The "Ανάπτυξις" is a text not only needed but also deserved a critical edition. To produce such an edition has been my main concern in this book, but I have also tried to bring some order and some accurace in what pertains to Nicholas' life and works.
Chapter one of the introduction is a narrative of his life and of the events of his times which are echoed in his writings. The crucial Greek passages are grouped together in the appendix at the end of the introduction. Arabic numerals refer to footnotes and latin letters to the appendix. The reader is advised to read a whole paragraph first, before he turns to the appendix.
Chapter two includes a list of Nicholas' works and the manuscripts containing them arranged in chronological order. The latter arragment would help the reader to assess the popularity of Nicholas' works enjoyed among subsequent generations. Chapter three deals with the interrelation of the extant manuscripts to the "Ανάπτυξις".
A detailed study of all philosophical texts of the eleventh and twelfth centuries will probably demonstrate that Nicholas was not fighting against ghosts, but against the tradition of Psellos, Italos and Eustratios. A great number of Proclean propositions from the "Elements of theology", sometimes used in an unexpected and oridginal way, can be detected in the writings of these philosophers. To collate all this evidence which would enable us to trace point by point the arguments he was reacting against would require a study in itself. I have therefore confined myself in chapter four to some of the controversial issues which forced Nicholas to write the "Ανάπτυξις", while at the same time exploring the intellectual background against which he stands. Since Nicholas is often refuting propositions taken from the proofs of Proclus' theorems, the reader would be advised to get himself acquainted with Proclus' proof in Dodd's edition before reading Nichola's "Ανάπτυξις".
A. D. Angelou