Miscellanies 1.14.62
Summary: Greek philosophy descends in three successions, Italian, Ionian, and Eleatic; Pythagoras and Thales were probably of barbarian origin, and Thales learned from Egyptian priests.
Greek text · Stählin 2:39
Φιλοσοφίας τοίνυν μετὰ τοὺς προειρημένους ἄνδρας τρεῖς γεγόνασι διαδοχαὶ ἐπώνυμοι τῶν τόπων περὶ οὓς διέτριψαν, Ἰταλικὴ μὲν ἡ ἀπὸ Πυθαγόρου, Ἰωνικὴ δὲ ἡ ἀπὸ Θαλοῦ, Ἐλεατικὴ ἡ ἀπὸ Ξενοφάνους. Πυθαγόρας μὲν οὖν Μνησάρχου Σάμιος, ὥς φησιν Ἱππόβοτος, ὡς δὲ Ἀριστόξενος ἐν τῷ Πυθαγόρου βίῳ καὶ † Ἀρίσταρχος καὶ Θεόπομπος, Τυρρηνὸς ἦν. ὡς δὲ Νεάνθης, Σύριος ἢ Τύριος, ὥστε εἶναι κατὰ τοὺς πλείστους τὸν Πυθαγόραν βάρβαρον τὸ γένος. ἀλλὰ καὶ Θαλῆς, ὡς Λέανδρος καὶ Ἡρόδοτος ἱστοροῦσι, Φοῖνιξ ἦν, ὡς δέ τινες ὑπειλήφασι, Μιλήσιος. μόνος οὗτος δοκεῖ τοῖς τῶν Αἰγυπτίων προφήταις συμβεβληκέναι, διδάσκαλος δὲ αὐτοῦ οὐδεὶς ἀναγράφεται, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ Φερεκύδου τοῦ Συρίου, ᾧ Πυθαγόρας ἐμαθήτευσεν.
English · Claude translation
After the men already named, there have been three successions of philosophy, named after the places where they spent their time: the Italian, from Pythagoras; the Ionian, from Thales; and the Eleatic, from Xenophanes. Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchus, was a Samian, as Hippobotus says; but according to Aristoxenus in his Life of Pythagoras, and … Aristarchus and Theopompus, he was a Tyrrhenian; according to Neanthes, a Syrian or Tyrian; so that according to most, Pythagoras was a barbarian by race. And Thales too, as Leander and Herodotus relate, was a Phoenician, or, as some have supposed, a Milesian. He alone seems to have met with the prophets of the Egyptians; no teacher of his is recorded, as none is for Pherecydes of Syros, whose pupil Pythagoras was.
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Notes
Translation notes
- The text is corrupt in one name (dagger). Compare Herodotus 1.170.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (stray period in the digital text): ὡς δὲ Νεάνθης. Σύριος → ὡς δὲ Νεάνθης, Σύριος.
Cite this passage
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.14.62 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/14/62/).
Plain text
Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1.14.62 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/clement-stromata/1/14/62/).
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