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time the Hebrews [were in] Egypt; and the Chaldeans likewise reaped the greatest benefit from these, for having enslaved them they settled them in Babylon; then from the miracles that happened there concerning both the furnace and the lions they considered them to be worthy 1.46 teachers of truth. And Cyrus the son of Cambyses, having had Daniel as a companion, shared in the lessons of piety; and having subdued the Lydians and taken them as subjects, he surely passed on to his subjects what he had learned from him. That the Pythian, therefore, testified to the truth for the Hebrews, 1.47 and Porphyry recorded the oracle, these things are sufficient to show; but that this man again accuses the philosophers among the Greeks of the greatest ignorance, hear what he says in what he wrote *To Boethus* 1.48 *Concerning the Soul*; and he says these things among many others: "For what argument in philosophy is not disputable?" And to Anebo the Egyptian he has written such things: "I shall begin my friendship toward you from the gods and good daemons and the philosophical tenets related to these; concerning which many things have been said by the Greek philosophers, but for the most part they have been said from conjecture, having their origins in belief." And again after a little: "For among us there is much wrangling, since the good is conjectured from human reasonings; but for those for whom communion with the superior has been devised, this part is always left for 1.49 examination." If, therefore, the doctrines of the philosophers are disputable—for they are the discoveries of human reasonings—, and there is much strife among them and an irreconcilable wrangling, and Porphyry has testified that certain others have communion and conversation with God, for what reason then, my friend, do you depend on human and doubtful arguments, and not accept the 1.50 teachings of men beloved by God? For if you reject them as barbarians, you would be acting contrary to yourselves; for you are also persuaded by Pythagoras, who was a Tyrrhenian according to some, but a Tyrian according to others, and you use the Stagirite as a teacher and you admire the man of Sinope and the others, who had not Greek but barbarian homelands; and we have shown that both Solon and Plato learned a great many things from 1.51 barbarians; and we hear also the Egyptian priest speaking to Solon—and these things are written by Plato in the Timaeus: "O Solon, Solon, you Greeks are always children, and there is no old Greek; for you do not have any learning 1.52 hoary with age." If then the teachings of the Greeks are newer, but those of the Hebrews are most ancient and oldest, and also have the truth flourishing with time, they are clearly to be chosen and preferred over the new and doubtful, or rather, the false and implausibly 1.53 fabricated. But not even the unlearnedness of their language is a sufficient excuse for you; for we have shown that Socrates, the chief of philosophers, was uninitiated in Greek learning, and that Plato preferred the truth above all knowledge and eloquence. But if you accuse the term "faith"—for I have heard 1.54 you saying this too, that we for our part offer no proof of our doctrines, but only enjoin our disciples to believe—, you are most certainly slandering our teaching outright; for we fit the testimony of the facts themselves to our words; but you, in turn, are struck by your own, according to the proverb, 1.55 feathers. For even that much-talked-of Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchus, student of Pherecydes, leader of the Italian school, laid down a law for his students to keep silence for a period of five years and only to lend their ears to the discourse, so that they might receive what was said without dispute and without contention, believing it to be so and not meddling as if in doubt. 1.56 Therefore also those who succeeded him, if anyone demanded proof of what was said, were accustomed to say, "He himself said it," believing [it] to be stronger than any proof and commanding [others] to hold 1.57 the [word] of Pythagoras

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χρόνον Ἑβραῖοι τὴν Αἴγυπτον· καὶ Χαλδαῖοι δὲ ὡσαύ τως ἐκ τούτων μεγίστην ὠφέλειαν ἐδρέψαντο, ἀνδραποδίσαντες γὰρ αὐτοὺς εἰς Βαβυλῶνα κατῴκισαν· εἶτα ἐκ τῶν αὐτόθι γεγε νημένων θαυμάτων περί τε τὴν κάμινον καὶ τοὺς λέοντας ἀξιο 1.46 χρέους εἶναι διδασκάλους ἀληθείας ὑπέλαβον. Καὶ Κύρος δὲ ὁ Καμβύσου, τὸν ∆ανιὴλ ὁμοδίαιτον ἐσχηκώς, τῶν τῆς θεοσεβείας μετέλαχε μαθημάτων· Λυδοὺς δὲ καταστρεψάμενος καὶ τούτους ὑποχειρίους λαβών, μετέδωκε δήπου τοῖς ὑπηκόοις ὧν παρ' ἐκείνου μεμάθηκεν. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν Ἑβραίοις ἀλήθειαν καὶ ὁ Πύθιος ἐμαρτύρησε, 1.47 καὶ ὁ Πορφύριος ἀπεμνημόνευσε τοῦ χρησμοῦ, ἀπόχρη δηλῶσαι καὶ ταῦτα· ὅτι δὲ τῶν παρ' Ἕλλησι φιλοσόφων πλείστην ἄγνοιαν οὗτος πάλιν κατηγορεῖ, ἀκούσατε οἷά φησιν ἐν οἷς Πρὸς Βοηθὸν 1.48 περὶ ψυχῆς ἔγραψεν· λέγει δὲ πρὸς πολλοῖς ἑτέροις καὶ ταῦτα· "Τίς γὰρ λόγος τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ οὐκ ἀμφισβητήσιμος;" Καὶ πρὸς Ἀνεβὼ δὲ τὸν Αἰγύπτιον τοιαῦτα γέγραφεν· "Ἄρξομαι δὲ τῆς πρὸς σὲ φιλίας ἀπὸ θεῶν καὶ δαιμόνων ἀγαθῶν τῶν τε τούτοις ξυγγενῶν φιλοσοφημάτων· περὶ ὧν εἴρηται μὲν πλεῖστα καὶ παρὰ τοῖς Ἑλλήνων φιλοσόφοις, εἴρηται δ' ἐκ στοχασμοῦ τὸ πλέον τὰς ἀρχὰς ἔχοντα τῆς πίστεως." Καὶ αὖθις μετ' ὀλίγα· "Παρὰ μὲν γὰρ ἡμῖν λογομαχία τίς ἐστι πολλή, ἅτε ἐξ ἀνθρωπίνων λογισμῶν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ εἰκαζομένου· οἷς δὲ μεμηχάνη ται πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον ξυνουσία, ἀεὶ παρεῖται τὸ μέρος τοῦτο εἰς 1.49 ἐξέτασιν." Εἰ τοίνυν ἀμφισβητήσιμα μὲν τὰ τῶν φιλοσόφων δόγ ματα-λογισμῶν γάρ ἐστιν ἀνθρωπίνων εὑρέματα-, ἔρις δὲ πολλὴ παρ' αὐτοῖς καὶ λογομαχία τις ἄσπονδος, ἄλλοις δέ τισι τὴν πρὸς Θεὸν ξυνουσίαν τε καὶ ὁμιλίαν ὁ Πορφύριος μεμαρτύ ρηκε, τοῦ δὴ χάριν, ὦ φιλότης, τῶν μὲν ἀνθρωπίνων καὶ ἀμφι βόλων ἐξήρτησθε λόγων, τῶν δὲ θεοφιλῶν ἀνδρῶν οὐ προσίεσθε 1.50 τὰ μαθήματα; Ὡς βαρβάρους μὲν γὰρ εἰ παραιτεῖσθε, ἐναντία ὑμῖν αὐτοῖς ἂν ποιοῖτε· πείθεσθε γὰρ καὶ Πυθαγόρᾳ, Τυρρηνῷ κατά τινας ὄντι, Τυρίῳ δὲ καθ' ἑτέρους, καὶ τῷ Σταγειρίτῃ δὲ κέχρησθε διδασκάλῳ καὶ τὸν Σινωπέα θαυμάζετε καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους, οἳ πατρίδας οὐχ Ἑλληνικάς, ἀλλὰ βαρβάρους ἐσχήκασιν· ἀπε δείξαμεν δὲ καὶ τὸν Σόλωνα καὶ τὸν Πλάτωνα πλεῖστα παρὰ 1.51 βαρβάρων μεμαθηκότας· ἀκούομεν δὲ καὶ τοῦ Αἰγυπτίου ἱερέως πρὸς τὸν Σόλωνα λέγοντος- τοῦ Πλάτωνος δὲ καὶ ταῦτα ἐν τῷ Τιμαίῳ γεγραμμένα· "Ὦ Σόλων, Σόλων, Ἕλληνες ὑμεῖςἀεὶ παῖδές ἐστε, γέρων δὲ Ἕλλην οὐδείς· οὐ γὰρ ἔχετε μάθημα 1.52 χρόνῳ πολιόν." Εἰ δὲ νεώτερα τὰ Ἑλλήνων μαθήματα, πρεσ βύτατα δὲ καὶ παλαιότατα τὰ Ἑβραίων, ἔχει δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐπανθοῦσαν τῷ χρόνῳ, προαιρετέα δηλονότι καὶ προκριτέα τῶν νέων καὶ ἀμφιβόλων, μᾶλλον δὲ ψευδῶν τε καὶ οὐ πιθανῶς 1.53 πεπλασμένων. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὸ ἀπαίδευτον τῆς γλώττης ἱκανὸν ὑμῖν εἰς παραίτησιν· ἐδείξαμεν γὰρ τὸν Σωκράτην, τῶν φιλοσό φων τὸν κορυφαῖον, τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς παιδείας ἀμύητον, καὶ τὸν Πλάτωνα πάσης ἐπιστήμης καὶ εὐγλωττίας προκρίνοντα τὴν ἀλήθειαν. Εἰ δὲ τοῦ τῆς πίστεως κατηγορεῖτε προσρήματος-ἤκουσα 1.54 γὰρ ὑμῶν καὶ τοῦτο λεγόντων, ὡς ἡμεῖς γε ἀπόδειξιν μὲν οὐδεμίαν τῶν ἡμετέρων δογμάτων προσφέρομεν, πιστεύειν δὲ μόνον τοῖς μαθητευομένοις παρεγγυῶμεν-, μάλιστα μὲν ἄντικρυς τὴν ἡμετέραν συκοφαντεῖτε διδασκαλίαν· αὐτῶν γάρ τοι τῶν πραγμά των τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἡμεῖς τοῖς ἡμετέροις ξυναρμόττομεν λόγοις· πάλιν δ' αὖ ὑμεῖς τοῖς ὑμετέροις βέβλησθε, κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν, 1.55 πτίλοις. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Πυθαγόρας ἐκεῖνος ὁ πολυθρύλητος, ὁ Μνη σάρχου μὲν υἱός, Φερεκύδου δὲ φοιτητής, ὁ τῆς Ἰταλικῆς αἱρέ σεως ἡγησάμενος, νόμον ἐτεθείκει τοῖς φοιτηταῖς πενταετῆ χρόνον σιγὴν ἄγειν καὶ μόνον ὑπέχειν τῷ λόγῳ τὰς ἀκοάς, ἵνα ἀναμφισβητήτως καὶ ἀδηρίτως δέχωνται τὰ λεγόμενα, πιστεύ οντες οὕτως ἔχειν καὶ μὴ πολυπραγμονοῦντες ὡς ἐνδοιάζοντες. 1.56 Τῷ τοι καὶ οἱ ἐκεῖνον διαδεξάμενοι, εἴ τις ἀπῄτησε τῶν λεγο μένων ἀπόδειξιν, "Αὐτὸς ἔφα" λέγειν εἰώθεσαν, πάσης ἀπο δείξεως ἰσχυροτέραν καὶ εἶναι νομίζοντες καὶ ἔχειν κελεύοντες 1.57 τὴν Πυθαγόρου