Aristotle

Born the 1st year of the 91st Olympiad. Died the 3d year of the 114th, aged 63 years.

Aristotle was one of the most illustrious philosophers.of antiquity; and his name is to this day ceiehrated in all schools. He was the son of Nicho^- machus, physician and friend of Armintas, king of Macedon; and descended from Machaon, grandson-of i£8culapius. He was bom in the 1st year of* the 91st 01ympiad>at Stagira, a city of Macedonia. He lost his father and mother in the early part of his infancy, and was greatly neglected by those who had the charge of his education. Hence part of his youth was passed in libertinism and debauchery, in which he spent almost all his fortune. He first took up arms; but, as that profession was not agreeable to his inclinatious, he went to Ddphos to consult the Oracle, to know to what he should apply himself. The Oracle ordered him to go to Athens, and study philosophy. He wasi then in his eighteenth year: he studied durnig twenty years in the academy, under Plato; and as he had already dissipated adl his property, he was obliged, for subsistence, to trade in certain drugs» which he himself sold in Athens. Aristotle at^ little, and slept still less. He had so great a passion for study, that, to resist the heaviness of sleep, he always put a copper basin by his bedside; and when he lay down, he extended one of his hands, which held a ball of iron over it, so that when he was inclined to sleep, the ball fell into the basin, and awoke him directly. Laertius says he had a shrill voice, small eyes, and slender legs; and that he always dressed magnificently. Aristotle was possessed of keen wit, and easily understood the most difficult questions. He was not long before he became clever in the school of Plato, and distinguished himself above all the other academicians. They decided no questions in the' academy without consulting him, though he did not always coincide with Plato. AH the other disciples regarded him as an extraordinary genius; some even followed his opinion to the prejudice of those of their master. Aristotle having withdrawn himself from the academy, Plato felt some resentment, and could not help treating him as a rebel, complaining that his pupil had resisted against him, as a young colt kicks against its mother.

The Athenians sent Aristotle as their ambassador to king Philip, father of Alexander the Great. The aifkirs of the Athenians detained him some time in Macedonia; and on his return he found Xenocrates had been elected to instruct in the academy. When Aristotle saw that this place was filled, he said that he should be ashamed if he remained silent when Xenocrates spoke. He instituted a new sect, and taught a different doctrine to that which he had learnt from Plato his master. The

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^reat reputation Aristotle had acquired by excelling in aU the scienceSy and paiticularly in philosophy and politics, made Philip, king of Macedon, wish to have him as preceptor to his son Alexander, who was at that time fourteen years of age. Aristotle accepted this trust, and lived eight years with Alexander, to whom he taught, as Plutarch relates, certain secret Icnowledge which he communicated to no other person. The study of philosophy had not rendered Aristotle austere: he applied himself to business, and had a great share in all that passed during his residence at the Court of Macedonia. King Philip, through respect for him, rebuilt Stagira, the country of this philosopher, which had been destroyed during the wars; and restored the inhabitants, some of whom had been made slaves, and the others had fled. Aristotle, after leaving Alexander, came to Athens, where he was well received, because Icing Philip, through esteem for him, had granted many favours to the Athenians. He chose a place in the Lyceum, with beautiful walks: it was there he established his new school; and because he generally taught his pupils while walking with them, his followers were known by the name of Peripatetics. The Lyceum soon be-came highly celebrated, on account of the great concourse of people who assembled from several places to hear Aristotle, whose reputation was spread through all Greece. Alexander advised Aristotle to apply himself to making experiments in physic: he sent him a great number of hunts-men and fishermen, to bring ^m all parts subjects for his observations, and sent him eight hundred talents to pay the expenses he might incur ifl his pursuit* It was at this time that Aristotle published his books on physics and metaphysics. Alexander, who had passed Uirough Adia, heard them much spoken of. This ambitious prince, who wished to be in all things the greatest man in the world, was ans:ry that the science of Aris* totle was becoming common, and showed his displeasure in a letter which he wrote in these terms:

ALEXANDER TO ARISTOTLE.

" You have not done right in publishing your book on speculative sciences, because now we shall have nothing above others, if what you have taught us in private is to be communicated to every one else. I wish you to undeistand that I should prefer being superior to others in higher matters, to surpassing them in mere power.'

Aristotle, to appease this prince, replied, '' that although he had brought this knowledge to light, he had not published the method by which it was to be acquired;" meaning to say, that he had wrapped his doctrines in so much mystery, that nobody would ever be able to comprehend them. Aristotle did not always keep in Alexander's favour: he embroiled himself with him in consequence of having espoused, with too much warmth, the part of Calisthenes, the philosopher. This Calisthenes was the great nephew of Aristotle, son of his own niece. Aristotle had brought him up vrith Alexander, who always took an interest in his education: when he quitted Alexander, he left him this nephew to

ARtsrotLie. 199 fbllow hfan in his expeditions, ahd recommended him yery particularly to his care. Calisthenes sp oke with great freedom to the king, towards whom his humour was not generally very complaisant. It was Calisthenes who prevented the Macedonians from worshipping Alexander as a god, in the manner of the Persians. Alexander, who hated him on account of his inflexible temper, found occasion to avenge himself by destroying him. He involred him in the conspiracy of Hermolaus, the disciple of Calisthenes, and would not allow him to defend himself. By some he is said to have been exposed to lions; by others, that he was hanged; and others assert that be expired by torture. Aristotle, after the punishment of Calisthenes, always retained a lively resentment against Alexander, who, on his side, tried by aH the means he could to vex Aristotle. He promoted Xenocrates, and sent him considerable presents. Aristotle entertained great jealousy of this philo^'- sopher: some, however, accus<ed him of having had a hand in the conspiracy of Antipater, and to have given him a hint towards the composition of that poison by which it is suspected that Alexander perished. Aristotle, though generally firm, could not help occasionally letting some of his weaknesses appear. Some time after he had quitted the academy, he retired to the Court of Hermias, tyrant of Atamea. It is not precisely known what attracted him there; but it has been asserted that he had some gross libertinism for bis object. Aristotle married the sister, or, as some say, the concubine, of this prince. He allowed him-*

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self to be transported by his violent passion for this* woman to the greatest degree of folly, inso* much that he sacrificed to her, as the Athenians did to Eleusinean Ceres, and composed verses in honour of Hermias, in gratitude to him for allow* ing this marriage.

Aristotle divided his philosophy into theory and practice. Practical philosophy is that which either teaches us the proper way of regulating the operations of mind, as logic; or that which gives us maxims to conduct ourselves in civil life, as- morals and politics t theoretical philosophy U that which discovers facts purely speculative, a» physics and metaphysics. There are, ac* cording to Aristotle, three principles of natural bodies; privation, matter, and form. To prove that privation ought to be considered in the ranlc of principle, he says, that the matter of which a thing is made, must have the privation of the form of that thing: for example, the matter of which a table is made, must have the privation of the form of a table; that is to say, before making a table, the matter of which it is made must be not a table. He did not consider privation as a prind-* pie in the composition of bodies, but as an external property in their production, so for as the pro^ duction IS a change by which the matter passes from the state it had not, to that which it acquires; as, for example, planks, which pass from not being tables to be tables. Aristotle gives us two definitions of matter, one of which is negative: the first matter, he says, is that which is neither substance, nor extension, nor quality, nor any other kind of ezifttenoe; so, according to him, the mutter of wood is neither its exteusioD, nor its figure, nor its colour, nor its solidity, nor its weight, nor its hardness, nor its dryness, nor its dampness, nor its smell, nor indeed any of the accidents of wood. The other definition is affirmative and is as little satisfactory as the former. He says, that matter is that substance of which a body is composed, and into which it finally resolves; but of what substance the worlcs of nature are composed we are still to learn. This philosophy teaches, that besides this original matter, to complete a body, another principle, which he calls form, is necessary. Some think, that by this he means nothing but a certain disposition of parts; others maintidn that he means a substantial being, really distinct from matter: for example, when, in grinding com, a new substantial form is produced, by which the com becomes flour; after having mixed the flour with water, and kneaded it together, that there is another substantial form superseded, which is dough; and in the same manner, that finally this dough, when baked, gives rise to another form, which we call bread. This doctrine assigns a place to these forms in all natural bodies: thus, in a horse, besides the bones, the flesh, the nerves, the brains, the blood, which by circulating through the veins and arteries nourishes all parts; and besides the animal spirits, which are the principlee of motion, they allowed a substantial form, which was the horse's soul: they maintun that this pre« tended form was not drawn from the matter, but from the power of matter; meaning, that it waa quite dtstiuct from matter, of which it is neither part nor even modification.

Aristotle holds that there are four elements, and that all terrestrial bodies are formed from these-^ earth, water ^idr, and fire. That earth and water are heavy, tending to the centre of the world; air and fire are light, and have an inclination to fly off from the centre. Besides these four elements, he has admitted a fifth, of which the celestial bodies are composed, and the movements of which are always circular. He thought that above the air, under the conclave of the moon, there was a sphere of fire to which all flame rises, as brooks and rivers flow into the sea. Aristotle maintained the infinite indivisibility of matter; that the universe is full, and that there is no void in nature; that the world is eternal; tha^t the sun has always revolved as it does at present, and that it will always do the same; that one generation of men has always produced another, without ever having a beginning. '* If there had been a first man," said he, '< he must have been bom without father or modier; which is repugnant to nature." He makes the same observation with respect to birds. He says it is impossible, that ' there could have been a first egg to give the beginning to birds^ or that there should have been a first bird which gave the beginning to eggs, for a bird comes from an egg. He reasoned in the same manner of other species, or beings, which people the world. He maintained, that the heavens are incomiptible, and that alUic^ugh sublunary things are subject to dissolution, nevertheless they do not perish, but 9^ liable to change places only } and illllSTOTLB. 203 that of the remains of one thing another is formed, and therefore the mass of the world always remiuns ^ole. He says the earth is in the centre of the universe, and that the first Being moved the hea vena ronnd the earth, hy means of intelligences which are perpetually occupied in his movements: that all which is at this time sea, was formerly land; and that what now is land, was once sea. The reason he g^es for this opinion is, that rivers and torrents are continually carrying with them sands and earth, which make the shores advance by degrees, and that the sea retires insensibly; that consequently these changes from land to sea, and sea to landy will be formed after innumerable ages.. He adds, that in several places which are a great way from the sea, and even those which are very much elevated, the sea, in retiring, has left some of its shells, and in digging deep in the earth, we sometimes find anchors and remains of vessels. Ovid attributes tills same sentiment to Pythagoras also. Aristotle asserts that these changes from sea into land, and land into sea, which are imperceptiUe, and which take place during a long succession of time, are in great part the cause of the history of former ages being lost. He adds, that there are other accidents likewise by which the arts are lost. These accidents are either plagues, wars, earthquakes, conflagrations, or such other desolations as eztermhiate and destroy the inhabitants of a coimtry; unless some of them escape to deserts, where they pass a savage life, and where they give birth to other men, who in process of time cultivate the land, and discover or invent the arts; and thus the same opiDions are renewed, and have been re* newed^ times without number. It is thus, he m^n* tains, that, notwithstanding these Ticissitudes and revolutions, the universe continues incorruptible. Aristotle examines carefully the great question of what can render men happy in this world. He refutes the opinion of the voluptuous, who made happiness to consist in corporeal pleasures. He says, that these.pleasures are not of any duration, and that they cause disgust, weaken the body, and debase the mind. He rejects the opinion of the ambitious, who place happiness in honours, and who, to arrive at it, employ all kinds of unjust means. He says, that honour is in him who honours: he adds, that the ambitious are anxious to be honoured for some virtue they wish people to think they possess; that, consequently, felidty consists in virtue, rather than in honours; inasmuch as the latter do not depend upon ourselves. He refutes, in the last place, the opinion of the avaricious, who put their felicity in riches. ** Wealth,*' he said, '^is not desirable on its own account;!t makes him unhappy who has it, because he is afraid to use it; yet, in order to render it really serviceable, it is necessary to use it, and not to estimate too highly what is in itself contemptible:" instead of which, felicity ought to consist in something fixed, which we ought to reserve and secure." Aristotle's opinion is, that felicity consists in the most perfect exercise of the understanding. He considers the most noble exercise of the understanding to be speculations concerning natural things-^the stars, the heavens, and principally the first Being. He observed, nevertheless, that it 18 impossible to be entirely happy, without having a competency suited to a man's condition; because, without this, we have not leisure to pursue or to practise virtue: for example, we cannot gi%'e pleasure to friends; and to benefit those whom we love is one of the highest enjoyments. He says, happiness depends on three things: the benefits of the mind, as wisdom and prudence; the benefits of the body, as beauty, health, and strength; and the benefits of fortune, as riches and nobility. He shows that virtue is not sufficient to render men bappy; and that wealth and health are absolutely necessary to happiness in this life; for that even a wise pian would be unhappy if he were to suffer and be in want of money. He affirms, on the other hand, that vice is sufficient to render men miserable; and though a man have great wealth, and enjoy every advantage, he can never be happy as lopg as he abandons himself to vice: that the wise are not exempt from troubles, but that they ara comparatively light to them: thar vices and virtues are not incompatible; that the same man, for example, may be very Just and prudent, though he may likewise be very intemperate. He admits three kinds of friendship— one of kindred, another of inclination, and the other of hospitality. He says justly that the refinements of literature contribute greatly to produce virtue, and ensure the greatest consolation to old age. He admits, like Plato, a Supreme Being to whom he attributes providence. He maintains that all our ideas came originally from sense; that a man born blind rannot have the

T conception of colours^ any more tban a deaf one can of the notion of sound. He also maintained, in his politics, that the monarchical state is the most perfect, because^ in the others, there are several who govern: just the same as an army, which is conducted by one able chief, succeeds much better than that which is commanded by a number. It is just the same, he observes, with the state: whilst deputies, or the principals of a republic, employ their time in assembling and deliberating, a monarch has already taken places and executed his designs. The rulers of a republic do not mind ruining it, provided they enrich themselves; jealousies are entertained, parties are formed, and at last the republic cannot escape ruin i instead of which, in the monarchy, the prince has other interests than those of his state; so that it is always flourishing. Aristotle was aaked one day what liars gidned: ** They gain," he replied, ** never to be believed; not even when they spealc the truth.'* Some one reproached him for giving alms to a wiclied man: ** It is not because he is wicked, that I feel compassion for him,'' he replied, '' but because he is a man." He often said to his friends and disciples, that science was, in comparison with the soul, what the light was in comparison with the eyes; and that the mellowness of the fruit made up for the bitterness of the root. When he was angry with the Athenians, he reproached them with neglecting their laws and taking care of their com; telling them they were more anxious for good living than good conduct. Being asked what was the thing that was effaced the soonest? "It is gratitude," he replied. What is hope? was the next question proposed to him. " It is," he said, < the fiEmcy of a man who dreams awake." One day Diogenes presented a fig to Aristotle, who being aware that if he refused it Diogenes would have some joke ready, took it, and said laughing," Diogenes has at the same time lost hb fig, and the use he wished to make of it." He said, that there were three things necessary to children: genius, exercise, and instruction. When he was asked what difference there was between the wise and igno rant? ** There is as much," he answered, ' as be tween the liring and dead." He said that science was an ornament in prosperity, and a refuge in adversity: and that those who gave their children a good education, were much more their fathers than those who had begotten them; since one had only simply given them life, but the other had given them the way of passing it happily. Beauty he allowed to be a recommendation infinitely stronger than any kind of learning. Some one asked him what disciples should do to turn the instruction they received to the greatest profit? ** 'Vhey ought always," said he, " to endeavour to overtake those who are before them, and never wait for those who come after them." A certain man waa boasting of being the citizen of an illustrious state: '* Do not value yourself on that," said Aristotle; but rather consider if you are worthy to be a member of such a famous city." When he reflected on the life of man, he said sometimes, ' lliere are some who amass wealth with as much avidity as if they were to live for ever; others spend what they have as if they were to die ere the morrow." Being asked what a friend was, he answered, ' It is the same soul in two bodies." ** How," said one to him, ** ought we to behave to our friends?" — ** In the manner as we should wish them to behave with respect to us,** answered Aristotle. He often exclaimed, <' Ah! good people, there are no such things as friends in the world." He was asked one day, why handsome women were better liked than ugly? Aristotle replied, ' You ask me the question of a blind man." When he was asked what advantage he had experienced from his philosophy, he replied, ** That of being able to do voluntai'ily what others do through fear of the laws.' It is said, that duiing his stay in Athens, he was very intimate with a learned Jew, who instructed him in the science and religion of the Eyyptians, in which knowledge all the world at that time went even to Egypt itself to be instructed. Aristotle, after having taught in the Lyceum thirteen years with great reputation, was accused of impiety by Eurymedon, priest of Ceres. The remembrance of the treatment Socrates had experienced on a similar accusation temfied him so much, that he determined to quit Athens directly, and retire to Chalcis in Euboea. Some say that he died of grief there, at not being able to understand the flux and reflux of the Euripus; others add, that he precipitated himself into this sea, and said in falling, ''Let Euripus swallow me up, since I cannot understand it." And lastly, it is asserted, that he died of cholic, in the 63d year of his age, two'yeai's after the death of Alexander the Great.

llie inhabitaats of Stagira erected altars to him as a god. Aristotle made a will of which Antipatis was executor. He left a son named Nicomachus, and a daughter who was married to the grandson of Demaratas^ king of Lacedaemou.

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