This book is a commentary on the Pythagorean Golden Verses, a neglected, but once very popular poem of the Hellenistic period. The goal of the poem is to introduce its readers to the basic moral, religious and philosophical doctrines of the Pythagorean sect and to guide them to spiritual maturity. The first part of the book treats still unresolved introductory matters such as the date, authorship, genre, composition, and the historical locus of the poem. This is followed by a text with translation on facing pages, and a detailed commentary containing a wealth of comparative material from the Greco-Roman period, including early Christianity and Judaism. Particularly valuable are the extensive discussions of the moral topoi and religious themes encountered in the poem.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Three distinct Africas are known to the modern world—North Africa, where men go for health; South Africa, where they go for money; and Central Africa, where they go for adventure. The first, the old Africa of Augustine and Carthage, every one knows from history; the geography of the second, the Africa of the Zulu and the diamond, has been taught us by two Universal Educators—War and the Stock-Exchange; but our knowledge of the third, the Africa of Livingstone and Stanley, is still fitly symbolized by the vacant look upon our maps which tells how long this mysterious land has kept its secret. Into the heart of this mysterious Africa I wish to take you with me now. And let me magnify my subject by saying at once that it is a wonderful thing to see. It is a wonderful thing to start from the civilization of Europe, pass up these mighty rivers, and work your way into that unknown land—work your way alone, and on foot, mile after mile, month after month, among strange birds and beasts and plants and insects, meeting tribes which have no name, speaking tongues which no man can interpret, till you have reached its secret heart, and stood where white man has never trod before. It is a wonderful thing to look at this weird world of human beings—half animal half children, wholly savage and wholly heathen; and to turn and come back again to civilization before the impressions have had time to fade, and while the myriad problems of so strange a spectacle are still seething in the mind. It is an education to see this sight—an education in the meaning and history of man. To have been here is to have lived before Menes. It is to have watched the dawn of evolution. It is to have the great moral and social problems of life, of anthropology, of ethnology, and even of theology, brought home to the imagination in the most new and startling light. On the longest day of a recent summer—midwinter therefore in the tropics—I left London. A long railway run across France, Switzerland, and Italy brings one in a day or two to the Mediterranean. Crossing to Alexandria, the traveller strikes across Egypt over the Nile, through the battlefield of Tel-el-Kebir, to the Red Sea, steams down its sweltering length to Aden, tranships, and, after three lifetimes of deplorable humiliation in the south-west Monsoons, terminates his sufferings at Zanzibar. Zanzibar is the focus of all East African exploration. No matter where you are going in the interior, you must begin at Zanzibar. Oriental in its appearance, Mohammedan in its religion, Arabian in its morals, this cesspool of wickedness is a fit capital for the Dark Continent. But Zanzibar is Zanzibar simply because it is the only apology for a town on the whole coast. An immense outfit is required to penetrate this shopless and foodless land, and here only can the traveller make up his caravan. The ivory and slave trades have made caravaning a profession, and everything the explorer wants is to be had in these bazaars, from a tin of sardines to a repeating rifle. Here these black villains, the porters, the necessity and the despair of travellers, the scum of old slave gangs, and the fugitives from justice from every tribe, congregate for hire. And if there is one thing on which African travellers are for once agreed, it is that for laziness, ugliness, stupidness, and wickedness, these men are not to be matched on any continent in the world. Their one strong point is that they will engage themselves for the Victoria Nyanza or for the Grand Tour of the Tanganyika with as little ado as a Chamounix guide volunteers for the Jardin; but this singular avidity is mainly due to the fact that each man cherishes the hope of running away at the earliest opportunity. Were it only to avoid requiring to employ these gentlemen, having them for one's sole company month after month, seeing them transgress every commandment in turn before your eyes—you yourself being powerless to check them except by a wholesale breach of the sixth—it would be worth while to seek another route into the heart of Africa.

A small collection of three pieces exploring the impact and legacy that Pythagoras has left on both Freemasonry, as well as modern, esoteric, philosophical thought. Includes "The Influence of Pythagoras on Freemasonry" by Albert G. Mackey, "The Golden Verses of Pythagoras" which is traditionally attributed to Pythagoras himself and "The Life and Philosophy of Pythagoras" by Manly P. Hall. This is a nice primer for someone becoming interested in Pythagoras.

The timeless brilliance of this exhaustive survey of the best classical writers of antiquity on Pythagoras was first published in 1687 in Thomas Stanley’s massive tome, The History of Philosophy. It remains as contemporary today as it was over three hundred years ago. The text of the 1687 book has been reset and modernized to make it more accessible to the modern reader. Spelling has been regularized, obsolete words not found in a modern dictionary have been replaced, and contemporary conventions of punctuation have been used. Biographical sketches of Thomas Stanley and Pythagoras by Manly Palmer Hall, founder of the Philosophical Research Society, have been included, along with a profound overview of Pythagorean philosophy by Platonic scholar Dr. Henry L. Drake. The extensive Greek language references throughout the text have been corrected and contextualized, and reset in a modern Greek font. Each quotation has been verified with the source document in Greek. An extensive annotated appendix of these classical sources is included. A complete bibliography details all the reference works utilized, and a small Glossary defines a number of terms, especially those from musical theory, which may be unfamiliar to the non-technical reader.

Divine Harmony describes Pythagoras's wanderings in ancient Phoenicia, Egypt, Babylon, and Greece, and explores key Pythagorean ideas as taught at his scholarly community in southern Italy. This fascinating study of the sixth-century Greek scientist and mystic includes illustrations, a map, a new introduction, and an updated bibliography. Drawing on the writings of Pythagoras's disciples, the authors present a lively portrait of a man whose ideas continue to resonate.

This is the first comprehensive work in English on the fifth-century Neoplatonic philosopher Hierocles. It contains a survey of his life, writings, and pagan and Christian surroundings, and examines the major tenets of his thought under the rubrics of contemplative philosophy, practical philosophy (civil and telestic), and providence. Schibli situates Hierocles in the mainstream of Neoplatonism from Plotinus to Damascius. Particularly helpful is the inclusion of a modern English translation of Hierocles' Commentary on the Golden Verses of the Pythagoreans and of the remnants of his treatise On Providence. The translations are fully annotated throughout.