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age.” But He is said also to have breathed into them a divine spirit, and also to have made for them a divine and miracle-working power, at one time saying, "Receive the Holy Spirit," and at another time saying, "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give." 3.7.24 You yourself therefore see how the word spoken through them has prevailed, since their book of Acts also testifies things in harmony and agreement with these; where they themselves are recorded to have astonished those present and those watching by the working of miracles performed by them through the name of Jesus. 3.7.25 For they naturally first astonished the onlookers by their works; then they made them eager to inquire who this was by whose power and name the miracle had occurred; then, as they taught, they found them anticipating their teaching with faith. 3.7.26 For not being persuaded by words but being first won over by works, they made their disposition towards the words easy. At any rate, some are said to have offered sacrifices of oxen and libations to Jesus’ disciples as if they were already gods; and some thought one of them was Hermes, and another Zeus. So much did the demonstration of miraculous works astonish their minds. 3.7.27 And so, for those thus disposed, all that they proclaimed about Jesus was henceforth reasonably believed to be true, and they did not testify to his rising again after death with simple or unproven words, but they persuaded by the very working, presenting the works of one who was alive. 3.7.28 And if they also proclaimed him to be God and Son of God, existing with the Father before his coming to men, how would they not rather have assented to this, reasonably considering the opposite to be incredible and impossible, reasoning that the things being done could not be considered works of mortal nature but of God, even if no one said so? 3.7.29 This, then, and nothing else was that very thing being sought, by what power the disciples of Jesus prevailed over their first hearers, and how they persuaded Greeks and barbarians alike to think of him as of the Word of God, and how in the midst of cities and throughout the country they established schools of piety to the one God over all. 3.7.30 And yet who would not marvel, reasoning and reflecting with himself, how it was not a human thing that most of the nations of the world had never before come under the single rule of the Romans, but only from the time of Jesus. 3.7.31 For at the same time as his miraculous sojourn among men, it happened that the Roman empire flourished, when Augustus first ruled as monarch over most of the nations, in whose time, when Cleopatra was captured, the succession of the Ptolemies in Egypt was dissolved; and from that time until now the kingdom of Egypt, established from of old and from the very first of humanity, so to speak, ... was overthrown. 3.7.32 And from that time the nation of the Jews became subject to the Romans, and likewise that of the Syrians, and of the Cappadocians and Macedonians, and of the Bithynians and Greeks, and, to speak concisely, all the rest of those under the rule of the Romans. 3.7.33 And who would not confess that this did not come about without God along with the teaching about our Savior, when he considers that it was not easy for his disciples to make their way in foreign lands, when the nations were divided against each other, and there was no intercourse among them because of the many local rulers; but when these had been removed, they fearlessly and with security accomplished their proposed task, since the God over all had made their journey easy for them beforehand and had subdued the tempers of the superstitious in the cities by fear of the greater rule. 3.7.34 For consider that, if there had been nothing to hinder those who were crazed by the polytheistic error from warring against the teaching of Christ, you would long ago have seen civil strifes in cities and in the country, and persecutions and wars of no ordinary kind, if indeed the superstitious had had authority over themselves. 3.7.35 But as it is, this too was the work of the God over all, that by a greater fear of the

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αἰῶνος». ἀλλὰ καὶ πνεύματος αὐτοῖς ἐμπνεῦσαι λέγεται θείου, ἀλλὰ καὶ δύναμιν αὐτοῖς ἔνθεον καὶ παραδοξοποιὸν πεποιηκέναι, τοτὲ μὲν φήσας «λάβετε πνεῦμα ἅγιον», τοτὲ δὲ εἰπὼν «ἀσθενοῦντας θεραπεύετε, λεπροὺς καθαρίζετε, δαίμονας ἐκβάλλετε· δωρεὰν ἐλάβετε, δωρεὰν δότε». 3.7.24 Συνορᾷς τοιγαροῦν καὶ αὐτὸς ὅπως κεκράτηκεν ὁ δι' αὐτῶν λόγος, ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτῶν ἡ βίβλος τῶν Πράξεων συνῳδὰ τούτοις καὶ σύμφωνα μαρτυρεῖ· ἔνθα ἱστοροῦνται καὶ αὐτοὶ τῇ τῶν παραδόξων ἐνεργείᾳ δι' ὀνόματος τοῦ Ἰησοῦ πρὸς αὐτῶν ἐπιτελουμένῃ τοὺς παρόντας καὶ τοὺς θεωμένους ἐκπλῆξαι. 3.7.25 ἐξέπληττον γὰρ ὡς εἰκὸς διὰ τῶν ἔργων τοὺς θεωμένους πρότερον· εἶθ' οὕτως προθύμους εἶχον αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὸ φιλοπευστεῖν, τίς ποτ' ἦν οὗτος οὗ τῇ δυνάμει καὶ προσηγορίᾳ τὸ θαῦμα γέγονεν· εἶτα διδάσκοντες ηὕρισκον τῇ πίστει φθάνοντας τὴν παρ' αὐτῶν διδασκαλίαν. 3.7.26 οὐ γὰρ τοῖς λόγοις πεισθέντες ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἔργοις προκαταληφθέντες ῥᾴδιον ἐποιοῦντο τὴν ἐν τοῖς λόγοις διάθεσιν. λέγονται γοῦν ἤδη τινὲς βουθυσίας καὶ σπονδὰς ὡς ἂν ἤδη θεοῖς οὖσιν τοῖς τοῦ Ἰησοῦ προσαγηοχέναι· καὶ τινὰ μὲν αὐτῶν τὸν Ἑρμῆν εἶναι, τινὰ δὲ τὸν ∆ία νενομικέναι. τοσοῦτον αὐτῶν τὰς διανοίας ἐξέπληττεν ἡ τῶν παραδόξων ἔργων ἐπίδειξις. 3.7.27 καὶ δὴ οὕτω διακειμένοις πάνθ' ὅσα περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ κατήγγελλον ἤδη λοιπὸν ἀληθεύειν εὐλόγως ἐνομίζοντο, καὶ τῇ μετὰ τὸν θάνατον ἀναβιώσει αὐτοῦ οὐχ ἁπλοῖς οὐδ' ἀναποδείκτοις ἐμαρτύρουν λόγοις, δι' αὐτῆς δ' ἐνεργείας ἔπειθον, ζῶντος ἔργα παριστῶντες. 3.7.28 εἰ δὲ καὶ θεὸν αὐτὸν καὶ θεοῦ παῖδα πρὸ τῆς εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἀφίξεως παρὰ τῷ πατρὶ τυγχάνοντα κατήγγελλον, καὶ τούτῳ πῶς οὐκ ἂν προσέθεντο μᾶλλον, τὸ ἐναντίον ἄπιστον εἶναι καὶ ἀδύνατον ἡγούμενοι εἰκότως, λογισάμενοι μὴ δύνασθαι θνητῆς ἔργα φύσεως εἶναι νομίζειν τὰ δρώμενα ἀλλὰ θεοῦ, κἂν μὴ λέγῃ τις; 3.7.29 τοῦτ' ἦν ἄρα καὶ οὐδὲν ἄλλο τὸ ζητηθὲν αὐτὸ ἐκεῖνο, ὁποίᾳ δυνάμει περιγεγόνασιν τῶν ἐν ἀρχαῖς ἀκροωμένων οἱ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ μαθηταί, καὶ ὅπως Ἕλληνας ὁμοῦ καὶ βαρβάρους ὡς περὶ λόγου θεοῦ περὶ αὐτοῦ φρονεῖν ἔπεισαν, ὅπως τε ἐν μέσαις ταῖς πόλεσιν καὶ ἀνὰ τὰς χώρας εὐσεβείας ἑνὸς τοῦ ἐπὶ πάντων θεοῦ συνεστήσαντο διδασκαλεῖα. 3.7.30 Καίτοι τίς οὐκ ἂν θαυμάσειεν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐπιλογισάμενος καὶ ἐνθυμηθείς, ὡς οὐκ ἀνθρώπινον ἦν τὸ μηδ' ἄλλοτε ὑπὸ μίαν τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἀρχὴν γενέσθαι τὰ πλεῖστα τῆς οἰκουμένης ἔθνη, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῶν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ χρόνων. 3.7.31 ἅμα γὰρ τῇ εἰς ἀνθρώπους αὐτοῦ παραδόξῳ ἐπιδημίᾳ καὶ τὰ Ῥωμαίων ἀκμάσαι συνηνέχθη, τότε πρῶτον Αὐγούστου τῶν πλείστων ἐθνῶν μοναρχήσαντος, καθ' ὃν Κλεοπάτρας ἁλούσης ἡ κατ' Αἴγυπτον τῶν Πτολεμαίων διαδοχὴ λέλυτο· ἐξ ἐκείνου τε καὶ εἰς δεῦρο τὸ ἀπ' αἰῶνος καὶ ἀπ' αὐτῆς ὡς εἰπεῖν τῆς πρώτης ἀνθρωπείας ... συστὰν Αἰγύπτου βασίλειον καθῄρητο. 3.7.32 ἐξ ἐκείνου τε καὶ τὸ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνος Ῥωμαίων δοῦλον γέγονεν, καὶ τὸ Σύρων ὡσαύτως, Καππαδόκων τε καὶ Μακεδόνων, καὶ Βι θυνῶν καὶ Ἑλλήνων, καὶ συνελόντι φάναι τῶν λοιπῶν τῶν ὑπὸ τὴν Ῥωμαίων ἀρχὴν ἁπάντων. 3.7.33 τοῦτο δ' ὅτι μὴ ἀθεεὶ τῇ περὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν διδασκαλίᾳ συνεισῆλθεν τίς οὐκ ἂν ὁμολογήσειεν, διανοηθεὶς ὡς οὐ ῥᾴδιον ἦν τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ πορείαν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀλλοδαπῆς στείλασθαι, διεστώτων πρὸς ἄλληλα τῶν ἐθνῶν, καὶ μηδεμιᾶς οὔσης ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐπιμιξίας διὰ τὰς πολλὰς ἐθναρχίας· ὧν περιῃρημένων ἀφόβως ἤδη καὶ ἐπ' ἀδείας τὸ προκείμενον ἤνυον, τὴν πορείαν αὐτοῖς προεξευμαρίσαντος τοῦ ἐπὶ πάντων θεοῦ καὶ τοὺς θυμοὺς τῶν κατὰ πόλεις δεισιδαιμόνων φόβῳ τῆς μείζονος ἀρχῆς καταστείλαντος. 3.7.34 λόγισαι γὰρ ὡς, εἰ μηδὲν τὸ κωλῦον ἦν τοὺς περὶ τὴν πολύθεον πλάνην ἐπτοημένους τῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ πολεμεῖν διδασκαλίᾳ, πάλαι ἂν ἑώρας κατὰ πόλεις καὶ κατὰ ἀγροὺς ἐμφυλίους στάσεις, διωγμούς τε καὶ πολέμους οὐ τοὺς τυχόντας, εἰ δὴ ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖς εἶχον οἱ δεισιδαίμονες τὴν ἐπ' αὐτῶν ἐξουσίαν. 3.7.35 νῦν δὲ καὶ τοῦτο θεοῦ τοῦ ἐπὶ πάντων ἔργον ἦν, τὸ μείζονι φόβῳ τῆς