Political fragments of Archytas, Charondas, Zaleucus, and other ancient Pythagoreans, preserved by Stobæus — Story, Setting & Ideas

Divine Immutability and the Rejection of Poetic Mercy

Hierocles' ethical fragments open with a firm theological position: the gods are immutable and never revise their judgments. This is not a minor aside but a foundational claim that shapes the entire ethical framework. The text explicitly rejects poetic traditions that depict gods as flexible or open to supplication, quoting lines such as “By incense and libation, gentle vows, / And sacrifice and prayer, men bend the Gods” only to dismiss them as “rashly, and without any reason.” The argument is that if divine decisions could change, the cosmos would lack beautiful and just governance. This stance creates a moral universe where punishment is certain and repentance is futile—a stark contrast to later Christian or Platonic notions of divine mercy. The fragments do not elaborate on how humans should respond to this rigidity, but the implication is clear: ethical conduct must be grounded in an unyielding cosmic order.

Regulating Women: From Dress to Religious Rites

The treatise attributed to Perictione offers the most detailed prescriptions for women's conduct. It specifies that garments should be “white and simple, and by no means superfluous”—neither transparent nor variegated, nor woven from silk. Gold and emeralds are forbidden as they “exhibit pride and arrogance towards the vulgar.” The text goes further, recommending that a well-governed city should expel artisans who produce such luxuries. Women are to leave the house only during daylight, when the forum is full, accompanied by one or two servants, for specific purposes like sacrifice or shopping. Frugal sacrifices are permitted, but orgies and domestic rites of the mother of the gods are prohibited, as they “introduce ebriety, and mental alienation.” The passage ties female virtue directly to the husband's honor: a woman's modesty “will render both herself and her husband honourable.” The best proof of a wife's chastity, the text asserts, is the resemblance of children to their father.

The Architecture of a Pythagorean Polity

The political fragments by Hippodamus, Diotogenes, and Archytas outline a vision of the city as an integrated, hierarchical whole. Hippodamus, known from Aristotle as a town planner, here contributes a treatise “On a Republic” that likely linked physical layout to moral order. Diotogenes, in his work “On Sanctity,” connects piety to political stability, while Archytas frames law and justice as the bonds that prevent civil decay. The table of contents reveals a systematic concern with the “mutations of polities”—how regimes change and how to preserve them. The fragments are too brief to reconstruct full arguments, but they consistently treat the city as an organism that must “accord with itself, and have an equable legislation.” The emphasis on expelling luxury artisans and regulating women's religious practices suggests a society where personal conduct is inseparable from civic health. Taylor's translation, with its archaic diction and frequent footnotes, presents these texts as esoteric wisdom rather than practical governance.

Readers should approach this collection as a series of philosophical fragments rather than a unified treatise. The attributions to Archytas, Charondas, and others are traditional and may reflect later Pythagorean schools rather than the historical figures. Taylor's translations are shaped by his own Neoplatonic commitments, which color the rendering of key terms. The excerpts reward attention to recurring motifs—immutability, hierarchy, purity—and to the tensions between the severe divine order and the detailed regulation of daily life. Comparing the political and ethical sections reveals how Pythagorean thought linked cosmic stability to domestic discipline.