Michael of Ephesus
On Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics 10 with Themistius: On Virtue
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The two texts translated in this volume of the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle series both compare the happiness of the practical life, which is subject to the hazards of fortune, with the happiness of the life of philosophical contemplation, which is subject to fewer needs.
The first is Michael of Ephesus' 12th-century commentary on Book 10 of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, written (alongside his commentaries on Books 5 and 9) to fill gaps in the Neoplatonists' commentaries from the 6th century. He recognizes that lives of practicality and philosophy may be combined, and gives his own account of the superiority of the contemplative.
The second is Themistius' text On Virtue, written in the 4th century AD. He was an important teacher and commentator on Aristotle, an orator and leading civil servant in Constantinople. His philosophical oration is here argued to be written in support of the Emperor Julian's insistence against the misuse of free speech by a Cynic Heraclius, who had satirised him. Julian had previously criticised Themistius but here he combines his political and philosophical roles in seeking to mend relations with his former pupil.
Richard Sorabji
Richard Sorabji is Research Professor of Philosophy at King's College London and a Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford, UK. He is the author of many books, including Necessity, Clause and Blame, Matter, Space and Motion, and Time, Creation and the Continuum, all published by Bloomsbury, and general editor of the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle series.
Michael Griffin
Michael Griffin is Professor of Classics and Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. He is co-editor of the series Ancient Commentators on Aristotle and translator of two of its volumes: Olympiodorus: Life of Plato and On Plato First Alcibiades 1-9 (Bloomsbury 2014) and Olympiodorus: On Plato First Alcibiades 10-28 (Bloomsbury 2015).
James Wilberding
Translated by
James Wilberding is Professor of Philosophy at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. He has published widely on ancient philosophy, including two volumes in the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle series: Philoponus Against Proclus on the Eternity of the World 12-18 (Bloomsbury Academic, 2006) and Porphyry to Gaurus on How Embryos are Ensouled and On What is in Our Power (Bloomsbury Academic, 2011).
Alberto Rigolio
Translated by
Alberto Rigolio is Assistant Professor in Classics at Durham University, UK.
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