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1IAMBLICHUS LIFE OF PY THAGORAS, PYTHAGORIC LIFE. IAMBLICHUS’ LIFE OF PY THAGORAS, PYTHAGORIC LIFE. ACCOMPANIED BY FRAGMENTS OF THE ETHICAL WRITINGS OF CERTAIN PYTHAGOREANS IN THE DORIC DIALECT ; AND A COLLECTION OF PYTHAGORIC SENTENCES FROM STOB/EUS AND OTHERS, WHICH ARE OMITTED BY GALE IN HIS OPUSCULA MYTHOLOGICA, AND HAVE NOT BEEN NOTICED BY ANY EDITOR. TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK. By THOMAS TAYLOR. Approach ye genuine philosophic few, The Pythagoric Life belongs to you: But far, far off ye vulgar herd profane ; For Wisdom’s voice is heard by you in vain: And you, Mind's lowest link, and darksome end, Good Rulers, Customs, Laws, alone can mend. London: J. M. WATKINS I8I8 INTRODUCTION. Wuen it is considered that Pythagoras was the father of philosophy, authentic memoirs of his life cannot fail to be uncommonly interesting to every lover of wisdom, and particularly to those who reverence the doctrines of Plato, the most genuine and the best of all his disciples. And that the following memoirs of Pythagoras by Iamblichus are authentic, is acknowledged by all the critics, as they are for the most part obviously derived from sources of very high antiquity; and where the sources are unknown, there is every reason to believe, from the great worth and respectability of the biographer, that the information is perfectly accurate and true.
2Of the biographer, indeed, Iamblichus, it is well known to every tyro in Platonism that he was dignified by all the Platonists that succeeded him with the epithet of divine ; and after the encomium passed on him by the acute Emperor Julian, “that he was paaihedd indeed in time, but not 1n gentus, to Plato,” + all further praise of him would be as unnecessary, as the defamation of him by certain modern critics is contemptible and idle. For these homonculi looking solely to his deficiency in point of style, and not to the magnitude of his intellect, perceive only his little blemishes, but have not even a glimpse of his surpassing excellence. They minutely 1 OiSa pév obv xat TlAdrwva tov péyav, Kat perd rourdy dvdpa Tos Xpovois pev, ov TH MYV pica, KaTadeerrEepoy, TOV Xarxidda Ppt rov "lapBAxov, x. X. Julian. Orat. rv. Thus too the celebrated Bullialdus, in his Notes on Theo of Smyrna, speaks of Iamblichus as a man of a most acute genius. Vi notice the motes that are scattered in the sunbeams of his genius, but they feel not its invigorating warmth, they see not its dazzling radiance.
3Of this very extraordinary man there is a life extant by Eunapius, the substance of which I have given in my History of the Restoration of the Platonic Theology, and to which I refer the English reader. At present I shall only select from that work the following biographical particulars respecting our Iamblichus: He was descended of a family equally illustrious, fortunate, and rich. His country was Chalcis, a city of Syria, which was called Cele. He associated with Anatolius who was the second to Porphyry, but he far excelled him in his attainments, and ascended to the very summit of philosophy. But after he had been for some time connected with Anatolius, and most probably found him insufficient to satisfy the vast desires of his soul, he applied himself to Porphyry, to whom (says Eunapius) he was in nothing inferior, except in the structure and power of composition. For his writings were not so elegant and graceful as those of Porphyry: they were neither agreeable, nor perspicuous; nor free from impurity of diction. And though they were not entirely involved in obscurity, and perfectly faulty; yet as Plato formerly said of Xenocrates, he did not sacrifice to the Mercurial Graces. Hence he is far from detaining the reader with delight, who merely regards his diction; but will rather avert and dull his attention, and frustrate his expectation. However, though the surface of his conceptions is not covered with the flowers of elocution, yet the depth of them is admirable, and his genius is truly sublime. And admitting his style to abound in general with those defects, which have been noticed by the critics, yet it appears to me that the decision of the anonymous Greek writer respecting his Answer to the Epistle of Porphyry, is more or less
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
1IAMBLICHUS LIFE OF PY THAGORAS, PYTHAGORIC LIFE. IAMBLICHUS’ LIFE OF PY THAGORAS, PYTHAGORIC LIFE. ACCOMPANIED BY FRAGMENTS OF THE ETHICAL WRITINGS OF CERTAIN PYTHAGOREANS IN THE DORIC DIALECT ; AND A COLLECTION OF PYTHAGORIC SENTENCES FROM STOB/EUS AND OTHERS, WHICH ARE OMITTED BY GALE IN HIS OPUSCULA MYTHOLOGICA, AND HAVE NOT BEEN NOTICED BY ANY EDITOR. TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK. By THOMAS TAYLOR. Approach ye genuine philosophic few, The Pythagoric Life belongs to you: But far, far off ye vulgar herd profane ; For Wisdom’s voice is heard by you in vain: And you, Mind's lowest link, and darksome end, Good Rulers, Customs, Laws, alone can mend. London: J. M. WATKINS I8I8 INTRODUCTION. Wuen it is considered that Pythagoras was the father of philosophy, authentic memoirs of his life cannot fail to be uncommonly interesting to every lover of wisdom, and particularly to those who reverence the doctrines of Plato, the most genuine and the best of all his disciples. And that the following memoirs of Pythagoras by Iamblichus are authentic, is acknowledged by all the critics, as they are for the most part obviously derived from sources of very high antiquity; and where the sources are unknown, there is every reason to believe, from the great worth and respectability of the biographer, that the information is perfectly accurate and true.
2Of the biographer, indeed, Iamblichus, it is well known to every tyro in Platonism that he was dignified by all the Platonists that succeeded him with the epithet of divine ; and after the encomium passed on him by the acute Emperor Julian, “that he was paaihedd indeed in time, but not 1n gentus, to Plato,” + all further praise of him would be as unnecessary, as the defamation of him by certain modern critics is contemptible and idle. For these homonculi looking solely to his deficiency in point of style, and not to the magnitude of his intellect, perceive only his little blemishes, but have not even a glimpse of his surpassing excellence. They minutely 1 OiSa pév obv xat TlAdrwva tov péyav, Kat perd rourdy dvdpa Tos Xpovois pev, ov TH MYV pica, KaTadeerrEepoy, TOV Xarxidda Ppt rov "lapBAxov, x. X. Julian. Orat. rv. Thus too the celebrated Bullialdus, in his Notes on Theo of Smyrna, speaks of Iamblichus as a man of a most acute genius. Vi notice the motes that are scattered in the sunbeams of his genius, but they feel not its invigorating warmth, they see not its dazzling radiance.
3Of this very extraordinary man there is a life extant by Eunapius, the substance of which I have given in my History of the Restoration of the Platonic Theology, and to which I refer the English reader. At present I shall only select from that work the following biographical particulars respecting our Iamblichus: He was descended of a family equally illustrious, fortunate, and rich. His country was Chalcis, a city of Syria, which was called Cele. He associated with Anatolius who was the second to Porphyry, but he far excelled him in his attainments, and ascended to the very summit of philosophy. But after he had been for some time connected with Anatolius, and most probably found him insufficient to satisfy the vast desires of his soul, he applied himself to Porphyry, to whom (says Eunapius) he was in nothing inferior, except in the structure and power of composition. For his writings were not so elegant and graceful as those of Porphyry: they were neither agreeable, nor perspicuous; nor free from impurity of diction. And though they were not entirely involved in obscurity, and perfectly faulty; yet as Plato formerly said of Xenocrates, he did not sacrifice to the Mercurial Graces. Hence he is far from detaining the reader with delight, who merely regards his diction; but will rather avert and dull his attention, and frustrate his expectation. However, though the surface of his conceptions is not covered with the flowers of elocution, yet the depth of them is admirable, and his genius is truly sublime. And admitting his style to abound in general with those defects, which have been noticed by the critics, yet it appears to me that the decision of the anonymous Greek writer respecting his Answer to the Epistle of Porphyry, is more or less
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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