Golden Verses of Pythagoreans

[Amita]

http://www.prometheustrust.co.uk/html/the_golden_verses.html

The Pythagoreans bequeathed to humanity a complete rule of life which sets out, in 71 short verses, a truly philosophical and mystical path, leading straight to the Divine. 

Hierocles of Alexandria, a leading neoplatonic philosopher in that city during the 5th Century CE, wrote a very full commentary on the Verses which begins: 

“Philosophy is the purification and perfection of human nature; its purification, because it delivers it from the temerity and from the folly that proceed from matter, and because it disengages its affections from the mortal body; and its perfection, because it makes it recover its original felicity, by restoring it to the likeness of God.”

Edited May 31 by Amita

[Piney]

But don't eat beans in this path or you will fart out all your essence.

[Alchopwn]

29 minutes ago, Piney said:

But don't eat beans in this path or you will fart out all your essence.

Oh it's worse than that.  Beans look like infants, thus the philosopher understands that the gas you expel is actually the souls of infants.  Not spiritual materialism at all.... No no...

Pythagoras may have known his way around a triangle but he was also a culty old loon.

Edited June 1 by Alchopwn

[Piney]

7 minutes ago, Alchopwn said:

Pythagoras may have known his way around a triangle but he was also a culty old loon.

Most definitely.

He would of made a perfect American Newage guru.

[Alchopwn]

Just now, Piney said:

Most definitely.

He would of made a perfect American Newage guru.

I believe I must disagree.  Pythagoras actually knew something worth the teaching. 

[Piney]

18 minutes ago, Alchopwn said:

I believe I must disagree.  Pythagoras actually knew something worth the teaching. 

Mathematicly speaking.

Many of his life lessons were "no brainers" though.

Never befriend a derelict. Hard work is good for you.

Ben Sirach and John Calvin stuff.

[Alchopwn]

On 6/1/2023 at 7:36 PM, Piney said:

Mathematicly speaking.

Many of his life lessons were "no brainers" though.

Never befriend a derelict. Hard work is good for you.

Ben Sirach and John Calvin stuff.

I was only referring to his mathematics.

[Amita]

These 71 verses in the Pythagorean tradition have guided many for hundreds of years. Here is a partial outline of a modern translation with Hierocles commentary:

For the sake of an overview I [Herman Schibli] summarize here Hierocles' Commentary
chapter by chapter, indicating the main themes of each [of the 27]:

Proem. Definition of philosophy, divided into the practical and
contemplative. Introduction to the Golden Verses, which unveil the
aim of Pythagorean philosophy.
Chapter I. On piety. The creator-god and the three classes of
rational beings--immortal gods, glorious heroes, and humans--that
merit honour according to their substance. The creative law that
preserves the order and ranking of beings in the cosmos. Piety
manifested not in external sacrifices but in inner purity.
Chapter II. On reverence for the oath as guarantor of divine law
and cosmic order. The divine and human manifestations of the
oath. On the proper use of oaths.
Chapter III. On the honour towards glorious heroes. Definition
of glorious heroes as natural daemons who occupy the median rank
of rational beings .
Chapter IV. On earth-dwelling daemons, defined as knowledgeable
and virtuous human beings who are daemons by relation,
insofar as they resemble the daemonic class. We honour these
outstanding human beings by following their way of life.
Chapter V. On the honour towards parents and kin. On caring for
one's parents. Divine law takes precedence when parents are not virtuous.
Chapter VI. On voluntary friendship. Whereas parents are
honoured by reason of natural ties, friends are to be sought for
the sake of a partnership in the virtues.
Chapter VII. On behaviour towards friends. Friendship is to be
maintained with all forbearance as long as a partnership in virtue is
possible or a lost friend is able to be recalled to virtue. Human
kindness extended to all men, but friendship only to the good.
Chapter VIII. On controlling the irrational soul. On the conflicts
arising from its spirited and desiderative parts. The irrational and
affective faculties must be habituated to obey reason.
Chapter IX. On avoiding shameful deeds, both when alone and in
company. Self-knowledge (i.e. respect of oneself as a rational
substance) and conscience act as guardians against shameful practices.

[Piney]

2 hours ago, Amita said:

These 71 verses in the Pythagorean tradition have guided many for hundreds of years. Here is a partial outline of a modern translation with Hierocles commentary:

For the sake of an overview I [Herman Schibli] summarize here Hierocles' Commentary
chapter by chapter, indicating the main themes of each [of the 27]:

Proem. Definition of philosophy, divided into the practical and
contemplative. Introduction to the Golden Verses, which unveil the
aim of Pythagorean philosophy.
Chapter I. On piety. The creator-god and the three classes of
rational beings--immortal gods, glorious heroes, and humans--that
merit honour according to their substance. The creative law that
preserves the order and ranking of beings in the cosmos. Piety
manifested not in external sacrifices but in inner purity.
Chapter II. On reverence for the oath as guarantor of divine law
and cosmic order. The divine and human manifestations of the
oath. On the proper use of oaths.
Chapter III. On the honour towards glorious heroes. Definition
of glorious heroes as natural daemons who occupy the median rank
of rational beings .
Chapter IV. On earth-dwelling daemons, defined as knowledgeable
and virtuous human beings who are daemons by relation,
insofar as they resemble the daemonic class. We honour these
outstanding human beings by following their way of life.
Chapter V. On the honour towards parents and kin. On caring for
one's parents. Divine law takes precedence when parents are not virtuous.
Chapter VI. On voluntary friendship. Whereas parents are
honoured by reason of natural ties, friends are to be sought for
the sake of a partnership in the virtues.
Chapter VII. On behaviour towards friends. Friendship is to be
maintained with all forbearance as long as a partnership in virtue is
possible or a lost friend is able to be recalled to virtue. Human
kindness extended to all men, but friendship only to the good.
Chapter VIII. On controlling the irrational soul. On the conflicts
arising from its spirited and desiderative parts. The irrational and
affective faculties must be habituated to obey reason.
Chapter IX. On avoiding shameful deeds, both when alone and in
company. Self-knowledge (i.e. respect of oneself as a rational
substance) and conscience act as guardians against shameful practices.

This is nothing more than a mess of useless garbage

.and what is a "Glorious Hero"? Because there is nothing glorious about taking life.

...and how does "divine law take precedence when parents are not virtuous"?

[Alchopwn]

21 hours ago, Amita said:

Chapter I. On piety. The creator-god and the three classes of
rational beings--immortal gods, glorious heroes, and humans--that
merit honour according to their substance. The creative law that
preserves the order and ranking of beings in the cosmos. Piety
manifested not in external sacrifices but in inner purity.

I am hoping someone can explain why there is a reference to a creator god here?  The Greeks believed in Gaea and Uranus as the creators of all things out of chaos, not YVHV.  The Greek cosmogony is sexual with a female progenitor and is quite unlike the Judaic idea of a craftsman demiurge who made the world.  Is this a pious fraud or a mistranslation?

[Amita]

59 minutes ago, Alchopwn said:

I am hoping someone can explain why there is a reference to a creator god here?  The Greeks believed in Gaea and Uranus as the creators of all things out of chaos, not YVHV.  The Greek cosmogony is sexual with a female progenitor and is quite unlike the Judaic idea of a craftsman demiurge who made the world.  Is this a pious fraud or a mistranslation?

See pp 174-75 & notes of Herman Schibli.  Hierocles lived in 5th? century AD - I lack the wisdom & education to parse this for you.

Go to dokumen.pub to download a free pdf or docx etc. file.

Edited June 3 by Amita

[eight bits]

2 hours ago, Alchopwn said:

I am hoping someone can explain why there is a reference to a creator god here?  The Greeks believed in Gaea and Uranus as the creators of all things out of chaos, not YVHV.  The Greek cosmogony is sexual with a female progenitor and is quite unlike the Judaic idea of a craftsman demiurge who made the world.  Is this a pious fraud or a mistranslation?

Hierocles is 5th Century CE, writing when Christianity was the established state cult. I wasn't able to check directly, but Schibli has a good reputation for translations of Greek and Latin.

[Piney]

16 hours ago, Alchopwn said:

I am hoping someone can explain why there is a reference to a creator god here?  The Greeks believed in Gaea and Uranus as the creators of all things out of chaos, not YVHV.  The Greek cosmogony is sexual with a female progenitor and is quite unlike the Judaic idea of a craftsman demiurge who made the world.  Is this a pious fraud or a mistranslation?

After Christianity rose and Paul's "Unknown God" pious fraud every unamed creator god was equated with the Christian God by writers.

[Alchopwn]

8 minutes ago, Piney said:

After Christianity rose and Paul's "Unknown God" pious fraud every unnamed creator god was equated with the Christian God by writers.

I suspect they simply wrote over what went before in the hopes that they would lend it legitimacy by Christ-washing it.  This is why we need to fight censorship and the woke.  They erase our real history.  Personally I'd always prefer to know an ugly truth than pretend something didn't happen.

Edited June 4 by Alchopwn

[Piney]

1 minute ago, Alchopwn said:

I suspect they simply wrote over what went before in the hopes that they would lend it legitimacy by Christ-washing it.  This is why we need to fight censorship and the woke.  They erase our real history.

Did you see the links Hermione and I put up in John's "Let's Talk History" thread about Rowan's Afrocentric Library and the White instructor who teaches David Imhotep and George GM James's 'Stolen Legacy' as truth? 

Letters are being written and I think you should be the author of one.

[Golden Duck]

Pythagoras' teaching is strictly rational.