The birthplace of Pythagoras, if less doubtful than the date of his birth, has been more variously deter- mined. He is usually designated the Samian. This rests, primarily, upon a passage in Herodotus, in which the curious story of Zamolxis is related. Grote con- siders the passage decisive. On referring to the text, it will be found that Herodotus says nothing positively of the philosopher's place of birth. The general belief of antiquity, however, accredited Pythagoras to Samos, and it is only this belief that is attested by Isocrates (Busir. c. xi). Aristoxenus represented him as a Tyr- rhenian from Lemnos or Imbros. By some writers he was represented as the son of a Phliasian refugee who settled in Samos. Neanthes regarded him as a Syrian or Tyrian ; Theopompus and Aristarchus entertained the opinion of Aristoxenus; Hippobotus and Hermip- pus endorsed the common belief.
Contradictions continue to multiply. There is no agreement in regard to the paternity of Pythagoras. The accepted tradition presents him as the son of Mne- sarchus; Justin, however, names his father Demaratus. Those who assigned a Phliasian origin to his father gave him the name of Marmacus, which Voss and Fa- ber think that Justin blunderingly converted into Dem- aratus. Tzetzes, a very late author indeed, calls his mother Pytha'is. His father is variously reputed to have been an engraver of gems and a rich merchant; he may have been both or neither. Two brothers, old- er than himself, are given to Pythagoras — Eunomus, or, according to other accounts, Eunostes, and Tyrrhenus. These names are very suspicious.
These confusions and perplexities are noticed, not with any desire of exhibiting the numerous opinions which prevailed in relation to the birth of Pythagoras, but to show how uncertain and unau then tica ted, even in antiquity, were those points in his history which were least apt to provoke diversity of statement. If there were such differences in such matters, there is lit- tle reason to expect trustworthy accounts in regard to more important concerns, where enforced secrecy pro- moted fanciful conjecture, where the love of the mar- vellous might indulge itself without check or fear of detection, and where the character of the school cher- ished the wildest inventions and encouraged their ac- ceptance. The story is. throughout, involved in fable and in superfetations of fable.
Tradition has been wholly unrestrained in relating the education of Pythagoras. Several teachers have been assigned to him. He is said to have been placed by his uncle Zo'ilus under the charge of Pherecydes in the island of Lemnos. He is reported to have after- wards attached himself to Hermodamas, or Leodamas (both names are given), the grandson of Creophylus,
the cyclic poet. He is alleged to have been the disci- ple of Thales, of the Milesian Anaximander, and of the Cretan Epimenides, who is even a more shadowy per- sonage than himself. The true significance of this combination of names may probably be found in the disposition of later times to regard Pythagoras as in- structed in all the learning of the Greeks. Yet the accumulation of Hellenic knowledge was not considered a sufficient equipment for his career. He is supposed to have set out, while still young, on extensive travels through the Oriental world, just as the mediaeval sages were believed to have gathered their stores of learning from the Saracenic schools in Spain and in the East.
Egypt seems to have been the first foreign country visited by Pythagoras. He is said to have been com- mended to Araasis by a letter from his friend Polycra- tes, and to have remained in the country long enough to acquire all the wisdom of the Egyptians — their lan- guage, arithmetic, geometry, religious rites, etc. Dur- ing his stay, he is alleged to have been captured by the Persian armies of Cambyses, and to have received the instructions of the Magi; he is also said to have stud- ied astrology with the Chaldwans, and to have received from the Brahmins in India their peculiar doctrines. This last imagination is apparently a late deduction from the correspondence of the Pythagorean metemp- sychosis with Hindu tenets. Hermippus and Porptay- ry ascribe to him also studies among the Jews. He may have visited Crete, and there is no improbability in the supposition that anxiety to note the institutions of Lycurgus may have carried him to Sparta.
After a long and uncertain absence, Pythagoras re- turned to Samos, and opened a school, at the request of his countrymen, for the dissemination of the marvels of learning which he had collected in his extensive trav- els. His pupils were few and listless, and his method of teaching — by signs and symbols — irritated rather than enlightened his acolytes. To add mystery to his instructions and a divine sanction to his wisdom, he vis- ited Delos and other oracular shrines. To these jour- neys may be assigned his appearance at the Olympic Games, and his celebrated invention of the name of " Philosopher," though this is also referred to a con- versation with the Tyrant of Phlius, and probably did not originate with him.
Having, by these journeys, by frequent intercourse with the divinities, by the pretension of a divine ori- gin and of miraculous gifts, and also by the admiration excited in the congresses of men, extended and height- ened his reputation, Pythagoras came back to Samos, and reopened his school under brighter auspices than before. He gave public instruction in ethical and po- litical philosophy, and freely responded to those who consulted him in regard to the government of the isl- and. But, besides conducting this public academy, he provided a retreat for those who sought and were deem- ed worthy of more recondite education. Outside of the city he procured a cave, to which he retired with his more select disciples. Here he spent much of the night, as well as of the day, in esoteric instruction, and espe- cially in teaching the wonders of mathematical science. He added the arts of the charlatan to the learning of the scholar and the wisdom of the sage.