Pythágoras, A man of ercessÊt wit, borne in an yle called Samus. which countrey being subdued by the tyrant Polycrates, he forsooke and went into Aegipt and Babilonia, to learne mysticall sciences, and afterward came into Italye, where he continued the rest of his life. He was the first that named himselfe a Philosopher, where before men of greate learning were called wise men: and because he woulde eschew the note of atrogancie, when one demaunded of him what he was, he sayde, Philosophus, whiche signifieth, a louer of wisedome. He was in sharpenesse of wit passing al other, and found the subtile conclusions and mysteries of A. rithmetike, Musike, and Geometrie. Plato wondreth at his wisedome: his doctrine was diuine and compÊdious: the which he teaching to other, enioyneth them to keepe silence fiue yeares, and heace him diligently, ere they demaÛded of him any question. He neuer would doe sactifice with any blood, he would eate nothing that had life, and liued in a maruaylous abstinence, and continence, and was in suche authoritie among his disciples, that when in disputation they mayntained their opinion, if one demaunded of them, why it should be as they spake, they would aunswere onely, Ipse dixit, he sayde so, meaning Pithagoras: whiche aunswere was reputed as sufficient, as if it had bene prooued with an ineuitable reason: so much in estimation was hee for his approoued truth, and incomparable learning. Hee was noted to be erpert in magike: and therefore it is written of him, that nigh to the citie of Tarentum, he behelde an Oxe biting the toppes of beanes there growing, and treading them downe with his feete: wherefore he bad the heardman to aduise his Oxe that he shoulde abstayne from graine: the heardman laughing at him, sayde, that he neuer learned to speake as an Oxe: but thou (sayde hee) that seemest to haue experience therein, take mine office vpon thee. Forthwith Pithagoras went to the Oxe, and laying his mouth to his eare, whistered somewhat of his Arte. A marnailous thing, the Oxe, as if he had bene taught, left eating of the corne, nor neuer after touched any: but manye yeares after mildly walked in the citie, and tooke his meate onely of them that would giue it him. Many like wonderfull thinges are written of him. Finallye, his disciyles for their wisedome and temperaunce, were alwayes hadde in great estimation. He was before the incarnation of Christ 522. yeares.
Lewis and Short: Latin dictionary
Pthăgŏras, ae, m., = *puqago/ras,a celebrated philosopher of Samos, about 550 B.C.; he taught in Lower Italy (Croton and Metapontum), and was the founder of the Pythagorean philosophy, which received its name from him, Cic. Tusc. 1, 10, 20; 1, 16, 38; 4, 1, 2; id. Fin. 5, 2, 4; id. Div. 1, 3, 5; Hor. S. 2, 6, 63; Ov. M. 15, 60; Liv. 1, 18.— The Greek letter g (called littera Pythagorae), with its two divergent arms, was used by Pythagoras as a symbol of the two diverse paths of life, that of virtue and of vice, Aus. Idyll. 12, 9; cf. Pers. 3, 56; v. also Lact. 6, 3, 6.—Hence, A. Pthăgŏrēus or Pthăgŏrīus, a, um, adj., = *puqago/reios,Pythagorean: somnia, Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 52: dogma, Lab. ap. Prisc. p. 679: pavo,
into which
,
according to the Pythagorean doctrine of metempsychosis
,
the soul of Euphorbus had passed before it reached Pythagoras
, Pers. 6, 11: brassica,
highly recommended by Pythagoras
, Cato, R. R. 157in lemm. (cf. Plin. 20, 9, 33, 78): mos, Plin. 35, 12, 46, 160.—Plur, subst.: Pthă-gŏrēi (-ŏrīi), ōrum, m., the followers of the Pythagorean philosophy, the Pythagoreans, Cic. Tusc. 1, 16, 38; id. de Or. 2, 37, 154 al.—B. Pthăgŏrĭcus, a, um, adj., = *puqagoriko/sPythagorean: libri, Liv. 30, 29: philosophia, Plin. 13, 13, 27, 86 (an interpolated passage, v. Sillig in loc.): prudentia, Val. Max. 4, 7, 1 (but Pythagorii, Cic. Div. 1, 30, 62 B. and K.; cf. Madv. Opusc. Ac. 1, p. 512).