PYTHAGORAS. 



765 



to Metapontum. Finding enemies here also, who 

 meditated his ruin, he sought an asylum in the tem- 

 ple of the Muses, where, according to tradition, he 

 perished from want of sustenance, eighty years oi 

 age (about 506 B. C.). His scholars are said to 

 have paid him divine honours after his death. He 

 is said to have asserted, that his soul had already 

 lived in several bodies. In public he appeared in 

 the Oriental costume, in a long white robe, with a 

 flowing beard, and, as some say, with a crown of 

 gold on iiis head. His exterior was grave, com- 

 manding, and dignified. He abstained, it is related, 

 from all animal food, and limited himself to vege- 

 tables, not, however, eating beans. These circum- 

 stances contributed to give him the appearance of 

 an extraordinary being. To show his respect for 

 marriage, lie took a wife at Crotona, by whom, 

 among several children, he had two sons, Telanges 

 and Mnesarchus, who were his scholars and suc- 

 cessors. That Pythagoras left any works, is im- 

 probable on the testimony of the ancients. The 

 Golden Sentences, extant under his name, which 

 may be considered as a short abridgment of his 

 popular doctrines, appear to have been composed 

 by later hands. Like those of the Egyptian priests, 

 his doctrines were of two kinds, public and secret. 

 His public instruction consisted of practical dis- 

 courses, in which he recommended virtue and dissuad- 

 ed from vice, with a particular reference to the vari- 

 ous relations of mankind, such as those of husbands', 

 and wives, parents and children, citizens and magis- 

 trates, &c. His hearers at these lectures must not 

 be confounded with the members of his society, 

 whom he subjected to a separate discipline, and not 

 till after long instruction and severe examination 

 admitted to all the mysteries of his secret doctrines. 

 These scholars were required to practise the great- 

 est purity and simplicity of manners. He imposed 

 upon them a silence of two to five years, according 

 to circumstances (the Pythagorean silence). For a 

 time, the disciples were only hearers. The well- 

 known " He said so (a.ln; lipo) " was sufficient au- 

 thority, without any proof. He alone, who had 

 passed through the appointed series of severe trials, 

 was allowed to hear the word of the master in his 

 immediate presence. Whoever was terrified by 

 the difficulties, might withdraw, without opposition, 

 and his contributions to the common stock were 

 repaid, a tomb was erected to him as if he were 

 dead, and he was no more thought of. To the 

 members of the secret society, the doctrines were 

 not delivered, as to others, under the mask of 

 images and symbols, but unveiled. These secrets 

 probably related to religious and political subjects. 

 It was requisite, however, to take an oath of se- 

 cresy. The pupils could now interrogate and make 

 objections. They were called, by way of distinc- 

 tion, Pythagoreans. As soon as his disciples had 

 made sufficient progress in geometry, they were 

 introduced to the study of nature, to the investiga- 

 tion of fundamental principles, and to the knowledge 

 of God. Others, according to their inclinations 

 and capacities, were instructed in morals, econom- 

 ics, or politics, and afterwards employed either in 

 managing the affairs of the society, or sent abroad 

 to inculcate and bring into practice the principles 

 of philosophy and government in the other Grecian 

 cities. According to the accounts of later writers, 

 the mode of living at the Pythagorean school at 

 Crotona, was the following: The Pythagoreans, 

 with their wives and children, lived together in a 

 publ'C building, in perfect harmony, as if one family. 

 Each morning it was decided how the day should 

 be spent, and every evening a review was made of 

 all that had been done. They rose before the isnri, 



I in order to worship it ; verses from Homer and 

 other poets were then recited, or music was intro- 

 duced, to arouse the mental powers, and fit them 

 for the duties of the day. Several hours were then 

 spent in serious study. A pause followed for 

 recreation, in which a solitary walk was usually 

 taken, to indulge in contemplation ; a conversation 

 then took place. Before dinner, various gymnastic 

 exercises were performed. The common meal con- 

 sisted principally of bread, honey, and water. The 

 remainder of the day was devoted to public and 

 domestic affairs, conversation, bathing, and reli- 

 gious performances. After the destruction of the 

 association, and the flight of his scholars from 

 Lower Italy, Lysis and Archippus deemed it neces- 

 sary to collect the doctrines of their master in a 

 systematic treatise, and preserve them from obli- 

 vion ; but the greatest secrecy was nevertheless, 

 recommended. Thus Plato purchased from Philo- 

 laus a writing on the philosophy of Pythagoras, 

 and received from Archytas his commentaries on 

 the verses and tenets of his master. 



The accounts that we possess of the doctrines of 

 Pythagoras are very scanty, and, with the excep- 

 tion of what we learn from Aristotle, and from 

 some fragments of the Pythagoreans, very uncer- 

 tain. Neither can we accurately discriminate 

 between his doctrines arid those of his scholars. 

 Later writers represent him as making it the ob- 

 ject of all philosophy to exalt the mind to the con- 

 templation of immutable truth, to the knowledge 

 of divine and spiritual objects. This can only be 

 effected by degrees, on account of familiarity with 

 sensual things. The first step to wisdom is the 

 study of mathematics, the foundation of which 

 appeared to him to be the doctrine of numbers. 

 Numbers are, in his view, the first and most essen- 

 tial of things. They are, as it were, the model, 

 according to which the world is formed in all parts. 

 The odd numbers are limited and perfect ; the even 

 unlimited and imperfect. The monad, or unity, is 

 the source of all numbers. The dyad is, according 

 to the later Pythagorean doctrines, imperfect and 

 passive, and the cause of increase and division, 

 The triad, compounded of the monad and dyad, 

 partakes of the nature of both. The tetras, or 

 number four, is in the highest degree perfect. The 

 decad, which contains the sum of the four prime 

 numbers, and is therefore called tetractys, compre- 

 hends all musical and arithmetical proportions, and 

 denotes the system of the world. The real mean- 

 ing of the Pythagorean doctrine of numbers is not 

 well understood ; numbers were probably, in this 

 system, the symbolical or allegorical representa- 

 tions of the first principles or forms of nature. As 

 Pythagoras could not express abstract ideas in 

 simple language, he seems to have made use of 

 numbers, as geometers do of a diagram, to assist 

 the comprehension of his scholars. He perceived 

 some analogies between numbers and the attributes 

 of the divine understanding, and made the former 

 the symbols of the latter. As the numbers proceed 

 from the monad, or unity, undergo various combi- 

 nations, and in their progress assume new proper- 

 ties, so he regarded the pure and simple essence of 

 the Deity as the common source of all the forms of 

 nature, which, according to their various modifica- 

 tions, possess different properties. Pythagoras is 

 also said to have invented the multiplication table 

 (abacus), thence called the Pythagorean table. 

 Next to numl-prs, music belongs to the preparatory 

 exercises of the Pythagorean school, by which the 

 mind was elevated above the dominion of passion, 

 and fitted f..r contemplation. Pythagoras consi- 

 dered music not only as an art to be judged of by 



