The manner of fishing for tunny efpecially engaged our attention. A long and very large net had been extended along the shore. We repaired to the spot at the break of day, when a profound calm seemed to reign throughout all nature. One of the fishermen, lying flat on a neighbouring rock, kept his eyes fixed on the almoft tranfparent waves, till he perceived a fhoal of tunnies quietly following the windings of the coast, and entering the net by an opening contrived for that purpose: when immediately giving the fignal to his companions, they divided into two companies, one of which drew the net, while the other beat the water with their oars, to prevent the fish from escaping. A great number were taken; many of them of an enormous fize: one weighed about fifteen talents *. On our return from a little excurfion which we had made to the coast of Afia, we found Neocles employed in making preparations for an entertainment. Chæreftrate, his wife, had been brought to bed fome days before; and he had just given a name to his fon, whom he had called Epicurus †. On thefe occafions it is customary with the Greeks to invite their friends to an entertainment. The company was numerous and felect. I was placed at one end of the table, between an Athenian, who talked a great deal, and a Samian, who faid nothing. Among the other guefts the converfation was very loud and noify; with us it was at firft vague, and without any determinate object, but afterward more connected and serious. It turned, I know not on what occafion, on the world and fociety After fome common-place remarks, the opinion of the Samian was asked; who replied, I fhall content myself with giving b Ariftoph. in Equit v. 313. Schol. ibid. Archestr. ap. Athen. lib. 7. p. 301. Ariftot. Hift. Anim. lib. 8. cap 30. t. i. p. 921. Plin. lib. 9. t. i. p. 505. About 772 pounds (834 pounds English avoirdupois). This is the celebrated Epicurus, born in the archonfhip of Sofigenes (Diog. Laert. lib. 10. § 14), in the 3d year of the 109th Olympiad, on the 7th of Gamelion; that is to fay, the 11th of January, of the year 341 before Chrift. Menander was born in the fame year. you that of Pythagoras. He compared the fcene of the world to that exhibited at the Olympic games; to which some refort to combat, others to traffic, and others merely to be fpectators d. Thus the ambitious and the conquerors are our combatants; the greater part of men exchange their time and labour for the goods of Fortune; and the fages calmly observe all that paffes, and are silent. At these words I furveyed him with greater attention. He had a placid air, and was of grave deportment. He was habited in a white robe, extremely neat and clean. I fucceffively offered him wine, fish, a flice of beeff, and a plate of beans; but he refufed them all. He drank only water, and ate only vegetables. The Athenian faid to me, in a whisper, He is a rigid Pythagorean; and immediately raifing his voice, We are to blame, faid he, for eating of these fish; for originally we dwelt, like them, in the depths of the ocean. Yes, our first progenitors were fish; it cannot be doubted, for it has been afferted by the philofopher Anaximander §. trine of the metempfychofis makes me fcrupulous of eating meat; for when I regale on the flesh of this ax, I am perhaps an anthropophagift. As to the beans, they are the substance which contains the largest portion of that animated matter of which our fouls are particles". Take the flowers of the bean when they begin to grow black; put them in a veffel, and bury it in the ground; and if, at the end of ninety days, you open it, you will find at the bottom the head of a child . Pythagoras himself has made the experiment. The doc Loud bursts of laughter now broke forth at the expence of my neighbour, who ftill continued filent. They prefs you very clofely, faid 1 to him. I am fenfible of it, answered he; but I fhall make no reply. I fhould be to blame to reafon d Cicer. Tufcul. lib. 5. cap. 3. t. ii. p. 362. Diog. Laert. lib. 8. § 8. lambl. Vit. Pythag. cap. 12. p. 44. Ariftot. ap. Diog. Laert. lib. 8. § 19. f Aristox. ap. eund. ibid. § 20. h Diog. Laert. lib. 8. § 24. gravely at this moment. To refute ridicule seriously, is only to become still more an object of ridicule. But I shall not be exposed to this danger with you. Neocles has explained to me the motives which have induced you to undertake fuch long voyages; I know you love the truth, and I fhall not be unwilling to declare it to you. I accepted his offer, and after fupper we had the following conversation. CHA P. LXXV. Converfation between Anacharfis and a Samian, on the Inftitution of Pythagoras. The Samian. YOU certainly do not believe that Pythagoras has advanced the abfurdities that are attributed to him? Anacharfs. They indeed excited my surprise. On the one hand I beheld that extraordinary man enriching his country with the knowledge of other nations, making discoveries in geometry which can only appertain to genius, and founding that school which has produced fo many great men; and, on the other, I saw his disciples frequently ridiculed on the stage, and obftinately perfevering in the observance of certain frivolous practices, which they juftified by puerile reasons, or forced allegories. I read your authors, and made inquiries of the Pythagoreans, but I only met with a mysterious and enigmatical language. I confulted the other philosophers; and Pythagoras was represented to me as the head of a sect of enthufiafts, who had taught incomprehenfible dogmas, and prefcribed impracticable obfervances. Samian. This portrait is not very flattering. Anacharfis. Hear to the end the account of my prejudices and inquiries. When I was at Memphis, I perceived the fource from which your founder had derived the rigorous laws to which he has fubjected you; they are the fame with those of the Egyptian priests *. Pythagoras adopted them without confidering that the rule of diet ought to vary according to the difference of climates and religions. Let us give an example. These priests hold beans in fuch averfion, that none are sown throughout all Egypt; and if by chance a fingle plant any where fprings up, they turn away their eyes from it, as from an impure thing ". If this vegetable is hurtful in Egypt, the priests acted rightly in profcribing it but Pythagoras ought not to have imitated them; and ftill lefs ought he if the prohibition was only founded on some idle fuperftition. He has nevertheless transmitted it to you; and never did it occafion, in the places where it originated, fo cruel a fcene as has been acted in our time. : Dionyfius, king of Syracufe, was defirous to penetrate your myfteries. The Pythagoreans, whom he perfecuted in his ftates, carefully concealed themselves. He gave orders that fome should be brought to him from Italy. A detachment of foldiers perceived ten of these philofophers journeying peaceably from Tarentum to Metapontum, and gave chace to them like wild beafts. They fled before their pursuers; but at the fight of a field of beans, which happened to be in their way, they stopped, put themselves in a posture of defence, and fubmitted to be all massacred, rather than defile their fouls by touching that odious vegetable ". Presently after, the officer who commanded the detachment furprised two others who had not been able to follow the reft. These were Myllias of Crotona, and his wife Tymicha, a native of Lacedæmon, and far advanced in her pregnancy. They were brought to Syracufe. Dionyfius wished to learn from them why their companions had rather chofen to lofe their lives, than cross k Chærem. ap. Porph. de Abstin. lib. 4. p. 308. 1 Recherch, Philof. fur les Egypt. t. i. p. 103. m Herodot. lib. 2. cap. 37. n Hippob. et Neant. ap. Iamb. in Vit. Pythag. cap. 31. p. 158. the field of beans; but neither his promifes nor his threats could induce them to fatisfy his curiofity: and Tymicha bit off her tongue, left she should yield to the tortures, the inftruments of which were placed before her eyes. We here fee, however, what the prejudices of fanaticism, and the fenfeless laws by which they are cherished, are able to effect. Samian. I lament the fate of these unhappy perfons. Their zeal, which was not very enlightened, was doubtlefs foured by the cruelties which had for fome time been exercised against them. They judged of the importance of their opinions by the eagerness of their enemies to force them to renounce them. Anacharfis. And do you think that they might without a crime have violated the precept of Pythagoras? Samian. Pythagoras has written fcarcely any thing; the works which are attributed to him are almost all by his dif ciples ; who have burthened his rules with many new prac-. tices. You have heard it faid, and it will hereafter be ftill more confidently affirmed, that Pythagoras annexed an infinite merit to abftinence from beans. It is nevertheless certain that he himself very frequently ate them; as I learned, when a young man, from Xenophilus, and many aged perfons who were almoft contemporary with Pythagoras'. Anacharfis. And why then did he afterwards forbid them to be eaten? Samian. Pythagoras permitted the eating of them, because he believed them wholefome; but his difciples have forbidden them, because they produce flatulence, and are otherwise Plut. de Fort. Alex. t. ii. p. 228. P Diog. Laert. lib. 8. § 7. Vit. Pythag. p. 44. Lucian. Vitar. Ariftox. ap. Aul. Gell. lib. 4. cap. II. |