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Holding the true account in high esteem and having set myself with zeal to trace out what is accurate; setting out from this point, in the work before this one, while providing materials for myself, I collected all sorts of chronicles, of the kingdoms of the Chaldeans, Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Lydians, Hebrews, Egyptians, Athenians, Argives, Sicyonians, Lacedaemonians, Corinthians, Thessalians, Macedonians, Latins, who were later given the name Romans; in all, they come to 15. 74 And in the present work, having brought the times together into the same place and set them side-by-side in parallel, I have made a composition of a chronological canon of the number of years for each nation, and having found among the Hebrews different accounts of the times, the one longer, the other shorter, I did not seize upon the one that suited me, I mean the longer one, but I pursued the shorter one; but even so, I found that during the time of Inachus, whom the Greeks say was the first to reign over Argos, the forefather of the Hebrews, Israel, was born, from whom the twelve-tribe nation of the Jews was deemed worthy of the name of Israel, and during the time of Semiramis, Abraham, a Chaldean by race, but otherwise a man beloved of God and believed to be the first of the prophets among the Hebrews, and Moses, to speak truly, while younger than these, was more ancient than all those recounted in the antiquities among the Greeks, I mean Homer and Hesiod, and the Trojan affairs 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 the deeds of Zeus himself that are remembered among the Greeks; for the children of the Greeks hand down the history of all these things as being later than the age of Cecrops. And the present comparison of the times establishes that Moses lived in the time of Cecrops the two-natured, who they say first reigned over Attica, about 350 years before the Trojan War. That Eusebius himself has testified to the absurdity of his own argument is sufficient for the understanding of those who have had some share in education, both of other kinds and of that which is acknowledged in ancient histories. For this one thing alone would have been enough to overturn what he has written, namely, to have fallen into opposition with so many opinions of such great philosophical men, and to have introduced his own unsubstantiated account. For these things, being introduced in opposition to the opinions of the many, or rather of all, would scarcely be accepted even with much proof by those who know well how to judge these matters. But that he is seen to have deceived both himself and the truth on the basis of three other hypotheses is clear from this. For having said that he found different accounts of the times among the Hebrews, one longer, one shorter, and that he followed the latter, he is firstly mistaken; for he has used the version of the Seventy, which is longer than the two—the one according to the 75 Hebrew text and the one among the Samaritans—as he says in the first book. Besides, even if he were telling the truth in using the shorter one, he has acted far from the aim of a truth-lover. For truth is the mean of the contemplative virtue, avoiding deficiencies and additions as vices and falsehoods, and in turn, concerning practical virtue, the means are virtues, while vices are attested in relation to subtractions. Therefore, he has not done well, then, in following a deficient text concerning the times. For falsehood accompanies both addition and deficiency equally, even if the evil is diametrically opposed. And he errs from the truth also in saying that Moses, in the time of Cecrops the two-natured, was more ancient than all the gods and mysteries among the Greeks, and of the deeds of Zeus himself, which opinion among the Greeks holds to be later than the age of Cecrops; that Zeus first of women united with Niobe, the daughter of Inachus; But Inachus, according to the composition of Eusebius, precedes Cecrops by three hundred years; and so it is also, nearly, according to Africanus. But also this very Eusebius, concerning Zeus and Niobe, and Phoroneus and Inachus, set these things down in his canon in the 50th year of Jacob. This Phoroneus of Inachus and Niobe

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περὶ πολλοῦ τὸν ἀληθῆ λόγον τιμώμενος καὶ τὸ ἀκριβὲς ἀν ιχνεῦσαι διὰ σπουδῆς προὐθέμην· ἔνθεν ὁρμηθεὶς ἐν μὲν τῇ πρὸ ταύτης συντάξει ὕλας ἐκπορίζων ἐμαυτῷ χρόνων ἀναγραφὰς συνελεξάμην παν τοίας, βασιλείας τε Χαλδαίων, Ἀσσυρίων, Μήδων, Περσῶν, Λυδῶν, Ἑβραίων, Αἰγυπτίων, Ἀθηναίων, Ἀργείων, Σικυωνίων, Λακεδαιμονίων, Κορινθίων, Θετταλῶν, Μακεδόνων, Λατίνων, οἷς ὕστερον γέγονεν ἐπίκλην ὄνομα Ῥωμαῖοι· ὁμοῦ γίνονται ιεʹ. 74 Ἐν δὲ τῷ παρόντι ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ τοὺς χρόνους συναγαγὼν καὶ ἀντιπαραθεὶς ἐκ παραλλήλου τὸν παρ' ἑκάστῳ ἔθνει τῶν ἐτῶν ἀριθμὸν χρονικοῦ κανό νος σύνταξιν ἐποιησάμην, εὑρών τε παρ' Ἑβραίοις διαφόρους τῶν χρόνων ἀποδόσεις, τὴν μὲν πλεονάζουσαν, τὴν δὲ ἐλλείπουσαν, οὐ τὴν ἐμαυτῷ κεχρησμένην, λέγω δὲ τὴν πλήθουσαν, ἥρπασα, τὴν δὲ ἐνδέουσαν μετῆλθον· πλὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ οὕτω κατὰ μὲν Ἴναχον, ὃν πρῶτον Ἕλληνες Ἄργους βασιλεῦσαί φασι, τῶν Ἑβραίων προπάτορα Ἰσραὴλ γενόμενον εὗρον, ἐξ οὗ τὸ δωδεκάφυλον τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους τῆς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἐπωνυμίας ἠξιώθη, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Σεμίραμιν τὸν Ἀβραάμ, Χαλδαῖον μὲν τὸ γένος, ἄλλως δὲ ἄνδρα θεοφιλῆ καὶ πρῶτον τῶν παρ' Ἑβραίοις προφητῶν εἶναι πεπιστευ μένον, Μωυσέα δέ, φιλαλήθως εἰπεῖν, τούτων μὲν νεώτερον, τῶν δὲ παρ' Ἕλλησιν ἀρχαιολογουμένων ἁπάντων πρεσβύτατον, Ὁμήρου λέγω καὶ Ἡσιόδου, καὶ αὐτῶν γε τῶν Τρωικῶν, καὶ ἔτι ∆ιοσκούρων, Ἀσκληπιοῦ, ∆ιονύσου, ἡρώων τε πάντων, Ἑρμοῦ τε καὶ Ἀπόλλωνος, τῶν τε λοιπῶνπαρ' Ἕλλησι θεῶν, μυστηρίων τε καὶ τελετῶν, ∆ιός τε αὐτοῦ πράξεων τῶν παρ' Ἕλλησι μνημονευομένων· τούτων γὰρ ἁπάντων τὴν ἱστορίαν νεωτέραν τῆς Κέκροπος ἡλικίας παῖδες Ἑλλήνων παραδιδόασι. Μωυσέα δὲ ἡ παροῦσα συνεξέτασις τῶν χρόνων γενέσθαι κατὰ Κέκροπα τὸν διφυῆ, ὃν πρῶτόν φασι τῆς Ἀττικῆς βασιλεῦσαι, συνίστησι πρὸ τῶν Ἰλιακῶν ἀμφὶ τὰ τνʹ ἔτη. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ τὴν ἀτοπίαν τοῦ λόγου μεμαρτύρηκεν Εὐσέ βιος ἀρκεῖ πρὸς κατανόησιν τοῖς γε ποσῶς μετεσχηκόσι παιδεύσεως ἄλλης τε καὶ τῆς ἐν ἱστορίαις παλαιαῖς ὁμολογουμένης. ἓν γὰρ αὐτῷ πρὸς ἀνα τροπὴν τῶν συγγεγραμμένων ἤρκει τοῦτο καὶ μόνον, τὸ ταῖς τοσαύταις τηλικούτων δόξαις ἀνδρῶν φιλοσόφων ἀντιπεσεῖν, ἀμάρτυρόν τε τὴν παρ' ἑαυτοῦ παρεισαγαγεῖν. ταῦτα γὰρ ταῖς τῶν πολλῶν, μᾶλλον δὲ τῶν πάν των δόξαις ἀντεισαγόμενα, μόλις ἂν καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς προσδεχθεῖεν τῆς ἀποδείξεως παρὰ τοῖς εὖ εἰδόσι ταῦτα κρίνειν. ὅτι δὲ καὶ ἐξ ἑτέρων τριῶν ὑποθέσεων ἑαυτόν τε καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν ὦπται παραλογισάμενος ἐντεῦθεν φανερόν. εἰπὼν γὰρ διαφόρους χρόνων ἀποδόσεις παρ' Ἑβραίοις εὑρηκέναι, τὴν μὲν πλήθουσαν, τὴν δὲ ἐλλείπουσαν, ταύτῃ τε κατακολουθῆσαι, πρῶ τον μὲν διαψεύδεται· τῇ γὰρ πλεοναζούσῃ τῶν δύο, τῆς τε κατὰ τὸ 75 Ἑβραϊκὸν τῆς τε παρὰ Σαμαρείταις, ἐκδόσει τῶν οʹ κέχρηται, ὥς φησιν ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ λόγῳ. Ἄλλως τε, εἰ καὶ ἀληθεύοι χρησάμενος τῇ ἐλλειπούσῃ, πόρρω φιλαλή θους σκοποῦ πέπραχε. τῆς τε γὰρ περὶ τὸ θεωρητικὸν ἀρετῆς μεσότης ἐστὶν ἀλήθεια, τὰς ἐλλείψεις καὶ προσθέσεις ὡς κακίας καὶ ψευδεῖς δια φεύγουσα, τῆς τ' αὖ περὶ τὸ πρακτικὸν ἀρεταὶ μὲν αἱ μεσότητες, κακίαι δὲ πρὸς ὑφαιρέσεις μεμαρτύρηνται. οὐκ ἄρα λοιπὸν εὖ πεποίηκεν ἐξακο λουθήσας ἐλλειπούσῃ γραφῇ περὶ τοὺς χρόνους. ἴσον γάρ, εἰ καὶ ἐκ δια μέτρου τὸ κακόν, τῇ τε προσθήκῃ παρέπεται καὶ τῇ ἐλλείψει τὸ ψεῦδος. διαμαρτάνει δὲ τοῦ ἀληθοῦς κἀν τῷ λέγειν Μωυσέα κατὰ Κέκροπα τὸν διφυῆ πρεσβύτερον πάντων τῶν παρ' Ἕλλησι θεῶν καὶ μυστηρίων, ∆ιός τε αὐτοῦ πράξεων, ἃς νεωτέρας τῆς Κέκροπος ἡλικίας παρ' Ἕλλησι πέ φυκε δόξα· τὸν ∆ία πρώτῃ γυναικῶν μιγῆναι Νιόβῃ τῇ Ἰνάχου· Ἴναχος δὲ κατὰ τὴν Εὐσεβίου σύνθεσιν ἔτεσι τριακοσίοις προτερεύει Κέκροπος· οὕτω δὲ σχεδὸν καὶ κατὰ τὸν Ἀφρικανόν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς οὗτος Εὐσέβιος περὶ ∆ιὸς καὶ Νιόβης, Φορωνέως τε καὶ Ἰνάχου, κατὰ τὸ νʹ ἔτος τοῦ Ἰακὼβ ταῦτα παρέθετο ἐν τῷ κανόνι αὐτοῦ. Φορωνεὺς οὗτος Ἰνάχου καὶ Νιόβης