THEIA

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Themistii Analyticorum posteriorum paraphrasis

Themistius’ Paraphrases of Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics has come down to us in the Greek original  (CAG V/1).

According to the Arabic bio-bibliographical sources, Abū Bishr Mattā ibn Yūnus (d. 940) translated into Arabic the first and the second books (K. al-Fihrist, Flügel: 249,13). Mattā’s Arabic translation is no longer extant. An Arabic translation of the Paraphrase has served as a basis for the Latin translation by Gerard of Cremona carried out in Toledo. Gerard’s Latin translation is edited (O’Donnell 1958). An Arabic translation of his Paraphrase of Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics was the basis of the Latin translation by Gerard of Cremona (c. 1144–1187). Themistius became known in medieval Europe through this Latin translation and from the quotations contained in Arabic sources. Besides the translations and the indirect transmission through Arabic sources, the Latin West also got acquainted with him from other works. According to L. Minio-Paluello, the ps-Augustinian De decem categoriis (Minio-Paluello 1965) provided an indirect access to his Paraphrase of the Categories, lost in Greek. Also the Paraphrase of the Topics was to a certain extent known in the Latin world through several quotations in Boethius and Cassiodorus.

Themistius reorganised the first chapter of the Posterior Analytics (Achard 2008, Borgo 2009) and developed an original exegesis of Aristotle’s enumeration of the four types of inquiry (Post. An. 2,1,89b23ff.: τò ὅτι, τò διότι, ɛἰ ἔστι, τί ἔστι). He overcame the Aristotelian dichotomy between inquiries about statements and about substances, referring Aristotle’s enumeration exclusively to substances. According to Themistius, one should first inquire “whether a simple thing exist” (ɛἰ ἔστι) and then “what it is” (τί ἔστι) (CAG V/1: 42,5–14). This interpretation was endorsed by other commentators (Anonymous commentator CAG XIII/3: 547,10–548,9) and it is widespread in medieval Arabic and Latin thought.

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A. Editions:
a. Greek Text
– Editio princeps – ΤΑ ΤΟΥ ΘΕΜΙΣΤΙΟΣ ΕΥΦΡΑΔΟΥΣ ΑΠΑΝΤΑ, ΤΟΥΤΕΣΤΙ ΠΑΡΑΦΡΑΣΕΙΣ, ΚΑΙ ΛΟΓΟΙ. ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ ΑΦΡΟΔΙΣΙΕΩΣ ΠΕΡΙ ΨΥΧΗΣ ΒΙΒΛΙΑ ΔΥΟ, ΚΑΙ ΕΝ ΠΕΡΙ ΕΙΜΑΡΜΕΝΞΣ. Omnia Themistii Opera, hoc est Paraphrases et Orationes. Alexandri Aphrodisiensis libri duo de anima, et de fato unus, ed. Vittore Trincavelli, in ædibus hæredeum Aldi Manutii & Andreæ Asulani, Venetiis 1534.

– Spengel (1866): Themistii paraphrases Aristotelis librorum quae supersunt ed. L. Spengel, Teubner, Leipzig 1866.
– Wallies (1900): Themistii Analyticorum posteriorum Paraphrasis ed. M. Wallies, Reimer, Berlin 1900 (CAG V 1).

b. Gerard of Cremona’s Latin Translation
– O’Donnell J.R. (1958), “Themistius’ Paraphrases of the Posterior Analytics in Gerard of Cremona’s Translation”, Mediaeval Studies 20 (1958), pp. 239-315.

Manuscript Tradition: Link PINAKES

B. Translations:
– Barbaro Jr. (1481, 1499): Themistii Peripatetici lucidissimi Pharaphrasis in Aristotelis Posteriora, et Physica … Memoria et Reminiscentia … Ermolao Barbaro … interprete, Venetiis 1481, 1499 (2nd. revised and posthumous edition).

C. Studies:
– On An. Post. I 1:
M. Achard (2003): “La paraphrase de Thémistius sur les lignes 71 a 1-11 des Seconds Analytiques”, Dionysius 23 (2005), pp. 105-116.
M. Achard (2006): “Thémistius, Paraphrase des Seconds Analytiques 2.5-5.4”, Cahiers des Études Anciennes 43 (2006), p. 6-11.
M. Achard (2008): “Themistius’ Paraphrase of Posterior Analytics 71 a 17 – b 8 : an example of rearrangement of an Aristotelian text”, Laval Théologique et Philosophique 64 (2008), p. 19-34.