Robert Mayhew

Seton Hall University, Philosophy, Faculty Member

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Professor of Philosophy at Seton Hall University (NJ, USA).
Recent books: PLATO: LAWS 10 (Oxford UP); ARISTOTLE: PROBLEMS (Loeb CL, Harvard UP); PRODICUS THE SOPHIST (Oxford UP); AYN RAND: THE UNCONQUERED (Palgrave-MacMillan); ARISTOTLE'S LOST HOMERIC PROBLEMS (Oxford UP).

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Catherine Rowett

University of East Anglia

Han N Baltussen

University of Adelaide

Marc Champagne

Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Durham University

Ucla

Cornell University

Macquarie University

Claudia Franziska Brühwiler

University of St. Gallen

Francesco Camia

Università degli Studi "La Sapienza" di Roma

Seth Bernard

University of Toronto

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Papers by Robert Mayhew

Aristotle on Civic Friendship

Aristotle offers us no sustained account of civic friendship (πολιτική φιλία), only remarks scatt... more Aristotle offers us no sustained account of civic friendship (πολιτική φιλία), only remarks scattered throughout the Nicomachean Ethics and Eudemian Ethics.1 In this paper I hope to make clear what his views on civic friendship are. Before I get to his remarks on civic friendship themselves, I want to look briefly at two discussions in Aristotle that I believe contribute to uncovering his views on civic friendship, and I want to indicate briefly those interpretations of Aristotle's civic friendship that I reject. I First, let us take a quick look at two related issues: (1) Aristotle's criticism of the communism of women and children in Plato's Republic, and (2) Aristotle's claim that one cannot properly be a friend-i.e. a character friend-to many people.2 According to Plato, nearly every citizen in the best city of the Republic will actually feel close familial friendship or affection towards one another: A citizen will regard all younger citizens as children, and all older ones as parents and grandparents, and all those of the same age as siblings. And they will really feel this; these are not simply words (Rep. 463c-d). This, it was claimed, will result in the highest unity possible. (See Rep. 462b-464d.)3 Aristotle levels several criticisms against this 'communism of women and children,' as it is sometimes called. (See Pol. II 3-4.) For example: What is common to the most people gets the least care, since they are concerned (φροντίζουσιV) most of all with their own things, but less with the common things, or [only with] as much as falls to each [individually] (1261b33-35). And: There comes to be a thousand sons to each of the citizens, and these not as [sons] of each [individually], but any chance man is equally the son of any chance man [given that they are in the proper age groups], such that all [the "fathers"] will eaually neglect them [i.e. the "sons"] (1261b38-1262al). The main thrust of Aristotle's complaint is that where women and children are held in common (or more accurately, where all regard themselves as part of one common family) , people will not be able 1

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A Reappraisal of Heitz

Aristotle's Lost Homeric Problems

As part of my appeal to scholars not to limit themselves to the standard collections of fragments... more As part of my appeal to scholars not to limit themselves to the standard collections of fragments (i.e. Rose and Gigon) when studying the Homeric Problems, I argue that Heitz’s 1869 edition of Aristotle’s fragments is a too often overlooked collection (at least with respect to the Homeric Problems). I do this by examining two fragments in Heitz’s collection that were not included in those of Rose and Gigon. One comes from the Etymologicum genuinum, and concerns the identity of a tree (the ἀχερωΐς‎) that appears twice in the Iliad; the other comes from Eustathius’ Commentary on the Odyssey, and concerns the recognition scenes in the Odyssey involving Odysseus’ scar.

The Evidence from the History of Animals

Aristotle's Lost Homeric Problems, 2019

This chapter attempts to expand our knowledge of Aristotle’s Homeric Problems through an examinat... more This chapter attempts to expand our knowledge of Aristotle’s Homeric Problems through an examination in context of the nine references to Homer in Aristotle’s History of Animals. Topics include: the unusual anatomical description in the account of the death of Thoön in Iliad 13; the longevity of Odyssey’s dog Argos; the two names of a bird in Iliad 14 (chalkis and kumindis); and the powerful eagle of Iliad 24. It is argued that, taken together, they likely provide additional evidence about the content of the Homeric Problems, and how Aristotle approached some of the debates engaged in by Homeric scholars in antiquity.

Athenaeus’ Deipnosophistae 7 and Aristotle’s Lost Zoïka or On Fish

Revisiting Aristotle’s Fragments, 2020

Aristotle on the Meaning of τάλαντον‎ in Iliad 23

Aristotle's Lost Homeric Problems, 2019

Unlike most of the chapters in this volume, the present chapter is focused on a set of related Ho... more Unlike most of the chapters in this volume, the present chapter is focused on a set of related Homeric scholia that have received a fair amount of attention. They contain Aristotle’s solution to a problem concerning the value of a talent in Iliad 23, specifically: Why does Achilles give the greatest prize (two talents of gold) to the fourth-place contestant in the chariot race? But though these texts have received scholarly attention, their presentation—in editions of the scholia and in the collections of the fragments of Aristotle—is not always clear or complete, and the discussion of this material not always or entirely satisfactory. So this is a fresh look at the available evidence, going back to the manuscripts themselves.

One. Aristotle and “Ideology”

Six. The Softer and Less Spirited Sex

The Softer and Less Spirited Sex

Reason or Rationalization

Omslag, bulletin van de Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden en het Scaliger Instituut / 2008 - no 2

Mark J. Schiefsky (Translator).Hippocrates on Ancient Medicine. (Studies in Ancient Medicine, 28.) xiii + 415 pp., apps., indexes. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishing, 2005. $165 (cloth)

Isis, Jun 1, 2006

Aristotelianism in the First Century BCE: Xenarchus of Seleucia by Andrea Falcon

Classical World, 2013

ABSTRACT The past few decades have been an excellent time to be interested in Peripatetic thought... more ABSTRACT The past few decades have been an excellent time to be interested in Peripatetic thought after Aristotle, as much work has been devoted to Theophrastus and other early Peripatetics, as well as to Alexander of Aphrodisias and the other Greek commentators on Aristotle. Falcon’s study of Xenarchus is an important addition to this growing body of work, one that admirably covers territory not treated elsewhere (or not so well). (I should mention that I have not seen M. Isnardi Parente’s Senocrate-Ermodoro: frammenti [Naples, 1982].) The book has three parts 1. Xenarchus: The Man and his Work; 2. Texts, Translations, and Notes; 3. Reception. There is an introduction and a conclusion. In the introduction, Falcon discusses how Xenarchus has been treated by other scholars and in what sense he is a Peripatetic. Falcon writes: “The epithet ‘Peripatetic’ [from some sources] is best explained as an indication of his commitment to a careful study of Aristotle’s works . . . without the overriding goal of fidelity” (1–2). The precise nature of Xenarchus’ Aristotelianism is further discussed in part 1, an essay on the life and thought of Xenarchus and the intellectual context within which he worked (with a focus on the revival of interest in Aristotle in the first century b.c.e .). This is an excellent entry into the study of Xenarchus, who is usually known, if known at all, merely as a Peripatetic who objected to Aristotle’s conviction that celestial bodies were composed of a special fifth element. The heart of the book, however, is part 2, which consists of two unequal sections. The first contains the text with translation of Aristotle, De Caelo 268b17–269b17. In his translation, Falcon has usefully italicized those lines that are the objects of Xenarchus’ criticisms. The second section (Xenarchus: The Testimonies, with no attempt to distinguish testimonia and fragmenta, a prudent decision) is further divided into five parts: Life (one testimony from Strabo); Physics (eleven from Simplicius’ commentary on De Caelo, and one from Julian the Emperor); Psychology (one from Aëtius via Stobaeus, and one from Philoponus); Ethics (one from Alexander of Aphrodisias); and the Timaeus (one from Proclus). For each testimony (T), the Greek (or in one case, Latin (T 15) is presented first, followed by Falcon’s translation, then by an analysis, and finally by notes geared toward lemmata. This would have been more user-friendly, however, had all of the texts been presented on one side with their translations on facing pages, followed by the commentary. Presentation aside, the translations are faithful to the Greek and in readable English, and the analyses and notes are superb, clarifying what is often dense and difficult material. The accuracy of any account of Xenarchus depends in large part on the value of the sources from which the testimonies come. Falcon defends the reliability of Simplicius as a source for Xenarchus (2–4), although he could have expanded the discussion given this source’s importance. Nevertheless, he is careful with the sources (see for example 129–32, on Aëtius) and in general is a cautious scholar, as every editor of fragmentary material must be. A minor example: in in De Caelo 13.22 (T2), Simplicius’ πρὸς τὴν πέμπτην οὐσίαν is usually considered a title (Against the Fifth Substance); but Falcon—lacking sufficient support for such a reading—translates it without italics (defending his interpretation on 66–68). For those new to Xenarchus, I present as an example the core of one of his objections to Aristotle. This is from T6 (Simpl. in De Caelo 24.21): “It is impossible for circular motion to be natural for a simple body, since in the simple bodies, which are uniform, all the parts have an equal speed, whereas in a circle [the parts] near the center are always slower than those near the periphery, since they move a shorter distance in the same [time period]” (90). Given limitations of space, I can do no more than describe the contents of part 3 (Reception), which consists of three brief but informative essays: 1. Xenarchus and the Reception of Aristotle’s Physics in Antiquity; 2. Xenarchus and Plotinus; and 3. Vestiges of Xenarchus in the Middle Ages.

Problems : books 1-19

Harvard University Press eBooks, 2011

Aristotle of Stagirus (384--322 BCE), the great Greek philosopher, researcher, logician, and scho... more Aristotle of Stagirus (384--322 BCE), the great Greek philosopher, researcher, logician, and scholar, studied with Plato at Athens and taught in the Academy (367--347). Subsequently he spent three years in Asia Minor at the court of his former pupil Hermeias, where he married Pythias, one of Hermeias' relations. After some time at Mitylene, he was appointed in 343/2 by King Philip of Macedon to be tutor of his teen-aged son Alexander. After Philip's death in 336, Aristotle became head of his own school (of "Peripatetics"), the Lyceum at Athens. Because of anti-Macedonian feeling there after Alexander's death in 323, he withdrew to Chalcis in Euboea, where he died the following year. Problems, the third-longest work in the Aristotelian corpus, contains thirty-eight books covering more than 900 problems about living things, meteorology, ethical and intellectual virtues, parts of the human body, and miscellaneous questions. Although Problems is an accretion of multiple authorship over several centuries, it offers a fascinating technical view of Peripatetic method and thought. Rhetoric to Alexander, which provides practical advice to orators, was likely composed during the period of Aristotle's tutorship of Alexander, perhaps by Anaximenes, another of Alexander's tutors. Both Problems and Rhetoric to Alexander replace the earlier Loeb edition by Hett and Rackham, with texts and translations incorporating the latest scholarship.

ΠΕΡΙ ΙΑΜΒΩΝ: A Note on Riccardianus 46 and the Lost Second Book of Aristotle’s Poetics

Hermes

Neglected Evidence for Aristotle, Historia Animalivm 7(8) in the Works of Ancient Homeric Scholars

The Classical Quarterly, 2021

This brief article aims to supplement Stefan Schnieders's presentation of the evidence for Hi... more This brief article aims to supplement Stefan Schnieders's presentation of the evidence for Historia animalium 7(8)—that is, Book 7 according to the manuscript tradition, Book 8 according to Theodore Gaza's rearrangement—having been considered the seventh book of this work in antiquity. This is accomplished through the discussion of two texts not considered by Schnieders, both of them passages commenting on Iliad Book 21: P.Oxy. 221 (col. X 11–14) and Porphyry, Homeric Questions Book 1 (§8, page 43.8–14 Sodano).

Foundations of a Free Society: Reflections on Ayn Rand's Political Philosophy

Foundations of a Free Society brings together some of the most knowledgeable Ayn Rand scholars an... more Foundations of a Free Society brings together some of the most knowledgeable Ayn Rand scholars and proponents of her philosophy, as well as notable critics, putting them in conversation with other intellectuals who also see themselves as defenders of capitalism and individual liberty. United by the view that there is something importantly right—though perhaps also much wrong—in Rand’s political philosophy, contributors reflect on her views with the hope of furthering our understandings of what sort of society is best and why. The volume provides a robust elaboration and defense of the foundation of Rand’s political philosophy in the principle that force paralyzes and negates the functioning of reason; it offers an in-depth scholarly discussion of Rand’s view on the nature of individual rights and the role of government in defending them; it deals extensively with the similarities and differences between Rand’s thought and the libertarian tradition (to which she is often assimilated) and objections to her positions arising from this tradition; it explores Rand’s relation to the classical liberal tradition, specifically with regard to her defense of freedom of the intellect; and it discusses her views on the free market, with special attention to the relation between these views and those of the Austrian school of economics. Panel discussion with several of the authors available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OogCDh22kQ

Problems : books 20-38 ; Rhetoric to Alexander

Aristotle's Lost Homeric Problems

Aristotle's Lost Homeric Problems, 2019

This volume consists of a set of studies focused on various aspects of a relatively neglected sub... more This volume consists of a set of studies focused on various aspects of a relatively neglected subject: a lost work of Aristotle entitled Homeric Problems. Most of the evidence for this lost work consists mainly of ‘fragments’ surviving in the Homeric scholia (comments in the margins of the medieval manuscripts of the Homeric epics, mostly coming from lost commentaries on these epics). But other sources have been neglected. The book has three parts. The first deals with preliminary issues: the relationship of this lost work to the Homeric scholarship that came before it, and to Aristotle’s comments on the Homeric epics in his extant Poetics; the evidence concerning the possible titles of this work; a neglected early edition of these fragments. In the second part, our knowledge of the Homeric Problems is expanded through an examination in context of quotations from (or allusions to) Homer in Aristotle’s extant works, and specifically in the History of Animals, the Rhetoric, and Poetic...

Essays on Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged

Aristotle and Aristarchus on the Meaning of κέρας‎ in the Iliad

Aristotle's Lost Homeric Problems

This chapter examines numerous texts—Homeric scholia and Eustathius’ commentary on Iliad 11.385, ... more This chapter examines numerous texts—Homeric scholia and Eustathius’ commentary on Iliad 11.385, and Plutarch’s Whether Land or Sea Animals Are Cleverer 24—in which Aristotle and/or Aristarchus are said to offer an interpretation on the specific meaning in context (in the Iliad) of κέρας‎ (‘horn’). The two authors are treated together, because one reason that these Aristotle fragments have been neglected is that earlier scholars have argued that the references to Aristotle are in fact, in most cases, mistakes for Aristarchus. This conclusion is rejected in almost every instance. The Aristotle fragments, properly identified, provide further evidence for Aristotle’s views on metaphor in Homer.

Aristotle on the Theomachy in Iliad 21

Aristotle's Lost Homeric Problems

The focus of this chapter is the Theomachy of Iliad 21. In this connection, two relatively neglec... more The focus of this chapter is the Theomachy of Iliad 21. In this connection, two relatively neglected texts are examined: One is from an Oxyrhynchus papyrus containing a commentary on Iliad 21 (the Homeric problem discussed is: Why did Poseidon and Athena encourage Achilles, but not help him, in his battle with the river Scamander?). The other is from a lengthy scholium (the Homeric problem discussed is: Why, in Iliad 5, does Zeus chastise Ares, as being always fond of war, whereas in Iliad 21, Zeus watches with pleasure as the gods take sides in the war and fight each other?). These are important fragments in their own right, but also in connection with the question of whether Aristotle ever engaged in allegorical interpretation.

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Aristotle on Civic Friendship

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A Reappraisal of Heitz

Aristotle's Lost Homeric Problems

The Evidence from the History of Animals

Aristotle's Lost Homeric Problems, 2019

Athenaeus’ Deipnosophistae 7 and Aristotle’s Lost Zoïka or On Fish

Revisiting Aristotle’s Fragments, 2020

Aristotle on the Meaning of τάλαντον‎ in Iliad 23

Aristotle's Lost Homeric Problems, 2019

One. Aristotle and “Ideology”

Six. The Softer and Less Spirited Sex

The Softer and Less Spirited Sex

Reason or Rationalization

Omslag, bulletin van de Universiteitsbibliotheek Leiden en het Scaliger Instituut / 2008 - no 2

Mark J. Schiefsky (Translator).Hippocrates on Ancient Medicine. (Studies in Ancient Medicine, 28.) xiii + 415 pp., apps., indexes. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishing, 2005. $165 (cloth)

Isis, Jun 1, 2006

Aristotelianism in the First Century BCE: Xenarchus of Seleucia by Andrea Falcon

Classical World, 2013

Problems : books 1-19

Harvard University Press eBooks, 2011

ΠΕΡΙ ΙΑΜΒΩΝ: A Note on Riccardianus 46 and the Lost Second Book of Aristotle’s Poetics

Hermes

Neglected Evidence for Aristotle, Historia Animalivm 7(8) in the Works of Ancient Homeric Scholars

The Classical Quarterly, 2021

Foundations of a Free Society: Reflections on Ayn Rand's Political Philosophy

Problems : books 20-38 ; Rhetoric to Alexander

Aristotle's Lost Homeric Problems

Aristotle's Lost Homeric Problems, 2019

Essays on Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged

Aristotle and Aristarchus on the Meaning of κέρας‎ in the Iliad

Aristotle's Lost Homeric Problems

Aristotle on the Theomachy in Iliad 21

Aristotle's Lost Homeric Problems

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Aristotle on Helios' 'omniscience' in Iliad 3 and Odyssey 12 On schol. B* Iliad 3.277a (fol. 47r) 1 [A draft

In ILIAD 3, as part of his oath affirming that the Greeks will abide by the outcome of the duel b... more In ILIAD 3, as part of his oath affirming that the Greeks will abide by the outcome of the duel between Menelaus and Paris, Agamemnon swears first to Zeus, and then to Helios (the Sun), “who (over)sees all things and (over)hears all things” (Ἠέλιός θ’, ὃς πάντ’ ἐφορᾷς καὶ πάντ’ ἐπακούεις) (277). In ODYSSEY 12, however, while Odysseus is describing his adventures, and specifically the killing of the Cattle of Helios by his comrades, he says: “Swift to Hyperion Helios came a messenger, Lampetia of the long robe, [proclaiming] that we killed his cattle” (ὠκέα δ’ Ἠελίῳ Ὑπερίονι ἄγγελος ἦλθε | Λαμπετίη τανύπεπλος, ὅ οἱ βόας ἔκταμεν ἡμεῖς) (374-375). One or more ancient scholar or critic of Homer suspected a contradiction here, which gave rise to a Homeric problêma: Why would a god who sees all need a messenger? Among the Homeric scholia is evidence that Aristotle offered three solutions to this problem. My aim in this paper is to take a fresh look at the scholium that serves as the basis for this fragment from Aristotle’s HOMERIC PROBLEMS—namely schol. B* ILIAD 3.277a (fol. 47r)—and offer an improved interpretation of it.

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Aristotle on Helios' 'omniscience' in Iliad 3 and Odyssey 12 On schol. B* Iliad 3.277a (fol. 47r) 1 [A draft

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A Talent to Deceive: Aristotle on the Meaning of τάλαντον in Homer’s Iliad 23

At the funeral games in honor of Patroclus (in ILIAD 23), the prizes for the chariot race are: fi... more At the funeral games in honor of Patroclus (in ILIAD 23), the prizes for the chariot race are: first place, a slave woman skilled in crafts, and a tripod of 22 measures; second place, an unbroken six year old mare, carrying within her a mule foal; third place, an unfired cauldron of four measures; fourth place, two talents of gold; fifth place, an unfired two-handle bowl. Some ancient Homeric scholars found problematic the granting of the prize of two talents of gold to the charioteer who comes in fourth place. Surely, it was thought, two talents of gold was worth more than each of the other prizes. Scholia on a number of folios in several Homeric manuscripts indicate that Aristotle offered a solution to this problem, involving the meaning of the word τάλαντον and/or the value of a τάλαντον. Although this fragmentary material (almost certainly from Aristotle’s lost HOMERIC PROBLEMS) has received some scholarly attention, I found its presentation—in editions of the scholia and in the collections of the fragments of Aristotle (it is fr. 164 Rose3)—not always clear or complete, and the discussion of this material not always or entirely satisfactory. In this paper, I take a fresh look at the available evidence.

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(co-edited with R. Lo Presti) Nutrition and Nutritive Soul in Aristotle and Aristotelianism, Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter [Topics in ancient philosophy Vol. 9] 2021, ISBN: 978-3-11-069055-2.

by Giouli Korobili, Mary Louise Gill, Sophia M Connell, David Lefebvre, Robert Mayhew, Gweltaz Guyomarc'h, Tommaso Alpina, Martin Klein, and Elisabeth Moreau

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Aristotle's Lost Homeric Problems

The proofs (uncorrected) of the cover of my forthcoming book, due out in February.

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Convegno "Zetema letterario e zetema filosofico nella tradizione esegetica antica" - Roma, Villa Mirafiori 23-24 settembre 2021

by Francesco Caruso, Robert Mayhew, and Francesco Fronterotta

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Clearchus on the Face in the Moon

In his commentary on this passage, Simplicius writes: "It is clear that this argument proceeds on... more In his commentary on this passage, Simplicius writes: "It is clear that this argument proceeds on the basis of an axiom which says that what holds of one thing holds of all; and the axiom is reasonable in the case of divine things" . 3 Precisely because this might seem to be an axiom that Aristotle accepts "in the case of divine things", the face in the Moon presents a genuine challenge for Peripatetics: According to Aristotle, in contrast to the things of the Earth and its atmosphere (the sublunary world), the heavenly bodies (including the Moon) are ungenerated and indestructible spheres, made solely of a fifth element (aither), which is distinct from the other four. 4 But how does one reconcile the conception of the Moon as a uniform sphere made of one substance, with the apparent imperfections that the face in the Moon seems to represent or imply? 5

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Robert Mayhew

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