ARISTOTLE

A magnificent sammelband of 5 books of Aristotle’s practical philosophy, together with some of his more obscure works, printed between 1566 and 1584. The binder, Heinrich Blume, was from Wittenberg, where there was a large university, suggesting that this collection may have been used as a textbook. While most of the works are definitively attributed to the ancient philosopher, the ‘Ἐθικα Μεγαλα’, ‘Ἐθικα Εὐδεμια’, ‘Μεχανικα’, and ‘Οἰκονομικα’, have also been ascribed to either his students or later authors.

The first book is the first of an 11-volume series published between 1584 and 1587 described as ‘more excellent and complete than any that had been before published’. It features 5 texts: ‘Ἐθικα Μεγαλα’ encompasses discussion on a variety of themes, ranging from happiness to justice, pleasure, and friendship, taking into account the views of Pythagoras, Socrates and Plato. The less well known ‘Ἐθικα Εὐδεμια’ continues discussion of themes in the ‘Ἐθικα Μεγαλα’ and parallels topics found in his Nicomachean Ethics. The publication includes his shortest ethical treatise ‘Περι Ἀρετων και Κακιων’, as well as a text by his pupil Theophrastus, who studied at and later became head of Aristotle’s Lyceum, and by Alexander of Aphrodisias, a celebrated commentator on Aristotle’s writings. The introduction ‘makes a minute and elaborate detail of the contents and advantages of his edition. Besides the corrections of former publications and an improved text, there are three indexes to each volume: a synopsis of the heads of each tract or book, an ‘Index Graecorum’ and a Latin Index ‘Rerum Memorabilium’.

Following comes one of the fundamental works of ancient philosophy, combining elements from editions by Camozzi and Isengrin. Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics focus on the science of good living, and analyse the ancient concept of ‘eudaimonia’, the application of a being’s virtue to achieve its highest and most positive potential. This propels discussion of moral virtue, the concept of the ‘good’, friendship, pleasure, and happiness, while also contemplating potential hindrances to eudaimonic happiness.

The last of the longer works is Aristotle’s famous treatise about government and politics, the only one of his texts based upon personal research and the documentation of the constitutions of 158 Greek states, of which only the Constitution of Athens survives. This prompts discussion as to which factors shape good and bad governments, as well as the three different types in existence at the time: oligarchy, monarchy, and polity. Notably, he uses the word ‘democracy’ to refer to anarchic mob rule, rather than the popular government it refers to today. This volume ends with two much shorter and more obscure texts, both now considered spurious. The work on Economics is divided into 2 books, the former discussing good household management, the latter a longer text on governmental finance. The last book, on Mechanics, focuses on the concept of local motion and change of place; it is the first illustrated edition of the text, featuring diagrams and drawings.