MEMOIR OF ARISTOTLE. 
55 
crime. According to Laertius, Dionysius, and other 
creditable authors, his death was occasioned by the 
natural infirmity of his stomach, which was greatly 
increased by over-watching and excess of study. 
To this malady he had long been subject, and to 
assuage it be was in the habit of applying a bottle of 
warm oil to his breast. Considering his frequent 
indisposition, it is more remarkable, as one of his 
biographers observes, that he lived so long, than that 
he did not live longer. Some ltave recorded the 
dying wordB which he is said to have addressed to 
those standing around him, “ Thou Cause of Causes 
have mercy on me but their genuineness may be 
doubted, as they rest on no authority more ancient 
than the testimony of a Christian writer. The Sta- 
gnates brought the body of their philosopher from 
Chalcis to his native place, where it was buried with 
vast solemnity, and where a magnificent tomb was 
built, and an altar erected to his memory. 
Of Aristotle's appearance and habits little is 
known. In stature he was short, having slender 
limbs, a high nose, small eyes, a weak voice, and a 
stammering hesitation in his speech. It was per- 
haps to make amends for the niggardly bounty of na- 
ture, that he took more than ordinary pains in the 
dress and ornaments of his person. His constitu- 
tion was delicate and sickly, but he counteracted its 
infirmities by temperance. His application to books 
was indefatigable. So incessant was lie in the pur- 
suit of knowledge, that he regularly devoted to it 
