NEMESIUS, Bishop of Emesa. - He lived in the 4th-5th century; author of a book De natura hominis, of Neoplatonic inspiration (Porphyry is often cited). The author mentions Eunomius, Apollinaris of Laodicea and probably polemicizes against the Christology of Theodore of Mopsuestia. His work is important for the history of ancient philosophy. N. accepts the doctrine of the pre-existence of souls. N.'s anthropology exercised a great influence. St. John Damascene copied entire pages of N. in his book: De fide orthodoxa. Through St. John Damascene and a Latin translation, N.'s influence made itself felt in scholastic philosophy. The Syrians, Armenians, Georgians and Copts also knew it, sometimes under the name of Gregory of Nyssa.
Bibliography13 works
BIBL.: edition by Chr. Mathaei, Halle 1802. The reprint in PG 40 is defective. A critical edition is lacking, for which the excerpts of St. John Damascene and of the monk Melitus (9th cent.) will be useful. A first Latin translation was made by Alfanus of Salerno. The text was published by Burkhard, Leipzig 1917 (Bibl. Trubneriana). Another translation by Giovanni Burgundio of Pisa (d. 1194) was the basis for the citations of Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas. On the Armenian texts v. Bardenhewer, IV, p. 279; v. also: J. Karst, Littérature géorgienne chrétienne, Paris 1934, p. 38; G. Graf, Gesch. der christl.-arab. Literatur, I (Studi e testi, 118). Vatican City 1944, p. 319; traces among the Syrians: v. J. Dräseke, in Zeitschrift für wissenschaftl. Theologie, 46 (1903), p. 506 ff.; Klinge, in Zeitschrift für Kirchengesch. (1939), p. 363 ff. From the rich bibliography on N. the following is cited: E. Skard, s. v. in Pauly-Wissowa, VII, pp. 262-66; B. Domanaki, Die Psychologie des N. (Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie des Mittelalters, 3, 1), Münster 1900; W. W. Jäger, N., Berlin 1914; H. A. Koch, Quellen u. Untersuchungen zu N., ibid. 1921; R. Arnou, in Gregorianum, 17 (1936), p. 116 ff.; E. Skard, in Symbolae Oloventes, 1942, p. 40 ff. (on N. and Galen); and id., ibid., p. 23 ff.; 18 (1937), p. 9 ff.; 1939, p. 46 ff.
Erik Peterson