oa Plato’s angst als motief in de oudchristelijke apologetiek

In the pseudo-Justinian treatise Ad Graecos (probably written in the early 4th century), considerable attention is paid to the notion that it was the fear of undergoing the same fate as Socrates did that withheld Plato from openly acknowledging his dependency upon Moses. In the face of pagan criticism of the Christian annexation of Plato, the author tries thus to save Plato as a pre-Christian witness for the truth of the Gospel. It may have been a passage in Plato’s own Protagoras that inspired the author to develop this motif.