Pythagoras: His Life and Teaching, a Compendium of Classical Sources (44 page)

CHAPTER 7

O
F THE
P
YTHAGOREAN
T
RANSMIGRATION

I
t is commonly averred that Pythagoras held the opinion that the souls of men after death informed the bodies of beasts. We cannot imagine this of so knowing a person. The suspicion of this Transanimation seems rather to have been raised by such as were partly ignorant and partly envious of the Pythagorean mysteries. These included Timon, Xenophanes, Cratinus, Aristophon, Herippus, and others who have ascribed many things to Pythagoras which he never said nor wrote, and have perverted what he did say.
⁹⁹⁷

Pythagoras held that the substantive unity of one number is not the unity of another number. That the Monads in the Duad are not connected to those in the Triad. That the participate essence of everything is One, which will not occupy the essence of another thing.

No animal (then) can transmigrate into the life of a different animal. But it must continue under the Law of its own nature in its proper office,
, species not being coincident with species. One seal may make many impressions upon several pieces of wax, but one piece of wax cannot bear the form of many seals.

The seal of human form (the image of God) is not permitted to set an impression upon inferior nature—implied by Pythagoras in this Symbol,
We must not wear the image of God in a Seal-ring.
⁹⁹⁸
The image of God (man's soul) cannot seal or form the other natures that are near it. So Hermes Trismegistus, “Of man, one part is simple, which we call the form of divine similitude.” And again, “There are two images of God, the World and Man.”

This is the meaning of Pythagoras concerning the transmigration of souls after death and their descent into life. Others thought that the soul is drawn forth out of the power of Matter; Pythagoras asserted it is infused by God into the body, and therefore before it, not in time but in purity and dignity. This infusion he termed, “The descent of the soul.” This is not be be understood as its situation or
its motion from the intellectual world, as interpreted by several who heard the elementary idea such as Proclus; but of the natural series or form—the rational soul being the ultimate perfection of the human body.

That Pythagoras said he was in times past Euphorbus, the meaning is this.
⁹⁹⁹
The Ancients called the inclinations and wills of men their Minds; whence such as are of one study, intention, inclination, motion, and sense are termed Unanimous. Thus the ancient Philosophers call the motive and sensitive faculty, the Soul. An animate differs from an inanimate (says Aristotle) chiefly in two things: Motion and Sense. Whosoever therefore are alike affected and moved by the same object are said to have the same Soul. The Metempsychosis then is nothing else but equal care, motion, and study of some dead person appearing in some living person. Thus Pythagoras might arrogate the soul of Euphorbus, Callicles, Hermotimus, Pyrrhus, Pyrander, Calidona, and Alce as having an inclination to the several excellencies that were in those persons.

Again, in saying he was Euphorbus, Pythagoras enigmatically taught not the transmigration of souls, but the transmutation of bodies out of first matter.
¹⁰⁰⁰
It is not only susceptible, but covetous of all forms, continually desiring, never satiated with any. It is as if a comedy (to use the comparison of Aristotle) should say, “I was first a tragedy,” because both tragedy and comedy are formed of the same letters and elements.
¹⁰⁰¹
Thus Apollonius, demanding of the Indian Brahmans what their opinion was concerning the Soul, Iarchus answered, “According as Pythagoras delivered to you, we to the Egyptians.” Apollonius replies, “Will you then affirm you were one of the Trojan captains, as Pythagoras said he was Euphorbus?” Thespasion warily asks, whom he thought the most worthy of them? “Achilles,” saith Apollonius, “if we believe Homer.” Then Iarchis said, “Look on him as my progenitor, or
, progeniting body;† for such Pythagoras esteemed Euphorbus.”
¹⁰⁰²

Or if he meant it historically,
, that is the soul, separate from the body, may by the power of God be brought again the same into the same body. The body in which Pythagoras was so often revived, though called by several names, was one and the
same—not in quantity, but substance. As the sea is one and homogeneous in itself, yet is here called Aegean, there Ionian, elsewhere Myrtaean and Colsaean—so one man often reborn is named Aethalides, Euphorbus, Hermotimus, Pyrrhus, and lastly Pythagoras. These generations he ascribes not to the power of Nature but to the God Mercury. None can revive but by the Divine power of God, whom he acknowledges,
, Animation of all things. He infuses soul into all men, and being infused takes it away—and being taken away, restores it, when and as often as he pleases.

G
LOSSARY

Antichthon:
The Pythagorean concept of an unseen counter earth, whose motion always keeps it at 180° from the earth, hidden from view by the sun.

Callicia:
According to Pliny, Pythagoras ascribed to this plant the power of turning water into ice. (See Coriacesia.)

Ceraunian Stone:
Refers to Ceraunite, “Thunder-stone,” a meteorite mineral from which, it is said, Thunderbolts (such as that of Jupiter) were fashioned.

Choenix:
A Greek dry measure, almost equal to a quart.

Chromatic:
In Greek music, the name given to one of three kinds of tetrachords, the two others being Enharmonic and Diatonic. A scale which proceeds by semitones.

Chyles:
Lymph that is milky from emulsified fat, most apparent during intestinal absorption of fats. Also, more broadly, the fluid in the intestines prior to absorption.

Cledon:
An ancient Greek term for the phenomena in which unsuspecting people are used by the gods to convey messages to the inquirer. Stanley defines Cledons as, “observations of occurrent speeches, collecting from what is accidentally said upon some other occasion, the effect of what is sought.” See
page 235
. From the Greek
: rumor, report, fame; unknown. An omen or augury, particularly taken from a sound or word.

Coriacesia:
According to Pliny, Pythagoras ascribed to this plant the power of turning water into ice. (See Callicia.)

Diapason:
The interval of an octave; the consonance of the lowest and highest notes of the musical scale.

Diapason Harmony or Concord:
The complete agreement or correspondence between the range of sounds in the scale.

Diapente:
In ancient and medieval music, the consonance or interval of a fifth.

Diasteme:
In ancient Greek music, an interval especially an interval forming a single degree of the scale.

Diatessaron:
In Greek and medieval music the interval of a fourth.

Diatonic:
In Greek music, the name of that genus or scale in which the interval of a tone was used, the tetrachord being divided into two whole tones and a semitone (see also Chromatic and Enharmonic).

Doric:
(in Music) One of the ancient Greek modes of music, characterized by simplicity and serenity.

Duple:
In music, a rhythm having two beats in the bar.

Echemythia:
This word probably means using dissimulation, concealing truth by indulging in mythmaking.

Enharmonic:
In Greek music, the name of that genus or scale in which an interval of two and a half tones was divided into two quarter tones and a major third. (See also Chromatic and Diatonic.)

Ens:
Essence. That which has existence.

Epitrites:
A term in Greek music signifying the ratio of four to three.

Epode:
An incantation.

Erythrine:
A rose-red mineral, crystallized and earthy, a hydrous arseniate of cobalt, known also as cobalt bloom. Also, a colorless crystalline substance extracted from certain red lichens, as the various species of Rocella. So called because of certain red compounds derived from it. Stanley discusses it thus: “Receive not an Erythrine, seems to respect the Etymology of the word. Entertain not an impudent blushless person; nor on the other side one over-bashful, ready to fall back from the mind and firm intellection.” (p. 283)

Esse:
In actual existence. Opposed to
Posse
, in potentiality.

Excedent:
That which exceeds

Furlong:
A measure of distance equal to 220 yards.

Hebdomad:
The number seven viewed collectively as a group.

Hecatomb:
An ancient Greek and Roman sacrifice of one hundred oxen or cattle.

Hemiolius:
In medieval music, a perfect fifth, the ratio of one and a half to one.

Hemitone:
A half-tone or semitone.

Heptachord:
A seven-stringed instrument. A series of seven notes formed of two conjunct tetrachords. The interval of a seventh.

Homocentric:
Having the same center, concentric. In old Astronomy, a sphere or circle concentric with another or with the Earth.

Homoeomery:
The ancient Greek theory, propounded by Anaxagoras, that the ultimate particles of matter are homogenous or of the same kind. “Homoeomeries” refers to the homogenous particles themselves.

Hypate:
The name of the lowest tone in the lowest two tetrachords of ancient Greek music.

Hypermese:
In musical intervals, measured upwards above the mese.

Lichanus:
In ancient Greek music, the name of one of the sounds of a tetrachord. It was next to the neate (nete).

Mazza (Meze):
A term for Greek and Middle Eastern small food dishes, which can be hot or cold, and composed of various ingredients, comparable to a Scandinavian smorgasbord.

Melanure:
A small fish of the Mediterranean; a gilthead; so named from the blackness of its tail, thus symbolizing negativity.

Mese:
In ancient Greek music, the middle string of the seven-stringed lyre and its note; subsequently the key-note of any of the scales in use.

Monochord:
A medieval musical instrument of one string used to teach intervals in singing schools. Also, an instrument to measure the mathematics of musical intervals.

Neate (Nete):
A term in Greek music applied to the fourth, or most acute chord of each of the three tetrachords which followed the two first or deepest.

Nepenthe:
A drink or drug supposed to bring forgetfulness of trouble or grief. Possessing sedative properties.

Obol, (obolus):
(pl. obols, also oboli) A silver coin or unit of weight in ancient Greece equal to one sixth of a drachma, (approximately .5 gram). See
Trioboli.

Octochord:
Having eight strings. Also, relating to a scale of eight notes.

Olympiad:
The Greek calendar was based on the four-year Olympiad, marking the Olympic Games instituted by Hercules in honor of his father Zeus. When Greek historians refer to dates, they most often refer to a year (i.e., first, second, third, fourth) of a four-year period or Olympiad. The first Olympiad began in 776
B.C.

Onomantic:
Pertaining to divination from names or the letters of a name.

Oviparous:
Producing eggs that hatch outside the body.

Paramese:
The second sound of the second octave. The string next the middle; in ancient Greek music, the tone next above the mese; the lowest tone of the disjunct tetrachord.

Paraneate:
In ancient Greek music, the note next below the nete (neate) in either the disjunct or the upper tetrachord.

Parypate:
The second note of a tetrachord. (Parypate hypaton equals second note of lowest tetrachord; parypate meson equals second sound of the second tetrachord).

Pentachord:
The interval of a fifth. Also, a musical instrument with five strings. A musical series of five notes.

Phantasie (fantasy):
As used here when capitalized, refers to the imagination, the creation of mental images, the formation and perception of visionary notions,.

Phrygian:
(in Music) One of the ancient Greek modes of music, characterized by a warlike nature.

Phthiriasis:
A morbid condition of the body in which lice multiply excessively, causing extreme irritation.

Posse:
In potentiality. Opposed to
Esse
, in actual existence.

Sesquialtera:
Of a proportion that is as one and a half is to one. In music, a triple measure of three notes to two such like notes of the common time.

Sesquiduple:
Involving a ratio of two and a half to one.

Sesquioctava:
Applied to harmonic intervals producible by sounding four fifths, five sixths, etc. of a given string; rhythmic combinations of four notes against five, five notes against six, etc.

Sesquitertia:
Denoting a ratio of one and one-third to one, that is four to three. An interval having this ratio, viz. the perfect fourth, a rhythm of three notes against four.

Stade:
The length of the footrace taught to mankind by Hercules.

Stadia:
An ancient measure of distance approximately 200 meters or one-eighth of a mile.

Superficies:
In Geometry, the outside or exterior surface of any body, consisting of two dimensions, length and breadth, without thickness.

Tetrachord:
An ancient Greek musical four-stringed instrument. Also, a scale-series of four notes being the half of an octave.

Trioboli
(plural of
Triobolus):
A half drachma coin; also, a trifle. See
Obol.