3

became more certain, I say no longer a rumor, but the truth of the matter; for already gatherings for counsel and consideration were taking place in various places as to who the one who had appeared might be and what he wished to say. And indeed once, toward the end of that very year, at the autumnal turning, a certain man stood in public and cried out, saying: Men of Rome, listen: the Son of God is present in Judea, promising eternal life to all who are willing, if they live according to the will of the Father who sent him. Therefore, change your way of life from the worse to the better, from the temporal to the eternal; know that there is one heavenly God, whose world you inhabit unrighteously before his righteous eyes. But if you change and live according to his will, being brought into another age and having become immortal, you will enjoy his ineffable good things; but if you disobey, your souls, after the dissolution of the body, will be cast into the place of fire, where, being eternally punished, they will repent without profit. For the time for repentance happens to be the present life of each person. Now when I heard these things, I was grieved that no one from so great a crowd, having heard such a message, had said: 'I will go to Judea, that I may see if this man speaks the truth in saying these things, namely that the Son of God has visited Judea, revealing the will of the Father who sent him for the sake of a good and eternal hope.' And what they say he preaches is no small thing: for he assures the souls of some that, being eternal, they will enjoy eternal good things, but of others that they will be punished for the age in unquenchable fire. Saying these things about others, I also spoke to myself, saying: Why do I blame others, being under the same charge of neglect? But I will set out for Judea, having first set my life in order. And indeed, after I had so resolved, a long time of delay occurred, since the affairs of life are difficult to escape. At last, however, having considered thus the nature of life, that it ensnares those who are hastening by weaving them with hope, and also the time of which I had once been robbed, being shaken by hopes, and that thus occupied we mortals die, I left all my things as they were and set out for Portus, and having come to the harbor and set sail, by the hostility of the winds, instead of to Judea, I was carried to Alexandria. And being detained there by a lack of winds, I associated with the philosophers and spoke the words of the rumor about the one who had appeared in Rome. And they answered that we do not know the one who appeared in Rome, but concerning the one who was in Judea and is called Son of God by rumor, we have heard from many who have come from there, and we have learned about all the wonderful things which he did while speaking. And when I said, 'I wished to meet one of those who had seen him,' they immediately led me, saying: 'There is a man here who has not only seen him, but is also from that land, a Hebrew man, by name Barnabas, who also says he is one of his disciples and, sitting somewhere here, readily tells the words of his promise to those who are willing.' And so I went with them. And having come, I stood with the surrounding crowd, listening to his words, and I understood that he was speaking the truth not with dialectical art,

3

βεβαιοτέρα ἐγίνετο οὐκέτι φήμη λέγω, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πράγματος ἡ ἀλήθεια· ἤδη γάρ ποτε καὶ συστήματα κατὰ τόπους ἐγίνετο βουλῆς καὶ σκέψεως τοῦ τίς ἂν εἴη ὁ φανεὶς καὶ τί βούλεται λέγειν. καὶ δή ποτέ τις πρὸς αὐτῷ τῷ ἔτει ἐν φθινοπωρινῇ τροπῇ δημοσίᾳ στὰς ἐβόα λέγων· Ἄνδρες Ῥωμαῖοι, ἀκού- σατε· ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ υἱὸς ἐν Ἰουδαίᾳ πάρεστιν, ἐπαγγελλόμενος πᾶσιν τοῖς βουλομένοις ζωὴν αἰώνιον, ἐὰν [τὰ] κατὰ γνώμην τοῦ πέμψαντος αὐτὸν πατρὸς βιώσωσιν. διὸ μεταβάλλεσθε τὸν τρόπον ἀπὸ τῶν χειρόνων ἐπὶ τὰ κρείττονα, ἀπὸ τῶν προσκαίρων ἐπὶ τὰ αἰώνια· γνῶτε ἕνα θεὸν εἶναι τὸν ἐπουράνιον, οὗ τὸν κόσμον ἀδίκως οἰκεῖτε ἔμπροσθεν τῶν αὐτοῦ δικαίων ὀφθαλμῶν. ἀλλ' ἐὰν μεταβάλησθε καὶ κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ βούλησιν βιώσητε, εἰς ἕτερον αἰῶνα ἐνεχθέντες καὶ ἀίδιοι γενόμενοι τῶν ἀπορρή- των αὐτοῦ ἀγαθῶν ἀπολαύσετε· ἐὰν δὲ ἀπειθήσητε, αἱ ψυχαὶ ὑμῶν μετὰ τὴν τοῦ σώματος λύσιν εἰς τὸν τόπον τοῦ πυρὸς βληθήσονται, ὅπου ἀιδίως κολαζόμεναι ἀνωφέλητα μετανοήσουσιν· ὁ γὰρ τῆς μετανοίας καιρὸς ἡ νῦν ἑκάστου ζωὴ τυγχάνει. ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν ταῦτα ἀκούων ἠχθό- μην ὅτι οὐδεὶς ἐκ τοσούτων ὄχλων τηλικαύτην ἀγγελίαν ἀκούσας εἴρη- κεν· Eἰς Ἰουδαίαν πορεύσομαι, ἵνα ἴδω εἰ ταῦθ' οὗτος λέγων ἀληθεύει ὡς ὅτι υἱὸς θεοῦ ἐπιδεδήμηκεν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ, ἀγαθῆς καὶ αἰωνίας ἐλπί- δος χάριν τὴν τοῦ ἀποστείλαντος πατρὸς βούλησιν ἐκφαίνων. καὶ ὅπερ λέγουσιν αὐτὸν κηρύσσειν, οὐκ ἔστιν μικρόν· ὧν μὲν γὰρ τὰς ψυχὰς δια- βεβαιοῦται αἰωνίους οὔσας αἰωνίων ἀπολαύσειν ἀγαθῶν, ὧν δὲ ἐν πυρὶ ἀσβέστῳ ·ιφείσας τὸν αἰῶνα κολασθήσεσθαι. Ταῦτ' ἐγὼ λέγων περὶ ἄλλων καὶ ἐμαυτῷ ὡμίλησα λέγων· Τί ἄλλους μέμφομαι, ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ τῆς ἀμελείας ὑπάρχων ἐγκλήματι; ἀλλ' εἰς Ἰουδαίαν ὁρμήσω, πρότερον τὸν ἐμὸν διαθεὶς βίον. καὶ δὴ οὕτως βουλευσαμένου μου πολὺς ὁ τῆς παρολκῆς ἐγενήθη χρόνος, τῶν βιωτικῶν πραγμάτων δυσεκλύ- των ὄντων. πέρας γοῦν συννοήσας ὡδίποτε τὴν τοῦ βίου φύσιν ὅτι ἐλπίδι ἐκπλοκῶν τοὺς σπεύδοντας ἐνεδρεύει, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅν ποτε εἰσεκλά- πην χρόνον ἐλπίσιν δονούμενος, καὶ ὅτι οὕτως ἀσχολούμενοι οἱ ἄνθρω- ποι ἀποθνῄσκομεν, τὰ πάντα μου ὡς ἔτυχεν ἀφεὶς εἰς Πόρτον ὥρ- μησα, καὶ εἰς λιμένα ἐλθὼν καὶ ἀναχθεὶς ἀνέμων ἔχθραις ἀντὶ τοῦ εἰς Ἰουδαίαν εἰς Ἀλεξάνδρειαν ἠνέχθην. καὶ ἀνέμων ἀπορίᾳ ἐπισχεθεὶς ἐκεῖ συνεφοίτων τοῖς φιλοσόφοις καὶ [τὰ] τῆς φήμης μετὰ τοῦ ἐν Ῥώμῃ φανέντος ἔλεγον τοὺς λόγους. οἱ δ' ἀπεκρίναντο ὅτι <τὸν> μὲν ἐν Ῥώμῃ φανέντα οὐκ ἴσμεν, περὶ δὲ τοῦ ἐν Ἰουδαίᾳ γενομένου καὶ υἱοῦ θεοῦ ὑπὸ τῆς φήμης λεγομένου καὶ παρὰ πολλῶν τῶν κἀκεῖθεν ἐληλυθότων ἠκούσαμεν καὶ περὶ πάντων ὧν λαλῶν ἐποίει θαυμασίων ἐμάθομεν. ἐμοῦ δὲ εἰπόντος· Ἤθελόν τινι συντυχεῖν τῶν ἑωρακότων αὐτόν, εὐθὺς ἦγόν με λέγοντες· Ἔστιν τις ἐνταῦθα οὐ μόνον ἱστορήσας αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ἐκεῖθεν γῆς ὑπάρχων, ἀνὴρ Ἑβραῖος, ὀνόματι Βαρνάβας, ὃς καὶ ἕνα τῶν αὐτοῦ μαθητῶν ἑαυτὸν εἶναι λέγει καὶ ἐνταῦθά που καθεζόμενος τῆς ἐκείνου ὑποσχέσεως τοὺς λόγους τοῖς βουλομένοις ἑτοίμως λέγει. καὶ δὴ συνῆλθον αὐτοῖς. καὶ ἐλθών, σὺν τῷ παρεστῶτι ὄχλῳ ἔστην ἐπακούων τῶν λόγων, καὶ συνενόουν τἀληθῆ οὐ διαλεκτικῇ τέχνῃ λέγοντα,