Miscellanies 1.22.150

Aristobulus, in the first book of his work addressed to Philometor, writes word for word: “Plato too followed our legislation, and he has clearly studied carefully each of the things said in it. It was translated by others before Demetrius, before the conquest of Alexander and the Persians: the account of the leading out of the Hebrews our fellow citizens from Egypt, the manifestation of all that happened to them, the conquest of the land, and the exposition of the whole legislation; so that it is plain that the philosopher just mentioned took many things (for he was very learned), as Pythagoras too transferred many of our things into his own system of doctrines.” And Numenius the Pythagorean philosopher writes outright: “For what is Plato but Moses speaking Attic Greek?” This Moses was a theologian and prophet, and, as some say, an interpreter of sacred laws. The Scriptures themselves, worthy of trust, proclaim his race, his deeds, and his life; yet we too must speak of them as briefly as possible.