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Since we have been exercised in these matters a little and not unprofitably, let us go up to the first charge, and answer those who question us as to who we are and whence we come. e. THAT WE DID NOT WITHDRAW FROM THE SUPERSTITIOUS ERROR OF OUR FATHERS

WITHOUT SOBER REASONING That we, being Greeks by race and holding Greek opinions, gathered as chosen men from all manner of nations as from a newly-levied army, have become apostates from the superstition of our fathers, we would never ourselves deny; but also that, while attending to the Jewish books and drawing from their prophecies the most part of our doctrine, we no longer think it agreeable to live in the same manner as those of the circumcision, and 1.5.11 this too we would at once confess. It is time therefore to offer a reasoned account of these things. How then could we seem to have done well in abandoning the ways of our fathers, unless we first set them forth in the midst and brought them under the eyes of our readers? For so would the divine power of the gospel demonstration also become manifest, if it were set before the eyes of all, 1.5.12 of what and what kind of evils it proclaims the cure. And how could the reasonableness of our pursuit of the Jewish writings be shown, unless their excellence were also demonstrated? And for what reason, while embracing their scriptures, we turn away from the like manner of life, it would be well to discuss; and in addition to all, what is our account of the gospel's subject matter and what Christianity might properly be called, being neither Hellenism nor Judaism, but a certain new and true wisdom of God, bringing with it from its very name 1.5.13 its innovation. Come then, let us first of all examine the most ancient, and indeed our own ancestral theologies, still even now commonly reported in every city, and the revered opinions of the noble philosophers concerning the constitution of the world and concerning the gods, so that we may know whether we rightly apostatized from them, or 1.5.14 not. And I shall not use my own words in setting forth what is to be shown, but those of the very men who have made piety towards those whom they call gods a matter of special zeal, so that my account may stand clear of all suspicion that we are inventing things. 1.6.1 The account holds, therefore, that the Phoenicians and Egyptians were the first of all men to declare the sun and moon and stars to be gods, and the sole causes of the generation and corruption of all things, and then to introduce into life the deifications and theogonies celebrated by all; 1.6.2 but that before these times no one knew anything more than the phenomena of the heaven, except for a few men mentioned among the Hebrews, who with the purest eyes of the mind looked beyond all that is seen and revered the World-maker and Creator of all things, marveling exceedingly at His so great wisdom and power, which they discerned from His works, and being persuaded that He alone is God, they rightly spoke of Him alone as God, receiving and preserving this true and first and only piety, son from fa1.6.3 ther. But the rest of mankind, having fallen away from this sole and true piety, being astounded in their souls like infants at the luminaries of the heavens with the eyes of the flesh, both proclaimed them gods and honoured them with sacrifices and acts of worship, not building temples nor fashioning images of mortals in statues and carved figures, but looking up to the ether and heaven itself and reaching with their souls only as far as the things seen here. 1.6.4 But the polytheistic error did not stop here for later men, but driving them into a greater abyss of evils it wrought an impiety worse than atheism, the Phoenicians and then the Egyptians having begun the error; from whom they say that Orpheus son of Oeagrus first

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ὀλίγῳ τούτων ἡμῖν οὐκ εἰς ἄχρηστον προγεγυμνασμένων ἀνίωμεν ἐπὶ τὴν πρώτην κατηγορίαν, καὶ τίνες ὄντες καὶ πόθεν ὁρμώμενοι τοῖς διερωτῶσιν ἀποκρινώμεθα. εʹ. ΟΤΙ ΜΗ ΑΝΕΥ ΣΩΦΡΟΝΟΣ ΛΟΓΙΣΜΟΥ ΤΗΣ ΠΑΤΡΙΟΥ ∆ΕΙΣΙ∆ΑΙΜΟΝΟΣ

ΠΛΑΝΗΣ ΑΝΕΧΩΡΗΣΑΜΕΝ Ὅτι μὲν οὖν τὸ γένος Ἕλληνες ὄντες καὶ τὰ Ἑλλήνων φρονοῦντες ἐκ παντοίων τε ἐθνῶν ὡς ἂν νεολέκτου στρατιᾶς λογάδες συνειλεγμένοι τῆς πατρίου δεισιδαιμονίας ἀποστάται καθεστήκαμεν, οὐδ' ἂν αὐτοί ποτε ἀρνηθείημεν· ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅτι ταῖς Ἰουδαϊκαῖς βίβλοις προσανέχοντες κἀκ τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς προφητειῶν τὰ πλεῖστα τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς λόγου συνάγοντες οὐκέθ' ὁμοίως ζῆν τοῖς ἐκ περιτομῆς προσφιλὲς ἡγούμεθα, καὶ 1.5.11 τοῦτ' ἂν αὐτόθεν ὁμολογήσαιμεν. ὥρα τοιγαροῦν τούτων τὸν αἰτιολογισμὸν ὑποσχεῖν. πῶς οὖν ἄλλως δόξαιμεν εὖ πεποιηκέναι τὰ πάτρια καταλείψαντες εἰ μὴ πρῶτον εἰς μέσον αὐτὰ παραθέμενοι καὶ ἀγαγόντες ὑπ' ὄψιν τῶν ἐντευξομένων; οὕτω γὰρ ἂν γένοιτο φανερὰ καὶ τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς ἀποδείξεως ἡ θεία δύναμις, εἰ τοῖς πᾶσι πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν τεθείη, 1.5.12 τίνων καὶ ὁποίων κακῶν τὴν ἴασιν εὐαγγελίζεται. πῶς δ' ἂν τὸ εὔλογον τῆς τῶν Ἰουδαϊκῶν γραμμάτων μεταδιώξεως φανείη μὴ οὐχὶ καὶ τῆς τούτων ἀρετῆς ἀποδειχθείσης; τίνι τε λόγῳ τὰς παρ' αὐτοῖς γραφὰς ἀσπαζόμενοι τὸν ὅμοιον τοῦ βίου τρόπον ἀποκλίνομεν, καλῶς ἂν ἔχοι διελθεῖν καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι, τίς ὁ καθ' ἡμᾶς τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς ὑποθέσεως λόγος καὶ τίς ἂν κυρίως λεχθείη ὁ Χριστιανισμός, οὔτε Ἑλληνισμὸς ὢν οὔτε Ἰουδαϊσμός, ἀλλά τις καινὴ καὶ ἀληθὴς θεοσοφία, ἐξ αὐτῆς 1.5.13 τῆς προσηγορίας τὴν καινοτομίαν ἐπαγομένη. φέρ' οὖν πρῶτον ἁπάντων τὰς παλαιοτάτας καὶ δὴ καὶ τὰς πατρίους ἡμῶν αὐτῶν θεολογίας κατὰ πᾶσαν πόλιν εἰσέτι καὶ νῦν τεθρυλημένας ἐπιθεωρήσωμεν τάς τε σεμνὰς τῶν γενναίων φιλοσόφων περί τε κόσμου συστάσεως καὶ περὶ θεῶν διαλήψεις, ἵνα γνῶμεν εἴτε καὶ ὀρθῶς ἀπέστημεν αὐτῶν, εἴτε 1.5.14 καὶ μή. θήσω δὲ οὐκ ἐμὰς φωνὰς ἐν τῇ τῶν δηλουμένων ἐκφάνσει, ἀλλ' αὐτῶν δὴ τῶν μάλιστα τὴν περὶ οὕς φασι θεοὺς εὐσέβειαν περισπούδαστον πεποιημένων, ὡς ἂν ὁ λόγος ἁπάσης ἐκτὸς τῆς περὶ τὸ πλάττεσθαι ἡμᾶς ὑπονοίας κατασταίη. 1.6.1 Φοίνικας τοιγαροῦν καὶ Αἰγυπτίους πρώτους ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων κατέχει λόγος ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ ἀστέρας θεοὺς ἀποφῆναι μόνους τε εἶναι τῆς τῶν ὅλων γενέσεώς τε καὶ φθορᾶς αἰτίους, εἶτα δὲ τὰς παρὰ τοῖς πᾶσιν βοωμένας θεοποιίας τε καὶ θεογονίας εἰσηγήσασθαι τῷ 1.6.2 βίῳ· πρὸ δέ γε τούτων μηδένα μηδὲν πλέον τῶν κατ' οὐρανὸν φαινομένων εἰδέναι, ὀλίγων ἐκτὸς ἀνδρῶν τῶν παρ' Ἑβραίοις μνημονευομένων, οἳ διανοίας καθαρωτάτοις ὄμμασι πᾶν τὸ ὁρώμενον ὑπερκύψαντες τὸν κοσμοποιὸν καὶ τῶν ὅλων δημιουργὸν ἐσεβάσθησαν, ὑπερθαυμάσαντες τῆς τοσαύτης αὐτὸν σοφίας τε καὶ δυνάμεως, ἣν ἐκ τῶν ἔργων ἐφαντάσθησαν, καὶ μόνον εἶναι θεὸν πεισθέντες μόνον εἰκότως ἐθεολόγησαν, τὴν ἀληθῆ καὶ πρώτην καὶ μόνην ταύτην εὐσέβειαν παῖς παρὰ πα1.6.3 τρὸς διαδεξάμενοι καὶ φυλάξαντες. οἵ γε μὴν λοιποὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τῆσδε τῆς μόνης καὶ ἀληθοῦς ἀποπεσόντες εὐσεβείας τὰ φωσφόρα τῶν οὐρανίων σαρκὸς ὀφθαλμοῖς οἷα νήπιοι τὰς ψυχὰς καταπλαγέντες θεούς τε ἀνεῖπον καὶ θυσίαις τε καὶ προσκυνήσεσιν ἐγέραιρον, οὐ νεὼς δειμάμενοι οὐδ' ἀφιδρύμασι καὶ ξοάνοις θνητῶν εἰκόνας πλασάμενοι, πρὸς αἰθέρα δὲ καὶ αὐτὸν οὐρανὸν ἀποβλέποντες καὶ μέχρι τῶν τῇδε ὁρω1.6.4 μένων ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἐφικνούμενοι. ἀλλ' οὐ τῇδε ἄρα καὶ τοῖς μετέπειτα ἀνθρώποις τὰ τῆς πολυθέου πλάνης περιίστατο, ἐλαύνοντα δὲ εἰς βυθὸν κακῶν μείζονα τῆς ἀθεότητος τὴν δυσσέβειαν ἀπειργάζετο, Φοινίκων, εἶτα Αἰγυπτίων ἀπαρξαμένων τῆς πλάνης· παρ' ὧν φασι πρῶτον Ὀρφέα τὸν Οἰάγρου