Characters

Theophrastus assumed the leadership of the Lyceum after Aristotle's death. He was industrious and learned but lacking in originality. His importance lies in the fact that he carried on the research Aristotle had firmly established and he attracted numerous students to the school. Diogenes Laertius preserved whatever we know about Theophrastus, especially the long list of his writings---220 titles. Only a few of his treatises survived: Enquiry into Plants and On the Causes of Plants, a brief philosophical essay known as "Metaphysics," fragments of his Physical Opinions, and a literary work titled Characters. Other important members of the Peripatetic school and successors to its leadership were Dikaiarchos of Messene, Aristoxenus, Clearchus, Demetrius of Phaleron, Stration of Lampsakos, Herakleides Ponticus, and Eudemus of Rhodes; of special interest are Andronicus of Rhodes (first century b.c.), who edited the works of Aristotle, and Alexander of Aphrodisias (c. a.d. 200), who wrote important commentaries on Aristotle's De Anima and Metaphysics. 020