Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras

CHAP. V.

On his return to Samos, however, being recognized by some of the older inhabitants, he was admired as much as before. He appeared to them even more beautiful and wise, possessing a divine gracefulness to a higher degree. Hence, he was publicly called upon by his country to benefit all men by sharing what he knew. He was not averse to this request, but sought to introduce the symbolical mode of teaching, similar to the methods by which he had been instructed in Egypt. However, the Samians did not receive this style of instruction very well and did not engage with him with the necessary aptitude. Although no one attended to him and no one was genuinely desirous of the disciplines he sought to introduce among the Greeks, he neither despised nor neglected Samos, because it was his home. He wished to give his fellow citizens a taste of the sweetness of the mathematical disciplines, even though they were unwilling to be instructed. With this in view, he employed the following method and artifice. Happening to observe a certain youth—who was a great lover of gymnastics and other physical exercises, but was otherwise poor and in difficult circumstances—playing at ball in the Gymnasium with great skill and ease, he thought the young man might be persuaded to attend to him if he were provided with the necessities of life, freeing him from the burden of procuring them. As soon as the youth left the bath, Pythagoras called him over and promised that he would provide everything necessary for his bodily exercise, on the condition that he would receive from him, gradually...