Here is a vow, made by Aristotle to the gods under some unknown
previous emergency, which he orders his executor to fulfil. I presume
that the last words of direction given by Sokrates before his death
to Kriton were of the same nature: "We owe a cock to Æsculapius: pay
the debt, and do not fail." (See my preceding work, Plato and the
other Companions of Sokrates, vol. ii. ch. 23, p. 195.)]
Lastly, wherever Aristotle is buried, the bones of his deceased wife
Pythias are to be collected and brought to the same spot, as she had
commanded during her lifetime.[50]
[Footnote 50: Diog. L. v. 16.]
This testament is interesting, as it illustrates the personal
circumstances and sentiments of the philosopher, evincing an
affectionate forethought and solicitude for those who were in
domestic relations with him. As far as we can judge, the
establishment and property which he left must have been an ample
one.[51] How the provisions of the will were executed, or what became
of most persons named in it, we do not know, except that Pythias the
daughter of Aristotle was married three times: first, to Nikanor
(according to the will); secondly, to Proklês, descendant of
Demaratus (the king of Sparta formerly banished to Asia) by whom she
had two sons, Proklês and Demaratus, afterwards pupils in the school
of Theophrastus; thirdly, to a physician named Metrodôrus, by whom
she had a son named Aristotle.[52]
[Footnote 51: The elder Pliny (H. N. xxxv. 12, 46; compare also
Diogen. L. v. 1, 16) mentions that in the sale of Aristotle's effects
by his heirs there were included seventy dishes or pans (_patinas_,
earthenware). Pliny considered this as a mark of luxurious living;
since (according to Fenestella) "tripatinium appellabatur summam
coenarum lautitia."]
[Footnote 52: Sextus Empiric. adv. Mathematicos, i. p. 271 F. sect.
258. About the banishment, or rather voluntary exile, of Demaratus to
Asia, in the reign of Darius I. king of Persia, see Herodot. vi. 70.
Some towns and lands were assigned to him in Æolis, where Xenophon
found his descendant Prokles settled, after the conclusion of the
Cyreian expedition (Xen. Anab. vii. 8, 17).
Respecting this younger Aristotle--son of Metrodorus and grandson of
the great philosopher--mention is made in the testament of
Theophrastus, and directions are given for promoting his improvement
in philosophy (Diog. La. v. 53). Nikomachus was brought up chiefly by
Theophrastus, but perished young in battle (Aristokles ap. Euseb.
Præp. Ev. xv. 2).]
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