AR ISTOMENES ARISTOTLE. 



rendered famous by a conspiracy formed, in conjunc- 

 tion with his friend Harmodius, against the tyrants 

 Hippias and Hipparchus, the sons of Pisistratus. 

 They succeeded in killing Hipparchus (51 4 B.C.); 

 but, not being seconded t>y the people, Harmodius 

 was despatched by the guards, and A. secured. Hip- 

 pias instituted a severe inquisition into the plot, and 

 tortured A. to discover his accomplices ; upon which 

 he is reported to have named all the best friends of 

 the tyrant in succession, and they were immediately 

 put to death. On being asked by Hippias if there 

 were any more, " There now remains," said Aristo- 

 giton, with a smile, " only thyself worthy of death." 

 Hippias being expelled three years after, the Athe- 

 jiians paid the greatest honours to the two friends 

 Harmodius and Aristogiton, placing in the forum 

 their statues by Praxiteles, singing hymns to their 

 praise at the Panathenaea, and decreeing that no 

 slave should ever bear their names. See Plutarch and 

 Thucydides. 



ARISTOMENES ; a young, valiant hero, and leader 

 of the Messenians against the Spartans, B. C. 682. 

 The story of his escape from a deep cavern, into 

 which he had been thrown by the Spartans, by 

 creeping tlirough a fox- hole, is extraordinary, but 

 not well authenticated. Notwithstanding his bold- 

 ness and heroic courage, he could not prevent the 

 subjection of the Messenians. 



ARISTOPHANES, the only Grecian comic poet of 

 whom any pieces have been preserved entire, was 

 the son of a certain Philippus, and probably by birth 

 an Athenian. He appeared, as a poet, in the fourth 

 year of the Peloponnesian war, B. C. 427 ; and, hav- 

 ing indulged himself in some sarcasms on Cleon, at 

 that time a powerful demagogue, was accused, by 

 the latter, of having unlawfully assumed the title of 

 an Athenian citizen. He defended himself before 

 the judges merely with the known verses of Homer : 



To prove a genuine birth (the prince replies), 

 On female truth assenting faith relies: 

 Thus manifest of right, I build my claim. 

 Sure founded, on a fair maternal fame, 

 Ulysses' son. Pope's Od. i. 2759. 



and, when the same accusation was renewed against 

 him, he succeeded in repelling it a second time. He 

 afterwards revenged himself on Cleon, in his comedy 

 of ihe Knights, in which he himself acted the part of 

 Cleon, because no actor had the courage to do it. 

 This little remains to us of the life of A., who was 

 distinguished, among the ancients, by the appellation 

 of the comedian, as Homer was by that of the poet. 

 Of fifty-four comedies which he composed, eleven 

 only remain ; and in these, without doubt, we pos- 

 sess the flower of the ancient comedy, which, in his 

 last play, the Plutus, borders on the middle ; but, in 

 order fully to enjoy them, and not to be offended by 

 the extravagances and immoralities with which they 

 abound, we must be intimately acquainted with an- 

 cient customs and opinions. His pure and elegant 

 Attic dialect, the skill and care displayed in the plan 

 and execution of his pieces, and their various other 

 excellencies, have gained for A. the fame of a master. 

 His wit and humour are inexhaustible, and his bold- 

 ness unrestrained. The Greeks were enchanted 

 with the grace and refinement of his writings ; and 

 Plato said, the Graces would have chosen his soul for 

 their habitation. " According to our ideas of deco- 

 rum," says a late scholar, " we should esteem the 

 soul of A. a fitter residence for the licentious and 

 malicious satyr, or, at least, we should call him, with 

 Goethe, the spoiled child of the Graces" He made 

 use of allegory in his attacks on the politicians of the 

 day, as well as in scourging the vice* and follies of 

 his age. In a political and moral view, lie is a strong 



advocate for ancient discipline, manners, doctrines, 

 and art ; hence his sallies against Socrates, in the 

 Clouds, and against Euripides, in the Frogs and other 

 comedies. The freedom of ancient comedy allowed 

 an unbounded degree of personal satire, and Aris- 

 tophanes made so free use of it, that nothing 

 which offered a weak side, escaped his sarcasms. He 

 feared the Athenian people so little, that he perso- 

 nated them, under a most miserable figure, in his old 

 Demos. He incessantly reproached them for their 

 fickleness, their levity, their love of flattery, their 

 foolish credulity, and their readiness to entertain ex- 

 travagant hopes. Instead of being irritated, the 

 Athenians rewarded him with a crown from the 

 sacred olive-tree, which was, at that time, considered 

 an extraordinary mark of distinction. This excessive 

 freedom characterized the ancient cemedy, which was 

 long considered as a support of democracy. After 

 the Peloponnesian war, its licentiousness was much 

 restrained ; and, in the year 388 B. C., it was forbid- 

 den by law to name any person on the stage. At 

 that time, A. produced, under the name of his eldest 

 son, the Cocalus, a play in which a young man se- 

 duces a maiden, and, after having discovered her 

 descent, marries her. With this play the new comedy 

 began. A., who was very old, appears to have died 

 soon after. The best editions of his comedies are 

 those of L. Kuster, Amsterdam, 1710, fol. ; Bergler, 

 Amsterdam, 1760, 2 vols., 4to ; Brunck, Strasburg, 

 1781, 4 vols., 4to and 8vo ; Invernizio, Leipsic, 

 1794, 2 vols., with Beck's commentaries. An Eng- 

 glish version of " the Clouds " was given by Cumber- 

 land in the Observer; and a translation of the 

 greater part of A., with introductions, has l)een 

 published by Mr Mitchell, in 2 vols. 8vo., Loud. 

 182022. 



ARISTOTLE, one of tne most celebrated philosophers 

 of Greece, and founder of the Peripatetic sect, was 

 born at Stagira, in Macedonia, in the 1st year of the 

 99th Olympiad (384 B. C.) Nicomachus, lus father, 

 claimed descent from Machaon, the son of ^Escula- 

 pius ; Phaestis, his mother, was also of noble extrac- 

 tion. The profession of medicine was hereditary in 

 the family of the Asclepiadse ; and Aristotle's father, 

 who was physician to king Amyntas, had pursued it 

 with reputation and success. He designed his son 

 for the same profession, and probably instructed him 

 in the science of medicine, and the philosophy con- 

 nected with it. He doubtless owed to his early edu- 

 cation his inclination for the study of natural history, 

 of which he is to be regarded as the founder, since 

 he was the first who made accurate observations. 

 After the death of his parents, he went, at the age of 

 eighteen, to Atarnea, and lived with one Proxenus, 

 a friend of his family, who did much towards his 

 further education and improvement. Here he staid 

 a short time, and then repaired to Athens. A. re- 

 mained, during this his first abode in Athens, about 

 twenty years ; and, not content to continue merely a 

 hearer of Plato, whose school was then in high re- 

 nown, he opened a school of rhetoric himself, and 

 became the rival of Isocrates. He probably com- 

 posed, also, some philosophical works, the fame of 

 which reached the ears of Philip of Macedon. It is 

 certain, at least, that this king wrote to him, soon 

 after Alexander's birth, 356 B.C., the celebrated 

 letter, " King Philip of Macedon to Aristotle, greet- 

 ing. Know that a son has been born to me. I 

 thank the gods not so much that they have given 

 him to me, as that they have permitted him to be 

 born in the time of Aristotle. I hope that thou wilt 

 form him to be a king worthy to succeed me, and to 

 rule the Macedonians." Several writers affirm that 

 A. quarreled with Plato a short time before the 

 death of the latter, and, in consequence, set up his 



