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For it was not our argument, as I said, that refuted them, but their own. Moreover, through the comparison of dates, we have recognized that they are very young both in wisdom and in age, falling far short of Hebrew antiquity. So much for the previous book. But the present one is now eager, as if paying a debt, to fulfill the promise that was made and to set forth the agreement of the Greek philosophers with the Hebrew oracles in some, if not in all, of their dogmatic principles. Dismissing the superfluous among them, he summons the chief of them all, thinking it necessary to use Plato alone as a standard for the problem instead of all of them, since he alone seems, by having surpassed all in reputation, to be sufficient for us for the establishment of the matter in question. But if it should be necessary anywhere, for the sake of clarity of the man's thought, I will also use as witnesses those who have emulated his philosophy, setting forth their own words for the establishment of the subject at hand. But let it be observed by me that not everything was said successfully on every point by the man, even if most things were uttered by him with truth. And this very point we will demonstrate at the proper time, not for the sake of slandering him, but for our own defense, by which we profess to have preferred the barbarian philosophy to the Greek.

11.1.1 2. HOW THE PHILOSOPHY ACCORDING TO PLATO FOLLOWED THAT OF THE HEBREWS IN THE MOST ESSENTIAL POINTS

Since Plato divided the whole discourse of philosophy into three parts, the physical, the ethical, and the logical, and then again divided the physical part into the theory of sensible things and the comprehension of incorporeal things, you would find this threefold form of teaching also among the Hebrews, because indeed similar things were philosophized among them before Plato came to be. But it is worthwhile to hear first from Plato, and then to examine the Hebrew teachings as well. I will set forth what pleased Plato from those who champion his views, of whom Atticus, a distinguished man among the Platonic philosophers, relates the man's opinions in some such way in his work entitled "Against Those Who Promise Plato's Doctrines Through Those of Aristotle."

11.2.1 3. FROM ATTICUS CONCERNING THE THREEFOLD DIVISION OF PHILOSOPHY ACCORDING TO PLATO

"Since, then, complete philosophy is divided in three ways, into the topic called ethical, and the physical, and also the logical, and the first part equips each of us to be noble and good and sets whole households aright toward what is best, and further still adorns an entire people with an excellent constitution and the most exact laws, while the second extends to the knowledge of divine things, of first principles themselves and their causes and all other things that come from these, which indeed Plato called an inquiry into nature, and the third part is adopted for the discrimination and discovery concerning both of these; that Plato was the first and foremost to gather into one all the parts of philosophy, which were until then scattered and torn apart like the limbs of Pentheus, as someone said, and that he rendered philosophy a kind of body and a whole living creature, are things said that are clear to everyone. For neither those around Thales and Anaximenes and Anaxagoras, nor as many as were contemporary with them,

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γὰρ αὐτοὺς οὐχ ὁ 11.πρεφ.2 παρ' ἡμῶν, ὡς ἔφην, λόγος, ὁ δ' ἐξ αὐτῶν παρεστήσατο. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ σφόδρα νέους ὁμοῦ τῇ φρονήσει καὶ τὴν ἡλικίαν αὐτούς, παρὰ πλεῖστον ὅσον τῆς Ἑβραϊκῆς λειπομένους ἀρχαιολογίας, ἐν ταὐτῷ διὰ τῆς τῶν χρό11.πρεφ.3 νων παραθέσεως ἔγνωμεν. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ὁ πρὸ τούτου· ὁ δέ γε παρὼν ἐπείγεται λοιπὸν ἤδη, ὥσπερ τι χρέος, τὴν ἐπηγγελμένην ὑπόσχεσιν ἀποδοῦναι καὶ τὴν ἔν τισιν, εἰ καὶ μὴ ἐν πᾶσι, τοῖς δογματικοῖς θεωρήμασι πρὸς τὰ Ἑβραίων λόγια συμφωνίαν τῶν παρ' Ἕλλησι φιλοσόφων ἐκφᾶναι· ὧν τοὺς περιττοὺς παραιτησάμενος τὸν κορυφαῖον ἁπάντων ἀνακαλεῖται, μόνῳ χρῆναι δεῖν ἀντὶ πάντων ἡγούμενος γνώμονι χρήσασθαι τοῦ προβλήματος Πλάτωνι, ἐπεὶ καὶ οὗτος μόνος ἔοικε τῇ δόξῃ τοὺς πάντας ὑπερακοντίσας 11.πρεφ.4 αὐτάρκης ἡμῖν ἔσεσθαι πρὸς τὴν τοῦ ζητουμένου σύστασιν. εἰ δέ που δέοι, σαφηνείας ἕνεκα τῆς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς διανοίας, καὶ τοῖς τὴν κατ' αὐτὸν ἐζηλωκόσι φιλοσοφίαν μάρτυσι χρήσομαι, τὰς αὐτῶν ἐκθησόμενος φωνὰς 11.πρεφ.5 ἐπὶ συστάσει τοῦ προκειμένου. τετηρήσθω δέ μοι τὸ μὴ πάντ' ἐπὶ πάντ' ἐπιτυχῶς εἰρῆσθαι τῷ ἀνδρί, εἰ καὶ τὰ πλεῖστα αὐτῷ σὺν ἀληθείᾳ ἐκπεφώνηται. ὃ δὴ καὶ αὐτὸ κατὰ τὸν δέοντα καιρὸν παραστήσομεν, οὐκ αὐτοῦ διαβολῆς, ἀπολογίας δὲ ἡμετέρας χάριν, δι' ἣν τὴν βάρβαρον φιλοσοφίαν τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς ὁμολογοῦμεν προησμενικέναι.

11.1.1 βʹ. ΩΣ Η ΚΑΤΑ ΠΛΑΤΩΝΑ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΙΑ ΤΗΙ ΚΑΘ' ΕΒΡΑΙΟΥΣ ΕΝ ΤΟΙΣ ΑΝΑΓΚΑΙΟΤΑΤΟΙΣ ΕΠΗΚΟΛΟΥΘΗΣΕΝ

Εἰς τρία διελόντος μέρη τοῦ Πλάτωνος τὸν πάντα τῆς φιλοσοφίας λόγον, εἰς φυσικόν, ἠθικόν, λογικόν, εἶτ' αὖ πάλιν τὸν φυσικὸν διελομένου εἴς τε τὴν τῶν αἰσθητῶν θεωρίαν καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀσωμάτων κατανόησιν, εὕροις ἂν καὶ παρ' Ἑβραίοις τὸ τριμερὲς τοῦτο τῆς διδασκαλίας εἶδος, ὅτι δὴ καὶ 11.1.2 παρ' αὐτοῖς τὰ ὅμοια πρόσθεν ἢ Πλάτωνα γενέσθαι πεφιλοσόφητο. πρῶτον δὲ τῶν Πλάτωνος ἀκοῦσαι ἄξιον, εἶθ' οὕτως καὶ τὰ Ἑβραίων ἐπισκοπῆσαι. θήσω δὲ τὰ ἀρέσκοντα Πλάτωνι ἀπὸ τῶν τὰ αὐτοῦ πρεσβευόντων, ὧν Ἀττικὸς διαφανὴς ἀνὴρ τῶν Πλατωνικῶν φιλοσόφων ὧδέ πη τὰ δοκοῦντα τῷ ἀνδρὶ διέξεισιν, ἐν οἷς ἵσταται «Πρὸς τοὺς διὰ τῶν Ἀριστοτέλους τὰ Πλάτωνος ὑπισχνουμένους».

11.2.1 γʹ. ΑΤΤΙΚΟΥ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΤΡΙΜΕΡΟΥΣ ΤΗΣ ΚΑΤΑ ΠΛΑΤΩΝΑ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΙΑΣ

«Τριχῆ τοίνυν διαιρουμένης τῆς ἐντελοῦς φιλοσοφίας, εἴς τε τὸν ἠθικὸν καλούμενον τόπον καὶ τὸν φυσικὸν καὶ ἔτι τὸν λογικόν, καὶ τοῦ μὲν πρώτου κατασκευάζοντος ἡμῶν ἕκαστον καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τοὺς οἴκους ὅλους εἰς τὸ ἄριστον ἐπανορθοῦντος, ἤδη δὲ καὶ δῆμον σύμπαντα πολιτείᾳ τῇ διαφερούσῃ καὶ νόμοις τοῖς ἀκριβεστάτοις κοσμοῦντος, τοῦ δευτέρου δὲ πρὸς τὴν περὶ τῶν θείων γνῶσιν διήκοντος αὐτῶν τε τῶν πρώτων καὶ τῶν αἰτίων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων, ὅσα ἐκ τούτων γίνεται, ἃ δὴ περὶ φύσεως ἱστορίαν ὁ Πλάτων ὠνόμακεν, εἰς δὲ τὴν περὶ τούτων ἀμφοτέρων διάκρισίν τε καὶ εὕρεσιν τοῦ τρίτου παραλαμ11.2.2 βανομένου· ὅτι μὲν Πλάτων πρῶτος καὶ μάλιστα συναγείρας εἰς ἓν πάντα τὰ τῆς φιλοσοφίας μέρη, τέως ἐσκεδασμένα καὶ διερριμμένα ὥσπερ τὰ τοῦ Πενθέως μέλη, καθάπερ εἶπέ τις, σῶμά τι καὶ ζῷον ὁλόκληρον ἀπέφηνε τὴν φιλο11.2.3 σοφίαν, δῆλα παντὶ λεγόμενα. οὔτε γὰρ οἱ περὶ Θαλῆν καὶ Ἀναξιμένην καὶ Ἀναξαγόραν καὶ ὅσοι κατὰ ταὐτὸ γεγόνασι τούτοις,