Chapter L.

In the next place, as if the only event predicted were this, that He was to be “the Judge of the righteous and the Punisher of the wicked,” and as if neither the place of His birth, nor the sufferings which He was to endure at the hands of the Jews, nor His resurrection, nor the wonderful works which He was to perform, had been made the subject of prophecy, he continues:  “Why should it be you alone, rather than innumerable others, who existed after the prophecies were published, to whom these predictions are applicable?”  And desiring, I know not how, to suggest to others the possibility of the notion that they themselves were the persons referred to by the prophets, he says that “some, carried away by enthusiasm, and others having gathered a multitude of followers, give out that the Son of God is come down from heaven.”  Now we have not ascertained that such occurrences are admitted to have taken place among the Jews.  We have to remark then, in the first place, that many of the prophets have uttered predictions in all kinds of ways93    παντοδαπῶς προεῖπον. regarding Christ; some by means of dark sayings, others in allegories or in some other manner, and some also in express words.  And as in what follows he says, in the character of the Jew addressing the converts from his own nation, and repeating emphatically and malevolently, that “the prophecies referred to the events of his life may also suit other events as well,” we shall state a few of them out of a greater number; and with respect to these, any one who chooses may say what he thinks fitted to ensure a refutation of them, and which may turn away intelligent believers from the faith.

Εἶτα, ὡς οὐ μόνου προφητευθέντος τούτου ὁσίων αὐτὸν εἶναι κριτὴν καὶ τῶν ἀδίκων κολαστήν, καὶ μήτε τόπου γενέσεως αὐτοῦ μήτε πάθους αὐτοῦ οὗ ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων πείσεται μήτ' ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῦ μήτε τεραστίων δὲ ὧν ποιήσει δυνάμεων προειρημένων, φησί· Τί μᾶλλον σὺ ἢ ἄλλοι μυρίοι οἱ μετὰ τὴν προφητείαν γενόμενοί εἰσι, περὶ ὧν ταῦτα ἐπροφητεύετο; Καὶ οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως βουλόμενος καὶ ἑτέροις περιθεῖναι τὸ δύνασθαι ὑπονοεῖσθαι ὅτι αὐτοὶ ἦσαν οἱ προφητευθέντες φησὶν ὅτι οἱ μὲν ἐνθουσιῶντες οἱ δὲ ἀγείροντές φασιν ἥκειν ἄνωθεν υἱόν θεοῦ· οὐ γὰρ ἱστο ρήσαμεν ταῦθ' ὁμολογεῖσθαι παρὰ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις γεγονέναι. Λεκτέον οὖν πρῶτον ὅτι πολλοὶ προφῆται παντοδαπῶς προεῖπον τὰ περὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, οἱ μὲν δι' αἰνιγμάτων οἱ δὲ δι' ἀλληγορίας ἢ ἄλλῳ τρόπῳ τινὲς δὲ καὶ αὐτολεξεί. Καὶ ἐπεὶ ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς φησιν ἐν τῇ τοῦ Ἰουδαίου πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ λαοῦ πιστεύοντας προσωποποιΐᾳ τὰς εἰς τὰ περὶ τούτου ἀναφερομένας προφητείας δύνασθαι καὶ ἄλλοις ἐφαρμόζειν πράγμασι, δεινῶς καὶ κακούργως τοῦτο λέγων, ὀλίγας ἀπὸ πλειόνων ἐκθησόμεθα· περὶ ὧν ὁ βουλόμενος ἀναγκαστικόν τι εἰς ἀνατροπὴν αὐτῶν εἰπάτω καὶ δυνάμενον [καὶ τοὺς] ἐντρεχῶς πιστεύοντας μεταστῆσαι ἀπὸ τῆς πίστεως.