The original Hebrew was published in Iyyun: The Jerusalem PhilosophicalQuarterly 8 (April 1957): 65–84. Acomplete English translation follows.

No commentary on the Politics can be counted among Averroes'scommentaries on Aristotle's works. The Arabphilosopher recognized, at a certain point, thisdeficiency. He thought at first that Aristotle'spolitical teaching was contained at the end of theNicomachean Ethics,until the existence of this other book become knownto him. But here is this problem: the Politics never reached thewestern regions of Islam. Was it never translatedinto Arabic in the Middle Ages? There is someevidence for this assumption, although the questionstill remains open.

Having no other option, Averroes composed a commentaryor, more correctly, a summary with some additionalremarks on Plato's Republic. It appears, as Rosenthal hasshown, that Averroes was influenced in his effortsby an abridged paraphrase of that book, a work ofGalen that has not come down to us. But he alsopursued his commentary in the tradition of Alfarabi,on whom the political books of Plato had a decisiveinfluence. In the text under discussion. Averroesdraws from the writings of Alfarabi, and even quotesthem on occasion.

The Arabic original of Averroes's Commentary on Plato's “Republic” has notbeen preserved. A Hebrew translation of it has,however, come down to us, from the pen of Samuel benJudah of Marseilles, who reviewed his translationand revised it twice between the years 1320 and1322. So has a Latin translation made in 1539 on thebasis of the Hebrew translation. This lasttranslation, the work of Jacob Mantino, a Jewishdoctor from Tortosa, was printed in Venice among thewritings of Aristotle in 1550. It is, however, arather free translation that should be trusted onlyto a very limited degree. Rosenthal has thereforeperformed a great service in bringing before anaudience of those interested in medieval thought oneof the most important texts belonging to the fieldof political philosophy. The agreeable resultincludes, in addition to the Hebrew text, atranslation of that text into English, anintroduction, and notes, several of which are offundamental significance.

The Hebrew manuscripts are full of challenges, and itis E. Rosenthal's great achievement to have managed,through many years of diligent work, to overcomemost of the difficulties lurking in this text.