The thing that hath been, it [is that] which shall be; and that which is done [is] that which shall be done: and [there is] no new [thing] under the sun.
Ver. 9. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be.] History, therefore, must needs be of noble and necessary use; because, by setting before us what hath been, it predicts what will be again, since the self same fable is acted over again in the world, the persons only are altered that act it. Plato a will therefore have history to have its name, παρα το οστανα τον ρουν of stopping the flux of endless errors and restless uncertainties. b His conceit of a general revolution of all things, after thirty thousand years expired, is worthily exploded and learnedly confuted by Augustine (De Civ. Dei, lib. xii. cap. 13), but in no wise confirmed by this text, as some would have it, and Origen among the rest. Plato might haply hint at the general resurrection, called the "regeneration," by our Saviour. Mat 19:28 See Trapp on " Mat 19:28 "
a Plato in Cratylo.
b Macrob., Joseph., Plin.