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Rules of
Conduct
by Pythagoras
- Pay honor first to the Immortal Gods,
- As Order hath established Their Choirs:
- Reverence the Oath. The heroes great and
good
- Revere thou next, and earth's good
geniuses,
- Paying to them such honors as are due.
- Honor thy parents and thy nearest kin;
- Of others make the virtuous thy friend:
- Yield to his gentle words, his timely
acts;
- Nor for a petty fault take back thy
love.
- Bear what thou canst: pow'r cometh at man's
need
- Know this for truth, and learn to conquer
these:
- Thy belly first; sloth, luxury, and
rage.
- Do nothing base with others or alone,
- And, above all things, thine own self
respect.
- Next practice justice in thy word and
deed
- And learn to act unreasonably in
naught;
- But know that all must die. Wealth comes and
go
- Of ills the Goddess Fortune gives to
man
- Bear meekly thou thy lot, nor grieve at
it;
- But cure it as thou canst. Remember
this:
- Fate gives the least of evil to the
good.
- Many the reasonings that on men's ears
- Fall; good and bad. Admire not all of
such
- Nor shun them neither. If one speaketh
false,
- Be calm. And practice ever this that
now
- I say. Let no man's word or deed seduce
thee
- To do or say aught not to thy best
good.
- First think, then act; lest foolish be thy
deed.
- Unhappy he who thoughtless acts and
speaks:
- But that which after vexes not do thou.
- Do naught thou dost not understand; but
learn
- That which is right, and sweet will be thy
life.
- Nor shouldest thou thy body's health
neglect,
- But give it food and drink and exercise
- In measure; that is, to cause it no
distress.
- Decent, without vain show, thy way of
life:
- Look well to this, that none thou envious
make
- By unmeet expense, like one who lacks good
taste.
- Nor niggard be: in all the mean is
best.
- Do that which cannot harm thee. Think, then
act.
- When first thou dost from soothing sleep
uprise,
- Hasten about thy day's intended work;
- Nor suffer sleep to fall on thy soft
lids
- Till thrice thou hast each act of the day
recalled:
- How have I sinned? What done? What duty
missed
- Go through them first to last; and, if they
seem
- Evil, reproach thyself; if good,
rejoice.
- Toil at and practice this; this must thou
love;
- This to the Path of Heavenly Virtue
leads.
- By Him Who gave the Tetractys to our
soul,
- Fount of Eternal Nature, this I swear.
- Begin thy work, first having prayed the
Gods
- To accomplish it. Thou, having mastered
this,
- That essence of Gods and mortal men shalt
know,
- Which all things permeate, which all
obey.
- And thou shalt know that Law hath
stablished
- The inner nature of all things alike;
- So shalt thou hope not for what may not
be,
- Nor aught, that may, escape thee. Thou shalt
know
- Self-chosen are the woes that fall on men
--
- How wretched, for they see not good so
near,
- Nor hearken to its voice -- few only
know
- The Pathway of Deliverance from ill.
- Such fate doth blind mankind, who, up and
down,
- With countless woes are carried by its
wheel.
- For bitter inborn strife companions
them
- And does them secret harm. Provoke it
not,
- 0 men, but yield, and yielding, find
escape.
- 0 Father Zeus, 'twould free from countless
ills
- Didst Thou but show what Genius works in
each!
- But courage! Men are children of the
Gods,
- And Sacred Nature all things hid
reveals.
- And if the Mysteries have part in thee,
- Thou shall prevail in all I bade thee
do,
- And, thoroughly cured, shalt save thy soul
from toil.
- Eat not the foods proscribed, but use
discretion
- In lustral rites and the freeing of thy
soul:
- Ponder all things, and stablish high thy
mind,
- That best of charioteers. And if at
length,
- Leaving behind thy body, thou dost come
- To the free Upper Air, then shalt thou
be
- Deathless, divine, a mortal man no
more.
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The
Cambridge Companion to Early Greek
Philosophy
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