DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14564#0212
ALEXANDRIA.
their largeness of mind and their knowledge of Greek
philosophy. In our much-neglected Apocrypha, the
Wisdom of Solomon is a splendid instance of this new
direction of thought. But the most remarkable produc-
tions of this school are the writings of Philo, the earliest
Platonist of Alexandria. Philo is indeed the great
thinker of the age, in whom we first see the mighty
effect of the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into
Greek. He has found the philosophic grammar by
which to arrange the thoughts of the ancient teachers,
and at the same time he has given that grammar a living
speech. He has perceived in the Hebrew belief truths
obscurely mirrored in Platonism. Yet the exclusiveness
of Judaism bars the path of his progress. He has
reached the wall of the universe in which he lives, and
cannot overleap it. Beyond are the brethren to whom
he would fain stretch out brotherly arms, but cannot.
No farther could he go, nor could his successors, inferior
to him, for he had journeyed straight to the limits within
which they could only wander. But the path was made
and the rampart attained which was to fall at the
trumpet-sound of a victorious faith.
Alexandria, with her Greek and Hebrew philosophers,
o 2
their largeness of mind and their knowledge of Greek
philosophy. In our much-neglected Apocrypha, the
Wisdom of Solomon is a splendid instance of this new
direction of thought. But the most remarkable produc-
tions of this school are the writings of Philo, the earliest
Platonist of Alexandria. Philo is indeed the great
thinker of the age, in whom we first see the mighty
effect of the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into
Greek. He has found the philosophic grammar by
which to arrange the thoughts of the ancient teachers,
and at the same time he has given that grammar a living
speech. He has perceived in the Hebrew belief truths
obscurely mirrored in Platonism. Yet the exclusiveness
of Judaism bars the path of his progress. He has
reached the wall of the universe in which he lives, and
cannot overleap it. Beyond are the brethren to whom
he would fain stretch out brotherly arms, but cannot.
No farther could he go, nor could his successors, inferior
to him, for he had journeyed straight to the limits within
which they could only wander. But the path was made
and the rampart attained which was to fall at the
trumpet-sound of a victorious faith.
Alexandria, with her Greek and Hebrew philosophers,
o 2