Chapter XXXI.—The Philosophy of the Christians More Ancient Than that of the Greeks.

But now it seems proper for me to demonstrate that our philosophy is older than the systems of the Greeks. Moses and Homer shall be our limits, each of them being of great antiquity; the one being the oldest of poets and historians, and the other the founder of all barbarian wisdom. Let us, then, institute a comparison between them; and we shall find that our doctrines are older, not only than those of the Greeks, but than the invention of letters.80    Comp. Matt. xiii. 44. [Cogent reasoning with Greeks.] And I will not bring forward witnesses from among ourselves, but rather have recourse to Greeks. To do the former would be foolish, because it would not be allowed by you; but the other will surprise you, when, by contending against you with your own weapons, I adduce arguments of which you had no suspicion. Now the poetry of Homer, his parentage, and the time in which he flourished have been investigated by the most ancient writers,—by Theagenes of Rhegium, who lived in the time of Cambyses, Stesimbrotus of Thasos and Antimachus of Colophon, Herodotus of Halicarnassus, and Dionysius the Olynthian; after them, by Ephorus of Cumæ, and Philochorus the Athenian, Megaclides and Chamæleon the Peripatetics; afterwards by the grammarians, Zenodotus, Aristophanes, Callimachus, Crates, Eratosthenes, Aristarchus, and Apollodorus. Of these, Crates says that he flourished before the return of the Heraclidæ, and within 80 years after the Trojan war; Eratosthenes says that it was after the 100th year from the taking of Ilium; Aristarchus, that it was about the time of the Ionian migration, which was 140 years after that event; but, according to Philochorus, after the Ionian migration, in the archonship of Archippus at Athens, 180 years after the Trojan war; Apollodorus says it was 100 years after the Ionian migration, which would be 240 years after the Trojan war. Some say that he lived 90 years before the Olympiads, which would be 317 years after the taking of Troy. Others carry it down to a later date, and say that Homer was a contemporary of Archilochus; but Archilochus flourished about the 23d Olympiad, in the time of Gyges the Lydian, 500 years after Troy. Thus, concerning the age of the aforesaid poet, I mean Homer, and the discrepancies of those who have spoken of him, we have said enough in a summary manner for those who are able to investigate with accuracy. For it is possible to show that the opinions held about the facts themselves also are false. For, where the assigned dates do not agree together, it is impossible that the history should be true. For what is the cause of error in writing, but the narrating of things that are not true?

31.1 Νῦν δὲ προσήκειν μοι νομίζω παραστῆσαι πρεσβυτέραν τὴν ἡμετέραν φιλοσοφίαν τῶν παρ' Ἕλλησιν ἐπιτηδευμάτων· ὅροι δὲ ἡμῖν κείσονται Μωυσῆς καὶ Ὅμηρος. τῷ γὰρ ἑκάτερον αὐτῶν εἶναι παλαίτατον καὶ τὸν μὲν ποιητῶν καὶ ἱστορικῶν εἶναι πρεσβύτατον, τὸν δὲ πάσης βαρβάρου σοφίας ἀρχηγόν, καὶ ὑφ' ἡμῶν νῦν εἰς σύγκρισιν παραλαμβανέσθωσαν· εὑρήσομεν γὰρ οὐ μόνον τῆς Ἑλλήνων παιδείας τὰ παρ' ἡμῖν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τῆς τῶν γραμμάτων εὑρέσεως ἀνώτερα. μάρτυρας δὲ οὐ τοὺς οἴκοι παραλήψομαι, βοηθοῖς δὲ μᾶλλον Ἕλλησι καταχρήσομαι. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἄγνωμον, ὅτι μηδὲ ὑφ' ἡμῶν παραδεκτόν, τὸ δ' ἂν ἀποδεικνύηται θαυμαστόν, ὅτ' ἂν ὑμῖν διὰ τῶν ὑμετέρων ὅπλων ἀντερείδων ἀνυπόπτους παρ' 31.2 ὑμῶν τοὺς ἐλέγχους λαμβάνω. περὶ γὰρ τῆς Ὁμήρου ποιήσεως γένους τε αὐτοῦ καὶ χρόνου καθ' ὃν ἤκμασεν προηρεύνησαν πρεσβύτατοι μὲν Θεαγένης τε ὁ Ῥηγῖνος κατὰ Καμβύσην γεγονὼς καὶ Στησίμβροτος ὁ Θάσιος καὶ Ἀντίμαχος ὁ Κολοφώνιος Ἡρόδοτός τε ὁ Ἁλικαρνασσεὺς καὶ ∆ιονύσιος ὁ Ὀλύνθιος, μετὰδὲ ἐκείνους Ἔφορος ὁ Κυμαῖος καὶ Φιλόχορος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος Μεγακλείδης τε καὶ Χαμαιλέων οἱ Περιπατητικοί· ἔπειτα γραμματικοὶ Ζηνόδοτος Ἀριστοφάνης Καλλίστρατος Κράτης Ἐρατοσθένης Ἀρίσταρχος Ἀπολλόδωρος. τούτων δὲ οἱ μὲν περὶ Κράτητα πρὸ τῆς Ἡρακλειδῶν καθόδου φασὶν αὐτὸν ἠκμακέναι, μετὰ τὰ Τρωϊκὰ ἐνδοτέρω τῶν ὀγδοήκοντα ἐτῶν· οἱ δὲ περὶ Ἐρατοσθένη μετὰ ἑκατοστὸν ἔτος τῆς Ἰλίου ἁλώσεως· οἱ δὲ 31.3 περὶ Ἀρίσταρχον κατὰ τὴν Ἰωνικὴν ἀποικίαν, ἥ ἐστι μετὰ ἑκατὸν τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη τῶν Ἰλιακῶν· Φιλόχορος δὲ μετὰ τὴν Ἰωνικὴν ἀποικίαν, ἐπὶ ἄρχοντος Ἀθήνησιν Ἀρχίππου, τῶν Ἰλιακῶνὕστερον ἔτεσιν ἑκατὸν ὀγδοήκοντα· οἱ δὲ περὶ Ἀπολλόδωρον μετὰ τὴν Ἰωνικὴν ἀποικίαν ἔτεσιν ἑκατόν, ὃ γένοιτ' ἂν ὕστερον τῶν Ἰλιακῶν ἔτεσι διακοσίοις τεσσαράκοντα. τινὲς δὲ πρὸ τῶν Ὀλυμπιάδων ἔφασαν αὐτὸν γεγονέναι, τοῦτ' ἔστι μετὰ τὴν Ἰλίου ἅλωσιν ἔτεσι τετρακοσίοις. ἕτεροι δὲ κάτω τὸν χρόνον ὑπήγαγον, σὺν Ἀρχιλόχῳ γεγονέναι τὸν Ὅμηρον εἰπόντες· ὁ δὲ Ἀρχίλοχος ἤκμασε περὶ Ὀλυμπιάδα τρίτην καὶ εἰκοστήν, κατὰ Γύγην τὸν Λυδόν, ὕστερον τῶν Ἰλιακῶν ἔτεσι πεντακοσίοις. καὶ περὶ μὲν τῶν χρόνων τοῦ 31.4 προειρημένου ποιητοῦ, λέγω δὲ Ὁμήρου, στάσεώς τε τῶν εἰπόντων τὰ περὶ αὐτὸν καὶ ἀσυμφωνίας τοῖς ἐπ' ἀκριβὲς ἐξετάζειν δυναμένοις αὐτάρκως ἡμῖν ὡς ἐπὶ κεφαλαίων εἰρήσθω. δυνατὸν γὰρ παντὶ ψευδεῖς ἀποφήνασθαι καὶ τὰς περὶ τοὺς λόγους δόξας· παρ' οἷς γὰρ ἀσυνάρτητός ἐστιν ἡ τῶν χρόνων ἀναγραφή, παρὰ τούτοις οὐδὲ τὰ τῆς ἱστορίας ἀληθεύειν δυνατόν. τί γὰρ τὸ αἴτιον τῆς ἐν τῷ γράφειν πλάνης, εἰ μὴ τὸ συντάττειν τὰ μὴ ἀληθῆ;