58 
MEMOIR OF ARISTOTLE. 
free by his heirs, so soon as they seemed worthy of 
liberty ; an injunction conformable to the maxim in- 
culcated in his Politics, that slaves of all descrip- 
tions ought to be liberated whenever they merited 
freedom, and were qualified for enjoying it. The 
testament concludes with instructions as to the per- 
formance of such marks of respect as he considered 
due to the memory of his relations, and to the religion 
of his country ; viz. the erecting of the statues he 
had dedicated to Proxcnus and his wife ; to his own 
mother and brother, Arimnestus; and, finally, to 
Jupiten and Minerva, the Preservers (Sam^), which 
he had vowed to them for the health of Nicanor. 
These latter were to be placed at Stagira, and to con- 
sist of “ statues of beasts of stone of four cubits.” 
The private character of Aristotle seems to have 
been irreproachable. That lie had many detractors, 
who envied him his popularity, and have transmitted 
very unfavourable accounts of his moral qualities, 
has already been mentioned. Some carried their 
extravagant censures so high, as to accuse him of 
every vice that can degrade human nature. He was 
stigmatized as a glutton, a libertine, and a parasite, 
adapting his philosophy to the corrupt practices of 
the great ; as a sordid miser, who sold the oil which 
he had used medicinally, and even the empty brass 
pots in which it was contained ; and as an ungrate- 
ful citizen, who betrayed the place of his birth to the 
Macedonians. These and numerous other charges 
were the pure offspring of calumny, and owe their 
