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And the Medes and the Persians, knowing something more from the building of the tower and the flood and the events concerning Hezekiah and Jonah and the captivity of both Daniel and the three youths, were partially educated by their writings; likewise also the Egyptians were educated through the events concerning Joseph and Moses and the people of the Israelites, these nations having become more ready for the reception of Christianity. 12.7 However, Greeks also believed later through the apostles, seeing the miracles performed by them; but later again, when the signs had ceased and time had passed, you will find many Greeks who have believed and been baptized, but who are unbelieving and ignorant of the Old and New Testament, that is, the divine Scripture, as not having of old a deep root of piety and foundation of faith. For this reason, not even in their own writings did the Chaldeans and Egyptians make mention as the first ones did of the flood and the building of the tower and the exodus of the sons of Israel from Egypt and of the first writer, Moses, but considering themselves superior and wiser and first of all, through the arrogance surrounding them they were ignorant of many things; for which reason one of the Egyptians, and this was Solomon, rightly said to Plato: "Greeks are always children, and there is no old Greek, nor is there among you any learning grown grey with time." 12.8 But also some, that is Dius and Menander, who translated the ancient Tyrian records into the Greek language, bear witness in their own writings to Solomon and to the Jews; and still, so to speak, all of Ethiopia and the southern parts bear witness to the divine Scripture, but the Greeks alone are wise in their own estimation, being ignorant of their own salvation; but Timaeus alone, the one mentioned before, I know not from where he got it, but perhaps from the Chaldean records, refashioned the ten kings who came from the land beyond to the island of Atlantis, which he says was submerged, and who hired the nations dwelling in it and came into this land and warred against Europe and Asia, which is a most clear fabrication; for being unable to show that the island was submerged, he said it was submerged by God. 12.9 But indeed the aforementioned Greeks, who are admired for their wisdom, having learned letters and been deemed worthy of laws but late, thought that they alone had poured forth wisdom. For Lycurgus and Solon and Zaleucus of the Locrians and all the rest appear to have lived as if yesterday and the day before when compared to that Moses, since indeed not even the name of law was known of old among the Greeks; and Homer is a witness, having used it nowhere in his poetry. For there was nothing according to this, but the multitudes were governed by the best judgments and by the decrees of the kings; from which time and for a long while they continued using unwritten customs and always changing many of these to suit the occasion. 12.10 For the Lacedaemonians and Cretans educated by customs, not by words; but the Athenians and almost all the rest commanded through laws what must or must not be done, but neglected to habituate them to these things through deeds; and these and those, having come little by little to the advancement of stable and firm laws, did not, however, from the beginning, as Moses of old, with both experience of letters and of stable law, educated his own nation, being the first to demonstrate in word and deed the firmness of the law and of the writings, until in the fullness of time he led the nation, which was being guided and guarded by the steadfastness of the law, to the proclaimed Lord Christ and his teaching. 12.11 The Phoenicians, therefore, bordering on the nation and having learned letters from them, wrote records more ancient than those of the Greeks and prepared the Greeks to learn letters; for Cadmus, taking the letters from Tyre, brought them to Greece. Let the Greeks not, therefore, raise their eyebrows as if they were the first to have invented something new for life, having received from others both letters and laws and the concept of

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καὶ οἱ Μῆδοι καὶ οἱ Πέρσαι ἐπιστάμενοι πλέον τι ἐκ τῆς πυργοποιΐας καὶ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ καὶ τῶν συμβεβηκότων ἐπὶ Ἐζεκίου καὶ Ἰωνᾶ καὶ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας, τῶν τοῦ τε ∆ανιὴλ καὶ τῶν τριῶν παίδων, ἐπαιδεύθησαν αὐτοῖς ἐκ μέρους τοῖς γράμμασιν· ὁμοίως καὶ οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι ἐπαιδεύθησαν διὰ τῶν κατὰ τὸν Ἰωσὴφ καὶ Μωϋσέα καὶ τοῦ λαοῦ τῶν Ἰσραηλιτῶν, ἑτοιμότερα ταῦτα τὰ ἔθνη γενόμενα εἰς ὑποδοχὴν τοῦ χριστιανισμοῦ. 12.7 Ἐπίστευσαν μέντοι καὶ Ἕλληνες ὕστερον διὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων θεωροῦντες τὰ ὑπ' αὐτῶν γινόμενα θαύματα· ὕστερον δὲ πάλιν τῶν σημείων παυσαμένων καὶ τοῦ χρόνου διαδραμόντος, πολλοὺς μὲν εὑρήσεις Ἕλληνας πεπιστευκότας καὶ βαπτισθέντας, ἀπιστοῦντας δὲ καὶ ἀγνοοῦντας τὴν Παλαιὰν καὶ Καινὴν ∆ιαθήκην, τουτέστι τὴν θείαν Γραφήν, ὡς μὴ ἔχοντας ἔκπαλαι εἰς βάθος ῥίζαν θεοσεβείας καὶ θεμέλιον πίστεως. ∆ιὸ οὐδὲ ἐν ταῖς συγγραφαῖς ἑαυτῶν ὡς πρῶτοι ἐμνήσθησαν οἱ Χαλδαῖοι καὶ οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι περί τε τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ καὶ πυργοποιΐας καὶ τῆς ἐξόδου τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ τῆς ἐξ Αἰγύπτου καὶ τοῦ πρώτου συγγραφέως Μωϋσέως, ἀνωτέρους δὲ καὶ σοφωτέρους καὶ πρώτους πάντων ἑαυτοὺς ἡγούμενοι, ἐκ τοῦ τύφου τοῦ αὐτοῖς περικειμένου τὰ πολλὰ ἀγνοήσαντες· διὸ καλῶς τις τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, Σολομῶν δ' οὗτος, τῷ Πλάτωνι ἔλεγεν· Ἕλληνες ἀεὶ παῖδες, γέρων δ' Ἕλλην οὐκ ἔστιν, οὐδ' ἔτι παρ' ὑμῖν χρόνῳ πολιὸν μάθημα. 12.8 Ἀλλὰ καί τινες, τουτέστι ∆ῖος καὶ Μένανδρος, οἵτινες τὰ Τυρίων ἀρχαῖα μετέφρασαν εἰς τὴν ἑλληνίδα φωνήν, εἰς τὰς ἑαυτῶν συγγραφὰς μαρτυροῦσι τῷ Σολομῶνι καὶ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις· καὶ ἔτι σχεδὸν εἰπεῖν, πᾶσα ἡ Αἰθιοπία καὶ τὰ νότια μέρη μαρτυροῦσι τῇ θείᾳ Γραφῇ, Ἕλληνες δὲ μόνοι παρ' ἑαυτοῖς σοφοὶ τὴν ἰδίαν ἀγνοοῦντες σωτηρίαν· μόνος δὲ Τίμαιος ὁ προγεγραμμένος, οὐκ οἶδα πόθεν λαβών, τάχα δὲ ἐκ τῶν Χαλδαϊκῶν, μετέπλασε τοὺς δέκα βασιλεῖς ἐκ τῆς πέραν γῆς ἐλθόντας εἰς τὴν νῆσον τὴν Ἀτλαντίδα, ἣν λέγει καταποντωθεῖσαν, καὶ μισθωσαμένους τὰ οἰκοῦντα ἐν αὐτῇ ἔθνη καὶ ἐλθόντας ἐν τῇ γῇ ταύτῃ καὶ πολεμήσαντας Εὐρώπην καὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν, ὅπερ σαφέστατόν ἐστι πλάσμα· μὴ δυνάμενος γὰρ δεῖξαι τὴν νῆσον καταποντωθεῖσαν αὐτὴν εἶπεν ὑπὸ Θεοῦ. 12.9 Ἀλλ' οὔ γε οἱ προειρημένοι Ἕλληνες, οἱ ἐπὶ σοφίᾳ θαυμαζόμενοι, ὀψὲ δέ ποτε καὶ γράμματα μεμαθηκότες καὶ νόμων ἀξιωθέντες, ἐνόμισαν ἑαυτοὺς μόνους τὴν σοφίαν ἐξωμβρηκέναι. Λυκοῦργοι γὰρ καὶ Σόλωνες καὶ Ζάλευκος ὁ τῶν Λοκρῶν καὶ πάντες οἱ λοιποὶ ὡς χθὲς καὶ πρώην πρὸς ἐκεῖνον τὸν Μωϋσέα παραβαλλόμενοι φαίνονται γεγονότες, ὅπου γε μηδὲ αὐτὸ τοὔνομα πάλαι ἐγινώσκετο τοῦ νόμου παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι· καὶ μάρτυς Ὅμηρος οὐδαμοῦ τῆς ποιήσεως αὐτῷ χρησάμενος. Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἦν κατὰ τοῦτον, ἀλλὰ γνώμαις ἀρίσταις πλήθη διῳκεῖτο καὶ προστάγμασι τῶν βασιλέων· ἀφ' οὗ καὶ μέχρι πολλοῦ διέμειναν ἔθεσιν ἀγράφοις χρώμενοι καὶ πολλὰ τούτων ἀεὶ πρὸς τὸ συντυγχάνον μετατιθέντες. 12.10 Λακεδαιμόνιοι μὲν γὰρ καὶ Κρῆτες ἔθεσιν ἐπαίδευον, οὐ λόγοις· Ἀθηναῖοι δὲ καὶ σχεδὸν οἱ ἄλλοι πάντες ἃ μὲν χρὴ πράττειν ἢ μὴ προσέταττον διὰ τῶν νόμων, τοῦ δὲ πρὸς αὐτὰ διὰ τῶν ἔργων ἐθίζειν ὠλιγώρησαν· οὗτοι δὲ κἀκεῖνοι κατὰ βραχὺ εἰς προκοπὴν σταθερῶν νόμων καὶ βεβαίων ἐληλυθότες οὐ μὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς, ὡς ὁ πάλαι Μωϋσῆς καὶ γραμμάτων πεῖραν καὶ νόμου σταθεροῦ τὸ ἴδιον ἐξεπαίδευσεν ἔθνος, λόγῳ καὶ ἔργῳ πρῶτος ἐνδεικνύμενος τοῦ νόμου καὶ τῶν γραμμάτων τὸ βέβαιον, ἄχρις οὗ χρόνῳ πολλῷ τὸ ἔθνος ἐπὶ τὸν προκηρυττόμενον ∆εσπότην Χριστὸν καὶ τὴν τούτου διδασκαλίαν ὡδήγησε τῇ βεβαιότητι τοῦ νόμου ὁδηγούμενόν τε καὶ φρουρούμενον. 12.11 Φοίνικες οὖν τῷ ἔθνει γειτνιῶντες καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν μαθόντες γράμματα καὶ ἀναγραφὰς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἀρχαιοτέρας ἀνεγράψαντο καὶ Ἕλληνας μαθεῖν γράμματα παρεσκεύασαν· Κάδμος γὰρ ἀπὸ Τύρου τὰ γράμματα λαβὼν εἰς Ἑλλάδα μετήνεγκε. Μὴ οὖν τὰς ὀφρῦς Ἕλληνες ἀνατεινάτωσαν ὥς τι καινὸν τῷ βίῳ πρῶτοι ἐφευρηκότες, παρ' ἑτέρων καὶ τὰ γράμματα καὶ τοὺς νόμους καὶ τὴν ὑπόνοιαν τῆς