Proclus, Euripides and the βίβλινος οἶνος. A forgotten tragic fragment in a late antique commentary on Hesiod’s Works and Days’

The aim of this article is to bring to the fore a reference to Euripides hidden in a rather remote place of Greek scholiastic literature: the bulky commentary on Hesiod’s Works and Days attributed to the Neoplatonic philosopher Proclus (5th c. CE) but certainly incorporating older material. The scholion in question comments on Hes. Op. 589 (εἴη πετραίη τε σκιὴ καὶ βίβλινος οἶνος) and is a complex, multilayered witness: it receives here its first thorough philological analysis, starting from the editorially established text. The scholion contains an indirect reference to Euripides (λέγει καὶ Εὐριπίδης) and a mention of a rather peculiar object: βίβλινος οἶνος (“Bibline wine”). This passage has been overlooked in the few scholarly treatments dedicated to this wine as well as in scholarship on Greek fragmentary drama. The article argues that it should be counted among the fragmentary remnants of Euripides’ work, since it cannot be traced back to the only preserved line of the poet featuring βίβλινος οἶνος (Ion 1195) nor to an anonymous trimeter mentioning the same wine which is only very hypothetically, and circularly, attributed to him (fr. trag. adesp. 149 K.-Sn.). Finally, a critical edition of the recovered fragment is offered, together with further thoughts on its wider context and suggestions for future research.