Welcome to The Complete Pythagoras

A full-text, public domain edition

for the generalist & specialist
Edited by Patrick Rousell for the World Wide Web.
I first came across Kenneth Sylvan Guthries edition of the Complete Pythagoras hile researching
a boo! on "eonardo# I had been surfing these deep aters for a hile and so the value of Guthries
publication as immediately apparent# As Guthrie explains in his on introduction, hich is at the
beginning of the second boo! $p %&'(, he as initially prompted to publish these ritings in the
%)*+s for fear that this information ould become lost# As it is, much of this information has since
been published in fairly good modern editions# ,oever, these are still hard to access and there is
no current complete collection as presented by Guthrie# -he advantage here is that e have a fairly
comprehensive collection of or!s on .ythagoras and the .ythagoreans, translated from the origin-
al Gree! into /nglish, and presented as a unified, albeit electronic edition#
The Complete Pythagoras is a compilation of to boo!s# -he first is entitled The Life Of Py-
thagoras and contains the four biographies of .ythagoras that have survived from anti0uity1 that of
Iamblichus $*'+-222 A#3#(, .orphry $*22-2+& A#3#(, .hotius $ca '*+- ca ')% A#3#( and 3iogenes
"aertius $%'+ A#3#(# -he second is entitled Pythagorean Library and is a complete collection of the
surviving fragments from the .ythagoreans# -he first boo! as published in %)*+, the second a year
later, and released together as a bound edition# -he bound edition as produced inexpensively as a
mimeographed hand-typed manuscript that as rolled-off onto cheap stoc!# 4onse0uently, only a
handful of copies of hat must have been a very small edition are extant and ere found to be
highly deteriorated# -o copies ere referenced for this edition#
-here has been no attempt on my part to moderni5e Guthries original edition but rather to repro-
duce a facsimile# -he reason for this is to-fold1 6irst, to add another voice $an uninformed one at
that, since I am not a classicist( ould have distanced the reader yet further from the original#
Second, hile Guthries translation may at times seem archaic and convoluted, as his /nglish dates
from the late %)
th
4entury, it nevertheless seems to hug the original Gree! texts best# It may best be
understood as a transliteration, as opposed to a translation# It can therefore be used as another
source to compare to modern editions#
-here is little that I ould ant to add to Guthries introduction, except for this1 there is one name
that stands out here# 7hile Alexander and /instein may be household names, let us consider
Archytas, a master of both the active and the contemplative life# Archytas of -arentum $ca 289
:#4#( as not only a great general and friend of .latos, he as also a great mathematician and
philosopher# ;ot only did he at one point save .lato from the Sicilian tyrant 3iogenes $the
younger(, he also had a profound influence on .latos thought# As a mathematician he is believed to
have solved the 3elian problem $the doubling of the volume of the cube( and been responsible for
most of hat has come don to us as :oo! <III of /uclids Elements# As a philosopher he as, I
believe, the first to openly postulate a theory of infinity $see text( and extended the =theory of
means> in music#
.atric! ?oussel, a#!#a# .atric! 4, is an artist and riter ho after living and or!ing in ;@4 for %9
years, recently moved to southern 6rance#
4ontact1 cpatrickccompletepythagoras.net
INDEX
<A"BC/ A;/
:iographies
Iamblichus
i# Importance of the SubDect
ii# @outh, /ducation, -ravels
iii# Eourney to /gypt
iv# Studies in /gypt and :abylonia
v# -ravels in Greece, Settlement at 4rotona
vi# .ythagorean 4ommunity
vii# Italian .olitical Achievements
viii# Intuition, ?everence, -emperance, Studiousness
ix# 4ommunity and 4hastity
x# Advice to @ouths
xi# Advice to 7omen
xii# 7hy he calls himself a .ythagorean
xiii# ,e shared Arpheuss 4ontrol over Animals
xiv# .ythagoras Fs preexistence
xv# ,e 4ured by Cedicine and Cusic
xvi# .ythagorean Aestheticism
xvii# -ests of Initiation
xviii# Argani5ation of the .ythagorean School
xix# Abaris the Scythian
xx# .sychological ?e0uirements
xxi# 3aily .rogram
xxii# 6riendship
xxiii# Bse of parables in Instruction
xxiv# 3ietary Suggestions
xxv# Cusic and poetry
xxvi# -heoretical Cusic
xxvii# Cutual political Assistance
xxviii# 3ivinity of .ythagoras
xxix# Sciences and Caxims
xxx# Eustice and politics
xxxi# -emperance and Self-control
xxxii# 6ortitude
xxxiii# Bniversal 6riendship
xxxiv# ;onmercenary Secrecy
xxxv# Attac! on .ythagoreanism
xxxvi# -he .ythagorean Succession
.orphry
.hotius
3iogenes "aertius
i# /arly "ife
ii# Studies
iii# Initiations
iv# -ransmigration
v# 7or!s
vi# General <ies on "ife
vii# Ages of "ife
viii# Social 4ustoms
ix# 3istinguished Appearance
x# 7omen 3eified by Carriage
xi# Scientific culture
xii# 3iet and Sacrifices
xiii# Ceasures and 7eights
xiv# ,esperus Identified ith "ucifer
xv# Students and ?eputations
xvi# 6riendship 6ounded on Symbols
xvii# Symbols or Caxims
xviii# .ersonal ,abits
xix# <arious -eachings
xx# .oetic -estimonies
xxi# 3eath of .ythagoras
xxii# .ythagorass 6amily
xxiii# ?idiculing /pigrams
xxiv# "ast .ythagoreans
xxv# <arious .ythagoras ;amesa!es
xxvi# .ythagorass "etter to Anaximenes
xxvii# /mpedocless 4onnection
<A"BC/ -7A
.ythagorean 6ragments
Introduction
Symbols of .ythagoras $98+-9++ :#4#(
Golden <erses of .ythagoras $ca#29+ :#4#(
.hilolaus
o :iography
o 6ragments
Archytas of -arentum $G++ :#4#(
o :iography
o 6ragments
i# Cetaphysical
ii# .hysical and Cathematical
iii# /thical
iv# .olitical
v# "ogical
Acellus "ucanus $G'+ :#4#(
o :iography
o 6ragments
i# -reatise on the Bniverse
ii# 4reation
iii# -he .erpetuity of the 7orld
iv# Groth of Cen
An "as
,ippodamus the -hurian, $GG2-G+' :#4#(
o An 6elicity
o An A ?epublic
3iotogenes
o An Sanctiy
o 4oncerning A Kingdom
-heages $ca# G9+ :#4#(
Haleucus the "ocrian $9&+ :#4#(
4harondas of 4atanaea $G)G :#4#(
4allicratidas $9++ :#4#(
.erictyone $G2+ :#4#(
o An -he 3uties Af A 7oman
o An -he ,armony Af A 7oman
Aristoxenus of -arentum $29+ :#4#(
/uryphamus $ca# G9+ :#4#(
,ipparchus $2'+ :#4#(
Cetopus $G++ :#4#(
4rito $ca# G++ :#4#(
.olus $ca# G9+ :#4#(
Sthenidas the "ocrian $G++ :#4#(
/cphantus of 4rotona $ca# G++ :#4#(
.empelus $ca# G++ :#4#(
.hintys $ca# G++ :#4#(
4linias $ca# G++ :#4#(
Sextus the .ythagorean$ca# 2++ :#4#(
Select .ythagorean Sentences
o 6rom Iamblichus
o 6rom Stobaeus
o 6rom 4lement
,ierocles $G9+ A#3#(
o /thical 6ragments
i# 4onduct -oards -he Gods
ii# .roper 4onduct -oards Aur 4ountry
iii# .roper 4onduct -oards -he .arents
iv# An 6raternal "ove
v# An Carriage
vi# 4onduct -oards Aur ?elatives
vii# An /conomics
-imaeus "ocrius $G'+-G9+ :#4#(
o -he Soul and -he 7orld
i# Cind, ;ecessity, 6orm & Catter
ii# 4reation Af -he 7orld
iii# .roportions Af -he 7orld-4ombination
iv# .lanetary ?evolutions and -ime
v# -he /arths 4reation :y Geometric 6igures
vi# 4oncretion Af -he /lements
vii# 4omposition Af -he Soul
viii# Sentations
ix# ?espiration
x# 3isorders
xi# 3iscipline
xii# ,uman 3estiny

HOME
IAC:"I4,BS of Syrian 4halciss
"I6/ A6 .@-,AGA?AS
4,A.-/? I
IC.A?-A;4/ A6 -,/ SB:E/4-
Since ise people are in the habit of invo!ing the divinities at the beginning of any philosophic
consideration, this is all the more necessary on studying that one hich is Dustly named after the di-
vine .ythagoras# Inasmuch as it emanated from the divinities it could not be apprehended ithout
their inspiration and assistance# :esides, its beauty and maDesty so surpasses human capacity, that it
cannot be comprehended in one glance# Gradually only can some details of it be mastered hen, un-
der divine guidance e approach the subDect ith a 0uiet mind# ,aving therefore invo!ed the divine
guidance, and adapted ourselves and our style to the divine circumstances, e shall ac0uiesce in all
the suggestions that come to us# -herefore e shall not begin ith any excuses for the long neglect
of this sect, nor by any explanations about its having been concealed by foreign disciplines, or mys-
tic symbols, nor insist that it has been obscured by false and spurious ritings, nor ma!e apologies
for any special hindrances to its progress# 6or us it is sufficient that this is the ill of the Gods,
hich all enable us to underta!e tas!s even more arduous than these# ,aving thus ac!noledged
our primary submission to the divinities, our secondary devotion shall be to the prince and father of
this philosophy as a leader# 7e shall, hoever have to begin by a study of his descent and national-
ity#
4,A.-/? II
@AB-,, /3B4A-IA;, -?A</"S
It is reported that Ancaeus, ho delt in 4ephallenian Samos, as descended from Eupiter, the
fame of hich honorable descent might have been derived from his virtue, or from a certain mag-
nanimityI in any case, he surpassed the remainder of the 4ephallenians in isdom and renon# -his
Ancaeus as, by the .ythian oracle, bidden form a colony from Arcadia and -hessalyI and besides
leading some inhabitants of Athens, /pidaurus, and 4halcis, he as to render habitable an island,
hich, from the virtue of the soil and vegetation as to be called :lac!leaved, hile the city as to
be called Samos, after Same, in 4ephallenia# -he oracle ran thus1 =I bid you, Ancaeus, to colonise
the maritime island of Same, and to call it .hyllas#> -hat the colony originated from these places is
proved first from the divinities, and their sacrifices, hich ere imported by the inhabitants, second
by the relationships of the families, and third by their Samian gatherings#
6rom the family and alliance of this Ancaeus, founder of the colony, ere therefore descended .y-
thagorass parents Cnesarchus and .ythais# -hat .ythagoras as the son of Apollo is a legend due
to a certain Samian poet, ho thus described the popular recognition of the nobility of his birth#
Sang he,
=.ythais, the fairest of the Samian race
6rom the embraces of the God Apollo
:ore .ythagoras, the friend of Eove#>
It might be orth hile to relate the circumstances of the prevalence of this report# Cnesarchus had
gone to 3elphi on a business trip, leaving his ife ithout any signs of pregnancy# ,e en0uired of
the oracle about the event of his return voyage to Syria, and he as informed that his trip ould be
lucrative, and most conformable to his ishesI but that his ife as no ith child, and ould
present him ith a son ho ould surpass all ho had ever lived in beauty and isdom, and that he
ould be of the greatest benefit to the human race in everything pertaining to human achievements#
:ut hen Cnesarchus reali5ed that the God, ithout aiting for any 0uestion about a son, had by
an oracle informed him that he ould possess an illustrious prerogative, and a truly divine gift, he
immediately changed his ifes former name .arthenis to one reminiscent of the 3elphic prophet
and her son, naming her .ythais, and the infant, ho as soon after born at Sidon in .hoenicia, .y-
thagoras, by this name commemorating that such an offspring had been promised him by the .ythi-
an Apollo# -he assertions of /pimenides, /udoxus and Jenocrates, that Apollo having at that time
already had actual connexion ith .arthenis, causing her pregnancy, had regulari5ed that fact by
predicting the birth of .ythagoras, are by no means to be admitted# ;o one ill deny that the soul of
.ythagoras as sent to man!ind from Apollos domain, having either been one of his attendants, or
more intimate associates, hich may be inferred both from his birth, and his versatile isdom#
After Cnesarchus had returned from Syria to Samos, ith great ealth derived from a favorable
sea-voyage, he built a temple to Apollo, ith the inscription of .ythius# ,e too! care that his son
should enDoy the best possible education, studying under 4reophilus, then under .horecydos the
Syrian, and then under almost all ho presided over sacred concerns, to hom he especially recom-
mended his son, that he might be as expert as possible in divinity# -hus by education and good for-
tune he became the most beautiful and godli!e of all those ho have been celebrated in the annals
of history#
After his fathers death, though he as still but a youth, his aspect as so venerable, and his habits
so temperate that he as honored and even reverenced by elderly men, attracting the attention of all
ho sa and heard him spea!, creating the most profound impression# -hat is the reason that many
plausibly asserted that he as a child of the divinity# /nDoying the privilege of such a renon, of an
education so thorough from infancy, and of so impressive a natural appearance he shoed that he
deserved all these advantages by deserving them, by the adornment of piety and discipline, by ex-
0uisite habits, by firmness of soul, and by a body duly subDected to the mandates of reason# An in-
imitable 0uiet and serenity mar!ed all his ords and actions, soaring above all laughter, emulation,
contention, or any other irregularity or eccentricityI his influence at Samos as that of some benefi-
cent divinity# ,is great renon, hile yet a youth, reached not only men as illustrious for their is-
dom as -hales at Ciletus, and :ias at .rione, but also extended to the neighboring cities# ,e as
celebrated everyhere as the =long-haired Samian,> and by the multitude as given credit for being
under divine inspiration#
7hen he had attained his eighteenth year, there arose the tyranny of .olicratesI and .ythagoras
foresa that under such a government his studies might be impeded, as they engrossed the hole of
his attention# So by night he privately departed ith one ,ermodamas, - ho as surnamed 4reo-
philus, and as the grandson of the host, friend and general preceptor of the poet ,omer, - going to
.horecydes, to Anaximander the natural philosopher, and to -hales at Ciletu# ,e successively asso-
ciated ith each of those philosophers in a manner such that they all loved him, admired his natural
endoments, and admitted him to the best of their doctrines, -hales especially, on gladly admitting
him to the intimacies of his confidence, admired the great difference beteen him and other young
men, ho ere in every accomplishment surpassed by .ythagoras# After increasing the reputation
.ythagoras had already ac0uired, by communicating to him the utmost he as able to impart to
him, -hales, laying stress on his advanced age and the infirmities of his body, advised him to go to
/gypt, to get in touch ith the priests of Cemphis and Eupiter# -hales confessed that the instruction
of these priests as the source of his on reputation for isdom, hile neither his on endo-
ments nor achievements e0ualed those hich ere so evident in .ythagoras# -hales insisted that, in
vie of all this, if .ythagoras should study ith those priests, he as certain of becoming the isest
and most divine of men#
4,A.-/? III
EAB?;/@ -A /G@.-
.ythagoras had benefited by the instruction of -hales in many respects, but his greatest lesson had
been to learn the value of saving time, hich led him to abstain entirely from ine and animal food,
avoiding greediness, confining himself to nutriments of easy preparation and digestion# As a result,
his sleep as short, his soul pure and vigilant, and the general health of his body as invariable#
/nDoying such advantages, therefore, he sailed to Sidon, hich he !ne to be his native country,
and because it as on his ay to /gypt# In .hoenicia he conversed ith the prophets ho ere the
descendants of Coschus the physiologist, and ith many others, as ell as ith the local hiere-
phants# ,e as also initiated into all the mysteries of :yblus and -yre, and in the sacred functions
performed in many parts of Syria# ,e as led to all this not from any han!ering after superstition as
might easily be supposed, but rather from a desire of and love for contemplation, and from an anxi-
ety to miss nothing of the mysteries of the divinities hich deserved to be learned# After gaining all
he could from the .hoenician mysteries, he found that they had originated from the sacred rites of
/gypt, forming as it ere an /gyptian colony# -his led him to hope that in /gypt itself he might
find monuments of erudition still more genuine, beautiful, and divine# -herefore folloing the ad-
vice of his teacher -hales, he left, as soon as possible, through the agency of some /gyptian sailors,
ho very opportunely happened to land on the .hoenician coast under Count 4armel, in the temple
on the pea! of hich .ythagoras for the most part delt in solitude#
,e as gladly received by the sailors ho intended to ma!e a great profit by selling him into
slavery# :ut they changed their mind in his favor during the voyage, hen they perceived the
chastened venerability of the mode of life he had underta!en# -hey began to reflect that there as
something supernatural in the youths modesty, and in the manner in hich he had unexpectedly
appeared to them on their landing, hen from the summit of Count 4armel, hich they !no to be
more sacred than other mountains, and 0uite inaccessible to the vulgar, he had leisurely descended
ithout loo!ing bac!, avoiding all delay from precipices or difficult roc!s and that hen he came to
the boat, he said nothing more than, =Are you bound for /gyptK> And farther that, on their anser-
ing affirmatively, he had got aboard, and had, during the hole trip sat silent here he ould be
least li!ely to inconvenience them at their tas!s# 6or to nights and three days .ythagoras had re-
mained in the same unmoved position, ithout food, drin!, or sleep, except that, unnoticed by the
sailors, he might have do5ed hile sitting upright# Coreover the sailors considered that, contrary to
their expectations, their voyage had proceeded ithout interruptions, as if some deity had been on
board# 6rom all these circumstances they concluded that a very divinity had passed over ith them
from Syria into /gypt#
Addressing .ythagoras and each other ith a gentleness and propriety that as unonted, they
completed the remainder of their voyage through a halcyon sea, and at length happily landed on the
/gyptian coast# ?everently the sailors here assisted him to disembar!I and after they had seen him
safe onto a firm beach, they raised before him a temporary altar, heaped on it the no abundant
fruits of trees, as if these ere the first-fruits of their freight, presented then to him and departed
hastily to their destination# .ythagoras, hoever, hose body had become emaciated through the
severity of so long a fast, did not refuse the sailors help in landing, and as soon as they had left par-
too! of as much of the fruits as as re0uisite to restore his physical vigor# -hen he ent inland, in
entire safety preserving his onted tran0uillity and modesty#
4,A.-/? I<
S-B3I/S I; /G@.- A;3 :A:@"A;IA
,ere in /gypt he fre0uented all the temples ith the greatest diligence, and most studious research,
during hich time he on the esteem and admiration of all the priests and prophets ith hom he
associated# ,aving most solicitously familiari5ed himself ith every detail, he did not, nevertheless,
neglect any contemporary celebrity, hether sage renoned for isdom, or peculiarly performed
mysteryI he did not fail to visit any place here he thought he might discover something orth-
hile# -hat is ho he visited all of the /gyptian priests, ac0uiring all the isdom each possessed#
,e thus passed tenty-to years in the sanctuaries of temples, studying astronomy and geometry,
and being initiated in no casual or superficial manner in all the mysteries of the Gods# At length,
hoever, he as ta!en captive by the soldiers of 4ambyses, and carried off to :abylon# ,ere he
as overDoyed to associate ith the Cagi, ho instructed him in their venerable !noledge, and in
the most perfect orship of the Gods# -hrough their assistance, li!eise, he studied and completed
arithmetic, music, and all the other sciences# After telve years, about the fifty-sixth year of his
age, he returned to Samos#
4,A.-/? <
-?A</"S I; G?//4/I S/--"/C/;- A- 4?A-A;A
An his return to Samos he as recogni5ed by some of the older inhabitants, ho found that he had
gained in beauty and isdom, and achieved a divine graciousnessI herefore they admired him all
the more# ,e as officially invited to benefit all men by imparting his !noledge publicly# -o this
he as not averseI but the method of teaching he ished to introduce as the symbolical one, in a
manner similar to that in hich he had been instructed in /gypt# -his mode of teaching, hoever
did not please the Simians, hose attention lac!ed perseverance# ;ot one proved genuinely desirous
of those mathematical disciplines hich he as so anxious to introduce among the Gree!sI and
soon he as left entirely alone# -his hoever did not embitter him to the point of neglecting or des-
pising Samos# :ecause it as his home tonI he desired to give his fello-citi5ens a taste of the
seetness of the mathematical disciplines, in spite of their refusal to learn# -o overcome this he de-
vised and executed the folloing stratagem# In the gymnasium he happened to observe the unusu-
ally s!illful and masterful ball-playing of a youth ho as greatly devoted to physical culture, but
impecunious and in difficult circumstances# .ythagoras ondered hether this youth if supplied
ith the necessaries of life, and freed from the anxiety of supplying them, could be induced to study
ith him# .ythagoras therefore called the youth, as he as leaving the bath, and made him the pro-
position to furnish him the means to continue his physical training, on the condition that he ould
study ith him easily and gradually, but continuously so as to avoid confusion and distraction, cer-
tain discipline hich he claimed to have learned from the :arbarians in his youth, but hich ere
no beginning to desert him in conse0uence of the inroads of the forgetfulness of old age# Coved
by hopes of financial support, the youth too! up the proposition ithout delay# .ythagoras then in-
troduced him to the rudiments of arithmetic and geometry, illustrating them obDectively on an aba-
cus, paying him three oboli as fee for the learning of every figure# -his as continued for a long
time, the youth being incited to the study of geometry by the desire for honor, ith diligence, and in
the best order# :ut hen the sage observed that the youth had become so captivated by the logic, in-
geniousness and style of those demonstrations to hich he had been led in an orderly ay, that he
ould no longer neglect their pursuit merely because of the sufferings of poverty, .ythagoras pre-
tended poverty, and conse0uent inability to continue the payment of the three oboli fee# An hearing
this, the youth replied, that even ithout the fee he could go on learning and receiving this instruc-
tion# -hen .ythagoras said, =:ut even I myself am lac!ing the means to procure foodL>As he ould
have to or! to earn his living, he ought not to be distracted by the abacus and other trifling occu-
pations# -he youth, hoever, loath to discontinue his studies, replied, =In the future, it is I ho ill
provide for you, and repay your !indness in a ay resembling that of the stor!I for in my turn, I ill
give you three oboli for every figure# 6rom this time on he as so captivated by these disciplines,
that, of all the Samians, he alone elected to leave home to follo .ythagoras, being a namesa!e of
his, though differing in patronymie, being the son of /ratocles# It is probably to him that should be
ascribed three boo!s on Athletics, in hich he recommends a diet of flesh, instead of dry figs,
hich of course ould hardly have been ritten by the Cnesarchian .ythagoras#
About this time .ythagoras ent to 3elos here he as much admired as he approached the so-
called bloodless altar of 6ather Apollo, and orshipped it# -hen .ythagoras visited all the oracles#
,e delt for some time in 4rete and Sparta, to learn their lasI and on ac0uiring proficiency therein
he returned home to complete his former omissions# An his arrival in Samos, he first established a
school, hich is even no called, the Semicircle of .ythagoras, in hich the Samians no consult
about public affairs, feeling the fitness of dispensing Dustice and promoting profit in the place con-
structed by him ho promoted the elfare of all man!ind# Autside of the city he formed a cave ad-
apted to the practices of his philosophy, in hich he spent the greater part of day and night, ever
busied ith scientific research, and meditating as did Cinos, the son of Eupiter# Indeed he surpassed
those ho later practised his disciplines chiefly in this, that they advertised themselves for the
!noledge of theorems of minute importance, hile .ythagoras unfolded a complete science of the
celestial orbs, founding it on arithmetical and geometrical demonstrations# Still more than for all
this, he is to be admired for hat he accomplished later# ,is philosophy no gained great import-
ance, and his fame spread to all Greece so that the best students visited Samoa on his account, to
share in his erudition# :ut his fello-citi5ens insisted on employing him in all their embassies, and
compelled him to ta!e part in the administration of public affairs# .ythagoras began to realise the
impossibility of complying ith the claims of his country hile remaining at home to advance his
philosophyI and observing that all earlier philosophers had passed their life in foreign countries, he
determined to resign all political occupations# :esides, according to contemporary testimony, he
disgusted at the Samarians scorn for education#
-herefore he ent to Italy, conceiving that his real fatherland must be the country containing the
greatest number of most scholarly men# Such as the success of his Dourney that on his arrival at
4rotona, the noblest city in Italy, that he gathered as many as six-hundred folloers, ho by his
discourses ere moved, not only to philosophical study, but to an amicable sharing of their orldly
goods, hence they derived the names of Cenobites#
4,A.-/? <I
-,/ .@-,AGA?/A; 4ACCB;I-@
-he Cenobites ere students that philosophi5edI but the greater part of his folloers ere called
!earers, of hom, according to ;icomachus there ere to thousand that had been captivated by a
single oration on his arrival in Italy# -hese, ith their children, gathered into one immense auditory,
called Auditorium, hich as so great as to resemble a city, thus founding a place universally
called Greater Greece# -his great multitude of people, receiving from .ythagoras las and man-
dates as so many divine precepts, ithout hich they declined to engage in any occupation, delt
together in the greatest general concord, estimated and celebrated by their neighbors as among the
number of the blessed, ho, as as already observed, shared all their possessions#
Such as their reverence for .ythagoras, that they ran!ed him ith the Gods, as a genial beneficent
divinity, hile some celebrated him as the .ythian, others called him the ;orthern Apollo# Athers
considered him .aeon, others, one of the divinities that inhabit the moonI yet others considered that
he as one of the Alympian Gods, ho, in order to correct and improve terrestrial existence ap-
peared to their contemporaries in human form, to extend to them the salutary light of philosophy
and felicity# ,e never indeed came, nor, for that matter of that, ever ill come to man!ind a greater
good than that hich as imparted to the Gree!s through this .ythagoras# ,ence, even no, the
nic!-name of =long-haired Samian> is still applied to the most venerable among men#
In his treatise on the .ythagoric .hilosophy, Aristotle relates that among the principal arcana of the
.ythagoreans as preserved this distinction among rational animals1 Gods, men, and beings li!e
.ythagoras# 7ell indeed may they have done so, inasmuch as he introduced so Dust and apt a gener-
ali5ation as Gods, heroes and demonsI of the orld, of the manifold notions of the spheres and
stars, their oppositions, eclipses, ine0ualities, eccentricities and epicyclesI of all the natures con-
tained in heaven and earth, together ith the intermediate ones, hether apparent or occult# ;or as
there, in all this variety of information, anything contrary to the phenomena, or to the conceptions
of the mind# :esides all this, .ythagoras unfolded to the Gree!s all the disciplines, theories and re-
searches that ould purify the intellect from the blindness introduced by studies of a different !ind,
so as to enable it to perceive the true principles and causes of the universe#
In addition, the best polity, popular concord, community of possessions among friends, orship of
the Gods, piety to the dead, legislation, erudition, silence, abstinence from eating the flesh of anim-
als, continence, temperance, sagacity, divinity, and in one ord, hatever is anxiously desired by
the scholarly, as brought to light by .ythagoras# It as, on account of all this, as e have already
observed, that .ythagoras as so much admired#
4,A.-/? <II
I-A"IA; .A"I-I4A" A4,I/</C/;-S
;o e must relate ho he traveled, hat places he first visited, and hat discourses he made, on
hat subDects, and to hom addressedI for this ould illustrate his contemporary relations# ,is first
tas!, on arriving in Italy and Sicily, as to inspire ith a love of liberty those cities hich he under-
stood had more or less recently oppressed each other ith slavery# -hen, by means of his auditors,
he liberated and restored to independence 4rotona, Sybaris, 4atanes, ?hegium, ,imaera, Agri-
gentum, -auromenas and some other cities# -hrough 4harondas the 4atanaean, and Haleucus the
"ocrian, he established las hich caused the cities to flourish, and become models for others in
their proximity# .artisanship, discord and sedition, and that for several generations, he entirely
rooted out, as history testifies, from all the Italian and Sicilian lands, hich at that time ere dis-
turbed by inner and outer contentions# /veryhere, in private and in public, he ould repeat, as an
epitome of his on opinions, and as a persuasive oracle of divinity, that by any means so everI
stratagem, fire, or sord, e should amputate from the body, diseaseI from the soul ignoranceI from
the belly, luxuryI from a city, seditionI from a household, discordI and from all things so ever, lac!
of moderationI through hich he brought home to his disciples the 0uintessence of all teachings,
and that ith a most paternal affection# 6or the sa!e of accuracy, e may state that the year of his
arrival in Italy as that one of the Alympic victory in the stadium of /ryxidas of 4halcis, in the
sixty-second Alympiad# ,e became conspicuous and celebrated as soon as he arrived, Dust as
formerly he achieved instant recognition at 3elos, hen he performed his adorations at the blood-
less altar of 6ather Apollo#
4,A.-/? <III
I;-BI-IA;, ?/</?/;4/, -/C./?A;4/, and S-B3IABS;/SS
Ane day, during a trip from Sybaris to 4rotona, by the sea-shore, he happened to meet some fisher-
men engaged in draing up from the deep their heavily-laden fish-nets# ,e told them he !ne the
exact number of the fish they had caught# -he surprised fishermen declared that if he as right they
ould do anything he said# ,e then ordered them, after counting the fish accurately, to return them
alive to the sea, and hat is more onderful, hile he stood on the shore, not one of them died,
though they had remained out of their natural element 0uite a little hile# .ythagoras then paid the
fisher-men the price of their fish, and departed for 4rotona# -he fishermen divulged the occurrence,
and on discovering his name from some children, spread it abroad publicly# /verybody anted to
see the stranger, hich as easy enough to do# -hey ere deeply impressed on beholding his coun-
tenance, hich indeed betrayed his real nature#
A fe days later, on entering in the gymnasium, he as surrounded by a crod of young men, and
he embraced this opportunity to address them, exhorting them to attend to their elders, pointing out
to them the general preeminence of the early over the late# ,e instanced that the /ast as more im-
portant than the 7est, the morning than the evening, the beginning than the end, groth than decayI
natives than strangers, city-planners than city-buildersI and in general that Gods ere more orthy
of honor than, divinities, divinities than semi-divinities, and heroes than menI and that among these
the authors of birth in importance excelled their progeny# All this, hoever, he said only to prove
by indiction, that children should honor their parents to hom, he asserted, they ere as much in-
debted for gratitude as ould be a dead man to him ho should bring him bac! to life, and light# ,e
continued to observe that it as no more than Dust to avoid paining, and to love preeminently those
ho had benefited us first and most# .rior to the childrens birth, these are benefited by their parents
exclusively, being the springs of their offsprings righteous conduct# In any case, it is impossible for
children to ere by not alloing themselves to be outdistanced in reciprocation of benefits, toards
their parents# :esides, since from our parents e learn to honor divinity, no doubt the Gods ill
pardon those ho honor their parents no less than those ho honor the Gods, $thus ma!ing common
cause ith them(# ,omer even applied the paternal name to the King of the Gods, calling lim the
father of Gods and men# Cany other mythologists informed us that the chiefs of the Gods even
ere anxious to claim for themselves that superlative affection hich, through marriage, binds chil-
dren to their parents# -hat is hy $the Arphic theologians( introduced among the Gods the terms
father and mother, Eupiter begetting Cinerva, hile Euno produced <ulcan, the nature of hich off-
spring is contrary so as to unite the most remote through friendship# As this argument about the im-
mortals proved convincing to the 4rotonians, .ythagoras continued to enforce voluntary obedience
to the parental ishes, by the example of ,ercules, ho had been the founder of the 4rotonian
colony# -radition indeed informed us that divinity had underta!en labors so great out of obedience
to the commands of a senior, and that after his victories therein, he instituted the Alympic games in
honor of his father# -heir mutual association should never result in hostility to friends, but in trans-
forming their on hostility into friendship# -heir benevolent filial disposition should manifest as
modesty, hile their universal philanthropy should ta!e the form of fraternal consideration and af-
fection#
-emperance as the next topic of his discourses# Since the desires are most flourishing during
youth, this is the time hen control must be effective# 7hile temperance alone is universal in its ap-
plication to all ages, boy, virgin, oman, or the aged, yet this special virtue is particularly applic-
able to youth# Coreover, this virtue alone applied universally to all goods, those of body and soul,
preserving both the health, and studiousness# -his may be proved conversely# 7hen the Gree!s and
:arbarians arred about -roy, each of them feel into the most dreadful calamities, both during the
7ar, and the return home, and all this through the incontinence of a single individual# Coreover,
the divinity ordained that the punishment of this single inDustice should last over a thousand and ten
years, by an oracle predicting the capture of -roy, and ordering that annually the "ocrians should
send virgins into the -emple of Cinerva in -roy#
4ultivation of learning as the next topic .ythagoras urged upon the young men# ,e invited them
to observe ho absurd it ould be to rate the reasoning poer as the chief of their faculties, and in-
deed consult about all other things by its means, and yet besto no time or labor on its exercise# At-
tention to the body might be compared to unorthy friends, and is liable to rapid failureI hile eru-
dition lasts till death, and for some procures post-mortem renon, and may be li!ened to good, reli-
able friends# .ythagoras continued to dra illustrations from history and philosophy, demonstrating
that erudition enables a naturally excellent disposition to share in the achievements of the leaders of
the race# 6or others share in their discoveries by erudition#
/rudition $possesses four great advantages over all other goods(# 6irst, some advantages, such as
strength, beauty, health and fortitude, cannot be exercised except by the cooperation of somebody
else# Coreover, ealth, dominion, and many other goods do not remain ith him ho imparts them
to somebody else# -hird, some !inds of goods cannot be possessed by some men, but all are sus-
ceptible of instruction, according to the individual choice# Coreover, an instructed man ill natur-
ally, and ithout any impudence, be led to ta!e part in the administration of the affairs of his home
country, $as does not occur ith more ealth(# Ane great advantage of erudition is that it may be
imparted to another person ithout in the least diminishing the store of the giver# 6or it is education
hich ma!es the difference beteen a man and a ild beast, a Gree! and a :arbarian, a free man
and a slave, and a philosopher from a boor# In short, erudition is so great an advantage over those
ho do not possess it, that in one hole city and during one hole Alympiad seven men only ere
found to be eminent inners in racing, and that in the hole habitable globe those that excelled in
isdom amounted to no more than seven# :ut in subse0uent times it as generally agreed that .y-
thagoras alone surpassed all others in philosophyI for instead of calling himself a sage, he called
himself a philosopher#
4,A.-/? IJ
4ACCB;I-@ A;3 4,AS-I-@
7hat .ythagoras said to the youths in the Gymnasium, these reported to their elders# ,ereupon
these latter, a thousand strong, called him into the senate-house, praised him for hat he had said to
their sons, and desired him to unfold to the public administration any thoughts advantageous to the
4rotonians, hich he might have#
,is first advice as to build a temple to the Cuses, hich ould preserve the already existing con-
cord# ,e observed to them that all of these divinities ere grouped together by their common name,
that they subsisted only in conDunction ith each other, that they specially reDoiced in social honors,
and that $in spite of all changes( the choir of the Cuses subsisted alays one and the same# -hey
comprehended symphony, harmony, rhythm, and all things breeding concord# ;ot only to beautiful
theorems does their poer extend, but to the general symphonius harmony#
$Eustice( as the next desideratum# -heir common country as not to be victimi5ed selfishly, but to
be received as a common deposit from the multitude of citi5ens# -hey should therefore govern it in
a manner such that, as an hereditary possession they might transmit it into their posterity# -his
could best be effected if the members of the administration realised their e0uality ith the citi5ens,
ith the only supereminence of Dustice# It is from the common recognition that Dustice is re0uired in
every place, that ere created the fables that -hemis seated in the same order ith Eupiter, and that
3ice, or rightness, is seated by .luto, and that "a is established in all cities, so that hoever is un-
Dust in things re0uired of him by his position in society, may concurrently appear unDust toards the
hole orld# Coreover, senators should not ma!e use of any of the Gods for the purpose of an
oath, inasmuch as their language should be such as to ma!e them credible even ithout any oaths#
As to their domestic affairs, their government should be the obDect of deliberate choice# -hey should
sho genuine affection to their on offspring, remembering that these, from among all animals,
ere the only ones ho could appreciate this affection# -heir associations ith their partners in life,
their ives, should be such as to be mindful that hile other compacts are engraved in tables and
pillars, the uxorial ones are incarnated in children# -hey should moreover ma!e an effort to in the
affection of their children, not merely in a natural, involuntary manner, but through deliberate
choice, hich alone merits beneficence#
,e further besought them to avoid connexion ith any but their ivesI lest, angered by their hus-
bands neglect and vice, these should not get even by adulterating the race# -hey should also con-
sider that they received their ives from the <estal hearth ith libations, and brought them home in
the presence of the Gods themselves as suppliants ould have done# Also that by orderly conduct
and temperance they should become model not only for their family, but also for their community#
Again, they should minimi5e public vice, lest offenders indulge in secret sins to escape the punish-
ment of the las, but should, rather be impelled to Dustice from reverence for beauty and propriety#
.rocrastination also as to be ended inasmuch as opportuneness as the best part of any deed# -he
separation of parents from their children .ythagoras considered the greatest of evils# 7hile he ho
is able to discern hat is advantageous to himself may be considered the best man, next to him in
excellence should be ran!ed he ho can see the utility in hat happens to othersI hile the orst
man as he ho aited till he himself as afflicted before under standing here true advantage
lies# See!ers of honor might ell imitate racers, ho do not inDure their antagonists, but limit them-
selves to trying to achieve the victory themselves# Administrators of public affairs should not betray
offense at being contradicted, but on the other hand benefit the tractable# See!ers of true glory
should strive really to become hat they ished to seemI for counsel is not as sacred as praise, the
former being useful only among men, hile the latter mostly referred to the divinities#
In closing, he reminded those that their city happened to have been founded by ,ercules, at a time
hen, having been inDured by "acinius, he drove the oxen through ItalyI hen, rendering assistance
to 4roton by night, mista!ing him for an enemy he sle him unintentionally# 7herefore ,ercules
promised that a city should be built over the sepulchre of 4roton and from him derive the name
4rotona, thus endoing him ith immortality# -herefore, said .ythagoras to the rulers of the city,
these should Dustly render than!s for the benefits they had received#
-he 4rotonians, on hearing his ords built a temple to the Cuses, and drove aay their concubines,
and re0uested .ythagoras to address the young men in the temple of .yhian Apollo, and the omen
in the temple of Euno#
4,A.-/? J
A3<I4/ -A @AB-,S
-o boys .ythagoras, complying ith their parents re0uest, gave the folloing advice# -hey should
neither revile any one nor revenge themselves on those ho did# -hey should devote themselves di-
ligently to learning, hich in Gree! derives its name from their age# A youth ho started out mod-
estly ould find it easy to preserve probity for the remainder of his life, hich ould be a difficult
tas! for one ho at that age as not ell disposedI nay, for one ho begins his course from a bad
impulse to run ell to the end is almost impossible#
.ythagoras pointed out that boys ere most dear to the divinitiesI and he pointed out that, in times
of great drought, cities ould send boys as ambassadors to implore rain from the Gods, in the per-
suasion that divinity is especially attentive to children, although such as are permitted to ta!e part in
sacred ceremonies continuously hardly ever arrive at perfect purification# -hat is also the reason
hy the most philanthropic of the Gods, Apollo and "ove, are, in pictures, universally represented
as having the ages of boys# It is similarly recogni5ed that some of the games in hich con0uerors
are croned ere instituted for the behoof of boysI the .ythian, in conse0uence of the serpent .y-
thon having been slain by a boy, and the ;emean and Istimian, because of the death of Archemerus
and ;elicerta#
Coreover, hile the city of 4rotona, as building, Apollo promised to the founder that he ould
give him a progeny, if he brought a colony into Italy, inferring therefrom that Apollo presided over
their development, and that inasmuch as all the divinities protected their age, it as no more than
fair that they should render themselves orthy of their friendship# ,e added that they should prac-
tise hearing, so that they might learn to spea!# 6urther, that as soon as they had entered on the path
along hich they intended to proceed for the remainder of their existence, they should imitate their
predecessors, never contradicting those ho ere their seniors# 6or later on, hen they themselves
ill have gron, they ill Dustly expect not to be inDured by their future Duniors# :ecause of these
moral teachings, .ythagoras deserved no longer to be called by his patronymic, but that all men
should call him divine#
4,A.-/? JI
A3<I4/ -A 7AC/;
-o the omen .ythagoras spo!e as follos, about sacrifices# -o begin ith, inasmuch as it as no
more than natural that they ould ish that some other person ho intended to pray for them
should be orthy, nay, excellent, because the Gods attend to those particularly, so also it is advis-
able that they themselves should most highly esteem e0uity and modesty, so that the divinities may
be the more inclined to grant their re0uests#
6urther, they should offer to the divinities such things as they themselves have ith their on hands
produced, such as ca!es, honey-combs, Mto-ersKN and perfumes, and should bring them to the altars
ithout the assistance of servants#
-hey should not orship divinities ith blood and dead bodies, nor offer so many things at one
time that it might seem they meant never to sacrifice again#
4oncerning their association ith men, they, should remember that their female nature had by their
parents been granted the license to love their husbands more excessively than even the authors of
their existence# 4onse0uently they should ta!e care neither to oppose their husbands, nor consider
that they have subDected their husbands should these latter yield to them in any detail#
It as in the same assembly that .ythagoras is said to have made the celebrated suggestion that,
after a oman has had connexion ith her husband, it is holy for her to perform sacred rites on the
same day, hich ould be inadmissible, had the connection been ith any man other than her hus-
band#
,e also advised the omen that their conversation should alays be cheerful, and to endeavor that
others may spea! good things of them# ,e further admonished them to care for their good reputa-
tion, and to try not to Dustify the fable-riter ho accused three omen of using a single eye in
common, so great is their mutual illingness to accommodate each other ith the loan of garments
and ornaments, ithout a itness, hen some one of them has special need thereof, returning them
ithout arguments or litigation#
6urther .ythagoras observed that $Cercury( ho is called the isest of all, ho arranged the human
voice, and in short, as the inventor of names, hether he as a God $in Eupiter, the supermundane
gods, the liberated gods, or the planet Cercury(, or a divinity $the Cercurial order of demons(, or a
certain divine man $the /gyptian -heuth, or in special animals such as the ibis, ape, or dogs(, per-
ceiving that the female sex as most given to devotion, gave to each of their ages the name of one
divinity# So an unmarried oman as called 4ore, or .roserpine, a bride ;ympha, a matron, Coth-
erI and a grandmother, in the 3oric dialect, "aia# 4onse0uently, the oracles at 3odona and 3elphi
are brought to light by a oman#
:y this praise of female piety .ythagoras is said to have effected so great a change in popular fe-
male attire, that the omen no longer dared to dress up in costly raiment, consecrating thousands of
their garments in the temple of Euno#
-his discourse had effect also on marital fidelity, to an extent such that in the 4rotonan region con-
nubial faithfulness became proverbialI $thus imitating( Blysses ho, rather than abandon .enelope,
considered immortality ell lost# .ythagoras encouraged the 4rotonian omen to emulate Blysses,
by exhibiting their probity to their husbands# In short, through these $social( discourses .ythagoras
ac0uired great fame both in 4rotona, and in the rest of Italy#
4,A.-/? JII
7,@ .@-,AGA?AS 4A""S ,ICS/"6 A .,I"ASA.,/?
$6rom ,eraclides .onticus, vi# 2 4icero#-usc#vK(
.ythagoras is said to have been the first to call himself a philosopher, a orld hich heretofore had
not been an appellation, but a description# ,e li!ened the entrance of men into the present life to the
progression of a crod to some public spectacle# -here assemble men of all descriptions and vies#
Ane hastens to sell his ares for money and gainI another exhibits his bodily strength for renonI
but the most liberal assemble to observe the landscape, the beautiful or!s of art, the specimens of
valor, and the customary literary productions# So also in the present life men of manifold pursuits
are assembled# Some are incensed by the desire of riches and luxuryI others by the love of poer
and dominion, or by insane ambition for glory# :ut the purest and most genuine character is that of
the man ho devotes himself to the contemplation of the most beautiful thingsI and he may prop-
erly be called a philosopher#
.ythagoras adds that the survey of the hole haven, and of the stars that revolve therein, is indeed
beautiful, hen e consider their order hich is derived from participation in the first and intelli-
gible essence# :ut that first essence is the nature and number of reasons $or, productive principles(,
hich pervades everything, and according to hich all these $celestial( bodies are arranged eleg-
antly, and adorned fittingly# -----veritable isdom is a science conversant ith the first beautiful ob-
Dects $the intelligible property so called(I hich subsist in invariable sameness, being undecaying
and divine, by the participation in hich other things also may ell be called beautiful# -he desire
for something li!e this is philosophy# Similarly beautiful is devotion to eruditionI and this notion
.ythagoras extended, order to effect the improvement of the human race#
4,A.-/? JIII
,/ S,A?/3 A?.,/BS 4A;-?A" A</? A;ICA"S
According to credible historians, his ords possessed an admonitory 0uality that prevailed even
ith animals, hich confirms that, in intelligent men learning tames beasts even ild or irrational#
-he 3aunian bear, ho had severely inDured the inhabitants, as by .ythagoras detained, long
stro!ing it gently, feeding it on mai5e and acorns, and after compelling it by an oath to leave alone
living beings, he sent it aay# It hid itself in the mountains and forest, and as never since !non
to inDure any irrational animal#
At -arentum he sa an ox feeding in a pasture, here he ate green beans# ,e advised the herdsman
to abstain from this food to tell the ox to abstain from this food# -he herdsman laughed at him, re-
mar!ing he did not !no the language of oxenI but that if .ythagoras did, he had better tell him so
himself# .ythagoras approached the oxs ear and hispered into it for a long time, hereafter the ox
not only refrained from them, but even never tasted them# -his ox lived a long hile at -arentum,
near the temple of Euno, and as fed on human food by visitors, till very old, considered sacred#
Ance happening to be tal!ing to his intimates about birds, symbols and prodigies, and observed that
all these are messengers of the Gods, sent by them to men truly dear to them, hen he brought
don an eagle flying over Alympia, hich he gently stro!ed and dismissed#
-hrough such and similar occurrences, .ythagoras demonstrated that he possessed the same domin-
ion as Arpheus over savage animals, and that he allured and detained them by the poer of his
voice#
4,A.-/? JI<
.@-,AGA?ASS .?//JIS-/;4/
.ythagoras used to ma!e the very best possible approach to men by teaching them hat ould pre-
pare them to learn the truth in other matters# 6or by the clearest and surest indications he ould re-
mind many of his intimates of the former life lived by their soul before it as bound to their body#
,e ould demonstrate by indubitable arguments that he had once been /iuphorbus, son of .anthus,
con0ueror of .atroclus# ,e ould especially praise the folloing funeral ,omeric verses pertaining
to himself, hich he ould sing to the lyre most elegantly, fre0uently repeating them#
=-he shining circlets of his golden hair,
7hich even the Graces might be proud to ear,
Instarred ith gems and gold, bestre the shore
7ith dust dishonored, and deformed ith gore#
As the young olive, in some sylvan scene,
4roned by fresh fountains ith eternal green,
"ifts the gay head, in snoy floerets fair,
And plays and dances to the gentle airI
7hen lo, a hirlind from high heaven invades
-he tender plant and ithers all its shadesI
It lies uprooted from its genial bed,
A lovely ruin no defaced and deadI -hus young, thus beautiful /uphorbus lay,
7hile the fierce Spartan tore his arms aay#>
,omer Iliad, %8, .ope#
7e shall hoever omit the reports about the shield of this .hrygian /uphorbus, hich, among other
-roDan spoils, as dedicated to the Argive Euno, as being too popular in nature# 7hat .ythagoras,
hoever, ished to indicate by all those particulars as that he !ne the former lives he had lived
hich enabled him to begin providential attention to others, in hich he reminded them of their
former existences#
4,A.-/? J<
.@-,AGA?AS 4B?/3 :@ C/3I4I;/ A;3 CBSI4
.ythagoras conceived that the first attention that should be given to men should be addressed to the
senses, as hen one perceives beautiful figures and forms, or hears beautiful rhythms and melodies#
4onse0uently he laid don that the first erudition as that hich subsists through musics melodies
and rhythms, and from these he obtained remedies of human manners and passions, and restored the
pristine harmony of the faculties of the soul# Coreover, he devised medicines calculated to repress
and cure the diseases of both bodies and souls# -here is also, by heavens something hich deserves
to be mentioned above all1 namely, that for his disciples he arranged and adDusted hat might be
called apparatus and massage, divinely contriving mingling of certain diatonic, chromatic and en-
harmonic melodies through hich he easily sitched and circulated the passions of the soul in a
contrary direction, henever they had accumulated recently, irrationally or clandestinely such as
sorro, rage, pity, over-emulation, fear, manifold desires, angers, appetites, pride, collapses, or
spasms# /ach of those he corrected by the use of virtue, attempering them through appropriate
melodies, as if through some salutary medicine#
In the evening, li!eise, hen his disciples ere retiring to sleep, he ould thus liberate them from
the days perturbations and tumults, purifying their intellective poers from the influxive and ef-
fluxive aves of corporeal nature, 0uieting their sleep, and rendering their dreams pleasing and
prophetic# :ut hen they arose again in the morning, he ould free them from the nights loggi-
ness, coma and torpor through certain peculiar chords and modulations, produced by either simply
stri!ing the lyre, or adapting the voice# ;ot through instrument or physical voice organs did .y-
thagoras effect thisI but by the employment of a certain indescribable divinity, difficult of apprehen-
sion, through hich he extended his poer of hearing filing his intellect on the sublime symphonies
of the orld, he alone apparently hearing and grasping the universal harmony and consonance of
the spheres, and the stars that are moved through them, producing a melody fuller and more intense
than anything effected by mortal sounds# -his melody as also the result of dissimilar and varying
sounds, speeds, magnitudes and intervals arranged ith reference to each other in a certain musical
ratio, producing a convoluted motion most musical if gentle#
Irrigated therefore ith this melody, his intellect ordered and exercised thereby, he ould, to the
best of his ability exhibit certain symbols of these things to his disciples, especially through imita-
tions thereof through instruments or the physical organs of voice# 6or he conceived that, of all the
inhabitants of earth, by him alone ere these mundane sounds understood and heard, as if coming
from the central spring and root of nature# ,e therefore thought himself orthy to be taught, and to
learn something about the celestial orbs, and to be assimilated to them by desire and imitation, inas-
much as his body alone had been ell enough thereto conformed by the divinity ho had given
birth to him# As to other men, he thought they should be satisfied ith loo!ing to him and the gifts
he possessed, and in being benefited and corrected through images and examples, in conse0uence of
their inability truly to comprehend the first and genuine archetypes of things# Eust as to those ho
are unable to loo! intently at the sun e contrive to sho its eclipses in either the reflections of still
ater, or in melted pitch, or some smo!ed glass, ell burnished bra5en mirror e spare the ea!-
ness of their eyes devising a method of representing light that is reflective, though less intense than
its archetype, to those ho are interested in this sort of a thing# -his peculiar organi5ation of F.y-
thagorass body, far finer than that of any other man, seems to be hat /mpodocles as obscurely
driving at in his enigmatical verses1
=Among the .ythagoreans as a man transcendent in !noledgeI
7ho possessed the most ample stores of intellectual ealth,
And in most eminent degree assisted in the or!s of the ise#
7hen he extended all the poers of his intellect,
,e easily beheld everything,
As far as ten or tenty ages of the human raceL>
-hese ords =transcendent,> he beheld every detail of all beings, =and the ealth of intellect,> and
so on, describe as accurately as at all possible his peculiar, and exceptionally accurate method of
hearing, seeing and understanding#
4,A.-/? J<I
.@-,AGA?/A; AS4/-I4ISC
Cusic therefore performed this .ythagorean adDustment# :ut another !ind of purification of the dis-
cursive reason, and also of the hole soul, through various studies, as effected $by asceticism(# ,e
had a general notion that disciplines and studies should imply some form of laborI and therefore,
li!e a legislator, he decreed trials of the most varied nature, punishments, and restraints by fire and
sord, for innate intemperance, or an ineradicable desire for possession, hich the depraved could
neither suffer nor sustain# Coreover, his intimates ere ordered to abstain from all animal food, and
any other that are hostile to the reasoning poer by impeding its genuine energies# An them he li!e-
ise enDoined suppression of speech, and perfect silence, exercising them for years at a time in the
subDugation of the tongue, hile strenuously and assiduously investigating and ruminating over the
most difficult theorems# ,ence also he ordered them to abstain from ine, to be sparing in the their
food, to sleep little, and to cultivate an unstudied contempt of, and hostility to fame, ealth, and the
li!eI unfeignedly to reverence those to hom reverence is due, genuinely to exercise democratic as-
similation and heartiness toards their fellos in age, and toards their Duniors courtesy, encour-
agement, ithout envy#
Coreover .ythagoras is generally ac!noledged to have been the inventor and legislator of friend-
ship, under its many various forms, such as universal amity of all toards all, of God toards men
through their pity and scientific theories, or the mutual interrelation of teachings, or universally of
the soul toards the body and of the rational to the rational part, through philosophy and its under-
lying theoriesI or hether it be that of men toards each other, or citi5ens indeed through sound le-
gislation, but of strangers through a correct physiologyI or of the husband to the ife or brothers
and !indred, through unperverted communionI or hether, in short, it be of all things toards all,
and still farther, of certain irrational animals through Dustice, and a physical connexion and associ-
ationI or hether it be the pacification and conciliation of the body hich of itself is mortal, and of
its latent conflicting poers, through health and a temperate diet conformable to this, in imitation of
the salubrious condition of the mundane elements#
In short, .ythagoras procured his disciples the most appropriate converse ith the Gods, both a!-
ing and sleepingI something hich never occurs in a soul disturbed by anger, pain, or pleasure, and
surely, all the more, by any base desire, or defiled by ignorance, hich is the most noxious and un-
holy of all the rest# :y all these inventions, therefore, he divinely purified and healed the soul, re-
suscitating and saving it diving part, and directing to the intelligible its divine eye, hich, as .lato
says, is more orth saving than ten thousand corporeal eyesI for hen it is strengthened and clari-
fied by appropriate aids, hen e loo! through this, e perceive the truth about all beings# In this
particular respect, therefore, .ythagoras purified the discursive poer of the soul# -his is the $prac-
tical( form that erudition too! ith him, and such are the obDects of his interest#
4,A.-/? J<II
-/S-S A6 .@-,AGA?/A; I;I-IA-IA;
As he therefore thus prepared his disciples for culture, he did not immediately receive as an associ-
ate any ho came to him for that purpose until he had tested them and examined them Dudiciously#
-o begin ith he in0uired about their relation to their parents and !insfol!# ;ext he surveyed their
laughter, speech or silence, as to hether it as unreasonableI further, about their desires, their as-
sociates, their conversation, ho they employed their leisure, and hat ere the subDects of their
Doy or grief# ,e observed their form, their gait, and the hole motions of their body# ,e considered
their frames natural indications physiognomically, rating them as visible exponents of the invisible
tendencies of the soul# After subDecting a candidate to such trials, he alloed him to be neglected
for three years, still covertly observing his disposition toards stability, and genuine studiousness,
and hether he as sufficiently averse to glory, and ready to despise popular honors#
After, this the candidate as compelled to observe silence for five years, so as to have made defin-
ite experiments in continence of speech, inasmuch as the subDugation of the tongue is the most diffi-
cult of all victories, as has indeed been unfolded by those ho have instituted the mysteries# 3uring
this probation, hoever, the property of each as disposed of in common, being committed to trust-
ees, ho ere called politicians, economi5ers or legislators# Af these probationers, after the 0uin-
0uennial silence, those ho by modest dignity had on his approval as orthy to share in his doc-
trines, then became esoterics, and ithin the veil both heard and sa .ythagoras# .rior to this they
participated in his ords through the hearing alone, ithout seeing him ho remained ithin the
veil, and themselves offering to him a specimen of their manners# If reDected, they ere given the
double of the ealth they had brought, but the auditors raised to him a tomb, as if they ere deadI
the disciples being generally called auditors#
Should these later happen to meet the reDected candidate, they ould treat him as a stronger, declar-
ing that he hom they had by education modeled had died, inasmuch as the obDect of these discip-
lines had been to be turned out good and honest men#
-hose ho ere slo in the ac0uisition of !noledge ere considered to be badly organi5ed or, e
may say, deficient, and sterile#
If, hoever, after .ythagoras had studied them physiognomically, their gait, motions and state of
health, he conceived good hopes of themI and if, after the five years silence, and the emotions and
initiations from so many disciplines together ith the ablutions of the soul, and so many and so
great purifications produced by such various theorems, through hich sagacity and sanctity is in-
grained into the soul###################if, after all this even, someone as found to be still sluggish and
dull, they ould raise to such a candidate ithin the school a pillar or monument, such as as said
to have been done to .erialus the -hurian, and 4ylon the prince of the Sybarites, ho ere reDected,
they expelled him from the auditorium, loading him don ith silver and gold# -his ealth had by
them been deposited in common, in the care of certain custodians, aptly called Economics# Should
any of the .ythagoreans later meet ith the reDect, they did not recogni5e him hom they accounted
dead# ,ence also "ysis, blaming a certain ,ipparchus for having revealed the .ythagorean doc-
trines to the profane, and to such as accepted them ithout disciplines or theory, said1
=It is reported that you philosophise indiscriminately and publicly, hich is opposed to the customs
of .ythagoras# 7ith assiduity you did indeed learn them, A ,ipparchusI but you have not preserved
them# Cy dear fello, you have tasted Sicilian tit-bits, hich you should not have repeated# If you
give them up, I shall be delightedI but if you do not, you ill to me be dead# 6or it ould be pious
to recall the human and divine precepts of .ythagoras, and not to communicate the treasures of is-
dom to those ho have not purified their souls, even in a dream# It is unlaful to give aay things
obtained ith labors so great, and ith assiduity so diligent to the first person you meet, 0uite as
much as to divulge the mysteries of the /leusynian goddesses to the profane# /ither thing ould be
unDust and impious# 7e should consider ho long a time as needed to efface the stains that had
insinuated themselves in our breasts, before e became orthy to receive the doctrines of .y-
thagoras# Bnless the dyers previously purified the garments in hich they ish the desired colors to
be fixed, the dye ould either fade, or be ashed aay entirely# Similarly, that divine man prepared
the souls of lovers of philosophy, so that they might not disappoint him in any of those beautiful
0ualities hich he hoped they ould possess# ,e did not impart spurious doctrines, nor stratagems,
in hich most of the Sophists, ho are at leisure for no good purpose, entangle young menI but his
!noledge of things human and divine as scientific# -hese Sophists, hoever, use his doctrines as
a mere pretext commit dreadful atrocities, seeping the youths aay as in a dragnet, most disgrace-
fully, ma!ing their auditors become rash nuisances# -hey infuse theorems and divine doctrines into
hearts hose manners are confused and agitated, Dust as if pure, clear ater should be poured into a
deep ell full of mud, hich ould stir up the sediment and destroy the clearness of the ater#
Such a mutual misfortune occurs beteen such teachers and disciples# -he intellect and heart of
those hose initiation has not proceeded by disciplines, are surrounded lay thic!ets dense and
thorny, hich obscure the mild, tran0uil and reasoning poer of the soul, and impede the develop-
ment and elevation of the intellective part# -hese thic!ets are produced by intemperance and av-
arice, both of hich are prolific# Intemperance produces laless marriages, lusts, intoxications, un-
natural enDoyments, and passionate impulsions hich drive headlong into pits and abysses# -he un-
bridling of desires has removed the barriers against incest ith even mothers or daughters, am Dust
as a tyrant ould violate city regulations, or countrys las, ith their hands bound behind them,
li!e slaves, they have been dragged to the depths of degradation# An the other hand, avarice pro-
duces rapine, robbery, parricide, sacrilege, sorcery, and !indred evils# Such being the case, these
surrounding thic!ets, infested ith passions, ill have to be cleared out ith systematic disciplines,
as if ith fire and sordI and hen the reason ill have been liberated from so many and great
evils, e are in a position to offer to it, and implant ithin it something useful and good#>
So great and necessary as the attention hich, according to .ythagoras, should be paid to discip-
lines as introductions to philosophy#
Coreover, inasmuch as he devoted so much care to the examination of the mental attitudes of pro-
spective disciples, he insisted that the teaching and communication of his doctrines should be distin-
guished by great honor#
4,A.-/? J<III
A?GA;IHA-IA; A6 -,/ .@-,AGA?/A; S4,AA"
-he next step to set forth ho, after admission to discipleship folloed distribution into several
classes according to individual merit# As the disciples ere naturally dissimilar, it as impractic-
able for them to participate in all things e0ually, nor ould it have been fair for some to share in the
deepest revelations, hile others might get excluded therefrom, or others from everythingI such dis-
criminations, being unDust# 7hile he communicated some suitable of his discourses to all, he sought
to benefit everybody, preserving the proportion of Dustice, by ma!ing every mans merit the index
of the extent of his teachings# ,e carried this method so far as to call some Pythagoreans, and oth-
ers Pythagorists, Dust as e discriminate poets from poetasters# According to this distinction of
names, some of his disciples he considered genuine, and to be the models of the others# -he .y-
thagoreans possessions ere to be shared in common inasmuch as they ere to live together, hile
the .ythagorists should continue to manage their on property, though by assembling fre0uently
they might all be at leisure to pursue the same activities# -hese to modes of life hich originated
from .ythagoras, as transmitted to his successors# Among the .ythagoreans there ere also to
forms of philosophy, pursued by to classes, the !earers and the #tudents# -he latter ere univer-
sally recogni5ed as .ythagoreans by all the rest, though the #tudents did not admit as much for the
!earers, insisting that these derived their instructions not from .ythagoras, but from ,ippasus, ho
as variously described as either a 4rotonian or Cetapontine#
-he philosophy of the !earers consisted in lectures ithout demonstrations or conferences or argu-
ments merely directing something to be done in a certain ay, un0uestioningly preserving them as
so many divine dogmas, non-discussible, and hich they promised not to reveal, esteeming as most
ise ho more than others retained them# Af the lectures there ere three !indsI the first merely an-
nounced certain factsI others expressed hat it as especially, and the third, hat should, or should
not be done about it# -he obDective lectures studied such 0uestions as, 7hat are the islands of the
:lessedK 7hat are the sun and moonK 7hat is the oracle at 3elphiK 7hat is the TetractysK 7hat is
harmonyK 7hat as the real nature of the SirensK O -he subDective lectures studied the especial
nature of an obDect, such as, 7hat is the most Dust thingK -o sacrifice# 7hat is the isest thingK -he
next isest is the naming of poer# 7hat is the isest human thingK Cedicine hat is the most
beautifulK ,armony# 7hat is the most poerfulK Cental decision# 7hat is the most excellentK 6eli-
city# 7hich is the most un0uestioned propositionK -hat all men are depraved# -hat is hy .y-
thagoras as said to have praised the Salaminian poet ,ippodomas, for singing1
=-ell, A ye Gods, the source from hence ye came,
And ye, A Cen, ho evil ye became#>
Such ere these subDective lectures, hich taught the distinctive nature of everything#
-his sort of study really constitutes the isdom of the so-called seven sages# 6or these also did not
investigate hat as good simply, but especially, nor hat is difficult, but hat is particularly so,
----namely, for a man to !no himself# So also they considered not hat as easy, but hat as
most so, namely, to continue folloing out your habits Such studies resembled, and folloed the
sages, ho hoever preceded .ythagoras#
-he practice lectures, hich studied hat should or should not be done, considered 0uestions such
as1 -hat it is necessary to beget children, inasmuch as e must leave after us successors ho may
orship the divinities# Again, that e should put on first the shoe on the right foot# -hat it is not
proper to parade on the public streets, nor to dip into a sprin!ling vessel, nor to ash in a public
bath# 6or in all these cases the cleanliness of the agents is uncertain# Ather such problems ere, 3o
not assist a man in laying don a burden, hich encourages him to loiter, but to assist him in under-
ta!ing something# 3o not hope to beget children from a oman ho is rich# Spea! not about .y-
thagoric affairs ithout light# .erform libations to the Gods from the handle of the cup, to ma!e the
omen auspicious and to avoid drin!ing from the same part $from hich the li0uor as poured outK(
7ear not the image of a God on a ring, for fear of defiling it, as such resemblances should be pro-
tected in a house# Bse no oman ill, for she is a suppliantI herefore, indeed, e bring her from the
<estal hearth, and ta!e her by the right hand# ;or is it proper to sacrifice a hite coc!, ho also is a
suppliant, being sacred to the moon and announces the hours#- -o him ho as!s for counsel, give
none but the best, for counsel is a sacrament# -he most laborious path is the test, Dust as the pleasur-
able one is mostly the orst, inasmuch as e entered into the present life for the sa!e of education,
hich best proceeds by chastening# It is proper to sacrifice, and to ta!e off ones shoes on entering
into a temple# In going to a temple, one should not turn out of the ayI for divinity should not be
orshipped carelessly# It is ell to sustain, and sho ounds, if they are in the breast, but not if
they are behind# - -he soul of man incarnates in the bodies of all animals, except in those hich it is
laful to !illI hence e should eat none but those hom it is proper to slay# Such ere subDects of
these ethical lectures#
-he most extended lectures, hoever, ere those concerning sacrifices, both at the time hen mi-
grating from the preset life, and at other timesI also about the proper manner of sepulture#
Af some of these propositions the reason is designedI such as for instance that e must beget chil-
dren to leave successors to orship the Gods# :ut no Dustification is assigned for the others, al-
though in some cases they are implied proximately or remotely, such as that bread is not to be
bro!en, because it contributes to the Dudgment in ,ades# Such merely probable reasons, that are ad-
ditional, are not .ythagoric, but ere devised by non-.ythagoreans ho ished to add eight to the
statement# -hus, for instance, in respect to the last statement, that bread is not to be bro!en, some
add the reason that e should not $unnecessarily( distribute hat has been assembled, inasmuch as
in barbaric times a hole friendly group ould together pounce upon a single piece# Athers again
explain that precept on the grounds that it is inauspicious, at the beginning of an underta!ing, to
ma!e an omen of fracture or diminution# Coreover, all these precepts are based on one single un-
derlying principle, the end of divinity, so that the hole of every life may result in folloing God,
hich is besides that principle and doctrine of philosophy# 6or it is absurd to search for good in any
direction other than the Gods# -hose ho do so resemble a man ho, in a country governed by a
!ing, should do honor to one of his fello-citi5ens ho is a magistrate, hile neglecting him ho is
the ruler of all of them# Indeed, this is hat the .ythagoreans thought of people ho searched for
good elsehere than from God# 6or since ,e exists, as the lord of all things, it must be self-evident
that good must be re0uested of ,im alone# 6or even men impart good to those they love and enDoy,
and do the opposite to those they disli!e# Such indeed as the isdom of those precepts#
-here, as, hoever, a certain Aegean named ,ippomedon, one of the .ythagorean !earers, ho
insisted that .ythagoras himself gave the reasons for, and demonstrations of these precepts himselfI
but that in conse0uence of their being delivered to many, some of hom ere slo, the demonstra-
tions ere removed, leaving the bare propositions# -he .ythagorean #tudents, hoever, insist that
the reasons and demonstrations ere added by .ythagoras himself, explaining the difference arose
as follos# According to them, .ythagoras, hailed from Ionia and Samos, to Italy then flourishing
under the tyranny of .olycrates, and he attracted as associates the very most prominent men of the
city# :ut the more elderly of these ho ere busied ith politics, and therefore had no leisure,
needed the discourses of .ythagoras dissociated from reasonings, as they ould have found it diffi-
cult to follo his meanings through disciplines and demonstrations, hile nevertheless .ythagoras
reali5ed that they ould be benefited by !noing hat ought to be done, even though lac!ing the
underlying reason, Dust as physicians patients obtain their health ithout hearing the reasons of
every detail of the treatment# :ut .ythagoras conversed through disciplines and demonstrations
ith the younger associates, ho ere able both to act and learn# Such then are the differing ex-
planations of the !earers and #tudents#
As to ,ippasus, hoever, they ac!noledge that he as one of the .ythagoreans, but that he met
the doom of the impious in the sea in conse0uence of having divulged and explained the method of
s0uaring the circle, by telve pentagonsI but nevertheless he obtained the renon of having made
the discovery# In reality, hoever, this Dust as everything else pertaining to geometry, as the in-
vention of that man as they referred to .ythagoras# :ut the .ythagoreans say that geometry as di-
vulged under the folloing circumstances1 A certain .ythagorean happened to lose his fortune to re-
coup hich he as permitted to teach that science, hich, by .ythagoras as called ,istory#
So much then concerning the difference of each mode of philosophi5ing, and the classes of .y-
thagorass disciples# 6or those ho heard him either ithin or ithout the veil, and those ho heard
him accompanied ith seeing, or ithout seeing him, and ho are classified as internal or external
auditors, ere none other than these# Bnder these can be classified the .olitical, /conomic, and "e-
gislative .ythagoreans#
4,A.-/? JIJ
A:A?IS -,/ S4@-,IA;
Generally, hoever, it should be !non, that .ythagoras discovered many paths of erudition, but
that he communicated to each only that part of isdom hich as appropriate to the recipients
nature and poer, of hich the folloing is an appropriate stri!ing illustration# 7hen Abaris the
Scythian came from the ,yperboreans, he as already of an advanced age, and uns!illed and unini-
tiated in the Gree! learning# .ythagoras did not compel him to ade through introductory theorems,
the period of silence, and long auscultation, not to mention other trials, but considered him to be fit
for an immediate listener to his doctrines, and instructed him in the shortest ay, in his treatise on
;ature, and one An the God -his ,yperborean Abaris as elderly, and most ise in sacred con-
cerns, being a priest of the Apollo there orshipped# At that time he as returning from Greece to
his country, in order to consecrate the gold hich he had collected to the God in his temple among
the ,yperboreans# As therefore he as passing through Italy, he sa .ythagoras, and identified him
as the God of hom he as the priest#
:elieving that .ythagoras resembled to no man, but as none other than the God himself, Apollo,
both from the venerable associations he sa around him, and from those the priest already !ne, he
paid him homage by giving him a sacred dart# -his dart he had ta!en ith him hen he had left his
temple, as an implement that ould stand him in good stead in the difficulties that might befall him
in so long a Dourney# 6or in passing through inaccessible places, such as rivers, la!es, marshes,
mountains and the li!e, it carried him, and by it he as said to have performed lustrations and ex-
pelled inds and pestilences from the cities that re0uested him to liberate from such evils# 6or in-
stance, it as said that "acedemon, after having been by him purified, as no longer infected ith
pestilence, hich formerly had been endemic, through the miasmatic nature of the ground, in the
suffocating heat produced by the overhanging mountain -aygetus, Dust as happens ith 4nossus in
4rete# Cany other similar circumstances ere reported of Abaris#
.ythagoras, hoever, accepted the dart, ithout expressing any ama5ement at the novelty of the
thing, nor as!ing hy the dart as presented to him, as if he really as a god# -hen he too! Abaris
aside, and shoed him his golden thigh, as an indication that he as not holly mista!en $in his es-
timate of his real nature(# -hen .ythagoras described to him several details of his distant ,yper-
borean temple, as proof of deserving being considered divine# .ythagoras also added that he came
$into the regions of mortality( to remedy and improve the condition of the human race, having as-
sumed human form lest men disturbed by the novelty of his transcendency should avoid the discip-
line he advised# ,e advised Abaris to stay ith him, to aid him in correcting $the manners and mor-
als( of those they might meet, and to share the common resources of himself and associates, hose
reason led them to practice the precept that the possessions of friends are common# So Abaris
stayed ith him, and as compendiously taught physiology and theologyI and instead of living by
the entrails of beasts, he revea%ed to him the art of prognosticating by numbers conceiving this to be
a method purer, more divine and more !indred to the celestial numbers of the Gods# Also he taught
Abaris other studies for hich he as fit#
?eturning hoever to the purpose of the present treatise, .ythagoras endeavored to correct and
amend different persons according to their individual abilities# Bnfortunately most of these particu-
lars have neither been publicly transmitted nor is it easy to describe that hich has been transmitted
to us concerning him#
4,A.-/? JJ
.S@4,A"AGI4A" ?/PBI?/C/;-S
7e must no set forth a fe of the most celebrated points of the .ythagoric discipline, and land-
mar!s of their distinctive studies#
7hen .ythagoras tested a novice, he considered the latters ability to hold his counsel, =ochemu-
thein> being his technical term for this# ;amely, hether they could reserve and preserve hat they
had heard and learned# ;ext, he examined their modesty, for he as much more anxious that they
should be silent, than that they should spea!# 6urther, he tested every other 0uality, for instance,
hether they ere astonished by the energies of any immoderate desire or passion# ,is examination
of their affectability by desire or anger, their contentiousness or ambition, their inclination to friend-
ship or discord, as by no means superficial# If then after an accurate survey these novices ere ap-
proved as of orthy manners, he then directed his attention to their facility in learning, and their
memory# ,e examined their ability to follo hat as said, ith rapidity and perspicuityI and then,
hether they ere impelled to the disciplines taught them by temperance and love# 6or he laid
stress on natural gentleness# -his he called culture# 6erocity he considered hostile to such a !ind of
education# 6or savage manners are attended by impudence, shamelessness, intemperance, sloth, stu-
pidity, licentiousness, disgrace, and the li!e, hile their opposite attend mildness and gentleness#
-hese things then he considered in ma!ing trial of those that came to him, and in these the "earners
ere exercised# -hose that ere adapted to receive the goods of the isdom he possessed he admit-
ted to discipleshipI endeavoring to elevate them to scientific !noledgeI but if he perceived that any
novice as unadapted to them, he expelled him as a stranger and a barbarian# $In the original, the
JJ th chapter continues until after the second next paragraph#(
4,A.-/? JJI
3AI"@ .?AG?AC
-he studies hich he delivered to his associates, ere as follosI for those ho committed them-
selves to the guidance of his doctrine acted thus# -hey too! solitary morning al!s to places hich
happened to be appropriately 0uiet, to temples or groves, or other suitable places# -hey thought it
inadvisable to converse ith anyone until they had gained inner serenity, focusing their reasoning
poersI they considered it turbulent to mingle in a crod as soon as they rose from bedI and that is
the reason hy these .ythagoreans alays selected the most sacred spots to al!# After their morn-
ing al! they associated ith each other, especially in temples, or, if this as not possible, in simil-
ar places# -his time as employed in the discussion of disciplines and doctrines, and in the correc-
tion of manners#
$4hapter JJ( After an association so holy, they turned their attention to the health of the body#
Cost of them ere rubbed don, and racedI feer restled, in gardens or grovesI others in leaping
ith leaden eights on their hands, or in oratorical gesticulations, ith a vie to the strengthening
of the body, studiously selecting for this purpose opposite exercises# -hey lunched on bread and
honey, or on the honey-comb, avoiding ine# Afterards, they held receptions to guests and
strangers, conformably to the mandates of the las, hich as restricted to this time of day#
In the afternoon, they once more betoo! themselves to al!ing, yet not alone, as in the morning
al!, but in parties of to or three, rehearsing the disciplines they had learned, and, exercising
themselves in attractive studies# After the al!, they patroni5ed the bathI and after hose ablution
they gathered in the common dining-room, hich accommodated no more than a group of ten# -hen
ere performed libations and sacrifices ith fumigations and incense# -hen folloed supper, hich
closed before the setting of the sun# -hey ate herbs, ra and boiled, mai5e, ine, and every food
eatable ith bread# Af any animals laful to immolate, they ate the flesh, but they rarely partoo! of
fish, hich as not useful to them for certain causes animals not naturally noxious ere, neither to
be inDured, nor slain# -his supper as folloed by libations, succeeded by readings# -he youngest
read hat the eldest advised, and as they suggested#
7hen they ere about to depart, the cupbearer poured out a libation for them, after hich the eldest
ould announce precepts, such as the folloing1 -hat a mild and fruitful plant should neither be in-
Dured nor corrupted, nor any harmless animal# 6urther, that e should spea! piously, and form suit-
able conceptions of divine, tutelary and heroic beings, and similarly of parents and benefactors#
Also, that e should aid, and not obstruct the enforcement of las# 7hereafter, all separated, to go
home# -hey ore a hite garment, that as pure# -hey also lay on hite and pure beds, the cover-
lets of hich, ere made of linen, not ool# -hey did not hunt, not underta!e any similar exercise#
Such ere the precepts daily delivered to the disciples of .ythagoras, in respect to eating and living#
4,A.-/? JJII
6?I/;3S,I.
-radition tells of another !ind of teaching by .ythagorean maxims pertaining to human opinions
and practices, some examples of hich may here be mentioned# It advised to remove strife from un-
true friendship# If possible, this as to apply to all friendshipI but at all events to that toards par-
ents, elders, and benefactors# /xisting friendships ith such as these ould not be preserved $but
destroyed( by rivalry, contention, anger and subse0uent graver passions# -he scars and ulcers hich
their advice sometimes cause should be minimi5ed as much as possible, hich ill be effected if
especially the younger of the to should learn ho to yield, and subdue his angry emotions# An the
other hand, the so-called Fpaedartases,> or corrections and admonitions of the elder toards the
younger, should be made ith much suavity of manners, and great cautionI also ith much soli-
citude and tact, hich ma!es the reproof all the more graceful and useful#
6aith should never be separated from friendship, hether seriously or in Dest# /xisting friendship
cannot survive the insinuation of deceit beteen professors of friendship#
;or should friendship be affected by misfortune or other human vicissitudeI and the only reDection
of friendship hich is commendable is that hich follos definite and incurable vice#
Such is an example of the .ythagorean hortatory maxims, hich extended to all the virtues, and the
hole of life#
4,A.-/? JJIII
BS/ A6 .A?A:"/S A6 I;S-?B4-IA;
.ythagoras considered most necessary the use of parables in instruction# Cost of the Gree!s had ad-
opted it, as the most ancientI and it had been both preferentially and in principle employed by the
/gyptians, ho had developed it in the most varied manner# In harmony ith this it ill be found
that .ythagoras attended to it sedulously, if from the .ythagoric symbols e unfold their signific-
ance and arcane intentions, developing their content of rectitude and truth, liberating them from
their enigmatic form# 7hen, according to straightforard and uniform tradition they are accom-
modated to the sublime intelligence of these philosophers, they deify beyond human conception#
-hose ho came from this school, not only the most ancient .ythagoreans, but also those ho dur-
ing his old age ere still young, such as .hilolaos, and /urytus, 4harendas and Haleucus, :rysson
and the elder Archytas, Aristaeus, "ysis and /mpdocles, Hamoixis and /pimanides, Cilo and "eu-
cippus, Alcmaeon and ,ippasus, and -hymaridas ere all of that age, a multitude of savants, in-
comparably excellent, --- all these adopted this mode of teaching, both in their conversations, and
commentaries and annotations# -heir ritings also, and all the boo!s hich they published, most of
hich have been preserved, to our times, ere not composed in popular or vulgar diction, or in a
manner usual to all other riters, so as to be immediately understood, but in a ay such as to be not
easily apprehended by their readers# 6or they adopted .ythagorass la of reserve, in an arcane
manner concealing divine mysteries from the uninitiated, obscuring their ritings and mutual con-
versations#
-he result is that they ho presents theses symbols ithout unfolding their meaning by a unsuitable
exposition, runs the danger of exposing them to the charge of being ridiculous and inane, trifling
and garrulous# 7hen hoever they expounded according to these symbols, and made clear and ob-
vious even to the crods, then they ill be found analogous to prophetic sayings such as the oracles
of the .ythian Apollo# -heir admirable meaning ill inspire those ho unite intellect and scholarli-
ness#
It might be ell to mention a fe of them, explain this mode of discipline#
;ot negligently enter into a temple or adore carelessly, even if only at the doors#
Sacrifice and adore unshod#
Shunning public roads, al! in unfre0uented paths#
;ot ithout light spea! about .ythagoric affairs#
Such is a s!etch of the symbolic mode of teaching adopted by .ythagoras#
4,A.-/? JJI<
3I/-A?@ SBGG/S-IA;S
Since food, used properly and regularly, greatly contributes to the best discipline, it may be interest-
ing to consider .ythagorass precepts on the subDect# 6orbidden as generally all food causing flat-
ulence or indigestion, hile he recommended the contrary !ind of food, that preserve and are astrin-
gent# 7herefore he recommended the nutritious 0ualities of millet# ?eDected as all food foreign to
the Gods, as ithdraing us from communion ith them# An the other hand, he forbade to his dis-
ciples all food that as sacred, as too honorable to subserve common utility# ,e exhorted his dis-
ciples to abstain from such things as ere an impediment to prophecy or to the purity and chastity
to the soul, or to the habit of temperance, and virtue# "astly, he reDected all things that ere an im-
pediment to sanctity and disturbed or obscured the other purities of the soul, and the phantasms
hich occur in sleep# Such ere the general regulations about food#
Specially, hoever, the most contemplative of the philosophers, ho had arrived at the summit of
philosophic attainments, ere forbidden superfluous, food such as ine, or unDustifiable food such
as as animatedI and not to sacrifice animals to the Gods, nor by any means to inDure animals, but
to observe most solicitous Dustice toards them# ,e himself lived after this manner, abstaining from
animal food, and adoring altars undefiled ith blood# ,e as li!eise careful to prevent others
from destroying animals of a nature !indred to ours, and rather corrected and instructed savage an-
imals, than inDured them as punishment# 6urther, he ordered abstaining from animal food even to
politiciansI for as they desired to act Dustly to the highest degree, they must certainly not inDure any
!indred animals# ,o indeed could they persuade others to act Dustly, if they themselves ere de-
tected in an insatiable avidity in devouring animals allied to us# -hese are conDoined to us by a
fraternal alliance through the communion of life, and the same elements, and the commingling of
these#
/ating of the flesh of certain animals as hoever permitted to those hose life as not entirely
purified, philosophic and sacredI but even for these as appointed a definite time of abstinence# :e-
sides, these ere not to eat the heart, nor the brain, hich entirely forbidden to all .ythagoreans#
6or these organs are predominant and as it ere ladders and seats of isdom and life# 6ood other
than animal as by him also considered sacred, on account of the nature of divine reason# -hus his
disciples ere to abstain from mallos, because this plant is the first messenger and signal of the
sympathy of celestial ith terrestrial natures# Coreover, the fish melanurus as interdicted because
sacred to the terrestrial gods# "i!eise, the erythinus# :eans also on account of many causes also
ere interdicted, physical, psychic and sacred#
Cany other similar precepts ere enDoined in the attempt to lead men to virtue through their food#
4,A.-/? JJ<
CBSI4 A;3 .A/-?@
.ythagoras as li!eise of opinion that music, if properly used, greatly contributed to health# 6or
he as ont to use it in no careless ay, but as a purification# Indeed, he restricted this ord to sig-
nify music used as medicine#
About the vernal season he used a melody in this manner# In the middle as placed a person ho
played on the lyre, and seated around him in a circle ere those able to sing# -hen the lyrist in the
centre struc! up and the singers raised certain paeans, through hich they ere evidently so over-
Doyed that their manners became elegant and orderly# -his music instead of medicines as also used
at certain other times#
4ertain melodies ere devised as remedies against the passions of the soul, as also against despond-
ency and gnashing of the teeth, hich ere invented by .ythagoras as specifics# 6urther, he em-
ployed other melodies against anger and rage, and all other aberrations of the soul# Another !ind of
modulation as invented against desires# ,e li!eise used dancing, hich as accompanied by the
lyre, instead of the pipe, hich he conceived to have an influence toards insolence, being theatric-
al, and by no means liberal# 6or the purpose of correcting the soul, he also used select verses of
,omer and ,esiod#
It is related among the deeds of .ythagoras that once, through a spondaic song, he extinguished the
rage of a -auromanian lad, ho after feasting by night, intended to burn the vestibule of the house
of his mistress, on seeing her issuing from the house of a rival# $-o this rash attempt the lad had
been inflamed, by a .hrygian song, hich hoever .ythagoras at once suppressed#( As .ythagoras
as astronomi5ing he happened to meet this .hrygian piper at an unseasonable time of night, and
persuaded him to change his .hrygian song for a spondaic oneI through hich the fury of the lad
being immediately repressed, he retired home in an orderly manner, although but a little hile since
he had stupidly insulted .ythagoras as on meeting him, ould bear no admonition, and could not be
restrained#
,ere is another instance# Anchitus, the host of /mpedocles, had as Dudge, condemned to death the
father of a youth, ho rushed on Anchitus ith dran sord, intending to slay him# /mpedocles
changed the youths intention by singing, to his lyre, that verse of ,omer $Ad,G(1
=;epenthe, ithout gall, oer every ill
Ablivion spreadsI -=
thus saving his host Anchitus from death, and the youth from committing murder# It is said that
from that time on the youth became one of the most faithful disciples of .ythagoras#
-he .ythagoreans distinguished three states of mind, called e$artysis, or readinessI synarmoge, or
fitness, and epaphe, or contact, hich converted the soul to contrary passions, and these could be
produced by certain appropriate songs#
7hen they retired, they purified their reasoning poers from the noises and perturbations to hich
they had been exposed during the day, by certain odes and hymns hich produced tran0uil sleep,
and fe, but good dreams# :ut hen they arose from slumbers, they again liberated themselves
from the da5edness and torpor of sleep by songs of another !ind# Sometimes the passions of the
soul and certain diseases ere, as they said, genuinely lured by enchantments, by musical sounds
alone, ithout ords# -his is indeed probably the origin of the general use of this ord epode#
-hus therefore, through music .ythagoras produced the most beneficial correction of manners and
lives#
4,A.-/? JJ<I
-,/A?/-I4A" CBSI4 $from ;icomachus(
7hile describing .ythagorass isdom in instructing his disciples, e must not fail to note that he
invented the harmonic science and ratios# :ut to explain this e must go a little bac!ards in time#
Ance as he as intently considering music, and reasoning ith himself hether it ould be pos-
sible to devise some instrumental assistance to the sense of hearing, so as to systemati5e it, as sight
is made precise by the compass rule, and MtelescopeN, or touch is made rec!onable by balance and
measures, - so thin!ing of these things .ythagoras happened to pass by a bra5iers shop, here
providentially he heard the hammers beating out a piece of iron on the anvil, producing sounds that
harmoni5ed, except one# :ut he recogni5ed in these sounds, the concord of the octave, the fifth, and
the fourth# ,e sa that the sound beteen the fourth and the fifth, ta!en by itself, as a dissonance,
and yet completed the greater sound among them# 3elighted, therefore, to find that the thing he as
anxious to discover had by divine assistance succeeded, he ent into the smithy, and by various ex-
periments discovered that the difference of sound arose from the magnitude of the hammers, but not
from the force of the stro!es, nor from the shape of the hammers, nor from the change of position of
the beaten iron# ,aving then accurately examined the eights and the sing of the hammers, he re-
turned home, and fixed one sta!e diagonally to the alls, lest some difference should arise from
there being several of them, or from some difference in the material of the sta!es# 6rom this sta!e
he then suspended four gut-strings, of similar materials, si5e, thic!ness and tist# A eight as sus-
pended from the bottom of each# 7hen the strings ere e0ual in length, he struc! to of them sim-
ultaneously, he reproduced the former intervals, forming different pairs#
,e discovered that the string stretched by the greatest eight, hen compared ith that stretched by
the smallest eight, the interval of an octave# -he eight of the first as telve pounds, and that of
the latter six# :eing therefore in a double ratio, it formed the octave, hich as made plain by the
eights themselves# -hen he found that the string from hich the greater eight as suspended
compared ith that from hich as suspended the eight next to the smallest, and hich eight
as eight pounds, produced the interval !non as the fifth# ,ence he discovered that this interval is
in a ratio of one and a half to one, or three to to, in hich ratio the eights also ere to each oth-
er# -he he found that the string stretched by the greatest eight produced, hen compared ith that
hich as next to it, in eight, namely, nine pounds, the interval called the fourth, analogous to the
eights# -his ratio, therefore, he discovered to be in the ratio of one and a third to one, or four to
threeI hile that of the from string from hich a eight of nine pounds as suspended to the string
hich had the smallest eight, again in a ratio of three to to, hich is ) to &# In li!e manner, the
string next to that from hich the small eight as suspended, as to that hich had the smallest
eight, in the ratio of G to 2 $being ' to &( but to the string hich had the greatest eight, in a ratio
of 2 to *, being %* to '# ,ence that hich is beteen the fifth and fourth, and by hich the fifth ex-
ceeds the fourth is proved to be as nine is to eight# :ut either ay it may be proved that the octave
is a system consisting of the fifth in conDunction ith fourth, Dust as the double ratio consists of
three to to, and four to threeI as for instance %*, ' and &I or, conversely of the fourth and the fifth,
as in the double ratio of four to three and three to to, as for instance, %*, ) and & therefore, and in
this order, having confirmed both his hand and hearing to the suspended eights, and having estab-
lished according to them the ratio of the proportions, by an easy artifice he transferred the common
suspension of the strings from the diagonal sta!e to the head of the instrument hich he called
=chordotenon,> or string-stretcher# -hen by the aid of pegs he produced a tension of the strings ana-
logous to that effected by the eights# /mploying this method, therefore, as a basis, and as it ere
an infallible rule, he afterard extended the experiment to other instruments, namely, the stri!ing of
pans, to pipes and Mr----N, to monochords, triangles, and the li!e in all of hich he found the same
ratio of numbers to obtain# -hen he named the sound hich participates in the number &, tonicI that
hich participates of the number ', and is four to three, sub-dominantI that hich participates of the
number ), and is one tone higher then the sub-dominant, he called, dominant, and ) to 'I but that
hich participates of the number %*, octave#
-hen he filled up the middle spaces ith analogous sounds in diatonic order, and formed an octo-
chord from symmetric numbersI from the double, the three to to, the four to three, and from the
difference of these, the ' to )# -hus he discovered the harmonic progression, hich tends by a cer-
tain physical necessity from the loest to the most acute sound, diatonically# "ater, from the diaton-
ic he progressed to the chromatic and enharmonic orders, as e shall later sho hen e treat of
music# -his diatonic scale hoever, seems to have the folloing progression, a semi-tone, a tone,
and a toneI and this is the fourth, being a system consisting of to tones, and of hat is called a
semi-tone# Afterards, adding another tone, e produce the fifth, hich is a system consisting of
three tones and a semi-tone# ;ext to this is the system of a semi-tone, a tone, and a tone, forming
another fourth, that is, another four to three ratio# -hus in the more ancient octave indeed, all the
sounds from the loest pitch hich are ith respect to each other fourths, produce everyhere ith
each other fourthsI the semi-tone, by transition, receiving the first, middle and third place, according
to that tetrachord# ;o in the .ythagoric octave, hoever, hich by conDunction is a system of the
tetrachord and pentachord, but if disDoined is a system of to tetrachords separated from each other,
the progression is from the gravest to the most acute sound# ,ence all sounds that by their distance
from each other are fifths, ith each other produce the interval of the fifthI the semi-tone success-
ively proceeding into four places, the first, second, third, and fourth#
-his is the ay in hich music is said to have been discovered by .ythagoras# ,aving reduced it to
a system, he delivered it to his disciples to utili5e it to produce things as beautiful as possible#
%This story of the smithy is an ancient error& as pieces of iron gi'e the same note (hether struck by
hea'y or light hammers. Pythagoras may therefore ha'e brought the disco'ery (ith him from
Egypt& though he may also ha'e de'eloped the further details mentioned in this chapter.)
4,A.-/? JJ<II
CB-BA" .A"I-I4A" ASSIS-A;4/
Cany deeds of the .ythagoreans in the political sphere are deservedly praised# At one time the 4ro-
tonians ere in the habit of ma!ing funerals and interments too sumptuous# -hereupon one of them
said to the people that once he had heard .ythagoras converse about divine natures, during hich he
had observed that the Alympian divinities attended to the dispositions of the sacrificers, and not to
the multitude of the offerings# -he terrestrial gods, on the contrary, as being interested in less im-
portant matters, reDoiced in lamentations and ban0uets, libations, delicacies, and obse0uial pompI
and as proof thereof, the divinity of ,ades is called .luto from his ish to receive# -hose that honor
him slenderly $he does not much care for(, and permits to stay 0uite a little hileI but he hastens to
dra don those disposed to spend profusely on funeral solemnities, that he may obtain the honors
offered in commemoration the dead# -he result as that the 4rotonians that heard this advice ere
persuaded that if they conducted themselves moderately in misfortunes, they ould be promoting
their on salvation, but ould die prematurely if immoderate in such expenses# A certain difference
arose about an affair in hich there as no itness# M.ythagoras onN A .ythagorean as made ar-
bitratorI and he led both litigants to a certain monument, announcing that the man buried as ex-
ceedingly e0uitable# -he one prayed that he might receive much reard for this good life, hile the
other declared that the defunct as no better-off for his opponents prayers# -he .ythagorean con-
demned the latter, confirming that he ho praised the dead man for his orth had earned credibility#
In a cause of great moment, this .ythagorean decided that one of the to ho has agreed to settle
that affair by arbitration, should pay four talents, hile the other should receive to# -hen from him
ho had received to he too! three, and gave them to the other, so that each had been mulcted one
talent $the text is confused(#
-o persons had fraudulently deposited a garment ith a oman ho belonged to a court of
Dustice, and told her that she as not to give it to either of them unless both ere present# "ater,
ith intent to defraud, one claimed and got the common deposit, saying he had the consent of the
other party# -he other one turned informer and related the compact made at the beginning to the ma-
gistrates# A certain .ythagorean, hoever, as arbitrator, decided that the oman as guiltless, con-
struing the claimed assent as constructive presence#
-o persons, ho had seemed to be great friends, but ho had gotten to suspect each other through
calumnies of a sycophant, ho told the one the other had ta!en undue liberties ith his ife# A .y-
thagorean happened to enter the smithy here the inDured party as finding fault ith the blac!-
smith for not having sufficiently sharpened a sord he had brought him for that purpose# -he .y-
thagorean suspecting the use to hich the sord as be put said, =-he sord is sharper than all
things except calumny#> -his caused the prospective avenger to consider that he should not rashly
sin against his friend ho as ithin on an invitation $for the purpose of !illing him(#
A stranger in the temple of Aesculapius accidentally dropped his belt, on hich ere gold orna-
ments# 7hen he tried to pic! it up, he as informed that the temple-regulations forbad pic!ing up
anything on the floor# ,e as indignant, and a .ythagorean advised him to remove the golden orna-
ments hich ere not touching the floor leaving the belt hich as# $-ext corrupt(#
3uring a public spectacle, some cranes fle over the theatre# Ane sailor said to his companion, =3o
you see the itnessesK> A .ythagorean near by hailed them into a court presided over by a thousand
magistrates, here, being examined they confessed to having thron certain boys into the sea, ho,
on droning had called on the cranes, flying above them, to itness to the deed# -his story is mis-
ta!enly located elsehere, but it really happened at 4rotona#
4ertain recent disciples of .ythagoras ere at variance ith each other, and the Dunior came to the
senior, declaring there as no reason to refer the matter to an arbitrator, inasmuch as all they
needed to do as to dismiss their anger# -he elder agreed, but regretted he had not been the first to
ma!e that proposition# 7e might relate here the story of 3amon and .hinthias, of .lato and
Archytas, and of 4linias and .rorus# At present hoever e shall limit ourselves to that of /ubulus
the Cessenian, ho, hen sailing homeard, as ta!en captive by the -yrrhenians, here he as
recogni5ed by a .ythagorean named ;ausithus, ho redeemed him from the pirates, and sent him
home in safety#
7hen the 4arthaginians ere about to send five thousand soldiers into a desert island, the
4arthaginian Ciltiades sa among them the Argive .ythagorean .ossiden# Approaching him, and
ithout revealing his intentions, he advised him to return home ith all possible haste# ,e placed
him in a ship then sailing near the shore, supplied him ith the travel necessaries, and thus saved
him from the impending danger#
,e ho ould try to relate all the fine deeds that beautified the mutual relations of the .y-
thagoreans ould find the tas! exceeding space and patience# I shall therefore pass on to sho that
some of the .ythagoreans ere competent administrators, adapted to rule# Cany ere custodians of
the las, and ruled over certain Italian cities, infolding to them, and advising them to adopt the
most salutary measures, hile themselves refusing all pay# -hough greatly calumniated, their prob-
ity and the desire of the citi5ens prevailed to ma!e them administrators# At this time the best gov-
erned states seem to have been in Italy and Sicily# Ane of the best legislators, 4hatondas the
4atanean, as a .ythagorean, and so ere the celebrated "ocrian legislators Haleucus and -imares#
.ythagoreans also ere those ?heginic polities, called the Gymnasiarchic, named after -heocles#
/xcelling in studies and manners hich ere then adopted by their fello-citi5ens, ere .hytius,
-heocles, /lecaon and Aristocrates# Indeed, it is said that .ythagoras as the originator of all polit-
ical erudition, hen he said that nothing existent pure, inasmuch as earth participates of fire, fire of
air, and air of ater, and ater of spirit# "i!eise the beautiful participates in the deformed, the Dust
of the unDust, and so onI so that from this principle human impulse may $by proper direction( be
turned in either direction# ,e also said that there ere to motions, one of the body hich is irra-
tional, and one of the soul, hich is the result of deliberate choice# ,e also said polities might be
li!ened to three lines hose extremities Doin, forming a $triangle containing( one right angle $the
lines being as G, 2 and *(I so that one of them is as G to 2, another as 9 to *, and the other $2( is the
arithmetical medium beteen * and G# ;o hen, by reasoning, e study the mutual relations of
these lines, and the places under them, e shall find that they represent the best image of a polity#
.lato plagiari5ed, for in his ?epublic he clearly says, =-hat the result of the G to 2 ratio, conDoined
ith the 9 ratio, produce to harmonies#> $ -his means that( he cultivated the moderation of the
passions, and the middle path beteen extremes, rendering happy the life of his disciples by relating
them to ideals of the good#
7e are also told that he persuaded the 4rotonians to give up associations ith courtesans and pros-
titutes# 4rotonian ives came to 3eine, the ife of the .ythagorean :rontinus, ho as a ise and
splendid oman, the author of the maxim that it as proper for omen to sacrifice on the same day
they had risen from the embraces of their husbands, ---$hich some ascribe to .ythagoras ife
-heano(, --- and entreated to persuade .ythagoras to discourse to them on their continence as due to
their husbands# -his she did, and .ythagoras accordingly made an address to the 4rotonians, hich
successfully ended the then prevalent incontinence#
7hen ambassadors came from Sybaris to 4rotona to demand the $return of ( the exiles, and .y-
thagoras, seeing one of the ambassadors ho ith his on hand had slain one of .ythagorass
friends, made no anser hatever# :ut hen this man insisted on an explanation and addressed .y-
thagoras, the latter said it as unlaful to converse ith murderers# -his induced many to believe
he as Apollo#
All these stories, together ith hat e mentioned above about the destruction of tyrants, and the
democrati5ation of the cities of Italy and Sicily, and many other circumstances, are elo0uent of the
benefits conferred on man!ind by .ythagoras, in political respects#
4,A.-/? JJ<III
3I<I;I-@ A6 .@-,AGA?AS
,enceforard e shall confine ourselves to the or!s floing from .ythagorass virtues# As usual,
e shall begin from the divinities, endeavoring to exhibit his piety, and marvelous deeds# Af his
piety, let this be a specimen1 that he !ne hat his soul as, hence it came into the body, and also
its former lives, of this giving the most evident indications# Again, once passing over the river ;es-
sus along ith many associates, he addressed the river, hich, in a distinct and clear voice, in the
hearing of all his associates, ansered, =,ail, .ythagorasL>
6urther, all his biographers insist that during the same day he as present in Cetapontum in Italy,
and at -auromenium in Sicily, discoursing ith his disciples in both places, although these cities
are separate, both by land and sea by many stadia, the traveling over hich consumes many days# It
is also a matter of common report that shoed his golden thigh to the ,yperborean Abaris, ho
said that he resembled the Apollo orshipped among the ,yperboreans, and of hom Abaris as
the priestI and that he had done this so that he as not deceived therin#
A myriad of other more admirable and divine particulars are li!eise unanimously and uniformly
related of the man, such as infallible predictions of earth0ua!es, rapid expulsions of pestilences, and
hurricanes, instantaneous cessations of hail, tran0uili5ations of the aves of rivers and seas, in order
that his disciples might the more easily pass over them# -he poer of effecting miracles of this !ind
as achieved by /mpedocles of Agrigentum, /pimenides the 4retan, and Abaris the ,yperborean,
and these persons performed them in many places# -heir deeds ere so manifest that /mpedocles
as surnamed a ind-stiller, /pimenides an expiator, and Abaris an air-al!er, because, carried on
the dart given him by the ,yperborean Apollo, he passed over rivers, and seas and inaccessible
places li!e one carried on air# Cany thin! that .ythagoras did the same thing, hen in the same day
he discoursed ith his disciples at Cetapontum and -auromenium# It is also said that he predicted
there ould be an earth0ua!e from the ater of a ell hich he had tastedI and that a ship as sail-
ing ith a prosperous ind, ould be submerged in the sea# -hese are sufficient proofs of his piety#
.itching my thoughts on a higher !ey, I ish to exhibit the principle of the orship of the Gods, es-
tablished by .ythagoras and his disciples1 that the mar! aimed at by all plans, hether to do or not
to do, is consent ith the divinity#
-he principle of their piety, and indeed their hole life is arranged ith a vie to follo God# -heir
philosophy explicitly asserts that men act ridiculously in searching for good from any source other
than GodI and that in respect the conduct of most men resembles that of a man ho, in a country
governed by a !ing should reverence one of the city magistrates, neglecting him ho is the ruler of
all of them# Since God exists as the lord of all things, it is evident and ac!noledged that good must
be re0uested of him# All men impart good to those they love, and admire, and the contrary to those
they disli!e# /vidently e should do those things in hich God delights# ;ot easy, hoever, is it for
a man to !no hich these are, unless he obtains this !noledge from one ho has heard God, or
has heard God himself, or procures it through divine art# ,ence also the .ythagoreans ere studious
of divination, hich is an interpretation of the benevolence of the Gods# -hat such an employment
is orth hile ill be admitted by one ho believes in the GodsI but he ho thin!s that either of
these is folly ill also be of opinion that both are foolish# Cany of the precepts of the .ythagoreans
derived from the mysteries#
.ythagoras should be received as referring not to a mere man, but to a super-man# -his is also hat
is meant by their maxim, that man& bird& ar*--+ another th*---+ thing are bipeds, thereby referring to
.ythagoras# Such, therefore, on account of his piety, as .ythagorasI and such he as truly thought
to be#
Aaths ere religiously observed by the .ythagoreans, ho ere mindful of that precept of theirs,
=As duly by la, thy homage pay first to the immortal GodsI
-hen to thy oath, and last to the heroes illustrious#>
6or instance1 A .ythagorean as in court, and as!ed to ta!e an oath# ?ather than to disobey this
principle, although the oath ould have been a religiously permitted one, he preferred to pay to the
defendant a fine of three talents#
.ythagoras taught that no occurrence happened by chance or luc!, but rather conformably to divine
.rovidence, and especially so to good and pious men# -his is ell illustrated by a story from Andro-
cidess treatise on .ythagoric symbols about the -arentine .ythagorean -hymaridas# ,e as hap-
pening to be sailing aay from his country, his friends ere all present to bid him fareell, and to
embrace him# ,e had already embar!ed hen someone cried to him, =A -hyramidas, I pray that the
Gods may shape all your circumstances accord into your ishesL> :ut he retorted, =.redict me bet-
ter thingsI namely, that hat may happen to me may be conformable to the ill of the Gods L> 6or
he thought it more scientific and prudent not to resist or grumble against divine providence#
If as!ed about the source hence these men derived so much piety, e must ac!noledge that the
.ythagorean number-theology as clearly fore-shadoed, to some extent, in the Arphic ritings#
;or is it to be doubted that hen .ythagoras composed his treatise Concerning the ,ods, he re-
ceived assistance from Arpheus, herefore indeed that theological treatise is sub-titled, the learned
and trustorthy .ythagoreans assert, by TelaugesI ta!en from the commentaries left by .ythagoras
himself to his daughter, 3amo, -elaugess sister, and hich, after her death, ere said to have been
given to :itale, 3amos daughter and to -elauges, the son of .ythagoras and husband of :itale,
hen he as of mature age for he as at .ythagorass death left very young ith his mother
-heano# ;o ho can Dudge ho it as that delivered hat there is said of the Gods from the Sac-
red 3iscourse, or -reatise on the Gods, hich bears both titles# 6or e read1
=.ythagoras, the son of Cnesarchus as instructed in hat pertains to the Gods hen he celebrated
orgies in the -hracian "ibethra, being therein initiated by AglaophemusI and that Arpheus, the son
of 4alliope, having learned isdom from his mother in the mountain .angaeus, said that the eternal
essence of number is the most providential principle of the universe, of heaven and earth, and of the
intermediate natureI and farther still, that it is the root of the permanency of divine natures, of Gods,
and divinities#>
6rom this it is evident that he learned from the Arphic riters that the essence of the Gods is
defined by number# =-hrough the same numbers also, he produced a onderful prognostication and
orship of the Gods, both of hich are particularly allied to numbers#>
As conviction is best produced by an obDective fact, the above principle may be proved as follos#
7hen Abaris performed sacred rites according to his customs, he procured a fore!noledge of
events, hich is studiously cultivated by all the :arbarians, by sacrificing animals, especially birdsI
for they thin! that the entrails of such animals are particularly adapted to this purpose# .ythagoras,
hoever, not ishing to suppress his ardent pursuit of the truth, but to guide it into a safer ay,
ithout blood and slaughter, and also because he thought that a coc! as sacred to the sun, =fur-
nished him ith a consummate !noledge of all truth, through arithmetical science#> 6rom piety,
also, he derived faith concerning the Gods# 6or .ythagoras alays insisted that nothing marvelous
concerning Gods or divine teachings should be disbelieved, inasmuch as the Gods are competent to
effect anything# :ut the divine teachings in hich e must believe are those delivered by .y-
thagoras# -he .ythagoreans therefore assumed and believed hat they taught $on the priori ground
that( they ere not the offspring of false opinion# ,ence /urytus the 4rotonian, the disciple of
.hilolaus, said that a shepherd feeding his sheep near .hilolauss tomb had heard someone singing#
:ut the person to hom this as related did not at all 0uestion this, merely as!ing hat !ind of har-
mony it as# .ythagoras himself also, being as!ed by a certain person the significance of the con-
verse ith his defunct father in sleep, ansered that it meant nothing# 6or neither is anything por-
tended by your spea!ing ith me, said he#
.ythagoras ore clean hite garments, and used clean hite coverlets, avoiding the oolen ones#
-his custom he enDoined on his disciples# In spea!ing of super-human natures, he used honorable
appellations, and ords of good omen, on every occasion mentioning and reverencing the GodsI so,
hile at supper, he performed libations to the divinities, and taught his disciples , daily to celebrate
the super-human beings ith hymns# ,e attended li!eise to rumors and omens, prophecies and
lots, and in short to all unexpected circumstances# Coreover, he sacrificed to the Gods ith millet,
ca!es, honeycombs, and fumigations# :ut he did not sacrifice animals, nor did any of the contem-
plative philosophers# ,is other disciples, hoever, the ,earers and the .oliticians, ere by him
ordered to sacrifice animals such as coc!, or a lamb, or some other young animal, but not fre-
0uentlyI but they ere prohibited from sacrificing oxen#
Another indication of the honor he paid the Gods as his teaching that his disciples must never use
the names of the divinities uselessly in searing# 6or instance, Syllus, one of the 4rotonian .y-
thagoreans, paid a fine rather than sear, though he could have done so ithout violating the truth#
Eust as the .ythagoreans abstained from using the names of the Gods, also, through reverence, they
ere unilling to name .ythagoras, indicating him hom they meant by the invention of the Tet-
raktys# Such is the form of an oath ascribed to them1
=I sear by the discoverer of the Tetraktys, hich is the spring of all our isdomI
-he perennial fount and root of ;ature#>
In short, .ythagoras imitated the Arphic mode of riting, and $pious( disposition, the ay they
honored the Gods representingI them images and in brass not resembling our $human form(, but the
divine receptacle $of the sphere(, because they comprehend and provide for all things, being of a
nature and form similar to the universe#
:ut his divine philosophy and orship as compound, having learned much from the Arphic fol-
loers, but much also from the /gyptian priests, the 4haldeans and Cagi, the mysteries of /leusis,
Imbrus, Samothracia, and 3elos and even the 4eltic and Iberian# It is also said that .ythagorass
Sacred 3iscourse is current among the "atins, not being read to or by all, but only by those ho are
disposed to learn, the best things, avoiding all that is base#
,e ordered that libations should be made thrice, observing that Apollo delivered oracles from the
tripod, the triad being the first number# Sacrifices to <enus ere to be made on the sixth day, be-
cause this number is the first to parta!e of every number and hen divided in every possible ay,
receives the poer of the numbers subtracted, and those that remain# Sacrifices to ,ercules,
hoever, should be made on the eighth day, of the month, counting from the beginning, commem-
orating his birth in the seventh month#
,e ordained that those ho entered into a temple should be clothed in a clean garment, in hich no
one had sleptI because sleep, Dust as and brac! and bron, indicates sluggishness, hile cleanliness
is a sign, of e0uality and Dustice in reasoning#
If blood should be found unintentionally spilled in a temple, there should be made a lustration,
either in a golden vessel, or ith sea-aterI gold being the most beautiful of all things and the
measure of exchange of everything elseI hile the latter as derived from the principle of moist-
ness, the food of the first and more common matter# Also, children should not be brought forth in a
templeI here the divine part of the soul should not be bound to the body# An a festal day neither
should the hair be cut, nor the nails paredI as it as unorthy to disturb the orship of the Gods, to
attend to our on advantage# ;or should lice be !illed in a temple, as divine poer should not parti-
cipate in anything superfluous or degrading#
-he Gods should be honored ith cedar, laurel, cypress, oa! and myrtleI nor should the body be
purified ith these, nor any of them be cut ith the teeth#
,e also ordered that hat is boiled should not be roasted, signifying hereby that mildness has no
need of anger#
-he bodies of the dead he did not suffer to be burned, herein folloing the Cagi, being unilling
that anything $so( divine $as fire( should be mingled ith mortal nature# ,e thought it holy for the
dead to be carried out in hite garmentsI thereby obscurely prefiguring the simple and first nature,
according to number, and the principle of all things#
Above all, he ordained that an oath should be ta!en religiouslyI since that hich is behind $the fu-
turity of punishment( is long#
,e said it as much more holy to be a man inDured than to !ill a manI for Dudgment is pronounced
in ,ades, here the soul and its essence, and the first nature of things is correctly appraised#
,e ordered that coffins should not be made of cypress, either because the scepter of Eupiter as
made of this ood, or for some other mystic reason# "ibations ere to be performed before the altar
of Eupiter the Savior, of ,ercules, and the 3ioscuriI thus celebrating Eupiter as the presiding cause
and leader of the mealI ,ercules as the poer of ;ature, and the 3ioscuri, as the symphony of all
things# "ibations should not be offered ith closed eyes, as nothing beautiful should be underta!en
ith bashfulness and shame# 7hen it thundered, one ought to touch the earth, in remembrance of
the generation of things#
-emples should be entered from places on the right handI and left from the left handI for the right
hand is the principle of hat is called the odd number, and is divineI hile the left hand is a symbol
of the even number, and of dissolution#
Such are many of the inDunctions he is said to have adopted in the pursuance of piety# Ather particu-
lars hich have been omitted may be inferred from hat has been given# ,ence the subDect be
closed#
4,A.-/? JJIJ
S4I/;4/S A;3 CAJICS
-he .ythagoreans 4ommentaries best express his isdomI being accurate, concise, savoring of the
ancient elegance of style, and deducing the conclusions ex0uisitely# -hey contain the most con-
densed conceptions, and are diversified in form and matter# -he are both accurate and elo0uent, full
of clear and indubitable arguments, accompanied by scientific demonstration, in syllogistic formI as
indeed ill be discovered by any careful reader#
In his ritings, .ythagoras, from a supernal source, delivers the science of intelligible natures and
Gods#
Afterards, he teaches the hole of physics, completely unfolding ethics and logic# -hen come
various discipline and other excellent sciences# -here is nothing pertaining to human !noledge
hich is not discussed in these encyclopedic ritings# If therefore it is ac!noledged that of the
$.ythagoric( ritings hich are no in circulation, some ere ritten by .ythagoras himself, hile
others consist of hat he as heard to say, and on this account are anonymous, though of .ythagor-
ic originI - if all this be so, it is evident that he as abundantly s!illed in all isdom#
It is said that hile he as in /gypt he very much applied himself to geometry# 6or /gyptian life
bristles ith geometric problemI since, from remote periods, hen the Gods ere fabulously said to
have reigned in /gypt, on account of the rising and falling of the ;ile, the s!illful have been com-
pelled to measure all the /gyptian land hich they cultivatedI herefrom indeed the sciences
name, geometry, as derived# :esides, the /gyptians studied the theories of the celestial orbs, in
hich .ythagoras also as s!illed# All theorems about lines seem to have been derived from that
country# All that relates to numbers and computation is said to have been discovered in .hoenicia#
-he theorems about the heavenly bodies have by some been referred to the /gyptians and
4haldeans in common# 7hatever .ythagoras received, hoever, he developed further, he arranged
them for learners, and personally demonstrated them ith perspicuity and elegance# ,e as the first
to give a name to philosophy, describing it as a desire for and love of isdom, hich latter he
defined as the science of obDectified truth# :eings he defined as immaterial and eternal natures,
alone possessing a poer that is efficacious, as are incorporeal essences# -he rest of things are be-
ings only figuratively, and considered such only through the participation of real beingsI such are
corporeal and material forms, hich arise and decay ithout ever truly existing# ;o isdom is the
science of things hich are truly beingsI but not of the mere figurative entities# 4orporeal natures
are neither the obDects of science, nor admit of a stable !noledge, since they are infinite, and by
science incomprehensible, and hen compared ith universals resemble non-beings, and are in a
genuine sense non-definable# Indeed it is impossible to conceive that there should be a science of
things not naturally the obDects of scienceI nor could a science of non-existent things prove attract-
ive to anyone# 6ar more desirable ill be things hich are genuine beings, existing in invariable
permanency, and alays ansering to their description# 6or the perception of obDects existing only
figuratively, never truly being hat they seem to be, follos the apprehension of real beings, Dust as
the !noledge of particulars is posterior to the science of universals# 6or, as said Archytas, he ho
properly !nos universals, ill also have a clear perception, of the nature of particulars, -hat is
hy beings are not alone, only-begotten, nor simple, but various and multiform# 6or those genuine
beings are intelligible and incorporeal natures, hile others are corporeal, falling under the percep-
tion of sense, communicate ith that hich is really existent only by participation# 4oncerning all
these, .ythagoras formed sciences the most apposite, leaving nothing uninvestigated# :esides, he
developed the master-sciences of method, common to all of them, such as logic, definitions, and
analysis, as may be gathered from the .ythagoric commentaries#
-o his intimates he as ont to utter symbolically oracular sentences, herein the smallest number
of ords ere pregnant ith the most multifarious significance, not unli!e certain oracles of the
.ythian Apollo, or li!e nature herself in tiny seeds, the former exhibiting conceptions, and the latter
effects innumerable in multitude, and difficult to understand# Such as .ythagorass on maxim,
=-he beginning is the half of the hole#> In this and similar utterances the most divine .ythagoras
concealed the spar!s of truth, as in a treasury, for those capable of being !indled thereby# In this
brevity of diction he deposited an extension of theory most ample, and difficult to grasp, as in the
maxim, =All things accord in number,> hich he fre0uently repeated to his disciples# Another one
as, =6riendship is e0ualityI /0uality is friendship#> ,e even used single ords, such as =cosmos,>
or, adorned orldI or, philosophyLQ or further, =TetractysL> All these and many other similar inven-
tions ere by .ythagoras devised for the benefit and amendment of his associatesI and by those that
understood them they ere considered to be so orthy of veneration , and so divinely inspired, that
those ho delt in the common auditorium adopted this oath1
=I sear by the discoverer of the -etra!tys, hich is the spring of all our isdomI
-he perennial founts and root of ;ature#>
-his as the form of his so admirable isdom#
Af the sciences honored by the .ythagoreans not the least ere music, medicine and divination#
MCay be missing textN# # # #
Af medicine, the most emphasi5ed part as dieteticsI and they ere most scrupulous in its exercise#
6irst, they sought to understand the physical symptoms of e0uanimity, labor, eating and repose#
-hey ere nearly the first to ma!e a business of the preparation of food, and to describe its meth-
ods# Core fre0uently than their predecessors the .ythagoreans used poultices, hoever disapprov-
ing more of medicated ointments, hich they chiefly limited to the cure of ulcerations# Cost they
disapproved of cuts and cauteri5ations# Some diseases they cured by incantations# Cusic, if used in
a proper manner, as by .ythagoras supposed to contribute greatly to health# -he .ythagoreans
li!eise employed select sentences of ,omer and ,esiod for the amendment of souls#
-he .ythagoreans ere habitually silent and prompt to hear, and he on praise ho listened $most
effectively(# :ut that hich they had learned and heard as supposed to be retained and preserved
in the memory# Indeed, this ability of learning and remembering determined the amount of discip-
lines and lectures, inasmuch as learning is the poer by hich !noledge is obtained, and remem-
bering that by hich it is preserved# ,ence memory as greatly honored, abundantly exercised, and
given much attention# In learning also it as understood that they ere not to dismiss hat they
ere taught, till its first rudiments had been entirely mastered# -his as their method of recalling
hat they daily heard# ;o .ythagorean rose from his bed till he had first recollected the transactions
of the day beforeI and he accomplished this by endeavoring to remember hat he first said, or
heard, or ordered done by his domestics before risingI or hat as the second or third thing he had
said, heard or commanded# -he same method as employed for the remainder of the day# ,e ould
try to remember the identity of the first person he had met on leaving home, and ho as the
secondI and ith, hom he had discoursed first, second or third# So also he did ith everything
else, endeavoring to resume in his memory all the events of the hole day, and in the very same or-
der in hich each of them had occurred# If hoever, after rising there as enough leisure to do so,
the .ythagoreans reminisced about day before yesterday# -hus they made it a point to exercise their
memories systematicallyI considering that the ability of remembering as most important for ex-
perience, science and isdom#
-his .ythagorean school filled Italy ith philosophersI and this place hich before as un!non,
as later, on account of .ythagoras called Greater Greece, hich became most famous for is philo-
sophers, poets and legislators# Indeed, the rhetorical arts, demonstrative reasonings and legislation
as entirely transferred from Greece# As to physics, e might mention the principal physiologists,
/mpedocles and the /lean .armenides# As to ethical maxims, this is /picharmus, hose concep-
tions are used by all philosophers#
-hus much concerning the isdom of .ythagoras, ho in a certain respect he very much impelled
all his hearers to its pursuit, so far as they ere adapted to its participation, and ho perfectly he
delivered it#
4,A.-/? JJJ
EBS-I4/ A;3 .A"I-I4S
,o he cultivated and delivered Dustice to humanity e shall best understand if e trace it to its
first principle, and ultimate cause# Also e must investigate the ultimate cause of inDustice, hich
ill sho us ho he avoided it, and hat methods he adopted to ma!e Dustice fructify in his soul#
-he principle of Dustice is mutuality and e0uality, through hich, in a ay most nearly approximat-
ing union of body and soul, all men become cooperative, and distinguish the mine from the thine, as
is also testified by .lato, ho learned this from .ythagoras# .ythagoras effected this in the best pos-
sible manner by erasing from common life every thing private, hile increasing everything held in
common, so far as ultimate possessions, hich after all are the causes of tumult and sedition
$Among his disciplesM(,N everything, as common, and the same to all, no one possessing anything
private# ,e himself indeed, ho most approved of this communion, made use of common posses-
sions in the most Dust mannerI but disciples ho changed their minds as given bac! his original
contribution, ith an addition, and left# -hus .ythagoras established Dustice in the best possible
manner, beginning at its very first principle#
In the next place, Dustice is introduced by association ith other people, hile inDustice is, produced
by unsociability and neglect of other people# 7ishing therefore to spread this sociability as far as
possibility among men, he ordered his discipled to extend it to the most !indred animal races, con-
sidering these as their intimates and friends, hich ould forbid inDuring, slaying, or eating any of
them# ,e ho recogni5es the community of elements and life beteen men and animals ill in
much greater degree establish felloship ith those ho share a !indred and rational soul# -his also
shos that .ythagoras prompted Dustice beginning from its very root principle# Since lac! of money
often compels men sometimes to act contrary to Dustice, he tried to avoid this by practising such
economy that his necessary expenses might be liberal, and yet retain a Dust sufficiency# 6or as cities
are only magnificent households, so the arrangement of domestic concerns is the principle of all
good order in cities# 6or instance, it as said that he himself as the heir to the property of Alceus,
ho died after completing an embassy to the "acedemoniansI but that in spite of this .ythagoras
as admired for his economy no less than for his philosophy# Also hen he married, he so educated
the daughter that as born to him, and ho afterards married the 4rotonian Ceno, that hile un-
married she as a choir-leader, hile as ife she held the first place among those ho orshipped
at altars# It is also said that the Cetapontines preserved .ythagorasRs memory by turning his house
into a temple of 4eres, and the street in hich he lived into a museum#
:ecause inDustice also fre0uently results from insolence, luxury, and lalessness, he daily exhorted
his disciples to support las, and shun lalessness# ,e considered luxury the first evil that usually
glides into houses and citiesI the second insolence, the third destruction#
"uxury therefore should by all possible means be ecluded and expelledI and that from birth men
should be accustomed to live temperately, and in a manly manner# ,e also added the necessity of
purification from bad language, hether it be piteous, or provocative, reviling, insolent or scurril-
ous#
:esides this household Dustice, he added another and most beautiful !ind, the legislative, hich both
orders hat to do and hat not to do# "egislative Dustice is more beautiful that the Dudicial !ind, re-
sembling medicine hich heals the diseased, but differs in this that it is preventive, planning the
health of the soul from afar#
-hat is hy the best of legislators graduated from the school of .ythagoras1 first, 4harondas the
4atanean, and next Haleucus and -imaratus, ho legislated for the "ocrians# :esides these ere
-heaetetus and ,elicaon, Aristocrates and .hytius, ho legislated for the ?hegini# All these
aroused from the citi5ens honors comparable to those offered to divinities# 6or .ythagoras did not
act li!e ,eraclitus, ho agreed to rite las for the /phesians, but also petulantly added that in
those las he ould order the citi5ens to hang themselves# 7hat las .ythagoras endeavored to es-
tablish ere benevolent and scientific#
;or need e specially admire those $above mentioned professional( legislators# .ythagoras had a
slave by the name of Hamolxis, hailing from -hrace# After hearing .ythagorass discourses, and ob-
taining his freedom, he returned to the Getae, and there, as has already been mentioned at the begin-
ning of this or!, exhorted the citi5ens to fortitude, persuading then that the soul is immortal# So
much so is this that even at present all the Galatians and -rallians, and many others of the :arbari-
ans, persuade their children that the soul cannot be destroyed, but survives death, so that the latter is
not to be feared, so that $ordinary( danger is to be met ith a firm and manly mind# 6or instructing
the Getae in these things, and for having ritten las for them, Hamolxis as by them considered
as the greatest of the gods#
6urther, .ythagoras conceived that the dominion of the divinities as most efficacious for estab-
lishing DusticeI and from this principle he deduced a hole polity, particular las and a principle of
Dustice# -hus his basic theology as that e should reali5e Gods existence, and that his disposition
toards the human race is such that he inspects and does not neglect it# -his theology as very use-
ful1 for e re0uire an inspection that e ould not be disposed to resist, such as the inspective gov-
ernment of the divinity, for if divine nature is of this nature, it deserves the empire of the universe#
6or the .ythagoreans rightly taught that $the natural( man is an animal naturally insolent, and
changeable in impulse, desire and passions# ,e therefore re0uires an extraordinary inspectionary
government of this !ind, hich may produce some chastening and ordering# -hey therefore thought
that any ho recogni5e their changeableness should never be forgetful of piety toards and orship
of divinity# /veryone should pay heed, beneath the divine nature, and that of genii, to his parents
and the las, and obey them unfeignedly and faithfully# In general, they thought it necessary to be-
lieve that there is no evil greater than anarchyI since the human race is not naturally adapted to sal-
vation ithout some guidance# -he .ythagoreans also considered it advisable to adhere to the cus-
toms and las of their ancestors, even though somehat inferior to other regulations# 6or it is un-
profitable and not salutary to evade existing las, or to be studious of innovation# .ythagoras,
therefore, to evince that his life as conformable to his doctrines gave many other specimens of
piety to the Gods#
It may be 0uite suitable to mention one of these, as an example of the rest# I ill relate hat .y-
thagoras said and did relative to the embassy from Sybaris to 4rotona, relative to the return of the
exiles# :y order of the ambassadors, some of his associates had been slain, a part of them, indeed,
by one of the ambassadors himself, hile another one of them as the son of one of those ho had
excited the sedition, and had died of disease# 7hen the 4rotonians therefore ere deliberating ho
they should act in this affair, .ythagoras told his disciples he as displeased that the 4rotonians
should be so much at odds over the matter, and that in his opinion the ambassadors should not even
be permitted to lead victims to the altar, let alone drag thence the suppliant exiles# 7hen the Sybar-
ites came to him ith their complaints, and the man ho had slain some of his disciples ith his
on hands as defending his conduct, .ythagoras declared he ould ma!e no anser to $a murder-
er(# Another $ambassador( accused him of asserting that he as Apollo, because hen in the past,
some person had as!ed him about a certain subDect, hy the thing as soI and he had retorted#
7ould he thin! it sensible, hen Apollo as delivering oracles to him, to as! Apollo hy he did
soK Another one of the ambassadors derided his school, herein he taught the return of souls to this
orld saying that, as .ythagoras as about to descend into ,ades, the ambassador ould give .y-
thagoras an epistle to his father, and begged him to bring bac! an anser, hen he returned# .y-
thagoras responded that he as not about to descend into the abode of the impious, here he clearly
!ne that murderers ere punished# As then the rest of the ambassadors reviled him, .ythagoras,
folloed by many people, ent to the seashore, and sprin!led himself ith ater# After reviling the
rest of the ambassadors, one of the 4rotonian counselors observed that he understood they had de-
famed .ythagoras, hom not even a brute ould dare to blaspheme, though all animals should
again utter the same voice as men, as prehistoric fables relate# .ythagoras discovered another meth-
od of restraining men from inDustice1 the fear of Dudgment# ,e !ne that this method could be
taught, and that fear as often able to suppress Dustice# ,e asserted therefore that it is much better to
be inDured, than to !ill a manI for Dudgment is dispensed in ,ades, here the soul and its essence
and the first nature of beings, are accurately appraised#
3esiring to exhibit among human une0ual, indefinite and unsytemmatical affairs the e0uality, defin-
iteness and symmetry of Dustice, and to sho ho it ought to be exercised, he li!ened Dustice to $a
right-angled( triangle, the only one among geometrical forms, hich, though, having an infinite di-
versity of adDustments of indeed une0ual parts $the length of the sides(, yet has e0ual poers $the
s0uare on the hypotenuse is e0ual to the s0uares on the other to sides(#
Since all associations $imply relations ith some other person( and therefore entail Dustice, the .y-
thagoreans declared that there ere to !inds of associations, that differed1 the seasonable, and the
unseasonable, according to age, merit, familiarity, philanthropy, and so forth# 6or instance, the asso-
ciation of a younger person ith an elderly one is unseasonable, hile that of to young persons is
seasonable# ;o !ind of anger, threatening or boldness is becoming in a younger toards an elderly
man, all hich unseasonable conduct should be cautiously avoided# So also ith respect to merit,
for, toards a man ho has arrived at the true dignity of consummate virtue, neither unrestrained
form of speech, nor any other of the above manners of conduct is seasonable#
;ot unli!e this as hat he taught about the relations toards parents and benefactors# ,e said that
the use of the opportune time as various# 6or of those ho are angry or enraged, some are so sea-
sonably, and some unseasonably# -he same distinction obtains ith desires, impulsions and pas-
sions, actions, dispositions, associations and meetings# ,e further observed that to a certain extent,
the opportuneness is to be taught, and that also the unexpected might be analysed artificiallyI hile
none of the above 0ualifications obtain hen applied universally, and simply# ;evertheless its res-
ults are very similar to those of opportuneness, namely elegance, propriety, congruence, and the
li!e#
?eminding us that unity is the principle of the universe, being its principal element, so also is it in
science, experiment, and groth# ,oever to-foldness is most honorable in houses, cities, camps,
and such li!e organi5ations# 6or in sciences e learn and Dudge not by any single hasty glance, but
by a thorough examination of every detail# -here is therefore grave danger of entire misapprehen-
sion of things, hen the principle has been mista!enI for hile the true principle remains un!non,
no conse0uent conclusions can be final# -he same situation obtains in things of another !ind#
;either a city nor a house can be ell organi5ed unless each has an effective ruler ho governs vol-
untary servants# 6or voluntariness is as necessary ith the ruler to govern, as in the ruled to obey#
So also must there be a concurrence of ill beteen teacher and learnerI for no satisfactory progress
can be made hile there obtains resistance on either side# -hus he demonstrated the beauty of being
persuaded by rulers, and to be obedient to preceptors#
-his as the greatest obDective illustration of this argument# .herecydes the Syrian had been his
teacher, but no as afflicted ith the morbus pedicularis, .ythagoras therefore ent from Italy to
3elos, to nurse him, tending him until he died, and piously performing hatever funeral rites ere
due to his former teacher# So diligent as he in discharge of his duties toards those from hom he
had received instruction#
.ythagoras insisted strenuously ith his disciples on the fulfillment of mutual agreements# $,ere is
an illustration(# "ysis had once completed his orship in the temple of Euno, and as leaving as he
met in the vestibule ith /uryphamus the Syracusan, one of his fello disciples, ho as then en-
tering into the temple# /uryphamus as!ed "ysis to ait for him, till he had finished his orship
also# So "ysis sat don on a stone seat there situate, and aited# /uryphamus ent in, finished his
orship, but, having become absorbed in some profound considerations, forgot his appointment,
and passed out of the temple by another gate# "ysis hoever continued to ait, ithout leaving his
seat, the remainder of that day, and the folloing and also the greater part of the next day#
,e might have staid there still longer, perhaps unless, the folloing day, in the auditorium,
/uryphamus had heard that# "ysisRs associates ere missing him# ?ecollecting his appointment, he
hastened to "ysis, relieved him of the engagement, telling him the cause of his forgetfulness as fol-
los1 =Some God produced this oblivion in me, as a trial of your firmness in !eeping your engage-
ments#>
.ythagoras also ordained abstinence from animal food, for many reasons, besides the chief one that
it conduced to peaceableness# -hose ho are trained to abominate the slaughter of animals as ini-
0uitous and unnatural ill not thin! it much more unlaful to !ill a man, or engage in ar# 6or ar
promotes slaughter, and legali5es it, increasing it, and strengthening it# .ythagoras Fs maxim =not to
touch the balance above the beam> is in itself an exhortation to Dustice, demanding the cultivation of
everything that is Dust, O as ill be shon hen e study the .ythagorean symbols# In all these par-
ticulars, therefore, .ythagoras paid great attention to the practice of DusticeI and to its preachment to
men, both in deeds and ords#
4,A.-/? JJJI
-/C./?A;4/ A;3 S/"6-4A;-?A"
-emperance is our next topic, cultivated as it as by .ythagoras, and taught to his associates# -he
common precepts about it have already been detailed, in hich e learned that everything irregular
should be cut off ith fire and sord# A similar precept is the abstaining from animal food, and also
from such li!ely to produce intemperance, and lulling the vigilance and genuine energies of the
reasoning poers# A further step in this direction is the precept to introduce, at a ban0uet, sumptu-
ous fare, hich is to be shortly sent aay, and given to the servants, having been exhibited merely
to chasten the desires# Another one as that none but courtesans should ear gold, not the free o-
men# 6urther the practice of taciturnity, and even entire silence, for the purpose of governing the
tongue# ;ext, intensive and continuous pu55ling out of the most difficult speculations, for the sa!e
of hich ine, food and sleep ould be minimi5ed# -hen ould come genuine discrediting of no-
toriety, ealth, and the li!eI a sincere reverence toards those to hom reverence is dueI Doined
ith an unassumed democratic geniality toards ones e0uals in age, and toards the Duniors guid-
ance and counsel, free from envy, and everything similar hich is to be deduced from temperance#
-he temperance of the .ythagoreans, and ho .ythagoras taught this virtue, may be learned from
hat ,ippobotus and ;eanthes narrate of Cyllias and -imycha, ho ere .ythagoreans# It seems
that 3ionysius the tyrant could not obtain the friendship of any one of the .ythagoreans, though he
did everything possible to accomplish that purposeI for they had noted, and condemned his mon-
archical leanings# ,e therefore sent a troop of thirty soldiers, under the command of /urymenes the
Syracusan, ho as the brother of 3ion, through $hose( treachery he hoped to ta!e advantage of
the .ythagoreans usual annual migration to catch some of themI for they ere in the habit of chan-
ging their abode at different seasons of the year, and they selected places suitable to such a migra-
tion# -herefore in .halae, a rugged part of -arentum, through hich the .ythagoreans ere sched-
uled to pass, /urymenes insidiously concealed his troopI and hen the unsuspecting .ythagoreans
reached there about noon, the soldiers rushed upon them ith shouts, after the manner of robbers#
3isturbed and terrified at an attac! so unexpected, at the superior number of their enemies, O the
.ythagoreans amounting to no more than ten, O and being unarmed against regularly e0uipped sol-
diery, the .ythagoreans sa that they ould inevitably be ta!en captive, so they decided that their
only safety lay in flight, hich they did not consider inadmissible to virtue# 6or they !ne that ac-
cording to right reason, fortitude is the art of avoiding as ell as enduring# So they ould have es-
caped, and their pursuit ould have been given up by /urymeness soldiers, ho ere heavily
armed, had their flight not led them up against a field son ith beans, hich ere already floer-
ing#
Bnilling to violate their principle not to touch beans, they stood still, and driven to desperation
turned, and attac!ed their pursuers ith stones and stic!s, and hatever they found to hand, till they
had ounded many, and slain some# :ut $numbers told(, and all the .ythagoreans ere slain by the
spearmen, as none of them ould suffer himself to be ta!en captive, preferring death, according to
the .ythagorean teachings#
As /urymenes and his soldiers had been sent for the express purpose of ta!ing some of the .y-
thagoreans alive to 3ionysius, they ere much crest-fallenI and having thron the corpses in a
common sepulchre, and piled earth thereupon, they turned homeards# :ut as they ere returning
they met to of the .ythagoreans ho had lagged behind# Cyllias the 4rotonian, and his "acede-
monian ife -imycha, ho had not been able to !eep up ith the others, being in the sixth month
of pregnancy# -hese therefore the soldiers gladly made captive, and led to the tyrant ith every pre-
caution, so as to insure their arrival alive# An learning hat had happened, the tyrant as very much
disheartened, and said to the to .ythagoreans, =@ou shall obtain from me honors of unusual dig-
nity if you shall be illing to reign in partnership ith me#> All his offers, hoever, ere by Cylli-
as and -imycha reDected# -hen said he, I ill release you ith a safe-guard if you ill tell me one
thing only# An Cyllias as!ing hat he ished to learn, 3ionysius replied1 =-ell me only hy your
companions chose to die rather than to tread on beansK :ut Cyllis at once ansered, =Cy compan-
ions did indeed prefer death to treading on beansI but I had rather do that than tell you the reason#>
Astonished at this anser, 3ionysius ordered him removed forcibly, and -imycha tortured, for he
thought that a pregnant oman, deprived of her husband, ould ea!en before the torments, and
easily tell him all he anted to !no# -he heroic oman, hoever, ith her teeth bit her tongue un-
til it as separated and spat it out at the tyrant, thus demonstrating that the offending member
should be entirely cut off, even if her sexs ea!ness, van0uished by the torments, should be com-
pelled to disclose something that should be reserved in silence# Such difficulties did they ma!e to
the admission of outside friendships, even though they happened to be royal#
Similar to these also ere the precepts concerning silence, hich tended to the practice of temper-
anceI for of all continence, the subDugation of the tongue is the most difficult# -he same virtue is il-
lustrated by .ythagorass persuading the 4rotonians to relin0uish all sacrilegious and 0uestionable
commerce ith courtesans# Coreover .ythagoras restored to temperance a youth ho had become
ild ith amatory passion, through music# /xhortations against lascivious insolence promote the
same virtue# Such things ere delivered to the .ythagoreans by .ythagoras himself, ho as their
cause#
-hey too! such care of their bodies that they remained in the same condition, not being at one time
lean, and at another stout, hich changes they considered anomalous# 7ith respect to their mind
also, they managed to remain uniformly mildly Doyful, and not at one time hilarious, and at another
sad, hich could be achieved only by expelling perturbations, despondency or rage#
It as a precept of theirs that no human casualties ought to be unexpected by the intelligent, expect-
ing everything hich it is not in their poer to prevent# If hoever at any time any of them fell into
a rage, or into despondency, he ould ithdra from his associates company, and see!ing
solitude, endeavor to digest and heal the passion#
Af the .ythagoreans it is also reported that none of them punished a servant or admonished a free
man during angers but aited until he had recovered his onted serenity# -hey used an especial
ord, paidartan, to signify such $self-controlled( rebu!es, effecting this calming by silence and
0uiet# So Spintharus relates of Archytas the -arentine that on returning after a certain time from the
ar against the ,essenians aged by the -arentines, to inspect some land belonging to him, and
finding that the bailiff and the other servants had not properly cultivated it, greatly neglecting it, he
became enraged, and as so furious that he told his servants that it as ell for them that he as
angry, for otherise, they ould not have escaped the punishment due to so great an offense# A
similar anecdote is related of 4linias, according to SpintharusI for he also as ont to defer all ad-
monitions and punishments until his mind as restored to tran0uillity# Af the .ythagoreans it is fur-
ther related that they restrained themselves from all lamentation, eeping and the li!eI and that
neither gain, desire, anger or ambition, or anything of the li!e, ever became the cause of dissension
among themI all .ythagoreans being disposed toards each other as parents toards their offspring#
Another beautiful trait of theirs as that they gave credit to .ythagoras for everything, naming it
after him, not claiming the glory of their on inventions, except very rarely# 6e are there ho ac-
!noledged their on or!s#
Admirable too is the careful secrecy ith hich, they preserved the mystery of their ritings# 6or
during so many centuries, prior to the times of .hilolaus, none of the .ythagorean commentaries ap-
peared publicly# .hilolaus first published those three celebrated boo!s hich, at the re0uest of .la-
to, 3ion of Syracuse is said to have bought for a hundred minae# 6or .hilolaus had been overta!en
by sudden severe poverty, and he capitali5ed the ritings of hich he as parta!er through his alli-
ance ith the .ythagoreans#
As to the value of opinion, such ere their vies1 A stupid man should defer to the opinion of any
one, especially to that of the crods# Anly a very fe are 0ualified to apprehend and opine rightlyI
for evidently this is limited to the intelligent, ho are very fe# -o the crods, such a 0ualification
of course does not extend# :ut to despise the opinion of every one is also stupidI for such a person
ill remain unlearned and incorrigible# -he unscientific should study that of hich he is ignorant,
or lac!s scientific !noledge# A learner should also defer to the opinion of the scientific, and is able
to teach# Generally, youths ho ish to be saved should attend to the opinions of their elders, or of
those ho have lived ell#
3uring the course of human life there are certain ages by them called endedasmenae hich cannot
be connected by the poer of any chance person# Bnless a man from his very birth is trained in a
beautiful end upright manner, these ages antagoni5e each other# A ell educated child, formed to
temperance and fortitude, should devote a great part of his education to the stage of adolescence#
Similarly, hen the adolescent is trained to temperance and fortitude, he should focus his education
on the next age of manhood# ;othing could be more absurd than the ay in hich the general pub-
lic treats this subDect # -hey fancy that boys should be orderly and temperate, abstaining from
everything troublesome or indecorous, but as soon as they have arrived at the age of adolescence,
they may do anything they please# In this age, therefore, there is a combination of both !inds of er-
rors, puerile and virile# -o spea! plainly, they avoid anything that demands diligence and good or-
der, hile folloing anything that has the appearance of sport, intemperance and petulance, being
familiar only ith boyish affairs# -heir desires should be developed from the boyish stage into the
next one# In the meanhile ambition and the rest of the more serious and turbulent inclinations and
desires of the virile age prematurely invade adolescenceI herefore this adolescence demands the
greatest care# In general, no man ought to be alloed to do hatever he pleasesI but there is alays
need, of a certain inspection, or legal and cultured government, to hich each of the citi5ens is re-
sponsible# 6or animals, hen left to themselves, and neglected, rapidly degenerate into vice and de-
pravity#
-he .ythagoreans $ho did not approve of men being intemperate(, ould often compel ansers
from, and pu55le $such intemperate people( by as!ing them hy boys are generally trained to ta!e
food in an orderly and moderate manner, being compelled to learn that order and decency are beau-
tiful, and their contraries, disorder and intemperance base, hile drun!ards and gormandi5ers are
held in great disgrace# 6or if none of $these temperate( habits are to be continued on into the virile
age, to accustom us, as boys, to such $temperate( habits, as useless# -he same argument holds
good in respect to other good habits to hich children are trained, a reversal of training is not seen
in the case of the education of other loer animals# 6rom the very first a help and a colt are
trained to, and learn those tric!s hich they are to exercise hen they arrived at maturity# $-he
more liberal standard for man in the matter of morals is therefore not sustained by the common
sense that trains children to temperance(# -he .ythagoreans are generally reported to have exhorted
not only their intimatesI but also homsoever they happened to meet, to avoid pleasure as a danger
demanding the utmost caution# Core than anything else does this passion deceive us, and mislead
us into error# -hey contended that it as iser never to do anything hose end as pleasure, hose
results are usually shameful and harmful# -hey asserted e should adopt as an end the beautiful,
and fair, and do our duty# Anly secondarily should e consider the useful and advantageous# In
these matters there is no need to consider considerations of chance#
Af desire, the .ythagoreans said1 -hat desire itself is a certain tendency, impulse and appetite of the
soul, ishing to be filled ith something or to enDoy the presence of something or to be disposed
according to some sense-enDoyment# -here are also contrary desires, of evacuation and repulsion,
and to terminate some sensation# -his passion is manifold, and is al most the most .rotean of hu-
man experiences# ,oever, many human desires are artificially ac0uired, and self-prepared# -hat is
hy this passion demands the utmost care and atchfulness, and physical exercise that is more than
casual# -hat hen the body is empty it should desire food is no more than naturalI and then it is Dust
as natural that hen it is full it should desire appropriate evacuation# :ut to desire superfluous food,
or luxurious garment or coverlets, or residences, is artificial# -he .ythagoreans applied this argu-
ment also to furniture, dishes, servants and cattle raised for butchering# :esides, human passions are
never permanent, but are ever changing, even to infinity# -hat is hy education of the youth should
begin at the earliest moment possible, that the aspirations may be directed toards ends that are
proper, avoiding those that are vain and unnecessary, so as to be undisturbed by, and remain pure
from such undesirable passionsI and may despise such as are obDects of contempt because subDected
to changeable desires# @et it must be observed that senseless, harmful superfluous and insolent de-
sires subsist in the souls of such individuals ho are the most poerfulI for there is nothing so ab-
surd that soul of such boys, men and omen ould not lead them to perform#
Indeed, the variety of food eaten is beyond description# -he !inds of fruits and roots hich the hu-
man race eats is nothing less than infinite# -he !inds of flesh eaten are innumerableI there is no ter-
restrial, aerial, or a0uatic animal hich has not been parta!en of# :esides, in the preparation of
these, the contrivances used are innumerable and they are seasoned ith manifold mixtures of
Duices# ,ence, according to the motions of the human soul, it is no more than natural that the human
race should be so various as to be actually insaneI for each !ind of food that is introduced into the
human body becomes the cause of a certain peculiar disposition#
$Puantity( is as important as 0uality, for sometimes a slight change in 0uantity produces a great
change in 0uality, as ith ine# 6irst ma!ing men more cheerful, later it undermines morals and
sanity# -his difference is generally ignored in things in hich the result is not so pronounced, al-
though everything eaten is the cause of a certain peculiar disposition# ,ence it re0uires great is-
dom to !no and perceive hich 0uality and 0uantity of food to eat# -his science, first unfolded by
Apollo and .haon, as later developed by Aesculapius and his folloers#
About propagation, the .ythagoreans taught as follos# 6irst, they prevented untimely birth# ;ot
even among plants or animals is prematurity good# -o produce good fruit there is need of matura-
tion for a certain time to give strong and perfect bodies to fruits and seeds# :oys and girls should
therefore be trained to or! and exercise, ith endurance, and that they should eat foods adapted to
a life of labor and temperance, ith endurance# -here are many things in human life hich it is bet-
ter to learn at a late period in life, and this sex-life is one of them# It is therefore advisable that a boy
should be educated so as not to begin sex-connection before the tentieth year, and even then
rarely# -his ill ta!e place if he holds high ideals of a good habit for the body# :ody-hygiene and
intemperance are not li!ely to subsist in the same individual# -he .ythagoreans, praised the earlier
Gree! las forbidding intercourse ith a oman ho is a mother, daughter or sister in a temple or
other public place# It is advisable that there be many impediments to the practice of this energy# -he
.ythagoreans forbad entirely intercourse that as unnatural, or resulting from anton insolence, al-
loing only the natural, the temperate, hich occur in the course of chaste and recogni5ed procre-
ation of children#
.arents should ma!e circumstantial provision for their offspring# -he first precaution is a healthful
and temperate life, not unseasonably filling himself ith food, nor using foods hich create bad
body-habits, above all avoiding intoxication# -he .ythagoreans thought that an evil, discordant,
trouble-ma!ing character produced depraved sperma# -hey insisted that none but an indolent or in-
considerate person ould attempt to produce an animal, and introduce it to existence, ithout most
diligently providing for it a pleasing and even elegant ingress into his orld# "overs of dogs pay the
utmost possible attention to the breeding of their puppies, !noing that goodness of the offspring
depends on goodness of parents, at the right season, and in proper surroundings# "overs of birds pay
no less attention to the matterI procreators of generous animals therefore should by all possible
means manage that their efforts be fruitful# It is therefore absurd for men to pay no attention to their
on offspring, begetting casually and carelessly, and after birth, feed, and educate them negligently#
-his is the most poerful and manifest cause of the vice and depravity of the greater part of man-
!ind, for the generality underta!e procreation on impulse, li!e beasts#
Such ere the .ythagoreans teachings about temperance, hich they defended by ord and prac-
tised in deed# -hey had originally received them from .ythagoras himself, as if they had been or-
acles delivered by the .ythian Apollo himself#
4,A.-/? JJJII
6A?-I-B3/
6ortitude, the subDect of this chapter, has already been illustrated, by the heroism of -imycha, and
those .ythagoreans ho preferred death, to transgression of .ythagorass prohibition to touch
beans, and other instances# .ythagoras himself shoed it in the generous deeds he performed hen
traveling everyhere alone, undergoing heart-brea!ing labors and serious dangers, and in choosing
to leave his country and living among strangers# "i!eise hen he dissolved tyrannies, ordered
confused commonealths, and emancipated cities# ,e ended illegalities, and impeded the activities
of insolent and tyrannical men# As a leader, he shoed himself benignant to the Dust and mild, but
expelled rough and licentious men from his society, refusing even to anser them, resisting them
ith all his might, although he assisted the former#
Af these courageous deeds, as ell as of many upright actions, many instances could be adducedI
but the greatest of these is the prevailing freedom of speech he employed toards the tyrant .halar-
is, the most cruel of them, ho detained him in captivity# A ,yperborean sage named Abaris visited
him, to convers ith him on many topics, especially sacred ones, respecting statues and orship,
the divine providence, natures terrestrial and celestial, and the li!e# .ythagoras, under divine inspir-
ation, ansered him boldly, sincerely and persuasively, so that he converted all listeners# -his
roused .halariss anger against Abaris, for praising .ythagoras and increased the tyrants resent-
ment against .ythagoras# .halaris sore proudly as as his ont, and uttered blasphemies against
the Gods themselves# Abaris hoever as grateful to him, and learned from him that all things are
suspended from, and governed by the heavensI hich he proved from many considerations, but es-
pecially from the potency of sacred rites# 6or teaching him these things, so far as Abaris from
thin!ing .ythagoras an enchanter, that his reverence for him increased till he considered him a God#
.halaris tried to counteract this by discrediting divination, and publicly denying there as any effic-
acy of the sacraments performed in sacred rites# Abaris, hoever, guided the controversy toards
such things as are granted by all men, see!ing to persuade him of the existence of a divine provid-
ence, from circumstances that lie above human influence, such as immense ars, incurable dis-
eases, the decay of fruits, incursions of pestilence, or the li!e, hich are hard to endure, and are de-
plorable, arising from the beneficent $purifying( energy of the poers celestial and divine# Shame-
lessly and boldly .halaris opposed all this# -hen .ythagoras, suspecting that .halaris intended to
put him to death, but !noing he as not destined to die through .halaris, retorted ith great free-
dom of speech# "oo!ing at Abaris, he said that from the heavens to aerial and terrestrial beings
there as a certain descending communication# -hen from instances generally !non he shoed
that all things follo the heavens# -hen he demonstrated the existence of an indisputable poer of
freedom of ill, in the soulI proceeding further amply to discuss the perfect energy of reason and
intellect# 7ith his $usual( freedom of ill he even $dared to( discuss tyranny, and all the prerogat-
ives of fortune, concerning inDustice and human avarice, solidly teaching that all these are of no
value# 6urther, he gave .halaris a divine admonition concerning the most excellent life, earnestly
comparing it ith the most depraved# ,e li!eise clearly unfolded the manner of subsistence of the
soul, its poers and passionsI and, hat as the most beautiful of all, demonstrated to him that the
Gods are not the authors of evils, and that diseases and bodily calamities are the results of intemper-
ance, at the same time finding fault ith the poets and mythologists for the unadvisedness of many
of their fables# -hen he directly confuted .halaris, and admonished him, experimentally demon-
strating to him the poer and magnitude of heaven, and by many arguments demonstrated to him
that reason dictates that punishments should be legal# ,e demonstrated to him the difference
beteen men and other animals, scientifically demonstrating the difference beteen internal and
external speech# -hen he expounded the nature of intellect, and the !noledge that is derived there-
fromI ith its ethical corollaries# -hen he discoursed about the most beneficial of useful things
adding the mildest possible implied admonitions, adding prohibitions of hat ought not to be done#
Cost important of all, he unfolded to him the distinction beteen the productions of fate and intel-
lect, and the difference beteen the results of destiny and fate# -hen he reasoned about the divinit-
ies, and the immortality of the soul# All this, really, belongs to some other chapter, the present ones
topic being the development of fortitude# 6or if, hen situated in the midst of the most dreadful cir-
cumstances, .ythagoras philosophised ith firmness of decision, if on all sides he resisted fortune,
and repelled it, enduring its attac!s strenuously, if he employed the greatest boldness of speech to-
ards him ho threatened his life, it must be evident that he entirely despised those things gener-
ally considered dreadful, rating them as unorthy of attention# If also he despised execution, hen
this appeared imminent, and as not moved by its imminence, it is evident that he as perfectly
free from the fear of death, $and all possible torments(#
:ut he did something still more generous, effecting the dissolution of the tyranny, restraining the
tyrant hen he as about to bring the most deplorable calamities on man!ind, and liberating Sicily
from the most cruel and imperious poer# -hat it as .ythagoras ho accomplished this, is evident
from the oracles of Apollo, hich had predicted that the dominion of .hilaris ould come to an end
hen his subDects ould become better men, and cooperateI hich also happened through the pres-
ence of .ythagoras, and his imparting to them instruction and good principles# -he best proof of
this may be found in the time hen it happened# 6or on the very day that .halaris condemned .y-
thagoras and Abaris to death, he himself by stratagem slain# Another argument for the truth of this
are the adventures of /pimenides# ,e as a disciple of .ythagorasI and hen certain persons
planned to destroy him, he invo!ed the 6uries and the avenging divinities, and thereby caused those
ho had attempted his life to destroy each other# In the same ay .ythagoras, ho assisted man-
!ind, imitating both the manner and fortitude of ,ercules for the benefit of men punished and occa-
sioned the death of him ho had behaved insolently and in a disorderly manner toards othersI and
this through the very oracles of Apollo, in the class of hich divinity both he and /pimenides had
naturally since birth belonged# -his admirable and strenuous deed as the effect of his fortitude#
7e shall present another example of preservation of laful opinionI for folloing it out he did hat
to him seemed Dust and dictated by right reason ithout permitting himself to be diverted from his
intention by pleasure, labor passion or danger# ,is disciples also preferred death to transgression of
any precept of his# -hey preserved their manners unchanged under the most varying fortunes# :eing
involved in a myriad of calamities could not cause them to deviate from his rules# -hey never
ceased exhorting each other to support the las, to oppose lalessness from birth to train them-
selves to a life of temperance and fortitude, so as to restrain and oppose luxury# -hey also used cer-
tain original melodies as remedies against the passions of the soulI against lamentation and des-
pondency, hich .ythagoras had invented, as affording the greatest relief in these maladies# Ather
melodies they employed against anger and rage, through hich they could increase or diminish
those passions, till they reduced them to moderation, and compatability ith fortitude# -he thought
hich afforded them the greatest support in generous endurance as the conviction that no human
casualty should be unexpected by men of intellect, but that they must resign themselves to all vicis-
situdes beyond human control# Coreover, henever overhelmed by grief or anger, they immedi-
ately forsoo! the company of their associates, and in solitude endeavored to digest and heal the op-
pressing passion# -hey too! it for granted that studies and disciplines implied labor, and that they
must expect severe tests of different !inds and be restrained and punished even by fire and sord,
so as to exorcise innate intemperance and greedinessI for hich purpose no labor or endurance
should be spared# 6urther, to accomplish they un-selfishly abstained from animal food, and also
some other !inds# -his also as the cause of their sloing of speech and complete silence, as means
to the entire subDugation of the tongue, hich demanded year-long exercise of fortitude# In addition,
their strenuous and# assiduous investigation and resolution of the most difficult theorems, their ab-
stinence from ine, food and sleep, and their contempt of ealth and glory# -hus by many different
means they trained themselves to fortitude#
:ut this is not all# -hey restrained themselves from lamentations and tears# -hey abstained from en-
treaty, supplication, and adulation as effeminate and abDect $or humble(# -o the same practice of
fortitude must be referred their peculiarity of absolute reserve among their arcana of the principal
principles of their discipline, preserving them from being divulged to strangers, committing them
unritten to memory, and transmitting them orally to their successors as if they ere the mysteries
of the Gods# -hat is hy nothing orth mentioning of their philosophy as ever made public and
though it had been taught and learned for a long hile, it as not !non beyond their alls# -hose
outside ho might call the profane, sometimes happened to be presentI and under such circum-
stances the .ythagoreans ould communicate only obscurely, though symbols, a vestige of hich is
retained by the celebrated precepts still in circulation, such as fire should not be po!ed ith a
sord, and other li!e ones, hich ta!en literally, resemble old-ives talesI but hich, hen prop-
erly unfolded, are to the recipients admirable and venerable#
-hat precept hich, of all others, as of the greatest efficacy in the achievement of fortitude is that
one hich helps defend and liberate from the life-long bonds that retain the intellect in captivity,
and ithout hich no one can perceive or learn anything rational or genuine, hatever be the sense
in activity# -hey said1
=-is mind that sees all things, and hears them allI All else is deaf and blind#>
-he next most efficacious precept is that one hich exhorts excessively to be studious of purifying
the intellect, and by various methods adapting it through mathematical disciplines to receive
something divinely beneficial, so as neither to fear a separation from the body, nor, hen directed
toards incorporeal natures, through their most refulgent splendor to be compelled to turn aay the
eyes, nor to be converted to those passions hich fasten and even nail the soul to the body, and
ma!es her rebellious to all those passions hich are the progeny of procreation, degrading her to a
loer level# -he training of ascent through all these is the study of the most perfect fortitude# Such
are important instances of the fortitude of .ythagoras and his folloers#
4,A.-/? JJJIII
B;I</?SA" 6?I/;3S,I.
6riendship of all things toards all as most clearly enforced by .ythagoras, Gods friendship to-
ards men he explained through piety and scientific cultivationI but that of teachings toards each
other, and generally the soul to the body, of the rational toards the irrational part, through philo-
sophy and its teachings# -hat of men toards each otherI and of citi5ens, he Dustified through proper
legislationI that of strangers, through the common possession of a bodyI that beteen man and ife,
children brothers or !indred through the imperverted ties of nature# In short, he taught the friendship
of all for all, and still further, of certain animals, through Dustice, and common physical experiences#
:ut the pacification and conciliation of the body, hich is mortal by itself, and of its latent immor-
tal poers, he enforced through health, and a temperate diet suitable thereto, in imitation of the
ever-healthy condition of the mundane elements# In all these, .ythagoras is recogni5ed as the in-
ventor and summari5er of them in a single name, that of friendship# So admirable as his friendship
to his associates, that even no hen people are extremely benevolent mutually people call them
.ythagoreans, e should therefore narrate .ythagorass discipline thereto related, and the precepts
he taught, his disciples#
.ythagoreans therefore on the effacing of all rivalry and contention from true friendship, if not from
all friendshipI at least from parental friendship, and generally from all gratitude toards seniors and
benefactors# -o strive or contend ith such, out of anger or some other passion, is not the ay to
preserve existing friendship# Scars and ulcers in friendship should be the least possibleI and this ill
be the case if those that are friends !no ho to subdue their anger# If indeed both of them !no
this, or rather, the younger of the to, and ho ran!s in some of the above mentioned orders, $their
friendship ill be the more easily preserved(# -hey also taught that corrections and admonitions,
hich they called =paedartases> should ta!e place from the elder to the younger, and ith much
sumarity and cautionI and li!eise, that much careful and considerate attention should be manifes-
ted in admonitions# 6or thus they ill be persuasive and helpful# -hey also said that confidence
should never be separated from friendship hether in earnest, or in Dest# /xisting friendship cannot
survive, hen once falsehood insinuates itself into the habits of professed friends# According to
them, friendship should not be abandoned en account of misfortune, or any other human vicissitudeI
the only permissible reDection of friend or friendship is the result of great and incorrigible vice#
,atred should not be entertained voluntarily against those ho not perfectly bad, but hen once
formed, it should be strenuously and firmly maintained, unless its obDect should change his morals,
so as to become a better man# ,ostility should not consist in ords, but in deeds# 7ar is commend-
able and legitimate, hen conducted in a manly manner#
;o one should ever permit himself to become the cause of contention, and e should as far as pos-
sible avoid its source# In a friendship hich is intended to be pure, the greater part of the things per-
taining to it should be definite and legitimate# -hese should be properly distinguished and not be
casualI and moreover our conversation should never gro casual or negligent, but remain orderly,
modest and benevolent# So also ith the remaining passions and dispositions#
7e should not decline foreign friendships carelessly, but accept and guard them ith the greatest
care#
-hat the .ythagoreans preserved friendship toards each other for many ages may be inferred from
hat Aristoxenus in his treatise on the .ythagoric "ife says he heard from 3ionysius the tyrant of
Sicily, hen having been deposed he taught language at 4orinth# ,ere in the ords of Aristoxenus1
=So far as they could these men avoided lamentations and tears, and the li!eI also adulation, en-
treaty, supplication and other emotions# 3ionysius therefore, having fallen from his tyranny and
come to 4orinth, told us the detailed story about the .ythagoreans, .hintias and 3amon, ho ere
sponsors for each others death# -his is ho it as1 4ertain intimates of his had often mentioned the
.ythagoreans, defaming and reviling them, calling them arrogant and asserting that their gravity,
their pretended fidelity, and stoicism, ould disappear on falling in some calamity# Athers contra-
dicted thisI and as contention arose on the subDect, it as decided to settle the matter by an experi-
ment# Ane man accused .hintias, before 3ionysius, of having conspired ith others against his life#
Athers corroborated the charges, hich loo!ed probable though .hintias as astonished at the ac-
cusation #7hen 3ionysius had une0uivocally said that he had verified the charges, and that .hintias
must die, the latter replied that if 3ionysius thought that this as necessary, he re0uested the delay
of the remainder of the day, to settle the affairs of himself and 3amon, as these to men lived to-
getherI and had all things in commonI but as .hintias as the elder, he mostly undertoo! the man-
agement of the household affairs# ,e therefore re0uested that 3ionysius allo him to depart for this
purpose, and that he ould appoint 3amon a his surety# 3ionysius claimed surprise at such a re-
0uest, and as!ed him if any man existed ho ould stand surety for the death of another# .hintias
asserted that there as, and 3amon as sent forI and on hearing hat had happened, agreed to be-
come the sponsor, and that he ould remain there till .hintiass return# 3ionysius declared aston-
ishment at these circumstances, and they ho had proposed the experiment derided 3amon as the
one ho ould be caught, sneering at him as the =vicarious stagI> hen hoever sunset ap-
proached, .hintias came to dieI at hich all present ere astonished and subdued# 3ionysius, hav-
ing embraced and !issed the men, re0uested that they ould receive him as a third into their friend-
ship# -hey hoever ould by no means consent to anything of the !ind, though he entreated them
to comply ith his re0uest#> -hese ords are related by Aristoxenus ho received them from 3i-
onysius himself#
It is also said, that the .ythagoreans endeavored to perform the offices of friendship to those of their
sect, though they ere un!non, and had never seen each otherI on receiving a sure indication of
participation in the same doctrinesI so that, Dudging from such friendly offices, it may be believed,
as is generally reported, that orthy men, even though they should dell in the remotest parts of the
earth, are mutually friends, and this before they became !non to, and salute each other#
-he story runs that a certain .ythagorean, traveling through a long and solitary road on foot, came
to an innI and there from over-exertion, or other causes fell into a long and severe disease, as at
length to ant the necessaries of life# -he inn-!eeper hoever, hether from amity or benevolence,
supplied him ith everything re0uisite, sparing neither personal service, or expense# 6eeling the end
near, the .ythagorean rote a certain symbol on a tablet, and desired the inn!eeper, in event of his
death, to hang the tablet near the road, and observe hether any traveler read the symbol# 6or that
person, said he, ill repay you hat you have spent on me and ill also than! you for your !ind-
ness# After the .ythagoreans death the inn!eeper buried him and attended to the obse0uies, ithout
any expectation of being repaid, nor of receiving remuneration from anybody ho might read the
tablet# ,oever, struc! ith the .ythagoreans re0uest, he as induced to expose the riting in the
public road# A long time thereafter a .ythagorean passed that ay, and on understanding the sym-
bol, found out ho had placed the tablet there, and having also investigated every particular, paid
the inn-!eeper a much greater sum than he had disbursed#
It is also related that 4linias the -arent hen he "earned that the 4yranian .rorus, ho as a 5eal-
ous .ythagorean, as in danger of losing all his property, sailed to 4yrene, and having collected a
sum of money, restored the affairs of .rorus to a better condition, though thereby diminished his
on estate and ris!ed the peril of the sea-voyage#
Similarly, -hestor .osidomiates, having from mere report heard that the .ythagorean -hymaridas
.arius had fallen into poverty, from great ealth into abDect poverty, is said to have sailed to .aros,
and after having collected a large sum of money, and reinstated -hymaridas in affluence# -hese are
beautiful instances of friendship#
:ut much more admirable than the above are examples ere the .ythagoreans teachings respecting
the communion of divine goods, the agreement of intellect, and their doctrines about the divine
soul,####### -hey ere ever exhorting each other not to tear apart the divine soul ithin them# -he
significance of their friendship both in ords and deeds as effort to achieve a certain divine union,
$or union ith the divinity(, or communion ith the divine soul# :etter than this, either hat is
uttered in ords, or performed by, it is not possible to find# 6or I am of opinion that in this all the
goods of friendship are united# In this, as a climax e have collected all the blessings of .y-
thagorean friendshipI there is nothing left to say#
4,A.-/? JJJI<
;A;-C/?4/;A?@ S/4?/4@
,aving thus, according to plan discussed .ythagoras and .ythagoreanism, e may be interested in
scattered points hich do not fall under any of the former topics#
$6irst, as to language(# It is said that each Gree! novice as ordered to use his native language, as
they did not approve of the use of a foreign language# 6oreigners Doined the .ythagoreans1 Cesseni-
ans, "ucani, .icentini, and ?omans# Cetrodorus, the son of -hyrsus, ho as the father of /pichar-
mus, ho specialised in medicine, in explaining his fathers ritings to his brother, says that
/picharmus, and prior to him .ythagoras, conceived that the best dialect, and the most musical, as
the 3oric# -he Ionic and Aeolic remind of chromatic progression, hich hoever is still more evid-
ent in the Attic# -he 3oric, consisting of pronounced letters, is enharmonic#
-he myths also bear itness to the anti0uity of this dialect# ;ereus as said to have married 3oris,
the daughter of AceanI by hom he had fifty daughters, one of hom as the mother of Achilles#
Cetrodorus also says that some insist that ,elen as the offspring of 3eucalion, ho as the son
of .rometheus and .yrrha the daughter of /pimetheusI and from him descended 3orus and Aeolus#
6urther he observes that from the :abylonian sacred rites he had learned that ,elen as the off-
spring of Eupiter, and that the sons of ,ellen ere 3orus, Juthus, and AeolusI ith hich ,ero-
dotus also agrees# Accuracy in particulars so ancient is difficult for moderns, to enable them to de-
cide hich of the accounts is most trustorthy# :ut either of them claim that the 3oric dialect is the
most ancient, that the Aeolic, hose name derives it from Aeolus, is the next age, and that the third
is the Ionic, derived from Ion, the son of Juthus# 6ourth is the Attic, formed from 4reusa, the
daughter of /rechtheus, ho is three generations younger than the othersI as it existed about the
time of the -hracians and the rape of Arithyia, as is evident from the testimony of most histories#
-he 3oric dialect as also used by the most ancient of the poets, Arpheus##### $repetition(#
-he .ythagoreans obDected to those ho offered disciplines for sale, ho open their souls li!e the
gates of an inn to every man that approaches themI and ho, if they do not thus MhaveN buyers, dif-
fuse themselves through cities, MsoN in short, hire gymnasia, and re0uire a reard from young men
for those things that are ithout price# .ythagoras indeed hid the meaning of much that as said by
him, in order that those ho ere genuinely instructed might clearly parta!ers of itI but that others,
as ,omer says of -antalus, might be pained in the midst of hat they heard, in conse0uence of re-
ceiving no delight therefrom#
-he .ythagoreans thought that those ho teach for the sa!e of reard, that they sho themselves
orse than sculptors, or artists ho perform MtheN or! sitting# 6or these, hen someone orders
MoodN to ma!e a statue of ,ermes, search for ood suited to receive the proper formI hile those
pretend that they can readily produce the or!s of virtue from every nature# -he .ythagoreans li!e-
ise said that it is more necessary to pay attention to philosophy than to parents or agricultureI for
no doubt it is oing to the latter that e live, but philosophers and preceptors are the causes of our
living ell, and becoming ise, on discovering the right mode of discipline and instruction#
;or did they thin! fit either to spea! or rite in such a ay such that their conceptions might be ob-
vious to the first comerI for the very first thing .ythagoras is said to have taught is that, being puri-
fied from all intemperance, his disciples should preserve the doctrines they have heard in silence# It
is accordingly reported that he ho first divulged the theory of commensurable and incommensur-
able 0uantities to those unorthy to receive it as by the .ythagoreans so hated that they not only
expelled him from their common association, and from living ith him, but also for him construc-
ted a tomb, as for one ho had migrated from the human into another life# It is also reported that the
3ivine .oer as so indignant ith those ho divulged the teachings of .ythagoras, that he per-
ished at sea, as an impious person ho divulged the method of inscribing in a sphere the dodeca-
hedron, one of the five so-called solid figures, the composition of the icostagonus# :ut according to
others, this is hat happened to him ho revealed the doctrine of rational and incommensurable
0uantities#
All .ythagoric discipline as symbolic, resembling riddles and pu55les, and consisting of maxims,
in the style of the ancients# "i!eise the truly divine .ythian oracles seem to be somehat difficult
of understanding and explanationI to those ho carelessly receive the ansers given# -hese are the
indications about .ythagoras and the .ythagoreans collected from tradition#
4,A.-/? JJJ<
A--A4K A; .@-,AGA?/A;ISC
-here ere hoever certain persons ho ere hostile to the .ythagoreans, and ho rose against
them# -hat stratagems ere employed to destroy them, during .ythagorass absence, is universally
ac!noledgedI but the historians differ in their account of the Dourney hich he then undertoo!#
Some say that he ent to .herecydes the Syrian, and others, to Cetapontum# Cany causes of the
stratagems are assigned# Ane of then, hich is said to have originated from the men called 4yloni-
ans, is as follos1 4ylon of 4rotona as one of the most prominent citi5ens, in birth, renon and
ealth, but in manners he as severe, turbulent, violent, tyrannical# ,is greatest desire as to be-
come partner of the .ythagoric life, and he made application to .ythagoras ho as no no ad-
vanced in age, but as reDected for the above causes# 4onse0uently, he and his friends became viol-
ent enemies of the brotherhood# 4eylonRs ambition as so vehement and immoderate that ith his
associates, he persecuted the very last of the .ythagoreans# -hat is hy .ythagoras moved to Ceta-
pontum, here he closed his existence#
-hose ho ere called 4ylonians continued to plot against the .ythagoreans, and to exhibit the
most virulent malevolence# ;evertheless for a time this enmity as subdued by the .ythagoreans
probity, and also by the vote of the citi5ens, ho entrusted the hole of the city affairs to their man-
agement#
At length, hoever, the 4ylonians became so hostile to =the men,> as they ere called, that they set
fire to Cilos residence, here ere assembled all the .ythagoreans, holding a council of ar# All
ere burnt, except to, Archippus and "ysis, ho escaped through their bodily vigor# As no public
notice as ta!en of this calamity, the .ythagoreans ceased to pay any further attention to public af-
fairs, hich as due to to causes1 the citiess negligence, and through the loss of those men most
0ualified to govern# :oth of the saved .ythagoreans ere -arentines, and Archippus returned home#
"ysis resenting the public neglect ent into Greece, residing in the Achian .eloponnesus# Stimu-
lated by an ardent desire, he migrated to -hebes, here he had as disciple /paminondas, ho spo!e
of his teacher as his father# -here "ysis died#
/xcept Archytas of -arentum, the rest of the .ythagoreans departed from Italy, and delt together
in ?hegium# -he most celebrated ere .hantos, /checrates, .olymnastus, and 3iocrates, ho ere
.hlyasiansI and Jenophilus 4halcidensis of -hrace# :ut in course of time, as the administration of
public affairs ent from bad to orse, these .ythagoreans nevertheless preserved their pristine
manners and disciplinesI yet soon the sect began to fail, till they nobly perished# -his is the account
by Aristoxenus#
;ichomachus agrees ith Aristoxenus, except that he dates the plot against the .ythagoreans during
.ythagorass Dourney to 3elos, to nurse his preceptor .herecydes the Syrian, ho as then afflicted
ith the morbus pedicularis, and after his death performed the funeral rites# -hen those ho had
been reDected by the .ythagoreans, and to hom monuments had been raised, as if they ere dead,
attac!ed them, and committed them all to the flames# Afterards they ere overhelmed by the
Italians ith stones, and thron out of the house unburied# -hen science died in the breasts of its
possessors, having by them been preserved as something mystic and incommunicable# Anly such
things as ere difficult to be understood, and hich ere not expounded, ere preserved in the
memory of those ho ere outside of the sect, except a fe things, hich certain .ythagoreans,
ho at that time happened to be in foreign, lands, preserved as spar!s of science very obscure, and
of difficult investigation# -hese men being solitary, and deDected at this calamity, ere scattered in
different places retaining no longer public influence# -hey lived alone in solitary places, herever
they found anyI each preferred association ith himself to that ith any other person#
6earing hoever lest the name of philosophy should be entirely exterminated from among man!ind,
and that they should, on this account incur the indignation of the Gods, by suffering so great a gift
of theirs to perish, they made an arrangement of certain commentaries and symbols, gathered the
ritings of the more ancient .ythagoreans, and of such things as they remembered# -hese relics
each left at his death to his son, or daughter, or ife, ith a strict inDunction not to alienate from the
family# -his as carried out for some time and the relics ere transmitted in succession to their
posterity#
Since Apollonius dissents in a certain place regarding these particulars, and adds many things that
e have not mentioned, e must record his account of the plot against the .ythagoreans# ,e says
that from childhood .ythagoras had aroused envy# So long as he conversed ith all that came to
him, he as pleasing to allI but hen he restricted his intercourse to his disciples the general
peoples good opinion of him as altered# -hey did indeed permit him to pay more attention to
strangers than to themselvesI but they ere indignant at preferring some of their fello-citi5ens be-
fore othersI and they suspected that his disciples assembled ith intentions hostile to themselves# In
the next place, as the young men that ere indignant ith him ere of high ran!, and surpassed
others in ealth, and, hen they arrived at the proper age, not only, held the first honors in their
on families, but also managed the affairs of the city in common, they, being more than three hun-
dred in number, formed a large body, so that there remained but a small part of the city hich as
not devoted to their habits and pursuits#
Coreover so long as the 4rotonians confined themselves to their on country, and .ythagoras
delt among them, the original form of government continuedI but the people had changed, and
they ere no longer satisfied ith itI and ere therefore see!ing a pretext for a change# 7hen they
captured Sybaris, and the land as not divided by lot, according to the desire of the multitude, and
.ythagoras gone, this veiled hatred against the .ythagoreans burst forth, and the populace forsoo!
them# -he leaders of this dissension ere those that ere nearest to the .ythagoreans, both by
!indred and intercourse# -hese leaders, as ell as the common fol! ere offended by the .y-
thagoreans actions, hich ere unusual, and the people interpreted that peculiarity as a reflection
on theirs# -he .ythagoreans !indred ere indignant that they associated ith none, their parents
exceptedI that they shared in common their possessions to the exclusion of their !indred, hom
they treated as strangers# -hese personal motives turned the general opposition into active hostility#
,ippasus, 3iodorus and -heages united in insisting that the assembly and the magistracy should be
opened to every citi5en, and that the rulers should be responsible to elected representatives of the
people# -his as opposed by the .ythagoreans Alcimachus, 3imachus, Ceton and 3emocides, and
opposed changes in the inherited constitution# -hey ere hoever defeated, and ere formally ac-
cused in a popular as assembly by to orators, the aristocrat 4ylon, and the plebeian ;inon# -hese
to planned their speeches together, the first and longer one being made by 4ylon, hile ;ino con-
cluded by pretending that he had penetrated the .ythagorean mysteries, and that he had gathered
and ritten out such particular as ere calculated to criminate the .ythagoreans, and a scribe he
gave to read a boo! hich as entitled the Sacred 3iscourse#
,ere is a specimen of hat it contained1 $-his next paragraph is misplaced, but is put here as more
suitable here than here it is the text, in front of the last one(#
;one of the .ythagoreans called .ythagoras by his name# 7hile alive, they referred to him as the
divine oneI after his death, as =that man> Dust as ,omer ma!es /umaeus refer to Blysses thus1
=-hou absent he may be, A guest, I fear
-o name himI so great is my love and care#>
Such ere some of his precepts1 -hey ere to get up before sunrise, and never to ear a ring on
hich the image of God as engraved, lest that image be defiled by being orn at funerals, or other
impure place# -hey ere to adore the rising sun# .ythagoras ordered them never to do anything
ithout previous deliberation and discussionI in the morning forming a plan of hat as to be done
later, and at night to revie the days actions, hich served the double purpose of strengthening the
memory, and considering their conduct# If any of their associates appointed them to meet them at
some particular place and time they should stay there till he came, regardless of the length of time,
for .ythagoreans should not spea! carelessly, but remember hat as said and regard order and
method# At death they ere not to blaspheme, but to die uttering propitious ords, such as are used
by those ho sail out of the port into the Adriatic Sea# 6riends are to be venerated in the same man-
ner as GodsI but others are to be treated as brutes# -his very sentiment is ascribed to .ythagoreans
themselves, but in verse form such as1
="i!e blessed Gods, his friends he eer revered
:ut rec!oned others as of no account#>
.ythagoras considered that ,omer deserved to be praised for calling a !ing the shepherd of the
people hich implied approval of aristocracy, in hich the rulers are fe, hile the implication is
that the rest of men are li!e cattle# /nmity as re0uired to beans, because they ere used in votingI
inasmuch as the .ythagoreans selected office holders by appointment# -o rule should be an obDect
of desire, for it is better to be a bull for one day only, than for all ones life to be an ox# 7hile other
states constitutions might be laudable, yet it ould be advisable to use only that hich is !non to
oneself#
In short, ;inon shoed that their philosophy as a conspiracy against democracy1 and advised the
people to listen to the defendants, that they ould never have been admitted into the assembly if the
.ythagoreans council had to depend for admission on the Session of a thousand men, that they
should not allo speech to those ho, had used their utmost to prevent speech by others#
-he people must remember that hen they raised their right hands to vote, or even count their
votes, this their right hand as constructively reDected by the .ythagoreans, ho ere Aristocrats# It
as also disgraceful that the 4rotonian masses ho had con0uered thirty myriads of men at the
river -racis should be outeighed by a thousandth part of the same number through sedition in the
city itself#
-hrough these calumnies ;inon so exasperated his hearers that a fe days after a multitude as-
sembled intending to attac! the .ythagoreans as they ere sacrificing to the Cuses in a house near
the temple of Apollo# 6oreseeing this, the .ythagoreans fled to an inn, hile 3emocedes ith the
youths retired to .lataea# -he partisans of the ne constitution decreed an accusation against 3emo-
cedes of inciting the to capture poer, putting a price of thirty talents on his head, dead or alive# A
battle ensued, and the victor, -heages as given the talents promised by the city# -he citys evils
spread to the hole region, and the exiles ere arrested even in -arentum, Cetapontum and 4aulo-
nia# -he envoys from these cities that came to 4rotona to get the charges ere, according to the
4rotonian record, bribed, ith the result that the exiles ere condemned as guilty, and driven out
further# -he 4rotonians then expelled from the city all ho ere dissatisfied ith the existing re-
gimeI banishing along ith them all their families, on the to-fold pretext that impiety as unbear-
able, and that the children should not be separated from their parents# -hey then repudiated the
debts, and redistributed the lands#
Cany years after, hen 3inarchus and his associates had been slain in another battle, and hen "it-
agus, the chief leader of the sedition ere dead, pity and repentance induced the citi5ens to recall
from exile hat remained of the .ythagoreans# -hey therefore sent for from messengers from
Achaia ho ere to come to an agreement ith the exiles, and file their oaths $of loyalty to the ex-
isting 4rotonian regimeK( at 3elphi# -he .ythagoreans ho returned from exile ere about sixty in
number, not to mention the aged among hom ere some physicians and dieticians on original
lines# 7hen these .ythagoreans returned, they ere elcomed by the crods, ho silenced dissent-
ers by announcing that the regime as ended# -hen the -hurians invaded the country, and the .y-
thagoreans ere sent to procure assistance but they perished in battle, mutually defending each oth-
er# So thoroughly had the city become .ythagoreani5ed that beside the public praise, they per-
formed a public sacrifice in the temple of the Cuses hich had originally been built at the instiga-
tion of .ythagoras#
-hat is all of the attac! on the .ythagoreans#
4,A.-/? JJJ<I
-,/ .@-,AGA?/A; SB44/SSIA;
.ythagorass ac!noledged successor as Aristaeus, the son the 4rotonian 3amophon, ho as
.ythagorass contemporary, and lived seven ages before .lato# :eing exceedingly s!illful in .y-
thagoric dogmas, he succeeded to the school, educated .ythagorass children, and married his ife
-heano# .ythagoras as said to have taught his school 2) years, and to have lived a century#
Aristaeus groing old, he relin0uished the school to .ythagorass son Cnesarchus# ,e as fol-
loed by :ulagoras, in hose time 4rotona as plundered# After the ar, Gartydas the 4rotonian,
ho has been absent on a Dourney, returned, and too! up the schoolI but he so grieved about his
countrys calamity the he died prematurely# .ythagoreans ho became very old ere accustomed to
liberate themselves from the body, as a prisoner#
"ater, being saved through certain strangers, Aresas "ucanus undertoo! the schoolI and to him
came 3iodorus Aspendius, ho as received into the school because of the small number of genu-
ine .ythagoreans# 4linias and .hilelaus ere at ,eracleaI -heorides and /urytus at Cetapontum,
and at -arentum, Archytas, /picharmus as also said to have been one of the foreign ,earers, but
he as not one of the school# ,oever, having arrived at Syracuse he refrained form public philo-
sophi5ing, in consideration of the tyranny of ,iero# :ut he rote the .ythagoren vies in metre,
and published the occult .ythagorean dogmas in comedies#
It is probable that the maDority of the .ythagoreans ere anonymous, and remain un!non# :ut the
folloing names are !non and celebrated1
Af the 4rotonians, ,ippostratus, 3ymas, Aegon, Armon, Sillus, 4leosthenes, Agelas, /pisylus,
.hyciades, /chpntus, -imaeus, :uthius, /ratus, Itmaeus, ?hodippus, :ryas, /vandrus, Cyllias, An-
timedon, Ageas, "eophron, Agylus, Anatus, ,ipposthenes, 4leophron, Alcmaecsi, 3amocles, Ci-
lon, Cenon#
At Cetapontum resided :rontinus, .armiseus, 4restadas, "eon, 3amarmenus, Aeneas, 4hilas, Ce-
lisias, Aristeas, "aphion, /vandrus, Agesarchus, -hrasus, /uryphemus, Aristomenes, Agesarchus,
Alceas, Jenophantes, -hraseus, Arytus, /piphron, /riscus, Cegistisas, "eocydes, -hrasymedes,
/uphemus, .roclos, Antimenes, "acritus, 3emotages, .yrrho, ?hexbius, Alopecus, Astylus, 3aci-
das, Aliochus, "acrates and Glycinus,
Af the Agrigentines as /mpedocles,
Af the /leatae, as .armanides#
Af the -arentines ere .hilolaus, /u5ytus, Arcytas, -heodorus, Aristippus, "ycon, ,estiyacus, .o-
lemarchus, Asteas, 4linias, 4leon, /urymedon, Arceas, 4linagoras, Archippus, Hopyrus, /uthynus,
3icearchus, .hilonidas, .hrontidas, "@SIS, "ysibius, 3inocrates, /checrates, .action, Acusalidas,
Iomus, .isicrates, and 4learatus#
Af the "eontines ere .hrynichus, Smichias, Aristoclidinas, 4linias, Abroteles, .isyrrhydus, :ryas,
/vandrus, Archemachus, Cimnomachus, Achmonidas, 3icas and 4ariphantidas#
Af the Sybarites ere Cetopus, ,ippasus, .roxenus, /vanor, 3eanax, Cenestor, 3iodes, /mpedus,
-imasius, .olemaeus, /vaeus, and -yrsenus#
Af the 4arthaginians as Ciltiades, Anthen, Adius and "eocritus#
Af the .arians, Aetius, .haenecles, 3exitheus, Alchimachus, 3inarchus, Ceton, -ICA/BS, -ime-
sianax, Amaerus, and -hymarides#
Af the "ocrians,# Gyptius, Jenon, .hilodamus, /vetes, Adicus, Athenonidas, Sosistratus, /uthynus,
Haleucus, -imares#
Af the .osidonians, Athamas, Simus, .roxenus, 4ranous, Cyes, :athylaus, .haedon#
Af the "ucani, Acellus, and his brother Accillus, Aresandrus, 4erambus, 3ardaneus, and Calion#
Af the Aegeans, ,ippomedon, -imosthenes, /uelthus, -hrasydamus, 4rito, and .olyctor#
Af the ,yperboreans, A:A?IS#
Af the "acones, Autocharidas, 4leanor, /urycrates#
Af the ?heginenses, Aristides, 3emosthenes, Aristocrates, .hytius, ,elicaon, Cnesibulus, ,ippar-
chides, Athosion, /uthycles, Apsimus#
Af the Selinuntians, 4alais#
Af the Syracusans, "eptines, .hintias, and 3amon#
Af the Samians, Celissus, "acon, Archippus, Glorippus, ,elcris, ,ippon#
Af the 4aulonienses, 4allibrotus, 3icon, ;astas, 3rymon and Jentas#
Af the .hliasians, 3iocles, /checrates,.hanton and .olymnastus#
Af the Sicyonians, .oliades, 3emon, Sostratius, and Sosthenese#
Af the 4yrenians, .rorus, Celanippus, Aristangelus and -heodorus#
Af the 4yriceni .ythodorus, ,ipposthenes,:utherus and Jenophilus#
Af the 4atanaei, 4harondasI and "ysiades#
Af the 4orinthians, 4hrysippus#
Af the -yrrhenians, ;ausitheus#
Af the Athenians, ;eocritus#
Af the .ontians, "yramnus#
In all, to hundred and eighteen#
-he most illustrious .ythagorean omen are -imycha, the ife of Cyllias the 4rotonianI
.hyltis, the daughter of -heophrius the 4rotonian#
:yndacis, the sister of Acellus ml Acillus, "ucanians#
4hilonis,the daughter of 4hilon the "acedenonian#
4ratesiclea, the "acedemonian, the ife of the "acedemonian 4leanor#
-heane, the ife of :rontinus of Cetapontum#
Cya, the ife of Cilon the 4rotonian#
"asthenia the Arcadian, Abrotelia, the daughter of Abroteles the -arentine#
/checratia the .hliasian#
-yrsenis the SybariteI
.isirrhonde, the -arentine#
;isleadusa, the "acedemonian#
:yro, the Argive#
:abelyma the Argive,
and 4leaechma, the sister of Autocharidas the "acedemonia#
In all, seventeen#
"I6/ A6 .@-,AGA?AS
:@ .A?.,@?@ M*22-2+& A#3#N
%# Cany thin! that .ythagoras as the son of Cnesarchus, but they differ as to the latters raceI
some thin!ing him a Samian, hile ;eanthes, in the fifth boo! of his -ables states he as a Syrian,
from the city of -yre# As a famine had arisen in Samos, Cnesarchus ent thither to trade, and as
naturali5ed there# -here also as born his son .ythagoras, ho early manifested studiousness, but
as later ta!en to -yre, and there entrusted to the 4haldeans, hose doctrines he imbibed# -hence
he returned to Ionia, here he first studied under the Syrian .herecydes, then also under ,ermoda-
mas the 4reophylian ho at that time as an old man residing in Samos#
*# ;eanthes says that others hold that his father as a -yrrhenian, of those ho inhabit "emnos,
and that hile on a trading trip to Samos as there naturali5ed# An sailing to Italy, Cnesarchus too!
the youth .ythagoras ith him# Eust at this time this country as greatly flourishing# ;eanthes adds
that .ythagoras had to older brothers, /unostus and -yrrhenus# :ut Apollonius, in his boo! about
.ythagoras, affirms that his mother as .ythais, a descendant, of Ancaeus, the founder of Samos#
Apollonius adds that he as said to be the off-spring of Apollo and .ythais, on the authority of
CnesarchusI and a Samian poet sings1
=.ythais, of all Samians the most fairI
Eove-loved .ythagoras to .hoebus bareL>
-his poet says that .ythagoras studied not only under .herecydes and ,ermodamas, but also under
Anaximander#
2# -he Samian 3uris, in the second boo! of his =,ours,> rites that his son as named Arimnestus,
that he as the teacher of 3emocritus, and that on returning from banishment, he suspended a
bra5en tablet in the temple of ,era, a tablet to feet s0uare, bearing this inscription1
=Ce, Arimnestus, ho much learning traced,
.ythagorass beloved son here placed#>
-his tablet as removed by Simus, a musician, ho claimed the canon graven thereon, and pub-
lished it as his on# Seven arts ere engraved, but hen Simus too! aay one, the others ere des-
troyed#
G# It is said that by -heano, a 4retan, the daughter of .ythonax, he had a son, -helauges and a
daughter, CyiaI to hom some add Arignota, hose .ythagorean ritings are still extant# -imaeus
relates that .ythagorass daughter, hile a maiden, too! precedence among the maidens in 4rotona,
and hen a ife, among married men# -he 4rotonians made her house a temple of 3emeter, and
the neighboring street they called a museum#
9# "ycus, in the fourth boo! of his !istories, noting different opinions about his country, says, =Bn-
less you happen to !no the country and the city hich .ythagoras as a citi5en, ill remain a
mere matter of conDecture# Some say he as a Samian, others, a .hliasian, others a Cetapontine#
&# As to his !noledge, it is said that he learned the mathematical sciences from the /gyptians,
4haldeans and .hoeniciansI for of old the /gyptians excelled, in geometry, the .hoenicians in
numbers and proportions, and the 4haldeans of astronomical theorems, divine rites, and orship of
the GodsI other secrets concerning the course of life he received and learned from the Cagi#
8# -hese accomplishments are the more generally !non, but the rest are less celebrated# Coreover
/udoxus, in the second boo! of his .escription of the Earth, rites that .ythagoras used the
greatest purity, and as shoc!ed at all bloodshed and !illingI that he not only abstained from animal
food, but never in any ay approached butchers or hunters# Antiphon, in his boo! on illustrious
/irtuous "en praises his perseverance hile he as in /gypt, saying, =.ythagoras, desiring to be-
come ac0uainted ith the institutions of /gyptian priests, and diligently endeavoring to participate
therein, re0uested the -yrant .olycrates to rite to Amasis, the King of /gypt, his friend and
former host, to procure him initiation# 4oming to Amasis, he as given letters to the priestsI of ,e-
liopolis, ho sent him on to those of Cemphis, on the pretense that the ere the more ancient# An
the same pretense, he as sent on from Cemphis to 3iospolis#
'# 6rom fear of the King the latter priests dared not ma!e excusesI but thin!ing that he ould desist
from his purpose as result of great difficulties, enDoined on him very hard precepts, entirely different
from the institutions of the Gree!s# -hese he performed so readily that he on their admiration, and
they permitted him to sacrifice to the Gods, and to ac0uaint himself ith all their sciences, a favor
theretofore never granted to a foreigner#
)# ?eturning to Ionia, he opened in his on country, a school, hich is even no called .y-
thagorass Semicircles, in hich the Samians meet to deliberate about matters of common interest#
Autside the city he made a cave adapted to the study of his philosophy, in hich he abode day and
night, discoursing ith a fe of his associates# ,e as no forty years old, says Aristoxenus# See-
ing that .olycratess government as becoming so violent that soon a free man ould become a
victim of his tyranny, he Dourneyed toards Italy#
%+# 3iogenes, in his treatise about the 0ncredible Things 1eyond Thule, has treated .ythagorass af-
fairs so carefully, that I thin! his account should not be omitted# ,e says that the -yrrhenian
Cnesarchus as of the race of the inhabitants of "emnos, Imbros and Scyros and that he departed
thence to visit many cities and various lands# 3uring his Dourneys he found an infant lying under a
large, tall poplar tree# An approaching, he observed it lay on its bac!, loo!ing steadily ithout
in!ing at the sun# In its mouth as a little slender reed, li!e a pipeI through hich the child as
being nourished by the de-drops that distilled from the tree# -his great onder prevailed upon him
to ta!e the child, believing it to be of a divine origin# -he child as fostered by a native of that
country, named Androcles, ho later on adopted him, and entrusted to him the management of af-
fairs# An becoming ealthy, Cnesarchus educated the boy, naming him Astrasus, and rearing him
ith his on three sons, /unestus, -yrrhenus, and .ythagorasI hich boy, as I have said, Androcles
adopted#
%%# ,e sent the boy to a lute-player, a restler and a painter# "ater he sent him to Anaximander at
Ciletus, to learn geometry and astronomy# -hen .ythagoras visited the /gyptians, the Arabians, the
4haldeans and the ,ebres, from hom he ac0uired expertery in the interpretation of dreams, and
he as the first to use fran!incense in the orship of divinities#
%*# In /gypt he lived ith the priests, and learned the language and isdom of the /gyptians, and
three !inds of letters, the epistolic, the hieroglyphic, and symbolic, hereof one imitates the com-
mon ay of spea!ing, hile the others express the sense by allegory and parable# In Arabia he con-
ferred ith the King# In :abylon he associated ith the other 4haldeans, especially attaching him-
self to Habratus, by hom he as purified from the pollutions of this past life, and taught the things
hich a virtuous man ought to be free# "i!eise he heard lectures about ;ature, and the principles
of holes# It as from his stay among these foreigners that .ythagoras ac0uired the greater part of
his isdom#
%2# Astraeus as by Cnesarchus entrusted to .ythagoras, ho received him, and after studying his
physiognomy and the emotions of his body, instructed him# 6irst he accurately investigated the sci-
ence about the nature of man, discerning the disposition of everyone he met# ;one as alloed to
become his friend or associate ithout being examined in facial expression and disposition#
%G# .ythagoras had another youthful disciple from -hrace# Hamolxis as he named because he as
born rapped in a bears s!in, in -hracian called Halmus# .ythagoras loved him, and instructed him
in sublime speculations concerning sacred rites, and the nature of the Gods# Some say this youth
as named -hales, and that the barbarians orshipped him as ,ercules#
%9# 3ionysiphanes says that he as a servant of .ythagoras, ho fell into the hands of thieves and
by them as branded# -hen hen .ythagoras as persecuted and banished, $he folloed him( bind-
ing up his forehead on account of the scars# Athers say that, the name Hamolxis signifies a stranger
or foreigner# .herecydes, in 3elos fell sic!I and .ythagoras attended him until he died, and per-
formed his funeral rites# .ythagoras then, longing to be ith ,ermodamas the 4reophylian, re-
turned to Samos# After enDoying his society, .ythagoras trained the Samian athlete /urymenes, ho
though he as of small stature, con0uered at Alympia through his surpassing !noledge of .y-
thagorasRs isdom# 7hile according to ancient custom the other athletes fed on cheese and figs,
/urymenes, by the advice of .ythagoras, fed daily on flesh, hich endued his body ith great
strength# .ythagoras imbued him ith his isdom, exhorting him to go into the struggle, not for the
sa!e of victory, but the exerciseI that he should gain by the training, avoiding the envy resulting
from victory# 6or the victors, are not alays pure, though dec!ed ith leafy crons#
%&# "ater, hen the Samians ere oppressed ith the tyranny of .olycrates, .ythagoras sa that
life in such a state as unsuitable for a philosopher, and so planned to travel to Italy# At 3elphi he
inscribed an elegy on the tomb of Apollo, declaring that Apollo as the son of Silenus, but as
slain by .ytho, and buried in the place called -riops, so named from the local mourning for Apollo
by the three daughters of -riopas#
%8# Going to 4rete, .ythagoras besought initiation from the priests of Corgos, one of the Idaean
3actyli, by hom he as purified ith the meteoritic thunder-stone# In the morning he lay stretched
upon his face by the seasideI at night, he lay beside a river, croned ith a blac! lambs oolen
reath# 3escending into the Idaean cave, rapped in blac! ool, he stayed there tenty-seven
days, according to customI he sacrificed to Heus, and sa the throne hich there is yearly made for
him# An Heuss tomb, .ythagoras inscribed an epigram, =.ythagoras to Heus,> hich begins1 =Heus
deceased here lies, hom men call Eove#>
%'# 7hen he reached Italy he stopped at 4rotona# ,is presence as that of a free man, tall, graceful
in speech and gesture, and in all things else# 3icaearchus relates that the arrival of this great travel-
er, endoed ith all the advantages of nature, and prosperously guided by fortune, produced on the
4rotonians so great an impression, that he on the esteem of the elder magistrates, by his many and
excellent discourses# -hey ordered him to exhort the young men, and then to the boys ho floc!ed
out of the school to hear himI and lastly to the omen, ho came together on purpose#
%)# -hrough this he achieved great reputation, he dre great audiences from the city, not only of
men, but also of omen, among hom as a specially illustrious person named -heano# ,e also
dre audiences from among the neighboring barbarians, among hom ere magnates and !ings#
7hat he told his audiences cannot be said ith certainty, for he enDoined silence upon his hearers#
:ut the folloing is a matter of general information# ,e taught that the soul as immortal and that
after death it transmigrated into other animated bodies# After certain specified periods, the same
events occur againI that nothing as entirely neI that all animated beings ere !in, and should be
considered as belonging to one great family# .ythagoras as the first one to introduce these teach-
ings into Greece#
*+# ,is speech as so persuasive that, according to ;icomachus, in one address made on first land-
ing in Italy he made more than to thousand adherents# Aut of desire to live ith him, M#########N , to
hich both omen and built a large auditorium, to hich both omen and boys ere admitted#
$6oreign visitors ere so many that( they built hole cities, settling that hole region of Italy no
!non as Cagna Grecia# ,is ordinances and las ere by them received as divine precepts, and
ithout them ould do nothing# Indeed they ran!ed him among the divinities# -hey held all prop-
erty in common# -hey ran!ed him among the divinities, and henever they communicated to each
other some choice bit of his philosophy, from hich physical truths could alays be deduced, they
ould sear by the Tetractys, adDuring .ythagoras as a divine itness, in the ords#
=I call to itness him ho to our souls expressed -he Tetractys, eternal ;atures fountain-spring#>
*%# 3uring his travels in Italy and Sicily he founded various cities subDected one to another, both of
long standing, and recently# :y his disciples, some of hom ere found in every city, he infused
into them an aspiration for libertyI thus restoring to freedom 4rotona, Sybaris, 4atana, ?hegium,
,imera, Agrigentum, -auromenium, and others, on hom he imposed las through 4harondas the
4atanean, and Haleucus the "ocrian, hich resulted in a long era of good government, emulated by
all their neighbors# Simichus the tyrant of the 4entorupini, on hearing .ythagorass discourse, ab-
dicated his rule and divided his property beteen his sister and the citi5ens#
**# According to Aristoxenus, some "ucanians, Cessapians, .icentinians and ?omans came to him#
,e rooted out all dissensions, not only among his disciples and their successors, for many ages, but
among all the cities of Italy and Sicily, both internally and externally# ,e as continuously harping
on the maxim, =7e ought, to the best of our ability avoid, and even ith fire and sord extirpate
from the body, sic!nessI from the soul, ignoranceI from the belly, luxuryI from a city, seditionI
from a family, discordI and from all things excess#>
*2# If e may credit hat ancient and trustorthy riters have related of him, he exerted an influ-
ence even over irrational animals# -he 3aunian bear, ho had committed extensive depredations in
the neighborhood, he sei5edI and after having patted her for ahile, and given her barley and fruits,
he made her sear never again to touch a living creature, and then released her# She immediately
hid herself in the oods and the hills, and from that time on never attac!ed any irrational animal#
*G# At -arentum, in a pasture, seeing an ox MreapingN beans, he ent to the herdsman, and advised
him to tell the ox to abstain from beans# -he countryman moc!ed him, proclaiming his ignorance of
the ox-language# So .ythagoras himself ent and hispered in the oxs ear# ;ot only did the bovine
at once desist from his diet of beans, but ould never touch any thenceforard, though he survived
many years near ,eras temple at -arentum, until very oldI being called the sacred ox, and eating
any food given him#
*9# 7hile at the Alympic games, he as discoursing ith his friends about auguries, omens, and di-
vine signs, and ho men of true piety do receive messages from the Gods# 6lying over his head as
an eagle, ho stopped, and came don to .ythagoras# After stro!ing her ahile, he released her#
Ceeting ith some fishermen ho ere draing in their nets heavily laden ith fishes from the
deep, he predicted the exact number of fish they had caught# -he fishermen said that if his estimate
as accurate they ould do hatever he commanded# -hey counted them accurately, and found the
number correct# ,e then bade them return the fish alive into the seaI and, hat is more onderful,
not one of them died, although they had been out of the ater a considerable time# ,e paid them
and left#
*&# Cany of his associates he reminded of the lives lived by their souls before it as bound to the
body, and by irrefutable arguments demonstrated that he had bean /uphorbus, the son of .anthus#
,e specially praised the folloing verses about himself, and sang them to the lyre most elegantly1
=-he shining circlets of his golden hairI
7hich even the Graces might be proud to ear,
Instarred ith gems and gold, bestre the shore,
7ith dust dishonored, and deformed ith gore#
As the young olive, in some sylvan scene,
4roned by fresh fountains ith celestial green,
"ifts the gay head, in snoy floerets fair,
And plays and dances to the gentle air,
7hen lo, a hirlind from high heaven invades,
-he tender plant, and ithers all its shadesI
It lies uprooted from its genial head,
A lovely ruin no defaced and dead#
-hus young, thus beautiful, /uphorbus lay,
7hile the fierce Spartan tore his arms aay#>
$.ope, ,omers Iliad, :oo! %8(#
*8# -he stories about the shield of this .hrygian /uphorbus being at Cycenae dedicated to Argive
,era, along ith other -roDan spoils, shall here be omitted as being of too popular a nature# It is
said that the river 4aicasus, hile he ith many of his associates as passing over it, spo!e to him
very clearly, =,ail, .ythagorasL> Almost unanimous is the report that on one and the same day he
as present at Cetapontum in Italy, and at -auromenium in Sicily, in each place conversing ith
his friends, though the places are separated by many miles, both at sea and land, demanding many
days Dourney#
*'# It is ell !non that he shoed his golden thigh to Abaris the ,yperborean, to confirm him in
the opinion that he as the ,yperborean Apollo, hose priest Abaris as# A ship as coming into
the harbor, and his friends expressed the ish to on the goods it contained# =-hen,> said .y-
thagoras, =you ould on a corpseL> An the ships arrival, this as found to be the true state of af-
fairs# Af .ythagoras many other more onderful and divine things are persistently and unanimously
related, so that e have no hesitation in saying never as more attributed to any man, nor as any
more eminent#
*)# <erified predictions of earth0ua!es are handed don, also that he immediately chased a pesti-
lence, suppressed violent inds and hail, calmed storms both on rivers and on seas, for the comfort
and safe passage of his friends# As their poems attest, the li!e as often performed by /mpedocles,
/pimenides and Abaris, ho had learned the art of doing these things from him# /mpedocles, in-
deed, as surnamed Alexanemos, as the chaser of indsI /pimenides, 4athartes, the lustrator#
Abaris as called Aethrobates, the al!er in airI for he as carried in the air on an arro of the ,y-
perborean Apollo, over rivers, seas and inaccessible places# It is believed that this as the method
employed by .ythagoras hen on the same day he discoursed ith his friends at Cetapontum and
-auromenium#
2+# ,e soothed the passions of the soul and body by rhythms, songs and incantations# -hese he ad-
apted and applied to his friends# ,e himself could hear the harmony of the Bniverse, and under-
stood the universal music of the spheres, and of the stars hich move in concert ith them, and
hich e cannot hear because of the limitations of our ea! nature# -his is testified to by these
characteristic verses of /mpedocles1
=Amongst these as one in things sublimest s!illed,
,is mind ith all the ealth of learning filled,
7hatever sages did invent, he soughtI
And hilst his thoughts ere on this or! intent,
All things existent, easily he vieed,
-hrough ten or tenty ages ma!ing search#>
2%# Indicating by sublimest things, and, he sur'eyed all e$istent things, and the (ealth of the mind,
and the li!e, .ythagoras Fs constitution of body, mind, seeing, hearing and understanding, hich
as ex0uisite, and surpassingly accurate, .ythagoras affirmed that the nine Cuses ere constituted
by the sounds made by the seven planets, the sphere of the fixed stars, and that hich is opposed to
our earth, called =anti-earth#> ,e called "nemosyne, or Cemory, the composition, symphony and
connexion of then all, hich is eternal and unbegotten as being composed of all of them#
2*# 3iogenes, setting forth his daily routine of living, relates that he advised all men to avoid ambi-
tion and vain-glory, hich chiefly excite envy, and to shun the presences of crods# ,e himself
held morning conferences at his residence, composing his soul ith the music of the lute, and
singing certain old paeans of -hales# ,e also sang verses of ,omer and ,esiod, hich seemed to
soothe the mind# ,e danced certain dances hich he conceived conferred on the body agility and
health# 7al!s he too! not promiscuously, but only in company of one or to companions, in
temples or sacred groves, selecting the 0uietest and pleasantest places#
22# ,is friends he loved exceedingly, being the first to declare that the goods of friends are com-
mon, and that a friend as another self# 7hile they ere in good health he alays conversed ith
themI if they ere sic!, he nursed themI if they ere afflicted in mind, he solaced them, some by in-
cantations and magic charms, others by music# ,e had prepared songs for the diseases of the body,
by the singing of hich he cured the sic!# ,e had also some that caused oblivion of sorro, mitiga-
tion of anger and destruction of lust#
2G# As to food, his brea!fast as chiefly of honeyI at dinner he used bread made of millet, barley or
herbs, ra and boiled# Anly rarely did he eat the flesh of victimsI nor did he ta!e this from every
part of the anatomy# 7hen he intended to soDourn in the sanctuaries of the divinities, he ould eat
no more than as necessary to still hunger and thirst# -o 0uiet hunger, he made a mixture of poppy
seed and sesame, the s!in of a sea-onion, ell ashed, till entirely drained of the outard DuiceI of
the floer of the daffodil, and the leaves of mallos, of paste of barley and peaI ta!ing an e0ual
eight of hich, and chopping it small, ith ,ymettian honey he made it into mass# Against thirst
he too! the seed of cucumbers, and the best dried raisins, extracting the seeds, and the floer of
coriander, and the seeds of mallos, purselain, scraped cheese, meal and creamI these he made up
ith ild honey#
29# ,e claimed that this diet had, by 3emeter, been taught to ,ercules, hen he as sent into the
"ibyan deserts# -his preserved his body in an unchanging conditionI not at one time ell, and at an-
other time sic!, nor at one time fat, and at another lean# .ythagorass countenance shoed the same
constancy as in his soul also# 6or he as neither more elated by pleasure, nor deDected by grief,
and no one ever sa him either reDoicing or mourning#
2&# 7hen .ythagoras sacrificed to the Gods, he did not use offensive profusion, but offered no
more than barley bread, ca!es and myrrhI least of all, animals, unless perhaps coc!s and pigs# 7hen
he discovered the proposition that the s0uare on the hypotenuse of a right angled triangle as e0ual
to the s0uares on the sides containing the right angle, he is said to have sacrificed an ox, although
the more accurate say that this ox as made of flour#
28# ,is utterances ere of to !inds, plain or symbolical# ,is teaching as tofold1 of his disciples
some ere called Students, and others ,earers# -he Students learned the fuller and more exactly
elaborate reasons of science, hile the ,earers heard only the chief heads of learning, ithout more
detailed explanations#
2'# ,e ordained that his disciples should spea! ell and thin! reverently of the Gods, muses and
heroes, and li!eise of parents and benefactorsI that they should obey the lasI that they should not
relegate the orship of the Gods to a secondary position, performing it eagerly, even at homeI that
to the celestial divinities they should sacrifice uncommon offeringsI and ordinary ones to the inferi-
or deities# $-he orld he 3ivided into( opposite poersI the =one> as a better monad, light, right,
e0ual, stable and straightI hile the =other> as an inferior duad, dar!ness, left, une0ual, unstable
and movable#
2)# Coreover, he enDoined the folloing# A cultivated and fruit-bearing plant, harmless to man and
beast, should be neither inDured nor destroyed# A deposit of money or of teachings should be faith-
fully preserved by the trustee# -here are three !inds of things that deserve to be pursued and ac-
0uiredI honorable and virtuous things, those that conduce to the use of life, and those that bring
pleasures of the blameless, solid and grave !ind, of course not the vulgar intoxicating !inds# Af
pleasures there ere to !indsI one that indulges the bellies and lusts by a profusion of ealth,
hich he compared to the murderous songs of the SirensI the other !ind consists of things honest,
Dust, and necessary to life, hich are Dust as seet as the first, ithout being folloed by repent-
anceI and these pleasures he compared to the harmony of the Cuses#
G+# ,e advised special regard to to timesI that hen e go to sleep, and that hen e aa!e# At
each of these e should consider our past actions, and those that are to come# 7e ought to re0uire
of ourselves an account of our past deeds, hile of the future e should have a providential care#
-herefore he advised everybody to repeat to himself the folloing verses before he fell asleep1
=;or suffer sleep to close thine eyes
-ill thrice thy acts that day thou hast run oerI
,o sliptK 7hat deedsK 7hat duty left undoneK>
An rising1
>As soon as ere thou a!est, in order lay
-he actions to be done that folloing day>
G%# Such things taught he, though advising above all things to spea! the truth, for this alone deifies
men# 6or as he had learned from the Cagi, ho call God Aremasdes, Gods body is light, and his
soul is truth# ,e taught much else, hich he claimed to have learned from Aristoclea at 3elphi# 4er-
tain things he declared mystically, symbolically, most of hich ere collected by Aristotle, as hen
he called the sea a tear of #aturnI the to bear $constellations( the hand of RheaI the .leiades, the
lyre of the "usesI the .lanets, the dogs of PersephoneI and he called be sound caused by stri!ing on
brass the voice of a genius enclosed in the brass#
G*# ,e had also another !ind of symbol, such as, pass not over a balanceI that is, Shun avarice# .o!e
not the fire ith a sord, that is, e ought not to excite a man full of fire and anger ith sharp lan-
guage# .luc! not a cron, meant not to violate the las, hich are the crons of cities# /at not the
heart, signified not to afflict ourselves ith sorros# 3o not sit upon a Mpac!N-measure, meant, do
not live ignobly# An starting a Dourney, do not turn bac!, meant, that this life should not be regret-
ted, hen near the bourne of death# 3o not al! in the public ay, meant, to avoid the opinions of
the multitude, adopting those of the learned and the fe# ?eceive not sallos into your house,
meant, not to admit under the same roof garrulous and intemperate men# ,elp a man to ta!e up a
burden, but not to lay it don, meant, to encourage no one to be indolent, but to apply oneself to
labor and virtue# 3o not carry the images of the Gods in rings, signified that one should not at once
to the vulgar reveal ones opinions about the Gods, or discourse about them# Affer libations to the
Gods, Dust to the ears of the cup, meant, that e ought to orship and celebrate the Gods ith mu-
sic, for that penetrates through the ears# 3o not eat those things that are unlaful, sexual or in-
crease, beginning nor end, nor the first basis of all things#
G2# ,e taught abstention from the loins, testicle, pudenda, marro, feet and heads of victims# -he
loins he called basis, because on them as foundations living beings are settled# -esticles and
pudenda he called generation, for no one is engendered ithout the help of these# Carro he called
increase as it is the cause of groth in living beings# -he beginning as the feet, and the head the
endI hich have the most poer in the government of the body# ,e li!eise advised abstention
from beans, as from human flesh#
GG# :eans ere interdicted, it is said, because the particular plants gro and individuali5e only after
$the earth( hich is the principle and origin of things, is mixed together, so that many things under-
ground are confused, and coalesceI after hich everything rots together# -hen living creatures ere
produced together ith plants, so that both men and beans arose out of putrefaction hereof he al-
leged many manifest arguments# 6or if anyone should che a bean, and having ground it to a pulp
ith his teeth, and should expose that pulp to the arm sun, for a short hile, and then return to it,
he ill perceive the scent of human blood# Coreover, if at the time hen beans bloom, one should
ta!e a little of the floer, hich then is blac!, and should put it into an earthen vessel, and cover it
closely, and bury in the ground for ninety days, and at the end thereof ta!e it up, and uncover it, in-
stead of the bean he ill find either the head of an infant, or the pudenda of a oman#
G9# ,e also ished men to abstain from other things, such as a sines paunch, a mullet, and a sea-
fish called a =nettle,> and from nearly all other marine animals# ,e referred his origin to those of
past ages, affirming that he as first /uphorbus, then Aethalides, then ,ermotimus, then .yrrhus,
and last, .ythagoras# ,e shoed to his disciples that the soul is immortal, and to those ho ere
rightly purified he brought bac! the memory of the acts of their former lives#
G&# ,e cultivated philosophy, the scope of hich is to free the mind implanted ithin us from the
impediments and fetters ithin hich it is confinedI ithout hose freedom none can learn any-
thing sound or true, or perceive the unsoundedness in the operation of sense# .ythagoras thought
that mind alone sees and hears, hile all the rest are blind and deaf# -he purified mind should be
applied to the discovery of beneficial things, hich can be effected by, certain artificial ays, hich
by degrees induce it to the contemplation of eternal and incorporeal things, hich never vary# -his
orderliness of perception should begin from consideration of the most minute things, lest by any
change the mind should be Darred and ithdra itself, through the failure of continuousness in its
subDect-matter#
G8# -hat is the reason he made so much use of the mathematical disciplines and speculations, hich
are intermediate beteen the physical and the incorporeal realm, for the reason that li!e bodies they
have a threefold dimension, and yet share the impassibility of incorporealsI as degrees of prepara-
tion to the contemplation of the really existent thingsI by an artificial reason diverting the eyes of
the mind from corporeal things, hose manner and state never remain in the same condition, to a
desire for true $spiritual( food# :y means of these mathematical sciences therefore, .ythagoras
rendered men truly happy, by this artistic introduction of truly MconsistentN things#
G'# Among others, Coderatus of Gades, ho MlearnedlyN treated of the 0ualities of numbers in sev-
en boo!s, states that the .ythagoreans speciali5ed in the study of numbers to explain their teachings
symbolically, as do geometricians, inasmuch as the primary forms and principles are hard to under-
stand and express, otherise, in plain discourse# A similar case is the representation of sounds by
letters, hich are !non by mar!s, hich are called the first elements of learningI later, they inform
us these are not the true elements, hich they only signify#
G)# As the geometricians cannot express incorporeal forms in ords, and have recourse to the de-
scriptions of figures, as that is a triangle, and yet do not mean that the actually seen lines are the tri-
angle, but only hat they represent, the !noledge in the mind, so the .ythagoreans used the same
obDective method in respect to first reasons and forms# As these incorporeal forms and first prin-
ciples could not be expressed in ords, they had recourse to demonstration by numbers# ;umber
one denoted to them the reason of Bnity, Identity, /0uality, the purpose of friendship, sympathy,
and conservation of the Bniverse, hich results from persistence in Sameness# 6or unity in the de-
tails harmoni5es all the parts of a hole, as by the participation of the 6irst 4ause# #
9+# ;umber to, or .uad, signifies the to-fold reason of diversity and ine0uality, of everything
that is divisible, or mutable, existing at one time in one ay, and at another time in another ay#
After all these methods ere not confined to the .ythagoreans, being used by other philosophers to
denote unitive poers, hich contain all things in the universe, among hich are certain reasons of
e0uality, dissimilitude and diversity# -hese reasons are hat they meant by the terms "onad and
.uad, or by the ords uniform, biform, or diversiform#
9%# -he same reasons apply to their use of other numbers, hich ere ran!ed according to certain
poers# -hings that had a beginning, middle and end, they denoted by the number -hree, saying
that anything that has a middle is triform, hich as applied to every perfect thing# -hey said that if
anything as perfect it ould ma!e use of this principle and be adorned, according to itI and as they
had no other name for it, they invented the form TriadI and henever they tried to bring us to the
!noledge of hat is perfect they led us to that by the form of this Triad# So also ith the other
numbers, hich ere ran!ed according to the same reasons#
9*# All other things ere comprehended under a single form and poer hich they called .ecad,
explaining it by a pun as decad, meaning comprehension# -hat is hy they called -en a perfect
number, the most perfect of all as comprehending all difference of numbers, reasons, species and
proportions# 6or if the nature of the universe be defined according to the reasons and proportions of
members, and if that hich is produced, increased and perfected, proceed according to the reason of
numbersI and since the .ecad comprehends every reason of numbers, every proportion, and every
species, O hy should ;ature herself not be denoted by the most perfect number, -enK Such as
the use of numbers among the .ythagoreans#
92# -his primary philosophy of the .ythagoreans finally died out first, because it as enigmatical,
and then because their commentaries ere ritten in 3oric, hich dialect itself is somehat ob-
scure, so that 3oric teachings ere not fully understood, and they became misapprehended, and fi-
nally spurious, and later, they ho published them no longer ere .ythagoreans# -he .ythagoreans
affirm that .lato, Aristotle, Speusippus, Aristoxenus and JenocratesI appropriated the best of them,
ma!ing but minor changes $to distract attention from this their theft(, they later collected and de-
livered as characteristic .ythagorean doctrines hatever therein as most trivial, and vulgar, and
hatever had been invented by envious and calumnious persons, to cast contempt on .ythagorean-
ism#
9G# .ythagoras and his associates ere long held in such admiration in Italy, that many cities in-
vited them to underta!e their administration# At last, hoever, they incurred envy, and a conspiracy
as formed against them as follos# 4ylon, a 4rotonian, ho in race, nobility and ealth as the
most preeminent, as of a severe, violent and tyrannical disposition, and did not scruple to use the
multitude of his folloers to compass his ends# As he esteemed himself orthy of hatever as
best, he considered it his right to be admitted to .ythagorean felloship# ,e therefore ent to .y-
thagoras extolled himself, and desired his conversation# .ythagoras, hoever, ho as accustomed
to read in human bodies nature and manners the disposition of the man, bade him depart, and go
about his business# 4ylon, being of a rough and violent disposition, too! it as a great affront, and
became furious#
99# ,e therefore assembled his friends, began to accuse .ythagoras, and conspired against him and
his disciples# .ythagoras then ent to 3elos, to visit the Syrian .herecydes, formerly his teacher,
ho as dangerously sic!, to nurse him# .ythagorass friends then gathered together in the house of
Cilo the restlerI and ere all stoned and burned hen 4ylos folloers set the house on fire# Anly
to escaped, Archippus and "ysis, according to the account of ;eanthes# "ysis too! refuge in
Greece, ith /paminondas, hose teacher he had formerly been#
9&# :ut 3icaearchus and other more accurate historians relate that .ythagoras himself as present
hen this conspiracy bore fruit, for .herecydes had died before he left Samos# Af his friends, forty
ho ere gathered together in a house ere attac!ed and slainI hile others ere gradually slain as
they came to the city# As his friends ere ta!en, .ythagoras himself first escaped to the 4aulonian
haven, and thence visited the "ocrians# ,earing of his coming, the "ocrians sent some old men to
their frontiers to intercept him# -hey said,> .ythagoras, you are ise and of great orthI but as our
las retain nothing reprehensible, e ill preserve them intact# Go to some other place, and e ill
furnish you ith any needed necessaries of travel#> .ythagoras turned bac!, and sailed to -arentum,
here, receiving the same treatment as at 4rotona, he ent to Cetapontum# /veryhere arose great
mobs against him, of hich even no the inhabitants ma!e mention, calling them the .ythagorean
riots, as his folloers ere called .ythagoreans#
98# .ythagoras fled to the temple of the Cuses, in Cetapontum# -here he abode forty days, and
starving, died# Athers hoever state that his death as due to grief at the loss of all his friends ho,
hen the house in hich they ere gathered as burned, in order to ma!e a ay for their master,
they thre themselves into the flames, to ma!e a bridge of safety for him, hereby indeed he es-
caped# 7hen died the .ythagoreans, ith them also died their !noledge, hich till then than they
had !ept secret, except for a fe obscure things hich ere commonly repeated by those ho did
not understand them# .ythagoras himself left no boo!I but some little spar!s of his philosophy, ob-
scure and difficult, ere preserved by the fe ho ere preserved by being scattered, as ere "ysis
and Archippus#
9'# -he .ythagoreans no avoided human society, being lonely, saddened and dispersed# 6earing
nevertheless that among men the name of philosophy ould be entirely extinguished, and that
therefore the Gods ould be angry ith them, they made abstracts and commentaries# /ach man
made his on collection of ritten authorities and his on memories, leaving them herever he
happened to die, charging their ives, sons and daughters to preserve them ithin their families#
-his mandate of transmission ithin each family as obeyed for a long time#
9)# ;ichomacus says that this as the reason hy the .ythagoreans studiously avoided friendship
ith strangers, preserving a constant friendship among each other# Aristoxenus, in his boo! on the
Life of Pythagoras, says he heard many things from 3ionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, ho, after his
abdication, taught letters at 4orinth# Among these ere that they abstained from lamentations and
grieving and tearsI also from adulation, entreaty, supplication and the li!e#
&+# It is said that 3ionysius at one time anted to test their mutual fidelity under imprisonment# ,e
contrived this plan# .hintias as arrested, and ta!en before the tyrant, and charged ith plotting
against the tyrant, convicted, and condemned to death# .hintias, accepting the situation, as!ed to be
given the rest of the day to arrange his on affairs, and those of 3amon, his friend and associate,
ho no ould have to assume the management# ,e therefore as!ed for a temporary release, leav-
ing 3amon as security for his appearance# 3ionysius granted the re0uest, and they sent for 3amon,
ho agreed to remain until .hintias should return#
&l# -he novelty of this deed astonished 3ionysiusI but those ho had first suggested the experiment,
scoffed at 3amon, saying he as in danger of losing his life# :ut to the general surprise, near sunset
.hintias came to die# 3ionysius then expressed his admiration, embraced them both, and as!ed to be
received as a third in their friendship# -hough he earnestly besought this, they refused this, though
assigning no reason therefore# Aristoxenus states he heard this from 3ionysius himself# M,ippo-
botusN and ;eanthes relate about Cyllia and -imycha########################
A;A;@CABS :IAG?A.,@ A. .@-,AGA?AS
.reserved by .,A-IBS
%# .lato as the pupil of Archytas, and thus the ninth in succession from .ythagorasI the tenth as
Aristotle# -hose of .ythagorass disciples that ere devoted to contemplation ere called sebastici,
the reverend, hile those ho ere engaged in business ere called politicians# -hose ho cultiv-
ated the disciplines of geometry and astronomy, ere called students# -hose ho associated person-
ally ith .ythagoras ere called Pythagoreans, hile those ho merely imitated his teachings ere
called Pythagoristians# All these generally abstained from the flesh of animalsI at a certain time
they tasted the flesh of victims only#
*# .ythagoras is said to have lived %+G yearsI and Cnesarchus, one of his sons, died a young man#
-elauges as another son, and Sara and Cyia ere his daughters# -heano, it is said, as not only
his disciple, but practically his daughter#
2# -he .ythagoreans preach a difference beteen the "onad, and the AneI the "onad dells in the
intelligible realm, hile the Ane dells among numbers# "i!eise, the -o exists among numer-
able things, hile the .uad is indeterminate#
G#-he "onad expresses e0uality and measure, the .uad expresses excess and defect# Cean and
Ceasure cannot admit of more or less, hile excess and defect, hich proceed to infinity, admit itI
that is hy the .uad is called indeterminate# Since, because of the all-inclusion of the "onad and
.uad, all things refer to number, they call all things numbersI and number is perfected in the -en#
-en is reached by adding in order the first four figuresI that is hy -en is called the Puaternary $or,
Tetrachtys(#
9# -hey affirm that man may improve in three aysI first, by conversation ith Gods, for to them
none can approach unless he abstain from all evil, imitating the divinity, even unto assimilationI
second, by ell doing, hich is a characteristic of the divinityI third by dyingI for if the slight soul-
separation from the body resulting from discipline improves the soul so that she begins to divine, in
dreamsI and if the disease-ecstasies produce visions, then the soul must surely improve far more
hen entirely separated from the body by death#
&# -he .ythagoreans abstained from eating animals, on their foolish belief in transmigrationI also
because this flesh-food engages digestion too much, and is too fattening# :eans also they avoided,
because they produced flatulency, produced over-satiety, and other reasons#
8# -he .ythagoreans considered the "onad as the beginning of all things, Dust as a point is the be-
ginning of a line, a line of a surface, and a surface of a solid, hich constitutes a body# A point im-
plies a preceding "onad, so that it is really the principle of bodies, and all of them arise from the
"onad#
'# -he .ythagoreans are said to have predicted many things, and .ythagorass predictions alays
came true#
)# .lato is said to have learned his speculative and physical doctrines from the Italic .ythagoreansI
and his ethics from SocratesI and his logic from Heno, .armenides and the /leatics# :ut all of these
teachings descended from .ythagoras#
%+# According to .ythagoras, .lato and Aristotle, sight is the Dudge of the ten colorsI hite and
blac! being the extremes of all others, beteen1 yello, tany, pale, red, blue, green, light blue, and
grey# ,earing is the Dudge of the voice, sharp and flat# Smell Dudges of odors, good and bad, and pu-
tridity, humidity, li0uidness and evaporation# -aste Dudges of tastes, seet and bitter, and beteen
them five1 sharp, acid, fresh, salt and hot# -ouch Dudges of many things beteen the extremes of
heavy and lightness, such as heat and coldI and those beteen them, hardness and softnessI and
those beteen them, dryness and moistness, and those beteen them# 7hile the main four senses
are confined to their special senses in the head, touch is diffused throughout the head and the hole
body, and is common to all the sensesI but is specialised in the hands#
%%# .ythagoras taught that in heaven there ere telve orders1 the first and outermost being the
fixed sphere, here, according to Aristotle, delt the highest God, and the intelligible deitiesI and
here .lato located his ideas# ;ext are the seven planets1 Saturn, Eupiter, Cars, <enus, Cercury,
Sun and Coon# -hen comes the sphere of 6ire, that of Air, 7ater, and last, /arth# In the fixed
sphere dells the 6irst 4ause, and hatever is nearest thereto is the best organi5ed, and most excel-
lent, hile that hich is furthest therefrom is this orst# 4onstant order is preserved as lo as the
CoonI hile all things sublunary are disorderly# /vil, therefore, must necessarily exist in the neigh-
borhood of the /arthI hich has been arranged as the loest, as a basis for the orld, and as a re-
ceptacle for the loest things# All superlunary things are governed in firm order, and .rovidentiallyI
and the decree of God, hich they folloI hile beneath the moon operate four causes1 God, 6ate,
our election, and 6ortune# 6or instance, to go aboard a ship, or not, is in our poerI but the storms
and tempests that may arise out of a calm, are the result of 6ortuneI and the preservation the ship,
sailing through the aters, is in the hands of providence, of God# -here are many different modes of
6ate# -here is a distinction to be made beteen 6ate, hich is determined, orderly and conse0uent,
hile 6ortune is spontaneous and casual# 6or example, it is one mode of 6ate that guides the groth
of a boyI through all the se0uent ages to manhood#
%*# Aristotle, ho as a diligent investigator, agreed ith the .ythagoreans that the Hodiac runs ob-
li0uely, on account of the generations of those MorthyN things hich become complements to the
Bniverse# 6or if these moved evenly, there ould be no change of seasons, of any !ind# ;o the
passage of the sun and the other planets from one MmoonN to another effect the four seasons of the
year, hich determine the groth of plants, and generation of animals#
%2# Athers thought that the suns si5e exceeded that of the earth by no more than thirty timesI but
.ythagoras, as I thin! correctly, taught it as more than a hundred times as great#
%G# .ythagoras called the revolution of Saturn the great year, inasmuch as the other planets run their
course in a shorter time1 Saturn, thirty yearsI Eupiter, in telveI Cars in toI the Sun in oneI Cer-
cury and <enus the same as the Sun# -he moon, being nearest to the /arth, has the smallest cycle,
that of a month# It as .ythagoras ho first called heaven Cosmos because it is perfect, and =ad-
ornedQ ith infinite beauty and living beings# 7ith .ythagoras agreed .lato and Aristotle, that soul
is immortalI although some ho did not understand Aristotle claimed he taught the soul as mortal#
%9# .ythagoras said that man as a microcosmI hich means, a compendium of the universe not
because, li!e other animals, even the least, he is constituted by the four elements, but because he
contains all the poers of the orld# 6or the orld contains Gods, the four elements, animals and
plants# All of these poers are contained in man# ,e has reason, hich is a divine poerI he has the
nature of the elements, the poers of moving, groing, and reproduction# ,oever, in each of
these he is inferior to the others# 6or example, an athlete ho practices five !inds of sports, and di-
verting his poers into five channels, is inferior to the athlete ho practises a single sport, so man
having all of the poers, is inferior in each# -han the gods, e have less reasoning poersI and less
of each of the elements than the elements themselves# Aur anger and desire are inferior to these pas-
sions in the irrational animalsI hile our poers of nutrition and groth are inferior to that in
plants# 4onstituted therefore of different poers, e have a difficult life to lead#
%&# 7hile all other things are ruled by one nature only, e are dran by different poersI as for in-
stance, hen by God e are dran to better things, or hen e are dran to evil courses by the
prevailing of the loer poers# ,e ho, li!e a vigilant and expert charioteer, ithin himself cultiv-
ates the divine element, ill be able to utili5e the other poers by a mingling of the elements, by
anger, desire and habit, Dust as far as may be necessary# -hough it seems easy to !no yourself, this
is the most difficult of all things# -his is said to derive from the .ythian Apollo, though it is also at-
tributed to 4hilo, one of the seven sages# Its message is, in any event, to discover our on poer,
hich amounts to learning the nature of the hole extant orld, hich, as God advises us, is im-
possible ithout philosophy#
%8# -here are eight organs of !noledge1 sense, imagination, art, opinion, prudence, science, is-
dom and mind# Art, prudence, science and mind e share ith the GodsI sense and imagination,
ith the irrational animalsI hile opinion alone is our characteristic# Sense is a fallacious !no-
ledge derived through the bodyI imagination is a notion in the soulI art is a habit of cooperating
ith reason# -he ords =ith reason,> are here added, for even a spider operates, but it lac!s reas-
on# .rudence is a habit selective of the rightness of planned deedsI science is a habit of those things
hich remain ever the same, ith SamenessI isdom is a !noledge of the first causesI hile mind
is the principle and fountain of all good things#
%'# 3ocility is divided into three1 shredness, memory and acuteness# Cemory guards the things
hich have been learnedI acuteness is 0uic!ness of understanding, and shredness is the ability of
deducing the unlearned from hat one has learned to investigate#
%)# ,eaven may be divided into three1 the first sphereI second, the space from the fixed sphere to
the moonI third, the hole orld, heaven and earth#
*+# -he extreme elements, the best and the orst, operate unintermittently# -here is no intermission
ith God, and things near him in mind and reasonI and plants are continuously nourished by day
and night# :ut man is not alays active, nor irrational animals, hich rest and sleep most of the
time#
*%# -he Gree!s alays surpassed the :arbarians on manners and habits, on account of the mild cli-
mate in hich they live# -he Scythians are troubled by cold, and the Aethiopians by heatI hich de-
termines a violent interior heat and moisture, resulting in violence and audacity# Analogously, those
ho live near the middle 5one and the mountains participate in the mildness of the country they in-
habit# -hat is hy, as .lato says, Gree!s, and especially the Athenians improved disciplines that
they derived from the barbarians#
**# $6rom them had come( strategym, painting, mechanics, polemics, oratory, and physical culture#
:ut the sciences of these ere developed by the Athenians, oing to the favorable natural condi-
tions of light, and purity of air, hich had the double effect of drying out the earth, as it is in Attica,
but ma!ing subtle the minds of men# So a rarefied atmosphere is unfavorable to the fertility of the
earth, but is favorable to mental development#
$In .hotiuss or!, this is folloed by a paragraph on the /tesian inds, hich has nothing
hatever to do ith the subDect, and hich, therefore, is omitted#(
"I6/ A6 .@-,AGA?AS
by 3IAG/;/S "A/?-IBS Mcirca %'+ A#3#N
I
/A?"@ "I6/
Since e have no gone through the Ionian philosophy, hich as derived from -hales, and the
lives of the several illustrious, men ho ere the chief ornaments of that school, e ill no pro-
ceed to treat of the Italian School, hich as founded by .ythagoras, the son of Cnesarchus, a seal
engraver, as he is recorded to have been by ,ermippusI a native of Samos, or, as Aristoxenus, as-
serts a -yrrhenian, and a native of one of the islands hich the Athenians, after they had driven out
the -yrrhenians, had occupied# :ut some authors say that he as the son of Carmacus, the son of
,ippasus, the son of /uthyphron, the son of 4leonymus, ho as an exile from .hliasI and that
Carmacus settled in Samos, and that from this circumstance .ythagoras as called a Samian# After
that, he migrated to "esbosI having come to .herecydes, ith letters from his uncle Hoilus# -hen he
made three silver goblets, and carried them to /gypt as a present for each of the three priests# ,e
had brothers, the eldest of hom as named /unomus, the middle one -yrrhenius, and a slave
named Hamolxis, to hom the Getae sacrifice, believing him to be the same as Saturn, according to
the account of ,erodotus $G1)2(#
II
S-B3I/S
,e as a pupil, as I have already mentioned, of .herecydes the SyrianI and after his death he came
to Samos, and became a pupil of ,ermadamas, the descendant of 4reophylus, ho as already an
old man no#
III
I;I-IA-IA;S
As he as a youth devoted to learning, he 0uitted his country, and got initiated in all the Grecian
and barbarian sacred mysteries# Accordingly he ent to /gypt, on hich occasion .olycrates gave
him a letter of introduction to AmasisI and he learned the /gyptian language as Antiphon tells us, in
his treatise on those men ho have become conspicuous for virtueI and he associated ith the
4haldeans and Cagi#
Afterards he ent to 4rete, and in company ith /pimenides, he descended into the Idaean
cave---and in /gypt too he had entered into the holiest parts of their temples, --and learned all the
most secret mysteries that relate to their Gods# -hen he returned again to Samos, and finding his
country reduced under the absolute dominion of .olycrates, he set sail, and fled to 4rotona in Italy#
,aving given las to the Italians, he there gained a very high reputation, together ith his scholars,
ho ere about three hundred in numbers, and governed the republic in a most excellent mannerI
so that the constitution as very nearly an aristocracy#
I<
-?A;SCIG?A-IA;
,erclides .onticus says that he as accustomed to spea! of himself in this manner1 that he had
formerly been Aethalides, and had been accounted the son of CercuryI and that Cercury had de-
sired him to select any gift he pleased except immortality# Accordingly he had re0uested that,
hether living or dead, he might preserve the memory of hat had happened to him# 7hile, there-
fore, he as alive, he recollected everythingI and hen he as dead, he retained the same memory#
At a subse0uent period he passed into /uphorbus, and as ounded by Cenelaus# 7hile he as
/uphorbus, he used to say that he had formerly been Aethalides, and that he had received as a gift
from Cercury, the perpetual transmigration of his soulI so that it as constantly transmigrating and
passing into hatever plants or animals it pleasedI and he had also received the gift of !noing and
recollecting all that his soul had suffered in hell, and hat sufferings too are endured by the rest of
the souls#
:ut after /uphorbus died, he said that his soul had passed into ,ermotimusI and hen he ished to
convince people of this, he ent into the territory of the :ranchidas, and going into the temple of
Apollo, he shoed his shield hich Cenelaus had dedicated there as an offering# 6or he said that
he, hen he sailed from -roy, had offered up his shield hich as already getting orn-out, to
Apollo, and that nothing remained but the ivory face hich as on it# ,e said that hen ,ermo-
timus died he had become .yrrhus, a fisherman of 3elosI and that he still recollected everything,
ho he had formerly been Aethalides, then /uphorbus, then ,ermotimus, and then .yrrhus# 7hen
.yrrhus died, he became .ythagoras, and still recollected all the circumstances I have been men-
tioning#
<
7A?KS A6 .@-,AGA?AS
;o they say that .ythagoras did not leave behind him a single boo!I but they tal! foolishlyI for
,eraclitus, the natural philosopher, spea!s plainly enough of him, saying, =.ythagoras, the son of
Cnesarchus, as the most learned of all men in history and having, selected from these ritings, he
thus formed his on isdom and extensive learning, and mischievous art#> -hus he spea!s, because
.ythagoras, in the beginning of his treatise on natural philosophy, rites in the folloing manner1
=:y the air hich I breathe, and by the ater hich I drin!, I ill not endure to be blamed on ac-
count of this discourse#>
-here are three volumes extant ritten by .ythagoras1 one on education, one on politics, and one
;atural .hilosophy# -he treatise hich is no extant under the name of .ythagoras is the or! of
M"ysisN, of -arentum, a philosopher of the .ythagorean school, ho fled to -hebes, and became the
teacher of /paminondas# ,eraclides, the son of Sarapion, in his 2bridgment of *3+otion says that he
rote a poem in epic verse upon the BniverseI and besides that a sacred poem hich begins thus1
=3ear youths, I arn you cherish peace divine,
And in your hearts lay deep these ords of mine#>
A third about the SoulI a fourth on .ietyI a fifth entitled ,elothales, hich as the name of the
father of /picharmus of 4osI a sixth, called 4rotonaI and other poems too# :ut the mystic discourse
hich is extant under his name, they say is really the or! of ,ippasus, having been composed
ith a vie to bring .ythagoras into disrepute# -here ere also many other boo!s composed by As-
ton of 4rotona, and attributed to .ythagoras# Aristoxenus asserts that .ythagoras derived the greater
part of his ethical doctrines from -hemistoclea, the priestess at 3elphi# Ion of 4hios, in his /ictor-
ies, says that he rote some poems and attributed them to Arpheus# ,is also, it is said, is the poem
called #copadaea, hich begins thusI S:ehave not shamelessly to any one#>
<
7A?KS A6 .@-,AGA?AS
;o they say that .ythagoras did not leave behind him a single boo!I but they tal! foolishlyI for
,eraclitus, the natural philosopher, spea!s plainly enough of him, saying, =.ythagoras, the son of
Cnesarchus, as the most learned of all men in history and having, selected from these ritings, he
thus formed his on isdom and extensive learning, and mischievous art#> -hus he spea!s, because
.ythagoras, in the beginning of his treatise on natural philosophy, rites in the folloing manner1
=:y the air hich I breathe, and by the ater hich I drin!, I ill not endure to be blamed on ac-
count of this discourse#>
-here are three volumes extant ritten by .ythagoras1 one on education, one on politics, and one
;atural .hilosophy# -he treatise hich is no extant under the name of .ythagoras is the or! of
M"ysisN, of -arentum, a philosopher of the .ythagorean school, ho fled to -hebes, and became the
teacher of /paminondas# ,eraclides, the son of Sarapion, in his 2bridgment of *3+otion says that he
rote a poem in epic verse upon the BniverseI and besides that a sacred poem hich begins thus1
=3ear youths, I arn you cherish peace divine,
And in your hearts lay deep these ords of mine#>
A third about the SoulI a fourth on .ietyI a fifth entitled ,elothales, hich as the name of the
father of /picharmus of 4osI a sixth, called 4rotonaI and other poems too# :ut the mystic discourse
hich is extant under his name, they say is really the or! of ,ippasus, having been composed
ith a vie to bring .ythagoras into disrepute# -here ere also many other boo!s composed by As-
ton of 4rotona, and attributed to .ythagoras# Aristoxenus asserts that .ythagoras derived the greater
part of his ethical doctrines from -hemistoclea, the priestess at 3elphi# Ion of 4hios, in his /ictor-
ies, says that he rote some poems and attributed them to Arpheus# ,is also, it is said, is the poem
called #copadaea, hich begins thusI S:ehave not shamelessly to any one#>
<II
AG/S A6 "I6/
-hus does he divide the ages of life# A boy for tenty yearsI a young manTneaniskos, -- for tenty
yearsI a middle aged manTneanias, -- for tenty years, and an old man for tenty# -hese different
ages correspond proportionately to the seasonsI boyhood ansers to the springI youth to summerI
middle age to autumnI and old age to inter# ,e uses neaniskos here as e0uivalent to meirakionI
and neanias as e0uivalent to aner#
<III
SA4IA" 4BS-ACS
-imaeus says that he as the first person to assert that the property of friends is common, and that
friendship is e0uality# ,is disciples used to put all their possessions together into one store, and use
them in common# 6or five years they !ept silence, doing nothing but listening to discourses, and
never once seeing .ythagoras, until they ere approvedI after that time they ere admitted into his
house, and alloed to see him# -hey also abstained from the use of cypress coffins, because the
sceptre of Eupiter as made of that ood, as ,ermippus tells us in the second boo! of his account
of .ythagoras#
IJ
3IS-I;GBIS,/3 A../A?A;4/
,e is said to have been a man of the most dignified appearanceI and respecting him his disciples ad-
opted an opinion that he as Apollo ho had come from the ,yperboreansI and it is said that once
hen he as stripped na!ed he as seen to have a golden thigh# Cany people affirmed that hen
he as crossing the river ;essus, it addressed him by his name#
J
7AC/; 3/I6I/3 :@ CA??IAG/
-imaeus, in the tenth boo! of his !istories tells us that he used to say that omen ho ere mar-
ried to men had the names of Gods, being successively sively called virgins, nymphs, and then
mothers#
JI
S4I/;-I6I4 4B"-B?/
Also it as .ythagoras ho carried geometry to perfection, after Coeris had first found out the
principles of the elements of that science, as Aristiclides tells us in the second boo! of !istory of
2le$anderI and the part of the science to hich .ythagoras applied himself above all others, as
arithmetic# ,e also discovered the numerical relation of sounds on a single stringI he also studied
medicine# Apollodorus the logician recounts of him that he sacrificed a hecatomb, hen he had dis-
covered that the s0uare of the hypothenuse of a right-angled triangle as e0ual to the s0uares of the
sides containing the right angle# -here is an epigram hich is couched in the folloing terms1
=7hen the great Samian sage his noble problem found,
A hundred oxen ith their life-blood dyed the ground#>
JII
3I/- A;3 SA4?I6I4/S
,e is also said to have been the first man ho trained athletes on meatI and /urymenes as the first
man, according to the statement of .havorinus, in the third boo! of his 4ommentaries, ho ever did
submit to this diet as before that men used to train themselves on dry figs, and moist cheese, and
heaten breadI as the same .havorinus informs us in the eighth boo! of his 4ni'ersal !istory# :ut
some authors state that a trainer of the name of .ythagoras certainly did train his athletes on this
system, but that it as not our philosopherI for that he even forbade men to !ill animals at all, much
less ould he have alloed his disciples to eat them, as having a right to live in common ith man-
!ind# And this as his pretextI but in reality he prohibited the eating of animals because he ished
to train and accustom men to simplicity of lifeI so that all their food should be easily procurable, as
it ould be, if they ate only such things as re0uired no fire to coo! them, and if they dran! plain a-
terI for from this diet they ould derive health of body and acuteness of intellect# -he only altar at
hich he orshipped as that of Apollo, the 6ather, at 3elos, hich is at the bac! of the altar of
4aratinus, because heat and barley, and cheeseca!es are the only offerings laid upon it, as it is not
dressed by fireI and no victim is ever slain there, as Aristotle tells us, in his 4onstitution of the 3eli-
ans# It is also said that he as the first person ho asserted that the soul ent a necessary circle, be-
ing transformed and confined at different times in different bodies#
JIII
C/ASB?/S A;3 7/IG,-S
,e as also the first person ho introduced measures and eights among the Gree!s, as Aris-
toxenus the musician informs us#
JI<
,/S./?BS A;3 "B4I6/?
.armenides assures us too that he as the first person ho asserted the identity of ,esperus and "u-
cifer#
J<
S-B3/;-S A;3 ?/.B-A-IA;
,e as so greatly admired that it used to be said that his disciples loo!ed on all his sayings as the
Aracles of God# In his ritings he himself said that he had come among men after having spent to
hundred and seventy years in the shades belo# -herefore the "ucanians, .eucetians, Cessapians
and ?omans floc!ed around him, coming ith eagerness to hear his discoursesI but until the time of
.hilolaus no doctrines of .ythagoras ere ever divulgedI and he as the first person ho published
the three celebrated boo!s hich .lato rote to have purchased for him for a hundred minae# -he
scholars ho used to come to him by night ere MnoN less than six hundred# 7henever any one of
them MasN permitted to see him, he rote of it to his friends, as if they had achieved something
onderful# -he people of Cetapontum used to call his house the temple of 4eresI and the street
leading to it as called that of the Cuses, as e are informed in the universal history of .havorinus#
According to the account given by Aristoxenus, in his tenth boo! of his "as on /ducation, the rest
of the .ythagoreans used to say that his precepts ought not to be divulged to all the orldI and
Jenophilus the .ythagorean, hen he as as!ed hat as the best ay for a man to educate his
son, said, =-hat he must first of all ta!e care that he as born in a city hich enDoyed good las#>
.ythagoras formed many excellent men in Italy, by his precepts, and among them Haleucus and
4harondas, the lagivers#
J<I
6?I/;3S,I. 6AB;3/3 A; S@C:A"S
.ythagoras as famous for his poer of attracting friendshipsI and among other things, if he ever
heard that anyone had any community of symbols ith him, he at once made him a companion and
a friend#
J<II
S@C:A"S A? CAJICS
;o hat he called his symbols ere such as these1
=3o not po!e the fire ith a ord#>
>3o not sit don on a bushel#>
>3o not devour your heart#>
>3o not aid men in discarding a burden, but in increasing one#>
>Alays have your bed pac!ed up#>
>3o not bear the image of God on a ring#>
>/fface the traces of a pot in the ashes#>
>3o not ipe a seat ith a lamp#>
>3o not ma!e ater in the sunshine#>
>3o not al! in the main street#>
>3o not offer your hand lightly#>
>3o not cherish sallos under your roof#>
>3o not cherish birds ith croo!ed talons#>
>3o not defileI do not stand upon the parings of your nails, or the cuttings of your hair#>
>Avoid a sharp sord#>
>7hen traveling abroad, do not loo! bac! at your on borders#>
;o the precept not to po!e the fire ith a sord meant, not to provo!e the anger or selling pride
of poerful menI not to violate the beam of the balance meant, not to transgress fairness and DusticeI
not to sit on a bushel is to have an e0ual care for the present and the futureI for by the bushel is
meant ones daily food# :y devouring ones heart, he intended to sho that e ought not to aste
aay our soul ith grief and sorro# In the precept that a man hen traveling abroad should not
turn his eyes bac!, he recommended those ho ere departing this life not to be desirous to live,
and not to be too much attracted by the pleasures here on earth# And the other symbols may be ex-
plained in a similar manner, that e may not be too prolix here#
J<III
./?SA;A" ,A:I-S
Above all things, he used to prohibit the eating of the erythinus and the mepanurusI also the hearts
of animals, and beans# Aristotle informs us that to these prohibitions he sometimes added tripe and
mullet# Some authors assert that he himself used to be contented ith honey, honey-comb and
breadI and that he never dran! ine in the daytime# ,e usually ate vegetables, either boiled or raI
and he very rarely ate fish# ,is dress as hite, very cleanI his bed-clothes also ere hite and
oolen, for linen had not yet been introduced in that country# ,e as never !non to have eaten
too much, or to have drun! too muchI or to indulge in the pleasures of love# ,e abstained holly
from laughter, and from all such indulgences as Dests and idle stories# ,e never chastised any one,
hether slave or free man, hile he as angry# Admonishing he used to call feeding stor!s#
,e used to practise divination, as far as auguries and auspicesI but not by means of burnt offerings,
except only the burning of fran!incense# All the sacrifices hich he offered consisted of inanimate
things# :ut some, hoever, assert that he did sacrifice animals, limiting himself to coc!s, and suc!-
ing !ids, hich are called M-palioiN, but that he very rarely offered lambs# Aristoxenus, hoever, af-
firms that he permitted the eating of all other animals, and abstained only from oxen used in agricul-
ture, and from rams#
JIJ
<A?IABS -/A4,I;GS
-he same author tells us, as I have already mentioned, that he received his doctrines from -hem-
iclea at 3elphi# ,ieronymus says, that hen he descended into the shades belo, he sa the soul of
,esiod bound to a bra5en pillar, and gnashing its teethI and that of ,omer suspended from a tree,
sna!es around it, as a punishment for the things that they had said of the Gods# -hose ho refrain
from commerce ith their ives also ere punished and that on account of this he as greatly
honored at 4rotona# Aristippus of 4yrene, in his Account of ;atural .hilosophers, says that .y-
thagoras derived his name from the fact of his spea!ing $agoreuein(, truth no less than the God at
3elphi $touputhieu(#
,e used to admonish his disciples to repeat these lines to themselves henever they returned home
to their houses1
=In hat have I transgressedK 7hat ,ave I doneK 7hat that I should have done have I omittedK>
,e used to forbid them to offer victims to the Gods, ordering them to orship only at those altars
hich ere unstained ith blood# ,e also forbad to sear by the Gods, saying, =-hat every man
ought so to exercise himself as to be orthy of belief ithout an oath# ,e also taught men that it be-
hoved them to honor their elders, thin!ing most honorable that hich as precedent inpoint of
timeI Dust as in the orld, the rising of the sun as more so than the settingI in life, the beginning
more so than the endI and in animals, production more than destruction#
Another of his rules as that men should honor the Gods above the geniuses, and heroes above men
and of all men, parents ere those entitled to more honor# Another, that people should associate
ith each other in such a ay as not to ma!e their friends enemies, but to render their enemies
friends# Another as that they should not thin! anything exclusively their on# Another as to as-
sist the la, and to ma!e ar upon lalessness# ;ot to destroy or inDure a cultivated tree, nor any
animal hich does not inDure man# Codesty and decorum consisted in never yielding to laughter,
ithout loo!ing stern# Cen should avoid eating too much flesh, and in travelling should let rest and
exertion alternateI that they should exercise memory, nor ever say or do anything in anger, not pay
respect to every !ind of divination, should sing songs accompanied by the lyre, and should display a
reasonable gratitude to the Gods and eminent men by hymns#
,is disciples ere forbidden to eat beans, because, as they ere flatulent, they greatly partoo! of
animal propertiesI $that their stomachs ould be !ept in much better order by avoiding them(, and
that such abstinence ould ma!e the visions that appear in ones sleep gentle and free from agita-
tion#
Alexander, in his Successions of .hilosophers, reports the folloing doctrines as contained in .y-
thagorass 4ommentaries1 the Conad is the beginning of everything# 6rom this proceeds an indefin-
ite duad, hich is subordinate to the monad, as to its cause# 6rom the monad and the indefinite duad
proceed numbers# 6rom numbers proceed signs# 6rom these, lines, of hich plane figures consist#
6rom these plane figures are derived solid bodies# 6rom solid bodies are derived sensible bodies, of
hich last there are four elements, fire, ater, earth and air# -he orld, hich is endued ith life
and intellect, and hich is of a spherical figure, in its centre containing the earth, hich is also
spherical, and inhabited all over, results from a combination of these elements, and from them de-
rives its motion# -here are antipodes, and hat to us is belo, is to them above, ,e also taught that
light and dar!ness, cold and heat, dryness and moisture, ere e0ually divided in the orldI and that,
hile heat as predominant in summer, so hen cold prevailed, it as interI hen dryness pre-
vailed, it as springI and hen moisture preponderated, autumn# -he loveliest season of the year
as hen all these 0ualities ere e0ually balancedI of hich the flourishing spring as the most
holesome, and the autumn, the most pernicious# Af day, the most flourishing period as the morn
hile the evening as the fading one, and the least healthy#
Another of his theories as that the air around the earth as immovable, and pregnant disease, and
that in it everything as mortal hile the upper air as in perpetual motion, and salubriousI and
that in it everything as immortal, and on that account divine# -he sun, moon and the stars ere all
GodsI for in them dominates the principle hich is the cause of# -he moon derives its light from the
sun# -here a relationship beteen men and the Gods, because men parta!e of the divine principleI
on hich count, therefore, God exercises his providence for our advantage# 6ate is the cause of the
arrangement of the orld, both in general and in particular# 6rom the sun a ray penetrates both the
cold aether, hich is the air, aer and the dense aether, pachun aithera, hich is the sea and mois-
ture# -his ray descends into the depths and in this ay vivifies everything# /verything hich par-
ta!es of the principle of heat lives, hich account, also, plants are animated beings but that not all
living beings necessarily have souls# -he soul is something torn off from the aether, both arm and
cold, from its parta!ing of the cold aether# -he soul is something different from life# It is immortal,
because of the immortality of that from hich it as torn off#
Animals are born from one another by seeds and that it is impossible for there to be any spontan-
eous production by the earth# Seed is a drop from the brain hich in itself contains a arm vaporI
and that hen this is applied to the omb, it transmits moisture, virtue, and blood from the brain,
from hich flesh, sines, bones and hair, and the hole body are produced# 6rom the vapor is pro-
duced the soul and also sensation# -he infant first becomes a solid body at the end of forty daysI
but, according to the principles of harmony, it is not perfect till seven, or perhaps nineI or at most
ten months, and then it is brought forth# In itself it contains all the principles of life hich are all
connected together, and by their union and combination form a hormonious hole, each of them de-
veloping itself at the appointed time#
In general the senses, and especially sights, are a vapor of intense heat, on hich account a man is
said to see through air, or through ater# 6or the hot principle is opposed by the cold oneI since, if
the vapor in the eyes ere cold, it ould have the same temperature as the air, and so ould be dis-
sipated# As it is, in some passages he calls the eyes the gates of the sun# In a similar manner he
spea!s of hearing, and of the other senses# ,e also says that the soul of man is divided into three
partsI into intuition $nous(, reason $phren(, and mind $thumos(I and that the first and last divisions
are found also in other animals, but that the middle one, reason, is found in man only# -he chief
abode of the soul is in those parts of the body hich are beteen the heart and the brain# -he mind
abides in the heart, hile the intuition $or deliberation( and reason reside in the brain#
-he senses are drops from themI and the reasoning sense is immortal, hile the others are mortal#
-he soul is nourished by the blood, and reasons are the inds of the soul# -he soul is invisible, and
so are its reasons, inasmuch as the aether itself is invisible# -he lin!s of the soul are the arteries,
veins and nerves# 7hen the soul is vigorous, and is by itself in a 0uiescent state, then its lin!s are
ords and actions# 7hen it is cast forth upon the earth, it anders about, resembling the body# Cer-
cury is the steard of the souls, and that is the reason of his name 4onductor, 4ommercial, and In-
fernal, since it is he ho conducts the souls from their bodies, and from earth, and seaI and that he
conducts the pure souls to the highest region, and that he does not allo the impure ones to ap-
proach them nor to come near one anotherI committing them to be# bound in indissoluble fetters by
the 6uries# -he .ythagoreans also assert that the hole air is full of souls, and that these are those
that .age %&) 3IAG/;/S "A/?-/S :IAG?A.,@ JIJ are accounted geniuses or heroes# -hey
are the ones that send don among men dreams, and to!ens of disease and healthI the latter not be-
ing reserved to human beings, but being sent also to sheep and other cattle# -hey are concerned ith
purifications, expiations, and all !inds of divinations, oracular predictions, and the l$i!e(#
Cans most important privilege is to be able to persuade his soul to be either good or bad# $Cen(
are happy hen they have a good soulI yet they never 0uiet, never long retaining the same mind# An
oath is DusticeI and on that account Eupiter is called Eupiter of Aaths# <irtue is harmony, health, uni-
versal good and GodI on hich account everything oes its existence and preservation to harmony#
6riendship is a harmonious 0uality# ,onors to Gods and heroes should not be e0ual# -he Gods
should be honored at all times, extolling them ith praises, clothed in hite garments, and !eeping
ones body chasteI but that to the heroes such honors should not be payed till after noon#
A state of purity is brought about by purifications, ashings and sprin!lingsI by a mans purifying
himself from all funerals, concubinage, or any !ind of pollutionI by abstaining from all flesh that
has either been !illed or died of itself, from mullets, from melanuri, from eggs, from such animals
as lay eggs, from beans, and from other things that are prohibited by those ho have chared of the
mysteries in the temples#
In his treatise on :eans, Aristotle says that .ythagorass reason for demanding abstention from
them on the part of his disciples, as that either they resemble parts of the human body, or because
they are li!e the gates of hell O they are the only plants ithout partsI -- or because they dry up oth-
er plants, or because they are representatives of universal nature, or because they are used in elec-
tions in oligarchical governments# ,e also forbade his disciples to pic! up hat fell from the table,
for the sa!e of accustoming them to eat moderately, or else because such things belong to the dead#
Aristophanes, indeed said that hat fell belonged to the heroes, in his heroes singing, =;ever taste
the things hich fall, 6rom the table on the floor#>
,e also forbade his disciples to eat hite poultry, because a coc! of that color as sacred to the god
Conth, and as also a suppliant# ,e as also accounted a good animal $K( and he as sacred to the
god Conth, for he indicates the time#
-he .ythagoreans ere also forbidden to eat of all fish that as sacred, on the ground that the same
animals should not be served up before both gods and men, Dust as the same things do not belong to
both freemen and slaves# ;o hite is an indication of a good nature, and blac! of a bad one#
Another of the precepts of .ythagoras as never to brea! breadI because in ancient, times friends
used to gather around the same loaf, as they even no do among the barbarians# ;or ould he al-
lo men to divide bread hich unties them# Some thin! that he laid don this rule in reference to
the Dudgment hich ta!es place in hellI some because this practice engenders timidity in ar# Ac-
cording to others, the refence is to the Bnion, hich presides over the government of the Bniverse#
Another one of his doctrines as that of all solid figures the sphere as the most beautifulI and of
all plane figures, the circle# -hat old age, and all diminution as similar, and alsoI all increase and
youth# -hat health as the permanence of form, and disease, its destruction# ,e thought salt should
be set before people as a reminder of DusticeI for salt preserves everything hich it touches, and is
composed of the purest particles of ater and the sea#
-hese are the doctrines hich Alexander asserts that he discovered in the .ythagorean treatisesI and
Aristotle gives us a similar account of them#
JJ
.A/-I4 -/S-ICA;I/S
-imon, in his Silli, has not left unnoticed the dignified appearance of .ythagoras, though he he at-
tac!s him on other points# -hus he spea!s1
=.ythagoras ho often teaches
precepts of magic, and ith speeches
Af long high-sounding diction dras,
6rom gaping crods, a vain applause#>
In his 2lcmaeon, Innesimachus says1
=As e do sacrifice to the .hoebus hom
.ythagoras orships, never eating aught
7hich has the breath of life#>
Austophon says in his Pythagorean1
A# =,e said that hen he did descend belo
Among the shades in ,ell, he there beheld
All men ho eer had diedI and there he sa
-hat the .ythagoreans differed much
6rom all the restI for that ith them alone
3id .luto deign to eat, much honoring
-heir pious habits#>
:# =,es a civil God,
If he li!es eating ith such dirty fellos#>
And again in the same play he says,
=-hey eat nothing but herbs and vegetables, and drin!
.ure ater onlyI but their lice are such
-heir cloa!s so dirty, and their unashd scent
So ran!, that none of our younger men
7ill for a moment bear them#>
?eferring to his having been different people at different times, Jenophanes says in an elegiac
poem, that begins thus1
=;o ill I upon another subDect touch,
And lead the ay#####
-hey say that once, as passing by he sa
A dog severely beaten, he did pity himI
And spo!e as follos to the man ho beat him1
>Stop no and beat him notI since in his body
Abides the soul of a dear friend of mine,
7hose voice I recogni5ed as he as crying#>
4ratinus also ridiculed him in his Pythagorean WomanI but in his Tarentines he spea!s thus1
=-hey are accustomed, if by chance they see
A private individual abroad,
-o try hat poers of argument he has#
,o he can spea! and reasonI and they bother him
7ith strange antithesis, and forced conclusions,
/rrors, comparisons, and magnitudes,
-ill they have filled, and 0uite perplexed his mind#>

JJI
3/A-, A6 .@-,AGA?AS
.ythagoras died in this manner# 7hen he as sitting ith some of his companions in Cilos house,
some of those hom he did not thin! orthy of admission into it, as by envy excited to set fire to
it# :ut some say that the people of 4rotona themselves did this, being afraid lest he might aspire to
the tyranny# .ythagoras as caught as he as trying to escapeI and coming to a place full of beans,
he stopped there, saying that it as better to be caught than to trample on the beans, and better to be
slain than to spea!I and so he as murdered by those ho ere pursuing him# In this ay also,
most of his companions ere slainI being about forty in numberI but that a very fe did escape,
among hom ere Archippus of -arentum, and "ysis, hom I have mentioned before#
:ut 3icaearchus states that .ythagoras died later, having escaped as far as the temple of the Cuses
at Cetapontum, here he died of starvation, after forty days# ,eraclides, in his abridgment of the
Life of #atyrus, says that after he had buried .herecydes at 3elos, he returned to Italy, and there
finding a superb ban0uet prepared at the house of Cilo, of 4rotona, he left that city or Cetapontum,
here, not ishing any longer to live, he put an end to his life by starvation# :ut ,ermippus says
that hen there as ar beteen the Agrigentiries and the Syracusans, .ythagoras, ith his usual
companions, Doined the Agrigentine army, hich as put to flight# 4oming up against a field of
beans, instead of crossing it, he ran around it, and so as slain by the SyracusansI and that the rest,
about thirty-five in number, ere burned at -arentum, here they ere trying to excite a sedition in
the state against the principal magistrates#
,ermippus also relates another story about .ythagoras# 7hen in Italy, he made a subterranean
apartment, and charged his mother to rite an account of everything that too! place, mar!ing the
time of each on a tablet, then sending them don to him until he came up again# ,is mother did so#
-hen after a certain time .ythagoras came up again, lean, and reduced to a s!eletonI he came into
the public assembly, and said that he had arrived from the shades belo, and then he recited to them
all that had happened to them in the meanhile# :eing charmed ith hat he told them, they be-
lieved that .ythagoras as a divine being, so they ept and lamented, and even entrusted to him
their ives, as li!ely to learn some good from himI and they too! upon themselves the name of .y-
thagoreans# -hus far ,ermippus#
JJII
.@-,AGA?AS 6ACI"@
.ythagoras had a ife, hose name as -heano, the daughter of :rontinus of 4rotona# Some say
that she as the ife of :rontinus, and only .ythagorass pupil# As "ysis mentions in his letter to
,ipparchus, he had a daughter named 3amo# "ysiss letter spea!s of .ythagoras thus1
=And many say that you philosophi5e in public, as .ythagoras also used to doI ho, hen he had
entrusted his commentaries to his daughter 3amo, charged her not to divulge them to any one out-
side of the house# -hough she might have sold his discourses for much money, she did not abandon
themI for she thought that obedience to her fathers inDunctionI even though this entailed poverty,
better than goldI and that too, though she as a oman#>
,e had also a son, named -elauges, ho as his fathers successor in his school, and ho, accord-
ing to some authors, as the teacher of /mpedocles# At least ,ippobotus relates that /mpedocles
said,
=-elauges, noble youth, hom in due time
-heano bore, to ise .ythagoras#>
:ut there is no boo! extant, hich is the or! of -elauges, though there are some extant that are at-
tributed to his mother -heano# Af her is told a story, that once, hen as!ed ho long a oman
should be absent from her husband, and remain an pure, she said1 -he moment she leaves her on
husband, she is pureI but she is never pure at all after she leaves anyone else# A oman ho as
going to her husband as by her told to put off her modesty ith, her clothes, and hen she left
him, to resume it ith her clothesI hen she as as!ed hat clothes, she said1 =-hose hich cause
you to be called a oman#>
JJIII
?I3I4B"I;G /.IG?ACS
;o .ythagoras, according to ,eraclides, the son of Serapion, died hen he as eighty years of
age, according to his on accountI by that of others, he as over ninety# An him e have ritten a
sportive epigram, as follos1
=@ou are not the only man ho has abstained
6rom living foodI for so have eI
And ho, Id li!e to !no, did ever taste
6ood hile alive, most sage .ythagorasK
7hen meat is boiled, or roasted ell and salted,
I do not thin! it ell can be called living#
7hich, ithout scruple therefore then e eat it
And call it no more living flesh, but meat#>
Another, hich runs thus1
=.ythagoras as, so ise a man, that he
;ever ate meat himself, and called it sin#
@et gave the good Doints of beef to othersI
So that I marvel at his principlesI
7ho others ronged, by teaching them to do
7hat he believed unholy for himself#>
Another, hich follos1
=Should you .ythagorass doctrine ish to !no,
"oo! on the centre of /uphorbuss shield
6or he asserts there lived a man of old,
And hen he had no longer an existence,
,e still could say that he had been alive,
Ar else he ould not still be living no#>
Another one follos1
=AlasL AlasL 7hy did .ythagoras hold
:eans in such ondrous honorK 7hy, besides
3id he thus die among his choice companionsK
-here as a field of beansI and so the sage,
3ied in the common road of Agrigentum,
?ather than trample don his favorite beans#>
JJI<
-,/ "AS- .@-,AGA?/A;S
,e flourished about the sixtieth AlympiadI and his system lasted for about nine or ten generations#
-he last .ythagoreans !non to Aristoxenus ere Jenophilus the 4halcidean, from -hraceI
.hanton the .hliasian ith his countrymen /chutes, M3iodeN and .olynmestus, disciples of
.hilolaus and /urytus of -arentum#
JJ<
<A?IABS .@-,AGA?AS/S
.ythagoras as the name of four men, almost contemporaneous, and living close to each other# Ane
as a native of 4rotona, a man ho attained to tyrants poerI the second as .hliasian, and as
some say, a trainer of restlers# -he third as a native of HacynthusI the fourth as this our philo-
sopher, to hom the mysteries of philosophy are said to belong, and in hose time the proverbial
phrase, ipse di$it, arose generally# Some also claim the existence of a fifth .ythagoras, a sculptor of
?hodes, ho is believed to have been the first discoverer of rhythm and proportion# Another as a
Samian sculptor# Another, an orator of small reputation# Another as a physician, ho rote a
treatise on s0uills, and some essays on ,omer# 3ionysius tells us there as another ho rote a
history of the affairs of the 3orians#
/ratosthenes, 0uoted by .havorinus, in the eighth boo! of his 4ni'ersal !istory, tells us that this
philosopher, of hom e are spea!ing, as the first man ho ever practised boxing in a scientific
manner, in the forty-eighth Alympiad, having his hair long, and being robed in purple# 6rom com-
petition ith boys he as reDectedI but being ridicules for his application for this, he immediately
entered among the men, and as victorious# Among other things, this statement is confirmed by an
epigram of -heaetetus1
=Stranger, if eer you !ne .ythagoras,
.ythagoras, the man ith floing hair,
-he celebrated boxer, erst from Samos,
I am .ythagoras# And if you as!
A citi5en of /lis of my deeds,
@ou ill surely thin! he is relating fables#>
.havorinus says that he employed definitions on account of the mathematical subDects to hich he
applied himself# Socrates and his pupils did still moreI and in this they ere later folloed by Aris-
totle and the Stoics#
,e too as the first man ho applied to the universe the name kosmos, and ho first called the
earth roundI though -heophrastus attributes this to .armenides, and Heno to ,esiod# It is also said
that he had a constant adversary, named 4ylon, as Socrates as Antidicus# -his epigram as
formerly repeated concerning .ythagoras the athlete1
=.ythagoras of Samos, son of 4rates,
4ame hile a child to the Alympic gamesI
/ager to battle for the pri5e in boxing#>
JJ<I
.@-,AGA?AS "/--/?
/xtant is a letter of our philosophers, hich follos1
.@-,AGA?AS -A A;AJIC/;/S
=@ou ---, most excellent friend, if you ere not superior to .ythagoras in birth and reputation,
ould have migrated from Ciletus, and gone elsehere# :ut no the reputation of your father
!eeps you bac!, hich perhaps ould have restrained me too, if I had been li!e Anaximenes# :ut if
you, ho are the most eminent man, abandon the cities, all their ernaments ill disappear, and the
Cedian poer ill be the more dangerous to them# ;or is it alays seasonable to be studying astro-
nomy, but it is more honorable to exhibit a regard for ones country# I myself am not alays occu-
pied about speculations of my on fancy, but I am busied also ith the ars hich the Italians are
aging one ith another#>
:ut since e have no finished our account of .ythagoras, e must also spea! of the most eminent
of the .ythagoreans# After hom, e must mention those ho are spo!en of more promiscuously in
connection ith no particular schoolI and then ill connect the hole series of philosophers orth
spea!ing of, till e arrive at /picurus# ;o MEelangesN and -heano e have mentionedI and e
must spea! of /mpedocles, in the first place, for according to some accounts, he as a pupil of .y-
thagoras#
JJ<II
/C./3A4"/S AS .@-,AGA?/A;
-imaeus in his ninth boo!, relates that he as a pupil of .ythagoras, saying that he as afterards
convicted of having divulged his doctrines, in the same ay as .lato as, and that he as therefore
henceforth forbidden for attending his school# It is said .ythagoras has him in mind hen he said1
=And in that band there as a learned man
Af ondrous isdomI on ho of all men
,ad the profoundest ealth of intellect#>
:ut some say the philosopher as here referring to M.ytheridesN ;eanthes relates that until the time
of .hilolaus and /mpedocles, the .ythagoreans used to admit into their school all persons indis-
criminatelyI but hen /mpedocles, by means of his poems, then they made a la to admit no epic
poet# -hey said that the same thing happened to .latoI for that he too as excluded from the school#
7ho as /mpedocless .ythagorean teacher in not mentionedI for, as the letter of Eelanges in
hich he is stated to have been a pupil of ,ippasus and :rontinus, that is not orthy of belief# :ut
-heophrastus says that he as an imitator and rival of .armenides in his poems, for that he too has
delivered his opinions on natural philosophy in /pic verse#
,ermippus hoever says that he as an imitator not of .armenides, but of Jenophanes ith hom
he livedI and that he imitated his epic style, and that it as at a later period that he fell in ith the
.ythagoreans# :ut Alcimadas, in his ;atural .hilosophy, says that Heno and /rapedodes ere pu-
pils of .armenides, about the same timeI and that they subse0uently seceded from him# Heno as
said to have adapted a philosophical system peculiar to himselfI but that /mpedocles became a pu-
pil of Anaxagoras and .ythagoras, and that he imitated the pompous demeanor and ay of life and
gestures of the one, and the system of ;atural .hilosophy of the other#
<A"BC/ -7A
.ythagorean 6ragments
I;-?A3B4-IA; -A .@-,AGA?/A; 6?AGC/;-S
-he reason that .ythagoreanism has been neglected, and often treated mythically, is that until this
edition, the .ythagorean fragments have never been collected, in text, or any translation# -his boo!
therefore mar!s an era in the study of philosophy, and is needed by every university and general lib-
rary in the orld, not to mention those of the students of philosophy# :ut there is yet a ider group
of people ho ill elcome it, the lovers of truth in general, ho ill be charmed by ,ierocles
modern vies about the family, inspired by Iamblichuss beautiful life of .ythagoras, hich has
been inaccessible for over a century, and strengthened by the maxims of Sextus, hich represent the
religious facts of the religion of the future more perfectly than can easily be found elsehere#
-he universal culture of .ythagoras is faithfully portrayed by the manifold aspects of the teachings
of Archytas, and .hilolaus, and of many other .ythagoreans, among hose fragments e find dis-
sertations on every possible subDect1 metaphysics, psychology, ethics, sociology, science, and art#
Cen of general culture, therefore, ill feel the need of this encyclopedic information and studyI and
conversely, there is neither scientist, metaphysician, clergyman, litterateur or sociologist ho ill
fail to discover therein something to his taste#
-he 6ragments have been gathered from various sources# An .hilolaus, the authority is :oec!h#
-he Archytas fragments have been ta!en from 4haignetI the minor or!s from Gale and -aylor,
and the Caxims and Golden verses from 3acier# The Timaeus as ta!en from .latos or!s,
among hich it has been preserved# ,ierocless 4ommentary on the Golden verses has been tem-
porarily omitted as late, ordy, and containing nothing ne#
I;-?A3B4-IA; -A .@-,AGA?/A; "I:?A?@
As it is the /ditors purpose to live up to the title of this boo!, =A 4omplete .ythagorean "ibrary,>
he ill be grateful to any purchaser of the boo! ho may point out to him further fragments that
might be added, as the /ditor has no idea that he has, in spite of his good intentions, and ,erculean
labors, done more than to ma!e the first attempt in a most important direction# Coreover, as the
or! had to be done at off times, by night, or on holidays, it as inevitably hurried, and therefore
inevitably imperfectI for all of hich oversights and errors he begs consideration, forgiveness, and
constructive criticism#
-his or! as done, hoever, because of its great significance in the history of philosophy, hich
has been elsehere more definitely been pointed out, and for the sa!e of hich, no doubt, the boo!
ill be procured by all students, philosophers and general lovers of truth# It as underta!en for no
purpose other than the benefit of humanity, that had for so long been deprived of this its precious
heritage, and the /ditor ill be satisfied if he succeeds in restoring these treasures of thought and
inspiration to his day and generation#
SIG;I6I4A;4/ A6 -,IS .@-,AGA?/A; "I:?A?@
IC.A?-A;4/ A6 -,IS 4A""/4-IA; A6 .@-,AGA?/A; 6?AGC/;-S
It is a general notion among the uneducated that the great geniuses of thought and poetry arose by
divine decree in ready-made originality# Goethe did his best to disabuse the orld of this, ac!no-
ledging that most of the merit of his or! as due to the literature he had studied better than any-
body else of his circle# <irgil as so ashamed of his borroings from /nnius and others, later
demonstrated by Cacrobius, that on his deathbed he ished to destroy his Aeneid, not understand-
ing that it as all the more precious to us for the fidelity ith hich it represented the then immedi-
ately preceding age# -he uncoverers of the sources of Sha!espeare, ,omer, Cilton $<ondel(, 3ante
$:runo "atini(, and many ethnic scriptures have doneI their victims no harm, but rather honorI en-
riching their significance, and ma!ing them all the more precious to the orld hich in the last ana-
lysis cares nothing for a :ritish poacher and panbro!er ho rote his name in & different ays, or
about a blind traveler, compelled to ma!e the most of his foreign findings, or a 6lorentine :olshev-
i!, exile and sycophant, to hom it as heaven to be guided by a stout mother of a great family,
ho had repulsed himI but the orld is very much concerned in having, in modern, accessible and
cheap form a summary of the best that has been done up to that time#
In restoring the bac!ground of philosophy and thought behind .lato and Aristotle, e are not doing
them an inDury, but rather ma!ing their utterances all the more precious by shoing the mental asso-
ciations that inspired them as they penned their immortal ords# -his can, of course, be done only
very partially, for e have only fragments to deal ithI but the inference is reasonable that if e
can suggest so much from mere fragments, e could do much more from the no lost complete
or!s of the .ythagoreans# -o begin ith, .lato shoed his good taste by ma!ing great efforts to
procure the inaccessible ritings of Acellus, and through Archytas secured several# So e have a
definite historical connection on hich to base our further suppositions#
-hen e hear that he paid a large sum of money for a .ythagorean riting, hich indeed may have
been the treatise of the "ocrian -imaeus, hich is generally printed ith his or!s, and hose
close relations ith his on =-imaeus> are unblin!able# -o begin ith, e do !no that the titles
of many of his dialogues ere not ta!en on chance, but represented famous thin!ers in that field,
such as the .rotagoras, and others#
-he correspondences beteen his Timaeus and the "ocrian or! are so mar!ed, that inevitably
some connection has been assumed, and in vie of .latos fame and the "ocrians rusticity, has
generally led to calling the "ocrian or! an abstract of .latos#
:ut even they ho stated and assumed this had 0ualms of conscience# :oth 3e Gelder and -eneann
had pointed out that the "ocrian =origin of the human soul is more clearly explained> than the .la-
tonicI and :urges adds, that in vie of this it is =hard to understand ho the former could have
been an abridgment of the latter#> 3e Gelder had already pointed out important discrepancies, so
that the abstract theory is unsatisfactory# -he "ocrian calculation from 2'G $instead of .latos %)*(
MthroughN the numbers of the scale to a total of %%G,&)9 is no easy matter, and impossible for the
student abstracterI this implied great mathematical and musical s!ill, and could not have been made
ithout very clear purposes, hich indeed here are unmista!ably .ythagorean#
In comparing the "ocrian and .latonic essays e find the "ocrian much shorter, logical, and
ithout any padding# It is therefore, antecedently, much more li!ely to have been the source of in-
spiration# -homas -aylor had already done much in this field, hich deserves, and no doubt in the
future ill attract serious attention# 7e can here mention only a fe of the better !non corres-
pondences#
-he second chapter of Acellus "ucanuss treatise, is practically reproduced by Aristotle in his essay
on Generation and 4orruption, especially the three things necessary to generationI also the four
poers, and details about matter# Several paragraphs about the mixture of the elements are ta!en
entire# Also the expression, 5as is proper& from such things as are proper& and (hen it is proper.6
,ippodamuss mingling of democracy, aristocracy and monarchy is found in .latos las, and his
Statesman# /cphantus said that any man ho has a divine conception of things is in reality a !ing#
.lato in his Statesman said that 5(e must call royal he (ho possesses the royal science& (hether or
not he go'erns.6 4allicratidas defined God as an intellectual, and incorruptible animal, hile in the
%*
th
boo! of his Cetaphysics, Aristotle says that 7,od is an animal eternal and most e$cellent.6
Strange to say, .latos mother as named .ericthyone, hose namesa!e as one of the .y-
thagoreans female philosophers# She said that those ho are unfaithful to their parents must expect
punishment in hell, hile Alimpiodorus, on the .haedo of .lato states that the soul is by the divinity
not punished through anger, but medicinally, as as implied by .ericthyone# Aristoxenuss second
paragraph is 0uoted in extenso in .latos "as, $viii, p%'8, l'', :ipon(# .empeluss fragment on
parents is also 0uoted by .lato in the same or!# Archytass treatment of happiness is reproduced in
part in Aristotles ;icomachean /thics# -his most interesting topic, should furnish the subDect of a
most valuable treatise, hich ill be necessary to the proper appreciation of all Gree! philosophy#
7ho ill have time for itK
.@-,AGA?/A; S@C:A"S, or CAJICS $6rom ,ierocles#(
%# Go not beyond the balance# $-ransgress not Eustice(#
*# Sit not don on the bushel# $3o not loaf on your Dob(#
2# -ear not to pieces the cron# $3o not be a Doy-!iller(#
G# /at not the heart# $3o not grieve over-much(#
9# 3o not po!e the fire ith a sord# $3o not further inflame the 0uarrelsome(#
&# ,aving arrived at the frontiers, turn not bac!# $3o not ish to live over your life(#
8# Go not by the public ay# $Go not the broad popular ay, hich leads to destruction(#
'# Suffer not sallos around your house# $?eceive no sallos in your family(#
)# 7ear not the image of God on your ring# $.rofane not the name of God(#
%+# 3o not unload people, but load them up# $/ncourage not idleness, but virtue(#
%%# ;ot easily sha!e hands ith a man# $Ca!e no ill-considered friendships(#
%*# "eave no the least mar! of the pot on the ashes# $After reconciliation, forget the disagreement(#
%2# So mallos, but never eat them# $Bse mildness to others, but not to yourself(#
%G# 7ipe not out the place of the torch# $"et not all the lights of reason be extinguished(#
%9# 7ear not a narro ring# $See! freedom, avoid slavery(#
%&# 6eed not the animals that have croo!ed clas# $-o your family admit no thief or traitor(#
%8# Abstain from beans# $Avoid farcineous food causing flatulence, avoid democratic voting(#
%'# /at not fish hose tails are blac!# $6re0uent not the company of men ithout reputation(#
%)# ;ever eat the gurnet# $Avoid revenge(#
*+# /at not the omb of animals# $Avoid hat leads to generation, to loest affections(#
*%# Abstain from flesh of animals that die of themselves# $Avoid decayed food(#
**# Abstain from eating animals# $,ave no conversation ith unreasonable men(#
*2# Alays put salt on the table# $Alays use the principle of Eustice to settle problems(#
*G# ;ever brea! the bread# $7hen giving charity, do not pare too close(#
*9# 3o not spill oil upon the seat# $3o not flatter princes, praise God only(#
*&# .ut not meat in a foul vessel# $3o not give good precepts to a vicious soul(#
*8# 6eed the coc!, but sacrifice him notI for he is sacred to the sun and the moon# $4herish people
ho arm you, sacrifice them not to resentment(#
*'# :rea! not the teeth# 3o not revile bitterly# $3o not be sarcastic(#
*)# Keep far from you the vinegar-cruet# $Avoid malice and sarcasm(#
2+# Spit upon the parings of your nails, and on the clippings of your hair# $Abhor desires(#
2%# 3o not urinate against the sun# $:e modest(#
2*# Spea! not in the face of the sun# $Ca!e not public the thoughts of your heart(#
22 3o not sleep at noon# $3o not continue in dar!ness(#
2G# Stir up the bed as soon as you are risen, do not leave in it any print of the body# $7hen or!ing,
han!er not for luxurious ease(#
29# ;ever sing ithout harp-accompaniment# $Ca!e of life a hole(#
2&# Alays !eep your things pac!ed up# $Alays be prepared for all emergencies(#
28# Puit not your post ithout your generals order# $3o# not suicide(#
2'# 4ut not ood on the public road# $;ever turn to private use hat belongs to the public(#
2)# ?oast not hat is boiled# $;ever ta!e in ill part hat is done in simplicity and ignorance(#
G+# Avoid the to-edged sord# $,ave no conversation ith slanderers(#
G%# .ic! not up hat is fallen from the table#$Alays leave something for charity(#
G*# Abstain even from a cypress chest# $Avoid going to funerals(#
G2# -o the celestial gods sacrifice an odd number, but to the infernal, an even# $-o God consecrate
the indivisible soul, the body to hell(#
GG# Affer not to the gods the ine of an unpruned vine# $Agriculture is a great piece of piety(#
G9# ;ever sacrifice ithout meal# $/ncourage agriculture, offer bloodless offerings(#
G&# Adore the gods, and sacrifice bare-foot# $.ray and sacrifice in humility of heart(#
G8# -urn round hen you orship# $Adore the immensity of God, ho fills the universe(#
G'# Sit don hen you orship# $;ever orship in a hurry(#
G)# .are not your nails during the sacrifices# $In the temple behave respectfully(#
9+# 7hen it thunders, touch the ground# $Appease God by humility(#
9%# 3o not primp by torch-light# $"oo! at things in the light of God(#
9*# Ane, -o# $God and ;atureI all things are !non to God(#
92# ,onor mar!s of dignity, the -hrone, and the -ernary# $7orship magistrates, Kings, ,eroes,
Geniuses and God(#
9G# 7hen the inds blo, adore echo# $3uring revolts, flee to deserts(#
99# /at not in the chariot# $/at not in the midst of hurried, important business(#
9&# .ut on your right shoe first, and ash your left foot first#$.refer an active life, to one of ease and
pleasure(#
98# /at not the brain# $7ear not out the brain, refresh yourself(#
9'# .lant not the palm-tee# $3o nothing but hat is good and useful(#
9)# Ca!e thy libations to the gods by the ear# $:eautify thy orship by music(#
&+# ;ever catch the cuttle-fish# $Bnderta!e no dar! affairs, intricate affairs, that ill ound you(#
&%#Stop not at the threshold# $:e not avering but choose your side(#
&*# Give ay to a floc! that goes by# $Appose not the multitude(#
&2# Avoid the easel# $Avoid tale-tellers(#
&G# ?efuse the eapons a oman offers you# $?eDect all suggestions revenge inspires(#
&9# Kill not the serpent that chances to fall ithin your alls# $,arm no enemy ho becomes your
guest or suppliant(#
&&# It is a crime to thro stones into fountains# $It is a crime to persecute good men(
&8# 6eed not yourself ith your left hand# $Support yourself ith honest toil, not robbery(#
&'# It is a horrible crime to ipe off the seat ith iron# $It is a criminal to deprive a man by force
of hat he earned by labor(#
&)# Stic! not iron in the footsteps of a man# $Cangle not the memory of a man(#
8+# Sleep not on a grave# $"ive not in idleness on the parents inherited estates(#
8%# "ay not the hole faggot on the fire# $"ive thriftily, spend not all at once(#
8*# "eap not from the chariot ith your feet close together# $3o nothing inconsiderately(#
82# -hreaten not the stars# $:e not angry ith your superiors(#
8G# .lace not the candle against the all# $.ersist not in enlightening the stupid(#
89# 7rite not in the sno# $-rust not your precepts to persons of an inconstant character(#
.@-,AGA?ASS GA"3/; </?S/S
%# 6irst honor the immortal Gods, as the la demandsI
*# -hen reverence thy oath, and than the illustrious heroesI
2# -hen venerate the divinities under the earth, due rites performing,
G# -hen honor your parents, and all of your !indredI
9# Among others ma!e the most virtuous thy friendI
&# "ove to ma!e use of soft speeches, but deeds that are usefulI
8# Alienate not the beloved comrade for trifling offences,
'# :ear all you can, hat you can, and you should Mare near to each otherN
)#-a!e this all to heart1 you must gain control of your habitsI
%+# 6irst over stomach, then sleep, and then luxury,
%%# And angerI hat brings you shame, do not unto others#
%*# ;or by yourselfI highest of duties is honor of self,
%2# "et Eustice be practiced in ords as in deedsI
%G# -hen ma!e the habit, never inconsiderately to actI
%9# ;either forget that death is appointed to allI
%&# -hat possessions here gladly gathered, there must be leftI
%8# 7hatever sorro the fate of the gods may here send us,
%'# :ear, hatever may stri!e you, ith patience unmurmuring#
%)# -o relieve it, so far as you can, is permittedI but reflect1
*+# ;ot much good has 6ate given to the good#
*% -he speech of the people is various, no good, and no evilI
**# So let them not frighten you, nor !eep you from your purpose#
*2# If false calumnies come to your ear, support it in patienceI
*G# @et that hich I no am declaring, fulfill it full faithfully1
*9# "et no one ith speech or ith deeds eer deceive youI
*&# -o do or to say hat is not the best,
*8# -hin!, ere you act, that nothing stupid resultI
*'# -o act inconsiderately is part of a foolI
*)# @et hatever later ill not bring you repentance, that you should carry through,
2+# 3o nothing beyond hat you !noI yet learn
2%# 7hat you may needI thus shall your life gro happy#
2*# ;either gro anxious about the health of the bodyI
22# Keep measure in eating and drin!ing, and every exercise of the bodyI
2G# :y measure, I mean hat later ill not induce painI
29# 6ollo clean habits of life, but not the luxuriousI
2&# Avoid hat envy arouses,
28# At the rong time, never be prodigal, as if you did not !no hat as properI
2'# ;or sho yourself stingyI that hich is medium is ever the best#
2)# ;ever let slumber approach thy earied eye-lids,
G+# /re thrice you revieed hat this day you didI
G% $Cissing(
G*# 7herein have I sinnedK 7hat did IK 7hat duty is neglectedK
G2# All from the first to the last, revieI and if you have erred,
GG# Grieve in your spirit, reDoicing for all that as good#
G9# 7ith 5eal and ith industry, this, then repeatI and learn to repeat it ith Doy#
G&# -hus ilt thou tread on the paths of heavenly virtue,
G8# Surely, I sear it by him ho into our souls placed the 6our $elements(, Myes, by him ho im-
parted to our soul the tetraktys,N
G'# ,im ho is spring of ;ature eternalT;o start on your tas!L
G)# After you have implored the blessing of the Gods#TIf this you hold fast,
9+# Soon ill you recogni5e of Gods and mortal men
9%# -he peculiar existence, ho everything passes and returns#
9*# -hen ill you see hat is true, ho ;ature in all is most e0ual,
92# So that you hope not for hat has no hope, nor that aught should escape you#
9G# Cen shall you find hose sorros themselves have created,
99# 7retches ho see not the God, that is to near, near,
9&# ;othing they hearI fe !no ho to help themselves in misfortune#
98# -hat is the 6ate, that blinds humanity, in circlMingN circles,
9'# ,ither and yon, they run, in endless sorrosI
9)# 6or they are folloed by a grim companion, disunion ithin themselves,
&+# BnnoticedI neer rouse him, and fly from before himL
&%# 6ather Heus, A free them all from sufferings so great,
&*# Ar sho unto each the Genius, ho is their guideL
&2# @et, do not fear, for the mortals are divine by M-----N
&G# -o hom holy ;ature everything ill reveal and demonstrateI
&9# 7hereof if you have received, so !eep hat I teach youI
&&# 6or I ill heal you, and you shall remain insured from manifold evil#
&8# Avoid foods forbidden, reflect, that this contributes to cleanliness
&'# And redemption of your soulI -his all, Ah, considerI
&)# "et reason, the gift divine, be thy highest guideI
8+# -hen should you be separated from the body, and soar in the spiritual aether,
8%# -hen ill you be imperishable, a divinity, no longer a humanL
:IAG?A.,@ A6 .,I"A"ABS
:@ 3IAG/;/S "A/?-/S
.hilolaus of 4rotona, a .ythagorean, as he from hom .lato, in some of his "etters, begged 3io
to purchase .ythagorean boo!s# ,e died under the accusation of having had designs on the tyranny#
I have made about him the folloing epigram1
=I advise everybody to ta!e, good care to avoid suspicionI even if you are not guilty, but seem so,
you are ruined# -hat is hy 4rotona, the homeland of .hilolaus, destroyed him, because he as
suspected of ishing to establish autocracy#>
,e teaches that all things are produced by necessity and harmony, and he is the first ho said that
the earth has a circular movementI others hoever insist this as due to ,icetas of Syracuse#
,e had ritten a single boo! hich the philosopher .lato, visiting 3ionysius in Sicily, bought ac-
cording to ,ermippus, from .hilolauss parents, for the sum of G+ Alexandrian minae, hence he
dre his -imaeus# Athers state that he received it as a present for having obtained the liberty of one
of .hilolauss disciples, hom 3ionysius had imprisoned# In his !omonyms 3emetrius claims that
he is the first of the .ythagorean philosophers ho made a or! on nature public property# -his
boo! begins as follos1
=-he orlds being is the harmonious compound of infinite and finite principlesI such is the totality
of the orld and all it contains#>
6?AGC/;-S A6 .,I"A"ABS
6rom :oec!h
%# $Stob#*%#8I 3iog##U#'#'9( -he orlds nature is a harmonious compound of infinite and finite ele-
mentsI similar is the totality of the orld in itself, and of all it contains# b# All beings are necessarily
finite or infinite, or simultaneously finite and infiniteI but they could not all be infinite only#
*# ,o, since it is clear that the beings can not be formed neither of elements that are all infinite, it
is evident that the orld in its totality, and its included beings are a harmonious compound of finite
and infinite elements# -hat can be seen in or!s of art# -hose that are composed of finite elements,
are finite themselves, those that are composed of both finite and infinite elements, are both finite
and infiniteI and those composed of infinite elements, are infinite#
*# All things, at least those e !no contain numberI for it is evident that nothing hatever can
either be thought or !non, ithout number# ;umber has to distinct !inds1 the odd and the even,
and a third, derived from a mingling of the other to !inds, the even-odd# /ach of its subspecies is
susceptible of many very numerous varietiesI hich each manifests individually#
2# -he harmony is generally the result of contrariesI for it is the unity of multiplicity, and the agree-
ment of discordances# $;icom#Arith#*19+)(
G# -his is the state of affairs about nature and harmony# -he essence of things is eternalI it is a
uni0ue and divine nature, the !noledge of hich does not belong to man# Still it ould not be pos-
sible that any of the things that are, and are !non by us, should arrive to our !noledge, if this es-
sence as not the internal foundation of the principles of hich the orld as founded, that is, of
the finite and infinite elements# ,o since these principles are not mutually similar, neither of sim-
ilar nature, it ould be impossible that the order of the orld should have been formed by them, un-
less the harmony intervened, in any manner hatever# Af course, the things that ere similar and of
similar nature, did not need the harmonyI but the dissimilar things, hich have neither a similar
nature, nor an e0uivalent function, must be organi5ed by the harmony, if they are to ta!e their place
in the connected totality of the orld#
9# -he extent of the harmony is a fourth, plus a fifth# -he fifth is greater than the fourth by nine
eighthsI for from the loest string to the second loest, there is a fourthI and from this to the next, a
fifthI but from this to the next, or =third,> a fourthI and from this =third> to the loest, a fifth# -he
interval beteen the second loest and the =third> $from the top( is nine eighthsI the interval of the
fourth, is four thirdsI that of the fifth, three halvesI that of the octave, the double relation# -hus the
harmony contains five nine-eighths plus to sharpsI the fifth, three nine eighths, plus one sharpI the
fourth to nine-eighths, plus one#
&# $:oethius, Cusic, 219(# ;evertheless the .ythagorean .hilolaus has tried to divide the tone other-
iseI his tones starting-point is the first uneven number hich forms a cube, and you !no that the
first uneven number as an obDect of veneration among these .ythagoreans# ;o the first odd num-
ber is threeI thrice three are nine, and nine times three is *8, hich differs from the number *G by
the interval of one tone, and differs from it by this very number 2# Indeed, 2 is one eighth of *G, and
this eighth part of *G added to *G itself, produces *8, the cube of 2# .hilolaus divides this number
*8 in to parts, the one greater than half, hich he calls apotomeI the other one smaller than half he
calls sharpI but hich latterly has become !non as minor half-tone# ,e supposes that this MsharpN
contains thirteen unities, because %2 is the difference beteen *9& and *G2, and that this MsameN
number is the sum of ), 2, and unity, in hich the unity plays the part of the period, 2 of the first
odd line, and ) of the first odd s0uare# After having, for these reasons, expressed by %2 the sharp,
hich is called a semi-tone, out of %G unities he forms, the other part of the number *8 hich he
calls apotome, and as the difference beteen %2 and %G is the unity, he insists that the unity forms
the coma, and that *8 unities form an entire tone, because *8 is the difference beteen *%9 and *G2,
hich are distant by one tone#
8# $:oethius, Cusic, 21'(# -hese are the definitions that .hilolaus has given of these intervals, and
of still smaller intervals# -he coma, says he, is the interval hose eighth-ninths relation exceeds the
sum of to sharps, namely, the sum of to minor semi-tones# -he schisma is half the comma, the
diaschisma is half the sharp, namely, of the minor semi-tone#
'# $4laudius ;amert#de Stat# anim#*12( :efore treating of the substance of the soul, .hilolaus, ac-
cording to geometrical principles, treats of music, arithmetic, measures, eights, numbers, insisting
that these are the principles hich support the existence of the Bniverse#
)# $;icom## Arith#*1p#8*( Some, in this folloing .hilolaus, thin! that this !ind of a proportion is
called harmonic, because it has the greatest analogy ith hat is called geometrical harmonyI
hich is the cube, because all its dimensions are mutually e0ual, and conse0uently in perfect har-
mony# Indeed this proportion is revealed in all !inds of cubesI hich has alays %* sides, ' angles,
and & surfaces# b#$4assiodorus, /xp#in .s#),p#2&( -he number ', hich the arithmeticians call the
first actual s0uare, has been named, by the .ythagorean .hilolaus the name of geometrical har-
mony, because he thin!s he recogni5es in it all the hamonic relations#
%+# $Stob# /clogl#%19181p#2&+( -he orld is singleI it began to form from the centre outards# Start-
ing from this centre, the top is entirely identical to the baseI still you might say that hat is above
the centre is opposed to hat is belo itI for, for the base, loest point ould be the centre, as for
the top, the highest point ould still be the centreI and li!eise for the other partsI in fact, in respect
to the centre, each one of the opposite points is identical, unless the hole be moved#
b#$Stob#/cl#l1*l121p#G&'( -he prime composite, the Ane placed in the centre of the sphere is called
,estia#
%%# a# $Stob#/cl#l1**1l1p#G''( .hilolaus has located the fire in the middle, the centreI he calls it ,es-
tia, of the All, the house MpoliceipestN of Eupiter, and the mother of the Gods, the altar, the lin!, the
measure of nature# :esides, he locates a second fire, 0uite at the top, surrounding the orld# -he
centre, says he, is by its nature the firstI around it, the ten different bodies carry out their choric
danceI these are, the heaven, the planets, loer the sun, and belo it the moon I loer the earth, and
beneath this, the anti-earth $a body invented by the .ythagoreans, says Aristotle, Cet i1 9( then be-
neath these bodies the fire of ,estia, in the centre, here it maintains order# -he highest part of the
4overing, in hich he asserts that the elements exist in a perfectly pure condition, is called Alym-
pus, the space beneath the revolutionary circle of Alympus, and here in order are disposed the five
planets, the sun and moon, forms the 4osmos orldI finally, beneath the latter is the sublunar re-
gion, hich surrounds the earth, here are the generative things susceptible to changeI that is the
heaven# -he order hich manifests in the celestial phenomena is the obDect of scienceI the disorder
hich manifests in the things of becoming, is the obDect of virtueI the former is perfect, the latter is
imperfect# b# $.lut# .lac#.hil#21ll(# -he .ythagorean .hilolaus located the fire in the centre, it is the
,estia of the All, then the Anti-earth, then the earth e inhabit, placed opposite the other, and mov-
ing circularlyI hich is the cause that its inhabitants are not visible to ours# c#
$Stob#/cl#l1*%1&1p#G9*(# -he directing fire, MofN .hilolaus, is in the entirely central fireI hich the
demiurge has placed as a sort of !eel MtoN serve as foundation to the sphere of the All#
%*# $.lut#.lac#.hil#*19(# .hilolaus explains destruction by to causesI one is the fire hich descends
from heaven, the other is the ater of the noon, hich is driven aay therefrom by the circulation
of airI the loss of these to stars nourish the orld#
%2# $3iog#"aert#'1'9(# .hilolaus as the first ho said the orld moves in a circleI others attribute
it to ,ivatas of Syracuse# b# $.lut#.lac#.hilos#218(# Some insist that the earth is immovable but the
.ythagorean .hilolaus says that it moves circularly around the central fire, in an obli0ue circle li!e
the sun and moon#
%G# $Stob#/cl#l1*9121p#92+( -he .ythagorean .hilolaus says that the sun is a vitrescent body hich
receives the light reflected by the fire of the 4osmos, and sends it bac! to us, after having filtered
them, light and heatI so that you might say that there are to suns, the body of the fire hich is in
the heaven, and the igneous light hich emanates therefrom, and reflects itself in a !ind of a mirror#
.erhaps e might consider as a third light that hich, from the mirror in hich it reflects, and falls
bac! on us in dispersed rays#
%9# $Stob#/clog#%1*&1 l1p# 9&*( Some .ythagoreans, among hom is .hilolaus, pretend that the
moons resemblance to the earth consists in its surface being inhabited, li!e our earthI but by anim-
als and vegetation larger and more beautifulI for the lunar animals are fifteen times larger than ours,
and do not evacuate excreta# -he day is also fifteen times as long# Athers pretend that the apparent
form of the noon is only the reflection of the sea, hich e inhabit, hich passes beyond the circle
of fire#
%&# $4ensorinus, de 3ie ;atal#%'(# According to the .ythagorean .hilolaus there is a year composed
of 9) years and *% intercalary monthsI he considers that the natural year has 2&G and a half days#
%8# $Iambl#ad ;icon#Arith#%%(# .hilolaus says that number is the sovereign and autogenic force
hich maintains the eternal permanence of cosmic things#
%'# $Stob#%121'(# -he poer, efficacy and essence of number is seen in the decadI it is great, it real-
i5es all its purposes, it is the cause of all effectsI the poer of the decad is the principle and guide of
all life, divine, celestial or human into hich it is insinuatedI ithout it everything is infinite, ob-
scure, and furtive# Indeed it is the nature of number hich teaches us comprehension, hich serves
us as guide, hich teaches us all things, hich ould remain impenetrable and un!non for every
man, for there is nobody ho could get so clear a notion about it, things in themselves, neither in
their relations, if there as no number or number-essence# :y means of sensation, number instills a
certain proportion, and thereby establishes among all things harmonic relations, analogous to the
nature of the geometric figure called the gnomonI it incorporates intelligible reasons of things, sep-
arates them, inidividualises them, both in finite and infinite things# And it is not only in matters per-
taining to genii or gods that you may see the force manifested by the nature and poer of number,
but it is in all its or!s, in all human thoughts, everyhere indeed, and even in the production of
arts and music# -he nature of number and harmony are numberless, for hat is false has no part in
their M-------NI for the principle of error and envy is thoughtless, irrational, infinite nature# ;ever
could error slip into numberI for its nature is hostile thereto# -ruth is the proper, innate character of
number#
b# $-heologoumena, &%(# -he decad is also named 6aith because according to .hilolaus, it is by the
decad and its elements, if utili5ed energetically and ithout negligence, that e arrive at a solidly
grounded faith about beings# It is also the source of memory, and that is hy the "onad has been
called $CnemosyneK(#
c# $-heon of Smyrna, .laton#;emn#p#G)( -he MTetractysN determines every number, including the
nature of everything, of the even and the odd, of the mobile and immobile, of good and evil# It has
been the subDect of long discussions by Archytas, and of .hilolaus, in his or! on nature#
d# $"ucien, .ro# "aps# Inter# Salut# 9#( Some called the Tetractys the great oath of the .ythagoreans,
because they considered it the perfect number, or even because it is the principle of healthI among
them is .hilolaus#
%)# $-heon of Smyrna, .lat# Cath# G#(# Archytas and .hilolaus use the terms monad and unity inter-
changeably#
b# $Syrianus, sub init, 4omment# in Arist# ;et# I#xivK(# @ou must not suppose that the philosophers
begin by principles supposed to be oppositeI they !no the principle above these to elements, as
.hilolaus ac!noledges hen saying that it is God ho hypostasi5es the finite and the infinite# ,e
shos that it is by the limit, that every coordinate series of things further approaches Bnity, and that
it is by infinity that the loer series is produced# -hus even above these to principles they posited
the uni0ue and separate cause distinguished by all of its excellence# -his is the clause hich
Archinetus called the cause before the cause and hich .hilolaus vehemently insists is the principle
of all, and of hich :rontinus says that in poer and dignity it surpasses all reason and essence#
c# $Iambl# ad ;icom# Arith# p%+)(# In the formation of s0uare numbers by addition, unity is as it
ere the starting-post from hich one starts, and also the end hither one returnsI for if one places
the numbers in the form of a double procession, and you see them gro from unity to the root of the
s0uare, and the root is li!e the turning-point here the horses turn to go bac! through similar num-
bers to unity, as in the s0uare of 9#
6or example1
%-----*-----2-----G
-----9 V added, *9
%-----*-----2-----G
It is not the same ith rectangular numbersI if, Dust as if in the gnomon, one adds to any number the
sum of the even, then the number to ill alone seem to receive and stand addition and ithout the
number to it ill not be possible to produce rectangular numbers# If you set out the naturally in-
creasing series of numbers in the order of the double race-trac!, then unity, being the principle of
everything according to .hilolaus $for it is he ho said, =unity the principle of everything>(, ill in-
deed present itself as the barrier, the starting point hich produces the rectangular numbers, but it
ill not be the goal or limit here the series returns, and comes bac!I it is not unity, but the number
* hich ill fulfill this function# -hus1
& %------*------2-----G ------------------ 9V *G G --------*-----2-----G -------------------
d# $Ahilo, Cundi Apif #*G(# .hilolaus confirms hat I have Dust said by the folloing ordsI =,e
ho commands and governs everything is a God ho is single, eternally existing, immutable, self-
identical, different from other things#
e# $Athenag#"egat#pro 4hristo(# .hilolaus says that all things are by God !ept as if in captivity, and
thereby implies, that ,e is single and superior to matter#
*+# $.roclus, ad /uclid# /lem#I#22(# /ven among the .ythagoreans e find different angles consec-
rated to the different divinities, as did .hilolaus, ho devoted to some the angle of the triangle, to
others the angle of the rectangle, to others other angles, and sometimes the same to several# -he .y-
thagoreans say that the triangle is the absolute principle of generation of begotten things, and of
their formI that is hy -imaeus says that the reasons of physical being, and of the regular formation
of the elements are triangularI indeed, they have the three dimensions, in unity they gather the ele-
ments hich in themselves are absolutely divided and changingI they are filled ith the infinity
characteristic of matter, and above the material beings they form bonds that indeed are frail# -hat is
hy triangles are bounded by straight lines and are MhaveN angles hich unite the lines, and are their
MendsN# .hilolaus as therefore right in devoting the angle of the triangle to four divinities,
M4ronosN, ,ades, Cars and :acchus, under these names combining the fourfold disposition of the
elements, hich refers to the superior part of the Bniverse, starting from the s!y, or sections of the
5odiac# Indeed, 4ronos presides over everything humid and cold essenceI Cars, over everything
fieryI ,ades contains everything terrestrial, and 3ionysius directs the generation of et and arm
things, symboled by ine, hich is li0uid and arm# -hese four divinities divide their secondary
operations, but they remain unitedI that is hy .hilolaus, by attributing to them one angle only,
ished to express this poer of unification#
-he .ythagoreans also claim that, in preference to the 0uadrilateral, the tetragone bears the divine
impressI and by it they express perfect order####6or the property of being straight imitates the poer
of immutabilityI and e0uality represents that of permanenceI for motion is the result of ine0ualityI
and rest, that of e0uality# -hose are the causes of the organisation of the being that is solid in its to-
tality, and of its pure and immovable essence# -hey ere therefore right to express it symbolically
by the figure the tetragon# :esides, .hilolaus, ith another stro!e of genius, calls the angle of the
tetragon# that of ?hea, of 3imeter, and of ,estia###6or considering the earth as a tetragon, and not-
ing that this element possesses the property of continuousness, as e learned it from -imaeus, and
the earth receives all that drips from the divinities and also the generative poers that they contain,
he as right in consecrating the angle of the tetragon to these divinities hich procreate life# In-
deed, some of them call the earth ,estia and 3emeter, and claim that it parta!es of ?hea, in its en-
tirety, and that ?hea contains all the begotten causes# -hat is hy, in obscure language, he says, that
the angle of the tetragon contains the single poer hich produces the unity of these divine cre-
ations#
And e must not forget that .hilolaus assigns the angle of the triangle to four divinities, and the
angle of the tetragon to three, thereby indicating their penetrative faculty, hereby they influence
each other mutuallyI shoing ho all things participate in all things, the odd things in the even and
the even in the odd# -he triad and the tetrad, participating in the generative and creative beings,
contain the hole regular organi5ation of begotten beings# -heir product is the dodecad, hich ends
in the single monad, the sovereign principle of EupiterI for .hilolaus says that the angle of the do-
decagon belongs to Eupiter, because in unity Eupiter contains the entire of the dodecad#
*%# $-heolog#Arithm# p#9&(# After the mathematical magnitude hich by its three dimensions or in-
tervals reali5es the number four, .hilolaus shos us the being manifesting in number five 0uality
and color, in the number six the soul and lifeI in the number seven, reason, health, and hat he calls
lightI then he adds that love, friendship, prudence, and reflexion are communicated to beings by the
number eight#
b# $-heolog#Arithm# p#**(# -here are four principles of the reasonable animal, as .hilolaus in his
or! on ;ature, the s!ull, the heart, the navel, and the sexual organs# -he head is the seat of reason,
the heart, that of the soul or life, and sensationI the navel, the principle of the facility of stri!ing
roots and reproducing the first beingI the sexual organs, of the faculty of proDecting the sperm, and
procreating# -he s!ull contains the principle of man, the heart of the animal, the navel that of the
plant, the sexual organs that of all living beings, for these gro and produce offspring#
c# $Stob#/dog#.hysic#l1*121 p#l+(# -here are bodies five in the sphereI fire, ater, earth, airI and the
circle of the sphere, hich ma!es the fifth#
**# $Stob#/cog#l1*1*1 p#G%'(# 6rom the .ythagorean .hilolaus, dran from his boo! On the *#oul+#
,e insists that the orld is indestructible# ,ere is hat he says in his boo! On the #oul# -hat is hy
the orld remains eternally, because it cannot be destroyed by any other, nor spontaneously destroy
itself# ;either ithin it, nor ithout it can be found a force greater than itselfI able to destroy it# -he
orld has existed from all eternity, and ill remain eternally, because it is single, governed by a
principle hose nature is similar to its on, and hose force is omnipotent and sovereign# :esides,
the single orld is continuous, and endoed ith a natural respiration, moving eternally in a circle,
having the principle of motion and changeI one of its parts is immovable, the other is changingI the
immovable part extends from the soul to the moon, that embraces everything, to the moonI and the
changing part from the moon to the earthI or, since the mover has been acting since eternity, and
continues his action eternally, and since the changeable part receives its manner of being from the
Cover ho acts thereon, it necessarily results thence that one of the parts of the 7orld ever im-
presses motion, and that the other ever receives it passivelyI the one is entirely the domain of reason
and the soul, the other of generation and changeI the one is anterior in poer, and superior, the oth-
er is posterior and subordinate# -he composite of these to things, the divine eternally in motion
and of generation ever changingI is the 7orld# -hat is hy one is right in saying that the 7orld is
the eternal energy of God, and of becoming hich obeys the las of changing nature# -he one re-
mains eternally in the same state, self-identical, the remainder constitutes the domain of plurality,
hich is born and perishes# :ut nevertheless the things that perish save their essence and form,
than!s to generation, hich reproduces the identical form of the father ho has begotten and fash-
ioned them#
*2# $4laudian Camort# 3e Statu# Anim#*1 p#8(# -he soul is introduced and associated ith the body
by number and by a harmony simultaneously immortal and incorporeal####-he soul cherishes its
body, because ithout it the soul cannot feelI but hen death has separated the soul therefrom, the
soul lives an incorporeal existence in the cosmos#
b# $Cacrob# 3ream of Scipio, I1+G(# .lato says that the soul is a self-moving essenceI Jenocrates
defines the soul as a self-moving numberI Aristotle calls it an entelechyI and .ythagoras and
.hilolaus, a harmony#
c# $Alympiod# ad .lat# .haed# p %9+(# .hilolaus opposed suicide, because it as a .ythagorean pre-
cept not to lay don the burden but to help others carry theirsI namely, that you must assist, and not
hinder it#
d# $4lem#Strom# 21 p#G22(# It ill help us to remember the .ythagorean .hilolauss utterance that
the ancient theologians and divines claimed that the soul is bound to the body as a punishment, and
is buried in it as in a tomb#
*G# $Arist#/th#/ud# *1'(# As .hilolaus has said, there are some reasons stronger than us# b# $Iambl#
ad ;icom# Arithm# %1*9(# I shall later have a better opportunity to consider ho, in raising a number
to its s0uare, by the position of the simple component unities, e arrive at MveryN evident proposi-
tions, naturally, and not by any la, as says .hilolaus#
*9# $Sext# /mpir, Adv#Cath# 81)*1 p# 2''(# Anaxagoras has said ho reason in general is the faculty
discerning and DudgingI the .ythagoreans also agree that it is ?eason, not reason in general, but the
?eason that develops in men by the study of mathematics, as .hilolaus used to say and insist that if
this ?eason is capable of undestanding All, it is only that its essence is !indred ith this nature, for
it is in the nature of things that the similar be understood by the similar#
*&# $"aurent#"ydus,de Cens#p %&I 4edrenus --I %&)b(# .hilolaus as therefore right in calling it a
decad, because it receives $pun( the Infinite, and .rpheus as right in calling it the branch, because
it is the branch from hich issue all the numbers, as do many branches#
b# $4edrenus, l#p8*(# .hilolaus as therefore right to say that the number seven as motherless#
c# $4edrenus, l#p#*2(# .hilolaus as therefore right to call the spouse of Kronos, the .yad#
:iography of A?4,@-AS M289 :#4#N
by 3%AG/;/S "A/?-/S M%'+ A#3#N
$6rom 4haignet(
Archytas of -arentum, son of Cnesagoras, or of ,estius, according to Aristoxenus, also as a .y-
thagorean# It as he ho, by a letter, saved .lato from death threatened by 3ionysius# ,e possessed
all the virtues, so that, being the admiration of the crod, he as seven times named general, in
spite of the la hich forbad re-election after one year# .lato rote him to letters, in response to
this one of Archytas1
=Greetings# It is fortunate for you that you have recovered from your illnessI for I have heard of it
not only from you, but also from M"amiscusN# I have busied myself about those notes, and too! a trip
into "ucania, here I met descendants of Acellus# I have in my possession the treatises on La( and
RoyaltyI on !oliness, and on the Origin of 2ll ThingsI and I am sending them to you# -he others
could not be discovered# Should they be found, they ill be sent to you#>
.lato ansered1
=Greetings# I am delighted to have received the or!s hich you have sent me, and I ac!noledge
a great admiration for him ho rote them# ,e seems to be orthy of his ancient and glorious an-
cestors, ho are said to be M-yreansN and among the number of those -roDans ho emigrated under
the leadership of "aomedon, MallN orthy people, as the legend proves# -hose or!s of mine about
hich you rote me are not in a sufficient state of perfection, but I send them such as they are# :oth
of us are in perfect agreement on the subDect of protecting them# ;o use to rene the re0uest# Cay
your health improveL>
Such are these to letters# -here ere four Archytases# -he first, of hom e have Dust spo!en#
-he second, from Cytilene, as a musicianI the third rote about agricultureI fourth is an author of
epigrams# Some mention a fifthI an architect, ho left a treatise on mechanics, beginning as fol-
los1 -his boo! contains hat I have been taught by the 4arthaginian -eucer#
-he musician is said to have made this Do!e# :eing reproached for not advertising himself more, he
said1 It is my instrument, hich spea!s for me# Aristoxenus claims that the philosopher Archytas
as never van0uished hen he commanded# Ance, overcome by envy, he had been obliged to
resign his commandI and his fello-citi5ens ere immediately con0uered# ,e as the first ho
methodically applied the principles of mathematics to mechanicsI ho imparted an organic motion
to a geometric figure, by the section of the semi-cylinder see!ing to means that ould be propor-
tional, to double the cube# ,e also first, by geometry discovered the properties the cube, as .lato re-
cords in the ?epublic#
S/4-IA; I
C/-A.,@SI4A" 6?AGC/;-S
$Stob#/c#.hys# %1-K%2(
%# -here are necessarily to principles of beingsI the one containing the series of beings organi5ed,
and finished, the other, of unordered and unfinished beings# -hat one hich is susceptible of being
expressed, by speech, and hich can be explained, both embraces beings, and determines and or-
ganises the non-being#
6or every time that it approaches the things of becoming, it orders them, and measures them, and
ma!es them participate in the essence and form of the universal# An the contrary, the series of be-
ings hich escape speech and reason, inDures ordered things and destroys those hich aspire to es-
sence and becomingI henever it approaches them, it assimilates them to its on nature#
:ut since there are to principles of things of an opposite character, the one the principle of good,
and the other the principle of evil, there are therefore also to reasons, the one of beneficent nature,
the other of maleficent nature#
-hat is hy the things that oe their existence to art, and also those hich oe it to nature, must
above all participate in these to principlesI form and substance#
-he form is the cause of essenceI substance is the substrate hich MitN receives the form# ;either can
substance alone participate in form, by itselfI nor can form by itself apply itself to substanceI there
must therefore exist another cause hich moves the substance of thingsI and forms them# -his cause
is primary, as regards substance, and the most excellent of all# Its most suitable name is God#
-here are therefore three principles1 God, the substance of things, and form# God is the artist, the
moverI the substance is the matter, the moved I the essence is hat you might call the art, and that
to hich the substance is brought by the mover# :ut since the mover contains forces hich are self-
contrary, those of simple bodies, and as the contraries are in need of a principle harmoni5ing and
unifying them, it must necessarily receive its efficacious virtues and proportions from the numbers,
and all that is manifested in numbers and geometric formsI virtues and proportions capable of bind-
ing and uniting into form the contraries that exist in the substance of things# 6or, by itself, substance
is formlessI only after having been moved toards form does it become form, and receives the ra-
tional relations of order# "i!eise, if movement exists, besides the thing moved, there must exist a
prime moverI there must therefore be three principlesI the substance of things, the form, and the
principle that moves itself, and hich by its poer is the firstI not only must this principle be an in-
telligence, it must be above intelligence, and e call it God#
/vidently the relation of e0uality applies to the being hich can be defined to language, and reason#
-he relation of ine0uality applies to the irrational beingI and cannot be fixed by languageI it is sub-
stanceI that is hy all begetting and destruction ta!e place in substance, and do not occur ithout it#
*# In short, the philosophers began only by so to spea! contrary principlesI but above these elements
they !ne another superior one, as is testified to by .hilolaus, ho says that God has produced, and
reali5ed the finite and infinite, and shon that at the limit is attached the hole series hich has a
greater affinity ith the Ane, and to Infinity, the one that is belo# -hus, above these to principles
they have posited a unifying cause, superior to everything hich, according to Archenetus, is the
cause before the cause, and, according to .hilolaus, the universal principle#
2a# 7hich unity are you referring toK Af supreme unity, or of the infinitely small unity that you can
find in the partsK -he .ythagoreans distinguished beteen the Bnity and the "onad, as says
Archytas I Bnity and the "onad have a natural affinity but yet they differ#
2b# Archytas and .hilolaus indiscriminately call the unity a monad, and monad a unity# -he maDor-
ity hoever add to the same monad, the distinction of first monad, for there is a monad hich is not
the first, and hich is posterior to the monad in itself, and to unity#
2c# .ythagoras said that the human soul as a tetragon ith right angles# Archytas, on the contrary,
instead of defining the soul by the tetragon, did so by a circle, because the soul is a self-mover, and
conse0uently, the prime moverI but this MisN a circle or a sphere#
2d# .lato and Archytas and the other .ythagoreans claim that there are three parts in the soulI reas-
on, courage and desire#
G# -he beginning of the !noledge of beings is in the things that produce themselves# Af these
some are intelligible, and others sensibleI the former are immovable, the latter are moved# -he cri-
terion of intelligible things is the 7orldI that of sensible things is sensation#
Af the things that do not manifest in things themselves, some are science, the others, opinionI sci-
ence is immovableI opinion is movable# 7e must, besides, admit these three thingsI the subDect that
Dudges, the obDect that is Dudged, and the rule by hich that obDect is Dudged# 7hat Dudges, is the
mind, or sensationI that is Dudged, is the logos or rational essenceI the rule of Dudgment is the act it-
self hich occurs in the beingI hether intelligible or sensible# -he mind is the Dudge of essence,
hether it tends toards an intelligible being, or a sensible one# 7hen reason see!s intelligible
things, it tends toards an intelligible elementI hen it see!s things of sense, it tends toards their
element# ,ence come, those false graphic representation in figures and numbers seen in geometry,
those researches in causes and probable ends, hose obDect are beings subDect to becoming, and
moral acts, #### physiology or politics# It is hile tending toards the intelligible element that reason
recogni5es that harmony is in the double relationI but sensation alone attests that this double rela-
tion is concordant# In mechanics, the obDect of science is figures, numbers, proportionsI -- namely
rational proportionsI the effects are perceived by sensationI for you can neither study nor !no
them outside of the matter or movement# In short it s impossible to !no the reason of an individual
thing, unless you have preliminarily by the mind grasped the essence of the individual thing# -he
!noledge of the existence, and of 0uality, belongs to reason and sensationsI to reason, henever
e effect a things demonstration by a syllogism hose conclusion is inevitableI to sensation, hen
the latter is the criterion of a things essence#
9# Sensation occurs in the body, reason in the soul# -he former is the principle of sensible things,
the latter, of intelligible ones# .opular measures are number, length, the foot, eight and e0uilibri-
umI the scalesI hile the rule and the measure of straightness in both vertical and longitudinal direc-
tions is the right angle#
-hus sensation is the principle and measure of the bodiesI reason is the principle and measure of in-
telligible things# -he former is the principle of beings that are intelligible and naturally primaryI the
latter, of sense-obDects, and naturally secondary# ?eason is the principle of our soulI sensation, the
principle of our body# -he mind is the Dudge of the noblest thingsI sensation, of the most useful#
Sensation as created in vie of our bodies, and to serve themI reason in vie of the soul, and to
initiate isdom therein# ?eason is the principle of scienceI sensation, of opinion# -he latter derives
its activity from sensible thingsI the former from the intelligible# Sensible obDects participate in
movement and changeI intelligible obDects participate in immutability and eternity# -here is no ana-
logy beteen sensation and reasonI for sensations obDect is the sensible, hich moves, changes,
and never remains self-identicalI therefore as you can see it, it improves or deteriorate# ?easons ob-
Dect is the intelligibleI hose essence is immobility, herefore in the intelligible e cannot con-
ceive of either more nor less, better or orseI and Dust as reason sees the primary being, and the
$cosmic( model, so sensation sees the image, and the copied# ?eason sees man in himselfI sensation
sees in them the circle of the sun, and the forms of artificial obDects# ?eason is perfectly simple and
indivisible, as unity, and the pointI it is the same ith intelligible beings#
-he idea is neither the limit nor the frontier of the bodyI it is only the figure of being, that by hich
the being exists, hile sensation has parts, and is divisible#
Some beings are perceived by sensation, others by opinion, others by science, and others by reason#
-he bodies that offer resistance are sensibleI opinion !nos those that participate in the ideas, and
are its images, so to spea!# -hus some particular man participates in the idea of man, and this tri-
angle, in the triangle-idea# -he obDect of science are the necessary accidents of ideasI thus the obDect
of geometry is the properties of the figuresI reason !nos the ideas themselves, and the principles
of the sciences and of their obDectsI for example, the circle, the triangle, ,and the pure sphere in it-
self# "i!eise, in us, in our souls, there are four !inds of !noledge, pure thought, science, opinion
and sensationI to are principles of !noledge $thought and sensation(I to are its purpose, science
and opinion# It is alays the similar hich is capable of !noing the similarI reason !nos the in-
telligible thingsI science, the !noable thingsI opinion, conDecturable thingsI sensation, sensible
things#
-hat is hy thought must rise from things that are sensible, to the conDecturable ones and from
these to the !noable, and on to the intelligible and he ho ishes to !no the truth about these
obDects, must in a harmonious grouping combine all these means and obDects of !noledge# -his
being established, you might represent them under the image of a line divided into to e0ual parts,
each of hich ould be similarly dividedI if e separate the sensible, dividing it into to parts, in
the same proportion, the one ill be clearer, the other obscurer# Ane of the sections of the of the
sensible contains images of things, such as you see reflected in ater, or mirrorsI the second repres-
ents the plants and animals of hich the former are images# Similarly dividing the intelligible, the
different !inds of sciences ill represent the imagesI for the students of geometry begin by estab-
lishing by hypothesis, the odd and the even, figures, three !inds of angles, and from these hypo-
theses deduce their scienceI as to the things themselves, they leave them aside, as if they !ne
them, though they not cannot account for them to themselves or to othersI they employ sensible
things as images, but these things are neither the obDect nor the end proposed in their researches and
reasoningsI hich pursue only things in themselves, such as the diameter or s0uare# -he second sec-
tion is that of the intelligibleI obDect of dialectics# It really ma!es no hypotheses, positing principles
hence it rises to arrive to the unconditioned, to the universal principleI then, by an inverse move-
ment, grasping that principle, it descends to the end of the reasoning, ithout employing any sens-
ible obDect, exclusively using pure ideas# :y these four divisions, you can also analyse the soul-
states, and give the highest the name of thought, reasoning to the second, faith to the third, and ima-
gination to the fourth#
&# Archytas, at the beginning of his boo! on Wisdom gives this adviceI in all human things isdom
is as superior as sight is to all the other senses of the body, as mind is superior to soul, as the sun is
superior to the stars# Af all the senses, sight is the one that extends furthest in its sphere of action,
and gives us the most ideas# Cind, being supreme, accomplishes its legitimate operation by reason
and reasoningI it is li!e sight, and the poer of the noblest obDectsI the sun is the eye and soul of
natural things, for it is through it that they are all seen, begotten, and thoughtI through it the beings
produced by root or seed, are fed, developed, and endoed ith sensation# Af all beings, man is the
isestI by farI for he is able to contemplate beings, and to ac0uire !noledge and understanding of
all# -hat is hy divinity has engraved in him, and has revealed to him the system of speech, hich
extends to everything, a system in hich are classified all the beings, !inds of being, and the mean-
ings of nouns and verbs# 6or the specialised seats of the voice are the pharynx, the mouth and the
nose# As man is naturally organi5ed to produce sounds, through hich nouns and verbs are ex-
pressed and formed, li!eise he is naturally destined to contemplate the notions contained in the
visible obDectsI such, in my vie, is the purpose for hich man has been created, and as bornI and
for hich he received from God his organs and faculties#
Can is born and is created to !no the essence of universal natureI and precisely the function of
isdom is to possess and contemplate the intelligence manifested in the beings#
-he obDect of isdom is no particular being, but all the beings, absolutelyI and it should not begin
to see! the principles of an individual being, but the principles common to all# -he obDect of is-
dom is all the beings, as the obDect of sight is all visible things# -he function of isdom is to see all
the beings in their totality, and to !no their universal attributesI and that is ho isdom discovers
the principles of all beings#
,e ho is capable of analysing all the species, and to trace and group them, by an inverse opera-
tion, into one single principle, he seems to me the isest, and the closest to the truthI he seems to
have found that sublime observatory from the pea! of hich he may observe God, and all the things
that belong to the series and order of divine thingsI being master of this royal road, his mind ill be
able to rush forards, and arrive at the end of the career, uniting principles to the purposes of
things, and !noing that God is the principle, the middle and the end of all things made according
to the rules of Dustice and right reason#
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8# As /udemus reports, Archytas used to as! this 0uestion1 If I as situated at the extreme and im-
movable limit of the orld, could I, or not, extend a and outside of itK -o say I could not, is ab-
surdI but if I can, there must be something, outside of the orld, be it body or spaceI and in
hatever manner e reason, by the same reasoning e ill ever return to this limit# I ill still place
myself there, and as!, is there anything else on hich I may place my and# -herefore, the infinite
existsI if it is a body, our proposition is demonstratedI if it its space, place is that in hich a body
could beI and if it exists potentially, e ill have to place it among, classify it among the eternal
things, and the infinite ill then be a body and a place#
'# -he essence of place is that all other things are in it, hile itself is not in anything# 6or if it as in
a place, there ould be a place in a place, and that ould continue to infinity# All other beings must
therefore be in place, and place in nothing# Its relation to things is the same as limit to limited
thingsI for the place of the entire orld is the limit of all things#
)a# Some say that time is the sphere of the orldI such as the sentiment of the .ythagoreans, ac-
cording to those ho had no doubt heard Archytas give this general definition of time1 =-ime is the
interval of the nature of all#>
)b# -he divine Iamblichus, in the first boo! of his commentaries on the 4ategories, said that
Archytas thus defined time1 =It is the number of movement, or in general the interval of the nature
of all#>
)c# 7e must combine these to definitions, and recognise time as both continuous and discrete,
though it is properly continuous# Iamblichus claims that Archytas taught the distinction of time
physical, and time psychicI so at least Iamblichus interpreted ArchytasI but e must recognise that
there, and often elsehere, he adds to his commentaries to explain matters#
%+# -he general proper essence of =7hen-ness> and time is to be indivisible and insubstantial# 6or,
being indivisible, the present time has passed, hile expressing it, and thin!ing of itI naught re-
mains of it, becoming continuously the same, it never subsists numerically, but only specifically# In
fact, the actually present time and the future are not identical ith former time# 6or the one has past,
and is no moreI the other passes hile being produced and thought# -hus the present is never but a
bondI it perpetually becomes, changes, and perishesI but nevertheless it remains identical in its on
!ind#
In fact, every present is ithout parts, and indivisibleI it is the term of past time, the beginning to
comeI Dust as in a bro!en line, the point here the brea! occurs becomes the beginning of a line,
and the end of the other# -ime is continuous, and not discrete as are number, speech and harmony#
In speech, the syllables are parts, and distinct partsI in the harmony, they are the soundsI in numberI
the unities# -he line, place and space are continuousI if they are divided, their parts form common
sections# 6or the line divides into points, the surface into lines, the solid into surfaces# -herefore
time is continuous# In fact, there as no nature, hen time as notI and there as no movement,
hen the present as not# :ut the present has alays been, it ill alays be, and ill never failI it
changes perpetually, and becomes an other according to the number, but remains the same accord-
ing to !ind# -he line differs from the other continua, in that if you divide the line, place, and space,
its parts ill subsistI but in time, the past has perished, and the future ill# -hat is hy either time
does absolutely not exist, or it hardly exists, and has but an insensible existence# 6or of its parts one,
the past, is no moreI the future is not yet, ho then could the present, ithout parts and indivisible,
possess true realityK
%%# .lato says that the movement is the great and the small, the non-being# the une0ual and all that
reduces to theseI li!e Archytas e had better say that it is a cause#
%*#7hy do all natural bodies ta!e the spherical formK Is it, as said Archytas, because the natural
movement is the proportion of e0ualityK 6or everything moves in proportionI and this proportion of
e0uality is the only one hich, hen it occurs, produces circles and spheres because it returns on it-
self#
%2# ,e ho !nos must have learned from another, or have found his !noledge by himself# -he
science that you learn from another, is as you might say, exteriorI hat you find by yourself belongs
to ourselves individually# -o find ithout see!ing is something difficult and rareI to find hat one
is see!ing is commodious and easyI to ignore, and see! hat you ignore, is impossible#
%G# -he .ythagorean opinion about sciences to me seems correct, and they seen to sho an exact
Dudgment about each of then# ,aving !non ho to form a Dust idea of the nature of all, they should
have li!eise seen the essential nature of the parts# -hey have left us certain evident theories about
arithmetic, geometry, sphericsI also about musicI for all these sciences seem to be !indred, in fact,
the first to !inds of being are indistinguishable#
%9a# 6irst they have seen that it as not possible that there should be any noise, unless there as a
shoc! of one body against anotherI they said# -here is a shoc! hen moving bodies meet and stri!e
each other# -he bodies moved in the air in an opposite direction and those that are moved ithout
e0ual siftness, -- in the same direction, -- the first, hen overta!en, ma!e a noise, because struc!#
Cany of these noises are not susceptible of being perceived by our organsI some because of the
slightness of the shoc!, the others because of their too great distance from us, some even because of
the very excess of their intensityI for noises too great do not enter into our ears, as one cannot intro-
duce anything into Dars ith too narro an opening hen one pours in too much at a time#
Af the sounds that fall ithin the range of our senses, same, -- those that come 0uic!ly from the
bodies struc!, seem shrillI those that arrive sloly and feebly, seem of lo pitch# In fact, hen one
agitates some obDect sloly and feebly, the shoc! produces a lo pitchI if the aving is MdoneN
0uic!ly and ith energy, the sound is shrill# -his not the only proof of the factI hich e can prove
hen e spea! or singI hen e ish to spea! loud and high, e use a great force of breath# So
also something thronI if you thro them hard, they go farI if you thro then ithout energy, they
fall near, for they air yields more to bodies moved ith much force, than to those thron ith little#
-his phenomenon is also reproduced in the sound of the voiceI for the sounds produced by an ener-
getic breath are shrill hile those produced by a feeble breath are ea! and lo pitch# -his same
observation can be seen in the force of a signal given from any placeI if you pronounce it loud, it
can be heard farI if you pronounce the same signal lo, e do not hear it, even from near# So also in
flutes, the breath emitted by the mouth and hich presents itself to the holes nearest the mouth-
piece, produces a shriller sound, because the impulsive force is greater, further, they are of loer
pitch# It is therefore evident that the siftness of the movement produces shrillness and sloness,
loer pitch# -he same thing in seen in the magic tops hich are spun in the mysteriesI those that
move sloly produce a lo pitch, hile those that move 0uic!ly ith force MgiveN a shrill noise# "et
us yet adduce the reed1 if you close the loer opening, and blo into it, it ill produce a certain
soundI and if you stop it in the centre, or in the front, the sound ill be shrill# 6or the same breath
traversing a long space ea!ens, hile traversing a shorter, it remains of the same poer# After
having developed this opinion that the movement of the voice is measured by the intervals, he re-
sumes his discussion, saying, that the shrill sounds are the result of a sifter movement, the loer
sounds, of a sloer movement, this is a fact hich numerous experiments demonstrate clearly#
%9b# /udoxus and Archytas believed that the reasons of the agreement of the sounds as in the
numbersI they agree in thin!ing that these reasons consist in the movements, the shrill movement
being 0uic!, because the agitation of the air is continuous, and the vibration more rapidI the lo
pitch movement being slo, because it is calmer# %&# /xplaining himself about the means, Archytas
rites1 In music there are three meansI the first is the arithmetical mean, the second is the geomet-
rical, the third is the subcontrary mean, hich is called harmonic# -he mean is arithmetical, hen
the three terms are in a relation of analogical excess, that is to say, hen the difference beteen the
first and second is the same as beteen second and thirdI in this proportion, the relation of the
greater terms is smaller, and the relation of the smaller is greater# -he geometric mean exists hen
the first term is to the second, as the second is to the thirdI here the relation of the greater is identic-
al ith the relation of the smaller# -he subcontrary mean, hich e call harmonic, exists hen the
first term exceeds the second by a fraction of itself, identically ith the fraction by hich the
second exceeds the thirdI in this proportion, the relation of the greatest terms is greater, and that of
the smaller, smaller#
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%8# 7e must first !no that the good man is not thereby necessarily happy, but that the happy man
is necessarily goodI for the happy man is he ho deserves praise and congratulationsI the good man
deserves only praise# 7e praise a man because of his virtue, e congratulate him because of his
success# -he good man is such because of the goods that proceed from virtueI the happy man is
such because of the goods that come from fortune# 6rom the good man you cannot ta!e his virtueI
sometimes the happy man loses his good fortune# -he poer of virtue depends on nobodyI that of
happiness, on the contrary, is dependent# "ong diseases, the loss of our senses cause to fade the
floer of our happiness Mand luc!N#
*# God differs from the good man in that God, not only possesses a perfect virtue, purified from all
mortal affection, but enDoys a virtue hose poer is indefectible, independent, as suits the maDesty
and magnificence of his or!s# Can, on the contrary, not only possesses an inferior virtue, because
of the mortal constitution of his nature, but even sometimes by the very abundance of his goods,
no by the force of habit, by the vice of nature, or from other causes, he is incapable of attaining
the perfection of the good#
2# -he good man, in my opinion, is he ho !nos ho to act properly in serious circumstances and
occasionsI he ill therefore !no ho to support good and bad fortuneI in a brilliant and glorious
condition, he ill sho himself orthy if it, and if fortune happens to change, he ill !no ho to
accept properly his actual fate# In short, the good man is he ho, in every occasion, and according
to the circumstances, ell plays his part, and !nos ho to fit to it not only himself, but also those
ho have confidence on him, and are associated ith his fortunes#
G# Since amidst the goods, some are desirable for themselves, and not for anything else, and others
are desirable for something else, and not for themselves, there must necessarily exist a third !ind of
goods, hich are desirable both for themselves and for other things# 7hich are the goods naturally
desirable for themselves, and not for anything elseK /vidently, it is happinessI for it is the end on
account of hich e see! everything else, hile e see! it only for itself, and not in vie of any-
thing else#
Secondly, hich are the goods chosen for something else, and not for themselvesK /vidently those
that are useful, and hich are the means of procuring the real goods, hich thus become the causes
of the goods desirable for themselvesI for instance, the bodily fatigues, the exercises, the tests hich
procure healthI reading, meditation, the studies hich procure virtues, and the 0uality of honesty#
"ast, hich are those goods hich are both desirable for themselves, and for something elseK -he
virtues, and the habitual possession of virtues, the resolutions of the soul, the actions, and in short
anything pertaining to the possession of the beautiful# -hus hat is to be desired for itself, and not
for anything itself, this is the only good# ;o hat e see! both for itself and for something else is
divided into three classesI the one hose obDect is the soul, the body, and external goods# -he first
contains the virtues of the soul, the second the advantages of the bodyI the third, friends, glory, hon-
or and ealth# "i!eise ith the goods that are desirable only for something elseI one part of them
procures goods for the soul, the other hich regards the body, procures goods for itI the external
goods furnish ealth, glory, honor and friendship#
7e can prove that it is characteristic of virtue to be desirable for itself, as follos1 In fact, if the nat-
urally inferior goods, I mean those of the body, are by us sought for themselves, and if the soul is
better than the body, it is evident that e li!e the goods of the soul for themselves, and not for the
results that they might produce#
9# In human life there are three circumstances1 prosperity, adversity, and intermediary comfort#
Since the good man ho possesses virtue and practises it, practises it in these three circumstances,
either in adversity, or prosperity, or comfort, since besides in adversity he is unhappy, in prosperity
he is happy and in comfort he is not happyI -- it is evident that happiness is nothing else than the use
of virtue in prosperity# I spea! here of human happiness# Can is not only a soul, he is also a bodyI
the living being is a composite of bothI and man alsoI for if the body is an instrument of the soul, it
is as much a part of the man, as the soul# -hat is hy, among the goods, some belong to the man
and others belong to his component parts# -he good of man is happinessI amidst its integral parts,
the souls goods are prudence, courage, Dustice temperanceI the bodys are beauty, health, good dis-
position of its members and the perfect condition of its senses# -he ealth, glory, honor, nobility,
naturally superfluous advantages of man, and naturally subordinate to the superior goods#
-he inferior goods serve as satellites to the superior goodsI friendship, glory, ealth are the satel-
lites of the body and soulI health, strength and sense-perfection are satellites of the soulI prudence,
courage, Dustice, temperance are the satellites of the reason of the soulI reason is the satellite of
GodI his is omnipotent, the supreme master# It is for these goods the other must existI toe the army
obeys the general, MasN sailors to the pilot, the orld to God, the MsoulN to reason, the happy life to
prudence# 6or prudence is nothing that the science of the happy M---eN, or the science of the goods
hich belong to M--anN nature#
&# -o God belong happiness and the happy lifeIM--N cannot possess but a grouping of science, virtue
and prosperity forming a single body# 4all isdom the science for the Gods and MgeniusNI prudence,
the science of human things, the science of lifeI for science should be the name of virtues hich rest
on reasons and demonstrations, and moral virtue, the excellent habit of the irrational part of the
soul, hich ma!es you moveI the name of certain 0ualities corresponding to our habits, namely the
names of liberals, of Dust men, and of temperate peopleI and I call prosperity this affluence of goods
hich e reM0uireN ithout reason, ithout reason being their cause# -hen since virtue and science
depend on us, and prosperity does not depend thereon, since happiness consists in the contempla-
tion and practice of good things, and since contemplation and action hen they meet obstacles, lend
us a necessary support hen they go by an easy road, they bring us distraction and happinessI since
after all it is prosperity that gives us these benefits, it is evident that happiness is nothing else than
the use of virtue in prosperity#
8# Cans relations ith prosperity resemble a healthy and vigorous human bodyI he also can stand
heat and cold, raise a great burden, and easily bear many other miseries#
'# Since happiness is the use of virtue in prosperity, let us spea! of virtue and prosperity, the latter
first# Some goods, such as virtue, are not subDect to excessI for excess is impossible in virtue, for
one can never be too decent a manI indeed, virtues measure is duty, and is the habit of duty in prac-
tical life# .rosperity is subDect to excess and lac!, hich excesses produce certain evils, disturbing
man from his usual mood, so as to oppose him to virtueI this is not only the case ith prosperity,
but other more numerous causes also produce this effect# @ou need not be surprised at seeing in the
hall certain impudent artists, ho neglect true art, misleading the ignorant by a false pictureI but do
you suppose that this race does not exist as regards virtueK An the contrary, the greater and more
beautiful virtue is, the more do people feign to adorn themselves ith it# -here are indeed many
things hich dishonor the appearance of virtueI first are the deceivers ho simulate it, others are
the natural passions hich accompany it, and sometimes tist the dispositions of the soul into a
contrary directionI others are the bad habits hich the body has rooted in us, or have been ingrained
in us by youth, age, prosperity, adversity, or a thousand other circumstances# 7herefore e must
not at all be surprised at entirely rong Dudgments, because the true nature of our soul has has been
falsified ithin us# Eust as e see an artist ho is excellent ma!e errors in or!s e are examiningI
or the general, the pilot or the painter and the li!e may ma!e errors ithout our detracting from
their talent, so e must not call unorthy him ho has had a moment of ea!ness, nor among the
orthy a man ho has done no more than a single actionI but in respect to the evil, e must con-
sider chance, and for the good, of error, and to ma!e an e0uitable and Dust Dudgment, and not regard
a single circumstance, or a single period of time, but the hole life#
Eust as the body suffers from both excess and lac!, but as nevertheless the excess and so-called su-
perfluities naturally produce the greatest diseases, so the soul suffers of both prosperity and ad-
versity hen they arrive at rong times, and yet the greatest evils come from so-called absolute
prosperity that is absolute because li!e ine it intoxicates the reason of the orthy#
)# -hat is hy it is not adversity but prosperity hich is the hardest to stand properly# All men,
hen they are in adversity, at least greater part of them, seem moderate and modestI and in good
fortune, ambitious, vain and proud# 6or adversity is apt to moderate the soul, and concentrate itI
hile on the contrary prosperity excites it and puffs it upI that is hy the retches are docile to ad-
vice, and prudent in conduct, hile the happy are bold and venturesome#
%+# -here is therefore a measure and limit of prosperityI the one that the orthy man should desire
to have as auxiliary in the accomplishment or his actionsI Dust as there is a measure in the si5e of the
ship, and in the length of the tillerI hich permits the experienced pilot to traverse an immense ex-
tent of sea, and to carry through a great voyage#
-he result of excess of prosperity, even among orthy people, is that the soul loses leadership, to
prosperityI Dust as too bright, a light da55les the eyes, so too great a prosperity da55les the reason of
the soul# /nough about prosperity#
%'# I insist that virtue is sufficient to preclude unhappiness, that badness precludes happiness, if e
!no ho properly to Dudge of the genuine condition of the soul in these to conditionsI for the
evil is necessarily alays unhappy, hether in abundance, -- hich he it does not !no ho prop-
erly to Dudge use, -- or in povertyI Dust as a blind man is alays, hether he is in brilliant light or in
dar!ness# :ut the orthy man is not alays happyI for happiness does not consist in the possession
of virtue, but its useI Dust as a man ho sees does not see all the timeI he ill not see ithout light#
"ife is as it ere divided into to roadsI the rougher one, folloed by patient Blysses, and the more
agreeable one folloed by ;estorI I mean that virtue desires the one, but can also follo the other#
:ut nature cries aloud that happiness is life desirable in itself, hose state is assured, because one
can reali5e ones purposes in it, so that if life is traversed by things one has not desired, one is not
happy, ithout hoever being absolutely unhappy# -herefore be not so bold as to insist that the
orthy man is exempt from, sic!ness, and sufferingI dare not to say that he does not !no painI for
if the body is alloed some causes of pain, the soul should also be alloed some# -he griefs of the
insane lac! reason and measure hile those of the ise are contained ithin the measure hich
reason gives to everythingI but this so advertised insensibility enervates the character of generosity
of virtue, hen it stands trials, great sorros, hen it is exposed to death, suffering and povertyI for
it is easy to support small sorros# @ou must therefore practice the =metriopathy,> or sorro-stand-
ardi5ationI so as to avoid the insensibility Dust as much as the over-sensibility to pain, and not in
ords to boast about our strength above the measure of our human nature#
%)# 7e might define philosophy as the desire of !noing and understanding things in themselves,
Doined ith practical virtue, inspired and reali5ed by the love of science#
-he beginning of philosophy is the science of natureI the middle, practical lifeI and the end, science
itself# It is fortunate to have been ell born, to have received a good education, to have been accus-
tomed to obey a Dust rule and to have habits conformable to nature# Ane must also have been exer-
cised in virtue, and have been educated by ise parents, governors and masters# It is fine to impose
the role of duty on ones self, to have no need of constraint, to be docile to those ho give us good
advice about life, and science# 6or a fortunate disposition of nature, and a good education are often
more poerful than lessons to bring us to the goodI its only lac! ould be the efficacious light of
reason, hich science gives us# -o rival directions of life contend for masteryI practical and philo-
sophical life# :y far the most perfect life unites them both, and in each different path adapts itself to
circumstances# 7e are born for rational activityI hich e call practical# .ractical reason leads us
to politicsI the theoretical reason, to the contemplation of the universality of things# Cind itself,
hich is universal, embraces the to poers necessary to happiness, hich e define as the activ-
ity of virtue in prosperityI it is not exclusively either a practical life hich ould exclude science,
nor a speculative life hich ould exclude the practical# .erfect reason inclines toards these to
omnipotent principles, for hich man is bornI the principle of society and scienceI for if these op-
posite principles seem mutually to interfere in their development, the political principles turning us
aay from politics, and the speculative principles turning us from speculation, to persuade us to live
at rest, nevertheless nature, uniting the ends of these to movements, shos them fusedI for virtues
are not contradictory and antipathetic mutuallyI than the harmony of virtues no harmony is more
consonant# If, from his youth, man has subDected himself to the principles of virtues, and to the di-
vine la of the orld harmony, he ill lead an easy lifeI and if, by his on inclination, he inclines
toards evil, and has the luc! of meeting better guides, he ill, by rectifying his course, arrive at
happiness, li!e passengers favored by chance, finishing a fortunate sea-passage, than!s to the pilotI
and the fortunate passage of life is happiness# :ut if by himself he cannot !no his real interests, if
he does not have the luc! of meeting prudent directors, hat benefit ould it be if he did have im-
mense treasures K 6or the fool, even if he had for himself all the other elements of luc!, is eternal
unhappy#
And since, in everything, you must first consider the end, -- for that is hat is done by the pilots
ever meditating over the harbor ither they are to land the ship, and the drivers ho !eep their eye
on the goal of their trip, the archers and slingers ho consider their obDective, for it is the obDective
toards hich all their efforts must tend, -- virtue must necessarily underta!e an obDective, hich
should become the art of livingI and that is the name I give it in both directions it can ta!e# 6or
practical life, this obDective is improvementI for the philosophical life, the perfect goodI hich, in
their human affairs the sages call happiness# -hose ho are in misery are not capable of Dudging of
happiness according to exact ideasI and those ho do not see it, clearly, ould not !no ho to
choose it# -hose ho consider that pleasure is the sovereign good are punished therefore by foolish-
ness, those ho above all see! the absence of pain, also receive their punishment, and, to resume
all, to define life-happiness as the enDoyment of the body, or in an unreflective state of soul is to ex-
pose himself to all the hirlinds of the tempest# -hose ho suppress moral beauty by avoiding all
discussion, all reflection about the matter, and see!ing pleasure, absence of pain, simple and primit-
ive physical enDoyments, the irreflective inclinations of body and soul, are not more fortunateI for
they commit a double fault, by reducing the good of the soul and its superior functions to the level
of that of the body, and in raising the good of the body to the high level due to the good of the soul#
:y an exact discernment of these goods, e should outline its proper part for the divine element,
and for nature# -hey themselves do not, observe this relation of dignity from the better to the orse#
:ut e do so, hen e say that if the body is the organ of the soul, reason is the guide of the entire
soul, the mistress of the body, this tent of the soul and that all the other physical advantages should
serve only as instruments to the intellectual activity, if you ish it to be perfect in poer, duration
and ealth#
*+# -hese are the most important conditions to become a sage1 first, you must have received from
fate a mind endoed ith facility to understand, memory, and industryI you must then from youth
up exercise your intelligence by the practice of argumentation, by mathematical studies, and the ex-
act sciences# -hen you must study healthful philosophy, after hich you may underta!e the !no-
ledge of the Gods, of las, and of human life# 6or there are to means of arriving at this state
!non as isdom# -he first is to ac0uire the habit of or! that, is intellectual, and the taste for
!noledgeI the other is to see! to see many things, to underta!e business fre0uently, and to !no
them either directly at first hand, or indirectly# 6or he ho from youth up has exercised reason by
dialectic reasonings, mathematical studies, and exact sciencesI is not yet ready for isdom, any
more than he ho has neglected these labors, and has only listened to others, and has plunged him-
self in business# -he one has become blindI hen the business is to Dudge particular factsI the other,
hen he is to Dudge of general deductions# Eust as in calculations you obtain the total by combining
the parts, so also, in business practice, reason can vaguely s!etch the general formulaI but experi-
ence alone can enable us to grasp the details and individual facts#
*%# Age is in the same relation to youth# @outh ma!es men energetic, age ma!es them prudentI nev-
er by imprudence does it let a thought escapeI it reflects on hat it has doneI it considers maturely
hat it ought to do, in order that this comparison of the future ith the present, and the present ith
the future lead it to good conduct# -o the past, it applies memory, to the present, sensation, and to
the future, foresightI for our memory has alays as obDect the past, foresight the future, and sensa-
tion the present# ,e therefore ho ishes to lead an honest and beautiful life must not only have
senses and memory, but foresight#
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**#a# -he las of the ic!ed and atheists are opposed by the unritten las of the Gods, ho in-
flict evils and terrible punishments on the disobedient# It is these divine las hich have developed
and directed the las and ritten maxims given to men#
b# -he relation of la to the soul and human life is identical to that of harmony to the sense of hear-
ing, and the voiceI for the la instructs the soul, and therethrough, the lifeI as harmony regulates the
voice through education of the ear# In my opinion, every society is composed of the commander, the
commanded, and the las# Among the latter, one is livingI namely the !ingI the other is inanimate,
the ritten letter# -he la is therefore the essentialI through it only is the !ing legitimate, the magis-
trate, regularly instituted, the commanded free, and the hole community happy# 7hen it is viol-
ated, the !ing is no more than a tyrantI the magistrate illegitimate, the commanded becomes a slave,
and the hole community becomes unhappy# ,uman acts are li!e a mingled tissue, formed of com-
mand, duty, obedience, and force sufficient to overcome resistance# /ssentially, the command be-
longs to the betterI being commanded to the inferior, and force belongs to bothI for the reasonable
part of the soul commands and the irrational part is commandedI both have the force to con0uer the
passions# <irtue is born from the harmonious cooperation of bothI and leads the soul to rest and in-
difference by turning it aay from pleasures and sorros#
c# "a must conform to nature, and exercise an efficient poer over things, and be useful to the
political communityI for if it lac!s one, to, or all of these characteristics, it is no longer a la, or at
least it is no longer a perfect la# It conforms to nature if it is the image of natural rightI hich fits
itself, and distributes to each according to his desertsI it prevails, if it harmoni5es ith the men ho
are to be subDect theretoI for there are may people ho are not apt to receive hat by nature is the
first of goodsI and ho are fitted to practice only the good hich is in relation ith them, and pos-
sible for themI for that is ho the sic! and the suffering have to be nursed# "a is useful to the
political society if it is not monarchical, if it does not constitute privileged classes, if it is made in
the interest of all, and is e0ually imposed on all# "a must also regard the country and the lands, for
not all soils can yield the same returns, neither all human souls the same virtues# -hat is hy some
establish the aristocratic constitution, hile others prefer the democratic or oligarchic# -he aristo-
cratic constitution is founded on the subcontrary proportion, and is the Dustest, for this proportion at-
tributes the greatest results to the greatest terms, and the smallest to the smallest# -he democratic
constitution is founded on the geometrical proportion, in hich the results of the great and small are
e0ual# -he oligarchic and tyrannic constitutions are founded on the arithmetical proportion, hich,
being the opposite of the subcontrary, attributes to the smallest terms the greatest results, and vice
versa#
Such are the !inds of proportions, and you can observe their image in families and political consti-
tutionsI for either the honors, punishments and virtues are e0ually attributed to the great and small,
or they are so attributed une0ually, according to superiority, in virtue, ealth or poer# /0ual distri-
bution is the characteristic of democracyI and the une0ual, that of aristocracy and oligarchy#
d# -he best la and constitution must be a composite of all other constitutions, and contain
something democratic, oligarchic, monarchic and aristocratic, as in "acedemonI for in it the !ings
formed the monarchic element, the elders the aristocracy, the magistrates the oligarchy, the cavalry
generals and youths the democracy# "a must therefore not only be beautiful and good, but its dif-
ferent parts must mutually compensate# -his ill give it poer and durability and by this mutual
opposition I mean that the same magistracy command and be commanded, as in the ise las of
"acedemonI for the poer of its !ings is balanced by the magistrates, this by the elders, and
beteen these to poers are the cavalry generals and the youths, ho, as soon as they see any one
party ac0uire the preponderance, thro themselves on the other side#
-he las first duty is to decide about the gods, the geniuses, the parentsI in short, on all that is es-
timable and orthyI later, about utility# It is proper that the secondary regulations should follo the
best, and that the las be inscribed, not on the houses and doors, but in the depths of the souls of
the citi5ens# /ven in "acedemon, hich has excellent las, the State is not administered by mani-
fold ritten, ordinances# "a is useful to the political community, if it is not monarchical, and does
not serve private interests, if it is useful to all, if it extends its obligation to all, and aims its punish-
ments to shame the guilty, and to brand him ith infamy, rather than to deprive him of his ealth#
If, indeed, you are see!ing to punish the guilty by ignominy, the citi5ens ill try to lead a iser and
more honest life, so as to avoid the las punishmentI if it is only by money fines, they ill rate
above everything ealth, understanding that it is their best means to repair their faults# -he best
ould be that the State should be organi5ed in a manner such that it ould need nothing from
strangers, neither for virtue, poer, or anything else# Eust as the right constitution of a body, a
house, or an army is to contain, and not to depend on outside sources for the principle of its safetyI
for in that ay the body is more vigorous, the house better ordered, and the army ill be neither
mercenary nor badly drilled# :eings that are thus organi5ed are superior to othersI they are free, en-
franchised from servitude, unless, for their conservation, they need many things, but have only fe
needs, easily satisfied# In that ay the vigorous man becomes able to bear heavy burdens, and the
athlete, to resist coldI for men are exercised by events and misfortunes# -he temperate man, ho
has tested his body and soul, finds any food, drin!, even a bed of leaves, delectable# ,e ho has
preferred to live li!e a sybarite among delights, ould finally scorn and reDect the magnificence of
the great $.ersian( !ing# "a must therefore deeply penetrate into the souls and habits of the cit-
i5ensI it ill ma!e them satisfied ith their fate, and distribute his deserts to each# -hus the sum, in
traversing the 5odiac, distributes to everything on the earth, groth, food, life, in the proper meas-
ure, and institutes this ise legislation hich regulates the succession of the seasons# -hat is hy
e call Eupiter nomios, la-giver, from 3emeios, and e call nomeus he ho distributes their food
to the sheepI that is hy e call nomoi the verses sung by the citharedians, for these verses impart
order to the soul because they are sung according to the las of harmony, rhythm and measure#
*2# -he true chief must not only possess the science and poer of commanding ell, but he must
also love menI for it is absurd that a shepherd should hate his floc!, and feel hostile disposition to-
ards those he is educating# :esides he must be legitimateI only thus can he sustain a chiefs dig-
nity# ,is science ill permit him to discern ell, his poer to punish, his !indness to be beneficent,
and the la to do everything according to reason# -he best chief ould be he ho ould closest ap-
proach the la, for he ould never act in his on interest, and alays in that or others, since the
la does not exist for itself, but for its subDects#
*G# See *%a#
*9#7hen the art of reflexion as discovered, diminished dissensions, and increased concordI those
ho possess it feel the pride of predominance yielding to the sentiment of e0uality#
It is by reflexion that e succeed in adDusting our affairs in a friendly fashionI through it the poor
receive riches, and the rich give to the poor, each possessing the confidence that he possesses, the
e0uality of rights#
*&# ?eflexion is li!e a rule hich hinders and turns aside the people ho !no ho to reflect from
committing inDustices, for it convinces them that they cannot remain hidden if they carry out their
purposes and the punishment hich has overta!en those ho have not !non ho to abstain ma!es
them reflect and not become bac!-sliders#
S/4-IA; <
"AGI4A" 6?AGC/;-S
*8# "ogic, compared ith the other sciences is by far the most successful, and succeeds in demon-
strating its obDectives even better than geometry# 7here geometric demonstration fails, the logical
succeedsI and logic treats not only ith general classes, but ith their exceptions#
*'# In my opinion it is a complete error to insist that about every subDect there are to contrary
opinions hich are e0ually true# -o begin ith, I consider it impossible that, if both opinions are
true, they should contradict each other, and that beauty should contradict beauty, and hiteness,
hiteness# It cannot be so, for beauty and ugliness, hiteness and blac!ness are contraries# "i!e-
ise, the true is contrary to the false, and you cannot produce to contrary opinions, either true of
falseI the one must be true, at the expense of the falseness of the other# 6or instance, he ho praises
the soul of man and accuses his body is not spea!ing of the same obDect, unless you claim that
spea!ing exclusive of the heaven you are spea!ing exclusively of the earth# 7hy no, they are not
one, but to propositions# 7hat am I trying to demonstrateK -hat he ho says that the Athenians
are s!illful and itty and he ho says they are not grateful, are not supporting contradictory propos-
itions, for contradictories are opposed to each other on the same points, and here the to points are
different#
*)# A?4,@-ASS -/; B;I</?SA" ;A-IA;S# 6irst, all !inds of arts deal ith five things1 the
matter, the instrument, the part, the definition, the end#
-he first notion, the substance, is something self-existent and self-subsistent# It needs nothing else
for its essence, though subDect to groth, if it happens to be something that is bornI for only the di-
vine is uncreated, and veritably self-subsistentI for the other notions are considered in relation to
substance hen the latter by opposition to them is termed self-subsisting1 but it is not such, in rela-
tion to the divine#
-he nine notions appear and disappear ithout implying the ruin of the subDect, the substrate, and
that is hat is called the universal accident# 6or the same subDect does not lose its identity by being
increased or diminished in 0uantity# -hus, excessive feeding creates excessive si5e and stoutnessI
sobriety and abstinence ma!e men lean, but it alays the same body, the same substrate# -hus also
human beings passing from childhood to youth remain the same in substance, differing only in
0uantity# 7ithout changing essence, the identical obDect may become hite or blac!, changing only
as regards 0uality# Again, ithout changing essence, the identical man may change disposition and
relation, as he is friend or enemyI and being today in -hebes, and tomorro in Athens changes
nothing in his substantial nature# 7ithout changing essence, e remain the same today that e ere
yesterdayI the change affected only timeI the man standing is the same as the man sittingI he has
changed only in situation1 :eing aimed or unarmed is a difference only of possessionI the stri!er
and the cutter are the same man in essence, though not in actionI he ho is cut or struc! O hich
belongs to the category of suffering, O still retains his essence# -he differences of the other categor-
ies are clearerI those of 0uality, possession, and suffering present some difficulties in the differ-
encesI for e hesitate about the 0uestion of !noing if having fever, shivering or reDoicing belong
to the category of 0uality, possession, or suffering# 7e must distinguish1 if e say, it is fever, it is
shivering, it is Doy, it is 0ualityI if e say, he has fever, he shivers, he reDoices, it is possessionI
hile possession again differs from suffering, in that the latter can be conceived ithout the agent#
Suffering is a relation to the agent, and is understood only by him ho produces itI if e say, he is
cut, he is beaten, e express the patientI if e say, he suffers, e express possession#
7e say that $Archytas( has ten, and no more universal notionsI of hich e may convince
ourselves by the folloing division1 the being is in a subDect, $a substance(, or is not in a subDectI
that hich is not in a subDect, forms the substanceI that hich is in a subDect or is conceived by it-
self, or is not conceived by itselfI that hich is not conceived by itself constitutes relation, for relat-
ive beings, hich are not conceived by themselves, but hich forcibly import the idea of an other
being, are hat is called scheseis, conditions# -hus the term son is associated ith the term farther,
that of slave, masterI thus all relative beings are conceived in a necessary bond together ith
something else, and not by themselves# -he self-conceivable being is either divisible O hen it is
0uantity, --- or indivisible, hen it constitutes 0uality# -he six other notions are produced by com-
bination of the former# Substance mingled ith 0uantity, if seen in place, constitutes the category of
(hereI if seen in time, constitutes that of (hen# Cingled ith 0uality, substance is either active and
forms the category of action, or hen passive, forms that of suffering, or, passi'ity# 4ombined ith
relation, it is either posited in another, and that is hat is called situation, or it is attributed to some-
body else, and then it is possession#
As to the order of the categories, 0uantity follos substance and precedes 0ualityI because, by a nat-
ural la, everything that receives 0uality also receives mass, and that it is only of something so de-
terminate that 0uality can be so affirmed and expressed# Again, 0uality precedes relation, because
the former is self-sufficient, and the latter by a relationI e first have to conceive and express
something by itself before in a relation#
After these universal categories follo the others# Action precedes passivity, because its force is
greaterI the category of situation precedes that of possession, because being situated is something
simpler than being possessedI and you cannot conceive something attributed to another ithout
conceiving the former as situated somehere# -hat hich is situated is also in a position, such as
standing, seated or lying# -he characteristic of substance is more or less-nessI for e say that a man
is no more of an animal than a horse, by substance, and not to admit the contraries# -he characterist-
ic of 0uality is to admit more or lessI for e say, more or less hite, or blac!# -he characteristic ofI
0uantity is to admit e0uality or ine0ualityI for a s0uare foot is not e0ual to an acre, and %GG s0#
inches e0ual a s0uare footI five is not e0ual to ten, and tice five is e0ual to ten# -he characteristic
of relation is to Doin contrariesI for if there is a father, there is a sonI and if there is a master there is
a slave# -he characteristic of hereness is to includeI and of henness it to remainI of situation, to
be locatedI of possession, to be attributed# -he composite of substance and 0uantity is anterior to the
composite of 0ualityI the composite of substance and 0uality in its turn precedes that of substance
and relation# 7hereness precedes hennessI because hereness presupposes the place that is fixed
and permanentI henness relates to time and time, ever in movement, has no fixityI and rest is an-
terior to movement# Action is anterior to passivity, and situation to possession#
%# 4A-/GA?@ A6 SB:S-A;4/# Substance is divided into corporeal and incorporealI the corpor-
eal into bodies animate and inanimate# Animated bodies, into those endoed ith sensation, and
ithout sensation# Senses-bodies into animals and 5oophytes, hich do not farther divide into op-
posite distinctions# -he animal is divided into rational and irrationalI the rational into mortal and
immortalI the mortal into differences of genus, such as man, ox, horse, and the rest# -he species are
divided into individuals ho have no abiding value# /ach of the sections that e obtained above by
opposite divisions is susceptible of being in turn divided e0ually, until e arrive to the indivisible
individuals ho are of no value#
*# 4A-/GA?@ A6 PBA;-I-@# -his is divided into seven parts1 the line, surface, the body, the
place, the time, the number, and language# Puantity is either continuous or discreteI of continuous
0ualities there are fiveI of the discrete, number and language# In 0uantity, you may distinguish that
hich is composed of parts having position relative to each otherI such as line, surface, body and
placeI and those hose parts have no position, such as number, language, and timeI for although
time is a continuous 0uantity, nevertheless its parts have no positionI because it is not permanent,
and that hich has no permanence could not have any position# Puantity has produced four sci-
ences1 immovable 0uantity, geometryI movable continuous 0uantity, astronomyI immovable dis-
crete 0uantity, arithmeticI and the movable, music#
2# 4A-/GA?@ A6 PBA"I-@# -his is divided into hexis or habitI and diathesis or affectionI pass-
ive 0uality and passivity, poer and impotence, figure and form# ,abit is affection in a state of en-
ergetic tensionI it is the permanence and fixity derived from continuity and the energy of affectionI
it is affection become $second( nature, a second enriched nature# Another explanation of habit is the
0ualities given us by nature, and hich are derived neither from affection, nor from the natural pro-
gress of the beingI as sight and the other senses# :oth passive 0uality and passivity are increase, in-
tensity, and ea!ening# -o both of these are attributed anger, hate, intemperance, the other vicious
passions, the affections of sic!ness, heat and coldI but these are classified at ill under habit and af-
fection, or under passive 0uality and passivity# @ou might say that so far as affection is communic-
able it might be called habitI so far as it cause a passion, it might be called a passive 0ualityI hich
refers both to its permanence and fixity# 6or a modification contained in the measure is called pas-
sion# -hus from the one to hom it is communicated, heat may be called a habitI from the cause
hich produces the modificationI e may say that it is either the passive 0uality, or the poer of
the passionI as hen e say of a child that he is potentially a runner or a philosopher, and, in short,
hen at a given moment the being does not have the poer to act, but that it is possible that after
the lapse of a certain period of time, this poer may belong to him# Impotence is hen nature re-
fuses itself to the possibility of accomplishing certain actions as hen the man is impotent to fly,
the horse to spea!, the eagle to live in ater, and all the natural impossibilities#
6igure is a conformation of a determined characterI form, the 0uality shoing itself exteriorly by
color, or beauty, or ugliness shoing itself on the surface by color, and in short any form that is ap-
parent, determinate and stri!ing# Some limit figure to inanimate thingsI reserving form to living be-
ings# Some say that the ord figure gives the idea of the dimension of depthI and that the form is
applied only to the superficial appearanceI but you have been taught all of that#
G# 4A-/GA?I/S A6 ?/"A-IA;# Generally, the relatives are divided into four classesI nature, art,
chance and ill# -he relation of father to son is naturalI that of master to disciple, that of artI that of
master to slave, that of chanceI and that of friend to friend, and enemy to enemy, that of illI al-
though you might say that these are all natural relations#
9# 4A-/GA?@ A6 7,/?/;/SS# -he simplest division is into six1 up, don, forards, bac!-
ards, right and left# /ach of these subdivisions contains varieties# -here are many differences in
up-ness, in the air, in the stars, to the pole, beyond the poleI and such differences are repeated be-
loI the infinitely divided places themselves are further subDect to an infinity of differences, but this
very ambiguous point ill be explained later#
&# 4A-/GA?@ A6 7,/;;/SS# -his is divided in present, past and futureI the present is indivis-
ible, the past is divided into nine subdivisions, the future into fiveI e have already spo!en of them#
8# 4A-/GA?@ A6 A4-IA;# -his is divided into action, discourse and thoughtI action in or! of
the hands, ith tools, and ith feetI and each of these divisions is subdivided into technical divi-
sions hich also have their parts# "anguage is divided into Gree!, barbarian, and each of these divi-
sions have their parts, namely, its dialects# -hought is divided into and infinite orld of thoughts,
hose obDects are the orlds, other people, and the hypercosmic# "anguage and thought really be-
long to action, for they are the acts of the reasonable natureI in fact, if e are as!ed1 7hat is Cr# J
doingK e anser, he is chatting, conversing, thin!ing, reflecting, and so on#
'# 4A-/GA?@ A6 .ASSI<I-@# .assivity is divided in suffering of the soul, and of the bodyI and
each of these is subdivided into passions hich result from actions of somebody else, as for in-
stance, hen somebody is struc!I and passions hich arise ithout the active intervention of
someone elseI hich occur in a thousand different forms#
)# 4A-/GA?@ A6 SI-BA-IA;# -his is divided into three1 standing, sitting, and lyingI and each
of these is subdivided by differences of location# 7e may stand on our feet, or on the tips of our fin-
gersI ith the leg unflexed, or the !nee bentI further differences are e0ual or une0ual stepsI or al!-
ing on one or to feet# :eing seated has the same differencesI one may be straight, bent, reversedI
the !nees may form an acute or obtuse angleI the feet may be placed over each other, or in some
other ay# "i!eise ith lying donI prone or head forards, or to the side, the body extended, in
a circle, or angularly# 6ar from uniform are these divisionsI they are very various# .osition is also
subDect to other divisions, for an instance, an obDect may be spread out li!e corn, sand, oil, and all
the other solidsI that are susceptible of position, and all the li0uids that e !no# ;evertheless be-
ing extended belongs to position, as cloth and nets#
%+# 4A-/GA?@ A6 .ASS/SIA;S# =,aving> signifies things that e put on, as shoes, arms, cov-
eringsI things hich are put on others, such as a pec!, a bottle, and other vasesI for e say that the
pec! has oats, that the bottle has ineI also of ealth and estatesI e say, he has a fortune, fields,
cattle and other similar things#
2+# -he order of the categories is the folloingI in the first ran! is substance, because it alone serves
as substrate to all the others, that e can conceive it alone, and by itself, and that the others cannot
be conceived ithout itI for all attributes subDect reside therein, or are affirmed thereof# -he second
is 0ualityI for it is impossible for a thing to have a 0uality ithout an essence#
2%# /very naturally physical and sensible substance must, to be conceived by man, be either classi-
fied ithin the categories, or be determined by them, and cannot be conceived ithout them#
2*# Substance has three differencesI the one consists in matter, the other in form, and the third in the
mixture of both#
22# -hese notions, these categories, have characteristics that are common and individual# I say that
they are characteristics common to substance, not to receive more or lessnessI for it is not possible
to be more or less man, God or antI to have no contraries for man is not the contrary of man, neither
god of a godI neither is it contrary to other substances, to exist by oneself, and not to be in another,
as green or blue color is the characteristic of the eye, since all substance depends on itself# All the
things that belong to it intimately, or the accidents are in itI or cannot exit ithout itI####0uality is
suited by several characteristics of substance, for example, not to be subDect to more or lessness#
2G# It is the property to remain self-identical, one in number, and to be susceptible of the contraries#
7a!ing is the contrary of sleepI sloness to siftness, sic!ness to healthI and the same man,
identically one, is susceptible of all these differences# 6or he aa!es, sleeps, moves sloly or
0uic!ly, is ell or sic!, and in short is able to receive all similar contraries, so long as they be not
simultaneous#
29# Puantity has three differences1 one consists in eight, li!e bullionI the other in si5e, as the yardI
the other in multitude, as ten#
2&# Including its accidents, substance is necessarily primaryI that is ho they are in relation to some
thing elseI after the substance come the relations of accidental 0ualities#
28# A common property hich must be added to 0uality, is to admit certain contraries, and priva-
tion# -he relation is subDect to more or lessnessI for though a being remain ever the same, to be
greater or smaller than anything else is morenessI but all the relations are not susceptible theretoI for
you cannot be more or less father, brother, or sonI hereby I do not mean to express the sentiments
of both parents, nor the degree of tenderness is held mutually by beings of the same blood, and the
sons of the same parentsI I only mean the tenderness hich is in the nature of these relations#
2'# Puality has certain common characters, for example, of receiving the contraries, and privationI
more and less affect the passions# -hat is hy the passions are mar!ed by the characteristics of in-
determination, because they are in a greater or less indeterminate measure#
2)# ?elation is susceptible of conversion, and this conversion is founded either on resemblance, as
the e0ual, and the brother, or on lac! of resemblance, the large and the small# -here are relatives
hich are not converted, for instance, science and sensationI for e may spea! of the science of the
intelligible, and of the sensation of the sensibleI and the reason is that the intelligible and the sens-
ible can exist independently of science and sensationI hile science and sensation cannot exist
ithout the intelligible and the sensibleI######-he characteristic of relatives is to exist simultaneously
in each otherI for if e grant the existence of doubleness, the half must necessarily existI and if the
half existsI necessarily must the double exist, as it is the cause of the half, as the half is the cause of
thy double#
G+# Since every moved thing moves in a place, since action and passivity are actuali5ed movements,
it is clear that there must be a primary place in hich exist the acting and the passive obDects#
G%# -he characteristic of the agent is to contain the cause of the motionI hile the characteristic of
the thing done, hich is passive, is to have it in some other# 6or the sculptor obtains the cause of the
ma!ing of the statue, the bron5e possesses the cause of the modification it undergoes, both in itself
and in the sculptor# So also ith the passions of the soul, for it is in the nature of anger to be
aroused as the result of something elseI that it be excited by some other external thing, for example,
by scorn, dishonor, and outrageI and he ho acts thus toards another, contains the cause of his ac-
tion#
G*# -he highest degree of the action, is the actI hich contains three differencesI it may be accom-
plished in the contemplation of the stars, or in doing, such as healing or constructingI or in action,
as in commanding an army, or in administering the affairs of state# An act may occur even ithout
reasoning, as in irrational animal# -hese are the most general contraries#
G2# .assion differs from the passive stateI MasN passion is accompanied by sensation, li!e anger,
pleasure and fearI hile one can undergo something ithout sensation, such as the ax that melts,
or the mud that dries# -hen also the MdeedN done differs also from the passive state, hen the deed
done has undergone a certain action, MhiNle everything that has undergone a certain action is not a
deed doneI for a thing may be in a passive state as a result of lac! of privation#
GG# An the one side there is the agent, on the other, the patientI for example, in nature, God is the
being ho actsI matter is the being hich undergoes, and the elements are neither the one nor the
other#
G9# -he characteristic of possession is to be something adventitious, something corporeal, separated
from essence# -hus a veil or shoes, are distinct from the possessorI those are not natural character-
istics, nor essential accidents, li!e the blue color of the eyes, and rarefactionI these are to incor-
poreal characteristics, hile possession relates to something corporeal and adventitious#
G&# Since the signs and the things signified have a purpose, and since the man ho uses these signs
and signified things is to fulfill the perfect function of speech, let us finish hat e have said by
proving that the harmonious grouping of all these categories does not belong to man in general, but
to a certain finite individual# ;ecessarily, it must be a definite man existing somehere ho pos-
sesses 0uality, 0uantity, relation, action, passivity, location and possession, ho is in a place and
time# -he man in himself receives only the first of these expressionsI I mean essence and formI but
he has no 0uality, no age, he is not old, he neither does, nor suffers anything, he has no location, he
possesses nothing, he is neither in place nor time# All those are only accidents of the physical and
corporeal beingI but not of the intelligible, immovable, and indivisible being#
G8# Among contraries, some are said to be mutually opposed by convention and nature, as good to
evil, the sic! to the ell man, truth to error MandN others, as possession is opposed to privation, such
as life and death, sight and blindness, science and ignoranceI others as relatives as the double and
the half, the commander and the commanded, the master and the slaveI others, li!e affirmation and
negation, as being man and not a man, being honest, and not#
G'# -he relatives arise and disappear necessarily simultaneouslyI the existence of the double is im-
possible, ithout implying that of the half and vice versa# If something becomes double, the half
must arise, and if the double is destroyed, the half passes aay ith it#
G)# Af the relatives, some respond to each other in to sensesI as, the greater, the smaller, the broth-
er, the relative# Athers again respond, but not in the to senses, for e say e0ually, the science of
the intelligible, and the science of the sensible, but e do not say the reciprocal, the intelligible of
science, and the sensible of sensation# -he reason is that the obDect of Dudgment can exist independ-
ently of him ho Dudges, for instance, the sensible can exist ithout sensation, and the intelligible
ithout scienceI hile it is not possible that the subDect hich bears a Dudgment exists ithout the
obDect hich he DudgesI for example, there can be no sensation ithout sensible obDect, nor science
ithout intelligible obDect# ?elatives hich respond reciprocally are of to !indsI those that re-
spond indifferently, as the relative, the brother, the e0ualI for they are mutually similar, and e0ual#
Some respond reciprocally, but not in-differentlyI for this one is greater than that one, and that one
is smaller than this oneI and this one is the father of that one, and that one the son of this one#
9+# -hese opposites divide into !inds hich hang togetherI for of the contraries, some are ithout
middle term, and the others have one# -here is no middle term beteen sic!ness and health, rest and
movement, a!ing and sleep, straightness and curvedness, and such other contraries# :ut beteen
the much and the little, there is a Dust mediumI beteen the shrill and the lo, there is the unisonI
beteen the rapid and slo, there is the e0uality of movementI beteen the greatest and the smal-
lest, the e0uality of measure# Af universal contraries there must be one that belongs to hat receives
themI for they do not admit any medium term# -hus there is no medium term beteen health and
sic!nessI every living being is necessarily sic! or ellI neither beteen a!ing and sleeping, for
every living being is either aa!e or asleepI nor beteen rest and movement, for every human be-
ing is either at rest or at movement# -he opposites of hich neither of any or both necessarily be-
long to the subDect that may receive themI have any middle termsI beteen blac! and hite, there is
the M----NI and it is not necessary that an animal be blac! or hiteI beteen the great and the small,
there is the e0ualI and it is not necessary that a living being be either great or smallI beteen the
rough and the soft, there is the gentle, and it is not necessary that a living being be either rough or
soft# In the opposites there are three differences1 some are opposed, as the good is to evil, for in-
stance, health to sic!nessI the others li!e evil to evil, as for instance, avarice to lecheryI the others,
as being neither the one or the other for instance, as hite is opposed to blac!, and the heavy to the
light# Af the opposites, some occur in the genus of generaI for the good is opposed to evil, and the
good is the genus of virtues, and evil that of the evils# Athers occur in the genera of species, virtue
is the opposite of vice and virtue is the genus of prudence and temperance, and vice is the genus of
foolishness and debauch# Athers occur in the species, courage is opposed to coardliness, Dustice of
inDustice, and Dustice and virtue are species of virtue, inDustice and debauch species of vice# -he
primary genera, hich e call genera of genera, can be dividedI the last species, hich are the im-
mediate nearest to the obDect, that is sensible, could no longer be genera, and are only species# 6or
the triangle is the genus of the rectangle, of the e0uilateral and of the scalene###the species of
good######
9%# -he opposites differ from each other in that for some, the contraries, it is not necessary that they
arise at the same time, and disappear simultaneously# 6or health is the contrary of sic!ness, and rest
that of movementI nevertheless neither of them arises or perishes at the same time as its opposite#
.ossession and privation of production differ in this, that it is in the nature of contraries that one
passes from one to the other, for instance, from sic!ness to health and vice versa# It is not so ith
possession and privationI you do indeed pass from possession to privation, but the privation doesI
not return to possessionI the living, die, but the dead never return to life# In short, possession is the
pesistance of hat is according to nature, hile privation is its lac!, and decay# ?elatives necessar-
ily arise and disappear simultaneouslyI for it is impossible for the double to exist ithout implying
the half I or vice versa# If some double happens to arise, it, is impossibly that the half should not
arise, or if some double be destroyed, that the half be not destroyed# Affirmation and negation are
forms of preposition, and they eminently express the true and the false# :eing a man is a true pro-
position, if the thing exists, and false if it does not exist# @ou could say as much of negation, it is
true or false according to the thing expressed#
:esides, beteen good and evil there is medium, hich is neither good nor evilI beteen much and
little, the Dust measureI beteen the slo and the fast, the e0uality of speedI beteen possession and
privation, there is no medium# 6or there is nothing beteen life and deathI beteen sight and blind-
nessI unless indeed you say that the living ho is not# yet born, but ho is being born, is beteen
life and death, and that the puppy ho does not yet see is beteen blindness and sight# In such an
expression, e are using an accidental medium, and not according to the true and proper definition
of contraries#
?elatives have middle termsI for beteen the master and the slave, there is the free man, and
beteen the greatest and the smallest, there is e0ualityI beteen the ide and the narro there is the
proper idthI one might li!eise find be beteen the other contraries a medium, hether or no it
has a name#
:eteen affimation $and negation( there are no contraries, for instance, beteen being a man and
not being a man, being a musician and not being a musician# In short, e have to affirm or deny#
Affirming is shoing of something that it is a man, for instance, or a horse, or an attribute of these
beings, as of the man that he is a musician, and of the horse, that he is arli!eI e call denying,
hen e sho of something that it is not something, not man, not horse, or that it lac!s an attribute
of these beings, for instance, that the man is not a musician and that the horse is not arli!eI and
beteen this affirmation and this negation, there is nothing#
9*# .rivation, and being deprived is ta!en in three sensesI or one does not at all have at all have the
thing, as that the blind man does not have sight, the mute does not have voice, and the ignorant, no
scienceI or that one does not have it but partially, as that the man hard of hearing has hearing, and
that the man ith sore eyes has sightI or one can say that partially he does not have it, as one says
that a man hose legs are croo!ed that he has no legs, and of a man ho has a bad voice, that he
has no voice#
:IAG?A.,@ A6 A4/""BS "B4A;BS
.ractically nothing is !non of the life of Acellus, except that Iamblichus mentions the name of his
brother Acillus, and his sister :yndacis, all .ythagorean philosophers# In the biography of Archytas
e read his ritings ere preserved by his family, so e may assume he returned home, after
studying .ythagoreanism#
,is significance, hoever, is great, for those letters of .lato itness ho much he sought them, and
that he indeed received some of them# Af the boo!s that e have, .hilo Eudaeus reedited the first, in
his riting on the 0ncorruptibility of the World# -he second as used, almost ord for ord by Ar-
istotle, in his tract on ,eneration and CorruptionI and the fourth as used ord for ord by Iamb-
lichus in his "ife of .ythagoras# Acellus as therefore much appreciated, and a very useful riter#
In his ay, Archytas as almost as useful to Aristotle, in fragments1 &, ', %, %%, %8 $G(, $9(, $' (I )
$*(, $G(, $)(, $%+(I 2*I etc####
-he truth is that .ythagoreanism as bodily adapted by .lato and Aristotle, ho thereby made their
fortunes# .ythagoreanism as an unselfish inspirationI and not until these fragments are united has
it been possible to pass through .lato and Aristotle, to the real spring of Gree! philosophy# As an
instance, .lato rote his -imaeus as an amplification of the boo! of the .ythagoreans M"ocrianN
-imaeuss tract hich has been preserved along ith .latos or!s#
I
-,/ .@-,AGA?/A;S -?/A-IS/ A; -,/ B;I</?S/
Acellus "ucanus has ritten hat follos concerning the nature of the universeI having learnt some
things through clear arguments from nature herself, but others from opinion, in conDunction ith
reason, it being his intention $he( to derive hat is probable from intellectual perception# -herefore
it appears to me, that the universe is indestructible and unbegotten, since it alays as, and alays
ill beI for if it had a temporal beginning, it ould not alays have existed1 thus therefore, the uni-
verse is unbegotten and indestructibleI for if someone should opine that it as once generated, he
ould not be able to find anything into hich it can be corrupted arid dissolved, since that from
hich it as generated ould be the first part of the universeI and again, that into hich it ould be
dissolved ould be the last part of it#
:ut if the universe as generated, it as generated together ith all thingsI and if it should be cor-
rupted, it ould be corrupted together ith all things# -his hoever is impossible# -his universe is
therefore ithout a beginning, and ithout an end1 nor is it possible that it can have any other mode
of subsistence#
-o hich may be added, that everything hich# has received a beginning of generation, and hich
ought also to participate of dissolution, receive to mutationsI one of hich, indeed proceeds from
the less to the greater, and from the orse to the betterI and that from hich it begins change is de-
nominated generation, but that a hich its length it arrives at is called climax# -he other mutation,
hoever, proceeds from the greater to the less, and from the better to the orseI but the end of this
mutation is called corruption and dissolution#
If therefore the hole and the universe ere generated, and are corruptible they must, hen gener-
ated have been changed from the less to the greater, and from the orse to the betterI but hen cor-
rupted, they must be changed from the greater to the less, and from the better to the orse# ,ence, if
the orld as generated, it ould receive increase and ould arrive at its consummationI and
again, it ould afterards decrease and end# 6or every thing hich has a progression possesses
three boundaries, and to intervalsI the three boundaries are generation, consummation and endI
and the intervals are, progression from generation to consummation, and from consolation to end#
-he hole, hoever, and the universe, affords as from itself, no indication of anything of this !indI
for neither do e perceive it rising into existence, or becoming to be, nor changing to the better and
the greater, nor changing to orse or lessI but it alays continues to subsist in identical manner, and
perpetually remains self-identical#
4lear signs and indications of this are the orders of things, their symmetry, figurations, positions,
intervals, poers, siftness and sloness in respect to each otherI and, besides these, their numbers
and temporal periods, are clear signs and indications# 6or all such things as these change and dimin-
ish, conformably to the course of generationI for things that are greater and better tend toards con-
summation through poer, but those that are less and orse decay through the inherent ea!ness of
nature#
-he hole orld is hat I call the hole universeI for this ord =cosmos> as given it as a result
of its being adorned ith all things# 6rom itself it is a consummate and perfect system of all things,
for there is nothing external to the universe, since hatever exists is contained in the universe, and
the universe subsists together ith this, comprehending in itself all things, both parts and superflu-
ous#
-he things contained in the orld are naturally congruous ith itI but the orld harmoni5es ith
nothing else, symphoni5ing ith itself# Ather things do not possess self-sub sistence, but re0uire ad-
Dustment ith the environment# -hus animals re0uire conDunction ith air for the purpose of respir-
ationI and ith light, in order to seeI and similarly the other senses ith other environment, to func-
tion satisfactorily# A conDunction ith earth is necessary for the germination of plants# -he sun,
moon, planets and fixed stars li!eise integrate ith the orld, as parts of its general arrangement#
-he orld, hoever, has no conDunction ith any thing outside of itself# -he above is supported by
the folloing# 6ire hich imparts heat to others, is self-hotI honey hich is seet to the taste, is
self-seet# -he principles of demonstrations, hich conclude to things unapparent, are self-evident#
-herefore the cause of the perfection of other things is itself perfect# -hat hich preserves and
renders permanent other things must itself be preserved and permanent# 7hat harmoni5es must it-
self be self-harmonic# ;o as the orld is the cause of the existence, preservation and perfection of
other things, must itself be perpetual and perfectI and because its duration is everlasting, it becomes
the cause of the permanence of all other things# In short, if the universe should be dissolved, it
ould be dissolved either into the existent, or nonexistent# As it could not be dissolved into exist-
ence, for in this case the dissolution ould not be a corruptionI as being is either the universe, or
some part of it# ;or can it be dissolved into nonentity, since being cannot possibly arise from non-
beingI or be dissolved into nonentity# -herefore the universe is incorruptible, and never can be des-
troyed# If, hoever, somebody should thin! that it can be corrupted, it must be corrupted either
from something external to, or contained in the universe, but it cannot be corrupted by anything ex-
ternal to it, for nothing such exists, since all other things are comprehended in the universe, and the
orld is the hole and the all# ;or can it be corrupted by the things it contains, hich ould imply
their greater poer# -his hoever is impossibleI for all things are led and governed by the universe,
and thereby are preserved and adDusted, possessing life and soul# :ut if the universe can neither be
corrupted by anything externa% to it, nor by anything contained ithin it, the orld must therefore
be incorruptible and indestructibleI for e consider the orld identical ith the universe#
6urther, the hole of nature surveyed through its on totality, ill be found to derive continuity
from the first and most honorable bodies, proportionally attenuating this continuity, introducing it to
everything mortal, and receiving the progression of its peculiar subsistenceI for the first $and most
honorable( bodies in the universe revolve according to the same and similarly# -he progression of
the hole of nature, hoever, is not successive and continuous, nor yet local, but is subDect to muta-
tion# 7hen condensed, fire generates airI air ater, and ater earth# A return circuit of transforma-
tion extends bac!ard from earth to fire, hence it originated# ,oever fruits, and most rooted
plants, originate from seeds# 7hen hoever they fruit and mature, that are again resolved into seed,
nature producing a complete circular progression#
In a subordinate manner, men and other animals change the universal boundary of natureI for in
these there is no periodical return to the first ageI nor is there a transfusion, such as beteen fire and
air, and ater and earthI but the mutations of their ages being accomplished in a four-cycled circle,
they are dissolved, and reformed#
-hese therefore are the signs and indications that the universe hich comprehends $all things(
hich, ill alays endure and be preserved, but that, its parts, and its nonessential additions are
corrupted and dissolved# 6urther, it is credible that the universe, ithout a beginning, and ithout
end, from s figure, motion, time and essenceI and there, may be concluded that the orld is begot-
ten and incorruptibleI for its figure is circularI and as a circular figure is similar and e0ual on all
sides, it is therefore ithout a beginning or an end# 4ircular is also the motion of the universe, but
this motion is stable and ithout transition# -ime, li!eise, in hich motion exists, infiniteI for
neither had this a beginning, nor ill it have an end of its revolution# -he universes essence also
does not aste elsehere, and is immutable, because it is not naturally adapted to charge, either
from orse to better, or from better to orse# 6rom all these arguments, therefore, it is obviously
credible, that the orld is unbegotten and incorruptible# So much about the orld and the universe#
II
4?/A-IA;
Since, hoever, in the universe there is a difference beteen generation and the generated, and
since generation occurs here there is a mutation and egress from things hich ran! as subDects,
then must the cause of generation subsist as long as the generated matter# -he cause of generation
must be both efficient and motive, hile the recipient must be passive, and moved# -he 6ates them-
selves, distinguish and separate the impassive part of the orld from that hich is perpetually in
motion# 6or the course of the moon is the meeting-line of generation and immortality# -he region
above the moon, as ell as the lunar domain, is the residence of the divinitiesI hile sub-lunar re-
gions are the abode of strife and natureI here is change of the generated things, and regeneration of
those that have perished#
So that part of the orld, hoever, in hich nature and generation predominate, it is necessary that
the three folloing things be present# In the first place, the body hich yields to the touch, and
hich is the subDect of all generated natures# :ut this ill be an universal recipient, a characteristic
of generation itself, having the same relation to the things that are generated from it, as ater to
taste, silence to sound, dar!ness to light, and the matter of artificial forms to the forms themselves#
6or ater is tasteless and devoid of 0uality, yet is capable of receiving the seet and the bitter, the
tart and the salt# Air also, hich is formless as regards sound, is the recipient of ords and melody#
3ar!ness, hich is ithout color, and ithout form, becomes the recipient of splendor, and of the
yello color, and the hiteI but hite pertains to the statuarys art, and the ax sculptors art# Cat-
ters relation, hoever, is different from the sculptors art, for in matter, prior to generation, all
things are in capacity, but they exist in perfection hen they are generated, and receive their proper
nature# ,ence matter $or a universal recipient( is necessary to the existence of generation#
-he second necessity is the existence of contrarieties, in order to effect mutations and changes in
0uality, matter, for this purpose, receiving passive 0ualities, and an aptitude to MtheN participations
of forms# 4ontrariety is also necessary in order that poers hich are naturally mutually repugnant
may not finally con0uer, or van0uish each other# -hese poers are hot and cold, dryness and moist-
ness#
In the third place ran! essences1 and those and fire and ater, air and earth, of hich heat and cold,
dryness and moistness, are poers# :ut essences differ from poers, essences being locally corrup-
ted or generated, as their reasons or forms are incorporeal#
Af those four poers, hoever, heat and cold subsist as causes and things of an effective natureI but
the dry and the moist ran! as matter and things that are passive, though matter is the first recipient
of things, for it is that hich is spread under all things in common# ,ence the body, hose capacity
is the obDect of sense, and ran!s as a principle, is the first thing hile contraries, such as heat and
cold, moistness and dryness, ran! as primary differencesI but heaviness and lightness, density and
rarity, are related as things produced from primary differences# -hese amount to sixteen1 heat an
cold, moistness and dryness, heaviness and lightness, rarity and density, smoothness and roughness,
hardness and softness, thinness and thic!ness, acuteness and obtuseness# Knoledge of all of these
is had by touch, hich forms a DudgmentI hence also any body hatever hich contains capacity
for these can be apprehended by touch#
,eat and dryness, rarity and sharpness are the poers of fireI coldness and moistness, density and
obtuseness are those of aterI those of air are softness, smoothness, light, and the 0uality of being
attenuatedI hile those of earth are hardness and roughness, heaviness and thic!ness#
Af these four bodies, hoever fire and earth are the intensities of contraries# 6ire is the intensity of
heat, as ice is of coldI and if ice is a concretion of moisture and farigidity, fire ill be the fervor of
dryness and heat# -hat is hy neither fire nor ice generate anything#
6ire and earth, therefore, are the extremities of the elements, hile ater and air are the media, for
they have a mixed corporeal nature# ;or is it possible that there could be only one of the extremes, a
contrary thereto being necessary# ;or could there be to only, for it is necessary to have a medium,
as media oppose extremes#
6ire therefore is hot and dry, but air is hot and moistI ater is moist and cold, and earth cold and
dry# ,ence heat is common to air and fireI cold is common to ater and earthI dryness to earth and
fire, and moisture to ater and air# :ut ith respect to the peculiarities of each, heat is the peculiar-
ity of fire, dryness of earth, moisture of air, and frigidity of ater# -hese essences remain perman-
ent, through the possession of common propertiesI but they change through such as are peculiar,
hen one contrary overcomes another#
,ence, hen the moisture in air overcomes the dryness in fire, or hen aters frigidity overcomes
airs heat, and earths dryness aters moistness, and vice versa, then are effected the mutual muta-
tions and generations of the elements#
-he body, hoever, hich is the subDect and recipient of mutations, is a universal receptacle, and is
in capacity the first tangible substance# :ut the mutations of the elements are effected either from a
change of earth into fire, or from fire into air, or from air into ater, or from ater into earth# Cuta-
tions is also effected, in the third place, hen each elements contrariness is corrupted, simultan-
eously ith the preservation of everything !indred and coeval# Generation therefore is effected
hen one contrary 0uality is corrupted# 6or fire, indeed, is hot and dry, but air is hot and moist, and
heat is common to bothI but the peculiarity of fire is dryness, and of air, moisture# ,ence hen the
moisture in air overcomes the dryness in fire, then fire is changed into air#
Again, since ater is moist and cold, but air is moist and hot, moisture is common to both# 7aters
peculiarity is coldness, and of air, heat# 7hen therefore the coldness in ater overcomes the heat in
air, air is altered into ater#
6urther, earth is cold and dry, and ater cold and moistI coldness being common to both# :ut
earths peculiarity is dryness, and aters, moisture# 7hen therefore earths dryness overcomes a-
ters moisture, ater is altered into earth#
/arths mutation in the ascending alteration occurs in a contrary ay# Ane alternate mutation is ef-
fected hen one hole van0uishes anotherI and to contrary poers are corrupted, nothing being
common to them, at the same time# 6or since firs is hot and dry, hile ater is cold and moist,
hen the moisture in ater overcomes the dryness in fire, and aters coldness, fires heatI then fire
is altered into ater#
Again, earth is cold and dry, hile air is hot and moist# 7hen therefore earths coldness overcomes
airs heat, and earths dryness airs moisture, then air is altered into earth#
7hen airs moisture corrupts fires heat, then from both of them ill be generated fireI for airs
heat, and fires dryness ill remain, fire being hot and dry#
7hen earths coldness is corrupted, and also aters moisture, then from both of them ill be gen-
erated earth# 6or earths dryness and aters coldness ill be left, as earth is cold and dry#
:ut hen airs heat and fires heat are corrupted, no element ill be generatedI for in both of these
ill remain contraries, airs moisture and fires dryness# Coisture is hoever contrary to dryness#
Again, hen earths coldness, and that of ater are corrupted, neither thus ill any generation oc-
curI for earths dryness, and aters moisture ill remain# :ut dryness is contrary to moisture#
-hus e have briefly discussed the generation of the first bodies, and ho and from hat subDects it
is effected#
Since, hoever, the orld is indestructible and unbegotten, and neither had a beginning or genera-
tion, nor an end, it is necessary that the nature hich produces generation in another thing, and also
that hich generates in itself, should be simultaneously present# -hat hich produces generation in
another thing, is the hole superlunary regionI though the more proximate cause is the sun, ho by
its comings and goings continually changes the airI from cold to heat, hich again changes the
earth, hich alters all its contents#
-he obli0uity of the 5odiac, also, is ell placed in respect to the suns motion, for it li!eise is the
cause of generation# -his is universally accomplished by the universes proper orderI herein some
things are active, and others passive# 3ifferent therefore is the generator, hich is superlunary,
hile that hich generated is sublunaryI and that hich consists of both of these, namely, an over-
running body, and an ever-mutable generated nature, is the orld itself#
III
-,/ ./?./-BI-@ A6 -,/ 7A?"3
Cans generation, did not originate from the earth, other animals, or plantsI but the orlds proper
order being perpetual, its contained, aptly arranged natures should share ith it never-failing sub-
sistence# As primarily the orld existed alays, its parts must coexist ith itI and by these I mean
the heavens, the earth, and hat is contained beteen themI hich is on high, and is called aerialI
for the orld does not exist ithout, but ith and from these#
As the orlds parts are con subsistent, their comprehended natures must coexist ith themI ith
the heavens, indeed, the sun, moon, fixed stars and planetsI ith the earth, animals and plants, gold
and silverI ith the aerial region, spiritual substances and ind, heating and coolingI for it is the
property of the heavens to subsist in conDunction ith the natures hich it comprehends, and of the
earth to support its native plants and animalsI of the aerial regions, to be consubsistent ith the
natures it has generated# Since the therefore in each division of the orld there is arranged a certain
genus of animals hich surpasses its fellos, the heavens are the habitat of the gods, on the earth
men, and in the space beteen, the geniuses# -herefore the race of men must be perpetual, since
reason convinces us that not only are the orlds parts consubsitent ith it, but also their compre-
hended natures#
Sudden destructions, and mutations hoever ta!e place in the parts of the earthI the sea overflos
on to the land, or the earth sha!es and spits, through the unobserved entrance of ind or ater# :ut
an entire destruction of the earths hole arrangement never too! place, nor ever ill# ,ence the
story that Grecian history began ith the Argive Inachus is false, if understood to be a first prin-
ciple, but true, as some mutations of Gree! politicsI for Greece has fre0uently been, and ill again
be barbarous, not only from the irruption of foreigners, but from ;ature herself, hich, although
she does not become greater or lessI yet is alays younger, and has a beginning in reference to us#
So much about the hole, and the universeI the generation and corruption of natures generated in itI
ho they subsist, and for everI one part of the universe consisting of a nature hich is perpetually
moved, and another passive oneI the former governing, the latter ever governed#
I<
G?A7-, A6 C/;
"a, temperance and piety conspire in explaining as follos the generation of men from each other,
after hat manner, from hat particulars, and ho effected# -he first postulate is that sexual associ-
ation should occur never for pleasure but only for procreation of children#
-hose poers and instruments, and appetites ministering to copulation ere implanted in man by
divinity, not for the sa!e of voluptuousness, but for the perpetuation of the race# Since it as im-
possible that man, ho is born mortal, should participate in a divine life ere his race not immortal,
divinity operated this immortality through individuals, and lent continuousness to man!inds gener-
ation# -his is the first essential, that cohabitation should not be effected for mere pleasure#
;ext, man should be considered in connection ith the social organism, a house or city, and espe-
cially that each human progeny should or! at the completion of the orld, unless he plans to be a
deserter of either the domestic, political or divine <estal hearth#
6or those ho are not entirely connected ith each other for the sa!e of begetting children, inDure
the most honorable system of convention# :ut if persons of this description procreate ith libidin-
ous insolence and intemperance, their offspring ill be miserable and flagitious, and ill be exec-
rated by God and geniuses, by men, families and cities#
-hose therefore ho deliberately consider these things ought not, in a ay similar to irrational an-
imals, to engage in venereal connections, but should thin! copulation a necessary good# 6or it is the
opinion of orthy men that it is necessary and beautiful, not only to fill houses ith large families,
and also the greater part of the earth $for man is the most mild and the best of all animals(, but as a
thing of the greatest conse0uence, to cause them to abound ith the most excellent men#
6or on this account men inhabit cities governed by the best las, rightly manage their domestic af-
fairs and if they are able, impart to their friends such political employments as are conformable to
the polities in hich they live, since they not only provide for the multitude at large, but especially
for orthy men#
,ence many men err ho enter into connubial state ithout regarding the magnitude off the poer
of fortune, or public utility, but direct their attention to ealth, or dignity of birth# 6or in con-
se0uence of this, instead of uniting ith females ho are young and in the floer of their age, they
become connected ith extremely old omenI and instead of having ives ith a disposition ac-
cording ith, and most similar to their on, they marry those ho are of an illustrious family, or
are extremely rich# An this account, they procure for themselves discord instead of concordI and in-
stead of unanimity, dissensionI contending ith each other for the mastery# 6or the ife ho sur-
passes her husband in ealth, in birth, or in friends, is desirous of ruling over him, contrary to the
la of nature# :ut the husband Dustly resisting this desire of superiority in his ife, and ishing not
to be the second, but the first in domestic say, is unable, in the management of his family, to ta!e
the lead#
-his being, the case, it happens that not only families, but cities become miserable# 6or families are
parts of cities, hile the composition of the hole and the universe derives its subsistence from its
parts# It is therefore, reasonable to admit that such as are the parts, such li!eise ill be the hole
and the all hich consists of things of this !ind# As in fabrics of a primary nature the first structures
operate greatly to the good or bad completion of the hole or!I as for instance the manner in
hich the foundation is laid in a house-building, the structure of a !eel in ship-building, and the ut-
terance and closing of voice in musical modulation, so the concordant condition of families greatly
contributes to the ell or ill establishment of a polity#
-hose therefore ho direct their attention to the propagation of the human species, ought guard
against everything hich is dissimilar and imperfectI for neither plants nor animals hen imperfect
are prolific, but their fructification demands a certain amount of time, so that hen the bodies are
strong and perfect, they may produce seeds and fruits#
,ence it is necessary that boys and girls hile they are virgin should be trained up in exercising and
proper endurance, and that they be nourished ith that !ind of food hich is adapted to a laborious,
temperate, and patient life#
Coreover, in human life there are many things of such a !ind that it is better for the !noledge of
them to be deferred, for a certain time# ,ence a boy should be so tutored as not to see! after vener-
eal pleasure before he is tenty years of age, and then should rarely engage in them# -his hoever
ill ta!e place if he conceives that a good habit of body and continence are beautiful and honorable#
-he folloing las should be taught in Grecian cities1 that connection ith a mother, or a daughter,
or a sister, should not be permitted either in temples or in a public placeI for it ould be ell to em-
ploy numerous impediments to this energy#
All natural connexions, should be prevented, especially those attended ith anton insolence# :ut
such as harmoni5e ith nature should be encouraged, such as are effected ith temperance for the
purpose of producing a temperate and legitimate offspring#
Again, those ho intend to beget children should providentially attend to the elfare of their future
offspring# A temperate and salutary diet therefore is the first and greatest thing to be considered by
the ould be begetterI so that he should neither be filled ith unseasonable food, nor become intox-
icated, nor subDect himself to any other perturbation hich may inDure the body -habits# :ut above
all things he should be careful that the mind in the act of copulation should remain in a tran0uil
state, for bad seed is produced from depraved, discordant and turbulent habits#
7ith all possible earnestness and attention, e should endeavor that children be born elegant and
graceful, and that hen born, they should be ell educated# 6or it is foolish that those ho rear
horses, birds or dog should, ith the utmost diligence render the breed perfect, and from proper
food, and hen it is properI and li!eise consider ho they ought to be disposed hen they copu-
late ith each other, that the offspring be not the result of chanceI hile men are inattentive to their
progeny, begetting them by chanceI and hen begotten, should neglect both their food and educa-
tion# It is the disregard of these that causes all the vice and depravity, since those born thus ill re-
semble cattle, ignoble and vile#
A; "A7S
$6ragment preserved by Stobaeus, /#.h#'1%&(
As life contains bodies, hose cause is the soul, so harmony, connectedly, comprehends the orld,
hose cause is God# "i!eise concord unites families, hose cause is the la# -herefore there is a
certain cause and nature hich perpetually adapts to each other the parts of the orld, hindering
their being disordered and unconnected# ,oever, cities and families continue only for a short timeI
as the formerRs constituent matter, and the latterRs progeny contain the cause of dissolution, deriv-
ing their subsistence from a mutable and perpetually passive nature# 6or the destruction of things
hich are generated is the salvation of the matter from hich they are generated# -hat nature,
hoever, hich is perpetually moved governsI hile that hich is alays passive is governedI the
capacity of the former being prior, and of the latter posterior# -he former is divine, possessing reas-
on and intellect, the latter being generated, irrational and mutable#
A; 6/"I4I-@
Af animals, some are capable of felicity, hile others are incapable# 6elicity cannot subsist ithout
virtueI and, this is impossible to any lac!ing reasonI so that those animals are incapable of felicity
ho are destitute of reason# -he blind cannot exercise or practise sight, nor can the irrational attain
to the or! and virtue dependent on reason# -o that hich possesses reason, felicity is a or!, and
virtue an art# Af rational animals, some are self-perfect, in need of nothing external, either for their
existence, or artistic achievement# Such indeed is God# An the contrary those animals are not self-
perfect hose perfection is not due to themselves, or ho are in need of anything external# Such an
animalI is man# Af not self-perfect animals some are perfect, and others not# -he former derive their
subsistence from both their on proper causes, and from the external# -hey derive it indeed from
their on causes, because they obtain from thence both an excellent natureI and deliberate choiceI
but from external causes, because they receive from thence e0uitable legislation, and good rulers#
-he animals hich are not perfect are either such as participate of neither of these, or of some one
of those, or hose souls are entirely depraved# Such ill be the man ho is of a description differ-
ent from the above#
Coreover, of perfect men there are to !inds# Some of them are naturally perfect, hile others are
perfect only in relation to their lives# Anly the good are naturally perfect, and these possess virtue#
6or the virtue of the MofN anything is a consummation and perfection# -hus the virtue of the eye is
the eyes natures M--N consummation and perfection# So mans virtue is mans natures consumma-
tion and perfection#
-hose also are perfect according to life, ho are not only good, but happy# 6or indeed felicity is the
perfection of human life# :ut human life is a system of actionsI and felicity completes actions# <ir-
tue and fortune, also complete lifeI $but only partiallyI virtue according to useI and good fortune ac-
cording to prosperity# God, therefore, is neither good through learning virtue f rom anyone, nor is
he happy through being attended by good fortune# 6or he is good and happy by nature, and alays
as, is and never ill cease to beI since he is incorruptible, and naturally good# :ut man is neither
happy nor good by nature, re0uiring discipline and providential care# -o become good, he re0uires
virtueI but to become happy, good fortune# An this account, human felicity may be summarily said
to consist of these to things1 praise, and being called happy# .raise indeed, because of virtueI but
being called happy, from prosperity# -herefore it possesses virtue, through divine destinyI but
prosperity through a mortal allotment# :ut mortal concerns depend on divine ones, and terrestrial on
celestial# "i!eise, subordinate things depend on the more excellent# -hat is hy the good man
ho follos the Gods is happy, but he ho follos mortal nature is unhappy# 6or to him ho pos-
sesses isdom, prosperity is good and usefulI being good, through his !noledge of the use of itI
but it is useful through his cooperating ith actions# It is beautiful, therefore hen prosperity is
present ith intellect, and hen, as it e ere sailing ith a prosperous ind, action are performed
that tend toards virtueI Dust as a pilot atches the motions of the stars# -hus he ho does this ill
not only follo God, but ill also harmoni5e human ith divine good#
-his also is evident, that human life becomes different from disposition and action# :ut it is neces-
sary that the disposition should be either orthy or depravedI and that action should be attended
ith either felicity or misery# A orthy disposition indeed participates of virtue, hile a bad one of
vice# 7ith respect to actions, also, those that are prosperous are attended ith felicityI $for they de-
rive their completion by loo!ing to reasonI( but those that are unfortunate, are attended ith miseryI
for they are disappointed of their end# ,ence it is not only necessary to learn virtue, but also to pos-
sess and use itI either for security, or grothI $of property, hen it is too small(, or, hich is the
greatest thing of all, for the improvement of families and cities# 6or it is not only necessary to have
the possession of things beautiful, but also their use# All these things, hoever, ill ta!e place,
hen a man lives in a city that enDoys e0uitable las# -his is hat is signified by the horn of
AmaltheaI for all things are contained in e0uitable legislation# 7ithout this, the greatest good of hu-
man nature can neither be effected, nor, hen effected, can be increased and become permanent#
6or this contains both virtue and tendency toards itI because excellent natures are generated ac-
cording to it# "i!eise manners, studies and las through this subsist in the most excellent condi-
tionI and besides these, rightly-decided reason, and piety and sanctity toards the most honorable
natures#
-herefore he ho is to be happy, and hose life is to be prosperous, should live and Mor!N in a
country governed by e0uitable las, relin0uishing all lalessness# All the above is necessary for
man is a part of society, and according to the same reasoning ill become entirely MimNperfect, if he
associates ith others, but not in a becoming manner# 6or some things are naturally adapted to sub-
sist in many things, and not in one thingI others in one thing and not in manyI others both in many
and in one, and on this account in one thing because in many# 6or indeed harmony, symphony and
number are naturally adapted to be insinuated into many things# ;othing hich ma!es a hole from
these parts is sufficient in itself# :ut acuteness of seeing and hearing, and siftness of feet, subsist
in one thing alone# 6elicity, hoever, and virtue of soul, subsist both in one thing and many, in a
hole, and in the universe# An this account they subsist in one thing, because they also subsist in
manyI and they subsist in many because, they inhere in the hole and the universe# 6or the orderly
distribution of the hole nature of things methodically arranges each particular# -he orderly distri-
bution of particulars gives completion to the hole of things, and to the universe# :ut this follos
from the hole being naturally prior to the part, and not the part to the hole# 6or if the orld as
not, neither the sun nor the moon ould exist, not the planets, nor the fixed stars# :ut the orld ex-
isting, each of these also exists#
-he truth of this may also be seen in the nature itself of animals# 6or if the animal had no existence,
there ould be neither eye, mouth, or ear# :ut the animal existing, each of these li!eise exists#
,oever, as the hole is to the part, so is the virtue of the hole to that of the part# 6or if harmony
did not exist, nor a divine inspection of human affairs, adorned things could no longer remain in
good condition# 7ere there no e0uitable legislation in a city, the citi5en could be neither good nor
happy# 3id the animal lac! health, neither foot nor hand could be in health# -he orlds virtue is
harmonyI the citys virtue is e0uitable legislation, and the bodyRs virtue are health and strength#
"i!eise, each of the parts is adDusted to the hole and the universe# 6or the eye sees on account of
the hole bodyI and the other parts and members are adDusted for the sa!e of the hole $body( and
the universe#
A; A ?/.B:"I4
I say that the hole of a polity is divided into three partsI the good men ho manage the public af-
fairs, those ho are poerful, and those ho are employed in supplying and procuring the necessar-
ies of life# -he first group is that of the counselors, the auxiliaries, and the mechanical and sordid
arts# -he first to groups belong to the liberal condition of lifeI the third, of those ho labor to pro-
cure subsistence# Af these the council is best, the laborers, the orstI and the auxiliaries, a medium
beteen the to# -he council should govern, and the laborers should be governedI and the auxiliar-
ies should both govern and be governed# 6or that hich consults for the general good previously de-
liberates hat ought to be doneI hile that hich is of an auxiliary nature, so far as it is belligerent,
rules over the hole mechanical tribeI but it is itself governed in so far as it has previously received
advice from others#
Af these parts, hoever, each again receives a triple division# 6or of that hich consults, one part
presides, another governs, and another counsels for the general good# 7ith respect to the presiding
part, is that hich plans, contrives, and deliberates about hat pertains to the community, prior to
the other parts, and afterards refers its counsels to the senate# :ut the governing part is either that
hich no rules $for the first time(, or hich has before performed that office# 7ith respect to the
third part, hich consults for the general good, this receives the advice of the earlier parts, and by
its suffrages and authority confirms hatever it MreferredN to its decisions# In short, those ho
provide should refer the communitys affairs to that part hich consults for the general goodI hile
the latter part should refer these affairs through the presiding officers to the convention#
"i!eise, of that part hich is auxiliary, poerful and efficacious, one part is of a governing
natureI another part is defensive, and the remaining, and greater part, is private and military# It is the
governing part, therefore, from hich the leaders of the armies, the officers of the bands, the bands
of soldiers, and the vanguard are derivedI and universally all those ho ran! as leaders# -he van-
guard consists of the bravest, the most impetuous, and the most daring, the remaining military mul-
titude being gregarious# Af the third part engaged in sordid occupations, and in laboring to procure
the necessaries of life, one part consists of husbandmen, and those employed in the cultivation of
landI another are artisans, ma!ing such instruments and machines as are re0uired by the occasions
of life, and another part travels and bargains, exporting to foreign regions such things as are super-
abundant in the city, and importing into it other things from foreign countries# -he systems of polit-
ical society are organi5ed in many such parts#
;ext e must study their adaptation and union# Since, hoever, the hole of political society may
be ell compared to a lyre, as it re0uires apparatus and mutual adDustment, and also because it must
be touched and used musicallyI O this is enough#
.olitical society is organi5ed by disciplines, the study of customs, and lasI through these three,
man is educated, and improved# 3isciplines are the source of erudition, and lead the desires to tend
toards virtue# -he las, both repelling men from the commissions of crimes, and alluring them by
honors and gifts incite them $to virtue(# Canners and studies fashion the soul li!e ax, and through
their continued energy impress thereon propensities that become second nature# -hese three should
hoever cooperate ith the beautiful, the useful and the DustI each of these three should if possible
aim at all these threeI but if not all of them, it should at least have to or one of than as its goal, so
that disciplines, manners and las may be beautiful, Dust and advantageous# In the first place, the
beautiful in conduct should be preferredI in the second place the Dust, and in the third place the use-
ful# Bniversally the endeavor should be that through these the city may become, in the most eminent
degree, consentaneous and concordant ith its parts, and may be free from sedition and hostile con-
tention# -his ill happen if the passions in the youths souls are disciplined, and in things pleasing
and painful are led to mediocrity, and if the possessions of men are moderate, and they derive their
subsistence from the cultivation of the earth# -his ill also be accomplished, if good men rule over
those that are in ant of virtueI s!illful men over those that are anting in s!ill, and rich men over
those things that re0uire a certain amount of generosity and expenditureI and if also appropriate
honors are distributed to those ho govern in all these in a becoming manner# :ut there are three
causes hich are incitements to virtue,O fear desire and shame# "a can produce fear, but custom
shameI for those that are accustomed to act ell ill be ashamed to do anything that is base# 3esire
is produced by disciplinesI for they simultaneously assign the causes of things and attract the soul,
and especially so hen accompanied by exhortation# ,ence the souls of young men should be suffi-
ciently instructed in hat pertains to senates, felloship and associations, both military and politic-
al, but that the tribe of elderly men should be trained to things of this !indI since young men indeed
re0uire correction and instruction, but elderly men need benevolent associations, and a mode of liv-
ing unattended by pain# Since therefore e have said that the orthy man is perfected through three
things, customs, las and disciplines, e must consider ho customs or manners are corrupted usu-
ally, and ho they gro permanent# 7e shall then find that customs are corrupted in to aysI
through ourselves, or foreigners# -hrough ourselves indeed, through our flying from pain, hereby
e fail to endure laborI or through pursuit of pleasureI hereby e reDect the good, for labors pro-
cure good, and pleasures evil# ,ence through pleasures, becoming incontent and remiss, men are
rendered effeminate in their souls, and more prodigal# 4ustoms and manners are corrupted through
foreigners hen their numbers samp the natives, and best of the success of their mercantile em-
ploymentsI or hen those ho dell in the suburbs, becoming lovers of pleasures and luxury, their
manners spread to the single neighbors# -herefore the legislators, officers and mass of the people
should diligently ta!e notice hether the customs of the city are being carefully preserved, and that
throughout the hole people# Coreover they should see to the preserving pure of the home race,
avoiding crossing ith other nations, and hether the general ealths total remains the same,
ithout undue increase# 6or the possession of superfluities is accompanied by the desire of still
more of the superfluous# In such ays the customs should be preserved#
7ith respect to disciplines, hoever, the same legislators and officers, should diligently inspect and
examine the sophists, hether they are teaching hat is useful to the las, to the established politic-
al principles, and to the local economy of life# 6or sophistic doctrines may infect men ith no
passing, but greatest infelicityI hen they dare ma!e innovations in anything pertaining to human or
divine affairs, contrary to the popular viesI than hich nothing can be more pernicious either ith
respect to truth, security or renon# In addition to this, they introduce into the minds of the general
people obscurity and confusion# Af this !ind are all doctrines that teach either that there is no God,
or if there is, that he is not affected toards the human race so as to regard it ith providential care,
but despises and deserts it# In men such doctrines produce folly and inDustice, to a degree that is in-
expressible# Any anarchist ho has dismissed fear of disobedience to the las, violates them ith
anton boasts# ,ence the necessity of political and traditionally venerable principlesI adapted to the
spea!ers disposition, free from dissimulation# -hus hat is said exhibits the spea!erss manners#
-he las ill inevitably introduce security if the polity is organi5ed on lines of natural las, and
not on the unnatural# 6rom a tyranny cities derive no advantage, and very little from an oligarchy#
-he first need, therefore, is a !ingdom, and the second is and aristocracy#
6or a !ingdom, indeed, is as it ere an image of God, and hich is ith difficulty preserved and
defended by the human soul# 6or it rapidly degenerates through luxury and insolence# ,ence it is
not proper to employ it universally, but only so far as i tmay be useful to the stateI and an aristo-
cracy should be liberally mingled ith it, as this consists of many rulers, ho emulate each other,
and often govern alternately# -here must hoever also be democratic elementsI for as the citi5en is
part of the hole state, he, also should receive a reard from it# @et he must be sufficiently re-
strained, for the common people are bold and rash#
:y a necessity of nature, everything mortal is subDect to changesI some improving, others groing
orse# -hings born, increase until they arrive at their consummation, hereafter they age and per-
ish# -hings that gro of themselves, by the same nature decay into the hidden beyondI and then re-
turn to mortality through transformation of grothI then by repeated decay, retrograde in another
circle# Sometimes, hen houses or cities have attained the pea! of supreme happiness in exuberant
ealth, they have, through an ebullition of insolent self-satisfaction, through human folly, perished
together ith their vaunted possessions#
-hus every human empire has shon three distinct stages1 groth, fruition, and destruction# 6or in
the beginning, being destitute of goods, empires are engrossed in ac0uisitionI but after they become
ealthy, they perish# Such things, therefore, are under the dominion of the gods, being incorrupt-
ible, are preserved through the hole of time, by incorruptible naturesI but such things as are under
the government of men, being mortalI from mortals receive perpetual disturbance# -he end of self-
satisfaction and insolence is destructionI but poverty and narro circumstances often result in a
strenuous and orthy life# ;ot poverty alone, but many other things, bring human life to an end#
A; SA;4-I-@
It is necessary that the las should not be enclosed in houses, or by gates, but in the manners of the
citi5ens# 7hich, therefore is the basic principle of any stateK -he education of the youth# 6or vines
ill never bear useful fruit, unless they are ell cultivatedI nor ill horses ever excel, unless the
colts are properly trained# ?ecently ripened fruit gros similar to its surroundings# 7ith utmost
prudence do men study ho to prune and tend the vinesI but to things pertaining to the education of
their species the behave rashly and negligentlyI though neither ines nor ine govern men, but man
and the soul of man# -he nurture of a plant, indeed, e commit to an expert, ho is supposed to de-
serve no less than to minae $a day(I but the education of youth e commit to some Illyrian or
-hracian, ho is orthless# As the earliest legislators could not render the bourgeoisie stable, they
prescribed $in the curriculum( dancing and rhythm, hich instills motion and orderI and besides
these they added sports, some of hich induced felloship, but others truth and mental !eenness#
6or those ho thought that intoxication or gu55ling had committed any crime, the prescribed the
pipe of harmony, hich by maturing and refining the manners so-shaped the mind that it became
capable of culture#
It is ell to invo!e God at the beginning and end both of supper and dinner, not because he is in
ant of anything of the !ind, but in order that the soul may be transfigured by the recollection of di-
vinity# 6or since e proceed from him, and participate in a divine nature, e should honor him#
Since also God is Dust, e also should act Dustly in all things#
In the next place, there are four causes hich terminate all thingsI and bring them to an endI namely
nature, la, art and fortune# ;ature is admittedly the principle of all things# "a is the inspective
guardian and creator of all things that change manners into political concord# Art is Dustly said to be
the mother and guide of things consummated through human prudence# :ut of things hich acci-
dentally happen to the orthy and unorthy, the cause is ascribed to fortune, hich does not pro-
duce anything orderly, moderate, or controlled#
4A;4/?;I;G A KI;G3AC
A !ing should be one ho is most DustI and he ill be most Dust ho most closely attends to the
las# 7ithout Dustice it is impossible to a !ingI and ithout la there can be no Dustice# 6or Dustice
is such only through la, Dustices effective cause# A !ing is either animated la, or a legal ruler,
hence he ill be Dust, and observant of the las# -here are hoever three peculiar employments of
a !ing1 leading an army, administering Dustice, and orshipping the Gods# ,e ill be able to lead an
army properly only if he !nos ho to carry on ar properly# ,e ill be s!illed in administering
Dustice and in governing all his subDects only if he has ell learned the nature of Dustice and la# ,e
ill orship the gods in a pious and holy manner only if he has diligently considered the nurture
and virtue of God##### a good !ing must necessarily be a good general, Dudge and priestI hich things
are inseparable from the goodness and virtue of a !ing# It is the pilots business to preserve the shipI
the charioteer to preserve the chariotI and the physicians to save the sic!, but it is a !ings or a gen-
erals business to save those ho are in danger in battle# 6or a leader must also be a provident in-
spector, and preserver# 7hile Dudicial affairs are in general every bodys interest, this is the special
or! of the !ingI ho, li!e a god, is a orld-leader and protector# 7hile the hole state should be
generally organi5ed in a unitary manner, under unitary leadership, individual parts should be sub-
missive to the supreme domination# :esides though the !ing should oblige and benefit his subDects,
this should not be in contempt of Dustice and la# -he third characteristic of a !ings dignity is the
orship of the Gods# -he most excellent should be orshipped by the most excellentI and the lead-
er and ruler by that hich leads and rules# Af naturally most honorable things, God is the bestI but
of things on the earth, and human, a !ing is the supreme# As God is to the orld, so is a !ing to his
!ingdomI and as a city is to the orld, so is a !ing to God# 6or a city, indeed, being organi5ed from
things many and various, imitates the organi5ation of the orldI and its harmonyI but a !ing hose
rule is beneficent, and ho himself is animated la, to men outlines the divinity#
It is hence necessary that a !ing should not be overcome by pleasure, but that he should overcome
itI that he should not resemble, but excel the multitudeI and that he should not conceive his proper
employment to consist in the pursuit of pleasure, but rather in the achievement of character# "i!e-
ise he ho rules others should be able first to govern his on passions#
As to the desire of obtaining great property, it must be observed that a !ing ought to be ealthy so
as to benefit his friends, relieve those in ant, and Dustly punish his enemies# Cost delightful is the
enDoyment of ealth in conDunction ith virtue# So also about the preeminence of a !ingI for since
he alays surpasses others in virtue, a Dudgment of his empire might be formed ith reference to
virtueI and not to riches, poer, or military strength# ?iches he possesses in common ith any one
of his subDectsI poer, in common ith animals, and military strength in common ith tyrants# :ut
virtue is the prerogative of good menI hence, hatever !ing is temperate ith respect to pleasures,
liberal ith respect to money, and prudent and sagacious in government, he ill in reality be a !ing#
-he people, hoever, have the same analogy ith respect to the virtues and the vices, as the parts of
the human soul# 6or the desire to accumulate the superfluous continues ith the irrational part of
the soulI for desire is not rational# :ut ambition and ferocity cling to the irascible partI for this is the
furious part of the soul# -he love of pleasure clings to the passionate part, hich is effeminate and
yielding# InDustice, hoever, hich is the supreme vice, is composite and clings to the hole soul#
-he !ing should organi5e the ell-legislated city li!e a lyreI first ith himself establishing the Dust
boundary and order of "aI !noing that the peoples proper arrangement should be organi5ed ac-
cording to this interior boundary, the divinity having given him dominion over them# -he good !ing
should also establish proper positions and habits in the delivery of public orations, behaving in a
cultured manner, seriously and earnestly, lest he seem either rough or abDect to the multitudeI but
sho agreeable and easy manners# -hese things he ill obtain if in the first place his aspect and dis-
course be orthy of respect, and if appears to deserve the sovereign authority hich he possesses#
:ut in the second place, if he proves himself to be benign in behavior to those he may meet, in
countenance and beneficence# In the third place, if his hatred of depravity is formidable, by the pun-
ishment he inflicts thereon, from his 0uic!ness in inflicting it, and in short from his s!ill and exer-
cise in the art of government# 6or venerable gravity being something hich imitates divinity, is cap-
able of inning for him the admiration and honor of the multitude# :enignity ill render him pleas-
ing and beloved# ,is formidableness ill frighten his enemies, and save him from being con0ueredI
and ma!e him magnanimous and confident to his friends# ,is gravity, hoever, should have no ab-
Dect or vulgar elementI it should be admirable, and orthy of the dignity of rule and sceptre# ,e
should never contend ith his inferiors or e0uals, but ith those that are greater than himselfI and,
conformably to the magnitude of his empire, he should count those pleasures greatest hich are de-
rived from beautiful and great deeds and not those hich arise from sensual gratificationsI separat-
ing himself indeed from human passions and approximating the Gods, not through arrogance, but
through magnanimity and the invincible preeminence of virtue# ,ence he should invest his aspect
and reasonings ith such a gracefulness and maDesty, and also in his mental conceptions and soul-
manners, in his actions, and body motions and gestures, that those ho observe him may perceive
that he is adorned and fashioned ith modesty and temperance, and a dignified disposition# A good
!ing should be able to charm those ho behold him, no less than the sound of a flute and harmony
attract those that hear them# /nough about the venerable gravity of a !ing# I must no mention his
benignity# Generally, any !ing ho is Dust, e0uitable and beneficent ill be benign# Eustice is a con-
nective and collective communion, and is that disposition of the soul hich adapts itself to those
near us# As rhythm is to motion, and harmony to the voice, so is Dustice to diplomacyI since it is the
governors and the governedsR common good, harmoni5ing political society# :ut Dustice has to
fello administrators, e0uity and benignityI the former softening severity of punishment, the latter
extending pardon to the less guilty offenders# A good !ing must extend assistance to those in need
of itI and be beneficentI and this assistance should be given not in one ay only, but in every pos-
sible manner# :esides, this beneficence should not be $hypocritical(, regarding the honor to be de-
rived therefrom, but come from the deliberate choice of the giver# -oards all men a !ing should
conduct himself so as to avoid being troublesome to them, especially to men of inferior ran!, and of
slender fortuneI for these, li!e diseased bodies, can endure nothing of a troublesome nature# Good
!ings, indeed, have dispositions similar to the Gods, especially resembling Eupiter, the universal
ruler, ho is venerable and honorable through the magnanimous preeminence of virtue# ,e is be-
nign, because he is beneficent, and the giver of goodI hence by the Ionic poet $,omer( he is said to
be father of men and gods# ,e is also eminently terrible, punishing the unDust, reigning and ruling
over all things# In his hand he carries thunder, as a symbol of his formidable excellence# All these
particulars remind us that a !ingdom is something resembling the divine#
-,/AG/S
A; -,/ <I?-B/S
-he soul is divided into reasoning poer, anger and desire# ?easoning poer rules !noledge, an-
ger deals ith impulse, and desire bravely rules the souls affections# 7hen these three parts unite
into one action, exhibiting a composite energy, then in the soul results concord and virtue# 7hen
sedition divides them, then appear discord and vice# <irtue therefore contains three elementsI reas-
on, poer, and deliberate choice# -he souls reasoning poers virtue is prudence, hich is a habit
of contemplating and Dudging# -he irascible parts virtue is fortitudeI hich is a habit of enduring
dreadful things, and resisting them# -he appetitive parts virtue is temperanceI hich is a modera-
tion and detention of the pleasures hich arise from the body# -he hole souls virtue is DusticeI for
men indeed become bad either through vice, or through incontinence, or through a natural ferocity#
-hey inDure each other either through gain, pleasure or ambition# Core appropriately therefore does
vice belong to the souls reasoning part# 7hile prudence is similar to good art, vice resembles bad
art, inventing contrivances to act unDustly# Incontinence pertains to the souls appetitive part, as con-
tinence consists in subduing, and incontinence in failure to subdue pleasures# 6erocity belongs to
the souls irascible part, for hen some ennactivated by evil desires is gratified not as a man should
be, but as a beast ould be, then this is called ferocity#
-he effects of these dispositions also result from the things for the sa!e of hich they are per-
formed# <ice, hailing from the souls reasoning part results in avariceI the irascible parts fault is
ambition, hich results in ferocityI and as the appetitive part ends in pleasure, this generates incon-
tinence# As unDust actions are the results of so many causes, so also are Dust deedsI for virtue is a
naturally beneficent and profitable as vice is maleficent and harmful#
Since, hoever, of the parts of the soul one leads hile the others follo, and since the virtues and
vice subsist about these and in these, it is evident that ith respect to the virtues also, some are lead-
ers and others folloers, hile others are compounds of these# -he leaders are such as prudenceI the
folloers being fortitude and temperanceI their composites are such as Dustice# ,o the virtues sub-
sist in and about the passions, so e may call the latter the matter of the former# Af the passions,
one is voluntary, and the others involuntaryI pleasure being the voluntary, and pain the involuntary#
Cen ho have the political virtues increase and decrease these, organi5ing the other parts of the
soul to that hich possesses reason# -he desirable point of this adaptation is that intellect should not
be prevented from accomplishing its proper or!, either by lac! of excess# 7e adapt the less good
to that hich is more soI as in the orld every part that is alays passive subsists for the sa!e of
that hich is alays moved# In the conDunction of animals, the female subsists for the sa!e of the
maleI for the latter sos, generating a soul, hile the former alone imparts matter to that hich is
generated# In the soul, the irrational subsists for the sa!e of the rational part# Anger and desire are
organi5ed in dependence on the first part of the soul, the former as a satellite and guardian of the
body, the latter as a dispenser and provider of necessary ants# Intellect being established in the
highest summit of the body, and having a prospect in that hich is on all sides splendid and trans-
parent, investigates the isdom of real beings# -his indeed is its natural function, to investigate and
obtain possession of the truth, and to follo those beings hich are more excellent and honorable
than itself# 6or the !noledge of things divine and most honorable is the principle, cause and rule of
human blessedness#
-he principles of all virtue are threeI !noledge, poer and deliberate choice# Knoledge indeed is
that by hich e contemplate and form a Dudgment of thingsI poer is a certain strength of nature
from hich e derive our subsistence, and hich gives stability to our actionsI and deliberate
choice is as it ere the hands of the soul by hich e are impelled to, and lay hold on the obDects of
our choice###7hen the reasoning poer prevails over the irrational part of the soul, then endurance
and continence are producedI endurance indeed in the retention of pains, but continence in the ab-
sence of pleasures# :ut hen the irrational parts of the soul prevail over the reasoning part of the
soul, then are produced effeminacy in flying from pain, and incontinence in being van0uished by
the pleasures# 7hen hoever the better part of the soul prevails, the less excellent part is governedI
the former leads, and the latter follos, and both consent and agree, and then in the hole soul is
generated virtue and all the goods# Again, hen the appetitive part of the soul follos the reason-
ing, then is produced temperance, hen this is the case ith the irascible, appears fortitudeI and
hen it ta!es place in all the parts of the soul, then the result is Dustice# Eustice is that hich separ-
ates all the vices and all the virtues of the soul from each other# Eustice is an established order and
organi5ation of the parts of the soul, and the perfect and supreme virtueI in this every good is con-
tained, hile the other goods of the soul cannot subsist ithout it# ,ence Dustice possesses great in-
fluence both among gods and men# It contains the bond by hich the hole and the universe are
held together, and also that by hich the gods and men are connected# Among the celestials it is
called -hemis, and among the terrestrials it is called 3iceI hile among men it is called the "a#
-hese are but symbols indicative that Dustice is the supreme virtue# <irtue, therefore, hen it con-
sists in contemplating and Dudging, is called prudenceI hen in sustaining dreadful things, is called
fortitudeI hen in restraining pleasure, it is called temperanceI and hen in abstaining from inDuring
our neighbors, Dustice#
Abedience to virtue according to, and transgression thereof contrary to right reason, tend toards
decorousness, and its opposite# .ropriety is that hich ought to be# -his re0uires neither addition or
detraction, being hat it should be# -he improper is of to !inds1 excess and defect# -he excess is
over -scrupulousness, and its deficiency, laxity# <irtue hoever is a habit of propriety# ,ence it is
both a climax and a medium of hich are proper things# -hey are media because they fall beteen
excess and deficiencyI they are climaxes, because they endure neither increase nor decrease, being
Dust hat they ought to be#
Since hoever the virtue of manners consists in dealing ith the passions, over hich pleasure and
pain are supreme, virtue evidently does not consist in extirpating the passions of the soul, pleasure
and pain, but in regulating them# ;ot any more does health, hich is an adDustment of the bodily
poers, consist in expelling the cold and the hot, the moist and the dry, but in adDusting them suit-
ably and symmetrically# "i!eise in music, concord does not consist in expelling the sharp and the
flat, but in exterminating dissonance by concord arising from their adDustment# -herefore it is the
harmonious adDustment of heat and cold, moisture and dryness hich produces health, and destroys
disease# -hus by the mutual adDustment of anger and desire, the vices and other passions are extirp-
ated, hile virtue and good manners are induced# ,o the greatest peculiarity of the virtue of man-
ners in beauty of conduct is deliberate choice# ?eason and poer may be used ithout virtue, but
deliberate choice cannot be used ithout itI for deliberate choice inspires dignity of manners#
7hen the reasoning poer by force subdues anger and desire, it produces continence and endur-
ance# Again hen the reasoning force is dethroned violently by the irrational parts, then result in-
continence and effeminacy# Such dispositions of the soul as these are half-perfect virtues and vices#
6or $according to its nature( the reasoning poer of the soul induces health, hile the irrational in-
duces disease# So far as anger and desire are governed and led by the souls rational part, continence
and endurance become virtuesI but in so far as this is effected by violence, involuntarily, they be-
come vices# 6or virtue must carry out hat is proper not ith pain but pleasure# So far as anger and
desire rule the reasoning poer there is produced effeminacy and incontinence, hich are vicesI but
in so far as they gratify the passions ith pain, !noing that they are erroneous in conse0uence of
the eye of the soul being healthy, so far as this is the case, they are not vices# ,ence it is evident that
virtue must voluntarily do hat is proper, as the involuntary implies pain and fear, hile the volun-
tary implies pleasure and delight#
-his may be corroborated by division# Knoledge and the perception of things are the province of
the rational part of the soulI hile poer pertained to the irrational part, hose peculiarity is in an
ability to resist pain, or to van0uish pleasure# :oth of these, the rational and the irrational, subsists
deliberate choice, hich consists of intention and appetite, intention pertaining to the rational part,
and appetite to the irrational# ,ence every virtue consists in a mutual adaptation of the souls parts
hile, both ill and deliberate choice subsist entirely in virtue# In general, therefore, virtue is a mu-
tual MadaptationN of the irrational part of the soul to the irrational to the irrational# <irtue, hoever,
is produced through pleasure and pain stri!ing the right resultance of propriety# :ut propriety is that
hich ought to be, and the improper, hat ought notI####### -he fit and the unfit are to each other as
the e0ual and the une0ual, as the ordered and the disorderedI of, hich the to former are finite,
and the to latter are the infinite $limit and infinity are the to great principles of things, belo the
universal ineffable cause(# An this account the parts of the une0ual are referred to the middle, but
not to each other# An angle greater than a right angle is called obtuseI the acute one being less than
it# $In a circle( also, the right line is greater than the radius, dran from the centre# Any day beyond
the e0uinox is greater is greater than it# Averheat or undercold produce diseases# Averheatedness
exceeds moderation, hich over-coldness does not reach#
-he same analogy holds good in connection ith the soul# :oldness is an excess of propriety in the
endurance of things of a dreadful natureI hile, timidity is a deficiency# .rodigality is an excess of
proper expenditure of moneyI hile illiberality is its excess# ?age is an excess of the proper use of
the souls irascible part, hile insensibility ii the corresponding deficiency# -he same reasoning ap-
plies to the opposition of the other dispositions of the soul# Since hoever virtue is a habit of pro-
priety, and a medium of the passions, it should be neither holly passive, nor immoderately pass-
ive# Impassivity causes unimpelledness of the soul and lac! of enthusiasm for the beautiful in con-
duct, hile immoderate passivity perturbs the soul, and ma!es it inconsiderate# 7e should then, in
virtue, see passions as shado and outline in a pictureI hich depend on animation and delicacy,
imitation of the truth and contrast of coloring# -he souls passions are animated by the natural incit-
ation and enthusiasm of virtue, hich is generated from the passions, and subsisting ith them#
Similarly, harmony includes the sharp and the flat, and mixtures consist of heat and cold, and e0ui-
librium results from eight and lightness#
-herefore, neither ould it be necessary nor profitable to remove the passions of the soul1 but they
must be mutually adDusted to the rational partI under the direction of propriety and moderation#
HA"/B4BS -,/ "A4?IA;
.?/6A4/ -A ,IS "A7S
All inhabitants of city or country should in the first place be firmly persuaded of the existence of di-
vinities, as result of their observation of the heavens and the orld and the orderly arrangement of
their contained beings# -hese are not the productions of fortune or of men# 7e should reverence and
honor them as causes of every reasonable good# 7e should therefore prepare our souls so they may
be free from vice# 6or the gods are not honored by the orship of a bad man, nor through sumptu-
ousity of offerings, nor ith the tragical expense of a depraved manI but by virtue, and the deliber-
ate choice of good and beautiful deeds# All of us, therefore, should be as good as possible, both in
actions and deliberate choiceI if he ishes to be dear to divinity# ,e should not fear the loss of
money more than that of renonI such a one ould be considered the better citi5en# -hose ho do
not easily feel so impelled, and hose soul is easily excited to inDustice, are invited to consider the
folloing# -hey, and their fello residents of a house should remember that there are Gods ho
punish the unDust, and should remember that no one escapes the final liberation from life# 6or in the
supreme moment they ill repent, from remembering their unDust deeds, and ishing that their
deeds had been Dust# /veryone, in every action should be mindful of this time, as if it ere presentI
hich is a poerful incentive to probity and Dustice#
Should any one feel $tempted by ( the presence of an evil genius, tempting him to inDustice, he
should go into a temple, remain at the altar, or in sacred groves, flying from inDustice as from an im-
pious and harmful mistress, supplicating the divinities to cooperate ith him in turning it aay
from himself# ,e should also see! the company of men !non for their probity, in order to hear
them discourse about a blessed life and the punishment of bad men, that he may be deterred from
bad deeds, dreading none but the avenging geniuses#
4iti5ens should honor all the Gods according to the particular countrys legal rites, hich should be
considered as the most beautiful of all others# 4iti5ens should, besides obeying the las, sho their
respect for the rulers by rising before them, and obeying their instructions# Cen ho are intelligent,
and ish to be saved should, after the Gods, geniuses and heroes most honor parents, las, and
rulers#
"et none love his city better than his country, the indignation of hose gods he ould thus be excit-
ingI for such conduct is the beginning of treachery# 6or a man to leave his country and reside in a
foreign land, is something most afflicting and unbearableI for nothing is more !indred to us than out
natal country# ;or let anyone consider a naturali5ed citi5en an implacable enemyI such a person
could neither Dudge, nor govern properly, for his anger predominates over his reason# "et none
spea! ill either of the hole city, or of a private citi5en#
"et the guardians of the las !eep a atchful eye over offenders, first by admonishing them, and if
that is not sufficient, by punishment# Should any established la seem unsatisfactory, let it be
changed into a better oneI but hichever remain should be universally obeyedI for the brea!ing of
established las is neither beautiful nor beneficialI though it is both beautiful and beneficial to be
restrained by a more excellent la, as if van0uished thereby#
-ransgressors of established las should hoever be punished, as promoting anarchy, hich is the
greatest evil# -he magistrates should neither be arrogant, nor Dudge insultingly, nor in passing sen-
tence regard friendship, or hate, being partial, thus deciding more Dustly, and being orthy of the
magistracy# Slaves should do hat is Dust through fear, but free men, through shame, and for the
sa!e of beauty in conduct# Governors should be men of this !ind, to arouse reverence#
Anyone ho ishes to change any one of the established las, or to introduce another la, should
put a halter around his nec!, and address the people# And if from the suffrages it should appear that
the established la should be dissolved, or that a ne la should be introduced, let him not be pun-
ished# :ut if it should appear that the preexisting la is better, or, that the ne proposition is unDust,
let him ho ishes to change an old, or introduce a ne la, be executed by the halter#
4,A?A;3AS -,/ 4A-A;/A;
.?/6A4/ -A ,IS "A7S
6rom the Gods should begin any deliberation or performanceI for according to the old proverb1
=God should be the cause of all our deliberation and or!s#> 6urther, e should abstain from base
actions especially on account of consulting ith the godsI for there is no communication beteen
God and the unDust#
;ext, everyone should help himself, inciting himself to the underta!ing and performance of such
things as are conformable to his abilitiesI for it seems sordid and illiberal for a man to extend him-
self similarly to small and great underta!ing# @ou should carefully avoid rushing into things too ex-
tensive, or of too great importance# In every underta!ing you should measure your on desert and
poer, so as to succeed and gain credit#
A man or oman condemned by the city should not be assisted by anybodyI anyone ho should as-
sociate ith him should be disgraced, as similar to the condemned# :ut it is ell to love men ho
have been voted approved and to associate ith themI to imitate and ac0uire similar virtue and
probity, thus being initiated in the greatest and most perfect of the mysteriesI for no man is perfect
ithout virtue#
Assistance should be given to an inDured citi5en, hether he is in his on, or in a foreign country#
:ut let every stranger ho as venerated in his on country, and conformably to the proper las of
that country, be received or dismissed ith auspicious cordiality, calling to mind hospitable Eupiter,
as a God ho is established by all nations in common, and ho is the inspective guardian of hospit-
ality and inhospitality#
"et the older men preside over the younger, so that the latter may be deterred from, and ashamed of
vice, through reverence and fear of the form#
6or here the elders are shameless, so also are their children and grand children# Shamelessness
and impudence result in insolice and inDusticeI and of this the end is death#
"et none be impudent, but rather modest and temperateI for he ill thus earn the propitiousness of
the Gods, and for himself, achieve salvation1 no vicious men is dear to the divinities# "et every one
honor probity and truth, hating hat is base and false# -hese are the indications of virtue and vice#
6rom their very youth children should therefore be accustomed $to orthy manners(I by punishing
those ho love falsehood, and delighting those ho love the truth, so as to implant in each hat is
most beautiful, and most prolific of virtue#
/ach citi5en should be more anxious for a reputation for temperance than for isdom, hich pre-
tense often indicates ignorance of probity, and pusillanimity# -he pretense to temperance should
lead to a possession of itI for no one should feign ith his tongue that he performs beautiful deeds,
hen destitute or orthless and good intentions#
Can should preserve !indness toards their rulers, obeying and venerating them as if they ere
parentsI for hoever cannot see the propriety of this ill suffer the punishment of bad counsels
from the geniuses ho are the inspective guardians of the seat of empire# ?ulers are the guardians
of the city, and of the safety of the citi5ens#
Governors must preside Dustly over their subDects in a manner similar to that over their on chil-
dren, in passing sentences on others, propitiating hatred, and anger#
.raise and renon is due the rich ho have assisted the indigentI they should be considered saviors
of the children and defenders of their country# -he ants of those ho are poor through bad fortune
should be relievedI but not the ants resulting from indolence or intemperance# 7hile fortune is
common to all men, indolence and intemperance is peculiar to bad man# "et it be considered as a
orthy deed to point out anyone ho has acted unDustly, in order that the state may be saved, hav-
ing many guardians of its proprieties# "et the informer be considered a pious man, though his in-
formation affect his most familiar ac0uaintanceI for nothing is more intimate or !indred to a man
than his country# ,oever let not the information regard things done through involuntary ignor-
ance, but of such crimes as have been committed from a previous !noledge of their enormity# A
criminal ho shos enmity to the informer should be generally hated, that he may suffer the pun-
ishment of ingratitude, through hich he deprives himself of being cured of the greatest of diseases,
namely, inDustice#
6urther, let contempt of the Gods be considered as the greatest of ini0uities, also voluntary inDury to
parents, neglecting of rulers and las, and voluntary dishonoring of Dustice# "et him be considered
as a most Dust and holy citi5en ho honors these things, and to the rulers indicates the citi5ens that
despise them#
"et it be esteemed more honorable for a man to die for his country, than through a desire of life to
desert it, along ith probityI for it is better to die ell than to live basely and disgracefully#
7e should honor each of the dead not ith tears or lamentations, but ith good remembrance, and
ith an oblation of annual fruits# 6or hen, e grieve immoderately for the dead, e are ungrateful
to the terrestrial geniuses#
"et no one curse him by hom he has been inDuredI praise is more divine than defamation#
,e ho is superior to anger should be considered a better citi5en than he ho therethrough offends#
;ot praiseorthy, but shameful is it to surpass temples and palaces in the sumptuousness of his ex-
pense# ;o thing private should be more magnificent and venerable than things of a public nature#
"et him ho is a slave to ealth and money be despised, as pusillanimous and illiberal, being im-
pressed by sumptuous possessions, yet a tragical and vile life# -he magnanimous man foresees all
human concerns, and is not disturbed by any accident of fortune#
"et no one spea! obscenelyI lest his thoughts lead him to base deeds, and defile his soul ith im-
pudence# .roper and lovely things it is ell and legal to advertiseI but such things are honored by
being !ept silent# It is base even to mention something disgraceful#
"et every one dearly love laful ife and beget children by her# :ut let none shed the seed due his
children into any other person, and let him not disgrace that hich is honorable by both nature and
la# 6or nature produced the seed for the sa!e of producing the children, and not for the sa!e of
lust#
A ife should be chaste, and refuse impious connection ith other men, as by so doing she ill
subDect herself to the vengeance of the geniuses, hose office it is to expel those to they are hostile
from their houses, and to produce hatred#
,e ho gives a step-mother to his children should not be praised, but disgraced, as the cause of do-
mestic dissension# As it is proper to observe these mandates, let him ho transgresses them be sub-
Dected to political execration#
-he la also orders that these introductory suggestions be !non by all citi5ens, and should be read
in festivals after the hymns to Apollo called paens, by him ho is appointed for this purpose by the
master of the feast, so that these precepts may germinate in the minds of all ho hear them#
4A""I4?A-I3AS
A; -,/ 6/"I4I-@ A6 6ACI"I/S
-he universe must be considered as a system of !indred communion or association# :ut every sys-
tem consists of certain dissimilar contraries, and is organi5ed ith reference to one particular thing,
hich is the most excellent, and also ith a vie to benefit the maDority# 7hat e call choir is a
system of musical communion in vie of one common thing, a concert of voices# 6urther, a ships
construction-plan contains many dissimilar contrary things, hich are arranged ith reference to
one thing hich is best, the pilot and the common advantage of a prosperous voyage#
;o a family is also a system of !indred communion, consisting of dissimilar proper partsI organ-
ised in vie of the best thing, the father of the family, the common advantage being unanimity#
In the same manner as a 5ither, family re0uires three things1 apparatus, organi5ation, and a certain
manner of practice, or musical use# An apparatus being the composition of all its parts, is that from
hich the hole, and the hole system of !indred communion derives its consummation# A family
is divided into to divisionsI man and the possessionsI hich latter is the thing governed, that af-
fords utility# -hus also, an animals first and greatest parts are soul and bodyI soul being that hich
governs and uses, the body being that hich is governed, and affords utility# .ossessions indeed are
the adventitious instruments of human life, hile the body is a tool born along ith the soul, and
!indred to it# Af the persons that complete a family, some are relatives, and others only attracted ac-
0uaintances#
-he !indred are born from the same blood, or race# -he affinities are an accidental alliance, com-
mencing ith the communion of edloc!# -hese are either fathers or brothers, or maternal and pa-
ternal grandfathers, or other relatives by marriage#
:ut if the good arising from friendship is also to be referred to a family, O for thus it ill become
greater and more magnificent, not only through an abundance of ealth and many relations, but
also through numerous friends, O in this case it is evident that the family ill thus become more
ample, and that friendship is s social relation essential to a family#
.ossessions are either necessary or desirable# -he necessary subserve the ants of lifeI the desirable
produce an elegant and ell-ordered life, replacing many other MnecessariesN# ,oever, hatever
exceeds hat is needed for an elegant and ell-ordered life are the roots of antonness, insolence
and destruction# Great possessions sell out ith pride, and this leads to arrogance, and fastidious-
ness, conceiving that their !indred, nation and tribe do not e0ual them# 6astidiousness leads to in-
solence, hose end is destruction# 7herever then, in family or city there is a superfluity of posses-
sions, the legislator must cut off and amputate the superfluities, as a good husbandman prunes lux-
urious leafage#
In the familys domestic part there are three divisions1 the governor, the husbandI the ifeI and the
auxiliary, the offspring#
7ith respect to practical and rational domination, one !ind is despotic, another protective, and an-
other political# -he despotic is that hich governs ith a vie to the advantage of the governor, and
not of the governed, as a master rules his slaves, or a tyrant his subDects# :ut the guardians domina-
tion subsists for the sa!e of the governed, and not the governor1 as the masseurs rule the athletes,
physicians over the sic!, and preceptors over their pupils# -heir labors are not directed to their on
advantage, but to the benefit of those they governI those of the physician being underta!en for the
sa!e of the sic!, that of the masseurs for the sa!e of exercising somebody elses body, and those of
the erudite for the ignorant# .olitical domination, hoever, aims at the common benefit of both gov-
ernors and governed# 6or in human affairs, according to this domination are organi5ed both a family
and a cityI Dust as the orld and divine affairs are in correspondence# A family and a city stand in a
relation, analogous to the government of the orld# 3ivinity indeed is the principle of nature, and
his attention is directed neither to his on advantage, nor to private good, but to that of the public#
-hat is hy the orld is called cosmos, from the orderly disposition of all things, hich are mutu-
ally organi5ed of the most excellent, hich is God, ho, according to our notions of him, is a celes-
tial living being, incorruptible, and the principle and cause of the orderly disposition of the holes#
Since therefore the husband rules over the ife, he rules ith a poer either despotic, protective or
political# 3espotic is out of the 0uestion, as he diligently attends to her elfareI nor is it protective
entirely, for he has to consider himself also# It remains therefore that he rules over her ith a polit-
ical poer, according to hich both the governor and governed see! the common advantage# ,ence
edloc! is established ith a vie to the communion of life# -hose husbands that govern their
ives despotically are by them hatedI those that govern them protectively are despisedI being as it
mere appendages and flatterers of their ives# :ut those that govern them politically are both ad-
mired and beloved# :oth these ill be effective if he ho governs exercises his poer so that it may
be mingled ith pleasure and venerationI pleasure at his fondness, but veneration at his doing noth-
ing vile or abDect#
,e ho ishes to marry ought to ta!e for a ife one hose fortune is conformable to his on,
neither above nor beneath, but of e0ual property# -hose ho marry a oman above their condition
have to contend for the mastershipI for the ife, surpassing her husband in ealth and lineage,
ishes to rule over himI but he considers it to be orthy of him, and unnatural to submit to his ife#
:ut those ho marry a ife beneath their condition subvert the dignity and reputation of their fam-
ily# Ane should imitate the musician, ho having learned the proper tone of his voice, moderates it
so as to be neither sharp nor flat, nor bro!en, nor strident# So edloc! should be adDusted to the tone
of the soul, so that the husband and ife may accord, not only in prosperity but also in adversity#
-he husband should be his ifes regulator, master and preceptor# ?egulator, in paying diligent at-
tention to his ifes affairsI master, in governing, and exercising authority over her, and preceptor
in teaching her such things as are fitting for her to !no# -his ill be specially effected by him
ho, directing his attention to orthy parents, from their family marries a virgin in the floer of her
youth# Such virgins are easily fashioned and docileI and are naturally ell disposed to be instructed
by, and to fear and love their husbands#
A; -,/ 3B-I/S A6 A 7ACA;
A oman should be a harmony of prudence and temperance# ,er soul should be 5ealous to ac0uire
virtueI so that she may be Dust, brave, prudent, frugal, and hating vain-glory# 6urnished ith these
virtues, she ill, hen she become a ife act orthily toards herself, her husband, her children
and her family# 6re0uently also such a oman ill act beautifully toards cities, if she happens to
rule over cities and nations, as e see is sometimes the case in a !ingdom# If she subdues desire and
anger, there ill be produced a divine symphony# She ill not be pursued by illegal loves, being de-
voted to her husband, children and family# 7omen fond of connections ith outside man come to
hate their families, both the free members, and the slaves# -hey also plot against their husbands,
falsely representing them as the calumniators of all their ac0uaintance, so that they alone may ap-
pear benevolentI and they govern their families in a ay such as may be expected from lovers of in-
dolence#
Such conduct leads to the destruction of everything common to husband and ife#
-he body should also be trained to moderation in food, clothes, baths, massage, hairdressing and
Deelry adornment# Sumptuous eating, drin!ing, garments and !eepsa!es involve them in every
crime, and faithlessness to their husband and everybody else# It is sufficient to satisfy hunger and
thirst, and this from easily accessible thingsI and protect themselves from the cold by garments of
the simplest description# It is 0uite a vice to feed on things brought from distant countries, and
bought at a great price# It is also great folly to search after excessively elegant garments, made bril-
liant ith purple or other precious colors#
-he body itself demands no more than to be saved from cold and na!edness, for the sa!e $of( pro-
priety, and that is all it needs# Cens opinions, combined ith ignorance, demands inanities and su-
perfluities# ;o oman should be decorated ith gold, nor gems from India, nor any other country,
nor plait her hair artistically, nor be perfumed ith Arabian perfumes, nor paint her face so that it
may be more hite or more red, nor give a dar! tinge to her eyebros and her eyes, nor artificially
dye her gray hair, nor bathe continually# A oman of this sort is hunting a spectator of female in-
temperance# -he beauty produced by prudence, and not by these particulars, pleases omen that are
ell born# ;either should she consider it necessary to be noble, rich b--- in a great city, glory, have
glory, and the friendship of renoned or royal men# -he presence of such should not cause her an-
noyance, but should they be absent, she should not regret themI their absence ill not hinder the
prudent oman from living properly# ,er soul should not anxiously dream about them, but ignore
them# -hey are really more harmful than beneficial, as they mislead to misfortuneI inevitable are
treachery, envy and calumny, so that their possessor cannot be free from perturbation#
She should venerate the Gods, thereby hoping to achieve felicity, also by obeying the las and sac-
red institutions of her country# After the gods, she should honor and venerate her parents, ho co-
operate ith the gods in benefiting their children#
Coreover she ought to live ith her husband MlegallyN and !indly, claiming nothing as her on
property, but preserving and protecting his bedI this protection contains all# things# In a be---ring
manner she should bear any stro!e of fortune that may stri!e her husbandI hether he is unfortunate
in business, or ma!es ignorant mista!es, is sic!, intoxicated, or has connection ith other omen#
-his last is a privilege granted to men, but not to omen, since they are punished for this offence#
She must submit to the la ith e0uanimity, ithout Dealousy# She should li!eise patiently bear
his anger, his parsimony, complaints he may ma!e of his destiny, his Dealousy, his accusations of
here and hatever other faults he may inherit from his nature# All these she should cheerfully en-
dure, conducting herself toards him ith prudence and modesty# A ife ho is dear to her hus-
band, and ho truly performs her duty toards him, is a domestic harmony, and loves the hole of
her family, to hich also she conciliates the benevolence of strangers#
If hoever she loves neither her husband nor her children, nor her servants, nor ishes to see any
sacrifice preserved, then she becomes the herald of every !ind of destruction, hich she li!eise
prays for, as being an enemy, and also prays for the death of her husband, as being hostile to him, in
order that she may be connected ith other menI and in the last place she hates hatever her hus-
band loves#
:ut a ife ill be a domestic harmony if she is full of prudence and modesty# 6or then she ill love
not only her husband, but also her children, her !indred, her servants, and the hole of her family,
among hich she numbers her possessions, friends, fello citi5ens, and strangers# -heir bodies she
ill adorn ithout any superfluous ornaments, and ill both spea! and hear such things only as are
beautiful and good# She should conform to her husbands opinion in respect to their common life,
and be satisfied ith those relatives and friends as meet his approbation# Bnless she is entirely
devoid of harmony she ill consider pleasant or disagreeable such things hich are thought so by
her husband#
A; -,/ ,A?CA;@ A6 A 7ACA;
.arents ought not to be inDured either in ord or deedI and hatever their ran! in life, small or
great, they should be obeyed# 4hildren should remain ith them, and never forsa!e them, and al-
most to submit to them, even hen they are insane, in every allotted condition of soul or bad body,
or external circumstances, in peace, health, sic!ness, riches, poverty, renon, ignominy, class, or
magistrates ran!# Such conduct ill be isely and cheerfully adopted by the pious# ,e ho des-
pises his parents ill both among the living and the dead be condemned for this crime by the Gods,
ill be hated by men, and under earth ill, together ith the impious, be eternally punished in the
same place by Eustice, and the subterranean Gods, hose province it is to inspect things of this !ind#
-he aspect of parents is a thing divine and beautiful, and a diligent observance of them is attended
by a delight such that neither a vie of the sun, nor of all the stars hich sing around the illumin-
ated heavens, is capable of producing any spectacle greater than this# -he Gods are not envious in a
case li!e this#
7e should reverence parents both hile living and dead, and never oppose them in anything they
say or do# If ignorant of anything through deception or disease, their children should console and in-
struct, but by no means hate them on this account# 6or no greater error or inDustice can be commit-
ted by men than to act impiously toards their parents#
A?IS-AJ/;BS A6 -A?/;-BC
A.A-,/GCS
After divinity and geniuses, the greatest respect should be paid to parents and the lasI not ficti-
tiously, but in reality preparing ourselves to an observance of, and perseverance in, the manners and
las of our country, though they should be in a small degree orse than those of other countries#
$6?AC -,/ 6AB?-, :AAK(
:ut after these things follo the honors hich should be paid to living parents, it being right to dis-
charge the first, the greatest, and the most ancient of all debts# /very one, li!eise, should thin! that
all hich he possesses belongs to those ho begot and nurtured him, in order that he may be minis-
trant to their ant to the utmost of his ability, beginning from his propertyI in the second place, dis-
charging his debt to them from things pertaining to his bodyI and in the third place, from things per-
taining to his soulI thus ith usury repayingK the cares and pains hich his no very aged parents
bestoed on him hen he as young# -hrough the hole of life, li!eise, he should particularly
employ the most respectful language in spea!ing to his parentsI because there is a most severe pun-
ishment for light and inged ordsI and ;emesis, the messenger of Eustice, is appointed to be the
inspector of everything of this !ind#
7hen parents are angry therefore, e should yield to them, and appease their anger, hether it is
seen in ords or deedsI ac!noledging that a father may reasonably be very much enraged ith his
son, hen he thin!s that he has been inDured by him#
An the parents death, the most appropriate and beautiful monuments should be raised to themI not
exceeding the usual magnitude, nor yet less than those hich our ancestors erected for their parents#
/very year, also, attention ought to be paid to the decoration of their tombs# -hey should li!eise
be continually remembered and reverenced, and this ith a moderate but appropriate expense#
:y alays acting and living in this manner e shall each of us be rearded according to our
deserts, both by those Gods and those natures that are superior to us, and shall pass the greatest part
of our life in good hope#
/B?@.,ACBS
4A;4/?;I;G ,BCA; "I6/
-he perfect life of man falls short indeed of the life of God, because it is not self-perfect, but sur-
passes that of irrational animals, participating as it does of virtue and felicity# 6or neither is God in
ant of external causes, -- as he is naturally good and happy, and is perfect from himselfI -- nor any
irrational animal# 6or brutes being destitute of reason, the are also destitute of the sciences pertain-
ing to actions# :ut the nature of man partly consists of his on proper deliberate choice, and partly
is in ant of the assistance derived from divinity# 6or that hich is capable of being fashioned by
reason, hich has an intellectual perception of things beautiful and base, can from earth erect itself
and loo! to heaven, and ith the eye of intellect can perceive the highest God, -- that hich is cap-
able of all this li!eise receives assistance from the Gods#
:ut in conse0uence of possessing ill, deliberate choice, and a principle of such a !ind as enables it
to study virtue, and to be agitated by the storms of vice, to follo, and also to apostaci5e from the
Gods, -- it is li!eise able to be moved by itself# ,ence it may be praised or blamed, partly by the
Gods, and partly by man, according as it applies itself 5ealously either to virtue or vice#
6or the hole reason of the thing is as follos1 3ivinity introduced man into the orld as a most
ex0uisite being, to be honored reciprocally ith 3ivinity, and as the eye of the orderly systemati5a-
tion of everything# ,ence also man gave things names, himself becoming the character of them# ,e
also invented letters, through these procuring a treasury of memory# ,e imitated the established or-
der of the universe, by las and Dudicial proceedings, organi5ing the communion of cities# 6or no
human or! is more honorable in the eyes of the orld, nor more orthy of notice by the Gods,
than proper constitution of a city governed by good las, distributed in an orderly fashion
throughout the state# 6or though by himself no man amounts to anything, and by himself is not able
to lead a life conforming to the common concord, and to the proper organi5ation of a state, yet he is
ell adapted to the perfect system of society#
,uman life resembles a properly tuned and cared for lyre# /very lyre re0uires three things1 apparat-
us, tuning, and musical s!ill of the player# :y apparatus e mean preparation of all the appropriate
partsI the strings, $the plectrum( and other instruments cooperating in the tuning of the instrument#
:y tuning e mean the adaptation of the sounds to each other# -he musical s!ill is the motion of the
player in consideration of the tuning# ,uman life re0uires the same three things# Apparatus is the
preparation of the physical basis of life, riches, renon, and friends# -uning is the organi5ing of
these according to virtue and the las# Cusical s!ill is the mingling of these accord ing to virtue
and the las, virtue sailing ith a prosperous ind, ith no external resistance# 6or felicity does not
consist in being driven from the purpose of voluntary intentions, but in obtaining theI nor in virtue
lac!ing attendants and serversI but in completely possessing its on proper poers hich are adap-
ted to actions#
6or man is not self-perfectI he is imperfect# ,e may become perfect partly from himself, and partly
from some external cause# "i!eise, he may be perfect either according to nature or to life# Accord-
ing to nature he is perfect, if he becomes a good manI as the virtue of everything is the climax and
perfection of the nature of that thing# -hus the virtue of the eyes is the climax and perfection of their
natureI and this is also true of the virtue of the ears# -hus too the virtue of man is the climax and
perfection of the nature of man# :ut man is perfect according to life hen he becomes happy# 6or
felicity is the perfection and completion of human goods# ,ence, again, virtue and prosperity be-
come parts of the life of man#
<irtue, indeed is a part of him so far as he is soulI but prosperity, so far as he is connected ith
bodyI but both parts of him, so far as he is an animal# 6or it is the province of virtue to us in a be-
coming manner the goods hich are conformable to natureI but of prosperity to impart the use of
them# -he former indeed imparts deliberate choice and right reasonI but the latter, energies and ac-
tions# 6or to ish hat is beautiful in conduct, and to endure things of a dreadful nature, is the
proper business of virtue# :ut it is the hole of prosperity to render deliberate choice successful and
to cause actions to arrive at the desired end# 6or a general con0uers in conDunction ith virtue and
good fortune# -he pilot sails ell in conDunction ith art and prosperous indsI the eye sees ell in
conDunction ith acuteness of vision, and light# So the life of man reaches its perfection through vir-
tue itself, and prosperity#
,%..A?4,BS
A; -?A;PBI"I-@
Since men live but for a very short period, if their life is compared to the hole of time, they ill,
as it ere, ma!e a most beautiful Dourney, if they pass through life ith tran0uillity# -his they ill
best possess if they ill accurately and scientifically !no themselves, namely that they are mortal
and of a fleshly nature, and that they have a body hich is corruptible, and can be easily inDured,
and hich is exposed to everything most grievous and severe, even to their latest breath#
In the first place, let us observe those things hich happen to the bodyI such as pleurisy, pneumo-
nia, phrensy, gout, strangury, dysentery, lethargy, epilepsy, ulcers, and a thousand other diseases#
:ut the diseases that can happen to the soul are much greater and direr# 6or all the ini0uitous, evil,
laless and impious conduct in the life of man, originates from the passions of the soul# 6or through
unnatural immoderate desires many have become subDect to unrestrained impulsesI and have not re-
frained from the most unholy pleasures, arising from connections ith daughters and even mothers#
Cany have even destroyed their fathers and offspring# :ut hat is the use to continue detailing ex-
ternally impending evils, such as excessive rain, draught, violent heat, and coldI so that fre0uently
from the anomalous state of the air, pestilence and famine arise, folloed by manifold calamities
ma!ing hole cities desolate# Since therefore many such calamities impend, e should neither be
elated by the possession of orldly goods, hich might rapidly be consumed by the irruption of
some small fever, nor ith hat are conceived to be prosperous external circumstances, hich from
their on nature fre0uently decay 0uic!er than they arose# 6or all these are uncertain and unstable,
and are found to have their existence in many and various mutationsI and no one of them is perman-
ent, or immutable, or stable, or indivisible# 4onsidering these things ell, and also being persuaded
that if hat is present and is imparted to us, is able to remain for the smallest portion of time, it is as
much as e ought to expectI e shall then live in tran0uillity, and ith hilarity, generously bearing
hatever may befall us#
;o many people imagine that all they have and hat they receive from fortune and nature is better
than it is, not reali5ing hat it is in realityI but such as it is able to become hen it has arrived at its
highest excellence# -hey then burden the soul ith many and, great, and nefarious stupid evils,
hen they are suddenly deprived of these transitory goods# -hat is ho they lead a most bitter and
miserable life# :ut this ta!es place in the loss of riches, or the death of friends and children, or in
the privation of certain other things, hich by them are conceived to be possessions most honor-
able# Afterards, eeping and lamenting, they assert of themselves, that they alone are most unfor-
tunate and miserable, not remembering that these things have happened, and even no happen to
many othersI nor are they able to understand the life of those that are no in existence, and of those
that have lived in former times, nor to see in hat great calamities and aves of evils many of the
present times are, and of the past have been involved# -herefore considering ith ourselves that
many ho have lost their property have afterards on account of this very loss been saved, since
thereafter they might either have fallen into the hands of robbers, or into the poer of a tyrantI that
many also ho have loved certain persons, and have been extremely benevolently disposed toards
them, but have afterards hated them extremely, O considering all these things, of hich history in-
forms usI and learning li!eise that many have been destroyed by their on children, and by those
they have most dearly loved, and comparing our on life ith that of those ho have been more
unhappy that e have been, and ta!ing into account general human vicissitudes, that happen to oth-
ers beside ourselves, e shall pass through life ith greater tran0uillity#
A reasonable man il% not thin! the calamities of others easy to be born, but not his onI since he
sees that the hole of life is naturally exposed to many calamities# -hose hoever ho eep and
lament besides not being able to recover hat they have lost, or recall to life those that are dead, im-
pel the soul to still greater perturbationsI in conse0uence of its being filled ith much depravity#
:eing ashed and purified, e should do our best to ipe aay our inveterate stains, by the reason-
ings of philosophy# -his e shall accomplish by adhering to prudence and tolerance, being satisfied
ith our present circumstances, and not aspiring after too many things# Cen ho gather a great
abundance of external things do not consider that enDoyment of them terminates ith this present
life# 7e should therefore use the present goodsI and by the assistance of the beautiful and venerable
results of philosophy e shall be liberated from the insatiable desire of depraved possessions#
C/-A.BS
4A;4/?;I;G <I?-B/
Cans virtue is the perfection of his nature# :y the proper nature of his virtue, every being becomes
perfect, and arrives at the climax of its excellence# -hus the virtue of the horse is that hich ma!es
the best of the horses nature# -he same reasoning applies to details# -hus the virtue of the eyes is
acuteness of visionI and this is the climax of the eyes nature# -he virtue of the ears is acuteness of
hearingI and this is the MauralN natures climax# -he virtue of the feet is siftnessI and this is the
pedal natures climax#
/very virtue, hoever, should include these three things1 reason, poer, and deliberate choice#
?eason indeed, Dudges and contemplatesI poer prohibits and van0uishesI and deliberate choice
loves and enDoys propriety# -herefore to Dudge and contemplate pertain to the intellectual part of the
soulI to prohibit and van0uish are the peculiarity of the irrational part of the soulI and to love and
enDoy propriety includes both rational and irrational parts of the soulI for deliberate choice consists
of the discursive energy of reason, and appetite# Intention therefore, pertains to the rational, but ap-
petite to the irrational parts of the soul#
7e may discern the multitude of the virtues by observing the parts of the soulI also the groth and
nature of virtue# Af the souls parts, to ran! first1 the rational and the irrational# It is by their ra-
tional that e Dudge and contemplateI by the irrational e are impelled and desire# -hese are either
consonant or discordant, their strife and dissonance being produced be excess or defect# -he rational
parts victory over the irrational produces endurance and continence# 7hen the rational leads, the ir-
rational follos, both accord, and produce virtue# -hat is hy endurance and continence are gener-
ally accompanied by painI for endurance resists pain and continence pleasure# ,oever, incontin-
ence and effeminacy neither resist nor van0uish pleasure# -hat is hy men fly from good through
pain, but reDect it through pleasure# "i!eise praise and blame, and everything beautiful in human
conduct, are produced in these parts of the soul# -his explains the nature, of virtue#
"et us study virtues !inds and parts# Since the soul is divided into to parts, the rational and the ir-
rational, the latter is also divided into to, the irascible and appetitive part# :y the rational e Dudge
and contemplateI by the irrational e are impelled and desire# -he irascible part defends us, and re-
venges incidental molestationsI the appetitive directs and preserves the bodys proper constitution#
So e see that the numerous virtues ith all their differences and peculiarities do little more than
conform to the distinctive parts of the soul#
4?I-A MG++ :#4#N
A; .?B3/;4/ A;3 .?AS./?I-@
Such is the mutual relation of prudence and prosperity# .rudence is explainable and reasonable, or-
derly and definite# .rosperity is unexplainable, and irrational, disorderly, and indefinite# In origina-
tion and poer, prudence is prior to prosperityI the former governing and defining, the latter being
governed and definedI but they are mutually adDusting, concurring in the same thing# 6or that hich
limits and adDusts must be explainable and reasonable, hile that hich is limited and adDustedI is
naturally unexplainable and irrational# -hat is ho the reason of the infinites nature, and of the lim-
iter subsists in all things# Infinites are alays naturally disposed to be limited and adDusted by things
possessing reason and prudence for in the relation to the latter, the former stand as matter and es-
sence# :ut finites are self-adDusted and self-limited, being causal and energetic#
-he mutual adDustment of these natures in different things produces a variety of adDusted sub-
stances# 6or in the comprehension of the hole of things, the mutual adDustment of both the moving
and the passive, is the orld# -here is no other possible ay of salvation for the hole and the uni-
verse, than by the adDustment of the things generated to the divine, and of the ever passive to the
ever moved# -he similar adDustment, in man, of the irrational to the rational part of the soul is vir-
tue, for this cannot exist in case of mutual strife beteen the to# So also in a city, the mutual ad-
Dustment of the governors to the governed produces strength and concord# Governing is the spe-
cialty of the better natureI hile being governed is more suited to the subordinate part# -o both are
common strength and concord# A similar mutual adDustment exists in the universe and in the familyI
the former being a resultance of allurements and erudition ith reason, the latter of pains and pleas-
ures, prosperity and adversity# Cans constitution is such that he needs changes, or! and rest, sor-
ro and gladeness, prosperity and adversity#
Some things dra the intellect toards isdom, and industry, and !eep it thereI others relax and de-
light, rendering the intellect vigorous and prompt# Should one of these elements prevail, then mans
life becomes one-sided, exaggerating sorro and difficulty, or levity and smoothness# ;o all these
should be mutually adDusted by prudence, hich discerns and distinguishes in actions the elements
of limitation and infinity# -hat is hy prudence is the mother and leader of the other virtues# 6or it
is prudences reason and la hich organi5e and harmoni5e all other virtues#
Summari5ing1 -he irrational and explainable are to be found in all thingsI the latter defines and lim-
its, the former is defined and bounded# -he resultance of both is the proper organisation of the
hole and the universe#
God fashioned man in a ay such as to declare that not through the ant of poer or deliberate
choice, that man is incapable of impulsion to beauty of conduct# In man as implanted a principle
such as to combine the possible ith the desirableI so that hile man is the cause of poer and of
the possession of good, God is that of reasonable impulse and incitation# So God made man tend to
heaven, gave him an intellective poer, implanted in him a sight called intellect, hich is capable
of beholding God# 6or ithout God, it is impossible to discover hat is best and most beautifulI and
ithout intellect e cannot see God, since every mortal natures establishment implied a progress-
ive loss of intellect# It is not God, hoever, ho effected this, but generation, and that impulse of
the soul hich lac!s deliberate choice#
.A"BS Mca G9+ :#4#N
A; EBS-I4/
I thin! that the Dustice hich subsists among men may be called the mother and nurse of the other
virtues# 7ithout it no man can be temperate, brave, nor prudent# In conDunction ith elegance it is
the harmony and peace of the hole soul# -his virtues strength ill become more manifest if e
compare it to the other habits# -hey have a partial utility, and refer to one thing onlyI hile this
refers to a multitude, nay, to hole systems# It conducts the hole orld government and is called
providence, harmony, and vengeance $3i!e(, by the decrees of a certain !ind of geniuses# In a city it
is Dustly called peace, and e0uitable legislation# In a house, it is the concord beteen husband and
ifeI the !indliness of the servant toards his master, and the anxious care of the master for his ser-
vant# In the body, li!eise, hich to all animals is the first and dearest thing, it is the health and
holeness of each part# In the soul it is the isdom that depends from science and Dustice# As there-
fore this virtue disciplines and saves both the hole and parts of everything, mutually tuning and fa-
miliari5ing all things, it surely deserves, by universal suffrages, to be called the mother and nurse of
all things#
S-,/;I3AS -,/ "A4?IA; MG++ :#4#N
A; A KI;G3AC
A !ing should be a ise manI thus ill he be honored in the same manner as the supreme divinity,
hose imitator he ill be# As the supreme is by nature the first !ing and potentate, so ill a !ing be,
by birth and imitation# As the former rules in the universe, and in the hole of things, so does the
latter in the earth# 7hile the former governs all things eternally, and has a never-failing life, pos-
sessing all isdom in himself, so the latter ac0uires science through time# :ut a !ing ill imitate the
6irst God in the most excellent manner, if he ac0uires magnanimity, gravity, and the restriction of
his ants to but fe things, to his subDect exhibiting a paternal disposition# 6or it is because of this
especially that the 6irst God is called the father of both Gods and men, because he is mild to
everything that is subDect to him, and never ceases to govern ith providential regard# ;or is he sat-
isfied ith being the Ca!er of all things, but he is the nourisher and preceptor of every thing beauti-
ful, and the legislator to all things e0ually# Such also ought to be a !ing ho on earth rules over
men#
;othing is beautiful, that lac!s a director, or ruler# Again, no !ing or ruler can exist ithout isdom
and science# ,e therefore ho is both a sage and a !ing ill be an imitator and legitimate minister
of God#
/4.,A;-BS -,/ 4?A-A;IA; Mca G++ :#4#N
A; KI;GS
Cany arguments apparently prove that every beings nature is adapted to the orld and the things it
contains# /very animal thus conspiring $into union and consent( and having such an organi5ation of
its parts, it follos, through the attractive progress of the universe around it, an excellent and neces-
sary evolution hich produces the general ornamentation of the orld, and the peculiar permanence
of every thing it contains# ,ence it is called the $ornamental( kosmos, and is the most perfect being#
7hen e study its parts, e find them many, and naturally different# 6irst, a being ho is the best,
both from its native alliance to the orld, and in its particular divinity $containing the stars called
planets, forming the first and greatest series(# Second is the nature of the geniuses, in the sublunar
region, here bodies move in a right line# -hird, in the earth, and ith us, the best being is man, of
hom the divinest is a !ing, surpassing other men in his general being# 7hile his body resembles
that of other men, being made of the same physical matter, he as molded by the best sculptors,
ho used him as the archetype# ,ence, in a certain respect, a !ing is one and aloneI being the pro-
duction of the supernal !ing, ith hom he is alays familiarI being beheld by his subDects in his
!ingdom as a splendid light#
A !ingdom has been said to resemble an eagle, the most excellent of inged animals, ho un-
da55led, stares at the sun # A !ingdom is also similar to the sun, because it is divineI and because of
its exceeding splendor cannot be seen ithout difficulty, except by piercing eyes, that are genuine#
6or the numerous splendors that surround it, and the blac! eye-clouds it produces in those that ga5e
at it, as if they had ascended into some foreign altitude, demonstrates that their eyes are spurious#
-hose hoever ho can safely arrive thither, either because of their familiarity thereith, or their
alliance ith it can, use it properly# A !ingdom, therefore, is something pure, genuine, uncorrupted
and because of its preeminence, divine and difficult of access# ,e ho is established therein should
naturally be most pure and $thin!( clearly, that by his personal stains he may not obscure so splen-
did an institutionI as some persons defile the most sacred places, and the impure pollute those they
meet# :ut a !ing, ho associates ith the $best(, should be undefiled, realising ho much diviner
than other things are both himself and his prerogativesI and from the divine exemplar of hich he is
an image, he should treat both himself and his subDects orthily#
7hen other men are delin0uents, their most holy purification causes them to imitate their rulers,
hether las or !ing# :ut !ings ho cannot on earth find anything better than their on nature to
imitate, should not aste time in see!ing any model other or loer than God himself# ;o one ould
long search for the orld, seeing that he exists in it, as a part of itI so the governor of others should
not ignore him by hom he also is governed# :eing ruled is the supreme ornament, inasmuch as
there is nothing rulerless in the universe#
A !ings manners should also be the inspiration of his government# -hus its beauty ill immedi-
ately shine forth, since he ho imitates God through virtue ill surely be dear to him hom he im-
itatesI and much more dear ill he be to his subDects# ;o one ho is beloved by the divinity ill be
hated by menI# since neither do the stars, nor the hole orld hate God# 6or if they hated their ruler
and leader, they ould never obey him# :ut it is because he governs properly that human affairs are
properly governed# -he earthly !ing, therefore, should not be deficient in any of the virtues, dis-
tinctive of the heavenly ruler#
;o as an earthly !ing is something foreign external, inasmuch as he descends to men from the
heavens, so li!eise his virtues may be considered as or!s of God, and to descend upon him from
divinity# @ou ill find this true, if you study out the hole thing from the beginning# An earthly
!ing obtains possession of subDects by an agreement, hich is the first essential# -he truth of this
may be gathered from the state of affairs produced by the destruction of the unanimity among cit-
i5ens, hich indeed is much inferior to a divine and royal nature# Such natures are not oppressed by
any such povertyI but, conforming to intellect, they supply the ants of others, assisting them in
common, being perfect in virtue# :ut the friendship obtaining in a city, and hich possesses a cer-
tain common end, imitates the concord of the universe# ;o city could be inhabited ithout an insti-
tution of magistrates# -o effect this, hoever, and to preserve the city, there is a necessity of las, a
political domination, and a governor and the governed# All this happens for the general good, for
unanimity, and the consent of the people in harmony ith organic efficiency# "i!eise, he ho
governs according to virtue, is called a !ing, and is so in realityI since he possesses the same friend-
ship and communion ith his subDects, as divinity possesses ith the orld, and its contained
natures# All benevolence, hoever, ought to be exerted, in the first place, indeed, by the !ing to-
ards his subDectsI second, by the subDects toards the !ingI and this benevolence should be similar
to that of a parent toards his child, of a shepherd toards his floc!, and of the la toards the
la-abiding#
6or there is one virtue pertaining to the government, and to the life of men# ;o one should, through
indigence, solicit the assistance of others, hen he is able to supply himself ith hat nature re-
0uires# -hough $in the city( there is a certain community of goods, yet every one should live so as to
be self-sufficientI and the latter re0uires the aid of none others in his passage through life# If there-
fore it is necessary to lead an active life, it is evident that a !ing, though he should also consume
other things, ill nevertheless be self-sufficient# 6or have friends through his on virtueI and in us-
ing these, he ill not use them by any virtue other than that by hich he regulates his on life# 6or
he must follo a virtue of this !ind, since he cannot procure anything more excellent# God, indeed,
needing neither ministers nor servants, nor employing any mandate, and neither croning nor pro-
claiming those that are obedient to him, or disgracing those that are disobedient, thus administers so
great an empire# In a manner to me appearing most orthy of imitation, into all things he instills a
most 5ealous desire to participate in his nature# As he is good, the most easy possible communica-
tion thereof is his only or!# -hose ho imitate him find that this imitation enables them to accom-
plish everything else better# Indeed this imitation of God is the self-sufficiency of everything elseI
for there is an identity, and no difference beteen the virtues that ma!e things acceptable to God,
and those that imitate himI and is not our earthly !ing, in a similar manner self-sufficientK :y as-
similating himself to one, and that the most excellent nature, he ill beneficently endeavor to as-
similate all his subDects to himself#
Such !ings, hoever, as toards their subDects use violence and compulsion entirely destroy in
every individual of the community a readiness to imitate him# 7ithout benevolence, no assimilation
is possibleI since benevolence particularly effaces fear# It is indeed much to be desired that human
nature should not be in ant of persuasionI hich is the relic of human depravity, of hich the tem-
poral being called man is not destitute# .ersuasion, indeed, is a!in to necessityI inasmuch as it is
chiefly used on persons flying from necessity# :ut persuasion is needless ith beings such as spon-
taneously see! the beautiful and good#
Again, a !ing alone is, capable of effecting human perfection, that through imitation of the good
man may pursue propriety and lovelinessI and that those ho are corrupted as if by intoxication,
and ho have fallen into an ignorance of the good by bad education, may be strengthened by the
!ings elo0uence, may have their diseased minds healed, and their depravitys da5edness expelled,
may become mindful of an intimate associate, hose influence may persuade them# -hough origin-
ating from undesirable seeds, yet $this royal influence( is the source of a certain good to humans, in
hich language supplies our deficiencies, in our mutual converse#
,e ho has a sacred and divine conception of things ill in reality be a !ing# .ersuaded by this, he
ill be the cause all good, but of no evil# /vidently, as he is fitted for society, he ill become Dust#
6or communion or association consists in e0uality, and in its distribution# Eustice indeed precedes,
but communion participates# 6or it is impossible for a man to be unDust, and yet distribute e0ualityI
or that he should distribute e0uality, and yet not be adapted to association#
,o is it possible that he ho is self-sufficient should not be continentK 6or sumptuousness is the
mother of incontinence, and this of anton insolence, and from this an innumerable host of ills# :ut
self-sufficiency is not mastered by sumptuousness, nor by any of its derivative evils, but itself being
a principle, it leads to all things, and is not led by any# -o govern is the province of God, and also of
a !ing, $on hich account indeed, he is called self-sufficient(I so to both it pertains not to be gov-
erned by any one# /vidently, these things cannot be effected ithout prudence, and it is manifest
that the orlds intellectual prudence is God# 6or the orld reveals graceful design, hich ould be
impossible ithout prudence# ;or is it possible for a !ing ithout prudence to possess these virtuesI
I mean Dustice, continence, sociability and !indred virtues#
./C./"BS Mca G++ :#4#N
A; .A?/;-S
;either divinity, nor anyone possessing the least isdom ill ever advise anyone to neglect his par-
ents# ,ence e cannot have any statue or temple hich ill be considered by divinity as more pre-
cious than our fathers and grandfathers hen gron feeble ith age# 6or he ho honors his parents
by gifts ill be recompensed by GodI for ithout this, divinity ill not pay any attention to the
prayers of such parents for their children# Aur parents and progenitors images should by us be
considered much more venerable and divine than any inanimate images# 6or our parents, ho are
divine images that are animated, hen they are continually adorned and orthily honored by us,
pray for us, and implore the Gods to besto on us the most excellent giftsI and do the contrary
hen e despise themI neither of hich occurs ith inanimate images# ,ence he ho behaves or-
thily toards his parents and progenitors, and other !indred, ill possess the most orthy of all
statues, and the best calculated to endear him to divinity# /very intelligent person, therefore, should
honor and venerate his parents, and should dread their execrations and unfavorable prayers, !no-
ing that many of them ta!e effect#
;ature having disposed the matter thus, prudent and modest men ill consider their living aged
progenitors a treasure, to the extremity of lifeI and if they die before the children have arrived there,
the latter ill be longing for them# Coreover, progenitors ill be terrible in the extreme to their de-
praved or stupid offspring# -he profane person ho is deaf to these considerations ill by all intelli-
gent persons be considered as odious to both Gods and men#
.,@;-IS, 3ABG,-/? A6 4A""I4?A-/S Mca G++ :#4#N
A; 7ACA;S -/C./?A;4/
7oman ought to be holly good and modestI but she ill never be a character of this !ind ithout
virtue, hich renders precious hatever contains it# -he eyeRs virtue is sightI the earRs, hearing# A
horses virtue ma!es it goodI hile the virtue of man or oman ma!es them orthy# A omans
principal virtue is temperance, herethrough she ill be able to honor and love her husband#
Some, perhaps may not thin! that it becomes a oman to philosophi5e, any more than it is suitable
for her to ride on horsebac!, or to harangue in public# :ut I thin! that hile there are certain em-
ployments speciali5ed to each sex, that there are some common to both man and oman, hile
some belong to a sex only preferentially# Cale avocations are to lead an army, to govern and to har-
angue in public# 6emale avocations are to guard the house, to stay at home, to receive and minister
to her husband# ,er particular virtues are fortitude, Dustice and prudence# :oth husband and ife
should achieve the virtues of the body and the soulI for as bodily health is beneficial to both, so also
is health of the soul# -he bodily virtues, hoever, are health, strength, vigor of sensation and
beauty# 7ith respect to the virtues, also some are peculiarly suitable to men, and others to omen#
6ortitude and prudence regard the man more than they do the omenI both on account of the bodily
habits, and the soul-poerI but temperance peculiarly belongs to the oman#
It ould be ell to !no the number and 0uality of the things through hich this virtue is ac0uir-
able by omen# I thin! that they are five# 6irst, temperance comes through the sanctity and piety of
the marriage bed# Second, through body-ornamentsI thirds, through trips outside the house# 6ourth,
through refraining from celebrating the orgies and mysteries of 4ybele# 6ifth, in being cautious and
moderate in sacrifices to the divinities# Af these, hoever, the greatest and most comprehensive
cause of temperance is undefiledness in the marriage bedI and to have connexion ith none but her
husband#
:y such lalessness she acts unDustly toards the Gods ho preside over nativities, changing them
from genuine to spurious assistants to her family and !indred# In the second place, she acts unDustly
toards the gods ho preside over nature, by hom she and all her !indred solemnly sore that
she ould lafully associate ith her husband in the association of life, and the procreation of chil-
dren# -hird, she inDures her country, in not observing its decrees# It is frivolous and unpardonable,
for the sa!e of pleasure and ayard insolence, to offend in a matter here the crime is so great
that the greatest punishment, death, is ordained# All such insolent conduct ends in death# :esides,
for this offence there has been discovered no purifying remedyI hich might turn such guilt into
purity beloved by the divinity, for God is most averse to the pardoning of this crime# -he best indic-
ation, of a omans chastity toards her husband is her childrens resemblance to their father# -his
suffices about the marriage bed# As to body-ornaments, a omans garments should be hite and
simple and not superfluous# -hey ill be so if they are neither transparent nor variegated, nor
oven from sil!, inexpensive, and hite# -his ill prevent excessive ornamentation, luxury, and
superfluity of clothesI and ill avoid the imitation of depravity by others# ;either gold nor emeralds
should ornament her bodyI for they are very expensive, and exhibit pride and arrogance toard the
vulgar# :esides, a city governed by good las, and ell organi5ed, should adDust all its interests in
an e0uable legislationI hich therefore ould expel from the city the Deelers ho ma!e such
things#
A oman should, besides, illuminate her face, not by poder or rouge, but by the natural glo from
the toel, adorning herself ith modesty, rather than by art# -hus she ill reflect honor both on
herself and her husband# As to gadding, omen should chiefly go out of their houses to sacrifice to
the municipal tutelary divinity, for the elfare of her husband and her !indred# ;either should a
oman go out from her house at dan or dus!, but openly hen the forum is full of peopleI accom-
panied by one, at most to servants, to see something, or to shop#
As to sacrifices of the gods, they should be frugal, and suited to her abilityI she should abstain from
celebration of orgies, and the 4ybelean sacred rites performed at home# 6or the municipal la for-
bids them to omen# Coreover, these rites lead to intoxication and insanity# A family-mistress,
presiding over domestic affairs, should be temperate and undefiled#
4"I;IAS Mca G++ :#4#N
/very virtue is perfected, as as shon in the beginning, by reason, deliberate choice, and poer#
/ach of these, hoever, is by itself not a part of virtue, but its cause# Such, therefore, as have the in-
tellective and gnostic part of virtue $the theoretic virtues(, are called s!illful and intelligentI but
such, as have its ethical and preparatory parts, are called useful and e0uitable# Since, hoever, man
is naturally adapted to act unDustly from exciting causes, these are three1 the love of pleasure of cor-
poreal enDoyments, avarice in the accumulation of ealth, and ambition in surpassing e0uals or fel-
los# ;o it is possible to oppose to these such things as procure fear, shame, or desire in menI fear
through the las, shame through the Gods, and desire through the energies of reason# ,ence youth
should be taught from the very first to honor the Gods and the las# 6olloing these, every human
or!, and every !ind of human life, by the participation of sanctity and piety1 ill sail prosperously
over the sea $of generation(#
S/J-BS -,/ .@-,AGA?/A; Mca 2++ :#4#N
S/"/4-/3 S/;-/;4/S
%# -o neglect things of the smallest conse0uence is not the least thing in human life#
*# -he sage and the contemner of ealth most resemble God#
2# 3o not investigate the name of God, because you ill not find it# 6or everything called by a name
receives its appellation from that hich is more orthy than itself, so that it is one person that calls,
and another that hears# 7ho is it, therefore, ho has given a name to GodK -he ord ,od is not a
name of his, but an indication of hat e conceive of him#
G# God is a light incapable of receiving its opposite $dar!ness(#
9# @ou have in yourself something similar to God, and therefore use yourself as the temple of God,
on account of that hich in you resembles God#
&# ,onor God above all things, that he may rule over you#
8# 7hatever you honor above all things, that hich you so honor ill have dominion over you# :ut
if you give yourself to the domination of GodI you ill thus have the dominion over all things#
'# -he greatest honor hich can be paid to God is to !no and imitate him#
)# -here is not any thing, indeed, much holly resembles GodI nevertheless the imitation of him as
much as possible by an inferior nature is grateful to him#
%+# God indeed, is not in ant of any thingI the ise man is in ant of God alone# ,e, therefore
ho is in ant of but fe things, and the necessary, emulates him ho is in ant of nothing#
%%# /ndeavor to be great in the estimation of divinityI but among men avoid envy#
%*#-he sage hose estimation ith man as but small hile he as living, ill be renoned hen
he is dead#
%2# 4onsider lost all the time in hich you do not thin! of divinity#
%G# A good intellect is the choir of divinity#
%9# A bad intellect is the choir of evil geniuses#
%&# ,onor that hich is Dust, on this very account that it is Dust#
%8# @ou ill not be concealed from divinity hen you act unDustly, nor even hen you thin! of act-
ing so#
%'# -he foundation of piety is continence, but the summit of piety is love to God#
%)# 7ish that hat is expedient and not hat is pleasing may happen to you#
*+# Such as you ish your neighbor to be to you, such also be to your neighbors#
*%# -hat hich God gives you none can ta!e aay#
**# ;either do, nor even thin!, of that hich you are unilling# God should !no#
*2# :efore you do anything, thin! of God, that his light may precede your energies#
*G# -he soul is illuminated by the recollection of God#
*9# -he use of animal food is indifferent, but it is more rational to abstain from them#
*&# God is not the author of any evil#
*8# @ou should not possess more than the use of the body re0uires#
*'# .ossess those things that no one can ta!e aay from you#
*)# :ear that hich is necessary, as it is necessary#
2+# As! of God things such as it is orthy of God to besto#
2%# -he reason that is in you is the light of your life#
2*# As! from God those things that you cannot receive from man#
22# 7ish that those things hich labor ought to precede, may be possessed by you after labor#
2G# :e not anxious to please the multitude#
29# It is not proper to despise those things of hich e shall be in ant after the dissolution of the
body#
2&# 3o not as! of dignity that hich, hen you have obtained, you cannot perpetually possess#
28# Accustom your soul after $it has conceived all that is great of ( divinity, to conceive something
great of itself#
2'# /steem precious nothing hich a bad man can ta!e from you#
2)# ,e is dear to divinity, ho considers those things alone precious, hich are to be so by divinity#
G+# /verything superfluous is hostile#
G%# ,e ho loves that hich is not expedient, ill not love that hich is expedient#
G*# -he intellect of the sage is alays ith divinity#
G2# God dells in the intellect of the ise man#
GG# -he ise man is alays similar to himself#
G9# /very desire is insatiable, and therefore is alays in ant#
G&# -he !noledge and imitation of divinity are alone sufficient to beatitude#
G8# Bse lying as poison#
G'# ;othing is so peculiar to isdom as truth#
G)# 7hen you preside over men, remember that divinity presides over you also#
9+# :e persuaded that the end of life is to live conformably to divinity#
9%# 3epraved affections are the beginning of sorros#
9*# An evil disposition is the disease of the soulI but in Dustice and impiety is the death of it#
92# Bse all men in a ay such as if, after God, you ere the common curator of all things#
9G# ,e ho uses badly man!ind, badly uses himself#
99# 7ish that you may be able to benefit your enemies#
9&# /ndure all things, in order that you may live conformably to God#
98# :y honoring a ise man, you ill honor yourself#
9'# In all your actions, !eep God before your eyes#
9)# @ou may refuse matrimony, in order to live in incessant presence ith God# If, hoever you
!no ho to fight, and are illing to, ta!e a ife, and beget children#
&+# -o live, indeed, is not in our poerI but to live rightly is#
&%# :e unilling to entertain accusations against a man studious of isdom#
&*# If you ish to live successfully, you ill have to avoid much, in hich you ill come out only
second best#
&2# Seet to you should be any cup that 0uenches thirst#
&G# 6ly from intoxication as you ould from insanity#
&9# ;o good originates from the body#
&&# /stimate that you are suffering a great punishment hen you obtain the obDect of corporeal de-
sireI for desire ill never be satisfied ith the attainments of any such obDects#
&8# Invo!e God as a itness to hatever you do#
&'# -he bad man does not thin! that there is a providence#
&)# Assert that your true man is he ho in you possesses isdom#
8+# -he ise man participates in God#
8%# 7herever that hich in you is ise resides, there also is your true good#
8*# -hat hich is not harmful to the soul does not harm the man#
82# ,e ho unDustly expels from his body a ise man, by his ini0uity confers a benefit on his vic-
timI for he thus is liberated from his bonds#
8G# Anly through soul-ignorance is a man saddened by fear of death#
89# @ou ill not possess intellect till you understand that you have it#
8&# ?eali5e that your body is the garment of your soulI and then you ill preserve it pure#
88# Impure geniuses let not the impure soul escape them#
8'# ;ot to every man spea! of God#
8)# -here is danger, and no negligible one, to spea! of God even the things that are true#
'+# A true assertion about God is an assertion of God#
'%# @ou should not dare to spea! of God to the multitude#
'*# ,e ho does not orship God, does not !no him#
'2# ,e ho is orthy of God is also a god among men#
'G# It is better to have nothing, than to possess much, and impart it to no one#
'9# ,e ho thin!s that there is a God and that he protects nothing, is no hit better than he ho
does not believe there is a God#
'&# ,e best honors God ho ma!es his intellect as li!e God as possible#
'8# 7ho inDures, none has none to fear#
''# ;o one ho loo!s don to the earth is ise#
')# -o lie is to deceive, and be deceived#
)+# ?ecogni5e hat God is, and that in you hich recogni5es God#
)%# It is not deathI but a bad life, hich destroys the soul#
)*# If you !ne ,im by hom you ere made, you ould !no yourself#
)2# It is not possible for a man to live conformably to 3ivinity, unless he acts modestly, ell and
Dustly#
)G# 3ivine isdom is true science#
)9# @ou should not dare to spea! of God to an impure soul#
)&# -he ise man follos God, and God follos the MsoulN of the ise man#
)8# A !ing reDoices in those he governs, and therefore God reDoices in the ise man# ,e ho gov-
erns li!eise, is inseparable from those he governsI and therefore God is inseparable from the soul
of the ise man, hich ,e defends and governs#
)'# -he ise man is governed by God, and on this account is blessed#
))# A scientific !noledge of God causes a man to use but fe ords#
%++# -o use many ords in spea!ing of God obscures the subDect#
%+%# -he man ho possesses a !noledge of God ill not be very ambitious#
%+*# -he erudite, chaste and ise soul is the prophet of the truth of God#
%+2# Accustom yourself alays to loo! to the 3ivinity#
%+G# A ise intellect is the mirror of God#
$ -hese sentences ere preserved by ?ufinus, a 4hristian riter, ho ould not have ta!en the
trouble to do so unless indeed their intrinsic orth had been as great as it is# (
6rom the .?A-?/.-I4S A6 IAC:"I4,BS
%+9# As e live through soul, it must be said that by the virtue of this e do live ellI Dust as be-
cause e see through# the eyes, e see ell through their virtues#
%+&# It must not be thought that gold can be inDured by rust, or virtue by baseness#
%+8# 7e should beta!e ourselves to virtue as to an invisible temple, so that e may not be exposed
to any ignoble insolence of soul, ith respect to our communion ith, and continuance in life#
%+'# 7e should confide in virtue as in a chaste ifeI but trust to fortune as to an inconsistent mis-
tress#
%+)# It is better that virtue should be received accompanied by poverty, than ealth ith violenceI
and frugality ith health, than veracity ith disease#
%%+# An overabundance of food is harmful to the bodyI but the body is preserved hen the soul is
disposed in a becoming manner#
%%%# It is as dangerous to give poer to a depraved man, than a sord to a madman#
%%*# As it is better for a part of the body that contains purulent decay to be burned, than to continue
as it is, thus also is it better for a depraved man to die, than to continue to live#
%%2# -he theorems of philosophy are to be enDoyed, as much as possible, as if they ere ambrosia
and nectar# 6or the resultant pleasure is genuine incorruptible and divine# -hey are also capable of
producing magnanimity, and though they cannot ma!e us eternal, yet they enable us to obtain a sci-
entific !noledge of eternal natures#
%%G# If vigor of sensation is, as it is, considered to be desirable, so much more strenuously should
e endeavor to obtain prudenceI for it is, as it ere, the sensitive vigor of the practical intellect,
hich e contain# And as through the former e are not deceived in sensible perceptions, so
through the latter e avoid false reasonings in practical affairs#
%%9# 7e shall properly venerate 3ivinity if e purify our intellect from vice, as from a stain#
%%&# A temple should, indeed, be adorned ith giftsI but our soul ith disciplines#
%%8# As the lesser mysteries are to be delivered before the greater, thus also discipline must precede
philosophy#
%%'# -he fruits of the earth, indeed, appear annuallyI but the fruits of philosophy ripen at all sea-
sons#
%%)# As he ho ishes the best fruit must pay most attention to the land, so must the greatest atten-
tion be paid the soul, if it is to produce fruits orthy of its nature#
6?AC S-A:A/BS
%*+# 3o not even thin! of doing hat ought not to be done#
%*%# 4hoose rather to be strong in soul, than in body#
%**# :e sure that laborious thing contribute to virtue, more than do pleasurable things#
%*2# /very passion of the soul is most hostile to its salvation#
%*G# .ythagoras said that it is most difficult simultaneously to al! in many paths of life#
%*9# .ythagoras said that e must choose the best lifeI for custom ill ma!e it pleasant# 7ealth is a
ea! anchorI glory, still ea!erI and similarly ith the body, dominion, and honor# 7hich anchors
are strongK .rudence, magnanimity and fortitudeI these can be sha!en by no tempest# -his is the
la of God, that virtue is the only thing strong, all else is a trifle# $-aylor thin!s that this and the
next six sentences are rongly attributed to Socrates, and are by 3emocrates or 3emophilus(#
%*&# All the parts of human life, Dust as those of a statue, should be beautiful#
%*8# As a statue stands immovable on its pedestal, so should a man on his deliberate choice, if he is
orthy#
%*'# Incense is for the Gods, but praise to good men#
%*)# Cen unDustly accused of acting unDustly should be defended, hile those ho excel should be
praised#
%2+# It is not the sumptuous adornment of the horse that earns him praise, but the nature of the horse
himselfI nor is the man orthy merely because he ons great ealth, but he hose soul is gener-
ous#
%2%# 7hen the ise man opens his mouth, the beauties of his soul present themselves to vie as the
statues in a temple $hen the gates are opened(#
%2*# ?emind yourself that all men assert that isdom is the greatest good, but that there are fe
ho strenuously endeavor to obtain this greatest good# O .ythagoras#
l22# :e sober, and remember to be disposed to believeI for these are the nerves of isdom# ---
/picharmus#
%2G# It is better to live lying on the grass, confiding in divinity and yourself, than to lie on a golden
bed ith perturbation#
%29# @ou ill not be in ant of anything, hich is in the poer of 6ortune to give or ta!e aay# O
.ythagoras#
%2&# 3espise all those things hich you ill not ant hen liberated from the bodyI and exercising
yourself in those things of hich you ill be in ant, hen liberated from the body, be sure to in-
vo!e the Gods to become your helpers# O .ythagoras#
%28# It is as impossible to conceal fire in a garment, as a base deviation from rectitude in time# $3e-
mophilus, rather than Socrates(#
%2'# 7ind increases fire, but custom, love# Ibidem# %2)# Anly those are dear to divinity ho are
hostile to inDustice# $3emocritus or 3emophilus(#
%G+# :odily necessities are easily procured by anybodyI ithout labor or molestationI but those
things hose attainment demands effort and trouble, are obDects of desire not to the body, but to de-
praved opinion# $Aristoxenus the .ythagorean(#
%G%# -hus spo!e .ythagoras of desire1 -his passion is various, laborious and very multiform# Af de-
sires, hoever, some are ac0uired and artificial, hile others are inborn# 3esire is a certain tend-
ency and impulse of the soul, and an appetite of fullness, or presence of sense, or of an emptiness
and absence of it, and of non-perception# -he three best !non !inds of depraved desire are the im-
proper, the unproportionate, and the unseasonable# 6or desire is either immediately indecorous,
troublesome or illiberalI or if not absolutely so, it is improperly vehement and persistent# Ar, in the
third place, it is impelled at an improper time, or toards improper obDects #O Aristoxenus#
%G*# .ythagoras said1 /ndeavor not, to conceal your errors by ords, but to remedy them by re-
proofs#
%G2# .ythagoras said1 It is not so difficult to err, as not to reprove him ho errs#
%GG# As a bodily disease cannot be healed, if it is concealed or praised, thus also can neither a rem-
edy be applied to a diseased soul, hich is badly guarded and protected# O .ythagoras#
%G9# -he grace of freedom of speech, li!e beauty in season, is productive of greater delight#
%G&# -o have a blunt sord is as improper as to use ineffectual freedom of speech#
%G8# As little could you deprive the orld of the sun, as freedom of speech from erudition#
%G'# As one ho is clothed ith a cheap robe may have a good body-habit, thus also may he hose
life is poor possess freedom of speech#
%G)# .ythagoras said1 .refer those that reprove, to those that flatterI but avoid flatterers as much as
enemies#
%9+# -he life of the avaricious resembles a funeral ban0uet# 6or though it has all desirable elements,
no one reDoices#
%9%# .ythagoras said1 Ac0uire continence as the greatest strength and health#
%9*# S;ot fre0uently man from man,Q is one of the exhortations of .ythagorasI by hich ob-
scurely he signifies that it is not proper fre0uently to engage in sexual connections#
%92# .ythagoras said1 A slave to his passions cannot possibly be free#
%9G# .ythagoras said that intoxication is the preparation for insanity#
%99# An being as!ed ho a ine-lover might be cured of intoxication .ythagoras said1 SIf he fre-
0uently considers hat ere his actions during intoxication#>
%9&# .ythagoras said that unless you had something better than silence to say, you had better !eep
silence#
%98# .ythagoras said, that rather than utter an idle ord, you had better thro a stone in vain#
%9'# .ythagoras said1 SSay not fe things in many ords, but much in fe ords#>
%9)# /picharmus said1 S-o men genius is a divinity, either good or evil#>
%&+# An being as!ed ho a man ought to behave toards his country hen it had acted unDustly to-
ards him, .ythagoras said, SAs to a mother#Q
%&%# -raveling teaches a man frugality, and self-sufficiency# -he seetest remedies for hunger and
eariness are bread made of mil! and floury on a bed of grass# $3emocritus, probably 3emocrates
or 3emophilusI also the next one(#
%&*# /very land is e0ually suitable as a residence for the ise manI the orthy souls fatherland is
the hole orld#
%&2# .ythagoras said that into cities entered first, luxuryI then being gluttedI then lascivious, in-
solence, and last destruction#
%&G# .ythagoras said that as the best city hich contained the orthiest men#
%&9# .ythagoras added to 3emophiluss maxim that Syou should do those things that you Dudge to
be beautiful, though in doing them you should lac! renonI for the rabble is a bad Dudge of a good
thing#Q -he ords, S-herefore despise the reprehension of those hose praise you despise#Q
%&&# .ythagoras said that those ho do not punish bad men, are really ishing that good men be in-
Dured#
%&8# .ythagoras said1 S;ot ithout a bridle can a horse be governed, and no less riches ithout
prudence#Q
%&'# -he prosperous man ho is vain is no better than the driver of a race on a slippery road# $So-
cratesK .robably 3emocrates, or 3emophilus(#
%&)# -here is no gate of ealth so secure but that may open to the opportunity of 6ortune# $3emo-
critusK .robably 3emocrates or 3emophilus(#
%8+# -he unrestrained grief of a torpid soul may be expelled by reasoning# $3emocrates, not 3emo-
critus(#
%8%# .overty should be born ith e0uanimity by a ise man# $Same(#
%8*# .ythagoras1 Spare your life, lest you consume it ith sorro and care#
%82# .havorinus in spea!ing of Ald Age, said1 ;or ill I be silent as to this particular, that both to
.lato and .ythagoras, it appeared that old age as not to be considered ith reference to an egress
from the present life, but to the beginning of a blessed one#
6rom 4"/C/;- A6 A"/JA;3?IA, Strom# 21 G%9#
%8G# .hilolaus said that the ancient theologians and priests testified that the soul is united to the
body by a certain punishment, and that it is buried in this body as a sepulchre#
%89# .ythagoras said that S7hatever e see hen aa!e is death, and hen asleep is a dream#Q
/-,I4A" 6?AGC/;-S
$preserved by S-A:A/BS(
$,is 4ommentary of the Golden <erses is ordy and commonplace, and therefore is here omitted(
I
4A;3B4- -A7A?3S -,/ GA3S
4oncerning the Gods e should assume that they are immutable, and do not change their decrees,
from the very beginning they never vary their conceptions of propriety# -he immutability and firm-
ness of the virtues e !no, and reason suggests that it must transcendently obtain ith the Gods,
and be the element hich to their conception imparts a never-failing stability# /vidently no punish-
ment hich divinity thin!s proper to inflict is li!ely to be remitted# 6or if, the Gods changed their
decisions, and omitted to punish someone hom they had designed to punish, for the orld could
be neither beautifully nor Dustly governedI nor can e assign any probable reason for repentance $on
their part(# ?ashly, indeed, and ithout any reason, have poets ritten ords such as the folloing1
SCen bend the Gods, by incense and libation,
:y gentle vos, and sacrifice and prayer,
7hen they transgress and stray from hat is right#Q
$,omer, Iliad, ix1G)9-8(
And1
=6lexible are een the Gods themselvesL>
Ibidem# $G)2(#
;or is this the only such expression in poetry#
;or must e omit to observe, that though the Gods are not the causes of evil, yet they connect cer-
tain persons ith things of this !ind, and surround those ho deserve to be afflicted ith corporeal
and external hindrancesI not through any malignity, or because they thin! it advisable that men
should struggle ith difficulties, but for the sa!e of punishment# 6or as in general, pestilence and
draught, rains-torms, earth0ua!es and the li!e, are indeed for the most part produced by natural
causes, and yet are sometimes caused by the Gods, hen the times are such that the multitudes,
ini0uity needs to be punished publicly, and in common, li!eise in particular the Gods sometimes
afflict an individual ith corporeal and external difficulties, in order to punish him, and convert oth-
ers to hat is right# -he belief that the Gods are never the cause of any evil, it seems to me, contrib-
utes greatly to proper conduct toards the Gods# 6or evils proceed from vice alone, hile the Gods
are of themselves the causes of good, and of any advantageI though in the meantime e slight their
beneficence, and surround ourselves ith voluntary evils# -hat is hy I agree ith the poet ho
says1
S-hat mortals blame the Gods#####
as if they ere the causes of their evilsL
-hough not from fate, :ut for their crimes they suffer oeLQ
$,omer, Adyssey, i#2*-2G(
Cany arguments prove that God is never in anyay the cause of evilI but ill suffice to read $in the
first boo! of the ?epublic( the ords of .lato, Sthat as it MisN not the nature of heat to refrigerate, so
the beneficent cannot harmI but the contrary#Q Coreover, God being good, and from the beginning
replete ith every virtue, cannot harm nor cause evil to any oneI on the contrary imparting good to
all illing to receive itI bestoing on us also such indifferent things as flo from nature, and hich
result in accordance ith nature# :ut there is only one cause of evil#
II
.?A./? 4A;3B4- -A7A?3S AB? 4AB;-?@
After spea!ing of the Gods, it is most reasonable, in the second place, to sho ho e should con-
duct ourselves toards our country# 6or God is my itness that our country is a sort of secondary
divinity, and our first and greatest parent# -hat is hy its name is, for good reason, patris, derived
from pater, a fatherI but ta!ing a feminine termination, to be as it ere a mixture of father and
mother# -his also explains that our country should be honored e0ually ith our parentsI preferring it
to either of them separately, and not even to it preferring both our parentsI preferring it besides to
our ife, children and friendsI and in short to all things, under the Gods# ,e ho ould esteem, one
finger more than five ould be considered stupidI inasmuch as it is reasonable to prefer five to oneI
the former despising the most desirable, hile the latter, among the five preserves also the one fin-
ger# "i!eise, he ho prefers to save himself rather than his country, in addition to acting unla-
fully, desires an impossibility# An the contrary, he ho to himself prefers his country is dear to di-
vinity, and reasons properly and irrefutably# Coreover it has been observed that though someone
should not be a member of an organised society, remaining apart therefrom, yet is it proper that he
should prefer the safety of society to his onI for the citys destruction ould demonstrate that on
its existence depended that of the individual citi5en, Dust as the amputation of the hand involves the
destruction of the finger, as an integral part# 7e may therefore dra the general conclusion that
general utility cannot be separated from private elfare, both at bottom being identical# 6or
hatever is beneficial to the hole country is common to every single part, inasmuch as ithout the
parts the hole is nothing# <ice versa, hatever redounds to the benefit of the citi5en extends also
to the cityI the nature of hich is to extend benefits to the citi5en# 6or example, hatever is benefi-
cial to a dancer, must, in so far as he is a dancer, be so also to the hole choric ballet# Applying this
reasoning to the discursive poer of the soul, it ill shed light on every particular duty, and e
shall never omit to perform hatever may by us be due to our country#
-hat is the reason hy a man ho proposes to act honorably by his country should from his soul re-
move every passion and disease# -he las of his country should, by a citi5en, be observed as $pre-
cepts of( a secondary divinity, conforming himself entirely to their mandates# ,e ho endeavors to
transgress or ma!e any innovation in these las should be opposed in every ay, and be prevented
therefrom in every possible ay# :y no means beneficial to a city, is contempt of existing las, and
preference for the ne# Incurable innovators, therefore, should be restrained from giving their votes,
and ma!ing precipitate innovations# I therefore commend the "ocrian legislator Haleucus, ho or-
dained that he ho intended to introduce a ne la should do it ith a rope around his nec!, in or-
der that he might be immediately strangled unless he succeeded in changing the ancient constitution
of the state, to the very great advantage of the community# :ut customs hich are truly those of the
country, and hich, perhaps are more ancient than the las themselves, are, no less than the las,
to be preserved# ,oever, the customs of the present, hich are but of yesterday, and hich, have
been everyhere introduced only so very recently are not to be dignified as the institutes of our an-
cestors, and perhaps they are not even to be considered customs# Coreover, because, custom is an
unritten la, it has as sanction the authority of a very good legislator, namely, common consent of
all that use itI and perhaps on this account its authority is next to that of Dustice itself#
III
.?A./? 4A;3B4- -A7A?3S -,/ .A?/;-S
After considering the Gods and our parents, hat person deserves to be mentioned more than, or
prior to our parentsK -hat is hy e turn toards them# ;o mista!e, therefore, ill be made by him
ho says that they are as it ere secondary or terrestrial divinities, since, on account of their prox-
imity, they should, in a certain not blasphemous sense, be by us more honored than the Gods them-
selves# -o begin ith, the only gratitude orthy of the name is a perpetual and unremitting prompt-
ness to repay the benefits received from themI since, though e do our very utmost, this ould yet
fall short of hat they deserve# Coreover, e might also say that in one sense our deeds are to be
counted as theirs, because e ho perform them ere once produced by them# If, for instance, the
or!s of .hidias and other artists should themselves produce other or!s of art, e should not hes-
itate to attribute these latter deeds also to the original artistsI that is hy e may Dustly say that our
performances are the deeds of our parents, through hom e originally derived our existence#
In order that e may the more easily apprehend the duties e oe them, e should !eep in mind
the underlying principle, that our parents should by us be considered as the images of the GodsI
and, so help MtoN heaven, images of the GodsI domesticK, ho are our benefactors, our relatives, our
creditors, our lords, and our most stable friends# -hey are indeed most stable images of the gods,
possessing a li!eness to them hich no artist could possibly surpass# -hey are the guardian divinit-
ies of the home, and live ith usI they are our greatest benefactors, endoing us ith benefits of the
greatest conse0uence, and indeed bestoing on us not only all e possess, but also such things as
they ish to give us, and for hich they themselves pray# 6urther, they are our nearest !indred, and
the causes of our alliance ith others# -hey are also creditors of things of the most honorable
nature, and repay themselves only by ta!ing hat e shall be benefited by returning# 6or to a child
hat benefit can be so great as piety and gratitude to his parentsK Cost Dustly, too, are they our
lords, for of hat can e be the possession in a degree greater than of those through hom e ex-
istK Coreover, they are perpetual and spontaneous friends and auxiliaries, affording, us assistance at
all times and in every circumstance# Since, besides, the name of parent is the most excellent of
names, hich e apply even to the divinities, e may add something further to this conceptionI
namely, that children should be persuaded that they dell in their fathers house, as if they ere
ministers and priests in a temple, appointed and consecrated for this purpose by nature herself, ho
entrusted to their care a reverential attention to their parents# If e are illing to carry out the dic-
tates of reason, e shall readily attend to both !inds of affective regard, that regarding the, body and
the soul# @et reason ill sho us that to the body is to be paid less regard than to the soul, although
e shall not neglect the former very necessary duties# 6or our parents, therefore, e should obtain
liberal food, and such as is adapted to the ea!ness of old ageI besides this, a bed, sleep, massage, a
bath, and proper garmentsI in short, the necessaries of the body, that they may at no time experience
the ant of any of these, by this, imitating their care for the nurture of ourselves, hen e ere in-
fants# Aur attention to them should parta!e of the prophetic nature, hereby e may discover hat
special bodily necessity they may be longing, ithout pressing it to us# ?especting us, indeed, they
divined many things, hen our desires could be expressed by no more than inarticulate and distress-
ful cries, unable to express the obDects of our ants clearly# :y the benefits they formerly conferred
upon us, our parents became to us the preceptors or hat e ought to besto upon them#
7ith respect to our parents souls, e should in the first place, procure for them diversion, hich
ill be obtained especially if e associate ith them by night and day, ta!ing al!s, being mas-
saged, and living by their side, unless some thing necessary interferes# 6or Dust as those ho are un-
derta!ing a long Dourney desire the presence of their families and friends to see them off, as if ac-
companying a solemn procession, so also parents, verging on the grave, enDoy most of all the sedu-
lous and unremitting attention of their children# Coreover, should our parents at any time, as hap-
pens often, especially ith those hose education as deficient, their conduct should be reprehens-
ible, they should indeed be corrected but not as e are accustomed to do ith our inferiors or
e0uals, but as it ere ith suggestivenessI not as if they had erred through ignorance, but as if they
had committed an oversight through inattention, as if they ould not have erred, had they con-
sidered the matter# 6or reproof, especially if personal, is to the old bitter# -hat is hy their over-
sights should be supplemented by mild exhortation, as by an elegant artifice#
4hildren, besides, reDoice their parents by performing for them servile offices such as ashing their
feet, ma!ing their bed, or ministering to their ants# -hese necessary servile attentions are all the
more precious hen performed by the dear hands of their children, accepting their ministrations#
.arents ill be especially gratified hen their children publicly sho their honor to those hom
they love and very much esteem#
-hat is hy children should affectionately love their parents !indred, and pay them proper atten-
tion, as also to their parents friends and ac0uaintances# -hese general principles ill aid us to de-
duce many other smaller filial duties, hich are neither unimportant nor accidental# 6or since our
parents are gratified by the attention e pay to those they love, it ill be evident that as e are in a
most eminent degree beloved by parents, e shall surely much please them by a proper attention to
ourselves#
I<
A; 6?A-/?;A" "A</
-he first admonition therefore, is very MclearN and convincing, and obligatory generally, being
MsaneN and self-evident# ,ere it is1 Act by everyone, in the same manner as if you supposed yourself
to be him, and him to be you# A servant ill be ell treated by one ho considers ho he ould
li!e to be treated by him, if he as the master, and himself the servant# -he same principle might be
applied beteen parents and children, and vice versaI and in short, beteen all men# -his principle,
hoever, is peculiarly adapted to the mutual relation of brothersI since no other preliminary consid-
erations are necessary, in the matter of conduct toards ones brother, than promptly to assume that
e0uable mutual relation# -his therefore is the first precept, to act toards ones brother in the same
manner in hich he ould thin! it proper for his brother to act toards him#
:ut someone ill say, I do not transgress propriety, and am e0uitableI but my brothers manners are
rough and brus0ue# -his is not rightI for, in the first place, he may not be spea!ing the truthI as ex-
cessive vanity might lead a man to extol and magnify his on manners, and diminish and vilify
hat pertains to others# It fre0uently happens indeed, that men of inferior orth prefer themselves
to others ho are far more excellent characters# Second, though the brother should indeed be of the
rough character mentioned above, the course to ta!e ould be to prove oneself the better by van-
0uishing his boorishness by Myour orthinessN -hose ho conduct themselves orthily toards
moderate, benignant men are entitled to no great than!sI but transform to graciousness the stupid
vulgar man, he deserves the greatest applause#
It must not be thought impossible for exhortation to ta!e mar!ed effectI for in men of the moat im-
possible manners there are possibilities of improvement, and of love and honor for their benefact-
ors# ;ot even animals, and such as naturally are the most hostile to our race, ho are captured and
dragged off in chains, and confined in cages, -- are not beyond being tamed by appropriate treat-
ment, and daily food# 7ill not then the man ho is a brother, or even the first man you meet, ho
deserves attention far greater than a brute, be rendered gentle by proper treatment even though he
should never entirely lose his boorishness# In our behavior, therefore, toard every man, and in
much greater degree toards a brother, e should imitate Socrates ho to a person ho cried out
against him, SCay I die, unless I am revenged on you,Q ansered, SCay I die, if I do not ma!e
you my friendLQ So much then for external fraternal relations# 6urther, a man should consider that
in a certain sense his brothers are part of him, Dust as my MeyesN are part of meI also my legs, my
hands, and other parts of me# 6or the relation of brothers to a family social organism $are the same
as members a body(# If then the eyes and the hands should receive a particular soul and intellect,
they ould because of the above mentioned communion, and because they could not all perform
their proper offices ithout the presence of the other members atch over the interests of the other
members MithN the interest of a guardian genius# So also, e ho are men, and ho ac!noledge
that e have a soul, should, toards our brothers, omit no proper offices# Indeed, more naturally ad-
apted for MmutualN assistance than parts of the bodyI are brothers# -he eyes, being mutually adDus-
ted, do see hat MisN before them, and one hand cooperates ith the otherI but the mutual adaptation
of brothers is far more various# 6or they accomplish things hich are mutually profitable, though at
the greatest intervening distanceI and they ill greatly benefit each other though their mutual differ-
ence be immeasurable# In short, it must be considered MthatN our life resembles nothing so much as a
prolonged conflict, hich arises partly from the strife in the nature of things, and partly through the
sudden unexpected blos of fortuneI but most of all through vice itself, hich abstains neither from
violence, fraud, or evil stratagems# ,ence nature, as being not ignorant of the purpose for hich she
generated us, produced each of us as it ere accompanied by an auxiliary#
;o one, therefore, is alone, nor does he derive his origin from an oa! or a roc!, but from parents, in
conDunction or ith brothers, relatives, and other intimates# ,ere reason for us performs a great
or!, conciliating to us strangers, ho are no relatives of ours, furnishing us ith many assistants#
-hat is the very reason hy e naturally endeavor to allure and ma!e every one our friend# ,o in-
sane a thing it therefore is to ish to be united to those ho naturally have nothing suitable to pro-
cure our love, and become as familiar as possible ith them, voluntarilyI and yet neglect those ill-
ing helpers and associates supplied by nature herself, ho are called brothersL
<
A; CA??IAG/
-he discussion of marriage is most necessary, as the hole of our race is naturally socialI and the
most fundamental social association is that effected by marriage# 7ithout a household, there could
exist no citiesI and households of the unmarried are most imperfect, hile on the contrary those of
the married are most complete# -hat is hy in our treatise on -amilies, e have shon that the mar-
ried state is to be preferred by the sageI hile a single life is not to be chosen except under peculiar
circumstances# $.ythagoras and Socrates ere married, hile .lato, .lotinus and .roclus ere not(#
-herefore, inasmuch as e should imitate the man of intellect, so far as possible, and as for him
marriage is preferable, it is evident it ill be so also for us, except if hindered by some exceptional
circumstance# -his is the first reason for marriage#
/ntirely apart from the model of the sage, ;ature herself seems to incite us thereto# ;ot only did she
ma!e us gregarious, but adapted us to sexual intercourse, and proposed the procreation of children
and stability of life as the one and universal or! of edloc!# ;o ;ature Dustly teaches us that a
choice of such things as are fit should be made so as to accord ith hat she has procured for us#
/very animal, therefore, lives in conformity to its natural constitution, and so also every plant in
harmony ith its las of life# :ut there obtains this difference1 that the latter do not employ any
reasoning or calculation, in the selection of the things on hich they lay hold, using alone nature,
ithout participating in soul# Animals are dran to investigate hat may be proper for them by
imaginations and desires# -o us, hoever, ;ature gave reason, to survey everything else, and, to-
gether ith all things, nay, prior to all things, to direct its attention to ;ature itself, so as to tend to-
ards her, as a glorious aim, in an orderly manner, that by choosing everything consonant ith her,
e might live in a becoming manner# 6olloing this line of argument, he ill not err in saying that
a family ithout edloc! is imperfectI for $nature( does not conceive of the governor ithout the
governed, nor the governed ithout a governor# ;ature therefore seems to me to shame those ho
are averse to marriage# In the next place, marriage is beneficial# 6irst, because it produces a truly di-
vine fruit, the procreation of children, ho are, as parta!ing of our nature, to assist us in all our un-
derta!ings, hile our strength is yet undiminishedI and hen e shall be orn out, oppressed ith
old age, they ill be our assistants# In prosperity they ill be the associates of our Doy, and in ad-
versity, the sympathetic diminishers of our sorros#
Carriage is beneficial not only because of procreation of children, but for the association of a ife#
7hen e are earied ith our labors outside of the home, she receives us ith officious !indness,
and refreshes us by her solicitous attentions# ;ext, she induces a forgetfulness of molestations out-
side of the house# -he annoyances in the forum, the gymnasium or the country, and in short all the
vicissitudes of our intercourse ith friends and ac0uaintances, do not disturb us so obviously, being
obscured by necessary occupationsI but hen released from these, e return home, and our mind
has time to reflect, then, availing themselves of this opportunity these cares and anxieties rush in
upon us, to torment us, at the very moment hen life seems cheerless and lonely# -hen comes the
ife as a great solace, and by ma!ing some in0uiry about external affairs, or by referring to, and to-
gether considering some domestic problem, she, by her sincere vivacity inspires him ith pleasure
and delight# It is needless to enumerate all the help a ife can be in festivals, hen sacrificing vic-
timsI or during her husbands Dourneys, she can !eep the household running smoothly, and direct at
times of urgencyI in managing the domestics, and in nursing her husband hen sic!#
Summari5ing, in order to pass through life properly, all men need to thingsI the aid of relatives,
and !indly sympathy# :ut nothing can be more sympathetic then a ifeI nor anything more !indred,
than children# :oth of these are afforded by marriageI ho therefore could e find anything more
beneficialK
Also beautiful is a married life, it seems to me# 7hat relation can be more ornamental to a family,
than that beteen husband and ifeK ;ot sumptuous edifices, not alls covered ith marble
plaster, not pia55as adorned ith stones, hich are indeed admired by those ignorant of true goodsI
not paintings and arched myrtle al!s, nor anything else hich is the subDect of astonishment to the
stupid, is the ornament of a family# -he beauty of a household consists in the conDunction of man
and ife, united to each other by destiny, and consecrated to the gods presiding over nuptial births,
and M---Nes, and ho harmoni5e, and use all things in McommonN for their bodies, or even their very
soulsI li!eise exercise a becoming authority over their house and servantsI ho are properly soli-
citous M-----Nt the education of their childrenI and to the necessaries of life pay an attention hich is
neither excessive or negligent, but moderate and appropriate# 6or, as the most admirable ,omer
says, hat can be better and more excellent,
=-han hen at home the husband and ife,
"ive in entire unanimityL> $Adyssey, 81%'2(#
-hat is the reason hy I have fre0uently ondered at those ho conceive that life in common ith
a oman must be burdensome and grievous# -hough to them she appears to be a burden and mo-
lestation, she is not soI on the contrary, she is something light and easy to be borne, or rather, she
possesses the poer of charming aay from her husband things burdensome and grievous# ;o
trouble so great is there hich cannot easily be borne by a husband and ife ho harmoni5e, and
are illing to endure it in common# :ut hat is truly burdensome and unbearable is imprudence, for
through it things naturally light, and among others a ife, become heavy# -o many, indeed, mar-
riage is intolerable, in reality not from itself, or because such an association as this ith a oman is
naturally insufferable, but hen e marry the rong person, and, in addition to this, are ourselves
entirely ignorant of life, and unprepared to ta!e a ife in a ay such as a free-born oman ought to
be ta!en, than indeed it happens that this association ith her becomes difficult and intolerable#
<ulgar people do marry in this ayI ta!ing a ife neither for the procreation of children, nor for
harmonious associationI being attracted to the union by the magnitude of the doer, or through
physical attractiveness, or the li!eI and by folloing these bad counselors, they pay no attention to
the brides disposition and# manners, celebrating nuptials to their on destruction, and ith
croned doors introduce to themselves instead of a ife, a tyrant, hom they cannot resist, and
ith hom they are unable to contend for chief authority#
/vidently, therefore, marriage becomes burdensome and intolerable to many, not through itself, but
through these causes# :ut it is not ise to blame things hich are not harmful, nor to ma!e our on
deficient use of these things the cause of our complaint against them# Cost absurd, besides, is it fe-
verishly to see! the auxiliaries of friendship, and achieve certain friends and associates, to aid and
defend us in the vicissitudes of life, ithout see!ing and endeavoring to obtain the relief, defence
and assistance afforded us by ;ature, the gods, and the las, through a ife and children# As to a
numerous offspring, it is generally suitable to nature and marriage that all, or the maDority of the
offspring be nurtured# Cany dissent from this, for a not very beautiful reason, avariciousness, and
the fear of poverty as the greatest evil# -o begin ith, in procreating children, e are not only be-
getting assistants, nurses for our old age, and associates in every vicissitude of lifeI O e do not
hoever beget them for ourselves alone, but in many ays also for our parents# -o them our procre-
ation of children is gratifyingI because, if e should suffer anything calamitous prior to their de-
cease, e shall, instead of ourselves, leave our children as the support of their old age# -hen for a
grandfather it is a beautiful thing to be conducted by the hands of his grandchildren, and by them to
be considered as orthy of every attention# ,ence, in the first place, e shall gratify our on par-
ents by paying attention to the procreation of children# In the next, e shall be cooperating ith the
ardent ishes and fervent prayers of those ho begot us# -hey ere solicitous about our birth from
the first, there through loo!ing for an extended succession of themselves, that they should leave be-
hind them children of children, therefore paying attention to our marriage, procreation, and nurture#
,ence, by marrying and begetting children e shall be, as it ere, fulfilling a part of their prayersI
hile, acting contrariise, e shall be destroying the obDect of their deliberate choice#
Coreover, it ould seem that everyone ho voluntarily, and ithout some prohibiting circum-
stance avoids marriage and the procreation of children, accuses his parents of madness, as having
engaged in edloc! ithout the right conception of things# ,ere e see an unavoidable contradic-
tion# ,o could that man live ithout dissension, ho finds a pleasure in living, and illingly con-
tinues in life as one ho as properly brought into existence by his parents, and yet conceives that
for him procreation of offspring is something to be reDectedK
7e must remember that e beget children not only for our on sa!e, but, as e have already
stated, for our parentsI but further also for the sa!e of our friends and !indred# It is gratifying to see
children hich are our offspring on account of human !indness, relatives, and security# "i!e ships
hich, though greatly agitated by the aves, are firmly secured by many anchors, so do those ho
have children, or hose friends or relatives have them, ride at anchor in port, in absolute security#
6or this reason, then, ill a man ho is a lover of his !indred, and associates, earnestly desire to
marry and beget children#
Aur country also loudly calls upon us to do so# 6or after all e do not beget children so much for
ourselves, as for our country, procuring a race that may follo us, and supplying the community
ith successors to ourselves# ,ence the priest should reali5e that to the city he oes priestsI the
ruler, that he oes rulersI the orator, that he oes oratorsI and in short, the citi5en, that he oes cit-
i5ens# So it is gratifying to a choric ballet that those ho compose it should continue perenniallyI
and as an army loo!s to the continuance of its soldiers, so the perpetuation of its citi5ens is a matter
of concern to a city# A city ould not need succession ere it only a temporary grouping, of dura-
tion commensurate ith the life-time of any one manI but as it extends to many generations, and if
it invo!es a fortunate genius may endure for many ages, it evidently necessary to direct its attention
not only to its present, but also to its future, not despising our natal soil, nor leaving it desolate, but
establishing it in good hopes for our posterity#
<I
4A;3B4- -A7A?3S AB? ?/"A-I</S
3uties to relatives depend on duties to our immediate families, the arguments for hich apply also
to the former# /ach of us is, indeed, as it ere circumscribed by many circles, larger and smaller,
comprehending and comprehended, according to various mutual circumstances#
-he first and nearest circle is that hich every one describes about the centre of his on mind,
herein is comprehended the body, and all its interests1 this is the smallest circle nearly touching
the centre itself# -he second and further circle hich comprehends the first, is that hich includes
parents, brethren, ife, and children# -he third greater circle is the one containing uncles, aunts,
grandfathers, and grandmothers and the children of brothers and sisters# :eyond this is the circle
containing the remaining relatives# ;ext to this is the circle containing the common people, then
that hich comprehends our tribe, then that of all the citi5ensI then follo to further circlesI that
of the neighboring suburbs, and those of the province# -he outermost and greatest circle is that
hich comprehends the hole human race $as repeated .ope, in his /ssay on Can(#
In vie of this, he ho strives to conduct himself properly in each of these connections should, in a
certain respect, gather together the circles into one centre, and alays endeavor to transfer himself
from the comprehending circles to the several particulars hich they comprehend#
-he lover of his !indred, therefore, should conduct himself in a becoming manner toards his par-
ents and brothersI also, according to the same analogy, toards the more elderly of his relatives of
both sexes, such as grandfathers, uncles and auntsI toards those of the same age as himself, as his
cousinsI and toards his Duniors, as the children of his cousins# -his summari5es his conduct to-
ards his !indred, having already shon ho he should act toards himself, his parents and broth-
ersI and besides these, toards ife and children# -o hich must be added that those ho belong to
the third circle should be honored similarly to theseI and again, !indred similarly to those that be-
long to the third circle# 6or benevolence must someho fade ay from those ho are more distant
from us by bloodI though at the same time e should endeavor, to effect a mutual assimilation# -his
distance ill moderate if through the diligent attention hich e pay to them e shorten the bond
connecting us ith each# Such then are the most comprehensive duties toards our !indred#
It might be ell to say a ord about the general names of !indred, such as the calling of cousins,
uncles and aunts by the names of brothers, fathers and mothersI hile of the other !indred, to call
some uncle, others the children of brother and sisters, and others cousins, according to the differ-
ence in age, for the sa!e of the emotional extension derivable from names# Such name-extension
ill manifest our sedulous attention to these relatives, and at the same time ill incite and extend us
in a greater degree to the contraction of the above circles#
7e should hoever remember the distinction beteen parents that e made above# 4omparing par-
ents, e said that to mother as due more love, but to the father more honor# Similarly, e should
sho more love to those connected ith us by a maternal alliance, but more honor to those connec-
ted ith us by an alliance that is paternal#
<II
A; /4A;ACI4S
-o begin ith, e must mention the !ind of labor hich preserves the union of the family# -o the
husband are usually assigned rural, forensic and political activitiesI hile to the mother belong spin-
ning of ool, ma!ing of bread, coo!ing, and in short, everything of a domestic nature# ;everthe-
less, neither should be entirely exempt from the labors of the other# 6or sometimes it ill be proper,
hen the ife is in the country, that she should superintend the laborers, and act as maDor-domoI
and that the husband should sometimes attend to domestic affairs, in0uiring about, and inspecting
hat is doing in the house# -his Doint participation of necessary cares ill more firmly unite their
mutual association#
7e should not fail to mention the manual operations, hich are associated ith the spheres of occu-
pations# 7hy should the man meddle ith agricultural laborsK -his is generally admittedI and
though men of the present day spend much time in idleness and luxury, yet it is rare to find any un-
illing to engage in the labor of soing and planting, and other agricultural pursuits# Cuch less
persuasive perhaps, ill be the arguments hich invite the man to engage in those other occupa-
tions that belong to the oman# 6or such men as pay great attention to neatness and cleanliness ill
not conceive ool-spinning to be their businessI since, for the most part vile, diminutive men, delic-
ate and effeminate apply themselves to the elaboration of ool, through an emulation of feminine
softness# :ut it does not become a man, ho is manly, to apply himself to things of this !ind1 so
that perhaps neither shall I advise such employments to those ho have not unmista!ably demon-
strated their modesty and virility# 7hat therefore should hinder the man from sharing in the labors
pertaining to a oman, hose past life has been such as to free him from all suspicion of absurd
and effeminate conductK 6or is it not thought that more domestic labors pertain to man than to o-
men in other fieldsK 6or they are more laborious, and re0uire corporeal strength, such as to grind, to
!nead meal, to cut ood, to dra ater from a ell, to carry large vessels from one place to anoth-
er, to sha!e coverlets and carpets, and such li!e# It ill be 0uite proper for men to engage in such
occupations#
:ut it ould be ell if the legitimate or! of a oman be enlarged in other directions, so that she
may not only engage ith her maid-servants in the spinning of ool, but may also apply herself to
other more virile occupations# It seems to me that breadma!ing, draing ater from a ell, the
lighting of fires, the ma!ing of beds, and such li!e, are labors suited to a free-born oman#
:ut to her husband a ife ill seem much more beautiful, especially if she is young, and not yet
orn out by the bearing of children, if she becomes his associate in the gathering of grapes, and col-
lecting the olivesI and if he is verging toard old age, she ill render herself more pleasing to him
by sharing ith him the labor of soing and ploing, and hile he is digging or planting, extending
to him the instruments he needs for his or!# 6or hen by the husband and ife a family is gov-
erned thus, in respect to necessary labors, it seems to me that it ill be conducted in the best man-
ner#
-ICA/BS "A4?IBS, -he -eacher of .lato, on -,/ SAB" A;3 -,/ 7A?"3
I
CI;3, ;/4/SSI-@, 6A?C & CA--/?
-imaeus the "ocrian asserted this1 O that of all the things in the Bniverse, there are, to causes,
$one( Cind, $the cause( of things existing according to reasonI $the other( ;ecessity, $the cause( of
things $existing( by $some( force, according to the poer of the bodiesI and that the former of these
is the nature of the good and is called God, and the principle of things that are bestI but hat access-
ory causes follo, are referred to ;ecessity# As regards the things in the Bniverse, there are 6orm,
Catter, and the perceptibleI hich is, as it ere, a resistance of the to othersI and that 6orm is un-
produced, and unmoved, and stationary and of the nature of the same, and perceptible by the mind,
and a pattern of such things produced, as exist by a state of changeI for that some such thing as this
is 6orm, spo!en of and conceived to be#
Catter, hoever, is a mold, and a mother and a nurse, and procreative of the third !ind of beingI for
receiving upon itself the resemblances, and as it ere remolding them, it perfects these productions#
,e asserted moreover that Catter, though eternal is not unmovedI and though of itself it is formless
and shapeless, yet it receives every !ind of formI and that hat is around bodies, is divisible, and
parta!es of the nature of the differentI and that Catter is called by the tin names of .lane and
Space# -hese to principles, then, are opposite to each, otherI of hich 6orm relates to a male
poer, and a fatherI hile matter relates to a female, and a mother# :eing three, they are recognis-
able by three mar!s1 6orm, by mind, according to !noledgeI Catter by a spurious !ind of reason-
ing, because of its not being mentally perceived directly, but by analogy and their productions by
sensation and opinion#
II
4?/A-IA; A6 -,/ 7A?"3
:efore the heavens, then, there existed through reason, 6orm and Catter, and the God ho develops
the best# :ut since the older surpasses the younger and the ordered surpasses the orderless, the deity
being good, on seeing that Catter receives 6orm, and is altered in every ay, but ithout order, the
necessity of organi5ing it, altering the undefined to the defined, so that the differences beteen bod-
ies might be similarly related, not receiving various turns at hap-ha5ard# ,e therefore made this
orld out of the hole of Catter, laying it don as a limit to the nature of being, through its con-
taining in itself all the rest of things, being one, only-begotten, perfect, endued ith soul and reason,
for these 0ualities are superior to the soul-lees and the irrational, O and of a sphere li!e bodyI for
this is more perfect than the rest of forms#
3esirous then of ma!ing a very good production, he made it a deity, created and never to be des-
troyed by any cause other than the God, ho had put it in order, if indeed he should ever ish to
dissolve it# :ut on the part of the good there is no rushing forard to the destruction of a very beau-
tiful production# Such therefore being the orld, it continues ithout corruption and destruction,
being blessed# It is the best of things orderedI since it has been produced by the best cause, that
loo!s not to patterns made by hand, but to 6orm in the abstract, and to /xistence, perceived by the
mind to hich the created thing, having been carefully adDusted, has become the most beautiful, and
to be not rongly underta!en# It is MeverNperfect according to the things perceived by sense because
the pattern perceived by mind contains MinN itself all the living things perceived by mindI he left out
of itself nothing, as being the limit MofNthe things perceived by mind, as this orld is MofN those per-
ceived by sense#
As being solid, and perceptible by touch and sight, it has a share of earth and fire, and of the things
beteen them, air and aterI and it is composed of bodies all perfect, hich are in it as holes so
that no part might ever be left out of it, in order that the body of the Bniverse might be altogether
self-sufficient, uninDured by corruption ithout or ithinI for apart from these there is nothing else,
for the things combined according the best proportions and ith e0ual poers, neither rule over, nor
are ruled by each other in turn, so that some receive an increase, others a decrease, remaining indis-
solubly united according to the very best proportions#
III
.?A.A?-IA;S A6 -,/ 7A?"3-4AC:I;A-IA;
6or henever there are any three terms, ith mutually e0ual intervals, that are proportionate, e
then perceive that, after the manner of an extended string, the middle is to the first, as is the third to
itI and this holds true inversely and alternately, interchanging places and orderI so that it is im-
possible to arrange them numerically ithout producing an e0uivalence of results# "i!eise the
orlds shape and movement are ell arrangedI the shape is a sphere self similar on all sides, able
to contain all shapes that are similarI the movement endlessly exhibits the change dependent on a
circle#
;o as the sphere is on every side e0uidistant from the centre, it is able to retain its poise hether
in movement or at restI neither leaving its poise, nor assuming another# Its external appearance be-
ing exactly smooth, it needs no mortal organs such as are fitted to, and present in all other living be-
ings, because of their ants# -he orld-souls element of divinity radiates out from the centre, en-
tirely penetrating the hole orld, forming a single mixture of divided substance ith undivided
formI and this mixture of to forces, the same and the different, became the origin of motionI
hich indeed as not accomplished in the easiest ay, being extremely difficult#
;o all these proportions are combined harmonically according to numbersI hich proportions
ere scientifically divided according to scale hich reveals the elements and the means of the
souls combination# ;o seeing that the earlier is more poerful in poer and time than the later,
the deity did not ran! the soul after the substance of the body, but made it older, by ta!ing the first
of unities, 2'G $%* x %& (Mx *KN# Knoing this first, e can easily rec!on the double and the triple
and all the terms together, ith the complements and eighths, must amount to %%G,&) and li!eise
the divisions $sum of the tone se0uences of 2& tones, amounting to 2'G x *8, the perfect cube(#
I<
."A;/-A?@ ?/<A"B-IA;S A;3 -IC/
God the eternal, the chief ruler of the Bniverse, and its creator is beheld alone by the mindI but e
may behold by sight all that is produced this orld and its parts, ho many soever they M----N in
heavenI hich as being ethereal, must be MdividedN into !inds, some relating to sameness, others to
difference# Sameness dras inard all that is ithout, along the general eastard movement from
the 7est# 3ifference dras from ithin all self-moved portions from 7est to /ast, fortuitously
rolling around and along by the superior poer of sameness#
-he differents movement being divided in harmonical proportion, assumes the order of MsevenN
circles ;earest to the earth, ,the Coon revolves in a monthI hile beyond her the Sun completes his
revolution in a year# -o planets run a Mco---Ne0ual ith that of the Sun1 Cercury, and Euno, also
called <enus and "ucifer, because shepherds and people generally are not s!illful in sacred astro-
nomy, confusing the estern and eastern rise# -he same star may shine in the 7est hen folloing
the Sun at a distance great enough to be visible in spite of solar splendorI and at another time in the
/ast, hen, as herald of the day it rises before the Sun, leading it# :ecause of its MrunningN together
ith the sun, <enus is "ucifer fre0uently but not alaysI for there are planet and stars of any mag-
nitude seen above the hori5on before sunrise, herald the day# :ut the three other planets, Cars,
Eupiter and Saturn have their peculiar velocities and different years, completing their course hile
ma!ing their periods of effulgence, of visibility, of obscuration and eclipse, causing accurate rising
and settings# Coreover they complete their appearances conspicuously in /ast or 7est according to
their position relative to the Sun, ho during the day speeds estard, hich during the night it re-
verses, under the influence of samenessI hile its annual revolution is due to its inherent motion# In
resultance of these to !inds of motion it rolls out a spiral, creeping according to one portion, in the
time of a day, but, hirled around under the sphere of the fixed stars, according to each revolution
of dar!ness and day#
;o these revolutions are by men called portions of time, hich the deity arranged together ith
the orld# 6or before the orld the stars did not existI and hence there as neither year, nor periods
of seasons, by hich this generated time is measured, and hich is the representation of the ungen-
erated time called eternity# 6or as this heaven has been produced according to an eternal pattern,
$the orld of ideas(, O so according to the pattern of eternity as our orld-time created simultan-
eously ith the orld#
<
-,/ /A?-,S 4?/A-IA; :@ G/AC/-?I4 6IGB?/S
-he /arth, fixed at the centre, becomes the hearth of the gods, and the boundary of dar!ness and
day, producing both settings and risings, according to the occultations produced by the things that
form the boundary, Dust as e im prove our sight by ma!ing a tube ith our closed hand, to exclude
refraction# -he /arth is the oldest body in the heavens# 7ater as not produced ithout /arth, nor
air ithout moistureI nor could fire continue ithout moisture and the materials that are inflam-
mableI so that the /arth is fixed upon its balance as the root and base of all other substances# Af
produced things, the substratum is Catter, hile the reason of each shape is abstract 6ormI of these
to the resultance is /arth, and 7ater, Air and 6ire#
-his is ho they ere created# /very body is composed of surfaces, hose elements are trianglesI
of hich one is right-angled, and the other has all une0ual sides, ith the greater angle thrice the
si5e of the lesserI hile its least angle is the third of a right angle, and the middle MoneN is double of
the leastI for it is to parts out of threeI hile the greatest is a right angle, being one and a half
greater than the middle one, and the triple of the least# ;o this une0ual MsidedN triangle is the half
of a e0uilateral triangle, out into to e0ual parts by a line let don from apex to that base# ;o in
each of these triangles there is a right angleI but in the one, the to sides about the right angle are
e0ual, and in the other, all the sides are une0ual# ;o let this be called a scalene triangleI hile the
other, the half of the s0uare, is the principle of the constitution the /arth# 6or the s0uare produced
from this scalene triangle is composed of four half s0uares and from such a s0uare is produced the
cube, a MbodyN the most stationary and steady in every ayI having six sides and eight angles, and
on this account MtheN/arth is a body the heaviest and most difficult MtoN be moved and its substance
is inconvertible because it has no affinity ith a triangle of any !ind# Anly the /arth has as peculiar
element Mthe--N s0uare and this is the element of the three other substances, 6ire, Air and 7ater# 6or
hen the half triangle is put together six times, it produces a solid e0uilateral triangleI the exemplar
of the MpyramidN, hich has four faces ith e0ual angles, hich is the form of 6ire, as the easiest to
be moved and composed of the finest particles# After this ran!s the octohedron, ith eight faces and
six angles, the element of Air, and the third is the icosahedron, ith tenty faces and telve angles,
the element of 7ater, composed of the most numerous and heaviest particles#
-hese then, as being composed of the same element, are transmuted# :ut the deity has made the do-
decahedron, as being the nearest to the sphere, the image of the Bniverse# 6ire then, by the fineness
of its particles, passes through all thingsI and Air through the rest of things, ith the exception of
6ireI and 7ater through the /arth# All things are therefore full, and have no vacuum# -hey cohere
by the revolving movement of the Bniverse, and are pressed against, and rubbed by, each other in
turn, and produce the never-failing change from production to destruction#
<I
4A;4?/-IA; A6 -,/ /"/C/;-S
:y ma!ing use of these the deity put together this orld, sensible to touch through the particles of
/arth, and to sight through those of 6ireI hich to are the extremes# -hrough the particles of Air
and 7ater he has conDoined the orld by the strongest chain, namely, proportionI hich restrains
not only itself but all its subDects# ;o if the conDoined obDect is a plane surface, one middle term is
sufficientI but if a solid, there ill be need of to# 7ith to middle terms, therefore, he combined
to extremesI so that as 6ire is to Air, Air might be to 7ater, and 7ater to /arthI and by alterna-
tion, as 6ire is to 7ater, Air might be to /arthI and by inversion as /arth is to 7ater, 7ater might
be to Air, and Air to 6ireI and by alternation, as /arth is to Air, so 7ater might be to 6ire# ;o
since all are e0ual in poer, their ratios are in a state of e0uality# -his orld is then one, through the
bond of the deity, made according to proportion#
,o each of these substances possesses many formsI 6ire, those of 6lame, and :urning and "umin-
ousness, through the ine0uality of the triangles in each of them# In the same manner, Air is partly
clear and dry, and partly turbid and foggyI and 7ater partly floing and partly congealed, accord-
ing as it is Sno, ,oar-frost, ,ail or IceI and that hich is Coist, is in one respect floing as honey
and oilI but in another is compact, as pitch and axI and of compact-forms there are some fusible,
as gold, silver, copper, tin, lead and steelI and some friable, as sulphur, pitch, nitre, salt, alum, and
similar metals#
<II
4AC.ASI-IA; A6 -,/ SAB"
After putting together the orld, the deity planned the creation of living beings, subDect to death, so
that, himself being perfect, he might perfectly or! it out according to his image# -herefore he
mixed up the soul of man out of the same proportions and poers, and after ta!ing the particles and
distributing them, he delivered themK over to ;ature, hose office is to effect change# She then
too! up the tas! of or!ing out mortal and ephemeral living beings, hose souls are dran in
from different sources, some from the Coon, others from the Sun, and others from various planets,
that cycle ithin the 3ifference, -- ith the exception of one single poer hich as derived from
Sameness, hich she mixed up in the rational portion of the soul, as the image of isdom in those
of a happy fate#
;o of the soul of man one portion is rational and intellectualI and another irrational and unintel-
lectual# Af the logical part, the best portion is derived from Sameness, hile the orse comes from
3ifferenceI and each is situated around the head, so that the other portions of the soul and body may
minister to it, as the uppermost of the hole tabernacle# Af the irrational portion, that hich repres-
ents passion hangs around the heart, hile desire inhabits the liver# -he principle of the body, and
root of the marro is the brain, herein inheres leadershipI and from this, li!e an effusion, through
the bac!-bone flos hat remains, from hich are separated the particles for seed and reasonI
hile the marros surrounding defences are the bones, of hich the flesh is the covering and con-
cealment# -o the nerves he united Doints by ligatures, suitable for their movement# Af the internal
organs, some exist for the sa!e of nourishment, and others for safetyI of communications, some
convey outside movements to the interior intelligent places of perception, hile others, not falling
under the poer of apprehension, are unperceived, either because the affected bodies are too earth-
li!e, or because the movements are too feebleI the painful movements tend to arouse ;ature, hile
the pleasurable lull ;ature into remaining ithin itself#
<III
S/;SA-IA;S
Amongst the senses, the deity has in us lit sight to vie the obDects in the heavens, and for the re-
ception of !noledgeI hile to ma!e us capable to receive speech and melody, he has in us im-
planted hearing, of hich he ho is deprived thereof from birth ill become dumb, nor be able to
utter any speech, and that is hy this sense is said to be related closest to speech# #As many affec-
tions of the body as have a name are so called ith reference to touchI and others from relation to
their seat# -ouch Dudges of the properties connected ith life, such as armth, coldness, dryness,
moisture, smoothness, roughness, and of things, that they are yielding, opposing, hard, or soft#
-ouch also decides of heaviness or lightness# ?eason defines these affections as being centripetal
and centrifugalI hich men mean to express hen they say belo, and middle# 6or the centre of a
sphere is belo, and that part lying above it and stretching to the circumference, is called upard-
ness#
;o hat is arm appears to consist of fine particles, causing bodies to separateI hile coldness
consists of the grossness of the particles, causing a tendency to condense#
-he circumstances connected ith the sense of taste are similar to those of touch# 6or substances
gro either smooth or rough by concretion and secretion, by entering the pores, and assuming
shapes# 6or those that cause the tongue to melt aay, or that scrape it, appear to be roughI hile
those that act moderately in scraping appear brac!ishI hile those that inflame or separate the s!in
are acridI hile their opposites, the smooth seet, are reduced to a Duicy state#
Af smelling, the !inds have not been definedI for, because of their percolating through narro
pores, that are too stiff to be closed or separated, things seem to be seet-smelling or bad-smelling
from the putrefaction or concoction of the earth and similar substances#
A vocal sound is a percussion in the air, arriving at the soul through the earsI the pores $or commu-
nications( of hich reach to the liverI and among them is breath, by the movement of hich hearing
exists# ;o of the voice and hearing, that portion hich is 0uic! is acuteI hile that hich is slo,
is graveI the medium being the most harmonious# 7hat is much and diffused, is greatI hat is little
and compressed, is smallI hat is arranged according to musical proportions is in tune, hile that
hich is unarranged, and unproportionate, is out of tune, and not properly adDusted#
-he fourth !ind of things relating to the senses is the most multiform and various, and they are
called obDects of sight, in hich are all !inds of colors, and an infinity of colored substances# -he
principle are four1 hite, blac!, brilliant $blue( and red, out of a mixture of hich all other colors
are prepared# 7hat is hite causes the vision to expand, and hat is blac! causes it to contractI Dust
as armth expands, and cold contracts, and hat is rough contracts the tasting, and hat is sharp
dilates it#
IJ
?/S.I?A-IA;
It is natural for the covering of animals that live in the air to be nourished and !ept together by the
food being distributed by the veins through the hole mass, in the manner of a stream, conveyed as
it ere by channels, and moistened by the breath, hich diffuses it, and carries it to the extremities#
?espiration is produced through there being no vacuum in natureI hile the air, as it flos in, is in-
haled in place of that hich is exhaled, through unseen pores such as those through hich perspira-
tion -drops appear on the s!inI but a portion is excreted by the natural armth of the body# -hen it
becomes necessary for an e0uivalent portion to be reintroduced, to avoid a vacuum, hich is im-
possible, for the animal ould no longer be concentrating, and single, hen the covering had been
separated by the vacuum#
;o in lifeless substances, according to the analogy of respiration, the same organi5ation occurs#
-he gourd, and the amber, for instance, bear resemblance to respiration#
;o the breath flos through the body to an orifice outards, and is in turn introduced through res-
piration by the mouth and nostrils, and again after the manner of the /uripus, is in turn carried to
the body, hich is expended according to the expiration# Also the gourd, hen the air ithin is ex-
pelled by fire, attracts moisture to itselfI and amber, hen the air is separated from it, receives an
e0ual substance# ;o all nourishment comes as from a root from the heartI and from the stomachI
as a fountainI and is conveyed to the body, to hich, if it be moistened by more than hat flos
out, there is said to be an increaseI but if less, by a decayI but the point of perfection is the boundary
beteen these to, and is considered to exist in an e0uality of efflux and influxI but hen the Doints
of the system are bro!en, should there no longer exist any passage for the breath, or the nourish-
ment not be distributed, then the animal dies#
J
3ISA?3/?S
-here are many things hurtful to life, hich are causes of death# Ane !ind is disease# Its beginning
is disharmony of the functions, hen the simple poers, such as heat, cold, moisture or dryness are
excessive or deficient# -hen come turns and alterations in the blood, from corruption, and the deteri-
oration of the flesh, hen asting aay, should the turns ta!e place according to the changes, to
hat is acid, or brac!ish, or bitter, in the blood, or asting aay of the flesh# ,ence arise the pro-
duction of bile, and of phlegm, diseased Duices, and the rottenness of li0uids ea! indeed, unless
deeply seatedI but difficult to cure, hen their commencement is generated from the bones, and
painful, if in a state of inflammation of the marro# -he last of disorders are those of the breath,
bile and phlegm, hen they increase and flo into situations foreign to them, or into places inap-
propriate for them, by laying hold, of the situation, belonging to hat is better, and be driving aay
hat is congenial they fix themselves there, inDuring the bodies, and resolving them into the very
things#
-hese then are the sufferings of the bodyI and hence arise many diseases of the soulI some from one
faculty, and some from another# Af the perceptive soul the disease is a difficulty of perception, of
the recollecting, a forgetfulness of the appetitive part, a deficiency of desire and eagernessI of the
affective, a violent suffering and excited madnessI of the rational, an indisposition to learn and
thin!#
:ut of ic!edness the beginnings are pleasure and painsI desires and fears, inflamed by the body,
mingled ith the ind and called by different names# 6or there loves and regrets, desires let loose,
and passions on the stretch, heavy resentments, and appetites of various !inds, and pleasures im-
moderate# .lainly, to be unreasonably disposed toards the affections is the limit of virtue, and to
be under their rule is that of viceI for to abound in them, or to be superior to them, places us in a
good or bad position# Against such impulses the temperaments of our bodies is greatly able to co-
operate, hether 0uic! or hot, or various, by leading us to melancholy or violent lednessI and cer-
tain parts, hen affected by a catarrh, produce itchings and forms of body more similar to a state of
inflammation than one of healthI through hich a sin!ing of the spirits and a forgetfulness, a still-
ness and a state of fear are itnessed#
JI
3IS4I."I;/
Important, too, are the habits in hich persons are trained, in the city or at home, and their daily
food, by luxury enervating the soul, or fortifying it for strength# 6or the living out of doors, and
single fare, and gymnastic exercises, and the morals of companions, produce the greatest effect in
the ay of vice and virtue# -hese causes are derived from our parents and the elements, rather than
ourselves, provided that on our part there be no remissness, by !eeping aloof from acts of duty# -he
animal cannot be in good condition unless the body possesses the better properties under its controlI
namely, health and correct perception, and strength and beauty#
;o the principles of beauty are a symmetry as regards its parts, and as regards the soul# 6or nature
has arranged the body, li!e an instrument to be subservient to, and in harmony ith, the subDects of
life# -he soul must li!eise be brought into harmony ith its analogous good 0ualities, namely, in
the case of temperance, as the body is in the case of healthI and in that of prudence, as in the case of
correct perceptionI and in that of fortitude, as in the case of vigor and strengthI and in that of Dustice,
as in the case of beauty#
;ature, of course, furnishes their beginningsI but their continuation and maturation result from care-
fulnessI those relating to the body, through the gymnastic and medical arts, those to the soul
through instruction and philosophy# 6or these are the poers that nourish and give a tone to the
body and soul by means of labor and gymnastic exercise, and pureness of dietI some through drug
medication applied to the body, and others through discipline applied to the soul by means of pun-
ishments and reproachesI for by the encouragement they give strength and excite to an onard,
movement, and exhort to beneficial deeds# -he art of the gymnasium trainer, and its nearest ap-
proach, that of the medical man, do, on application to the body, reduce their poers to the utmost
symmetry, purifying the blood, and e0uali5ing the breath, so that, if there ere there any diseased
virulence, the poers of blood and breath may be vigorousI but music, and its leader, philosophy,
hich the las and the gods ordained as regulators for the soul, accustom, persuade and partly com-
pel the irrational to obey reason, and the to irrational, passion and desire, to become, the one mild,
and the other 0uiet, so as not to be moved ithout reason, nor to be unmoved hen the mind incites
either to desire or enDoy somethingI for this is the definition of temperance, namely, docility and
firmness# Intelligence and philosophy the highest in honor, after cleansing the soul from false opin-
ions, have introduced !noledge, recalling the mind from excessive ignorance, and setting it free
for the contemplation of divine thingsI in hich to occupy oneself ith self-sufficiency, as regards
the affairs of a man, and ith an abundance, for the commensurate period of life, is a happy state#
JII
,BCA; 3/S-I;@
;o he to hom the deity has happened to assign some hat of a good fate, is, through opinion,
led to the happiest life# :ut if he be morose and indocile, let the punishment that comes from la
and reason follo himI bringing ith it the fears ever on the stretch, both those that originate in
heaven or ,adesI ho that punishments inexorable, are belo laid up for the unhappy, as ell as
those ancient ,omeric threats of retaliation for the ic!edness of those defiled by crime $Adyssey,
xii 98%-9))(# 6or as e sometimes restore bodies to health by means of diseased substances, if they
ill not yield to the more healthy, so if the soul ill not be led by true reasoning, e restrain it by
false# Strange indeed ould those punishments be called since, by a change, the souls of coards
enter into bodies of omen, ho are inclined to insulting conductI and those of the blood-stained
ould be punished by being introduced into the bodies of ild beastsI of the lascivious, into the
bodies of sos and boarsI of the light-minded and frivolous into shaper and aeronautic birdsI and of
those ho neither do learn or thin! of nothing, into the bodies of idle fish#
An all these matters, hoever, there has, at a second period, been delivered a Dudgment by ;emesis,
or 6ate, together ith the avenging deities that preside over murderers, and those under the earth in
,ades, and the inspectors of human affairs, to hom God, the leader of all, has entrusted the admin-
istration of the orld hich is filled ith gods and men, and the rest of the living beings hich by
the demiurgic creator according to the best model of an unbegotten, eternal and mentally-perceived
form#

6I;IS#