Pythagoras: His Life and Teaching, a Compendium of Classical Sources (62 page)

p. 197
the custody of Jupiter.

was a Pythagorean term for the center of the Universe. (Cf. Liddell Scott, A
Greek-English Lexicon
, p. 1960a,
3.)

See Aristotle's “On the heavens” (
or
De Cxlo)
Book 2:

“They think (i.e. the Pythagoreans) that the most honourable place belongs to the most honourable body, and that Fire is more honourable than Earth; that the two extremes, centre and circumference, are more honourable than the parts intermediate between them. Upon these grounds, they consider that Fire, and not Earth, is at the centre of the Universal Sphere; and they have another reason, peculier to themselves, for this conclusion: they hold that the centre is the most important place in the universe, and
that it ought as such to be the most carefully guarded; wherefore they call it the watch of Jupiter (
), and regard it as occupied by Fire.” (George Grote,
Aristotle
, Vol 2,
De Cœlo II
, Cap. 13, p. 423) For the Greek text of Aristotle, see Bekker,
Aristotelis Graece
, Vol. 1, p. 293b, 3.

p. 200 “
[“their oppositions, their eclipses, inequalities, eccentricities and epicycles.”]
is the anticipation of any planet, either in respect to some other planet, or to the fixed Stars.”

This is a difficult passage to translate, as
and
may both be used in the sense of “eclipse” or “occultation.” Thomas Taylor translated
as “oppositions” which was likewise followed by Guthrie. (See Liddell Scott, A
Greek-English Lexicon
, p. 633a) The text is from Iamblicus'
Life of Pythagoras
, Chapter 6. Cf. Kiessling,
Iamblichi Chalcidensis Ex Coele-Suria De Vita
Vol. 1, p. 70. See also Thomas Taylor,
Iamblicus' Life of Pythagoras
, p. 15 and Guthrie,
The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library
, p. 64.

p. 200
Inequality.

Astronomically, the word signifies “irregular motion,” hence the etymology of the English word “anomaly.” Cf. Liddell Scott,
A Greek-English Lexicon
, p. 170a.

p. 215
precocious.