Pythagorean Dogmas

Alexander also says, in his Successions of Philosophers, that he found the following dogmas written in the Commentaries of Pythagoras:

• the monad was the beginning of everything.
• From the monad proceeds an indefinite duad, which is subordinate to the monad as to its cause.
• from the monad and the indefinite duad proceed numbers.
• from numbers proceed signs.
• from signs, lines of which plane figures consist.
• from plane shapes are derived solid bodies
• from solid bodies are derived sensible bodies
  • These have 4 elements; fire, water, earth, and air.

The following get their motion from the 4 elements:

• the living world
• the intellect

The world is spherical.

• It has the spherical earth and inhabited all over in its centre.

These result from a combination of these elements, and derives its motion from them

There are antipodes,[112] and that what is below, as respects us, is above in respect of them.

He also taught that light and darkness and cold and heat, and dryness and moisture, were equally divided in the world.

Heat was predominant it was summer; while cold had the mastery it was winter.

When dryness prevailed it was spring; and when moisture preponderated, winter. And while all these qualities were on a level, then was the loveliest season of the year; of which the flourishing spring was the wholesome period, and the season of autumn the most pernicious one. Of the day, he said that the flourishing period was the morning, and the fading one the evening; on which account that also was the least healthy time.

His theory was that the air around the earth was immoveable, and pregnant with disease. Everything in it was mortal.

But the upper air was in perpetual motion, and pure and salubrious.

Everything in that was immortal, and on that account divine.

The sun, and the moon, and the stars, were all Gods; for in them the warm principle predominates which is the cause of life.

The moon derives its light from the sun.

There is a relationship between men and the Gods, because men partake of the divine principle; on which account also, God exercises his providence for our advantage.

Also, that fate is the cause of the arrangement of the world both generally and particularly. Moreover, that a ray from the sun penetrated both the cold æther and the dense æther; and they call the air (ἀὴρ), the cold æther (ψυχρὸν αἰθέρα), and the sea and moisture they call the dense æther (παχὺν αἰθέρα). And this ray descends into the depths, and in this way vivifies everything. And everything which partakes of the principle of heat lives, on which account also plants are animated beings; but that all living things have not necessarily souls.

The soul is a something torn off from the æther, both warm and cold, from its partaking of the cold æther.

The soul is something different from life. Also, that it is immortal, because that from which it has been detached is immortal.

Also, that animals are born from one another by seeds, and[350] that it is impossible for there to be any spontaneous production by the earth. And that seed is a drop from the brain which contains in itself a warm vapour; and that when this is applied to the womb, it transmits virtue, and moisture, and blood from the brain, from which flesh, and sinews, and bones, and hair, and the whole body are produced. And from the vapour is produced the soul, and also sensation. And that the infant first becomes a solid body at the end of forty days; but, according to the principles of harmony, it is not perfect till seven, or perhaps nine, or at most ten months, and then it is brought forth. And that it contains in itself all the principles of life, which are all connected together, and by their union and combination form a harmonious whole, each of them developing itself at the appointed time.

The senses in general, and especially the sight, are a vapour of excessive warmth, and on this account a man is said to see through air, and through water. For the hot principle is opposed by the cold one; since, if the vapour in the eyes were cold, it would have the same temperature as the air, and so would be dissipated. As it is, in some passages he calls the eyes the gates of the sun. And he speaks in a similar manner of hearing, and of the other senses.

He also says that the soul of man is divided into three parts; into intuition (νοῦς), and reason (φρὴν), and mind (θυμὸς), and that the first and last divisions are found also in other animals, but that the middle one, reason, is only found in man. And that the chief abode of the soul is in those parts of the body which are between the heart and the brain. And that that portion of it which is in the heart is the mind (θυμὸς); but that deliberation (νοὺς), and reason (φρὴν), reside in the brain.[113]

Moreover, that the senses are drops from them; and that the reasoning sense is immortal, but the others are mortal. And that the soul is nourished by the blood; and that reasons are the winds of the soul. That it is invisible, and so are its reasons, since the æther itself is invisible. That the links of the soul are the veins, and the arteries, and the nerves. But that when it is vigorous, and is by itself in a quiescent state,[351] then its links are words and actions. That when it is cast forth upon the earth it wanders about, resembling the body. Moreover, that Mercury is the steward of the souls, and that on this account he has the name of Conductor, and Commercial, and Infernal, since it is he who conducts the souls from their bodies, and from earth, and sea; and that he conducts the pure souls to the highest region, and that he does not allow the impure ones to approach them, nor to come near one another; but commits them to be bound in indissoluble fetters by the Furies. The Pythagoreans also assert, that the whole air is full of souls, and that these are those which are accounted dæmones, and heroes. Also, that it is by them that dreams are sent among men, and also the tokens of disease and health; these last too, being sent not only to men, but to sheep also, and other cattle. Also, that it is they who are concerned with purifications, and expiations, and all kinds of divination, and oracular predictions, and things of that kind.

They also say, that the most important privilege in man is, the being able to persuade his soul to either good or bad. And that men are happy when they have a good soul; yet, that they are never quiet, and that they never retain the same mind long. Also, that an oath is justice; and that on that account, Jupiter is called Jupiter of Oaths (Ὅρκιος). Also, that virtue is harmony, and health, and universal good, and God; on which account everything owes its existence and consistency to harmony. Also, that friendship is a harmonious equality.

Again, they teach that one ought not to pay equal honours to Gods and to heroes; but that one ought to honour the Gods at all times, extolling them with praises, clothed in white garments, and keeping one’s body chaste; but that one ought not to pay such honour to the heroes till after midday. Also, that a state of purity is brought about by purifications, and washings, and sprinklings, and by a man’s purifying himself from all funerals, or concubinage, or pollution of every kind, and by abstaining from all flesh that has either been killed or died of itself, and from mullets, and from melanuri, and from eggs, and from such animals as lay eggs, and from beans, and from other things which are prohibited by those who have the charge of the mysteries in the temples.

And Aristotle says, in his treatise on Beans, that Pythagoras enjoined his disciples to abstain from beans, either because[352] they resemble some part of the human body, or because they are like the gates of hell (for they are the only plants without parts); or because they dry up other plants, or because they are representatives of universal nature, or because they are used in elections in oligarchical governments. He also forbade his disciples to pick up what fell from the table, for the sake of accustoming them not to eat immoderately, or else because such things belong to the dead.

But Aristophanes says, that what falls belongs to the heroes; saying, in his Heroes:— Never taste the things which fall From the table on the floor.

He also forbade his disciples to eat white poultry, because a cock of that colour was sacred to Month, and was also a suppliant. He was also accounted a good animal;[114] and he was sacred to the God Month, for he indicates the time.

The Pythagoreans were also forbidden to eat of all fish that were sacred; on the ground that the same animals ought not to be served up before both Gods and men, just as the same things do not belong to freemen and to slaves. Now, white is an indication of a good nature, and black of a bad one. Another of the precepts of Pythagoras was, that men ought not to break bread; because in ancient times friends used to assemble around one loaf, as they even now do among the barbarians. Nor would he allow men to divide bread which unites them. Some think that he laid down this rule in reference to the judgment which takes place in hell; some because this practice engenders timidity in war. According to others, what is alluded to is the Union, which presides over the government of the universe.

Another of his doctrines was, that of all solid figures the sphere was the most beautiful; and of all plane figures, the circle. That old age and all diminution were similar, and also increase and youth were identical. That health was the permanence of form, and disease the destruction of it. Of salt his opinion was, that it ought to be set before people as a reminder of justice; for salt preserves everything which it[353] touches, and it is composed of the purest particles of water and sea.

These are the doctrines which Alexander asserts that he discovered in the Pythagorean treatises; and Aristotle gives a similar account of them.

XV. Timon, in his Silli, has not left unnoticed the dignified appearance of Pythagoras, when he attacks him on other points. And his words are these:—

Pythagoras, who often teaches Precepts of magic, and with speeches Of long high-sounding diction draws, From gaping crowds, a vain applause.

And respecting his having been different people at different times, Xenophanes adds his evidence in an elegiac poem which commences thus:—

Now I will on another subject touch, And lead the way.

And the passage in which he mentions Pythagoras is as follows:— They say that once, as passing by he saw A dog severely beaten, he did pity him, And spoke as follows to the man who beat him:— “Stop now, and beat him not; since in his body, Abides the soul of a dear friend of mine, Whose voice I recognized as he was crying.”

These are the words of Xenophanes.

Cratinus also ridiculed him in his Pythagorean Woman; but in his Tarentines, he speaks thus:— They are accustomed, if by chance they see A private individual abroad, To try what powers of argument he has, How he can speak and reason: and they bother him With strange antithesis and forced conclusions, Errors, comparisons, and magnitudes, Till they have filled and quite perplex’d his mind.

And Mnesimachus says in his Alcmæon:— As we do sacrifice to the Phœbus whom Pythagoras worships, never eating aught Which has the breath of life.

Aristophon says in his Pythagorean:

A. He said that when he did descend below Among the shades in Hell, he there beheld All men who e’er had died; and there he saw, That the Pythagoreans differ’d much From all the rest; for that with them alone Did Pluto deign to eat, much honouring Their pious habits.

B. He’s a civil God, If he likes eating with such dirty fellows.

And again, in the same play he says:

They eat Nothing but herbs and vegetables, and drink Pure water only. But their lice are such, Their cloaks so dirty, and their unwash’d scent So rank, that no one of our younger men Will for a moment bear them.

How Pythagoras Died

²¹ When he was sitting with some of his companions in Milo’s house, a person who he banned entry to the house burned it.

Some say that the people of Crotona themselves did this, being afraid that he might aspire to the tyranny.

Pythagoras was caught as he was trying to escape.

Coming to a place full of beans, he stopped there, saying that it was better to be caught than to trample on the beans, and better to be slain than to speak.

And so he was murdered by those who were pursuing him.

Most of his 40 companions were slain in this way.

A very few did escape, among whom were Archippus, of Tarentum, and Lysis.

Dicæarchus writes that Pythagoras died afterwards, having escaped as far as the temple of the Muses, at Metapontum, and that he died there of starvation, having abstained from food for 40 days.

Heraclides says, in his abridgment of the life of Satyrus, that after he had buried Pherecydes in Delos, he returned to Italy, and finding there a superb banquet prepared at the house of Milo, of Crotona, he left Crotona, and went to Metapontum, and there put an end to his life by starvation, not wishing to live any longer.

But Hermippus says, that when there was war between the people of Agrigentum and the Syracusans, Pythagoras went out with his usual companions, and took the part of the Agrigentines; and as they were put to flight, he ran all round a field of beans, instead of crossing it, and so was slain by the Syracusans; and that the rest, being about five-and-thirty in number, were burnt at Tarentum, when they were trying to excite a sedition in the state against the principal magistrates.

Hermippus says that when Pythagoras was in Italy, he made a subterraneous apartment, and charged his mother to write an account of everything that took place, marking the time of each on a tablet, and then to send them down to him, until he came up again.

His mother did so; and that Pythagoras came up again after a certain time, lean, and reduced to a skeleton; and that he came into the public assembly, and said that he had arrived from the shades below, and then he recited to them all that had happened during his absence.

They, being charmed by what he told them, wept and lamented, and believed that Pythagoras was a divine being; so that they even entrusted their wives to him, as likely to learn some good from him; and that they too were called Pythagoreans.

²² Pythagoras had a wife, Theano, the daughter of Brontinus, of Crotona.

But some say that she was the wife of Brontinus, and only a pupil of Pythagoras.

He had a daughter named Damo, as Lysis mentions in his letter to Hipparchus; where he speaks thus of Pythagoras:

“And many say that you philosophize in public, as Pythagoras also used to do; who, when he had entrusted his Commentaries to Damo, his daughter, charged her to divulge them to no person out of the house. And she, though she might have sold his discourses for much money, would not abandon them, for she thought poverty and obedience to her father’s injunctions more valuable than gold; and that too, though she was a woman.”

He had also a son, named Telauges, who was the successor of his father in his school, and who, according to some authors, was the teacher of Empedocles. At least Hippobotus relates that Empedocles said:— “Telauges, noble youth, whom in due time, Theano bore to wise Pythagoras.”

But there is no book extant, which is the work of Telauges,[356] though there are some extant, which are attributed to his mother Theano. And they tell a story of her, that once, when she was asked how long a woman ought to be absent from her husband to be pure, she said, the moment she leaves her own husband, she is pure; but she is never pure at all, after she leaves any one else. And she recommended a woman, who was going to her husband, to put off her modesty with her clothes, and when she left him, to resume it again with her clothes; and when she was asked, “What clothes?” she said, “Those which cause you to be called a woman.”

²³ Heraclides, the son of Sarapion, writes that Pythagoras died when he was 80 years of age.

Some say he was more than 90.

We have a sportive epigram on him:

You’re not the only man who has abstained From living food, for so likewise have we; And who, I’d like to know did ever taste Food while alive, most sage Pythagoras? When meat is boil’d, or roasted well and salted, I don’t think it can well be called living. Which, therefore, without scruple then we eat it, And call it no more living flesh, but meat.

Another, which runs thus:—

Pythagoras was so wise a man, that he Never eat meat himself, and called it sin. And yet he gave good joints of beef to others. So that I marvel at his principles; Who others wronged, by teaching them to do What he believed unholy for himself.

Another, as follows:—

Should you Pythagoras’ doctrine wish to know, Look on the centre of Euphorbus’ shield. For he asserts there lived a man of old, And when he had no longer an existence, He still could say that he had been alive, Or else he would not still be living now.

And this one too:

Alas! alas! why did Pythagoras hold Beans in such wondrous honour? Why, besides, Did he thus die among his choice companions?

There was a field of beans; and so the sage, Died in the common road of Agrigentum, Rather than trample down his favourite beans.

Some say the mysteries of philosophy belong “Ipse dixit” to Pythagoras who introduced it into ordinary life.

²⁴ He flourished around the 60th olympiad.

His system lasted for 9-10 generations.

The last of the Pythagoreans, whom Aristoxenus knew, were Xenophilus, the Chalcidean, from Thrace; and Phanton, the Phliasian, and Echecrates, and Diodes, and Polymnestus, who were also Phliasians.

They were disciples of Philolaus and Eurytus, of Tarentum.

²⁵ There were 4 men of the name of Pythagoras, about the same time, at no great distance from one another.

1. a native of Crotona, a man who attained tyrannical power
2. a Phliasian, a trainer of wrestlers
3. a native of Zacynthus

Some also affirm, that there was another man of the name of Pythagoras, a statuary of Rhodes; who is believed to have been the first discoverer of rhythm and proportion; and another was a Samian statuary; and another an orator, of no reputation; and another was a physician, who wrote a treatise on Squills; and also some essays on Homer; and another was a man, who wrote a history of the affairs of the Dorians, as we are told by Dionysius.

But Eratosthenes says, as Phavorinus quotes him, in book 8 of his Universal History, that Pythagoras was the first to practise boxing in a scientific manner in the 48th olympiad.

He had his hair long, and being clothed in a purple robe.

He was rejected from the competition among boys, and being ridiculed for his application, he immediately entered among the men, and came off victorious.

This statement is confirmed among other things, by the epigram which Theætetus composed:

Stranger, if e’er you knew Pythagoras, Pythagoras, the man with flowing hair, The celebrated boxer, erst of Samos; I am Pythagoras. And if you ask A citizen of Elis of my deeds, You’ll surely think he is relating fables.

Phavorinus says, that he employed definitions, on account of the mathematical subjects to which he applied himself.

Socrates and his pupils did so still more; and that they were subsequently followed in this by Aristotle and the Stoics.

Pythagoras was the first to:

• name the universe as κόσμος
• call the earth round

Theophrastus attributes this to Parmenides, and Zeno to Hesiod.

They say too, that Cylon used to be a constant adversary of his, as Antidicus was of Socrates.

This epigram also used to be repeated, concerning Pythagoras the athlete:

Pythagoras of Samos, son of Crates, Came while a child to the Olympic games, Eager to battle for the prize in boxing.

²⁶ Here is a letter from Pythagoras:

PYTHAGORAS TO ANAXIMENES.

“You too, my most excellent friend, if you were not superior to Pythagoras, in birth and reputation, would have migrated from Miletus and gone elsewhere. But now the reputation of your father keeps you back, which perhaps would have restrained me too, if I had been like Anaximenes. But if you, who are the most eminent man, abandon the cities, all their ornaments will be taken from them, and the Median power will be more dangerous to them. Nor is it always seasonable to be studying astronomy, but it is more honourable to exhibit a regard for one’s country. And I myself am not always occupied about speculations of my own fancy, but I am busied also with the wars which the Italians are waging against one another.”