Chalcidius's Commentary on Plato's Timaeus

The reputation that Chalcidius enjoyed has changed significantly over time. Until the 12th century, he was, to a high degree, one of the few sources from which the scholars of that time drew their knowledge of Platonic and indeed all ancient philosophy, and the high esteem in which he was held was so great that the star of the far more significant Aristotle paled in comparison to him. As late as 1507, Jacobus Antiquarius compared him in a letter to Aug. Justinianus to Prometheus, claiming that Chalcidius was the first to spread light and clarity over the darkness of the Timaeus Plato's dialogue on cosmology. Aug. Justinianus himself indulged in effusive praise of Chalcidius in his dedication. Fabricius also judges Chalcidius quite appreciatively in many places. In more recent times, however, the commentary has almost completely disappeared. Martin points out that we are not dealing with a profound philosopher here, and Wrobel agrees with him. Freudenthal describes his work as a compilation, and Zeller likewise emphasizes the unoriginal character of this commentary. Indeed, Gercke goes so far as to assert that we are dealing here merely with a "bungled translation (of the beginning) of a Greek commentary by a monk who could only write Latin with difficulty." Whether the commentary was indeed originally written in Greek may remain an open question. Its unoriginal character, however, is beyond dispute, and precisely for this reason, it seems not inappropriate to examine his work more closely because, as Gercke correctly judges, "the compilation is a rich, still unused treasure trove" in which "teachings of ancient philosophers, such as those of Chrysippus, as well as those of second-century eclectics, are literally incorporated, mostly without naming the source," and because, on the other hand, this