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| Other Opinions of Pythagoras.
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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;659
| 659
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,660
| 660
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.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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