 If we take Simplicius at his word that the ‘study of physics […] arouses us to marvel and magnify the maker of the cosmos', his commentaries on Physics and On the Heavens are indeed also a form of worship in which his ingenuity and respect for the established tradition contribute to the general effort of clarifying the interpreters of nature (and the interpreters of the interpreters). In trying to defend the Platonist point of view in contradistinction to the Christian outlook he uses polemic to persuade and refute, the comprehensive exegesis to clarify and proselytise. His commentaries thus became one very elaborate protreptic and guide to Aristotle's works. (Baltussen 2008: 195)