Gwen Parker

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posted 09-30-2005 12:31 AM09-30-2005 12:31 AM                      

Sixteenth-Century Greek Editions at Iowa
DONALD F. JACKSON

From Books at Iowa 12 (April 1970)
Copyright: The University of Iowa
The printing of Greek authors began late in the fifteenth century. The West had completely lost contact with this half of the Greco-Roman tradition by the fourteenth century, but the importation of the first Greek teacher of the Renaissance, Manuel Chrysoloras, from the East in 1397 permitted a few Florentines to become familiar with Hellenic literature again. This group hosted the Orthodox hierarchy at the Union Council in the second quarter of the fifteenth century and thereby opened new horizons in Greek literature for itself. The Turkish threat to Constantinople which prompted the Council soon sent great numbers of Greeks westward. By the time the city fell (1453) sizeable Greek colonies were established in most Italian urban areas. The largest by far was in Venice, which had itself maintained a colony of several thousand persons in Constantinople for many years. The Greeks apparently felt most comfortable among "Franks" they knew.
These expatriates generally supported themselves by instructing young Italians in the Greek language and by scribal work for Italian bibliophiles. Their common interests led to the establishment of academies and, again, the most outstanding was located in Venice. Its founder was Aldus Manutius, a Roman who had set up a press at Venice in 1490. He wished to enjoy the relative security from potifical strife available there and to avail himself of the wealth of scbolarly talent in Venice and at the university in Padua. In the next twenty-five years the Aldine Academy numbered among its members, at one time or another, most of the great Greek teachers of the period and most of the learned Italian hellenophiles. It even attracted scholars from northern Europe, including Erasmus of Rotterdam.
Aldus learned Greek while living with Pico della Mirandola in 1482, later being entrusted with the education of his nephew, Alberto Pio of Carpi. His great desire was, however, to alleviate the shortage of Greek texts by printing inexpensive octavo-size volumes in a readable form. The italic type he developed is still the basis for continental European printing in Greek. Soon after joining the printers' fraternity, Aldus followed tradition by marrying into a printing family. His wife was the daughter of Andreas Torresanus de Asola, who had studied at and taken over Nicholas Jenson's press in Venice. In 1508 Aldus and his father-in-law formed a partnership which lasted until Manutius'death in 1514.
Our earliest Aldine text is the 1502 Sophocles. [1] The volume, a first edition (editio princeps), is dedicated to the great Greek scholar and politician Janus Lascaris as a product of the Neacademia of Aldus. Although the title page lists the scholia as part of the publication, they did not appear until 1518 at Rome edited by Lascaris. The text of the tragedies is based on the work of the Byzantine grammarian, Manuel Moschopoulos. Adrian Tumebus later published a text based on that of Demetrius Triclinius. These two editions were used as bases for later texts for centuries. At the time, bibliophiles who refused to have printed books in their libraries often had manuscripts copied from Aldus' edition. Publication of tragedies continued in the following year with the plays of Euripides. [2] Lascaris had edited four plays which were published at Florence in 1496. The Aldine is, however, the editio princeps of the whole corpus. An edition of the Greek Anthology appeared in this year as well, [3] based on Lascaris' edition of 1494. Aldus' Homer of 1504 is dedicated to Jerome Aleander, who belonged to the New Academy and became a teacher of Greek at Paris soon after. [4] Homer had previously been edited by Demetrius Chalcondyles, to whom Aldus dedicated the Euripides of 1503.
A war between Venice and the League of Cambrai forced Aldus to cease publication through 1510 and 1511. He took refuge at Ferrara beside Lucretia Borgia before returning home. From the postwar period we have his 1513 Pindar. [5] The volume also contains Dionysius Periegetes, Lycophron (all three being editiones principes) and the hymns of Callimachus (printed at Florence in 1494 with Lascaris again as editor).
A few days before his death Aldus published the Suda Lexicon, an enlarged version of the 1499 Milanese editio princeps. [6] Both the press and Aldus' three-year-old son Paul were now placed in the care of Andreas d'Asola, who religiously followed the guiding principles of his son-in-law until his own death in 1529. From the 1514-1529 period of the Aldine press we have a handbook-size edition of Herodian based on the large folio editio princeps printed by Aldus in 1502. [7] The 1534 first edition of the speeches of Themistius, [8] edited by Victor Trincavelli, cites the loss of Aldus and d'Asola as well as the rejuvenation of the press under the younger generation. Italy and the world had nonetheless lost one of the founding fathers of Greek printing and a great scholar and organizer of scholars at the same time. Aldus' name is still unsurpassed as a publisher of learned Greek texts.
Other Venetian editions in our library include Aristotle's Rhetoric [9[ and the comedies of Aristophanes by Bartolomeo Zanetti. [10] Zanetti was a wandering printer from Brescia. He was associated for a time with Filippo di Giunta, who began publishing at Florence in 1497. Giunta's first productions were Greek. He imitated Aldus' italics and format, even basing some of his texts on earlier Aldine editions. We have the 1516 "Junta" editio princeps of the corpus of Xenophon's works. [11] The actual type used by Filippo di Giunta had formerly belonged to the Cretan expatriate Zachary Callierges. He had run the first all-Greek press at Venice (1499-1500), which was dissolved because of internal strife. A later foundation at Rome, under the impetus of Hellenic studies at the court of the Medici Pope Leo X, was more auspicious. Rome had not produced a single Greek text before Callierges' arrival. We have his 1516 edition of Theocritus, the second Greek book printed at Rome. [12]
Under the influence of northern scholars imbued with the new learning encountered in Italy, Greek presses appeared in Germany and France early in the sixteenth century. The most distinguished of these was that of the Estienne family in Paris. Founded by Henry Estienne, the press of the Stephani, as the name appears in its Hellenized form, presented its first Greek publication in 1544. The volume was the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus published by Henry's son Robert. [13] King Francis I, then in the process of gathering manuscripts from Greece and Italy for his library at Fontainebleau, wished the benefits of the collection to be available to his subjects. He had therefore allocated funds in 1541 for a new and exquisite font of Greek type to be cut by Claude Garamond. Based on the handwriting of the Cretan scribe Angelo Vergecio, at the time King's Librarian at Fontainebleau, the font was delivered to Robert Stephanus. As King's Printer in Greek (typographus regius) he used the Garamond type for the first time in the Eusebius text, which served as a standard of that author for a century. The manuscripts upon which the text was based, along with the others then situated at Fontainebleau, went later to Paris, where they serve as the foundation for today's great collection in the Bibliotheque National. Because Francis was especially fond of historical works, Robert printed ten books of Roman Antiquities by Dionysius of Halicarnassus for him in 1546. [14] Both the Dionysius and Eusebius are editiones principes.
Robert Stephanus became involved in disputes with the Faculty of Theology at Paris over his interpretation of passages in biblical texts and his printing of unacceptable variant readings. To the Faculty these smacked of heretical teaching. With the death of his patron Francis, Robert secretly made copies of the royal type and smuggled them off to Geneva. He followed them and set up shop there in 1550. The editio princeps of Appian's Roman History, [15] which he had begun, was completed and published by his brother Charles, who remained behind in Paris. Robert now fully embraced Protestantism and devoted his time, almost completely, to publishing religious works, many for John Calvin, who was his friend and associate in Geneva. He died in 1559, one of the most-respected publishers of scholarly editions in all of Europe and a first-rate scholar in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew.
The entire Stephanus press passed to Robert's son Henry, although he was only one of three surviving sons. The others, Robert and Charles, had returned to Paris by 1559 and had rejoined the Catholic Church, much to their father's consternation. Henry had worked closely with his father in the preparation of classical texts during the last five years of the latter's life. In 1557 he published his first independent works, among them the editio princeps of the Greek historians and geographers [16] and the tragedies of Aeschylus. [17] Henry edited the first himself. The second was edited by Petrus Victorius and featured the first appearance of the Agamemnon in print. Although Henry styled himself in 1557 a "Parisian printer" (ex officina Henrici Stephani Parisiensis typographi), the paper of the historical volume has been recognized as Swiss. It was undoubtedly printed at his father's shop in Geneva. A possible explanation for the Parisian designation is that his first publication was printed in Paris with the royal type then in the possession of Guillaume Morel. This one publication might have been enough to have linked Henry's name with Paris and to have warranted the misleading designation. The joint publication with Morel, Anacreon's Odes, [18] includes a translation of the poems by his brother Robert. The younger Estiennes evidently got along with one another better than they did with the older generation.
By 1559 Henry bad cut his Parisian ties, and in his edition of Diodorus Siculus' Histories he called himself "Printer to Ulrich Fugger." [19] This work bad been initiated by his father as part of the historical series for Francis I. Diodorus had appeared elsewhere in 1539, but in only a five-book edition. Henry's included ten additional books which he had discovered at Rome in 1554. Fugger was still his patron in 1562 when his Orations of Themistius appeared [20] and in 1564 when he published the Histories of Thucydides dedicated to JoachimCamerarius. [21] 0f the fourteen speeches in the Themistius volume, the last six had not been printed before. Fugger (1526-1584) was a Protestant fugitive from an enormously wealthy Catholic family in Augsburg. He collected Greek manuscripts in great numbers and bequeathed them to the university at Heidelberg in the Palatinate, the land of his exile. Camerarius (1500-1574), an associate of Melanchthon, helped to reorganize the universities at Tubingen and Leipzig, and as a leading Protestant reformer corresponded with Francis I about a reconciliation with Catholicism. As a scholar he translated several Greek authors into Latin, among them the historians, making this dedication quite apropos. Clearly, under Henry the Stephanus press continued its traditional ties with the leaders of Protestantism and classical studies.
In 1568 Henry published his edition of Sophocles as a continuation of the tragic series begun with Aeschylus eleven years before. [22] He included notes and translations by Camerarius. The great three-volume edition of Plato appeared in 1578. [23] Realizing the epic quality of the work, he dedicated the first volume to Queen Elizabeth, the second to James VI of Scotland, and the third to the Republic of Bern. This remained the pre-eminent Plato text for two centuries. References to Plato still today cite the pagination of the Stepbanus edition. The two last products of Henry's press in our library are histories. Herodian and Zosimus, the latter printed for the first time, appeared in 1581. [24] Angelo Poliziano's Latin translation faces the Greek text. Henry published a second, corrected and enlarged edition of Thucydides in 1588. [25] As in the earlier edition, a Latin translation by Lorenzo Valla is included.
When Robert Estienne fled to Geneva in 1550, the new king of France, Henry II, was left without a printer in Greek. The position had become quite prestigious under Robert's scholarly hand. Henry therefore chose a man who outshone even the Stephani in learning, Adrien Turnebe (Turnebus), who had held the chair of Greek and Latin literature at the College Royal since 1547. Tumebus had no experience as a printer and also had some difficulty in extricating the royal type from Robert's brother Charles. Nonetheless, in 1552 he published the editio princeps of all the works of Philo Judaeus then known. [26] Tbis was followed by the tragedies of Sophocles, [27] acknowledged for its excellence by Henry Estienne in his own 1568 edition, and the first edition of Homer's Iliad to be based on sound critical investigation. [28] Obviously uncomfortable in his strange position,Turnebus handed the office of King's Printer in Greek over to his disciple Guillaume Morel in 1555, the same Morelius who shared publication of the poems of Anacreon with Robert Estienne's sons in 1556. Morel had set up his own shop in 1549 and almost immediately gained fame with a very successful series of Greek editions. As Turnebus' successor he published Nicander's Theriaca in 1557 with a facing Latin translation. [29] Ancient scholia and his own notes were appended. Another Paris publisher of this period, famed for execution of the printer's art if not for knowledgeable editing, was Michel Vascosan (Vascosanus). His and Robert Estienne's wives were sisters. Their father was Josse Badius, a pioneer among Paris printers. Vascosanus was named Ordinary King's Printer in 1561 and held the position for fifteen years. We have one of his early publications, an introduction to Plato by Alcinous, now attributed to Albinus. [30] Although dated 1550, the Greek text appears to be a separate production of 1532, preceded by a later Latin translation, the two being bound together. The famed Marsilio Ficino's translations of Speusippus' De Platonis definitionibus and Xenocrates' De morte are also included.
A neighbor of Robert Estienne, Christian Wechel, opened a press at Paris around 1526. His son Andreas, who took over the business in 1554, published the first edition of the emperor Julian's Misopogon together with his letters in 1566. [31] Six years later Andreas, as Estienne had before him, moved his press out of Paris (to Frankfurt-am-Main) because of religious intolerance.
These problems of the Parisian press with the Faculty of Theology, and the failure of the French throne to support its printers impartially, allowed the momentum of learned publication in northern Europe to pass from the City of Light back to German-speaking areas from which it had been wrested in the second quarter of the sixteenth century. Geneva became illustrious under the Stephani, but Basle had long been the site of an energetic scholarly press.
German-speaking scholars had been much more intimately involved in the beginnings of Italian printing and in the study of the Greek classics than the French. It is not surprising, therefore, that great advances were made in German and Swiss printing of Greek before Robert Estienne made Paris northern Europe's center for such publication. Erasmus of Rotterdam, while teaching at the University of Basle, edited the first Greek book published in that city (1516), the New Testament. [32] Erasmus had the assistance of his good friend Johann Froben in winning a race with the Spanish Cardinal Ximinez to present the world with the first Greek edition of the work. The Spanish polyglot Bible appeared in the following year. Froben had begun printing at Basle in 1491 and, with the presence of Erasmus, his workshop was one of the most important centers of German humanism until his death in 1527.
Froben's widow married Johann Herwagen (Hervagius) who had printed at Strassburg until 1528. After a short partnership with his stepson Hieronymus, he published independently at Basle. One of his first independent works was the Demosthenes of 1532. [33] Erasmus wrote the dedicatory Preface and Johann Oporinus added a note to the reader. The romance of Heliodorus was published for the first time by Herwagen in 1534.34 It was unknown in modern times until its discovery among the manuscripts of Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary, during the sack of Buda in 1526. Our copy bears Herwagen's handwritten dedication to Janus Cornatius (Frankfurt 1535). Printers at Basle often collaborated. Herwagen in 1538 worked with Andreas Hartmann (Karthander=Cratander) and Johann Bebel in publishing an edition of Galen. We have Plutarch's Parallel Lives printed by Hartmann and Bebel.35 Simon Grynaeus dedicated this work to Johann Oporinus. The latter was a professor of Greek at Basle from 1538 and opened his own printing shop in 1544. He remained basically a scholar, however, printing fine editions while malting little profit. His 1549 StobacUS [36] is a reissue of an earlier publication from his shop, as is the Sibylline Oracles of 1555. [37] In the following year he published a volume of Dionysius Periegetes. [38] 0porinus published so frequently, in fact, that he often had to employ the facilities of printers from other cities. Such fervid activity of native printers and the constant arrival of fugitive printers from other countries made Germany and Switzerland the leading publishers of Greek texts in the second half of the fifteenth century. Before retiring in 1567 Oponnus published an edition of Lycophron with translations by William Canter and Joseph Scaliger. [39] Oporinus shared the labor with Peter Pema, an Italian from Lucca who studied at Basle and began printing there in 1538. We possess one last product of Basle which is rather mysterious. The title page bears the word "Basileae," but the dedication by Johann Birchmann is dated "Cologne, 1542." No publisher is mentioned. [40]
A very active Greek press operated in Heidelberg late in the fifteenth century, largely due to the arrival of the fugitive French Calvinist, Hieronymus Commelinus. Having formerly studied at Heidelberg, Commelinus fled Lyons and began printing in Germany in 1587. Closely allied with the scbolar Friedrich Sylburg, be published a series of fine classical editions before his death in 1597. We have his Etymologicum Magnum of 1594, edited by Sylburg. [41] His Lycophron of 1596 is a copy of the 1566 Oporinus-Pema edition, lacking only Scaliger's translations Commelinus' heirs published the editio princeps of Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras in his name, although the actual printing was done by Aegidius Radaeus. [43] The Athenaeus of thesame year also bears Commelinus' name, but was printed at Lyons by Guichardus luRieron. [44]
With the death of Commelinus we come to the end of the period embraced by this article. The sixteenth century had nurtured the seed planted during the Italian Renaissance and saw it branch out into all the nations of northern Europe. There the proximity of Greek learning to the origins of Christianity and its inevitable clash with doctrine based solely on a Latin tradition prompted dissident spirits, especially in France, to attempt to stifle the growth rather than to prune and tend it toward healthy fruition. It thrived in Gen-nany, however, as later in Holland and England, drawing along with itself the centers of humanistic endeavor. All of this growth, development, vicissitude, and movement are well represented by the Greek volumes now in The University of Iowa Libraries, a collection which is continually expanding in one of the most important areas in the history of western thought.

[ 09-30-2005, 12:34 AM: Message edited by: Gwen Parker ]

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Gwen Parker

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posted 09-30-2005 12:32 AM09-30-2005 12:32 AM                      

Notes:
[1] Sophoclis tragaediae septem cum commentariis. Venice: Aldus, 1502. This volume and the forty-five following cited in the footnotes at present comprise the collection of sixteenth-century editions of ancient Greek authors owned bythe University of Iowa Libraries.
[2] Euripidis tragoediae septendecim. Venice: Aldus, 1503.
[3] Florilegium diversorum epigrammatum in septem libros. Venice: Aldus, 1503.
[4] Homeri Ilias. Ulyssea, batrachomyomachia, hymni XXXII, [Venice] Aldus [1504].
[5] Pindari Olympia, Pythia, Nemea, Isthmia. Callimachi hymni qui inveniuntur. Dionysii de situ orbis. Lycophronis Alexandra. Venice: Aldus-Asulanus, 1513.
[6] Suida. Venice: Aldus-Asulanus, 1514.
[7] Herodiani histariarum libri VIII. Venice: Aldus-Asulanus, 1524.
[8] Omnia Themistii opera. Alexandri Aphrodisiensis libri duo de anima et de fato unus. Venice: Heirs of Aldus-Asulaniis, 1534.
[9] Aristotelis de arte rhetorica libri tres. Ad Alexandrum rhetorica. De poetica. Venice: Zanetti, 1536.
[10] Aristophanis facetissimi comoediae undecim. Venice: Zanetti, 1538.
[11] Xenophontis Cyri pedias, anabaseos, apomnemoneumaton, venatoria, de re equestri, de equis alendis, Lacedaemonorum resp., Atheniensium resp., oeconomica, Hieron, symposium, de Graecorum gestis. Florence: Junta, 1516.
[12] Theocritou eidyllia hex & triaconta. Scholia. Rome: Callierges, 1516.
[13] Ecclesiasticae historae Eusebii Famphili (eiusdem de vita Constantini), Socratis, Theodoriti episcopi Cyrensis, collectaneorum ex historia eccles. Theodori Lectoris, Hermii Sozomeni, Evagrii. Paris: R. Stephanus, 1544.
[14] Dionysii Halicanassei antiquitatum Romanarum libri X. Paris. R. Stephanus, 1546.
[15] Appiani Alexandrini Romanarum historiarum. Paris: C. Stephanus, 1551.
[16] Ex Ctesia, Agatharchide, Memnone excerptae historiae. Appiani lberica. Item, de gestis Annibalis. [Geneva] H. Stephanus, 1557.
[17] Aeschyli tragoediae VII. [Geneva] H. Stephanus, 1557.
[18] Anacreontis et aliorum lyricorum aliquot poetarum odae. Paris: G. Morel-H. Stephanus, 1556.
]19] Diodori Siculi bibliothecae historicae libri XV. [Geneva] H. Stephanus, 1559.
[20] Themistii Philosophi orations XIIII. [Geneva] H. Stephanus, 1562.
[21] Thucydidis Olori filii de bello Peloponnesiaco libri VIII. [Geneva] H. Stephanus, 1564.
[22] Sophoclis tragoediae septem una cum omnibus Graecis scholiis et cum Latinis Ioach. Camerarii. [Geneva] H. Stephanus, 1568.
[23] Platonis opera quae extant omnia. [Geneva] H. Stephanus, 1578.
[24] Herodiani historiarum libri VIII. Zosimi historiarum libri II. [Geneva] H. Stephanus, 1581.
[25] Thucydidis de bello Peloponnesiaco libri VIII. [Geneva] H. Stephanus, 1588.
[26] Philonis Judaei in libros Mosis, de mundi opificio, historicos, de legibus, eiusdem libri singulares. Paris: Turnebus, 1552.
[27] Sophoclis tragoediae. Paris: Turnebus, 1553.
[28] Homeri Ilias. Paris: Turnebus, 1554.
[29] Nicandri theriaca. Paris: Morelius, 1557.
[30] Alcinoi philosophi Platonici de doctrina Platonis liber. Paris: Vascosanus, 1550.
[31] Juliani imperatoris misopogon et epistulae. Paris: A. Wechel, 1566.
[32] Novum instrumentum. Basle: Froben, 1516. Our library has the second volume.
[33] Demosthenis Graecorum oratorum omnium facile principis orationes duas et sexaginta. Basle: Hervagius, 1532.
[34] Heliodori historiae Aethiopicae. Basle: Hervagius, 1534.
[35] Plutarchi quae vocantur parallela. Basle: Cratander-Bebel, 1533.
[36] Ioannis Stobaei sententie ex thesauris Graecorum delectae. Basle: Oporinus, 1549.
[37] Sibyllinorum oraculorum libri VIII. Basle: Oporinus, 1555. A similar volume (Sibyllina oracula. Paris: Obsopoeus 1599) is also contained in our collection. From the same year we have a related work, Hori Apollinis selecta hieroglyphica. Rome-Zanetti, 1599.
[38] Dionysii Alexandrini de situ orbis. Basle: Oporinus, 1556.
[39] Lycophronis Chalcidensis Alexandrae. Basle: Oporinus-Perna, 1566.
[40] Hesiodi Ascraei poetae vetustissimi ac sapientissimi opera, quae quidem extant, omnia Graece. Basle [15421.
[41] Etymologicon magnum. [Heidelberg] Commelinus, 1594.
[42] Lycophronis Chalcidensis Alexandra, sive Cassandra. [Heidelberg] Commelinus, 1596.
[43] Iamblichi Chalcidensis ex Syria coele de vita Pythagarae et protrepticae owtiones ad philosophiam lib. II. [Heidelberg] Commelinus, 1598.
[44] Athenaei deipnosophistarum libri XV. [Heidelberg] Commelinus, 1598.
-END-
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Gwen Parker

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posted 10-02-2005 09:24 PM10-02-2005 09:24 PM                      

The Latin version of Timaeus:

CALCIDIUS:
TIMAEI PLATO

PRAEFATIO

Isocrates in exhortationibus suis uirtutem laudans, cum omnium bonorum
totiusque prosperitatis consistere causam penes eam diceret, addidit
solam esse quae res impossibiles redigeret ad possibilem facilitatem.
Praeclare; quid enim generosam magnanimitatem uel aggredi pigeat uel
coeptum fatiget, ut tamquam uicta difficultatibus temperet a labore?
Eadem est, opinor, uis amicitiae parque impossibilium paene rerum
extricatio, cum alter ex amicis iubendi religione, alter parendi uoto
complaciti operis adminiculentur effectui. Conceperas animo florente
omnibus studiis humanitatis excellentique ingenio tuo dignam spem
prouenturi operis intemptati ad hoc tempus eiusque usum a Graecis
Latio statueras mutuandum. Et quamquam ipse hoc cum facilius tum
commodius facere posses, credo propter admirabilem uerecundiam, ei
potius malueris iniungere quem te esse alterum iudicares. Possemne,
oro te, quamuis res esset ardua, tanto honore habito de quo ita
senseras iniunctum excusare munus et, qui numquam ne in sollemnibus
quidem et usitatis uoluntatibus ullum officium recusassem, huic tanto
tamque honesto desiderio contradicere, in quo declinatio speciosi
muneris excusatione ignorationis callida esset scientiae futura
simulatio? Itaque parui certus non sine diuino instinctu id mihi a te
munus iniungi proptereaque alacriore mente speque confirmatiore primas
partes Timaei Platonis aggressus non solum transtuli sed etiam partis
eiusdem commentarium feci putans reconditae rei simulacrum sine
interpretationis explanatione aliquanto obscurius ipso exemplo
futurum. Causa uero in partes diuidendi libri fuit operis prolixitas,
simul quia cautius uidebatur esse, si tamquam libamen aliquod ad
degustandum auribus atque animo tuo mitterem; quod cum non
displicuisse rescriberetur, faceret audendi maiorem fiduciam.


PARS PRIMA TIMAEI PLATONIS

SOCRATES TIMAEUS HERMOCRATES CRITIAS

SOCRATES. Unus duo tres; quartum e numero, Timaee, uestro requiro, ut,
qui hesterni quidem epuli conuiuae fueritis, hodierni praebitores
inuitatoresque ex condicto resideatis.

TIMAEUS. Languor eum repente, ut fit, ortus moratur. Nec enim sponte
se tali coetu tantaeque rei tractatu et communicatione fraudaret.

SOCRATES. Ergo tui et item horum erit officii complere id quod deest
participis absentia.

TIMAEUS. Aequum postulas. Denique enitemur omnes pro uiribus; neque
enim fas est laute acceptos heri minoris tibi apparatus repraesentare
conuiuium.

SOCRATES. Tenetis certe memoria praescriptam uobis a me tractatus
normulam.

TIMAEUS. Partim tenemus; in quibus porro nutabit memoria, praesens
ipse in tempore suggeres. Immo, nisi erit molestum, breuiter ab
exordio dicta demum retexe, quo digestus ordo solidetur.

SOCRATES. Ita fiet. Cardo, nisi fallor, disputationis hesternae res
erat publica, qualis mihi quibusque institutis et moribus ciuium
uideretur optima.

TIMAEUS. Nobis certe qui audiebamus, o Socrate, ad arbitrium probata.

SOCRATES. Quid illud? Nonne inter initia cultores agrorum caeterarumque
artium professores a destinata bellicis negotiis iuuentute secreuimus?

TIMAEUS. Sic factum est.

SOCRATES. Tributo nempe caeteris quod cuique eximium a natura datum est
solis his qui pro salute omnium bella tractarent unum hoc munus
iniunximus protegendae ciuitatis uel aduersum externos uel aduersum
intestinos ac domesticos hostes, mitibus quidem iudiciis erga
oboedientes, utpote consanguineos naturaque amicos, asperis autem
contra armatas acies in congressionibus Martiis, biformi siquidem
natura praeditos, in tutela patriae ciuiumque ferociores, porro in
pacis officiis religione sapientes proptereaque mites suis, aduersum
alienigenas feroces.

TIMAEUS. Memini.

SOCRATES. Quid? Huius ipsius ancipitis naturae magisterium et quasi
quandam nutricationem nonne in exercitio corporum gymnasiorumque
luctamine, animorum item placiditatem constituebamus in delinimentis
et affabilitate musicae caeterarumque institutionum quas adulescentes
ingenuos scire par est?

TIMAEUS. Ita.

SOCRATES. At uero hac educatione altis auri argentique et
supellectilis caeterae possessionem cuiusque propriam nullam esse aut
existimari licere praediximus sed sola mercede contentos, exhibentibus
quorum salutem tuerentur, uti communiter tanta quae satis sit
occupatis erga custodiam communis salutis et a caetera functione operis
cessantibus.

TIMAEUS. Dicta haec omnia in istum modum sunt.

SOCRATES. De feminis quoque opinor habitam mentionem, quod similes
eiusdemque naturae maribus conueniat effingi sine ulla mo rum
differentia, quo uterque sexus isdem et communibus institutis regatur.
Quid de procreandis suscipiendisque liberis? An uero hoc ita ut
caetera, quae praeter opinionem hominum consuetudinemque uitae dici
uidentur, memorabile uiuaciorisque tenacitatis de existimandis
communibus nuptiis communique prole, si suos quisque minime
internoscat affectus proptereaque omnes omnibus religionem
consanguinitatis exhibeant, dum aequales quidem fratrum et sororum
caritate beniuolentiaque ducantur, maioribus uero parentum religio
eorumque antiquioribus auorum exhibeatur atque atauorum reuerentia
infraque filiis et nepotibus debita caritas atque indulgentia
conualescat?

TIMAEUS. Haec quoque facilia memoratu et a nobis retinentur optime.

SOCRATES. Quid illud, quod sine odio atque aemulatione nubentium
melioribus procis melius moratae uirgines sortito obueniant,
inferiores porro inferioribus? Non tenetis saluberrimam sortis fraudem
curantibus in utroque sexu praefectis nuptiarum, quo suam quisque
fortunam sortis improsperam culpet nec praelationem doleat alterius?

TIMAEUS. Hoc quoque memoria tenemus.

SOCRATES. Illud etiam promulgatum puto, lectorum fetus parentum summa
cura, utpote naturale bonitatis priuilegium praeferentes, alendos.

TIMAEUS. Id ipsum.

SOCRATES. Caeteros alii cuidam usui patriae futuros processuque
aetatis eorum nihilo remissiore cura notanda pueritiae et item
adulescentiae merita, quo tam ex secundi ordinis populo prouehantur ad
primum ordinem propugnatorum qui merebuntur quam ex his qui a parentum
uirtute degenerauerint ad secundae dignitatis ordinem relegentur.
Ecquid ergo, Timaee, satis uidetur factum recepto cunctis partibus
orationis hesternae strictim licet compendioque decursis an aliquid
etiam uultis addi?

TIMAEUS. Nihil sane.

SOCRATES. Scisne igitur, quid ego de ista re publica sentiam quodue
et quantum animi desiderium feram?

TIMAEUS. Quid illud?

SOCRATES. Ut si quis uisis eximiae pulchritudinis ac uenustatis
animalibus pictis uel etiam uiuentibus quidem sed immobiliter
quiescentibus motus actusque et certamen aliquod eorum spectare
desideret, sic ego nunc informatae urbis adumbrataeque sermone populum
agentem aliquid cum finitimis ciuitatibus in pace aut bello dignum
tanta fama et educatione magna quadam expectatione deposco. Quippe
fateor, o Critia et Hermocrate, non eum esse me qui tantam indolem
digne laudare possim. Nec mirum non posse me, quando nec ueteres
quidem auctores uel praesentis saeculi poetas posse confidam, non quo
contemnam poeticam nationem, sed quod euidens perspicuumque sit
imitandi peritos ea demum aemulari posse perfecte quorum ab ineunte
aetate habeant usum experientiamque et in quibus propemodum sint
educati, at uero incogniti moris peregrinaeque insti|tutionis
imitationem effictam, praesertim oratione seu uersibus, praeclaris
licet praestantibusque ingeniis esse difficilem. Sophistas quoque
uerborum agmine atque inundatione sermonis beatos iudico, uereor tamen
ne, ut sunt uagi palantesque nec certis propriis que sedibus ac
domiciliis, philosophorum mores et instituta ciuilis prudentiae ne
coniectura quidem assequi ualeant nec demonstrare caeteris, cuius modi
esse debeant officia pacata et item in bellis fides prouecti ad
sapientiam populi. Superest igitur solum uestrae eruditionis ingenium
nutritum cura publica philosophiaeque naturali studio flagrans,
siquidem Timaeus iste ex Locris, quae urbs Italiae flos est,
nobilitate diuitiis rerum gestarum gloria facile princeps idemque ad
hoc tempus arcem obtineat amoris sapientiae; Critiam uero, utpote
ciuem, sciamus in studiis humanitatis omnibus apprime uigere; de
Hermocratis porro natura educationeque facta et accommodata rebus his
de quibus agimus explicandis dubitare nullum puto. Ideoque iubentibus
uobis hesterno die facile parui quaeque mihi uisa sunt de publicis
disserenda esse impigre sum executus illud cogitans reliquas partes
instituti operis a nullo commodius posse explicari. Denique impleto
competenter officio finitoque sermone contendi a uobis quoque mutuum
fieri uosque imperatum munus recepistis; et adsum, ut uidetis, paratus
ad desponsam dapem.

HERMOCRATES. Nos quoque omnes, ut pollicitus est modo
Timaeus, iniunctum nobis a te munus pro uiribus exequemur, praesertim
cum nulla excusandi competat ratio; namque et praeterito die mox
conuentu soluto cum ad hospitium rediremus quo suscepti a Critia sumus
et ibidem postea de ipsa re habuimus tractatum non otiosum. Hic igitur
nobis ex historia uetere narrationem recensuit quam uelim, Critia,
repetas, ut, cum cognouerit Socrates, aestimet sitne futura utilis ad
imperatae remunerationis effectum.

CRATES. Sic fieri conuenit, si tertio consorti muneris Timaeo non
aliter uidetur. Audi, o Socrate, miram quidem sed plenam fidei
ueritatisque rem, ut e numero septem sapientium primarius Solo
recensebat, quem aui mei et consortis in nomine Critiae fuisse aiunt
admodum familiarem. Quo referente puer ego accepi res gestas huius
urbis memorabiles diuturnitate interituque hominum annullatas
euanuisse, inter quas unam prae caeteris illustrem, cuius fiet
commemoratio, quo tam penes te gratia collocetur quam debita deae,
cuius hodierna pompa est, instauretur ueneratio. Narrabat ergo grandis
natu, ut qui ad nonagesimum iam propmquaret annum, me tunc agente
annos decem, publicis caerimoniis celebri die orta causa
commemorationis ex Solonis uersuum cantilena; erat enim sollemne
familiae nostrae festis diebus nos pueros ad certamen memoriae
propositis inuitare praemiis puerilibus. Multis ergo carminibus tam
ueterum quam nouorum poetarum memoriter pronuntiatis, inter quae
Solonis aliquanto pluribus, ut quae nouitas commendaret ad gratiam,
memini quendam, siue quod ita iudicaret seu quod uellet Critiam
promereri, dixisse plane Solonem uideri sibi non solum prudentia
caeteris laude dignis, sed etiam carminibus praestitisse. Igitur senex,
ualde enim memini, laetatus eximie, "Quid, si non perfunctorie sed
dedita opera poeticam fuisset," inquit, "executus Solo, mi Amynander,
uel sermonem quem ab Aegypto reuersus instituerat implesset, a quo
quidem seditionibus caeteraque intemperie ciuilis dissensionis
irnpediente desciuit? Non opinor minorem Hesiodo uel Homero futurum
fuisse." Et ille "Quinam iste fuit, o Critia, sermo uel qua de re
institutus?" "De maximo", inquit, "eximiae uirtutis et famosissimo
titulo quem gessit haec ciuitas, cuius extincta memoria est tam morte
eorum qui gesserunt quam impendio temporis." "Dic, quaeso,,, inquit,
"o Critia, quod illud opus et quatenus actum et a quibus compertum
Solo tuus recensebat." "Est", inquit, "Aegypti regio Delta, cuius e
uertice Nili scinduntur fluenta, iuxta quam Sais nomine ciuitas magna,
quam regit mos uetus lex Saitica nuncupatus. Ex hac urbe Amasis fuit
imperator. Conditor uero deus urbis Aegyptia lingua censetur Neuth,
Graeca dicitur Athena. Ipsi porro homines amatores Atheniensium
istiusque urbis cognatione se nobilitari prae se ferunt. Quo Solo
profectum se satis hospitaliter honoratum esse referebat expertumque
liquido, quod de uetustatis memoria nullus nostrae nationis uir ne
tenuem quidem habeat scientiam. Denique cum in conuentu sacerdotum,
penes quos praecipua sit memoria uetustatis, eliciendi studio quae
scirent uerba faceret de antiquissimis historiis Athenarum, Phoroneo
et Nioba, postque inundationem mundi de Pyrrha et Deucalione,
studioseque prosequi pergeret prosapiam renouatae gentis hu manae
usque ad memoriam parentum annorumque numerum recenseret, inrisum se
esse a quodam ex sacerdotibus qui diceret: "O Solo, Graeci pueri
semper estis nec quisquam e Graecia senex." Cur istud diceret
percontatum Solonem. "Quia rudi nouellaque estis memoria semper nec
est," inquit, "ulla penes uos cana scientia. Nec immerito; multae
quippe neces hominum partim conflagratione partim inundationibus
uastantibus acciderunt. Denique illa etiam fama, quae uobis quoque
comperta est, Phaethontem quondam, Solis filium, affectantem officium
patris currus ascendisse luciferos nec seruatis sollemnibus
aurigationis orbitis exussisse terrena ipsumque flammis caelestibus
conflagrasse, fabulosa quidem putatur, sed est uera. Fit enim longo
interuallo mundi circumactionis exorbitatio, quam inflammationis
uastitas consequatur necesse est. Tunc igitur hi qui in siccis et
editis locis mansitant magis pereunt quam uicini litoribus et fluuiis;
nobis porro Nilus cum in plerisque rebus salutaris tum aduersum huius
modi pericula meatu inriguo perennique gurgite obiectus arcet exitium.
Item cum terra erit humore abluenda, pastores quidem uestri montium
edita capessentes periculo non continguntur, at uero ciuitates in
planitie sitae cum populis suis rapiuntur ad maria; quibus periculis
regio ista minime contingetur, non enim ut in caeteris regionibus humor
in planitiem superne manat, sed ex imo per eandem planitiem tranquillo
reditu stagnis detumescentibus remanat. Quae causa monumentorum
publicorum priuatorumque perseuerantiam nutrit studioseque tam nostrae
nationis rerum gestarum memoria quam caeterarum gentium, quas uel fama
nobis per cognitionem tradit, descripta templorum custodiis
continetur. Apud uos et caeteros nunc plane et nuper refectae
monumentorum aedes ictae caelesti demum liquore procumbunt
inuolutaeque litteris publicis cum antiquioris historiae memoria
dissipantur, ut necesse sit nouo initio uitae nouoque populo nouam
condi memoriam litterarum. Qua ratione fit, ut neque uestras proprias
res antiquas nec aliorum sciatis eaque ipsa, quae recensere memoriter
arbitrabare non multum distant a puerilibus fabulis, principio quod
unius modo memineris inundationis, cum infinitae praecesserint, dehinc
quod optimum uestrorum maiorum genus nesciatis ex quo tu et
Athenienses caeteri estis exiguo semine facti tunc superstite publicae
cladi. Fuit enim olim Atheniensium ciuitas longe caeteris praestans
morum bonitate ac potentia uirium belloque et pace memoranda eiusque
opera magnifica omnem, sicut nos accepimus, quamuis praeclarae gloriae
illustrationem obumbrantia". Tum admiratum Solonem orare atque
obsecrare, ut sibi omnia sacerdos de ueteribus ciuibus reuelaret et
illum "Nulla est inuidia" respondisse, "praesertim cum et tibi sit
mos gerendus et honor debitus amicae ciuitati referendus et id me
facere cogat ueneratio deae quae utramque urbem condidit educauit
instituit, priorem uestram annis fere mille ex indigete agro et
Uulcanio semine, posteriorem hanc nostram octo milibus annis post, ut
sacris delubrorum apicibus continetur. De his ergo maioribus uestris
audies, o Solo, qui ante nouem milia annorum uixerunt, quibus sint usi
legibus quamque amplis et quam praeclaris facinoribus nobilitati; si
probationem desiderabis, post ex otio sacras litteras recensebimus. Ac
primum leges intuere; fors enim multa reperies indicia germanitatis,
uel quod sacerdotiis praediti separatim a caetero populo manent, ne
contagione aliqua profana castitas polluatur, uel quod uaria opificum
genera ita inter se discreta sint, ut promisce nullus operetur.
Pastores uero et item penes quos est uenandi colendique ruris
exercendique scientia, disparatas sedes habent a propugnatorum
armataeque iuuentutis castris et insignibus ipsorumque insignium idem
usus et differentia tam hic quam apud uos etiamnunc habetur: clipeorum
tegmen, thoracum indumenta, iaculorum amentata missilia. Prudentiae
uero curam ubi maiorem leges habendam sanciunt aut honestas apud quos
tantam dignitatem obtinet in uitae muneribus et officiis? Quid
diuinatio? Quid medela? Nonne ad homines instinctu conditricis deae
commeauerunt? Hac quippe exornatione priorem uestram urbem sepsit
honestauitque numen quod condidit, electo salubri subtiliumque
ingeniorum et prudentiae feraci loco. Utpote enim bellicosa et sapiens
dea regionem eligendam censuit talem, quae sui similes esset uiro
seditura. His ergo legibus uel hone stioribus et iam institutis ad
omnem uirtutem eruditi ueteres Athenienses, utpote diuinae prosapiae
germani, maximis et ultra humanae gloriae captum titulis laudum
nobilitati sunt. E quibus unum eminens et praedecorum facinus in
monumentis ueteribus inuenimus: immanem quondam iniuriis et
inexpugnabilem numero manum, quae prope iam cunctam Europam atque
Asiam subegisset, a uestris legionibus esse deletam ex Atlantico mari
bellum omnibus gentibus et nationibus inferentem. Tunc enim fretum
illud erat, opinor, commeabile habens in ore ac uestibulo sinus
insulam, quod os a uobis Herculis censetur columnae; quae quidem
insula fertur aliquanto maior fuisse quam Libya atque Asia. Simul ergo
per eam perque contiguas alias insulas iter tunc illud agentibus
commeatus patebat usque ad defectum insularum et initium terrae
continentis, uicinae uero mari; quippe hoc intra os siue Herculeas
columnas fretum angusto quodam litore, in quo etiam nunc portus
ueteris apparent uestigia, diuiditur a continenti, at uero illud
pelagus immensae atque inaestimabilis magnitudinis uerum mare. Igitur
in hac Atlantide insula maxima et admirabilis potentia extitit regum
omnem insulam finitimasque alias obtinentium maximaeque parti
continentis dominantium, siquidem tertiae mundi parti, quae Libya
dicitur, usque ad Aegyptum imperarunt, Europae uero usque ad Tyrrhenum
mare. Quae quidem uis potentiaque collecta et armata nostram, o Solo,
uestramque regionem, ho'c amplius eas gentes quae intra Herculis
columnas consistunt adoriri et expugnare gestiit. Tunc ergo uestrae
ciuitatis uirtus ultra omnem gloriam enituit, quod pro communi omnium
salute ac libertate desperantibus deserentibusque metu communem
custodiam cunctis magnitudine animi bellicisque artibus assecuta est,
ut per extrema discrimina erumpens hostes humani generis primo
fugaret, dehinc funderet, libertatem subiugatis redderet, intactos in
sua genuinaque libertate seruaret. Neque ita multo post accidit, ut
motu terrae et illuuione diei noctisque iugi praeclara illa uestra
militaris iuuentus periret et Atlantis insula tota sine indicio
prioris existentiae submergeretur, nisi quod pelagus illud pigrius
quam caetera crasso dehiscentis insulae limo et superne fluctibus
concreto habetur."

Haec sunt, o Socrate, quae Critias uetus a Solone sibi relata et
exposita narrauit. Sed cum praeterito die de rebus publicis deque
pacatis officiis militaribusque tractares, subiit quaedam me ex
recordatione miratio non sine deo dici quae diceres, siquidem, quam
constituebas oratione rem publicam, eadem aut certe proximae
similitudinis uideretur ei quam ex Critiae relatione compereram;
reticui tamen ueritus ne, si quaesitum aliquid a me foret, dehinc
obliuionis incommodo minime expedirem, ridiculus essem maluique apud
memet ipsum de memoria prius experiri. Ex quo factum est, ut cito
consentirem imperio tuo, quod confidebam facile me, si recordatione
memoriam exercuissem, posse reminisci. Itaque, ut hic modo dixit, tam
hesterno i die post digressum protinus ad praesentes retuli quam
nocturnis uigiliis omnia scrutinabundus recuperaui certumque illud
expertus sum tenaciorem fore memoriam eorum quae in prima aetate
discuntur. Quippe haud confidam quae pridie audierim an referre possim
postridie, cum quae puer cognouerim incolumi memoria plane retexam;
nisi forte maior in illa aetate cognitionis delectatio altius insignit
mentibus cognita, fors etiam quod studiosa senis et assidua relatio
meracam quandam et inobsoletam infecerit animo notam. Quare ut id ad
quod omnia quae dicta sunt pertinent eloquar, dicere sum paratus, non
ut narrationem retexam, sed ut ostendam rem publicam et populum
sermone Socratis hesterna disputatione adumbratum non picturatam
effigiem beatae ciuitatis, sed uere beatam ciuitatem et uiuum populum
quondam fuisse propugnatoresque, quos iste instituebat ad tolerantiam
laborum uirtutemque animi gymnasiis et musica mansuetudine, maiores
nostros fuisse, quos ille sacerdos Aegyptius praedicaret, quando facta
eorum nutrimentis ab hoc memoratis institutisque conueniant. Imperato
quippe nobis a Socrate muneri non aliter satisfieri posse arbitror
nisi consensu omnium participum officii recepti probabitur illam quam
Socrates uario sermone depinxit urbem ueteres Athenas fuisse. Quare,
mi Socrate, fieri huiusce modi remuneratione contentus aestima.

SOCRATES. Nullam uero aliam, Critia, magis approbo quam istam ipsam
quae est propria praesentium feriarum, magnificum uero illud non
fictam commenticiamque fabulam, sed ueram historiam uitae possibilis
fato quodam a me uestris animis intimatam. Quare fortuna prosperante
pergite iter institutae orationis; ego, ut probum auditorem decet,
attento silentio mentem atque aures parabo.

CRATES. Etiamne consideras, o Socrate, si est commoda dispositio
debiti apparatus tibi? Placuit enim nobis Timaeum quidem, utpote in
astronomia caeteris eminentem naturaeque rerum arcana rimatum, principe
loco dicere orsum a mundi sensibilis constitutione usque ad genus
hominum generationemque, me uero susceptis ab hoc hominibus eiusdem
oratione formatis, tua porro ad egregiam frugem imbutis et eruditis
legum sanctiore moderamine, iuxta Solonem uero uel sacros Aegyptiorum
libros reuocare ciues clarissimos ueteres et ante hos constituere
spectaculum uenerabile populi, quem inundatione submersum profundo
maris Aegyptiorum monumentorum fama celebrauit, atque ita ut de
maioribus nostris sermonem contexere.

SOCRATES. Ne ego magnifice sum inuitatus hodie, ut ex ordinatione
apparatus intellegi datur. Ergo age, Timaee, deliba coeptum uocata, ut
mos est, in auxilium diuinitate.

TIMAEUS. Vere, mi Socrate, nam cum omnibus mos sit et quasi quaedam
religio, qui uel de maximis rebus uel de minimis acturi aliquid sunt,
precari ad auxilium diuinitatem, quanto nos aequius est, qui
uniuersitatis naturae substantiaeque rationem praestaturi sumus,
inuocare diuinam opem, nisi plane saeuo quodam furore atque
implacabili raptamur amentia. Sit igitur meis precibus comprehensum
maxime quidem, ut ea dicantur a nobis quae placeant deo, tum ut nobis
quoque ipsis consequenter propositoque operi decenter profemur et,
quatenus uos quidem facile assequamini, ego iuxta anticipatam animo
speciem orationis expediam.

Est igitur, ut mihi quidem uidetur, in primis diuidendum, quid sit
quod semper est, carens generatione, quid item quod gignitur nec est
semper, alterum intellectu perceptibile ductu et inuestigatione
rationis, semper idem, porro alterum opinione cum inrationabili sensu
opinabile proptereaque incertum, nascens et occidens neque umquam in
existendi condicione constanti et rata perseuerans. Omne autem quod
gignitur ex causa aliqua necessario gignitur; nihil enim fit, cuius
ortum non legitima causa et ratio praecedat. Operi porro fortunam dat
opifex suus; quippe ad immortalis qui dem et in statu genuino
persistentis exempli similitudinem atque aemulationem formans operis
effigiem honestum efficiat simul crum necesse est, at uero ad natiuum
res……..

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Gwen Parker

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posted 10-03-2005 06:56 AM10-03-2005 06:56 AM                      

TIMAEUS

GREEK TRANSLATION:

[23e] humin etesin chiliois, ek Gês te kai Hêphaistou to sperma paralabousa humôn, tênde de husteran. tês de enthade diakosmêseôs par' hêmin en tois hierois grammasin oktakischiliôn etôn arithmos gegraptai. peri dê tôn enakischilia gegonotôn etê politôn soi dêlôsô dia bracheôn nomous, kai tôn ergôn autois ho kalliston eprachthê: to d' akribes peri

ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

[23e] and Hephaestus,1 and after that ours. And the duration of our civilization as set down in our sacred writings is 8000 years. Of the citizens, then, who lived 9000 years ago, I will declare to you briefly certain of their laws and the noblest of the deeds they performed:
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TIMAEUS:

[24e] hen huperechei megethei kai aretêi: legei gar ta gegrammena hosên hê polis humôn epausen pote dunamin hubrei poreuomenên hama epi pasan Eurôpên kai Asian, exôthen hormêtheisan ek tou Atlantikou pelagous. tote gar poreusimon ên to ekei pelagos: nêson gar pro tou stomatos eichen ho kaleite, hôs phate, humeis Hêrakleous stêlas, hê de nêsos hama Libuês ên kai Asias meizôn, ex hês epibaton epi tas allas nêsous tois tote egigneto poreuomenois, ek de tôn nêsôn

Here is how it translates into English, per all the scholars of Perseus Tufts:

[24e] both for magnitude and for nobleness. For it is related in our records how once upon a time your State stayed the course of a mighty host, which, starting from a distant point in the Atlantic ocean, was insolently advancing to attack the whole of Europe, and Asia to boot. For the ocean there was at that time navigable; for in front of the mouth which you Greeks call, as you say, 'the pillars of Heracles,'1 there lay an island which was larger than Libya2 and Asia together; and it was possible for the travellers of that time to cross from it to the other islands, and from the islands to the whole of the continent.

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0179:text=Tim.:section=24e

GREEK

[25a] epi tên katantikru pasan êpeiron tên peri ton alêthinon ekeinon ponton. tade men gar, hosa entos tou stomatos hou legomen, phainetai limên stenon tina echôn eisploun: ekeino de pelagos ontôs hê te periechousa auto gê pantelôs alêthôs orthotat' an legoito êpeiros. en de dê têi Atlantidi nêsôi tautêi megalê sunestê kai thaumastê dunamis basileôn, kratousa men hapasês tês nêsou, pollôn de allôn nêsôn kai merôn tês êpeirou: pros de toutois eti tôn entos têide

ENGLISH:

[25a] over against them which encompasses that veritable ocean. For all that we have here, lying within the mouth of which we speak,1 is evidently a haven having a narrow entrance; but that yonder is a real ocean, and the land surrounding it may most rightly be called, in the fullest and truest sense, a continent. Now in this island of Atlantis there existed a confederation of kings, of great and marvellous power, which held sway over all the island, and over many other islands also and parts of the continent; and, moreover,

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0180:text=Tim.:section=25a

GREEK:

[25b] Libuês men êrchon mechri pros Aigupton, tês de Eurôpês mechri Turrênias. hautê dê pasa sunathroistheisa eis hen hê dunamis ton te par' humin kai ton par' hêmin kai ton entos tou stomatos panta topon miai pote epecheirêsen hormêi doulousthai. tote oun humôn, ô Solôn, tês poleôs hê dunamis eis hapantas anthrôpous diaphanês aretêi te kai rhômêi egeneto: pantôn gar prostasa eupsuchiai kai technais hosai kata polemon,

ENGLISH:

[25b] of the lands here within the Straits they ruled over Libya as far as Egypt, and over Europe as far as Tuscany. So this host, being all gathered together, made an attempt one time to enslave by one single onslaught both your country and ours and the whole of the territory within the Straits. And then it was, Solon, that the manhood of your State showed itself conspicuous for valor and might in the sight of all the world. For it stood pre-eminent above all

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0179:text=Tim.:section=25b
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GREEK:

[25c] ta men tôn Hellênôn hêgoumenê, ta d' autê monôtheisa ex anankês tôn allôn apostantôn, epi tous eschatous aphikomenê kindunous, kratêsasa men tôn epiontôn tropaion estêsen, tous de mêpô dedoulômenous diekôlusen doulôthênai, tous d' allous, hosoi katoikoumen entos horôn Hêrakleiôn, aphthonôs hapantas êleutherôsen. husterôi de chronôi seismôn exaisiôn kai kataklusmôn genomenôn, mias

ENGLISH:

[25c] in gallantry and all warlike arts, and acting partly as leader of the Greeks, and partly standing alone by itself when deserted by all others, after encountering the deadliest perils, it defeated the invaders and reared a trophy; whereby it saved from slavery such as were not as yet enslaved, and all the rest of us who dwell within the bounds of Heracles it ungrudgingly set free. But at a later time there occurred portentous earthquakes and floods,

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0180:text=Tim.:section=25c

GREEK:

[25d] hêmeras kai nuktos chalepês epelthousês, to te par' humin machimon pan hathroon edu kata gês, hê te Atlantis nêsos hôsautôs kata tês thalattês dusa êphanisthê: dio kai nun aporon kai adiereunêton gegonen toukei pelagos, pêlou karta bracheos empodôn ontos, hon hê nêsos hizomenê parescheto.”

ta men dê rhêthenta, ô Sôkrates, hupo tou palaiou

ENGLISH:

[25d] and one grievous day and night befell them, when the whole body of your warriors was swallowed up by the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner was swallowed up by the sea and vanished; wherefore also the ocean at that spot has now become impassable and unsearchable, being blocked up by the shoal mud which the island created as it settled down.”

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0179:text=Tim.:section=25d
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Gwen Parker

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posted 10-15-2005 02:50 PM10-15-2005 02:50 PM                      

Caesar wrote between 100 and 44 BC. However, the earliest copy is dated from 900 AD. That's a span of about 1,000 years between original writing and oldest copy. The total of Caesar copies is 10.

Sophocles wrote between 496 and 406 BC. The oldest copy is dates 1,000 AD. That's a span of 1,400 years between original and earliest copy. There are 100 copies.

Plato wrote between 427 and 347 BC. With the exception if Calcidius, the earliest copy is dated 900 AD. That's a span of 1,200 years. There are 7 copies.

A great timeline into the histiry of Greek science:

http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/HistoricEvents.htm

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Gwen Parker

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posted 10-15-2005 03:09 PM10-15-2005 03:09 PM                      

Philosophy Holdings in Oxford University Library Services

Medieval manuscript sources and incunabula
No single collection of medieval manuscripts at the Bodleian is devoted exclusively to philosophy. Although numerous, the manuscripts of philosophical texts are dispersed across many collections, and are best retrieved by a search for authors’ names in the general indexes. Searches by first words can be made in an unpublished source by G.E. Mohan. The general range of authors and texts is surveyed in Repertorium edierter Texte. Besides those texts recognisable as philosophy in today’s terms, manuscripts in the fields of natural philosophy and grammar are also fruitful sources for the understanding of medieval thought.

Oxford’s most important manuscript of classical philosophy is the Clarke Plato (MS. E. D. Clarke 39), the oldest surviving manuscript for about half of Plato’s dialogues, which was acquired by the University in 1809: it was written in Constantinople in A.D. 895. Philosophical texts from ancient Greece and Byzantium are naturally represented by copies amongst the Bodleian’s Greek manuscripts, though scarcely any of these had reached Britain before the seventeenth century. The Bodleian also holds the oldest surviving manuscript of the Discourses of Epictetus (MS. Auct. T. 4. 13), a twelfth-century text acquired in 1820.

In the early Latin West, echoes of Greek philosophy were available through encyclopaedists such as Martianus Capella, from whom the Bodleian owns two important manuscripts from ninth-century France: a copy of the text itself with gloss (MS. Laud Lat. 118), and a manuscript of the commentary by Johannes Scotus Erigena (MS. Auct. T. 2. 19). Manuscripts of Latin classical and Late Antique philosophers remained accessible, some texts more common than others. Boethius’ De consolatione philosophiae was transcribed with its Carolingian gloss in a superb manuscript made at Canterbury in the late tenth century (MS. Auct. F. 1. 15, part 1). In the twelfth century, William of Malmesbury searched successfully for the works of Cicero; the Library has his copy of the De officiis (MS. Rawl. G. 139). Philosophical study in twelfth-century Ireland is witnessed by a manuscript which includes Calcidius’ Latin translation of Plato's Timaeus and extensive excerpts from Erigena's Periphyseon (MS. Auct. F. 3. 15).

Latin translations of Aristotle, made either directly from the Greek or via the Arabic, were becoming available from the twelfth century. A collection of early Aristotelian translations, including parts of the Metaphysics and Ethics, was at St. Albans Abbey by the thirteenth century (MS. Selden Supra 24). At the universities from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, Aristotle’s texts and the many commentaries on them provided both the content and the logical tools for philosophical study to progress. The patterns of university exercises and debate have left their mark in the many surviving manuscripts of Quaestiones, Quodlibetica and the like from Oxford and other universities. Oxford itself was producing philosophers of European stature, such as Roger Bacon, Walter Burley and William of Ockham.

In Renaissance Italy, scholars could regain access to ancient philosophical texts in the original Greek. Duke Humfrey of Gloucester was the dedicatee of new Latin translations of both Plato’s Republic and Aristotle’s Politics. Whilst his own copies of these texts no longer survive in Oxford, the influence of his books and of his encouragement of humanistic scholarship is perceptible, for example in a manuscript of Leonardo Bruni’s translation of Aristotle's Ethics and Politics written by an English scribe in 1452 (New College MS. 228). Manuscripts of Aristotelian translations and commentaries are listed in Lacombe, Lohr and Kristeller. Later Bodleian accessions of Italian manuscripts include a copy of Marsilio Ficino’s commentary on Plato’s Symposium with Ficino’s own autograph corrections (MS. Canon. Class. Lat. 156), one of the many humanistic manuscripts bought in 1817 from the Canonici collection of Venice.

Ancient and medieval philosophy is well represented among the incunable collections. Of the ancients the Library has, for example, approaching 50 incunable editions of the works of Aristotle, and copies of nearly half the pre-1500 printed editions of the works of Plato. Medieval scholastic philosophy is represented by authors such as Duns Scotus and William of Ockham.

http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/guides/philosophy/hist.html

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Gwen Parker

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posted 10-19-2005 11:40 PM10-19-2005 11:40 PM                      

Introduction to Latin Ms. 13

The University of Pennsylvania maintains a fine collection of Italian Renaissance manuscripts and printed books, many in their original bindings. The Catalogue of Manuscripts describes Manuscript Latin 13 as containing four cosmographies in Latin translation. The description is adequate for bibliographers, but it fails to suggest the interconnectedness of the texts. A brief introduction to the works follows.

The manuscript, indeed, contains four ancient Greek cosmographies in Latin translation. The first is Plato's Timaeus, translated with commentary by Calcidius. The second is a text that during the middle ages was often attributed to Aristotle (although certainly not his): De Mundo, translated by Joannes Argyropoulos. The third, by Philo of Alexandria, is De incorruptione mundi, translator not identified. The manuscript concludes with De contemplatione orbium ceolestium, written by Cleomedes, translated by Carolus Valgulius and dedicated, by Valgulius, to Cesare Borgia. The manuscript was copied and bound in Italy, sometime around 1500.

Cosmographies are concerned with the study of the visible universe, including geography and astronomy. Their scope can be quite broad, including discussions of the creation of the heavens and earth. Plato's Timaeus takes such a broad view with its central focus on the origin of things. Up until the twelfth century, the Timaeus was the only work of Plato's that was known in the West. During late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, in Calcidius' Latin translation, it was certainly the most influential of Plato's works. Calcidius is a shadowy figure. He has been described as a "Neo-Platonist of the Latin West" (Copleston, vol. I, pt. II, 227). He flourished, probably, during the first half of the fourth century. His translation and commentary served to light Plato's reputation and thinking through the dark ages. As late as the sixteenth century he was compared to Prometheus (van Winden, 2).

De incorruptione mundi does not immediately follow the Timaeus in our text, but its close relation to Plato's work and its importance to medieval thought make it useful to discuss here. Philo of Alexandria flourished at the beginning of the Christian era, born about 25 or 20 B.C and dying around 50 A.D. He was a leader in the vibrant Jewish community of Alexandria. He spoke and wrote in Greek (as did the bulk of Alexandrian Jews) and does not appear to have known Hebrew. Nevertheless, he was well versed in the Jewish Scriptures and also in the writings of the Greek Philosophers, especially Plato (Marlowe, 241). Through allegorical readings of the Jewish Scriptures, Philo attempts to reconcile the Jewish and Greek philosophical traditions. His influence upon the early Church fathers is significant. Looked upon as a prophet of sorts, apocryphal stories arose during the middle ages that refer to his conversion to Christianity (there is no evidence for this); and which make reference to him as "the Bishop Philo" (Royse, 1). The work translated in this manuscript, "The Incorruptabililty of the world" (also known as "The Creation of the World"), is a largely Platonic reworking of the Genesis story, owing much to the Timaeus.

The Pseudo-Aristotle text De Mundo was already considered spurious by the time of Argyropoulos' translation. It is "a potpourri of Stoic, Peripatetic, and Neo-Pythagorean doctrine, written perhaps in the first or second century A.D." (Muscarella, xx). After a brief description of the physical universe, it quickly turns to its central discussion of God as one who orders and controls the universe. Its popularity through the middle ages (and in the Renaissance, when it was respected for its style if not its content) is demonstrated by its repeated translation into Latin and the numerous extant manuscripts. This particular translation was made by Joanne Argyropoulos, a Byzantine Scholar who taught philosophy in Florence and Rome. Argyropoulos (1415-1487) had as patrons both Cosimo and Piero de' Medici and Pope Sixtus IV. De Mundo was probably translated around 1471.

Cleomedes, who wrote the final text in the manuscript, De contemplatione orbium ceolestium, probably lived during the first century B.C. He appears to have been a disciple of Posidonius, and it is through his work that we take our information on early measurements of the earth. This is the most scientific of the four cosmographies, being a significant astronomical text. The translation is by Charles Valgulius, secretary to the imfamous Cesare Borgia (the model for Machievelli's Prince). Valgulius was an acquaintance (perhaps colleague or pupil) of Argyropoulos; there are two notices of books borrowed from the Vatican library by Valgulius in Argyropoulos's name: one was a Greek manuscript of De contemplatione orbium ceolestium.

http://loki.stockton.edu/~kinsellt/litresources/binding/latin13/text.html

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Gwen Parker

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posted 10-25-2005 01:49 AM10-25-2005 01:49 AM                      

From Riven under Calcidius:

quote:

Song of Roland and Timaeus.

twelfth-century manuscript at Oxford, bound together with a Chalcidius translation of Plato's Timaeus, the volume once owned by the monks of Oseney Abbey, founded in 1129, then later, in the seventeenth century, the manuscript being owned by Sir Kenelm Digby, friend of René Descartes, before coming into the Bodleian collection

Part 1, Plato, Timaeus, in the Latin translation of Calcidius, with diagrams and glosses, French, 1st half of the 12th century. Part 1 bequeathed, perhaps already bound with Part 2, to Osney Abbey near Oxford by Master Henry of Langley, d. 1263(?).


Part 2, La Chanson de Roland, in Anglo-Norman, 12th century, ? 2nd quarter. Part 1 bequeathed, perhaps already bound with Part 2, to Osney Abbey near Oxford by Master Henry of Langley, d. 1263(?).


To say precisely Gwen, I'm not sure other than what we have above.

Generaly Timaeus was re-written into Latin by Chalcidius around 350.aD.

Then the Irish neoplatonist] John Scotus Erigena (800-880 AD) copied it, around 1263, Henry of Langley bound the Song of Roland with Timaeus and then Sir Kenelm Digby in the 16th century acquired it prior to the Oxford,Bodleian Collection.

My general impression is that Chalcidius copied Timaeus in a Augustinian library in Syracuse, Sicily, where Plato was around 360.bC when he copied Timaeus.

We do have a clue to Augustinian "thought" by a mistake Chalcidius made in writing Angostos for "Narrow Straite" as "Augustos.

These Augustinians go back to the Great Roman Emperor, Augustus around 30.bC, who could have been among the first to see the manuscript that was later rewritten by Chalcidius.

What happened between Chalcidius and Thomas Taylor, I'm not sure.

What does seem apparent though, is that the original Atlantis legend was "HIDDEN" in the Astrological Timaeus, especially when we consider that it was kept "SECRET" by the Egyptians and Greeks until 570.bC.

Then we have this quote;

(2) PLATO was known only through a fragment of the Timaeus, translated by Chalcidius. The famous dialogue was quoted by [the Irish neoplatonist] John Scotus Erigena (800-880 AD) and got a rapid and extensive circulation. The metaphysical character of the Timaeus would have, in a certain measure, counteracted the excessive and exclusive influence of the Aristotelian dialectic. But the Timaeus is obscure; it is often misleading as regards the real thought of Plato; the eclectic commentaries of Chalcidius made it still more difficult to understand: it was, in fact, generally misunderstood during this period. Of the other works of Plato, only the titles (through Chalcidius) and occasional stray fragments were known. It was not until the twelfth century that some copies of the Phaedo and of the Meno found their way into circulation. Henricus Aristippus translated them in Sicily. But, on the other hand, many of Plato's theories were transmitted by St. Augustine (354-430 AD), and also -- though not without modification and even disfigurement -- in the commentaries of the Neo-Platonists.

It is peculiar that Henry of Langley combined a Great Battle Legend with a Great Battle Song, sung by the Normans, The Song of Roland.

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Gwen Parker

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posted 11-06-2005 05:34 AM11-06-2005 05:34 AM                      

    

---

Gwen, Rich:

The same text that you have copied as the translation of Lamb, I have found as the translation of R.G.Bury, in the Loeb Classical Library from Plato´s Timaeus, Critias, Cleitophon, Menexenus, Epistles.
My question is: Who is the translator, Lamb or Bury?

In:
http://www.geocities.com/atlantisreviews/AtlantisComparisonofTranslations.htm

the translation texts of Bury are exactly the same which you have printed as Lamb´s translation.

[ 11-20-2005, 05:10 PM: Message edited by: Ulf Richter ]

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Ulf

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atalante
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posted 01-28-2006 09:42 AM01-28-2006 09:42 AM                      

In 1961, a group of editors decided to publish a one-volume collection English translations of Plato's works.

They claimed to have chosen the most readable translation for each dialog.

In regard to Critias, they selected the A.E. Taylor translation (1929). And in regard to Timaeus, they selected the Jowett translation. http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0691097186/ref=sib_rdr_toc/102-5601583-2044965?%5Fencoding=UTF8&p=S005&j=0#reader-page




Book Description

All the writings of Plato generally considered to be authentic are here presented in the only complete one-volume Plato available in English. The editors set out to choose the contents of this collected edition from the work of the best British and American translators of the last 100 years, ranging from Jowett (1871) to scholars of the present day. The volume contains prefatory notes to each dialogue, by Edith Hamilton; an introductory essay on Plato's philosophy and writings, by Huntington Cairns; and a comprehensive index which seeks, by means of cross references, to assist the reader with the philosophical vocabulary of the different translators.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Product Details

Hardcover: 1776 pages
Publisher: Bollingen (October 1, 1961)
Language: English
ISBN: 0691097186
Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 2.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds.

[ 01-28-2006, 02:22 PM: Message edited by: atalante ]

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atalante
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posted 03-24-2006 10:39 AM03-24-2006 10:39 AM                      

http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521846595Proclus: Commentary on Plato's Timaeus
Volume 1, Book I: Proclus on the Socratic State and Atlantis
Series: Proclus: Commentary on Plato's Timaeus
Proclus
Edited and translated by Harold Tarrant
University of Newcastle, New South Wales
Hardback (ISBN-13: 9780521846592 | ISBN-10: 0521846595)

DOI: 10.2277/0521846595

Not yet published - available from October 2006 (Stock level updated: 17:30 GMT, 24 March 2006)

c. £65.00
Proclus' Commentary on Plato's dialogue Timaeus is arguably the most important commentary on a text of Plato, offering unparalleled insights into eight centuries of Platonic interpretation. This edition offers the first new English translation of the work for nearly two centuries, building on significant recent advances in scholarship on Neoplatonic commentators. It provides an invaluable record of early interpretations of Plato's dialogue, while also presenting Proclus' own views on the meaning and significance of Platonic philosophy. The present volume, the first in the edition, deals with what may be seen as the prefatory material of the Timaeus. In it Socrates gives a summary of the political arrangements favoured in the Republic, and Critias tells the story of how news of the defeat of Atlantis by ancient Athens had been brought back to Greece from Egypt by the poet and politician Solon.


• The first English translation of this work for nearly two centuries


• Includes an introduction to the entire work and a section on how the ancients regarded Atlantis


• With an English-Greek glossary and a Greek word index

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atalante
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posted 03-24-2006 11:03 AM03-24-2006 11:03 AM                      

quote from:
http://www.newcastle.edu.au/school/liberal-arts/research/researchhighlights.html

Atlantis never existed—Official. Claims to have found ‘Atlantis’ or its ancient site are regularly made by archaeologists. Yet that name goes back only to a story told by Plato in his Timaeus-Critias, though Plato’s character Critias speaks of an oral story going back to the stones of ancient Egypt. The majority of Platonists treat with considerable scepticism the idea that Plato ever believed that this story was true, finding alternative explanations of it relating to its context in the Timaeus-Critias. But what was the official line from Plato’s Academy? What did Plato’s own pupils and inheritors have to say about it? Until recently it was generally believed that Aristotle had treated it as pure invention, while Crantor, a generation after, affirmed that it was pure history.

Harold Tarrant7 has been translating and explaining the only ancient commentary on this part of the Timaeus, that of Proclus, as part of an ARC funded project with Dirk Baltzly of Monash University. Proclus gives the positions of numerous earlier Platonists. Re-evaluating the evidence, Professor Tarrant has found that the early debate was never over whether or not the story was historically true, but over whether its genre was that of a narrative, like history, with no deeper meaning or a fictional myth with a deeper hidden meaning. Crantor indeed opted for the former alternative, but gave an explanation for Plato’s having written the story of a war between prehistoric Athens and Atlantis that has nothing whatever to do with historical truth. He is followed by a long line of intellectuals including Posidonius and Strabo who did not take the story as history. While Plutarch seems to have been non-committal, all interpreters after Crantor mentioned by Proclus took the story as an allegory with no historical truth, until Iamblichus (c. AD245-325) who continued to insist on a deeper meaning while stressing that this was not incompatible with its historical truth.

Hence the official line—that taken by those in a best position to know, those who studied at Plato’s Academy or expressed loyalty to the Platonist tradition—was that Plato did not preserve his story because he thought that any civilisation of Atlantis had ever existed. That being the case, we should certainly not be labelling any actual or hypothetical sunken civilisations ‘Atlantis’, a name which certainly never came from Egypt. The findings will be published in the long introduction to Volume One of Proclus On the Timaeus to be published by Cambridge University Press.

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Apollo

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posted 03-24-2006 09:53 PM03-24-2006 09:53 PM                   

Actually, this is very timely as I was just reading "Proclus: Commentary on Plato's Timaeus" last week. True, I was reading the older English translation of it, not the new one, but I feel I should point out that I found nothing in it of any real value either supportive or disproving Plato's Atlantis in it, and I was looking, believe me, and would have printed it either way.

quote:

• Includes an introduction to the entire work and a section on how the ancients regarded Atlantis

I think it's important to point out that the section Atalante refers to is a commentary at the front of the book as to how the scholars believe the ancient writers treated the topic of Atlantis, not any new information gleaned from the writers themselves, but we don't need the classics professors to inform us of their opinions, we can find all the actual quotes ourselves from the original authors with some searching, and judge for ourselves:

Proclus & Crantor - believing in it, apparently.
Poseidonus - open to the idea
Strabo - indifferent
Plutarch - far from indifferent, actually verifying that the story was passed down from Solon.
Marcellinius - apparently verifing it as well.

I leave off Diodorus, Hellanicus & Herodotus because I am yet to be convinced they were talking about the same place. Equally, I leave off Aelian because I have yet to find his original quote.

These are the earliest ancients, they number a scant handfew at best, and while they do not all offer outright corroboration, simply the fact that they are writing about Atlantis should tell us that it was a topic worth writing about. And not one writes about it as if it were a lesson when they could have easily done so. Oddly, the only people who seem to treat it as if it were meant to be a lesson are modern scholars, as we know, not disposed to believe in the tale as factual in any part anyway.

As for Proclus' Commentary of Timaeus, here is a review I found on it last week, read it, however, I invite others to read the commentary for themselves and decide on it's value:

quote:

The commentary of Proclus on the Timaeus is a wonderful monument of the silliness and prolixity of the Alexandrian Age. It extends to about thirty pages of the book, and is thirty times the length of the original. It is surprising that this voluminous work should have found a translator (Thomas Taylor, a kindred spirit, who was himself a Neo-Platonist, after the fashion, not of the fifth or sixteenth, but of the nineteenth century A.D.). The commentary is of little or no value, either in a philosophical or philological point of view. The writer is unable to explain particular passages in any precise manner, and he is equally incapable of grasping the whole. He does not take words in their simple meaning or sentences in their natural connexion. He is thinking, not of the context in Plato, but of the contemporary Pythagorean philosophers and their wordy strife. He finds nothing in the text which he does not bring to it. He is full of Porphyry, Iamblichus and Plotinus, of misapplied logic, of misunderstood grammar, and of the Orphic theology.

Although such a work can contribute little or nothing to the understanding of Plato, it throws an interesting light on the Alexandrian times; it realizes how a philosophy made up of words only may create a deep and widespread enthusiasm, how the forms of logic and rhetoric may usurp the place of reason and truth, how all philosophies grow faded and discoloured, and are patched and made up again like worn-out garments, and retain only a second-hand existence. He who would study this degeneracy of philosophy and of the Greek mind in the original cannot do better than devote a few of his days and nights to the commentary of Proclus on the Timaeus.

http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/phil/ancientmedievalorientalphilosophy/Timaeus/chap10.html

--------------------
"Whom the gods destroy, they first make mad."

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posted 03-24-2006 10:37 PM03-24-2006 10:37 PM                   

Here is a link to Proclus Commentary on Timaeus, for those interested in reading it. It has been said that he considered it the commentary he was the most proud of:

http://www.prometheus.cwc.net/pt-vol15.htm

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Apollo

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posted 03-24-2006 10:52 PM03-24-2006 10:52 PM                   

-The Ancient Historians in their Own Words:

"He [Solon] also spent some time in studies with Psenophis of Heliopolis [in Egypt] and Sonkhis of Sais, who were very learned priests. From these, as Plato says, he heard the story of the lost Atlantis, and tried to introduce it in a poetical form to the Greeks." - Plutarch, Solon 26.1

"Plato, ambitious to elaborate and adorn the subject of the lost Atlantis, as if it were the soil of a fair estate unoccupied, but appropriately his by virtue of some kinship with Solon, began the work by laying out great porches, enclosures, and courtyards, such as no story, tale, or poesy ever had before. But he was late in beginning, and ended his life before his work. Therefore the greater our delight in what he actually wrote, the greater is our distress in view of what he left undone. For as the Olympieion in the city of Athens, so the tale of the lost Atlantis in the wisdom of Plato is the only one among many beautiful works to remain unfinished." - Plutarch, Solon 32.1

"Those who live on the shores of Okeanos tell a fable of how the ancient kings of Atlantis, sprung from the seed of Poseidon, wore upon their head the bands from the male Ram-fish, as an emblem of their authority, while their wives, the queens, wore the curls of the females as a proof of theirs." - Aelian, On Animals 15.2

"There is reported to be another island off [African] Mount Atlas [in the Atlantic], itself also called Atlantis, from which a two days’ voyage along the coast reaches the desert district in the neighbourhood of the Western Aethiopes and the cape mentioned above as the Horn of the West, the point at which the coastline begins to curve westward in the direction of the Atlantic." - Pliny, Natural History 6.199

http://www.theoi.com/Phylos/Atlantes.html

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Gwen Parker

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posted 06-11-2006 07:58 PM06-11-2006 07:58 PM                      

An excellent source on Greek literature and history:

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbook07.html

Ancient Greek Literature

The Greek Isles are recognized as the birthplace of Western intellectual life. The earliest extant European literary works are the Iliad and the Odyssey, both written in ancient Greek probably before 700 B.C. and attributed to Homer. Among other early epic poems, most of which have perished, those of Hesiod, the first didactic poet, remain. The poems dealing with mythological subjects and known as the Homeric Hymns are dated 800-500 B .C. Only fragments survive of the works of many early Greek poets, including the elegiasts Callinus, Tyrtaeus, Theognis, Solon, Phocylides, Semonides of Amorgos, Archilochus, and Hipponax. The most personal Greek poems are the lyrics of Alcaeus, Sappho, and Anacreon. The Dorian lyric for choral performance, developed with Alcman, Ibycus, and Stesichorus, achieved perfection in Pindar, Simonides of Ceos and Bacchylides. From the song and dance in the ceremonies honoring Dionysus at Athens, the drama evolved. Within a century tragedy was developed by three of the greatest playwrights in the history of the theater, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Equally exalted was the foremost exponent of Attic Old Comedy, Aristophanes. Other writers who developed this genre included Cratinus and Eupolis, of whom little is known. The rowdy humor of these early works gave way to the more sedate Middle Comedy and finally to New Comedy, which set the form for this type of drama. The best-known writer of Greek New Comedy is Menander. The writing of history came of age in Greece with the rich and diffuse work of Herodotus, the precise and exhaustive accounts of Thucydides, and the rushing narrative of Xenophon. Philosophical writing of unprecedented breadth was produced during this brief period of Athenian literature; the works of Plato and Aristotle have had an incalculable effect in the shaping of Western thought. Greek oratory, of immense importance in the ancient world, was perfected at this time. Among the most celebrated orators were Antiphon, Andocides, Lysias, Isocrates, Isaeus, Lycurgus, Aeschines, and, considered the greatest of all, Demosthenes. "Classical" Greek literature is said to have ended with the deaths of Aristotle and Deosthenes [c.322 B.C.]. the greatest writers of the classical era have certain characteristics in common; economy of words, direct expression, subtlety of thought, and attention to form. The next period of Greek literature reached its zenith in Hellenistic Alexandria, where a number of major philosophers, dramatists, poets, historians, critics, and librarians wrote and taught. Hellenistic literature was imitative and specialized as to subject matter. It was appreciated less by Renaissance humanists than it is today. The poems of Callimachus, the bucolics of Theocritus, and the epic of Appollonius Rhodius are now recognized as major works of world literature. The production of literary works just before and after the birth of Christ was enormous, but most were characterized by artificiality, pedantry, and self-consciousness. With the Roman political subjugation of Greece, Greek thought and culture, introduced largely by slave-tutors to the Roman aristocracy, came to exert enormous influence in the Roman world. Among the greatest writers of this period were the historians Polybius, Josephus, and Dion Cassius; the biographer, Plutarch; the philosophers Philo and Dion Chrysostom; and the novelist Lucian. Yet the conscious cultivation of Greek writing in general produced many works that seemed strained and precious. One great exception was the philosophical mediations of Marcus Aurelius. With the spread of Christianity, Greek writing took a new turn, and much of the writing of the Greek Fathers of the Church is eloquent. Religion dominated in the literature of the Byzantine Empire, and a vast treasury of writing was produced which is not generally well known to the West, with the exception of some historians [e.g., Procopius, Anna Comena, George Acropolita, and Emperor John VI] and some anthologists [e.g., Photius]. The Loeb Classical Library offers text and translations of most of the extant ancient Greek literature . . . . [Ancient Greek Literature. Harris, William H., and Judith S. Levey, eds. The New Columbia Encyclopedia. New York and London: Columbia University Press, 1975.]


Greek Literature [Kyriazis/Eternal Greece] - Greek literature in its written form makes its first appearance at the end of the 8th Century B.C. The initial form of expression was that of epic poetry. The Homeric epics have been dated in the 8th Century and they make up the first written monuments of ancient Greek literature. Earlier records are of a sporadic nature and by virtue of their contents cannot be rightly considered as literary achievements.

Two significant events which occurred beforehand provided the basic means by which the Homeric poems could be composed. The first was the creation of a profound mythological corpus from which to draw, and the second was the introduction of the Greek vowel system in writing, the writing known and understood by us. This system came into use with the addition of the vowel sounds to the already existing North-Semitic alphabet of consonantal forms. The myth developed between the 12th and 8th Centuries. Of vowel writing, the oldest record is found on a wine pitcher of Dipylus dating in the first half of the 8th Century.

The cornerstone of Greek literature is that which was laid by the anonymous Muse of the people. Mythology was after all nothing more than an attempt by the race to speak about itself, that is, to relate its history, explain its roots, and give some answer to the many questions regarding its existence. And Greek mythology is that vast and rich corpus from which the creative literary genius of antiquity was to draw.

We have seen that literature in the sense of the written word begins with Homer. This of course does not mean that poetry did not exist before Homer's age, for the Homeric epics themselves provide ample evidence of rhapsodes and singers. Poetry in the form of the heroic epic must have been the main medium through which the myth was disseminated among the Greeks for a long period of time before the first appearance of the written word. [p. 131]

[Greek Literature in Kyriazis, Constantine D. Eternal Greece. Translated by Harry T. Hionides. A Chat Publication.]]


http://www.noteaccess.com/THEMES/AncientGL.htm

[ 06-11-2006, 08:14 PM: Message edited by: Gwen Parker ]

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posted 11-25-2006 10:23 PM11-25-2006 10:23 PM                      

Diogenes Laertius: the Manuscripts of
"The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosphers"



This work in 10 books is a compilation from earlier compilations (with names of sources mentioned) of stories about the philosophers, with an emphasis on anecdote, but also discussing their distinctive ideas, although rather as a secondary issue. The letters of Epicurus in book 10 are particularly valuable. The work is divided into chapters without titles.

The work is dated to the earlier decades of the 3rd century AD, since the last philosopher mentioned is a pupil of Sextus Empiricus (fl. end of the second century), the otherwise unknown Sextus. There is no mention of the Neo-platonism of the 4th century, which would naturally enter a discussion of Plato.

Another work by the same author (now lost) was his 'Medley of Metre' (Pa&mmetroj), which he quotes.

What follows is the discussion of how the text was produced from the Loeb. However HICKS makes plain that all of this is somewhat provisional. I do not know whether more and better MSS have been located since 1925.


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The scholars of Western Europe, as was stated above (p. viii), first made our author's acquaintance in a Latin dress. Walter de Burleigh's De vita et moribus philosophorum was an adaptation rather than a transcript, but Ambrosius Traversarius Camaldu-lensis came better equipped to his task. He belonged to the order of Camaldoli founded in A.D. 1012 by Romualdinus, and rose to be general of his order. He had learned Greek from Manuel Chrysoloras, the Byzantine professor who in the intervals of state employment lectured at Florence, Rome, and Pavia between 1390 and 1415. The translation of Ambrosius, completed in 1431 (for an extant copy is dated February 1432), was printed first at Rome without date, then at Venice in 1475, at Nuremberg the next year, and several times reprinted at other places, with the alterations due to successive improvements in the Greek text.

The Lives of Aristotle and Theophrastus (Book V. cc. 1 and 2) were the first part of the Greek text to be printed. They appeared in the second volume of the Aldine Aristotle at Venice in 1497. The whole of the Greek text, as already mentioned (p. x), was printed at Basel in 1533, with the dedication : Hieronymus Frobenius et Nicolaus Episcopius studiosis S.P.D. In 1566 there appeared at Antwerp another edition, with this title : Laertii Diogenis de vita et moribus philosophorum libri X. Plus quam mille in locis restituti et emendati et fide dignis vetustis exem-plaribus Graecis, ut inde Graecum exemplum possit restitui; opera Ioannis Sambuci Tirnaviensis Pannonii. Cum indice locupletissimo. Ex officina Christophori Plantini. This editor tells us that he used older MSS., naming the Venetus and Vaticanus. That he has also some readings peculiar to the Borbonicus has been shown by Usener (Epicurea, p. 16). In 1570 Stephanus (Henri Estienne) published an edition in two volumes at Paris, with notes extending over the first nine books and a revision of Ambrosius' Latin version. A second edition, "cum Is. Casauboni notis multo auctior," was published in 1593 at Paris ; a third followed at Geneva in 1615. The fault of these editions (as of Froben's) is that they are based on inferior MSS., such as the Marcianus ; and, strangely enough, Stephanus seems to have been unaware of the edition of Sambucus, issued four years before his own. Meanwhile, under the auspices of Cardinal Aldobrandino, there appeared at Rome an edition (with a revised text and a much improved Latin version) in which emendations of the text not infrequently, lurk. This had been prepared thirty years earlier by the Cardinal's uncle, Thomas Aldobrandinus, who had used the Borbonicus and had annotated the first nine books.

Nor was the tenth book left much longer without a commentator. In due time the energies of Gassendi were concentrated upon it. Both the physical speculations and the ethical doctrine of Epicurus attracted him, and there appeared at Leyden in 1649 Animadversiones in librum X Diogenis Laertii, with a companion volume, De vita et moribus Epicuri. A second edition followed, and a third (Leyden, 1675), in which the two parts, Epicuri philosophiae per Petrum Gassendum, tomus primus, and Epicuri ethicae per Petrum Gassendum, tomus secundus, were united. Gassendi depended less upon MSS. than upon common sense and his own reasoning powers ; nevertheless to him, as to his predecessors, Stephanus, Casaubon, and Aldobrandinus, are due some conjectural restorations of the text which subsequent editors accept without reserve ; for example, there are three such in x. 83.

A variorum edition of the whole work was published by Meibomius in 1691-92 ; this included the valuable commentary of Menage and other illustrative matter. In the eighteenth century hardly anything of note can be chronicled except, perhaps, the edition of Longolius (Chur, 1791). In the nineteenth century appeared the edition of Hubner, (Leipzig, 1828-31), with a preface by Godfrey Hermann, some critical notes, and the annotations of Casaubon and Menage.

Lastly, there is the edition in the Didot series (Paris, 1850) bearing the name of Cobet. From the Avis des editeurs, dated August 1, 1850, we learn that the young Cobet was introduced to the publishers in 1842, travelled in Italy to collate MSS., and had completed his revision of the text in 1844, but for some unexplained reason neglected to write the Prolegomena, which he had promised in a letter dated October 5, 1843. The result is that no reasons are assigned and no authorities are cited for the extensive alterations which mark this edition as a great advance upon its predecessors.

If now we turn from printed copies to older sources of the text, there are numerous MSS., but none very old or trustworthy. By far the best is Codex Borbonicus (B) of the National Library at Naples : Gr. III. B 29 is the class-mark. This MS. is dated about A.D. 1200.1 The scribe obviously knew no Greek ; itacisms abound—there are some 150 instances in Book III. alone. Breathings and accents are sometimes omitted; words are sometimes wrongly divided, especially in citations of poetry ; yet the spelling of certain words is unusually good. In a recent edition of Book III. (Vita Platonis) the editors give (p. iv) thirty examples of bad readings, some of which suggest conjectural emendation. Nevertheless all critics agree that B is the most faithful to the archetype.

Next to the Borbonicus comes the Paris codex (Gr. 1759), known as P, probably written a century later, circa 1300. Quite recently Von der Muehll has advocated the claims of two other MSS., one (Co) of the thirteenth or fourteenth century, from the Library of the Old Seraglio at Constantinople, and the other (W) from the Vatican (Gr. 140) of the fourteenth century. Both these may be said to side with P rather than with B. Lastly, there is the Florentine MS. F (Gr. plut. lxix. 13), for which letter Martini and Bywater substitute L.

The superiority of BPF is laid down in Usener's Epicurea, pp. vi sqq., xxii sqq. Ten years earlier, in 1877, Bonnet had dealt with P, and the conclusion of these two scholars and Wachsmuth has since been generally accepted. Experts are not in entire agreement as to the age of the three MSS., but all three must have been written between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries.

Usener collated in part another Paris codex (Gr. 1758, Q), which had been copied from P before it was interpolated, as well as another Florentine codex, Laurentianus (Gr. plut. lxix. 28, G) ; but these are. merely subsidiary.

By ill fortune the editio princeps of 1533 was printed from an inferior MS., the identity of which has been discovered by Von der Muehll, who calls it Z. It is the Raudnitz MS., now in the library of Prince Lobkowitz.

What is most necessary now is an edition such as has been long promised, showing the true tradition of the text when BPFCo (and any other good MSS.) have been stripped of the interpolations introduced by Byzantine or Italian scholars. The effect of interpolation superimposed on multifarious errors due to careless copyists is a diversity more apparent than real, which deceives only superficial examination. For we may reasonably assume that a single stray copy, brought to light in the ninth century, was the parent of all extant MSS.2 The true text, it is agreed, is often preserved by B alone ; yet F, on which Cobet relied, is not seldom right, though it also palms off makeshift conjectures. Whether the class of inferior or interpolated MSS. supplies any genuine readings independent of BPF is a question sometimes raised ; in any case, not much is to be expected from this quarter. All that can be done by the most careful collation of MSS. has already been done for the more valuable part of Laertius—I mean the fragments of other authors with which his work is filled. Thus Usener has edited Book X. in Epicurea (1887). Most of Book VII. is incorporated in Von Arnim's Stoicorum veterum fragmenta. A still larger instalment of fragments will be found in the works published by Diels, Poetarum philosophorum fragmenta (Berlin, 1901) and Die Fragments der Vor-sokratiker (ed. 3, Berlin, 1912). A separate edition of Book III. (Vita Platonii) appeared in 1907, edited by Breitenbach, Buddenhagen, Debrunner, and Von der Muehll. The last named is the editor for the Biblio-theca Teubneriana of Epicuri epistulae ires et ratae sententiae a L. D. seruatae (Leipzig, 1922).

1 Usener assigns it to the twelfth century; Breitenbach and his colleagues (Diogenis Laertii vita Platonis, Basel, 1907) prefer the end of the twelfth or the beginning of the thirteenth.

2 " Nam exemplum L. D. unicum Constantinopoli post litteras ueteres renatas saeculo circiter nono in bibliotheca quadam inuentum esse suspicamur " (Von der Muehll, in his preface to his edition of Epicuri epistulae, p. vi).

Bibliography

R.D. Hicks, Diogenes Laertius. Lives of Eminent Philosphers. In 2 vols. Loeb: 1925.

I understand that the 1972 re-edition of the Loeb text of DL has a preface by Herbert S. Long, who discusses briefly the history of the MSS of DL. However I have not seen this.


http://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/manuscripts/diogenes_laertius.htm

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posted 11-25-2006 10:27 PM11-25-2006 10:27 PM                      

Διογένης Λαέρτιος
Βίοι και γνώμαι των εν φιλοσοφία ευδοκιμησάντων
[ed. H S Long, Oxford 1964]



Βιβλίο Α


Θαλής, Σόλων, Χίλων, Πιττακός, Βίας, Κλεόβουλος, Περίανδρος, Ανάχαρσις, Μύσων, Επιμενίδης, Φερεκύδης

Βιβλίο Β

Αναξίμανδρος, Αναξιμένης, Αναξαγόρας, Αρχέλαος, Σωκράτης, Ξενοφών, Αισχίνης, Αρίστιππος, Φαίδων, Ευκλείδης, Στίλπων, Κρίτων, Σίμων, Γλαύκων, Σιμμίας, Κέβης, Μενέδημος

Βιβλίο Γ

Πλάτων

Βιβλίο Δ

Σπεύσιππος, Ξενοκράτης, Πολέμων, Κράτης, Κράντωρ, Αρκεσίλαος, Βίων, Λακύδης, Καρνεάδης, Κλειτόμαχος

Βιβλίο Ε

Αριστοτέλης, Θεόφραστος, Στράτων, Λύκων, Δημήτριος, Ηρακλείδης

Βιβλίο Στ

Αντισθένης, Διογένης, Μόνιμος, Ονησίκριτος, Κράτης, Μητροκλής, Ιππαρχία, Μένιππος, Μενέδημος

Βιβλίο Ζ

Ζήνων, Αρίστων, Ήριλλος, Διονύσιος, Κλεάνθης, Σφαίρος, Χρύσιππος

Βιβλίο Η

Πυθαγόρας, Εμπεδοκλής, Επίχαρμος, Αρχύτας, Αλκμαίων, Ίππασος, Φιλόλαος, Εύδοξος

Βιβλίο Θ

Ηράκλειτος, Ξενοφάνης, Παρμενίδης, Μέλισσος, Ζήνων Ελεάτης, Λεύκιππος, Δημόκριτος, Πρωταγόρας, Διογένης Απολλωνιάτης, Ανάξαρχος, Πύρρων, Τίμων

Βιβλίο Ι

Επίκουρος

[επιστροφή]
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Μικρός Απόπλους
http://www.mikrosapoplous.gr/
Οκτώβριος 2002

http://www.mikrosapoplous.gr/dl/dl.html

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posted 11-25-2006 10:30 PM11-25-2006 10:30 PM                      

THE LIVES AND OPINIONS OF EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS
BY DIOGENES LAERTIUS, TRANSLATED BY C.D. YONGE
LIFE OF CRANTOR

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I. CRANTOR, a native of Soli, being admired very greatly in his own country, came to Athens and became a pupil of Xenocrates at the same time with Polemo.

II. And he left behind him memorials, in the shape of writings, to the number of 30,000 lines, some of which, however, are by some writers attributed to Arcesilaus.

III. They say of him that when he was asked what it was that he was so charmed with in Polemo, he replied, "That he had never heard him speak in too high or too low a key."

IV. When he was ill he retired to the temple of Aesculapius, and there walked about, and people came to him from all quarters, thinkng that he had gone thither, not on account of any disease, but because he wished to establish a school there.

V. And among those who came to him was Arcesilaus, wishing to be recommended by him to Polemo, although he was much attached to him, as we shall mention in the life of Arcesilaus. But when he got well he became a pupil of Polemo, and was excessively admired on that account. It is said, also, that he left his property to Arcesilaus, to the amount of twelve talents; and that, being asked by him where he would like to be buried, he said :

It is a happy fate to lie entombed
In the recesses of a well-lov'd land.
VI. It is said also that he wrote poems, and that he sealed them up in the temple of Minerva, in his own country; and Meaetetus the poet wrote thus about him:

Crantor pleased men; but greater pleasure still
He to the Muses gave, ere he aged grew.
Earth, tenderly embrace the holy man,
And let him lie in quiet undisturb'd.
And of all writers, Crantor admired Homer and Euripides most; saying that the hardest thing possible was to write tragically and in a manner to excite sympathy, without departing from nature; and he used to quote this line out of the Bellerophon :

Alas! why should I say alas! for we
Have only borne the usual fate of man.
The following verses of Antagoras the poet are also attributed to Crantor; the subject is love, and they run thus :

My mind is much perplexed; for what, O Love,
Dare I pronounce your origin? May I
Call you chiefest of the immortal Gods,
Of all the children whom dark Erebus
And Royal Night bore on the billowy waves
Of widest Ocean? Or shall I bid you hail,
As son of proudest Venus? or of Earth?
Or of the untamed winds? so fierce you rove,
Bringing mankind sad cares, yet not unmixed
With happy good, so two-fold is your nature.

And he was very ingenious at devising new words and expressions; accordingly, he said that one tragedian had an unhewn (apelekêtos) voice, all over bark; and he said that the verses of a certain poet were full of moths; and that the propositions of Theophrastus had been written on an oyster shell. But the work of his which is most admired is his book on Mourning.

VII. And he died before Polemo and Crates, having been attacked by the dropsy; and we have written this epigram on him:--

The worst of sicknesses has overwhelmed you,
O Crantor, and you thus did quit the earth,
Descending to the dark abyss of Hell.
Now you are happy there; but all the while
The sad Academy, and your native land
Of Soli mourn, bereaved of your eloquence.

http://www.classicpersuasion.org/pw/diogenes/dlcrantor.htm#cite

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posted 11-25-2006 10:51 PM11-25-2006 10:51 PM                      

The Academy of Plato

Since the words "academy" and "academic" come from the name of the area where Plato taught, it is worth spending a moment to describe the park which was used for gymnastics from the sixth century BC. Academus or Hecademus, a mythical hero who had a cult following, left a garden and grove, which was about a mile north west of the centre of the city of Athens, to the citizens to use for gymnastics. The area, named after Academus, was developed by Hippias, the son of Peisistratos, who built a wall round it and put up statues and temples. Excavations have detected the foundations of Hippias's wall. The statesman Kimon planted olive and plane trees there and diverted the river Cephisus to make the dry land fertile. Festivals were held there, as were athletic events in which runners would races between the altars, and funeral games also took place in the Academy.

It must have been a beautiful park when Plato, who had a house nearby and a garden within the area, began to teach there in around 387 BC. The first point that we must make is that the modern use of the word 'academy' will give us a false impression of what Plato actually set up. Chermiss writes [1]:-

What, then, did Plato really do in his Academy? ... 'Academy' and 'Academic' are terms which men of formal training ... have been pleased to apply to themselves and their organisations. It is not surprising, therefore, that by a more or less unconscious retrojection modern scholars have attached the particular significance which 'Academy' has in their own milieu to the garden of Plato's which was situated in the suburb northwest of Athens called 'Academia' after a mythical hero ...

The fresco The School of Athens by Raphael represents the modern idea of an academy and he has placed Plato and Aristotle into such a setting, but the reality of Plato's Academy must have been totally different. A similar sentiment is expressed by Glucker [3]:-

To us ... the word 'Academy' has come to mean an institution of learning, a learned society, or at least a place of theoretical ('academic') education. In ancient Athens, the Academy was first and foremost a public park dominated by its gymnasium, and the connection between it and Plato's school was only one of the numerous historical reminiscences in an area rich in history.

Glucker goes on to look at the writings of Pausanias who gives what is essentially a tourist guide to Athens written in the second century AD (when the Academy was still supposed to be in existence). He describes the graves, altars, and olive trees of the Academy (i.e. the olive grove). He says that a memorial to Plato is found not far from the Academy but there is no mention of Plato's school nor, for that matter, is there any mention that Plato was connected with the Academy which is simply a park.

What then was Plato's Academy? Chermiss writes [1]:-

All the evidence points unmistakably to the same conclusion: the Academy was not a school in which an orthodox metaphysical doctrine was taught, or an association of members who were expected to subscribe to the theory of ideas ... The metaphysical theories of the director were not in any way 'official' and the formal instruction in the Academy was restricted to mathematics. ...

Plato's influence on these men, then, was that of an intelligent critic of method, not that of a technical mathematician with the skill to make great discoveries of his own; and it was by his criticism of method, by his formulation of the broader problems to which the mathematician should address himself, and ... by arousing in those who took up philosophy an interest in mathematics that he gave a great impulse to the development of the science.

We should look at perhaps the only 'fact' which is usually given about the Academy in Plato's time. This is that above the door Plato inscribed "Let no one who is not a geometer enter". This is not stated in any literature which has come down to us earlier than a document from the middle of the 4th century AD which, therefore, was written about 750 years after Plato founded the Academy. Before we discuss whether it is likely that indeed this was written above the door of the Academy, let us give what is probably a more accurate translation - "Let no one who cannot think geometrically enter".

First we note that above the doors of sacred places there was often placed an inscription "Let no unfair or unjust person enter". What is reported above the door of the Academy is exactly the same Greek words except "unfair or unjust" has been replaced by "non-geometrical". Next we note that the sentiment is exactly what Plato might have written, for it expresses an idea which runs throughout his writings. However, it seems highly unlikely that something of this nature would be handed down by word of mouth for 750 years before being written down, so despite it being an attractive idea, it is almost certainly fictitious.

It appears that the Head of the Academy was elected for life by a majority vote. The first few to lead the Academy were: Plato, Speuisppus, Xenocrates, Polemon, Crates and Crantor. Aristotle was a member of the Academy for many years but never became its Head. We should note, however, that Cicero, writing in the first century BC, traces the Academy back earlier than Plato and gives its leaders up to 265 BC as: Democritus, Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Parmenides, Xenophanes, Socrates, Plato, Speusippus, Xenocrates, Polemo, Crates, and Crantor. A new phase began when Arcesilaus became Head of the Academy in 265 BC. Some authors see this as the beginning of the New Academy as opposed to the that from the time of Plato to that of Crantor which is called the Old Academy. Cicero gives the leaders of the New Academy as: Arcesilaus, Lacydes, Evander, Hegesinus, Carneades, Clitomachus, and Philo.

Philo left Athens in about 85 BC and went to Rome. About a year earlier Lucius Sulla had marched an army on Athens. During the siege of Athens many of the trees in the Academy park were cut down to provide timber for the war effort but there is no evidence that by this time the school led by Philo had any connection with the Academy parkland. It appears that after Philo left Athens the activity in the school ended and there is little evidence that it was restarted before the 2nd century AD. The usual suggestion that Plato's Academy existed from 387 BC until Justinian closed it down in 529 AD is, therefore, not only inaccurate because it appears that there was no Academy from 85 BC until the 2nd Century AD but also because the Academy continued to exist after Justinian's edict to close the pagan schools. Damascius was Head of the Academy in 529 AD and he left Athens at this time with Simplicius and other members of the school. However Simplicius returned to Athens where he certainly wrote, undertook research and was Head of a very restricted Academy until his death in 560 AD.

http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Societies/Plato.html

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posted 11-25-2006 10:54 PM11-25-2006 10:54 PM                      

The Academy

Philosophical institution founded by Plato, which advocated skepticism in succeeding generations.

The Academy (Academia was originally a public garden or grove in the suburbs of Athens, about six stadia from the city, named from Academus or Hecademus, who left it to the citizens for gymnastics (Paus. i. 29). It was surrounded with a wall by Hipparchus, adorned with statues, temples, and sepulchres of illustrious men; planted with olive and plane trees, and watered by the Cephisus. The olive-trees, according to Athenian fables, were reared from layers taken from the sacred olive in the Erechtheum, and afforded the oil given as a prize to victors at the Panathenean festival. The Academy suffered severely during the siege of Athens by Sylla, many trees being cut down to supply timber for machines of war.Few retreats could be more favorable to philosophy and the Muses. Within this enclosure Plato possessed, as part of his patrimony, a small garden, in which he opened a school for the reception of those inclined to attend his instructions. Hence arose the Academic sect, and hence the term Academy has descended to our times. The name Academia is frequently used in philosophical writings, especially in Cicero, as indicative of the Academic sect.

Sextus Empiricus enumerates five divisions of the followers of Plato. He makes Plato founder of the first Academy, Aresilaus of the second, Carneades of the third, Philo and Charmides of the fourth, Antiochus of the fifth. Cicero recognizes only two Academies, the Old and the New, and makes the latter commence as above with Arcesilaus. In enumerating those of the old Academy, he begins, not with Plato, but Democritus, and gives them in the following order: Democritus, Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Parmenides, Xenophanes, Socrates, Plato, Speusippus, Xenocrates, Polemo, Crates, and Crantor. In the New, or Younger, he mentions Arcesilaus, Lacydes, Evander, Hegesinus, Carneades, Clitomachus, and Philo (Acad. Quaest. iv. 5). If we follow the distinction laid down by Diogenes, and alluded to above, the Old Academy will consist of those followers of Plato who taught the doctrine of their master without mixture or corruption; the Middle will embrace those who, by certain innovations in the manner of philosophizing, in some measure receded from the Platonic system without entirely deserting it; while the New will begin with those who relinquished the more questionable tenets of Arcesilaus, and restored, in come measure, the declining reputation of the Platonic school.

Views of the New Academy. The New Academy begins with Carnades (i.e. the Third Academy for Diogenes) and was largely skeptical in its teachings. They denied the possibility of aiming at absolute truth or at any certain criterion of truth. Carneades argued that if there were any such criterion it must exist in reason or sensation or conception; but as reason depends on conception and this in turn on sensation, and as we have no means of deciding whether our sensations really correspond to the objects that produce them, the basis of all knowledge is always uncertain. Hence, all that we can attain to is a high degree of probability, which we must accept as the nearest possible approximation to the truth. The New Academy teaching represents the spirit of an age when religion was decaying, and philosophy itself, losing its earnest and serious spirit, was becoming merely a vehicle for rhetoric and dialectical ingenuity. Cicero's speculative philosophy was in the main in accord with the teachings of Carneades, looking rather to the probable (illud probabile) than to certain truth (see his Academica).


The author of this article is anonymous. The IEP is actively seeking an author who will write a replacement article.

http://www.iep.utm.edu/a/academy.htm

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Chronos

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posted 12-14-2006 12:23 PM12-14-2006 12:23 PM                      

In Plato's time, books as we know them today didn't exist, of course, as printing was invented only about twenty centuries after he died ! Texts that were made available to the litterate public were most often written on rolls of papyrus, in several columns, and the reader had to unroll the roll of papyrus to move from column to column, and to roll it back all over after he had finished reading, the make it ready for a new reading.

But this is only one among several differences between "books" of Plato's time and ours. One still more disturbing difference is that, in his time, punctuation signs were unknown, as were accents and breathings that were later added to Greek writing, and the difference between upper and lower-case characters. And to make matters even worse, there were no spaces between words ! In other words, on a roll of papyrus, all one could see was an uninterrupted sequence of upper-case letters, with no punctuation and no change of line to indicate a change in speaker in a dialogue. A dialogue of Plato would have thus looked more or less like the following :


This picture is not a photograph of an old papyrus from Plato's time, but a reconstruction I made to give a flavor of what a reader in Plato's time would see. The style of the characters might not be exactly the one used at the time, as I used, for my reconstruction, one of the fonts available at Perseus, and the height and length of the columns maight have been different in his time, but the general appearence is the same, and this example allows us to realize how hard reading might have been in Plato's time.

This may help explain too how such a writing technique could lead to mistakes in interpreting a text, if the reader didn't split the words as intended by the writer, or took a word for another one of the same spelling, that could only be distinguished by differences in accents and breathing not invented yet (and that were invented precisely to note differences in stress and pronounciation that existed when speaking). Note, by the way, that this is about what we do everyday to understand oral speech, in which there are no accents, no punctuation marks, no "spaces" between words. The only difference is that, in oral speech, the speaker may vary his tone and insert silences between phrases to help in understanding.

The text used as an example above is that of the line analogy, République, VI, 509d-511e. A modern rendition of it in print would look like the following :


And here is a transcript in latin alphabet for those who don't read Greek :

[509d] Noèson toinun, èn d' egô, hôsper legomen, duo autô einai, kai basileuein to men noètou genous te kai topou, to d' au horatou, hina mè ouranou eipôn doxô soi sophizesthai peri to onoma. All' oun echeis tauta ditta eidè, horaton, noèton;
Echô.
Hôsper toinun grammèn dicha tetmèmenèn labôn anisa tmèmata, palin temne hekateron to tmèma ana ton auton logon, to te tou horômenou genous kai to tou nooumenou, kai soi estai saphèneiai kai asapheiai pros allèla en men tôi horômenôi [509e] to men heteron tmèma eikones--legô de tas eikonas prôton [510a] men tas skias, epeita ta en tois hudasi phantasmata kai en tois hosa pukna te kai leia kai phana sunestèken, kai pan to toiouton, ei katanoeis.
Alla katanoô.
To toinun heteron tithei hôi touto eoiken, ta te peri hèmas zôis kai pan to phuteuton kai to skeuaston holon genos.
Tithèmi, ephè.
È kai ethelois an auto phanai, èn d' egô, dièirèsthai alètheiai te kai mè, hôs to doxaston pros to gnôston, houtô to homoiôthen pros to hôi hômoiôthè;
[510b] Egôg', ephè, kai mala.
Skopei dè au kai tèn tou noètou tomèn hèi tmèteon.
Pèi;
Hèi to men autou tois tote mimètheisin hôs eikosin chrômenè psuchè zètein anankazetai ex hupotheseôn, ouk ep' archèn poreuomenè all' epi teleutèn, to d' au heteron--to ep' archèn anupotheton--ex hupotheseôs iousa kai aneu tôn peri ekeino eikonôn, autois eidesi di' autôn tèn methodon poioumenè.
Taut', ephè, ha legeis, ouch hikanôs emathon.
[510c] All' authis, èn d' egô: rhaion gar toutôn proeirèmenôn mathèsèi. Oimai gar se eidenai hoti hoi peri tas geômetrias te kai logismous kai ta toiauta pragmateuomenoi, hupothemenoi to te peritton kai to artion kai ta schèmata kai gôniôn tritta eidè kai alla toutôn adelpha kath' hekastèn methodon, tauta men hôs eidotes, poièsamenoi hupotheseis auta, oudena logon oute hautois oute allois eti axiousi peri autôn didonai [510d] hôs panti phanerôn, ek toutôn d' archomenoi ta loipa èdè diexiontes teleutôsin homologoumenôs epi touto hou an epi skepsin hormèsôsi.
Panu men oun, ephè, touto ge oida.
Oukoun kai hoti tois horômenois eidesi proschrôntai kai tous logous peri autôn poiountai, ou peri toutôn dianooumenoi, all' ekeinôn peri hois tauta eoike, tou tetragônou autou heneka tous logous poioumenoi kai diametrou autès, all' ou [510e] tautès hèn graphousin, kai talla houtôs, auta men tauta ha plattousin te kai graphousin, hôn kai skiai kai en hudasin eikones eisin, toutois men hôs eikosin au chrômenoi, zètountes [511a] de auta ekeina idein ha ouk an allôs idoi tis è tèi dianoiai.
Alèthè, ephè, legeis.
Touto toinun noèton men to eidos elegon, hupothesesi d' anankazomenèn psuchèn chrèsthai peri tèn zètèsin autou, ouk ep' archèn iousan, hôs ou dunamenèn tôn hupotheseôn anôterô ekbainein, eikosi de chrômenèn autois tois hupo tôn katô apeikastheisin kai ekeinois pros ekeina hôs enargesi dedoxasmenois te kai tetimèmenois.
[511b] Manthanô, ephè, hoti to hupo tais geômetriais te kai tais tautès adelphais technais legeis.
To toinun heteron manthane tmèma tou noètou legonta me touto hou autos ho logos haptetai tèi tou dialegesthai dunamei, tas hupotheseis poioumenos ouk archas alla tôi onti hupotheseis, hoion epibaseis te kai hormas, hina mechri tou anupothetou epi tèn tou pantos archèn iôn, hapsamenos autès, palin au echomenos tôn ekeinès echomenôn, houtôs epi teleutèn katabainèi, [511c] aisthètôi pantapasin oudeni proschrômenos, all' eidesin autois di' autôn eis auta, kai teleutai eis eidè.
Manthanô, ephè, hikanôs men ou--dokeis gar moi suchnon ergon legein--hoti mentoi boulei diorizein saphesteron einai to hupo tès tou dialegesthai epistèmès tou ontos te kai noètou theôroumenon è to hupo tôn technôn kaloumenôn, hais hai hupotheseis archai kai dianoiai men anankazontai alla mè aisthèsesin auta theasthai hoi theômenoi, dia de to mè ep' archèn [511d] anelthontes skopein all' ex hupotheseôn, noun ouk ischein peri auta dokousi soi, kaitoi noètôn ontôn meta archès. dianoian de kalein moi dokeis tèn tôn geômetrikôn te kai tèn tôn toioutôn hexin all' ou noun, hôs metaxu ti doxès te kai nou tèn dianoian ousan.
Hikanôtata, èn d' egô, apedexô. kai moi epi tois tettarsi tmèmasi tettara tauta pathèmata en tèi psuchèi gignomena labe, noèsin men epi tôi anôtatô, dianoian [511e] de epi tôi deuterôi, tôi tritôi de pistin apodos kai tôi teleutaiôi eikasian, kai taxon auta ana logon, hôsper eph' hois estin alètheias metechei, houtô tauta saphèneias hègèsamenos metechein.
Manthanô, ephè, kai sunchôrô kai tattô hôs legeis.

http://www.plato-dialogues.org/papyrus.htm

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posted 12-14-2006 12:24 PM12-14-2006 12:24 PM                      

"But those gardens made up of letters, it is by way of play, it seems, that he will sow and write them; and each time he writes, building up a treasure of recollection against the forgetfulness of old age, for him if he ever reaches it, and for all those who follow in his footsteps, he will find pleasure in watching the growth of these tender shoots. And when other men will indulge in other kinds of plays, drinking-parties and the like, he, on the contrary, will likely spend his time playing the way I said. " (Phædrus, 276d)

The works that have been transmitted to us through the middle ages under the name of Plato consist in a set of 41 so-called "dialogues" plus a collection of 13 letters and a book of Definitions (1). But it was already obvious in antiquity that not all of these were from Plato's own hand.

Dialogues which are certainly or likely from Plato include (in the order they were published starting in 1920 in the Budé collection (2), which purported to be more or less "chronological", that is, to represent the supposed order in which they had been written by Plato) : Hippias minor, Alcibiades, Socrates' Apology, Euthyphro, Crito, Hippias major, Charmides, Laches, Lysis, Protagoras, Gorgias, Meno, Phædo, Symposium, Phædrus, Ion, Menexenus, Euthydemus, Cratylus, Republic, Parmenides, Theætetus, Sophist, Statesman, Philebus, Timæus, Critias, Laws, Epinomis.

To these may be added the following works, that are most likely or certainly not Plato's : Second Alcibiades, Hipparchus, Minos, The Rival Lovers, Theages, Clitophon, About Justice, About Virtue, Demodocus, Sisyphus, Eryxias, Axiochus. The Definitions and most of the Letters (with a likely exception for the VIIth, as has already been said) are probably not from Plato either (3).

At some point in antiquity, it became traditional to arrange Plato's dialogues in groups of four called "tetralogies" after the grouping of Athenian theater : Diogenes Lærtius explicitly relates this grouping to that of Greek tragedies and quotes his source for such grouping as attributing it to Plato himself, if not for the reported grouping, at least for the fact of writing them in tetralogies (DL III, 56). Our known source for such grouping, and the one cited by Diogenes, is a certain Thrasyllus, of which we know very little, and who might have lived during the 1st century AD. Unfortunately, his grouping in 9 tetralogies, which survived in medieval manuscripts, mixes wheat and weed, and thus does not do much to help us believe it dates back to Plato himself. It goes as follows :

Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phædo
Cratylus, Theætetus, Sophist, Statesman
Parmenides, Philebus, Symposium, Phædrus
Alcibiades, 2nd Alcibiades, Hipparchus, Rival Lovers
Theages, Charmides, Laches, Lysis
Euthydemus, Protagoras, Gorgias, Meno
Hippias major, Hippias minor, Ion, Menexenus
Clitophon, Republic, Timæus, Critias
Minos, Laws, Epinomis, Letters
But the same Diogenes mentions also a grouping in trilogies (groups of three), which he attributes to Aristophanes of Byzantium (IIIrd century BC) and which covers only a subset of the dialogues. This one goes as follows :

Republic, Timæus, Critias
Sophist, Statesman, Cratylus
Laws, Minos, Epinomis
Theætetus, Euthyphro, Apology
Crito, Phædo, Letters
One point we may mention is that the tetralogies of Greek theater were made up of one comedy and a trilogy of tragedies. If there is anything in the idea that Plato grouped his dialogues according to such an arrangement, it might explain why we sometimes hear of tetralogies, sometimes of trilogies... But more about that later.

A complete alphabetical list of all works by or attributed to Plato may be found at the end of note 3 in the contents description of the latest complete edition of their English translation (Hackett, 1997), or on the page of this site that provides links to Plato's works on the Web. Note 3 also provides a selection of various editions of the dialogues in English, linking to the appropriate page of the site amazon.com for purchase online.

Students of Plato interested in getting a feel for what a "book" might have looked like in Plato's time may go to the page called "As in Plato's time..." elsewhere on this site, by clicking here.

Lastly, readers wishing to put Plato's dialogues in context with regard to the litterary and historical activity of his time will find in the bibliography on and around Plato available elsewhere on this site bibliographical indications on works whose reading may shed light on the dialogues.


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(1) There are also a few epigrams, that is short poems intended as funerary inscriptions or the like, that have been transmitted to us in various ways under Plato's name (some of them are quoted in Diogenes Lærtius' life of Plato). As is the case with the Letters, whether they are actually by Plato has to be decided on a case by case basis. (back)

(2) The Budé collection is a French collection of works by many ancient Greek and Latin writers including, for each selected work, a critical edition of the Greek or Latin text accompanied by a French translation of that text, plus introduction and apparatus criticus. The edition of Plato's complete works in that collection started in 1920 and is now completed. All volumes are regularly reprinted. The English equivalent of this collection (though with generally less developed introductions and apparatus criticus) is the Loeb Classical Library, published by Harvard University Press. Most of Plato's dialogues, with the exception of some of the spurious ones, are available in that collection (Greek text and English translation). (back)

(3) The text of most of the genuine dialogues, and that of some of the spurious ones, is available online on the Web in English translation and in the Greek original. For more information on the way to get to it, go to the page on links to Plato's works on the Web
The Greek text of Plato's dialogues composing the nine Thrasyllian tetralogies (see above), plus that of several of the spurious dialogues (Definitions, About Justice, About Virtue, Demodocus, Sisyphus, Eryxias and Axiochus), is published in critical edition in the five volumes of Platonis Opera in the Oxford Classical Texts (OCT) collection, at Oxford University Press:

Vol. I : Euthyphro, Apologia Socratis, Crito, Phaedo, Cratylus, Theaetetus, Sophista, Politicus
Vol. II : Parmenides, Philebus, Symposium, Phaedrus, Alcibiades I, II, Hipparchus, Amatores
Vol. III : Theages, Charmides, Laches, Lysis, Euthydemus, Protagoras, Gorgias, Meno, Hippias major, Hippias minor, Io, Menexenus
Vol. IV : Clitopho, Res Publica, Timaeus, Critias
Vol. V : Minos, Leges, Epinomis, Epistulae, Definitiones et Spuria
The same dialogues, in a different order, are available, with Greek text and English translation, in the 12 volumes edition of the already mentioned Loeb collection

Vol. I: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Phaedrus, translated by H. N. Fowler
Vol. II: Laches, Protagoras, Meno, Euthydemus, translated by W. R. M. Lamb
Vol. III: Lysis, Symposium, Gorgias, translated by W. R. M. Lamb
Vol. IV: Cratylus, Parmenides, Greater Hipias, Lesser Hippias, translated by H. N. Fowler
Vol. V: The Republic, books I-V, translated by Paul Shorey
Vol. VI: The Republic, books VI-X, translated by Paul Shorey
Vol. VII: Theaetetus, Sophist, translated by H. N. Fowler
Vol. VIII: Statesman, Philebus, translated by H. N. Fowler
Vol. IX: Timaeus, Critias, Clitophon, Menexenus, Epistles, translated by R. G. Bury
Vol. X: The Laws, books I-VI, translated by R. G. Bury
Vol. XI: The Laws, books VII-XII, translated by R. G. Bury
Vol. XII: Charmides, Alcibiades I and II, Hipparchus, The Lovers, Theages, Minos, Epinomis, translated by W. R. M. Lamb
Two editions are worth a special mention, because they offer all (the first one) or most (the second one) of Plato's works in English translation in a single volume for a very affordable price :

Plato, Complete Works, Edited, with Introduction and Notes, by John M. Cooper, Hackett Publishing Company, Indianapolis/Cambridge, 1997. Translations are again by various hands, many of them published separately by the same publisher. This edition is truly a complete edition, starting with the 9 Thrasyllian tetralogies in the received order, followed by all spurious works, and even the Epigrams. Translators are as follows (dialogues are again listed in alphabetical order for ease of search) :
Alcibiades, translated by D. S. Hutchinson
Alcibiades (2), translated by Anthony Kenny
Apology, translated by G. M. A. Grube
Axiochus, translated by Jackson P. Hershbell
Charmides, translated by Rosamond Kent Sprague
Clitophon, translated by Francisco J. Gonzalez
Cratylus, translated by C. D. C. Reeve
Critias, translated by Diskin Clay
Crito, translated by G. M. A. Grube
Definitions, translated by D. S. Hutchinson
Demodocus, translated by Jonathan Barnes
Epigrams, translated by J. M. Edmonds, rev. John M. Cooper
Epinomis, translated by Richard D. McKirahan, Jr.
Eryxias, translated by Mark Joyal
Euthydemus, translated by Rosamond Kent Sprague
Euthyphro, translated by G. M. A. Grube
Gorgias, translated by Donald J. Zeyl
Halcyon, translated by Brad Inwood (this spurious little work which is most likely not by Plato has found its way in modern times in the works of Lucian, where he is usually printed. Because it was once in antiquity attributed to Plato, the editor of this edition has included it in the spurious works)
Hipparchus, translated by Nicholas D. Smith
Hippias Major (or Greater Hippias), translated by Paul Woodruff
Hippias Minor (or Lesser Hippias), translated by Nicholas D. Smith
Ion, translated by Paul Woodruff
On Justice, translated by Andrew S. Becker
Laches, translated by Rosamond Kent Sprague
Laws, translated by Trevor J. Saunders
Letters, translated by Glenn R. Morrow
Lysis, translated by Stanley Lombardo
Menexenus, translated by Paul Ryan
Meno, translated by G. M. A. Grube
Minos, translated by Malcolm Schofield
Parmenides, translated by Mary Louise Gill and Paul Ryan
Phaedo, translated by G. M. A. Grube
Phaedrus, translated by Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff
Philebus, translated by Dorothea Frede
Protagoras, translated by Stanley Lombardo and Karen Bell
Republic, translated by G. M. A. Grube, rev. C. D. C. Reeve
Rival Lovers, translated by Jeffrey Mitscherling
Sisyphus, translated by David Gallop
Sophist, translated by Nicholas P. White
Statesman, translated by C. J. Rowe
Symposium, translated by Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff
Theaetetus, translated by M. J. Levett, rev. Myles F. Burnyeat
Theages, translated by Nicholas D. Smith
Timaeus, translated by Donald J. Zeyl
On Virtue, translated by Mark Reuter

Plato, The Collected Dialogues including the Letters, edited by Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns, with Introduction and Prefatory Notes, Bollingen Series LXXI, Princeton University Press, 1961. Translations are by various hands, most available in other editions, such as those by B. Jowett's, or P. Shorey's translation of the Republic, taken from the Loeb edition, or F. M. Cornford translation of the Parmenides, Theætetus and Sophist (his "translation" of the Parmenides must be taken with caution, because he strips it of Aristotle's short answers in the later part of the dialogue). This volume doesn't include some spurious works. It includes (here listed in alphabetical order) :
Apology, translated by Hugh Tredennick,
Charmides, translated by B. Jowett,
Cratylus, translated by B. Jowett,
Critias, translated by A. E. Taylor,
Crito, translated by Hugh Tredennick,
Epinomis, translated by A. E. Taylor,
Euthydemus, translated by W. H. D. Rouse,
Euthyphro, translated by Lane Cooper,
Gorgias, translated by W. D. Woodhead,
Hippias Major (or Greater Hippias), translated by B. Jowett,
Hippias Minor (or Lesser Hippias), translated by B. Jowett,
Ion, translated by Lane Cooper,
Laches, translated by B. Jowett,
Laws, translated by A. E. Taylor,
Letters, translated by L. A. Post,
Lysis, translated by J. Wright,
Menexenus, translated by B. Jowett,
Meno, translated by W. K. C. Guthrie,
Parmenides, translated by F. M. Cornford,
Phædo, translated by Hugh Tredennick,
Phædrus, translated by R. Hackforth,
Philebus, translated by R. Hackforth,
Protagoras, translated by W. K. C. Guthrie,
Republic, translated by Paul Shorey,
Sophist, translated by F. M. Cornford,
Statesman, translated by J. B. Skemp,
Symposium, translated by Michael Joyce,
Theætetus, translated by F. M. Cornford,
Timæus, translated by B. Jowett.

Many English translations of various dialogues are available from different publishers, including, for most of them, paperback editions in economy collections. Here are the translations available in the Penguin Classics edition:

Early Socratic Dialogues (Ion, Laches, Lysis, Charmides, Hippias Major, Hippias Minor, Euthydemus), translated by Trevor J. Saunders
Protagoras and Meno, translated by W. K. C. Guthrie
Gorgias, translated by Walter Hamilton
The Last Days of Socrates (Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo), translated by Hugh Tredennick
The Symposium, translated by Christopher Gill
Phaedrus and Letters VII and VIII, translated by Walter Hamilton
The Republic, translated by Desmond Lee
Theaetetus, translated by Robin A. H. Waterfield
Timaeus and Critias, translated by Desmond Lee
Philebus, translated by Robin A. H. Waterfield
The Laws, translated by Trevor J. Saunders
Other noteworthy editions of some of Plato's dialogues include:

The Republic, translated, with notes, an interpretive essay and a new introduction, by Allan Bloom, Basic Books, 1968
The Republic, translated, with introduction and notes, by Francis M. Cornford, Oxford University Press, 1941
The Symposium, translated by Seth Benardete, with a commentary by Seth Benardete and Allan Bloom, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1986, 1993
Gorgias, translated with commentary by E. R. Dodds, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1959
Parmenides, translated by R. E. Allen
Theaetetus (Part I of The Being of the Beautiful), translated with commentary by Seth Benardete, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1984
The Sophist (Part II of The Being of the Beautiful), translated with commentary by Seth Benardete, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1984
The Statesman (Part III of The Being of the Beautiful), translated with commentary by Seth Benardete, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1984
Plato's Theory of Knowledge:Theaetetus and Sophist, translated with commentary by Francis M. Cornford, Bobs-Merrill, Indianapolis, 1934


Readers who don't have knowledge of Greek are strongly advised to make use of several translation of the same dialogue as soon as they want to do serious work on them, if only to avoid building "wild" theories on what may in the end only be a feature of a single translation, not of Plato's text, and to get a feel for where there might be translation problems, when they see varying translations for the same section.

http://www.plato-dialogues.org/works.htm

[ 12-14-2006, 12:28 PM: Message edited by: Chronos ]
 

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Rich

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posted 02-21-2007 05:44 PM02-21-2007 05:44 PM                      

In this thread, Gwen says there are 7 surviving copies of Plato (maybe not all of these include Timaeus/Critias). The oldest one dates to 900AD. And Calcidius was a writer in the 4th century AD.
**********

Commentaries of Proclus on the Timaeus of Plato (1820) v. 2 By Thomas Taylor
http://books.google.com/books?id=HurskBWFyDwC&pg=RA1-PA2-IA1&lpg=RA1-PA2-IA1&dq=thomas+taylor+timaeus&source=web&ots=BdoN3-s7mf&sig=9pQaW4RUhUoDu2lSnfDHB5Yzuzs#PRA2-PA1-IA1,M1

The Fragments that Remain of the Lost Writings of Proclus
http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC01965817&id=dXUeRpZdrKsC&pg=RA2-PA29&lpg=RA2-PA29&dq=timaeus+date:1800-1850#PRA2-PA33,M1

[ 02-21-2007, 10:53 PM: Message edited by: Rich ]

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Rich

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posted 02-21-2007 10:44 PM02-21-2007 10:44 PM                      

Timaeus Greek and Latin - 1828
http://books.google.com/books?vid=0iFK1INn4cc-nenq&id=5OJDAOAH-BgC&pg=RA2-PA33&lpg=RA2-PA33&dq=timaeus+date:1800-1850#PRA2-PA9,M1

German Timaeus and Critias - 1841
http://books.google.com/books?vid=0z6HjKE7ReAreQXi&id=GBj1qAd19AcC&pg=RA1-PA10&lpg=RA1-PA10&dq=timaeus+date:1800-1850#PPP10,M1

Mentions 2 editions from the 1500s in Paris
http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC02006718&id=-4gQAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA31&lpg=RA1-PA31&dq=timaeus+date:1750-1800#PRA1-PA31,M1

Remarks on the Life and Writings of Plato: With Answers to the Principal Objections Against Him;... By Ebenezer] [Macfait, Pre-1801 Imprint Collection (Library of Congress)

http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC09139803&id=188VAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA317&lpg=RA1-PA317&dq=critias+plato+date:1750-1800#PRA1-PA306,M1

[ 02-22-2007, 10:11 AM: Message edited by: Rich ]

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atalante
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posted 02-22-2007 10:19 AM02-22-2007 10:19 AM                      

In the following quote, readers can notice that a manuscript version of most of Plato's works was written in Constantinople in 895 AD, and then taken to Europe at a later date. Amazingly enough, about half of this collection of Plato manuscripts still exists in their 895 AD versions. The quote also discusses a manuscript of Calcidius's translation of the Timaeus, in a manuscript copy which dates to the 12th century AD.

quote from:
http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/philosophy/collections/manuscripts_and_rare_books

Oxford’s most important manuscript of classical philosophy is the Clarke Plato (MS. E. D. Clarke 39), the oldest surviving manuscript for about half of Plato’s dialogues, which was acquired by the University in 1809: it was written in Constantinople in A.D. 895. Philosophical texts from ancient Greece and Byzantium are naturally represented by copies amongst the Bodleian’s Greek manuscripts, though scarcely any of these had reached Britain before the seventeenth century. The Bodleian also holds the oldest surviving manuscript of the Discourses of Epictetus (MS. Auct. T. 4. 13), a twelfth-century text acquired in 1820.

In the early Latin West, echoes of Greek philosophy were available through encyclopaedists such as Martianus Capella, from whom the Bodleian owns two important manuscripts from ninth-century France: a copy of the text itself with gloss (MS. Laud Lat. 118), and a manuscript of the commentary by Johannes Scotus Erigena (MS. Auct. T. 2. 19). Manuscripts of Latin classical and Late Antique philosophers remained accessible, some texts more common than others. Boethius’ De consolatione philosophiae was transcribed with its Carolingian gloss in a superb manuscript made at Canterbury in the late tenth century (MS. Auct. F. 1. 15, part 1). In the twelfth century, William of Malmesbury searched successfully for the works of Cicero; the Library has his copy of the De officiis (MS. Rawl. G. 139). Philosophical study in twelfth-century Ireland is witnessed by a manuscript which includes Calcidius’ Latin translation of Plato's Timaeus and extensive excerpts from Erigena's Periphyseon (MS. Auct. F. 3. 15).

endquote

[ 02-22-2007, 10:26 AM: Message edited by: atalante ]