Introduction to the Philosophy and Writings of Plato by Thomas Taylor
page 32 of 122 (26%)
page 32 of 122 (26%)
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even of a mundane characteristic, or from whom bodies are suspended,
considering them also as partaking of the nature of the ineffable, and as so many links of the truly golden chain of deity. Hence we find in the Odyssey, when Ulysses and Telemachus are removing the arms from the walls of the palace of Ithaca, and Minerva going before them with her golden lamp fills all the place with a divine light, [Greek: . . . . . paroithe de pallas Athene Chryseon lychnon echrusa phars perikalles epoiei.] Before thee Pallas Athene bore a golden cresset and cast a most lovely light. Telemachus having observed that certainly some one of the celestial gods was present, [Greek: Emala tis deos endon, of ouranon euryn echousi.] Verily some God is within, of those that hold the wide heaven. Ulysses says in reply, "Be silent, restrain your intellect (i.e. even cease to energize intellectually), and speak not." [Greek: Siga, kai kata son noon ischana, med' ereeine.] Hold thy peace and keep all this in thine heart and ask not hereof. --Book 19, Odyssey. Lastly, from all that has been said, it must, I think, be immediately obvious to every one whose mental eye is not entirely blinded, that there can be no such thing as a trinity in the theology of Plato, in any respect analogous to the Christian Trinity. For the highest God, according to Plato, as we have largely shown from irresistible evidence, is so far from |
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