b2 
MEMOIR OF ARISTOTLE. 
been censured with more acrimony than justice. 
Lord Bacon says, that, after the manner of the Otto- 
man princes, he thought his throne could not be se- 
cure unless he killed all his brethren. Ludovicus 
Vives charges him with detracting from all philoso- 
phers, that he might appropriate that glory to him- 
self of which he had robbed them. It has also been 
averred that be rarely quotes an author but with 
a view to censure, and is not very fair in represent- 
ing the opinions which he censures ; and that, after 
collecting from the works of the ancients what he 
intended to confute, he committed them to the flames, 
that no evidence might remain of his misrepresenta- 
tions. His passion for fame was undoubtedly great ; 
and Bacon’s opinion is not without probability, that 
his ambition was as boundless as that of his royal 
pupil — the one aspiring at universal monarchy over 
the bodies and fortunes of men ; the other over their 
opinions. If such were the case, it cannot be said 
that the philosopher pursued his aim with less ability 
or less success than the hero. But the allegation 
that he burnt the works of his predecessors, is con- 
tradicted by the circumstance of his having establish- 
ed a reading depot in the Lycaeum, and by the fact 
that most of the books said to have been thus de- 
stroyed, are mentioned by Cicero as extant in his time. 
Whatever advantages Aristotle derived from ac- 
cess to an extensive perusal of the literary labours of 
others, he was too honest to plume himself with a 
borrowed reputation. There is a candour and man- 
