{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>Certain partakers with us in the grace of Christ, wonder\r\nwhen they hear and read that Plato had conceptions concerning\r\nGod, in which they recognise considerable agreement with\r\nthe truth of our religion. Some have concluded from this,\r\nthat when he went to Egypt he had heard the prophet Jeremiah,\r\nor, whilst travelling in the same country, had read the\r\nprophetic scriptures, which opinion I myself have expressed\r\nin certain of my writings.<a id=\"FNanchor_301_301\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_301_301\">[301]</a> But a careful calculation of dates,\r\ncontained in chronological history, shows that Plato was born\r\nabout a hundred years after the time in which Jeremiah prophesied,\r\nand, as he lived eighty-one years, there are found to\r\nhave been about seventy years from his death to that time\r\nwhen Ptolemy, king of Egypt, requested the prophetic scriptures\r\nof the Hebrew people to be sent to him from Judea,\r\nand committed them to seventy Hebrews, who also knew the\r\nGreek tongue, to be translated and kept. Therefore, on that\r\nvoyage of his, Plato could neither have seen Jeremiah, who\r\nwas dead so long before, nor have read those same scriptures<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_322\">[Pg 322]</a></span>\r\nwhich had not yet been translated into the Greek language, of\r\nwhich he was a master, unless, indeed, we say that, as he\r\nwas most earnest in the pursuit of knowledge, he also studied\r\nthose writings through an interpreter, as he did those of the\r\nEgyptians,—not, indeed, writing a translation of them (the\r\nfacilities for doing which were only gained even by Ptolemy\r\nin return for munificent acts of kindness,<a id=\"FNanchor_302_302\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_302_302\">[302]</a> though fear of his\r\nkingly authority might have seemed a sufficient motive), but\r\nlearning as much as he possibly could concerning their contents\r\nby means of conversation. What warrants this supposition is\r\nthe opening verses of Genesis: \"In the beginning God made\r\nthe heaven and earth. And the earth was invisible, and\r\nwithout order; and darkness was over the abyss: and the\r\nSpirit of God moved over the waters.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_303_303\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_303_303\">[303]</a> For in the <i>Timæus</i>,\r\nwhen writing on the formation of the world, he says that God\r\nfirst united earth and fire; from which it is evident that he\r\nassigns to fire a place in heaven. This opinion bears a certain\r\nresemblance to the statement, \"In the beginning God made\r\nheaven and earth.\" Plato next speaks of those two intermediary\r\nelements, water and air, by which the other two\r\nextremes, namely, earth and fire, were mutually united;\r\nfrom which circumstance he is thought to have so understood\r\nthe words, \"The Spirit of God moved over the waters.\" For,\r\nnot paying sufficient attention to the designations given by\r\nthose scriptures to the Spirit of God, he may have thought\r\nthat the four elements are spoken of in that place, because\r\nthe air also is called spirit.<a id=\"FNanchor_304_304\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_304_304\">[304]</a> Then, as to Plato's saying that\r\nthe philosopher is a lover of God, nothing shines forth more\r\nconspicuously in those sacred writings. But the most striking\r\nthing in this connection, and that which most of all inclines\r\nme almost to assent to the opinion that Plato was not ignorant\r\nof those writings, is the answer which was given to the question\r\nelicited from the holy Moses when the words of God\r\nwere conveyed to him by the angel; for, when he asked what\r\nwas the name of that God who was commanding him to go\r\nand deliver the Hebrew people out of Egypt, this answer was<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_323\">[Pg 323]</a></span>\r\ngiven: \"I am who am; and thou shalt say to the children of\r\nIsrael, He who <i>is</i> sent me unto you;\"<a id=\"FNanchor_305_305\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_305_305\">[305]</a> as though compared\r\nwith Him that truly <i>is</i>, because He is unchangeable, those\r\nthings which have been created mutable <i>are</i> not,—a truth\r\nwhich Plato vehemently held, and most diligently commended.\r\nAnd I know not whether this sentiment is anywhere to be\r\nfound in the books of those who were before Plato, unless in\r\nthat book where it is said, \"I am who am; and thou shalt\r\nsay to the children of Israel, <i>Who is</i> sent me unto you.\"</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK EIGHTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-581"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"3e6887e3cc1b3ef067efb65cb9654f5b2a178cc5a6daddb1113b94814a39242a","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume I","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Book IV)","J. J. Smith (Books V-VIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45304-Footnote_302_302","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Provider catalog reports public domain in the USA. Original transcription title leaves state T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1871; printed translator allocation retained. Gutenberg credits Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries without an exact scan identifier. Full provider license preserved with acquired original; republication and per-work metadata remain unreviewed.","source_anchor":"Footnote_302_302","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_302_302\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_302_302\"><span class=\"label\">[302]</span></a> Liberating Jewish slaves, and sending gifts to the temple. See Josephus,\r\n<i>Ant.</i> xii. 2.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_302_302","text_sha256":"19621971c016fe2aba0037cef366355c3724b6e05c51f78acd6705b0b24562cb","verified":false,"work_id":null}