It was during these ten years of retirement that he wrote his _Examinations of the Golden Verses_ which were not published until 1813, with its dedication to the Section of Literature of the Imperial Institute of France. It is known that the _Golden Verses of Pythagoras_ were originally transcribed by Lysis and that it is to Hierocles we owe the version which has come down to us. Fabre d’Olivet has translated them into French verse, the style of which he calls _eumolpique_, that is, subject to measure and harmonious cadence but free from rhyme, with alternate masculine and feminine terminations. In the _Essence and Form of Poetry_ which precedes the Golden Verses, he illustrates this melodious style, in applying it to the opening lines of some of the well-known classics, and to others not so well-known. These Golden Verses, so remarkable for their moral elevation, present the most beautiful monument of antiquity raised in honour of Wisdom. They formed the _credo_ of the adepts and initiates. In his recondite Examinations, Fabre d’Olivet has drawn the metaphysical correlation of Providence, Destiny, and the Will of Man, in which combined action Destiny reigns over the past, the Will of Man over the future, and Providence over the present, which, always existing, may be called Eternal. One will find this given at greater length in his _Hermeneutic Interpretation of the Origin of the Social State of Man and the Destiny of the Adamic Race_: admirable work of this little known theosophist, “to give him the name he loved best to hold,” says Pierre Leroux in _De l’Humanité_. The inequality of human conditions, upon which depend the social and political questions, forms one of the vital subjects of these esoteric teachings. He has also endeavoured to explain the true opinion of Pythagoras concerning metempsychosis which was his sacred dogma, and said that the dogma of transmigration of souls, received by all peoples and revealed in the ancient mysteries, has been absolutely disfigured in what the moderns have called metempsychosis. His strange death, which occurred March 25, 1825, is mentioned by des Essarts in _Les Hiérophantes_, and other authorities including Pierre Leroux, have asserted that he died at the foot of his altar. NAYÁN LOUISE REDFIELD. HARTFORD, CONN., October, 1916. The Golden Verses of Pythagoras DISCOURSE UPON THE ESSENCE AND FORM OF POETRY DISCOURSE UPON THE ESSENCE AND FORM OF POETRY[1] _Messieurs_: