has also a certain analogy to the sound which concurs with the motion of terrestrial bodies. But the sound which is with us in consequence of the sonorific nature of the air, is a certain energy of the motion of their impassive sound. If, then, air is not passive there, it is evident that neither will the sound which is there be passive. Pythagoras, however, seems to have said that he heard the celestial harmony, as understanding the harmonic proportions in numbers, of the heavenly bodies, and that which is audible in them. Some one, however, may very properly doubt why the stars are seen by our visive sense, but the sound of them is not heard by our ears? To this we reply that neither do we see the stars themselves ; for we do not see their magnitudes, or their figures, or their surpassing beauty. Neither do we see the motion through which the sound is produced ; but we see as it were such an illumination of them, as that of the light of the sun about the earth, the sun himsclf not being seen by us. Perhaps too, neither will it be wonderful, that the visive sense, as being more immaterial, sub- sisting rather according to energy than according to passion, and very much transcending the other senses, should be thought worthy to receive the splendor and illumination of the celestial bodies, but that the other senses should not be adapted for this purpose. Of these, however, and such like particulars, if any one can assign more probable causes, let him be considered as a friend, and not as an enemy.”
luminary, either in the profundity of still water, or
through melted pitch, or through some darkly-splendid
mirror; sparing the imbecility of their eyes, and devising
a method of representing a certain repercussive light,
though less intense than its archetype, to those who are
delighted with a thing of this kind. Empedocles also
appears to have obscurely signified this about Py-
thagoras, and the illustrious and divinely-gifted con-
formation of his body above that of other men, when
he says:
“There was a man among them [i.e. among the
Pythagoreans] who was transcendent in knowledge, who
possessed the most ample stores of intellectual wealth,
and who was in the most eminent degree the adjutor
of the works of the wise. For when he extended all
the powers of his intellect, he easily beheld every thing,
as far as to ten or twenty ages of the human race.”
For the words transcendent, and he beheld every thing,
and the wealth of intellect, and the like, especially ex-
hibit the illustrious nature of the conformation of his
mind and body, and its superior accuracy in seeing, and
hearing, and in intellectual perception.
CHAP. XVI.
Tus adaptation therefore of souls was procured by
him through music. But another purification of the
dianoetic part, and at the same time of the whole soul,
through all-various studies, was effected by him as
follows: He conceived generally that labor should be
employed about disciplines and studies, and ordained
like a legislator, caus of the most various nature,
punishments, and restraints by fire and sword, for
live. Of the discursive energy of reason, or that part of the soul
that reasons scientifically, deriving the principles of its reasoning from intellect.
innate intemperance, and an inexhaustible avidity of
possessing; which he who is depraved can neither suffer
nor sustain. Besides these things also, he ordered his
familiars to abstain from all animals, and farther still
from certain foods, which are hostile to the reasoning
power, and impede its genuine energies. He likewise
enjoined them continence of speech, and perfect
silence, exercising them for many years in the subjuga-
tion of the tongue, and in a strenuous and assiduous
investigation and resumption of the most difficult
theorems. Hence also, he ordered them to abstain
from wine, to be sparing in their food, to sleep little,
and to have an unstudied contempt of, and hostility
to glory, wealth, and the like: to have an unfeigned
reverence of those to whom reverence is due, a genuine
similitude and benevolence to those of the same age
with themselves, and an attention and incitation
towards their juniors, free from all envy. With re-
spect to the amity also which subsists in all things
towards all, whether it be that of Gods towards men
through piety and scientific theory, or of dogmas to-
wards each other, or universally of the soul towards the
body, and of the rational towards the irrational part,
through philosophy, and the theory pertaining to it;
or whether it be that of men to each other, of citizens
indeed through sound legislation, but of strangers
through a correct physiology; or of the husband to
the wife, or of brothers and kindred, through un-
perverted communion; or whether, in short, it be of
all things towards all, and still farther, of certain
irrational animals through justice, and a physical con-
nexion and association; or whether it be the pacification
and conciliation of the body which is of itself mortal,
and of its latent contrary powers, through health, and
a diet and temperance conformable to this, in imitation
of the salubrious condition of the mundane elements;
—of the appellation of all these, which are summarily
comprehended in one and the same name, that of
friendship, Pythagoras is acknowledged to have been
the inventor and legislator. And, in short, he was the
cause to his disciples of the most appropriate converse
with the Gods, both when they were awake and when
asleep; a thing which never takes place in a soul dis-
turbed by anger, or pain, or pleasure, or, by Jupiter,
by any other base desire, or defiled by ignorance, which
is more unholy and noxious than all these. By all these
inventions, therefore, he divinely healed and purified
the soul, resuscitated and saved its divine part, and
conducted to the intelligible its divine eye, which, as
Plato says, is better worth saving than ten thousand
corporeal eyes; for by looking through this alone, when
it is strengthened and clarified by appropriate aids, the
truth pertaining to all beings is perceived. Referring
therefore to this, Pythagoras purified the dianoetic
power of the soul. Such also was the form with him
of erudition, and these were the things to which he
directed his view.
CHAP. XVII.
As he therefore thus prepared his disciples for erudi- tion, he did not immediately receive into the number of his associates those who came to him for that purpose, till he had made trial of, and judiciously examined them. Hence in the first place he inquired after what manner they associated with their parents, and the rest of their relatives. In the next place he surveyed their un- seasonable laughter, their silence, and their speaking when it was not proper; and farther still, what their desires were, with whom they associated, how they con- versed with them, in what they especially employed their leisure time in the day, and what were the sub- jects of their joy and grief. He likewise surveyed their form, their mode of walking, and the whole motion of their body. Physiognomically also considering the
natural indications of their frame, he made them to be
manifest signs of the unapparent manners of the soul.
When, therefore, he had thus made trial of some one,
he suffered him to be neglected for three years, in the
mean time observing how he was disposed with respect
to stability, and a true love of learning, and if he was
sufficiently prepared with reference to glory, so as to
despise [popular] honor. After this, he ordered those
who came to him to observe a quinquennial silence, in
order that he might experimentally know how they
were affected as to continence of speech, the subjuga-
tion of the tongue being the most difficult of all
victories; as those have unfolded to us who instituted
the mysteries. During this [probationary] time, how-
ever, the property of each was disposed of in common,
and was committed to the care of those appointed for
this purpose, who were called politicians, economizers,
and legislators. And with respect to these proba-
tioners, those who appeared to be worthy to participate
of his dogmas, frum the judgment he had formed of
them from their life and the modesty of their behaviour,
after the quinquennial silence, then became Esoterics,
and both heed and saw Pythagoras himself within the
veil. For prior to this they participated of his words
through the hearing alone, beyond the veil, without at
all seeing him, giving for a long time a specimen of
their peculiar manners. But if they were rejected they
received the double of the wealth which they brought,
and a tomb was raised to them as if they were dead by
the homacoi ; for thus all the disciples of the man were
called. And if they happened to meet with them after-
wards, they behaved to them as if they were other
persons, but said that they were dead, whom they had
modelled by education, in the expectation that they
would become truly good men by the disciplines they
would learn. They also were of opinion that those
who were more slow in the acquisition of knowledge,
were badly organized, and, as I may say, imperfect
and barren. If, however, after Pythagoras had phy-
siognomically considered their form, their mode of
walking, and every other motion, and the state of their
body, and he had conceived good hope respecting
them; after likewise the quinquennial silence, and the
orgies and initiations from so many disciplines, together
with the ablutions of the soul, and so many and such
great purifications produced from such various theorems,
through which the sagacity and sanctity of the soul is
perfectly ingenerated; if, after all this, some one was
found to be still sluggish and of a dull intellect, they
raised to such a one in the school a certain pillar and
monument, (as they are said to have done to Perialus
the Thurian, and Cylon the prince of the Sybarites,
who were rejected by them) expelled him from the
Homacoion or auditory, loading him with a great
quantity of silver and gold. For these were deposited
by them in common, and were committed to the care
of certain persons adapted to this purpose, and who
were called Economics, from the office which they bore.
And if afterwards they happened to meet with such a
one, they conceived him to be any other person, than
him who according to them was dead. Hence also
Lysis, blaming a certain person named Hipparchus,
because he had communicated the doctrines of the
Pythagoreans to the profane, and to those who acceded
to them without disciplines and theory, says as follows:
“Tt is reported that you philosophize to every one
you may happen to meet, and publicly, which Pytha-
goras did not think fit to do. And these things, indeed,
O Hipparchus, you learnt with diligent assiduity, but
you have not preserved them; having tasted, O ex-
cellent man, of Sicilian delicacies, which you ought
not to have tasted a second time. If, therefore, you
abandon these, I shall rejoice; but if not, you will be
dead in my opinion. For it will be pious to call to
mind the divine and human precepts of Pythagoras,
and not to make the goods of wisdom common to those,
who have not even in a dream their soul purified. For
it is not lawful to extend to every casual person, things
which were obtained with such great labors, and such
diligent assiduity, nor to divulge the mysteries of the
Eleusinian Goddesses to the profane. For those who
do either of these, are equally unjust and impious. But
it will be well to consider what a great length of time
we consumed in wiping away the stains which had
insinuated themselves into our breasts, till, after the
lapse of some years, we became fit recipients of the
doctrines of Pythagoras. For as dyers previously
purify garments, and then fix in the colors with which
they wish them to be imbued, in order that the dye
may not be washed away, and may never become
evanescent; after the same manner also that divine
man prepared the souls of those that were lovers of
philosophy, so that they might not deceive him in any
of those beautiful and good qualities which he hoped
they would possess. For he did not impart spurious
doctrines, nor snares, in which most of the sophists,
who are at leisure for no good purpose, entangle young
men; but he possessed a scientific knowledge of things
human and divine. These men, however, making his
doctrine a pretext, perform many dreadful deeds,
ensnaring youth not in a becoming nor yet in a casual
way. Hence they render their auditors noxious and
precipitate. For they infuse theorems and divine
doctrines into confused and turbid manners. Just as
if some one should pour pure and clear water into a
deep well full of mud; for he would disturb the mud,
and destroy the clear water. The same thing likewise
takes place between those who teach and those who
are taught after this manner. For dense thickets and
which are full of briars surround the intéllect and
heart of those who have not been purely initiated in
disciplines, obscure the mild, tranquil, and reasoning
power of the soul, and openly impede the intellective
part from becoming increased and elevated. It is
requisite likewise to call intemperance and avarice the
mothers of these thickets; both which are naturally
prolific. From intemperance, therefore, unlawful
marriages, [unjust] desires, corruptions, intoxication,