Iamblichus: On the Mysteries · 207 of 218 · tr. Thomas Taylor
Chapter VIII-au
The Pythagoreans, likewise, adorned numbers and figures with the appellations of the Gods.
For they called the equilateral triangle, Minerva Coryphagenes, or begotten from the summit, and Tritogeneia because it is divided by three perpendiculars drawn from the three angles.
But they called the one Apollo, being persuaded to this by the obvious meaning of the word Apollo [which signifies a privation of multitude] and by the simplicity of the monad .
The duad they denominated strife and audacity, and the triad justice.
For since injuring and being injured are two extremes subsisting according to excess and defect, justice, through equality, has a situation in the middle.
But what is called the tetractys, being the number 36, was, as is reported, their greatest oath, and was denominated the world.
For this number is formed from the composition of the four first even and the four first odd numbers, collected into one sum.
If, therefore, the most approved of the philosophers did not think it proper to neglect or despise any occult signification of a divine nature when they perceived it even in things which are inanimate and incorporeal, it appears to me that they, in a still greater degree, venerated those peculiarities depending on manners which they saw in such natures as had sense, and were endued with soul, with passion, and ethical habits.
We must embrace, therefore, not those who honour these things, but those who reverence divinity through these, as through most clear mirrors, and which are produced by nature, in a becoming manner, conceiving them to be the instruments or the art of the God by whom all things are perpetually adorned.
But we ought to think that no inanimate being can be more excellent than one that is animated, nor an insensible than a sensitive being, not even though some one should collect together all the gold and emeralds in the universe.
For the divinity is not ingenerated either in colours, or figures, or smoothness; but such things as neither ever did, nor are naturally adapted to participate of life, have an allotment more ignoble than that of dead bodies.
But the nature which lives and sees, and has the principle of motion from itself, and a knowledge of things appropriate and foreign to its being, has certainly derived an efflux and portion of that wisdom which, as Heraclitus says, considers how both itself and the universe is governed.
Hence the divinity is not worse represented in these animals than in the workmanships of copper and stone, which in a similar manner suffer corruption and decay, but are naturally deprived of all sense and consciousness.
This then I consider as the best defence that can be given of the adoration of animals by the Egyptians.” 102 .
Instead of και δικης , I read και μετα δικης .
103 .
i.
e.
Should be perfectly impartial.
104 .
Instead of διπλοτατοις μοναδος as in the original, which is nonsense, it is necessary to read, as in the above translation, απλοτητι της μοναδος .
105 .
For 2 + 4 + 6 + 8 = 20; and 1 + 3 + 6 + 7 = 16; and 20 + 16 = 36.
106 .
The cock was sacred to Apollo, and therefore its heart was believed to be the instrument of divination in sacrifices.
The chemic Olympiodorus says, “that the cock obscurely signifies the essence of the sun and moon.” See, in the additional notes, what is said by Proclus concerning the cock, in his treatise On Magic.
107 .
Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.
The passage explicitly states that Pythagoreans adorned numbers and figures with the appellations of the Gods, attributing divine names to mathematical forms.
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The text links divine attributes to numbers and figures, suggesting a structural mapping between the abstract divine and material forms.
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.
The passage cites Heraclitus that wisdom considers how both itself and the universe is governed, indicating divine ordering of existence.
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.
The passage defines justice through equality in the middle of two extremes (injury and being injured), aligning with the doctrine that evil is a lack of good.
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
The passage centrally discusses Pythagorean numerology, attributing divine names and significance to numbers like the monad, duad, triad, and tetractys.
A spiritual elite who possess the divine spark and are predestined for salvation, contrasted with psychic (faithful) and hylic (material) persons.
The text distinguishes those who honour peculiarities depending on manners from others, implying a spiritual elite capable of perceiving divine natures.
Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.
The passage explicitly states that Pythagoreans adorned numbers and figures with the appellations of the Gods, using divine names to describe mathematical forms.
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.
Animals are described as instruments or art of the God by whom all things are perpetually adorned, implying a divine participation in them.