Theophrastus On First Principles (known as his Metaphysics) Philosophia Antiqua A Series of Studies on Ancient Philosophy Previous Editors J.H. Waszink † W. J. Ve r d e n i u s † J.C.M. Van Winden Edited by K.A. Algra F.A.J. De Haas J. Mansfeld C.J. Rowe D.T. Runia Ch. Wildberg VOLUME 119 Theophrastus of Eresus Sources for His Life, Writings, Thought and Influence Theophrastus On First Principles (known as his Metaphysics) Greek Text and Medieval Arabic Translation, Edited and Translated with Introduction, Commentaries and Glossaries,asWellastheMedievalLatinTranslation,andwithan Excursus on Graeco-Arabic Editorial Technique By Dimitri Gutas LEIDEN • BOSTON 2010 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Theophrastus. [Metaphysica. Polyglot] Theophrastus on first principles : (known as his Metaphysics) : Greek text and medieval Arabic translation, edited and translated with introduction, commentaries and glossaries, as well as the medieval Latin translation, and with an excursus on Graeco-Arabic editorial technique / by Dimitri Gutas. p. cm. – (Philosophia antiqua, ISSN 0079-1687 ; v. 119. Theophrastus of Eresus) English,Arabic,Greek,andLatin. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and indexes. ISBN 978-90-04-17903-5 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Metaphysics–Early works to 1800. I. Gutas, Dimitri. II. Title. III. Series. B626.T33M417 2010 110–dc22 2009038896 ISSN: 0079-1687 ISBN: 978 90 04 17903 5 Copyright 2010 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands δαις μ σαις πρ τν μν λμαι γενσαι τ περ τ μυσεν κα τς ες συντελεσναι κν ε τι λλ δ ναται περ α!τς "πικσμηναι πρς τ κ$λλιν %πειτα τ&ν 'Αρισττλυς εκ)να τεναι ες τ *ερ)ν Θε,ρ$στυ δια-κη (Diog. Laert. V,) quid? Theophrastus mediocriterne delectat, cum tractat locos ab Aristotele ante tractatos? Cicero, De finibus . CONTENTS Preface ................................................................ xiii Acknowledgments................................................. xvii AbbreviationsandReferenceWorks................................. xxi AbbreviationsofWorksbyAristotleandTheophrastus..........xxiii part i introduction to the texts ChapterOne.IntroductiontotheEssay ............................. 3 .DateofComposition............................................ 3 .TitleandTransmission.......................................... 9 .NatureandSignificanceoftheWork........................... 32 .Style,Structure,andContentsoftheText...................... 38 Chapter Two. The Greek Text: Manuscripts, Translations, Stemma Codicum ........................................................... 45 .TheGreekManuscripts......................................... 45 Sub-familyJCL.................................................. 47 Sub-family Σ..................................................... 48 . Manuscript Ψ, Exemplar of the Arabic Translation by Ish. aq¯ Ibn-Hunayn....................... ............................... 51 . Relation of Ψ toJandP......................................... 54 . Manuscript Λ, Exemplar of the Latin Translation by BartholomewofMessina ....................................... 57 . The Neoplatonic Archetype of the Extant Manuscript Tradition ........................................................ 63 .StemmaCodicum............................................... 65 .SourcesandPrinciplesoftheGreekEdition................... 66 a. Sourcesofthetext............................................ 66 b.Theapparatuscriticus:mainandsupplementary ........... 66 c. Theapparatusofparallelpassages(LociParalleli).......... 70 d.Punctuation .................................................. 70 xcontents e. Layoutoftheeditions........................................ 71 f. ThetranslationandannotationoftheGreektext........... 72 g. Thecommentary ............................................. 73 Chapter Three. The Arabic Text: Manuscripts, Transmission, Editions ............................................................ 75 .TheArabicManuscripts ........................................ 75 .TheArabicTranslation.......................................... 80 . The Translator, Ish. aq¯ Ibn-Hunayn. ............................. 84 .EditionsoftheArabicText ..................................... 89 .ThePresentEditionandTranslationoftheArabicText....... 91 Excursus. Principles of Graeco-Arabic Textual Criticism and EditorialTechnique................................................ 93 .StagesintheTransmissionofTexts............................. 93 .RelationbetweenStagesand................................ 94 .RelationbetweenStagesand................................ 95 .Accessories...................................................... 100 part ii the texts and translations . TheGreekTextwithEnglishTranslation........................ 105 a. SupplementaryCriticalApparatustotheGreekText ........... 161 . TheArabictextwithEnglishTranslation........................ 165 a. SupplementaryCriticalApparatustotheArabicText........... 227 . TheLatinTranslationbyBartholomewofMessina ............. 229 part iii commentary Introduction .......................................................... 247 Aporia............................................................... 248 Aporia............................................................... 255 Aporia............................................................... 258 Aporia............................................................... 263 Aporia............................................................... 265 Aporia............................................................... 270 contents xi Aporia............................................................... 278 Aporia............................................................... 281 Aporia............................................................... 290 Aporia.............................................................. 293 Aporia.............................................................. 299 Aporia.............................................................. 300 Aporia.............................................................. 300 Aporia.............................................................. 318 Aporia.............................................................. 336 Aporia.............................................................. 338 Aporia.............................................................. 342 Aporia.............................................................. 344 Aporia.............................................................. 356 Aporia.............................................................. 359 Aporia.............................................................. 368 Aporia.............................................................. 371 Aporia.............................................................. 379 Aporia.............................................................. 380 Aporia.............................................................. 395 Scholium.............................................................. 395 Appendix.“KnownbyBeingUnknown”(a–)................. 401 WordIndicesandGlossaries......................................... 409 .GreekWordIndexandGreek-ArabicGlossary................ 409 Abbreviations................................................. 410 Signs.......................................................... 412 Translation of Greek Morphology, Syntax, and Semantics 434 IndexofWordsintheScholium............................. 436 .ArabicWordIndexandArabic-GreekGlossary............... 437 Bibliography .......................................................... 481 IndexNominum...................................................... 491 IndexLocorum ....................................................... 499 PREFACE The short essay On First Principles by Theophrastus, thought to have been known in the manuscript tradition as his Metaphysics because it was transmitted together with the books that came after Aristotle’s Physics (τ ν μετ τ Φυσικ$), occupies a distinctive position among ancient Greek philosophical writings in two ways. It survives in a rich and varied manuscript tradition that includes two early Greek manuscripts from the ninth and tenth centuries, a medieval Arabic translation from the ninth, a medieval Latin translation from the thirteenth, and a host of Renaissance manuscripts—including an Aldine edition that has been rightly regarded as a codex optimus—in which generations of hardly negligible Greek scribes and scholars tried their hands at correcting by conjecture the perceived inaccuracies or corruptions in the text. It is also in the enviable position of being arguably one of the most closely studied and scrutinized of all extant ancient Greek philosophical writings: it has enjoyed a number of pre-modern editions, three modern editions by the most respected scholars of Greek and of ancient philosophy—the