Pythagorean Symbols Unriddled by Iamblichus

Pythagoras, Iamblichus, William Bridgman (T) · Living the Life Series · 17 pages

Thirty-nine allegorical protreptics ascribed to Pythagoras, each with the explanation given by Iamblichus, in William Bridgman's translation. Seventeen pages, with a contents page listing every maxim and its page. The running head states the method: Iamblichus unriddles Pythagorean protreptics.

The interest of the file is the pairing of maxim with interpretation, since several of these sayings are the ones usually quoted as examples of impenetrability. The opening group concerns the temple and is plain enough: when going to adore Divinity, say and do nothing in the interim pertaining to the common affairs of life; enter no temple negligently nor adore carelessly even at the doors; sacrifice and adore unshod; disbelieve nothing wonderful concerning the gods or divine dogmas. Others are proverbial in form and yield to a moral reading — decline from the public ways and walk in unfrequented paths; govern your tongue before all other things; assist a man in raising a burden but not in laying it down. Then come the famously obscure ones, and it is for these that Iamblichus is needed: abstain from Melanurus, for it belongs to the terrestrial gods; the wind is blowing, adore the wind; cut not fire with a sword; remove yourself from every vinegar bottle. Setting each riddle beside its ancient explanation lets a reader see how the Pythagorean tradition itself understood them, rather than leaving them as curiosities — which is presumably why the compilation exists in this form rather than as a bare list.

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