Note 740 — Chapter VII · THE PYTHAGOREANS

For reasons which will appear, I do not attach importance in this connexion to Philolaos, fr. 14 Diels = 23 Mullach (R. P. 89), but it does seem likely that the μυθολογῶν κομψὸς ἀνήρ of Gorg. 493 a 5 (R. P. 89 b) is responsible for the whole theory there given. He is certainly, in any case, the author of the τετρημένος πίθος, which implies the same general view. Now he is called ἴσως Σικελός τις ἢ Ἰταλικός, which means he was an Italian; for the Σικελός τις is merely an allusion to the Σικελὸς κομψὸς ἀνὴρ ποτὶ τὰν ματέρ’ ἔφα of Timokreon. We do not know of any Italian from whom Plato could have learnt these views except Philolaos or one of his disciples. They may, however, be originally Orphic for all that (cf. R. P. 89 a).