SIMPLICIUS, the successor of Pope Hilarius or Hilarus, was a native of Tibur, and was consecrated bishop of Rome on February 25, 468. He died March 2, 483, and was succeeded by Felix III. His extant letters, which date from the banishment of Romulus Augustulus and the early years of Odoacer’s reign, relate almost entirely to the ecclesiastical and court intrigues of Alexandria and Constantinople in connexion with the Monophysite controversy....
SIMPLICIUS, a native of Cilicia, a disciple of Ammonius and of Damascius, was one of the last of the Neoplatonists. From 400 to 529 a.d. the Neoplatonic school at Athens was the centre of pagan opposition to victorious Christianity, and, as such, fell a victim to imperial persecution. The subvention which it had received from the state was withdrawn; its private property was confiscated; and at last in 529 the teaching at Athens of philosophy and jurisprudence was forbidden (Malalas, p. 451, ed. Bonn). Disestablished, disendowed, and silenced, the scholarch Damascius, Simplicius, Priscianus, and four others resolved in 531 or 532 to seek the protection of Khosrau Anósharávn (or Chosroes), who had ascended the throne of Persia in the former of these years. To his court they went; but, though from this patron of Greek learning they received a hearty welcome, they found themselves unable to support a continued residence amongst barbarians. Before two years had elapsed they returned to Greece, Khosrau, in his treaty of peace concluded with Justinian in 533, expressly stipulating that the seven philosophers should be allowed “to return to their own homes, and to live henceforward in the enjoyment of liberty of conscience” (Agathias, ii. 30,31). After his return from Persia Simplicius wrote commentaries upon Aristotle’s De Caelo, Physicα, De Anima, and Categoriae, which, with a commentary upon the Enchiridion of Epictetus, have survived. In his writings Simplicius, who had small pretensions to originality of doctrine, devotes himself to the exposition and reconciliation of his authorities. His respect at once for Plato and for Aristotle is so great that he refuses to acknowledge any real difference between them, even in regard to their theories of universale and of matter. His remarks are, however, thoughtful and intelligent, and his learning is prodigious. To the student of Greek philosophy his commentaries are invaluable, as they contain many fragments of the older philosophers as well as of his immediate predecessors.
The editions of the Greek text of the. commentaries are as follows :—on the De Caelo, Utrecht, by S. Karsten, 1865 (the Greek text published at Venice in 1526 is no more than a retranslation from Gnil. de Moerbeka’s Latin version); on the Physica, Venice, 1526, Berlin (by H. Diels), vol. i. 1882; on the Be Anima (a disappointing work), Venice, 1527, Berlin (by M. Hayduck), 1882; on the Categoriae, Venice, 1499, Basel, 1551; on the Enchiridion, Venice, 1528, Paris (Didot), 1842, &c. On the life and writings of Simplicius, see J. A. Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca, ix. 529 sg.; Ch. A. Brandis’s excellent article in Smith’s Dict. of Greek and Roman Biography ; E. Zeller, D. Phil. d. Gr., III. ii. 851 sq.; also Ch. A. Brandis, “Ueber d. Griech. Ausleger d. Aristot. Organons,” in Abh. Berl. Akad., 1833, and C. G. Zumpt, “Ueber d. Bestand d. phil. Schulen in Athen,” ibid., 1842.
[72 words — estimated reading time: 1 minute]