Russian Historical Library
Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans
Pythagoras, born about 580-570 BC on the island of Samos, the son of a gem cutter or merchant Mnesarchus, was a man gifted with remarkable physical beauty and great mental strength.
In the news that has come down to us, his life is clothed with a mythical and mystical fog.
In his youth, Pythagoras diligently studied mathematics, geometry and music; according to Heraclitus, there was no person who worked so much and with such success for the study of truth and acquired such extensive knowledge.
There is news that he studied philosophy with Ferekid.
To expand his knowledge, Pythagoras traveled for a long time: he lived in European Greece, Crete, and Egypt; legend says that the priests of the Egyptian religious center, Heliopolis, initiated him into the mysteries of their wisdom.
When Pythagoras was about 50 years old, he moved from Samos to the southern Italian city of Croton to engage in practical activities there, for which there was no scope on Samos, which fell under the rule of the tyrant Polycrates.
The citizens of Croton were courageous people who did not succumb to the temptations of luxury and voluptuous effeminacy, who loved to do gymnastics, strong in body, active, who sought to glorify themselves with brave feats.
Their way of life was simple, their morals were strict.
Pythagoras soon gained among them many listeners, friends, adherents by his teaching, which preached self control, aimed at the harmonious development of human mental and physical strength, by his majestic appearance, impressive manners, the purity of his life, his abstinence: he ate only honey, vegetables, fruits, bread.
Like the Ionian philosophers (Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes ), Pythagoras was engaged in research about nature, about the structure of the universe, but went in his research in a different way, studied the quantitative relations between objects, tried to formulate them in numbers.
Having settled in the Dorian city, Pythagoras gave his activity a Dorian, practical direction.
That system of philosophy, which is called Pythagorean, was developed, in all probability, not by himself, but by his Pythagorean students.
But her main thoughts belong to him.
Pythagoras himself already found a mysterious meaning in numbers and figures, said that "number is the essence of things; the essence of an object is its number", put harmony as the supreme law of the physical world and the moral order.
There is a legend that he brought the hecatomb to the gods when he discovered a geometric theorem that is called after him: "in a rectangular triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the legs."
Pythagoras and the school of Pythagoreans made bold, although in many ways fantastic attempts to explain the structure of the universe.
They believed that all the celestial bodies, including the earth itself, which has a spherical shape, and another planet, which they called the opposite of the earth, move in circular orbits near the central fire, from which they receive life, light and heat.
The Pythagoreans believed that the orbits of the planets are located among themselves in proportions corresponding to the intervals of the tones of the seven stringed kithara and that from this proportionality of the distances and times of the planets ' rotation, the harmony of the universe arises; they set the goal of human life so that the soul acquires a harmonious mood, through which it becomes worthy to return to the region of eternal order, to the god of light and harmony.
The philosophy of Pythagoras soon received a practical direction in Croton.
The fame of his wisdom attracted many disciples to him, and he formed from them a Phagorean union, whose members were raised to the purity of life and to the observance of all moral laws" by religious rites of initiation, moral commandments and the adoption of special customs.
According to the traditions that have come down to us about the Pythagorean union, it was a religious and political society consisting of two classes.
The highest class of the Pythagorean union were Esotericists, whose number could not exceed 300; they were initiated into the secret teachings of the union and knew the final goals of its aspirations; the lowest class of the union were Exotericists, uninitiated in the sacraments.
Acceptance into the category of the Pythagorean Esotericists was preceded by a strict test of the student's life and character; during this test, he had to remain silent, examine his heart, work, obey; he had to accustom himself to renounce the vanity of life, to asceticism.
All members of the Pythagorean union led a moderate, morally strict lifestyle according to established rules.
They were going to engage in gymnastic exercises and mental work; they dined together, did not eat meat, did not drink wine, performed special liturgical rites; had symbolic sayings and signs, but by which they recognized each other; wore linen clothes of a special cut.
There is a legend that the common property was introduced in the Pythagorean school, but it seems that this is a fiction of later times.
The fabulous embellishments that obscure the news about the life of Pythagoras extend to the union founded by him.
Unworthy members were shamefully excluded from the union.
The moral precepts of the union and the rules of life for its members were set out in the" Golden Sayings " of Pythagoras, which probably had a symbolic and mysterious character.
The members of the Pythagorean union were devoted to their teacher with such reverence that the words "he himself said" were considered an undoubted proof of the truth.
Animated by the love of virtue, the Pythagoreans formed a brotherhood in which the personality of a person was completely subordinated to the goals of society.
The foundations of Pythagorean philosophy were /number and harmony/, the concepts of which coincided for the Pythagoreans with the ideas of law and order.
The moral precepts of their union had as their goal to establish law and harmony in life, therefore they strenuously engaged in mathematics and music, as the best means for delivering a calm, harmonious mood to the soul, which was for them the highest goal of education and development; they diligently engaged in gymnastics and medicine in order to deliver strength and health to the body.
These rules of Pythagoras and the solemn service to Apollo, the god of purity and harmony, corresponded to the general concepts of the Greek people, whose ideal was "a beautiful and kind person", and in particular they corresponded to the prevailing trend of the citizens of Croton, who have long been famous as athletes and doctors.
The Pythagorean moral and religious teachings contained many details that strangely contradicted the claims of the Pythagorean system to mathematical thoroughness; but the energetic, deep desire of the Pythagoreans to find a "unifying connection", "the law of the universe", to bring human life into harmony with the life of the universe, had beneficial results in practical terms.
The members of the Pythagorean school strictly performed the duties prescribed to them by the" golden sayings " of the teacher; they not only preached, but also in practice observed piety, reverence and gratitude to parents and benefactors, obedience to the law and superiors, loyalty to friendship and marriage, fidelity to the given word, abstinence in pleasures, moderation in everything, meekness, justice and other virtues.
The Pythagoreans tried with all their might to curb their passions, to suppress all impure impulses in themselves, "to guard the harmonious calm in the soul; they were friends of order and law.
They behaved peaceably, judiciously, tried to avoid any actions and words that disturbed the public silence; it was obvious from their manners, from the tone of their conversation that they were people who enjoyed an unruffled peace of mind.
The blissful consciousness of the inviolability of peace of mind was the happiness that the Pythagorean aspired to.
At the end of the evening, when preparing to go to bed, the Pythagorean was obliged to play the kithara, so that its sounds would give the soul a harmonious mood.
The Pythagorean School
It goes without saying that the union to which the noblest and most influential people of Croton and other Greek cities of southern Italy belonged could not but have an impact on public life, on state affairs; according to the Greek concepts, the dignity of a person consisted in his civic activity.
Indeed, we find that not only in Croton, but also in Locri, Metapontum, Tarentum and other cities, the members of the Pythagorean school gained influence over the management of state affairs, that they usually prevailed in the meetings of the government council because they acted unanimously.
The Pythagorean Union, being a religious and moral society, was at the same time a political club (*hetaeria*); they had a systematic way of thinking on domestic policy issues; they formed a complete political party.
According to the nature of Pythagoras ' teaching, this party was strictly aristocratic; they wanted an aristocracy to rule, but an aristocracy of education, not nobility.
In an effort to transform state institutions according to their concepts, to push the old noble families away from the administration and to prevent democracy from participating in the administration, which required political principles, they incurred the enmity of both noble families and democrats.
It seems, however, that the resistance on the part of the aristocrats was not very persistent, partly because the teaching of the Pythagoreans itself had an aristocratic direction, partly because almost all the Pythagoreans belonged to aristocratic families; however, Kilon, who became the leader of their opponents, was an aristocrat.
The Democratic Party strongly hated the Pythagoreans for their arrogance.
Proud of their education, their new philosophy, which showed them heavenly and earthly affairs not in the light in which they were presented according to popular belief.
Proud of their virtues and their rank of initiates in the mysteries, they despised the crowd, which took the "ghost" for the truth, irritated the people by shunning it and speaking a mysterious language that was incomprehensible to them.
The sayings attributed to Pythagoras have come down to us; perhaps they do not belong to him himself, but they express the spirit of the Pythagorean union: "Do what you consider good, even if it puts you in danger of exile; the crowd is not able to judge noble people correctly; despise its praise, despise its censure.
Respect your brothers as gods, and consider other people as despicable rabble.
Fight the Democrats implacably."
With such a way of thinking of the Pythagoreans, their death as a political party was inevitable.
The destruction of the city of Sybaris had the consequence of a catastrophe that destroyed the Pythagorean union.
The houses of their public meetings were burned everywhere, they themselves were killed, or expelled.
But the teaching of Pythagoras has been preserved.
Partly because of its inner dignity, partly because of people's inclination to the mysterious and wonderful, it had adherents in later times.
The most famous of the Pythagoreans of the following centuries were *Philolaus* and * Archytas*, contemporaries of Socrates, and Lysis, the teacher of the great Theban commander *Epaminondas*.
Pythagoras died around the year 500; tradition says that he lived to the age of 84.
Adherents of his teachings considered him a holy man, a miracle worker.
The fantastic thoughts of the Pythagoreans, their symbolic language and strange expressions gave reason to the Attic * comedians* to laugh at them; in general, they carried to the extreme the panache of learning, for which Heraclitus condemned Pythagoras.
Their wonderful stories about Pythagoras have clothed his life with a mythical fog; all the news about his personality and activities are distorted by fabulous exaggerations.
