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Anecdotes Respecting The Life And Discoveries Of Pythagoras.
be believed , the women abjuring luxury and dress , threw their gold and their jewels into the flames . We may , however , rest assured , that he had great influence over the government of several cities , and , among others , over that of Metapontum , Tarantum , and Crotona ; and that he always gave proofs of his being animated with a love of good order and of peace . We mast not believe all those tales unworthy of himwhich have been relatedconcerning the
, , origin of this power . It is pretended , that having concealed himself in a cave below the earth , aud being informed-- by his mother of every thing that passed among the living , he shewed himself suddenly to the people , who had supposed him to be dead , and speaking to them of what they had done in his absence , he made them believe that he had returned from hell . Pythagoras was too great a
man to demean himself in this manner . The authors of his life , having written a long time after the period in which he lived , collected all those popular reports , to which imagination , or the high idea entertained of this philosopher , had g iven birth . For this rea- ^ son , little dependence is to be placed on what is related of his death . It is better to conclude that it was naturalthan to imaginewith
, , some , that he suffered himself to die of hunger , or . with others , that the people of Crotona , suspecting their benefactor to have entered into a conspiracy against them , set fire to the house , in which lie had shut himself up with his scholars . Several of the Fathers have believed that Pythagoras was a Jew , and circumcised ; some have taken him for Ezekiel ; and a certain author pretendsthat in
, the last century , the Carmelites maintained , in a thesis at Beziers , that Pythagoras ' , was a Carmelite , and Prior of their convents at Samos and Crotona . A collection of the maxims of the Pythagoreans , has been attributed to Pope Sixtus I . The Romans erected a statue to this philosopher , which seems to prove that he was held by them in great estimation .
The Pythagoreans acknowledged only one God , a pure'spirit , incapable of suffering , like to himself alone , and creator of every thing that exists . In him are united , in the highest degree , two of the noblest presents that he has bestowed on man , truth and love . Pythagoras durst not venture to say , that any thing was impossible with God . Descartes , among the moderns , shewed a respect equally - great . It ishoweverdoing no injury to the Deity ; nay , it is rath ' er
, , aclmiring in him the most sublime of all perfections , to suppose him incapable of doing things repugnant to reason . With respect to the soul , Pythagoras fell into an an error very common among the Pagans . He believed that it formed a part of the substance of the Deity . This doctrine he derived from the Perscs , among whom Bernier , the celebrated traveller , found it still existing . According
to them , God draws the souls of men from his own substance , as a ' spider draws from its entrails threads , which it sometimes resumes after it has formed them . But what becomes then of the unity and simplicity of God r What becomes of his purity , and all his peri ' ectioiii , since our soul .- ; bear in them so many spots and stains ? In such a case , we may well say with Fonteuelle , if Ged made man
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Anecdotes Respecting The Life And Discoveries Of Pythagoras.
be believed , the women abjuring luxury and dress , threw their gold and their jewels into the flames . We may , however , rest assured , that he had great influence over the government of several cities , and , among others , over that of Metapontum , Tarantum , and Crotona ; and that he always gave proofs of his being animated with a love of good order and of peace . We mast not believe all those tales unworthy of himwhich have been relatedconcerning the
, , origin of this power . It is pretended , that having concealed himself in a cave below the earth , aud being informed-- by his mother of every thing that passed among the living , he shewed himself suddenly to the people , who had supposed him to be dead , and speaking to them of what they had done in his absence , he made them believe that he had returned from hell . Pythagoras was too great a
man to demean himself in this manner . The authors of his life , having written a long time after the period in which he lived , collected all those popular reports , to which imagination , or the high idea entertained of this philosopher , had g iven birth . For this rea- ^ son , little dependence is to be placed on what is related of his death . It is better to conclude that it was naturalthan to imaginewith
, , some , that he suffered himself to die of hunger , or . with others , that the people of Crotona , suspecting their benefactor to have entered into a conspiracy against them , set fire to the house , in which lie had shut himself up with his scholars . Several of the Fathers have believed that Pythagoras was a Jew , and circumcised ; some have taken him for Ezekiel ; and a certain author pretendsthat in
, the last century , the Carmelites maintained , in a thesis at Beziers , that Pythagoras ' , was a Carmelite , and Prior of their convents at Samos and Crotona . A collection of the maxims of the Pythagoreans , has been attributed to Pope Sixtus I . The Romans erected a statue to this philosopher , which seems to prove that he was held by them in great estimation .
The Pythagoreans acknowledged only one God , a pure'spirit , incapable of suffering , like to himself alone , and creator of every thing that exists . In him are united , in the highest degree , two of the noblest presents that he has bestowed on man , truth and love . Pythagoras durst not venture to say , that any thing was impossible with God . Descartes , among the moderns , shewed a respect equally - great . It ishoweverdoing no injury to the Deity ; nay , it is rath ' er
, , aclmiring in him the most sublime of all perfections , to suppose him incapable of doing things repugnant to reason . With respect to the soul , Pythagoras fell into an an error very common among the Pagans . He believed that it formed a part of the substance of the Deity . This doctrine he derived from the Perscs , among whom Bernier , the celebrated traveller , found it still existing . According
to them , God draws the souls of men from his own substance , as a ' spider draws from its entrails threads , which it sometimes resumes after it has formed them . But what becomes then of the unity and simplicity of God r What becomes of his purity , and all his peri ' ectioiii , since our soul .- ; bear in them so many spots and stains ? In such a case , we may well say with Fonteuelle , if Ged made man