VII. But Duris, in the second book of his Boundaries, says that this epigram was written upon him:—
The limit of all wisdom is in me; And would be, were it larger. But report To my Pythagoras that he’s the first Of all the men that tread the Grecian soil; I shall not speak a falsehood, saying this.
Adorned with valour while alive, and modesty, Now that he’s dead he still exists in peace; For, like the wise Pythagoras, he studied The manners and the minds of many nations.
And I myself have composed an epigram on him in the Pherecratean metre:—
The story is reported, That noble Pherecydes Whom Syros calls her own, Was eaten up by lice; And so he bade his friends, Convey his corpse away To the Magnesian land, That he might victory give To holy Ephesus. For well the God had said, (Though he alone did know Th’ oracular prediction), That this was fate’s decree. So in that land he lies. This then is surely true, That those who’re really wise Are useful while alive, And e’en when breath has left them.
VIII. And he flourished about the fifty-ninth Olympiad. There is a letter of his extant in the following terms:—
May you die happily when fate overtakes you. Disease has seized upon me at the same time that I received your letter. I am all over lice, and suffering likewise under a low fever. Accordingly, I have charged my servants to convey this book of mine to you, after they have buried me. And do you, if you think fit, after consulting with the other wise men, publish it; but if you do not approve of doing so, then keep it unpublished, for I am not entirely pleased with it myself. The subject is not one about which there is any certain knowledge, nor do I undertake to say that I have arrived at the truth; but I have advanced arguments, from which any one who occupies himself with speculations on the divine nature, may make a selection; and as to other points, he must exercise his intellect, for I speak obscurely throughout. I, myself, as I am afflicted more severely by this disease every day, no longer admit any physicians, or any of my friends. But when they stand at the door, and ask me how I am, I put out my finger to them through the opening of the door, and show them how I am eaten up with the evil; and I desired them to come to-morrow to the funeral of Pherecydes.