While rereading Moby-Dick recently I came across a reference to something called the Pythagorean maxim. We were all forced to learn the Pythagorean theorem in grade school, but this was something new. In my Norton Critical Edition the footnote says, “The Pythagorean injunction is to avoid eating beans, which cause flatulence.” Inasmuch as you are the world’s top expert on all matters scatological, I figured I should turn to you for help. Where did this injunction come from, and how have I managed to spend 40 years on this planet without noticing any reference to it before? –Mike Beazley, Toledo, Ohio
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Blame the schools. The passage from Moby-Dick reads, “In this world, head winds are far more prevalent than winds from astern (that is, if you never violate the Pythagorean maxim).” That Melville, he cracks me up. Or at least he would have if I’d understood this joke when I first read it, which unfortunately I didn’t, since I was only in high school at the time and neither the teacher nor the text bothered to explain it. Too bad. It would have greatly enriched the literary experience for me and, I’ll bet, for the whole sophomore class. Luckily today’s youth have guys like me to plug these embarrassing educational lacunae.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): illustration/Slug Signorino.
