MEMOIR OF ARISTOTLE. 71 



ruption from the conjectural emendations of subse- 

 quent commentators. 



Wbat became of Aristotle's original manuscripts 

 we are not informed ; but the copy remained at 

 Athens until the spoliation of that city by the Ro- 

 mans under Sylla. The library of Apellicon was a 

 tempting object of plunder to the conquerors, who 

 were then awakened to the value of literature ; and 

 accordingly, the whole of this philosophical trea- 

 sure, with other rich booty, were transmitted to 

 Rome. There the works of the Stagirite expe- 

 rienced a better fortune, owing to their having at- 

 tracted the attention of Tyrannio, the famous gram- 

 marian, a native of Amysus in Pontus, who had been 

 taken prisoner by Lucullus in the Mithridatic war, 

 but was afterwards manumitted, in consideration of 

 his learning and merits. By paying court to Sylla's 

 librarian, he obtained leave, after much solicitation, to 

 take copies of the manuscripts, which were commu- 

 nicated to Andronicus of Rhodes, who flourished as 

 a philosopher at Rome in the time of Cicero and 

 Pompey. Having undertaken the task of arranging 

 and correcting those long-injured writings, the Rho- 

 dian performed the duty of a skilful editor, by giving 

 them to the world in a more perfect shape than they 

 had hitherto appeared. Though considerably amend- 

 ed and illustrated, the severe ordeal through which 

 they passed had, in the lapse of nearly 300 years, 

 greatly abridged their number. Out of the 400 

 books recorded by Laertius (and some have made 



