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Νῦν δὲ προσῆκον μοι νομίζω παραστῆσαι πρεσβυτέραν τὴν ἡμετέραν φιλοσοφίαν τῶν παρ Ἕλλησιν ἐπιτηδευμάτων. Ὅροι δὲ ἡμῖν κείσονται Μωυσῆς καὶ Ὅμηρος, τῷ ἑκάτερον αὐτῶν εἶναι παλαιότερον, καὶ τὸν μὲν ποιητῶν καὶ ἱστορικῶν εἶναι πρεσβύτερον, τὸν δὲ πάσης βαρβάρου σοφίας ἀρχηγόν. Καὶ ὑφ ἡμῶν νῦν εἰς σύγκρισιν παραλαμβανέσθωσαν· εὑρήσομεν γὰρ οὐ μόνον τῆς Ἑλλήνων παιδείας τὰ παρ ἡμῖν ἀλλὰ ἔτι καὶ τῆς τῶν γραμμάτων εὑρέσεως ἀνώτερα. Μάρτυρας δὲ οὐ τοὺς οἴκοι παραλήψομαι, βοηθοῖς δὲ μᾶλλον Ἕλλησι χρήσομαι· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἄγνωμον, ὅτι μηδὲ ὑφ ὑμῶν παραδεκτέον, τὸδ ἂν ἀποδεικνύηται θαυμαστόν, ὅταν ὑμῖν διὰ τῶν ὑμετέρων ὅπλων ἀντερείδων ἀνυπόπτους παρ ὑμῶν τοὺς ἐλέγχους λαμβάνω. Περὶ γὰρ τῆς ποιήσεως τοῦ Ὁμήρου, γένους τε αὐτοῦ καὶ χρόνου καθ ὃν ἤκμασεν, προηρεύνησαν οἱ πρεσβύτατοι, Θεαγένης τε ὁ Ῥηγῖνος κατὰ Καμβύσην γεγονώς, Στησίμβροτός τε ὁ Θάσιος καὶ Ἀντίμαχος ὁ Κολοφώνιος, Ἡρόδοτός τε ὁ Ἁλικαρνασσεὺς καὶ Διονύσιος ὁ Ὀλύνθιος· μετ ἐκείνους Ἔφορος ὁ Κυμαῖος καὶ Φιλόχορος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, Μεγακλείδης τε καὶ Χαμαιλέων οἱ Περιπατητικοί· ἔπειτα γραμματικοὶ Ζηνόδοτος, Ἀριστοφάνης, Καλλίμαχος, Κράτης, Ἐρατοσθένης, Ἀρίσταρχος, Ἀπολλόδωρος.Τούτων δὲ οἱ περὶ Κράτητα πρὸ τῆς Ἡρακλειδῶν καθόδου φασὶν αὐτὸν ἠκμακέναι, μετὰ τὰ Τρωϊκὰ ἐνδοτέρω τῶν ὀγδοήκοντα ἐτῶν· οἱ δὲ περὶ Ἐρατοσθένη μετὰ ἑκατοστὸν ἔτος τῆς Ἰλίου ἁλώσεως· οἱ δὲ περὶ Ἀρίσταρχον κατὰ τὴν Ἰωνικὴν ἀποικίαν, ἥ ἐστι μετὰ ἑκατὸν καὶ τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη τῶν Ἰλιακῶν· φιλόχορος δὲ μετὰ τὴν Ἰωνικὴν ἀποικίαν, ἐπὶ ἄρχοντος Ἀθήνῃσιν Ἀρχίππου, τῶν Ἰλιακῶν ὕστερον ἔτεσιν ἑκατὸν ὀγδοήκοντα· οἱ δὲ περὶ Ἀπολλόδωρον μετὰ τὴν Ἰωνικὴν ἀποικίαν ἔτεσιν ἑκατόν, ὅπερ γένοιτο ἂν ὕστερον τῶν Ἰλιακῶν ἔτεσι διακοσίοις τεσσαράκοντα. Τινὲς δὲ πρὸ τῶν ὀλυμπιάδων ἔφασαν αὐτὸν γεγονέναι ἔτεσιν ἐνενήκοντα, τουτέστι μετὰ τὴν Ἰλίου ἅλωσιν ἔτεσι τριακοσίοις ἑπτακαίδεκα· ἕτεροι δὲ κάτω τὸν χρόνον ὑπήγαγον, σὺν Ἀρχιλόχῳ γεγονέναι τὸν Ὅμηρον εἰπόντες· ὁ δὲ Ἀρχίλοχος ἤκμασε περὶ ὀλυμπιάδα τρίτην καὶ εἰκοστήν, κατὰ Γύγην τὸν Λυδόν, τῶν Ἰλιακῶν ὕστερον ἔτεσι πεντακοσίοις. Καὶ περὶ μὲν τοῦ χρόνου τοῦ προειρημένου ποιητοῦ, λέγω δὲ Ὁμήρου, συστάσεως τε καὶ τῶν εἰπόντων περὶ αὐτοῦ ἀσυμφωνίας τοῖς ἐπ ἀκριβὲς ἐξετάζειν δυναμένοις αὐτάρκως ἡμῖν ὡς ἐπὶ κεφαλαίων εἰρήσθω. Δυνατὸν γὰρ ψευδεῖς ἀποφήνασθαι καὶ τὰς περὶ τοὺς λόγους δόξας.Παρ οἷς γὰρ ἀσυνάρτητός ἐστιν ἡ τῶν χρόνων ἀναγραφή, παρὰ τούτοις οὐδὲ τὰ τῆς ἱστορίας ἀληθεύειν δυνατόν. Τί γὰρ τὸ αἴτιον τῆς ἐν τῷ γράφειν πλάνης, εἰ μὴ τὸ συντάττειν τὰ μὴ ἀληθῆ
Now I think it fitting for me to demonstrate that our philosophy is older than the pursuits among the Greeks. And let Moses and Homer be set as our boundary-markers, since each of them is most ancient, and the latter is older than the poets and historians, while the former is the founder of all barbarian wisdom. And let them now be taken by us for comparison; for we shall find that our writings are higher not only than the education of the Greeks, but even than the invention of letters. And I will not summon as witnesses those of our own household, but rather I will use Greeks as helpers; for the former course is unreasonable, since it is not to be accepted even by you, but the latter, should it be demonstrated, is admirable, when, contending against you with your own weapons, I obtain refutations unsuspected from you. For concerning the poetry of Homer, and his lineage, and the time at which he flourished, the most ancient men investigated beforehand: Theagenes of Rhegium, who lived in the time of Cambyses, and Stesimbrotus of Thasos, and Antimachus of Colophon, and Herodotus of Halicarnassus, and Dionysius of Olynthus; after them Ephorus of Cyme and Philochorus the Athenian, and Megacleides and Chamaeleon the Peripatetics; then the grammarians Zenodotus, Aristophanes, Callimachus, Crates, Eratosthenes, Aristarchus, and Apollodorus. Of these, the school of Crates says he flourished before the return of the Heraclidae, within eighty years after the Trojan events; the school of Eratosthenes, after the hundredth year from the capture of Ilium; the school of Aristarchus, at the time of the Ionian colonization, which is one hundred and forty years after the Trojan events; Philochorus says, after the Ionian colonization, in the archonship of Archippus at Athens, one hundred and eighty years after the Trojan events; the school of Apollodorus, one hundred years after the Ionian colonization, which would be two hundred and forty years after the Trojan events. Some said he lived ninety years before the Olympiads, that is, three hundred and seventeen years after the capture of Ilium; others brought the time down lower, saying that Homer lived together with Archilochus; and Archilochus flourished around the twenty-third Olympiad, in the time of Gyges the Lydian, five hundred years after the Trojan events. And concerning the time of the aforesaid poet—I mean Homer—and his composition, and the disagreement of those who have spoken about him, let this suffice to have been stated by us, as in a summary, for those able to examine the matter accurately. For it is possible to show that even the opinions concerning the discourses are false. For among those whose record of times is incoherent, neither can the matters of history be true. For what is the cause of error in writing, except the composing of things that are not true?
如今我認為理當證明：我們的哲學比希臘人所從事的那些更為古老。讓摩西與荷馬作我們的界標，因為這二人都極其古老，荷馬比眾詩人與史家年代更早，摩西則是一切化外智慧的鼻祖。如今讓我們把這二人拿來比較；我們將發現，我們的典籍不僅高過希臘人的學問，甚至高過文字的發明。我不要傳召我們自己家裡人作見證，倒寧可用希臘人作幫手；因為前一種作法不合理，連你們也不會接納，後一種若能得以證明，便是可欽佩的——當我以你們自己的兵器與你們相抗，從你們手中取得你們無從質疑的駁據時。論到荷馬的詩、他的家世，以及他鼎盛的年代，那些極古的人早已先行考究過：雷吉翁的忒阿革涅斯（活在岡比西斯時期）、塔索斯的斯忒西姆布羅托斯、科洛封的安提馬科斯、哈利卡那索斯的希羅多德、奧林索斯的狄奧尼修斯；在他們之後，有庫梅的厄福羅斯、雅典的斐羅科羅斯、逍遙派的墨伽克勒得斯與卡邁勒翁；其後又有文法學家芝諾多托斯、阿里斯托芬、卡利馬科斯、克拉特斯、埃拉托色尼、阿里斯塔爾科斯、阿波羅多洛斯。其中克拉特斯一派說，荷馬鼎盛於赫拉克利得後裔回歸之前，即特洛伊戰事後八十年之內；埃拉托色尼一派說，是在伊利昂陷落後第一百年；阿里斯塔爾科斯一派說，是在愛奧尼亞人殖民之時，即特洛伊戰事後一百四十年；斐羅科羅斯說，是在愛奧尼亞人殖民之後，雅典執政官阿爾喜波斯任內，即特洛伊戰事後一百八十年；阿波羅多洛斯一派說，是在愛奧尼亞人殖民後一百年，這便是特洛伊戰事後二百四十年。有人說他生在奧林匹克紀年前九十年，即伊利昂陷落後三百一十七年；另有人把年代壓得更晚，說荷馬與阿爾喜洛科斯同時；而阿爾喜洛科斯鼎盛於約第二十三屆奧林匹克，當呂底亞人巨格斯之時，即特洛伊戰事後五百年。論到前述那位詩人——我是指荷馬——的年代、生平與述說他的人彼此的分歧，我們略作概述，已足夠給那些能精確查考此事的人了。原來連那些關乎言論的見解，也是能被證為虛假的。因為在那些年代紀錄前後不一貫的人那裡，連歷史之事也不能為真。原來著述中產生謬誤的緣由，除了編造不真之事，還能是什麼呢？