In consequence of this, his sleep was short, his soul vigilant and pure, and his body confirmed in a state of perfect and invariable health.

From Anaximandros at Miletos, and Epimenides in Crete, Pythagoras is also said to have received instruction, being conducted by the latter to the sacred cave where the priests of Cybelle treasured the legislation of the revealer Minos.

The Phoenician coast is said to have been the starting point of Pythagoras for Egypt. There is a pretty legend of this passage of the sea, which is the diametrical opposite of the fable of Jonah. sailors gladly received him, foreseeing that they should acquire great gain by exposing him for sale.

"The

He ascended the ship, and sat silent the whole time of the voyage, in that part of the vessel where he was not likely to interfere with the occupations of the sailors. He remained in the same unmoved state for two nights and three days, neither partaking of food, drink, or sleep, unless perchance, as he sat in that firm and tranquil condition, he slept for a short time unobserved by all the sailors. When the sailors considered how, contrary to their expectations, their Voyage had been continued and uninterrupted, as if some deity had been present; putting all these things together, they conIcluded that a divine daimon had in reality passed over with them from Syria into Egypt. Hence, speaking both to Pythagoras and to one another with greater decorum and gentleness than before, they completed, through a most tranquil sea, the remainder of their voyage, and at length happily landed on the Egyptian coast. Here the sailors reverently assisted him in descending from the ship; and after they had placed him on the purest sand, they raised

happily

a certain temporary altar before him, and heaping on it from their present abundance the fruits of trees, and presenting him as it were the first fruits of their freight, they departed from thence, and hastened to their destined port."

Pythagoras, according to Plutarch, found his way to Heliopolis, the university town of Egypt, where he found a master in Enouphis. In those spacious halls, adorned with mural sculpture, appropriated to the use of the priests, in the temple with its long alleys of stony sphinxes, its avenues of inscribed obelisks, what illustrious visitors had been seen! Moses, the Hebrew lawgiver, was an alumnus there, in all probability; one old tradition says, a priest; Solon, the Greek lawgiver, had discoursed with those taciturn scholars of Egypt; subsequently to Pythagoras, Plato also went to study there. In Heliopolis Jews, Greeks, and Egyptians met on equal terms, as befitted the breadth and tolerance of the city of learning. As a matter of comparative chronology, we may note that about half a century before the visit of Pythagoras,Jeremiah,the Hebrew prophet, against his will, was in or near Heliopolis; and though finding himself among a large number of fellow-countrymen resident in the land, the prophet looks with the eye of a sore-hearted patriot rather than that of an artistic appreciator, upon "the images of Beth-Shemesh."

Pythagoras was prepared for the Egyptian learning, says Iamblichos, by the fact of his previous instruction in the mysteries of the Phoenicians, which were derived from the sacred rites of Egypt. The tendency of a people to regard its own doctrines as the only orthodoxy is pleasantly confronted by evidences of the opposite and nobler tendency, that of sympathy and communication of one religious

If in

philosopher with another. Nubia some pious "Vandal " painted the figure of apostle Peter with his key over that of the original patron deity of the temple, so that Rameses II. is represented as presenting offerings to a postexistent saint; there are to be found on the other hand the most apparently incongruous evidences of harmony between the religious symbols of different races, as in an Egypto-Syrian combination such as "Osiris-Eloh," or a PhoenikoJudean title such as 66 'Adonai, the Baal of Heaven."

Pythagoras managed to become on friendly terms with the priests and prophets of Egypt: according to Iamblichos, he was both admired and loved by them, so that we need not wonder at their being communicative when he asked it of them. And, according to tradition, he was one with them in this, that he never wrote-revealed no mysteries, never communicated a truth to one unprepared to receive it.

Polykrates, the despot of Samos, is well known for the story of the ring which he flung into the sea. It was one of his most highlyprized possessions, but his prosperity was so excessive that he was led to fear a reverse if he could not substitute for it some voluntary deprivation. The next day a present of a fresh-caught fish was made him, in which was found his inalienable ring. To Amasis (or Amosis, Aahmes I.), the King of Egypt, who had given him the warning respecting his prosperity, Polykrates is said to have given Pythagoras a letter of recommendation. Amasis was a man of enlightenment, who opened his country to the stranger, and during his reign many eminent Greeks had visited Egypt.

This introduction, little as it may seem to consist with the story of the departure of Pythagoras, in a

casual way, as it were, from the coast of Phoenicia, may help to account for his friendly reception among the priesthood, of whom the king for the time being was always the nominal head. Accor

ding to another story, Pythagoras made and took over to Egypt three silver goblets, as presents for the priests.

The hypothesis has been mooted that the travels of Pythagoras are a fable, and have no reference to an individual man, or to actual voyages, but are designed to represent the growth or progress of some quality. If we take it that a Greek priest were tracing the history of the transcendental conception of life, as developed in his own mind and doctrine, he might say, the idea came from an old philosopher at home, Egyptian lore fostered and enlarged it, it was deepened by a knowledge of the mysteries of the oracle, in Babylonia an element was added to it, to India could be traced one of its germs. It is true that the ancients were given to such personification. of abstract generalisations, but in presence of the fact that learning in those days could only be acquired orally, and by personal contact of one student with another, there seems no reason to resort to the hypothesis of myth as the origin of the tradition that Pythagoras, the son of a wealthy father, was a great traveller.

According to Iamblichos, Pythagoras spent so long a period as twoand-twenty years in Egypt, gaining admission to the various temples, and learning geometry, astronomy, and divination. If he was eighteen when he left home and spent three years in learning from Greek and Phoenician teachers, at the close of his stay in Egypt he would have reached the age of forty-three. The beneficent ruler of Egypt had lately died, and Psammenitus, his

son, was reigning in his stead, when Cambyses, the Persian king, flushed with conquests, came thither with his army, and vanquished the Egyptian forces in a single battle. The date of this event is known, it is 525 B.C.: the only question is whether its relation to Pythagoras is historic fact or doubtful legend. According to the tradition, he was taken captive and conveyed to Babylon, where he soon came into friendly association with the Magi, and received instruction from them in arithmetic, music, and divine rites. Plutarch cites the name of his Persian master as Zaratas, which seems clearly to point to Zarathustra, or Zoroaster. But that prophet having long passed away, it is probable that a member of the order of priests or mages bearing that name, is the true teacher in question. Ten or eleven years before, the Babylonian empire had broken up before the Medes and Persians, and such of the Hebrew tribe as desired to return to their own country had left Babylon. But a number remained, and there is a tradition that Pythagoras conversed with their rabbis, and learned the Jewish law.

Twelve years, says Iamblichos, Pythagoras remained with his magian associates, and then returned to Samos.

Pythagoras gave a new sense to the word philosopher, which probably signified beforetime one devoted to some art, craft, or cunning. He used it in the larger sense of lover of wisdom, or, as Plato understood it, one zealous after all wisdom. When asked his art or craft, he said, "I have none, I am a philosopher." And when asked the difference between philosophers and others, he defined it as follows: "Life may be compared to the festival of the games: some persons are there to contend with bodily prowess for glory and the crowns;

some seek gain by traffic in mercantile wares; others, more noble, resort thither neither for applause nor gain, but solely as spectators of all that passes, and observers of the manner of it. So also in the present life, men of all-various pursuits are assembled. As a merchant on business intent travels from town to town, we quit another life and come into this world, where some are born hunters after glory, others greedy of gain, others influenced by desire of power, or luxury. There are a few who, reckoning all else of no account, are earnest seekers after truth in the nature of things. These I call philosophers, for, as the most liberal position at the games is that of the person who is only a spectator, and has no acquisitive function, so in life the contemplation of things, and knowledge, far transcend all other pursuits." Pythagoras did not despise the practical -the essential difference of his ideal is the elimination of selfish personal motive.

Upon his return to Samos, where the prophet was in his own country, he found himself remembered by a few, but there was little disposi tion to attend to the disciplines he desired to introduce.

A pretty legend is told of an artifice which he employed to get disciples, after he had set up his school. "Happening to observe a certain youth, who was a great lover of gymnastic and other corporeal exercises, but otherwise poor and in difficult circumstances, playing at ball in the gymnasium with great aptness and facility, he thought the young man might easily be persuaded to attend to him, if he were sufficiently supplied with the necessaries of life, and freed from the care of procuring them. As soon, therefore, as the youth left the bath, Pythagoras called him to him, and promised

that he would furnish him with everything requisite to the support of his bodily exercise, on condition that he would receive from him gradually and easily, but continually so that he might not be burdened by receiving them at once certain disciplines which he said he had learnt from the barbarians in his youth, but which now began to desert him through forgetfulness and the incursions of old age. The young man immediately acceded to the conditions, through the hope of having the necessary support. Pythagoras, therefore, endeavoured to instruct him in the disciplines of arithmetic and geometry, forming each of his demonstrations in an abacus, and giving the youth three oboli as a reward for every figure which he learnt. This also he continued to do for a long time, exciting him to the geometrical theory by the desire of honour; diligently, and in perfect order, giving him (as we have said) three oboli for every figure which he apprehended. But when the wise man observed that the elegance, sweetness, and connection of these disciplines, to which the youth had been led in a certain orderly path, had so captivated him. that he would not neglect their pursuit though he should suffer the extremity of want, he pretended poverty, and an inability to give him the three oboli any longer. But the youth on hearing this replied, I am able without these to learn and receive your disciplines.' Pythagoras then said, But I have not the means of procuring sufficient nutriment for myself,' adding, that as it was requisite, therefore, to labour in order to procure daily necessaries and mortal food, it would not be proper that his attention should be distracted by the abacus, and by stupid and vain pursuits. The youth, however, vehemently abhor

ring the thought of discontinuing his studies, replied: "I will in future provide for you, and repay your kindness in a way resembling that of the stork; for I, in my turn, will give you three oboli for every figure,' and from this time he was so captivated by these disciplines, that he alone of all the Samians migrated from his country with Pythagoras."

If in his school in the Hemicycle Pythagoras failed to win over his Samian neighbours to enter upon his profound and uncompromising system of discipline, yet the citizens laid claim to his assistance in the administration of public affairs. Certain obscure references also make it probable that his fame reached the Greeks who lived on the Hellespont, and were therefore within the range of the influence of the priests of the Geta-heroes who contemned earth life, and also of the magic-loving Scythian prophets of the Hyperborean Apollo.

Pythagoras appears to have been out of his element in Samos. He longed to realise his educational ideal, and, by the thorough training of individuals, to make wisdom a power in the State; he did not wish to spend his time in the petty detail of home politics. There is a story that a citizen of Crotona in Italy had assisted him in redeeming himself from his captivity in Persia. There is also a tradition that he had accompanied his father on a voyage to Crotona, which was a thriving republic, a Greek colony on the southern coast of Italy. Whatever may have been his inducement, he journeyed to Crotona, and there hoped to find a people more open to enlightenment than the negligent folk at home. Perhaps Democedes, the first physician of Greece, was there at this time, who also was acquainted with Samos, and intimate with its

despot Polykrates. It is probably about the year 522 that Pythagoras reached flourishing and populous Crotona, Tarquin the Proud being at that time ruler of Rome.

The constitution of the city seems to have been a mingling of aristocratic with democratic institutions. A council of a thousand held the reins of power, composed of the nobles and of the wealthy burgesses, who may be considered representatives of trade and of the interests of the people at large.

How the influence of Pythagoras affected a community so constituted, we shall see better when we follow out the plan of his work. He founded an institution that may be described as a secret society, with nothing to hide or be ashamed of, and thoroughly open as regards its external acts, and those alone.

Were Pythagoras a spiritual being, and not a man, the plan of his society is just what we might expect. It was a hierarchy of perfection, and if Pythagoras could have commanded a supply of embodied angels, both to rule and to be ruled, it might be in existence

now.

As a commencement individuals must be attracted. Pythagoras began in Crotona by being a preacher and teacher. Crowds flocked to hear his persuasive eloquence; he selected the most earnest among them. Earnestness may be only for the moment, emotional and spasmodic rather than continuous and fruitful. He appointed tests that should eliminate those unfit for his purpose. Membership of his society was a prize as difficult to win as was his own initiation into the symbolic secrets of Egypt, to attain which, it is said, he did not shrink from circumcision. For five years the

novices were condemned to silenceawful trial of constancy of purpose and reality of earnestness. During this time they did nothing but listen to discourses, and never saw Pythagoras. After approval by this test, and a diagnosis by him of their habits, associations, converse, passions, employment of leisure, physique, physiognomy, even to the mode of walking and the body's movement, which he regarded as manifest signs of the unapparent nature of the soul, the probationers were allowed to advance a step farther. Their property became common to the guild, and was committed to the care of the appointed managers or economisers. They themselves were permitted to see as well as hear Pythagoras; they were within the veil.

Such as were rejected received double the wealth they brought-a most uneconomic proceeding if many were rejected, and enough to prompt unbelievers to enter upon temporary probation-and a tomb was raised to them by their comrades. They were presumably 'dead in trespasses and sins." One of these rejected ones was Kylon, a magnate of the neighbouring city of Sybaris, of whom more

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anon.

For a backsliding Pythagorean we must needs have pity, considering the arduousness of the ordeal. A true disciple writes retrospectively: "It will be well to consider what a great length of time we consumed in wiping away the stains which had insinuated themselves into our breasts, till, after the lapse of some years, we became fit recipients of the doctrines of Pythagoras. For, as dyers previously purify garments, and then fix in the colours with which they wish them to be imbued, in order that the dye may not be washed away, and may nowise be evanescent;