"Wherefore, then, I send thee to the Gentiles," it is said, "to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith which is in me."[1] Such, then, are the eyes of the blind which are opened. The knowledge of the Father by the Son is the comprehension of the "Greek circumlocution;"[2] and to turn from the power of Satan is to change from sin, through which bondage was produced. We do not, indeed, receive absolutely all philosophy, but that of which Socrates speaks in Plato. "For there are (as they say) in the mysteries many bearers of the thyrsus, but few bacchanals;" meaning, "that many are called, but few chosen." He accordingly plainly adds: "These, in my opinion, are none else than those who have philosophized right; to belong to whose number, I myself have left nothing undone in life, as far as I could, but have endeavoured in every way. Whether we have endeavoured rightly and achieved aught, we shall know when we have gone there, if God will, a little afterwards." Does he not then seem to declare from the Hebrew Scriptures the righteous man's hope, through faith, after death? And in Demodocus[3] (if that is really the work of Plato): "And do not imagine that I call it philosophizing to spend life pottering about the arts, or learning many things, but something different; since I, at least, would consider this a disgrace." For he knew, I reckon, "that the knowledge of many things does not educate the mind,"[4] according to Heraclitus. And in the fifth book of the Republic, he says, "'Shall we then call all these, and the others which study such things, and those who apply themselves to the meaner arts, philosophers?'
- ↑ Acts xxvi. 17, 18.
- ↑ Viz., "The Unknown God."
- ↑ There is no such utterance in the Demodocus. But in the Amatores, Basle Edition, p. 237, Plato says: "But it is not so, my friend; nor is it philosophizing to occupy oneself in the arts, nor lead a life of bustling meddling activity, nor to learn many things: but it is something else. Since I, at least, would reckon this a reproach; and that those who devote themselves to the arts ought to be called mechanics."
- ↑ According to the emendation of Menagius: "ὡς ἄρα ἡ πολυμάθεια νόον οὐχι διδάσκει."
