Brancacci, Aldo, editor. Antichi e moderni nella filosofia di eta imperiale: Atti del II colloquio internazionale, Roma, 21-23 settembre 2000.

Pozzo, Riccardo

BRANCACCI, Aldo, editor. Antichi e moderni nella filosofia di eta imperiale: Atti del II colloquio internazionale, Roma, 21-23 settembre 2000. Elenchos, vol. 34. Naples: Bibliopolis, 2001. 390 pp. Paper, 35.00 [euro]--This volume contains the proceedings of a conference held in Rome, on September 21-23, 2000, which was the sequel to a first conference, also in Rome, on June 17-19, 1999. The objective of both conferences, which were sponsored by the Italian Research Council and the University of Rome Tor Vergata, was to offer a comprehensive view of the currents of philosophical thought that cross the Imperial age, which began with the rise of Octavianus Augustus and ended with the fail of the Roman Empire. While the first conference was dedicated to the recognition of the philosophical schools and traditions, the second one delves into the philosophical, historiographical, and exegetical relationships of continuity or discontinuities (sometimes even breaches) among Imperial, Hellenistic, and eventually going backward to Classical philosophy.

One can say, then, that Imperial philosophers look at themselves in the same way that we (referring to a question formulated by Humanist scholars, and first and foremost by Francesco Petrarca) call "modern," when they study the "ancients," from which they depend and from which they come from. In fact, beginning with the first century A.D. the followers of long-standing philosophical traditions start feeling the novelty, and thus the modernity, of the issues that were raised by their own age. Of course, traditions of Hellenistic philosophy such as cynicism, stoicism, skepticism, and empirical medicine continue to flourish during the Imperial Age, while keeping a strong tie with their philosophical heritage. Most remarkable is the great season of Neoplatonism, which notwithstanding its roots lying beyond Hellenistic philosophy, namely in Classical philosophy, marks an epochal breach in the history of thought. The volume begins with a contribution on doxography by Jaap Mansfeld who wrote on Plato, Pythagoras, Aristotle, the Peripatetics, the Stoics, and Thales and his followers "On Causes" as related by Psuedo-Plutarchus and Stobaeus (pp. 17-68). Two papers on cynicism and stoicism follow by Aldo Brancacci on Oenomaus of Gadara (pp. 71-110) and Francesca Alesse on Marcus Aurelius (pp. 111-34). Plotinus commanded the attention of the conference participants for a full day: Daniela Taormina spoke on Plotinus' reading of Plato's early dialogues (pp. 137-96), Margherita Isnardi Parente on his reading of Plato's Letters (pp. 197-211), and Alessandro Linguiti on the happiness of the non-descended soul (pp. 213-36). Aristotelianism was considered in a paper by Mario Mignucci on Alexander of Aphrodisias's interperation of Aristotle's modal logic (pp. 239-63). Finally, empirical medicine and skepticism were the focus of Lorenzo Perilli's paper on Menodotus of Nicomedia's collation of the principles of empirical medicine (pp. 26797) and of Carlos Levy's paper on the issue of the historical legitimacy of skepticism, namely on the way Aenesidemus and Sextus Empiricus looked at Pyhrro (pp. 299-329). All contributors wrote in Italian, with the exception of Mansfeld, who wrote in English, and of Levy, who wrote in French. Quite commendable are the extensive, very up-to-date bibliography (pp. 331-51), and the list of the passages referred to together with the index of names (pp. 355-90).--Riccardo Pozzo, The University of Verona.