Iamblichus — Life of Pythagoras (trans. Thomas Taylor, 1818)

the following was preserved by the Pythagoreans among their principal arcana; viz. that of rational animals one kind is a God, another man, and another such as Pythagoras. And indeed they very reasonably appre- hended him to be a being of this kind, through whom a right conception and conformable to things them- selves was introduced of Gods, heroes, and demons; of the world, the all-various motion of the spheres and stars, their oppositions, eclipses, and inequalities, their eccentricities and epicycles; of all the natures contained in the heavens and the earth, together with those that have an intermediate subsistence, whether apparent or occult. Nor was there any thing (in all this variety of information) at all contrary to the phenomena, or the conceptions of intellect. ‘To which we may add, that all such disciplines, theories, and scientific investi- gations, as truly invigorate the eye of the soul, and purify the intellect from the blindness introduced by studies of a different kind, so as to enable it to perceive the true principles and causes of the universe, were unfolded by Pythagoras to the Greeks. But besides all this, the best polity, popular concord, community of possessions among friends, the worship of the gods, piety to the dead, legislation, erudition, silence, absti- nence from animals, continence, temperance, sagacity, divinity, and in one word, whatever is anxiously sought after by the lovers of learning, was brought to light by Pythagoras. On all these accounts, there- fore, as I have just now said, he was (every where) so transcendently admired.

CHAP. VII.

Ir remains therefore after this, that we should
relate how he travelled, what places he first visited,
what discourses he made, on what subjects, and to

whom they were addressed; for thus we shall easily
apprehend the nature of his association with the men
of that time. It is said then, that as soon as he came
to Italy and Sicily, which cities he understood had
oppressed each other with slavery, partly at some
distant period of past time, and partly at a recent

eriod, he inspired the inhabitants with a love of libery, and through the means of his auditors, restored to independence and liberated Crotona, Sybaris, Catanes, Rhegium, Himezra, Agrigentum, Tauromenas, and some other cities, for whom also he established laws, through Charondas the Catanzan, and Zaleucus the Locrian, by whom they became flourishing cities, and afforded an example worthy of imitation, for a long time, to the neighbouring kingdoms. He also entirely subverted sedition, discord, and party zeal, not only from his familiars, and their posterity, for many generations, as we are informed by history, but, in short, from all the cities in Italy and Sicily, which were at that time disturbed with intestine and external contentions. For the following apothegm was always employed by him in every place, whether in the com- pany of a multitude or a few, which was similar to the persuasive oracle of a God, and was an epitome and summary as it were of his own opinions; that we should avoid and amputate by every possible artifice, by fire and sword, and all-various contrivances, from the body, disease; from the soul, ignorance; from the belly, luxury; from a city, sedition; from a house, discord; and at the same time, from all things, immoderation: through which, with a most fatherly affection, he reminded each of his disciples of the most excellent dogmas. Such therefore was the common form of his life at that time, both in words and actions. If, how- ever, it be requisite to make a more particular relation of what he did and said, it must be observed, that he came to Italy in the sixty-second Olympiad, at which time Eryxidas of Chalcis conquered in the stadium.

But immediately on his arrival he became conspicuous
and illustrious, in the same manner as before, when he
sailed to Delos. For there, when he performed his
adorations at the bloodless altar of the father Apollo,
he was admired by the inhabitants of the island.

CHAP. VIII.

At that time also, when he was journeying from
Sybaris to Crotona, he met near the shore with some
fishermen, who were then drawing their nets heavily
laden with fishes from the deep, and told them he knew
the exact number of the fish they had caught. But
the fishermen promising they would perform whatever
he should order them to do, if the event corresponded
with his prediction, he ordered them, after they had
accurately numbered the fish, to return them alive to
the sea: and what is yet more wonderful, not one of
the fish died while he stood on the shore, though they
had been detained from the water a considerable time.
Having therefore paid the fishermen the price of their
fish, he departed for Crotona. But they every where
divulged the fact, and having learnt his name from
some children, they told it to all men. Hence those
that heard of this affair were desirous of seeing the
stranger, and what they desired was easily obtained.
But they were astonished on surveying his countenance,
and conjectured him to be such a man as he was in
reality. A few days also after this, he entered the
Gymnasium, and being surrounded with a crowd of
young men, he is said to have delivered an oration to
them, in which he incited them to pay attention to
their elders, evincing that in the world, in life, in cities,
and in nature, that which has a precedency is more
honorable than that which is consequent in time. As
for instance, that the east is more honorable than the
west; the morning than the evening; the beginning

than the end; and generation than corruption. In a similar manner he observed, that natives were more honorable than strangers, and the leaders of colonies than the builders of cities: and universally Gods than demons; demons than demigods; and heroes than men. Of these likewise he observed, that the authors of generation are more honorable than their progeny. He said these things, however, for the sake of proving by induction, that children should very much esteem their parents, to whom he asserted they owed as many thanks as a dead man would owe to him who should be able to bring him back again into light. Afterwards, he observed, that it was indeed just to love those above all others, and never to give them pain, who first benefited us, and in the greatest degree. But parents alone benefit their children prior to their birth, and are the causes to their offspring of all their upright conduct; and that when children show themselves to be in no respect inferior to their parents in beneficence towards them, it is not possible for them in this respect toerr. For it is reasonable to suppose, that the Gods will pardon those who honor their parents in no less a degree than the divinities themselves; since we learnt from our parents to honor divinity. Hence Homer also added the same appellation to the king of the Gods; for he denominates him the father of Gods and mortals. Many other mythologists also have delivered to us, that the kings of the Gods have been ambitious to vindicate to themselves that excessive love which subsists through marriage, in children towards their parents. And that on this account, they have at the same time introduced the hypothesis of father and mother among the Gods,! the former indeed generating

1 Those Gods, according to the Orphic theology, that contain in themselves the first principle of stability, sameness, and being, and who also were the suppliers of conversion to all things, are of a male characteristic ; but those that are the causes of all-various progressions, separations, and measures of life, are of a feminine peculiarity.

Minerva, but the latter Vulcan, who are of a nature
contrary to each other, in order that what is most
remote may participate of friendship.

All his auditors likewise having granted that the
judgment of the immortals is most valid, he said he
would demonstrate to the Crotonians, by the example
of Hercules the founder of the colony brought to Cro-
tona, that it is necessary to be voluntarily obedient to
the mandates of parents, as they knew from tradition
that the God himself had undertaken such great labors
in consequence of obeying the commands of one older
than himself, and being victorious in what he had
undertaken to accomplish, had instituted in honor of
his father the Olympic games. He also showed them
that they should associate with each other in such
a manner, as never to be in a state of hostility to their
friends, but to become most rapidly friends to their
enemies; and that they should exhibit in modesty of
behaviour to their elders, the benevolent disposition
of children towards their parents; but in their philan-
thropy to others, fraternal love and regard.

In the next place, he spoke concerning temperance,
and said, that the juvenile age should make trial of its
nature, this being the period in which the desires are
in the most flourishing state. Afterwards, he exhorted
them to consider, that this alone among the virtues
was adapted to a boy and a virgin, to a woman, and to
the order of those of a more advanced age; and that
it was especially accommodated to the younger part of
the community. He also added, that this virtue alone
comprehended the goods both of body and soul, as it
preserved the health and also the desire of the most
excellent studies. But this is evident from the opposite.
For when the Barbarians and Greeks warred on each
other about Troy, each of them fell into the most
dreadful calamities, through the incontinence of one
man, partly in the war itself, and partly in returning
to their native land. And divinity ordained that the

punishment of injustice alone should endure for a
thousand and ten years, predicting by an oracle the
capture of Troy, and ordering that virgins should be
annually sent by the Locrians into the temple of Trojan
Minerva. Pythagoras also exhorted young men to the
cultivation of learning, calling on them to observe how
absurd it would be that they should judge the reason-
ing power to be the most laudable of all things, and
should consult about other things through this, and yet
bestow no time nor labour in the exercise of it; though
the attention which is paid to the body, resembles
depraved friends, and rapidly fails; but erudition, like
worthy and good men, endures till death, and for some
persons procures immortal renown after death. These
and other observations of the like kind, were made
by Pythagoras, partly from history, and partly from
[philosophic] dogmas, in which he showed that erudi-
tion is a natural excellence of disposition common to
those in each genus, who rank in the first class of human
nature. For the discoveries of these, become erudition
to others. But this is naturally so worthy of pursuit,
that with respect to other laudable objects of attain-
ment, it is not possible to partake of some of them
through another person, such as strength, beauty,
health, and fortitude; and others are no longer
possessed by him who imparts them to another, such
as wealth, dominion, and many other things which we
shall omit to mention. It is possible, however, for
erudition to be received by another, without in the
least diminishing that which the giver possesses. In
a similar manner also, some goods cannot be possessed
by men; but we are capable of being instructed,
according to our own proper and deliberate choice.
And in the next place, he who being thus instructed,
engages in the administration of the affairs of his
country, does not do this from impudence, but from
erudition. For by education merely men differ from
wild beasts, the Greeks from the Barbarians, those that

are free from slaves, and philosophers from the vulgar.
And in short, those that have erudition possess such a
transcendency with respect to those that have not, that
seven men have been found from one city, and in one
Olympiad, that were swifter than others in the course;
and in the whole of the habitable part of the globe,
those that excelled in wisdom were also seven in
number. But in the following times in which Pytha-
goras lived, he alone surpassed all others in philosophy.
For he called himself by this name [viz. a philosopher],

instead of a wise man.

CHAP. IX.

Anp this indeed is what he said to the young men
in the Gymnasium. But when they had told their
parents what they had heard, a thousand men having
called Pythagoras into the senate-house, and praised
him for what he had said to their sons, desired him,
if he had any thing advantageous to say to the Cro-
tonians, to unfold it to those who were the leaders
of the administration. He was also the first that
advised them to build a temple to the Muses, in order
that they might preserve the existing concord. For he
observed that all these divinities were called by one
common name, [the Muses, ],that they subsisted in con-
junction with each other, especially rejoiced in common
honors, and in short, that there was always one and the
same choir of the Muses. He likewise farther observed,
that they comprehended in themselves symphony, har-
mony, rhythm, and all things which procure concord.
They also evince that their power does not alone extend
to the most beautiful theorems, but likewise to the
symphony and harmony of things. In the next place,
he said it was necessary they should apprehend that
they received their country from the multitude of the
citizens, as acommon deposit. Hence, it was requisite