Themistius (c. 317-387 CE) was a Greek rhetorician and commentator, who wrote extensively on the Aristotelian corpus, embedding in his paraphrases materials from more ancient authors, chiefly from Alexander of Aphrodisias. Themistius describes the origin and the aim of his philosophical production in different ways: his paraphrases contain what Themistius learned from and inherited by his teachers (Oration 23,294d-295a); Themistius wrote paraphrases as a result of his official activity as teacher (CAG V/1: 1,7-10; CAG V/3: 1,1-5).
Themistius’ Paraphrases of Aristotle’s works which have come down to us in the Greek original are those of the Posterior Analytics (CAG V/1), Physics (CAG V/2), and of On the Soul (CAG V/3).
Even though most of Themistius’ paraphrases are lost in Greek, many quotations of them are extant in the works of Simplicius (c. 490-560 CE), Philoponus (c. 490-570 CE), and a few other ancient authors (Eustratius of Nicaea, CAG XXI/1: 11,5-9; Sophonias, CAG XXIII/1: 1,11-22; Theodorus Metochites, ed. Mueller: p 95-96). More of the works of Themistius was known to Syriac and Arabic authors than has survived in Greek.
Several information about Themistius’ paraphrases available in Byzantium are contained in the Suda Lexicon (ed. Adler A.: 690-691) and in Photius’ Bibliotheca (Cod. 74, ed. Henry R., vol. 2: 154; Benakis 1987, p 352). Modern scholarship maintains that the translation of Boethius’ De differentiis topicis by Maximus Planudes granted an indirect access to Themistius’ Paraphrase of Aristotle’s Topics (Todd 2003:62 and n. 33). From the eleventh century, his paraphrases were several times copied by Greek scribes together with Aristotle’s works or sometimes in marginal scholia. Besides these copies, several quotations from his paraphrases were also cited in anthologies together with other commentaries (Todd 2003: notes 34-35).
Themistius’ philosophical works were quoted and discussed by several Arab (and Jewish) authors, whose writings count - together with the Graeco-Latin translations - as a major source of the knowledge of his paraphrases in medieval Europe. An Arabic translation of his Paraphrase of Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics was the basis of the Latin translation by Gerard of Cremona (c. 1144-1187). Themistius became known in medieval Europe through this Latin translation and from the quotations contained in Arabic sources. Besides the translations and the indirect transmission through Arabic sources, the Latin West also got acquainted with him from other works. The ps-Augustinian De decem categoriis (ed. Minio-Paluello 1965) provided an indirect access to his Paraphrase of the Categories, lost in Greek. Analogously, the Paraphrase of the Topics was to a certain extent known in the Latin world through several quotations in Boethius and Cassiodorus. From the thirteenth century onward, some of Themistius’ paraphrases started to be translated from Greek original into Latin and commented by Latin authors. The Greek original of his Paraphrase of Aristotle’s On the Soul was translated into Latin by William of Moeberke in Viterbo, 1267. Moeberke’s Latin translation is extant and edited (Corpus Latinum Commentariorum in Aristotelem Graecorum/I 1957). Another Latin translation of this Paraphrase was carried out in Venice, 1481, by Ermolao Barbaro the Younger; this translation was also based on the Greek original. Barbaro the Younger’s Latin translation has been repeatedly published (Todd 2003), and is edited, too (CAG Versiones Latinae/XVlll 1978). Another annotated Latin translation of chapter 3 (paragraphs 4-13) of his Paraphrase of Aristotle’s On the Soul by Ludovico Norgarola was carried out in Verona, s. XVI (c. 1554). Norgarola’s Latin translation was based on the Greek original; it has been repeatedly published (Todd 2003). Several versions (s. XVI, 1582-1588) of a Latin translation of his Paraphrase by Federico Bonaventura have come down to us and these have been repeatedly published (Todd 2003).
Themistius’ Paraphrase of Aristotle’s Posterior Analytics was translated from the Greek into Latin by Ermolao Barbaro the Younger (1454-1493) between 1471 and 1480, in Naples. This translation too is published (Todd 2003). Paolo Orsatto revised and commented Barbaro the Younger’s Latin translation of this Paraphrase. Orsatto’s Latin translation of this text has come down to us undated and incomplete. lt is extant in a single manuscript (Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana D 129 inf., s. XVI, fols. 34r-60v) (Todd 2003). Ermolao Barbaro the Younger translated from Greek the Paraphrase of Aristotle’s Physics. This has been repeatedly published (Todd 2003).
From the sixteenth century onward, Themistius’ Paraphrases of the Posterior Analytics, Physics, and On the Soul were several times commented and annotated by ltalian Humanists; the commentaries which are available for us are those of Marcantonio Zimara, Ludovico Norgarola, Federico Pendasio, and Federico Bonaventura; scholars also debate on the identity of the author of an anonymous commentary, conventionally called Anonimus (‘‘Anonimus Venetus’’) (Todd 2003).
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