Archytas

“Thomas Taylor (Tr.) Political fragments of Archytas, Charondas, Zaleucus, and other Ancient Pythagoreans, preserved by Stobæus; and also, Ethical Fragments of Pierocles (1822)”

“William Enfield, Johann Jakob Brucker, The History of Philosophy, from the Earliest Periods (1837)”

“Lord Brougham (Chair), The Biographical Dictionary of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (1843) Vol.3, Issue 1”

“Te maris et terrae numeroque carentis arenaeMensorem cohibent, Archyta,Pulveris exiqui prope litus parva MatinumMunera, nec quidquam tibi prodestThe sea, the earth, the innumerable sand,Archytas, thou coulds't measure; now, alas!A little dust on Matine shore has spann'dThat soaring spirit; vain it was to passThe gates of heaven, and send thy soul in questO'er air's wide realms; for thou hadst yet to die.”

“It is probable that Aristotle was indebted to Archytas for many of his moral ideas; particularly for the notion which runs through his ethical pieces, that virtue consists in avoiding extremes.”

“The sum of his moral doctrine is; that virtue is to be pursued for its own sake in every condition of life; that all excess is inconsistent with virtue; that the mind is more injured by prosperity than by adversity; and that there is no pestilence so destructive to human happiness as pleasure.”

“Concerning the philosophical tenets of Archytas... Aristotle, who was an industrious collector from the Pythagoreans, borrowed from him the general arrangements which are usually called his ten categories.”

“His death, which is said to have been occasioned by a shipwreck, is made a subject of poetical description by Horace, who celebrates him as an eminent geographer and astronomer.”

“Of his writings none remain except a metaphysical work, "On the Nature of the Universe," in which he has explained the predicaments; and sundry fragments "On Wisdom," and "On the Good and Happy Man," preserved by Stobaeus and edited from him by Gale.”

“Such was the celebrity of this philosopher, that many illustrious names appear in the train of his disciples, particularly Philolaus, Eudoxus, and Plato. ...He excelled, not only in speculative philosophy, but in geometry and mechanics, He is said to have invented a kind of winged automaton, and several curious hydraulic machines. He was in such high reputation for moral and political wisdom, that, contrary to the usual custom, he was appointed seven different times to the supreme magistracy in Tarentum.”

“Among the mathematical problems Archytas solved or attempted to solve the duplication of the cube, for which purpose he attempted to find two mean proportionals between the two right lines formed by the section of a cylinder, as Laertius expresses it. ...Among his mechanical inventions is mentioned a wooden pigeon that could fly, of which Gellius speaks particularly. The invention of a rattle, perhaps a child's toy, is also attributed to him.”

“Simplicius attributes to him a work on Opposites, to which he says that Aristotle was indebted for what he says on this subject in his Categories. His Harmonicon is quoted by Nicomachus in his Arithmetic. ...Fragments of the works attributed to him "On the Good and Happy Man," and "On Wisdom," are... extant. ...A letter of Archytas to Plato and Plato's reply are preserved by Laertius.”

“The unwritten laws of the gods were promulgated against depraved manners, inflicting a severe destiny and penalty on the disobedient; and these unwritten laws are the fathers and leaders of those that are written, and of the dogmas established by men.”

“That tho' a Man were admitted into Heaven to view the wonderful Fabrick of the World, and the Beauty of the stars, yet what would otherwise be Rapture and Extasie, would be but melancholy Amazement if he had not a Friend to communicate it to.”