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

Catalogue, in which Philip is mentioned, looks like an il-
lustration of the papyrus passage.
43
Indeed, according to the
 Catalogue, Philip
was precisely one of those ‘Academic mathematicians’ who studied under
Plato’s methodological direction:
Philip of Mende, a pupil whom Plato had encouraged to study mathematics also
carried on his investigations according to Plato’s instructions and set himself to
study all the problems that he thought would contribute to Plato’s philosophy.
44
It is also essential that the passage from Philodemus closely matches the de-
scription of Plato given in the
 Catalogue:
Plato greatly advanced mathematics in general and geometry in particular be-
cause of his zeal for these studies. It is well known that his writings are thickly
sprinkled with mathematical terms and that he everywhere tries to arouse admir-
ation for mathematics among students of philosophy.
45
These words used to be regarded as a later insertion by either Proclus or one of
his Neoplatonic predecessors,
46
but now it is possible to connect them with the
tested in column II and in the marginal note after column V (Gaiser.
Academica, 180;
Dorandi.
Filodemo, 222; Burkert. Arbeitstext, 91).
38
D. L. I, 2 and 8 = fr. 6 Isnardi Parente.
39
Col. VI and Pap. Herc. 164, fr. 12. See Gaiser.
Academica, 185, 441f.; Dorandi.
Filodemo, 178. This work might be identical to Plátwno~ ëgkømion (D. L. IV,
5 = fr. 1 Tarán =
FGrHist 1009 T 2–3, F 1–3). See Tarán, L. Speusippus of Athens,
Leiden 1981, 231 n. 15.
40
Maqhmatikó~ (D. L. IV, 5); Perì tõn Puqagorikõn @riqmõn (fr. 28 Tarán).
41
Perì tà maq2mata in six books, Perì @strología~ in six books, Perì gewme-
trõn in five books, Perì gewmetría~ in two books, Perì diasthmátwn, Perì
@riqmõn, ^Ariqmõn qewría (D. L. IV, 13–14 = fr. 2 Isnardi Parente). To these we
can add Perì ëpist2mh~ and Perì ëpisthmosúnh~ (ibid.).
42
Fr. 264–266 Isnardi Parente =
FGrHist 1010 F 1a–c.
43
Lasserre, F. Le Barbare, le Grec et la science selon Philippe d’Oponte,
Mus. Helv. 40
(1983) 169–177; idem.
Léodamas, 611f.
44
Procl.
In Eucl., 67.23f. = Eud. fr. 133, transl. by G. Morrow.
45
Ibid., 66.8f. = Eud. fr. 133, transl. by G. Morrow.
46
See e.g. van der Waerden.
EW, 91.

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2. The
Catalogue of geometers about mathematicians of Plato’s time
91
papyrus passage. This connection seems all the more likely because, further on,
the
 Catalogue mentions Eudoxus as the one who “extended the number of the-
orems relating to the section by applying to them the method of analysis, which
originated with Plato” (ibid., 67.5f.), as well as another geometer, Leon, who
discovered the method of diorism. Although the similarity of the two texts is
not that striking, it prompts us to take seriously the version according to which
the author of the
Catalogue used the material of the same treatise that column Y
goes back to. The weak point of Lasserre’s argumentation is not the similarity
of the
Catalogue and Philodemus’ passage, but the attribution of both texts to
Philip. Coincidences between them could be explained without calling into
question the traditional view, which traces the
Catalogue back to Eudemus’
History of Geometry.
The problem of the
Catalogue’s authorship will be considered in detail
(5.3). Meanwhile it should be pointed out that Proclus received the
 Catalogue
through intermediary sources. The main source was Porphyry, who, in turn,
could use both Eudemus’