PYTHAGOREANS. 



no limits. All aniraal pleafures (liould rather be poftponed, 

 than enjoyed before their time ; and fhoiild only be enjoyed 

 according to nature, and with fobriety. Much forethoiiglit 

 and difcretion is necelTary in the produftion and education 

 of children. Wifdom and virtue are our bcft defence ; 

 every other guard is weak and unliable. It requires much 

 wifdom to give right names to things. 



Concerning public virtue, the dodlrine of Pythagoras, as 

 it is tranbnitted to the prclent time, refpcfts converfation, 

 friendlhip, religious wordiip, reverence to the dead, and 

 legiflation. Upon thefe heads he is faid to have taught 

 thus : 



Converfation (liould be adapted to the charaflers and 

 condition of tlic perfons with whom we convcrfe : that dif- 

 courfe and behaviour, which might be proper among young 

 perfon's, may be exceedingly improper between the young 

 and aged. Propriety and feafonablenefs are the firii things 

 to be regarded in converfation. In all fociety, a due re- 

 gard muft be had to fubordination. Refpeft is due to a 

 worthy llransjer, fometime.; in preference even to country, 

 men or relations. It is better that thofe who converfe with 

 you fhould refpeft you, than that they (hould fear you ; 

 for refpeft produces admiration, but fear produces hatred. 

 It is an evident proof of a good education, to be able to 

 endure the want of it in others. Between friends, the ut- 

 moft care fliould be taken to avoid contention, which can 

 only be done by fhunning as' much as poflible all occafions 

 of ftrife, fupprefling refcntment, and exercifing mutual fi;r- 

 bearance. Reproof and correflion are ufeful and becoming 

 from the elder to the younger ; efpecially when they are 

 accompanied, on the part of the reprover, with evident 

 tokens of affeftion. 



Mutual confidence is never for a moment to be inter- 

 rupted between friends, whether in jell or earncft ; for no- 

 thing can heal the wounds which are made by deceit. A 

 friend muft never be forfakeo in adverfity, nor for any in- 

 firmity in human nature, excepting only invincible obftinacy 

 and depravity. Before we abandon a friend, we fhould en- 

 deavour, by aAions as well as words, to reclaim him. True 

 friendfhip is a kind of union which is immortal. 



The defign and object of all moral precepts is to lead 

 men to the imitation of God. Since the Deity direfts all 

 things, every good thing is to be fought for from him 

 alone ; and nothing is to be done which is contrary to his 

 pleafure. Whilft we are performing divine rites, piety 

 fhould dwell in the mind. The gods are to be worfhipped 

 not under fuch images as reprcfent the forms of men, but 

 by fuch fymbols as are fuitable to their nature, by fimple 

 hiftrations and offerings, and with purity of heart. Gods 

 and heroes are to be worfhipped with different degrees of 

 homage, according to their nature. Oaths are in no cafe 

 to be violated. 



The bodies of the dead are not to be burned. Next to 

 gods and doemons, the higheft reverence is due to parents 

 and Icgillators ; and the laws and cuftoms of our country 

 are to be religioufly obferved. — Thus much concerning the 

 aftive or moral philofophy of Pythagoras. 



Theoretical philofophy, which treats of nature and its 

 origin, was the higheft objeft of ftudy of the Pythagorean 

 fchool, and included all thofe profound myfteries, which 

 thofe, who have been ambitious to report what Pythagoras 

 faid behind the curtain, have endeavoured to unfold. Upon 

 this fubjeft, nothing can be advanced with certainty, efpe- 

 cially refpcfting theology, the doftrine of which, Pytha- 

 goras, after the manner of the Egyptian priefts, was pe- 

 culiarly careful to hide under the veil of fymbols, probably 

 thtough fear of diflurbing the popular fnpcrilitions. The 



ancients have not, iiowever, left us without fome grounds 

 of conjcfture. 



With refpeft to God, Pythagoras appears to have 

 taught, that he is the Univerfal Mind, diffufed through all 

 things, the fource of all animal life, the proper and intrinfic 

 caufe of all motion, in fubftance fimilar to light, in nature 

 like truth, the firft principle of the univcrfe, incapable of 

 pain, invifible, incorruptible^ and only to be comprehended 

 by the mind. 



Cicero (Nat. Deor. 1. i. c. 12.) afferts, that Pythagoras 

 conceived God to be a foul pervading all nature, of whicli 

 every human foul is a portion : and this doctrine was per- 

 feftly confbnant to the opinions received in the countries 

 which Pythagoras vifited, and where he learned theology. 

 .Juftin Martyr (Orat. ad Gentes) cxprefsly ranks Pytha- 

 goras among the theiftical philofophers. " If any one," fay» 

 he, " wiflies to be informed more accurately concerning the 

 doftrine of Pythagoi-as with refpeft to one God, let him 

 hear his opinion, for he fays, God is one : he is not, as 

 fome conjcfture, exterior to the world, but, in himfelf en- 

 tire, pervades the univerfal fphere, fuperintcnds all pro- 

 duftions, is the fupport of all nature, eternal, the fource of 

 all power, the firfl fimple principle of all things, the origin 

 of ccleftial light, the father of all, the mind and animating 

 principle of the univerfe, the firft mover of all the fpheres." 

 From a variety of pafTages that might be cited, we may 

 reafonably infer, that Pythagoras conceived the Deity to 

 be the informing foul of the world, animating it in a man- 

 ner limilar to that in which the human foul animates the body. 



Subordinate to the Deity, it was taught in the Italic 

 fchool, that there are three orders of intelligence, gods, 

 dsjmons, heroes, who are diftlnguifhed by their refpeftive 

 degrees of excellence and dignity, and by the nature of the 

 homage which is due to them ; gods being to be preferred 

 in honour to demi-gods or dxmoKs, and dsemons to heroes 

 or men. Thefe three orders, in the Pythagorean fyftem, 

 were emanations, at different degrees of proximity, from 

 the fnpreme intelligence, the particles of fubtle ether af- 

 fuming a groffer clothing the farther they receded from the 

 fountain. The third order, or heroes, were fuppofed to be 

 inverted with a fubtle material clothing. Hierocles defines 

 a hero to be a rational mind united with a luminous body. 

 If to thefe three fpecies we add a fourth, the human mind, 

 we have the whole fcale of divine emanation, as it was con- 

 ceived by this feft of philofophers. All thefe they imagined 

 to proceed from God, as the firft fource of intelhgence, 

 and to have received from him a pure, fimple, immutable 

 nature. God, being himfelf one, and the origin of all di- 

 verfity, they reprefented him under the notion of monad, 

 and fubordinate intelligences, as numbers derived and in- 

 cluded in unity. Thus the numbers or derived intelligences 

 of Pythagoras agree with the ideas of Plato, except, per- 

 haps, that the latter were of a nature perfectly fpiritual, 

 but the former were clothed with a fubtle etherial body. 



The region of the air was fuppofed by the Pythagoreans 

 to be full of fpirits, dcemons, or heroes, who caufe fick- 

 nefs or health to man or beaft, and communicate, at their 

 pleafure, by means of dreams, and other inftruments of di- 

 vination, the knowledge of future events. That Pytha- 

 goras himfelf held this opinion cannot be doubted, if it be 

 true, as his biographers relate, that he profefTed to cure 

 difeafes by incantations. It is probable that he derived it 

 from the Egyptians, among whom it was believed that 

 many difeafes were caufed by demoniacal poffeffions. 



The material world, according to Pythagoras, was pro- 

 duced by the energy of the divine intelligence. It is an . 

 animated fphere, beyond which is a perfedl vacuum. It 



contains 



