Chapter XXXV.—Appeal to the Greeks.

The time, then, ye men of Greece, is now come, that ye, having been persuaded by the secular histories that Moses and the rest of the prophets were far more ancient than any of those who have been esteemed sages among you, abandon the ancient delusion of your forefathers, and read the divine histories of the prophets, and ascertain from them the true religion; for they do not present to you artful discourses, nor speak speciously and plausibly—for this is the property of those who wish to rob you of the truth—but use with simplicity the words and expressions which offer themselves, and declare to you whatever the Holy Ghost, who descended upon them, chose to teach through them to those who are desirous to learn the true religion. Having then laid aside all false shame, and the inveterate error of mankind, with all its bombastic parade and empty noise, though by means of it you fancy you are possessed of all advantages, do you give yourselves to the things that profit you. For neither will you commit any offence against your fathers, if you now show a desire to betake yourselves to that which is quite opposed to their error, since it is likely enough that they themselves are now lamenting in Hades, and repenting with a too late repentance; and if it were possible for them to show you thence what had befallen them after the termination of this life, ye would know from what fearful ills they desired to deliver you. But now, since it is not possible in this present life that ye either learn from them, or from those who here profess to teach that philosophy which is falsely so called, it follows as the one thing that remains for you to do, that, renouncing the error of your fathers, ye read the prophecies of the sacred writers,79    Literally, “sacred men.” not requiring from them unexceptionable diction (for the matters of our religion lie in works,80    [A noteworthy apology for early Christian writers.] not in words), and learn from them what will give you life everlasting. For those who bootlessly disgrace the name of philosophy are convicted of knowing nothing at all, as they are themselves forced, though unwillingly, to confess, since not only do they disagree with each other, but also expressed their own opinions sometimes in one way, sometimes in another.

Καιρὸς οὖν ἥκει νῦν πεισθέντας ὑμᾶς, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἕλληνες, ἀπὸ τῶν ἔξωθεν ἱστοριῶν, ὅτι πολλῷ πρεσβύτατος Μωϋσῆς καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ προφῆται γεγόνασιν πάντων τῶν παρ' ὑμῖν σοφῶν γεγενῆσθαι νομισθέντων, τῆς παλαιᾶς μὲν ὑμᾶς τῶν προγόνων ἀποστῆναι πλάνης, ἐντυχεῖν δὲ ταῖς θείαις τῶν προφητῶν ἱστορίαις καὶ γνῶναι παρ' αὐτῶν τὴν ἀληθῆ θεοσέβειαν, οὐ λόγων ὑμῖν ἀπαγγελλόντων τέχνας, οὐδὲ πιθανῶς καὶ πιστευτικῶς λεγόντων (τοῦτο γὰρ ἴδιον τῶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν κλέπτειν ἐθελόντων), ἀλλὰ ἁπλῶς τοῖς ἐπιτυχοῦσιν ὀνόμασί τε καὶ ῥήμασι χρωμένων, καὶ ταῦθ' ὑμῖν ἀπαγγελλόντων ἃ τὸ ἅγιον ἐπ' αὐτοὺς κατελθὸν πνεῦμα τοὺς τὴν ἀληθῆ θεοσέβειαν μανθάνειν βουλομένους δι' αὐτῶν διδάσκειν προῄρηται. Πᾶσαν οὖν αἰδῶ καὶ παλαιὰν ἀνθρώπων πλάνην καὶ τὸν τῶν ὄγκων φαντασιώδη παρωσάμενοι ψόφον, δι' οὗ καὶ τὴν πᾶσαν ἀπόλαυσιν ἔχειν οἴεσθε, ἔχεσθε τῶν ὑμῖν συμφερόντων. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἔσται παρ' ὑμῶν οὐδὲ περὶ τοὺς προγόνους ὑμῶν πλημμελές, εἰ εἰς τὴν ἐναντίαν τρέπεσθαι νυνὶ τῆς ἐξ ἐκείνων βούλεσθε πλάνης, οὓς εἰκὸς ἐν ᾅδου νυνὶ ἐκπρόθεσμον μετάνοιαν μετανοοῦντας ὀδύρεσθαι: οἷς εἰ δυνατὸν ἦν ἐκεῖθεν δηλοῦν ὑμῖν τὰ μετὰ τελευτὴν τοῦδε τοῦ βίου συμβεβηκότα αὐτοῖς, ἔγνωτε ἂν ὅσων ὑμᾶς ἀπαλλάξαι κακῶν προείλοντο. Νυνὶ δὲ ἐπεὶ μὴ δυνατὸν ἐν τῷ παρόντι μήτε παρ' ἐκείνων ὑμᾶς μανθάνειν μήτε μὴν παρὰ τῶν ἐνταῦθα τὴν ψευδώνυμον ταύτην φιλοσοφίαν φιλοσοφεῖν ἐπαγγελλομένων, ἀκόλουθον ὑμῖν ἔσται λοιπὸν τὴν τῶν προγόνων ὑμῶν ἀπωσαμένους πλάνην ἐντυγχάνειν ταῖς τῶν ἱερῶν ἀνδρῶν προφητείαις, μὴ δοκιμότητα φράσεως παρ' αὐτῶν αἰτοῦντας (οὐ γὰρ ἐν λόγοις ἀλλ' ἐν ἔργοις τὰ τῆς ἡμετέρας θεοσεβείας πράγματα), καὶ μαθεῖν παρ' αὐτῶν τὰ αἴτια ὑμῖν τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς ἐσόμενα. Οἱ γὰρ μάτην τὸ τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἐπηρεάζοντες ὄνομα οὐδὲν εἰδότες ἐλέγχονται, ὡς καὶ αὐτοὶ ὁμολογεῖν καὶ ἄκοντες ἀναγκάζονται, δι' ὧν οὐ πρὸς ἀλλήλους στασιάζουσι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἄλλοτε ἄλλως ἐκτίθενται δόξας.