During the Early Palaiologan period, a decisive (re)turn to the ancient Greek tradition took place, not for the first time in Byzantium. In spite of the economic and military decay of the empire, the Byzantines developed a vivid intellectual life. Many scholars seemed to find relief from the calamities of the present and from the uncertainty for the future by turning to what they considered as their glorious past and their natural heritage, that is, ancient Greek civilization. Without repudiating their Christian identity they were lovers of (pagan) antiquity that they had to rediscover for themselves. It was also the military and trade presence ofthe Catholic Westerns in the Orthodox East, and the possibility of the Church union, that made the Byzantines to realize the necessity to learn more about Latin/western civilization. In this context we can understand Planoudes’ project (a) to preserve as many ancient texts as he could, to write commentaries on them and treatises on all the sectors of higher education, and (b) to translate Latin works and offer, for the first time, a reliable access to the otherwise unknown intellectual Latin world.
Planoudes probably taught philosophy but he did not write anything on Aristotle; he could use the textbooks on the Organon written by his contemporaries, George Pachymeres, Maximos Holobolos and John Pediasimos. As for Plato, he included excerpts of Platonic works in one of his collections and collaborated in the copying of a manuscript of Plato. Planoudes’ preferences are perhaps to be found in his choice to translate Cicero’s The Dream of
Scipio and Macrobius’ commentary. In the Dream there are views acceptable for Christians, as the omnipotence of God and the immortality of human souls, together with political thoughts about the love of justice and the ideal of devoting one’s life to the service of one’s state that were suitable for a Byzantine emperor like Andronikos II. The reminiscences of Plato are evident throughout both Latin texts. The same can be said for another choice ofPlanoudes, namely, his translation (before 1296) of Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy, where the Christian confrontation to impending death resorted to non-Christian sources.
Byzantine scholars’ interest in Greek scientific writings went together with their interest in Greek philosophy and literature. Planoudes’ interests and teaching activity covered also the sciences of the quadrivium. Around 1292/93 Planoudes was interested in mathematics and specifically in Diophantus, whose work Pachymeres had already used in his Quadrivium. He made a manuscript of Diophantus’ Arithmetic (with comments) and it is thanks to Planoudes that the work of Diophantus survived in the history of mathematics. He also wrote the Calculation according to the Indians (1292/3), preserved in forty-one manuscripts. It is an important work that shows the diffusion of Hindu arithmetic in the Byzantine world and contains the first use of zero as a place holder at the right of the other symbols. For his teaching Planoudes prepared scholia on Euclides’ Elements and he edited Aratus’ Phenomena (c. 1290) and the circular theory of the Stars of Cleomedes. He was interested also in the geography of Ptolemy (1295) and music or harmonics; he wrote a book on harmonics and collected nearly all the relevant works (1294).
Planoudes proved to be a pioneer in the eastern Christendom and with his systematic translations ofboth profane and Christian Latin authors he contributed to the restoration of the contact between the two parts of Christendom that their ways had parted long ago. Except the philosophical works, he translated the anonymous’ On the Misdeeds of the Age, Ovid, Caesar and grammatical works, as well as many others. The quality of his translations is generally more than satisfactory. In this activity Planoudes is probably unique in Byzantium and, though appreciated, he found no imitators until Demetrios Kydones (1324-1397/98).
Planoudes was the first Byzantine to study Augustine and his major achievement was the rendering into Greek of On the Trinity (completed before 1282). That was a thoughtful choice, because the western conception of Trinity, a much debated issue between East and West, derived mainly from Augustine. Thus, Augustine after centuries of ignorance was put on the map of Byzantine theology with Planoudes’ widespread translation. And the Augustinian text had significant influence on Byzantine
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Theologians; for instance, the hesychast Gregory Palamas made use of Planoudes’ translation. Few years after this translation Planoudes wrote two anti-Latin treatises about the procession of the Holy Spirit and then he decided to withdraw from such debates considering himself as a classical scholar and not as a theologian.
Planoudes’ ethical-political views are conventional and they are expressed in his epistolography and in the On King that was addressed both to the young emperor Michael IX Palaiologan, few days after his coronation in 1294, and to his father Andronikos II. It is an idealized portrait of the emperor who should have all the classical virtues. Planoudes declared that their race (genos) is a ‘‘Roman’’ (Rhomaios) and exhibits a kind of patriotism common to the Byzantines after their liberation from the Latins and under the threat of the Ottomans. It is interesting that the monk Maximos is against pacifism when he considers the circumstances of his country. He justifies the war insofar as it is a liberating war of the pious against the impious who threatened the homeland and the faith of Rhomaioi.
Planoudes gained his reputation as a teacher and a scholar. His work influenced Byzantine philosophers and thinkers like Metochites, Demetrius Kydones, Joseph Bryennios, and cardinal Bessarion. His teaching and his writings covered nearly every aspect of Byzantine learning and played a significant role during the Early Palaiologan Renaissance. Planoudes’ manuals were used for a long time and, translated into Latin, were used even by Italian humanists. His meticulous efforts in finding, copying, and editing ancient texts facilitated their use and helped the reappreciation and the recovery of the Greek heritage by the Byzantines. Finally, his translations broadened the horizon of Byzantine thought through the approach of the Latin culture - a path that only few followed in the Orthodox East.
See also: > Augustine > George Pachymeres > Philosophy, Byzantine
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