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Golden Verses — Pythagoras

Traditional attribution · Essential works

Golden Verses

Χρυσᾶ ἔπη

Busto de Pitágoras (Museos Capitolinos)
byPythagoras

Seventy-one lines of moral and religious precepts: honour the gods, the heroes and one's parents; choose the virtuous as a friend; master the belly, sleep, desire and anger; respect oneself above all; examine each night what was done during the day. The final section promises whoever perseveres knowledge of the nature of gods and men and, on leaving the body, the condition of an immortal god. The Neoplatonist Hierocles of Alexandria (5th century) wrote a commentary on it, and in the modern age it was one of the most translated Greek texts.

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Authorship note

Attributed to Pythagoras by tradition, but not his: an anonymous poem in hexameters of Hellenistic or imperial date (proposals range from the fourth century BCE to the fourth century CE) gathering precepts of the Pythagorean tradition. Epictetus, early in the second century CE, already quotes its lines 40–44.

Editions and translations

Editions in your language first, without hiding the others. Each with its cover and its store.

English

  • The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library — Pythagoras

    The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library

    Phanes Press, 1987

    Translation: Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie, Thomas Taylor y Arthur Fairbanks

    ISBN 9780933999510

    Ed. David R. Fideler; incluye las vidas de Porfirio y Jámblico, los Versos de oro y fragmentos pitagóricos.

  • The Golden Verses of Pythagoras

    G. P. Putnam's Sons (Project Gutenberg n.º 69174), 1917

    Translation: Nayán Louise Redfield (de la versión francesa de Antoine Fabre d'Olivet)

    Versión libre y comentario esotérico de Fabre d'Olivet (1813).

    View in store · Project Gutenberg (gratuito)

  • The Golden Verses of Pythagoras

    Internet Archive (ed. de 1732), 1732

    Translation: Nicholas Rowe

    Traducción en verso.

    View in store · Internet Archive

Español

  • Sentencias de Teognis, de Phocylides, de Pitágoras y de otros sabios de la Grecia

    Oficina de Aznar, Madrid (Internet Archive), 1802

    Translation: Enrique Ataide y Portugal (del francés)

    Ejemplar de la Biblioteca de la Universidad de Sevilla.

    View in store · Internet Archive

Griego antiguo

  • The Pythagorean Golden Verses: With Introduction and Commentary

    E. J. Brill, 1995

    Translation: Johan C. Thom

    ISBN 9789004101050

    Edición crítica, traducción inglesa y comentario.

Other works by Pythagoras

Sources

  • Thom, Johan C. The Pythagorean Golden Verses: With Introduction and Commentary. E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1995 (Religions in the Graeco-Roman World, 123). ISBN 9789004101050.

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