Themistius
Encyclopedia
Themistius named (eloquent), was a statesman
, rhetoric
ian, and philosopher. He flourished in the reigns of Constantius II
, Julian
, Jovian, Valens
, Gratian
, and Theodosius I
; and he enjoyed the favour of all those emperors, notwithstanding their many differences, and the fact that he himself was not a Christian. He was admitted to the senate by Constantius in 355, and he was prefect of Constantinople
in 384 on the nomination of Theodosius. Of his many works, thirty-three orations of his have come down to us, as well as various commentaries and epitomes of the works of Aristotle
.
and taught at Constantinople
, where, apart from a short sojourn in Rome
, he resided during the rest of his life. He was the son of Eugenius, who was also a distinguished philosopher, and who is more than once mentioned in the orations of Themistius. Themistius was instructed by his father in philosophy, and devoted himself chiefly to Aristotle
, though he also studied Pythagoreanism
and Platonism
. While still a youth he wrote commentaries on Aristotle
, which were made public without his consent, and obtained for him a high reputation. He passed his youth in Asia Minor
and Syria
. He first met with Constantius II
when the emperor visited Ancyra in Galatia
in the eleventh year of his reign, 347, on which occasion Themistius delivered the first of his extant orations, Peri Philanthropias. It was not long after that he moved to Constantinople
, where he taught philosophy for twenty years. In 355 he was made a senator
; and the letter is still extant, in which Constantius recommends him to the senate, and speaks in the highest terms both of Themistius himself and of his father. We also possess the oration of thanks which Themistius addressed to the senate of Constantinople early in 356, in reply to the emperor's letter. In 357 he recited in the senate of Constantinople two orations in honour of Constantius, which were intended to have been delivered before the emperor himself, who was then at Rome
. As a reward, Constantius conferred upon him the honour of a bronze statue; and, in 361, he was appointed to the praetorian
rank by a decree still extant. In 358–359, Themistius served as proconsul
of Constantinople in 358; he was the last to hold that office, before the position was elevated to the status of urban prefect.
Constantius died in 361; but Themistius, as a philosopher and non-Christian, naturally retained the favour of Julian
, who spoke of him as the worthy senator of the whole world, and as the first philosopher of his age. The Suda
states that Julian made Themistius prefect of Constantinople; but this is disproved by the speech delivered by Themistius, when he was really appointed to that office under Theodosius. Shortly before the death of Julian in 363, Themistius delivered an oration in honour of him, which is no longer extant, but which is referred to at some length by Libanius
, in a letter to Themistius. In 364 he went, as one of the deputies from the senate, to meet Jovian at Dadastana, on the border of Galatia
and Bithynia
, and to confer the consulate upon him; and on this occasion he delivered an oration, which he afterwards repeated at Constantinople, in which he claims full liberty of conscience to practice any religion. In the same year he delivered an oration at Constantinople, in honour of the accession of Valentinian I
and Valens
, in the presence of the latter. His next oration is addressed to Valens, congratulating him on his victory over Procopius
in June 366, and interceding for some of the rebels; it was delivered in 367. In the next year he accompanied Valens to the Danube
in the second campaign of the Gothic war, and delivered before the emperor, at Marcianopolis
, a congratulatory oration upon his Quinquennalia, 368. His next orations are to the young Valentinian II upon his consulship, 369, and to the senate of Constantinople, in the presence of Valens, in honour of the peace granted to the Goths
, 370. On March 28, 373, he addressed to Valens, who was then in Syria, a congratulatory address upon the emperor's entrance on the tenth year of his reign. It was also while Valens was in Syria, that Themistius addressed to him an oration by which he persuaded him to cease from his persecution of the Catholic party. In addition to these orations, which prove that the orator was in high favour with the emperor, we have the testimony of Themistius himself to his influence with Valens.
In 377 we find him at Rome, where he appears to have gone on an embassy to Gratian
, to whom he there delivered his oration entitled Erotikos. On the association of Theodosius I
in the empire by Gratian, at Sirmium
, in 379, Themistius delivered an elegant oration, congratulating the new emperor on his elevation. Of his remaining orations some are public and some private; but few of them demand special notice as connected with the events of his life. In 384, (about the first of September), he was made prefect of Constantinople, an office which had been offered to him, but declined, several times before. He only held the prefecture a few months, as we learn from an oration delivered after he had laid down the office, in which he mentions, as he had done even six years earlier, and more than once in the interval, his old age and ill-health. From the thirty-fourth oration we also learn that he had previously held the offices of princeps senatus and praefectus annonae, besides his embassy to Rome; in another oration he mentions ten embassies on which he had been sent before his prefecture; and in another, composed probably about 387, he says that he has been engaged for nearly forty years in public business and in embassies. So great was the confidence placed in him by Theodosius, that, though Themistius was not a Christian, the emperor, when departing for the West to oppose Magnus Maximus
, entrusted his son Arcadius
to the tutorship of the philosopher, 387-388. Nothing is known about Themistius after this time; and he may have died around 390. Besides the emperors, he numbered among his friends the chief orators and philosophers of the age, Christian and non-Christian. Not only Libanius, but Gregory of Nazianzus
also was his friend and correspondent, and the latter, in an epistle still extant, calls him the "king of arguments."
. Two of them, however, (Orations 23 and 33, and perhaps Oration 28) are not fully preserved, and one (Oration 25) is a brief statement, not a full oration. Modern editions of the Orations have thirty-four pieces, because a Latin
address to Valens
has been included as Oration 12. It is now believed though that this Latin address is a 16th century creation. The final oration (Oration 34) was discovered as recently as 1816 by Angelo Mai
in the Ambrosian Library at Milan
. There are, in addition, a few other fragments which may come from lost Orations, as well as an additional work which survives in Syriac
and another preserved in Arabic
.
The philosophical works of Themistius must have been very voluminous; for Photius tells us that he wrote commentaries on all the books of Aristotle, besides useful abstracts of the Posterior Analytics, the books On the Soul, and the Physics, and that there were works of his on Plato; "and, in a word, he is a lover and eager student of philosophy." The Suda
mentions his epitome of the Physics of Aristotle, in eight books; of the Prior Analytics, in two books; of the Posterior Analytics, in two books; of the treatise On the Soul, in seven books; and of the Categories in one book.
The epitomes which survive are:
In addition to these works, two surviving anonymous paraphrases were mistakenly attributed to him in the Byzantine era, and are now assigned to a Pseudo-Themistius:
His paraphrases of Aristotle's Posterior Analytics, Physics and On the Soul are valuable; but the orations in which he panegyrizes successive emperors, comparing them to Plato's true philosopher, and even to the idea itself, are intended to flatter. Boëthius
describes him as, disertissimus (or diligentissimus) scriptor ac lucidus, et omnia ad facilitatem intelligentiae revocans.
In philosophy Themistius was an eclectic. He held that Plato
and Aristotle were in substantial agreement, that God
has made men free to adopt the mode of worship they prefer, and that Christianity
and Hellenism
were merely two forms of the one universal religion.
Statesman
A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...
, rhetoric
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...
ian, and philosopher. He flourished in the reigns of Constantius II
Constantius II
Constantius II , was Roman Emperor from 337 to 361. The second son of Constantine I and Fausta, he ascended to the throne with his brothers Constantine II and Constans upon their father's death....
, Julian
Julian the Apostate
Julian "the Apostate" , commonly known as Julian, or also Julian the Philosopher, was Roman Emperor from 361 to 363 and a noted philosopher and Greek writer....
, Jovian, Valens
Valens
Valens was the Eastern Roman Emperor from 364 to 378. He was given the eastern half of the empire by his brother Valentinian I after the latter's accession to the throne...
, Gratian
Gratian
Gratian was Roman Emperor from 375 to 383.The eldest son of Valentinian I, during his youth Gratian accompanied his father on several campaigns along the Rhine and Danube frontiers. Upon the death of Valentinian in 375, Gratian's brother Valentinian II was declared emperor by his father's soldiers...
, and Theodosius I
Theodosius I
Theodosius I , also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. During his reign, the Goths secured control of Illyricum after the Gothic War, establishing their homeland...
; and he enjoyed the favour of all those emperors, notwithstanding their many differences, and the fact that he himself was not a Christian. He was admitted to the senate by Constantius in 355, and he was prefect of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
in 384 on the nomination of Theodosius. Of his many works, thirty-three orations of his have come down to us, as well as various commentaries and epitomes of the works of Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
.
Life
He was born in PaphlagoniaPaphlagonia
Paphlagonia was an ancient area on the Black Sea coast of north central Anatolia, situated between Bithynia to the west and Pontus to the east, and separated from Phrygia by a prolongation to the east of the Bithynian Olympus...
and taught at Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, where, apart from a short sojourn in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, he resided during the rest of his life. He was the son of Eugenius, who was also a distinguished philosopher, and who is more than once mentioned in the orations of Themistius. Themistius was instructed by his father in philosophy, and devoted himself chiefly to Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
, though he also studied Pythagoreanism
Pythagoreanism
Pythagoreanism was the system of esoteric and metaphysical beliefs held by Pythagoras and his followers, the Pythagoreans, who were considerably influenced by mathematics. Pythagoreanism originated in the 5th century BCE and greatly influenced Platonism...
and Platonism
Platonism
Platonism is the philosophy of Plato or the name of other philosophical systems considered closely derived from it. In a narrower sense the term might indicate the doctrine of Platonic realism...
. While still a youth he wrote commentaries on Aristotle
Commentaries on Aristotle
Commentaries on Aristotle refers to the great mass of literature produced, especially in the ancient and medieval world, to explain and clarify the works of Aristotle. The pupils of Aristotle were the first to comment on his writings, a tradition which was continued by the Peripatetic school...
, which were made public without his consent, and obtained for him a high reputation. He passed his youth in Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
and Syria
Syria (Roman province)
Syria was a Roman province, annexed in 64 BC by Pompey, as a consequence of his military presence after pursuing victory in the Third Mithridatic War. It remained under Roman, and subsequently Byzantine, rule for seven centuries, until 637 when it fell to the Islamic conquests.- Principate :The...
. He first met with Constantius II
Constantius II
Constantius II , was Roman Emperor from 337 to 361. The second son of Constantine I and Fausta, he ascended to the throne with his brothers Constantine II and Constans upon their father's death....
when the emperor visited Ancyra in Galatia
Galatia
Ancient Galatia was an area in the highlands of central Anatolia in modern Turkey. Galatia was named for the immigrant Gauls from Thrace , who settled here and became its ruling caste in the 3rd century BC, following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans in 279 BC. It has been called the "Gallia" of...
in the eleventh year of his reign, 347, on which occasion Themistius delivered the first of his extant orations, Peri Philanthropias. It was not long after that he moved to Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, where he taught philosophy for twenty years. In 355 he was made a senator
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
; and the letter is still extant, in which Constantius recommends him to the senate, and speaks in the highest terms both of Themistius himself and of his father. We also possess the oration of thanks which Themistius addressed to the senate of Constantinople early in 356, in reply to the emperor's letter. In 357 he recited in the senate of Constantinople two orations in honour of Constantius, which were intended to have been delivered before the emperor himself, who was then at Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. As a reward, Constantius conferred upon him the honour of a bronze statue; and, in 361, he was appointed to the praetorian
Praetorian
Praetorian is an adjective derived from the ancient Roman office of praetor. It may refer to:*Praetorian Guard, a special force of skilled and celebrated troops serving as the personal guard of Roman Emperors...
rank by a decree still extant. In 358–359, Themistius served as proconsul
Proconsul
A proconsul was a governor of a province in the Roman Republic appointed for one year by the senate. In modern usage, the title has been used for a person from one country ruling another country or bluntly interfering in another country's internal affairs.-Ancient Rome:In the Roman Republic, a...
of Constantinople in 358; he was the last to hold that office, before the position was elevated to the status of urban prefect.
Constantius died in 361; but Themistius, as a philosopher and non-Christian, naturally retained the favour of Julian
Julian the Apostate
Julian "the Apostate" , commonly known as Julian, or also Julian the Philosopher, was Roman Emperor from 361 to 363 and a noted philosopher and Greek writer....
, who spoke of him as the worthy senator of the whole world, and as the first philosopher of his age. The Suda
Suda
The Suda or Souda is a massive 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Suidas. It is an encyclopedic lexicon, written in Greek, with 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often...
states that Julian made Themistius prefect of Constantinople; but this is disproved by the speech delivered by Themistius, when he was really appointed to that office under Theodosius. Shortly before the death of Julian in 363, Themistius delivered an oration in honour of him, which is no longer extant, but which is referred to at some length by Libanius
Libanius
Libanius was a Greek-speaking teacher of rhetoric of the Sophist school. During the rise of Christian hegemony in the later Roman Empire, he remained unconverted and regarded himself as a Hellene in religious matters.-Life:...
, in a letter to Themistius. In 364 he went, as one of the deputies from the senate, to meet Jovian at Dadastana, on the border of Galatia
Galatia
Ancient Galatia was an area in the highlands of central Anatolia in modern Turkey. Galatia was named for the immigrant Gauls from Thrace , who settled here and became its ruling caste in the 3rd century BC, following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans in 279 BC. It has been called the "Gallia" of...
and Bithynia
Bithynia
Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine .-Description:...
, and to confer the consulate upon him; and on this occasion he delivered an oration, which he afterwards repeated at Constantinople, in which he claims full liberty of conscience to practice any religion. In the same year he delivered an oration at Constantinople, in honour of the accession of Valentinian I
Valentinian I
Valentinian I , also known as Valentinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 364 to 375. Upon becoming emperor he made his brother Valens his co-emperor, giving him rule of the eastern provinces while Valentinian retained the west....
and Valens
Valens
Valens was the Eastern Roman Emperor from 364 to 378. He was given the eastern half of the empire by his brother Valentinian I after the latter's accession to the throne...
, in the presence of the latter. His next oration is addressed to Valens, congratulating him on his victory over Procopius
Procopius (usurper)
Procopius was a Roman usurper against Valens, and member of the Constantinian dynasty.- Life :According to Ammianus Marcellinus, Procopius was a native and spent his youth in Cilicia, probably in Corycus. On his mother's side, Procopius was related, a maternal cousin, to Emperor Julian, since...
in June 366, and interceding for some of the rebels; it was delivered in 367. In the next year he accompanied Valens to the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
in the second campaign of the Gothic war, and delivered before the emperor, at Marcianopolis
Marcianopolis
Marcianopolis or Marcianople was an ancient Roman city in Thracia. It was located at the site of modern day Devnya, Bulgaria.-History:...
, a congratulatory oration upon his Quinquennalia, 368. His next orations are to the young Valentinian II upon his consulship, 369, and to the senate of Constantinople, in the presence of Valens, in honour of the peace granted to the Goths
Goths
The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
, 370. On March 28, 373, he addressed to Valens, who was then in Syria, a congratulatory address upon the emperor's entrance on the tenth year of his reign. It was also while Valens was in Syria, that Themistius addressed to him an oration by which he persuaded him to cease from his persecution of the Catholic party. In addition to these orations, which prove that the orator was in high favour with the emperor, we have the testimony of Themistius himself to his influence with Valens.
In 377 we find him at Rome, where he appears to have gone on an embassy to Gratian
Gratian
Gratian was Roman Emperor from 375 to 383.The eldest son of Valentinian I, during his youth Gratian accompanied his father on several campaigns along the Rhine and Danube frontiers. Upon the death of Valentinian in 375, Gratian's brother Valentinian II was declared emperor by his father's soldiers...
, to whom he there delivered his oration entitled Erotikos. On the association of Theodosius I
Theodosius I
Theodosius I , also known as Theodosius the Great, was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Theodosius was the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and the western halves of the Roman Empire. During his reign, the Goths secured control of Illyricum after the Gothic War, establishing their homeland...
in the empire by Gratian, at Sirmium
Sirmium
Sirmium was a city in ancient Roman Pannonia. Firstly mentioned in the 4th century BC and originally inhabited by the Illyrians and Celts, it was conquered by the Romans in the 1st century BC and subsequently became the capital of the Roman province of Lower Pannonia. In 294 AD, Sirmium was...
, in 379, Themistius delivered an elegant oration, congratulating the new emperor on his elevation. Of his remaining orations some are public and some private; but few of them demand special notice as connected with the events of his life. In 384, (about the first of September), he was made prefect of Constantinople, an office which had been offered to him, but declined, several times before. He only held the prefecture a few months, as we learn from an oration delivered after he had laid down the office, in which he mentions, as he had done even six years earlier, and more than once in the interval, his old age and ill-health. From the thirty-fourth oration we also learn that he had previously held the offices of princeps senatus and praefectus annonae, besides his embassy to Rome; in another oration he mentions ten embassies on which he had been sent before his prefecture; and in another, composed probably about 387, he says that he has been engaged for nearly forty years in public business and in embassies. So great was the confidence placed in him by Theodosius, that, though Themistius was not a Christian, the emperor, when departing for the West to oppose Magnus Maximus
Magnus Maximus
Magnus Maximus , also known as Maximianus and Macsen Wledig in Welsh, was Western Roman Emperor from 383 to 388. As commander of Britain, he usurped the throne against Emperor Gratian in 383...
, entrusted his son Arcadius
Arcadius
Arcadius was the Byzantine Emperor from 395 to his death. He was the eldest son of Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and brother of the Western Emperor Honorius...
to the tutorship of the philosopher, 387-388. Nothing is known about Themistius after this time; and he may have died around 390. Besides the emperors, he numbered among his friends the chief orators and philosophers of the age, Christian and non-Christian. Not only Libanius, but Gregory of Nazianzus
Gregory of Nazianzus
Gregory of Nazianzus was a 4th-century Archbishop of Constantinople. He is widely considered the most accomplished rhetorical stylist of the patristic age...
also was his friend and correspondent, and the latter, in an epistle still extant, calls him the "king of arguments."
Works
The orations of Themistius, extant in the time of Photius (9th century), were thirty-six in number. Of these, thirty-three have come down to us in GreekGreek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
. Two of them, however, (Orations 23 and 33, and perhaps Oration 28) are not fully preserved, and one (Oration 25) is a brief statement, not a full oration. Modern editions of the Orations have thirty-four pieces, because a Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
address to Valens
Valens
Valens was the Eastern Roman Emperor from 364 to 378. He was given the eastern half of the empire by his brother Valentinian I after the latter's accession to the throne...
has been included as Oration 12. It is now believed though that this Latin address is a 16th century creation. The final oration (Oration 34) was discovered as recently as 1816 by Angelo Mai
Angelo Mai
Angelo Mai was an Italian Cardinal and philologist. He won a European reputation for publishing for the first time a series of previously unknown ancient texts. These he was able to discover and publish, first while in charge of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan and then in the same role at the...
in the Ambrosian Library at Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
. There are, in addition, a few other fragments which may come from lost Orations, as well as an additional work which survives in Syriac
Syriac language
Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...
and another preserved in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
.
The philosophical works of Themistius must have been very voluminous; for Photius tells us that he wrote commentaries on all the books of Aristotle, besides useful abstracts of the Posterior Analytics, the books On the Soul, and the Physics, and that there were works of his on Plato; "and, in a word, he is a lover and eager student of philosophy." The Suda
Suda
The Suda or Souda is a massive 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Suidas. It is an encyclopedic lexicon, written in Greek, with 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often...
mentions his epitome of the Physics of Aristotle, in eight books; of the Prior Analytics, in two books; of the Posterior Analytics, in two books; of the treatise On the Soul, in seven books; and of the Categories in one book.
The epitomes which survive are:
- On the Posterior AnalyticsPosterior AnalyticsThe Posterior Analytics is a text from Aristotle's Organon that deals with demonstration, definition, and scientific knowledge. The demonstration is distinguished as a syllogism productive of scientific knowledge, while the definition marked as the statement of a thing's nature, .....
- On the PhysicsPhysics (Aristotle)The Physics of Aristotle is one of the foundational books of Western science and philosophy...
- On On the Soul
- On On the HeavensOn the HeavensOn the Heavens is Aristotle's chief cosmological treatise: it contains his astronomical theory and his ideas on the concrete workings of the terrestrial world...
, in a Hebrew translation only - On the MetaphysicsMetaphysics (Aristotle)Metaphysics is one of the principal works of Aristotle and the first major work of the branch of philosophy with the same name. The principal subject is "being qua being", or being understood as being. It examines what can be asserted about anything that exists just because of its existence and...
12, in a Hebrew translation only
In addition to these works, two surviving anonymous paraphrases were mistakenly attributed to him in the Byzantine era, and are now assigned to a Pseudo-Themistius:
- On the Prior AnalyticsPrior AnalyticsThe Prior Analytics is Aristotle's work on deductive reasoning, specifically the syllogism. It is also part of his Organon, which is the instrument or manual of logical and scientific methods....
- On the Parva naturaliaParva NaturaliaThe Parva Naturalia are a collection of seven works by Aristotle, which discuss natural phenomena involving the body and the soul:* Sense and Sensibilia * On Memory...
His paraphrases of Aristotle's Posterior Analytics, Physics and On the Soul are valuable; but the orations in which he panegyrizes successive emperors, comparing them to Plato's true philosopher, and even to the idea itself, are intended to flatter. Boëthius
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius, commonly called Boethius was a philosopher of the early 6th century. He was born in Rome to an ancient and important family which included emperors Petronius Maximus and Olybrius and many consuls. His father, Flavius Manlius Boethius, was consul in 487 after...
describes him as, disertissimus (or diligentissimus) scriptor ac lucidus, et omnia ad facilitatem intelligentiae revocans.
In philosophy Themistius was an eclectic. He held that Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
and Aristotle were in substantial agreement, that God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
has made men free to adopt the mode of worship they prefer, and that Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
and Hellenism
Hellenic polytheism
Hellenic Polytheistic Reconstructionism refers to various reconstructionist movements that revive ancient Greek religious practices, emerging since the 1990s. Since 1997 the movement in Greece has been institutionalized under the Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes...
were merely two forms of the one universal religion.
Further reading
- W. Dindorf edition of the orations (Leipzig, 1832): Themistii Orationes, ex codice Mediolanensi emendatae, a Guilielmo Dindorfio, Lipsiae: C. Cnobloch 1832.
- Themistii paraphrases Aristotelis librorum quae supersunt, ed. Leonhard von SpengelLeonhard von SpengelLeonhard von Spengel was a German classical scholar, born at Munich. He became known through his edition of Varro's De Lingua Latina and was appointed in 1826 lector, in 1830 professor in the Wilhelmsgymnasiun of Munich. From 1842 to 1847 he was professor at Heidelberg, but he returned to Munich...
(Leipzig, 1866), Teubner series (reprinted 1998)
Translations
- Commentaire sur le traité de l’Âme d’Aristote, traduction de Guillaume de MoerbekeWilliam of MoerbekeWillem van Moerbeke, O.P., known in the English speaking world as William of Moerbeke was a prolific medieval translator of philosophical, medical, and scientific texts from Greek into Latin...
(Latin). Louvain, 1957 - Themistius on Aristotle On the Soul, trans. Robert B. Todd. London and Ithaca, 1996 (Ancient Commentators on Aristotle)
- Themistius on Aristotle Physics 1-3, trans. Robert B. Todd. London and Ithaca, 2011 (Ancient Commentators on Aristotle)
- Themistius on Aristotle's Physics 4, trans. Robert B. Todd. London and Ithaca, 2003 (Ancient Commentators on Aristotle)
- Themistius on Aristotle Physics 5-8, trans. Robert B. Todd. London, 2008 (Ancient Commentators on Aristotle)
- The Private Orations of Themistius, trans. R. Penella. Berkeley, 2000
Secondary literature and selections
- Todd, Robert B. (2003) "Themistius", in: Catalogus Translationum et Commentariorum; vol. 8
- Heather, Peter & Moncur, David, trans. (2001) Politics, Philosophy, and Empire in the Fourth Century: selected orations of Themistius, with an introduction. Liverpool U. P. ISBN 0853231060