Porphyrius, Vita Pythagorae

προρρήσεις τε γὰρ ἀπαράβατοι σεισμῶν διαμνημονεύονται αὐτοῦ καὶ λοιμῶν ἀποτροπαὶ σὺν τάχει καὶ ἀνέμων βιαίων χαλαζῶν τʼ ἐκχύσεως καταστολαὶ καὶ κυμάτων ποταμίων τε καὶ θαλαττίων ἀπευδιασμοὶ πρὸς εὐμαρῆ τῶν ἑταίρων διάβασιν. ὧν μεταλαβόντας Ἐμπεδοκλέα τε καὶ Ἐπιμενίδην καὶ Ἄβαριν πολλαχῇ ἐπιτετελεκέναι τοιαῦτα· δῆλα δʼ αὐτῶν τὰ ποιήματα ὑπάρχει. ἄλλως τε καὶ ἀλεξάνεμος μὲν ἦν τὸ ἐπώνυμον Ἐμπεδοκλέους, καθαρτὴς δὲ τὸ Ἐπιμενίδου, αἰθροβάτης δὲ τὸ Ἀβάριδος, ὅτι ἄρα ὀιστῷ τοῦ ἐν ῾Υπερβορέοις Ἀπόλλωνος δωρηθέντι αὐτῷ ἐποχούμενος ποταμούς τε καὶ πελάγη καὶ τὰ ἄβατα διέβαινεν ἀεροβατῶν τρόπον τινά. ὅπερ ὑπενόησαν καὶ Πυθαγόραν τινὲς πεπονθέναι τότε ἡνίκα ἐν Μεταποντίῳ καὶ ἐν Ταυρομενίῳ τοῖς ἑκατέρωθι ἑταίροις ὡμίλησε τῇ αὐτῇ ἡμέρᾳ.

For unfailing predictions of earthquakes are recorded of him, and swift averting of plagues, and stillings of violent winds and of downpours of hail, and calmings of the waves of rivers and seas for the easy crossing of his companions. [They say that] Empedocles, Epimenides and Abaris, having had a share in these [powers], accomplished such things in many places; and their poems are plain evidence of it. Besides, Empedocles’ surname was ‘Wind-Averter’, Epimenides’ was ‘Purifier’, and Abaris’ was ‘Sky-Walker’, because, riding on an arrow of Apollo of the Hyperboreans that had been given to him, he crossed rivers and seas and trackless places, walking on the air, in a manner of speaking. Some supposed that Pythagoras too had experienced this when he conversed with his companions in Metapontum and in Tauromenium, in each place, on the same day.

τοὺς δὲ φίλους ὑπερηγάπα, κοινὰ μὲν τὰ τῶν φίλων εἶναι πρῶτος ἀποφηνάμενος, τὸν δὲ φίλον ἄλλον ἑαυτόν. καὶ ὑγιαίνουσι μὲν αὐτοῖς ἀεὶ συνδιέτριβε, κάμνοντας δὲ τὰ σώματα ἐθεράπευε, καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς δὲ νοσοῦντας παρεμυθεῖτο, καθάπερ ἔφαμεν, τοὺς μὲν ἐπῳδαῖς καὶ μαγείαις τοὺς δὲ μουσικῇ. ἦν γὰρ αὐτῷ μέλη καὶ πρὸς νόσους σωμάτων παιώνια, ἃ ἐπᾴδων ἀνίστη τοὺς κάμνοντας. ἦν δʼ ἃ καὶ λύπης λήθην εἰργάζετο καὶ ὀργὰς ἐπράυνε καὶ ἐπιθυμίας ἀτόπους ἑξῄρει.

He loved his friends exceedingly, being the first to declare that the possessions of friends are common, and that a friend is another self. When they were healthy he always spent time with them; when they were sick in body he tended them; and when they were sick in soul he consoled them, as we have said, some with incantations and magic, others with music. For he had songs that were healing even against diseases of the body, by chanting which he raised up the sick. And there were [songs] that produced forgetfulness of grief, soothed anger and removed improper desires.