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teaching of the knowledge of God, 6.6.66 to all men, both to Greeks and to barbarians, has the whole age brought? But who from of old of the famous wise men of the past, whether barbarian or Greek, was ever deemed worthy of such a fate as to make the doctrine set forth by him manifest to the whole world and known even to the ends of the earth and 6.6.67 to win glory for God among those consecrated to him? But if these things neither were nor have happened nor have been heard of from of old, then the cause of these things was not a chain of causes and necessity. For long ago, through the same revolution and circuit of the stars, there would have been no reason to prevent others from obtaining the same birth 6.6.68 and fate. By what fate then has our savior God, having appeared, been proclaimed throughout the whole world, while the gods formerly believed in by both Greeks and barbarians have been overthrown, and have been overthrown 6.6.69 in no other way than through the teaching of the new God? And what fate announced him to all men as God the creator of all things, and compelled him to say that fate does not exist? And how did fate compel him to say and think that she herself does not exist? And what of those who for the sake of the pious teaching of our savior have both in the past struggled in all kinds of contests and are still contending to this day? 6.6.70 Did they then obtain one and the same lot, so as to be enslaved by one doctrine and teaching, and to show one mind and purpose, and one virtue of soul, and to undertake one and the same life, and to love the same doctrine, and 6.6.71 to endure with love the same sufferings for the sake of their stand for piety. And what right reason would concede this, that young and old alike, and every measure of age of both male and female races, and the natures of barbarian men, of slaves and free together, of the learned and the uneducated, not in a corner of the earth nor born under these stars, but throughout the whole inhabited world of men, were compelled by the necessity of fate, as you would say, to prefer this particular doctrine to all their ancestral ones, and to choose with love death for the sake of piety towards the one God over all, and to be instructed in the doctrines concerning the immortality of the soul very well, and to prefer the philosophy not of words, but of deeds? 6.6.72 For these things would be clear even to a blind man, that they are not of any necessity, but are proper to learning and teaching, being clear examples of voluntary judgment and free 6.6.73 choice. There might be countless other things illustrative of the problem, but omitting most of them I myself shall be content with what has been said, and I will leave for you to consider your reading of your revered philosophers, so that you may learn how much wiser and better was the man who refuted the marvelous oracles as false and slapped the Pythian himself for the oracles he gave concerning fate. 6.6.74 Hear then again from him who entitled his own work "The Detection of Impostors," how with a very youthful spirit he corrects the error of the many and of Apollo himself through what he writes, as follows, word for word: 6.7.1 7.

HOW THE PHILOSOPHERS OF THE GREEKS THEMSELVES REFUTED THE OPINIONS OF THEIR OWN GODS CONCERNING FATE WITH MORE CORRECT REASONINGS; FROM

THE WORKS OF OENOMAUS "You then sit in Delphi, not being able even if you wished to be silent! But Apollo, the son of Zeus, it seems, now wills, not because he wills, but because 6.7.2 he is appointed by necessity to will it. But it seems to me, having passed over all the rest, since I have been led into this argument I know not how, that I will investigate a certain matter that is proper and worthy of investigation. For it is lost, at least according to the wise, from human life, it is lost, whether rudder

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θεοῦ γνώσεως διδακτικόν, ἅπα6.6.66 σιν ἀνθρώποις, Ἕλλησί τε καὶ βαρβάροις, ὁ πᾶς αἰὼν ἤνεγκε; τίς δὲ ἐξ αἰῶνος τῶν πάλαι ἀοιδίμων σοφῶν, εἴτ' οὖν βάρβαρος εἴτε Ἕλλην, τοιᾶσδέ ποτε ἠξιώθη εἱμαρμένης ὡς εἰς τὸν σύμπαντα κόσμον διαφανῆ καταστῆσαι τὸν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ προβληθέντα λόγον γνωσθέντα τε μέχρι καὶ τῶν ἐσχατιῶν καὶ 6.6.67 θεοῦ δόξαν παρὰ τοῖς αὐτῷ καθωσιωμένοις κτήσασθαι; εἰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐξ αἰῶνος οὔτ' ἦν οὔτε γέγονεν οὔτε ἀκοαῖς ἤκουσται, οὐκ ἦν ἄρα εἱρμὸς αἰτιῶν καὶ ἀνάγκη τὸ τούτων αἴτιον. πάλαι γὰρ ἂν διὰ τῆς αὐτῆς ἀνακυκλήσεως καὶ περιφορᾶς τῶν ἄστρων οὐδεὶς ἦν φθόνος καὶ ἄλλους τῆς αὐτῆς τυχεῖν γενέσε6.6.68 ώς τε καὶ εἱμαρμένης. ἐκ ποίας δὲ ἄρα εἱμαρμένης ὁ μὲν ἡμέτερος σωτὴρ θεὸς ἐπιφανεὶς καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης ἀνηγόρευται, οἱ δὲ πάλαι νενομισμένοι παρά τε Ἕλλησι καὶ βαρβάροις θεοὶ καθῄρηνται, καὶ οὐδ' ἄλλως καθῄρην6.6.69 ται ἢ διὰ τῆς τοῦ νέου θεοῦ διδασκαλίας; ποία δ' αὐτὸν εἱμαρμένη θεὸν δημιουργὸν ἁπάντων πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις κατήγγειλεν, εἱμαρμένην δὲ μὴ εἶναι φάναι ἐξηνάγκασε; καὶ πῶς ἡ εἱμαρμένη μὴ εἶναι ἑαυτὴν λέγειν τε καὶ φρονεῖν ἐβιάσατο; τί δὲ οἱ τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν εὐσεβοῦς ἕνεκα διδασκαλίας παντοίους ἄθλους πάλαι τε πρότερον ἠγωνισμένοι καὶ εἰσέτι δεῦρο διαθλοῦντες; 6.6.70 μιᾶς ἄρα καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ἔτυχον μοίρας, ὡς ὑφ' ἑνὶ λόγῳ καὶ διδασκαλίᾳ δουλωθῆναι μίαν τε γνώμην καὶ προαίρεσιν ἐνδείξασθαι καὶ ψυχῆς ἀρετὴν μίαν ἕνα τε καὶ τὸν αὐτὸν ἀναδέξασθαι βίον καὶ λόγον ἀγαπῆσαι τὸν αὐτὸν τάς τε 6.6.71 αὐτὰς ἀγαπητικῶς ὑπομεῖναι πάθας δι' ἔνστασιν εὐσεβείας. καὶ τίς ἂν ὀρθὸς τοῦτο συγχωρήσειε λόγος, νέους κατὰ ταὐτὸ καὶ πρεσβύτας καὶ πᾶν μέτρον ἡλικίας ἀρρένων τε καὶ θηλειῶν γένη φύσεις τε βαρβάρων ἀνδρῶν, οἰκετικῶν ὁμοῦ καὶ ἐλευθερίων, λογίων τε καὶ παιδείας ἀμετόχων, οὐκ ἐν γωνίᾳ γῆς οὐδ' ὑπὸ τοῖσδε γενομένων τοῖς ἄστροις, καθ' ὅλης δὲ τῆς ἀνθρώπων οἰκουμένης, εἱμαρμένης ἀνάγκῃ φάναι βεβιασμένους τόνδε τινὰ τῶν πατρῴων ἁπάντων προτιμῆσαι λόγον καὶ τὸν ὑπὲρ εὐσεβείας ἑνὸς τοῦ ἐπὶ πάντων θεοῦ θάνατον ἀγαπητικῶς ἑλέσθαι τά τε περὶ ψυχῆς ἀθανασίας εὖ μάλα δόγματα παιδεύεσθαι καὶ φιλοσοφίαν οὐ τὴν ἐν λόγοις, τὴν δὲ δι' ἔργων προτιμῆσαι; 6.6.72 ταῦτα γὰρ ἂν εἴη τὰ καὶ τυφλῷ δῆλα, ὡς οὐδεμιᾶς ἀνάγκης, μαθήσεως δὲ καὶ διδασκαλίας οἰκεῖα τυγχάνει, αὐθεκουσίου γνώμης καὶ προαιρέσεως ἐλευ6.6.73 θέρας ἐναργῆ τυγχάνοντα παραδείγματα. γένοιτο δ' ἂν καὶ ἄλλα τοῦ προβλήματος παραστατικὰ μυρία, ὧν τὰ πολλὰ παρεὶς αὐτὸς μὲν τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἀρκεσθήσομαι, σοὶ δὲ τὸ σὸν ἀνάγνωσμα τῶν σεπτῶν σου φιλοσόφων καταλείψω σκοπεῖν, ὡς ἂν μάθοις ὅσον ἄρα τῶν χρησμῳδῶν σου θεῶν σοφώτερος ἦν καὶ βελτίων ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὁ τοὺς θαυμασίους χρησμοὺς ψευδεῖς ἀπελέγχων καὶ τὸν Πύθιον αὐτὸν ἐφ' οἷς ἔχρησε περὶ εἱμαρμένης ἐπιρραπίζων. 6.6.74 ἄκουε δ' οὖν αὖθις τοῦ τὴν τῶν Γοήτων φώραν τὸ οἰκεῖον ἐπονομάσαντος σύγγραμμα, ὡς εὖ μάλα νεανικῷ φρονήματι τὸν πλάνον τῶν πολλῶν καὶ αὐτοῦ γε τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἐπανορθοῦται δι' ὧν γράφει τάδε κατὰ λέξιν· 6.7.1 ζʹ.

ΟΠΩΣ ΚΑΙ ΑΥΤΩΝ ΕΛΛΗΝΩΝ ΟΙ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΟΙ ΤΑΣ ΤΩΝ ΘΕΩΝ ΑΥΤΩΝ ΠΕΡΙ ΕΙΜΑΡΜΕΝΗΣ ∆ΟΞΑΣ ΟΡΘΟΤΕΡΟΙΣ ΑΠΗΛΕΓΞΑΝ ΛΟΓΙΣΜΟΙΣ· ΑΠΟ

ΤΩΝ ΟΙΝΟΜΑΟΥ «Σὲ οὖν ἐν ∆ελφοῖς καθῆσθαι, μὴ δυνάμενον μηδ' εἰ βούλοιο σιωπᾶν! ὁ δ' Ἀπόλλων ἄρα ὁ τοῦ ∆ιὸς υἱὸς νυνὶ βούλεται, οὐχ ὅτι βούλεται, ἀλλ' ὅτι 6.7.2 ὑπ' ἀνάγκης εἰς τὸ βουληθῆναι τέτακται. δοκῶ δέ μοι τὰ λοιπὰ πάντα παρείς, ἐπειδὴ εἰς τοῦτον τὸν λόγον οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως ὑπήχθην, οἰκεῖόν τι καὶ ἀξιοζή τητον ζητήσειν πρᾶγμα. ἀπόλωλε γάρ, τό γε ἐπὶ τοῖς σοφοῖς, ἐκ τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου βίου, ἀπόλωλεν, εἴτε οἴακά