The library of Theophrastus

1. Iliad Homer 1 authority 1 citation

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   1 citation

   " Of the lines of Homer he holds fast to this one only, that "the rule of many is not good;

Each of these stands at a single passage, named once and not held by the library. The work that names it carries the anchor.

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unspecified prior custom of philosophical proems

7 works in the library quote Theophrastus — 15 citations, each anchored to a verbatim passage in the work that does the quoting.

Cicero, Marcus Tullius 7 citations · Seneca, Lucius Annaeus 3 citations · Clement of Alexandria 2 citations · Hugo Grotius 2 citations · Marcus Aurelius 1 citation

The harvest records where a citation is made: the paragraph in the citing book, and the chapter that paragraph stands in. It does not record which page of Theophrastus is meant. Where the citing text names a locus, you will find it in the quotation.

1. Tusculan Disputations Cicero, Marcus Tullius 1 authority · 2 neutral · 1 refuted 4 citations

   book 1 · book 3 2 passages anchored here · book 5

   Theophrastus is directly named and quoted as a source describing the ancestral nature of philosophy, invoked to support the discussion of humanity's desire for knowledge.

   For this beauty, even on earth, stirred up that philosophy, "ancestral and inherited from our forefathers," as Theophrastus says, kindled by the desire of knowledge.

2. On Moral Ends Cicero, Marcus Tullius 2 authority · 1 endorsed 3 citations

   book 1 · book 5 2 passages anchored here

   Explicitly named and judged to 'give us... pleasure' despite redundancy with Aristotle.

   Again — does Theophrastus give us only middling pleasure when he treats topics treated before him by Aristotle?

3. Stromata Clement of Alexandria 1 authority · 1 neutral 2 citations

   book 2 · book 3

   Theophrastus's view that perception is the beginning of faith is cited neutrally as one philosophical opinion among several.

   And Theophrastus says that perception is the beginning of faith;

4. The Rights of War and Peace Hugo Grotius 1 authority · 1 neutral 2 citations

   chapter xi.: on promises. · chapter xii.: on contracts.

   Explicitly named work and author cited for a legal observation.

   as Theophrastus has observed in his book on laws.

5. On Anger Seneca, Lucius Annaeus 2 refuted 2 citations · 7 passages

   book 1 7 passages anchored here

   Seneca directly addresses Theophrastus by name and argues at length against the claim, calling it an appeal to the crowd rather than to reason.

   When you say this, Theophrastus, you seek to bring odium upon the braver precepts, and, leaving the judge, you appeal to the crowd.

6. Meditations Marcus Aurelius 1 endorsed 1 citation

   book two

   Theophrastus is named and his teaching is explicitly reported and endorsed ('Rightly, then, and in a manner worthy of philosophy, he said...').

   Theophrastus speaks like a philosopher when, in comparing offences — as one might compare such things on the common view — he says that the faults committed through desire are graver than those committed through anger.

7. Letters to Lucilius Seneca, Lucius Annaeus 1 authority 1 citation

   letter 3

   The passage explicitly names Theophrastus's precepts as the standard being invoked.

   Those men confound their duties in the wrong order who, against the precepts of Theophrastus, judge after they have come to love, and do not love after they have judged.