42 
MEMOIR OF ARISTOTLE. 
and when these writings were given to the world, he 
remonstrated with his master for having given others 
an opportunity of becoming as learned as himself. 
A correspondence on this subject has been preserved 
by Plutarch, who records the following letter written 
soon after the battle of Guagamela or Arbela, and 
while the youthful hero was in full pursuit of Darius. 
“ Alexander to Aristotle — Health — You 
have not done right in publishing your Acroatic dis- 
courses, for wherein shall we be distinguished above 
others, if the learning in which we have been instruct- 
ed be made common to all ? As for me, I would 
rather excel other men in knowledge than in power. 
— Farewell.” 
In his reply, Aristotle rested his apology on the 
abstruse nature of the subjects, and the impossibility 
of comprehending them without the aid of verbal il- 
lustration. 
“ Aristotle to Alexander — Health — You 
wrote to me concerning my Acroatic works, that they 
ought not to have been communicated, but kept secret. 
Know then, that though published, they are not made 
public, since none can fully understand them, except 
those who have heard my lectures. — Farewell.” 
From this it would appear that the Stagirite con- 
sidered these writings merely as text-books or out- 
lines of his course ; and we may infer that the true 
cause of secrecy was the nature of the speculative 
doctrines inculcated in them. That he had taught 
his pupil a purer theology than that of the age and 
