References.—Schöll (Carl), “Geschichte d. G. Litt.,” Vol. III. pp. 96, 388, or “Hist. de la Litt. Grecque,” Vol. VI. p. 141; Vol. VII. p. 121; Photius, cod. LXXIV; Fleury, “Hist. Eccles.”; Tillemont, “Hist. des Emp.,” Vols. IV and V; Suidas, art. “Themistius”; E. Baret, “De Themistio sophista ...” Paris, 1853; Brucker, “Hist. Crit. de la Phil.,” Vol. II. p. 484.
Zoroaster—Zarath ’ustra—Zerdusht—founder of the religious system contained in the Zend-Avesta (religious book of the Parsees, fire worshippers), is said to have been a native of Bactria, near the modern Balkh, and to have lived about 589–513 B.C. That he was an historical personage, equally with Buddha, Confucius and Mahomet, it is now scarcely possible to doubt.
His able biographer in the English Cyclopædia, London, 1868, Vol. VI. pp. 946–948, states that Zoroaster was a great astrologer and magician, and it is said at p. 95 of Mr. A. V. W. Jackson’s admirable work on Zoroaster, published in New York, 1899, that some of the original Nasks of the Avesta are reported to have been wholly scientific in their contents, and that the Greeks even speak of books purported to be by Zoroaster treating of physics, of the stars and of precious stones.
Zoroaster is merely named by Gilbert in manner shown at the Hermes Trismegistus entry.
References.—“Life of Zoroaster,” prefixed to Anquetil du Perron’s “Zend-Avesta,” Paris, 1771; Pastoret (Claude Emmanuel J. P. de), “Zoroaster, Confucius et Mahomet comparés,” 1787; Hyde (Thomas), “Historia ... Veterum Persarum ...” Oxford, 1760; “Zend-Avesta, Ouvrage de Zoroastre,” 2 vols. Paris, 1771; Martin-Haug (I.), “Essays,” Bombay, 1862; Malcolm (Sir John), “History of Persia,” 1815; Darmesteter, “Ormazd et Ahriman,” Paris, 1877; Spiegel (Friedrich), “Erânische Alterthumskunde,” Leipzig, 1871–1878; Chas. Rollin, “Ancient History,” London, 1845, Vol. I. pp. 234–235, 237; Ritter (Dr. Heinrich), “History of Ancient Philosophy,” London, 1846, Vol. I. p. 52; “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” Edward Gibbon (Milman), Philad., 1880, Vol. I. pp. 229–230, notes, and, for abridgment of his theology, pp. 231–234; also the Bury ed., London, 1900, Vol. I. pp. 197–198, 456–457; Vol. V. p. 487; “Classical Studies in Honour of Hy. Drisler,” New York, 1894, pp. 24–51; “The Fragments of the Persika of Ktesias,” by John Gilmore, London, 1888, pp. 29–36, 95; “The Great Monarchies of the Ancient Western World,” by Geo. Rawlinson, London, 1865, Vol. I. p. 195; Vol. III. pp. 93, 98, 105, 127, 135–139, 164; Vol. IV. pp. 110, 333; “Essai Historique,” Eug. Salverte, Paris, 1824, Vol. II. p. 503.
To the foregoing “Accounts of Early Writers,” can properly be added the following happy description of “The School of Athens,”[73] as coloured by Raphael and now to be seen among his frescoes in the papal state-apartments (Stanze—Camere) of the Vatican in Rome, for, it will be observed, most of the leading writers of which we have spoken are therein depicted:
“The School of Athens”—Scuola d’Atene—represents Philosophy in general, and is, with regard to expression and scholastic knowledge, a wonderful work; for every philosopher, by his posture and gestures, characterises his doctrines and opinions.... Beginning with the Ionian School, on the right, before the statue of Minerva, the aged person whose head is covered with linen, after the Egyptian manner is Thales; whom Raphael has represented as walking with a Stick, because, with that, he measured the Pyramids. Next to Thales is Archelaus of Messenia.... Behind them is Anaxagoras, resting his foot upon a marble book and almost hidden; in reference to the persecutions he underwent. The next figure, standing alone, at a little distance, to show that he is of another School, represents Pythagoras; who seems resolved to continue fixed at one spot, to show the unchangeableness of his ideas ... his head and body being turned different ways shows his metaphorical method of teaching important truths; and the crown, formed by his hair, refers to his initiation in all mysteries. The Figure leaning on a column is Parmenides; close to whom sits a youth, his adopted son Zeno, who is writing something short; referring to a Poem, by Parmenides, which compared, in two hundred lines, all the various Systems of Philosophy. Two masters only of the Eleatic School are introduced; because its followers were few in number. The metaphysics of Parmenides and Zeno gave rise to the Sceptical Philosophy of Pyrrho, expressed by the next figure.... At the opposite side of the Picture, talking with his fingers to a Figure in armour, supposed to represent Alcibiades, is Socrates ... who, like Thales, appears to be walking; because geometry was never taught in a fixed place.... Plato and Aristotle are placed together on a flight of steps in the centre of the Picture: Plato, representative of the speculative school, holds the Timæus: his sublime style is expressed by his attitude, denoting that his thoughts soar above this earth; and the cord attached to his neck marks his initiation at the Eleusinian Mysteries.... Aristotle, founder of ethical and physical philosophy, points earthward. The Figure in shade, nearest to Plato, is Archothæa.... The next Figure, in the same line, indicates roughness of character, and represents Xenocrates.... Behind Socrates and another Figure, Lasthenia, is a bearded old man Zeno of Citium, the founder of the sect called Stoics.... Behind Zeno of Citium is Antisthenes, in shade, because his School is expressed by that of Zeno. On the side of Aristotle, the tallest and most conspicuous Figure is Theophrastus ... said to be the portrait of Cardinal Bembo. The next figures are Strato of Lampsacus, Demetrius Phalereus, Callisthenes, Neophron, Glycon. Behind the last named is Heraclides and in rear of the disciples of Aristotle are Euclid of Megara and Eubulides of Miletus, his pupil: the last hated Aristotle, and is looking angrily at him. The lower part of the Picture, on the side with the statue of Apollo, represents the Philosophy of Leucippus, the disciple of Zeno, though the author of a very opposite system. He first taught the doctrine of Atoms.... Democritus, his most celebrated disciple, is sitting near him—booted, in the manner of his countrymen, the Abderites—and writing upon a stone table, shaped like the sarcophagi among which he used to meditate: he lost his fortune, therefore his dress indicates poverty; and he is represented in deep meditation, to show his uncommon studiousness. Opposite to Leucippus sits Empedocles, resting on a cube, though not with contempt, according to the principles of Leucippus; because Empedocles adhered, on some points, to the Pythagorean system. The youth holding, before Empedocles, Pythagoras’s Table of the Generation of Numbers and the Harmonies, is Meton.... The Figure in an Oriental costume bending over Pythagoras, represents Averrhoes, or one of the Magi, from which sect the Grecian Schools derived part of their doctrines. Behind Empedocles, is Epicharmus.... The Figure in a toga is Lucretius, placed near Empedocles, as having been his follower; but looking another way, because he differed from his master. This figure is the portrait of Francesco, Duke of Urbino, nephew to Julius II. The person crowned with vine-leaves and resting a book on a pedestal, is Epicurus, looking gay, according to the account given of him, and the Figure leaning upon his shoulder is Metrodorus; next to whom is Heraclitus, wearing a black veil, like that of the Ephesian Diana, in whose temple he exposed his works. Seated on the second step, near the centre of the Picture, is Diogenes, and below him is a Portrait of the great architect, Bramante (under the character of Archimedes), who is tracing an hexagonal figure on the pavement ... the enthusiastic-looking person who points to the hexagon, is supposed to be Archytas of Tarentum; the boy on his knees, is Phenix of Alexandria; and behind him, with a hand on his back, is Ctesibius. In the angle of the picture are Zoroaster and Ptolemy, one holding a celestial and the other a terrestrial globe, as representatives of Astronomy and Geometry; the figure wearing a crown, under the character of Zoroaster, being Alphonso, King of Arragon, Sicily and Naples; the person with a black turban on his head, and likewise holding a Globe, may probably represent Confucius: and the two persons with whom Alphonso seems conversing are portraits of Raphael and of his master Pietro Perugino. The statues and bassi-relievi with which Raphael has ornamented his scene, are emblematical of the different Schools of Philosophy: and the picture, in point of composition, is considered to be his chef-d’œuvre, the Sibyls of Sa Maria della Pace excepted.
A more detailed description of the above will be found in the works of Trendelenburg (Berlin, 1843), and of Richter (Heidelberg, 1882), bearing title “Ueber Rafael’s Schule von Athen.”
APPENDIX II
DISCOVERIES MADE BY WILLIAM GILBERT—DESIGNATED IN
“DE MAGNETE” BY THE LARGER ASTERISKS