the poem to fall from its meter, lest he should seem not to have first mentioned the name of the gods. But a little later he sets forth clearly and plainly his own opinion concerning one and only God, in one place saying through Phoenix to Achilles: Nor if God himself should undertake for me, having scraped away old age, to make me a flourishing youth, by the pronoun signifying the God who truly is; and in another place through Odysseus to the multitude of the Greeks, saying thus: The rule of many is not good; let there be one ruler. And that the rule of many is not good, but on the contrary evil, he undertook to show by deed, recounting their wars on account of their multitude and battles and factions and plots against one another. For it happens that monarchy is invincible. So much then for the poet Homer. But if we must also add testimonies from the stage concerning one God, hear also Sophocles speaking thus: One in truth, one is God, Who made the heaven and the wide earth, And the sea's gray swell and the winds' might. But we mortals, many, wandering in heart, Have set up for a solace of our woes, Images of gods of stone and wood, Or forms of gold-wrought or of ivory; And appointing for them sacrifices and splendid festivals, We think we are being pious. So much then for Sophocles. But Pythagoras, the son of Mnesarchus, who set forth the doctrines of his own philosophy mystically through symbols, as those who have written his life declare, seems himself also to have held opinions concerning one God worthy of his sojourn in Egypt. For by calling the monad the principle of all things, and this the cause of all good things, he teaches by allegory that there is one and only God. And that this is so is clear from his saying that the monad and the one differ greatly from each other; for he says that the monad is among the intelligible things, but the one among numbers. But if you desire to know a clearer proof of the opinion of Pythagoras concerning one God, hear also his own opinion. For thus he spoke: God is one, and he is not, as some suppose, outside the ordering of the world, but in it, himself whole in the whole circle, overseeing all generations, being the temperament of all the ages and the worker of his own powers and works, the principle of all things, in heaven a luminary and of all things father, mind and animation of the whole, the motion of all the circles. Thus then Pythagoras. But Plato, having accepted, as it seems, the teaching of Moses and the other prophets concerning one and only God, which he came to know when he was in Egypt, but fearing what had happened to Socrates, lest he too might find some Anytus or

τὴν ποίησιν ἐκπεσεῖν μέτρου, ἵνα μὴ δόξῃ τοῦ τῶν θεῶν ὀνό ματος μὴ μεμνῆσθαι πρῶτον. Μικρὸν δὲ ὕστερον καὶ τὴν ἑαυ τοῦ περὶ ἑνὸς καὶ μόνου θεοῦ σαφῶς καὶ φανερῶς ἐκτίθεται δόξαν, πῇ μὲν διὰ τοῦ Φοίνικος πρὸς Ἀχιλλέα λέγων· Oὐδ' εἴ κέν μοι ὑποσταίη θεὸς αὐτός, Γῆρας ἀποξύσας, θήσειν νέον ἡβώοντα, διὰ τῆς ἀντωνυμίας τὸν ὄντως ὄντα σημαίνων θεόν· πῇ δὲ διὰ τοῦ Ὀδυσσέως πρὸς τὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων πλῆθος οὕτω λέγων· Oὐκ ἀγαθὸν πολυκοιρανίη· εἷς κοίρανος ἔστω. Ὅτι δὲ οὐκ ἀγαθὸν πολυκοιρανίη, ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον κακόν, ἔργῳ δηλῶσαι προὔθετο, πολέμους τε αὐτῶν διὰ τὸ πλῆθος καὶ μάχας καὶ στάσεις καὶ κατ' ἀλλήλων ἐπιβουλὰς διηγούμε νος. Τὴν γὰρ μοναρχίαν ἄμαχον εἶναι συμβαίνει. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὁ ποιητὴς Ὅμηρος. Eἰ δὲ καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς σκηνῆς περὶ ἑνὸς θεοῦ μαρτυ ρίας ἡμᾶς προσθεῖναι δέοι, ἀκούσατε καὶ Σοφοκλέους οὕτω λέγοντος· Eἷς ταῖς ἀληθείαισιν, εἷς ἔστιν θεός, Ὃς οὐρανὸν τέτευχε καὶ γαῖαν μακράν, Πόντου τε χαροπὸν οἶδμα κἀνέμων βίας. Θνητοὶ δὲ πολλοὶ καρδίᾳ πλανώμενοι Ἱδρυσάμεσθα πημάτων παραψυχήν, Θεῶν ἀγάλματ' ἐκ λίθων τε καὶ ξύλων, Ἢ χρυσοτεύκτων ἢ ἐλεφαντίνων τύπους· Θυσίας τε τούτοις καὶ καλὰς πανηγύρεις Τεύχοντες, οὕτως εὐσεβεῖν νομίζομεν. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὁ Σοφοκλῆς. Ὁ δὲ τοῦ Μνησάρχου Πυθαγόρας, ὁ τὰ δόγματα τῆς ἑαυτοῦ φιλοσοφίας διὰ συμβόλων μυστικῶς ἐκθέμενος, ὡς δηλοῦσιν οἱ τὸν βίον αὐτοῦ γεγραφότες, ἄξια καὶ αὐτὸς τῆς εἰς Aἴγυπτον ἀποδημίας περὶ ἑνὸς θεοῦ φρονῶν φαίνεται. Τὴν γὰρ μονάδα ἀρχὴν ἁπάντων λέγων καὶ ταύτην τῶν ἀγα θῶν ἁπάντων αἰτίαν εἶναι, δι' ἀλληγορίας ἕνα τε καὶ μόνον διδάσκει θεὸν εἶναι. Ὅτι δὲ τοῦθ' οὕτως ἔχει, δῆλον ἀφ' ὧν μονάδα καὶ ἓν πολλῷ διαφέρειν ἀλλήλων ἔφη· τὴν μὲν γὰρ μονάδα ἐν τοῖς νοητοῖς εἶναι λέγει, τὸ δὲ ἓν ἐν τοῖς ἀριθμοῖς. Eἰ δὲ καὶ σαφεστέραν ἀπόδειξιν περὶ ἑνὸς θεοῦ τῆς Πυθαγόρου δόξης ποθεῖτε γνῶναι, ἀκούσατε καὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ δόξης. Oὕτω γὰρ ἔφη· Ὁ μὲν θεὸς εἷς, αὐτὸς δὲ οὐχ, ὥς τινες ὑπονοοῦ σιν, ἐκτὸς τᾶς διακοσμήσιος, ἀλλ' ἐν ἑαυτῷ ὅλος ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κύκλῳ ἐπισκοπῶν πάσας γενέσιάς ἐστιν, κρᾶσις ἐὼν τῶν ὅλων αἰώνων καὶ ἐργάτας τῶν αὐτοῦ δυνάμεων καὶ ἔργων, ἀρχὰ πάντων, ἐν οὐρανῷ φωστὴρ καὶ πάντων πατήρ, νοῦς καὶ ψύχωσις τῶν ὅλων, κύκλων ἁπάντων κίνασις. Oὕτω μὲν οὖν ὁ Πυθαγόρας. Πλάτων δέ, ἀποδεξάμενος μέν, ὡς ἔοικεν, τὴν περὶ ἑνὸς καὶ μόνου θεοῦ Μωϋσέως καὶ τῶν ἄλλων προφητῶν δι δασκαλίαν, ἣν ἐν Aἰγύπτῳ γενόμενος ἔγνω, διὰ δὲ τὰ συμβε βηκότα Σωκράτει δεδιὼς μήπως καὶ αὐτὸς Ἄνυτόν τινα ἢ