Anatoli As Translator
The "Malmad," owing to its deep ethical vein, became, despite its Maimonistic heresies, a very popular book. It is rather as a translator that Anatoli deserves a distinguished place in the scientific realm; for it is he and Michael Scot who together, under the influence of Frederick II, opened to the western world the treasure-house of Arabic learning. Anatoli, in fact, was the first man to translate the commentaries of Averroes into Hebrew, thus opening a new era in the history of Aristotelian philosophy. Prior to translating Averroes' commentaries, Anatoli had occupied himself with the translation of astronomical treatises by the same writer and others; but at the instance of friends he turned his attention to logic and the speculative works, realizing and recommending theimportance of logic, in particular, in view of the contemporary religious controversies. Thenceforth, his program was twofold, as he devoted himself to his work in astronomy in the mornings, and to logic in the evenings.
His principal translation embraced the first five books of Averroes' "intermediate" commentary on Aristotle's Logic, consisting of the Introduction of Porphyry and the four books of Aristotle on the Categories, Interpretation, Syllogism, and Demonstration. Anatoli probably commenced his work on the commentary while in Provence, though he must have finished the fifth book at Naples about 1231 or 1232. The conclusion of the commentary was never reached. Upon the ending of the first division he desired to go over the ground again, to acquire greater proficiency, and, for some reason unknown, he never resumed his task, which was completed by another after a lapse of eighty years.
Besides this, Anatoli translated, between the years 1231 and 1235, the following works: (1) The Almagest of Ptolemy, from the Arabic, though probably the Greek or Latin title of this treatise was also familiar to him. Its Hebrew title is Ḥibbur ha-Gadol ha-Niḳra al-Magesti (The Great Composition Called Almagest). (2) A Compendium of Astronomy, by Averroes, a book which was unknown to the Christians of the Middle Ages, and of which neither a manuscript of the original nor a Latin translation has come down. Its Hebrew title is Ḳiẓẓur al-Magesti (Compendium of the Almagest). (3) The Elements of Astronomy, by Al-Fargani (Alfraganus); possibly translated from a Latin version. It was afterward rendered into Latin by Jacob Christmann (Frankfort, 1590) under the title of Elementa Astronomica, which, in its turn, may have given rise to the Hebrew title of the treatise Yesodot ha-Teḳunah, which is undoubtedly recent. (4) A treatise on the Syllogism, by Al-Farabi, from the Arabic. Its Hebrew title is Sefer Heḳesh Ḳaẓar (A Brief Treatise on the Syllogism).
Graetz also suggests the possibility that Anatoli, in conjunction with Michael Scot, may have translated Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed into Latin; but this suggestion has not yet been sufficiently proved (compare Steinschneider, "Hebr. Uebers." i. 433). Similarly, the anonymous commentary on the Guide, called Ruaḥ Ḥen, though sometimes attributed to Anatoli, can not definitely be established as his. Still, it is on an allusion in this work that Zunz, followed by Steinschneider, partly bases the hypothesis of Marseille having been Anatoli's original home (compare Zunz, "Zur Gesch." p. 482; Renan-Neubauer, "Les Rabbins Français," p. 588; Steinschneider, "Cat. Bodl." col. 1180, and "Hebr. Bibl." xvii. 124).
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