11. Plato AEgyptum peregravit ut a sacerdotibus barbaris
numeros et 'caelestia' acciperet. Cicero de I ibus, v. 29.
The Egyptians might still preserve the traditional creed of
the patriarchs. Josephus has persuaded many of the Christian
fathers that Plato derived a part of his knowledge from the
Jews; but this vain opinion cannot be reconciled with the
obscure state and unsocial manners of the Jewish people,
whose scriptures were not accessible to Greek curiosity till
more than one hundred years after the death of Plato. See
Marsham Canon. Chron. p. 144. Le Clerc, Epistol. Critic.
vii. p. 177-194.