79

140

when he appeared in Italy. This is highly favorable
to our supposition.

But let us trace out its consequences a
little further. We must always push our
hypotheses to their remotest consequences;
and it is only when we find them always
fitting into the facts that we can begin
positively to believe in them.

Iamblichus says that Pythagoras was
carried to Babylon. So he doubtless would
have been if he had been taken prisoner
by Cambyses, Babylon being the capital
of the Persian empire. But Cyrus did
not subdue Babylon until 538 B.C., and
therefore in 546 B.C. Pythagoras could not