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the witnesses of our Savior throughout the whole inhabited world, not seeming to be, but being just and pious, have suffered in their practice all that Plato enumerated. For they were also scourged, and have endured bonds and tortures, yea, and had their two eyes cut out, and finally, after suffering all kinds of terrible things, were impaled. Of whom you would find no one similar if you searched among the Greeks, so that one might reasonably say that the philosopher did nothing other than prophesy through these words concerning those among us distinguished in piety and true justice.

12.11.1 11. CONCERNING THE PARADISE ACCORDING TO MOSES

When Moses said, according to certain secret accounts, that at the beginning of the world's constitution a certain paradise of God came to be, and in it man was deceived by the serpent through the woman, listen to what Plato, having all but directly altered the very words, has himself set down by way of allegory in the Symposium, naming a garden of Zeus instead of the paradise of God, and positing a plotting Poverty instead of the serpent and the deception caused by it, and instead of the first man, whom the counsel and providence of God had brought forth like a newborn son, calling him Poros, son of Metis, and instead of saying when this world was constituted, saying, "when Aphrodite was born," thus allegorizing the world on account of its beauty. He says, then, in these very words: 12.11.2 "When Aphrodite was born, the gods were feasting, both the others and Poros, the son of Metis. After they had dined, Poverty came to beg, as you might expect when there is a feast, and was at the doors. Now Poros, being drunk with nectar—for wine did not yet exist—went into the garden of Zeus and, heavy with it, fell asleep. So Poverty, plotting on account of her own lack of resource to have a child by Poros, lay down beside him and conceived Eros." Such things, then, even in these matters, did Plato hint at in a manner similar to Moses.

12.12.1 12. HOW THEY SAY THE WOMAN WAS TAKEN FROM THE MAN

Again, when Moses had said: "But for Adam there was not a helper like him. And God cast a deep sleep upon him, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs and filled up flesh in its place. And the Lord God built the rib, which he took from Adam, into a woman," Plato, not understanding with what meaning this was said, is clearly not ignorant of the account, but he assigns it to Aristophanes, as to a comedian accustomed to mocking even solemn matters, introducing him in the Symposium saying these things: 12.12.2 "First you must learn the nature of man and its affections. For our ancient nature was not the same as it is now, but different. For in the first place there were three sexes of men, not two as now, male and female, but there was also a third, a composite of both of these, of which the name now remains, but the thing itself has vanished. For at that time there was an androgynous sex, and its form and name were a composite from both the male and the female." 12.12.3 Then, after mocking in his usual way, he adds, saying: "Having said this," his Zeus "cut the men in two, like people who cut sorb-apples and are going to pickle them, or like people who cut eggs with hairs. And whomever he cut, he ordered Apollo to turn the face and the half of the neck toward the cut, so that the man, seeing his own bisection, might be more orderly, and he ordered him to heal the rest."

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τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν μάρτυρες καθ' ὅλης τῆς ἀνθρώπων οἰκουμένης οὐ τὸ δοκεῖν, ἀλλὰ τὸ εἶναι δίκαιοί τε καὶ εὐσεβεῖς ἀσκοῦντες ὅσα δὴ κατέλεξεν ὁ Πλάτων πεπόνθασιν· ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐμαστιγώθησαν δεσμά τε καὶ στρέβλας ὑπομεμενήκασι, ναὶ μὴν καὶ ἐξεκόπησαν τὼ ὀφθαλμὼ καὶ τέλος πάντα τὰ δεινὰ παθόντες ἀνεσκινδυλεύθησαν. ὧν οὐδένα παρ' Ἕλλησιν ἐπιζητήσας ὅμοιον ἂν εὕροις, ὡς εἰκότως τινὰ φάναι τὸν φιλόσοφον οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ θεσπίσαι διὰ τούτων περὶ τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν διαπρεπόντων ἐν εὐσεβείᾳ καὶ ἀληθεῖ δικαιοσύνῃ.

12.11.1 ιαʹ. ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΚΑΤΑ ΜΩΣΕΑ ΠΑΡΑ∆ΕΙΣΟΥ

Μωσέως κατά τινας ἀπορρήτους λόγους ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου συστάσεως θεοῦ τινα παράδεισον γεγονέναι φάντος κἀν τούτῳ τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἠπατῆσθαι διὰ τῆς γυναικὸς πρὸς τοῦ ὄφεως, ἄντικρυς μονονουχὶ τὰ ῥήματα μεταποιήσας ὁ Πλάτων ἐπάκουσον ἐν Συμποσίῳ οἷα καὶ αὐτὸς ἀλληγορῶν τέθειται, ἀντὶ μὲν τοῦ παραδείσου τοῦ θεοῦ κῆπον ∆ιὸς ὀνομάσας, ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ ὄφεως καὶ τῆς πρὸς αὐτοῦ γενομένης ἀπάτης Πενίαν ἐπιβουλεύουσαν ὑποθέμενος, ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ πρώτου ἀνδρός, ὃν ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ μῆτίς τε καὶ πρόνοια υἱὸν ὥσπερ ἀρτιγενῆ προὐβέβλητο, υἱὸν Μήτιδος Πόρον ἀποκαλέσας, ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ φάναι ὁπηνίκα συνίστατο ὅδε ὁ κόσμος «ὅτε ἐγένετο ἡ Ἀφροδίτη» εἰπών, οὕτω τὸν κόσμον ἀλληγορήσας τοῦ περὶ αὐτὸν κάλλους ἕνεκα. λέγει δ' οὖν αὐτοῖς ῥήμασι τάδε· 12.11.2 «Ὅτε ἐγένετο ἡ Ἀφροδίτη, εἱστιῶντο οἱ θεοί, οἵ τε ἄλλοι καὶ ὁ τῆς Μήτιδος υἱὸς Πόρος. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐδείπνησαν, προσαιτήσουσα, οἷον δὴ εὐωχίας οὔσης, ἀφίκετο ἡ Πενία καὶ ἦν περὶ τὰς θύρας. ὁ οὖν Πόρος μεθυσθεὶς τοῦ νέκταρος, οἶνος γὰρ οὔπω ἦν, εἰς τὸν τοῦ ∆ιὸς κῆπον εἰσελθὼν βεβαρημένος εὗδεν. ἡ οὖν Πενία ἐπιβουλεύουσα διὰ τὴν αὑτῆς ἀπορίαν παιδίον ποιήσασθαι ἐκ τοῦ Πόρου κατακλίνεταί τε παρ' αὐτῷ καὶ ἐκύησε τὸν Ἔρωτα.» Τοιαῦτα μὲν δή τινα κἀν τούτοις ὁ Πλάτων ἐμφερῶς Μωσεῖ ὑπῃνίξατο.

12.12.1 ιβʹ. ΩΣ ΕΚ ΤΟΥ ΑΝ∆ΡΟΣ ΕΙΛΗΦΘΑΙ ΦΑΣΙ ΤΗΝ ΓΥΝΑΙΚΑ

Πάλιν εἰρηκότος Μωσέως· «Τῷ δὲ Ἀδὰμ οὐκ ἦν βοηθὸς ὅμοιος αὐτῷ. καὶ ἐπέβαλεν ὁ θεὸς ἔκστασιν ἐπ' αὐτὸν καὶ ὕπνωσε καὶ ἔλαβε μίαν τῶν πλευρῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀνεπλήρωσε σάρκα ἀντ' αὐτῆς. καὶ ᾠκοδόμησε κύριος ὁ θεὸς τὴν πλευράν, ἣν ἔλαβεν ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀδάμ, εἰς γυναῖκα,» μὴ συνεὶς ὁ Πλάτων οἵᾳ εἴρηται διανοίᾳ δῆλος μέν ἐστιν οὐκ ἀγνοήσας τὸν λόγον, Ἀριστοφάνει δ' αὐτὸν οἷα κωμῳδῷ χλευάζειν εἰωθότι καὶ τὰ σεμνὰ τῶν πραγμάτων ἀνατίθησιν, ἐν Συμποσίῳ τάδε λέγοντα αὐτὸν εἰσάγων· 12.12.2 «∆εῖ δὲ πρῶτον ὑμᾶς μαθεῖν τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν καὶ τὰ παθήματα αὐτῆς. ἡ γὰρ πάλαι ἡμῶν φύσις οὐχὶ ἡ αὐτὴ ἦν ἥπερ νῦν, ἀλλ' ἄλλη. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ τρία ἦν τὰ γένη τῶν ἀνθρώπων, οὐχ ὥσπερ νῦν δύο, ἄρρεν καὶ θῆλυ, ἀλλὰ καὶ τρίτον προσῆν κοινὸν ἀμφοτέρων τούτων, οὗ νῦν ὄνομα λοιπόν, αὐτὸ δὲ ἠφάνισται· ἀνδρόγυνον γὰρ τότε μὲν ἦν καὶ εἶδος καὶ ὄνομα ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων κοινὸν τοῦ τε ἄρρενος καὶ τοῦ θήλεος.» 12.12.3 Εἶθ' ἑξῆς διασύρας τὰ αὐτῷ συνήθη ἐπιφέρει λέγων· «Ταῦτ' εἰπὼν» ὁ παρ' αὐτῷ Ζεὺς «ἔτεμνε τοὺς ἀνθρώπους δίχα, ὥσπερ οἱ τὰ ὦτα τέμνοντες καὶ μέλλοντες ταριχεύειν ἢ ὥσπερ οἱ τὰ ᾠὰ ταῖς θριξίν. ὅντινα δὲ τέμοι, τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα ἐκέλευε τό τε πρόσωπον μεταστρέφειν καὶ τὸ τοῦ αὐχένος ἥμισυ πρὸς τὴν τομήν, ἵνα θεώμενος τὴν αὑτοῦ τμῆσιν κοσμιώτερος εἴη ὁ ἄνθρωπος, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ἰᾶσθαι ἐκέλευεν.»