ABSTRACT
Plato's political thought (in its most authentic form, which means as it is formulated in the dialogue the Statesman) also derives from the Pythagorean doctrine. The roots of Pythagorean thought extend far into the past. In expounding the concept which is at the centre of that doctrine, Plato evokes a very ancient revelation, which is perhaps the primal one (Philebus). Herodotus says that the Pythagoreans borrowed a large part at least of their beliefs from Egypt. Pythagorean wisdom also makes use of mathematical ideas as a cloak to hide the mystical way of the divine doctrine. In Pythagorean language, this opposition expresses itself as correlation between that which limits and that which is limitless, in other words, that which receives its limitation from outside. The Pythagorean definition of friendship, applied to God and to man, makes mediation appear as being essentially love, and love as being essentially the mediator.
