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Lecture Seventh— Arislotle^His Opinions and Writings. 



Aristotle was bom at Stagyra, in the year 384 before 

 Christ. His father Nicomachus being physician to Amyntas 

 III, king of Macedonia, he was brought up among the young 

 princes, and was in some measure the companion of Philip, who, 

 shortly after ascending the throne, appointed him preceptor to 

 his son Alexander. The philosopher was then only twenty- 

 eight years of age, and was still in the number of Plato's disci- 

 ples ; so it may be supposed that he owed this distinction as 

 much to the early connexion which had existed between him 

 and Philip as to his merit, which could not at that period have 

 been sufficiently appreciated. 1^ would appear that at this 

 time he had not yet opened school, and it is even doubted if he 

 taught publicly before the death of his mast(?l-, which happened 

 in 348. 



Aristotle remained at Athens until the period when war 

 broke out between the king of Macedonia and the Athenians. 

 He then retired into Mysia near his friend Hermias, the sove- 

 reign of Atarne, and, after the death of that prince, to Mytilene, 

 whence Philip brought him in the year 348 to take charge of 

 the education of his son Alexander, then thirteen years of 



i 



ace. 



Philip died in 336, and, shortly after, Aristotle returned to 

 Athens. It has been alleged, it is true, that he accompanied 

 Alexander as far as Egypt ; but this does not seem probable, 

 as the descriptions of the animals of that country which are 

 found in his works are borrowed from Herodotus, and contain 

 the same errors. Aristotle opened his school at the Lyceum ; 

 he went there twice every day, exposing in his morning lectures 

 the elements of philosophy and the matters that did not require 

 preliminary study, and in his evening lectures developing the 

 higher parts of his doctrine. He thus taught publicly for 

 twelve or thirteen y-ars, and during the whole of this time did 

 not cease to correspond with Alexander. It would appear how- 

 ever, that, towards the end of his life, that prince grew cool to- 

 wards him. In some of his letters he seems to endeavour to 

 pi(iuc him by cxalliug the merit of Xenocratcs, Some writers 



