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having hypotheses, philosophy, nor in music, which is at least conjectural, nor in astronomy, stuffed with physical and flowing and probable arguments, but of the Good itself through knowledge 1.34 and truth." Hear, O men, the philosopher who called the experts in music and geometry and other such things not philosophers, but like philosophers, but who named the teachers of truth as truly genuine 1.35 philosophers; and in the third book of the Laws he says these things: "Therefore, let this be laid down as resolved and stated, that to those citizens who are ignorant of these things, no share of rule must be entrusted, and they must be reproached for their ignorance, even if they are very skilled in calculation and have perfected all the elegant things and all that naturally contributes to the growth of the soul; but those who are the opposite must be addressed as wise, even if, as the saying goes, they know neither how to read nor swim, and the magistracies must be entrusted to them as being intelligent." 1.36 How could one refute more truly and more clearly the uneducation and conceit which now prevails? For indeed the pinnacle of philosophers defines wisdom not in the learning of letters, but in the knowledge of truth; and those who know this, even if they do not know the first elements, he names wise; but those who have gone through every kind of education, but do not have the knowledge of truth and justice, he rejects and expels and does not permit to rule. 1.37 And indeed in the Theaetetus, disparaging the stargazers, he speaks thus: "Just as Thales, O Theodorus, while studying the stars and looking up, fell into a well, and a clever and witty Thracian serving-girl is said to have mocked him for being eager to know the things in heaven, but what was behind him and at his 1.38 feet escaped his notice." And again in the same dialogue: "And that such a man must needs become a certain rustic and uneducated person from lack of leisure, no less than shepherds, enclosed by the city wall as by a sheepfold on a mountain. And when he hears that someone possesses ten thousand plethra of land or even more, as if possessing a wondrous amount, he thinks he is hearing of something very small, being accustomed to look upon the whole 1.39 earth." And in addition to these things he also says this: "For the knowledge and virtue of this is genuine, but its ignorance and vice is manifest; but the other seeming clevernesses and wisdoms, when they occur in political offices and positions of power, are vulgar, and in the arts, 1.40 mechanical." Thus, then, even those who had learned every form of discourse knew precisely how much more precious truth is than phrases and words, and how ignorance of such elegance in no way harms it. 1.41 Why then, O dear men, are you unwilling to learn the meaning of the apostolic teaching, but reproach only its barbarous sound, and this when you hear from your own philosophers that the Greeks wandered from the truth, 1.42 but the barbarians rather discovered it? For that famous Porphyry, who eagerly undertook the war against us, in his work *On Philosophy from Oracles* spoke thus: "For the way to the gods is bound with brass, and is steep and rough; of which the barbarians have found many paths, but the Greeks have wandered astray; and those now in power have even corrupted them. But the god has testified to the discovery by the Egyptians, and Phoenicians and Chaldeans, Lydians and Hebrews." 1.43 But if he who is most hostile to us of all men accuses the Greeks of being enslaved to error, but testifies to the truth for the Hebrews and Phoenicians and Egyptians and Chaldeans, and said that Apollo delivered these things, why then do you not obey the philosopher, and accept the oracle of the Delphic tripod, and lend your ears to the prophets and apostles of the Hebrews? For the Pythian too 1.44 has named these men discoverers of truth. And if he also joined the Egyptians and Chaldeans and Phoenicians with these, it must be known that the Phoenicians, being their neighbors and bordering upon them, learned the truth from them, if indeed they learned it; and indeed the Egyptians also benefited greatly from their sojourning, for they dwelt for a long time 1.45

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ὑποθέσεις ἐχούσῃ, φιλοσοφία, οὐδ' ἐν μουσικῇ, στοχαστικῇ γε οὔσῃ, οὐδ' ἐν ἀστρονομίᾳ, φυσικῶν καὶ ῥεόντων καὶ εἰκότων βεβυσμένῃ λόγων, ἀλλ' αὐτοῦ τἀγαθοῦ δι' ἐπιστή 1.34 μης καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας." Ἀκούσατε, ὦ ἄνδρες, τοῦ φιλοσόφου τοὺς μὲν τῆς μουσικῆς καὶ τῆς γεωμετρίας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τοιούτων ἐπιστήμονας οὐ φιλοσόφους, ἀλλ' ὁμοίους φιλοσόφοις προσαγορεύσαντος, τοὺς δὲ τῆς ἀληθείας διδασκάλους ἀληθινοὺς 1.35 ὄντως ὀνομάσαντος φιλοσόφους· καὶ ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ δὲ τῶν Νόμων ταῦτά φησιν· "Τοῦτο μὲν τοίνυν οὕτω κείσθω δεδογμένον καὶ λεγόμενον, ὡς τοῖς ταῦτα ἀμαθαίνουσι τῶν πολιτῶν οὐδὲν ἐπι τρεπτέον ἀρχῆς ἐχόμενον καὶ ὡς ἀγνοοῦσιν ὀνειδιστέον, κἂν πάνυ λογιστικοὶ ὦσι καὶ πάντα κομψὰ καὶ ὅσα πρὸς αὔξην τῆς ψυχῆς πεφυκότα διαπεπονημένοι ἅπαντα· τοὺς δὲ τοὐναντίον ἔχοντας, τούτους ὡς σοφούς τε προσρητέον, κἄν, τὸ λεγόμενον, μήτε γράμματα μήτε νεῖν ἐπίστωνται, καὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς ἐγχειριστέον ὡς ἔμφροσιν." 1.36 Πῶς ἄν τις ἀληθέστερόν τε καὶ σαφέστερον τὴν νῦν δὴ κατέ χουσαν ἀπαιδευσίαν ἐξελέγχοι καὶ οἴησιν; Τῶν γὰρ δὴ φιλοσόφων ὁ κολοφὼν οὐκ ἐν μαθήσει γραμμάτων, ἀλλ' ἐν ἀληθείας γνώσει τὴν σοφίαν ὁρίζεται· καὶ τοὺς μὲν ταύτην ἐπισταμένους, κἂν μηδὲ τὰ πρῶτα στοιχεῖα γινώσκοιεν, ὀνομάζει σοφούς· τοὺς δὲ διὰ πάσης ἐληλυθότας παιδείας, ἀληθείας δὲ καὶ δικαιοσύνης τὴν ἐπιστήμην οὐκ ἔχοντας, ἀποκρίνει καὶ ἐξελαύνει καὶ ἄρχειν οὐκ 1.37 ἐπιτρέπει. Καὶ μέντοι κἀν τῷ Θεαιτήτῳ τοὺς μετεωρολέσχας διαβάλλων ὧδε λέγει· "Ὥσπερ καὶ Θαλῆν ἀστρονομοῦντα, ὦ Θεόδωρε, καὶ ἄνω βλέποντα, πεσόντα εἰς φρέαρ, Θρᾷττά τις ἐμμελὴς καὶ χαρίεσσα θεραπαινὶς ἀποσκῶψαι λέγεται ὡς τὰ μὲν ἐν οὐρανῷ προθυμοῖτο εἰδέναι, τὰ δ' ὄπισθεν αὐτοῦ καὶ παρὰ 1.38 πόδας λανθάνοι αὐτόν." Καὶ αὖθις ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ διαλόγῳ· "Ἄγροικον δέ τινα καὶ ἀπαίδευτον ὑπὸ ἀσχολίας οὐδὲν ἧττον τῶν νομέων τὸν τοιοῦτον ἀναγκαῖον γίνεσθαι, σηκὸν ἐν ὄρει τὸ τεῖχος περιβαλλόμενον. Γῆς δὲ ὅταν μυρία πλέθρα ἢ εἴ τι πλέον ἀκούσῃ ὥς τις ἄρα κεκτημένος θαυμαστὰ πλήθη κέκτηται, πάντα σμικρὰ δοκεῖ ἀκούειν εἰς ἅπασαν εἰωθὼς τὴν γῆν βλέ 1.39 πειν." Πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἐπιλέγει καὶ ταῦτα· "Ἡ μὲν γὰρ τούτου γνῶσίς τε καὶ ἀρετὴ ἀληθινή, ἡ δὲ ἄγνοια καὶ κακία ἐναργής· αἱ δὲ ἄλλαι δεινότητες δοκοῦσαι καὶ σοφίαι γίνεσθαι ἐν μὲν πολιτείαις καὶ δυναστείαις γινόμεναι φορτικαί, ἐν δὲ τέχναις 1.40 βάναυσοι." Οὕτως ἄρα ᾔδεσαν ἀκριβῶς καὶ οἱ πᾶσαν λόγων ἰδέαν μεμαθηκότες, ὁπόσον ἡ ἀλήθεια ῥημάτων τε καὶ ὀνομάτων τιμαλφεστέρα, καὶ ὡς οὐδὲν ταύτην λωβᾶται τῆς τοιαύτης κομψείας ἡ ἄγνοια. 1.41 Ἀνθ' ὅτου δὴ οὖν, ὦ φίλοι ἄνδρες, τῆς ἀποστολικῆς διδα σκαλίας τὴν μὲν διάνοιαν καταμαθεῖν οὐκ ἐθέλετε, τὸ δὲ βαρβα ρόφωνον ὀνειδίζετε μόνον, καὶ ταῦτα τῶν ὑμετέρων ἐπαΐοντες φιλοσόφων, ὡς Ἕλληνες μὲν τῆς ἀληθείας ἀπεπλανήθησαν, 1.42 βάρβαροι δὲ μᾶλλον ταύτην ἐξεῦρον; Καὶ γὰρ Πορφύριος ἐκεῖ νος, ὁ τὸν πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἐκθύμως ἀναδεξάμενος πόλεμον, ἐν τοῖς Περὶ τῆς ἐκ λογίων φιλοσοφίας οὕτως ἔφη· "Χαλκόδετος γὰρ ἡ πρὸς θεοὺς ὁδός, αἰπεινή τε καὶ τραχεῖα· ἧς πολλὰς ἀτραποὺς βάρβαροι μὲν ἐξεῦρον, Ἕλληνες δὲ ἀπεπλανήθησαν· οἱ δὲ κρα τοῦντες ἤδη καὶ διέφθειραν· τὴν δὲ εὕρεσιν ὁ θεὸς Αἰγυπτίοις ἐμαρτύρησε, Φοίνιξί τε καὶ Χαλδαίοις, Λυδοῖς τε καὶ Ἑβραίοις." 1.43 Εἰ δὲ καὶ ὁ πάντων ἡμῖν ἔχθιστος κατηγορεῖ μὲν Ἑλλήνων ὡς πλάνῃ δεδουλευκότων, Ἑβραίοις δὲ καὶ Φοίνιξι καὶ Αἰγυπτίοις καὶ Χαλδαίοις μαρτυρεῖ τὴν ἀλήθειαν, καὶ ταῦτα τὸν Ἀπόλλω ἔφησεν ἀνελεῖν, τί δήποτε μὴ πείθεσθε μὲν τῷ φιλοσόφῳ, δέχεσθε δὲ τοῦ ∆ελφικοῦ τρίποδος τὸν χρησμὸν καὶ τὰς ἀκοὰς τοῖς Ἑβραίων προφήταις καὶ ἀποστόλοις ὑπέχετε; καὶ γὰρ ὁ Πύθιος 1.44 τούτους εὑρετὰς ἀληθείας ὠνόμασεν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ Αἰγυπτίους καὶ Χαλδαίους καὶ Φοίνικας τούτοις ξυνέζευξεν, ἰστέον ὡς καὶ Φοί νικες, πρόσχωροι τούτων ὄντες καὶ ἀγχιτέρμονες, παρὰ τούτων ἔμαθον, εἴπερ ἔμαθον, τὴν ἀλήθειαν· καὶ μέντοι καὶ Αἰγύπτιοι πλεῖστον ὅσον τῆς τούτων μετοικίας ἀπώναντο, συχνὸν γὰρ 1.45 ᾤκησαν