On his return to Samos, however, being known by some of the more aged
inhabitants, he was not less admired than before. For he appeared to
them to be more beautiful and wise, and to possess a divine gracefulness
in a more eminent degree. Hence, he was publicly called upon by his
country to benefit all men, by imparting to them what he knew. Nor was
he averse to this request, but endeavoured to introduce the symbolical
mode of teaching, in a way perfectly similar to the documents by which
he had been instructed in Egypt; though the Samians did not very much
admit this mode of tuition, and did not adhere to him with that
according aptitude which was requisite. Though no one therefore attended
to him, and no one was genuinely desirous of those disciplines which he
endeavoured by all means to introduce among the Greeks, yet he neither
despised nor neglected Samos, because it was his country, and therefore
wished to give his fellow-citizens a taste of the sweetness of the
mathematical disciplines, though they were unwilling to be instructed in
them. With a view to this, therefore, he employed the following method
and artifice. Happening to observe a certain youth, who was a great
lover of gymnastic and other corporeal exercises, but otherwise poor and
in difficult circumstances, playing at ball in the Gymnasium with great
aptness and facility, he thought the young man might easily be persuaded
to attend to him, if he was sufficiently supplied with the necessaries
of life, and freed from the care of procuring them. As soon as the
youth, therefore, left the bath, Pythagoras called him to him, and
promised that he would furnish him with every thing requisite to the
support of his bodily exercise, on condition that he would receive from
him gradually and easily, but continually, so that he might not be
burthened by receiving them at once, certain disciplines, which he said
he had learnt from the Barbarians in his youth, but which now began to
desert him through forgetfulness and the incursions of old age. But the
young man immediately acceded to the conditions, through the hope of
having necessary support. Pythagoras, therefore, endeavoured to instruct
him in the disciplines of arithmetic and geometry, forming each of his
demonstrations in an abacus, and giving the youth three oboli as a
reward for every figure which he learnt. This also he continued to do
for a long time, exciting him to the geometrical theory by the desire of
honour; diligently, and in the best order, giving him (as we have said)
three oboli for every figure which he apprehended. But when the wise man
observed that the elegance, sweetness, and connexion of these
disciplines, to which the youth had been led in a certain orderly path,
had so captivated him that he would not neglect their pursuit though he
should suffer the extremity of want, he pretended poverty, and an
inability of giving him three oboli any longer. But the youth on hearing
this replied, “I am able without these to learn and receive your
disciplines.” Pythagoras then said, “But I have not the means of
procuring sufficient nutriment for myself.” As it is requisite,
therefore, to labour in order to procure daily necessaries and mortal
food, it would not be proper that his attention should be distracted by
the abacus, and by stupid and vain pursuits. The youth, however,
vehemently abhorring the thought of discontinuing his studies, replied:
“I will in future provide for you, and repay your kindness in a way
resembling that of the stork: for I in my turn will give you three oboli
for every figure.” And from this time he was so captivated by these
disciplines, that he alone, of all the Samians, migrated from his
country with Pythagoras, having the same name with him, but being the
son of Eratocles. There are said to be three books of this Samian On
Athletics, in which he orders the Athletæ to feed on flesh instead of
dry figs; which books are very improperly ascribed by some to Pythagoras
the son of Mnesarchus. It is likewise said, that about the same time
Pythagoras was admired at Delos, when he approached to the bloodless
altar, as it is called, of the father Apollo, and worshipped it. After
which he went to all the oracles. He likewise dwelt for some time in
Crete and Sparta, for the purpose of becoming acquainted with their
laws; and, having been an auditor and learner of all these, he returned
home in order to investigate what he had omitted. And in the first
place, indeed, he established a school in the city, which is even now
called the semicircle of Pythagoras; and in which the Samians now
consult about public affairs, conceiving it right to investigate things
just and advantageous in that place which he had constructed who paid
attention to the welfare of all men. He also formed a cavern out of the
city, adapted to his philosophy, in which he spent the greatest part
both of the day and night; employing himself in the investigation of
things useful in disciplines, framing intellectual conceptions after the
same manner as Minos the son of Jupiter. Indeed, he so much surpassed
those who afterwards employed his disciplines, that they conceived
magnificently of themselves, from the knowledge of theorems of small
importance; but Pythagoras gave completion to the science of the
celestial orbs, and unfolded the whole of it by arithmetical and
geometrical demonstrations. He is, however, to be admired in a still
greater degree for what he afterwards accomplished. For when now
philosophy had received a great accession, he was admired by all Greece,
and the best of those who philosophized came to Samos on his account, in
order that they might participate of his erudition. The citizens
likewise employed him in all their embassies, and compelled him to unite
with them in the administration of public affairs. However, as he easily
saw the difficulty of complying with the laws of his country, and at the
same time remaining at home and philosophizing, and considered that all
philosophers before him had passed their life in foreign countries, he
determined to neglect all political occupations; induced to this,
according to the testimony of others, by the negligence of the Samians
in what relates to education, and went into Italy, conceiving that place
to be his proper country, in which men well disposed towards learning
were to be found in the greatest abundance. And such was the success of
his journey, that on his arrival at Crotona, which was the noblest city
in Italy, he had many followers, amounting, as it is said, to the number
of six hundred, who were not only excited by his discourses to the study
of philosophy, but also to an amicable division of the goods of life in
common; from whence they acquired the appellation of _Cœnobitæ_.