The Interpretation of Book V of the Nicomachean Ethics by Greek and Byzantine Commentators

This article deals with the interpretation of Book V of the Nicomachean Ethics in three commentaries in Greek: the Anonymous commentary (2nd century BC), the commentary by Michael of Ephesus (11th–12th century AD), which is a reworking of the previous one, and the commentary by Georgios Pachymeres (1261–1341). The three commentators present a general interpretation of the book very different from the contemporary one. In fact, they consider particular justice to be the main subject of Aristotle’s discussion and they reduce to it the majority of the other forms of justice described by Aristotle. They also minimise the importance of general justice, because they consider it to be conditioned by the constitution—good or bad—of the city. In this way they propose a unitary and coherent reading of the book as far as possible.