ympus; the space between the fixed
stars and the moon he called {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}; the space between the moon and the
earth {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}. He, or at least his disciples, taught that the earth
revolved on its axis, (though Philolaus taught that its revolutions were
not round its axis but round the central fire). The universe itself they
considered as a large sphere, and the intervals between the heavenly
bodies they thought were determined according to the laws and relations of
musical harmony. And from this theory arose the doctrine of the Music of
the Spheres; as the heavenly bodies in their motion occasioned a sort of
sound depending on their distances and velocities; and as these were
determined by the laws of harmonic intervals, the sounds, or notes, formed
a regular musical scale.

The light and heat of the central fire he believed that we received
through the sun, which he considered a kind of lens: and perfection, he
conceived to exist in direct ratio to the distance from the central fire.

The universe, itself, they looked upon as having subsisted from all
eternity, controlled by an eternal supreme Deity; who established both
limits and infinity; and whom they often speak of as the absolute {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH VARIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~},
or unity. He pervaded (though he was distinct from) and presided over the
universe. Sometimes, too, he is called the absolute _Good_,--while the
origin of evil is attributed not to him, but to matter which prevented him
from conducting everything to the best end.

With respect to man, the doctrine of Pythagoras was that known by the name
of the Metempsychosis,--that the soul after death rested a certain time
till it was purified, and had acquired a forgetfulness of what had
previously happened to it; and then reanimated some other body. The ethics
of the Pythagoreans consisted more in ascetic practice and maxims for the
restraint of the passions, than in any scientific theories. Wisdom they
considered as sup