pythagorean philosopher
Preserved but no longer current.
He professed to have powers of rnagic and it was he who discovered that the young Phoenician woman whom Memppus Lycius intended to wed was in fact a serpent, or lamia. This story was noted by Robert Burton in his Anatomy of Melancholy, and it forms the subject of Keats's Lamia.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “pythagorean philosopher” mean?
He professed to have powers of rnagic and it was he who discovered that the young Phoenician woman whom Memppus Lycius intended to wed was in fact a serpent, or lamia. This story was noted by Robert Burton in his Anatomy of Melancholy, and it forms the subject of Keats's Lamia.
Is “pythagorean philosopher” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.