AKISTOTLE. 137 



regarded as their birthright; 1 and the satisfaction which his vanity re- 

 ceived from this importance, combined with a despair of reconquering 

 the first place in Alexander's favour from the hated and despised 

 Anaxarchus, probably determined him to relinquish all attempts at 

 pleasing the monarch, and to adopt a line which might annoy and in- 

 jure himself, but could hardly benefit any one. When an account was 

 brought to Aristotle in Greece of the course pursued by his relation, 

 his sharpsightedness led him at once to divine the result. In a line 

 from the Iliad : 2 



Ah, me ! such words, my son, bode speedy death ! 



he prophetically hinted the fate which awaited him. Indeed the 

 latter himself appears not to have been blind to the ruin preparing for 

 him ; but this conviction did not produce any alteration in his conduct, 

 or, if anything, it perhaps induced him to give way to his temper even 

 more than before. At another banquet, the not unusual request was 

 made to him, that he would exhibit his talents by delivering an ex- 

 temporaneous oration, and the subject chosen was a panegyric upon 

 the Macedonians. He complied, and performed his task so well as His indis- 

 to excite universal admiration and enthusiastic applause on the part of cretion - 

 the guests. This circumstance appears to have nettled Alexander, 

 whose affection for his old fellow-pupil had probably quite vanished, 

 and he remarked in disparagement of the feat, in a quotation from 

 Euripides, that on such a subject it was no great matter to be eloquent. 

 " If Callisthenes wished really to give a proof of his abilities," said 

 he, " let him take up the other side of the question, and try what he 

 can do in an invective against the Macedonians, that they may learn 

 their faults and reform them." The orator did not decline the 

 challenge : his mettle was roused, and he surpassed his former per- 

 formance. The Macedonian nation was held up to utter scorn, and 

 especial contempt heaped upon the warlike exploits and consummate 

 diplomacy of Alexander's father Philip. His successes were attributed 

 to accident or low intrigue availing itself of the dissensions which 

 existed at that time in Greece ; and the whole was wound'up by the 

 Homeric line 



V Se Si^oo'TOO'iT/ Kal 6 TrdyicaKOS e\.\ax* TifJ.'ns. 

 When civil broils prevail, the vilest soar to fame ! 



The effect of this course was such as might have been expected. 

 Alexander fell into a furious passion, telling the performer, what was 

 not far from the truth, that his speech was an evidence not of skill, 

 but of malevolence ; and the latter, perhaps conscious that he had now 

 struck a blow which would never be forgiven, left the room, repeat- 

 ing as he went out a verse from the Iliad, which seems to be an 

 allusion to the death of Clitus, and an intimation that he expected to 

 be made the second victim to his sovereign's temper. 3 



1 Plutarch, Vit. sec. 53 ; Arrian, iv. 12. 



2 UKV/JLOPOS Srj fj.oi, re/cos, effcreai, of ayopeveis. Diog. Laert. Vit. sec. 5. 



3 KarQave Kal TldrpoicXos, oirep ffeo iro\\bv upsivav . Plutarch, Vit. sec. 54. 



