431. The Averroïsts. -- ALEXANDER ACHILLINUS (1463-1518, De Intelligentiis, De Orbibus, De Universalibus), AUGUSTINUS NIPHUS (1473-1546) and ZIMARA (died 1532) were the most noted among the Averroïsts of Padua at the beginning of the sixteenth century,^{1} not to mention the crowd of litterati of whom Petrarch speaks, and who thought it good taste to declare themselves Averroïsts. ACHILLINUS was called "the second Aristotle" on account of his commentaries on the Stagirite. NIPHUS was not a man of the same order of talent. After teaching pure monopsychism (De Intellectu et Daemonibus) like his master, NICOLETTO VERNIAS, and editing the works of Averroës (1495-1497), he modified his teaching to bring it into agreement with Catholicism. And when his rival, Pomponatius, began to teach in opposition to him, he was unable to defend the authority of Averroës against the latter's attacks. The De Immortalitate Animae (1518), in which Niphus replied to the similar work of Pomponatius (1516), is written in the spirit of the Lateran Council and borrows from Thomism its best arguments for Immortality. ZIMAEA was more open in his Averroïsm than Niphus. He wrote commentaries on Averroës and edited the works of John of Jandun (398).^{2}

{1} The first edition of Averroës appeared at Padua in 1472.

{2} On the Averroïsm of the school of Padua, see RENAN, op. cit., Part ii., ch. iii.