[PHILOSOPHERS. It appeared only in Latin at Venice in the year 1552, in quarto, from the version of Nic. Petreius of Corfu. The Greek is also found several times in manuscript at Oxford in the Bodleian Library. In another Greek codex of the Imperial Library [19. V. Lambec. VI, p. 237 seq., and in another, the Laurentian codex II], chapter XXXV concerning the soul occurs, being five times as long. FABR. I shall bring forward here, from Vol. IX of the old edition following the preface, the Index of writers who are cited by Meletius in his book on the structure of man, compiled by Fabricius according to the pages of the Venetian edition of 1552, 4to.]
[Aristophanes, in Equit. 80. Aristotle, 68.] [Basil, 2, 7, 21, 48, 57, 72, 77. Callimachus, 65, 85, 90, 137. Cyril, 2. Chrysostom, 2. Empedocles, 142. Epicurus, 67. Galen, 1, 68, 109, 142. Gregory Nazianzen, the theologian, 67, 114, 142. Gregory of Nyssa, 2, 10, 114, 140. Greeks are babblers, 10. Hesiod, 59, 91. Homer, 9, 20, 29, 51, 61, 65, 66, 72, 73, 74, 85, 88, 89, 95, 106, 109, 110, 120, 121, 127, 129, 136. Poet, 80. Lycophron, 85. Pindar in Dithyrambs, 86. Plato, 25, 27. Timaeus, 57. Socrates on the nature of man (in Plato) 1. HARL.] [Uncertain whether Meletius, to whom the epistles of Theodore the Studite survive among those inedita numbered 277, which, not seen by Sirmond, are kept in the codex of the Seguierian library, is different from this one. FABR. See Montfauc. Bibl. Coislin. p. 147, 149, 317, 320; and Bandin. Cat. codd. Gr. Laur. III, p. 284. HARL.]
NICOLAS PETREIUS'S DEDICATORY EPISTLE
PREFIXED TO THE VENETIAN EDITION OF THE YEAR 1552
They say that Philip, that King of the Macedonians, the father of Alexander, who deserved to receive the name "the Great" for his illustrious deeds, wept when he considered that he had to await an opportunity to confer benefits worthy of the merit shown to him, because it had happened that he met his death sooner than he could receive the rewards fitting for such merits; and this was clear to the magnanimous king, that he could have incurred no heavier crime, nor any more detestable one, than that of ingratitude. Since this must appear intolerable everywhere and before all mortals, I believe it was for a just reason that among the Athenians, those most preeminent in the kind of all virtues and learning, a public action for this matter was established; for he who neglects to return such gratitude as he can toward one who has deserved well of him, ought rightly to be deemed devoid of sense and most ungrateful. As I frequently turned this over in my mind, and called to memory how great the benefits were which you conferred upon me through your singular kindness while I was in Rome, and how much you have bound me to yourself and made me yours forever through your benevolence toward me, I felt that I must think at every moment how I might return some gratitude to you, lest you should charge me with the crime of ingratitude, which I would consider eternally the most disgraceful thing. And indeed, since I had determined at this present time to publish Meletius the philosopher’s work on the structure and nature of man—a book otherwise notable for this subject, which I had translated into Latin many years ago—and since I could in no way deny this to many of my friends who consulted both their own benefit and that of all students, and who had vehemently importuned me to do so, I decided that this work should be dedicated to your greatness above all others for a twofold reason: first, because I know that there is no one who is more preeminent in nobility of soul, in integrity of life, in counsel, in the study of the best arts of both languages, or in every kind of praise; and for these reasons, why should I not extol, pursue with praise and studies, and embrace with benevolence? Second, because I felt that I owed you so much that, believing I could in no way be solvent, I might at least in some measure represent in return the kindness of your mind toward me. For although I know very well how much care, study, and vigilance you expend in administering the province of that most celebrated city—to which, as a wise and circumspect pontiff, you were appointed neither by lobby nor by petition, and which all people everywhere proclaim you to govern with the greatest prudence, virtue, and counsel—and that from this you have no time remaining to spend on the reading of outstanding authors (as you were accustomed to do), nevertheless, when you resolve to turn the pages of my Meletius and to examine it, I do not fear that you will spend the better hours of your leisure in reading it. For he, O magnanimous Saul, about to write a most absolute work on the structure and nature of man, purposed to read through all the books of the ancients (as he himself testifies at the beginning of his work), that what had been contained scattered about in their books concerning man, and had not been explicitly explained, might be reduced to the series of a single work. Starting therefore from the elements of the world, and progressing to the elements of the body, he clearly sets forth how this animal is begotten and takes food, and how many vital, natural, and animal faculties show their actions within him. Then, before he begins to explain the parts of the body one by one, he describes how the mind acts through the senses, what the triple soul