The Eleventh-Century Shift in the Reception of Plato's "Timaeus" and Calcidius's

"Commentary"
Author(s): Anna Somfai
Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes , 2002, Vol. 65 (2002), pp. 1-21
Published by: The Warburg Institute

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4135103

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 THE ELEVENTH-CENTURY SHIFT IN THE RECEPTION OF
PLATO'S TIMAEUS AND CALCIDIUS'S COMMENTARY*

Anna Somfai

T he Timaeus is the only one of Plato's dialogues to have been continuously available in
Latin translation in the West from the time of classical antiquity.' Two Latin versions,
both incomplete, circulated in the period prior to the Renaissance: one by Cicero from the
first century BC (Timaeus, 27D-47B, with some passages omitted), the other by Calcidius from
around 400 AD (Timaeus, 17A-53C), accompanied by his Latin Commentary. In his Middle
Platonic commentary Calcidius does not provide a detailed explanation of each theme which
arises in the Timaeus. Instead he discusses selected issues dealt with in the portion of the
dialogue which he translated and considered by him to be in need of further explanation.
The Commentary was often copied and bound together with Plato's dialogue in medieval manu-
scripts. Scant knowledge of Greek in the Middle Ages blocked access to Plato's original text
and the extant Greek commentaries and scholia. Calcidius's Commentary consequently became
the most important tool for the interpretation of the Timaeus. The manuscript evidence shows
that the Commentary was annotated by its earliest medieval readers long before the dialogue
itself became the object of scrutiny. The twelfth-century glosses on the Timaeus, attributed to
Bernard of Chartres and William of Conches, also relied on Calcidius as their chief source.
And even this new twelfth-century hermeneutic apparatus did not displace the Commentary,
which attained renewed popularity during the Renaissance. In order to understand the medi-
eval reception of the Timaeus, therefore, we have to explore the transmission of Calcidius's
Commentary.
There are in total 156 extant medieval manuscripts of the two translations, many
equipped with marginal and interlinear glosses and diagrams which were produced and later
augmented by generations of scholars. These annotations, some dating from the ninth century
and still found in fifteenth-century manuscripts, were often copied together with the texts.
Their presence made possible a variety of readings and interpretations, generating an ongoing
dialogue with the texts of Plato and Calcidius. Apart from registering the impressions of
readers, the glosses outline the main currents of interpretation.
The central aim of my inquiry is to determine how the transmission and interpretation
of Plato's Timaeus and the Commentary of Calcidius changed over the course of the eleventh

* Archive abbreviations used in this article: London: British Library = BL

Bamberg: Staatsbibliothek = SB Milan: Biblioteca Ambrosiana = Ambr.
Berlin: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preussicher Kultur-
Munich: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek = BSB
besitz = SBPK Oxford: Bodleian Library = Bodley
Brussels: Bibliotheque Royale Albert Ier = BR Paris: Bibliotheque nationale de France = BnF
Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana = BAV
Cologne: Erzbisch6fliche Di6zesan- und Dombibliothek
= Dombib. Vienna: Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek = ONB
El Escorial: Real Biblioteca = RB 1. I am grateful to Charles Burnett, David Juste
Florence: Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana = Laur. and Jill Kraye for reading and commenting on drafts
Leiden: Universiteitsbibliotheek = UB of this article.

JOURNAL OF THE WARBURG AND COURTAULD INSTITUTES, LXV, 2002

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 2 ANNA SOMFAI

century. I shall argue, on th

and eleventh-century texts
its commentary occurred at
the twelfth-century revival
from the Carolingian era to
'Renaissances' of the Midd
The mistaken belief that t
terpretation of Plato's text
has been made to uncover
the ninth to the late eleven
tinuity of the Platonic trad
Byzantine heritage as wel
throughout the transmissio
Tullio Gregory, in his study
anonymous twelfth-centu
Chartres and William of C
translation and commenta
scripts, gave new impetus
published a selection of tw
Margaret Gibson edited th
major exploration of the t
annotations which were not
part of the Timaeus. Neit
tations and to the gloss to
of explanatory diagrams.
changing attitudes towards
As a result of the growing
annotations, two independe
by Bernard of Chartres,9 w
new focus on twelfth-centu

2. The reception idem, 'Gloses marginales

of surPlatonicle "Timee" du Platon, th
period is outside du manuscript 226 the de la Bibliotheque
scope d'Avranches', of
not discuss other Latin sources such as Boethius or Sacris Erudiri, xviI, 1966, pp. 71-89; idem, 'Gloses sur
Macrobius. le "Timee", du manuscript Digby 217 de la Bodleienne,
3. R. Klibansky, The Continuity of the PlatonicATra-
Oxford', ibid., pp. 365-400; these three articles
dition during the Middle Ages, London 1939, repr.are reprinted in E. Jeauneau, 'Lectio philosophorum':
1950,
Recherches sur l'Ecole de Chartres, Amsterdam 1973, PP.
rev. ed. with a new preface and four supplementary
chapters, 1981. 193-264. See also idem, 'Extraits de Glosae super
Platonem de Guillaume de Conches dans un manuscrit
4. T. Gregory, Platonismo medievale: studi e ricerche,
Rome 1958. de Londres', this Journal, Lx, 1977, pp. 212-22.
5. Plato, Timaeus a Calcidio translatus commentarioque 7. M. Gibson, 'The Study of the "Timaeus" in the
instructus, ed.J. H. Waszink (Plato Latinus, Iv), London Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries', Pensamiento, xxv,
and Leiden 1962, repr. 1975 (hereafter Calcidius, 1969, pp. 183-94-
Timaeus and Commentary). 8. William of Conches, Glosae super Platonem, ed. I.
6. E. Jeauneau, 'Gloses sur le "Timee" et commen- Jeauneau, Paris 1965-
taire du "Timee" dans deux manuscrits du Vatican', 9. The 'Glosae super Platonem' of Bernard of Chartres,
Revue des etudes augustiniennes, viii, 1962, pp. 365-75; ed. P. E. Dutton, Toronto 1991.

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 PLATO'S TIMAEUS AND CALCIDIUS'S COMMENTARY 3

and after the twelfth-century Renaissance. Michel Huglo, with an eye to the m
of the Commentary, surveyed ninth- and tenth-century manuscripts.'0 Rosam
too, briefly considered the Carolingian codices when excavating the histo
to, and genesis of, Valenciennes, Bibliotheque Municipale MS 293.11 Paul D
fortune of the texts from the twelfth to the fifteenth century, with an emp
teenth,1'2 and James Hankins studied their reception in the early Italian R
most recent studies of the medieval reception of the Timaeus and the Commen
have been devoted to philological and philosophical questions. Instead, howe
an overview of the medieval tradition, as they seem to promise, they focus on
and the 'School of Chartres', omitting the tenth and eleventh centuries and
either on the ninth century or anything beyond the twelfth.14
In this article I shall firstly provide a brief introduction to the texts of Pl
and to their pre-eleventh-century manuscript transmission. I shall then examine
occurred in the interpretation of Plato in the eleventh century, through a
on forty-eight extant Plato and Calcidius manuscripts, ranging from the ninth
centuries, paying particular attention to the glosses and the diagrams, which o
only evidence we have of how medieval scholars read the texts and attem
Plato's concepts.15 Finally, I shall explore the various levels of textual transmis
pretation in relation to each other in order to outline a history of the receptio
and of Calcidius's Commentary on it.

The Timaeus and its Commentary

In the cosmological monologue of the interlocutor Timaeus, Plato presents

of the cosmos by means of a narrative of the creation of the body and sou
and of man, along with a description of their structure and operations. Creatio
the imposition, by the divine artifex or craftsman, of a mathematical order on

13. J. Hankins,
10o. M. Huglo, 'Trois livres manuscrits pr6sent6s par 'The Study of the Timaeus in Ear
Renaissance
H61isachar', Revue binddictine, Ic, 1989, Italy', in Natural Particulars: Nature and t
pp. 272-85;
idem, 'La r6ception de Calcidius et des Disciplines
Commentarii in Renaissance Europe, ed. A. Grafton and
de Macrobe A l'6poque carolingienne', Siraisi, Cambridge, MA 1999, pp. 77-119-
Scriptorium,
XLIV, 1990, pp. 3-20; idem, 'D'H61isachar 14.AB.Abbon
Bakhouche, 'La transmission du Timie dan
le monde
de Fleury', Revue benidictine, civ, 1994, latin', in Les voies de la science grecque, ed.
pp. 204-30.
Because he was primarily concerned withJacquart,
the musicalGeneva 1997, PP. 1-31; P. Annala, 'T
diagrams, Huglo excluded the 9th-centuryTheory of Designation in the History of the Lat
Vatican
City, BAV MS Reg. Lat. io68 from his study,
Timaeus since
from it Late Antiquity to the Twelfth Century
does not contain the Commentary. He failed to realise, Studies in Religion, Metaphysics, and Eth
in Philosophical
therefore, that the manuscript contains two of
Essays the
in Honour of Heikki Kirjavainen, ed. T. Koistin
standard musical diagrams in its margins and T. Lehtonen,
and an Helsinki 1997, pp. 198- 213.
additional 1 th-century musical diagram on 15.the
Forfly-
a detailed study of the 9th- and loth
leaf. century manuscripts, with their glosses and diagra
variants,
1 i. R. McKitterick, 'Knowledge of Plato's Timaeusand
in a discussion of Calcidius's Commentar
the Ninth Century: The Implications ofsee
MSA. Somfai,
Val. Bibl. 'The Transmission and Reception
Plato's Timaeus
Munic. 293', in From Athens to Chartres: Neoplatonism and and Calcidius's Commentary duri
the Carolingian Renaissance', Ph.D. diss., University
Medieval Thought: Studies in Honour ofEdouardJeauneau,
ed. H.J. Westra, Leiden 1992, pp. 85-95.Cambridge 1998. It includes an edition of the gloss
12. P. E. Dutton, 'Material Remains of of
thethe five of
Study extant 9th- and oth-century manuscrip
the Timaeus in the Later Middle Ages', and the diagram variants of some 24 codices, rangi
in L'enseigne-
from
ment de la philosophie au XIIe siecle, ed. C. the 9th to the 15th century, discussed within
Lafleur,
Turnhout 1996, pp. 203-30. intellectual context of the quadrivium.

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 4 ANNA SOMFAI

previously existed in a state of c

air, water and earth. These elemen
and are joined together through
tion. It is within this mathemati
relationship between the creator, t
changing created universe. The c
and historical narratives about c
description of creation against the
and moral fabric of the ideal state
The exploration of the laws of n
positive law in the Republic and La
alternation between two different
other on metaphysics, with a disti
The fragmentary rendering of t
logical stories, as well as those pass
the motion of the soul's circles
and 43B-46A), and it begins inste
version thus offers a cosmological
the context of Plato's discourse
medieval title: De mundi constitut
phrase, with his hesitations over
brief clauses to approximate the or
of its original context, which wa
which formed the basis for the
philosophy.s8
Calcidius's Middle Platonic Comm
of the translated portion of the
stand the responses of medieval re
the structure of the Commentary,
of modern scholars, who regard
for the transmission of Greek sou
a coherent structure and origina
ancients regarded the Timaeus as
to it. Each question which arises in
to which it belongs. The puzzles

16. Cicero, may have wanted to create a version

De divinatione, De focused solely
fato, Tim
Giomini, Leipzig 1975
on cosmology, possibly(hereafter
as a preparatory study of the Cice
pp. 177-227. theme or as a text to be included in one of his own

dialogues.
17. In addition to the missing passages, the preface
to the translation ends abruptly. It is therefore assumed18. See especially Augustine, De civitate dei, x and
that, in its present form, it is a fragment. The nature
Ambrose, Hexaemeron libri sex, I.1.
of the missing passages and the absence of the only 19. In the prefatory letter, Calcidius states that if the
sentence which interrupts Timaeus's monologue-- completed sections meet the approval of his addressee,
Socrates's exhortation for him to continue his expo- Ossius, he will continue the commentary. If he ever
sition-allows, however, for another conclusion: Cicero did so, the text does not survive.

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 PLATO'S TIMAEUS AND CALCIDIUS'S COMMENTARY 5

therefore have to be studied by means of the four mathematical disciplines.20 T

the Commentary thus provides an introduction to the philosophically relevant co
quadrivium. Calcidius does not give his readers a lesson in elementary mathe
he introduces them to a method of thinking. The study of the quadrivium serve
fashion, as a path for the mind to ascend from sense perception to abstract conc
basics of the liberal arts to pondering complex philosophical and theological
section contains twenty-five diagrams related to the four disciplines of the quad
function as mathematical proofs and help the reader to follow the argumen
are an organic part of the Commentary, and scribes copied them into the bo
Medieval readers developed variants of the diagrams which helped them to visual
concepts more easily and which accommodated their own interpretations. Wi
ematical part Calcidius inserted two metaphysical sections concerning the na
and that of the soul.22

The second part of the Commentary addresses the structure of the created universe and
the forces at work within it. It follows Plato's description of the created beings which populate
the heavens, the earth and the sea. Building on his introduction to the quadrivium in the first
part, Calcidius discusses the various opinions of Greek philosophical schools and thinkers on
several topics in Plato's dialogue, such as the nature of created beings, the definition of fate,
necessity, providence and matter and their relation to each other. In this way, he manages to
combine the mathematical and metaphysical readings that are inherent in the dialogue. The
two parts of the Commentary correspond roughly to these two approaches, but with many cross-
references and an interweaving of various sections and methods. The medieval marginal and
interlinear glosses and the diagrammatic annotations follow this twofold approach, not only
in their content but also in their visible form, revealing a sensitive reading of the Commentary,
as I shall suggest below.
Unlike Cicero, Calcidius translated the introductory stories and, by doing so, gave his
medieval readers a fuller context. He also refers to this section in his Commentary, treating
the discussion in the Timaeus as a continuation of the Republic and drawing a parallel between
Socrates's search for positive law and that of Timaeus for natural law.23 Calcidius's decision
not to comment on the mythological and historical narratives, together with their absence in
Cicero's version, determined the early medieval understanding of the Timaeus. Manuscript
evidence indicates, however, that in the eleventh century scholars began to take a new
approach, turning directly to the dialogue and to the previously neglected narratives and
hence to the original moral context of the cosmological account.

The Ninth- and Tenth-Century Manuscripts

The first extant medieval manuscripts of the two Latin versions of the Timaeus, as well as of
the Greek original,24 date from the ninth century. There are five manuscripts of Cicero's
translation and three of Calcidius's, two of which also contain his Commentary. These early
manuscripts provide the most significant evidence for the presence of an interest in the
dialogue and its late ancient interpretation.

20. Commentary, I-II, p. 57, 1. 1-p. 58, 1. 12. 23. Commentary, V, p. 59, 11. 3-5 and VI, p. 59, 1.
21. Commentary, XXIII-XXV. 14-p. 60, 1. 3-
22. Commentary, XXVI-XXXI. 24. Paris, BnF MS grec. 1807.

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6 ANNA SOMFAI

Cicero's version was transmi

it appeared in the Leiden Co
ably assembled in late antiqui
part of a compilation in the n
a single contemporary copy.2
the text of the Timaeus recei
notes, some in Tironian sho
the personal tastes of an enth
the mathematical disciplines,
indifference towards logic.
attempt to Christianise Plato'
polytheism from the Timae
replaced the word gignere (
account of creation from pre
pomorphic tendencies in Plato
as a 'Living Creature'.29
The text of Plato's dialogue
received no ninth-century an
section in Lyons, Bibliothe
acquired in both ninth-centur
that they were present in t
the Commentary consists pr
terminology and of the name

25. The LeidenMS

Corpus
Voss. contains
Lat. F. D
86
De divinatione, Timaeus,
manuscript De
withfato
no
stoicorum, drawings
Lucullus of logical
(Academica priora
9th-century manuscripts
o104r, include
lO9v, Le
110o-').
Lat. F. 84 and F. 86;
28. Florence,
Hadoard may La
h
257; and Vienna,
(he ONB MS
refers Lat.
to 189
himsel
26. Vatican City,
and BAV though
Ganz, MS Reg h
manuscript was
as based
proposedon Floren
by Bee
Marco 257, which
the in turn was of
Manuscripts m
collation of the two Leiden
Didascaliae: manu
Studies in
lation contains Prete,
excerpts from
New Yorkthe
19
Corpus, with Carolingian
the exception Renaiss
of the T
Tusculanae 92-93;
Disputationes, C.
De H. Beeson
officiis, D
De senectute, ClassicalPhilology,
Sallust's Catilina and JX
Commentary on29.
theCompare
Somnium VatScip
Capella's De fol.
nuptiis 13r,
(only'de dei
the na
book
arithmetic). Timaeus, 3.8, p. 182
27. This of
mundi'. lack
annotations
For the rem
'Li
of the 6.17-19,
transmission; p.e.g.,
see, 190, 1.
the
BnF MS lat. 6333. 30. Valenciennes,
The glosses to th
in the Leiden Bibl.
Corpus municipale
reveal an M
inte
may provide an Lat. 1068
explanation (dialogue
for t
of interest in the31. I
Timaeus am with
current
its fo
I have examined glosses the found
two Leiden
in the
Timaeus sectionmanuscripts. of the Vienna m
Vatican copy of the Collectaneum H

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 PLATO'S TIMAEUS AND CALCIDIUS'S COMMENTARY 7

quoted in the text. In Valenciennes, Bibliotheque municipale MS 293, there are sever
marginal headlines which serve as pointers to concepts, topics and definitions. In a
there are notes expressing the annotator's opinion, such as criticism of certain paga
sophers.32 The marginal indexing and headlines acted as a running guide to the text, cre
a reader-friendly edition of the Commentary, while the critical remarks served as point
Christian readers.

After the initial ninth-century effort to produce copies of the Timaeus written in the new,
more legible Carolingian minuscule script-a sign that it was considered to be an important
text-only two extant manuscripts, both preserving Calcidius's translation and his Commentary,
can be dated to the tenth century.33 Although no tenth-century manuscript of Cicero's version
survives, it was not unknown at this time.34 The quantitative decline in manuscript production,
part of a general trend in the transmission of classical texts,35 does not reflect the intensity
and quality of scholarly attention which was devoted to the study of Calcidius's Commentary. It
was during this period, as both manuscripts testify, that a standard gloss to the Commentary first
took shape. Building on the useful material in Valenciennes, Bibliotheque municipale MS
293, but making up for its lack of annotation to most of the second part of the Commentary,
the tenth-century annotators enlarged the gloss. The new themes include the nature of time,
motion, matter, elements, forms, the syllogism and the division of philosophy. From then on,
the standard gloss was copied together with the text. It grew continuously in the same style and
remained part of the transmission of the Commentary throughout the later Middle Ages and the
Renaissance.36 A previously unstudied codex, Brussels, BR MS 9625-9626, contains a gloss to
the first part of the Commentary, which explores the mathematical philosophy of Calcidius by
means of a close reading, providing diagram variants, along with additional diagrams, as part
of the marginalia.37 By deconstructing and reconstructing Calcidius's diagrams, the annotator
not only entered into the argument, but also gave other readers a practical tool for use in the
study of geometry. Figure i shows the page layout of a folio with one of Calcidius's diagrams
which explains the concept of the continuous geometrical proportion. The diagram is a

32. See, e.g., Valenciennes, Bibl. municipale MS

analysis of the dynamics of book production during
293, fol. 76r, 11. 14-15, 'de insana sententia plato-
the ioth century see J. Vezin, 'La Production et la
nicorum'.
circulation des livres dans l'Europe du xe siecle', in
33. Paris, BnF MS lat. 2164; Brussels, BR MS 9625-
Gerbert I'Europien: Actes du colloque dAurillac ... 1996,
9626. ed. N. Charbonnel and J.-E. lung, Aurillac 1997, PP-
34. The annotator of Paris, BnF MS lat. 2164 205-18.
remarked that the term translated by Calcidius as 36. See, e.g., Paris, BnF MSS lat. 10195 and 6282;
analogia competens was elsewhere rendered as proportio. Vatican City, BAV MSS Reg. Lat. 13o8 and 1861;
See Paris, BnF MS lat. 2164, fol. 28va, 11. 34-36 for Cologne, Dombib. MS 192; Bamberg, SB MS M. V. 15
Calcidius, Commentary, XVI, p. 68, 1. 1 and see Cicero, (Class. 18) (1 1 th century); London, BL MS Add. 19968
Timaeus, 4.13, P. 186, 1. 25-p. 188, 1. 1 for proportio. (11 th/1 2th century); Vatican City, BAV MS Barb. Lat.
Both ioth-century manuscripts contain another com- 21 (12th century); Oxford, Bodley MSS Canon. Lat.
parative note: while Calcidius translated the definition 175 and 176 (15th century).
of time as simulacrum evi (Commentary, XXIII, p. 74, 1. 37. For this manuscript and its gloss see my forth-
13), Cicero rendered it as similitudo eternitatis (Cicero, coming article 'The Brussels Gloss: a Tenth-Century
Timaeus, 3.8, p. 182, 11. 2-8). See Paris, BnF MS lat. Reading of the Geometrical and Arithmetical Passages
2164, fol. 29gb, 11. 22-23 and Brussels, BR MS 9625- of Calcidius's Commentary (ca. 400 AD) to Plato's
9626, fol. 14', 11. 36-38. Timaeus', to appear in the proceedings of the confer-
35. For a summary of the general tendencies see ence Ecrire dans les marges: une expression de la pensie
Texts and Transmission: A Survey of the Latin Classics, ed. scientifique (antiquiti tardive-Renaissance), held at the
L. D. Reynolds, Oxford 1983, esp. p. xxvii. For a brief Warburg Institute in April 2001.

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 8 ANNA SOMFAI

geometrical proof in which two extreme

0 0 cubes are bound by two middle ones: (1)
(5)(6)
marks the standard diagram, in (2) the
(8)0 0the four cubes,
scribe has separated (3)(4 and (3)
(7) 3 i# to (8) represent squares which make up the
cubes. Glosses are added inside the squares
(1)2
-----(2) to instruct the reader about the process of
creating cubes from squares. This gloss
reflects the skill and knowledge of a scholarly
circle with a predilection for the subjects of
the quadrivium and a mathematical approach
to the Timaeus.
Figure 1. Brussels, BR MS 9625-9626, fol. 13r, page
layout

The Eleventh-Century Shift: The Manuscript Evidence

From the eleventh century, we have twenty-five extant Timaeus manuscripts: twenty-three
containing Calcidius's version,38 and two with Cicero's.39 Although in absolute terms more
manuscripts were produced both in the twelfth century and in the fifteenth, the rate of growth
in the eleventh century was never again matched and only in the fifteenth century do we find
a similar interest in Calcidius's Commentary (see Figure 2).40

Calcidius's Calcidius's Calcidius's Cicero's

Timaeus and Timaeus only Commentary TOTAL Timaeus

Commentary only
gth century 2 1 - 3 5
1 oth century 2 - - 2 -
I ith century 17 5 1 23 2
12th century 5 45 3 53 -
13th century 3 12 15 4
14th century 2 6 1 9 1
15th century 11 18 6 35 4
TOTAL 42 87 11 140 16

Figure 2. The chronological distribution o

translation with his Commentary

manuscripts do not contain manuscripts

38. Of the 1 ith-century any gloss at all: Vatican w
City, BAVfollowing
studied closely, the MSS Barb. Lat. 22 and Reg. Lat. 123.
contain g
UB MS Voss. Lat. Q. 39. Leiden,
lo; UB MS Voss. Lat. Q. io and Munich,
London, BL MSS
Add. 19968, Harley BSB Clm 528.261o; Paris, BnF M
lat. 6282, lat. 10195; 40. The table is based on the manuscript
Vatican City, descrip- BAV
1308, Reg. Lat. 1861; tions in Waszink'sCologne, Dombib
edition (as in n. 5, pp. 106-31) and
Bamberg, SB MS includes
M. excerpts
V. but not
15 fragments.
(Class.
I have added 18). O
scripts are thinly glossed;
more recently these
discovered manuscripts based on P. O. includ
MSS Add. 15293 and Harley 2652. The following Kristeller, Iter Italicum II, London and Leiden 1967,

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 PLATO'S TIMAEUS AND CALCIDIUS'S COMMENTARY 9

The geographical distribution of the manuscripts also reveals an increasingly

interest in these texts. All ten manuscripts from the ninth and tenth centuries
northern France. At least eight eleventh-century manuscripts of Calcidius's vers
Cicero's, however, were produced in Germany, while an excerpt from the C
copied in Spain. In the German manuscripts the Timaeus is always accompanie
Commentary,41 implying a reading of the dialogue which relied heavily, or enti
ancient interpretation.
During the eleventh century, various changes occurred on different lev
script production, transmission and reception, involving page layout, the distrib
annotations between Plato's dialogue and the Commentary, the location of t
their character, the interpretation of the texts and the appearance of a new
shift is manifest most clearly in the production of a larger number of Tima
without the Commentary. In addition, after a break of a century, two copies of
were produced. While previously it was almost always the Commentary which was
eleventh century the Timaeus attracted most of the new annotations.42 The tend
tate the Timaeus was not restricted to new copies of the text: a ninth-century c
City, BAV MS Reg. Lat. 10o68, the only one from before the eleventh centu
Commentary, now received an elaborate gloss. The dominant feature of the perio
was a shift of interest from Calcidius's Commentary to the Timaeus itself.
A closer look at the glosses in eleventh-
century manuscripts reveals a new geography
of the page. While the gloss to the Commentaryanimae vis
had been located, and remained, in the mar-
gin, the new gloss to the Timaeus included
both marginal and interlinear annotations.
ratio appe
Although the introduction of the interlinearnabilis tibilis
gloss was seemingly only a formal change, a
wide range of phenomena derived from the
intel
differences between marginal and interlinear opi cupi iracun
annotations. Marginal notes were used lectus
to nio ditas dia

index themes and sources, to highlight points

of interest and, on a deeper level, to engage
Figure 3. Paris, BnF MS lat. 2164, fol. 56vb, 11. 47-52
with the text by giving longer explanations

pp. 503, 558-59, and 264, and on Dutton, 'Material with the folios of the Timaeus bound in the
Commentary
Remains' (as in n. 12), esp. pp. 204-05. Having studied
wrong order, suggesting that the loss of text occurred
the manuscripts myself, I redated Paris, BnF MStransmission.
during lat.
42. There was also a structural change in the
2164 from the 9th to the ioth century, and Cambridge,
St John's College MS 107 from the 11th to the 12th of the two texts. In the earliest Calcidius
arrangement
manuscripts
century. For the sake of clarity I have divided the period each of the two parts of the translation is
into centuries rather than 50-year intervalsfollowed by the relevant sections of the Commentary,
as used by
R. W. Southern, Platonism, Scholastic Method, withand the
reference numbers connecting the text of Plato
School of Chartres, Reading 1979, p. 14, and Dutton,
to its exposition. Starting in the 1 ith century, in some
'Material Remains', p. 205. manuscripts the entire Commentary follows the entire
41. The only exception is London, BL MS Harley
Timaeus, with the reference numbers still in place. This
2652, held at some stage in the library of change
Nicolaus paved
of the way for the independent circulation
of the two
Cusa. It contains only a very brief fragment of texts.
the

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10 ANNA SOMFAI

and more substantial interpre

if a reader is merely flicking
vertical connections and often
mentary. These diagrams, cons
make verbal connections vis
Interlinear annotations, on
visible only when one reads
annotator, explaining individu
brief definitions. They enter
than engaging with it. They e
introduction of interlinear an
an attitude towards glossing w
basic facts. The synonyms fac
been by then, if not antiquat
acters and geographical nam
school environment. The app
the Commentary, suggests tha
was now read more as an expo
in itself.

The marginal glosses to the

dialogue, being much shorte
tations, moreover, are visibly
highlight important points or
summaries and explanations. T
ment of the dialogue, as we s
to the Timaeus became standa
Both the marginal and the i
where they continued to de
throughout the period.
The glosses to the Timaeus a
importance of visual aids in t
expression not so much in t
constitute the most original
interpretation of the Timaeus
medieval variants of Calcidi
placing the original versions,
explain Calcidius's text, usua
ones in the Commentary, w
margin or sometimes at the
textual quotations. The diagr

43. Signs of to structure

closer reading the
appear d
of textual editing.
Paris,InBnF
Paris,
MS BnFlat.
graph marks were
Reg. added
Lat. 123tois the
the
minor addition tant
which none the in
expressions les

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 PLATO'S TIMAEUS AND CALCIDIUS'S COMMENTARY 11

They were designed to express the musical proportions on which

world soul is based. Since the section in the Timaeus on music
is complicated and requires background knowledge, when Calc
accompanied the dialogue, some other form of explanation w
ation of the diagrams into the gloss to the dialogue.
Calcidius's diagrams were used in the glosses of other texts as
its own, without the Commentary, is a short text, it was usually
with other works. During the eleventh century it quickly became
be a Platonic corpus in the wider sense, including Macrobius a
had an impact on the circulation of the Commentary. On som
was still accompanied by the Commentary, they were both copie
tended to be combined with the Timaeus when it circulated
BnF MS lat. 10195 contains, in addition to the Timaeus and the C
Scipionis with Macrobius's commentary, as well as excerpts from
In the second book of Macrobius's commentary, where he d
creation of the world soul and on musical harmony, the annotato
musical diagrams from Calcidius's Commentary in the margin.45
diagrams is also copied in the same place in another eleventh
BL MS Harley 2652.46 Such diagrammatic intertextuality is a
textual quotations.
Also added to the texts in the eleventh century were tw
another on Calcidius. The need for these introductory passag
and his commentator began to exist as authors of separate te
written at this time indicated not only an interest in the two an
also a wish to, in some way, define and place them among the
schools. The information in the accessus, furthermore, gave them
them more acceptable to Christian readers by connecting Pla
the Bible, and by placing Calcidius within the Church hierarchy.
The first occurrence of the accessus on Plato known to m
eleventh-century hand in the ninth-century codex, Valencie
MS 293 (fol. iv). The same text can also be found in two ele
London, BL MS Harley 2652 (fol. 61r) and, in a longer version
10 (fol. 3r). The accessus contains excerpts from Ambrose and Je
is his account of the journey which Plato made to Egypt in orde
and the words of the prophets, so that later he could turn th
The passage from Jerome describes Plato's capture by pirates on

Brussels,
44. Commentary, XXXII, p. 82, XLI, p. 9go, BR MS 9625-9626,
XLVIII, p. fol. 39r, 1. 1
98. See, e.g., London, BL MSS Add.
BnF 19968
MS lat. and 15601
2164, fol. 43va, 1. 19, 'Platonis
and Paris, BnF MS lat. 6282. explicit feliciter', marking the explicit of the
45. Paris, BnF MS lat. 10 195, fol. 27v.
Calcidius's Commentary.
46. London, BL MS Harley 2652, 48.fol. Ambrose,
12r Expositio Psalmi CXVIII,
his Opera (Corpus
47. In some of the earlier manuscripts, not onlyChristianorum Eccles
were the texts copied together Latinorum [hereafter
but the incipits and CCEL], LXII), ed. M.
Leipzig
explicits, separating the two texts, were1913, v, p. 398, 11. 3-8.
also missing.
See, e.g., Lyons, Bibl. municipale MS 324, fol. 45r, 1. 8,

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 12 ANNA SOMFAI

he took in pursuit of knowl

Claudianus Mamertus, was a
describes Plato as the princ
living centuries before Chri
the accessus beyond the narra
reference to the Old Testamen
which, without attempting to
In this way, it helped to gene
15601 (fol. 88r), the compiler
the opinions of Ambrose an
pagan philosophers and his acc
From the eleventh century
Calcidius as the deacon or a
evidence for this information
were added. The ecclesiastica
authority by placing him am
associations with pagan think
scholars that Calcidius was c
evidence, however, for this f
annotator who was puzzled at
'a Christian thought in this wa
Christian. The philosophical
background with strong Gr
against the evidence of the tex
Ossius was taken for granted
Chartres55 and William of Conches.56

Leiden, UB MS Voss. Lat. Q. io, with its longer and more theoretical accessus to Plato,
preserves a unique collection of Platonic works. It contains the two translations of the Timaeus
by Cicero and Calcidius, copied in the same hand, also the De dogmate Platonis, De philosophia,
Cosmographia and De deo Socratis of Apuleius, and a Latin translation of Hermes Trismegistus's
Ad Asclepium, attributed to Apuleius. The Timaeus translations of both Cicero and Calcidius
appear in this manuscript in a new context: rather than being copied in the Leiden Corpus or

49. Jerome, Letter 53, 1, Epistulae (CCEL, LIv), ed. I. 54. The only Christian author to whom Calcidius
Hilberg, Vienna 1996, I, p. 443, 11. 13-16. refers by name is the Greek Father, Origen. The
50. Claudianus Mamertus, De statu animae, 11.7 Commentary contains no references to classical Latin
(CCEL, xI), ed. A. Engelbrecht, Vienna 1885, p. 128, authors, apart from Cicero, nor to Latin theological
11. 8-11 (paraphrase) and p. 122, 11. 11-20. sources. Calcidius's use of the Bible in chapters
51. Augustine, De doctrina christiana, II.io7-08 CCLXXVI-CCLXXVIII of the Commentary is so unusual
(CCEL, Lxxx), ed. G. M. Green, Vienna 1963, p. 64, that the 1oth-century annotator of the Brussels manu-
11. 11-26 (paraphrase). script added a longer source-mark in the margin: 'hinc
52. See El Escorial, RB MS S. III. 5; and Vatican de divina scriptura sumit testimonium' (Brussels, BR
City, BAV MS Reg. Lat. 3815- MS 9625-9626, fol. 75r, to Commentary, CCLXXVI, p.
53. See the loth-century marginal note (to Com- 280, 1.4).
mentary, XXVI, p. 77, 1. 15) in Paris, BnF MS lat. 2164, 55. 'Glosae' of Bernard of Chartres (as in n. 9), p. 142,
fol. 30r, 1. 48, 'miror sic sapuisse hominem chris- 1. 4.
tianum'.
56. William of Conches, Glosae (as in n. 8), p. 63.

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 PLATO'S TIMAEUS AND CALCIDIUS'S COMMENTARY 13

together with the Commentary, they are part of a Platonic corpus.57 Yet the comp
with the Commentary and, in a long incipit, or rather accessus, to Calcidius's Tim
expressed his high opinion of Calcidius as commentator.58 There are only a few
interlinear annotations in the manuscript, but simple versions of the first two
are present in the margin of the Calcidius translation. This is a book designed fo
Platonic thought, approached, not, as previously, by means of commentari
of Macrobius and Calcidius, but rather at first hand and in the context of A
sophical writings. This manuscript reveals a specific interest in the Timaeus and
to disentangle Plato's text from the late ancient and earlier medieval traditions.
Like the Timaeus, the Commentary of Calcidius, too, embarked on a separate
field within which it made an independent appearance was astronomy, a topic w
very little attention in the Timaeus but which is given ample space in the Comm
merely refers to the celestial bodies as aids in the creation of time. He lists the
sun, Mercury and Venus, then points out that it would be a waste of time to dis
of the planets.59 This brief, uninviting statement, certainly not an inspiration
discussion, prompted Calcidius's lengthy digression on the subject.60 Ther
from the astronomical section of the Commentary in Vatican City, BAV MS Reg
manuscript is of Catalan origin and was compiled around the middle of the e
at Ripoll by a monk named Oliva.62 It is usually considered to be an astrono
Yet the excerpts centre on different aspects of 'time' and go well beyond
astronomy and computus. The compilation progresses from liturgical time (relig
ecclesiastical dates), through historical time and the philosophy of history (rang
history to the six ages of the world) to time considered within an astronom
phical framework. There are several annotations in various hands throughout th
dating from the eleventh to the sixteenth century, indicating that the manuscr
use from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance.
The arrangement of the compilation follows the encyclopedic tradition.63 It
four books and structured around a sequence of opinions or narratives by
concerning a single topic, or by a single author on diverse subjects.64 The excerp

57. An awareness in the I1th century ofcenturies, as can be seen from short excerpts, amount-
'Platonisms'
ing
(as opposed to 'Platonism' in the singular) is to only a few folios: e.g., a 9th-century collection
reflected
not only in the nature of this compilationof but
scientific
also intexts compiled at Corbie or Fulda, and
the gloss found in other manuscripts. The extant in Paris, BnF MS lat. 13955. From the late loth
standard
annotation, 'de insana sententia platonicorum' (to
century another excerpt, made by Abbo of Fleury, is
Commentary, CXXXVI, p. 176, 11. 15-17: see Valen-
preserved in Berlin, SBPK MS Phill. 1833.
ciennes, Bibl. municipale MS 293, fol. 76r,62.11.See A. Wilmart, Codices Reginenses latini, 2 vols,
14-15;
Vatican
Paris, BnF MS lat. 2164, fol. 48ra, 11. 24-25; City 1937, 1, pp. 289-92 and E. Pellegrin, Les
Brussels,
BR MS 9625-9626, fol. 49r, 11. 5-6), was alteredclassiques
manuscrits in latins de la Bibliotheque Vaticane, II.1,
London, BL MS Add. 19968, fol. 61r, 11. Paris 26-281978,to 'de pp. 35-38.
insana sententia quorundam platonicorum'.63. The main sources include Augustine, Jerome,
58. Leiden, UB MS Voss. Lat. Q. o, fol. Ambrose,
3', 'Incipit Isidore, Bede, Pliny the Elder's Naturalis
prologus In Timaeum platonis de grecohistoria, in latinum Hyginus's Astronomica, Aratus's Astrologia,
petente iosio a chalcidio viro claro translatum Macrobius's
et miro Commentary on Cicero's Somnium Scipionis,
ingenio commentatum et elucidatum'. Calcidius's Commentary, with shorter excerpts from
59. Timaeus, 38D-38E. various other authors.

6o. Commentary, LVI-CXVII. 64. Throughout most of the manuscript, the source
61. There had been some interest in the astro- of each passage is provided in the margin and is high-
nomical portion of the Commentary during lighted in colour. Each book, with the exception of the
previous

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 14 ANNA SOMFAI

book, De sole (fols 1 r-53v), proc

to the six ages of the world base
references to Augustine. The se
calendars, with excerpts again
123r-50o), draws primarily on
Macrobius. The absence of Plat
quotation from Bede: 'In the beg
the water were made from noth
that the compiler did not refer
matter. The quotation from Be
a cosmological structure which
discussion of demons associated
does not mention Calcidius here,
followed Isidore (fol. 128v) by re
the Greek cosmos,68 and by usin
that is, silva, for matter.69 Next
diagrams, based on Isidore, to acc
The fourth book, De astrono
material. Although Isidore, Bed
names appear. Hyginus and Fulge
stellations, Macrobius occurs in c
on the zodiac. Finally, there is a l
preceded by a passage from the t
nomy. The compiler, after provi
the constellations, quotes Isidor
sky'.70 In the same passage Isidor
bodies by God to motion and tim
much in accordance with Calcidiu
of the seven liberal arts in gener
The astronomical chapters from
of slipping from the true path o

first, starts with a table of contents. The contents 67. According to Isidore the term mundus originated
include the chapter number, title and the authority from moveo, since the universe is in constant motion; see
cited. The manuscript begins with a description of his Etymologiarum sive originum libri XX, xiII.i.1, ed. W.
symbols used in the reckoning of time and provides M. Lindsay, 2 vols, Oxford 191 1 (hereafter Etymologiae).
astronomical tables.
68. The compiler linked cosmos with the Latin
65. Bede, De natura rerum, II, in his Opera (Corpus
ornamentum; see Etymologiae, XIII. 1.2.
Christianorum Series Latina, cxxIIIA), ed. C. W. Jones,
69. 'Ylen graeci rerum quendam primam materiam
Turnhout 1975, p. 192, 1. 17-P. 193, 1. 1. dicunt' (fol. 128'); see Etymologiae, xIII.3.1.
66. Commentary, CXXXIV, p. 175, 11. 8-11, CXXXV, 70. Vatican City, BAV MS Reg. Lat. 123, fol. 205v;
p. 175, 11. 16-18. See A. Somfai, 'The Nature of see Etymologiae, 1II.71.32, 'Et miranda dementia gen-
Demons: a Theological Application of the Concept tilium, qui non solum pisces, sed etiam arietes et hircos
of Geometrical Proportion in Calcidius' Commentary to
et tauros, ursas et canes et cancros et scorpiones in
Plato's Timaeus (4oD-41A)', in Ancient Approaches tocelum transtulerunt'.
Plato's 'Timaeus' (Bulletin of the Institute of Classical 71. The excerpt on fols 205-18 8 includes Commen-
Studies, supplement 78), London 2003, pp. 129-42. tary, LIX-LXIII, p. 10o6, 1. 19-p. 111, 1. 2 with diagram

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 PLATO'S TIMAEUS AND CALCIDIUS'S COMMENTARY 15

excerpted starts with the discussion of the spherical shape of the body of the universe.7
from a few missing sections,73 it covers the whole of the astronomical portion of the f
of the Commentary, including the standard diagrams.
This compilation reveals a new attitude towards the Commentary. The astronomical s
is treated as an independent treatise, without any indication of its origin as a commenta
Plato's Timaeus. It appears separately from Plato's text and is used as part of a cont
which it has intellectual affinities. Previously the Commentary was only copied together w
Timaeus, and in Paris, BnF MS lat. 2164 with Claudianus Mamertus as well. Now it is asso
with, and complements, the natural scientific works of Isidore and Bede.74 The exis
excerpts is a measure of its popularity. By the middle of the eleventh century, Ca
Commentary was used as a textbook for the mathematical disciplines and other related s
While remaining the chief tool for studying the Timaeus, the Commentary also took on
its own.

So, the production of copies of the Timaeus without the Commentary, while reflecting an
increased interest in Plato's dialogue, does not necessarily imply a lack of interest in Calcidius's
text. The growing number of separate copies could, moreover, have resulted, at least in part,
from teaching practice. It may have been sufficient for students to have an annotated text in
their hands, while the teacher needed to have a copy of the Commentary at his disposal. The
Commentary was not indispensable to a beginning reader of the dialogue, who would have
received more help from the marginal and interlinear annotations and the diagram variants
-produced by contemporary scholars with a contemporary readership in mind-together
with the explanations of a master.

Beyond the Physical Evidence: Reading the Glosses

The new gloss to the Timaeus gravitated around the first part of the dialogue, although there
are some exceptions, such as in London, BL MS Add. 15601, where the second part of the
Timaeus contains a large number of interlinear notes and logical tree diagrams.75 The main
themes which received annotations were the world soul, time, the elements, proportions, and
the nature of the soul, motion and matter. Some of the glosses cite or refer to authors such as
Boethius (London, BL MS Harley 261o) or Calcidius (Vatican City, BAV MS Reg. Lat. 1o68).
The gloss in BAV MS Reg. Lat. 1068 epitomises the new phenomena involved in glossing the
Timaeus. Its author uses Calcidius and possibly Macrobius. He provides interlinear synonyms
for words in order to aid students who were struggling with the technical terminology,76

io; LXIX-LXXXIX, p. 116, 1. 1-p. 142, 1. 9 with together with their textual explanations, in the glosses
diagrams 12-19; LXIV-LXVIII, p. 111, 1. 3-P. 115, of Bede's De natura rerum and De temporum ratione, an
1. 19 with diagram 11 (the order of the chapters is example of the diagrammatic intertextuality mentioned
altered); XC-XCVII, p. 142, 1. 9-p. 150, 1. 7 with above. See Patrologiae cursus completus. Series latina, ed.
diagrams 20-22; CX-CXVIII, p. 157, 1. 6-p. 164, 1. 3 J.-P. Migne, Paris 1844-64, xc, cols 203-04, 217-18.
with diagrams 23-24. 75. Though most of the glosses were written by con-
72. Commentary, LIX, p. 10o6, 1. ig9. temporary hands, some manuscripts remained in use
73. Commentary, XCVIII-CX, pp. 150-57, containing and were glossed in later hands as well. Vatican City,
philosophical passages on space, motion and time, and BAV MS Reg. Lat. 1861, for example, contains anno-
diagram 25 in Commentary, CXVI. tations from the 11 th to the 13th centuries, and BAV
74. This manuscript, containing texts by both MS Reg. Lat. 1308 was glossed up to the 15th century.
Calcidius and Bede, may provide the explanation 76. See, e.g., fol. 23r, 1. 21, 'id est studio et
for the presence of some of the Calcidius diagrams, augmento' to 'impendio'.

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 16 ANNA SOMFAI

explains mythological, historic

fication.78 Some remarks are o
concern the model of the univer
musical diagrams are copied in t
in grasping the concept of propo
bination of the three standard
soul, supplemented by features
and musical harmony.
The standard gloss to the Com
addition to the topics in the di
especially the syllogism. Altho
Timaeus and the Commentary, in
in one or the other. Paris, BnF
mathematical gloss to the first p
Timaeus are without annotation.
mentary remained a feature of i
over the mathematical gloss fo
of it are present in Paris, BnF M
which use coloured diagrams,
London, BL MS Add. 15293 and
matics is also apparent in the g
15 (Class. 18). Marginal annotat
diagrams, new variants of which
matic annotations, present in t
of glosses placed within geometr
nection between their compon
annotation which makes it eas
through a middl
variae lectiones, w
A F
ignored in mod
primus
triangulus scholarly literat
tercius ABr to understanding
triangulus interpreted. They
ABA B
which cannot be
secundus
Some of the pr
triangulus ABE
crepancies were c
A E
graphic designs w
with new ornaments.
Figure 4: Vatican

77. See,
79. See, e.g.,e.g., fol
fol. 17r, 1. 12, 'scilicet sensilis mundi
'fretum'; qua ipse animatur'
and to 'anima'. fol.
to 'ante novem milia'. 80o. See Somfai (as in n. 15), chap. 3.
78. See, e.g., fol. 29v, 1. 15, 'scilicet creatore' to
'a se'.

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 PLATO'S TIMAEUS AND CALCIDIUS'S COMMENTARY 17

The emerging interest in astronomy can be detected, not only in the astronom
found in Vatican City, BAV MS Reg. Lat. 123, but also in the way in which the
standard diagrams evolved. In Paris, BnF MS lat. 10195, which contains a larg
marginal notes, the astronomical diagrams are in colour, rendering phenome
lunar eclipse more visible and intelligible. Such features again emphasise the attrac
Calcidius's diagrams held for the medieval mind.
The gloss, too, evolved, incorporating a growing number of logical tree
especially in the second half of the Calcidius commentary, as well as reference
and explanations of the nature of syllogisms. The addition of such diagrams to thi
the Commentary, which calls for a gloss on logic, reflects the acute sense which me
had of the connection between form and content, as well as their keen interest in
visual aids to deepen and enhance their comprehension of a text. The general trend
to logic, and the debate which began to take shape around the use-or abuse-
the discipline of theology, was a fundamental feature of the contemporary sc
From Peter Damian, Manegold of Lautenbach and Gerard of Csanid to Anselm of C
the fight against the application of logical methods to other fields approached its
time. The tenth century seems to have been less aware of the problem it was creat
ducing logic and mathematics into theology, while the twelfth century was appare
equipped to deal with this approach or less troubled by self-doubt. The notab
logic in eleventh-century interpretations of Plato and Calcidius was part of a
interest in the possibility of explaining doctrines which appeared to be in opp
Christian faith by means of an ingenious use of syllogisms and the Aristotelian ca
The standard diagrams in the Commentary became more elaborate in eleve
manuscripts, as additional features and brief textual explanations were added
musical and astronomical diagrams, in particular, were closely studied and evo
plicated visual interpretations. The connection between the creation of the soul, th
of musical proportion and the creation and motion of the celestial bodies was
stood and more clearly depicted in the new I
diagrams and diagram variants. Additional
diagrams were produced to explain
IGNIS - issues
- acutus
relating to other disciplines as well. A dia-
subtilis
gram which first appeared during
AERthe tenth
mobilis
century,82 and expressed the link between the
AQUA
elements through their qualities, obtusa
was copied
into new manuscripts.83 Figure 5 is a twelfth-
corpulenta el
century, ornamented version ofTERRA immobilis mn
the diagram.
Diagrams created as part of the tenth-century
geometrical and arithmetical gloss, together
Figure 5. Paris, BnF MS lat. 6281, fol. 19r

82. Brussels, BR MS 9625-9626, fol. 14r.

81. The most obvious case in point is the Eucharist
debate. For a good introduction to this topic see
83.The
See, e.g., Paris, BnF MS lat. 6282, fol. 1 or.
Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval
Philosophy, ed. A. H. Armstrong, Cambridge 1967, esp.
pp. 6oo-o8.

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 18 ANNA SOMFAI

with a few astronomical and m

tations: they were copied into n
The increasing number of lo
given to both the standard diag
predominantly verbal nature
the discourse from the text to
the Commentary was the prelu
prevalent in the following cen
which required, and produced,

Beyond the Margins: Readin

Although evidence, apart from
is scarce, it is clear that by th
a small circle of students. Aro
both the dialogue and the Com
mathematical philosophy.84
Abbo's interest in the quadr
Commentary, especially Calci
ception. The structure of his
handling of diagrams exhibit
to the Timaeus and discusses on
nation. He praises the first m
of the disciplines of the quadr
nouncing that their commentar
These comments suggest that A
readers and needed no further introduction.87

Gerbert of Aurillac relied on Calcidius when he connected mathematics to theology by

means of numbers and geometrical forms. Mathematics, in his view, was a pathway for the
mind's ascent to comprehension of the incorporeal. In addition, Gerbert, who was interested
in the use of diagrams and in the possibility of constructing three-dimensional visual aids,
refers to Calcidius and to the Timaeus in his discussion of plane geometry.88

84. For Abbo see esp. G. R. Evans and A. M. Peden,

annotated version of the one which depicts the creation
'Natural Science and the Liberal Arts in Abbo of of the world soul. Ibid., fols 38r, 39r-v and 36v. Since,
Fleury's Commentary on the Calculus of Victorius of diagrams are not described or referred
however, these
to Gerbert
Aquitaine', Viator, xvi, 1985, pp. 109-27. For in Abbo's text and moreover are copied together in
see esp. Gerberto. Scienza, storia e mito. Atti del Gerberti
groups in just a few folios, it is possible that they were
not his own
Symposium, Bobbio 1985; P. Riche, Gerbert d'Aurillac. Leaddition but rather were produced by an-
pape de l'an mil, Paris 1987. other scholar who stood behind the Berlin manuscript.
85. Berlin, SBPK MS Phill. 1833, fol. 9va, 11.88.18-20,
See Gerbert of Aurillac, De geometria, 2.6 and 6.7,
'Idque manifesta predicta psicogonie figura arith-
in his Opera mathematica, ed. N. Bubnov, Berlin 1899,
metice geometrice musice et astronomie subtilitatibus
p. 56, 11. 6-13 and p. 93, 1. 15-p. 94, 1. 4. Although the
contenta ac hoc modo mirabiliter expressa.' work is not consistently attributed to Gerbert in the
86. Ibid., fol. 9va, 11. 27-28, 'De quibus manuscripts
omnibus and some internal evidence suggests that,
as a whole, it may be a later compilation, the first
quam chalcidii et macrobii commenta multiplicam
absolutionem continent.' section, which contains all the references to Calcidius
87. Abbo may also have drawn on several of and to specific approaches to geometry, is likely to
Calcidius's astronomical diagrams and provided an have been written by him.

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 PLATO'S TIMAEUS AND CALCIDIUS'S COMMENTARY 19

The explicit use which Abbo and Gerbert made of the Commentary, and
of both its mathematical arguments and the basic concepts expounded
unique. Since the extensive mathematical gloss to the Commentary in Br
9626 displays a similar understanding of the text, I would suggest that
to the circles of Abbo or Gerbert, or to Gerbert himself. Both scholars had
in collecting manuscripts and a large circle of students. As we have seen
10 195 and Cologne, Dombib. MS 192, both of German provenance, contain th
and display an interest in the mathematical disciplines. It was probably thro
sonal influence and through his students, such as the future emperor Otto I
translation and Commentary began to be copied in Germany during the elev
It may also have been Gerbert's influence in Cologne which resulted in an
of the Timaeus and of Macrobius by a local scholar, Wolfelm, whose view
posed by Manegold of Lautenbach. Manegold, an Augustinian canon regu
travelled and studied in France and Germany. His writings reflect his pro-p
the increasingly acrimonious controversies between the papacy and emp
phical arguments are infused with references to current ecclesiastical p
attack on Wolfelm for his reading of Macrobius was equally directed against
attempts to discover a harmony between pagan philosophy and Christian the
a worthy critic, Manegold managed to acquire a knowledge of Plato and Macr
deeper than that of some of the authors whose Platonism he attacked. In th
ing Macrobius's interpretation of Plato's cosmology, he refers to both Plato
The occasion for his polemical treatise was a walk in the gardens of L
which he and Wolfelm had discussed Macrobius. Manegold assumed that
of the dangers inherent in Macrobius's text and that he only pretended to b
heretical nature.90 Manegold engaged with the creation myth as descri
including the role of numbers and the nature of the Living Creature, t
argument excessively obscure.91 He was fiercely opposed to any attemp
elements of the Platonic creation narrative within Christian speculation
proved of the Platonic creation of the world soul, the theory of transmigra
Pythagoras, and the concept of matter pre-existing the creation. Manegold's
theless, imbued with Platonic vocabulary and theories. He drew a subtle para
between hot and cold, the qualities of the elements, and the moral qualities
Manegold's work is extant in a single manuscript.93 Though his approach wa
twelfth-century scholars, it does not seem to have had any impact on their
Instead, they interpreted the Timaeus and the Commentary in line with the
the anonymous glosses which they found in their manuscripts. This develop
the glosses were not merely passively copied but were also actively read tog
They exercised an influence which extended beyond the immediate con
transmission at a time when Platonic treatises, the 'secondary literature
either unavailable or ignored.

9o. Ibid.,
89. See Manegold of Lautenbach, Liber contra p. 41,11. 9-11.
Wolfel-
mum, ed. W. Hartmann, Weimar 1972, pp. 91. Ibid., p. 48.See
46-47.
the preface for a general introduction to Manegold's
92. Ibid., p. 40, 1. 12-p. 41, 1. 2.
life and work. 93. Milan, Ambr. MS N. 118. sup.

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 20 ANNA SOMFAI

The writings of two eleven

the Timaeus and Calcidius's
his students included Ansel
transcended disciplinary bo
annotations on Augustine's D
speech in the Timaeus, 41A-4
Plato's Timaeus and put into
whose version of the same
this in the translation of the
This remark suggests that by
and that Cicero's rendering,
era. Lanfranc used these quo
indicating that Plato's work h
whose primary interest was o
The other eleventh-century
an Italian who went to the
refers to Plato in an exegetic
knowledge of Greek and to
within the realm of philoso
issues of philosophical inter
came across a copy of Calcidi
'I am certain that once, whi
Hebrews and about the heave
he had read Plato together w
works does not seem to hav
further evidence that the Tim

Conclusion

During the eleventh century a many-layered shift took place in the reading of Plato's Tima
and the Commentary of Calcidius. In previous centuries the Timaeus had been read thr
the Commentary. Now, however, the dialogue started to emerge as the main focus of atten
and Plato and Calcidius each acquired an accessus. The two texts began to circulate separ
and while for most of the time they were still studied together, they also embarked on dis
careers, providing material for textbooks in subjects to which they lent themselves when r
independently. This produced new interpretations of both texts and ensured them w
readership.

94. M. Gibson, 'Lanfranc's Notes on Patristic Texts',
Journal of Theological Studies, xxvii, 1971, pp. 435-50,
at p. 439, 11. 3-4: 'Sententia quam beatus Augustinus
de Tymeo Platonis sumit et in tercio decimo huius
operis libro ponit'. See for Timaeus, 41A-41B, Cicero,
Timaeus, p. 214, 11. 8-17.
95. Ibid., p. 439, 11. 7-8: 'Sic in ea translatione
Tymei qua nunc utimur et a Calcidio exponitur in-
venitur'. See for Timaeus, 41A-41B, Calcidius, Timaeus,
p. 35, 11. 9-17.
96. Gerard of Csandid, Deliberatio supra hymnum trium
puerorum (Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Medi-
evalis, xix), ed. G. Silagi, Turnhout 1978, Iv, p. 41, 11.
104-07: 'In Platone quippe disputationes, quondam
apud Galliam constitutus, quasdam deo Hebreorum
confidenter fateor me legisse et celestibus animis.'

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 PLATO'S TIMAEUS AND CALCIDIUS'S COMMENTARY 21

These trends were paralleled by changes on the micro-level o

and in glossing technique. Both the Timaeus and the Commentary d
gloss, which gradually became standardised and included both t
Alongside the standard gloss, instances of individual glossing in
manuscripts prove the existence of explorative new readings. T
Commentary followed Calcidius's complementary mathematical and
providing diagram variants, new diagrams and a verbal mathematic
and a marginal index of terms, logical tree diagrams and a meta
part. The tenth- and eleventh-century interpretation and visual
the Commentary gave precedence to the mathematical over the me
paved the way for the latter. By the end of the eleventh century th
aspects of the dialogue and the commentary slowly began to giv
visual, metaphysical reading. This was part of a general develop
sophy, which was turning increasingly towards logic and metap
with the introduction of Arabic and Greek sources of mathematics
more appropriate tools for the study of the mathematical disc
Renaissance that a more theoretical and theological mathematic
to the mathematical aspects of the dialogue and the Commentary.9
the topics which emerged in the eleventh century as the focus of at
which had intrigued scholars in late antiquity and would do so a
The increasing number of manuscripts and the new readings of
eleventh century reflected a new milieu within which the texts
longer read by only a few isolated scholars and in a small number of
their way to a larger audience. It was this intellectual and philo
the genesis of the twelfth-century Renaissance.

Warburg Institute

Cusa,
97. It is worth noting in this respect whose
that application
during the of mathematics t
15th century, when the mathematical drew interpretation
heavily on Plato and on Calcidius, ow
returned, more separate Commentary than one were
copies copymade
of the texts (Paris, BnF M
than during the whole of the Middle andAges.
London, BL MS
Nicolaus of Harley 2652).

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