Chapter XXVII.—Jewish Chronology Continued.

But since it does not seem irrational to prove that these nations that had their attention engrossed with the speculations of philosophy are of more modern date than those that had habitually worshipped the true God,1051    [See note 4, p. 148, supra.] it is reasonable that we should state both whence the family of these latter originated; and that when they took up their abode in these countries, they did not receive a name from the actual localities, but claimed for themselves names from those who were primarily born, and had inhabited these. Noah had three sons—Shem, Ham, and Japheth. From these the entire family of man was multiplied, and every quarter of the earth owes its inhabitants in the first instance to these. For the word of God to them prevailed, when the Lord said, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” So great efficacy had that one word that from the three sons of Noah are begotten in the family 72 children,—(viz.,) from Shem, 25; from Japheth, 15; and from Ham, 32. Unto Ham, however, these 32 children are born in accordance with previous declarations.  And among Ham’s children are: Canaan,1052    [The only son of Ham who did not go to Africa, vol. iii. p. 3.] from whom came the Canaanites; Mizraim, from whom the Egyptians; Cush, from whom the Ethiopians; and Phut, from whom the Libyans. These, according to the language prevalent among them, are up to the present day styled by the appellation of their ancestors; nay, even in the Greek tongue they are called by the names by which they have been now denominated. But even supposing that neither these localities had been previously inhabited, nor that it could be proved that a race of men from the beginning existed there, nevertheless these sons of Noah, a worshipper of God, are quite sufficient to prove the point at issue. For it is evident that Noah himself must have been a disciple of devout people, for which reason he escaped the tremendous, though transient, threat of water.

How, then, should not the worshippers of the true God be of greater antiquity than all Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Greeks, for we must bear in mind that the father of these Gentiles was born from this Japheth,1053    [The fable of Iapetus cannot be explained away as a corroboration of the biblical narrative. Hor., Od., i. 3, 27.] and received the name Javan, and became the progenitor of Greeks and Ionians? Now, if the nations that devoted themselves to questions concerning philosophy are shown to belong to a period altogether more recent than the race of the worshippers of God as well as the time of the deluge, how would not the nations of the barbarians, and as many tribes as in the world are known and unknown, appear to belong to a more modern epoch than these? Therefore ye Greeks, Egyptians, Chaldeans, and the entire race of men, become adepts in this doctrine, and learn from us, who are the friends of God, what the nature of God is, and what His well-arranged creation. And we have cultivated this system, not expressing ourselves in mere pompous language, but executing our treatises in terms that prove our knowledge of truth and our practice of good sense, our object being the demonstration of His Truth.1054    [Here the Edinburgh has “nature.” The context seems to require the more comprehensive word “Truth.”]

[31] Ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἄλογον [ἐ]δόκει ἐπιδεῖξαι ταῦτα τὰ περὶ σοφίαν ἠσχολημένα ἔθνη μεταγενέστερα ὄντα τῶν θεὸν σεβασάντων, εὔλογον [κρίνομεν νῦν] εἰπεῖν καὶ πόθεν τὸ γένος αὐτοῖς καὶ πόθεν, μετοικήσαντες [ἐν] ταύταις ταῖς χώραις, οὐ τὸ ὄνομα ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν χωρῶν μετέσχον, ἀλλ' αὐτοὶ προσεποίησαν ἐκ τῶν πρώτως ἀρξάντων καὶ [τὴν γῆν] κατοικησάντων. γίνονται [μὲν οὖν] τῷ Νῶε τρεῖς παῖδες: Σήμ, Χάμ, Ἰάφεθ, ἐκ τούτων [δὲ] πᾶν γένος ἀνθρώπων πεπλήθυνται καὶ πᾶσα χώρα κατοικεῖται. ῥῆμα γὰρ θεοῦ ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ἴσχυσεν εἰπόντος: «αὐξάνεσθε καὶ πληθύνεσθε καὶ πληρώσατε τὴν γῆν». τοσοῦτον [οὖν] δυνηθέντος ἑνὸς ῥήματος γεννῶνται ἐκ τῶν τριῶν παῖδες κατὰ γένος οβʹ: ἐκ μὲν τοῦ Σὴμ κεʹ, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ Ἰάφεθ ιεʹ, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ Χὰμ λβʹ. τῷ δὲ Χὰμ γίνονται παῖδες ἐκ τῶν προειρημένων λβʹ οὗτοι: Χανάν, ἐξ οὗ Χαναναῖοι, Με[σ]τραείμ, ἐξ οὗ Αἰγύπτιοι, Χούς, ἐξ οὗ Αἰθίοπες, Φούδ, ἐξ οὗ Λίβυες. οὗτοι [ἐν μὲν] τῇ κατ' αὐτοὺς φωνῇ ἕως νῦν τῇ τῶν προγόνων προσηγορίᾳ καλοῦνται, εἰς δὲ τὸ Ἑλληνικὸν οἷς νῦν ὀνόμασι κέκληνται [μετ]ονομάζονται. Εἰ δὲ μήτε τὸ οἰκεῖσθαι τὰς τούτων χώρας πρότερον [ἦν], μήτε ἀρχὴν γένος [τι] ἀνθρώπων δείκνυται, οὗτοι δὲ [οἱ] υἱοὶ τοῦ Νῶε ἀνδρὸς θεοσεβοῦς γίνονται [μαθηταί], ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς μαθ(η)τὴς γεγένηται ἀνδρῶν θεοσεβῶν_οὗ χάριν διέφυγε πολλοῦ ὕδατος πρόσκαιρον ἀπειλήν_, πῶς οὐ προγενέστεροι ἦσαν [οἱ] θεοσεβεῖς πάντων Χαλδαίων, Αἰγυπτίων, Ἑλλήνων_ὧν πατὴρ ἐκ τούτου [τοῦ] Ἰάφεθ γεννᾶται, [τὸ] ὄνομα Ἰωύαν, ἐξ οὗ Ἕλληνες καὶ Ἴωνες; _εἰ δὲ τὰ περὶ φιλοσοφίαν ἀπασχοληθέντα ἔθνη πολλῷ μεταγενέστερα τοῦ τῶν θεοσεβῶν γένους καὶ [τοῦ] κατακλυσμοῦ πάντως δείκνυται, πῶς οὐχὶ καὶ [τὰ] βάρβαρα καὶ ὅσα ἐν [τῷ] κόσμῳ γνωστά τε καὶ ἄγνωστά [ἐστιν ἔθνη] νεώτερα τούτων φανήσεται; τούτου τοίνυν τοῦ λόγου κρατήσαντες μάθετε, Ἕλληνες, Αἰγύπτιοι, Χαλδαῖοι καὶ πᾶν γένος ἀνθρώπων, τί τὸ θεῖον καὶ [τίς] ἡ τούτου εὔτακτος δημιουργία, παρ' ἡμῶν τῶν φίλων τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ μὴ κομπῷ λόγῳ τοῦτο ἠσκηκότων, ἀλλ' ἐ[ν] ἀληθείας γνώσει καὶ ἀσκήσει σωφροσύνης εἰς ἀπόδειξιν αὐτοῦ λόγους ποιουμένων.