Crantor
Crantor of Soli | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mid 4th century BC Old Academy |
| Institutions | Platonic Academy |
| Notable students | Arcesilaus |
Main interests | Ethics |
Crantor of Old Academy who was the first philosopher to write commentaries on the works of Plato.
Life
Crantor was probably born around the middle of the 4th century BC, at
Dropsy was the cause of his death.[3] He left his fortune, which amounted to twelve talents, to Arcesilaus, who had been his pupil and who later succeeded Crates as scholarch of the Academy.[4][5]
Writings
His works were very numerous; but of these, only fragments have been preserved. They appear to have related principally to moral subjects, and, accordingly, Horace[6] classes him with Chrysippus as a moral philosopher, and speaks of him in a manner which proves that the writings of Crantor were much read and generally known in Rome at that time.[5]
He also made some attempts at poetry; and
Diogenes Laërtius relates, that, after sealing up a collection of his poems, he deposited them in the temple of Athena in his native city, Soli. He is accordingly called by the poet Theaetetus, in an epitaph which he composed upon him,[7] the friend of the Muses; and that his chief favorites among the poets were Homer and Euripides.[8]
On Grief
The most popular of Crantor's works in Rome seems to have been that "On Grief" (
Consolatio on the death of his daughter, Tullia. Several extracts from it are preserved in Pseudo-Plutarch's treatise on Consolation addressed to Apollonius, which has come down to us. Crantor paid special attention to ethics, and arranged "good" things in the following order - virtue, health, pleasure, riches.[11]
Commentaries on Plato
Platonic academy to write commentaries on the works of Plato;[12] Proclus credits Crantor with the first commentary on the Timaeus,[13] and Eudorus of Alexandria makes use of Crantor's work in his own commentary, which is in turn preserved by Plutarch.[14]
Notes
- ^ Dorandi 1999, p. 48.
- ^ a b Laërtius 1925, § 24.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 27.
- ^ Laërtius 1925, § 25.
- ^ a b c Smith 1870.
- ^ Horace, Ep. i. 2. 4
- ^ Anth. Plan. ii. 28.
- ^ Laërtius 1925.
- ISBN 0226305783p188
- ^ Cicero, Acad, ii. 44.
- ^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Crantor". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 378–379.
- ^ Dillon 1996, p. 42-43.
- ^ In Tim, I 76,2
- ^ Plutarch, Proc. An. 1020B
References
Ancient testimony
Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. Vol. 1:4. Translated by Hicks, Robert Drew(Two volume ed.). Loeb Classical Library. § 24-27.- Cicero, Academica
- Plutarch. "On the Generation of Soul in Timaeus". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
- Pseudo-Plutarch, Consolation to Apollonius
Modern scholarship
- Dillon, John M. (1996). The Middle Platonists, 80 B.C. to A.D. 220. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0-8014-8316-5. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
- Dorandi, Tiziano (1999). "Chapter 2: Chronology". In Algra, Keimpe; et al. (eds.). The Cambridge History of Hellenistic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 48. ISBN 9780521250283.
Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Crantor". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
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