Andronicus of Rhodes. Greek philosopher who lived in the 1st century BC made the first complete critical edition of Aristotle’s works , wrote a volume containing Aristotle’s testament , and perhaps his biography. He also drew up the catalog of all Aristotelian writings. To him is due the famous division between exoteric and esoteric writings, with the consequent legend of the double doctrine, and also the name of the books of Metaphysics . He also did the critical edition of Theophrastus .
Biographical synthesis
At first he explained philosophy in the schools of Athens and it was the year 71 before JC to settle in Rome . Tyranion , the freedman of Lucullus, commissioned by Sulla to transcribe the unpublished books of Aristotle from the Library of Apelicon , gave his works to Andronicus for review. He classified them, made tables and summaries of them and enriched them with numerous comments. The word metaphysics is also attributed to him.
He had among others as disciples Boethius and Soligenes , to whom Caesar entrusted the reform of the Calendar. Andrónico published, as a result of all these works, the manuscripts of Aristotle and Teophrasto accompanied by tables and indexes made by him, classified these writings in order of subjects, distributing them in treatises, and the result of their investigations.
These works, like the originals of Andronicus himself on physics and on Aristotle’s categories, have almost all been lost. For the rest Andronicus, like almost all Latin thinkers, lacks originality and his doctrine is reduced to the commentary of the Aristotelian. His works have been lost. The fragments of The Virtues and the Vices, in Stobeo, as well as the paraphrase of the Ethics to Nicomacheus, which have been attributed to Andronicus of Rhodes, are of a more modern author. The last of these works was first published under the title Incerti auctoris paraphrasis , by Daniel Heinsius (Leyden, 1607 ).
