Opening The Extant Fragments — Numenius in Plato Scroll…
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Numenius · Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie (1917)
(God as Improver of Matter.) (This consists of a Dialogue between a Philosopher and a Stranger, see 29.18. The first Fragment begins in the midst of a sentence.) 9a. Numenius Is a Comparative Student of Religion. Philosopher: In respect to this matter he will have to teach and interpret in the (best) Platonic tradition, and fuse it with the teachings of Pythagoras. Then (but only) so far as they agree with Plato, will he have to cite (the religions of) the famous nations quoting the mysteries, teachings and conceptions of the Brahmins, Hebrews, Magi, and Egyptians. 9b. Numenius Investigates Comparatively and Allegorically. Than Celsus, how much less of a partisan is the Pythagorean Numenius, who, by many proofs, has demonstrated that he is most estimable, in that he investigated still other opinions, and from many sources gathered .what to him seemed true. In the first book of his …
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