The golden verses of Pythagoras

[332]Cicer., De Nat. Deor., l. i., c. 9; Plutar., De repug. Stoïc.; Diogenian. Apud.; Euseb., Præp. Evang., l. vi., c. 8.

[333]Herodot., Euterp., § 171; Julian Firm., De Error, prof., p. 45.

[334] Meurs., Græc. Feriat., l. i.; Plutar., In Alcibiad.; Porphyr., De Abst., l. ii., § 36; Euseb., Præp. Evang., l. i., c. 1; Schol. Apoll., l. i., v. 917; Pausan., Corinth, p. 73.

[335]Porphyr., Vitâ Pythag., p. 10.

[336] The doctrine of Krishna is found especially recorded in the Bhaghavad Gita, one of the Pouranas most esteemed by the Brahmans; in the Zend-Avesta and in the Boun-Dehesh, that of Zoroaster. The Chinese have the Tchun-Tsieou of Kong-Tse, historic monument raised to the glory of Providence; in the Pœmander and Æsculapius, the ideas of Thoth. The book of Synesius upon Providence contains the dogmas of the Mysteries. Finally one can consult in the course of the Edda, the sublime discourse of Odin, entitled Havamâl. The basis of all these works is the same.

[337] This, as I observed in my Second Examination, should be understood only by the vulgar. The savant and the initiate easily restored to Unity this infinity of gods, and understood or sought the origin of evil, without the knowledge of which, divine Unity is inexplicable.

[338] Talès, cité par Platon, De Republ., l. x.; Aristot., Metaph., l. iii.; Cicer., Acad. Quæst., iv., c. 37.

[339] Anaximandre, cité par Aristot., Phys., l. i.; Sext. Empir., Pyrr., iii.

[340] Anaximène, cité par Arist., Metaph., l. i., c. 3; Plutar., De Placit. Phil., i., 3.

[341] Héraclite, cité par Platon, Theætet.; Arist., Metaph., l. i., c. 6; Sext. Empir., Adv. Math., l. vii.

[342] De Gérando, Hist. des Syst. de Phil., t. iii., p. 283; Arist., Metaph., l. i., c. 6; Diog. Laërt., l. ix., c. 19.

[343]Cicer., De Nat. Deor., l. i., c. 9.

[344]Boët., De Consol., l. i., prosa 4.

[345]Plutar., Adv. Stoïc., p. 1075.

[346]Cicer., De Fato, c. 10; Lucret., l. ii., v. 216, 251, 284.

[347]Cicer., De Fato, c. 9 et 17; Diogenian., Apud.; Euseb., Præp. Evan., l. vi., c. 8.

[348]Cicer., De Natur. Deor., l. iii., c. 38 et 39.

[349]Aul. Gell., l. vi., c. 1.

[350]Plutar., Adv. Stoïc.

[351] The name given to the sect of the Pharisees signifies, in general, that which is enlightened, illumined, glorified, illustrious. It is derived from the root אור (aor), the light, governed by the article פה (phe), which expresses the emphasis; thence פאר (phær), an aureola, a tiara, and פרתמים (pharethmim), men illustrious, sublime. The name given to the sect of the Sadducees is derived from the word שד (shad) which, expressing all diffusion, all propagation, is applied to productive nature in general, and in particular to a mammal, its symbol among the Egyptians; it signifies properly the Physicists, or the Naturalists.

[352] The original name of the Book of Moses is ספר (sepher); the name of the Bible, that we attribute to it, is derived from the Greek Βίβλος, adopted by the so-called translators of the Septuagint.

[353]Joseph., Antiq., l. xii., c. 22; l. xiii., c. 9 et 23; l. xvii., c. 3; Budd, Introd. ad Phil. Hebr.; Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, t. i.

[354] This is founded upon a great number of passages, of which it will suffice to cite the following. One finds in Amos, ch. iii., v. 6: “Shall there be evil in a city which the Lord hath not done?” And in Ezekiel, ch. xxi., v. 3: “And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I come against thee, and I will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off in thee the just, and the wicked … against all flesh, from the south even to the north.… That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn my sword.”

[355] Mohammed said of himself, that he possessed no heavenly treasures, that he was ignorant of the mysteries, that he could say nothing of the essence of the soul (Koran, ch. 6 and 17); and as he admitted the literal text of the Sepher, he could not do otherwise than announce predestination. “God,” he said, “holds in his hands the keys of the future. He alone knows it.… The nations know not how to retard or to hasten the moment of their downfall” (Koran, ch. 6 and 23).

[356]Vitâ Pythag.; Photius, Bibl. Cod., 259.

[357] Kircher, Œdip., t. i., p. 411; Edda Island Fabl.; Macrob., Saturn., l. i., c. 20.

[358] Plotin, Ennead., iii., 1. 2; Euseb., Prœp. Evan., l. iii., c. 9; Macrob., Somn. Schip., l. ii., c. 12; Marc. Aurell., l. iv., c. 34.

[359] Pan, in Greek πᾶν, signifies the All, and Phanes is derived from the Phœnician word אנש (ânesh), man, preceded by the emphatic article פ (ph). It must be observed that these two names spring from the same root אן (ân), which, figuratively, expresses the sphere of activity, and literally, the limitation of the being, its body, its capacity. Hence אני (âni), me, and אניו (aniha), a vessel.

[360]Mém. concern. les Chinois, t. ii., p. 174 et suiv.; Edda Island; Beausobre, Hist. du Manich., t. ii., p. 784; Bœhme, De la triple Vie de l’Homme, c. ix., § 35 et suiv.

[361] Παντὶ ἐν Κόσμῳ λάμπει τριὰς· ἧς Μονὰς ἄρχει. — Zoroast. Oracul.

[362]Hiérocl., Aurea Carmin.,, v. 14.

[363] Hermès, In Pœmander.

[364]Evang. St. Math., ch. 18.

[365]Vendidad Sadé, p. 89.

[366] 34ᵉ hâ, p. 174.

[367] 3ᵉ fargard., p. 284.

[368]Jeshts Sadès, p. 151.

[369] Hafiz, cité par les auteurs Des Recherches asiatiques, t. iv., p. 167.

[370]L’Arya, cité comme ci-dessus: