The Golden Verses of Pythagoras — with commentary (1917)
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I beg the disciples of Kant to give attention to this passage, and to remember what Plato has said of the same, that, sometimes matter exists and sometimes it does not exist"; as Justin the martyr, and Cyril of Alexandria have reproached him for it; and as Plutarch and Chalcidius have strongly remarked it,"* in seeking to excuse this apparent contradiction.
Let us endeavour now to call attention to the point where Kant is led astray. This point, in the philosophical course that this savant meant to pursue, seemed at first of very slight importance; but the deviation that it causes,
« Krit. der Reinen Vernunft; gk et Ik, en plusieurs endroits. * This is taken from the Vedanta, a metaphysical treatise attributed to Vyasa and commented upon by Sankarftcharya.
c Justin, Cohort, ad Gent., p. 6; Cyrill., Contr. Julian. <* Plutar., de Procr. anim.; Chalcid., in Tim., n. 293.
Examinations of the Golden Verses 209
although small and almost imperceptible at the first instant, determines none the less a divergent line, which, turning aside more and more from the right line proportionably as it is prolonged, is found to strike at an enormous distance from the mark where Kant hoped it would arrive. This deviating point — who would have believed it — is found in the misinterpretation and the misapplication of a wordAll the attention of the reader is required here. What I am about to say, in demonstrating the error of the German philosopher, will serve to supplement all that I have said pertaining to the doctrine of Pythagoras.
Kant, whether through imitation of the ancient philosophers or through the effect of his own learning which had made him desirous of knowing the truth, has considered man vmder three principal modifications which he calls faculties. In my twelfth Examination I have said that such was the doctrine of Pythagoras. Plato, who followed in everything the metaphysics of this great genius, distinguished in Man as in the Universe, the body, soul, and spirit ; and placed, in each of the modifications of the particular or universal unity which constituted them, the analogous faculties which, becoming developed in their turn, gave birth to three new modifications whose productive unity they became"; so that each ternary is represented in its development, under the image of the triple Ternary, and formed by its union with the Unity, first the Quaternary and afterwards the Decade.'' Now the German philoo Plato, in Tim.; ibid., in Theet.; ibid., de Rep., 1. iv. Conf^rez avec Proclus, Comment, in Tim., 1. i. ; Marc-Aurel., 1. iv., 1. ix., et 1. x. ; et Beausobre, Hist, du Manich., t. ii., p. 175, etc.
i The idea of making the quaternary spring from the unity, and the decade from the quaternary is expressed literally in the following lines of Pjrtbagoras, preserved by Proclus:
■ ■ ■ TLpbeuriv 6 SeTos ipiByht MoviiSo! iK KevS/iuvos iieqpdTK, h T' iy fxi^rai TerpiS' ial faS^Tiv, ij Si) jiKC luijTipa wivTov, HavSox^a, wpiapapav, Spov uepl rcuri riBeurav, 'ArpoTOF, dxa/tdTi/F, Sexdia KXclxri puv aytrfiv
21 o The Golden Verses of Pythagoras sopher, without explaining the principle which led him to consider man under three principal faculties, states them; without saying to what particular modification he attributes them, that is, without foreseeing if these faculties are physical, animistic or intellectual; if they belong to the body, to the soul, or to the mind : a first mistake which leads him to a second of which I am about to speak.
In order to express these three facilities, Kant makes use of three words taken from his own tongue and concerning the meaning of which it is well to fix our attention. He has named the first of these faculties Empfindlichkeit, the second, Verstand, and the third, Vernunft. These three words are excellent; it is only a question of clearly understanding and explaining them.
The word Empfindlichkeit expresses that sort of faculty which consists in collecting from without, feeling from within, and finding good or bad." It has been very well rendered in French by the word sensibility.
The word Verstand designates that sort of faculty which consists in reaching afar, being carried from a central point to all other points of the circumference to seize them.* It has been quite well rendered in French by the word entendement.
The Monad, of Number is the sacred source; Prom it Number emanates and holds the virtues With which shines the Tetrad, Universal Mother, Which produces all things and conceals in its depths The immortal Decade, honoured in all places.
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