Chapter XXXVII

IONIC PHILOSOPHERS. — PYTHAGORAS. — KROTON AND SYBARIS.

Phalaris despot of Agrigentum. — Thalês. — Ionic philosophers
— not a school or succession. — Step in philosophy commenced
by Thalês. — Vast problems with scanty means of solution. —
One cause of the vein of skepticism which runs through Grecian
philosophy. — Thalês — primeval element of water, or the fluid.
— Anaximander. — Problem of the One and the Many — the Permanent
and the Variable. — Xenophanês — his doctrine the opposite of
that of Anaximander. — The Eleatic school, Parmenidês and Zeno,
springing from Xenophanês — their dialectics — their great
influence on Grecian speculation. — Pherekydês. — History of
Pythagoras. — His character and doctrines. — Pythagoras more a
missionary and schoolmaster than a politician — his political
efficiency exaggerated by later witnesses. — His ethical training
— probably not applied to all the members of his order. — Decline
and subsequent renovation of the Pythagorean order. — Pythagoras
not merely a borrower, but an original and ascendent mind. — He
passes from Samos to Kroton. — State of Kroton — oligarchical
government — excellent gymnastic training and medical skill.
— Rapid and wonderful effects said to have been produced by
the exhortations of Pythagoras. — He forms a powerful club, or
society, consisting of three hundred men taken from the wealthy
classes at Kroton. — Political influence of Pythagoras — was an
indirect result of the constitution of the order. — Causes which
led to the subversion of the Pythagorean order. — Violences which
accompanied its subversion. — The Pythagorean order is reduced
to a religious and philosophical sect, in which character it
continues. — War between Sybaris and Kroton. — Defeat of the
Sybarites, and destruction of their city, partly through the
aid of the Spartan prince Dorieus. — Sensation excited in the
Hellenic world by the destruction of Sybaris. — Gradual decline
of the Greek power in Italy. — Contradictory statements and
arguments respecting the presence of Dorieus. — Herodotus does
not mention the Pythagoreans, when he alludes to the war between
Sybaris and Kroton. — Charondas, lawgiver of Katana, Naxos,
Zanklê, Rhegium, etc. 378-419

HISTORY OF GREECE.