Leonid Zhmud The Origin of the History of Science in Classical Antiquity

Die Philosophie der Antike,
Vol. 4:
 Die hellenistische Philosophie, ed. by H. Flashar, Basel 1994, 297f.).

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Chapter 3: Science in the Platonic Academy
88
diorism (tò perì diorismoù~ l4mma)
25
were discovered. Optics and mechanics
also were not (left in neglect) …
26
The similarity of this passage
27
to the quotation from Sosigenes,
28
even if it
does not allow us to establish a direct connection between the two texts, at least
makes it highly probable. Sosigenes’ remark about astronomy seems to be a
natural development of the main idea of the papyrus passage, where all
ma-
the¯mata including mechanics and optics are mentioned.
29
It is hardly possible
to tell whether Sosigenes learned about this idea from the work used by Philo-
demus or from a different source. But what inspired Sosigenes to present Plato
as the methodologist of astronomy is not that important.
30
It is much more im-
portant that the treatise quoted by Philodemus obviously precedes Eratosthenes
and could have been among the sources of his
Platonicus.
Since the papyrus omits the name of the author of this passage, several the-
ories have been proposed about his identity. Lasserre suggested that the passage
comes from Perì Plátwno~ by Philip of Opus.
31
Burkert and later Dorandi
supported his opinion,
32
while Gaiser ascribed column Y to the Peripatetic Di-
caearchus.
33
Without going into the details of the papyrological problems, one
has to admit that the first hypothesis is much more plausible than Gaiser’s sug-
gestion.
34
Whoever the author of this passage is, it is obvious that he belonged
25
The methods of diorism allows one “to determine when a problem under investi-
gation is capable of solution and when it is not” (Procl.
In Eucl., 66.22f.).
26
Gaiser.
Academica, 152f.; Dorandi. Filodemo, 126f.
27
@rcitektonoñnto~ mèn kaì
probl2mata didónto~ toñ Plátwno~, zhtoúntwn
dè metà spoud4~ aÿtà tõn maqhmatikõn.
28
prõto~ EÚdoxo~ Âyasqai légetai tõn toioútwn ûpoqésewn,
Plátwno~, <~
fhsi Swsigénh~,
próblhma toñto poihsaménou to$~ perì tañta ëspouda-
kósi.
29
The mention of mechanics and optics in this passage makes the criticism of the mech-
anical methods, which Plutarch (
Quaest. conv. 718 E–F; Marc. 14.9–11) ascribed to
Plato, even more unreliable. In Aristotle’s
 Second Analytics mechanics and optics
figure as theoretical sciences, ëpist4mai (75b 16, 76a 24, 77b 2, 78b 37). Aristotle
himself wrote works on optics and mechanics (D.L. V, 26 No.114, fr.380 Rose). Sev-
eral books on optics are ascribed to Philip of Opus (Lasserre.
Léodamas, 20 T 1).
30
Cf. below, 289f.
31
Lasserre.
Léodamas, 20F15a, 611f. Lasserre considered the Academic Hermodorus
to have been the intermediary between Philip and Philodemus. See below, 89 n. 37.
32
Burkert, W. Philodems Arbeitstext zur Geschichte der Akademie,
ZPE 97 (1993)
87–94; idem.
Platon in Nahaufnahme. Ein Buch aus Herculaneum, Stuttgart 1993,
26f.; Dorandi, T. La tradizione papirologica di Dicearco,
Dicaearchus of Messana,
ed. by W.W. Fortenbaugh, E. Schütrumpf, New Brunswick 2001, 347f. Cf. Dorandi.
Filodemo, 207f.
33
Gaiser.
Academica, 76f., 97f., 342ff.
34
The quotation from Dicaearchus takes up the column I and the beginning of the column
II of the papyrus, whereas the column Y is on its reverse side. Thus, it is an addition
made by Philodemus after he had already finished his work with Dicaearchus’ text.

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2. The