Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

"For yearning after thee, Achilles and Ajax went down to the halls of Hades; and for the sake of thy beloved form, the foster-son of Atarneus too orphaned himself of the sun's beams. Therefore, he is worthy of song for his deeds, and him shall the Muses make immortal, the daughters of Memory, exalting the majesty of Zeus the god of hospitality and the honor of steadfast friendship." Now, there is also a poem of our own on him, running thus: "Eurymedon once was about to indict Aristotle for impiety, being a minister of Deo of the mysteries, but he escaped by drinking aconite; this then was to conquer unjust slanders without the dust of contest (akoniti)."

​Favorinus in his Miscellaneous History says that Aristotle was the first to compose a forensic speech in his own defense on this very trial, and that he remarked that at Athens "Pear grows old upon pear, and fig upon fig." Apollodorus says in his Chronicles that he was born in the first year of the ninety-ninth Olympiad, and that he attached himself to Plato and spent twenty years with him, having joined him at seventeen years of age; and that he came to Mytilene in the archonship of Eubulus in the fourth year of the hundred and eighth Olympiad. When Plato died in the first year under Theophilus, he departed to Hermias and stayed three years;

​and in the archonship of Pythodotus he went to Philip in the second year of the hundred and ninth Olympiad, when Alexander was already fifteen years of age. He arrived in Athens in the second year of the hundred and eleventh Olympiad, and taught in the Lyceum for thirteen years, then departed for Chalcis in the third year of the hundred and fourteenth Olympiad, and died of an illness at about sixty-three years of age, at the same time that Demosthenes met his end in Calauria, in the archonship of Philocles. It is said that because of his recommendation of Callisthenes to Alexander he fell out of favor with the king; and that the latter, in order to grieve him, elevated Anaximenes and also sent gifts to Xenocrates.

​Theocritus of Chios also ridiculed him in an epigram, having composed it as follows, as Ambryon says in his On Theocritus: "To Hermias the eunuch, and slave withal of Eubulus, an empty monument was reared by empty-minded Aristotle, 〈who, because of the incontinent nature of his belly, chose to dwell at the mouth of the Borborus instead of the Academy.〉" Moreover, Timon also attacked him, saying: "Nor yet the painful frivolousness of Aristotle." Such, then, was the life of the philosopher. We have also come upon his will, which runs roughly as follows: "May all turn out well; but should anything happen, Aristotle has made these dispositions: Antipater is to be executor of all things and throughout;

​and until Nicanor arrives, Aristomenes, Timarchus, Hipparchus, Dioteles, and Theophrastus—if he wishes and it is possible for him—are to take care of the children, Herpyllis, and the property left behind. And when the girl is of age, she is to be given in marriage to Nicanor; but if anything should happen to the girl—which may not happen, nor will it—before she marries or after she marries, there being as yet no children, let Nicanor have full authority to administer both concerning the boy and concerning the other matters in a manner worthy both of himself and of us. Let Nicanor also look after both the girl and the boy Nicomachus, in whatever way he deems suitable for their affairs, as being both father and brother. But if anything should happen beforehand to Nicanor—which may not happen—either before he takes the girl or after he takes her, there being as yet no children, if he should have made any disposition, let these terms be valid;

​but if Theophrastus wishes to be with the girl, let it be on the same terms as with Nicanor; otherwise, let the executors, taking counsel with Antipater, manage both concerning the girl and concerning the boy as seems best to them. The executors and Nicanor are also to take care of Herpyllis, mindful of me and of her, seeing that she was devoted to me, both in other matters and, if she wishes to take a husband, that she not be given to someone unworthy of us. And they are to give her, in addition to what has already been given before, a talent of silver from the property left behind, and three maidservants whomsoever she wishes, and the handmaid whom she now has, and the boy from Pyrrha."