LA MATIÈRE À L’ORIGINE DU MAL CHEZ NUMÉNIUS (Fr. 43 et 52 Des Places) (original) (raw)

In his interpretation of the Timaeus, Calcidius reports Numenius’ account of Pythagoras’ views about the origin of the universe, that later on were also taken by Plato. On this occasion, Numenius identifies matter with three other entities: the indeterminate dyad, necessity, and the evil soul of the world mentioned in the Laws (fr. 52 Des Places). The paper shows how these three analogies enable us to understand the role attributed by Numenius to matter in the origin of evil even before the incarnation of the soul, according to the testimonies on his thought given by Jamblichus (fr. 43 Des Places) and Aeneas of Gaza (fr. 49 Des Places). It analyses the philosophical and exegetical context of these analogies, showing how profoundly anchored Numenius’ thought is in the framework of the Platonic school, as much for its hermeneutical choices as for its debates with the other schools (here essentially with Stoicism).