Chapter LVIII.

Further, after these Greek stories which the Jew adduced respecting those who were guilty of juggling practices,281    τερατευομένοις. and who pretended to have risen from the dead, he says to those Jews who are converts to Christianity:  “Do you imagine the statements of others not only to be myths, but to have the appearance of such, while you have discovered a becoming and credible termination to your drama in the voice from the cross, when he breathed his last?”  We reply to the Jew:  “What you adduce as myths, we regard also as such; but the statements of the Scriptures which are common to us both, in which not you only, but we also, take pride, we do not at all regard as myths.  And therefore we accord our belief to those who have therein related that some rose from the dead, as not being guilty of imposition; and to Him especially there mentioned as having risen, who both predicted the event Himself, and was the subject of prediction by others.  And His resurrection is more miraculous than that of the others in this respect, that they were raised by the prophets Elijah and Elisha, while He was raised by none of the prophets, but by His Father in heaven.  And therefore His resurrection also produced greater results than theirs.  For what great good has accrued to the world from the resurrection of the children through the instrumentality of Elijah and Elisha, such as has resulted from the preaching of the resurrection of Jesus, accepted as an article of belief, and as effected through the agency of divine power?”

Ἐπεὶ δὲ μεθ' ἃς παρέθετο ὁ Ἰουδαῖος ἱστορίας ἑλληνικὰς περὶ τῶν ὡσανεὶ τερατευσαμένων καὶ περὶ τῶν ὡς ἀναστάντων ἐκ νεκρῶν φησι πρὸς τοὺς ἀπὸ Ἰουδαίων τῷ Ἰησοῦ πιστεύοντας· Ἢ οἴεσθε τὰ μὲν τῶν ἄλλων μύθους εἶναί τε καὶ δοκεῖν, ὑμῖν δὲ τὴν καταστροφὴν τοῦ δράματος εὐσχημόνως ἢ πιθανῶς ἐφευρῆσθαι, τὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ σκόλοπος αὐτοῦ φωνήν, ὅτ' ἀπέπνει; Φήσομεν πρὸς τὸν Ἰουδαῖον ὅτι οὓς παρέθου μύθους εἶναι νενομίκαμεν, τὰ δὲ τῶν κοινῶν ἡμῶν πρὸς ὑμᾶς γραφῶν, ἐν αἷς οὐχ ὑμεῖς μόνοι ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡμεῖς σεμνυνόμεθα, οὐδαμῶς μύθους εἶναί φαμεν. ∆ιόπερ καὶ τοῖς περὶ τῶν ἐκεῖ ἀναστάντων ἐκ νεκρῶν γράψασι πιστεύομεν ὡς μὴ τερατευομένοις καὶ τῷ ἐνταῦθα ὡς καὶ προειπόντι καὶ προφητευθέντι καὶ ἀναστάντι. Τούτῳ δὲ παραδοξότερος οὗτος ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστὰς παρ' ἐκείνους, ὅτι ἐκείνους μὲν προφῆται ἀνέστησαν Ἠλίας καὶ Ἐλισσαῖος, τοῦτον δ' οὐδεὶς τῶν προφητῶν ἀλλ' ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς πατήρ. ∆ιόπερ καὶ μείζονα εἰργάσατο ἡ τούτου ἀνάστασις τῆς ἐκείνων ἀναστάσεως. Τί γὰρ τηλικοῦτον τῷ κόσμῳ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀναστάντων παιδαρίων δι' Ἠλίου καὶ Ἐλισσαίου γεγένηται, ὁποῖον διὰ τῆς κηρυσσομένης ἀναστά σεως Ἰησοῦ, δυνάμει θείᾳ πεπιστευμένης;