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fleep, that rise first in our dreams, every old woman in this country knows. They are well aware, that, if they fill the minds of their children the preceding evening with ftories of the wolf, of thieves, the black man, &c. it is almost certain that fome of them, during the night, will be terrified with dreams of a moft melancholy and fombre caft. Thus the last sensation, which may be confidered as the parent of dreams, determines often the particular fpecies, and is fufficient in the end to put in action that connected chain which produces the vifions of night. Those who often dream, know that there is very seldom a marked continuity in the feries of ideas which take place; that to clear perceptions fucceed total eclipfes of the mind, and then more regular and placid emotions. Thefe dreams are those which it is most difficult to recall, because the chain being broken in many parts, we cannot replace the fracture by the act of reminifcence. Dreams, once began, continue until the cause that produces them ceases; and then fleep goes on without perception as in the beginning, until fome new action commences, and another dream is excited. A fpontaneous alteration of the pofition of the head, which occafions an equal one in the circulation of the blood internally, is fufficient to produce this effect. A dream is deftroyed likewife by any fudden alarm by which the foul is ftrongly affected, as in dreaming that we are upon the edge of a dreadful precipice, or clafped in the arms of a perfon we love. The impulfe which is thus given to the most excitable of our fenfes recalls man to himself, and to rejoice or mourn according as he has been well or ill affected. It is then that an alarm deftroys our dreams, by recalling our diurnal fenfations, which occupy more advantageoufly the laboratory where are fabricated the elements of our daily thoughts. Thus life, among men of a lively imagination, confifts of two

periods, one of which is occupied about truth, and the other about falfehood or illufion.

Suppofe (obferves Formey on this fubject) that our dreams were to continue unbroken during the whole night, and that the chain experiences no interruption, it may juftly be doubted which flate would contribute most to our happiness, the reality or the illufion; and it might be afked, which would be the most enviable,---the fultan immerfed all day in the delights of his feraglio, and tormented during the night with dreadful dreams; or the vileft of his flaves, who, laden the whole day with burthens and ftripes, paffes his blissful nights in the company of his chofen houri?

With this doubtful query, I fubfcribe myself, Mr. Editor, Yours, &c. June 9, 1804.

A DREAMER.

For the Univerfal Magazine.

SOME CONJECTURES RELATIVE TO THE ERA OF PYTHAGORAS.

THE hiftory of Pythagoras is already well known, for his life has been written by four antient writers, Diogenes, Laertius, Iamblic, Porphyry, and an anonymous extract by Photius: all these had in their eye fome preceding memoirs of our author, which they carefully cite; and it has likewife been illuftrated by many moderns; among whom the learned Dacier muft not be forgotten.

All these hiftorians are nearly unanimous as to the epoch when Pythagoras lived; viz. that he was cotemporary with Thales, though much younger; and the Pythagorian school is pretty generally confidered as a branch of the lonic fect founded by Thales.

But no antient author has given precifely the era of the birth of Pythagoras: the learned Larcher, in the chronology of Herodotus, has fupplied it in a very ingenious manner. Eratosthenes, fays he, cited by

Diogenes Laertius*, affures us, that Pythagoras, wishing to engage with the children at pugilifm in the fortyeighth olympiad, was rejected from that clafs by the Agonotheta; that he immediately entered into the lifts with men, and that he vanquished all his antagonists. This fact is confirmed by Eufebius, who relates the fame thing in his Olympionics t. Now the age that was required in order to be qualified to enter in the clafs of men was twenty years, as Harpocration informs ust: Pythagoras, therefore, was not twenty years old, and yet he was, at leaft, nineteen; for if he had been completely twenty, how could he prefume to enter the lifts with children? And if he had not been at least nineteen years, he could not have been fufficiently strong to engage with men. He was therefore born in the first year of the forty-third olympiad, which answers to the year 608 before the Chriftian era.

This opinion is likewife fupported by Antilochus, quoted by Clement of Alexandria. This author has writ. ten on every learned man from the youth of Pythagoras to the death of Epicurus, which happened the 10th of the month gamelion, and this fpace comprises three hundred and twelve years in all but, according to Diogenes Laertius, Epicurus died two hundred and feventy-two years before the Chriftian era, in the fecond year of the 127th olympiad, an opinion which Cicero likewife maintains I: if then we add to 272, which is the year of the death of Epicurus, 312, which is the space of time that elapfed, according to Antilochus, between Pythagoras's manhood and Epicurus's decease, we shall have the year 584 before the Christian era, and the first of the 49th olympiad. Pythagoras therefore was a full grown man in

Lib. 8. Segm. 47. + Page 40. Page 67. Stromat. lib.i. p.366.1.8. Segm. 15 of B. 10. corrected according to the manufcripts, by Cafaubon, Jas. Saulmier, Jofeph Scaliger, Gaffendi, and Me. mage. De Fato, cap. 9.

584; that is, he was about five-andtwenty, which age accords with the hypothefis of Eratofthenes, who places his birth fix hundred and, eight years before the Christian era.

AulusGellius, in a chapter**where he fays he has formed a very exact chronological notice of the periods of antiquity, and the great men who illuftrated the firft ages of the world, affures us that Pythagoras went into Italy when Tarquin the younger (furnamed the Proud) mounted the throne; i e. in the year 534 B.C., at which time Pythagoras was feventyfour years old, In this refpect Aulus coincides, with Cicerott, who likewife afferts that Pythagoras arrived in Italy during the reign of Tarquin. Livy‡‡ places the era of this philofopher under Servius Tullius, in which, by the bye, he is not wrong; for that monarch reigned from the year 578 to 534, or from the 30th to the 74th year of Pythagoras.

With regard to the period of this philofopher's death, it appears certain that it was about the time of the confpiracy of Cylon against the Pythagorians. Now, this confpiracy §§ broke out a little after the deftruction of Sybaris by the Crotonites, and confequently, about five hundred and ten years before the Chrif tian era: he muft then have been ninety-eight years; an age which is confirmed by lamblic, who informs us 14, that he lived altogether nearly a hundred years, and by Tzetzes, who fays he died in his ninety-ninth year. Photius + in the anonymous extract before mentioned makes him one hundred and four years old, but this makes his death too late, as it places the epoch of it with Eufebius in the third year of the feventieth olym.

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*

B. 17. C. 21. lib. 2. c. c. 37. Iaroblic.

++ De Oratore, B. 1. C. 18. Vita Pythagoræ, cap. 35, p. 200, edit. of Kufter. Amftelodami 1707. §§ Ib. cap. 25, p. 205. 11 lb. cap.

36, p. 213. *Chil. 11. 366. + Page 56 of Porphyry, which is bound up with the Iamblic of Kufter.

See Greek edition, pp. 43 and 152, and the Latin verfion p. 180.

piad, or 497 B.C. Diogenes Laertius obferves, that Heraclides, fon of Serapion, fays, that Pythagoras died at eighty years of age, according to the divifion which he himself made of the different epochs of life. The general opinion, however, is, that this philofopher reached his ninetieth year, and these flight differences fhould not embarrass a rational reader in the hiftory of fuch remote times. It is not however the fame, when, by the aid of fome obfcure paffages, they endeavour to throw back the birth of Pythagoras three centuries to admit fuch a palpable inconfiftency would be to place upon a par the ages of hiftory and thofe of the groffelt mythology: let us, however, examine the hypothefis of thofe learned men whom the fpirit of fyftem has mifled.

Their firft fupport is upon the very refpectable authority of Homer, who confeffes that Pherecides was the matter of Pythagoras, which is another argument in favour of the common opinion, fince the time in which Pherecides lived is perfectly well known from his life by Diogenes Laertius and other authors, and this time agrees with that in which I have placed the birth of Pythagoras. They however draw a different induction in the following

manner:

Pherecides, who, according to the Greeks themselves, had derived extraordinary knowledge from the books of the Phenecians, cftablished in the ifland of Syros, one of the islands of the Archipelago, and his native counery (which must not be confounded with Scyros or rather Skyros, a much larger ifland), a gnomon which fhewed the divifions of the year tropically and equinoxially: this piece, which was not very aftonishing at a period when Thales had predicted the eclipfes, would have been a wonder in those cantons, fo ignorant as we have reafon to fuppofe they were before the time of Homer; they then

* Lib. 8.

fuppofe that it created a vaft deal of curiofity, and that it became fo celebrated, as to induce Homer to mention it in his Odyssey.

The truth is, that in the fifteenth book of this poem, v. 408, Homer puts into the mouth of the good Eumeneus a tolerably long speech, in which, while Ulyffes drinks his wine, he relates to him the history of his father, who, he fays, reigned in this island of Syros, which was his country: it is not very great, fays he, and I doubt whether you have heard of it; it is called Syrie, is fituated above Ortygus, where the fun makes its converfions.

The fenfe of these laft words have confiderably embarraffed commentators. Euftathius, Jofeph Barnes, the German author of a geography of Homer, and many others, understand it only this way; that the ifland of Syros, being placed to the weft of that of Delos, which was close to it, and which Homer calls Ortygus, the inhabitants of Delos faw the fun difappear, and confequently make his converfion round the earth. Euftathius adds*, that in the island of Syros was placed a cavern, which fhewed the movements of the fun by its conformation.

Homer, they continue to obferve, was impreffed with all the Pythago. rian ideas, fuch as the system of the nine mufest, or nine fpheres, and of the golden chain which united the heavens and earth, an emblem of that

intimate connexion which keeps together every part of the univerfe. The Phonecian Mufeh, fay they, which fignifies zone, sphere, is the fame with the mufe of the Greeks, and they refer to Macrobiust, who has explained extremely well this fyftem. It is, indeed, very probable that the Greeks, who derived their alphabet and arithmetic from the Phenecians long before the time of Homer, fhould alfo receive a

*In his Greek Commentary on Homer. + Odyffey, 1. 24, v. 61. + Somn. Script., p. 19, recto. Edition 1472.

great number of thofe ideas which Pythagoras afterwards ftudied with fo much attention, as to create a fyf tem on which his name was fupported to all fucceeding ages.

The fame error exifts with regard to Numa as Pythagoras. They have confidered him as a Pythagorian, fays Cicero*, because he founded inftitutions as wife as thofe of the philofopher, who, on the contrary, profited by the knowledge he no doubt had of the Roman laws. Ovid in his Metamorphofest is the only antient author we know of who has committed this anachronifm. Numa having afcended the throne feven hundred and fourteen years before the Chriftian era, there was between his acceffion to the crown and the birth of Pythagoras an interval of one hundred and fix years: hence Dionyfius Halicarnaffus, Plutarch, and Cicero, refute this error in relating it.

They bring forward the antient aftronomy of Bailly, who confiders it as irrefragable that Numa, in reforming the year, was guided altogether by Pythagorian ideas; but this fame Bailly tells us alfo in the fame work, "Some authors have affert "ed that Numa was a Pythagorian, "than which nothing can be more falfe. Pythagoras went into Italy "about the period when Brutus de"livered his country from the tyran"ny of Tarquin. When they pre"tended to have found the tomb of "Numa, and his books which were "in it, they afferted that they con"tained the Pythagorian philofo"phy; but if this report gained cre"dit among the Romans, it arofe "from their refpect to Pythagoras ❝himfelf."

A proof, they continue, of the Pythagorianifm of Numa, is the epithet intonfus which authors have given him. The cuftom of never ufing a razor on the head, which

Tufculanes, at the beginning of book IV. + Lib. XV. Life of Numa. Page 198. Page 437. VOL. I.

formed a part of the confecration of the Nazareens, was brought from the east by Pythagoras; and it is true that this philofopher was called comatus, from the length of his hair; but the customs of the east may have paffed into Italy before Pythagoras, and the civilifation of this part of the world may have been derived fron the fame fource.

The god or prophet of the Gate, Zamolkis, has alfo been regarded as having been the difciple and flave of Pythagoras; and this fact is not reported merely by lamblic, but by Herodotus, the father of history. This hiftorian, who was established at Thurium in the year 444 B.C., fixty-fix years after the death of Pythagorast, relates this fable in fuch a manner as to determine its improbability. I think, fays he‡, that this Zamolkis was many years anterior to Pythagoras; but, at any rate, this fact, whether true or falfe, and relative to a perfon fo little known, cannot be confidered as decifive with regard to the time in which Pythagoras lived.

There is one argument, however, which merits more attention, which is, that, according to Ariftoxenes the mufician, quoted by Diogenes Laertius, Pythagoras was the perfon who originally introduced among the Greeks the ufe of weights and measures; but Pliny the naturalift, and Paufanias, fay, that Phidon, co temporary with Lycurgus the legiflator, was the perfon to whom this invention is due; the marbles of Arondel alfo afcribe it to him in the year 895 B.C. May we not conclude that he was indebted for it to Pythagoras, and that he was confequently pofterior to him? But we muft likewife bring forward the tef timony of St. Athanafius, who maintains that the Greeks derived this

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*

obligation from Palamides, and that Pythagoras lived anterior to the fiege of Troy. But weights and measures have their birth with fociety, and they weighed and counted at Athens from the time of Thefeus ; for this prince decided upon the imprint of coin, as Plutarch tells us in his life of him. Palamedes, Phidon, and Pythagoras, have each, perhaps,

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in their time, added a degree of per- To the Editor of the Universal Mag.

fection to this art; but neither of them were really and effectively the inventor.

But Pythagoras, fays Paufanius, was the fon of Mnefarchus, fon of Hippas, and Hippas was a citizen of Phliunte, who oppofed the invafion of Regnidas the heraclide, fon of Phalces, and grandfon of Temenus: now Temenus was brother of Ariftodemus, the first king of Sparta. From these facts there results a genealogical confrontation of the kings of Sparta, which leads us to a familiar period.

SIR,

IF you think the following defultory obfervations on the writings of Pope worthy a place in your Mif. cellany, I fhall feel gratified in beholding them by the fide of many fuperior articles. I do not confider them as a regular and fyftematic critique: they are, in fact, fuch remarks as occurred to me lately upon a very attentive perusal of our bard's works. I think it neceflary to say, that I have never feen Warton's Edition of Pope: if, therefore, any opinions of mine fhould be found to coincide with his, plagiarism cannot be charged upon me: and should it Euphron, be fo, believe me, I will not repine at Mnefarchus their want of originality, while I Pythagoras. can say “thus thought Warton!" I remain yours, &c.

Ariftodemus brother of Temenus.
Phalces.

Procles

Sous

Eurypon

Prytanis

Eunomus

Lycurgus.

Regnidas,cotemp.with Hippas.

From this table it fhould appear that Pythagoras preceded, by a whole generation, the legiflator Lycurgus, who himself was pofterior one or two generations to Homer. Homer, then, might have been cotemporary with Pherecides, the mafter of Py. thagoras; but the fcience of genealogy was fo conjectural at the time of Pythagoras, that nothing certain in that refpect can be faid; and that deduction, as Dacier well obferves, cannot agree with accurate chronology, which does not make Pythagoras thus antjent*. The uniform teftimony of every writer who has written his life, that of Diodorus Siculus, Dionyfius of Halicarnaffus, Livy, Plutarch, &c. muft not be op

* Life of Pythagoras. Paris, 1716. Vol. I,

P. 17.

May 13, 1804.
Oxford,

PASTORALS.

Spring.

ZOILUS.

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