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we define the Word of God, in a human being, the announcer of the Father's piety, according to which He appeared long ago in the form of a man to those around Abraham, that very one proclaimed as the patriarch, to the God-loving, 5.Prooem.2 and again about to appear among men through a human birth and flesh like ours, it was foretold He would suffer the most shameful things, the discourse would proceed for us in an orderly way, as we are about to set forth the prophetic testimonies concerning him, if indeed first, according to what has been promised, we should examine the first point and confirm the theology concerning Him in the Gospels from the ancient and prophetic testimony. But it is necessary to consider beforehand what sort of manner of divine inspiration of the prophets was among the Hebrews, from whom we have also been pre-instructed in the things that were foretold. 5.Prooem.3 Greeks and barbarians relate that oracles and seats of divination were established everywhere on earth. These, they say, were shown by the providence of the Creator for the use and benefit of men, so that there is no difference between the prophets among the Hebrews and the oracles of the other nations; for just as to the Hebrews through such prophets, so also to the other nations through their local oracles the God over all gives oracular responses and suggests what is expedient. 5.Prooem.4 For He is not the God of the Jews only, but also of all other men, and He does not care more for them than for these, but provides for all equally. Just as, then, the sun has been granted abundantly to all, and not to the Hebrews alone, and the annual supplies of necessities, and for all a similar constitution of bodies, and one manner of birth for all, and one nature of a rational soul, 5.Prooem.5 so also He provides abundantly to all men the knowledge of the foreknowledge of future things, to some through men who are prophets, to others through oracles, to others through the flight of birds, or through sacrifice, or through dream-sending, or through omens, or twitchings, or certain other symbols. For they say that these things have been granted to all men by the providence of God, so that the prophets of the Hebrews seem to have no advantage. 5.Prooem.6 Such, then, is their argument. But our argument will answer them somewhat as follows: If some argument established that true gods or divine powers or good demons presided over the aforementioned oracles or the auguries or the other things that have been named, it would be possible to grant some ground to what is said, as if the God over all had granted those things also for the benefit of those who use them; but if by complete proofs and the confessions of the Greeks themselves it has already been shown previously that they are demons, and not even good ones but the cause of all harm and wickedness, how could they be prophets of God? And the argument in the *Praeparatio Evangelica* has detected that they are base, both from the human sacrifice long ago performed for them in every place and city and country, and from the ways they deceived those who questioned them through ignorance of the future, and from the countless lies of which they were convicted, sometimes openly, sometimes through the ambiguity of the oracles, through which they were exposed for very often involving their supplicants in very great evils, 5.Prooem.7 and since their tribe was previously shown to be foul and impure from their delight in shameful and licentious songs and hymns said about them, and mythical narratives and indecent and harmful stories, which they were caught ratifying against themselves and confirming as true. 5.Prooem.8 And the final proof of all of their ineffectual nature was their being extinguished and no longer similarly..., and being extinguished at no other time than from the times of the appearance of our Savior Jesus Christ; 5.Prooem.9 for from the time his word of evangelical teaching spread to all the nations, from that time the oracles ceased and the deaths of demons are recorded. All these things, then, and countless others similar to them, were those by which the subjects of the argument in the *Praeparatio Evangelica* were proven to be wicked demons. 5.Prooem.10 If, then, they were of such a kind

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ὁριζόμεθα θεοῦ λόγον, ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς εὐσεβείας ἀπαγγελτικόν, καθ' ὃν πέφηνε πάλαι πρότερον ἐν ἀνθρώπου σχήματι τοῖς ἀμφὶ τὸν Ἀβραάμ, αὐτὸν δὴ ἐκεῖνον τὸν βοώμενον ἐθνάρχην, θεοφιλέσιν, 5.Prooem.2 αὖθίς τε φανησόμενον ἐν ἀνθρώποις δι' ἀνθρώπου γενέσεως καὶ παραπλησίας ἡμῖν σαρκός, αἴσχιστα πείσεσθαι προείρητο, ὁδῷ καὶ τάξει προχωρήσαι ἂν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος μέλλουσι τὰς περὶ αὐτοῦ προφητικὰς ἐκτίθεσθαι μαρτυρίας, εἰ δὴ ἐν πρώτοις κατὰ τὰ ἐπηγγελμένα τὸ πρῶτον ἐξετάσαιμεν καὶ τὴν ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις περὶ αὐτοῦ θεολογίαν ἀπὸ τῆς παλαιᾶς καὶ προφητικῆς μαρτυρίας πιστώσαιμεν. ἀναγκαῖον δὲ προεπισκέψασθαι ὁποῖός ποτε ἦν ὁ τρόπος τῆς παρ' Ἑβραίοις τῶν προφητῶν θεοληψίας, παρ' ὧν καὶ τὰ προηγορευμένα προπεπαιδεύμεθα. 5.Prooem.3 Μαντεῖα καὶ χρηστήρια πανταχόσε γῆς Ἕλληνες καὶ βάρβαροι μνημονεύουσι συστῆναι. ταῦτα δέ φασιν ἐκ προνοίας τοῦ δημιουργοῦ ἐπὶ χρῆσιν καὶ ὠφέλειαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων καταδειχθῆναι, ὡς μηδὲν εἶναι τὸ διαφέρον τῶν παρ' Ἑβραίοις προφητῶν πρὸς τὰ τῶν λοιπῶν ἐθνῶν χρηστήρια· ὡς γὰρ Ἑβραίοις διὰ τῶν τοιῶνδε προφητῶν οὕτως καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἔθνεσιν διὰ τῶν κατὰ τόπον μαντειῶν τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸν χρᾶν καὶ τὰ συμφέροντα ὑποτίθεσθαι. 5.Prooem.4 μὴ γὰρ Ἰουδαίων μόνον εἶναι θεὸν ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἁπάντων ἀνθρώπων, καὶ οὐ μᾶλλον ἐκείνων ἢ τούτων κήδεσθαι, πάντων δ' ἐξ ἴσου προνοεῖν. ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ἥλιον ἀφθόνως τοῖς πᾶσι δεδωρῆσθαι, ἀλλ' οὐ μόνοις Ἑβραίοις, καὶ τὰς ἐτησίους τῶν ἐπιτηδείων χορηγίας, σωμάτων τε τοῖς πᾶσιν κατασκευὴν ὁμοίαν, ἕνα τε γενέσεως τοῖς πᾶσι τρόπον, καὶ φύσιν λογικῆς ψυχῆς μίαν, 5.Prooem.5 οὕτω δὲ καὶ τῆς τῶν μελλόντων προγνώσεως τὴν ἐπιστήμην πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἀφθόνως παρέχειν, τοῖς μὲν διὰ προφητῶν ἀνδρῶν, τοῖς δὲ διὰ χρηστηρίων, τοῖς δὲ δι' ὀρνίθων πτήσεως, ἢ διὰ θυτικῆς, ἢ δι' ὀνειροπομπείας, ἢ διὰ κληδόνων, ἢ παλμῶν, ἤ τινων ἑτέρων συμβόλων. ταῦτα γάρ φασιν πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἐκ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ προνοίας δεδωρῆσθαι, ὡς μηδὲν πλέον ἔχειν δοκεῖν τοὺς Ἑβραίων προφήτας. 5.Prooem.6 Τοιοῦτος μὲν οὖν ὁ παρ' ἐκείνων λόγος. ὁ δὲ παρ' ἡμῶν ὧδέ πως αὐτοῖς ἀπαντήσεται· εἰ μέν τις συνίστη λόγος θεοὺς ἀληθῶς ἢ θείας δυνάμεις ἢ δαίμονας ἀγαθοὺς ἐφεστάναι τοῖς τῶν εἰρημένων μαντείοις ἢ τοῖς οἰωνοῖς ἢ τοῖς λοιποῖς τοῖς κατωνομασμένοις, ἦν ἂν χώραν ἀπονεῖμαι τοῖς λεγομένοις, ὡς τοῦ ἐπὶ πάντων θεοῦ κἀκεῖνα τοῖς χρωμένοις ἐπ' ὠφελείᾳ δεδωρημένου· εἰ δὲ ἐντελέσιν ἀποδείξεσιν καὶ αὐτῶν Ἑλλήνων ὁμολογίαις ἤδη πρότερον δαίμονας αὐτοὺς εἶναι, καὶ οὐδ' ἀγαθοὺς πάσης δὲ βλάβης καὶ μοχθηρίας αἰτίους, πῶς ἂν δύναιντο θεοῦ εἶναι προφῆται; φαύλους δὲ αὐτοὺς ὁ λόγος ἐφώρασεν διὰ τῆς Εὐαγγελικῆς Προπαρασκευῆς, ἔκ τε τῆς πάλαι κατὰ πάντα τόπον καὶ πόλιν καὶ χώραν συντελουμένης αὐτοῖς ἀνθρωποθυσίας, ἔκ τε ὧν ἠπάτων τοὺς ἐρωτῶντας ἀγνοίᾳ τοῦ μέλλοντος, ἔκ τε ὧν ἡλίσκοντο μυρία ψευδόμενοι, τοτὲ μὲν ἐκ τοῦ προφανοῦς, τοτὲ δὲ διὰ τῆς τῶν χρησμῶν ἀμφιβολίας, δι' ἧς τοὺς πρόσφυγας πλείστοις πλειστάκις περιβάλλοντες κακοῖς ἀπηλέγχθησαν, 5.Prooem.7 καὶ ἐπεὶ προαπεδείκνυτο μιαρὸν αὐτῶν καὶ ἀκάθαρτον τὸ φῦλον ἐκ τοῦ χαίρειν αἰσχραῖς καὶ ἀκολάστοις περὶ αὐτῶν λεγομέναις ᾠδαῖς καὶ ὕμνοις καὶ μυθικοῖς διηγήμασιν ἱστορίαις τε ἀσέμνοις καὶ ἐπιβλαβέσιν, ἃς καὶ καθ' ἑαυτῶν κυροῦντες καὶ ὡς ἀληθεῖς βεβαιοῦντες ἥλωσαν. 5.Prooem.8 Καὶ τέλος ἁπάντων ἔλεγχος τῆς ἀδρανοῦς αὐτῶν φύσεως ἦν τὸ σβεσθῆναι καὶ μηκέθ' ὁμοίως ..., καὶ σβεσθῆναι μὴ ἄλλοτε ἢ ἀπὸ τῶν χρόνων τῆς ἐπιφανείας τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ· 5.Prooem.9 ἐξ οὗ γὰρ εἰς πάντα τὰ ἔθνη διέδραμεν ὁ τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς διδασκαλίας αὐτοῦ λόγος, ἐξ ἐκείνου καὶ τὰ χρηστήρια διέλιπεν καὶ δαιμόνων θάνατοι μνημονεύονται. πάντα δ' οὖν ἦν ταῦτα καὶ ἄλλα τούτοις παραπλήσια μυρία, δι' ὧν πονηροὶ δαίμονες ὄντες, οἱ περὶ ὧν ὁ λόγος ἐν τοῖς τῆς Εὐαγγελικῆς Προπαρασκευῆς, ἀπηλέγχθησαν. 5.Prooem.10 εἰ δὴ οὖν τοιοίδε τινὲς