Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/351

 ARISTOTLE. 3*5 Jo bring him all forts of animals. When Arifiotle v.u >d of impiety b- one Eurymcdon, a prielt of ( nc -./rote a large apology ior himfelf, addrdl'.-d to the in.i^ii- Jealous about their religion, and remembering the late of So- crates, he was fo much alarmed, that he retired to Chalet, a city of Euboea, where he ended his days. Some fay he poifor.ed himfelf, to avoid lalling into the hands of his ene- Di mies; others affirm, that he threw himfelf into the Euripus,'' 11 hecaule he could not comprehend the reafon of its ebbing ami flowing [E] ; ;md there are others who tell us he died of a colic, in the 63d year of his age, being the third of the 114111 . :iipiad, two ytars after Alexander. The Stagyrues earned awav his body, and ere&ed alters to his memory. Befidrs his treatifes on philofophy, he wrote alfo on poetry [FJ, rhetoric, law, &c. to the number of four hun- dred i-at f p] The particular circumftanres of this affair aie unknown. Diogenes l.aertius fays only, that the prieft Eury- metlcn charged Ariftotle with impiety, on account of a h>mn which he com- pofed in honour of Hermias, and an in- fcription of his eniraved on his ftatue, in the temple of Delphi. <{ It is impoffible to be imagined," fays Mr. Bayle, " by what artifice his ," accufers could find any (hadow of " proof in the infcription on Hermias, " lince it only confided of four verfes ; " and thpfe not having any allufion to " religious matters, but only to the per- " fidioufnefs of the king of Perfia to- " v..rds this unhappy friend of Arif- <c totle." Athcna.'us tells us, (lib. xv. c. if'.) that the other foundation of the in honour of Hermi:.':, was unjuft, finre it was not a religious poem, or any fa- cred performance, as Demophilus pre- tended. The hynin in oueftinn is to be found in Athen;cusand Diogenes Laer- tius. [E] This ftory is fathered upon Ju- ftin Martyr and Gregory Mazianzen. The Euripus is laid to cSb and flow feven limes a day; and AriftotJe not being able to comprehend the reafon of this phenomenon, vve are told, he flung himfelf headlong into it, with thcls words in his mouth : 'ETE '.S '. ji^ ax, e.A- TOV I[',i7r ., "F.j~'-7r'&' 1%$*' TC Af if f/TEXiv j i. e. "Since iSriflocle can- " not comprehend Euripus, let Euri- " puscomprehend Ariftotlc." [rj Mr. Pope fpe:iLs thus of Ari- flotle, as a poetical critic : accufatian, namely, the hymn compofcd The michty Stagvrite firft left the fhore, Spread all the fails, and durfl the deep explore : He fteer'd lecurely, and difcovcr'd far, Led by the light of the Mxonian Itar. ElTjy on Crit. ver. 646, " the immenfity of his genius. F " Lv>gu:, nowe' er nef k-cti .< fi.r " redundant and vi : . hioh " took rife from l/uk-.-'s U.ll'iv on the " A noble and juf> characler," fjys .iin writer, " of the firft and It it " of critics ! and fufficient to reprefs f< the falhionable and naulVous petu- " who have attempted to difcredit this " great and ufeful writer. Whoever " furveys the variety and perfection of " his produ&ioni," continues the fame '.vriter, "all delivered in the chaucil ': pregnant brevity, is amazed at " Hum. in I nd :, is .1 rv " effort of the mini : .1. v.lr.chj; " covered the principal : ic.-. of art " and reafoninj;, and the d " of one thought en, and " where, by the di.i r' in combin.itions " he hath made of all !'vj for:ri " undcrffondipg can. iiu:ie in ri >
 * i..tes[DJ: but knowing the Athenian, to Iv extremely
 * ' lance of feveral impertinent moderns,
 * ' ftylf, in the cleareft order, and the