the seventeenth century, almost every serious intellectual advance has had to begin with an
attack on some Aristotelian doctrine; in logic, this is still true at the present day. But it would
have been at least as disastrous if any of his predecessors (except perhaps Democritus) had
acquired equal authority. To do him justice, we must, to begin with, forget his excessive
posthumous fame, and the equally excessive posthumous condemnation to which it led.
Aristotle was born, probably in 384 B.C., at Stagyra in Thrace. His father had inherited the
position of family physician to the king of Macedonia. At about the age of eighteen Aristotle
came to Athens and became a pupil of Plato; he remained in the Academy for nearly twenty
years, until the death of Plato in 348-7 B.C. He then travelled for a time, and married either the
sister or the niece of a tyrant named Hermias. ( Scandal said she was the daughter or concubine
of Hermias, but both stories are disproved by the fact that he was a eunuch.) In 343 B.C. he
became tutor to Alexander, then thirteen years old, and continued in that position until, at the
age of sixteen, s was pronounced by his father to be of age, and was appointed regent during
Philip's absence. Everything one would wish to know of the relations of Aristotle and
Alexander is unascertainable, the more so as legends were soon invented on the subject. There
are letters between them which are generally regarded as forgeries. People who admire both
men suppose that the tutor influenced the pupil. Hegel thinks that Alexander's career shows the
practical usefulness of philosophy. As to this, A. W. Benn says: "It would be unfortunate if
philosophy had no better testimonial to show for herself than the character of Alexander....
Arrogant, drunken, cruel, vindictive, and grossly superstitious, he united the vices of a Highland
chieftain to the frenzy of an Oriental despot." *
For my part, while I agree with Benn about the character of Alexander, I nevertheless think that
his work was enormously important and enormously beneficial, since, but for him, the whole
tradition of Hellenic civilization might well have perished. As to Aristotle's influence on him,
we are left free to conjecture whatever seems to us most plausible. For my part, I should
suppose it nil. Alexander was an ambitious and passionate boy, on bad terms with his father,
and
* The Greek Philosophers, Vol. I, p. 285.