ABSTRACT
The summary information in the biographical sources on Aristotle stress two things: his association with Plato and his connection with the Macedonian kings. The Macedonian kingship is cited as one of those which secured its position by merit – through securing a territory for its people; the other examples are those of the Spartans and the Molossians. W. L. Newman suggested that the subsequent expose of two methods of preserving a tyranny – the one by ruthless subjection, the other by adopting, at least in appearance, the methods of kingship – may have been aimed at Alexander, in order to encourage him to adopt kingly behaviour. The precise mechanisms of the constitution remain obscure: it seems to have been a matter of adapting Athens' existing institutions to the new reduced body of citizens and the control Macedon wished to exert.
