OF THE UNIVERSE. CONQUESTS OP ALEXANDER. 159 



in the strictest sense of the term as a scientific expedition ; 

 and, indeed, as the first in which a conqueror surrounded 

 himself with learned men of all departments of knowledge 

 naturalists, historians, philosophers, and artists. We should 

 attribute to Aristotle not only that which he himself pro- 

 duced; he acted also through the intelligent men of 

 his school who accompanied the army. Amongst these 

 shone pre-eminently the near relation of the Stagirite, Callis- 

 thenes of Olynthus, who, even previous to the Asiatic 

 campaigns, had been the author of botanical works, and of 

 a delicate anatomical examination of the eye. The grave 

 severity of his manners, and the unmeasured freedom of his 

 language, rendered him hateful both to the flatterers, and to 

 the monarch himself already fallen from his higher thoughts 

 and nobler dispositions. Callisthenes unshrinkingly pre- 

 ferred liberty to life ; and when in Bactra he was implicated, 

 though guiltless, in the conspiracy of Hermolaus and the 

 pages, he became the unhappy occasion of Alexander's 

 exasperation against his former teacher. Theophrastus, the 

 genuine friend and fellow disciple of Callisthenes, uprightly 

 and worthily undertook his defence after his fall. Prom Aris- 

 totle we only know that before Callisthenes' departure, the 

 Stagirite recommended to him prudence ; and apparently well 

 versed in the knowledge of courts by his long sojourn at 

 that of Philip of Macedon, advised him to " speak with the 

 king as little as possible, and if it must be, always in agree- 

 ment with him" ( 24 ) . 



Callisthenes, as a philosopher familiar with the study of 

 nature before leaving Greece, and supported by chosen men 

 of the school of Aristotle, directed to higher views the 

 researches of his companions in the new and wider sphere 



