Acknowledgments
This work was originally prepared as chapter nine of a fifteen hundred page genetic study of Augustineâs doctrine of God, entitled âThe Triune Creator and the Rhythm of Creation: Augustineâs Emerging Apprehension of the Trinity as God.â The Augustine study emerged during my dissertation effort at the University of Notre Dame; and I submitted a relatively freestanding part of it as my dissertation. I stumbled across the relevance of the Timaeus to Augustineâs work in the course of discerning how Augustine articulated a figure expressing the Trinity/creature relation of Catholic tradition in his De Musica. It had occurred to me that Augustine had found his precedent for using the liberal discipline of music as a vehicle for expressing metaphysical and cosmological ideas precisely in the Timaeus.
Augustine used the dispondee (â¢--â¢/â¢--â¢/â¢--â¢/â¢--â¢), a rhythmic foot comprising the lowest level mathematical analogue, in rhythm, of the two octave sequence, i.e., the disdiapason, in harmony, as a symbol expressing the bounds of the order of reality. The notion that the order of reality comprises a periodic interval represented by the disdiapason appears to have derived from the Timaeus. Favonius Eulogius, the rhetor, for example, commenting upon Ciceroâs In somnium Scipionis, a text known to have been in dialogue with Platoâs Timaeus, specifically limited the cosmic expansion to two octaves.40 It is eminently probable that Augustine knew of this tradition sufficiently well both to have constructed a rhythmic analogue of the idea in De Musica and to have recast the notion to fit a Christian metaphysical scheme. He spoke of one of his students of rhetoric, Favonius Eulogius by name, in his little work De Cura Pro Mortuis, mentioning, generally, that he had taught Eulogius his Cicero and alluding, specifically, to Ciceroâs In somnium Scipionis.41
One can only speculate, of course, whether Eulogiusâ commentary reflects Augustineâs teaching.42 The commentary shows, at least, that knowledge of the particular Timaeus tradition setting the cosmic limit at the interval of a disdiapason was widely available to the rhetorical world that Augustine inhabited.
Once having discovered the plausibility of a link between Augustineâs De musica and Platoâs Timaeus through the medium of Favonius Eulogiusâ commentary on Ciceroâs In somnium Scipionis, I was curious to discover how the view that the order of reality is limited to the interval of a disdiapason could have arisen from Platoâs Timaeus and what it could possibly mean. My journey has been fascinating, and the present study is its result. It could not have been what it has become without the patience and encouragement of David Burrell, C.S.C., in allowing me to go off on what originally appeared to be a frolic of my own in a dissertation on Augustine; Gretchen Reydams-Shilsâ Timaeus conference at the University of Notre Dame in the spring of 2000, as well as her questions about the first draft of the Timaeus analysis; some early advice of Ernest McClain on musical points that convinced me to make a thorough study of the issues in Greek music current when Plato wrote the Timaeus; and the inspection, suggestions, and encouragement of Calvin Bower, John Dillon, Thomas Mathiesen, and Andrew Barker, regarding various revised versions, in correspondence, and occasionally, in person. I am also indebted to Luc Brisson for the insights inspired by a diagram depicting the results of Platoâs âmeansâ operation at Timaeus 36 A, in his Le même et lââ¯autre, and for his permission to use a similar diagram and variations thereon in my own presentation.
My acknowledgments would be incomplete if I did not mention Anne Marie Schuster and the late Alan Tybor, good friends who expressed a great interest in ancient philosophy when I told them of my project. In an unparalleled test of our friendship, they patiently sat through a full presentation of my then existing, long, intricate Timaeus analysis and assisted me with the mechanics of preparing to present it, in a shortened format, to the annual conference of the International Society of Neoplatonic Studies (âISNSâ) in New Orleans, Louisiana in June of 2003. I also thank my lovely daughter, Lucia Elena Adler, for her patience with the long hours and many years it took to bring this work to completion, for her proofreading assistance, and for her continued enthusiasm and encouragement all along the way. I am abundantly blessed with her presence in my life.
I owe much to John Finamore, Robert Berchman, and the members of ISNS who graciously entertained the first version of this study at the ISNS annual conference, in June 2003 (as noted); a more developed version at the ISNS annual conference, in June 2008; and entirely new material, relating musical ideas in the Timaeus and Laws, in the current Chapter 8, at the ISNS annual conference in June 2018. I thank Gary Gurtler and Jean-Marc Narbonne, as well, for their interest in my research and all of those at Brill who have so graciously shepherded me through various stages of the publication process. I particularly express my gratitude to Tessel Jonquière, Jennifer Pavelko, Meghan Connelly, Dieuwertje Kooij, and Lydia Bax. Hats off, especially, to Lydia Bax and her typesetting team. The material was difficult, given all of its figures and tables; and Lydiaâs professionalism in handling the task has been phenomenal.
The reports of my anonymous reviewers at Brill, on a recent version of this work, have certainly been invaluable. The limited, additional research that they suggested I do sparked insights allowing a much more efficient way to present some of my material, as well as a convenient means to eliminate a number of appendices. The analysis has surely gone through many permutations and variations in some of its parts, over the years, as I have striven to address Platoâs riddle convincingly. It is finally complete to my present satisfaction and ready to be shared with Timaeus enthusiasts more generally.
Eulogius somnio Scipionis 25. Pierre Courcelle noted the influence of Calcidius on Eulogius. Indeed, he claimed that Eulogiusâ commentary draws from Calcidiusâ In Timaeum. Pierre Courcelle, âLa postérité chrétienne du songe de Scipion,â Revue des Ãtudes Latine 36 (1958): 211 (and note 3).
Augustine De cura pro mortuis 13. Roger-E. Van Weddingen, translator of the Eulogius commentary into French, speculated that the Eulogius of the commentary was one and the same as the Eulogius of Augustineâs treatise on the dead. Roger-E. Van Weddingen, âIntroduction,â in the Disputatio de somnio Scipionis of Favonius Eulogius, edition et traduction de Roger-E. Van Weddingen, Collection Latomus, vol. 27 (Bruxelles: Latomus revue dââ¯Ã©tudes latines, 1957), 5â6 and 8. Aimé Soulignac, Pierre Courcelle and Peter Brown went farther, positively identifying the figures of the two references. See Aimé Soulignac, âDoxographies et manuels chez S. Augustin,â Recherches Augustiniennes 1, Supplement à la revue des etudes Augustiniennes (1958): 131â132; Courcelle, âLa postérité chrétienne du songe de Scipion,â 212â213; Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo, 2d ed. (New York: Dorset Press, 1986), 131 and 302.
Soulignac went so far as to propose that the Eulogius commentary was a joint work of Eulogius and Augustine, with Augustine taking the position as master. Soulignac, âDoxographies,â 131â132. Courcelle maintained that Augustine both possessed and used Eulogiusâ commentary. Courcelle, âLa postérité chrétienne,â 213.