Chapter XXXI.—Further proof of Plato’s acquaintance with Scripture.

For from what other source, if not from his reading the writings of the prophets, could Plato have derived the information he gives us, that Jupiter drives a winged chariot in heaven? For he knew this from the following expressions of the prophet about the cherubim: “And the glory of the Lord went out from the house and rested on the cherubim; and the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the Lord God of Israel was over them above.”76    Ezek. xi. 22. And borrowing this idea, the magniloquent Plato shouts aloud with vast assurance, “The great Jove, indeed, driving his winged chariot in heaven.” For from what other source, if not from Moses and the prophets, did he learn this and so write? And whence did he receive the suggestion of his saying that God exists in a fiery substance? Was it not from the third book of the history of the Kings, where it is written, “The Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice?”77    1 Kings xix. 11, 12. But these things pious men must understand in a higher sense with profound and meditative insight. But Plato, not attending to the words with the suitable insight, said that God exists in a fiery substance.

Ἐπεὶ πόθεν ἄλλοθεν μεμαθηκὼς ὁ Πλάτων πτηνὸν ἅρμα ἐλαύνειν τὸν Δία ἐν οὐρανῷ λέγει, εἰ μὴ ταῖς τῶν προφητῶν ἐντυχὼν ἱστορίαις; Ἔγνω γὰρ ἀπὸ τῶν τοῦ προφήτου ῥητῶν περὶ τῶν Χερουβεὶμ οὕτως εἰρημένων: Καὶ ἐξῆλθεν δόξα κυρίου ἀπὸ τοῦ οἴκου καὶ ἐπέβη ἐπὶ Χερουβείμ, καὶ ἀνέλαβεν τὰ Χερουβεὶμ τὰς πτέρυγας αὐτῶν, καὶ οἱ τροχοὶ ἐχόμενοι αὐτῶν, καὶ δόξα κυρίου θεοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἦν ἐπ' αὐτοῖς ὑπεράνωθεν. Ἔνθεν ὁρμώμενος ὁ μεγαλόφωνος Πλάτων μετὰ πολλῆς παῤῥησίας βοᾷ λέγων: Ὁ μὲν δὴ μέγας ἐν οὐρανῷ Ζεὺς πτηνὸν ἅρμα ἐλαύνων. Ἐπεὶ πόθεν ἄλλοθεν μεμαθηκὼς ταῦτα γέγραφεν, εἰ μὴ παρὰ Μωϋσέως καὶ τῶν προφητῶν; Πόθεν δὲ τὴν πρόφασιν εἰληφὼς καὶ ἐν τῇ πυρώδει οὐσίᾳ τὸν θεὸν εἶναι ἔφη; Οὐκ ἀπὸ τῆς τρίτης τῶν Βασιλειῶν ἱστορίας, ἔνθα γέγραπται: Οὐκ ἐν τῷ πνεύματι κύριος: καὶ μετὰ τὸ πνεῦμα συσσεισμός, οὐκ ἐν τῷ συσσεισμῷ κύριος: καὶ μετὰ τὸν συσσεισμὸν πῦρ, οὐκ ἐν τῷ πυρὶ κύριος: καὶ μετὰ τὸ πῦρ φωνὴ αὔρας λεπτῆς; Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνα μὲν κατ' ἀναγωγὴν μετὰ πολλῆς θεωρίας τοῖς θεοσεβέσι νοεῖν ἀναγκαῖον: Πλάτων δέ, οὐ μετὰ τῆς προσηκούσης θεωρίας προσέχων τοῖς ῥητοῖς, ἐν τῇ πυρώδει οὐσίᾳ τὸν θεὸν εἶναι ἔφη.