those after them would know the things of the first, and not rather those before them the things of the later; Therefore, since the sons of the Hellenes think highly of their own teachers, and suppose they frighten us by naming certain Anaximanders and Empedocleses, Protagorases and Platos, and adding to these the others who have become for them the inventors of impious dogmas and, so to speak, the sources of ignorance, come, let us say that one might bewail them as being roused up by different opinions as if against one another, and bringing forth an incompatible defense for each of the things that exist. Then, in addition to this, let us show that Moses obtained the seniority in time, and introduced a correct and most unerring opinion concerning the ineffable and highest of all essences, and has excellently recorded the creation of the world, and is a not unadmired arbiter of laws for piety and justice, but that those named wise among them were later and most recent, and stole his things and wove them into their own discourses, even if they were not entirely able to do so soundly, and thus to seize for themselves a venerable reputation and to seem to say something of the truth. 1.5 Therefore, some came after Moses, and others flourished at the same time as the holy prophets after him; of whom those who chose to follow their opinions were deemed worthy of a better vote than the others, although not making their account of the doctrine concerning God entirely free from falsehood. That, therefore, the divine Moses was the most ancient, I mean, according to the time of his birth, and those after him were later, we will make clear by searching the books of those who have written chronologies accurately. But I say that those who will read this must not be impatient with the reading and the list of names, or the enumeration of times, but rather thirst intensely for the full assurance in each matter, since it is good and beneficial. 1.6 Therefore, Noah was born, a man most beloved of God, the tenth from the first, that is, Adam; to him the God of all commanded, as the flood was about to come and those on the earth were to be destroyed by an utter ruin, to build an ark, and together with his beloved and their wives and every kind of beast, both birds and creeping things, to enter and sail in it; and when this was brought to completion, the entire human race and the other animals were destroyed, but he was saved with his whole house. And when the waters subsided, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat, that is, of Armenia, and setting his foot on the earth again, he performed sacrifices of thanksgiving. Therefore, the God-inspired Scripture is worthy of belief; but since some of the superstitious say that our accounts are empty myths, having from nowhere either plausibility or truth, I will of necessity make mention also of the historiographers among them, I mean Alexander Polyhistor and Abydenus. For they themselves have made the narrative concerning these things in their own writings, even if not entirely blamelessly, but rather strangely, since indeed they were deprived of the doctrines of piety. 1.7 And Alexander says thus: When Otiartes died, his son Xisuthrus reigned for eighteen sari; in his time they say the great flood happened; then he says that Xisuthrus was saved, Kronos having foretold to him what was to be, and that it was fitting to build a vessel and to sail in it together with birds, creeping things, and beasts. But Abydenus makes the narrative clearer, saying thus: After whom others ruled and also Sisithrus; and to him Kronos foretold that there would be a multitude of rain on the fifteenth of Daisios, and commands every sort of writing

πρώτων οἱ μετ' αὐτοὺς εἰδεῖεν, καὶ οὐχὶ δὴ μᾶλλον τὰ τῶν ὑστάτων οἱ πρὸ αὐτῶν· οὐκοῦν, ἐπειδήπερ Ἑλλήνων παῖδες ἐπί γε τοῖς σφῶν αὐτῶν διδασκάλοις φρονοῦσι μέγα, καὶ καταπτοεῖν οἴονταί τινας Ἀναξιμάνδρους ἡμῖν καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλεῖς, Πρωταγόρας τε καὶ Πλάτωνας ὀνομάζοντες, προσεπάγοντες δὲ τούτοις καὶ τοὺς ἑτέρους οἳ τῶν ἀνοσίων αὐτοῖς δογμάτων γεγόνασιν εὑρέται καὶ ἵν' οὕτως εἴπω τῆς ἀμαθίας πηγαί, φέρε λέγωμεν ὅτι διαφόροις μὲν δόξαις ἀντεγειρομένους ὥσπερ ἀλλήλοις καταθρήσαι τις ἂν αὐτούς, ἀσύμβατον δὲ καὶ ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν ὄντων τὴν ἀπολογίαν εἰσφέροντας. Εἶτα πρὸς τούτῳ καταδεικνύωμεν Μωσέα μὲν ἐν χρόνῳ τὰ πρεσβεῖα λαχόντα, καὶ δόξαν ὀρθὴν καὶ ἀπλανεστάτην περὶ τῆς ἀρρήτου καὶ ἀνωτάτω πασῶν οὐσίας εἰσκεκομικότα, καὶ κοσμοποιίας ἄριστα μνημονεύσαντα, καὶ νόμων τῶν εἰς εὐσέβειαν καὶ δικαιοσύνην οὐκ ἀθαύμαστον βραβευτήν, τοὺς δὲ παρ' αὐτοῖς ὠνομασμένους σοφοὺς γεγονότας μὲν ὑστάτους καὶ νεωτάτους, κεκλοφότας δὲ τὰ ἐκείνου καὶ τοῖς ἰδίοις λόγοις ἐγκατακλώσαντας, εἰ καὶ μὴ εἰς ἅπαν ὑγιῶς ἰσχύσαντας οὕτω καὶ δόξαν ἁρπάσαι σεμνοπρεπῆ καί τι τῶν ἀληθῶν ἐοικέναι λέγειν. 1.5 Τοίνυν γεγόνασί τινες μὲν μετὰ Μωσέα, συνήκμασαν δὲ καὶ ἕτεροι κατὰ καιροὺς τοῖς μετ' ἐκεῖνον προφήταις ἁγίοις· ὧν οἱ ταῖς δόξαις κατακολουθεῖν ᾑρημένοι ψήφου τῆς κρείττονος παρὰ τοὺς ἄλλους ἠξίωνται, καίτοι τοῦ ψεύδους εἰς ἅπαν οὐκ ἐλευθέραν τῆς περὶ Θεοῦ δόξης ποιούμενοι τὴν ἀπόδοσιν. Ὅτι τοίνυν Μωσῆς ὁ θεσπέσιος πρεσβύτατος μὲν ἦν κατά γέ φημι τὸν τοῦ γενέσθαι καιρόν, οἱ δὲ μετ' ἐκεῖνον ὕστατοι, σαφὲς καταστήσομεν τὰ τῶν ἀκριβῶς χρονογραφησάντων βιβλία διερευνήσαντες. Χρῆναι δέ φημι τοὺς ἐντευξομένους μὴ ἁψικόρως ἔχειν περὶ τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν καὶ τὸν τῶν ὀνομάτων κατάλογον, ἤτοι τὴν τῶν καιρῶν ἀπαρίθμησιν, διψῆν δὲ μᾶλλον ἐντόνως καλὴν καὶ ὀνησιφόρον οὖσαν τὴν ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ πληροφορίαν. 1.6 Τοιγαροῦν Νῶε μὲν γέγονεν, ἀνὴρ τῶν ὅτι μάλιστα θεοφιλεστάτων, δέκατος τῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ πρώτου, τουτέστιν Ἀδάμ· τούτῳ προστέταχεν ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεός, ὡς μέλλοντος ἔσεσθαι τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ πανωλεθρίᾳ τε καταφθαρήσεσθαι τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, συμπήξασθαι μὲν κιβωτόν, ὁμοῦ δὲ φιλτάτοις καὶ γυναιξὶ καὶ κτηνῶν εἴδεσι παντοδαποῖς, πτηνοῖς τε καὶ ἑρπετοῖς, εἰσελάσαι τε καὶ διαπλεῖν ἐν αὐτῇ· οὗ δὲ πρὸς πέρας ἐνηνεγμένου, κατεφθείρετο μὲν ἅπαν τὸ ἀνθρώπινον γένος καὶ τὰ ἕτερα τῶν ζῴων, ὁ δὲ πανοικὶ διεσῴζετο. Τῶν ὑδάτων δὲ ὑφιζηκότων, ἡ μὲν κιβωτὸς προσέσχε τοῖς ὄρεσιν Ἀραράτ, τουτέστι τῆς Ἀρμενίας, ἐνερείσας δὲ πάλιν αὐτὸς τὸν πόδα τῇ γῇ θυσία ἐπετέλει χαριστηρίους. Ἀξιόχρεως μὲν οὖν εἰς πίστιν ἡ θεόπνευστος Γραφή· ἐπειδὴ δέ τινες τῶν δεισιδαιμόνων μύθους τε εἰκαίους καὶ οὐδαμόθεν ἔχοντας ἢ τὸ πιθανὸν ἢ τὸ ἀληθές φασιν εἶναι τὰ παρ' ἡμῖν, ἀναγκαίως μεμνήσομαι καὶ τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς ἱστοριογράφων, Ἀλεξάνδρου τέ φημι τοῦ Πολυίστορος καὶ Ἀβυδηνοῦ. Πεποίηνται γὰρ αὐτοὶ τὴν περὶ τούτων ἀφήγησιν ἐν ἰδίαις συγγραφαῖς, εἰ καὶ μὴ εἰς ἅπαν ἀκαταψέκτως, ἀλλοκότως δὲ μᾶλλον, ἅτε δὴ καὶ τῶν εἰς εὐσέβειαν δογμάτων ἠμοιρηκότες. 1.7 Καὶ ὁ μὲν Ἀλέξανδρός φησιν οὕτως· Ὠτιάρτου δὲ τελευτήσαντος, τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ Ξίσουθρον βασιλεῦσαι σάρους δεκαοκτώ· ἐπὶ τούτου τὸν μέγαν φασὶ γενέσθαι κατακλυσμόν· εἶτα σωθῆναι λέγει τὸν Ξίσουθρον, προαπαγγείλαντος αὐτῷ τοῦ Κρόνου τὸ ἐσόμενον, καὶ ὅτι προσήκει ναυπηγήσασθαι λάρνακα καὶ ὁμοῦ πτηνοῖς ἑρπετοῖς τε καὶ κτήνεσι πλεῖν ἐν αὐτῇ. Ὅ γε μὴν Ἀβυδηνὸς σαφεστέραν ποιεῖται τὴν ἀφήγησιν, οὕτω λέγων· Μεθ' ὃν ἄλλοι τε ἦρξαν καὶ Ξίσουθρος· τῷ δὲ Κρόνος μὲν προσημαίνει ἔσεσθαι πλῆθος ὄμβρων ∆αισίου πέμπτῃ ἐπὶ δέκα, κελεύει δὲ πᾶν ὁτιοῦν γραμμάτων