Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers

​Now that we have gone through the Ionian philosophy, which begins with Thales, and the noteworthy men who flourished in it, come, let us also treat of the Italian philosophy, which was founded by Pythagoras, the son of Mnesarchus, a gem-engraver, as Hermippus says, a Samian or, as Aristoxenus says, a Tyrrhenian from one of the islands which the Athenians occupied after expelling the Tyrrhenians. But some say that he was the son of Marmacus, the son of Hippasus, the son of Euthyphron, the son of Cleonymus, an exile from Phlius, and that Marmacus lived in Samos, whence Pythagoras came to be called a Samian;

​and that, having gone to Lesbos, he was introduced to Pherecydes by his uncle Zoilus. And having had three silver cups made, he carried them as a gift to each of the priests in Egypt. He had brothers, the elder Eunomus, and the middle one Tyrrhenus; and a slave, Zamolxis, to whom the Getae sacrifice, believing him to be Cronus, as Herodotus says. He heard, as has been said before, Pherecydes of Syros; and after the latter's death he came to Samos and heard Hermodamas, the descendant of Creophylus, who was already an old man. Being young and fond of learning, he went abroad from his homeland and was initiated into all the rites, both Greek and barbarian.

​He was, therefore, in Egypt, at which time Polycrates also recommended him to Amasis by letter; and he learned their language thoroughly, as Antiphon says in his work On Those Who Excelled in Virtue, and he also visited the Chaldaeans and Magi. Then in Crete, together with Epimenides, he descended into the Idaean cave, as well as into the sanctuaries in Egypt; and he learned the secret doctrines concerning the gods. Then he returned to Samos, and finding his fatherland under the tyranny of Polycrates, he set off for Croton in Italy; and there, having laid down laws for the Italiotes, he was held in high esteem together with his disciples, who, being about three hundred, administered public affairs so excellently that the constitution was virtually an aristocracy.

​Heraclides Ponticus says that Pythagoras used to say the following things about himself: that he had once been born as Aethalides and was regarded as the son of Hermes; and that Hermes told him to choose whatever he wished except immortality. He therefore asked to retain, both while living and when dying, the memory of what happened. Thus during his life he remembered everything; and when he died, he preserved the same memory. In later times he came into Euphorbus and was wounded by Menelaus. And Euphorbus used to say that he had once been Aethalides, and that he had received the gift from Hermes, and about the wanderings of his soul, how it had wandered about and into what kinds of plants and animals it had entered, and what the soul suffered in Hades, and what the rest endure.

​And when Euphorbus died, his soul passed into Hermotimus, who, wishing himself also to give proof, then went up to Branchidae and, entering the temple of Apollo, pointed out the shield which Menelaus had dedicated (for he said that he, when sailing away from Troy, had dedicated the shield to Apollo), which was already rotted away, with only the ivory face remaining intact. And when Hermotimus died, he became Pyrrhus, the Delian fisherman; and he again remembered everything, how he was formerly Aethalides, then Euphorbus, then Hermotimus, then Pyrrhus. And when Pyrrhus died, he became Pythagoras, and remembered all the things that have been mentioned.

​Now some say in jest that Pythagoras left not even a single treatise. At any rate, Heraclitus the natural philosopher all but cries aloud, saying: "Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchus, practiced inquiry beyond all other men, and having made a selection of these writings, he fashioned a wisdom of his own: a polymathy, an evil trickery." And he said this because Pythagoras, at the beginning of his Physical Treatise, speaks as follows: "No, by the air that I breathe, by the water that I drink, I shall never bear reproach concerning this discourse." There are three treatises written by Pythagoras: On Education, On Politics, and On Nature;