Theophilus to Autolycus, greeting. Seeing that writers love to compose a multitude of books for the sake of empty reputation—some about gods and wars or chronologies, others about useless myths and the rest of their fruitless labor (a pursuit in which you too have been engaged until now, and from that toil you do not shrink)—yet, having fallen in with me, you still reckon the word of truth to be idle talk, supposing the writings among us to be recent and modern. Therefore I too will not hesitate, God granting it, to set forth for you in summary the antiquity of our writings, making for you a brief memorandum, so that you may not be reluctant to read it, but may come to recognize the folly of the rest.
For those who write ought to have been eyewitnesses of the things they affirm, or to have learned them accurately from those who saw them; for in a way those who write about obscure matters merely beat the air. What did it profit Homer to compose the Trojan War and to deceive so many? Or Hesiod, the catalogue of the genealogy of the gods he names? Or Orpheus, the three hundred and sixty-five gods, whom he himself rejects at the end of his life, saying in his testaments that God is one? What did the sphere-drawing of the cosmic circle profit Aratus, or those who said the like, except for human reputation—which they did not even obtain as they deserved? And what truth have they spoken? What did the tragedies profit Euripides and Sophocles or the other tragedians? Or the comedies, Menander and Aristophanes and the other comic poets? Or their histories, Herodotus and Thucydides? Or Pythagoras the inner sanctuaries and the Pillars of Heracles? Or Diogenes the Cynic philosophy? Or Epicurus the dogma that there is no providence? Or Empedocles the teaching of atheism? Or Socrates, his swearing by the dog and the goose and the plane-tree and the thunderstruck Asclepius, and the daemons he invoked? And to what end did he die willingly? What sort of reward did he hope to receive after death? What did his own education profit Plato? Or the other philosophers their doctrines?—that I may not enumerate them, for they are many. We say these things to display the unprofitable and godless character of their thought.
For all these, enamored of empty and vain reputation, neither knew the truth themselves nor urged others toward the truth. Indeed the very things they said convict them, since they spoke at variance with one another; and most of them overthrew their own doctrines. For they not only contradicted one another, but some even rendered their own teachings void, so that their reputation has come to dishonor and folly; for they are condemned by the discerning. Either they spoke about gods, and then themselves later taught atheism; or, if they spoke about the origin of the world, in the end they declared that all things came to be by chance. And again, speaking of providence, they then dogmatized that the world is governed without providence. Why, even while attempting to write about decency, they taught that licentiousness and fornication and adultery should be practiced; nay, they even introduced abominable, unspeakable deeds. And first of all they proclaim that their own gods consorted in unspeakable unions and in unlawful feasts. For who does not sing of Cronus the child-devourer; and of Zeus his son swallowing Metis, and preparing defiled banquets for the gods—where they say a certain lame smith, Hephaestus, served them? And that Zeus married Hera his own sister, and not only that, but with a polluted mouth committed unspeakable acts? And the rest of his deeds, as many as the poets sing, you doubtless know. Why should I go on recounting the matters concerning Poseidon and Apollo, or Dionysus and Heracles, of bosom-loving Athena and shameless Aphrodite, since we have treated the account of them more accurately elsewhere?
Nor indeed would it have been necessary for us to refute these things, were it not that I see you now wavering concerning the word of truth. For being prudent, you gladly bear with fools. Otherwise you would not have been moved to be led astray by senseless men with empty words, nor to give credence to a rumor already prevailing—the rumor of godless mouths falsely slandering us, who are called God-fearing and Christians, asserting that our wives are common to all, that we have promiscuous intercourse, and even that we lie with our own sisters; and, most godless and savage of all, that we partake of all kinds of human flesh. Moreover, they say that our doctrine is but a recent road, and that we have nothing to offer in proof of our truth and teaching, but that our word is folly. Now I marvel greatly at you, who in all other matters have been diligent and a searcher of all things, yet listen to us rather carelessly. For if it were possible for you, you would not shrink even from spending the night in the libraries.
Since, then, you have read much, what did you make of the writings of Zeno, or of Diogenes and Cleanthes—all that their books contain, teaching cannibalism: that fathers should be cooked and devoured by their own children, and that if anyone should refuse, or cast away some portion of the loathsome food, he himself who did not eat should be eaten? Besides these, a still more godless saying is found, that of Diogenes, who teaches children to bring their own parents to sacrifice and to devour them. And does not Herodotus the historian relate that Cambyses, having slaughtered and boiled the children of Harpagus, set them before their father as food? He also tells that among the Indians fathers are devoured by their own children. O the godless teaching of those who recorded such things—nay rather, who taught them! O their impiety and atheism! O the mind of those who philosophized so precisely and professed philosophy! For those who dogmatized such things filled the world with impiety.
Indeed, concerning unlawful conduct nearly all who have gone astray in the chorus of philosophy are agreed. And first of all Plato, who is thought among them to have philosophized more nobly, in the first book of the work entitled the Republic expressly legislates, after a fashion, that women should be common to all, using as his example Zeus and the lawgiver of the Cretans, so that under this pretext abundant child-bearing might result from such practices, and that the grieving should be consoled by such intercourse. Epicurus too, along with teaching atheism, counsels men to consort with mothers and sisters, contrary even to the laws that forbid this. For Solon legislated clearly on this matter, that children should be begotten lawfully of one's wedded wife, so that those born might not be from adultery—lest one honor as a father someone who is not his father, or dishonor one who is truly his father, not knowing him to be his father. So too do all the other laws of the Romans and Greeks forbid such things to be done. To what end, then, do Epicurus and the Stoics dogmatize that incest with sisters and sodomy with males should be practiced, by which teachings they have filled the libraries, so that from childhood men may learn unlawful intercourse? And why need I waste further time on them, since concerning the very gods they speak of they have proclaimed the like?
For having said that gods exist, they again reckoned them to be nothing. Some said that the gods were composed of atoms, and others again that they dissolve into atoms, and that the gods can do nothing more than men. Plato, having said gods exist, will have them composed of matter. Pythagoras, after laboring so much about the gods and journeying up and down, at last defines nature, and says that all things come about by chance, and that the gods care nothing for men. And consider all that Clitomachus the Academic introduced concerning atheism; and Critias too, and Protagoras of Abdera, who said: 'Whether gods exist I cannot say, nor of what sort they are can I declare; for many things hinder me.' As for Euhemerus the most godless of all, it is superfluous even to speak; for having dared to utter many things about the gods, in the end he will have it that gods do not exist at all, but that all things are governed by chance. And Plato, who said so much about the monarchy of God and the soul of man, asserting the soul to be immortal—is he not later found contradicting himself, saying that souls pass into other men, and some of them even into irrational animals? How will his doctrine not appear dreadful and unlawful to any who have sense, that he who was once a man should again become a wolf, or a dog, or an ass, or some other irrational beast? In line with this Pythagoras too is found babbling, besides cutting away providence. In whom, then, shall we believe? In Philemon the comic poet, who says: 'For those who worship God have good hopes of salvation'? Or in those we have already mentioned, Euhemerus and Epicurus and Pythagoras, and the rest who deny godliness and abolish providence? Now concerning God and providence Ariston said: 'Take courage; God is wont to help all who are worthy, and the like most of all. Yet if no precedence be laid up for those who live as they ought, what advantage is there in being pious? Would that it were so; but I see only too well that those who have chosen to live piously fare strangely, while those who care for nothing but their own profit and convenience hold a more honored estate than ours for the present. But one must look far ahead and await the consummation of all things. For it is not, as some have come to hold—an opinion malignant and useless to life—that there is a certain automatic motion which arbitrates all things as they chance. For the base reckon they have this for provisions toward their own way. Yet there is precedence for those who live holily, and for the wicked a fitting punishment. For nothing comes to pass without providence.' All that others, indeed nearly the majority, have said about God and providence, one may see how inconsistent with one another they spoke. For some abolished God and providence altogether; others again confirmed God and confessed that all things are governed by providence. The discerning hearer and reader, then, must attend accurately to what is said; as Simylus also said: 'It is customary to call all alike poets, both those who are extraordinary by nature and those who are good. But one ought to discriminate'—even as Philemon also said: 'A senseless hearer sitting by is a grievous thing; for through folly he does not blame himself.' One must therefore attend and understand what is said, examining critically what has been spoken by the philosophers and the rest of the poets.
For while denying that gods exist, they again confess it themselves, and have said that these very gods perform unlawful deeds. And first of all, the poets sing most tunefully of the grievous deeds of Zeus. And how is Chrysippus, who babbled so much, not found indicating that Hera consorted with Zeus through a defiled mouth? Why should I recount the licentious acts of her who is called the mother of the gods, or of Zeus Latiarius thirsting for human blood, or of Attis who was castrated; or that Zeus, called the tragic actor, having inundated his own hand, as they say, is now honored as a god among the Romans? I pass over the precincts of Antinous and of the rest who are called gods. For these things, when recorded, bring ridicule to the discerning. Either, then, those who philosophized such things are convicted by their own doctrines of atheism, or of promiscuity and unlawful intercourse. Moreover, cannibalism too is found among them, through the writings they composed; and they record that the very ones they have honored as gods did these things.
But we confess God as well—yet one God, the founder and maker and craftsman of this universe; and we know that all things are governed by providence, but by Him alone. And we have learned a holy law; but we have as lawgiver the true God, who teaches us to do righteously and to be godly and to do good. And concerning godliness He says: 'You shall have no other gods besides me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow down to them, nor serve them; for I am the Lord your God.' And concerning doing good He said: 'Honor your father and your mother, that it may be well with you, and that you may be long-lived upon the earth which I the Lord your God give you.' Again, concerning righteousness: 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, you shall not covet his house, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his beast of burden, nor any of his cattle, nor anything that is your neighbor's. You shall not pervert the judgment of the poor in his cause. You shall keep far from every unjust matter. The innocent and righteous you shall not slay. You shall not justify the ungodly. And you shall take no gifts; for gifts blind the eyes of those who see, and corrupt righteous words.' Now of this divine law Moses, who was also the servant of God, became the minister—for the whole world indeed, but especially for the Hebrews, also called Jews, whom the king of Egypt enslaved from the beginning, though they were the righteous seed of godly and holy men, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, whom God remembered, and having done marvels and wonders through Moses, strange and wonderful, He rescued them and led them out of Egypt, conducting them through the wilderness, as it is called; and He restored them to the land of Canaan, afterwards called Judaea, and gave them the law, and taught them these things. The law, then, being great and wonderful for all righteousness, the ten heads which we have mentioned are such as these.
Since, then, they had become sojourners in the land of Egypt, being by race Hebrews from the land of the Chaldeans—(for at that time, a famine having arisen, they were under necessity of removing into Egypt, where grain was being sold; and there they dwelt for a time; and these things befell them according to the foreannouncement of God)—having sojourned, then, in Egypt four hundred and thirty years, when Moses was about to lead them out into the wilderness, God taught them through the law, saying: 'You shall not afflict a sojourner; for you yourselves know the soul of the sojourner, since you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.'
Now as for the law given them by God, when the people transgressed it, God—being good and compassionate, and unwilling to destroy them—besides having given the law, afterward also sent them prophets from among their own brethren, to teach and remind them of the things of the law, and to turn them to repentance, that they might sin no more. But if they should persist in their evil deeds, He foreannounced that they would be delivered as subjects into the hands of all the kingdoms of the earth. And that these things have already befallen them is plain. Concerning repentance, then, Isaiah the prophet says, in general to all but expressly to the people: 'Seek the Lord, and when you find Him call upon Him; whenever He draws near to you, let the ungodly forsake his ways, and the lawless man his counsels, and let him turn to the Lord his God, and he shall obtain mercy, for He will abundantly forgive your sins.' And another prophet, Ezekiel, says: 'If the lawless man turn away from all the iniquities that he has done, and keep my commandments, and do my ordinances, he shall surely live and shall not die; none of all the iniquities that he has done shall be remembered, but by the righteousness which he has done he shall live; for I do not desire the death of the lawless, says the Lord, but that he should turn from his evil way and live.' Again Isaiah: 'Turn, you who devise deep and lawless counsel, that you may be saved.' And another, Jeremiah: 'Turn to the Lord your God, as the grape-gatherer to his basket, and you shall obtain mercy.' Many, indeed, rather innumerable, are the things said in the holy scriptures concerning repentance, since God ever wills to turn the race of men from all their sins.
Moreover, concerning the righteousness of which the law spoke, the words of the prophets and of the gospels are found to be in accord, because all who bore the Spirit spoke by one Spirit of God. Isaiah, then, said thus: 'Put away wickednesses from your souls; learn to do good; seek out judgment; deliver the wronged; judge for the orphan, and do justice for the widow.' Again the same: 'Loose every bond of injustice; undo the knots of forced contracts; send away the bruised in release; tear up every unjust writing; break your bread to the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house. If you see a naked man, clothe him, and do not overlook those of your own seed. Then your light shall break forth early, and your healings shall speedily spring up, and your righteousness shall go before you.' Likewise Jeremiah: 'Stand upon the ways and see, and ask which is the good way of the Lord our God, and walk in it, and you shall find rest for your souls. Judge righteous judgment, for in these is the will of the Lord our God.' So too Hosea says: 'Keep judgment, and draw near to the Lord your God, who established the heaven and created the earth.' And another, Joel, said in accord with these: 'Gather the people, sanctify the assembly, receive the elders, gather the infants that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride from her bridal bed; and pray to the Lord your God earnestly, that He may have mercy on you and blot out your sins.' Likewise another, Zechariah: 'Thus says the Lord Almighty: Judge true judgment, and show mercy and compassion each to his neighbor; and oppress not the widow and the orphan and the sojourner; and let none of you bear malice in his heart against his brother, says the Lord Almighty.'
And concerning chastity, the holy word teaches us not only not to sin in deed, but even as far as thought—not even to conceive in the heart any evil, nor, having looked upon another man's wife with the eyes, to desire her. Solomon, then, who became king and prophet, said: 'Let your eyes look straight ahead, and let your eyelids assent to what is just. Make straight paths for your feet.' But the gospel voice teaches yet more imperatively concerning purity, saying: 'Everyone who looks upon another man's wife to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.' 'And he who marries a woman put away from her husband,' He says, 'commits adultery; and whoever puts away his wife, except for the matter of fornication, makes her to commit adultery.' For Solomon says: 'Can a man bind fire in his bosom, and his garments not be burned? Or can one walk upon coals of fire, and his feet not be burned? So is he who goes in to a married woman: he shall not be held innocent.'
And that we are not to show goodwill only to those of our own kind, as some suppose, Isaiah the prophet said: 'Say to those who hate you and abhor you, You are our brethren, that the name of the Lord may be glorified and appear in their joy.' And the gospel says: 'Love your enemies, and pray for those who spitefully use you. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? This even the robbers and the tax-collectors do.' And those who do good it teaches not to boast, lest they be men-pleasers: 'Let not your left hand know,' He says, 'what your right hand does.' Moreover, concerning being subject to rulers and authorities, and praying for them, the divine word commands us, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life. And it teaches us to render to all their dues: honor to whom honor, fear to whom fear, tribute to whom tribute; to owe no one anything, except to love all.
Consider, then, whether those who learn such things can live indifferently and mingle in unlawful unions, or—most godless of all—partake of human flesh, when we are forbidden even to look upon the spectacles of gladiators, lest we become partakers and accomplices of murders. Nay, neither ought we to look upon the rest of the shows, lest our eyes and ears be defiled, becoming sharers in the utterances sung there. For if one should speak of cannibalism, there the children of Thyestes and of Tereus are eaten; and if of adultery, it is dramatized among them, with honors and prizes, in their tunes—not only concerning men, but even concerning the gods, of whom they proclaim it tunefully. But far be it from Christians to think of doing any such thing, among whom self-control is present, continence is practiced, monogamy is observed, purity is guarded, injustice is rooted out, sin is uprooted, righteousness is cultivated, law is administered, godliness is practiced, God is confessed, truth governs, grace preserves, peace shelters us, the holy word guides, wisdom teaches, life governs, God reigns. Having, then, much to say concerning our way of life and the ordinances of God, the maker of all creation, we now think it sufficient to have recalled these things, chiefly that you may be set firm by what you read up to this point, so that, as you have become a lover of learning, you may also continue a lover of learning to the end.
I wish now also, God granting it, to set forth for you more accurately the matter of chronology, that you may recognize that our doctrine is neither recent nor mythical, but older and truer than all the poets and writers who wrote on uncertain matters. For some, saying that the world is uncreated, advanced into the boundless. Others, saying it is created, said that already a hundred and fifty thousand and three thousand and seventy-five years had elapsed. This Apollonius the Egyptian relates. But Plato, who is reputed to have been the wisest of the Greeks—into what nonsense did he advance! For in his work entitled the Republic it is expressly set down, where he says: 'How could anything new ever be discovered, if these things had remained ordered for all time as they now are? That for myriads upon myriads of years these matters escaped the men of that time, but that a thousand years, or twice as many, have passed since some of them became manifest to Daedalus, others to Orpheus, others to Palamedes.' And having said these came to be, he indicates that the myriads upon myriads of years were from the flood to Daedalus. And having said much about cities throughout the world, and dwellings and nations, he confesses that he has spoken these things by conjecture. For he says: 'If indeed, O stranger, some god should promise us that, if we undertake a second time the inquiry into legislation'—he plainly spoke by conjecture; but if by conjecture, then the things said by him are not true.
One ought, therefore, rather to become a disciple of the legislation of God, even as he himself confessed that one cannot otherwise learn the exact truth, unless God teach through the law. Why, did not the poets too—Homer and Hesiod and Orpheus—say that they had learned from divine providence? Furthermore, according to the writers, there came to be seers and foretellers, and they say that those who learned from these wrote accurately. How much more, then, shall we know the truth, who learn from the holy prophets, who were filled with the Holy Spirit of God! Therefore all the prophets spoke in harmony and in agreement with one another, and foretold the things that should come to pass for all the world. For the very outcome of the things foreannounced and now accomplished is able to teach those who love learning—nay rather who love truth—that the things proclaimed through them are truly true, concerning both the times and seasons before the flood, and from when the world was created until now, as the years are reckoned, so as to display the folly of the lie of the writers, that the things said by them are not true.
For Plato, as we have said before, having shown that a flood occurred, said it was not of the whole earth but only of the plains, and that those who fled to the highest mountains were thereby saved. Others say that Deucalion and Pyrrha came to be, and that these were saved in a chest, and that Deucalion, after coming out of the chest, threw stones behind him, and that men came to be from the stones; whence, they say, the multitude of men is called 'peoples' (laoi). Still others said that Clymenus came to be in a second flood. That those who wrote such things and philosophized vainly are found to be wretched and altogether impious and senseless, is plain from what has been said before. But our prophet and servant of God, Moses, recounting the genesis of the world, narrated in what manner the flood came upon the earth—and, what is more, the manner in which the flood occurred—not telling myths of a Pyrrha or a Deucalion or a Clymenus, nor that only the plains were flooded and only those who fled to the mountains were saved.
Nor does he show that a second flood occurred; rather, he said there would no longer be upon the world a flood of water such as never had been nor ever will be. He says that eight souls of men were saved in the ark, the one built at the command of God—not by Deucalion, but by Noah in Hebrew, which is interpreted in the Greek tongue 'rest'; as we also showed in another discourse, that Noah, proclaiming to the men of that time that a flood was to come, prophesied to them, saying: 'Come, God calls you to repentance'; wherefore he was fittingly called Deucalion. To this Noah there were three sons, as we also showed in the second book, whose names are Shem and Ham and Japheth; and to these there were three wives, one for each of them, both he and his wife. This man some have called a eunuch. Eight, then, were all the souls of men saved, those found in the ark. And Moses signified that the flood occurred over forty days and forty nights, the cataracts of heaven pouring down and the fountains of the deep gushing up, so that the water rose above every high mountain fifteen cubits. And thus the whole race of all the men of that time perished; only those who were kept in the ark, the eight we have mentioned, were saved; the remains of which ark are shown, even to this day, to be in the mountains of Arabia. Such, then, in summary, is the history of the flood.