religious movement themselves, held views about the soul which flatly contradicted the beliefs implied in their religious practices.[1] There is no room for an immortal soul in any philosophy of this period, as we shall see. Sokrates was the first philosopher to assert the doctrine on rational grounds,[2] and it is significant that Plato represents him as only half serious in appealing to the Orphics for confirmation of his own teaching.[3]
The reason is that ancient religion was not a body of doctrine. Nothing was required but that the ritual should be performed correctly and in a proper frame of mind; the worshipper was free to give any explanation of it he pleased. It might be as exalted as that of Pindar and Sophokles or as debased as that of the itinerant mystery-mongers described in Plato's Republic. "The initiated," said Aristotle, "are not supposed to learn anything, but to be affected in a certain way and put into a certain frame of mind."[4] That is why the religious revival could inspire philosophy with a new spirit, but could not at first graft new doctrines on it.
I. Pythagoras of Samos
37.Character of the tradition. It is not easy to give any account of Pythagoras that can claim to be regarded as historical. The earliest reference to him, indeed, is practically a contemporary one. Some verses are quoted from Xenophanes in which we are told that Pythagoras once heard a dog howling and appealed to its master not to beat it, as he recognised the voice of a departed friend .[5] From this we know that he taught the
- ↑ For Empedokles, see § 117; for the Pythagoreans, see § 149.
- ↑ I have discussed this point fully in "The Socratic Doctrine of the Soul" (Proceedings of the British Academy, 1915-16, p. 235).
- ↑ Plato, Phaed. 69 c 3, καὶ κινδυνεύουσι καὶ οἱ τὰς τελετὰς ἡμῖν οὗτοι καταστήσαντες οὐ φαῦλοί τινες εἶναι, ἀλλὰ τῷ ὄντι πάλαι αἰνίττεσθαι κτλ.. The irony of this and similar passages should be unmistakable.
- ↑ Arist. fr. 45 (1483 a 19), τοὺς τελουμένους οὐ μαθεῖν τι δεῖν, ἀλλὰ παθεῖν καὶ διατεθῆναι.
- ↑ Xenophanes, fr. 7.
