44 THE GREEK SCHOOL PHILOSOPHY. 



contain an extraordinary accumulation of facts, and 

 manifest a wonderful power of systematizing ; but 

 are not works which expound principles, and there- 

 fore do not require to be here considered. 



The Physical Lectures are possibly the work 

 concerning which a well-known anecdote is related 

 by Simplicius, a Greek commentator of the sixth 

 century, as well as by Plutarch. It is said, that 

 Alexander the Great wrote to his former tutor to 

 this effect ; " You have not done well in publishing 

 these lectures ; for how shall we, your pupils, excel 

 other men, if you make that public to all, which we 

 learnt from you." To this Aristotle is said to have 

 replied ; " My Lectures are published and not pub- 

 lished ; they will be intelligible to those who heard 

 them, and to none beside." This may very easily 

 be a story invented and circulated among those who 

 found the work beyond their comprehension; and 

 it cannot be denied, that to make out the meaning 

 and reasoning of every part, would be a task very 

 laborious and difficult, if not impossible. But we 

 may follow the import of a large portion of the 

 Physical Lectures with sufficient clearness to appre- 

 hend the character and principles of the reasoning ; 

 and this is what I shall endeavour to do. 



The author's introductory statement of his view 

 of the nature of philosophy falls in very closely with 

 what has been said, that he takes his facts and 

 generalizations as they are implied in the structure 

 of language. " We must in all cases proceed," he 



