myself entirely from it. But a war against one's own nature cannot be
carried on without occasional defeat, even if ultimately successful.
When grief and pain are gaining the upperhand and I am well nigh in
despair, my only help lies in remembering my friend Pythagoras, that
noblest among men, and his words: 'Observe a due proportion in all
things, avoid excessive joy as well as complaining grief, and seek to
keep thy soul in tune and harmony like a well-toned harp.'"

[There is no question that Pythagoras visited Egypt during the reign
of Amasis, probably towards the middle of the 6th century (according
to our reckoning, about 536 B. C.) Herod. II. 81-123. Diod. I. 98.
Rich information about Pythagoras is to be found in the works of the
very learned scholar Roeth, who is however occasionally much too
bold in his conjectures. Pythagoras was the first among Greek
thinkers (speculators). He would not take the name of a wise man or
"sage," but called himself "Philosophos," or a "friend of wisdom."]

"This Pythagorean inward peace, this deep, untroubled calm, I see daily
before me in my Sappho; and struggle to attain it myself, though many a
stroke of fate untunes the chords of my poor heart. I am calm now! You
would hardly believe what power the mere thought of that first of all
thinkers, that calm, deliberate man, whose life acted on mine like
sweet, soft music, has over me. You knew him, you can understand what
I mean. Now, mention your wish; my heart is as calmly quiet as the Nile
waters which are flowing by so quietly, and I am ready to hear it, be it
good or evil."

"I am glad to see you thus," said the Athenian. "If you had remembered
the noble friend of wisdom, as Pythagoras was wont to call himself a
little sooner, your soul would have regained its balance yesterday. The
master enjoins us to look back every evening on the events, feelings and
actions of the day just past.

"Now had you done this, you would have felt that the unfeigned
admiration of all your guests, among whom were men of distinguished
merit, outweighed a thousandfold the injurious words of a drunken
libertine; you would have felt too that you were a friend of the gods,
for was it not in your house that the immortals gave that noble old man
at last, after his long years of misfortune, the greatest joy that can
fall to the lot of any human being? and did they not take from you one
friend only in order to replace him in the