Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 15
Here we have the dates of the earliest Greek sages and philosophers. Yet since most of them were of barbarian stock and were educated among barbarians, what more need be said? Pythagoras is shown to have been a Tyrrhenian or a Tyrian, Antisthenes a Phrygian, Orpheus an Odrysian or a Thracian. Most people even consider Homer an Egyptian. Thales, a Phoenician by birth, is said to have associated with the prophets of the Egyptians, just as Pythagoras did with those same men. It was through them that Pythagoras was circumcised, so that he could enter the inner sanctum and learn the Egyptians’ mystical philosophy. He also became intimate with the most eminent Chaldeans and Magi, and he hints at the assembly now so called, which was the meeting-place in his own circle.
Plato does not deny that the finest elements of philosophy were imported from the barbarians, and he admits that he himself went to Egypt. In the Phaedo he writes that the philosopher can profit from every quarter: ‘Greece is large, Cebes, and in it there are thoroughly good men; many good things also exist among the barbarian nations.’ Thus Plato believes there are philosophers among the barbarians, whereas Epicurus holds the opposite view, that only Greeks can philosophize. In the Symposium Plato praises the barbarians for having excelled in their practice, and he says truly—as do others elsewhere, both among Greeks and barbarians—whose sacred rites have already been established through such children.
The barbarians are clearly those who especially honored their own lawgivers and teachers by calling them gods. For they believed that good souls, according to Plato, left the heavenly realm, descended into this underworld, took on bodies, and so shared in all the evils of mortal life. They did this out of concern for the human race, establishing laws and proclaiming philosophy—the greatest good that has ever come or ever will come to humanity from the gods. And it seems to me that, perceiving the great benefit conferred through the wise, they revered those men and philosophized publicly.
Greek
οἵδε μὲν οἱ χρόνοι τῶν παρ’ Ἕλλησι πρεσβυτάτων σοφῶν τε καὶ φιλοσόφων. ὡς δὲ οἱ πλεῖστοι αὐτῶν βάρβαροι τὸ γένος καὶ παρὰ βαρβάροις παιδευθέντες, τί δεῖ καὶ λέγειν, εἰ γε Τυρρηνὸς ἢ Τύριος ὁ Πυθαγόρας ἐδείκνυτο, Ἀντισθένης δὲ Φρὺξ ἦν καὶ Ὀρφεὺς Οδρύσης ἢ Θρᾷξ; Ὅμηρον γὰρ οἱ πλεῖστοι Αἰγύπτιον φαίνουσιν. Θαλῆς δὲ Φοῖνιξ ὢν τὸ γένος καὶ τοῖς Αἰγυπτίων προφήταις συμβεβληκέναι εἴρηται, καθάπερ καὶ ὁ Πυθαγόρας αὐτοῖς γε τούτοις, δἰ οὓς καὶ περιετέμετο, ἵνα δὴ καὶ εἰς τὰ ἄδυτα κατελθὼν τὴν μυστικὴν παρ’ Αἰγυπτίων ἐκμάθοι φιλοσοφίαν, Χαλδαίων τε καὶ Μάγων τοῖς ἀρίστοις συνεγένετο καὶ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τὴν νῦν οὕτω καλουμένην τὸ παρ’ αὐτῷ ὁμακοεῖον αἰνίττεται. Πλάτων δὲ οὐκ ἀρνεῖται τὰ κάλλιστα εἰς φιλοσοφίαν παρὰ τῶν βαρβάρων ἐμπορεύεσθαι εἴς τε Αἴγυπτον ἀφικέσθαι ὁμολογεῖ. δύνασθαι γοῦν ἐν τῷ Φαίδωνί φησι πανταχόθεν τὸν φιλόσοφον ὠφελεῖσθαι γράφων· πολλὴ μὲν ἡ Ἑλλάς, ἔφη, ὦ Κέβης, ἦ δ’ ὅς, ἐν ᾗ εἰσι πάμπαν ἀγαθοὶ ἄνδρες, πολλὰ δὲ καὶ τὰ τῶν βαρβάρων γένη. οὕτως οἴεται ὁ Πλάτων καὶ βαρβάρων φιλοσόφους τινὰς εἶναι, ὁ δὲ Ἐπίκουρος ἔμπαλιν ὑπολαμβάνει μόνους φιλοσοφῆσαι Ἕλληνας δύνασθαι. ἔν τε τῷ Συμποσίῳ ἐπαινῶν Πλάτων τοὺς βαρβάρους ὡς διαφερόντως ἀσκήσαντας † μόνους ἀληθῶς φησι καὶ ἄλλοι ἄλλοθι πολλαχοῦ καὶ ἐν Ἕλλησι καὶ βαρβάροις, ὧν καὶ ἱερὰ πολλὰ ἤδη γέγονε διὰ τοὺς τοιούτους παῖδας. δῆλοι δέ εἰσιν οἱ βάρβαροι διαφερόντως τιμήσαντες τοὺς αὐτῶν νομοθέτας τε καὶ διδασκάλους θεοὺς προσειπόντες. ψυχὰς γὰρ ἀγαθὰς κατὰ Πλάτωνα καταλιπούσας τὸν ὑπερουράνιον τόπον ὑπομεῖναι ἐλθεῖν εἰς τόνδε τὸν τάρταρον καὶ σῶμα ἀναλαβούσας τῶν ἐν γενέσει κακῶν ἁπάντων μετασχεῖν ὑπολαμβάνουσι, κηδομένας τοῦ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένους, αἳ νόμους τε ἔθεσαν καὶ φιλοσοφίαν ἐκήρυξαν, οὗ μεῖζον ἀγαθὸν τῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένει οὔτ’ ἦλθέν ποτε ἐκ θεῶν οὔτ’ ἀφίξεται. καὶ μοι δοκοῦσιν αἰσθόμενοι τῆς μεγάλης εὐποιίας τῆς διὰ τῶν σοφῶν σεβασθῆναί τε τοὺς ἄνδρας καὶ δημοσίᾳ φιλοσοφῆσαι.