CHAPTER II

YOUTH, EDUCATION, TRAVELS

It is reported that Ancaeus, who dwelt in Cephallenian Samos, was descended from Jupiter, the fame of which honorable descent might have been derived from his virtue or from a certain magnanimity; in any case, he surpassed the remainder of the Cephallenians in wisdom and renown. This Ancaeus was, by the Pythian oracle, bidden to form a colony from Arcadia and Thessaly; and besides leading some inhabitants of Athens, Epidaurus, and Chalcis, he was to render habitable an island, which, from the virtue of the soil and vegetation was to be called Blackleaved (Phyllas), while the city was to be called Samos, after Same, in Cephallenia. The oracle ran thus: "I bid you, Ancaeus, to colonize the maritime island of Same, and to call it Phyllas." That the colony originated from these places is proved first from the divinities and their sacrifices, which were imported by the inhabitants, second by the relationships of the families, and third by their Samian gatherings.

From the family and alliance of this Ancaeus, founder of the colony, were therefore descended Pythagoras’s parents, Mnesarchus and Pythais. That Pythagoras was the son of Apollo is a legend due to a certain Samian poet, who thus described the popular recognition of the nobility of his birth. Sang he:

"Pythais, the fairest of the Samian race
From the embraces of the God Apollo
Bore Pythagoras, the friend of Jove."

It might be worth while to relate the circumstances of the prevalence of this report. Mnesarchus had gone to Delphi on a business trip, leaving his wife without any signs of pregnancy. He inquired of the oracle about the outcome of his return voyage to Syria, and he was informed that his trip would be lucrative and most conformable to his wishes; but that his wife was now with child and would present him with a son who would surpass all who had ever lived in beauty and wisdom, and that he would be of the greatest benefit to the human race in everything pertaining to human achievements. But when Mnesarchus realized that the God, without waiting for any question about a son, had by an oracle informed him that he would possess an illustrious prerogative and a truly divine gift, he immediately changed his wife’s former name, Parthenis, to one reminiscent of the Delphic prophet and her son, naming her Pythais, and the infant, who was soon after born at Sidon in Phoenicia, Pythagoras, by this name commemorating that such an offspring had been promised him by the Pythian Apollo. The assertions of Epimenides, Eudoxus, and Xenocrates, that Apollo having at that time already had actual connection with Parthenis, causing her pregnancy, had regularized that fact by predicting the birth of Pythagoras, are by no means to be admitted. No one will deny that the soul of Pythagoras was sent to mankind from Apollo’s domain, having either been one of his attendants or more intimate associates, which may be inferred both from his birth and his versatile wisdom.

After Mnesarchus had returned from Syria to Samos, with great wealth derived from a favorable sea-voyage, he built a temple to Apollo, with the inscription of Pythius. He took care that his son should enjoy the best possible education, studying under Creophilus, then under Pherecydes original: Phorecydos the Syrian, and then under almost all who presided over sacred concerns, to whom he especially recommended his son, that he might be as expert as possible in divinity. Thus by education and good fortune he became the most beautiful and godlike of all those who have been celebrated in the annals.