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of its piety and of a savior who would appear in the life of men, through whom they foretold that to all the nations, Greeks and barbarians alike, the manner of piety of the ancient God-loving Hebrews would be handed down. 5.Prooem.24 These things Moses, and these things also the disciples of the other prophets, who all proclaimed beforehand from one mouth. And this was the reason for the coming of the divine spirit upon men, to teach men the knowledge of God and the highest theology concerning the Father and the Son, and to instruct in the manner of true piety, and to make mention of those who succeeded in ancient times and of those who afterwards fell away from the piety of their forefathers, and to set forth in lengthy discourse the refutation against them, and to prophesy the coming of the savior and teacher of the whole human race, and to proclaim beforehand through him the imparting of the ancient piety of the Hebrews to all the nations. 5.Prooem.25 These were the things proclaimed in harmony from of old on pillars and in sacred books by the prophets, these very same things, which even now after the long age are seen by our own eyes being fulfilled. But with one voice all these, possessed by the divine spirit, proclaimed to all men the light of true piety, both purity of soul and body, and complete cleansing of the mind, which they, having first practiced it themselves, set before their hearers, keeping those who came to them from every licentious act, and from imitating the lawless practices of the polytheistic error, teaching them to flee headlong from every demonic undertaking, and those human sacrifices of old that were so zealously performed, and the shameful and unutterable tales about the gods, from which they restrained them, advising them to attend only to the God who is creator of all, as being the overseer and judge of things done among men, and not to be ignorant of the Christ of God who was to come among men, the savior of the whole human race, and who would be established as a teacher of true piety for barbarians and Greeks alike. 5.Prooem.26 So great was the difference between those possessed by the divine spirit and those pretending to prophesy by demonic power. Then the wicked demon, as something akin to darkness, casting darkness and a mist over the soul by its coming upon it, drove the person under its power as if he were dead, his natural reasoning being perverted and not following the things said or done through him, but being utterly senseless and mad, for which reason they seem to have appropriately named such a condition divination (manteia), as a kind of madness (mania). 5.Prooem.27 But the truly divine spirit, being like light, or rather light itself, upon whatever soul it comes, it immediately worked in it a new and most brilliant day of light, rendering it much more transparent and contemplative now than it was of itself before, so that it is sober and watchful and above all discerns and compares the things being prophesied. 5.Prooem.28 For which reason it seems to me that we well and truly call such men prophets from the fact that the divine spirit shows forth and illumines beforehand in them not only present things but also a true and accurate knowledge of future things. 5.Prooem.29 But consider if this account is not much better and truer, which states that the divine spirit comes upon purified souls prepared with a rational and clear mind for the reception of the divine, than that of those who shut up the divine in lifeless matter and dark recesses and in the impure souls of women and men, and even more, upon crows and hawks and other birds of omen, and upon goats and other animals, yes, and even upon bodies of water, and in the inspection of livers, and in the blood of foul and hideous beasts, and in the bodies of venomous reptiles, such as serpents and weasels and certain other things of this sort, through which the admirable ones have supposed that the God over all reveals foreknowledge of the future. 5.Prooem.30 but this was the work of men who did not perceive

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αὐτῆς εὐσεβείας καὶ σωτῆρος ἐπιφανησομένου τῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίῳ, δι' οὗ πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, Ἕλλησιν ὁμοῦ καὶ βαρβάροις, προύλεγον τὸν τῆς θεοσεβείας τῶν πάλαι θεοφιλῶν Ἑβραίων τρόπον παραδοθήσεσθαι. 5.Prooem.24 ταῦτα Μωσῆς, ταῦτα δὲ καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν προφητῶν παῖδες, οἳ πάντες ἐξ ἑνὸς στόματος προεκήρυττον. καὶ τοῦτ' ἦν τὸ τῆς εἰς ἀνθρώπους τοῦ θείου πνεύματος ἐπιφορᾶς αἴτιον, διδάξαι θεογνωσίαν ἀνθρώπους καὶ τὴν ἀνωτάτω περὶ πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ θεολογίαν, παιδεῦσαί τε τρόπον ἀληθοῦς εὐσεβείας, καὶ μνημονεῦσαι τῶν πάλαι κατωρθωκότων καὶ τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα τῆς τῶν προγόνων εὐσεβείας ἐκπεπτωκότων, τόν τε κατὰ τούτων ἔλεγχον διὰ μακρῶν ἐκφάναι λόγων, θεσπίσαι τε τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ σωτῆρος καὶ διδασκάλου τοῦ παντὸς ἀνθρώπων γένους, καὶ τὴν δι' αὐτοῦ τῆς παλαιᾶς Ἑβραίων θεοσεβείας εἰς πάντα τὰ ἔθνη μετάδοσιν προκηρῦξαι. 5.Prooem.25 Ταῦτ' ἦν τὰ ἐξ αἰῶνος στήλαις καὶ βίβλοις ἱεραῖς τῶν προφητῶν συμφώνως ἀναπεφωνημένα, αὐτὰ δὴ ταῦτα, ἃ καὶ ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς μετὰ τὸν μακρὸν αἰῶνα εἰσέτι νῦν πληρούμενα συνορᾶται. μιᾷ δὲ φωνῇ πάντες οὗτοι καὶ θείῳ πνεύματι κάτοχοι πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις τὸ φῶς τῆς ἀληθοῦς προεκήρυττον εὐσεβείας, ἁγνείαν τε ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος, παντελῆ τε κάθαρσιν διανοίας, ἣν αὐτοὶ πρότερον ἠσκηκότες τοῖς ὑπηκόοις προυβάλλοντο, πάσης ἀκολάστου πράξεως τοὺς προσιόντας ἀπείργοντες, μηδὲ τῆς πολυθέου πλάνης ἀπομιμεῖσθαι τὰς ἐκθέσμους ἐπιτηδεύσεις, προτροπάδην δὲ φεύγειν διδάσκοντες πᾶσαν δαιμονικὴν ἐγχείρησιν, καὶ τὰς πάλαι περισπουδάστους ἐκείνας ἀνθρωποθυσίας, τάς τε αἰσχρὰς καὶ ἐπιρρήτους περὶ θεῶν διηγήσεις, ὧν ἀπείργοντες μόνῳ προσανέχειν συνεβούλευον τῷ πάντων δημιουργῷ θεῷ, οἷα ἐφόρῳ καὶ κριτῇ τυγχάνοντι τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις πραττομένων, μηδὲ ἀγνοεῖν τὸν μέλλοντα εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἐπιδημεῖν τὸν Χριστὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, σωτῆρα παντὸς γένους ἀνθρώπων. καὶ διδάσκαλον βαρβάρων ὁμοῦ καὶ Ἑλλήνων εὐσεβείας τῆς ἀληθοῦς καταστησόμενον. 5.Prooem.26 Τοσοῦτόν τι ἦν τὸ διάφορον τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ θείου πνεύματος κατόχων καὶ τῶν ὑπὸ δαιμονικῆς ἐνεργείας μαντεύεσθαι προσποιουμένων. εἶτα τὸ μὲν πονηρὸν δαιμόνιον, οἷα σκότου οἰκεῖον, σκότον καὶ ἀχλὺν περιβάλλον τῇ ψυχῇ διὰ τῆς ἐπιφοιτήσεως, τὸν ὑπ' αὐτὸ οἷα νεκρὸν ἐξηλάου, τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν λογισμοῦ παρενηνεγμένον οὐδ' ἑπόμενον τοῖς λεγομένοις ἢ πραττομένοις δι' αὐτοῦ, παντελῶς δ' ἀναίσθητον καὶ παράφρονα, παρ' ὃ καὶ μαντείαν ὥσπερ τινὰ μανίαν εἰκότως ἐοίκασιν τὴν τοιάνδε κατάπτωσιν ἐπικεκληκέναι. 5.Prooem.27 τὸ δέ γε ἀληθῶς καὶ ἔνθεον πνεῦμα, φωτοειδὲς μᾶλλον δὲ φῶς αὐτὸ τυγχάνον, ᾗ δ' ἂν ἐπέλθῃ ψυχῇ, καινὴν παραχρῆμα καὶ λαμπροτάτην φωτὸς ἡμέραν ἐν αὐτῇ κατειργάζετο, διαυγεστέραν τε καὶ θεωρητικωτέραν πολὺ πλέον νῦν ἢ πρότερον αὐτὴν αὐτῆς ἀποφαῖνον, ὥστε νήφειν καὶ ἐγρηγορέναι συνορᾶν τε πάντων μάλιστα καὶ συγκρίνειν τὰ θεσπιζόμενα. 5.Prooem.28 παρ' ὅ μοι δοκοῦμεν εὖ καὶ ἀληθῶς προφήτας ἀποκαλεῖν τοὺς τοιούσδε παρὰ τὸ προφαίνειν καὶ προφωτίζειν ἐν αὐτοῖς τὸ θεῖον πνεῦμα μὴ μόνον τὰ παρόντα ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν μελλόντων ἀληθῆ καὶ ἀκριβῆ γνῶσιν. 5.Prooem.29 Σκέψασθε δὲ εἰ μὴ πολὺ κρείττων οὗτος καὶ ἀληθὴς ὁ λόγος, φάσκων πνεῦμα θεῖον ψυχαῖς ἐπιφοιτᾶν κεκαθαρμένοις καὶ νῷ λογικῷ καὶ διαυγεῖ πρὸς ὑποδοχὴν τοῦ θείου παρεσκευασμέναις, ἢ ὁ τῶν ἐν ἀψύχῳ ὕλῃ καὶ σκοτίοις μυχοῖς ἐναποκλειόντων τὸ θεῖον ἔν τε γυναικῶν καὶ ἀνδρῶν οὐ καθαραῖς ψυχαῖς, ἤδη δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ κόρακας καὶ ἱέρακας καὶ ἄλλους οἰωνούς, ἐπί τε αἶγας καὶ ἄλλα ζῷα, ναὶ μὴν καὶ ἐπὶ ὑδάτων συστάσεις, ἔν τε ἡπατοσκοπίαις, καὶ αἵμασι μυσερῶν καὶ εἰδεχθῶν κνωδάλων, ἑρπετῶν τε ἰοβόλων σώμασιν, οἷον δρακόντων καὶ γαλῶν καί τινων ἄλλων τοιουτοτρόπων, δι' ὧν τὴν τῶν μελλόντων πρόγνωσιν οἱ θαυμάσιοι τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεὸν ἐκφαίνειν ὑπειλήφασιν. 5.Prooem.30 τοῦτο δὲ ἀνδρῶν ἦν μὴ συνεωρακότων