Letters on Philosophers by Letters of Pseudo-Anaximenes of Miletus

Name: Letters on Philosophers
Author: Letters of Pseudo-Anaximenes of Miletus

Period: Κλασική Classical

Dialect: Ἰωνική Ionic

Domain: Φιλοσοφία Philosophy

Domain: Ῥητορική Oratory

Genre: Ἐπιστολή Letter

Affiliation: Presocratic

The Letters on Philosophers is a pseudepigraphic work falsely attributed to the pre-Socratic philosopher Anaximenes of Miletus. Comprising four epistles, it belongs to a common genre of later philosophical writings composed under the name of an authoritative ancient figure. The content, as suggested by the title and the surviving Greek text, consists of anecdotal and doxographical material presented in an epistolary format. One preserved section narrates the death of Thales, who is said to have fallen from a cliff while stargazing, and includes reflections on the contemporary political turmoil in Ionia under Persian threat. The work is absent from major scholarly catalogues of Anaximenes’s genuine fragments, indicating it is a minor, spurious text with a poorly documented manuscript tradition. Its significance is negligible for the study of pre-Socratic philosophy, holding interest primarily for specialists in ancient pseudepigraphy and the later reception of early Greek thinkers.

Letters of Pseudo-Anaximenes of Miletus Letters on Philosophers in Greek in PDF

Letters of Pseudo-Anaximenes of Miletus Letters on Philosophers in Greek in MD

Ἀναξιμένης Πυθαγόρῃ

Θαλῆς Ἐξαμίου ἐπὶ γήρως οὐκ εὐπότμως οἴχεται· εὐφρόνης, ὥσπερ ἐώθει, ἅμα τῇ ἀμφιπόλῳ προϊὼν ἐκ τοῦ αὐλίου τὰ ἄστρα ἐθηεῖτο, καὶ — οὐ γὰρ ἐς μνήμην ἔθετο — θηεύμενος ἐς τὸ κρημνῶδες ἐκβὰς καταπίπτει. Μιλησίοισι μέν νυν ὁ αἰθερολόγος ἐν τοιῷδε κεῖται τέλει· ἡμέες δὲ οἱ λεσχηνευταὶ αὐτοί τε μεμνώμεθα τοῦ ἀνδρός, οἵ τε ἡμέων παῖδές τε καὶ λεσχηνευταί, ἐπιδεξιοίμεθα δʼ ἔτι τοῖς ἐκείνου λόγοις. ἀρχὴ μέντοι παντὸς τοῦ λόγου Θαλῆ ἀνακείσθω.

Ἀναξιμένης Πυθαγόρῃ.

Εὐβουλότατος ἦς ἡμέων, μεταναστὰς ἐκ Σάμου ἐς Κρότωνα ἐνθάδε εἰρηνέες. οἱ δὲ Αἰακέος παῖδες ἄλαστα κακὰ ἔρδουσι καὶ Μιλησίους οὐκ ἐπιλείπουσι αἰσυμνῆται. δεινὸς δὲ ἡμῖν καὶ ὁ Μήδων βασιλεύς, οὐκ ἤν γε ἐθέλωμεν δασμοφορέειν, ἀλλὰ μέλλουσι δὴ ἀμφὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίης ἁπάντων Ἴωνες Μήδοις κατίστασθαι ἐς πόλεμον· καταστᾶσι δὲ οὐκέτι ἐλπὶς ἡμῖν σωτηρίης. κῶς ἂν οὖν Ἀναξιμένης ἐν θυμῷ ἔτι ἔχοι αἰθερολογέειν, ἐν δείματι ἐὼν ὀλέθρου ἢ δουλοσύνης; σὺ δὲ εἶ καταθύμιος μὲν Κροτωνιήτῃσι, καταθύμιος δὲ καὶ τοῖσι ἄλλοισι Ἰταλιώτῃσι· φοιτέουσι δέ τοι λεσχηνευταὶ καὶ ἐκ Σικελίης.

Letters on Philosophers by Letters of Pseudo-Anaximenes of Miletus

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