Commentary on Aristotle, ›Nicomachean Ethics‹: Critical Edition with Introduction and Translation

386 Pages·2022·31.74 MB·English

by  Georgios Pachymeres

Georgios Pachymeres
Commentary on Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Commentaria in Aristotelem
Graeca et Byzantina
(CAGB)
Series academica
Herausgegeben von
Dieter Harlfinger, Christof Rapp, Marwan Rashed,
Diether R. Reinsch
Band 7
Georgios Pachymeres
Commentary on
Aristotle,
Nicomachean Ethics
Critical Edition with Introduction and Translation
Edited by
Sophia Xenophontos
Translated by
Sophia Xenophontos and Crystal Addey
Herausgegeben durch die Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Dieser Band wurde im Rahmen der gemeinsamen Forschungsförderung von Bund und Ländern im
Akademienprogramm mit Mitteln des Bundesministeriums für Bildung und Forschung und der Senats-
verwaltung für Wissenschaft, Gesundheit, Pflege und Gleichstellung des Landes Berlins erarbeitet.
ISBN 978-3-11-064284-1
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-064306-0
ISSN 2700-6417
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Preface
The volume before you represents the editio princeps of George Pachymeres’ Com-
mentary on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. It is the product of a deep interest in the
reception of the classical tradition in late Byzantium, with a special focus on Greek
ethics and morality. A series of interpretative studies I have published on this topic
have made me acutely aware of the proclivity of Byzantine scholars to transform
ancient Greek moral thought, but they have also triggered a march into uncharted
territories. One of these was the inclusion of classical ethical philosophy in late
Byzantine pedagogy, not merely or necessarily as a school subject in an institutional
context, but as a set of practical injunctions leading to the good life by advocating
for a habituation to self-discipline. In Pachymeres’ text, much of this has been em-
bellished by a religious understanding of ethics based in elements drawn from the
social and cultural requirements in Constantinople at the turn of the fourteenth
century. Tradition and variation, cognitive learning and moral didacticism, pagan
and Christian material are therefore among the themes and dichotomies negotiated
or alluded to in this fascinating document. I leave it to readers to reflect on these
matters as they leaf through the text for the first time, although a background to it is
offered by the Introduction, which aims to spark interest and prompt further inves-
tigation.
This book was undertaken in the framework of a major research grant for the
project “The reception of Aristotle in Byzantium: The first critical edition of George
Pachymeres’ Commentary on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics”, for which I was the
Principal Investigator. The project was generously funded by the Arts and Humani-
ties Research Council (AHRC) in the UK (AH/P008887/1), not only allowing me to
engage full-time with the edition, translation, introduction, and related impact ac-
tivities, but also furnishing me with precious collaborators. I am deeply indebted to
Crystal Addey (University College Cork) for her hard work and substantial contribu-
tion to the English translation of the text during her Research Associateship on the
project. Special thanks also go to Anna Marmodoro (Co-Investigator, University of
Oxford/University of Durham) and Riccardo Chiaradonna (International Advisor,
Roma Tre University) for offering advice, particularly but not exclusively at our
scheduled workshops, where editorial and other matters were discussed. I would
also like to acknowledge the financial assistance of the Carnegie Trust for the Uni-
versities of Scotland for a Research Incentive Grant I was awarded at an early stage
of the work, of the Department of Classics and the School of Humanities at the Uni-
versity of Glasgow for supporting various research trips through their Incentivisa-
tion Fund, and of the AHRC for covering the Open Access fees for this book. In addi-
tion, I am grateful to the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, the Real Biblioteca del
Monasterio de El Escorial, and the Biblioteca nazionale Marciana for allowing me to
consult in situ manuscripts central to the edition. Crystal Addey would also like to
Open Access. © 2022 Sophia Xenophontos, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110643060-201
VI | Preface
thank the late Sarah Broadie and most especially Michael Griffin for their assistance
with the translation.
Most important, I owe a debt of gratitude to the Commentaria in Aristotelem
Graeca et Byzantina research project (CAGB) at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of
Sciences and Humanities, and in particular to Dieter Harlfinger and Lutz Koch, for
entrusting me with the edition and for their helpful editorial guidance during prepa-
ration and revision. I would also like to record my thanks to Nikos Agiotis for advis-
ing me on the presentation and edition of the diagrams, to Ioannis Polemis for edi-
torial comments, to Georgi Parpulov for palaeographical assistance, to Michele
Trizio for commenting on the Introduction, and to Ciro Giacomelli, Pelagia Vera
Loungi, and Niccolò Zorzi for informal correspondence and exchange of ideas. At a
later stage, Pantelis Golitsis and Diether R. Reinsch went through the entire book
and provided invaluable remarks and suggestions. Some of the material treated in
the Introduction was delivered at conferences and workshops in Oxford, Vienna and
Athens, and I am grateful for feedback received on those occasions. My most pro-
found thanks are due to my husband Petros Bouras-Vallianatos, who has been a
constant source of encouragement and inspiration, having read and commented
incisively on all parts of the manuscript from its inception on. This book is for him.
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Sophia A. Xenophontos
September 2022
Contents
Preface | V
Bibliography
Abbreviations | IX
Editions of ancient, late antique and Byzantine authors | IX
Note to the reader | XIV
Part I: Introduction
1 George Pachymeres: His life and work | XVII
2 The Commentary on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics | XXI
2.1 A brief history of commentary writing on the EN from antiquity to the
late Middle Ages | XXI
2.2 Readership, aims, and chronology of Pachymeres’
Commentary | XXIII
2.3 Structure, layout, and genre | XXV
2.4 Sources and formative influences | XXVIII
2.4.1 Aristotle’s EN | XXVIII
2.4.2 Eustratius | XXXI
2.4.3 John of Damascus | XXXIX
2.4.4 Other sources | XLI
2.5 Christianisation of a pagan text | XLII
2.6 Pachymeres’ exegetical methodology | XLIV
2.7 Moralism and social critique | XLVIII
2.8 Power dynamics between the ancient authority and the Byzantine
exegete | L
2.9 Pachymeres’ Commentary on the EN and his paraphrase (Book XI of the
Philosophia) | LVI
2.10 Independent thinking in the context of exegesis? | LVIII
3 The manuscript tradition | LXV
3.1 The sources for the text | LXV
3.2 Description of the manuscripts | LXVI
3.3 The relationship between the manuscripts | LXIX
3.4 Pachymeres’ copy of the EN | LXXIV
VIII | Preface
4 Paratextual elements | LXXVII
4.1 Diagrams | LXXVII
4.2 Supplementary notes | LXXIX
5 Editorial principles | LXXXIII
6 Language | LXXXVII
7 A note on the translation | XC
8 Images | XCII
9 Sigla | XCVI
Part II: Τοῦ δικαιοφύλακος καὶ πρωτεκδίκου παράφρασις
ἠκριβωμένη τοῦ Παχυμέρη. Text and Translation
Book 1 | 2/3
Book 2 | 50/51
Book 3 | 90/91
Book 4 | 138/139
Book 5 | 180/181
Book 6 | 236/237
Appendix of Supplementary Notes | 242
Part III: Indices
General Index | 255
Index of parallel passages | 260
Index of Greek terms | 278
Bibliography
Abbreviations
CAG = Commentaria in Aristotelem Graeca, 23 vols. (Berlin: Georg Reimer, 1882–1909)
CMG = Corpus Medicorum Graecorum (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1908 – ).
GMG = D. Holton, G. Horrocks, M. Janssen, T. Lendari, I. Manolessou, and N. Toufexis, The Cam-
bridge Grammar of Medieval and Early Modern Greek, 4 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge Universi-
ty Press, 2019)
DK = ed.: H. Diels and W. Kranz, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, vol. 1, 6th edn. (Berlin: Weidmann,
1951) [Heraclitus = Heracl.; Zeno = Zen.]
FCG = ed.: A. Meineke, Fragmenta Comicorum Graecorum, vol. 5.1 (Berlin: Reimer, 1857) (repr.
Berlin: De Gruyter, 1970)
L = ed.: E. L. von Leutsch, Corpus Paroemiographorum Graecorum, vol. 2 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck
& Ruprecht, 1851) (repr. Hildesheim: Olms, 1958) [Apostolius = Apost.]
LS = ed.: F. G. Schneidewin and E. L. von Leutsch, Corpus Paroemiographorum Graecorum, vol. 1
(Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1839) (repr. Hildesheim: Olms, 1965) [Zenobius = Ze-
nob.]
LSJ = A Greek-English Lexicon, compiled by H. G. Liddell and R. Scott. Revised and augmented
throughout by Sir H. S. Jones, with the assistance of R. McKenzie, and with the co-operation of
many scholars. 9th edn. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940). With a Revised Supplement edited by
P. G. W. Glare with the assistance of A. A. Thompson (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996)
OCD = S. H. Hornblower and A. Spawforth, eds. Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th edn. (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2012)
ODB = A. Kazhdan et al., eds. Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, 3 vols. (New York–Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1991)
PG = ed.: J. P. Migne, Patrologiae Cursus Completus: Series Graeca (Paris: Garnier Frères, 1857–
1866)
RGK = E. Gamillscheg, D. Harlfinger, H. Hunger, eds. Repertorium der Griechischen Kopisten, 800–
1600, 3 vols. (Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1981–1997)
PLP = E. Trapp, ed. Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit, 12 vols. (Vienna, 1976–1996)
SVF = ed.: J. von Arnim, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, vol. 2 (Leipzig: Teubner, 1903)
Editions of ancient, late antique, and Byzantine authors
Alexander of Aphrodisias (Alex.)
In Metaph. = In Metaphysica commentaria (ed.: M. Hayduck, Alexandri Aphrodisiensis in Aristotelis
metaphysica commentaria, CAG 1. Berlin: Reimer, 1891)
In Top. = In Topica commentaria (ed.: M. Wallies, Alexandri Aphrodisiensis in Aristotelis topicorum
libros octo commentaria, CAG 2.2. Berlin: Reimer, 1891)
Anonymous (Anon.)
In EN = In Ethica Nicomachea commentaria (ed.: G. Heylbut, Eustratii et Michaelis et anonyma in
ethica Nicomachea commentaria, CAG 20. Berlin: Reimer, 1892)
Aristotle (Arist.)
De an. = De anima (ed.: W. D. Ross, Aristotle. De anima, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961; repr. 1967)
Open Access. © 2022 Sophia Xenophontos, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110643060-202
X | Bibliography
EN = Ethica Nicomachea (ed.: I. Bywater, Aristotelis Ethica Nicomachea, Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1894; repr. 1962)
Metaph. = Metaphysica (ed.: W. D. Ross, Aristotle’s Metaphysics, 2 vols., Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1924; repr. 1970 [of 1953 corr. edn.])
PA = De partibus animalium (ed.: P. Louis, Aristote. Les parties des animaux, Paris: Les Belles
Lettres, 1956)
Phys. = Physica (ed.: W. D. Ross, Aristotelis Physica, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1950; repr. 1966 [1st
edn. corr.])
Post. An. = Analytica Posteriora (ed.: W. D. Ross, Aristotelis analytica priora et posteriora, Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1964; repr. 1968)
Top. = Topica (ed.: W. D. Ross, Aristotelis topica et sophistici elenchi, Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1958; repr. 1970 [1st edn. corr.])
Aspasius (Asp.)
In EN = In Ethica Nicomachea commentaria (ed.: G. Heylbut, Aspasii in ethica Nicomachea quae
supersunt commentaria, CAG 19.1. Berlin: Reimer, 1889)
Choerilus (Choer.)
(ed.: H. Lloyd-Jones and P. Parsons, Supplementum Hellenisticum, Berlin–New York: De Gruyter,
1983)
Damascius (Dam.)
In Phaed. = In Phaedonem commentarium (ed.: L. G. Westerink, The Greek commentaries on Plato’s
Phaedo, vol. 2, Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Co., 1977)
David (Dav.)
Proleg. Philos. = Prolegomena philosophiae (ed.: A. Busse, Davidis prolegomena et in Porphyrii
isagogen commentarium, CAG 18.2. Berlin: Reimer, 1904)
[Elias] ([Eli.])
In Porph. Isag. = In Porphyrii isagogen (ed.: A. Busse, Eliae in Porphyrii isagogen et Aristotelis
categorias commentaria, CAG 18.1. Berlin: Reimer, 1900)
Etymologicum Gudianum (Etym. Gudian.)
(ed.: E. L. de Stefani, Etymologicum Gudianum, fasc. 1 & 2, Leipzig: Teubner, 1:1909; 2:1920; repr.
Amsterdam: Hakkert, 1965)
Euclides (Eucl.)
El. = Elementa (ed.: E. S. Stamatis (post J. L. Heiberg), Euclidis elementa, 6 vols., 2nd edn., Leipzig:
Teubner, 1969–1977)
Euripides (Eur.)
Fragm. = Fragmenta (ed.: R. Kannicht, Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, vol. 5, Euripides (in two
parts). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2004)
Hec. = Hecuba (ed.: J. Diggle, Euripidis fabulae, vol. 1, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984)
Eustratius (Eustr.)
In EN = In Ethica Nicomachea commentaria (ed.: G. Heylbut, Eustratii et Michaelis et anonyma in
ethica Nicomachea commentaria, CAG 20. Berlin: Reimer, 1892)