{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XXXIV/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XXXIV","id":"wikisource_The_Age_of_Fable_Chapter_XXXIV","license":"Public Domain / CC-BY-SA (see source)","rights_basis":"wikisource_site_inclusion_policy","source":"wikisource","source_url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Age_of_Fable/Chapter_XXXIV","summary":null,"tags":["Headers_applying_DefaultSort_key","Subpages"],"text":"XXXIV. PYTHAGORAS \u2014 EGYPTIAN DEITIES \u2014 ORACLES\n\nPYTHAGORAS\n\nThe teachings of Anchises to \u00c6neas, respecting the nature of the\nhuman soul, were in conformity with the doctrines of the\nPythagoreans. Pythagoras (born five hundred and forty years B.C.)\nwas a native of the island of Samos, but passed the chief portion\nof his life at Crotona in Italy. He is therefore sometimes called\n\"the Samian,\" and sometimes \"the philosopher of Crotona.\" When\nyoung he travelled extensively, and it is said visited Egypt,\nwhere he was instructed by the priests in all their learning, and\nafterwards journeyed to the East, and visited the Persian and\nChaldean Magi, and the Brahmins of India.\n\nAt Crotona, where he finally established himself, his\nextraordinary qualities collected round him a great number of\ndisciples. The inhabitants were notorious for luxury and\nlicentiousness, but the good effects of his influence were soon\nvisible. Sobriety and temperance succeeded. Six hundred of the\ninhabitants became his disciples and enrolled themselves in a\nsociety to aid each other in the pursuit of wisdom, uniting their\nproperty in one common stock for the benefit of the whole. They\nwere required to practise the greatest purity and simplicity of\nmanners. The first lesson they learned was silence; for a time\nthey were required to be only hearers. \"He [Pythagoras] said so\"\n(Ipse dixit), was to be held by them as sufficient, without any\nproof. It was only the advanced pupils, after years of patient\nsubmission, who were allowed to ask questions and to state\nobjections.\n\nPythagoras considered numbers as the essence and principle of all\nthings, and attributed to them a real and distinct existence; so\nthat, in his view, they were the elements out of which the\nuniverse was constructed. How he conceived this process has never\nbeen satisfactorily explained. He traced the various forms and\nphenomena of the world to numbers as their basis and essence. The\n\"Monad\" or unit he regarded as the source of all numbers. The\nnumber Two was imperfect, and the cause of increase and division.\nThree was called the number of the whole because it had a\nbeginning, middle, and end. Four, representing the square, is in\nthe highest degree perfect; and Ten, as it contains the sum of the\nfour prime numbers, comprehends all musical and arithmetical\nproportions, and denotes the system of the world.\n\nAs the numbers proceed from the monad, so he regarded the pure and\nsimple essence of the Deity as the source of all the forms of\nnature. Gods, demons, and heroes are emanations of the Supreme,\nand there is a fourth emanation, the human soul. This is immortal,\nand when freed from the fetters of the body passes to the\nhabitation of the dead, where it remains till it returns to the\nworld, to dwell in some other human or animal body, and at last,\nwhen sufficiently purified, it returns to the source from which it\nproceeded. This doctrine of the transmigration of souls\n(metempsychosis), which was originally Egyptian and connected with\nthe doctrine of reward and punishment of human actions, was the\nchief cause why the Pythagoreans killed no animals. Ovid\nrepresents Pythagoras addressing his disciples in these words:\n\"Souls never die, but always on quitting one abode pass to\nanother. I myself can remember that in the time of the Trojan war\nI was Euphorbus, the son of Panthus, and fell by the spear of\nMenelaus. Lately being in the temple of Juno, at Argos, I\nrecognized my shield hung up there among the trophies. All things\nchange, nothing perishes. The soul passes hither and thither,\noccupying now this body, now that, passing from the body of a\nbeast into that of a man, and thence to a beast's again. As wax is\nstamped with certain figures, then melted, then stamped anew with\nothers, yet is always the same wax, so the soul, being always the\nsame, yet wears, at different times, different forms. Therefore,\nif the love of kindred is not extinct in your bosoms, forbear, I\nentreat you, to violate the life of those who may haply be your\nown relatives.\"\n\n\u00a0\n\nShakspeare, in the \"Merchant of Venice,\" makes Gratiano allude to\nthe metempsychosis, where he says to Shylock:\n\n\"Thou almost mak'st me waver in my faith,\n\nTo hold opinion with Pythagoras,\n\nThat souls of animals infuse themselves\n\nInto the trunks of men; thy currish spirit\n\nGoverned a wolf; who hanged for human slaughter\n\nInfused his soul in thee; for thy desires\n\nAre wolfish, bloody, starved and ravenous.\"\n\nThe relation of the notes of the musical scale to numbers, whereby\nharmony results from vibrations in equal times, and discord from\nthe reverse, led Pythagoras to apply the word \"harmony\" to the\nvisible creation, meaning by it the just adaptation of parts to\neach other. This is the idea which Dryden expresses in the\nbeginning of his \"Song for St. Cecilia's Day\":\n\n\"From harmony, from heavenly harmony\n\nThis everlasting frame began;\n\nFrom harmony to harmony\n\nThrough all the compass of the notes it ran,\n\nThe Diapason closing full in Man.\"\n\nIn the centre of the universe (he taught) there was a central\nfire, the principle of life. The central fire was surrounded by\nthe earth, the moon, the sun, and the five planets. The distances\nof the various heavenly bodies from one another were conceived to\ncorrespond to the proportions of the musical scale. The heavenly\nbodies, with the gods who inhabited them, were supposed to perform\na choral dance round the central fire, \"not without song.\" It is\nthis doctrine which Shakspeare alludes to when he makes Lorenzo\nteach astronomy to Jessica in this fashion:\n\n\"Look, Jessica, see how the floor of heaven\n\nIs thick inlaid with patines of bright gold!\n\nThere's not the smallest orb that thou behold'st\n\nBut in his motion like an angel sings,\n\nStill quiring to the young-eyed cherubim;\n\nSuch harmony is in immortal souls!\n\nBut whilst this muddy vesture of decay\n\nDoth grossly close it in we cannot hear it.\"\n\n\u2014Merchant of Venice.\n\nThe spheres were conceived to be crystalline or glassy fabrics\narranged over one another like a nest of bowls reversed. In the\nsubstance of each sphere one or more of the heavenly bodies was\nsupposed to be fixed, so as to move with it. As the spheres are\ntransparent we look through them and see the heavenly bodies which\nthey contain and carry round with them. But as these spheres\ncannot move on one another without friction, a sound is thereby\nproduced which is of exquisite harmony, too fine for mortal ears\nto recognize. Milton, in his \"Hymn on the Nativity,\" thus alludes\nto the music of the spheres:\n\n\"\"Ring out, ye crystal spheres!\n\nOnce bless our human ears\n\n(If ye have power to charm our senses so);\n\nAnd let your silver chime\n\nMove in melodious time,\n\nAnd let the base of Heaven's deep organ blow;\n\nAnd with your ninefold harmony\n\nMake up full concert with the angelic symphony.\"\n\nPythagoras is said to have invented the lyre. Our own poet\nLongfellow, in \"Verses to a Child,\" thus relates the story:\n\n\"As great Pythagoras of yore,\n\nStanding beside the blacksmith's door,\n\nAnd hearing the hammers as they smote\n\nThe anvils with a different note,\n\nStole from the varying tones that hung\n\nVibrant on every iron tongue,\n\nThe secret of the sounding wire,\n\nAnd formed the seven-chorded lyre.\"\n\nSee also the same poet's \"Occupation of Orion\"\u2014\n\n\"The Samian's great \u00c6olian lyre.\"\n\nSYBARIS AND CROTONA\n\nSybaris, a neighboring city to Crotona, was as celebrated for\nluxury and effeminacy as Crotona for the reverse. The name has\nbecome proverbial. J. R. Lowell uses it in this sense in his\ncharming little poem \"To the Dandelion\":\n\n\"Not in mid June the golden cuirassed bee\n\nFeels a more summer-like, warm ravishment\n\nIn the white lily's breezy tent\n\n(His conquered Sybaris) than I when first\n\nFrom the dark green thy yellow circles burst.\"\n\nA war arose between the two cities, and Sybaris was conquered and\ndestroyed. Milo, the celebrated athlete, led the army of Crotona.\nMany stories are told of Milo's vast strength, such as his\ncarrying a heifer of four years old upon his shoulders and\nafterwards eating the whole of it in a single day. The mode of his\ndeath is thus related: As he was passing through a forest he saw\nthe trunk of a tree which had been partially split open by wood-\ncutters, and attempted to rend it further; but the wood closed\nupon his hands and held him fast, in which state he was attacked\nand devoured by wolves.\n\nByron, in his \"Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte,\" alludes to the story of\nMilo:\n\n\"He who of old would rend the oak\n\nDeemed not of the rebound;\n\nChained by the trunk he vainly broke,\n\nAlone, how looked he round!\"\n\nEGYPTIAN DEITIES\n\nThe Egyptians acknowledged as the highest deity Amun, afterwards\ncalled Zeus, or Jupiter Ammon. Amun manifested himself in his word\nor will, which created Kneph and Athor, of different sexes. From\nKneph and Athor proceeded Osiris and Isis. Osiris was worshipped\nas the god of the sun, the source of warmth, life, and\nfruitfulness, in addition to which he was also regarded as the god\nof the Nile, who annually visited his wife, Isis (the Earth), by\nmeans of an inundation. Serapis or Hermes is sometimes represented\nas identical with Osiris, and sometimes as a distinct divinity,\nthe ruler of Tartarus and god of medicine. Anubis is the guardian\ngod, represented with a dog's head, emblematic of his character of\nfidelity and watchfulness. Horus or Harpocrates was the son of\nOsiris. He is represented seated on a Lotus flower, with his\nfinger on his lips, as the god of Silence.\n\n\u00a0\n\nIn one of Moore's \"Irish Melodies\" is an allusion to Harpocrates:\n\n\"Thyself shall, under some rosy bower,\n\nSit mute, with thy finger on thy lip;\n\nLike him, the boy, who born among\n\nThe flowers that on the Nile-stream blush,\n\nSits ever thus,\u2014his only song\n\nTo Earth and Heaven, 'Hush all, hush!'\"\n\nMYTH OF OSIRIS AND ISIS\n\nOsiris and Isis were at one time induced to descend to the earth\nto bestow gifts and blessings on its inhabitants. Isis showed them\nfirst the use of wheat and barley, and Osiris made the instruments\nof agriculture and taught men the use of them, as well as how to\nharness the ox to the plough. He then gave men laws, the\ninstitution of marriage, a civil organization, and taught them how\nto worship the gods. After he had thus made the valley of the Nile\na happy country, he assembled a host with which he went to bestow\nhis blessings upon the rest of the world. He conquered the nations\neverywhere, but not with weapons, only with music and eloquence.\nHis brother Typhon saw this, and filled with envy and malice\nsought during his absence to usurp his throne. But Isis, who held\nthe reins of government, frustrated his plans. Still more\nembittered, he now resolved to kill his brother. This he did in\nthe following manner: Having organized a conspiracy of seventy-two\nmembers, he went with them to the feast which was celebrated in\nhonor of the king's return. He then caused a box or chest to be\nbrought in, which had been made to fit exactly the size of Osiris,\nand declared that he would give that chest of precious wood\nto whosoever could get into it. The rest tried in vain, but no\nsooner was Osiris in it than Typhon and his companions closed the\nlid and flung the chest into the Nile. When Isis heard of the\ncruel murder she wept and mourned, and then with her hair shorn,\nclothed in black and beating her breast, she sought diligently for\nthe body of her husband. In this search she was materially\nassisted by Anubis, the son of Osiris and Nephthys. They sought in\nvain for some time; for when the chest, carried by the waves to\nthe shores of Byblos, had become entangled in the reeds that grew\nat the edge of the water, the divine power that dwelt in the body\nof Osiris imparted such strength to the shrub that it grew into a\nmighty tree, enclosing in its trunk the coffin of the god. This\ntree with its sacred deposit was shortly after felled, and erected\nas a column in the palace of the king of Ph\u0153nicia. But at length\nby the aid of Anubis and the sacred birds, Isis ascertained these\nfacts, and then went to the royal city. There she offered herself\nat the palace as a servant, and being admitted, threw off her\ndisguise and appeared as a goddess, surrounded with thunder and\nlightning. Striking the column with her wand she caused it to\nsplit open and give up the sacred coffin. This she seized and\nreturned with it, and concealed it in the depth of a forest, but\nTyphon discovered it, and cutting the body into fourteen pieces\nscattered them hither and thither. After a tedious search, Isis\nfound thirteen pieces, the fishes of the Nile having eaten the\nother. This she replaced by an imitation of sycamore wood, and\nburied the body at Phil\u00e6, which became ever after the great\nburying place of the nation, and the spot to which pilgrimages\nwere made from all parts of the country. A temple of surpassing\nmagnificence was also erected there in honor of the god, and at\nevery place where one of his limbs had been found minor temples\nand tombs were built to commemorate the event. Osiris became after\nthat the tutelar deity of the Egyptians. His soul was supposed\nalways to inhabit the body of the bull Apis, and at his death to\ntransfer itself to his successor.\n\nApis, the Bull of Memphis, was worshipped with the greatest\nreverence by the Egyptians. The individual animal who was held to\nbe Apis was recognized by certain signs. It was requisite that he\nshould be quite black, have a white square mark on the forehead,\nanother, in the form of an eagle, on his back, and under his\ntongue a lump somewhat in the shape of a scarabaeus or beetle. As\nsoon as a bull thus marked was found by those sent in search of\nhim, he was placed in a building facing the east, and was fed with\nmilk for four months. At the expiration of this term the priests\nrepaired at new moon, with great pomp, to his habitation and\nsaluted him Apis. He was placed in a vessel magnificently\ndecorated and conveyed down the Nile to Memphis, where a temple,\nwith two chapels and a court for exercise, was assigned to him.\nSacrifices were made to him, and once every year, about the time\nwhen the Nile began to rise, a golden cup was thrown into the\nriver, and a grand festival was held to celebrate his birthday.\nThe people believed that during this festival the crocodiles\nforgot their natural ferocity and became harmless. There was,\nhowever, one drawback to his happy lot: he was not permitted to\nlive beyond a certain period, and if, when he had attained the age\nof twenty-five years, he still survived, the priests drowned him\nin the sacred cistern and then buried him in the temple of\nSerapis. On the death of this bull, whether it occurred in the\ncourse of nature or by violence, the whole land was filled with\nsorrow and lamentations, which lasted until his successor was\nfound.\n\nWe find the following item in one of the newspapers of the day:\n\n\"The Tomb of Apis.\u2014The excavations going on at Memphis bid fair\nto make that buried city as interesting as Pompeii. The monster\ntomb of Apis is now open, after having lain unknown for\ncenturies.\"\n\n\u00a0\n\nMilton, in his \"Hymn on the Nativity,\" alludes to the Egyptian\ndeities, not as imaginary beings, but as real demons, put to\nflight by the coming of Christ.\n\n\"The brutish god of Nile as fast,\n\nIsis and Horus and the dog Anubis haste.\n\nNor is Osiris seen\n\nIn Memphian grove or green\n\nTrampling the unshowered grass with lowings loud;\n\nNor can he be at rest\n\nWithin his sacred chest;\n\nNought but profoundest hell can be his shroud.\n\nIn vain with timbrel'd anthems dark\n\nThe sable-stole sorcerers bear his worshipped ark.\"\n\nIsis was represented in statuary with the head veiled, a symbol of\nmystery. It is this which Tennyson alludes to in \"Maud,\" IV., 8:\n\n\"For the drift of the Maker is dark, an Isis hid by the veil,\" etc.\n\nORACLES\n\nOracle was the name used to denote the place where answers\nwere supposed to be given by any of the divinities to those who\nconsulted them respecting the future. The word was also used to\nsignify the response which was given.\n\nThe most ancient Grecian oracle was that of Jupiter at Dodona.\nAccording to one account, it was established in the following\nmanner: Two black doves took their flight from Thebes in Egypt.\nOne flew to Dodona in Epirus, and alighting in a grove of oaks, it\nproclaimed in human language to the inhabitants of the district\nthat they must establish there an oracle of Jupiter. The other\ndove flew to the temple of Jupiter Ammon in the Libyan Oasis, and\ndelivered a similar command there. Another account is, that they\nwere not doves, but priestesses, who were carried off from Thebes\nin Egypt by the Ph\u0153nicians, and set up oracles at the Oasis and\nDodona. The responses of the oracle were given from the trees, by\nthe branches rustling in the wind, the sounds being interpreted by\nthe priests.\n\nBut the most celebrated of the Grecian oracles was that of Apollo\nat Delphi, a city built on the slopes of Parnassus in Phocis.\n\nIt had been observed at a very early period that the goats feeding\non Parnassus were thrown into convulsions when they approached a\ncertain long deep cleft in the side of the mountain. This was\nowing to a peculiar vapor arising out of the cavern, and one of\nthe goatherds was induced to try its effects upon himself.\nInhaling the intoxicating air, he was affected in the same manner\nas the cattle had been, and the inhabitants of the surrounding\ncountry, unable to explain the circumstance, imputed the\nconvulsive ravings to which he gave utterance while under the\npower of the exhalations to a divine inspiration. The fact was\nspeedily circulated widely, and a temple was erected on the spot.\nThe prophetic influence was at first variously attributed to the\ngoddess Earth, to Neptune, Themis, and others, but it was at\nlength assigned to Apollo, and to him alone. A priestess was\nappointed whose office it was to inhale the hallowed air, and who\nwas named the Pythia. She was prepared for this duty by previous\nablution at the fountain of Castalia, and being crowned with\nlaurel was seated upon a tripod similarly adorned, which was\nplaced over the chasm whence the divine afflatus proceeded. Her\ninspired words while thus situated were interpreted by the\npriests.\n\nORACLE OF TROPHONIUS\n\nBesides the oracles of Jupiter and Apollo, at Dodona and Delphi,\nthat of Trophonius in Boeotia was held in high estimation.\nTrophonius and Agamedes were brothers. They were distinguished\narchitects, and built the temple of Apollo at Delphi, and a\ntreasury for King Hyrieus. In the wall of the treasury they placed\na stone, in such a manner that it could be taken out; and by this\nmeans, from time to time, purloined the treasure. This amazed\nHyrieus, for his locks and seals were untouched, and yet his\nwealth continually diminished. At length he set a trap for the\nthief and Agamedes was caught. Trophonias, unable to extricate\nhim, and fearing that when found he would be compelled by torture\nto discover his accomplice, cut off his head. Trophonius himself\nis said to have been shortly afterwards swallowed up by the earth.\n\nThe oracle of Trophonius was at Lebadea in B\u0153otia. During a great\ndrought the B\u0153otians, it is said, were directed by the god at\nDelphi to seek aid of Trophonius at Lebadea. They came thither,\nbut could find no pracle. One of them, however, happening to see a\nswarm of bees, followed them to a chasm in the earth, which proved\nto be the place sought.\n\nPeculiar ceremonies were to be performed by the person who came to\nconsult the oracle. After these preliminaries, he descended into\nthe cave by a narrow passage. This place could be entered only in\nthe night. The person returned from the cave by the same narrow\npassage, bat walking backwards. He appeared melancholy and\ndefected; and hence the proverb which was applied to a person low-\nspirited and gloomy, \"He has been consulting the oracle of\nTrophonius.\"\n\nORACLE OF AESCULAPIUS\n\nThere were numerous oracles of \u00c6sculapius, but the most\ncelebrated one was at Epidaurus. Here the sick sought responses\nand the recovery of their health by sleeping in the temple. It has\nbeen inferred from the accounts that have come down to us that the\ntreatment of the sick resembled what is now called Animal\nMagnetism or Mesmerism.\n\nSerpents were sacred to \u00c6sculapius, probably because of a\nsuperstition that those animals have a faculty of renewing their\nyouth by a change of skin. The worship of Aesculapius was\nintroduced into Rome in a time of great sickness, and an embassy\nsent to the temple of Epidaurus to entreat the aid of the god.\nAesculapius was propitious, and on the return of the ship\naccompanied it in the form of a serpent. Arriving in the river\nTiber, the serpent glided from the vessel and took possession of\nan island in the river, and a temple was there erected to his\nhonor.\n\nORACLE OF APIS\n\nAt Memphis the sacred bull Apis gave answer to those who consulted\nhim by the manner in which he received or rejected what was\npresented to him. If the bull refused food from the hand of the\ninquirer it was considered an unfavorable sign, and the contrary\nwhen he received it.\n\nIt has been a question whether oracular responses ought to be\nascribed to mere human contrivance or to the agency of evil\nspirits. The latter opinion has been most general in past ages. A\nthird theory has been advanced since the phenomena of Mesmerism\nhave attracted attention, that something like the mesmeric trance\nwas induced in the Pythoness, and the faculty of clairvoyance\nreally called into action.\n\nAnother question is as to the time when the Pagan oracles ceased\nto give responses. Ancient Christian writers assert that they\nbecame silent at the birth of Christ, and were heard no more after\nthat date. Milton adopts, this view in his \"Hymn on the Mativity,\"\nand in lines of solemn and elevated beauty pictures the\nconsternation of the heathen idols at the Advent of the Saviour:\n\n\"The oracles are dumb;\n\nNo voice or hideous hum\n\nRings through the arched roof in words Deceiving.\n\nApollo from his shrine\n\nCan no more divine,\n\nWith hollow shriek the steep of Delphos heaving.\n\nNo nightly trance or breathed spell\n\nInspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell\"\n\nIn Cowper's poem of \"Yardley Oak\" there are some beautiful\nmythological allusions. The former of the two following is to the\nfable of Castor and Pollux; the latter is more appropriate to our\npresent subject. Addressing the acorn he says:\n\n\"Thou fell'st mature; and in the loamy clod,\n\nSwelling with vegetative force instinct,\n\nDidst burst thine, as theirs the fabled Twins\n\nNow stars; two lobes protruding, paired exact;\n\nA leaf succeeded and another leaf,\n\nAnd, all the elements thy puny growth\n\nFostering propitious, thou becam'st a twig.\n\nWho lived when thou wast such? Of couldst thou speak,\n\nAs in Dodona once thy kindred trees\n\nOracular, I would not curious ask\n\nThe future, best unknown, but at thy mouth\n\nInquisitive, the less ambiguous past.\"\n\nTennyson, in his \"Talking Oak,\" alludes to the oaks of Dodona in\nthese lines:\n\n\"And I will work in prose and rhyme,\n\nAnd praise thee more in both\n\nThan bard has honored beech or lime,\n\nOr that Thessalian growth\n\nIn which the swarthy ring-dove sat\n\nAnd mystic sentence spoke; etc.\n\nByron alludes to the oracle of Delphi where, speaking of Rousseau,\nwhose writings he conceives did much to bring on the French\nrevolution, he says:\n\n\"For the, he was inspired, and from him came,\n\nAs from the Pythian's mystic cave of yore,\n\nThose oracles which set the world in flame,\n\nNor ceased to burn till kingdoms were no more.\"","title":"The Age of Fable/Chapter XXXIV","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":4102}