11/24/2023 0 Comments Antonius diogenesIn one a person imitates the common way of speaking, while the others express the sense of allegory and parable. (12) In Egypt he lived with the priests, and learned the language and wisdom of the Egyptians, and their three kinds of letters, the epistolographic, the hieroglyphic, and symbolic. Then Pythagoras visited the Egyptians, the Arabians, the Chaldeans and the Hebrews, from whom he acquired expertise in the interpretation of dreams, and acquired the use of frankincense in the worship of divinities. Later he sent him to Anaximander at Miletos, to learn geometry and astronomy. (11) Mnesarchos sent the boy to a lyre player, a gymnast and a painter. On becoming wealthy, Mnesarchos educated the boy, naming him Astrasus, and rearing him with his own three sons, Eunestus, Tyrrhenus, and Pythagoras. The child was fostered by a native of that country, named Androkles, who later on adopted him, and entrusted to him the management of affairs. This great wonder prevailed upon him to take the child, believing it to be of a divine origin. In its mouth was a little slender reed, like a pipe through which the child was being nourished by the dew-drops that distilled from the tree. On approaching, he observed it lay on its back, looking steadily without winking at the sun. During Pythagoras’ journeys he found an infant lying under a large, tall poplar tree. He says that the Tyrrhenian Mnesarchos was of the descent group of those at Lemnos, Imbros and Skyros and that he departed from there to visit many cities and various lands. (10) Diogenes, in his treatise about The Unbelievable Things Beyond Thule, has treated Pythagoras’s affairs so carefully that I think his account should not be omitted. (9) Returning to Ionia, he opened a school in his own country, a school which is even now called Pythagoras’s Semicircles, in which the Samians meet to deliberate about matters of common interest. These he performed so readily that he won their admiration, and they permitted him to sacrifice to the gods, and to acquaint himself with all their knowledge, a favour never granted to a foreigner before this.” Thinking that he would give up his aim as a result of great difficulties, they required very hard precepts entirely different from the the Greek way of life. (8) From fear of the king, the latter priests dared not make excuses. On the same pretense, he was sent on from Memphis to Diospolis. Coming to Amasis, he received letters to the priests of Heliopolis, who sent him on to the priests of Memphis, on the pretense that they were the more ancient. In his book on illustrious Virtuous Men, Antiphon praises his perseverance while he was in Egypt, saying, “Pythagoras, desiring to become acquainted with the institutions of Egyptian priests and diligently endeavoring to participate in them, requested the tyrant Polykrates to write to his friend and former host Amasis, the king of Egypt, to request that he be trained. Eudoxos writes that Pythagoras not only abstained from animal food, but never in any way approached butchers or hunters. Moreover, Eudoxos, in the second book of his Description of the Earth, writes that Pythagoras used the greatest purity and was shocked at all bloodshed and killing. (7) These accomplishments are generally known, but the rest are less noticed. He received and learned other secrets concerning rites and worship of the gods and concerning the course of life from the Magians. For since antiquity, the Egyptians excelled in geometry, the Phoenicians in numbers and proportions, and the Chaldeans in astronomy and astrology. (6) Concerning his teaching, it is said that he learned the mathematical sciences from the Egyptians, Chaldeans and Phoenicians. Source of the translation: Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie, Pythagorean Source Book and Library (Grand Rapid, MI: Phanes Press, 1987 ), public domain, with adaptations. Author:Antonius Diogenes and Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras 6-9 ( link to full translation)Ĭomments: Porphyry (third century CE) – at times citing Antonius Diogenes – relates legends regarding Pythagoras’ journeys (supposedly in the sixth century BCE) in pursuit of wisdom, presenting this philosopher as learning from wise men in Arabia, Judea, Phoenicia, Egypt, and Babylonia.
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