Part IX.

402
PYTHAGORAS.
Lwt.
(b) Man Is of affinity with the God’s, by reafon that he participates oi Heat, wherefore God hath a Providential care of ns. There is alfo wwapMern, a Fate of ail things in general and in particular, the caufe of their adminill; ration.
C H-A P. IV Divination.
Ca.) Cip. 29. (b) Jamb. cap. 28.
f c) Vht.
Plac.
Phil. lib. 4.
{ d) Po>-ph. (e) Laert.
ffJLaert. CgJ Ck. divi- nat. I.
Gh) Ck. ibid.
Life of Pittor cm chap.
Fg-
cap.
Jamb.
Florid* lib,: 2
GdJ Auguft. civ.
Dei, lib. 7.
In Iliad, 'it.
Psrpb. pag.
FOrafmuch as by Daemons and Heroes, all Di¬ vination is convey’d to men, we (hall here add what Pythagorar held and praftifed thereih, Jamblichus faith, that (a) he honoured Divination not the leaft of the Sciences ; (b) for what things arc agreeable to God, cannot be known, unlefs a man hear God himfelf, or the Gods, or acquire it by divine art. For this reafon they diligently ftu- died Divination, as being the only interpretation of the benevolence of the Gods. It is Ijkewife an employment molt fiiitable to thole who believe there are Gods : but whoever thinks either, (be¬ lief of the Gods, or Divination) a folly, to him the other is fuch alfo.
(c) P'jtlngor^s approved all kinds of Divination^ except that which isperfonned by thefacrijice of li¬ ving Creatures.
* {d) He firft ufed Divination by Prankincenje.{e) This was the only burnt-oftering by which he divined.
(/) He alfo ufedDivination by Cledones^ and by Birds which Cicero confirms, faying, that (g) he would him/elf be an Augur,and that (h) the Pytha¬ goreans obferved not only the voices of the gods^ but of men alfo., which they call Omens. Cledones are ob- •fervations of occurrent fpeeches, coiletbing from what is accidentally faid upon fome other occafi- on, the effeHiof what is fought : an inftance where¬ of fee in the Epigram of upon Pittactfs.
The Interpretation of Dreams fPorphyrius faith) he learned of the Hebrews: He communicated it alfoto hisDifciples; for Jamblichus relates, he ufed means to procure them quiet fleeps., with good and prophetick dreams : Out of this refped Ibme conceive it was, that he forbad flatulent and grofs meats, for that they obftruft the ferenity which is requifite thereto. Such apparitions he held not to be fantaftick, but real, (not omp but vcTtf?)as is manifeft from one who told him, that be dreamed he had talked with his father, {who was dead) and asked him what it portended \ Nothing, (faith he) for you did really talk with him-, as my /peaking now to you portends nothing, no more did that.
He was skilful likewife in Judicial Aftrolbgy, if we credit Apuleius, who affirms, the Caldaans fhewed him the Science of the Stars, the number of the Planets •, their Stations, Revolutions, and the various effeSs of both, in the Nativities of men. {d)Varro relates him skilful in Hydromancy,'w\(\Cc\ (faith he) came from Perfia, and was pratiifed by Numa, and afterwards by Pythagoras; wherein they ufed blood, and invocation of Damons. Hither perhaps alludes Eujlathius, who faith, the Pytha¬ goreans affirm, that allbrafs doth found by fome divi¬ ner Spirit, for which reafon a Tripod of that metal is dedicated to A\)ollo-, and when the Winds are all laid, the air calm, and all things elfe quiet, yet the hallow brafs caldrons feem to quake the fame may be Che meaning of Pythagoras, when he faith. The
found which is made by brafs, is the voice of the voice of the Daemon inclofed in the brafs reeding (per¬ haps' for fb dcfcribes a Icind
of Hydroinancy i:raffifed by the AjJ'yrians •, They take a bafon full of water convenient for the Damons to glide into the bottom .' Th^’ bafon of water feems to make a noife as if it breath'd ; the water tn the bafon in fulftance differs nothing from other water^ but through the virtue inf ufed thereinto by charms is much more excellent, and made more ready to receive a prophetick fpirit.This is a particular Damon, Ter- reflriaLattraSed by compofitions ; as foon aA he gh- deth into the water, he maketh a little found inarti¬ culate, which denotes his prefence ■, (Afterwards the water running over, there are certain whifpers heard with feme prediQion of the future : Thu kind of Spirit is very wandring, becaufe it is of the So¬ lar order and this kind of Damons purpofely fpeak with a low voice, that by reafon of the 'indtfitnii qb- feurity of the voice, their lies may be leJsfubjeH to difeovery. Hitherto Pfellus.
SECT. IV.
PhyfickD
TH E general Heads of Phyfick are thefe. Of the World,and of all things in the world, of Hea¬ ven, and of Earth, and of the Natures betwixt them. Jamb. ft
The defed of the fragments concerning thefe we .-■•bC', fhall endeavour to fupply, by adding the Treatife of Timaui the Locrian upon the fame fubjed.
CHAP. I.
Principles, •
TH E moft learned of the Naturalifts (faith ^dv. MAh', Sextus Empericus) attributed fo great power Ub. ' to Numbers, that they thought them to be the principles and elements of all things. Thefe were the difciples ot Pythagoras: For, fay they, fuch as treat ofPhilofophy aright, imitate thofe whoftu- dy a Language; they firft examine words, becaufe language confifts of words ; then, becaufe words confift of fyllables, they firft confider fyliables ; and becaufe fyllables confift of letters, they firft examine letters. In like manner, fay the: Pythagore¬ ans, Natural Philofophers, when they make en¬ quiry into the Univerfe, muft firft examine into what the Univerfe is refolved.
Now to affirm, that fomething apparent to fenfe is the principle of all things, is repugnant to Phyfick V for whatfoever is apparent . to fenfe, muft, be compounded of things not apparent 5 whereas a Principle, is not that which confifts of , any thing, but that of which the thing confifts. Therefore things apparent cannot be laid to be Principles of the Univerfe, but thofe of which things apparent confift, themfelves not being ap¬ parent.
They who maintain Atomes, or Homoiomcria’s or bulks, or intelligible bodies, to be the princi¬ ples of all things, were partly in the right, part¬ ly not: As conceiving the principles to be.unap- ' parent, they are in the right ; as holding them to be eorporeal, they err. For as intelligible un- apparent bodies precede the fenlible, fo molt
incorpo-
V t