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The Golden Verses of Pythagoras · 21 of 122 · tr. Florence M. Firth

Section 10 (part 2)

It is not proper to despise those things of which we shall be in want after the dissolution of the body. 36. You should not ask of divinity that which, when you have obtained, you will not perpetually possess. 37. Accustom your soul after it has conceived all that is great of divinity, to conceive something great of itself. 38. Esteem nothing so precious, which a bad man may take from you. 39. He is dear to divinity, who considers those things alone to be precious, which are esteemed to be so by divinity. 40. Every thing which is more than necessary to man, is hostile to him. 41. He who loves that which is not expedient, will not love that which is expedient. 42. The intellect of the wise man is always with divinity. p. 58 43. God dwells in the intellect of the wise man. 44. Every desire is insatiable, and therefore is always in want. 45. The wise man is always similar to himself. 46. The knowledge and imitation of divinity are alone sufficient to beatitude. 47. Use lying like poison. 48. Nothing is so peculiar to wisdom, as truth. 49. When you preside over men, remember that divinity also presides over you. 50. Be persuaded that the end of life is to live conformably to divinity. 51. Depraved affections are the beginning of sorrows. 52. An evil disposition is the disease of the soul; but injustice and impiety are the death of it. 53. Use all men in such a way, as if you were the common curator of all things after God. 54. He who uses mankind badly, uses himself badly. 55. Wish that you may be able to benefit your enemies. 56. Endure all things, in order that you may live conformably to God. p. 59 57. By honouring a wise man, you will honour yourself. 58. In all your actions place God before your eyes. 59. You are permitted to refuse matrimony, in order that you may live incessantly adhering to God. If, however, as one knowing the battle, you are willing to fight, take a wife, and beget children. 60. To live, indeed, is not in our power, but to live rightly is. 61. Be unwilling to admit accusations against the man who is studious of wisdom. 62. If you wish to live with hilarity, be unwilling to do many things. For in a multitude of actions you will be minor. 63. Every cup should be sweet to you which extinguishes thirst. 64. Fly from intoxication as you would from insanity. 65. No good originates from the body. 66. Think that you suffer a great punishment when you obtain the object of corporeal desire; for the attainment of such objects never satisfies desire. 67. Invoke God as a witness to whatever you do. p. 60 68. The bad man does not think there is a providence. 69. Assert that which possesses wisdom in you to be the true man. 70. The wise man participates of God. 71. Where that which is wise in you resides, there also is your good. 72. That which is not noxious to the soul, is not noxious to man. 73. He who unjustly expels a wise man from the body, confers a benefit on him by his iniquity. For he thus becomes liberated, as it were, from bones. 74. The fear of death renders a man sad through the ignorance of his soul. 75. You will not possess intellect, till you understand that you have it. 76. Think that your body is the garment of your soul; and therefore preserve it pure. 77. Impure dæmons vindicate to themselves the impure soul. 78.
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Themes
Active Contemplationpraxis

A form of meditation that uses imagery, imagination, or symbolic thought rather than purely empty stillness.

Practitioners are told to think of divinity constantly and recall deity to illuminate the soul.

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Apophatic Theologytheology

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

[auto] The text explicitly forbids investigating God's name and states God is not a name but an indication of conception.

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Cosmic Dualismtheology

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

The text contrasts God as light against darkness and distinguishes between good intellect and evil daemons.

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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.

The wise man is in want of God alone and should possess only what the body requires.

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Divine Hiddennesstheology

The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.

[auto] The text claims one will not find God's name and questions who named God.

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Divine Lighttheology

The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.

[auto] God is explicitly defined as a light incapable of receiving darkness.

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Divine Providencetheology

Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.

God is described as ruling over those who honour Him and giving things that cannot be taken away.

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Divine Simplicitytheology

The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.

God is described as light incapable of receiving its contrary, implying purity.

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Fasting And Prayerpraxis

Ascetic disciplines that prepare the body and mind for spiritual receptivity or purification.

The text advises abstaining from animal food and instructs on what to ask of God.

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Forbidden Knowledgesoteriology

Transgressive knowing acquired against divine prohibition — the Watchers' teaching of metallurgy, sorcery, and cosmetics in 1 Enoch, the Gnostic Eve narratives, the Promethean mytheme; explicitly contrasted with gnosis_direct_knowledge, which is salvific.

Investigating the name of God is explicitly prohibited as it cannot be found.

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Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

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

[auto] Dominion and honour are linked to knowing and imitating God rather than external observance alone.

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Inner Lightanthropology

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

[auto] The text asserts there is something similar to God within the human person.

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Kingdom Withinanthropology

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

[auto] It instructs the reader to use themselves as the temple of God due to inner resemblance.

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Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

God is portrayed as an active ruler who gives, knows thoughts, and responds to honour.

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Love Of Neighbourethics

Active compassionate care for others as a central spiritual obligation or expression of divine love.

[auto] The text explicitly states the golden rule: treat your neighbour as you wish them to treat you.

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Meditationpraxis

Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting.

The instruction to consider all time lost if not thinking of divinity implies a practice of constant meditation.

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Microcosm Macrocosmcosmology

The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.

The human is instructed to use themselves as the temple of God because they contain something similar to Him.

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Paradox As Teachingethics

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

[auto] It opens with the paradoxical statement that neglecting small things is not a small thing.

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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.

A distinction is made between the wise man who resembles God and the multitude.

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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).

Emulating God involves being in want of few things and those necessary only.

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Prayerpraxis

Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.

The text provides guidelines on what is worthy to ask from God in petition.

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Rejection Of Hypocrisyethics

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

Divinity sees even unjust thoughts, implying inner alignment is required over outward appearance.

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Renunciation Of Wealthethics

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

[auto] It states that the wise man and despiser of wealth resemble God.

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Sacred Namestheology

Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.

The text discusses the impossibility and nature of naming God.

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Self Examinationpraxis

Daily review of thought and action as spiritual practice.

One must think of God before acting and is reminded that even thoughts are known to divinity.

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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.

[auto] Knowing and imitating God is presented as the greatest honour, linked to inner divinity.

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Theosis Deificationsoteriology

The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.

The text encourages imitation of God and becoming similar to Him through an inferior nature.

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Unity Of Beingtheology

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

The human contains something similar to God, suggesting a shared nature.

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