Page:The battle of the books - Guthkelch - 1908.djvu/151



my enquiries into the progress of learning during its obscurer ages, or those, at least, which are so to us at this distance, I shall begin with the accounts which are given of the learning of Pythagoras, rather than those of the more ancient Grecian sages; because his school made a much greater figure in the world than any of those which preceded Plato and Aristotle. In making a judgement upon the greatness of his performances, from the greatness of his reputation, one ought to consider how near to his time those lived, whose express relations of his life are the oldest we have.

Diogenes Laertius is the ancientest author extant