PYTHAGORAS. 471 



the temple of the Muses ; a martyr to the igno- 

 rant jealousy of his enemies. 



The sum of his doctrine concerning the pri- 

 mum mobile of nature was, that it is an all-per- 

 vading fiery aether of boundless energy, possessing 

 within itself the united power of motion and 

 intelligence, auTo/iano/ioc TMV Travrwv, the self-moving' 

 principle of all things; and that the human soul 

 is a portion of the same essence. This first prin- 

 ciple of action in nature he represented as 

 unity ; the passive elements of matter as duad ; 

 and the universe perfectly formed as a physical 

 triad, all the operations of which are governed 

 by exact numerical laws. He also maintained 

 that the earth and heavenly bodies revolve 

 around a fixed fiery globe ; and that the spheres 

 of the different planets, by striking against the 

 aether through which they pass, must produce 

 sounds that vary according to their magnitude, 

 velocity, and distance from the centre of mo- 

 tion those which are farthest off, producing the 

 deepest, and the nearest the highest tones:* 



" For ever singing as they shine, 

 The hand that made them is divine." ADDISON. 



Whether anything more was intended than to 

 represent the harmonious relations between the 

 times, distances, magnitude, and velocity of the 



* Aristotle, Meteor, lib. i. c. 6. Plutarch, de Placita Philo- 

 sophorum, lib. iii. c. 2. 



I I 



