Simplicius: On Aristotle's Categories 1-4

The worthy exegete of Aristotle’s writings must not fall wholly short of the Philosopher’s greatness of intellect (megalonoia). He must also be acquainted with everything the Philosopher has written, and must be well-versed (epistêmôn) in Aristotle’s stylistic habits. His judgment must be impartial (adekaston), so that he may neither, out of superficial understanding, show to be unacceptable something that has been well said, nor, if some point should require examination, should he obstinately persist in trying to demonstrate that Aristotle is always and everywhere infallible, as if he had enrolled himself in the Philosopher’s school.

On the whole, and if we make allowances for Simplicius’ Neoplatonic program to harmonize the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle, it is fair to say that he fulfils these requisites quite admirably. This is perhaps why today – as was the case throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance – Simplicius’ work continues to be the most widely read and studied of the Neoplatonic Commentaries on the Categories.

Notes

1. KRS, 1; 3. See the Stellenregister von Hermann Diels, ergänzt von Walther Kranz (Index of Passages by Hermann Diels, supplemented by Walther Kranz), in D-K vol. 3, 638-40.
2. SVF 216-17.
3. See P. Moraux 1973; 1984. See also the Stellenregister to F. Wehrli 1959, Heft X, 169-71. On Theophrastus, see now the Index of Theophrastean Texts in W.W. Fortenbaugh et al., 1993, vol. 2, 695-7.
4. On Archytas, see T.A. Szlezák 1972; and on Pseudo-Pythagorean writings in general, H. Thesleff 1965.
5. On Simplicius as a source for Speusippus, see the Index Locorum (Index of Places/Passages) in L. Tarán 1981, 501-2. For Xenocrates, see the Indice delle Fonti (Index of Sources) in M. Isnardi Parente, 1982, 454.
6. See J.M. Dillon 1977, index s.v. ‘Simplicius’.
7. On Simplicius as a source for Iamblichus, see J.M. Dillon 1973; B. Dalsgaard Larsen, 1972.
8. The Acts of this colloquium were published in I. Hadot 1987a.
9. Two volumes have appeared to date: I. Hadot 1990; C. Luna 1990.
10. On the pagan/Christian conflict as exemplified by Simplicius and John Philoponus, see Ph. Hoffmann 1987b.
11. On writing commentaries as a spiritual exercise in Antiquity, see Ph. Hoffmann, 1987a; I. Hadot 1996, ch. 3; M. Erler 1987. On Neoplatonic spirituality in general, see H.D. Saffrey 1990.
12. See I. Hadot 1987b; 1996, ch. 1.
13. See Ph. Hoffmann 1987b.
14. This decree (= Codex Justinianus [Justinian Code], I, 11, 10, § 2, p. 64 ed. Krüger; cf. ibid., I, 5, 18, § 4, p. 57) has been the subject of much debate: see J.P. Lynch 1972, 165; J. Glucker 1978, 322-9; A. Cameron, ‘The Last Days of the Academy at Athens’, Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 195.