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who was said to have had the worse of it, I would have advised you to persuade Peter himself not to try to contend with Simon. And I said: Our lord Peter, if he did not know that he alone prevails over that man's power, would not, when sending us ahead, have enjoined us to learn secretly the facts about Simon and write to him. However, since evening had come on, we partook of some salt and went to sleep. In the morning, a certain acquaintance of Bernice came and said that Simon had sailed away to Sidon, but that of his disciples he had left behind Appion Pleistoneices, an Alexandrian man, a grammarian by profession, whom I recognized as a friend of my father's, and Annoubion, a certain astrologer from Diospolis, and Athenodorus the Athenian, who was pleased with the teaching of Epicurus. But we, having learned the news about Simon, in the morning wrote everything and sent it off to Peter, and turned aside for a walk. And Appion met us, not only with the two aforementioned companions, but also with about thirty other men. And as soon as he saw me, he greeted and kissed me and said: This is Clement, about whose nobility and gentlemanly bearing I have spoken much to you, that though a man of the family of Tiberius Caesar and trained in all Greek culture, by a certain barbarian, Peter by name, he has been deceived into doing and saying Jewish things. Wherefore I ask you to join me in the effort to correct him. And in your presence I ask him. Let him tell me, since he thinks he has given himself over to piety, how he is not most impious, having abandoned his ancestral customs and turned aside to barbarian ways. And I answered: I accept your good intention toward me, but I reject your ignorance. For your intention is good, because you wish me to be in those things which you think are good; but your knowledge, not being correct, strives to lay a snare under the pretext of friendship. And Appion said: Does it seem to you to be ignorance, while observing ancestral customs, to hold the beliefs of the Greeks? And I answered: He who chooses to be pious must not in every case observe ancestral customs, but must observe them if they are pious, and reject them if they happen to be impious. For it is possible for someone who is the son of an impious father, wishing to be pious, not to wish to follow his father. And Appion answered: What then? Did you say that your father was of a bad life? And I said: He was not of a bad life, but of a bad opinion. And Appion: What was his bad notion? I wish to hear. And I said: That he believed the false and evil myths of the Greeks. And Appion asked: Which are these false and evil myths of the Greeks? And I said: The incorrect opinion concerning the gods, which, if you are patient, you will hear along with those who love learning. Therefore, before our discussions, let us now withdraw to some quieter place; there I will discourse with you. And the reason why I wish to speak privately is this, because neither the many nor all the philosophers themselves genuinely approach the judgment of things that are. For we know many even of those who think highly of themselves for their philosophy are vainglorious or have put on the philosopher's cloak for the sake of making money and not for the sake of virtue itself, who, if they do not find—

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λεχθεὶς τὸ ἧττον ἀπηνέγκατο, συνεβούλευσα ἂν ὑμῖν καὶ αὐτὸν πείθειν τὸν Πέτρον μὴ πειρᾶσθαι ἀντεξετάζεσθαι τῷ Σίμωνι. Κἀγὼ ἔφην· Ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Πέτρος, εἰ ἠγνόει ὅτι αὐτὸς μόνος κατισχύει τῆς ἐκείνου δυναστείας, οὐκ ἂν ἡμᾶς προπέμπων ἐνετέλλετο, λανθανόντως τὰ κατὰ Σίμωνα διαμανθάνοντας αὐτῷ γράφειν. ὁμῶς ἐπεὶ ἑσπέρα κατειλήφει, ἁλῶν μεταλαβόντες ὑπνώσαμεν. ἕωθεν δέ τις τῇ Βερνίκῃ συνήθης ἐλ- θὼν ἔφη τὸν Σίμωνα εἰς τὴν Σιδῶνα ἐκπεπλευκέναι, τῶν δὲ αὐτοῦ μα- θητῶν καταλελοιπέναι Ἀππίωνα τὸν Πλειστονίκην, ἄνδρα Ἀλεξανδρέα, γραμματικὸν τὴν ἐπιστήμην, ὃν πρὸς πατρός μοι φίλον ὄντα ἐπέ- γνων, καὶ Ἀννουβίωνα τὸν ∆ιοσπολίτην τινὰ ἀστρολόγον καὶ Ἀθηνό- δωρον τὸν Ἀθηναῖον τῷ Ἐπικούρου ἀρεσκόμενον λόγῳ. ἡμεῖς δὲ τὰ κατὰ τὸν Σίμωνα μαθόντες, ἕωθεν πάντα γράψαντες καὶ Πέτρῳ δια- πέμψαντες, εἰς περίπατον ἀπετραπόμεθα. Καὶ Ἀππίων ἀπηντᾶτο ἡμῖν, οὐ μόνον μετὰ τῶν προειρημένων ἑταίρων τῶν δύο, ἀλλὰ καὶ μεθ' ἑτέρων ἀνδρῶν ὡς τριάκοντα. καὶ ἅμα τῷ ἰδεῖν με προσαγορεύσας καὶ καταφιλήσας ἔφη· Oὗτός ἐστιν Κλήμης, περὶ οὗ ὑμῖν τῆς τε εὐγενείας καὶ τῆς ἐλευθεροπρεπείας πολὺν ἐποιούμην λόγον, ὅτι ἀνὴρ πρὸς γένους Τιβερίου Καίσαρος ὢν καὶ πάσης Ἑλληνικῆς παιδείας ἐξησκημένος ὑπὸ βαρβάρου τινός, τὴν προσηγορίαν Πέτρου, τὰ Ἰουδαίων ποιεῖν καὶ λέγειν ἠπάτηται. ὅθεν ἀξιῶ συναγωνίσασθαί μοι πρὸς τὴν διόρθωσιν αὐτοῦ. καὶ ἐφ' ὑμῶν αὐτοῦ πυνθάνομαι. λεγέτω μοι, ἐπειδὴ πρὸς τὸ εὐσεβεῖν ἑαυτὸν ἀποδεδωκέναι νομίζει, πῶς οὐχὶ τὰ μέγιστα ἀσεβεῖ, καταλιπὼν μὲν τὰ πάτρια, ἀποκλίνας δὲ εἰς ἔθη βάρβαρα. κἀγὼ ἀπεκρινάμην· Τὴν μὲν πρὸς ἐμέ σου ἀγαθὴν προαίρεσιν ἀποδέχο- μαι, τὴν δὲ ἀγνωσίαν ἀποσείομαι. ἡ μὲν γὰρ προαίρεσις ἀγαθή, ὅτι ἐν οἷς δοκεῖς καλοῖς, ἐν τούτοις εἶναί με θέλεις· ἡ δὲ γνῶσις οὐκ ὀρθῶς ἔχουσα φιλίας προφάσει ἐνεδρεύειν ἀγωνίζεται. καὶ ὁ Ἀππίων ἔφη· Ἀγνω- σία σοι εἶναι δοκεῖ, τὰ πάτρια ἔθη φυλάττοντα τὰ Ἑλλήνων φρονεῖν; κἀγὼ ἀπεκρινάμην· Τὸν εὐσεβεῖν προαιρούμενον οὐ πάντως φυλάσ- σειν δεῖ τὰ πάτρια, ἀλλὰ φυλάσσειν μὲν ἐὰν ᾗ εὐσεβῆ, ἀποσείεσθαι δὲ ἐὰν ἀσεβῆ τυγχάνῃ. ἐνδέχεται γάρ τινα πατρὸς ἀσεβοῦς ὄντα εὐ- σεβεῖν βουλόμενον μὴ θέλειν τῷ τοῦ πατρὸς ἀκολουθεῖν. καὶ ὁ Ἀππίων ἀπεκρίνατο· Τί οὖν; τὸν σὸν πατέρα ἔφης κακοῦ βίου γεγονέναι; κἀγὼ ἔφην· Κακοῦ μὲν οὐκ ἦν βίου, κακῆς δὲ ὑπολήψεως. καὶ ὁ Ἀππίων· Τίς ἦν ἡ κακὴ αὐτοῦ ὑπόνοια, ἀκοῦσαι θέλω. κἀγὼ ἔφην· Ὅτι τοῖς τῶν Ἑλ- λήνων ψευδέσι κακοῖς ἐπίστευε μύθοις. καὶ ὁ Ἀππίων ἐπύθετο· Τίνες εἰσὶν οὗτοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων οἱ ψευδεῖς τε καὶ κακοὶ μῦθοι; κἀγὼ ἔφην· Ἡ περὶ θεῶν οὐκ ὀρθὴ δόκησις, ἥν, ἐὰν μακροθυμῇς, ἀκούσῃ μετὰ τῶν φιλομα- θῶν. διὸ πρὸ τῶν διαλόγων εἴς τινα ἡσυχώτερον ὑποχωρήσωμεν ἤδη τόπον· ἐνταῦθα ὑμῖν διαλεχθήσομαι. τοῦ δὲ ἰδιολογεῖσθαί με βούλεσθαι αἰτία γέγονεν αὕτη, ἐπειδὴ οὐχ οἱ πολλοὶ οὐδὲ οἱ φιλοσοφοῦντες αὐτοὶ ἅπαντες γνησίως προσέρχονται τῇ τῶν ὄντων κρίσει. ἴσμεν γὰρ πολλοὺς καὶ τῶν ἐπὶ φιλοσοφίᾳ μέγα φρονούντων κενοδοξοῦντας ἢ χρηματισμοῦ χάριν περι- βεβλημένους τὸν τρίβωνα καὶ οὐκ αὐτῆς ἀρετῆς ἕνεκεν, οἵπερ, ἐὰν μὴ εὕρω-