Page 26 - STOLEN LEGACY By George G. M. James

2. Circumstances of Identity between the Egyptian and Greek Systems

A. The Indictment and Prosecution of Greek Philosophers

The indictment and prosecution of Greek philosophers is a circumstance which is familiar to us
all. Several philosophers, one after another, were indicted by the Athenian Government, on the
common charge of introducing strange divinities. Anaxagoras, Socrates, and Aristotle received
similar indictments for a similar offence. The most famous of these was that against Socrates
which reads as follows. "Socrates commits a crime by not believing in the Gods of the city, and
by introducing other new divinities. He also commits a crime by corrupting the youth". Now, in
order to find out what these new divinities were, we must go back to the popular opinion which
Aristophanes (423 B.C.) in the Clouds, aroused against him. It runs as follows: "Socrates is an
evildoer, who busies himself with investigating things beneath the earth and in the sky, and who
makes the worse appear the better reason, and who teaches others these same things (Plato's
Apology C. 1–10; Aristophanes' Frogs, 1071; Apology 18 B.C., 19 C. Apology 24 B).

It is clear then that Socrates offended the Athenian government simply because he pursued the
study of astronomy and probably that of geology; and that the other philosophers were
persecuted for the same reason. But the study of science was a required condition to membership
in the Egyptian Mystery System, and its purpose was the liberation of the Soul from the ten
bodily fetters, and if the Greek philosophers studied the sciences, then they were fulfilling a
required condition to membership in the Egyptian Mystery System and its purpose; either
through direct contact with Egypt or its schools or lodges outside its territory.

B. A Life of Virtue was a Condition required by the Egyptian Mysteries as Elsewhere Mentioned

The virtues were not mere abstractions or ethical sentiments, but were positive valours and
virility of the soul. Temperance meant complete control of the passional nature. Fortitude meant
such courage as would not allow adversity to turn us away from our goal. Prudence meant the
deep insight that befits the faculty of Seership. Justice meant the unswerving righteousness of
thought and action.

Furthermore, when we compare the two ethical systems, we discover that the greater includes the
less, and that it also suggests the origin of the latter. In the Egyptian Mysteries the Neophyte was
required to manifest the following soul attributes:

(1) Control of thought and (2) Control of action, the combination of which, Plato called Justice
(i.e., the unswerving righteousness of thought and action). (3) Steadfastness of purpose, which
was equivalent to Fortitude. (4) Identity with spiritual life or the higher ideals, which was
equivalent to Temperance an attribute attained when the individual had gained conquest over the
passional nature.

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Stolen Legacy: Greek Philosophy is Stolen Egyptian Philosophy by George G. M. James
The Journal of Pan African Studies 2009 eBook