Knowing God: a study of the argument of Numenius of Apameia's

196 Pages·2016·1.04 MB·English

University of Iowa
Iowa Research Online
Theses and Dissertations
Spring 2013
Knowing God: a study of the argument of
Numenius of Apameia's On the good
Joshua Lee Langseth
University of Iowa
Copyright 2013 Joshua Lee Langseth
This dissertation is available at Iowa Research Online: https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/2556
Recommended Citation
Langseth, Joshua Lee. "Knowing God: a study of the argument of Numenius of Apameia's On the good." PhD (Doctor of Philosophy)
thesis, University of Iowa, 2013.
https://doi.org/10.17077/etd.s18l7de1
Follow this and additional works at:https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd
Part of theClassics Commons
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ABSTRACT
The surviving fragments of Numenius’ On the Good show the progression of a
discernable argument; the dialogue as a whole deals with the search for a deeper
understanding of the Form of the Good that is discussed in Plato’s Republic.
Fragment 1a provides a statement of method that governs Books 1-3. Book 1
attempts to use dialectical reasoning to reconstruct the “arguments” (logoi) of
Pythagoras. Book 2 attempts to find confirmation of these arguments in the
Platonic dialogues. Book 3 attempts to find further confirmation in the traditions of
the “peoples of good repute.” Fragment 9, taken from Book 3, gives a novel telling
of the Jewish story of the Exodus, and is carefully constructed so as to be in
conformity with Plato. It is best read as an allegory for the interaction of God and
Matter. Book 4 is lost, but likely treated the necessity of a lower creator god beneath
the highest god who is “free of labor.” Book 5 introduces the Three Gods, who
should be understood as the highest god, and two aspects of the lower god: a
contemplative aspect and a creative aspect. Book 6 ties together the themes of the
dialogue as a whole, and concludes that the Good is God.

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INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this study is to provide a new interpretation of the second-
century AD philosophical dialogue peri ; tajgaqou' (henceforth On the Good, or De
Bono) composed by Numenius “the Pythagorean,” as he was called. Indeed, this
dissertation is the first full interpretation that attempts to fit all the fragments that
survive of this fascinating text into a coherent argument.1 The diverse subject
matters treated in the extended fragments of this tract, some without prima facie
connection to one another, have apparently daunted or confused scholars of the
past, since previous interpretations have virtually always focused on one or two
aspects of the work in question. Many scholars have exclusively focused on
Numenius’ metaphysical fragments, others on the theological fragments; and there is
very little discussion in the scholarship of the crucial and transitional fragment 9,
which gives a novel retelling of the story of Moses and the Exodus.
It is my belief that a careful study of the available evidence does provide a
coherent connection among all the fragments.2 It is also my contention that the
various topics under discussion in On the Good—metaphysics, religious history, and
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All abbreviations are those of the third edition of the Oxford Classical Dictionary.
Translations are my own unless otherwise indicated.!

1 Des Places’ (1973) collection of the fragments of Numenius is generally treated as
though it replaces the earlier one of Leemans. Unfortunately, des Places does not
incorporate all of Leemans’ testimonia into his edition. Following convention, I shall
cite by the numbering in des Places. Where I use a testimonium in Leemans that
does not appear in des Places, I shall use the ancient citation.

2 In des Places’ edition of the fragments of Numenius, the fragments of De Bono run
from fr. 1a to fr. 20, though fr. 10 is more properly a testimonium than a fragment
preserving Numenius’ words. There are other “fragments” that will appear in this
study that are similarly testimonies by later authors, e.g. fr. 21, which is an account
that Proclus claims to give of Numenius’ Three Gods.
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theology—are deeply interconnected for Numenius; we must study all of them if we
are fully to understand any of them. The richness of this continuum makes On the
Good a truly unique and rewarding work of an exceptional mind, and we can only
lament the loss of so much of it.
Numenius and his perplexing fragments have never really been neglected in
modern scholarship. There are several discussions of the fragments of On the Good,
with those of Festugiere (1954), Dodds (1960), des Places (1973), and Frede being
the most notable.3 There are also several irreconcilable theories that have arisen to
make sense of the seemingly irreconcilable fragments and testimonia.4 I shall
necessarily take a stand on some of the more controversial issues, like the identity
and functions of what Numenius calls the “Three Gods,” but this is not the focus of
this study. The focus of this study instead is the progression of an argument
throughout the text. Major obscurities can be dispelled if we understand that
Numenius uses different intellectual traditions to reach the same goal.
In coming to know God, Numenius guides the reader from one
epistemological mode to another—from metaphysical analysis to theological
speculation. The one is communicated by dialectic, the other by analogy. On the Good
is thus a search for a universal philosophy, or rather, a universal knowledge
(ejpisthvmh) or wisdom (sofiva), with the highest order of being as its object. In
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3 Scholarship has not been kind to Guthrie’s unsystematic study and the
accompanying English translation: both are usually ignored. Almost simultaneously
to one another, Leemans (1-43) and van der Ven published sensitive and thoughtful
studies of Numenius that have not received the attention they are due, in part
because they are written in Dutch.

4 Baltes (1975) 268; Turner (2001) 385.