27

She calls him Moses, having grown to his first stage of manhood; for, she says, I drew him out of the water. And being most beautiful, she adopted him as her son. After these things, Tharbis, the daughter of the king of the Ethiopians, desiring his beauty, betrayed Sabba, the metropolis of Ethiopia; which, in later times, Cambyses, son of Cyrus, having captured it, called Meroe after the name of his sister. They say that once his 1.76 adoptive mother Pharia, bringing him to Pharaoh, he took off the royal crown from his head and placed it on the infant Moses; but he, throwing it down, trampled upon it. That Moses flourished in the times of Inachus of Peloponnesus. And in other places it is found that Israel came to be in the time of Inachus, who first reigned over Argos, from whom the twelve-tribe nation of the Jews was deemed worthy of the name of Israel, and Abraham in the time of Semiramis. But Moses was younger than these, but older than all those whose ancient histories are told among the Greeks, I mean Homer and Hesiod and the Trojan events themselves, and also the Dioscuri, Asclepius, Dionysus, and all the heroes, and Hermes and Apollo and the rest of the gods among the Greeks, and the mysteries and rites, and of Zeus himself and of the deeds remembered among the Greeks. For the children of the Hellenes hand down the history of all these things as being more recent even than the age of Cecrops, but the present comparative study shows that Moses lived in the time of Cecrops, the one of two natures, who first, as they say, ruled Attica, 350 years before Ilium. That from Abraham and Keturah is born Jokshan, from him Dedan, from him Raguel and Jothor who is also Jobab,and from Jothor, Zipporah, whom Moses married, as Demetrius relates, as Eusebius also asserts in his chronicle. And Moses was the seventh from Abraham, but Zipporah was the sixth. As 1.77 Africanus says, that from Esau are born many others and Raguel, from whom Zareth, from whom Job, who by the permission of God was tempted by the devil and conquered the tempter. The divine Abraham indeed again begot five sons from his last wife Keturah, from whom are Midian, from whom the Midianites, and Aphar, from whom Africa, in which he sojourned, the land was named eponymously, just as the land of Ausitis from Esau, in which the blessed and much-suffering and famous Job sprung forth; whom the divine Chrysostom, praising, says, "There was a certain man in the land of Ausitis," proclaiming him both from his nature and from his country, so that just as when you hear he is a man, you marvel that he lived in a way beyond human, so also learning the land from which such a fruit blossomed, you may be astounded at what sort of rose sprouted in the midst of thorns. For he is a descendant of the slandered Esau, as scripture says he is the fifth from Abraham. For, it says, Abraham begot Isaac, and Isaac, Esau,and Esau, Raguel and Zara, and Zara, Job, whobecame a prudent and reverent man, saying thus: "But if my eye has also followed another's wife, I also made a covenant with my eyes." And not only this, but he also offered sacrifices daily on behalf of his own children, saying, "Lest they have conceived evil things against God." Rightly therefore did it say, "And that man was blameless, righteous, God-fearing," and what follows. For the pagan philosophers, giving the definition of man, say: 1.78 Man is a rational, mortal animal. But the divine scripture does not say so, but: A man is God-fearing, blameless, righteous, abstaining from every evil thing, so that one who is not attested in these things is not even a man, but a beast. For if one has the character of nature but insults it by the evil of his will, he will hear from the prophet who says, "Man, being in honor, did not understand; he is compared to the senseless beasts, and is become like them." Just as we, therefore, sending a son or a servant on some business, say, "handle the business like a man" and we make the common term a particular one, so also, even if all are called men, he alone truly

27

πρώτην ἡλικίαν ἀνδρωθέντα Μωϋσέα ὀνομάζει· ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος γάρ, φησίν, αὐτὸν ἀνειλόμην. ὡραιότατον δὲ ὄντα υἱοποιή σατο. τούτου τοῦ κάλλους καὶ Θαρβῆ μετὰ ταῦτα, ἡ θυγάτηρ βασιλέως Αἰθιόπων, ἐπιθυμήσασα, τὴν Σαββὰ μητρόπολιν Αἰ θιοπίας προύδωκεν· ἣν χρόνοις ὕστερον Καμβύσης ἑλὼν ὁ Κύρου Μερόην εἰς ὄνομα τῆς ἀδελφῆς ἐκάλεσε. φασὶ δὲ ὅτι ποτὲ τοῦ 1.76 τον ἡ θετὴ μήτηρ Φαρία τῷ Φαραὼ προσαγαγοῦσα, ἐκεῖνος τὸν ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς στέφανον αὐτοῦ τὸν βασιλικὸν ἀφελὼν περιέθηκε τῷ Μωϋσῇ νηπιάζοντι· ὁ δὲ τοῦτον ῥίψας κατεπάτησεν. Ὅτι Μωϋσῆς ἐν τοῖς χρόνοις Ἰνάχου ἦν ἀκμάζων τοῦ κατὰ Πελοπόννησον. ἐν ἄλλοις δὲ εὕρηται ὅτι κατὰ μὲν Ἴναχον τὸν πρώτως βασιλεύσαντα Ἄργους Ἰσραὴλ γενόμενος, ἐξ οὗ τὸ δωδεκάφυλον τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους τῆς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἐπωνυμίας ἠξιώθη, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σεμίραμιν τὸν Ἀβραάμ. Μωϋσέα δὲ τού των μὲν νεώτερον, τῶν δὲ παρ' Ἕλλησιν ἀρχαιολογουμένων ἁπάν των πρεσβύτατον, Ὁμήρου λέγω καὶ Ἡσιόδου καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν Τρωϊκῶν, καὶ ἔτι ∆ιοσκούρων Ἀσκληπιοῦ ∆ιονύσου ἡρώων τε πάντων, Ἑρμοῦ τε καὶ Ἀπόλλωνος τῶν τε λοιπῶν παρ' Ἕλλησιθεῶν μυστηρίων τε καὶ τελετῶν, ∆ιός τε αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν παρ' Ἕλλησι μνημονευομένων πράξεων. τούτων γὰρ ἁπάντων τὴν ἱστορίαν νεωτέραν καὶ τῆς Κέκροπος ἡλικίας Ἑλλήνων παῖδες παραδιδόασι, Μωϋσέα δὲ ἡ παροῦσα συνεξέτασις κατὰ Κέκροπα τὸν διφυῆ γενέσθαι δείκνυσιν, ὃς πρῶτος, ὥς φασι, τῆς Ἀττι κῆς ἐβασίλευσε, πρὸ τνʹ ἐτῶν τοῦ Ἰλίου. Ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ τῆς Χεττούρας γεννᾶται Ἰεξάν, ἐκ τούτου ∆αδάμ, ἐκ τούτου Ῥαγουὴλ καὶ Ἰοθὸρ ὁ καὶ Ἰοβάβ,ἐκ δὲ Ἰοθὸρ Σεπφόρα, ἣν ἔγημε Μωϋσῆς, καθὼς ἱστορεῖ ∆η μήτριος, ὡς φάσκει καὶ Εὐσέβιος ἐν τῷ χρονικῷ. καὶ Μωϋσῆς μὲν ἀπὸ Ἀβραὰμ ἕβδομος, ἡ δὲ Σεπφόρα ἕκτη. ὡς δὲ λέγει ὁ 1.77 Ἀφρικανός, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ Ἠσαῦ ἄλλοι τε πολλοὶ καὶ Ῥαγουὴλ γεννᾶται, ἀφ' οὗ Ζαρέθ, ἐξ οὗ Ἰώβ, ὃς κατὰ συγχώρησιν θεοῦ ὑπὸ διαβόλου ἐπειράσθη καὶ ἐνίκησε τὸν πειράζοντα. ὁ δέ γε θεῖος Ἀβραὰμ ἐγέννησε πάλιν υἱοὺς ἐκ τῆς ἐσχάτης αὐτοῦ γυναι κὸς Χεττούρας πέντε, ἀφ' ὧν ἐστὶ Μαδιάμ, ἐξ οὗ Μαδιανῖται, καὶ Ἄφαρ, ἐξ οὗ Ἀφρική, ἐν ᾗ παρῴκησεν, ἡ χώρα προσηγορεύθη παρωνύμως, ὥσπερ Αὐσῖτις ἡ χώρα ἐκ τοῦ Ἠσαῦ, ἐν ᾗ ἀνεβλάστησεν ὁ μακάριος καὶ πολύτλας καὶ διαβόητος Ἰώβ· ὃν ἐγκωμιάζων ὁ θεῖος Χρυσόστομος λέγει "ἄνθρωπός τις ἦν ἐν χώρᾳ τῇ Αὐσίτιδι," κηρύττων αὐτὸν καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς φύσεως καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς χώρας, ἵν' ὥσπερ ἀκούσας αὐτὸν ἄνθρωπον θαυμάζεις ὅτι ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον ἐπολιτεύσατο, οὕτω μαθὼν καὶ τὴν χώραν ἐξ ἧς ὁ τοιοῦτος καρπὸς ἤνθησεν, ἐκπλαγῇς ὁποῖον ῥόδον ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ἀκανθῶν ἐβλάστησεν. ἐπίγονος γάρ ἐστι τοῦ διαβαλλομένου Ἠσαῦ, καθὼς ἡ γραφὴ πέμπτον αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ λέγει. Ἀβραὰμ γάρ, φησίν, ἐγέννησε τὸν Ἰσαάκ, Ἰσαὰκ δὲ τὸν ἨσαῦἨσαῦ δὲ τὸν Ῥαγουὴλ καὶ τὸν Ζάρα, Ζάρα δὲ τὸν Ἰώβ, ὃςἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος σώφρων καὶ σεμνός, λέγων οὕτως "εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐπηκολούθησεν ὁ ὀφθαλμός μου γυναικὶ ἀλλοτρίᾳ, καὶ διαθήκην διεθέμην τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς μου." οὐ μὴν δὲ ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν οἰκείων τέκνων θυσίας προσῆγε καθ' ἡμέραν, φάσκων "μήποτε κακὰ ἐνενόησαν πρὸς τὸν θεόν." εἰκότως οὖν ἔφη "καὶ ἦν ὁ ἄν θρωπος ἐκεῖνος ἄμεμπτος δίκαιος θεοσεβὴς" καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἔξω φιλόσοφοι τὸν ὅρον δηλοῦντες τοῦ ἀνθρώπου φασίν· 1.78 ἄνθρωπός ἐστι ζῷον λογικὸν θνητόν, ἡ δὲ θεία γραφὴ οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλ' ἄνθρωπός ἐστι θεοσεβής, ἄμεμπτος, δίκαιος, ἀπεχόμενος ἀπὸ παντὸς πονηροῦ πράγματος, ὡς ὅγε τούτοις μὴ μεμαρτυρη μένος οὐδὲ ἄνθρωπος ἀλλὰ κτῆνος ἐστίν. ἐὰν γὰρ ἔχῃ τὸν χαρα κτῆρα τῆς φύσεως ὑβρίζῃ δὲ αὐτὸν τῇ κακίᾳ τῆς προαιρέσεως, ἀκούσεται παρὰ τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος "ἄνθρωπος ἐν τιμῇ ὢν οὐ συνῆκε, παρασυνεβλήθη τοῖς κτήνεσι τοῖς ἀνοήτοις, καὶ ὡμοιώθη αὐτοῖς." ὥσπερ τοίνυν καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀποστέλλοντες υἱὸν ἢ οἰκέτην ἐπί τινα πρᾶξιν λέγομεν "ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἅψαι τῆς πρά ξεως" καὶ τὸ κοινὸν ποιούμεθα ἴδιον, οὕτως εἰ καὶ πάντες ἄν θρωποι λέγονται, μόνος ἐκεῖνος ἀληθῶς