, the chief of the peripatetic philosophers, and one of the most illustrious
, the chief of the peripatetic philosophers, and one of the most illustrious characters of ancient
Greece, was born in the first year of the ninety-ninth
olympiad, or 384 years before the Christian sera, at Stagyra, a town of Thrace, whence he is usually called the
Stagyrite. His father was a physician, named Nicomachus:
his mother’s name was Phaestias. He received the first
rudiments of learning from Proxenus, of Atarna in Mysia,
and at the age of 17 went to Athens, and studied in the
school of Plato, where his acuteness and proficiency so
attracted the notice of his master, that he used to call
him “The mind of the school;
” and said, when Aristotle
happened to be absent, “Intellect is not here.
” His
works, indeed, prove that he had an extensive acquaintance with books; and Strabo says, he was the first person
who formed a library. At this academy he continued until
the death of Plato, whose memory he honoured by a
monument, an oration, and elegies, which contradicts the
report of his having had a difference with Plato, and
erecting a school in opposition to him, as related by Aristoxenus. At the time of the death of Plato, Aristotle was
in his thirty-seventh year; and when Speusippus, the
nephew of Plato, succeeded him in the academy, our philosopher was so much displeased, that he left Athens, and
paid a visit to Hermias, king of the Atarnenses, who had
been his fellow-disciple, and now received him with every
expression of regard. Here he remained three years, prosecuting his philosophical researches; and when Hermias
was taken prisoner and put to death, he placed a statue of
him in the temple at Delphos, and married his sister, who
was now reduced to poverty and distress, by the revolution
which had dethroned her brother. After these events,
Aristotle removed to Mitelene, where, after he had resided
two years, he received a respectful letter from Philip,
king of Macedon, who had heard of his great fame, requesting him to undertake the education of his son, Alexander, then in his fifteenth year. Aristotle accepted the
charge, and in 343 B. C. went to reside in the court of
Philip.