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For, might I not suffer something worse there than what now pains me, if I have not lived piously, and be handed over, according to the accounts of some philosophers, to Pyriphlegethon and Tartarus, like Sisyphus or Tityus or Ixion or Tantalus, and be punished in Hades for eternity. And again I would counter, saying: But these things are not so. And again I would say: But what if they are? Since the matter is uncertain, I would say, it is safer for me to live piously. And again: How will I be able, for the sake of what is just, looking to an uncertain hope, to master the pleasures of the body? But neither am I fully convinced what justice pleasing to God is, nor do I know whether the soul is immortal or mortal, nor is any certain account to be found, nor can I rest from such reasonings. What then must I do but this? I will go to Egypt and befriend the hierophants and prophets of the inner sanctuaries, and having sought and found a magician, I will persuade him with much money to perform a calling up of a soul, the so-called necromancy, as I inquire about a certain matter; and the inquiry will be about learning whether the soul is immortal. But the soul's answer, that it is immortal, will not be for me to know from its speaking or my hearing, but from its being seen only, so that having seen it with my own eyes I may have a self-sufficient and adequate decision from its mere appearance that it exists; and no longer will what my eyes have seen be able to be overturned by the uncertain words of my hearing. Nevertheless, I put this very thought to a certain philosopher friend, who advised me in many ways not to dare this. For if the soul does not obey the magician, he said, you, having acted against the laws forbidding these things, will live with a bad conscience; but if it does obey, besides you living with a bad conscience, I think that matters of piety will no longer advance for you, for the sake of which you even dared this; for they say the divine power is hostile to those who, by the dissolution of the bodies of the dead, vex their souls. And I, having heard these things, became more hesitant to undertake such an attempt, but I did not cease from my original plan, but being impeded in my impulse, I grew disheartened. And so that I may not relate such things to you at great length, while I was occupied with so many reasonings and matters, a certain report, taking its start quietly in the reign of Tiberius Caesar from the vernal turning-point, grew on each occasion and, like a truly good messenger of God, ran through the world, not being able to keep silent and contain the will of God. Therefore, on each occasion it became fuller and greater, saying how a certain one in Judea, having begun from the vernal turning-point, preaches the good news of the kingdom of the eternal God to the Jews, which he says they will enjoy if one lives uprightly beforehand; and so that he might be believed, because he utters these things full of divinity, he performs many wondrous signs and portents by command alone, as one who has received authority from God; for he makes the deaf to hear, the blind to see, the crippled and lame to stand upright, he drives away every disease, he casts out every demon. But also lepers [the mangy], just by looking at him from a distance, are healed and depart. And the dead who are brought to him are raised, and there is nothing which he is unable to do. And the more the time went on, much greater through more people coming <and>

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γάρ· Μήτι γε τοῦ νῦν με λυποῦντος ἐκεῖ χεῖρον παθεῖν ἔχω, μὴ βεβιωκὼς εὐσεβῶς, καὶ παραδοθήσομαι κατ' ἐνίων φιλοσόφων λόγους Πυριφλεγέ- θοντι καὶ Ταρτάρῳ ὡς Σίσυφος ἢ Τιτυὸς ἢ Ἰξίων ἢ Τάνταλος, καὶ ἔσομαι ἐν ᾅδου τὸν αἰῶνα κολαζόμενος. πάλιν τε ἀνθυπέφερον λέγων· Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔστιν ταῦτα. καὶ πάλιν ἔλεγον· Eἰ δὲ ἔστιν; ἀδήλου οὖν ὄντος τοῦ πράγματος, ἔλεγον, ἀκινδυνότερόν ἐστιν μᾶλλον εὐσεβῶς βιῶσαί με. καὶ πάλιν· Πῶς δυνήσομαι, τοῦ δικαίου χάριν εἰς ἄδηλον ἐλπίδα ἀφορῶν, τῶν τοῦ σώματος κρατεῖν ἡδονῶν; ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τί ποτέ ἐστιν δίκαιον ἀρέσκον θεῷ πεπληροφόρημαι οὔτε εἰ ἡ ψυχὴ ἀθάνατος ἢ θνητὴ γινώσκω οὔτε τίς λόγος βέβαιος εὑρίσκεται, οὔτε τῶν τοιούτων λογισμῶν ἡσυχάζειν δύναμαι. τί οὖν χρὴ ποιεῖν ἢ τοῦτο; εἰς Aἴγυπτον πορεύσομαι καὶ τοῖς τῶν ἀδύ των ἱεροφάνταις τε καὶ προφήταις φιλιωθήσομαι καὶ μάγον ζητήσας καὶ εὑρὼν χρήμασι πολλοῖς πείσω, ὅπως ψυχῆς ἀναπομπήν, τὴν λεγομένην νεκρομαντείαν, ποιήσῃ, ἐμοῦ ὡς περὶ πράγματός τινος πυνθανομένου· ἡ δὲ πεῦσις ἔσται περὶ τοῦ μαθεῖν εἰ ἀθάνατος ἡ ψυχή. ἡ δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπόκρισις, ὅτι ἀθάνατός ἐστιν, οὐκ ἐκ τοῦ λαλῆσαι ἢ καὶ ἀκοῦσαι ἔσται μοι γνῶναι, ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ ὀφθῆναι μόνον, ἵνα αὐτοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἰδὼν αὐτὴν αὐτάρκη καὶ ἱκανὴν ἀπόφασιν ἔχω ἐκ τοῦ μόνον φανῆναι ὅτι ἔστιν· καὶ οὐκέτι δυνήσεται τὰ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἴδια τὰ τῆς ἀκοῆς ἀνατρέψαι ἄδηλα ῥήματα. ὅμως καὶ αὐτὴν ταύτην τὴν σκέψιν ἀντέβαλλόν τινι συνήθει φιλοσόφῳ, ὃς συνεβούλευέν μοι τοῦτο μὴ τολμᾶν κατὰ πολλοὺς τρόπους. εἴτε γὰρ οὐκ εἰσακούσεται, φησίν, ἡ ψυχὴ τῷ μάγῳ, σὺ τοῖς ταῦτα ποιεῖν ἀπαγορεύουσι νόμοις ὡς ἀντιπράξας δυσσυνειδήτως βιώσεις· εἰ δὲ ἐπακού- σεται, μετὰ τοῦ δυσσυνειδήτως σε βιοῦν οἶμαι τὰ τῆς εὐσεβείας σοι μηκέτι προχωρεῖν, οὗ εἵνεκεν καὶ ἐτόλμησας· ἐχθραίνειν γὰρ τὸ θεῖον λέ- γουσιν ἐπὶ τοῖς τῇ λύσει θανόντων σωμάτων σκύλλουσιν τὰς ψυχάς. ἐγὼ δὲ ταῦτα ἀκούσας ὀκνηρότερος μὲν πρὸς τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐγχειρῆσαι ἐγενόμην, τῆς δὲ ἀπ' ἀρχῆς μου οὐκ ἐπαυσάμην βουλῆς, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐμπο- δισθεὶς τὴν ὁρμὴν ἠθύμουν. Καὶ ἵνα μή σοι τὰ τοιαῦτα μακρῷ διηγήσωμαι λόγῳ, ἐν τοσούτοις λογισμοῖς καὶ πράγμασιν ὄντος μου φήμη τις ἠρέμα ἐπὶ τῆς Τιβερίου Καίσα- ρος βασιλείας ἐξ ἐαρινῆς τροπῆς τὴν ἀρχὴν λαμβάνουσα ηὔξανεν ἑκάστοτε καὶ ὡς ἀληθῶς ἀγαθὴ θεοῦ ἄγγελος διέτρεχε τὸν κόσμον, τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ βούλη- μα σιγᾶν στέγειν μὴ δυναμένη. ἑκάστοτε οὖν πλείων καὶ μείζων ἐγίνετο, λέ- γουσα ὥς τίς ποτε ἐν Ἰουδαίᾳ, ἐξ ἐαρινῆς τροπῆς λαβὼν τὴν ἀρχήν, Ἰουδαίοις τὴν τοῦ ἀιδίου θεοῦ εὐαγγελίζεται βασιλείαν, ἧς ἀπολαύειν λέγει ἐάν τις αὐτῶν προκατορθώσῃ τὴν πολιτείαν· τοῦ δὲ πιστεύεσθαι αὐτὸν χάριν ὅτι θειότητος γέμων ταῦτα πνέει, πολλὰ θαυμάσια σημεῖά τε καὶ τέρατα δια- πράττεται κελεύσει μόνῃ, ὡς παρὰ θεοῦ εἰληφὼς τὴν ἐξουσίαν· κωφοὺς γὰρ ποιεῖ ἀκούειν, τυφλοὺς ἀναβλέπειν, κυλλοὺς χωλοὺς ὀρθοῖ, πᾶσαν νόσον ἀπελαύνει, πάντα δαίμονα φυγαδεύει. ἀλλὰ καὶ λεπροὶ [ψωροὶ] ἐκ διαστή- ματος μόνον ἐνορῶντες αὐτῷ ἰώμενοι ἀπαλλάσσονται. νεκροὶ δὲ προσφερό- μενοι ἐγείρονται, καὶ οὐδέν ἐστιν ὃ ἀδυνατεῖ ποιεῖν. καὶ ὅσῳ γε μᾶλλον ὁ χρόνος προέκοπτεν, πολὺ μείζων διὰ πλειόνων τῶν ἐπιδημούντων <καὶ>