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The Golden Verses of Pythagoras · 13 of 122 · tr. Florence M. Firth

Section 7 (part 2)

Understand that no dissimulation can be long concealed. 24. The unjust man suffers greater evil while his soul is tormented with a consciousness of guilt, than when his body is scourged with whips. 25. It is by no means safe to discourse concerning Divinity with men of false opinions; for the danger is equally great in speaking to such as these, things either fallacious or true. 26. By everywhere using reason as your guide, you will avoid the commission of crimes. 27. By being troublesome to others, you will not easily escape molestation yourself. 28. Consider that as great erudition, through which you are able to bear the want of erudition, in the ignorant. p. 34 29. He who is depraved does not listen to the divine law, and on this account lives without law. 30. A just man who is a stranger, is not only superior to a citizen, but is even more excellent than a relation. 31. As many passions of the soul, so many fierce and savage despots. 32. No one is free who has not obtained the empire of himself. 33. Labour, together with continence, precedes the acquisition of every good. 34. Be persuaded that those things are not your riches which you do not possess in the penetralia of the reasoning powers. 35. Do that which you judge to be beautiful and honest, though you should acquire no glory from the performance; for the vulgar is a depraved judge of beautiful deeds. 36. Make trial of a man rather from his deeds than his discourses; for many live badly and speak well. 37. Perform great things, at the same time promising nothing great. 38. Since the roots of our nature are established in Divinity, from which also we p. 35 are produced, we should tenaciously adhere to our root; for streams also of water, and other offspring of the earth, when their roots are cut off, become rotten and dry. 39. The strength of the soul is temperance; for this is the light of a soul destitute of passions; but it is much better to die than to darken the soul through the intemperance of the body. 40. You cannot easily denominate that man happy who depends either on his friends or children, or on any fleeting and fallen nature; for all these are unstable and uncertain; but to depend on oneself and on Divinity is alone stable and firm. 41. He is a wise man, and beloved of Divinity, who studies how to labour for the good of his soul, as much as others labour for the sake of the body. 42. Yield all things to their kindred and ruling nature except liberty. 43. Learn how to produce eternal children, not such as may supply the wants of the body in old age, but such as may nourish the soul with perpetual food. 44, It is impossible that the same person can be a lover of pleasure, a lover of p. 36 body, a lover of riches, and a lover of Divinity . For a lover of pleasure is also a lover of body; but a lover of body is entirely a lover of riches; a lover of riches is necessarily unjust; and the unjust is necessarily profane towards Divinity, and lawless with respect to men. Hence, though he should sacrifice hecatombs, he is only by this means the more impious, unholy, atheistical, and sacrilegious, with respect to his intentions: and on this account it is necessary to avoid every lover of pleasure as an atheist and polluted person. 45. The Divinity has not a place in the earth more allied to his nature than a pure and holy soul. Footnotes 31:1 Because virtue is the perfection of life, and the proper perfection of any being is the felicity of that being.
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Themes
Body As Obstacleanthropology

The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.

Verses 39 and 44 describe the body and love of pleasure as sources of intemperance and impurity that darken the soul.

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Cosmic Dualismtheology

Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.

Verse 44 presents a stark opposition between lovers of pleasure/body/riches and the lover of Divinity.

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Detachment Gelassenheitpraxis

Eckhart's Abgeschiedenheit/Gelassenheit — radical letting-go of will, image, and grasping that opens the soul to God; distinct from inner_silence (quietness) and from material renunciation, and adjacent to Sufi tark and Buddhist non-grasping as a practice rather than a metaphysical claim.

Verse 40 advises depending on oneself and Divinity rather than unstable external things like friends or children.

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Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

Verse 26 advocates using reason as a guide to avoid crimes, prioritizing inner understanding over ritual.

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Hidden Sayingssoteriology

Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.

Verse 25 warns against discussing Divinity with those holding false opinions, implying esoteric caution regarding sacred knowledge.

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Inner Lightanthropology

The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.

Verse 39 describes temperance as the 'light of a soul destitute of passions'.

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Kingdom Withinanthropology

The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation.

[auto] Verse 45 explicitly states the pure soul is the place most allied to Divinity, locating the divine within.

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Mystical Unionsoteriology

The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.

Verse 45 suggests the pure soul is the place most allied to the nature of Divinity.

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Pneumatic Electsoteriology

A spiritual elite who possess the divine spark and are predestined for salvation, contrasted with psychic (faithful) and hylic (material) persons.

Verse 44 distinguishes the wise man beloved of Divinity from lovers of pleasure and riches.

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Poverty Of Spiritanthropology

Eckhart's radical reading of Matthew 5:3 — the saint as one who wants nothing, knows nothing, and has nothing, having emptied even the will and the self with which to receive God; distinct from renunciation_of_wealth (material poverty).

Verse 34 defines true riches as internal reasoning powers rather than external possessions.

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Rejection Of Hypocrisyethics

Critique of outward religious observance that lacks inner transformation; form without substance.

[auto] The passage explicitly critiques empty sacrifices and dissimulation, emphasizing that outward religious acts without inner truth are futile.

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Renunciation Of Wealthethics

The spiritual danger of attachment to material possessions; wealth as a spiritual obstacle.

Verses 34, 40, and 44 contrast material riches with true spiritual wealth and dependence on Divinity.

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Return To Sourcesoteriology

The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.

Verse 38 commands adhering to the divine root from which human nature is produced.

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Ritual Puritypraxis

The maintenance of a state of cleanliness—physical, moral, or spiritual—required for encounter with the divine.

Verse 45 identifies a 'pure and holy soul' as the true temple of Divinity over external places.

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Self Examinationpraxis

Daily review of thought and action as spiritual practice.

[auto] Verses 24 and 32 emphasize internal consciousness of guilt and the necessity of mastering oneself as the path to freedom.

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Self Knowledgesoteriology

The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.

Verse 32 emphasizes obtaining empire over oneself, and Verse 34 locates true riches in the reasoning powers.

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Spiritual Ascentpraxis

A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.

Verse 38 urges adhering to the divine root, and Verse 41 calls for laboring for the good of the soul.

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