in *Antiquity*, annual feasts celebrated by the citizens of Stagyra, in honour of Aristotle, who was born there; and in gratitude for his having procured from Alexander the rebuilding and repeopling of that city, which had been demolished by king Philip.

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**ARISTOTLE.**

The power of philosophy in fixing an impression of itself on the world, appears, when attentively viewed, no less than that evidenced in successful exertions of civil or military talents. But there is a striking difference in the comparative interest excited by the philosopher himself, and the distinguished statesman or general. The personal fortunes of the philosopher are not connected with the effects of his philosophy. He has passed away from the eyes of men, when his powerful agency begins to be perceived; whereas the statesman and the commander of armies are implicated in the very effects which they produce on the world, and the history which tells of their policy or their conquests assumes almost the character of their biographies.

This contrast is strongly displayed in the instance of the particular philosopher whose life we would now retrace. At this day, after the lapse of twenty-one centuries from its first appearance, we are experiencing the power of Aristotle's philosophy, in its effects on language and literature, and even on theology; and yet little satisfactory information can be obtained from antiquity respecting the philosopher himself. No account of him appears to have been given until his celebrity had attracted envy as well as admiration; so that we are compelled to receive with suspicion every thing beyond the simple detail of a few facts.

Stageirae, a city of the Thracian Chersonese, a Greek colony originally from the island of Andros, and afterwards from Chalcis, was the birth-place of Aristotle. His father was Nicomachus, physician to Amyntas, king of Macedonia; his mother Phæstis; both being of Chalcidian descent. His family referred its origin to Machaon, son of Esculapius; probably from the hereditary profession of medicine by which it was distinguished. The date of his birth is b.c. 384.

Being left an orphan in early youth, Aristotle quitted Stageirae for Atarneus in Mysia, the residence of Proxenus, the friend to whose guardianship he was committed. Here he continued until his seventeenth year, when he repaired to the great university of the world at that time—the school of Plato at Athens. Different accounts are given of the commencement of his application to philosophy. By one it is ascribed to a direction of the Pythian oracle. Others state that philosophy was a last resource with him, when other schemes of life had failed; that, having exhausted a large patrimony, he became a military adventurer, and after that a seller of drugs; until at length, on accidentally entering the school of Plato, he received a sudden impulse to the studies of his future life. These last statements, however, are not reconcilable with the period of youth at which his discipleship to Plato began; nor are they quite consistent with the alleged fact, that his mind had been from the first trained to philosophical pursuits by his father Nicomachus.

We can readily suppose that the extraordinary talent for science, and laborious devotion to it, which his mature age developed, would give some indications of themselves in his earlier years. Hence the expressions attributed to Plato, complimenting him as "the intellect of the school," and "the reader," and comparing his ardour and forwardness to the spirit of a restive colt.

He remained at Athens, a hearer of Plato, twenty years; leaving it only on the death of that philosopher, b.c. 348, and then returning to Atarneus. Disappointment at not succeeding to the chair of Plato in the academy, has been assigned as the reason of his departure.

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1 It is also written Stageira and Stageiri. We have the authority of Herodotus and Thucydides for Stageirae. 2 Diog. Laert. in Aristot.; Dionys. Halicar. De Democrit., et Aristot.; Ammon. in Aristot. 3 His father Nicomachus has the reputation of being the author of some philosophical works. 4 Diog. Laert. in Aristot.; Ammon. in Aristot.; Julian. Par. Hist. iv. 9. All that appears, however, is, that he left Athens in compliance with an invitation from Hermecias, who, having been his fellow-disciple in the school of Plato, had established himself at that time in independence against the king of Persia, as tyrant of Atarneus and its neighbourhood. Here he spent the following three years of his life, when the unhappy end of his friend Hermecias, who fell a sacrifice to his ambition, and was executed as a rebel against Persia, compelled him to seek a refuge for himself by flight to Mitylene. Nor did he in this extremity forget the ties of friendship which had connected him with the unfortunate tyrant of Atarneus. To support the fallen family, he married Pythias, the adopted daughter, but variously described both as the sister and as the niece, of Hermecias.

From Mitylene he proceeded into Macedonia to the court of Philip, and entered on a new scene of exertion, as the preceptor of the future sovereign of the mightiest kingdom of the world—Alexander the Great, at that time a youth of fourteen years of age. The call to such an office argues the high reputation already attained by Aristotle for philosophy, though it is not improbable that his first introduction to the Macedonian court was through the interest and favour enjoyed there by his father Nico- machus. At what time, indeed, his care of the youthful prince commenced, it is not possible exactly to determine. A letter is extant, addressed by Philip to Aristotle, which would imply that the charge of the prince's education had been committed to the philosopher from the birth of Alexander. This is also far more probable than that the charge should have been postponed until the prince had reached his fourteenth year; the period at which the actual residence of Aristotle at Pella is dated. Philip states in that letter that "a son is born to him; that he is grateful to the gods, but not so much for the birth of the boy, as that he was born in the time of Aristotle; trusting that, being nurtured and trained up by the philosopher, he would be a worthy successor to his father's glory and the conduct of affairs." It is certainly very possible that a plan of education proposed by Aristotle may have been carried on by others, until the more especial care of the intellectual powers demanded his personal instructions. The reception of the philosopher by the royal family was most friendly and honourable to him. The high estimation in which he was held was shown in the influence he possessed at the Macedonian court. Philip, it is said, gave him liberal supplies of money to enable him to pursue his philosophical labours. He was most happy in the admiration and affection of his pupil. Alexander valued his instructions as those of a second parent, observing that "he was no less indebted to Aristotle than to his father, since it was through his father indeed that he lived, but through Aristotle that he lived well."

It would be interesting to know what particular method was pursued by Aristotle in the education of Alexander; but we have no exact information on this point. It appears certain, however, that he made the cultivation of a taste for literature the great principle of his instructions; and this would be in conformity with the plan of education proposed in his treatise of politics. He is known, indeed, to have made a new collection of the Iliad expressly for the use of Alexander, and to have composed for him a treatise On a Kingdom, not extant among his works. And how deeply the youthful king had imbibed the Homeric spirit in the discipline of his early years, was evidenced in his after-life, by the heroism with which his actions were conceived, and the poetry, if we may so express it, which mingled with the realities of his eventful history. The circumstances alone, that the Iliad was constantly at the pillow of Alexander during his expeditions; and was treasured by him with extraordinary care in the precious casket of the spoils of Darius, are characteristic of the tone of mind which his preceptor's instructions had, if not formed, at least strengthened and improved. Nor is it inconsistent with this ultimate effect, that Aristotle should have communicated to his royal pupil the abstract doctrines of his philosophy. And that he did so, we have evidence in Alexander's complaint, in a letter to Aristotle, of the publication of the secret wisdom in which he had himself been disciplined; and in the reply from Aristotle, "that the books alluded to were as if they had not been published, since without his oral instruction they would be unintelligible." Plutarch, indeed, attributes to Aristotle's instructions the fondness for medical study and practice remarkable in Alexander.

A life of such premature exertion as that of Alexander left comparatively little time for the mere business of philosophical instruction. Succeeding to the throne of his father at the age of 20, he was from that time immersed in affairs of policy and war; and even previously, he had been forwardly engaged in the services of the field, as also for a short interval in the conduct of the government. Still the society of Aristotle appears to have been cherished by him, so that the philosopher continued a resident at the court for two years after the accession of Alexander; leaving Macedonia only on the occasion of Alexander's setting out on his Asiatic campaigns, B.C. 334. It is probable that Aristotle was indisposed to the hurry and restlessness of military expeditions, and longed for a repose more congenial to his taste in the philosophic bowers of the suburbs of Athens; and circumstances had prepared the way for the separation. For though Alexander, it seems, never entirely lost his respect for his preceptor, the cordiality of their intercourse had in some measure abated. A commencement of alienation in the feelings of Alexander had been evidenced. Accordingly, embraced the opportunity then offered of returning to Athens; and Callisthenes of Olynthus, his relative and pupil, supplied his place among the party of philosophers by whom the king was accompanied in the Asiatic expedition.

It was fortunate for science that the intercourse be-