Note 204 — Chapter II · SCIENCE AND RELIGION

Kylon, the chief opponent of the Pythagoreans, is described by Aristoxenos (Iambl. V. Pyth. 248) as γένει καὶ δόξῃ καὶ πλούτῳ πρωτεύων τῶν πολιτῶν. Taras, later the chief seat of the Pythagoreans, was a democracy. The truth is that, at this time, the new religion appealed to the people rather than the aristocracies, which were apt to be “free-thinking” (Meyer, Gesch. des Alt. iii. § 252). Xenophanes, not Pythagoras, is their man.