To Autolycus

To Autolycus

continued

Book 3

Autolycus Not Yet Convinced.

1 Theophilus to Autolycus, greetings. Writers like to produce huge numbers of books for empty glory. Some write about gods, wars or dates, and some about useless myths and other wasted labor. You yourself have practiced this kind of effort until now, and you do not hesitate to put up with that toil. But although you have talked with me, you still think the word of truth is nonsense, and you suppose that our writings are recent and modern. For this reason I will not hesitate, with God’s help, to sum up for you the antiquity of our writings. I will write you a brief account, so that you will not shrink from reading it, and so that you may recognize the foolish talk of the others.

Profane Authors Had No Means of Knowing the Truth.

2a Those who write ought to have been eyewitnesses of what they affirm, or to have learned it accurately from people who saw it. People who write about things they do not know for certain are, in a way, beating the air. What good did it do Homer to write about the Trojan War and deceive many people? What good did it do Hesiod to compile a catalogue of the births of those he calls gods? What good did it do Orpheus to write of three hundred and sixty-five gods? He himself rejected them at the end of his life, saying in his Testaments that there is one God. What good did his description of the sphere of the heavens do Aratus, or those who said similar things? It brought them only human reputation, and they did not even receive that as they deserved. And what true thing did they say? Or what good did their tragedies do Euripides and Sophocles, or the other writers of tragedy?^[99] [1 Corinthians 9:26]

2b What good did their comedies do Menander and Aristophanes and the other comic writers? Or their histories do Herodotus and Thucydides? Or the sacred inner shrines and the pillars of Heracles do Pythagoras? Or Cynic philosophy do Diogenes? What good did it do Epicurus to teach that there is no providence? Or Empedocles to teach godlessness? Or Socrates to swear by the dog, the goose, the plane tree, and Asclepius who was struck by lightning, and by the demons he used to call on? Why did he even die willingly? What reward, and of what kind, did he hope to receive after death? What good did his kind of education do Plato? Or their doctrines do the other philosophers? I will not list them all, for they are many. We say these things to show how useless and godless their thinking is.^[100]

Their Contradictions.

3a All of these men were in love with empty and worthless glory. They neither knew the truth themselves nor urged others toward it. Their own statements prove them wrong, since they said things that do not agree, and most of them tore down their own doctrines. They not only overturned one another; some even made their own teachings void. So their glory ended in dishonor and folly, for sensible people condemn them. Either they spoke about gods and afterward taught that there are no gods, or they spoke about the origin of the world and ended by saying that everything came about by chance. Even when they spoke about providence, they went on to teach that the world has no providence. And what of this? When they tried to write about decency, they taught that licentiousness, fornication and adultery should be practiced, and they even introduced detestable and unspeakable practices.^[101]

3b They proclaim that their own gods were the first to engage in unspeakable unions and in lawless meals. For who does not sing of Kronos eating his children? Or of Zeus, his son, swallowing Metis and preparing foul feasts for the gods, where they say a lame blacksmith, Hephaestus, waited on them? They say that Zeus not only married his own sister Hera, but also did unspeakable things with an impure mouth. As for the rest of his deeds, all that the poets sing, you probably know them. Why should I go on to list the stories about Poseidon, Apollo, Dionysus and Heracles, about bosom-loving Athena and shameless Aphrodite? We have given a more careful account of them elsewhere.^[102]

How Autolycus Had Been Misled by False Accusations Against the Christians.

4 There would have been no need for me to refute these things, except that I see you still hesitating about the word of truth. You are a sensible man, yet you put up gladly with fools. Otherwise you would never have let senseless men lead you away with empty words, or believed a rumor that had already taken hold. Godless mouths falsely slander us, who worship God and are called Christians. They say that our wives are shared among us all and that we have promiscuous intercourse. They say that we even sleep with our own sisters. And, the most godless and savage charge of all, they say that we eat human flesh. They also say that our teaching has appeared only recently, that we have nothing to offer as proof that what we teach is true, and that our message is foolishness. I am especially surprised at you. In other matters you are diligent and look into everything, yet you listen to us rather carelessly. When you could, you did not hesitate to spend even the night in the libraries.^[103] [2 Corinthians 11:19]

Philosophers Inculcate Cannibalism.

5 Since you have read so much, what do you think of the writings of Zeno, Diogenes and Cleanthes? Their books teach cannibalism. They say fathers should be boiled and eaten by their own children. They say that if anyone is unwilling, or throws away any part of this foul food, he who did not eat should himself be eaten. Even more godless is the saying of Diogenes, who teaches that children should bring their own parents to sacrifice and eat them. Does not the historian Herodotus also tell the story of Cambyses, who slaughtered the children of Harpagus, boiled them, and set them before their father as food? He also tells the story that among the Indians fathers are eaten by their own children. What godless teaching from those who wrote down such things, or rather taught them! What impiety and godlessness! What a mind they had, those who philosophized so precisely and who profess philosophy! For those who laid down such doctrines filled the world with impiety.^[104]

Other Opinions of the Philosophers.

6a Indeed, nearly all who have wandered astray in the chorus of philosophy agree with one another about lawless conduct. Plato comes first, the one who seems to have philosophized most respectably among them. In the first book of his work called the *Republic* he plainly lays down, in a certain way, that the wives of all men should be held in common. He uses as his example the son of Zeus who was lawgiver of the Cretans. His pretext is that many children would be born from such unions, and that those who are grieving should supposedly be comforted by such relations. Epicurus, besides teaching atheism, also advises men to have intercourse with their mothers and sisters, going beyond the laws that forbid it. For Solon clearly legislated about this, so that children would be born lawfully of the man who married their mother and not of adultery. Then no one would honor as father one who is not his father, or dishonor the man who really is his father because he does not know that he is.^[105]

6b The other laws of the Romans and Greeks also forbid such things to be done. Why, then, do Epicurus and the Stoics teach that intercourse with sisters and sex between men should be practiced? They have filled libraries with these teachings, so that from boyhood people learn this lawless union. And why should I go on wasting time over them, when they have proclaimed the same sort of things even about the gods they speak of?

Varying Doctrine Concerning the Gods.

7a They said that there are gods, and then again they made them count for nothing. Some said the gods are made up of atoms. Others said that they dissolve into atoms and that the gods can do no more than men. Plato says there are gods, but wants to make them out of matter. Pythagoras toiled so much over the gods and went up and down on his journeys. In the end he settled on nature as the explanation of everything. He says that all things happen by chance, and that the gods take no thought for men. There is also all that Clitomachus the Academic introduced in favor of atheism. And what of Critias, and Protagoras of Abdera, who said, “Whether there are gods I cannot say, nor can I make clear what they are like. For there are many things that prevent me”? As for Euhemerus, the most godless of all, it is pointless for me even to speak of him.^[106]

7b Euhemerus ventured to say many things about the gods, and in the end he wants there to be no gods at all, and all things to be governed by chance. As for Plato, he said so much about the single rule of God and about the human soul, claiming that the soul is immortal. Yet is he not later found contradicting himself, saying that some souls pass into other human beings, and that some go even into irrational animals? Will his teaching not seem terrible and unlawful to anyone with sense, that one who was once a man will again be a wolf, or a dog, or a donkey, or some other irrational beast? Pythagoras is found talking the same nonsense, and on top of that he cuts away providence. Which of them, then, shall we believe? Shall we believe the comic poet Philemon, who says: “Those who worship God have good hopes of salvation”?

7c Or shall we believe those we mentioned earlier, Euhemerus, Epicurus and Pythagoras, and the rest who deny that there is any reverence for God and who do away with providence? About God and providence, Ariston said: “Take heart. God is accustomed to help all who are worthy, and especially such people. If there is no place of honor set aside for those who live as they ought, what is the gain in being godly? Suppose that is so. But I see very often that those who have chosen to live devoutly fare badly, while those who care for nothing but profit and their own interest are held in higher esteem than we are, for the present. But we must look far ahead and wait for the final outcome of everything. For it is not as some have come to think, with a wicked opinion that does no good for life, that there is some automatic drift, which settles everything as chance would have it.”^[107]

7d “For the wicked judge that these ideas give them a ready support for their own way of life. But there is an honored place for those who live in holiness, and for the wicked a fitting penalty. For nothing at all happens without providence.” Others too, indeed most of them, have said many things about God and providence, and you can see how inconsistent they are with one another. Some did away with God and providence altogether. Others affirmed God and agreed that all things are governed by providence. So the sensible hearer and reader must pay close attention to what is said. Simylus put it this way: “It is the custom to give the common name of poets both to those who are exceptional by nature and to those who are good. But one ought to judge between them.” Philemon likewise said: “A senseless listener sitting there is a hard thing, for in his folly he does not blame himself.” So one must pay attention and understand what is said, examining critically what the philosophers and the other poets have declared.

Wickedness Attributed to the Gods by Heathen Writers.

8 For while they deny that there are gods, they turn around and admit it, and say that these gods commit lawless acts. First of all, the poets sing the wicked deeds of Zeus in rather pleasing verse. And Chrysippus, who talked so much nonsense, is he not found suggesting that Hera did a foul thing with her mouth in her relations with Zeus? Why should I list the debaucheries of the one called the mother of the gods? Or of Zeus Latiaris, thirsty for human blood? Or of Attis, who was castrated? Or tell how the Zeus called “the Tragedian,” who, as they say, drenched his own hand, is now honored as a god among the Romans? I say nothing of the shrines of Antinous and of the others who are called gods. When these things are told to sensible people, they only bring laughter. So those who teach such philosophy are convicted by their own teachings, either of atheism or of promiscuity and lawless intercourse. Moreover, cannibalism is also found among them, in the writings they composed, and they record that the very gods they honored were the first to do these things.^[108]

Christian Doctrine of God and His Law.

9a We also confess God, but one God, the Creator, Maker and Fashioner of this whole universe. We know that all things are governed by providence, but by Him alone. We have also learned a holy law, but the lawgiver we have is the One who truly is God. He teaches us to act justly, to be godly, and to do good. About godliness He says: “You shall have no other gods besides me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or a likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or on the earth below, or in the waters beneath the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I am the Lord your God.” About doing good He said: “Honor your father and your mother, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may live long on the land that I, the Lord God, give you.”^[109] [Exodus 20:3-5; Exodus 20:12]

9b Again, concerning righteousness: “You shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not covet his house, or his field, or his servant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his beast of burden, or any of his cattle, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. You shall not pervert the judgment of the poor man in his case. You shall keep yourself away from every unjust word. You shall not kill the innocent and righteous. You shall not acquit the ungodly. And you shall not take bribes, for bribes blind the eyes of those who see and ruin just words.” Moses, who was also God’s servant, became the minister of this divine law. He served the whole world, but above all the Hebrews, who are also called Jews. Long ago a king of Egypt had enslaved them. They were the righteous offspring of godly and holy men: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God remembered these men and worked wonders and extraordinary signs through Moses. He rescued their descendants and brought them out of Egypt, leading them through the place called the desert. He brought them back to the land of Canaan, which was afterward named Judea. He set a law before them and taught them these things. This law is great and wonderful for promoting all righteousness, and its ten main points are the ones we have stated above.^[110] [Exodus 20:13-17; Exodus 23:6-8; Deuteronomy 5:17-21]

Of Humanity to Strangers.

10 Now they had become foreigners living in the land of Egypt, since they were Hebrews by race, from the land of the Chaldeans. At that time a famine came, and they were forced to move to Egypt because grain was being sold there. They stayed there for a time as foreign residents. All this happened to them according to what God had foretold. So after they had lived in Egypt for 430 years, when Moses was about to lead them out into the desert, God taught them through the law, saying: “You shall not oppress a foreigner, for you know the soul of a foreigner. You yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.”^[111] [Exodus 23:9; Exodus 12:40]

Of Repentance.

11a When the people broke the law that God had given them, God, who is good and compassionate, did not want to destroy them. Besides giving the law, he later sent prophets to them from among their own brothers, to teach them, to remind them of what the law said, and to turn them back to repentance so that they would sin no more. But he warned beforehand that if they kept on in their evil practices, they would be handed over into the power of all the kingdoms of the earth. It is plain that this has already happened to them. Concerning repentance, the prophet Isaiah speaks to all people in general, but in particular to the people of Israel: “Seek the Lord, and call on him when you find him. And when he draws near to you, let the ungodly forsake his ways, and the lawless man his plans. Let him turn back to the Lord his God, and he will be shown mercy, because he will forgive your sins abundantly.”^[112] [Isaiah 55:6-7]

11b Another prophet, Ezekiel, says: “If the lawless man turns away from all the lawless acts he has done, and keeps my commandments and does my righteous requirements, he shall surely live and shall not die. None of the wrongs he has done will be remembered. He will live by the righteousness he has done. For I do not desire the death of the lawless man, says the Lord, but that he turn from his evil way and live.” Isaiah again: “Turn back, you who plan deep and lawless schemes, so that you may be saved.” And another prophet, Jeremiah: “Turn back to the Lord your God, like a grape-gatherer to his basket, and you will be shown mercy.” There are many sayings in the holy Scriptures about repentance, or rather, they are countless, since God always wants the human race to turn away from all its sins.^[113] [Ezekiel 18:21-23; Isaiah 31:6; Jeremiah 6:9]

Of Righteousness.

12a Again, concerning the righteousness that the law spoke of, the writings of the prophets and of the Gospels are found to agree with it, because all of them were carriers of the Spirit and spoke by the one Spirit of God. Isaiah, for example, said: “Remove the evils from your souls. Learn to do good. Seek justice. Rescue the one who is wronged. Give judgment for the orphan, and do justice for the widow.” The same prophet also says: “Undo every bond of injustice. Loosen the knots of violent contracts. Send the broken away in freedom, and tear up every unjust written agreement. Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house. If you see someone naked, clothe him, and do not neglect your own relatives, your own family line. Then your light will break forth early, your healing will quickly spring up, and your righteousness will go before you.”^[114] [Isaiah 1:16-17; Isaiah 58:6-8]

12b Jeremiah likewise says: “Stand at the roads and look, and ask which is the good way of the Lord our God, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. Judge with just judgment, for in these things is the will of the Lord your God.” In the same way Hosea says: “Keep justice, and draw near to the Lord your God, who made the heaven firm and created the earth.” Another prophet, Joel, said things that agree with these: “Gather the people, make the assembly holy, receive the elders, gather the infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom come out of his bedroom and the bride from her bridal chamber. Pray earnestly to the Lord your God, that he may have mercy on you, and he will wipe out your sins.”^[115] [Jeremiah 6:16; Hosea 12:6; Joel 2:16-17] 12c Zechariah likewise says: “Thus says the Lord Almighty: Judge with true judgment, and let each of you show mercy and compassion to his neighbor. Do not oppress the widow, the orphan, or the foreigner who has joined Israel. And let none of you hold a grudge in your hearts against his brother, says the Lord Almighty.”^[116] [Zechariah 7:9-10]

Of Chastity.

13 Concerning purity, the holy word teaches us not only to avoid sin in deed but even in thought. We must not think anything evil in the heart, and we must not look with our eyes at another man’s wife and lust after her. Solomon, who was both a king and a prophet, said: “Let your eyes look straight ahead, and let your eyelids look at what is right. Make straight tracks for your feet.” The voice of the Gospel teaches about purity even more forcefully, saying: “Everyone who looks at another man’s wife so as to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” It also says: “He who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery, and whoever divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery.” For Solomon says: “Can anyone tie fire up in his garment and not burn his clothes? Or can anyone walk on burning coals and not scorch his feet? So it is with the man who goes in to a married woman: he will not go unpunished.”^[117] [Proverbs 4:25-26; Matthew 5:28; Matthew 5:32; Proverbs 6:27-29]

Of Loving Our Enemies.

14 Some people suppose that we are kind only to our own people. But the prophet Isaiah said: “Say to those who hate you and those who detest you, ‘You are our brothers,’ so that the name of the Lord may be glorified and be seen in their joy.” The Gospel says: “Love your enemies, and pray for those who mistreat you. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even robbers and tax collectors do this.” It teaches those who do good not to boast, so that they will not be people-pleasers. For it says: “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” The divine word also commands us to submit to rulers and authorities and to pray for them, so that we may lead a calm and quiet life. It teaches us to give everyone what is due: to the one owed honor, honor; to the one owed respect, respect; to the one owed tribute, tribute. We are to owe nothing to anyone, except to love everyone.^[118] [Isaiah 66:5; Matthew 5:44-46; Matthew 6:3; Romans 13:7-8]

The Innocence of the Christians Defended.

15a Consider, then, whether people who learn such things could live carelessly, mix themselves up in unlawful sexual unions, or do what is most godless of all and eat human flesh. We are not even allowed to watch gladiator shows, so that we do not become sharers in murders or witnesses to them. Nor may we attend the other spectacles, so that our eyes and ears are not defiled by sharing in the words sung there. If someone speaks of cannibalism, there the children of Thyestes and Tereus are eaten. If he speaks of adultery, that too is acted out in their tragedies. It is not only the adultery of humans but also that of gods, which they proclaim in fine voices to win honors and prizes. Far be it from Christians even to think of doing anything like that. Among us self-control is present, restraint is practiced, one marriage is kept, purity is guarded, injustice is torn down, sin is rooted out, righteousness is cultivated, law governs our life, reverence for God is put into practice, God is confessed, truth rules, grace preserves, peace shelters, the holy word guides, wisdom teaches, life presides, and God reigns.^[119]

15b We have much more to say about our way of life and about the righteous requirements of God, the Creator of all things. For now, though, we think we have said enough to make you stop and consider, especially in light of what you have been reading up to now. You have been a lover of learning, and we want you to go on being one.^[120]

Uncertain Conjectures of the Philosophers.

16a With God’s help, I now want to show you more exactly the matter of the dates. Then you will see that our teaching is neither recent nor a made-up story. It is older and truer than all the poets and historians who wrote on uncertain ground. Some of them said the world was never created, and so they wandered off into the endless. Others said it was created, and claimed that 153,075 years have already passed. That is what Apollonius the Egyptian reports. As for Plato, who is thought to have been the wisest of the Greeks, what nonsense he fell into! In his work entitled the *Republics* we find him saying, in so many words: “For how could anything new ever have been discovered, if these things had stayed the same for all time, arranged as they are now? For ten thousand times ten thousand years these things evidently remained unknown to the people of those times. And it is a thousand years, or twice that, since some things became clear to Daedalus, some to Orpheus, and some to Palamedes.”^[121]

16b By saying these things happened, Plato shows that ten thousand times ten thousand years passed from the flood to Daedalus. He says a great deal about cities around the world, and about settlements and nations, but he admits that he said these things by guessing. For he says: “If then, stranger, some god were to promise us that, if we undertook a second time the examination of legislation, [we would hear words no worse than] the things now said...” Plainly he spoke by guesswork. And if it was guesswork, then what he said is not true.^[122]

Accurate Information of the Christians.

17 So one ought rather to become a student of God’s legislation. Plato himself admitted that there is no other way to learn exactly, unless God teaches through the law. And did not the poets Homer, Hesiod and Orpheus say that they had learned from divine providence? The historians also tell us that there were seers and foretellers, and they say that those who learned from them wrote accurately. How much more, then, shall we know the truth, we who learn from the holy prophets, who received the Holy Spirit of God! This is why all the prophets spoke in harmony and agreement with one another, and announced to the whole world beforehand what was going to happen. For those who love learning, or rather who love truth, the actual outcome of things foretold and now completed can teach them that the prophets’ announcements really are true. These concern the times and seasons before the flood, and from the creation of the world until now, as the years add up. That will expose the emptiness of the historians’ falsehood, and show that what they said is not true.

Errors of the Greeks About the Deluge.

18 As I said earlier, Plato stated that a flood had happened. But he said it covered not the whole earth, only the plains, and that those who escaped to the highest mountains were saved. Others say there were Deucalion and Pyrrha, and that they were saved in a chest. They say that after Deucalion came out of the chest he threw stones behind him, and that people grew from the stones. This, they say, is why a multitude of people is called *laoi*. Others again say that Clymenus lived at the time of a second flood. From what I have already said, it is plain that those who wrote such things and philosophized to no purpose are wretched, utterly godless and foolish. But our prophet Moses, the servant of God, in his account of the creation of the world, told how the flood came upon the earth and how it all took place. He tells no myth of Pyrrha, Deucalion or Clymenus. He does not say that only the plains were flooded, or that only those who escaped to the mountains were saved.^[123]

Accurate Account of the Deluge.

19a Moses also does not say that there was a second flood. On the contrary, he said there would never again be a flood of water on the world. And indeed no such flood has happened again, nor will it. He says that eight human souls were saved in the ark. The ark was built at God’s command, not by Deucalion but by Noah. “Noah” is a Hebrew name, which in Greek means “rest.” As I showed in another work, Noah announced to the people of his day that a flood was coming. He prophesied to them, saying, “Come! God is calling you to repentance.” That is why he was fittingly called Deucalion. This Noah had three sons, as I also showed in the second book. Their names were Shem, Ham and Japheth. They had three wives, one for each of them, and there was Noah himself with his wife.^[124] [1 Peter 3:20; Genesis 9:11; Genesis 7:13] 19b Some have called this man “Eunuch.” So eight human souls in all, those found in the ark, were saved. Moses made clear that the flood lasted forty days and forty nights. The floodgates of heaven poured out, and the springs of the deep burst forth. The water rose fifteen cubits above every high mountain. In this way the whole race of people living then was destroyed. Only those kept safe in the ark, the eight I mentioned, were saved. The remains of this ark are pointed out to this day in the Arabian mountains. That, in summary, is the history of the flood.^[125] [Genesis 7:11-12; Genesis 7:20; Genesis 7:23; 1 Peter 3:20]

Antiquity of Moses.

20a Now Moses led the Jews. As I have already said, they had been driven out of the land of Egypt by King Pharaoh, whose name was Tethmosis. They say he reigned twenty-five years and four months after the people were expelled, as Manetho gives it. After him Chebron reigned thirteen years. After him Amenophis reigned twenty years and seven months. After him his sister Amessa reigned twenty-one years and one month. After her Mephres reigned twelve years and nine months. After him Methramuthosis reigned twenty years and ten months. After him Tythmoses reigned nine years and eight months. After him Damphenophis reigned thirty years and ten months. After him Orus reigned thirty-five years and five months. His daughter reigned ten years and three months. After her Mercheres reigned twelve years and three months.^[126] 20b His son Armais reigned thirty years and one month. After him Messes, son of Miammus, reigned six years and two months. After him Rameses reigned one year and four months. After him Amenophis reigned nineteen years and six months. Then his sons Thoessus and Rameses reigned ten years. They are said to have had a large cavalry force and a naval fleet in their time. At that time the Hebrews were living as foreigners in Egypt. They were enslaved by the king, Tethmosis, as I said before, and they built him fortified cities: Peitho, Rameses, and On, which is Heliopolis. So the Hebrews, who are also our forefathers, are shown to be older than the cities then famous among the Egyptians. From them we have the sacred books, which are older than all other writers, as I said before. The country was called Egypt after King Sethos, for they say Sethos is called Egyptus. Sethos had a brother named Armais. He is the one called Danaus, who went from Egypt to Argos. The other writers mention him as a man of very ancient times.^[127] [Exodus 1:11]

Of Manetho's Inaccuracy.

21a Manetho, the Egyptian writer, talked a great deal of nonsense. He even spoke blasphemies against Moses and the Hebrews with him, claiming that they were driven out of Egypt because of leprosy. Yet he could not give an accurate account of the dates. He called them shepherds and enemies of the Egyptians. In calling them shepherds he spoke the truth against his will, because the truth refuted him. Our forefathers who lived as foreigners in Egypt really were shepherds, but they were not lepers. They came to the land called Jerusalem, and later they settled there. It is clear how their priests, by God’s command, served constantly at the temple and in those days healed every disease. They even cured lepers and every kind of defect. King Solomon of Judea built the temple. That Manetho was wrong about the dates is plain from what he himself said. (This is also true of the king who expelled them, whose name was Pharaoh.^[128]

21b For he no longer ruled over them. He pursued the Hebrews with his army and was drowned in the Red Sea. Manetho also lies when he says that the shepherds made war on the Egyptians.) The Hebrews left Egypt 313 years before Danaus came to Argos, and from then on they lived in the country still called Judea. It is clear that most people consider Danaus older than any other figure in Greek history. So Manetho, against his will, has shown us two points of the truth in his own writings. First, he admitted that they were shepherds. Second, he said that they left the land of Egypt. So even from these records Moses and those with him are shown to be earlier than the Trojan War, by 900 or even 1,000 years.^[129] [Exodus 15:4]

Antiquity of the Temple.

22a Now consider the building of the temple in Judea, which King Solomon built 566 years after the Jews left Egypt. Among the Tyrians there is a written account of how the temple was built, and the documents are kept in their archives. In these records the temple is found to have been built 143 years and 8 months before the Tyrians founded Carthage. (The record was made by Hiram, the king of the Tyrians and son of Abimalus. He made it because he had become Solomon’s friend through a friendship inherited from their fathers, and also because of Solomon’s extraordinary wisdom. The two of them were always testing each other with hard questions. As evidence of this, they say that copies of their letters are still kept among the Tyrians to this day.^[130] 22b They also sent letters to one another.) Menander of Ephesus recalls this when he records the history of the Tyrian kingdom. He writes as follows: “When Abimalus, king of the Tyrians, died, his son Hiram succeeded to the kingdom. He lived 53 years. Bazorus succeeded him. He lived 43 years and reigned 17. After him came Methuastartus, who lived 54 years and reigned 12. After him came his brother Atharymus, who lived 58 years and reigned 9. His brother, whose name was Helles, killed him. Helles lived 50 years and reigned 8 months. Juthobalus, a priest of Astarte, killed Helles. Juthobalus lived 40 years and reigned 12. His son Bazorus succeeded him. Bazorus lived 45 years and reigned 7. His son Metten followed, who lived 32 years and reigned 29.^[131]

22c Pygmalion, son of Pygmalius, succeeded him. He lived 56 years and reigned 7. In the seventh year of his reign his sister fled to Libya and built the city that is still called Carthage. So the whole time from the reign of Hiram to the founding of Carthage adds up to 155 years and 8 months. The temple in Jerusalem was built in the twelfth year of Hiram’s reign. So the whole time from the building of the temple to the founding of Carthage was 143 years and 8 months.”^[132]

Prophets More Ancient Than Greek Writers.

23a That is enough, then, on the testimony of the Phoenicians and Egyptians. Manetho the Egyptian and Menander the Ephesian have written about the dates of our history. So has Josephus, who wrote the account of the war the Romans waged against the Jews. These ancient writers show that the writings of all the other authors are later than the books given to us through Moses, and later also than the prophets who came in between. For the last of the prophets, named Zechariah, flourished in the reign of Darius. The lawgivers, too, are all found to have made their laws in that in-between period. Take Solon the Athenian. He lived in the time of the kings Cyrus and Darius, the time of the prophet Zechariah I just mentioned, who came in between, a great many years after Moses. Or take the lawgivers Lycurgus, Draco, and Minos. Josephus says in his writings that the sacred books are older than they are. Indeed, the writings of the divine law given to us through Moses are shown to be older even than the reign of Zeus over the Cretans, and older than the Trojan War.^[133]

23b With God’s help, I want to make my proof of the times and dates more exact. So I will now cover not only the events after the flood but also those before it, so that I can give the total number of all the years, as far as that is possible. I will go back to the very beginning of the creation of the world, which Moses, the servant of God, recorded through the Holy Spirit. For Moses first spoke of the creation and origin of the world, of the first-formed man, and of what happened next. In doing so he also indicated the years that passed before the flood. I ask the only God for the grace to tell the whole truth accurately, according to his will, so that you and everyone who reads this may be guided by his truth and grace. I will begin with the recorded genealogies, starting from the first-formed man.

Chronology from Adam.

24a Adam lived 230 years until he fathered a son. His son Seth lived 205 years until he fathered a son. His son Enos, 190. His son Cainan, 170. His son Mahaleel, 165. His son Jared, 162. His son Enoch, 165. His son Methuselah, 167. His son Lamech, 188. To Lamech was born the Noah I mentioned earlier. He fathered Shem when he was 500 years old. The flood came in his time, when he was 600 years old. So the total number of years up to the flood was 2,242. Right after the flood, Shem, who was 100 years old, fathered Arphaxad. Arphaxad was 135 when he fathered Salah. Salah was 130 when he fathered a son. [Genesis 7:6; Genesis 11:10-12] 24b His son Eber was 134 when he fathered a son. The Hebrews take the name of their race from him. His son Phaleg was 130 when he fathered a son. His son Reu was 132. His son Serug was 130. His son Nahor was 75. His son Terah was 70. His son was Abraham, our patriarch, who fathered Isaac when he was 100. So the total up to Abraham is 3,278 years. The Isaac I just mentioned was 60 when he fathered Jacob. Jacob was 130 when the family moved to Egypt, which I described above. The Hebrews’ stay in Egypt lasted 430 years. After they left the land of Egypt, they spent 40 years in the place called the wilderness. [Genesis 21:5; Genesis 47:9; Exodus 12:40]

24c The total, then, is 3,938 years. At that time Moses died, and Jesus the son of Nun succeeded him as ruler and led them for 27 years. After Jesus, the people turned aside from God’s commandments, and they were subject to a king of Mesopotamia named Chusarathon for eight years. Then the people repented, and they had judges: Gothonoel for 40 years, Eglon for 18 years, and Aoth for 8 years. Next, because they stumbled, foreigners held power over them for 20 years. Then Deborah judged them for 40 years. Next the Midianites held power over them for 7 years. Then Gideon judged them for 40 years, Abimelech for 3 years, Thola for 22 years, and Jair for 22 years. Next the Philistines and the Ammonites held power over them for 18 years. Then Jephthah judged them for 6 years, Esbon for 7 years, Ailon for 10 years, and Abdon for 8 years. Next foreigners held power over them for 40 years. Then Samson judged them for 20 years. After that there was peace among them for 40 years. Then Samera judged them for one year, Eli for 20 years, and Samuel for 12 years.

From Saul to the Captivity.

25a After the judges they had kings. The first was named Saul, who reigned 20 years. Then came David, our forefather, who reigned 40 years. So the total number of years up to the reign of David is 496. After these kings Solomon reigned for 40 years. By God’s counsel he was also the first to build the temple in Jerusalem. After him came Rehoboam for 17 years, then Abias for 7 years, then Asa for 41 years, then Jehoshaphat for 25 years, then Joram for 8 years, then Ahaziah for 1 year, then Athaliah for 6 years. After her came Josiah for 40 years, then Amaziah for 39 years, then Uzziah for 52 years.^[134] 25b After him came Jotham for 16 years, then Ahaz for 17 years, then Hezekiah for 29 years, then Manasseh for 55 years, then Amon for 2 years, then Josiah for 31 years. After him Ochas reigned 3 months, then Jehoiakim for 11 years. Then another Jehoiakim reigned 3 months and 10 days. After him came Zedekiah for 11 years. After these kings the people stayed in their sins and did not repent. So, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah, the king of Babylon, named Nebuchadnezzar, came up into Judea. He carried the people of the Jews off to Babylon and destroyed the temple that Solomon had built. In the exile in Babylon the people spent 70 years.^[135] [Jeremiah 25:11]

25c So the total, including the exile in the land of Babylon, comes to 4,954 years, 6 months and 10 days. God had foretold through the prophet Jeremiah that the people would be taken captive to Babylon. In the same way he also announced beforehand that they would return to their own land after 70 years. When the 70 years were being completed, Cyrus became king of the Persians. In the second year of his reign, in keeping with Jeremiah’s prophecy, he made a proclamation. He ordered in writing that all the Jews in his kingdom should go back to their own country and rebuild for God the temple that the king of Babylon mentioned above had torn down. Besides this, Cyrus acted at God’s command. He ordered his own bodyguards, Sabessar and Mithridates, to bring back the vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Judea and to put them back in the temple. So in the second year of Cyrus the 70 years foretold by Jeremiah were fulfilled.^[136] [Jeremiah 25:11-12; Jeremiah 29:10]

Contrast Between Hebrew and Greek Writings.

26a From this one can see how our sacred writings are shown to be older and truer than the writings of the Greeks and Egyptians, or of any other historians. Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, and the other historians, most of them, began their records at about the reign of Cyrus and Darius. They were not able to speak accurately about the older and earlier times. For what great thing did they tell if they wrote about Darius and Cyrus, kings among the barbarians? Or, in Greek history, about Zopyrus and Hippias, or the wars of the Athenians and Spartans, or the deeds of Xerxes? Or about Pausanias, who was in danger of starving to death in the sacred precinct of Athena? Or about Themistocles and the Peloponnesian war, or Alcibiades and Thrasybulus?^[137] 26b My purpose here is not to give material for long talk. It is to show the number of years from the foundation of the world, and to expose the wasted effort and nonsense of these writers. There have not been twenty thousand myriads of years, as Plato said, when he taught that this many years had passed from the flood down to his own time. Nor have there been 150,375 years, as I said earlier that Apollonius the Egyptian reports. Nor is the world uncreated, with everything coming about by itself, as Pythagoras and the others have babbled. The world was made, and it is governed by the providence of God, who made all things. The whole span of time and the years are made clear to those who are willing to be persuaded by the truth. I do not want it to seem that I have set out the dates only as far as Cyrus and neglected the times since then, as if I could not show them. So, with God’s help, I will try as far as I can to set out the order of the following times as well.^[138]

Roman Chronology to the Death of M. Aurelius.

27a Cyrus reigned twenty-nine years and was killed by Tomyris in the land of the Massagetae. This was in the sixty-second Olympiad. From that time the Romans grew great, for God was strengthening them. Rome had been founded by Romulus, said to be the son of Ares and Ilia, in the seventh Olympiad, on the eleventh day before the Kalends of May, when the year was still counted as ten months. Cyrus died, as we have said, in the sixty-second Olympiad, and that date falls 220 years after the founding of Rome. At that time a man named Tarquinius Superbus ruled the Romans. He was the first to send certain Romans into exile. He corrupted boys and made some of the native citizens eunuchs. He also corrupted virgins and then gave them in marriage. So he was fittingly called Superbus in the Roman language, which means “proud.” For he was the first to decree that when people greeted him, another person should return the greeting for him.^[139]

27b He reigned twenty-five years. After him came annual consuls, tribunes or aediles, who ruled for 453 years. We think it long and needless to list their names. Anyone who wants to learn them will find them in the records written by Chryserus the nomenclator, a freedman of Aurelius Verus. From the founding of Rome to the death of his own patron, the emperor Verus, he recorded everything clearly, both the names and the dates. So the annual magistrates, as we say, held power over the Romans for 453 years. After that came those called emperors, in this order. First was Gaius Julius, who reigned 3 years, 4 months and 6 days. Then Augustus reigned 56 years, 4 months and 1 day. Tiberius reigned 22 years. Then another Gaius reigned 3 years, 8 months and 7 days. Claudius reigned 23 years, 8 months and 24 days.^[140] 27c Nero reigned 13 years, 6 months and 28 days. Galba, 2 years, 7 months and 6 days. Otho, 3 months and 5 days. Vitellius, 6 months and 22 days. Vespasian, 9 years, 11 months and 22 days. Titus, 2 years and 22 days. Domitian, 15 years, 5 months and 6 days. Nerva, 1 year, 4 months and 10 days. Trajan, 19 years, 6 months and 16 days. Hadrian, 20 years, 10 months and 28 days. Antoninus, 22 years, 7 months and 6 days. Verus, 19 years and 10 days. So the time of the Caesars, down to the death of the emperor Verus, comes to 237 years and 5 days. From the death of Cyrus, which is also the start of Tarquinius Superbus’s rule over the Romans, to the death of the emperor Verus whom we mentioned earlier, the whole time adds up to 744 years.^[141]

Leading Chronological Epochs.

28 From the foundation of the world, the whole time can be summed up briefly like this. From the creation of the world to the flood, 2,242 years. From the flood to the birth of a child to Abraham, our forefather, 1,036 years. From Isaac, Abraham’s son, to the time when the people were living in the desert with Moses, 660 years. From the death of Moses and the leadership of Joshua son of Nun, to the death of the patriarch David, 498 years. From the death of David and the reign of Solomon to the people’s exile in the land of Babylon, 518 years, 6 months and 10 days. From the rule of Cyrus to the death of the emperor Aurelius Verus, 744 years. Altogether, from the creation of the world, the total comes to 5,698 years, plus the extra months and days.^[142]

Antiquity of Christianity.

29a With all these dates and the facts I have mentioned now gathered together, one can see how ancient the writings of the prophets are and how divine our teaching is. Our teaching is not recent, and our beliefs are not myths and falsehoods, as some think. On the contrary, they are older and truer. For Thallus mentions Belus, king of the Assyrians, and Cronus the Titan. He says that Belus, together with the Titans, fought against Zeus and those who are called the gods with him. There, he says, Gyges too was defeated and fled to Tartessus. . . . At that time the country was called Acte, but it is now called Attica, and Ogyges was then its ruler. We do not think it necessary to list the other countries and cities and the people they were named after, especially to you, since you know history.^[143] 29b It is clear that Moses is shown to be older than all the historians, and not only he but most of the prophets who came after him. He is also older than Cronus, Belus and the Trojan War. For according to the history of Thallus, Belus is found to have lived 322 years before the Trojan War. I have shown above that Moses lived about … or even 1000 years before the capture of Troy. Cronus and Belus flourished at the same time, and most people do not know who Cronus is or who Belus is. Some worship Cronus and call him Bel and Baal, especially those who live in the eastern regions. They do not know who Cronus is, nor who Belus is.^[144]

29c Among the Romans he is called Saturn. For they themselves do not know which of the two he is, Cronus or Belus. As for the Olympiads, they say that the observance began with Iphitus, but according to some it began with Linus, who was also called Ilius. I have shown above the number of the years and Olympiads and how they are ordered. So I think I have now said, as accurately as I can, what needed saying about the godlessness of your practices and about the whole count of the years. Even if some time has escaped us, say 50 or 100 or even 200 years, it is still not thousands or tens of thousands of years, as Plato and Apollonius and the rest have said, writing falsely. Perhaps we do not know the exact total of all the years because the extra months and days are not recorded in the sacred books.^[145]

29d Berosus also agrees with the dates I have given. He was a philosopher among the Chaldeans and made the Chaldean writings known to the Greeks. In his history he says some things in agreement with Moses about the flood and many other matters. He also partly agrees with the prophets Jeremiah and Daniel. He mentions what happened to the Jews at the hands of the king of the Babylonians, whom he calls Abobassar and the Hebrews call Nebuchadnezzar. He also speaks of the temple in Jerusalem, saying it was laid waste by the king of the Chaldeans. He says that the foundations of the temple were laid in the second year of the reign of Cyrus, and that the temple was finished in the second year of the reign of Darius.^[146]

Why the Greeks Did Not Mention Our Histories.

30 The Greeks do not mention the histories that tell the truth. The first reason is that they themselves only recently came to share in the knowledge of writing. They admit this themselves, saying that letters were invented by the Chaldeans, or by the Egyptians, or, according to others, by the Phoenicians. The second reason is that they stumbled, and still stumble, by making no mention of God, but only of vain and useless things. They speak fondly of Homer and Hesiod and the other poets. But the glory of the only incorruptible God they have not only forgotten but spoken against. They have also persecuted those who worship him, and they persecute them every day. They even set prizes and honors for those who insult God in fine-sounding words. But those who press on toward virtue and practice a holy life they have stoned or put to death, and up to now they subject them to savage torments. So it follows that such people have lost the wisdom of God and have not found the truth. If you are willing, then, read these writings carefully, so that you may have a token and pledge of the truth.^[147] [Romans 1:23]

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Notes

[99] Aratus wrote the “Phaenomena,” a poem describing the constellations. Paul quotes a line from its opening in Acts 17:28.

[100] In Plato’s dialogues Socrates swears “by the dog” and, in the Phaedrus, “by this plane tree.” Myth said Zeus killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt. “Demons” renders daimonia. Socrates spoke of a divine sign or “daimonion” that guided him, and Theophilus treats this as demonic.

[101] “Unspeakable practices” renders a Greek word meaning literally “doing unspeakable things,” a euphemism for shameful sexual acts.

[102] “Bosom-loving” (philokolpos) is an unusual, mocking epithet for Athena, and its exact point is unclear.

[103] The older English renders the last clause as a conditional (“you would not grudge”). The Greek has no ἄν, so it can also be read as a statement of Autolycus’s habit: “when it was possible, you did not shrink from spending even nights in the libraries.”

[104] In Herodotus (Histories 1.119) it is Astyages, king of the Medes, not Cambyses, who has Harpagus’s son killed and served to him. Theophilus seems to have confused the names. Herodotus does mention an Indian people who ate their dead fathers (Histories 3.38).

[105] Where the older English has “from the best persons,” the Greek says only “from such” unions. Where it has “worn with toil,” the Greek word means “grieving.”

[106] This picture of Pythagoras denying providence is Theophilus’s own. Other ancient sources do not usually describe Pythagoras this way.

[107] The lines seem to come from a comedy. The poet named Ariston is otherwise little known.

[108] Antinous was the young favorite of the emperor Hadrian. After he drowned in the Nile, he was declared a god.

[109] Theophilus is quoting the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3–5, 12; compare Deuteronomy 5) somewhat freely from the Greek Old Testament. This is translated from his Greek, not from an English Bible.

[110] Moses is called God’s “servant” (therapon) in Numbers 12:7, and Hebrews 3:5 echoes this. The Greek calls the Ten Commandments “ten heads” (kephalaia), meaning chief points.

[111] God’s prediction is in Genesis 15:13. The 430 years come from Exodus 12:40, though the Greek Old Testament there counts the stay “in Egypt and in the land of Canaan.” The law quoted is Exodus 23:9.

[112] The quotation is Isaiah 55:6–7, given in Theophilus’s Greek wording.

[113] The “grape-gatherer to his basket” image comes from Jeremiah 6:9, which Hebrew-based English Bibles also have (“as a grapegatherer into the baskets”). Theophilus seems to have joined it to a call to “turn to the Lord your God.”

[114] The quotations are Isaiah 1:16–17 and 58:6–8. The older translation has “hide not thyself from thine own flesh.” Theophilus’s Greek says “do not overlook (or neglect) those of your own seed,” that is, your own kin. The older version also adds “of your doings” in the first quotation, which the Greek lacks.

[115] The older translation has “assemble the elders”; the Greek says “receive” or “welcome” them.

[116] “Foreigner who has joined Israel” translates “proselyte.” The older translation has “stranger” and “imagine evil”; the Greek verb means to hold a grudge or remember a wrong. The Greek has “neighbor” where the older English has “brother” in the first clause.

[117] The Greek says “tie up fire in a garment,” while the Septuagint of Proverbs 6:27 has “in his bosom.”

[118] “Rulers and authorities” echoes Titus 3:1, and “a calm and quiet life” is from 1 Timothy 2:2. The last sentences follow Romans 13:7-8. “Respect” translates the Greek “fear,” as in Romans. Paul writes “love one another,” while Theophilus has “love everyone.”

[119] The Greek “logos” here can mean God’s word, that is, his teaching, or the divine Word himself. It is not certain which Theophilus intends.

[120] The Greek says “from what you have read up to this point.” This may refer to what Autolycus has read so far in these books, or to the Scriptures that Theophilus urged him to read.

[121] The older translation says “The Republic,” but Theophilus gives the title in the plural (*Politeiai*). The words he quotes are in fact from Plato’s *Laws* (book 3, 677c-d), not the *Republic*.

[122] Theophilus’s quotation breaks off. The sentence comes from Plato’s *Laws* 3.683e, where it continues, roughly, “we would hear arguments no worse or fewer than those now spoken.” I have put that sense in brackets so the broken sentence can be read.

[123] Theophilus calls Deucalion’s chest a *larnax*, a different word from the one he uses for Noah’s ark (*kibotos*).

[124] The Greek of the last clause is brief and a little unclear. It is taken here to mean Noah and his wife, which makes eight.

[125] See Genesis 7:11–12 and 7:20. Genesis 8:4 puts the ark’s landing in the mountains of Ararat, but Theophilus here says “the Arabian mountains.”

[126] This king list closely follows the one Josephus quotes from Manetho (Against Apion 1.15), with variations in names and numbers. It is not a reliable record of Egypt’s kings.

[127] Josephus, quoting Manetho, also says that Sethos was called Aegyptus and that his brother Armais was Danaus (Against Apion 1.15).

[128] “Pharaoh” was the title of the kings of Egypt, not a personal name.

[129] In Greek legend, Danaus came from Egypt and settled at Argos in southern Greece.

[130] Scripture says that Hiram had always been a friend of David, Solomon’s father (1 Kings 5:1).

[131] Josephus quotes a longer form of this list from Menander in Against Apion, book 1. Theophilus probably took it from there. His copy gives no length for Hiram’s reign, and some names and figures differ from Josephus. As printed here, the reigns do not add up to the total given in the next section.

[132] Josephus does not name Pygmalion’s sister; other sources (e.g. Timaeus, Justin) call her Elissa, and Latin writers such as Virgil know her as Dido.

[133] Theophilus treats Zeus as a human king of Crete who was later worshipped as a god, a view he also argues elsewhere in this work.

[134] The king who reigned 40 years after Athaliah is Joash (Jehoash) in the Bible (2 Kings 12:1). Theophilus, or his copyists, calls him “Josiah.” Abias is the king usually called Abijah.

[135] “Ochas,” who reigned three months, is the king called Jehoahaz in the Bible (2 Kings 23:31). The Greek also spells Amon as “Amos.”

[136] For the seventy years, see Jeremiah 25:11–12 and 29:10. Ezra 1:1 dates Cyrus’s decree to his first year, not his second. In Ezra 1:8 Mithredath is Cyrus’s treasurer, who hands the vessels over to Sheshbazzar (Theophilus’s “Sabessar”). Ezra does not call them bodyguards.

[137] Zopyrus was not a Greek but a Persian noble. Herodotus tells how he helped Darius take Babylon.

[138] “Twenty thousand myriads” means 200 million; a myriad is 10,000. The older translation’s “15 times 10, 375” is clumsy. The Greek means 15 myriads and 375, that is 150,375.

[139] The “eleventh day before the Kalends of May” is 21 April by Roman reckoning. “Olympiad” means a four-year period between Olympic Games, used by Greek writers for dating.

[140] The “Verus” here is almost certainly Marcus Aurelius, who died in AD 180. The reign Theophilus gives him, 19 years and 10 days, matches Marcus’s reign from March 161 to March 180. So this book was written shortly after 180.

[141] Some figures in this list differ from the known lengths of reign; for example, Galba ruled about 7 months (AD 68–69), not 2 years and 7 months. Theophilus’s totals are built on his own figures.

[142] The 2,242 years from creation to the flood follow the ages given in the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint). The Hebrew text gives 1,656 years.

[143] Thallus was a historian whose work is now lost. He is known only from quotations in later writers.

[144] The number of years is lost or corrupt in the Greek, which says Moses lived “about … or even 1000” years before the fall of Troy. Any figure supplied for the gap is a conjecture.

[145] The sentence beginning “Even if” is incomplete in the Greek. The words “it is still” have been supplied to complete the sense.

[146] Scripture dates the temple’s completion to the sixth year of Darius (Ezra 6:15). The second year of Darius is when the rebuilding resumed (Ezra 4:24; Haggai 1:1).

[147] “Token and pledge” translates two Greek words; the second, arrabon, means a first payment that guarantees the rest, and Paul uses it of the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:14).