A New Text of Apuleius: The Lost Third Book of the De Platone by Justin A. Stover

Abstract

Reviewed by: A New Text of Apuleius: The Lost Third Book of the De Platone by Justin A. Stover Harold Tarrant Justin A. Stover. A New Text of Apuleius: The Lost Third Book of the De Platone. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. Pp. xviii + 216. Cloth, £70.00. The publication of a new text on ancient philosophy tends to be an exciting event, but there can be years between discovery and availability. This is an extreme case. Raymond Klibansky discovered the text in 1949 and transcribed it, making it available to friends who were under an obligation not to anticipate his publication of it—which failed to happen. It contains summaries, of very different lengths, of the doctrinal content of thirteen Platonic dialogues. I saw the transcription of this so-called Epitome, or Compendiosa Expositio as it may be more accurately called, in 1998, and have done so subsequently. Yet, without much indication of date, its use would be limited. Found in an Apuleius manuscript, it was always tempting to connect it with Apuleius in some way, but a proper assessment of its authorship would benefit from recent advances in the understanding of Apuleius’s work as a whole. This first edition is not just an attempt to present us with a reasonable text and translation of the work, but offers a thorough introduction to many aspects of the work, a compelling case for Apuleian authorship supported by a proven and up-to-date kind of computer-assisted vocabulary analysis, a serviceable commentary, and justification of the theory that it belongs to the De Platone. While this may be the case, it is also argued that the summaries were of use to the author in the actual writing of the doctrinal section of the work, so that the final book would seem also to have had a preliminary purpose—which is by no means impossible (see 74). Undoubtedly, subsequent work will be able to improve the text and translation slightly, as well as extend our understanding of the content, but what we are presented with here is an excellent first step. By far the most revealing chapter of the text is 14, in which the author offers something of the rationale according to which chapters have been arranged. Earlier material had employed books that best represent Plato as author of Socrates’s philosophy, that is, true philosophy. In what follows, even though the names of various persons arguing in various ways are attached, nihilominus consensus intellegitur. Stover translates, “a consensus is nonetheless understood,” whereas I think it would be natural (in view of the concessive clause) to translate “nevertheless a consensus [or ‘common thread’] is detected.” They are said to be a blend of Pythagoras’s and Parmenides’s doctrines, though the thirteen books of Laws (including Epinomis as book 13) are presented in Plato’s own voice. So, uniquely in ancient Platonism, the Socratic Plato, represented by Republic, Euthyphro, Menexenus, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo, precedes all works not led by Socrates, now normally considered later: Laws with Epinomis, Epistles, Parmenides, Sophist, Statesman, Timaeus, and Critias. This agrees with De Platone 1.3.186–87, where Platonic philosophy comes to fruition only when he seeks Pythagorean and Eleatic input on physics and dialectic after the death of Socrates. For all works present, Stover includes a calculation of the number of words devoted to the summary for every thousand words of the original text. Relatively closest attention is given to Epinomis (easily!), then Crito, Republic, Timaeus, Laws, Epistles and Sophist, Phaedo, and Statesman. But there is important information even about the comparatively neglected Parmenides, for Apuleius says something about the suspicion that the whole (on my reading) is both one and many, and about all things being constituted of opposites. Even on Stover’s reading it is clear that some kind of metaphysical interpretation of the final part of this dialogue is being offered, before Plotinus, by somebody. [End Page 158] The beginning of the book is lost, so the text begins in Republic 3, raising questions about whether any complete dialogue is missing. The thirteen-book selection matches the thirteen books of Laws and the thirteen Epistles. Arrangement of the...