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keeping of virtue, ninth, to use good counsel before actions, from which comes freedom from regret in actions, tenth, to be pure from conceit, eleventh, to be gentle and not prone to anger and forbearing toward those one meets, twelfth, to reform the body and external things for cooperation with virtue. "These things," he says, "work at, these things practice, these things you must love; these will set you on the tracks of divine virtue." That is, all these things will lead to practical philosophy and to theoretical knowledge, or rather, the activity according to the mind, thinking the intelligible things, and a most beautiful beginning will be yours, and you will be made like God through the practice of the virtues. Therefore, wishing to rouse the hearer 1.275 completely to the practice of good things, he confirms what has been said with an oath, speaking thus: "Yes, by the one who has delivered to our soul the Tetractys, the fount of ever-flowing nature." And the oath becomes for them a dogma as well. This Pythagoras taught metempsychosis; wishing to confirm this, he said that he himself had been Aethalides before the Trojan War, and during the Trojan War, Euphorbus, and after these, Hermotimus of Samos, after whom Pyrrhus of Delos, and fifth, Pythagoras. Before him was Thales, who undertook natural philosophy, saying that the beginning and end of the universe are fire and water, and that all things are composed from them; from which also earthquakes and whirlwinds and the movements of stars occur. That Thales was the first to have the name of "wise man," and was the first to say the soul is immortal, and he understood eclipses and equinoxes. And he left behind very many sayings, including the famous "know thyself." For "give a pledge, and ruin is at hand" is rather Chilon's, who also made his own the saying "nothing in excess."

The third philosopher is Empedocles. He, after many marvelous tales, also taught these things, saying that the principle of the universe is Strife and Love, and that the intellectual fire of the monad is God, and that all things are composed from fire and are again resolved into fire, 1.276 with which the Stoics also nearly agree, expecting a conflagration. He said that the soul changes into all living things, following the teaching of Pythagoras. "Hail," for he says, "I am an immortal god, no longer mortal. I have been first a boy and a girl and a beast and a bush and a breathing fish from the sea and an ox at Olympia." The fourth is Heraclitus, he too having spoken nearly in agreement with Pythagoras. He also said this, that one must completely disregard the body and consider it more to be thrown out than dung, and to fulfill its needs from what is easiest, until God commands to use the body as an instrument. He lived in the time of Darius son of Hystaspes. There were also others who themselves wrote down physical doctrines, showing nothing inconsistent with what has been said before, which we did not think it necessary to commit to writing. Fifth, Anaximander. He said the principle of beings is a certain nature of the infinite, from which the heavens and the world in them came to be; and that this is eternal and ageless, and encompasses all the worlds. He also said that the earth is suspended, being held by nothing, but remaining because of the equal distance from all things. And that it lies in the very middle, and its shape is moist, round, snowy, like a stone. He was also the first to discover the equinox and solstices and sundials, and he introduced the gnomon, which is that which is fixed in the sundials, 1.277 and in general he showed an outline of geometry. And he says the stars came to be a circle of fire, encompassed by air. And that there are exhalations, certain passages like flutes, through which the stars appear; which is why he says that when the exhalations are blocked, eclipses happen. And that the moon appears sometimes full and sometimes waning according to the blockage or opening of the passages. And that the circle of the sun is twenty-seven times that of the moon, and the sun is highest, and lowest are the circles of the fixed stars.

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τῆς ἀρετῆς τήρησιν, ἔννατον εὐβουλίᾳ πρὸ τῶν ἔργων χρῆσθαι, ἐξ ἧς τὸ ἀμεταμέλητον ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις παραγί νεται, δέκατον οἰήσεως καθαρεύειν, ἑνδέκατον πράους καὶ ἀοργή τους καὶ ἀνεκτικοὺς πρὸς τοὺς ἐντυγχάνοντας εἶναι, δωδέκατον τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὰ ἐκτὸς πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἀρετῆς συνεργίαν μεταρρυθμί ζειν. "ταῦτα" φησί "πόνει, ταῦτ' ἐκμελέτα, τούτων χρὴ ἐρᾶν σε· ταῦτά σε τῆς θείας ἀρετῆς εἰς ἴχνια θήσει." ἀντὶ τοῦ ταῦτα πάντα εἰς τὴν πρακτικὴν φιλοσοφίαν ἐνάξει καὶ εἰς τὴν θεωρητι κὴν ἐπιστήμην ἤτοι τὴν κατὰ νοῦν ἐνέργειαν, νοοῦντα τὰ νοητά, καὶ ἀρχή σοι πάνυ καλλίστη γενήσεται, καὶ ὁμοιωθήσῃ θεῷ διὰ τῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐργασίας. διὸ καὶ βουλόμενος τὸν ἀκροατὴν 1.275 ὁλοσχερῶς πρὸς τὴν τῶν καλῶν ἐργασίαν διαναστῆσαι ὅρκῳ τὰ λεχθέντα πιστοῦται, λέγων οὕτως "ναὶ μὰ τὸν ἁμετέρᾳ ψυχᾷ παραδόντα τετρακτύν, παγὰν ἀενάου φύσεως." ὁ δὲ ὅρκος γί νεται αὐτοῖς καὶ δόγμα. οὗτος ὁ Πυθαγόρας μετεμψύχωσιν ἐδογμάτιζεν· ἣν θέλων κυρῶσαι ἔλεγεν ἑαυτὸν πρὸ τῶν Τρωϊκῶν Αἰθαλίδην γεγονέναι, ἐν δὲ τοῖς Τρωϊκοῖς Εὔφορβον, μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα Ἑρμότιμον Σάμιον, μεθ' ὃν Πύρρον ∆ήλιον καὶ πέμπτον Πυθαγόραν. Πρὸ τούτου δὲ γέγονε Θαλῆς, ὃς ἐπικεχείρηκε φιλοσοφίαν φυσικήν, ἀρχὴν τοῦ παντὸς καὶ τέλος τὸ πῦρ καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ εἶναι φήσας, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν τὰ πάντα συνίστασθαι· ἀφ' ὧν καὶ τοὺς σεισμοὺς καὶ πνευμάτων συστροφὰς καὶ ἄστρων κινήσεις γίνε σθαι. Ὅτι πρῶτος ὁ Θαλῆς τὸ τοῦ σοφοῦ ἔσχεν ὄνομα, καὶ πρῶ τος τὴν ψυχὴν εἶπεν ἀθάνατον, ἐκλείψεις τε καὶ ἰσημερίας κατεί ληφε. καὶ ἀποφθέγματα πλεῖστα κατέλιπε, καὶ τὸ θρυλούμενον "γνῶθι σεαυτόν." τὸ γάρ "ἐγγύα, πάρα δ' ἄτη" Χίλωνος μᾶλλόν ἐστιν, ἰδιοποιησαμένου αὐτὸ καὶ τὸ "μηδὲν ἄγαν."

Τρίτος φιλόσοφος Ἐμπεδοκλῆς. οὗτος μετὰ πολλὰς τερα τολογίας ἐδογμάτισε καὶ ταῦτα, τὴν τοῦ παντὸς ἀρχὴν νεῖκος καὶ φιλίαν λέγων, καὶ τὸ τῆς μονάδος νοερὸν πῦρ τὸν θεόν, καὶ ὅτι ἐκ πυρὸς τὰ πάντα συνίσταται καὶ εἰς πῦρ αὖθις ἀναλύεται, ᾧ 1.276 σχεδὸν καὶ οἱ Στωϊκοὶ συντίθενται, ἐκπύρωσιν προσδοκῶντες. οὗτος εἰς πάντα τὰ ζῷα τὴν ψυχὴν μεταλλάττειν εἴρηκε, τῷ Πυ θαγόρου δόγματι κατακολουθῶν. "χαίρετε" γάρ φησιν, "ἐγὼ ὅδ' εἰμὶ θεὸς ἄμβροτος, οὐκέτι θνητός. ἦτοι μὲν πρῶτα κοῦρος ἐγενόμην κόρη τε καὶ θὴρ καὶ θάμνος καὶ ἐξ ἁλὸς ἔμπνοος ἰχθὺς καὶ ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ βοῦς." Τέταρτος Ἡράκλειτος, καὶ αὐτὸς σχεδὸν σύμφωνα τῷ Πυ θαγόρᾳ φθεγξάμενος. ἔφη δὲ καὶ τοῦτο, ὅτι πάντῃ τοῦ σώμα τος χρεὼν ὀλιγωρεῖν καὶ νομίζειν αὐτὸ κοπρίων ἐκβλητότερον, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ῥᾴστου πληροῦν αὐτοῦ τὰς θεραπείας, ἕως ἂν ὁ θεὸς ὥσπερ ὀργάνῳ τῷ σώματι χρῆσθαι ἐπιτάττῃ. οὗτος ἦν ἐπὶ ∆α ρείου τοῦ Ὑστάσπου. ἐγένοντο δὲ καὶ ἕτεροι φυσικὰς δόξας καὶ αὐτοὶ γράψαντες, μηδὲν ἀπεμφαινούσας τῶν προειρημένων, ἃς οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον ἡγησάμεθα γραφῇ παραδοῦναι. Πέμπτος Ἀναξίμανδρος. οὗτος ἀρχὴν ἔφη τῶν ὄντων φύ σιν τινὰ τοῦ ἀπείρου, ἀφ' ἧς γενέσθαι τοὺς οὐρανοὺς καὶ τὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς κόσμον· ταύτην δ' ἀΐδιον εἶναι καὶ ἀγήρω, καὶ πάντας περιέχειν τοὺς κόσμους. οὗτος καὶ τὴν γῆν εἴρηκε μετέωρον εἶ ναι, ὑπὸ μηδενὸς κρατουμένην, μένουσαν δὲ διὰ τὴν ὁμοίαν πάν των ἀνάστασιν. καὶ κεῖσθαι ταύτην μὲν μεσαιτάτῳ, τὸ δὲ σχῆμα αὐτῆς ὑγρόν, στρογγύλον, χιονῶδες, λίθῳ παραπλήσιον. πρῶ τος δὲ αὐτὸς καὶ ἰσημερίαν εὗρε καὶ τροπὰς καὶ ὡρολογίας γνώ μονά τε εἰσήγαγεν, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὸ ἐν τοῖς ἡλιοτρόποις πηγνύμενον, 1.277 καὶ ὅλως γεωμετρίας ὑποτύπωσιν ἔδειξε. τὰ δὲ ἄστρα φησὶ γενέ σθαι κύκλον πυρός, περιληφθέντα δὲ ὑπὸ ἀέρος. ἐκπνοὰς δὲ εἶ ναι πόρους τινὰς αὐρώδεις, καθ' οὓς φαίνονται τὰ ἄστρα· διό φησι καὶ ἐπιφρασσομένων τῶν ἐκπνοῶν τὰς ἐκλείψεις γίνεσθαι. τὴν δὲ σελήνην ποτὲ μὲν φαίνεσθαι πληρουμένην ποτὲ δὲ μειουμέ νην παρὰ τὴν τῶν πόρων ἐπίφραξιν ἢ ἄνοιξιν. εἶναι δὲ τὸν κύκλον τοῦ ἡλίου ἑπτακαιεικοσιπλασίονα τῆς σελήνης, καὶ ἀνωτάτω μὲν εἶναι τὸν ἥλιον, κατωτάτω δὲ τοὺς τῶν ἀπλανῶν ἀστέρων κύκλους.