1. Pindar, Olympian Odes, 2 (6th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
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2. Empedocles, Fragments, b117, b128, b139, b15, b115 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
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3. Plato, Laws, 870e, 870d (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 870d. have wrought many murders,—in cases where men do or have done things concerning which they desire that no one should share their secret; consequently, if there are any who might expose their secret, they remove them by death, whenever they can do so by no other means. Concerning all these matters, the preludes mentioned shall be pronounced, and, in addition to them, that story which is believed by many when they hear it from the lips of those who seriously relate such things at their mystic rites,—that vengeance for such acts is exacted in Hades, and that those who return again to this earth are bound to pay |
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4. Plato, Meno, 81b, 81c, 81a (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 81a. Men. Now does it seem to you to be a good argument, Socrates? Soc. It does not. Men. Can you explain how not? Soc. I can; for I have heard from wise men and women who told of things divine that— Men. What was it they said ? Soc. Something true, as I thought, and admirable. Men. What was it? And who were the speakers? Soc. They were certain priests and priestesses who have studied so as to be able to give a reasoned account of their ministry; and Pindar also |
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5. Plato, Republic, 619b, 619c, 619d, 600b (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 600b. and transmitted to posterity a certain Homeric way of life just as Pythagoras was himself especially honored for this, and his successors, even to this day, denominating a certain way of life the Pythagorean, are distinguished among their contemporaries? No, nothing of this sort either is reported; for Creophylos, Socrates, the friend of Homer, would perhaps be even more ridiculous than his name as a representative of Homeric culture and education, if what is said about Homer is true. For the tradition is that Homer was completely neglected in his own lifetime by that friend of the flesh. |
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6. Aristotle, Soul, 407b20 (4th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
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7. Dio Chrysostom, Orations, 30.17 (1st cent. CE
| 30.17. "Such, then, are the tortures, and so numerous, by which men are afflicted while they remain in this prison and dungeon, each for his appointed time; and the majority do not get out until they produce another person from their own loins and leave him to succeed to the punishment in their stead, some leaving one and others even more. They do not stay voluntarily, but are all bound fast by one chain, body and soul, just as you may see many persons bound by us by one chain in a row, some of them small, some large, some ugly and some good looking; but none the less all of them are held on equal terms in the same constraint. |
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8. Diogenes Laertius, Lives of The Philosophers, 8.36 (3rd cent. CE - 3rd cent. CE)
| 8.36. This is what Alexander says that he found in the Pythagorean memoirs. What follows is Aristotle's.But Pythagoras's great dignity not even Timon overlooked, who, although he digs at him in his Silli, speaks ofPythagoras, inclined to witching works and ways,Man-snarer, fond of noble periphrase.Xenophanes confirms the statement about his having been different people at different times in the elegiacs beginning:Now other thoughts, another path, I show.What he says of him is as follows:They say that, passing a belaboured whelp,He, full of pity, spake these words of dole:Stay, smite not ! 'Tis a friend, a human soul;I knew him straight whenas I heard him yelp ! |
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9. Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras, 19 (3rd cent. CE - 4th cent. CE)
| 19. Through this he achieved great reputation, he drew great audiences from the city, not only of men, but also of women, among whom was a specially illustrious person named Theano. He also drew audiences from among the neighboring barbarians, among whom were magnates and kings. What he told his audiences cannot be said with certainty, for he enjoined silence upon his hearers. But the following is a matter of general information. He taught that the soul was immortal and that after death it transmigrated into other animated bodies. After certain specified periods, the same events occur again; that nothing was entirely new; that all animated beings were kin, and should be considered as belonging to one great family. Pythagoras was the first one to introduce these teachings into Greece. SPAN |
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10. Xenophanes, Fr. (W), b7
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