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OF ARISTOCLES THE PERIPATETIC “For how is it possible, as Epicurus says in his letter *On Occupations*, that when he was young he devoured his paternal inheritance, and then was driven to military service, and faring badly in these things, came to selling drugs, and then, when Plato's walk was open to all, 15.2.2 he joined it? Or how could anyone accept what Timaeus of Tauromenium says in his *Histories*, that he closed the doors of an obscure and common surgery 15.2.3 late in life? And who could be persuaded by the things said by Aristoxenus the musician in his *Life of Plato*? For he says that during his wandering and his time abroad some foreigners rose up against him and built a rival Peripatos. Some people therefore think that he is saying these things about Aristotle, since Aristoxenus always 15.2.4 speaks well of Aristotle. And one might reasonably say that the *Memorabilia* of Alexinus the Eristic are also ridiculous. For he portrays Alexander as a boy conversing with his father Philip and spitting upon the words of Aristotle, but accepting those of Nicagoras, surnamed 15.2.5 Hermes. And Eubulides also manifestly lies in his book against him, first by citing frigid poems as if written by others about the marriage and the relationship that had developed between him and Hermias, then by asserting that he offended Philip and was not present at Plato's death 15.2.6 and that he corrupted his books. For what need is there to speak of the accusation of Demochares against the philosophers? For he has spoken ill not only of Aristotle, but of the others as well. Furthermore, if one examines the slanders themselves, one would say that he is talking nonsense. For he says that letters of Aristotle were captured against the city of the Athenians and that he betrayed his homeland Stageira to the Macedonians, and further, that after Olynthus had been razed, he informed Philip at the booty-market about the wealthiest 15.2.7 of the Olynthians. And Cephisodorus, the student of Isocrates, has also slandered him foolishly, saying that he was a voluptuary and a gourmand and other such 15.2.8 things. But everything is surpassed in foolishness by the things said by Lycon, who says he is a Pythagorean. For he says that Aristotle offered a sacrifice to his deceased wife of the same kind as the Athenians offer to Demeter, and that bathing in hot oil, he would then sell this; and when he went away to Chalcis, the tax-collectors found 15.2.9 seventy-four bronze dishes in his boat. And so, pretty much, these are the first ones who have slandered Aristotle; of whom some were in the same times, and others were born a little later; and all were sophists and eristics and rhetoricians, whose names and books are more dead than their bodies. For as for those who came after these, and then repeated the things said by them, one must dismiss them completely, and especially those who have not even encountered their books, but are improvising, such as are also those who say that he had three hundred dishes. For no one of those living then would be found to have said any such thing about him, except Lycon. This man, however, 15.2.10 as I said, has said that seventy-five dishes were found. And not only from the times and from the slanderers could one infer that all the things that have been said are false, but also from the fact that not all make the same slanders, but each says something of his own, of which if even one thing were true, it would have been necessary, I suppose, for him to have been destroyed by those then living ten thousand times, 15.2.11 and not just once. It is clear, therefore, that just as with many others, so also it happened to Aristotle, on account of both his friendships with kings and his superiority in arguments, to be envied by the sophists of that time. But those who are of sound mind must not look only at those who slander, but also at those who praise and admire him; for by far

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ΑΡΙΣΤΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ ΤΟΥ ΠΕΡΙΠΑΤΗΤΙΚΟΥ «Πῶς γὰρ οἷόν τε, καθάπερ φησὶν Ἐπίκουρος ἐν τῇ Περὶ τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἐπιστολῇ, νέον μὲν ὄντα καταφαγεῖν αὐτὸν τὴν πατρῴαν οὐσίαν, ἔπειτα δὲ ἐπὶ τὸ στρατεύεσθαι συνῶσαι, κακῶς δὲ πράττοντα ἐν τούτοις ἐπὶ τὸ φαρμακοπωλεῖν ἐλθεῖν, ἔπειτα ἀναπεπταμένου τοῦ Πλάτωνος περιπάτου πᾶσι 15.2.2 παραβαλεῖν αὐτόν; ἢ πῶς ἄν τις ἀποδέξαιτο Τιμαίου τοῦ Ταυρομενίτου λέγοντος ἐν ταῖς Ἱστορίαις ἀδόξου θύρας αὐτὸν ἰατρείου καὶ τὰς τυχούσας 15.2.3 ὀψὲ τῆς ἡλικίας κλεῖσαι; τίς δ' ἂν πεισθείη τοῖς ὑπ' Ἀριστοξένου τοῦ μου σικοῦ λεγομένοις ἐν τῷ βίῳ τῷ Πλάτωνος; ἐν γὰρ τῇ πλάνῃ καὶ τῇ ἀποδημίᾳ φησὶν ἐπανίστασθαι καὶ ἀντοικοδομεῖν αὐτῷ τινας Περίπατον ξένους ὄντας. οἴονται οὖν ἔνιοι ταῦτα περὶ Ἀριστοτέλους λέγειν αὐτόν, Ἀριστοξένου διὰ 15.2.4 παντὸς εὐφημοῦντος Ἀριστοτέλην. καταγέλαστα δ' εἰκότως εἶναι φαίη τις ἂν καὶ τὰ Ἀπομνημονεύματα Ἀλεξίνου τοῦ Ἐριστικοῦ. ποιεῖ γὰρ Ἀλέανδρον παῖδα διαλεγόμενον Φιλίππῳ τῷ πατρὶ καὶ διαπτύοντα μὲν τοὺς τοῦ Ἀριστοτέλους λόγους, ἀποδεχόμενον δὲ Νικαγόραν, τὸν Ἑρμῆν ἐπι15.2.5 κληθέντα. καὶ Εὐβουλίδης δὲ προδήλως ἐν τῷ κατ' αὐτοῦ βιβλίῳ ψεύδεται, πρῶτον μὲν ποιήματα ψυχρὰ προσφερόμενος ὡς γεγραφότων ἄλλων περὶ τοῦ γάμου καὶ τῆς πρὸς Ἑρμείαν οἰκειόητος αὐτῷ γεγονυίας, ἔπειτα Φιλίππῳ φάσκων αὐτὸν προσκόψαι καὶ τελευτῶντι Πλάτωνι μὴ παραγενέσθαι 15.2.6 τά τε βιβλία αὐτοῦ διαφθεῖραι. τὴν μὲν γὰρ ∆ημοχάρους κατηγορίαν κατὰ τῶν φιλοσόφων τί χρὴ λέγειν; οὐ γὰρ Ἀριστοτέλην μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους κακῶς εἴρηκεν. ἔτι γε μὴν αὐτὰς τὰς διαβολὰς σκοπῶν ἄν τις ληρεῖν αὐτὸν φαίη. λέγει γὰρ ἐπιστολὰς Ἀριστοτέλους ἁλῶναι κατὰ τῆς πόλεως τῆς Ἀθηναίων καὶ Στάγειρα τὴν πατρίδα προδοῦναι Μακεδόσιν αὐτόν, ἔτι δὲ κατασκαφείσης Ὀλύνθου μηνύειν ἐπὶ τοῦ λαφυροπωλείου Φιλίππῳ τοὺς πλου15.2.7 σιωτάτους τῶν Ὀλυνθίων. ἠλίθια δὲ διαβέβληκεν αὐτὸν καὶ Κηφισόδωρος, ὁ Ἰσοκράτους μαθητής, τρυφερὸν καὶ τένθην καὶ ἄλλ' ἄττα τοιαῦτα λέγων αὐτὸν 15.2.8 εἶναι. πάντα δ' ὑπερπαίει μωρίᾳ τὰ ὑπὸ Λύκωνος εἰρημένα, τοῦ λέγοντος εἶναι Πυθαγορικὸν ἑαυτόν. φησὶ γὰρ θύειν Ἀριστοτέλην θυσίαν τετελευτηκυίᾳ τῇ γυναικὶ τοιαύτην ὁποίαν Ἀθηναῖοι τῇ ∆ήμητρι καὶ ἐν ἐλαίῳ θερμῷ λουόμενον τοῦτο δὴ πιπράσκειν· ἡνίκα δὲ εἰς Χαλκίδα ἀπῄει, τοὺς τελώνας εὑρεῖν 15.2.9 ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ λοπάδια χαλκᾶ τέτταρα καὶ ἑβδομήκοντα. καὶ σχεδὸν οἱ μὲν πρῶτοι διαβαλόντες Ἀριστοτέλην τοσοῦτοι γεγόνασιν· ὧν οἱ μὲν κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἦσαν χρόνους, οἱ δὲ μικρὸν ὕστερον ἐγένοντο· πάντες δὲ σοφισταὶ καὶ ἐριστικοὶ καὶ ῥήτορες, ὧν καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα καὶ τὰ βιβλία τέθνηκε τῶν σωμάτων μᾶλλον. τοὺς μὲν γὰρ μετὰ ταῦτα γεγονότας, εἶτα δὲ τὰ ὑπ' ἐκείνων εἰρημένα λέγοντας παντάπασιν ἐᾶν δεῖ χαίρειν, καὶ μάλιστα τοὺς μηδ' ἐντετυχηκότας τοῖς βιβλίοις αὐτῶν, ἀλλ' αὐτοσχεδιάζοντας, ὁποῖοί εἰσι καὶ οἱ λέγοντες τριακοσίας ἔχειν λοπάδας αὐτόν. οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἂν εὑρεθείη περὶ αὐτοῦ τοιοῦτον οὐθὲν εἰρηκὼς τῶν τότε ὄντων ὅτι μὴ Λύκων. οὗτος μέντοι, 15.2.10 καθάπερ ἔφην, εἴρηκεν εὑρῆσθαι λοπάδια πέντε καὶ ἑβδομήκοντα. οὐ μόνον δὲ καὶ ἐκ τῶν χρόνων καὶ ἐκ τῶν διαβεβληκότων τεκμήραιτό τις ἂν ὅτι ψευδῆ πάντα τὰ εἰρημένα ἐστίν, ἀλλὰ κἀκ τοῦ μὴ πάντας τὰ αὐτὰ διαβάλλειν, ἀλλ' ἕκαστον ἴδιά τινα λέγειν, ὧν εἴπερ ἦν ἓν ὁτιοῦν ἀληθές, ἐχρῆν δήπου μυριάκις, 15.2.11 ἀλλ' οὐχ ἅπαξ αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τῶν τότε ἀπολωλέναι. φανερὸν οὖν ὅτι καθάπερ πολλοῖς καὶ ἄλλοις, οὕτω καὶ Ἀριστοτέλει συνέβη διά τε τὰς πρὸς τοὺς βασιλεῖς φιλίας καὶ διὰ τὴν ἐν τοῖς λόγοις ὑπεροχὴν ὑπὸ τῶν τότε σοφιστῶν φθονεῖσθαι. δεῖ δὲ τοὺς εὖ φρονοῦντας μὴ εἰς τοὺς διαβάλλοντας ἀποβλέπειν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἐπαινοῦντας καὶ ζηλοῦντας αὐτόν· μακρῷ γὰρ