The Golden Verses of Pythagoras · 24 of 122 · tr. Florence M. Firth
Section 12 (part 1)
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67 THE SYMBOLS OF PYTHAGORAS All the Symbols are exhortatory in common to the whole of virtue; but particularly each to some particular virtue.
Different symbols also are differently adapted to parts of philosophy and discipline.
Thus for instance the first Symbol directly exhorts to piety and divine science.
SYMBOL 1.
When going to the temple to adore Divinity neither say nor do any thing in the interim pertaining to the common affairs of life.
Explanation .--This Symbol preserves a divine nature such as it is in itself pure p.
68 and undefiled: for the pure is wont to be conjoined to the pure.
It also causes us to introduce nothing from human affairs into the worship of Divinity; for all such things are foreign from, and contrary to, religious worship.
This Symbol also greatly contributes to science; for in divine science it is necessary to introduce nothing of this kind; such as human conceptions, or those pertaining to the concerns of life.
We are exhorted to nothing else, therefore, by these words than this: that we should not mingle sacred discourses and divine actions with the instability of human manners.
SYMBOL 2.
Neither enter into a temple negligently, nor in short adore carelessly, not even though you should stand at the very doors themselves.
Explanation .--With the preceding this symbol also accords.
For if the similar is friendly and allied to the similar, it is evident that since the gods have a.
most principal essence among wholes, we ought to make the worship of them a principal object.
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69 But he who does this for the sake of anything else, gives a secondary rank to that which takes the precedency of all things, and subverts the whole order of religious worship and knowledge.
Besides, it is not proper to rank illustrious goods in the subordinate condition of human utility, nor to place our condition in the order of an end, but things more excellent, whether they be works or conceptions, in the condition of an appendage.
SYMBOL 3.
Sacrifice and adore unshod.
Explanation .--An exhortation to the same thing may also be obtained from this Symbol.
For it signifies that we ought to worship the gods and acquire a knowledge of them orderly and modestly, and in a manner not surpassing our condition on earth.
It also signifies that in worshipping them, and acquiring this knowledge, we should be free from bonds, and properly liberated.
But the Symbol exhorts that sacrifice and adoration should be performed not only in the body, but also in the energies of the soul; so that these energies may p.
70 neither be detained by passions, nor by the imbecilities of the body, nor by generation, with which we are externally surrounded, But everything pertaining to us should be properly liberated, and prepared for the participation of the gods.
SYMBOL 4.
Disbelieve nothing wonderful concerning the gods, nor concerning divine dogmas.
Explanation .--This Symbol in like manner exhorts to the same virtue.
For this dogma sufficiently venerates and unfolds the transcendency of the gods.
Affording us a viaticum and recalling to our memory that we ought not to estimate divine power from our judgment.
But it is likely that some things should appear difficult and impossible to us, in consequence of our corporeal subsistence, and from our being conversant with generation and corruption; from our having a momentary existence; from being subject to a variety of diseases; from the smallness of our habitation; from our gravitating tendency to the middle; from our somnolency, indigence and repletion; from our want of counsel and our imbecility; p.
71 from the impediments of our soul, and a variety of other circumstances, although our nature possesses many illustrious prerogatives.
The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.
[auto] The text describes abundance of nutriment as noxious to the body and uses the analogy of burning purulent matter, implying the physical form is vulnerable and requires correction by the soul.
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.
Sentence 5 advocates for virtue accompanied by poverty over wealth, reflecting detachment from material possessions.
Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.
Sentence 11 describes vice as a stain on the intellect, implying evil is an obscuring lack rather than a positive substance.
Ascetic disciplines that prepare the body and mind for spiritual receptivity or purification.
[auto] The passage advocates for frugality and warns against voracity and excessive nutriment, aligning with ascetic disciplines regarding diet to preserve the body and soul.
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).
Sentence 5 explicitly values virtue received with poverty over wealth, aligning with the spiritual valuation of poverty.
The spiritual danger of attachment to material possessions; wealth as a spiritual obstacle.
[auto] The passage explicitly states it is better to receive virtue with poverty than wealth with violence, making the rejection of material attachment a central theme.
Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.
Sentence 13 references mysteries and discipline preceding philosophy.