urest sand, they raised a certain temporary altar before
im, and heaping on it from their present abundance
the fruits of trees, and presenting him as it were with
the first fruits of their freight, they departed from
thence, and hastened to their destined port. But
Pythagoras, whose body through such long fasting was
become weaker, did not oppose the sailors in assisting
him to descend from the ship, and immediately on
their departure eat as much of the fruits as was requisite
to restore his decayed strength. From thence also he
arrived safe at the neighbouring lands, constantly pre-
serving the same tranquillity and modesty of behaviour.
CHAP. IV.
Bur here, while he frequented all the Egyptian
temples with the greatest diligence and with accurate
investigation, he was both admired and loved by the
Poe and prophets with whom he associated. And
aving learnt with the greatest solicitude every par-
ticular, he did not neglect to hear of any transaction
that was celebrated in his own time, or of any man
famous for his wisdom, or any mystery in whatever
manner it might be performed; nor did he omit to
visit any place in which he thought something more
excellent might be found. On this account he went to
all the priests, by whom he was furnished with the
wisdom which each possessed. He spent therefore two
and twenty years in Egypt, in the adyta of temples,
astronomizing and geometrizing, and was initiated, not
in a superficial or casual manner, in all the mysteries
of the Gods, till at length being taken captive by the
soldiers of Cambyses, he was brought to Babylon. Here
he gladly associated with the Magi, was instructed by
them in their venerable knowledge, and learnt from
them the most perfect worship of the Gods. Through
their assistance likewise, he arrived at the summit of
arithmetic, music, and other disciplines; and after
associating with them twelve years, he returned to
Samos about the fifty-sixth year of his age.
CHAP. V.
On his return to Samos, however, being known by
some of the more aged inhabitants, he was not less
admired than before. For he appeared to them to be
more beautiful and wise, and to possess a divine grace-
fulness in a more eminent degree. Hence, he was
‘gear! called upon by his country to benefit all men,
y imparting to them what he knew. Nor was he
averse to this request, but endeavoured to introduce
the symbolical mode of teaching, in a way perfectly
similar to the documents by which he had been in-
structed in Egypt; though the Samians did not very
much admit this mode of tuition, and did not adhere
to him with that according aptitude which was
oe Though no one therefore attended to him,
and no one was genuinely desirous of those disciplines
which he endeavoured by all means to introduce
among the Greeks, yet he neither despised nor neglected
Samos, because it was his country, and therefore
wished to give his fellow-citizens a taste of the sweet-
ness of the mathematical disciplines, though they were
unwilling to be instructed in them. With a view to
this, therefore, he employed the following method and
artifice. Happening to observe a certain youth, who
was a great lover of gymnastic and other corporeal
exercises, but otherwise poor and in difficult circum-
stances, playing at ball in the Gymnasium with great
aptness and facility, he thought the young man might
easily be persuaded to attend to him, if he was suffi-
ciently supplied with the necessaries of life, and freed
from the care of procuring them. As soon as the youth,
therefore, left the bath, Pythagoras called him to him,
and promised that he would furnish him with every
thing requisite to the support of his bodily exercise, on
condition that he would receive from him gradually
and easily, but continually, so that he might not be burthened by receiving them at once, certain disciplines, which he said he had learnt from the Barbarians in his youth, but which now began to desert him through forgetfulness and the incursions of old age. But the young man immediately acceded to the conditions, through the hope of having necessary support. Pytha- goras, therefore, endeavoured to instruct him in the disciplines of arithmetic and geometry, forming each of his demonstrations in an abacus, and giving the youth three oboli as a reward for every figure which helearnt. This also he continued to do for a long time, exciting him to the geometrical theory by the desire of honour; diligently and in the best order, giving him (as we have said) three oboli for every figure which he apprehended. But when the wise man observed that the elegance, sweetness, and connexion of these disciplines, to which the youth had been led in a certain orderly path, had so captivated him that he would not neglect their pursuit though he should suffer the extremity of want, he pretended poverty, and an inability of giving him three oboli any longer. But the youth on hearing this replied, “I am able without these to learn and receive your disciplines.” Pythagoras then said, “But I have not the means of procuring sufficient nutriment for myself.” As it is requisite, therefore, to labour in order to procure daily necessaries and mortal food, it would not be proper that his attention should be distracted by the abacus, and by stupid and vain pursuits. The youth, however, vehemently abhorring the thought of discontinuing his studies, replied: ‘I will in future provide for you, and repay your kindness in a way resembling that of the stork: for I in my turn will give you three oboli for every figure.” And from this time he was so captivated by these disciplines, that he alone, of all the Samians, migrated from his country with Pythagoras, having the same name with him, but being the son of Eratocles.
There are said to be three books of this Samian On Athletics, in which he orders the Athlete to feed on flesh instead of dry figs; which books are very im- properly ascribed by some to Pythagoras the son of Mnesarchus. It is likewise said, that about the same time Pythagoras was admired at Delos, when he approached to the bloodless altar, as it is called, of the father Apollo, and worshipped it. After which he went to all the oracles. He likewise dwelt for some time in Crete and Sparta, for the purpose of becoming acquainted with their laws; and, having been an auditor and learner of all these, he returned home in order to investigate what he had omitted. And in the first place, indeed, he established a school in the city, which is even now called the semicircle of Pythagoras; and in which the Samians now consult about public affairs, conceiving it right to investigate things just and advantageous in that place which he had constructed who paid attention to the welfare of all men. He also formed a cavern out of the city, adapted to his philo- sophy, in which he spent the greatest part both of the day and night; eraploving himself in the investigation of things useful in disciplines, framing intellectual con- ceptions after the same manner as Minos the son of Jupiter. Indeed, he so much surpassed those who afterwards employed his disciplines, that they conceived magnificently of themselves, from the knowledge of theorems of small importance; but Pythagoras gave completion to the science of the celestial orbs, and un- folded the whole of it by arithmetical and geometrical demonstrations. He is, however, to be admired in a still greater degree for what he afterwards accomplished. For when now philosophy had received a great accession, he was admired by all Greece, and the best of those who philosophized came to Samos on his account, in order that they might participate of his erudition. The citizens likewise employed him in all their embassies, and compelled him to unite with them in the admin-
istration of public affairs. However, as he easily saw the difficulty of complying with the laws of his country, and at the same time remaining at home and philo- sophizing, and considered that all philosophers before him had passed their life in foreign countries, he determined to neglect all political occupations; in- duced to this, according to the testimony of others, by the negligence of the Samians in what relates to education, and went into Italy, conceiving that place to be his proper country, in which men well disposed towards learning were to be found in the greatest abundance. And such was the success of his journey, that on his arrival at Crotona, which was the noblest city in Italy, he had many followers, amounting, as it is said, to the number of six hundred, who were not only excited by his discourses to the study of philosophy, but also to an amicable division of the goods of life in common; from whence they acquired the appellation of Cenobite.
CHAP. VI.
Anp these indeed were such as philosophized. But
the greatest part of his disciples consisted of auditors
whom they call Acusmatict, who on his first arrival in
Italy, according to Nicomachus, being captivated by
one popular oration alone, exceeded two thousand in
number. These, with their wives and children, being
collected into one very large and common auditory,
called Homacoion, and which for its magnitude re-
sembled a city, founded a place which was universally
called Magna Grecia. This great multitude of people
likewise, receiving laws and mandates from Pythagoras
as so many divine precepts, and without which they
engaged in no occupation, dwelt together with the
greatest general concord, celebrated and ranked b
their neighbours among the number of the blessed. At
the same time, as we have already observed, they shared
their possessions in common. Such also was their
reverence for Pythagoras, that they numbered him
with the Gods, as a certain beneficent and most
philanthropic demon. And some indeed celebrated
him as the Pythian, but others as the Hyperborean
Apollo. Some again considered him as Peon, but
others as one of the demons that inhabit the moon;
and others celebrated him as one of the Olympian
Gods,? who, in order to benefit and correct the mortal
life, appeared to the men of those times in a human
form, in order that he might extend to them the
salutary light of felicity and philosophy. And indeed
a greater good never came, nor ever will come to man-
kind, than that which was imparted by the Gods
through this Pythagoras. Hence, even now the pro-
verb of the long-haired Samian, is applied to the most
venerable man. But Aristotle relates, in his Treatise
On the Pythagoric Philosophy, that such a division as
1 From what has been said in the note, p. 3, respecting the divine origin of Pythagoras, it follows that he was a terrestrial hero belonging to the series of Apollo. Thus too the Esculapius who once lived on the earth, and was the inventor of medicine, proceeded, according to the ancient mythology, from the God Esculapius, who subsists in Apollo, just as the hero Bacchus proceeded from the Bacchus who subsists in Jupiter. Hence the Emperor Julian (apud Cyril.) says of Esculapius: “I had almost forgotten the greatest of the gifts of Jupiter and the Sun, but I have very properly reserved it to the last. For it is not peculiar to us only, but is common also, I think, to our kindred the Greeks. For Jupiter, in intelligibles, generated from himself Esculapius; but he was unfolded into light on the earth, through the prolific light of the sun. He therefore, proceeding from heaven to the earth, appeared uniformly in a human shape about Epidaurus. But thence becoming multiplied in his progressions, he extended his saving right hand to all the earth. He came to Pergamus, to Ionia, to Tarentum, and afterwards to Rome. Thence he went to the island Co, afterwards to Aigas, and at length to wherever there is land and sea. Nor did we individually, but collectively, experience his beneficence. And at one and the same time, he corrected souls that were wandering in error, and bodies that were infirm.”