Aristotle
384 - 322 BC
I was born in 384 BC in the mountains of Macedonia. My father was a surgeon to Amyntas, King of Macedon. I became good friends with the king's son, Philip.
When my father died in an avalanche of stones, I was taken to the home of a relative, Proxenus. King Amyntas was kind and generous to me in memory of my father. When I was seventeen, he agreed to send me to Athens where I studied with the great master Plato for twenty years.
I found Plato to be elderly, over sixty. Like Socrates, his teacher, he looked younger than his years. The Academy was a wonderful place of learning. We, students, spent much of our time in the garden where we read or talked and listened to lectures by our Master. Plato and I became friends. Mostly he thought of me as a son, which he did not have.
I became a teacher at the Academy. Over the years, I became quite successful. I owned a large library where I studied natural history, plants, animals, and nature in general. I was also interested in economics.
When my beloved teacher died, I encountered great resistance of the people because I was considered a foreigner. I moved away, took a wife, and in time was summoned by King Philip to come to Macedon and be a teacher to his thirteen-year-old son, Alexander.
At that time, I was forty-two, filled with health and vitality. I often rode into the desert and slept under the stars. I loved animals and had what you would call a zoo. Alexander and I trained many animals and we kept a menagerie of all kinds of species. We studied horses and once we made a skeleton of the bones. People believed we were trying to make a living animal and laughed at us.
Alexander became a great military leader in his time. He fought to defend Greece from the Persians and conquered many lands. We corresponded until his death. Again, I was assailed because I was a foreigner. I retreated to my country home where I lived and taught until I died at the age of sixty-two.
I believe that I am best known as a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander. I do not feel that my wisdom was greater than another, or that I excelled at any study, I always believed that people should live in gentleness, moderation, and helpfulness. We are all part of the nature of life and should live accordingly.
Trust yourself, know that wisdom lies within you, and be guided by your intuition.
Happiness itself is sufficient excuse. Beautiful things are right and true; so beautiful actions are those pleasing to the gods.
Wise men have an inward sense of what is beautiful, and the highest wisdom is to trust this intuition and be guided by it.
The answer to the last appeal of what is right lies within a man's breast. Trust thyself.
Comments between Socrates and Plato on Aristotle's Writing
"What say you, Socrates, of these scribblings of Aristotle?"
"I think his modesty is exceeded only by his greatness. Did he not discern that all truth is relative? He contended that things are perceived according to the view. You taught him well, Plato."
"I well recall when he arrived at the Academy. His zeal for learning esoteric principles was overshadowed by his desire to understand physical anatomy. He was a man of science, imbued with the need to understand the physical as well as mental."
"Yes, Plato, he has left future generations much to think of. Perhaps, had he preceded us, we might have clamored to be his students."
"I believe we would have, Socrates. I also believe that the legacy left by Aristotle has been our legacy as well."
"Teacher or student, Plato, who shall say which is greater?"
"None. Each has made worthwhile contributions. Aristotle personified the best of both.
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