PYTHAGORAS

Show Code

Great sage of antiquity, the founder of the so-called Italian Pythagorean School. He was born in Samos and was the son of Mnisarchos the typist and the beautiful Pythaides. On the recommendation of the Samian tyrant Polycrates, he went to Egypt near Amasin. He stayed there, learned the language of the Egyptians, was introduced to the Egyptian sanctums and studied their Bibles. Then he went to Crete and together with Epimenides descended to the Idaion antron. He had Pherekydis, in Lesbos, and Anaximander, in Miletus, as his teacher. Returning to Samos and wanting to spread his knowledge, he was neither understood nor believed. For this reason he went to Sicily, where he was kindly received by various Italian cities. Particularly in Krotons, where he was a bridegroom, he founded the first company and initiated his first students.

The purpose of the Pythagorean movement was to create wise and virtuous men who could take over the governance of cities. The alarmed opponents of Pythagoras, led by the noble and wealthy Cylons, managed to break up the company with slander and kill or disperse its members. Pythagoras fled to Metapontium, where he later died. In general, his life and teaching are surrounded by legends. However, it consisted of various degrees of initiations, the first of which were harsh discipline and silence. The school was inaccessible to the sacrilege and the knowledge was the exclusive property of the mystics, who in no way were to write down or spread orally the secrets taught, which were mainly mathematics.

Pythagoras attributed metaphysical properties to numbers, saying that they, the numbers, govern the movements of the stars and that they occupy a certain place in Space. The Pythagoreans worked with significant results in Geometry as well.

Quotes

1. THE GREATEST THING IS TO WIN THE SOUL FROM GOOD OR EVIL
2. DON'T DO NOR SAY ANYTHING WHEN YOU ARE ANGRY
3. DISAPPROVE EVERY KIND OF EXCESS AND DO NOT GO OVER THE LIMIT
4. YOU SHOULD HAVE EROTIC RELATIONSHIPS WHEN YOU WANT TO BECOME WEAKER THAN YOU ARE
5. BEST SEASON FOR EROTIC RELATIONSHIPS IS WINTER
6. FRIENDS HAVE EVERYTHING IN COMMON AND FRIENDSHIP IS EQUALITY
7. DO NOT CAUSE THE WRATH OF THE POWERFUL
8. DO NOT VIOLATE FAIRNESS AND EQUALITY
9. TAKE CARE OF THE FUTURE TOO
10. DON'T SPOIL YOUR MOOD WITH SADNESS AND SORROWS
11. HELP TO LIFT WEIGHTS RATHER THAN INCREASING THEM
12. ALWAYS HAVE YOUR COVERS TIDY
13. DO NOT WEAR AN IMAGE OF GOD IN A RING
14. ELIMINATE THE MARK OF POT FROM THE ASHES
15. DON'T WIPE A SEAT CLEAN WITH A TORCH
16. WHEN YOU ARE FACING THE SUN DO NOT PEE
17. DO NOT WALK OFF THE ROAD'S LIMITS
18. DON'T GIVE YOUR RIGHT HAND EASILY
19. DON'T GO BACK WHEN YOU DECIDE TO LEAVE
20. DO NOT HAVE SWALLOWS' NESTS UNDER YOUR ROOF
21. DO NOT FEED PREDATORS
22. DO NOT PEE NOR STEP ON NAILS AND HAIR YOU ARE CUTTING
23. HOLD SHARP KNIVES WITH THE CUTTING EDGE TOWARDS THE INSIDE
24. WHEN YOU GO ABROAD, DON'T GO BACK TO THE BORDERS
25. AVOID LAUGHTER AND JOKES, SUCH AS MOCKING AND BRUTE NARRATIVES
26. DO NOT OVEREAT
27. DO NOT BE DRAWN BY BODILY PLEASURES
28. DON'T GET DRUNK
29. DO NOT SWEAR BY THE GODS BUT MAKE SURE YOU ARE TRUSTWORTHY BY YOURSELF
30. RESPECT THE ELDERLY, BECAUSE SINCE THEY PRECEDE US IN TIME THEY ARE MORE RESPECTED
31. AS IN THE WORLD THE EAST COMES BEFORE THE WEST, IN LIFE THE BEGINNING COMES BEFORE THE END AND BIRTH BEFORE DECAY
32. HONOR GODS MORE THAN DEMONS AND HEROES MORE THAN MEN
33. DON'T MAKE ENEMIES FROM FRIENDS AND TRY TO MAKE FRIENDS FROM ENEMIES
34. DON'T CONSIDER ANYTHING EXCLUSIVELY YOURS
35. HELP THE LAW AND FIGHT LAWLESSNESS
36. DO NOT DESTROY NOR HARM TAME PLANTS, NOR ANIMALS THAT ARE NOT HARMFUL TO HUMANS
37. DECENT AND PIOUS BEHAVIOR IS NOT TO LAUGH ALL THE TIME, BUT NOT BE GLUM EITHER
38. AVOID OBESITY
39. ALTERNATE SLOW AND FAST PACE WHILE WALKING
40. EXERCISE MEMORY
41. PRAY NOT FOR OURSELVES, BECAUSE WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS GOOD FOR US
42. RESPECT EVERY KIND OF DIVINATION
43. AVOID BEANS
44. THE PRINCIPLE OF EVERYTHING IS THE UNIT
45. IN THE WORLD THERE ARE EQUALLY DIVIDED LIGHT AND DARKNESS, HOT AND COLD, DRY AND WET
46. THE SUN, THE MOON AND THE OTHER STARS ARE GODS
47. GOD TAKES CARE OF US
48. DIVINE ORDER IS THE CAUSE OF THE WAY THINGS HAVE BEEN ARRANGED, BOTH AS A WHOLE AND AS INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS
49. THE SOUL IS DIFFERENT FROM LIFE
50. SOUL IS IMMORTAL BECAUSE THAT FROM WHICH IT CAME FROM IS IMMORTAL TOO
51. BEING DRUNK IS A HARM
52. PEOPLE WHO HAVE A GOOD SOUL ARE BLISSFUL, OTHERWISE THEY NEVER REST, NOR IS THERE STABILITY IN THEIR LIVES
53. VIRTUE IS HARMONY
54. LAW IS SOMETHING WE CAN SWEAR ON
55. FRIENDSHIP IS HARMONIZED EQUALITY
56. GODS SHOULD NOT BE AWARDED THE SAME HONORS AS HEROES
57. DO NOT PICK UP WHAT FALLS DOWN
58. DON'T EAT WHAT FALLS OFF THE TABLE
59. THE MOST BEAUTIFUL OF SOLID BODIES IS THE SPHERE AND OF PLANE SHAPES THE CIRCLE
60. OLD AGE IS LIKE ANYTHING THAT DECREASES
61. INCREASE AND YOUTH ARE IDENTICAL
62. HEALTH MEANS STABILITY OF FORM, DISEASE IS ITS WEAR