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Pythagoras, the author of the following didactic Poem, lived in the ifth and sixth centuries before Christ. Accord- ing to the most authentic accounts handed down to us by the Ancients, his birth took place about the year of the world 3436, or 568 years before the Christian Era, in the Island of Samos. Such was the comeliness of his person, the elegance of his address, and the gravity of his manner, that he was, in early youth, reputed to be the son of a Deity. After having obtained the rudiments of knowledge in his own country, and having studied philosophy under Pherecides, the most cele- brated philosopher of his time, he commenced his travels in search of Wisdom. We find it a common practice amongst the ancient Greeks to leave their own country and go in quest of learning and science into other lands. Egypt was the com- mon mart of their resort from the most remote times; and, consequently, thither we find Pythagoras proceeded for the purpose of accomplishing himself in the various branches of knowledge for which the people of that country were cele-