60 
MEMOIR OF ARISTOTLE. 
As the wisdom of the ancients was often conveyed 
in apophthegms of pithy and oracular brevity, so his 
gravest maxims were frequently seasoned with inno- 
cent pleasantry. His smart sayings and quick re- 
partees were long remembered and admired by those 
incapable of appreciating his weightier merits. Some 
of them have been preserved by Laertius, of which 
a few may be given as examples. Being reproved 
for bestowing alms on a profligate, he said, “ he 
gave not to the man but to humanity.” Being ask- 
ed, what of all things grows soonest old ? he replied, 
“ Gratitude.” Of friendship he said, “ it was one 
soul in two bodies.” Being told that one hat? reviled 
him, “ let him beat me too (said he) when I am ab- 
sent.” To an idle babbler who had detained him, 
and expressed his fear that he had been tedious, he 
answered, “ Not at all, for I paid no attention to 
your discourse.” Hearing a conceited youth boast- 
ing of his fine cloak, “ It was but a silly vanity (lie 
said) to be proud of a sheep’s fleece.” A handsome 
young man much courted, thus accosted him, “ If I 
were hated by the citizens as you are, I would hang 
myself.” “ And I (replied the other) would hang 
myself if I were admired by them as you are." It 
was as impossible, he said, for a tattler to keep a 
Becret, as for a man to hold a burning coal in his 
mouth. Being asked what advantage he had de- 
rived from philosophy, he answered, “ that of doing 
voluntarily what others do through fear of the laws.” 
Such apophthegms, some of which are probably spu- 
