In a discussion on the use of myth to educate children, Plato wrote, "we should do our utmost that the first stories they hear should be so comprised as to bring the fairest lessons of virtue to their ears." Plato understood that no person could rise above mythological belief except by attaining reason, which was perhaps a rarer virtue in his time then it is today. Therefore, it was necessary to deal with the masses on terms of mythological beliefs. Strabo, a Greek geographer, scientist, and advisor to Caesar Augustus clearly expressed this method when he wrote, "For in dealing with a crowd of women, at least, or with any promiscuous mob, a philosopher cannot influence them by reason or exhort them to reverence, piety, or faith; nay there is need of religious fear also, and this cannot be aroused without myths and marvels."

The great Jewish Platonic philosopher, Philo of Alexandria, lived in a time when the promiscuity of the mob was perhaps at an all time high. He was born 20 years before Christ, less than three decades after the armies of Augustus conquered Egypt and burned the great library at Alexandria, which had been the greatest repository of learning in history. Under the domination of the Roman Empire, Philo's world had been taken over by the spread of sadomasochistic mystery religions and animal worshipping cults. Humanity had reached an all time low. In the sports arenas, for example, the ultra-violent slaughter of human beings as a form of popular entertainment was an everyday occurrence.

It was into this age of impending darkness that Philo was determined to introduce his understanding of Plato's Logos, and thereby, to create a new human identity that would save civilization from self-destruction. Under Philo's leadership, key synagogues became the centers of Platonic dialogue. At the heart of these dialogues was Philo's precept that the Logos was at once the universal principle of creative reason--a process of directed evolutionary change--and the "firstborn" of God. "For the land and water and air and fire," Philo wrote, "and all plants and animals which are in these, whether mortal or divine, yes, and the sky, and the circuits of the sun and moon, and the revolutions and rhythmic movements of the other heavenly bodies, are like some flock under the hand of God its King and Shepherd. This hallowed flock He leads in accordance with right and law, setting over it His true Logos and firstborn." In this, and other writings, Philo demonstrated the impact that Plato's revolutionary scientific work, Timaeus, had on his thinking.

Philo's movement was political from the very beginning. His goal was to create an elite group of revolutionaries who would establish what came to be known as the "The Kingdom of God." This Kingdom was not ephemeral, but rather it was a civic realm in which the political and economic system of man is governed by reason and natural law.

Among Philo's networks was a group of intellectuals known as the Essenes, whose leader was John the Baptist, the older cousin of Jesus of Nazareth. As the Bible records, John the Baptist was the man who announced that Jesus was the Logos that Philo had described. Later, John the Apostle (not the same John) described the coming of the Logos in his Gospel of Jesus Christ. "In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God… and the Logos was made flesh and dwelt among us." Centuries later, a miseducated English translator substituted "Word" for Logos, thereby obscuring the Platonic intent of the author. That translator, however, could not obscure other carefully formulated Platonic messages in the writings of the Apostles. For example, The Gospel According to Mark indicates that the first man to publicly recognize Jesus as the Logos was Bar-Timaeus, whose name meant "son of Timaeus."

Following the crucifixion of Jesus, the Apostle Peter assumed the leadership of Philo's movement, which numbered a mere 120 followers, including the family and friends of Jesus and his Apostles. Soon the early Christian community numbered approximately 3000. By that time, with the mad emperor Caligula on the throne, the Jews of Palestine and Egypt became the targets of violent persecution for their refusal to erect statues of Caligula in their synagogues. Caligula fancied himself a God, and demanded his own worship. Consequently, Philo journeyed to Rome on a bold mission to plead for toleration. After a year of futile attempts to gain an audience with the emperor, Caligula finally heard Philo's arguments, and, with the wave of his hand, granted toleration of the Jews. Hence, the Apostles were able to continue their work.

Following the assassination of Caligula in 41, Peter journeyed to Rome believing that Christianity would fail unless it had a firm base in the center of enemy territory. Already, a depraved, pseudo-Christian cult led by Simon Magus was recruiting in Rome, and attempting to undermine the nascent mission of the Apostles by deceptively associating Christianity with sexual perversion, infant sacrifice, and cannibalism. Subsequently, Philo made a second journey to Rome, where he joined Peter to extinguish the Simon Magus cult, and to establish a Christian community that later formed the Roman Catholic Church. The Apostle Paul, meanwhile, was engaged in extensive missionary work in Cyprus, Asia Minor, and beyond, where sizeable Christian communities were established in key cities such as Antioch and Ephesus.

Roman toleration of Christianity, which was viewed as little more than "another Jewish cult" came to an abrupt end under the diabolical reign of emperor Nero, whose mad desire to clear space for the expansion of his palace prompted him to light a fire which burned down a huge section of Rome. Nero blamed the Christians, who were subsequently martyred en masse to placate the Roman mob. On the floor of the Coliseum, Christians were eaten by lions, wild boars, and wolves. Some were forced to enact popular stories from mythology, such as the flight of Icarus, which ended with Christians falling to their death. Hundreds, perhaps thousands were killed. Fortunately, Peter, and Paul, who had been arrested in Jerusalem and shipped to Rome as a prisoner, escaped the carnage, and saved the movement by going underground. However, shortly before Nero's suicide in 68, Peter and Paul were captured. Peter was crucified upside down, and Paul was beheaded.

With the death of Nero, persecution of Christians was abated. The Apostle John, for example, who had been imprisoned on the island of Patmos, was released. He traveled to Smyrna, where he set up a school and trained a group of cadre who became missionaries and bishops throughout the Mediterranean region and beyond. Shortly before he died at the age of about 100, he reworked his Platonic Gospel of Jesus Christ quoted above. One of John's key students, Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna, lived to be 86 before he was burned at the stake in Smyrna during a renewal of Christian persecution. Fortunately, Polycarp's famous student, Irenaeus, survived to become Bishop of Lyons in 177. Irenaeus championed Platonic Christianity in his work Against the Heresies. "For this is why the Logos became man," he wrote, "and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Logos and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God." Ireneaus survived yet another persecution of Christians under the reign of Marcus Aurelius, during which the Christians of Lyons were given the same treatment as the Christians of Rome under Nero. He lived to be nearly 100, and died in 202. Hence, there was an unbroken continuity of original, Platonic Christianity, from Jesus to John to Polycarp to Irenaeus, which spanned nearly 170 years.

Meanwhile, in Rome, the early Church liturgy was being infected by various compromises such as the introduction of Latin, which had no equivalent for the word Logos. Then, in 217, Calixtus, a mere bureaucrat, became pope. His contender, Hippolytus, a passionate defender of the Logos, withdrew from the Church, and precipitated the first schism. Finally, the Church as an institution was virtually destroyed in 313, when emperor Constantine legalized Christianity, moved the capitol of the Roman empire to Constantinople, and turned his own brand of Christianity into a state religion with the emperor as head of the Church. In spite this, the 324 Council of Nicaea preserved the essence of Christianity against the heresy of Arius, who taught that Christ was merely a righteous man, and not the Logos. However, Ulfilias, a follower of Arius, proceeded to translate a carefully edited version of the scriptures into the language of the Goths, and with it, spread the Arian heresy amongst the barbarians, who later swept into Roman territory and collapsed what was left of the Roman Empire. Were it not for St. Augustine of Hippo, Platonic Christianity might not have survived the resulting chaos.

As a young man, Augustine was a Manichean gnostic. He converted to Christianity in 386 under the inspiration of Ambrose, bishop of Milan, who was a Platonist. Together, Ambrose and Augustine were inspired by the monastic example of St. Anthony. They proceeded to organize the first monasteries in the West as a way of preserving Platonic Christianity. Though heresies continued to spread, St. Martin, a key student of Ambrose who was driven into exile by the Arians of Milan following the death of Ambrose in 399, founded a number of monasteries in the vicinity of Tours, France. Martin preached Christianity to peasants for the first time, and championed Augustine, who, in a bold theological stroke, had refuted the heretics by teaching that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and from the Son. The heretics could not answer this theological insight, which efficiently placed Christ, once again, in His proper role as the Logos. In spite of this, Europe continued a precipitous decline as barbarian hordes, variously allied with the Empire, looted by the Empire, and at war with Empire, finally sacked Rome in 410. Augustine responded to the fall of the city of Rome by writing his City of God--a masterful elaboration of the Kingdom of God envisioned by Philo and Jesus. The City of God immediately became a standard monastic text.

It was from the monastery at Marmoutier, established by St. Martin, that St. Patrick, who was probably Martin's nephew, ventured in 429 to Britain, and then, to Ireland, a territory seemingly beyond barbarian incursions. Armed with Platonic, Augustinian Christianity, Patrick and his collaborators established what became the largest monastic foundations in Christianity, and Christianized nearly all of Ireland before Patrick's death in 461. Irish monasteries gave free education to all comers, native or foreign, without requiring proof of qualification. They were major agents of technological development, including the introduction of water mills for the first time in Europe. They organized agricultural communities with skilled workers of all types, and became centers of population growth, even as the population of Europe declined by a disastrous 25% between the years 350 and 600.

Finally, in 575, St. Columban traveled from his home in an Irish monastery on a mission to save Europe. When he first came to his destination in modern France he wrote, "civilization and virtue are more or less non-existent. The bishops and priests do not teach. Rule is by force alone." Following an audience at Reims with the backward Merovingian King Sigibert, Columban was sent into the forest with permission to set up a monastery in an area which had been destroyed by the invasions of Attilla the Hun. In spite of profound hardship, within a few years, three monasteries were established with a total of nearly 2000 monks. The monks cleared forests, cultivated land, and spread learning, in spite of consistent opposition from the Arian bishops of the realm. By Columban's death in 615, a total of 40 monasteries had been founded. By 725, a total of 113 Columban monasteries had been founded throughout Europe. As a direct result, the population had begun to grow again, with an improved standard of living. For the first time, the mission of Philo, Jesus, and His followers had a provable, measurable effect in the real world.

By 732 the Merovingian kings were figureheads. Real power was in the hands of the Carolingian Mayor of the Palace, Charles Martel. For generations, the noble Carolingians promoted the Irish monasteries with rich endowments, and had close ties to the papacy. With the accession of Charles Martel's grandson, Charlemange, whom Pope Leo III crowned Emperor in 800, the Carolingian brokered alliance between church, monastery and state reached a crescendo, and led to what became known as the Carolingian Renaissance.

Charlemagne, though raised illiterate, surrounded himself with many of the best minds of his day, most notably, the great intellectual Alcuin, who was the product of Irish missionaries in Scotland. Since Charlemange could not read, he often had scholars read to him. Among his favorite readings was Augustine's City of God--a city Charlemagne intended to establish. By the power of his sword, Charlemagne unified what is now France, West Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Austria, and the northern half of Italy. By the keenness of his mind, he promoted learning, city-building, trade, agriculture, scientific research, the founding of schools, libraries, and scriptoria where manuscripts were copied and translated. He encouraged the construction of magnificent architectural works, including his capitol at Aachen, and revived the art of painting fresco. Charlemagne even envisioned the construction of a canal linking the Rhine to the Danube--a project which was not completed for centuries. Under the leadership of Charlemagne, Philo's Kingdom of God seemed possible.

However, out of the lagoons of Venice, the treacherous heirs apparent of the Roman Empire set about to destroy all that had been built. Venice had long been the refuge of Roman oligarchs and renegades fleeing the wrath of barbarian invaders such as the Huns. It had been the outpost of Byzantine decadence, and now, driven by the ruthless ambition of its leaders, it strove to become a world power married to the sea.

Tensions between Charlemagne and the Venetians began no later than 797 when the Doge of Venice threw the pro-Carolingian Bishop of Olivolo to his death from a tower during a factional dispute. This outrage prompted Charlemange to seize Venetian property within his domain. Then, in 808, Venetian forces attacked Carolingian holdings in Dalmatia. Though the attack was repelled, Charlemange concluded that his southwestern flank would only be secure if Venice were brought to heel. Moreover, the strategic location of Venice and the skills of it shipwrights would be a great boon to Christendom if properly employed. Hence, he ordered his son, Pepin, to take Venice by force. Unfortunately, Pepin's siege of Venice failed, and left the treachery of Venice intact.

As the ninth century unfolded, the shape of things to come emerged. The battle lines in Europe were clearly drawn. On one side stood the minority of Augustinian Christians, struggling to build the Kingdom of God. On the other side stood the growing power of Venice, whose power, like the late Roman Empire, depended upon its ability to enslave and loot the population. Immediately, a new scourge emerged from the far north, with Venice as prime suspects in case of conspiracy: The Vikings!

For centuries, the Romans had manipulated northern barbarians in a cruel game of divide and conquer until the barbarians finally became the conquerors, and proved to be rather enlightened in comparison to the Neros and Caligulas of Rome. Had Venice merely continued the game in a new theatre? Were the Vikings merely Venetian agents deployed like battering rams against a new Europe determined to be free? Our suspicions are aroused by the fact that the very monasteries of Ireland, France, and beyond, that had given Europe its resurgent hope and salvation were the prime targets of the Vikings. Cui bono?

In any event, Venice emerged from the highly destructive Viking invasions--which penetrated Europe from the Baltic to the Mediterranean to the walls of Paris and Constantinople--with a dominant share of European trade. The chief commodity Venice offered was Slavic and Hungarian slaves captured by the Vikings in Russia. Venetian ships carried the slaves across the Black Sea and Mediterranean to be bartered in Egypt and the Near East for spices, silk, and other luxury items bound for Europe. By the tenth century, when the Slavs and the Hungarians had converted to Christianity, Venice shifted its slave trade to mostly Turks and Tatars, since the Church, fallen to a piteous level of degeneracy, did not object to selling heathens.

At this time, it is likely that Christian civilization would have destroyed itself were it not for the intervention of Islamic scholarship. During the entire period, perhaps the finest schools in the world were in Islamic Spain, where Muslims, Jews and Christians collaborated peacefully for centuries. Moreover, Islamic schools were open to all comers including foreigners, regardless of faith, or the prevailing political situation. One such school, located in Cordoba, boasted a library of over 400,000 books, while the largest libraries in Christian Europe had less than 1000. Studies in Cordoba attracted the likes of Gerbert, a low born Catalonian youth who rose to become Bishop of Reims in 972. Gerbert is responsible for introducing Islamic science--which was far superior to the science of Europe--into France, Germany, and Italy. His remarkable career as Bishop, teacher of two Holy Roman Emperors, and political activist who helped to install the first Capetian king of France, culminated in 999 when he became Pope Sylvester II. As a result of the efforts of Gerbert and his contemporaries, the population of Europe finally began to recover from the Viking invasions.

One of Gerbert's key students, Fulbert, became Bishop of Chartes in 1006. At Chartres, Fulbert became a famous teacher of several disciplines, and organized one of the greatest science-driver projects in history: cathedral building. Cathedral construction sites became the equivalent of research laboratories where new tools, technologies, and production techniques were invented and developed. For example, cathedral builders developed the cam shaft, which enabled circular motion to be transformed into reciprocal motion. With cam shaft technology and a variety of newly developed tools, the mills, factories and mines of Europe were revolutionized. As workers were freed from labor-intensive drudgery, they were able to develop new, more advanced skills. Rapid population growth, together with a higher standard of living was the happy effect. In turn, the cathedrals became the centers of urbanization and ever more advanced scholarly pursuits. By 1210, with the widespread introduction into Europe of the writings of the great Islamic scholar Avicenna, whose science and philosophy were by far the most advanced in the world, it appeared, once again, that the Kingdom of God was within the realm of possibility.

Unfortunately, the enemies of humanity, led by the Venice, were more determined than ever to destroy freedom and increase their own power. The growing collaboration between Christianity and the high culture of Islam was the immediate target. The Turkish invasions of the Muslim world and the subsequent Crusades, the first of which began in 1096, were the brutal response. In every case, Venice was the prime beneficiary of the clash of Turkish, Christian, and Islamic swords. It was primarily Venetian ships that transported the Crusaders, and it was French, German, and Italian silver that paid the way. Armies were manipulated, monarchs were overthrown, and rivers of blood were spilled as the wealth and power of Venice grew. Wherever the Crusaders hacked out a piece of ground in Byzantium or the Levant, Venetian merchants plied their trade unimpeded. They played on the passions and greed of Christian and Muslim alike.

Moreover, it was Venice that sought to undermine the long awaited Kingdom of God through the introduction of Aristotelianism as a counter to Platonism, which, as we have seen, was the basis of Augustinian Christianity. Towards that end, in 1135, the Venetian senate sent Giacomo da Venezia to study Aristotle in Byzantium. Two years later he returned to Venice, translated Aristotle into Latin, and set up a school to teach Aristotelian philosophy. The epistemological issue was clear: Aristotle denied the existence of Platonic ideas upon which the Christian concept of the Logos had been built, and substituted his notion of "categories" instead. Aristotelian categories, as opposed to Platonic ideas, are fixed entities. For example, in Platonic Christianity man exists as an idea! The ideal man is the Logos--referred to as the "Son of Man" in the New Testament--whose singular example is one that all men can strive to pursue. To Aristotle, man, like an animal, is a merely a fixed category. Hence, the rulers will always be the rulers, and the ruled will always be the ruled.

Since categories are all that is real in Aristotelian philosophy, names are primary. For example, according to Aristotelian logic, Venice is a "republic" simply because it is named a republic. Any student of Plato's Republic, however, will immediately recognize the fraud. In sum, the philosophy of Aristotle almost always serves the apparent interests of an unjust ruling elite simply because it denies the possibility of change, or, the "Becoming" upon which Plato built his philosophy.

Venice spread Aristotelianism throughout Europe until it became virtually hegemonic in the predominant scholasticism of the day. As one historian put it, "Because many of the early [church] fathers both in the east and the west had developed their theologies under the influence of Platonic modes of thought, the reinterpretation of these theologies by scholasticism required that the doctrinal content of the tradition be disengaged from the metaphysical assumptions of Platonism."

By the close of the thirteenth century, when the Crusading spirit was spent and overfed by the blood of innocents, and the minds of the people were constricted by the straightjacket of Aristotelianism, the world was nearly ruined. The Kingdom of God was but a flicker. Christendom would not see the light until Traversari, Brunelleschi, Nicholas of Cusa, and others would lead the way for the Golden Renaissance to come.