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At this very time the so-called Sphinx also appeared, a woman ugly and beastly in nature, who, having lost her husband, and having gathered a band of robbers and having occupied a difficult place, murdered those passing by and deprived Thebes of its necessities. (3) Oedipus therefore, having formed a most clever plan for killing the Sphinx, took noble countrymen from the estate where he was raised, pretending that he wished to plunder with her and, watching for an opportunity, he kills her with a spear, and brings her forth to the city. The Thebans, marveling, proclaimed him king. (4) And when a battle took place Laius, having been struck in the head with a stone, is killed; and Jocasta, fearing to be cast out from the kingdom, marries Oedipus, and appoints him king. And he serves the people, and rules for 19 years, and begets with Jocasta 2 sons and 2 daughters. (5) But after some time, when Jocasta asked about his parents, he mentioned Meliboeus who had raised him; and she sent for him; and he said that he was not his son, but that he had found him in the woods; and learning the time, she found that he was her son, and told Oedipus. And he, hearing this, took nails and pierced his eyes and died along with his mother Jocasta. SECOND DISCOURSE. 1. Since it is necessary to say how the people of that time honored polytheism, we must speak, beginning from here. A certain Serug, descended from the tribe of Japheth, handed down a doctrine to honor the men who had long ago died and excelled either through images or through statues, and for these to be worshipped yearly as if they were still living, and to perform memorials for them and to be inscribed in the priestly books, and to name them gods as benefactors. From this polytheism and idolatry were introduced. This persisted among them until the time of Terah, the father of Abraham. For he was a maker of statues and from various materials he fashioned images for the city, and said that these were gods and ought to be worshipped as the causes of good things. From there this opinion spread to most of the races of men, but especially in Greece. For these had already accepted such an error, and they honored Hellen the giant who was descended from the tribe of Japheth and who had been a participant in the building of the tower, on account of which the tongues of men were divided, and they were called articulate. 9Exc. De virt.: That idolatry began from a certain Serug, descended from the tribe of Japheth, who decreed that those who had excelled in ancient times be honored with images and statues, and be honored as benefactors. And this prevailed until the time of Terah, the father of Abraham. But Abraham, having become righteous and having come to the knowledge of God and having reasoned that his father was leading the people astray, preparing them to worship idols and images, and not to know God the creator of all, having smashed the works of his father, departed from Haran of the borders of the Chaldeans, the land between the rivers, and dwelt in the parts of what is now called Palestine beyond the Jordan river, he himself and his relatives and Lot the son of his brother, in the seventy-fifth year of his life. So there are from the flood until Abraham 1403 years. And from Adam until Abraham 3745. And Abraham became very rich in many cattle, and their cohabitation did not have room for them. And he gave Lot to dwell in the parts beyond the Jordan. At which time two cities were destroyed, Sodom and Gomorrah, when divine fire broke out upon them, because they outraged the strangers who passed by. 10 Exc. Salmas.: The river is called Jordan, because two rivers mix together, Jor and Dan, and they make it up, as Plutarch says. Concerning the Jordan from the history of Philostorgius. "At the farthest borders of Palestine, after which the of the

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Καθ' ὃν δὴ χρόνον καὶ ἡ λεγομένη Σφὶγξ ἐφάνη, γυνὴ δυσειδὴς καὶ θηριώδης τὴν φύσιν, ἥτις ἀποβαλοῦσα τὸν ἄνδρα, καὶ λῃστρικὴν συναγαγοῦσα χεῖρα καὶ τόπον καταλαβοῦσα δύσβατον τοὺς παριόντας ἐφόνευε καὶ τὰς Θήβας τῶν ἀναγκαίων ἐστένου. (3) Ὁ οὖν Οἰδίπους δεινότατον τι βουλευσάμενος ἐς τὸ ἀναιρεῖν τὴν Σφίγγα, ἔλαβεν ἐκ τοῦ κτήματος ὅπου ἀνετράφη ἀγροίκους γενναίους, προσποιούμενος θέλειν ἑαυτὸν μετ' αὐτῆς λῃστεύειν καὶ ἐπιτηρήσας καιρὸν λόγχῃ ἀναιρεῖται ταύτην, καὶ προάγει εἰς τὴν πόλιν. Οἱ δὲ Θηβαῖοι θαυμάσαντες ἀναβοῶσιν αὐτὸν βασιλέα. (4) Μάχης δὲ γενομένης Λάϊος λίθῳ τὴν κεφαλὴν βληθεὶς ἀναιρεῖται· Ἰοκάστη δὲ φοβουμένη τῆς βασιλείας ἐκπεσεῖν ἄγει τὸν Οἰδίποδα, καὶ χειροτονεῖ βασιλέα. Καὶ θεραπεύει τὸ πλῆθος, καὶ βασιλεύει χρόνους ιθʹ, καὶ τίκτει μετ' Ἰοκάστης υἱοὺς βʹ καὶ θυγατέρας βʹ. (5) Μετὰ δέ τινα χρόνον ἐρωτησάσης Ἰοκάστης περὶ τῶν γονέων αὐτοῦ, εἶπε Μελίβοιον τὸν θρεψάμενον· ἡ δὲ μετεστείλατο αὐτόν· καὶ εἶπε μὴ εἶναι τούτου υἱὸν, ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ ὕλῃ εὑρεῖν· καὶ μαθοῦσα χρόνον εὗρεν ὅτι υἱὸς αὐτῆς ὑπῆρχε, καὶ εἶπε τῷ Οἰδίποδι. Ὁ δὲ ἀκούσας ἔλαβεν ἥλους καὶ πήξας τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἀπέθανεν ἅμα μητρὶ Ἰοκάστῃ. ΛΟΓΟΣ ∆ΕΥΤΕΡΟΣ. 1. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἀναγκαῖον εἰπεῖν ὅπως οἱ τότε ἄνθρωποι πολυθεΐαν

ἐτίμησαν, λεκτέον ἡμῖν ἐντεῦθεν ἀρχομένοις. Σερούχ τις ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Ἰάφεθ φυλῆς καταγόμενος δόγμα παρέδωκε τιμᾶσθαι

τοὺς πάλαι τελευτήσαντας καὶ ἀριστεύσαντας ἄνδρας ἢ διὰ εἰκόνων ἢ διὰ ἀνδριάντων, καὶ τούτους προσκυνεῖσθαι κατ' ἔτος ὡς ἔτι ζῶντας, καὶ μνήμας αὐτῶν ἐκτελεῖν καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἱερατικαῖς ἀναγράφεσθαι βίβλοις, καὶ θεοὺς αὐτοὺς ὀνομάζειν ὡς εὐεργέτας. Ἐντεῦθεν εἰσήχθη ἡ πολυθεΐα καὶ ἡ εἰδωλολατρία. Τοῦτο δὲ διέμεινε παρ' αὐτοῖς μέχρι τῶν χρόνων Θάρρα τοῦ πατρὸς Ἀβραάμ. Ἦν γὰρ ἀγαλματοποιὸςκαὶ ἀπὸ διαφόρων ὑλῶν τῇ πόλει εἰκόνας ἐργαζόμενος καὶ λέγων τούτους εἶναι θεοὺς καὶ ὀφείλειν προσκυνεῖσθαι ὡς αἰτίους τῶν ἀγαθῶν. Ἐντεῦθεν δὲ διέδραμεν ἡ τοιαύτη δόξα εἰς τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένη, μάλιστα δὲ ἐν Ἑλλάδι. Ἤδη γὰρ ἦσαν οὗτοι τὴν τοιαύτην ἀναδεξάμενοι πλάνην, καὶ τιμήσαντες Ἕλληνα τὸν γίγαντα τὸν ἀπὸ φυλῆς τοῦ Ἰάφεθ καταγόμενον καὶ τῆς πυργοποΐας κοινωνὸν γενόμενον, δι' ἣν ἐμερίσθησαν αἱ γλῶτται τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ἐκλήθησαν μέροπες. 9Exc. De virt.: Ὅτι ἡ εἰδωλολατρεία ἤρξατο ἀπὸ Σερούχ τινος καταγομένου ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς τοῦ Ἰάφεθ, δογματίσαντος εἰκόσι καὶ ἀνδριᾶσι τιμᾶσθαι τοὺς πάλαι ἀριστεύσαντας, καὶ τιμᾶσθαι ὡς εὐεργέτας. Καὶ τοῦτο ἐπεκράτησε μέχρι τῶν χρόνων Θάρρα τοῦ πατρὸς Ἀβραάμ. Ἀβραὰμ δὲ δίκαιος γενόμενος καὶ εἰς θεογνωσίαν ἐλθὼν καὶ λογισάμενος ὅτι ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους πλανᾷ, παρασκευάζων αὐτοὺς εἰδώλοις καὶ ἀγάλμασι προσκυνεῖν, καὶ ποιητὴν ἁπάντων μὴ γνωρίζειν θεὸν, συντρίψας τὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἔργα, ἀνεχώρησεν ἀπὸ Καρρῶν ὅρων Χαλδαίων τῆς μέσης τῶν ποταμῶν χώρας, καὶ ᾤκησεν εἰς τὰ μέρη τῆς νυνὶ καλουμένης Παλαιστίνης πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου ποταμοῦ αὐτὸς καὶ οἱ αὐτοῦ συγγενεῖς καὶ Λὼτ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ, πέμπτῳ καὶ ἑβδομηκοστῷ ἔτει τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ζωῆς. Εἰσὶν οὖν ἀπὸ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ ἕως Ἀβραὰμ ἔτη αυγʹ. Ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ἕως τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ γψμεʹ. Ἐγένετδὲ Ἀβραὰμ πλούσιος σφόδρα ἐν κτήνεσι πολλοῖς, καὶ οὐκ ἐχώρει αὐτοὺς ἡ συνοικία αὐτῶν. Καὶ ἔδωκε Λὼτ οἰκεῖν τὰ πέραν τοῦ Ἰορδάνου. Καθ' ὃν δὴ χρόνον ἀπώλοντο δύω πόλεις Σόδομά τε καὶ Γόμορρα, θείου πυρὸς καταρραγέντος ἐπ' αὐτὰς, διότι τοὺς παριόντας ἐνύβριζον ξένους. 10 Exc. Salmas.: Ἰορδάνης λέγεται ὁ ποταμὸς, διότι δύο ἅμα μίγνυνται ποταμοὶ, Ἰόρ τε καὶ ∆άνης, καὶ ἀποτελοῦσιν αὐτὸν, ὥς φησι Πλούταρχος. Περὶ τοῦ Ἰορδάνου ἀπὸ τῆς ἱστορίας Φιλοστοργίου. «Ἐπ' ἐσχάτοις τῆς Παλαιστίνης τέρμασι, μεθ' ἣν ἡ τῶν