Clement of Alexandria · a new plain-English translation from the original language
Let what has been variously narrated by many concerning the chronologies, and set forth by us, stand as it does. As for the translation of the scriptures — those of the law and the prophetic writings — out of the Hebrew dialect into the Greek tongue, they say it was done in the reign of king Ptolemy the son of Lagos, or as some say, of the one surnamed Philadelphus, who brought the greatest zeal to this work, Demetrius of Phalerum having taken exact pains over the interpretation. For while the Macedonians still held Asia, the king, being eager to furnish the library that had been established by him at Alexandria with writings of every kind, thought it fitting also to have the men of Jerusalem translate the prophecies current among them into the Greek dialect.
And they, still living under Macedonian rule, picked out seventy of their most honored men, well versed in the sacred writings and fluent in Hellenic speech, and dispatched this group to him along with the holy books. Working apart from one another, each in seclusion, every man rendered his own share of the prophecy, and once the several renderings were laid side by side they proved identical, matching both in meaning and in phrasing; for such was God's design, accomplished for the benefit of Greek hearers. It is not strange, then, that this rendering too came about — through the inspiration of the very God who had given the prophecy — as, one might say, a prophecy uttered in Greek; just as, in the era of the exile under Nebuchadnezzar, once the sacred writings had perished, Ezra the Levite and priest, living under Artaxerxes king of the Persians, was moved by inspiration to restore all the old writings entirely and to prophesy them once more.
Aristobulus, in the first book of his work addressed to Philometor, writes word for word: 'And Plato too followed our legislation, and is manifestly seen to have worked over carefully each of the things said in it. For before Demetrius, and before the dominion of Alexander and the Persians, it had been translated by others, both the account of the exodus of the Hebrews, our fellow-citizens, out of Egypt, and the manifestation of all that had happened to them, and their conquest of the land, and the exposition of the whole legislation; so that it is quite clear that the aforesaid philosopher took over many things — for he was widely learned — just as Pythagoras also transferred many things from among our teachings into his own system of doctrine.' And Numenius the Pythagorean philosopher states plainly: 'What else is Plato but Moses talking in the tongue of Attica?' This Moses was both a theologian and a prophet, and, so certain writers claim, one who set forth the meaning of holy statutes. His ancestry, his achievements, and his career the scriptures declare on their own authority as trustworthy; still, we too ought to note a few things about him, in as few words as we can.
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