STATESMAN AND PHILOSOPHER 85and Philo, is to be found in Ambrose, and in him first among the Latin
Fathers. His conclusion therefore seems inevitable, that, whether origi
nally done by Philo or not, the Greek Jews had taken over these states,
the Epicurean, Stoic, and Platonic, and by identifying them with proof
texts for the old and new Jerusalem, had made them part of Hellenistic
Judaism. Ambrose took the idea from Philo. Augustine took it from
Ambrose, and made it into one of the most influential interpretations
of life and society ever to sway the human mind.
It would then appear that Philo's conflict of loyalties had a great
background, and a mighty future, as well as a vivid present in Philo's
own soul.