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whose heart was perverted by desire.” And I know another Hebrew who related such traditions about these elders, that to those in captivity who were hoping to be freed from slavery under their enemies through the coming of Christ, these elders pretended that they could clarify the things concerning Christ; and each of them in turn, to whatever woman he happened upon and wished to corrupt, would say in secret, as it were, that it had been given to him from God to beget the Christ. Then the woman, deceived by the hope of giving birth to the 11.65 Christ, would give herself to the deceiver; and thus the elders Achab and Zedekias committed adultery with the wives of the citizens. Therefore, it was well said by Daniel of the one, “You who have grown old in evil days;” and the other heard this: “Thus you did to the daughters of Israel, and they, out of fear, had intercourse with you; but a daughter of Judah did not endure your lawlessness.” For perhaps deceit and fear, having power over the women, made them give their bodies to these so-called elders. But it is likely that you will ask concerning these things why the story is not found among them in Daniel, if, as you say, their wise men hand down such things about it. To this it must be said that as much as they could of what contained an accusation of elders, and rulers, and judges, they removed from the knowledge of the people, some of which are preserved in apocryphal writings. And of this we will give an example in the things recorded about Isaiah, and testified to by the Epistle to the Hebrews, though written in none of the public books; for he who wrote to the Hebrews, in discussing the prophets and what they suffered, says: “They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they died by the slaughter of the sword.” For we shall ask to whom “they were sawn in two” refers, which according to an ancient custom, not only Hebrew but also Greek, is said in the plural about one person. It is clear that the traditions say that Isaiah the prophet was sawn in two; and this is found in a certain apocryphal book, which perhaps has been intentionally corrupted by the Jews, who inserted some unsuitable words into the text so that the whole might be disbelieved; but it is likely that someone, pressed by the proof for these things, would resort to the opinion of those who reject the Epistle, as not having been written by 11.68 Paul; against whom we need other arguments separately to prove that the epistle is Paul's. I will therefore for the present set forth from the Gospel the things testified by Jesus Christ concerning the prophets, and a history by Him testified concerning prophets, and a history told by Him, but not found in the old Scriptures, since it also contains an accusation of the lawless judges in Israel. The passage spoken by the Savior is as follows. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. Serpents, brood of vipers, how will you escape from the judgment of Gehenna? Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets and wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.” And what follows these things is not inconsistent with what has been proposed, being as follows: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her; how often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks

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ἐπιθυμίας διαστραφέντα τὴν καρδίαν.» Καὶ ἕτερον δὲ οἶδα Ἑβραῖον, περὶ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων τούτων τοιαύτας παραδόσεις φέροντα, ὅτι τοῖς ἐν τῇ αἰχμαλωσίᾳ ἐλπίζουσιν διὰ τῆς Χριστοῦ ἐπιδημίας ἐλευθερωθήσεσθαι ἀπὸ τῆς ὑπὸ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς δουλείας προσεποιοῦντο οἱ πρεσβύτεροι οὗτοι ὡς εἰδότες τὰ περὶ Χριστοῦ σαφηνίζειν· καὶ ἑκάτερος αὐτῶν ἀνὰ μέρος ᾗ περιετύγχανε γυναικὶ, καὶ ἣν διαφθεῖραι ἐβούλετο, ἐν ἀποῤῥήτῳ δῆθεν ἔφασκεν, ὡς ἄρα δέδοται αὐτῷ ἀπὸ Θεοῦ σπεῖραι τὸν Χριστόν· εἶτ' ἀπατωμένη τῇ ἐλπίδι τοῦ γεννῆσαι τὸν 11.65 Χριστὸν ἡ γυνὴ, ἐπεδίδου ἑαυτὴν τῷ ἀπατῶντι· καὶ οὕτως ἐμοιχῶντο τὰς γυναῖκας τῶν πολιτῶν οἱ πρεσβύτεροι Ἀχιὰβ καὶ Σεδεκίας. ∆ιὸ καλῶς ὑπὸ τοῦ ∆ανιὴλ ὁ μὲν εἴρηται «πεπαλαιωμένος ἡμερῶν κακῶν·» ὁ δὲ ἤκουσε τό· «Οὕτως ἐποιεῖτε ταῖς θυγατράσιν Ἰσραὴλ, κἀκεῖναι φοβούμεναι ὡμίλουν ὑμῖν· ἀλλ' οὐ θυγάτηρ Ἰούδα ὑπέμεινε τὴν ἀνομίαν ὑμῶν.» Τάχα γὰρ ἀπάτη καὶ φόβος δυνάμενα ἐν ταῖς γυναι- ξὶν, ἐποίει αὐτὰς παρέχειν ἑαυτῶν τὰ σώματα τοῖς λεγομένοις τούτοις πρεσβυτέροις. Ἀλλ' εἰκὸς πρὸς ταῦτά σε ζητήσειν τί δήποτε οὐ φέρεται παρ' αὐτοῖς ἐν τῷ ∆ανιὴλ ἡ ἱστορία, εἰ, ὡς φῂς, τοιαῦτα περὶ αὐτῆς οἱ σοφοὶ αὐτῶν παραδιδόασι. Λεκτέον δὲ πρὸς ταῦτα, ὅτι ὅσα δεδύνηνται τῶν περιεχόντων κατηγορίαν πρεσβυτέρων, καὶ ἀρ- χόντων, καὶ κριτῶν, περιεῖλον ἀπὸ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ λαοῦ, ὧν τινὰ σώζεται ἐν ἀποκρύφοις. Καὶ τούτου παράδειγμα δώσομεν τὰ περὶ τὸν Ἡσαΐαν ἱστορούμενα, καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς πρὸς Ἑβραίους Ἐπιστολῆς μαρτυρούμενα, ἐν οὐδενὶ τῶν φανερῶν βιβλίων γεγραμμένα· περὶ γὰρ τῶν προφητῶν διεξερχόμενος, καὶ ὧν πεπόνθασιν, ὁ τὴν πρὸς Ἑβραίους γράψας φησίν· «Ἐλιθάσθησαν, ἐπρίσθησαν, ἐν φόνῳ μαχαίρας ἀπέθανον.» Πευσόμεθα γὰρ ἐπὶ τίνα ἀναφέρηται τὸ, «ἐπρίσθησαν,» κατά τι ἔθος ἀρχαῖον οὐ μόνον Ἑβραϊκὸν, ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἑλληνικὸν, πληθυντικῶς λεγόμενον περὶ ἑνός. Σαφὲς δ' ὅτι αἱ παραδόσεις λέγουσι πεπρίσθαι Ἡσαΐαν τὸν προφήτην· καὶ ἔν τινι ἀποκρύφῳ τοῦτο φέρεται· ὅπερ τάχα ἐπίτηδες ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων ῥερᾳδιούργηται, λέξεις τινὰς τὰς μὴ πρεπούσας παρεμβεβληκότων τῇ γραφῇ, ἵν' ἡ ὅλη ἀπιστηθῇ· ἀλλ' εἰκός τινα, θλιβόμενον ἀπὸ τῆς εἰς ταῦτα ἀποδείξεως, συγχρήσασθαι τῷ βουλήματι τῶν ἀθετούντων τὴν Ἐπιστολὴν, ὡς οὐ 11.68 Παύλῳ γεγραμμένην· πρὸς ὃν ἄλλων λόγων κατ' ἰδίαν χρῄζομεν εἰς ἀπόδειξιν τοῦ εἶναι Παύλου τὴν ἐπιστολήν. Παραθήσομαι οὖν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἀπὸ τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου τὰ ὑπὸ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ περὶ τῶν προφητῶν μαρτυρούμενα, καὶ ἱστορίαν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ προφητῶν μαρτυρούμενα, καὶ ἱστορίαν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ μὲν λεγομένην, ἐν δὲ ταῖς παλαιαῖς Γραφαῖς μὴ φερομένην, ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτὴ κατηγορίαν περιέχει τῶν ἀνόμων ἐν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ κριτῶν ἔχει δὲ οὕτως ἡ ὑπὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος εἰρημένη λέξις. «Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταὶ, ὅτι οἰκοδομεῖτε τοὺς τάφους τῶν προφητῶν καὶ κοσμεῖτε τὰ μνημεῖα τῶν δικαίων, καὶ λέγετε· Εἰ ἦμεν ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν, οὐκ ἂν ἦμεν κοινωνοὶ αὐτῶν ἐν τῷ αἵματι τῶν προφητῶν. Ὥστε μαρτυρεῖτε ἑαυτοῖς, ὅτι υἱοὶ ἐστὲ τῶν φονευσάντων τοὺς προφήτας. Καὶ ὑμεῖς πληρώσατε τὸ μέτρον τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν. Ὄφεις, γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, πῶς φύγητε ἀπὸ τῆς κρίσεως τῆς γεέννης; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἰδοὺ ἀποστέλλω πρὸς ὑμᾶς προφήτας, καὶ σοφοὺς, καὶ γραμματεῖς. Ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀποκτενεῖτε, καὶ σταυρώσετε, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν μαστιγώσετε ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς ὑμῶν, καὶ διώξετε ἀπὸ πόλεως εἰς πόλιν, ὅπως ἔλθῃ ἐφ' ὑμᾶς πᾶν αἷμα δίκαιον ἐκχυνόμενον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος Ἄβελ τοῦ δικαίου ἕως τοῦ αἵματος Ζαχαρίου υἱοῦ Βαραχίου, ὃν ἐφονεύσατε μεταξὺ τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου. Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ὅτι ἥξει ταῦτα πάντα ἐπὶ τὴν γενεὰν ταύτην.» Καὶ τὸ ἑξῆς δὲ τούτων, οὐκ ἀπᾴδει τῶν προκειμένων οὕτως ἔχον· Ἱερουσαλὴμ, Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἡ ἀποκτείνασα τοὺς προφήτας, καὶ λιθοβολοῦσα τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένους πρὸς αὑτήν· ποσάκις ἠθέλησα ἐπισυναγαγεῖν τὰ τέκνα σου, ὃν τρόπον ὄρνις συνάγει τὰ νοσσία