Theodore Metochites, a distinguished figure in the intellectual and political landscape of the early Palaiologan period (1261-1341), was born in Constantinople in 1270. The On Morals or Concerning Education is an extensive disquisition about the significance and status of cultural education (paideia) in the context of Palaiologan society. The oration might also be seen at least partly as an autobiographical narrative exposing Metochites's inner reflections and anxieties. The On Morals belongs to the genre of the protreptikos, a hortatory speech designed (...) to encourage its readers to study philosophy and attain virtue. With the On Morals Metochites sought to establish himself as a continuator of ancient moral philosophy in late Byzantium. (shrink)

Theodore Metochites’ Aristotelian paraphrases (c. 1312), covering all 40 books of the Stagirite’s extant works on natural philosophy, constitute one of the major achievements of late Byzantine learning. This volume offers the first critical edition of Metochites’ paraphrases of the three books of the De anima, accompanied by an introduction and an English translation with an apparatus of parallel passages in Aristotle’s ancient commentators. The first part of the introduction presents and evaluates the sources for the text, consisting of thirteen (...) Greek manuscripts, a 15th-century Greek epitome and a 16th-century Latin translation. The genealogical relationships between these are established on the basis of separative and conjunctive errors, identified, inter alia, through critical discussions of more than 300 passages. The second part of the introduction discusses the nature, purpose and sources of the paraphrases as well as several linguistic questions with implications for editing and translating the text. The third part of the introduction sets out the principles of this edition and translation. (shrink)

"A critical edition, with English translation and notes, of chapters 27-60 of the Semeioseis gnomikai ("Sententious notes"), a collection of 120 essays by the Byzantine statesman and scholar Theodore Metochites (1270-1332).The edition is based on three manuscripts, which are briefly presented in the introduction. P (Par. gr. 2003, Paris) and M (Marc. gr. 532, Venice) were both written in the early fourteenth century; E (Scor. gr. 248, Escorial) is a sixteenth-century copy of M.After the edition, with accompanying English translation and (...) notes, the book is concluded with a bibliography and three indexes: of quoted passages, Greek words, and Greek names.Several of the essays in this volume contain laments on the reduced state of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium), and on the vicissitudes of human life and fortune. A group of short essays describe the pleasure of beholding Creation and one of the longest discusses the pros and cons of having been born, i.e. of life. (shrink)