POLITICS OF ARISTOTLE

NOTES, BOOK Va 4. '95

zorf Ea; sb c'u ah; pi~pb~ dpilpqpa dviXoydv iurr vpbs rh iu rois 4. 3.

The argument is that the beginning is half the whole, according

ihe old proverb, and therefore that an error at the beginning

The proverb is

dhXors pr'ptotv.

is equivalent to half the n-hole amount of error.
again cited, h'ic. Ethics i. 7. 5 20.
& AcX$wis ir KI)%fins yfvop~vqs 8ln$op~s dpx+ rrauch iy&ro r& 4. 5.
~dorwv rov Jcrrepov.
This narrative, like the story of the Syracusan affair, is told, but
in a more romantic manner, in the passage of Plutarch quoted
above (Praec. geren. reip. p. 825 H) and also by Aelian, Var.
I-list. si. 6. The narrative of Plutarch contains the names of the
persons concerned, Crates and Orgiiaus, and is therefore probably
taken not from Aristotle but from some other source. s&v at;ucou
K.T.~., the sacred war to which another origin is assigned infra in
4 ;. See Essay on Contributions of Aristotle to History.
mi rcpi ~LrvX$v~)v 6i ;E i~i~X$pov urduros yrvopr'uqs roXXiu iyivcro 4. 6.
dpp) KflKbv Kfli TO; iT0XdpOU TO; Tpbs 'Aoqvalous, c'v 4 ndxI)S &+f T$Y
r;;hiv air&. Tipo$hdvous yhp ri)u rtadpov TLU~E KaraXivdvros 860 &yo-
ripas, 6. rfplou8ris Kai 06 XaPhv 70;s VicrrLv aha; Adtadpas $plf rijr
orLuros rois 'Ab'rpiovs vapLI&vc, rpdtrvos Gv rjs rrdXros.
KO mention of Doxander occurs nor is there any hint of this
story in Thucydides (iii. 2 ff.). The revolt of 3litjlene is ascribed
in his narrative entirely to political causes, and was long pre-
meditated. The only point of coincidence between the two
accounts is the mention of the proxenus, who is said in Thucy-
dides to have given information to the Athenians. They are not,
however, necessarily inconsistent : for Aristotle may be speaking
of the slight occasion, Thucydides of the deeper cause. Nor can
any argument be drawn from the siience of the latter. He may
he known the tale, but may not have thought fit to mention it, any
more than he has recorded the singular episode of the suicide
of Paches in the public court on his return home, recorded by
PIutarch iv. 8 (Nicias 6). There is also an omission in the account
Of Aristotle which is supplied by Thucydides. For the proxenos
'\ho gave information to the Athenians is afterwards said to have
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