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I am told by the Greeks who dwell on the shores of the Hellespont and
the Pontus, that this Zalmoxis was in reality a man, that he lived
at Samos, and while there was the slave of Pythagoras son of
Mnesarchus. After obtaining his freedom he grew rich, and leaving
Samos, returned to his own country. The Thracians at that time
lived in a wretched way, and were a poor ignorant race; Zalmoxis,
therefore, who by his commerce with the Greeks, and especially with
one who was by no means their most contemptible philosopher,
Pythagoras to wit, was acquainted with the Ionic mode of life and
with manners more refined than those current among his countrymen, had
a chamber built, in which from time to time he received and feasted all
the principal Thracians, using the occasion to teach them that neither
he, nor they, his boon companions, nor any of their posterity would
ever perish, but that they would all go to a place where they would
live for aye in the enjoyment of every conceivable good. While he was
acting in this way, and holding this kind of discourse, he was
constructing an apartment underground, into which, when it was
completed, he withdrew, vanishing suddenly from the eyes of the
Thracians, who greatly regretted his loss, and mourned over him as
one dead. He meanwhile abode in his secret chamber three full years,
after which he came forth from his concealment, and showed himself once
more to his countrymen, who were thus brought to believe in the truth
of what he had taught them. Such is the account of the Greeks.
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