Book 5
1.16
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.Next come (a) the sayings of Aristotle (§§ 17-21); (b) the catalogue of his writings (§§ 21-27); (c) his tenets (§§ 28-34).
1.17
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. Cf. infra,§ 21. 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.
