106

And it is worthwhile to observe the time in which he says the death of the demon occurred. This was the time of Tiberius, during which our savior, while spending his time with men, has been recorded as driving out every kind of demon from the life of men; so that now some of the demons knelt before him and supplicated him not to deliver them to the Tartarus 5.17.14 that awaited them. You have then also the time of the downfall of the demons, not recorded at any other time from eternity, just as also the abolition of human sacrifice among the nations did not occur at any other time than after the proclamation of the evangelical teaching went forth to all men. Let these things then be proven by us from more recent history. 5.18.1 <18. CONCERNING THE ORACLES MENTIONED AMONG THE ANCIENT GREEKS>

But since the things said happen not to be known to all, it seems good to me from this point to move on to things quite evident to all scholars and to examine the most ancient oracles in time, sung on the mouth of all Greeks and in the schools in each city handed down to those who attend for their education. 5.18.2 Taking up then the ancient histories from the beginning, consider what sort of things the Pythian prophesied to the Athenians when they were oppressed by a plague on account of the death of Androgeos. And all the Athenians were suffering from plague because of the death of one man, and they deemed it right to receive help from the gods. 5.18.3 What then does the savior and god advise them? Perhaps someone will think to care for justice for the future and philanthropy and other virtue, or to repent for the offense and to perform something of what is holy and pious, so that the gods might be propitiated by these things. But of these things 5.18.4 there was nothing. For what concern indeed were these things to the wonderful gods, or rather to the all-wicked demons? Again then the things akin and proper to them, the merciless and cruel and inhuman things, they say, plague upon plague and 5.18.5 deaths upon death. At any rate Apollo commands them to send each year seven young men of their own children and an equal number of female virgins, in place of one, fourteen guiltless and uninvolved, not just once, but every year to be sacrificed in Crete to Minos; so that even until the times of Socrates, more than five hundred years later, this terrible and most inhuman tribute was kept in memory among the Athenians. This then was the thing that had caused for Socrates the postponement of his death. 5.18.6 At any rate one of the new writers sets forth and refutes the oracle very well with manly reasoning, having made "The Detection of Sorcerers" in his own treatise; of his very words, and not mine, listen, addressing the oracle-giver in some such way as this: 5.19.1 19.

TO APOLLO WHO COMMANDED TWICE SEVEN BOYS AND GIRLS TO BE SENT OUT BY THE ATHENIANS TO THE CRETANS TO BE SLAUGHTERED

"What? Would not the Athenians who killed Androgeos and suffered plague on account of this have said that they repented? Or if they did not say so, was it not fitting for you to say 'Repent' rather than 'there will be an end of famine and plague, if by lot you assign your own bodies, male and female, to Minos, sending them to the divine sea, as a requital for the unjust deeds; thus the god will be propitious.' 5.19.2 For I pass over that you are indignant when Androgeos died at Athens, but at the so many others 5.19.2 both everywhere and always you sleep. And yet knowing that Minos then ruled the sea and was very powerful and all Greece courted him and he was for this reason also most just and a good lawgiver and to Homer

106

ἐπιτηρῆσαι δ' ἄξιον τὸν καιρὸν ἐν ᾧ φησι τὸν θάνατον γεγονέναι τοῦ δαίμονος. οὗτος δὲ ἦν ὁ κατὰ Τιβέριον, καθ' ὃν ὁ ἡμέτερος σωτὴρ τὰς σὺν ἀνθρώποις ποιούμενος διατριβὰς πᾶν γένος δαιμόνων ἐξελαύνειν τοῦ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀναγέγραπται βίου· ὥστε ἤδη τινὰς τῶν δαιμόνων γονυπετεῖν αὐτὸν καὶ ἱκετεύειν μὴ τῷ περιμένοντι αὐτοὺς Ταρ5.17.14 τάρῳ παραδοῦναι. ἔχεις οὖν καὶ τῆς τῶν δαιμόνων καθαιρέσεως τὸν χρόνον οὐκ ἄλλοτε ἐξ αἰῶνος ἱστορηθείσης, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ τῆς ἀνθρωποθυσίας τῶν ἐθνῶν τὴν κατάλυσιν οὐκ ἄλλοτε ἢ μετὰ τὸ προελθὸν εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους κήρυγμα τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς διδασκαλίας γεγενημένην. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἡμῖν ἀπὸ τῆς νεωτέρας ἱστορίας ἐληλέγχθω. 5.18.1 <ιηʹ. ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΠΑΡΑ ΤΟΙΣ ΠΑΛΑΙΟΙΣ ΕΛΛΗΣΙΝ ΜΝΗΜΟΝΕΥΟΜΕΝΩΝ

ΧΡΗΣΤΗΡΙΩΝ> Ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ μὴ τοῖς πᾶσι γνώριμα τυγχάνει τὰ εἰρημένα, εὖ μοι δοκεῖ ἐντεῦθεν ἐπὶ τὰ πᾶσι πρόδηλα τοῖς φιλολόγοις μεταβῆναι καὶ τοὺς παλαιτάτους τῷ χρόνῳ χρησμοὺς ἐξετάσαι ἀνὰ στόμα πάντων Ἑλλήνων ᾀδομένους κἀν ταῖς κατὰ πόλιν διατριβαῖς τοῖς ἐπὶ παιδείᾳ φοιτῶσι παραδιδομένους. 5.18.2 ἄνωθεν τοίνυν ἀναλαβὼν τὰς παλαιὰς ἱστορίας ἐπίσκεψαι οἷα ὁ Πύθιος Ἀθηναίοις χρᾷ λοιμῷ πιεσθεῖσιν διὰ τὴν Ἀνδρόγεω τελευτήν. ἐλοίμωσσον δὲ πάντες Ἀθηναῖοι δι' ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς θάνατον, τῆς δ' ἐκ τῶν θεῶν ἐπικουρίας 5.18.3 τυχεῖν ἠξίουν. τί ποτ' οὖν αὐτοῖς ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ θεὸς παραινεῖ; τάχα πού τις οἰήσεται δικαιοσύνης τοῦ λοιποῦ καὶ φιλανθρωπίας ἐπιμελεῖσθαι καὶ τῆς ἄλλης ἀρετῆς, ἢ μετανοεῖν ἐπὶ τῷ πλημμελήματι καί τι τῶν ὁσίων καὶ εὐσεβῶν ἐκτελεῖν, ὡς ἂν τῶν θεῶν τούτοις ἱλασκομένων. ἀλλὰ τούτων 5.18.4 μὲν ἦν οὐδέν. τί γὰρ δὴ καὶ μέλον ἦν τούτων τοῖς θαυμασίοις θεοῖς, μᾶλλον δὲ τοῖς παμπονήροις δαίμοσιν; πάλιν οὖν τὰ αὐτοῖς συγγενῆ καὶ οἰκεῖα, τὰ ἀνηλεῆ καὶ ὠμὰ καὶ ἀπάνθρωπα, λοιμὸν ἐπὶ λοιμῷ φασιν καὶ 5.18.5 θανάτους ἐπὶ θανάτῳ. κελεύει γοῦν ὁ Ἀπόλλων ἔτους ἑκάστου πέμπειν αὐτοὺς τῶν ἰδίων παίδων ἄρρενας ἐνήβους ἑπτὰ καὶ θηλειῶν ἰσαρίθμους παρθένους, ἀνθ' ἑνὸς δέκα καὶ τέσσαρας ἀναιτίους καὶ ἀπράγμονας, οὐκ εἰς ἅπαξ, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ πᾶν ἔτος τυθησομένους ἐν Κρήτῃ παρὰ τῷ Μίνωϊ· ὥστε καὶ μέχρι τῶν Σωκράτους χρόνων πλέον ἢ πεντακοσίοις ὕστερον ἔτεσιν ὁ δεινὸς οὗτος καὶ ἀπανθρωπότατος δασμὸς μνήμην παρ' Ἀθηναίοις διεφύλαττεν. τοῦτο δὲ ἦν ἄρα τὸ καὶ Σωκράτει τὴν ἀναβολὴν τοῦ θανάτου 5.18.6 πεποιημένον. τίθησιν γοῦν ὁμοῦ καὶ ἀπελέγχει τὸν χρησμὸν εὖ μάλα τις τῶν νέων ἀνδρικῷ λογισμῷ Γοήτων φώραν ἐν οἰκείῳ συγγράμματι πεποιημένος· οὗ καὶ αὐτοῦ τῶν φωνῶν, ἀλλὰ μὴ τῶν ἐμῶν ἄκουε, πρὸς τὸν χρησμῳδὸν ὧδέ πως ἀποτεινομένου· 5.19.1 ιθʹ.

ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΠΟΛΛΩ ΚΕΛΕΥΣΑΝΤΑ ∆ΙΣ ΕΠΤΑ ΠΑΙ∆ΑΣ ΤΕ ΚΑΙ ΚΟΡΑΣ ΣΦΑΓΗΣΟΜΕΝΟΥΣ ΕΚΠΕΜΠΕΣΘΑΙ ΤΟΙΣ ΚΡΗΣΙΝ ΥΠΟ ΑΘΗΝΑΙΩΝ

«Τί δ'; οὐκ Ἀθηναῖοι τὸν Ἀνδρόγεων ἀποκτείναντες καὶ λοιμώξαντες ἐπὶ τούτῳ εἶπον ἂν μετανοεῖν; ἢ μὴ λεγόντων, οὔ σε προσῆκον ἦν εἰπεῖν «μετανοεῖτε» μᾶλλον ἢ λιμοῦ καὶ λοιμοῦ τέλος ἔσσεται, ἤνπερ ἑαυτῶν σώματ' ἀπὸ κλήρου ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ νέμητε Μίνωϊ, εἰς ἅλα δῖαν ἀποστέλλοντες, ἀμοιβὴν τῶν ἀδίκων ἔργων· οὕτω θεὸς ἵλαος ἔσται. 5.19.2 ἐῶ γὰρ τὸ Ἀνδρόγεω μὲν Ἀθήνησιν ἀποθανόντος ὑμᾶς ἀγανακτεῖν, τῶν 5.19.2 δὲ τοσούτων καὶ πανταχόθι καὶ πάντοτε καθεύδειν. καίτοι εἰδὼς ὅτι ἐθαλασσοκράτει τότε ὁ Μίνως καὶ μέγα ἠδύνατο καὶ πᾶσα ἡ Ἑλλὰς τοῦτον ἐθεράπευεν καὶ ἦν καὶ διὰ τοῦτο δικαιότατος καὶ νομοθέτης ἀγαθὸς καὶ Ὁμήρῳ