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11.3.10 Since such is the philosophy according to Plato, it is time to examine that of the Hebrews also, who philosophized in a similar manner long before Plato was born. You would find then among them also this harmonious tripartite division of ethical, logical, and physical studies, having established the method as follows:

11.4.1 5. ON THE ETHICAL DOCTRINES AMONG THE HEBREWS You may learn then that ethical matters were diligently studied among them first of all, in deeds long before words, by examining the lives of the men, since they both considered and pursued, as the end of goods and the ultimate goal of the blessed life, piety and friendship with God through the right ordering of morals, but not the pleasure of the body according to Epicurus, nor yet the threefold class of goods according to Aristotle, which has valued the things concerning 11.4.2 the body and external things on a par with the goods of the soul, nor indeed the ultimate ignorance and want of learning, which some have proclaimed with the more dignified name of 'suspension of judgment,' nor yet the virtue of the soul alone; for how great is this among men, and what could it contribute by itself, without God, to a life free from pain? For which reason, having fastened all things to their hope in God, as to an unbreakable cable, 11.4.3 they declared that only the one beloved by God is blessed; because indeed God, the steward of all good things, being the provider of life and the source of virtue itself and the supplier of all things concerning the body and external things, would alone be self-sufficient for a blessed life for one who has prepared for friendship with him through all-true piety. 11.4.4 Wherefore the all-wise Moses, being the first of all men to commit to writing the life of the God-loving Hebrews before him, has set forth the manner of life both civic and practical through historical narrative. Beginning from this, he made his teaching from universals, setting forth God as the cause of all things, and describing a cosmogony and anthropogony. 11.4.5 Then, thus proceeding in his account from universals to particulars, and through the memory of the men of old having urged his students to zeal for their virtue and godliness, and having also shown himself to be the author of the pious laws established by him, he would in every way be manifest as having made provision for the God-loving way of life through the care of morals, just as the argument, having anticipated this, made clear in what went before. 11.4.6 But it would be a long task to set down here also the prophets who followed Moses, and their discourses, which exhort to virtue and dissuade from all vice. And what if I should bring before you the ethical teachings of the most wise Solomon, for which he also composed a work of his own sayings, which he named Proverbs, embracing in one treatise concise 11.4.7 maxims resembling apothegms? And in this way indeed the children of the Hebrews were from ancient times both educated in the ethical manner, before the Greeks had even learned their first elements, and they generously shared this same education with those who came to them.

11.5.1 6. ON THE LOGICAL TREATISE AMONG THE HEBREWS And the logical manner of the Hebrews' philosophy they thought should not be pursued, as is dear to the Greeks, with cleverness of sophisms and with reasonings contrived for deception, but by the apprehension of truth itself, which the divinely wise among them, their souls being illuminated by divine light, both found and were 11.5.2 enlightened by. For which sharpening their own

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11.3.10 Τοιαύτης οὔσης τῆς κατὰ Πλάτωνα φιλοσοφίας καιρὸς καὶ τὴν Ἑβραίων ἐπισκέψασθαι, μακρῷ πρόσθεν ἢ Πλάτωνα γενέσθαι τὸν ὅμοιον πεφιλοσοφηκότων τρόπον. εὕροις δ' οὖν καὶ παρ' αὐτοῖς τήνδε σύμφωνον τὴν τριμέρειαν ἠθικῶν τε καὶ λογικῶν καὶ φυσικῶν μαθημάτων, τόνδε ἐπιστήσας τὸν τρόπον·

11.4.1 εʹ. ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΠΑΡ' ΕΒΡΑΙΟΙΣ ΗΘΙΚΩΝ ∆ΟΓΜΑΤΩΝ Τὰ μὲν οὖν ἠθικὰ πρώτιστα πάντων φιλοτίμως ἐσπουδασμένα παρ' αὐτοῖς ἔργοις πολὺ πρότερον τῶν λόγων μάθοις ἂν τὰ κατὰ τοὺς ἄνδρας διασκοπούμενος, ἐπεὶ καὶ τέλος ἀγαθῶν τοῦ τε μακαρίως ζῆν ὕστατον ὅρον τὴν εὐσέβειαν τήν τε διὰ τῆς τῶν ἠθῶν κατορθώσεως πρὸς τὸν θεὸν φιλίαν ἡγήσαντό τε καὶ μετεδίωξαν, ἀλλ' οὐ σωμάτων ἡδονὴν κατ' Ἐπίκουρον οὐδ' αὖ τὴν τριγένειαν τῶν ἀγαθῶν κατ' Ἀριστοτέλην, τὰ περὶ 11.4.2 σῶμα καὶ τὰ ἐκτὸς ἐν ἴσῳ τοῖς τῆς ψυχῆς ἀγαθοῖς ἐκτετιμηκότα, οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ τὴν ἐσχάτην ἄγνοιάν τε καὶ ἀμαθίαν, ἣν ὀνόματι σεμνοτέρῳ τινὲς ἐποχὴν ἀνειρήκασιν, ἀλλ' οὐδ' αὖ τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν ἀρετήν· πόση γὰρ ἐν ἀνθρώποις αὕτη καὶ τί καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἄνευ θεοῦ πρὸς τὸν ἄλυπον συντείνοι ἂν βίον; δι' ὃν τὰ πάντα τῆς εἰς τὸν θεὸν ἐλπίδος, πείσματος ὥσπερ ἀρραγοῦς, 11.4.3 ἐξάψαντες, τὸν θεοφιλῆ μόνον ἀπέφηναν εἶναι μακάριον· ὅτι δὴ ὁ πάντων ἀγαθῶν ταμίας θεός, ζωῆς ὢν πάροχος καὶ αὐτῆς ἀρετῆς πηγὴ τῶν τε περὶ σῶμα καὶ τῶν ἐκτὸς ἁπάντων χορηγὸς ὑπάρχων, μόνος ἂν εἴη πρὸς τὸν μακάριον βίον τῷ τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν φιλίαν διὰ τῆς παναληθοῦς εὐσεβείας 11.4.4 στειλαμένῳ αὐτάρκης. ἔνθεν ὁ πάνσοφος Μωσῆς πρῶτος ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων γραφῇ παραδοὺς τὸν τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ θεοφιλῶν Ἑβραίων βίον, τὸν πολιτικὸν ὁμοῦ καὶ πρακτικὸν δι' ὑφηγήσεως ἱστορικῆς ὑποτέθειται τρόπον. ἧς ἀρχόμενος ἀπὸ τῶν καθόλου τὴν διδασκαλίαν ἐποιήσατο, θεὸν τῶν ὅλων αἴτιον ὑποστησάμενος κοσμογονίαν τε καὶ ἀνθρωπογονίαν ὑπο11.4.5 γράψας. εἶθ' οὕτως ἀπὸ τῶν καθόλου ἐπὶ τὰ κατὰ μέρος προελθὼν τῷ λόγῳ καὶ διὰ τῆς τῶν παλαιῶν ἀνδρῶν μνήμης εἰς τὸν τῆς ἐκείνων ἀρετῆς τε καὶ θεοσεβείας ζῆλον τοὺς φοιτητὰς παρορμήσας, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς αὐθέντης νόμων εὐσεβῶν τῶν πρὸς αὐτοῦ τεθέντων ἀποφανθείς, κατὰ πάντα δῆλος ἂν εἴη τοῦ φιλοθέου τρόπου διὰ τῆς τῶν ἠθῶν ἐπιμελείας πρόνοιαν πεποιημένος, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ τοῦτο προλαβὼν ὁ λόγος ἐν τοῖς 11.4.6 πρόσθεν φανερὸν κατεστήσατο. μακρὸν δ' ἂν εἴη καὶ τοὺς ἑξῆς μετὰ Μωσέα προφήτας τούς τε τούτων προτρεπτικοὺς μὲν ἀρετῆς, ἀποτρεπτικοὺς δὲ κακίας ἁπάσης λόγους ἐν τῷδε καταβάλλεσθαι. τί δ' εἴ σοι τοῦ σοφωτάτου Σολομῶνος τὰς ἠθικὰς παραφέροιμι διδασκαλίας, αἷς καὶ οἰκείων λόγων ἀνέθηκε σύγγραμμα, Παροιμίας ἐπονομάσας, ἐπιτόμους 11.4.7 γνώμας ἀποφθέγμασιν ἐοικυίας ὑποθέσει περιλαβὼν μιᾷ; καὶ τὸν μὲν ἠθικὸν τρόπον ταύτη πη παῖδες Ἑβραίων ἐκ παλαιῶν πρὶν ἢ καὶ τὰ πρῶτα στοιχεῖα μαθεῖν Ἕλληνας, αὐτοί τε ἐπαιδεύοντο καὶ τοῖς προσιοῦσι τῆς αὐτῆς ἀφθόνως ἐκοινώνουν παιδείας.

11.5.1 ςʹ. ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΠΑΡ' ΕΒΡΑΙΟΙΣ ΛΟΓΙΚΗΣ ΠΡΑΓΜΑΤΕΙΑΣ Καὶ τὸν λογικὸν δὲ τρόπον τῆς Ἑβραίων φιλοσοφίας οὐ, καθάπερ Ἕλλησι φίλον, δεινότητι σοφισμάτων καὶ λογισμοῖς πρὸς ἀπάτην τετεχνασμένοις δεῖν ᾤοντο μετιέναι, καταλήψει δὲ αὐτῆς ἀληθείας, ἣν ὑπὸ θείου φωτὸς τὰς ψυχὰς καταυγασθέντες οἱ παρ' αὐτοῖς θεόσοφοι εὕραντό τε καὶ 11.5.2 ἐφωτίσθησαν. ἐφ' ἣν ἀκονῶντες τοὺς τὰ οἰκεῖα