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But, among the disciples of Socrates, Plato was the one who shone
with a glory which far excelled that of the others, and who not
unjustly eclipsed them all. By birth, an Athenian of honorable
parentage, he far surpassed his fellow-disciples in natural
endowments, of which he was possessed in a wonderful degree. Yet,
deeming himself and the Socratic discipline far from sufficient for
bringing philosophy to perfection, he travelled as extensively as he
was able, going to every place famed for the cultivation of any science
of which he could make himself master. Thus he learned from the
Egyptians whatever they held and taught as important; and from
Egypt, passing into those parts of Italy which were filled with the
fame of the Pythagoreans, he mastered, with the greatest facility,
and under the most eminent teachers, all the Italic philosophy which
was then in vogue. And, as he had a peculiar love for his master
Socrates, he made him the speaker in all his dialogues, putting into
his mouth whatever he had learned, either from others, or from the
efforts of his own powerful intellect, tempering even his moral
disputations with the grace and politeness of the Socratic style.
And, as the study of wisdom consists in action and contemplation, so
that one part of it may be called active, and the other contemplative,
the active part having reference to the conduct of life, that is, to
the regulation of morals, and the contemplative part to the
investigation into the causes of nature and into pure truth, Socrates
is said to have excelled in the active part of that study, while
Pythagoras gave more attention to its contemplative part, on which he
brought to bear all the force of his great intellect. To Plato is
given the praise of having perfected philosophy by combining both parts
into one. He then divides it into three parts, the first moral,
which is chiefly occupied with action; the second natural, of which
the object is contemplation; and the third rational, which
discriminates between the true and the false. And though this last is
necessary both to action and contemplation, it is contemplation,
nevertheless, which lays peculiar claim to the office of investigating
the nature of truth. Thus this tripartite division is not contrary to
that which made the study of wisdom to consist in action and
contemplation. Now, as to what Plato thought with respeCt to each
of these parts, that is, what he believed to be the end of all
actions, the cause of all natures, and the light of all
intelligences, it would be a question too long to discuss, and about
which we ought not to make any rash affirmation. For, as Plato liked
and constantly affected the well-known method of his master Socrates,
namely, that of dissimulating his knowledge or his opinions, it is not
easy to discover dearly what he himself thought on various matters, any
more than it is to discover what were the real opinions of Socrates.
We must, nevertheless, insert into our work certain of those opinions
which he expresses in his writings, whether he himself uttered them,
or narrates them as expressed by others, and seems himself to approve
of, opinions sometimes favorable to the true religion, which our faith
takes up and defends, and sometimes contrary to it, as, for example,
in the questions concerning the existence of one God or of many, as it
relates to the truly blessed life which is to be after death. For
those who are praised as having most closely followed Plato, who is
justly preferred to all the other philosophers of the Gentiles, and
who are said to have manifested the greatest acuteness in understanding
him, do perhaps entertain such an idea of God as to admit that in Him
are to be found the cause of existence, the ultimate reason for the
understanding, and the end in reference to which the whole life is to
be regulated. Of which three things, the first is understood to
pertain to the natural, the second to the rational, and the third to
the moral part of philosophy. For if man has been so created as to
attain, through that which is most excellent in him, to that which
excels all things, that is, to the one true and absolutely good God,
without whom no nature exists, no doctrine instructs, no exercise
profits, let Him be sought in whom all things are secure to us, let
Him be discovered in whom all truth becomes certain to us, let Him be
loved in whom all becomes right to us.
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