You have not done well in
publishing abroad those sciences which should only be taught by word
of mouth. For how shall we be distinguished from other men, if the
knowledge which we have acquired be made the common property of all? I
myself had rather excel others in excellency of learning than in
greatness of power. Farewell."
To pacify him, Aristotle wrote in reply that these doctrines were
published, and yet not published: meaning that his treatise on
Metaphysics was only written for those who had been instructed in
philosophy by himself, and would be quite useless in other hands.
VIII. I think also that Aristotle more than any one else implanted a
love of medicine in Alexander, who was not only fond of discussing the
theory, but used to prescribe for his friends when they were sick, and
order them to follow special courses of treatment and diet, as we
gather from his letters. He was likewise fond of literature and of
reading, and we are told by Onesikritus that he was wont to call the
Iliad a complete manual of the military art, and that he always
carried with him Aristotle's recension of Homer's poems, which is
called 'the casket copy,' and placed it under his pillow together
with his dagger. Being without books when in the interior of Asia, he
ordered Harpalus to send him some. Harpalus sent him the histories of
Philistus, several plays of Euripides, Sophokles, and AEschylus, and
the dithyrambic hymns of Telestus and Philoxenus.
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