A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

616 PYTHAGORAS. PYTHAGORAS.
110-163, 183-200; Thirlwall, Hist. of Greece, view it is not enough to look at each separately,
vol. vii. pp. 288, 353, 362-364, vol. viii. pp. 4, for if all the separately credible narratives respect5, 15, 16, 26-40, 67-76; Niebuhr, Hist. of ing Pythagoras were supposed true, they would
Rome, pp. 450-465, 474 —522; Arnold, Hist. of extend the sphere and amount of his activity to an
Roine, vol. iii. pp. 439-445, 481-520.) utterly impossible extent. (Krische, de Societatis a
Pbthsagyora conditae Scopo politico. Praef.; Brandis,
Geschichte des Griech. 1Mdm. Philosophie, p. 440
_/ /4rfX ~ Grote, Hist. of Greece, vol. iv. p. 540.)!-~ z ~I t r<)/tS That Pythagoras was the son of Mnesarchus,
who was either a merchant, or, according to others,
-b ^ ^ an engraver of signets (Diog. Laiirt. viii. 1), may
be safely affirmed on the authority of Herodotus
(iv. 95); that Samos was his birth-place, on that
of Isocrates (Busir. p. 227, ed. Steph.). Others
called him a Tyrrhenian or Phliasian, and gave
COIN OF PYRRHUS. Marmacus, or Demaratus, as the name of his father
(Diog. La'rt. 1. c.; Porph. Vit. Pyth. 1, 2; Justin,
PYRRHUS (nI'Pos), a Greek poet mentioned xx. 4; Paus. ii. 13.) It is quite possible that
by Theocritus, is said by the Scholiast to have though born in Samos, he may have been connected
been a melic poet, and a native of Erythrae or in race with those Tyrrhenian Pelasgians who
Lesbos. (Theocr. iv. 31; Schol. ad loc. et ad iv. were scattered over various parts of the Aegean
20.) Sea. There are but few chronological data, and
PYTHAEINETUS (IuOalvIeroT), wrote a work those for the most part indistinct, for fixing the
on Aegina. (Athen. xiii. p. 589, f; Schol. ad date of the birth of Pythagoras. Antilochus (ap.
Apoll. Rhod. iv. 1712; Schol. ad Pind. 01. ix. Clem. Alex. St1rom. i. p. 309) reckoned 312 years
107, ad Nem. v. 81, vi. 53; Schol. ad Lycophr. from the 7jAldKa of Pythagoras to B. C. 270. This
175.) would place the date of his birth at the close of the
PYTHA'GORAS (Ilvay6dpas). The authen- seventh century B. C. (B.c. 608.) Nearly the
ticated facts in the history of Pythagoras are so same date results from the account of Eratosthenes
few, and the sources from which the greater part (ap. Diog. LaiSrt. viii. 47), and this is the date
of our information respecting him is derived are of adopted by Bentley among others. On the other
so late a date, and so untrustworthy, that it is hand, according to Aristoxenus (Porph. 1. c. c. 9),
impossible to lay down more than an outline of his Pythagoras quitted Samos in the reign of Polypersonal history with any approximation to cer- crates, at the age of 40. According to Iamblichus
tainty. The total absence of written memorials he was 57 years of age in B. C. 513. This would
proceeding from Pythagoras himself, and the give B. C. 570 as the date of his birth, and this date
paucity of the notices of him by contemporaries, coincides better with other statements. All authocoupled with the secrecy which was thrown around rities agree that he flourished in the times of Polythe constitution and actions of the Pythagorean crates and Tarquinius Superbus (B. C. 540-510.
brotherhood, held out strong temptations for in- See Clinton, Fasti Hellen. s. a. B. C. 539, 533, 531,.vention to supply the place of facts, and the stories 510). The war between Sybaris and Crotona
which thus originated were eagerly caught up by might furnish some data bearing upon the point, if
the Neo-Platonic writers who furnish most of the the connection of Pythagoras with it were matter
details respecting Pythagoras, and with whom it of certainty.
wvas a recognised canon, that nothing should be It was natural that men should be eager to
accounted incredible which related to the gods or know, or ready to conjecture the sources whence
what was divine. (Iambl. Adhort. ad Philos. p. Pythagoras derived the materials which were
324, ed. Kiessling.) In this way a multitude of worked up into his remarkable system. And as,
the most absurd fictions took their rise - such as in such cases, in the absence of authentic informthat Apollo was his father; that his person gleamed ation, the conjectures of one become the belief of
with a supernatural brightness; that he exhibited another, the result is, that it would be difficult to
a golden thigh; that Abaris came flying to him on find a philosopher to'whom such a variety of
a golden arrow; that he was seen in different teachers is assigned as to Pythagoras. Some
places at one and the same time. (Comp. Herod. make his training almost entirely Grecian, others
iv. 94, &c.) With the exception of some scanty exclusively Egyptian and Oriental. We find mennotices by Xenophanes, Heracleitus, Herodotus, tioned as his instructors Creophilus (Iambl. Vit.
Plato, Aristotle, and Isocrates, we are mainly de- Pyth. 9), Hermodamas (Porph. 2., Diog. Lairt.
pendent on Diogenes Ladrtius, Porphyrius, and viii. 2), Bias (Iambl. I. c.), Thales (ibid.), AnaxiIamblichus for the materials out of which to form a mander (ibid. Porph. 1. c.), and Pherecydes of
biography of Pythagoras. Aristotle had written a Syros (Aristoxenus and others in Diog. Laert. i.
separate work on the Pythagoreans, which is tn- 118, 119; Cic. de Div. i. 49). The Egyptians
fortunately not extant. (He alludes to it himself, are said to have taught him geometry, the PhoeMet. i. 5. p. 986. 12, ed. Bekker.) His disciples nicians aIrithmetic, the Chaldeans astronomy, the
Dicaearchus, Aristoxenus, and Heracleides Ponti- Magians the formulae of religion and practical
cus had written on the same subject. These maxims for the conduct of life (Porph. 1. c. 6).
writers, late as they are, are among the best from Of the statements regarding his Greek instructors,
whom Porphyritis and lamblichus drew: their chief that about Pherecydes comes to us with the most
sources besides being legends and their own inven- respectable amount of attestation.
tion. Hence we are reduced to admit or reject It was the current belief in antiquity, that Pytheir statements mainly from a consideration of their thagoras had undertaken extensive travels, and had
inherent probability, and even in that point of visited not only Egypt, but Arabia, Phoenicia,