Aristotle, pseudo.; Averroes; Avicenna; & Alexandro Achillino.

Aristotelis Philosophorum Maximi de Secretis secretorum Ad Alexandrum Opusculum. Eiusdem De Regum regimine. Eiusdem de Sanitatis conservatione. Eiusdem de Physiognomia. Eiusdem de signis Tempestatum. Eiusdem de Mineralibus. Alexandri Aphrodisci Clarissimi Perpatetici de Intellectu. Averroys Magni commentatoris de Animae Beatitudine. Alexandri Achillini Bononiensis de Universalibus. Alexandri Macedonis In Septentrione Monarchae de Mirabilibus Indiae ad Aristotelem.[Opuscula varia una cum aliorum tractatibus]

      Bernardinus Venetus, de Vitalibus [Bernardino Vitale], Venice: [c1503.] - Folio. A-G4,a-g4. 56ff. 19th c. vellum-backed marbled boards, lacks title-piece; light damp stain in center of t.p. and following leaves and at lower margin; marginal expert restorations (no text affected); numerous contemporary marginalia, some ink stains. 6 large decorated initials. "One of the chief characteristics of medieval literature is the degree to which anonymous and pseudonymous texts were diffused and read. The most striking example is the immense literature in a variety of languages which surrounds Alexander the Great's teacher, the philosopher Aristotle, to whom were attributed many different works with little or no claim to authenticity. Some of the Latin versions are based upon Greek texts already attributed to Aristotle in Antiquity, others derive from Hebrew or Arabic roots, while others again seem to be original Latin works which became attached to the name of Aristotle at some time in their history. The most widely diffused of all these works is the one which bears the Latin title Secretum Secretorum. It enjoyed immense influence and the widest circulation from at least the tenth (and quite probably significantly before) to the seventeenth century, with more localized influence enduring even longer.Not all of the Secretis Secretorum editons published under Aristotle's name contain the tract on mineralogy. In fact, apparently none of the dozen or so incunubula editions appear to include it. The first appearance of the work in a published edition of the Secretis Secretorum occurs in the 1501 edition.[This is a reprint of that edition.]Edited by Alexandri Achillini [see note below], this text contains seven treatises on medicine and philosophy: Secreta secretorum; De signis aquarum, ventorum et tempestatum; De mineralibus; Alexander Aphrodisei de intellectu; Averoes de beatitudine anime; Alexandri Achillini de universalibus and Alexandri Macedonis ad Aristotelem de mirabilibus Indie. Four of these are pseudo-Aristotelian works, which were well known since the 13th century or earlier. The Secreta secretorum is here present in the translation of Philip of Tripoli; the De signis aquarum, ventorum et tempestatum on weather signs, was translated in the 13th century by Bartholomew of Messina; the third work by the pseudo-Aristotle is De mineralibus on gems; the fourth Alexandri Macedonis ad Aristotelem de mirabilibus Indie is a fictitious letter by Alexander the Great to his teacher Aristotle, describing the wonders of India and the East. Three other similar 'Indian tractates' are known, all of them connected with the romance of Alexander the Great at various points in history. All four of them were accepted during the later Middle Ages as reliable literary portraits of the Indians, especially of the Brahmans. They originated in the European culture, and became sources for later tellers and writers of fables. The three remaining treatises in the present work consist of a work by Alexander of Aphrodisias on the intellect, another by Averroes on the beauty of the soul, and a work by Achillini himself on universals. The tract, "De Mineralibus", is based upon a manuscript translation made at the end of the 12th century by Alfred the Englishman [see note below] of Avicenna's work on minerals. The origin of the Secret o f Secrets is veiled in obscurity. All known versions go back to an Arabic original, Kitab Sirr al-'asr, r, of which the earliest extant fragment can be dated A.D. 941. The work itself claims, in the Proem, to have been translated from Greek into Syriac and from Syriac into Arabic by Yahya ibn-al-Bitriq, a well-known ninth-century translator active in the period when the largest number of works was being translated from Greek into Arabic. While it is doubtful, though not impossible, that there was a Greek original, it is clear that the extant versions contain a good deal of Greek material, including a certain amount which derives from genuine Aristotelian doctrine. It also, however, contains much which cert