The Court of the Gentiles Part 2, Book 2 · Chapter 4
CHAP. IV. Pherecydes his Philoſophie traduced from the Jews.
Pherecydes born at Syrus, was of Phenician original. The original of his Philoſophie from the Phenicians, and Jews. He was the firſt that writ Philoſophie in Proſe: He yet retained the old Symbolick mod of Philoſophizing: His Natural Philoſophie, and Aſtronomie: His Invention of the Heliotrope from the Phenicians. His Theologie was chiefly foreign, which he received from the Phenicians, as alſo the immortality of the Soul.
Pherecydes his original from Syrus.§. 1. HAving diſpatcht the Ionick Philoſophie, as founded by Thales, we now come to the firſt foundations of the Italick, began by Pherecydes; who, though he had not a Schole in Italy, yet in as much as he was the Praeceptor of Pythagoras, and led him the way to that Symbolick mode of Philoſophizing, he afterwards taught in Italy; he may juſtly claim ſome commemoration amongſt the firſt founders of the Italick Sect. So Voſſius de philoſoph. ſect. l. 2. c. 1. §. 29. cals Pherecydes the Author of the Italick Sect. This Pherecydes is by Strabo lib. 10. called foreign (ſo Laertius, and Suidas) a Syrian, which is differently underſtood by the Learned. For ſome make him to be a Syrian, i. e. a Phenician: but others, and that upon more probable grounds, call him a Syrian becauſe born in the Iland Syros, or Syrus, one of the Cyclades, thoſe leſſer Ilands in the Egean Sea, near Delus. So Apuleius, and Suidas; whence Cicero 1. Tuſcul. Quaeſt. cals him Syrus. This opinion I was confirmed in, by a conference with learned Bochart; who alſo gave me the ground of the difference; with this reconcilement, viz. Syra, or Syrus, where Pherecydes was borne, received both its name, and people originally from the Phenicians, or Syrians (Phenicia being a part of Syria) whence Pherecydes might juſtly be reputed a Phenician, if we regard his Anceſtors; or perhaps he might be ſo eſteemed by reaſon of his Philoſophie, which he drew from the hidden Books of the Phenicians, as Suidas: of which hereafter.
§. 2 Pherecydes's fathers name was Badys, Pherecydes his father Babys, his birth, &c.as Diogenes Laertius l. 1. foreign, or rather as Voſſius will have it Babys: for ſo Strabo, and Suidas write it, foreign, or foreign with a foreign. He was borne, according to Suidas, in the 46th Olympiad, who alſo diſtinguiſheth him from Pherecydes Lerius the Hiſtorian, who lived in the 75th Olympiad. So Voſſius de Hiſtor. Graec. lib. 4. cap. 4. Some, ſaies he, confound Pherecydes the Hiſtorian, with Pherecydes the Phyſiologiſt, and Theologue: This latter was of Syrus, one of the Cyclades, as Strabo lib. 2. Heſychius, and Suidas in foreign. Laertius makes this our Pherecydes, the Philoſopher, to have flouriſhed about the 69th Olympiad. Others make him more ancient. Tzetzes, Chil. 2. Hiſt. 55. ſaies, that he lived in the time of the Rich Croeſus, about the 59th Olympiad, and that he was Praeceptor to Thales the Mileſian. But this account has no likelyhood; for Thales ſeems, at leaſt, contemporary to, if not more ancient than Ph…recydes. Cicero 1. Tuſc. quaeſt. ſaies, he lived in the Reign of Servius Tullius his Country man, &c. That Thales was more ancient than Pherecydes, Voſſius de philoſoph. ſect. l. 2. c. 6. §. 1. proves from this, that Thales, according to Laertius, dyed in Olympiad 58, whereas Pherecydes flouriſhed in Olympiad 60.
§. 3. As for the original of Pherecydes's Philoſophie,The original of Pherecydes's Philoſophie from the Phenicians, and Jews. ſome ſay he heard Pittacus, ſo Laertius: others, that he had no Praeceptor, but drew his Philoſophie from the ſecret Books, and hidden Myſteries of the Phenicians: ſo Suidas in the Life of Pherecydes, foreign. The ſame goes, that he was Praeceptor of Pythagoras, but he himſelf had no Inſtructor; but that he exerciſed himſelf in the hidden Books of the Phenicians, which he was poſſeſſor of. Thus Voſſius de philoſoph. ſect. l. 2. c. 1. §. 19. Pherecydes alſo the Praeceptor of Pythagoras, who was contemporary to Thales, and the Author of the Italick Sect, drew his Philoſophie from the hidden Books of the Phenicians. Yea ſome think him to be a Syrian, not from Syrus, one of the Cyclades, but from Syria, a famous Countrey of Aſia, whereof Phenicia is part. Yea Ambroſe lib. 1. Epiſt. 6. of Pherecydes ſpeaks thus: ſeeing he drew his pedegree, as ſome conceive, from the Jews, from their Diſcipline alſo he derived his Magisterial Precepts. That he traduced his invention of the Heliotrope, and other parts of his Philoſophie, from the Phenicians will be hereafter evident.
Pherecydes the first that writ Philoſophie in Proſe.§. 4. Touching the mode or forme of his Philoſophie, it was delivered in Proſe, but ſymbolick, and myſtical. That Pherecydes was the firſt that delivered his Philoſophie in Proſe, we have co… curring Teſtimonies from the Ancients, Strabo lib. 1. tels us that Cadmus, Pherecydes, and Hecataeus were the firſt that writ in looſe Oration, or Proſe: and ſo Porphyrie, as Suidas teſtifies, made this Pherecydes foreign the Author of looſe Oration, The like Apuleius in Floridis; Moreover, ſaies he, Pherecydes, who ſprang from the Iland Syrus, was the firſt, who rejected Verſes, and attempted to write in words at large, looſe Diſcourſe, and free Oration. The like Theopompus, Laertius, and Suidas affirme, that Pherecydes was the firſt that treated of the Gods, and the Natures of things in Proſe, for the former Philoſophers were Ports, &c.
His Philoſophie Mythologick.§. 5. Notwithſtanding Pherecydes rejected the ancient mode of delivering his Philoſophie in Poems, yet he ſtill retained the old Mythologick, and Symbolick mode of the Poets, in mixing many Fables with his Philoſophie. So he himſelf confeſſeth in his Epiſtle to Thales, thus: Whatſoever the Theologiſt (ſpeaking of himſelf) ſaith, you muſt underſtand otherwiſe; for I write in Fables. And this is ſufficiently evident from the Matter of Theologie (which contained the moſt of his Philoſophie, and was written in 10 books) which, ſaith Dr. Owen (in his Theol. l. 1. c. 1.) was foreign, or foreign, ſymbolick, and cryptick, or enigmatick (wherein he was followed by the Pythagoreans) whence he was ſtiled foreign the darke cloudy Divine, as anon.
Pherecydes's Natural Philoſophie.§. 6. Pherecydes, as to Natural Philoſophie, differed in ſome things from Thales; yet he agreed with him in that great, and firſt principle, that Water was the firſt Matter all things; which they both received from the Phenicians, as theſe had it from Geneſis 1.2. by ſome Jewiſh Tradition.His Aſtronomie, and invention of the Heliotrope. Pherecydes was very famous amongſt the Ancients for his Aſtronomical Invention of the Heliotrope: whereas yet he was not indeed the firſt Inventor, but only a great Emprover of it, as great Bochart in a Conference informed me;Mar. 27, 1664. viz. That this Aſtronomical Experiment was brought into Syra (or Syrus) where Pherecydes lived, by the Phenicians, who had a Colony there (of which Homer makes ſome mention:) and that Pherecydes only emproved this ſame invention of the Heliotrope; the original patterne, as ſome conceive, was taken from the Jews, or Aſa's Dial. The ſaid Bochart referred me, for more information herein, unto his Canaan l. 1. c. 14. That Pherecydes was the firſt of the Grecians, that found out the Eclipſes, and periods of the Moon, Tzetzes Chil. 2. Hiſt. 55. gives us to underſtand: as Voſſius.
§. 7. But the main of Pherecydes's Philoſophie was Theologick. Pherecydes's Theologie, or foreign from the Phenicians.So Laertius out of Theopompus acquaints us, foreign he was the firſt amongſt the Grecians, who writ of Nature, and of the Gods. Whence he was ſtiled foreign, the Theologiſt: which Title Pythagoras, and Plato alſo obtained. For amongſt the Greeks, who ever diſcourſed accurately of God, was ſtiled the Theologiſt, and their Science foreign Theologie, as Ariſt. Metaph 3. Pherecydes is ſuppoſed to be the firſt, that handled foreign Theologick Myſteries in Proſe. This Theologie of his conſiſted in foreign, or a deſcription, and expoſition of the Generation, and Succeſſion of the Gods. For the Grecians, after the introduction of Helleniſm, ſuppoſed all their Gods to be generated. This his foreign, or Theologie, Pherecydes comprized in 10 books: enigmatick, and cloudy Diſcourſes, full of Fables, and Allegories; which Iſidore, cited by Clemens Alexandrinus, ſuppoſed to have been taken from the Prophecy of Cham: but its much more probable, he traduced them from Sanchoniathon's Mythologick Theologie, touching the Origine, and Succeſſion of the Gods: for it is the common opinion of Suidas, and others, that he derived this his Mystical Theologie from the abſtruſe, and darke books of the Phenicians. Pherecydes, in the beginning of his book, affirmes that Muſaeus the ſon of Eumolpus foreign, was the firſt that made Poems of the Generation of the Gods, which others aſcribe to Orpheus, others to Homer.
§. 8. Concerning Pherecydes his Books of foreign,Pherecydes's ten books of foreign. &c. there paſſeth an Epiſtle under his name written to Thales, which Montaigne Eſſais livre 2. c. 12. gives thus. Pherecydes one of the Seven Wiſe men (that is a miſtake) writing to Thales, as he expired; I have, ſaies he, appointed my friends, after they have enterred me, to bring unto thee my Writings: if they content thee, and the reſt of the Wiſe men, publiſh them; if not, ſuppreſſe them. They containe not any thing certain, that gives me ſatisfaction: ſo that I profeſſe not to know the truth, nor to have attained to it. I ſtart many things, that I cannot diſcover, &c. Though it is likely this Epiſtle is as fabulous, as the Matter of his Books; yet we may ſuppoſe it to be Ancient; and ſo to give us ſome account, how much unacquainted theſe fabulous Mythologiſts were with the materials of their own traditions. Touching this myſtical Theologie of Pherecydes, ſee more in Diogenes Laertius of his Life, Ger. Voſſius de Hiſt. Graec. lib. 4. cap. 4. pag. 443. Edit. 2. Dr. Owen Theol. lib. 1. c. 1. pag. 3, &c.
Pli… opinion of the Souls immortality.§. 9. Though Pherecydes's Philoſophick Theologie was fabulous, and myſtical, yet, as it is generally conceived, he did clearly, and plainly aſſert the Soul's Immortality. So Cicero lib. 1. Tuſc. quaeſt. Pherecydes Sy…us was the firſt that aſſerted the Souls of men to be immortal. Thus Tullie, Pherecydes Pythagorae praeceptor fuit, multa que …tiliſſima, imprimis animarum foreign, Graecos primus …do…uit. Hornius Hiſt. philoſ. l. 3. c. 12.which Lactantius lib. 7. cap. 8. quotes. Alſo Auſtin Epiſt. 3. to Voluſianus, thus writeth. What Idiot now, what abject woman is there, who believeth not the Immortality of the Soul, and a future Life after Death? which in old times Pherecydes, firſt diſputed for, amongſt the Grecians, and Pythagoras the Samian being much moved by the novity of this Diſpute, was transformed from a Wreſtler into a Philoſopher: ſo Montaigne Eſſais livr. 2. cap. 12. The opinion of the Immortality of the Soul, Cicero ſaies, was firſt introduced by Pherecydes; but others attribute it to Thales. Who ever were the firſt traducer of this opinion into Greece, we have ſufficient reaſon to conclude it was originally traduced from ſome Scripture, or Jewiſh Tradition.