42 MEMOIR OF ARISTOTLE. 



and when these writings were given to the world, he 

 remonstrated with his master for having given others 

 an opportunity of becoming as learned as himself. 

 A correspondence on this subject has been preserved 

 by Plutarch, who records the following letter written 

 soon after the battle of Guagamela or Arbela, and 

 while the youthful hero was in full pursuit of Darius. 



" ALEXANDER to ARISTOTLE Health You 

 have not done right in publishing your Acroatic dis- 

 courses, for wherein shall we be distinguished above 

 others, if the learning in which we have been instruct- 

 ed be made common to all ? As for me, I would 

 rather excel other men in knowledge than in power. 

 Farewell." 



In his reply, Aristotle rested his apology on the 

 abstruse nature of the subjects, and the impossibility 

 of comprehending them without the aid of verbal il- 

 mstration. 



" ARISTOTLE to ALEXANDER Health. You 

 wrote to me concerning my Acroatic works, that they 

 ought not to have been communicated, but kept secret. 

 Know then, that though published, they are not made 

 public, since none can fully understand them, except 

 those who have heard my lectures. Farewell." 



From this it would appear that the Stagirite con- 

 sidered these writings merely as text-books or out- 

 lines of his course ; and we may infer that the true 

 cause of secrecy was the nature of the speculative 

 doctrines inculcated in them. That he had taught 

 his pupil a purer theology than that of the age and 



