Summary
Annabel Lyon: Aristotle's Golden Mean
A novel about Aristotle's teaching of Alexander the Great
“I will tell you what I agree with in your theory of happiness,” says Alexander. "I agree that the greatest happiness comes to those who are capable of the greatest things. That's where we leave my brother. That's where you and I go and leave the rest of the world. You and I can understand the wonder of things. We get to the very edge—to the limits as everyone else defines them, understands them, and experiences them—and then we go one step further. We go to places no one has seen before. That's who we are.
You taught me to be like that." - This is just a part of the extremely interesting dialogue between Alexander of Macedon and Aristotle, whose relationship was brilliantly reconstructed by the Canadian writer Annabel Lyon.
And it all started in 342 BC when King Philip of Macedon invited Aristotle to be the teacher of his son, the prince, later known as Alexander the Great (Macedonian). Aristotle remained in service at the court for seven years, associating with and teaching the future king and great military leader. Meanwhile, Prince Alexander grew from a bright, gentle boy into a proud and ambitious young man. Aristotle teaches the prince in accordance with ethical norms and tries to influence him to become a just leader, but he soon realizes that the strings are slipping out of his hands and that as a result of his efforts and training in the young rebellious mind, he gets an irreversibly different effect from the desired and initially imagined...
Masterfully, intelligently and carefully written prose Annabel Lyon takes us back more than two millennia into the past, illuminating the time, culture, people and customs of that time, and reconstructing personalities and the intimacy of a genius philosopher and a warrior crowned with glory. A historical novel at its best!
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