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responsible, whether existing by some better fate beyond mortal nature or however constituted, having initiated the curious teaching of sorcery among men, are said to have handed down to life the devices of it and of other evil-natured trickery, so that the entire human race came under one sentence 7.8.17 of judgment from God. And when all were about to be destroyed by a single nod, this one alone, who is now being indicated by us, was found righteous in his generation, together with his household. When indeed all on earth were being utterly destroyed by a flood, and the earth itself was being cleansed of its former evils by a sudden inundation of waters, the God-beloved man, together with his sons and their wives, was most miraculously preserved by God as a living seed for the life 7.8.18 thereafter. And this man would become a living and breathing archetypal image for those born from him, having provided a pattern of a God-beloved way of life. 7.8.19 Such were those before the flood; and after this were others again, distinguished for piety, whose memory the sacred oracles preserve. One of these has been proclaimed priest of the most high God, being called a righteous king in the Hebrew 7.8.20 language. To all of these indeed there was not one word of the circumcision of the body, nor of the Jewish precepts of Moses; wherefore it is not right to call them Jews, nor yet Greeks, because they did not believe in many gods like the Greeks or the other nations. But they might more properly be called Hebrews, either from Eber or even rather from the interpretation of the 7.8.21 name. For they are interpreted as "passers-over," having set out on the passage and contemplation from the things here to the God of all things. For they are recorded as having directed the right path of virtue by natural reasonings and unwritten laws, and having passed beyond the pleasures of the flesh to the all-wise and God-fearing life 7.8.22. And among all these, let Abraham also be numbered for us, who is acclaimed the patriarch of the whole nation, to whose righteousness the oracles testify, not again that which is from the law of Moses, for it did not yet exist then; at any rate, Moses appeared in the seventh generation after Abraham, but nevertheless this man also is proclaimed righteous and pious, 7.8.23 if any other man was, similarly to those indicated above. For the scripture says: “And Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.” The divine oracle foretells that this man would be "a father of many nations" and says expressly that "in him" "all the nations of the earth and all the tribes" would be blessed, prophesying plainly the things now being fulfilled among 7.8.24 us. But that Abraham, after his perfection in righteousness, which was accomplished for him not through the law of Moses but through faith, and after the recorded theophanies, when in his old age he was about to be called the father of a legitimate son, was the first of all to circumcise his body according to an oracle, handing this down to be performed also by those born of him, whether as a manifest sign of the great multitude of children from him, or so that his children might have an ancestral mark, whether they lived according to the zeal of their forefathers or fell short of their virtue, or for any other reasons whatsoever, which there is no leisure now 7.8.25 to investigate. Such, then, was this man also, and we pray to imitate and emulate him along with the others. And after Abraham, Isaac is shown to be the successor of his father's knowledge of God and love for God, having received this from his father as the most beautiful and thrice-blessed of all inheritances. the divine oracles say that this man, having come together with one wife, engaged in procreation once; whereby he was shown to be the father of twin offspring, and is said, through an excess of self-control, to have limited his intercourse with his wife to this. 7.8.26 Here let Jacob, also called Israel, be introduced to you, a man who became of two names on account of the varying progress of his own virtues. For when indeed, being trained in practical and moral ways and

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αἴτιοι, εἴτε τινὸς κρείττονος μοίρας ἢ κατὰ θνητῶν φύσιν ὑπάρξαντες εἴθ' ὁπωσοῦν κατεσκευασμένοι, τῆς ἐν ἀνθρώποις περιέργου διδασκαλίας ἀπάρξαντες γοητείας καὶ τῆς ἄλλης κακοτρόπου μαγγανείας ἐπιτεχνήματα λέγονται παραδοῦναι τῷ βίῳ, ὥστε πᾶν τὸ ἀνθρώπειον γένος μιᾶς ὑπὸ ψῆφον 7.8.17 γενέσθαι παρὰ θεῷ δίκης. καὶ δὴ πάντων ἑνὶ νεύματι διαφθείρεσθαι μελλόντων, μόνος εἷς οὗτος ὁ νῦν ἡμῖν δηλούμενος δίκαιος ἐν τῇ γενεᾷ αὐτοῦ σὺν καὶ τοῖς οἰκείοις εὕρηται. πάντων δῆτα τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς κατακλυσμῷ διολλυμένων καὶ τῆς γῆς αὐτῆς ὑδάτων ἀθρόᾳ πλημμύρᾳ τῶν προτέρων κακῶν ἀποκαθαιρομένης ὁ θεοφιλὴς σὺν παισὶν ἅμα καὶ γυναιξὶ τῷ μετὰ ταῦτα 7.8.18 βίῳ ζώπυρον σπέρμα παραδοξότατα πρὸς τοῦ θεοῦ τετήρηται. γένοιτο δ' ἂν καὶ οὗτος ἀρχέτυπος εἰκὼν ζῶσα καὶ ἔμψυχος τοῖς ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεγενημένοις ὑπόδειγμα τρόπου θεοφιλοῦς παρεσχημένος. 7.8.19 Καὶ οἱ μὲν πρὸ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ τοιοίδε· οἱ δὲ μετὰ τοῦτον ἐπ' εὐσεβείᾳ διαπρεπεῖς ἄλλοι πάλιν, ὧν τὴν μνήμην τὰ ἱερὰ διασῴζει λόγια. τούτων τις ἱερεὺς ἀνείρηται τοῦ ὑψίστου θεοῦ, βασιλεὺς δίκαιος τῇ Ἑβραίων προση7.8.20 γορίᾳ χρηματίσας. τούτοις δὴ πᾶσιν οὐδὲ εἷς σώματος περιτομῆς λόγος ἦν, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τῶν Μωσέως Ἰουδαϊκῶν παραγγελμάτων· διόπερ αὐτοὺς οὐδὲ Ἰουδαίους φάναι δίκαιον οὐδέ γε Ἕλληνας, ὅτι μηδὲ πλείους θεοὺς ὁμοίως Ἕλλησιν ἢ τοῖς λοιποῖς ἔθνεσιν ἡγοῦντο. Ἑβραῖοι δ' ἂν κυριώτερον ἐπικληθεῖεν, ἤτοι παρὰ τὸν Ἕβερ ἢ καὶ μᾶλλον παρὰ τὴν ἑρμηνείαν τῆς 7.8.21 προσηγορίας. περατικοὶ γάρ τινες ἑρμηνεύονται, τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν τῇδε ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ τῶν ὅλων θεοῦ διάβασίν τε καὶ θεωρίαν στειλάμενοι. φυσικοῖς γάρ τοι λογισμοῖς καὶ νόμοις ἀγράφοις τὴν ὀρθὴν τῆς ἀρετῆς διευθύναντες πορείαν καὶ πέραν τῶν σαρκὸς ἡδονῶν ἐπὶ τὸν πάνσοφον καὶ θεοσεβῆ βίον διαβεβηκότες 7.8.22 ἀναγράφονται. ἐν δὴ τούτοις ἡμῖν ἅπασι καὶ ὁ βοώμενος τοῦ παντὸς ἔθνους γενάρχης Ἁβραὰμ κατηριθμήσθω, ᾧ μαρτυρεῖ τὰ λόγια δικαιοσύνην, οὐ τὴν ἐκ νόμου πάλιν Μωσέως, ὅτι μηδὲ ἦν πω τότε μετὰ γοῦν τὸν Ἁβραὰμ ἑβδόμῃ γενεᾷ Μωσῆς ἀναπέφηνε, πλὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ οὗτος δίκαιος καὶ εὐσεβής, 7.8.23 εἰ καί τις ἄλλος, ἀνείρηται, τοῖς ἄνωθεν δεδηλωμένοις παραπλησίως. λέγει δ' οὖν ἡ γραφή· «Καὶ ἐπίστευσεν Ἁβραὰμ τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην.» «πατέρα» δὴ «πολλῶν ἐθνῶν» ὁ θεῖος χρησμὸς τοῦτον ἔσεσθαι προαγορεύει διαρρήδην τε εὐλογηθήσεσθαι «ἐν αὐτῷ» φησι «πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τῆς γῆς καὶ πάσας τὰς φυλάς,» ἄντικρυς τὰ νῦν καθ' ἡμᾶς συντε7.8.24 λούμενα θεσπίζων. ἀλλ' ὅ γε Ἁβραὰμ ἐκεῖνος μετὰ τὴν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ τελείωσιν οὐ διὰ τοῦ Μωσέως νόμου, διὰ δὲ πίστεως κατωρθωμένην αὐτῷ μετά τε τὰς ἀναγράπτους θεοφανείας ἐπ' αὐτῷ γήρᾳ μέλλων γνησίου παιδὸς χρηματίζειν πατὴρ πρῶτος ἁπάντων κατὰ χρησμὸν τὸ σῶμα περιτέμνεται, τοῦτο καὶ τοῖς ἐξ αὐτοῦ γινομένοις ἐπιτελεῖν παραδούς, εἴτε εἰς ἐμφανῆ σημείωσιν τῆς τῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ παίδων πολυπληθείας εἴτε καὶ ὡς ἔχοιεν οἱ παῖδες πάτριον γνώρισμα, ἤτοι βιοῦντες κατὰ τὸν τῶν προγόνων ζῆλον ἢ τῆς ἐκείνων ἀρετῆς ἀπολειπόμενοι, εἴτε καθ' ἑτέρας οἱασδηποτοῦν αἰτίας, ἃς οὐ νῦν 7.8.25 σχολὴ πολυπραγμονεῖν. τοιόσδε μὲν οὖν καὶ οὗτος ἡμεῖς τε καὶ τοῦτον μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἀπομιμεῖσθαι καὶ ζηλοῦν εὐχόμεθα. μετὰ δὲ τὸν Ἁβραὰμ Ἰσαὰκ τῆς πατρῴας ὁμοῦ θεογνωσίας τε καὶ θεοφιλείας διάδοχος ἀναδείκνυται, κλήρων ἁπάντων τοῦτον κάλλιστόν τε καὶ τρισμακάριον τοῦ πατρὸς διαδεδεγμένος. μιᾷ τοῦτον γαμετῇ τὰ θεῖά φησι λόγια συνελθόντα μιᾷ χρήσασθαι παιδοποιίᾳ· καθ' ἣν διδύμου γονῆς ἀποδειχθεὶς πατὴρ εἰς τοῦτο περιγράψαι τὴν πρὸς τὴν γαμετὴν ὁμιλίαν ὑπερβολῇ σωφροσύνης λέγεται. 7.8.26 ἐνταῦθά σοι καὶ Ἰακώβ, ὁ καὶ Ἰσραήλ, εἰσήχθω, διώνυμός τις γεγονὼς ἀνὴρ παρὰ τὴν τῶν οἰκείων ἀρετῶν διαλλάττουσαν προκοπήν. ὅτε μὲν οὖν ἐγγυμναζόμενος τοῖς πρακτικοῖς ἤθεσί τε καὶ