Reshaping Aquinas (and Augustine) in Late Byzantium: Scholarios, Gemistos Pletho, and Summ. theol. I, q. 45, a. 1, arg. 1

In Κατὰ τῶν Πλήθωνος ἀπωριῶν ἐπ 'Ἀριστοτέλει, 38, 31-37, George Scholarios cites a sentence from Augustine’s Contra adversarium Legis et Prophetarum, in order to demonstrate that the Platonic demiurge did not create the world, but simply modeled the pre-existing matter. The author of this short note demonstrates that Scholarios drew this quotation from the Greek translation of Thomas Aquinas’ Summa theologiae, realized by Demetrius Cydones, and analyses the way Scholarios and Aquinas interpreted Augustine’s quotation in their treatises.