Greek Texts & Translations

Such is the tenor of Aristotle's will. It is said that a very large number of dishes belonging to him were found, and that Lyco mentioned his bathing in a bath of warm oil and then selling the oil. Some relate that he placed a skin of warm oil on his stomach, and that, when he went to sleep, a bronze ball was placed in his hand with a vessel under it, in order that, when the ball dropped from his hand into the vessel, he might be waked up by the sound. ^note

Some exceedingly happy sayings are attributed to him, which I proceed to quote. To the question, "What do people gain by telling lies?" his answer was, "Just this, that when they speak the truth they are not believed." Being once reproached for giving alms to a bad man, he rejoined, "It was the man and not his character that I pitied." ^note He used constantly to say to his friends and pupils, whenever or wherever he happened to be lecturing, "As sight takes in light from the surrounding air, so does the soul from mathematics." Frequently and at some length he would say that the Athenians were the discoverers of wheat and of laws; but, though they used wheat, they had no use for laws.

"The roots of education," he said, "are bitter, but the fruit is sweet." Being asked, "What is it that soon grows old?" he answered, "Gratitude." He was asked to define hope, and he replied, "It is a waking dream." When Diogenes offered him dried figs, he saw that he had prepared something caustic to say if he did not take them; so he took them and said Diogenes had lost his figs and his jest into the bargain. And on another occasion he took them when they were offered, lifted them up aloft, as you do babies, and returned them with the exclamation, "Great is Diogenes." Three things he declared to be indispensable for education: natural endowment, study, and constant practice. On hearing that some one abused him, he rejoined, "He may even scourge me so it be in my absence." Beauty he declared to be a greater recommendation than any letter of introduction. 5.1.19 Others attribute this definition to Diogenes; Aristotle, they say, defined good looks as the gift of god, Socrates as a short-lived reign, Plato as natural superiority, Theophrastus as a mute deception, Theocritus as an evil in an ivory setting, Carneades as a monarchy that needs no bodyguard. Being asked how the educated differ from the uneducated, "As much," he said, "as the living from the dead." ^note He used to declare education to be an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity. Teachers who educated children deserved, he said, more honour than parents who merely gave them birth; for bare life is furnished by the one, the other ensures a good life. To one who boasted that he belonged to a great city his reply was, "That is not the point to consider, but who it is that is worthy of a great country." 5.1.20 To the query, "What is a friend?" his reply was, "A single soul dwelling in two bodies." Mankind, he used to say, were divided into those who were as thrifty as if they would live for ever, and those who were as extravagant as if they were going to die the next day. When some one inquired why we spend much time with the beautiful, "That," he said, "is a blind man's question." When asked what advantage he had ever gained from philosophy, he replied, "This, that I do without being ordered what some are constrained to do by their fear of the law." ^note The question being put, how can students make progress, he replied, "By pressing hard on those in front and not waiting for those behind." To the chatterbox who poured out a flood of talk upon him and then inquired, "Have I bored you to death with my chatter?" he replied, "No, indeed; for I was not attending to you."