764 



PYRRHUS PYTHAGORAS. 



in dogmatical pliilosopliy. This made him a scep- 

 tic. Pyrrho left no writings. H is friend a.nd schol- 

 ar, Timon, first wrote on the subject of scepticism, 

 but his writings are lost. It is only from the works 

 of his later followers, particularly Sex tus Empiricus, 

 that we learn the principles of his school, or rather 

 their mode of thinking-, by which they strove rather 

 to overthrow other philosophical structures, than to 

 build up one of t heir own. A disposition to doubt 

 is often called, from this philosopher, pyrrhonism. 



PYRRHUS ; son of Achilles and Iphigenia, 

 whom his father, afterthe sacrifice of Iphigenia, car- 

 ried to Scyros, and gave to Deidamia. Others say 

 that Deidamia, daughter of Lycomedes, was his 

 mother. He was educated at Scyros, and remain- 

 ed there till after his father's death, when Ulysses 

 and Diomedes took him away, because Calchas had 

 declared, that without him Troy could not be taken. 

 He now received the name of Neoptolemus, on ac- 

 count of his engaging in war so young. Homer 

 describes him as beautiful, eloquent and fearless. 

 The post-Homeric poets ascribe to him the sacrifice 

 of Polyxena on the tomb of his father, the carrying 

 off of Philoctetes from Lemnos, and the death of 

 Polites and Priam. Andromache and Helenus fell 

 to his share among the captives. Later accounts 

 differ very much. Some say that he returned by 

 land ; others, by water. According to some, he 

 went to Epirus, among the Molossi, and there found- 

 ed a new kingdom. Here Andromache became his 

 wife, by whom he had Molossus, Pierus, and Per- 

 gamus, and, at length, left his wife and his king- 

 dom to Helenus, whom he honoured as a soothsayer. 

 He then appears in a new mythological series of 

 events, the basis of which is to be found in Homer. 

 He is represented to have married Hermione, whom 

 her father, Menelaus, had betrothed to him before 

 Troy. On this account he was, according to some, 

 murdered by Orestes, the former husband of Hermi- 

 one, at the altar of Apollo. According to others, 

 his death was occasioned by Apollo, whom he had 

 offended. It is generally agreed, that his death 

 took place at Delphi. Here his grave was shown, 

 and a yearly sacrifice was offered in honour of him. 



PYRRHUS II., king of Epirus, B. C. 300, was 

 one of the greatest generals of his age, ambitious 

 of fame and conquest. He ascended the throne of 

 his father when but twelve years old ; being driven 

 from it, five years afterwards, by Neoptolemus, he 

 soon regained it, and increased his power by the 

 conquest of Macedonia. Being called by the Taren- 

 tines (see Tarentum) to aid them against the 

 Romans, he twice defeated the latter by means of 

 his elephants, to which the Romans were unaccus- 

 tomed ; but his confession, " Such another victory, 

 and I must go home alone," proved the cost of his 

 triumph. In the mean time, the disturbances in 

 Syracuse tempted him into Sicily. But he returned 

 to Italy, without having accomplished his vain 

 scheme of conquest ; and being here defeated by 

 the Romans, who had now become acquainted with 

 his mode of fighting, he was obliged to return to 

 Greece, without having succeeded in his designs. 

 A tile, at the siege of Argos, ended his restless life 

 (272 B. C.). From this king the Romans learned 

 most of their art of war, which afterwards made 

 them so formidable to their enemies. (See Fabricius.} 



PYTHAGORAS; a Grecian philosopher, founder 

 of the Italian school. According to the most re- 

 reived opinion, he was a native of Samos. His 

 father, Mnesarchus, was a merchant (probably of 

 Tyre or some other Phoenician city), who traded to 

 Samos, where he received the rights of citizenship, 

 and settled with his family. The year of Pythago- 

 ras's birth is uncertain ; probably it took place 



about 584 or 586 B. C. His history is mingled 

 with many fables. He received his first instruction 

 from Creophilus in his native city. He then wont 

 to the island of Scyros, and was a. scholar of Phere- 

 cydes till the death of the latter ; others make him 

 also a scholar of Thales. Jamblichus says, that 

 Pythagoras, during his journey to Egypt, spent 

 some time in Phoenicia in intercourse with the suc- 

 cessors of Moschus, and other priests of the country, 

 by whom he was initiated into their mysteries, and 

 that he travelled through various parts of Syria, in 

 order to become acquainted with the most import- 

 ant religious usages and doctrines. But this ac- 

 count is blended with many fabulous circumstances. 

 Pythagoras is said to have been recommended by 

 Polycrates, king of Samos, to the Egyptian king 

 Amasis. In Egypt he was probably initiated into 

 the mysteries of the priests, and became acquainted 

 with the whole range of Egyptian learning. From 

 Egypt he is said to have journeyed to the East, and 

 visited the Persian and Chaldean Magi, as well as 

 the Indian Gymnosophists. After his return, he 

 opened a school at Samos, in which he taught his 

 doctrines in a symbolic form, in imitation of the 

 Egyptians. Tradition, morever, relates that he 

 went to Delos, and received from the priestess 

 moral maxims, which he communicated to his dis- 

 ciples under the name of divine precepts. He also 

 visited Crete, where the priests of Cybele took him 

 to the caverns of Ida, in which Jupiter had been 

 cradled, and where his grave was pretended to be 

 shown. Here he met Epimenides, who boasted of 

 having intercourse with gods and the gift of pro- 

 phecy, and whom he initiated into the sacred mys- 

 teries of the G reeks. From Crete he is said to have 

 gone to Sparta and Elis, and from thence to Phlius, 

 where, being asked by king Leon what was his 

 profession, he replied that he was a philosopher (or 

 friend of wisdom), declaring that the name of sage 

 (sophos] belonged solely to the Divinity. With 

 augmented knowledge he returned home, where he 

 now founded a philosophical school with great suc- 

 cess. His doctrines seemed divine oracles ; and 

 the sacred obscurity in which he had the art of veil- 

 ing them, attracted a great number of disciples. 

 He resolved, nevertheless, to leave Samos, either to 

 avoid the public offices conferred upon him, or the 

 tyranny of Polycrates, and went to Magna Graecia. 

 He landed at Crotona, whose inhabitants were no- 

 torious for the looseness of their manners. From 

 all traditions it may be concluded, that he laid claim 

 to supernatural powers, and his extraordinary qual- 

 ities collected around him persons of all classes. 

 The good effects of his influence were soon visible. 

 Sobriety and temperance succeeded to the prevail- 

 ing luxury and licentiousness. Six hundred of the 

 inhabitants of Crotona are said to have submitted 

 to the strictest precepts of his doctrine, and united 

 their property in one common stock, for the benefit 

 of the whole community or society which Pythagoras 

 founded. The object of the society was to aid each 

 other in promoting intellectual cultivation. From 

 all quarters Pythagoras found numerous pupils, who 

 paid him almost divine honours. But as he taught 

 the nobles, who joined him, his society became sus- 

 pected by the popular party. At the head of his 

 enemies in Crotona was Cylon, a rich and respect- 

 able citizen, whose enmity he had excited by refus- 

 ing to receive him among his scholars. In revenge, 

 Cylon once attacked the house of Milo, where a 

 number of Pythagoreans were assembled, surrounded 

 it with his partisans, and set it on fire. Forty per- 

 sons perished, and but few escaped. Pythagoras 

 was probably not in the house. He fled to the 

 Locrians, and, when these refused to receive him 



