''Theophrastus redivivus'' (meaning "The revived Theophrastus") is an

anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

-language book published on an unknown date sometime between 1600 and 1700.Hall, H. Gaston (1982). ''A Critical Bibliography of French Literature; Volume III A: The Seventeenth Century Supplement''. Syracuse University Press. pp. 369, . The book has been described as "a compendium of old arguments against religion and belief in God" and "an anthology of free thought." The work comprises

materialist Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materialis ...

and skeptical treatises from classical sources as

Pietro Pomponazzi Pietro Pomponazzi (16 September 1462 – 18 May 1525) was an Italian philosopher. He is sometimes known by his Latin name, ''Petrus Pomponatius''. Biography Pietro Pomponazzi was born in Mantua and began his education there. He completed h ...

Lucilio Vanini Lucilio Vanini (15859 February 1619), who, in his works, styled himself Giulio Cesare Vanini, was an Italian philosopher, physician and free-thinker, who was one of the first significant representatives of intellectual libertinism. He was amon ...

Michel de Montaigne Michel Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne ( ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), also known as the Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a liter ...

, Machiavelli,

Pierre Charron Pierre Charron (; 1541 – 16 November 1603, Paris), French Catholic theologian and major contributor to the new thought of the 17th century. He is remembered for his controversial form of skepticism and his separation of ethics from religion as ...

, and Gabriel Naudé. According to '' Brill's Encyclopaedia of the Neo-Latin World'', the ''Theophrastus redivivus'' is "a comprehensive statement of atheism and materialism that seems, in effect, timeless. Unlocalized in time or place, Latin confers a kind of scandalous universality or ubiquity on the most heterodox propositions."

''Theophrastus redivivus'' is famous for proclaiming that all the great philosophers, including the eponymous

Theophrastus Theophrastus (; grc-gre, Θεόφραστος ; c. 371c. 287 BC), a Greek philosopher and the successor to Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. He was a native of Eresos in Lesbos.Gavin Hardy and Laurence Totelin, ''Ancient Botany'', Routledge ...

(ancient Greek philosopher c. 371 – c. 287 BCE, successor of

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

), have been atheists; religions are contrived works of men; there is no valid proof for the existence of gods, and those who claim experience of a god are either disingenuous or ill. However, unlike the ''

Treatise of the Three Impostors The ''Treatise of the Three Impostors'' ( la, De Tribus Impostoribus) was a long-rumored book denying all three Abrahamic religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, with the "impostors" of the title being Jesus, Moses, and Muhammad. Hearsay ...

'', another anti-religious work published around the same time, ''Theophrastus redivivus'' was never mentioned by the

Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...

philosophers and thinkers of the next century, despite being one of the first explicitly anti-religious works ever published in modern Europe.

Structure

''Theophrastus redivivus'' is divided into a preface ("prooemium") and six treatises ("tractatus"), also called books ("libri"). Every treatise is subdivided into multiple chapters ("capita").Tractatus primus, Caput 1-6
/ref> # Tractatus primus qui est "de Diis" – On the Gods # Tractatus secundus qui est "de Mundo" – On the World # Tractatus tertius qui est "de religione" – On Religion # Tractatus quartus qui est "de anima et de inferis" – On the Soul and Hell # Tractatus quintus qui est "de contemnenda morte" – On the Contempt of Death # Tractatus sextus qui est "de vita secundum natura" – On the Natural Life

Surviving manuscripts

Today, only four copies are known to survive: one in the

French National Library French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

in Paris (donated by

Claude Sallier Claude Sallier (4 April 1685, in Saulieu – 6 September 1761, in Paris) was a French ecclesiastic and philologist, as well as professor of Hebrew at the Collège royal and garde des manuscrits of the Bibliothèque du Roi. Biography Sallie ...

in 1741, who allegedly bought it from the auction of

Karl Heinrich von Hoym Karl Heinrich Graf von Hoym or Count Karl Heinrich von Hoym (18 June 1694 – 22 April 1736) was a diplomat and cabinet minister of the Electorate of Saxony, who was later disgraced and imprisoned, and killed himself. Biography Karl Heinri ...

's estate in August 1738), two in the Austrian National Library in Vienna, and one owned by a Belgian professor. The Italian scholar Tullio Gregory studied the treatise in his ''Theophrastus redivivus. Erudizione e ateismo nel Seicento'' (Naples 1979), and in 1981 his colleagues Gianni Paganini and Guido Canziani edited and published the text. The latter two have shown that the two Austrian manuscripts from the Hohendorf collection belonging to

Prince Eugene of Savoy Prince Eugene Francis of Savoy–Carignano, (18 October 1663 – 21 April 1736) better known as Prince Eugene, was a Generalfeldmarschall, field marshal in the army of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty during the 17th a ...

are probably older, based on an earlier original, and that Parisian and Belgian manuscripts are copied from Prince Eugene's holdings.

Hessling's 1659 ''Theophrastus redivivus''

The manuscript shares its title with another, printed book also titled ''Theophrastus redivivus'', which was published in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

by an Elias Johann Hessling in 1659. The 1659 book, written in German and defending the Swiss German Renaissance scientist and occultist

Paracelsus Paracelsus (; ; 1493 – 24 September 1541), born Theophrastus von Hohenheim (full name Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim), was a Swiss physician, alchemist, lay theologian, and philosopher of the German Renaissance. He w ...

, has no connection to the anonymous work. It is unknown which work predates the other, and why the two books share the same title; neither work mentions the other. However, Latin book titles with a personal name from classical antiquity followed by "redivivus" were somewhat common in the 17th and 18th century.

Bibliography

* Nicole Gengoux, ''Un athéisme philosophique à l'Âge classique Le "Théophrastus redivivus", 1659'', 880 pages, ed. Honoré Champion, 2014

References

External links

A digitized manuscript
provided by

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...