CHARACTERS. As slaves for sale: . . . . . . . . and a . Various buyers. Zeus

(to his assistants) Set the benches in order, and get the place ready for visitors; and you, range the lives in order and usher them in, but tidy them up first so that they may make a good appearance and attract a crowd. You, Hermes, make a proclamation, and, by the grace of heaven, summon the buyers to the sale-room forthwith. We are going to announce for sale philosophic lives of every description and varied principles, and if any one is not able to lay down his money on the nail he can pay up next year if he gives security.

Hermes

A crowd is gathering, so we must not waste time nor keep them waiting.

Zeus

Then let us proceed to sell.

Hermes

Which of them shall we put up first?

Zeus

This one with the long hair, the Ionian, for he seems to be a reverend person.

Hermes

Let the Pythagorean there show his points to the company.

Zeus

Announce him, pray.

Hermes

I offer the noblest life, the most reverend. Who will buy? Who wishes to be more than human, to know the harmony of the all, and rise from the dead?

Buyer

He is not bad to look at, but just what does he know?

Hermes

Arithmetic, astronomy, magic, geometry, music, jugglery. A finished fortune-teller is before you.

Buyer

May one question him?

Hermes

With all my heart.

Buyer

What country are you of?

Pythagoras

Samos.

Buyer

Where were you educated?

Pythagoras

In Egypt, among the sages there.

Buyer

Well, then, if I buy you what will you teach me?

Pythagoras

I will not teach you anything. I will remind you.

Buyer

How will you remind me?

Pythagoras

By first making your soul clean, and washing off the filth that is on it.

Buyer

Now, suppose me already purified, what is your method of reminding?

Pythagoras

The first step is a long, speechless silence; you must not say a word for five whole years.

Buyer

You ought to teach mutes, my friend. But I am a talker with no desire to become a graven image. All the same, what comes after the silence and the five-year term?

Pythagoras

Practise in music and geometry.

Buyer

That is a nice statement! If I am to become a philosopher I must first learn to play the harp!

Pythagoras

In addition to these, counting.

Buyer

I can count now.

Pythagoras

How do you do it?

Buyer

One, two, three, four.

Pythagoras

Look, now; what you deem four is really ten, and a perfect triangle, and what we swear by.

Buyer

Hear me swear a mighty oath: by Four, I never heard diviner or more holy words.

Pythagoras

And after that, stranger, you will have knowledge concerning earth and air and water and fire-the mass of each, and what form it has, and what motion by consequence.

Buyer

Then has fire form, or air, or water?

Pythagoras

Very clear forms, for the formless and shapeless is immovable; and besides these things you will know that God is number and mind and harmony.

Buyer

This is startling!

Pythagoras

Beyond what I have already said, you will know that you yourself, who seem to be a unit, are one person in appearance and another in reality.

Buyer

What do you say? Am I somebody else and not this person now talking to you?

Pythagoras

Now you are he, but formerly you appeared in another body and with another name; and in time you will change again into another.

Buyer

You mean this: that I shall be immortal, changing into one form after another? But that is enough on this subject.