The Problem of the Genesis of Aristotle's Text

Abstract

W A rE are informed by Strabo XIII, I, g4 and by Plutarch (Sulla 26.) that the works of Aristotle disappeared for at least i so years and were, for the first time, edited in Rome by Andronicus of Rhodes, a peripatetic philosopher, of the second half of the first century B.C., i.e. approx. 27g years after the death of Aristotle. Strabo's and Plutarch's accounts are essentially identical and there is no doubt that Plutarch drew on Strabo; however, it is Plutarch who gives us the name of Andronicus, whereas Strabo only mentions Andronicus' predecessor, the grammarian Tyrannion of Amisus in Pontus, as an editor of Aristotle's manuscripts. Strabo's and Plutarch's accounts of the disappearance and re-discovery of the works of Aristotle have been variously interpreted believed and disbelieved in parts and it will be necessary for us to look at some of the details, especially in Strabo's account. Strabo reports that Theophrastus bequeathed his library which included Aristotle's 1 to Neleus, son of Coriscus, who took the books to his native Scepsis in the Troad. There, in the hands of Neleus' heirs, the books were neglected and later, to escape discovery by the kings of Pergamon, were buried in the ground where they lay hidden for i So years or more, suffering greatly through moisture and moths. About I 00 B.C. or shortly afterwards, the books were taken to Athens by Apellicon of Teos and from there, after the fall of Athens in 86 B.C., to Rome by Sulla. In Rome, the grammarian Tyrannion of Pontus, a friend of Cicero's and a great collector of books, obtained possession of the manuscripts and published them. But, Strabo says, Tyrannion's edition was full of grave errors, because Tyrannion himself filled the lacunae in the severely damaged texts, and also because he employed inferior copyists. Besides, the booksellers got hold of them and produced faulty editions. All the same, Strabo says, the publication of the manuscripts made possible a great advance over previous Aristotelian studies; for until then the works of Aristotle had not been known and, especially, the earlier peripatetics possessed the exoteric writings only, and hence could not philosophise soundly (7xpxy[toclr.xC-a) but were spinning empty hypotheses. Finally and this is Plutarch's additional information Andronicus of Rhodes, an Aristotelian, and presumably disciple of Tyrannion,