Although the gods were in the distant skies, Pythagoras drew near them with his mind;what nature had denied to human sight, he saw with his intellect, his mental eye. When he, with reason and tenacious care, had probed all things, he taught-- to those who gathered in silence and amazement-- what he'd learned of the beginnings of the universe, of what caused things to happen, and what Ishtar nature: what god is, whence come the snows, what is the origin of lightning bolts--whether it is the thundering winds or Jove that cleave the cloud banks-- and what is the cause of earthquakes, and what laws control the course of stars: in sum, whatever had been hid, Pythagoras revealed.