Eur.—­Never.  I’ve not run out yet.

Oeneus from broad fields

AEsch.—­lost his smelling-salts.

Eur.—­Let me say the whole verse, won’t you?

Oeneus from broad fields reaped a mighty crop
And offering first-fruits

AEsch.—­lost his smelling-salts.

Dion.—­While sacrificing?  Who filched them?

Eur.—­Oh, never mind him.  Let him try it on this verse:—­

Zeus, as the word of sooth declared of old—­

Dion.—­It’s no use, he’ll say Zeus lost his smelling-salts.  For
              those smelling-salts fit your prologues like a kid
              glove.  But go on and turn your attention to his
              lyrics.

ARISTOTLE

(B.C. 384-322)

BY THOMAS DAVIDSON

The “Stagirite,” called by Eusebius “Nature’s private secretary,” and by Dante “the master of those that know,”—­the greatest thinker of the ancient world, and the most influential of all time,—­was born of Greek parents at Stagira, in the mountains of Macedonia, in B.C. 384.  Of his mother, Phaestis, almost nothing is known.  His father, Nicomachus, belonged to a medical family, and acted as private physician to Amyntas, grandfather of Alexander the Great; whence it is probable that Aristotle’s boyhood was passed at or near the Macedonian court.  Losing both his parents while a mere boy, he was taken charge of by a relative, Proxenus Atarneus, and sent, at the age of seventeen, to Athens to study.  Here he entered the school of Plato, where he remained twenty years, as pupil and as teacher.  During this time he made the acquaintance of the leading contemporary thinkers, read omnivorously, amassed an amount of knowledge that seems almost fabulous, schooled himself in systematic thought, and (being well off) collected a library, perhaps the first considerable private library in the world.  Having toward the end felt obliged to assume an independent attitude in thought, he was not at the death of Plato (347) appointed his successor in the Academy, as might have been expected.  Not wishing at that time to set up a rival school, he retired to the court of a former fellow-pupil, Hermias, then king of Assos and Atarneus, whom he greatly respected, and whose adopted daughter, Pythias, he later married.  Here he remained, pursuing his studies, for three years; and left only when his patron was treacherously murdered by the Persians.