Vat.lat.5953

...and gradually he will be able to rejoice in that very thing. For all these reasons, therefore, invoking the gods as our guides and calling upon them, let us follow ourselves and our reason wherever they command. Nor should we be terrified because a school original: "secta"; referring to the Pythagorean tradition of this kind requires much time, is hidden in foreign disciplines and secret symbols, and is furthermore overshadowed by false and spurious writings, and hindered by many other such difficulties. For the will of the gods is sufficient for us, with which it is possible to endure even more hidden things than these. After the gods, however, let us place first the leader and native father of divine philosophy, and reaching back to his origins, let us speak of his lineage.

It is said that Ancaeus, who lived on Samos, was born in Cephalonia An island in western Greece and was begotten by Jove original: "Ioue"; the Roman name for the Greek god Zeus, whether he gained this reputation because of his virtue or because of a certain greatness of soul; he certainly excelled the other Cephalonians in prudence and glory. An oracle was given to him by the Pythia The priestess of the Oracle of Delphi who delivered prophecies from Apollo: that he should move his household from Cephalonia, Arcadia, and Thessaly, and relocate his dwelling near the Athenians, the Epidaurians, and the Chalcidians. Among all these, he was especially to strive to inhabit the place which, on account of its excellence, was called Melamphyllos original: μελάμφυλλος; literally "black-leaved" or "thickly-foliaged," an ancient epithet for the island of Samos. They called the city Samos after the place Samos which is in Cephalonia. The oracle was as follows: "Ancaeus, I command you to inhabit the island of Samos in place of the Samian land." It was also named Phyllas. That the habitation was moved from these mentioned places to another is proven not only by the honors and sacrifices to the gods themselves—which were transferred from the places where crowds of men once gathered—but also by the kinships and mutual marriages which the Samians practiced. They say, therefore, that Mnesarchus and Pythais, the parents of Pythagoras, descended from this family and lineage, coming down from that Ancaeus who moved the colony. Since the citizens [knew] this well-known...