Simplicius

<i>'[Simplicius'] moral interpretation of Epictetus is preserved in the library of nations as a classic book most excellently adapted to direct the will to purify the heart and to confirm the understanding by a just confidence in the nature both of God and man.'</i><br/>Edward Gibbon<br/><i></i><br/><i>'This book written by a pagan philosopher makes the most Christian impression conceivable. The betrayal of all reality through morality is here present in its fullest splendour - pitiful psychology the philosopher is reduced to a country parson. And Plato is to blame for all of it! He remains Europe's greatest misfortune!'</i><br/>Fredrich Nietzsche <br/><br/>Of these two rival reactions the favourable one was most common. Epictetus' <i>Handbook</i> on ethics was used in Christian monasteries and Simplicius' commentary on it was widely available up to the nineteenth century. <br/>The commentary gives us a fascinating chance to see how a pagan Neoplatonist transformed Stoic ideas adding Neoplatonist accounts of theology theodicy providence free will and the problem of evil. <br/>This translation of the Commentary on the <i>Handbook</i>is published in two volumes. This is the first covering chapters 1-26; the second covers chapters 27-53.