extraordinary character of the personality about which
they are woven. The alleged witticisms of a Whistler, in our own day,
were doubtless, for the most part, quite unknown to Whistler himself,
yet they never would have been ascribed to him were they not akin to
witticisms that he did originate--were they not, in short, typical
expressions of his personality. And so of the heroes of the past. "It is
no ordinary man," said George Henry Lewes, speaking of Pythagoras,
"whom fable exalts into the poetic region. Whenever you find romantic or
miraculous deeds attributed, be certain that the hero was great enough
to maintain the weight of the crown of this fabulous glory."(1) We may
not doubt, then, that Pythagoras, Parmenides, and Empedocles, with whose
names fable was so busy throughout antiquity, were men of extraordinary
personality. We are here chiefly concerned, however, neither with the
personality of the man nor yet with the precise doctrines which each one
of them taught. A knowledge of the latter would be interesting were it
attainable, but in the confused state of the reports that have come down
to us we cannot hope to be able to ascribe each idea with precision
to its proper source. At best we can merely outline, even here not too
precisely, the scientific doctrines which the Italic philosophers as a
whole seem to have advocated.

First and foremost, there is the doctrine that the earth is a sphere.
Pythagoras is said to have been the first advocate of this theory; but,
unfortunately, it is reported also that Parmenides was its author. This
rivalship for the discovery of an important truth we shall see repeated
over and over in more recent times. Could we know the whole truth, it
would perhaps appear that the idea of the sphericity of the earth was
originated long before the time of the Greek philosophers. But it must
be admitted that there is no record of any sort to give tangible support
to such an assumption. So far as we can ascertain, no Egyptian or
Babylonian astronomer ever grasped the wonderful conception that the
earth is round. That the Italic Greeks should have conceived that idea
was perhaps not so much because they were astronomers as because they
were practical geographers and geometers. Pythagoras, as we have noted,
was born at Samos, and, therefore, made a relatively long sea voyage in
passing to Italy. Now, as every one knows, the most simple and tangible
demonstration of the convexity of the eart