Dante had a great reverence for Plato, whom he calls “uomo eccellentissimo,”[108] and of whom he repeats the mediæval legend that he was a prince who gave up all for the sake of acquiring wisdom.[109] Of his writings he only knew the _Timaeus_, probably the Latin translation and commentary of Chalcidius, which was widely known. Or he may have been acquainted with Aquinas’ commentary, which has since been lost. He also knew something of Plato’s teachings through Aristotle and Cicero, Albertus Magnus, and Aquinas, and perhaps St. Augustine. When he feels obliged to dissent from the great philosopher’s doctrine that the souls of men come from the stars, he does so with reluctance and great gentleness.[110] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [108] “A man of supreme excellence.” _Conv._ II. v. 21, 22. [109] _Conv._ III. xiv. 76-79. [110] _Par._ iv. 22-24, 49-60. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Among other Greek philosophers who speculated on astronomy, Dante mentions Thales[111] and Pythagoras. The date when the latter flourished he takes (he tells us) from Livy, and his theory that the Universe is governed by the principle of number from Aristotle’s first book of Metaphysics. The astronomical theories of his school are also doubtless taken from Aristotle. Dante tells the story of Pythagoras that he was the first man to be called “philosopher,” because when asked if he considered himself a wise man, he replied, “No, but only a lover of wisdom.”[112] Dionysius the Academician and Socrates are referred to for their opinions on the influence of the stars upon human souls;[113] and Anaxagoras and Democritus for their galactic theories,[114] which Dante obtained from Albertus Magnus. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [111] _Conv._ III. xi. 39; _Inf._ iv. 137. [112] _Conv._ III. xi. 22-33; II. xiv. 144-147; III. v. 29-44; III. xi. 41-47. [113] _Conv._ II. xiv. 34, 35. [114] _Conv._ II. xv. 56. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Except for Alfraganus, Dante refers but seldom to Arab astronomers. He does not seem to have known Albategnius. The _De Substantia Orbis_ of Averroës is quoted in the _Quæstio de Aqua et Terra_,[115] and it is possible that from this book Dante derived a theory about the moon which he expounds in the _Convivio_. He quotes Alpetragius on circular existence (dependent on the spheres),[116] Avicenna on the Galaxy, and again with Algazel on the influence of the spheres,[117] and Albumassar on meteors.[118] The quotation from the latter, however, is second-hand from Albertus Magnus, and is a mistake, for the passage is not to be found in that astronomer’s works. He was born in Turkestan, in 805. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [115] _Qu._ xviii. 38, 39. [116] _Conv._ III. ii. 37. [117] _Conv._ II. xv. 77, II. xiv. 32.