Chapter XXII.—Belief of the Esseni in the Resurrection; Their System a Suggestive One.

Now the doctrine of the resurrection has also derived support among these; for they acknowledge both that the flesh will rise again, and that it will be immortal, in the same manner as the soul is already imperishable. And they maintain that the soul, when separated in the present life, (departs) into one place, which is well ventilated and lightsome, where, they say, it rests until judgment. And this locality the Greeks were acquainted with by hearsay, and called it “Isles of the Blessed.” And there are other tenets of these which many of the Greeks have appropriated, and thus have from time to time formed their own opinions.1012    [Important corroborations of Justin and other Fathers, vol. i. p. 286; ii. p. 338, also 81, 117, 148.] For the disciplinary system in regard of the Divinity, according to these (Jewish sects), is of greater antiquity than that of all nations. And so it is that the proof is at hand, that all those (Greeks) who ventured to make assertions concerning God, or concerning the creation of existing things, derived their principles from no other source than from Jewish legislation. And among these may be particularized Pythagoras especially, and the Stoics, who derived (their systems) while resident among the Egyptians, by having become disciples of these Jews.1013    Thus Plato’s “Laws” present many parallels to the writings of Moses. Some have supposed that Plato became acquainted with the Pentateuch through the medium of an ancient Greek version extant prior to that of the Septuagint. Now they affirm that there will be both a judgment and a conflagration of the universe, and that the wicked will be eternally punished. And among them is cultivated the practice of prophecy, and the prediction of future events.

[27] Ἔρρωται δὲ παρ' αὐτοῖς καὶ ὁ τῆς ἀναστάσεως λόγος: ὁμολογοῦσι γὰρ καὶ τὴν σάρκα ἀναστήσεσθαι καὶ ἔσεσθαι ἀθάνατον, ὃν τρόπον ἤδη ἀθάνατός ἐστιν ἡ ψυχή. ἣν χωρισθεῖσαν [τοῦ σώματος] νῦν [ἔστιν] εἰς ἕνα χῶρον εὔπνουν καὶ φωτεινὸν [ἀναφέρεσθαι καὶ ἐκεῖ] ἀναπαύεσθαι ἕως κρίσεως: ὃν χῶρον Ἕλληνες [τούτων] ἀκούσαντες μακάρων νήσους ὠνόμασαν. _ἀλλὰ καὶ ἕτερα τούτων δόγματα πολλ[ὰ] οἱ τῶν Ἑλλήνων [σοφοὶ] σφετερισάμενοι ἰδίας δόξας συνεστήσαντο: ἔστι γὰρ ἡ κατὰ τούτους ἄσκησις περὶ τὸ θεῖον ἀρχαιοτέρα πάντων ἐθνῶν, ὡς δείκνυσθαι πάντας τοὺς περὶ θεοῦ εἰπεῖν τετολμηκότας ἢ περὶ τῆς τῶν ὄντων δημιουργίας μὴ ἑτέρωθεν παρειληφέναι τὰς ἀρχὰς ἢ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰουδαϊκῆς νομοθεσίας. ὧν μάλιστα Πυθαγόρας καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς Στοᾶς παρ' Αἰγυπτίοις τούτοις μαθητευθέντες [τὰς ἀρχὰς] παρέλαβον: λέγουσι γὰρ καὶ κρίσιν ἔσεσθαι, καὶ τοῦ παντὸς ἐκπύρωσιν, καὶ τοὺς ἀδίκους κολασθήσεσθαι εἰς ἀεί. _ἀσκεῖται δὲ ἐν αὐτοῖς [καὶ] τὸ προφητεύειν καὶ προλέγειν τὰ ἐσόμενα.