MEMOIR OF ARISTOTLE. 27 



ingratitude to his instructor, by commencing to teach 

 in opposition to him, it is altogether unfounded. 

 Nothing is more unlikely than that he would have 

 ventured on such a perilous step, at a time when the 

 power of Chahrias and Timotheus, Plato's kinsmen, 

 was almost absolute at Athens. We have the evi- 

 dence of his own epistle to Philip, that he was a 

 constant and sedulous hearer of this great philoso- 

 pher as long as he lived. In his writings he makes 

 honourable mention of him ; and, after his death, he 

 erected, in testimony of his unchanged affection, an 

 altar bearing an inscription which may be thus trans- 

 lated : 



" This sacred shrine to Plato's name is rear'd, 

 Which grateful Aristotle long rever'd! 

 Far hence, ye vulgar ! nor presume to stain 

 With impious praise, this consecrated fane." 



Olympiodorus mentions, that he composed a whole 

 discourse in his commendation ; and, in his Elegies 

 to Eudemus, he extols him in language as affection- 

 ate as it is complimentary. 



" And, coming to the famed Cecropian town, 

 In sign of friendship did an altar raise 

 To him whom none with lips profane dare praise ; 

 Who erring man to virtue did restore, 

 Much by his precepts, by example more. 

 A sage so pious, loved of gods and men, 

 No future age must hope to see again." 



These and other affectionate tokens of regard to 

 the memory of his master, afford a presumption, 

 amounting almost to certainty, that there is no truth 



