Page images
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][ocr errors][merged small]

He had discovered how little he could rely on the discipline of his Italian allies; to draw reinforcements from Epirus was impracticable, as an insurrection had broken out among the Molossians (Appian, iii. 11. 1), while the northern part of Epirus was threatened with an invasion of the Gauls. The Romans, on the other hand, who seemed to gain new strength after every defeat, had formed a close defensive alliance with Carthage (Polyb., iii. 25), which immediately sent out a fleet to co-operate with the Romans against Pyrrhus. The Romans however declined this aid, and Mago, the Carthaginian admiral, sailed to Pyrrhus, who had already directed his attention to Sicily, to sound his intentions. In the meanwhile however an occurrence is said to have taken place which afforded to the Romans as well as to Pyrrhus a favourable opportunity to put a stop to hostilities. In the year 278 B.C., when the consuls C Fabricius and Q. Papus had taken the field against Pyrrhus, a traitor belonging to the retinue of the king proposed to the consuls to destroy his master by poison. The Romans are said to have apprised the king of his danger (Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, iii., p. 594, &c.), who, as a reward for their honesty, ordered Cineas to lead all the Roman prisoners back, without ransom, and laden with rich presents. Cineas was also authorised to make peace. The generosity of the king rendered the Roman senate more flexible than before, and although peace was refused unless the king would consent to quit Italy, yet the Tarentine prisoners and other allies of Pyrrhus were sent back, and a truce was concluded (Appian, iii. 12, 1), which enabled the king to cross over to Sicily with his army. The garrison in Tarentum and other places remained, and Alexander, son of Pyrrhus by Lanassa, was entrusted with the command at Locri. (Justin, xviii. 2.) Pyrrhus had been invited by the inhabitants of Agrigentum, Syracuse, and Leontini to lend his aid against some Sicilian tyrants and the Carthaginians, who had already taken possession of many towns in the island and were besieging Syracuse by land and by sea. Pyrrhus willingly complied with their wish, hoping that it would not be difficult to make himself master of the island, and thus more effectually to support his Italian allies.

After having spent two years and four months in Italy (Diodor., Fragm., lib. xxii. 11), Pyrrhus landed with his army in Sicily. The Carthaginians withdrew their forces from Syracuse. Almost all the towns of Sicily threw open their gates to him; Eryx was besieged and soon reduced. The Mamertines, who held several towns in subjugation and exacted heavy tributes, were likewise subdued. The Carthaginians were at last driven from Sicily, with the exception of Lilybæum, where they fortified themselves, and were besieged by Pyrrhus. They were willing to give up the whole island, with the exception of this last stronghold, and even offered money if Pyrrhus would conclude peace on these terms. But Pyrrhus, urged by the chief Sicilians, whom nothing short of an entire evacuation of their island by the Carthaginians would satisfy, declared that he could enter into no negotiation unless they would withdraw all their forces from Sicily. (Diodor., Fragm., lib. xxii., 14.) After a long and useless siege of Lilybæum, the king determined to man his fleet and make a landing on the coast or Africa. But his severity in compelling the Sicilian Greeks to man his vessels, and his mistrust of them, roused their discontent. The two leading men among them, Thynion and Sosistratus, incurred his suspicions, and one of them was put to death. This act suddenly called forth the hatred of the Sicilians, and some of them threw themselves again under the protection of the Carthaginians, while others called the Mamertines to their assistance. While this dangerous spirit was spreading in Sicily, Pyrrhus received information that the Tarentines and Samnites were no longer able to hold out against the Romans, and he gladly seized this opportunity of quitting the island, and hastened to Italy.

In his passage through the straits he was attacked by the Carthaginian fleet, and lost seventy of his ships, and he reached the coast of Italy with only twelve which were in sailing condition (276 B.C.). On arriving at Locri, he found himself in great difficulties, not being able to pay his soldiers. To satisfy their wants, he took the sacred treasures from the temple of Proserpine. When the treasures were embarked, a storm arose, in which some of the ships were

lost; the others, laden with the treasures, were cast back on | immediately marched towards Argos. On his road he was the coast of Locri. attacked by Areus, who lay in ambush and cut off the rear of his army. Pyrrhus left Ptolemæus behind to oppose Areus, and proceeded on his road. His son fell in a fierce battle, and Pyrrhus, turning back to avenge his death, slew with his own hand Eualcus, who had killed his son. In the meanwhile Antigonus had occupied the hills near Nauplia, and Pyrrhus pitched his camp in the plain. The Argives, dreading the issue of a battle, promised that their city should not be hostile to either party, if they would not attack it. Antigonus consented, and gave his son as a hostage. Pyrrhus likewise promised to keep peace, but gave no pledge of his intentions. In the ensuing night Aristeas opened one of the gates to him, through which Pyrrhus with his Galatians entered, and took possession of the market-place. The Argives, roused from their sleep by the noise, sent to Antigonus, who immediately advanced with his forces. Areus at the same time arrived with a select body of Cretans and Spartans. The darkness of the night and the narrowness of the streets produced the greatest confusion among the combatants. At daybreak, Pyrrhus. discovering that all the fortified parts of the city were occupied by armed troops, wished to get out of Argos. While he was making this attempt, assisted by one of his sons, he was killed by an old woman, who, seeing her son fighting with the king, threw a tile upon his head from the roof of her house.

Pyrrhus, whose mind seems to have lost its former energy and self-possession, fancied that he had incurred the anger of the goddess, and not only restored all the treasures to the temple, but endeavoured to atone for his crime by offering rich sacrifices; and as the signs appeared to be inauspicious, he put to death all those who had advised or consented to the sacrilegious act. (Appian, iii. 12.) On his march towards Tarentum, his army was attacked and harassed from the mountainous districts by numbers of Mamertines, who had come over from Sicily before him. Pyrrhus here again evinced his usual courage. A huge barbarian challenged the king to single combat, and Pyrrhus, though already wounded, hurried forward, and cut the man in two with his sword. This proof of his undaunted spirit put an end to the attacks of the barbarians, and he reached Tarentum in safety. Having here reinforced himself, he set out against the Romans, and pitched his camp in Samnium. The Romans sent out two consular armies, under Manius Curius, who marched into Samnium to meet Pyrrhus, and L. Cornelius Lentulus, who took up his position in Lucania (275 B.C.). The Samnites sent a contingent to his army, but it was small, as they bore some ill-will towards him. Pyrrhus sent a part of his army to Lucania, to prevent Lentulus joining his colleague. Curius had taken his position, and fortified himself on the hills near Beneventum, wishing to avoid battle until the arrival of Lentulus. It was the intention of Pyrrhus to attack the Roman camp by surprise before daybreak, but in order to reach the summit of the hill above the Roman camp, he had to lead his army a long and fatiguing way through the forests, and when he descended upon the Roman camp it was broad day-light. Curius turned round to attack the enemy, who after some resistance took to flight. This success emboldened Curius to direct bis attack against the main army of the king in the plain. The elephants, frightened and infuriated by burning arrows, which the Romans showered on them, put the king's army into disorder, and were thus the cause of a complete defeat. The king's camp fell into the hands of the Romans. Two elephants were killed and eight taken; Pyrrhus himself, with only a few horsemen, escaped to Tarentum. He nevertheless did not despair, but sent letters to several kings, requesting them to supply him with men and money. (Paus., i. 13.) Antiochus promised to comply with his wish, but Antigonus refused. A report of advancing auxiliaries for the king kept the Romans at a distance, and enabled Pyrrhns to set sail for Epirus with the greater part of his troops. Milo however was left behind, with the command of the garrison at Tarentum, and his son Helenus. On arriving in his kingdom, Pyrrhus found himself unable to provide for the wants of his small band, and after some Galatians had joined him, he invaded Macedonia in order to gain by plunder the means of maintaining his troops. Fortune once more favoured him, and he soon made himself master of nearly the whole of Macedonia. Thinking that a more glorious field was now opening to him, he gave up all intention of returning to Italy, and recalled Milo and his son Helenus. Antigonus, who had assembled an army of Galatian mercenaries, was defeated by a son of Pyrrhus, and fled from his kingdom.

Before Pyrrhus had firmly established himself in Macedonia, he was invited by Cleonymus, a worthless Spartan, to assist him against the king Areus. Pyrrhus advanced to Sparta with a numerous army, ravaging and plundering the neighbourhood. Though king Areus was absent, Pyrrhus met with a most determined resistance from the women as well as the men of Sparta, and his son Ptolemæus, who had made his way into the city, was nearly killed. Pyrrhus himself had a severe contest at the gates of the city, which was interrupted by night, and recommenced the next morning. He succeeded in forcing his way into the city, but the united exertions of the Spartan men and women drove him from it. At the same time king Areus arrived from Crete, and auxiliaries from Corinth were on their march to Sparta, and Pyrrhus therefore gave up the contest, and contented himself with ravaging the country. He intended to take up his winter-quarters in Laconia, but another opportunity for action offered itself. Argos was distracted by two factions; one was headed by Aristeas, who called Pyrrhus to his assistance, while Aristippus, his adversary, sought the protection of Antigonus. The king

Pyrrhus died in the year 273 B.C. (Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, iii., note, 928.) All the antients agree that he was one of the greatest generals; and Hannibal himself declared him to be the first. But great as he was in battle, he did not know how to make the best use of a victory. His am bition was rather to acquire than to preserve, and he generally soon lost the advantages which he had gained. He was grateful towards his subjects, and owned that he was indebted to them for all that he possessed. As a man, he stands pre-eminent among the kings of his time; for while they were surrounded by worthless flatterers, Pyrrhus had friends such as few kings have ever possessed. In his family he was an affectionate father and husband. A change seems to have taken place in his character from the time when he embarked for Sicily, and no blame can be attached to his conduct previous to that event. The death of Neoptolemus was a mere act of self-defence, but his conduct towards Sparta has left a stain upon his character. Pyrrhus also attempted to distinguish himself as an author (Cic., Ad Famil., ix. 25; Plut, Pyrrh., 21); but we have no means of judging of his merits in this respect, as no part of his work remains. The Life of Pyrrhus by Plutarch is one of the most exquisite specimens of biography.

[graphic][ocr errors][merged small][subsumed][subsumed]

British Museum. Actual size. Silver. The head is probably that of Jupiter.
PY'RULA. [SIPHONOSTOMATA.]

PYRUS, the Latin word for pear-tree,' is a name now given by botanists to a considerable number of Rosaceous plants, whose collective character is to bear a fruit resembling in all essential circumstances that of the apple or pear; that is to say, inferior, fleshy, with a caralaginous lining to the cells, which are simple, and contain from 1 to 2 seeds in each. But the similarity in the fruit is by no means accompanied by an equal degree of resemblance in the foliage and nianner of growth of the species, some of them being trees with the aspect of the apple and pear, while others have pinnated leaves which have caused them to be vulgarly regarded as species of ash, and many are dwarfish shrubs, with quite a peculiar appearance.

In consequence of such differences the genus is divided into several sections, the most important of which are,-1, the Apples and Pears, with oval simple leaves, and the stature of trees; 2, the Beam-trees, with coarsely toothed leaves

white with down beneath; 3, the Mountain Ashes, with pinnated or pinnatifid leaves; and 4, the Dwarf Crabs, with oval simple leaves, and the stature of bushes. Upon each of these it is necessary to state something.

To the section of apples and pears belong not only the well-known fruits so called [APPLE; PEAR] and all their many varieties, but also several species whose fruit is less valuable. On Mount Sinai grows a species called P. Sinaica, whose fruit is hard, gritty, and austere, and whose leaves are grey with down; in Germany a similar kind, the P. nivalis, is by no means uncommon, with a considerable resemblance to the last; Siberia and Persia produce another, called P. salicifolia, with very narrow hoary leaves; and in the former country are found the Siberian crab, P. prunifolia, and the berry-fruited crab, P. baccata, whose fruit is too small for ordinary consumption, but is often seen in the form of a sweetmeat. Besides these, the Chinese crab, P. spectabilis, and also P. coronaria, are cultivated for their flowers.

The Beam-trees derive their name from the use that has been made of their tough wood for beams, axletrees, and similar purposes, where great strength is required. It is especially for the cogs in the wheels of machinery that it was used, till superseded by iron. The common Beam-tree is Pyrus Aria, and inhabits the rocks of the west and north of England, where it forms an ornamental object with its dark-green foliage shifting to silvery-white when disturbed by the wind. To this section may be referred without inconvenience the true Service, Pyrus domestica, a tree now not uncommon in England, but originally from the south of Europe, with a large pyramidal head, coarsely serrated leaves, and a green austere fruit, which however blets like the mediar, when it becomes tolerably eatable, though very indigestible. Its wood is very compact, and is said to be the hardest and heaviest of any indigenous in Europe.

The mountain ash, P. aucuparia, is a well-known ornamental tree, with a graceful habit, fragrant clusters of white flowers, and loose bunches of scarlet berries. It is found wild all over Europe and in the north of Asia, a variety occurs with yellow berries. In North America it is represented by a nearly allied species, P. Americana, with large copper-coloured berries, and a third kind, P. microcarpa, with very small scarlet fruit. The mountain ash is the rowen-tree of the Scotch, whose boughs were supposed to be a protection against witchcraft. It forms a hardy and good stock which to graft the pear-tree, when it is desired to dwarf that species.

The dwarf crabs are small bushes with deuse clusters of white flowers succeeded by black or red fruit very like that of the mountain ash. All are North American, except a Swiss species, P. chamamespilus, and are scarcely cultivated except as objects of curiosity.

(See Loudon's Arboretum Britannicum, vol. ii., p. 917, &c., for very copious information concerning this genus.) PYTHAGORAS, the son of Mnesarchus, was born about the year 570 B.C., in the island of Samos. By his mother's side he was connected with the most distinguished families of the island his father, according to most accounts, was not of pure Greek blood, but either a Phoenician or a Tyrrhenian of Lemnos or Imbros. The history of Pythagoras is obscured and disfigured by a cloud of fables, through which we are unable to discover anything beyond the most general outline of the chief events of his life and his character. He is said to have been a disciple of Pherecydes of Syros; and if we could give credit to the various other traditions respecting his masters, he would appear to have been connected with almost all the philosophers of the age, from Thales and Anaximander down to the obscure Creophilus and Hermodamas. (Porphyr., De Vit. Pythag., 2; Diog. Laert., viii. 2.) But the information which he derived from his countrymen did not satisfy his inquisitive mind, and, like many other illustrious Greeks, he travelled into various countries. He first visited Egypt, where he was introduced to King Amasis by letters from Polycrates. From Egypt he went to Asia, where he is said to have made himself acquainted with the science of the Chaldæans and the Magi: some traditions even state that he visited India and the Gymnosophists. But though these traditions may have some historical foundation, thus much is certain, that his philosophical system was not derived from any foreign source, or even materially influenced by anything that he saw and learned in the countries which he visited. All that he derived from foreign countries cannot have been more than general impressions which their political and religious institutions

|

made upon him, and which may in some measure have decided the natural bias of his mind. His whole philosophy bears the impress of genuine Greek growth, and there is scarcely anything in it which may not be traced to some native source. On his return from his travels, he seems to have conceived the plan which he afterwards endeavoured to realize; but finding that the tyranny which Polycrates had established in his native island would be an insurmountable obstacle to his views, he set out in search of a new home. After having travelled through several parts of Greece, partly to strengthen himself in his opinions, for which purpose he perhaps visited Crete and Sparta; partly to form useful connections, as at Olympia and Delphi; partly also to sound the minds of the people, and to discover how far they might be disposed to carry his designs into effect, he finally settled at Croton in Southern Italy. The aristocratical government and the state of parties in this city seem to have been particularly favourable to the realization of his political and philosophical schemes, and the place was therefore certainly not chosen by the philosopher without due consideration. The fame of his wisdom and of his travels had probably gone before him to the Italian Greeks. The aristocratical party at Croton, who were in possession of all the political power, had excited discontent among the people; and though still strong enough to maintain their position against the commonalty, they must have hailed the arrival of a stranger, who, being supposed to be endowed with supernatural powers, commanded the veneration of the multitude, and was willing to serve the oligarchs on condition that they would allow him some degree of influence in their political

measures.

From the moment of his favourable reception by the senate of Croton, whose object seems to have been to use him as an instrument for their own ends, a new era in the life of Pythagoras commences; but before we proceed to consider the manner in which he endeavoured to put his theory into practice, we shall attempt to give a brief outline of his philosophical principles, which will serve to throw some ligat upon his institution, which we shall describe hereafter. The philosophic school of which Pythagoras was the founder, is sometimes called the Italian or the Doric school. The latter name seems to have been given to it, not so much because it was peculiar to the Doric race, or because its object was to establish the ideal of a Dorian state (Müller, Dor., iii. 9, § 15), but because it was neither connected with the Ionian nor the Attic school; though, on the other hand, it must be admitted that the institutions which Pythagoras established at Croton, in many respects bore great analogy to the Doric institutions which he had seen in Crete and Sparta. It is the more difficult to give a clear idea of the philosophy of Pythagoras, as it is almost certain that he himself never committed it to writing, and that it has been disfigured by the fantastic dreams and chimæras of later Pythagoreans. In modern times great light has been thrown upon the subject by the careful examination and analysis of the fragments of Philolaus by Boeckh (Philolaus des Pythagoreers Lehren nebst den Bruchstücken seines Werkes, Berlin, 1819). Philolaus of Tarentum, a disciple of Pythagoras himself, was in all probability the first Pythagorean who wrote an exposition of the system of his master, and his fragments must therefore be considered as the most genuine source of information. The results at which Boeckh arrived, are on the whole the same as those which Ritter, in his Geschichte der Pythagorischen Philosophie (Hamb., 1826) subsequently reached, though by a different mode of inquiry. Pythagoras considered numbers as the essence and the principle of all things, and attributed to them a real and distinct existence, so that in his view they were the elements out of which the universe was constructed. How he conceived this process, has never yet been satisfactorily explained; but he was probably led to the supposition by observing that the periodical occurrences in nature, and almost all institutions and religious regulations and observances in Greece, were founded on numerical relations. Pythagoras thus traced the various forms and phenomena of the world to numbers as their basis and essence. But he did not stop here: he ascended still further to the principles of numbers themselves: these principles he conceived in the form of contrasting pairs, such as straight and curve, limited and unlimited, one and many, odd and even, and others. (Aristot., Metaph., i. 5.) Further, he traced these contrasts to one first principle and element, the unit (povác), which included both the even and

PYT

173

the odd, &c., and thus the even was odd. This unit he considered as the formal as well as material basis of all things, and as identical with the one supreme being, or God. The decad and tetractys or the quadrate, are likewise described as perfect numbers and first principles; the triad was called the number of the whole, because it had a beginning, middle, and end. Pythagoras conceived the vital process of the world as a process of breathing, and the first Drinciple was therefore likewise a breathing being, which inhaled the infinite atmosphere of the world (anupov TVEUμa), and thus partook of its infinity and became capable of developing itself into a multiplicity of numbers or things. The perfect development of the original unit is represented in our actual world, which consists of small and large wholes in the greatest variety. The special principle of every single whole or organization is again a unit, or a point separating itself from the rest; and as it is a living germ, it develops itself by breathing the antipov TVEμa into a distinct body of peculiar form and properties. Every abstract idea was thus in reality a number, and physical objects were symbolical representations of numbers. In the world which had thus arisen out of a union between the even and odd, &c., the Pythagoreans distinguished five elements,-fire, air, water, earth, and the so-called fifth element (rò éμπтov TTOXETOV), which was probably the æther. In the centre of the universe they placed the central fire (ioría Tou Tavтóc, as it were, the altar of the universe), the principle of life in the world. The central fire is surrounded by the earth, the moon, the sun, the five planets, and the firmament, all of which were either gods themselves or inhabited by gods inferior to the supreme God who ruled the whole. The universe was divided, according to Philolaus, into three regions (diakooμo). The first was the sublunary region, between the earth and the moon, the scene of change and passing events, where beings come into existence and perish again; it was called the heaven (ovpavós). The second region was the region from the moon upwards to the firmament, and bore the name of kosmos (kóoμoc). The third, or the firmament itself, called Olympus, was probably, in accordance with the national and traditional belief of the Greeks, considered as the abode of the gods. The heavenly bodies, together with the gods themselves, were conceived as performing a choral dance round the central fire, whence the music or the harmony of the spheres.

Advancing from the consideration of the universe to man, the Pythagoreans represented the souls of men as light particles of the universal soul diffused through the whole world (Cic., De Nat. Deor., i. 11); the souls of the gods were considered as proceeding directly from the central fire, which was on this account designated mother of the gods,' while the souls of men proceeded from the sun, which was a mere reflex of the central fire. The soul of man was divided into three parts, vouc, opéves, and 9μóc: the two former were considered as the rational half of the soul, and had their seat in the brain; the last, or Suμóc, (Diog. was the animal half, and its seat was in the heart. Laert., viii. 19, 30; Plut., De Plac. Phil., iv. 5.)

The doctrine of the transmigration of souls does not seem to have originated among the antient Greeks, for they describe the souls of the departed as dwelling in the lower world, from which there was generally no return. Pythagoras may have derived it from some of the mysteries, for he is said to have been initiated in all the existing mysteries both of Greece and other countries. He and his followers considered the transmigration of souls as a kind of purifying process. The souls, previous to their entering into human bodies, floated in the air, from whence they were inhaled by the process of breathing at the moment of birth. At the moment of death, they descended into the lower world, where they were probably supposed to dwell a certain number of years, after which they again rose into the upper world, and floated in the air, until they entered into new bodies. When by this process their purification had become complete, the souls were raised to higher regions, where they continued to exist, and to enjoy the presence and company of the gods.

The Pythagoreans, according to Aristotle (Eth. Magn., i. 1), were the first who determined anything in moral philosophy. Their ethics are of the loftiest and most spiritual description. Virtue was with them a harmony, unity, and an endeavour to resemble the deity. The whole life of man should be an attempt to represent on earth the beauty and harmony displayed in the order of the universe. The

[ocr errors]

mind should have the body and the passions under perfect
control; the gods should be worshipped by simple purifica-
tions, offerings, and, above all, by sincerity and purity of the
heart. Besides the works of Ritter and Boeckh referred to
above, compare Ritter's History of Antient Philosophy,' i.,
p. 327, 420, Engl. transl.
After this brief sketch of the philosophy of Pythagoras,
we shall proceed to consider the manner in which he endea-
voured to apply it, or at least its ethical part, to the affairs
of ordinary life, which will at the same time show the one-
sidedness of a view which might be derived from a statement
of Cicero and Diogenes Laertius. Both of these authors say
that Pythagoras was the first Greek who assumed the title
of philosopher, and that he compared his vocation to that
of a spectator at the public games. The definition implied
in this comparison is only applicable to a small portion of
the philosophy of Pythagoras, for he manifestly did not
consider mere contemplation as the sole and highest object
of man, but it was his doctrine that by action as well as by
thought the individual as well as the state should represent
in themselves an image of the order and harmony by which
the world was sustained and regulated.

The precise objects of his institutions at Croten are not
quite clear, though we cannot suppose that they were either
exclusively philosophical, religious, or political. The perfect
state of society, such as he conceived it, depended as much
on sound religious and philosophical, as on political prin-
ciples. It was not his intention to bring about his reforms
at once by force or by the introduction of a new code of
laws, but by gradually diffusing his enlightened ideas. He
seems never to have filled any public office at Croton, and
perhaps he may have declined such places in order that he
might not be checked in his designs by any of the existing
institutions, which he could only have overthrown by force.
His scheme, though in its objects similar to some of modern
times, was not near so visionary and as extravagant; for
that it was by no means impossible to give a new form to
society is clear from the reforms wrought by Lycurgus at
Sparta, of Zaleucus at Locri, and of Charondas at Catana.
Pythagoras established at Croton a society or an order, of
which he himself was the head, and which was to be the
centre from whence his reforms were to emanate. It con-
sisted of three hundred young men, selected from the most
distinguished families of Croton and other Italian cities.
The society was, as a modern historian expresses it, 'at once
a philosophical school, a religious brotherhood, and a poli-
tical association.' The earnestness and honesty with which
Pythagoras went to work are apparent from the fact that he
admitted none but the ablest men into his society, and that
he bestowed the most anxious care on the cultivation of
their minds and hearts, in order to render them alive to the
highest objects that can engage the human mind, and to
make them clearly understand the place which they occu-
pied in the world. The proceedings of the society were
transacted in the greatest secrecy, but perhaps more on
account of the religious doctrines there inculcated than on
account of either philosophical or political principles. Reli-
gion indeed seems to have been the foundation of the society,
and that his religious principles greatly differed from those
generally received is clear from the tenour of his system,
and it is expressly stated that he censured Homer and
Outwardly however he showed great
Hesiod for their profane descriptions of the gods. (Diog.
Laert., viii. 19.)
respect for the objects of the popular worship-a prudence
which, together with his dignified and priestly appearance,
was well calculated to win the affections and the admiration
of the people, while the purer doctrines which he imparted
to his disciples secured their most perfect submission. He
instituted among his disciples a secret worship, or mysteries,
which are sometimes called Pythagorean orgies, and the
science of numbers, geometry, and music; and even medi-
cine and gymnastics, including dancing, were closely con-
nected with the sacred rites. Women seem also to have
been admitted, if not into the society, at least to some of the
lessons of the philosopher. (Diog. Laert., viii. 21.)

As to the political character of the institution, from which we must derive our conclusions respecting his political views in general, it is expressly stated that it was aristocratical, but in the original sense of the term, in which it means the government of the wisest and the best. His object was to establish a rational supremacy of minds enlightened by philosophy and purified by religion; and as such a state of things did not exist in Greece, we can

[ocr errors]

scarcely say that he preferred any one form of government | barites required them to be surrendered, Pythagoras and to another for its intrinsic merits, but only in as far as he his associates prevailed on the senate to reject the demand. thought the one a more suitable basis for his own institu- A war broke out, which ended in the total destruction of Sytions than another. That an aristocracy probably in this baris, 510 B.C. The senate of Croton and the Pythagoreans point of view appeared to him preferable, is apparent seem to have been elated by this victory, and refused to from the fact that he is said to have thrown his influence share the spoil and the conquered land with the people into the scale in order to restore this form of government in (Iambl., De Vit. Pyth., 255), and it may have been about some Italian cities, where it had given way to tyranny or this time that the Pythagoreans, with overweening condemocracy. The three hundred members of the society fidence in their own strength and that of the aristocracy, were the model of an aristocratical senate, such as he would made the attempt to abolish the popular assembly. Such perhaps have wished to establish in every republic. We proceedings however, instead of intimidating the people, have no ground for believing that they possessed any legal roused their indignation. A tumult broke out, in which authority at Croton, or superseded the old senate of the the house of Milo, where the Pythagoreans were assembled, Thousand, as Niebuhr seems to think (Hist. of Rome, i., p. was burnt: many of them perished in the flames, and the 160), for the Three Hundred included many who were not rest saved their lives only by going into exile. Fythagoras even citizens of Croton. himself seems to have been absent from Croton during this Those who wished to become members of the society un- insurrection, and is supposed to have died a short time after derwent an examination by Pythagoras himself, who is said at Metapontum (about 504 B.C.). Similar insurrections to have been skilful in judging of persons by their physio- soon followed in several other towns of Italy, where branches gnomy. (Gellius, i. 9.) Those whom he thought fit to be of the Pythagorean society had been established. Some received were then submitted to a period of regular proba- Pythagoreans, such as Philolaus, fled to Greece, where they tion and discipline. For a time, at least for two years, they taught their doctrines and had considerable influence on were forbidden to speak. During this first stage of their the philosophy of Plato. The Pythagorean system was renoviciate they bore the name of Acoustici (hearers). Dur-vived at a later period, and in the second century of our ing the second period they were allowed to ask questions, æra it appeared mixed up with the doctrines of the New and to make objections to what they heard, as well as to Platonists. (Krische, De Societatis à Pythagora in urbe write about what they had learnt during the first period. Crotoniaturum conditue Scopo Politico, Göttingen, 1831.) They were now called Mathematici, or scholars, for their in. struction was not confined to what we call mathematics, but included music and gymnastics, in short everything which could be learnt. In the third stage, when they received | the name Physici, they were admitted to the last secrets in religion as well as in philosophy and politics. Another division of his disciples which is frequently mentioned, was that of Esoteric and Exoteric, and it can scarcely be doubted that the former of these names had reference to the three hundred, from whom no kind of knowledge which their master could impart was kept secret, while the name Exoteric was either applied to those who were passing through the first stages of their noviciate, or, what is more probable, to a much greater number of persons, who were not initiated into all the secrets which the master had to unfold, and perhaps received no instruction of a purely religious nature. The real character of some other divisions mentioned by the antients for instance, Pythagorici, Pythagorei, and Pythagoristae, or Sebastici, Politici, and Mathematici-is matter of great difficulty, though it is not improbable that they may have been expressive of gradations similar to those described above. All candidates on entering upon their noviciate had to exchange their former mode of life for one which was regulated even to the most minute details by Pythagoras himself. Their diet seems to have been a subject of his especial attention, though the extant accounts of the restrictions under which he is said to have placed them are contradictory and incredible. The doctrine of the transmigration of souls may however have led him to enjoin abstinence from animal food. Many of these regulations respecting the diet and the whole mode of life of his disciples had probably a symbolical meaning, and were intended to impress upon their minds certain philosophical or religious principles. In its external arrangements the society of Pythagoras presents some analogy to the institutions which he had seen in Crete and Sparta. The members lived and took their meals together, and the union and attachment among them are said to have been so strong as to excite the jealousy of their relations. Conscientiousness and uprightness in all the affairs of life were points on which the philosopher laid great stress. (Iambl., De Vit. Pyth., 144.)

Various discoveries in mathematics, music, and astronomy are ascribed to Pythagoras, but it would be difficult to establish the truth of these traditions by historical evidence. We have not thought it worth while to repeat the monstrous mass of fables and miracles which are interwoven in the biographies of Diogenes Laertius, Porphyrius, and Iamblichus. It may safely be said that the history of no antient sage is so obscured by fables as that of Pythagoras. He himself may, by his own priestly appearance and conduct, and by the secret proceedings of his society, have given rise to them, and may even have encouraged the general opinion that he was endowed with supernatural powers; but on the whole these are mere symptoms of the mighty impression which he made on his contemporaries, as well as on subsequent ages, for such an impression is the most fruitful source of marvellous stories of every description.

PY'THEAS, a celebrated navigator, was a native of the Greek colony of Massilia. He flourished, according to some authors (Bougainville, Mémoires de l'Acad. des Inscript., tom. xix.), before Aristotle; but according to others, in the reign of Ptolemæus Philadelphus. Respecting the circumstances of his life nothing is known. Polybius, who disbelieved the accounts of his voyages, calls him a poor man, who could not possibly have undertaken such long journeys by land and voyages by sea. (Polyb., Reliq., lib. xxxiv., 5.) From the same source we learn that he is said to have made two voyages. In the first he sailed round the western coast of Europe and through the English Channel as far as Thule, which is generally supposed to be Iceland. This voyage he described in a work called a 'Description of the Ocean' (Tepi Reάvov), where, among other things, he stated that he had landed in Britain and travelled through it, as far as it was accessible, and that its circumference amounted to upwards of 40,000 stadia. Respecting the land of Thule, he said that there was neither land, nor sea, nor air, but something composed of all of them, and in substance like that of the mollusca, in which the earth, the sea, and the whole universe were suspended. This substance, which he had seen himself, was, as he had been told, a connecting link of the universe, and it was impossible to penetrate into it either by land or by sea. (Strabo, The overwhelming influence which Pythagoras and his ii. 5, p. 181, ed. Tauchnitz.) This fabulous account of Thule order had gradually acquired in Croton and other Italian may be easily explained; and that he advanced at least as towns where branch institutions of that at Croton seem to far as Iceland seems to be clear from his statement that have been established, at first induced the aristocratical during the summer solstice in Thule the sun never disapparty of Croton to avail themselves of his services (Valer. peared from the horizon. (Plin., Hist. Nat., ii. 75.) He Max., viii. 15, Ext. 1), but at the same time could not fail places Thule six days sail from Britain. Some time in the end to excite their jealousy. If on the other hand after his return, he set out on a second voyage, in which we consider that his interference in the affairs of the govern- he sailed along the whole western coast of Europe, from ment must at all times have been viewed with dissatisfac- Cadiz into the Baltic as far as a river which he called Tanais, tion by the popular party, we see at once the weak basis on on the banks of which amber was found. (Plin., Hist. Nat., which his institution rested, and one great shock was suffi- xxxvii. 2.) What river the Tanais may have been is uncient to overthrow it. This shork arose out of a contest be- certain. D'Anville and Gosselin denied the second voyage tween the popular and aristocratical parties in the neigh- of Pytheas altogether, though the words of Polybius admit bouring, town of Sybaris. Several exiles belonging to the of no doubt that there was in his time a report of such a latter party had taken refuge at Croton, and when the Sy-voyage, probably founded on the assertion of Pytheas him

« PreviousContinue »