The Golden Verses of Pythagoras — with commentary (1917)
The text is shown on its own: no facing layer is held for this issue.
Orpheus, instructed as was Moses, in the sanctuaries of Egypt, had the same ideas as the legislator of the Hebrews
' Voyage dujeune Anacharsis, t. i., Introd., p. 7.
" Meurs., De Relig. Athen., 1. i., c. 9. 3 ApoUon., 1. iii., p. 237.
< Hygin., Fabl, 143. s Pausan., Arcad., p. 266, 268, etc.
The Essence and Form of Poetry 29 upon the unity of God, but the different circumstances in which he found himself placed did not permit him to divtdge this dogma; he reserved this for making it the basis of his mysteries, and continued, in the meantime, to personify in his poetry the attributes of the Divinity. His institutions, drawn from the same source, founded upon the same truths, received the imprint of his character and that of the people to whom he had destined them. As those of Moses were severe and, if one must admit, harsh in form, enemies of the sciences and arts, so those of Orpheus were brilliant, fitted to seduce the minds, favourable to all the developments of the imagination. It was beneath the allurements of pleasure, of joy, and of fttes, that he concealed the utility of his lessons and the depth of his doctrine. Nothing was more full of pomp than the celebration of its mysteries. Whatever majesty, force, and grace, poetry, music, and painting had, was used to excite the enthusiasm of the initiate.' He found no pretext advantageous enough, no form beautiful enough, no charm powerful enough to interest the hearts and attract them toward the sublime truths which he proclaimed. These truths, whose force the early Christians have recognized, ' went much further than those of which Moses had been the interpreter; they seemed to anticipate the times. Not only did he teach of the unity of God,* and give the most sublime ideas of this unfathomable Being 3; not only did he explain the birth of the Universe and the origin of things"; but he represented this unique God under the emblem of a mysterious Trinity endowed
'Strabo, 1. x; Meurs., Eleus., c. 21 et seq.; Paus., Ath., c. 28; Fulgent., Myth., 1. i.; Philostr., In Apollon., 1. ii.; Athen., 1. xi.; Procl., In Tim. Comment., 1. v.
"Euseb., Prcep. Evang., 1. xiii., c. 12.
* The unity of Grod is taught in an Orphic hjrmn of which Justin, Tatian, Clement of Alexandria, Cyril, and Theodore have preserved fragments. (Orphei Hymn. Edente Eschenbach., p. 242.)
3 Clem. Alex., Admon. ad Gent., p. 48; ibid., Strom., 1. v., p. 607.
* Apoll., Arg., 1. i., V. 496; Clem. Alex., Strom., 1. iv., p. 475.
30 The Golden Verses of Pythagoras with three names'; he spoke of the dogma which Plato announced a long time after concerning the Logos, or the Divine Word; and, according to Macrobius, taught even its incarnation or its union with matter, its death or its division in the world of sense, its resurrection or its transfiguration, and finally its return to the original Unity. ^
This inspired man, by exalting in Man the imagination, that admirable faculty which makes the charm of life, fettered the passions which trouble its serenity. Through him his disciples enjoyed the enthusiasm of the fine arts and he insisted that their customs should be pure and simple. ^ The regime that he prescribed for them was that which Pythagoras introduced later "•. One of the most pleasing rewards which he offered to their endeavours, the very aim of their initiation into his mysteries, was, putting themselves in communion with the gods'; freeing themselves from the cycle of generations, purifying their soul, and rendering it worthy of projecting itself, after the downfall of its corporal covering toward its primal abode, to the realms of light and happiness. *
No commentary for this page under the selected tracks.
There is commentary on page 1.