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Speusippus or Xenocrates? whom Anaximander or Anaximenes? whom Arcesilaus or Philolaus? who are the protectors of the Stoic school? who uphold the teaching of the Stagirite? who live according to the laws of Plato? who have embraced the republic 5.66 written by him? But you will be able to show us no teacher of these doctrines, while we clearly demonstrate the power of the apostolic and prophetic doctrines; for the whole world is full of these words. And the Hebrew tongue was changed not only into that of the Greeks, but also into that of the Romans and Egyptians and Persians and Indians and Armenians and Scythians and Sauromatians and, to put it briefly, into all the languages that all the nations 5.67 continue to use. And the most wise Plato, though he went through very many arguments concerning the immortality of the soul, did not even persuade Aristotle his student to accept this definition; but our fishermen and tax collectors and the cobbler persuaded both Greeks and Romans and Egyptians and, in a word, every nation of men, that the soul is both immortal and honored with reason and able to master the passions and, being neglectful, not being forced, it transgresses the laws; and again, in turn, inclining toward the better, it is freed from its former wickedness and again impresses the divine 5.68 characters upon itself. And it is possible to see these doctrines known not only by the teachers of the church, but also by cobblers and bronzesmiths and wool-workers and the other manual laborers; and women likewise, not only those who have partaken of education, but also spinning women and menders, and indeed even female servants; and not only townspeople, but also country folk have this knowledge; and it is possible to find even ditch-diggers and cowherds and gardeners discoursing about the divine Trinity and about the creation of all things and knowing human nature 5.69 much more than Aristotle and Plato, and indeed also caring for virtue and shunning vice and fearing the expected punishments and awaiting the divine tribunal without hesitation and philosophizing about eternal and indestructible life and for the sake of the kingdom of heaven gladly choosing every toil, and having learned these things not from anyone else, but from those whom you call barbarian-speaking; and you do not even understand Anacharsis when he says: "To me 5.70 all Greeks speak Scythian." For this is simply like the things said by our cobbler: "For if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be a barbarian to the one who speaks to me, and the one who speaks will be a barbarian to me." For in reality, just as to the Greeks the Illyrians and Paeonians and Taulantians and Atintanes seem to speak barbarously, so in turn to them and to the others, whoever cannot understand the Greek tongue, the Attic and Doric 5.71 and Aeolic and Ionic dialects seem to be barbarian. For that every language has the same meaning—for the nature of all men is indeed one—experience is the teacher. For it is possible to find among the barbarians also arts and sciences and deeds of valor in wars; and some of these often discover devices wiser than those of the Greeks, and better ambushes and more cunning 5.72 traps. And there are those who also conquer the eloquence of the Greeks by brevity of speech. For the ancient writers bear witness to this also in the case of the Persians, and if anyone now has associated with them while serving as an ambassador or a general or pursuing some trade. For they say that they acutely detect the thefts of arguments and, speaking little, conquer their interlocutors, and are exceedingly skilled in syllogisms and able to unravel the things woven by others, and use the wisest proverbs and riddles, not because they have read the labyrinths of Chrysippus and Aristotle, nor because Socrates and Plato taught them this form of discourse; for they were nurtured neither in rhetorical nor in philosophical arguments, but had nature alone as their 5.73 teacher. And that the Indians are much wiser than these

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Σπεύσιππος ἢ Ξενοκράτης; τίνα Ἀναξίμανδρος ἢ Ἀναξιμένης; τίνα Ἀρκεσίλαος ἢ Φιλόλαος; τίνες τῆς Στωϊκῆς αἱρέσεως προστατεύου σιν; τίνες τοῦ Σταγειρίτου τὴν διδασκαλίαν κρατύνουσιν; τίνες κατὰ τοὺς Πλάτωνος πολιτεύονται νόμους; τίνες τὴν ὑπ' ἐκείνου 5.66 ξυγγραφεῖσαν πολιτείαν ἠσπάσαντο; Ἀλλὰ τούτων μὲν τῶν δογμάτων οὐδένα διδάσκαλον ἡμῖν ἐπιδεῖξαι δυνήσεσθε, ἡμεῖς δὲ τῶν ἀποστολικῶν καὶ προφητικῶν δογμάτων τὸ κράτος ἐναργῶς ἐπιδείκνυμεν· πᾶσα γὰρ ἡ ὑφήλιος τῶνδε τῶν λόγων ἀνάπλεως. Καὶ ἡ Ἑβραίων φωνὴ οὐ μόνον εἰς τὴν Ἑλλήνων μετεβλήθη,ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς τὴν Ῥωμαίων καὶ Αἰγυπτίων καὶ Περσῶν καὶ Ἰνδῶν καὶ Ἀρμενίων καὶ Σκυθῶν καὶ Σαυροματῶν καὶ ξυλλήβδην εἰπεῖν εἰς ἁπάσας τὰς γλώττας, αἷς ἅπαντα τὰ ἔθνη 5.67 κεχρημένα διατελεῖ. Καὶ ὁ μὲν σοφώτατος Πλάτων, περὶ τῆς ἀθανασίας τῆς ψυχῆς παμπόλλους λόγους διεξελθών, οὐδ' Ἀρι στοτέλην τὸν φοιτητὴν ἔπεισε τόνδε στέρξαι τὸν ὅρον· οἱ δὲ ἡμέτεροι ἁλιεῖς καὶ τελῶναι καὶ ὁ σκυτοτόμος καὶ Ἕλληνας ἔπεισαν καὶ Ῥωμαίους καὶ Αἰγυπτίους καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς ἅπαν ἔθνος ἀνθρώπων, ὅτι καὶ ἀθάνατος ἡ ψυχὴ καὶ λόγῳ τετιμημένη καὶ κρατεῖν τῶν παθῶν δυναμένη καὶ ὀλιγωροῦσα, οὐ βιαζομένη, παραβαίνει τοὺς νόμους· καὶ αὖ πάλιν πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον νεύουσα, τῆς προτέρας ἀπαλλάττεται κακίας καὶ τοὺς θείους πάλιν ἀνα 5.68 μάττεται χαρακτῆρας. Καὶ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ταῦτα εἰδότας τὰ δόγματα οὐ μόνους γε τῆς ἐκκλησίας τοὺς διδασκάλους, ἀλλὰ καὶ σκυτο τόμους καὶ χαλκοτύπους καὶ ταλασιουργοὺς καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἀποχειροβιώτους· καὶ γυναῖκας ὡσαύτως οὐ μόνον τὰς λόγων μετεσχηκυίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ χερνήτιδας καὶ ἀκεστρίας, καὶ μέντοι καὶ θεραπαίνας· καὶ οὐ μόνον ἀστοί, ἀλλὰ καὶ χωριτικοὶ τήνδε τὴν γνῶσιν ἐσχήκασι· καὶ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν καὶ σκαπανέας καὶ βοηλά τας καὶ φυτουργοὺς καὶ περὶ τῆς θείας διαλεγομένους Τριάδος καὶ περὶ τῆς τῶν ὅλων δημιουργίας καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν 5.69 εἰδότας Ἀριστοτέλους πολλῷ μᾶλλον καὶ Πλάτωνος, καὶ μέντοι καὶ ἀρετῆς ἐπιμελουμένους καὶ κακίαν ἐκκλίνοντας καὶ τὰ κολα στήρια δεδιότας τὰ προσδοκώμενα καὶ τὸ θεῖον δικαστήριον ἀνεν δοιάστως προσμένοντας καὶ τῆς αἰωνίου πέρι καὶ ἀνωλέθρου φιλοσοφοῦντας ζωῆς καὶ τῆς τῶν οὐρανῶν ἕνεκα βασιλείας πάντα πόνον ἀσπαστῶς αἱρουμένους, καὶ ταῦτα οὐ παρ' ἄλλου του μεμαθηκότας, ἀλλὰ παρ' ἐκείνων, οὓς ὑμεῖς βαρβαροφώνους ἀποκαλεῖτε· καὶ οὐδὲ Ἀναχάρσιδος ἐπαΐετε λέγοντος· "Ἐμοὶ 5.70 πάντες Ἕλληνες σκυθίζουσιν." Τοῦτο γὰρ ἀτεχνῶς ἔοικε τοῖς εἰρημένοις ὑπὸ τοῦ σκυτοτόμου τοῦ ἡμετέρου· "Ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ γνῶ τὴν δύναμιν τῆς φωνῆς, ἔσομαι τῷ λαλοῦντί μοι βάρβαρος, καὶ ὁ λαλῶν ἐν ἐμοὶ βάρβαρος." Τῷ ὄντι γὰρ ὥσπερ τοῖς Ἕλ λησιν Ἰλλυριοὶ καὶ Παίονες καὶ Ταυλάντιοι καὶ Ἀτιντᾶνες βαρβαρίζειν δοκοῦσιν, οὕτως αὖ ἐκείνοις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις, ὅσοι τῆς Ἑλλάδος φωνῆς ἐπαΐειν οὐ δύνανται, ἡ Ἀτθὶς καὶ ∆ωρὶς 5.71 καὶ Αἰολὶς καὶ Ἰὰς βάρβαροι εἶναι δοκοῦσιν. Ὅτι γὰρ τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχει πᾶσα γλῶττα διάνοιαν-μία γὰρ δὴ πάντων ἀνθρώ πων ἡ φύσις-ἡ πεῖρα διδάσκαλος. Ἔστι γὰρ εὑρεῖν καὶ παρὰ τοῖς βαρβάροις καὶ τέχνας καὶ ἐπιστήμας καὶ τὰς ἐν πολέμοις ἀνδραγαθίας· ἔνιοι δὲ τούτων καὶ σοφώτερα Ἑλλήνων πολλάκις ἐξευρίσκουσι μηχανήματα καὶ λόχους ἀμείνους καὶ πανουργοτέ 5.72 ρας ἐνέδρας. Εἰσὶ δὲ οἳ καὶ τὴν Ἑλλήνων εὐέπειαν βραχυλογίᾳ νικῶσιν. Τοῦτο γὰρ δὴ καὶ Πέρσαις μαρτυροῦσι καὶ οἱ παλαιοὶ ξυγγραφεῖς, καὶ εἴ τις νῦν πρεσβεύων ἢ στρατηγῶν ἢ ἐμπορίαν τινὰ μετιὼν αὐτοῖς ξυνεγένετο. Φασὶ γὰρ αὐτοὺς ὀξέως φωρᾶν τὰς τῶν λόγων κλοπὰς καὶ ὀλίγα φθεγγομένους τοὺς προσδιαλε γομένους νικᾶν, καὶ ξυλλογιστικοὺς ἄγαν εἶναι καὶ διαλύειν ἱκανοὺς τὰ παρ' ἑτέρων πλεκόμενα καὶ παροιμίαις σοφωτάταις καὶ αἰνίγμασι κεχρῆσθαι, οὐκ ἐπειδὴ τοὺς Χρυσίππου καὶ Ἀρι στοτέλους ἀνέγνωσαν λαβυρίνθους, οὐδὲ ὅτι Σωκράτης αὐτοὺς καὶ Πλάτων τόδε τὸ εἶδος ἐπαιδευσάτην· οὔτε γὰρ ῥητορικοῖς οὔτε φιλοσόφοις ἐνετράφησαν λόγοις, ἀλλὰ μόνην ἔσχον τὴν φύσιν 5.73 διδάσκαλον. Τοὺς δέ γε Ἰνδοὺς καὶ τούτων πολλῷ σοφωτέρους εἶναί