ARISTOTLE. 45 



This epistle exhibits the king as a very exclusive 

 personage ; and, joined to what history has recorded 

 of his actions, tends to show that selfishness, how- 

 ever refined or disguised, was the main source of 

 his insatiable ambition. One of the sincerest plea- 

 sures of a great mind is to communicate to others all 

 the blessings that it possesses. On other occasions 

 he appeared to entertain a wish to mortify the philo- 

 sopher by exalting his rival Xenocrates, who had 

 nothing to recommend him besides a respectable 

 moral character. It has even been asserted by some^ 

 that the conqueror, after he had put Callisthenes to 

 death, intended the same fate for Aristotle. 



This Callisthenes was a kinsman and disciple of 

 the other, through whose influence, it is said, he 

 was appointed to attend the king on his Asiatic ex- 

 pedition. His republican sentiments and independ- 

 ent spirit, however, rendered him an indifferent cour- 

 tier ; while his rude and ill-timed reflections finally 

 converted him into an object of suspicion or dislike. 

 The conspiracy of Hermolaus affording Alexander 

 a plausible pretext for getting rid of his uncourtly 

 monitor, he caused him to be apprehended and put 

 to death. Some say that he was exposed to lions, 

 others that he was tortured and crucified ; but, in 

 whatever way he met his end, it is generally agreed 

 that his life was sacrificed to gratify the enmity of 

 his sovereign. Aristotle naturally espoused the cause 

 of his relative, and from that period harboured a 

 deep resentment against his destroyer. It has even 

 been alleged that he was privy to the supposed de- 

 sign of murdering the victorious prince ; but of this 

 there is no satisfactory evidence. 



Notwithstanding the coolness which thus existed 



