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as he was intently passing by, as the story goes, then insulting him with the vehemence of her impulse, she uttered a word; and this greatly pleased the young man, and being more laboriously measured, did it create this wonderful poem of yours? What of the rest? But if you are proud of your weapons, from whom did you get the weapons, O most noble one? Not from the Cyclopes, from whom comes smithing? But if the purple dye is a great and greatest of things to you, from which you are wise, and a lawgiver of such things; what? will you not attribute this to the Tyrians, from whom the shepherd dog, having eaten the sea-snail, and stained its lips blood-red, made known the flower of the dye to the shepherd, and through these things delivered to you kings the mournful for the wicked and haughty rag? As for agriculture and shipbuilding, what shall we say, if the Athenians drive us off, relating the stories of Demeter and Triptolemus, and the dragons, and also Celeus and Icarius, and all the mythology about these things, which also made these things a shameful mystery for you, and truly worthy of the night?

ΡΘʹ. Do you wish, leaving aside other matters, that I should run back to the main point of your madness, or rather, your impiety? but from where do you have the being initiated, and the initiating, and the worshipping? Not from the Thracians, and let the name persuade you? And sacrificing, is it not from the Chaldeans, or rather, the Cyprians? And astronomy, is it not Babylonian? And geometry, is it not Egyptian? And magic, is it not Persian? And divination through dreams, of whom do you hear it but the Telmessians? And augury, from whom? from none other than the Phrygians, who first meticulously studied the flight and movements of birds? And, so as not to speak at length, from where do you have each individual thing? is it not one thing from each? all of which, having come together into the same thing, has one mystery of superstition been established? What then? shall we accept, that when all things have departed to their first authors and inventors, we have nothing of our own except wickedness, and this innovation concerning the Divine? For you, first among Christians, devised a revolt against the Master, just as the slaves once did against the Scythians, as they say. It would indeed be worth a great deal, if this evil company of yours were dissolved, according to your own definitions and laws, so that we might be rid of troubles, and again it were possible to see the Roman rule in its ancient prosperity, freed from all civil strife; which is far more to be avoided and more terrible than war from without, inasmuch as it is more to be avoided to consume one's own flesh than that of others.

ΡΙʹ. But if these things seem to you to be the villainy of one clothed in smoothness, and far from royal magnificence, come, I will set before you things even more cunning than these. For seeing our doctrine to be great both in its teachings and its testimonies from above, the same both old and new; old in its prophecies, and in the gleaming movements of the divinity; but new in the last theophany, and in the wonders from it and about it; and yet greater and more renowned by the traditions handed down, and the types of the Church preserved to this day; so that not even this might remain un-assailed by his villainy, what does he devise, and what does he do? He imitates Rabshakeh the Assyrian; who was, it seems, a general for Sennacherib, the king of the Assyrians. This man, having marched against Judea, and with a great force and hand besieging Jerusalem, and sitting down before the city. since he was able neither by force to subdue the city, nor was anything within given up to him by traitors, he attempts to win over the city with gentle words and in their own language. It is said that the besieged, understanding this, first refused this, commanding that they be addressed in Syriac, but not in Hebrew, as they might perhaps be stolen into slavery by the gentleness of the speech.

ΡΙΑʹ. And so this man, having this in mind, was ready to establish schools in every city, and platforms and chairs, and lower seats, and readings and expositions of Hellenic doctrines, both those that regulate character and those of a more hidden nature; and a form of prayers in part, and of that for sinners according to measure

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συντόνως ἀντιπαριόντος, ὡς λόγος, εἶτ' ἐνυβρίζουσα τῷ σφοδρῷ τῆς ὁρμῆς, ἔπος ἐφθέγξατο· καὶ τοῦτ' ἀρέσαν τῷ νεανίᾳ λίαν, καὶ φιλοπονώτερον με τρηθὲν τὴν θαυμασίαν σου ταύτην ἐδημιούργησε ποίησιν; Τί τἄλλα; Εἰ δὲ τοῖς ὅπλοις μέγα φρο νεῖς, παρὰ τίνων σοι τὰ ὅπλα, ὦ γενναιότατε; Οὐ τῶν Κυκλώπων, ἐξ ὧν τὸ χαλκεύειν; Εἰ δέ σοι μέγα καὶ μέγιστον τῶν ὄντων ἡ ἁλουργὶς, ἐξ ἧς σο φὸς σὺ, καὶ τῶν τοιούτων νομοθέτης· τί; οὐκ ἀπο θήσῃ ταύτην Τυρίοις, παρ' ὧν ἡ ποιμενικὴ κύων, ἡ τῇ κόχλῳ βρωθείσῃ, καὶ τὰ χείλη καθαιμα ξάσῃ, τῷ ποιμένι τὸ ἄνθος γνωρίσασα, καὶ διὰ τού των παραδοῦσα τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν ὑμῖν τὸ πένθιμον τοῖς κακοῖς ῥάκος καὶ ὑπερήφανον; Γεωργίας δὲ καὶ ναυπηγίας, τί φήσομεν, ἂν ἀπελαύνωσιν ἡμᾶς Ἀθη ναῖοι, τὰς ∆ήμητρας καὶ τοὺς Τριπτολέμους διηγού μενοι, καὶ τοὺς δράκοντας, ἔτι δὲ Κελεούς τε καὶ Ἰκαρίους, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν περὶ ταῦτα μυθολογίαν, ἣ καὶ μυστήριον ὑμῖν αἰσχρὸν ταῦτα ἐποίησε, καὶ νυκτὸς ὄντως ἄξιον;

ΡΘʹ. Βούλει, τἄλλα παρεὶς, ἐπ' αὐτὸ τὸ κεφάλαιον ἀναδράμω τῆς σῆς ἐμπληξίας, εἴτ' οὖν θεοβλα 35.645 βείας; αὐτὸ δὲ πόθεν σοι τὸ μυεῖσθαι, καὶ τὸ μυεῖν, καὶ τὸ θρησκεύειν; Οὐ παρὰ Θρᾳκῶν, καὶ ἡ κλῆσις πειθέτω σε; Τὸ θύειν δὲ οὐ παρὰ Χαλ δαίων, εἴτ' οὖν Κυπρίων; Τὸ ἀστρονομεῖν δὲ οὐ Βα βυλώνιον; Τὸ δὲ γεωμετρεῖν οὐκ Αἰγύπτιον; Τὸ δὲ μαγεύειν οὐ Περσικόν; Τὴν δὲ δι' ὀνείρων μαν τικὴν τίνων ἢ Τελμησέων ἀκούεις; Τὴν οἰωνιστικὴν δὲ τίνων; οὐκ ἄλλων ἢ Φρυγῶν, τῶν πρώτων περιεργασαμένων ὀρνίθων πτῆσίν τε καὶ κινήματα; Καὶ, ἵνα μὴ μακρολογῶ, πόθεν σοι τὸ καθ' ἕκαστον; οὐχ ἓν ἐξ ἑκάστων; ὧν πάντων εἰς ταυτὸ συνελθόν των, ἓν δεισιδαιμονίας συνέστη μυστήριον; Τί οὖν; δεξόμεθα, πάντων ἀποχωρησάντων εἰς τοὺς πρώτους τε καὶ τοὺς εὑρομένους, μηδὲν ἔχειν ἡμέτε ρον πλὴν τῆς κακίας, καὶ τῆς περὶ τὸ Θεῖον ταύτης καινοτομίας; Πρῶτος γὰρ Χριστιανῶν ἐπανάστασιν τῷ ∆εσπότῃ, καθάπερ οἱ δοῦλοί ποτε τοῖς Σκύθαις, ὥς φασιν, ἐπενόησας. Πολλοῦ μέντ' ἂν ἄξιον ἦν, εἴ σοι διελύθη τὸ πονηρὸν τοῦτο σύνταγμα, κατὰ τοὺς σοὺς ὅρους καὶ νόμους, ἵν' ἡμεῖς ἦμεν πραγμάτων ἀπηλλαγμένοι, καὶ πά λιν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀρχαίας εὐδαιμονίας τὴν Ῥωμαϊκὴν ἀρχὴν ὁρᾷν ὑπῆρχε, πάσης ἀπηλλαγμένην ἐμφυλίου στάσεως· ὃ τοῦ παρὰ τῶν ἔξωθεν πολέμου πολλῷ φευκτότερόν ἐστι καὶ φοβερώτερον, ὅσῳ τὰς οἰκείας δαπανᾷν σάρκας τῶν ἀλλοτρίων φευκτότερον. ΡΙʹ. Εἰ δὲ ταῦτά σοι κακουργίας εἶναι δοκεῖ τὸ 35.648 λεῖον ἠμφιεσμένης, καὶ πόῤῥω βασιλικῆς μεγαλοπρε πείας, φέρε, σοι παραστήσω καὶ τὰ τούτων ἔτι κερ δαλεώτερα. Ὁρῶν γὰρ τὸν ἡμέτερον λόγον μέγαν μὲν ὄντα τοῖς δόγμασι καὶ ταῖς ἄνωθεν μαρτυρίαις, τὸν αὐτὸν παλαιόν τε καὶ νέον· παλαιὸν μὲν ταῖς προῤῥήσεσι, καὶ τοῖς ὑπαστράπτουσι κινή μασι τῆς θεότητος· νέον δὲ τῇ τελευταίᾳ θεοφα νείᾳ, καὶ τοῖς ἐκ ταύτης τε καὶ περὶ ταύτην θαύμα σιν· ἔτι δὲ μείζω καὶ γνωριμώτερον τοῖς παραδεδο μένοις, καὶ εἰς τόδε τετηρημένοις τύποις τῆς Ἐκ κλησίας· ἵνα μηδὲ τοῦτο ἀκακούργητον μένῃ, τί μηχανᾶται, καὶ τί ποιεῖ; Μιμεῖται Ῥαψάκην τὸν Ἀσσύριον· ἐστρατήγει δὲ ἄρα τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν Ἀσσυρίων Σεναχηρείμ. Οὗτος, ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰουδαίαν στρατεύσας, καὶ δυνάμει πολλῇ καὶ χειρὶ τὰ Ἱερο σόλυμα πολιορκῶν, καὶ τῇ πόλει προσκαθεζόμενος. ἐπειδὴ μήτε δυνάμει παραστήσασθαι τὴν πόλιν οἷός τε ἦν, μήτε τι τῶν ἔνδον αὐτῷ παρὰ τῶν προδο τῶν ἐνεδίδοτο, λόγοις ἡμέροις καὶ ὁμογλώσσοις ὑπο ποιεῖσθαι τὴν πόλιν ἐπιχειρεῖ. Ὃ δὴ συνέντας λέγεται τοὺς πολιορκουμένους, τοῦτο παραιτήσασθαι πρῶτον, Συριστὶ λαλεῖσθαι αὐτοῖς, ἀλλὰ μὴ Ἑβραϊστὶ κελεύσαντας, ὡς τάχα ἂν εἰς δουλείαν κλαπεῖσι τῷ ἡμέρῳ τῆς διαλέξεως.

ΡΙΑʹ. Τοῦτο δὴ καὶ οὗτος διανοηθεὶς, διδασκαλεῖα μὲν ἱδρύσασθαι κατὰ πᾶσαν πόλιν ἕτοιμος ἦν, βή ματά τε καὶ προεδρίας, καὶ ὑφεδρίας, Ἑλληνικῶν τε δογμάτων ἀναγνώσεις καὶ ἀναπτύξεις, ὅσαι τε ἦθος ῥυθμίζουσι, καὶ ὅσαι τῆς ἐπικρύψεως· εὐ χῶν τε τύπον ἐν μέρει, καὶ τῆς τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων κατὰ μέτρον