Friday, October 18, 2024
A Saying of Aristotle
Diogenes Laertius 5.1.17 (on Aristotle; tr. R.D. Hicks):
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He used constantly to say to his friends and pupils, whenever or wherever he happened to be lecturing, "As sight takes in light from the surrounding air, so does the soul from mathematics."Pamela Mensch also translated τῶν μαθημάτων here as mathematics. See Liddell-Scott-Jones, s.v. μάθημα, sense 3:
συνεχὲς εἰώθει λέγειν πρός τε τοὺς φίλους καὶ τοὺς φοιτῶντας αὐτῷ, ἔνθα ἂν καὶ ὅπου διατρίβων ἔτυχεν, ὡς ἡ μὲν ὅρασις ἀπὸ τοῦ περιέχοντος ἀέρος λαμβάνει τὸ φῶς, ἡ δὲ ψυχὴ ἀπὸ τῶν μαθημάτων.
esp. the mathematical sciences, Archyt.1,3 tit.; τρία μ., i.e. arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy, acc. to Pl.Lg.817e, cf. Phld. Ind.Sto.66; later τὰ τέσσαρα μ. （ἁρμονική being added) Theol.Ar.17.Cf. the supposed inscription at the entrance of Plato's Academy (ἀγεωμέτρητος μηδεὶς εἰσίτω, let no one ignorant of geometry enter), on which see H.D. Saffrey, "ΑΓΕΩΜΕΤΡΗΤΟΣ ΜΗΔΕΙΣ ΕΙΣΙΤΩ: Une inscription légendaire," Revue des Études Grecques, Vol. 81, No. 384/385 (Janvier-Juin 1968) 67-87.
