Aristotle
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