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as to be distressed at evils. Besides, we expect that these things will not happen to us at all before we hear of them; but we all, so to speak, rather expect good things, because of our natural affinity for them; for the majority have expected even greater things than are possible 4.3.9 to happen. From which it follows that the foretelling of good things does not particularly increase our joy, because even without the foretelling each one on his own expects better things, or it increases it for a short time by the seeming certainty, but often it even diminishes the joy, when what is heard is less than what was hoped for; but the foretelling of evils, both because of their naturally repulsive character and because they are sometimes foretold contrary to expectation, greatly disturbs 4.3.10 us. But nevertheless, even if this did not happen, it would be clear to everyone, I suppose, that the foretelling would be useless. For if someone should say that the usefulness of divination is saved because it foretells a difficulty that will certainly happen unless we take precautions, he will no longer show that all things happen according to fate, since it is up to us 4.3.11 to take precautions or not. For if someone should say that this too is compelled, so that fate extends to all existing things, again the usefulness of divination is destroyed; for we will take precautions if it is fated, and it is clear we will not take precautions if it is not fated to take them, even if all the seers foretell 4.3.12 to us what will happen. At any rate, Chrysippus himself says that Oedipus and Alexander, son of Priam, though their parents contrived many things to kill them, in order that they might guard against the evil foretold to them from these children, were not 4.3.13 able to do so. Thus, he says there is no benefit even for them from the foretelling of evils, because of the cause that comes from fate. Let this, then, be said superfluously to show that divination is not only unreal, but also useless.” 4.3.14 So much for the philosopher. But consider for yourself, how being Greeks and having acquired the education that is the companion of the Greeks from a young age, and having learned the ancestral traditions concerning the gods more than anyone, all the Aristotelians and Cynics and Epicureans, and as many as held similar opinions to these, 4.3.15 laughed at the oracles celebrated among the Greeks themselves. And yet, if the things rumored about the wonder-working of the oracles were true, it would have been likely for these men too to have been astonished, being Greeks and knowing the ancestral traditions accurately and having considered nothing worthy of being known as of secondary importance. 4.3.16 There was, then, a great abundance of these and similar things to collect for the refutation of the hypothesis concerning the oracles. But it does not seem right to me to conduct the present argument in this way, but rather in the way we set out from the beginning, granting that their defenders speak the truth, so that from the things admitted by them, who say that there are true oracles and that the things revealed are Pythian responses and prophecies, we may learn the precise manifestation of the things revealed. 4.4.1

4. THAT FROM THESE VERY GREATEST EVILS IT HAS FREED US

THE GOSPEL TEACHING OF OUR SAVIOR

And I think it is clear to everyone that the refutation of the foregoing matters will contain not a small, but at once a very great and most necessary part of the gospel's thesis. For if all men everywhere before the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ, both Greeks and Barbarians, were shown not to have known the true God, but either believing in things that are not as if they were, or being led about here and there like blind men by certain wicked and god-fighting spirits and by evil and unclean demons, and dragged down by them into the abyss of evil—and what else but being possessed by demons?—how would not the great mystery of the gospel dispensation be seen as more greatly... all men

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ὡς ἐπὶ τοῖς κακοῖς ἀνιᾶσθαι. ἄλλως τε καὶ ταῦτα μὲν οὐ πάνυ τι περὶ ἑαυτοὺς ἔσεσθαι πρὶν ἀκοῦσαι κατελπίζομεν· τὰ δ' ἀγαθὰ μᾶλλον ἅπαντες, ὡς εἰπεῖν, προσδοκῶμεν, διὰ τὴν φυσικὴν οἰκείωσιν πρὸς αὐτά· οἱ μὲν γὰρ πολλοὶ καὶ μείζω τῶν δυνα4.3.9 τῶν γενέσθαι κατηλπίκασιν. ἐξ οὗ συμβαίνει τὸ τὴν μὲν τῶν ἀγαθῶν προαγόρευσιν μὴ ἐπιτείνειν πάνυ τι τὴν χαράν, διὰ τὸ καὶ χωρὶς τῆς προαγορεύσεως ἕκαστον ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ τὰ κρείττω προσδοκᾶν, ἢ ἐπ' ὀλίγον ἐπιτείνειν τῇ δοκούσῃ βεβαιότητι, πολλάκις δὲ καὶ μειοῦν τὴν χαράν, ὅταν ἐλάττω τῶν ἐλπισθέντων ἀκουσθῇ· τὴν δὲ τῶν κακῶν προαγόρευσιν καὶ διὰ τὸ ἀπόστρεπτον αὐτῶν φύσει καὶ διὰ τὸ παρ' ἐλπίδας ἐνίοτε προλέγεσθαι μεγάλως συνταράτ 4.3.10 τειν. ἀλλ' ὅμως εἰ καὶ μὴ τοῦτο συνέβαινεν, τό γε ἀχρεῖον ἔσεσθαι τὴν προαγόρευσιν παντί που δῆλον ἂν εἴη. εἰ γὰρ φήσει τις σωθήσεσθαι τὸ χρήσιμον τῆς μαντικῆς διὰ τὸ προλέγεσθαι τὸ πάντως ἐσόμενον δυσχερὲς εἰ μὴ προφυλαξαίμεθα, οὐκέτι πάντα δείξει συμβησόμενα καθ' εἱμαρμένην, ἐφ' ἡμῖν ὄντος 4.3.11 τοῦ φυλάξασθαί τε καὶ μὴ φυλάξασθαι. εἰ γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο κατηναγκάσθαι φήσει τις, ὡς εἰς πάντα τὰ ὄντα διατείνειν τὴν εἱμαρμένην, πάλιν τὸ τῆς μαντικῆς χρήσιμον ἀναιρεῖται· φυλαξόμεθα γὰρ εἰ καθείμαρται, καὶ οὐ φυλαξόμεθα δῆλον ὡς εἰ μὴ καθείμαρται φυλάξασθαι, κἂν πάντες οἱ μάντεις τὸ ἐσόμενον προ4.3.12 αγορεύσωσιν ἡμῖν. τὸν γοῦν Οἰδίποδα καὶ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν τοῦ Πριάμου καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Χρύσιππός φησιν πολλὰ μηχανησαμένων τῶν γονέων ὥστε ἀποκτεῖναι, ἵνα τὸ ἀπ' αὐτῶν προρρηθὲν αὐτοῖς κακὸν φυλάξωνται, μὴ 4.3.13 δυνηθῆναι. οὕτως οὐδὲν ὄφελος οὐδὲ αὐτοῖς τῆς τῶν κακῶν προαγορεύσεώς φησιν εἶναι διὰ τὴν ἐκ τῆς εἱμαρμένης αἰτίαν. τοῦτο μὲν οὖν ἐκ περιουσίας εἰρήσθω πρὸς τὸ μὴ μόνον ἀνυπόστατον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀχρεῖον τῆς μαντικῆς.» 4.3.14 Ταῦτα μὲν ὁ φιλόσοφος. σύ γε μὴν παρὰ σαυτῷ σκέψαι, πῶς Ἕλληνες ὄντες καὶ τὴν Ἑλλήνων σύντροφον παιδείαν ἐκ νέας ἡλικίας κτησάμενοι τά τε πάτρια περὶ θεῶν πάντων μᾶλλον διεγνωκότες Ἀριστοτελικοὶ πάντες Κυνικοί τε καὶ Ἐπικούρειοι καὶ ὅσοι τούτοις ἐφρόνησαν τὰ παραπλήσια, 4.3.15 τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς Ἕλλησι βοωμένων μαντείων κατεγέλασαν. καὶ μὴν εἴπερ ἦν ἀληθῆ τὰ θρυλούμενα περὶ τῆς τῶν χρηστηρίων παραδοξοποιίας, εἰκὸς ἦν καὶ τούσδε καταπλαγῆναι Ἕλληνας ὄντας καὶ τὰ πάτρια ἀκριβῶς ἐξεπισταμένους μηδέν τε τῶν γνωσθῆναι ἀξίων ἐν δευτέρῳ τεθειμένους. 4.3.16 ταῦτα μὲν οὖν καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα συνάγειν εἰς ἀνασκευὴν τῆς περὶ τῶν χρηστηρίων ὑποθέσεως πλείστη τις ἦν περιουσία. ἀλλ' οὐ ταύτη μοι δοκεῖ τὸν παρόντα μεθοδεῦσαι λόγον, ἀλλ' ᾗπερ ὡρμήθημεν ἀρξάμενοι, ἀληθῆ λέγειν δόντες τοὺς ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν προϊσταμένους, ὡς ἂν ἐκ τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς ὁμολογουμένων, μαντεῖά τε εἶναι ἀληθῆ καὶ Πυθόχρηστα θεοπρόπια τὰ δηλούμενα φασκόντων, τὴν ἀκριβῆ τῶν δηλουμένων ἔκφανσιν καταμάθοιμεν. 4.4.1

δʹ. ΟΤΙ ΜΕΓΙΣΤΩΝ ΗΜΑΣ ΚΑΚΩΝ ΤΟΥΤΩΝ ΑΥΤΩΝ ΗΛΕΥΘΕΡΩΣΕΝ Η

ΤΟΥ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ ΗΜΩΝ ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΚΗ ∆Ι∆ΑΣΚΑΛΙΑ Οἶμαι δὲ παντί τῳ εἶναι σαφές, ὡς ὁ τῶν προκειμένων ἔλεγχος οὐ μικρόν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μέγιστον ὁμοῦ καὶ ἀναγκαιότατον περιέξει μέρος τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς ὑποθέσεως. εἰ γὰρ οἱ πρὸ τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίας πανταχοῦ πάντες, Ἕλληνες καὶ βάρβαροι, δειχθεῖεν μὴ τὸν ἀληθῆ θεὸν ἐπεγνωκότες, ἀλλ' ἤτοι τὰ μὴ ὄντα ὡς ὄντα δοξάζοντες ἢ ὑπό τινων μοχθηρῶν καὶ θεομάχων πνευμάτων δαιμόνων τε πονηρῶν καὶ ἀκαθάρτων τυφλῶν δίκην ὧδε κἀκεῖσε περιηγμένοι καὶ βυθῷ κακίας πρὸς αὐτῶν καθειλκυσμένοι καὶ τί γὰρ ἄλλ' ἢ δαιμονῶντες;, πῶς οὐ μειζόνως ἂν ὀφθείη τὸ μέγα τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς οἰκονομίας μυστήριον πάντας