CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA - THE STROMATA, OR MISCELLANIES - BOOK I
CHAP. I.--PREFACE--THE AUTHOR'S OBJECT--THE UTILITY OF WRITTEN COMPOSITIONS.
[Wants the beginning] ..........that you may read them
under your hand, and may be able to preserve them.
Whether written compositions are not to be left behind
at all; or if they are, by whom? And if the former,
what need there is for written compositions? and if
the latter, is the composition of them to be assigned
to earnest men, or the opposite? It were certainly
ridiculous for one to disapprove of the writing of
earnest men, and approve of those, who are not such,
engaging in the work of composition. Theopompus and
Timaeus, who composed fables and slanders, and Epicurus
the leader of atheism, and Hipponax and Archilochus,
are to be allowed to write in their own shameful manner.
But he who proclaims the truth is to be prevented from
leaving behind him what is to benefit posterity. It
is a good thing, I reckon, to leave to posterity good
children. This is the case with children of our bodies.
But words are the progeny of the soul. Hence we call
those who have instructed us, fathers. Wisdom is a
communicative and philanthropic thing. Accordingly,
Solomon says, "My son, if thou receive the saying
of my commandment, and hide it with thee, thine ear
shall hear wisdom."(2) He points out that the
word that is sown is hidden in the soul of the learner,
as in the earth, and this is spiritual planting. Wherefore
also he adds, "And thou shall apply thine heart
to understanding, and apply it for the admonition of
thy son." For soul, me thinks, joined with soul,
and spirit with spirit, in the sowing of the word,
will make that which is sown grow and germinate. And
every one who is instructed, is in respect of subjection
the son of his instructor. "Son," says he,
"forget not my laws."(3)
And if knowledge belong not to all (set an ass to
the lyre, as the proverb goes), yet written compositions
are for the many. "Swine, for instance, delight
in dirt more than in clean water." "Wherefore,"
says the Lord, "I speak to them in parables: because
seeing, they see not; and hearing, they hear not, and
do not understand; "(4) not as if the Lord caused
the ignorance: for it were impious to think so. But
He prophetically exposed this ignorance, that existed
in them, and intimated that they would not understand
the things spoken. And now the Saviour shows Himself,
out of His abundance, dispensing goods to His servants
according to the ability of the recipient, that they
may augment them by exercising activity, and then returning
to reckon with them; when, approving of those that
had increased His money, those faithful in little,
and commanding them to have the charge over many things,
He bade them enter into the joy of the Lord. But to
him who had hid the money, entrusted to him to be given
out at interest, and had given it back as he had received
it, without increase, He said, "Thou wicked and
slothful servant, thou oughtest to have given my money
to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received
mine own." Wherefore the useless servant "shall
be cast into outer darkness."(5) "Thou, therefore,
be strong," says Paul, "in the grace that
is in Christ Jesus. And the things which thou hast
heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou
to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others
also."(6) And again: "Study to show thyself
approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
If, then, both proclaim the Word--the one by writing,
the other by speech--are not both then to be approved,
making, as they do, faith active by love? It is by
one's own fault that he does not choose what is best;
God is free of blame. As to the point in hand, it is
the business of some to lay out the word at interest,
and of others to test it, and either choose it or not.
And the judgment is determined within themselves. But
there is that species of knowledge which is characteristic
of the herald, and that which is, as it were, characteristic
of a messenger, and it is serviceable in whatever way
it operates, both by the hand and tongue. "For
he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap
life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing."(1)
On him who by Divine Providence meets in with it, it
confers the very highest advantages,--the beginning
of faith, readiness for adopting a right mode of life,
the impulse towards the truth, a movement of inquiry,
a trace of knowledge; in a word, it gives the means
of salvation. And those who have been rightly reared
in the words of truth, and received provision for eternal
life, wing their way to heaven. Most admirably, therefore,
the apostle says, "In everything approving ourselves
as the servants of God; as poor, and yet making many
rich; as having nothing, yet possessing all things.
Our mouth is opened to you."(2) "I charge
thee," he says, writing to Timothy, "before
God, and Christ Jesus, and the elect angels, that thou
observe these things, without preferring one before
another, doing nothing by partiality."(3)
Both must therefore test themselves: the one, if
he is qualified to speak and leave behind him written
records; the other, if he is in a right state to hear
and read: as also some in the dispensation of the Eucharist,
according to(4) custom enjoin that each one of the
people individually should take his part. One's own
conscience is best for choosing accurately or shunning.
And its firm foundation is a right life, with suitable
instruction. But the imitation of those who have already
been proved, and who have led correct lives, is most
excellent for the understanding and practice of the
commandments. "So that whosoever shall eat the
bread and drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall
be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let
a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread
and drink of the cup."(5) It therefore follows,
that every one of those who undertake to promote the
good of their neighbours, ought to consider whether
he has betaken himself to teaching rashly and out of
rivalry to any; if his communication of the word is
out of vainglory; if the t
only reward he reaps is the salvation of those who hear,
and if he speaks not in order to win favour: if so,
he who speaks by writings escapes the reproach of mercenary
motives. "For neither at any time used we flattering
words, as ye know," says the apostle, "nor
a cloak of covetousness. God is witness. Nor of men
sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others,
when we might have been burdensome as the apostles
of Christ. But we were gentle among you, even as a
nurse cherisheth her children."(6)
In the same way, therefore, those who take part
in the divine words, ought to guard against betaking
themselves to this, as they would to the building of
cities, to examine them out of curiosity; that they
do not come to the task for the sake of receiving worldly
things, having ascertained that they who are consecrated
to Christ are given to communicate the necessaries
of life. But let such be dismissed as hypocrites. But
if any one wishes not to seem, but to be righteous,
to him it belongs to know the things which are best.
If, then, "the harvest is plenteous, but the labourers
few," it is incumbent on us "to pray"
that there may be as great abundance of labourers as
possible.(7)
But the husbandry is twofold,--the one unwritten,
and the other written. And in whatever way the Lord's
labourer sow the good wheat, and grow and reap the
ears, he shall appear a truly divine husbandman. "Labour,"
says the Lord, "not for the meat which perisheth,
but for that which endureth to everlasting life."(8)
And nutriment is received both by bread and by words.
And truly "blessed are the peace-makers,"(9)
who instructing those who are at war in their life
and errors here, lead them back to the peace which
is in the Word, and nourish for the life which is according
to God, by the distribution of the bread, those "that
hunger after righteousness." For each soul has
its own proper nutriment; some growing by knowledge
and science, and others feeding on the Hellenic philosophy,
the whole of which, like nuts, is not eatable. "And
he that planteth and he that watereth," "being
ministers" of Him "that gives the increase,
are one" in the ministry. "But every one
shall receive his own reward, according to his own
work. For we are God's husbandmen, God's husbandry.
Ye are God's building,"(10) according to the apostle.
Wherefore the hearers are not permitted to apply the
test of comparison. Nor is the word, given for investigation,
to be committed to those who have been reared in the
arts of all kinds of words, and in the power of inflated
attempts at proof; whose minds are already pre-occupied,
and have not been previously emptied. But whoever chooses
to banquet on faith, is stedfast for the reception
of the divine words, having acquired already faith
as a power of judging, according to reason. Hence ensues
to him persuasion in abundance. And this was the meaning
of that saying of prophecy, "If ye believe not,
neither shall ye understand."(1) "As, then,
we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially
to the household of faith."(2) And let each of
these, according to the blessed David, sing, giving
thanks. "Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and
I shall be cleansed. Thou shalt wash me, and I shall
be whiter than the snow. Thou shalt make me to hear
gladness and joy, and the bones which have been humbled
shall rejoice. Turn Thy face from my sins. Blot out
mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit in my inward parts. Cast me
not away from Thy face, and take not Thy Holy Spirit
from me. Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation, and
establish me with Thy princely spirit."(3)
He who addresses those who are present before him,
both tests them by time, and judges by his judgment,
and from the others distinguishes him who can hear;
watching the words, the manners, the habits, the life,
the motions, the attitudes, the look, the voice; the
road, the rock, the beaten path, the fruitful land,
the wooded region, the fertile and fair and cultivated
spot, that is able to multiply the seed. But he that
speaks through books, consecrates himself before God,
crying in writing thus: Not for gain, not for vainglory,
not to be vanquished by partiality, nor enslaved by
fear nor elated by pleasure; but only to reap the salvation
of those who read, which he does, not at present participate
in, but awaiting in expectation the recompense which
will certainly be rendered by Him, who has promised
to bestow on the labourers the reward that is meet.
But he who is enrolled in the number of men(4) ought
not to desire recompense. For he that vaunts his good
services, receives glory as his reward. And he who
does any duty for the sake of recompense, is he not
held fast in the custom of the world, either as one
who has done well, hastening to receive a reward, or
as an evil-doer avoiding retribution? We must, as far
as we can, imitate the Lord.I And he will do so, who
complies with the will of God, receiving freely, giving
freely, and receiving as a worthy reward the citizenship
itself. "The hire of an harlot shall not come
into the sanctuary," it is said: accordingly it
was forbidden to bring to the altar the price of a
dog.
And in whomsoever the eye of the soul has been blinded
by ill-nurture and teaching, let him advance to the
true light, to the truth, which shows by writing the
things that are unwritten. "Ye that thirst, go
to the waters,"(5) says Esaias, And "drink
water from thine own vessels,"(6) Solomon exhorts.
Accordingly in "The Laws," the philosopher
who learned from the Hebrews, Plato, commands husbandmen
not to irrigate or take water from others, until they
have first dug down in their own ground to what is
called the virgin soil, and found it dry. For it is
right to supply want, but it is not well to support
laziness. For Pythagoras said that, "although
it be agreeable to reason to take a share of a burden,
it is not a duty to take it away."
Now the Scripture kindles the living spark of the
soul, and directs the eye suitably for contemplation;
perchance inserting something, as the husbandman when
he ingrafts, but, according to the opinion of the divine
apostle, exciting what is in the soul. "For there
are certainly among us many weak and sickly, and many
sleep. But if we judge ourselves, we shall not be judged."(7)
Now this work of mine in writing is not artfully constructed
for display; but my memoranda are stored up against
old age, as a remedy against forgetfulness, truly an
image and outline of those vigorous and animated discourses
which I was privileged to hear, and of blessed and
truly remarkable men.
Of these the one, in Greece, an Ionic ;(8) the other
in Magna Graecia: the first of these from Coele-Syria,
the second from Egypt, and others in the East. The
one was born in the land of Assyria, and the other
a Hebrew in Palestine.
When I came upon the last(9) (he was the first in
power), having tracked him out concealed in Egypt,
I found rest. He, the true, the Sicilian bee, gathering
the spoil of the flowers of the prophetic and apostolic
meadow, engendered in the souls of his hearers a deathless
element of knowledge.
Well, they preserving the tradition of the blessed
doctrine derived directly from the holy apostles, Peter,
James, John, and Paul, the sons receiving it from the
father (but few were like the fathers), came by God's
will to us also to deposit those ancestral and apostolic
seeds. And well I know that they will exult; I do not
mean delighted with this tribute, but solely on account
of the preservation of the truth, according as they
delivered it. For such a sketch as this, will, I think,
be agreeable to a soul desirous of preserving from
escape the blessed tradition.(10)
"In a man who loves wisdom the father will be
glad."(1) Wells, when pumped out, yield purer
water; and that of which no one partakes, turns to
putrefaction. Use keeps steel brighter, but disuse
produces rust in it. For, in a word, exercise produces
a healthy condition both in souls and bodies. "No
one lighteth a candle, and putteth it under a bushel,
but upon a candlestick, that it may give light to those
who are regarded worthy of the feast."(2) For
what is the use of wisdom, if it makes not him who
can hear it wise? For still the Saviour saves, "and
always works, as He sees the Father."(3) For by
teaching, one learns more; and in speaking, one is
often a hearer along with his audience. For the teacher
of him who speaks and of him who hears is one--who
waters both the mind and the word. Thus the Lord did
not hinder from doing good while keeping the Sabbath;(4)
but allowed us to communicate of those divine mysteries,
and of that holy light, to those who are able to receive
them. He did not certainly disclose to the many what
did not belong to the many; but to the few to whom
He knew that they belonged, who were capable of receiving
and being moulded according to them. But secret things
are entrusted to speech, not to writing, as is the
case with God.(5)
And if one say that it is written, "There is
nothing secret which shall not be revealed, nor hidden
which shall not be disclosed,"(6) let him also
hear from us, that to him who hears secretly, even
what is secret shall be manifested. This is what was
predicted by this oracle. And to him who is able secretly
to observe what is delivered to him. that which is
veiled shall be disclosed as truth; and what is hidden
to the many, shall appear manifest to the few. For
why do not all know the truth? why is not righteousness
loved, if righteousness belongs to all? But the mysteries
are delivered mystically, that what is spoken may be
in the mouth of the speaker; rather not in his voice,
but in his understanding. "God gave to the Church,
some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists,
and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of
the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ."(7)
The writing of these memoranda of mine, I well know,
is weak when compared with that spirit, full of grace,
which I was privileged to hear.(8) But it will be an
image to recall the archetype to him who was struck
with the thyrsus. For "speak," it is said,
"to a wise man, and he will grow wiser; and to
him that hath, and there shall be added to him."
And we profess not to explain secret things sufficiently--far
from it--but only to recall them to memory, whether
we have forgot aught, or whether for the purpose of
not forgetting. Many things, I well know, have escaped
us, through length of time, that have dropped away
unwritten. Whence, to aid the weakness of my memory,
and provide for myself a salutary help to my recollection
in a systematic arrangement of chapters, I necessarily
make use of this form. There are then some things of
which we have no recollection; for the power that was
in the blessed men was great.(8) There are also some
things which remained unnoted long, which have now
escaped; and others which are effaced, having faded
away in the mind itself, since such a task is not easy
to those not experienced; these I revive in my commentaries.
Some things I purposely omit, in the exercise of a
wise selection, afraid to write what I guarded against
speaking: not grudging--for that were wrong--but fearing
for my readers, lest they should stumble by taking
them in a wrong sense; and, as the proverb says, we
should be found "reaching a sword to a child."
For it is impossible that what has been written should
not escape, although remaining unpublished by me. But
being always revolved, using the one only voice, that
of writing, they answer nothing to him that makes inquiries
beyond what is written; for they require of necessity
the aid of some one, either of him who wrote, or of
some one else who has walked in his footsteps. Some
things my treatise will hint; on some it will linger;
some it will merely mention. It will try to speak imperceptibly,
to exhibit secretly, and to demonstrate silently. The
dogmas taught by remarkable sects will be adduced;
and to these will be opposed all that ought to be premised
in accordance with the profoundest contemplation of
the knowledge, which, as we proceed to the renowned
and venerable canon of tradition, from the creation
of the world,(9) will advance to our view; setting
before us what according to natural contemplation necessarily
has to be treated of beforehand, and clearing off what
stands in the way of this arrangement. So that we may
have our ears ready for the reception of the tradition
of true knowledge; the soil being previously cleared
of the thorns and of every weed by the husbandman,
in order to the planting of the vine. For there is
a contest, and the prelude to the contest; and them
are some mysteries before other mysteries.
Our book will not shrink from making use of what
is best in philosophy and other preparatory instruction.
"For not only for the Hebrews and those that are
under the law," according to the apostle, "is
it right to become a Jew, but also a Greek for the
sake of the Greeks, that we may gain all."(1)
Also in the Epistle to the Colossians he writes, "Admonishing
every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that
we may present every man perfect in Christ."(2)
The nicety of speculation, too, suits the sketch presented
in my commentaries. In this respect the resources of
learning are like a relish mixed with the food of an
athlete, who is not indulging in luxury, but entertains
a noble desire for distinction.
By music we harmoniously relax the excessive tension
of gravity. And as those who wish to address the people,
do so often by the herald, that what is said may be
better heard; so also in this case. For we have the
word, that was spoken to many, before the common tradition.
Wherefore we must set forth the opinions and utterances
which cried individually to them, by which those who
hear shall more readily turn.
And, in truth, to speak briefly: Among many small
pearls there is the one; and in a great take of fish
there is the beauty-fish; and by time and toil truth
will gleam forth, if a good helper is at hand. For
most benefits are supplied, from God, through men.
All of us who make use of our eyes see what is presented
before them. But some look at objects for one reason,
others for another. For instance, the cook and the
shepherd do not survey the sheep similarly: for the
one examines it if it be fat; the other watches to
see if it be of good breed. Let a man milk the sheep's
milk if he need sustenance: let him shear the wool
if he need clothing. And in this way let me produce
the fruit of the Greek erudition.(3)
For I do not imagine that any composition can be
so fortunate as that no one will speak against it.
But that is to be regarded as in accordance with reason,
which nobody speaks against, with reason. And that
course of action and choice is to be approved, not
which is faultless, but which no one rationally finds
fault with. For it does not follow, that if a man accomplishes
anything not purposely, he does it through force of
circumstances. But he will do it, managing it by wisdom
divinely given, and in accommodation to circumstances.
For it is not he who has virtue that needs the way
to virtue, any more than he, that is strong, needs
recovery. For, like farmers who irrigate the land beforehand,
so we also water with the liquid stream of Greek learning
what in it is earthy; so that it may receive the spiritual
seed cast into it, and may be capable of easily nourishing
it. The Stromata will contain the truth mixed up in
the dogmas of philosophy, or rather covered over and
hidden, as the edible part of the nut in the shell.
For, in my opinion, it is fitting that the seeds of
truth be kept for the husbandmen of faith, and no others.
I am not oblivious of what is babbled by some, who
in their ignorance are frightened at every noise, and
say that we ought to occupy ourselves with what is
most necessary, and which contains the faith; and that
we should pass over what is beyond and superfluous,
which wears out and detains us to no purpose, in things
which conduce nothing to the great end. Others think
that philosophy was introduced into life by an evil
influence, for the ruin of men, by an evil inventor.
But I shall show, throughout the whole of these Stromata,
that evil has an evil nature, and can never turn out
the producer of aught that is good; indicating that
philosophy is in a sense a work of Divine Providence.(3)
CHAP. II.--OBJECTION TO THE NUMBER OF EXTRACTS FROM PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS IN THESE BOOKS ANTICIPATED AND ANSWERED.
In reference to these commentaries, which contain as the exigencies of the case demand, the Hellenic opinions, I say thus much to those who are fond of finding fault. First, even if philosophy were useless, if the demonstration of its uselessness does good, it is yet useful. Then those cannot condemn the Greeks, who have only a mere hearsay knowledge of their opinions, and have not entered into a minute investigation in each department, in order to acquaintance with them. For the refutation, which is based on experience, is entirely trustworthy. For the knowledge of what is condemned is found the most complete demonstration. Many things, then, though not contributing to the final result, equip the artist. And otherwise erudition commends him, who sets forth the most essential doctrines so as to produce persuasion in his hearers, engendering admiration in those who are taught, and leads them to the truth. And such persuasion is convincing, by which those that love learning admit the truth; so that philosophy does not ruin life by being the originator of false practices and base deeds, although some have calumniated it, though it be the clear image of truth, a divine gift to the Greeks;(4) nor does it drag us away from the faith, as if we were bewitched by some delusive art, but rather, so to speak, by the use of an ampler circuit, obtains a common exercise demonstrative of the faith. Further, the juxtaposition
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of doctrines, by comparison, saves the truth, from which
follows knowledge.
Philosophy came into existence, not on its own account,
but for the advantages reaped by us from knowledge,
we receiving a firm persuasion of true perception,
through the knowledge of things comprehended by the
mind. For I do not mention that the Stromata, forming
a body of varied erudition, wish artfully to conceal
the seeds of knowledge. As, then, he who is fond of
hunting captures the game after seeking, tracking,
scenting, hunting it down with dogs; so truth, when
sought and got with toil, appears a delicious(1) thing.
Why, then, you will ask, did you think it fit that
such an arrangement should be adopted in your memoranda?
Because there is great danger in divulging the secret
of the true philosophy to those, whose delight it is
unsparingly to speak against everything, not justly;
and who shout forth all kinds of names and words indecorously,
deceiving themselves and beguiling those who adhere
to them. "For the Hebrews seek signs," as
the apostle says, "and the Greeks seek after wisdom."(2)
CHAP. III.--AGAINST THE SOPHISTS.
There is a great crowd of this description: some of them, enslaved to pleasures and willing to disbelieve, laugh at the truth which is worthy of all reverence, making sport of its barbarousness. Some others, exalting themselves, endeavour to discover calumnious objections to our words, furnishing captious questions, hunters out of paltry sayings, practisers of miserable artifices, wranglers, dealers in knotty points, as that Abderite says:--
"For mortals' tongues are glib, and on them are
many speeches;
And a wide range for words of all sorts in this place
and that."
And--
"Of whatever sort the word you have spoken, of the same sort you must hear."
Inflated with this art of theirs, the wretched Sophists, babbling away in their own jargon; toiling their whole life about the division of names and the nature of the composition and conjunction of sentences, show themselves greater chatterers than turtle-doves; scratching and tickling, not in a manly way, in my opinion, the ears of those who wish to be tickled.
"A river of silly words--not a dropping;"
just as in old shoes, when all the rest is worn and
is falling to pieces, and the tongue alone remains.
The Athenian Solon most excellently enlarges, and writes:--
"Look to the tongue, and to the words of the glozing
man,
But you look on no work that has been done;
But each one of you walks in the steps of a fox,
And in all of you is an empty mind."
This, I think, is signified by the utterance of the Saviour, "The foxes have holes, but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head."(3) For on the believer alone, who is separated entirely from the rest, who by the Scripture are called wild beasts, rests the head of the universe, the kind and gentle Word, "who taketh the wise in their own craftiness. For the LORD knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they axe vain;"(4) the Scripture calling those the wise (<greek>sofous</greek>) who are skilled in words and arts, sophists (<greek>sofistas</greek>) Whence the Greeks also applied the denominative appellation of wise and sophists (<greek>sofoi</greek> <greek>sofistai</greek>) to those who were versed in anything Cratinus accordingly, having in the Archilochii enumerated the poets, said:--
"Such a hive of sophists have ye examined."
And similarly Iophon, the comic poet, in Flute-playing Satyrs, says:--
"For there entered
A band of sophists, all equipped."
Of these and the like, who devote their attention to empty words, the divine Scripture most excellently says, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."(5)
CHAP. IV.--HUMAN ARTS AS WELL AS DIVINE KNOWLEDGE PROCEED FROM GOD.
Homer calls an artificer wise; and of Margites, if that is his work, he thus writes:--
"Him, then, the Gods made neither a delver nor
a ploughman,
Nor in any other respect wise; but he missed every
art."
Hesiod further said the musician Linus was "skilled
in all manner of wisdom;" and does not hesitate
to call a mariner wise, seeing he writes:--
"Having no wisdom in navigation."
And Daniel the prophet says, "The mystery which
the king asks, it is not in the power of the wise,
the Magi, the diviners, the Gazarenes, to tell the
king; but it is God in heaven who revealeth it."(6)
Here he terms the Babylonians wise. And that Scripture
calls every secular science or art by the one name
wisdom (there are other arts and sciences invented
over and above by human reason), and that artistic
and skilful invention is from God, will be clear if
we adduce the follow-
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ing statement: "And the Lord spake to Moses, See,
I have called Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son of
Or, of the tribe of Judah; and I have filled him with
the divine spirit of wisdom, and understanding, and
knowledge, to devise and to execute in all manner of
work, to work gold, and silver, and brass, and blue,
and purple, and scarlet, and in working stone work,
and in the art of working wood," and even to "all
works."(1) And then He adds the general reason,
"And to every understanding heart I have given
understanding;"(2) that is, to every one capable
of acquiring it by pains and exercise. And again, it
is written expressly in the name of the Lord "And
speak thou to all that are wise in mind, whom I have
filled with the spirit of perception."(3)
Those who are wise in mind have a certain attribute
of nature peculiar to themselves; and they who have
shown themselves capable, receive from the Supreme
Wisdom a spirit of perception in double measure. For
those who practise the common arts, are in what pertains
to the senses highly gifted: in hearing, he who is
commonly called a musician; in touch, he who moulds
clay; in voice the singer, in smell the perfumer, in
sight the engraver of devices on seals. Those also
that are occupied in instruction, train the sensibility
according to which the poets are susceptible to the
influence of measure; the sophists apprehend expression;
the dialecticians, syllogisms; and the philosophers
are capable of the contemplation of which themselves
are the objects. For sensibility finds and invents;
since it persuasively exhorts to application. And practice
will increase the application which has knowledge for
its end. With reason, therefore, the apostle has called
the wisdom of God" manifold," and which has
manifested its power "in many departments and
in many modes"(4)--by art, by knowledge, by faith,
by prophecy--for our benefit. "For all wisdom
is from the Lord, and is with Him for ever," as
says the wisdom of Jesus.(5)
For if thou call on wisdom and knowledge with a
loud voice, and seek it as treasures of silver, and
eagerly track it out, thou shalt understand godliness
and find divine knowledge."(6) The prophet says
this in contradiction to the knowledge according to
philosophy, which teaches us to investigate in a magnanimous
and noble manner, for our progress in piety. He opposes,
therefore, to it the knowledge which is occupied with
piety, when referring to knowledge, when he speaks
as follows: "For God gives wisdom out of His own
mouth, and knowledge along with understanding, and
treasures up help for the righteous." For to those
who have been justified(7) by philosophy, the knowledge
which leads to piety is laid up as a help.
CHAP. V.--PHILOSOPHY THE HANDMAID OF THEOLOGY.
Accordingly, before the advent of the Lord, philosophy
was necessary to the Greeks for righteousness.(8) And
now it becomes conducive to piety; being a kind of
preparatory training to those who attain to faith through
demonstration. "For thy foot," it is said,
"will not stumble, if thou refer what is good,
whether belonging to the Greeks or to us, to Providence."(9)
For God is the cause of all good things; but of some
primarily, as of the Old and the New Testament; and
of others by consequence, as philosophy. Perchance,
too, philosophy was given to the Greeks directly and
primarily, till the Lord should call the Greeks. For
this was a schoolmaster to bring "the Hellenic
mind," as the law, the Hebrews, "to Christ."(10)
Philosophy, therefore, was a preparation, paving the
way for him who is perfected in Christ.(8)
"Now," says Solomon, "defend wisdom,
and it will exalt thee, and it will shield thee with
a crown of pleasure."(11) For when thou hast strengthened
wisdom with a cope by philosophy, and with right expenditure,
thou wilt preserve it unassailable by sophists. The
way of truth is therefore one. But into it, as into
a perennial river, streams flow from all sides. It
has been therefore said by inspiration: "Hear,
my son, and receive my words; that thine may be the
many ways of life. For I teach thee the ways of wisdom;
that the fountains fail thee not,"(12) which gush
forth from the earth itself. Not only did He enumerate
several ways of salvation for any one righteous man,
but He added many other ways of many righteous, speaking
thus: "The paths of the righteous shine like the
light."(13) The commandments and the modes of
preparatory training are to be regarded as the ways
and appliances of life.
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have
gathered thy children, as a hen her chickens!"(14)
And Jerusalem is, when interpreted, "a vision
of peace." He therefore shows prophetically, that
those who peacefully contemplate sacred things are
in manifold ways trained to their calling. What then?
He "would," and could not. How often, and
where? Twice; by
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the prophets, and by the advent. The expression, then,
"How often," shows wisdom to be manifold;
every mode of quantity and quality, it by all means
saves some, both in time and in eternity. "For
the Spirit of the Lord fills the earth."(1) And
if any should violently say that the reference is to
the Hellenic culture, when it is said, "Give not
heed to an evil woman; for honey drops from the lips
of a harlot," let him hear what follows: "who
lubricates thy throat for the time." But philosophy
does not flatter. Who, then, does He allude to as having
committed fornication? He adds expressly, "For
the feet of folly lead those who use her, after death,
to Hades. But her steps are not supported." Therefore
remove thy way far from silly pleasure. "Stand
not at the doors of her house, that thou yield not
thy life to others." And He testifies, "Then
shall thou repent in old age, when the flesh of thy
body is consumed." For this is the end of foolish
pleasure. Such, indeed, is the case. And when He says,
"Be not much with a strange woman,"(2) He
admonishes us to use indeed, but not to linger and
spend time with, secular culture. For what was bestowed
on each generation advantageously, and at seasonable
times, is a preliminary training for the word of the
Lord. "For already some men, ensnared by the charms
of handmaidens, have despised their consort philosophy,
and have grown old, some of them in music, some in
geometry, others in grammar, the most in rhetoric."(3)
"But as the encyclical branches of study contribute
to philosophy, which is their mistress; so also philosophy
itself co-operates for the acquisition of wisdom. For
philosophy is the study of wisdom, and wisdom is the
knowledge of things divine and human; and their causes."
Wisdom is therefore queen of philosophy, as philosophy
is of preparatory culture. For if philosophy"
professes control of the tongue, and the belly, and
the parts below the belly, it is to be chosen on its
own account. But it appears more worthy of respect
and pre-eminence, if cultivated for the honour and
knowledge of God."(4) And Scripture will afford
a testimony to what has been said in what follows.
Sarah was at one time barren, being Abraham's wife.
Sarah having no child, assigned her maid, by name Hagar,
the Egyptian, to Abraham, in order to get children.
Wisdom, therefore, who dwells with the man of faith
(and Abraham was reckoned faithful and righteous),
was still barren and without child in that generation,
not having brought forth to Abraham aught allied to
virtue. And she, as was proper, thought that he, being
now in the time of progress, should have intercourse
with secular culture first (by Egyptian the world is
designated figuratively); and afterwards should approach
to her according to divine providence, and beget Isaac."(5)
And Philo interprets Hagar to mean "sojourning."(6)
For it is said in connection with this, "Be not
much with a strange woman."(7) Sarah he interprets
to mean "my princedom." He, then, who has
received previous training is at liberty to approach
to wisdom, which is supreme, from which grows up the
race of Israel. These things show that that wisdom
can be acquired through instruction, to which Abraham
attained, passing from the contemplation of heavenly
things to the faith and righteousness which are according
to God. And Isaac is shown to mean "self-taught;"
wherefore also he is discovered to be a type of Christ.
He was the husband of one wife Rebecca, which they
translate "Patience." And Jacob is said to
have consorted with several, his name being interpreted"
Exerciser." And exercises are engaged in by means
of many and various dogmas. Whence, also, he who is
really "endowed with the power of seeing"
is called Israel,(8) having much experience, and being
fit for exercise.
Something else may also have been shown by the three
patriarchs, namely, that the sure seal of knowledge
is composed of nature, of education, and exercise.
You may have also another image of what has been
said, in Thamar sitting by the way, and presenting
the appearance of a harlot, on whom the studious Judas
(whose name is interpreted "powerful"), who
left nothing unexamined and uninvestigated, looked;
and turned aside to her, preserving his profession
towards God. Wherefore also, when Sarah was jealous
at Hagar being preferred to her, Abraham, as choosing
only what was profitable in secular philosophy, said,
"Behold, thy maid is in thine hands: deal with
her as it pleases thee;"(9) manifestly meaning,
"I embrace secular culture as youthful, and a
handmaid; but thy knowledge I honour and reverence
as true wife." And Sarah afflicted her; which
is equivalent to corrected and admonished her. It has
therefore been well said, "My son, despise not
thou the correction of God; nor faint when thou art
rebuked of Him. For whom the LORD loveth He chasteneth,
and
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scourgeth every son whom He receiveth."(1) And the foresaid Scriptures, when examined in other places, will be seen to exhibit other mysteries. We merely therefore assert here, that philosophy is characterized by investigation into truth and the nature of things (this is the truth of which the Lord Himself said, "I am the truth"(2)); and that, again, the preparatory training for rest in Christ exercises the mind, rouses the intelligence, and begets an inquiring shrewdness, by means of the true philosophy, which the initiated possess, having found it, or rather received it, from the truth itself.
CHAP. VI.--THE BENEFIT OF CULTURE.
The readiness acquired by previous training conduces
much to the perception of such things as are requisite;
but those things which can be perceived only by mind
are the special exercise for the mind. And their nature
is triple according as we consider their quantity,
their magnitude, and what can be predicated of them.
For the discourse which consists of demonstrations,
implants in the spirit of him who follows it, clear
faith; so that he cannot conceive of that which is
demonstrated being different; and so it does not allow
us to succumb to those who assail us by fraud. In such
studies, therefore, the soul is purged from sensible
things, and is excited, so as to be able to see truth
distinctly. For nutriment, and the training which is
maintained gentle, make noble natures I; and noble
natures, when they have received such training, become
still better than before both in other respects, but
especially in productiveness, as is the case with the
other creatures. Wherefore it is mid, "Go to the
ant, thou sluggard, and become wiser than it, which
provideth much and, varied food in the harvest against
the inclemency of winter."(3) Or go to the bee,
and learn how laborious she is; for she, feeding on
the whole meadow, produces one honey-comb. And if "thou
prayest in the closet," as the Lord taught, "to
worship in spirit,"(4) thy management will no
longer be solely occupied about the house, but also
about the soul, what must be bestowed on it, and how,
and how much; and what must be laid aside and treasured
up in it; and when it ought to be produced, and to
whom. For it is not by nature, but by learning, that
people become noble and good, as people also become
physicians and pilots. We all in common, for example,
see the vine and the horse. But the husbandman will
know if the vine be good or bad at fruit-bearing; and
the horseman will easily distinguish between the spiritless
and the swift animal. But that some are naturally predisposed
to virtue above others, certain pursuits of those,
who are so naturally predisposed above others, show.
But that perfection in virtue is not the exclusive
property of those, whose natures are better, is proved,
since also those who by nature are ill-disposed towards
virtue, in obtaining suitable training, for the most
part attain to excellence; and, on the other hand,
those whose natural dispositions are apt, become evil
through neglect.
Again, God has created us naturally social and just;
whence justice must not be said to take its rise from
implantation alone. But the good imparted by creation
is to be conceived of as excited by the commandment;
the soul being trained to be willing to select what
is noblest.
But as we say that a man can be a believer without
learning,(5) so also we assert that it is impossible
for a man without learning to comprehend the things
which are declared in the faith. But to adopt what
is well said, and not to adopt the reverse, is caused
not simply by faith, but by faith combined with knowledge.
But if ignorance is want of training and of instruction,
then teaching produces knowledge of divine and human
things. But just as it is possible to live rightly
in penury of this world's good things, so also in abundance.
And we avow, that at once with more ease and more speed
will one attain to virtue through previous training.
But it is not such as to be unattainable without it;
but it is attainable only when they have learned, and
have had their senses exercised.(6) "For hatred,"
says Solomon, "raises strife, but instruction
guardeth the ways of life;"(7) in such a way that
we are not deceived nor deluded by those who are practised
in base arts for the injury of those who hear. "But
instruction wanders reproachless,"(8) it is said.
We must be conversant with the art of reasoning, for
the purpose of confuting the deceitful opinions of
the sophists. Well and felicitously, therefore, does
Anaxarchus write in his book respecting "kingly
rule:" "Erudition benefits greatly and hurts
greatly him who possesses it; it helps him who is worthy,
and injures him who utters readily every word, and
before the whole people. It is necessary to know the
measure of time. For this is the end of wisdom. And
those who sing at the doors, even if they sing skilfully,
are not reckoned wise, but have the reputation of folly."
And Hesiod:--
"Of the Muses, who make a man loquacious, divine, vocal."
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For him who is fluent in words he calls loquacious; and him who is clever, vocal; and "divine," him who is skilled, a philosopher, and acquainted with the truth.
CHAP. VII.--THE ECLECTIC PHILOSOPHY PAVES THE WAY FOR DIVINE VIRTUE.
The Greek preparatory culture, therefore, with philosophy
itself, is shown to have come down from God to men,
not with a definite direction but in the way in which
showers fail down on the good land, and on the dunghill,
and on the houses. And similarly both the grass and
the wheat sprout; and the figs and any other reckless
trees grow on sepulchres. And things that grow, appear
as a type of truths. For they enjoy the same influence
of the rain. But they have not the same grace as those
which spring up in rich soil, inasmuch as they are
withered or plucked up. And here we are aided by the
parable of the sower, which the Lord interpreted. For
the husbandman of the soil which is among men is one;
He who from the beginning, from the foundation of the
world, sowed nutritious seeds; He who in each age rained
down the Lord, the Word. But the times and places which
received [such gifts], created the differences which
exist. Further, the husbandman sows not only wheat
(of which there are many varieties), but also other
seeds--barley, and beam, and peas, and vetches, and
vegetable and flower seeds. And to the same husbandry
belongs both planting and the operations necessary
in the nurseries, and gardens, and orchards, and the
planning and rearing of all sorts of trees
In like manner, not only the care of sheep, but
the care of herds, and breeding of horses, and dogs,
and bee-craft, all arts, and to speak comprehensively,
the care of flocks and the rearing of animals, differ
from each other more or less, but are all useful for
life. And philosophy--I do not mean the Stoic, or the
Platonic, or the Epicurean, or the Aristotelian, but
whatever has been well said by each of those sects,
which teach righteousness along with a science pervaded
by piety, --this eclectic whole I call philosophy.(1)
But such conclusions of human reasonings, as men have
cut away and falsified, I would never call divine.
And now we must look also at this, that if ever
those who know not how to do well, live well;(2) for
they have lighted on well-doing. Some, too, have aimed
well at the word of truth through understanding. "But
Abraham was not justified by works, but by faith."(3)
It is therefore of no advantage to them after the end
of life, even if they do good works now, if they have
not faith. Wherefore also the Scriptures(4) were translated
into the language of the Greeks, in order that they
might never be able to allege the excuse of ignorance,
inasmuch as they are able to hear also what we have
in our hands, if they only wish. One speaks in one
way of the truth, in another way the truth interprets
itself. The guessing at truth is one thing, and truth
itself is another. Resemblance is one thing, the thing
itself is another. And the one results from learning
and practice, the other from power and faith. For the
teaching of piety is a gift, but faith is grace. "For
by doing the will of God we know the will of God."(5)
"Open, then," says the Scripture, "the
gates of righteousness; and I will enter in, and confess
to the LORD."(6) But the paths to righteousness
(since God saves in many ways, for He is good) are
many and various, and lead to the Lord's way and gate.
And if you ask the royal and true entrance, you will
hear, "This is the gate of the LORD, the righteous
shall enter in by it."(7) While there are many
gates open, that in righteousness is in Christ, by
which all the blessed enter, and direct their steps
in the sanctity of knowledge. Now Clemens, in his Epistle
to the Corinthians, while expounding the differences
of those who are approved according to the Church,
says expressly, "One may be a believer; one may
be powerful in uttering knowledge; one may be wise
in discriminating between words; one may be terrible
in deeds."(8)
CHAP. VIII.--THE SOPHISTICAL ARTS USELESS.
But the art of sophistry, which the Greeks cultivated, is a fantastic power, which makes false opinions like true by means of words. For it produces rhetoric in order to persuasion, and disputation for wrangling. These arts, therefore, if not conjoined with philosophy, will be injurious to every one. For Plato openly called sophistry "an evil art." And Aristotle, following him, demonstrates it to be a dishonest art, which abstracts in a specious manner the whole business of wisdom, and professes a wisdom which it has not studied. To speak briefly, as the beginning of rhetoric is the probable, and an attempted proof(9) the process, and the end persuasion, so the beginning of disputation is what is matter of opinion, and the process a contest, and the end victory. For in the same manner, also, the beginning of sophistry is the apparent, and the process twofold; one of rhetoric, continuous and exhaustive; and the other of logic, and is interrogatory. And its end is admiration.
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The dialectic in vogue in the schools, on the other
hand, is the exercise of a philosopher in matters of
opinion, for the sake of the faculty of disputation.
But truth is not in these at all. With reason, therefore,
the noble apostle, depreciating these superfluous arts
occupied about words, says, "If any man do not
give heed to wholesome words, but is puffed up by a
kind of teaching, knowing nothing, but doting (<greek>noswn</greek>)
about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh
contention, envy, railings, evil surmisings, perverse
disputings of men of corrupt minds, destitute of the
truth."(1)
You see how he is moved against them, calling their
art of logic--on which, those to whom this garrulous
mischievous art is dear, whether Greeks or barbarians,
plume themselves--a disease (<greek>nosos</greek>).
Very beautifully, therefore, the tragic poet Euripides
says in the Phoenissoe,--
"But a wrongful speech Is diseased in itself,
and needs skilful medicines."(2)
For the saving Word(3) is called "wholesome,"
He being the truth; and what is wholesome (healthful)
remains ever deathless. But separation from what is
healthful and divine is impiety, and a deadly malady.
These are rapacious wolves hid in sheep-skins, men-stealers,
and glozing soul-seducers, secretly, but proved to
be robbers; striving by fraud and force to catch us
who are unsophisticated and have less power of speech.
"Often a man, impeded through want of words,
carries less weight
In expressing what is right, than the man of eloquence.
But now in fluent mouths the weightiest truths
They disguise, so that they do not seem what they
ought to seem,"
says the tragedy. Such are these wranglers, whether
they follow the sects, or practise miserable dialectic
arts. These are they that "stretch the warp and
weave nothing," says the Scripture;(4) prosecuting
a bootless task, which the apostle has called "cunning
craftiness of men whereby they lie in wait to deceive."(5)
"For there are," he says, "many unruly
and vain talkers and deceivers:"(6) Wherefore
it was not said to all, "Ye are the salt of the
earth."(7) For there are some even of the hearers
of the word who are like the fishes of the sea, which,
reared from their birth in brine, yet need salt to
dress them for food. Accordingly I wholly approve of
the tragedy, when it says:--
"O son, false words can be well spoken,
And truth may be vanquished by beauty of words.
But this is not what is most correct, but nature
and what is right;
He who practises eloquence is indeed wise,
But I consider deeds always better than words."
We must not, then, aspire to please the multitude.
For we do not practise what will please them, but what
we know is remote from their disposition. "Let
us not be desirous of vainglory,," says the apostle,
"provoking one another, envying one another."(8)
Thus the truth-loving Plato says, as if divinely
inspired, "Since I am such as to obey nothing
but the word, which, after reflection, appears to me
the best."(9)
Accordingly he charges those who credit opinions
without intelligence and knowledge, with abandoning
right and sound reason unwarrantably, and believing
him who is a partner in falsehood. For to cheat one's
self of the truth is bad; but to speak the truth, and
to hold as our opinions positive realities, is good.
Men are deprived of what is good unwillingly. Nevertheless
they are deprived either by being deceived or beguiled,
or by being compelled and not believing. He who believes
not, has already made himself a willing captive; and
he who changes his persuasion is cozened, while he
forgets that time imperceptibly takes away some things,
and reason others. And after an opinion has been entertained,
pain and anguish, and on the other hand contentiousness
and anger, compel. Above all, men are beguiled who
are either bewitched by pleasure or terrified by fear.
And all these are voluntary changes, but by none of
these will knowledge ever be attained.
CHAP. IX.--HUMAN KNOWLEDGE NECESSARY FOR THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE SCRIPTURES.
Some, who think themselves naturally gifted, do
not wish to touch either philosophy or logic; nay more,
they do not wish to learn natural science. They demand
bare faith alone, as if they wished, without bestowing
any care on the vine, straightway to gather clusters
from the first. Now the Lord is figuratively described
as the vine, from which, with pains and the art of
husbandry, according to the word, the fruit is to be
gathered.
We must lop, dig, bind, and perform the other operations.
The pruning-knife, I should think, and the pick-axe,
and the other agricultural implements, are necessary
for the culture of the vine, so that it may produce
eatable fruit. And as in husbandry, so also in medicine:
he has learned to purpose, who has practised the various
lessons, so as to be able to cultivate and to heal.
So also here, I call him truly learned who brings everything
to bear on the truth; so that, from
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geometry, and music, and grammar, and philosophy itself,
culling what is useful, he guards the faith against
assault. Now, as was said, the athlete is despised
who is not furnished for the contest. For instance,
too, we praise the experienced helmsman who "has
seen the cities of many men," and the physician
who has had large experience; thus also some describe
the empiric.(1) And he who brings everything to bear
on a fight life, procuring examples from the Greeks
and barbarians, this man is an experienced searcher
after truth, and in reality a man of much counsel,
like the touch-stone (that is, the Lydian), which is
believed to possess the power of distinguishing the
spurious from the genuine gold. And our much-knowing
gnostic can distinguish sophistry from philosophy,
the art of decoration from gymnastics, cookery from
physic, and rhetoric from dialectics, and the other
sects which are according to the barbarian philosophy,
from the truth itself. And how necessary is it for
him who desires to be partaker of the power of God,
to treat of intellectual subjects by philosophising!
And how serviceable is it to distinguish expressions
which are ambiguous, and which in the Testaments are
used synonymously! For the Lord, at the time of His
temptation, skilfully matched the devil by an ambiguous
expression. And I do not yet, in this connection, see
how in the world the inventor of philosophy and dialectics,
as some suppose, is seduced through being deceived
by the form of speech which consists in ambiguity.
And if the prophets and apostles knew not the arts
by which the exercises of philosophy are exhibited,
yet the mind of the prophetic and instructive spirit,
uttered secretly, because all have not an intelligent
ear, demands skilful modes of teaching in order to
clear exposition. For the prophets and disciples of
the Spirit knew infallibly their mind. For they knew
it by faith, in a way which others could not easily,
as the Spirit has said. But it is not possible for
those who have not learned to receive it thus. "Write,"
it is said, "the commandments doubly, in counsel
and knowledge, that thou mayest answer the words of
truth to them who send unto thee."(2) What, then,
is the knowledge of answering? or what that of asking?
It is dialectics. What then? Is not speaking our business,
and does not action proceed from the Word? For if we
act not for the Word, we shall act against reason.
But a rational work is accomplished through God. "And
nothing," it is said, "was made without Him"--the
Word of God.(3)
And did not the Lord make all things by the Word? Even
the beasts work, driven by compelling fear. And do
not those who are called orthodox apply themselves
to good works, knowing not what they do?
CHAP. X.--TO ACT WELL OF GREATER CONSEQUENCE THAN TO SPEAK WELL.
Wherefore the Saviour, taking the bread, first spake and blessed. Then breaking the bread,(4) He presented it, that we might eat it, according to reason, and that knowing the Scriptures s we might walk obediently. And as those whose speech is evil are no better than those whose practice is evil (for calumny is the servant of the sword, and evil-speaking inflicts pain; and from these proceed disasters in life, such being the effects of evil speech); so also those who are given to good speech are near neighbours to those who accomplish good deeds. Accordingly discourse refreshes the soul and entices it to nobleness; and happy is he who has the use of both his hands. Neither, therefore, is he who can act well to be vilified by him who is able to speak well; nor is he who is able to speak well to be disparaged by him who is capable of acting well. But let each do that for which he is naturally fitted. What the one exhibits as actually done, the other speaks, preparing, as it were, the way for well-doing, and leading the hearers to the practice of good. For there is a saving word, as there is a saving work. Righteousness, accordingly,(6) is not constituted without discourse. And as the receiving of good is abolished if we abolish the doing of good; so obedience and faith are abolished when neither the command, nor one to expound the command, is taken along with us.(7) But now we are benefited mutually and reciprocally by words and deeds; but we must repudiate entirely the art of wrangling and sophistry, since these sentences of the sophists not only bewitch and beguile the many, but sometimes by violence win a Cadmean victory.(8) For true above all is that Psalm, "The just shall live to the end, for he shall not see corruption, when he beholds the wise dying."(9) And whom does he call wise? Hear from the Wisdom of Jesus: "Wisdom is not the knowledge of evil."(10) Such he calls what the arts of speaking and of discussing have invented. "Thou shalt therefore seek wisdom among the wicked, and shalt not find it."(11) And if you inquire again of what sort this is, you are told, "The mouth of the righteous man will distil wisdom."(12) And simi
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larly with truth, the art of sophistry is called wisdom.
But it is my purpose, as I reckon, and not without
reason, to live according to the Word, and to understand
what is revealed;(1) but never affecting eloquence,
to be content merely with indicating my meaning. And
by what term that which I wish to present is shown,
I care not. For I well know that to be saved, and to
aid those who desire to be saved, is the best thing,
and not to compose paltry sentences like gewgaws. "And
if," says the Pythagorean in the Politicus of
Plato, "you guard against solicitude about terms,
you will be richer in wisdom against old age."(2)
And in the Theaetetus you will find again, "And
carelessness about names, and expressions, and the
want of nice scrutiny, is not vulgar and illiberal
for the most part, but rather the reverse of this,
and is sometimes necessary."(3) This the Scripture(4)
has expressed with the greatest possible brevity, when
it said, "Be not occupied much about words."
For expression is like the dress on the body. The
matter is the flesh and sinews. We must not therefore
care more for the dress than the safety of the body.
For not only a simple mode of life, but also a style
of speech devoid of superfluity and nicety, must be
cultivated by him who has adopted the true life, if
we are to abandon luxury as treacherous and profligate,
as the ancient Lacedaemonians adjured ointment and
purple, deeming and calling them rightly treacherous
garments and treacherous unguents; since neither is
that mode of preparing food right where there is more
of seasoning than of nutriment; nor is that style of
speech elegant which can please rather than benefit
the hearers. Pythagoras exhorts us to consider the
Muses more pleasant than the Sirens, teaching us to
cultivate wisdom apart from pleasure, and exposing
the other mode of attracting the soul as deceptive.
For sailing past the Sirens one man has sufficient
strength, and for answering the Sphinx another one,
or, if you please, not even one.(5) We ought never,
then, out of desire for vainglory, to make broad the
phylacteries. It suffices the gnostic(6) if only one
hearer is found for him.(7) You may hear therefore
Pindar the Boeotian,(8) who writes, "Divulge not
before all the ancient speech. The way of silence is
sometimes the surest. And the mightiest word is a spur
to the fight." Accordingly, the blessed apostle
very appropriately and urgently exhorts us "not
to strive about words to no profit, but to the subverting
of the hearers, but to shun profane and vain babblings,
for they increase unto more ungodliness, and their
word will eat as doth a canker."(9)
CHAP. XI.--WHAT IS THE PHILOSOPHY WHICH THE APOSTLE BIDS US SHUN?
This, then, "the wisdom of the world is foolishness
with God," and of those who are "the wise
the Lord knoweth their thoughts that they are vain."(10)
Let no man therefore glory on account of pre-eminence
in human thought. For it is written well in Jeremiah,
"Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, and
let not the mighty man glory in his might, and let
not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that
glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth
that I am the LORD, that executeth mercy and judgment
and righteousness upon the earth: for in these things
is my delight, saith the LORD."(11) "That
we should trust not in ourselves, but in God who raiseth
the dead," says the apostle, "who delivered
us from so great a death, that our faith should not
stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."
"For the spiritual man judgeth all things, but
he himself is judged of no man."(12) I hear also
those words of his, "And these things I say, lest
any man should beguile you with enticing words, or
one should enter in to spoil you."(13) And again,
"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy
and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ;"(14)
branding not all philosophy, but the Epicurean, which
Paul mentions in the Acts of the Apostles,(15) which
abolishes providence and deifies pleasure, and whatever
other philosophy honours the elements, but places not
over them the efficient cause, nor apprehends the Creator.(16)
The Stoics also, whom he mentions too, say not well
that the Deity, being a body, pervades the vilest matter.
He calls the jugglery of logic "the tradition
of men." Wherefore also he adds, "Avoid juvenile(17)
questions. For such contentions are puerile."
"But virtue is no lover of boys," says the
philosopher Plato. And our struggle, accOrding to Gorgias
Leontinus, requires two virtues--boldness and wisdom,--boldness
to undergo danger, and wisdom to understand the enigma.
For the Word, like the Olympian
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proclamation, calls him who is wiring, and crowns him
who is able to continue unmoved as far as the truth
is concerned. And, in truth, the Word does not wish
him who has believed to be idle. For He says, "Seek,
and ye shall find."(1) But seeking ends in finding,
driving out the empty trifling, and approving of the
contemplation which confirms our faith. "And this
I say, lest any man beguile you with enticing words,''(2)
says the apostle, evidently as having learned to distinguish
what was said by him, and as being taught to meet objections.
"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the
Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and
stablished in the faith."(3) Now persuasion is
[the means of] being established in the faith. "Beware
lest any man spoil you of faith in Christ by philosophy
and vain deceit," which does away with providence,
"after the tradition of men;" for the philosophy
which is in accordance with divine tradition establishes
and confirms providence, which, being done away with,
the economy of the Saviour appears a myth, while we
are influenced "after the elements of the world,
and not after Christ."(4) For the teaching which
is agreeable to Christ deifies the Creator, and traces
providence in particular events,(5) and knows the nature
of the elements to be capable of change and production,
and teaches that we ought to aim at rising up to the
power which assimilates to God, and to prefer the dispensation(6)
as holding the first rank and superior to all training.
The elements are worshipped,--the air by Diogenes,
the water by Thales, the fire by Hippasus; and by those
who suppose atoms to be the first principles of things,
arrogating the name of philosophers, being wretched
creatures devoted to pleasure.(7) "Wherefore I
pray," says the apostle, "that your love
may abound yet more and more, in knowledge and in all
judgment, that ye may approve things that are excellent."(8)
"Since, when we were children," says the
same apostle, "we were kept in bondage under the
rudiments of the world. And the child, though heir,
differeth nothing from a servant, till the time appointed
of the father."(9) Philosophers, then, are children,
unless they have been made men by Christ. "For
if the son of the bond woman shall not be heir with
the son of the free,"(10) at least he is the seed
of Abraham, though not of promise, receiving what belongs
to him by free gift. "But strong meat belongeth
to those that are of full age, even those who by reason
of use have their senses exercised to discern both
good and evil."(11) "For every one that useth
milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness; for
he is a babe,"(12) and not yet acquainted with
the word, according to which he has believed and works,
and not able to give a reason in himself. "Prove
all things," the apostle says, "and hold
fast that which is good,"(13) speaking to spiritual
men, who judge what is said according to truth, whether
it seems or truly holds by the truth. "He who
is not corrected by discipline errs, and stripes and
reproofs give the discipline of wisdom," the reproofs
manifestly that are with love. "For the right
heart seeketh knowledge."(14) "For he that
seeketh the Lord shall find knowledge with righteousness;
and they who have sought it rightly have found peace."(15)
"And I will know," it is said, "not
the speech of those which are puffed up, but the power."
In rebuke of those who are wise in appearance, and
think themselves wise, but are not in reality wise,
he writes: "For the kingdom of God is not in word."(16)
It is not in that which is not true, but which is only
probable according to opinion; but he said "in
power," for the truth alone is powerful. And again:
"If any man thinketh that he knoweth anything,
he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know." For
truth is never mere opinion. But the "supposition
of knowledge inflates," and fills with pride;
"but charity edifieth," which deals not in
supposition, but in truth. Whence it is said, "If
any man loves, he is known."(17)
CHAP. XII.--THE MYSTERIES OF THE FAITH NOT TO BE DIVULGED TO ALL.
But since this tradition is not published alone
for him who perceives the magnificence of the word;
it is requisite, therefore, to hide in a mystery the
wisdom spoken, which the Son of God taught. Now, therefore,
Isaiah the prophet has his tongue purified by fire,
so that he may be able to tell the vision. And we must
purify not the tongue alone, but also the ears, if
we attempt to be partaken of the truth.
Such were the impediments in the way of my writing.
And even now I fear, as it is said, "to cast the
pearls before swine, lest they tread them under foot,
and turn and rend us."(18) For it is difficult
to exhibit the really pure and transparent words respecting
the true light, to swinish and untrained hearers. For
scarcely could anything which they could hear be more
ludicrous than these to the multitude; nor any subjects
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on the other hand more admirable or more inspiring to those of noble nature. "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him."(1) But the wise do not utter with their mouth what they reason in council. "But what ye hear in the ear," says the Lord, "proclaim upon the houses;"(2) bidding them receive the secret traditions(3) of the true knowledge, and expound them aloft and conspicuously; and as we have heard in the ear, so to deliver them to whom it is requisite; but not enjoining us to communicate to all without distinction, what is said to them in parables. But there is only a delineation in the memoranda, which have the truth sowed sparse(4) and broadcast, that it may escape the notice of those who pick up seeds like jackdaws; but when they find a good husbandman, each one of them will germinate and produce corn.
CHAP. XIII.--ALL SECTS OF PHILOSOPHY CONTAIN A GERM OF TRUTH.
Since, therefore, truth is one (for falsehood has
ten thousand by-paths); just as the Bacchantes tore
asunder the limbs of Pentheus, so the sects both of
barbarian and Hellenic philosophy have done with truth,
and each vaunts as the whole truth the portion which
has fallen to its lot. But all, in my opinion,(5) are
illuminated by the dawn of Light.(6) Let all, therefore,
both Greeks and barbarians, who have aspired after
the truth,--both those who possess not a little, and
those who have any portion,--produce whatever they
have of the word of truth.
Eternity, for instance, presents in an instant the
future and the present, also the past of time. But
truth, much more powerful than limitless duration,
can collect its proper germs, though they have fallen
on foreign soil. For we shall find that very many of
the dogmas that are held by such sects as have not
become utterly senseless, and are not cut out from
the order of nature (by cutting off Christ, as the
women of the fable dismembered the man),(7) though
appearing unlike one another, correspond in their origin
and with the truth as a whole. For they coincide in
one, either as a part, or a species, or a genus. For
instance, though the highest note is different from
the lowest note, yet both compose one harmony. And
in numbers an even number differs from an odd number;
but both suit in arithmetic; as also is the case with
figure, the circle, and the triangle, and the square,
and whatever figures differ from one another. Also,
in the whole universe, all the parts, though differing
one from another, preserve their relation to the whole.
So, then, the barbarian and Hellenic philosophy has
torn off a fragment of eternal truth not from the mythology
of Dionysus, but from the theology of the ever-living
Word. And He who brings again together the separate
fragments, and makes them one, will without peril,
be assured, contemplate the perfect Word, the truth.
Therefore it is written in Ecclesiastes: "And
I added wisdom above all who were before me in Jerusalem;
and my heart saw many things; and besides, I knew wisdom
and knowledge, parables and understanding. And this
also is the choice of the spirit, because in abundance
of wisdom is abundance of knowledge."(8) He who
is conversant with all kinds of wisdom, will be pre-eminently
a gnostic.(9) Now it is written, "Abundance of
the knowledge of wisdom will give life to him who is
of it."(10) And again, what is said is confirmed
more clearly by this saying, "All things are in
the sight of those who understand"--all things,
both Hellenic and barbarian; but the one or the other
is not all. "They are right to those who wish
to receive understanding. Choose instruction, and not
silver, and knowledge above tested gold," and
prefer also sense to pure gold; "for wisdom is
better than precious stones, and no precious thing
is worth it."(11)
CHAP. XIV.--SUCCESSION OF PHILOSOPHERS IN GREECE.
The Greeks say, that after Orpheus and Linus, and the most ancient of the poets that appeared among them, the seven, called wise, were the first that were admired for their wisdom. Of whom four were of Asia--Thales of Miletus, and Bias of Priene, Pittacus of Mitylene, and Cleobulus of Lindos; and two of Europe, Solon the Athenian, and Chilon the Lacedaemonian; and the seventh, some say, was Periander of Corinth; others, Anacharsis the Scythian; others, Epimenides the Cretan, whom Paul knew as a Greek prophet, whom he mentions in the Epistle to Titus, where he speaks thus: "One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. And this witness is true."(12) You see how even to the prophets of the Greeks he attributes something of the truth, and is not ashamed,(13) when discours
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ing for the edification of some and the shaming of others,
to make use of Greek poems. Accordingly to the Corinthians
(for this is not the only instance), while discoursing
on the resurrection of the dead, he makes use of a
tragic Iambic line, when he said, "What advantageth
it me if the dead are not raised? Let us eat and drink,
for to-morrow we die. Be not deceived; evil communications
corrupt good manners."(1) Others have enumerated
Acusilaus the Argive among the seven wise men; and
others, Pherecydes of Syros. And Plato substitutes
Myso the Chenian for Periander, whom he deemed unworthy
of wisdom, on account of his having reigned as a tyrant.
That the wise men among the Greeks flourished after
the age of Moses, will, a little after, be shown. But
the style of philosophy among them, as Hebraic and
enigmatical, is now to be considered. They adopted
brevity, as suited for exhortation, and most useful.
Even Plato says, that of old this mode was purposely
in vogue among all the Greeks, especially the Lacedaemonians
and Cretans, who enjoyed the best laws.
The expression, "Know thyself," some supposed
to be Chilon's. But Chamaeleon, in his book About the
Gods, ascribes it to Thales; Aristotle to the Pythian.
It may be an injunction to the pursuit of knowledge.
For it is not possible to know the parts without the
essence of the whole; and one must study the genesis
of the universe, that thereby we may be able to learn
the nature of man. Again, to Chilon the Lacedaemonian
they attribute, "Let nothing be too much."(2)
Strato, in his book Of Inventions, ascribes the apophthegm
to Stratodemus of Tegea. Didymus assigns it to Solon;
as also to Cleobulus the saying, "A middle course
is best." And the expression, "Come under
a pledge, and mischief is at hand," Cleomenes
says, in his book Concerning Hesiod, was uttered before
by Homer in the lines:--
"Wretched pledges, for the wretched, to be pledged."(3)
The Aristotelians judge it to be Chilon's; but Didymus
says the advice was that of Thales. Then, next in order,
the saying, "All men are bad," or, "The
most of men are bad" (for the same apophthegm
is expressed in two ways), Sotades the Byzantian says
that it was Bias's. And the aphorism, "Practice
conquers everything,"(4) they will have it to
be Periander's; and likewise the advice, "Know
the opportunity," to have been a saying of Pittacus.
Solon made laws for the Athenians, Pittacus for the
Mitylenians. And at a late date, Pythagoras, the pupil
of Pherecydes, first called himself a philosopher.
Accordingly, after the fore-mentioned three men, there
were three schools of philosophy, named after the places
where they lived: the Italic from Pythagoras, the Ionic
from Thales, the Eleatic from Xenophanes. Pythagoras
was a Samian, the son of Mnesarchus, as Hippobotus
says: cording to Aristoxenus, in his life of Pythagoras
and Aristarchus and Theopompus, he was a Tuscan; and
according to Neanthes, a Syrian or a Tyrian. So that
Pythagoras was, according to the most, of barbarian
extraction. Thaies, too, as Leander and Herodotus relate,
was a Phoenician; as some suppose, a Milesian. He alone
seems to have met the prophets of the Egyptians. But
no one is described as his teacher, nor is any one
mentioned as the teacher of Pherecydes of Syros, who
had Pythagoras as his pupil. But the Italic philosophy,
that of Pythagoras, grew old in Metapontum in Italy.
Anaximander of Miletus, the son of Praxiades, succeeded
Thales; and was himself succeeded by Anaximenes of
Miletus, the son of Eurustratus; after whom came Anaxagoras
of Clazomenae, the son of Hegesibulus.(5) He transferred
his school from Ionia to Athens. He was succeeded by
Archelaus, whose pupil Socrates was.
"From these turned aside, the stone-mason;
Talker about laws; the enchanter of the Greeks,"
says Timon in his Satirical Poems, on account of his
quitting physics for ethics. Antisthenes, after being
a pupil of Socrates, introduced the Cynic philosophy;
and Plato withdrew to the Academy. Aristotle, after
studying philosophy under Plato, withdrew to the Lyceum,
and founded the Peripatetic sect. He was succeeded
by Theophrastus, who was succeeded by Strato, and he
by Lycon, then Critolaus, and then Diodorus. Speusippus
was the successor of Plato; his successor was Xenocrates;
and the successor of the latter, Polemo. And the disciples
of Polemo were Crates and Crantor, in whom the old
Academy founded by Plato ceased. Arcesilaus was the
associate of Crantor; from whom, down to Hegesilaus,
the Middle Academy flourished. Then Carneades succeeded
Hegesilaus, and others came in succession. The disciple
of Crates was Zeno of Citium, the founder of the Stoic
sect. He was succeeded by Cleanthes; and the latter
by Chrysippus, and others after him. Xenophanes of
Colophon was the founder of the Eleatic school, who,
Timaeus says, lived in the time of Hiero, lord of Sicily,
and Epicharmus the poet; and Apollodorus says that
he was born in the fortieth Olympiad, and reached to
the times of Darius and Cyrus. Parmenides, accordingly,
was the disciple of Xenophanes, and Zeno of him; then
came Leu-
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cippus, and then Democritus. Disciples of Democritus
were Protagoras of Abdera, and Metrodorus of Chios,
whose pupil was Diogenes of Smyrna; and his again Anaxarchus,
and his Pyrrho, and his Nausiphanes. Some say that
Epicurus was a scholar of his.
Such, in an epitome, is the succession of the philosophers
among the Greeks. The periods of the originators of
their philosophy are now to be specified successively,
in order that, by comparison, we may show that the
Hebrew: philosophy was older by many generations.(1)
It has been said of Xenophanes that he was the founder
of the Eleatic philosophy. And Eudemus, in the Astrological
Histories, says that Thales foretold the eclipse of
the sun, which took place at the time that the Medians
and the Lydians fought, in the reign of Cyaxares the
father of Astyages over the Medes, and of Alyattus
the son of Croesus over the Lydians. Herodotus in his
first book agrees with him. The date is about the fiftieth
Olympiad. Pythagoras is ascertained to have lived in
the days of Polycrates the tyrant, about the sixty-second
Olympiad. Mnesiphilus is described as a follower of
Solon, and was a contemporary of Themistocles. Solon
therefore flourished about the forty-sixth Olympiad.
For Heraclitus, the son of Bauso, persuaded Melancomas
the tyrant to abdicate his sovereignty. He despised
the invitation of king Darius to visit the Persians.
CHAP. XV.--THE GREEK PHILOSOPHY IN GREAT PART DERIVED FROM THE BARBARIANS.
These are the times of the oldest wise men and philosophers
among the Greeks. And that the most of them were barbarians
by extraction, and were trained among barbarians, what
need is there to say? Pythagoras is shown to have been
either a Tuscan or a Tyrian. And Antisthenes was a
Phrygian. And Orpheus was an Odrysian or a Thracian.
The most, too, show Homer to have been an Egyptian.
Thales was a Phoenician by birth, and was said to have
consorted with the prophets of the Egyptians; as also
Pythagoras did with the same persons, by whom he was
circumcised, that he might enter the adytum and learn
from the Egyptians the mystic philosophy. He held converse
with the chief of the Chaldeans and the Magi; and he
gave a hint of the church, now so called, in the common
hall(2) which he maintained.
And Plato does not deny that he procured all that
is most excellent in philosophy from the barbarians;
and he admits that he came into Egypt. Whence, writing
in the Phoedo that the philosopher can receive aid
from all sides, he said: "Great indeed is Greece,
O Cebes, in which everywhere there are good men, and
many are the races of the barbarians."(3) Thus
Plato thinks that some of the barbarians, too, are
philosophers. But Epicurus, on the other hand, supposes
that only Greeks can philosophise. And in the Symposium,
Plato, landing the barbarians as practising philosophy
with conspicuous excellence,(4) truly says: "And
in many other instances both among Greeks and barbarians,
whose temples reared for such sons are already numerous."
And it is clear that the barbarians signally honoured
their lawgivers and teachers, designating them gods.
For, according to Plato, "they think that good
souls, on quitting the supercelestial region, submit
to come to this Tartarus; and assuming a body, share
in all the ills which are involved in birth, from their
solicitude for the race of men;" and these make
laws and publish philosophy, "than which no greater
boon ever came from the gods to the race of men, or
will come."(5)
And as appears to me, it was in consequence of perceiving
the great benefit which is conferred through wise men,
that the men themselves Were honoured and philosophy
cultivated publicly by all the Brahmins, and the Odrysi,
and the Getae. And such were strictly deified by the
race of the Egyptians, by the Chaldeans and the Arabians,
called the Happy, and those that inhabited Palestine,
by not the least portion of the Persian race, and by
innumerable other races besides these. And it is well
known that Plato is found perpetually celebrating the
barbarians, remembering that both himself and Pythagoras
learned the most and the noblest of their dogmas among
the barbarians. Wherefore he also called the races
of the barbarians, "races of barbarian philosophers,"
recognising, in the Phaedrus, the Egyptian king, and
shows him to us wiser than Theut, whom he knew to be
Hermes. But in the Charmides, it is manifest that he
knew certain Thracians who were said to make the soul
immortal. And Pythagoras is reported to have been a
disciple of Sonches the Egyptian arch-prophet; and
Plato, of Sechnuphis of Heliopolis; and Eudoxus, of
Cnidius of Konuphis, who was also an Egyptian. And
in his book, On the Saul,(6) Plato again manifestly
recognises prophecy, when he introduces a prophet announcing
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the word of Lachesis, uttering predictions to the souls
whose destiny is becoming fixed. And in the Timoeus
he introduces Solon, the very wise, learning from the
barbarian. The substance of the declaration is to the
following effect: "O Solon, Solon, you Greeks
are always children. And no Greek is an old man. For
you have no learning that is hoary with age."(1)
Democritus appropriated the Babylonian ethic discourses,
for he is said to have combined with his own compositions
a translation of the column of Acicarus.(2) And you
may find the distinction notified by him when he writes,
"Thus says Democritus." About himself, too,
where, pluming himself on his erudition, he says, "I
have roamed over the most ground of any man of my time,
investigating the most remote parts. I have seen the
most skies and lands, and I have heard of learned men
in very great numbers. And in composition no one has
surpassed me; in demonstration, not even those among
the Egyptians who are called Arpenodaptae, with all
of whom I lived in exile up to eighty years."
For he went to Babylon, and Persis, and Egypt, to learn
from the Magi and the priests.
Zoroaster the Magus, Pythagoras showed to be a Persian.
Of the secret books of this man, those who follow the
heresy of Prodicus boast to be in possession. Alexander,
in his book On the Pythagorean Symbols, relates that
Pythagoras was a pupil of Nazaratus the Assyrian a
(some think that he is Ezekiel; but he is not, as will
afterwards be shown), and will have it that, in addition
to these, Pythagoras was a hearer of the Galatae and
the Brahmins. Clearchus the Peripatetic says that he
knew a Jew who associated with Aristotle.(4) Heraclitus
says that, not humanly, but rather by God's aid, the
Sibyl spoke.(5) They say, accordingly, that at Delphi
a stone was shown beside the oracle, on which, it is
said, sat the first Sibyl, who came from Helicon, and
had been reared by the Muses. But some say that she
came from Milea, being the daughter of Lamia of Sidon.(6)
And Serapion, in his epic verses, says that the Sibyl,
even when dead ceased not from divination. And he writes
that, what proceeded from her into the air after her
death, was what gave oracular utterances in voices
and omens; and on her body being changed into earth,
and the grass as natural growing out of it, whatever
beasts happening to be in that place fed on it exhibited
to men an accurate knowledge of futurity by their entrails.
He thinks also, that the face seen in the moon is her
soul. So much for the Sibyl.
Numa the king of the Romans was a Pythagorean, and
aided by the precepts of Moses, prohibited from making
an image of God in human form, and of the shape of
a living creature. Accordingly, during the first hundred
and seventy years, though building temples, they made
no cast or graven image. For Numa secretly showed them
that the Best of Beings could not be apprehended except
by the mind alone. Thus philosophy, a thing of the
highest utility, flourished in antiquity among the
barbarians, shedding its light over the nations. And
afterwards it came to Greece. First in its ranks were
the prophets of the Egyptians; and the Chaldeans among
the Assyrians; and the Druids among the Gauls; and
the Samanaeans among the Bactrians; and the philosophers
of the Celts; and the Magi of the Persians, who foretold
the Saviour's birth, and came into the land of Judaea
guided by a star. The Indian gymnosophists are also
in the number, and the other barbarian philosophers.
And of these there are two classes, some of them called
Sarmanae,(7) and others Brahmins. And those of the
Sarmanae who are called Hylobii(8) neither inhabit
cities, nor have roofs over them, but are clothed in
the bark of trees, feed on nuts, and drink water in
their hands. Like those called Encratites in the present
day, they know not marriage nor begetting of children.
Some, too, of the Indians obey the precepts of Buddha;(9)
whom, on account of his extraordinary sanctity, they
have raised to divine honours.
Anacharsis was a Scythian, and is recorded to have
excelled many philosophers among the Greeks. And the
Hyperboreans, Hellanicus relates, dwelt beyond the
Riphaean mountains, and inculcated justice, not eating
flesh, but using nuts. Those who are sixty years old
they take without the gates, and do away with. There
are also among the Germans those called sacred women,
who, by inspecting the whirlpools of rivers and the
eddies, and observing the noises of streams, presage
and predict future events.(10) These did not allow
the men to fight against Caesar till the new moon shone.
Of all these, by far the oldest is the Jewish race;
and that their philosophy committed to writing has
the precedence of philosophy among the Greeks, the
Pythagorean Philo(11) shows at large; and, besides
him, Aristobulus the Peripatetic, and several others,
not to waste time, in
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going over them by name. Very clearly the author Megasthenes, the contemporary of Seleucus Nicanor, writes as follows in the third of his books, On Indian Affairs: "All that was said about nature by the ancients is said also by those who philosophise beyond Greece: some things by the Brahmins among the Indians, and others by those called Jews in Syria." Some more. fabulously say that certain of those called the Idaean Dactyli were the first wise men; to whom are attributed the invention of what are called the "Ephesian letters," and of numbers in music. For which reason dactyls in music received their name. And the Idaean Dactyli were Phrygians and barbarians. Herodotus relates that Hercules, having grown a sage and a student of physics, received from the barbarian Atlas, the Phrygian, the columns of the universe; the fable meaning that he received by instruction the knowledge of the heavenly bodies. And Hermippus of Berytus calls Charon the Centaur wise; about whom, he that wrote The Battle of the Titans says, "that he first led the race of mortals to righteousness, by teaching them the solemnity of the oath, and propitiatory sacrifices and the figures of Olympus." By him Achilles, who fought at Troy, was taught. And Hippo, the daughter of the Centaur, who dwelt with AEolus, taught him her father's science, the knowledge of physics. Euripides also testifies of Hippo as follows:--
"Who first, by oracles, presaged,
And by the rising stars, events divine."
By this AEolus, Ulysses was received as a guest after the taking of Troy. Mark the epochs by comparison with the age of Moses, and with the high antiquity of the philosophy promulgated by him.
CHAP. XVI.--THAT THE INVENTORS OF OTHER ARTS WERE MOSTLY BARBARIANS.
And barbarians were inventors not only of philosophy, but almost of every art. The Egyptians were the first to introduce astrology among men. Similarly also the Chaldeans. The Egyptians first showed how to burn lamps, and divided the year into twelve months, prohibited intercourse with women in the temples, and enacted that no one should enter the temples(1) from a woman without bathing. Again, they were the inventors of geometry. There are some who say that the Carians invented prognostication by the stars. The Phrygians were the first who attended to the flight of birds. And the Tuscans, neighbours of Italy, were adepts at the art of the Haruspex. The Isaurians and the Arabians invented augury, as the Telmesians divination by dreams. The Etruscans invented the trumpet, and the Phrygians the flute. For Olympus and Marsyas were Phrygians. And Cadmus, the inventor of letters among the Greeks, as Euphorus says, was a Phoenician; whence also Herodotus writes that they were called Phoenician letters. And they say that the Phoenicians and the Syrians first invented letters; and that Apis, an aboriginal inhabitant of Egypt, invented the healing art before Io came into Egypt. But afterwards they say that Asclepius improved the art. Atlas the Libyan was the first who built a ship and navigated the sea. Kelmis and Damnaneus, Idaean Dactyli, first discovered iron in Cyprus. Another Idaean discovered the tempering of brass; according to Hesiod, a Scythian. The Thracians first invented what is called a scimitar (<greek>arph</greek>),--it is a curved sword,--and were the first to use shields on horseback. Similarly also the Illyrians invented the shield (<greek>pelth</greek>). Besides, they say that the Tuscans invented the art of moulding clay; and that Itanus (he was a Samnite) first fashioned the oblong shield (<greek>qureos</greek>). Cadmus the Phoenician invented stonecutting, and discovered the gold mines on the Pangaean mountain. Further, another nation, the Cappadocians, first invented the instrument called the nabla,(2) and the Assyrians in the same way the dichord. The Carthaginians were the first that constructed a triterme; and it was built by Bosporus, an aboriginal.(3) Medea, the daughter of AEetas, a Colchian, first invented the dyeing of hair. Besides, the Noropes (they are a Paeonian race, and are now called the Norici) worked copper, and were the first that purified iron. Amycus the king of the Bebryci was the first inventor of boxing-gloves.(4) In music, Olympus the Mysian practised the Lydian harmony; and the people called Troglodytes invented the sambuca,(5) a musical instrument. It is said that the crooked pipe was invented by Satyrus the Phrygian; likewise also diatonic harmony by Hyagnis, a Phrygian too; and notes by Olympus, a Phrygian; as also the Phrygian harmony, and the half-Phrygian and the half-Lydian, by Marsyas, who belonged to the same region as those mentioned above. And the Doric was invented by Thamyris the Thracian. We have heard that the Persians were the first who fashioned the chariot, and bed, and footstool; and the Sidonians the first to construct a trireme. The Sicilians, close to Italy, were the first inventors of the phorminx, which is not much inferior to the lyre. And they invented castanets. In the
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time of Semiramis queen of the Assyrians,(1) they relate
that linen garments were invented. And Hellanicus says
that Atossa queen of the Persians was the first who
composed a letter. These things are reported by Seame
of Mitylene, Theophrastus of Ephesus, Cydippus of Mantinea
also Antiphanes, Aristodemus, and Aristotle and besides
these, Philostephanus, and also Strato the Peripatetic,
in his books Concerning Inventions. I have added a
few details from them, in order to confirm the inventive
and practically useful genius of the barbarians, by
whom the Greeks profited in their studies. And if any
one objects to the barbarous language, Anacharsis says,
"All the Greeks speak Scythian to me." It
was he who was held in admiration by the Greeks, who
said, "My covering is a cloak; my supper, milk
and cheese." You see that the barbarian philosophy
professes deeds, not words. The apostle thus speaks:
"So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue
a word easy to be understood, how shall ye know what
is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. There are,
it may be, so many kind of voices in the world, and
none of them is without signification. Therefore if
I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto
him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh
shall be a barbarian unto me." And, "Let
him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he
may interpret."(2)
Nay more, it was late before the teaching and writing
of discourses reached Greece. Alcmaeon, the son of
Perithus, of Crotona, first composed a treatise on
nature. And it is related that Anaxagoras of Clazomenae,
the son of Hegesibulus, first published a book in writing.
The first to adapt music to poetical compositions was
Terpander of Antissa; and he set the laws of the Lacedaemonians
to music. Lasus of Hermione invented the dithyramb;
Stesichorus of Himera, the hymn; Alcman the Spartan,
the choral song; Anacreon of Tees, love songs; Pindar
the Theban, the dance accompanied with song. Timotheus
of Miletus was the first to execute those musical compositions
called <greek>nomoi</greek> on the lyre,
with dancing. Moreover, the iambus was invented by
Archilochus of Pares, and the choliambus by Hipponax
of Ephesus. Tragedy owed its origin to Thespis the
Athenian, and comedy to Susarion of Icaria. Their dates
are handed down by the grammarians. But it were tedious
to specify them accurately: presently, however, Dionysus,
on whose account the Dionysian spectacles are celebrated,
will be shown to be later than Moses. They say that
Antiphon of Rhamnusium, the son of Sophilus, first
invented scholastic discourses and rhetorical figures,
and was the first who pied causes for a fee, and wrote
a forensic speech for delivery,(3) as Diodorus says.
And Apollodorus of Cuma first assumed the name of critic,
and was called a grammarian. Some say it was Eratosthenes
of Cyrene who was first so called, since he published
two books which he entitled Grammatica. The first who
was called a grammarian, as we now use the term, was
Praxiphanes, the son of Disnysophenes of Mitylene.
Zeleucus the Locrian was reported to have been the
first to have framed laws (in writing) Others say that
it was Menos the son of Zeus, in the time of Lynceus.
He comes after Danaus, in the eleventh generation from
Inachus and Moses; as we shall show a little further
on. And Lycurgus, who lived many years after the taking
of Troy, legislated for the Lacedaemonians a hundred
and fifty years before the Olympiads. We have spoken
before of the age of Solon. Draco (he was a legislator
too) is discovered to have lived about the three hundred
and ninth Olympiad. Antilochus, again, who wrote of
the learned men from the age of Pythagoras to the death
of Epicurus, which took place in the tenth day of the
month Gamelion, makes up altogether three hundred and
twelve years. Moreover, some say that Phanothea, the
wife of Icarius, invented the heroic hexameter; others
Themis, one of the Titanides. Didymus, however, in
his work On the Pythagorean Philosophy, relates that
Theano of Crotona was the first woman who cultivated
philosophy and composed poems The Hellenic philosophy
then, according to some, apprehended the truth accidentally,
dimly, partially; as others will have it, was set a-going
by the devil. Several suppose that certain powers,
descending from heaven, inspired the whole of philosophy.
But if the Hellenic philosophy comprehends not the
whole extent of the truth, and besides is destitute
of strength to perform the commandments of the Lord,
yet it prepares the way for the truly royal teaching;
training in some way or other, and moulding the character,
and fitting him who believes in Providence for the
reception of the truth.(4)
CHAP. XVII.--ON THE SAYING OF THE SAVIOUR, "ALL THAT CAME BEFORE ME WERE THIEVES AND ROBBERS."(5)
But, say they, it is written, "All who were before the Lord's advent are thieves and robbers." All, then, who are in the Word (for it is these that were previous to the incarnation of the Word) are understood generally. But the
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prophets, being sent and inspired by the Lord, were
not thieves, but servants. The Scripture accordingly
says, "Wisdom sent her servants, inviting with
loud proclamation to a goblet of wine."(1)
But philosophy, it is said, was not sent by the
Lord, but came stolen, or given by a thief. It was
then some power or angel that had learned something
of the truth, but abode not in it, that inspired and
taught these things, not without the Lord's knowledge,
who knew before the constitution of each essence the
issues of futurity, but without His prohibition.
For the theft which reached men then, had some advantage;
not that he who perpetrated the theft had utility in
his eye, but Providence directed the issue of the audacious
deed to utility. I know that many are perpetually assailing
us with the allegation, that not to prevent a thing
happening, is to be the cause of it happening. For
they say, that the man who does not take precaution
against a theft, or does not prevent it, is the cause
of it: as he is the cause of the conflagration who
has not quenched it at the beginning; and the master
of the vessel who does not reef the sail, is the cause
of the shipwreck. Certainly those who are the causes
of such events are punished by the law. For to him
who had power to prevent, attaches the blame of what
happens. We say to them, that causation is seen in
doing, working, acting; but the not preventing is in
this respect inoperative. Further, causation attaches
to activity; as in the case of the shipbuilder in relation
to the origin of the vessel, and the builder in relation
to the construction of the house. But that which does
not prevent is separated from what takes place. Wherefore
the effect will be accomplished; because that which
could have prevented neither acts nor prevents. For
what activity does that which prevents not exert? Now
their assertion is reduced to absurdity, if they shall
say that the cause of the wound is not the dart, but
the shield, which did not prevent the dart from passing
through; and if they blame not the thief, but the man
who did not prevent the theft. Let them then say, that
it was not Hector that burned the ships of the Greeks,
but Achilles; because, having the power to prevent
Hector, he did not prevent him; but out of anger (and
it depended on himself to be angry or not) did not
keep back the fire, and was a concurring cause. Now
the devil, being possessed of free-will, was able both
to repent and to steal; and it was he who was the author
of the theft, not the Lord, who did not prevent him.
But neither was the gift hurtful, so as to require
that prevention should intervene.
But if strict accuracy must be employed in dealing
with them, let them know, that that which does not
prevent what we assert to have taken place in the theft,
is not a cause at all; but that what prevents is involved
in the accusation of being a cause. For he that protects
with a shield is the cause of him whom he protects
not being wounded; preventing him, as he does, from
being wounded. For the demon of Socrates was a cause,
not by not preventing, but by exhorting, even if (strictly
speaking) he did not exhort. And neither praises nor
censures, neither rewards nor punishments, are right,
when the soul has not the power of inclination and
disinclination, but evil is involuntary. Whence he
who prevents is a cause; while he who prevents not
judges justly the soul's choice. So in no respect is
God the author of evil. But since free choice and inclination
originate sins, and a mistaken judgment sometimes prevails,
from which, since it is ignorance and stupidity, we
do not take pains to recede, punishments are rightly
inflicted. For to take fever is involuntary; but when
one takes fever through his own fault, from excess,
we blame him. Inasmuch, then, as evil is involuntary,--for
no one prefers evil as evil; but induced by the pleasure
that is in it, and imagining it good, considers it
desirable;--such being the case, to free ourselves
from ignorance, and from evil and voluptuous choice,
and above all, to withhold our assent from those delusive
phantasies, depends on ourselves. The devil is called
"thief and robber;" having mixed false prophets
with the prophets, as tares with the wheat. "All,
then, that came before the Lord, were thieves and robbers;"
not absolutely all men, but all the false prophets,
and all who were not properly sent by Him. For the
false prophets possessed the prophetic name dishonestly,
being prophets, but prophets of the liar. For the Lord
says, "Ye are of your father the devil; and the
lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer
from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because
there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he
speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father
of it."(2)
But among the lies, the false prophets also told
some true things. And in reality they prophesied "in
an ecstasy," as(3) the servants of the apostate.
And the Shepherd, the angel of repentance, says to
Hermas, of the false prophet: "For he speaks some
truths. For the devil fills him with his own spirit,
if perchance he may be able to cast down any one from
what is right." All things, therefore, are dispensed
from heaven for good, "that by the Church may
be made known the manifold wisdom of God, according
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to the eternal foreknowledge,(1) which He purposed in
Christ."(2) Nothing withstands God: nothing opposes
Him: seeing He is Lord and omnipotent. Further, the
counsels and activities of those who have rebelled,
being partial, proceed from a bad disposition, as bodily
diseases from a bad constitution, but are guided by
universal Providence to a salutary issue, even though
the cause be productive of disease. It is accordingly
the greatest achievement of divine Providence, not
to allow the evil, which has sprung from voluntary
apostasy, to remain useless, and for no good, and not
to become in all respects injurious. For it is the
work of the divine wisdom, and excellence, and power,
not alone to do good (for this is, so to speak, the
nature of God, as it is of fire to warm and of light
to illumine), but especially to ensure that what happens
through the evils hatched by any, may come to a good
and useful issue, and to use to advantage those things
which appear to be evils, as also the testimony which
accrues from temptation.
There is then in philosophy, though stolen as the
fire by Prometheus, a slender spark, capable of being
fanned into flame, a trace of wisdom and an impulse
from God. Well, be it so that "the thieves and
robbers" are the philosophers among the Greeks,
who from the Hebrew prophets before the coming of the
Lord received fragments of the truth, not with full
knowledge, and claimed these as their own teachings,
disguising some points, treating others sophistically
by their ingenuity, and discovering other things, for
perchance they had "the spirit of perception."(3)
Aristotle, too, assented to Scripture, and declared
sophistry to have stolen wisdom, as we intimated before.
And the apostle says, "Which things we speak,
not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which
the Holy Ghost teacheth."(4) For of the prophets
it is said, "We have all received of His fulness,"(5)
that is, of Christ's. So that the prophets are not
thieves. "And my doctrine is not Mine," saith
the Lord, "but the Father's which sent me."
And of those who steal He says: "But he that speaketh
of himself, seeketh his own glory."(6) Such are
the Greeks, "lovers of their own selves, and boasters."(7)
Scripture, when it speaks of these as wise, does not
brand those who are really wise, but those who are
wise in appearance.
CHAP. XVIII.--HE ILLUSTRATES THE APOSTLE'S SAYING, "I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE."
And of such it is said, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise: I will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." The apostle accordingly adds, "Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world?" setting in contradistinction to the scribes, the disputers(8) of this world, the philosophers of the Gentiles. "Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?"(9) which is equivalent to, showed it to be foolish, and not true, as they thought. And if you ask the cause of their seeming wisdom, he will say, "because of the blindness of their heart;" since "in the wisdom of God," that is, as proclaimed by the prophets, "the world knew not," in the wisdom "which spake by the prophets," "Him,"(10) that is, God,--"it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching"--what seemed to the Greeks foolishness--"to save them that believe. For the Jews require signs," in order to faith; "and the Greeks seek after wisdom," plainly those reasonings styled "irresistible," and those others, namely, syllogisms. "But we preach Jesus Christ crucified; to the Jews a stumbling-block," because, though knowing prophecy, they did not believe the event: "to the Greeks, foolishness;" for those who in their own estimation are wise, consider it fabulous that the Son of God should speak by man and that God should have a Son, and especially that that Son should have suffered. Whence their preconceived idea inclines them to disbelieve. For the advent of the Saviour did not make people foolish, and hard of heart, and unbelieving, but made them understanding, amenable to persuasion, and believing. But those that would not believe, by separating themselves from the voluntary adherence of those who obeyed, were proved to be without understanding, unbelievers and fools. "But to them who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God, and the wisdom of God." Should we not understand (as is better) the words rendered, "Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?" negatively: "God hath not made foolish the wisdom of the world?"--so that the cause of their hardness of heart may not appear to have proceeded from God, "making foolish the wisdom of the world." For on all accounts, being wise, they incur greater blame in not believing the proclamation. For the preference and choice of truth is voluntary. But that declaration, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise," declares Him to have sent forth light, by bringing forth in opposition the despised and contemned barbarian philosophy; as the lamp, when shone upon by the sun, is said to be extinguished, on account of its not then exert-
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ing the same power. All having been therefore called, those who are willing to obey have been named(1) "called." For there is no unright-eousness with God. Those of either race who have believed, are "a peculiar people."(2) And in the Acts of the Apostles you will find this, word for word, "Those then who received his word were baptized;"(3) but those who would not obey kept themselves aloof. To these prophecy says, "If ye be willing and hear me, ye shall eat the good things of the land;"(4) proving that choice or refusal depends on ourselves. The apostle designates the doctrine which is according to the Lord, "the wisdom of God," in order to show that the true philosophy has been communicated by the Son. Further, he, who has a show of wisdom, has certain exhortations enjoined on him by the apostle: "That ye put on the new man, which after God is renewed in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth. Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole, steal no more; but rather let him labour, working that which is good" (and to work is to labour in seeking the truth; for it is accompanied with rational well-doing), "that ye may have to give to him that has need,"(5) both of worldly wealth and of divine wisdom. For he wishes both that the word be taught, and that the money be put into the bank, accurately tested, to accumulate interest. Whence he adds, "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth,"--that is "corrupt communication" which proceeds out of conceit,--"but that which is good for the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers." And the word of the good God must needs be good. And how is it possible that he who saves shall not be good?
CHAP. XIX.--THAT THE PHILOSOPHERS HAVE ATTAINED TO SOME PORTION OF TRUTH.
Since, then, the Greeks are testified to have laid down some true opinions, we may from this point take a glance at the testimonies. Paul, in the Acts of the Apostles, is recorded to have said to the Areopagites, "I perceive that ye are more than ordinarily religious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with the inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you. God, that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; and hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek God, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him; though He be not far from every one of us: for in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we also are His offspring."(6) Whence it is evident that the apostle, by availing himself of poetical examples from the Phenomena of Aratus, approves of what had been well spoken by the Greeks; and intimates that, by the unknown God, God the Creator was in a roundabout way worshipped by the Greeks; but that it was necessary by positive knowledge to apprehend and learn Him by the Son. "Wherefore, then, I send thee to the Gentiles," it is said, "to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith which is in Me."(7) Such, then, are the eyes of the blind which are opened. The knowledge of the Father by the Son is the comprehension of the "Greek circumlocution;"(8) and to turn from the power of Satan is to change from sin, through which bondage was produced. We do not, indeed, receive absolutely all philosophy, but that of which Socrates(9) speaks in Plato. "For there are (as they say) in the mysteries many bearers of the thyrsus, but few bacchanals;" meaning, "that many are called, but few chosen." He accordingly plainly adds: "These, in my opinion, are none else than those who have philosophized right; to belong to whose number, I myself have left nothing undone in life, as far as I could, but have endeavoured in every way. Whether we have endeavoured rightly and achieved aught, we shall know when we have gone there, if God will, a little afterwards." Does he not then seem to declare from the Hebrew Scriptures the righteous man's hope, through faith, after death? And in Demodocus(10) (if that is really the work of Plato): "And do not imagine that I call it philosophizing to spend life pottering about the arts, or learning many
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things, but something different; since I, at least,
would consider this a disgrace." For he knew,
I reckon, "that the knowledge of many things does
not educate the mind,"(1) according to Heraclitus.
And in the fifth book of the Republic.(2) he says,
"' Shall we then call all these, and the others
which study such things, and those who apply themselves
to the meaner arts, philosophers?' 'By no means,'
I said, 'but like philosophers.' 'And whom,' said he,
'do you call true?' 'Those,' said I,' who delight in
the contemplation of truth. For philosophy is not in
geometry, with its postulates and hypotheses; nor in
music, which is conjectural; nor in astronomy, crammed
full of physical, fluid, and probable causes. But the
knowledge of the good and truth itself are requisite,--what
is good being one thing, and the ways to the good another.'"(3)
So that he does not allow that the curriculum of training
suffices for the good, but co-operates in rousing and
training the soul to intellectual objects. Whether,
then, they say that the Greeks gave forth some utterances
of the true philosophy by accident, it is the accident
of a divine administration (for no one will, for the
sake of the present argument with us, deify chance);
or by good fortune, good fortune is not unforeseen.
Or were one, on the other hand, to say that the Greeks
possessed a natural conception of these things, we
know the one Creator of nature; just as we also call
righteousness natural; or that they had a common intellect,
let us reflect who is its father, and what righteousness
is in the mental economy. For were one to name "prediction,"(4)
and assign as its cause "combined utterance,"(5)
he specifies forms of prophecy. Further, others will
have it that some truths were uttered by the philosophers,
in appearance.
The divine apostle writes accordingly respecting
us: "For now we see as through a glass;"(6)
knowing ourselves in it by reflection, and simul-taneously
contemplating, as we can, the efficient cause, from
that, which, in us, is divine. For it is said, "Having
seen thy brother, thou hast seen thy God:" methinks
that now the Saviour God is declared to us. But after
the laying aside of the flesh, "face to face,"--then
definitely and comprehensively, when the heart becomes
pure. And by reflection and direct vision, those among
the Greeks who have philosophized accurately, see God.
For such, through our weakness, are our true views,
as images are seen in the water, and as we see things
through pellucid and transparent bodies. Excellently
therefore Solomon says: "He who soweth righteousness,
worketh faith."(7) "And there are those who,
sewing their own, make increase."(8) And again:
"Take care of the verdure on the plain, and thou
shalt cut grass and gather ripe hay, that thou mayest
have sheep for clothing."(9) You see how care
must be taken for external clothing and for keeping.
"And thou shalt intelligently know the souls of
thy flock."(10) "For when the Gentiles, which
have not the law, do by nature the things contained
in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto
themselves; uncircumcision observing the precepts of
the law,"(11) according to the apostle, both before
the law and before the advent. As if making comparison
of those addicted to philosophy with those called heretics,(12)
the Word most clearly says: "Better is a friend
that is near, than a brother that dwelleth afar off."(13)
"And he who relies on falsehoods, feeds on the
winds, and pursues winged birds."(14) I do not
think that philosophy directly declares the Word, although
in many instances philosophy attempts and persuasively
teaches us probable arguments; but it assails the sects.
Accordingly it is added: "For he hath forsaken
the ways of his own vineyard, and wandered in the tracks
of his own husbandry." Such are the