9; 332,4; 335,2; 337,9; 391,4; 392,5; 402,2; 411,6; 412,8; 413,3; 414,5; 415,3; 416,4; 417,4; 418,2; 419,7; 420,7; 421,5; 425,6; 427,4; 428,2; 429,2; 431,11; 436,10; 437,7; 438,10; 440,5; 441,5; 448,2; 452,5; 453,7; 461,4.9; 464,1; 465,3; 467,3; 516,5; 527,2; 529a,2; 529b,2; 540,8; 541,13; 557a,10; 557b,3; 569c,2

Andron

205,8; 237,88

Antilochus

241,2

Antiphon

159,2; 417,1

Antisthenes

237,186

Anytus

299,3

Apollo

20,10; 52,6s; 83,7; 95,6.12; 103,2; 173,8; 237,67.71.109; 295,11; 504,15; 509,13; 536,2.14.17; 539,17.17s.22.23.32; 553,3; 569δ,3

Index of Names, Places and Peoples

623

Apollodorus

237,32.164

Apollonia

140,6; 143,5; 188,5; 197,3; 228,7; 229,6; 329,10; 392,5; 438,9; 569c,4; 579,2

Apollonius

224,1; 539,34

Appolonius (sic)

539,3

Arabs

500,5.9

Aratus

575,1s

Arcadia

237,65

Archelaus

143,5; 148,1s; 209,2; 212,1; 236,11; 332,5; 344,1; 569c,3

Archetimus

237,192

Archidamus

378,4

Archimedes

74,1.3; 170,1s; 389,4; 390,2

Archytas

228,4; 259,5

Argos

237,129.207

Argives

237,88

Aristarchus

91,1; 117,1; 327,9

Aristides

378,3

Aristodemus

237,89.90.92.205.211

Ariston

173,6; 326,4; 563,2; 564a,2

Aristophanes

495,11

Aristotle

69,5; 86,9; 146,1; 189,2s.21s; 190,1s; 193,6s; 200,2; 201,2; 208,1; 211,6; 237,28; 241,1; 287,1s; 292,1s.9s.18; 332,3; 345,1; 352,3; 365,12; 390,5; 409,2s; 417,6; 419,1; 421,4s; 422,2s; 426,4; 431,3s; 436,1s; 444,1; 446,2; 448,17s; 452,3s; 460,3s; 461,2s.6s.8s; 518,1; 520,6; 526a,3; 549,3.3; 555,2; 556,7; 563a,1; 580,8

Aristoxenus

237,212; 327,9; 390,2

Aristyllus

117,2

Armenian mountain

545,2

Artemis

573,4

Asclepiades

310,5; 580,5

Asclepius/Aesculapius

389,4

Assyrians

455,1

Astyages

77,12; 203,4; 307,2; 455,2.2; 482,2; 482a,2

624

Index of Names, Places and Peoples

Athens, Athenians

77,5; 87,3; 89,6; 137,1; 143,5; 173,5; 199,5; 228,5; 237,5.97.223.231; 290,7; 314,5.10; 326,3; 327,8; 385,5; 386,6; 388,11; 479,1; 482,6; 493,3; 497,1; 506,2; 520c,7; 527,1; 529a,1; 529b,3; 541,8; 564a,3; 569c,3; 581,7

Athos

224,5

Atlas

389,6; 538,2

Atratus (river)

78,1

Babylonia

266,5; 314,4; 541,7

Babylonians

208,5

Babys

498,1

Basilicus (Gulf of)

103,1

Bathycles

237,65.72

Beelgephor

378,12

Bias

12,1; 20,5; 21,2; 52,22; 68,3; 89,7; 95,10.10; 111,1.2.3; 120,3; 125,2; 131,3; 137,2.7; 173,3; 199,4; 228,5; 236,2; 237,98.99.204.209.214.235; 290,8; 298,1.3; 314,6; 365,7; 367,1; 375,11; 385,6; 386,7; 388,9; 470,3; 482,7; 506,2; 509,2.11.11; 539,23; 541,9; 564a,4; 569d,2; 577,1; 581,7

Branchiadae

103,2

Brutus

481,1

Buhtnasar

500,1.10.14; 529,4; 557,5.5

Cabas

237,207

Cadmus

237,3

Calippus

104,2

Callatia

237,171

Callimachus

231,3; 237,11.33.64.68

Callisto

573,4

Callistratus

310,2

Cappadocians

545,4

Carmel (Mount)

250,12.13

Carneades

139,7

Catane

228,3.4

Cecrops

68,5

Cepcropian (sic)

137,10

Index of Names, Places and Peoples

625

Chabrinus

237,212

Chaldeans

108,3; 263,3

Chamaeleon

200,1; 569a,2; 569b,1

Charmantides

237,211

Charondas

228,3

Chen

20,6; 236,3; 237,83; 470,1

Chenae

173,7.7; 509,4

Chenan

470,2.4

Chenian

470,1.2

Chilon

20,7; 52,23; 68,5; 89,3; 131,2; 137,2.9; 168,2; 173,5; 199,5; 200,1; 201,2; 228,5; 236,1; 237,79.90.187.197.205.209; 290,3; 299,5; 314,5; 365,8.10.11; 385,8; 386,9; 388,14; 470,5; 482,6; 495,9; 506,2; 509,2; 525,7; 541,8; 564a,3; 569a,1; 577,1; 581,5

Chios

28,7; 92,6; 554,5; 555,20

Choerilus

237,22

Chrysippus

132,5; 222,3; 236,9; 258,2; 389,7

Cicero

258,3s

Cilicia

138,2

Cilicians

545,2

Citium

69,4

Cimon

378,3

Clazomenae

88,1; 94,10; 188,7; 202,9; 224,2; 265,8; 569c,3

Cleanthes

208,1; 258,2

Clearchus

237,86; 365,9

Cleobuline

237,2; 495,1

Cleobulus

20,5; 68,1; 89,2; 137,2.4; 173,5; 199,4; 228,6; 236,1; 237,80.200.206.209.214; 290,6; 314,6; 385,3; 386,4; 388,7; 470,4; 482,7; 541,9; 581,5; 506,3; 509,2

Cleomenes

201,1

Clitomachus

236,9

Clytus

237,39

Cnidus

74,8; 237,76

Collatinus

481,1

626

Index of Names, Places and Peoples

Colonus

18,9

Colophon

88,2; 187,5; 235,1; 262,4; 392,6; 425,2

Conon

104,3

Corinth, Corinthian

23,3; 89,4; 137,1; 199,6; 237,195; 290,4; 299,6; 314,5; 327,9; 386,5; 388,8; 506,2; 541,9; 555,17; 581,2

Cos, Coan

237,95.101.105.106s.107.109; 536,4.6.8.9

Crete, Cretan

199,7; 236,3; 237,201.223; 509,3; 542,1.3.4

Critias

221,3

Crito

104,3

Croesus

11,1.3; 23,5; 86,11; 170,1; 203,4; 210,12; 216,3; 218,4; 219,2; 237,36.37s.77.86.168.194; 298,8; 495,2; 533,4; 535,6.11; 545,5; 561,3; 586,1

Cyaxares

10,2; 203,3

Cybisthus

113,7; 237,40

Cynosoure

543,4; 574,1; 592,3

Cypselus

173,6; 237,193; 581,1

Cyrene

92,6; 237,189

Cyril

500,13; 529,3; 557,3

Cyrus

23,5; 218,3; 237,37; 266,4.5; 298,8; 478,1s; 561,3

Daemachus

237,85

Damasias

237,5

Damis

224,1s

Damon

237,189

Darius

86,11; 205,1; 218,3; 298,8; 455,1; 495,10

Delos

295,5

Delium

445,3; 518,4

Delphi

20,11; 95,3.7; 111,3; 173,1.8; 237,59.63.195; 298,3; 365,2; 509,14; 539,13.16; 581,3.4

Delphinian

237,71

Delphus

365,7; 569a,1

Demetrius

237,6.170; 362,1

Democritus

85,3; 86,8; 88,2; 163,1; 193,7.9; 194,8; 209,3; 237,2.21; 259,10; 266,1.1s; 310,6; 316,8; 325,4; 332,5; 375,16;

Index of Names, Places and Peoples

627

390,4; 403,1; 412,9; 425,6; 436,7; 441,4; 442,10; 526a,2; 544,6; 555,13; 557a,13; 557b,3; 576,2; 580,6 Dercyllides

167,1

Dicaearchus

69,7; 237,191.203

Didyma, Didymean

52,6; 103,3; 237,67.109; 536,14; 569d,3

Didymus

201,3

Diocles

557b,2

Diodorus

310,4; 580,5

Diodorus Siculus

260,1s

Diogenes of Apollonia

29,16; 140,6; 143,5; 188,5; 191,7; 193,5; 197,2; 198,1; 229,6; 301,3; 310,7; 311,22; 329,10; 332,5; 392,5; 414,5; 416,4; 418,2; 419,7; 429,3; 436,10; 438,9; 508a,1; 520a,4; 520b,7; 557a,10; 569c3; 579,1; 580,7

Diogenes of Sinope

138,4; 139,8; 216,1

Dionysius

104,1.1; 237,174; 475,5; 553,50

Diophanes

104,1

Diospolis

249,9

Dorians

173,4

Dositheus

104,2

Dracon/Draco

176,1; 454,1; 479,2; 497,1

Duris

237,1.173

Ecphantus

209,3; 352,2

Egypt, Egyptian

82,6; 92,1; 108,3; 109,2; 115,1.3; 116,1s; 118,3; 147,4; 164,2; 202,6; 204,1; 208,4; 214,1.5; 217,2; 237,30.51.224; 249,9; 250,7.8.10.12; 253,2; 262,6; 263,3; 271,4; 326,6.6; 374,4; 380,2.4; 404,2; 426,5; 476,4; 491,1; 499,1; 500,7; 501,2; 507,5; 522,2; 549,2; 551,2; 557c,2; 578,7

Elchasai

214,2.3.7

Elea, Eleatic

202,3; 262,4; 286,1

Eleusis

237,73

Elis

92,3

Empedocles

138,4; 141,2.4; 188,6; 192,4; 209,1; 221,2; 310,8; 316,9; 325,4; 352,1; 417,5; 428,3; 430,4; 436,5; 437,4; 448,18; 449,1; 453,3; 461,5; 484,2; 486,1; 527,2; 529a,2; 529b,2; 557b,2; 580,7

628

Index of Names, Places and Peoples

Endymion

533,9

Ephesus, Ephesian

85,2; 144,3; 188,4; 215,6; 237,200; 286,2; 299,4; 438,9; 520b,6; 557a,11

Ephorus

174,1; 237,194.202

Ephyra

137,5; 385,4

Epicharmus

237,214

Epicureans

556,3.5s.8

Epicurus

85,3; 86,10; 138,3; 139,8; 208,2; 221,3; 236,10; 310,4; 312,3; 332,6; 390,6; 394,5; 556,1; 580,5

Epimenides

199,7; 236,3; 237,201.210; 243,2; 509,3

Eratosthenes

80,2

Erythraean Sibyl

492,2

Ethiopia

571,2

Euanthes

237,76

Euclid

389,7; 557b,2

Euctemon

106,4

Eudemus

93,1; 167,5; 203,1; 237,18; 383,2; 384,1

Eudoxus

74,8; 104,2; 106,5; 115,3; 117,3; 237,76.80; 544,7; 576,3

Euphorbus

52,8; 237,34

Euphrates

389,4

Euripides

87,2; 575,3

Europe

199,5

Eurystratus

202,8; 265,7

Eusebeia

296,1s

Eusebius

314,4

Euthymenes

174,1

Examias (see also Examyas)

362,2

Examoios (see also Examyas)

480,1

Examyas (see also Ameus, 237,2.71; 306,1; 373,1; 409,3; 469,1; 478,1; 495,1; Examias, Examoios, Hexamyas) 577,2; 578,1 Execestides

172,1

Index of Names, Places and Peoples

629

Ezechias

541,3

France

539,4

Gadeira

174,3

Gallus

74,5.6; 18,9; 138,2; 237,229; 327,5; 380,4; 408,4; 482,4; 539,20; 541,2.6

Greece, Greek

11,3; 13,1; 18,9; 70,1.3s; 81,2; 85,2; 92,2; 105,1; 108,1.4; 115,2; 138,2.9; 173,2; 178,2; 199,1; 205,6; 206,3; 210,8; 214,2.5; 220,1; 223,5; 237,72.78.89.122.219.229; 260,1; 263,1.4; 265,1.3; 293,1; 295,19; 300,14.16; 310,1; 326,1; 327,2.5; 380,4; 407,6; 408,4; 409,10; 432,5; 433,3; 473,3; 482,4.5; 500,4.7.10; 501,1; 514,2; 520,5; 520c,5; 521,1; 522,2; 529,1; 529b,3; 530,1.3; 535,4; 539,20; 540,3; 541,2.6; 543,3; 549,2.5; 557,2.3; 557c,1; 563,4; 574,5; 578,4; 580,2; 581,2

Gregory of Nazianzus

523,1s.4

Haggai

see Aggaios/Haggai

Halys (river)

11,1; 170,3; 237,168; 535,6; 545,1.5; 561,4; 587,2

Hecataeus

80,4.5; 81,4; 544,6; 576,2

Hegesibulus

202,9; 265,8

Helen

237,101

Helike

543,2

Hephaestus

237,112; 504,7

Heracles/Hercules

555,16

Heraclides

237,39; 440,2; 516,3

Heraclitus

85,1; 87,2; 138,3; 139,7; 141,2.4; 144,2; 179,5; 182,3; 183,5; 188,4; 193,3.8; 196,2; 209,1; 215,6; 220,4; 221,2; 237,20; 255,1; 259,4.8; 261,2; 286,2; 287,10; 288,6; 299,4; 310,7; 316,9; 325,4; 331,1; 332,3; 335,2; 346,2; 352,2; 390,3; 411,2.5; 413,3; 414,5; 416,3; 417,4; 421,6; 427,5; 428,2; 429,3; 436,11; 437,7; 438,9; 439,3; 440,3; 441,5; 447,3; 448,1; 463,2; 464,2; 465,2; 466,3; 467,2; 472,3; 508a,1; 516,4; 520a,4; 520b,5; 557a,11; 579,1; 580,6

Hercules

see Herakles

Hermione

237,212

Hermippus

112,3; 237,119.207

Hermodamas

249,1s; 569a,1

630

Index of Names, Places and Peoples

Herodotus

127,1s; 136,6; 202,5; 203,5; 237,1.20; 327,11; 495,1; 545,1; 578,1

Hesiod

106,2; 117,3; 189,31; 201,1; 237,172; 286,5; 330,3; 472,2; 493,2; 532,1; 583,2

Hexamyas (cf. Examyas)

569b,1

Hieron

23,1; 303,1

Hieronymus

237,44.52

Hiksias

477,1s

Himera

143,4

Hipparchus

117,2; 221,1

Hippasus

144,1.2; 193,3; 198,1; 215,4.5; 286,2; 392,6; 414,5; 429,3; 438,9; 447,3; 557a,11

Hippias

21,1; 92,3; 237,28; 575,4

Hippo

29,14; 191,5; 209,3; 221,2; 409,3; 413,3; 414,4; 423,2; 429,2; 431,5; 438,10; 440,6; 442,23; 447,4.4; 516,5; 519,3; 520a,4; 520b,7

Hippobotus

237,212

Hippocrates

92,6; 109,1; 457,6; 447,4.4; 487,1

Homer

80,1s.2; 94,8; 116,1; 138,1; 145,10; 147,11; 175,2s; 187,3; 189,31; 201,1; 237,172; 271,10; 287,5; 292,1.3.4.16.20.20; 304,1; 329,7; 330,3; 390,1; 472,2; 493,1; 499,4; 500,8.9; 529,1; 543,4; 557,3; 557a,9; 570,1s; 592,4

Hortensius

257,2

Hymettus (mount)

132,6

Hystaspes

205,1

Iambe

513,4

Idaeus

143,4

Imruʾ al-Qays

500,8

India, Indians

208,4; 506,4; 551,5

Ionia, Ionian

12,4; 103,1.3.6; 119,8; 147,3; 148,2; 173,3; 202,3; 224,2; 228,5; 236,7.7; 237,56.131.226; 239,3; 242,1; 262,3; 271,3; 298,4; 311,1; 344,3; 391,3; 472,3; 520,7.8.8; 520c,3; 540,1.3; 542,5

Ionians

10,7; 12,3.4; 225,2; 230,4; 237,111.218; 344,5; 391,2; 504,4.7; 546,2

Irhiminis

554,3

Index of Names, Places and Peoples

631

Ishaq ibn Hunayn

557b,2

Isis

116,3

Israel

315,7; 541,7

Israelites

378,9

Isthmian games

482,1

Isthmus (of the Peloponnese)

226,1; 581,2

Italy, Italian

202,2; 236,8.8.10; 242,2; 262,2.2; 326,7

Jerome

539,9

Jerusalem

338,2

Jewish people

266,6,cf. 314,1.12

John Scotus

530,2

Josiah

474,1

Judea

541,3

Julian

378,1s; 500,13; 557,4

Lacedaimon, Lacedaimonian

20,6.7; 23,2; 89,3; 137,2.9; 199,5; 228,5; 237,197.205; 290,3; 299,5; 314,5; 385,8; 470,5; 482,6; 541,8; 581,5

Laconia, Laconian

20,2; 237,102; 470,1

Lampsacus

286,3

Lasos

237,211

Latins

530,2.4

Leandrius

237,64.199

Leandrus

202,4; 327,11

Lebedos

237,102.200

Leleges

546,2

Lelegis

546,2

Lemnos

241,2

Leontides

128,1

Leophantus

237,200.210

Lesbians

299,6

Lesbos

173,4; 299,6; 303,3; 385,7; 388,10; 482,6; 506,3

Leucippus

193,7.9; 209,2; 266,1.1; 316,8; 325,4; 332,5; 436,7; 557a,13

632

Index of Names, Places and Peoples

Libya

13,10; 538,2

Lindos

20,5; 68,1; 89,2; 137,2; 137,4; 173,5; 199,4; 290,6; 314,6; 385,3; 386,4; 388,6; 482,7; 506,3; 581,5

Linus

199,1; 237,213; 330,1s; 390,1; 530,1

Lobon

237,129

Locri

228,3

Lucretius

256,1s

Lycurgus

115,3; 237,172; 378,4; 388,14

Lydia, Lydian

10,2.3.4.9; 203,3.4; 455,3; 482,3; 533,4; 541,9; 545,2

Macedon

407,9

Maeotia

553,31

Magnesia

237,170

Mago

104,1

Magoi

87,2; 208,5

Malachi

205,3

Mamertius

92,2

Mandraytus

178,11

Mantua

390,1

Marcellus

74,4

Matians

545,3

Medes

10,2.3.4.9; 203,3.4

Median empire

545,1

Meletus

299,3

Melikertes

482,2

Melissus

183,5; 298,4.8; 316,9; 325,4; 332,3; 352,2; 462,1s; 526a,1

Memphis

249,9

Menelaus

237,100

Meropes

237,111; 504,6

Metapontum

215,5; 286,2; 392,6; 557a,11

Meton

18,8; 104,2

Metrodorus

142,1s; 208,2; 554,4; 555,20.24

Index of Names, Places and Peoples

633

Miletus, Milesios

10,7; 11,3; 12,2; 20,4; 21,2; 22,3; 23,4; 28,2.77; 30,2; 52,1; 62,1; 65a,1; 68,4; 69,4; 70,4; 72,1; 73,2; 74,8; 75,2; 77,8.10; 80,4; 81,1; 83,1.1; 87,1; 88,1; 89,8; 94,1; 95,2.9; 101,1; 103,3; 105,1; 107,2; 111,2; 114,2.3; 134,1; 136,6; 137,1.8; 140,5; 143,3; 145,8; 146,2; 147,1.4; 170,1; 173,3; 175,2; 178,1; 187,2; 188,5; 197,1.2; 199,3; 202,5.8.9; 210,1; 213,2; 215,5; 216,2; 217,1; 223,1; 224,3; 227,1; 228,7; 229,1.2; 231,4; 232,1; 234,4; 236,7; 237,7 .8.37.54.56.58.60.65.71.76.94.105.107s.116.117.131.23 1.233; 237,57; 240,4; 249,2; 254,3; 256,6; 261,1; 262,6; 265,1.5.7; 270,2; 271,1.4; 286,4; 290,9; 291,3; 292,7; 293,2.2; 295,2; 299,5; 300,1.7; 304,1; 305,1; 306,1; 311,1; 313,1; 316,7; 317,3; 319,3; 325,2; 326,3; 327,11; 343,1; 344,4; 345,2; 362,2; 364,1; 373,1; 374,4; 375,16; 385,2; 386,3; 388,5; 391,2; 407,6; 409,3; 410,2; 425,3; 426,2; 431,4; 434,3; 454,2; 458,1; 460,3; 469,1.1; 471,1; 473,3; 475,6; 477,1; 478,1; 480,1; 482,1.3.6; 482a,3; 485,1; 487,3; 492,1; 494,1; 495,1; 499,1.1; 500,2; 501,1.2; 504,2.9.10; 505,3; 506,2; 507,3; 510,1; 511,1; 514,5; 515,3; 520b,5; 520c,2.7; 521,2; 522,2; 527,1.2; 528,9; 529a,1; 529b,2; 530,3; 532,3; 533,1; 535,3; 536,4.6.7.9; 539,12.19; 540,4; 541,1.5.13; 542,1.1.3.3.5s; 543,5; 545,5; 546,1.4; 548,1; 549,2; 550,4; 551,1; 553,3; 554,11; 555,31; 557,2; 557a,2; 560,1; 561,1; 563,2; 563b,1; 564a4; 569c,2 (ter); 569d,1; 571,1; 576,2; 577,3; 578,1; 581,8; 583,1; 585,1; 588,1; 589,1; 592,5

Miletus (Crete)

542,1.3.4

Mimas

224,2

Minyas

237,54

Mitylene (sic)

137,1.6; 173,4; 290,5; 314,1; 539,24; 541,8; 581,6

Moabites

378,9

Molpagoras

119,8

Moses

218,1s; 309,1s; 330,1.6; 338,6; 378,7; 500,10.12; 529,3

Musaeus

330,1s; 472,2; 575,4

Myndos

237,74

Myrsilus

119,13

Myson

20,6; 173,6; 236,3; 237,80.200.201.202.209.214; 470,1.4; 509,4

Mytilene (see also Mitylene)

20,4; 68,3; 89,5; 199,4; 228,6; 386,8

Naassenes

213,1s

Naucratis

118,2

634

Index of Names, Places and Peoples

Neanthes

327,10

Neileus

52,25; 237,7.69; 536,15

Neptune

317,2.6

Nero

226,1

Nicagoras

563a,1

Nile

13,5.6.8.11; 82,1s; 100,1; 164,1.2; 237,162; 380,3s; 404,1.3; 491,1; 548,2s.5s; 571,4

Niloxenus

118,2

Ocean, ocean, Okeanos

29,9; 94,9; 101,2; 116,2; 145,10; 147,12; 187,4; 271,11; 287,5; 292,17; 317,4; 319,3; 320,3; 321,1; 322,1; 329,8; 330,6; 460,13; 499,5; 543,1; 543,2; 553,30; 554,12; 557a,9; 569,8

Oenopides

92,5; 93,2; 104,3; 167,5

Oeta (mount)

173,7; 237,83

Orpheus

199,1; 237,213; 313,2; 330,1s; 389,3; 390,2; 472,2; 493,1

Osiris

116,2

Pamphile

237,30

Pamphylus

237,205

Pangaion

224,4

Panionion

237,195

Pantognostus

481,2

Paphlagonians

545,4

Parmenides

141,2.4; 193,10; 196,2; 209,2; 286,1; 310,7; 316,8; 325,3; 332,3; 335,2; 352,2; 417,4; 450,1; 451,2; 462,1s; 463,3; 472,4; 526a,1; 569c,3; 580,7

Parmeniscus

104,2

Pataecus

112,4

Pausanias

23,1

Peloponnese

136,7; 581,2

Pelops

237,100

Pentheus

267,2

Perdix

389,5

Periander

23,3; 68,2; 89,4; 137,1.5; 173,6; 199,6; 236,1; 237,81.94.202.206.210.213; 290,4; 299,6; 314,5; 385,4;

Index of Names, Places and Peoples

635

386,5; 388,8; 506,2; 509,2.2; 541,8; 577,2; 581,1 Pericles

23,4

Perseus

407,9

Persia

266,4

Persians

298,7; 455,2

Phaethon

575,4

Phaleron

237,6; 362,1

Phanodicus

237,96

Phanothea

365,7

Phemonoe

237,187; 365,5

Pherecydes

108,2; 140,4; 143,2; 208,3; 232,1; 236,3.6; 237,210.217; 238,1.11; 241,2; 249,1; 263,2; 326,2; 327,7.8; 338,4; 392,3; 498,1; 533,2; 534,2; 537,4; 569c,3; 575,5; 583,1

Pherecydes the Assyrian (sic)

392,4; 533,2

Philippus

104,2

Phlegon

495,2

Phocus

237,11

Phocylides

469,2; 542,8

Phoebus

237,60.117; 295,12; 387,2; 504,2

Phoenice

136,1.4.9

Phoenician

12,3; 52,4; 127,2; 136,6.7; 202,5; 204,1; 231,7; 237,3.8.15; 250,13; 262,5; 327,12; 380,1; 495,1; 543,5; 574,1.5.6; 578,1

Phoenix

235,1

Phrygians

545,3

Pillars of Heracles

174,3

Pindar

251,4; 295,3; 303,1; 532,4

Pisistratus

236,4; 239,1

Pittacus

20,4.13; 21,2; 68,3; 89,5; 95,1s.10; 119,13; 126,1s; 131,3; 137,1.6; 171,1; 172,2; 173,4; 199,4; 228,6; 236,2; 237,87.204.209.214; 290,5; 299,6; 314,1.3; 385,7; 386,8; 388,10; 470,3; 482,6; 506,3; 509,2.2; 539,25; 541,8; 577,1; 581,6

Pituousa

546,3

636

Index of Names, Places and Peoples

Plataea

237,85

Plato

74,9; 86,9; 92,5.6; 109,2; 115,3; 146,2; 150,2; 153,1; 167,3; 173,6; 179,1; 194,2; 208,2; 214,4; 219,5; 220,6; 237,4.81.201; 259,6.9; 267,1; 268,1; 275,1; 287,1s; 288,7s; 289,12s; 292,19; 310,8; 316,9; 325,4; 326,4; 328,1s; 332,3; 345,1; 352,2; 358,1; 359,1; 378,3; 390,2; 394,1; 405,1; 408,1; 441,6; 451,3; 470,2; 472,1s; 473,5; 488,1; 493,3; 502,2; 520,6; 527,3; 529a,3; 529b,3; 540,2; 549,3.5; 557c,1; 563,2; 563a,1; 577a,12; 580,7

Platonists

312,2s

Pliny

530,4

Plutarch

260,4; 377,1; 484,1

Polycrates

303,2; 481,1

Pontus

317,1; 440,2; 516,3

Porphyry

330,1; 365,1; 375,1; 500,13; 505,2; 529,4; 557,5

Poseidon

103,1

Praxiades

65a,1; 202,8; 265,4; 300,12; 410,2; 494,1

Priene

12,1; 20,5; 68,3; 89,7; 111,1; 137,2.7; 173,3; 178,11; 199,4; 237,235.235; 290,8; 314,6; 385,6; 386,7; 388,9; 482,7; 506,2; 541,9; 564a,3; 569d,2; 581,7

Protagoras

177,6; 237,201; 266,2; 470,3

Pyrenees

539,23

Pythagoras, Pythagoreans

69,5; 76,2; 88,2; 92,3; 108,2; 115,3; 139,6; 150,2; 151,1; 152,1; 156,1; 176,2; 202,2; 204,2; 205,4; 208,2; 209,1; 211,3; 214,2.4; 236,5.6.8; 237,32.202.211.215; 240,1; 243,1; 249,1s.13; 250,1s.13; 252,2; 256,5; 258,1; 259,4.9; 261,2; 262,1; 263,2; 268,2; 275,1; 276,1; 287,1s; 298,4.7; 299,5; 310,2; 315,4; 316,9; 323,4; 325,4; 326,3; 327,7.9; 331,1; 332,2; 346,1; 348,2; 352,1; 353,1; 374,3; 377,3; 390,4; 394,1; 441,6; 442,11; 472,4; 493,2; 502,1; 505,5; 514,4; 520,6; 521,2; 522,2; 525,1s; 527,2; 529a,2; 529b,2; 534,1; 549,1; 551,2; 557,6; 557b,2; 557c,1; 563a,2; 569d,2; 580,3

Pythian (i.e., Apollo)

237,79.82; 298,2; 365,6.9

Pythian games

482,1

Pythian priestess

200,2; 504,1

Rhodes

228,6; 237,45

Rome, Roman

73,2; 105,3; 388,4; 407,7.8; 481,1; 541,4

Index of Names, Places and Peoples

637

Romulus

313,1; 315,7; 541,4

Sabians

522,2; 549,2

Sabinus

182,2

Samos, Samian

69,5; 88,2; 91,1; 237,11; 259,5; 299,5; 303,2; 326,3; 374,3; 390,4; 481,1; 527,1; 529a,1

Sarpedon

542,2

Sawuri (?)

557b,2

Scabras

237,207; 22,3; 175,3

Scythia

22,3; 175,3; 199,7; 236,2; 270,3; 482,4.7; 509,3.4

Scythians

10,1

Seneca

258,3

Serenus

361,3

Sibyl

492,1

Sicily

326,6

Sidon

250,6.9s

Simmias

128,2

Simonides

23,2

Sisymbrinus

237,211

Sisyphus

68,2

Socrates

17,1s.7; 21,5; 86,9; 139,7; 143,5; 189,5; 208,2; 211,6; 212,2; 225,1; 236,11; 237,120; 241,2s; 259,6; 266,2.3; 269,1; 298,1; 299,1.4; 326,4; 378,3; 388,12; 412,8; 445,3; 493,3; 502,1; 518,3; 527,3; 529a,2; 529b,3; 535,9.11; 540,1; 549,3.4

Solon

20,5; 23,5; 52,23; 68,5; 77,5; 83,5; 89,6; 95,11; 112,1; 115,2; 118,3; 120,1; 131,2; 137,1.10; 168,1; 171,1; 172,1; 173,5; 176,2; 199,5; 214,4; 218,6; 228,4; 236,1; 237,62.204.209.213.223.226.230; 290,7; 298,2; 299,6; 304,1; 314,5.10; 326,3; 379,4; 385,5; 386,6; 388,12; 454,1; 470,4; 479,2; 482,5; 497,1; 504,13; 506,1; 509,1.1; 535,4; 539,30; 541,8; 564a,3; 577,1; 581,7

son of Gorgias

237,200

Sosicrates

237,166

Sostratus

170,1s

Sparta, Spartan

68,5; 173,5; 237,89.92; 327,8; 506,2; 564a,2.3

638

Index of Names, Places and Peoples

Stagira

69,5

Stesichorus

92,2

Stoics

150,3; 151,1; 161,1; 215,2; 234,2; 258,2.3; 275,1; 276,1; 279,1; 287,1s; 312,3; 331,2; 346,1; 358,1; 394,2; 440,5; 490,1; 516,5

Strato

220,5

Strepsiades

535,8

Styx

29,11; 190,6; 287,7; 460,16; 557a,10

Sulpicius Gallus

407,8

Syracuse

237,193

Syria

13,10

Syrian Cappadocians

545,4

Syros

108,2; 140,4; 143,2; 232,1; 236,3; 237,222; 263,2; 326,2; 498,1; 534,2; 569c,3; 583,1

Tarentum

228,4

Taurus

575,2

Teleobulus

577,1

Tenedos

477,1; 492,1

Teos

12,4.4

Terra

317,1

Tethys

29,9; 116,3; 145,10; 287,5; 329,8; 460,13; 557a,9

Thales

10,7; 11,3.5; 12,2; 17,13; 18,24; 19,1; 20,4; 21,3; 22,2; 23,3; 27,2; 28,2.12; 29,1.13; 30,2; 31,1; 32,2; 52,2.24.25; 62,1; 63,15; 64,3; 65a,1; 68,4; 69,3; 70,4; 71,1; 72,1; 73,2; 74,7; 75,2; 76,4; 77,8; 78,2; 80,3; 81,1; 82,2; 83,1; 85,1; 86,8; 87,1; 88,1; 89,8; 90,1; 91,2; 92,2.2; 93,3; 94,1.6.11; 95,9; 96,1; 98,1; 99,1; 100,1; 101,1; 103,4; 104,2; 105,1; 106,4; 107,2; 108,2; 109,1; 110,1; 111,2; 112,1s; 113,5; 114,1; 115,2; 116,1; 117,3.4; 118,3; 119,13; 120,4; 121,1; 122,1; 123,1; 124,1; 125,1.2; 126,1; 127,1; 128,5; 129,3; 130,3.8; 131,2; 132,5; 134,1; 136,5; 137,1.8; 138,3; 139,6; 140,5; 141,1.2; 142,2; 143,3; 144,2.3; 145,8; 146,2.10; 147,1; 148,1s.2; 149,1; 150,2; 151,1; 152,1; 153,1; 154,1; 155,1; 156,1; 157,2; 158,1; 159,2; 160,1; 161,1; 162,1; 163,1; 164,1; 165,1; 167,7; 168,2; 170,1; 171,1; 172,1; 173,3; 174,5; 175,2; 176,6; 177,7; 178,1.10.13.17; 179,4; 180,2; 181,1; 182,4; 183,5; 184,3; 186,1; 187,1; 188,5; 189,3.13.14s.15s.20; 190,2; 191,1.6; 192,3; 193,3.8; 194,7; 195,3; 196,3; 197,1; 198,1; 199,3; 200,2; 201,3;

Index of Names, Places and Peoples

639

202,3.4.8; 203,1; 204,1; 205,6.7; 206,3; 207,1.3; 208,3; 209,1; 210,1; 211,4.6; 212,1; 213,1; 214,4; 215,5.7; 216,2; 217,1; 218,4; 219,2; 220,4; 221,2; 222,2; 223,8; 224,3; 225,2; 226,1; 227,1.8; 228,5; 229,1.2; 230,1.3; 231,2.5; 232,1; 233,1; 234,4; 235,3; 236,1.6.7.10; 237 (bis) .69.71.78.108.119s.124.128.131.170.179.183.194.204.20 9.214.216.217.230; 238,1; 239,3; 240,1.7; 241,2; 242,1; 243,1; 244,2; 249,2.5.13s; 250,1.11; 251,7; 252,1.3; 253,1; 254,3; 255,1; 256,6; 257,4; 258,1; 259,4.9; 260,6.8; 261,1; 262,3.5; 263,2; 264,3; 265,1.3; 266,4; 267,4; 268,2; 269,1; 270,2; 271,1.12; 272,1; 273,1; 274,1; 275,1; 276,1; 277,1; 278,1; 279,1; 280,1; 286,4.4; 287,2; 288,7; 289,8; 290,9; 291,3.6; 292,7.11.18; 293,1.2; 294,1; 295,1; 296,1s.2s; 298,4; 299,5; 300,1.2.5.9.11; 301,1; 302,3; 303,3; 304,1; 305,1; 306,1; 307,1; 308,1; 309,2; 310,7; 311,1.3.11; 312,3; 313,1; 314,2.11; 315,2.6; 316,7; 317,4; 318,1; 319,3; 320,3; 321,2; 322,1; 323,3; 324,1; 325,2; 326,3; 327,6.11; 328,2; 329,6; 330,4.5; 331,1; 332,2; 333,1; 334,1; 335,1; 336,1; 337,9; 338,4; 338,13; 339,2; 340,1; 341,2; 342,1.2; 343,1; 344,4; 345,2; 346,1; 347,1; 348,1; 349,1; 350,1; 351,1; 352,1; 353,1; 354,1; 355,2; 356,1; 357,1; 358,1; 359,1; 360,1; 361,3; 362,2; 363,1; 364,1; 365,8; 366,1; 367,2; 368,1; 369,1; 370,2; 371,1; 372,1; 373,1; 374,4; 375,10.15; 376,3; 377,4; 378,3; 379,3; 380,3; 381,1; 382,1; 383,3; 384,1; 385,2; 386,3; 387,1; 387,11; 388,5; 389,6; 390,4; 391,2; 392,4; 393,1; 394,1; 395,1; 396,1; 397,1; 398,1; 399,1; 400,2; 401,1; 402,1; 403,1; 404,1; 405,1; 406,1; 407,6; 408,2; 409,2.9; 410,2; 411,2.4; 412,8; 413,2; 414,4; 415,3; 416,3; 417,3; 418,3; 419,7; 420,7; 421,5; 422,1.2.7s; 423,2; 424,1.4; 425,3; 426,2.6; 427,4; 428,2; 429,2; 430,5; 431,4.6; 432,4; 433,2.3; 434,3.19; 435,3.6.10; 436,9; 437,7; 438,10; 439,4; 440,5; 441,4; 442,1.3.6.8s.12.13.18s.20s.21s; 443,2.4.5; 444,6; 445,5; 446,5; 447,4.4; 448,2.4; 449,3; 450,3; 451,2; 452,7; 453,7; 454,1; 455,4; 456,2; 457,7; 458,1; 459,1; 460,3.18; 461,4.6.8s.9; 462,3; 463,2; 464,2; 465,3; 466,3; 467,3; 468,5; 469,1; 470,3; 471,1; 472,3; 473,3; 474,2; 475,6; 476,1; 477,1; 478,1; 479,2; 480,1; 481,2; 482,1.6; 482a,1.3.5; 483,1; 484,1; 485,1; 486,1; 487,3; 488,1; 489,1; 490,1; 491,1; 492,1; 493,2; 494,2; 495,1.6.10.11.12; 496,1; 497,2; 498,1; 499,1; 500,2.6.9.9.14; 501,1; 502,1; 503,1; 504,10; 505,3; 506,2; 507,3.8; 508a,1; 509,1.10.13; 510,1; 511,1; 512,1; 512a,1; 514,4; 515,3.11; 516,5; 517,1; 518,5; 519,2; 520,7; 520a,3; 520b,5; 520c,2; 521,2; 522,2; 523,4; 524,1.8; 525,1.4; 526,5; 526a,2; 527,2; 528,8; 529,1.4; 529a,2; 529b,2; 530,3; 531,3; 532,3; 533,1; 534,2; 535,1.3.10; 536,11.13.15; 537,4; 538,3; 539,19; 540,4; 541,1.4.13; 542,8; 543,4; 544,5; 545,5; 546,4; 547,1.2; 548,1; 549,2;

640

Index of Names, Places and Peoples 550,4; 551,1; 552,1.24; 553,1.2.25.36s.56.61.64; 554,11; 555,7.26.31.32.36; 556,8; 557,2.4.5; 557a,2; 557b,3; 557c,1; 558,1; 559,3; 560,1; 561,1.5s; 562,1; 563,2; 563a,1; 563b,1; 564,1.9.10; 564a,4; 567,4; 568,1; 569,14; 569a,2; 569b,1; 569c,3; 569d,1.2; 570,1; 571,1; 572,1; 573,3; 574,6; 575,3; 576,2; 577,1; 577a,3.7; 578,1.1; 579,1.2; 580,6; 581,8; 582,2; 583,1; 584,1; 585,1; 586,1; 587,1; 588,1; 589,1; 590,1; 591,1.1; 592,4

Theaetetus

328,1

Thebes (Egyptian)

326,6

Thelidae

237,3

Theocritus

128,1

Theon

557b,2

Theodorus

19,1; 92,6; 269,2.10; 328,2

Theophrastus

111,1; 208,1; 236,10; 409,11

Theopompus

327,10

Therapnae

388,13

Thrace

138,2

Thrasybulus

237,54.94

Thratta

210,11

Thyrion

237,73

Timaeus

179,1; 557b,3

Timocharis

117,1

Timon

237,126

Timotheus

103,4; 469,2

Troy

86,7

Tullius

258,3

Tyre

505,2

Valentinians

145,11s

Valerius Maximus

539,10

Varro

530,2

Vitruvius

389,5

Xenocrates

441,6

Xenophanes

86,8; 88,2; 144,4; 182,1.4.5; 187,5; 202,3; 209,3; 215,7;

Index of Names, Places and Peoples

641

237,19; 243,1s; 262,4; 314,12; 316,8; 325,3; 332,5; 392,6; 425,2; 541,13 Xerxes

487,4

Xius

554,4

Zacharias

205,2; 218,4

Zaleucus

228,3

Zeno

69,4; 86,10; 171,2; 208,1; 220,6; 258,2; 266,1s; 310,8; 332,4; 352,3; 580,7

Zethus

389,6

Zeus

21,7; 237,182; 292,2

Zopyrus

129,1

Greek – English Index ἀγένητος

unbegotten, 237,140; ungenerated, 332,9; 427,3.5; 437,3; 453,4

ἀγέννητος

unbegotten, 90,1; 121,1; 339,3; 564,11

ἀεικίνητος

always-moving, 165,1; 323,4; 360,1

ἀέριος

airy, 440,5; 516,4

ἀεροῦσθαι

become air, 94,4

ἀήρ

air, 18,4.12.13; 29,16; 30,3.7; 94,4; 140,6; 144,3; 146,5; 182,3; 188,6.7; 191,6; 193,4; 195,4; 197,2; 198,1; 215,3.7; 260,23.26.27; 261,2; 301,3; 324,3 (bis).4.5; 329,10; 344,1; 392,6; 411,6; 413,3; 414,5.7.8; 416,4; 417,4; 418,2; 419,7; 420,7; 425,4; 427,4; 429,3; 431,7.13 (bis); 436,6.10.11; 437,7; 438,9; 442,11.12; 448,2.4.9 (bis); 450,3; 452,6.7; 453,7; 462,3; 464,1; 465,3; 467,3; 515,16; 517,1; 520a,4; 520b,6.7 (bis).8; 557a,10.13 (bis).14; 577a,8.9; 580,7.8; dark mist, 260,17;

ἀίδιος

eternal, 230,5; 260,15; 459,7

αἰθέριος

aetherial, 440,1; 516,3

αἰθερολόγος

expert on the heavens, 240,4

αἰθήρ

aether, 94,4; 292,2

αἵρεσις

school, 147,3; 271,3; 472,1; 520,7

αἰτία

cause, 29,14; 82,2; 130,6; 163,1; 189,1.26; 191,2; 192,1; 195,2; 206,4; 260,9; 381,2; 392,1; 403,1; 408,5; 434,4; 460,19; 461,2; 462,2; 557a,1.3.15; charge, 225,5 (bis); reason, 375,3.5; 380,3; δι’ ἣν αἰτίαν, why, 292,18

αἴτιον

cause, 347,1; 421,2; 444,2; 453,2.3; 460,3; 462,1; 520,1; reason, 21,1

αἴτιος

causal, 94,6; cause, 13,4; 342,1; 347,1; person to introduce, 210,9

ἀκίνητον

unmoved, 336,1; 347,1; 412,1.3; 427,6; 447,1

ἀκουστής

pupil, 134,1; 140,5; 143,4; 265,4; 266,1

644

Greek – English Index

ἀκροατής

pupil, 211,7; 212,2

ἀλήθεια

truth, 142,4; 230,1; 327,4; 342,4; 361,2

ἀλλοιοῦν

alteration, 448,14

ἀλλοίωσις

alteration, 349,2; 436,4; 448,12.13.15

ἀλλοιωτός

alterable, 151,2; 276,1; 331,2; 346,2

ἅμαξα

wagon, 592,2; the Wain, 52,3; 231,3.7; 237,14; 573,1; 592,1.2

ἀμερής

without parts, 580,5

ἀμετάβλητος

unchanging, 436,2; 437,3

ἀναγράγειν

discuss, 167,2; 176,5

ἀναγραφή

catalogue, 237,213

ἀναίτιος

uncaused, 332,10

ἀνακυκλεῖν

revolve, 260,12

ἀναλλοίωτος

unalterable, 436,3

ἀναλύειν

dissolve, 147,5; 230,2; 271,5; 291,6; 292,12; 293,4; 343,3; 427,4

ἀνάλυσις

dissolution, 187,9

ἀνατολαί

sunrise, 434,8.13

ἀνατολικός

east, 434,13

ἀνελλιπής

exhaustive, 520a,2

ἀντίθεσις

opposition, 580,4

ἀντικεῖσθαι

ἀντικείμενος, opposite, 420,6 (bis)

ἀνώλεθρος

imperishable, 453,6

ἀόριστος

indeterminate, 431,7.12

ἄπειρος

endless, 323,1; indeterminate, 260,24; infinite, 194,7.8; 260,9.11.12; 329,9; 344,1; 375,20; 392,5; 393,2; 418,2; 419,6; 420,2.3.4.5; 425,2; 431,1.9.10 (bis).12; 436,8.11; 447,2; 458,2; 557a,12; 580,4; infinite number, 332,6; 436,6.8; unlimited, 410,1; 448,10; 453,4; εἰς ἄπειρον, ad infinitum, 348,2; ad infinitum, 152,2; τὸ ἄπειρον, the unlimited, 140,6; 143,4; 410,3; the infinite, 418,1; 419,4.5

ἀπείρων

boundless, 544,2

ἀπλανής

fixed star, 157,1; 398,1

ἀπόδειξις

demonstration, 383,3; πρὸς ἀπόδειξιν, to prove, 292,4

645

Greek – English Index ἄποιος

having no qualities, 452,8; which has no qualities, 215,1.2

ἀπόκρυψις

disappearance, 358,2

ἀπόφασις

saying, 237,196

ἀπόφθεγμα

saying, 237,139; 362,1; 495,7; 525,6; 569a,3; 581,3.4

ἀραίωσις

rarefaction, 260,25

ἀριθμός

number, 237,199; 253,1; 261,2; 323,4; 375,3; 380,2; 441,5; 580,3

ἄρκτος

the Bear, 573,1; μικρὰ ἄρκτος, the Little Bear, 237,12; 578,3; 592,1

ἀρχέγονος

origin, 293,3

ἄρχειν

be the founder of, 147,2; 211,6; 271,2; 291,4; 292,7; begin, 11,8; 81,2; 187,1; 208,7; 239,2; 266,4; 291,1.2; 408,4.5; 434,11; 515,6; ἄρχεσθαι, be subjected, 298,5

ἀρχή

beginning, 188,2; 192,2; 207,4; 210,2.7; 236,5; 237,153; 260,19.21; 293,1; 380,2; 461,1.2.3; 525,1; 564,16; empire, 545,1; origin, 240,7; 260,28; principle, 29,5.6.17; 92,4; 116,2; 140,2.5; 142,4; 143,3; 146,1.2.3.4.6.7.10; 147,1 (bis).6.7; 148,1; 181,3; 187,1.5; 189,13.16.22.24.25.26.27.28 (bis); 190,2.4.6; 191,5; 192,2.5; 193,2.4.7.10; 194,6; 195,2.3; 196,2.5; 197,1; 198,2; 206,1.3; 215,2; 230,2.5; 232,1; 237,48; 260,2.6.23; 261,1; 271,1.6.7; 291,4; 292,9.10.11.13; 301,5; 329,7.9.11;343,1 (bis).4.5; 345,1.2; 380,5; 392,2; 408,6.7; 409,1.4.7.8; 410,3.4; 411,1; 412,1.5; 415,1.2.3.5; 419,3; 421,1.4; 431,2.12; 438,2.5.7.8.11; 439,1; 440,3.7; 441,4; 442,4.12.24; 447,1; 448,1; 449,1.4; 450,2; 451,1.3; 459,1.7; 460,1.4.5.8.13; 461,2.5.12; 462,2; 463,1.4; 464,3.4; 466,2; 467,1; 520b,2; 558,2.3; 570,1; 578,5; 579,2; 580,3; 583,1; 584,1; ἐν ἀρχῇ, at first, 129,4; ἐξ ἀρχῆς, original, 174,3

ἀρχηγός

author, 210,6; founder, 29,1; 171,3; 189,3.14; 460,4; 461,7

ἀστέρισκος

little star, 52,4; 231,7; 237,15

ἀστήρ

star, 18,21; 233,1; 235,3; 237,185; 260,19; 333,1; 358,4

ἀστρολογεῖν

Περὶ τῶν ἀστρολογουμένων ἱστορία, History of Astronomy, 237,19

ἀστρολογία

astronomy, 117,1; 538,1; knowledge of astronomy, 28,6; Ἀστρολογία, the work Astronomy, 117,4; Ἀστρολογίαι, the work Astronomy, 93,1; 167,5; Ναυτικὴ Ἀστρολογία, Nautical Astronomy, 237,11; 409,13

646

Greek – English Index

ἀστρολογικός

Ἀστρολογικαὶ Ἱστορίαι, Astronomical Inquiries, 203,1

ἀστρολόγος

astronomer, 237,132.225

ἄστρον

heavenly body, 260,28; star, 147,10; 157,1.2; 210,5.8; 237,123; 240,3; 271,9; 274,1; 300,7; 343,7; 354,1.2; 398,2; 457,7; 468,5.6; 525,4

ἀστρονομεῖν

practice astronomy, 237,126; 251,5; 456,3; 468,5; study the stars, 19,1; 251,7; 269,1; 328,2; 444,6; 445,5

ἀστρονόμημα

astronomical wonder, 237,128

ἀστρονομία

astronomy, 139,6; 457,7; 495,12

ἀσώματος

incorporeal, 143,1; 323,1.3; 422,7; 441,3.5; 516,1

ἄτομος

atom, 138,3; 198,2; 442,11; 557a,12; 580,5

αὔξειν

αὔξεσθαι, grow, 359,1; 405,1; wax, 434,6

αὐτοκίνητος

self-moving, 165,2; 323,4; 360,1

ἄφθαρτος

imperishable, 188,2; 332,10; 453,5

ἄψυχος

inanimate, 213,3; 237,28; 332,9; 578,4

βιβλίον

book, 375,4; 377,2; 461,8

βίβλος

book, 536,9

γένεσις

be generated, 144,3; generating, 414,3; 431,9; generation, 29,8.9; 183,3; 189,2.6.17.19; 208,6; 210,6; 215,1.6; 260,9.12.15.28; 411,3; 415,4; 421,3.7; 429,6.7; 436,4; 438,3; 448,8.13; origin, 94,9; 116,2; 147,12; 187,1.4; 271,11; 292,17; 329,8; 460,13.16; Περὶ Γενέσεως, On Generation, 193,6; 452,11

γενητός

generated, 332,9; 437,3.4; 438,6.7

γεώδης

earthy, 157,2; 158,2; 274,1; 277,2; 333,1; 334,1; 335,1; 354,2; 355,2.3; 356,1; 398,1; 399,2

γεωμετρεῖν

geometry, 237,30; practice geometry, 251,5; survey, 18,4

γεωμέτρης

geometer, 580,6; 588,2; 590,1

γεωμετρία

geometry, 92,1; 252,1; 380,3; 591,2

γεωμετρικός

Γεωμετρικαὶ Ἱστορίαι, History of Geometry, 384,1

γῆ

earth, 30,7; 94,11; 140,4; 143,2; 144,4; 146,5.7; 163,1; 182,4; 187,6; 188,7; 196,3; 215,3.7; 260,29 (bis); 324,2; 392,4.6; 414,6; 417,5 (bis); 420,4; 434,16; 436,6; 463,3; 515,16; 519,3; 580,7.8; land, 223,1; 545,2; the earth, 29,2; 30,5 (bis); 52,7; 93,5; 124,1; 160,1.2; 161,1.2; 162,1

647

Greek – English Index

(bis); 167,8; 230,3; 237,185; 251,4; 260,13.17.27; 278,1; 279,1; 280,1; 358,3; 401,1 (bis); 402,1 (bis); 407,3; 409,9; 425,5; 426,3; 434,16; 456,4; 460,5.10; 515,7.8; 523,5; 544,3; 564,9; 572,1; 577a,5.9 (bis).13; σεισμὸς γῆς, earthquake, 403,1 γήινος

earthy, 233,1; 448,7

γνώμη

judgment, 52,2; 126,3; 231,5; 271,11; 293,2; 563,1; proposal, 12,1; 237,219; thought, 17,1; 147.11; saying, 569a,3

γνώμων

gnomon, 265,5

γονή

offspring, 493,1; seed, 147,6; 271,6; 292,13; 343,4; 440,6; seminal fluid, 447,5

γράμμα

work, 80,5; writing, 238,2

γραμμή

line, 348,3

γραμμικός

of lines, 237,35

γράφειν

construct, 52,7.9; draw, 134,2; 576,1; inscribe, 20,11; 173,1; not tr., 263,5; write, 91,1; 108,5; 117,2.3; 173,2; 182,2; 237,189.221.228; 292,1; 495,3; 523,1; 535,1.12; 546,1; τὰ γεγραμμένα, writings, 237,129

γραφή

book, 237,220; indictment, 299,3; writing, 80,6; 237,228; 238,4; written work, 409,13

γωνία

angle, 382,3; 383,2

δαιμόνιον

daimonion, 225,1

δαιμόνιος

divine, 27,5; 372,3; 524,3.12; 531,6

δαίμων

daimon, 52,12; 150,1.2.3; 186,2.3; 237,49; 275,1; 327,1; 340,1; 394,1; 578,6

διαβήτης

compass, 17,11; 18,16

διαδοχή

school, 147,3; 271,3; succession, 94,10; 148,1; 202,1; 211,4; 262,1; 344,3; successor, 291,6; Διαδοχαί, Successions, 237,186

διάδοχος

successor, 329,10; 410,2; 494,2

διάζωσις

belt, 93,2; 167,6

διακούειν

be a pupil of, 236,6; 239,3

διάκρισις

separation, 416,5; 421,8.10

διαλεκτική

dialectic, 211,6

διάλυσις

dissolution, 124,2

648

Greek – English Index

διάμετρον

diameter, 381,1; κατὰ διάμετρον ἀποστάς, diametrically opposite, 434,9

διατριβή

school, 520c,2

διαφωνία

disagreement, 140,3; 231,1; 260,3; 323,2; 332,1; 430,2

διδάσκαλος

teacher, 202,7; 208,4.5.7; 227,5; 250,11; 327,3.8

διήκειν

pervade, 302,2; 340,2; 442,20

δόγμα

doctrine, 337,6.9; 374,2; 442,19; Φυσικὰ Δόγματα, Physical Doctrines, 377,2

δογματικός

dogmatist, 140,4

δόξα

doctrine, 94,7; 520,5.8; glory, 113,2; 303,1; 493,2; opinion, 183,2; 189,29; 196,3; 237,134; 292,9; 376,2; reputation, 249,7; 498,2; 520c,5; view, 29,13; 184,2; 188,4; 189,4; 193,6; 260,2; 291,2; 292,4.19.20; 293,2; 302,1.3; 337,4.8; 372,2; 375,15; 426,1.4; 427,1.2; 438,7; 442,3.6.9.12.21; 443,2.4; 462,1; 514,2.3; 520,1; 532,3; 557a,2; 559,1; 577a,3.7; Πρὸς Δόξαν, Towards Opinion, 450,2

δύναμις

army, 455,3; potentiality, 429,5; 435,8.9; power, 142,5; 340,2; 520,3; potentially, 435,2 (bis).4.5.6.10; 567,2.3.5.6

δυσαλλοίωτος

not easily changeable, 414,6

δυσμαί

sunset, 434,7.14

δυσόριστος

not easily determinable, 452,10.12

δυτικός

west, 434,7

εἰδοποιεῖν

give form, 520a,3

εἶδος

form, 146,9; 452,4; 460,1; kind, 189,12; 413,2; 430,2; 514,1

εἶναι

τὸ ὄν, Being, 372,1; τὸ ὄν (τὰ ὄντα), thing-that-is (things-that-are), 302,2; 372,1; 408,6; 410,3; 412,1; 413,2; 414,2; 417,3; 438.11; 439,1; 440,4.7; 442,12; 450,2; 467,1; 510a,1.2; 579,2

ἐκλείπειν

be eclipsed, 91,2; 93,6; 158,1; 167,10; 277,1; 355,2; 399,1; 455,4; 578,2

ἔκλειψις

eclipse, 91,1.3; 93,3; 158,1; 167,7; 203,1; 237,18; 244,1; 265,2; 355,1; 358,3; 399,1; 432,4.5; 433,2; 434,4.15.17.19.20; 435,3.6.11.13; 455,5; 482,1; 495,7.11; 515,8.11.12; 525,5; 533,3.5.7; 535,5; 567,5.6

ἔμπυρος

fiery, 157,2; 233,1; 274,1; 333,1; 354,2; 398,2

649

Greek – English Index ἔμψυχος

animate, 213,3; 237,49; 301,2; 302,3; 332,8; 340,1; 359,1; 405,1; 442,7.14.16; 443,4; 558,3; 559,2; possesses soul, 578,6

ἐναντίος

against, 560,2; contrary, 292,20; 337,4.9; 415,1.2.4; 416,2.5; 420,9; 427,1; 449,3.4; 452,8;520b,2; opposite, 237,163; 476,6; 560,3; τοὐναντίον, on the contrary, 196,1; 444,5

ἐναντιότης

contrariety, 448,11

ἐναντίωσις

opposition, 420,2

ἐνέργεια

activity, 407,1; actuality, 429,5; 435,7.11; ἐνεργείᾳ, actual, 189,6; 435,13; actually, 189,10; 435,1.2.4.9.12; 567,1

ἐνεργεῖν

be active, 444,5; 537,1

ἐντελέχεια

entelechy, 146,9

ἐξατμίζεσθαι

turn to vapor, 94,4

ἐξετάζειν

study, 300,7

ἐξευρίσκειν

discover, 167,11; 52,8; 252,1; 326,5; make discoveries, 585,2; not tr., 167,10

ἐξηγητής

commentator, 182,1

ἐπίγραμμα

Ἐπιγράμματα, Epigrams, 237,180

ἐπίπεδος

flat surface, 402,2; surface, 251,5; 544,3

ἐπιστήμη

knowledge, 244,3.4.5; 432,2.3.4; 433,4; 434,1.2 (bis).21; 435,1.5.6.11.12; 457,1.4.5.6; 468,1.4.5; 515,12.13; 531,2; 567,2.3.6; science, 206,1; 327,1; scientific knowledge, 27,1

ἐπιστημονικός

scientific, 383,3

ἐπιφάνεια

surface, 348,3

ἐπιχείρημα

argument, 446,3; 457,3

ἑταῖρος

associate, 238,9; 260,8; 298,2; 431,7.11; companion, 237,234

εὐαλλοίωτος

easily changeable, 411,8; 431,13

εὐδιάπλαστος

changes shape easily, 459,2.3

εὐθύς

εὐθεῖα, straight line, 381,2; 383,1

εὐκίνητος

easily moved, 440,4

εὐόριστος

easily determinable, 452,10.13

εὔπλαστος

easily shaped, 411,6

650

Greek – English Index

εὕρεσις

discovery, 231,2; 382,1

εὑρετής

discoverer, 337,5; 574,6; person who discovers, 237,12

εὕρημα

discovery, 300,10

εὑρίσκειν

discover, 92,1; 93,1.2; 121,4 (bis); 167,5; 231,1.2.3; 237,23.34.50; 244,2; 380,3.5; 383,2; 533,3; 538,2; 543,5; 562,1; 573,2; 578,2; 592,4; find, 52,5; 176,1; 182,5; 237,55.96.97; 260,1; 266,3; 375,7; 378,6; 416,1; 587,2

εὐτύπωτος

malleable, 411,5

ζηλωτής

follower, 300,12; 391,5; lover, 20,7

ζητεῖν

investigate, 17,4; 19,8; 184,2; 194,3.5 (bis); 208,7; 251,14; 269,9; 408,5; 438,2; 444,3; 520a,1 (bis).2; 520b,2; look for, 208,4; 461,12; seek, 27,6; 524,4; want, 28,9

ζήτησις

investigating, 210,8; investigation, 438,3; 462,2

ζωδιακός

zodiac, 93,2; 167,6

ζώνη

zone, 156,3; 353,3; 397,2

ζῷον

animal, 260,19; 267,3; 431,5.6; 445,4; 457,3; 460,7.8; 515,2; 537,1; living thing, 147,6; 271,6; 292,13; 343,4; 359,1.2; 405,1.2

ἠλέκτρον

amber, 237,30; 578,5

ἡλιακός

solar, 237,18.24; sun’s, 434,17; 515,9

ἥλιος

God of the Sun, 237,182; sun, 91,2; 93,3.6; 147,9; 158,1 (bis); 159,3; 167,7.9; 203,2; 237,24; 244,1; 260,18.28.29; 271,9; 273,1; 277,1; 300,8; 334,1; 343,7; 355,1.2; 357,1; 358,2; 399,1 (bis); 400,2; 406,1; 407,1.2; 434,5.6 (bis).8.9.10.12.13.16; 455,4.5; 482,1; 495,11; 515,4.7; 578,2.4; τρόπος ἡλίου, solstice, 265,2.6

ἡμέρα

day, 10,6.9; 91,3; 223,8; 237,50.148 (bis); 300,8; 407,8; 455,4; not tr., 10,7

ἡμικύκλιος

semicircular, 535,7

ἡμισφαίριον

hemisphere, 434,16; 515,8

θεῖος

divine, 108,1; 207,3.4; 237,153.218; 249,14; 250,9; 263,1; 340,2; 341,1; 361,1; 365,8; 443,6 (bis); 453,5; 456,6; 523,3; 564,16; τὰ θεῖα, religion, 115,1

θεολογεῖν

speculate about the gods, 29,8; 238,7

θεολογία

theology, 291,3; 330,6

θεολόγος

theologian, 189,32; 460,12; 523,1

651

Greek – English Index θεός

god, 29,10; 32,2; 90,1; 121,1; 126,3; 149,1 (bis); 150,1; 186,2 (bis); 189,31; 190,1; 200,2; 207,2; 210,7; 223,3.4.7; 237,59.63.100.140.141.149; 272,1; 292,9; 302,4; 329,8; 339,1.3; 340,1; 341,1; 365,3 (bis).4; 375,9.14.16.18.20; 376,2; 378,11; 379,2.5; 393,1 (bis).2; 424,1.2.5; 443,2.5.6; 458,1.2; 460,13; 504,5; 557a,9.10; 559,3; 564,1.10.11; goddess, 303,2; πρὸς θεῶν, Good Lord!, 18,6

θερμός

hot, 29,3; 189,18.20.22; 260,15; 409,5; 449,2; 450,2; 451,1; 460,9.11; 557a,6

θερμότης

heat, 260,30

θεωρητικός

theoretical, 189,14

θεωρία

contemplation, 110,2; discussion, 446,2; study, 183,3; 237,9.35; 380,4

Ἰάμβοι

Iambics, 237,12.34.64

ἰατρική

medicine, 457,7

ἰσημερία

equinox, 237,16; 265,2.6; 495,7; 525,5; 538,1; Περὶ Ἰσημερίας On the Equinox, 495,4

ἰσοσκελής

isosceles, 382,3

κάθετος

perpendicular, 277,2; 355,3; κατὰ κάθετον, perpendicular, 399,2; 434,16; perpendicularly, 158,2; 515,8

καθηγεῖσθαι

be someone's teacher, 236,6.7; 237,51; found, 239,3

καθηγεμών

founder, 472,1

καθηγητής

teacher, 143,5; 391,6

καλύπτειν

καλύπτεσθαι, be eclipsed, 407,2

καταγράφειν

inscribe, 237,31

κατακούειν

be a student of, 534,2; hear, 535,10

κατάρχειν

be the first, 544,5; found, 344,4

καταστερίζειν

be a constellation, 592,2

καῦμα

heat, 237,176; 495,5; 578,8

κενόν

void, 153,1 (bis); 350,1.2 (bis)

κερατοειδής

crescent, 434,8.14

κινεῖν

cause motion, 301,4; 444,1.3; 446,1.6; cause to move, 445,4; 446,4; move, 31,2; 323,5; 518,2; 558,3; not tr., 445,5; set in motion, 174,2; κινεῖσθαι, be in motion, 93,5; 167,8; 409,1; 410,1; 412,2; 415,3; 447,2.3; be moved, 459,7 (bis)

652

Greek – English Index

κίνησις

motion, 230,5; 260,29; 354,1; 355,2; 412,4.5; 421,3.6.11; 431,2; 442,8.22; 444,4.5; 445,1.2; 525,4; movement, 210,5

κινητικός

causes motion, 31,1; 422,4; 558,2; causes to move, 422,4; kinetic, 442,8.9; that causes motion, 301,1; 442,1; that causes something to move, 340,2

κοσμογόνος

cosmogonic, 94,2

κόσμος

cosmos, 93,5; 121,2 (bis).3; 124,1; 126,2; 147,11; 149,1; 155,1 (bis); 167,9; 186,3; 237,49.141; 260,11.16; 271,10; 272,1; 302,2; 332,2; 340,1; 343,8; 351,1.2; 352,1.3; 375,16.19.20; 377,3.4.5; 393,1; 396,1 (bis); 431,10 (bis); 520,3; 564,11; 578,6; 579,1; 580,1

κρᾶσις

blending, 349,1 (bis)

κυκλεῖν

κυκλούμενος, in its revolution, 574,4

κύκλος

circle, 18,19; 52,10; 156,1.3; 237,31; 260,18; 353,2; 381,1; 397,2; orbit, 237,24

κυκλοτερής

round, 18,22

κυλινδροειδής

cylindrical, 260,13

λίθος

magnet, 31,2; 442,7.14.16; 558,3; stone, 301,3; 402,2; ἡρακλεία λίθος, magnet, 301,2; Μάγνης λίθος, magnet, 558,2; μαγνῆτις λίθος, magnet, 237,29; 422,3

λογική

logic, 211,5

λόγος

account, 11,3; 30,2.4; 150,1; 237,189.218; 300,14.15; 376,2; 416,1; 437,1; 438,2; 442,17; 476,4; 482,5; 562,1; argument, 520b,1; definition, 452,11; discourse, 514,1.2; 523,3; discussing, 210,8; discussion, 119,9; 249,4; doctrine, 240,6.7; 426,6; formula, 194,4; logos, 339,1; ratio, 119,5; reason, 142,3; sense, 129,1; speech, 237,160; 564a,1; statement, 183,3; word, 52,21; 112,2; 138,6; 237,92; 362,4; 375,1; κατὰ λόγον, reasonable, 260,27

Μάγνης

see λίθος

μαγνῆτις

see λίθος

μάθημα

learning, 374,5; μεταδιδόναι μαθημάτων, teach, 249,7

μαθηματικός

mathematical, 252,2; 587,1; mathematician, 109,1; 358,1; μαθηματικά, mathematics, 93,1; 557c,2; 589,2; μαθηματική, mathematics, 81,2; 252,3

μάθησις

discipline, 210,9

μαθητεύειν

be the student of, 544,5; go to learn, 214,5

653

Greek – English Index μαθητής

student, 20,7; 81,3; 108,4; 263,4; 410,2; 494,1; 533,2; 576,2

μανός

rare, 450,2; 451,2; 520b,9 (bis); 557a,14; 577a,4

μανότης

rarefaction, 450,3

μανοῦν

rarefy, 195,4; 448,5; 577a,9

μάνωσις

rarefaction, 344,1; 415,4.5; 416,6; 421,7.8.9; 448,3.12; 449,2.4

μειοῦν

μειοῦσθαι, wane, 434,11; 515,6

μεταβάλλειν

change, 94,5; 180,1; 215,3; 437,5.6

μετάβασις

changing, 431,8

μεταβλητός

modifiable, 151,2; 346,2

μεταβολή

change, 179,1.4.6; 429,8; 431,14; event, 10,9

μεταξύ

τὸ μεταξύ, the intermediate, 416,4; 418,3; 419,8; 420,7; 427,5; 429,3; 448,2.9.15; 452,3; 453,8; 464,2; 520b,6 (bis).7; 557a,13

μετεωρολέσχης

dabbler in astronomy, 328,1

μετέωρος

aloft, 93,5; 167,8; in mid-air, 30,6; μετέωρα, astronomical subjects, 495,3; τὰ μετέωρα, things in the sky, 564,6

μετεωροσκόπος

astronomer, 590,1

μετρεῖν

measure, 18,18

μέτρησις

measuring, 119,1

μηνοειδής

crescent-shaped, 11,8; μηνοειδής ἡμικύκλιος, halfmoon, 535,7

μηχανικός

engineer, 170,3; 561,2; 588,3; 589,2

μιγνύναι

intermingle, 32,1; mix, 424,5; 443,1.3; 559,2; μίγνυσθαι, be an ingredient, 302,2

μίξις

mixture, 349,1.2

μουσική

music, 139,6

ναυτικός

Ναυτικὴ ἀστρολογία, Nautical Astronomy, 237,11; 409,13

νοερός

intelligible, 92,4

νοητός

intelligible, 361,2; 445,2

νουμηνία

new moon, 91,1.4

654

Greek – English Index

νοῦς

insight, 27,1; 531,2; intellect, 186,2; 443,3.5; 445,1.4; 446,1.6; intelligence, 149,1; 237,143; 300,3.4; 564,12; mind, 174,4; 340,1; 375,16.17; 393,1; 453,2; 461,6; 518,2; 562,6; 563a,5; νοῦν ἔχειν, pay attention, 456,2

νύξ

night, 10,6.9; 170,2; 237,148 (bis); 300,8

ξηραίνειν

dry up, 147,9; 271,8; 292,15; 343,6; 409,5; 452,12

ξηρός

dry, 447,6; 452,12

ξύλον

piece of wood, 426,3; wood, 30,3

ὅλος

τὰ ὅλα, all things, 94,2; 206,1.3; 215,1.2; 232,1; 260,7.23; 453,6; the universe, 377,3; τὸ ὅλον, universe, 32,1; 339,1 (bis); 443,1; 559,2

ὁμοιομέρεια

homoeomery, 188,7; 430,5; 436,7; 580,5

Ὁμώνυμοι

Homonymies, 237,171

ὁρίζειν

be the border, 545,1; define, 230,1; 253,1; determine, 260,24

οὐράνιος

celestial, 108,1; 225,3; 263,1; 440,2; 516,3; τὰ οὐράνια, celestial bodies, 588,2

οὐρανός

heaven, 156,1,2; 251,5; 260,10 (bis); 292,2; 353,1.2; 393,2; 397,1; 523,4; sky, 19,3; 210,9.11; 237,125; 251,9; 269,3; 300,7; 328,4; 361,3.5; 456,3.4; 564,9; 585,2; τὰ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, celestial phenomena, 224,3;

οὐσία

substance, 150,3; 157,1; 160,1; 186,3; 187,2; 194,3.5 (bis).6; 196,1.2; 213,1; 233,1; 271,6; 275,1; 323,2.3; 339,2; 342,1; 353,1; 354,1; 355,1; 356,1; 394,3; 398,1; 419,5; 440,7; 441,1.2; 458,1; 523,3; substantial nature, 189,7; κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν, essentially, 361,2

ὀχεῖν

carry, 30,5; ὀχεῖσθαι, ride on, 230,3; 425,3; 426,3; 460,5; 572,1

πάθος

affection, 421,9; 452,8; event, 225,3; 515,10

πᾶν

universe, 416,2; τὸ πᾶν, the all, 450,1; the universe, 154,1; 187,1.9; 210,2; 211,2; 230,1; 260,9; 340,1; 343,1; 352,1 395,2; 397,2; 519,2; 525,2

πάροδος

path, 93,4; 237,23

περιδινεῖν

whirl around, 332,8

περίοδος

circuit, 237,67.108; cycle, 167,7; period, 460,12; 533,3

περίστασις

period, 93,3; 167,6

περιφορά

orbit, 17,5; revolution, 574,3

655

Greek – English Index πινακογραφία

mapping, 544,1

πίναξ

map, 80,5; tablet, 134,2; 576,1

πλανήτης

planet, 157,1; 398,1

ποιητής

poet, 92,2; 199,2; 237,22; 291,3; 330,2; 337,1; 570,1

ποιητική

poetry, 237,191; Περὶ Ποιητικῆς, Poetics, 241,1

ποιητικός

efficient, 192,4; 421,2; 444,2.3; 453,2 (bis); 461,5; poetical, 330,7; 472,1

ποιόν

quality, 441,2 (bis)

ποιότης

quality, 260,24; 580,4

πολίτης

citizen, 120,3; 122,1; 366,2; 470,1; fellow citizen, 80,3; 230,4; 431,6.12

ποσόν

quantity, 441,2

προαίρεσις

school, 391,5

Προυσέληνος

Pre-mooner, 52,5

πυκνός

dense, 414,7.8; 431,7; 450,3; 451,2; 520b,8.9; 557a,14; 577a,4.13

πυκνότης

condensation, 344,1; 450,4

πυκνοῦν

condense, 448,5.6; 577a,8

πύκνωσις

condensation, 260,25; 415,4.5; 416,6; 421,7.8.9; 448,3.12; 449,2.4

πῦρ

fire, 124,3; 138,3; 144,3; 146,6; 147,9; 182,3; 188,4.7; 189,20.24; 193,3; 195,4; 196,2.3; 198,2; 215,3.6; 223,3; 261,2; 271,9; 324,4; 335,3; 343,6; 344,2; 375,18; 392,6; 399,3; 411,6.7; 413,3; 414,5.7; 416,4; 417,4.5; 420,4; 427,5; 429,3; 436,6.11; 437,7; 438,8; 440,3 (bis); 442,11; 448,1.5.9; 449,2; 460,3.10; 462,2; 463,2.3; 464,2; 465,2; 467,1; 515,15; 516,4; 517,1; 519,2; 520a,5; 520b,5.8(bis); 523,4; 525,2; 557a,7 (bis).11.13; 577a,5.6.8.10.13; 580,7 (bis)

πυραμίς

pyramid, 119,1.3.5; 237,52

πύριος

fiery, 440,4; 516,4

ῥευστός

fluid, 151,2; 276,2; 331,2; 346,3; 460,16

σείειν

shake, 223,1; shake the earth, 223,7

σεισμός

earthquake, 163,1.2; 210,4; 223,1.7; 403,1; 525,3; σεισμὸς γῆς, earthquake, 403,1

σεληναῖος

lunar, 237,24; 533,5

656

Greek – English Index

σελήνη

moon, 17,4; 91,2; 93,6; 158,2; 159,1.3; 167,9; 237,24; 244,1; 260,18.28; 265,2; 273,1; 277,1; 300,9; 334,1; 335,1; 355,3; 356,1.2; 358,4; 399,1; 400,1.2; 406,1; 407,3; 433,2; 434,5; 515,4; 533,3.7; 535,5; 538,2; 567,4; 578,3

σεληνιακός

lunar, 434,4.15.19.20; 435,3.6.11.13; 515,11.12

Σίλλοι

Silloi, 237,126

σκαληνός

scalene, 52,9; 237,34

σκέψις

investigation, 142,2; 267,6

σοφία

guile, 227,8; reputation for wisdom, 28,3; wisdom, 13,1; 20,8.10; 21,2.9; 27,1; 28,13; 83,6; 95,8; 110,1.2; 113,2; 115,1; 199,2; 214,6; 237,61.63.132; 299,8; 327,5; 504,2.8.14; 514,5; 524,6; 531,1

σοφιστής

sophist, 21,8; 127,1; 131,1; 138,7 (bis)

σοφός

in his wisdom, 237,114; not tr., 313,3; Sage, 20,14; 52,16; 68,1; 81,2; 82,3; 83,4; 89,1; 127,1; 129,3; 130,3; 131,1; 171,1; 173,2; 176,5; 199,3; 205,6.7; 208,3; 210,1; 214,1.2.4.5; 236,1.4; 237,4.5 (bis).56.66.128 (bis).175.183.191.197.208; 238,4; 239,1; 249,11; 262,3; 264,2; 271,1; 291,1; 292,11; 293,3; 299,7; 300,2; 327,7; 329,6; 362,1; 366,1; 367,1; 370,1; 375,2.5; 375,10.11; 470,2; 476,1; 480,1; 482,2; 495,6; 504,10.13; 525,4; 533,1 (bis); 535,3.4; 536,12; 560,1; 561,2 (bis); 564,1; 573,3; 577,1; 578,2; 580,2; 581,2.4; 585,1; 587,1; 588,1; 589,1; 590,2; 592,5; wisdom, 237,135; wise, 22,1; 23,5; 27,3; 83,347; 115,2; 121,4; 125,3; 170,3; 175,1; 224,1.5; 226,2; 237,78.79.88.108.145; 249,14; 270,1; 342,2; 375,14; 379,3.6; 493,3; 504,11.12.15; 524,1.7.8; 531,3; 536,11; 542,7; 563,1; 564,14; 581,1

σπέρμα

seed, 29,6; 189,17.27; 409,6; 431,5; 447,5; 460,7

στερεός

solid, 348,3

στοιχεῖον

element, 146,3; 94,2.6.7.11; 142,4; 143,1.3; 146,1.2.4.5.10; 179,5.8.9; 180,1; 181,5; 184,3; 187,9; 188,1.4; 189,22; 197,1; 198,1; 324,1.5; 343,1; 345,2 (bis); 349,2; 410,3; 411,2; 414,4; 419,6; 420,4 (bis); 421,5; 422,6 (bis); 423,2; 429,1; 430,1.5; 431,3.11; 436,2.4.6; 437,2; 438,4.11; 442,10; 448,4.5.9.12; 449,1.3; 457,6; 465,1; 519,2; 520a,3; 537,4; 577a,7; 578,5; 579,1.2; 580,3; letter, 327,2

στοιχειώδης

elementary, 184,1; 340,2; 408,5

στοιχειωτής

author of the Elements, 383,4

657

Greek – English Index Στρωμάτεις

Miscellanies, 260,4

σύγγραμμα

treatise, 184,4; 191,3; 237,10; 422,2; 442,16

συγγράφειν

write, 108,4; 237,16; 263,4; 300,14.15; ξυγγεγραμμένα, writings, 327,4

συγγραφεύς

author, 337,1

συγγραφή

treatise, 300,10

σύγκρισις

combination, 181,5; 416,5; 421,8.10

συνοδεύειν

come into conjunction with, 358,2

σύνοδος

approach, 434,12; conjunction, 407,4; synodic, 515,6

σύστασις

constitution, 337,2; 453,6; formation, 181,6

σφαῖρα

sphere, 156,2; 260,16; 353,2; 397,2

σφαιρικός

spherical, 442,10

σφαιροειδής

sphere, 375,18; spherical, 161,1; 279,1; 332,6; 402,1

σχῆμα

figure, 52,7; form, 426,6; shape, 161,1; 260,13; 354,1; 355,1; 356,1; 402,1; 436,8; 557a,12

σῶμα

body, 29,17; 143,1.2; 150,4; 152,1.2; 179,4; 188,1; 196,4 (bis); 215,1; 237,157; 250,5; 251,2; 267,3; 275,2; 337,2; 348,1.2.3; 378,10; 394,3; 422,6; 423,2.3; 429,4; 430,2.4; 431,1; 436,8; 438,2.5.6.8; 440,1.2; 443,3.4; 516,1; 517,1; 559,2; 564,21

σωματικός

corporeal, 193,2; 414,3; 439,1; 441,3.4; 463,1; 464,3

τετράγωνον

square, 459,6

τετράγωνος

square, 18,19

τέχνη

craft, 21,7.8; 22,2; 175,1; 270,2; 327,1; skill, 587,1; trick, 130,4

τρεπτός

changeable, 151,1; 276,1; 331,2; 346,2; which can be changed, 215,3

τρέφειν

nourish, 147,8.10; 189,20.23.25; 237,131; 271,8.10; 292,14; 343,5.7; 409,7; 460,7; 557a,5

τρίγωνον

triangle, 52,9; 119,4; 237,31.34; 459,5

τρίπους

tripod, 83,5; 95,9; 111,1; 237,55.58.60.61; tripod, 237,89.96.103.112.117; 375,7 (bis).10 (bis).12; 379,1; 504,1.2.3.5.7.13; 536,1.3.5.11.12.17; Tripod (title of work by Andron), 205,8; 237,88

τροπή

solstice, 93,4; 167,7; 237,16.18.23 (bis); 578,3; τροπὴ ἡλίου, solstice, 265,2.6; 355,1

658

Greek – English Index

τροφή

nourishment, 29,3; 124,2; 189,16.17; 409,6; 431,6; 460,6; 557a,4

τρόφιμος

nutritive, 411,4

τροχός

wheel, 332,7

τροχοῦν

revolve, 573,1

ὑγραίνειν

moisten, 557a,5

ὑγρός

moist, 29,3.6.7; 94,2; 147,7; 189,16.18.19 (bis).22.26.27 (bis).28; 191,5; 213,1; 271,6; 292,13; 343,4 (bis); 409,5.6; 440,6; 447,5; 452,10.11; 460,6.8 (bis).9.11; moisture, 130,13; 147,7.8; 230,2 (bis).4; 271,7 (bis); 292,14.15; 340,2; 343,5; 409,7; 557a,4

ὑγρότης

moisture, 557a,6.8

ὕδωρ

water, 13,2; 29,1.2.6.10.16; 30,1.4.5.6.7 (bis).9; 94,2.5.7.11; 116,2; 130,11; 138,3; 140,5; 143,3; 144,4; 146,5.8.10; 147,2.5 (bis).10.12; 163,1; 181,1.4; 182,4; 184,4; 187,2.6.8; 188,5.7; 189,15.24.25.26.28; 190,2 (bis).6 (bis); 191,6; 193,3; 195,4; 196,3; 197,2; 198,1; 206,3; 210,3; 215,3.7; 227,11; 230,1.3; 232,1; 237,48; 260,7; 261,1; 271,2.4.5.9.11; 291,5 (bis).6; 292,11 (bis).12; 293,3 (bis).4; 324,1; 329,7; 343,2(ter).7; 344,2; 372,1; 392,4.7; 403,1; 409,378.9; 411,5.7; 413,3; 414,4.8; 416,3; 417,3; 418,3; 419,7; 420,6; 422,5.6 (bis); 423,1.2; 425,3; 426,3.4; 427,4; 429,2; 430,5; 431,5 (bis).7; 436,6.9.11; 437,7; 438,10; 440,5.7; 442,12.13.15.22.23.24 (bis); 447,4; 448,2.7.9; 452,7; 453,7; 459,1.4.5.7; 460,2.4.5.9.12.15 (bis).16.18; 462,2.4; 463,2; 464,1; 465,2; 467,2; 515,16; 519,2; 520a,4; 520b,5.8 (bis); 523,4; 525,2; 532,1 (bis).3.4; 557a,2.3.14 (bis); 558,4; 570,1.2; 572,1; 577a,8.9; 578,6; 579,3; 580,6.8; 583,1; 584,1 (bis); δι’ ὕδατος, watery, 516,5

ὕλη

matter, 146,8; 151,1.2; 179,2.7; 189,10; 215,2; 276,2; 292,9; 331,1; 346,1.3; 419,4; 436,1 (bis).2; 437,6; 438,4; 450,3; 452,4.6.7; 453,4; 462,3; 520a2; 577a,4 (bis).11; 580,2

ὑλικός

material, 140,2; 189,1; 192,1; 193,3.7.10; 392,2 (bis); 408,5; 419,3; 460,3; 461,2.13; 463,4; 464,3.4; 466,3; 519,1; 557a.1.3.15

ύποβάλλειν

be a substrate, 179,2.8

ὑποκεῖσθαι

be underneath, 425,4; underlie, 437,7; ὑποκείμενον, substrate, 189,6.8.10; 417,1.2; 431,8; 436,9; 452,2; 520b,3; 557a,7

659

Greek – English Index ὑπομένειν

accept, 452,8; endure, 329,2; 337,7; persist, 427,3; remain, 452,9

φθαρτικός

destructive, 420,9

φθαρτός

that can perish, 332,10; 438,6.7

φθείρειν

destroy, 420,5; perish, 230,6; 438,1; waste away, 238,2

φθορά

destruction, 420,2; perishing, 260,10.11; 421,7; 438,3

φιλοσοφεῖν

be devoted to philosophy, 20,2; philosophize, 108,2; 263,2; practice philosophy, 147,4; 320; 236,9; 268,1; 271,3; 330,5; 391,4; 408,2

φιλοσοφία

not tr., 211,5; philosophy, 19,5; 20,13; 28,4; 29,1; 80,2; 138,1; 139,4; 147,2.4; 148,2; 171,2; 189,3.14; 198,2; 202,1; 210,2; 211,3; 212,1; 236,4; 239,3; 242,1; 251,11; 262,2; 267,1.3; 269,5; 271,2; 291,4.7; 292,7; 344,3; 365,12; 391,3; 408,4; 412,6; 419,2; 460,4; 461,7; 520c,2.3.4; 525,1

φιλόσοφος

philosopher, 28,1; 138,5; 183,1; 228,1; 237,191; 239,2; 260,1; 266,3; 326,1; 327,7; 329,1; 330,4; 337,1; 378,4; 455,4; 477,1; 478,1 (bis); 480,1; 482,5; 494,1; 496,1; 520b,8; 520c,7; 563a,2; 569c,2; 590,2; 591,2; philosophical, 391,1; Περὶ τῶν Φιλοσόφων, On the Philosophers, 237,189; Τῶν Φιλοσόφων Ἀναγραφή, Catalogue of Philosophers, 237,213; φιλόσοφος ἀνήρ, philosopher, 223,5; Φιλόσοφος Ἱστορία, Philosophus Historia, 375,4; φυσικὸς φιλόσοφος, natural philosopher, 373,2; 482,3; 495,10

φοιτητής

pupil, 326,4

φρόνησις

good sense, 524,5.6

φρόνιμος

sensible, 27,3; 237,134; 524,2.8; 531,4

φύειν

be of a nature, 426,4; be the nature of, 30,4.6.8; 409,7

φυσικός

natural, 141,1; 183,1; 189,3.14; 210,2; 212,1; 266,3; 291,4.7; 525,1; natural philosopher, 142,2; 153,1; 189,15; 206,4; 209,1; 211,2; 226,2; 249,2; 265,1; 350,1; 392,2; 409,2; 412,2.3 (bis).5.8; 413,2; 414,1; 416,2; 418,2; 419,1.4; 421,6; 427,2; 441,4; 461,7; 582,2; of nature, 183,2; 237,9; 562,1; which has to do with nature, 419,2; Φυσικὰ Δόγματα, Physical Doctrines, 377,2; φυσικὸς φιλόσοφος, natural philosopher, 373,1; 478,1; 482,3; 495,10; φυσικῶς, by nature, 249,12

φυσιολογεῖν

pursue natural philosophy, 268,2

φυσιολογία

the study of natural philosophy, 81,2

660

Greek – English Index

φυσιολόγος

inquirer into nature, 453,1; 463,1; natural philosopher, 420,3; 428,1

φύσις

kind of thing, 251,14; 436,10; nature, 19,8; 29,6.7.9.13; 94,2; 158,2; 165,1; 189,8.25.26; 193,5; 210,6; 211,2; 237,26.157; 249,4; 251,6; 267,6; 269,8; 298,6; 300,6.14; 336,1; 355,3; 399,2; 408,4; 409,10; 412,5.6; 416,2.5; 417,2.3; 420,6; 430,3; 434,2; 457,3; 468,2.3; 515,1.13; 523,1.3; 564,21; 578,4; 580,1; κατὰ φύσιν, natural, 120,5; 121,9; naturally, 367,3; 577a,14; τὴν φύσιν, by nature, 30,8; naturally, 189,18; ὑγρὰ φύσις, moisture, 409,7; φύσει, by nature, 27,2; 250,6; 277,2; 531,2

φωτισμός

illumination, 400,1; phase, 159,1; 265,2

χεῖσθαι

become liquid, 452,9

ψύχεσθαι

cool, 452,9

ψυχή

soul, 31,1.2; 112,4; 126,2; 150,4; 165,1 (bis); 186,4; 237,22.29.157; 250,4; 275,2; 301,1.4; 302,1.2; 323,1.3; 336,1; 337,1; 360,1 (bis); 375,19; 394,3; 422,3.4.5; 423,3; 440,1.4; 442,2.4.8.10.14.22.23.24; 443,3 (bis).6; 495,6; 516,1; 517,1; 518,1.3; 525,5; 558,2; 559,1; 564,21; 578,4

ψυχικός

spiritual, 150,3; 186,3; 275,1; 394,3

ψυχρός

cold, 260,15; 449,2; 450,2; 451,1; frigid, 523,2

Latin – English Index actus

actuality, 553,19.49

Aeon

Age, 145,14

aequinoctium

equinox, 106,3.4

aer

air, 71,4; 72,7.8; 87,4; 220,5.6; 229,6; 286,4; 287,8; 288,7; 310,7.8; 311,17.18.19.23; 312,3; 387,10; 553,21.23.28 (bis)

aereus

airy, 553,22

aetas

age, 474,1; not tr., 86,3; 311,15; the present, 69,6; time, 257,4; aetate sua manere last, 482a,9

aeternus

eternal, 569,12; ever, 387,8

aether

aether, 220,6

alere

nourish, 553,26.28; 569,13

ambitus

circuit, 178,4

anima

soul, 259,5

animal

alive, 553,9.13; animal, 69,3; 338,6.12; animatum, what is alive, 553,49

animare

living thing, 553,60; take life, 220,4

animus

mind, 76,3; 132,11; 311,20.22; 387,12

aqua

not tr., 77,4; water, 71,2.5; 72,1.2.3; 85,1; 87,1.2; 99,1.5; 101,1.3.5.8.10; 145,9 (bis); 220,4; 221,2; 229,2.3 (bis); 234,4; 254,5.6; 255,1.3 (bis); 259,3.8; 286,4; 287,3.6.9; 288,7; 289,7; 295,2; 309,1.2; 310,7.8; 311,7; 320,2; 321,2; 338,14.15; 387,4; 526,6; 553,1.5.7.12.2 2.28.35.37.39.41.63 (bis); 554,1.7.8.9.10.13 (bis).14; 555,1.6.7 (bis).10.15.16.19.21.22 (bis).23.24.27.28.29.30 (bis).31.36.38; 569,7

aqueus

of water, 553,43

arbitratus

judge, 63,16; judgment, 63,17; not tr., 63,11; 63,9

arctus

bear, 136,6.7; Little Bear, 136,1

argumentum

argument, 101,8; 257,1

662

Latin – English Index

arithmetica

arithmetic, 473,6

ars

art, 103,4; 145,6; 338,16; 389,2

artifex

creator, 217,5; expert, 389,2

astrologia

astronomical, 311,5; 540,6; astronomy, 106,3

astrologus

astronomer, 103,4

astronomia

astronomy, 473,6

astrum

star, 74,9; 178,3; 387,1; 553,30

atomus

atom, 85,3; 221,3; 310,4; 312,3; 390,4

auctor

author, 259,1; auctor sapientiae, sage, 218,3

auctoritas

authority, 254,1; 540,1

auditor

audience, 539,19; pupil, 71,4; 87,3; 311,10.19.23; 482a,4; 540,7

augmentum

growth, 553,25.26

caelestis

celestial, 96,3; 229,1; 390,4; of the heavens, 178,17; caelestia, celestial bodies, 220,5

caelum

heaven, 74,9; 77,4; 216,1; 217,1.3; 220,5; 390,5; 473,4; 569,2.3

calidus

hot, 553,44.45.47; calidum, heat, 553,48.51

calor

heat, 289,12.13

caput

principle, 287,10

categoriae

De decem Categoriis in Deum, On the ten Categories in Relation to God, 530,2

causa

cause, 101,1.8; 254,4.7; 259,4; 311,17; 338,15; 473,1.4; 539,16; 541,14; 553,37.45.47 (bis); 554,1.2; reason, 101,6; 132,3; 295,14; 553,54; the question why, 136,1

causalitas

causation, 554,2

causare

bring about, 553,11; cause, 553,48

centrum

center, 553,8

circinus

compass, 389,5

circuitus

cycle, 288,2

circulus

orbit, 178,9

civis

citizen, 103,5; 388,1

coepisse

begin, 74,4; 77,10; 178,14; 257,4

663

Latin – English Index cognitio

knowledge, 77,2; 178,11; not tr., 95,5

cognitor

one who knows, 312,2

coire

combine, 259,9

commentarium

treatise, 86,1.13

concrescere

condense, 234,3

concretio

condensation, 259,8

concussio

shaking, 554,10

conscriptio

written work, 86,6

contrarietas

contraries, 310,3

contrarius

contrary, 289,11; opposite, 548,3; 555,25

conversio

change, 259,8; 288,2

corporalis

corporeal, 221,1; 312,1

corporeus

bodily, 475,3

corpus

body, 72,4; 77,1; 78,4; 85,4; 107,2; 287,9; 288,3; 289,4.6; 312,1; 318,1; 553,23

corrumpere

corrupt, 554,3

creare

create, 318,1; 387,6; generation, 295,3

creator

creator, 338,10.17

credere

believe, 69,5; 78,3; 96,4; 99,5; 100,1; 234,2; 254,3; 259,1.4; 295,13; 311,13.19; 387,4; deem, 295,8; trust, 259,7

crescere

be born, 137,10; 385,2; be improved, 86,3; increase, 100,2; rise, 548,2

defectio

eclipse, 77,12; 307,1; 482a,1

defectus

eclipse, 105,2; 311,6; 387,2; 540,7

deficere

be eclipsed, 75,1; perish, 553,27 (bis)

definire

define, 258,4; determinate, 71,5

definitio

definition, 473,5

determinare

determine, 553,58.59

deus

god, 64,1.5; 72,2.3.5.6.7.8.9; 73,3.4.6; 76,5.7; 78,2; 95,7; 96,1; 145,2.10; 216,2.3; 219,3.4; 220,4; 229,2.4.6; 254,5.7; 256,1.4; 258,1.4; 287,6; 295,13; 311,18; 312,2; 314,4; 338,7; 387,10; 475,2.3.4.6; 530,3; 569,1 (bis)

dictum

saying, 145,3; word, 338,3

664

Latin – English Index

dies

day, 106,4; 513,8.13; time, 63,8

discere

learn, 178,8.14; 539,6.8

disciplina

teaching, 219,1

discipulus

student, 74,8; 311,16; 387,5; 540,8

discordare

be at odds, 289,6

discordia

disagreement, 106,1

dissolvere

perish, 311,14; 482a,8

divinitas

god, nature of, 218,5; 219,2; 229,7

divinus

divine, 77,1.3.7; 178,7; 311,9.15; 387,12; religious, 76,3

docere

learned, 76,2; 316,2.4; 541,11.20.22; teach, 132,10; 137,6; 168,2; 290,7; 295,18; 338,11; 386,9; 539,6

doctor

doctor, 513,15; teacher, 539,8

doctrina

doctrine, 145,5; 338,5; learning, 70,2; 86,4; 316,3; 389,1

dogma

doctrine, 145,7; 314,11; 316,10; 338,10.14; 387,11; 540,1

dogmatizare

dogmatize, 145,10

elementum

element, 98,1; 101,4; 234,1; 286,1; 288,1; 310,2; 311,7; 321,2; 475,4; 526,2; 553,24.38; 555,21.27.29 (bis); 569,13

entelechia

Entelechy, 390,6

ens

thing-that-is, 553,54

existere

be, 548,5; be generated, 311,8

experimentum

experience, 555,25

explorator

investigator, 178,3

exquirere

investigate, 136,5

exsiccare

become dry, 554,6; 555,12

fieri

be decided, 63,17 be made, 311,22; become, 295,16; 539,29; come into being, 259,8; come to be, 311,24; 553,37.53.62; happen, 513,8; have, 63,6; not tr., 317,5; 513,8; occur, 105,2; 554,15; 555,6.12.24; take place, 77,12; 106,3

figura

shape, 289,3; 553,17.57; per figuram, figuratively, 217,4

finire

determine, 86,11; mark out, 74,12

finis

end, 218,6; 290,7; 385,5; limit, 310,6; 569,4.6

flamma

flame, 569,13

665

Latin – English Index flectere

turn, 103,2

fomentum

nourishment, 288,3

forma

form, 72,8; 259,5.9; 287,2; 288,4; 289,2; 539,22; 553,17.28

frigus

cold, 289,11.14

fugax

mobile, 101,7

generare

generate, 258,6; 553,42; generation, 69,3; originate, 255,4

generatio

generation, 288,3; 553,43; origin, 145,8

generator

begettor, 553,57

genesis

origin, 145,10.13; Peri Geneseos, On Generation, 553,34

genitura

generation, 287,6

genus

kind, 70,2; 74,10; 311,1; 553,51; 554,2; kind of things, 86,6; manner, 77,1; 311,2; 314,7; race, 136,9; school, 540,1.3

geometres

geometer, 310,6

geometria

geometry, 178,2

geometrica

geometry, 473,6

geometricus

of geometry, 338,16

gignere

be born, 311,14; be generated, 71,3.5; 72,7; bring into being, 311,13; come to be, 311,8; 482a,7.8; generate, 387,9; give life to, 388,2

globus

sphere, 569,4

gymnosophistae

gymnsophists, 539,2

humectare

moisten, 555,10.12

humectus

moist, 287,4; 289,11

humefactio

being moistened, 554,6

humor

water, 482a,5

iactus

catch, 95,3; 539,12.15

ignescere

become fire, 289,10

igneus

fiery, 289,10.11; 539,32

ignis

fire, 71,5; 85,3; 87,2 (bis); 220,4; 221,2; 255,1.3 (bis); 259,3.8; 286,3; 287,10; 288,6; 310,7.8; 312,3; 319,2; 553,26.27

666

Latin – English Index

immutabilis

unchangeable, 288,8

inane

void, 319,1

inchoare

begin, 103,2

incorporabilis

able to become corporeal, 553,20.21

incorporalis

incorporeal, 259,5.9

incrementum

waxing, 178,6

individuus

indivisible, 85,4; indivisible body, 259,9

infinitas

infinitude, 71,3

infinitus

infinite, 71,4; 72,8; 86,4; 229,6; 311,13.17.20; 482a,6; 526,7

informis

formless, 287,1; without a form of its own, 289,2

infundere

inundate, 555,7

ingenium

ability, 103,5; clever theory, 220,3; genius, 132,6; intelligence, 471,1

initium

beginning, 145,9.12; 234,1; origin, 72,2; 229,2; 287,3.9 (bis); 338,13

innumerabilis

countless, 72,5; 311,13; 386,2; 482a,7

insecabilis

uncuttable, 85,4

institutio

principle, 234,1

interimare

destroy, 289,14

interire

perish, 86,2

invenire

discover, 107,1; 178,10; 229,4; 256,2; 338,16; find, 219,4.6 (bis); 287,5; 555,8.14.18.25; get into, 63,7

inventor

discoverer, 136,9; one who discovers, 136,8

inventum

discovery, 178,15; invention, 74,7

investigare

investigate, 105,1; 254,2; 389,6

iudicium

judgment, 254,2; 539,19

libellus

book, 338,3

liber

book, 314,11; 553,34; 554,3; free, 177,4; 513,5

linea

line, 178,4

litterae

learning, 539,2.9.34; letters, 541,11; literary, 314,9; writings, 218,1; 311,5; 315,8

logica

logic, 473,2

667

Latin – English Index lumen

shining star, 569,6

luna

moon, 74,10; 75,1; 178,6; 311,6; 387,2; 540,7; 553,30

magister

teacher, 177,5; 286,4; 541,14

materia

matter, 234,2 (bis); 254,6; 288,6; 311,20.23; 553,34.53.63; 555,35

materialis

material, 553,42

medius

center, 234,3.4; central, 553,10.12

mens

intelligence, 72,2.3 (bis); 311,9.15; mind, 76,7; 96,2; 229,3; 254,5; 312,2; 475,5

mensura

measure, 107,1; 290,6; 389,7

metiri

measure, 107,2; 178,10

mobilitas

mobility, 99,2

moderatio

De Moderatione, On Moderation, 539,11

modus

measure, 137,5; moderation, 385,3; 386,4

monosticha

single-verse saying, 290,2

motus

earthquake, 101,9; motion, 72,8; 74,10; 101,8; 338,15; 553,51; 555,32.33 (bis).35

movere

move, 73,5; 553,23; 555,37; quake, 555,11

mundus

world, 72,6; 101,6; 145,13; 220,1; 258,4; 310,1; 311,7.8.9.13.14; 387,4; 475,4; 482a,7.8; 526,2; 553,13; minor mundus, microcosm, 553,9

musica

music, 473,6

musicus

musician, 103,4

nasci

be born, 569,11; be generated, 254,5; 255,1.3; 311,12; 482a,6; generation, 254,7; new, 178,6

nativus

born, 72,4

natura

natural evidence, 77,3; nature, 69,2; 71,3; 73,3; 74,5; 86,9; 88,3; 101,3; 178,2; 217,5; 256,6; 258,5 (bis); 289,8.9; 311,4.10; 312,1; 315,3; 482a,4; 540,5; 541,14; 553,46.51.57.59.63; 569,5; not tr., 289,4

naturalis

natural, 69,7; 88,1; 254,4; 316,2.10; 473,4; 553,52; 555,27; natural philosophy, 530,3; of nature, 234,1; 287,2

nox

night, 513,1.12

numen

power, 96,3

numerus

calculation, 311,6; 540,6; not tr., 254,4; number, 256,4; 259,4.9; 310,2; 387,1; 389,7; 390,5; 569,10

668

Latin – English Index

nutribilis

that depends on nourishment, 553,51

nutrimentum

nourishment, 553,15.16.19.20.22 (bis).26.33.36.49; that which nourishes, 553,10

nutrire

nourish, 553,12.17 (bis).20.23.25.30.41.42

obruere

destroy, 318,1

occasus

setting, 106,2

occultare

conceal, 554,7

opinio

belief, 229,5; reputation, 540,2; view, 72,4; 76,1.6; 234,4; 286,5; 311,11; 319,2; 475,3; 482a,5; 553,1.55; 554,1.11; 555,1.4.5

oratio

discussion, 70,1; speech, 62,3

orbis

orb, 569,2.12; round, 95,11; the earth, 99,1.5; 101,4.8; world, 315,8; 387,12

origo

origin, 257,3; 259,3; 319,2; 540,3

oriri

arise, 95,3; 482a,8; 539,13; be born, 137,7; 290,7; be generated, 387,10; come to be, 311,14.19; have a beginning, 72,10; originate, 71,4; rise, 77,6

passio

affection, 553,45.46.52

perimere

destroy, 569,13

perire

perish, 569,12

perpendiculum

plumb-line, 389,5

perpetuus

everlasting, 178,16

perquirere

investigate, 387,1

perscrutari

investigate, 315,3; 541,14; study thoroughly, 473,3

persecutor

student, 539,3

perserverare

remain, 288,4

petere

look for, 70,3

philosophari

discuss, 389,2; philosophans, philosopher, 556,3

philosophia

philosophy, 222,1; 257,1.2; 338,5.9.12; 553,4

philosophus

natural philosopher, 305,1; 306,1; philosopher, 73,3; 77,9; 86,10; 87,3; 145,3; 217,4; 229,5; 254,1; 256,6; 257,3; 310,1; 312,1; 315,1.5; 316,1; 319,1; 325,1; 338,10; 386,2; 474,2; 513,1.4; 526,1; 540,1.2; 541,12; 553,1.50; 554,3; 555,4.9

physica

natural philosophy, 286,3; 473,1.2; 530,3; 541,2; Phy-

669

Latin – English Index sica, Physics, 553,10 physicus

natural philosopher, 78,3; 86,9; 103,5; 218,4; 219,2; 305,1; 306,1; 314,11.13; 315,2; 321,1; 475,1; 482a,3

planeta

planet, 553,30

poeta

poet, 145,10; 254,1; 313,2; 314,7

popularis

fellow-citizen, 71,2

portare

carry, 101,2; 554,13

positio

position, 553,64; view, 555,26; 556,1

potentia

potentiality, 553,58 (bis).60.61

praeceptum

precept, 86,12; 311,3; 314,8

praeceptor

teacher

primordium

origin, 386,2; 569,9

princeps

first, 71,1; 103,4; 218,4; 219,2; founder, 311,1; 540,4; 553,4; origin, 295,2; originator, 259,6

principalis

first, 229,5

principiare

has for a principle, 553,46

principium

beginning, 69,3.4; 257,3; origin, 548,3; principle, 85,1; 87,1; 234,1.4; 254,6; 286,1; 310,1.2; 311,7.12 (bis); 312,1; 387,4.6; 482a,6; 553,2.6 (bis).15.42.47.48.50.54. 61.62.63

probare

approve, 553,3; esteem, 338,11; prove, 295,21; 553,34

procreare

generate, 317,4; 319,2; 320,2

proferre

make known, 178,14; produce, 294,1; put forward, 145,1

professor

professor, 220,3

progredi

proceed, 539,1

proprium

property, 289,12; 555,21

prudens

prudent, 77,6; 539,22; sensible, 295,17; 513,5

prudentia

sense, 556,10; wisdom, 95,12

quaerere

aim to make, 316,3; ask, 219,5; investigate, 72,1; 254,4; 310,1; 473,1; 475,3; 556,5

qualitas

quality, 287,1; 289,8.10.13; 310,3

rarescens

be rarefied, 234,2

rarus

rare, 77,1

670

Latin – English Index

ratio

account, 74,4; argument, 553,41.65; 555,4.9; purpose, 86,12; reason,77,3; 136,4; theory, 75,1; 88,2; 178,8; 229,4; 473,2; 553,2.5; ratione, rationally, 473,5

remanere

remain, 553,27

reperire

discover, 178,4; 530,4; find, 304,2; 539,10

repertor

first to discover, 178,2; responsible for a discovery, 178,15

repugnans

opposed, 289,13

requirere

search for, 390,6

resolvere

dissolve, 318,2

reverticulum

revolution, 178,6

rimari

investigate, 287,3; 513,2

ruere

collapse, 555,19

sapere

be wise, 64,3; 256,2

sapiens

not tr., 313,3; sage, 70,3; 87,1; 95,1.11; 137,1; 177,7; 178,13; 254,3; 290,1; 295,6.9.12; 304,2; 311,2; 313,2; 314,1.6; 315,2; 316,7; 325,2; 386,1; 473,3; 530,4; 539,26.29; 540,5; 541,2.5; 553,3; 569,14; wise, 76,4; 86,1; 471,1; 539,20.27; 541,13

sapientia

wisdom, 62,2; 95,8; 132,10; 178,1; 220,3; 257,2; 539,18.31; auctor sapientiae, sage, 218,2

sciens

learned, 74,5

scientia

knowledge, 73,2; 77,11; 219,1; 541,9

scire

know, 63,4; 86,7; 316,13; 539,8; 556,9

scribere

write, 69,6; 314,4

scriptum

writing, 85,2; 475,2

scrutari

examine, 556,5; investigate, 311,4; 540,5

scrutator

investigator, 539,2

secta

school, 316,4.11

semen

seed, 319,1; 387,8; 553,56.57

seminaliter

seminally, 145,12

sempiternus

everlasting, 72,6

sensus

intelligence, 338,16; 541,15; sensation, 72,3; sense, 475,4; view, 86,6

sententia

doctrine, 222,2; 295,16; meaning, 513,12; saying, 137,3;

671

Latin – English Index 314,8; view, 73,3; 99,1.4; 259,7; 287,5; 387,5 sermo

conversation, 70,1; speech, 513,14

siccitas

dryness, 289,12.14

siccus

dry, 555,10.12

sidus

constellation, 178,5; 513,1.8; star, 220,6; 389,6

silva

matter, 289,8

singularis

individual, 311,12; unmatched, 389,1

sodales

associate, 71,2

sol

sun, 74,10; 75,1; 77,12; 105,2; 178,5.8.9; 307,1; 311,6; 482a,1; 539,1.32.33; 540,6; 553,30

solertia

cleverness, 316,2

solidus

solid, 74,7.12

sonorus

resounding, 178,5

sophista

sophist, 177,6; 385,1; 388,10

species

appear, 76,6; appearance, 72,9; 74,2

speculari

explore, 217,3

spericus

sphere, 526,3

sperma

seed, 553,59

spermaticus

spermatic, 553,56

sphaera

celestial globe, 74,1; globe, 74,6.10.11; sphere, 390,3

spiritalis

spiritual, 475,5

spiritualis

breathy, 553,21

spiritus

breath, 101,7; spirit, 229,4; 338,15

stare

remain, 555,19

statuere

posit, 72,7; 229,6

stella

star, 74,11; 178,4; 513,1

stipulatio

obligation, 259,2

studium

enthusiasm, 77,2; interest, 178,18; 315,3; studio, careful, 539,27

subiectum

subject, 553,6.33.46.47.53

substantia

substance, 220,2; 289,8

subtilis

careful, 513,2; rare, 555,29 (bis); refined, 145,4

672

Latin – English Index

successor

successor, 311,4.17; 540,8

superficium

surface, 145,4

terminabilis

determinable, 553,18 (bis)

terminus

limit, 553,18; 569,8

terra

earth, 69,8; 71,5; 77,4; 87,4; 220,6; 286,2; 310,7.8; 471,2; 555,6.7.8.21.27.28.30 (bis); land, 317,2; the earth, 99,1; 101,2.7; 217,2; 320,2; 338,9; 526,1.5.6; 553,7.29; 554,5.8.9 (bis).11.12 (bis).13; 555,10.11.20.22.25.30.31. 32.33.37; 569,3

terraemotus

earthquake, 554,1.10.15; 555,1.6 (bis).8.9.12.15.17 (bis).24.32.34.35.36

terrenus

of earth, 78,5

theologus

theologian, 475,1.2; 530,1; theological, 313,2; 314,7

transfigurare

transform, 145,14

udus

moist, 390,3

umidus

moist, 101,4; 553,16.19.27 (bis).44.45.48 (bis).49.52.56.59.60.62 (bis); 555,12; umidum, moisture, 553,20.21.34.41.43

umor

moisture, 78,5; 99,3.4; 101,2; 254,6; 289,11.14; 311,11; 312,3; 317,4; 318,1.2; 319,3; 553,29.30; 554,12

unda

water, 101,4

universitas

universe, 219,5

universus

all, 145,8; 220,5; 315,5; 539.33; all things, 289,7; entire, 95,6

usus

experience, 295,18; practice, 541,11; use. 257,2

vates

poet, 295,3; 390,1

vehere

carry, 101,11; ride, 99,2

verbum

empty word, 63,8; word, 95,8; 338,1; 513,14

veritas

truth, 177,4; 254,3; 539,2.9; 553,44; 554,4

victus

nourishment, 287,4

virtus

power, 539,32; virtue, 70,2; Virtus, 74,4; virtute, potentially, 553,7.8

vis

power, 473,4; strength, 288,2

volumen

book, 86,3

vox

saying, 290,1; word, 218,5

Persian-English Index

ab

water, 547,5.8

abdar

saturated, 547,7

ahistigi

slowness, 547,8

atish

fire, 547,6.7

barq

lightning, 547,7

bastigi

bonding, 547,8

bukhar

vapor, 547,7

dan

knowledgeable, 547,2

danish

knowledge, 547,3.5

dastan

story, 547,12

gardun

revolving firmament, 547,10

Guftar

Saying 547,1

ja

state, 547,6

jahan

world, 547,2.9

jawhar

matter, 547,5; material, 547,9

junbish

movement, 547,6; move, 547,10

khas

particular, 547,9

nakhust

beginning, 547,5

nava’i

harmony, 547,9

nutfa

semen, 547,12

paykar

body, 547,11

rastan

the truthful, 547,12

sazur gasht

formed, 547,8

shagird

student, 547,11

674

Persian-English Index

sukhan

words, 547,2

tabi ‘yat

nature, 547,9

takashif

revealed/discovered/uncovered, 547,8

ta‘lim

learning, 547,3

zamin

Earth, 547,8

Arabic-English Index abdaʿa

created, 483,1.2; 485,2; invented, 500,8; 577,3

adwār

astronomical periods, 507,1

afʿāl

activities, 501,13

aḥkām

judgments, 528,10

ajrām

corporeal things, 485,10; 508a,2

ākhir

end, 485,15

ʿālam

sphere, 528,3; world, 550,1 (bis)

ʿālam jusmānī

corporeal sphere, 528,3

ʿalama

teach, 550,4

Allāh

God, 499,3; 501,13; 509,9; 528,6; 550,5; 552,2.25.28.30

amthāl

proverbs, 500,6

ʿanā

devote one’s attention, 521,1

andhara

predict, 487,3

anfus

souls, 485,15

anwār

luminaries, 485,12

ʿaql

intellect, 485,13.14

ʿāqil

intelligent, 552,6

ʿarabī

Arabic, 505,4

arḍ

earth, 485,5.6; 490,1; 528,6

arḍī

earthy, 489,2; terrestrial, 528,5

asāṭīn al-ḥkma

Pillars of Wisdom, 485,1; 506,1; 527,1; 529a,1; 529b,1

aṣḥāb

followers, 488,1; 551,3

aṣḥāb al-riyāḍīyāt

mathematicians, 507,4

ashʿār

poetry (pl.), 500,6

āthār

effects, 485,17

676

Arabic-English Index

ʿawālim

worlds, 485,12.20

ʿawālim mubdiʿa

created worlds, 485,12

ʿawāriḍ

accidents, 508a,3

awwal

beginning, 485,3; 550,3; 557,6; early, 502, 2; first, 485,7; 505,1; 557,2.6

ayasa

brought-into-existence, 483,5; 508a,4; 529b,4

ayyām

days, 487,2

azal

everlasting, 550,1

badʾ

beginning, 485,15

bahāʾ

splendor, 485,13

bahāʾim

animals, 501,13

bahīma

animal, 501,10

baḥr

sea, 528,8

baqāʾ

continuousness, 485,16

bāriʾ

creator, 485, 1

bukhār

steam, 528,7

al-dahr al-maḥḍ

absolute eternity, 485,14

dahriyūn

materialists, 550,1

daraka

apprehend, 485,14.16.17.19

dathara

perish, 485,9.10

daymūma

perpetuity, 485,16

dhāba

dissolve, 528, 6

dhakar

male, 485,6 (bis)

dhāt

essence, 483,2; 485,19 (bis); 485,21

dukhān

smoke, 528,7

faḍīla

excellence, 485,20 (bis).21 (bis).22

fahm

understanding, 552,13

Fakara

Think over 501,12.13; 510,3 (bis); ḍīq al-fikr, narrow mindedness, 501,6; fikr, thought, 510,2

falāsifa

philosophers, 499,2; 500,11; 505,3; 521,1; 522,1; 529b,1; 557,1; 557b,1

falsafa

philosophy, 499,2; 500,6.8.11; 501,1.2; 505,2.4.5; 506,3; 521,1; 529,1;549,1.2.5 (bis); 551,1.2; 557,3

677

Arabic-English Index falsafa madanīya

political philosophy, 549,2.5

falsafa ṭabīʿīya

natural philosophy, 522,1; 549,1.5

faṣl khāṣ

specific difference, 508,4

faylasūf

philosopher, 529,2

furqa

sect, 550,1.4.5

ghāya

endpoint, 485,3.4

ghūr

profundity, 485,14

ḥabba

seed, 550,3 (bis)

ḥakīm

sage, 551,1; 552,18.19.24.25

handasa

geometry, 500,7

ḥaraka

movement, 485,4

ḥaraka dawriya

circular motion, 550,2

hawāʾ

air, 485,4.5 (bis).6; 508a,2 (bis)4

ḥawāss bāṭina

inner senses, 485,11

ḥaywān

animal, 501,18; 549,4

al-ḥikma

philosophy, 506,1; wise saying, 552,1

ḥisāb

calculation, 507,1.2.3

ḥiss

sense, 485,11

ḥukamāʾ

sages, 509,1; 521,1; 527,1; 529a,1; 549,1; 550, 4

ḥukamāʾ al-sabʿa

the seven sages, 509,1.10.12.14; 527,1

ḥusn

beauty, 485,13

huwiyya

identity, 485,17

ibdāʿ

bringing-into-existence, 483, 2; creating, 485,20; creation, 483,4; 485,18; 529b,4

idrāk

apprehension, 485,13

iḥtijāj

argumentation, 485,4; 509,7; defense, 551.3

ʿilla

cause, 485,3

ʿilm

knowledge, 502,2; 552,4

ʿilm al-ḥarakāt

the movements [of the heavenly bodies], 507,4

ʿilm al-ḥisāb

mathematics, 500,6

ʿilm al-hayʾa

astronomy, 507,4

ʿilm al-lugha

science of language, 500,5

678

Arabic-English Index

ʿilm al-masāḥa

surveying, 500,7

ʿilm al-ṭabīʿa

natural science, 551,2

inḥilāl

dispersal, 485,5; dissolution, 499,3

insān

human, 501,18; man, 550,3; 552,4.6; people, 510,2; person, 511,1

irāda

will, 486,1 (bis)

ism

name, 485,18.19; 499,2; 506,1

istidlāl

inference, 499,4

istiḥāla

change, 526a,2

istinbāṭ

deduction, 507, 5

jamʿ

gathering, 485,5

jawhar

essence, 485,18; substance, 508a,1.4; 528, 6

jawāhir

substances, 485,2; 508a,1

jawhariya

essential, 485,17

jibāl

mountains, 528,8

jiha

aspect, 483,3; 485,17 (bis)

jirm

corporeal thing, 485,9 (bis).10.11

jism

body, 485,9.9.10; 508a,3,4

jusmānī

corporeal, 485,7; 528,2

jurmānī

bodily, 485,8

kadar

impurity, 485,8

kāʾināt

entities, 499,3; what comes-into-existence, 528,11

khabar

report, 507,6.7; 528,11

khalāʾ

void, 488,2

khalaqa

create, 499,3; 528,6 (bis).7

khuṭab

rhetoric, 500,6

kitāb

book, 557,4

kuriya

spherical, 489,1

kusūf

eclipse, 487,3; 489,1; 500,3; 507,5; 507,8

kusūfāt

eclipses, 507,2

kutub

books, 557,1

al-kutub al-ilāhīya

Holy scriptures, 528,10

679

Arabic-English Index al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ

Preserved Tablet, 528,10

māʾ

water, 485,2.5 (bis).6; 499,3.3; 508,1.5; 508a,1.2; 528,1.4.7.7.11

māʾ basīṭ

pure water, 508,5

mabdaʾ

principle, 507,7; 528,1

mabdaʾ awwal

first principle, 528,2; 529b,4

mabdaʾ al-khalq

principle of creation, 528,6

mabādiʾ

principles, 507,6

mabādiʾ al-awwal

first principles, 529b,4

madhhab

doctrine, 528,9; 529b,4

malmūs

tangible, 485,10

manbaʿ al-ṣuwar

origin of the forms, 528,3.9

manṭiq

logic, 485,12.14

maʿrifa

knowledge, 487,3

masīr

passing, 489,1

mawāḍīʿ

places, 507, 8

mawjūd

existence, 551,3

mawjūdāt

existing things, 528,11

mawjūdāt ʿulwīya

celestial beings, 528,2

minan

sperm, 508,6

muʾayas

one who brings-into-existence, 483,5.6

mubdaʿ

created thing, 483,1; 485,2.3.4; 485,13; 486,1.2 (quater)

mubdaʿ al-awwal

First Creator, 483,10, 528, 1

mubdiʿ

Creator, 483,1; 485,16

mudabbir

designer, 550,1

mudrik

perceptible, 485,17

muʾayis

bringing-into-existence, 483,7

mukhtār

chooser, 550,2

mulk

reign, 500,14; 529,4; 557,5

murakabāt

composite things, 528,4

munfaṣl

separate, 483,9

mishkāt nabawiya

Prophetic Niche, 528,9

680

Arabic-English Index

muṭāwaʿ

amenable, 508,2

muṭāwaʿa

amenity, 508,3 (bis)

mutawaid

generator, 499.5

muwalidāt

generated things, 508a,3

nabt

plant, 550,3.4

nafs

soul, 485,14

nafs nāṭiqa

rational soul, 501,11.12

naqaḍa

refute, 500,13

nār

fire, 485,6 (bis); 508a,1; 526a,3

al-nashʾa al-thāniya

second generation, 485,10-11.16; 508a1,5

nūr

light, 485,14

nussāk

ascetics, 529b,3

nuṭfa

semen, 550,3 (bis)

qābil

susceptible, 485,2; 528,3

qāʾim

subsisting, 483,9

qamar

moon, 489,1.1

rasāʾil

letters, 500,6

raʾy

belief, 508,1; opinion, 485,1; 529b,4

rīḥ

wind, 485,4

riyāḥ

winds, 491,1

al-ruḥāniya al-basiṭa

unqualifiedly spiritual, 485,8

ruṭūba

moisture, 499,4; 508,4 (bis).6

ruʾya

observation, 507,1

ṣadara

emanate, 551,5

sādat al-ḥukamāʾ

chiefs of the sages, 521,1

ṣafwa

purity, 485,8.9

samāwāt

heavens, 528,7

samāwī

celestial, 528,5

sana

year, 487,2

ṣāniʿ

creator, 550.2; maker, 550,1.2

shahr qamarī

lunar month, 507,2

681

Arabic-English Index shams

sun, 489,1

shiʿr

poetry, 500,7; 529,1; 557,2

shuʿarā

poets,529b,3

ṣīfāt

properties, 483,2

sifr

book [of Torah], 528,5

ṣināʿa

art, 507,6

ṣūra

Form, 483,2.6.8 (bis).9.10.11 (bis); 485,2; 528,3

suryānī

Syriac, 505,2

ṣuwar

forms, 528,3.4.9.11

ṭabiʿa

nature, 485,14

al-ṭabi’iyyin

natural philosophers, 488,1

tafalsuf

practice philosophy, 499,1; 501,2; 557,2.6

takawwun

generating, 485,5 (bis).6; 485,19

talāmīdh

students, 552,1

taʾlīf al-ashʿār

composition of poetry, 500,6

talmadha

study under, 500,4

tarkīb

composition, 528,1

tatakhalaq

generated, 508,5

tawrāt

Torah, 528,5

thufal

sediment, 485,9

ʿulamāʾ

learned people, 551,2

ʿulūm

sciences, 549,5

ʿulūm burhāniya

demonstrative sciences, 500,5

ʿuqūl

intellects, 485,15

ʿunṣur

element, 485,2.7 (bis).8.13.16; 508,1.2 (bis).5; 528,2.4.9

ʿunṣur awwal

first element , 485,2; 528,2

ʿunṣurīya

elementality, 508,3

unthā

female, 485,6 (bis)

waham

illusion, 552,12

waqaʿa

occur, 507, 5

wujūd bi al-quwwa

being in potentiality, 526a,3

682

Arabic-English Index

yawm

day, 487,2

zabad

foam, 528,7.8

zabad al-baḥr

foam of the sea; 528,8

ẓāhir

visible, 485,10.11

zanādiqa

heretics, 550,6

zilzāl

earthquakes, 485,4

English – Greek/Latin Glossary account

λόγος, ratio

active: be active

ἐνεργεῖν

activity

ἐνέργεια

actual

ἐνεργείᾳ

actuality

ἐνέργεια, actus

actually

ἐνεργείᾳ

ad infinitum

εἰς ἄπειρον

aether

αἰθήρ, aether

aetherial

αἰθέριος

affection

πάθος, passio

age

aeon, aetas

air

ἀήρ, aer

air: become air

ἀεροῦσθαι

airy

ἀέριος, aereus

alive

animal

all things

τὰ ὅλα, universus

all: the all

τὸ πᾶν

aloft

μετέωρος

alterable

ἀλλοιωτός

alteration

ἀλλοιοῦν, ἀλλοίωσις

always-moving

ἀεικίνητος

amber

ἠλέκτρον

angle

γωνία

animal

ζῷον, animal

animate

ἔμψυχος

684

English – Greek/Latin Glossary

argument

ἐπιχείρημα, argumentum, ratio

arithmetic

arithmetica

art

ars

associate

ἑταῖρος, sodales

astronomer

ἀστρολόγος, μετεωροσκόπος, astrologus

astronomical

astrologia

astronomical wonder

ἀστρονόμημα

Astronomical Inquiries

Ἀστρολογικαἱ Ἱστορίαι

astronomical subjects

μετέωρα

astronomy

ἀστρολογία, ἀστρονομία, astrologia, astronomia

astronomy: dabbler in astronomy

μετεωρολέσχης

astronomy: practice astronomy

ἀστρονομεῖν

Astronomy

the work Ἀστρολογία

atom

ἄτομος, atomus

author

ἀρχηγός, συγγραφεύς, auctor

author of the Elements

στοιχειωτής

be: come to be

fieri, gignere, oriri

bear

ἄρκτος, arctus

the Great Bear

Ἅμαξα

the Little Bear

Μικρὰ ἄρκτος, arctus

begettor

generator

begin

ἄρχειν, coepisse, inchoare

beginning

ἀρχή, initium, principium

Being

τὸ ὄν

blending

κρᾶσις

bodies: celestial bodies

τὰ οὐράνια, caelestia

bodily

corporeus

body

σῶμα, corpus

book

βιβλίον, βίβλος, γραφή, libellus, liber, volumen

boundless

ἀπείρων

685

English – Greek/Latin Glossary Catalogue

ἀναγραφή

Catalogue of Philosophers

Τῶν φιλοσόφων ἀναγραφή

causal

αἴτιος

causation

causalitas

cause

αἰτία, αἴτιον, αἴτιος, causa, causare

celestial

οὐράνιος, caelestis

center

centrum, medius

central

medius

change

μεταβάλλειν, μεταβολή, conversio

changeable

τρεπτός

changeable: easily changeable

εὐαλλοίωτος

changeable: not easily changeable

δυσαλλοίωτος

changes shape easily

εὐδιάπλαστος

changing

μετάβασις

circle

κύκλος

circuit

περίοδος, ambitus

citizen

πολίτης, civis

cold

ψυχρός, frigus

combination

σύγκρισις

combine

coire

commentator

ἐξηγητής

companion

ἑταῖρος

compass

διαβήτης, circinus

condensation

πυκνότης, πύκνωσις, concretio

condense

πυκνοῦν, concrescere

conjunction

σύνοδος

conjunction: come into conjunction with

συνοδεύειν

constellation

sidus

constellation, be a constellation

καταστερίζειν

686

English – Greek/Latin Glossary

constitution

σύστασις

construct

γράφειν

contraries

contrarietas

contrariety

ἐναντιότης, ἐναντίωσις

contrary

ἐναντίος, contrarius

cool

ψύχεσθαι

corporeal

σωματικός, corporalis

corporeal, able to become

incorporabilis

cosmogonic

κοσμογόνος

cosmos

κόσμος

countless

innumerabilis

craft

τέχνη

crescent

κερατοειδής

crescent-shaped

μηνοειδής

cycle

περίοδος, circuitus

cylindrical

κυλινδροειδής

daimon

δαίμων

daimonion

δαιμόνιον

day

ἡμέρα, dies

define

ὁρίζειν, definire

definition

λόγος, definitio

demonstration

ἀπόδειξις

dense

πυκνός

destroy

φθείρειν, interimare, obruere, perimere

destruction

φθορά

destructive

φθαρτικός

determinable

terminabilis

determinable: easily determinable

εὐόριστος

determinable: not easily determinable

δυσόριστος

determinate

definire

687

English – Greek/Latin Glossary determine

ὁρίζειν, determinare, finire

dialectic

διαλεκτική

diameter

διάμετρον

disagreement

διαφωνία, discordia

disappearance

ἀπόκρυψις

discipline

μάθησις

discourse

λόγος

discover

ἐξευρἰσκειν, εὑρίσκειν, invenire, reperire

discoverer

εὑρετής, inventor

discovery

εὕρεσις, εὕρημα, inventum

dissolution

ἀνάλυσις, διάλυσις

dissolve

ἀναλύειν, resolvere

divine

δαιμόνιος, θεῖος, divinus

doctrine

δόγμα, δόξα, λόγος, doctrina, dogma, sententia

dogmatist

δογματικός

dogmatize

dogmatizare

draw

γράφειν

dry

ξηρός, siccus

dry up

ξηραίνειν

dry: become dry

exsiccare

dryness

siccitas

earth

γῆ, terra

earth: of earth

terrenus

earth: the earth

orbis

earthquake

σεισμός, motus, terraemotus

earthy

γεώδης, γήινος

east

ἀνατολικός

eclipse

ἔκλειψις, defectio, defectus

eclipsed: be eclipsed

ἐκλείπειν, καλύπτεσθαι, deficere

efficient

ποιητικός

element

στοιχεῖον, elementum

688

English – Greek/Latin Glossary

elementary

στοιχειώδης

endless

ἄπειρος

endure

ύπομένειν

engineer

μηχανικός

entelechy

ἐντελέχεια

Entelechy

entelechia

Epigrams

Ἐπιγράμματα

equinox

ἰσημερία, aequinoctium

essentially

κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν

eternal

ἀίδιος, aeternus

everlasting

perpetuus, sempiternus

experience

experimentum, usus

expert

artifex

expert on the heavens

αἰθερολόγος

fellow citizen

πολίτης, popularis

fiery

ἔμπυρος, πύριος, igneus

figure

σχῆμα

find

εὑρίσκειν, invenire, reperire

fire

πῦρ, ignis

flame

flamma

fluid

ῥευστός

fluid: seminal fluid

γονή

follower

ζηλωτής

form

εἶδος, σχῆμα, forma

form: without a form of its own

informis

formation

σύστασις

formless

informis

formula

λόγος

found

καθηγεῖσθαι, κατάρχειν

founder

ἀρχηγός, καθηγεμών, princeps

founder: be the founder of

ἄρχειν

689

English – Greek/Latin Glossary frigid

ψυχρός

generate

generare, procreare

generated

γενητός

generated: be generated

existere, gignere, nasci, oriri

generating

γένεσις

generation

γένεσις, creare, generare, generatio, enesis, ggenitura, nasci

geometer

γεωμέτρης, geometres

geometry

γεωμετρία, geometria, geometrica

geometry: of geometry

geometricus

geometry: practice geometry

γεωμετρεῖν

globe

sphaera

globe: celestial globe

sphaera

glory

δόξα

gnomon

γνώμων

god

θεός, deus

god, nature of

divinitas

goddess

θεός

gods: speculate about the gods

θεολογεῖν

grow

αὔξεσθαι

growth

augmentum

heat

θερμότης

heat

καῦμα, calidum, calor

heaven

οὐρανός, caelum

heavenly body

ἄστρον

heavens: of the h.

caelestis

hemisphere

ἡμισφαίριον

History of Astronomy

Περὶ τῶν ἀστρολογουμένων ἱστορία

History of Geometry

Γεωμετρικαὶ Ἱστορίαι

homoeomery

ὁμοιομέρεια

Homonymies

Ὁμώνυμοι

hot

θερμός, calidus

690

English – Greek/Latin Glossary

Iambics

Ἰάμβοι

illumination

φωτισμός

imperishable

ἀνώλεθρος, ἄφθαρτος

inanimate

ἄψυχος

incorporeal

ἀσώματος, incorporalis

indeterminate

ἀόριστος, ἄπειρος

indictment

γραφή

indivisible

individuus

infinite

ἄπειρος, infinitus

infinite: the infinite

τὸ ἄπειρον

infinitude

infinitas

ingredient: be an ingredient

μίγνυσθαι

inscribe

γράφειν, καταγράφειν

insight

νοῦς

intellect

νοῦς

intelligence

νοῦς, ingenium, mens, sensus

intelligible

νοερός, νοητός

intermediate: the intermediate

τὸ μεταξύ

intermingle

μιγνύναι

invention

inventum

investigate

ζητεῖν, exquirere, investigare, perquirere, perscrutari, quaerere, rimari, scrutari

investigation

ζήτησις, σκέψις

investigator

explorator, scrutator

isosceles

ἰσοσκελής

judgment

γνώμη, arbitratus, iudicium

kind

εἶδος, genus

kind of thing

φύσις, genus

kinetic

κινητικός

knowledge

ἐπιστήμη, cognitio, scientia

knowledge: scientific knowledge

ἐπιστήμη

691

English – Greek/Latin Glossary land

γῆ

learn: go to learn

μαθητεύειν

learning

μάθημα, doctrina, litterae

letter

στ̣οιχεῖον

letters

litterae

limit

finis, terminus

line

γραμμή, linea

line: straight line

εὐθεῖα

lines: of lines

γραμμικός

liquid: become liquid

χεῖσθαι

living thing

ζῷον, animatum

logic

λογική, logica

logos

λόγος

look for

ζητεῖν, petere

lover

ζηλωτής

lunar

σεληναῖος, σεληνιακός

magnet

λίθος, Μάγνης, μαγνῆτις

malleable

εὐτύπωτος

manner

genus

map

πίναξ

mapping

πινακογραφία

material

ὑλικός, materialis

mathematical

μαθηματικός

mathematician

μαθηματικός

mathematics

μαθηματικά

matter

ὕλη, materia, silva

measure

μετρεῖν, mensura, metiri, modus

measuring

μέτρησις

medicine

ἰατρική

microcosm

minor mundus

mind

νοῦς, animus, mens

692

English – Greek/Latin Glossary

Miscellanies

Στρωμάτεις

mist: dark mist

ἀήρ

mix

μιγνύναι

mixture

μίξις

mobile

fugax

mobility

mobilitas

modifiable

μεταβλητός

moist

ὑγρός, humectus, udus, umidus

moisten

humectare

moistened: being moistened

humefactio

moisture

ὑγρός, umor

moon

σελήνη, luna

motion

κίνησις, motus

motion: be in motion

κινεῖσθαι

motion: cause motion

κινεῖν

motion: set in motion

κινεῖν

motion: that causes motion

κινητικός

move

κινεῖν, movere

move: cause to move

κινεῖν

move: causes to move

κινητικός

moved: be moved

κινεῖσθαι

moved: easily moved

εὐκίνητος

movement

κίνησις

music

μουσική, musica

musician

musicus

natural

φυσικός, κατὰ φύσιν, naturalis

nature

φύσις, natura

nature: be of a nature

φύειν

nature: be the nature of

φύειν

nature: by nature

φυσικῶς

nature: inquirer into nature

φυσιολόγος

693

English – Greek/Latin Glossary nature: of nature

φυσικός, naturalis

nature: substantial nature

οὐσία

nature: which has to do with nature

φυσικός

Nautical Astronomy

Ναυτικὴ Ἀστρολογία

new moon

νουμηνία

night

νύξ, nox

nourish

τρέφειν, alere, nutrire

nourishment

τροφή, fomentum, nutrimentum, victus

nourishment: that depends on n. nutribilis number

ἀριθμός, numerus

number: infinite number

ἄπειρος

nutritive

τρόφιμος

offspring

γονή

On Generation

Περὶ Γενέσεως

On Moderation

De Moderatione

On the Equinox

Περὶ ἰσημερίας

On the Philosophers

Περὶ τῶν φιλοσόφων

On the ten Categories in Relation to God

De decem Categoriis in Deum

opinion

δόξα

opposed

repugnans

opposite

ἀντικεῖσθαι, ἐναντίος, contrarius

opposition

ἀντίθεσις

orb

orbis

orbit

κύκλος, περιφορά, circulus

origin

ἀρχέγονος, ἀρχή, γένεσις, generatio, genesis, initium, origo, primordium, princeps, principium

original

ἐξ ἀρχῆς

originate

generare, oriri

originator

princeps

parts: without parts

ἀμερής

694

English – Greek/Latin Glossary

path

πάροδος

period

περίοδος, περίστασις

perish

φθείρειν, deficere, dissolvere, interire, perire

perish: that can perish

φθαρτός

perishing

φθορά

perpendicular

κάθετος

phase

φωτισμός

phenomena: celestial phenomena

τὰ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ

philosopher

philosophans, philosophus

philosopher: natural philosophy

φυσικός, φυσικὸς φιλόσοφος, φυσιολόγος, philosophus, physicus

philosophical

φιλόσοφος

philosophize

φιλοσοφεῖν

Philosophus Historia

Φιλόσοφος ἱστορία

philosophy

φιλοσοφία, philosophia

philosophy: be devoted to philosophy

φιλοσοφεῖν

philosophy: natural philosophy

physica

philosophy: practice philosophy

φιλοσοφεῖν

philosophy: pursue natural philosophy

φυσιολογεῖν

philosophy: the study of natural philosophy

φυσιολογία

Physical Doctrines

Φυσικὰ Δόγματα

Physics

Physica

planet

πλανήτης, planeta

poet

ποιητής, poeta, vates

poetical

ποιητικός

Poetics

Περὶ Ποιητικῆς

poetry

ποιητική

potentiality

δύναμις, potentia

695

English – Greek/Latin Glossary potentially

δυνάμει, virtute

power

δύναμις, numen, virtus, vis

precept

praeceptum

Pre-mooner

Προυσέληνος

principle

ἀρχή, caput, institutio, principium

property

proprium

proposal

γνώμη

pupil

ἀκουστής, ἄκροατής, φοιτητής, auditor

pupil: be a pupil of

διακούειν

pyramid

πυραμίς

quality

ποιόν, ποιότης, qualitas

quality: having no quality

ἄποιος

quantity

ποσόν

rare

μανός, rarus, subtilis

rarefaction

ἀραίωσις, μανότης, μάνωσις

rarefy

μανοῦν

ratio

λόγος

rationally

ratione

reason

αἰτία, αἴτιον, λόγος, causa, ratio

religion

τὰ θεῖα

remain

ὑπομένειν, perserverare, remanere, stare

reputation

δόξα, opinio

revolution

περιφορά, reverticulum

revolve

ἀνακυκλεῖν, τροχοῦν

ride on

ὀχεῖσθαι

round

κυκλοτερής, orbis

sage

σοφός, auctor sapientiae, sapiens

saying

ἀπόφασις, ἀπόφθεγμα, dictum, sententia, vox

saying: single-verse saying

monosticha

scalene

σκαληνός

school

αἵρεσις, διαδοχή, προαίρεσις, genus, secta

696

English – Greek/Latin Glossary

science

ἐπιστήμη

scientific

ἐπιστημονικός

search for

requirere

seed

γονή, σπέρμα, semen, sperma

seek

ζητεῖν

self-moving

αὐτοκίνητος

semicircular

ἡμικύκλιος

seminally

seminaliter

separation

διάκρισις

setting

occasus

shake

σείειν

shaking

concussio

shape

σχῆμα, figura

shaped: easily shaped

εὔπλαστος

Silloi

Σίλλοι

skill

τέχνη

sky

οὐρανός

sky: things in the sky

τὰ μετέωρα

solar

ἡλιακός

solid

στερεός, solidus

solstice

τροπὴ ἡλίου, τροπή

sophist

σοφιστής, sophista

soul

ψυχή, anima

speech

λόγος, oratio, sermo

spermatic

spermaticus

sphere

σφαῖρα, σφαιροειδής, globus, spericus, sphaera

spherical

σφαιρικός, σφαιροειδής

spirit

spiritus

spiritual

ψυχικός, spiritalis

square

τετράγωνον, τετράγωνος

star

ἀστήρ, ἄστρον, astrum, sidus, stella

697

English – Greek/Latin Glossary star: fixed star

ἀπλανής

star: little star

ἀστέρισκος

star: shining star

lumen

stars: study the stars

ἀστρονομεῖν

statement

λόγος

student

μαθητής, discipulus, persecutor

student: be a s. of

κατακούειν, μαθητεύειν

study

ἐξετάζειν, θεωρία

subject

subiectum

substance

οὐσία, substantia

substrate

ὑποκείμενον

substrate: be a substrate

ύποβάλλειν

succession

διαδοχή

Successions

Διαδοχαί

successor

διαδοχή, διάδοχος, successor

sun

ἥλιος, sol

sun’s

ἡλιακός

sunrise

ἀνατολαί

sunset

δυσμαί

surface

ἐπίπεδος, ἐπιφάνεια, superficium

survey

γεωμετρεῖν

synodic

σύνοδος

tablet

πίναξ

teacher

διδάσκαλος, καθηγητής, doctor, magister

teaching

disciplina

theologian

θεολόγος, theologus

theological

theologus

theology

θεολογία

theoretical

θεωρητικός

theory

ratio

thing that is

τὸ ὄν, ens

698

English – Greek/Latin Glossary

Towards Opinion

Πρὸς Δόξαν

treatise

σύγγραμμα, συγγραφή, commentarium

triangle

τρίγωνον

tripod

τρίπους

Tripod (title of work by Andron) τρίπους truth

ἀλήθεια, veritas

turn to vapor

ἐξατμίζεσθαι

unalterable

ἀναλλοίωτος

unbegotten

ἀγένητος, ἀγέννητος

uncaused

ἀναίτιος

unchangeable

immutabilis

unchanging

ἀμετάβλητος

uncuttable

insecabilis

underlie

ὑποκεῖσθαι

underneath: be underneath

ὑποκεῖσθαι

ungenerated

ἀγένητος

universe

τὰ ὅλα, πᾶν, universitas

unlimited

ἄπειρος

unmoved

ἀκίνητον

view

δόξα, opinio, positio, sensus, sententia

void

κενόν, inane

wagon

ἅμαξα

wane

μειοῦσθαι

waste away

φθείρειν

water

ὕδωρ, aqua, unda

water: of water

aqueus

wax

αὔξεσθαι

waxing

incrementum

west

δυτικός

what-is

τὸ ὄν

whirl around

περιδινεῖν

699

English – Greek/Latin Glossary wisdom

σοφία, prudentia, sapientia

wise

σοφός, sapiens

wise: be wise

sapere

wood

ξύλον

word

λόγος, dictum, verbum, vox

work: written work

γραφή, conscriptio

world

mundus, orbis

write

γράφειν, συγγράφειν, scribere

writing

γράμμα, γραφή, scriptum

writings

τὰ γεγραμμένα, ξυγγεγραμμένα, litterae

zodiac

ζωδιακός

zone

ζώνη

English – Persian Glossary beginning

nakhust

body

paykar

bonding

bastigi

earth

zamin

fire

atish

formed

sazur gasht

harmony

nava’i

knowledgeable

dan

knowledge

danish

learning

ta‘lim

lightning

barq

material

jawhar

matter

jawhar

move

junbish

movement

junbish

nature

tabi ‘yat

particular

khas

revealed

takashif

revolving firmament

gardun

saturated

abdar

saying

guftar

semen

nutfa

slowness

ahistigi

state

ja

story

dastan

702

English – Persian Glossary

student

shagird

truthful

rastan

vapor

bukhar

water

ab

words

sukhan

world

jahan

English – Arabic Glossary absolute eternity

al-dahr al-maḥḍ

accidents

ʿawāriḍ

activities

afʿāl

air

hawāʾ

amenable

muṭāwaʿ

amenity

muṭāwaʿa

animal

bahīma

animal

ḥaywān

animals

bahāʾim

apprehend

daraka

apprehension

idrāk

Arabic

ʿarabī

argumentation

iḥtijāj

art

ṣināa

aspect

jiha

astronomical periods

adwār

astronomy

ʿilm al-hayʾa

beauty

ḥusn

beginning

awwal

being in potentiality

wujūd bi al-quwwa

belief

raʾy

bodily

jurmānī

body

jism

book

kitāb

book [of Torah]

sifr

704

English – Arabic Glossary

books

kutub

bringing-into-existence

ibdāʿ

brought-into-existence

ayasa

calculation

ḥisāb

cause

ʿilla

celestial

samāwī

celestial beings

mawjūdāt ʿulwīya

change

istiḥāla

chiefs of the sages

sādat al-ḥukamāʾ

chooser

mukhtār

circular motion

ḥaraka dawriya

composite things

murakabāt

composition

tarkīb

composition of poetry

taʾlīf al-ashʿār

continuousness

baqāʾ

corporeal

jusmānī

corporeal sphere

ʿālam jusmānī

corporeal things

ajrām

create

khalaqa

created

abdaʿa

created thing

mubdaʿ

created world

ʿawālim mubdiʿ

creating

ibdāʿ

creation

ibdāʿ

Creator

mubdiʿ

creator

bāriʾ

creator

ṣāniʿ

day

yawm

days

ayyām

deduction

istinbāṭ

defense

iḥtijāj

705

English – Arabic Glossary demonstrative sciences

ʿulūm burhāniya

designer

mudabbir

devote one’s attention

ʿanā

dispersal

inḥilāl

dissolution

inḥilāl

dissolve

dhāba

doctrine

madhhab

early

awwal

earth

arḍ

earthquake

zilzāl

earthy

arḍī

eclipse

kusūf

eclipses

kusūfāt

effects

āthār

element

ʿunṣur

elementality

ʿunṣurīya

emanate

ṣadara

end

ākhir

endpoint

ghāya

entities

kāʾināt

essence

dhāt

essence

jawhar

essential

jawhariya

everlasting

azal

excellence

faḍīla

existence

mawjūd

existing things

mawjūdāt

female

unthā

fire

nār

first

awwal

First Creator

mubdaʿ al-awwal

706

English – Arabic Glossary

first element

ʿunṣur awwal

first principle

mabdaʾ awwal

foam

zabad

foam of the sea

zabad al-baḥr

followers

aṣḥāb

Form

ṣūra

forms

ṣuwar

gathering

jamʿ

generated

tatakhalaq

generated things

muwalidāt

generating

takawwun

generator

muwalid

geometry

handasa

God

Allāh

heavens

samāwāt

heretics

zanādiqa

Holy scriptures

al-kutub al-ilāhīya

human

insān

identity

huwiyya

illusion

waham

impurity

kadar

inference

istidlāl

inner senses

ḥawāss bāṭina

intellect

ʿaql

intelligent

ʿāqil

invented

abdaʿa

judgments

aḥkām

knowledge

ʿilm

learned people

ʿulamāʾ

letters

rasāʾil

light

nūr

707

English – Arabic Glossary logic

manṭiq

luminaries

anwār

lunar month

shahr qamarī

maker

ṣāniʿ

male

dhakar

man

insān

materialists

dahriyūn

mathematicians

aṣḥāb al-riyāḍīyāt

mathematics

ʿilm al-ḥisāb

moisture

ruṭūba

moon

qamar

mountains

jibāl

movement

ḥaraka

movements [of the heavenly bodies]

ʿilm al-ḥarakāt

name

ism

natural philosophy

falsafa ṭabīʿīya

natural science

ʿilm al-ṭabīʿa

nature

ṭabiʿa

observation

ruʾya

occur

waqaʿa

one who brings-into-existence

muʾayas

opinion

raʾy

origin of the forms

manbaʿ al-ṣuwar

passing

masīr

people

insān

perceptibla

mudrik

perish

dathara

perpetuity

daymūma

person

insān

philosopher

faylasūf

philosophers

falāsifa

708

English – Arabic Glossary

philosophy

al-ḥikma

Pillars of Wisdom

asāṭīn al-ḥkma

places

mawāḍīʿ

plant

nabt

poetry

ashʿār

political philosophy

falsafa madanīya

practice philosophy

tafalsuf

predict

andhara

Preserved Tablet

al-lawḥ al-maḥfūẓ

principle

mabdaʾ

principle of creation

mabdaʾ al-khalq

principles

mabādiʾ

profundity

ghūr

properties

ṣīfāt

Prophetic Niche

mishkāt nabawiya

proverbs

amthāl

pure water

māʾ basīṭ

purity

ṣafwa

rational soul

nafs nāṭiqa

refute

naqaḍa

reign

mulk

report

khabar

rhetoric

khuṭab

sage

ḥakīm

sages

ḥukamāʾ

science of language

ʿilm al-lugha

sciences

ʿulūm

sea

baḥr

second generation

al-nashʾa al-thāniya

sect

furqa

sediment

thufal

709

English – Arabic Glossary seed

ḥabba

semen

nuṭfa

sense

ḥiss

separate

munfaṣl

smoke

dukhān

soul

nafs

souls

anfus

specific difference

faṣl khāṣ

sperm

minan

spherical

kuriya

splendor

bahāʾ

steam

bukhār

students

talāmīdh

study under

talmadha

subsisting

qāʾim

substance

jawhar

substances

jawāhir

sun

shams

surveying

ʿilm al-masāḥa

susceptible

qābil

Syriac

suryānī

tangible

malmūs

teach

ʿalama

terrestrial

arḍī

the seven sages

ḥukamāʾ al-sabʿa

think

fikr

Torah

tawrāt

understanding

fahm

unqualifiedly spiritual

al-ruḥāniya al-basiṭa

visible

ẓāhir

void

khalāʾ

710

English – Arabic Glossary

water

māʾ

what comes-into-existence

kāʾināt

will

irāda

wind

rīḥ

winds

riyāḥ

wise saying

al-ḥikma

world

ʿālam sphere

worlds

ʿawālim

year

sana