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Anecdotes Respecting The Life And Discoveries Of Pythagoras.
ANECDOTES , * E . ' : ;' . ; CTINO THE LIFE AND DISCOVERIES OF PYTHAGORAS .
TN the present age , consecrated to the sciences , it may be of the - " hi ghest utility to recall to our remembrance the labours of the ancients . Proud of our modern discoveries , we are , as it were , naturally inclined to despise antiquity : but , if we except chemistry , there is not , perhaps , any of the grand truths demonstrated at present , which were not conjectured , and even half proved , by the Greeks and the Romans . The ancientsit is true birth to
, , gave many chimeras , but how many absurd systems have not also been formed among us ? The errors of the ancients had their rise in the infancy or-the arts and the sciencies ; they were , therefore , excusable . The more ignorant people are , the more precipitate they are in judging . Even Genius itself , hurried away by its own activity , cannot avoid this fault . It eagerly embraces those ideas which please itdisplays
, them without taking proper time to collect the necessary' materials , makes a bad use of its own powers , and forms a new sect . As Pythagoras , who had some preconception of the principal discoveries in natural philosophy , was often led astray by his imagination , a few details respecting his life may not be uninteresting . Pythagoras was bornas Cicero tells usabout the time of the
, , expulsion of the Tarquins , and not in the time of Numa . Having ' heard the philosopher Pherecides , he who first maintained that brutes were only mere machines , discourse on the nature of the soul , he quitted the profession of a wrestler ,, to give himself up to
the study of philosophy . One could , not then acquire knowledge but by travelling . Samos , the country of Pythagoras , could not boast of Slaving learned men amongst its citizens , and the Greeks h : id not begun to make a conspicuous figure by their , learning and talents , whilst Egypt had long cultivated the useful sciences . P ythagorasonthis accountresided there for the e of twenty-two
, ^ , spac 2- ears . The wisdom of the Magi' was already celebrated ; Zoroaster was alive , and the Grecian philosopher spent several years with him at BabyL-n , during the Jewish captivity . He afterwards visited India , but the conversation which he had with the learned in all those countries , served only to make him more modest . Every one knows that Pythagoras'first made use of the word Philosopher
, that is to say , friend of wisdom , instead of the term sage , in which all those gloried who pursued study . When he returned to his own country he did not remain long , for not being able to endure the tyrannyor- the government , he retired to that part of Italy called Great Greece , and on this account the sect that he formed was called the Italic . Here he soon acquired a high degree of
reputavery tion , and was considered as an extraordinary man , and one senHrom the Gods . Overcome by the force of his ' reasoning , the people of Crotona , it is said , renounced their debauchery , to embrace the practice of those virtues which he taught ; and what is no less difficult ta VOL . vi ' i , 3 Ji
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Anecdotes Respecting The Life And Discoveries Of Pythagoras.
ANECDOTES , * E . ' : ;' . ; CTINO THE LIFE AND DISCOVERIES OF PYTHAGORAS .
TN the present age , consecrated to the sciences , it may be of the - " hi ghest utility to recall to our remembrance the labours of the ancients . Proud of our modern discoveries , we are , as it were , naturally inclined to despise antiquity : but , if we except chemistry , there is not , perhaps , any of the grand truths demonstrated at present , which were not conjectured , and even half proved , by the Greeks and the Romans . The ancientsit is true birth to
, , gave many chimeras , but how many absurd systems have not also been formed among us ? The errors of the ancients had their rise in the infancy or-the arts and the sciencies ; they were , therefore , excusable . The more ignorant people are , the more precipitate they are in judging . Even Genius itself , hurried away by its own activity , cannot avoid this fault . It eagerly embraces those ideas which please itdisplays
, them without taking proper time to collect the necessary' materials , makes a bad use of its own powers , and forms a new sect . As Pythagoras , who had some preconception of the principal discoveries in natural philosophy , was often led astray by his imagination , a few details respecting his life may not be uninteresting . Pythagoras was bornas Cicero tells usabout the time of the
, , expulsion of the Tarquins , and not in the time of Numa . Having ' heard the philosopher Pherecides , he who first maintained that brutes were only mere machines , discourse on the nature of the soul , he quitted the profession of a wrestler ,, to give himself up to
the study of philosophy . One could , not then acquire knowledge but by travelling . Samos , the country of Pythagoras , could not boast of Slaving learned men amongst its citizens , and the Greeks h : id not begun to make a conspicuous figure by their , learning and talents , whilst Egypt had long cultivated the useful sciences . P ythagorasonthis accountresided there for the e of twenty-two
, ^ , spac 2- ears . The wisdom of the Magi' was already celebrated ; Zoroaster was alive , and the Grecian philosopher spent several years with him at BabyL-n , during the Jewish captivity . He afterwards visited India , but the conversation which he had with the learned in all those countries , served only to make him more modest . Every one knows that Pythagoras'first made use of the word Philosopher
, that is to say , friend of wisdom , instead of the term sage , in which all those gloried who pursued study . When he returned to his own country he did not remain long , for not being able to endure the tyrannyor- the government , he retired to that part of Italy called Great Greece , and on this account the sect that he formed was called the Italic . Here he soon acquired a high degree of
reputavery tion , and was considered as an extraordinary man , and one senHrom the Gods . Overcome by the force of his ' reasoning , the people of Crotona , it is said , renounced their debauchery , to embrace the practice of those virtues which he taught ; and what is no less difficult ta VOL . vi ' i , 3 Ji