Al-Farabi was well-known as an interpreter of Aristotle, but the medieval Latin translations of only a few works by him have come to us (Salman 1939). Probably, medieval Latin philosophers were more interested in Averroes, who replaced al-Farabi for them as a faithful representative of the Arabic interpretation of Aristotle’s works; most quotations from al-Farabi’s commentaries on Aristotle come from Averroes’ own commentaries (Steinschneider 1869:39). A number of Latin translations of Averroes’ works were based upon the already existing Hebrew translations, which covered almost all of them, while only a limited number of al-Farabi’s works had been translated into Hebrew. It should also be noted that al-Farabi had been active in Iraq, while Averroes was active in Andalusia, nearer to the main centers of medieval Latin philosophy.
Probably, the main philosophical work by al-Farabi translated into Latin and read during the Middle Ages was his Enumeration of the Sciences (Arabic Lhsa’ al-‘ulum). There were two different translations of it, both of which written in Toledo in the second half of the twelfth century. Dominicus Gundissalinus (or Dominic Gundisalvi) translated, or better ‘‘re-wrote,’’ al-Farabi’s work into Latin, under the title De scientiis, probably between 1154 and 1166, while he was active as a translator of Arabic texts at the court of the Archbishop of Toledo, John of Castelmoron-sur-Lot. This translation was first published by William Chalmers in 1638; a first critical edition of it, by Manuel Alonso Alonso, appeared in 1954 (Gundisalvo 1954), and a second one, together with a German translation, has been published by Jakob H. Schneider (al-Farabi 2006). In reality, this work was a sort of adaptation of the contents of al-Farabi’s work on the demand of its Latin readers; it was employed by Gundissalinus as a source of his De divisione philosophiae (Steinschneider 1869:83; Gundissalinus 1903), as well as by other medieval Latin philosophers, like Vincent de Beauvais (Gundisalvo 1954:143-167). A more faithful, literal translation of al-Farabi’s original Arabic text of the Enumeration of the Sciences into Latin was made in Toledo around 1175 by the Italian scholar Gerard of Cremona. This translation was probably based upon the same Arabic manuscript used by Gundissalinus for his own translation, and might have been influenced by the latter; after a first noncritical edition of it by iAngel Gonzalez Palencia (al-Farabi 1932:117-176), a critical edition and a German translation by Franz Schupp appeared (al-Farabi 2005). The musical section of this work has been studied in detail by Henry Farmer (Farmer 1934): he compared the Arabic original text of it with both Latin translations. A tentative reconstruction of the relationship between these two versions and the other witnesses of the textual tradition (the Arabic manuscripts of the original text, its quotations among other medieval authors, and two Hebrew translations of it), leads to the conclusion that both versions were based upon an “occidental” version of the text, which came to Spain before 1150, and was partially different from the ‘‘oriental’’ version of it, known in the Middle East (Zonta 1990).
Other philosophical works by al-FarabI or ascribed to him were translated from Arabic into Latin during the Middle Ages, probably by Gundissalinus (Alonso Alonso 1947). The treatise On the Intellect (Arabic: Fi l-‘aql) was translated into Latin under the title De intellectu: this translation was first published together with some works by Avicenna in 1508, another time together with the De scientiis in 1638, and finally in a very good, although noncritical edition, with a French translation, by litienne Gilson (Gilson 1929:108-141). A medieval Latin translation of al-Farabl’s Book of Exhortation to the Way of Happiness (Arabic: Kitab fl l-tanblh ila sabil al-sa‘ada), bearing the title Liber ex(er)citationis ad viam felicitatis and extant in a unique manuscript, has been published by Dominique H. Salman (Salman 1940). Part of a philosophical work commonly ascribed to al-FarabI, The Sources of Questions (Arabic: ‘UyUn al-masa’il), was translated into Latin. This translation, bearing the title Fontes quaestionum, covers paragraphs 1-6 of the whole work, and was published in critical edition (Cruz Hernandez 1950-1951:316-318).
A different case is that of al-Farabl’s Summaries and Long Commentaries on the whole Aristotelian Organon (including Porphyry’s Eisagoge), as well as his Commentaries on Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Physics. In this case, it is not yet sure if medieval Latin translations of them were really made (Salman 1939:247-248, 253-256), apart from that of some short passages oF the Summaries (Salman 1939:260-261, 1948; Grignaschi 1972:44-45). As for the Organon, the existence of such translations was discussed in detail by Mario Grignaschi (Grignaschi 1972). According to Grignaschi, these texts were translated into Latin before 1250 c., since Albert the Great quoted or at least read some passages of them. In any case, al-FarabI might have influenced Albert the Great’s philosophical thought (Cortabarria Beitia 1954).
There are two other philosophical works by al-FarabI, whose original Arabic text is now lost but was partially translated into Latin during the Middle Ages. The whole introduction and the first passage of al-FarabI’s Long Commentary on Aristotle’s Rhetoric (about Rhet. 1354a1-2), lost in their original Arabic text, were translated into Latin by Hermann the German (Hermannus Alemannus) at Burgos in 1243-1244 under the title Didascalia in rhetoricam Aristotelis ex glosa Alpharabii; they are found in a unique manuscript, and were first published according to a partial and revised version (as Declaratio compendiosa Alfarabii super rhetoricorum libris Aristotelis) in 1481; then they were critically edited by Grignaschi (al-Farabi 1971:125-252). A short summary of books V-VIII of Aristotle’s Physics, Distinctio Alfarabii super librum Aristotelis de naturali auditu, possibly a fragment of a wider commentary on the Physics, was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona. It is still extant in at least five manuscripts, and has been published according to three of them (Birkenmajer 1935). The authorship of other works ascribed to al-FarabI and transmitted by the Latin tradition only is not yet sure. A very short, otherwise unknown Liber Alpharabii about some points of botany, still unpublished, has been found in a unique manuscript (Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, lat. 7156, folio 82v: Hoefer 1842:326; Steinschneider 1869:77). A short treatise De ortu scientiarum, or Epistula de assignanda causa ex qua ortae sunt scientiae philosophiae et ordo earum in disciplina, ascribed to al-FarabI and preserved in five manuscripts, has been published in a critical edition (Alfarabi 1916); however, its Farabian authorship is still in doubt, since its contents appear to be partially different from those of the Enumeration of the Sciences (but see Alonso Alonso 1946).
See also: > Albert the Great > Logic, Arabic, in the Latin Middle Ages > Arabic Texts: Philosophy, Latin Translations of > Dominicus Gundissalinus > al-FarabI, Abu Nasr > Gerard of Cremona
World History
