Reconstructing the Text of Themistius’ Paraphrase of the De Caelo

Themistius’ paraphrase of Aristotle’s On the Heavens, which is extant only in the Hebrew and Latin translations, announces at its beginning that the term “Heaven” has three meanings. The same tripartition features at the beginning of Simplicius’ commentary: both Themistius and Simplicius depend upon Alexander’s lost commentary. However, in the Hebrew version of Themistius’ paraphrase only two meanings are given. The Latin version seems prima facie to be sound, because there are three meanings listed; however, the second meaning of the Latin is the “fifth body”, something which does not match the second meaning in Simplicius. In this article it is argued that the “fifth body” of the Latin version is a commonplace emendation by the translator Moshe Alatino: it has no chances to have been the original reading of Themistius’ paraphrase, let alone of Alexander of Aphrodisias’ lost commentary, as it has been surmised in recent scholarship.