And since our acceptance of the oracles current among the Hebrews has come about for us not without reasoning, but through judgment and examined understanding, and since the matters of proof have now been surveyed together, it is time to observe that even among the Greeks themselves, those who are most distinguished were not unacquainted with matters concerning the Hebrews; but some bore witness to the truth both of the lives of these men and of the historical narratives current among them, while others likewise touched upon their dogmatic theology.
First I will set forth first things first, showing how many of the Greek writers, under the name of Jews and Hebrews, made mention both of the philosophy anciently practiced among them and of the ancient history of their forefathers.
My discourse will begin from the life of these men, so that you may learn that it is not outside of sound reasoning that we have preferred the philosophy of the persons in question to that of the Greeks.
In accordance, then, with what was examined beforehand in the treatise prior to this one, not only their own sacred books but also, among the Greek philosophers, those who are most distinguished and renowned among us bear witness that the practice of ethical discipline was fulfilled by them. And indeed, take and read what is set down by Theophrastus in the work written by Porphyry, On Abstinence from Animate Beings, in the following manner:
And yet, says Theophrastus, even now the Jews among the Syrians, because of the sacrifice practiced from the beginning, still sacrifice animals in this manner; and if anyone were to bid us sacrifice in that same way, we would recoil from the practice. For they do not feast upon what has been sacrificed, but burn it whole by night, and pouring over it much honey and wine, they consume the sacrifice quickly, so that the all-seeing sun might not become a witness of the dreadful deed.
And they do this while fasting on the days in between; and throughout all this time, being by race philosophers, they converse with one another about the divine, and by night they make observation of the stars, gazing at them and calling upon God through their prayers. For these men were the first to institute sacrifices, both of the other animals and of themselves, doing this by necessity and not by desire.
And in the fourth book of the same treatise, Porphyry records the following concerning these same people: 'The Essenes, then, are Jews by race, but more loving of one another than others are.'
These men turn away from pleasures as from vice, and regard self-control and not succumbing to the passions as virtue. They hold marriage in disdain, but taking the children of others while still tender for instruction, they consider them kinsmen and mold them according to their own character; yet they do not abolish marriage and the succession arising from it, but guard against the licentiousness of women. They are despisers of wealth, and the sharing of goods among them is a marvel; nor can one find among them anyone who exceeds another in possessions.
For it is their law that those entering the sect surrender their property to the order, so that among all of them there appears neither the lowliness of poverty nor the superiority of wealth, but the possessions of each being mingled together, there is, as it were for brothers, one common substance for all.
They consider oil to be a defilement, and if anyone is anointed even unwillingly, he scrubs his body clean; for they count it a good thing to be unkempt, and to wear white garments always.
The stewards of their common affairs are appointed by vote, and each of them is undivided from all with regard to meeting needs. They do not have a single city, but in each city many of them dwell, and to sectarians arriving from elsewhere, their possessions lie open to one another; and those who see them for the first time go in to them as to familiar acquaintances. Therefore they travel abroad carrying nothing for the sake of expenses.
They do not change either clothing or footwear until it is first completely worn out, or consumed by time. Nor do they buy or sell anything, but each one, giving to whoever is in need whatever he has, receives back in exchange whatever useful thing that person has; and even without such exchange, receiving what they need from whomever they wish is unhindered for them.
Toward the divine, moreover, they are peculiarly pious. For before the sun rises they utter nothing of profane matters, but offer certain ancestral prayers toward it, as though beseeching it to rise. After this they are released by the overseers, each to whatever trades they know, and having worked diligently until the fifth hour, they then gather together again into one place, and girding themselves with coverings, they thus wash their bodies with cold water; and after this purification they assemble into their own dwelling, into which none of those of a different faith is permitted to enter.
They themselves, being pure, come to the dining hall as though to some sacred precinct. When they have sat down in silence, the baker sets out loaves in order, and the cook sets one dish of one kind of food for each. The priest offers a prayer beforehand over the food, it being holy and pure, and it is unlawful for anyone to taste before the prayer; and when they have finished the meal, he prays again — both in beginning and in ending, they honor God.
Then, having laid aside their garments as though sacred vestments, they turn again to work until evening. Returning, they dine likewise, with guests sitting together with them, should any happen to be present.
Neither shouting nor tumult ever defiles the house; but they yield speech to one another in order, and to those outside, the silence of those within appears like some awesome mystery. The cause of this is their continual sobriety, and the fact that among them food and drink are measured out only to satiety.
For those who aspire to the sect, entrance is not immediate; rather, remaining outside for a year, they are prescribed the same regimen, being given a small hatchet, a loincloth, and white clothing. And when, in this time, one gives proof of self-control, he draws nearer to their manner of life, and partakes of the purer waters used for purification.
He is not yet, however, admitted to their common life; for after the demonstration of endurance, his character is tested for two more years, and having been shown to be worthy, he is thus enrolled into the fellowship.
But before he touches the common food, he swears to them dreadful oaths: first, that he will be pious toward the divine; then, that he will keep what is just toward men, and will harm no one either deliberately or under compulsion; that he will always hate the unjust and side with the just in their sufferings; that he will keep faith with all, but especially with those in power — for no one attains rule apart from God; and should he himself rule, that he will never overstep the bounds of his authority, nor outshine those under him by clothing or any excess of adornment; that he will always love truth and expose those who lie; that he will keep his hands pure from theft and his soul pure from unholy gain; and that he will neither conceal anything from his fellow sectarians nor betray any of their matters to others, even should someone use force against him even unto death.
In addition to these things, he swears that he will impart the doctrines to no one otherwise than as he himself received them, that he will abstain from robbery, and that he will likewise carefully preserve both the books of their sect and the names of the angels.
Such are their oaths; and those who are caught in wrongdoing and expelled perish by an evil fate. For being bound by their oaths and customs, they are not even able to partake of food from others, but, eating grass and being destroyed by famine, they perish.
Therefore, taking pity on many when they were in extreme distress, they took them back, considering that torment even unto death was sufficient punishment for their offenses.
They give the small mattock to those who are about to become sectarians, since they themselves relieve themselves in no other way than by digging a pit a foot deep and covering it over with their garment, so as not to insult the rays of God.
So great is their frugality in diet, and so small its measure, that on the day of the week which they are accustomed to keep for hymns to God and for rest, they have no need of relieving themselves.
From this discipline they have attained such endurance that, being racked, twisted, burned, and made to pass through every kind of instrument of torture, in order that they might either blaspheme the lawgiver or eat something forbidden, they submit to neither.
They demonstrated this in the war against the Romans. For they do not endure flattering those who torment them, nor weeping, but smiling amid their pains and mocking those who apply the tortures, they released their souls cheerfully, as though they would receive them back again. For this conviction is firmly held among them: that their bodies are corruptible, and their matter not enduring, but that their souls remain forever immortal; that they are entangled together, coming from the finest ether and drawn down by a natural impulse, and that when they are released from the bonds of the flesh, as though freed from a long slavery, then they rejoice and are borne aloft.
From such a manner of life, then, and from their discipline toward truth and piety, it is reasonable that among them there are many who foreknow the future, being as it were trained by sacred books, various purifications, and the utterances of the prophets; and it is rare that they err in their predictions.
These things Porphyry, drawing, as is likely, from ancient readings, testified in the fourth book of his treatise On Abstinence from Animate Beings, concerning both the piety and the philosophy of the men in question.
Hecataeus of Abdera, a man who was both a philosopher and most capable in practical affairs, having devoted a book of his own to the history concerning the Jews, relates a great many things about them, of which it will suffice for the present purpose to cite the following.
For the Jews have many fortresses throughout the country, and villages; but there is one fortified city, Jerusalem, about fifty stades in circumference, which about one hundred and twenty thousand people inhabit, and which they call Hierosolyma.
There, roughly in the middle of the city, is a stone enclosure, about five plethra in length and a hundred cubits in breadth, having double gates, in which there is a square altar, composed of gathered stones, uncut and unworked; each side twenty cubits, and its height twelve cubits.
And beside it is a great building, in which there is also an altar and a lampstand; both are of gold, weighing two talents; and upon these there is a light that is never extinguished, both night and day. There is, however, no statue, nor any votive offering at all, nor any planting whatsoever, nor anything like a sacred grove, nor anything of that kind.
Having said these things, he further attests, going on, that the Jews campaigned together with King Alexander, and afterward with his successors. And I will now set forth the account he himself says he witnessed, of a thing done by a certain Jewish man during the campaign. He speaks as follows:
As I myself was traveling toward the Red Sea, there followed along with the other horsemen escorting us a certain Jew named Mosollamus, a man capable in mind, robust, and an archer acknowledged by all, both Greeks and barbarians, to be the best.
Now this man, when many were traveling along the road and a certain diviner was taking the auspices from a bird and requiring everyone to halt, asked why they were waiting. And when the diviner showed him the bird and said that if it remained where it was, it was advantageous for all to wait, but if it rose and flew forward, they should advance, and if backward, they should retreat again — he, saying nothing, drew his bow and shot, striking and killing the bird.
When the diviner and some others were indignant and cursed him, he said, 'Why are you raving, you wretched men?' Then, taking the bird into his hands, he said, 'How could this creature, not having foreseen its own safety, have announced to us anything sound concerning our journey? For if it had been able to foreknow the future, it would not have come to this place, fearing that Mosollamus the Jew would shoot and kill it.' And these things Hecataeus relates.
Clearchus the Peripatetic philosopher, in the first book of his work On Sleep, attributes to the philosopher Aristotle a certain account concerning the Jews, writing verbatim as follows:
'But it would take long to relate most of it; yet it is no bad thing likewise to go through as much of it as has a certain marvel and philosophy about that man. Know well,' he said, 'Hyperochides, that I shall seem to you to be saying things equal to dreams, marvellous as they are.'
'Well then,' said Aristotle, 'according to the precept of the rhetoricians, let us first go through his lineage, so that we may not disobey the teachers of narration.'
9:5.5
Λέγε, εἶπενὁΎπεροχίδης, οὕτωςεἰδοκεῖ
許珀羅奇德斯說道：「請講，若你以為妥當，就照此方式說吧。」
'Speak,' said Hyperochides, 'in that manner, if it seems good.'
That man, then, was by race a Jew, from Coele-Syria; and these people are descendants of the philosophers among the Indians. The philosophers, as they say, are called among the Indians Calani, and among the Syrians Jews, having taken their name from the place where they dwell; for the place they inhabit is called Judaea. And the name of their city is quite difficult to pronounce, for they call it Jerusalem.
This man, then, having sojourned as a guest among many, and having come down from the upland regions to the maritime places, was Greek not only in speech but also in soul. And at that time, while we were staying in Asia, this man, coming into the same regions, met with us and with certain other scholars, testing their wisdom. And since he had become well acquainted with many who were learned, he imparted rather more of what he had than he received. These things too Clearchus relates.
'Numa, king of the Romans, was a Pythagorean, and having been benefited by the teachings of Moses, forbade the Romans to fashion an image of God in human or animal form.'
'At any rate, for the first hundred and seventy years, while building temples, they made no image at all, neither molded nor even painted. For Numa demonstrated to them, by way of concealment, that it is not possible to lay hold of the Best by the tongue, but by the mind alone.' And further, going on after this, he says as follows:
'Most clearly of all, Megasthenes the historian, who lived together with Seleucus Nicanor, writes as follows in the third book of the Indica: All that has been said among the ancients concerning nature is also said among those who philosophize outside of Greece — some among the Indians by the Brahmans, and some in Syria by those called Jews.'
In addition to these things, Clement also mentions Aristobulus the Peripatetic and Numenius the Pythagorean, saying: 'Aristobulus, in the first book of his works addressed to Philometor, writes word for word: Plato followed our law, and is evidently one who has diligently studied each of the things spoken in it.'
'And it has been translated by others before Demetrius, before the domination of Alexander and the Persians — both the account concerning the exodus of the Hebrews, our fellow citizens, out of Egypt, and the manifestation of all that happened to them, and the conquest of the land, and the exposition of the whole legislation.'
'So that it is quite evident that the aforementioned philosopher took over much; for he became a man of much learning, just as Pythagoras also transferred many things from what is among us into his own body of doctrine.'
And from the Pythagorean philosopher himself, Numenius I mean, I will cite the following from his first book On the Good: 'On this matter it will be necessary, having spoken and confirmed the point with the testimonies of Plato, to withdraw further back and bind it together with the doctrines of Pythagoras, and to call in as witnesses the nations held in good repute, bringing forward their rites and their doctrines, and the institutions established in agreement with Plato, as many as the Brahmans, the Jews, the Magi, and the Egyptians instituted.' So much, then, concerning these matters.
在論及摩西的第三卷書中，這同一位努美尼烏斯又提及以下之事：「其後，雅乃和佯庇（Jannes and Jambres），這兩位埃及的聖書吏，是被公認在行邪術方面無人能及的人物，正當猶太人被逐出埃及之時出現。」
And in the third book concerning Moses, the same Numenius, in the course of his discussion, makes mention of the following: 'Now Jannes and Jambres, Egyptian sacred scribes, men judged to be inferior to none in the practice of magic, appeared at the time when the Jews were being driven out of Egypt.'
Now against Musaeus, the leader of the Jews, a man most powerful in prayer to God, these were the men deemed worthy by the multitude of the Egyptians to stand in opposition; and of the calamities which Musaeus brought upon Egypt, they were seen to be capable of undoing the most violent of them.
Choerilus also, a poet of ancient times, makes mention of the nation of the Jews, and how they campaigned together with King Xerxes against Greece. He speaks as follows: 'And after these there crossed over a race wondrous to behold, sending forth from their mouths the Phoenician tongue; they dwelt on the Solyman mountains, beside a broad lake, their heads unkempt, shorn round; and moreover, above, they wore the flayed faces of horses, hardened by smoke.'
It is clear that these things were said by him concerning the Jews, from the fact that Jerusalem also lies among the mountains called by the Greeks the Solyma, and that near it is the Asphaltite lake, which, according to the poet, is the broadest and greater than all the lakes in Syria. These things, then, this writer also relates.
Porphyry, in the first book of his Philosophy from Oracles, introduces his own god as bearing witness to the wisdom of the Hebrew race, together with the other nations renowned for understanding.
And Apollo, as he is introduced by Porphyry through the oracle set forth, speaks as follows. And while the matters concerning sacrifices are still being set out—to which attention must be paid, since they are full of all divine wisdom—he adds: 'Steep is the path of the blessed, and very rough, opened at first by gates bound with bronze; and there are pathways beyond number, deeply worn, which those who drink the fair water of the Nile-land first revealed among mortals for boundless enterprise; and many paths of the blessed the Phoenicians too have learned, the Assyrians, the Lydians, and the race of Hebrew men,' and what follows in accordance with these. To this the writer adds:
'For the way to the gods is bound with bronze, steep and rough; of this many paths the barbarians discovered, but the Greeks went astray, while those who afterward gained mastery of it even corrupted it. And the god bore witness that the discovery belonged to the Egyptians, the Phoenicians, and the Chaldeans (for these are the Assyrians), and to the Lydians and the Hebrews.'
Furthermore, in addition to these, Apollo says in another oracle: 'Only the Chaldeans obtained wisdom, and the Hebrews too, who purely worship a self-begotten king as God.'
And again, when asked for what reason men speak of many heavens, he gave this oracle: 'Into one wholly turns the circle of the cosmos, yet with seven zones it is borne along paths set with stars, which the Chaldeans and the illustrious Hebrews have named heavenly, as it creeps on to the seventh course.'
Concerning, then, the appellation of the Jews and Hebrews, and the piety and philosophy that of old flourished conspicuously among them, let this suffice as set forth; but concerning their ancestral history, observe how many writers have agreed with it.
Since Moses, in his Antiquities concerning the whole [creation], narrated a flood, and how the one called among the Hebrews Noah was saved in an ark made of wood together with his household—Berossus the Chaldean, Hieronymus the Egyptian, and Nicolaus of Damascus, historical writers, [related] how they made mention of these same things—Josephus, in the first book of the Antiquities, sets this forth in the following manner:
Of this flood and the ark all who have recorded the histories of the barbarians make mention, among whom is also Berossus the Chaldean. For in narrating the events concerning the flood he relates it somewhat as follows:
And it is said that a certain part of the ship still remains in Armenia, by the mountain of the Cordyaeans, and that some carry off pieces of it, scraping away the bitumen. Men make use of what is thus carried off especially for the purpose of averting evil.
Hieronymus the Egyptian, who wrote the Phoenician Antiquities, also mentions these things, as do Mnaseas and many others. And Nicolaus of Damascus, in his ninety-sixth book, gives an account of them, speaking as follows:
'There is, above the Minyad, a great mountain in Armenia, called Baris, to which, it is said, many fled together at the time of the flood and were saved, and that a certain man, borne upon an ark, ran aground upon its summit, and that the remains of the timbers were preserved for a long time. This might well be the same man whom Moses, the lawgiver of the Jews, recorded.' These are the words of Josephus.
But I, having gone through for you the affairs of the Medes and Assyrians, will set forth from the writing of Abydenus these words of the man concerning the same history.
After him others reigned, and also Seisithros, to whom Kronos foretold that there would be a multitude of rains on the fifteenth of Desios, and commanded him to hide away in the City of the Sun, which is among the Sipparoi, whatever pertained to writings.
Seisithros, having accomplished these things, immediately sailed off toward Armenia, and straightway what had been decreed by the god overtook him. On the third day, when the rain had ceased, he sent forth birds, making trial of them, to see if they might anywhere spy land emerging from the water.
But the birds, since a vast expanse of open sea awaited them and they had nowhere to alight, were carried back again to Seisithros, and after them others likewise.
But when he had success with the third [birds]—for they returned with their feet covered with mud—the gods made him vanish from among men; and the ship, in Armenia, furnished the local inhabitants with amulets of its wood as remedies against harm. These, then, are his words.
Again, since Moses said that the first men who came into being were long-lived, Josephus, in support of this statement also, adduces as witnesses the Greek writers, speaking as follows:
Let no one, by comparing the present life and the brevity of the years which we now live, suppose that what is said concerning the men of old is false, inferring from the fact that people today do not extend their lifetime to such a length that those men of old had not attained to that length of life either.
For those men, being beloved of God, and having come into being by God himself, and moreover because their food was more suited to a longer duration of life, reasonably lived so great a number of years.
Furthermore, on account of their virtue and the usefulness of what they devised—astronomy and geometry—God granted them to live longer, since they could not safely foretell these things without having lived six hundred years; for it is through this span that the Great Year is completed.
And all those among the Greeks and barbarians who have composed histories bear witness to my account. For both Manetho, who compiled the record of the Egyptian affairs, and Berossus, who gathered the Chaldean matters, and Mochus and Hestiaeus, and besides these the Egyptian Hieronymus, and those who composed the Phoenician histories, agree with what I say; and Hesiod, Hecataeus, Hellanicus, and Acusilaus, and besides these Ephorus and Nicolaus, record that the ancients lived a thousand years. Concerning these matters, then, let each judge as seems good to him.
Again, since Moses narrated concerning the building of the tower, and how from one language men were confounded into many dialects, the writer mentioned a little before, in the work entitled Concerning the Assyrians, bears witness to similar things, speaking as follows:
There are some who say that the first men who arose from the earth, being puffed up with strength and stature, and indeed despising the gods, considered themselves superior, and raised a tower reaching to the sky, where Babylon now is; and that it was already near to heaven, when the winds, coming to the aid of the gods, overturned the structure upon them; and that the ruins of it are called Babylon. And that, having until then been of one language, they received from the gods a many-voiced speech; and afterward war arose between Kronos and Titan.
And the place in which they built the tower is now called Babylon, because of the confusion which first plainly occurred concerning speech. For the Hebrews call confusion 'Babel'.
Concerning this tower and the diversity of tongues among men, the Sibyl also makes mention, speaking as follows: when all men were of one speech, some built a very lofty tower, so that they might ascend through it into heaven; but the gods, sending winds, overthrew the tower, and gave to each man his own particular speech, and for this reason it happened that the city was called Babylon. And concerning the plain called Sennaar in the land of Babylonia, Hestiaeus makes mention, speaking as follows: that those of the priests who were saved, having taken up the sacred implements of Zeus Enyalios, came to Sennaar of Babylonia; and thence they were thereafter scattered on account of the diversity of tongues, forming settlements everywhere, and each group took possession of whatever land they happened upon.
Again, since Moses set forth at length the history concerning Abraham, the forefather of the Hebrews, Josephus, through the following words, says that the historians outside [the Hebrew tradition] also bear witness to him:
Berossus makes mention of our father Abraham, not naming him, but speaking thus: 'In the tenth generation after the flood, there was among the Chaldeans a certain righteous and great man, skilled in the things of the heavens.'
Nicolaus of Damascus, in the fourth book of his Histories, speaks thus: 'Abraham reigned as king of Damascus, having come as a foreigner with an army from the land beyond Babylon, called the land of the Chaldeans. Not long afterward, having removed also from this region, together with his own people he migrated to the land then called Canaan, but now called Judea; and those descended from him multiplied, concerning whom I shall recount the recorded history in another discourse.'
And even now the name of Abraham is held in honor in the region of Damascus, and a village is pointed out, named after him, called 'the Dwelling of Abraham.' And when, at a later time, famine seized upon Canaan, Abram, having learned that the Egyptians were prosperous, was eager to cross over to them, both in order to share in their abundance and to become a hearer of the priests, whatever they might say concerning the gods—either intending to follow them, if they should be found superior, or, thinking better himself, to bring them over to the better view.
Then he adds next: 'And he associated with the most learned of the Egyptians, and from this it happened that his virtue and the reputation concerning him became more conspicuous.'
For since the Egyptians were pleased with differing customs, and disparaged one another's practices, and were for this reason ill-disposed toward one another, he conferred with each of them, and, refuting the arguments which they made concerning their own [customs], showed them to be empty and containing nothing true.
Being admired by them, therefore, in their gatherings as most intelligent, and a man skilled not only in understanding but also in persuading concerning whatever he undertook to teach, he freely bestowed upon them arithmetic and handed down the science of astrology. For before Abraham's arrival, the Egyptians were ignorant of these things; for these came to Egypt from the Chaldeans, whence they also passed to the Greeks. These are the words of Josephus.