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for the world which He had made: for, after His address to the gods, He
returns to the calm 1 state of inactivity in which He had been before
creation. Plato represents the mind
(νους , عقل) and soul
(Ψυχη , نفس) of the world as cognate
with those of man. He speaks of the planets also as alive, doubtless because of
their motion.
A Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, Philo
(فِلون) by name, uniting some
of Plato's opinions with those which he had learnt from the sages of Egypt, has
been often supposed to have taught the doctrine of the Trinity. But this is not
so. He undoubtedly believed in the Unity of God, because he was a Jew and had
learnt this from the holy Scriptures. When, however, like a poet and a mystic,
he uses figurative language, he couples with God certain of His attributes or of
His works, so forming a triad. In imitation of the Egyptian triad of Osiris,
Isis and Horus, which he evidently was endeavouring to explain, he says that
from God the Creator as father and from knowledge as mother proceeded as a son
this universe.2 Elsewhere he
Και ο μεν δη ταυτα παντα δια ταξας εμενεω εν τω εαυτου κατά τροπον ηθει
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