The Sleepwalkers (8 page)

The
sixth
century
scene
evokes
the
image
of
an
orchestra
expectantly
tuning
up,
each
player
absorbed
in
his
own
instrument
only,
deaf
to
the
caterwaulings
of
the
others.
Then
there
is
a
dramatic
silence,
the
conductor
enters
the
stage,
raps
three
times
with
his
baton,
and
harmony
emerges
from
the
chaos.
The
maestro
is
Pythagoras
of
Samos,
whose
influence
on
the
ideas,
and
thereby
on
the
destiny,
of
the
human
race
was
probably
greater
than
that
of
any
single
man
before
or
after
him.

II THE
HARMONY
OF
THE
SPHERES

1.
Pythagoras of Samos

PYTHAGORAS
was born in the early decades of that tremendous century of
awakening, the sixth; and may have seen it go out, for he lived at
least eighty, and possibly over ninety, years. Into that long
life-span he packed, in the words of Empedokles, "all things
that are contained in ten, even in twenty, generations of men".

It
is
impossible
to
decide
whether
a
particular
detail
of
the
Pythagorean
universe
was
the
work
of
the
master,
or
filled
in
by
a
pupil
–
a
remark
which
equally
applies
to
Leonardo
or
Michelangelo.
But
there
can
be
no
doubt
that
the
basic
features
were
conceived
by
a
single
mind;
that
Pythagoras
of
Samos
was
both
the
founder
of
a
new
religious
philosophy,
and
the
founder
of
Science,
as
the
word
is
understood
today.

It
seems
reasonably
certain
that
he
was
the
son
of
a
silversmith
and
gem
engraver
named
Mnesarchos;
that
he
was
a
pupil
of
Anaximander,
the
atheist,
but
also
of
Pherekydes,
the
mystic
who
taught
the
transmigration
of
souls.
He
must
have
travelled
extensively
in
Asia
Minor
and
Egypt,
as
many
educated
citizens
of
the
Greek
Islands
did;
and
it
is
said
that
he
was
charged
with
diplomatic
missions
by
Polycrates,
the
enterprising
autocrat
of
Samos.
Polycrates
was
an
enlightened
tyrant
who
favoured
commerce,
piracy,
engineering,
and
the
fine
arts;
the
greatest
poet
of
the
time,
Anakreon,
and
the
greatest
engineer,
Eupalinos
from
Megara,
both
lived
at
his
court.
According
to
a
story
by
Herodotus,
he
became
so
powerful
that,
to
placate
the
jealousy
of
the
gods,
he
threw
his
most
precious
signet
ring
into
the
deep
waters.
A
few
days
later,
his
cook
cut
open
a
large
fish,
freshly
caught,
and
found
the
ring
in
its
stomach.
The
doomed
Polycrates
promptly
walked
into
a
trap
set
by
a
small
Persian
ruler,
and
was
crucified.
But
by
that
time
Pythagoras,
with
his
family,
had
emigrated
from
Samos,
and
around
530
B.C.
settled
in
Kroton
–
which,
next
to
its
rival
Sybaris,
was
the
largest
Greek
town
in
Southern
Italy.
The
reputation
which
preceded
him
must
have
been
tremendous,
for
the
Pythagorean
Brotherhood
which
he
founded
on
his
arrival
soon
ruled
the
town,
and
for
a
time
gained
supremacy
over
a
considerable
part
of
Magna
Grecia.
But
its
secular
power
was
short-lived;
Pythagoras,
at
the
end
of
his
life,
was
banished
from
Kroton
to
Metapontion;
his
disciples
were
exiled
or
slain,
and
their
meeting-houses
burnt
down.

This
is
the
meagre
stem
of
more
or
less
established
fact,
around
which
the
ivy
of
legend
began
to
grow
even
during
the
master's
lifetime.
He
soon
achieved
semi-divine
status;
according
to
Aristotle,
the
Krotonians
believed
him
to
be
a
son
of
the
Hyperborean
Apollo,
and
there
was
a
saying
that
"among
rational
creatures
there
are
gods
and
men
and
beings
like
Pythagoras".
He
worked
miracles,
conversed
with
demons
from
heaven,
descended
to
Hades,
and
possessed
such
power
over
men,
that
after
his
first
sermon
to
the
Krotonians,
six
hundred
joined
the
communal
life
of
the
Brotherhood
without
even
going
home
to
bid
their
families
farewell.
Among
his
disciples
his
authority
was
absolute
–
"the
Master
said
so"
was
their
law.

2.
The Unifying Vision

Myths
grow
like
crystals,
according
to
their
own,
recurrent
pattern;
but
there
must
be
a
suitable
core
to
start
their
growth.
Mediocrities
or
cranks
have
no
myth-generating
power;
they
may
create
a
fashion,
but
it
soon
peters
out.
Yet
the
Pythagorean
vision
of
the
world
was
so
enduring,
that
it
still
permeates
our
thinking,
even
our
vocabulary.
The
very
term
"philosophy"
is
Pythagorean
in
origin;
so
is
the
word
"harmony"
in
its
broader
sense;
and
when
we
call
numbers
"figures",
we
talk
the
jargon
of
the
Brotherhood.
¹