Chapter XXI.—Other Opinions of Pythagoras.

Pythagoras, then, became a student of these doctrines likewise, in which he speaks both by enigmas and some such expressions as these: “When you depart from your own (tabernacle), return not;640    Cruice thinks that the following words are taken from Heraclitus, and refers to Plutarch, De Exilio, c. xi. if, however, (you act) not (thus), the Furies, auxiliaries to justice, will overtake you,”—denominating the body one’s own (tabernacle), and its passions the Furies. When, therefore, he says, you depart, that is, when you go forth from the body, do not earnestly crave for this; but if you are eagerly desirous (for departure), the passions will once more confine you within the body. For these suppose that there is a transition of souls from one body to another, as also Empedocles, adopting the principles of Pythagoras, affirms. For, says he, souls that are lovers of pleasure, as Plato states,641    Phædo, vol. i. p. 89, ed. Bekker. if, when they are in the condition of suffering incidental to man, they do not evolve theories of philosophy, must pass through all animals and plants (back) again into a human body. And when (the soul) may form a system of speculation thrice in the same body, (he maintains) that it ascends up to the nature of some kindred star. If, however, (the soul) does not philosophize, (it must pass) through the same (succession of changes once more). He affirms, then, that the soul sometimes may become even mortal, if it is overcome by the Furies, that is, the passions (of the body); and immortal, if it succeeds in escaping the Furies, which are the passions.

[26] Πυθαγόρου καὶ [ἐν] τούτῳ τῶν λόγων γενόμενος μαθητὴς [καὶ] ἐν οἷς λέγει [καὶ] δι' αἰνιγμάτων [καὶ τοιούτων λόγων]: «ἐκ τῆς ἰδίης ἐὰν ἀποδημῆς, μὴ ἐπιστρέφου: εἰ δὲ μή, Ἐριννύες Δίκης ἐπίκουροί σε μετελεύσονται», ἰδίην καλῶν τὸ σῶμα, Ἐριννύας δὲ τὰ πάθη. ἐὰν οὖν, φησίν, ἀποδημῇς, τουτέστιν ἐὰν ἐξέρχῃ ἐκ τοῦ σώματος, μὴ αὐτοῦ ἀντιποιοῦ: ἐὰν δὲ ἀντιποιήσῃ, πάλιν σε τὰ πάθη καθείρξουσιν εἰς σῶμα. εἶναι γὰρ οὗτοι τῶν ψυχῶν μετενσωμάτωσιν νομίζουσιν, ὡς καὶ ὁ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς πυθαγορίζων λέγει. δεῖ γάρ, φησί, τὰς φιληδόνους ψυχάς, ὡς ὁ Πλάτων λέγει, ἐὰν ἐν [τῷ] ἀνθρώπου πάθει γενόμεναι μὴ φιλοσοφήσωσι, διὰ πάντων [τῶν] ζῴων καὶ φυτῶν ἐλθεῖν πάλιν εἰς ἀνθρώπινον σῶμα: καὶ ἐὰν μὲν φιλοσοφή(σ)ῃ κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ τρίς, εἰς τὴν τοῦ συννόμου ἄστρου φύσιν ἀνελθεῖν, ἐὰν δὲ μὴ φιλοσοφήσῃ, πάλιν ἐπὶ τὰ αὐτά. δύνασθαι οὖν φησί ποτε τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ θνητὴν γενέσθαι, ἐὰν ὑπὸ τῶν Ἐριννύων κρατῆται_τουτέστι τῶν παθῶν_, καὶ ἀθάνατον, ἐὰν τὰς Ἐριννῦς ἐκφύγῃ, ἅ ἐστι [τὰ] πάθη.