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The Golden Verses of Pythagoras -.:: GEOCITIES.Ws The Golden Verses of Pythagoras Explained and Translated into French and Preceded by a Discourse upon the Essence and From of Poetry Among the Principal Peoples of the Earth By Fabre d’Olivet Done into English by Nayán Louise Redfield Mhdn ¥gan kaˆ gnîqi seautÒn Unſpeakable Preſs 333 Via Nefanda, Lelag, Leng 2007 Les Vers Dorés de Pythagore expliqués &c. &c. first published Paris & Strasbourg, 1813. English translation published New York & London, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1917 and printed at the Knickerbocker Press, New York. This work is in the public domain. To the Travellers who have turned their Faces to the Dawn and their Steps toward the Eternal Hills is offered this rich Fruit of Wisdom, that, through it, they may achieve the Understanding of Knowledge. TRANSLATOR’S FOREWORD N this twentieth century, the sacred books of the an- I cients are undoubtedly better understood than they were even by their contemporaries, for their authors, by the greatness of their genius, are as much nearer to us, as they were distant from them. At the close of the eighteenth century, the light which came from the illimitable mind of Fabre d’Olivet shone with solitary splendour and was des- tined to be seen by only a few devoted followers. But history shows that a great inspirer always appears at the beginning of every great epoch, and however small the num- ber of his disciples, these disciples with their pupils form the magnetic chain which, according to Plato, carries his thought out into the world. Fabre d’Olivet, born at Ganges, Bas-Languedoc, Dec. 8, 1768, was distinguished even in his own day not only for the extent of his learning but for the rectitude of his judg- ment and the sublimity of his conceptions. If one can infer from the all too scarce records available since the calamitous fire which destroyed so many of his valued manuscripts, he evidently suffered keenly from the fetters of mortality, and sought with unfailing fervour what Porphyry so aptly called the “Olympia of the Soul.” Saint Yves d’Alveydre, writing of him in La France vraie, says, that it was in 1790, while in Germany, he received his Pythagorean initiation, the profound imprint of which marked all his later productions. After returning to Paris he applied himself to philological and philosophical studies v vi Translator’s Foreword undisturbed by the terrible revolutionary storm. In ob- scure seclusion he amassed, to quote Sédir, “a disconcerting erudition.” He became familiar with all the Semitic tongues and dialects, the Aryan languages, and even pene- trated the secrets of the Chinese hieroglyphics. It was during these ten years of retirement that he wrote his Examinations of the Golden Verses which were not published until 1813, with its dedication to the Section of Literature of the Imperial Institute of France. It is known that the Golden Verses of Pythagoras were originally tran- scribed by Lysis and that it is to Hierocles we owe the ver- sion which has come down to us. Fabre d’Olivet has translated them into French verse, the style of which he calls eumolpigue, that is, subject to measure and harmonious cadence but free from rhyme, with alternate masculine and feminine terminations. In the Esence and Form of Poetry which precedes the Golden Verses, he illustrates this melodious style, in applying it to the opening lines of some of the well-known classics, and to others not so well-known. These Golden Verses, so remarkable for their moral elevation, present the most beautiful monument of antiquity raised in honour of Wisdom. They formed the credo of the adepts and initiates. In his recondite Examinations, Fabre d’Olivet has drawn the metaphysical correlation of Providence, Destiny, and the Will of Man, in which com- bined action Destiny reigns over the past, the Will of Man over the future, and Providence over the present, which, always existing, may be called Eternal. One will find this given at greater length in his Hermeneutic Interpretation of the Origin of the Social State of Man and the Destiny of the Adamic Race: admirable work of this little known theo- sophist, “to give him the name he loved best to hold,” says Pierre Leroux in De L’Humanite. The inequality of human conditions, upon which depend the social and political questions, forms one of the vital subjects of these esoteric teachings. He has also endeav- Translator’s Foreword vii oured to explain the true opinion of Pythagoras concerning metempsychosis which was his sacred dogma, and said that the dogma of transmigration of souls, received by all peoples and revealed in the ancient mysteries, has been absolutely disfigured in what the moderns have called metempsychosis. His strange death, which occurred March 25, 1825, is mentioned by des Essarts in Les Hiérophantes, and other authorities including Pierre Leroux, have asserted that he died at the foot of his altar. NAYÁN LOUISE REDFIELD. HARTFORD, CONN., October, 1916. The Golden Verses of Pythagoras DISCOURSE UPON THE ESSENCE AND FORM OF POETRY 3 DISCOURSE UPON THE ESSENCE AND FORM OF POETRY* Messieurs: Before publishing the translation of the Golden Verses of Pythagoras, such as I have made it, in French verse which I have designated by the expression eumolpique, 1 I would have liked to be able to submit it to you and thus be en- lightened by your counsels or sustained by your approba- tion; but academic laws and usages, whose justice I have felt, have prevented my enjoying this advantage. The inno- vation, however, which I have endeavoured to make in French poetry and the new explanation which I have tried to give of one of the most celebrated pieces of Greek poetry, have seemed to me to hold too closely to your labours and to enter too deeply into your literary provinces, for me to believe myself able to dispense with calling your attention to them. I crave your indulgence, if in the demonstration of a just deference to your judgment I involuntarily neglect certain formalities; and I beg you to judge the purity of my intentions. I claim not to be a poet; I had even long ago renounced the art of verse, but notwithstanding that, I am now pre- senting myself in the poetic career to solicit the hazardous success of an innovation! Is it the love of glory which inspires in me this temerity, which dazzles me today as * Addressé à la Classe de la Langue et de la Littérature françaises, et à celle d’Histoire et de Littérature ancienne de l’Institut impérial de France. 1 This expression will be explained in the progress of the discourse. 5 6 The Golden Verses of Pythagoras my autumn advances, whereas it was unable to move me when the effervescence of my springtime ought to have doubled its strength? No: however flattering the wreaths that you award to talent, they would not concern me; and if an interest, as new as powerful, had not induced me to address you, I would keep silent. This interest, Messieurs, is that which science itself inspires in me, and the desire, perhaps inconsiderate but commendable, of co-operating with my limited ability for the development of a language whose literary and moral influence, emerging from the bourns of Europe and the present century, ought to invade the world and become universal like the renown of the hero who extends his conquests with those of the empire whose foundations he has laid. I feel, Messieurs, that I should explain my thought. My assertion, well founded as it may be, appears none the less extraordinary, and I am bound to admit this. The disfavour which is attached to all new ideas, to all innova- tions, the just defiance that they inspire, the element of ridicule that springs from their downfall, would have ar- rested my audacity, if I had had audacity alone, and if the worthy ambition of effecting a general good had not raised me above a particular evil which might have resulted for me. Besides I have counted upon the judicious good-will of the two illustrious Academies to which I am addressing myself: I have thought that they would distinguish in the verse which I am presenting for their examination, both as a means of execution in French poetry and as a means of translation in ancient and foreign poetry, the real utility that they can offer, of the fortuitous beauty which thoy lack, and which a more capable hand would have been able to give them; I flatter myself, at length, that they would grant to the end, without prejudice, the attention which is necessary, and that if they refused an entire approbation to my efforts, they would at least render justice to my zeal and commend the motives which have made me attempt them. The Essence and Form of Poetry 7 § I When, after the revival of letters in Europe, Chancellor Bacon, legislator of thought, sketched with bold strokes the tree of human knowledge, and brought back each branch of science to that of the moral faculties upon which it de- pends, he did not fail to observe sagaciously that it was necessary to distinguish in poetry two things, its essence and its form1: its essence as pertaining wholly to the imagina- tion, and composing by itself alone one of the principal branches of science2; its form, as making part of the gram- mar, and entering thus into the domain of philosophy and into the rational faculty of the understanding.3 This celebrated man had borrowed this idea from a man much older and more celebrated than himself, Plato.
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