CHAPTER XXXVII

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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.

## PART II.

CONTINUATION OF HISTORICAL GREECE.

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