a celebrated philosopher of antiquity, respecting the time and place of whose birth the learned are much divided. Eratothenes affirms, that in the 48th Olympiad *, when he was very young, on the Ephebean day, he was a victor at the Olympic games. Hence Dr. Plutarch, in his Chron. of the 43rd Olympiad; whilst Lloyd †, who denies that the Olympic victor was the same person with the Two Different Philosophers, places it about the 3rd year of the 48th Olympiad. Mr. Dodwell § differs from both, and wishes to fix the birth of Pythagoras in the 4th year of the 52d Olympiad. Of the arguments of these learned writers, Le Clerc has given a summary in the Bibliothèque Choiseul, tom. x. p. 81. &c. and from a review of the whole, it would appear that he was not born earlier than the 4th year of the 43rd Olympiad, or later than the 4th year of the 52d; but in what particular year of that period his birth took place, cannot with any degree of certainty be ascertained. It is generally believed that he was born in the island of Samos, and that he flourished about 500 years before Christ, in the time of Tarquin the last king of Rome*. His father Mnesarchus, who is thought by some to have been a lapidary, and by others a merchant of Tyre, appears to have been a man of some distinction, and to have bestowed upon his son the best education.

Jamblicus † relates a number of wonderful stories respecting Pythagoras's descent from Jupiter, his birth, and early life; and represents him even in his youth as a prodigy of wisdom and manly ferocity. But most of these idle tales confute themselves, afford nothing of importance to be depended upon, and only prove the credulity, carelessness, and prejudice of their author. Of his childhood and early education we know nothing, except that he was first instructed in his own country by Creophilus, and afterwards in Scyrus by Pherecydes. According to the custom of the times he was made acquainted with poetry and music; eloquence and astronomy became his private studies, and in gymnastic exercises he often bore the palm for strength and dexterity. He first distinguished himself in Greece at the Olympic games, where, beside gaining the prize, he is said to have excited the highest admiration by the elegance and dignity of his person, and the brilliancy of his understanding. Soon after his appearance at these games, Pythagoras commenced his travels in quest of knowledge. He first visited Egypt, where, through the interest of Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, he obtained the patronage of Amasis, king of Egypt, by whose influence, combined with his own fidelity, patience, and perseverance, he at length gained the confidence of the priests; from whom he learned their sacred mysteries, theology, and the whole system of symbolical learning. In Egypt, too, he became acquainted with geometry and the true solar system; and, before he left that country, made himself master of all the learning for which it was so famed among the nations of antiquity.

He afterwards visited Persia and Chaldea, where from the Magi he learnt divination, the interpreting of dreams, and astronomy. He is likewise said to have travelled into India, to have conversed with the Gymnosophists, and to have acquired from them a knowledge of the philosophy and literature of the east; and such was his ardour in the pursuit of science, that in quest of it, we are told by Cicero*, he crossed many seas, and travelled on foot through many barbarous nations.

After Pythagoras had spent many years in gathering information on every subject, especially respecting the nature of the gods, the rites of religion, and the immortality of the human soul, he returned to his native island, and attempted to make his knowledge useful by instituting a school for the instruction of his countrymen. Failing of success in this laudable undertaking, he repaired to Delos, where he pretended to receive moral dogmas from the priests of Apollo. He also visited Crete, where he was initiated into the most sacred mysteries of Greece. He went likewise to Sparta and Elis, and again assisted at the Olympic games; where in the public assembly he was saluted with the title of sophist or wise man, which he declined for one more humble. See Philology, No. 1, and Philosophy, No. 1.

He returned to Samos enriched with mythological learning and mysterious rites, and again instituted a school. His mysterious symbols and oracular precepts made this attempt more successful than the former had been; but meeting with some opposition, or being detected in some pious frauds, he suddenly left Samos, retired to Magna Grecia, and settled at Crotona.

Here he founded the Italic sect (see Philosophy, No. 20.); and his mental and personal accomplishments, the fame of his distant travels, and his Olympic crown, soon procured him numerous pupils. His bold and manly eloquence and graceful delivery attracted the most illustrious, and produced a remarkable change in the morals of the people of Crotona. His influence was increased by the regularity of his own example, and its conformity to his precepts. He punctually attended the temples of the gods, and paid his devotions at an early hour; he lived upon the purest and most innocent food, clothed himself like the priests of Egypt, and by his continual purifications and regular offerings appeared to be superior in sanctity to the rest of mankind. He endeavoured to assuage the passions of his scholars with verses and numbers, and made a practice of composing his own mind every morning, by playing on his harp, and fingering along with it the psalms of Thales. To avoid the temptations of ease and the seductions of idleness, bodily exercises also made a considerable part of Pythagoras' discipline.

At Crotona he had a public school for the general benefit of the people, in which he taught them their duty, praising virtue and condemning vice; and particularly instructing them in the duties of social life. Beside this, he had a college in his own house, which he denominated xanopoeion, in which there were two classes of students, viz. εξωτερικοί, who were also called αὐγεντάντες, and συντερικοί. The former of these were probationers, and were kept under a long examen. A silence of five years was imposed upon them; which Aepuleius thinks was intended to teach them modesty and attention; but Clemens Alexandrinus thinks it was for the purpose of abstracting their minds from sensible objects, and inuring them to the pure contemplation of the Deity. The latter class of scholars were called genuini, perfecti, mathematici, and, by way of eminence, Pythagoreans. They alone were admitted to the knowledge of the arcana and depths of Pythagorean discipline, and were taught the use of ciphers and hieroglyphic writings.

Clemens observes, that these orders corresponded very exactly to those among the Hebrews; for in the schools of the prophets there were two classes, viz. the sons of the prophets, who were the scholars, and the doctors or masters, who were also called perfecti; and among the Levites, the novices or tyros, who had their quinquennial exercises, by way of preparation. Lastly, even among the proselytes there were two orders; εξωτερικοί, or proselytes of the gate; and εσωτερικοί or perfecti, proselytes of the covenant. He adds, it is highly probable, that Pythagoras himself had been a proselyte of the gate, if not of the covenant. Gale endeavours to prove that Pythagoras borrowed his philosophy from that of the Jews; to this end producing the authorities of many of the fathers and ancient authors, and even pointing out the tracks and footsteps of Moses in several parts of Pythagoras' doctrine. But we believe the learned author was misled by the Christian Platonists.

The authority of Pythagoras among his pupils was so great, that it was even deemed a crime to dispute his word; and their arguments were considered as infallibly convincing, if they could enforce them by adding, that "the matter said so;" an expression which afterwards became proverbial in jurare in verba magistris. This influence over his school was soon extended to the world, and even his pupils themselves divided the applause and approbation of the people with their master; and the rules and legislators of all the principal towns of Greece, Sicily, and Italy, boasted of being the disciples of Pythagoras. To give more weight to his exhortations, as some writers mention, Pythagoras retired into a subterraneous cave, where his mother sent him intelligence of every thing which happened during his absence. After a certain number of months he again reappeared on the earth with a grim and ghastly countenance, and declared in the assembly of the people that he was returned from hell. From similar exaggerations it has been asserted that he appeared at the Olympic games with a golden thigh, and that he could write in letters of blood whatever he pleased on a looking-glass; and that by setting it opposite to the moon, when full, all the characters which were on the glass became Pythagoras became legible on the moon's disc. They also relate, that by some magical words he tamed a bear, flopped the flight of an eagle, and appeared on the same day and at the same instant in the cities of Crotona and Metapontum, &c.

At length his singular doctrines, and perhaps his strenuously asserting the rights of the people against their tyrannical governors, excited a spirit of jealousy, and raised a powerful party against him; which soon became so outrageous as to oblige him to fly for his life. His friends fled to Rhegium; and he himself, after being refused protection by the Locrians, fled to Metapontum, where he was obliged to take refuge in the temple of the muses, and where it is said he died of hunger about 497 years before Christ. Reflecting the time, place, and manner of his death, however, there are various opinions, and many think it uncertain when, where, or in what manner, he ended his days. After his death his followers paid the same respect to him as was paid to the immortal gods; they erected statues in honour of him, converted his house at Crotona into a temple of Ceres, appealed to him as a deity, and swore by his name.

Pythagoras married Theano of Crotona, or, according to others, of Crete, by whom he had two sons, Telemachus and Mnesarchus, who, after his death, took care of his school. He is said also to have had a daughter called Damo.

Whether he left any writings behind him is disputed. It seems probable, however, that he left none, and that such as went under his name were written by some of his followers. The golden verses which Hierocles illustrated with a commentary, have been ascribed to Epicharmus or Empedocles, and contain a brief summary of his popular doctrines. From this circumstance, and from the mysterious secrecy with which he taught, our information concerning his doctrine and philosophy is very uncertain, and cannot always be depended on.

The purpose of philosophy, according to the system of Pythagoras, is to free the mind from incumbrances, and to raise it to the contemplation of immutable truth and the knowledge of divine and spiritual objects. To bring the mind to this state of perfection is a work of some difficulty, and requires a variety of intermediate steps. Mathematical science was with him the first step to wisdom, because it inures the mind to contemplation, and takes a middle course between corporeal and incorporeal beings. The whole science he divided into two parts, numbers and magnitude; and each of these he subdivided into two others, the former into arithmetic and music, and the latter into magnitude at rest and in motion; the former of which comprehends geometry, and the latter astronomy. Arithmetic he considered as the noblest science, and an acquaintance with numbers as the highest good. He considered numbers as the principles of every thing; and divided them into scientific and intelligible. Scientific number is the production of the powers involved in unity, and its return to the same; number is not infinite, but is the source of that infinite divisibility into equal parts which is the property of all bodies. Intelligible numbers are those which existed in the divine mind before all things. They are the model or archetype of the world, and the cause of the essence of beings. Of the Monad, Duad, Triad, Tetrad, and Decad, various explanations have been given by Pythagoras, various authors; but nothing certain or important is known of them. In all probability, numbers were used by Pythagoras as symbolical representations of the first principles and forms of nature, and especially of those eternal and immutable essences which Plato denominated ideas; and in this case the Monad was the simple root from which he conceived numbers to proceed, and as such, analogous to the simple essence of deity; from whence, according to his system, the various properties of nature proceeded.

Music followed numbers, and was useful in raising the mind above the dominion of the passions. Pythagoras considered it as a science to be reduced to mathematical principles and proportions, and is said to have discovered the musical chords from the circumstance of several men successively striking with hammers a piece of heated iron upon an anvil. This story Dr Burney* History of Music, discredits; but allows, from the uniform testimony of all writers ancient and modern, that he invented the harp, monochord or monochord, (see Monochord). The music of the spheres, of which every one has heard, was a most fanciful doctrine of Pythagoras. It was produced, he imagined, by the planets striking on the other through which in their motion they passed; and he considered their musical proportions as exact, and their harmony perfect.

Pythagoras, as we have already seen, learned geometry in Egypt; but by investigating many new theorems, and by digressing its principles, he reduced it to a more regular science. A geometrical point, which he defines to be a monad, or unity with position, he says corresponds to unity in arithmetic, a line to two, a superficies to three, and a solid to four. He discovered several of the propositions of Euclid; and on discovering the 47th of book 11, he is said to have offered a hecatomb to the gods; but as he was averse to animal sacrifices, this assertion is surely false. His great progress in astronomical science has been mentioned elsewhere. See Astronomy, No 11, 22. and Philosophy, No 15, 16.

Wisdom, according to Pythagoras, is convertible with those objects which are naturally immutable, eternal, and incorruptible; and its end is to assimilate the human mind to the divine, and to qualify us to join the assembly of the gods. Active and moral philosophy prescribes rules and precepts for the conduct of life, and leads us to the practice of public and private virtue. On these heads many of his precepts were excellent, and some of them were whimsical and useless. Theoretical philosophy treats of nature and its origin, and is, according to Pythagoras, the highest object of study. It included all the profound mysteries which he taught, of which but little is now known. God he considers as the universal mind, diffused through all things, and the self-moving principle of all things (αυτοκινητος των παντων), and of whom every human soul is a portion. Cicero de Senect. It is very probable, that he conceived of the Deity as a subtle fire, eternal, active, and intelligent; which is not inconsistent with the idea of incorporeality, as the ancients understood that term. This Deity was primarily combined with the chaotic mass of passive matter, but he had the power of separating himself, and since the separation he has remained distinct. The learned Cudworth Pythagoras, worth contends, that Pythagoras maintained a trinity of hypotheses in the divine nature, similar to the Platonic triad (see PLATONISM). We cannot say that his arguments appear to have much force; but we think the conclusion which he wishes to establish extremely probable, as Plato certainly drew his doctrine from some of the countries which Pythagoras had visited before him.

Subordinate to the Deity there were in the Pythagorean creed three orders of intelligences, gods, demons, and heroes, of different degrees of excellence and dignity. These, together with the human soul, were considered as emanations from the Deity, the particles of subtle ether assuming a grosser clothing the farther they receded from the fountain. Hierocles defines a hero to be a rational mind united with a luminous body. God himself was represented under the notion of monad, and the subordinate intelligences as numbers derived from and included in unity. Man is considered as consisting of an elementary nature, and a divine or rational soul. His soul, a self-moving principle, is composed of two parts; the rational, seated in the brain; and the irrational, including the passions, in the heart. In both these respects he participates with the brutes, whom the temperament of their body, &c., allows not to act rationally. The sensitive soul perishes; the other assumes an ethereal vehicle, and passes to the region of the dead, till sent back to the earth to inhabit some other body, brutal or human. See METEMPSYCHOSIS.

It was unquestionably this notion which led Pythagoras and his followers to deny themselves the use of flesh, and to be so peculiarly merciful to animals of every description. Some authors, however, say, that flesh and beans, the use of which he also forbade, were prohibited, because he supposed them to have been produced from the same purified matter, from which, at the creation of the world, man was formed.

Of the symbols of Pythagoras little is known. They have been religiously concealed; and though they have awakened much curiosity, and occasioned many ingenious conjectures, they still appear to us dark and trifling. As a specimen we give the following: "Adore the sound of the whistling wind. Stir not the fire with a sword. Turn aside from an edged tool. Pass not over a balance. Setting out on a journey, turn not back, for the furies will return with you. Breed nothing that hath crooked talons. Receive not a swallow into your house. Look not in a mirror by the light of a candle. At a sacrifice pare not your nails. Eat not the heart or brain. Taste not that which hath fallen from the table. Break not bread. Sleep not at noon. When it thunders touch the earth. Pluck not a crow. Roast not that which has been boiled. Sail not on the ground. Plant not a palm. Breed a cock, but do not sacrifice it, for it is sacred to the sun and moon. Plant mallows in thy garden, but eat them not. Abstain from beans."

The following precepts are more important: "Dis- course not of Pythagorean doctrines without light. Above all things govern your tongue. Engrave not the image of God in a ring. Quit not your station without the command of your general. Remember that the paths of virtue and of vice resemble the letter Y. To this symbol Persius refers," when he says,

Et ubi quae Samios diduxit litera ramos, Surgentem dextro manu travi limite collem.

There has the Sannian Y's instructive make Pointed the road thy doubtful foot should take; There warn'd thy raw and yet unpractis'd youth, To tread the rising right-hand path of truth.

The scantiness and uncertainty of our information respecting Pythagoras, renders a regular and complete account of his life and doctrines impossible. A modern author of profound erudition, pronounces him to have been unquestionably the wisest man that ever lived, if his masters the Egyptian priests must not be excepted. This is saying a great deal too much; but that he was one of the most distinguished philosophers of antiquity, or, as Cicero expresses it, vir praestantissima sapientia, appears very evident; and his moral character has never been impeached. The mysterious air which he threw over his doctrines, and the apparent insanity of some of his symbols, have indeed subjected him to the charge of imposture, and perhaps the charge is not wholly groundless: but when we consider the age in which he lived, and the nature of the people with whom he had to deal, who would in all probability have resented more open innovations, even this will not appear so blamable as at first sight we are apt to think it; and it is worthy of notice, that the worst stories of this kind have come down to us in a very questionable shape, and with much probability appear to be false.