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Aristotle Leaves the Academy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

Anton-Hermann Chroust
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It is commonly held that Plato died in 348/7 b.c. during the archonship of Theophilus or in the first year of the 108th Olympiad. According to a widespread and almost universally accepted tradition, which has found a place in our current books on ‘The History of Greek Philosophy’, Aristotle departed from Athens soon after Plato's death, repairing to Atarneus (or Assos) in Asia Minor, where he stayed with Hermias. Thus, it would appear that the death of Plato was the prime if not sole reason for Aristotle's journey in 348/7 b.c. It has been conjectured, however, that Plato actually died in the spring of 347 b.c., probably in May. Though this is by no means certain, it properly requestions the causality of the Stagirite's flight.

Type
Research Article
Information
Greece & Rome , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , April 1967 , pp. 39 - 43
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1967

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References

page 39 note 1 See Apollodorus, Chronicle, in Diogenes Laertius (subsequently cited as DL) v. 9; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, I Epistola ad Ammaeum 5; Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae v. 217B.

page 39 note 2 See, for instance, Jaeger, W., Aristotle: Fundamentals of the History of His Development (Oxford, 1948), 105Google Scholar ff. Düring, I., Aristotle in the Ancient Biographical Tradition (Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, vol. 63, no. 2, Göteborg, 1957), 459Google Scholar, states that Aristotle ‘withdrew to Atarneus, shortly before the death of Plato’, without, however, adducing any evidential grounds for the statement.

page 39 note 3 This might be gathered from the story that Plato allegedly referred to Aristotle as ‘the νος’. See Vita Marciana 7, subsequently cited as VM 7; Vita Latina 7, cited as VL 7; Vita Vulgata 7, cited as VV 7; I Vita Syriaca 5, cited as I VS 5; Vita Arabica of Mubashir 10–11, cited as I VA 10–11; Vita Arabica of Usaibia 29, cited as II VA 29. I VA 10 also relates that ‘because of the extraordinary impression which Aristotle made on Plato, the latter did not entrust him to be taught by Xenocrates, as he did with other disciples’. Some ancient biographical reports, which are hostile to Aristotle, maintain that there existed a serious rift between Plato and Aristotle, and that Aristotle founded his own school while Plato was still alive. These reports, it is safe to assume, are blatantly prejudiced and unreliable. See, in general, Chroust, A.-H., ‘A Brief Analysis of the Vita Aristotelis of Diogenes Laertius (DL v. 1–16)’, Antiquité Classique, 34 (1965), 104, n. 28.Google Scholar

page 39 note 4 DL v. 2.

page 39 note 5 It could be argued that Speusippus' age made it simply impossible to pass over him in favour of Aristotle. Moreover, the transfer of the scholarchate implied the legal transfer of the physical property of the Academy. Under the existing law, no property could be transferred to a ‘resident alien’ or metic such as Aristotle. By appointing Speusippus, Plato also preserved the property for his family. A similar incident took place after the death of Theophrastus, who wished that Neleus of Scepsis might succeed him in the scholarchate of the Peripatus (DL v. 52); the ‘Elders’, however, appointed Straton of Lampsacus. Neleus, apparently irked by this rebuke, betook himself to Scepsis, where he died soon afterwards. See Chroust, A.-H., ‘The Miraculous Disappearance and Recovery of the Corpus Aristotelicum’, Classica et Mediaevalia 23 (1962/1963), 50–51.Google Scholar

page 40 note 1 That Aristotle was not on the best of terms with Xenocrates may be inferred from DL iv. 6, where Plato is quoted as having said: ‘The one [sc. Xenocrates] needed a spur, the other [sc. Aristotle] a bridle.’ Ibid.: ‘See what an ass [sc. Xenocrates] I am training, and what a spirited steed [sc. Aristotle] he has to run against.’ Such invidious comparisons must have aroused Xenocrates' resentment. DL v. 3 and Quintilian, Institutio Oratorio iii. 1. 14 record that Aristotle, paraphrasing Euripides' Philoctetes, remarked that ‘it would be a base thing to keep silent and let Xenocrates speak out’. According to Athenaeus, , Deipnosophistae xii.Google Scholar 530D, Aristotle mocked Xenocrates for his prudery (see also DL iv. 8–9). There also exists a tradition according to which Xenocrates rather than Aristotle was the preceptor of Alexander the Great, a tale which must have irked Aristotle, ‘the Macedonian’. See Chroust, A.-H., ‘Was Aristotle Actually the Preceptor of Alexander the Great?’, Classical Folia, 18 (1964), 28.Google Scholar Plutarch, quoting some earlier sources, relates that Alexander the Great requested that Xenocrates write a Didactic Essay on Kingship for him. Plutarch, , MoraliaGoogle Scholar 1126 c. In fact, Xenocrates composed an Elementary Principles of Kingship, Dedicated to Alexander. DL iv. 14. DL v. 8 maintains that Alexander sent Xenocrates a large sum of money (in order to offend Aristotle?). All this might indicate that Xenocrates and Aristotle were rather committed rivals.

page 40 note 2 Shortly before his death, Aristotle is said to have written a letter to Antipater in which he pointed out that ‘at Athens things which are proper for a citizen are not proper for an alien’, and that ‘it is dangerous [for an alien] to live in Athens'. VM 42; VV 20; VL 44.

page 41 note 1 Aristotle's mother, Phaestis, (or her ancestors) came from Chalcis on the island of Euboea, where she retained her ancestral home. When, in 323 b.c., Aristotle fled from Athens again, he settled down in Chalcis, probably because he had inherited his mother's house there. It was in this house that he died in 322 b.c. In his testament, Aristotle provided that ‘Herpyllis, if she chooses to remain in Chalcis, shall have the lodge by the house’. DL v. 14. This provision is also contained in the Arabic version of Aristotle's will. The reason that Aristotle did not retire to Chalcis in 348/7 is perhaps this: at the instigation of King Philip of Macedonia, the island of Euboea revolted against Athens in 349/8 b.c. An attempt to reconquer the island failed dismally. In view of these recent events, Aristotle might understandably have preferred not to go to Chalcis. Since Stagira had been destroyed by Philip in 349/8 b.c., Aristotle could not return to his native city.

page 41 note 2 I VA 3; VM 3; VL 3; VV 2.

page 41 note 3 VM 3, VV 2, and VL 3 narrate that Proxenus was a native of Atarneus.

page 41 note 4 See Plato (?), Sixth Epistle, 322 e and passim. See also Didymus, Areius, In Demosthenis Orationes Commenta, col. 5, 27 ff.Google Scholar (edit. Diels-Schubart, 1904); Wormell, D. E. W., ‘The Literary Tradition concerning Hermias of Atarneus’, Yale Classical Studies, 5 (1935), 55 ff.Google Scholar

page 41 note 5 Naturally, it could be argued that II VS 2–4 is but a badly garbled account, a confused combination of two wholly unrelated incidents—namely, Aristotle's sojourn with Hermias of Atarneus (348/7–345 b.c.) and the indictment of Aristotle for alleged impiety in 323 which prompted him to flee to Chalcis in order to escape condemnation and execution. For the incidents of 323 b.c., see Athenaeus, , Deipnosophistae xv. 696Google Scholar A; DL v. 5–6; I VA 20; II VA 7; VM 41; VV 19; VL 43. The story, in II VS, that Speusippus wrote to Aristotle asking him to return, however, might be the result of a confusion of the Stagirite with his rival Xenocrates. According to Diogenes Laertius (iv. 3), Speusippus, shortly before his death in 339/8 b.c., ‘sent a message to Xenocrates, requesting him to come back and take charge of the school [sc. the Academy]’. See also Epistolographi Graeci nos. 32–34 (edit. Hercher, R., Paris, 1873).Google Scholar When II VS 3 insists that Aristotle went ‘to a place near the Hellespont’, he might well be alluding to Atarneus (Assos), which is indeed ‘near the Hellespont’.

page 42 note 1 DL v. i; Vital Hesychii 1; VM 1–2; VV 1–2; VL 1–2; IVS1; IIVS1; IVA2; IIVA2.

page 42 note 2 It should be noted that Socrates also may have been the victim of political entanglements and animosity. It is not unreasonable to surmise that Socrates' trial in 399 b.c. was basically a political issue. See Chroust, A.-H., Socrates: Man and Myth—The Two Socratic Apologies of Xenophon (London, 1957), 164 ff.Google Scholar Socrates had, or at least was suspected of having, close ties with some of the Thirty Tyrants, especially Critias and Charmides.

page 43 note 1 While Dionysius of Halicarnassus, I Epistola ad Ammaeum 7, flatly denies that Aristotle ever established his own independent school while Plato was still alive, Aristoxenus, a most unreliable witness, insinuates the opposite. See Aristoxenus, frag. 64 Wehrli; Aristides, Aelius, Oratio xlvi. 249Google Scholar (who draws from Aristoxenus). The influence of Aristoxenus is also felt in VM 12 and 25; Aelian, , Variae Historiae iii. 19.Google Scholar

page 43 note 2 See DL iv. 3–4.

page 43 note 3 It will be noted that according to Aristocles (Eusebius, , Praeparatio Evangelica, xv. 2Google Scholar, Migne, XXI, 1297)Google Scholar, Eubulides relates that Aristotle was not present at the death of Plato. See Düring, I., Aristotle in the Ancient Biographical Tradition (Göteborg, 1957), 276Google Scholar and ibid., 388; Merlan, Ph., ‘Zur Biographie Speusipps’, Philologus, 103 (1959), 206, n. 2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 43 note 4 See IVA 20–21; II VA 7–10; DL v. 5–6; I VS 8; II VS 7; VM 41–42: VV 19–20; VL 43–44. After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 b.c., several Greek cities, including Athens, revolted against their Macedonian overlords (Lamian War). It was during this anti-Macedonian uprising that Aristotle was indicted by Eurymedon (and Demophilus?). DL v. 5. See here also Chroust, A.-H., op. cit., p. 39Google Scholar, n. 3 and ‘A Brief Summary of the Syriac and Arabic Vitae Aristotelis’, Acta Orientalia, 29 (1965), 23–47.