THE BOOK of ANIMALS by ARISTOTLE Lou Filius Within Greek

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Lou Filius

Within Greek literature a long-standing controversy about the Book of Animals exists concerning whether all ten books are written by Aristotle or not. Books I–VI have always been considered authentic, but VII–IX presented problems and this is even more true of book X.1 Nowadays it is generally believed that book X is not part of the Historia animalium (HA), but a separate text with the title ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ γεννᾶν.2 Accord- ing to the list of Ptolemaeus, and the Appendix of the Anonymus Menagii,3 this book has been added to the HA. It is not strange that they supposed it to belong to the HA, since other books in the HA also dealt with reproduction (if the order of Balme and Gotthelf is to be followed). In that case one can easily understand that this book, ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ γεννᾶν, about the impossibility of reproduction was accepted as book X of the Book of Animals after Book IX, which discusses reproduction. The controversy about the authorship of this book, i.e. ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ γεννᾶν, seems to have been decided in favour of Aristotle. Yet, a certain degree of unanimity about the total number of books arose, when the Arabs became interested in the Greek manuscripts. Another controversial issue is the order of the books. The latest edition of Balme and Gotthelf follows the old list before Theodorus Gaza, i.e. the order I–VI, VII (Bekker VIII), VIII (Bekker IX), IX (Bekker VII), X.4 The order of books in the Arabic manuscripts, however, cor- responds to the order of Ptolemaeus’ list. Moreover, in the Arabic world,

1 Cf. Aristotle, History of Animals, books VII–X, ed. D.M. Balme, prepared for pub- lication by A. Gotthelf (Cambridge, Mass., 1991), pp. 1–13 and Histoire des Animaux, Tome I, livres I–IV, ed. and trans. P. Louis (Paris, 1964), pp. vii–xxxii. Other books have been quoted in the notes of these books. 2 Cf. also P.J. van der Eijk, ‘On Sterility (“HA X”), a Medical Work by Aristotle,’ Classical Quarterly 49 (1999), pp. 490–502. 3 P. Moraux, Les listes anciennes des ouvrages d’Aristote (Louvain, 1951), pp. 272, 278 and 297. Also the Vita Hesychii mentions ten books, cf. I. Düring, Aristotle in the Ancient Bio- graphical Tradition (Göteborg, 1957), p. 87, n. 155. The list of Diogenes Laertius mentions nine books, see ibid., p. 47, n. 102. for the Arabic tradition of the list of Ptolemaeus, see ibid., p. 225, nn. 49–51. The Fihrist mentions simply ten books, ibid., p. 194. 4 P. Louis followed the order of Theodorus Gaza and Bekker.

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two other books formed part of the Book of Animals: The Generation of Animals5 and De partibus animalium6 in addition to the Historia animalium.7 In Arabic literature, this set of books (HA 1–10, PA 11–14, GA 15–19) is referred to as The Book of Animals, Kitāb al-ayawān. No discussion existed in the Arabic world about book X of the HA. They apparently followed the list which was known from late Antiquity. A new edition of the Arabic translation of the Book of Animals is currently being prepared at the University of Leiden,8 based not only on the Tehran manuscript used by A. Badawī,9 but also on a London manuscript, which was clearly the Vorlage of the Tehran manuscript.10 Therefore, the London manuscript is the basis of the new edition, although only the beginning of the text (books I–III, till 514b 16) and the last part (IX–X from 582a 32) are extant. The other books are lost. The second part of the fifth book (from 550a 8) has not come down to us in Arabic. The translation of Scotus11 from Arabic into Latin lacks also this part of the fifth book. It is often stated that al-Birīq or his son Yayā translated the text from Syriac,12 but this is not mentioned in the Fihrist.13 The Fihrist only records the existence of a Syriac translation which was supposed to be better than the Arabic version. Even though many Syriacisms can be identified in the Arabic translation,14 one might still ask whether these

5 Aristotle, Generation of Animals. The Arabic Translation commonly ascribed to Yayâ ibn al-Birîq, ed. J. Brugman and H.J. Drossaart Lulofs (Leiden, 1971). 6 The Arabic Version of Aristotle’s Parts of Animals, Book XI–XIV of the Kitāb al-ayawān, ed. R. Kruk (Amsterdam, 1979). 7 A new edition is being prepared by J. Mattock (his papers are used), R. Kruk, J. den Heijer and L.S. Filius. There is a previous edition of the HA by A. Badawī, Kitāb ibā al-ayawān (Kuwait, 1977). 8 By R. Kruk, J. den Heijer and L.S. Filius. 9 Aristotle, Kitāb ibā al-ayawān li-Arisūālīs, ed. A. Badawī (Kuwait, 1977). 10 Cf. L.S. Filius, ‘The Arabic Transmission of the Historia Animalium of Aristotle,’ in A. Vrolijk and J.P. Hogendijk (eds.), O Ye Gentlemen. Arabic Studies on Science and Literary Culture in Honour of Remke Kruk (2007), p. 27. 11 The Latin translation by Scotus has been edited by Aafke M.I. van Oppenraaij, Generation of Animals (Leiden, 1992) and Parts of Animals (Leiden, 1998). The Historia Animalium will follow. 12 Cf. ed. Brugman and Drossaart Lulofs, pp. 1–17 and G. Endress, Die arabischen Übersetzungen von Aristoteles’ Schrift De Caelo, doctoral thesis (Frankfurt am Main, 1966), pp. 113–15. 13 Ibn al-Nadīm, Kitāb al-Fihrist, ed. G. Flügel (Leipzig, 1871–72), p. 251 and ed. R. Tajaddud (Tehran, 1391/1971), p. 312. Cf. B. Dodge, The Fihrist of al-Nadīm (New York, 1970), ii, p. 605. 14 Cf. ed. Brugman and Drossaart Lulofs, pp. 4–17.

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