As he therefore thus prepared his disciples for erudition, he did not
immediately receive into the number of his associates those who came to
him for that purpose, till he had made trial of, and judiciously
examined them. Hence in the first place he inquired after what manner
they associated with their parents, and the rest of their relatives. In
the next place he surveyed their unseasonable laughter, their silence,
and their speaking when it was not proper; and farther still, what their
desires were, with whom they associated, how they conversed with them,
in what they especially employed their leisure time in the day, and what
were the subjects of their joy and grief. He likewise surveyed, their
form, their mode of walking, and the whole motion of their body.
Physiognomically also considering the natural indications of their
frame, he made them to be manifest signs of the unapparent manners of
the soul. When, therefore, he had thus made trial of some one, he
suffered him to be neglected for three years, in the mean time observing
how he was disposed with respect to stability, and a true love of
learning, and if he was sufficiently prepared with reference to glory,
so as to despise [popular] honor. After this, he ordered those who came
to him to observe a quinquennial silence, in order that he might
experimentally know how they were affected as to continence of speech,
the subjugation of the tongue being the most difficult of all victories;
as those have unfolded to us who instituted the mysteries. During this
[probationary] time, however, the property of each was disposed of in
common, and was committed to the care of those appointed for this
purpose, who were called politicians, economizers, and legislators. And
with respect to these probationers, those who appeared to be worthy to
participate of his dogmas, from the judgment he had formed of them from
their life and the modesty of their behaviour, after the quinquennial
silence, then became _Esoterics_, and both heard and saw Pythagoras
himself within the veil. For prior to this they participated of his
words through the hearing alone, beyond the veil, without at all seeing
him, giving for a long time a specimen of their peculiar manners. But if
they were rejected they received the double of the wealth which they
brought, and a tomb was raised to them as if they were dead by the
_homacoï_; for thus all the disciples of the man were called. And if
they happened to meet with them afterwards, they behaved to them as if
they were other persons, but said that they were dead, whom they had
modelled by education, in the expectation that they would become truly
good men by the disciplines they would learn. They also were of opinion
that those who were more slow in the acquisition of knowledge, were
badly organized, and, as I may say, imperfect and barren. If, however,
after Pythagoras had physiognomically considered their form, their mode
of walking, and every other motion, and the state of their body, and he
had conceived good hope respecting them; after likewise the quinquennial
silence, and the orgies and initiations from so many disciplines,
together with the ablutions of the soul, and so many and such great
purifications produced from such various theorems, through which the
sagacity and sanctity of the soul is perfectly ingenerated; if, after
all this, some one was found to be still sluggish and of a dull
intellect, they raised to such a one in the school a certain pillar and
monument, (as they are said to have done to Perialus the Thurian, and
Cylon the prince of the Sybarites, who were rejected by them) expelled
him from the _Homacoïon_ or auditory, loading him with a great quantity
of silver and gold. For these were deposited by them in common, and were
committed to the care of certain persons adapted to this purpose, and
who were called Economics, from the office which they bore. And if
afterwards they happened to meet with such a one, they conceived him to
be any other person, than him who according to them was dead. Hence also
Lysis, blaming a certain person named Hipparchus, because he had
communicated the doctrines of the Pythagoreans to the profane, and to
those who acceded to them without disciplines and theory, says as
follows:
“It is reported that you philosophize to every one you may happen to
meet, and publicly, which Pythagoras did not think fit to do. And these
things, indeed, O Hipparchus, you learnt with diligent assiduity, but
you have not preserved them; having tasted, O excellent man, of Sicilian
delicacies, which you ought not to have tasted a second time. If,
therefore, you abandon these, I shall rejoice; but if not, you will be
dead in my opinion. For it will be pious to call to mind the divine and
human precepts of Pythagoras, and not to make the goods of wisdom common
to those, who have not even in a dream their soul purified. For it is
not lawful to extend to every casual person, things which were obtained
with such great labors, and such diligent assiduity, nor to divulge the
mysteries of the Eleusinian Goddesses to the profane. For those who do
either of these, are equally unjust and impious. But it will be well to
consider what a great length of time we consumed in wiping away the
stains which had insinuated themselves into our breasts, till, after the
lapse of some years, we became fit recipients of the doctrines of
Pythagoras. For as dyers previously purify garments, and then fix in the
colors with which they wish them to be imbued, in order that the dye may
not be washed away, and may never become evanescent; after the same
manner also that divine man prepared the souls of those that were lovers
of philosophy, so that they might not deceive him in any of those
beautiful and good qualities which he hoped they would possess. For he
did not impart spurious doctrines, nor snares, in which most of the
sophists, who are at leisure for no good purpose, entangle young men;
but he possessed a scientific knowledge of things human and divine.
These men, however, making his doctrine a pretext, perform many dreadful
deeds, ensnaring youth not in a becoming nor yet in a casual way. Hence
they render their auditors noxious and precipitate. For they infuse
theorems and divine doctrines into confused and turbid manners. Just as
if some one should pour pure and clear water into a deep well full of
mud; for he would disturb the mud, and destroy the clear water. The same
thing likewise takes place between those who teach and those who are
taught after this manner. For dense thickets and which are full of
briars surround the intellect and heart of those who have not been
purely initiated in disciplines, obscure the mild, tranquil, and
reasoning power of the soul, and openly impede the intellective part
from becoming increased and elevated. It is requisite likewise to call
intemperance and avarice the mothers of these thickets; both which are
naturally prolific. From intemperance, therefore, unlawful marriages,
[unjust] desires, corruptions, intoxication, preternatural pleasures,
and certain vehement appetites blossom forth, and which impel their
possessors into profundities and precipices. For now desires have
compelled some not to abstain either from their mothers or their
daughters, and violating law, their country, city, and king, with their
hands as it were bound behind them, they are violently dragged along
like slaves to extreme destruction. But from avarice germinate rapine,
robbery, parricide, sacrilege, sorcery, and such other evils at are the
sisters of these. In the first place, therefore, it is necessary to
purify the woods in which these passions have fixed their abode, with
fire and sword, and all the machines of disciplines; and having
liberated the reasoning power from such mighty evils, we may then
implant in and deliver to it something useful and good.” So great and so
necessary was the attention which, according to Pythagoras, ought to be
paid to disciplines prior to philosophy. He likewise ordained that a
singular honor, and the most accurate investigation, should be given to
the teaching and participation of his dogmas, as he judiciously examined
the conceptions of those that came to him, by various documents, and ten
thousand forms of scientific theory.