ARISTOTLE, a philosopher of the Ionic scnool, and the founder of the sect denominated Peripatetics, was born about the beginning of the 99th (382 years before Christ,) at Stagira, a city on the coast of Thrace, afterwards reduced under the power of Philip of Macedon. Nicomachus his father, the physician and intimate friend of Amyntas, then king of Macedon, is said to have been a descendant of iEsculapius, from whose family, according to some accounts, his mother Phcestias also sprung. While he was only a child, both his parents died, leaving him an ample fortune. What was much more to his advantage, he was committed to the care of Proxcnus, a citizen of Atarneus, in Mysia, who sedulously attended to the culture of his mind, and the management of his affairs. This kindness was not forgotten by Aristotle, who afterwards conducted the education of Nicanor, the son of Proxenus, with paternal vigilance, and also, in his will, gave a decisive proof of the gratitude and affection with which he regarded the family of his faithful guardian. Nothing can be more unfounded, than the injurious accounts given by some obscure, but malicious writers, of the early part of Aris totle's life. They assert that, as his education was ne glected by Proxenus, he surrendered himself to the most extravagant follies, squandered his whole patri mony, and then served for some time in the army, till disappointment, or caprice, induced him to relinquish a profession for which nature had not formed him. He is also said to have consulted the oracle what course he ought to pursue, and to have been admonished to resort to Athens, and betake himself to the study of philoso phy. According to the same authors, he was reduced to such penury, that he had no other means of support ing his existence, but by selling a few empirical nos trums, which he had accidentally learned to prepare. Some of the earliest writers, who assert these particulars, are noted for their disregard to veracity. The facts themselves are sufficiently disproved, by the friendly in tercourse which continued to subsist between Aristotle and the family of Proxenus, and by the circumstance of his having been placed under the care of Plato, when he had scarcely attained his seventeeenth year, an age be fore which, it is altogether incredible, that lie could have passed through so many vicissitudes.
The ardour and vigour of his application, as a scholar of the academy, did not escape the penetrating eye of Plato. Greatly superior to the languid perseverance of those servile intellects, which, humbly acquiescing in their subordinacy, were content with implicitly imbib ing what Plato thought fit to impart, the aspiring mind of Aristotle was soon distinguished above the most as siduous companions of his studies. The lofty specula
tions of his great master, enforced and embellished by the most glowing eloquence, instead of satiating his thirst for knowledge, served only to stimulate his ac ivi ty in searching after truth. Exerting a degree of in dustry, not less astonishing than the quickness of his ae prehension, he collected, perused, compared, sometimes copied, and sometimes abridged, an incredible number of manuscripts ; and, in this manner, transierred to the storehouse of his own mind, the most valuable treasures which could he extracted from the writings of his pre decessors or contemporaries. With the liberality of a great mind, Plato paid the most honourable tribute to the transcendent genius of Aristotle, pronounced him the ornament, and even the mind, of the academy, and lamented the absence of intellect, when his favourite pupil did not appear. These flattering marks of dis tinction were repaid by Aristotle with profound admira tion and reverence. The stories which are told of his audacity and presumption in usurping his master's chair, are calumnious fictions ; and the alleged complaint of the aged Plato, 'AvrercAJ311,44; irriAZPCTiCE, rests on the same questionable testimony. That either in the literal or metaphorical sense, Aristotle was capable of lifting up the heel against his venerable preceptor, will appear incredible to those who know with what enthusiastic fondness he cherished his memory ; unless they are de termined to believe, that, (like those who killed the pro phets and built their sepulchres,) he wished, by an os tentatious display of posthumous honours, to expiate the indignities which had embittered the declining years of his master's life. In the short narrative, ascribed to Ammonius, we are informed that he erected altars ih honour of Plato, and wrote various eulogies on his character, both in prose and verse. The following dis tich is said to be the inscription which he directed to be engraved on his monument :— Aristotle studied under Plato nearly twenty years. Plato was succeeded in the academy by his nephew Speusippus, a man of sordid views and very moderate capacity, and by no means engaging or dignified in his manners, having neither the amiable qualities necessary to ingratiate him with his scholars, nor the severe and steady virtue which is capable of commanding. respect from the world. Aristotle does not appear to have re sented this arrangement, which evidently arose from the attachment of kindred ; but we can scarcely doubt, that he felt some disappointment, at being supplanted by a man, in every respect inferior to himself.