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Pagina 1
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)Classical Philology, Vol. 16, No. 2. (Apr., 1921), pp. 97-123.
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Pagina 2
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)Classical Philology, Vol. 16, No. 2. (Apr., 1921), pp. 97-123.
Stable URL:
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0009-837X%28192104%2916%3A2%3C97%3ATTOGA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-6
Classical Philology is currently published by The University of Chicago Press.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained
prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in
the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/journals/ucpress.html.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.
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Pagina 3
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)Classical Philology
Vorume XVI
April TL 92T
NUMBER 2
THE TRADITION OF GREEK ARITHMOLOGY
Br FRANK EGLESTON ROBBINS
The problem attacked in the following pages is the determination
of the sources and relationships of the ancient arithmological writings,
including principally those of Varro, Philo, Nicomachus, Theon of
Smyrna, Anatolius, the compilator of the Theologumena Arithmeticae,
Chalcidius, Macrobius, Martianus Capella, Favonius Eulogius, and
Johannes Laurentius Lydus. The difficulty of the problem, the
necessity of hypothetical reasoning, and the ease with which error
may be committed are acknowledged at the outset.
The situation presented by the above-mentioned writings much
resembles that seen in the Synoptic Gospels, and methods similar
to those used by New Testament critics should be employed in its
elucidation. Whole passages of one author are repeated in one or
more others, and the topics of arithmology are so frequently paralleled
that to determine the exact provenance of any one may be well-nigh
impossible. The problem therefore has to be handled in a large way
and the main currents of influence determined, a thing which the
previous essays in this field! have not satisfactorily done. They
have, moreover, without exception followed Schmekel in regarding
1 The following are most frequently referred to: A. Schmekel, Die Philosophie der
mittleren Stoa in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwickelung, Berlin, 1892; G. Borghorst, De
Anatolii fontibus, Berlin, 1905; G. Altmann, De Posidonio Timaei Platonis commentatore, Berlin, 1906; B.W. Switalski, ‘““Des Chalcidius Kommentar zu Platos Timaeus,”
Beiträge z. Gesch. d. Phil. d. Mittelalters, III (Münster, 1902), 6; F. Skutsch, “Zu
Favonius Eulogius und Chalcidius," Philologus, LXI (1902), 193 ff.; C. Fries, “De
M. Varrone a Favonio expresso,” Rheinisches Museum, N.F., LXVIII (1903), 115 ff.
[CLassrcaAz PHILOLOGY XVI, April, 1921]
Pagina 4
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)Posidonius as the universal source of arithmology—an error, as I
have shown elsewhere!
The results won in the previous paper may serve as a startingpoint for the present inquiry; namely, that Posidonius was not the
author of the arithmology seen in Philo, Theon, and the rest, but
quoted from an already existing arithmological work, the introduction
of which Sextus Empiricus reproduces quite fully in Adv. math. iv.
2 ff., Anatolius and Theon in abridged form, and other parts of
which were used by many authors. The existence of this work, at
least, is proven, and if it be granted that Posidonius quoted it, it
existed before his time, that is, by the last half of the second century
B.c. For the reasons collected in the former article and for others
that may appear later, the writer is ready to abandon the noncommittal attitude previously adopted and to believe that he actually
did quote it, as Sextus Empiricus Adv. math. vii. 91 ff. shows. Since
this document was so universal a source for later writers, it will
for convenience be referred to as S (“source”).
Anatolius? and Theon? give the best idea of the character of S,
preserving as they do its introduction and a considerable part of its
ten chapters on the numbers of the first decade. Since any reader
can see in a moment that they ultimately come from a common
ancestor,‘ this will be assumed without argument. These two
writers, in fact, may be used as a sort of standard for judging whether
others have drawn upon 8. It may safely be believed that material
common to both of them is from §; if we find the same matter in
other writers, they also derived it from S. If certain other writers,
1‘ Posidonius and the Sources of Pythagorean Arithmology,’’ Classical Philology,
XV (1920), 309-22.
2Ed. J. L. Heiberg, Annales internationales d'histoire, Congrès de Paris, 1900,
5° section, Histoire des sciences, Paris, 1901, pp. 27 ff. Anatolius is also extensively
quoted in the Theologumena Arithmeticae (ed. Ast, 1817).
3 Expositio rerum mathematicarum ad legendum Platonem utilium, ed. E. Hiller,
Leipzig, 1878.
4 Except in one place, to be discussed below, these two are never at variance in
making different statements about the same topic; one of them, however, usually
Anatolius, may present topics which the other omits. Anatolius’ treatise is apparently
a set of notes for the use of students, hence a mere outline, devoid of literary elaboration. Theon’s too is greatly condensed but somewhat more elaborate rhetorically;
he is apt to say more about a given topic than Anatolius, while the latter preserves
many more topics than Theon. Some of Anatolius’ material, not found in Theon, is
perhaps not from S; but this forms no great part of the whole.
Pagina 5
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)of whom it is thus known that they used S as a source, parallel
material in Anatolius not attested by Theon, this too may be claimed
for 8, and so, when reasonable presumptions have thus been created,
the circle of the influence of S may be enlarged and defined.
I do not, however, intend to point out all the S material that can
be identified in ancient literature, but will turn to the real point at
issue, the method of transmission of S material.
Very little inquiry shows that Theon and Anatolius both present
S in an abridged form. Philo, who in the De mundi opificio certainly
used S, has in ce. 30-42 of that work a treatment of the number 7
which in general agrees throughout with Anatolius, the latter here
as usual being more voluminous than Theon. Philo’s account,
however, is far longer even than Anatolius’, containing many more
topics and saying more about each one; yet probably every one of
these topics, whether or not paralleled by Anatolius, is from S; the
exceptions are certainly very few.
This is proved by the fact that
practically all of them are found, in connection with S material, in
still other writers, Lydus! in particular showing a close likeness to
Philo.
But though Philo’s chapters give us our best idea of the
original text of S, still even they are abridged, for they omit several
topics which must certainly be referred to the anonymous source
because of their occurrence in several of the writers of our group?
Evidently some had only abridged versions of S, while others used
full or but slightly abridged texts.
Among the descendants of S, Philo, as far as the De mundi
opificio is concerned, Anatolius, and Lydus give evidence of forming
a closely related group. Theon, as far as he goes, generally agrees
with them, but he differs from them radically in the insertion in the
seventh chapter of a block of material, set in a context showing the
closest agreement with Anatolius, but differing wholly from the pronouncements of the three first mentioned upon the same subject, the
control exercised by the number 7 over birth and the “ages of man.”
It will later be seen that by agreeing here with Theon rather than
with Anatolius, Philo, and Lydus, a group including Chalcidius,
1 De mensibus ii. 12.
2 E.g., the 7 numbers used in Plato’s Timaeus, and the flow of euripi, both to be
found in Theon, Anatolius, and Lydus.
Pagina 6
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)Capella, Favonius, and others show that they belong to the subfamily
of which Theon is an example; but we must first examine certain
peculiarities shared by Philo and Lydus which prove that they are
more closely related to each other than to Anatolius.
Most important for this purpose is the following passage!
dealing with the number 7:
Philo De mundi
opificio c. 33:
Tocoûro dè &v éBôowade mebunev elvar
tè lepotperès Hore
éEaiperov Exeiv Abyov Tapà Toùs &v
dexade mavras Apıdmobs ékelvwv yap
oi nev yevvôor où
yevvapevor,
ot
dè
yevv@èvrar pev, ov
yervdot de, oi dt du
dórepa kai yevvóor
Kal yevvÒvrat: uòvn
dt &Bdouas &v obderi
uéper Oewpetrar.
. ++ Ov Wp airiav
oi uev äNAor Piddo0or Tov Apıdudv TovToy
éÉououoDot
TH
äumrope vikn Kai
mapdevp, y eK Tis
tov
Atos
Kepaÿs
dvapavijvaL ddyos
Exer, of dé IIvlayópeo TÔ Hyeudre
TÔv GUUTAVTUY. TO
yap
MATE
unre
yevvóv
‘yevym@pevov
axivnrov peve ey
Kuhoe yap D veve
ows, éwel Kal TO Yer
vWwpevov oùk
àveu
KO EWS,
To ey
Lydus De mensibus ii.
12
(Wünsch):
ot ye phy IlvôaYöpaoı TÔ Hyeudre
TOU mavròs THY éBô6ves
avaridevraı,
unv
TOUTÉOTL TO Evi,
kal paptus 'Oppeùs
Aeywr oùrws, “EB56un,
=v épiAnoer
avat
éxaepyos
"Amb AW 2 . . , .
6p0Gs oby duhropa
Tov
êrrà
adpiOuov
6 duA6Naos mpoonYópevoe: póvos yap
oÙTE yevvâv oÜre
yevvâodat
mebure
TO dt uhre yervar
uúTe
Yevvwpevov
âkivnrov: èv Kıvnae
yap D yévvnous, TO
uèv iva Yevvnon,
ro dè iva vevvnbfj,
Touoros dé à 0eds,
ws kal adròs 6 AhTwp
6 Tapavrivos. ai
dè obrws: "Eart yap
Hyenav Kal äpxwv
âmávrwv KTÀ.
Philo Leg. all. i. 5:
kara twa \6yov oi
evrös dexdbos Apıd-
Anatolius, p. 35,
6 ff:
éBôouas porn TÔv
évrôs dexddos ob Yer
và oùdè Yevväraı
dm’ &NNou Apıduod
mAÿv brò povddos:
dò Kal Kakeiraı Ùrò
Ty
Ilvôayopelwr
mapôévos
duhrwp.
Tv dé äNAwv TÔv
evrös dexddos 6 uêv
5’ bd duddos yervaTat, Yevva dè oùv
TH aùrf Tòv n', Kr).
Theon, p.
(Hiller):
103
uóvos yap TÔv évròs
Tis Sdexados
oÙre
yevvâ Erepov oÙre
yevvârar te’ tre
pov
dò kai ’AOnva
tré T@r Ilwayopr-
Kv éxadetro, oÜre
unTpés Twos obca
otre unrnp.
ore
yap
Yivera
é
ovvdvacpod
oùre
ovvövaferai
Tu.
TOP yap àpôuÈr
Tov & TH dexdds oi
Bey vervol Te Kal
yevvâvrai, as 6 6
vevvà uèv pera Òvá=
dos Tòv n', yevvârar
dé bd Öváôos, xrd.
Chalcidius, c. 36
(p. 102, 6ff.,
Wrobel):
. itaque omnibus partim nascentibus, partim
parientibus, partim et nascentibus
et parientibus,
solus septenarius
numerus neque ex
duplicatione alterius
nascitur
1Cf. also Hierocles In carm, aur. ap. Mullach, FPG, Vol. I, p. 465; schol. cod.
Laur. in Met. 985 b 23; Alexander in Met. 985 b 26; Isidore, Capella, Favonius; Theologumena Arithmeticae, p. 44 Ast; Anon. Prol. in introd. arith. Nicomachi ap. Tannery,
Diophantus, Vol. II, pp. 73 ff.
Pagina 7
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)Philo:
Lydus:
iva yerrmon, TO de
iva yevvijrat' ubvov
dè obre kivoîv obte
xuvobpevov à mpecBbTepos üpxwv Kai
ùyeudv, où Néyour’
yap, noir, è Hye
pol yevvavraı f} Yerv@or
TOÙsS
dvrös
Öekáôos Kal abrúv.
i de Ye éBôouàs
obre yevvû Tuva TÔv
évros Sexddos Apıd=wav obre yevvûrat
dò twos, wap’ è
uvôebovres où IIvôayépeor TH deumapBev Kal dunrope
abrir Ameıkalovoıv,
pov KTÀ.
örı
ay mpoonkövrws eikav EBdonäs. papTupet de pov TÔ
Aoy@ Kal Pidddaos
tv Tobrois, “Eore
obre
Anatolius:
101
Theon:
nec infra decumanum limitem
parit quemquam.
proptereaque
Minerua est a
ueteribus cognominatus, item ut
illa sine matre
perpetuoque
uirgo.
àmTekv7ôn
obre àroré£eras.
It is evident that, however differently they present it, Philo and
Lydus drew from the same source, and that this contained matter
not available for the others cited; indeed this ascription of 7 to the
“leader of the universe” is unparalleled among the arithmologists.
Let us, however, observe three points on which Philo and Lydus
disagree: (1) Philo says the “other philosophers” identified 7 with
Athena, Lydus does not mention the “others”; (2) Lydus quotes
“Orpheus,” Philo does not; (3) Lydus says that Philolaus called
7 “motherless,” Philo does not, but ascribes the epithet, if to anyone,
to the “others,” who called 7 “motherless, virgin Victory.”
Since the contexts of both of these passages in Philo and Lydus
so closely resemble Theon, Anatolius, and others that their derivation
from S is unquestionable, it is hard to deny that, in some form, the
identification with the “leader” occurred in the version of S used by
them both; I am not sure, however, that either reports accurately
what was there. On the first point, for instance, all the other
arithmologists of the S family agree that the Pythagoreans called
7 Athena, thus flatly contradicting Philo. In fact, not even Lydus
supports Philo in his assertion; he stands alone. As to the second
point, the quotation of “Orpheus” may or may not be an interpolation
1 Doubtless the Üuvos els dpiOudy ascribed to him; cf. Delatte, “Etudes sur la
littérature pythagoricienne,’’ Bibl. de l'école des hautes études, fasc. 217, Paris, 1915,
pp. 208 ff.
Pagina 8
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)of Lydus or his immediate authorities; it is of little significance!
In the third disagreement Lydus is probably at fault; the epithet
“motherless” has been taken from its true context, the reference to
Athena, and applied to the “leader.” If an explanation may be
conjeetured, the source probably did contain the quotation of
Philolaus, associating 7 with the “leader,” and the identification with
Athena as well, with reference to which, indeed, the whole argument
that 7 does not generate and is not generated must have been framed.
Philo, a Hebrew and a monotheist, has preferred to give undue
prominence to Philolaus’ dictum as the Pythagorean teaching,
because it suits his religious philosophy; in Lydus the vicissitudes of
transmission have probably brought about the confusion of his
report. The identification with Athena, however, has survived in
the majority of S documents because it was the central identification
of this chapter in the original.
The essential fact gained is that Philo and Lydus depend on
sources closely allied and fuller than those of Anatolius and the
others, and this leads to another problem. When the arithmologists
are examined side by side it is found that Lydus frequently has
topics verbally identical with passages in good representatives of S
imbedded in contexts which cannot be paralleled in these authors,
but which sometimes can be paralleled in parts of the Philonic corpus
outside of the De mundi opificio, notably the Quaestiones et solutiones
in Genesim et Exodum?
The chief anomaly lies in the fact that in
1 Quotations, especially of the Pythagorean pseudepigrapha, are characteristic of
Lydus; he cites among others Philolaus, à XaAôatos, pvorixds Adyos, rà Aödyıa, Homer,
Parmenides, Ocellus, Pythagoras, Archytas, Pherecydes, Proclus, and Hippocrates.
Some of these were evidently not in S, but S had some such quotations, e.g., the
instances above;
Hippocrates and Solon (Anatolius, p. 37, Philo De mundi opificio
cc. 35, 36; Censorinus De die nat. 14. 3-4; Clem. Alex. Strom. vi. xvi. 144. 4 ff.);
Philolaus and Archytas in Theon, p. 106, 7 ff. Since S must in the first place have
been compiled from such sources, citations of them, preserved to varying degrees,
must be expected among their descendants.
2 In Lydus De mensibus portions of the following deal with arithmology: i.11, 15,
17; ii. 4-12; ili. 4, 9, 10, 14; iv. 7, 22, 64, 76, 88, 97, 111, 122, 125, 162.
In Philo,
outside of De mundi opificio, are Leg. all. i. 2, 4, 5; De plant. Noe 18, 29, 32; De migr.
Abr. 36; Quis rer. div. heres 35, 44; De cong. erud. grat. 17 ff.; De mut. nom. 1; De sept.
1, 2, 6, 18, 19, 21; De vit. cont. 8; Quaest. et sol in Gen. i. 83, 91; ii. 5, 12, 14, 17, 32;
iii. 38, 39, 49, 56, 61;
iv. 8, 27, 71, 110, 151, 154, 164;
Quaest. et sol. in Exod. i. 9;
ii. 61, 78, 84, 87, 93, 94, 97, 99, 100; De vit. Mos. iii. 4, 5, 11; De dec. orac. 6, 7, 8, 21.
Parallels with Qu. in Gen. iii. 38; ii. 12; iv. 110; iv. 8; iii. 61; and ii. 5 are given in
Pagina 9
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)the De mundi opificio Philo’s arithmology consistently agrees with
known representatives of S, like Anatolius;! whereas in this series of
passages he does not—at least not closely; at the same time they
are so like Lydus that community of source is beyond question, and
in Lydus the doubtful parts are knit closely into contexts undoubtedly
influenced by S. Do these peculiar passages of Philo and Lydus,
then, come from a second source common to both, or may they
also be claimed for
S?
The following examples furnish some basis
for argument:
Philo De mundi Lydus De mensibus Anatolius,
ii. 11, p. 32, 4 ff,
opificio 3:
6 ff:
(Wünsch):
p.
34, Theon, p. 102, 4 ff:. Capella vii. 736,
pp. 260, 21-261, 2
(Eyssenhardt) :
EE dé Huepaıs ônuoupyn0fvat
nov
ov
xbopov
olk Ted
Ttpocedetro Too Xpóvuv phxous 6 mov
ven. GAN
eredi)
Tots vywoptvois eer
Téter
dè 6 yap EE Apıduös yer&puôuès olketov, Apıd- yytikorares torw
uv dì dboews vöuoıs
yerrntikwraros à &É.
Téfews.
Philo, Qu. in Gen.
ili. 38:
quia ....Bex....
this paper, and are the closest literal parallels to be found; there are other parallels in
sense.
In Lydus’ great arithmological passage, ii. 4-12, the following lines (Wünsch’s
edition) are most obviously from S:
pp. 23, 7-8, 22-24, 14; 25, 15-16;
30, 8-16; 31, 8-9, 12-13; 32, 4-14; 33, 8-10, 14-34, 3; 34, 9-36, 9.
28, 8-10;
Elsewhere there
is certainly S material in iii. 4, p. 38, 17-22; iv. 64, p. 115, 3-9, 14-17, and probably
more, as only passages showing literal agreement with Philo and Anatolius are here
listed. A notable parallel not cited below is between Lydus iv. 111, p. 150, 11 ff.,
and Philo Qu. in Gen. iii. 49 tertio compositio octaui, etc.
1On the monad Philo says little in De mundi opificio but his remark in c. 9 that
the first day was called “one,” not “first,” should be compared with Lydus ii. 4, p. 21,
9-10. The account of 4 agrees closely with Anatolius (cf. also Theon, and Lydus
iv. 64); the short statement about 5, c. 20, agrees with Lydus ii. 10, p. 31, 12 f.;on
6 see c. 3 below; cc. 30-42, on 7, agree throughout with Anatolius, Theon, and Lydus;
on 10 cf. part of c. 15 with Anatolius and Lydus iii. 4. The other numbers are not
treated.
Pagina 10
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)Lydus:
Philo:
primus est perfectus numerus, par
suis partibus, et
primus par impar,
acceptans aliquid
etiam de causa
effectiva secundum
redundantem atque
ex materiali et affectiva secundum
parem:
quare
Theon:
Anatolius:
Capella:
ds GPTLOTÉPLTTOS, LET=
éxwv Kal rijs Ôpaortkijs obdias xara Tov
mwepittéy
Kai
Ts
buijs
Kara
Tòv
äprıov'
et dev Kai oi apxator
inter maiores anti- yáuov xal âpuovlav
quissimos nonnulli abròv ékáheoav.
matrimonium, alii
harmoniam
illum
dixere.?
De mundi opificio
(continued):
Tv TE yap amd uovádos ap&ros rédetds
tori, ioobpevos rots
davrod puéepeor
Kai
ovpmAnpobpevo?
ét
abrôv: uloous pev
Tpiéôos, rplrov dè ôvádos, ékrou dè povddos.
Kal ds émos eimeiv
äppnr Te Kai Ofjvs
elvar Tépure
TÔv yap darò povados
Hóvos Tédetds tori
Tots avrod uépeoi,
ovumAnpobuevos
[24
TÔv abrav, fuioovs
uèv Tpiäôos, Tpirov
dè Övádos, ékrov dè
Hováôos. Kai amdds
eimeiv äppnv Te Kai
Ofj\vs elvar mépurer,
ds Kal avr? 'Appodir Tv Tod äppevos
étàs mp@ros
a
TOLS
TeXetos 6 dè s’ rédewos*
yap (Cf. Censorinus De
aùríjs wépeow àpiôuet- die nat. 11. 4: nec
tat, a’ B' y', à motet immerito senarius
Tòv SG" ämal G' G': fundamentum gigbis y' SC" Tpis B'S’: nendi est
nam
mpòrTos ovykeltar € eum teleion Graeci,
Auloeos Tpirov EKTov' nos autem perfecTerpaywvulópevos Te tum uocamus, quod
piexa aùròv .... eius partes tres,
sexta et tertia et
dimidia, id est I et
dpiÔuós,
senarium uero perfectum analogicumque esse quis dubitet, cum suis partibus
impleatur?
nam et sextam sui
intra se continet
quod est unus, et
tertiam quod duo,
et medietatem quod
hic autem numerus
1Cf. also Macrobius Comm. in somn. Scip. i. 6. 12-13; Favonius; Isidore; Theol.
Arith., p. 36, bottom; Philo Leg. all. i. 2.
2 Philo Qu. in Gen. iii. 49: ‘. ... quod ueracissime quidam uocant harmoniam
uel matrimonium.”
3 Fries, op. cit., regards it as important that both Capella and Favonius use
forms of -plere. To judge from Philo, S originally had a double form (icotyevos
. Kal œuumAnpobuevos), the latter part being transmitted in the branch to which
Capella and Favonius belong. Theon does not have it because he has only the second
occurrence of this topic. Cf. also Lydus iv. 88, p. 136, 17 ff.
4 This shows that Censorinus’ sources had yevvnrik@raros or something like it.
5 Nicomachus ap. Photius cod. 187 has this topic.
Pagina 11
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)Philo:
Lydus:
Túv Te Tod
kal ëk Tis éxarépas
Övvanews
ppoorar’
üppev pey yap év
Tots ovat Td mepurróv,
76 dè &prioy Ofjv.
TEPUTTOY
ev
olv
ápÔuÖv apx rprds,
Anatolius:
OmXeos
105
Theon:
Capella:
II et III, eundem| Ueneri est attributus quod ex utriusque sexus commixtione conficitur, id
est, ex triade qui
mas quod impar
est numerus habetur, et dyade quae
femina
paritate;
nam bis terni sex
facit.
éxovoa pou, xal
ipsum perficiunt.)
Òtà Toro rapà Tots €£ dpriou Kal mepurToù
BeoXéyors Appevößnkus TÔv wpwrav dppevos
KaAovuern.
Kai OnAeos,
kal &ddos gmoir à
EE apepuòs Yuxoyouxös éorw, KTÀ.
(The rest bears
duds Sè dpriwy, ù 8’ no resemblance to
em’ audoty Sbvapus the other authors Ôvváper Kai modAda~riaciacud Yiverai,
étés.
quoted.)
dò Kal dppevd0ndus
kal yáuos kal &pTiowéptooos kaXeîtat.
xéx\yrat dè Yäpos
Sidre abròs pèr rots
éavrod nepeolv éorw
Taos,
ds
déexrat,
Kai
yauov &pyov TO Spora
Totety Ta &kyova Toîs
yovetor. (The reeredi)
tots
aÿroÿ
uépeoiv
éorw
loos,
ds Gédexrau, 516 Kai
yápov éxadouv aùdròv
zel
yáuov
épyov
motet duora Ta Eryova
mainder agrees tots yovedor. (The
closely with remainder agrees
Theon.)
closely with Anatolius.)
Here, the statement that 6 is yevvnriukwraros, in Philo and Lydus
but not in the others,! is associated, in Philo directly with S material
paralleled by Anatolius et al., in Lydus with the same material,
but after the intervention of a passage the agreement of which with
Quaest. in Gen. iii. 38 could not be closer.
In view of the occurrence
of yeryntixwraros in both Philo and Lydus, in an S context, and
because of the difficulty of wrenching away what follows in Lydus,
confirmed as it is by Quaest. in Gen. iii. 38 (itself somewhat resembling
S material), the best judgment, I think, will decide that the whole
passage of Lydus and Quaest. in Gen. iii. 38 both come from S, and
1 Except, perhaps, Censorinus.
Pagina 12
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)show again that Philo and Lydus possessed a particularly voluminous
source.
Note also the evidences of special relationships. The parallel
ws Emos eimetr—üàmAûs eiretr in Philo and Lydus is most remarkable;
that in the words ws Òéôeukrat used by both Anatolius and Theon
equally so. In Anatolius they refer to the first occurrence of the
topic at the beginning of the chapter; Theon, however, has omitted
this mention of the topic and has given only its second occurrence,
unnecessarily including ws Ööeöeıkraı, unless this is regarded as a
reference to another part of his book. To me, however, it seems
to be another example of agreement between these two upon the
merest matters of detail, comparable to the use by both of the words
“as the diagram shows” in the fifth chapter.” However else they
differ, such things show Theon and Anatolius to be extremely closely
related.
The passage above may also be used to show that Philo is not
the source of Lydus; the detail about Aphrodite, not in Philo, but
in Lydus, is also seen in its proper connection in Capella, which
testifies to its presence in the original source.
Philo, as a Jew,
would have none of it, and Lydus cannot have taken it from him.
There is no reason to believe that Philo would have included it in
his lost Iepi api0u@v,* and that this was Lydus’ source.
The following series of passages shows a similar situation:
Lydus ii. 7:
Philo, Quaest. in
Gen. ii. 12:
Anatolius, p. 30,
23 f.:
Theon, p.
10 ff.:
100,
«+. ámrò
TOD
ápriov Kai dAuwxod
&pôuoÿ TO yap
Äpriov
pueoov Gt
acmârat Srarpolpe»
vov Tov èvòos* uóvos
dé
détaiperos
6
wepittés.
6 uêèv
yap dppnv Apıduös
TeTpaywvos,
abyh
kal ps, È loörnros
wrevpGv ovveoTds
1 It could refer to the incidental remark at p. 101, 7, or to p. 45, 11 ff.
2Theon, p. 101, 19, ds önAot 7d ôtéypauua =Anatolius, p. 34, 4. Perhaps the
most notable agreement is in the introduction to their arithmologies.
3 Cf. Classical Philology, XV, 320, n. 4.
Pagina 13
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)Philo:
Lydus:
ò di OfAvs érepounkns, vorra kat
oxérov Exwv 61a Tr
avuoétynra’ 6 dè êrepouúkns Thy pep
&\árrova mAevpav
&\árrova exe evi,
Tv Sè peifw mepurTorépav wi. ore
6
dio
dpilyòs
où
kadapös, prov pèv
Örı Kevbs tori Kal
où vaorös,! rò dè
un wipes ob Kadapòv, apx dt are
plas Kai ävuoórnTos’
àmepias
ev
dà “rv Amy, de
toórnros dè bua Toüs
érepounKes’ ödev oi
maaoi ws ÜAnv
kal êrepórnra Tr
dvada raparauBà=
vovot.
TÓ\uar
dé
Kai of wept Pepexi=
Önv éxddecay Tr
ôvaôa, Kal ôpur
kal ööfav kaXoîdow,
bre 7d &n0ts Kal
Yevôès ey Sbtn tort.
mavoóBnros yap >
ÜAn Kr).
numerus
107
Anatolius:
Theon:
exe TO advddoyov
7TH Un Kal ravri
alaônTê.
eikafov
abryv ev dperaîs
avipeia’ poßeßnke
yap fon: dò Kal
TöAuav éxadovy Kal
xa0’ iv {An Kal way
roaloOnrév. . . .
autem
binus non mundus;
primum
quia vacuus est,
non densus; quod
autem non est
plenum
neque
mundum
est.
praeterea
quod
est etiam initium
infinitae immensitatis propter materiam.
necnon
inaequalitate laborat ob ceteros
longos (numeros).
nam qui a duobus
induplicemaugentur
omnes
alii
longi sunt. atqui
inaequale non est
mundum,
sicut
neque materiale,
sed quod ab illo
est fallibile est et
incomptum.....
pur
Kai
Sbtav
dè dvópatov, Ste
TadAnOes Kal Weddos
In the beginning of the chapter on 2 Anatolius has several topics
not represented by anything that Lydus says. The latter, then, if
he is using material from S, begins at some point in the middle of
the chapter. Now we have seen in a previous instance how
Anatolius summarized in one or two words all that Philo and
Lydus said about the topics dpruomépirros and &paevößnAvs, where
1 Philo Qu. in Exod. ii. 100: “. . + «+ ternio est condensus plenusque numerus,
nullam habens uacuitatem, sed quicquid in dualitate discerptum erat adimplens.”
This passage is so similar in character that there need be no hesitation in pronouncing
it based on something in S. Cf. Favonius’ remark on 5, “constat hic ex pleno et non
pleno, tribus uidelicet et duobus.”
Pagina 14
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)they were drawing upon a version of S fuller than his; it is a
tempting conjecture that he has done the same with the topic Nn
here, which Lydus and Philo have preserved more nearly in full;
and again, the use by Lydus of unquestionable S material in the
context, and the support of Philo, lend color to the assumption.
Perhaps—but this is not so certain—Lydus represents S even in
what follows the quotation given ‘and Anatolius, supported by
Theon, gives a rough summary. For the portions quoted, at any
rate, we probably rightly assert that their source was S.
From the material quoted or cited above it is clear that Lydus
utilized an S source of a form closely resembling that of Philo’s,
and more voluminous than the source of Anatolius and Theon, and
finally, since we see that Philo and Lydus, when they agree in
material not found in Theon and Anatolius, are often merely following
their more comprehensive source, it becomes probable that even
when the fact cannot be proved by Philonian parallels Lydus may
sometimes be quoting S. For many passages, of course, this cannot
be claimed, but for a considerable part of that section into which the
bulk of his arithmology is collected, De mensibus ii. 4-12, the statement should hold. For there are, in the first place, close verbal
agreements throughout this section with the best representatives of
S, Philo, Theon, and Anatolius,! as well as others, only slightly less
significant, with Philo outside the De mundi opificio and with the
Theologumena Arithmeticae;? furthermore, it is hardly questionable
that if S was the source of part of this section—as we know it was—
its influence extended over the whole.
Most important of all, in the
one place where Lydus can be compared with a practically unabridged
S text, that is, in the discussion of 7, where Philo can be used,? it is
seen that Lydus employed very little other than S material.* In
1 These are cited above, p. 102, n. 2.
2 E.g., cf. Lydus, p. 23, 7 ff., with Philo Qu. in Gen. iv. 110, and with both cf. the
statements of Capella and Favonius about the monad; p. 25, 12 ff., with Philo ibid.
iv. 8 and Theol. Arith., p. 16; p. 28, 8 ff., with Philo loc. cit. and Theol. Arith., p. 8;
p. 26, 13 ff, with Theol. Arith., p. 15; p. 26, 18 ff., with Theol. Arith., p. 16; p. 27, 1 ff.,
with Theol. Arith., p. 18; p. 31, 8, with Anatolius and Favonius on the pentad, Macrobius i. 6, 18, Capella vii. 735, [Plut.] Epit. iii. 14. 1, Philo De mundi opif. 20.
3 De mensibus ii. 12 and De mundi opif. 30-42.
4 Generally there is close correspondence throughout these passages, but Lydus
does not preserve as many topics as does Philo, nor at such length.
In some places,
however, by giving something lost by the others, even Philo, but yet undoubtedly
from §, he gives further proof that his source was most comprehensive. Cf. Lydus,
p. 35, 2 ff., with Philo De mundi opif. 41 and Anatolius, p. 36, 15; Lydus, p. 36, 5 ff.,
with Anatolius, p. 36, 24.
Pagina 15
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)addition to the many parallels which can only be referred to here,
it can be shown that very probably the arithmological block, ii. 4-12,
preserves one characteristic feature of arrangement from the original
S. The argument is based on comparing such expressions as 7) kar’
aicOnow Tpias, 7 vonrn Tpuás in pages 25, 12 ff., 27, 1 ff., and 17 ff.
and others similar in pages 29, 7-8, and 30, 7-9, with certain
phrases of Philo.
In Philo’s long discussion of 7! the narrative falls roughly into
this scheme:
I. Introductory—to describe the hebdomad properly is impossible.
II. The two hebdomads, “inside” and “outside” the decade.
The latter described.
III. Transition to the hebdomad “within” the decade, and its
powers & vonrots (cf. c. 34); followed by a group of topics.
IV. Transition again, and the powers of 7 & aioônroïs, with
topics.
V. Transition, “though it shows so many forms in both bodiless
and conceptual things, the nature of 7 extends also over all visible
creation. For what is not gi\éBôouor ?” Topics follow.
VI. Etymology—érra, oeBaouôs, septem.
Thus groups of topics are made and the transitions supply the
headings.
In most cases the topics themselves are all that can be
paralleled in other writers, but in a few instances the transitions
themselves are paralleled; for example, the fifth heading indicated
above:
Philo De mundi opificio 38
rocavras ideas kal Eru mAciovas ÿ éBdopas Ev dowpdrous Kal vonroîs Emideikvu-
Tat.
Òuareiver dì adrÿs % dios Kal
TÀ
A
>
A
€
+
x
éxi THY Óparijv ray ovciav, oùpavòv
Kai yfjv, tà mépara Tov ravròs HÔdoaca.
27
Ti yap ov deéBdopov; . . . + QUTLKA
Tov ovpavoy paow Era òrel@odar Kúx
>
la
€
x
kXots, KTA.
A
U
Lydus ii. 12, p. 34, 16 (Wünsch)
Biareivea St adrÿs ú pois Kal émi rhv
Öparijv dracayv oöolav, oùpavòv Kal yijv:
adrika yovv oùpavóv daow Era die
daodaı kurkoıs, KTA.
Anatolius, p. 36, 25
mávra. buAdßdona.
Philo Leg. all. i. 4
xaipe de ú dios EBSoudde: m\dvmrés
TE yap érra yeyövaoıy, KTA.
This shows that at least one Philonic transition was in Lydus’
source, and the use of the coined word gıA&ßöouos is strong evidence
1 De mundi opif. ec. 30-42.
Pagina 16
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)of the same thing for the family of Anatolius.
Lydus uses phrases,
cited above, that appear to be of the same character, and even in
the other writers! here and there may be found what seem to be
introductions or transitions surviving from their literary ancestors.
A scheme of grouping topics under heads seems clearly enough to
have characterized S, though what the groups were, and whether
they were always the same, is not clear. Traces of such a scheme
in Lydus form additional evidence of the great influence of S upon
his arithmology.
Outside of Lydus’ great arithmological block there are two
sections, iii. 4 and iv. 64, which certainly contain material from S,
With the first should be compared the nearly identical passages in
Anatolius (p. 39, 5 ff.) and Philo (De mundi opificio 15);? to the
second I have referred elsewhere.
The source of the rest of his
arithmology, scattered here and there,‘ is harder to determine; it
cannot be argued with such probability that the same sources were
used for all or that S played such a large part. In one case Lydus
probably used the lost Theologumena Arithmeticae of Nicomachus,®
perhaps in others as well; twice Philo is a possible source. One of
the latter passages, iii. 14, connects the number 30 with the length
of a generation, and is directly paralleled by Philo Quaest, in Gen.
ii. 5; but this is a topic probably used in S, for Censorinus De die
natali 17, 2 has it and in the Theologumena Arithmeticae it appears in
the discussion of the control of human life by the number 7; 30
might also appear as an analogue of 3. Hence in this case both
Philo and Lydus could have derived the topic from their common
source. But though the other of the two passages, De mensibus
1 E.g., Chalcidius c. 37 ad init. (quoted below); Capella vii. 733, p. 265, 5: “quid
quod omnium natura nonne huic probatur numero (sc. 7) deseruire?’’ (Cf. with this
the passages quoted above.)
2 The citations are undoubtedly based on the tenth chapter of the original 8,
but the topic is closely paralleled in the introduction as well; cf. Anatolius, p. 29, 6-8;
Theon, p. 99, 17-20; Sextus Empiricus Adv. math. iv. 2 ff. It is found also in Chalcidius c. 35; Hierocles In carm. aur. ap. Mullach, FPG, Vol. I, p. 464; Capella
vii. 742; Isidore Liber numerorum, Migne, PL, Vol. LXXXIII, 190BC; [Plut.] Epit.
i. 3. 8; Stobaeus Hel. i. 10. 12.
3 Classical Philology, XV, 315, n. 2, for Lydus, p. 115, 14-17; for Lydus, p. 115,
4-9, cf. Theon and Anatolius on the triad.
4 The passages concerned are enumerated in p. 102, n. 2.
5 De mensibus iv. 162; this passage mentions Nicomachus by name but is not at
alllike Theol. Arith., p. 55 Ast; hence the reference is without doubt to the lost work of
Nicomachus.
Pagina 17
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)iii. 10, which is practically identical with Quaest. in Gen. iii. 61,
might conceivably occur in the discussion of 2 or 3, 4 or 9, of an S
document, it obviously refers to Lev. 23:18-19, and was doubtless from the first most at home in an Old Testament commentary.
Since there is otherwise no proof that Lydus and Philo shared any
common source except 8, we may, I think, admit that in this, and
perhaps even in other isolated instances, Lydus drew from Philo
himself, without prejudicing the general conclusion that elsewhere,
certainly in De mensibus ii. 4-12, he did not use Philo directly but a
document similar to Philo’s authority.
One other important detail with regard to Lydus is that he quotes
Proclus in his arithmology;! this, together with the signs of confusion
and disjointedness in his book, indicates that his S material comes
to him through other hands and was not his own compilation, and
furthermore that one of his authorities, perhaps his immediate source,
wrote after the time of Proclus. But the version of S involved in
Lydus’ ancestry was a full one, at least as far as De mensibus ii. 4-12
is concerned, though some of the scattered arithmological passages
may be derived from an abridgment of the style of Anatolius.?
The discussion of Lydus helps in elucidating the problems raised
by Philo. There can be no doubt that all the arithmology in the
De mundi opificio comes from S, and now, through Lydus, we see
that those passages elsewhere which do not resemble Theon and
Anatolius, but are paralleled in Lydus, come probably from an
unabridged 8.
The passages of Philo’s Old Testament commentaries
which contain arithmology are listed above, but in the interests of
space I shall not examine them all, but make only a few general
observations about them.
The chief reason why these Philonic passages look unlike the
ordinary S type of arithmology is because they are concerned with
the higher numbers which figure in Scripture narratives—the dimensions of the ark, for instance. Per se, such numbers probably were
not discussed in S, but their arithmological interpretation usually
involves the lower numbers as well, and here Philo might, and in
fact seems to, use S.
1 De mensibus ii. 6, p. 23, 11; ii. 8, p. 27, 19.
2 E.g., in iv. 64, p. 115, 4-9 and 14-17.
Proclus’ dates were 410-85 A.D.
Pagina 18
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)Again, Philo’s method of writing in these commentaries is very
different from what is seen in the De mundi opificio.
Take as an
example the discussion of 8 in Quaest. in Gen. ili. 49; the qualities of
8 are enumerated, one after another, with primo, secundo, and so on.
The arrangement, certainly, is quite foreign to the S tradition, but
in the details some agreement may be found both in this case and
in others.
In dealing with the higher numbers, too, Philo probably supplied
much of the material himself, but employing recognized Pythagorean
devices, such as the summations of numbers, triangular and other
polygonal numbers, and the like. One might almost say that he
himself expanded S to fit his special needs, using its own material
and its own methods. In general, however, we are justified in
concluding that among other sources Philo used a very comprehensive
version of S, which he sometimes quoted literally and sometimes
recast in his own way.
Up to this point we have been concerned primarily with Philo,
Lydus, and Anatolius, who represent what is probably the older
strain of the S family. Now we turn to Theon and the others.
There is but one divergence of primary importance to be noted
in the comparison of Theon and Anatolius; the rest may be accounted
for on the ground that either Theon or Anatolius has omitted
something, originally in S, which the other happens to preserve,
and such variants have but little significance for the history of the
transmission. But in the chapter on 7, at page 103, 18 ff., after
several sentences agreeing fully with Anatolius, Theon suddenly
interjects a passage beginning with a quotation from Posidonius.
This section commences with the statement that the lunar month is
made up of four hebdomads, continues with various topics showing
the control exercised by 7 over childbirth and the ages of man, and
extends nearly, or quite, to the end of the chapter.
The portion
dealing with childbirth and the ages is wholly unlike anything in
Philo or Anatolius—Lydus neglects the subject entirely—for they
say only that seven months’ children are viable, and on the ages of
man simply quote the elegy of Solon and a passage of Hippocrates.
On the other hand, a whole series of arithmologists, Chalcidius, Varro,
Capella, Favonius, Macrobius, and the Theologumena, agree with
Pagina 19
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)Theon in putting at this point something much like his account.
In other words, this is a test passage upon which the S family as a
whole divides into two camps.
Now since Theon otherwise agrees with Anatolius very closely,
sometimes in the minutest detail, I can see no escape from the conclusion that here there has been some interpolation into, or modification of, the original S, and it is perfectly clear that Theon, and not
Anatolius, has admitted the interpolation. For it is Theon who
mentions Posidonius’ name; Posidonius is later than the compiler
of S; hence the original S could not have mentioned him, and liberty
has been taken with the original text in that line of arithmologies
which does.
This quotation, furthermore, adds further proof to the contention
of the writer’s previous essay. If Theon (or his authority) quotes
Posidonius, it is implied that the material contained in this citation
was not in the original document used as a general source; consequently Posidonius was not the author of that document. Nor is
Theon’s arithmology Posidonian, save in so far as Posidonius is
interpolated into it.
The quotation of Posidonius, in Theon, extends probably at least
over page 103, lines 18-23, and whether or not it goes farther, the
characteristic unlikeness to Anatolius persists practically to the
chapter’s end.! The part dealing with birth and the ages (p. 103,
ll. 1-9) is wholly unlike; at 104, 15-16 comes a list of seven vital
organs headed, in Theon, by yA@ooa, in Anatolius and Philo by
orôuaxos; and in page 104, lines 16-18, Theon says upon the authority
of Herophilos that the length of the intestine is twenty-eight cubits,
while Anatolius gives it as twenty-one on the same authority. The
writers mentioned above as siding with Theon against Philo and
Anatolius agree with Theon also regarding the names of the vital
organs. There is, however, a general agreement between the two
groups, save on the matter of birth and the ages; they use the same
topics and much the same wording. This must be due to the fact
that S is ultimately back of each strain, but the peculiar features
1 Verbal likeness between the two, which ceases at pp. 103, 18-104, 12, begins
again at p. 104, 12, but though their language from here to the end of the chapter is
similar the two curious discrepancies in detail noted above occur in this portion.
Pagina 20
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)found in Theon and the others must have been derived from something outside of the family from which Philo and Anatolius descend.
If we compare the passages! in which the various arithmologists
enumerate the “ages of man,” one group, consisting of Philo, Anatolius, and Clement of Alexandria, are seen to be characterized by
the quotation of Solon and Hippocrates; the rest, omitting this,
make the statement, not found in the first group, that the teeth
appear at the seventh month. It is probable that the Solonian and
Hippocratic passages are the basis upon which are founded all the
accounts of the second group, which, it may be remarked, have
many things in common. Among them, the Theologumena Arithmeticae and Macrobius are practically identical;? they go into the
greatest detail, and because the tendency in arithmological transmission is in general to abbreviate rather than amplify, what they say
is doubtless closest to the original source. All the rest seem to
have concise statements derived from the longer form preserved by
these two.
Now this longer version, in connection with the seventh and
fourteenth years,? makes prominent the fact that the rpodoptxds \óyos
then develops, and from this we must deduce that a Stoic had
something to do with the formulation of the original of this account,
for this is a distinctively Stoic doctrine. Again, Chalcidius, Capella,
and Favonius agree exactly upon the details of the “ages,” and
state that at twenty-one years the beard grows and that increase in
height comes at twenty-eight; Theon, however, who otherwise
agrees with them, says that the beard and increase in height come
at twenty-one and increase in breadth at twenty-eight, herein agreeing
exactly with Macrobius and substantially with the Theologumena,
which fails to mention the beard.
Deviation under such circumstances cannot be mere chance.
1Philo De mundi opif. 35-36; Anatolius, p. 36, 25 ff.;
Theol. Arith., pp. 48-50;
Macrob. i. 6. 67 ff.; Theon, p. 104, 5 ff.; Chalcidius c. 37; Capella vii. 739; Favonius;
Varro ap. Gellius iii. 10; Clem. Alex. Strom. vi. xvi. 144. 4 f.
2 Macrobius has preserved more of the original of both; cf. p. 116, nn. 2 and 8.
3 Their statements are similar, but there is a slight disagreement in arrangement.
4 There is no reason why S may not from the first have contained Stoic doctrines,
irrespective of special Stoic influences or interpolations later, as the S material was
in the course of transmission. The neo-Pythagoreans were eclectics. This, however,
is a particularly striking case and the surrounding circumstances unusual.
Pagina 21
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)If now we put together all the evidence—Posidonius knew and
used S; some Stoic has modified S by inserting the account of the
ages seen in Macrobius and the Theologumena, and more briefly in
the rest of the group; Theon, immediately after citing Posidonius’
name, significantly parallels Macrobius and the Theologumena against
Chalcidius, Favonius, and Capella—the probability becomes high
that Posidonius himself is the original source of the account of the
ages seen in Macrobius and the Theologumena, and in fact of the
whole block of material wherein the Theonian and Philonic groups
differ, and which we know came by interpolation into the S family.
Furthermore, Theon and Chalcidius cannot have taken their
respective accounts from the same authority; and therefore if
Chalcidius, as is generally believed, here follows Adrastus, Theon,
certainly here and probably in the whole of his arithmological passage,
cannot be following Adrastus.! His source, rather, seems to have
drawn directly upon Posidonius, because it agrees so closely with the
Theologumena Arithmeticae and Macrobius.
On the other hand, if, as seems probable, all of this group alike
depend ultimately upon Posidonius in this passage, it must be taken
as a sign that all had as a common ancestor an S document thus
modified from Posidonius’ Commentary on the Timaeus, for surely
such similar deviations from the Philonic norm cannot have been
made independently; and Adrastus and the undetermined source
of Theon must be included in this related group. It is far more
likely that the common ancestor was an S document with such
1 At present no other conclusion seems possible; yet as the writer pointed out in
Classical Philology, XV, 318 (with n. 2) Chalcidius and Theon are closely related.
The explanation must be that the source of Theon used a source practically the same
as that of Adrastus.
Note, however, that the important agreement with regard to
the harmonic ratios mentioned in Class. Phil., XV, 318, lies between Chalcidius and
Theon, p. 58, 13 ff., a passage not in Theon’s formal arithmology, but referred to
Adrastus by Altmann, op. cit., pp. 22 ff. (though not by Schmekel and Borghorst).
Altmann alone thinks Theon’s source, in p. 99, 8 ff., Adrastus;
Schmekel, op. cit.,
p. 409, n. 3, names Thrasyllus, and Borghorst Moderatus; Hiller, Rhein.
584, n. 1, says it cannot be Adrastus.
Mus., XXVI,
The evidence above makes for the prevailing
view, but the question cannot yet be called settled. The analysis of Theon’s text
to show the different sources involves extremely nice judgments and too much that is
subjective; hence the results cannot be fully satisfactory. E. Hiller in Rhein. Mus.,
XXVI, 582 ff., is chiefly responsible for the belief that Chalcidius follows Adrastus,
but Chalcidius’ text has not been studied as carefully as Theon’s. It is not impossible
that Theon follows Adrastus, while Chalcidius, in his arithmology, has some other
authority.
Pagina 22
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)modification than an S arithmology incorporated by Posidonius in
his commentary, both because all the modifications seem to have
been made in one place, in the seventh chapter, and because
Posidonius apparently made a different use of the introduction to
S from what is seen in Theon.! This may indicate that his arithmology was not formally arranged as such, or was even incomplete.
Though it is by no means certain, even Macrobius and the Theologumena are perhaps to be traced to an S document of this type
rather than to Posidonius himself.
The Theologumena Arithmeticae, generally ascribed to Iamblichus,
deserves more study than can be given here.
It is without doubt
in very large part Nicomachean, based on the Theologumena Arithmeticae of Nicomachus. Its connection with S is obvious, for dozens
of the topics of the S tradition appear in its pages; probably Nicomachus himself used S. The theory also has been advanced that
Posidonius influenced it; but it would be hard to say whether all the
S topics employed came to Nicomachus through Posidonius or not.
It would be rash also to pass final judgment on Macrobius without
extended study. It seems probable, however, that Macrobius made
use, probably indirectly, of the lost Theologumena Arithmeticae of
Nicomachus, and through this is influenced by Posidonius and S.
This statement is prompted by the fact that in a number of passages,
one a very long one, Macrobius agrees very closely with the Theologumena as printed by Ast,? but sometimes offers a fuller version than the latter,? which seems to point to a use of Nicomachus,
the chief source of Iamblichus. It has been argued that Macrobius
had a neo-Platonic source; if so, this without doubt was influenced
by Nieomachus.*
1See Sextus Empiricus Adv. math. vii. 91 ff., and Class. Phil., XV, 310, 321.
2 Cf. Macrobius i. 6. 11 with Theol. Arith., p. 53; ibid., 14-18 with pp. 47-48;
24-40 (especially secs. 33, 36, 39) with p. 50; 45 with p. 48; 44 with p. 44; 61-80
with pp. 45 ff.; the last is the strongest instance.
3 E.g., sections 68, 74, 78 and others in Macrobius contain matter not in Theol.
Arith. but very closely knit into the common account and obviously from the common
source.
4So Borghorst, op. cit., pp. 43 f.; Altmann, op. cit., pp. 51 ff., especially pp. 69-70.
The latter thinks the neo-Platonic source of Macrobius, as well as Nicomachus, Theon,
and Chalcidius, used Adrastus. But this promiscuous grouping does not permit
an explanation of the extreme closeness of Theon to Anatolius, Philo, and Lydus,
whom he believes to depend upon Posidonius—an impossibility, as has been argued in
this paper.
Pagina 23
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)Varro, too, apparently drew some material from the S tradition,
and is an important figure in it because he has long been regarded
as the chief source of Capella, Favonius, and Macrobius; in fact,
the position ascribed to him is second only to that of Posidonius.
The two books of Varro known positively to have contained arithmology are the Tubero or De origine humana, quoted by Censorinus
De die natali, 9 ff.‘ and the first of the fifteen books of Imagines,
or Hebdomades, cited by Aulus Gellius iii. 10.
The former dealt
with numbers only in so far as they govern birth, and the latter
devoted itself to the number 7 alone. Our positive knowledge,
therefore, does not permit it to be stated that Varro wrote a complete
arithmology, or that a complete arithmology could have been based
on anything that he wrote.
A noteworthy characteristic of Varro’s arithmology is its independence. While others usually reproduced the traditional topics,
he seems to have drawn other pertinent material from the great
number of Greek and Latin authors that he had read, and to have
added much on his own account?
In the Tubero Varro can have taken only details from the S
tradition; his main account of the control of childbirth by the
number 7 differs radically from what is found in the Theologumena
or in any other of the authors we have considered,’ and he has an
1 Of the passage cited cc. 9. 1—14, 2 are obviously drawn from Varro mainly, but
it may be doubted whether cc. 14. 3 ff. are; for 14. 2 gives Varro’s doctrine of the
ages of man, and in the following sections are presented the opinions of others, in a
similar fashion and with no mark of being taken through Varro. As Hippocrates
and Solon are among those cited, without much doubt an S document of the type of
Philo and Anatolius was consulted—the only place where the two would be likely
to be found together. If this came through Varro, he himself must have used S
in its Philonic-Anatolian form.
2 E.g., ap. Gellius loc. cit. he speaks of the seven ‘‘ halcyon days,” of the limit of
human height as 7 ft., and adds a detail about the number of teeth that appear in
infants.
These are not elsewhere paralleled, nor is his account of childbirth exactly
like any other.
3 Censorinus c. 11.
Using the Pythagorean “ plinthion in double ratio” 6, 8, 9, 12
(ef. Philo De mundi opif. c. 37, Qu. in Gen. i. 91, iii. 38, iv. 27; Theol. Arith., p. 39),
Varro says that in the first 6 days a humor lacteus is formed, in the next 8 a humor
sanguineus, in the next 9 flesh, and in the next 12 the formation of the fetus is completed; the period of formation is 35 days, and the whole gestation period 6X35, or
210 days for seven months’ children. Something similar is found in Augustine De
div. quaest. Ixxriii, quaest. lvi; but Augustine uses stages of 6, 9, 12, and 18 days, 45 in
all, for the formation of nine months’ children doubtless (the ‘‘plinthion in the triple
Pagina 24
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)apparently original account of the ages.! In the Hebdomades far
more that is derived from S can be traced, with the admixture,
however, of certain topics probably original with him. The fact
that he mentions the growth of the teeth at seven months, and that
his account of the numerical control of gestation bears some resemblance to what Theon says, suggest that he may have taken his
material by way of Posidonius.?
To the writer’s mind the arguments which have been made to
show that Varro was the source of Capella, Favonius, and even of
Macrobius, lack force. Since these writers, in arithmology, were
all members of the S family, the same topics naturally occur in all
of them, and to point out a simple parallel is of small significance,
for it might be derived almost anywhere. To prove that a given
writer followed Varro and no other, one must show parallels to some
of the distinctive things in Varro; yet, though Varro was one of the
most independent of arithmologists and made many statements
wholly unlike those of Philo, Theon, Anatolius, and the rest, in no
case has a parallel between his peculiar topics and Capella, Favonius,
or Macrobius been pointed out.
Eyssenhardt’s contention’ that Varro was Capella’s source is
regarded by Fries as successfully maintained and is used by the
latter as the basis of his declaration that Varro was the source of
Favonius. Eyssenhardt begins with the comparison of Capella’s
statements about the monad and a citation of Varro about God
ratio’), regarding which Varro does not, as one would expect, give a similar account.
In the Theol. Arith., p. 39, 6X35 and 6X45 are stated to be the gestation periods;
the two plinthia are mentioned but not these stages of fetal development, and ibid.,
pp. 46-47, the stages are reckoned by weeks.
In fact, none of the arithmologists
parallels this Varronian account, not even Varro himself ap. Gellius iii. 10.
1 Censorinus c. 14, 2.
2 Varro states that the seed coagulates the first week; the head and spine of males
is formed in the fifth; formation is completed in the seventh, and birth takes place
usually after 273 days. Theon, p. 104, 2 ff., says that the formation is completed in
seven weeks according to Empedocles; some say males are formed in five. In the
Theol. Arith., p. 47 ff., five weeks are given as the period of formation for a seven months’
child, for the nine months’ children six for females and seven for males; the 273 days’
period is not paralleled. Varro’s account possibly has the same origin as these others,
but in any case he has considerably modified it.
3 In his edition of Capella, Leipzig, 1866, pp. liii ff., Borghorst, op. cit., p. 45, accepts
the view, and also thinks Favonius based upon Varro.
Pagina 25
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)containing no reference whatever to numbers, a decidedly fantastic
parallel. He then cites their accounts of childbirth, but can show
only that they both have the portions common to nearly all arithmologists, none of the peculiarly Varronian traits; the same, too,
can be said of the only other citations he makes, regarding 7 and the
moon. The argument really shows only that Capella belongs to the
S family, and is far from proving him Varronian.
Fries’s view about Favonius is open to precisely the same objections. The parallels which he claims are parallels with half a dozen
others besides Varro, and there is nothing distinctively Varronian
about them; furthermore, to prove Favonius Varronian through
parallels with Capella is simply to pyramid hypotheses, and is based
on false theory if it cannot be established that Capella drew on Varro.
Favonius does, to be sure, once cite Varro by name in a passage in
which 27, the cube of 3, is connected with the length of the moon’s
course; but neither is it sure that this is a direct citation of Varro,
nor is it necessarily derived from any Varronian arithmology, for
in the only Varronian arithmological text which we have Varro
adheres to the usual view of the writers of this school and says that
the moon’s course is finished in 28 (4X7) days.! Incidentally, Fries
errs in saying that Macrobius i. 6. 53 agrees fere simillimis verbis
with Favonius; for in the passage cited Macrobius mentions only
the 28-day month of the moon. The only other passage which can
possibly be connected with Varro is that in which Favonius translates
kbBos quadrantal, a Varronian word,? as Fries says, relying on Gellius
i. 20. But Gellius in this passage does not directly quote this word
from Varro; he cites him once, to be sure, but the whole passage is
not necessarily derived from him.
If, then, special Varronian influence upon Capella and Favonius
cannot be shown, what is the probable line of their descent? It is at
least clear that both belong to the S family, and Capella, though
his style is unique, is closer to the other members of the group than
1I.e., ap. Gellius iii. 10.
2 Cf. Cassiodorius Exp. in. Psalt., Migne, PL, Vol. LXX, p. 79B: ‘iste autem
numerus (sc. 8) est quem arithmetici actu primum quadrantal appellant, quem
Philolaus Pythagoricus harmoniam geometricam uocat.’’
The citation of Philolaus
is found in Nicomachus Introd. arith. ii. 26. 2 (but not in Boethius Inst. arith. ii. 49).
The word quadrantal here hardly indicates Varronian influence.
Pagina 26
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)Favonius in that he presents more of the usual topics.
In one significant passage, vil. 739, in which the ages, vital organs, sensory
openings, and parts of the body are dealt with, Capella parallels
Chaleidius, c. 37, very closely. But though many words and phrases
are identical, Capella cannot have copied from Chalcidius, for he
must have taken his account of the parts of the body, for example,
from the same source as the rest of the passage, and this is wholly
omitted by Chalcidius. The possibility remains, however, that
Adrastus, the supposed authority of Chalcidius, can have either
directly or indirectly influenced Capella here; if so, there must have
been a Latin translation of Adrastus in the ancestry of both Chalcidius
and Capella, for their agreements are in the Latin terms. In the
rest of his arithmology there is no especial likeness between Chalcidius
and Capella, beyond the use of topics employed by many others,
and parallels of this sort, as has already been remarked, are useless
in the present investigation.
Both Capella and Favonius, however, have a rather unusual
treatment of the monad. They make the distinction between
numerus and the numerabile, and hence between unity and one?
In Chalcidius and Macrobius this notion does not occur, and the
monad is identified with the immutable, timeless God, or his mind,
containing the forms of all numbers and things, whence also these
emanate. This is also the conception of Nicomachus.? It is neoPlatonic, obviously; the former Aristotelian, particularly as Capella
gives it. The former conception, too, underlies two passages in
which Philo and Lydus show a surprising verbal identity—Quaest.
in Gen. iv. 110 and De mensibus, page 23, 7 ff.—and may be traced
1E.g., Capella: “item secunda hebdomas pubertatem mouet gignendique possibilitatem, tertia florem genarum, quarta incrementa staturae finiuntur, quinta iuuenilis
aetatis plena perfectio est,’ etc. Chalcidius: ‘idem quoque secunda hebdomade
pubertatem adfert utrique sexui gignendique et pariendi maturitatem, tertia uero
hebdomade ostentat se flos et lanugo circa genas. quarta uero hebdomade definiuntur
incrementa staturae. quinta plenam iuuenilis aetatis adfert perfectionem.”
2 Capella vii. 731: “.... sacra monas . . . . quae si species est accidens
cuilibet exstantium primo, priusque est quod numerat quam illud numerandun, rite
eam .... ueneramur.”
Favonius makes the distinction between unum and unum
solum; e.g., ‘‘nullumque corpus unum solum corpus. unum solum recte dicetur quod
in partes sui diuisione non discedat. . . . . illud igitur numerus, hoc quod numerabile
est recte dicetur.”’
8 Chalcidius cc. 38-39; Macrobius i. 6. 7 ff.; Nicomachus ap. Theol. Arith., p. 4.
Pagina 27
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)in certain passages of Theon (pp. 19, 18 ff., 20, 12 ff.), not in
his formal arithmology, perhaps derived from the Pythagorean
Moderatus. Besides, the version of Capella and Favonius bears
enough resemblance to the account of the monad in S, represented
by Anatolius, to be regarded as a derivative of the original S in
which more has been preserved than in most others of its descendants.
The identification of the monad with God, or Zeus, was in S, as
Anatolius shows, and also in Capella and Favonius, without the
neo-Platonic dressing given the topic by Macrobius and Chalcidius;
it may also be noted that Anatolius, page 29, 12, calls it Yovn, van
oùoa Tay àp#@uë&r, which matches Capella’s omniumque numerorum
solam seminarium esse, and that in all three occurs the notion
expressed by Favonius pereuntibus aliis quae id recipere possunt
immutabile perseverat. In this passage Chalcidius cannot be following
Adrastus, for the latter, as a Peripatetic, would be likely to state
the theme about as Capella has done; in fact, the Aristotelian form
adopted here by Capella is quite as much an argument for Adrastean
influence as the likeness with Chalcidius noted above.
A further characteristic of Capella is to identify each number
with some divinity, just as Nicomachus is known to have done,
judging from Photius, cod. 187, and the Theologumena Arithmeticae
of Iamblichus. Perhaps Capella owes this trait to Nicomachus, for
some of the instances are quite remarkable; for example, his identification of the triad with the Fates, Graces, and quaedam uirgo, quam
dicunt caeloque ereboque potentem is matched, as far as the Fates are
concerned, by Theol. Arith., page 16, and ‘Exary is one of the epithets
applied by Nicomachus according to Photius. But these agreements,
after all, may be due only to the influence of S, for we have seen
above that Capella’s identification of 6 with Aphrodite, which
might otherwise be regarded as Nicomachean, is proved by the
agreement of Lydus to have been part of S. Though Capella
himself or his Latin sources have modified them somewhat, more of
these identifications may have been in the original S than are
generally preserved outside of Capella’s own line.
Capella, then, seems to be descended from an S document of the
Theonian group, more voluminous than Theon, and probably influenced by a Latin translation of Adrastus.
It cannot be positively
Pagina 28
Vedi nel PDF(si apre in una nuova finestra)shown that Adrastean influence affected more than the parts mentioned above, and furthermore it is impossible, from Chalcidius,
to tell whether Adrastus’ commentary on the Timaeus contained
a whole arithmology, such as the source of Capella must have been;
I am inclined, therefore, to explain the situation by Adrastean
influence rather than actual copying of Adrastus.
Favonius, too, has the marks of the Theonian branch of the
family, but to judge from his account of the birth and ages of man,
which is unlike Capella and Chalcidius in phrasing but adds some
details to which the name of Hippocrates is affixed, he did not come
under Adrastean influence, though his original authority must
have been fairly comprehensive. In spite of this some of his chapters
are decidedly thin, and seem to have been padded with arithmetical
detail, as in the fourth and sixth, or astronomical matter, as in the
fourth, fifth, and eighth, foreign to the original S. It is probable,
too, that in some details he was influenced by Capella, but further
about his sources can hardly be ventured here.
I do not intend at this time to add anything about the slighter
arithmological sources, such as Plutarch, Vindicianus, and scattered
references in the Aristotelian commentaries; but a word may be
added concerning Isidore’s Liber numerorum. The Scriptural arithmology which forms a large part of this work is of course outside
the field of this discussion; some of it was original, but much more
modeled after the quasi-Philonic attempts to apply numerical
symbolism to the Bible which were attractive to many early churchmen.! The non-scriptural part seems to come either from Capella
or the latter’s source, for sometimes Isidore adds to the topics of
Capella.
This, however, is outweighed by the fact that Isidore
employs whole sentences in the very words of Capella, and the
latter’s style is unmistakable. To make clearer the general conclusions of this investigation a diagram showing the descent of the
most important members of the S family is appended.
1 Examples are the Expositio in Psalterum of Cassiodorius; Augustine in parts of
De civ. Dei, De div. quaest. lxxæiti, and De musica; Ambrose in De Noe et arca 12. 39,
De Abr. 2.9. 65, 2. 11. 80, Exp. in Ev. sec. Luc. vii. 95, 139, 173, and Exp. in Psal.
cæviti, pp. 1198A, 1280B Migne.
Pagina 29
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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN