2

using the testimonies of philosophers and historians, and indeed also of poets, and demonstrating how the Greeks honored the dead not only with libations but also with sacrifices, calling some gods, others demigods, and others heroes, and most of these having lived in licentiousness. p.12 I thought it profitable also to compare our own lawgivers with those who have become most famous among the Greeks—I mean the fishermen and the shoemaker and the tax collectors—and to show again by comparison the difference, and how those laws were delivered over with their makers to the gloom of oblivion, while those of the fishermen flourish not only among Greeks and Romans, but also among Scythians and Sauromatians and Persians and the other barbarians. The ninth discourse contains this comparison. p.13 The tenth teaches what sort of things the divine oracles foretold, and how they were fitting for God and suitable for sensible men, and what sort of things the Pythian and the Dodonaean and the other false prophets of the Greeks were convicted of foretelling falsely, foreknowing nothing of the future, and having prophesied such things as not even one of the decent men would have endured to propose, p.14 Since it was necessary for the ignorant to know about the end and judgment, what we teach and what they teach, the eleventh discourse offers this teaching to those who wish to read it. p.15 But I also demonstrate the difference in practical virtue, since I see the Greek company very much priding itself on the philosophers of old and attempting to exalt their life in words. The twelfth discourse will therefore show how their life is unworthy not only of philosophers but also of praiseworthy slaves, while that of the apostles and their followers is superior to human nature and similar to those who are freed from bodies and traverse the heavens. p.16 The name of the book is *The Cure of the Sicknesses of the Greeks*, or *The Knowledge of the Truth of the Gospel from Greek Philosophy*. p.17 I therefore undertook this labor for the sake of the cure of the sick and with a view to the benefit of the healthy; and I beseech those who read the labors of others, if all that is written is well, to praise the giver of these things and to give prayers in return to those who have labored; but if anything is lacking, not to condemn it for all these things together, but to reap the benefit from what has been well said.

1.t ON FAITH.

1.1 Medical treatment is for the body, and it is also for the soul; and

for indeed many afflictions befall both this and that, 1.2 but for the one they are involuntary, while for the other, for the most part, they are of free will. Knowing this well, therefore, as the all-wise God and creator of souls and bodies and of all things, He has assigned fitting medicines to each nature, and indeed has also appointed physicians, having trained some in this science and others in that, and commanded them to lead and to excel against the diseases. 1.3 But those whose body is unwell both find their disease grievous and long for health and yield to the physicians, not only when they apply gentle medicines, but even if they cut, even if they cauterize, even if they command to starve, even if they offer cups full of certain bitter and unpleasant things; and reaping health through such painful care, they offer a fee to those who treat them so, and in accepting the treatment they do not curiously inquire into the preparation of the medicines; for they desire 1.4 salvation, they do not investigate its manner. But those who have received the plague of unbelief not only are ignorant of their most grievous disease, but also suppose they are enjoying the utmost good fortune; and if one of those who know how to cure these things [offers] a remedy

2

φιλοσόφων καὶ ξυγγραφέων, καὶ μέντοι καὶ ποιητῶν μαρτυρίαις χρωμένη καὶ ἐπιδεικνῦσα, ὡς Ἕλληνες οὐ μόνον χοαῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ θυσίαις τοὺς τεθνεῶτας ἐτίμων, τοὺς μὲν θεούς, τοὺς δὲ ἡμιθέους, τοὺς δὲ ἥρωας ὀνομάζοντες, καὶ τούτων τοὺς πλείστους ἀκολασίᾳ ξυνεζηκότας. p.12 Προύργου δὲ ᾠήθην καὶ τοῖς παρ' Ἕλλησιν ὀνομαστοτάτοις γεγενημένοις νομοθέταις τοὺς ἡμετέρους παρεξετάσαι, τοὺς ἁλιέας λέγω καὶ τὸν σκυτοτόμον καὶ τοὺς τελώνας, καὶ δεῖξαι πάλιν ἐκ ξυγκρίσεως τὸ διάφορον, καὶ ὡς ἐκεῖνοι μὲν οἱ νόμοι μετὰ τῶν τεθεικότων τῷ τῆς λήθης παρεδόθησαν ζόφῳ, οἱ δὲ τῶν ἁλιέων ἀνθοῦσιν οὐ μόνον παρ' Ἕλλησι καὶ Ῥωμαίοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ Σκύθαις καὶ Σαυρομάταις καὶ Πέρσαις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις βαρ βάροις. Ταύτην δὲ τὴν παρεξέτασιν ἡ ἐνάτη περιέχει διάλεξις. p.13 Ἡ δὲ δεκάτη διδάσκει, ὁποῖα μὲν οἱ θεῖοι χρησμοὶ προηγό ρευσαν, καὶ ὡς Θεῷ πρέποντα καὶ τοῖς εὖ φρονοῦσι τῶν ἀνθρώ πων ἁρμόττοντα, τίνα δὲ ὁ Πύθιος καὶ ὁ ∆ωδωναῖος καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων ψευδομάντεις προειπόντες ἐφωράθησαν μὲν ψευδό μενοι καὶ τῶν ἐσομένων οὐδὲν προγινώσκοντες, τοιαῦτα δὲ τεθε σπικότες, ὁποῖα οὐδὲ τῶν ἐπιεικῶν τις ἀνθρώπων ἠνέσχετο ἂν εἰσηγήσασθαι, p.14 Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ περὶ τέλους καὶ κρίσεως ἔδει γνῶναι τοὺς ἀγνοοῦντας, τίνα μὲν ἡμεῖς, τίνα δὲ ἐκεῖνοι διδάσκουσι, ταύτην ἡ πρώτη καὶ δεκάτη διάλεξις τοῖς ἐντυχεῖν βουλομένοις τὴν διδασκαλίαν προσφέρει. p.15 Ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ τῆς πρακτικῆς ἀρετῆς ἐπιδείκνυμι τὸ διάφορον, ἐπειδὴ μάλα καὶ τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν ξυμμορίαν ἐπὶ τοῖς πάλαι γεγενημένοις φιλοσόφοις βρενθυομένην ὁρῶ καὶ τὸν ἐκείνων βίον αἴρειν τοῖς λόγοις ἐπιχειροῦντας. Ἐπιδείξει τοίνυν ἡ δευ τέρα καὶ δεκάτη διάλεξις, ὡς ὁ ἐκείνων μὲν βίος οὐ μόνον φιλοσόφων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀνδραπόδων ἐπαινουμένων ἀνάξιος, ὁ δὲ τῶν ἀποστόλων καὶ τῶν ἐκείνοις ἑπομένων τῆς φύσεως τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ὑπέρτερος καὶ τοῖς σωμάτων ἀπηλλαγμένοις καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν περιπολοῦσι προσόμοιος. p.16 Ὄνομα δὲ τῷ βιβλίῳ Ἑλληνικῶν θεραπευτικὴ παθημάτων ἢ Εὐαγγελικῆς ἀληθείας ἐξ Ἑλληνικῆς φιλο σοφίας ἐπίγνωσις . p.17 Ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν τῆς τε τῶν νοσούντων ἕνεκα θεραπείας καὶ τῆς τῶν ὑγιαινόντων προμηθούμενος ὠφελείας τοῦτον ἀνεδεξάμην τὸν πόνον· τοὺς δὲ τοῖς ἀλλοτρίοις ἐντυγχάνοντας πόνοις παρα καλῶ, εἰ μὲν ἅπαντα εὖ ἔχει τὰ γεγραμμένα, τὸν τούτων ἀνυ μνῆσαι δοτῆρα καὶ τοῖς πεπονηκόσι προσευχὰς ἀντιδοῦναι· εἰ δέ τινα ἐλλείπει, μὴ πάντων ὁμοῦ τούτων εἵνεκα καταγνῶναι, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῶν εὖ εἰρημένων τὸ κέρδος κομίσασθαι.

1.t ΠΕΡΙ ΠΙΣΤΕΩΣ.

1.1 Ἰατρικὴ θεραπεία ἔστι μέν που καὶ σώματος, ἔστι δ' ἄρα καὶ ψυχῆς· καὶ

γὰρ δὴ καὶ ταύτῃ κἀκείνῳ συχνὰ προσγίνεται πάθη, 1.2 ἀλλὰ τῷ μὲν ἀκούσια, τῇ δέ, ὡς ἐπίπαν, αὐθαίρετα. Τοῦτο οὖν εὖ εἰδώς, οἷα δὴ πάνσοφος ὁ Θεὸς καὶ ψυχῶν καὶ σωμάτων καὶ τῶν ὅλων δημιουργός, ἑκατέρᾳ φύσει προσένειμεν ἁρμόδια φάρ μακα, καὶ μέντοι καὶ ἰατροὺς ἐπέστησε, τοὺς μὲν ταύτην, τοὺς δὲ ἐκείνην ἐκπαιδεύσας τὴν ἐπιστήμην, καὶ στρατηγεῖν καὶ ἀρι 1.3 στεύειν κατὰ τῶν νοσημάτων ἐκέλευσεν. Ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν τὸ σῶμα οὐκ εὖ διακείμενοι καὶ τὴν νόσον δυσχεραίνουσι καὶ ὑγείας ἱμεί ρονται καὶ τοῖς ἰατροῖς εἴκουσιν, οὐ μόνον ἤπια προσφέρουσι φάρ μακα, ἀλλὰ κἂν τέμνωσι, κἂν καίωσι, κἂν λιμώττειν κελεύωσι, κἂν πικρῶν τινων καὶ ἀηδῶν μεστὰς προσφέρωσι κύλικας· καὶ διὰ τοιαύτης ἀνιαρᾶς ἐπιμελείας τὴν ὑγείαν καρπούμενοι, μισθὸν τοῖς οὕτως ἀκουμένοις ὀρέγουσι, καὶ τὴν θεραπείαν δεχόμενοι τὴν τῶν φαρμάκων οὐ περιεργάζονται σκευασίαν· τὴν γάρ τοι 1.4 σωτηρίαν ποθοῦσιν, οὐ τὸν ταύτης τρόπον ἀνερευνῶσιν. Οἱ δὲ τῆς ἀπιστίας τὴν λώβην εἰσδεδεγμένοι οὐ μόνον ἀγνοοῦσι τὴν παγχάλεπον νόσον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ἄκρας εὐκληρίας ἀπολαύειν ὑπολαμβάνουσιν· ἢν δέ τις τῶν ταῦτα θεραπεύειν ἐπισταμένων ἀλεξίκακον