55. "The genius of Plato, informed by his own meditation or by the traditional knowledge of the priests of Egypt [or by the `mysteries' of Pythagoras], had ventured to explore the mysterious nature of the deity .... the three archical or original principles were represented in the Platonic system as three gods, united with each other by a mysterious and ineffable generation .... such appear to have been the secret doctrines which were cautiously whispered in the gardens of the Academy .... The arms of the Macedonians [Alexander the Great] diffused over Asia and Egypt the language and learning of Greece; and the theological system of Plato was taught, with less reserve, and perhaps with some improvements, in the celebrated school of Alexandria." - The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon, pp. 675, 676, vol. 1, The Modern Library - Random House, Inc.
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