Of the death of _Aristotle_.
[Sidenote: _What an_ Euripus _is generally_.]
That _Aristotle_ drowned himself in _Euripus_, as despairing to resolve
the cause of its reciprocation, or ebb and flow seven times a day, with
this determination, _Si quidem ego non capio te, tu capies me_, was the
assertion of _Procopius_, _Nazianzen_, _Justin Martyr_, and is generally
believed amongst us. Wherein, because we perceive men have but an
imperfect knowledge, some conceiving _Euripus_ to be a River, others not
knowing where or in what part to place it; we first advertise, it
generally signifieth any strait, fret, or channel of the Sea, running
between two shoars, as _Julius Pollux_ hath defined it; as we read of
_Euripus Hellespontiacus_, _Pyrrhæus_, and this whereof we treat,
_Euripus Euboicus_ or _Chalcidicus_, that is, a narrow passage of Sea
dividing _Attica_, and the Island of _Euboea_, now called _Golfo de
Negroponte_, from the name of the Island and chief City thereof; famous
in the wars of _Antiochus_, and taken from the _Venetians_ by _Mahomet_
the Great.
[Sidenote: _Touching the death of_ Aristotle.]
Now that in this _Euripe_ or fret of _Negropont_, and upon the occasion
mentioned, _Aristotle_ drowned himself, as many affirm, and almost all
believe, we have some room to doubt. For without any mention of this, we
find two ways delivered of his death by _Diogenes Laertius_, who
expresly treateth thereof; the one from _Eumolus_ and _Phavorimus_, that
being accused of impiety for composing an Hymn unto _Hermias_ (upon
whose Concubine he begat his son _Nichomachus_) he withdrew into
_Chalcis_, where drinking poison he died; the Hymn is extant in
_Laertius_, and the fifteenth book of _Athenæus_. Another by
_Apollodorus_, that he died at _Chalcis_ of a natural death and
languishment of stomach, in his sixty third, or great Climacterical
year; and answerable hereto is the account of _Suidas_ and _Censorinus_.
And if that were clearly made out, which _Rabbi Ben Joseph_ affirmeth,
he found in an _Egyptian_ book of _Abraham Sapiens Perizol_; that
_Aristotle_ acknowledged all that was written in the Law of _Moses_, and
became at last a Proselyte [SN: _Licetus_ de quæsitis, epist.]; it would
also make improbable this received way of his death.
Again, Beside the negative of Authority, it is also deniable by reason;
nor will it be easie to obtrude such desperate attempts upon
_Aristotle_, from unsatisfaction of reason, who so often acknowledged
the imbecillity thereof. Who in matters of difficulty, and such which
were not without abstrusities, conceived it sufficient to deliver
conjecturalities. And surely he that could sometimes sit down with high
improbabilities, that could content himself, and think to satisfie
others, that the variegation of Birds was from their living in the Sun,
or erection made by deliberation of the Testicles; would not have been
dejected unto death with this. He that was so well acquainted with +ê
hoti+, and +poteron+ _utrum_, and _An Quia_, as we observe in the
Queries of his Problems: with +isôs+ and +epi to poly+, _fortasse_ and
_plerumque_, as is observable through all his Works: had certainly
rested with probabilities, and glancing conjectures in this: Nor would
his resolutions have ever run into that mortal Antanaclasis, and
desperate piece of Rhetorick, to be compriz'd in that he could not
comprehend. Nor is it indeed to be made out that he ever endeavoured the
particular of _Euripus_, or so much as to resolve the ebb and flow of
the Sea. For, as _Vicomercatus_ and others observe, he hath made no
mention hereof in his Works, although the occasion present it self in
his Meteors, wherein he disputeth the affections of the Sea: nor yet in
his Problems, although in the twenty-third Section, there be no less
than one and forty Queries of the Sea. Some mention there is indeed in a
Work of the propriety of Elements, ascribed unto _Aristotle_: which
notwithstanding is not reputed genuine, and was perhaps the same whence
this was urged by _Plutarch_. [SN: De placitis Philosophorum.]
Lastly, the thing it self whereon the opinion dependeth, that is, the
variety of the flux and the reflux of _Euripus_, or whether the same do
ebb and flow seven times a day, is not incontrovertible. For though
_Pomponius Mela_, and after him _Solinus_ and _Pliny_ have affirmed it,
yet I observe _Thucydides_, who speaketh often of _Euboea_, hath
omitted it. _Pausanias_ an ancient Writer, who hath left an exact
description of _Greece_, and in as particular a way as _Leandro_ of
_Italy_, or _Cambden_ of great _Britain_, describing not only the
Country Towns, and Rivers; but Hills, Springs and Houses, hath left no
mention hereof. _Æschines_ in _Ctesiphon_ only alludeth unto it; and
_Strabo_ that accurate Geographer speaks warily of it, that is,
+hôs phasi+, and as men commonly reported. And so doth also _Maginus,
Velocis ac varii fluctus est mare, ubi quater in die, aut septies, ut
alii dicunt, reciprocantur æstus. Botero_ more plainly, _Il mar cresce e
cala con un impeto mirabile quatra volte il di, ben che communimente si
dica sette volte_, etc. This Sea with wondrous impetuosity ebbeth and
floweth four times a day, although it be commonly said seven times, and
generally opinioned, that _Aristotle_ despairing of the reason, drowned
himself therein. In which description by four times a day, it exceeds
not in number the motion of other Seas, taking the words properly, that
is, twice ebbing and twice flowing in four and twenty hours. And is no
more than what _Thomaso Porrcacchi_ affirmeth in his description of
famous Islands, that twice a day it hath such an impetuous flood, as is
not without wonder. _Livy_ speaks more particularly, _Haud facile
infestior classi statio est et fretum ipsum Euripi, non septies die
(ficut fama fert) temporibus certis reciprocat, sed temere in modum
venti, nunc hunc nunc illuc verso mari, velut monte præcipiti devolutus
torrens rapitur_. There is hardly a worse harbour, the fret or channel
of _Euripus_ not certainly ebbing or flowing seven times a day,
according to common report: but being uncertainly, and in the manner of
a wind carried hither and thither, is whirled away as a torrent down a
hill. But the experimental testimony of _Gillius_ is most considerable
of any: who having beheld the course thereof, and made enquiry of
Millers that dwelt upon its shore, received answer, that it ebbed and
flowed four times a day, that is, every six hours, according to the Law
of the Ocean: but that indeed sometimes it observed not that certain
course. And this irregularity, though seldom happening, together with
its unruly and tumultuous motion, might afford a beginning unto the
common opinion. Thus may the expression in _Ctesiphon_ be made out: And
by this may _Aristotle_ be interpreted, when in his Problems he seems to
borrow a Metaphor from _Euripus_: while in the five and twentieth
Section he enquireth, why in the upper parts of houses the air doth
Euripize, that is, is whirled hither and thither.
A later and experimental testimony is to be found in the travels of
Monsieur _Duloir_; who about twenty years ago, remained sometime at
_Negroponte_, or old _Chalcis_, and also passed and repassed this
_Euripus_; who thus expresseth himself. I wonder much at the Error
concerning the flux and reflux of _Euripus_; and I assure you that
opinion is false. I gave a Boat-man a Crown, to set me in a convenient
place, where for a whole day I might observe the same. It ebbeth and
floweth by six hours, even as it doth at _Venice_, but the course
thereof is vehement.
Now that which gave life unto the assertion, might be his death at
_Chalcis_, the chief City of _Euboea_, and seated upon _Euripus_,
where 'tis confessed by all he ended his days. That he emaciated and
pined away in the too anxious enquiry of its reciprocations, although
not drowned therein, as _Rhodiginus_ relateth, some conceived, was a
half confession thereof not justifiable from Antiquity. Surely the
Philosophy of flux and reflux was very imperfect of old among the Greeks
and Latins; nor could they hold a sufficient theory thereof, who only
observed the Mediterranean, which in some places hath no ebb, and not
much in any part. Nor can we affirm our knowledg is at the height, who
have now the Theory of the Ocean and narrow Seas beside. While we refer
it unto the Moon, we give some satisfaction for the Ocean, but no
general salve for Creeks, and Seas which know no flood; nor resolve why
it flows three or four foot at _Venice_ in the bottom of the Gulf, yet
scarce at all at _Ancona_, _Durazzo_, or _Corcyra_, which lie but by the
way. And therefore old abstrusities have caused new inventions; and some
from the Hypotheses of _Copernicus_, or the Diurnal and annual motion of
the earth, endeavour to salve flows and motions of these Seas,
illustrating the same by water in a boal, that rising or falling to
either side, according to the motion of the vessel; the conceit is
ingenuous, salves some doubts, and is discovered at large by _Galileo_.
[SN: Rog. Bac. doctis, Cabeus Met. 2.]
[Sidenote: _How the Moon may cause the ebbing and flowing of the Sea._]
[Sidenote: _Why Rivers and Lakes ebb and flow not. Why some Seas flow
higher than others, and continue longer._]
But whether the received principle and undeniable action of the Moon may
not be still retained, although in some difference of application, is
yet to be perpended [SN: Rog. Bac. doctis, Cabeus Met. 2.]; that is, not
by a simple operation upon the surphace or superiour parts, but
excitation of the nitro-sulphureous spirits, and parts disposed to
intumescency at the bottom; not by attenuation of the upper part of the
Sea, (whereby ships would draw more water at the flow than at the ebb)
but inturgescencies caused first at the bottom, and carrying the upper
part before them: subsiding and falling again, according to the Motion
of the Moon from the Meridian, and languor of the exciting cause: and
therefore Rivers and Lakes who want these fermenting parts at the
bottom, are not excited unto æstuations; and therefore some Seas flow
higher than others, according to the Plenty of these spirits, in their
submarine constitutions. And therefore also the periods of flux and
reflux are various, nor their increase or decrease equal: according to
the temper of the terreous parts at the bottom: who as they are more
hardly or easily moved, do variously begin, continue or end their
intumescencies.
[Sidenote: _Whence the violent flows proceed in some Estuaries and
Rivers._]
From the peculiar disposition of the earth at the bottom, wherein quick
excitations are made, may arise those Agars and impetuous flows in some
æstuaries and Rivers, as is observable about _Trent_ and _Humber_ in
_England_; which may also have some effect in the boisterous tides of
_Euripus_, not only from ebullitions at the bottom, but also from the
sides and lateral parts, driving the streams from either side, which
arise or fall according to the motion in those parts, and the intent or
remiss operation of the first exciting causes, which maintain their
activities above and below the Horizon; even as they do in the bodies of
plants and animals, and in the commotion of _Catarrhes_.
However therefore _Aristotle_ died, what was his end, or upon what
occasion, although it be not altogether assured, yet that his memory and
worthy name shall live, no man will deny, nor grateful Scholar doubt,
and if according to the Elogy of _Solon_, a man may be only said to be
happy after he is dead, and ceaseth to be in the visible capacity of
beatitude, or if according unto his own Ethicks, sense is not essential
unto felicity, but a man may be happy without the apprehension thereof;
surely in that sense he is pyramidally happy; nor can he ever perish but
in the Euripe of Ignorance, or till the Torrent or Barbarism
overwhelmeth all.
[Sidenote: Homers _death_.]
A like conceit there passeth of _Melisigenes, alias Homer_, the Father
Poet, that he pined away upon the Riddle of the fishermen. But
_Herodotus_ who wrote his life hath cleared this point; delivering, that
passing from _Samos_ unto Athens, he went sick ashore upon the Island
_Ios_, where he died, and was solemnly interred upon the Sea side; and
so decidingly concludeth, _Ex hac ægritudine extremum diem clausit
Homerus in Io, non, ut arbitrantur aliqui, Ænigmatis perplexitate
enectus, sed morbo_.