Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

​And if she wishes to live in Chalcis, let them give her the guest house by the garden; but if in Stageira, the ancestral house. Whichever of these she wishes, let the executors furnish it with such goods as seem both good to them and sufficient for Herpyllis. Let Nicanor also look after the boy Myrmex, so that he may be conveyed to his own people in a manner worthy of us, together with the property of his that we have in our possession. Ambracis is also to be free, and they are to give her, when the girl is married, five hundred drachmas and the maidservant whom she now has. They are also to give Thales, in addition to the maidservant whom he has, the one who was purchased, a thousand drachmas and a maidservant;

​and to Simon, apart from the money previously given to him for another servant, they are either to buy a servant or to provide additional money. Tychon is to be free when the girl is married, as are Philon and Olympius and his child. None of the servants who tended me is to be sold, but let them be kept in service; and when they come of age, let them be set free according to their desert. They are also to look after the portrait statues that have been commissioned from Gryllion, so that, having been completed, they may be dedicated: namely that of Nicanor, that of Proxenus, which I had intended to commission, and that of Nicanor's mother; and to dedicate the one of Arimnestus that has already been made, so that it may be a memorial of him, since he died childless;

​and to dedicate that of our mother to Demeter at Nemea, or wherever it seems best. And wherever they make my burial, there let them also lay the bones of Pythias, having taken them up, just as she herself enjoined; and let Nicanor, when he has returned safe, dedicate the vow which I made on his behalf: four-cubit stone figures to Zeus the Savior and Athena the Savior in Stageira." Such is the nature of his will. It is also said that a great many dishes were found among his belongings; and Lycon says that he used to bathe in a tub of warm oil and then sell the oil. Some also say that he used to apply a bladder of warm oil to his stomach; and whenever he went to sleep, a bronze sphere was placed in his hand with a basin set underneath, so that when the sphere fell into the basin, he would be awakened by the noise.

​There are also attributed to him the following most excellent sayings. When asked what gain comes to those who lie, he said: "That when they speak the truth, they are not believed." Once when reproached for giving alms to a wicked man, he said: "It was not his character that I pitied, but the human being." He was accustomed constantly to say to his friends and to those who attended his lectures, wherever he happened to be staying, that as vision receives light from the surrounding air, so does the soul from studies. Often too, in addressing the Athenians, he would say that they had discovered wheat and laws, "but while they make use of wheat, they do not make use of the laws."

​He said that the roots of education are bitter, but its fruit is sweet. When asked what grows old quickly, he said: "Gratitude." When asked what hope is, he said: "A waking dream." When Diogenes was offering him a dried fig, perceiving that if he did not take it, Diogenes had prepared a witty anecdote, Aristotle took it and said that Diogenes had lost both his anecdote and his dried fig; and when Diogenes offered it again, he took it, held it up high as children do, and saying: "Great Diogenes," handed it back to him. He said that three things are needed for education: natural talent, study, and exercise. Having heard that he was being slandered by someone, he said: "In my absence, let him even flog me." He used to say that personal beauty is more persuasive than any letter of introduction.

​Others, however, say that it was Diogenes who defined it thus, whereas Aristotle himself said that beauty of form is a gift of god; while Socrates called it a short-lived tyranny; Plato, a privilege of nature; Theophrastus, a silent deceit; Theocritus, an ivory detriment; Carneades, a kingship without bodyguards. When asked how the educated differ from the uneducated, he said: "By as much as the living differ from the dead." He used to say that education is an ornament in prosperity, but a refuge in adversity; and that among parents, those who educated their children are more worthy of honor than those who merely begot them, for the latter provided life, but the former provided living well. To one boasting that he was from a great city, he said: "One should not look to this, but rather to whether one is worthy of a great fatherland."