'', 1549 From the lists of Diogenes, giving 227 titles, it appears that the activity of Theophrastus extended over the whole field of contemporary knowledge. His writing probably differed little from Aristotle's treatment of the same themes, though supplementary in details. Like Aristotle, most of his writings are
lost works. Thus Theophrastus, like Aristotle, had composed a first and second
Analytic ( and ). He had also written books on
Topics (, and ); on the
Analysis of Syllogisms ( and ), on
Sophisms () and on
Affirmation and Denial () as well as on the
Natural Philosophy (, , and others), on
Heaven (), and on
Meteorological Phenomena ( and ). '') In addition, Theophrastus wrote on the
Warm and the Cold (), on
Water (),
Fire (), the
Sea (), on
Coagulation and Melting (), on various phenomena of organic and spiritual life, and on the
Soul (), on
Experience () and
On Sense Perception (also known as
On the Senses; ). Likewise, we find mention of monographs of Theophrastus on the early Greek philosophers
Anaximenes,
Anaxagoras,
Empedocles,
Archelaus,
Diogenes of Apollonia,
Democritus, which were made use of by
Simplicius; and also on
Xenocrates, against the
Academics, and a sketch of the political doctrine of
Plato. He studied general history, as we know from
Plutarch's lives of
Lycurgus,
Solon,
Aristides,
Pericles,
Nicias,
Alcibiades,
Lysander,
Agesilaus, and
Demosthenes, which were probably borrowed from the work on
Lives (). But his main efforts were to continue the labours of Aristotle in
natural history. This is testified to not only by a number of treatises on individual subjects of
zoology, of which, besides the titles, only fragments remain, but also by his books
On Stones, his
Enquiry into Plants, and
On the Causes of Plants (see below), which have come down to us entire. In politics, also, he seems to have trodden in the footsteps of Aristotle. Besides his books on the
State ( and ), we find quoted various treatises on
Education ( and ), on
Royalty (, and ), on the
Best State (), on
Political Morals (), and particularly his works on the
Laws (, and ), one of which, containing a recapitulation of the laws of various
barbarian as well as
Greek states, was intended to be a companion to Aristotle's outline of
Politics, and must have been similar to it. He also wrote on
oratory and
poetry. Theophrastus, without doubt, departed further from Aristotle in his
ethical writings, as also in his
metaphysical investigations of
motion, the
soul, and
God. Besides these writings, Theophrastus wrote several collections of problems, out of which some things at least have passed into the
Problems that have come down to us under the name of Aristotle, and commentaries, partly
dialogue, to which probably belonged the
Erotikos (),
Megacles (),
Callisthenes (), and
Megarikos (), and letters, partly books on
mathematical sciences and their history. Many of his surviving works exist only in fragmentary form. "The style of these works, as of the botanical books, suggests that, as in the case of Aristotle, what we possess consists of notes for lectures or notes taken of lectures," his translator Arthur F. Hort remarks.
On plants The most important of his books are two large botanical treatises,
Enquiry into Plants (, generally known as ), and
On the Causes of Plants (
Greek: ,
Latin: ), which constitute the most important contribution to botanical science during antiquity and the Middle Ages, the first systemization of the botanical world; on the strength of these works some, following
Linnaeus, call him the "father of
botany". The
Enquiry into Plants was originally ten books, of which nine survive. The work is arranged into a system whereby plants are classified according to their modes of generation, their localities, their sizes, and according to their practical uses such as foods, juices, herbs, etc. The first book deals with the parts of plants; the second book with the reproduction of plants and the times and manner of sowing; the third, fourth, and fifth books are devoted to trees, their types, their locations, and their practical applications; the sixth book deals with
shrubs and spiny plants; the seventh book deals with herbs; the eighth book deals with plants that produce edible seeds; and the ninth book deals with plants that produce useful juices,
gums,
resins, etc. Although these works contain many absurd and fabulous statements, they include valuable observations concerning the functions and properties of plants.) contains thirty brief outlines of moral types. They are the first recorded attempt at systematic
character writing. The book has been regarded by some as an independent work; others incline to the view that the sketches were written from time to time by Theophrastus, and collected and edited after his death; others, again, regard the
Characters as part of a larger systematic work, but the style of the book is against this. Theophrastus has found many imitators in this kind of writing, notably
Joseph Hall (1608),
Sir Thomas Overbury (1614–16),
Bishop Earle (1628), 17-century poet
Samuel Butler (1613), and
Jean de La Bruyère (1688), who also translated the
Characters.
George Eliot also took inspiration from Theophrastus's
Characters, most notably in her book of caricatures,
Impressions of Theophrastus Such. Writing the "character sketch" as a scholastic exercise also originated in Theophrastus's typology.
On sensation A treatise
On Sense Perception () and its objects is important for a knowledge of the doctrines of the more ancient Greek philosophers regarding the subject. A paraphrase and commentary on this work was written by
Priscian of Lydia in the sixth century. Various smaller scientific fragments have been collected in the editions of
Johann Gottlob Schneider (1818–21) and
Friedrich Wimmer (1842–62) and in
Hermann Usener's
Analecta Theophrastea.
Metaphysics The
Metaphysics (anachronistic Greek title: ), in nine chapters (also known as
On First Principles), was considered a fragment of a larger work by Usener in his edition (Theophrastos,
Metaphysica, Bonn, 1890), but according to Ross and Fobes in their edition (Theophrastus,
Metaphysica, Oxford, 1929), the treatise is complete (p. X) and this opinion is now widely accepted. There is no reason for assigning this work to some other author because it is not noticed in
Hermippus and
Andronicus, especially as
Nicolaus of Damascus had already mentioned it. Theophrastus describes different
marbles; mentions
coal, which he says is used for heating by metal-workers; describes the various
metal ores; and knew that
pumice stones had a
volcanic origin. He also deals with precious stones,
emeralds,
amethysts,
onyx,
jasper, etc., and describes a variety of "sapphire" that was blue with veins of gold, and thus was presumably
lapis lazuli.
Lyngurium is described in the work of Theophrastus as being similar to
amber, capable of attracting "straws and bits of wood", but without specifying any pyroelectric properties.
Publication History According to Eichholz (1965) the manuscript tradition of
On Stones is preserved in 13
medieval greek manuscripts, none dating to before the 13th century. FKML, DJBH and CEAGN all form distinct families within the stemma codicum, with CEAGN and D as the joint most conservative. The
editio princeps published by
Manuzio Aldo in 1497 together with collected works of
Aristotle. This text was reprinted in the
Basle edition of
Oporinus in 1541, and in the
Aldine edition of Camotius in 1552. The first separate text of the work, issued by Morel at Paris in 1577, was a vast improvement on that of the previous editions. == Philosophy ==