Editing Pythagoras (section)

=== Death ===
Pythagoras's emphasis on dedication and asceticism are credited with aiding in Croton's decisive victory over the neighboring colony of [[Sybaris]] in 510 BC.{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|pages=6–7}} After the victory, some prominent citizens of Croton proposed a [[Greek democracy|democratic constitution]], which the Pythagoreans rejected.{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|pages=6–7}} The supporters of democracy, headed by [[Cylon of Croton|Cylon]] and Ninon, the former of whom is said to have been irritated by his exclusion from Pythagoras's brotherhood, roused the populace against them.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=19}} Followers of Cylon and Ninon attacked the Pythagoreans during one of their meetings, either in the house of Milo or in some other meeting-place.{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=7}}{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=19–20}} Accounts of the attack are often contradictory and many probably confused it with the later anti-Pythagorean rebellions, such as the one in Metapontum in 454 BC.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=19}}{{sfnp|Plutarch,&nbsp;de Gen. Socr|loc=§583a|p=419}} The building was apparently set on fire,{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=7}} and many of the assembled members perished;{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=7}} only the younger and more active members managed to escape.<ref>{{harvp|Iamblichus, Vit. Pyth|loc=§255–§259}}; {{harvp|Porphyry, Vit. Pyth|loc=§54–§57}}; {{harvp|Diog VIII|loc=§1.39}}; comp. {{harvnb|Plutarch,&nbsp;de Gen. Socr|loc=§583a|p=419}}</ref>

Sources disagree regarding whether Pythagoras was present when the attack occurred and, if he was, whether or not he managed to escape.{{sfnp|Burkert|1972|page=106}}{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=19–20}} In some accounts, Pythagoras was not at the meeting when the Pythagoreans were attacked because he was on Delos tending to the dying Pherecydes.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|pages=19–20}} According to another account from Dicaearchus, Pythagoras was at the meeting and managed to escape,{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=20}} leading a small group of followers to the nearby city of [[Locris]], where they pleaded for sanctuary, but were denied.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=20}} They reached the city of [[Metapontum]], where they took shelter in the temple of the [[Muses]] and died there of starvation after forty days without food.{{sfnp|Burkert|1972|page=106}}{{sfnp|Kahn|2001|page=7}}{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=20}}{{sfnp|Grant|1989|page=278}} Another tale recorded by Porphyry claims that, as Pythagoras's enemies were burning the house, his devoted students laid down on the ground to make a path for him to escape by walking over their bodies across the flames like a bridge.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=20}} Pythagoras managed to escape, but was so despondent at the deaths of his beloved students that he committed suicide.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=20}} A different legend reported by both Diogenes Laërtius and Iamblichus states that Pythagoras almost managed to escape, but that he came to a fava bean field and refused to run through it, since doing so would violate his teachings, so he stopped instead and was killed.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=20}} This story seems to have originated from the writer Neanthes, who told it about later Pythagoreans, not about Pythagoras himself.{{sfnp|Riedweg|2005|page=20}}