<h1 id="id01152" style="margin-top: 5em">CHAPTER XXXIV</h1>
<h5 id="id01153">PYTHAGORAS—EGYPTIAN DEITIES—ORACLES</h5>
<h5 id="id01154">PYTHAGORAS</h5>
<p id="id01155" style="margin-top: 2em">The teachings of Anchises to Aeneas, respecting the nature of the
human soul, were in conformity with the doctrines of the
Pythagoreans. Pythagoras (born five hundred and forty years B.C.)
was a native of the island of Samos, but passed the chief portion
of his life at Crotona in Italy. He is therefore sometimes called
"the Samian," and sometimes "the philosopher of Crotona." When
young he travelled extensively, and it is said visited Egypt,
where he was instructed by the priests in all their learning, and
afterwards journeyed to the East, and visited the Persian and
Chaldean Magi, and the Brahmins of India.</p>
<p id="id01156">At Crotona, where he finally established himself, his
extraordinary qualities collected round him a great number of
disciples. The inhabitants were notorious for luxury and
licentiousness, but the good effects of his influence were soon
visible. Sobriety and temperance succeeded. Six hundred of the
inhabitants became his disciples and enrolled themselves in a
society to aid each other in the pursuit of wisdom, uniting their
property in one common stock for the benefit of the whole. They
were required to practise the greatest purity and simplicity of
manners. The first lesson they learned was SILENCE; for a time
they were required to be only hearers. "He [Pythagoras] said so"
(Ipse dixit), was to be held by them as sufficient, without any
proof. It was only the advanced pupils, after years of patient
submission, who were allowed to ask questions and to state
objections.</p>
<p id="id01157">Pythagoras considered NUMBERS as the essence and principle of all
things, and attributed to them a real and distinct existence; so
that, in his view, they were the elements out of which the
universe was constructed. How he conceived this process has never
been satisfactorily explained. He traced the various forms and
phenomena of the world to numbers as their basis and essence. The
"Monad" or unit he regarded as the source of all numbers. The
number Two was imperfect, and the cause of increase and division.
Three was called the number of the whole because it had a
beginning, middle, and end. Four, representing the square, is in
the highest degree perfect; and Ten, as it contains the sum of the
four prime numbers, comprehends all musical and arithmetical
proportions, and denotes the system of the world.</p>
<p id="id01158">As the numbers proceed from the monad, so he regarded the pure and
simple essence of the Deity as the source of all the forms of
nature. Gods, demons, and heroes are emanations of the Supreme,
and there is a fourth emanation, the human soul. This is immortal,
and when freed from the fetters of the body passes to the
habitation of the dead, where it remains till it returns to the
world, to dwell in some other human or animal body, and at last,
when sufficiently purified, it returns to the source from which it
proceeded. This doctrine of the transmigration of souls
(metempsychosis), which was originally Egyptian and connected with
the doctrine of reward and punishment of human actions, was the
chief cause why the Pythagoreans killed no animals. Ovid
represents Pythagoras addressing his disciples in these words:
"Souls never die, but always on quitting one abode pass to
another. I myself can remember that in the time of the Trojan war
I was Euphorbus, the son of Panthus, and fell by the spear of
Menelaus. Lately being in the temple of Juno, at Argos, I
recognized my shield hung up there among the trophies. All things
change, nothing perishes. The soul passes hither and thither,
occupying now this body, now that, passing from the body of a
beast into that of a man, and thence to a beast's again. As wax is
stamped with certain figures, then melted, then stamped anew with
others, yet is always the same wax, so the soul, being always the
same, yet wears, at different times, different forms. Therefore,
if the love of kindred is not extinct in your bosoms, forbear, I
entreat you, to violate the life of those who may haply be your
own relatives."</p>
<p id="id01159">Shakspeare, in the "Merchant of Venice," makes Gratiano allude to
the metempsychosis, where he says to Shylock:</p>
<p id="id01160"> "Thou almost mak'st me waver in my faith,<br/>
To hold opinion with Pythagoras,<br/>
That souls of animals infuse themselves<br/>
Into the trunks of men; thy currish spirit<br/>
Governed a wolf; who hanged for human slaughter<br/>
Infused his soul in thee; for thy desires<br/>
Are wolfish, bloody, starved and ravenous."<br/></p>
<p id="id01161">The relation of the notes of the musical scale to numbers, whereby
harmony results from vibrations in equal times, and discord from
the reverse, led Pythagoras to apply the word "harmony" to the
visible creation, meaning by it the just adaptation of parts to
each other. This is the idea which Dryden expresses in the
beginning of his "Song for St. Cecilia's Day":</p>
<p id="id01162"> "From harmony, from heavenly harmony<br/>
This everlasting frame began;<br/>
From harmony to harmony<br/>
Through all the compass of the notes it ran,<br/>
The Diapason closing full in Man."<br/></p>
<p id="id01163">In the centre of the universe (he taught) there was a central
fire, the principle of life. The central fire was surrounded by
the earth, the moon, the sun, and the five planets. The distances
of the various heavenly bodies from one another were conceived to
correspond to the proportions of the musical scale. The heavenly
bodies, with the gods who inhabited them, were supposed to perform
a choral dance round the central fire, "not without song." It is
this doctrine which Shakspeare alludes to when he makes Lorenzo
teach astronomy to Jessica in this fashion:</p>
<p id="id01164"> "Look, Jessica, see how the floor of heaven<br/>
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold!<br/>
There's not the smallest orb that thou behold'st<br/>
But in his motion like an angel sings,<br/>
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubim;<br/>
Such harmony is in immortal souls!<br/>
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay<br/>
Doth grossly close it in we cannot hear it."<br/></p>
<p id="id01165"> —Merchant of Venice.</p>
<p id="id01166">The spheres were conceived to be crystalline or glassy fabrics
arranged over one another like a nest of bowls reversed. In the
substance of each sphere one or more of the heavenly bodies was
supposed to be fixed, so as to move with it. As the spheres are
transparent we look through them and see the heavenly bodies which
they contain and carry round with them. But as these spheres
cannot move on one another without friction, a sound is thereby
produced which is of exquisite harmony, too fine for mortal ears
to recognize. Milton, in his "Hymn on the Nativity," thus alludes
to the music of the spheres:</p>
<p id="id01167"> "Ring out, ye crystal spheres!<br/>
Once bless our human ears<br/>
(If ye have power to charm our senses so);<br/>
And let your silver chime<br/>
Move in melodious time,<br/>
And let the base of Heaven's deep organ blow;<br/>
And with your ninefold harmony<br/>
Make up full concert with the angelic symphony."<br/></p>
<p id="id01168">Pythagoras is said to have invented the lyre. Our own poet<br/>
Longfellow, in "Verses to a Child," thus relates the story:<br/></p>
<p id="id01169"> "As great Pythagoras of yore,<br/>
Standing beside the blacksmith's door,<br/>
And hearing the hammers as they smote<br/>
The anvils with a different note,<br/>
Stole from the varying tones that hung<br/>
Vibrant on every iron tongue,<br/>
The secret of the sounding wire,<br/>
And formed the seven-chorded lyre."<br/></p>
<p id="id01170">See also the same poet's "Occupation of Orion"—</p>
<p id="id01171"> "The Samian's great Aeolian lyre."</p>
<h5 id="id01172">SYBARIS AND CROTONA</h5>
<p id="id01173">Sybaris, a neighboring city to Crotona, was as celebrated for
luxury and effeminacy as Crotona for the reverse. The name has
become proverbial. J. R. Lowell uses it in this sense in his
charming little poem "To the Dandelion":</p>
<p id="id01174"> "Not in mid June the golden cuirassed bee<br/>
Feels a more summer-like, warm ravishment<br/>
In the white lily's breezy tent<br/>
(His conquered Sybaris) than I when first<br/>
From the dark green thy yellow circles burst."<br/></p>
<p id="id01175">A war arose between the two cities, and Sybaris was conquered and
destroyed. Milo, the celebrated athlete, led the army of Crotona.
Many stories are told of Milo's vast strength, such as his
carrying a heifer of four years old upon his shoulders and
afterwards eating the whole of it in a single day. The mode of his
death is thus related: As he was passing through a forest he saw
the trunk of a tree which had been partially split open by wood-
cutters, and attempted to rend it further; but the wood closed
upon his hands and held him fast, in which state he was attacked
and devoured by wolves.</p>
<p id="id01176">Byron, in his "Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte," alludes to the story of<br/>
Milo:<br/></p>
<p id="id01177"> "He who of old would rend the oak<br/>
Deemed not of the rebound;<br/>
Chained by the trunk he vainly broke,<br/>
Alone, how looked he round!"<br/></p>
<h5 id="id01178">EGYPTIAN DEITIES</h5>
<p id="id01179">The Egyptians acknowledged as the highest deity Amun, afterwards
called Zeus, or Jupiter Ammon. Amun manifested himself in his word
or will, which created Kneph and Athor, of different sexes. From
Kneph and Athor proceeded Osiris and Isis. Osiris was worshipped
as the god of the sun, the source of warmth, life, and
fruitfulness, in addition to which he was also regarded as the god
of the Nile, who annually visited his wife, Isis (the Earth), by
means of an inundation. Serapis or Hermes is sometimes represented
as identical with Osiris, and sometimes as a distinct divinity,
the ruler of Tartarus and god of medicine. Anubis is the guardian
god, represented with a dog's head, emblematic of his character of
fidelity and watchfulness. Horus or Harpocrates was the son of
Osiris. He is represented seated on a Lotus flower, with his
finger on his lips, as the god of Silence.</p>
<p id="id01180">In one of Moore's "Irish Melodies" is an allusion to Harpocrates:</p>
<p id="id01181"> "Thyself shall, under some rosy bower,<br/>
Sit mute, with thy finger on thy lip;<br/>
Like him, the boy, who born among<br/>
The flowers that on the Nile-stream blush,<br/>
Sits ever thus,—his only song<br/>
To Earth and Heaven, 'Hush all, hush!'"<br/></p>
<h5 id="id01182">MYTH OF OSIRIS AND ISIS</h5>
<p id="id01183">Osiris and Isis were at one time induced to descend to the earth
to bestow gifts and blessings on its inhabitants. Isis showed them
first the use of wheat and barley, and Osiris made the instruments
of agriculture and taught men the use of them, as well as how to
harness the ox to the plough. He then gave men laws, the
institution of marriage, a civil organization, and taught them how
to worship the gods. After he had thus made the valley of the Nile
a happy country, he assembled a host with which he went to bestow
his blessings upon the rest of the world. He conquered the nations
everywhere, but not with weapons, only with music and eloquence.
His brother Typhon saw this, and filled with envy and malice
sought during his absence to usurp his throne. But Isis, who held
the reins of government, frustrated his plans. Still more
embittered, he now resolved to kill his brother. This he did in
the following manner: Having organized a conspiracy of seventy-two
members, he went with them to the feast which was celebrated in
honor of the king's return. He then caused a box or chest to be
brought in, which had been made to fit exactly the size of Osiris,
and declared that he wouldd would give that chest of precious wood
to whosoever could get into it. The rest tried in vain, but no
sooner was Osiris in it than Typhon and his companions closed the
lid and flung the chest into the Nile. When Isis heard of the
cruel murder she wept and mourned, and then with her hair shorn,
clothed in black and beating her breast, she sought diligently for
the body of her husband. In this search she was materially
assisted by Anubis, the son of Osiris and Nephthys. They sought in
vain for some time; for when the chest, carried by the waves to
the shores of Byblos, had become entangled in the reeds that grew
at the edge of the water, the divine power that dwelt in the body
of Osiris imparted such strength to the shrub that it grew into a
mighty tree, enclosing in its trunk the coffin of the god. This
tree with its sacred deposit was shortly after felled, and erected
as a column in the palace of the king of Phoenicia. But at length
by the aid of Anubis and the sacred birds, Isis ascertained these
facts, and then went to the royal city. There she offered herself
at the palace as a servant, and being admitted, threw off her
disguise and appeared as a goddess, surrounded with thunder and
lightning. Striking the column with her wand she caused it to
split open and give up the sacred coffin. This she seized and
returned with it, and concealed it in the depth of a forest, but
Typhon discovered it, and cutting the body into fourteen pieces
scattered them hither and thither. After a tedious search, Isis
found thirteen pieces, the fishes of the Nile having eaten the
other. This she replaced by an imitation of sycamore wood, and
buried the body at Philae, which became ever after the great
burying place of the nation, and the spot to which pilgrimages
were made from all parts of the country. A temple of surpassing
magnificence was also erected there in honor of the god, and at
every place where one of his limbs had been found minor temples
and tombs were built to commemorate the event. Osiris became after
that the tutelar deity of the Egyptians. His soul was supposed
always to inhabit the body of the bull Apis, and at his death to
transfer itself to his successor.</p>
<p id="id01184">Apis, the Bull of Memphis, was worshipped with the greatest
reverence by the Egyptians. The individual animal who was held to
be Apis was recognized by certain signs. It was requisite that he
should be quite black, have a white square mark on the forehead,
another, in the form of an eagle, on his back, and under his
tongue a lump somewhat in the shape of a scarabaeus or beetle. As
soon as a bull thus marked was found by those sent in search of
him, he was placed in a building facing the east, and was fed with
milk for four months. At the expiration of this term the priests
repaired at new moon, with great pomp, to his habitation and
saluted him Apis. He was placed in a vessel magnificently
decorated and conveyed down the Nile to Memphis, where a temple,
with two chapels and a court for exercise, was assigned to him.
Sacrifices were made to him, and once every year, about the time
when the Nile began to rise, a golden cup was thrown into the
river, and a grand festival was held to celebrate his birthday.
The people believed that during this festival the crocodiles
forgot their natural ferocity and became harmless. There was,
however, one drawback to his happy lot: he was not permitted to
live beyond a certain period, and if, when he had attained the age
of twenty-five years, he still survived, the priests drowned him
in the sacred cistern and then buried him in the temple of
Serapis. On the death of this bull, whether it occurred in the
course of nature or by violence, the whole land was filled with
sorrow and lamentations, which lasted until his successor was
found.</p>
<p id="id01185">We find the following item in one of the newspapers of the day:</p>
<p id="id01186">"The Tomb of Apis.—The excavations going on at Memphis bid fair
to make that buried city as interesting as Pompeii. The monster
tomb of Apis is now open, after having lain unknown for
centuries."</p>
<p id="id01187">Milton, in his "Hymn on the Nativity," alludes to the Egyptian
deities, not as imaginary beings, but as real demons, put to
flight by the coming of Christ.</p>
<p id="id01188"> "The brutish god of Nile as fast,<br/>
Isis and Horus and the dog Anubis haste.<br/>
Nor is Osiris seen<br/>
In Memphian grove or green<br/>
Trampling the unshowered grass with lowings loud;<br/>
Nor can he be at rest<br/>
Within his sacred chest;<br/>
Nought but profoundest hell can be his shroud.<br/>
In vain with timbrel'd anthems dark<br/>
The sable-stole sorcerers bear his worshipped ark."<br/></p>
<p id="id01189">[Footnote: There being no rain in Egypt, the grass is
"unshowered," and the country depend for its fertility upon the
overflowings of the Nile. The ark alluded to in the last line is
shown by pictures still remaining on the walls of the Egyptian
temples to have been borne by the priests in their religious
processions. It probably represented the chest in which Osiris was
placed.]</p>
<p id="id01190">Isis was represented in statuary with the head veiled, a symbol of
mystery. It is this which Tennyson alludes to in "Maud," IV., 8:</p>
<p id="id01191">"For the drift of the Maker is dark, an Isis hid by the veil,"
etc.</p>
<p id="id01192">ORACLES Oracle was the name used to denote the place where answers
were supposed to be given by any of the divinities to those who
consulted them respecting the future. The word was also used to
signify the response which was given.</p>
<p id="id01193">The most ancient Grecian oracle was that of Jupiter at Dodona.
According to one account, it was established in the following
manner: Two black doves took their flight from Thebes in Egypt.
One flew to Dodona in Epirus, and alighting in a grove of oaks, it
proclaimed in human language to the inhabitants of the district
that they must establish there an oracle of Jupiter. The other
dove flew to the temple of Jupiter Ammon in the Libyan Oasis, and
delivered a similar command there. Another account is, that they
were not doves, but priestesses, who were carried off from Thebes
in Egypt by the Phoenicians, and set up oracles at the Oasis and
Dodona. The responses of the oracle were given from the trees, by
the branches rustling in the wind, the sounds being interpreted by
the priests.</p>
<p id="id01194">But the most celebrated of the Grecian oracles was that of Apollo
at Delphi, a city built on the slopes of Parnassus in Phocis.</p>
<p id="id01195">It had been observed at a very early period that the goats feeding
on Parnassus were thrown into convulsions when they approached a
certain long deep cleft in the side of the mountain. This was
owing to a peculiar vapor arising out of the cavern, and one of
the goatherds was induced to try its effects upon himself.
Inhaling the intoxicating air, he was affected in the same manner
as the cattle had been, and the inhabitants of the surrounding
country, unable to explain the circumstance, imputed the
convulsive ravings to which he gave utterance while under the
power of the exhalations to a divine inspiration. The fact was
speedily circulated widely, and a temple was erected on the spot.
The prophetic influence was at first variously attributed to the
goddess Earth, to Neptune, Themis, and others, but it was at
length assigned to Apollo, and to him alone. A priestess was
appointed whose office it was to inhale the hallowed air, and who
was named the Pythia. She was prepared for this duty by previous
ablution at the fountain of Castalia, and being crowned with
laurel was seated upon a tripod similarly adorned, which was
placed over the chasm whence the divine afflatus proceeded. Her
inspired words while thus situated were interpreted by the
priests.</p>
<h5 id="id01196">ORACLE OF TROPHONIUS</h5>
<p id="id01197">Besides the oracles of Jupiter and Apollo, at Dodona and Delphi,
that of Trophonius in Boeotia was held in high estimation.
Trophonius and Agamedes were brothers. They were distinguished
architects, and built the temple of Apollo at Delphi, and a
treasury for King Hyrieus. In the wall of the treasury they placed
a stone, in such a manner that it could be taken out; and by this
means, from time to time, purloined the treasure. This amazed
Hyrieus, for his locks and seals were untouched, and yet his
wealth continually diminished. At length he set a trap for the
thief and Agamedes was caught. Trophonias, unable to extricate
him, and fearing that when found he would be compelled by torture
to discover his accomplice, cut off his head. Trophonius himself
is said to have been shortly afterwards swallowed up by the earth.</p>
<p id="id01198">The oracle of Trophonius was at Lebadea in Boeotia. During a great
drought the Boeotians, it is said, were directed by the god at
Delphi to seek aid of Trophonius at Lebadea. They came thither,
but could find no oracle. One of them, however, happening to see a
swarm of bees, followed them to a chasm in the earth, which proved
to be the place sought.</p>
<p id="id01199">Peculiar ceremonies were to be performed by the person who came to
consult the oracle. After these preliminaries, he descended into
the cave by a narrow passage. This place could be entered only in
the night. The person returned from the cave by the same narrow
passage, but walking backwards. He appeared melancholy and
defected; and hence the proverb which was applied to a person low-
spirited and gloomy, "He has been consulting the oracle of
Trophonius."</p>
<h5 id="id01200">ORACLE OF AESCULAPIUS</h5>
<p id="id01201">There were numerous oracles of Aesculapius, but the most
celebrated one was at Epidaurus. Here the sick sought responses
and the recovery of their health by sleeping in the temple. It has
been inferred from the accounts that have come down to us that the
treatment of the sick resembled what is now called Animal
Magnetism or Mesmerism.</p>
<p id="id01202">Serpents 'were sacred to Aesculapius, probably because of a
superstition that those animals have a faculty of renewing their
youth by a change of skin. The worship of Aesculapius was
introduced into Rome in a time of great sickness, and an embassy
sent to the temple of Epidaurus to entreat the aid of the god.
Aesculapius was propitious, and on the return of the ship
accompanied it in the form of a serpent. Arriving in the river
Tiber, the serpent glided from the vessel and took possession of
an island in the river, and a temple was there erected to his
honor.</p>
<h5 id="id01203">ORACLE OF APIS</h5>
<p id="id01204">At Memphis the sacred bull Apis gave answer to those who consulted
him by the manner in which he received or rejected what was
presented to him. If the bull refused food from the hand of the
inquirer it was considered an unfavorable sign, and the contrary
when he received it.</p>
<p id="id01205">It has been a question whether oracular responses ought to be
ascribed to mere human contrivance or to the agency of evil
spirits. The latter opinion has been most general in past ages. A
third theory has been advanced since the phenomena of Mesmerism
have attracted attention, that something like the mesmeric trance
was induced in the Pythoness, and the faculty of clairvoyance
really called into action.</p>
<p id="id01206">Another question is as to the time when the Pagan oracles ceased
to give responses. Ancient Christian writers assert that they
became silent at the birth of Christ, and were heard no more after
that date. Milton adopts this view in his "Hymn of the Nativity,"
and in lines of solemn and elevated beauty pictures the
consternation of the heathen idols at the Advent of the Saviour:</p>
<p id="id01207"> "The oracles are dumb;<br/>
No voice or hideous hum<br/>
Rings through the arched roof in words Deceiving.<br/>
Apollo from his shrine<br/>
Can no more divine,<br/>
With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos heaving.<br/>
No nightly trance or breathed spell<br/>
Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell"<br/></p>
<p id="id01208">In Cowper's poem of "Yardley Oak" there are some beautiful
mythological allusions. The former of the two following is to the
fable of Castor and Pollux; the latter is more appropriate to our
present subject. Addressing the acorn he says:</p>
<p id="id01209"> "Thou fell'st mature; and in the loamy clod,<br/>
Swelling with vegetative force instinct,<br/>
Didst burst thine, as theirs the fabled Twins<br/>
Now stars; twor lobes protruding, paired exact;<br/>
A leaf succeede and another leaf,<br/>
And, all the elements thy puny growth<br/>
Fostering propitious, thou becam'st a twig.<br/>
Who lived when thou wast such? Of couldst thou speak,<br/>
As in Dodona once thy kindred trees<br/>
Oracular, I would not curious ask<br/>
The future, best unknown, but at thy mouth<br/>
Inquisitive, the less ambiguous past."<br/></p>
<p id="id01210">Tennyson, in his "Talking Oak," alludes to the oaks of Dodona in
these lines:</p>
<p id="id01211"> And I will work in prose and rhyme,<br/>
And praise thee more in both<br/>
Than bard has honored beech or lime,<br/>
Or that Thessalian growth<br/>
In which the swarthy ring-dove sat<br/>
And mystic sentence spoke; etc.<br/></p>
<p id="id01212">Byron alludes to the oracle of Delphi where, speaking of Rousseau,
whose writings he conceives did much to bring on the French
revolution, he says:</p>
<p id="id01213"> "For the, he was inspired, and from him came,<br/>
As from the Pythian's mystic cave of yore,<br/>
Those oracles which set the world in flame,<br/>
Nor ceased to burn till kingdoms were no more."<br/></p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />