XXV

VARIOUS PYTHAGORASES

Pythagoras was the name of four men, almost contemporaneous, and living close to each other. One was a native of Crotona, a man who attained to tyrant's power; the second was Phliasian, and as some say, a trainer of wrestlers. The third was a native of Zacynthus; the fourth was this our philosopher, to whom the mysteries of philosophy are said to belong, and in whose time the proverbial phrase, ipse dixit, arose generally. Some also claim the existence of a fifth Pythagoras, a sculptor of Rhodes, who is believed to have been the first discoverer of rhythm and proportion. Another was a Samian sculptor. Another, an orator of small reputation. Another was a physician, who wrote a treatise on squills, and some essays on Homer. Dionysius tells us there was another who wrote a history of the affairs of the Dorians.

Eratosthenes, quoted by Phavorinus, in the eighth book of his Universal History, tells us that this philosopher, of whom we are speaking, was the first man who ever practised boxing in a scientific manner, in the forty-eighth Olympiad, having his hair long, and being robed in purple. From competition with boys he was rejected; but being ridicules for his application for this, he immediately entered among the men, and was victorious. Among other things, this statement is confirmed by an epigram of Theaetetus:

"Stranger, if e'er you knew Pythagoras,
Pythagoras, the man with flowing hair,
The celebrated boxer, erst from Samos,
I am Pythagoras. And if you ask
A citizen of Elis of my deeds,
You will surely think he is relating fables."

Phavorinus says that he employed definitions on account of the mathematical subjects to which he applied himself. Socrates and his pupils did still more; and in this they were later followed by Aristotle and the Stoics.

He too was the first man who applied to the universe the name kosmos, and who first called the earth round; though Theophrastus attributes this to Parmenides, and Zeno to Hesiod. It is also said that he had a constant adversary, named Cylon, as Socrates' was Antidicus. This epigram was formerly repeated concerning Pythagoras the athlete:

"Pythagoras of Samos, son of Crates,
Came while a child to the Olympic games;
Eager to battle for the prize in boxing."