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all things end in the earth, He Himself having beginning and middle and end. 2.32 But nevertheless, having learned these things from the Egyptians, who received certain teachings of the truth from the Hebrews, he mixed some of his error into his theology and has handed down the profane orgies of the Dionysia and Thesmophoria, and as if anointing the cup with a kind of honey, he offers the poisonous drink to those who are deceived. 2.33 And Plato has done this same thing; for his writings about that which is in the Timaeus are truly admirable. For who would not be amazed to hear him say? “What is that which always is, and has no becoming? And what is that which is always becoming, but never is? The one, indeed, apprehended by thought with reason, is always in the same state; the other, which is the object of opinion with irrational sensation, comes into being and passes away, but never truly is.” 2.34 And he adds the following to what has been said: “For these are all parts of time, ‘was’ and ‘will be,’ which we unconsciously but incorrectly apply to the eternal being. For we say that it ‘was,’ ‘is,’ and ‘will be,’ but in truth ‘is’ alone belongs to it, while ‘was’ and ‘will be’ are properly said of becoming which proceeds in time; for that which is ever immovably in the same state it is not fitting to become either older or younger.” 2.35 Who then is so fault-finding and censorious as to be indignant at what has been said and not to bear witness to all their truth? For that which always is is superior to all becoming, but that which is becoming, undergoing very many alterations, he reasonably said never is; for the embryo, having become an infant, is then no longer an embryo, but an infant, and again in turn the infant, having become a child, is no longer called an infant; so the child, having reached the age of a youth, is called that which it has become, and when again it matures into a man, it is no longer a youth, but is named a man, and having become an old man, is in turn called that which it has indeed become. 2.36 Reasonably, therefore, he named things that are becoming and changing as not being. And Socrates, conversing with Crito, says there is one overseer of all; and he says these things: “And so, concerning things just and unjust, and shameful and beautiful, and bad and good, about which our present deliberation is, should we obey the opinion of the many and fear it, or that of the one, if there is one who understands, whom we must respect and fear more than all the others? If we do not follow him, we shall corrupt and maim that which was improved by the just and destroyed by the unjust.” 2.37 And a little later again: “Therefore, my good friend, we must not at all care so much what the many will say of us, but what the one who understands just and unjust things will say, the one, and truth itself.” 2.38 You see, O men, how in these words Plato and Socrates drove out the swarm of non-existent gods and exhorted to revere and fear only the Ruler of all things, teaching that, if ever he mentioned a plurality of gods, he was compelled to do this on account of the deceived multitude of the Athenians. 2.39 For if Socrates, having done even these things, did not escape the cup of hemlock, what would he not have suffered, if he had openly denied the great swarm of the gods? and Plato has made this clear in what he wrote to Dionysius. 2.40 For in addition to many other things, he has also added these: “Concerning the symbol in the letters, as many as I send in earnest and as many as I do not, I think you remember, but nevertheless understand and pay attention; for there are many who bid me write, whom it is not easy to refuse openly. 2.41 Of the serious letter, then, God is the beginning, but of the less serious, gods.” How could anyone show his own purpose more clearly? For he showed nakedly the distinction he held concerning these names, as if all but saying: ‘for the sake of the opinion of the many I use the plural name for God, being wary of the deceived preconceptions of the citizens; for when writing in earnest and trusting both the one carrying and the one receiving the letters, I name God in the singular and make Him the beginning of my words.’ 2.42 And elsewhere he has written the following things about that which is: “For the

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χθονὶ πάντα τελευτᾷ, ἀρχὴν αὐτὸς ἔχων καὶ μέσσον ἠδὲ τελευτήν. 2.32 Ἀλλ' ὅμως καὶ ταῦτα παρ' Αἰγυπτίων μεμαθηκώς, οἳ παρ' Ἑβραίων μαθήματά τινα τῆς ἀληθείας παρέλαβον, παρέμιξε τοῦ πλάνου τῇ θεολογίᾳ τινὰ καὶ τῶν ∆ιονυσίων καὶ Θεσμοφορίων τὰ δυσαγῆ παραδέδωκεν ὄργια, καὶ οἷόν τινι μέλιτι περιχρίσας τὴν κύλικα, τὸ δηλητήριον πόμα τοῖς ἐξαπατωμένοις προσφέρει. 2.33 Ταὐτὸ δὲ τοῦτο καὶ Πλάτων πεποίηκεν· ἀξιάγαστα γὰρ αὐτοῦ τῷ ὄντι τὰ περὶ τοῦ ὄντος ἐν τῷ Τιμαίῳ ξυγγεγραμμένα. Τίς γὰρ οὐκ ἂν ἀγασθείη λέγοντος ἀκούων; "Τί τὸ ὂν ἀεί, γένεσιν δὲ οὐκ ἔχον; καὶ τί τὸ γινόμενον μὲν ἀεί, ὂν δὲ οὐδέποτε; τὸ μὲν δὴ νοήσει μετὰ λόγου περιληπτὸν ἀεὶ κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ ὄν, τὸ δὲ αἰσθήσει ἀλόγῳ δοξαστὸν γινόμενον καὶ ἀπογινόμενον, ὄντως δὲ 2.34 οὐδέποτε ὄν." Προστίθησι δὲ καὶ τάδε τοῖς εἰρημένοις· "Ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα μέρος χρόνου, τὸ ἦν καὶ ἔσται, ἃ δὴ φέροντες λαν θάνομεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀΐδιον οὐσίαν οὐκ ὀρθῶς. Λέγομεν γὰρ δή, ὡς ἦν ἔστι τε καὶ ἔσται, τῇ δὲ τὸ ἔστι μόνον κατὰ τὸν ἀληθῆ λόγον προσήκει, τὸ δὲ ἦν καὶ τὸ ἔσται περὶ τὴν ἐν χρόνῳ γένεσιν οὖσαν πρέπει λέγεσθαι· τὸ δὲ ἀεὶ καὶ κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ ἔχον ἀκινήτως 2.35 οὔτε πρεσβύτερον οὔτε νεώτερον προσήκει γίνεσθαι." Τίς οὖν οὕτω φιλαίτιος καὶ μεμψίμοιρος, ὡς νεμεσῆσαι τοῖς εἰρημένοις καὶ μὴ πᾶσαν αὐτοῖς προσμαρτυρῆσαι ἀλήθειαν; Τὸ γὰρ ὂν ἀεὶ γενέσεώς ἐστιν ἁπάσης ὑπέρτερον, τὸ δὲ γινόμενον, ἀλλοιώσεις παμπόλλους ἐπιδεχόμενον, εἰκότως ἔφη οὐδέποτε εἶναι· τὸ γάρ τοι ἔμβρυον, γενόμενον βρέφος, οὐκέτι ἄρα ἐστὶν ἔμβρυον, ἀλλὰ βρέφος, καὶ αὖ πάλιν τὸ βρέφος, παιδίον γενόμενον, οὐκέτι προσ αγορεύεται βρέφος· οὕτω τὸ παιδίον τὴν τοῦ μειρακίου προσλα βὸν ἡλικίαν, τοῦτο καλεῖται, ὅπερ ἐγένετο, καὶ ὅταν πάλιν εἰς ἄνδρας τελέσῃ, οὐκέτι μειράκιον, ἀλλ' ἀνὴρ ὀνομάζεται, καὶ πρεσβύτης δὲ γεγονώς, τοῦτο αὖ πάλιν προσαγορεύεται, ὅπερ δὴ 2.36 καὶ ἐγένετο. Εἰκότως οὖν ἄρα οὐκ ὄντα ὠνόμασε τὰ γινόμενά τε καὶ ἀλλοιούμενα. Καὶ τῷ Κρίτωνι δὲ διαλεγόμενος ὁ Σωκράτης ἕνα πάντων ὀπτῆρά φησιν· λέγει δὲ ταῦτα· "Καὶ δὴ καὶ περὶ τῶν δικαίων τε καὶ ἀδίκων καὶ αἰσχρῶν καὶ καλῶν καὶ κακῶν καὶ ἀγαθῶν, περὶ ὧν νῦν ἡ βουλὴ ἡμῖν ἐστι, πότερον τῇ τῶν πολλῶν δόξῃ δεῖ ἡμᾶς πείθεσθαι καὶ φοβεῖσθαι αὐτήν, ἢ τῇ τοῦ ἑνός, εἴ τίς ἐστιν ἐπαΐων, ὃν δεῖ καὶ αἰσχύνεσθαι καὶ φοβεῖσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ ξύμπαντας τοὺς ἄλλους; Ὧι εἰ μὴ ἀκολουθήσομεν, διαφθεροῦμεν ἐκεῖνο καὶ λωβησόμεθα, ὃ τῷ μὲν δικαίῳ βέλτιον ἐγίνετο, τῷ δὲ 2.37 ἀδίκῳ ἀπώλλυτο." Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα πάλιν· "Οὐκ ἄρα γε, ὦ βέλτιστε, πάνυ ἡμῖν οὕτω φροντιστέον τί ἐροῦσιν οἱ πολλοὶ ἡμᾶς, ἀλλ' ὅ τι ὁ ἐπαΐων τῶν δικαίων καὶ ἀδίκων, ὁ εἷς καὶ αὐτὴν ἡ ἀλήθεια." 2.38 Ὁρᾶτε, ὦ ἄνδρες, ὅπως ἐν τούτοις ὁ Πλάτων καὶ ὁ Σωκρά της τὸν τῶν οὐκ ὄντων θεῶν ἐξήλασεν ὁρμαθὸν καὶ μόνον τῶν ὅλων τὸν πρύτανιν αἰδεῖσθαι καὶ φοβεῖσθαι παρεκελεύσατο, διδά σκων ὡς, εἴποτε πλειόνων ἐμνήσθη θεῶν, διὰ τὸν ἐξηπατημένον 2.39 τῶν Ἀθηναίων ὅμιλον τοῦτο ποιῆσαι προσηναγκάσθη. Εἰ γὰρ δὴ καὶ ταῦτα δεδρακὼς ὁ Σωκράτης οὐ διέφυγε τὴν τοῦ κωνείου φιάλην, τί οὐκ ἂν ἔπαθεν, εἰ προφανῶς ἠρνήθη τὸν πολὺν ἐσμὸν τῶν θεῶν; καὶ τοῦτο δῆλον ὁ Πλάτων πεποίηκεν, ἐν οἷς πρὸς 2.40 ∆ιονύσιον ἔγραψεν. Πρὸς γὰρ αὖ πολλοῖς ἑτέροις καὶ ταῦτα προστέθεικεν· "Περὶ δὲ δὴ τοῦ ξυμβόλου τοῦ περὶ τὰς ἐπιστο λάς, ὅσας τε ἐπιστέλλω σπουδῇ καὶ ὅσας μή, οἶμαι μέν σε με μνῆσθαι, ὅμως δὲ νόει καὶ πρόσεχε τὸν νοῦν· πολλοὶ γὰρ, οἱ κελεύοντες γράφειν, οὓς οὐ ῥᾴδιον φανερῶς διωθεῖσθαι. Τῆς μὲν 2.41 οὖν σπουδαίας ἐπιστολῆς θεὸς ἀρχή, θεοὶ δὲ τῆς ἧττον." Πῶς ἄν τις σαφέστερον τὸν οἰκεῖον ἐπιδείξειε σκοπόν; Γυμνὴν γὰρ ἔδει ξεν, ἣν εἶχε περὶ τῶνδε τῶν ὀνομάτων διαφοράν, μονονουχὶ λέ γων· τῆς τῶν πολλῶν εἵνεκα δόξης τὸ πληθυντικὸν ὄνομα περὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τίθημι, τὰς ἐξηπατημένας προλήψεις τῶν πολιτῶν ὑφορώμενος· σπουδαίως γὰρ ἐπιστέλλων καὶ θαρρῶν τῷ τε κομί ζοντι καὶ τῷ δεχομένῳ τὰ γράμματα, ἑνικῶς τὸν Θεὸν ὀνομάζω 2.42 καὶ τοῦτον ἀρχὴν ποιοῦμαι τῶν λόγων. Καὶ ἑτέρωθι δὲ περὶ τοῦ ὄντος τοιάδε γέγραφεν· "Τὸν γὰρ