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Introduction
and evinces a clear preference for the sensible realities (prãgmata).
In the Geodesia (6:29, 37) the Anon. Byz. describes geometrical figures
as existing “in concept and reality . . . in reality and imagination”
(noÆsei te ka‹ afisyÆsei . . . afisyÆsei te ka‹ fantas¤&), ref lecting again
dual levels of reality, here most similar to those found especially in
Proclus. 31 A number of the geometrical figures in Vat. gr. 1605 are notable
in their realistic qualities, for example, a circle depicted with rocks
and bushes on its perimeter (chap. 7), a human figure with a rope measuring
a circle (chap. 7), and a cistern depicted with individual bricks
visible and filled with water to illustrate calculation of the volume of a
rectangular solid (chap. 9). 32 Finally, the Anon. Byz.’s stated purpose for
his modified verbal descriptions in the introductory passage of the
Geodesia (1:28–30)exemplifies as well his approach to illustration: “to
bring down to a low and more sensible level the height of their theory
concerning these concepts” (ka‹ tÚ ÍchlÚn t∞w per‹ tå noÆmata yevr¤aw
§p‹ tÚ tapeinÚn ka‹ afisyhtik≈teron katenegke›n). 33
(94 n. 61, as above in note 29) that for convenience of argument the Neoplatonists
“sometimes speak simply of two levels: sensible (immanent) Forms and psychic Forms
(concepts).”
31 See esp. Proclus, In primum Euclidis librum commentarius 51:14–21 and G. Morrow,
Proclus, A Commentary on the First Book of Euclid’s Elements (Princeton, N. J., 1970)
41 n. 5 on the idea of fantas¤a as a form of nÒhsiw. See also the interesting passage in
Syrianus (In Metaphysica commentaria 6:98:26ff (on 1078a14) on the place of fantas¤a
in practical construction: ımo¤vw ka‹ ı mhxanikÚw tØn Ïlhn sxhmat¤zvn §panãgei pçsan
•autoË tØn po¤hsin §p‹ tå êula sxÆmata ka‹ §n fantas¤& m¢n diastat«w, §n diano¤& d¢
émer«w tØn ÍpÒstasin xonta. G. Watson, Phantasia in Classical Thought (Galway, 1988),
119 comments on this passage: “When someone is making something, for instance, he
shapes his matter in accordance with an immaterial blueprint (schemata), which exists
unextended in the mind and in extended fashion in phantasia.” The Anon. Byz., I
suggest, is arguing for the educational value of descending still one level of reality
further down.
32 One other passage provides evidence of the author’s interest in the effect of
realistic representation. In a recommendation in the Parangelmata (52:5–10) not found
in his classical sources he suggests for the doors of a sambuca (a tubelike troop carrier):
Afl d¢ toË aÈtoË stom¤ou yÊrai jvyen kataplhktika‹ diå gluf∞w §kfanoËw ka‹
poluxr≈mou graf∞w sÁn t“ §mprosy¤ƒ m°rei toË aÈloË gin°syvsan, drãkontow µ l°ontow
purofÒron §piferÒmenai protomØn efiw katãplhjin ka‹ fÒbon t«n §nant¤vn proserxom°nhn.
33 It is worth noting that even the traditional geometrical drawings found in the
Geodesia (used to show measurement of the height of a wall, distances between points
in the horizontal plain, and so on) are given a concrete quality by examples in the text
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