Vat.lat.5953

Pythagoras receives [this] teaching of the gods from Orpheus.

From these things it is clear that Pythagoras received from Orpheus the doctrine of the gods, which is distinguished by number. He also worshipped them through various numbers. He began all things with an invocation of the gods. Every single day he would sacrifice, not animals, but plants and similar things. They say, however, that Pythagoras was an imitator of Orpheus in every narrative and arrangement, and that he honored the gods in the same way as Orpheus. I do not think [he did so] according to human forms, but through certain universal forms by which he represented the supereminent power of the gods, their universal potency, and their common providence toward all of nature.

He worshipped Apollo with the number three the ternary, because according to the Trinity the first number appears. He worshipped Venus with the number six the senary, because this first number contains the nature of all numbers Ficino refers to 6 as a "perfect number" because it is the sum of its divisors: 1+2+3=6. To Hercules, however, he sacrificed the number four the quaternary, considering the number seven the septenary to be his generation.

He commanded, moreover, that one should enter sacred rites in clean garments and with a clean body, and on a night in which no one has slept, since sleep is a form of leisure and [indolence]. He also commanded that one enter temples through the right gate and exit through the left.

Pythagoras also posits two motions of the soul: one irrational, and the other [deliberate] and elective. Furthermore, [he posits] three such lines of cities this refers to the geometric foundation of a state, arranged in a row original Greek: συστοίχεσθαι? (systoichesai) with one another and joined to form a right angle. For one [line] having [all] [the ratio of four to three] original Greek: πᾶς ἐπίτριτος? (pas epitritos); this ratio represents the musical fourth, another containing five such parts, and the other of these two [becoming invisible] original Greek: ἀφανεσθαι? (aphanesthai). This passage describes the 3-4-5 right triangle, a fundamental Pythagorean discovery where the square of the hypotenuse (5) equals the sum of the squares of the other two sides (3 and 4). When we consider these relationships of lines to one another, and the sufficiency of the spaces that arise from them, the image of the best city is formed. [Knowing] original Greek: εἰδὼς? (eidos) the opinion of Plato, who speaks clearly in the Republic original Latin: Politia regarding [the four-to-three ratio as the foundation...] original Greek: τὸρ ἐπίτριτος ἐκ φρορ πυθμενα?; this is a reference to the complex "Geometric Number" in Republic Book VIII, which Plato suggests governs the timing of births and the stability of the state to the five...