[46]
As a prelude to the study of Greek philosophy he built up a harmony of
the mind by a study of Greek poetry, rhetoric, music, mathematics, and
the natural sciences. His works bear witness to the thoroughness with
which he imbibed all that was best in Greek literature. His Jewish
predecessors had written in the impure dialect of the Hellenistic
colonies (the [Greek: koine dialektos]), and had shown little
literary charm; but Philo's style is more graceful than that of any
Greek prose writer since the golden age of the fourth century. Like
his thought, indeed, it is eclectic and not always clear, but full of
reminiscences of the epic and tragic poets on the one hand, and of
Plato on the other,[47] it gives a happy blending of prose and poetry,
which admirably fits the devotional philosophy that forms its subject.
And what was said of Plato by a Greek critic applies equally well to
Philo: "He rises at times above the spirit of prose in such a way that
he appears to be instinct, not with human understanding, but with a
Divine oracle." From the study of literature and kindred subjects
Philo passed on to philosophy, and he made himself master of the
teachings of all the chief schools. There was a mingling of all the
world's wisdom at Alexandria in his day; and Philo, like the other
philosophers of the time, shows acquaintance with the ideas of
Egyptian, Chaldean, Persian,[48] and even Indian thought.
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