, one of the most celebrated philosophers of ancient Greece, was born
, one of the most celebrated philosophers of ancient Greece, was born at Chalcedon, B. C. 400.
He at first attached himself to Æschines, but afterwards
became the disciple of Plato, and always retained a high
degree of respect and attachment for that great man, whom
he accompanied in a voyage to Sicily. When Dionysius
the tyrant threatened Plato one day, saying, “that some
person should behead him;
” “Nobody shall do that,
” said
Xenocrates, “till they have first beheaded me.
” This philosopher studied under Plato at the same time with Aristotle, but did not possess equal talents: for he had a slow
genius and dull apprehension, while Aristotle’s genius was
quick and penetrating, whence their master observed of them,
“that one wanted a spur, and the other a bridle.
” But however inferior Xenocrates might be to Aristotle in genius, he
greatly excelled him in the practice of moral philosophy.
He was grave, sober, austere, and of a disposition so serious,
and so far removed from the Athenian politeness, that Plato
frequently exhorted him to “sacrifice to the graces.
” He
always bore his master’s reproofs with great patience, and
when persuaded to defend himself, replied, “He treats me
thus only for my good.
” Xenocrates is particularly celebrated for chastity, and is said to have acquired so great a
command over his passions, that Phryne, the most beautiful
courtezan of Greece, who had laid a wager that she would
seduce him, could not effect her purpose. Being afterwards laughed at, and the wager demanded, she replied, “I
have not lost it; for I undertook to seduce a man, and not
a statue.
” The conduct of Xenocrates exhibited an equal
example of temperance in every other respect. He cared
neither for pleasures, wealth, or fame; and was so moderate in his dietj that he often found it necessary to throw
away his provisions because they were grown stale and
mouldy; whence the proverb among the Grecians, of
Xenocrates* s cheese, when they would describe any thing
which lasted a long time. This philosopher succeeded
Speusippus, who was Plato’s immediate successor in the'
academy at Athens, in 339 B. C. He required his disciples
to understand mathematics before they placed themselves
under his care; and sent back a youth who was ignorant of
that science, saying, “that he had not the key of philosophy.
” So great was his reputation fqr sincerity and probity,
that the magistrates accepted his testimony without an
oath; a favour granted to him alone. Polemo, a rich
young man, but so debauched, that his wife had begun a
prosecution against him for his infamoqs conduct, rambling
through the streets, one day, with his dissolute companions, after they had drank freely, entered our philosopher’s school, with an intention to ridicule and insult him.
The audience were highly offended at this behaviour; but
Xenocrates Continued perfectly calm, and immediately
turning his discourse upon temperance, spoke of that virtue
in terms so forcible, lofty, and elevated, that the young libertine made a sudden resolution to renounce his licentiousness, and devote himself to wisdom. From that moment, Polemo became the pupil of virtue, and a model of
temperance, and at length succeeded Xenocrates in the
philosophical chair. Hia conversion made much noise, and
so increased the public veneration for Xenocrates, that
when he appeared in the streets, no dissolute youths dared
to remain there, but turned aside that they might avoid
meeting him. The Athenians sent this philosopher on an
embassy to Philip, king of Macedon, and, a considerable time
after, to Antipater; neither of whom could corrupt him by
their presents, which circumstance made him doubly honoured. Alexander the Great so highly esteemed Xenocrates, that he sent him fifty talents, a large sum then; and
when his messengers arrived at Athens, Xenocrates invited
them to eat with him, but gaVe them only his common farel
Upon their inquiring, next morning, to whom they should
pay the fifty talents, he replied, “Has not lak night’s
supper convinced you that I want no money?
” intimating
that he was contented with a little, and that money was
necessary to kings, not to philosophers. But at the earnest entreaties of Alexander’s messengers, he accepted a
small part of the sum, lest he should appear deficient in
respect to that great monarch. It is astonishing that ‘the
Athenians should suffer a philosopher of such exalted merit
to be so ill treated by the collectors and receivers of their
taxes 5 for though they were once fined for attempting to
imprison Xenocrates, because he had not paid a certain tax
imposed on foreigners, yet it is certain that the same collectors and receivers sold him at another time, because he
had not enough to pay them. But Demetrius Phalereus,
detesting so base an action; purchased Xenocrates’, gave hirri
his freedom immediately, and discharged his debt to the
Athenians. This philosopher died about 314 B.C. aged
eighty-two, in consequence ’of falling in the dark into a reservoir of water. He 1 wrote, at the request of Alexander, *a
small tract on the Art of Reigning; six books on Nature;
MX books oh Philosophy one on Riches, &c, but none of
these have come down to us. There is a tract on Death,
under his name, in 'the Jamblicus of Aldus, 1497, folio.
Xenocrates used to say, “That we often repent of having
spoken, b,ut never of having kept silence; that true philosophers are the only persons who do willingly, and by their
own choice, what others are constrained to do by fear of the
laws; that it is as great a crime to look into our neighbour’s
house as to enter it privately J that there was more necessity for putting iron-plates over the ears of children, to defend and preserve them from hearing vicious discourse, than
of gladiators, to guard them from blows,
” c. As to his
philosophical system, it was truly Platonic; but in his’
method of teaching he made use of the language of the
Pythagoreans. He made Unity and Diversity principles in
nature, or gods; the former of whom he represented as the
father, and the latter as the mother, of the universe. He
taught, that the heavens are divine, and the stars celestial
gods; and that besides these divinities, there are terrestrial daemons, of a middle order between the gods and man,
which partake of the nature both of mind and body, and
are therefore, like human beings, capable of passions, and
liable to diversity of character. After Plato, he probably
conceived the superior divinities to be the Ideas, or intelligible forms, which immediately proceeded from the supreme Deity, and the inferior gods or daemons, to be derived from the soul of the world, and therefore, like that
principle, to be compounded of a simple and a divisible substance, or of that which always remains the same, and that
which is liable to change.