PREFACE.

...[of living], which drives sorrow from the soul and does not allow one to shudder with fear. With this wisdom as our teacher, we live in tranquility; with the heat of desires extinguished, we have a common fellowship with the gods. From the love of this wisdom, the Greek word philosophy original: "philosophia", literally meaning the "love of wisdom." takes its name. Nothing more fruitful, nothing more flourishing, and nothing more excellent has been given by the immortal gods to the human race. Indeed, she herself teaches that which is most difficult: namely, that a man should know himself. A reference to the famous Delphic maxim, "Know Thyself." The power of this precept is so great that it was attributed not to any man, but to the oracle of God.

For this reason, all the best seekers of wisdom left the crowds of the cities, lest the strength of the soul be softened by luxury and the abundance of things. Thus, one reads that the Pythagoreans Followers of the mathematician and mystic Pythagoras, known for their communal and ascetic lifestyle. dwelt in solitudes and desert places. The Platonists Followers of Plato. and Stoics Philosophers who taught that virtue and self-control lead to a state of being unmoved by destructive emotions. stayed in the precincts and porches of temples, so that, reminded by the holiness of a more narrow dwelling-place, they might think of nothing else but the praises of wisdom.

Plato chose the Academy, a villa far from the city—not only deserted, but even pestilential—so that by the persistence of disease, the impulse of lust might be broken, and his disciples might experience no pleasure other than the wisdom they were learning. For no one can live in luxury and still have time for wisdom. In such delights, the Charybdis In mythology, a treacherous whirlpool monster; here used to represent the destructive nature of excess. of luxury devours salvation, and a shimmering Scyllaean lust A reference to Scylla, the sea monster who lured sailors with a maiden’s face before devouring them. with a maiden's face entices men to their shipwreck. Here is a barbarian shore; here the devil, like a pirate with his associates, carries chains for those who are to be captured.

Therefore, men of great and excellent character, when they had given themselves over entirely to wisdom, despising all public and private affairs, devoted whatever labor they could exert to the study of seeking wisdom. Thus Pythagoras visited the prophets of Memphis; Plato went to Egypt and to Archytas of Tarentum, A Greek philosopher and mathematician of the Pythagorean school. so that he might see in person those whom he had known only from books.

The philosopher Apollonius Apollonius of Tyana, a famous 1st-century sage and traveler whose life was often compared to that of Jesus or Pythagoras., as the Pythagoreans relate, pursued wisdom as if it were fleeing across the whole world. For he entered Persia and crossed over the Caucasus; he penetrated the lands of the Albanians, Scythians, and Massagetae, and the wealthiest kingdoms of India. At last, having crossed the very wide Phison River, One of the four rivers of Eden mentioned in Genesis, often identified by Renaissance scholars as the Ganges or Indus. he reached the Brahmins original: "Brachmanos", the priestly and scholarly caste of India. to hear Iarchas The legendary leader of the Indian sages. sitting on a golden throne and drinking from the fountain of Tantalus, teaching among a few disciples about nature, the movements of the stars, and the course of the days.

Returning from there through the Elamites, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Medes, Assyrians, Parthians, Syrians, Phoenicians, Arabs, and Palestinians, he went to Alexandria and then to Ethiopia, so that he might see the Gymnosophists A term for the "naked philosophers" of Ethiopia or India known for their extreme asceticism. and the most famous "Table of the Sun" A legendary meadow in Ethiopia described by Herodotus where food was said to miraculously appear each day. in the sand. That man found everywhere something of wisdom to learn, so that by always progressing, he might always emerge wiser. Therefore, let the student of wisdom travel; let him approach many wise men, so that he may see in person what he remembers having once read in books. Let him hear the voice of God,