The Golden Verses of Pythagoras — with commentary (1917)

If, after having called attention to the mistakes of these great men, I dared to hazard my opinion upon the point where both of them have failed, I would say that they have confused the principles of the sciences with their developments; it must be so, by drawing the principles from the past, as Kong-Tse; by allowing the developments to act throughout the future, as Bacon. Principles hold to the Necessity of things; they are immutable in themselves; finite, inaccessible to the senses, they are proved by reason :

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their developments proceed from the power of the Will; these developments are free, indefinite ; they aflfect the senses and are demonstrated by experience. Never is the development of a principle finished in the past, as Kong-Tse believed ; never is a principle created in the future, as Bacon imagined. The development of a principle produces another principle, but always in the past; and as soon as this new principle is laid down, it is universal and beyond the reach of experience. Man knows that this principle exists, but he knows not how. If he knew, he would be able to create it at his pleasure ; which does not belong to his nature.

Man develops, perfects, or depraves, but he creates nothing. The scientific golden mean commended by Pythagoras, consists therefore, in seizing the principles of the sciences where they are and developing them freely without being constrained or driven by any false ideas. As to that which concerns morals, it is forcibly enough expressed by all that has preceded.

The man who recognizes his dignity, says Hierocles, is incapable of being prejudiced or seduced by anything." Temperance and force are the two incorruptible guardians of the soul: they prevent it from yielding to the allurements of things pleasing and being frightened by the horrors of things dreadful. Death suffered in a good cause is illustrious and glorious.

15. Consult, deliberate, and freely choose.

In explaining this line from a moral standpoint as Hierocles has done, one readily feels that to deliberate and choose in that which relates to moral conduct, consists in seeking for what is good or evil in an action, and in attaching oneself to it or fleeing from it, without letting oneself be drawn along by the lure of pleasure or the fear of pain.* But if

» Aurea Carm., v. 25. » Aurea Carm., v. 27.

1 82 The Golden Verses of Pythagoras one penetrates still deeper into the meaning of this Une, it is seen that it proceeds from principles previously laid down regarding the necessity of Destiny and the power of the Will; and that Pythagoras neglected no opportunity for making his disciples feel that, although forced by Destiny to find themselves in such or such a condition, they remained free to weigh the consequences of their action, and to decide themselves upon the part that they ought to take. The following lines are, as it were, the corollary of his counsel.

i6. Let fools act aimlessly and without cause,

Thou shouldst, in the present, contemplate the future.

That is to say, thou shouldst consider what wiU be the results of such or such action and think that these results, dependent upon thy will (while the action remains in suspense and free, while they are yet to be bom), will become the domain of Necessity the very instant when the action will be executed, and increasing in the past, once they shall have had birth, will cooperate in forming the plan of a new future.

I beg the reader, interested in these sorts of comparisons, to reflect a moment upon the idea of Pythagoras. He will find here the veritable source of the astrological science of the ancients. Doubtless he is not ignorant of what an extended influence this science exercised already upon the face of the globe. The Egyptians, Chaldeans, Phoenicians, did not separate it from that which regulated the cult of the gods." Their temples were but an abridged image of the Universe, and the tower which served as an observatory was raised at the side of the sacrificial altar. The Peruvians followed, in this respect, the same usages as the Greeks and Romans.* Everywhere the grand Pontiff o Hermes, In Asclepio; Porphyr., De Antr. Nymph., p. io6; Origen, Contr. Cels., 1. vi., p. 298; Hyd., De Vet. Pers. Relig., p. 16; Jatnblic, De MysterEgypt., c. 37.

* Hist, des Voyag., t. lii., p. 72; Divd., 1. iv., c. 79; Plutar., In VitA Num.

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