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Hierocles on Golden Verses of Pythagoras

Nicholas

Bodhicitta
Hierocles of Alexandria lived in the 5th century and his detailed commentary on the Golden Verses has been put into English recently by Hermann Schibli. He also has a detailed Introduction on the life & philosophy of Hierocles, plus another translation of a work on Providence by Hierocles.
At any rate, his translation of the commentary is the most accurate and complete. Here is his summary of the first ten of 27 chapters:

Proem. Definition of philosophy, divided into the practical and contemplative. Introduction to the Golden Verses, which unveil the aim of Pythagorean philosophy.

Chapter I. On piety. The creator-god and the three classes of rational beings-immortal gods, glorious heroes, and humans-that merit honour according to their substance. The creative law that preserves the order and ranking of beings in the cosmos. Piety manifested not in external sacrifices but in inner purity.

Chapter II. On reverence for the oath as guarantor of divine law and cosmic order. The divine and human manifestations of the oath. On the proper use of oaths.

Chapter III. On the honour towards glorious heroes. Definition of glorious heroes as natural daemons who occupy the median rank of rational beings .

Chapter IV. On earth-dwelling daemons, defined as knowledgeable and virtuous human beings who are daemons by relation, insofar as they resemble the daemonic class. We honour these outstanding human beings by following their way of life.

Chapter V. On the honour towards parents and kin. On caring for one's parents. Divine law takes precedence when parents are not virtuous.

Chapter VI. On voluntary friendship. Whereas parents are honoured by reason of natural ties, friends are to be sought for the sake of a partnership in the virtues.

Chapter VII. On behaviour towards friends. Friendship is to be maintained with all forbearance as long as a partnership in virtue is possible or a lost friend is able to be recalled to virtue. Human kindness extended to all men, but friendship only to the good.

Chapter VIII. On controlling the irrational soul. On the conflicts arising from its spirited and desiderative parts. The irrational and affective faculties must be habituated to obey reason .

Chapter IX. On avoiding shameful deeds, both when alone and in company. Self-knowledge (i.e. respect of oneself as a rational substance) and conscience act as guardians against shameful practices.

Chapter X . On the four cardinal virtues, notably on practical wisdom as chief of the virtues. How practical wisdom and right reason are able to evaluate and bear misfortunes. On finding the cause of evils in ourselves and not blaming the superior beings.

Chapter XI. On 'heaven-sent fortunes'. Providence, fate, and deliberate choice are the primary causes of man's fortunes, in which chance and accident play a subsidiary role. God is blameless of evils, but man puts himself in a position to require the corrections of providence. How to endure life's fortunes with virtue.

Chapter XII. On good and bad arguments. On finding the mean between a hatred and a love of speaking, and on the correct way to refute falsehoods.

Chapter XIII. On the steadfastness of the man of reason in the face of flattering or threatening words and deeds . Definition of the human self as the rational soul; body and externals are instruments for use of the soul. On guarding the soul with truth and virtue.

Chapter XIV. On good counsel and deliberate action profiting the soul. The value of corrective punishment to bring on repentance, 'the beginning of philosophy'. Counsel and right reason oppose thoughtlessness and procure the best way of life.

Chapter XV. On knowledge and the right evaluation of pleasures. True pleasure comes from a virtuous life.

Chapter XVI. On moderation in food, drink, and exercise. Health and moderation are worth while as far as they serve the soul's activity of contemplation.

Chapter XVII. On moderation (continued). On avoiding the extremes of luxury and squalor, profligacy and miserliness, by following the maxim 'nothing too much' .

Chapter XVIII. On reflecting before acting so as to avoid harm to the philosophical life .

Chapter XIX. On the daily, threefold examination of conscience . On self-admonition with the aid of memory.

[At this point there is a transition from the civic virtues to the Divine virtues. The former purify our human nature to make it able to become godly.]
 
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Nicholas

Bodhicitta
Chapter XX. On the transition from human (civic) virtue and practical philosophy to divine virtue and contemplative philosophy. On the Pythagorean tetrad/tetractys, identified with the demiurge, and its properties.

Chapter XXI. On prayer. The effectiveness of prayer depends upon both man's work and zeal and the cooperation of the divine .

Chapter XXII. On the ordered relation, of the three classes of rational beings within the cosmos. On the division of the cosmos into an incorporeal order and the visible (physical) world.

Chapter XXIII. On nature and the visible cosmos. On man's amphibious nature between the incorporeal realm of intellect and the irrational, corporeal world. Man should respect the divine measures for creation and align his hopes according to the limits imposed upon him in virtue of his worth and substance.

Chapter XXIV. On man's fall and the descent of the soul. On the role of free will in both man's fall and deliverance. Miseries are self-imposed. On the evil and ignorance of the majority of men.

Chapter XXV. On the name and nature of god . On the deliverance from evils , limited to a minority who voluntarily turn to philosophy, while the majority fail to recognize their own substance. God remains blameless .

Chapter XXVI. On the purification of the luminous body, also called the vehicle of the soul. Its purification is intimated by the Pythagorean symbols on abstinence. On telestic philosophy (i.e. theurgy), which, as a branch of practical philosophy along with civic philosophy, is subordinate to contemplative philosophy.

Chapter XXVII. On the end of philosophy: -the soul's deification and its restoration, along with the congenital body, to the ethereal realm. Man's place in the cosmic hierarchy is ordained by divine providence . Epilogue.
 

Nicholas

Bodhicitta
A little of Hierocles on Reverence for the Oath:

"Besides the Power that creates a universe, it is necessary that there
should be a power that preserves and sustains it, and this power is
embodied in the created beings.

For in their essence all beings are of one nature with the Father, and just in
so far as they are conscious of Him will they carry out His will and design.
They are said to be bound by an Oath to preserve all things in their
respective places and to maintain the beauty and harmony of the universe;
but this Oath is in reality innate and essential to them, because it is born
with them and is part of their divine nature. Therefore, the Oath is
constantly observed by the Immortal Gods, they being always conscious of
the Divine Will; but by the Heroes only to the extent to which they
understand and know God.

The mortal Oath--that used amongst men--has to be reverenced as an image
of the other, and as leading to the greatest strength and stability of
character. And if man would reverence the Oath, then must he do all in his
power to understand the laws that govern this universe, and endeavour to
preserve harmony and order in all things."
 

Nicholas

Bodhicitta
Hierocles begins:

PROEM
Philosophy is a purification and perfection of human life: a purification from our irrational, material nature and the mortal form of the body, a perfection by the recovery of our proper happiness, leading to divine likeness. Virtue and truth are most naturally suited to accomplish these ends; the former banishes the immoderation of the passions, the latter gains the divine form for those by nature well capable [of receiving it].
 
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