end to his hours of study.

In 347 B.C. Plato died, and his nephew Speusippus was chosen as head
of the Academy. Aristotle left Athens with his fellow-student
Xenocrates, and together they repaired to the court of Hermeias, King
of Atarneus, in Asia Minor. Hermeias, a man of low origin, but of high
instincts and advanced education, had himself attended the lectures of
Plato, and received the two young philosophers as welcome guests.
Aristotle stayed three years at Atarneus, and, while there, married
{251} Pythias, the niece of the King. In later life he was married a
second time to one Herpyllis, who bore him a son, Nichomachus. At the
end of three years Hermeias fell a victim to the treachery of the
Persians, and Aristotle went to Mytilene. Here he remained for several
years till he received an invitation from Philip of Macedonia to
become the tutor of the young Alexander, afterwards conqueror of the
world, then aged thirteen. Aristotle obeyed the summons, and for about
five years superintended the education of Alexander. Both Philip and
Alexander appear to have paid Aristotle high honour, and there were
stories that he was supplied by the Macedonian court, not only with
funds for the prosecution of learning, but even with thousands of
slaves for the collection of specimens. These stories are probably
false and certainly exaggerated. But there is no doubt that, in his
scientific and philosophical enquiries, he was backed by the influence
of the court, and could even perhaps have looked to that quarter for
supplies, had it ever been necessary.

Upon the death of Philip, Alexander succeeded to the kingship. The
period of his studies was now over, and he began to make preparations
for his subsequent conquests. Aristotle's work being finished, he
returned to Athens, which he had not visited since the death of Plato.
He found the Platonic school flourishing under Xenocrates, and
Platonism the dominant philosophy of Athens. He thereupon set up his
own school at a place called the Lyceum. It was in connection with
this that his followers became known, in after years, as the
"peripatetics," a name which arose from Aristotle's habit of walking
about as he discoursed. The period of {252} his residence in Athens
lasted thirteen years, during which time he was occupied in the
leadership of his school and in literary labours. This appears to have
been the most fruitful period of his life. There is no doubt that all
his most impo