Theophrastus was a close friend, disciple and heir to Aristotle. In fact, after the master died, Theophrastus remain in charge of the Academia, the school where the peripathetics taught, learned and researched. Unfortunately, very little of this man's work has reached us, and this set of short texts seems to have been some kind of divertimento for their long talks after meals. They are clearly ironic sketches of several vices of behavior, not intended as "serious" philosophy but as literary entertainments.

Theophrastus depicts several reprobable behaviors and types of characters, such as avarice, imprudence, aggresiveness, and other types of annoying, obnoxious or simply wrong attitudes. The historical value of the book is that it gives us some information of what everyday life was at the time (4th century BC) in Greece. We know, for example, that for a gentleman it was unproper to go to the market and carry the things back himself, without the help of a servant or slave. We know also that the Greeks used to get together at certain places in the evenings, and that it was usual for groups of friends to cooperate with money in order to help a fellow in trouble. It is a funny, short and revealing book, so it's well worth your time.

Sources

Pamela Huby is a member of Project Theophrastus, a group dedicated to collecting the lost works of Theophrastus through quotes, paraphrases, and references made of him by his contemporaries. The majority of these contemporaries were followers of the Peripatetic school of thought, founded by Aristotle and continued by Theophrastus. Commentary 4: Psychology is a mixture of material descended from Theophrastus on the subject of psychology, and Huby's original commentary related to the subject. To assist her in the piecing together of material descended from Theophrastus, she looked to the assistance of Dimitri Gutas for Arabic translation and clarification, as much of this material comes from Arabic Peripatetic/Theophrastian followers.

Summary

This book was written by a historian, for historians. It is verbatim, placed in an elaborate and careful system to aid historians in researching authentic Theophrastian writings through her book, though this system can be complicated to the unaccustomed reader. Commentary 4: Psychology covers only what Theophrastus himself covered, adding necessary bibliography and indices to allow the reader to bridge the gap of time between this book and the original ideas of Theophrastus himself.

Evaluation

I personally have found this book to be useful as a quotation resource. It did not help me understand much of Theophrastian studies, but once I had acquired some understanding from other sources, I was able to find a wealth of supportive material for the examinations and arguments that I had begun to formulate. I believe that this was Huby's primary purpose for writing, and so that is how I was best able to use it. Because of her purpose, Huby maintained a very objective standpoint on the material descended from Theophrastus. Her focus was very much: "this" is the best reconstruction of what Theophrastus said on psychology, which conveys "this" about his understanding on psychology. In a sentence, Commentary 4: Psychology is an excellent resource as long as its use is limited to supportive material.