by Sherri Mastrangelo, 23 May 2026. Last edited 10:14 pm PST.
In addition to the “Visual Elements of Plato within the Voynich” I’ve discussed in the previous blog post, in which I link parts the Astrological section of the Voynich to Timaeus, part 1 of Plato, and parts of the Biological section to the Timaeus, part 2, I am noticing many more Pythagorean aspects throughout the whole text. Like the monad circle within the circle diagram on Folio 57v. And perhaps the Botany section has to do with the vegetarianism of Pythagoreans?
Anyways, I believe the starred paragraph section of the Voynich are a collection of sayings, or moral maxims (or ethical aphorisms, or gnomes), of Pythagorean beliefs, of the specific collections proposed below. In fact, I propose we rename this section of the Voynich “The Starred Sentences” and no longer refer to them as recipes.
Originally I thought it was the “Sentences of Sextus”, but this seems like too high an amount of 451 (or larger) and so I looked at which collections these were drawn from, and came much closer.
In this section of the Voynich we have 324 stars, each aligned more or less with a sentence or a few. There are also at least two missing folios (109r / 109v and 110r / 110v). Each folio averages around 14 stars, with some like 103r higher at 19, and three folios at the lowest end of 10 stars (105r, 105v, and 116r), and the rest vary in amount. So if we assume our 4 missing folios at 14 stars each, it would give us 56 added stars, or 380 total goal (324 we have plus 56 estimated missing = 380). With me so far?
Here’s what I suggest:
The Pythagorean Sentences = 123
The Sentences of Clitarchus = 130*
The Golden Sentences of Democrates = 80 (some have 84?)
The Similitudes of Demophilus = 59**
Adding these up we get 392. Pretty close to our 380 estimate.
It would mean our missing four folios would have to total 68, or average of 17 stars per page. Well within existing Folios (remember 103r has 19). I wonder if Folio 58r / 58v belongs in this section as well, which would bring our missing stars total down.
I would love it if some experts could confirm these numbers, I’m just going off the sources I have found. *Per Chadwick, the manuscripts and maxims in the Sentences of Clitarchus are:
1) Parisinus gr. 1630, fol. 186 = 93 maxims
2) Vaticanus gr. 1144, saec. xv, fol. 232 = 59 - 22 contained above = 37
3) Bodleianus Auct. F. 6. 26, saec. xv, foil. 183–7 = 38, all within 93 of Par.
93 + 37 = 130.
**As for The Similitudes of Demophilus, there are 45 in Sallustius, but 59 in Bridgman - and I also counted 59 in a 1638 text.
So our variables are 1) how many are sayings are actually in each collection, and 2) how many stars are we actually missing in our four missing folios.
Let me give some selections of the above listed collections:
The Pythagorean Sentences (From my understanding, the term “Pythagorean Sentences” can mean a wide encompassing selection of many of the fragments named in this post, or it can be a specific collection of 123 maxims which include some of the fragments - is this right?) (*Greek version from Chadwick’s Sentences of Sextus)
The Sentences of Clitarchus *(and in Greek). (I think some of the Sentences of Clitarchus are included in the Sentences of Sextus - not that it comes from it, but that both may be based on an earlier source, and there is some overlap - I need an expert to help here!)
The Golden Sentences of Democrates (these may have some overlap with Stobaeus)
“If any one will give his mind to these sentences, he will obtain many things worthy of a man, and be free from many things that are base.”
“The perfection of the soul will correct the depravity of the body; but with the strength of the body without reasoning, does not render the soul better.”
“He who loves the goods of the soul will love things more divine; but he who loves the goods of its transient habitation will love things human.”
The Similitudes of Demophilus (Sometimes called “Sentences of Demophilus”)
“Flattery is like painted armour, because it affords delight, but is of no use.”
“Learning is similar to a golden crown; for it is both honourable, and advantageous.”
“Flighty men, like empty vessels, are easily laid hold off by the ears.”
And here are some additional candidates, with selections of each:
Golden Verses (71)
“First worship the Immortal Gods, as they are established and ordained by the Law”.
“Reverence the Oath, and next the Heroes, full of goodness and light”.
The Pythagorean Sentences of Demophilus (45)
“Request not of Divinity such things as, when obtained, you cannot preserve; for no gift of Divinity can ever be taken away; and on this account he does not confer that which you are unable to retain”
“Be vigilant in your intellectual part; for sleep about this has an affinity with real death”
Pythagorean Ethical Sentences from Stobaeus (55)
“Do not even think of doing what ought not to be done.”
“Choose rather to be strong in soul than in body”
“Be persuaded that things of a laborious nature contribute more than pleasures to virtue”
“Every passion of the soul is most hostile to its salvation”
“It is difficult to walk at one and the same time in many paths of life”
Sentences of Sextus (451 - more with greek appendix)
“To neglect things of the smallest consequence, is not the least thing in human life.”
“The wise man, and the despiser of wealth, resemble God”
The Protreptics of Iamblichus (15?)
“As we live through soul, it must be said that by the virtue of this we live well; just as because we see through the eyes, we see well through the virtue of these.”
“It must not be thought that gold can be injured by rust, or virtue by baseness”
The Sentences of Porphyry (28)
“All body is in space: no one of the things which in themselves are incorporeal, or anything of such nature, is in space”
“The things which in themselves are incorporeal, from the fact that they are superior to all body and space, are everywhere; not in a sundered, but in an undivided condition”
“When going to the temple to adore Divinity neither say nor do anything in the interim pertaining to the common affairs of life”
“Neither enter into a temple negligently, nor in short adore carelessly, not even though you should stand at the very doors themselves”
Are there others we should consider? “Sentences of Chares of Mytilene”, or “Sentences of Epicharmus”?
And which combination is most likely? How does this contribute to our understanding of the written cipher?
Some Sources & Reference:
Bridgman, William and Thomas Taylor. “Translations from the Greek, viz., Aristotle’s synopsis of the virtues and vices. The similitudes of Demophilus. The golden sentences of Democrates. And they Pythagoric symbols with the explanations of Jamblichus” London, 1804. As found on Internet Archive.
Chadwick, Henry. “The Sentences of Sextus: A Contribution to the History of Early Christian Ethics” Cambridge University Press, 1959.
Demophilus(?) “Demophili, Democratis et Secundi veterum philosophorum sententiae morales” 1638.
Elter, Antonio, ed. “Gnomica 1: Sexti Pythagorica Clitarchi” 1892.
Johnson, Thomas Moore. “Fragments of Iamblichus’ Protrepticus”. 1907.
Taylor, Thomas. “Iamblichus’ Life of Pythagoras, or Pythagoric Life” London, 1818
Taylor, Thomas. “Sallust, on the Gods and the World: The Pythagoric Sentences of Demophilus; Five Hymns by Proclus; Five Hymns by the Translator” 1795 Facsimile.
Smith, William, ed. “Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Vol.1” Little, Brown, and Company. Boston, 1870. As found on Internet Archive (RE: Stoebus quoting Democrates: https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofgre01smituoft/page/974/mode/2up)