INTRODUCTORY. 7 



Aristotle was born, probably in B.C. 384, at 

 Character of Stagira, a Greek colony near the Strymonic 



Aristotle. Gulf, and about seventy miles eastward 



from Pella, the capital of Macedonia. His 

 father, Nicomachus, was physician-in-ordinary to Amyntas 

 II., King of Macedonia. After the death of Nicomachus, 

 Aristotle went to Athens, where he became a pupil of 

 Plato ; this important step was taken, it is generally 

 believed, when Aristotle was seventeen years old. Plato 

 soon formed a high opinion of Aristotle s abilities, and 

 called him &quot; the intellect of his school.&quot; While he was 

 with Plato he began a controversy against Isocrates, the 

 distinguished rhetorician, and it is said that Aristotle went 

 so far as to open a school of rhetoric in opposition to 

 Isocrates. 



Soon after Plato s death, B.C. 347, Aristotle left Athens 

 and went to Atarneus, in Mysia, where he resided with his 

 friend Hermias, despot of Atarneus, whose niece, Pythias, 

 he married. In B.C. 344 Hermias was treacherously cap 

 tured by the Persians and put to death. It was then 

 unsafe for Aristotle to remain at Atarneus, so he escaped to 

 Mitylene. 



In B.C. 342, at the request of Philip of Macedon, he 

 became tutor to Philip s son, Alexander. In consequence of 

 this Aristotle lived in Macedonia for seven years, and was 

 greatly honoured. One favour granted to him was of so 

 regal a character as to deserve special mention. His native 

 town had been destroyed by Philip during the Olynthian 

 War, B.C. 350-47, and its inhabitants slain or dispersed. 

 After a request by Aristotle, Philip gave express orders that 

 Stagira should be rebuilt, and its inhabitants reinstated as 

 far as possible. 



At the death of Philip, B.C. 336, Alexander became King 

 of Macedonia, and soon afterwards completed his prepara 

 tions for the invasion of Asia. Before Alexander proceeded 

 on his career of conquest Aristotle went to Athens, where 

 the Lyceum was assigned to him by the State. Here he 

 established his famous School, afterwards called the Peri 

 patetic. 



Aristotle appears to have produced most of his works 

 during the time, B.C. 335-23, when he was at the Lyceum. 

 His reputation as a philosopher was high, and, as a friend 

 of Alexander and his viceroy Antipater, his influence must 

 have been great. Among his pupils were the well-known 



