, ii., 166). The words present the meaning,
but not the language, of a sentence in Aristotle's "Nicomachean
Ethics" (i. 8). Aristotle there declares passionate youth to be
unfitted to study _political_ philosophy; he makes no mention of
_moral_ philosophy. The change of epithet does, however, no injustice
to Aristotle's argument. His context makes it plain, that by
_political_ philosophy he means the ethics of civil society, which
are hardly distinguishable from what is commonly called "morals." The
maxim, in the slightly irregular shape which Shakespeare adopted,
enjoyed proverbial currency before the dramatist was born. Erasmus
introduced it in this form into his far-famed _Colloquies_. In France
and Italy the warning against instructing youth in _moral_ philosophy
was popularly accepted as an Aristotelian injunction. Sceptics about
the obvious Shakespearean tradition have made much of the circumstance
that Bacon, who cited the aphorism from Aristotle in his _Advancement
of Learning_, substituted, like Shakespeare in _Troilus and Cressida_,
the epithet "moral" for "political." The proverbial currency of the
emendation deprives the coincidence of point.
The repetition of a proverbial phrase, indirectly drawn from
Aristotle, combined with the absence of other references to the Greek
philosopher, renders improbable Shakespeare's personal acquaintance
with his work.
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