Part IX.

TTTHAGORAS.
‘ the City became in a ihort time very -rich • fob ‘ being feated betwixt two Rivers, Crdthii and ‘ Sybaris^ (from which it cook its name) and the ‘ Citizens poffefling a large Country, they foon ^ gathered together great Riches; and admitting ‘ many to be tree of their Country, they arrived to ^ fuch height, that they feemed far to excel all the * Jthen. Deip. ' of the inhabitants ofJta/y. f * But fo luxuri- lib. 12. ous that they become infamous even to a proverb;
and no lefs addifted to all other vices, infomuch tfiat they,out of infolence, put to death thirty Am- bafladors o&the Qrotonians^ and threw their bo¬ dies from the walls to be devoured by beafts.] ‘ The City was fo populous, that it contained no ' lefs than b ooooo perfons. At that time Telys was ‘ chief Magiftrate, who, accufing thegreateft men, •‘procured of the to banilh 500 of the
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richeft Citizens, and to confifeate their goods. ‘Thefe banifhed men went to Crotona^ and ‘ there ( after the manner of Suppliants ) fled ‘to the Altars erefted in the Forum. Here- ‘ upon Telys fent Ambafladors to the Crotonians^ ‘ to declare, that they Ihould either ^liver up ‘ the banifhed men, or exped war. f Thefe Sybarate-KmhdSi'diOrs. had been inftrumental in tiie murther of fome friends of Pythagoras^ per¬ haps fome of the thirty Crotonians whom they 3 ‘ Amongft them, one there w'as , who ^ had killed fome of them with his own hands ; ‘ another was Ion to one of the fame tnurtherers, ^ who was dead. Moreover, he was of thofe ‘kinds of perfons, who, being opprefl: with ‘ want, ftir up fedition, that they may take oc- ‘ cafion thereby to fall on the goods of others. ‘ Thefe Sybarites came to Pythagorasyoa^ blamed ^ him ; and one of them (which was he that had ‘ a hand himfelf in the death of his friends) de- ‘ manding a reafon of his reproof, he faid, That ‘ he did not give Laws. Whereupon they ac- ‘ cufed him, as if he had made himfelf Apollo^ ‘ and efpecially for that before, upon a queftion ‘ being asked. Why thefe things were fo,he asked ‘him that propounded the queftion. Whether,
. . ‘ when Apllo delivered his Oracles, he would
* require him to render a reafon ? The other de- *■ riding, as he thought, thofe difeourfes, in ‘which Pythagoras declared the return ot the ‘ Soul, and telling him. That when he went in- ‘ to the other world, he would give him a Letter ‘ to carry to his Father, and defired him to bring ‘an Anfwer of it when he came back. I lhall ‘ not, replied Pythagoras^ go to the place of the ‘wicked, where murtherers are punilhed. The ‘ Ambalfadors having thus reviled him, and he ‘going to the Sea-iide, and walking himfelf,
‘ many following him, one of thofe who advifed . ‘ the Crotoyiians^ faid. When he had fufficiently ■' ' fpoken againft all the other things that they did,
' ‘ ^ ’ ‘ at laft he accused them efpecially, for oftering
‘tooppofe andabufe T^rh ri2#’, of whom when ‘heretofore, as fables report, beafts could fpeak, mM2. one, of them duf A ever fpeak an ill word.
^piodbrus faith, that a Couneel being called, t So were rtf ‘ and it being put to the queftion. Whether they ‘Should deliver up the \ltaltoies to the Sybarites^ called! undergo a War with an enemy more power-
2T&e ‘ful than themfelves? The Senate and People fme diffaence « made fome doubt, and the People firft inclined ieni>mSicili<>c delivery or the Suppliants, -rather than
^‘‘endure the War. But afterwards, Pythagoras ^
^the Philofopher advifing them to protefl the Suppliants, they changed their opinion, and ^ determined to fight in their defence. The Sy^
^barites came into the Field, with an Army of ^ three hundred thouland ; the Crotonians had ^ but one hundred thoufand. They were led by ‘ Milo theWreftier,who at the firft onfet himfelf put to flight that wing of the Army which was ^ oppofite to^ him ; for be was of invincible ftrength. ’This man having Courage anfwera- ‘ ble to his Strength, had been fix times Vidor at ‘ the Olympick Games , and when he began this ‘ Fight, was crowned with Olympick Wreaths,
‘wearing, like Hercules^ a Lion’s Skin, and a ‘Club , and obtaining the Viftory forhisCoun- ‘ try-men, was much admired by them, f The 'Crotonians likewife made ule of a Stratagem whereby they got the day : * Sybarites were » fo much addifted to Luxury, that they taught Ub. 12 ’ their Horfes to dance at Fcafts. This the Croto¬ nians knowing, (as Ariflotle relates) in the midft of the Fight, they commanded fome Pipers, whom, to thatpurpofe, they had brought along with them, to play dancing Tunes. The Horfes, as foon as they heard the MuIIck, not only fell a dancing , but carried their Riders violently oyer to their Enemies.] ‘ Thus the Sybarites be- ‘ ing put to Flight, the Crotonians fpared none ‘ that they took , but put all to the Sword ,
‘ whereby the greater part of the Army was Slain,
‘ and the City, after a dilhonourable furrender,
‘ laid wafte. This, according to Diadort^, hap¬ pened 6b years before the fecond of the Sad O- iympiad, which falls upon the firft year of the 68ch Olympiad.
Agrigentum was by his’ means freed from the Tyranny oYPhalarpSy in this manner ; ‘ f When f Jamh. c.32. ‘ Pythagoras was detained by Phalaris^ a molt
Tyrant, H^^with whom he jiayed fix ^ T:^etxes chi‘ Months ] and Abark the Hyperborean^ a wife ‘ Perfon, came to converfe with him, and asked ‘ him Qtieftions, particularly concerning facred ‘ Rites, Images, Divine Worfliip, Providence of the ‘ Gods, as well of thofe in Heaven, as conver- ‘ fant about the Earth, and fuch like demands ;
‘ Pythagoras^ as being highly infpired, anfwered Hum with much Truth and Perfwafion, info- much as he drew the Standers by to his Opini¬ on. Whereupon Phalark feeing the People ‘taken with him, was angry with Abark for ‘ praifing Pythagoras. He grew, fierce againft ^Pythagoras himfelf, and at laft caffle to that ‘ heighth, as to fpeak all Blafphemies againft the ‘ Gods, as were poffible for fuch a kind of Per- ‘ fon. But Abark acknowledged himfelf thank- ‘ fill to Pythagoras for thefe things. He learned ‘ next of him, that all things depend upon ‘Heaven, and are- difpofed of from thence,
‘ which he collefled, as from many other things,
;‘fo efpecially from the efficacy of Sacrifices.'
'‘ Far therefore was he from thinking, that Py~
1‘shagoras^ who taught him thefe things, was a’
‘deceiver, but he rather admir’d him, as a Per- j‘ fon fupef naturally infpir’d. Phalark.^ in aiiJ* fwer hereunto, deny’d plainly and openly all ‘ things that were done in facred Ritcs.j-i Where- ^upon Abark transferred his Difeouffe from ‘ thefe things, to fuch as appear manifeftly to all Men, and by the Divine Operations which are .‘in "all Extremities •, as in extraordinary Wars,
‘ and
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PTTH AG OR A S.