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to be taught by the Hebrews about the God who is. And these things are taught by Plutarch the Boeotian, and also by Porphyry who raged against the truth, and indeed also by Numenius the 1.15 Pythagorean and very many others. And they say that Pythagoras even submitted to circumcision, having learned this from the Egyptians; and the Egyptians received this law from the Hebrews. For when Abraham the patriarch received the commandment of circumcision from the God of all, the race observed it; and it dwelled for a very long time in Egypt, and the Egyptians emulated the Hebrews 1.16. And that it was not of old a law for the Egyptians to circumcise their infants, Pharaoh’s daughter is a worthy witness; for finding Moses cast upon the bank of the river, she immediately saw the circumcision and recognized his race and named the infant a descendant of the Hebrews. 1.17 Those, then, who had gone through every education had such a love for learning, that they despised both wars and the greatest seas and visited barbarian men and collected from everywhere what they considered necessary; But Socrates, the son of Sophroniscus, the best of the philosophers, did not suppose that learning something useful even from women was unworthy of philosophy; for which reason he did not blush to call Diotima his teacher, and indeed he also continually frequented Aspasia 1.18. But most of these men do not even know the 'Wrath' of Achilles, with which the young men are accustomed to begin their famous studies; and others, having gleaned a few things from poets, and a few things from rhetoricians, having not even learned the very names of the philosophers, except for two or three of the famous ones, call the divine scripture barbarian, and have supposed it is shameful to learn the truth from it. And from ignorance 1.19 the affliction of arrogance comes upon them. For if they had read the Greek histories, they would have known, surely, that the Greeks were taught even the distinguished sciences and most of the arts by barbarians. For they say that the Egyptians were the first to have discovered geometry and astronomy; and astrology and genethlialogy are said to be the discovery of the Chaldeans; and the Arabs and Phrygians were the first to devise augury; and that the war-trumpet 1. is the work of the Tyrrhenians, and the pipes of the Phrygians, the tragedies teach, and with them the histories also teach. And the Greeks relate that the Phoenicians discovered letters, and that Cadmus was the first to bring them to Greece; and they say that Apis the Egyptian began medicine, then that Asclepius increased the art; and they say that a boat was first built in Libya 1.21. And that the rites of the Dionysia and the Panathenaea, and indeed of the Thesmophoria and the Eleusinia were brought to Athens by Orpheus, a man of Odrysae, and having arrived in Egypt he transferred the orgies of Isis and Osiris into those of Deo and Dionysus, Plutarch from Chaeronea of Boeotia teaches, and Diodorus Siculus also teaches, and Demosthenes the orator also makes mention and says that Orpheus showed them the most holy rites 1.22. And that also those of Rhea or of Cybele or of Brimo 1.22 (or however you wish, name them; for there is a great abundance of names among you, of things not underlying them)—but nevertheless that the Greeks also transferred her festivals and the things performed in them from Phrygia to Greece, the witnesses already cited 1.23 expressly teach. If then the Greeks were taught both the arts and the sciences and the rites of the demons and the first elements by barbarians and take pride in their teachers, why indeed do you, being unable even to understand the things written by them, refuse to learn the truth from 1.24 men who have received a God-given wisdom? But if, because they did not spring from Greece, you are not willing to lend them your ears, it is time for you to call neither Thales wise, nor Pythagoras a philosopher, nor Pherecydes his teacher. For Pherecydes was a Syrian, not

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παρ' Ἑβραίων τὰ περὶ τοῦ ὄντος διδαχθῆναι Θεοῦ. Καὶ ταῦτα διδάσκει μὲν Πλούταρχος ὁ Βοιώτιος, διδάσκει δὲ καὶ Πορφύριος ὁ κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας λυττήσας, καὶ μέντοι καὶ Νουμήνιος ὁ 1.15 Πυθαγόρειος καὶ ἕτεροι πλεῖστοι. Φασὶ δὲ τὸν Πυθαγόραν καὶ περιτομῆς ἀνασχέσθαι, τοῦτο παρ' Αἰγυπτίων μεμαθηκότα· Αἰγύπτιοι δὲ παρ' Ἑβραίων τόνδε τὸν νόμον παρέλαβον. Ἁβραὰμγὰρ τοῦ πατριάρχου παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων τῆς περιτομῆς δεξαμένου τὴν ἐντολήν, ἐφύλαξε μὲν ταύτην τὸ γένος· ᾤκησε δ' ἐπὶ πλεῖστον τὴν Αἴγυπτον, ἐζήλωσαν δὲ τοὺς Ἑβραίους 1.16 Αἰγύπτιοι. Ὅτι δὲ οὐκ ἦν πάλαι νόμος Αἰγυπτίοις περιτέμνειν τὰ βρέφη, ἡ τοῦ Φαραὼ θυγάτηρ ἀξιόχρεως μάρτυς· τῇ γὰρ ὄχθῃ τοῦ ποταμοῦ προσερριμμένον εὑροῦσα τὸν Μωϋσῆν, εὐθύς τε τὴν περιτομὴν εἶδε καὶ τὸ γένος ἐπέγνω καὶ τῶν Ἑβραίων ἔκγονον τὸ βρέφος ὠνόμασεν. 1.17 Οἱ μὲν οὖν διὰ πάσης ἐληλυθότες παιδείας τοσοῦτον ἔρωτα εἶχον φιλομαθείας, ὡς καὶ πολέμων καὶ πελαγῶν μεγίστων κατα φρονῆσαι καὶ βαρβάροις ἀνδράσι φοιτῆσαι καὶ πανταχόθεν ξυλλέ ξαι ὅπερ ἀναγκαῖον ἐνόμισαν· Σωκράτης δὲ ὁ Σωφρονίσκου, τῶν φιλοσόφων ὁ ἄριστος, οὐδὲ παρὰ γυναικῶν μαθεῖν τι χρήσιμον ὑπέλαβε φιλοσοφίας ἀνάξιον· τῷ τοι καὶ τὴν ∆ιοτίμαν οὐκ ἠρυ θρία προσαγορεύων διδάσκαλον, καὶ μέντοι καὶ παρὰ τὴν Ἀσπα 1.18 σίαν διετέλει θαμίζων. Τούτων δέ γε οἱ πλεῖστοι μὲν οὐδὲ τὴν Μῆνιν ἴσασι τὴν Ἀχιλλέως, ἐξ ἧς ἄρχεσθαι τῶν ἐλλογίμων μαθημάτων εἴωθε τὰ μειράκια· οἱ δέ, ὀλίγα μὲν παρὰ ποιητῶν, ὀλίγα δὲ παρὰ ῥητόρων ἐρανισάμενοι, τῶν δέ γε φιλοσόφων οὐδὲ αὐτὰς τὰς προσηγορίας μεμαθηκότες, πλὴν δυοῖν ἢ τριῶν τῶν ἐπισήμων, βάρβαρον μὲν τὴν θείαν γραφὴν ὀνομάζουσι, μα θεῖν δὲ τἀληθὲς παρ' αὐτῆς αἰσχρὸν ὑπειλήφασιν. Ἐξ ἀγνοίας 1.19 δὲ αὐτοῖς τὸ τῆς ἀλαζονείας ἐπιγίνεται πάθημα. Εἰ γὰρ τὰς Ἑλληνικὰς ἀνεγνώκεσαν ἱστορίας, ἔγνωσαν ἂν δήπουθεν, ὡς καὶ τὰς περιφανεῖς ἐπιστήμας καὶ τῶν τεχνῶν τὰς πλείστας παρὰ βαρβάρων ἐπαιδεύθησαν Ἕλληνες. Γεωμετρίαν μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἀστρονομίαν Αἰγυπτίους πρώτους εὑρηκέναι φασίν· ἀστρολογία δὲ καὶ γενεθλιαλογία Χαλδαίων εὕρημα λέγεται· Ἄραβες δὲ καὶ Φρύγες οἰωνοσκοπικὴν ἐπενόησαν πρῶτοι· ὅτι δὲ καὶ ἡ σάλ 1. πιγξ Τυρρηνῶν ἐστιν ἔργον, καὶ αὐλοὶ Φρυγῶν, διδάσκουσι μὲν αἱ τραγῳδίαι, διδάσκουσι δὲ μετὰ τούτων αἱ ἱστορίαι. Καὶ τὰ γράμματα δέ γε Φοίνικας εὑρηκέναι λογοποιοῦσιν οἱ Ἕλληνες, καὶ τὸν Κάδμον ταῦτα πρῶτον εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα κομίσαι· ἰατρικῆς δὲ ἄρξαι τὸν Ἄπιν φασὶ τὸν Αἰγύπτιον, εἶτα τὸν Ἀσκληπιὸν αὐξῆσαι τὴν τέχνην· σκάφος δὲ πρῶτον ἐν Λιβύῃ ναυπηγηθῆναι 1.21 λέγουσιν. Ὅτι δὲ καὶ τῶν ∆ιονυσίων καὶ τῶν Παναθηναίων, καὶ μέντοι καὶ τῶν Θεσμοφορίων καὶ τῶν Ἐλευσινίων τὰς τελετὰς Ὀρφεύς, ἀνὴρ Ὀδρύσης, εἰς τὰς Ἀθήνας ἐκόμισεκαὶ εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἀφικόμενος τὰ τῆς Ἴσιδος καὶ τοῦ Ὀσίριδος εἰς τὰ τῆς ∆ηοῦς καὶ τοῦ ∆ιονύσου μετατέθεικεν ὄργια, διδάσκει μὲν Πλούταρχος ὁ ἐκ Χαιρωνείας τῆς Βοιωτίας, διδάσκει δὲ καὶ ὁ Σικελιώτης ∆ιόδωρος, μέμνηται δὲ καὶ ∆ημοσθένης ὁ ῥήτωρ καί φησι τὸν Ὀρφέα τὰς ἁγιωτάτας αὐτοῖς τελετὰς κατα 1.22 δεῖξαι. Ὅτι δὲ καὶ τὰ τῆς Ῥέας ἢ τῆς Κυβέλης ἢ τῆς Βριμοῦς 1.22 (ἢ ὅπως ἂν ἐθέλητε, ὀνομάζετε· πολλὴ γὰρ εὐπορία παρ' ὑμῖν ὀνομάτων, οὐχ ὑποκειμένων πραγμάτων)-ἀλλ' ὅμως ὅτι καὶ ταύτης τὰς ἑορτὰς καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐταῖς τελούμενα ἀπὸ Φρυγίας εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα μετεκόμισαν Ἕλληνες, οἱ προκληθέντες ἤδη 1.23 μάρτυρες διαρρήδην διδάσκουσιν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τὰς τέχνας καὶ τὰς ἐπιστήμας καὶ τῶν δαιμόνων τὰς τελετὰς καὶ τὰ πρῶτα στοιχεῖα παρὰ βαρβάρων ἐδιδάχθησαν Ἕλληνες καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς διδασκάλοις ἁβρύνονται, τί δήποτε ὑμεῖς, οὐδὲ ξυνιέναι τὰ ὑπ' ἐκείνων ξυγγε γραμμένα δυνάμενοι, παραιτεῖσθε μαθεῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν παρ' 1.24 ἀνδρῶν θεόσδοτον σοφίαν εἰσδεξαμένων; Εἰ δέ, ὅτι οὐκ ἐκ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἐβλάστησαν, τὰς ἀκοὰς αὐτοῖς ὑπέχειν οὐ βούλεσθε, ὥρα ὑμῖν μήτε Θαλῆν ὀνομάζειν σοφὸν μήτε Πυθαγόραν φιλόσο φον μήτε Φερεκύδην τὸν ἐκείνου διδάσκαλον. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ Φερε κύδης Σύριος ἦν, οὐκ