The Golden Verses of Pythagoras — with commentary (1917)

The aim of the doctrine of Pythagoras was to enUghten men, to purify them of their vices, to deliver them from their errors, and to restore them to virtue and to truth ; and after having caused them to pass through all the degrees of the understanding and intelligence, to render them like unto the immortal gods.

This philosopher had for this purpose divided his doctrine into two parts: the purgative part and the unitive o Clem. Alex., Eclog. Theod., § 30.

* Hist, du Manich., t. i., p. 572.

<: Gods, Heroes, and Demons signify in the Greek words 6e6t, 'Hpoies, AaC/uuK, whence they are derived, the Principle-Beings attained to perfection ; the ruling Principle-Beings; Terrestrial Existences. The word ee6s is formed from the word V\tt (a6s), a Principle-Being, preceded by the hemantigue letter n (fl, th), which is the sign of perfection. The word 'Hpwes is composed of the same word twn {ads), preceded by the word lin (herr), expressing all that rules. The word ^al/uav comes from the ancient word A^/i, land, united with the word &", existence.

Examinations of the Golden Verses 139

part. Through the first, man became purified of his uncleanness, emerged from the darkness of ignorance, and attained to virtue : through the second, he used his acquired virtue to become united to the Divinity through whose means he arrived at perfection. These two parts are found quite distinct in the Golden Verses. Hierocles, who has clearly grasped them, speaks of it in the beginning of, his Commentaries and designates them by two words which contain, he said, all the doctrine of Pythagoras, Purification and Perfection." The Magians and the Chaldeans, all of whose principles Pythagoras had adopted, were agreed on this point, and in order to express their idea, made use of a parabolical phrase very celebrated among them. "We consume," they said, "the refuse of matter by the fire of divine love."* An anonymous author who has written an history of Pythagoras, preserved by Photius, said that the disciples of this great man taught that one perfects oneself in three ways : in communing with the gods, in doing good in imitation of the gods, and in departing from this life to rejoin the gods." The first of these ways is contained in the first three Unes of the Golden Verses which concern the cult rendered, according to the law and according to the faith, to the Gods, to the glorified Heroes, and to the Spirits. The second, that is, the Purification, begins at the fourth line which makes the subject of this Examination. The third, that is, the union with the Divinity, or Perfection, begins at the fortieth line of my translation :

Let not sleep e'er close thy tired eyes.

Thus the division that I have believed ought to be made of this short poem is not at all arbitrary, as one sees the judicious Bayle had remarked it before me.''

1 S.d$ap<Ta Kal TeKtUiTris.

It is worthy of observation, that Pythagoras begins the purgative part of his doctrine by commending the observance of natural duties, and that he places in the rank of primary virtues, filial piety, paternal and conjugal love. Thus this admirable philosopher made it his first care to strengthen the ties of blood and make them cherished and sacred ; he exhorts respect to children, tenderness to parents, and union to all the members of the family ; he follows thus the profound sentiment which Nature inspires in all sentient beings, very different in this from certain legislators, blinded by false politics, who, in order to conduct men to I know not what power and what imaginary welfare, have wished, on the contrary, to break those ties, annihilate those relationships of father, son, and brother, to concentrate, they said, upon a being of reason called Country the affection that the soul divides among those objects of its first love." If the legislators had cared to reflect a moment, they would have seen that there existed no country for the one who had no father, and that the respect and love that a man in his virile age feels for the place of his birth, holds its principle and receives its force from those same sentiments that he felt in his infancy for his mother. Every effect proclaims a cause; every edifice rests upon a foimdation : the real cause of love of country is maternal love ; the sole foundations of the social edifice are paternal power and filial respect. From this sole power issues that of the prince, who, in every well-organized state, being considered as father of the people, has right to the obedience and respect of his children.

I am going to make here a singular comparison which I