Aetius (; el, Ἀέτιος) was a 1st- or 2nd-century AD

doxographer Doxography ( el, δόξα – "an opinion", "a point of view" + – "to write", "to describe") is a term used especially for the works of classical historians, describing the points of view of past philosophers and scientists. The term w ...

and Eclectic philosopher.

Works

None of Aetius' works survive today, but he solves a mystery about two major compilations of philosophical quotes. There are two extant books named '' De Placita Philosophorum'' (Περὶ τῶν ἀρεσκόντων φιλοσόφοις φυσικῶν δογμάτων, "Opinions of the Philosophers") and ''

Eclogae Physicae The ''Eclogues'' (; ), also called the ''Bucolics'', is the first of the three major works of the Latin poet Virgil. Background Taking as his generic model the Greek bucolic poetry of Theocritus, Virgil created a Roman version partly by offer ...

'' (Ἐκλογαὶ φυσικαὶ καὶ ἠθικαί, "Physical and Moral Extracts"). The first of these is

Pseudo-Plutarch Pseudo-Plutarch is the conventional name given to the actual, but unknown, authors of a number of pseudepigrapha (falsely attributed works) attributed to Plutarch but now known to have not been written by him. Some of these works were included in s ...

and the second is by

Stobaeus Joannes Stobaeus (; grc-gre, Ἰωάννης ὁ Στοβαῖος; fl. 5th-century AD), from Stobi in Macedonia, was the compiler of a valuable series of extracts from Greek authors. The work was originally divided into two volumes containin ...

. They are clearly both abridgements of a larger work.

Hermann Diels Hermann Alexander Diels (; 18 May 1848 – 4 June 1922) was a German classical scholar, who was influential in the area of early Greek philosophy and is known for his standard work ''Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker''. Diels helped to import the ...

, in his great ''Doxographi Graeci'' (1879), discovered that the 5th-century CE theologian

Theodoret Theodoret of Cyrus or Cyrrhus ( grc-gre, Θεοδώρητος Κύρρου; AD 393 – 458/466) was an influential theologian of the School of Antioch, biblical commentator, and Christian bishop of Cyrrhus (423–457). He played a pi ...

had full versions of the quotes which were shortened in the abridgements. This means that Theodoret had managed to procure the original book which Pseudo-Plutarch and Stobaeus had shortened. He calls this book "''Aetiou tên peri areskontôn sunagôgên'' (Ἀετίου περὶ τῶν Ἀρεσκόντων Συναγωγήν)" John Burnet
''Early Greek Philosophy'': Section B: Note on the Sources
. and therefore we ascribe the original ''Placita'' to Aetius. Diels claimed that Aetius himself was merely abridging a work which Diels (1879) called ''Oldest Tenets'' or, in Latin, ''Vetusta Placita''. Unlike Aetius, whose existence is attested by Theodoret, the ''Vetusta Placita'' is Diels' invention and is generally disregarded by modern classicists Quotes which are ascribed to Aetius in scholarly essays were actually discovered in either the abridgements of Pseudo-Plutarch or Stobaeus, or Theodoret's full quotes in rare cases, or finally one of several ancient authors who provided corrections to misquotes in one of these works.

References

Sources

External links

* * Complete text of the ''Placita''

an
French
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aetius Hellenistic-era philosophers Roman-era philosophers 2nd-century philosophers Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Ancient Greek philosophers

Works

References

Sources

Further reading

External links