ARISTOTLE, the chief of the Peripatetic philosophers, born at Stagira, a small city in Macedon, in the 99th Olympiad, about 384 years before the birth of Christ. He was the son of Nicomachus, physician to Amyntas the grandfather of Alexander the Great. He lost his parents in his infancy; and Proxenes, a friend of his father's, who had the care of his education, taking but little notice of him, he quitted his studies, and gave himself up to the follies of youth. After he had spent most of his patrimony, he entered into the army: but not succeeding in this profession, he went to Delphos to consult the oracle what course of life he should follow; when he was advised to go to Athens and study philosophy. He accordingly went thither about 18 years of age, and studied under Plato till he was 37. By this time he had spent his whole fortune; and we are told that he got his living by selling powders, and some receipts in pharmacy. He followed his studies with most extraordinary diligence, so that he soon surpassed all in Plato's school. He eat little, and slept less; and, that he might not over-sleep himself, Diogenes Laertius tells us, that he lay always with one hand out of the bed, having a ball of brass in it, which, by its falling into a basin of the same metal, awakened him. We are told, that Aristotle had several conferences with a learned Jew at Athens, and that by this means he instructed himself in the sciences and religion of the Egyptians, and thereby saved himself the trouble of travelling into Egypt. When he had studied about 15 years under Plato, he began
Aristotle. to form different tenets from those of his master, who became highly piqued at his behaviour. Upon the death of Plato, he quitted Athens; and retired to Attaraya, a little city of Myſia, where his old friend Hermias reigned. Here he married Pythias, the ſiſter of this prince, whom he is ſaid to have loved ſo paſſionately, that he offered ſacrifice to her. Some time after, Hermias having been taken priſoner by Meranon the king of Perſia's general, Aristotle went to Mitylene the capital of Leſbos, where he remained till Philip king of Macedon having heard of his great reputation, ſent for him to be tutor to his ſon Alexander, then about 14 years of age: Aristotle accepted the offer; and in eight years taught him rhetoric, natural philoſophy, ethics, politics, and a certain ſort of philoſophy, according to Plutarch, which he taught nobody elſe. Philip erected ſtatues in honour of Aristotle; and for his ſake rebuilt Stagyra, which had been almoſt ruined by the wars.
The laſt fourteen years of his life he ſpent moſtly at Athens, ſurrounded with every aſſiſtance which men and books could afford him for prosecuting his philoſophical inquiries. The glory of Alexander's name, which then filled the world, inſured tranquillity and reſpect to the man whom he diſtinguiſhed as his friend: but after the premature death of that illuſtrious protector, the invidious jealousy of prieſts and ſophiſts inſpurred the malignant and ſuperſtitious fury of the Athenian populace; and the ſame odious paſſions which proved fatal to the offensive virtue of Socrates, fiercely aſſailed the fame and merit of Aristotle. To avoid the cruelty of perſecution, he ſecretly withdrew himſelf to Chalcis in Eubœa. This meaſure was ſufficiently juſtified by a prudent regard to his perſonal ſafety; but leſt his conduct ſhould appear unmanly, when conſtraſted with the firmneſs of Socrates in a ſimilar ſituation, he condeſcended to apologize for his flight, by ſaying, that he was unwilling to afford the Athenians a ſecond opportunity "to ſin againſt philoſophy." He ſeems to have ſurvived his retreat from Athens only a few months; vexation and regret probably ended his days.
Befides his treatiſes on philoſophy, he wrote alſo on poetry, rhetoric, law, &c. to the number of 400 treatiſes, according to Diogenes Laertius; or more, according to Francis Patricius of Venice. An account of ſuch as are extant, and of thoſe ſaid to be loſt, may be ſeen in Fabricius's Bibliotheca Græca. He left his writings with Theophratuſ, his beloved diſciſle and ſucceſſor in the Lyceum; and forbad that they ſhould ever be publiſhed. Theophratuſ, at his death, truſted them to Neleus, his good friend and diſciſle; whoſe heirs buried them in the ground at Scepiſ, a town of Troas, to ſecure them from the king of Pergamus, who made great ſearch every where for books to adorn his library. Here they lay concealed 160 years, until, being almoſt ſpoiled, they were ſold to one Apellecon, a rich citizen of Atheus. Sylla found them at this man's houſe, and ordered them to be carried to Rome. They were ſome time after purchaſed by Tyrannion a grammarian: and Andronicus of Rhodes having bought them of his heirs, was in a manner the firſt reſtorer of the works of this great philoſopher; for he not only repaired what had been decayed by time and ill-keeping, but alſo put them in a better order, and got them copied. There were many who followed the
doctrine of Aristotle in the reigns of the 12 Cæſars, and their numbers increaſed much under Adrian and Antoninus: Alexander Aphrodiſus was the firſt profeſſor of the Peripatetic philoſophy at Rome, being appointed by the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus; and in ſucceeding ages the doctrine of Aristotle prevailed among almoſt all men of letters, and many commentaries were written upon his works.
The firſt doctors of the church diſapproved of the doctrine of Aristotle, as allowing too much to reaſon and ſenſe; but Anatolius biſhop of Laodicea, Didymus of Alexandria, St Jerome, St Auguſtin, and ſeveral others, at length wrote and ſpoke in favour of it. In the ſixth age, Boethius made him known in the weſt, and tranſlated ſome of his pieces into Latin. But from the time of Boethius to the eighth age, Joannes Damafcenus was the only man who made an abridgment of his philoſophy, or wrote any thing concerning him. The Grecians, who took great pains to reſtore learning in the 11th and following ages, applied much to the works of this philoſopher, and many learned men wrote commentaries on his writings: amongſt theſe were Alfarabiſus, Algazel, Avicenna, and Averroes. They taught his doctrine in Africa, and afterwards at Cordova in Spain. The Spaniards introduced his doctrine into France, with the commentaries of Averroes and Avicenna; and it was taught in the univerſity of Paris, until Amauri having ſupported ſome particular tenets on the principles of this philoſopher, was condemned of hereſy, in a council held there in 1210, when all the works of Aristotle that could be found were burnt, and the reading of them forbidden under pain of excommunication. This prohibition was confirmed, as to physics and metaphyſics, in 1215, by the pope's legate; though at the ſame time he gave leave for his logic to be read, inſtead of St Auguſtin's uſed at that time in the univerſity. In the year 1265, Simon, cardinal of St Cecil, and legate from the holy ſee, prohibited the reading of the physics and metaphyſics of Aristotle. All theſe prohibitions, however, were taken off in 1366; for the cardinals of St Mark and St Martin, who were deputed by Pope Urban V. to reform the Univerſity of Paris, permitted the reading of thoſe books which had been prohibited: and in the year 1448, Pope Stephen approved of all his works, and took care to have a new tranſlation of them into Latin.