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THE METAPHYSICS OF PYTHAGORAS
559
as the people of India, if indeed they had not actually
borrowed them from the latter. It is certain, furthermore,
that it is not in this alone that the metaphysics of Pytha-
goras present some features of resemblance to those of the
Gymnosophists. Again, we know that Pythagoras travelled
own instruction, and it has never been contended
that he taught anything to the peoples of Asia whom he
visited.
Besides, various Hindu books, which undoubtedly
existed before the time of Pythagoras, are filled with this
doctrine of metempsychosis and treat of it as an article of
their primitive faith, which had been well established before
Anyhow, whoever the originator of it may be, it
his time.
is none the less wonderful that such a chimerical system
was not only acknowledged in almost the whole of Asia,
but has even found credence in various other parts of the
world.
It is well known that Caesar found it in full force
and one is astonished to find that
amongst the Gauls
enlightened men like Socrates and Plato made these fan-
tastic theories the object of their serious speculations.
Have we not seen modern writers, too, contending that
the doctrine of metempsychosis is a masterpiece of genius
They have indeed maintained that Aristotle admitted the
transmigration of the soul of one man into another, though
it is proved that he rejected as absurd the idea of the
transmigration of human souls into the bodies of beasts.
In consequence of his belief Pythagoras deprecated the
eating of the flesh of any living creature, lest perchance
a son might feed on the body of his father and thus repeat
the horrible feast of Thyestes. The most zealous of his
disciples ate only vegetables
and they even excluded
beans from their meals. In the same way the Brahmins
still refuse to eat onions, mushrooms, and certain other
the example of these more rigorous
vegetables.
Still,
disciples of Pythagoras found few imitators among the
for his
*
;
?
;
rest.
Either Pythagoras conceived a false impression of the
1
Druides in primis hoc volnnt persuadere, non interire animas sed
post mortem transire ad alios ; atque hoc maxime ad virtutem
excitari putant, metu mortis neglecto (De Bello Gallico, vi. 14).
Most
heretics of the primitive Church, to say nothing of the Jews of later
times, believed in this monstrous superstition, which was recognized
also by Origen.
Dubois.
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'
aliis
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