The Text of Aristotle's Poetics and its Arabic Translation Two Thorny Case Studies

This contribution highlights the importance of the Arabic version of the Poetics in establishing the text of this work. This is a well-known fact, expressly considered in the most recent editio maior of the Poetics. Nonetheless, the latter edition does not discuss all the evidence relating to the Arabic translation. This article examines two much-discussed passages of the Poetics (1454b30-32, 1448a25-28). In the first case, the Arabic testimony, despite not transmitting the text that should be edited, helps to elucidate which variant is preferred. In the second case, the text of the Arabic translation raises the question of whether its variant reading should replace the text accepted in all the editions published over the last two centuries.