GYMNOSOPHIST is a word of Greek origin, and li terally signifies a philosopher who goes naked. It is par ticularly applied to the sages of India, who are understood to have wandered from place to place, either wholly with out clothing, or only partially covered. Hence the sapien tea arc described by Quintus Curtius, under the de signation of genus horridum et agreste.
Though the Gymnosophists arc usually considered as belonging exclusively to India, they were not in ancient times confined to that part of the world. There were like wise African Gymnosophists. These last inhabited a moun tain in Ethiopia, near the river Nile ; and they appear to have lived in celibacy and solitude, subjecting themselves to various penances and privations, after the manner of her mits or monks in more modern times. They were under stood to hold an immediate intercourse with the immortal gods. If any one had killed his neighbour by accident, he had recourse to those recluses for absolution, and received it, upon the performance of certain ceremonies which they required. They were skilful in the medical art, and Lucan ascribes to them several important discoveries in astronomy. Indeed, it may be inquired, whether there were not Gym nosophists (using that term in a more general sense) in every nation, the early history of which has come down to us in any thing like detail, or with any measure of certainty; and whether the Brahmins of India, the Priesthood in Egypt, the Persian Magi, and the Druids of Great Britain, were not all branches of the same philosophical school, holding certain doctrines in common, though distinguished from one another by the degree of improvement to which they had respectively attained, or the political and moral circumstances of the countries to which they belonged.
One principal tenet of the Gymnosophists appears to have been that of the metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls ; whether we understand by this term the passage of the soul from one human body to another, or the transmis sion of the immortal spirit through the bodies of different ani mals, till having been defxcated and refined in its progress, it enters at length into the immediate and beatific presence of the Supreme Divinity. The doctrine of the metempsy chosis was afterwards taught with greater celebrity by Py thagoras; and, as the philosopher just named is known to have travelled into India, there is reason to believe that he borrowed it from the Gymnosophists. In many features
of their character, however, the sapientes India appear to have resembled the stoics. They undervalued and despis ed the goods of fortune, and lived chiefly in the woods and desert places, supporting themselves upon the spontaneous productions of the earth. Hence they are called, by Cle ment of Alexandria, alooii, or hylobii; and he relates of them, that they inhabit neither cities nor villages, but cat acorns, and drink water out of their hands. They abstain ed from marriage and the society of women. They held that every man was suffcient for himself, neither depend ant upon others for the supply of his wants, nor requiring their assistance. They cherished a spirit of lofty independ ence. When Alexander the Great sent one of his captains to a body of the Gymnosophists, inviting them to a confer ence, they replied, that it was not their practice to visit any one, but that if the Macedonian king had any thing to com municate, they were ready to receive him. They main tained the lawfulness, and even the duty of suicide, and at tached a degree of infamy to a lingering and anticipated dissolution. " Apud hos," says Quintus Cu rtius, " occu pare fati diem, pulchrum ; et vivos se cremari jubent. Qui bus nut segnis mtas, nut incommoda valetudo est, expecta tam mortem pro dedecore vita: haberit. Nee ullus corpo ribus, qua: senectus solvit, honos redditur. Inquinari pu tant ignem, nisi qui spirantes recipit." De Reb. Gee. Alexand. Magn. lib. viii. c. 9.
Apuleius Florid. lib. i, thus describes the Gymnosophists': They are all devoted to the study of wisdom, both the elder masters and the younger pupils : and what to me ap pears the most amiable thing in their character, is, that they have an aversion to idleness and indolence ; accord ingly, as soon as the table is spread, before a bit of victuals be brought, the youth are called together from their °eye ral places and offices, and the masters examine them what good they have done since the sunrise. Here one relates something he has discovered by another has learnt something by demonstration; and as for those who have nothing to allege why they should dine, they are turned out to work fasting." (h)