A man of persuasive eloquence, Aristo was such a good speaker that he was called "the Siren". He was also called "Phalanthus", from his baldness. He set up his own school in the Cynosarges gymnasium (a place associated with Cynic philosophy) and attracted many pupils, so much so that when he was accused of exposing the dignity of philosophy by his freedom to all-comers, he answered, that "he wished that Nature had given understanding to wild beasts, that they too might be capable of being his hearers." His followers called themselves Aristonians and included the scientist Eratosthenes and the Stoics: Apollophanes, Diphilus, and Miltiades.