The Influence of thePythagorean Preceptson the Later Pythagorean Tradition

Aristoxenus’ five books on the Pythagoreans clearly were an important source for the later Pythagorean tradition. However, if instead of treating Aristoxenus’ Pythagorean works as a group we are careful to focus just on the Pythagorean Precepts the situation is more complicated and interesting. Clearly the Precepts had a significant influence on Stobaeus and Iamblichus. The seven excerpts from the Precepts are an important part of the Pythagorean texts in Stobaeus’ overall collection of texts for the edification of his son. The Precepts bulk even larger in Iamblichus’ On the Pythagorean Way of Life where they constitute roughly 23 out of the 267 sections of the text (10 pages out of 115 pages in Dillon and Hershbell’s text). This means that they account for 8–9% of the text, which is notable for a single work. With the examples of Stobaeus and Iamblichus in mind we might well expect that much of the rest of the Pythagorean tradition, at least where the focus is on ethical precepts, would also rely heavily on the Precepts. This does not, however, appear to be the case. There are a number of texts that present sets of precepts for the Pythagorean way of life, the most important of which are: 1) portions of Diogenes Laertius’ Life of Pythagoras (8.22–4), 2) portions of Porphyry’s Life of Pythagoras (38–41), 3) Diodorus Siculus’ account of Pythagoreanism (10.3–11), 4) Iamblichus’ report of the four speeches that Pythagoras supposedly gave on his arrival in Croton (VP 37–57) and 5) some of the pseudo-Pythagorean texts collected by Thesleff. Although some scholars have claimed that these texts rely heavily on the Precepts,