And even the great Pythagoras was always applying himself to prediction, and Abaris the Hyperborean and Aristaias the Prokonnesian, and Epimenides the Cretan, the one who came to Sparta, and Zoroaster the Mede, and Empedokles the Akragantine and Phormion the Lakonian, and also Polyaratos the Thasian, and Empedotimos the Syracusan, and on top of those Sokrates the Athenian especially. ‘For I have,’ he says in the Theages, ‘starting from childhood by heavenly fortune an attending divine signal. And this is a voice that whenever it happens, stops what I’m about to do, and never once urges me on.’
Author: Clement of Alexandria
Title of Work: Stromata
Location in Work: 1.21.133.2
Date of Work: c. 200 CE
Original Language: Greek (Attic/Patristic)
Original Text:
προγνώσει δὲ καὶ Πυθαγόρας ὁ μέγας προσανεῖχεν αἰεὶ Ἄβαρίς τε ὁ Ὑπερβόρειος καὶ Ἀρισταίας ὁ Προκοννήσιος Ἐπιμενίδης τε ὁ Κρής, ὅστις εἰς Σπάρτην ἀφίκετο, καὶ Ζωροάστρης ὁ Μῆδος Ἐμπεδοκλῆς τε ὁ Ἀκραγαντῖνος καὶ Φορμίων ὁ Λακων, ναί μὴν Πολυάρατος ὁ Θάσιος Ἐμπεδότιμός τε ὁ Συρακούσιος ἐπί τε τούτοις Σωκράτης ὁ Ἀθηναῖος μάλιστα. “ἔστι γάρ μοι,” φησὶν ἐν τῷ θεάγει, “ἐκ παιδὸς ἀρξάμενον θείᾳ μοίρᾳ παραγινόμενον δαιμόνιον σημείον, τοῦτο δέ ἐστι φωνή, ἥ ὅταν γένηται, ἐπίσχει τοῦτο ὃ μέλλω πράττειν, προτρέπει δὲ οὐδέποτε.”
Reference Edition: Stählin and Früchtel, Stromata
Source of Date of Work: Ferguson, Clement of Alexander, 17
Commentary:
This is the only extant text that credits Aristeas with making predictions, and it’s not clear what Clement is referring to. The Arimaspeia’s story of extracorporeal flight can be understood as a means of divination, and the sanctuary to Apollo in Metapontion that according to legend was built because Aristeas visited there and commanded it is believed to have been an oracular site.
Many of the characters listed in this excerpt were, as Aristeas became, legendary sages and miracle-workers venerated by Pythagoreans. Aristeas was also mentioned together with Pythagoras by Apollonios the paradoxographer, Iamblichos and Tzetzes, who each also mentioned Pythagoras making predictions, and by Maximus of Tyre. Iamblichos even listed Aristeas among known Pythagoreans, although Aristeas’ life was usually set earlier than Pythagoras. Aside from Iamblichos’ book on Pythagoras and Pythagoreans, Diogenes Laertios (8.1) and Porphyry wrote biographies. For testimonies and fragments of texts attributed to him, see DK Pythagoras (14). See also Huffmann, Pythagoreanism and Guthrie, Pythagorean Sourcebook.
Abaris was a legendary figure associated with Hyperborea, Apollo and cult practices in Athens, who was also incorporated into Pythagorean legends. He was mentioned together with Aristeas by Apollonios the paradoxographer and Iamblichos, who each also described Abaris making predictions, and by Celsus and Origen. In later texts, including those of Celsus, Origen and Iamblichos cited above, and another by Iamblichos, Abaris flew around the earth on an arrow given to him by Apollo (which in earlier stories Abaris carried). According to Iamblichos and Porphyry, Abaris became Pythagoras’ disciple.
Epimenides was mentioned together with Aristeas, though not making predictions, by Pliny the elder, Apollonios the paradoxographer, Maximus of Tyre (twice), Iamblichos, Proklos of Lykia, Tatian and Claudianus Mamertus. A biography of Epimenides was written by Diogenes Laertios (1.10). For testimonies and fragments of writings attributed to him see BNJ Epimenides von Kreta (457) and DK Epimenides (3).
Empedokles was a mid-5th century philosopher from the Greek colony of Akragas in Sicily. He was also mentioned together with Aristeas in works by Gregory of Nazianzos, Iamblichos, and Tzetzes; the latter also described Empedokles as a predictor of the future. For late legends of his life see Diogenes Laertios (8.2). On his philosophy, Kingsley and Parry, Empedocles. For testimonies and fragments of texts attributed to him, DK Empedokles (31).
Empedotimos was a character who saw a vision under the influence of Hades and Persephone in a work by the late Classical philosopher Herakleides of Pontos. Empedotimos was also mentioned together with Aristeas in texts by Gregory of Nazianzos and Proklos of Lykia. See Wehrli, Herakleides Pontikos.
Sokrates’ divine signal (δαιμόνιον σημείον), traditionally translated as ‘sign,’ was also mentioned in Plato’s Phaidros and other dialogues, and in a story by Plutarch.
Concordance: EGEP Aristeas T13; EGF Aristeas T12; PEG Aristeas T14; Bolton, Aristeas T&F 21