Του Γιώργου Λεκάκη
Η «Θεωρητική Αριθμητική των Πυθαγορείων» θεωρείται από πολλούς ως το σημαντικότερο πρωτότυπο έργο του Taylor. Σήμερα είναι σπάνιο το πρωτότυπο.
Με επικεφαλίδα «Πυθαγόρας» / Pythagoras, λοιπόν, επανακυκλοφόρησε το βιβλίο του Thomas Taylor με τίτλο «Η Θεωρητική Αριθμητική των Πυθαγορείων» / The Theoretical Arithmetic of the Pythagoreans, από τις εκδ. The Phoenix Press, Λος Άντζελες, ΗΠΑ, 1934.
Είχε 248 σελ. σε σχήμα 8o (23
x 14,5 εκατ.).
Σημαντική μελέτη από τον
νεοπλατωνικό Thomas Taylor για την αρχαία φιλοσοφική θεώρηση του αριθμού.
Οι πολλές μεταφράσεις των σχετικών
έργων του Taylor με θέμα τους αρχαίους Έλληνες φιλοσόφους, αναβίωσαν τις
διδασκαλίες τους στις αρχές του 19ου αιώνα και παρέμειναν δημοφιλείς μέχρι και τον
20ό.
Ο συγγραφέας ήταν ο πρώτος που μετέφρασε τα πλήρη έργα του Πλάτωνος και του Αριστοτέλους στα αγγλικά.
Θυμίζω
ότι ο Τόμας Τέιλορ, είχε εκδώσει και βιβλίο με τίτλο «ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΑ ΘΡΑΥΣΜΑΤΑ ΤΟΥ
ΑΡΧΥΤΑ (*), ΤΟΥ ΧΑΡΩΝΔΑ (**), ΤΟΥ ΖΑΛΕΥΚΟΥ (***) ΚΑΙ ΑΛΛΩΝ ΑΡΧΑΙΩΝ ΠΥΘΑΓΟΡΕΙΩΝ» / POLITICAL
FRAGMENTS OF ARCHYTAS, CHARONDAS, ZALEUCUS, AND OTHER ANCIENT PYTHAGOREANS. Η
α΄ έκδοση ήταν από τις εκδ. Chiswick, Wittingham, 1822. Ήταν σε σχήμα 8o, σελίδες
xvi, 115.
(*) Μεγάλη μορφή, αρχαίος Έλλην φιλόσοφος, πολιτικός, στρατηγός, μαθηματικός, εφευρέτης και μηχανικός από τον Τάραντα της Μεγάλης Ελλάδος. Ο εφευρέτης της πρώτης αυτόνομης πτητικής μηχανής παγκοσμίως. (428 - 347 π.Χ.).
(**) Διάσημος αρχαίος νομοθέτης, από την Κατάνη. Έζησε στην Σικελία. Ίσως μαθητής του Πυθαγόρα. Οι νόμοι του ήταν γραμμένοι όλοι σε στίχους!
(***) Νομοθέτης (7ο2 π.Χ. αιώνας) που έζησε στους Επιζεφύριους Λοκρούς της Μεγάλης Ελλάδας. Τους νόμους του, έλεγαν, ότι τους υπαγόρευσε στον Ζάλευκο η ίδια η θεά Αθηνά στον ύπνο του! Πυθαγόρειος με ευγενή καταγωγή.
Ο Thomas Taylor (1758 –1835)
ήταν Άγγλος μεταφραστής και νεοπλατωνιστής, ο πρώτος που μετέφρασε στα αγγλικά
τα πλήρη έργα του Αριστοτέλη και του Πλάτωνα, καθώς και ορφικά αποσπάσματα.
Ήταν βοηθός γραμματέας στην Society for the
Encouragement of Art [1], όπου
γνώρισε ανθρώπους που ήθελαν μεταφράσεις - εκτός από τον Πλάτωνα και τον
Αριστοτέλη - και του Πρόκλου, του Πορφυρίου, του Ιαμβλίχου, του Απουλείου, του
Ωκέλλου Λουκάνου και άλλων νεοπλατωνικών και πυθαγορείων. Στόχος του ήταν η
μετάφρασις όλων των αμετάφραστων έως τότε κειμένων των αρχαίων Ελλήνων
φιλοσόφων. Τα αρχαία ελληνικά κείμενα που
χρησιμοποίησε ήταν εκδόσεις του 16ου αιώνα.
Ο Τέιλορ ήταν θαυμαστής του
ελληνισμού, και τόσο ερωτευμένος με αυτούς, που αυτός και η γυναίκα του
μιλούσαν μεταξύ τους μόνον στα κλασσικά ελληνικά! Ως και έναν υιό του τον
ονόμασε Πρόκλο. Άρθρωνε μια φωνή κατά της διαφθοράς στον χριστιανισμό της
εποχής του, και την ρηχότητά του, αλλά το σύστημα κατόρθωσε να τον γελοιοποιήσει
και απέκτησε πολλούς εχθρούς… Μεταξύ των φίλων του ήταν ο εκκεντρικός ταξειδιώτης
και φιλόσοφος John "Walking" Stewart.
Οι εκδόσεις και τα έργα του επηρέασαν
τους William Blake, Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Wordsworth,
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bronson Alcott, G. R. S. Mead.[2]
Κάποια από τα έργα του
επανεκδόθηκαν από το Prometheus Trust.
Η εργογραφία του:
- 1780: The Elements of a New Method of Reasoning in Geometry, applied to
the Rectification of the Circle.
- 1782: Ocellus Lucanus on the Nature of the Universe.
- 1787: The Mystical Initiations or Hymns of Orpheus, with a preliminary
Dissertation on the Life and Theology of Orpheus.
Concerning the Beautiful; or, a paraphrase translation from the Greek of
Plotinus, Ennead I. Book VI.
- 1788-1789: The Philosophical and Mathematical Commentaries of Proclus on
the First Book of Euclid's Elements, and his Life by Marinus. With a
preliminary Dissertation on the Platonic Doctrine of Ideas. To which are added
A History of the Restoration of the Platonic Theology by the later Platonists,
2 vol.
- 1790: A Dissertation on the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries
- 1792: A Vindication of the Rights of Brutes
The Phædrus of Plato: A Dialogue Concerning Beauty and Love
An Essay on the Beautiful, from the Greek of Plotinus
The Philosophical and Mathematical Commentaries of Proclus on the First
Book of Euclid's Elements, and his Life by Marinus. With a preliminary
Dissertation on the Platonic Doctrine of Ideas. To which are added A History of
the Restoration of the Platonic Theology by the later Platonists, 2 vols.
- 1793: Sallust on the Gods and the World, and the Pythagoric Sentences of
Demophilus, and Five Hymns by Proclus; to which are added Five Hymns by the
translator.
Two Orations of the Emperor Julian, one to the Sovereign Sun, and the
other to the Mother of the Gods; with Notes and a copious Introduction
Four Dialogues of Plato: The Cratylus, Phædo, Parmenides and Timæus.
- 1794: Pausanias's Description of Greece.
Five Books of Plotinus, viz. On Felicity; on the Nature and Origin of
Evil; on Providence; on Nature, Contemplation, and the One; and on the Descent
of the Soul.
- 1795: The Fable of Cupid and Psyche; to which are added a Poetical
Paraphrase on the Speech of Diotima in the Banquet of Plato; Four Hymns, With
an Introduction, in which the meaning of the Fable is unfolded.
- 1801: Aristotle's Metaphysics, to which is added a Dissertation on
Nullities and Diverging Series
- 1803: Hedric's Greek Lexicon (Graecum Lexicon Manuale, primum a
Benjamine Hederico)
- 1804: Four letters from Thomas Taylor, the Platonist, to Charles Taylor,
Secretary of the Society of Arts, 1800-1804.
An Answer to Dr. Gillies's Supplement to his New Analysis of Aristotle's
Works
The Dissertations of Maximus Tyrius, 2 vols.
The Works of Plato, viz. His Fifty-Five Dialogues and Twelve Epistles, 5
vols.
- 1805: Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, containing the Triumph of the
Wise Man over Fortune according to the doctrine of the Stoics and Platonists;
the Creed of the Platonic Philosopher; a Panegyric on Sydenham.
- 1806: Collectanea; or Collections consisting of Miscellanies inserted in
the European and Monthly Magazines. With an Appendix containing some Hymns
never before printed.
- 1807: The Treatises of Aristotle on the Heavens.
- 1809: The Elements of the true Arithmetic of Infinites. In which all the
Propositions on the Arithmetic of Infinites invented by Dr. Wallis relative to
the summation of fluxions are demonstrated to be false, and the nature of
infinitesimals is unfolded.
The History of Animals of Aristotle and his Treatise on Physiognomy.
The Arguments of the Emperor Julian against the Christians, to which are
added Extracts from the other Works of Julian relative to the Christians.
- 1810: The Commentaries of Proclus on the Timæus of Plato.
- 1811: The Rhetoric, Poetic and Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle.
- 1812: The Works of Aristotle, with copious Elucidations from the best of
his Greek Commentators, 9 vols.
A Dissertation on the Philosophy of Aristotle
- 1816: A Dissertation on the Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries.
Theoretic Arithmetic, in three books, containing the substance of all
that has been written on this subject by Theo of Smyrna, Nicomachus, Iamblicus,
and Boetius.
The Six Books of Proclus, the Platonic Successor, on the Theology of
Plato, 2 vols.
- 1817: Remarks on the Dæmon of Socrates.
Use of Arches Known Among the Ancients.
Select Works of Plotinus, and Extracts from the Treatise of Synesius on
Providence. With an Introduction containing the substance of Porphyry's Life of
Plotinus.
- 1818: Collection of the Chaldean Oracles.
Orphic Fragments, hitherto inedited.
Remarks on the Passage in Stobæus.
On a Peculiar Signification of the words Demas and Soma.
The Rhetoric, Poetic and Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle (β΄ έκδ.), 2 vols.
Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras, or Pythagoric Life, accompanied by
fragments of the Ethical Writings of certain Pythagoreans in the Doric Dialect,
and a Collection of Pythagoric Sentences from Stobæus and Others
- 1819: On the Philosophical Meaning of the words Bios, Kimena, Energema,
and Sisthema.
On the Antiquity of Alchymy.
On the Coincidence between the Belts of the Planet Jupiter and the
Fabulous Bonds of Jupiter the Demiurgus.
- 1820: Important Additions to the first Alcibiades, and Timæus of Plato.
Important Discovery of the Original of many of the Sentences of Sextus
Pythagoricus.
Discovery of a Verse of Homer, and Error of Kiessling.
Platonic Demonstration of the Immortality of the Soul.
On the Theology of the Greeks.
Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, containing the Triumph of the Wise Man
over Fortune according to the doctrine of the Stoics and Platonists; the Creed
of the Platonic Philosopher; a Panegyric on Sydenham (β΄ έκδ.)
The Commentaries of Proclus on the Timæus of Plato (β΄ έκδ.), 2 vols.
- 1821: On the Mythology of the Greeks.
Notice of Professor Cousin's edition of the two first books of Proclus
on the Parmenides of Plato.
Iamblichus on the Mysteries of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians
- 1822: Observations on Professor Cousin's edition of the Commentaries of
Proclus on the first Alcibiades of Plato
Observations on that part of a work entitled Empedoclis et Parmenidis
Fragmenta.
The Metamorphosis, or Golden Ass, and Philosophical Works of Apuleius
Political Fragments of Archytas, Charondas, Zaleucus, and other ancient
Pythagoreans, preserved by Stobæus, and also Ethical Fragments of Hierocles,
the celebrated commentator on the Pythagoric verses preserved by the same
author.
- 1823: The Elements of a new Arithmetical Notation and of a new
Arithmetic of Infinites
Observations on the Creuzer's edition of the Commentary of Olympiodorus
on the first Alcibiades of Plato.
Observations on the Scholia of Hermeas on the Phædrus of Plato.
Select Works of Porphyry, containing his Four Books on Abstinence from
Animal Food; his Treatise on the Homeric Cave of the Nymphs, and his
Auxiliaries to the perception of Intelligible Natures. With an Appendix
explaining the Allegory of the Wanderings of Ulysses.
- 1824: Emendations of the text of Plato.
Observations on the Excerpta from the Scholia of Proclus on the Cratylus
of Plato.
The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus, demonstrated to be the Invocations which
were used in the Eleusinian Mysteries, with Considerable Emendations,
Alterations, and Additions.
The Description of Greece by Pausanias, 2nd edition with considerable
augmentations, 3 vols.
- 1825: Classical Allusion [to Democrates]
Notice of Professor Cousin's edition of the third, fourth and fifth
books of Proclus on the Parmenides of Plato
Biblical Criticism
The Fragments that remain of the Lost Writings of Proclus
- 1829: Corruption of Demiurgus.
Extracts from some of the Lost Works of Aristotle, Xenocrates, and
Theophrastus.
- 1830: Arguments of Celsus, Porphyry, and the Emperor Julian, against the
Christians
- 1831: Ocellus Lucanus on the Nature of the Universe. Taurus, the
Platonic Philosopher, on the Eternity of the World; Julius Firmicus Maternus of
the Thema Mundi, in which the positions of the stars at the commencement of the
several mundane periods is (sic) given; Select Theorems on the Perpetuity of
Time by Proclus
- 1833: Two Treatises of Proclus, the Platonic Successor, the former
consisting of ten Doubts concerning Providence, and a Solution of those Doubts,
and the latter containing a Development of the Nature of Evil.
- 1834: Translations from the Greek of the following treatises of Plotinus:
On Suicide, to which is added an Extract from the Harl. MS. of the Scholia of
Olympiodorus on the Phædo of Plato respecting Suicide. Two Books on Truly
Existing Being, and Extracts from his Treatise on the manner in which the
multitude of ideas subsists, and concerning the Good, with additional Notes
from Porphyry and Proclus.
[1] Ήταν ο πρόδρομος της Royal Society of Arts / Βασιλικής
Εταιρείας Τεχνών.
[2] Πρόκειται για τον γραμματέα της Θεοσοφικής Εταιρείας της
Helena Blavatsky.
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