68

118

himself, and though he was a careless
and highly superstitious writer, incapable
of putting two and two together, and all
the more valuable witness on that account,
yet he depended very largely for his facts upon
another life of Pythagoras by a somewhat
earlier member of the brotherhood who
was evidently much more careful; although
for some reason, which I have not sufficiently
reflected upon, his biography
was not deemed sufficient and has been
lost to us. Under these circumstances, how
shall we explain the evidently false assertion
of Iamblichus that Pythagoras was
taken prisoner by Cambyses in Egypt?

Of course Iamblichus would be familiar