44 armin d. baum
people of Israel, and that he would not allow any man to copy these words.
and then (i.e., in the last generation) they shall read them.
Olympiodorus, Prolegomena
In his Introduction to Aristotle’s Logic, the neoplatonic Philosopher olym-
piodorus the younger of alexandria (sixth century ce) offered a number
of in-depth explanations for the origin of pseudepigraphical books.61
at first (I will deal with the question) as to how the books were falsely
ascribed and by what criteria the genuine books can be distinguished from
the falsely ascribed ones. In former times, the books were falsely ascribed
in three ways, either because of the ambition of the kings or because of the
kindness of the pupils or because of homonymity. and the false ascription
because of homonymity happened in three different ways, either because of
the homonymity of the authors or of the treatises or of the commentaries.
But let us, if it seems good, understand how the ambition of the kings
caused the false ascription of books. one should know that the ancient kings,
who were lovers of books, were eager to collect the books of the classical
authors because of their ambition. thus Jobates, the king of libya, became
a lover of the Pythagorean writings and Ptolemy, by surname Philadelphus
(308–246 bce), of the aristotelian writings and Peisistratus, tyrant of the
athenians (about 600–527/8 bce), of the homeric writings. and they were
eager to collect these books for gifts of money. Many, therefore, who desired
the money, were eager either to write such books or rather to collect as many
as they could get and to superscribe them with the names of the classical
authors and to present them (to the kings), and they sought to thereby reap
the money. and it happened just as we have already said. that was the time
when the books were falsely ascribed because of the kings’ ambition.
there also was a time when the books received a false ascription because
of the homonymity of their authors, since there was not only one aristotle
from stageira (384–322 bce) but also another one with the surname Mythos,
and further an aristotle who was called Paidotribes (gymnastic master).
the books were also falsely ascribed because of the homonymity of the
titles of the writings, since not only aristotle wrote “Categories,” but also
theophrastus and eudemus, his pupils. often someone who came across the
“Categories” of theophrastus will have believed they were by aristotle.
there also was a time when the books received their false attributions
neither because of the homonymity of the author nor because of the hom-
onymity of the title of the writings but rather because of the homonymity
of the commentaries, since often someone produced a commentary on a
homonymous writing and it was assumed that it belonged to another one.
Just as theophrastus produced a commentary on his own “Categories” and
61 My translation of a. Busse (ed.), Olympiodori prolegomena et in categorias commen-
tarium (Commentaria in aristotelem graeca 12/1; Berlin: reimer, 1902), 13,4–14,4.