Aristotelis Opera (Bekker Edition, Vol. 2): Metaphysica, Ethica, Politica, Rhetorica, Poetica

And the melody having been spoiled by these things, he examined both the first and second hammers, what ratio they had to each other, and the melodies, and he recorded it as a harmonic ratio, comparing those ratios themselves in isolation without the matter; so that if it happened that such an analogy of numbers existed in cups or flutes, the same melody would be completed.

The Thracians discovered music, as they are exceedingly warlike; for the cold, shutting the heat in the depths, makes it sharper, which is why they are spirited and warlike by the force of the heat, and also dancers because of the ready dodging of the melodies; for the pyrrhichios is a dance among them, which is armed, and what is said by the poet Iliad 16.617: "Perhaps he will soon dance for you." But there are also marching melodies among them. The Egyptians discovered geometry, as has been said above, because the rising Nile confounds their boundary markers. The Chaldeans discovered astronomy, as they live in pure air; for being easterners, they have a vapor that is readily refined by the heat of the sun; for Alexandria, Africa, and Persia are in the third climate.

Some raise the problem: if all studies require the inspiration of the Muses, why is only one called "music"? To this we say that its work alone is to heal the passions of the soul through the body; therefore, philosophy is the greatest music, as it heals the passions of the soul; hence it is called the medicine of souls. That music heals the passions of the soul, they say that Pythagoras once, seeing a young boy following a girl playing the flute, ordered him to break the flutes, and with the melody destroyed, he stopped him from being in love.

And Synesius the philosopher, who later became Bishop of Cyrene, when barbarians were attacking Cyrene, slaughtered them through certain melodies, and fleeing, they struck each other while no one was pursuing them.

Twelfth Action. We must state the division of the practical; for this alone is missing from the division. Aristotle therefore divides this into three: into ethics, economics, and politics; for the practical philosopher, promising to adorn human souls, either begins the adornment from himself, and it is called "ethics" (for it is ridiculous to promise to adorn others while being unadorned himself), or he adorns a few, and it is called "economics." The Platonists accuse such a division of four charges. First, that in no division is the genus entirely the same as one of its species. Second, that in no division do the species contain each other; for divisions were invented for the sake of distinction. Third, that if one adorns a few, it is always called "economics," but if many, "politics." Fourth, that if we allow the habits to be divided based on the quantity of those being benefited, why, to benefit either a few or many, we would destroy every art and science; for every art and science has as its goal to benefit either a few or many. The Platonists, having cast off this division as being poorly constructed, state another division. Therefore, they divide the practical into two: into the legislative and the judicial, because the practical philosopher is a reformer of morals and sets laws according to which those who have lived well must live, and defines penalties to which those who do not abide by the previously established laws must be subjected. But whence is it that Aristotle divides into three, whence is it that Plato's is into two, and whence is it that Plato accepts Aristotle's division into three? Aristotle divides into three because of such treatises written by him; for the ethical is written by him in the Ethics to his student Eudemus, and others to his father Nicomachus, the Great Ethics, and to his son Nicomachus, the Lesser Ethics. And for politics, he wrote the Politics; and there are two hundred and fifty constitutions written by him, which he compiled from traveling through much land with King Alexander. Let us speak on behalf of Aristotle that even if he wrote ethics, or divides the practical into these, he knows that he divides the legislative and judicial through them, since he would fall into the same absurdities as the grammarians. Let us sing to ourselves what was written in gold among the followers of Pythagoras: "Above all things, reverence thyself." But it is also the duty of a city to legislate and judge; for how could these things be more appropriately performed than in a city? (*)

A decorative cross symbol. PRELIMINARY VIEW OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF PORPHYRY THE PHOENICIAN (†).

As we are about to begin philosophical discourses, it is necessary to know what philosophy is; for it is necessary for one beginning to learn first what the thing is; for thus he will grasp the matter more earnestly. We learn things from definitions. And how is it possible to learn a thing through a definition if one is ignorant of what a definition is? A definition is a brief account indicating the nature of the thing. The term "definition" is named from the metaphor of boundaries in fields. Definitions are taken either from the subject, from the end, or from both. Many definitions are taken in philosophy; for many of the ancients often defined it. So that we do not give the fault-finders a pretext for untimely ambition in the present, it suffices to go through five or a few more. Two are from the subject, two from the end, and another from the superiority it has toward other arts. The first definition is this: philosophy is the knowledge of beings as they are. The "as" stands in place of "universally."

It must be known that it is when the body is separated from the soul or...

(†) Cod. Paris. Reg. 963 f. 357-370. Ammonius has nearly the same at f. 9 and 10.
(*) The Prolegomena end with these words.