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cially Arist. Phys. Ausc. iv. 6 ; Brandis, 1. c. p. 476).
The intervals between the heavenly bodies were supposed to be determined according to the laws and.relations of musical harmony (Nicom. Harm. i. p. 6, ii. 33 ; Plin. H. N. ii. 20 ; Simpl. in Arist. de Caelo Schol. p. 496, b. 9, 497. 11). Hence arose the celebrated doctrine of the harmony of the spheres ; for the heavenly bodies in their motion could not but occasion a certain sound or note, depending on their distances and velocities ; and as these were determined by the laws of harmonical intervals, the notes altogether formed a regular musical scale or harmony. This harmony, however, we do not hear, either because we have been accustomed to it from the first, arid have never had an opportunity of contrasting it with stillness, or because the sound is so powerful as to exceed our capacities for hearing (Arist. de Caelo^ ii. 9 ; Porph. in Harm. Ptol. 4. p. 257). With all this fanciful hypothesis, however, they do not seem to have neglected the observation of astronomical phaeno-mena (Brandis, /. c. p. 481).
Perfection they seemed to have considered to exist in direct ratio to the distance from the central fire. Thus the moon was supposed to be inhabited by more perfect and beautiful beings than the earth (Pint, de Plac. Phil. ii. 30 ; Stob. 1. c. i. p. 562 ; Bockh, I. c. p. 131). Similarly imperfect virtue belongs to the region of the earth, perfect wisdom to the Koa^os ; the bond or symbol of connection again being certain numerical relations (comp. Arist. Met. i. 8; Alex. Aphrod. in Arist. Met. i. 7, fol. 14, a.). The light and heat of the central fire are received by us mediately through the sun (which, according to Philolaus, is of a glassy nature, acting as a kind of lens, or sieve, as he terms it, Bockh, I.e. p. 124 5 Stob. I. c. i. 26 ; Euseb. Praep. Evang. xv. 23), and the other heavenly bodies. All things partake of life, of which Philoiaus distinguishes four grades, united in man and connected with successive parts of the body, — the life of mere seminal production, which is common to all things ; vegetable life ; animal life ; and intellect or reason (Theol. Arithm. 4, p. 22 ; Bockh, p. 159.) It was only in reference to the principia, and not absolutely in point of time, that the universe is a production; the development of its existence, which was perhaps regarded as an unintermitting process, commencing from the centre (Phil. ap. Stob. I.e. p. 360 ; Bockh, p. 90, &c. ; Brandis, p. 483); for the universe is "imperishable and unwearied ; it subsists for ever ; from eternity did it exist and to eternity does it last, one, controlled by one akin to it, the mightiest and the highest." (Phil. ap. Stob. Ed. Phys. p. 418, &c. ; Bockh, p. 164, &c.) This Deity Philolaus elsewhere also speaks of as one, eternal, abiding, unmoved, like himself (Bockh, p. 151). He is described as having established both limit and the infinite, and was'often spoken of as the absolute unity ; always represented as pervading, though distinct from, and presiding over the universe : not therefore a mere germ of vital development, or a principium of which the universe was itself a manifestation or development ; sometimes termed the absolute good (Arist. Met. xiii. 4, p. 1091, b. 13, Bekker), while, according to others^ good could belong only to concrete existences {Met. xi. 7, p. 1072, b. 31). The origin of evil was to be looked for not in the deity, but in matter, which pre-
vented the deity from conducting every thing to the best end (Theophr. Met. 9. p. 322, 14). With the popular superstition they do not seem to have interfered, except in so far as they may have reduced the objects of it, as well as all other existing beings, to numerical elements. (Pint, de Is. et Os. 10 ; Arist. Met. xiii. 5.) It is not clear whether the all-pervading soul of the universe, which they spoke of, was regarded as identical with the Deity or not (Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. 11). It was perhaps nothing more than the ever-working energy of the Deity (Stob. p. 422 ; Brandis, p. 487, note n). It was from it that human souls were derived (Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. 11, de Sen. 21). The soul was also frequently described as a number or harmony (Plut. de Plac. iv. 2 ; Stob. Ed. Phys. p. 862 ; Arist. de An. i. 2, 4) ; hardly, however, in the same sense as that unfolded by Simmias, who had heard Philolaus, in the Phaedo of Plato (p. 85, &c.), with which the doctrine of metempsychosis would have been totally inconsistent. Some held the curious idea, that the particles floating as motes in the sunbeams were souls (Arist. de An. i. 2). In so far as the soul was a principle of life, it was supposed to partake of the nature of the central fire (Diog. Laert. viii. 27, &c.). There is, howevert some want of uniformity in separating or identifying the soul and the principle of life, as also in the division of the faculties of the soul itself. Philolaus distinguished soul (fywxd) from spirit or reason (vovs, Theol. Arith. p. 22 ; Bockh, p. 149 ; Diog. Laert. viii. 30, where Qp&es is the term applied to that which distinguishes men from animals, vovs and &v/ji6s residing in the latter likewise). The division of the soul into two elements, a rational and an irrational one (Cic. Tusc. iv. 5), comes to much the same point. Even animals, however, have a germ of reason, only the defective organisation of their body, and their want of language, prevents its development (Plut. de Plac. v. 20). The Pythagoreans connected the five senses with their five elements (Theol. Arith. p. 27 ; Stob. I.e. p. 1104). In the senses the soul found the necessary instruments for its activity ; though the certainty of knowledge was derived exclusively from number and its relations. (Stob. p. 8 ; Sext. Emp. adv. Math. vii. 92.)
The ethics of the Pythagoreans consisted more in ascetic practice, and maxims for the restraint of the passions, especially of anger, and the cultivation of the power of endurance, than in scientific theory. What of the latter they had was, as might be expected, intimately connected with their number-theory (Arist. Eth. Magn. i. 1, Etli. nic. i. 4, ii. 5). The contemplation of what belonged to the pure and elevated region termed /f^rr^o?, was wisdom, which was superior to virtue, the latter having to do only with the inferior, sublunary region (Philol. ap. Stob. Eel. Phys. pp. 490, 488). Happiness consisted in the science of the perfection of the virtues of the soul, or in the perfect science of numbers (Clem. Alex. Strom. ii. p. 417 ; Theo-doret. Serm. xi. p. 165). Likeness to the Deity was to be the object of all our endeavours (Stob. Ed. Eth. p. 64), man becoming better as he approaches the gods, who are the guardians and guides of men (Plut. de Def. Or. p. 413 ; Plat. Phaed. p. 62, with Heindorf s note), exercising a direct influence upon, them, guiding the mind or reason, as well as influencing external circumstances ycip GTriTrvoidv two, wapti tov
