§prol.1.9Ἰταλὸς γάρ τις ἔκποθεν ἡμῖν αἰφνιδίως ἀναφανείς, ἱκανῶς ἔχων λογικῆς παιδείας καὶ γνώσεως, πρόσεισιν ὡς ἡμᾶς, ἀσπάζεται χαριέντως, τὰ φιλικὰ προσλαλεῖ, εἶτα τὴν ποθουμένην βίβλον ἡμῖν ἐγχειρίζεται.
For a certain Italian suddenly appeared to us from somewhere, possessing sufficient literary education and knowledge; he came to us, greeted us graciously, spoke friendly words, and then handed over to us the longed-for book.
Ηὐφράνθην ἐγὼ ὡς ἐφ’ ἑρμαίῳ τῷ χρήματι.
I rejoiced in this treasure as if it were a godsend.
Ἐδεξάμην τὴν βίβλον ἐκθύμως. §prol.1.10Ὅλος αὐτῆς ἐγενόμην, τὸν ἐγκείμενον νοῦν ἀνελεξάμην ἐπιμελῶς, καὶ οἶον ὡς ἐν ἐσόπτρῳ τῇδε ἐκ πρώτης αὐτῆς βαλβῖδος τὸν Ἀριστοτέλην ἔγνων καὶ τοὺς Ἀριστοτελικοὺς κατὰ τῶν πάλαι φιλοσοφούντων ἀντιλογικοὺς ἐτασμούς. §prol.1.11Ἀδικεῖν δ’ ᾠήθην, μὰ τοὺς λόγους, τοὺς λόγους αὐτοὺς καὶ τοὺς αὐτῶν ἐραστάς, καὶ γραφῆναι βασκάνου ψυχῆς ηὐλαβήθην, ἂν μὴ ταύτην ἱκανῶς ἔχων ὑπὸ τῆς ἄνωθεν χάριτος πρὸς τὴν Ἑλλάδα μεθερμηνεύσαιμι γλῶτταν καὶ ταῖς λοιπαῖς Ἀριστοτελικαῖς δέλτοις δείξαιμι συναρίθμιον. §prol.1.12Τῷ τοι καὶ σὺν θεῷ τὸ ἔργον διήνυσα, καὶ εἰς κοινὴν προὐθέμην τὴν βίβλον τοῖς ἀρουμένοις ἀπόλαυσιν, πολλὴν εὑρὼν τὴν δυσχέρειαν καὶ τὴν τῶν ὀνομάτων σύγχυσιν διὰ τὰς συχνὰς τῶν μεθερμηνεύσεων μεταβολὰς ἐκ τῆς ἡμετέρας εἰς τὴν τῶν Ἰταλῶν, εἰς τοὺς Ἄραβας ἐκεῖθεν, καὶ πάλιν ἐξ Ἀράβων εἰς Ἰταλούς, καὶ εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐκ τούτων ἐπ’ ἔσχατον. §prol.1.13Οὐ γὰρ διπρόσωπος, ὅσον ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ βίβλῳ, ὁ Σταγειρίτης ὤφθη κατὰ τὸν θρυλλούμενον Ἰτανον ἐκεῖνον, ὃν καὶ εἰς χρόνον ἄγει λόγος ἰσχνός, ἀλλὰ πολύμορφος κατὰ τὸν Πρωτέα τὸν Φάριον. §prol.1.14Ἐπεὶ δὲ πᾶσα δέλτος ἐκ μιᾶς πρὸς ἑτέραν μεταφερομένη διάλεκτον ἢ κατὰ λέξιν ἢ κατ’ ἔννοιαν προχωρεῖ, καὶ ἡ μὲν ὑστέρα τὸ σαφὲς ἔχουσα τοῦ ἀκριβοῦς ἀπολείπεται, ἡ δ’ ἑτέρα καὶ προτέρα προσόντος τοῦ ἀκριβοῦς εἰς ἀσάφειαν καταστρέφεται, ἡμεῖς ὡς ἀσφαλεστέρῳ τούτῳ τῷ μέρει καὶ ἀδιαβλήτῳ στοιχοῦντες, καθὼς καὶ ἐν ἑτέραις πεποιήκαμεν δέλτοις, τῆς ἀκριβείας ἐχόμεθα. §prol.1.15Ἵνα δὲ μὴ φαινοίμεθα καὶ χώραν τῇ ἀσαφείᾳ διδόντες, ἢν κακίαν παντελῆ τοῖς λόγοις ἐγνώκαμεν, ἐπανερμηνείαις τισὶ καὶ σχολικαῖς παρασημειώσεσιν, εἴ τι που ἐκ τῆς ἀσαφείας ἄχαρι καὶ ἀτερπές, ἐψυχαγωγήσαμεν, κὰκ τῆς σκληρᾶς καὶ τραχείας τοὺς λογικοὺς ὁδίτας εἰς τὴν λείαν τε καὶ πλατεῖαν ἐχειραγωγήσαμεν, καὶ τῷ ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς τὴν εὐχαριστίαν καὶ τήν, ὡς εἰκός, ἀνθομολόγησιν ἀπενείμαμεν.
I received the book eagerly.\n I gave myself entirely to it, read its inner meaning carefully, and as if in a mirror, from its very starting line, I recognized Aristotle and the Aristotelian logical examinations against the ancient philosophers.\n And I thought, by learning itself, that I would do an injustice to learning itself and its lovers, and I feared to be written down as possessing a grudging soul, if I did not, having sufficient capacity through grace from above, translate this book into the Greek tongue and show it to be numbered among the remaining Aristotelian volumes.\n Therefore, with God's help, I completed the work and set the book forth for the common enjoyment of those who harvest, having found great difficulty and confusion of terms because of the frequent changes of translations from our tongue to that of the Italians, thence to the Arabs, and back again from the Arabs to the Italians, and finally from them to us.\n For, as far as this book is concerned, the Stagirite did not appear with two faces like that celebrated Italian Janus, whom a faint legend associates with time, but multi-formed like the Pharian Proteus.\n Since every book transferred from one language to another proceeds either word-for-word or sense-for-sense, and the latter, while having clarity, falls short of accuracy, while the other, the former, with accuracy present, ends in obscurity, we, following this former part as safer and blameless, just as we have done in other books, held fast to accuracy.\n But so that we might not appear to give room to obscurity—which we have recognized as a complete vice in writings—we comforted by certain paraphrases and scholia whatever unpleasant and disagreeable thing might arise from obscurity, and we led by the hand the literary travelers from the hard and rough way to the smooth and broad one, and rendered thanks and, as is fitting, praise to Him who is above us.\n For this is what the only wise and powerful God demands of us who are under His hand, according to the divine Apostle.
§prol.1.16Τοῦτο γὰρ ἀφ’ ἡμῶν ἀπαιτεῖ τῶν ὑπὸ χεῖρα ὁ μόνος σοφὸς καὶ δυνατὸς θεὸς κατὰ τὸν θεῖον ἀπόστολον. Τίνος γὰρ ἄλλου δεῖται παρ’ ἡμῶν, ὃς διά τινος τῶν προφητῶν περὶ ἑαντοῦ λέγει "τὸν οὐρανὸν πληρῶ καὶ τὴν γῆν," καὶ οὗ ἡ οἰκουμένη καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς, κατὰ τὸν Δαβίδ, καὶ μεθ’ οὗ πᾶς ἀγρὸς παντοίοις ὡραϊσμένος φυτοῖς;
For what else does He need from us, who says of Himself through one of the prophets, "I fill heaven and earth," and whose is the world and the fullness thereof, according to David, and with whom is every field adorned with all kinds of plants?