A Possible Aristotle-Fragment in the b-Scholion on Illiad 22.94

Abstract

The b-scholion on Iliad 22.94 attributes a claim about a venomous snake (δράκων) to Aristotle’s On Animals. Likely because there is no obvious parallel text in Aristotle’s extant works on animals, the reference tends nowadays to be dismissed as inauthentic (though it was taken much more seriously in the 19th century). Further, the Aristotle reference has been consigned to a footnote in the standard edition of the Iliad scholia. This essay reassesses the scholion and considers as possible sources a few different works of Aristotle. It also suggests that the Aristotelian material – whatever its source – was brought in by Homeric scholars to support one side of a debate over the meaning of κακὰ φάρμακα.