44 MEMOIR OF ARISTOTLE. 



whole, it may be safely asserted, that if this extraor- 

 dinary prince, with all his faults, was distinguished 

 beyond others for the love of knowledge and virtue, 

 he was mainly indebted for this superiority to the 

 lessons of his teacher. The seeds of his haughtiness 

 and ambition were planted before Aristotle was in- 

 vited to take the direction of his education. The 

 passion for war, the infirmity of noble minds, could 

 neither be restrained nor moderated ; but to counter- 

 act that overruling propensity, his breast was inspired 

 with still more pure and exalted sentiments, which 

 placed him as far above the other conquerors of an- 

 tiquity, as they were themselves distinguished beyond 

 the common herd of mankind. If his loftiness could 

 not be subdued, it was made to combat as much as 

 possible upon the side of virtue ; his excellencies, 

 therefore, may fairly be ascribed to Aristotle, his 

 defects to nature, and the example of a court, his 

 misfortunes to himself, and the intoxicating effects 

 of unbounded prosperity. 



At the age of twenty, Alexander succeeded to a 

 kingdom torn in pieces by dangerous factions and 

 implacable animosities. In a short time events cail- 

 ed him to a distant scene of action ; and, after an 

 affectionate intimacy of eight years, the pupil and 

 the preceptor separated for ever, to pursue, in a ca- 

 reer of almost equal duration, the most opposite 

 paths to the same immortal renown: the one by 

 his victorious arms the other by the gentle wea- 

 pons of philosophy; the one by gratifying the most 



