POLITICA 539
APPENDIX.
I. THE DOCTRINE OF UNIVERSALS 551
II. FIRST PRINCIPLES:
A. Sir William Hamilton on Aristotle's Doctrine 565
B. Aristotle's Doctrine 573
III. METAPHYSICA:
Book [Greek: G]. 583
Book [Greek: E]. 592
Book [Greek: Z]. 594
Book [Greek: Ê]. 609
Book [Greek: Th]. 613
Book [Greek: L]. 619
IV. DE COELO:
Book I. 630
Book II. 639
V. EPIKURUS 654
VI. THE STOICS.--A FRAGMENT 660
ARISTOTLE.
CHAPTER I.
LIFE OF ARISTOTLE.
In my preceding work, 'Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates,' I
described a band of philosophers differing much from each other, but
all emanating from Sokrates as common intellectual progenitor; all
manifesting themselves wholly or principally in the composition of
dialogues; and all living in an atmosphere of Hellenic freedom, as
yet untroubled by any over-ruling imperial ascendancy from without.
From that band, among whom Plato is _facilè princeps_, I now proceed
to another, among whom the like pre-eminence belongs to Aristotle.
This second band knew the Sokratic stimulus only as an historical
tradition; they gradually passed, first from the Sokratic or Platonic
dialogue--dramatic, colloquial, cross-examining--to the Aristotelian
dialogue, semi-dramatic, rhetorical, counter-expository; and next to
formal theorizing, ingenious solution and divination of special
problems, historical criticism and abundant collections of detailed
facts: moreover, they were witnesses of the extinction of freedom in
Hellas, and of the rise of the Macedonian kingdom out of comparative
nullity to the highest pinnacle of supremacy and mastership. Under
the successors of Alexander, this extraneous supremacy, intermeddling
and dictatorial, not only overruled the political movements of the
Greeks, but also influenced powerfully the position and working of
their philosophers; and would have become at once equally
intermeddling even earlier, under Alexander himself, had not his
whole time and personal energy been absorbed by insatiable thirst for
eastern conquest, ending with an untimely death.
Aristotle was born at Stageira, an unimportant Hellenic colony in
Thrace, which has obtained a lasting name in history from the fact of
being his birthplace. It was situated in the Strymonic Gulf, a little
north of the isthmus which terminates in the mountainous promontory
of Athos; its founders were Greeks from the island of Andros,
reinforced afterwards by additional immigrants from Chalkis in
Euboea. It was, like other Grecian cities, autonomous--a distinct,
self-governing community; but it afterwards became incorporated in
the confederacy of free cities under the presidency of Olynthus. The
most material feature in its condition, at the period of Aristotle's
birth, was, that it lay near the frontier of Macedonia, and not far
even from Pella, the residence of the Macedonian king Amyntas (father
of Philip). Aristotle was born, not earlier than 392 B.C., nor later
than 385-384 B.C. His father, Nikomachus, was a citizen of Stageira,
distinguished as a physician, author of some medical works, and
boasting of being descended from the heroic _gens_ of the Asklepiads;
his mother, Phaestis, was also of good civic family, descended from
one of the first Chalkidian colonists.[1] Moreover, Nikomachus was
not merely learned in his art, but was accepted as confidential
physician and friend of Amyntas, with whom he passed much of his
time--a circumstance of great moment to the future career of his son.
We are told that among the Asklepiads the habit of physical
observation, and even manual training in dissection, were imparted
traditionally from father to son, from the earliest years, thus
serving as preparation for medical practice when there were no
written treatises to study.[2] The mind of Aristotle may thus have
acquired that appetite for physiological study which so many of his
treatises indicate.
[Footnote 1: Diog. L. v. 10. This was probably among the reasons
which induced Aristotle to prefer Chalkis as his place of temporary
retirement, when he left Athens after the death of Alexander.]
[Footnote 2: Galen, De Anatomicis Administr. ii. 1. T. ii. pp.
280-281, ed. Kühn. [Greek: para\ toi=s goneu=sin e)k pai/dôn
a)skoume/nois, ô(/sper a)naginô/skein kai\ gra/phein, ou(/tôs
a)nate/mnein]--(compare Plato--Protagoras, p. 328 A, p. 311 C).
Diog. L. v. 1. [Greek: O( de\ Niko/machos ê)=n a)po\ Nikoma/chou tou=
Macha/nos tou= A)sklêpiou=, katha/ phêsin E(/rmippos e)n tô=| peri\
A)ristote/lous kai\ sunebi/ô A)mu/nta| tô=| Makedo/nôn basilei=
i)atrou= kai\ phi/lou chrei/a|.]
We here learn that in the heroic genealogy of the Asklepiads, the son
of Machaon himself bore the name of Nikomachus. I do not think that
Will. v. Humboldt and Bernays are warranted in calling Aristotle "ein
Halbgrieche," "kein vollbürtiger Hellene"--(Die Dialoge des
Aristoteles, pp. 2-56-134). An Hellenic family which migrated from
Athens, Chalkis, Corinth, etc., to establish a colony on the coast of
Thrace, or Asia Minor, did not necessarily lose its Hellenism. One
cannot designate Demokritus, Xenokrates, Anaxagoras, Empedokles, &c.,
half Greeks.
Diogenes here especially cites Hermippus (B.C. 220-210), from whom
several of his statements in this and other biographies appear to
have been derived. The work of Hermippus seems to have been entitled
"Lives of the Philosophers" (v. 2), among which lives that of
Aristotle was one.
Hermippus mentioned, among other matters, communications made to
Aristotle by Stroebus (a person engaged in the service of
Kallisthenes as reader) respecting the condemnation and execution of
Kallisthenes in Baktria, by order of Alexander (Plutarch, Alex. c.
54). From what source did Hermippus derive these statements made by
Stroebus to Aristotle?]
Respecting the character of his youth, there existed, even in
antiquity, different accounts. We learn that he lost his father and
mother while yet a youth, and that he came under the guardianship of
Proxenus, a native of Atarneus who had settled at Stageira. According
to one account, adopted apparently by the earliest witnesses
preserved to us,[3] he was at first an extravagant youth, spent much
of his paternal property, and then engaged himself to military
service; of which he soon became weary, and went back to Stageira,
turning to account the surgical building, apparatus, and medicines
left by his father as a medical practitioner. After some time, we
know not how long, he retired from this profession, shut up the
building, and devoted himself to rhetoric and philosophy. He then
went to Athens, and there entered himself in the school of Plato, at
the age of thirty.[4] The philosophical life was thus (if this
account be believed) a second choice, adopted comparatively late in
life.[5] The other account, depending also upon good witnesses,
represents him as having come to Athens and enlisted as pupil of
Plato, at the early age of seventeen or eighteen: it omits all
mention of an antecedent period, occupied by military service and a
tentative of medical profession.[6] In both the two narratives,
Aristotle appears as resident at Athens, and devoting himself to
rhetoric and philosophy, from some period before 360 B.C. down to the
death of Plato in 347 B.C.; though, according to the first of the two
narratives, he begins his philosophical career at a later age, while
his whole life occupied seventy years instead of sixty-two
years.
[Footnote 3: Epikurus and Timæus. [Greek: E)pi/kouros e)n tê=| peri\
e)pitêdeuma/tôn e)pistolê=|] (Eusebius, Præp. Ev. xv. 5)--Diogen. L.
x. 8; Ælian. V. H. v. 9.]
[Footnote 4: An author named Eumêlus (cited by Diogenes, v. 6, [Greek
e)n tê=| pe/mptê| tô=n i(storiô=n], but not otherwise known) stated
that Aristotle came to Plato at the age of thirty, and that he lived
altogether to seventy years of age, instead of sixty-three, as
Hermippus and Apollodorus affirmed. Eumêlus conceived Aristotle as
born in 392 B.C., and coming to Plato in 362 B.C. His chronological
data are in harmony with the statements of Epikurus and Timæus
respecting the early life of Aristotle. The [Greek: Bi/os A)nô/numos]
given by Ménage recognizes two distinct accounts as to the age at
which Aristotle died: one assigning to him 70 years, the other only
63.]
[Footnote 5: See the Fragments of Timæus in Didot, Fragmenta
Historicorum Græcorum, Fr. 70-74; also Aristokles, ap. Eusebium,
Præp. Evang. xv. 2; Diogenes, L. x. 8; Athenæus, viii. p. 354. Timæus
called Aristotle [Greek: _sophistê\n o)psimathê=_ kai\ misêto/n, kai\
to\ poluti/mêton i)atrei=on a)rti/ôs a)pokekeiko/ta]. The speaker in
Athenæus designates him as [Greek: o( pharmakopô/lês]. The terms used
by these writers are illtempered and unbecoming in regard to so great
a man as Aristotle; but this is irrelevant to the question, whether
they do not describe, in perverted colouring, some real features in
his earlier life, or whether there was not, at least, a chronological
basis of possibility for them. That no such features were noticed by
other enemies of Aristotle, such as Eubulides and Kephisodôrus, is a
reason as far as it goes for not believing them to be real, yet not
at all a conclusive reason; nor is the speaker in Athenæus exact when
he says that Epikurus is the _only_ witness, for we find Timæus
making the same statements. The [Greek: i)atrei=on] (see Antiphanes,
apud Polluc. iv. 183--Fragmenta Comic. cxxv., Meineke) of a Greek
physician (more properly we should call the [Greek: i)atro\s] _a
general practitioner and chemist_) was the repository of his
materials and the scene of his important operations; for many of
which instructions are given in the curious Hippokratic treatise
entitled [Greek: Kat' I)êtrei=on], vol. iii. pp. 262-337 of the
edition of M. Littré, who in his preface to the treatise, p. 265,
remarks about Aristotle:--"Il paraît qu'Aristote, qui était de
famille médicale, avoit renoncé à une officine de ce genre, d'une
grande valeur." Stahr speaks of this [Greek: i)atrei=on] as if
Aristotle had set up one _at Athens_ (Aristotelia, p. 38), which the
authorities do not assert; it was probably at Stageira. Ideler (Comm.
**ad Aristot. Meteorol. iv. 3, 16, p. 433) considers this story about
Aristotle's [Greek: i)atrei=on] to have been a fiction arising out of
various expressions in his writings about the preparation of
drugs--[Greek: ta\ pha/rmaka e(/psein], &c. I think this is
far-fetched. And when we find Aristokles rejecting the allegation
about the [Greek: i)atrei=on], by speaking of it as an [Greek:
a)/doxon i)atrei=on], we can admit neither the justice of the epithet
nor the ground of rejection.]
[Footnote 6: This account rested originally (so far as we know) upon
the statement of Hermippus (B.C. 220), and was adopted by Apollodôrus
in his Chronology (B.C. 150), both of them good authorities, yet
neither of them so early as Epikurus and Timæus. Diogenes Laertius
and Dionysius of Halikarnassus alike follow Hermippus. Both the life
of Aristotle ascribed to Ammonius, and the Anonymous Life first
edited by Robbe (Leyden, 1861, p. 2), include the same strange
chronological blunder: they affirm Aristotle to have come to Athens
at the age of seventeen, and to have frequented the society of
_Sokrates_ (who had been dead more than thirty years) for three
years; then to have gone to Plato at the age of twenty. Zeller
imagines, and I think it likely, that Aristotle may have been for a
short time pupil with _Isokrates_, and that the story of his having
been pupil with _Sokrates_ has arisen from confusion of the two
names, which confusion has been seen on several occasions (Zeller,
Gesch. der Philos. der Griechen, ii. 2, p. 15.)]
During the interval, 367-360 B.C., Plato was much absent from Athens,
having paid two separate visits to Dionysius the younger at Syracuse.
The time which he spent there at each visit is not explicitly given;
but as far as we can conjecture from indirect allusions, it cannot
have been less than a year at each, and may possibly have been
longer. If, therefore, Aristotle reached Athens in 367 B.C. (as
Hermippus represents) he cannot have enjoyed continuous instructions
from Plato for the three or four years next ensuing.
However the facts may stand as to Aristotle's early life, there is no
doubt that in or before the year 362 B.C. he became resident at
Athens, and that he remained there, profiting by the society and
lectures of Plato, until the death of the latter in 347 B.C. Shortly
after the loss of his master, he quitted Athens, along with his
fellow-pupil Xenokrates, and went to Atarneus, which was at that time
ruled by the despot Hermeias. That despot was a remarkable man, who
being a eunuch through bodily hurt when a child, and having become
slave of a prior despot named Eubulus, had contrived to succeed him
in the supreme power, and governed the towns of Atarneus and Assos
with firmness and energy. Hermeias had been at Athens, had heard
Plato's lectures, and had contracted friendship with Aristotle; which
friendship became farther cemented by the marriage of Aristotle,
during his residence at Atarneus, with Pythias the niece of
Hermeias.[7] For three years Aristotle and Xenokrates remained at
Assos or Atarneus, whence they were then forced to escape by reason
of the despot's death; for Mentor the Rhodian, general of the
Persians in those regions, decoyed Hermeias out of the town under
pretence of a diplomatic negociation, then perfidiously seized him,
and sent him up as prisoner to the Persian king, by whose order he
was hanged. Mentor at the same time seized the two towns and other
possessions of Hermeias,[8] while Aristotle with his wife retired to
Mitylene. His deep grief for the fate of Hermeias was testified in a
noble hymn or pæan which he composed, and which still remains, as
well as by an epigram inscribed on the statue of Hermeias at Delphi.
We do not hear of his going elsewhere, until, two or three years
afterwards (the exact date is differently reported), he was invited
by Philip into Macedonia, to become preceptor to the young prince
Alexander, then thirteen or fourteen years old. The reputation, which
Aristotle himself had by this time established, doubtless coincided
with the recollection of his father Nikomachus as physician and
friend of Amyntas, in determining Philip to such a choice. Aristotle
performed the duties required from him,[9] enjoying the confidence
and favour both of Philip and Alexander, until the assassination of
the former and the accession of the latter in 336 B.C. His principle
residence during this period was in Macedonia, but he paid occasional
visits to Athens, and allusion is made to certain diplomatic services
which he rendered to the Athenians at the court of Philip; moreover
he must have spent some time at his native city Stageira,[10] which
had been among the many Greek cities captured and ruined by Philip
during the Olynthian war of 349-347 B.C. Having obtained the consent
and authority of Philip, Aristotle repaired to Stageira for the
purpose of directing the re-establishment of the city. Recalling such
of its dispersed inhabitants as could be collected, either out of the
neighbouring villages or from more distant parts, he is said to have
drawn up laws, or framed regulations for the returned citizens, and
new comers. He had reason to complain of various rivals who intrigued
against him, gave him much trouble, and obstructed the complete
renovation of the city; but, notwithstanding, his services were such
that an annual festival was instituted to commemorate them.[11] It is
farther stated, that at some time during this period he had a school
(analogous to the Academy at Athens) in the Nymphæum of the place
called Mieza; where stone seats and shady walks, ennobled by the name
of Aristotle, were still shown even in the days of Plutarch.[12]
[Footnote 7: Strabo, xiii. 610; Diodor. xvi. 52. It appears that
Aristotle incurred censure, even from contemporary rivals, for this
marriage with Pythias. On what ground we cannot exactly make out
(Aristokles ap. Eusebium Præp. Ev. xv. 2), unless it be from her
relationship to Hermeias. She died long before Aristotle, but he
mentions her in his will in terms attesting the constant affection
which had reigned between them until her death. Aristotle thought it
right to reply to the censure in one of his letters to Antipater.
Aristokles (ap. Euseb. Præp. Ev. xv. 2) says that Aristotle did not
marry Pythias until after the death of Hermeias, when she was
compelled to save herself by flight, and was in distress and poverty.
Mr. Blakesley (Life of Aristotle, p. 36) and Oncken (Die Staatslehre
des Aristoteles, p. 158) concur in thinking that the departure of
Aristotle from Athens had nothing to do with the death of Plato, but
was determined by the capture of Olynthus, and by the fear and
dislike of Philip which that event engendered at Athens.
But the fact that Xenokrates left Athens along with Aristotle
disproves this supposition, and proves that the death of Plato was
the real cause.]
[Footnote 8: Diog. Laert. v. 7-8. Diodorus ascribes this proceeding
to Mentor the Rhodian: Strabo, to his brother Memnon. I think
Diodorus is right. A remarkable passage in the Magna Moralia (genuine
or spurious) of Aristotle, seems to me to identify the proceeding
with Mentor (Aristot. Magn. Mor. i. 35, p. 1197, b. 21; as also the
spurious second book of the OEkonomica, p. 1351, a. 33).]
[Footnote 9: It was probably during this period that Aristotle
introduced to Alexander his friend the rhetor Theodektês of Phasêlis.
Alexander took delight in the society of Theodektês, and testified
this feeling, when he conquered Phasêlis, by demonstrations of
affection and respect towards the statue of the rhetor, who had died
during the intervening years--[Greek: a)podidou\s timê\n tê=|
genome/nê| di' A)ristote/lên kai\ philosophi/an o(mili/a| pro\s to\n
a)/ndra] (Plutarch, Alex. c. 17).]
[Footnote 10: It is to this period of Aristotle's life that the
passage extracted from his letters in Demetrius (so-called [Greek:
peri\ E(rmênei/as]) refers. [Greek: ô(s A)ristote/lês phêsi/n--e)gô\
e)k me\n A)thênô=n ei)s Sta/geira ê)=lthon dia\ to\n basile/a to\n
me/gan, e)k de\ Stagei/rôn ei)s A)thê/nas dia\ to\n cheimô=na to\n
me/gan]--s. 29.
We shall hardly consider this double employment of the epithet
[Greek: **me/gan] as an instance of that success in epistolary style,
which Demetrius ascribes to Aristotle (s. 239); but the passage
proves Aristotle's visits both to Stageira and to Athens. The very
cold winters of the Chalkidic peninsula were severely felt by the
Greeks (Plato--Symposion, p. 220), and may well have served as motive
to Aristotle for going from Stageira to Athens.]
[Footnote 11: Ammonius, Vit. Aristot. See the curious statements
given by Dion Chrysostom, out of the epistles of Aristotle; Orat. ii.
p. 100, xlvii. p. 225, Reiske.
Respecting the allusions made in these statements to various persons
who were reluctant to return out of the separate villages into the
restored city, compare what Xenophon says about the [Greek:
dioi/kisis], and subsequent restitution, of Mantineia; Hellenica, v.
2, 1-8, vi. 5, 3-6.]
[Footnote 12: Plutarch, Alexander, c. 7. What Plutarch calls the
_Nymphæum_, is considered by Stahr (Aristotelia, i. p. 93 n.) to be
probably the same as what Pliny denominates the _Museum_ at Stageira
(N. H. xvi. c. 23); but Zeller (p. 23, n.), after Geier, holds that
Mieza lay S.W. of Pella, in Emathia, far from Stageira. Plutarch
seems to imply that Aristotle was established along with Alexander at
Meiza by Philip.
Compare, for these facts of the biography of Aristotle, Stahr,
Aristotelia, Part I., pp. 86-94, 103-106.
I conceive that it was during this residence in Macedonia and at
Pella, that Aristotle erected the cenotaph in honour of Hermeias,
which is so contemptuously derided by the Chian poet Theokritus in
his epigram, Diog. L. v. 11. The epigram is very severe on Aristotle,
for preferring Pella to the Academy as a residence; ascribing such
preference to the exigencies of an ungovernable stomach.]
In 336 B.C. Alexander became king of Macedonia, and his vast projects
for conquest, first of Persia, next of other peoples known and
unknown, left him no leisure for anything but military and imperial
occupations. It was in the ensuing year (335 B.C. when the
preparations for the Persian expedition were being completed, ready
for its execution in the following spring, that Aristotle transferred
his residence to Athens. The Platonic philosophical school in which
he had studied was now conducted by Xenokrates as Scholarch, having
passed at the death of Plato, in 347 B.C., to his nephew Speusippus,
and from the latter to Xenokrates in 339 B.C. Aristotle established
for himself a new and rival school on the eastern side of Athens, in
the gymnasium attached to the temple of Apollo Lykeius, and deriving
from thence the name by which it was commonly known--the Lykeium. In
that school, and in the garden adjoining, he continued to lecture or
teach, during the succeeding twelve years, comprising the life and
the brilliant conquests of Alexander. Much of his instruction is said
to have been given while walking in the garden, from whence the
students and the sect derived the title of Peripatetics. In the
business of his school and the composition of his works all his time
was occupied; and his scholars soon became so numerous that he found
it convenient to desire them to elect from themselves every ten days
a rector to maintain order, as Xenokrates had already done at the
Academy.[13] Aristotle farther maintained correspondence, not merely
with Alexander and Antipater but also with Themison, one of the
princes of Cyprus, as Isokrates had corresponded with Nikokles, and
Plato with Dionysius of Syracuse.[14]
[Footnote 13: Diog. L. v. 4. Brandis notes it as a feature in
Aristotle's character (p. 65), that he abstained from meddling with
public affairs at Athens. But we must remember, that, not being a
citizen of Athens, Aristotle was not competent to meddle personally.
His great and respected philosophical competitor, Xenokrates (a
non-citizen or metic as well as he), was so far from being in a
condition to meddle with public affairs, that he was once even
arrested for not having paid in due season his [Greek: metoi/kion],
or capitation-tax imposed upon metics. He was liberated, according
to one story, by Lykurgus (Plutarch, Vit. x. Oratt. p. 842);
according to another story (seemingly more probable), by Demetrius
Phalereus (Diog. La. iv. 14). The anonymous life of Aristotle
published by Robbe (Leyden, 1861, p. 3), takes due notice of
Aristotle's position at Athens as a metic.]
[Footnote 14: Aristotle addressed to Themison a composition now lost,
but well known in antiquity, called [Greek: Protreptiko/s]. It was
probably a dialogue; and was intended as an encouragement to the
study of philosophy. See Rose, Aristot. Pseud. pp. 69-72, who gives a
very interesting fragment of it out of Stobæus.
We have the titles of two lost works of Aristotle--[Greek: Peri\
Basilei/as], and [Greek: A)le/xandros, ê)\ u(pe\r a)poi/kôn] (or
[Greek: a)poikiô=n]). Both seem to have been dialogues. In one, or in
both, he gave advice to Alexander respecting the manner of ruling his
newly acquired empire in Asia; and respecting the relations proper to
be established between Hellenes and native Asiatics (see Rose, Arist.
Pseud. pp. 92-96; Bernays, Die Dialoge des Aristot. pp. 51-57).]
In June, 323 B.C., occurred the premature and unexpected decease of
the great Macedonian conqueror, aged 32 years and 8 months, by a
violent fever at Babylon. So vast was his power, and so unmeasured
his ambition, that the sudden removal of such a man operated as a
shock to the hopes and fears of almost every one, both in Greece and
Asia. It produced an entire change in the position of Aristotle at
Athens.
To understand what that position really was, we must look at it in
connection with his Macedonian sympathies, and with the
contemporaneous political sentiment at Athens. It was in the middle
of the year 335 B.C., that Alexander put down by force the revolt of
the Thebans, took their city by assault, demolished it altogether
(leaving nothing but the citadel called Kadmeia, occupied by a
Macedonian garrison), and divided its territory between two other
Boeotian towns. Immediately after that terror-striking act, he
demanded from the Athenians (who had sympathized warmly with Thebes,
though without overt acts of assistance) the surrender of their
principal anti-Macedonian politicians. That demand having been
refused, he at first prepared to extort compliance at the point of
the sword, but was persuaded, not without difficulty, to renounce
such intention, and to be content with the voluntary exile of
Ephialtes and Charidemus from Athens. Though the unanimous vote of
the Grecian Synod at Corinth constituted him Imperator, there can be
no doubt that the prevalent sentiment in Greece towards him was that
of fear and dislike; especially among the Athenians, whose dignity
was most deeply mortified, and to whom the restriction of free speech
was the most painful.[15]
[Footnote 15: See History of Greece, chap. xci. pp. 18, 41, 64.]
Now it was just at this moment (in 335 B.C.) that Aristotle came to
Athens and opened his school. We cannot doubt that he was already
known and esteemed as the author of various published writings. But
the prominent mark by which every one now distinguished him, was,
that he had been for several years confidential preceptor of
Alexander, and was still more or less consulted by that prince, as
well as sustained by the friendship of Antipater, viceroy of
Macedonia during the king's absence. Aristotle was regarded as
philo-Macedonian, and to a certain extent, anti-Hellenic--the
sentiment expressed towards him in the unfriendly epigram of the
contemporary Chian poet Theokritus.[16] His new school, originally
opened under the protection and patronage of Alexander and Antipater,
continued to be associated with their names, by that large proportion
of Athenian citizens who held anti-Macedonian sentiments. Alexander
caused the statue of Aristotle to be erected in Athens,[17] and sent
to him continual presents of money, usefully employed by the
philosopher in the prosecution of his physical and zoological
researches,[18] as well as in the purchase of books. Moreover,
Aristotle remained in constant and friendly correspondence with
Antipater, the resident viceroy at Pella,[19] during the absence of
Alexander in Asia. Letters of recommendation from Aristotle to the
Macedonian rulers were often given and found useful: several of them
were preserved and published afterwards. There is even reason to
believe that the son of Antipater--Kassander, afterwards viceroy or
king of Macedonia, was among his pupils.[20]
[Footnote 16: Diog. L. v. 11.
[Greek: E(rmi/ou eu)nou/chou ê)/d' Eu)bou/lou a(/ma dou/lou
Sê=ma keno\n keno/phrôn teu=xen A)ristote/lês;
O(\s dia\ tê\n a)kratê= gastro\s phu/sin ei)/leto nai/ein
A)nt' A)kadêmei/as Borbo/rou e)n prochoai=s.]
Cf. Plutarch, De Exilio, p. 603.]
[Footnote 17: Stahr, Aristotelia, vol. ii. p. 290.]
[Footnote 18: Athenæus, ix. 398; Pliny, H. N. viii. c. 16. Athenæus
alludes to 800 talents as having been given by Alexander to Aristotle
for this purpose. Pliny tells us that Alexander put thousands of men
at his service for enquiry and investigation. The general fact is all
that we can state with confidence, without pretending to verify
amounts.]
[Footnote 19: Vit. Aristotelis, Leyden, 1861, Robbe, pp. 4-6;
Aristokles ap. Eusebium Præp. Evang. xv. 2. Respecting the Epistles
of Aristotle, and the collection thereof by Artemon, see Rose,
Aristoteles Pseudepigr. pp. 594-598.]
[Footnote 20: We may infer this fact from the insulting reply made by
Alexander, not long before his death, to Kassander, who had just then
joined him for the first time at Babylon, having been sent by
Antipater at the head of a reinforcement. Some recent comers from
Greece complained to Alexander of having been ill-used by Antipater.
Kassander being present at the complaint, endeavoured to justify his
father and to invalidate their testimony, upon which Alexander
silenced him by the remark that he was giving a specimen of
sophistical duplicity learnt from Aristotle. [Greek: Tau=ta e)kei=na
sophi/smata tô=n A)ristote/lous ei)s e(ka/teron tô=n lo/gôn,
oi)môxome/nôn, a)\n kai\ mikro\n a)dikou=ntes tou\s a)nthrô/pous
phanê=te] (Plutarch, Alex. 74).]
I have recounted elsewhere how the character of Alexander became
gradually corrupted by unexampled success and Asiatic influences;[21]
how he thus came to feel less affection and esteem for Aristotle, to
whom he well knew that his newly acquired imperial and semi-divine
pretensions were not likely to be acceptable; how, on occasion of the
cruel sentence passed on Kallisthenes, he threatened even to punish
Aristotle himself, as having recommended Kallisthenes, and as
sympathizing with the same free spirit; lastly, how Alexander became
more or less alienated, not only from the society of Hellenic
citizens, but even from his faithful viceroy, the Macedonian
Antipater. But these changed relations between Aristotle and
Alexander did not come before the notice of the Athenians, nor alter
the point of view in which they regarded the philosopher; the rather,
since the relations of Aristotle with Antipater continued as intimate
as ever.
[Footnote 21: Histor. of Greece, ch. xciv. pp. 291, 301, 341;
Plutarch, Alexand. c. lv.; Dion Chrysostom. Orat. 64, p. 338,
Reiske.]
It will thus appear, that though all the preserved writings of
Aristotle are imbued with a thoroughly independent spirit of
theorizing contemplation and lettered industry, uncorrupted by any
servility or political bias--yet his position during the twelve years
between 335-323 B.C. inevitably presented him to the Athenians as the
macedonizing philosopher, parallel with Phokion as the macedonizing
politician, and in pointed antithesis to Xenokrates at the Academy,
who was attached to the democratical constitution, and refused kingly
presents. Besides that enmity which he was sure to incur, as an acute
and self-thinking philosopher, from theology and the other
anti-philosophical veins in the minds of ordinary men, Aristotle thus
became the object of unfriendly sentiment from many Athenian
patriots,[22] who considered the school of Plato generally as hostile
to popular liberty, and who had before their eyes examples of
individual Platonists, ruling their respective cities with a sceptre
forcibly usurped.[23]
[Footnote 22: The statement of Aristokles (ap. Eusebium, Præp. Ev.
xv. 2) is doubtless just--[Greek: phanero\n ou)=n, o(/ti katha/per
polloi=s kai\ a)/llois, ou(/tô kai\ A)ristote/lei sune/bê, dia/ te
ta\s pro\s tou\s basilei=s phili/as kai\ dia\ tê\n e)n toi=s lo/gois
u(perochê/n, u(po\ tô=n to/te sophistô=n phthonei=sthai.] The like is
said by the rhetor Aristeides--Or. xii. p. 144, Dindorf. I have
already observed that the phrase of "Halbgrieche" applied by Bernays
and W. v. Humboldt to Aristotle (Bernays, Die Dialoge des
Aristoteles, p. 2, p. 134) is not accurate literally, unless we
choose to treat all the Hellenic colonies as half-Greek. His ancestry
was on both sides fully Hellenic. But it is true of him, in the same
metaphorical sense in which it is true of Phokion. Aristotle was
semi-Macedonian in his sympathies. He had no attachment to Hellas as
an organized system autonomous, self-acting, with an Hellenic city as
president: which attachment would have been considered, by Perikles,
Archidamus, and Epameinondas, as one among the constituents
indispensable to Hellenic patriotism.]
[Footnote 23: Quintilian--Declamat. 268. "Quis ignorat, ex ipsâ
Socratis (quo velut fonte omnis philosophia manasse creditur) scholâ
evasisse tyrannos et hostes patriæ suæ?" Compare Athenæus, xi.
508-509.]
Such sentiment was probably aggravated by the unparalleled and
offensive Macedonian demonstration at the Olympic festival of 324
B.C. It was on that occasion that Alexander, about one year prior to
his decease, sent down a formal rescript, which was read publicly to
the assembled crowd by a herald with loud voice; ordering every
Grecian city to recall all exiles who had been banished by judicial
sentence, and intimating, that if the rescript were not obeyed
spontaneously, Antipater would be instructed to compel the execution
of it by force. A large number of the exiles whose restitution was
thus ordered, were present on the plain of Olympia, and heard the
order proclaimed, doubtless with undisguised triumph and exultation.
So much the keener must have been the disgust and humiliation among
the other Grecian hearers, who saw the autonomy of each separate city
violently trampled down, without even the pretence of enquiry, by
this high-handed sentence of the Macedonian conqueror. Among the
Athenians especially, the resentment felt was profound; and a vote
was passed appointing deputies to visit Alexander in person, for the
purpose of remonstrating against it. The orator Demosthenes, who
happened to be named Archi-Theôrus of Athens (chief of the solemn
legation sent to represent Athens) at this Olympic festival, incurred
severe reproach from his accuser Deinarchus, for having even been
seen in personal conversation with the Macedonian officer who had
arrived from Asia as bearer of this odious rescript.[24]
[Footnote 24: See the description of this event in History of Greece,
ch. xcv. p. 416.
There is reason for supposing that Hypereides also (as well as
Deinarchus) inveighed against Demosthenes for having publicly sought
the company of Nikanor at this Olympic festival. At least we know
that Hypereides, in his oration against Demosthenes, made express
allusion to Nikanor. See Harpokration _v._ [Greek: Nika/nôr].
The exordium prefixed to the Pseud-Aristotelian Rhetorica ad
Alexandrum, announces that discourse to have been composed pursuant
to the desire of Alexander; and notices especially one message
transmitted by him to Aristotle through Nikanor (p. 1420 a. 6, 1421
a. 26-38, [Greek: katha/per ê(mi=n e)dê/lôse Nika/nôr], &c.).]
Now it happened that this officer, the bearer of the rescript, was
Nikanor of Stageira;[25] son of Proxenus who had been Aristotle's
early guardian, and himself the cherished friend or ward, ultimately
the son-in-law, of the philosopher. We may be certain that Aristotle
would gladly embrace the opportunity of seeing again this attached
friend, returning after a long absence on service in Asia; that he
would be present with him at the Olympic festival, perhaps receive a
visit from him at Athens also. And the unpopularity of Aristotle at
Athens, as identified with Macedonian imperial authority, would thus
be aggravated by his notorious personal alliance with his
fellow-citizen Nikanor, the bearer of that rescript in which such
authority had been most odiously manifested.
[Footnote 25: Diodor. xviii. 8. [Greek: dio/per u(pogu/ôn o)/ntôn
tô=n O)lumpi/ôn e)xe/pempsen] (Alexander) [Greek: ei)s tê\n E(lla/da
Nika/nora to\n Stageiri/tên, dou\s e)pistolê\n peri\ tê=s katho/dou.]
Antipater, when re-distributing the satrapies of the Macedonian
empire, after the death both of Alexander and of Perdikkas, appointed
Nikanor prefect or satrap of Kappadokia (Arrian, [Greek: Ta\ meta\
A)le/xandron], apud Photium, cod. 92, s.37, Didot).
Ammonius, in the life of Aristotle, mentions Nikanor as son of
Proxenus of Atarneus. Sextus Empiricus alludes to Nikanor as
son-in-law of Aristotle (adv. Mathematicos, sect. 258. p. 271, Fabr.).
See Ménage ad Diogen. Laert. v. 12. Robbe's Life of Aristotle also
(Leyden, 1861, p. 2) mentions Nikanor as son of Proxenus.
Nikanor was appointed afterwards (in 318 B.C., five years later than
the death of Aristotle) by Kassander, son of Antipater, to be
commander of the Macedonian garrison which occupied Munychia, as a
controlling force over Athens (Diodor. xviii. 64). It will be seen in
my History of Greece (ch. xcvi. p. 458) that Kassander was at that
moment playing a difficult game, his father Antipater being just
dead; that he could only get possession of Munychia by artifice, and
that it was important for him to entrust the mission to an officer
who already had connections at Athens; that Nikanor, as adopted son
of Aristotle, possessed probably beforehand acquaintance with Phokion
and the other macedonizing leaders at Athens; so that the ready way
in which Phokion now fell into co-operation with him is the more
easily explained.
Nikanor, however, was put to death by Kassander himself, some months
afterwards.]
During the twelve or thirteen years[26] of Aristotle's teaching and
Alexander's reign, Athens was administered by macedonizing citizens,
with Phokion and Demades at their head. Under such circumstances, the
enmity of those who hated the imperial philosopher could not pass
into act; nor was it within the contemplation of any one, that only
one year after that rescript which insulted the great Pan-Hellenic
festival, the illustrious conqueror who issued it would die of fever,
in the vigour of his age and at the height of his power (June, 323
B.C.). But as soon as the news of his decease, coming by surprise
both on friends and enemies, became confirmed, the suppressed
anti-Macedonian sentiment burst forth in powerful tide, not merely at
Athens, but also throughout other parts of Greece. There resulted
that struggle against Antipater, known as the Lamian war:[27] a
gallant struggle, at first promising well, but too soon put down by
superior force, and ending in the occupation of Athens by Antipater
with a Macedonian garrison in September, 322 B.C., as well as in the
extinction of free speech and free citizenship by the suicide of
Demosthenes and the execution of Hypereides.
[Footnote 26: There remain small fragments of an oration of Demades
in defence of his administration, or political activity, for twelve
years--[Greek: u(pe\r tê=s dôdekaeti/as] (Demad. Fragm. 179, 32). The
twelve years of Demades, however, seem to be counted from the battle
of Chæroneia in 338 B.C.; so that they end in B.C. 326. See Clinton,
Fast. Hellen. B.C. 326.]
[Footnote 27: For the account of the Lamian war, see History of
Greece, ch. xcv. pp. 420-440. As to the **anti-Macedonian sentiment
prevalent at Athens, see Diodorus, xviii. 10.]
During the year immediately succeeding the death of Alexander, the
anti-Macedonian sentiment continued so vehemently preponderant at
Athens, that several of the leading citizens, friends of Phokion,
left the city to join Antipater, though Phokion himself remained,
opposing ineffectually the movement. It was during this period that
the enemies of Aristotle found a favourable opportunity for assailing
him. An indictment on the score of impiety was preferred against him
by Eurymedon the Hierophant (chief priest of the Eleusinian Demeter),
aided by Demophilus, son of the historian Ephorus. The Hymn or Pæan
(still existing), which Aristotle had composed in commemoration of
the death, and in praise of the character, of the eunuch
Hermeias,[28] was arraigned as a mark of impiety; besides which
Aristotle had erected at Delphi a statue of Hermeias with an
honorific inscription, and was even alleged to have offered
sacrifices to him as to a god. In the published writings of
Aristotle, too, the accusers found various heretical doctrines,
suitable for sustaining their indictment; as, for example, the
declaration that prayer and sacrifices to the gods were of no
avail.[29] But there can be little doubt that the Hymn, Ode, or Pæan,
in honour of Hermeias, would be more offensive to the feelings of an
ordinary Athenian than any philosophical dogma extracted from the
cautious prose compositions of Aristotle. It is a hymn, of noble
thought and dignified measure, addressed to Virtue ([Greek:
A)retê\]--masculine or military Virtue), in which are extolled the
semi-divine or heroic persons who had fought, endured, and perished
in her service. The name and exploits of Hermeias are here introduced
as the closing parallel and example in a list beginning with Hêraklês,
the Dioskûri, Achilles, and Ajax. Now the poet Kallistratus, in his
memorable Skolion, offers a like compliment to Harmodius and
Aristogeiton; and Pindar, to several free Greeks of noble family, who
paid highly for his epinician Odes now remaining. But all the persons
thus complimented were such as had gained prizes at the sacred
festivals, or had distinguished themselves in other ways which the
public were predisposed to honour; whereas Hermeias was a eunuch, who
began by being a slave, and ended by becoming despot over a free
Grecian community, without any exploit conspicuous to the eye. To
many of the Athenian public it would seem insult, and even impiety,
to couple Hermeias with the greatest personages of Hellenic
mythology, as a successful competitor for heroic honours. We need
only read the invective of Claudian against Eutropius, to appreciate
the incredible bitterness of indignation and contempt, which was
suggested by the spectacle of a eunuch and a slave exercising high
public functions.[30] And the character of a despot was, to the
anti-macedonizing Athenians, hardly less odious than either of the
others combined with it in Hermeias.
[Footnote 28: Diogen. L. v. 5; Athenæus, xv. 696. The name of
Demophilus was mentioned by Favorinus as also subscribed to the
indictment: this Demophilus was probably son of the historian
Ephorus. See Val. Rose, Aristoteles Pseudepigraphus, p. 582. He took
part afterwards in the indictment against Phokion. As an historian,
he completed the narrative of the Sacred War, which his father
Ephorus had left unfinished (Diodor. xvi. 14). The words of Athenæus,
as far as I can understand them, seem to imply that he composed a
speech for the Hierophant Eurymedon.]
[Footnote 29: See the passages from Origen advers. Celsum, cited in
Stahr's Aristotelia, vol. i. p. 146.
Among the titles of the lost works of Aristotle (No. 14 in the
Catalogue of Diogenes Laertius, No. 9 in that of the Anonymous; see
Rose, Aristoteles Pseudepigraphus, pp. 12-18), one is [Greek: Peri\
Eu)chê=s]. From its position in the Catalogue, it seems plainly to
have been a dialogue; and the dialogues were the most popular and
best-known writings of Aristotle. Now we know from the Nikomach.
Ethica (x. 8, 1178, b. 6-32) that Aristotle declared all constructive
effort, and all action with a view to external ends, to be
inconsistent with the Divine Nature, which was blest exclusively in
theorizing and contemplation. If he advocated the same doctrine in
the dialogue [Greek: Peri\ Eu)chê=s], he must have contended that
persons praying could have no additional chance of obtaining the
benefits which they prayed for; and this would have placed him in
conflict with the received opinions.
Respecting the dialogue [Greek: Peri\ Eu)chê=s], see Bernays, Die
Dialoge des Aristoteles, pp. 120-122; and Rose, Arist. Pseudepigr.
pp. 67, 68.]
[Footnote 30: "Omnia cesserunt, eunucho consule, monstra:" this is
among the bitter lines of Claudian, too numerous to cite; but they
well deserve to be read in the original. Compare also, about the
ancient sentiment towards eunuchs, Herodotus, viii. 106; Xenophon,
Cyropæd. viii. 3. 15.
Apellikon thought it worth while to compose a special treatise, for
the purpose of vindicating Aristotle from the aspersions circulated
in regard to his relations with Hermeias. Aristokles speaks of the
vindication as successful (ap. Euseb. P. E. xv. 2).]
Taking these particulars into account, we shall see that a charge
thus sustained, when preferred by a venerable priest, during the
prevalence of strong anti-Macedonian feeling, against a notorious
friend of Antipater and Nikanor, was quite sufficient to alarm the
prudence of the accused. Aristotle bowed to the storm (if indeed he
had not already left Athens, along with other philo-Macedonians) and
retired to Chalkis (in Euboea),[31] then under garrison by Antipater.
An accused person at Athens had always the option of leaving the
city, at any time before the day of trial; Sokrates might have
retired, and obtained personal security in the same manner, if he had
chosen to do so. Aristotle must have been served, of course, with due
notice: and according to Athenian custom, the indictment would be
brought into court in his absence, as if he had been present; various
accusers, among them Demochares,[32] the nephew of Demosthenes, would
probably speak in support of it; and Aristotle must been found guilty
in his absence. But there is no ground for believing that he intended
to abandon Athens, and live at Chalkis, permanently; the rather,
inasmuch as he seems to have left not only his school, but his
library, at Athens under the charge of Theophrastus. Aristotle knew
that the Macedonian chiefs would not forego supremacy over Greece
without a struggle; and, being in personal correspondence with
Antipater himself, he would receive direct assurance of this
resolution, if assurance were needed. In a question of military
force, Aristotle probably felt satisfied that Macedonian arms must
prevail; after which the affairs of Athens would be again
administered, at least in the same spirit, as they had been before
Alexander's death, if not with more complete servility. He would then
have returned thither to resume his school, in competition with that
of Plato under Xenokrates at the Academy; for he must have been well
aware that the reputation of Athens, as central hearth of Hellenic
letters and philosophy, could not be transferred to Chalkis or to any
other city.[33]
[Footnote 31: That Chalkis was among the Grecian towns then occupied
by a Macedonian garrison is the statement of Brandis (Entwickelungen
der Griechischen Philosophie, i. p. 391, 1862). Though I find no
direct authority for this statement, I adopt it as probable in the
highest degree.]
[Footnote 32: Aristokles (ap. Eusebium Præp. Ev. xv. 2) takes notice
of the allegations of Demochares against Aristotle: That letters of
Aristotle had been detected or captured ([Greek: a(lô=nai]), giving
information injurious to Athens: That Aristotle had betrayed Stageira
to Philip: That when Philip, after the capture of Olynthus, was
selling into slavery the Olynthian prisoners, Aristotle was present
at the auction ([Greek: e)pi\ tou= laphuropôlei/ou]), and pointed out
to him which among the prisoners were men of the largest property.
We do not know upon what foundation of fact (if upon any) these
allegations were advanced by a contemporary orator. But they are
curious, as illustrating the view taken of Aristotle by his enemies.
They must have been delivered as parts of one of the accusatory
speeches on Aristotle's trial _par contumace_: for this was the
earliest occasion on which Aristotle's enemies had the opportunity of
publicly proclaiming their antipathy against him, and they would
hardly omit to avail themselves of it. The Hierophant, the principal
accuser, would be supported by other speakers following him; just as
Melêtus, the accuser of Sokrates, was supported by Anytus and Lykon.
The [Greek: i(stori/ai] of Demochares were not composed until
seventeen years after this epoch--certainly not earlier than 306
B.C.--sixteen years after the death of Aristotle, when his character
was not prominently before the public. Nevertheless Demochares may
possibly have included these accusatory allegations against the
philosopher in his [Greek: i(stori/ai], as well as in his published
speech. His invectives against Antipater, and the friends of
Antipater, were numerous and bitter:--Polybius. xii. 13, 9; Cicero,
Brutus, 83; compare Democharis Fragmenta, in Didot's Fragm.
Historicorum Græcorum, vol. ii. p. 448. Philôn, who indicted
Sophokles (under the [Greek: graphê\ parano/môn]) for the law which
the latter had proposed in 306 B.C. against the philosophers at
Athens, had been a friend of Aristotle, [Greek: A)ristote/lous
gnô/rimos]. Athenæus, xiii. 610.]
[Footnote 33: We may apply here the same remark that Dionysius makes
about Deinarchus as a speech-maker; when Deinarchus retired to
Chalkis, no one would send to Chalkis for a speech: [Greek: Ou) ga\r
ei)s Chalki/da a)/n tines e)/pleon lo/gôn cha/rin, ê)\ i)di/ôn, ê)\
dêmosi/ôn; ou) ga\r te/leon ê)po/roun ou(/tô lo/gôn.] Dionys. Halic.
Dinar. p. 639.]
This is what would probably have occurred, when the Lamian war was
finished and the Macedonian garrison installed at Athens, in Sept.
322 B.C.--had Aristotle's life lasted longer. But in or about that
very period, a little before the death of Demosthenes, he died at
Chalkis of illness; having for some time been troubled with
indigestion and weakness of stomach.[34] The assertion of Eumêlus and
others that he took poison, appears a mere fiction suggested by the
analogy of Sokrates.[35] One of his latest compositions was a defence
of himself against the charge of impiety, and against the allegations
of his accusers (as reported to him, or published) in support of it.
A sentence of this defence remains,[36] wherein he points out the
inconsistency of his accusers in affirming that he intended to honour
Hermeias as an immortal, while he had notoriously erected a tomb, and
had celebrated funeral ceremonies to him as a mortal. And in a letter
to Antipater, he said (among other things) that Athens was a
desirable residence, but that the prevalence of sycophancy or false
accusation was a sad drawback to its value; moreover that he had
retired to Chalkis, in order that the Athenians might not have the
opportunity of sinning a second time against philosophy, as they had
already done once, in the person of Sokrates.[37] In the same or
another letter to Antipater, he adverted to an honorific tribute
which had been voted to him at Delphi before the death of Alexander,
but the vote for which had been since rescinded. He intimated that
this disappointment was not indifferent to him, yet at the same time
no serious annoyance.[38]
[Footnote 34: Censorinus, De Die Natali--Ménage ad Diogen. Laert. v.
16.]
[Footnote 35: Diogenes L. however (v. 8) gave credit to this story,
as we may see by his Epigram.]
[Footnote 36: Athenæus xv. p. 696, 697. Probably this reply of
Aristotle (though Zeller, p. 33, declares it to be spurious, in my
judgment very gratuitously), may have been suited to the words of the
speech (not preserved to us) which it was intended to answer. But the
reply does not meet what I conceive to have been the real feeling in
the minds of those who originated the charge. The logical
inconsistency which he points out did not appear an inconsistency to
Greeks generally. Aristotle had rendered to the deceased Hermeias the
same honours (though less magnificent in degree) as Alexander to the
deceased Hephæstion, and the Amphipolitans to the deceased Brasidas
(Thucyd. v. 11; Aristotel. Ethic. Nikom. v. 7. 1). In both these
cases a tomb was erected to the deceased, implying mortality; and
permanent sacrifices were offered to him, implying immortality: yet
these two proceedings did not appear to involve any logical
contradiction, in the eyes of the worshippers. That which offended
the Athenians, really, in the case of Aristotle, was the
worthlessness of Hermeias, to whom he rendered these prodigious
honours--eunuch, slave, and despot; an assemblage of what they
considered mean attributes. The solemn measure and character of a
Pæan was disgraced by being applied to such a vile person.]
[Footnote 37: Ammonius, Vit. Aristotelis, p. 48, in Buhle's Aristot.
vol. i.; Ménage ad Diog. Laert. v. 5, with the passage from Origen
(adv. Celsum) there cited; Ælian, V. H. iii. 36.
We learn from Diogenes that Theophrastus was indicted for impiety by
Agnonides; but such was the esteem in which Theophrastus was held,
that the indictment utterly failed; and Agnonides was very near
incurring the fine which every accuser had to pay, if he did not
obtain one-fifth of the suffrages of the Dikasts (Diog. L. v. 37).
Now Agnonides comes forward principally as the vehement accuser of
Phokion four years after the death of Aristotle, during the few
months of democratical reaction brought about by the edicts and
interference of Polysperchon (318 B.C.) after the death of Antipater
(History of Greece, ch. xcvi. p. 477). Agnonides must have felt
himself encouraged by what had happened five years before with
Aristotle, to think that he would succeed in a similar charge against
Theophrastus. But Theophrastus was personally esteemed; he was not
intimately allied with Antipater, or directly protected by him;
moreover, he had composed no hymn to a person like Hermeias.
Accordingly, the indictment recoiled upon the accuser himself.]
[Footnote 38: Ælian, V. H. xiv. 1. [Greek: A)ristote/lês, e)pei/ tis
au)tou= a)phei/leto ta\s psêphisthei/sas e)n Delphoi=s tima/s,
e)piste/llôn pro\s A)nti/patron peri\ tou/tôn, phêsi/n--U(pe\r tô=n
e)n Delphoi=s psêphisthe/ntôn moi, kai\ ô(=n a)phê/|rêmai nu=n,
ou(/tôs e)/chô ô(s mê/te moi spho/dra me/lein au)tô=n, mê/te moi
mêde\n me/lein.] The statue of Aristotle at Athens was before the
eyes of Alexander of Aphrodisias about A.D. 200. See Zumpt,
Scholarchen zu Athen, p. 74.]
In regard to the person and habits of Aristotle, we are informed that
he had thin legs and small eyes; that in speech he was somewhat
lisping; that his attire was elegant and even showy; that his table
was well-served--according to his enemies, luxurious above the
measure of philosophy. His pleasing and persuasive manners are
especially attested by Antipater, in a letter, apparently of marked
sympathy and esteem, written shortly after the philosopher's
death.[39] He was deeply attached to his wife Pythias, by whom he had
a daughter who bore the same name. His wife having died after some
years, he then re-married with a woman of Stageira, named Herpyllis,
who bore him a son called Nikomachus. Herpyllis lived with him until
his death; and the constant as well as reciprocal attachment between
them is attested by his last will.[40] At the time of his death, his
daughter Pythias had not yet attained marriageable age; Nikomachus
was probably a child.
[Footnote 39: Plutarch--Alkibiad. et Coriolan. Comp. c. 3; Aristeid.
cum Caton. maj. Comp. c. 2. The accusation of luxury and dainty
feeding was urged against him by his contemporary assailant
Kephisodorus (Eusebius, Pr. Ev. xv. 2); according to some statements,
by Plato also, Ælian, V. H. iii. 19. Contrast the epigram of the
contemporary poet Theokritus of Chios, who censures Aristotle [Greek:
dia\ tê\n a)kratê= gastro\s phu/sin], with the satirical drama of the
poet Lykophron (ap. Athenæum, ii. p. 55), in which he derided the
suppers of philosophers, for their coarse and unattractive food:
compare the verses of Antiphanes, ap. Athenæ. iii. p. 98 F.; and
Diog. L. vii. 27; Timæus ap. Athenæum, viii. 342. The lines of
Antiphanes ap. Athenæ. iv. 1346, seem to apply to Aristotle,
notwithstanding Meineke's remarks, p. 59.]
[Footnote 40: Diog. L. v. 1, 13; Aristokles ap. Euseb. Pr. Ev. xv.
2.]
The will or testament of the philosopher is preserved.[41] Its first
words constitute Antipater his general executor in the most
comprehensive terms,[42] words well calculated to ensure that his
directions should be really carried into effect; since not only was
Antipater now the supreme potentate, but Nikanor, the chief
beneficiary under the will, was in his service and dependent on his
orders. Aristotle then proceeds to declare that Nikanor shall become
his son-in-law, by marriage with his daughter Pythias as soon as she
shall attain suitable age; also, his general heir, subject to certain
particular bequests and directions, and the guardian of his infant
son Nikomachus. Nikanor being at that time on service, and perhaps in
Asia, Aristotle directs that four friends (named Aristomenes,
Timarchus, Hipparchus, Diotelês) shall take provisional care of
Herpyllis, his two children, and his effects, until Nikanor can
appear and act: Theophrastus is to be conjoined with these four if he
chooses, and if circumstances permit him.[43] The daughter Pythias,
when she attains suitable age, is to become the wife of Nikanor, who
will take the best care both of her and her son Nikomachus, being in
the joint relation of father and brother to them.[44] If Pythias
shall die, either before the marriage or after it, but without
leaving offspring, Nikanor shall have discretion to make such
arrangements as may be honourable both for himself and for the
testator respecting Nikomachus and the estate generally. In case of
the death of Nikanor himself, either before the marriage or without
offspring, any directions given by him shall be observed; but
Theophrastus shall be entitled, if he chooses, to become the husband
of Pythias, and if Theophrastus does not choose, then the executors
along with Antipater shall determine what they think best both for
her and for Nikomachus.[45] The will then proceeds as follows:--"The
executors (here Antipater is not called in to co-operate) with
Nikanor, in faithful memory of me and of the steady affection of
Herpyllis towards me, shall take good care of her in every way, but
especially if she desires to be married, in giving her away to one
not unworthy of me. They shall assign to her, besides what she has
already received, a talent of silver, and three female slaves chosen
by herself, out of the property, together with the young girl and the
Pyrrhæan slave now attached to her person. If she prefers to reside
at Chalkis, she may occupy the lodging near the garden; if at
Stageira, she may live at my paternal house. Whichever of the two she
may prefer, the executors shall provide it with all such articles of
furniture as they deem sufficient for her comfort and dignity."[46]
[Footnote 41: Diog. L. v. 11. [Greek: E)/stai men eu)=; e)a\n de/ ti
sumbai/nê|, ta/de die/theto A)ristote/lês; e)pi/tropon me\n ei)=nai
pa/ntôn kai\ dia\ panto\s A)nti/patron], &c. The testament of
Aristotle was known to Hermippus (Athenæus, xiii. p. 589) about a
century later than Aristotle, and the most ancient known authority
respecting the facts of his life. Stahr (Aristotelia, vol. i. 159)
and Brandis (Arist. p. 62) suppose that what Diogenes gives is only
an extract from the will; since nothing is said about the library,
and Aristotle would not omit to direct what should be done with a
library which he so much valued. But to this I reply, that there was
no necessity for his making any provision about the library; he had
left it at Athens along with his school, in the care of Theophrastus.
He wished it to remain there, and probably considered it as an
appendage to the school; and it naturally would remain there, if he
said nothing about it in his testament. We must remember (as I have
already intimated) that when Aristotle left Athens, he only
contemplated being absent for a time; and intended to come back and
resume his school, when Macedonian supremacy should be
re-established.]
[Footnote 42: Pausanias (vi. 4, 5) describes a statue of Aristotle
which he saw at Olympia: the fact by which Aristotle was best known
both to him and to the guides, seems to have been the friendship
first of Alexander, next of Antipater.]
[Footnote 43: Diog. L. v. 12. [Greek: e(/ôs d' a)\n Nika/nôr
katala/bê|, e)pimelei=sthai A)ristome/nên, Ti/marchon, I(/pparchon,
Diote/lên, Theo/phraston, e)a\n bou/lêtai kai\ e)nde/chêtai au)tô=|,
tô=n te paidi/ôn kai\ E(rpulli/dos kai\ tô=n kataleleimme/nôn.] The
four persons here named were probably present at Chalkis, so that
Aristotle could count upon them; but at the time when this will was
made, Theophrastus was at Athens, conducting the Aristotelian school;
and in the critical condition of Grecian politics, there was room for
doubt how far he could securely or prudently act in this matter.
The words of Diogenes--[Greek: e(/ôs d' a)\n Nika/nôr
katala/bê|]--are rendered in the improved translation of the edition
by Firmin Didot, "_quoad vero Nicanor adolescat," &c. I cannot think
this a correct understanding, either of the words or of the fact.
Nikanor was not a minor under age, but an officer on active service.
The translation given by Ménage appears to me more true--"_tantisper
dum redux sit Nicanor:_" (ad. D. L. v. 12.)]
[Footnote 44: Diog. L. v. 12. [Greek: ô(s kai\ patê\r ô)\n kai\
a)delpho/s].]
[Footnote 45: Diog. L. v. 13. In following the phraseology of this
testament, we remark that when Aristotle makes allusion to these
inauspicious possibilities--the death of Nikanor or of Pythias, he
annexes to them a deprecatory phrase: [Greek: e)a\n de\ tê=| paidi\
sumbê=|--o(\ mê\ ge/noito ou)de\ e)/stai], &c.]
[Footnote 46: Diog. L. v. 14. [Greek: kai\ e)a\n me\n e)n Chalki/di
bou/lêtai oi)kei=n, to\n xenô=na to\n pro\s tô=| kê/pô|; e)a\n de\
e)n Stagei/rois, tê\n patrô/|an oi)ki/an.] The "lodging near the
garden" may probably have been the residence occupied by Aristotle
himself, during his temporary residence at Chalkis. The mention of
his paternal house, which he still possessed at Stageira, seems to
imply that Philip, when he destroyed that town, respected the house
therein which had belonged to his father's physician.
We find in the will of Theophrastus (Diog. L. v. 52) mention made of
a property ([Greek: chôri/on]) at Stageira belonging to Theophrastus,
which he bequeaths to Kallinus. Probably this is the same property
which had once belonged to Aristotle; for I do not see how else
Theophrastus (who was a native of Eresus in Lesbos) could have become
possessed of property at Stageira.]
Aristotle proceeds to direct that Nikanor shall make comfortable
provision for several persons mentioned by name, male and female,
most of them slaves, but one (Myrmex), seemingly, a free boarder or
pupil, whose property he had undertaken to manage. Two or three of
these slaves are ordered to be liberated, and to receive presents, as
soon as his daughter Pythias shall be married. He strictly enjoins
that not one of the youthful slaves who attended him shall be sold.
They are to be brought up and kept in employment; when of mature age,
they are to be liberated according as they shew themselves
worthy.[47]
[Footnote 47: Diog. L. v. 15. [Greek: mê\ pôlei=n de\ tô=n pai/dôn
mêde/na tô=n e)me\ therapeuo/ntôn, **a)lla\ chrê=sthai au)toi=s;
o(/tan d' e)n ê(liki/a| ge/nôntai, e)leuthe/rous a)phei=nai kat'
a)xi/an.]]
Aristotle had in his lifetime ordered, from a sculptor named
Gryllion, busts of Nikanor and of the mother of Nikanor; he intended
farther to order from the same sculptor a bust of Proxenus, Nikanor's
father. Nikanor is instructed by the will to complete these orders,
and to dedicate the busts properly when brought in. A bust of the
mother of Aristotle is to be dedicated to Demeter at Nemea, or in any
other place which Nikanor may prefer; another bust of Arimnêstus
(brother of Aristotle) is to be dedicated as a memento of the same,
since he has died childless.[48]
[Footnote 48: Diog. L. v. 15.]
During some past danger of Nikanor (we do not know what) Aristotle
had made a vow of four marble animal figures, in case the danger were
averted, to Zeus the Preserver and Athênê the Preserver. Nikanor is
directed to fulfil this vow and to dedicate the figures in
Stageira.[49]
[Footnote 49: Diog. L. v. 16. [Greek: a)nathei=nai de\ kai\ Nika/nora
sôthe/nta, ê(\n eu)chê\n u(pe\r au)tou= êu)xa/mên, zô=|a li/thina
tetrapê/chê Dii+\ Sô/têri kai\ A)thê/na| Sôtei/ra| e)n Stagei/rois.]
Here is a vow, made by Aristotle to the gods under some unknown
previous emergency, which he orders his executor to fulfil. I presume
that the last words of direction given by Sokrates before his death
to Kriton were of the same nature: "We owe a cock to Æsculapius: pay
the debt, and do not fail." (See my preceding work, Plato and the
other Companions of Sokrates, vol. ii. ch. 23, p. 195.)]
Lastly, wherever Aristotle is buried, the bones of his deceased wife
Pythias are to be collected and brought to the same spot, as she had
commanded during her lifetime.[50]
[Footnote 50: Diog. L. v. 16.]
This testament is interesting, as it illustrates the personal
circumstances and sentiments of the philosopher, evincing an
affectionate forethought and solicitude for those who were in
domestic relations with him. As far as we can judge, the
establishment and property which he left must have been an ample
one.[51] How the provisions of the will were executed, or what became
of most persons named in it, we do not know, except that Pythias the
daughter of Aristotle was married three times: first, to Nikanor
(according to the will); secondly, to Proklês, descendant of
Demaratus (the king of Sparta formerly banished to Asia) by whom she
had two sons, Proklês and Demaratus, afterwards pupils in the school
of Theophrastus; thirdly, to a physician named Metrodôrus, by whom
she had a son named Aristotle.[52]
[Footnote 51: The elder Pliny (H. N. xxxv. 12, 46; compare also
Diogen. L. v. 1, 16) mentions that in the sale of Aristotle's effects
by his heirs there were included seventy dishes or pans (_patinas_,
earthenware). Pliny considered this as a mark of luxurious living;
since (according to Fenestella) "tripatinium appellabatur summam
coenarum lautitia."]
[Footnote 52: Sextus Empiric. adv. Mathematicos, i. p. 271 F. sect.
258. About the banishment, or rather voluntary exile, of Demaratus to
Asia, in the reign of Darius I. king of Persia, see Herodot. vi. 70.
Some towns and lands were assigned to him in Æolis, where Xenophon
found his descendant Prokles settled, after the conclusion of the
Cyreian expedition (Xen. Anab. vii. 8, 17).
Respecting this younger Aristotle--son of Metrodorus and grandson of
the great philosopher--mention is made in the testament of
Theophrastus, and directions are given for promoting his improvement
in philosophy (Diog. La. v. 53). Nikomachus was brought up chiefly by
Theophrastus, but perished young in battle (Aristokles ap. Euseb.
Præp. Ev. xv. 2).]
There existed in antiquity several works, partly by contemporaries
like the Megaric Eubulides, partly by subsequent Platonists, in which
Aristotle was reproached with ingratitude to Plato,[53] servility to
the Macedonian power, love of costly display and indulgences, &c.
What proportion of truth may lie at the bottom of these charges we do
not know enough to determine confidently; but we know that he had
many enemies, philosophical as well as political;[54] and controversy
on those grounds (then as now) was rarely kept free from personal
slander and invective.
[Footnote 53: Euseb. Præp. Ev. xv. 2; Diog. La. ii. 109.]
[Footnote 54: The remarkable passage of Themistius (Orat. xxiii.
p. 346) attests the number and vehemence of these opponents. [Greek:
Kêphisodô=rous te kai\ Eu)bouli/das kai\ Timai/ous kai\
Dikaia/rchous, kai\ stra/ton o(/lon tô=n e)pitheme/nôn A)ristote/lei
tô=| Stageiri/tê|, po/t' a)\n katale/xaimi eu)petô=s, ô(=n kai\
lo/goi e)xiknou=ntai ei)s to/nde to\n chro/non, diatêrou=ntes tê\n
a)pe/chtheian kai\ philoneiki/an?]]
The accusation of ingratitude or unbecoming behaviour to Plato is no
way proved by any evidence now remaining. It seems to have been
suggested to the Platonists mainly, if not wholly, by the direct
rivalry of Aristotle in setting up a second philosophical school at
Athens, alongside of the Academy; by his independent, self-working,
philosophical speculation; and by the often-repeated opposition which
he made to some capital doctrines of Plato, especially to the
so-called Platonic Ideas.[55] Such opposition was indeed expressed,
as far as we can judge, in terms of respectful courtesy, and
sometimes even of affectionate regret; examples of which we shall
have to notice in going through the Aristotelian writings. Yet some
Platonists seem to have thought that direct attack on the master's
doctrines was undutiful and ungrateful in the pupil, however
unexceptionable the language might be. They also thought, probably,
that the critic misrepresented what he sought to refute. Whether
Aristotle really believed that he had superior claims to be made
Scholarch of the Platonic school at the death of Plato in 347 B.C.,
or at the death of Speusippus in 339 B.C., is a point which we can
neither affirm nor deny. But we can easily understand that the act of
setting up a new philosophical school at Athens, though perfectly
fair and admissible on his part, was a hostile competition sure both
to damage and offend the pre-established school, and likely enough to
be resented with unbecoming asperity. Ingratitude towards the great
common master Plato, with arrogant claims of superiority over
fellow-pupils, were the allegations which this resentment would
suggest, and which many Platonists in the Academy would not scruple
to advance against their macedonizing rival at the Lykeium.
[Footnote 55: This is what lies at the bottom of the charges advanced
by Eubulides, probably derived from the Platonists, [Greek: kai\
Eu)bouli/dês prodê/lôs e)n tô=| kat' au)tou= bibli/ô| pseu/detai,
pha/skôn, teleutô=nti Pla/tôni mê\ paragene/sphai, ta/ te bi/blia
au)tou= diaphthei=rai] (Aristokles ap. Euseb. Præp. Ev. xv. 2). There
can be no possible basis for this last charge--destroying or
corrupting the books of Plato--except that Aristotle had sharply
criticized them, and was supposed to have mis-stated or unfairly
discredited them.
The frequently recurring protest of Aristotle against the Platonic
doctrine of Ideas may be read now in the Analytica, Topica,
Metaphysica, and Ethica Nikomachea, but was introduced even in the
lost Dialogues. See Plutarch adv. Kolôten, c. 14; and Proklus adv.
Joann. Philoponum ap. Bernays, Die Dialoge des Aristoteles, not. 22,
p. 151.]
Such allegations moreover would find easy credence from other men of
letters, whose enmity Aristotle had incurred, and to a certain extent
even provoked--Isokrates and his numerous disciples.
This celebrated rhetor was an elderly man at the zenith of his glory
and influence, during those earlier years which Aristotle passed at
Athens before the decease of Plato. The Isokratean school was then
the first in Greece, frequented by the most promising pupils from
cities near and far, perhaps even by Aristotle himself. The political
views and handling, as well as the rhetorical style of which the
master set the example, found many imitators. Illustrious statesmen,
speakers, and writers traced their improvement to this teaching. So
many of the pupils, indeed, acquired celebrity--among them
Theodektês, Theopompus, Ephorus, Naukrates, Philiskus, Kephisodôrus,
and others--that Hermippus[56] thought it worth his while to draw up
a catalogue of them: many must have been persons of opulent family,
highly valuing the benefit received from Isokrates, since each of
them was required to pay to him a fee of 1000 drachmæ.[57] During the
first sojourn of Aristotle in Athens (362-347 B.C.), while he was
still attached to and receiving instruction from Plato, he appears to
have devoted himself more to rhetoric than to philosophy, and even to
have given public lessons or lectures on rhetoric. He thus entered
into rivalry with Isokrates, for whom, as a teacher and author, he
contracted dislike or contempt.
[Footnote 56: Athenæus x. p. 451; Dionys. Hal., De Isæo Judic. pp.
588, 625. [Greek: ou)de\ ga\r o( tou\s I)sokra/tous mathêta\s
a)nagra/phas E(/rmippos, a)kribê\s e)n toi=s a)/llois geno/menos,
u(pe\r tou=de tou= r(ê/toros ou)de\n ei)/rêken, e)/xô duoi=n
tou/toin, o(/ti diê/kouse me\n I)sokra/tous, kathêgê/sato de\
Dêmosthe/nous, sunege/neto de\ toi=s a)ri/stois tô=n philoso/phôn.]
See Hermippi Fragmenta ed. Lozinski, Bonn, 1832, pp. 42-43. Cicero,
De Oratore, ii. 22, 94. "Ecce tibi exortus est Isocrates, magister
istorum omnium, cujus è ludo, tanquam ex equo Trojano, meri principes
exierunt: sed eorum partim in pompâ, partim in acie, illustres esse
voluerunt. Atqui et illi--Theopompi, Ephori, Philiski, Naucratæ,
multique alii--ingeniis differunt," &c. Compare also Cicero, Brutus,
8, 32; and Dionys. Hal., De Isocrate Judicium, p. 536. [Greek:
e)piphane/statos de\ geno/menos tô=n kata\ to\n aou)to\n a)kmasa/ntôn
chro/non, kai\ tou\s krati/stous tô=n e)n A)thê/nê|si/ te kai\ e)n
tê=| a)/llê| E(lla/di ne/ôn paideu/sas; ô(=n oi( me\n e)n toi=s
dikanikoi=s e)ge/nonto a)/ristoi lo/gois, oi( d' e)n tô=|
politeu/esthai kai\ ta\ koina\ pra/ttein diênegkan, kai\ a)/lloi de\
ta\s koina\s tô=n e(llê/nôn te kai\ barba/rôn pra/xeis a)ne/grapsan],
&c.]
[Footnote 57: See Demosthenes, adv. Lakritum, pp. 928, 938. Lakritus
was a citizen of Phasêlis--[Greek: me/ga pra=gma, I)sokra/tous
mathêtê/s]. To have gone through a course of teaching from Isokrates,
was evidently considered as a distinction of some importance.]
The composition of Isokrates was extremely elegant: his structure of
sentences was elaborate even to excess, his arrangement of words
rhythmical, his phrases nicely balanced in antithetical equipoise,
like those of his master Gorgias; the recital of his discourses
proved highly captivating to the ear.[58] Moreover, he had composed a
book of rhetorical precepts known and esteemed by Cicero and
Quintilian. Besides such technical excellence, Isokrates strove to
attain, and to a certain extent actually attained, a higher order of
merit. He familiarized his pupils with thoughts and arguments of
lofty bearing and comprehensive interest; not assisting them to gain
victory either in any real issue tried before the Dikasts, or in any
express motion about to be voted on by the public assembly, but
predisposing their minds to prize above all things the great
Pan-hellenic aggregate--its independence in regard to external force,
and internal harmony among its constituent cities, with a reasonable
recognition of presidential authority, equitably divided between
Athens and Sparta, and exercised with moderation by both. He
inculcated sober habits and deference to legal authority on the part
of the democrats of Athens; he impressed upon princes, like Philip
and Nikokles, the importance of just and mild bearing towards
subjects.[59] Such is the general strain of the discourses which we
now possess from Isokrates; though he appears to have adopted it only
in middle life, having begun at first in the more usual track of the
logographer--composing speeches to be delivered before the Dikastery
by actual plaintiffs or defendants,[60] and acquiring thus both
reputation and profit. His reputation as a teacher was not only
maintained but even increased when he altered his style; and he made
himself peculiarly attractive to foreign pupils who desired to
acquire a command of graceful expressions, without special reference
to the Athenian Assembly and Dikastery. But his new style being
midway between Demosthenes and Plato--between the practical advocate
and politician on one side, and the generalizing or speculative
philosopher on the other--he incurred as a semi-philosopher,
professing to have discovered the _juste milieu_, more or less of
disparagement from both extremes;[61] and Aristotle, while yet a
young man in the Platonic school, raised an ardent controversy
against his works, on the ground both of composition and teaching.
Though the whole controversy is now lost, there is good ground for
believing that Aristotle must have displayed no small acrimony. He
appears to have impugned the Isokratean discourses, partly as
containing improper dogmas, partly as specimens of mere unimpressive
elegance, intended for show, pomp, and immediate admiration from the
hearer--_ad implendas aures_--but destitute both of comprehensive
theory and of applicability to any useful purpose.[62] Kephisodôrus,
an intimate friend and pupil of Isokrates, defended him in an express
reply, attacking both Aristotle the scholar and Plato the master.
This reply was in four books, and Dionysius characterizes it by an
epithet of the highest praise.[63]
[Footnote 58: Dionysius, while admiring Isocrates, complains of him,
and complains still more of his imitators, as somewhat monotonous,
wanting in flexibility and variety (De Compos. Verborum, p. 134). Yet
he pronounces Isokrates and Lysias to be more natural, shewing less
of craft and art than Isæus and Demosthenes (De Isæo Judicium, p.
592). Isokrates [Greek: to\n o)/gkon tê=s poiêtikê=s kataskeuê=s
e)pi\ lo/gous ê)/gage philoso/phous, zêlô/sas tou\s peri\ Forgi/an.]
(Dionys. Hal. ad Pompeium de Platone, p. 764; also De Isæo Judicium,
p. 592; besides the special chapter, p. 534, seq., which he has
devoted to Isokrates.)
Cicero, De Oratore, iii. 44, 173: "Idque princeps Isocrates
instituisse fertur, ut inconditam antiquorum dicendi consuetudinem
delectationis atque aurium causâ, quemadmodum scribit discipulus ejus
Naucrates, numeris adstringeret." Compare Cicero, Orator. 52, 175,
176.
The reference to Naucrates (whose works have not been preserved,
though Dionysius commends his [Greek: Lo/gos E)pita/phios], Ars.
Rhet. p. 259) is interesting, as it shews what was said of Isokrates
by his own disciples. Cicero says of the doctrines in his own
dialogue De Oratore (Epist. ad Famil. i. 9, 23), "Abhorrent a
communibus præceptis, et omnem antiquorum, et _Aristoteleam et
Isocrateam_, rationem oratoriam complectuntur." About the [Greek:
Te/chnê] of Isokrates, see Spengel, [Greek: Sunagôgê\ Technô=n]
(Munich), pp. 155-170.]
[Footnote 59: Dionysius Hal. dwells emphatically on the lofty
morality inculcated in the discourses of Isokrates, and recommends
them as most improving study to all politicians (De Isocrate Judic.
pp. 536, 544, 555, seq.)--more improving than the writers purely
theoretical, among whom he probably numbered Plato and Aristotle.]
[Footnote 60: Dionysius Hal. De Isocrate Judicium, pp. 576, 577,
Reiske: [Greek: de/smas pa/nu polla\s dikanikô=n lo/gôn I)sokratei/ôn
periphe/resthai/ phêsin u(po\ tô=n bibliopôlô=n A)ristote/lês.] It
appears that Aphareus, the adopted son of Isokrates, denied that
Isokrates had ever written any judicial orations; while Kephisodôrus,
the disciple of Isokrates, in his reply to Aristotle's accusations,
admitted that Isokrates had composed a few, but only a few. Dionysius
accepts the allegation of Kephisodôrus and discredits that of
Aristotle: I, for my part, believe the allegation of Aristotle, upon
a matter of fact which he had the means of knowing. Cicero also
affirms (Brutus, xii. 46-48), on the authority of Aristotle, that
Isokrates distinguished himself at first as a composer of speeches
intended to be delivered by actual pleaders in the Dikastery or
Ekklesia; and that he afterwards altered his style. And this is what
Aristotle says (respecting Isokrates) in Rhetoric. i. 9, 1368, a. 20,
[Greek: o(/per I)sokra/tês e)poi/ei dia\ tê\n sunê/theian tou=
dikologei=n], where Bekker has altered the substantive to [Greek:
tê\n a)sunê/theian]; in my judgment, not wisely. I do not perceive
the meaning or pertinence of [Greek: a)sunê/theian] in that
sentence.]
[Footnote 61: See Plato, Euthydemus, p. 305; also 'Plato and the
Other Companions of Sokrates,' vol. i. ch. xix. pp. 557-563.
It is exactly this _juste milieu_ which Dionysius Hal. extols as the
most worthy of being followed, as being [Greek: ê( a)lêthinê\
philosophi/a]. De Isocrate Jud. pp. 543, 558.]
[Footnote 62: Cicero, De Oratore, iii. 35, 141. "Itaque ipse
Aristoteles quum florere Isocratem nobilitate discipulorum videret,
quod ipse suas disputationes a causis forensibus et civilibus ad
inanem sermonis elegantiam transtulisset, mutavit repente totam
formam prope disciplinæ suæ, versumque quendam Philoctetæ paulo secus
dixit. Ille enim 'turpe sibi ait esse tacere, quum barbaros'--hic
autem, 'quum Isocratem'--'pateretur dicere'" See **Quintilian, Inst.
Or. iv. 2, 196; and Cicero, Orator. 19, 62: "Aristoteles Isocratem
ipsum lacessivit." Also, ib. 51, 172: "Omitto Isocratem discipulosque
ejus Ephorum et Naucratem; quanquam orationis faciendæ et ornandæ
auctores locupletissimi summi ipsi oratores esse debebant. Sed quis
omnium doctior, quis acutior, quis in rebus vel inveniendis vel
judicandis acrior Aristotele fuit? _Quis porro Isocrati adversatus
est infensius?_" That Aristotle was the first to assail Isokrates,
and that Kephisodôrus wrote only in reply, is expressly stated by
Numenius, ap. Euseb. Pr. Ev. xiv. 6: [Greek: o( Kêphiso/dôros,
e)peidê\ u(p' A)ristote/lous ballo/menon e(autô=| to\n dida/skalon
I)sokra/tên e(ô/ra], &c. Quintilian also says, Inst. Or. iii. 1, p.
126: "Nam et Isocratis præstantissimi discipuli fuerunt in omni
studiorum genere; eoque jam seniore (octavum enim et nonagesimum
implevit annum) pomeridianis scholis Aristoteles præcipere artem
oratoriam coepit; noto quidem illo (ut traditur) versu ex Philoctetâ
_frequenter usus_: [Greek: Ai)schro\n siôpa=|n me/n, kai\ I)sokra/tên
e)a=|n le/gein]."
Diogenes La. (v. 3) maintains that Aristotle turned the parody not
against _Isokrates_, but against _Xenokrates_: [Greek: Ai)schro\n
siôpa=|n, Xenokra/tên d' e)a=|n le/gein]. But the authority of Cicero
and Quintilian is decidedly preferable. When we recollect that the
parody was employed by a young man, as yet little known, against a
teacher advanced in age, and greatly frequented as well as admired by
pupils, it will appear sufficiently offensive. Moreover, it does not
seem at all pertinent; for the defects of Isokrates, however great
they may have been, were not those of analogy with [Greek:
ba/rbaroi], but the direct reverse. Dionysius must have been forcibly
struck with the bitter _animus_ displayed by Aristotle against
Isokrates, when he makes it a reason for rejecting the explicit
averment of Aristotle as to a matter of fact: [Greek: kai\ ou)/t'
A)ristote/lei pei/thomai _r(upai/nein to\n a)/ndra boulome/nô|_] (De
Isocr. Jud. p. 577).
Mr. Cope, in his Introduction to Aristotle's Rhetoric (p. 39, seq.),
gives a just representation of the probable relations between
Aristotle and Isokrates; though I do not concur in the unfavourable
opinion which he expresses about "the malignant influence exercised
by Isokrates upon education in general" (p. 40). Mr. Cope at the same
time remarks, that "Aristotle in the Rhetorica draws a greater number
of illustrations of excellences of style from Isokrates than from any
other author" (p. 41); and he adds, very truly, that the absence of
any evidence of ill feeling towards Isokrates in Aristotle's later
work, and the existence of such ill feeling as an actual fact at an
earlier period, are perfectly reconcileable in themselves (p. 42).
That the Rhetorica of Aristotle which we now possess is a work of his
later age, certainly published, perhaps composed, during his second
residence at Athens, I hold with Mr. Cope and other antecedent
critics.]
[Footnote 63: Athenæus, ii. 60, iii. 122; Euseb. Pr. E. xiv. 6;
Dionys. H. de Isocrate Judic. p. 577: [Greek: i(kano\n ê(gêsa/menos
ei)=nai tê=s a)lêthei/as bebaiôtê\n to\n A)thênai=on Kêphiso/dôron,
o(\s kai\ sunebi/ôsen I)sokra/tei, kai\ gnêsiô/tatos a)koustê\s
e)ge/neto, kai\ tê\n a)pologi/an tê\n pa/nu thaumastê\n e)n tai=s
pro\s A)ristote/lê a)ntigraphai=s e)poiê/sato], &C. Kephisodôrus, in
this defence, contended that you might pick out, even from the very
best poets and sophists, [Greek: e(\n ê)\ du/o ponêrô=s ei)rême/na].
This implies that Aristotle, in attacking Isokrates, had cited
various extracts which he denounced as exceptionable.]
These polemics of Aristotle were begun during his first residence at
Athens, prior to 347 B.C., the year of Plato's decease, and at the
time when he was still accounted a member of the Platonic school.
They exemplify the rivalry between that school and the Isokratean,
which were then the two competing places of education at Athens: and
we learn that Aristotle, at that time only a half-fledged Platonist,
opened on his own account not a new philosophical school in
competition with Plato, as some state, but a new rhetorical school in
opposition to Isokrates.[63] But the case was different at the latter
epoch, 335 B.C., when Aristotle came to reside at Athens for the
second time. Isokrates was then dead, leaving no successor, so that
his rhetorical school expired with him. Aristotle preferred
philosophy to rhetoric: he was no longer trammelled by the living
presence and authority of Plato. The Platonic school at the Academy
stood at that time alone, under Xenokrates, who, though an earnest
and dignified philosopher, was deficient in grace and in
persuasiveness, and had been criticized for this defect even by Plato
himself. Aristotle possessed those gifts in large measure, as we know
from the testimony of Antipater. By these circumstances, coupled with
his own established reputation and well-grounded self-esteem, he was
encouraged to commence a new philosophical school; a school, in which
philosophy formed the express subject of the morning lecture, while
rhetoric was included as one among the subjects of more varied and
popular instruction given in the afternoon.[64] During the twelve
ensuing years, Aristotle's rivalry was mainly against the Platonists
or Xenokrateans at the Academy; embittered on both sides by
acrimonious feelings, which these expressed by complaining of his
ingratitude and unfairness towards the common master, Plato.
[Footnote 64: That Aristotle had a school at Athens before the death
of Plato we may see by what Strabo (xiii. 610) says about Hermeias:
[Greek: geno/menos d' A)thê/nê|sin ê)kroa/sato kai\ Pla/tônos kai\
A)ristote/lous]. Compare Cicero, Orator. 46; also Michelet, Essai sur
la Métaphys. d'Aristote, p. 227. The statement that Aristotle during
Plato's lifetime tried to set up a rival school against him, is
repeated by all the biographers, who do not however believe it to be
true, though they cite Aristoxenus as its warrant. I conceive that
they have mistaken what Aristoxenus said; and that they have
confounded the school which Aristotle first set up as a rhetor,
against Isokrates, with that which he afterwards set up as a
philosopher, against Xenokrates.]
[Footnote 65: Aulus Gellius, N. A. xx. 5. Quintilian (see note on p.
35) puts the rhetorical "pomeridianæ scholæ" within the lifetime of
Isokrates; but Aristotle did not then lecture on philosophy in the
morning.]
There were thus, at Athens, three distinct parties inspired with
unfriendly sentiment towards Aristotle: first, the Isokrateans;
afterwards, the Platonists; along with both, the anti-Macedonian
politicians. Hence we can account for what Themistius entitles the
"army of assailants" ([Greek: stra/ton o(/lon]) that fastened upon
him, for the unfavourable colouring with which his domestic
circumstances are presented, and for the necessity under which he lay
of Macedonian protection; so that when such protection was nullified,
giving place to a reactionary fervour, his residence at Athens became
both disagreeable and insecure.
CHAPTER II.
ARISTOTELIAN CANON.
In the fourth and fifth chapters of my work on 'Plato and the Other
Companions of Sokrates,' I investigated the question of the Platonic
Canon, and attempted to determine, upon the best grounds open to us,
the question, What are the real works of Plato? I now propose to
discuss the like question respecting Aristotle.
But the premisses for such a discussion are much less simple in
regard to Aristotle than in regard to Plato. As far as the testimony
of antiquity goes, we learn that the Canon of Thrasyllus, dating at
least from the time of the Byzantine Aristophanes, and probably from
an earlier time, was believed by all readers to contain the authentic
works of Plato and none others; an assemblage of dialogues, some
unfinished, but each undivided and unbroken. The only exception to
unanimity in regard to the Platonic Canon, applies to ten dialogues,
which were received by some (we do not know by how many, or by whom)
as Platonic, but which, as Diogenes informs us, were rejected by
agreement of the most known and competent critics. This is as near to
unanimity as can be expected. The doubts, now so multiplied,
respecting the authenticity of various dialogues included in the
Canon of Thrasyllus, have all originated with modern scholars since
the beginning of the present century, or at least since the earlier
compositions of Wyttenbach. It was my task to appreciate the value of
those doubts; and, in declining to be guided by them, I was at least
able to consider myself as adhering to the views of all known ancient
critics.
Very different is the case when we attempt to frame an Aristotelian
Canon, comprising all the works of Aristotle and none others. We find
the problem far more complicated, and the matters of evidence at once
more defective, more uncertain, and more contradictory.
The different works now remaining, and published in the Berlin
edition of Aristotle, are forty-six in number. But, among these,
several were disallowed or suspected even by some ancient critics,
while modern critics have extended the like judgment yet farther. Of
several others again, the component sections (either the _books_, in
our present phraseology, or portions thereof) appear to have existed
once as detached rolls, to have become disjointed or even to have
parted company, and to have been re-arranged or put together into
aggregates, according to the judgment of critics and librarians.
Examples of such doubtful aggregates, or doubtful arrangements, will
appear when we review the separate Aristotelian compositions (the
Metaphysica, Politica, &c.). It is, however, by one or more of these
forty-six titles that Aristotle is known to modern students, and was
known to mediæval students.
But the case was very different with ancient _literati_, such as
Eratosthenes, Polybius, Cicero, Strabo, Plutarch, &c., down to the
time of Alexander of Aphrodisias, Athenæus, Diogenes Laertius, &c.,
towards the close of the second century after the Christian era. It
is certain that these ancients perused many works of Aristotle, or
generally recognized as his, which we do not now possess; and among
those which we do now possess, there are many which it is not certain
that they perused, or even knew.
Diogenes Laertius, after affirming generally that Aristotle had
composed a prodigious number of books ([Greek: pa/mpleista bi/blia]),
proceeds to say, that, in consequence of the excellence of the author
in every variety of composition, he thinks it proper to indicate them
briefly.[1] He then enumerates one hundred and forty-six distinct
titles of works, with the number of books or sections contained in
each work. The subjects are exceedingly heterogeneous, and the form
of composition likewise very different; those which come first in the
list being Dialogues,[2] while those which come last are Epistles,
Hexameters, and Elegies. At the close of the list we read: "All of
them together are 445,270 lines, and this is the number of books
(works) composed by Aristotle."[3] A little farther on, Diogenes
adds, as an evidence of the extraordinary diligence and inventive
force of Aristotle, that the books (works) enumerated in the
preceding list were nearly four hundred in number, and that these
were not contested by any one; but that there were many other
writings, and _dicta_ besides, ascribed to Aristotle--ascribed (we
must understand him to mean) erroneously, or at least so as to leave
much doubt.[4]
[Footnote 1: Diog. La. v. 21. [Greek: Sune/grapse de\ pa/mpleista
bi/blia, a(/per a)ko/louthon ê(gêsa/mên u(pogra/psai, dia\ tê\n peri\
pa/ntas lo/gous ta)ndro\s a)retê/n.]]
[Footnote 2: Bernays has pointed out (in his valuable treatise, Die
Dialoge des Aristoteles, p. 133) that the first in order, nineteen in
number, among the titles enumerated by Diogenes, designate Dialogues.
The longest of them, those which included more than one book or
section, are enumerated first of all. Some of the dialogues appear to
have coincided, either in title or in subject, with some of the
Platonic:--[Greek: Peri\ Dikaiosu/nês], in four books (comparable
with Plato's Republic); [Greek: Politikou=], in two books; [Greek:
Sophistê\s, Mene/xenos, Sumpo/sion], each in one book; all similar in
title to works of Plato; perhaps also another, [Greek: Peri\
r(êtorikê=s ê)\ Gru/llos], the analogue of Plato's Gorgias.]
[Footnote 3: Diog. La. v. 27. [Greek: gi/gnontai ai( pa=sai muria/des
sti/chôn te/ttares kai\ tettara/konta pro\s toi=s pentakischili/ois
kai\ diakosi/ois e(bdomê/konta. Kai\ tosau=ta me\n au)tô=|
pepragma/teutai bi/blia.]]
[Footnote 4: Diog. La. v. 34. Heitz (Die Verlorenen Schriften des
Aristoteles, p. 17) notices, as a fact invalidating the
trustworthiness of the catalogue given by Diogenes, that Diogenes, in
other places, alludes to Aristotelian compositions which are not
mentioned in his own catalogue. For example, though Diogenes, in the
catalogue, allows only five books to the Ethica, yet he himself
alludes (v. 21) to the seventh book of the Ethica. But this example
can hardly be relied upon, because [Greek: e)n tô=| e(bdo/mô| tô=n
ê)thikô=n] is only a conjecture of H. Stephens or Ménage. The only
case which Heitz really finds to sustain his remark, is the passage
of the Prooemium (i. 8), where Diogenes cites Aristotle [Greek: e)n
tô=| Magikô=|], that work not being named in his catalogue. But there
is another case (not noticed by Heitz) which appears to me still
stronger. Diogenes cites at length the Hymn or Pæan composed by
Aristotle in honour of Hermeias. Now there is no general head of his
catalogue under which this hymn could fall. Here Anonymus (to be
presently mentioned) has a superiority over Diogenes; for he
introduces, towards the close of his catalogue, one general
head--[Greek: e)gkô/mia ê)\ u(/mnous], which is not to be found in
Diogenes.]
We have another distinct enumeration of the titles of Aristotle's
works, prepared by an anonymous biographer cited in the notes of
Ménage to Diogenes Laertius.[5] This anonymous list contains only one
hundred and twenty-seven titles, being nineteen less than the list in
Diogenes. The greater number of titles are the same in both; but
Anonymus has eight titles which are not found in Diogenes, while
Diogenes has twenty-seven titles which are not given by Anonymus.
There are therefore thirty-five titles which rest on the evidence of
one alone out of the two lists. Anonymus does not specify any total
number of lines; nevertheless he gives the total number of _books_
composed by Aristotle as being nearly four hundred--the same as
Diogenes. This total number cannot be elicited out of the items
enumerated by Anonymus; but it may be made to coincide pretty nearly
with the items in Diogenes,[6] provided we understand by _books_,
sections or subdivisions of one and the same title or work.
[Footnote 5: Ménage ad Diog. tom. ii. p. 201. See the very
instructive treatise of Professor Heitz, Die Verlorenen Schriften des
Aristoteles, p. 15 (Leipzig, 1865).]
[Footnote 6: Heitz, Die Verl. Schrift. des Aristot. p. 51. Such
coincidence assumes that we reckon the [Greek: Politei=ai] and the
Epistles each as one book.
I think it unnecessary to transcribe these catalogues of the titles
of works mostly lost. The reader will find them clearly printed in
the learned work of Val. Rose, Aristoteles Pseudepigraphus, pp.
12-20.]
The two catalogues just mentioned, agreeing as they do in the total
number of books and in the greater part of the items, may probably be
considered not as original and copy, but as inaccurate transcripts
from the same original authority. Yet neither of the two transcribers
tells us what that original authority was. We may, however, be
certain that each of them considered his catalogue to comprehend all
that Aristotle could be affirmed on good authority to have published;
Diogenes plainly signifies thus much, when he gives not only the
total number of books, but the total number of lines. Such being the
case, we expect to find in it, of course, the titles of the forty-six
works composing the Berlin edition of Aristotle now before us. But
this expectation is disappointed. The far greater number of the
Aristotelian works which we now peruse are not specified either in
the list of Diogenes, or in that of Anonymus.[7] Moreover, the lists
also fail to specify the titles of various works which are not now
extant, but which we know from Aristotle himself that he really
composed.[8]
[Footnote 7: Heitz, Verl. Schr. Aristot. p. 18, remarks that "In
diesem Verzeichnisse (that of Diogenes) die bei weitem grösste Zahl
derjenigen Schriften fehlt, welche wir heute noch besitzen, und die
wir als den eigentlichen Kern der aristotelischen Lehre enthaltend zu
betrachten gewohnt sind." Cf. p. 32. Brandis expresses himself
substantially to the same effect (Aristoteles, Berlin, 1853, pp. 77,
78, 96); and Zeller also (Gesch. der Phil. 2nd ed. Aristot.
Schriften, p. 43).]
[Footnote 8: Heitz, Verl. Schr. des Aristoteles, p. 56, seq.]
The last-mentioned fact is in itself sufficiently strange and
difficult to explain, and our difficulty becomes aggravated when we
combine it with another fact hardly less surprising. Both Cicero, and
other writers of the century subsequent to him (Dionysius Hal.,
Quintilian, &c.), make reference to Aristotle, and especially to his
dialogues, of which none have been preserved, though the titles of
several are given in the two catalogues mentioned above. These
writers bestow much encomium on the style of Aristotle; but what is
remarkable is, that they ascribe to it attributes which even his
warmest admirers will hardly find in the Aristotelian works now
remaining. Cicero extols the sweetness, the abundance, the variety,
the rhetorical force which he discovered in Aristotle's writings: he
even goes so far as to employ the phrase "flumen orationis aureum" (a
golden stream of speech), in characterizing the Aristotelian
style.[9] Such predicates may have been correct, indeed were
doubtless correct, in regard to the dialogues, and perhaps other lost
works of Aristotle; but they describe exactly the opposite[10] of
what we find in all the works preserved. With most of these (except
the History of Animals) Cicero manifests no acquaintance; and some of
the best modern critics declare him to have been ignorant of
them.[11] Nor do other ancient authors, Plutarch, Athenæus, Diogenes
Laertius, &c., give evidence of having been acquainted with the
principal works of Aristotle known to us. They make reference only to
works enumerated in the Catalogue of Diogenes Laertius.[12]
[Footnote 9: Cicero, Acad. Prior. ii. 38, 119: "Quum enim tuus iste
Stoicus sapiens syllabatim tibi ista dixerit, veniet flumen orationis
aureum fundens Aristoteles, qui illum desipere dicat." Also Topica,
i. 3. "Quibus (_i.e._ those who were ignorant of Aristotle) eo minus
ignoscendum est, quod non modo rebus iis, quæ ab illo dictæ et
inventæ sunt, adlici debuerunt, sed dicendi quoque incredibili quâdam
quum copiâ, tum suavitate." Also De Oratore, i. 11, 49; Brutus, 31,
121; De Nat. Deor. ii. 37; De Inventione, ii. 2; De Finibus, i. 5,
14; Epistol. ad Atticum, ii. 1, where he speaks of the "Aristotelia
pigmenta," along with the [Greek: murothê/kion] of Isokrates.
Dionysius Hal. recommends the style of Aristotle in equal terms of
admiration: [Greek: paralêpte/on de\ kai\ A)ristote/lê ei)s mi/mêsin
tê=s te peri\ tê\n e(rmênei/an deino/têtos kai\ tê=s saphênei/as,
kai\ tou= ê(de/os kai\ polumathou=s] (De Veter. Script. Censurâ, p.
430, R.; De Verb. Copiâ, p. 187). Quintilian extols the "eloquendi
suavitas" among Aristotle's excellences (Inst. Or. X. i. p. 510).
Demetrius Phalereus (or the author who bears that title), De
Eloquentiâ, s. 128, commends [Greek: ai( A)ristote/lous cha/rites].
David the Armenian, who speaks of him (having reference to the
dialogue) as [Greek: A)phrodi/tês e)nno/mou ge/môn] (the correction
of Bernays, Dial. des Arist. p. 137) [Greek: kai\ chari/tôn
a)na/mestos], probably copies the judgment of predecessors (Scholia
ad Categor. p. 26, b. 36, Brandis).
Bernays (Die Dialoge des Aristoteles, pp. 3-5) points out how little
justice has been done by modern critics to the literary merits,
exhibited in the dialogues and other works now lost, of one whom _we_
know only as a "dornichten und wortkargen Systematiker."]
[Footnote 10: This opinion is insisted on by Ravaisson, Essai sur la
Métaphysique d'Aristote, pp. 210, 211.]
[Footnote 11: Valentine Rose, Aristoteles Pseudepigraphus, p. 23:
"Cicero philosophicis certe ipsius Aristotelis libris nunquam usus
est." Heitz, Die Verlor. Schrift. des Aristot. pp. 31, 158, 187:
"Cicero, dessen Unbekanntschaft mit beinahe sämmtlichen heute
vorhandenen Werken des Aristoteles eine unstreitige Thatsache bildet,
deren Bedeutung man sich umsonst bemüht hat abzuschwächen." Madvig,
Excursus VII. ad Ciceron. De Finibus, p. 855: "Non dubito profiteri,
Ciceronem mihi videri dialogos Aristotelis populariter scriptos, et
Rhetorica (quibus hic Topica adnumero) tum [Greek: politei/as]
legisse; difficiliora vero, quibus omnis interior philosophia
continebatur, aut omnino non attigisse, aut si aliquando attigerit,
non longe progressum esse, ut ipse de subtilioribus Aristotelis
sententiis aliquid habere possit explorati." The language here used
by Madvig is more precise than that of the other two; for Cicero must
be allowed to have known, and even to have had in his library, the
Topica of Aristotle.]
[Footnote 12: See this point enforced by Heitz, pp. 29-31. Athenæus
(xiv. 656) refers to a passage of Philochorus, in which Philochorus
alludes to Aristotle, that is, as critics have hitherto supposed, to
Aristot. Meteorol. iv. 3, 21. Bussemaker (in his Præfat. ad Aristot.
Didot, vol. iv. p. xix.) has shewn that this supposition is
unfounded, and that the passage more probably refers to one of the
Problemata Inedita (iii. 43) which Bussemaker has first published in
Didot's edition of Aristotle.]
Here, then, we find several embarrassing facts in regard to the
Aristotelian Canon. Most of the works now accepted and known as
belonging to Aristotle, are neither included in the full Aristotelian
Catalogue given by Diogenes, nor were they known to Cicero; who,
moreover, ascribes to Aristotle attributes of style not only
different, but opposite, to those which _our_ Aristotle presents.
Besides, more than twenty of the compositions entered in the
Catalogue are dialogues, of which form _our_ Aristotle affords not a
single specimen: while others relate to matters of ancient exploit or
personal history; collected proverbs; accounts of the actual
constitution of many Hellenic cities; lists of the Pythian victors
and of the scenic representations; erotic discourses; legendary
narratives, embodied in a miscellaneous work called 'Peplus'--a title
perhaps borrowed from the _Peplus_ or robe of Athênê at the
Panathenaic festival, embroidered with various figures by Athenian
women; a symposion or banquet-colloquy; and remarks on intoxication.
All these subjects are foreign in character to those which _our_
Aristotle treats.[13]
[Footnote 13: Brandis and Zeller, moreover, remark, that among the
allusions made by Aristotle in the works which we possess to other
works of his own, the majority relate to other works actually extant,
and very few to any of the lost works enumerated in the Catalogue
(Brand. Aristoteles, pp. 97-101; Zeller, Phil. der Griech. ii. 2, p.
79, ed. 2nd). This however is not always the case: we find (_e.g._)
in Aristotle's notice of the Pythagorean tenets (Metaphys. A. p. 986,
a. 12) the remark, [Greek: diô/ristai de\ peri\ tou/tôn e)n e(te/rois
ê(mi=n a)kribe/steron]; where he probably means to indicate his
special treatises, [Greek: Peri\ tô=n Puthagorei/ôn] and [Greek:
Pro\s tou\s Puthagorei/ous], enumerated by Diog. L. v. 25, and
mentioned by Alexander, Porphyry, and Simplikius. See Alexander,
Schol. ad Metaphys. p. 542, b. 5, 560, b. 25, Br.; and the note of
Schwegler on Metaphys. i. 5, p. 47.]
The difficulty of harmonizing _our_ Aristotle with the Aristotle of
the Catalogue is thus considerable. It has been so strongly felt in
recent years, that one of the ablest modern critics altogether
dissevers the two, and pronounces the works enumerated in the
Catalogue not to belong to _our_ Aristotle. I allude to Valentine
Rose, who in his very learned and instructive volume, '_Aristoteles
Pseudepigraphus_,' has collected and illustrated the fragments which
remain of these works. He considers them all pseudo-Aristotelian,
composed by various unknown members of the Peripatetic school, during
the century or two immediately succeeding the death of Aristotle, and
inscribed with the illustrious name of the master, partly through
fraud of the sellers, partly through carelessness of purchasers and
librarians.[14] Emil Heitz, on the other hand, has argued more
recently, that upon the external evidence as it stands, a more
correct conclusion to draw would be (the opposite of that drawn by
Rose, viz.): That the works enumerated in the Catalogue are the true
and genuine; and that those which we possess, or most of them, are
not really composed by Aristotle.[15] Heitz thinks this conclusion
better sustained than that of Rose, though he himself takes a
different view, which I shall presently mention.
[Footnote 14: Valent. Rose, Aristoteles Pseudepigr. pp. 4-10. The
same opinion is declared also in the earlier work of the same author,
De Aristotelis Librorum Ordine et Auctoritate.]
[Footnote 15: Heitz, Die Verlor. Schrift. des **Ar. pp. 29, 30.]
It will be seen from the foregoing observations how much more
difficult it is to settle a genuine Canon for Aristotle than for
Plato. I do not assent to either of the two conclusions just
indicated; but I contend that, if we applied to this question the
same principles of judgment as those which modern Platonic critics
often apply, when they allow or disallow dialogues of Plato, we
should be obliged to embrace one or other of them, or at least
something nearly approaching thereto. If a critic, after attentively
studying the principal compositions now extant of _our_ Aristotle,
thinks himself entitled, on the faith of his acquired
"_Aristotelisches Gefühl_," to declare that no works differing
materially from them (either in subject handled, or in manner of
handling, or in degree of excellence), can have been composed by
Aristotle--he will assuredly be forced to include in such rejection a
large proportion of those indicated in the Catalogue of Diogenes.
Especially he will be forced to reject the Dialogues--the very
compositions by which Aristotle was best known to Cicero and his
contemporaries. For the difference between them and the known
compositions of Aristotle, not merely in form but in style (the style
being known from the epithets applied to them by Cicero), must have
been more marked and decisive than that between the Alkibiades,
Hippias, Theages, Erastæ, Leges, &c.--which most Platonic critics now
set aside as spurious--and the Republic, Protagoras, Gorgias,
Philêbus, &c., which they treat as indisputably genuine.[16]
[Footnote 16: Thus (for example) in Bernays, who has displayed great
acuteness and learning in investigating the Aristotelian Canon, and
in collecting what can be known respecting the lost dialogues of
Aristotle, we read the following observations:--"In der That mangelt
es auch nicht an den bestimmtesten Nachrichten über die vormalige
Existenz einer grossen aristotelischen Schriftenreihe, die von der
jetzt erhaltenen _durch die tiefste formale Verschiedenheit_ getrennt
war. Das Verzeichniss aristotelischer Werke führt an seiner Spitze
sieben und zwanzig Bände jetzt verlorener Schriften auf, die alle in
der künstlerischen Gesprächsform abgefasst waren," &c. (Bernays, Die
Dialoge des Aristoteles, p. 2; compare ibid. p. 30).
If, as Bernays justly contends, we are to admit these various
writings, notwithstanding "the profound difference of form," as
having emanated from the same philosopher Aristotle, how are we to
trust the Platonic critics when they reject about one-third of the
preserved dialogues of Plato, though there is no difference of form
to proceed upon, but only a difference of style, merit, and, to a
certain extent, doctrine?
Zeller (Die Phil. der Griechen, ii. 2, pp. 45, 46, 2nd ed.) remarks
that the dialogues composed by Aristotle are probably to be ascribed
to the earlier part of his literary life, when he was still (or had
recently been) Plato's scholar.]
In discussing the Platonic Canon, I have already declared that I
consider these grounds of rejection to be unsafe and misleading. Such
judgment is farther confirmed, when we observe the consequences to
which they would conduct in regard to the Aristotelian Canon. In
fact, we must learn to admit among genuine works, both of Plato and
Aristotle, great diversity in subject, in style, and in excellence.
I see no ground for distrusting the Catalogue given by Diogenes, as
being in general an enumeration of works really composed by
Aristotle. These works must have been lodged in some great
library--probably the Alexandrine--where they were seen and counted,
and the titles of them enrolled by some one or more among the
_literati_, with a specification of the sum total obtained on adding
together the lines contained in each.[17] I do not deny the
probability, that, in regard to some, the librarians may have been
imposed upon, and that pseudo-Aristotelian works may have been
admitted; but whether such was partially the fact or not, the general
goodness of the Catalogue seems to me unimpeachable. As to the author
of it, the most admissible conjecture seems that of Brandis and
others, recently adopted and advocated by Heitz: that the Catalogue
owes its origin to one of the Alexandrine _literati_; probably to
Hermippus of Smyrna, a lettered man and a pupil of Kallimachus at
Alexandria, between 240-210 B.C.. Diogenes does not indeed tell us
from whom he borrowed the Catalogue; but in his life of Aristotle, he
more than once cites Hermippus, as having treated of Aristotle and
his biography in a work of some extent; and we know from other sources
that Hermippus had devoted much attention to Aristotle as well as to
other philosophers. If Hermippus be the author of this Catalogue, it
must have been drawn up about the same time that the Byzantine
Aristophanes arranged the dialogues of Plato. Probably, indeed,
Kallimachus the chief librarian, had prepared the way for both of them.
We know that he had drawn up comprehensive tables, including, not only
the principal orators and dramatists, with an enumeration of their
discourses and dramas, but also various miscellaneous authors, with the
titles of their works. We know, farther, that he noticed Demokritus and
Eudoxus, and we may feel assured that, in a scheme thus large, he
would not omit Plato or Aristotle, the two great founders of the
first philosophical schools, nor the specification of the works of
each contained in the Alexandrine library.[18] Heitz supposes that
Hermippus was the author of most of the catalogues (not merely of
Aristotle, but also of other philosophers) given by Diogenes;[19] yet
that nevertheless Diogenes himself had no direct acquaintance with
the works of Hermippus, but copied these catalogues at second-hand
from some later author, probably Favorinus. This last supposition is
noway made out.
[Footnote 17: Stahr, who in the first volume of his work Aristotelia
(p. 194), had expressed an opinion that the Catalogue given by
Diogenes is the Catalogue "der eigenen Schritten des Stageiriten, wie
sie sich in seinem Nachlasse befanden," retracts that opinion in the
second volume of the same work (pp. 68-70), and declares the
Catalogue to be an enumeration of the Aristotelian works in the
library of Alexandria. Trendelenburg concurs in this later opinion
(Prooemium ad Commentar. in Aristot. De Animâ, p. 123).]
[Footnote 18: [Greek: E(/rmippos o( Kallima/cheios e)n tô=| prô/tô|
peri\ A)ristote/lous], is cited by Athenæus, xv. 696; also v. 213.
Among the Tables prepared by Kallimachus, one was [Greek: Pantoda/pôn
Suggramma/tôn Pi/nax]; and in it were included the [Greek:
Plakountopoii+ka\ suggra/mmata Ai)gimi/ou, kai\ Ê(gêsi/ppou, kai\
Mêtrobi/ou, e)/ti de\ Phai/tou] (Athenæus, xiv. 644). If Kallimachus
carried down his catalogue of the contents of the library to works so
unimportant as these, we may surely believe that he would not omit to
catalogue such works of Aristotle as were in it. He appears to have
made a list of the works of Demokritus (_i.e._ such as were in the
library) with a glossary. See Brandis (Aristoteles, Berlin, 1853, p.
74); also Suidas _v._ [Greek: Kalli/machos], Diogen. Laert. viii. 86;
Dionys. Hal. De Dinarcho, pp. 630, 652 R.; Athenæus, viii. 336, xv.
669.]
[Footnote 19: Heitz, Die Verl. Schr. des Aristot. pp. 45-48.
Patricius, in his Discuss. Peripatetic. (t. i. pp. 13-18), had
previously considered Hermippus as having prepared a Catalogue of the
works of Aristotle, partly on the authority of the Scholion annexed
to the conclusion of the Metaphysica of Theophrastus. Hermippus
recited the testament of Aristotle (Athenæus, xiii. 589).
Both Valentine Rose and Bernays regard Andronikus as author of the
Catalogue of Aristotle in Diogenes. But I think that very sufficient
reasons to refute this supposition have been shown by Heitz, pp.
49-52. The opinion given by Christ, respecting the Catalogue which we
find in Diogenes Laertius--"illum catalogum non Alexandrinæ
bibliothecæ, sed exemplarium Aristotelis ab Apelliconte Athenas
translatorum fuisse equidem censeo"--is in substance the same as that
of Rose and Bernays. I do not concur in it. (Christ, Studia in
Aristotelis Libros Metaphysicos, Berlin, 1853, p. 105).]
It seems thus probable that the Catalogue given by Diogenes derives
its origin from Hermippus or Kallimachus, enumerating the titles of
such works of Aristotle as were contained in the Alexandrine library.
But the aggregate of works composing _our_ Aristotle is noway in
harmony with that Catalogue. It proceeds from a source independent
and totally different, viz., the edition and classification first
published by the Rhodian Andronikus, in the generation between the
death of Cicero and the Christian era. To explain the existence of
these two distinct and independent sources and channels, we must have
recourse to the remarkable narrative (already noticed in my chapter
on the Platonic Canon), delivered mainly by Strabo and less fully by
Plutarch, respecting the fate of the Aristotelian library after
Aristotle's death.
At the decease of Aristotle, his library and MSS. came to
Theophrastus, who continued chief of the Peripatetic school at Athens
for thirty-five years, until his death in 287 B.C. Both Aristotle and
Theophrastus not only composed many works of their own, but also laid
out much money in purchasing or copying the works of others;[20]
especially we are told that Aristotle, after the death of Speusippus,
expended three talents in purchasing his books. The entire library of
Theophrastus, thus enriched from two sources, was bequeathed by his
testament to a philosophical friend and pupil, Neleus;[21] who left
Athens, and carried away the library with him to his residence at the
town of Skêpsis, in the Asiatic region known as Æolis, near Troad. At
Skêpsis the library remained for the greater part of two centuries,
in possession of the descendants of Neleus, men of no accomplishments
and no taste for philosophy. It was about thirty or forty years after
the death of Theophrastus that the kings of Pergamus began to occupy
themselves in collecting their royal library, which presently reached
a magnitude second only to that of Alexandria. Now Skêpsis was under
their dominion, and it would seem that the kings seized the books
belonging to their subjects for the use of the royal library; for we
are told that the heirs of Neleus were forced to conceal their
literary treasures in a cellar, subject to great injury, partly from
damp, partly from worms. In this ruinous hiding-place the manuscripts
remained for nearly a century and a half--"_blattarum ac tinearum
epulæ_,"--until the Attalid dynasty at Pergamus became extinct. The
last of these kings, Attalus, died in 133 B.C., bequeathing his
kingdom to the Romans. All fear of requisitions for the royal library
being thus at end, the manuscripts were in course of time withdrawn
by their proprietors from concealment, and sold for a large sum to
Apellikon, a native of Teos, a very rich resident at Athens, and
attached to the Peripatetic sect. Probably this wealthy Peripatetic
already possessed a library of his own, with some Aristotelian works;
but the new acquisitions from Skêpsis, though not his whole stock,
formed the most rare and precious ingredients in it. Here, then, the
manuscripts and library both of Aristotle and Theophrastus became,
for the first time since 287 B.C., open to the inspection of the
Athenian Peripatetics of the time (about 100 B.C.), as well as of
other learned men. Among the stock were contained many compositions
which the Scholarchs, successors of **Theophrastus at Athens, had
neither possessed nor known.[22] But the manuscripts were found
imperfect, seriously damaged, and in a state of disorder. Apellikon
did his best to remedy that mischief, by causing new copies to be
taken, correcting what had become worm-eaten, and supplying what was
defective or illegible. He appears to have been an erudite man, and
had published a biography of Aristotle, refuting various calumnies
advanced by other biographers; but being (in the words of Strabo) a
lover of books rather than a philosopher, he performed the work of
correction so unskilfully, that the copies which he published were
found full of errors.[23] In the year 86 B.C., Sylla besieged Athens,
and captured it by storm; not long after which he took to himself as
a perquisite the library of Apellikon, and transported it to
Rome.[24] It was there preserved under custody of a librarian, and
various literary Greeks resident at Rome obtained access to it,
especially Tyrannion, the friend of Cicero and a warm admirer of
Aristotle, who took peculiar pains to gain the favour of the
librarian.[25] It was there also that the Rhodian Andronikus obtained
access to the Aristotelian works.[26] He classified them to a great
degree anew, putting in juxtaposition the treatises most analogous in
subject;[27] moreover, he corrected the text, and published a new
edition of the manuscripts, with a tabulated list. This was all the
more necessary, because some booksellers at Rome, aiming only at sale
and profit, had employed bad writers, and circulated inaccurate
copies, not collated with the originals.[28] These originals,
however, were so damaged, and the restitutions made by Apellikon were
so injudicious, that the more careful critics who now studied them
were often driven to proceed on mere probable evidence.
[Footnote 20: Diog. L. iv. 5; Aulus Gellius, N. A. iii. 17.]
[Footnote 21: From a passage of Lucian (De Parasito, c. xxxv.) we
learn that Aristoxenus spoke of himself as friend and guest of
Neleus: [Greek: kai\ ti/s peri\ tou/tou le/gei? Polloi\ me\n kai\
a)/lloi, A)risto/xenos de\ o( mousiko/s, pollou= lo/gou a)/xios kai\
au)to\s de\ para/sitos Nê/leôs ê)=n.]]