Pythagoras: His Life and Teaching, a Compendium of Classical Sources
Page 35
Stanley's original marginal note reads verbatum with the text of Laertius.
Cf. Huebner, Diogenis Laertii De Vitis, Dogmatis Et Apophthegmatis Clarorum Philosophorum Libri Decem, Vol. 2, p. 276 and Yonge, Diogenes Laertius, The Lives And Opinions of Eminent Philosophers p. 355 : “Telauges, noble youth, whom in due time, Theano bore to wise Pythagoras.”
p.344 note 235. “poor workmanship,” “mischevious art.
From Laertius Chapter 5:' Yonge translated it, “Now, some people say that Pythagoras did not leave behind him a single book; but they talk foolishly; for Heraclitus, the natural philosopher, speaks plainly enough of him saying, ‘Pythagoras, the son of Mnesarchus, was the most learned of all men in history; and having selected from these writings, he thus formed his own wisdom, and extensive learning, and mischevious art” (Yonge, Diogenes Laertius, The Lives And Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, p. 340) Compare the version of Hicks: “There are some who insist, absurdly enough, that Pythagoras left no writings whatever. At all events, Heraclitus, the physicist, almost shouts in our ear, “Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchus, practised inquiry beyond all other men, and in this selection of his writings made himself a wisdom of his own, showing much learning, but poor workmanship.” (Hicks, Diogenes Laertius Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Vol 2 pp. 324-325). Cf. Huebner Diogenis Laertii De Vitis, Dogmatis Et Apophthegmatis Clarorum Philosophorum Libri Decem, Vol. 2, p. 242.
“sometimes taken in a good sense; Gregory Nazianzus, Adversus Julianus, Oratio 4. the text being so to be restored.”
(Cf. Migne, Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Gregorius Nazianzenus Vol. XXXV, Contra Julianum imperatorem, Cap.112, 87-88. p. 649. Note that the Greek is significantly different from that given by Stanley: Cf. King, Julian the Emperor containing Gregory Nazianzen's Two Invectives and Libanius' Monody, p. 75 where was rendered “treacherous intention.” Stanley's suggestion that the word is sometimes taken in a “good sense” would appear to be dependent on his own restoration and interpretation of the text of Nazianzus, not followed by other authorities.
p. 344 note 238. “bear ill-will.” The original Ms. of Diogenes Laertius' Lives of Eminent Philosophers has , which was copied by Stanley. Hicks rendered the phrase “suffer censure” Yonge translated it, “be blamed.”
(For see Liddel Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon under . Cf. Hicks, Diogenes Laertius Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Vol 2 p. 325. Yonge, Diogenes Laertius, The Lives And Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, p. 340)
p. 345 note 259. For perhaps read . The Greek text of Iamblicus' Life of Pythagoras Cap. 19, 77 reads: . Kiessling also noted that , “art, craft,” is corrupt in this context. (Cf. Iamblichi Chalcidensis Ex Coele-Suria De Vita Pythagorica, Vol. 1, p. 200-201) The sentence requires the meaning of “mark” or “sign,” hence Kiessling's Latin translation Etiam alia similia potentiae Abaradis vestigia memorantur. “Many other such signs of the power of Abaris were reported.”
p. 346 note 297. For reading, , “Thus, as said by Plato….”
From Iamblicus' Life of Pythagoras, Chapter 16, the passage in full reads:
“By all these inventions, therefore, he divinely healed and purified the soul, resuscitated and saved its divine part, and conducted to the intelligible its divine eye, which, as Plato says, is better worth saving than ten thousand corporeal eyes.”
The reference to Plato is from his Republic, Book VII, Chapter X, where in the dialogue, the argument is made that the study of science and mathematics, while difficult, enlightens the soul: “that by these branches of study some organ of the soul in each individual is purified and rekindled like fire, after having been destroyed and blinded by other kinds of study–an organ, indeed, better worth saving than ten-thousand eyes, since by that alone truth can be seen.”
This same passage from Plato is also quoted by Nicomachus in his Introduction To Arithmetic (Chapter 3) as a defense of the four sciences of Arithmetic, Geometry, Music and Astronomy.
(Kiessling, Iamblichi Chalcidensis Ex Coele-Suria De Vita Pythagorica, Vol. 1, p. 148. Taylor, Iamblicus' Life of Pythagoras, p. 37. Burges, Works of Plato, Vol. 2, p. 217. D'Ooge, Introduction to Arithmetic, by Nicomachus of Gerasa (pp. 181-190))
p. 346 note 308. For , “savage Aenean” perhaps read “Agrinean.”
Kiessling (Iamblichi Chalcidensis Ex Coele-Suria De Vita Pythagorica, Vol. 1 p. 188) mentions the option (rusticus Aeneus) but suggested “Aegean” and rendered the Latin, Hippomedon Aegeus, “Hippomedon the Aegean.” Thomas Taylor rendered it “Hippomedon, an Aegean.” (Taylor, Iamblicus' Life of Pythagoras, p.46) Cf. Guthrie, The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library, p. 79. Stanley himself lists Hippomedon as one of the Aegeans. (See page 113.)
p. 346 note 310. For , perhaps read . Yet Laertius expressly saith, that linen was not as yet used in those parts.
The reference to the linen garment is from Iamblicus, Life of Pythagoras, Cap. 21. Kiessling also corrected the reading to , “linen garment,” Diogenes Laertius however wrote: “His robe was white and spotless, his quilts of white wool, for linen had not yet reached those parts.”
(Kiessling, Iamblichi Chalcidensis Ex Coele-Suria De Vita Pythagorica, Vol. 1, p. 216. Hicks, Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Vol. 2, pp. 336-337.)
p. 346 note 312. From Iamblichus restore Diodorus in Excerpta Valesiana page 245. reading
The fragment from Excerpta Valesiana refers to a fragment of Diodorus Siculus' Bibliotheca Historica, originally published by Henricus Valesius in 1636. The text may be found in Dindorf, Diodori Bibliotheca Historica, Vol. 2, p. 166, where the actual fragment from Liber X, Chapter 5, Section 1 reads:
……
Stanley's restoration comes from Iamblicus' Life of Pythagoras, Chapter 29. Cf. Kiessling, Iamblichi Chalcidensis Ex Coele-Suria De Vita Pythagorica, Vol. I, page 350 line 166: . “the ability of remembering was most important for experience, science and wisdom.” See also Booth, The Historical Library of Diodorus The Sicilian in Fifteen Books to which are added The Fragments of Diodorus and Those published by H. Valesius, I. Rhodomannus, and F. Ursinus, Vol. 2 page 576 (No. 38). Where the entire passage of the fragment from Diodorus translated reads, “The Pythagoreans had a great art in improving their memories, and to that end employed their utmost care and diligence. For the first thing they did constantly after they rose from their beds in a morning, was to recollect and call to mind every thing they had done the day before, from the morning to the evening; if if they had time and leisure, they would go back to examine the actions of the second, third, and fourth days, and sometimes farther, conceiving it very helpful and advantageous for improving the memory, and increasing knowledge.” From this, one can see that Stanley drew heavily on Diodorus for the text immediately preceding the note, and adding from Iamblicus.
p. 347 note 323. .
Also rendered the same by Friedlein, Procli Diadochi In Primum Euclidis Elementorum Librum Commentarii, p. 36. ‘Barocius' refers to Franciscus Barocius (the Latin name of Francesco Barozzi) who published a translation of Euclid's Elements in Venice in the year 1560.
p. 347 note 324.
Freidlein read this passage . (Friedlein, Procli Diadochi In Primum Euclidis Elementorum Librum Commentarii, p. 36)
p. 347 note 326. “Introduction to Arithmetic” The subsequent text, “so supply the Title, as a page. 30. 35. 44. 62. 76) cap. 4. refers to the Greek which is the title of the book by Nicomachus by that name, known by its Latin name Introductionis Arithmeticae. In Chapter 3, Nicomachus quotes Plato's Republic, Book VII, Chapter X, wherein the four mathemata of the quadrivium (the “higher subjects”—Arithmetic, Geometry, Music and “Spheric,” i.e. Astronomy) are described and defended: “arithmetic for reckoning, distributions, contributions, exchanges and partnerships, geometry for sieges, the founding of cities and sanctuaries, and the partition of land, music for festivals, entertainment, and the worship of the gods, and the doctrine of the spheres, or astronomy, for farming, navigation and other undertaking, revealing beforehand the proper procedure and suitabl
e season.”
Chapter 4 of Nicomachus' “Introduction to Arithmetic” clarifies the reasoning to select Arithmetic as the first of the four methods (Music, Mathematics, Geometry or Spheric) should be studied first. The Chapter is given in full below:
“Which then of these four methods must we first learn? Evidently, the one which naturally exists before them all, is superior and takes the place of origin and root and, as it were, of mother to the others. And this is arithmetic, not solely because we said that it existed before all the others in the mind of the creating God like some universal and exemplary plan, relying upon which as a design and archetypal example the creator of the universe sets in order his material creations and makes them attain to their proper ends; but also because it is naturally prior in birth inasmuch as it abolishes other sciences with itself, but is not abolished together with them. For example, ‘animal' is naturally antecedent to ‘man,’ for abolish ‘animal' and ‘man' is abolished; but if ‘man' be abolished, it no longer follows that ‘animal' is abolished at the same time. And again, ‘man' is antecedent to ‘schoolteacher,’ but if ‘schoolteacher' is nonexistent, it is still possible for ‘man' to be. Thus since it has the property of abolishing the other ideas with itself, it is likewise the older. Conversely, that is called younger and posterior which implies the other thing with itself, but is not implied by it, like ‘musician,’ for this always implies ‘man.’ Again, take ‘horse’; ‘animal' is always implied along with ‘horse,’ but not the reverse; for if ‘animal' exists, it is not necessary that ‘horse' should exist, nor if ‘man' exists, must ‘musician' also be implied. So it is with the foregoing sciences; if geometry exists, arithmetic must also needs be implied, for it is with the help of this latter that we can speak of triangle, quadrilateral, octahedron, icosahedron, double, eightfold, or one and one-half times, or anything else of the sort which is used as a term by geometry, and such things cannot be conceived of without the numbers that are implied with each one. For how can ‘triple' exist, or be spoken of, unless the number 3 exists beforehand, or ‘eightfold' without 8? But on the contrary, 3, 4, and the rest might be without the figures existing to which they give names. Hence arithmetic abolishes geometry along with itself, but is not abolished by it, and while it is implied by geometry, it does not itself imply geometry.”
(Hoche, , Nicomachi Geraseni Pythagorei Introductionis Arithmeticae, pp. 9-10, D'Ooge, Introduction to Arithmetic, by Nicomachus of Gerasa (pp. 181-190)
p. 347 note 342. Eustratius, Ethica Nicomachea.1 & Servius, Incipit Expositio Primae Eclogae, VIII.
Cf. Virgil, Ecologue VIII:
“Threefold first I twine about thee these diverse triple-hued threads, and thrice round these altars I draw thine image: an odd number is god's delight.” (McKail, The Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil, p. 29)
p. 354 note 599. Meibomius seems to mistake the meaning of , and therefore puts a point after .
The quote is from Nicomachus' ‘Manual of Harmonics' (APMONIKON ETXEIPIION).
Marcus Meibom, in the Greek text of his Nicomachi Harmonices p. 10 in Antiquae Musicae, Vol. 1, erroneously places a period after . The correct Greek text is supplied by Jan, Musici Scriptoris Graeci p. 245, given below with a translation by Mike Estell:
“After the interval of four chords, that of five chords, and that by the joining of both, call diapason, and the tone added between the two four-chord intervals, were confirmed to have this numerical quantity, in some such manner seized upon by Pythagoras.”
Whereas Meibom has , Jan's text from Musici Scriptoris Graeci correctly gives , which is the masculine dative with the final letter being iota, not alpha. The word is the aorist passive participle of , “seize, catch” or “constrain.” In the sentence above, modifies the phrase , “in some such manner.” It refers to the manner in which Pythagoras came to establish the numerical quantity of intervals with the musical chords, which he “seized upon.” The phrase, “in some such manner,” refers to the following sentence which describes Pythagoras' trip to the Blacksmith shop. As Stanley observes, Meibom mistakes the meaning, or function in the sentence, of , not understanding it to modify , but apparently relating back to the phrase “the tone added between the two four-chord intervals,” with a meaning something akin to “comprehended.” can mean “to seize with the mind, comprehend, understand,” and this may have been the basis of his error. The period following may not be related to this error at all, and may just be a simple misprint in the Greek text printed by Meibom. He does not insert a period in the middle of the Latin text as he does in the Greek.
(For the Greek translation and scholarly commentary on this difficult passage above, we are indebted to Mike Estell.)
P. 355 note 605. , Meibomius otherwise.
The quotation is from Nicomachus' Harmonicum Enchiridium, which is verbatum with Iamblicus' Life of Pythagoras, Chapter 26:
. “After carefully examining the weights of the hammers and their impacts, which were identical, he went home.” Marcus Meibom had the correct Greek but his Latin translation, intra se est conversus, “he returned by himself,” is faulty, hence Stanley's note. Kiessling rendered it domum rediit, “he returned home.” (Meibom, Nicomachi Harmonices p. 11 in Antiquae Musicae Vol. 1, Jan, Musici Scriptoris Graeci, p. 246., Levin, The Manual of Harmonics of Nicomachus the Pythagorean, p.83, Kiessling, Iamblichi Chalcidensis Ex Coele-Suria De Vita Pythagorica, Vol. 1, p. 248.)
p. 355 note 606. , which Meibomius, contrary to all MSS. Would change unnecessarily into and renders aeque graves.
In the main body of the text Meibom printed which is correct. In his notes to the text on p. 48 however, he discussed “in balance” and “equal in weight” in support of his Latin translation aeque graves (equal weight). The word means literally “equally twisted,” and refers to the ropes. (See Meibom, Nicomachi Harmonices pp. 11 and 48 in Antiquae Musicae Vol. 1, and Liddell Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, p. 839b under .)
p. 355 note 617. .
Kiessling read it as . (Iamblichi Chalcidensis Ex Coele-Suria De Vita Pythagorica, Vol. 1 p. 238)
p. 356 note 654. “Reading etc.” (Cf. Freidlein, Procli Diadochi In Primum Euclidis Elementorum Librum Commentarii, p. 419-420.)
p. 357 note 676. For an English translation of Censorinus' De Die Natale (“The Natal Day”), and specifically Chapter XIII, on the “Music of the Spheres” quoted by Stanley, see Maude, Die Die Natale by Censorinus, pp. 10-11. For the Latin text, Cf. Hultsch, CENSORINI, DE DIE NATALI LIBER pp. 22-24.”
p. 358 note 727. “Perhaps . See St. Basil of Caesarea, Homilia ad Psalm. XIX.”
The quotation is from from Basil's , To young men on how they might profit from Greek Literature. (“Greek Literature” is alternately translated, “Pagan Literature” or “Profane Works”) In Migne's Patrologiæ Cursus Completus, Series Græca. Vol. 31 this work is listed as one of the Sermons, and falls between Homily 21 and 23. The 24th Homily is Contra Sabellianos, et Arium, et Anomæos. The entire quote, with a better restoration, reads:
“And it will be remembered of Pythagoras, that calling one of his familiars from the gymnastics and eating, which were fattening him very much, he said, ‘Will you not cease making your imprisonment harder for yourself?” (Jacks, St. Basil and Greek Literature, p. 45) These words of Pythagoras were assigned by Stobaeus to Plato (Serm. 77)
For the Greek text see Migne, Patrologiæ Cursus Completus, Series Græca. Vol. 31, pp. 583-584, or for Greek text with another translation, Cf. Defarrari, Saint Basil: The Letters & Address To Young Men On Reading Greek Literature, Vol. 4, pp. 422-423.
The final portion of the note refers to St. Basil of Caesarea's, Homilia ad Psalm. XXIX, which contains the following condemnation of gluttony:
“On the other hand, what is uglier or more disgusting than a soul given over to base passions? Look at the hot-headed person: he is like a wild beast. Consider the slave of lust or gluttony: who can bear the sight of him?” (PG 29, 316)
p. 358 note 727. “Reading acco
rding to Stobaeus, Florilegium 99, who cites this fragment but of Aristoxenus; perhaps it belonged to his Book, De Vitae Pythagorae.”
See above, page 373, note to page 99. By , Stanley means , “He said it,” referring to Pythagoras, since Stobaeus credits the source as Aristoxenus, but relates it as a quotation from Pythagoras himself.
p. 360 note 787. Laertius, De Vitis Philosophorum, Liber I, Life of Pittacus, Chap. 8.
The “Epigram of Callimachus upon Pittacus” is in full, as follows:
'Hyrradius' prudent son, old Pittacus
The pride of Mitylene, once was asked
By an Atarnean stranger; “Tell me, sage,
I have two marriages proposed to me;
One maid my equal is in birth and riches;
The other's far above me; which is best?
Advise me now which shall I take to wife?”
Thus spoke the stranger; but the aged prince,
Raising his old man's staff before his face,
Said, “These will tell you all you want to know;”
And pointed to some boys, who with quick lashes
Were driving whipping tops along the street.
“Follow their steps,” said he; so he went near them
And heard them say, “Let each now mind his own.”—
So when the stranger heard the boys speak thus,
He pondered on their words, and laid aside
Ambitious thoughts of an unequal marriage.
As then he took to shame the poorer bride,
So too do you, O reader, mind thy own.’
(Yonge, Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, p. 37)
p. 361 note 830. These are termed [“intelligence”], [“reason”], [“passion”]. [“intelligence”] and [“passion”] are in other living creatures, [“reason”], only in man.
“The soul of man, he says, is divided into three parts: intelligence, reason, and passion. Intelligence and passion are possessed by other animals as well, but reason by man alone.” (Hicks, Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Vol. 2, p. 347)