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D DRAN 
he dich, 





we 


ANTE-NICENE 7755 
CHRISTIAN LIBRARY: 


TRANSLATIONS OF 
THE WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS 


DOWN TO A.D. 325. 


EDITED BY THE 


REV. ALEXANDER ROBERTS, D.D., 
AND 


JAMES DONALDSON, LL.D. 


VOL. III. 


TATIAN, THEOPHILUS, AND THE CLEMENTINE 
RECOGNITIONS. 


EDINBURGH: 
AND T. CLARK, 38, GEORGE STREET. 


MDCCÓLXVII. 


EDINBURGH: MURRAY AND GIBBR, 
PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE. 









“THE WRITINGS OF TATIAN 
AND THEOPHILUS; 


AND 


THE CLEMENTINE RECOGNITIONS. 


TRANSLATED BY 
REV. B. P. PRATTEN, REV. MARCUS DODS, A.M., 
AND 


REV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D. 


EDINBURGH: 
T. & T. CLARK, 38, GEORGE STREET. 
ΝΌΟΝ: HAMILTON ἃ CO. DUBLIN: JOHN ROBERTSON ἃ CO. 
MDCCCLXVIL 


νῷ 
LO jo. | 
CONTENTS. 
— ῷ..---.. 
TATIAN. 
TRANSLATED BY REV. B. P. PRATTEN. 
ADDBESS TO THE GREEKS, . . . . 
FRAGMENTS OF Lost WORKS, . . . . 


THEOPHILUS. 
TRANSLATED BY REV. MARCUS DODS, A.M. 


THE THREE Books or THEOPHILUS OF ANTIOCH TO AUTOLYCUS, 
Book I., 
Book IL, . . . . . 
Book III., , . . . . 


CLEMENT. 
TRANSLATED BY REV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D. 


THE RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT, . . 
Book I., 
Book IL, . 
Book III., 
Book IV., 
Book V., . 
Book VI., 
Book VII.. 
Book VIII., 
Book IX., . 
Book X., . . . 


PAGE 


49 
58 
65 
108 


185 
143 
192 
240 
282 
304 
927 
938 
959 
401 
426 


478 


TATIANS ADDRESS TO THE GREEKS. 


INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 


ME learn from several sources that Tatian was an 
Assyrian, but know nothing very definite either 
as to the time or place of his birth. Epiphanius 
(Her. xlvi.) declares that he was a native of 
Mesopotamia; and we infer from other ascertained facts 
regarding him, that he flourished about the middle of the 
second century. [16 was at first an cager student of heathen 
literature, and seems to have been especially devoted to 
researches in philosophy. But he found no satisfaction in 
the bewildering mazes of Greek speculation, while he be- 
came utterly disgusted with what heathenism presented to 
him under the name of religion. In these circumstances, 
he happily met with the sacred books of the Christians, 
and was powerfully attracted by the purity of morals which 
these inculcated, and by the means of deliverance from the 
bondage of sin which they revealed. He seems to have em- 
braced Christianity at Rome, where he became acquainted 
with Justin Martyr, and enjoyed the instructions of that 
eminent teacher of the gospel. After the death of Justin, 
Tatian unfortunately fell under the influence of the Gnostic 
heresy, and founded an ascetic sect, which, from the rigid 
principles it professed, was called that of the Encratites, that 
is, * The self-controlled," or, * The masters of themselves.” 
Tatian latterly established himself at Antioch, and acquired 
a considerable number of disciples, who continued after his 
death to be distinguished by the practice of those austerities 
which he had enjoined. The sect of the Encratites is sup- 
posed to have been established about a.p. 166, and Tatian 
appears to have died some few years afterwards. 

3 





4 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 


The only extant work of Tatian is his * Address to 
the Greeks" It is a most unsparing and direct exposure 
of the enormities of heathenism. Several other works are 
said to have been composed by Tatian; and of these, a 
Diatessaron, or Harmony of the Four Gospels, is specially 
mentioned. His Gnostic views led him to exclude from the 
continuous narrative of our Lord’s life, given in this work, 
all those passages which bear upon the incarnation and true 
humanity of Christ. Notwithstanding this defect, we cannot 
but regret the loss of this earliest gospel harmony; but the 
very title it bore is important, as showing that the four 
Gospels, and these only, were deemed authoritative about 
the middle of the second century. 


ADDRESS OF TATIAN TO THE GREEKS. 


—— 


CHaP. 1.—The Greeks claim, without reason, the invention of 
the arts. 


JE not, O Greeks, so very hostilely disposed towards 
the Barbarians, nor look with ill will on their 
opinions. For which of your institutions has 
not been derived from the Barbarians? The 
most eminent of the Telmessians invented the art of divin- 
ing by dreams; the Carians, that of prognosticating by the 
stars ; the Phrygians and the most ancient Isaurians, augury 
by the flight of birds; the Cyprians, the art of inspecting 
victims. To the Babylonians you owe astronomy; to the 
Persians, magic; to the Egyptians, geometry ; to the Phe- 
nicians, instruction by alphabetic writing. Cease, then, to 
miscall these imitations inventions of your own. Orpheus, 
again, taught you poetry and song; from him, too, you: 
learned the mysteries. The Tuscans taught you the plastic. 
art; from the annals of the Egyptians you learned to write 
history; you acquired the art of playing the flute from 
Marsyas and Olympus,—these two rustic Phrygians con- 
structed the harmony of the shepherd’s pipe. The Tyrrhe- 
nians invented the trumpet; the Cyclops, the smith's art; 
and a woman who was formerly a queen of the Persians, 
as Hellanicus tells us, the method of joining together epis- 
tolary tablets εἶ her name was Atossa. Wherefore lay aside 
this conceit, and be not ever boasting of your elegance of 
diction ; for, while you applaud yourselves, your own people 
will of course side with you. But it becomes a man of sense 
to wait for the testimony of others, and it becomes men to be 
1 ἐκιστολοὶς συντάττειν, 1.6, for transmission by letter-carricrs.—Ofto. 





a 


.6 TATIAN'S ADDRESS 


of one accord also in the pronunciation of their language. 
But, as matters stand, to you alone it has happened not 
to speak alike even in common intercourse; for the wav 
of speaking among the Dorians is not the same as that of 
the inhabitants of Attica, nor do the ZEolians speak like 
the Ionians. And, since such a discrepancy exists where it 
ought not to be, I am at a loss whom to call a Greek. And, 
what is strangest of all, you hold in honour expressions not 
of native growth, and by the intermixture of barbaric words 
have made your language a medley. On this account we 
have renounced your wisdom, though I was once a great pro- 
ficient in it; for, as the comic poet! says— 
These are gleaners' grapes and small talk,— 
Twitiering places of swallows, corrupters of art ; 

Yet those who eagerly pursue it shout lustily, and croak like 
so many ravens. You have, too, contrived the art of rhetoric 
to serve injustice and slander, selling the free power of your 
speech for hire, and often representing the same thing at one 
time as right, at another time as not good. The poetic art, 
again, you employ to describe battles, and the amours of the 
gods, and the corruption of the soul. 


Cuar. 11.— The vices and errors of the philosophers. 


What noble thing have you produced by your pursuit of 
philosophy? Who of your most eminent men has been free 
from vain boasting? Diogenes, who made such a parade of 
his independence with his tub, was seized with a bowel com- 
plaint through eating a raw polypus, and so lost his life by 
gluttony. Aristippus, walking about in a purple robe, led a 
profligate life, in accordance with his professed opinions. 
Plato, a philosopher, was sold by Dionysius for his gorman- 
dizing propensities. And Aristotle, who absurdly placed a 
limit to Providence and made happiness to consist in the 
things which give pleasure, quite contrary to his duty as a 
preceptor flattered Alexander, forgetful that he was but a 


ath; and he, showing how well he had learned the lessons 
‘of his master, because his friend would not worship him 





1 Aristoph. Rana, 92, 93. 


TO THE GREEKS. 7 


shut him up and carried him about like a bear or a leopard. 
He in fact obeyed strictly the precepts of his teacher in 
displaying manliness and courage by feasting, and transfixing 
with his spear his intimate and most beloved friend, and 
then, under a semblance of grief, weeping and starving him- 
self, that he might not incur the hatred of his friends. I 
could laugh at those also who in the present day adhere to 
his tenets,—people who say that sublunary things are not 
under the care of Providence; and so, being nearer the earth 
than the moon, and below its orbit, they themselves look after 
what is thus left uncared for; and as for those who have 
neither beauty, nor wealth, nor bodily strength, nor high 
birth, they have no happiness, according to Aristotle. Let 
such men philosophize, for me! 


Crap. 111.—Ridicule of the philosophers. 


I cannot approve of Heraclitus, who, being sélf-taught 
and arrogant, said, *I have explored myself" Nor can I 
praise him for hiding his poem’ in the temple of Artemis, 
in order that it might be published afterwards as a mystery ; 
and those who take an interest in such things say that 
_ Euripides the tragic poet came there and read it, and, 
gradually learning it by heart, carefully handed down to 
posterity this darkness’ of Heraclitus. Death, however, de- 
monstrated the stupidity of this man ; for, being attacked 
by dropsy, as he had studied the art of medicine as well as 
philosophy, he plastered himself with cow-dung, which, as it 
hardened, contracted the flesh of his whole bodv, so that he 
was pulled in pieces, and thus died. Then, one cannot listen 
to Zeno, who declares that at the conflagration the same men 
will rise again to perform the same actions as before; for 
instance, Anytus and Miletus to accuse, Busiris to murder 
his guests, and Hercules to repeat his labours; and in this 
doctrine of the conflagration he introduces more wicked than 
just persons—one Socrates and a Hercules, and a few more of 
the same class, but not many, for the bad will be found far 
more numerous than the good. And according to him the 

1 χερὶ φύσεως. ? He was called ὁ σκοτεινός for his obscurity. 


8 TATIAN'S ADDRESS 


Deity will manifestly be the author of evil, dwelling in sewers 
and worms, and in the perpetrators of impiety. The erup- 
tions of fire in Sicily, moreover, confute the empty boasting 
of Empedocles, in that, though he was no god, he falsely 
almost gave himself out for one. I laugh, too, at the old 
wife's talk of Pherecydes, and the doctrine inherited from 
him by Pythagoras, and that of Plato, an imitation of his, 
though some think otherwise. And who would give his ap- 
proval to the cynogamy of Crates, and not rather, repudiating 
the wild and tumid speech of those who resemble him, 
turn to the investigation of what truly deserves attention ? 
Wherefore be not led away by the solemn assemblies of 
philosophers who are no philosophers, who dogmatize one 
against the other, though each one vents but the crude 
fancies of the moment. "They have, moreover, many colli- 
sions among themselves; each one hates the other; they 
indulge in conflicting opinions, and their arrogance miakes 
them eager for the highest places. It would better become 
them, moreover, not to pay court to kings unbidden, nor to 
flatter men at the head of affairs, but to wait till the great 
ones come to them. 


Cuap. 1v.— The Christians worship God alone. 


For what reason, men of Greece, do you wish to bring the 
civil powers, as in a pugilistic encounter, into collision with 
us? And, if I am not disposed to comply with the usages of 
some of them, why am I to be abhorred as a vile miscreant ? 
Does the sovereign order the payment of tribute, I am 
ready to render it. Does my master command me to act 
as a bondsman and to serve, I acknowledge the serfdom. 
Man is to be honoured as a fellow-man; God alone is to be 
feared,—He who is not visible to human eyes, nor comes 
within the compass of human art. Only when I am com- 
manded to deny Him, will I not obey, but will rather die 
than show myself false and ungrateful. Our God did not 
begin to be in time: He alone is without beginning, and He 
Himself is the beginning of all things. God is a Spirit,’ not 

! John iv. 24. 


TO THE GREEKS. 9 
pervading matter, but the Maker of material spirits, and of 
the forms that are in matter; He is invisible, impalpable, 
being Himself the Father of both sensible and invisible 
things. Him we know from His creation, and apprehend 
His invisible power by His works. I refuse to adore that 
workmanship which He has made for our sakes. The sun 
and moon were made for us: how, then, can I adore my own 
servants? How can I speak of stocks and stones as gods? 
For the spirit that pervades matter is inferior to the more 
divine spirit; and this, even when assimilated to the soul, is 
not to be honoured equally with the perfect God. Nor even 
ought the ineffable God to be presented with gifts; for He 
who is in want of nothing is not to be misrepresented by us 
as though He were indigent. But I will set forth our views 
more distinctly. 


Cuap. v.— The doctrine of the Christians as to the creation of 
the world. 


God was in the beginning; but the beginning, we have 
been taught, is the power of the Logos. For the Lord of 
the universe, who is Himself the necessary ground (ὑπόστα- 
ots) of all being, inasmuch as no creature was yet in exist- 
ence was alone; but inasmuch as He was all power, Himself 
the necessary ground of things visible and invisible, with 
IHim were all things ; with Him, by Logos-power (διὰ λογικῆς 
δυνάμεως), the Logos Himself also, who was in Him, subsists. 
And by His simple will the Logos springs forth; and the 
Logos, not coming forth in vain, becomes the first-becotten 
work of the Father. Him (the Logos) we know to be the 
beginning of the world. But He came into being by partici- 
pation,’ not by abscission; for what is cut off is separated 
from the original substance, but that which comes by partici- 


! Rom. i. 20. 

2 xarà μερισμοόν. Some translate, * by division," but the above is 
preferable. The sense, according to Otto, is that the Logos, having 
received a peculiar nature, shares in the rational power of the Father as 


a lighted torch partakes of the light of the torch from which it is kindled. 
Comp. Just. Mar. Dial. c. T., chap. lxi. 


10 TATIAN'S ADDRESS 


pation, making its choice of function,’ does not render him 
deficient from whom it is taken. For just as from one 
torch many fires are lighted, but the light of the first torch 
is not lessened by the kindling of many torches, so the Logos, 
coming forth from the Logos-power of the Father, has not 
divested of the Logos-power Him who begat Him. I my- 
self, for instance, talk, and you hear; yet, certainly, I who 
converse do not become destitute of speech (Aóyos) by the 
transmission of speech, but by the utterance of my voice I 
endeavour to reduce to order the unarranged matter in your 
minds. And as the Logos, begotten in the beginning, begat 
in turn our world, having first created for Himself the neces- 
sary matter, so also I, in imitation of the Logos, being be- 
gotten again, and having become possessed of the truth, am 
trying to reduce to order the confused matter which is kindred 
with myself. For matter is not, like God, without beginning, 
nor, as having no beginning, is of equal power with God ; it 
is begotten, and not produced by any other being, but brought 
into existence by the Framer of all things alone. 


Crap. vr.— Christians belief in the resurrection. 


And on this account we believe that there will be a 
resurrection of bodies after the consummation of all things; 
not, as the Stoics affirm, according to the return of certain 
cycles, the same things being produced and destroyed for no 
useful purpose, but a resurrection once for all, when our 
periods of existence are completed, and in consequence solely 
of the constitution of things under which men alone live, for 
the purpose of passing judgment upon them. Nor is sentence 
upon us passed by Minos or Rhadamanthus, before whose 
decease not a single soul, according to the mythic tales, was 
judged ; but the Creator, God Himself, becomes the arbiter. 
And, although you regard us as mere triflers and babblers, it 
troubles us not, since we have faith in this doctrine. For 
just as, not existing before I was born, I knew not who I 


was, and only existed in the potentiality (ὑπόστασις) of fleshly 


1 οἰκονομίαις τὴν αἵρεσιν προσλαβόν. The above seems the simplest 


rendering of this difficult passage, but several others have been proposed. 





TO THE GREEKS. 11 


matter, but being born, after a former state of nothingness, 
I have obtained through my birth a certainty of my existence; 
in the same way, having been born, and through death exist- 
ing no longer, and seen no longer, I shall exist again, just as 
before I was not, but was afterwards born. Even though fire 
destroy all traces of my flesh, the world receives the vaporized 
matter; and though dispersed through rivers and seas, or 
torn in pieces by wild beasts, I am laid up in the storehouses 
of a wealthy Lord. And, although the poor and the godless 
know not what is stored up, yet God the Sovereign, when 
He pleases, will restore the substance that is visible to Him 
alone to its pristine condition. 


Cuar. vir.— Concerning the fall of man. 


For the heavenly Logos, a spirit emanating from the 
Father and a Logos from the Logos-power, in imitation of 
the Father who begat Him inade man an image of immor- 
tality, so that, as incorruption is with God, in like manner, 
man, sharing in a part of God, might have the immortal 
principle also. The Logos, too, before the creation of men, 
was the Fyamer of angels. And each of these two orders of 
creatures was made free to act as it pleased, not having the 
nature of good, which again is with God alone, but is brought 
to perfection in men through their freedom of choice, in 
order that the bad man may be justly punished, having be- 
come depraved through his own fault, but the just man be 
deservedly praised for his virtuous deeds, since in the exercise 
of his free choice he refrained from transgressing the will 
of God. Such is the constitution of things in reference to 
angels and men. And the power of the Logos, having in 
itself a faculty to foresee future events, not as fated, but as 
taking place by the choice of free agents, foretold from time 
to time the issues of things to come; it also became a forbidder 
of wickedness by means of prohibitions, and the encomiast of 
those who remained good. And, when men attached them- 
selves to one who was more subtle than the rest,’ having 
regard to his being the first-born, and declared him to be 

1 Gen. iii. 1. 





12 TATIAN'S ADDRESS 


God, though he was resisting the law of God, then the power 
of the Logos excluded the beginner of the folly and his 
adherents from all fellowship with Himself. And so he who 
was made in the likeness of God, since the more powerful 
spirit is separated from him, becomes mortal; but that first- 
begotten one through his transgression and ignorance becomes 
a demon ; and they who imitated him, that is his illusions, are 
ecome a host of demons, and through their freedom of 
hoice have been given up to their own infatuation. 


Cur. viu.—The demons sin among mankind. 


But men form the material (ὑπόθεσις) of their apostasy. 
For, having shown them a plan of the position of the stars, 
like dice-players, they introduced Fate, a flagrant injustice. 
For the judge and the judged are made so by Fate; the 
murderers and the murdered, the wealthy and the needy, are 
the offspring of the same Fate; and every nativity is regarded 
as a theatrical entertainment by those beings of whom IIomer 
says: 

** Among the gods 

tose laughter irrepressible."! 
Dut must not those who are spectators of single combats and 
ure partisans on one side or tlie other, and he who marries and 
is a pzederast and an adulterer, who laughs and is angry, who 
flees and is wounded, be regarded as mortals? For, by what- 
ever actions they manifest to men their characters, by these 
they prompt their hearers to copy their example. And are 
not the demons themselves, with Zeus at their head, subjected 
to Fate, being overpowered by the same passions as men? 
And, besides, how are those beings to be worshipped among 
whom. there exists such a great contrariety of opinions? For 
Rhea, whom the inhabitants of the Phrygian mountains call 
Cybele, enacted emasculation on account of Attis, of whom 
she was enamoured ; but Aphrodite is delighted with con- 
jugal embraces. Artemis is a poisoner; Apollo heals diseases. 
And after the decapitation of the Gorgon, the beloved of 
Poseidon, whence sprang the horse Pegasus and Chrysaor, 

! Jl. i. 599 ; Od. viii. 326. 


TO THE GREEKS. 13 


Athené and Asclepios divided between them the drops of 
blood; and, while he saved men’s lives by means of them, 
she, by the same blood, became a homicide and the instigator 
of wars. From regard to her reputation, as it appears to 
me, the Athenians attributed to the earth the son born of 
her connection with Hephestos, that Athené might not be 
thought to be deprived of her virility by Hephzstos, as 
Atalanta by Meleager. This limping manufacturer of 
buckles and ear-rings, as is likely, deceived the motherless 
child and orphan with these girlish ornaments. Poseidon 
frequents the seas; Ares delights in wars; Apollo is a 
player on the cithara; Dionysus is absolute sovereign of 
the Thebans; Kronos is a tyrannicide; Zeus has inter- 
course with his own daughter, who becomes pregnant by him. 
I may instance, too, Eleusis, and the mystic Dragon, and 
Orpheus, who says, 
** Close the gates against the profane!" 

Aidoneus carries off Koré, and his deeds have been made 
into mysteries; Demeter bewails her daughter, and some 
persons are deceived by the Athenians. In the precincts of 
the temple of the son of Leto is a spot called Omphalos ; but 
Omphalos is the burial-place of Dionysus. You now I laud, 
O Daphne !—by conquering the incontinence of Apollo, you 
disproved his power of vaticination ; for, not foreseeing what 
would occur to you,’ he derived no advantage from his art. 
Let the far-shooting god tell me how Zephyrus slew Hya- 
cinthus. Zephyrus conquered him ; and, in accordance with 
the saying of the tragic poet : 

** A breeze is the most honourable chariot of the gods,’’? 
conquered by a slight breeze Apollo lost his beloved. 


Cuap. 1X.—They give rise to superstitions. 


Such are the demons; these are they who laid down the 
doctrine. of Fate. Their fundamental principle was the 
placing of animals in the heavens. For the creeping things 
on the earth, and those that swim in the waters, and the 


1 On fleeing from Apollo, she became a bay-tree. 
? [t ig uncertain from whom this line is quoted. 


Ἷ 


14 TATIAN'S ADDRESS 


quadrupeds on the mountains, with which they lived when 
expelled from heaven,—these they dignified with celestial 
honour, in order that they might themselves be thought to 
remain in heaven, and, by placing the constellations there, 
might make to appear rational the irrational course of life 
on earth. Thus the high-spirited and he who is crushed 
with toil, the temperate and the intemperate, the indigent 
and the wealthy, are what they are simply from the con- 
trollers of their nativity. For the delineation of the zodiacal 
circle is the work of gods. And, when the light of one of 
them predominates, as they express it, it deprives all the rest 
of their honour; and he who how is conquered, at another 
time gains the predominance. And the seven planets are well 
pleased with them,’ as if they were amusing themselves with 
dice. But we are superior to Fate, and instead of wandering 
(πλανητῶν) demons, we have learned to know one Lord 
who wanders not; and, as we do not follow the guidance of 
Fate, we reject its lawgivers. Tell me, I adjure you,’ did 
Triptolemus sow wheat and prove a benefactor to the 
Athenians after their sorrow? And why was not Demeter, 
before she lost her daughter, a benefactress to men? The 
Dog of Erigone is shown in the heavens, and the Scorpion 
the helper of Artemis, and Chiron the Centaur, and the 
divided Argo, and the Bear of Callisto. Yet how, before 
these performed the aforesaid deeds, were the heavens un- 
adorned? And to whom will it not appear ridiculous that 
the Deltotum* should be placed among the stars, according to 
some, on account of Sicily, or, as others say, on account of the 
first letter in the name of Zeus (4:0)? For why are not 
Sardinia and Cyprus honoured in heaven? And why have 
not the letters of the names of the brothers of Zeus, who 
shared the kingdom with him, been fixed there too? And 
how is it that Kronos, who was put in chains and ejected 
from his kingdom, is constituted a manager of Fate? How, 
too, can he give kingdoms who no longer reigns himself? 


! Comp. ch. viii. init. 3 The signs of the Zodiac (Gesner). 
* Literally, ** Tell me by God,” or, ** in the name of God." 
4 The Deltotum was a star of the shape of a triangle.- — Otto. 


TO THE GREEKS. 15 


Reject, then, these absurdities, and do not become transgressors 
by hating us unjustly. 


Cuar. x.— Ridicule of the heathen divinities. 


There are legends of the metamorphosis of men: with 
you the gods also are metamorphosed. Rhea becomes a tree; 
Zeus a dragon, on account of Persephone; the sisters of 
Phaéthon are changed into poplars, and Leto into a bird of 
little value, on whose account what is now Delos was called 
Ortygia. <A god, forsooth, becomes a swan, or takes the form 
of an eagle, and, making Ganymede his cupbearer, glories in 
a vile affection. How can I reverence gods who are eager 
for presents, and angry if they do not receive them? Let 
them have their Fate!, I am not willing to adore wandering 
stars. What is that hair of Berenicé? Where were her 
stars before her death? And how was the dead Antinoüs 
fixed as a beautiful youth in the moon? Who carried him 
thither: unless perchance, as men, perjuring themselves for 
hire, are credited when they say in ridicule of the gods that 
kings have ascended into heaven, so some one, in like manner, 
has put this man also among the gods, and been recompensed 
with honour and reward? Why have you robbed God? 
Why do you dishonour His workmanship? You sacrifice a 
sheep, and you adore the same animal. The Bull is in the 
heavens, and you slaughter its image. The Kneeler! crushes 
@ noxious animal ; and the eagle that devours the man-maker 
Prometheus is honoured. The swan is noble, forsooth, be- 
cause it was an adulterer; and the Dioscuri, living on alter- 
nate days, the ravishers of the daughters of Leucippus, are 
also noble! Better still is Helen, who forsook the flaxen- 
haired Menelaus, and followed the turbaned and gold-adorned 
Paris. A just man also is Sophron,’ who transported this 
adulteress to the Elysian fields! But even the daughter of 
Tyndarus is not gifted with immortality, and Euripides has 
wisely represented this woman as put to death by Orestes. 

1 Hercules—a sign in the sky. Leaning on his right knee, he tries to 
crush with his left foot the right side of the dragon's head. 

3 A writer of mimes. 


= 


16 TATIAN'S ADDRESS 


Cuap. x1.—The sin of men due not to Fate, but to free-will. 


How, then, shall I admit this nativity according to Fate, 
when I see such managers of Fate? I do not wish to be a 
king; I am not anxious to be rich; I decline military com- 
mand ; I detest fornication ; I am not impelled by an insati- 
able love of gain to go to sea ; I do not contend for chaplets; 
I am free from a mad thirst for fame; I despise death ; I am 
superior to every kind of disease ; grief does not consume my 
soul. Am I a slave, I endure servitude. Am I free, I do 
not make a vaunt of my good birth. I see that the same sun 
is for all, and one death for all, whether they live in pleasure 
or destitution. The rich man sows, and the poor man par- 


takes of the same sowing. The wealthiest die, and beggars 


have the same limits to their life. The rich lack many 
things, and are glorious only through the estimation they are 
held in;! but the poor man and he who has very moderate 
desires, seeking as he does only the things suited to his lot, 
more easily obtains his purpose. How is it that you are 
fated to be sleepless through avarice? Why are you fated 
to grasp at things often, and often to die? Die to the 
world, repudiating the madness that is in it. Live to God, 
and by appreliending Tim lay aside your old nature. We 
were not created to die, but we die by our own fault. Our 
free-will has destroyed us; we who were free have become 
slaves; we have been sold through sin. Nothing evil has 
been created by God; we ourselves have manifested wicked- 
ness; but we, who have manifested it, are able again to 
reject it. 


Crap. XII.— The two kinds of spirits. 


We recognise two varieties of spirit, one of which is called 
the soul (ψυχή), but the other is greater than the soul, an 
image and likeness of God: both existed in the first men, 
that in one sense they might be material (Uoc), and in 
another superior to matter. The case stands thus: we can 
see that the whole structure of the world, and the whole crea- 

1 Or, reading with Maranus, xd»... yt»., “Seven though,” etc. 


TO THE GREEKS. 17 


tion, has been produced from matter, and the matter itself 
brought into existence! by God; so that on the one hand it 
may be regarded as rude and unformed before it was sepa- 
rated into parts, and on the other as arranged in beauty and 
order after the separation was made. Therefore in that 
separation the heavens were made of matter, and the stars 
that are in them ; and the earth and all that is upon it has a 
similar constitution : so that there is a common origin of all 
things. But, while such is the case, there yet are certain 
differences in the things made of matter, so that one is more 
beautiful, and another is beautiful but surpassed by some- 
thing better. For as the constitution of the body is under one 
management, and is engaged in doing that which is the cause 
of its having been made,’ yet though this is the case, there are 
certain differences of dignity in it, and the eye is one thing, 
and another the ear, and another the arrangement of the hair 
and the distribution of the intestines, and the compacting to- 
gether of the marrow and the bones and the tendons; and 
though one part differs from another, there is yet all the 
harmony of a concert of music in their arrangement ;—in 
like manner the world, according to the power of its Maker 
containing some things of superior splendour, but some unlike 
these, received by the will of the Creator a material spirit. 
And these things severally it is possible for him to perceive 
who does not conceitedly reject those most divine explanations 
which in the course of time have been consigned to writing, 
and make those who study them great lovers of God.  There- 
fore the demons, as you call them, having received their 
structure from matter and obtained the spirit which inheres 
in it, became intemperate and greedy; some few, indeed, 
lLiterally, “brought forth" or “forward.” The word does not 
imply that matter was created by God. 

! Tatian's words are somewhat obecure. We have given substantially 
the opinion of Worth, as expressed in his translation. The sense is: 
The body is evidently a unity in its organization and its activity, and tho 
ultimate end which it serves in creation is that with which it is occupied, 
yet there are differences in respect of the parte. Otto renders: ‘ For as 
the constitution of the body is of one plan, and in reference to the body 
the cause of its origin is occupied.” 

B 


18 TATIAN'S ADDRESS 


turning to what was purer, but others choosing what was 
inferior in matter, and conforming their manner of life to it. 
These beings, produced from matter, but very remote from 
right conduct, you, O Greeks, worship. For, being turned 
by their own folly to vaingloriousness, and shaking off the 
reins [of authority], they have been forward to become rob- 
bers of Deity ; and the Lord of all has suffered them to besport 
themselves, till the world, coming to an end, be dissolved, and 
the Judge appear, and all those men who, while assailed by 
the demons, strive after the knowledge of the perfect God 
obtain as the result of their conflicts a more perfect testimony 
in the day of judgment. There is, then, a spirit in the stars, 
a spirit in angels, a spirit in plants and the waters, a spirit in 
men, a spirit in animals ; but, though one and the same, it has 
differences in itself. And while we say these things not from 
mere hearsay, nor from probable conjectures and sophistical 
reasoning, but using words of a certain diviner speech, do you 
who are willing hasten to learn. And you who do not reject 
with contempt the Scythian Anacharsis, do not disdain to be 
taught by those who follow a barbaric code of laws. Give 
at least as favourable a reception to our tenets as you would 
to the prognostications of the Babylonians. Hearken to us 
when we speak, if only as you would to an oracular oak. 
And yet the things just referred to are the trickeries of 
frenzied demons, while the doctrines we inculcate are far 
beyond the apprehension of the world. 


Cnar. x111.— Theory of the souls immortality. 


The soul is not in itself immortal, O Greeks, but mortal. 

Yet it is possible for it not to die. If, indeed, it knows not 

the truth, it dies, and is dissolved with the body, but rises 

again at last at the end of the world with the body, receiving 

death by punishment in immortality. But, again, if it 

acquires the knowledge of God, it dies not, although for a 

time it be dissolved. In itself it is darkness, and "there i 15 

nothing luminous in it. And this is the meaning of the 
score saying, “The darkness comprehendeth not the light."! For 

1 John i. 5. 


TO THE GREEKS. 19 


the soul does not preserve the spirit, but is preserved by it, 
and the light comprehends the darkness. The Logos, in truth, 
is the light of God, but the ignorant soul is darkness. On this 
account, if it continues solitary, it tends downward towards 
matter, and dies with the flesh ; but, if it enters into union with 
the Divine Spirit, it is no longer helpless, but ascends to the 
regions whither the Spirit guides it : for the dwelling-place of 
the spirit is above, but the origin of the soul is from beneath. 
Now, in the beginning the spirit was a constant companion 
of the soul, but the spirit forsook it because it was not willing 
to follow. Yet, retaining as it were a spark of its power, 
though unable by reason of the separation to discern the 
perfect, while seeking for God it fashioned to itself in its 
wandering many gods, following the sophistries of the 
demons. But the Spirit of God is not with all, but, taking up 
its abode with those who live justly, and intimately combining 
with the soul, by prophecies it announced hidden things to 
other souls. And the souls that are obedient to wisdom have 
attracted to themselves the cognate spirit; but the disobe- 
dient, rejecting the minister of the suffering God, have shown 
themselves to be fighters against God, rather than His wor- 
shippers. 


Cna?P. x1v.— The demons shall be punished more severely than 
MEN. 


And such are you also, O Greeks,—profuse in words, but 
with minds strangely warped; and you acknowledge the 
dominion of many rather than the rule of one, accustoming 
yourselves to follow demons as if they were mighty. For, as 
the inhuman robber is wont to overpower those like him- 
self by daring; so the demons, going to great lengths in 
wickedness, have utterly deceived the souls among you which 
are left to themselves by ignorance and false appearances. 
These beings do not indeed die easily, for they do not partake 
of flesh ; but while living they practise the ways of death, 
and die themselves as often as they teach their followers to 
sin. Therefore, what is now their chief distinction, that they 
do not die like men, they will retain when about to suffer 


« 


—— 


20 TATIAN'S ADDRESS 


punishment: they will not partake of everlasting life, so as 
to receive this instead of death in a blessed immortality. And 
as we, to whom it now easily happens to die, afterwards 
receive the immortal with enjoyment, or the painful with 
immortality, so the demons, who abuse the present life to 
purposes of wrong-doing, dying continually even while they 
live, will have hereafter the same immortality, like that which 
they had during the time they lived, but in its nature like 
that of men, who voluntarily performed what the demons 
prescribed to them during their lifetime. And do not fewer 
kinds of sin break out among men owing to the brevity of 
their lives, while on the part of these demons transgression 
is more abundant owing to their boundless existence ? 


Cuar. xv.— Necessity of a union with the Holy Spirit. 


But further, it becomes us now to seek for what we once 


. had, but have lost, to unite the soul with the Holy Spirit, and 


to strive after union with God. The human soul consists 
of many parts, and is not simple; it is composite, so as to 
manifest itself through the body; for neither could it ever 
appear by itself without the body, nor does the flesh rise again 
without the soul. Man is not, as the croaking philosophers 
say, merely a rational animal, capable of understanding and 
knowledge; for, according to them, even irrational creatures 
appear possessed of understanding and knowledge. But man 
alone is the image and likeness of God; and I mean by man, 
not one who performs actions similar to those of animals, but 
one who has advanced far beyond mere humanity—to God 
Himself. 'This question we have discussed more minutely 
in the treatise concerning animals. But the principal point 
to be spoken of now is, what is intended by the image and 
likeness of God. That which cannot be compared is no other 
than abstract being; but that which is compared is no other 
than that which is like. The perfect God is without flesh ; 
but man is flesh. The bond of the flesh is the soul; that 
which encloses the soul is the flesh. Such is the nature of 
man’s constitution ; and, if it be like a temple, God is pleased 
to dwell in it by the spirit, His representative; but, if it be 


TO THE GREEKS. 21 


not such a habitation, man excels the wild beasts in articulate 
language only,—in other respects his manner of life is like 
theirs, as one who is not a likeness of God. But none of 
the demons possess flesh; their structure is spiritual, like 
that of fire or air. And only by those whom the Spirit of 
God dwells in and fortifies are the bodies of the demons easily 
seen, not at all by others,—I mean those who possess only 
soul ;* for the inferior has not the ability to apprehend the 
superior. On this account the nature of the demons has no 
place for repentance; for they are the reflection of matter 
and of wickedness. But matter desired to exercise lordship 
over the soul ; and according to their free-will these gave laws 
of death to men; but men, after the loss of immortality, 
have conquered death by submitting to death in faith ; and 
by repentance a call has been given to them, according to the 
word which says, “ Since they were made a little lower than 
the angels.”? And, for every one who has been conquered, it 
is possible again to conquer, if he rejects the condition which 
brings death. And what that is, may be easily seen by men 
who long for immortality. 


Cuap. xv1.— Vain display of power by the demons. 


But the demons who rule over men are not the souls of 
men ; for how should these be capable of action after death ? 
unless man, who while living was void of understanding and 
power, should be believed when dead to be endowed with 
more of active power. But neither could this be the case, 
as we have shown elsewhere.’ And it is difficult to conceive 
that the immortal soul, which is impeded by the members 
of the body, should become more intelligent when it has 
migrated from it. For the demons, inspired with frenzy 
against men by reason of their own wickedness, pervert their 
minds, which already incline downwards, by various deceptive 
scenic representations, that they may be disabled from rising 
to the path that leads to heaven. But from us the things 
which are in the world are not hidden, and the divine is easily 

1 Comp. 1 Cor. ii. 14, 15. 2 Pa, viii. 5. 
3 Perhaps in his treatise ** on Animals.” 


πῇ 


22 TATIAN'S ADDRESS 


apprehended by us if the power that makes souls immortal 
visits us. The demons are seen also by the men possessed 
of soul, when, as sometimes, they exhibit themselves to men, 
either that they may be thought to be something, or as evil- 
disposed friends may do harm to them as to enemies, or afford 
occasions of doing them honour to those who resemble them. 
For, if it were possible, they would without doubt pull down 
heaven itself with the rest of creation. But now this they 
can by no means effect, for they have not the power; but 
they make war by means of the lower matter against the 
matter that is like themselves. Should any one wish to 
conquer them, let him repudiate matter. Being armed with 
the breastplate! of the celestial Spirit, he will be able to 
preserve all that is encompassed by it. There are, indeed, 
diseases and disturbances of the matter that is in us; but, 
when such things happen, the demons ascribe the causes of 
them to themselves, and approach a man whenever disease 
lays hold of him. Sometimes they themselves disturb the 
habit of the body by a tempest of folly ; but, being smitten by 
the word of God, they depart in terror, and the sick man is 
healed. 


Cuar. xvII.— They falsely promise health to their votaries. 


Concerning the sympathies and antipathies of Democritus 
what can we say but this, that, according to the common 
saying, the man of Abdera is Abderiloquent? But, as he 
who gave the name to the city, a friend of Hercules as it is 
said, was devoured by the horses of Diomedes, so he who 
boasted of the Magian Ostanes? will be delivered up in the 
day of consummation as fuel for the eternal fire. And you, 
if you do not cease from your laughter, will gain the same 
punishment as the jugglers. Wherefore, O Greeks, hearken 
to me, addressing you as from an eminence, nor in mockery 
transfer your own want of reason to the herald of the truth. 
A diseased affection (πάθος) is not destroyed by a counter- 
affection (ἀντιπάθεια), nor is a maniac cured by hanging 
little amulets of leather upon him. There are visitations of 

1 Comp. Eph. vi. 13, 14, 17. 2 Democritus. 


TO THE GREEKS. 29 


demons; and he who is sick, and he who says he is in love, 
and he who hates, and he who wishes to be revenged, accept 
them as helpers. And this is the method of their operation : 
just as the forms of alphabetic letters and the lines composed 
of them cannot of themselves indicate what is meant, but 
men have invented for themselves signs of their thoughts, 
knowing by their peculiar combination what the order of 
the letters was intended to express; so, in like manner, the 
various kinds of roots and' the mutual relation of the sinews 
and bones can effect nothing of themselves, but are the 
elemental matter with which the depravity of the demons 
works, who have determined for what purpose each of them 
is available. And, when they see that men consent to be 
served by means of such things, they take them and make 
them their slaves. But how can it be honourable to minister 
to adulteries? How can it be noble to stimulate men in 
hating one another? Or how is it becoming to ascribe to 
matter the relief of the insane, and not to God? For by their 
art they turn men aside from the pious acknowledgment of 
God, leading them to place confidence in herbs and roots. 
But God, if He had prepared these things to effect just what 
men wish, would be a Producer of evil things; whereas He 
Himself produced everything which has good qualities, but 
the profligacy of the demons has made use of the productions 
of nature for evil purposes, and the appearance of evil which 
these wear is from them, and not from the perfect God. 
For how comes it to pass that when alive I was in no wise 
evil, but that now I am dead and can do nothing, my remains, 
which are incapable of motion or even sense, should effect 
something cognizable by the senses? And how shall he who 
has died by the most miserable death be able to assist in 
avenging any one? If this were possible, much more might 
he defend himself from his own enemy ; being able to assist 
others, much more might he constitute himself his own 
avenger. 


Cuar. xvir.— They deceive, instead of healing. 


But medicine and everything included in it is an invention 


24 TATIAN'S ADDRESS 


of the same kind. If any one is healed by matter, through 
trusting to it, much more will he be healed by having 
recourse to the power of God. As noxious preparations are 
material compounds, so are curatives of the same nature. 
If, however, we reject the baser matter, some persons often 
endeavour to heal by a union of one of these bad things with 
some other, and will make use of the bad to attain the good. 
But, just as he who dines with a robber, though he may not 
be a robber himself, partakes of the punishment on account of 
his intimacy with him, so he who is not bad but associates 
with the bad, having dealings with them for some supposed 
good, will be punished by God the Judge for partnership in 
the same object. Why is he who trusts in the system of 

. matter not willing to trust in God? For what reason do you 
not approach the more powerful Lord, but rather seek to 
cure yourself, like the dog with grass, or the stag with a 
viper, or the hog with river-crabs, or the lion with apes? 
Why do you deify the objects of nature? And why, when 
you cure your neighbour, are you called a benefactor ? 
Yield to the power of the Logos! "The demons do not cure, 
but by their art make men their captives. And the most 
admirable Justin- has rightly denounced them as robbers. 
For, as it is the practice of some to capture persons and then 
to restore them to their friends for a ransom, so those who 
are esteemed gods, invading the bodies of certain persons, 
and producing a sense of their presence by dreams, command 
them to come forth into public, and in the sight of all, when 
they have taken their fill of the things of this world, fly away 
from the sick, and, destroying the disease which they had 
produced, restore men to their former state. 


Cuap. x1x.—Depravity lies at the bottom of demon-worship. 


But do you, who have not the perception of these things, 
be instructed by us who know them: though you do pro- 
fess to despise death, and to be sufficient of yourselves for 
everything. But this is a discipline in which your philoso- 
phers are so greatly deficient, that some of them receive 
from the king of the Romans 600 aurei yearly, for no useful 


TO THE GREEKS. 25 


service they perform, but that they may not even wear a 
long beard without being paid for it! Crescens, who made 
his nest in the great city, surpassed all men in unnatural 
love (παιδεραστία), and was strongly addicted to the love of 
money. Yet this man, who professed to despise death, was 
so afraid of death, that he endeavoured to inflict on Justin, 
and indeed on me, the punishment of death, as being an 
evil, because by proclaiming the truth he convicted the 
philosophers of being gluttons and cheats. But whom of the 
philosophers, save you only, was he accustomed to inveigh 
against? If you say, in agreement with our tenets, that 
death is not to be dreaded, do not court death from an insane 
love of fame among men, like Anaxagoras, but become de- 
spisers of death by reason of the knowledge of God. The 
construction of the world is excellent, but the life men live 
in it is bad; and we may see those greeted with applause as 
in a solemn assembly who know not God. For what is 
divination ? and why are ye deceived by it? It is a minister 
to thee of worldly lusts. You wish to make war, and you 
take Apollo as a counsellor of slaughter. You want to 
carry off a maiden by force, and you select a divinity to be 
your accomplice. You are ill by your own fault; and, as 
Agamemnon’ wished for ten councillors, so you wish to have 
gods with you. Some woman by drinking water gets into a 
frenzy, and loses her senses by the fumes of frankincense, 
and you say that she has the gift of prophecy. Apollo was 
a prognosticator and a teacher of soothsayers: in the matter 
of Daphne he deceived himself. An oak, forsooth, is oracular, 
and birds utter presages! And so you are inferior to animals 
and plants! It would surely be a fine thing for you to be- 
come a divining rod, or to assume the wings of a bird! He 
who makes you fond of money also foretells your getting 
rich ; he who excites to seditions and wars also predicts victory 
in war. If you are superior to the passions, you will despise 
all worldly things. Do not abhor us who have made this 
attainment, but, repudiating the demons, follow the one God. 
“ All things? were made by Him, and without Him not one 
! Comp. Hom. Jl. ii. 372. 3 John i. 8. 


26 TATIAN'S ADDRESS 


thing was made.” If there is poison in natural productions, 
this has supervened through our sinfulness. I am able to 
show the perfect truth of these things ; only do you hearken, 
and he who believes will understand. 


Cuar. xx.—Thanks are ever due to God. 


Even if you be healed by drugs (I grant you that point 
by courtesy), yet it behoves you to give testimony of the cure 
to God. For the world still draws us down, and through 
weakness I incline towards matter. For the wings of the 
soul were the perfect spirit, but, having cast this off through 
sin, it flutters like a nestling and falls to the ground. Having 
left the heavenly companionship, it hankers after communion 
with inferior things. The demons were driven forth to 
another abode; the first created human beings were expelled 
from their place: the one, indeed, were cast down from 
heaven; but the other were driven from earth, yet not out of 
this earth, but from a more excellent order of things than 
exists here now. And now it behoves us, yearning after that 
pristine state, to put aside everything that proves a hindrance. 
The heavens are not infinite, O man, but finite and bounded; 
and beyond them are the superior worlds which have not a 
change of seasons, by which various diseases are produced, 
but, partaking of every happy temperature, have perpetual 
day, and light unapproachable by men below. Those who 
have composed elaborate descriptions of the earth have given 
an account of its various regions so far as this was possible to 
man; but, being unable to speak of that which is beyond, 
because of the impossibility of personal observation, they 
have assigned as the cause the existence of tides; and that 
one sea is filled with weed, and another with mud ; and that 
some localities are burnt up with heat, and others cold and 
frozen. We, however, have learned things which were un- 
known to us, through the teaching of the prophets, who, 
being fully persuaded that the heavenly spirit along with 
the soul will acquire a clothing of mortality, foretold things 
which other minds were unacquainted with. But it is pos- 


TO THE GREEKS. 27 


sible for every one who is naked to obtain this apparel, and 
to return to its ancient kindred. 


Cnr. xx1.— Doctrines of the Christians and Greeks 
respecting God compared. 


We do not act as fools, O Greeks, nor utter idle tales, 
when we announce that God was born in the form of a man. 
I call on you who reproach us to compare your mythical 
accounts with our narrations. Athené, as they say, took the 
form of Deiphobus for the sake of Hector,’ and the unshorn 
Phoebus for the sake of Admetus fed the trailing-footed oxen, 
and the spouse of Zeus came as an old woman to Semelc. 
But, while you treat seriously such things, how can you 
deride us? Your Asclepios died, and he who ravished fifty 
virgins in one night at Thespiz lost his life by delivering him- 
self to the devouring flame. Prometheus, fastened to Caucasus, 
suffered punishment for his good deeds to men. According 
to you, Zeus is envious, and hides the dream? from men, 
wishing their destruction. Wherefore, looking at your own 
memorials, vouchsafe us your approval, though it were only 
as dealing in legends similar to your own. We, however, 
do not deal in folly, but your legends are only idle tales. If 
you speak of the origin of the gods, you also declare them to 
be mortal. For what reason is Hera now never pregnant ? 
Has she grown old? or is there no one to give you informa- 
tion? Believe me now, Ὁ Greeks, and do not resolve your 
myths and gods into allegory. If you attempt to do this, the 
divine nature as held by you is overthrown by your own selves; 
for, if the demons with you are such asthey are said to be, they 
are worthless as to character; or, if regarded as symbols of 
the powers of nature, they are not what they are called. But 
I cannot be persuaded to pay religious homage to the natural 
elements, nor can I undertake to persuade my neighbour. 
And Metrodorus of Lampsaeus, in his treatise concerning 
Homer, has argued very foolishly, turning everything into 
allegory. For he says that neither Hera, nor Athené, nor 
Zeus are what those persons suppose wlio consecrate to 

2 Jl, xxii. 227. 3 JI, ii. init. 


28 TATIAN'S ADDRESS 


them sacred enclosures and groves, but parts of nature and 
certain arrangements of the elements. Hector also, and 
Achilles, and Agamemnon, and all the Greeks in general, 
and the Barbarians with Helen and Paris, being of the same 
nature, you will of course say are introduced merely for the 
sake of the machinery of the poem, not one of these personages 
having really existed. But these things we have put forth 
only for argument's sake; for it is not allowable even to com- 
pare our notion of God with those who are wallowing in 
matter and mud. 


Cuap. xxr1.— R'idicule of the solemnities of the Greeks. 


And of what sort are your teachings? Who must not treat 
with contempt your solemn festivals, which, being held in 
honour of wicked demons, cover men with infamy? I have 
often seen a man —and have been amazed to see, and the 
amazement has ended in contempt, to think how he is one 
thing internally, but outwardly counterfeits what he is not— 
giving himself excessive airs of daintiness and indulging in 
all sorts of effeminacy; sometimes darting his eyes about; 
sometimes throwing his hands hither and thither, and raving 
with his face smeared with mud ; sometimes personating 
Aphrodité, sometimes Apollo; a solitary accuser of all the 
gods, an epitome of superstition, a vituperator of heroic 
deeds, an actor of murders, a chronicler of adultery, a 
storehouse of madness, a teacher of cynedi, an instigator 
of capital sentences;—and yet such a man is praised by 
all. But I have rejected all his falsehoods, his impiety, 
his practices, —in short, the man altogether. But you are 
led captive by such men, while you revile those who do not 
take a part in your pursuits. lI have no mind to stand agape 
at a number of singers, nor do I desire to be affected in 
sympathy with a man when he is winking and gesticulating 
in an unnatural manner. What wonderful or extraordinary 
thing is performed among you? They utter ribaldry in 
affected tones, and go through indecent movements; your 
daughters and your sons behold them giving lessons in 

1 Tatian here describes an actor. 


TO THE GREEKS. 29 


adultery on the stage. Admirable places, forsooth, are your 
lecture-rooms, where every base action perpetrated by night 
is proclaimed aloud, and the hearers are regaled with the 
utterance of infamous discourses! Admirable, too, are your 
mendacious poets, who by their fictions beguile their hearers 
from the truth! 


CHAP. xxim.— 0f the pugilists and gladiators. 


I have seen 'men weighed down by bodily exercise, and 
carrying about the burden of their flesh, before whom re- 
wards and chaplets are set, while the adjudicators cheer them 
on, not to deeds of virtue, but to rivalry in violence and dis- 
cord; and he who excels in giving blows is crowned. These 
are the lesser evils; as for the greater, who would not shrink 
from telling them? Some, giving themselves up to idleness 
for the sake of profligacy, sell themselves to be killed; and the 
indigent barters himself away, while the rich man buys others 
to kill him. And for these the witnesses take their seats, and 
the boxers meet in single combat, for no reason whatever, 
nor does any one come down into the arena to succour. Do 
such exhibitions as these redound to your credit? He who 
is chief among you collects a legion of blood-stained murderers, 
engaging to maintain them; and these ruffians are sent forth 
by him, and you assemble at the spectacle to be judges, partly 
of the wickedness of the adjudicator, and partly of that of the 
men who engage in the combat. And he who misses the 
murderous exhibition is grieved, because he was not doomed 
to be a spectator of wicked and impious and abominable deeds. 
You slaughter animals for the purpose of eating their flesh, 
and you purchase men to supply a cannibal banquet for the 
soul, nourishing it by the most impious bloodshedding. The 
robber commits murder for the sake of plunder, but the rich 
man purchases gladiators for the sake of their being killed. 


Cuap. xx1v.—Of the other public amusements. 


What advantage should I gain from him who is brought on 
the stage by Euripides raving mad, and acting the matricide 
of Alcmzon ; who does not even retain his natural behaviour, 


m» 


5 TATIAN'S ADDRESS 


but with his mouth wide open goes about sword in hand, and, 
screaming aloud, is burned to death, habited in a robe unfit 
for man? Away, too, with the mythical tales of Acusilaus, 
and Menander, a versifier of the same class! And why 


‘should I admire the mythic piper? Why should I busy 


myself about the Theban Antigenides,’ like Aristoxenus? 
We leave to you these worthless things; and do you either 
believe our doctrines, or, like us, give up yours. 


Cnar. xxv.—JBoastings and quarrels of the philosophers. 
What great and wonderful things have your philosophers 


. effected? They leave uncovered one of their shoulders; they 


let their hair grow long; they cultivate their beards; their 
nails are like the claws of wild beasts. Though they say 
that they want nothing, yet, like Proteus,’ they need a currier 
for their wallet, and a weaver for their mantle, and a wood- 
cutter for their staff, and the rich,? and a cook also for 
their gluttony. O man competing with the dog,* you know 
not God, and so have turned to the imitation of an irrational 
animal. You cry out in public with an assumption of 
authority, and take upon you to avenge your own self; and if 
you receive nothing, you indulge in abuse, and philosophy is 
with you the art of getting money. You follow the doctrines 
of Plato, and a disciple of Epicurus lifts up his voice to oppose 
you. Again, you wish to be a disciple of Aristotle, and a 
follower of Democritus rails at you. Pythagoras says that 
he was Euphorbus, and he is the heir of the doctrine of 
Pherecydes; but Aristotle impugns the immortality of the 
soul. You who receive from your predecessors doctrines 
which clash with one another, you the inharmonious, are fight- 
ing against the harmonious. One of you asserts that God is 
body, but I assert that He is without body; that the world 
is indestructible, but I say that it is to be destroyed ; that a 


1 Antigenides was a flute-player, and Aristoxenus a writer on music 
and musical instrumenta. 

2 The Cynic Peregrinus is meant. 

3 They need the rich to invite them to banquets. 

‘ The Cynic. 


TO THE GREEKS. 91 


conflagration will take place at various times, but I say that 
it will come to pass once for all; that Minos and Rhadaman- 
thus are judges, but I say that God Himself is Judge; that 
the soul alone is endowed with immortality, but I say that 
the flesh also is endowed with it. What injury do we inflict 
upon you, O Greeks? Why do you hate those who follow 
the word of God, as if they were the vilest of mankind? It 
is not we who eat human flesh—they among you who assert 
such a thing have been suborned as false witnesses; it is 
among you that Pelops is made a supper for the gods, although 
beloved by Poseidon, and Kronos devours his children, and 
Zeus swallows Metis. 


CuaP. xxvi.—Ridicule of the studies of the Greeks. 


Cease to make a parade of sayings which you have derived 
from others, and to deck yourselves like the daw in borrowed 
plumes. If each state were to take away its contribution to 
your speech, your fallacies would lose their power. While 
inquiring what God is, you are ignorant of what is in your- 
selves; and, while staring all agape at the sky, you stumble 
into pitfalls. The reading of your books is like walking 
through a labyrinth, and their readers resemble the cask of the 
Danaids. Why do you divide time, saying that one part is 
past, and another present, and another future? For how 
can the future be passing when the present exists? As 
those who are sailing imagine in their ignorance, as the ship 
is borne along, that the hills are in motion, so you do not 
know that it is you who are passing along, but that time 
(ὁ αἰών) remains present as long as the Creator wills it to 
exist. Why am I called to account for uttering my opinions, 
and why are you in such haste to put them all down? Were 
not you born in the same manner as ourselves, and placed 
under the same government of the world? Why say that 
wisdom is with you alone, who have not another sun, nor 
other risings of the stars, nor a more distinguished origin, nor 
a death preferable to that of other men? The grammarians 
have been the beginning of this idle talk ; and you who parcel 
out wisdom are cut off from the wisdom that is according to 


32 TATIAN'S ADDRESS — 


truth, and assign the names of the several parts to particular 
men; and you know not God, but in your fierce conten- 
tions destroy one another. And on this account you are 
all nothing worth. While you arrogate to yourselves the 
sole right of discussion, you discourse like the blind man with 
the deaf. Why do you handle the builder's tools without 
knowing how to build? Why do you busy yourselves with 
words, while you keep aloof from deeds, puffed up with praise, 

ut cast down by misfortunes? Your modes of acting are 

ntrary to reason, for you make a pompous appearance 
in public, but hide your teaching in corners Finding you 
to be such men as these, we have abandoned you, and no 
longer concern ourselves with your tenets, but follow the 
word of God. Why, O man, do you set the letters of the 
alphabet at war with one another? Why do you, as in a 
boxing match, make their sounds clash together with your 
mincing Áttic way of speaking, whereas you ought to speak 
more according to nature? For if you adopt the Attic 
dialect though not an Athenian, pray why do you not speak 
like the Dorians? How is it that one appears to you more 
rugged, the other more pleasant for intercourse ? 


Caap. xxvi1.— The Christians are hated unjustly. 


And if you adhere to their teaching, why do you fight 
against me for choosing such views of doctrine as I approve? 
Is it not unreasonable that, while the robber is not to be 
punished for the name he bears, but only when the truth 
about him has been clearly ascertained, yet we are to be 
assailed with abuse on a judgment formed without examina- 
tion?  Diagoras was an Athenian, but you punished him for 
divulging the Athenian mysteries; yet you who read his 
Phrygian discourses hate us. You possess the commentaries 
of Leo, and are displeased with our refutations of them; and 
having in your hands the opinions of Apion concerning the 
Egyptian gods, you denounce us as most impious. The tomb 
of Olympian Zeus is shown among you, though some one 

1 In Crete. 





ee — T 


TO THE GREEKS. 83 


says that the Cretans are liars.’ Your assembly of many gods 
is nothing. Though their despiser Epicurus acts as a torch- 
bearer,” I do not any the more conceal from the rulers that 
view of God which I hold in relation to His government of 

. the universe. Why do you advise me to be false to my prin- 
ciples? Why do you who say that you despise death exhort 
us to use art in order to escape it? I have not the heart of 
a deer; but your zeal for dialectics resembles the loquacity of 
Thersites. How can I believe one who tells me that the sun 
is a red-hot mass and the moon an earth? Such assertions 
are mere logomachies, and not a sober exposition of truth. 
How can it be otherwise than foolish to credit the books of 
Herodotus relating to the history of Hercules, which tell of 
an upper earth from which the lion came down that was 
killed by Hercules? And what avails the Attic style, the. 
sorites of philosophers, the plausibilities of syllogisms, the 
measurements of the earth, the positions of the stars, and 
the course of the sun? To be occupied in such inquiries is 
the work of one who imposes opinions on himself as if they 
were laws. 


Cap. Xxvil1.— Condemnation of the Greek legislation. 


On this account I reject your legislation also; for there 
ought to be one common polity for all; but now there are as 
many different codes as there are states, so that things held 
disgraceful in some are honourable in others. The Greeks 
consider intercourse with a mother as unlawful, but this 
practice is esteemed most becoming by the Persian Magi; 
pederasty is condemned by the Barbarians, but by the 
Romans, who endeavour to collect herds of boys like grazing 
horses, it is honoured with certain privileges. 


Cuap. xx1x.— Account of Tatian’s conversion. 
Wherefore, having seen these things, and moreover also 
having been admitted to the mysteries, and having everywhere 


1 Comp. Tit. i. 12. Callimachus is probably the author referred to, 
though others express the same opinion respecting the Cretans. 
* Accommodating himself to the popular opinions, through fear. 
C 


94 TATIAN'S ADDRESS 


examined the religious rites performed by the effeminate and 
the pathic, and having found among the Romans their Latiarian 
Jupiter delighting in human gore and the blood of slaughtered 
men, and Artemis not far from the great city! sanctioning acts 
of the same kind, and one demon here and another there insti- 
gating to the perpetration of evil,—retiring by myself, I sought 
how I might be able to discover the truth. And, while I was 
giving my most earnest attention to the matter, I happened 
to meet with certain barbaric writings, too old to be compared 
with the opinions of the Greeks, and too divine to be com- 
pared with their errors; and I was led to put faith in these 
by the unpretending cast of the language, the inartificial 
character of the writers, the foreknowledge displayed of 
future events, the excellent quality of the precepts, and the 
declaration of the government of the universe as centred in 
one Being. And, my soul being taught of God, I discerned 
that the former class of writings lead to condemnation, but 
that these put an end to the slavery that is in the world, and 
rescue us from a multiplicity of rulers and ten thousand 
tyrants, while they give us, not indeed what we had not 
before received, but what we had received but were -pre- 
vented by error from retaining. 


Crap. xxx.—How he resolved to resist the devil. 


Therefore, being initiated and instructed in these things, 
I wish to put away my former errors as the follies of child- 
hood. For we know that the nature of wickedness is like 
that of the smallest seeds; since it has waxed strong from a 
small beginning, but will again be destroyed if we obey the 
words of God and do not scatter ourselves. .F or He has become 
master of all we have by means of a certain “hidden treasure,” 
which while we are digging for we are indeed covered with 
dust, but we secure it as our fixed possession. He who receives 
the whole of this treasure has obtained command of the most 
precious wealth. Let these things, then, be said to our friends. 
But to you Greeks what can I say, except to request you not 
to rail at those who are better than yourselves, nor if they 

! At Aricia, near Rome. 3 Comp. Matt. xiii. 44. 





TO THE GREEKS. 30 


are called Barbarians to make that an occasion of banter ἢ 
For, if you are willing, you will be able to find out the cause 
of men’s not being able to understand one another’s language; 
for to those who wish to examine our principles I will give 
a simple and copious account of them. 


Cuar. xxx1.—The philosophy of the Christians more ancient 
than that of the Greeks. 


But now it seems proper for me to demonstrate that our 
philosophy is older than the systems of the Greeks. Moses 
and Homer shall be our limits, each of them being of great 
antiquity ; the one being the oldest of poets and historians, 
and the other the founder of all barbaric wisdom. Let us, 
then, institute a comparison between them; and we shall 
find that our doctrines are older, not only than those of the 
Greeks, but than the invention of letters. And I will not 
bring forward witnesses from among ourselves, but rather 
have recourse to Greeks. To do the former would be foolish, 
because it would not be allowed by you; but the other will 
surprise you, when, by contending against you with your own 
weapons, I adduce arguments of which you had no suspicion. 
Now the poetry of Homer, his parentage, and the time in which 
he flourished have been investigated by the most ancient 
writers,—by Theagenes of Rhegium, who lived in the time 
of Cambyses, Stesimbrotus of Thasos and Antimachus of 
Colophon, Herodotus of Halicarnassus, and Dionysius the 
Olynthian; after them, by Ephorus of Cume, and Philochorus 
the Athenian, Megaclides and Chameleon the Peripatetics ; 
afterwards by the grammarians, Zenodotus, Aristophanes, Cal- 
limachus, Crates, Eratosthenes, Aristarchus, and Apollodorus. 
Of these, Crates says that he flourished before the return of 
the Heraclidz, and within 80 years after the Trojan war; 
Eratosthenes says that it was after the 100th year from the 
taking of Ilium; Artistarchus, that it was about the time of 
the Ionian migration, which was 140 years after that event; 
but, according to Philochorus, after the Ionian migration, in 
the archonship of Archippus at Athens, 180 years after the 
Trojan war; Apollodorus says it was 100 years after the 


36 TATIAN'S ADDRESS 


Ionian migration, which would be 240 years after the Trojan 
war. Some say that he lived 90 years before the Olympiads, 
which would be 317 years after the taking of Troy. Others 
carry it down to a later date, and say that Homer was a con- 
temporary of Archilochus; but Archilochus flourished about 
the 23d Olympiad, in the time of Gyges the Lydian, 500 
years after Troy. Thus, concerning the age of the aforesaid 
poet, I mean Homer, and the discrepancies of those who have 
spoken of him, we have said enough in a summary manner 
for those who are able to investigate with accuracy. For it is 
possible to show that the opinions held about the facts them- 
selves also are false. For, where the assigned dates do not 
agree together, it is impossible that the history should be true. 
For what is the cause of error in writing, but the narrating of 
things that are not true? 


Cuap. xxxt1.— The doctrine of the Christians is opposed to 
dissensions, and fitted for all. 


But with us there is no desire of vainglory, nor do we 
indulge in a variety of opinions. For, having renounced the 
popular and earthly, and obeying the commands of God, and 
following the law of the Father of immortality, we reject 
" everything which rests upon human opinion. Not only do 
the rich among us pursue our philosophy, but the poor enjoy 
instruction gratuitously; for the things which come from 
God surpass the requital of worldly gifts. Thus we admit 
all who desire to hear, even old women and striplings; and, in 
short, persons of every age are treated by us with respect, 
but every kind of licentiousness is kept at a distance. And 
in speaking we do not utter falsehood. It would be an 
excellent thing if your continuance in unbelief should receive 
a check; but, however that may be, let our cause remain 
confirmed by the judgment pronounced by God. Laugh, if 
you please; but you will have to weep hereafter. Is it not 
absurd that Nestor! who was slow at cutting his horses’ 
reins owing to his weak and sluggish old age, is, according 
to you, to be admired for attempting to rival the young men 

1 JI ix. 





‘ 


TO THE GREEKS. 97 


in fighting, while you deride those among us who struggle 
against old age and occupy themselves with the things per- 
taining to God? Who would not laugh when you tell us 
that the Ámazons, and Semiramis, and certain other warlike 
women existed, while you cast reproaches on our maidens? 
Achilles was a youth, yet is believed to have been very 
magnanimous; and Neoptolemus was younger, but strong; 
Philoctetes was weak, but the divinity had need of him 
against Troy. What sort of man was Thersites? yet he 
held a command in the army, and, if he had not through 
deltishness had such an unbridled tongue, he would not have 
been reproached for being peak-headed and bald. As for 
those who wish to learn our philosophy, we do not test them 
by their looks, nor do we judge of those who come to us by 
their outward appearance; for we argue that there may be 
strength of mind in all, though they may be weak in body. 
But your proceedings are full of envy and abundant 
stupidity. 


Crap. xxx111.— Vindication of Christian women. 


Therefore I have been desirous to prove from the things 
which are esteemed honourable among you, that our institu- 
tions are marked by sober-mindedness, but that yours are in 
close affinity with madness. You who say that we talk 
nonsense among women and boys, among maidens and old 
women, and scoff at us for not being with you, hear what 
silliness prevails among the Greeks. For their works of art 
are devoted to worthless objects, while they are held in higher 
estimation by you than even your gods; and you behave your- 
selves unbecomingly in what relates to woman. For Lysippus 
cast a statue of Praxilla, whose poems contain nothing useful, 
and Menestratus one of Learchis, and Selanion one of Sappho 
the courtezan, and Naucydes one of Erinna the Lesbian, and 
Boiscus one of Myrtis, and Cephisodotus one of Myro of 
Byzantium, and Gomphus one of Praxigoris, and Amphistratus 
one of Clito. And what shall I say about Anyta, Telesilla, 
and Mystis? Of the first Euthycrates and Cephisodotus 
made a statue, and of the second Niceratus, and of the third 


38 TATIAN'S ADDRESS ‘ 


Aristodotus; Euthycrates made one of Mnesiarchis the Ephe- 
sian, Selanion one of Corinna, and Euthycrates one of Thal- 
archis the Argive. My object in referring to these women is, 
that you may not regard as something strange what you find 
among us, and that, comparing the statues which are before 
your eyes, you may not treat the women with scorn who among 
us pursue philosophy. This Sappho is a lewd, love-sick female, 
and sings her own wantonness ; but all our women are chaste, 
and the maidens at their distaffs sing of divine things more 
nobly than that damsel of yours. Wherefore be ashamed, you 
who are professed disciples of women yet scoff at those of the 
sex who hold our doctrine, as well as at the solemn assemblics 
they frequent. What a noble infant did Glaucippé present 
to you, who brought forth a prodigy, as is shown by her 
statue cast by Niceratus, the son of Euctemon the Áthenian! 
But, if Glaucippé brought forth an elephant, was that a 
reason why she should enjoy public honours? Praxiteles aud 
Herodotus made for you Phryné the courtezan, and Euthy- 
crates cast a brazen statue of Panteuchis, who was pregnant 
by a whoremonger ; and Dinomenes, because Desantis queen 
of the Pxonians gave birth to a black infant, took pains to 
preserve her memory by his art. I condemn Pythagoras too, 
who made a figure of Europa on the bull; and you also, who 
honour the accuser of Zeus on account of his artistic skill. 
And I ridicule the skill of Myron, who made a heifer and 
upon it a Victory because by carrying off the daughter of 
Agenor it had borne away the prize for adultery and lewd- 
ness, The Olynthian Herodotus made statues of Glycera the 
courtezan and Argeia the harper. Bryaxis made a statue of 
Pasiphaé; and, by having a memorial of her lewdness, it 
seems to have been almost your desire that the women of the 
present time should be like her. A certain Melanippé was a 
wise woman, and for that reason Lysistratus made her statue. 
But, forsooth, you will not believe that among us there are 
wise women! 


TO THE GREEKS. 99 


CnAr. xxx1v.— Ridicule of the statues erected by the 
Greeks. 


Worthy of very great honour, certainly, was the tyrant 
Phalaris, who devoured sucklings, and accordingly is exhibited 
by the workmanship of Polystratus the Ambraciot, even to this 
day, as a very wonderful man! The Agrigentines dreaded 
to look on that countenance of his, because of his cannibal- 
ism ; but people of culture now make it their boast that they 
behold him in his statue! Is it not shameful that fratri- 
cide is honoured by you who look on the statues of Polynices 
and Eteocles, and that you have not rather buried them 
with their maker Pythagoras? Destroy these memorials of 
iniquity! Why should I contemplate with admiration the 
figure of the woman who bore thirty children, merely for the 
sake of the artist Periclymenus? One ought to turn away 
with disgust from one who bore off the fruits of great incon- 
tinence, and whom the Romans compared to a sow, which 
also on a like account, they say, was deemed worthy of a 
mystic worship. Ares committed adultery with Aphrodité, 
and Andron made an image of their offspring Harmonia. 
Sophron, who committed to writing trifles and absurdities, 
was more celebrated for his skill in casting metals, of which 
specimens exist even now. And not only have his tales kept 
the fabulist /Esop in everlasting remembrance, but also the 
plastic art of Aristodemus has increased his celebrity. How 
is it then that you, who have so many poetesses whose pro- 
ductions are mere trash, and innumerable courtezans, and 
worthless men, are not ashamed to slander the reputation of 
our women? What care I to know that Euanthé gave birth 
to an infant in the Peripatus, or to gape with wonder at the 
art of Callistratus, or to fix my gaze on the Nera of Calliades ? 
For she was a courtezan. Lais was a prostitute, and Turnus 
made her a monument of prostitution. Why are you not 
ashamed of the fornication of Hephzestion, even though Philo 
has represented him very artistically ? And for what reason 
do you honour the hermaphrodite Ganymede by Leochares, 
as if you possessed something admirable?  Praxiteles even 


^ 


9 


40 TATIAN'S ADDRESS 


made a statue of a woman with the stain of impurity upon it. 
It behoved you, repudiating everything of this kind, to seek 
what is truly worthy of attention, and not to turn with disgust 
from our mode of life while receiving with approval the 
shameful productions of Philznis and Elephantis. 


Cuap. xxxv.— Tatian speaks as an eye-witness. 


The things which I have thus set before you I have not 
learned at second hand. I have visited many lands; I have | 
followed rhetoric, like yourselves ; I have fallen in with many 
arts and inventions; and finally, when sojourning in the city 
of the Romans, I inspected the multiplicity of statues brought 
thither by you: for I do not attempt, as is the custom with 
many, to strengthen my own views by the opinions of others, 
but I wish to give you a distinct account of what I myself 
have seen and felt. So, bidding farewell to the arrogance 
of Romans and the idle talk of Athenians, and all their ill- 
connected opinions, I embraced our barbaric philosophy. I 
began to show how this was more ancient than your institu- 
tions,’ but left my task unfinished, in order to discuss a matter 
which demanded more immediate attention; but now it is 
time I should attempt to speak concerning its doctrines. De 
not offended with our teaching, nor undertake an elaborate 
reply filled with trifling and ribaldry, saying, * Tatian, aspir- 
ing to be above the Greeks, above the infinite number of 
philosophic inquirers, has struck out a new path, and em- 
braced the doctrines of Barbarians.” For what grievance 
is it, that men manifestly ignorant should be reasoned with 
by a man of like nature with themselves? Or how can it 
be irrational, according to your own sophist,’ to grow old 
always learning something? 


CHAP. Xxxvi.— Testimony of the Chaldeans to the antiquity 
of Moses. 


But let Homer be not later than the Trojan war; let it be 
granted that he was contemporary with it, or even that he 
was in the army of Agamemnon, and, if any so please, that 

1 Chap. xxxi. 3 Solon. Bergh. Poete Grzc. Lyr. fr. 18. 





TO THE GREEKS. 41 


he lived before the invention of letters. The Moses before 
mentioned will be shown to have been many years older than 
the taking of Troy, and far more ancient than the building 
of Troy, or than Tros and Dardanus. To demonstrate this I 
will call in as witnesses the Chaldeans, the Phoenicians, and 
the Egyptians. And what more need I say? For it behoves 
one who professes to persuade his hearers to make his narra- 
tive of events very concise. Berosus, a Babylonian, a priest 
of their god Belus, born in the time of Alexander, composed 
for Antiochus, the third after him, the history of the Chal- 
deans in three books; and, narrating the acts of the kings, he 
mentions one of them, Nabuchodonosor by name, who made 
war against the Phoenicians and the Jews,—events which 
we know were announced by our prophets, and which hap- 
pened much later than the age of Moses, seventy years before 
the Persian empire. But Berosus is a very trustworthy man, 
and of this Juba is a witness, who, writing concerning the 
Assyrians, says that he learned the history from Berosus: 
there are two books of his concerning the Assyrians. 


CaP. XXxvil.—Testimony of the Phanicians. 


After the Chaldeans, the testimony of the Pheenicians is 
as follows. There were among them three men, Theodotus, 
Hypsicrates, and Mochus; Chaitus translated their books 
into Greek, and also composed with exactness the lives of the 
philosophers. Now, in the histories of the aforesaid writers it 
is shown that the abduction of Europa happened under one of 
the kings, and an account is given of the coming of Menelaus 
into Phoenicia, and of the matters relating to Chiramus,! who 
gave his daughter in marriage to Solomon the king of the 
Jews, and supplied wood of all kind of trees for the building 
of the temple. Menander of Pergamus composed a history 
concerning the same things. But the age of Chiramus is 
somewhere about the Trojan war; but Solomon, the contem- 
porary of Chiramus, lived much later than the age of Moses. 

! Called Hiram in our authorized translation. 


42 TATIAN'S ADDRESS 


Crap. xxxvi1.— The Egyptians place Moses in the reign 
of Inachus 


Of the Egyptians also there are accurate chronicles. 
Ptolemy, not the king, but a priest of Mendes, is the inter- 
preter of their affairs. This writer, narrating the acts of 
the kings, says that the departure of the Jews from Egypt to 
the places whither they went occurred in the time of king 
Amosis, under the leadership of Moses. He thus speaks: 
* Amosis lived in the time of king Inachus.” After him, 
Apion the grammarian, a man most highly esteemed, in 
the fourth book of his ZEgyptiaca (there are five books of 
his), besides many other things, says that Amosis destroyed 
Avaris in the time of the Argive Inachus, as the Mendesian 
Ptolemy wrote in his annals. But the time from Inachus to 
the taking of Troy occupies twenty generations. The steps 
of the demonstration are the following :— 


Cuap. xxxIx. — Catalogue of the Argive kings. 


The kings of the Argives were these : Inachus, Phoroneus, 
Apis, Criasis, Triopas, Argeius, Phorbas, Crotopas, Sthene- 
laus, Danaus, Lynceus, Proetus, Abas, Acrisius, Perseus, 
Sthenelaus, Eurystheus, Atreus, Thyestes, and Agamemnon, 
in the eighteenth year of whose reign Troy was taken. And 
every intelligent person will most carefully observe that, 
according to the tradition of the Greeks, they possessed no 
historical composition ; for Cadmus, who taught them letters, 
came into Beotia many generations later. But after Inachus, 
under Phoroneus, a check was with difficulty given to their 
savage and nomadic life, and they entered upon a new order 
of things. — Wherefore, if Moses is shown to be contem- 
porary with Inachus, he is four hundred years older than the 
Trojan war. But this is demonstrated from the succession 
of the Attic, [and of the Macedonian, the Ptolemaic, and 
the Antiochian]' kings. Hence, if the most illustrious deeds 
among the Greeks were recorded and made known after 


! The words within brackets, though they occur in the Mss. and in 
Eusebius, are supposed by some scholars to be a very old interpolation. 





TO THE GREEKS. 43 


Inachus, it is manifest that this must have been after 
Moses. In the time of Phoroneus, who was after Inachus, 
Ogygus is mentioned among the Athenians, in whose time 
was the first deluge; and in the time of Phorbas was Actens, 
from whom Attica was called Actsea; and in the time of 
Triopas were Prometheus, and Epimetheus, and Atlas, and 
Cecrops of double nature, and Io; in the time of Crotopas 
was the burning of Phaéthon and the flood of Deucalion; in 
the time of Sthenelus was the reign of Amphiction and the 
coming of Danaus into Peloponnesus, and the founding of 
Dardania by Dardanus, and the return of Europa from 
Phoenicia to Crete ; in the time of Lynceus was the abduction 
of Koré, and the founding of the temple in Eleusis, and the 
husbandry of Triptolemus, and the coming of Cadmus to 
Thebes, and the reign of Minos; in the time of Protus was 
the war of Eumolpus against the Athenians; in the time of 
Acrisius was the coming over of Pelops from Phrygia, and 
the coming of Ion to Athens, and the second Cecrops, and 
the deeds of Perseus and Dionysus, and Muszus, the dis- 
ciple of Orpheus; and in the reign of Agamemnon Troy was 
taken. 


CHAr. xu.—Moses more ancient and credible than the 
heathen heroes. 


"Therefore, from what has. been said it is evident that 
Moses was older than the ancient heroes, wars, and demons. 
And we ought rather to believe him, who stands before them 
in point of age, than the Greeks, who, without being aware 
of it,’ drew his doctrines [as] from a fountain. For many 
of the sophists among them, stimulated by curiosity, endea- 
voured to adulterate whatever they learned from Moses, and 
from those who have philosophized like him, first that they 
might be considered as having something of their own, and 
secondly, that covering up by a certain rhetorical artifice what- 
ever things they did not understand, they might misrepresent 

! This expression admits of several meanings: *'Without properly 


understanding them "— Worth ; ** not with a proper sense of gratitude ” 
—Blaranus. 


- 
/ 


44 TATIAN'S ADDRESS 


the truth as if it were a fable. But what the learned among 
the Greeks have said concerning our polity and the history 
of our laws, and how many and what kind of men have 
written of these things, will be shown in the treatise against 
those who have discoursed of divine things. 


CHAP. XLI. 


But the matter of principal importance is to endeavour 
with all accuracy to make it clear that Moses is not only 
older than Homer, but than all the writers that were before 
him—older than Linus, Philammon, Thamyris, Amphion, 
Muszus, Orpheus, Demodocus, Phemius, Sybilla, Epime- 
nides of Crete, who came to Sparta, Aristzus of Procon- 
nesus, who wrote the Arimaspia, Asbolus the Centaur, 
Isatis, Drymon, Euclus the Cyprian, Horus the Samian, and 
Pronapis the Athenian. Now, Linus was the teacher of 
Hercules, but Hercules preceded the Trojan war by one 
generation; and this is manifest from his son Tlepolemus, 
who served in the army against Troy. And Orpheus lived 
at the same time as Hercules; moreover, it is said that all 
the works attributed to him were composed by Onomacritus 
the Athenian, who lived during the reign of the Pisistratids, 
about the fiftieth Olympiad. Muszus was a disciple of 
Orpheus. Amphion, since he preceded the siege of Troy by 
two generations, forbids our collecting further particulars 
about him for those who are desirous of information. Demo- 
docus and Phemius lived at the very time of the Trojan war; 
for the one resided with the suitors, and the other with the 
Pheacians. Thamyris and Philammon were not much earlier 
than these. Thus, concerning their several performances in 
each kind, and their times and the record of them, we have 
written very fully, and, as I think, with all exactness. But, 
that we may complete what is still wanting, I will give 
my explanation respecting the men who are esteemed wise. ' 
Minos, who has been thought to excel in every kind of 
wisdom, and mental acuteness, and legislative capacity, lived 
in the time of Lynceus, who reigned after Danaus in the 
eleventh generation after Inachus. Lycurgus, who was born 





TO THE GREEKS. 45 


long after the taking of Troy, gave laws to the Lacede- | 
monians. Draco is found to have lived about the thirty-ninth 
Olympiad, Solon about the forty-sixth, and Pythagoras about 
the sixty-second. We have shown that the Olympiads com- 
menced 407 years after the taking of Troy. These facts 
being demonstrated, we shall briefly remark concerning the 
age of the seven wise men. The oldest of these, Thales, 
lived about the fiftieth Olympiad ; and I have already spoken 
briefly of those who came after him, 


Cuap. xiit.—Concluding statement as to the author. 


These things, O Greeks, I Tatian, a disciple of the bar- 
baric philosophy, have composed for you. I was born in the - 
land of the Assyrians, having been first instructed in your 
doctrines, and afterwards in those which I now undertake to 
proclaim. Henceforward, knowing who God is and what is 
His work, I present myself to you prepared for an examina- 
tion comcerning my doctrines, while I adhere immoveably to 
that mode of life which is according to God. 


2 


FRAGMENTS OF THE LOST WORKS OF TATIAN. 


--.......ϑ -.----...-ο 


I. 





prayer, but fellowship in corruption weakens sup- 
plication. At any rate, by the permission he 
certainly, though delicately, forbids ; for while he permits 
them to return to the same on account of Satan and incon- 
tinence, he exhibits a man who will attempt to serve two 
masters—God by the ‘consent’ (1 Cor. vii. 5), but by want 
of consent, incontinence, fornication, and the devil." 

(Clem. Alex. Strom. iii. c. 12.) 


II. 


A certain person inveighs against generation, calling it 
corruptible and destructive ; and some one does violence [to 
Scripture], applying to procreation the Saviour's words, * Lay 
not up treasure on earth, where moth and rust corrupt ;" 


- and he is not ashamed to add to these the words of the 


prophet: * You all shall grow old as a garment, and the moth 
shall devour you." 

And, in like manner, they adduce the saying concerning 
the resurrection of the dead, “‘ The sons of that world neither 
marry nor are given in marriage." 

(Clem. Alex. iii. c. 12, $ 86.) 


111. 


Tatian, who maintaining the imaginary flesh of Christ, 
pronounces all sexual connection impure, who was also the 
.. 1 From the appendix to Otto's edition. 

46 





LOST WORKS OF TATIAN. 47 


very violent heresiarch of the Encratites, employs an argu- 
ment of this sort: “If any one sows to the flesh, of the flesh 
he shall reap corruption ;” but he sows to the flesh who is 
joined to a woman; therefore he who takes a wife and sows 
in the flesh, of the flesh he shall reap corruption. 

(Hieron. Com. in Ep. ad Gal.) 


IV. 


Seceding from the church, and being elated and puffed up 
by a conceit of his teacher,’ as if he were superior to the rest, 
he formed his own peculiar type of doctrine. Imagining 
certain invisible 7Eons like those of Valentinus, and de- 
nouncing marriage as defilement and fornication in the same 
way as Marcion and Saturninus, and denying the salvation of 
Adam as an opinion of his own. 

(Irenzus, adv. Her. i. 28.) 


V. 


Tatian attempting from time to time to make use of Paul's 
language, that in Adam all die, but ignoring that “ where 
sin abounded, grace has much more abounded." 

(Irenzus, adv. Heres. iii. 37.) 
VI. 

Against Tatian, who says that the words, * Let there be 
light," are to be taken as a prayer. If He who uttered it 
knew a superior God, how is it that He says, “I am God, 
and there is none beside me ?" 

He said that there are punishments for blasphemies, foolish 
talking, and licentious words, which are punished and chas- 
tised by the Logos. And he said that women were punished 
on account of their hair and ornaments by a power placed 
over those things, which also gave strength to Samson by 
his hair, and punishes those who by the ornament of their 
hair are urged on to fornication. 

(Clem. Alex. Frag.) 


Δ ¢.e. Justin. 


48 LOST WORKS OF TATIAN. 


VII. 


But Tatian, not understanding that the expression “ Let 
there be” is not always precative but sometimes imperative, 
most impiously imagined concerning God, who said “ Let 
there be light,” that He prayed rather than commanded light, 
. to be, as if, as he impiously thought, God was in darkness. 
(Origen, de Orat.) 


VIII. 


Tatian separates the old man and the new, but not, as we 
say, understanding the old man to be the law, and the new 
man to be the gospel. We agree with him in saying the 
same thing, but not in the sense he wishes, abrogating the 
law as if it belonged to another God. 

(Clem. Alex. Strom. iii. 12.) 


IX. 


Tatian condemns and rejects not only marriage, but also 
meats which God has created for use. 
(Hieron. adv. Jovin. i. 3.) 


X. 


*Dut ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink, and com- 
manded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.” On this, 
perhaps, Tatian the chief of the Encratites endeavours to 
build his heresy, asserting that wine is not to be drunk, 
since it was commanded in the law that the Nazarites were 
not to drink wine, and now those who give the Nazarite wine 
are accused by the prophet. (Hieron. Com. in Amos.) 


XI. 


Tatian, the patriarch of the Encratites, who himself re- 
jected some of Paul's epistles, believed this especially, that is 
[addressed] to Titus, ought to be declared to be the apostle's, 
thinking little of the assertion of Marcion and others, who 
agree with him on this point. 

(Hieron. Pref. in Com. ad Tit.) 





IHE THREE BOOKS OF 


THEOPHILUS OF ANTIOCH TO AUTOLYCUS. 


INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 






PFENHITTLE is known of the personal history of Theo- 
XP philus of Antioch. We gather from the follow- 
ing treatise that he was born a pagan (i. 14), and 
owed his conversion to Christianity to the careful 
study of the Holy Scriptures. Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. iv. 20) 
declares that he was the sixth bishop of Antioch in Syria 
from the apostles, the names of his supposed predecessors 
being Eros, Cornelius, Hero, Ignatius, and Euodius. We 
also learn from the same writer that Theophilus succeeded to 
the bishopric of Antioch in the eighth year of the reign of 
Marcus Aurelius, that is, in A.D. 168. He is related to have 
died either in A.D. 181, or in A.D. 188; some assigning him 
an episcopate of thirteen, and others of twenty-one, years. 
Theophilus is said by Eusebius, Jerome, and others, to 
have written several works against the heresies which pre- 
vailed in his day. He himself refers in the following treatise 
(ii. 90) to another of his compositions. Commentaries on the 
Gospels, arranged in the form of a harmony, and on the book 
of Proverbs, are also ascribed to him by Jerome ; but the sole 
remaining specimen of his writings consists of the three books 
that follow, addressed to his friend Autolycus. The occasion 
which called these forth is somewhat doubtful. It has been 
thought that they were written in refutation of a work which 
Autolycus had published against Christianity ; but the more 
probable opinion is, that they were drawn forth by disparaging 
remarks made in conversation. The language of the writer 
(ii. 1) leads to this conclusion. 
In handling his subject, Theophilus goes over much the 
same ground as Justin Martyr and the rest of the early 
51 


52 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 


apologists. He is somewhat fond of fanciful interpretations 
of Scripture; but he evidently had a profound acquaintance 
with the inspired writings, and he powerfully exhibits their 
immense superiority in every respect over the heathen poctry 
and philosophy. The whole treatise was well fitted to lead 
on an intelligent pagan to the cordial acceptance of Chris- 
tianity. 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


— MM 


BOOK I. 


Cnr. 1.—Autolycus an idolater and scorner of Christians. 
FLUENT tongue and an elegant style afford plea- 


sure and such praise as vainglory delights in, to 
wretched men who have been corrupted in mind ; 
the lover of truth does not give heed to ornamented 
speeches, but examines the real matter of the speech, what it 
is, and what kind it is. Since, then, my friend, you have as- 
sailed me with empty words, boasting of your gods of wood and 
stone, hammered and cast, carved and graven, which neither see 
nor hear, for they are idols, and the works of men's hands ; and 
since, besides, you call me a Christian, as if th?s were a dam- 
ning name to bear, I, for my part, avow that I am a Christian, 
and bear this name beloved of God, hoping to be serviceable! 
to God. For it is not the case, as you suppose, that the name 
of God is hard to bear; but possibly you entertain this opinion 
of God, because you are yourself yet unserviceable to Him. 





Cuap. 11.—That the eyes of the soul must be purged ere 
God can be seen. 


But if you say, “ Show me thy God,” I would reply, * Show 
me yourself, and I will show you my God.” Show, then, 
that the eyes of your soul are capable of seeing, and the ears 
of your heart able to hear; for as those who look with the 
eyes of the body perceive earthly objects and what concerns 

1 Esypneros, punning on the name Christian. 

5 Literally, ‘‘ your man;" the invisible soul, as the noblest part of man, 
being probably intended. 

53 


54 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


this life, and discriminate at the same time between things 
that differ, whether light or darkness, white or black, deformed 
or beautiful, well-proportioned and symmetrical or dispropor- 
tioned and awkward, or monstrous or mutilated; and as in 
like manner also, by the sense of hearing, we discriminate 
either sharp, or deep, or sweet sounds; so the same holds 
good regarding the eyes of the soul and the ears of the heart, 
that it is by them we are able to behold God. For God is 
seen by those who are enabled to see Him when they have 
the eyes of their soul opened: for all have eyes; but in 
some they are overspread, and do not see the light of the 
sun. Yet it does not follow, because the blind do not see, 
that the light of the sun does not shine; but let the blind 
blame themselves and their own eyes. So also thou, O man, 
hast the eyes of thy soul overspread by thy sins and evil 
deeds. As a burnished mirror, so ought man to have his soul 
pure. When there is rust on the mirror, it is not possible 
that a man’s face be seen in the mirror; so also when there 
is sin in a man, such aman cannot behold God. Do you, 
therefore, show me yourself, whether you are not an adulterer, 
or a fornicator, or a thief, or a robber, or a purloiner ; whether 
you do not corrupt boys; whether you are not insolent, or a 
slanderer, or passionate, or envious, or proud, or supercilious ; 
whether you are not a brawler, or covetous, or disobedient to 
parents; and whether you do not sell your children ; for to 
those who do these things God is not manifest, unless they 
have first cleansed themselves from all impurity. All these 
things, then, involve you in darkness, as when a filmy de- 
fluxion on the eyes prevents one from beholding the light 
of the sun: thus also do iniquities, O man, involve you in 
darkness, so that you cannot see God. 


Cuap. 11II.— Nature of God. 


You will say, then, to me, * Do you, who see God, explain 
to me the appearance of God.” Hear, O man. The appear- 
ance of God is ineffable and indescribable, and cannot be 
seen by eyes of flesh. For in glory He is incomprehensible, 

1 The technical word for a disease of the eye, like cataract. 


e 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 55 


in greatness unfathomable, in height inconceivable, in power 
incomparable, in wisdom unrivalled, in goodness inimitable, 
in kindness unutterable. For if I say' He is Light, I name 
but His own work; if I call Him Word, I name but His 
sovereignty ; if I call Him Mind, I speak but of His wisdom ; 
if I say He is Spirit, Ispeak of His breath; if I call Him 
Wisdom, I speak of His offspring ; if I call Him Strength, I 
speak of His sway; if I call Him Power, I am mentioning 
His activity ; if Providence, I but mention His goodness ; if 
I call Him Kingdom, I but mention His glory ; if I call Him 
Lord, I mention His being judge; if I call Him Judge, I 
speak of Him as being just; if I call Him Father, I speak of 
al things as being from Him ;' if I call Him Fire, I but 
mention His anger. You will say, then, to me, “Is God 
angry?” Yes; He is angry with those who act wickedly, 
but He is good, and kind, and merciful, to those who love 
and fear Him; for He is a chastener? of the godly, and 
father of the righteous; but he is a judge and punisher of 
the impious. 


Cuap. 1v.— Attributes of God. 


And He is without beginning, because He is unbegotten ; 
and He is unchangeable, because He is immortal. And He 
is called God [8€0c] on account of His having placed [ree 
κέναι] all things on security afforded by Himself; and on 
account of [θέειν], for θέειν means running, and moving, and 
bemg active, and nourishing, and foreseeing, and governing, 
and making all things alive. But he is Lord, because He 
rules over the universe; Father, because he is before all 
things; Fashioner and Maker, because He is creator and 
maker of the universe; the Highest, because of His being 
above all; and Almighty, because He Himself rules and 
embraces all. For the heights of heaven, and the depths of 


! The translation here follows the Hamburg editor; others read, “1 
Father, I say everything.” 

* Maranus observes that Theophilus means to indicate the difference 
between God’s chastisement of the righteous and His punishment of the 
wicked. 


. 96 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


the abysses, and the ends of the earth, are in His hand, and 
there is no place of His rest. For the heavens are His work, 
the earth is His creation, the.sea is His handiwork ; man is 
His formation and His image ; sun, moon, and stars are His 
elements, made for signs, and seasons, and days, and years, 
that they may serve and be slaves to man ; and all things 
God has made out of things that were not into things that 
are, in order that through His works His greatness may be 
known and understood. 


Cna?r. v.— The invisible God perceived through His works. 


For as the soul in man is not seen, being invisible to men, 
but is perceived through the motion of the body, so God can- 
not indeed be seen by human eyes, but is beheld and per- 
ceived through His providence and works. For, in like 
manner, as any person, when he sees a ship on the sea rigged 
and in sail, and making for the harbour, will no doubt infer 
that there is a pilot in her who is steering her; so we must 
perceive that God is the governor [pilot] of the whole universe, 
though He be not visible to eyes of flesh, since He is incom- 
prehensible. For if a man cannot look upon the sun, though 
it be a very small heavenly body, on account of its exceeding 
heat and power, how shall not a mortal man be much more 
unable to face the glory of God, which is unutterable? For 
as the pomegranate, with the rind containing it, has within it 
many cells and compartments which are separated by tissues, 
and has also many seeds dwelling in it, so the whole creation 
is contained by the spirit! of God, and the containing spirit 
is along with the creation contained by the hand of God. As, 
therefore, the seed of the pomegranate, dwelling inside, cannot 
see what is outside the rind, itself being within; so neither 
can man, who along with the whole creation is enclosed by 
the hand of God, behold God. Then again, an earthly king 
is believed to exist, even though he be not seen by all, for he 
is recognised by his laws and ordinances, and authorities, and 

1 The reference here is not to the Holy Spirit, but to that vital power 


which is supposed to be diffused throughout the universe. Comp. Book 
ii. 4. 





TIIEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 57 


forces, and statues; and are you unwilling that God should 
be recognised by His works and mighty deeds ? 


Cnar. vi.—God is known by His works... 


Consider, O man, His works, —the timely rotation of the 
seasons, and the changes of temperature; the regular march 
of the stars ; the well-ordered course of days and nights, and 
months, and years; the various beauty of seeds, and plants, and 
fruits ; and the divers species! of quadrupeds, and birds, and 
reptiles, and fishes, both of the rivers and of the sea ; or con- 
sider the instinct implanted in these animals to begct and 
rear offspring, not for their own profit, but for the use of 
man ; and the providence with which God provides nourish- 
ment for all flesh, or the subjection in which He has ordained 
that all things subserve mankind. Consider, too, the flowing 
of sweet fountains and never-failing rivers, and the seasonable 
supply of dews, and showers, and rains; the manifold move- 
ment of the heavenly bodies, the morning star rising and 
heralding the approach of the perfect luminary ; and the con- 
stellation of Pleiades, and Orion, and Arcturus, and the orbit 
of the other stars that circle through the heavens, all of which 
the manifold wisdom of God has called by names of their 
own. He is God alone who made light out of darkness, and 
brought forth light from His treasures, and formed the 
chambers of the south wind,’ and the treasure-houses of the 
deep, and the bounds of the seas, and the treasuries of snows 
and hail-storms, collecting the waters in the storehouses of 
the deep, and the darkness in His treasures, and bringing 
forth the sweet, and desirable, and pleasant light out of His 
treasures ; * who causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends 
of the earth: He maketh lightnings for the rain;"? who 
sends forth His thunder to terrify, and foretells by the 
lightning the peal of the thunder, that no soul may faint 
with the sudden shock ; and who so moderates the violence 
of the lightning as it flashes out of heaven, that it does not 
consume the earth; for, if the lightning were allowed all its 
power, it would burn up the earth; and were the thunder 

! Literally, ** propagation." 3 Job ix. 9. 5 Ps. exxxv. 7. 


58 THEOPIIILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


allowed all its power, it would overthrow all the works that 
are therein. 


Cuap. vir.— We shall see God when we put on immoriality. 


This is my God, the Lord of all, who alone stretched out 
the heaven, and established the breadth of the earth under it ; 
who stirs the deep recesses of the sea, and makes its waves 
roar; who rules its power, and stills the tumult of its waves ; 
who founded the earth upon the waters, and gave a spirit to 
nourish it; whose breath giveth life to the whole, who, if He 
withdraw llis breath, the whole will utterly fail. By Him 
you speak, O man; His breath you breathe, yet Him you 
know not. And this is your condition, because of the blind- 
ness of your soul, and the hardness of your heart. But, if you 
will, you may be healed. Entrust yourself to the Physician, 
and He will couch the eyes of your soul and of your heart. 
" Who is the Physician? God, who heals and makes alive 
through His word and wisdom. God by His own word and 
wisdom made all things; for “by His word were the 
heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of His 
mouth."! Most excellent is His wisdom. By His wisdom 
God founded the earth; and by knowledge He prepared the 
heavens; and by understanding were the fountains of the 
great deep broken up, and the clouds poured out their dews. 
If thou perceivest these things, O man, living chastely, and 
holily, and righteously, thou canst see God. ‘But before all 
let faith and the fear of God have rule in thy heart, and 
then shalt thou understand these things. When thou shalt 
have put off the mortal, and put on incorruption, then shalt 
thou see God worthily. For God will raise thy flesh immor- 
tal with thy soul; and then, having become immortal, thou 
shalt see the Immortal, if now you believe on Him; and 
then you shall know that you have spoken unjustly against 
Him. 


1 Ps. xxxii. 6. 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 59 


Cnar. virr.—'aith required in all matters. , 


But you do not believe that the dead are raised. When 
the resurrection shall take place, then you will believe, 
whether you will or no; and your faith shall be reckoned 
for unbelief, unless you believe now. And why do you not 
believe? Do you not know that faith is the leading principle 
in all matters? For what husbandman can reap, unless he 
first trust his seed to the earth? Or who can cross the sea, - 
unless he first entrust himself to the boat and the pilot? 
And what sick person can be healed, unless first he trust 
himself to the care of the physician? And what art or 
knowledge can any one learn, unless he first apply and 
entrust himself to the teacher? If, then, the husbandman 
trusts the earth, and the sailor the boat, and the sick the 
physician, will you not place confidence in God, even when 
you hold so many pledgesat Hishand? For first He created 
you out of nothing, and brought vou into existence (for if 
your father was not, nor your mother, much more were you 
yourself at one time not in being), and formed you out of a 
small and moist substance, even out of the least drop, which 
at one time had itself no being; and God introduced you 
into this life. Moreover, you believe that the images made 
by men are gods, and do great things; and can you not believe 
that the God who made you is able also to make you after- 
wards 1! 


Cuap. 1x.—Zmmoralities of the gods. 


And, indeed, the names of those whom you say you wor- 
ship, are the names of dead men. And these, too, who and 
what kind of men were they? Is not Saturn found to be a 
cannibal, destroying and devouring his own children? And 
if you name his son Jupiter, hear also his deeds and conduct 
—first, how he was suckled by a goat on Mount Ida, and 
having slain it, according to the myths, and flayed it, he 
made himself a coat of the hide. And his other deeds, —his 
incest, and adultery, and lust,—will be better recounted by 

1 i.e. in the resurrection. 


60 . THEOPIILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


Tomer and the rest of the poets. Why should I further 
speak of his sons? How Hercules burnt himself ; and about 
the drunk and raging Bacchus; and of Apollo fearing and 
fleeing from Achilles, and falling in love with Daphne, and 
being unaware of the fate of Hyacinthus; and of Venus 
wounded, and of Mars, the pest of mortals; and of the ichor 
flowing from the so-called gods. And these, indeed, are the 
milder kinds of legends ; since the god who is called Osiris is 
found to have been torn limb from limb, whose mysteries 
are celebrated annually, as if. he had perished, and were 
being found, and sought for limb by limb. For neither is 
it known whether he perished, nor is it shown whether he is 
found. And why should I speak of Atys mutilated, or of 
Adonis wandering in the wood, and wounded by a boar while 
hunting; or of ZEsculapius struck by a thunderbolt; or of 
the fugitive Serapis chased from Sinope to Alexandria; or of 
the Scythian Diana, herself, too, a fugitive, and a homicide, 
and a huntress, and a passionate lover of Endymion? Now, 
itis not we who publish these things, but your own writers 
and poets. 


Cuap. x.—Absurdities of idolatry. 


Why should I further recount the multitude of animals 
worshipped by the Egyptians, both reptiles, and cattle, and 
wild beasts, and birds, and river-fishes; and even wash-pots 
and disgraceful noises? But if you cite the Greeks and the 
other nations, they worship stones and wood, and other kinds 
of material substances,—the images, as we have just been 
saying, of dead men. For Phidias is found in Pisa making 
for the Eleians the Olympian Jupiter, and at Athens the 
Minerva of the Acropolis: And I will inquire of you, 
my friend, how many Jupiters exist. For there is, firstly, 
Jupiter surnamed Olympian, then Jupiter Latiaris, and 
Jupiter Cassius, and Jupiter Tonans, and Jupiter Propator, 
and Jupiter Pannychius, and Jupiter Poliuchus, and Jupiter 
Capitolinus ; and that Jupiter, the son of Saturn, who is king 
of the Cretans, has a tomb in Crete, but the rest, possibly, 
were not thought worthy of tombs. And if you speak of 


THEOPIIILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 61 


the mother of those who are called gods, far be it from me 
to utter with my lips her deeds, or the deeds of those by 
whom she is worshipped (for it is unlawful for us so much 
as to name such things), and what vast taxes and revenues 
she and her sons furnish to the king. For these are not 
gods, but idols, as we have already said, the works of men's 
hands and unclean demons. And such may all those become 
who make them and put their trust in them! 


Crap. x1.—The king to be honoured, God to be worshipped. 


Wherefore I will rather honour the king [than your 
gods], not, indeed, worshipping him, but praying for him. 
But God, the living and true God, I worship, knowing that 
the king is made by Him. You will say, then, to me, 
“Why do you not worship the king?” Because he is not 
made to be worshipped, but to be reverenced with lawful 
honour, for he is not a god, but a man appointed by God, 
not to be worshipped, but to judge justly. For in a kind of 
way his government is committed to him by God: as He will 
not have those called kings whom He has appointed under 
Himself; for “king” is his title, and it is not lawful for 
another to use it; so neither is it lawful for any to be wor- 
shipped but God only. Wherefore, O man, you are wholly 
in error. Accordingly, honour the king, be subject to him, 
and pray for him with loyal mind; for if you do this, - 
you do the will of God. For the law that is of God, says, 
“My son, fear thou the Lord and the king, and be not 
disobedient to them; for suddenly they shall take ven- 
geance on their enemies."! 


Cnar. xir.—Jeaning of the name Christian. 


And about your laughing at me and calling me “ Chris- , 
tian," you know not what you are saying. First, because that 
which is anointed? is sweet and serviceable, and far from con- 


1 Prov. xxiv. 21, 22. The Greek of Theophilus has ** honour " instead 
of εἰ fear." 

3 ** The argumentation of this chapter depends on the literal meaning 
which Theophilus attaches to Christos, the anointed One; and he plays 


62 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


temptible. For what ship can be serviceable and seaworthy, 
unlessit be first caulked [anointed]? Or what castle or house 
is beautiful and serviceable when it has not been anointed ? 
And what man, when he enters into this life or into the 
gymnasium, is not anointed with oil? And what work 
has either ornament or beauty unless it be anointed and 
burnished? ‘Then the air and all that is under heaven is 
in a certain sort anointed by light and spirit; and are you 
unwilling to be anointed with the oil of God? Wherefore 
we are called Christians on this account, because we are 
anointed with the oil of God. 


CHAP. x111.— The resurrection proved by examples. 


Then, as to your denying that the dead are raised—for 
you say, “Show me even one who has been raised from the 
dead, that seeing I may believe,"—first, what great thing is 
it if you believe when you have seen the thing done? Then, 
again, you believe that Hercules, who burned himself, lives ; 
and that 7Esculapius, who was struck with lightning, was 
raised ; and do you disbelieve the things that are told you by 
God? But, suppose I should show you a dead man raised 
and ‘alive, even this you would disbelieve. God indeed 
exhibits to you many proofs that you may believe Him. 
For consider, if you please, the dying of seasons, and days, 
and nights, how these also die and rise again. And what? 
Is there not a resurrection going on of seeds and fruits, and 
this, too, for the use of men? Α seed of wheat, for example, 
or of the other grains, when it is cast into the earth, first dies 
and rots away, then is raised, and becomes a stalk of corn. 
And the nature of trees and fruit-trees,—is it not that accord- - 
ing to the appointment of God they produce their fruits in 
their seasons out of what has been unseen and invisible? 
Moreover, sometimes also a sparrow or some of the other 
birds, when in drinking it has swallowed a seed of apple or 
fig, or something else, has come to some rocky hillock or: 
tomb, and has left the seed in its droppings, and the seed, 


on this meaning, and also on the similarity of pronunciation between 
χρηστός, ‘ useful,’ and χριστός, * anointed.’”—DONALDSON. 





THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. ^ 68 


which was once swallowed, and has passed through so great 
a heat, now striking root, a tree has grown up. And all 
these things does the wisdom οὗ God effect, in order to 
manifest even by these things, that God is able to effect 
the general resurrection of all men. And if you would 
witness a more wonderful sight, which may prove a resur- 
rection not only of earthly but of heavenly bodies, consider 
the resurrection of the moon, which occurs monthly ; how it 
wanes, dies, and rises again. Hear further, O man, of the 
work of resurrection going on in yourself, even though you 
are unaware of it. For perhaps you have sometimes fallen 
sick, and lost flesh, and strength, and beauty ; but when you 
received again from God mercy and healing, you picked up 
again in flesh and appearance, and recovered also your 
strength. And as you do not know where your flesh went 
away and disappeared to, so neither do you know whence it 
grew, or whence it came again. But you will say, * From 
meats and drinks changed into blood." Quite so; but this, 
too, is the work of God, who thus operates, and not of any 
other. ' 


Cuap. xiv.— Theophilus an example of conversion. 


Therefore, do not be sceptical, but believe; for I myself 
also used to disbelieve that this would take place, but now, 
having taken these things into consideration, I believe. At 
the same time, I met with the sacred Scriptures of the holy 
prophets, who also by the Spirit of God foretold the things 
that have already happened, just as they came to pass, and 
the things now occurring as they are now happening, and 
things future in the order in which they shall be accom- 
plished. Admitting, therefore, the proof which events hap- 
pening as predicted afford, I do not disbelieve, but I believe, 
obedient to God, whom, if you please, do you also submit to, 
believing Him, lest if now you continue unbelieving, you be 
convinced hereafter, when you are tormented with eternal 
punishments; which punishments, when they had been fore- 
told by the proplicts, the later-born poets and philosophers 
stole from the holy Scriptures, to make their doctrines 


* 


61 THEOPIIILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


worthy of credit. Yet these also have spoken beforehand 
of the punishments that are to light upon the profane and 
unbelieving, in order that none be left without a witness, or 
be able to say, * We have not heard, neither have we known." 
But do you also, if you please, give reverential attention to 
the prophetic Scriptures, and they will make your way plainer 
for escaping the eternal punishments, and obtaining the eternal 
prizes of God. For He who gave the mouth for speech, and 
formed the ear to hear, and made the eye to see, will examine 
all things, and will judge righteous judgment, rendering 
merited awards to each. "To those who by patient continu- 
ance in well-doing! seek immortality, He will give life ever- 
lasting, joy, peace, rest, and abundance of good things, which 
neither hath eye seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into 
the heart of man to conceive.” But to the unbelieving and 
despisers, who obey not the truth, but are obedient to un- 
righteousness, when they shall have been filled with adulteries 
and fornications, and filthiness, and covetousness, and unlaw- 
ful idolatries, there shall be anger and wrath, tribulation 
and anguish, and at the last everlasting fire shall possess 
such men. Since you said, “Show me thy God,” this is 
my God, and I counsel you to fear Him and to trust Him. 
1 Rom. ii. 6. ? 1 Cor. xi. 9. $ Rom. ii. 8. 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


we 


BOOK II. 


Cup. 1.— Occasion of writing this book. 


When we had formerly some conversation, my very good, 
friend Autolycus, and when you inquired who was my God, 
and for a little paid attention to my discourse, I made some 
explanations to you concerning my religion ; and then having 
bid one another adieu, we went with much mutval friendli- 
ness each to his own house, although at first you had borne 
somewhat hard upon me. For you know and remember that 
you supposed our doctrine was foolishness. As you then 
afterwards urged me to do, I am desirous, though not edu- 
cated to the art of speaking, of more accurately demonstrating, 
by means of this tractate, the vain labour and empty worship 
in which you are held; and I wish also, from a few of your 
own histories which you read, and perhaps do not yct quite 
understand, to make the truth plain to you. 


Cnar. 11.—The gods are despised when they are made ; 
but become valuable when bought. 


And in truth it does seem to me absurd that statuaries and 
carvers, or painters, or moulders, should both design and paint, 
and carve, and mould, and prepare gods, who, when they are 
produced by the artificers, are reckoned of no value; but as 
soon as they are purchased !by some and placed in some so- 
called temple, or in some house, not only do those who bought 
them sacrifice to them, but also those who made and sold them 
come with much devotion, and apparatus of sacrifice, and liba- 
tions, to worship them ; and they reckon them gods, not seeing 
that they are just such as when they were made by themselves, 

1 The words ** by some and placed in" are omitted in some editions, 
but occur in the best sss. 
E 


66 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


whether stone, or brass, or wood, or colour, or some other 
material And this is your case, too, when you read the his- 
tories and genealogies of the so-called gods. For when you 
read of their births, you think of them as men, but afterwards 
you call them gods, and worship them, not reflecting nor 
understanding that, when born, they are exactly such beings 
as ye read of before. 


CHAP. 111.— What has become of the gods? 


And of the gods of former times, if indeed they were be- 
gotten, the generation was sufficiently prolific. But now, 
where is their generation exhibited? For if of old they begot 
and were begotten, it is plain that even to the present time 
there should be gods begotten and born; or at least if it be 
not so, such a race will be reckoned impotent. For either 
they have waxed old, and on that account no longer beget, or 
they have died out and no longer exist. For if the gods were 
begotten, they ought to be born even until now, as men, too, 
are born; yea, much more numerous should the gods be than 
men, as the Sibyl says:— 

‘* For if the gods beget, and each remains 
Immortal, then the race of gods must be 
More numerous than mortals, and the throng 
So great that mortals find no room to stand.” 
For if the children begotten of men who are mortal and short- 
lived make an appearance even until now, and men have not 
ceased to be born, so that cities and villages are full, and even 
the country places also are inhabited, how ought not the gods, 
who, according to your poets, do not die, much rather to 
beget and be begotten, since you say that the gods were pro- 
duced by generation? And why was the mount which is 
called Olympus formerly inhabited by the gods, but now lies 
deserted? Or why did Jupiter, in days of yore, dwell on 
Ida, and was known to dwell there, according to Homer and 
other poets, but now is beyond ken? And why was he found 
only in one part of the earth, and not everywhere? For 
either he neglected the other parts, or was not able to be 
present everywhere and provide for all. For if he were, e.g. 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 67 


in an eastern place, he was not in the western; and if, on 
the other hand, he were present in the western parts, he was 
not in the eastern. But this is the attribute of God, the 
Highest and Almighty, and the living God, not only to be 
everywhere present, but also to see all things and to hear all, 
and by no means to be confined in a place; for if He were, 
then the place containing Him would be greater than He; 
for that which contains is greater than that which is contained. 
For God is not contained, but is Himself the place of all. 
But why has Jupiter left Ida? Was it because he died, or 
did that mountain no longer please him? And where has 
he gone? To heaven? No. But you will perhaps say, To 
Crete? Yes, for there, too, his tomb is shown to this day. 
Again, you will say, To Pisa, where he reflects glory on the 
hands of Phidias to this day. Let us, then, proceed to the 
writings of the philosophers and poets. 


Cuar. 1v.— Absurd opinions of the philosophers concerning 
God. 


Some of the philosophers of the Porch say that there is no 
God at all; or, if there is, they say that He cares for none 
but Himself; and these views the folly of Epicurus and 
Chrysippus has set forth at large. And others say that all 
things are produced without external agency, and that the 
world is uncreated, and that nature is eternal;! and have dared 
to give out that there is no providence of God at all, but 
maintain that God is only each man’s conscience. And others 
again maintain that the spirit which pervades all things is 
God. But Plato and those of his school acknowledge indeed 
that God is uncreated, and the Father and Maker of all 
things; but then they maintain that matter as well as God is 
uncreated, and aver that it is coeval with God. But if God 
is uncreated and matter uncreated, God is no longer, accord- 
ing to the Platonists, the Creator of all things, nor, so far as 
their opinions hold, is the monarchy’ of God established. And 

1 This is according to the Benedictine reading: the reading of Wolf, 
** nature is left to itself," is also worthy of consideration. 
2 That is, the existence of God as sole first principle. 


68 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


further, as God, because He is uncreated, is also unalterable ; 
so if matter, too, were uncreated, it also would be unalterable, 
and equal to God; for that which is created is mutable and 
alterable, but that which is uncreated is immutable and un- 
alterable. And what great thing is it if God made the world 
out of existent materials?! For even a human artist, when 
he gets material from some one, makes of it what he pleases. 
Dat the power of God is manifested in this, that out of things 
that are not He makes whatever He pleases; just as the 
bestowal of life and motion is the prerogative of no other 
than God alone. For even man makes indeed an image, but 
reason and breath, or feeling, he cannot give to what he has 
made. Dut God has this property in excess of what man 
can do, in that He makes a work, endowed with reason, life, 
sensation. As, therefore, in all these respects God is more 
powerful than man, so also in this; that out of things that 
are not He creates and has created things that are, and what- 
ever ITe pleases, as He pleases. 


Ciav.v.— Opinions of Homer and Hesiod concerning the gods. 


So that the opinion of your philosophers and authors is 
discordant ; for while the former have propounded the fore- 
going opinions, the poet Homer is found explaining the origin 
not only of the world, but also of the gods, on quite another 
hypothesis. For he says somewhere :* 

“ Father of Gods, Occanus, and she 

Who bare the gods, their mother Tethys, too, 

From whom all rivers spring, and every sea.” 
In saying which, however, he does not present God to us. 
For who does not know that the ocean is water? But if 
water, then not God. God indeed, if He is the creator of 
all things, as He certainly is, is the creator both of the 
water and of the seas. And Hesiod himself also declared 
the origin, not only of the gods, but also of the world 
itself. And though he said that the world was created, he 
showed no inclination to tell us by whom it was created. 
Besides, he said that Saturn, and his sons Jupiter, Neptune, 

1 Literally, ‘‘ subject-matter.” 2 Jl. xiv. 201. 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 69 


and Pluto, were gods, though we find that they are later born 
than the world. And he also relates how Saturn was assailed 
in war by his own son Jupiter; for he says :! 

** His father Saturn ho by might o'ercame, 

And 'mong th' immortals ruled with justice wise, 
And honours fit distributed to each." 
Then he introduces in his poem the daughters of Jupiter, 
whom he names Muses, and as whose suppliant he appears, 
desiring to ascertain from them how all things were made ; 
for he says :? 
** Daughters of Jove, all hail! Grant me your aid 

That I in numbers sweet and well-arrayed, 

Of the immortal gods may sing the birth ; 

Who of the starry heav'ns were born, and earth ; 

Who, springing from the murky night at first, 

Were by the briny ocean reared and nursed. 

Tell, too, who form unto the earth first gave, 

And rivers, and the boundless sea whose wave. 

Unwearied sinks, then rears its crest on high ; 

And how was spread yon glittering canopy 

Of glistening stars that stud the wide-spread heaven. 

Whence sprang the gods by whom all good is given ? 

Tell from their hands what varied gifts there came, 

Riches to some, to others wealth, or fame ; 

How they have dwelt from the remotest time 

In many-nooked Olympus’ sunny clime. 

These things, ye Muses, say, who ever dwell 

Among Olympian shades—since ye can tell : 

From the beginning there thy feet have strayed ; 

Then tell us which of all things first was made.” 


Bat how could the Muses, who are younger than the world, 
know these things? Or how could they relate to Hesiod 
[what was happening], when their father was not yet born ? 


Cap. v1.— Hesiod on the origin of the world. 


And in a certain way he indeed admits matter [as self- 
existent] and the creation of the world [without a creator], 
saying: 

** First of all things was chaos made, and next 
Broad-bosom'd earth's foundations firm were fixed, 
1 Hesiod, T'heog. 74. ? Theog. 104. 





70 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


Where safely the inmortals dwell for aye, 

Who in the snowy-peak'd Olympus stay. 
Afterwards gloomy Tartarus had birth 

In the recesses of broad-pathwayed earth, 

And Love, ev’n among gods most beautcous still, 
Who comes all-conquering, bending mind and will, 
Delivering from care. and giving then 

Wise counsel in the breasts of gods and men. 
From chaos Erebus and night were born, 

From night and Erebus sprung air and morn. 
Earth in her likencss made the starry heaven, 

That unto all things shelter might be given, 

And that the blessed gods might there repose. 

The lofty mountains by her power arose, 

For the wood-nymphs she made the pleasant caves, 
Begot the sterile sea with all his waves, 

Loveless ; but when by heaven her love was sought, 
Then the deep-eddying ocean forth she brought.” 


And saying this, he has not yet explained by whom all this 
was made. For if chaos existed in the beginning, and matter 
of some sort, being uncreated, was previously existing, who 
was it that effected the change on its condition, and gave it a 
different order and shape? Did matter itself alter its own 
form and arrange itself into a world (for Jupiter was born, 
not only long after matter, but long after the world and many 
men; and so, too, was his father Saturn), or was there some 
ruling power which made it; I mean, of course, God, who also 
fashioned it into a world? Besides, he is found in every way 
to talk nonsense, and to contradict himself. For when he 
mentions earth, and sky, and sea, he gives us to understand 
that from these the gods were produced; and from these 
again [the gods] he declares that certain very dreadful men 
were sprung,—the race of the Titans and the Cyclopes, and a 
crowd of giants, and of the Egyptian gods,—or, rather, vain 
men, as Apollonides, surnamed Horapius, mentions in the 
book entitled Semenouthi, and in his other histories concern- 
ing the worship of the Egyptians and their kings, and the 
vain labours in which they engaged." 

1 The Benedictine editor proposes to read these words after the first 


clause of c. 7. We follow the reading of Wolf and Fell, who understand 
the pyramids to be referred to. 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 41 


Crap. vir.—/Fabulous heathen genealogics. 


Why need I recount the Greek fables, ——of Pluto, king of 
darkness, of Neptune descending beneath the sea, and embrac- 
ing Melanippe and begetting a cannibal son,—or the many 
tales your writers have woven into their tragedies concerning 
the sons of Jupiter, and whose pedigree they register because 
they were born men, and not gods? And the comic poet 
Aristophanes, in the play called *'The Birds," having taken 
upon him to handle the subject of the Creation, said that in 
the beginning the world was produced from an egg, saying: 

* A windy egg was laid by black-winged night 
At first." 
But Satyrus, also giving a history of the Alexandrine families, 
beginning from Philopator, who was also named Ptolemy, 
gives out that Bacchus was his progenitor; wherefore also 
Ptolemy was the founder of this? family. Satyrus then 
speaks thus: That Dejanira was born of Bacchus and Althea, 
the daughter of Thestius; and from her and Hercules the 
son of Jupiter there sprang, as I suppose, Hyllus; and from 
him Cleodemus, and from him Aristomachus, and from him 
Temenus, and from him Ceisus, and from him Maron, and 
from him Thestius, and from him Acous, and from him Aris- 
tomidas, and from him Caranus, and from him Coenus, and 
from him Tyrimmas, and from him Perdiccas, and from him 
Philip, and from him ropus, and from him Alcetas, and 
from him Amyntas, and from him Bocrus, and from him 
Meleager, and from him Arsinoe, and from her and Lagus 
Ptolemy Soter, and from him and Arsinoe Ptolemy Euer- 
getes, and from him and Berenice, daughter of Maga, king of 
Cyrene, Ptolemy Philopator. Thus, then, stands the relation- 
ship of the Alexandrine kings to Bacchus. And therefore 
in the Dionysian tribe there are distinct families : the Althean 
from Althea, who was the wife of Dionysus and daughter of 
Thestius ; the family of Dejanira also, from her who was the 

1 Aristoph. Av. 695. A wind-egg being one produced without impreg- 
nation, and coming to nothing. 

2 The Dionysian family taking its name from Dionysus or Bacchus. 


—-— 


͵ 


2 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


1] 


daughter of Dionysus and Althea, and wife of Hercules ; 
—whence, too, the families have their names: the family of 
Ariadne, from Ariadne, daughter of Minos and wife of Dio- 
nysus, a dutiful daughter, who had intercourse with Dionysus 
in another form; the Thestian, from Thestius, the father of 
Althea; the Thoantian, from Thoas, son of Dionysus; the 
Staphylian, from Staphylus, son of Dionysus ; the Euznian, 
from Eunous, son of Dionysus; the Maronian, from Maron, 
son of Ariadne and Dionysus ;—for all these are sons of 
Dionysus. And, indeed, many other names were thus origi- 
nated, and exist to this day; as the Heraclide from Hercules, 
and the Apollonide from Apollo, and the Poseidonii from 
Poseidon, and from Zeus the Dii and Diogene. 


CHar. virr.— Opinions concerning Providence. 


And why should I recount further the vast array of such 
names and genealogies? So that all the authors and poets, 
and those called philosophers, are wholly deceived ; and so, too, 
are they who give heed to them. For they plentifully com- 
posed fables and foolish stories about their gods, and did not 
exhibit them as gods, but as men, and men, too, of whom some 
were drunken, and others fornicators and murderers. But 
also concerning the origin of the world, they uttered contra- 
dictory and absurd opinions. First, some of them, as we 
before explained, maintained that the world is uncreated. 
And those who said it was uncreated and self-producing con- 
tradicted those who propounded that it was created. For by 
conjecture and human conception they spoke, and not knowing 
the truth. And others, again, said that there was a providence, 
and destroyed the positions of the former writers. Aratus, 
indeed, says :! 


** From Jove begin my song ; nor ever be 
The name unuttered : all are full of thee ; 
The ways and haunts of men ; the heavens and sca: 
On thee our being hangs ; in thee we move ; 
All are thy offspring and the seed of Jove. 


! The following lines are partly from the translation of Hughes. 


IHEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


^ 
C2 


Denevolent, he warns mankind to good, 
Urges to toil and prompts the hope of food. 
He tells where cattle best may graze, and where 
The soil, deep-furrowed, yellow grain will bear. 
What time the husbandman should plant or sow, 
"Tis his to tell, "tis his alone to know.” 
Who, then, shall we believe: Aratus as here quoted, or So- 
phocles, when he says :! 
* And foresight of the future there is none; 
"Tis best to live at random, as one can” ? 
And Homer, again, does not agree with this, for he says? that 
virtue 
“ Waxes or wanes in men as Jove decrees.” 
And Simonides says : 
** No man nor state has virtue save from God ; 
Counsel resides in God ;. and wretched man 
Has in himself nought but his wretchedness.” 
So, too, Euripides : 
* Apart from God, there's nothing owned by men." 
And Menander: 
*" Save God alone, there's none for us provides." 
And Euripides again : 
** For when God wills to save, all things He'll bend 
To serve as instruments to work His end.” 
And Thestius : 
* Jf God design to save you, safe you are, 
Though sailing in mid-ocean on a mat." 

And saying numberless things of a like kind, they contra- 
dicted themselves. At least Sophocles, who in another place 
denied Providence, says : 

ΝΟ mortal can evade the stroke of God." 
Besides, they both introduced a multitude of gods, and yet 
spoke of a Unity; and against those who affirmed a Providence 
they maintained in opposition that there was no Providence. 
Wherefore Euripides says: 
* We labour much and spend our strength in vain, 
For empty hope, not foresight, is our guide." 


! (Edipus Rex. line 978. * [l. xx. 242. 
3 This verse is by Plutarch hesitatingly attributed to Pindar. Tle 
expression, * Though you swim ia a wicker basket," was proverbial. 


44 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


And without meaning to do so, they acknowledge that they 
know not the truth ; but being inspired by demons and puffed 
up by them, they spoke at their instance whatever they said. 
For indeed the poets, —Homer, to wit, and Hesiod, being, as 
they say, inspired by the Muses,—spoke from a deceptive 
fancy, and not with a pure but an erring spirit. And this, 
indeed, clearly appears from the fact, that even to this day the 
possessed are sometimes exorcised in the name of the living 
and true God ; and these spirits of error themselves confess 
that they are demons who also formerly inspired these writers. 
But sometimes some of them wakened up in soul, and, that 
they might be for a witness both to themselves and to all men, 
spoke things in harmony with the prophets regarding the 
monarchy of God, and the judgment and such like. 


Cnar. 1X.— The prophets inspired by the Holy Ghost. 


But men of God carrying in them a holy spirit? and becom- 
ing prophets, being inspired and made wise by God, became 
God-taught, and holy, and righteous. Wherefore they were 
also deemed worthy of receiving this reward, that they should 
become instruments of God, and contain the wisdom that is 
from Him, through which wisdom they uttered both what 
regarded the creation of the world and all other things. For 
they predicted also pestilences, and famines, and wars. And 
there was not one or two, but many, at various times and 
seasons among the Hebrews; and also among the Greeks there 
was the Sibyl; and they all have spoken things consistent 
and harmonious with each other, both what happened before 
them and what happened in their own time, and what things 
are now being fulfilled in our own day: wherefore we are 
persuaded also concerning the future things that they will 
fall out, as also the first have been accomplished. 


Cuar. x.—The world created by God through the Word. 


And first, they taught us with one consent that God made 
all things out of nothing ; for nothing was coeval with God: 
1 Literally, ** in fancy and error.” 


" * Wolf prefers πνευριατόφοροι, carried or borne along by the Spirit. 


"i 


í 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 4i 
but He being His own place, and wanting nothing, and 
existing before the ages, willed to make man by whom He 
might be known; for him, therefore, He prepared the world. 
For he that is created is also needy ; but he that is uncreated 
stands in need of nothing. God, then, having His own Word 
internal! within His own bowels, begat Him, emitting? Him 
along with His own wisdom before all things. He had this 
Word as a helper in the things that were created by Him, and 
by Him He made all things. He is called * governing prin- 
ciple” [ἀρχὴ], because He rules, and is Lord of all things 
fashioned by Him. He, then, being Spirit of God, and 
governing principle, and wisdom, and power of the highest, 
came down upon the prophets, and through them spake of the 
creation of the world and of all other things. For the pro- 
phets were not when the world came into existence, but the 
wisdom of God which was in Him, and His holy Word which 
was always present with Him. Wherefore He speaks thus 
by the prophet Solomon: “ When He prepared the heavens I 
was there, and when He appointed the foundations of the 
earth I was by Him as one brought up with Him"? And 
Moses, who lived many years before Solomon, or, rather, the 
Word of God by him as by an instrument, says, “ In the be- 
ginning God created the heavens and the earth." First he 
named the “ beginning,"* and * creation,"? then he thus in- 
troduced God; for not lightly and on slight occasion is it 
right to name God. For the divine wisdom foreknew that 
some would trifle and name a multitude of gods that do not 
exist. In order, therefore, that the living God might be 
known by His works, and that [it might be known that] by 
His Word God created the heavens and the earth, and all 
that is therein, he said, * In the beginning God created the 
heavens and the earth." Then having spoken of their creation, 


1 ἐνδιάθετον. ? Literally, belching or vomiting. 

3 Prov. viii. 27. Theophilus reads with the Septuagint, ** I was with 
Him, putting things into order,” instead of “1 was by Him as one brought 
up with Him." 

4 That is, the first principle, whom he has just shown to be the Word. 

5 [n the Greek version of Gen. i. 1, the word ‘ created” stands befor 
$6 God." . 


τ THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


he explains to us: “And the earth was without form, and 
void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the 
Spirit of God moved upon the water." This, sacred Scrip- 
ture teaches at the outset, to show that matter, from which 
God made and fashioned the world, was in some manner 
created, being produced by God.! 


Curar. x1.— The six days’ work described. 


Now, the beginning of the creation is light; since light 
manifests the things that are created. Whierefore it is said: 
“ And God said, Let light be, "and light was ; and God saw the 
light, that it was good,” manifestly made good for man. “ And 
God divided the light from the darkness; and God called the 
light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the 
evening and the morning were the first day. And God said, 
Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let 
it divide the waters from the waters: and it was so. And 
God made the firmament, and divided the waters which 
were under the firmament from the waters which were above 
the firmament. And God called the firmament Heaven: 
and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the 
morning were the second day. And God said, Let the water 
under the heaven be gathered into one place, and let the dry 
land appear: and it was so. And the waters were gathered 
together into their places, and the dry land appeared. And 
God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of 
the waters He called Seas: and God saw that it was good. 
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb 
yielding seed after his kind and in his likeness, and the 
fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in 
itself, in his likeness: and it was so. And the earth brought 
forth grass, the herb yielding seed after his kind, and the 


1 Theophilus, therefore, understands that when in the first verse it is 
said that God created the earth, it is meant that He created the matter 
of which the earth is formed. 

3 The words, *'and light was ; and God saw the light, that it was good,” 
are omitted in the two best Mss. and in some editiond; but they seem 
to be necessary, and to have fallen out by the mistake of transcribers. 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 77 


fruit-tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his 
kind, on the earth: and God saw that it was good. And 
the evening and the morning were the third day. And God 
said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to 
give light on earth, to divide the day from the night; and 
let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for 
years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the 
heaven, to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And 
God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, 
and the lesser light to rule the night : He made the stars also. 
And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give 
light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the 
night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God 
saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning 
were the fourth day. And God said, Let the waters bring 
forth the creeping things that have life, and fowl flying 
over the earth in the firmament of heaven: and it was so. 
And God created great whales, and every living creature 
that creepeth, which the waters brought forth after their 
kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw 
that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Increase 
and multiply, and ‘fill the waters of the sea, and let fowl 
multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning 
were the fifth day. And God said, Let the earth bring 
forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping 
thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was 
so. And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, 
and the cattle after their kind, and all the creeping things 
of the earth. And God said, Let us make man in our 
image, after our likeness ; and let them have dominion over 
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heaven, and over 
the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping 
thing that creepeth upon the earth. And God created man: 
in the image of God created He him; male and female 
created He them. And God blessed them, saying, De 
fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue 
it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the 
fowl of the heaven, and over all cattle, and over all the earth, 


78 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


and over all the creeping things that creep upon the earth. 
And God said, Behold I have given you every herb bearing 
seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree 
in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed ; to you it 
shall be for meat, and to all the beasts of the earth, and to all 
the fowls of heaven, and to every creeping thing that creepeth 
upon the earth, which has in it the breath of life ; every green 
herb for meat : and it was so. And God saw everything that 
He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the even- 
ing and the morning were the sixth day. And the heaven and 
the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the 
sixth day God finished His works which He made, and rested 
on the seventh day from all His works which He made. And 
God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because in it 
He rested from all Iis works which God began to create." 


Cnar. xu1.—The glory of the siz days’ work. 


Of this six days’ work no man can give a worthy expla- 
nation and description of all its parts, not though he had 
ten thousand tongues and ten thousand mouths; nay, though 
he were to live ten thousand years, sojourning in this life, 
not even so could he utter anything worthy of these things, 
on account of the exceeding greatness and riches of the 
wisdom of God which there is in the six days’ work above 
‘narrated. Many writers indeed have imitated [the narration ], 
and essayed to give an explanation of these things; yet, 
though they thence derived some suggestions, both concerning 
the creation of the world and the nature of man, they have 
emitted no slightest spark of truth. And the utterances of 
the philosophers, and writers, and poets have an appearance 
of trustworthiness, on account of the beauty of their diction ; 
but their discourse is proved to be foolish and idle, because 
the multitude of their nonsensical frivolitics is very great ; 
and not a stray morsel of truth is found in them. For even 
if any truth seems to have been uttered by them, it has a 
mixture of error. And as a deleterious drug, when mixed 
with honey or wine, or. some other thing, makes the whole 
[mixture] hurtful and profitless; so also eloquence is in their 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 49 


case found to be labour in vain; yea, rather an injurious 
thing to those who credit it. Moreover, [they spoke] con- 
cerning the seventh day, which all men acknowledge; but 
the most know not that what among the Hebrews is called 
the “Sabbath,” is translated into Greek the “ Seventh” 
(ἑβδομὰς), a name which is adopted by every nation, al- 
though they know not the reason of the appellation. And 
as for what the poet Hesiod says of Erebus being produced 
from chaos, as well as the earth and love which lords it over 
his [Hesiod’s] gods and men, his dictum is shown to be idle 
and frigid, and quite foreign to the truth. For it is not 
meet that God be conquered by pleasure; since even men of 
temperance abstain from all base pleasüre and wicked lust. 


Crap. xtI.— Remarks on the creation of the world. 


Moreover, his [Hesiod's] human, and mean, and very 
weak conception, so far as regards God, is discovered in 
his beginning to relate the creation of all things from 
the earthly things here below. For man, being below, 
begins to build from the earth, and cannot in order make 
the roof, unless he has first laid the foundation. But the 
power of God is shown in this, that, first of all, He creates 
out of nothing, according to His will, the things that are 
made. “For the things which are impossible with men are 
possible with God."! Wherefore, also, the prophet men- 
tioned that the creation of the heavens first of all took place, 
as a kind of roof, saying: “ At the first God created the 
heavens"—that is, that by means of the “first” principle 
the heavens were made, as we have already shown. And by 
* earth" he means the ground and foundation, as by “the 
deep" he means the multitude of waters ; and * darkness" he 
speaks of, on account of the heaven which God made covering 
the waters and the earth like a lid. And by the Spirit which 
is borne above the waters, he means that which God gave for 
animating the creation, as he gave life to man, mixing what 
is fine with what is fine. For the Spirit is fine, and the 
water is fine, that the Spirit may nourish the water, and the 

1 Luke xviii. 27. 


80 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


water penetrating everywhere along with the Spirit, may 
nourish creation. For the Spirit being one, and holding the 
place of light,! was between the water and the heaven, in 
order that the darkness might not in any way communicate 
with the heaven, which was nearer God, before God said, 
“Let there belight." The heaven, therefore, being like a 
dome-shaped covering, comprehended matter which was like 
ἃ clod. And so another prophet, Isaiah by name, spoke in 
these words: “It is God who made the heavens as a 
vault, and stretched them as a tent to dwell in.”? The com- 
mand, then, of God, that is, His Word, shining as a lamp 
in an enclosed chamber, lit up all that was under heaven, 
when He had made light apart from the world. And the 
light God called Day, and the darkness Night. Since man 
would not have been able to call the light Day, or the dark- 
ness Night, nor, indeed, to have given names to the other 
things, had not he received the nomenclature from God, who 
made the things themselves. In the very beginning, therefore, 
of the history and genesis of the world, the holy Scripture 
spoke not concerning this firmament [which we see], but 
concerning another heaven, which is to usinvisible, after which 
this heaven which we see has been called “ firmament,” and 
to which half the water was taken up that it might serve for 
rains, and showers, and dews to mankind. And half the 
water was left on earth for rivers, and fountains, and seas. 
The water, then, covering all the earth, and specially its 
hollow places, God, through His Word, next caused the 
waters to be collected into one collection, and the dry land 
to become visible, which formerly had been invisible. "The 
earth thus becoming visible, was yet without form. God 
therefore formed and adorned it* with all kinds of herbs, 
and seeds and plants. 


1 This follows the Benedictine reading. Other cditors, as Humphry, 
read τύσον, ‘‘ resembling light.” 

? Isa. xl. 22. 3 Following Wolf's rendering. 

4 Or, suitably arranged and appointed it. 


TIIEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 81 


Crap. xiv.—The world compared to the sea. 


Consider, further, their variety, and diverse beauty, and 
muititude, and how through them resurrection is exhibited, 
for a pattern of the resurrection of all men which is to be. 
For who that considers it will not marvel that a fig-tree is 
produced from a fig-seed, or that very huge trees grow from 
the other very little seeds? And we say that the world 
resembles the sea. For as tle sea, if it had not had the 
influx and supply of the rivers and fountains to nourish it, 
would long since have been parched by reason of its saltness ; 
so also the world, if it had not had the law of God and 
the prophets flowing'and welling up sweetness, and com- 
passion, and righteousness, and the doctrine of the holy 
commandments of God, would long ere now have come to 
ruin, by reason of the wickedness and sin which abound in 
it And as in the sea there are islands, some of them 
habitable, and well-watered, and fruitful, with havens and 
harbours in which the storm-tossed may find refuge,—so 
God has given to the world which is driven and tempest- 
tossed by sins, assemblies'—we mean holy churches—in which 
survive the doctrines of the truth, as in the island-harbours 
of good anchorage ; and into these run those who desire to 
be saved, being lovers of the truth, and wishing to escape 
the wrath and judgment of God. And as, again, there are 
other islands, rocky and without water, and barren, and 
infested by wild beasts, and uninhabitable, and serving only 
to injure navigators and the storm-tossed, on which ships 
are wrecked, and those driven among them perish,—so there 
are doctrines of error—I mean heresies—which destroy those 
who approach them. For they are not guided by the word 
of truth; but as pirates, when they have filled their vessels,” 
drive them on the fore-mentioned places, that they may spoil 
them : so also it happens in the case of those who err from 
the truth, that they are all totally ruined by their error. 

1 Literally, synagogues. 

2 That is, as the Benedictine edition suggests, when they have filled 
them with unsuspecting passengers. 


πῇ 


82 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


Cnar. xv.— Of the fourth day. 


On the fourth day the luminaries were made; because 
God, who possesses foreknowledge, knew the follies of the 
vain philosophers, that they were going to say, that the things 
which grow on the earth are produced from the heavenly 
bodies, so as to exclude God. In order, therefore, that the 
truth might be obvious, the plants and seeds were produced 
prior to the heavenly bodies, for what is posterior cannot 
produce that which is prior. And these contain the pattern 
and type of a great mystery. For the sun is a type of God, 
and the moon of man. And as the sun far surpasses the 
moon in power and glory, so far does God surpass man. And 
as the sun remains ever full, never becoming less, so does God 
always abide perfect, being full of all power, and under- 
standing, and wisdom, and immortality, and all good. But 
the moon wanes monthly, and in a manner dies, being a type 
of man; then it is born again, and is crescent, for a pattern 
of the future resurrection. In like manner also the three 
days which were before the luminaries,! are types of the 
Trinity,’ of God, and His Word, and His wisdom. And the 
fourth is the type of man, who needs light, that so there may 
be God, the Word, wisdom, man. Wherefore also on the 
fourth day the lights were made. The disposition of the 
stars, too, contains a type of the arrangement and order of 
the righteous and pious, and of those who keep the law and 
commandments of God. For the brilliant and bright stars 
are an imitation of the prophets, and therefore they remain 
fixed, not declining, nor passing from place to place. And 
those which hold the second place in brightness, are types of 
the people of the righteous. And those, again, which change 
their position, and flee from place to place, which also are 
called planets,’ they too are a type of the men who have wan- 
dered from God, abandoning His law and commandments. 


Crap. xv1.— Of the fifth day. 


On the fifth day the living creatures which proceed from 
! Following Wolf's reading. 53.Τριάδο. — ? i.e. wandering stars. 





THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 63 


the waters were produced, through which also is revealed the 
manifold wisdom of God in these things; for who could count 
their multitude and very various kinds? Moreover, the things 
proceeding from the waters were blessed by God, that this 
also might be a sign of men's being destined to receive repent- 
ance and remission of sins, through the water and laver of 
regeneration,—as many as come to the truth, and are born 
again, and receive blessing from God. But the monsters of 
the deep and the birds of prey are a similitude of covetous 
men and transgressors. For as the fish and the fowls are of 
one nature,—some indeed abide in their natural state, and do 
no harm to those weaker than themselves, but keep the law 
of God, and eat of the seeds of the earth ; others of them, 
again, transgress the law of God, and eat flesh, and injure 
those weaker than themselves: thus, too, the righteous, keep- 
ing the law of God, bite and injure none, but live holily and 
righteously. But robbers, and murderers, and godless per- 
sons are like monsters of the deep, and wild beasts, and birds 
of prey; for they virtually devour those weaker than them- 
selves. The race, then, of fishes and of creeping things, 
though partaking of God's blessing, received no very dis- 
tinguishing property. 


Crap. Xvi1.—Of the sivth day. 


And on the sixth day, God having made the quadrupeds, 
and wild beasts, and the land reptiles, pronounced no bless- 
ing upon them, reserving Ilis blessing for man, whom He 
was about to create on the sixth day. The quadrupeds, too, 
and wild beasts, were made for a type of some men, who 
neither know nor worship God, but mind earthly things, and 
repent not. For those who turn from their iniquities and 
live righteously, in spirit fly upwards like birds, and mind 
the things that are above, and are well-pleasing to the will of 
God. But those who do not know nor worship God, are like 
birds which have wings, but cannot fly nor soar to the high 
things of God. "Thus, too, though such persons are called 
men, yet being pressed down with sins, they mind grovelling 
and earthly things. And the animals are named wild beasts 


84 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


[θηρία], from their being hunted [θηρεύεσθαι], not as if they 
had been made evil or venomous from the first—for nothing 
was made evil by God, but all things good, yea, very good, — 
but the sin in which man was concerned brought evil upon 
them. For when man transgressed, they also transgressed 
with him. For as, if the master of the house himself acts 
rightly, the domestics also of necessity conduct themselves 
well; but if the master sins, the servants also sin with him ; 
so in like manner it came to pass, that in the case of man's 
sin, he being master, all that was subject to him sinned with 
him. When, therefore, man again shall have made his way 
back to his natural condition, and no longer does evil, those 
also shall be restored to their original gentleness. 


Cnar. xvirt.— Te creation of man. 


But as to what relates to the creation of man, his own 
creation cannot be explained by man, though it is a succinct 
account of it which holy Scripture gives. For when God 
said, * Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” 
He first intimates the dignity of man. For God having made 
all things by His Word, and having reckoned them all mere 
bye-works, reckons the creation of man to be the only work ἡ 
worthy of His own hands. Moreover, God is found, as if 
needing help, to say, * Let us make man in our image, after 
our likeness.” But to no one else than to His own Word 
and wisdom did He say, “ Let us make." And when Ie 
had made and blessed him, that he might increase and 
replenish the earth, He put all things under his dominion, 
and at his service ; and He appointed from the first that he 
should find nutriment from the fruits of the earth, and from 
seeds, and herbs, and acorns, having at the same time ap- 
pointed that the animals be of habits similar to man's, that 
they also might eat of all the seeds of the earth. 


Crap. xix.— Man ts placed in Paradise. 


God having thus completed the heavens, and the earth, and 
the sea, and all that are in them, on the sixth day, rested 
on the seventh day from all His works which He made. 


ΝΞ ᾿ ' 
on) 
-_— - - -- 


O— ee 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 85 


Then holy Scripture gives a summary in these words: “ This 
is the book of the generation of the heavens and the earth, 
when they were created, in the day that the Lord made the 
^ heavens and the earth, and every green thing of the field, 
before it was made, and every herb of the field before it grew. 
For God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there 
was not a man totill the ground.”* By this He signifies-to us, 
that the whole earth was at that time watered by a divine 
fountain, and had no need that man should till it; but the 
earth produced all things spontaneously by the command of 
God, that man might not be wearied by tilling it. But that 
the creation of man might be made plain, so that'there should 
not seem to be an insoluble problem existing among men, 
since God had said, * Let us make man;’ and since His 
creation was not yet plainly related, Scripture teaches us, 
saying: “ And a fountain went up out of the earth, and 
watered the face of the whole earth ; and God made man of 
the dust of the earth, and breathed into his face the breath 
of life, and man became a living soul.”* Whence also by 
most persons the soul is called immortal. And after the 
formation of man, God chose out for him a region among 
the places of the East, excellent for light, brilliant with a 
very bright atmosphere, [abundant] in the finest plants; and 
in this He placed man. 


Cuap. xx.— The scriptural account of Paradise. 


Scripture thus relates the words of the sacred history: 
‘And God planted Paradise, eastward, in Eden; and there 
He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the 
ground made Good to grow every tree that is pleasant to the 
sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of 
Paradise, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 
And a river flows out of Eden, to water the garden; thence 
it is parted into four heads. The name of the first is Pison : 
that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where 
there is gold ; and the gold of that land is good, and there is 
bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second 

1 Gen. ii. 4, 5. * Gen. ii. 6. 


86 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole 
land of Ethiopia. And the third river is Tigris: this is it 
which goeth toward Syria. And the fourth river is Eu- 
phrates. And the Lord God took the man whom He had 
made, and put him in the garden, to till and to keep it. And 
God commanded Adam, saying, Of every tree that is in the 
garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the know- 
ledge of good and evil, ye shall not eat of it; for in the day 
ye eat of it ye shall surely die. And the Lord God said, It 
is not good that the man should be alone; let us make him 
an helpmeet for him. And out of the ground God formed 
all the beasts of the field, and all the fowls of heaven, and 
brought them to Adam. And whatsoever Adam called every 
living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave 
names to all cattle, and to the fowls of the air, and to all the 
beasts of the field. But for Adam there was not found an 
helpmect for him. And God caused an ecstasy to fall upon 
Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed 
up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib, which the Lord 
God had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought 
her unto Adam. And Adam said, This is now bone of my 
bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, 
because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man 
leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his 
wife, and they two shall be one flesh. And they were both 
naked, Adam and his wife, and were not ashamed. 


παρ. xx1.— Of the full of man. 


« Now the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the 
field which the Lord God had made. And the serpent said 
to the woman, Why hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every 
tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, 
We eat of every tree of the garden, but of the fruit of the 
tree wlich is in the midst of the garden God hath said, 
Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely 
die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, 
then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 87 


knowing good and evil. And the woman saw that the tree 
was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and 
a tree to be desired to make one wise; and having taken of 
the fruit thereof, she did eat, and gave also unto her husband 
with her: and they did eat. And the eyes of them both 
were opened, and they knew that they were naked ; and they 
sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And 
they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden 
in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid them- 
selves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees 
of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and 
said unto him, Where art thou? And he said unto Him, I 
heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I 
was naked, and I hid myself. And He said unto him, Who 
told thee that thou wast naked, unless thou hast eaten of the 
tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat ? 
And Adam said, The woman whom Thou gavest to be with 
me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And God said to 
the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the 
woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And 
the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done 
this, thou art accursed above all the beasts of the earth; on 
thy breast and belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all 
the days of thy life: and I will put enmity between thee and 
the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall 
bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.! And to the 
woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy 
travail: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children; and thy 
desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 
And unto Adam He said, Because thou hast hearkened unto 
the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I 
commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; cursed is 
the ground in? thy works: in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all 
the days of thy life; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth 
to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the-field. In the 

1 Theophilus reads, ' it shall watch thy head, and thou shalt watch 


ἘΠῚ heel." 
* Or, ‘‘ by thy works.” 


88 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread, till thou return 
unto the ground ; for out of it wast thou taken : for dust thou 
art, and unto dust shalt thou retürn."! Such is the account 
given by holy Scripture of the history of man and of Para- 
dise. 


Cuap. xxit.— Why God is said to have walked. 


You will say, then, to me: “ You said that God ought not 
to be contained in a place, and how do you now say that He 
walked in Paradise?” Hear what I say. The God and 
Father, indeed, of all cannot be contained, and is not found 
in a place, for there is no place of Iis rest ; but His Word, 
through whom He made all things, being His power and His 
wisdom, assuming the person? of the Father and Lord of all, 
went to the garden in the person of God, and conversed with 
Adam. For the divine writing itself teaches us that Adam 
said that he had heard the voice. But what else is this voice 
but the Word of God, who is also His Son? Not as the poets 
and writers of myths talk of the sons of gods begotten from 
intercourse [with women], but as truth expounds, the Word, 
that always exists, residing within the heart of God. For 
before anything came into being He had Him as a coun- 
sellor, being His own mind and thought. But when God 
wished to make all that He determined on, He begot this 
Word, uttered,? the first-born’ of all creation, not Himself 
being emptied of the Word [Reason], but having begotten 
Reason, and always conversing with His Reason. And 
hence the holy writings teach us, and all the spirit-bearing 
[inspired] men, one of whom, John, says, “In the beginning 
was the Word, and the Word was with God,” showing that 
at first God was alone, and the Word in Him. "Then he 

1 Gen. ii. 8-iii. 19. 

3 The annotators here warn us against supposing that “person” is used 
as it was afterwards employed in discussing the doctrine of the Trinity, 
and show that the word is used in its original meaning, and with refer- 
ence to an actor taking up a mask and personating a character. 

3 IIpoQopixós, the term used of the Logos as manifested ; the Word as 


uttered by the Father, in distinction from the Word immanent in Him. 
* John i. 1. | 





THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 89 


says, “The Word was God; all things came into existence 
through Him; and apart from Him not one thing came into 
existence.” The Word, then, being God, and being naturally! 
produced from God, whenever the Father of the universe 
wills, He sends Him to any place; and He, coming, is both 
heard and seen, being sent by Him, and is found in a place. 


Cur. xxi.— The truth of the account in Genesis. 


Man, therefore, God made on the sixth day, and made 
known this creation after the seventh day, when also He 
made Paradise, that he might be in a better and distinctly 
superior place. And that this is true, the fact itself proves. 
For how can one miss seeing that the pains which women 
suffer in childbed, and the oblivion of their labours which they 
afterwards enjoy, are sent in order that the word of God 
may be fulfilled, and that the race of men may increase and 
multiply?* And do we not see also the judgment of the 
serpent, —how hatefully he crawls on his belly and eats the 
dust,—that we may have this, too, for a proof of the things 
which were said aforetime ἢ 


Cuap. xx1v.—The beauty of Paradise. 


God, then, caused to spring out of the earth every tree that 
is beautiful in appearance, or good for food. For at first 
there were only those things which were produced on the 
third day,—plants, and seeds, and herbs; but the things which 
were in Paradise were made of a superior loveliness and 
beauty, since in it the plants were said to have been planted 
by God. As to the rest of the plants, indeed, the world con- 
tained plants like them; but the two trees,—the tree of life 
and the tree of knowledge,—the rest of the carth possessed 
not, but only Paradise. And that Paradise is earth, and is 
planted on the earth, the Scripture states, saying :* * And the 


1 That is, being produced by generation, not by creation. 

* The Benedictine editor remarks: ‘‘ Women bring forth with labour 
and pain as the punishment awarded to sin: they forget the pain, that 
the propagation of the race may not be hindered.” 

3 Gen. ii. 8. 


90 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


Lord God planted Paradise in Eden eastwards, and: placed 
man there; and out of the ground made the Lord God 
to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for 
food.” By the expressions, therefore, “out of the ground,” 
and “castwards,” the holy writing clearly teaches us that 
Paradise is under this heaven, under which the east and the 
earth are. And the Hebrew word Eden signifies “ delight." 
And it was signified that a river flowed out of Eden to water 
Paradise, and after that divides into four heads; of which the 
two called Pison and Gikon water the eastern parts, especially 
Gihon, which encompasses the whole land of Ethiopia, and 
which, they say, reappears in Egypt under the name of Nile. 
And the other two rivers are manifestly recognisable by us— 
those called Tigris and Euphrates—for these border on our 
own regions. And God having placed man in Paradise, as 
has been said, to till and keep it, commanded him to eat of 
all the trees,—manifestly of the tree of life also; but only of 
the tree of knowledge He commanded him not to taste. And 
God transferred him from the earth, out of which he had 
been produced, into Paradise, giving him means of advance- 
ment, in order that, maturing and becoming perfect, and 
being even declared a god, he might thus ascend into heaven 
in possession of immortality. lor man had been made a middle 
nature, neither wholly mortal, nor altogether immortal, but 
capable of either; so also the place, Paradise, was made in re- 
spect of beauty intermediate between earth and heaven. And 
by the expression, “till it,"' no other kind of labour is implied 
than the observance of God's command, lest, disobeying, he 
should destroy himself, as indeed he did destroy himself, by sin. 


CHaP. xxv.—God was justified in forbidding man to eat 
of the tree of knowledge. 


The tree of knowledge itself was good, and its fruit was 
good. For it was not the tree, as some think, but the dis- 
obedience, which had death in it. For there was nothing else 
in the fruit than only knowledge; but knowledge is good 


1 In the Greek the word is, ** work” or ‘ labour,” as we also speak of 
working land. 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 91 


when one uses it discreetly. But Adam, being yet an infant 
in age, was on this account as yet unable to receive knowledge 
worthily. For now, also, when a child is born it is not at once 
able to eat bread, but is nourished first with milk, and then, 
with the increment of years, it advances to solid food. Thus, 
too, would it have been with Adam; for not as one who 
gradged him, as some suppose, did God command him not to 
eat of knowledge. But He wished also to make proof of him, 
whether he was submissive to His commandment. And at 
the same time He wished man, infant as he was, to remain 
for some time longer simple and sincere. For this is holy, 
not only with God, but also with men, that in simplicity and 
guilelessness subjection be yielded to parents. But if it is 
right that children be subject to parents, how much more to 
the God and Father of all things? Besides, it is unseemly 
that children in infancy be wise beyond their years; for as in 
stature one increases in an orderly progress, so also in wisdom. 
But as when a law has commanded abstinence from anything, 
and some one has not obeyed, it is obviously not the law which 
causes punishment, but the disobedience and transgression; — 
for a father sometimes enjoins on his own child abstinence 
from certain things, and when he does not obey the paternal 
order, he is flogged and punished on account of the disobe- 
dience; and in this case the actions themselves are not the 
[cause of] stripes, but the disobedience procures punishment 
for him who disobeys ;—so also for the first man, disobedience 
procured his expulsion from Paradise. Not, therefore, as if 
there were any evil in the tree of knowledge; but from his 
disobedience did man draw, as from a fountain, labour, pain, 
grief, and at last fall a prey to death. 


Crap. xxv1.— God's aoodness in expelling man from 
Paradise. 


And God slowed great kindness to man in this, that He 
did not suffer him to remain in sin for ever ; but, as it were, 
by a kind of banishment, cast him out of Paradise, in order 
that, having by punishment expiated, within an appointed time, 
the sin, and having been disciplined, he should afterwards be 


mA ΑΗ 


92 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


restored. Wherefore also, when man had been formed in 
this world, it is mystically written in Genesis, as if he had 
been twice placed in Paradise; so that the one was fulfilled 
when he was placed there, and the second will be fulfilled 
after the resurrection and judgment. For just as a vessel, 
when on being fashioned it has some flaw, is remoulded or 
remade, that it may become new and entire ; so also it happens 
to. man by death. For somehow or other he is broken up, that 
he may rise in the resurrection whole ; I mean spotless, and 
righteous, and immortal. And asto God's calling, and saying, 
Where art thou, Adam? God did this, not as if ignorant of 
this; but, being long-suffering, He gave him an opportunity 
of repentance and confession. 


Crap. xXxviI.— The nature of man. 


But some one will say to us, Was man made by nature 
mortal? Certainly not. Was he, then, immortal? Neither 
do we affirm this. But one will say, Was he, then, no- 
thing? Not even this hits the mark. He was by nature 
neither mortal nor immortal. For if He had made him im- 
mortal from the beginning, He would have made him God. 
Again, if He had made him mortal, God would seem to be 
the cause of his death. Neither, then, immortal nor yet mortal 
did He make him, but, as we have said above, capable of both ; 
so that if he should incline to the things of immortality, keep- 
ing the commandment of God, he should receive as reward 
from Him immortality, and should become God ; but if, on 
the other hand, he should turn to the things of death, dis- 
obeying God, he should himself be the cause of death to him- 
self. For God made man free, and with power over himself. 
That, then, which man brought upon himself through careless- 
ness and disobedience, this God now.vouchsafes to him as a 
gift through His own philanthropy and pity, when men obey 
Him.  Foras man, disobeying, drew death upon himself ; so, 
obeying the will of God, he who desires is able to procure for 
himself life everlasting. For God has given us a law and holy 


1 Apparently meaning, that God turns death, which man brought on 
himself by disobedience, into a blessing. 





A πα ---- ———— —— ÓÀ .— a analis a d "odi na ee o — 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 93 


commandments ; and every one who keeps these can be saved, 
and, obtaining the resurrection, can inherit incorruption. 


Cuar. xxvir.— Why Eve was formed of Adam's rib. 


And Adam having been cast out of Paradise, in this con- 
dition knew Eve his wife, whom God had formed into a wife 
for him out of his rib. And this He did, not as if He were 
unable to make his wife separately, but God foreknew that 
men would call upon a number of gods. And having this 
prescience, and knowing that through the serpent error would 
introduce a number of gods which had no existence,—for there 
being but one God, even then error was striving to disseminate 
a multitude of gods, saying, * Ye shall be as gods ; "—lest, 
then, it should be supposed that one God made the man and 
another the woman, therefore He made them both ; and God 
made the woman together with the man, not only that thus 
the mystery of God's sole government might be exhibited, 
but also that their mutual affection might be greater. There- 
fore said Adam to Eve, “This is now bone of my bones, and 
flesh of my flesh.” And besides, he prophesied, saying, “ For 
this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother, and 
shall cleave unto his wife; and they two shall be one flesh;”* 
which also itself has its fulfilment in ourselves. For who 
that marries lawfully does not despise mother and father, and 
‘his whole family connection, and all his household, cleaving 
to and becoming one with his own wife, fondly preferring 
her? So that often, for the sake of their wives, some submit 
even to death. This Eve, on account of her having been in 
the beginning deceived by the serpent, and become the author 
of sin, the wicked demon, who also is called Satan, who then 
spoke to her through the serpent, and who works even to this 
day in those men that are possessed by him, invokes as Eve.” 
And he is called “ demon” and “ dragon,” on account of his 
[ἀποδεδρακέναι] revolting from God. For at first he was an «- 

Nani 


1 Gen. ii. 24. 

3 Referring to the bacchanalian orgies in which ** Eva" was shouted, 
and which the fathers professed to believe was an unintentional invoca- 
tion of Eve, the authoress of all sin. 





94 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


angel And concerning his history there is a great deal to be 
said; wherefore I at present omit the relation of it, for I have 
also given an account of him in another place. 


CHAP. xxix.— Cain’s crime. 


When, then, Adam knew Eve his wife, she conceived and 
bare a son, whose name was Cain; and she said, “I have 
gotten a man from God.” And yet again she bore a second 
son, whose name was Abel, “who began to be a keeper of 
sheep, but Cain tilled the ground."! Their history receives 
a very full narration, yea, even a detailed explanation : where- 
fore the book itself, which is entitled * The Genesis of the 
World," can more accurately inform those who are anxious to 
learn their story. When, then, Satan saw Adam and his 
wife not only still living, but also begetting children—being 
carried away with spite because he had not succeeded in 
putting them to death,—wheif he saw that Abel was, well- 
pleasing to God, he wrought upon the heart of his brother 
called Cain, and caused him to kill his brother Abel. And 
thus did death get a beginning in this world, to find its way 
into every race of man, even to this day. But God, being 
pitiful, and wishing to afford to Cain, as to Adam, an oppor- 
tunity of repentance and confession, said, “ Where is Abel 
thy brother?" But Cain answered God contumaciously, 
saying, “I know not; am I my brothers keeper?” God, 
being thus made angry with him, said, * What hast thou 
done? The voice of thy brothers blood crieth to me from 
the earth, which opened her mouth to receive thy brother's 
blood from thy hand. Groaning and trembling shalt thou be 
on the earth." From that time the earth, through fear, no 
longer receives human blood,’ no, nor the blood of any animal ; 
by which it appears that it is not the cause [of death], but 
man, who transgressed. 

1 Gen. iv. 1, 2. 

2 Fell remarks, ‘‘ Blood shed at once coagulates, and does not easily 
enter the earth.” 





' THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 95 


Cua. xxx.— Cain's family and their inventions. 


Cain also himself had a son, whose name was Enoch; and 
he built a city, which he called by the name of his son, Enoch. 
From that time was there made a beginning of the building 
of cities, and this before the flood ; not as Homer falsely says: ὦ 

** Not yet had men a city built.” 
And to Enoch was born a son, by name Gaidad; who begat 
a son called Meel; and Mcel begat Mathusala; and Mathu- 
sala, Lamech. And Lamech took unto him two wives, 
whose names were Adah and Zillah. At that time there was 
made a beginning of polygamy, and also of music. For 
Lamech had three sons: Jabal, Jubal, Tubal. And Jabal 
became a keeper of cattle, and dwelt in tents; but Jubal is he 
who made known the psaltery and the harp; and Tubal became 
a smith, a forger in brass and iron. So far the seed of Cain 
is registered; and for the rest, the seed of his line has sunk 
into oblivion, on account of his fratricide of his brother. And, 
in place of Abel, God granted to Eve to conceive and bear a 
son, who was called Seth ; from whom the remainder of the 
human race proceeds until now. And to those who desire to 
be informed regarding all generations, it is easy to give ex- 
planations by means of the holy Scriptures. For, as we have 
already mentioned, this subject, the order of the genealogy of 
man, has been partly handled by us in another discourse, in 
the first book of The History. And all these things the Holy 
Spirit teaches us, who speaks through Moses and the rest of 
the prophets, so that the writings which belong to us godly 
people are more ancient, yea, and are shown to be more 
truthful, than all writers and poets. But also, concerning 
music, some have fabled that Apollo was the inventor, and 
others say that Orpheus discovered the art of music fromm the 
sweet voices of the birds. "Their story is shown to be empty 
and vain, for these inventors lived many years after the flood. 
And what relates to Noah, who is called by some Deucalion, 
has been explained by us in the book before mentioned, and 
which, if you wish it, you are at liberty to read. 
1 Jl. xx. 216. But Homer refers only to Troy. 





96 TIIEOPIIILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


Cuap. xxx1.—The history after the flood. 


After the flood was there again a beginning of cities and 
kings, in the following manner:—The first city was Babylon, 
and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 
And their king was called Nebroth [Nimrod]. From these 
came Asshur, from whom also the Assyrians receive their 
name. And Nimrod built the cities Nineveh and Rehoboth, 
and Calah, and Resen, between Nineveh and Calah; and 
Nineveh became a very great city. And another son of 
Shem, the son of Noah, by name Mizraim, begat Ludim, and 
those called Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, and 
Pathrusim, and Casluhim, out of whom came Philistim. Of 
the three sons of Noah, however, and of their death and 
genealogy, we have given a compendious register in the above- 
mentioned book. But now we will mention the remaining 
facts both concerning cities and kings, and the things that 
happened when there was one speech and one language. 
Before the dividing of the languages these fore-mentioned 
cities existed. But when men were about to be dispersed, 
they took counsel of their own judgment, and not at the in- 
stigation of God, to build a city, a tower whose top might 
reach into heaven, that they might make a glorious name to 
themselves. Since, therefore, they had dared, contrary to 
the will of God, to attempt a grand work, God destroyed 
their city, and overthrew their tower. From that time He 
confounded the languages of men, giving to each a different 
dialect. And similarly did the Sibyl speak, when she de- 
clared that wrath would come on the world. She says: 

‘When are fulfilled the threats of the great God, 
With which He threatened men, when formerly 
In the Assyrian land they built a tower, 

And all were of one speech, and wished to rise 
Even till they climbed unto the starry heaven, 
Then the Immortal raised a mighty wind 

And laid upon them strong necessity ; 

For when the wind threw down the mighty tower, 
Then rose among mankind fierce strife and hatc. 


One speech was changed to many dialects, 
And earth was filled with divers tribes and kings." 





THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 97 


And so on. "These things, then, happened in the land of the 
Chaldeans. And in the land of Canaan there was a city, by 
name Haran. And in these days, Pharaoh, who by the Egyp- 
tians was also called Nechaoth, was first king of Egypt, and thus 
the kings followed in succession.’ And in the land of Shinar, 
among those called Chaldzans, the first king was Arioch, and 
next after him Ellasar, and after him Chedorlaomer, king of 
Elam, and after him Tidal, king of the nations called Assyrians. 
And there were five other cities in the territory of Ham, the 
son of Noah; the first called Sodom, then Gomorrah, Admah, 
Zeboiim, and Balah, which was also called Zoar. And the names 
of their kings are these: Bera, king of Sodom; Birsha, king 
of Gomorrah; Shinab, king of Admah; Shemeber, king of 
Zeboiim ; Bela, king of Zoar, which is also called Kephalac.’ 
These served Chedorlaomer, the king of the Assyrians, for 
twelve years, and in the thirteenth year they revolted from 
Chedorlaomer ; and thus it came to pass at that time that the 
four Assyrian kings waged war upon the five kings. This 
was the first commencement of making war on the earth ; 
and they destroyed the giants Karnaim, and the strong 
nations that were with them in their city, and the Horites 
of the mountains called Seir, as far as the plain of Paran, 
which is by the wilderness. And at that time there was a 
righteous king called Melchisedek, in the city of Salem, which 
now is Jerusalem. This was the first priest of all priests of 
the Most High God; and from him the above-named city 
Hierosolyma was called Jerusalem. And from his time 
priests were found in all the earth. And after him reigned 
Abimelech in Gerar; and after him another Abimelech. 
Then reigned Ephron, surnamed the Hittite. Such are the 
names of the kings that were in former times. And the 
rest of the kings of the Assyrians, during an interval of 

1 But the Benedictine editor understands the words to mean, that the 
succeeding kings were in like manner called Pharaoh. 

* Theophilus spells some of the names differently from what they are 
given in our text. For Tidal he has Thargal; for Bera, Ballas; for 
Birsha, Barsas ; for Shinab, Senaar; for Shemeber, Hymoor. Kephalac 
is taken to be a corruption for Balak, which in the previous sentence is 
inserted by many editors, though it is not in the best Mss. 

G 





98 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


many years, have been passed over in silence unrecorded, all 
writers narrating the events of our own recent days. There 
were these kings of Assyria: Tiglath-Pileser, and after 
him Shalmaneser, then Sennacherib; and Adrammelech the 
Ethiopian, who also reigned over Egypt, was his triarch ;— 
though these things, in comparison with our books, are quite 
recent. | 


Cap. xxxir.—4Zow the human race was dispersed. 


Hence, therefore, may the lovers of learning and of anti- 
quity understand the history, and see that those things are 
recent which are told by us apart from the holy prophets.' 
For though at first there were few men in the land of Arabia 
and Chaldza, yet, after their languages were divided, they 
gradually began to multiply and spread over all the earth ; and 
some of them tended towards the east to dwell there, and others 
to the parts of the great continent, and others northwards, so 
as to extend as far as DBritain,in the Arctic regions. And 
others went to the land, of Canaan, which is called Judza, 
and Phoenicia, and the region of Ethiopia, and Egypt, and 
Lybia, and the country called torrid, and the parts stretch- 
ing towards the west ; and the rest went to places by the sea, 
and Pamphylia, and Asia, and Greece, and Macedonia, and, 
besides, to Italy, and the whole country called Gaul, and Spain, 
and Germany; so that now the whole world is thus filled 
with inhabitants. Since then the occupation of the world 
by men was at first in three divisions, —in the east, and south, 
and west; afterwards, the remaining parts of the earth were 
inhabited, when men became very numerous. And the 
writers, not knowing these things, are forward to maintain 
that the world is shaped like a sphere, and to compare it to a 
cube. But how can they say what is true regarding these 
things, when they do not know about the creation of the world 
and its population? Men gradually increasing in number and 


1 Proving the antiquity of Scripture, by showing that no recent 
occurrences are mentioned in it. Wolf, however, gives another reading, 
which would be rendered, ** understand whether those things are recent 
which we utter on the authority of the holy prophets.” 





THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 99 


multiplying on the earth, as we have already said, the islands 
also of the sea and the rest of the countries were inhabited. 


CHAP. xxxiII.— Profane history gives no account of these 
matters. 


W bo, then, of those called sages, and poets, and historians, 
could tell us truly of these things, themselves being much 
later born, and introducing a multitude of gods, who were 
born so many years after the cities, and are more modern than 
kings, and nations, and wars? For they should have made 
mention of all events, even those which happened before the 
flood ; both of the creation of the world and the formation of 
man, and the whole succession of events. The Egyptian or 
Chaldean prophets, and the other writers, should have been 
able accurately to tell, if at least they spoke by a divine and 
pure spirit, and spoke truth in all that was uttered by them ; 
and they should have announced not only things past or pre- 
sent, but also those that were to come upon the world. And 
therefore it is proved that all others have been in error; and 
that we Christians alone have possessed the truth, inasmuch 
as we are taught by the Holy Spirit, who spoke in the holy 
prophets, and foretold all things. 


Cuar. Xxx1v.— The prophets enjoined holiness of life. 


And, for the rest, would that in a kindly spirit you would 
investigate divine things—I mean the things that are spoken 
by the prophets—in order that, by comparing what is said by 
us with the utterances of the others, you may be able to dis- 
cover the truth. We! have shown from their own histories, 
which they have compiled, that the names of those who are 
called gods, are found to be the names of men who lived 
among them, as we have shown above. And to this day 
their images are daily fashioned, idols, “the works of men’s 
hands.” And these the mass of foolish men serve, whilst 
they reject the maker and fashioner of all things and the 
nourisher of all breath of life, giving credit to vain doctrines 
through the deceitfulness of the senseless tradition received 

1 Benedictine editor proposes “ they.” 


100 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


from their fathers. But God at least, the Father and Creator 
of the universe, did not abandon mankind, but gave a law, 
and sent holy prophets to declare and teach the race of men, 
that each one of us might awake and understand that there 
is one God. And they also taught us to refrain from unlaw- 
ful idolatry, and adultery, and murder, fornication, theft, 
avarice, false swearing, wrath, and'every incontinence and 
uncleanness; and that whatever a man would not wish to be 
done to himself, he should not do to another; and thus he 
who acts righteously shall escape the eternal punishments, 
and be thought worthy of the eternal life from God. 


Crap. xxxv.—Precepts from the prophetic books. 


The divine law, then, not only forbids the worshipping of 
idols, but also of the heavenly bodies, the sun, the moon, or 
the other stars; yea, not heaven, nor earth, nor the sea, nor 
fountains, nor rivers, must be worshipped, but we must serve 
in holiness of heart and sincerity of purpose only the living 
and true God, who also is Maker of the universe. Where- 
fore saith the holy law: “ Thou shalt not commit adultery ; 
thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness; thou 
shalt not desire thy neighbour's wife.” So also the prophets. 
Solomon indeed teaches us that we must not sin with so 
much asa turn of the eye,' saying, “Let thine eyes look 
right on, and let thy eyelids look straight before thee.”? And 
Moses, who himself also was a prophet, says, concerning the 
sole government of God: “ Your God is He who establishes 
the heaven, and forms the earth, whose hands have brought 
forth all the host of heaven; and He has not set these things 
before you that you should go after them."? And Isaiah 
himself also says: **'Thus saith the Lord God who established 
the heavens, and founded the earth and all that is therein, 
and giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them 
that walk therein. This is the Lord your God.”* And 
again, through him He says: “I have made the earth, 
and man upon it. I by my hand have established the 


1 Literally, *' a nod." 2 Prov. iv. 25. 
5 Cf. Deut. iv. 19. 4 Isa. xlii. 5. 


H T 
5 l— À a—— — — εἶπ, am d MS b. — illie 11 Tu 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 101 


heavens.” And in another chapter, “This is your God, 
who created the ends of the earth; He hungereth not, neither 
is weary, and there is no searching of His understanding."? 
So, too, Jeremiah says: * Who hath made the earth by 
His power, and established the world by His wisdom, and 
by His discretion hath stretched out the heavens, and a 
mass of water in the heavens, and He caused the clouds to 
ascend from the ends of the earth; He made lightnings with 


rain, and brought forth winds out of His treasures.”* One. 


can see how consistently and harmoniously all the prophets 
spoke, having given utterance through one and the same 
spirit concerning the unity of God, and the creation of the 
world, and the formation of man. Moreover, they were in sore 
travail, bewailing the godless race of men, and they reproached 
those, who seemed to be wise, for their error and hardness of 
heart. Jeremiah, indeed, said: “ Every man is brutishly gone 
astray from the knowledge of Him; every founder is con- 
founded by his graven images; in vain the silversmith makes 
his molten images; there is no breath in them: in the day of 
their visitation they shall perish.”* The same, too, says David : 
‘‘ They are corrupt, they have done abominable works; there 
is none that doeth good, no, not one ; they have all gone aside, 
they have together become profitless.? So also Habakkuk : 
* What profiteth the graven image that he has graven it a lying 
image? Woe to him that saith to the stone, Awake; and to 
the wood, Arise.’* Likewise spoke the other prophets of the 
truth. And why should I recount the multitude of prophets, 
who are numerous, and said ten thousand things consistently 
and harmoniously? For those who desire it, can, by reading 
what they uttered, accurately understand the truth, and no 
longer be carried away by opinion and profitless labour. 
These, then, whom we have already mentioned, were prophets 
among the Hebrews,— illiterate, and shepherds, and unedu- 
cated. 


1 Isa. xlv. 12. 2 [ga. x]. 28. 3 Jer. x. 12, 13. 
* Jer. li. 17, 18. 5 Pg. xiv. 1, 8. 6 Hab. ii. 18. 





B Maie I 






102 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


Cap. xxxvi.—Prophecies of the Sibyl. 


And the Sibyl, who was a prophetess among the Greeks 
and the other nations, in the beginning of her prophecy, re- 
proaches the race of men, saying :— 


** How are ye still so quickly lifted up, 
And how 80 thoughtless of the end of life, 
Ye mortal men of flesh, who are but nought ? 
Do ye not tremble, nor fear God most high? 
Your overseer, the knower, seer of all, 
Who ever keeps those whom His hand first made, 
Puts His sweet Spirit into all His works, 
And gives Him for a guide to mortal men. 
There is one only uncreated God, 
Who reigns alone, all-powerful, very great, 
From whom isnothing hid. He sees all things, 
Himself unseen by any mortal eye. 
Can mortal man see the immortal God, 
Or fleshly eyes, which shun the noontide beams, 
Look upon Him who dwells beyond the heavens ὃ 
Worship Him, then, the self-cxistent God, 
The unbezotten Ruler of the world, 
Who only was from everlasting time, 
And shall to everlasting still abide. 
Of evil counsels ye shall reap the fruit, 
Because ye have not honoured the true God, 
Nor offered to Him sacred hecatombs. 
To those who dwell in Hades ye make gifts, 
And unto demons offer sacrifice. 
In madness and in pride ye have your walk ; 
And leaving the right way, ye wander wide, 
And lose yourselves in pitfalls and in thorns. 
Why do ye wander thus, O foolish men? 
Cease your vain wanderings in the black, dark night ; 
Why follow darkness and perpetual gloom 
When, see, there shines for you the blesscd light ὃ 
Lo, He is clear—in Him there is no spot. 
Turn, then, from darkness, and behold the day ; 
Be wise, and treasure wisdom in your breasts. 
There is one God who sends the winds and rains, 
The earthquakes, and the lightnings, and the plagues, 
The famines, and the snow-storms, and the ice, 
And all the woes that visit our sad race. 
Nor these alone, but all things else He gives, 





THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 108 


Ruling omnipotent in heaven and earth, 
And se}f-existent from eternity.” 


And regarding those [gods] that are said to have been born, 
she said :— 


“Tf all things that are born must also die, 

God cannot be produced by mortal man. 

But there is only One, the All-Supreme, 

Who made the heavens, with all their starry host, 
The sun and moon ; likewise the fruitful earth, 
With all the waves of ocean, and the hills, 

The fountains, and the ever flowing streams ; 
He algo made the countless multitude 

Of ocean creatures, and, He keeps alive 

All creeping things, both of the earth and sea; 
And all the tuneful choir of birds He made, 
Which cleave the air with wings, and with shrill pipe 
Trill forth at morn their tender, clear-voiced song. 
Within the deep glades of the hills He placed 

À savage race of beasts; and unto men 

He made all cattle subject, making man 

The God-formed image, ruler over all, 

And putting in subjection to his sway 

Things many and incomprehensible. 

For who of mortals can know all these things ? 
He only knows who made them at the first, 

He the Creator, incorruptible, 

Who dwells in upper air cternally ; 

Who proffers to the good most rich rewards, 
And against evil and unrighteous men 

Rouses revenge, and wrath, and bloody wars, 
And pestilence, and many a tearful grief. 

O man exalted vainly—say why thus 

Hast thou so utterly destroyed thyself ? 

Have ye no shame worshipping beasts for gods? 
And to believe the gods should steal your beasts, 
Or that they need your vessels—is it not 
Frenzy's most profitless and foolish thought ? 
Instead of dwelling in the golden heavens, 

Ye see your gods become the prey of worms, 
And hosts of creatures noisome and unclean. 

O fools! ye worship serpenta, dogs, and cats, 
Birds, and the creeping things of earth and sea, 
Images made with hands, statues of stone, 

And heaps of rubbish by the wayside placed. 


104 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


All these, and many more vain things, ye serve, 
Worshipping things disgraceful even to name: 
These are the gods who lead vain men astray, 
From whose mouth streams of deadly poison flow. 
But unto Him in whom alone is life, 

Life, and undying, everlasting light ; 

Who pours into man's cup of life a joy 

Sweeter than sweetest honey to his taste,— 
Unto Him bow the head, to Him alone, 

And walk in ways of everlasting peace. 
Forsaking Him, ye all have turned aside, 

And, in your raving folly, drained the cup 

Of justice quite unmixed, pure, mastering, strong ; 
And ye will not again be sober men, 

Ye will not come unto a sober mind, 

And know your God and King, who looks on all: 
Therefore, upon you burning fire shall come, 
And ever ye shall daily burn in flames, 

Ashamed for ever of your useless gods. 

But those who worship the eternal God, 

They shall inherit everlasting life, 

Inhabiting the blooming realms of bliss, 

And feasting on sweet food from starry heaven.” 


That these things are true, and useful, and just, and profit- 
able to all men, is obvious. Even the poets have spoken of 
the punishments of the wicked. 


CHAP. XXxvi1.—The testimontes of the poets. 


And that evil-doers must necessarily be punished in pro- 
portion to their deeds, has already been, as it were, oracularly 
uttered by some of the poets, as a witness both against them- 
selves and against the wicked, declaring that they shall be 
punished. -Aéschylus said: 


" He who has done must also suffer." 
And Pindar himself said : 

* It is fit that suffering follow doing." 
So, too, Euripides: 


** The deed rejoiced you—suffering endure; 
The taken enemy must needs be pain'd." 


4 





THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 105 


And again: 
‘* The foe's pain is the hero's meed.” 
And, similarly, Archilochus: 
* One thing I know, I hold it ever true, 
The evil-doer evil shall endure.” 
And that God sees all, and that nothing escapes His notice, 
but that, being long-suffering, He refrains until the time when 
He is to judge—concerning this, too, Dionysius said : 
“ The eye of Justice seeing all, 
Yet seemeth not to see." 
And that God's judgment is to be, and that evils will sud- 
denly overtake the wicked,—this, too, /Eschylus declared, 
saying: 
* Swift-footed is the approach of fate, 
And none can justice violate, 
But feels its stern hand soon or late. 
"Tis with you, though unheard, unseen ; 
You draw night’s curtain in between, 
But even sleep affords no screen. 
"Tis with you if you sleep or wake; 
And if abroad your way you take, 
Its still, stern watch you cannot break. 
"T will follow you, or cross your path ; 
And even night no virtue hath 
To hide you from th' Avenger's wrath. 
To show the ill the derkness flees ; 
Then, if sin offers joy or case, 
Oh stop, and think that some one sees!” 
And may we not cite Simonides also ? 
* To men no evil comes unheralded ; 
But God with sudden hand transforms all things." 
Euripides again: 
^ The wicked and proud man's prosperity 
Is based on sand : his race abideth not ; 
And time proclaims tho wickedness of men." 
Once more Euripides: 


* Not, without judgment is the Deity, 
But sees when oaths are struck unrighteously, 
And when from men unwilling they are wrung.” 


? 


106 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


And Sophocles: 
*: If ills you do, ills also you must bear." 

That God will make inquiry both concerning false swearing 
and concerning every other wickedness, they themselves have 
well-nigh predicted. And concerning the conflagration of 
the world, they have, willingly or unwillingly, spoken in 
conformity with the prophets, though they were much more 
recent, and stole these things from the law and the prophets. 
The poets corroborate the testimony of the prophets. 


Car. xxxvit1.—The teachings of the Greek poets and philo- 
sophers confirmatory of those of the Hebrew prophets. 


But what matters it whether they were before or after 
them? Certainly they did at all events utter things con- 
firmatory of the prophets. «Concerning the burning up of 
the world, Malachi the prophet foretold: * The day of the 
Lord cometh as a burning oven, and shall consume all the 
wicked."! And Isaiah: “For the wrath of God is as a 
violent hail-storm, and as a rushing mountain torrent."? The 
Sibyl, then, and the other prophets, yea, and the poets and 
philosophers, have clearly taught both concerning righteous- 
ness, and judgment, and punishment; and also concerning 
providence, that God cares for us, not only for the living 
among us, but also for those that are dead: though, indeed, 
they said this unwillingly, for they were convinced by the 
truth. And among the prophets indeed, Solomon said of the 
dead, “ There shall be healing to thy flesh, and care taken 
of thy bones"? And the same says David, “The bones 
which Thou hast broken shall rejoice."* And in agreement 
with these sayings was that of Timocles: 


‘‘ The dead are pitied by the loving God.” 


And the writers who spoke of a multiplicity of gods came 
at length to the doctrine of the unity of God, and those who 
asserted chance spoke also of providence; and the advocates 
of impunity confessed there would be a judgment, and those 


1 Mal. iv. 1. 2 Isa. xxx. 30. 
3 Prov. iii. 8. * Ps. li. 8. 





THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 107 


who denied that there is sensation after death acknowledged 
that there is. Homer, accordingly, though he had said, 

* Like flecting vision passed the soul away," ! 
says in another place: | 

** To Hades went the disembodied soul ;" 3 
And again: 

*t That I may quickly pass through Hades’ gates, 

Mo bury." ? 

And as regards the others whom you have read, I think 
you know with sufficient accuracy how they have expressed 
themselves. But all these things will every one understand 
who seeks the wisdom of God, and is well pleasing to Him 
through faith and righteousness and the doing of good works. 
For one of the prophets whom we already mentioned, Hosea 
by name, said, “ Who is wise, and he shall understand these 
things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of 
the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the 
transgressors shall fall therein."* He, then, who is desirous of 
learning, should learn much. Endeavour therefore to meet 
[with me] more frequently, that, by hearing the living voice, 
you may accurately ascertain the truth. 

10d.xi.291. ?1L.xvi.856. xxiii. 71. 4 Hos, xiv. 9. 

5 We have adopted the reading of Wolf in the text. The reading of 
the mss. is, '* He who desires to learn should desire to learn." Perhaps 
the most satisfactory emendation is that of Heumann, who reads (Aog v- 
θεὶν instead of φιλορεαθεῖν: “δ who desires to learn should also desire to 
discuss subjects, and hold conversations on them." In this case, Theo- 
philus most probably borrows his remark from Aristotle, Afetaphysic. i. 


c. 2. 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


BOOK III. 


Cuap. 1.—Autolycus not yet convinced. 


Fe EH EOPHILUS to Autolycus, greeting : Sceing 
ΜΕ ΝΕ that writers are fond of composing a multitude 

ΕἾ of books for vainglory,—some concerning gods, 
and wars, and chronology, and some, too, con- 
cerning useless legends, and othér such labour in vain, in 
which you also have been used to employ yourself until 
now, and do not grudge to endure that toil; but though you 
conversed with me, are still of opinion that the word of 
truth is an idle tale, and suppose that our writings are recent 
and modern ;—on this account I also will not grudge the 
labour of compendiously setting forth to you, God helping 
me, the antiquity of our books, reminding you of it in few 
words, that you may not grudge the labour of reading it, but 
may recognise the folly of the other authors. 





Crap. 11.—Profane authors had no means of knowing the 
truth. 


For it was fit that they who wrote should themselves have 
been eye-witnesses of those things concerning which they 
made assertions, or should accurately have ascertained them 
from those who had seen them ; for they who write of things 
unascertained beat the air. For what did it profit Homer to 
have composed the Trojan war, and to have deceived many ; 
or Hesiod, the register of the theogony of those whom he 
calls gods; or Orpheus, the three hundred and sixty-five 

108 





THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 109 


gods, whom in the end of his life he rejects, maintaining in 
his precepts that there is one God? What profit did the 
spherography of the world's circle confer on Aratus, or those 
who held the same doctrine as he, except glory among men? 
And not even that did they reap as they deserved. And 
what truth did they utter? Or what good did their tragedies 
do to Euripides and Sophocles, or the other tragedians? Or 
their comedies to Menander and Aristophanes, and the other 
comedians? Or their histories to Herodotus and Thucydides? 
Or the shrines’ and the pillars of Hercules to Pythagoras, 
or the Cynic philosophy to Diogenes? What good did it do 
Epicurus to maintain that there is no providence; or Empe- 
docles to teach atheism; or Socrates to swear by the dog, 
and the goose, and the plane-tree, and ZEsculapius struck by 
lightning, and the demons whom he invoked? And why did 
he willingly die?. What reward, or of what kind, did he 
expect to receive after death? What did Plato's system of 
culture profit him? Or what benefit did the rest of the 
philosophers derive from their doctrines, not to enumerate 
the whole of them, since they are numerous? But these 
things we say, for the purpose of exhibiting their useless and 
godless opinions. 


CHAP. 111.— Their contradictions. 


For all these, having fallen in love with vain and empty 
reputation, neither themselves knew the truth, nor guided 
others to the truth: for the things which they said them- 
selves convict them of speaking inconsistently; and most of 
them demolished their own doctrines. For not only did they 
refute one another, but some, too, even stultified their own 
teachings; so that their reputation has issued in shame and 
folly, for they are condemned by men of understanding. For 
either they made assertions concerning the gods, and after- 
wards taught that there was no god; or if they spoke even 
of the creation of the world, they finally said that all things 
were produced spontaneously. Yea, and even speaking of 


1 While in Egypt, Pythagoras was admitted to the penetralia of the 
temples and the arcana of religion." 


110 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


providence, they taught again that the world was not ruled 
by providence. But what? Did they not, when they essayed 
to write even of honourable conduct, teach the perpetration 
of lasciviousness, and fornication, and adultery ; and did they 
not introduce hateful and unutterable wickedness? And 
they proclaim that their gods took the lead in committing 
unutterable acts of adultery, and in monstrous banquets. 
For who does not sing Saturn devouring his own children, 
and Jove his son gulping down Metis, and preparing for the 
gods a horrible feast, at which also they say that Vulcan, a 
lame blacksmith, did the waiting; and how Jove not only 
married Juno, his own sister, but also with foul mouth did 
abominable wickedness? And the rest of his deeds, as many 
as the poets sing, it is likely you are acquainted with. Why 
need I further recount the deeds of Neptune and Apollo, or 
Bacchus and Hercules, of the bosom-loving Minerva, and the 
shameless Venus, since in another place! we have given a 
more accurate account of these ? 


CrAP. 1v.—How Autolycus had been misled by false accusa- 
tions against the Christians. 


Nor indeed was there any necessity for my refuting these, 
except that I see you still in dubiety about the word of the 
truth. For though yourself prudent, you endure fools gladly. 
Otherwise you would not have been moved by senseless men 
to yield yourself to empty words, and to give credit to the 
prevalent rumour wherewith godless lips falsely accuse us, 
who are worshippers of God, and are called Christians, 
alleging that the wives of us all are held in common and 
made promiscuous use of; and that we even commit. incest 
with our own sisters, and, what is most impious and barbarous 
of all, that we eat human flesh. But further, they say that 
our doctrine has but recently come to light, and that we have 
nothing to allege in proof of what we receive as truth, nor of 
our teaching, but that our doctrine is foolishness. 1 wonder, 
then, chiefly that you, who in other matters are studious, and 
a scrutinizer of all things, give but a careless hearing to us. 

1 Viz. in the first book to Autolycus. 


a = - ! | | T mien "u . . T— 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 111 


For, if it were possible for you, you would not grudge to 
spend the night in the libraries. 


Cuap. v.—Philosophers inculcate cannibalism. 


Since, then, you have read much, what is your opinion of 
the precepts of Zeno, and Diogenes, and Cleanthes, which 
their books contain, inculcating the eating of human flesh : 
that fathers be cooked and eaten by their own children ; and 
that if any one refuse or reject a part of this infamous food, 
he himself be devoured who will not eat? An utterance 
even more godless than these is found,—that, namely, of 
Diogenes, who teaches children to bring their own parents 
in sacrifice, and devour them. And does not the historian 
Herodotus narrate that Cambyses,! when he had slaughtered 
the children of Harpagus, cooked them also, and set them as 
a meal before their father? And, still further, he narrates 
that among the Indians the parents are eaten by their own 
children. Oh! the godless teaching of those who recorded, 
yea, rather, inculcated such things! Oh! their wickedness 
and godlessness! Oh! the conception of those who thus 
accurately philosophized, and profess philosophy! For they 
who taught these doctrines have filled the world with iniquity. 


Cup. vi.— Other opinions of the philosophers. 


And regarding lawless conduct, those who have blindly 
wandered into the choir of philosophy have, almost to a man, 
spoken with one voice. Certainly Plato, to mention him first 
who seems to have been the most respectable philosopher 
among them, expressly, as it wore, legislates in his first book, 
entitled The Republic, that the wives of all be common, using 
the precedent of the son? of Jupiter and the lawgiver of the 
Cretans, in order that under this pretext there might be an 
abundant offspring from the best persons, and that those who 
were worn with toil might be comforted by such intercourse.* 


1 It was not Cambyses, but Astyages, who did this; see IIcrod. i. 119. 

3 Not in the first, but the fifth book of the Republic. 3 Minos. 

* As this sentence cannot be intelligibly rendered without its original 
in Plato, we gubjoin the latter: ‘‘ As for those youths who excel either 


M— 


112 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


And Epicurus himself, too, as well as teaching atheism, 
teaches along with it incest with mothers and sisters, and this 
in transgression of the laws which forbid it; for Solon dis- 
tinctly legislated regarding this, in order that from a married 
parent children might lawfully spring, that they might not 
be born of adultery, so that no one should honour as his 
father him who was not his father, or dishonour him who was 
really his father, through ignorance that he was so. And 
these things the other laws of the Romans and Greeks also 
prohibit. Whiy, then, do Epicurus and the Stoics teach incest 
and sodomy, with which doctrines they have filled libraries, 
so that from boyhood this lawless intercourse is learned? 
And why should I further spend time on them, since even of 
those they call gods they relate similar things ? 


Cirar. vir.— Varying doctrine concerning the gods. 


For after they had said that these are gods, they again 
made them of no account. For some said that they were 
composed of atoms; and others, again, that they eventuate in 
atoms; and they say that the gods have no more power than 
men. Plato, too, though he says these are gods, would have 
them composed of matter. And Pythagoras, after he had 
made such a toil and moil about the gods, and travelled up 
and down [for information], at last determines that all things 
are produced naturally and spontaneously, and that the gods 
care nothing for men. And how many atheistic opinions 
Clitomachus the academician introduced, [I need not re- 
count.] And did not Critias and Protagoras of Abdera 
say, “For whether the gods exist, I am not able to affirm 
concerning them, nor to explain of what nature they are ; for 
there are many things would prevent me"? And to speak of 
the opinions of the most atheistical, Euhemerus, is superfluous. 
For having made many daring assertions concerning the gods, 
he at last would absolutely deny their existence, and have all 


in war or other pursuits, they ought both to have other rewards and 
prizes given them ; and specially this, of being allowed the freest inter- 
course with women, that, at the same time, under this pretext the 
greatest number of children may spring from such parents.” 





TIIEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 113 


things to be governed by self-regulated action. And Plato, 
who spoke so much of the unity of God and of the soul of 
man, asserting that the soul is immortal, is not he himself 
afterwards found, inconsistently with himself, to maintain that 
some souls pass into other men, and that others take their 
departure into irrational animals? How can his doctrine fail 
to seem dreadful and monstrous—to those at least who have 
any judgment—that he who was once a man shall after- 
wards be a wolf, or a dog, or an ass, or some other irrational 
brute? Pythagoras, too, is found venting similar nonsense, 
besides his demolishing providence. Which of them, then, 
shall we believe? Philemon, the comic poet, who says, 
** Good hope have they who praise and serve the gods ;” 
or those whom we have mentioned—Euhemerus, and Epi- 
curus, and Pythagoras, and the others who deny that the 
gods are to be worshipped, and who abolish providence? 
Concerning God and providence, Ariston said : 
** Bo of good courage : God will still preserve 

And greatly help all those who so deserve. 

If no promotion waits on faithful men, 

Say what advantage goodness offers then. 

"Tis granted—yet I often see the just 

Faring but ill, from ev'ry honour thrust ; 

While they whose own advancement is their aim, 

Oft in this present life have all they claim. 

But we must look beyond, and wait the end, 

That consummation to which all things tend. 

"Tis not, as vain and wicked men have said, 

By an unbridled destiny we're led : 

It is not blinded chance that rules the world, 

Nor uncontrolled are all things onward hurled. 

The wicked blinds himself with this belief ; 

But be ye sure, of all rewards, the chief 

Is still reserved for those who holy live ; 

And Providence to wicked men vill give 

Only the just reward which is their meed, 

And fitting punishment for each bad decd.” 

And one can see how inconsistent with cach other are the 
things which others, and indeed almost the majority, have said 
about God and providence. For some have absolutely can- 

1 αὐτοματισμῷ. 
If 


114 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


celled God and providence ; and others, again, have affirmed 
God, and have avowed that all things are governed by provi- 
dence. The intelligent hearer and reader must therefore give 
minute attention to their expressions; as also Simylus said: 
“Tt is the custom of the poets to name by a common designa- 
tion the surpassingly wicked and the excellent; we therefore 
must discriminate.” As also Philemon says: “A senseless 
man who sits and merely hears is a troublesome feature; for 
he does not blame himself, so foolish is he.” We must then 
give attention, and consider what is said, critically inquiring 
into what has been uttered by the philosophers and the poets. 


Caap. vitl.— Wickedness attributed to the gods by heathen 
writers. 


For, denying that there are gods, they again acknowledge 
their existence, and they said they committed grossly wicked 
deeds. And, first, of Jove the poets euphoniously sing the 
wicked actions. And Chrysippus, who talked a deal of non- 
sense, is he not found publishing that Juno had the foulest 
intercourse with Jupiter? For why should I recount the 
impurities of the so-called mother of the gods, or of Jupiter 
Latiaris thirsting for human blood, or the castrated Attis; or 
of Jupiter, surnamed Tragedian, and how he defiled himself, 
as they say, and now is worshipped among the Romans as a 
god? Iam silent about the temples of Antinous, and of thie 
others whom you call gods. For when related to sensible 
persons, they excite laughter. They who elaborated such a 
philosophy regarding either the non-existence of God, or pro- 
miscuous intercourse and beastly concubinage, are themselves 
condemned by their own teachings. Moreover, we find from 
the writings they composed that the eating of human flesh 
was received among them; and they record that those whom 
they honour as gods were the first to do these things. 


Cuap. 1X.— Christian doctrine of God and His law. 


Now we also confess that God exists, but that He is one, 
the creator, and maker, and fashioner of this universe; and 
we know that all things are arranged by His providence, but 





THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 115 


by Him alone. And we have learned a holy law; but we 
have as lawgiver Him who is really God, who teaches us to 
act righteously, and to be pious, and to do good. And con- 
cerning piety’ He says, “Thou shalt have no other gods 
before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven 
image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, 
or that is in the earth beneath, or that 1s in the water under 
the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor 
serve them: for I am the Lord thy God.”? And of doing 
good He said: ‘ Honour thy father and thy mother; that it 
may be well with thee, and that thy days may be long in the 
land which I the Lord God give thee." Again, concerning 
righteousness: “Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou 
shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear 
false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet 
thy neighbour's wife, thou shalt not covet thy neighbours 
house, nor his land, nor his man-servant, nor his maid- 
servant, nor his ox, nor his beast of burden, nor any of his 
cattle nor anything that is thy neighbour's. Thou shalt not 
wrest the judgment of the poor in his cause? From every 
unjust matter keep thee far. The innocent and righteous 
thou shalt not slay; thou shalt not justify the wicked; and 
thou shalt not take a gift, for gifts blind the eyes of them 
that see and pervert righteous words.” Of this divine law, 
then, Moses, who also was God’s servant, was made the 
minister both to all the world, and chiefly to the Hebrews, 
who were also called Jews, whom an Egyptian king had in 
ancient days enslaved, and who were the righteous seed of 
godly and holy men—Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. God, 
being mindful of them, and doing marvellous and strange 
miracles by the hand of Moses, delivered them, and led them 
out of Egypt, leading them through what is called the desert ; 
whom He also settled again in the land of Canaan, which 
afterwards was called Judea, and gave them a law, and taught 
them these things. Of this great and wonderful law, which 
tends to all righteousness, the ten heads are such as we have 
already rehearsed. 


1 Or, right worship. 3 Ex. xx. 9. 8 Ex. xxiii. 6. 


116 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


Cuap. x.— Of humanity to strangers. 


Since therefore they were strangers in the land of Egypt, 
being by birth Hebrews from the land of Chaldza,—for at 
that time, there being a famine, they were obliged to migrate 
to Egypt for the sake of buying food there, where also for a 
time they sojourned; and these things befell them in accord- 
ance with a prediction of God, —having sojourned, then, in 
Egypt for 430 years, when Moses was about to lead them 
out into the desert, God taught them by the law, saying, 
* Ye shall not afflict a stranger; for ye know the heart of 
a stranger: for yourselves were strangers in the land of . 


Egypt." 
Cuap. x1.— Of repentance. 


And when the people transgressed the law which had been 
given to them by God, God being good and pitiful, unwilling 
to destroy them, in addition to His giving them the law, 
afterwards sent forth also prophets to them from among their 
brethren, to teach and remind them of the contents of the law, 
and to turn them to repentance, that they might sin no more. 
But if they persisted in their wicked deeds, He forewarned 
them that they should be delivered into subjection to all the 
kingdoms of the earth; and that this has already happened 
them, is manifest. Concerning repentance, then, Isaiah the 
prophet, generally indeed to all, but expressly to the people, 
says: “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye 
upon Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his 
ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him 
return unto the Lord his God, and he will find mercy, for 
He will abundantly pardon.”* And another prophet, Ezckiel, 
says: “If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath 
committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is 
right in my sight, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All 
his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be 
mentioned unto him; but in his righteousness that he hath 
done he shall live: for I desire not the death of the sinner, 

1 Tao. lv. 6. 





TIIEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. : 117 


saith the Lord, but that he turn from his wicked way, and 
live"! Again Isaiah: **Ye who take deep and wicked 
counsel, turn ye, that ye may be saved.”* And another pro- 
phet, Jeremiah : * Turn to the Lord your God, as a grape- 
gatherer to his basket, and ye shall find mercy.”* Many 
therefore, yea rather, countless are the sayings in the Holy 
Scriptures regarding repentance, God being always desirous 
that tlie race of men turn from all their sins. | 


Crap. x11.— Of righteousness. 


Moreover, concerning the righteousness which the law 
enjoined, confirmatory utterances are found both with the 
prophets and in the Gospels, because they all spoke inspired 
by one Spirit of God. Isaiah accordingly spoke thus: “ Put 
away the evil of your doings from your souls; learn to do 
well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the father- 
less, plead for the widow.”* And again the same prophet said: 
“Loose every band of wickedness, dissolve every oppressive 
contract, let the oppressed go free, and tear up every un- 
righteous bond. Deal out thy bread to the hungry, and bring 
the houseless poor to thy home. When thou seest the naked, 
cover him, and hide not thyself from thine own flesh. Then 
shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health 
shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go 
before thee."? In like manner also Jeremiah says: “ Stand 
in the ways, and see, and ask which is the good way of the 
Lord your God, and walk in it, and ye shall find rest for your 
souls, Judge just judgment, for in this is the will of the 
Lord your God."* So also says Hosea: * Keep judgment, 
and draw near to your God, who established the heavens and 
created the earth."" And another, Joel, spoke in agreement 
with these: * Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, 
assemble the elders, gather the children that are in arms; let 
the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of 
her closet, and pray to the Lord thy God urgently that He 
may have mercy upon you, and blot out your sins"? In like 


1 Ezek. xviii. 21. — ? Tea. xxxi. 6. —? Jer. vi. 9. — *Isa. i. 16, 17. 
δ Isa. lviii. 6. 5 Jer. vi. 16. T Hos, xii. 6. *Joelii. 16. 


"- 


/ 


118 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


manner also another, Zachariah: “Thus saith the Lord 
Almighty, Execute true judgment, and show mercy and com- 
passion every man to his brother; and oppress not the widow, 
nor the fatherless, nor the stranger; and let none of you 
imagine evil against his brother in your heart, saith the Lord 


Almighty."! 
Caap. xirt.— Of chastity. 


And concerning chastity, the holy word teaches us not only 
not to sin in act, but not even in thought, not even in the 
heart to think of any evil, nor looking on another man’s wife 
with our eyes to lust after her. Solomon, accordingly, who 
was a king and a prophet, said: “ Let thine eyes look right 
on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee: make 
straight paths for your feet."? And the voice of the gospel 
teaches still more urgently concerning chastity, saying: 
‘Whosoever looketh on a woman who is not his own wife, to 
lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in 
his heart."? * And he that marrieth,” says [the gospel], * her 
that is divorced from her husband, committeth adultery ; 
and whosoever putteth away his wife, saving for the cause 
of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery.”* Because 
Solomon says: * Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his 
clothes not be burned? Or can one walk upon hot coals, and 
his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to a married 
woman shall not be innocent."? 


Cuap. x1v.— Of loving our enemies. 


And that we should be kindly disposed, not only towards 
those of our own stock, as some suppose, Isaiah the prophet 
said: “Say to those that hate you, and that cast you out, 
Ye are our brethren, that the name of the Lord may be 
glorified, and be apparent in their joy."* And the gospel 
says: * Love your enemies, and pray for them that despite- 
fully use you. For if ye love them who love you, what 
reward have ye? This do also the robbers and the publicans."' 


1 Zech. vii. 9, 10. ? Prov. iv. 25.  ?Matt.v. 28. 4 Matt. v. 32. 
5 Prov. vi. 27-99. 6154. Ixvi.5. |. 7 Matt. v. 44. 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 119 


And those that do good it teaches not to boast, lest they 
become men-pleasers. For it says: “Let not your left 
hand know what your right hand doeth."! Moreover, con- 
cerning subjection to authorities and powers, and prayer for 
them, the divine word gives us instructions, in order that 
* we may lead a quiet and peaceable life."? And it teaches 
us to render all things to all? “honour to whom honour, fear 
to whom fear, tribute to whom tribute; to owe no man any- 
thing, but to love all." | 


Cuap. xv.— The innocence of the Christians defended. 


Consider, therefore, whether those who teach such things 
can possibly live indifferently, and be commingled in unlawful 
intercourse, or, most impious of all, eat human flesh, espe- 
cially when we are forbidden so much as to witness shows of 
gladiators, lest we become partakers and abettors of murders. 
But neither may we see the other spectacles, lest our eyes 
and ears be defiled, participating in the utterances there sung. 
For if one should speak of cannibalism, in these spectacles 
the children of Thyestes and Tereus are eaten; and as for 
adultery, both in the case of men and of gods, whom they 
celebrate in elegant language for honours and prizes, this 
is made the subject of their dramas. But far be it from 
Christians to conceive any such deeds; for with them tem- 
perance dwells, self-restraint is practised, monogamy is ob- 
served, chastity is guarded, iniquity exterminated, sin extir- 
pated, righteousness exercised, law administered, worship 
performed, God acknowledged: truth governs, grace guards, 
peace screens them; the holy word guides, wisdom teaches, 
life directs, God reigns. Therefore, though we have much 
to say regarding our manner of life, and the ordinances of 
God, the maker of all creation, we yet consider that we have 
for the present reminded you of enough to induce you to 
study these things, especially since you can now read [our 
writings | for yourself, that as you have been fond of acquiring 
information, you may still be studious in this direction also. 


1 Matt. vi. 9. 21 Tim. ii. 2. 
3 Rom. xiii. 7, 8. * At the theatres. 


120 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


CHAP. xv1.— Uncertain conjectures of the philosophers. 


But I wish now to give you a more accurate demonstration, 
God helping me, of the historical periods, that you may see 
that our doctrine is not modern nor fabulous, but more ancient 
and true than all poets and authors who have written in 
uncertainty. For some, maintaining that the world was 
uncreated, went into infinity ;! and others, asserting that it 
was created, said that already 153,075 years had passed. 
This is stated by Apollonius the Egyptian. And Plato, who 
is esteemed to have been the wisest of the Greeks, into what 
nonsense did he run? For in his book entitled The Republic,’ 
we find him expressly saying: “ For if things had in all time 
remained in their present arrangement, when ever could any 
new thing be discovered? For ten thousand times ten thou- 
sand years elapsed without record, and one thousand or twice 
as many years have gone by since some things were discovered 
by Daedalus, and some by Orpheus, and some by Palamedes." 
And when he says that these things happened, he implies that 
ten thousand times ten thousand years elapsed from the flood 
to Dedalus. And after he has said a great deal about the : 
cities of the world, and the settlements, and the nations, he 
owns that he has said these things conjecturally. For he 
says, *If then, my friend, some god should promise us, that 
if we attempted to make a survey of legislation, the things 
now said," ? etc., which shows that he was speaking by guess; 
and if by guess, then what he says is not true. 


CHAP. XvII.—.Accurate information of the Christians. 


It behoved, therefore, that he should the rather become a 
scholar of God in this matter of legislation, as he himself 
confessed that in no other way could he gain accurate 


1 i.e. tracing back its history through an infinite duration. 

2 The following quotation is not from the Republic, but from the third 
book of the Laws. 

3 Plato goes on to say, that if he had this pledge of divine assistance, 
he would go further in his speculation ; and therefore Theophilus argues 
that what he said without this assistance he felt to be unsafe. 





THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 121 


information than by God's teaching him through the law. 
And did not the poets Homer and Hesiod and Orpheus 
profess that they themselves had been instructed by Divine 
Providence? Moreover, it is said that among your writers 
there were prophets and prognosticators, and that those wrote 
accurately who were informed by them. How much more, 
then, shall zce know the truth who are instructed by the holy 
prophets, who were possessed by! the Holy Spirit of: God! 
On this account all the prophets spoke harmoniously and in 
agreement with one another, and foretold the things that 
would come to pass in all the world. For the very accom- 
plishment of predicted and already consummated events 
should demonstrate to those who are fond of information, 
yea rather, who are lovers of truth, that those things are 
really true which they declared concerning the epochs and 
eras before the deluge: to wit, how the years have run on 
since the world was created until now, so as to manifest the 
ridiculous mendacity of your authors, and show that their 
statements are not true. 


Cuar. xvirr.— Errors of the Greeks about the deluge. 


For Plato, as we said above, when he had demonstrated 
that a deluge had happened, said that it extended not over 
the whole earth, but only over the plains, and that those who 
fled to the highest hills saved themselves. But others say 
that there existed Deucalion and Pyrrha, and that they were 
preserved in a chest; and that Deucalion, after he came out 
of the chest, flung stones behind him, and that men were 
produced from the stones; from which circumstance they say 
that men in the mass are named “ people.”* Others, again, 
say that Clymenus existed in a second flood. From what has 
already been said, it is evident that they who wrote such 
things and philosophized to so little purpose are miserable, 
and very profane and senseless persons. But Moses, our 
prophet and the servant of God, in giving an account of the 
genesis of the world, related in what manner the flood came 

1 Literally, ‘‘ contained.” 
3 rads, from Ades, stone. 


- 


122 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


upon the earth, telling us, besides, how the details of the flood 
came about, and relating no fable of Pyrrha nor of Deucalion 
or Clymenus; nor, forsooth, that only the plains were sub- 
merged, and that those only who escaped to the mountains 
were saved. 


Cuar. XIx.— Accurate account of the deluge. 


And neither does he make out that there was a second 
flood : on the contrary, he said that never again would there 
be a flood of water on the world ; as neither indeed has there 
been, nor ever shall be. And he says that eight human 
beings were preserved in the ark, in that which had been 
prepared by God's direction, not by Deucalion, but by Noah; 
which Hebrew word means in English! “rest,” as we have 
elsewhere shown that Noah, when he announced to the men 
then alive that there was a flood coming, prophesied to them, 
saying, Come hither, God calls you to repentance. On this 
account he was fitly called Deucalion.? And this Noah had 
three sons (as we mentioned in the second book), whose 
names were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth; and these had 
three wives, one wife each; each man and his wife. This 
man some have surnamed Eunuchus. All the eight persons, 
therefore, who were found in the ark were preserved. And 
Moses showed that the flood lasted forty days and forty 
nights, torrents pouring from heaven, and from the fountains 
of the deep breaking up, so that the water overtopped every 
high hill 15 cubits. And thus the race of all the men that 
then were was destroyed, and those only who were protected 
in the ark were saved; and these, we have already said, were 
eight. And of the ark, the remains are to this day to be seen 
in the Arabian mountains. This, then, is in sum the history 
of the deluge. 


Cuar. xx.—Antiquity of Moses. 


And Moses, becoming the leader of the Jews, as we have 
already stated, was expelled from the land of Egypt by the 


1 Literally, in Greek, ὠνάπαυσις. 
3 Deucalion, from Δεῦτε, come, and καλέω, I call. 





THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 123 


king, Pharaoh, whose name was Amasis, and who, they say, 
reigned after the expulsion of the people 25 years and 4 
months, as Manetho assumes. And after him [reigned] 
Chebron, 13 years. And after him Amenophis, 20 years 
7 months. And after him his sister Amessa, 21 years 1 
month. And after her Mephres, 12 years 9 months. And 
after him Methramuthosis, 20 years and 10 months. And 
after him Tythmoses, 9 years 8 months. And after him 
Damphenophis, 30 years 10 months. And after him Orus, 
35 years 5 months. And after him his daughter, 10 years 
3 months. After her Mercheres, 12 years 3 months. And 
after him his son Armais, 30 years 1 month. After him 
Messes, son of Miammus, 6 years 2 months. After him 
Rameses, 1 year 4 months. After him Amenophis, 19 years 
6 months. After him his sons Thoessus and Rameses, 10 
years, who, it is said, had a large cavalry force and naval 
equipment. The Hebrews, indeed, after their own separate 
history, having at that time migrated into the land of Egypt, 
and been enslaved by the king Tethmosis, as already said, 
built for him strong cities, Peitho, and Rameses, and On, 
which is Heliopolis; so that the Hebrews, who also are our 
ancestors, and from whom we have those sacred books which 
are older than all authors, as already said, are proved to be 
more ancient than the cities which were at that time re- 
nowned among the Egyptians. And the country was called 
Egypt from the king Sethos. For the word Sethos, they 
say, is pronounced * Egypt."! And Sethos had a brother, by 
name Armais. He is called Danaus, the same who passed 
from Egypt to Argos, whom the other authors mention as 
being of very ancient date. 


Cuap. xx1.— Of Manetho’s inaccuracy. 


And Manetho, who among the Egyptians gave out a great 
deal of nonsense, and even impiously charged Moses and the 
Hebrews who accompanied him with being banished from 
Egypt on account of leprosy, could give no accurate chrono- 
logical statement. For when he said they were shepherds, 

1 Or, reading ὁ γὰρ Ξέθω;, ‘‘ Sethos is also called Egyptus.” 


in ἱβ 


124 TIIEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


and enemies of the Egyptians, he uttered truth indeed, 
because he was forced to do so. For our forefathers who 
sojourned in Egypt were truly shepherds, but not lepers. 
For when they came into the land called Jerusalem, where 
also they afterwards abode, it is well known how their priests, 
in pursuance of the appointment of God, continued in the 
temple, and there healed every disease, so that they cured 
lepers and every unsoundness. The temple was built by 
Solomon the king of Judza. And from Manetho's own 
statements his chronological error is manifest. (As it is also 
in respect of the king who expelled them, Pharaoh by name. 
For he no longer ruled them. For having pursued the 
Hebrews, he and his army were engulphed in the Red Sea. 
And he is in error still further, in saying that shepherds made 
war against the Egyptians.) For they went out of Egypt, 
and thenceforth dwelt in the country now called Judza, 313! . 
years before Danaus came to Argos. And that most people 
consider him older than any other of the Greeks is manifest. 
So that Manetho has unwillingly declared to us, by his own 
writings, two particulars of the truth: first, avowing that 
they were shepherds; secondly, saying that. they went out of 
the land of Egypt. So that even from these writings Moses 
and his followers are proved to be 900 or even 1000 years 
prior to the Trojan war.’ 


Cnar. xxtiI.— Antiquity of the temple. 


Then concerning the building of the temple in Judza, 
which Solomon the king built 566 years after the exodus of 
the Jews from Egypt, there is among the Tyrians a record 
how the temple was built; and in their archives writings have 
been preserved, in which the temple is proved to have existed 
143? years 8 months before the Tyrians founded Carthage 
(and this record was made by Hiram‘ (that is the name of 
the king of the Tyrians), the son of Abimalus, on account of 
the hereditary friendship which existed between Hiram and 

1 The Bened. editor shows that this should be 398 years. 


2 The correct date would be about 400 years. 
3 Others read 134 years. * Literally, Hieromus. 


1HEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 125 


Solomon, and at the same time on account of the surpassing 
wisdom possessed by Solomon. For they continually engaged 
with each other in discussing difficult problems. And proof 
of this exists in their correspondence, which to this day is 
preserved among the Tyrians, and the writings that passed - 
between them) ; as Menander the Ephesian, while narrating 
the history of the Tyrian kingdom, records, speaking thus: 
* For when Abimalus the king of the Tyrians died, his 
son Hiram succeeded to the kingdom. He lived 53 years. 
And Bazorus succeeded him, who lived 43, and reigned 17 
years. And after him followed Methuastartus, who lived 54 
years, and reigned 12. And after him succeeded his brother 
Atharymus, who iived 58 years, and reigned 9. He was 
slain by his brother of the name of Helles, who lived 50 
years, and reigned 8 months. He was killed by Juthobalus, 
priest of Astarte, who lived 40 years, and reigned 12. He 
was succeeded by his son Bazorus, who lived 45 years, and 
reigned 7. And to him his son Metten succeeded, who lived 
32 years, and reigned 29. Pygmalion, son of Pygmalius, 
succeeded him, who lived 56 years, and reigned 7. And in 
the 7th year of his reign, his sister, fleeing to Libya, built 
the city which to this day is called Carthage.” The whole 
period, therefore, from the reign of Hiram to the founding of 
Carthage, amounts to 155 years and 8 months. And in the 
12th year of the reign of Hiram the temple in Jerusalem was 
built. So that the entire time from the building of the 
temple to the founding of Carthage was 143 years and 8 
months. 


CnBAP. XxIII.— rophets more ancient than Greek writers. 


So then let what lias been said suffice for the testimony of 
the Phoenicians and Egyptians, and for the account of our 
chronology given by the writers Manctho the Egyptian, and 
Menander the Ephesian, and also Josephus, who wrote the 
Jewish war, which they waged with the Romans. For from 
these very old records it is proved that the writings of the 


1 In this register it seems that the number of years during which each 
person lived does not include the years of his reign. 


126 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


rest are more recent than the writings given to us through 
Moses, yes, and than the subsequent prophets. For the last 
of the prophets, who was called Zechariah, was contemporary 
with the reign of Darius. But even the lawgivers themselves 
are all found to have legislated subsequently to that period. 
For if one were to mention Solon the Athenian, he lived in the 
days of the kings Cyrus and Darius, in the time of the prophet 
Zechariah first mentioned, who was by many years the last of 
the prophets. Or if you mention the lawgivers Lycurgus, 
or Draco, or Minos, Josephus tells us in his writings that the 
sacred books take precedence of them in antiquity, since, 
even before the reign of Jupiter over the Cretans, and before 
the Trojan war, the writings of the divine law which has 
been given to us through Moses were in existence. And 
that we may give a more accurate exhibition of eras and 
dates, we will, God helping us, now give an account not only 
of the dates after the deluge, but also of those before it, so 
as to reckon the whole number of all the years, as far as 
possible; tracing up to the very beginning of the creation of 
the world, which Moses the servant of God recorded through 
the Holy Spirit. For having first spoken of what concerned 
the creation and genesis of the world, and of the first man, 
and all that happened after in the order of events, he 
signified also the years that elapsed before the deluge. And 
I pray for favour from the only God, that I may accurately 
speak the whole truth according to His will, that you and 
every one who reads this work may be guided by His truth 
and favour. I will then begin first with the recorded genea- 
logies, and I begin my narration with the first man. 


Cuar. xx1v.—Chronology from Adam. 


Adam lived till he begat a son,’ 230 years. And his son 
Seth, 205. And his son Enos, 190. And his son Cainan, 170. 
And his son Mahaleel, 165. And his son Jared, 162. And 
his son Enoch, 165. And his son Methuselah, 167. And 

1 But the meaning here is obscure in the original. Malachi was much 


Jater than Zechariah. 
* i.e. till he begat Seth. 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 127 


his son Lamech, 188. And Lamech’s son was Noah, of whom 
we have spoken above, who begat Shem when 500 years old. 
During Noah’s life, in his 600th year, the flood came. The 
total number of years, therefore, till the flood, was 2242. 
And immediately after the flood, Shem, who was 100 years 
old, begat Arphaxad. And Arphaxad, when 135 years old, 
begat Salah. And Salah begat a son when 130. And his 
son Eber, when 134. And from him the Hebrews name 
their race. And his son Phaleg begat a son when 130. And 
his son Reu, when 132. And his son Serug, when 130. 
And his son Nahor, when 75. And his son Terah, when 70. 
And his son Abraham, our patriarch, begat Isaac when he 
was 100 years old. Until Abraham, therefore, there are 
3278 years. The fore-mentioned Isaac lived until he begat 
a son, 60 years, and begat Jacob. Jacob, till the migration 
into Egypt, of which we have spoken above, lived 130 years. 
And the sojourning of the Hebrews in Egypt lasted 430 
years ; and after their departure from the land of Egypt they 
spent 40 years in the wilderness, as it is called. All these 
years, therefore, amount to 3938. And at that time, Moses 
having died, Jesus the son of Nun succeeded to his rule, 
and governed them 27 years. And after Jesus, when the 
people had transgressed the commandments of God, they 
served the king of Mesopotamia, by name Chusarathon, 8 
years. Then, on the repentance of the people, they had 
judges: Gothonoel 40 years; Eglon, 18 years; Aoth, 8 
years. Then having sinned, they were subdued by strangers 
for 20 years. Then Deborah judged them 40 years. Then 
they served the Midianites 7 years. Then Gideon judged 
them 40 years; Abimelech, 3 years; Thola, 22 years; Jair, 
22 years. Then the Philistines and Ammonites ruled them 
18 years. After that Jephthah judged them 6 years; Esbon, 
7 years; Ailon, 10 years; Abdon, 8 years. "Then strangers 
ruled them 40 years. Then Samson judged them 20 years. 
Then there was peace among them for 40 years. Then 
Samera judged them one year; Eli, 20 years; Samuel, 12 
years. 


128 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


CHAP. xxv.—From Saul to the captivity. 


And after the judges they had kings, the first named 
Saul, who reigned 20 years; then David, our forefather, 
who reigned 40 years. Accordingly, there are to the reign 
of David [from Isaac] 496 years. And after these kings 
Solomon reigned, who also, by the will of God, was the first 
to build the temple in Jerusalem ; he reigned 40 years. And 
after him Rehoboam, 17 years ; and after him Abias, 7 years; 
and after him Asa, 41 years; and after him Jehoshaphat, 25 
years ; and after him Joram, 8 years ; and after him Ahaziah, 
1 year; and after him Athaliah, 6 years; and after her 
Josiah, 40 years; and after him Amaziah, 39 years; and 
after him Uzziah, 52 years ; and after him Jotham, 16 years; 
and after him Ahaz, 17 years; and after him Hezekiah, 29 
years; and after him Manasseh, 55 years; and after him 
Amon, 2 years; and after him Josiah, 31 years; and after 
him Jehoahaz, 3 months; and after him Jehoiakim, 11 years. 
Then another Jehoiakim, 3 months 10 days; and after him 
Zedekiah, 11 years. And after these kings, the people, con- 
tinuing in their sins, and not repenting, the king of Babylon, 
named Nebuchadnezzar, came up into Juda, according to 
the prophecy of Jeremiah. He transferred the people of the 
Jews to Babylon, and destroyed the temple which Solomon 
had built. And in the Babylonian banishment the people 
passed 70 years. Until the sojourning in the land of Babylon, 
there are therefore, in all, 4954 years 6 months and 10 days. 
And according as God had, by the prophet Jeremiah, fore- 
told that the people should be led captive to Babylon, in like 
manner He signified beforehand that they should also return 
into their own land after 70 years. These 70 years then 
being accomplished, Cyrus becomes king of the Persians, who, 
according to the prophecy of Jeremiah, issued a decrce in the 
second year of his reign, enjoining by his edict that all Jews 
who were in his kingdom should return to their own country, 
and rebuild their temple to God, which the fore-mentioned 
king of Babylon had demolished. Moreover, Cyrus, in com- 
pliance with the instructions of God, gave orders to his own 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 129 


body-guards, Sabessar and Mithridates, that the vessels which 
had been taken out of the temple of Judza by Nebuchad- 
nezzar should be restored, and placed again in the temple. 
In the second year, therefore, of Darius are fulfilled the 70 
years which were foretold by Jeremiah. 


Cap. Xxvi.— Contrast. between Hebrew and Greek writings. 


Hence one can see how our sacred writings are shown to 
be more ancient and true than those of the Greeks and 
Egyptians, or any other historians. For Herodotus and 
Thucydides, as also Xenophon, and most other historians, 
began their relations from about the reign of Cyrus and 
Darius, not being able to speak with accuracy of prior and 
ancient times. For what great matters did they disclose if 
they spoke of Darius and Cyrus, barbarian kings, or of the 
Greeks Zopyrus and Hippias, or of the wars of the Athenians 
and Lacedzmonians, or the deeds of Xerxes or of Pausanias, 
who ran the risk of starving to death in the temple of 
Minerva, or the history of Themistocles and the Pelopon- 
nesian war, or of Alcibiades and Thrasybulus? For my 
purpose is not to furnish mere matter of much talk, but to 
throw light upon the number of years from the foundation of 
the world, and to condemn the empty labour and trifling 
cf these authors, because there have neither been twenty 
:housand times ten thousand years from the flood to the 
present time, as Plato said, affirming that there had been so 
many years; nor yet 15 times 10,375 years, as we have 
already mentioned Apollonius the Egyptian gave out; nor 
is the world uncreated, nor is there a spontaneous production 
of all things, as Pythagoras and the rest dreamed ; but, being 
indeed created, it is also governed by the providence of God,. 
who made all things; and the whole course of time and the 
years are made plain to those who wish to obey the truth. 
Lest, then, I seem to have made things plain up to the time 
of Cyrus, and to neglect the subsequent periods, as if through 
inability to exhibit them, I will endeavour, by God's help, to 
give an account, according to my ability, of the course of the 
subsequent times. 

I 


130 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


Crap. XXVII.— Roman chronology to the death of 
M. Aurelius. 


When Cyrus, then, had reigned twenty-nine years, and 
had been slain by Tomyris in the country of the Massageta, 
this being in the 62d Olympiad, then the Romans began to 
increase in power, God strengthening them, Rome having 
been founded by Romulus, the reputed child of Mars and 
Tlia, in the 7th Olympiad, on the 21st day of April, the year 
being then reckoned as consisting of ten months. Cyrus, 
then, having died, as we have already said, in the 62d 
Olympiad, this date falls 220 a.u.c., in which year also 
Tarquinius, surnamed Superbus, reigned over the Romans, 
who was the first who banished Romans and corrupted the 
youth, and made eunuchs of the citizens, and, moreover, first 
defiled virgins, and then gave them in marriage. On this 
account he was fitly called Superbus in the Roman language, 
and that is translated “the Proud.” For he first decreed 
that those who saluted him should have their salute acknow- 
ledged by some one else. He reigned twenty-five years. 
After him yearly consuls were introduced, tribunes also and 
ediles for 453 years, whose names we consider it long and 
superfluous to recount. For if any one is anxious to learn 
them, he will ascertain them from the tables which Chryserus 
the nomenclator compiled: he was a freedman of Aurelius 
Verus, who composed a very lucid record of all things, both 
names and dates, from the founding of Rome to the death of 
his own patron, the Emperor Verus. The annual magistrates 
ruled the Romans, as we say, for 453 years. Afterwards 
those who are called emperors began in this order: first, 
Caius Julius, who reigned 3 years 4 months 6 days; then 
Augustus, 56 years 4 months 1 day; Tiberius, 22 years; 
then another Caius, 3 years 8 months 7 days; Claudius, 
23 years 8 months 24 days; Nero, 13 years 6 months 28 
days; Galba, 2 years 7 months 6 days; Otho, 3 months 
5 days; Vitellius, 6 months 22 days; Vespasian, 9 years 
11 months 22 days; Titus, 2 years 22 days; Domitian, 15 
years 5 months 6 days; Nerva, 1 year 4 months 10 days; 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 131 


Trajan, 19 years 6 months 16 days; Adrian, 20 years 10 
months 28 days; Antoninus, 22 years 7 months 6 days; 
Verus, 19 years 10 days. The time therefore of the Caesars 


to the death of the Emperor Verus is 237 years 5 days. — 


From the death of Cyrus, therefore, and the reign of Tar- 
quinius Superbus, to the death of the Emperor Verus, the 
whole time amounts to 744 years. 


Cuap. xxvi11.— Leading chronological epochs. 


And from the foundation of the world the whole time is 
thus traced, so far as its main epochs are concerned. 
From the creation of the world to the deluge were 2242 
years. And from the deluge to the time when Abraham 
our forefather begat a son, 1036 years. And from Isaac, 
Abraham’s son, to the time when the people dwelt with 
Moses in the desert, 660 years. And from the death of 
Moses and the rule of Joshua the son of Nun, to the death 
of the patriarch David, 498 years. And from the death of 
David and the reign of Solomon to the sojourning of the 
people in the land of Babylon, 518 years 6 months 10 days. 
And from the government of Cyrus to the death of the 
Emperor Aurelius Verus, 744 years. All the years from the 
creation of the world amount to a total of 5698 years, and 
the odd months and days. 


Cnar. xxix.— Antiquity of Christianity. 


These periods, then, and all the above-mentioned facts, 
being viewed collectively, one can see the antiquity of the 
prophetical writings and the divinity of our doctrine, that the 
doctrine is not recent, nor our tenets mythical and false, as 
some think, but very ancient and true. For Thallus men- 


tioned Belus, king of the Assyrians, and Saturn, son of 


Titan, alleging that Belus with the Titans made war against 
Jupiter and the so-called gods in his alliance; and on this 
occasion he says that Gyges, being defeated, fled to Tartessus. 
At that time Gyges ruled over that country, which then was 
called Acte, but now is named Attica. And whence the other 
countries and cities derived their names, we think it unneces- 


132 THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 


sary to recount, especially to you who are acquainted with 
history. That Moses, and not he only, but also most of the 
prophets who followed him, is proved to be older than all 
writers, and than Saturn and Belus and the Trojan war, is 
manifest. For according to the history of Thallus, Belus is 
found to be 322 years prior to the Trojan war. But we have 
shown above that Moses lived somewhere about 900 or 1000 
years before the sack of Troy. And as Saturn and Belus 
flourished at the same time, most people do not know which 
is Saturn and which is Belus. Some worship Saturn, and 
call him Bel or Bal, especially the inhabitants of the eastern 
countries, for they do not know who either Saturn or Belus 
is. And among the Romans he is called Saturn, for neither 
do they know which of the two is more ancient—Saturn or 
Bel. So far as regards the commencement of the Olympiads, 
they say that the observance dates from Iphitus, but according 
to others from Linus, who is also called Ilius. "The order 
which the whole number of years and Olympiads holds, we 
have shown above. I think I have now, according to my 
ability, accurately discoursed both of the godlessness of your 
practices," and of the whole number of the epochs of history. 
For if even a chronological error has been committed by us, 
of e.g. 50 or 100, or even 200 years, yet not of thousands 
and tens of thousands, as Plato and Apollonius and other 
mendacious authors have hitherto written. And perhaps our 
knowledge of the whole number of the years is-not quite 
accurate, because the odd montlis and days are not set down 
in the sacred books. But so far as regards the periods we 
speak of, we are corroborated by Berosus,’? the Chaldean 
philosopher, who made the Greeks acquainted with the Chal- 
dzan literature, and uttered some things concerning the 
deluge, and many other points of history, in agreement with 
Moses ; and with the prophets Jeremiah and Daniel also, he 
spoke in a measure of agreement. For he mentioned what 
happened to the Jews under the king of the Babylonians, 
whom he calls Abobassor, and who is called by the Hebrews 


1 Another reading gives, “Ἢ both of the antiquity of our religion." 
3 Berosus flourished in the reign of Alexander the Great. 


THEOPHILUS TO AUTOLYCUS. 193 


Nebuchadnezzar. And he also spoke of the temple of Jeru- 
salem, how it was desolated by the king of the Chaldz»ans, 
and that the foundations of the temple haviug been laid the 
second year of the reign of Cyrus, the temple was completed 
in the second year of the reign of Darius. 


Crap. xxx.— Why the Greeks did not mention our histories. 


But the Greeks make no mention of the histories which 
give the truth: first, because they themselves only recently 
became partakers of the knowledge of letters; and they 
themselves own it, alleging that letters were invented, some 
say among the Chaldeans, and others with the Egyptians, and 
others again say that they are derived from the Phoenicians. 
And secondly, because they sinned, and still sin, in not making 
mention of God, but of vain and useless matters. For thus 
they most heartily celebrate Homer and Hesiod, and the rest 
of the poets, but the glory of the incorruptible and only God 
they not only omit to mention, but blaspheme; yes, and they 
persecuted, and do daily persecute, those who worship Him. 
And not only so, but they even bestow prizes and honours on 
those who in harmonious language insult God; but of those 
who are zealous in the pursuit of virtue and practise a holy 
life, some they stoned, some they put to death, and up to the 
present time they subject them to savage tortures. Where- 
fore such men have necessarily lost the wisdom of God, and 
have not found the truth. 

If you please, then, study these things carefully, that you 
may have a compendium’ and pledge of the truth. 


1 Otto prefers eógjov2or instead of σύρεβολον, on the authority of one 
Ms. The sense then is, ' that you may have a counsellor and pledge of 
the truth,"—the counsellor and pledge of the truth being the book 
written by Theophilus for Autolycus. 


RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 


INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 


IHE Recognitions of Clement is a kind of philoso- 
M! phical and theological romance. The writer of 
the work seems to have had no intention of pre- 
senting his statements as facts; but, choosing the 
disciples of Christ and their followers as his principal charac- 
ters, he has put into their mouths the most important of his 
beliefs, and woven the whole together by a thread of fictitious 
narrative. 

The Recognitions is one of a series; the other members of 
which that have come down to us are the Clementine Homilies 
and two Epitomes. 

The authorship, the date, and the doctrinal character of 
these books have been subjects of keen discussion in modern 
times. Especial prominence has been given to them by the 
Tübingen school. Hilgenfeld says: “There is scarcely a 
single writing which is of so great importance for the history 
of Christianity in its first stage, and which has already given 
such brilliant disclosures at the hands of the most renowned 
critics in regard to the earliest history of the Christian 
Church, as the writings ascribed to the Roman Clement, the 
Recognitions and Homilies."! The importance thus attached 
to these strange and curious documents by one school of 
theologians, has compelled men of all shades of belief to in- 
vestigate the subject ; but after all their investigations, a great 
variety of opinion still prevails on almost every point con- 
nected with these books. 

We leave our readers to judge for themselves in regard to 
the doctrinal statements, and confine ourselves to a notice of 





! Die Clementinischen Recognitionen und Homilien ngch ihrem Ursprung 
und Inhalt dargestellt, von Dr Adolf Hilgenfeld, Jena, 1848, p. 1. 


127 


᾿ 


; 


Á 


138 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 


some of the opinions in regard to the authorship and date 
of the Recognitions. 

The first question that suggests itself in regard to the 
Recognitions is, whether the Ziecognitions or the IIomilies are 
the earliest form of the book, and what relation do they bear 
to each other? Some maintain that they are both the pro- 
ductions of the same author, and that the one is a later and 
altered edition of the other; and they find some confirmation 
of this in the preface of Rufinus. Others think that both 
books are expansions of another work which formed the 
basis. And others maintain that the one book is a rifaci- 
mento of the other by a different hand. Of this third party, 
some, like Cave, Whiston, Rosenmüller, Staüdlin, Hilgenfeld, 
and many others, believe that the Recognitions was the earliest' 
of the two forms; while others, as Clericus, Mohler, Lücke, 
Schliemann, and Uhlhorn, give priority to the Clementines. 
Hilgenfeld supposes that the original writing was the 
Κήρυγμα Πέτρου, which still remains in the work; that 
besides this there are three parts, — one directed against 
Basilides, the second the 77avels of Peter (περίοδοι), and the 
third the Recognitions. There are also, he believes, many 
interpolated passages of a much later date than any of these 
parts. | 

No conclusion has been reached in regard to the author. 
Some have believed that it is a genuine work of Clement.. 
Whiston maintained that it was written by some of his hearers 
and companions. Others have attributed the work to Bar- 
desanes. But most acknowledge that there is no possibility 
of discovering who was the author. 

Various opinions exist as to the date of the book. It has 
been attributed to the first, second, third, and fourth centuries, 
and some have assigned even a later date. If we were to 
base our arguments on the work as it stands, the date assigned 
would be somewhere in the first half of the third century. 
A passage from the Recognitions is quoted by Origen? in his 
Commentary on Genesis, written in 231; and mention is made 


1 See Schliemann, Die Clementinen, Hamburg, 1844, p. 295. 
2 Philocalia, cap. 22. 


INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 139 


in the work of the extension of the Roman franchise to all 
nations under the dominion of Rome,—an event which took 
place in the reign of Caracalla, a.p. 211. The Recognitions 
also contains a large extract from the work De Fato, ascribed 
to Bardesanes, but really written by a scholar of his. Some 
have thought that Bardesanes or his scholar borrowed from 
the Recognitions; but more recently the opinion has prevailed, 
that the passage was not originally in the Recognitions, but 
was inserted into the Recognitions towards the middle of the 
third century, or even later.! 

Those who believe the work made up of various documents 
assign various dates to these documents.  Ililgenfeld, for in- 
stance, believes that the Κήρυγμα Πέτρου was written before 
the time of Trajan, and the Travels of Peter about the time 
of his reign. 

Nothing is known of the place in which the Recognitions 
was written. Some, as Schliemann, have supposed Rome, 
some Asia Minor, and recently Uhlhorn has tried to trace it 
to Eastern Syria.’ 

The Greek of the Recognitions i is lost. The work has come 
down to us in the form of a translation by Rufinus of Aquileia 
(d. 410 A.p.) In his letter to Gaudentius, Rufinus states 
that he omitted some portions difficult of comprehension, but 
that in regard to the other parts he had translated with 
care, and an endeavour to be exact even in rendering the 
phraseology. 

The best editions of the Recognitions are those by Cotelerius, 
often reprinted, and by Gersdorf, Lipsim 1888; but the text 


is not in a satisfactory condition. . 


1 See Merx, Bardesanes von Edessa, Halle, 1863, p. 113. 

* Die Homilien und Recognitionen des Clemens Romanus nach ihrem 
Ursprung und Inhalt dargestellt, von Gerhard Uhlhorn, Gottingen, 1854, 
p. 429. 


» 





RUFINUS, PRESBYTER OF AQUILEIA; 


HIS PREFACE TO CLEMENT'S BOOK OF RECOGNITIONS. | 


TO BISHOP GAUDENTIUS. 


O thee, indeed, O Gaudentius, thou choice glory 
of our doctors, belongs such vigour of mind, yea, 
such grace of the Spirit, that whatever you say 
even in the course of your daily preaching, what- 
ever you deliver in the church, ought to be preserved in books, 
and handed down to posterity for their instruction. But we, 
whom slenderness of wit renders less ready, and now old age 
renders slow and inactive, though after many delays, yet at 
length present to you the work which once the virgin Sylvia 
of venerable memory enjoined upon us, that we should render 
Clement into our language, and you afterwards by hereditary 
right demanded of us; and thus we contribute to the use 
and profit of our people, no small spoil, as I think, taken from 
the libraries of the Greeks, so that we may feed with foreign 
nourishment those whom we cannot with our own. For 
foreign things usually seem both more pleasant, and sometimes 
also more profitable. In short, almost everything is foreign 
that brings healing to our bodies, that opposes diseases, and 
neutralizes poisons. For Juda sends us Lacryma balsami, 
Crete Coma dictamni, Arabia her flowers of spices, India 
reaps lier crop of spikenard ; which, although they reach us 
in a somewhat more broken condition than when they leave 
their native fields, yet retain entire the sweetness of their 
odour and their healing virtue. Receive therefore, my soul,’ 
1 Var. readings: ‘‘ magnanimous one,” * my lord,” ** my friend.” 
140 





RUFINUSS PREFACE. 141 


Clement returning to you ; receive him now in a Roman dress. 
And wonder not if haply the florid countenance of eloquence 
appear less in him than usual. It matters not, provided the 
sense tastes the same. Therefore we transport foreign mer- 
chandise into our country with much labour. And I know 
not with how grateful countenances my countrymen welcome 
me, bringing to them the rich spoils of Greece, and unlocking 
hidden treasures of wisdom with the key of our language. 
But may God grant your prayers, that no unlucky eye nor 
any livid aspect may meet us, lest, by an extreme kind of 
prodigy, while those from whom he is taken do not envy, yet 
those upon whom he is bestowed should repine. Truly it is 
right to point out the plan of our translation to you, who have 
read these works also in Greek, lest haply in some parts you 
may think the order of translation not kept. I suppose you 
are aware that there are two editions in Greek of this work 
of Clement,—the ’Avayvaceis, that is, Recognitions ; and that 
there are two collections of books, differing in some points, 
but in many [containing] the same narrative. In short, the 
last part of this work, in which is the relation concerning the 
transformation of Simon, is contained in one of the collec- 
tions, but is not at all in the other. "There are also in botli 
collections some dissertations concerning the unbegotten God 
and the Begotten, and on some other subjects, which, to say 
nothing more, are beyond our comprehension. "These, there- 
fore, as being beyond our powers, I have chosen to reserve 
for others, rather than to produce in an imperfect state. But 
in the rest, we have given our endeavour, so far as we could, 
not to vary either from the sentiments or even from the lan- 
guage and modes of expression ; and this, although it renders 
the style of the narrative less ornate, yet it makes it more 
faithful. The epistle in which the same Clement, writing to 
James the Lord's brother, informs him of the death of Peter, 
and that he had left him his successor in his chair and teach- 
ing, and in which also the whole subject of church order is 
treated of, I have not prefixed to this work, both because it 
is of later date, and because I have already translated and 
published it. But I do not think it out of place to explain 


142 RUFINUSS PREFACE. 


here what in that letter will perhaps seem to some to be incon- 
' sistent. For some ask, Since Linus and Cletus were bishops 
in the city of Rome before this Clement, how could Clement 
himself, writing to James, say that the chair of teaching was 
handed over to him by Peter? Now of this we have heard 
this explanation, that Linus and Cletus were indeed bishops 
in the city of Rome before Clement, but during the lifetime 
of Peter: that is, that they undertook the care of the episco- 
pate, and that he fulfilled the office of the apostleship ; as is 
' found also to have been the case at Caesarea, where, when he 
himself was present, he yet had Zaccheus, ordained by him- 
self, as bishop. And in this way both statements will appear 
to be true, both that these bishops are reckoned before 
Clement, and yet that Clement received the teacher’s seat 
on the death of Peter. But now let us see how Clement, 
writing to James the Lord’s brother, begins his narrative. 


RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 


——— 
BOOK I. 
Crap. T.— Clements early history ; doubts. 
FN CLEMENT, who was born in the city of Rome, 


was from my earliest age a lover of chastity ; 
while the bent of my mind held me bound as with 
chains of anxiety and sorrow. For a thought that 
was in me—whence originating, I cannot tell—constantly led 
me to think of my condition of mortality, and to discuss such 
questions as these: Whether there be for me any life after 
death, or whether I am to be wholly annihilated : whether I 
did not exist before I was born, and whether there shall be 
no remembrance of this life after death, and so the bound- 
lessness of time shall consign all things to oblivion and silence; 
so that not only we shall cease to be, but there shall be no 
remembrance that we have ever been. This also I revolved 
in my mind: when the world was made, or what was before 
it was made, or whether it has existed from eternity. For it 
seemed certain, that if it had been made, it must be doomed 
to dissolution ; and if it be dissolved, what is to be after- 
wards?—unless, perhaps, all things shall be buried in oblivion 
and silence, or something shall be, which the mind of man 
cannot now conceive. 





Crap. 11.---- 118 distress. 


While I was continually revolving in my mind these and 
such like questions, suggested I know not how, I was pining 
away wonderfully through excess of grief; and, what was 
worse, if at any time I thought to cast aside such cares, as 
being of little use, the waves of anxiety rose all the higher 

148 


144 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book r. 


upon me. For I had in me that most excellent companion, 
who would not suffer me to rest—the desire of immortality : 
for, as the subsequent issue showed, and the grace of 
Almighty God directed, this bent of mind led me to the 
quest of truth, and the acknowledgment of the true light ; 
and hence it came to pass, that ere long I pitied those whom 
formerly in my ignorance I believed to be happy. 


Cuar. 111.—His dissatisfaction with the schools of the 
philosophers. 


Having therefore such a bent of mind from my earliest 
years, the desire of learning something led me to frequent the 
schools of the philosophers. There I saw that nought else 
was done, save that doctrines were asserted and controverted 
without end, contests were waged, and the arts of syllogisms 
and the subtleties of conclusions were discussed. If at any 
time the doctrine of the immortality of the soul prevailed, 
I was thankful; if at any time it was impugned, I went 
away sorrowful. Still, neither doctrine had the power of truth 
over my heart. This only I understood, that opinions and 
definitions of things were accounted true or false, not in 
accordance with their nature and the truth of the arguments, 
but in proportion to the talents of those who supported them. 
And I was all the more tortured in the bottom of my heart, 
because I was neither able to lay hold of any of those things 
which were spoken as firmly established, nor was I able to 
lay aside the desire of inquiry ; but the more I endeavoured 
to neglect and despise them, so much the more eagerly, as I 
. have said, did a desire of this sort, creeping in upon me 
secretly as with a kind of pleasure, take possession of my 
heart and mind. 


Crap. 1v.— His increasing disquiet. 


Deing therefore straitened in the discovery of things, I said 
to myself, Why do we labour in vain, since the end of things 
is manifest? For if after death I shall be no more, my pre- 
sent torture is useless; but if there is to be for me a life after 
death, let us keep for that life the excitements that belong to 


Book 1. | RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 145 


it, lest perhaps some sadder things befall me than those which 
I now suffer, unless I shall have lived piously and soberly ; 
and, according to the opinions of some of the philosophers, 
I be consigned to the stream of dark-rolling Phlegethon, 
or to Tartarus, like Sisyphus and Tityus, and to eternal 
punishment in the infernal regions, like Ixion and Tantalus. 
And again I would answer to myself: But these things are 
fables; or if it be so, since the matter is in doubt, it is 
better to live piously. But again I would ponder with my- 
self, How should I restrain myself from the lust of sin, while 
uncertain as to the reward of righteousness?—and all the 
more when I have no certainty what righteousness is, or what 
is pleasing to God; and when I cannot ascertain whether the 
soul be immortal, and be such that it has anything to hope 
for; nor do I know what the future is certainly to be. Yet 
still I cannot rest from thoughts of this sort. 


. Cuap. v.— His design to test the immortality of the soul. 


What, then, shall I do? This I shall do. I shall proceed 
to Egypt, and there I shall cultivate the friendship of the 
hierophants or prophets, who preside at the shrines. Then I 
shall win over a magician by money, and entreat him, by what 
they call their necromantic art, to bring me a soul from the 
infernal regions, as if I were desirous of consulting it about 
some business. But this shall be my consultation, whether 
the soul be immortal. Now, the proof that the soul is im- 
mortal will be put past doubt, not from what it says, or from 
what I hear, but from what I see: for seeing it with my eyes, 
I shall ever after hold the surest conviction of its immortality; 
and no fallacy of words or uncertainty of hearing shall ever 
be able to disturb the persuasion produced by sight. How- 
ever, I related this project to a certain philosopher with whom 
I was intimate, who counselled me not to venture upon it; 
“for,” said he, “if the soul should not obey the call of the 
magician, you henceforth will live more hopelessly, as thinking 
that there is nothing after death, and also as having tried 
things unlawful. If, however, you seem to see anything, 
what religion or what piety can arise to you from things un- 

K 


146 29ECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Booxki. 


lawful and impious? For they say that transactions of this 
sort are hateful to the Divinity, and that God sets Himself in 
opposition to those who trouble souls after their release from 
* the body.” When I heard this, I was indeed staggered in 
my purpose; yet I could not in any way either lay aside my 
longing, or cast off the distressing thought. 


Cuap. vr.—JZisars of Christ. 


Not.to make a long story of it, whilst I was tossed upon 
these billows of my thought, a certain report, which took its 
rise in the regions of the East in the reign of Tiberius Caesar, 
gradually reached us; and gaining strength as it passed 
through every place, like some good message sent from God, 
it was filling the whole world, and suffered not the divine will 
to be concealed in silence. For it was spread over all places, 
announcing that there was a certain person in Juda, who, 
beginning in the spring-time,' was preaching the kingdom of 
God to the Jews, and saying that those should receive it 
who should observe the ordinances of His commandments 
and His doctrine. And that His speech might be believed 
to be worthy of credit, and full of the Divinity, He was 
said to perform many mighty works, and wonderful signs and 
prodigies by His mere word; so that, as one having power 
from God, He made the deaf to hear, and the blind to see, 
and the lame to stand erect, and expelled every infirmity and 
all demons from men ; yea, that He even raised dead persons 
. who were brought to Him; that He cured lepers also, look- 
ing at them from a distance; and that there was absolutely 
nothing which seemed impossible to Him. "These and such 
lie things were confirmed in process of time, not now by 
frequent rumours, but by the plain statements of persons 
coming from those quarters; and day by day the truth of 
the matter was further disclosed. 


Cuap. vir.—Arrival of Barnabas at Rome. 


At length meetings began to be held in various places in 
the city, and this subject to be discussed in conversation, and. 
1 V. R. in the time of Tiberius Cesar. 


Book 1.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 147 


to be a matter of wonder who this might be who had appeared, 
and what message He had brought from God to men ; until, 
about the same year, a certain man, standing in a most 
crowded place in the city, made proclamation to the people, 
saying: * Hear me, O ye citizens of Rome. The Son of God 
is now in the regions of Judza, promising eternal life to every 
one who will hear Him, but upon condition that he shall regu- 
late his actions according to the will of Him by whom He hath 
been sent, even: of God the Father. Wherefore turn ye from 
evil things to good, from things temporal to things eternal. 
Acknowledge that there is one God, ruler of heaven and 
earth, in whose righteous sight ye unrighteous inhabit His 
world. But if ye be converted, and act according to His 
will, then, coming to the world to come, and being made im- 
mortal, ye shall enjoy His unspeakable blessings and rewards." 
Now, the man who spoke these things to the people was from 
the regions of the East, by nation a Hebrew, by name Bar- 
nabas, who said that he himself was one of His disciples, and 
that he was sent for this end, that he should declare these 
things to those who would hear them. When I heard these 
things, I began, with the rest of the multitude, to follow 
him, and to hear what he had to say. "Truly I perceived 
that there was nothing of dialectic artifice in the man, but 
that he expounded with simplicity, and without any craft of 
speech, such things as he had heard from the Son of God, or 
had seen. For he did not confirm his assertions by the force 
of arguments, but produced, from the people who stood round 
about him, many witnesses of the sayings and marvels which 
he related. 


Cuap. viri. —ZIis preaching. 


Now, inasmuch as the people began to assent willingly to 
the things which were sincerely spoken, and to embrace his 
simple discourse, those who thought themselves learned or 
philosophic began to laugh at the man, and to flout him, and 
to throw out for him the grappling-hooks of syllogisms, like 
strong arms. But he, unterrified, regarding their subtleties 
as mere ravings, did not even judge them worthy of an 





148 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book r. 


answer, but boldly pursued the subject which he had set 
before him. At length, some one having proposed this 
question to him as he was speaking, Why a gnat has been so 
formed, that though it is a small creature, and has six feet, 
yet it has got wings in addition ; whereas an elephant, though 
it is an immense animal, and has no wings, yet has only four 
feet; he, paying no attention to the question, went on with 
his discourse, which had been interrupted by the unseason- 
able challenge, only adding this admonition at every inter- 
ruption : * We have it in charge to declare to you the words 
and the wondrous works of Him who hath sent us, and to 
confirm the truth of what we speak, not by artfully devised 
arguments, but by witnesses produced from amongst your- 
selves. For I recognise many standing in the midst of you 
whom I remember to have heard along with us the things 
which we have heard, and to have seen what we have seen. 
But be it in your option to receive or to spurn the tidings 
which we bring to you. For we cannot keep back what we 
know to be for your advantage, because, if we be silent, woe 
is to us; but to you, if you receive not what we speak, 
destruction. I could indeed very easily answer your foolish 
challenges, if you asked for the sake of learning truth, —I 
mean as to the difference of a gnat and an elephant; but 
now it were absurd to speak to you of these creatures, when 
the very Creator and Framer of all things is unknown by 


you." 


Cuap. rx.— Clement's interposition on behalf of Barnabas. 


When he had thus spoken, all, as with one consent, with 
rude voice raised a shout of derision, desiring to put him to 
shame, and to silence him, crying out that he was a barbarian 
and a madman. "When I saw matters going on in this way, 
being filled, I know not whence, with a certain zeal, and 
inflamed with religious enthusiasm, I could not keep silence, 
but cried out with all boldness, * Most righteously does 
Almighty God hide His will from you, whom He foresaw to 
be unworthy of the knowledge of Himself, as is manifest to 
those who are really wise, from what you are now doing. For 


Book 1. | RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 149 


when you see that preachers of the will of God have come 
amongst you, because their speech makes no show of knowledge 
of the grammatical art, but in simple and unpolished language 
they set before you the divine commands, so that all who hear 
may be able to follow and to understand the things that are 
spoken, you deride the ministers and messengers of your salva- 
tion, not knowing that it is the condemnation of you who think 
yourselves skilful and eloquent, that rustic and barbarous 
men have the knowledge of the truth; whereas, when it has 
come to you, it is not even received as a guest, while, if your 
intemperance and lust did not oppose, it ought to have been 
a citizen and a native. Thus you are convicted of not being 
friends of truth and philosophers, but followers of boasting 
and vain speakers. Ye think that truth dwells not in simple, 
but in ingenious and subtle words, and produce countless 
thousands of words which are not to be rated at the worth of 
one word. What, then, do ye think will become of you, all 
ye crowd of Greeks, if there is to be, as he says, a judgment 
of God? But now give over laughing at this man to your 
own destruction, and let any one of you who pleases answer 
me ; for, indeed, by your barking you annoy the ears even of 
those who desire to be saved, and by your clamour you turn 
aside to the fall of infidelity the minds that are prepared for 
faith. What pardon can there be for you who deride and do 
violence .to the messenger of the truth when he offers to you 
the knowledge of God? whereas, even if he brought you 
nothing of truth, yet, even for the kindness of his inten- 
tions towards you, you ought to receive with gratitude and 
welcome." 


Cnar. x.—ZJntercourse with Barnabas. 


While I was urging these and similar arguments, a great 
excitement was stirred up amongst the bystanders, some being 
moved with pity as towards a stranger, and approving my 
speech as in accordance with that feeling ; others, petulant 
and stolid, rousing the anger of their undisciplined minds as 
much against me as against Barnabas. But as the day was 


declining to evening, I laid hold of Barnabas by the right 





150 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book r. 


hand, and led him away, although reluctantly, to my house ; 
and there I made him remain, lest perchance any one of the 
rude rabble should lay hands upon him. While we were 
thus placed in contact for a few days, I gladly heard him 
discoursing the word of truth; yet he hastened his departure, 
saying that he must by all means celebrate at Judea a 
festal day of his religion which was approaching, and that 
there he should remain in future with his countrymen and 
his brethren, evidently indicating that he was horrified at 
the wrong that had been done to him. 


Cuap. x1.—Departure ‘of Barnabas. 


At length I said to him, “ Only expound to me the doctrine 
of that man who you say has appeared, and I will arrange 
your sayings in my language, and will preach the kingdom 
and righteousness of Almighty God; and after that, if you 
wish it, I shall even sail along with you, for I am extremely 
desirous to see Judza, and perhaps I shall remain with you 
always." 'Tothis he answered, * If indeed you wish to see our 
country, and to learn those things which you desire, set sail 
with me even now ; or, if there be anything that detains you 
now, I shall leave with you directions to my dwelling, so 
that when you please to come you may easily find me; for 
to-morrow I shall set out on my journey." When I saw him 
determined, I went down with him to the harbour, and care- 
fully took from him the directions which he gave me to find 
hisdwelling. I told him that, but for the necessity of getting 
some money which was due to me, I should not at all delay, 
but that I should speedily follow him. Having told him this, 
I commended him to the kindness of those who had charge 
of the ship, and returned sad; for I was possessed of the 
memory of the intercourse which I had had with an excellent 
guest and a choice friend. 


Crap. X11.—Clement’s arrival at Casarea, and introduction 
to Peter. | 


Having then stopped for a few days, and naving in some 
measure finished the business of collecting what was owing to 


Book 1. | RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 151 


me (for I neglected many things through my desire of hasten- 
ing, that I might not be hindered from my purpose), I set sail 
direct for Judza, and after fifteen days landed at Caesarea 
Stratonis, which is the largest city in Palestine. When I had 
landed, and was seeking for an inn, I learned from the con- 
versation of the people, that one Peter, a most approved dis- 
ciple of Him who appeared in Judza, and showed many signs 
and miracles divinely performed among men, was going to 
hold a discussion of words and questions the next day with 
one Simon, a Samaritan. Having heard this, I asked to be 
shown his lodging; and having found it, and standing before 
the door, I informed the doorkeeper who I was, and whence 
I came; and, behold, Barnabas coming out, as soon as he 
saw me rushed into my arms, weeping for joy, and, seizing 
me by the hand, led me in to Peter. Having pointed him — 
out to me at a distance, ** This,” said he, “is Peter, of whom 
I spoke to you as the greatest in the wisdom of God, and to 
whom also I have spoken constantly of you. Enter, there- 
fore, as one well known to him. For he is well acquainted 
with all the good that is in thee, and has carefully made him- 
self aware of your religious purpose, whence also he is greatly 
desirous to see you. Therefore I present you to him to-day 
as a great gift." At the same time, presenting me, he said, 
«This, O Peter, is Clement." 


Crap. x111.—His cordial reception by Peter. 


But Peter most kindly, when he heard my name, imme- 
diately ran to me and kissed me. Then, having made me 
sit down, he said, * Thou didst well to receive as thy guest 
Barnabas, preacher of the truth, nothing fearing the rage of 
the insane people. Thou shalt be blessed. For as you have 
deemed an ambassador of the truth worthy of all honour, so 
the truth herself shall receive thee a wanderer and a stranger, 
and shall enroll thee a citizen of her own city; and then 
there shall be great joy to thee, because, imparting a small 
favour, thou shalt be written heir of eternal blessings. Now, 
therefore, do not trouble yourself to explain your mind to 
me; for Barnabas has with faithful speech informed me of 


152 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book 1. 


all things about you and your dispositions, almost daily and - 
without ceasing, recalling the memory of your good qualities. 
And to point out to you shortly, as to a friend already of one 
mind with us, what is your best course ; if there is nothing to 
hinder you, come along with us, and hear the word of the 
truth, which we are going to-speak in every place until we 
come even to the city of Rome; and now, if you wish any- 
thing, speak." 


Cuap. x1v.—His account of himself. 


Having detailed to him what purpose I had conceived from 
the begiming, and how I had been distracted with vain 
inquiries, and all those things which at first I intimated 
to thee, my lord James, so that I need not repeat the same 
things now, I willingly agreed to travel with him; “for 
that,” said I, “is just what I was most eagerly desirous of. 
But first I should wish the scheme of truth to be expounded 
to me, that I may know whether the soul is mortal or im- 
mortal; and if immortal, whether it shall be brought into 
judgment for those things which it does here. Further, I 
desire to know what that righteousness is, which is pleasing 
to God ; then, further, whether the world was created, and 
why it was created, and whether it is to be dissolved, and 
whether it is to be renovated and made better, or whether 
after this there shall be no world at all; and, not to mention 
everything, I should wish to be told what is the case with 
respect to these and such like things.” To this Peter 
answered, “TI shall briefly impart to you the knowledge of 
these things, O Clement : therefore listen. 


Cuap. xv.—Peter’s first instruction: causes of ignorance. 


* The will and counsel of God has for many reasons been 
concealed from men ; first, indeed, through bad instruction, 
wicked associations, evil habits, unprofitable conversation, 
and unrighteous presumptions. On account of all these, I 
say, first error, then contempt, then infidelity and malice, 
covetousness also, and vain boasting, and other such like evils, 
have filled the whole house of this world, like some enormous 


Book 1. | RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 133 


smoke, and preventing those who dwell in it from seeing its 
Founder aright, and from perceiving what things are pleasing 
to Him. What, then, is fitting for those who are within, 
excepting with a cry brought forth from their inmost hearts 
to invoke Ilis aid, who alone is not shut up in the smoke- 
filled house, that He would approach and open the door of 
the house, so that the smoke may be dissipated which is 
within, and the light of the sun which shines without may 
be admitted ? ' 


CHAP. XVI.—/nstruction continued: the true Prophet. 


«* He, therefore, whose aid is needed for the house filled 
with the darkness of ignorance and the smoke of vices, is 
He, we say, who is called the true Prophet, who alone 
can enlighten the souls of men, so that with their eyes they 
may plainly see the way of safety. For otherwise it is im- 
possible to get knowledge of divine and eternal things, unless 
one learns of that true Prophet; because, as you yourself 
stated a little ago, the belief of things, and the opinions of 
causes, are estimated in proportion to the talents of their 
advocates : hence, also, one and the same cause is now thought 
just, now unjust; and what now seemed true, anon becomes 
false on the assertion of another. For this reason, the credit 
of religion and piety demanded the presence of the true Pro- 
phet, that He Himself might tell us respecting each particu- 
lar, how the truth stands, and might teach us how we are to 
believe concerning each. And therefore, before all else, the 
credentials of the prophet himself must be examined with all 
care; and when you have once ascertained that he is a pro- 
phet, it behoves you thenceforth to believe him in everything, 
and not further to discuss the particulars which he teaches, | 
but to hold the things which he speaks as certain and sacred ; 
which things, although they seem to be received by faith, yet 
are believed on the ground of the probation previously insti- 
tuted. For when once at the outset the truth of the prophet 
is established on examination, the rest is to be heard and held 
on the ground of the faith by which it is already established 
that he is a teacher of truth. And as it is certain that all 


154 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book r. 


things which pertain to divine knowledge ought to be held 
according to the rule of truth, so it is beyond doubt that from 
none but Himself alone can it be known what is true.” 


Cuap. XVII.— Peter requests him to be his attendant. 


Having thus spoken, he set forth to me so openly and so 
clearly wl:o that Prophet was, and how He might be found, 
that I seemed to have before my eyes, and to handle with 
my hand, the proofs which he produced concerning the pro- 
phetic truth; and I was struck with intense astonishment, 
how no one sees, though placed before his eyes, those things 
which all are seeking for. Whence, by his command, reduc- 
ing into order what he had spoken to me, I compiled a book 
concerning the true Prophet, and sent it to you from Cesarea 
by his command. For he said that he had received a com- 
mand from you to send you every year an account of his 
sayings and doings. Meantime, at the beginning of his dis- 
course which he delivered to me the first day, when he had 
instructed me very fully concerning the true Prophet, and 
very many things besides, he added also this: * See," said he, 
“for the future, and be present at the discussions which, 
whenever any necessity arises, I shall hold with those who 
contradict ; against whom, when I dispute, even if I shall 
seem to be worsted, I shall not be afraid of your being led 
to doubt of those things which I have stated to you ; because, 
even if I shall seem to be beaten, yet those things shall not 
therefore seem to be uncertain which the true Prophet has 
delivered to us. Yet I hope that we shall not be overcome 
in disputations either, if only our hearers are reasonable, and 
friends of truth, who can discern the force and bearing of 
words, and recognise what discourse comes from tlie sophistical 
art, not containing truth, but an image of truth ; and what 
that is, which, uttered simply and without craft, depends for all 
its power noton show and ornament, but on truth and reason." 


Cnar. xvim.—4ZHis profiting by Peter's instruction. 


'To this I answered: *I give thanks to God Almighty, 
because I have been instructed as I wished and desired. At 


Book 1.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 155 


all events, you may depend upon me so far, that I can 
never come to doubt of those things which I have learned of 
you; so that even if you yourself should at any time wish 
to transfer my faith from the true Prophet, you should 
not be able, because I have drunk in with all my heart what 
you have spoken. And that you may not think that I am 
promising you a great thing when I say that I cannot be 
moved away from this faith, it is with me a certainty, that 
whoever has received this account of the true Prophet, can 
never afterwards so much as doubt of its truth. And there- 
fore I am confident with respect to this heaven-taught doc- 
trine, in which all the art of malice is overborne. For in 
opposition to [this] prophecy neither any art can stand, nor 
the subtleties of sophisms and syllogisms; but every one who 
hears of the true Prophet must of necessity long immediately | 
for the truth itself, nor will he afterwards, under pretext of 
seeking the truth, endure diverse errors. Wherefore, O 
my lord Peter, be not further anxious about me,.as if I 
were one who does not know what he has received, and how 
great a gift has been conferred on him. Be assured that 
you have conferred a favour on one who knows and under- 
stands its value: nor can I be easily deceived on that account, 
because I seem to have gotten quickly what I long desired ; 
for it may be that one who desires gets quickly, while another 
does not even slowly attain the things which he desires." 


Caap. x1x.—Peter’s satisfaction. 


Then Peter, when he heard me speak thus, said: *I give 
thanks to my God, both for your salvation and for my own 
peace; for I am greatly delighted to see that you have 
understood what is the greatness of the prophetic virtue, and 
because, as you say, not even I myself, if I should wish it 
(which God forbid!), should be able to turn you away to 
another faith. Now henceforth begin to be with us, and to- 
morrow be present at our discussions, for I am to have a con- 
test with Simon the magician.” When he had thus spoken, 
he retired to take food along with his friends ; but he ordered 
me to eat by myself ; and after the meal, when he had sung 


156 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book r. 


praise to God and given thanks, he rendered to me an account 
of this proceeding, and added, * May the Lord grant to thee to 
be made like to us in all things, that, receiving baptism, thou 
mayest be able to meet with us at the same table.” Having 
thus spoken, he ordered me to go to rest, for by this time 
both fatigue and the time of the day called to sleep. 


Cuap. xx.—Postponement of discussion with Simon Magus. 


Early next morning Zaccheus came in to us, and after salu- 
tation, said to Peter: * Simon puts off the discussion till the 
eleventh day of the present month, which is seven days hence, 
: for he says that then he will have more leisure for the contest. 
But to me it seems that his putting off is also advantageous 
to us, so that more may come together, who may be either 
hearers or judges of our disputation. However, if it seem 
proper to you, let us occupy the interval in discussing among 
ourselves the things which, we suppose, may come into the 
controversy ; so that each of us, knowing what things are to 
be proposed, and what answers are to be given, may consider 
with himself if they are all right, or if an adversary shall be 
able to find anything to object, or to set aside the things 
which we bring against him. But if the things which are to 
be spoken by us are manifestly impregnable on every side, 
we shall have confidence in entering upon the examination. 
And indeed, this is my opinion, that first of all it ought to 
be inquired what is the origin of all things, or what is the 
immediate! thing which may be called the cause of all things 
Which are: then, with respect to all things that exist, whether 
they have been made, and by whom, through whom, and for 
whom; whether they have received their subsistence from 
one, or from two, or from many ; and whether they have 
been taken and fashioned from none [previously ] subsisting, 
or from some : then, whether there is any virtue in the highest 
things, or in the lower; whether there is anything which is 
better than all, or anything that is inferior to all; whether 
there are any motions, or none;. whether those things which 
are seen were always, and shall be always ; whether they have 

! Hore we follow a marginal reading. 


Book 1.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 157 


come into existence without a creator, and shall pass away 
without a destroyer. If, I say, the discussion begin with 
these things, I think that the things which shall be inquired 
into, being discussed with diligent examination, will be easily 
ascertained. And when these are ascertained, the knowledge 
of those that follow will be easily found. I have stated my 
opinion ; be pleased to intimate what you think of the matter.” 


Crap. xx1.—Advantage of the delay. 


To this Peter answered : * Tell Simon in the meantime to 
do as he pleases, and to rest assured that, Divine Providence 
granting, he shall always find us ready.” Then Zaccheus 
went out to intimate to Simon what he had been told. But 
Peter, looking at us, and perceiving that I was saddened by 
the putting off of the contest, said : * He who believes that the 
world is administered by the providence of the Most High 
God, ought not, O Clement, my friend, to take it amiss, in 
whatever way particular things happen, being assured that 
the righteousness of God guides to a favourable and fitting 
issue even those things which seem superfluous or contrary in 
any business, and especially towards those who worship Him 
more intimately; and therefore he who is assured of these 
things, as I have said, if anything occur contrary to his ex- 
pectation, he knows how to drive away grief from his mind on 
that account, holding it unquestionable in his better judgment, 
that, by the government of the good God, even what seems 
contrary may be turned to good. Wherefore, O Clement, 
even now let not this delay of the magician Simon sadden 
you: for I believe that it has been done by the providence of 
God, for your advantage ; that I may be able, in this interval 
of seven days, to expound to you the method of our faith 
without any distraction, and the order continuously, accord- 
ing to the tradition of the true Prophet, who alone knows 
the past as it was, the present as it is, and the future as it 
shall be: which things were indeed plainly spoken [by Him], 
but are not plainly written ; so much so, that when they are 
read, they cannot be understood without an expounder, on 
account of the sin which has grown up with men, as I said 


» 





158 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox 1. 


before. "Therefore I shall explain all things to you, that in 
those things which are written you may clearly perceive what 
is the mind of the Lawgiver." 


Crap. XXII.— Repetition of instructions. 


When he had said this, he began to expound to me point 
by point of those chapters of the law which seemed to be in . 
question, from the beginning of the creation even to that 
point of time at which I came to him at Cesarea, telling me 
that the delay of Simon had contributed to my learning all 
things in order. * At other times," said he, “we shall discourse 
more fully on individual points of which we have now spoken 
shortly, according as the occasion of our conversation shall 
bring them before us; so that, according to my promise, you 
may gain a full and perfect knowledge of all. Since, then, 
by this delay we have to-day on our hands, I wish to repeat 
to you again what has been spoken, that it may be the better 
recalled to your memory.” Then he began in this way to 
refresh my recollection of what he had said: * Do you re- 
member, O friend Clement, the account I gave you of the 
eternal age, that knows no end?" Then said T, * Never, O 
Peter, shall I retain anything, if I can lose or forget that." 


Citar. xx111.—Repetition continued. 


Then Peter, having heard my answer with pleasure, said : 
(1 congratulate you because you have answered thus, not 
because you speak of these things easily, but because you 
profess that you remember them ; for the most sublime truths 
are best honoured by means of silence. Yet, for the credit of 
those things which you remember concerning things not to 
be spoken, tell me what you retain of those things which we 
spoke of in the second place, which can easily be spoken out, 
that, perceiving your tenacity of memory, I may the more 
readily point out to you, and freely open, the things of which 
I wish to speak." Then I, when I perceived that he rejoiced 
in the good memory of his hearers, said: “Not only am I 
mindful of your definition, but also of that preface which was 

1 That is, that I may be sure that you remember these things. 


Book 1. | RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 159 


prefixed to the definition ; and of almost all things that you 
have expounded, I retain the sense complete, though not all 
the words; because the things that you have spoken have 
been made, as it were, native to my soul, and inborn. For 
you have held out a most sweet cup to me in my excessive 
thirst. And that you may not suppose that I am occupying 
vou with words, being unmindful of things, I shall now call 
to mind the things which were spoken, in which the order 
of your discussion greatly helps me; for the way in which 
the things that you said followed by consequence upon one 
another, and were arranged in a balanced manner, makes 
them easily recalled to memory by the lines of their order.’ 
For the order of sayings is useful for remembering them : 
for when you begin to follow them point by point in succes- 
sion, when anything is wanting, immediately the sense seeks 
for it; and when it has found it, retains it, or at all events, 
if it cannot discover it, there will be no reluctance to ask it 
of the master. But not to delay in granting what you 
demand of me, I shall shortly rehearse what you delivered to 
me concerning the definition of truth. 


CHapP. xx1v.— Repetition continued. 


«'There always was, there is now, and there ever shall be, 
that by which the first Will begotten from eternity consists ; 
and from the first Will [proceeds] a second Will. After 
these came the world; and from the world came time: from 
this, the multitude of men; from the multitude the election 
of the beloved, from whose oneness of mind the peaceful 
kingdom of God is constructed. ' But the rest, which ought 
to follow these, you promised to tell me at another time. 
After this, when you had explained about the creation of 
the world, you intimated the decree of God, “ which He, of 
His own good pleasure, announced in the presence of all the 
first angels,” and which He ordained as an eternal law to all; 
and how He established two kingdoms,—I mean that of the 
present time and that of the future,—and appointed times to 
each, and decreed that a day of judgment should be expected, 
which He determined, in which a severance is to be made of 


160 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox 1. 


things and of souls: so that the wicked indeed shall be con- 
signed to eternal fire for their sins; but those who have lived 
according to the will of God the Creator, having received a 
blessing for their good works, effulgent with brightest light, 
introduced into an eternal abode, and abiding in incorruption, 
shall receive eternal gifts of ineffable blessings." 


Cap. xxv.— Repetition continued. 


While I was going on thus, Peter, enraptured with joy, 
and anxious for me as if I had been his son, lest perhaps I 
should fail in recollection of the rest, and be put to shame 
on account of those who were present, said: “It is enough, 
O Clement; for you have stated these things more clearly 
than I myself explained them.” Then said I, “Liberal learn- 
ing has conferred upon me the power of orderly narration, 
and of stating those things clearly for which there is occasion. 
And if we use learning in asserting the errors of antiquity, 
we ruin ourselves by gracefulness and smoothness of speech ; 
but if we apply learning and grace of speech to the assertion 
of the truth, I think that not a little advantage is thereby 
gained. Be that as it may, my lord Peter, you can but 
imagine with what thankfulness I am transported for all the 
rest of your instruction indeed, but especially for the statc- 
ment of that doctrine which you gave: There is one God, 
whose work the world is, and who, because He is in all respects 
righteous, shall render to every one according to his deeds. 
And after that you added: For the assertion of this dogma 
countless thousands of words will be brought forward; but 
in those to whom is granted knowledge of the true Prophet, 
all this forest of words is cut down. And on this account, 
since you have delivered to me a discourse concerning the 
true Prophet, you have strengthened me with all confidence 
of your assertions.” And then, having perceived that the sum 
of all religion and piety consists in this, I immediately replied : 
* You have proceeded most excellently, O Peter: wherefore, 
in future, expound unhesitatingly, as to one who already 
knows what are the foundations of faith and piety, the tra- 

- ditions of the true Prophet, who alone, as has been clearly 


Dook 1.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 161 


proved, is to be believed. But that exposition which requires 
assertions and arguments, reserve for the unbelievers, to whom 
you have not yet judged it proper to commit the indubitable 
faith of prophetic grace.” When I had said this, I added: 
* You promised that you would give at the proper time 
two things: first this exposition, at once simple and entirely 
free from error; and then an exposition of each individual 
point as it may be evolved in the course of the various ques- 
tions which shall be raised. And after this you expounded 
the sequence of things in order from the beginning of the 
world, even to the present time; and if you please, I can 
repeat the whole from memory." 


Crap. xxvi.— Friendship of God; how secured. 


To this Peter answered: *I am exceedingly delighted, O 
Clement, that I commit my words to so safe a heart ; for to 
be mindful of the things that are spoken is an indication of 
having in readiness the faith of works. But he from whom 
the wicked demon steals away the words of salvation, and 
snatches them away from his memory, cannot be saved, even 
though he wish it; for he loses the way by which life is 
reached. Wherefore let us the rather repeat what has been 
spoken, and confirm it in your heart, that is, in what manner 
or by whom the world was made, that we may proceed to the 
friendship of the Creator. But His friendship is secured by 
living well, and by obeying His will; which will is the law 
of all that live. We shall therefore unfold these things 
briefly to you, in order that they may be the more surely 
remembered. 


Cap. xxvir.—4Account of the creation. 


* In the beginning, when God had niade the heaven and the 
earth,’ as one house, the shadow which was cast by the mun- 
dane bodies involved in darkness those things which were 
enclosed in it. But when the will of God had introduced 
light, that darkness which had been caused by the shadows 
of bodies was straightway dispelled: then at length light is 

1 Gen. i. 1. 
L 


162 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.  [Booxi 


appointed for the day, darkness for the night. And now 
the water which was within the world, in the middle space of 
that first heaven and earth, congealed as if with frost, and 
solid as crystal, is distended, and the middle spaces of the 
heaven and earth are separated as by a firmament of this 
sort ; and that firmament the Creator called heaven, so called 
by the name of that previously made: and so He divided into 
two portions that fabric of the universe, although it was but one 
house. The reason of the division was this, that the upper 
portion might afford a dwelling-place to angels, and the 
lower to men. After this, the place of the sea and the chaos 
which had been made received that portion of the waters 
which remained below, by order of the eternal Will ; and these 
flowing down to the sunk and hollow places, the dry land 
appeared ; and the gatherings of the waters were made seas. 
And after this the earth, which had appeared, produced 
various species of herbs and shrubs. It gave forth fountains 
also, and rivers, not only in the plains, but on the mountains. 
And so all things were prepared, that men who were to dwell 
in it might have it in their power to use all these things 
according to their will, that is, either for good or evil. 


Cur. xxviut.—A ccount of the creation continued. 


* After this He adorns that visible heaven with stars. He 
places in it also the sun and the moon, that the day might 
enjoy the light of the one, the night that of the other; and 
that at the same time they might be for an indication of 
things past, present, and future. For they were made for signs 
of seasons and of days, which, although they are seen indeed 
by all, are understood only by the learned and intelligent. 
And when, after this, He had ordered living creatures to be 
᾿ produced from the earth and the waters, he made Paradise, 
which also He named a place of delights. But after all these 
things He made man, on whose account He had prepared all 
things, whose internal species! is older, and for whose sake 
all things that are were made, given up to his service, and 
assigned to the uses of his habitation. 
1 That is, his soul, according to the doctrine of the pre-existence of souls. 


Boox 1. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 163 


Caap. xxix.— The giants: the flood. 


« All things therefore being completed which are in heaven, 
and in earth, and in the waters, and the human race also 
having multiplied, in the eighth generation, righteous men, 
who had lived the life of angels, being allured by the beauty 
of women, fell into promiscuous and illicit connections with 
these ;* and thenceforth acting in all things without discretion, 
and disorderly, they changed the state of human affairs and 
the divinely prescribed order of life, so that either by per- 
suasion or force they compelled all men to sin against God 
their Creator. In the ninth generation are born the giants, 
so called from of old,’ not dragon-footed, as the fables of the 
Greeks relate, but men of immense bodies, whose bones, of 
enormous size, are still shown in some places for confirmation. 
But against these the righteous providence of God brought a 
flood upon the world, that the earth might be purified from 
their pollution, and every place might be turned into a sea 
by the destruction of the wicked. Yet there was then found 
one righteous man, by name Noah, who, being delivered in an 
ark with his three sons and their wives, became the colonizer 
of the world after the subsiding of the waters, with those 
animals and seeds which he had shut up with him. 


CuHaP. xxx.—Noah’s sons. 


* Tn the twelfth generation, when God had blessed men, and 
they had begun to multiply,’ they received a commandment 
that they should not taste blood, for on account of this also 
the deluge had been sent. In the thirteenth generation, 
when the second of Noah’s three sons had done an injury 
to his father, and had been cursed by him, he brought the 

2 Gen. vi. 2. 

3 The writer here translates the words of the Septuagint, of γίγαντες 
οἱ dz αἰῶνος of ἄνθρωποι of ὀνομαστοί, illi quia seculo nominantur. We 
have given the translation of our authorized version. It is likely, how- 
ever, that the writer believed the name to imply that they lived to a 
great age, as is maintained by Diodorus quoted by Suicer on the word, 
or he may have traced the word to γῇ. 

> Gen. ix. 1. 


164 'ECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book r. 


condition of slavery upon his posterity. His elder brother 
meantime obtained the lot of a dwelling-place in the middle 
region of the world, in which is the country of Judxa; the 
younger obtained the eastern quarter, and he the western. 
In tlie fourteenth generation one of the cursed progeny first 
erected an altar to demons, for tlie purpose of magical arts, 
and offered there bloody sacrifices. In the fifteenth genera- 
tion, for the first time, men set up an idol and worshipped it. 
Until that time the Hebrew language, which had been given 
by God to men, bore sole sway. In the sixteenth generation 
the sons of men migrated from the east, and, coming to the 
lands that had been assigned to their fathers, each one marked 
the place of his own allotment by his own name. In the 
seventeenth generation Nimrod r. reigned in Babylonia, and 
built a city, and thence migrated to the Persians, and taught 
them to worship fire. 


Cuar. xxxr.— World after the flood. 


“In the eighteenth generation walled cities were built, 
armies were organized and armed, judges and laws were 
sanctioned, temples were built, and the princes of nations 
were adored as gods. In the nineteenth generation the de- 
scendants of him who had been cursed after the flood, going 
beyond their proper bounds which they had obtained by lot 
in the western regions, drove into the eastern lands those who 
had obtained the middle portion of the world, and pursued 
them as far as Persia, while themselves violently took posses- 
sion of the country from which they expelled them. In the 
twentieth generation a son for the first time died before his 
father,' on account of an incestuous crime. 


CHAP, XXx1I1.— Abraham. 


“In the twenty-first generation there was a certain wise 
inan, of the race of those who were expelled, of the family 
of Noah's eldest son, by name Abraham, from whom our 
Hebrew nation is derived. When the whole world was again 
overspread with errors, and when for the hideousness of its 

1 Gen. xi. 28. 


Book 1.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 165 


crimes destruction was ready for it, this time not by water, 
but fire, and when already the scourge was hanging over 
the whole earth, beginning with Sodom, this man, by reason 
of his friendship with God, who was well pleased with him, 
obtained from God that the whole world should not equally 
perish. From the first this same man, being an astrologer, 
was able, from the account and order of the stars, to recognise 
the Creator, while all others were in error, and understood 
that all things are regulated by His providence. Whence 
also an angel,' standing by him in a vision, instructed him 
more fully concerning those things which he was beginning 
to perceive. He showed him also what belonged to his race 
and posterity, and promised him that those districts should 
be restored rather than given to them. 


Crap. xxxil1.— Abraham : his posterity. 


“Therefore Abraham, when he was desirous to learn the 
causes of things, and was intently pondering upon what had 
been told him, the true Prophet appeared to him, who alone 
knows the hearts and purpose of men, and disclosed to him all 
things which he desired. He taught him the knowledge of the 
Divinity ; intimated the origin of the world, and likewise its 
end ; showed him the immortality of the soul, and the manner 
of life which was pleasing to God; declared also the resur- 
rection of the dead, the future judgment, the reward of the 
good, the punishment of the evil,—all to be regulated by 
righteous judgment: and having given him all this informa- 
tion plainly and sufficiently, IIe departed again to the invisible 
abodes. But while Abraham was still in ignorance, as we 
said to you before, two sons were born to him, of whom the 
one was called Ismael, and the other Heliesdros. From the 
one are descended the barbarous nations, from the other 
the people of the Persians, some of whom have adopted the 
manner of living and the institutions of their neighbours, 
the Brachmans. Others settled in Arabia, of whose posterity 
some also have spread into Egypt. From them some of the 
Indians and of the Egyptians have learned to be circumcised, 

"Gen. xv. xxii. 


} 


166 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book r. 


and to be of purer observance than others, although in process 
of time most of them have turned to impiety what was the 


proof and sign of purity. 
Cuar. xxx1v.— The Israelites in Egypt. 


* Nevertheless, as he had got these two sons during the time 
while he still lived in ignorance of things, having received the 
knowledge of God, he asked of the Righteous One that he 
might merit to have offspring by Sarah, who was his lawful 
wife, though she was barren. She obtained a son, whom he 
named Isaac, from whom came Jacob, and from him the 
twelve patriarchs, and from these twelve seventy-two. These, 
when famine befell, came into Egypt with all their family ; 
and in the course of four hundred years, being multiplied by 
the blessing and promise of God, they were afflicted by the 
Egyptians. And when they were afflicted the true Prophct 
appeared to Moses! and struck the Egyptians with ten 
plagues, when they refused to let the Hebrew people depart 
from them, and return to their native land; and he brought 
the people of God out of Egypt. But those of the Egyptians 
who survived the plagues, being infected with the animosity 
of their king, pursued after the Hebrews. And when they 
had overtaken them at the sea-shore, and thought to destroy 
and exterminate them all, Moses, pouring out prayer to God, 
divided the sea into two parts, so that the water was held 
on the right hand and on the left as if it had been frozen, 
and the people of God passed as over a dry road; but the 
Egyptians who were pursuing them, rashly entering, were 
drowned. For when the last of the Hebrews came out, the 
last of the Egyptians went down into the sea ; and straight- 
way the waters of the sea, which by his command were held 
bound as with frost, were loosed by his command who had 
bound them, and recovering their natural freedom, inflicted 
punishment on the wicked nation. 


Cuap. xxxv.— The Exodus. 


“ After this, Moses, by the command of God, whose provi- 
1 Exod. iii. 


Book 1. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 167 


dence is over all, led out the people of the Hebrews into the 
wilderness ; and, leaving the shortest road which leads from 
Egypt to Juda, he led the people through long windings 
of the wilderness, that, by the discipline of forty years, the 
novelty of a changed manner of life might root out the evils 
which had clung to them by a long-continued familiarity with 
the customs of the Egyptians. Meantime they came to Mount 
Sinai, and thence the law was given to them with voices and 
sights from heaven, written in ten precepts, of which the first 
and greatest was that they should worship, God Himself 
alone, and not make to themselves any appearance or form! 
to worship. But when Moses had gone up to the mount, and 
was staying there forty days, the people, although they had 
seen Egypt struck with the ten plagues, and the sea parted 
and passed over by them on foot, manna also given to them 
from heaven for bread, and drink supplied to them out of the 
rock that followed? them, which kind of food was turned 
into whatever taste any one desired; and although, being 
placed under the torrid region of heaven, they were shaded 
by a cloud in the day-time, that they might not be scorched 
by the heat, and by night were enlightened by a pillar of fire, 
lest the horror of darkness should be added to the wasteness 
of the wilderness;—those very people, I say, when Moses 
stayed in the mount, made and worshipped a golden calf's 
head, after the fashion of Apis, whom they had seen wor- 
shipped in Egypt; and after so many and so great marvels 
which they had seen, were unable to cleanse and wash out 
from themselves the defilements of old habit. On this 
account, leaving the short road which leads from Egypt 
to Judza, Moses conducted them by an immense circuit of 
the desert, if haply he might be able, as we mentioned before, 
to shake off the evils of old habit by the change of a new 
education. 


Cuap. xxxvi.—Allowance of sacrifice for a time. 


* When meantime Moses, that faithful and wise steward, 
perceived that the vice of sacrificing to idols had been deeply 
1 That is, picture or statue. 2 Comp. 1 Cor. x. 4. 


168 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book 1. 


ingrained into the people from their association with the 
Egyptians, and that the root of this evil could not be ex- 
tracted from them, he allowed them indeed to sacrifice, but 
permitted it to be done only to God, that by any means he 
might cut off one half of the deeply ingrained evil, leaving 
the other half to be corrected by another, and at a future 
time; by Him, namely, concerning whom he said himself, * A 
prophet shall the Lord your God raise unto you, whom ye 
shall hear even as myself, according to all things which He 
shall say to you. Whosoever shall not hear that prophet, his 
soul shall be cut off from his people.’ ! 


Caap. xxxvit.— The holy place. 


“In addition to these things, he also appointed a place in 
which alone it should be lawful to them to sacrifice to God.? 
And all this was arranged with this view, that when the fitting 
time should come, and they should learn by means of the 
Prophet that God desires mercy and not sacrifice,’ they might 
see Him who should teach them that the place chosen of 
God, in which it was suitable that victims should be offered 
to God, is his Wisdom ; and that on the other hand they 
might hear that this place, which seemed chosen for a time, 
often harassed as it had been by hostile invasions and plun- 
derings, was at last to be wholly destroyed.‘ And in order 
to impress this upon them, even before the coming of the true 
Prophet, who was to reject at once the sacrifices and the 
place, it was often plundered by enemies and burnt with fire, 
and the people carried into captivity among foreign nations, 
and then brought back when they betook themselves to the 
mercy of God; that by these things they might be taught 
that a people who offer sacrifices are driven away and 
delivered up into the hands of the enemy, but they who do 
mercy and righteousness are without sacrifices freed from 
captivity, and restored to their native land. But it fell out 
that very few understood this; for the greater number, 
though they could perceive and observe these things, yet 


! Deut. xviii. 15 ; Acts iii. 22, 29. — ? Deut. xii. 11 ; 2 Chron. vii. 12. 
3 Hos. vi. 6; Matt. ix. 18, xii. 7, * Matt. xxiv. 2; Luke xix. 44. 


Dook 1.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 169 


were held by the irrational opinion of the vulgar: for right 
opinion with liberty is the prerogative of a few. 


Cuap. XXXvil1.—Sins of the Israelites. 


* Moses,! then, having arranged these things, and having 
set over the people one Áusés to bring them to the land of 
their fathers, himself by the command of the living God went 
up to a certain mountain, and there died. Yet such was the 
manner of his death, that till this day no one has found his 
burial-place. When, therefore, the people reached their 
fathers’ land, by the providence of God, at their first onset 
the inhabitants of wicked races are routed, and they enter 
upon their paternal inheritance, which was distributed among 
them by lot. For some time thereafter they were ruled not 
by kings, but judges, and remained in a somewhat peaceful 
condition. But when they sought for themselves tyrants 
rather than kings, then also with regal ambition they erected 
a temple in the place which had been appointed to them 
for prayer; and thus, through a succession of wicked kings, 
the people fell away to greater and still greater impiety. 


CHAP. XXXIX.—Baptism instituted in place of sacrijices. 


* But when the time began to draw near that what was 
wanting in the Mosaic institutions should be supplied, as we 
have said, and that the Prophet should appear, of whom he 
had foretold that He should warn them by the mercy of God 
to cease from sacrificing ; lest haply they might suppose that 
on the cessation of sacrifice there was no remission of sins for 
them, He instituted baptism by water amongst them, in which 
they might be absolved from all their sins on the invocation 
of His name, and for the future, following a perfect life, 
might abide in immortality, being purified not by the blood 
of beasts, but by the purification of the Wisdom of God. 
Subsequently also an evident proof of this great mystery is 
supplied [in the fact], that every one who, believing in this 
Prophet who had been foretold by Moses, is baptized in His 
name, shall be kept unhurt from the destruction of war which 

! Deut. xxxi.-xxxiv. 


^ 


170 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book 1. 


impends over the unbelieving nation, and the place itself ; 
but that those who do not believe shall be made exiles 
from their place and kingdom, that even against their will 
they may understand and obey the will of God. 


Cnr. xL.— Advent of the true Prophet. 


“These things therefore having been fore-arranged, He 
who was expected comes, bringing signs and miracles as His 
credentials by which He should be made manifest. But not 
even so did the people believe, though they had been trained 
during so many ages to the belief of these things. And not 
only did they not believe, but they added blasphemy to un- 
belief, saying that He was a gluttonous man and a belly-slave, 
and that He was actuated by a demon,' even He who had 
come for their salvation. To such an extent does wicked- 
ness prevail by the agency of evil ones; so that, but for the 
Wisdom of God assisting those who love the truth, almost 
all would have been involved in impious delusion. There- 
fore He chose us twelve,’ the first who believed in Him, 
whom He named apostles; and afterwards other seventy- 
two most approved disciples,* that, at least in this way recog- 
nising the pattern of Moses,‘ the multitude might believe 
that this is He of whom Moses foretold, the Prophet that was 
to come." 


Cur. XLi.— Rejection of the true Prophet. 


« But some one perhaps may say that it is possible for any 
one to imitate a number ; but what shall he say of the signs 
and miracles which He wrought? For Moses had wrought 
miracles and cures in Egypt. He also of whom he foretold 
that He should rise up a prophet like unto himself, though He 
cured every sickness and infirmity among the people, wrought 
innumerable miracles, and preached eternal life, was hurried 
by wicked men to the cross ; which deed was, however, by His 
power turned to good. In short, while He was suffering, all 
the world suffered with Him; for the sun was darkened, the 


1 Matt. ix.; John. vii. ? Matt. x. 3 Luke x. 
5 Num. xi. 16. 5 Deut. xviii. 15. 


Book 1.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 171 


mountains were torn asunder, the graves were opened, the veil 
of the temple was rent,’ as in lamentation for the destruction 
impending over the place. And yet, though all the world 
was moved, they themselves are not even now moved to the 
consideration of these so great things. | 


Cuap. xLII.— Call of the Gentiles. 


* But inasmuch as it was necessary that the Gentiles should 
be called into the room of those who remained unbelieving, 
so that the number might be filled up which had been shown 
to Abraham,’ the preaching of the blessed kingdom of God is 
sent into all the world. On this account worldly spirits are 
disturbed, who always oppose those who are in quest of liberty, 
and who make use of the engines of error to destroy God's 
building; while those who press on to the glory of safety and 
liberty, being rendered braver by their resistance to these 
spirits, and by the toil of great struggles against them, attain 
the crown of safety not without the palm of victory. Mean- 
time, when He had suffered, and darkness had overwhelmed 
the world from the sixth even to the ninth hour,’ as soon as 
the sun shone out again, and things were returned to their 
usual course, even wicked men returned to themselves and 
their former practices, their fear having abated. For some 
. of them, watching the place with all care, when they could not 
prevent His rising again, said that He was a magician ; others 
pretended that He was stolen away.* 


Crap. XLIII.—Success of the gospel. 


* Nevertheless, the truth everywhere prevailed; for, in 
proof that these things were done by divine power, we who 
had been very few became in the course of a few days, by the 
help of God, far more than they. So that the priests at one 
time were afraid, lest haply, by the providence of God, to their 
confusion, the whole of the people should come over to our 
faith. Therefore they often sent to us, and asked us to dis- 
course to them concerning Jesus, whether He were the Pro- 


1 Matt. xxvii. 45, 51, 52. 2 Gen, xv. ; Acts xiii. 
3 Matt. xxvii. 45. * Matt. xxviii. 13. 


172 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [ Book 1. 


phet whom Moses foretold, who is the eternal Christ.’ For on 
this point only does there seem to be any difference between 
us who believe in Jesus, and the unbelieving Jews. But 
while they often made such requests to us, and we sought for 
a fitting opportunity, a week of years was completed from 
the passion of the Lord, the church of the Lord which was 
constituted in Jerusalem was most plentifully multiplied and 
grew, being governed with most righteous ordinances by 
James, who was ordained bishop in it by the Lord. 


Cuap. xL1v.— Challenge by Cataphas. | 


« But when we twelve apostles, on the day of the passover, 
had come together with an immense multitude, and entered 
into the church of the brethren, each one of us, at the request 
of James, stated briefly, in the hearing of the people, what 
we had done in every place. While this was going on, 
Caiaphas, the high priest, sent priests to us, and asked us to 
come to him, that either we should prove to him that Jesus is 
the eternal Christ, or he to us that He is not, and that so all 
the people should agree upon the one faith or the other; and 
this he frequently entreated us to do. But we often put it off, 
always seeking for a more convenient time." 

Then I, Clement, answered to this : “I think that this very 
question, whether He is the Christ, is of great importance for 
the establishment of the faith ; otherwise the high priest would 
not so frequently ask that he might either learn or teach con- 
cerning the Christ." 

Then Peter: * You have answered rightly, O Clement ; for 
as no one can see without eyes, nor hear without ears, nor 
smell without nostrils, nor taste without a tongue, nor handle 
anything without hands, so it is impossible, without the true 
Prophet, to know what is pleasing to God." 

And I answered: *I have already learned from your in- 
struction that this true prophet is the Christ; but I should 
wish to learn what the Christ means, or why He is so called, 
that a matter of so great importance may not be vague and 
uncertain to me." 

! John xii. 84. 


Bokr] | ZECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 173 


Cur. xLv.—The true Prophet : why called the Christ. 


Then Peter began to instruct me in this manner: When 
God had made the world, as Lord of the universe, He ap- 
pointed chiefs over the several creatures, over the trees even, 
and the mountains, and the fountains, and the rivers, and all 
things which He had made, as we have told you; for it were 
too long to mention them one by one. He set, therefore, an 
angel as chief over the angels, a spirit over the spirits, a star 
over the stars, a demon over the demons, a bird over thie birds, 
a beast over the beasts, a serpent over the serpents, a fish over 
the’ fishes, a man over men, who is Christ Jesus. But He 
is called Christ by a certain excellent rite of religion ; for as 
there are certain names common to kings, as Ársaces among 
the Persians, Cesar among the Romans, Pharaoh among the 
Egyptians, so among the Jews a king is called Christ. And 
the reason of this appellation is this: Although indeed He 
was the Son of God, and the beginning of all things, He be- 
came man ; Him first God anointed with oil which was taken 
from the wood of the tree of life: from that anointing there- 
fore He is called Christ. Thence, moreover, He Himself also, 
according to the appointment of Ilis Father, anoints with 
similar oil every onc of the pious when they come to His 
kingdom, for their refreshment after their labours, as having 
got over the difficulties of the way; so that their light may 
shine, and being filled with the ILoly Spirit, they may be 
endowed with immortality. But it occurs to me that I have 
sufficiently explained to you the whole nature of that branch 
from which that ointment is taken. 


παρ. xivi.—Anointing. 


* But now also I shall, by a very short representation, recall 
you to the recollection of all these things. In the present 
life, Aaron, the first high priest,’ was anointed with a com- 
position of chrism, which was made after the pattern of that 
spiritual ointment of which we have spoken before. He 
was prince of the people, and as a king received first-fruits 

1 Exod. xxix. ; Lev. viii. 





Fe 


174 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book 1. 


and tribute from the people, man by man ; and having under- 
taken the office of judging the people, he judged of things 
clean and things unclean. But if any one else was anointed 
with the same ointment, as deriving virtue from it, he became 
either king, or prophet, or priest. If, then, this temporal 
grace, compounded by men, had such efficacy, consider now 
how potent was that ointment extracted by God from a 
branch of the tree of life, when that which was made by 
men could confer so excellent dignities among men. For 
what in the present age is more glorious than a prophet, 
more illustrious than a priest, more exalted than a king ?” 


Cuar. xLvII.— Adam anointed o prophet. 


To thisI replied : *I remember, Peter, that you told me of 
the first man that he was a prophet; but you did not say 
that he was anointed. If then there be no prophet without 
anointing, how could the first man be a prophet, since he was 
not anointed?” ‘Then Peter, smiling, said: “ If the first man 
prophesied, it is certain that he was also anointed. For al- 
though he who has recorded the law in his pages is silent as 
to his anointing, yet he has evidently left us to understand 
these things. For as, if he had said that he was anointed, it 
would not be doubted that he was also a prophet, although it 
were not written in the law; so, since it is certain that he 
was a prophet, it is in like manner certain that he was also 
anointed, because without anointing he could not be a pro- 
phet. But you should rather have said, If the chrism was 
compounded by Aaron, by the perfumer’s art, how could the 
first man be anointed before Aaron’s time, the arts of com- 
position not yet having been discovered?” Then I answered, 
* Do not misunderstand me, Peter ; for I do not speak of that 
compounded ointment and temporal oil, but of that simple 
and eternal [ointment], which you told me was made by 
God, after whose likeness you say that that other was com- 
pounded by men.” 


Cuar. XLvi1.—The true Prophet, a priest. 
Then Peter answered, with an appearance of indignation : 


Book 1.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMÉNT. 175 


“What! do you suppose, Clement, that all of us can know 
all things before the time? But not to be drawn aside now 
from our proposed discourse, we shall at another time, when 
your progress is more manifest, explain these things more 
distinctly. 

«Then, however, a priest or a prophet, being anointed with 
the compounded ointment, putting fire to the altar of God, 
was held illustrious in all the world. But after Aaron, who 
was a priest, another is taken out of the waters. I do not 
speak of Moses, but of Him who, in the waters of baptism, 
was called by God His Son.’ For it is Jesus who has put 
out, by the grace of baptism, that fire which the priest 
kindled for sins; for, from the time when He appeared, the 
chrism has ceased, by which the priesthood or the prophetic 
or the kingly office was conferred. 


CHAP. XLIx.— Tio comings of Christ. 


* His coming, therefore, was predicted by Moses, who de- 
livered the law of God to men; but by another also before 
him, as I have already informed you. He therefore in- 
timated that He should come, humble indeed in His first 
coming, but glorious in His second. And the first, indeed, 
has been already accomplished ; since He has come and 
taught, and He, the Judge of all, has been judged and slain. 
But at His second coming He shall come to judge, and shall 
indeed condemn the wicked, but shall take the pious into 
a share and association with Himself in His kingdom. Now 
the faith of His second coming depends upon His first. For 
the prophets—especially Jacob and Moses—spoke of the 
first, but some also of the second. But the excellency of 
prophecy is chiefly shown in this, that the prophets spoke 
not of things to come, according to the sequence of things; 
otherwise they might seem merely as wise men to have con- 
jectured what the sequence of things pointed out. 


Cuoap. L.— His rejection by the Jews. 


“But what I say is this: It was to be expected that Christ 
! Matt. iii. 17. 


176 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book 1. 


should be received by the Jews, to whom He came, and that 
they should believe on Him who was expected for the salva- 
tion of the people, according to the traditions of the fathers ; 
but that the Gentiles should be averse to Him, since neither 
promise nor announcement concerning Him had been made 
to them, and indeed He had never been made known to them 
even by name. Yet the prophets, contrary to the order and 
sequence of things, said that He should be the expectation 
of the Gentiles, and not of the Jews. And so it happened. 
For when He came, He was not at all acknowledged by 
those who seemed to expect Him, in consequence of the 
tradition of their ancestors; whereas those who had heard 
nothing at all of Him, both believe that He has come, and 
hope that He is to come. And thus in all things prophecy 
appears faithful, which said that He was the expectation of 
the Gentiles. The Jews, therefore, have erred concerning 
the first coming of the Lord; and on this point only there 
is disagreement betwixt us and them. For they themselves 
know and expect that Christ shall come; but that He has 
come already in humility—even He who is called Jesus— 
they do not know. And this is a great confirmation of His 
coming, that all do not believe on Him. 


Cnar. L1.—The only Saviour. 


“Him, therefore, has God appointed in the end of the 
world; because it was impossible that the evils of men could 
be removed by any other, provided that the nature of the 
human race were to remain entire, £e. the liberty of the 
will being preserved. This condition, therefore, being pre- 
served inviolate, He came to invite to His kingdom all 
righteous ones, and those who have been desirous to please 
Him. For these He has prepared unspeakable good things, 
and the heavenly city Jerusalem, which shall shine above the 
brightness of the sun, for the habitation of the saints. But 
the unrighteous, and the wicked, and those who have despised 
God, and have devoted the life given them to diverse wicked- 
nesses, and have given to the practice of evil the time which 

1 Gen. xlix. 10. 


Book 1. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 177 


was given them for the work of righteousness, He shall hand 
over to fitting and condign vengeance. But the rest of the 
things which shall then be done, it is neither in the power 
of angels nor of men to tell or to describe. This only it is 
enough for us to know, that God shall confer upon the good 
an eternal possession of good things." 


Cuap. Lrr.—T/e saints before Christ's coming. 


When he had thus spoken, I answered: “If those shall 
enjoy the kingdom of Christ, whom His coming shall find 
righteous, shall then those be wholly deprived of the king- 
dom who have died before His coming?" Then Peter says: 
€ You compel me, O Clement, to touch upon things that are 
unspeakable. But so far as it is allowed to declare them, I 
shall not shrink from doing so. Know then that Christ, 
who svas from the beginning, and always, was ever present 
with the pious, though secretly, through all their generations ; 
especially with those who waited for Him, to whom He fre- 
quently appeared. But the time was not yet that there 
should be a resurrection of the bodies that were dissolved ; but 
this seemed rather to be their reward from God, that whoever 
should be found righteous, should remain longer in the body ; 
or, at least, as is clearly related in the writings of the law 
concerning a certain righteous man, that God translated him.! 
In like manner others were dealt with, who pleased His will, 
that, being translated to Paradise, they should be kept for the 
kingdom. But as to those who have not been able completely 
to fulfil the rule of righteousness, but have had some rem- 
nants of evil in their flesh, their bodies are indeed dissolved, 
but their souls are kept in good and blessed abodes, that at 
the resurrection of the dead, when they shall recover their 
own bodies, purified even by the dissolution, they may obtain 
an eternal inheritance in proportion to their good deeds. 
And therefore blessed are all those who shall attain to the 
kingdom of Christ; for not only shall they escape the pains 
of hell, but shall also remain incorruptible, and shall be the 

! Gen. v. 24. 
M 


178 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox 1. 


first to see God the Father, and shall obtain the rank of 
honour among the first in the presence of God. 


CHAP. Lirt.—4Animosity of the Jews. 


*« Wherefore there is not the least doubt concerning Christ ; 
and all the unbelieving Jews are stirred up with boundless 
rage against us, fearing lest haply He against whom they have 
sinned should be He. And their fear grows all the greater, 
because they know that, as soon as they fixed Him on the 
cross, the whole world showed sympathy with Him ; and that 
His body, although they guarded it with strict care, could 
nowhere be found; and that innumerable multitudes are 
attaching themselves to His faith. Whence they, together 
with the high priest Caiaphas, were compelled to send to us 
again and again, that an inquiry might be instituted con- 
cerning the truth of His name. And when they were 
constantly entreating that they might either learn or teach 
concerning Jesus, whether He were the Christ, it seemed 
good to us to go up into the temple, and in the presence of 
all the people to bear witness concerning Him, and at the 
same time to charge the Jews with many foolish things which 
they were doing. For the people was now divided into many 
parties, ever since the days of John the Baptist. 


CHAP. Liv.—Jewish sects. 


‘For when the rising of Christ was at hand for the abolition 
of sacrifices, and for the bestowal of the grace of baptism, the 
enemy, understanding from the predictions that the time was 
at hand, wrought various schisms among the people, that, if 
haply it might be possible to abolish the former sin,' the latter 
fault might be incorrigible. The first schism, therefore, was 
that of those who were called Sadducees, which took their rise 
almost in the time of John. These, as more righteous than 
others, began to separate themselves from the assembly of the 
people, and to deny the resurrection of the dead,” and to assert 
that by an argument of infidelity, saying that it was unworthy 
that God should be worshipped, as it were, under the promise 

Ὁ That is, the sin of sacrifice. 2 Matt. xxii. 23. 


Book 1.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 179 


of areward. The first author of this opinion was Dositheus ; 
the second was Simon. Another schism is that of the 
Samaritans; for they deny tlie resurrection of the dead, and 
assert that God is not to be worshipped in Jerusalem, but on 
Mount Gerizim. They indeed rightly, from the predictions 
of Moses, expect the one true Prophet ; but by the wickedness 
of Dositheus they were hindered from believing that Jesus 
is He whom they were expecting. The scribes also, and 
Pharisees, are led away into another schism ; but these, being 
baptized by John, and holding the word of truth received 
. from the tradition of Moses as the key of the kingdom of 
heaven, have hid it from the hearing of the people.’ Yea, 
some even of the disciples of John, who seemed to be great 
ones, have separated themselves from the people, and pro- 
claimed their own master as the Christ. But all these schisms 
have been prepared, that by means of them the faith of Christ 
and baptisin might be hindered. 


CnaP. Lv.— Public discussion. 


* However, as we were proceeding to say, when the high 
priest had often sent priests to ask us that we might discourse 
with one another concerning Jesus; when it seemed a fit op- 
portunity, and it pleased all the church, we went up to the 
temple, and, standing on the steps together with our faithful 
brethren, the people kept perfect silence ; and first the high 
priest began to exhort the people that they should hear 
patiently and quietly, and at the same time witness and 
judge of those things that were to be spoken. Then, in the 
next place, exalting with many praises the rite of sacrifice 
which had been bestowed by God upon the human race for 
the remission of sins, he found fault with the baptism of our 
Jesus, as having been recently brought in in opposition to the 
sacrifices. But Matthew, meeting his propositions, showed 
clearly, that whosoever shall not obtain the baptism of Jesus 
shall not only be deprived of the kingdom of heaven, but 
shall not be without peril at the resurrection of .the dead, 
even though he be fortified by the prerogative of a good life 

1 Luke xi. 52. 


^ 


180 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [ Book 1. 


and an upright disposition. Having made these and such 
like statements, Matthew stopped. 


Crap. Lv1.—Sadducees refuted. 


* But the party of the Sadducees, who deny the resurrection 
of the dead, were in a rage, so that one of them cried out 
from amongst the people, saying that those greatly err who 
think that the dead everarise. In opposition to him, Andrew, 
my brother, answering, declared that it is not an error, but 
the surest matter of faith, that the dead rise, in accordance 
with the teaching of Him of whom Moses foretold that He - 
should come the true Prophet. ‘Or if, says he, * you do 
not think that this is He whom Moses foretold, let this first 
be inquired into, so that when this is clearly proved to be He, 
there may be no further doubt concerning the things which 
He taught. These, and many such like things, Andrew 
proclaimed, and then stopped. 


Cnr. LviI.—Samaritan refuted. 


“ But a certain Samaritan, speaking against the people and 
against God, and asserting that neither are the dead to rise, 
nor is that worship of God to be maintained which is in 
Jerusalem, but that Mount Gerizim is to be reverenced, 
added also this in opposition to us, that our Jesus was not He 
whom Moses foretold as a prophet to come into the world. 
Against him, and another who supported him in what he said, 
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, strove vigorously ; and 
although they had a command not to enter into their cities,’ 
nor to bring the word of preaching to them, yet, lest their 
discourse, unless it were confuted, should hurt the faith of 
others, they replied so prudently and so powerfully, that they 
put them to perpetual silence. For James made an oration 
concerning the resurrection of the dead, with the approbation 
of all the people; while John showed that if they woud 
abandon the error of Mount Gerizim, they should conse- 
quently acknowledge that Jesus was indeed He who, according 
to tlie prophecy of Moses, was expected to come; since, in- 

1 Matt. x. 3. 


Book 1. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 181 


deed, as Moses wrought signs and miracles, so also did Jesus. 
And there is no doubt but that the likeness of the signs proves 
Him to be that prophet of whom he said that He should come, 
‘like himself.’ Having: declared these things, and more to 
the same effect, they ceased. 


CHAP. LvIII.—Scribes refuted. 


* And, behold, one of the scribes, shouting out from the 
midst of the people, says: ‘The signs and miracles which 
your Jesus wrought, he wrought not as a' prophet, but as a 
magician. Him Philip eagerly encounters, showing that by 
this argument he accused Moses also. For when Moses 
wrought signs and miracles in Egypt, in like manner as Jesus 
also did in Judea, it cannot be doubted that what was said of 
Jesus might as well be said of Moses. Having made these 
and such like protestations, Philip was silent. 


Crap. LIX.— Pharisees refuted. 


‘Then a certain Pharisee, hearing this, chid Philip because 
he put Jesus on a level with Moses. To whom Bartholomew, 
answering, boldly declared that we do not only say that Jesus 
was equal to Moses, but that He was greater than he, because 
Moses was indeed a prophet, as Jesus was also, but that 
Moses was not the Christ, as Jesus was, and therefore He is 
doubtless greater who is both a prophet and the Christ, than 
he who is only a prophet. After following out this train of 
argument, he stopped. After him James the son of Alphus 
gave an address to the people, with the view of showing that 
we are not to believe on Jesus on the ground that the prophets 
foretold concerning Him, but rather that we are to belicve 
the prophets, that they were really prophets, because the 
Christ bears testimony to them; for it is the presence and 
coming of Christ that show that they are truly prophets: 
for testimony must be borne by the superior to his inferiors, 
not by the inferiors to their superior. After these and many 
similar statements, James also was silent. After him Lebbzeus 
began vehemently to charge it upon the people that they did 
not believe in Jesus, who had done them so much good by 





182 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book r. 


teaching them the things that are of God, by comforting the 
afflicted, healing the sick, relieving the poor ; yet for all these 
benefits their return had been hatred and death. When he 
had declared these and many more such things to the people, 
he ceased. 


Crar. Lx.— Disciples of John refuted. 


* And, behold, one of the disciples of John asserted that 
John was the Christ, and not Jesus, inasmuch as Jesus Him- 
self declared that John was greater than all men and all 
prophets.’ ‘If, then, said he, ‘he be greater than all, he 
must be held to be greater than Moses, and than Jesus him- 
self. Dut if he be the greatest of all, then must he be the 
Christ. To this Simon the Canaanite, answering, asserted 
that John was indeed greater than all the prophets, and all 
who are born of women, yet that he is not greater than the 
Son of man. Accordingly Jesus is also the Christ, whereas 
John is only a prophet: and there is as much difference 
between him and Jesus, as between the forerunner and Him 
whose forerunner he is; or as between Him who gives the 
law, and him who keeps the law. Having made these and 
similar statements, the Canaanite also was silent. After him 
Barnabas, who also is called Matthias, who was substituted 
as an apostle in the place of Judas, began to exhort the 
people that they should not regard Jesus with hatred, nor 
speak evil of Him. For it were far more proper, even for one 
who might be in ignorance or in doubt concerning Jesus, 
to love than to hate Him. For God has affixed a reward 
to love, a penalty to hatred. ‘For the very fact, said he, 
*that He assumed a Jewish body, and was born among the 
Jews, how has not this incited us all to love Him?’ When 
he had spoken this, and more to the same effect, he stopped. 


Cuar. Lxr.— Caiaphas answered. 


‘Then Caiaphas attempted to impugn the doctrine of 
Jesus, saying that He spoke vain things, for He said that the 


1 Matt. xi. 9, 11. 
2 We should doubtless read '* Barsabas.” 


Book 1.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 183 


poor are blessed ;! and promised earthly rewards; and placed 
the chief gift in an earthly inheritance; and promised that 
those who maintain righteousness shall be satisfied with meat 
and drink ; and many things of this sort He is charged with 
teaching. Thomas, in reply, proves that his accusation is 
frivolous ; showing that the prophets, in whom Caiaphas 
believes, taught these things much more, and did not show 
in what manner these things are to be, or how they are to be 
understood; whereas Jesus pointed out how they are to be 
taken. And when he had spoken these things, and others of 
like kind, Thomas also held his peace. 


Crap. Lx11.—Foolishness of preaching. 


“Therefore Caiaphas, again looking at me, and sometimes 
in the way of warning and sometimes in that of accusation, 
said that I ought for the future to refrain from preaching 
Christ Jesus, lest I should do it to my own destruction, and 
lest, being deceived myself, I should also deceive others. 
Then, moreover, he charged me with presumption, because, 
though I was unlearned, a fisherman, and a rustic, I dared to 
assume the office of a teacher. As he spoke these things, and 
many more of like kind, I said in reply, that I incurred less 
danger, if, as he said, this Jesus were not the Christ, because 
I received Him as a teacher of the law; but that he was in 
terrible danger if this be the very Christ, as assuredly He 
is: for I believe in Him who has appeared; but for whom 
else, who has never appeared, does he reserve his faith ? 
But if I, an unlearned and uneducated man, as you say, a 
fisherman and a rustic, have more understanding than wise 
elders, this, said I, ought the more to strike terror into you. 
For if I disputed with any learning, and won over you wise 
and learned men, it would appear that I had acquired this 
power by long learning, and not by the grace of divine 
power; but now, when, as I have said, we unskilled men con- 
vince and overcome you wise men, who that has any sense 
does not perceive that this is not a work of human subtlety, 
but of divine will and gift ? 

1 Matt. v. ; Luke x. 


184 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book 1. 


Crap. LxIII.— Appeal to the Jews. 


“Thus we argued and bore witness; and we who were 
unlearned men and fishermen, taught the priests concerning 
the one only God of heaven; the Sadducees, concerning the 
resurrection of the dead; the Samaritans, concerning the 
sacredness of Jerusalem (not that we entered into their cities, 
but disputed with them in public) ; the scribes and Pharisees, 
concerning the kingdom of heaven; the disciples of John, 
that they should not suffer John to be a stumbling-block to 
them; and all the people, that Jesus is the eternal Christ. 
At last, however, I warned them, that before we should go 
forth to the Gentiles, to preach to them the knowledge of 
God the Father, they should themselves be reconciled to 
God, receiving His Son; for I showed them that in no way 
else could they be saved, unless through the grace of the 
Holy Spirit they hasted to be washed with the baptism of 
threefold invocation, and received the eucharist of Christ the 
Lord, whom alone they ought to believe concerning those 
things which He taught, that so they might merit to attain 
eternal salvation ; but that otherwise it was utterly impossible 
for them to be reconciled to God, even if they should kindle 
a thousand altars and a thousand high altars to Him. 


Cnar. Lxtiv.— Temple to be destroyed. 


* «ἘῸΣ we, said I, ‘have ascertained beyond doubt that 
God is much rather displeased with the sacrifices which you 
offer, the time of sacrifices having now passed away; and 
because ye will not acknowledge that the time for offering 
victims is now past, therefore the temple shall be destroyed, 
and the abomination of desolation’ shall stand in the holy 
place; and then the gospel shall be preached to the Gentiles 
for a testimony against you, that your unbelief may be 
judged by their faith. For the whole world at different 
times suffers under divers maladies, either spreading generally 
over all, or affecting individuals specially. Therefore it needs 
a physician to visit it for its salvation. We therefore bear 

1 Dan. ix. 27; Matt. xxiv. 15. 


Book 1.7 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 185 


witness to you, and declare to you what has been hidden 
from every one of you. It is for you to consider what is for 
your advantage.’ 


' Crap. Lxv.— Tumult stilled by Gamaliel. 


* When I had thus spoken, the whole multitude of the 
priests were in a rage, because I had foretold to them the 
overthrow of the temple. Which when Gamaliel, a chief of 
the people, saw—who was secretly our brother in the faith, 
but by our advice remained among them— because they were 
greatly enraged and moved with intense fury against us, he 
stood up, and said,' * Be quiet for a little, O men of Israel, 
for ye do not perceive the trial which hangs over you. 
Wherefore refrain from these men; and if what they are 
engaged in be of human counsel, it will soon come to an 
end; but if it be from God, why will you sin without cause, 
and prevail nothing? For who can overpower the will of 
God? Now therefore, since the day is declining towards 
evening, I shall myself dispute with these men to-morrow, in 
this same place, in your hearing, so that I may openly opposc 
and clearly confute every error.’ By this speech of his their 
fury was to some extent checked, especially in the hope that 
next day we should be publicly convicted of error; and so he 
dismissed the people peacefully. 


ΟἾΑΡ. LXVI.— Discussion resumed. 


« Now when we had come to our James, while we detailed 
to him all that had been said and done, we supped, and re- 
mained with him, spending the whole night in supplication 
to Almighty God, that the discourse of the approaching dis- 
putation might show the unquestionable truth of our faith. 
Therefore, on the following day, James the bishop went up 
to the temple with us, and with the whole church. There 
we found a great multitude, who had been waiting for us 
from the middle of the night. Therefore we took our stand 
in the same place as before, in order that, standing on an 
elevation, we might be seen by all the people. Then, when 

1 Acts v. 95-39. 


186 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book r. 


profound silence was obtained, Gamaliel, who, as we have 
said, was of our faith, but who by a dispensation remained 
amongst them, that if at any time they should attempt any- 
thing unjust or wicked against us, he might either check 
them’ by skilfully adopted counsel, or might warn us, that we 
might either be on our guard or might turn it aside ;—he 
therefore, as if acting against us, first of all looking to James 
the bishop, addressed him in this manner: 


Cnar. Lxvir.— Speech of Gamaliel. 


« € [f I, Gamaliel, deem it no reproach either to my learning 
or to my old age to learn something from babes and un- 
learned ones, if haply there be anything which it is for profit 
or for safety to acquire (for he who lives reasonably knows 
that nothing is more precious than the soul), ought not this 
to be the object of love and desire to all, to learn what they 
do not know, and to teach what they have learned? For it 
is most certain that neither friendship, nor kindred, nor lofty 
power, ought to be more precious to men then truth. There- 
fore you, O brethren, if ye know anything more, shrink not — 
from laying it before the people of God who are present, 
and also before your brethren; while the whole people shall 
willingly and in perfect quietness hear what you say. For 
why should not the people do this, when they see even me 
equally with themselves willing to learn from you, if haply 
God has revealed something further to you? But if you in 
anything are deficient, be not ye ashamed in like manner to 
be taught by us, that God may fill up whatever is wanting 
on either side. But if any fear now agitates you ón account 
of some of our people whose minds are prejudiced against 
you, and if through fear of their violence you dare not openly 
speak your sentiments, in order that I may deliver you from 
this fear, I openly swear to you by Almighty God, who liveth 
for ever, that I will suffer no one to lay hands upon you. 
Since, then, you have all this people witnesses of this my 
oath, and you hold the covenant of our sacrament as a fitting 
pledge, let each one of you, without any hesitation, declare 


Book 1. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 187 


what he has learned ; and let us, brethren, listen eagerly and 
in silence.’ 


Crar. LXxviit.— The rule of faith. 


« These sayings of Gamaliel did not much please Caiaphas; 
and holding him in suspicion, as it seemed, he began to 
insinuate himself cunningly into the discussions : for, smiling 
at what Gamaliel had said, the chief of the priests asked of 
James, the chief of the bishops, that the discourse concerning 
Christ should not be drawn but from the Scriptures; ‘that 
we may know, said he, ‘whether Jesus be the very Christ 
orno. Then said James, ‘We must first inquire from what 
Scriptures we are especially to derive our discussion. Then 
he, with difficulty, at length overcome by reason, answered, 
that it must be derived from the law; and afterwards he 
made mention also of the prophets. 


CHAP. LXIX.— wo comings of Christ. 


“To him our James began to show, that whatsoever things 
the prophets say they have taken from the law, and what 
they have spoken is in accordance with the law. He also 
made some statements respecting the books of the Kings, in 
what way, and when, and by whom they were written, and 
how they ought to be used. And when he had discussed most 
fully concerning the law, and had, by a most clear exposition, 
brought into light whatever things are in it concerning Christ, 
he showed by most abundant proofs that Jesus is the Christ, 
and that in Him are fulfilled all the prophecies which related 
to His humble advent. For he showed that two advents of 
Him are foretold: one in humiliation, which He has accom- 
plished; the other in glory, which is hoped for to be accom- 
plished, when He shall come to give the kingdom to those who 
believe in Him, and who observe all things which He has 
commanded. And when he had plainly taught the people 
concerning these things, he added this also: That unless a 
man be baptized in water, in the name of the threefold 
blessedness, as the true Prophet taught, he can neither receive 
remission of sins nor enter into the kingdom of heaven; and 





188 _ RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book r. 


he declared that this is the prescription of the unbegotten 
God. To which he added this also: ‘Do not think that we 
speak of two unbegotten Gods, or that one is divided into 
two, or that the same is made male and female. But we 
speak of the only-begotten Son of God, not sprung from 
another source, but ineffably self-originated ; and in like man- 
ner we speak of the Paraclete’ But when he had spoken 
some things also concerning baptism, through seven succe8- 
sive days he persuaded all the people and the high priest that 
they should hasten straightway to receive baptism. 


Crap. LXx.— Tumult raised by Saul. 


« And when matters were at that point that they should 
come and be baptized, some one of our enemies,’ entering the 
temple with a few men, began to cry out, and to say, * What 
mean ye, O men of Israel? Why are you so easily hurried 
on? Why are ye led headlong by most miserable men, who are 
deceived by Simon, a magician?’ While he was thus speaking, 
and adding more to the same effect, and while James the bishop 
was refuting him, he began to excite the people and to raise 
a tumult, so that the people might not be able to hear what 
was said. Therefore he began to drive all into confusion 
with shouting, and to undo what had been arranged with 
much labour, and at the same time to reproach the priests, 
and to enrage them with revilings and abuse, and, like a 
madman, to excite every one to murder, saying, * What do yo? 
Why do ye hesitate? Oh, sluggish and inert, why do we 
not lay hands upon them, and pull all these fellows to pieces ?" 
When he had said this, he first, seizing a strong brand from 
the altar, set the example of smiting. Then others also, seeing 
him, were carried away with like madness. Then ensued a 
tumult on either side, of the beating and the beaten. Much 
blood is shed; there is a confused flight, in the midst of 
which that enemy attacked James, and threw him headlong 
from the top of the steps; and supposing him to be dead, he 
cared not to inflict further violence upon him. 


1 A marginal note in one of the manuscripts states that this enemy 
was Saul. 


Book 1. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 189 


Cua». Lxxr.—F light to Jericho. 


« But our friends lifted him up, for they were both more 
numerous and more powerful than the others; but, from 
their fear of God, they rather suffered themselves to be killed 
by an inferior force, than they would kill others. But when 
the evening came the priests shut up the temple, and we 
returned to the house of James, and spent the night there in 
prayer. Then before daylight we went down to Jericho, to 
the number of 5000 men. Then after three days one of the 
brethren came to us from Gamaliel, whom we mentioned before, 
bringing to us secret tidings that that enemy had received 
a commission from Caiaphas, the chief priest, that he should 
arrest all who believed in Jesus, and should go to Damascus 
with his letters, and that there also, employing the help of 
the unbelievers, he should make havoc among the faithful ; 
and that he was hastening to Damascus chiefly on this ac- 
count, because he believed that Peter had fled thither.! And 
about thirty days thereafter he stopped on his way while 
passing through Jericho going to Damascus. At that time 
we were absent, having gone out to the sepulchres of two 
brethren which were whitened of themselves every year, by 
which miracle the fury of many against us was restrained, 
because they saw that our brethren were had in remembrance 


before God. 


Cap. LxXxII.— Peter sent to Cesarea. 


* While, therefore, we abode in Jericho, and gave ourselves 
to prayer and fasting, James the bishop sent for me, and sent 
me here to Caesarea, saying that Zaccheus had written to him 
from Cesarea, that one Simon, a Samaritan magician, was 
subverting many of our people, asserting that he was one 
Stans,—that is, in other words, the Christ, and the great 
power of the high God, which is superior to the Creator of 
the world ; at the same time that he showed many miracles, and 
made some doubt, and others fall away to him. He informed 
me of all things that had been ascertained respecting this 

! Acts xxii. 5. 


190 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox 1. 


man from those who had formerly been either his associates 
or his disciples, and had afterwards been converted to Zaccheus. 
‘Many therefore there are, O Peter, said James, ‘for whose 
safety's sake it behoves you to go and to refute the magician, 
and to teach the word of truth. Therefore make no delay ; 
nor let it grieve you that you set out alone, knowing that 
God by Jesus will go with you, and will help you, and that 
soon, by His grace, you will have many associates and sym- 
pathizers. Now be sure that you send me in writing every 
year an account of your sayings and doings, and especially at 
the end of every seven years.’ With these expressions he 
dismissed me, and in six days I arrived at Caesarea. 


CuaP. LXx111.— Welcomed by Zaccheus. 


“When I entered the city, our most beloved brother 
Zaccheus met me; and embracing me, brought me to this 
lodging, in which he himself stayed, inquiring of me concern- 
ing each of the brethren, especially concerning our honour- 
able brother James. And when I told him that he was still 
lame on one foot, on his immediately asking the cause of this, 
I related to him all that I have now detailed to you, how we 
had been called by the priests and Caiaphas the high priest 
to the temple, and how James the archbishop, standing on 
the top of the steps, had for seven successive days shown the 
whole people from the Scriptures of the Lord that Jesus is 
the Christ; and how, when all were acquiescing that they 
should be baptized by him in the name of Jesus, an enemy 
did all those things which I have already mentioned, and 
which I need not repeat. 


CHAP. LXx1v.—Simon Magus challenges Peter. 


4 When Zaccheus had heard these things, he told me in 
return of the doings of Simon; and in the meantime Simon 
himself—how he heard of my arrival I do not know—sent 
a message to me, saying, ‘ Let us dispute to-morrow in the 
hearing of the people. To which I answered, * Be it so, as it 
pleaseth you.’ And this promise of mine was known over 
the whole city, so that even you, who arrived on that very day, 


Book 1. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 191 


learned that I was to hold a discussion with Simon on the 
following day, and having found out my abode, according to 
the directions whieh you had received from Barnabas, came 
to me. But I so rejoiced at your coming, that my mind, 
moved I know not how, hastened to expound all things quickly 
to you, yet especially that which is the main point in our faith, 
concerning the true Prophet, which alone, I doubt not, is a 
sufficient foundation for the whole of our doctrine. Then, in 
the next place, I unfolded to you the more secret meaning 
of the written law, through its several heads, which there 
was occasion to unfold; neither did I conceal from you the 
good things of the traditions. But what remains, begin- 
ning from to-morrow, you shall hear from day to day in 
connection with the questions which will be raised in the 
discussion with Simon, until by God’s favour we reach that 
city of Rome to which we believe that our journey is to be 
directed.” 

I then declared that I owed him all thanks for what he had 
told me, and promised that I would most readily do all that 
he commanded. Then, having taken food, he ordered me to 
rest, and he also betook himself to rest. 





RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 


——9———— - 
BOOK II. 


Cnar. r.— Power of habit. 
EN the day dawned which had been fixed for the 


W. discussion with Simon, Peter, rising at the first 
s AEN cock-crowing, aroused us also: for we were sleep- 
~~ Ing in the same apartment, thirteen of us in all; 
of whom, next to Peter, Zaccheus was first, then Sophonius, 
Joseph and Michwas, Eliesdrus, Phineas, Lazarus, and Eli- 
seus: after these I (Clement) and Nicodemus; then Niceta 
and Aquila, who had formerly been disciples of Simon, and 
were converted to the faith of Christ under the teaching of 
Zaccheus. Of the women there was no one present. As 
the evening light! was still lasting, we all sat down; and 
Peter, secing that we were awake, and that we were giving 
attention to him, having saluted us, immediately began to 
speak, as follows : 

(1 confess, brethren, that I wonder at the power of 
human nature, which I see to be fit and suited to every call 
upon it. This, however, it occurs to me to say of what I have 
found by experience, that when the middle of the night is 
passed, I awake of my own accord, and sleep does not come 
to me again. This happens to me for this reason, that I 
have formed the habit of recalling to memory the words of 
my Lord, which I heard from Himself ; and for the longing 
I have towards them, I constrain my mind and my thoughts 
to be roused, that, awaking to them, and recalling and ar- 

1 That is, the lamp which had been lighted in the evening. 
192 








Book 1.7 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 193 


ranging them one by one, I may retain them in my memory. 
From this, therefore, whilst I desire to cherish the sayings 
of the Lord with all delight in my heart, the habit of waking 
has come upon me, even if there be nothing that I wish to 
think of. Thus, in some unaccountable way, when any 
custom is established, the old custom is changed, provided 
indeed you do not force it above measure, but as far as the 
measure of nature admits. For it is not possible to be alto- 
gether without sleep; otherwise night would not have been 
made for rest.” 


Caap. 11.—Curtailment of sleep. 


Then I, when I heard this, said: * You have very well 
said, O Peter; for one custom is superseded by another. For 
when I was at sea, I was at first distressed, and all my system 
was disordered, so that I felt as if I had been beaten, and 
could not bear the tossing and tumult of the sea; but after a 
few days, when I had got accustomed to it, I began to bear it 
tolerably, so that I was glad to take food immediately in the 
morning along with the sailors, whereas before it was not my 
custom to eat anything before the seventh hour. Now, there- 
fore, simply from the custom which I then acquired, hunger 
reminds me about that time at which I used to eat with the 
sailors; which, however, I hope to get rid of, when once 
another custom shall have been formed. I believe, therefore, 
that you also have acquired the habit of wakefulness, as you 
state; and you have wished at a fitting time to explain this 
to us, that we also may not grudge to throw off and dispense 
with some portion of our sleep, that we may be able to take 
in the precepts of the living doctrine. For when the food is 
digested, and the mind is under the influence of the silence 
of night, those things which are seasonably taught abide 
in it." 

Crap. 111.— Need of caution. 

Then Peter, being pleased to hear that I understood the 

purport of his preface, that he had delivered it for our ad- 


vantage ; and commending me, doubtless for the purpose of 
N 


194 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox rr. 


encouraging and stimulating me, began to deliver the follow- 
ing discourse: “It seems to me to be seasonable and neces- 
sary to have some discussion relating to those things that 
are near at hand; that is, concerning Simon. For I should 
wish to know of what character and of what conduct he is. 
Wherefore, if any one of you has any knowledge of him, let 
him not fail to inform me; for it is of consequence to know 
these things beforehand. For if we have it in charge, that 
when we enter into a city we should first learn who in it is 
worthy,’ that we may eat with him, bow much more is it 
proper for us to ascertain who or what sort of man he is to 
whom the words of immortality are to be committed! For we 
ought to be careful, yea, extremely careful, that we cast not 
our pearls before swine.’ 


(ΒΑΡ. 1v.— Prudence in dealing with opponents. 


* But for other reasons also it is of importance that I 
should have some knowledge of this man. For if I know 
that in those things concerning which it cannot be doubted 
that they are good, he is faultless and irreproachable,—that is 
to say, if he is sober, merciful, upright, gentle, and humane, 
which no one doubts to be good qualities, —then it will seem 
to be fitting, that upon him who possesses these good virtues, 
that which is lacking of faith and knowledge should be con- 
ferred; and so his life, which is in other respects worthy of 
approbation, should be amended in those points in which it 
shall appear to be imperfect. But if he remains wrapped up 
and polluted in those sins which are manifestly such, it does 
not become me to speak to him at all of the more secret and 
sacred things of divine knowledge, but rather to protest and 
confront him, that he cease from sin, and cleanse his actions 
from vice. But if he insinuate himself, and lead us on to 
speak what he, while he acts improperly, ought not to hear, 
it will be our part to parry him cautiously. For not to 
answer him at all does not seem proper, for the sake of the 
hearers, lest haply they may think that we decline the con- 
test through want of ability to answer him, and so their 

1 Matt. x. ; Luke x. 3 Matt. vii. 6. 


Boo n] | RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 195 


faith may be injured through their misunderstanding of our 
purpose." 


CHAP. v.—Simon Magus, a formidable antagonist. 


When Peter had thus spoken to us, Niceta asks permission 
to say something to him; and Petér having granted permis- 
sion, he says: “ With your pardon, I beseech you, my lord 
Peter, to hear me, who am very anxious for thee, and who am 
afraid lest, in the contest which you have in hand with Simon, 
you should seem to be overmatched. For it very frequently 
happens that he who defends the truth does not gain the vic- 
tory, since the hearers are either prejudiced, or have no great 
interest in the better cause. But over and above all this, 
Simon himself is a most vehement orator, trained in the dia- 
lectic art, and in the meshes of syllogisms ; and what is worse 
than all, he is greatly skilled in the magic art. And there- 
fore I fear, lest haply, being so strongly fortified on every 
side, he shall be thought to be defending the truth, whilst he 
is alleging falsehoods, in the presence of those who do not 
know him. For neither should we ourselves have been able 
to escape from him, and to be converted to the Lord, had it 
not been that, while we were his assistants, and the sharers of 
his errors, we had ascertained that he was a deceiver and a 
magician." 


Caap. vr.— Simon Magus: his wickedness. 


When Niceta had thus spoken, Aquila also, asking that he 
might be permitted to speak, proceeded in manner following: 
* Receive, I entreat thee, most excellent Peter, the assurance 
of my love towards thee; for indeed I also am extremely 
anxious on thy account. And do not blame us in this, for 
indeed to be concerned for any one cometh of affection ; 
whereas to be indifferent is no less than hatred. But I call 
God to witness that I feel for thee, not as knowing thee. to 
be weaker in debate, —for indeed I was never present at any 
dispute in which thou wert engaged,—but because I well 
know the impieties of this man, I think of thy reputation, 
and at the same time the souls of the hearers, and above all, 


196 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book 1. 


the interests of the truth itself. For this magician is vehement 
towards all things that he wishes, and wicked above measure. 
For in all things we know him well, since from boyhood we 
have been assistants and ministers of his wickedness; and 
had not the love of God rescued us from him, we should 
even now be engaged in the same evil deeds with him. But 
a certain inborn love towards God rendered his wickedness 
hateful to us, and the worship of God attractive to us. 
Whence I think also that it was the work of Divine Provi- 
dence, that we, being first made his associates, should take 
knowledge in what manner or by what art he effects the 
prodigies which he seems to work. For who is there that 
would not be astonished at the wonderful things which he 
does? Who would not think that he was a god come down 
from heaven for the salvation of men? For myself, I con- 
fess, if I had not known him intimately, and had taken part 
in his doings, I would easily have been carried away with 
him. Whence it was no great thing for us to be separated 
from his society, knowing as we did that he depends upon 
magic arts and wicked. devices. But if thou also thyself 
wish to know all about him—who, what, and whence he is, 
and how he contrives what he does—then listen. 


Cuap. vir.—Simon Magus: his history. 


“This Simon's father was Antonius, and his mother Rachel. 
By nation he is a Samaritan, from a village of the Gettones ; 
by profession a magician, yet exceedingly well trained in the 
Greek literature; desirous of glory, and boasting above all 
the human race, so that he wishes himself to be believed to 
be an exalted power, which is above God the Creator, and 
to be thought to be the Christ, and to be called the Standing 
One. And he uses this name as implying that he can never 
be dissolved, asserting that his flesh is so compacted by 
the power of his divinity, that it can endure to eternity. 
Hence, therefore, he is called the Standing One, as though 
he cannot fall by any corruption. 


Book 1r. | RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 197 


CHAP. virr.—Simon Magus: his history. 


“ For after that John the Baptist was killed, as you yourself 
also know, when Dositheus had broached his heresy, with 
thirty other chief disciples, and one woman, who was called 
Luna—whence also these thirty appear to have been appointed 
with reference to the number of the days, according to the 
course of the moon—this Simon, ambitious of evil glory, as 
we have said, goes to Dositheus, and pretending friendship, 
entreats him, that if any one of those thirty should die, he 
should straightway substitute him in room of the dead: for 
it was contrary to their rule either to exceed the fixed num- 
ber, or ta admit any one who was unknown, or not yet 
proved; whence also the rest, desiring to become worthy of 
the place and number, are eager in every way to please, 
according to the institutions of their sect, each one of those 
who aspire after admittance into the number, hoping that 
he may be deemed worthy to be put into the place of the 
deceased, when, as we have said, any one dies. Therefore 
Dositheus, being greatly urged by this man, introduced Simon 
when a vacancy occurred among the number. 


Crap. 1x.—Simon Magus: his profession. 


“ But not long after he fell in love with that woman whom 
they call Luna; and he confided all things to us as his 
friends: how he was a magician, and how he loved Luna, 
and how, being desirous of glory, he was unwilling to enjoy 
her ingloriously, but that he was waiting patiently till he 
could enjoy her honourably ; yet so if we also would conspire 
with him towards the accomplishment of his desires. And 
he promised that, as a reward of this service, he would cause 
us to be invested with the highest honours, and we should be 
believed by men to be gods; ‘Only, however, on condition,’ 
says he, ‘that you confer the chief place upon me, Simon, 
who by magic art am able to show many signs and prodigies, 
by means of which either my glory or our sect may be estab- 
lished. For I am able to render myself invisible to those 
who wish to lay hold of me, and again to be visible when I 


198 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book rr. 


am willing to be seen. If I wish to flee, I can dig through 
the mountains, and pass through rocks as if they were clay. 
If I should throw myself headlong from a lofty mountain, 
I should be borne unhurt to the earth, as if I were held 
up; when bound, I can loose myself, and bind those who 
had bound me; being shut up in prison, I can make the 
barriers open of their own accord; I can render statues 
animated, so that those who see suppose that they are men. 
I can make new trees suddenly spring up, and produce 
sprouts at once. 1 can throw myself into the fire, and 
not be burnt; I can change my countenance, so that I 
cannot be recognised; but I can show people that I have 
two faces. I shall change myself into a sheep or a goat ; I 
shall make a beard to grow upon little boys; I shall ascend 
by flight into the air; I shall exhibit abundance of gold, 
and shall make and unmake kings. I shall be worshipped as 
God; I shall have divine honours publicly assigned to me, 
so that an image of me shall be set up, and I shall be wor- 
shipped and adored as God. And what need of more words? 
Whatever I wish, that I shall be able to do. For already I 
have achieved many things by way of experiment. In short,’ 
says he, ‘once when my mother Rachel ordered me to go to 
the field to reap, and I saw a sickle lying, I ordered it to 
go and reap; and it reaped ten times more than the others. 
Lately, I produced many new sprouts from the earth, and 
made them bear leaves and produce fruit in a moment; and 
the nearest mountain I successfully bored through." 


CnBaAP. x.—Simon Magus: his deception. 


* But when he spoke thus of the production of sprouts and 
the perforation of the mountain, I was confounded on this 
account, because he wished to deceive even us, in whom he 
seemed to place confidence; for we knew that those things 
had been from the days of our fathers, which he represented 
as having been done by himself lately. We then, although 
we heard these atrocities from him, and worse than those, 
yet we followed up his crimes, and suffered others to be 
deceived by him, telling also many lies on his behalf; and 


Book u. | RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 199 


this before he did any of the things which he had promised, 


: 80 that while as yet he had done nothing, he was by some 
thought to be God. 


Cnr. x1.—Simon Magus, at the head of the sect of Dositheus. 


‘Meantime, at the outset, as soon as he was reckoned 
among the thirty disciples of Dositheus, he began to depre- 
ciate Dositheus himself, saying that he did not teach purely or 
perfectly, and that this was the result not of ill intention, but 
of ignorance. But Dositheus, when he perceived that Simon 
was depreciating him, fearing lest his reputation among men 
might be obscured (for he himself was supposed to be the 
Standing One), moved with rage, when they met as usual at 
the school, seized a rod, and began to beat Simon; but 
suddenly the rod seemed to pass through his body, as if it 
had been smoke. On which Dositheus, being astonished, 
says to him, ‘Tell me if thou art the Standing One, that I 
may adore thee.’ And when Simon answered that he was, 
then Dositheus, perceiving that he himself was not the 
Standing One, fell down and worshipped him, and gave up 
his own place as chief to Simon, ordering all the rank of 
thirty men to obey him; himself taking the inferior place 
which Simon formerly occupied. Not long after this he 
died. 


CHAP. x11.—Simon Magus and Luna. 


“Therefore, after the death of Dositheus, Simon took Luna 
to himself ; and with her he still goes about, as you see, de- 
ceiving multitudes, and asserting that he himself is a certain 
power which is above God the Creator, while Luna, who is 
with him, has been brought down from the higher heavens, 
and that she is Wisdom, the mother of all things, for whom, 
says he, the Greeks and barbarians contending, were able in 
some measure to see an image of her ; but of herself, as she is, 
as the dweller with the first and only God, they were wholly 
ignorant. Propounding these and other things of the same 
sort, he has deceived many. But I ought also to state this, 
which I remember that I myself saw. Once, when this 


200 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox 1. 


Luna of his was in a certain tower, a great multitude had 
assembled to see her, and were standing around the tower on 
all sides; but she was seen by all the people to lean forward, 
and to look out through all the windows of that tower.! 
Many other wonderful things he did and does; so that men, 
being astonished at them, think that he himself is the great 
God. 


ΟΠΑΡ. x111.—Simon Magus: secret of his magic. 


* Now when Niceta and I once asked him to explain to 
us how these things could be effected by magic art, and what 
was the nature of that thing, Simon began thus to explain it 
to usas his associates. ‘I have,’ said he, ‘made the soul of a 
boy, unsullied and violently slain, and invoked by unutterable 
adjurations, to assist me; and by it all is done that I com- 
mand. ‘But,’ said I, ‘is it possible for a soul to do these 
things?’ He answered: ‘I would have you know this, 
that the soul of man holds the next place after God, when 
once it is set free from the darkness of his body. And 
immediately it acquires prescience: wherefore it is invoked 
for necromancy. Then I answered: * Why, then, do not 
the souls of persons who are slain take vengeance on their 
slayerg?’ ‘Do you not remember,’ said he, * that I told you, 
— that when it goes out of the body it acquires knowledge of 
the future?’ *I remember, said I. ‘Well, then, said he, 
* as soon as it goes out of the body, it immediately knows that 
there is a judgment to come, and that every one shall suffer 
punishment for those evils that he hath done; and therefore 
they are unwilling to take vengeance on their slayers, because 
they themselves are enduring torments for their own evil 
deeds which they had done here, and they know that severer 
punishments await them in the judgment. Moreover, they 
are not permitted by the angels who preside over them 
to go out, or to do anything.’ ‘Then,’ I replied, ‘if the 
angels do not permit them to come hither, or to do what 
they please, how can the souls obey the magician who invokes 


! The meaning seems to be, that she was seen at all the windows at 
once.—TR. | 


Dook 1r. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 201 


them?’ ‘It is not, said he, ‘that they grant indulgence to 
the souls that are willing to come; but when the presiding 
angels are adjured by one greater than themselves, they have 
the excuse of our violence who adjure them, to permit the 
souls which we invoke to go out: for they do not sin who 
suffer violence, but we who impose necessity upon them.’ 
Thereupon Niceta, not able longer to refrain, hastily an- 
swered, as indeed I also was about to do, only I wished first 
to get information from him on several points; but, as I 
said, Niceta, anticipating me, said: * And do you not fear 
the day of judgment, who do violence to angels, and invoke 
souls, and deceive men, and bargain for divine honour to 
yourself from men? And how do you persuade us that 
there shall be no judgment, as some of the Jews confess, 
and that souls are not immortal, as many suppose, though 
you see them with your very eyes, and receive from them 
assurance of the.divine judgment ?' | 


Cuap. xiv.—Simon Magus, professes to be God. 


“At those sayings of his Simon grew pale; but after a little, 
recollecting himself, he thus answered : ‘ Do not think that 
lam a man of your race. Iam neither magician, nor lover 
of Luna, nor son of Antonius. For before my mother Rachel 
and he came together, she, still a virgin, conceived me, while 
it was in my power to be either small or great, and to appear 
as a man among men. Therefore I have chosen you first as 
my friends, for the purpose of trying you, that I may place 
you first in my heavenly and unspeakable places when I shall 
have proved you. "Therefore I have pretended to be a man, 
that I might more clearly ascertain if you cherish entire 
affection towards me, But when I heard that, judging him 
indeed to be a wretch, yet wondering at his impudence; and 
blushing for him, and at the same time fearing lest he should 
attempt some evil against us, I beckoned to Niceta to feign 
for a little along with me, and said to him: * Be not angry 
with us, corruptible men, O thou incorruptible God, but 
rather accept our affection, and our mind willing to know 





202 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox 1. 


who God is; for we did not till now know who thou art, nor 
did we perceive that thou art he whom we were seeking. 


Cnar. xv.—Simon Magus, professed to have made a boy 

of air. 

“As we spoke these and such like words with looks suited 
to the occasion, this most vain fellow believed that we were 
deceived ; and being thereby the more elated, he added also 
this : ‘I shall now be propitious to you, for the affection which 
you bear towards me as God; for you loved me while you 
did not know me, and were seeking me in ignorance. But I 
would not have you doubt that this is truly to be God, when 
one is able to become small or great as he pleases; for I am 
able to appear to man in whatever manner I please. Now, 
then, I shall begin to unfold to you what is true. Once on 
a time, I, by my power, turning air into water, and water 
again into blood, and solidifying it into flesh, formed a new 
human creature—a boy—and produced a much nobler work 
than God the Creator. For He created a man from the 
earth, but I from air—a far more difficult matter ; and again 
I unmade him and restored him to air, but not until I had 
placed his picture and image in my bed-chamber, as a proof 
and memorial of my work.’ Then we understood that he 
spake concerning that boy, whose soul, after he had been 
slain by violence, he made use of for those services which he 
required.” 


CuaP. xv1.—Simon Magus: hopelessness of his case. 


But Peter, hearing these things, said with tears : “ Greatly 
do I wonder at the infinite patience of God, and, on the other 
hand, at the audacity of human rashnes$ in some. For what 
further reason can be found to persuade Simon that God 
judges the unrighteous, since he persuades himself that he 
employs the obedience of souls for the service of his crimes ? 
But, in truth, he is deluded by demons. : Yet, although he is 
sure by these very things that souls are immortal, and are 
judged for the deeds which they have done, and although he 
thinks that he really sees those things which we believe by 


Book u. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 203 


faith; though, as I said, he is deluded by demons, yet he 
thinks that lie sees the very substance of the soul. How - 
shall such a man, I say, be brought to confess either that he 
acts wickedly while he occupies such an evil position, or that 
he is to be judged for those things which he hath done, 
who, knowing the judgment of God, despises it, and shows 
himself an enemy to God, and dares commit such horrid 
things? Wherefore it is certain, my brethren, that some 
oppose the truth and religion of God, not because it appears 
to them that reason can by no means stand with faith, but 
because they are either involved in excess of wickedness, or 
prevented by their own evils, or elated by the swelling of 
their heart, so that they do not even believe those things 
which they think that they see with their own eyes. 


CHAP. xvir.—JMen enemies to God. 


* But, inasmuch as inborn affection towards God the 
Creator seemed to suffice for salvation to those who loved 
Him, the enemy studies to pervert this affection in men, and 
to render them hostile and ungrateful to their Creator. For 
I call heaven and earth to witness, that if God permitted 
the enemy to rage as much as he desires, all men should 
have perished long ere now; but for His mercy’s sake God 
doth not suffer him. But if men would turn their affection 
towards God, all would doubtless be saved, even if for some 
faults they might seem to be corrected for righteousness. 
But now the most of men have been made enemies of God, 
whose hearts the wicked one has entered, and has turned 
aside towards himself the affection which God the Creator 
had implanted in them, that they might have it towards Him. 
But of the rest, who seemed for a time to be watchful, the 
enemy, appearing in a phantasy of glory and splendour, and 
promising them certain great and mighty things, has caused 
their mind and heart to wander away from God; yet it is 
for some just reason that he is permitted to accomplish these 


things. " 


204 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book r1. 


CnA?. xvir.— Responsibility of men. 


To this Aquila answered: * How, then, are men in fault, 
if the wicked one, transforming himself into the brightness of 
light,! promises to men greater things than the Creator Him- 
self does?" Then Peter answered: “I think," says he, 
* that nothing is more unjust than this; and now listen while 
I tell you how unjust it is. If your son, whom you have 
trained and nourished with all care, and brought to man's 
estate, should be ungrateful to you, and should leave you and 
go to another, whom perhaps he may have seen to be richer, 
and should show to him the honour which he owed to you, 
and, through hope of greater profit, should deny his birth, 
and refuse you your paternal rights, would this seem to you 
right or wicked?” Then Aquila answered : * It is manifest 
to all that it would be wicked." Then Peter said: “If you 
say that this would be wicked among men, how much more 
so is it in the case of God, who, above all men, is worthy of 
honour from men ; whose benefits we not only enjoy, but by 
whose means and power it is that we began to be when we 
were not, and whom, if we please, we shall obtain from Him 
to be for ever in blessedness! In order, therefore, that the 
unfaithful may be distinguished from the faithful, and the 
pious from the impious, it has been permitted to the wicked 
one to use those arts by which the affections of every one 
towards the true Father may be proved. But if there were 


. in truth some strange God, were it right to leave our own 


God, who created us, and who is our Father and our Maker, 
and to pass over to another?” God forbid!” said Aquila. 
Then said Peter: “ How, then, shall we say that the wicked 
one is the cause of our sin, when this is done by permission of 
God, that those may be proved and condemned in the day of 
judgment, who, allured by greater promises, have abandoned 
their duty towards their true Father and Creator; while 
those who have kept the faith and the love of their own 
Father, even with poverty, if so it has befallen, and with 
tribulation, may enjoy heavenly gifts and immortal dignitics 
! 2 Cor. xi. 14. , 


Book 11. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 205 


in His kingdom? But we shall expound these things more 
carefully at another time. Meantime I desire to know what 
Simon did after this.” 


Cuap. x1x.—Disputation begun. 


And Niceta answered: * When he perceived that we had 
found him out, having spoken to one another concerning his 
crimes, we left him, and came to Zaccheus, telling him those. 
same things which we have now told to you. But he, re- 
celving us most kindly, and instructing us concerning the 
faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, enrolled us in the number of 
the faithful.” When Niceta had done speaking, Zaccheus, 
who had gone out a little before, entered, saying, “ It is time, 
O Peter, that you proceed to the disputation ; for a great 
crowd, collected in the court of the house, is awaiting you, in 
the midst of whom stands Simon, supported by many attend- 
ants.” Then Peter, when he heard this, ordering me to 
withdraw for the sake of prayer (for I had not yet been 
washed from the sins which I had committed in ignorance), 
said to the rest, “Brethren, let us pray that God, for His 
unspeakable mercy through His Christ, would help me going 
out on behalf of the salvation of men who have been created 
by Him.” Having said this, and having prayed, he went 
forth to the court of the house, in which a great multitude of 
people were assembled; and when he saw them all looking 
intently on him in profound silence, and Simon the magician 
standing in the midst of them like a standard-bearer, he 
began in manner following. 


(βαρ. xx.—The kingdom of God and Eis righteousness. 


« Peace be to all of you who are prepared to give your right 
hands to truth: for whosoever are obedient to it seem indeed 
themselves to confer some favour upon God; whereas they 
do themselves obtain from Him the gift of His greatest 
bounty, walking in His paths of righteousness. Wherefore 
the first duty of all is to inquire into the righteousness of 
God and His kingdom ;' His righteousness, that we may be 

1 Matt. vi. 33. 


200 «RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boor u. 


taught to act rightly ; His kingdom, that we may know what 
is the reward appointed for labour and patience; in which 
kingdom there is indeed a bestowal of eternal good things 
upon the good, but upon those who have acted contrary to 
the will of God, a worthy infliction of penalties in proportion 
to the doings of every one. It becomes you, therefore, whilst 
you are here,—that is, whilst you are in the present life, — 
to ascertain the will of God, while there is opportunity also 
of doing it. For if any one, before he amends his doings, 
wishes to investigate concerning things which he cannot dis- 
cover, such investigation will be foolish and ineffectual. For 
the time is short, and the judgment of God shall be occupied 
with deeds, not questions. "Therefore before all things let us 
inquire into this, what or in what manner we must act that 
we may merit to obtain eternal life. 


CHAP. xxI.— Righteousness the way to the kingdom. 


« For if we occupy the short time of this life with vain and 
useless questions, we shall without doubt go into the presence 
of God empty and void of good works, when, as I have said, 
our works shall be brought into judgment. For everything 
has its own time and place. This is the place, this the time 
of works; the world to come, that of recompenses. That we 
may not therefore be entangled, by changing the order of 
places ‘and times, let us inquire, in the first place, what is 
the righteousness of God ; so that, like persons going to set 
out on a journey, we may be filled with good works as with 
abundant provision, so that we may be able to come to the 
kingdom of God, as to a very great city. For to those who 
think aright, God is manifest even by the operations of the 
world which He hath made, using the evidence of His crea- 
tion ;* and therefore, since theré ought to be no doubt about 
God, we have now to inquire only about His righteousness 
and His kingdom. But if our mind suggest to us to make 
any inquiry concerning secret and hidden things before we 
inquire into the works of righteousness, we ought to render 
to ourselves a reason, because if acting well we shall merit 

1 Rom. i. 20. 


Boox 11. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 207 


to obtain salvation: then, going to God chaste and clean, we 
shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, and shall know all things 
that are secret and hidden, without any cavilling of questions ; 
whereas now, even if any one should spend the whole of his 
life in inquiring into these things, he not only shall not be 
able to find them, but shall involve himself in greater errors, 
because he did not first enter through the way of righteous- 
ness, and strive to reach the haven of life. 


CnaAP. xxit.— Righteousness ; what it is. 


* And therefore I advise that His righteousness be first 
inquired into, that, pursuing our journey through it, and 
placed in the way of truth, we may be able to find the true 
Prophet, running not with swiftness of foot, but with good- 
ness of works, and that, enjoying His guidance, we may be 
under no danger of mistaking the way. For if under His 
guidance we shall merit to enter that city to which we desire 
to come, all things concerning which we now inquire we 
shall see with our eyes, being made, as it were, heirs of all 
things. Understand, therefore, that the way is this course 
of our life; the travellers are those who do good works; the 
gate is the true Prophet, of whom we speak ; the city is the 
kingdom in which dwells the Almighty Father, whom only 
those can see who are of pure heart! Let us not then think 
the labour of this journey hard, because at the end of it there 
shall be rest. For the true Prophet Himself also from the 
beginning of the world, through the course of time, hastens 
to rest. For He is present with us at all times; and if at 
any time it is necessary, He appears and corrects us, that He 
may bring to eternal life those who obey Him. Therefore 
this is my judgment, as also it is the pleasure of the true 
Prophet, that inquiry should first be made concerning right- 
eousness, by those especially who profess that they know God. 
If therefore any one has anything to propose which he thinks 
better, let him speak; and when he has spoken, let him hear, 
but with patience and quietness: for in order to this at the 
first, by way of salutation, I prayed for peace to you all." 

1 Matt. v. 8. 


208 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox 11, 


Cnr. xxri.— Simon refuses peace. 


To this Simon answered : * We have no need of your 
peace; for if there be peace and concord, we shall not be able 
to make any advance towards the discovery of truth. For 
robbers and debauchees have peace among themselves, and 
every wickedness agrees with itself; and if we have met with 
this view, that for the sake of peace we should give assent 
to all that is said, we shall confer no benefit upon the 
hearers; but, on the contrary, we shall impose upon them, 
and shall depart friends. Wherefore, do not invoke peace, 
but rather battle, which is the mother of peace; and if you 
can, exterminate errors. And do not seck for friendship 
obtained by unfair admissions; for this I would have you 
know, above all, that when two fight with each other, then 
there will be peace when one has been defeated and has 
fallen. And therefore fight as best you can, and do not 
expect peace without war, which is impossible; or if it can 
be attained, show us how.” 


Crap. xx1v.— Peter's explanation. 


To this Peter answered : “ [Tear with all attention, O men, 
what we say. Let us suppose that this world is a great plain, 
and that from two states, whose kings are at variance with 
each other, two generals were sent to fight: and suppose the 
general of the good king gave this counsel, that both armies 
should without bloodshed submit to the authority of the 
better king, whereby all should be safe without danger; but 
that the opposite general should say, No, but we must fight ; 
that not he who is worthy, but he who is stronger, may reign, 
with those who shall escape ;—which, I ask you, would you 
rather choose? I doubt not but that you would give your 
hands to the better king, with the safety of all. And I do 
not now wish, as Simon says that I do, that assent should be 
given, for the sake of peace, to those things that are spoken 
amiss ; but that truth be sought for with quietness and 
order. 


Book u. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 209 


(ΠΑΡ. xxv.—Principles on which the discussion should be 
conducted. 


* For some, in the contest of disputations, when they per- 
ceive that their error is confuted, immediately begin, for the 
sake of making good their retreat, to create a disturbance, and 
to stir up strifes, that it may not be manifest to all that they 
are defeated ; and therefore I frequently entreat that the 
investigation of the matter in dispute may be conducted with 
all patience and quietness, so that if perchance anything seem 
to be not rightly spoken, it may be allowed to go back over it, 
and explain it more distinctly. For sometimes a thing may be 
spoken in one way and heard in another, while it is either ad- 
vanced too obscurely, or not attended to with sufficient care; 
and on this account I desire that our conversation should be 
conducted patiently, so that neither should the one snatch it 
away from the other, nor should the unseasonable speech of 
one contradicting interrupt the speech of the other; and that 
we should not cherish the desire of finding fault, but that we 
should be allowed, as I have said, to go over again what has 
not been clearly enough spoken, that by fairest examination 
the knowledge of the truth may become clearer. For we 
ought to know, that if any one is conquered by the truth, it is 
not he that is conquered, but the ignorance which is in him, 
which is the worst of all demons; so that he who can drive 
it out receives the palm of salvation. For it is our purpose 
to benefit the hearers, not that we may conquer badly, but 
that we may be well conquered for the acknowledgment of 
the truth. For if our speech be actuated by the desire of 
seeking the truth, even although we shall speak anything 
imperfectly through human frailty, God in His unspeakable 
goodness will ‘fill up secretly in the understandings of the 
hearers those things that are lacking. For He is righteous; 
and according to the purpose of every one, He enables some 
to find easily what they seek, while to others He renders 
even that obscure which is before their eyes. Since, then, 
the way of God is the way of peace, let us with peace seek 
the things which are God’s. If any one has anything to 

O 


210 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox 11. 


advance in answer to this, let him do so; but if there is no 
one who wishes to answer, I shall begin to speak, and I 
myself shall bring forward what another may object to me, 
and shall refute it." 


CHAP, XXVI.—Simon’s interruption. 


When therefore Peter had begun to continue his discourse, 
Simon, interrupting his speech, said: “ Why do you hasten 
to speak whatever you please? I understand your tricks. 
You wish to bring forward those matters whose explanation 
you have well studied, that you may appear to the ignorant 
crowd to be speaking well; but I shall not allow you this 
subterfuge. Now therefore, since you promise, as a brave 
man, to answer to all that any one chooses to bring forward, 
be pleased to answer me in the first place." Then Peter 
said: “I am ready, only provided that our discussion may be 
with peace.” Then Simon said: “ Do not you see, O simple- 
ton, that in pleading for peace you act in opposition to your 
Master, and that what you propose is not suitable to him who 
promises that he will overthrow ignorance? Or, if you are 
right in asking peace from the audience, then your Master 
was wrong in saying, fI have not come to send peace on 
earth, butasword.! For either you say well, and he not well; 
or else, if your Master said well, then you not at all well: for 
you do not understand that your statement is contrary to 
his, whose disciple you profess yourself to be." 


CHAP. XXVII.— Questions and answers. 


Then Peter: * Neither He who sent me did amiss in 
sending a sword upon the earth, nor do I act contrary to 
Him in asking peace of the hearers. But you both unskil- 
fully and rashly find fault with what you do not understand: 
for you have heard that the Master came not to send peace 
on earth; but that He also said, ‘Blessed are the peace- 
makers, for they shall be called the very sons of God,’? you 
have not heard. Wherefore my sentiments are not different 
from those of the Master when I recommend peace, to the 

! Matt. x. 84. ? Matt. v. 9. 


Book 11.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 211 


keepers of which He assigned blessedness.” Then Simon 
said: “In your desire to answer for your Master, O Peter, 
you have brought a much more serious charge against him, 
if he himself came not to make peace, yet enjoined upon 
others to keep it. Where, then, is the consistency of that 
other saying of his, *It is enough for the disciple that he 
be as his master?' "! 


CHAP. XXvIII.— Consistency of Christ'a teaching. 


To this Peter answered: * Our Master, who was the true 
Prophet, and ever mindful of Himself, neither contradicted 
Himself, nor enjoined upon us anything different from what 
Himself practised. For whereas He said, ‘I am not come to 
send peace on earth, but a sword; and henceforth you shall 
see father separated from son, son from father, husband 
from wife and wife from husband, mother from daughter 
and daughter from mother, brother from brother, father-in- 
law from daughter-in-law, friend from friend,’ all these con- 
tain the doctrine of peace; and I will tell you how. At the 
beginning of His preaching, as wishing to invite and lead all 
to salvation, and induce them to bear patiently labours and 
trials) He blessed the poor, and promised that they should 
obtain the kingdom of heaven for their endurance of poverty, 
in order that under the influence of such a hope they might 
bear with equanimity the weight of poverty, despising cove- 
tousness; for covetousness is one, and the greatest, of most 
pernicious sins. But He promised also that the hungry and 
the thirsty should be satisfied with the eternal blessings of 
righteousness, in order that they might bear poverty patiently, 
and not be led by it to undertake any unrighteous work. In 
like manner, also, He said that the pure in heart are blessed, 
and that thereby they should see God, in order that every 
one desiring so great a good might keep himself from evil and 
polluted thoughts. 


CHap. xxIX.— Peace and strife. 


“Thus, therefore, our Master, inviting His disciples to 
1 Matt. x. 25. 


212 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book rr. 


patience, impressed upon them that the blessing of peace was 
also to be preserved with the labour of patience. But, on the 
other hand, He mourned over those who lived in riches and 
luxury, who bestowed nothing upon the poor; proving that 
they must render an account, because they did not pity their 
neighbours, even when they were in poverty, whom they ought 
to love as themselves. And by such sayings as these He 
brought some indeed to obey Him, but others He rendered 
hostile. 'The believers therefore, and the obedient, He charges 
to have peace among themselves, and says to them, * Blessed 
are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the very sons of 
God.’! But to those who not only did not believe, but set them- 
selves in opposition to His doctrine, He proclaims the war of 
the word and of confutation, and says that ‘henceforth ye 
shall see son separated from father, and husband from wife, 
and daughter from mother, and brother from brother, and 
daughter-in-law from mother-in-law, and a man’s foes shall 
be they of his own house.’? For in every house, when there 
begins to be a difference betwixt believer and unbeliever, there 
is necessarily a contest: the unbelievers, on the one hand, 
fighting against the faith; and the believers, on the other, 
confuting the old error and the vices of sins in them. 


Cuap. xxx.— Peace to the sons of peace. 


* In like manner, also, during the last period of His teach- 
ing, He wages war against the scribes and Pharisees, charg- 
ing them with evil deeds and unsound doctrine, and with 
hiding the key of knowledge which they had handed down to 
them from Moses, by which the gate of the heavenly king- 
dom might be opened.” But when our Master sent us forth 
to preach, He commanded us, that into whatsoever city or 
house we should enter, we should say, ‘ Peace be to this house.’ 
‘ And if,’ said He, ‘a son of peace be there, your peace shall 
come upon him ; but if there be not, your peace shall return 
to you.’ Also that, going out from that house or city, we 
should shake off upon them the very dust which adhered to 


1 Matt. v. 9. 3 Matt. x. 34, 35; Luke xii. 53. 
3 Matt. xxiii. ; Luke xi. 





3 


é a 


/C 


Book n. | RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 213 


our feet. ‘But it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom 
and Gomorrha in the day of judgment than for that city or 
house.’ This indeed He commanded to be done at length, 
if first the word of truth be preached in the city or house, 
whereby they who receive the faith of the truth may become 
sons of peace and sons of God; and those who will not 
receive it may be convicted as enemies of peace and of God. 


Crap. xxx1.— Peace and war. 


‘Thus, therefore, we, observing the commands of our 
Master, first offer peace to our'hearers, that the way of salva- 
tion may be known without any tumult. But if any one do 
not receive the words of peace, nor acquiesce in the truth, we 
know how to direct against him the war of the word, and to 
rebuke him sharply by confuting his ignorance and charging 
home upon him his sins. Therefore of necessity we offer peace, 
that if any one is a son of peace, our peace may come upon 
him ; but from him who makes himself an enemy of peace, our 
peace shall return to ourselves. We do not therefore, as you 
say, propose peace by agreement with the wicked, for indeed 
we should straightway have given you the right hand; but 
only in order that, through our discussing quietly and patiently, . 
it might be niore easily ascertained by the hearers which is 
‘the true speech. But if you differ and disagree with yourself, 
how shall you stand? He must of necessity fall who is 
divided in himself; ‘ for every kingdom divided against itself 
shall not stand.” If you have aught to say to this, say on.” 


CHAP. Xxx11.—Simon’s challenge. 


Then said Simon: “TI am astonished at your folly. For 
you so propound the words of your Master, as if it were held 
to be certain concerning him that he is a prophet; while I 
can very easily prove that he often contradicted himself. 
In short, I shall refute you from those words which you have 
yourself brought forward. For you say, that he said that 
every kingdom or every city divided in itself shall not stand ; 
and elsewhere you say, that he said that he would send a 

1 Matt. x. 12-15; Luke x. 5, 6. 2 Matt. xii. 25. 


214 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book rr. 


sword, that he might separate those who are in one house, so 
that son shall be divided from father, daughter from mother, 
brother from brother; so that if there be five in one house, 
three shall be divided against two, and two againstthree.! If, 
then, everything that is divided falls, he who makes divisions 
furnishes causes of falling; and if he is such, assuredly he is 
wicked. Answer this if you can.” 


CHAP. XXX111.—A uthority. 


Then Peter: “Do not rashly take exception, O Simon, 
against the things which you do not understand. In the first 
place, I shall answer your assertion, that I set forth the 
words of my Master, and from them resolve matters about 
which there is still doubt. Our Lord, when He sent us 
apostles to preach, enjoined us to teach all nations? the 
things which were committed to us. We cannot therefore 
speak those things as they were spoken by Himself. For our 
commission is not to speak, but to teach those things, and from 
them to show how every one of them rests upon truth. Nor, 
again, are we permitted to speak anything of our own. For 
we are sent; and of necessity he who is sent delivers the 
message as he has been ordered, and sets forth the will of the 
sender. For if I should speak anything different from what 
He who sent me enjoined me, I should be a false apostle, not 
saying what I am commanded to say, but what seems good to 
myself. Whoever does this, evidently wishes to show himself 
to be better than he is by whom he is sent, and without doubt 
is a traitor. If, on the contrary, he keeps by the things that 
he is commanded, and brings forward most clear assertions of 
them, it will appear that he is accomplishing the work of an 
apostle ; and it is by striving to fulfil this that I displease you. 
Blame me not, therefore, because I bring forward the words 
of Him who sent me. But if there is aught in them that is 
not fairly spoken, you have liberty to confute me; but this 
can in no wise be done, for He is a prophet, and cannot be 
contrary to Himself. But if you do not think that He is a 
prophet, let this be first inquired into.” 

1 Luke xii. 52. 3 Matt. xxviii. 19, 20. 


Book 1. | RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 215 


CHAP. xxx1v.— Order of proof. 


Then said Simon: *I have no need.to learn this from you, 
but how these things agree with one another. For if he 
shall be shown to be inconsistent, he shall be proved at the 
same time not to be a prophet." "Then says Peter: “But if 
I first show Him to be a prophet, it will follow that what 
seems to be inconsistency is not such. For no one can be 
proved to be a prophet merely by. consistency, because it is 
possible for many to attain this; but if consistency does not 
make a prophet, much more inconsistency does not. Because, 
therefore, there are many things which to some seem incon- 
sistent, which yet have consistency in them on a more pro- 
found investigation ; as also other things which seem to have 
consistency, but which, being more carefully discussed, are 
found to be inconsistent ; for this reason I do not think that 
there is any better way to judge of these things than to ascer- 
tain in the first instance whether He be a prophet who has 
spoken those things which appear to be inconsistent. For it 
is evident that, if He be found to be a prophet, those things 
which seem to be contradictory must have consistency, but 
are misunderstood. Concerning these things, therefore, proofs 
will be properly demanded. For we apostles are sent to ex- 
pound the sayings and affirm the judgments of Him who has 
sent us; but we are not commissioned to say anything of our 
own, but to unfold the truth, as I have said, of His words." 


CHar. xxxv.—How error cannot stand with truth. 


Then Simon said: “ Instruct us, therefore, how it can be 
consistent that he who causes divisions, which divisions cause 
those who are divided to fall, can either seem to be good, or 
to have come for the salvation of men.” Then Peter said: 
“1 will tell you how our Master said that every kingdom and 
every house divided against itself cannot stand; and whereas 
He Himself did this, see how it makes for salvation. By the 
word of truth He certainly divides the kingdom of the. world, 
which is founded in error, and every house in it, that error 


may fall, and truth may reign. But if it happen to any 


216 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox 1. 


house, that error, being introduced by any one, divides the 
truth, then, where error has gained a footing, it is certain 
that truth cannot stand." "Then Simon said: * But it is un- 
certain whether your master divides error or truth." "Then 
Peter: “That belongs to another question; but if you are 
agreed that everything which is divided falls, it remains that 
I show, if only you will hear in peace, that our Jesus has 
divided and dispelled error by teaching truth." 


CHAP. xxxvI.— A ltercation. 


Then said Simon: “ Do not repeat again and again your 
talk of peace, but expound briefly what it isthat you think or 
believe." Peter answered: * Why are you afraid of hearing 
frequently of peace? or do you not know that peace is the 
perfection of law? For wars and disputes spring from sins ; 
and where there is no sin, there is peace of soul; but where 
there is peace, truth is found in disputations, righteousness 
in works.” Then Simon: “ You seem to me not to be able to 
profess what you think.” Then Peter: “TI shall speak, but 
according to my own judgment, not under constraint of your 
tricks. For I desire that what is salutary and profitable be 
brought to the knowledge of all; and therefore I shall not 
delay to state it as briefly as possible. There is one God ; and 
He is the creator of the world, a righteous judge, rendering 
to every one at some time or other according to his deeds. 
But now for the assertion of these things I know that count- 
less thousands of words can be called forth.” 


Crap». xxxviI.—Simon’s subtlety. 


Then Simon said : “I admire, indeed, the quickness of your 
wit, yet I do not embrace the error of your faith. For you 
have wisely foreseen that you may be contradicted; and you 
have even politely confessed, that for the assertion of these 
things countless thousands of words will be called forth, for 
no one agrees with the profession of your faith. In short, 
as to there being one God, and the world being His work, 
who can receive this doctrine? Neither, I think, any one of 
the pagans, even if he be an unlearned man, and certainly 


Book u. } RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 217 


no one of the philosophers ; but not even the rudest and most 
wretched of the Jews, nor I myself, who am well acquainted 
with their law." Then Peter said: “ Put aside the opinions of 
those who are not here, and tell us face to face what is your 
own." 'Then Simon said: *I can state what I really think ; 
but this consideration makes me reluctant to do so, that if I say 
what is neither acceptable to you, nor seems right to this un- 
skilled rabble, you indeed, as confounded, will straightway shut 
your ears, that they may not be polluted with blasphemy, for- 
sooth, and will take to flight because you cannot find an answer; 
while the unreasoning populace will assent to you, and em- 
brace you as one teaching those things which are commonly 
received among them ; and will curse me, as professing things 
new and unheard of, and instilling my error into the minds 
of others." 


CHAP. XXXVIII.— Simon’s creed. 


Then Peter: “ Are not you making use of long preambles, 
as you accused us of doing, because you have no truth to 
bring forward? or if you have, begin without circumlocution, 
if you have so much confidence. And if, indeed, what you say 
be displeasing to any one of the hearers, he will withdraw ; 
and those who remain shall be compelled by your assertion 
to approve what is true. Begin, therefore, to expound what 
seemeth to you to be right." Then Simon said: * I say that 
there are many gods; but that there is one incomprehensible 
and unknown to all, and that He is the God of all these 
gods.” Then Peter answered : “This God whom you assert to 
be incomprehensible and unknown to all, can you prove His 
existence from the Scriptures of the Jews, which are held 
to be of authority, or from some others of which we are all 
ignorant, or from the Greek authors, or from your own 
writings ἢ Certainly you are at liberty to speak from what- 
ever writings you please, yet so that you first show that they 
are prophetic ; for so their authority will be held without 
question.” 


218 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book 1r. 


Crar. XXx1x.—<Argument for polytheism. 


Then Simon said: *I shall make use of assertions from the 
law of the Jews only. Forit is manifest to all who take interest 
in religion, that this law is of universal authority, yet that 
every one receives the understanding of this law according 
to his own judgment. For it has so been written by Him 
who created the world, that the faith of things is made to 
depend upon it. Whence, whether any one wishes to bring 
forward truth, or any one to bring forward falsehood, no 
assertion will be received without this law. Inasmuch, 
therefore, as my knowledge is most fully in accordance with 
the law, I rightly declared that there are many gods, of 
whom one is more eminent than the rest, and incompre- 
hensible, even Ile who is God of gods. But that there are 
many gods, the law itself informs me. For, in the first 
place, [it says this in the passage] where one in the figure of 
a serpent speaks to Eve, the first woman, * On the day ye eat 
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, ye shall be as 
gods, ! that is, as those who made man; and after they have 
tasted of the tree, God Himself testifies, saying to the rest 
of the gods, * Behold, Adam is become as one of us;'? thus, 
therefore, it is manifest that there were many gods engaged 
in the making of man. Also, whereas at the first God said to 
the other gods, ‘Let us make man after our image and like- 
ness ;'? also His saying, ‘ Let us drive him out ;"* and again, 
‘Come, let us go down, and confound their language ;'? all 
these things indicate that there are many gods. But this also 
is written, ‘Thou shalt not curse the gods, nor curse the 
chief of thy people;?* and again this writing, ‘God alone 
led them, and there was no strange god with them,’ shows 
that there are many gods. There are also many other testi- 
monies which might be adduced from the law, not only 
obscure, but plain, by which it is taught that there are many 
gods. One of these was chosen by lot, that he might be the 
god of the Jews. But it is not of him that I speak, but of 


! Gen. iii. 5. * Gen. iii. 99. — 3 Gen. i. 26. * Gen. iii. 22. 
5 Gen. xi. 17. * Exod. xxii. 28. 7 Deut. xxxii. 12. 


Book 11. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 219 


that God who is also his God, whom even the Jews them- 
selves did not know. For he is not their God, but the God 
of those who know him." 


CHAP. xr.— Peter's answer. 


When Peter had heard this, he answered: “ Fear nothing, 
Simon : for, behold, we have neither shut our ears, nor fled ; 
but we answer with words of truth to those things which 
you have spoken falsely, asserting this first, that there is one 
God, even the God of the Jews, who is the only God, the 
Creator of heaven and earth, who is also the God of all those 
whom you call gods. If, then, I shall show you that none 
is superior to Him, but that He Himself is above all, you 
will confess that your error is above all.” Then Simon said: 
« Why, indeed, though I should be unwilling to confess it, 
would not the hearers who stand by charge me with un- 
willingness to profess the things that are true ?" 


Cap. XLI.—7 he answer, continued. 


* Listen, then,” says Peter, “that you may know, first of all, 
that even if there are many gods, as you say, they are subject 
to the God of the Jews, to whom no one is equal, than whom 
no one can be greater; for it is written that the prophet 
Moses thus spoke to the Jews: *The Lord your God is the 
God of gods, and the Lord of lords, the great God.! Thus, 
although there are many that are called gods, yet He who 
is the God of the Jews is alone called the God of gods. For 
not every one that is called God is necessarily God. Indeed, 
even Moses is called a god to Pharaoh,’ and it is certain that 
he was a man; and judges were called gods, and it is evi- 
dent that they were mortal. The idols also of the Gentiles 
are called gods, and we all know that they are not; but 
this has been inflicted as a punishment on the wicked, that 
because they. would not acknowledge the true God, they 
should regard as God whatever form or image should occur 
to them. Because they refused to receive the knowledge of 
the One who, as I said, is God of all, therefore it is permitted 

1 Deut. x. 17. * Exod. vii. 1. 


220 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox 1r. 


to them to have as gods those who can do nothing for their 
worshippers. For what can either dead images or living 
creatures confer upon men, since the power of all things is 
with One? 


Cnar. xLI.— Guardian angels. 


“ Therefore the name God is applied in three ways: either 
because he to whom it is given is truly God, or because he 
is the servant of him who is truly ; and for the honour of the 
sender, that his authority may be full, he that is sent is called 
by the name of him who sends, as is often done in respect 
of angels: for when they appear to a man, if he is a wise 
and intelligent man, he asks the name of him who appears to 
him, that he may acknowledge at once the honour of the 
sent, and the authority of the sender. For every nation has 
an angel, to whom God has committed the government of 
that nation; and when one of these appears, although he be 
thought and called God by those over whom he presides, yet, 
being asked, he does not give such testimony to himself. For 
the Most High God, who alone' holds the power of all things, 
has divided all the nations of the earth into seventy-two 
parts, and over these He hath appointed angels as princes. 
But to the one among the archangels who is greatest, was 
committed the government of those who, before all others, 
received the worship and knowledge of the Most High God. 
But holy men also, as we have said, are made gods to the 
wicked, as having received the power of life and death over 
them, as we mentioned above with respect to Moses and 
the judges. Wherefore it is also written concerning them, 
‘Thou shalt not curse the gods, and thou shalt not curse 
the prince of thy people)! Thus the princes of the several 
nations are called gods. But Christ is God of princes, who 
is Judge of all. "Therefore neither angels, nor men, nor any 
creature, can be truly gods, forasmuch as they are placed 
under authority, being created and changeable: angels, for 
they were not, and are; men, for they are mortal; and every 
creature, for it is capable of dissolution, if only He dissolve 

! Exod. xxii. 28. 


Book 11. | RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 221 


it who made it. And therefore He alone is the true God, 
who not only Himself lives, but also bestows life upon others, 
which He can also take away when it pleaseth Him. 


Crap. xLIiII.—JNo God but Jehovah. 


“Wherefore the Scripture exclaims, in name of the God 
of the Jews, saying, ‘ Behold, behold, seeing that I am God, 
and there is none else besides me, I will kill, and I will make 
alive; I will smite, and I will heal; and there is none who can 
deliver out of my hands! See therefore how, by some in- 
effable virtue, the Scripture, opposing the future errors of 
those who should affirm that either in heaven or on earth 
there is any other god besides Him who is the God of the 
Jews, decides thus: ‘The Lord your God is one God, in 
heaven above, and in the earth beneath; and besides Him 
there is none else? How, then, hast thou dared to say that 
there is any other god besides Him who is the God of the 
Jews? And again the Scripture says, ‘ Behold, to the Lord 
thy God belong the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, the 
earth, and all things that are in them: nevertheless I have 
chosen your fathers, that I might love them, and you after 
them." Thus that judgment is supported by the Scripture 
on every side, that He who created the world is the true and 
only God. 


Cuap. xLiv.— The serpent, the author of polytheism. 


* But even if there be others, as we have said, who are 
called gods, they are under the power of the God of the 
Jews; for thus saith the Scripture to the Jews, *The Lord 
our God, He is God of gods, and Lord of lords’* Him 
alone the Scripture also commands to be worshipped, saying, 
‘Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt 
thou serve;’* and, ‘ Hear, O Israel : the Lord thy God is one 
οὐ. δ Yea, also the saints, filled with the Spirit of God, 
and bedewed with the drops of His mercy, cried out, saying, 
‘Who is like unto Thee among the gods? O Lord, who is 


1 Deut. xxxii. 89. 3 Deut. iv. 39. 8 Deut. x. 14, 15. 
4 Deut. x. 17. 5 Deut. vi. 13, x. 20. 5 Deut. vi. 4. 


222 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boo 11. 


like unto Thee?'! And again, ‘Who is God, but the Lord ; 
and who is God, but our Lord?'? "Therefore Moses, when 
he saw that the people were advancing, by degrees initiated 
them in the understanding of the monarchy and the faith of 
one God, as he says in the following words: ‘ Thou shalt not 
make mention of the names of other gods;'? doubtless re- 
membering with what penalty the serpent was visited, which 
had first named gods For it is condemned to feed upon 
dust, and is judged worthy of such food, for this cause, that 
it first of all introduced the name of gods into the world. 
But if you also wish to introduce many gods, see that you 
partake not the serpent's doom. 


Cnar. xLv.—Polytheism inexcusable. 


* For be sure of this, that you shall not have us partici- 
pators in this attempt ; nor will we suffer ourselves to be 
deceived by you. For it will not serve us for an excuse 
in the judgment, if we say that you deceived us; because 
neither could it excuse the first woman, that she had un- 
happily believed the serpent; but she was condemned to death, 
because she believed badly. For this cause therefore, Moses, 
also commending the faith of one God to the people, says, 
‘Take heed to thyself, that thou be not seduced from the 
Lord thy God.? Observe that he makes use of the same 
word which the first woman also made use of in excusing 
herself, saying that she was seduced; but it profited her 
nothing. But over.and above all this, even if some true 
prophet should arise, who should perform signs and miracles, 
but should wish to persuade us to worship other gods be- 
sides the God of the Jews, we should never be able to believe 
him. For so the divine law has taught us, handing down a 
secret injunction more purely by means of tradition, for thus 
it saith : ‘If there arise among you a prophet, or one dreaming 
a dream, and give you signs or wonders, and these signs or 
wonders come to pass, and he say to you, Let us go and 
worship strange gods, whom ye know not; ye shall not hear 


1 Ps. Ixrxy. 8,lxx. 19. =? Ps. xvii. 82. 8 Josh. xxiii. 7, in Sept. 
* Gen. iii. 5 Deut. viii. 11. 


Boox u.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 223 


the words of that prophet, nor the dream of that dreamer, 
because proving he hath proved you, that he may see if ye 
love the Lord your God.'! 


Cuap. XLvI.— Christ acknowledged the God of the Jews. 


‘Wherefore also our Lord, who wrought signs and won- 
ders, preached the God of the Jews; and therefore we are 
right in believing what He preached. But as for you, even 
if you were really a prophet, and performed signs and won- 
ders, as you promise to do, if you were to announce other 
gods besides Him who is the true God, it would be manifest 
that you were raised up as a trial to the people of God; and 
therefore you can by no means be believed. For He alone 
is the true God, who is the God of the Jews; and for this 
reason our Lord Jesus Christ did not teach them that they 
must inquire after God, for Him they knew well already, but 
that they must seek His kingdom and righteousness,’ which 
the scribes and Pharisees, having received the key of know- 
ledge, had not shut in, but shut out? For if they had been 
ignorant of the true God, surely He would never have left 
the knowledge of this thing, which was the chief of all, and 
blamed them for small and little things, as for enlarging 
their fringes, and claiming the uppermost rooms in feasts, 
and praying standing in the highways, and such like things ; 
which assuredly, in comparison of this great charge, ignorance 
of God, seem to be small and insignificant matters.” 


CHAP. XLVII.—Simon’s cavil. 


To this Simon replied: “ From the words of your master 
I shall refute you, because even he introduces to all men a 
certain God who was unknown. For although both Adam 
knew the God who was his creator, and the maker of the 
world; and Enoch knew him, inasmuch as he was translated 
by him; and Noah, since he was ordered by him to con- 
struct the ark; and although Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, 
and Moses, and all, even every people and all nations, know 
the maker of the world, and confess him to be a God, yet 

1 Deut. xiii. 1-3. 2 Matt. vi. 33. 3 Luke xi. 52. 





224 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book 11. 


your Jesus, who appeared long after the patriarchs, says: 
* No one knows the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth 
any one the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son 
has been pleased to reveal Him.'! Thus, therefore, even your 
Jesus confesses that there is another God, incomprehensible 
and unknown to all." 


CHAP. xLvIIT.— Peter s answer. 

Then Peter says: * You do not perceive that you are 
making statements in opposition to yourself. For if our 
Jesus also knows Him whom ye call the unknown God, then 
He is not known by you alone. Yea, if our Jesus knows 
Him, then Moses also, who prophesied that Jesus should 
come, assuredly could not himself be ignorant of Him. For 
he was a prophet; and he who prophesied of the Son doubt- 
less knew the Father. For if it is in the option of the Son 
to reveal the Father to whom He will, then the Son, who has 
been with the Father from the beginning, and through all 
generations, as He revealed the Father to Moses, so also to 
the other prophets; but if this be so, it is evident that the 
Father has not been unknown to any of them. But how 
could the Fatlier be revealed to you, who do not believe in 
the Son, since the Father is known to none except him to 
whom the Son is pleased to reveal Him? But the Son 
reveals the Father to those who honour the Son as they 
honour the Father.”? 


Cirar. XxLIx.— The supreme light. 

Then Simon said: * Remember that you said that God 
has a son, which is doing Him wrong; for how can He have 
a son, unless He is subject to passions, like men or animals ? 
But on these points ‘there is not time now to show your pro- 
found folly, for I hasten to make a statement concerning the 
immensity of the supreme light; and so now listen. My 
opinion is, that there is a certain power of immense and 
ineffable light, whose greatness may be held to be incompre- 
hensible, of which power even the maker of the world is 
ignorant, and Moses the lawgiver, and Jesus your master.” 

1 Matt. xi. 27. 3 John v. 23. 


Book ri. J RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 225 


Cuap. L.—Simon's presumption. 


"Then Peter: “Does it not seem to you to be madness, 
that any one should take upon himself to assert that there is 
another God than the God of all; and should say that he 
supposes there is a certain power, and should presume to 
affirm this to others, before he himself is sure of what he 
says? Is any one so rash as to believe your words, of which 
he sees that you are yourself doubtful, and to admit that 
there is a certain power unknown to God the Creator, and 
to Moses, and the prophets, and the law, and even to Jesus 
our Master, which power is so good, that it will not make 
itself known to any but to one only, and that one such an 
one as thou! Then, further, if that is a new power, why does 
it not confer upon us some new sense, in addition to those 
five which we possess, that by that new sense, bestowed upon 
us by it, we may be able to receive and understand itself, 
which is new? Or if it cannot bestow such a sense upon 
us, how has it bestowed it upon you? Or if it has revealed 
itself to you, why not also to us? But if you of yourself 
understand things which not even the prophets were able to 
perceive or understand, come, tell us what each one of us is 
thinking now; forif there is such a spirit in you that you 
know those things which are above the heavens, which are 
unknown to all, and incomprelensible by all, much more 
easily do you know the thoughts of men upon the earth. 
But if you cannot know the thoughts of us who are standing 
here, how can you say that you know those things which, 
you assert, are known to none? 


Cnap. Lr.— Te sixth sense. 


“ But believe me, that you could never know what light is 
unless you had received both vision and understanding from 
light itself; so also in other things. Hence, having received 
understanding, you are framing in imagination something 
greater and more sublime, as if dreaming, but deriving all 
your hints from those five senses, to whose Giver you are un- 
thankful. But be sure of this, that until you find some new 

P 


226 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox n. 


sense which is beyond those five which we all enjoy, you cannot 
assert the existence of a new God.” Then Simon answered : 
« Since all things that exist are in accordance with those five 
senses, that power which is more excellent than all cannot add 
anything new." Then Peter said: “It is false; for there is 
also a sixth sense, namely that of foreknowledge: for those five 
senses are capable of knowledge, but the sixth is that of fore- 
knowledge ; and this the prophets possessed. How, then, can 
you know a God who is unknown to all, who do not know 
the prophetic sense, which is tbat of prescience?" Then 
Simon began to say : * This power of which I speak, incom- 
prehensible and more excellent than all, ay, even than that 
God who made the world, neither any of the angels has 
known, nor of the demons, nor of the Jews, nay, nor any 
creature which subsists by means of God the creator. How, 
then, could that creators law teach me that which the 
creator himself did not know, since neither did the law itself 
know it, that it might teach it ?” 


Cuap. Lit.— Reductio ad absurdum. 


Then Peter said: *I wonder how you have been able to 
learn more from the law than the law was able to know or to 
teach ; and how you say that you adduce proofs from the law 
of those things which you are pleased to assert, when you 
declare that neither the law, nor He who gave the law—that 
is, the Creator of the world—knows those things of which you 
speak! But this also I wonder at, how you, who alone know 
these things, should be standing here now with us all, circum- 
scribed by the limits of this small court Then Simon, 
seeing Peter and all the people laughing, said: * Do you 
laugh, Peter, while so great and lofty matters are under dis- 
cussion ?" Then said Peter: “ Be not enraged, Simon, for 
we are doing no more than keeping our promise: for we are 
neither shutting our ears, as you said, nor did we take to 
flight as soon as we heard you propound your unutterable 
things; but we have not even stirred from the place. For 
indeed you do not even propound things that have any resem- 
blance to truth, which might to a certain extent frighten us. 


Book u. | RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 221 


Yet, at all events, disclose to us the meaning of this saying, 
how from the law you have learned of a God whom the law 
itself does not know, and of whom He who gave the law is 
ignorant.” ‘Then Simon said: “If you have done laughing, 
I shall prove it by clear assertions.” Then Peter said: 
* Assuredly I shall give over, that I may learn from you how 
you have learned from the law what neither the law nor the 


God of the law Himself knows." 


CHAP. L111.—Simon’s blasphemy.. 


Then says Simon: “Listen: it is manifest to all, and 
ascertained in a manner of which no account can be given,! 
that there is one God, who is better than all, from whom all 
that is took its beginning; whence also of necessity all things 
that are after him are subject to him, as the chief and most 
excellent of all. When, therefore, I had ascertained that the 
God who created the world, according to what the law teaches, 
is in many respects weak, whereas weakness is utterly incom- 
patible with a perfect God, and I saw that he is not perfect, 
I necessarily concluded that there is another God who is 
perfect. For this God, as I have said, according to what the 
writing of the law teaches, is shown to be weak in many 
things. In the first place, because the man whom he formed 
was not able to remain such as he had intended him to be; 
and because he cannot be good who gave a law to the first 
man, that he should eat of all the trees of paradise, but that 
he should not touch the tree of knowledge; and if he should 
eat of it, he should die. For why should he forbid him to 
eat, and to know what is good and what evil, that, knowing, 
he might shun the evil and choose the good? But this he 
did not permit; and because he did eat in violation of the 
commandment, and discovered what is good, and learned for 
the sake of honour to cover his nakedness (for he perceived 
it to be unseemly to stand naked before his Creator), he con- 


1 We render by a periphrasis the expression ineffabili quadam ratione 
compertum. The meaning seems to be, that the belief of the existence 
and unity of God is not the result of reasoning, but of intuition or 
insünct. * 





228 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book 11. 


demns to death him who had learned to do honour to God, 
and curses the serpent who had shown him these things. 
But truly, if man was to be injured by this means, why did 
he place the cause of injury in paradise at all? But if that 
which he placed in paradise was good, it is not the part of 
one that is good to restrain another from good. 


Cirar. Liv.—How Simon learned from the law what the law 
does not teach. 


“Thus, then, since he who made man and the world is, 
according to what the law relates, imperfect, we are given to 
understand, without doubt, that there is another who is per- 
fect. For it is of necessity that there be one most excellent 
of all, on whose account also every creature keeps its rank. 
Whence also I, knowing that it is every way necessary that 
there be some one more benignant and more powerful than 
that imperfect God who gave the law, understanding what is 
perfect from comparison of the imperfect, understood even 
from the Scripture that God who is not mentioned there. 
And in this way I was able, O Peter, to learn from the law 
what the law did not know. But even if the law had not 
given indications from which it might be gathered that the 
God who made tle world is imperfect, it was still possible 
for me to infer from those evils which are done in this world, 
and are not corrected, either that its creator is powerless, if 
he cannot correct what is done amiss ; or else, if he does not 
wish to remove the evils, that he is himself evil; but if he 
neither can nor will, that he is neither powerful nor good. 
And from this it cannot but be concluded that there is 
another God more excellent and more powerful than all. If 
you have aught to say to this, say on." 


ὕπαρ. Lv.— Simon's objections turned against himself. 


Peter answered: “QO Simon, they are wont to conceive 
such absurdities against God who do not read the law with 
the instruction of masters, but account themselves teachers, 
and think that they can understand the law, though he has not 
explained it to them who has learned of the Master. Never- 


' Book nm.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 229 


theless now, that we also may seem to follow the book of the 
law according to your apprehension of it; inasmuch as you 
say that the creator of the world is shown to be both impo- 
tent and evil, how is it that you do not see that that power. of 
yours, which you say is superior to all, falls and lies under 
the very same charges? For the very same thing may be 
said of it, that it is either powerless, since it does not correct 
those things which here are done amiss ; or if it can and will 
not, it is evil; or if it neither can nor will, then it is both 
impotent and imperfect. Whence that new power of yours 
is not only found liable to a similar charge, but even to a 
worse one, if, in addition to all these things, it is believed 
to be, when it is not. For Hoe who created the world, His 
existence is manifest by Ilis very operation in creating the 
world, as you yourself also confess. But this power which 
you say that you alone know, affords no indication of itself, 
by which we might perceive, at least, that it is, and subsists. 


Cuap. Lv1.—No God above the Creator. 


ς What kind of conduct, then, would it be that we should 
forsake God, in whose world we live and enjoy all things 
necessary for life, and follow I know not whom, from whom 
we not only obtain no good, but cannot even know that he 
exists? Nor truly does he exist. For whether you call him 
light, and brighter than that light which we see, you borrow 
that very name from the Creator of the world; or whether 
you say that he is a substance above all, you derive from Him 
the idea with enlargement of speech. Whether you make 
mention of mind, or goodness, or life, or whatever else, you 
borrow the words from Him. Since, then, you have nothing 
new concerning that power you speak of, not only as regards 
understanding, but even in respect of naming him, how do 
you introduce a new God, for whom you cannot even find a 
new name? For not only is the Creator of the world called 
a Power, but even the ministers of His glory, and all the 
heavenly host. Do you not then think it better that we should 


1 That is, you take the idea of substance from the God of the Jews, 
and only enlarge it by the addition of the words above all. 


bi 
/ 


230 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book rr. 


follow our Creator God, as a Father who trains us and endows 
usas He knows how? But if, as you say, there be some God 
more benignant than all, it is certain that he will not be angry 
with us; or if he be angry, he is evil. For if our God is 
angry and punishes, He is not evil, but righteous, for He cor- 
rects and amends His own sons. But he who has no concern 
with us, if he shall punish us, how should he be good? In- 
flicting punishments upon us because we have not been drawn 
by vain imaginations to forsake our own Father and follow 
him, how can you assert that he is so good, when he cannot 
be regarded as even just?” 


CirAr. LVII.— Simon's inconsistency. 


Then Simon: * Do you so far err, Peter, as not to know 
that our souls were made by that good God, the most excel- 
lent of all, but they have been brought down as captives into 
this world?" To this Peter answered: “Then he is not 
unknown by all, as you said a little while ago; and yet how 
did the good God permit his souls to be taken captive, if he 
be a power over all?" "Then Simon said: * He sent God 
the creator to make the world; and he, when he had made 
it, gave out that himself was God.” Then Peter said: 
* 'hen he is not, as you said, unknown to Him who made 
the world; nor are souls ignorant of him, if indeed they 
were stolen away from him. To whom, then, can he be 
unknown, if both the Creator of the world know him, as 
having been sent by him; and all souls know him, as having 
been violently withdrawn from him? Then, further, I wish 
you would tell us whether he who sent the creator of the 
world did not know that he would not keep faith ? For if 
he did not know it, then he was not prescient; while if he 
foreknew it, and suffered it, he is himself guilty of this deed, 
since he did not prevent it; but if he could not, then he 
is not omnipotent. But if, knowing it as good, he did not 
prohibit it, he is found to be better, who presumed to do 
that which he who sent him did not know to be good." 


CHAP. Lv111.—Simon’s God unjust. 
Then Simon said: * He receives those who will come to 


Book 11. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 231 


him, and does them good.” Peter answered: “ But there is 
nothing new in this; for He whom you acknowledge to be 
the Creator of the world also does so.” Then Simon: “But 
the good God bestows salvation if he is only acknowledged ; 
but the creator of the world demands also that the law be 
fulfilled." Then said Peter: “He saves adulterers and 
men-slayers, if they know him; but good, and sober, and 
merciful persons, if they do not know him, in consequence 
of their having no information concerning him, he does not 
save! Great and good truly is he whom you proclaim, who 
is not so much the saviour of the evil, as he is one who shows 
no mercy to the good." Then Simon: “It is truly very 
difficult for man to know him, as long as he is in the flesh ; 
for blacker than all darkness, and heavier than all clay, is 
this body with which the soul is surrounded.” Then says 
Peter: “That good God of yours demands things which are 
difficult; but He who is truly God seeks easier things. Let 
him then, since he is so good, leave us with our Father and 
Creator ; and when once we depart from the body, and leave 
that darkness that you speak of, we shall more easily know 
Him; and then the soul shall better understand that God is 
its Creator, and shall remain with Him, and shall no more be 
harassed with diverse imaginations; nor shall wish to betake 
itself to another power, which is known to none but Simon 
only, and which is of such goodness that no one can come to 
it, unless he be first guilty of impiety towards his own father! 
I know not how this power can be called either good or just, 
which no one can please except by acting impiously towards 
him by whom he was made !" 


Cnar. Lix.—TÀe Creator our Father. 


Then Simon: “It is not impious for the sake of greater 
profit and advantage to flee to him who is of richer glory." 
Then Peter: “If, as you say, itis not impious to flee to a 
stranger, it is at all events much more pious to remain with 
our own father, even if he be poor. But if you do not think 
it impious to leave our father, and flee to another, as being 
better than he; and you do not believe that our Creator will 





232 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book 11. 


take this amiss; much more the good God will not be angry, 
because, when we were strangers to him, we have not fled to 
him, but have remained with our own Creator. Yea, I think 
he will rather commend us the more for this, that we have 
kept faith with God our Creator ; for he will consider that, if 
we had been his creatures, we should never have been seduced 
by the allurements of any other to forsake him. For if any 
one, allured by richer promises, shall leave his own father 
and betake himself to a stranger, it may be that he will 
leave him in his turn, and go to another who shall promise 
him greater things, and this the rather because he is not his 
son, since he could leave even him who by nature was his 
father.” Then Simon said: “ But what if souls are from 
him, and do not know him, and he is truly their father ?” 


Citar, Lx.— Te Creator the Supreme God. 


Then Peter said: “ You represent him as weak enough. 
For if, as you say, he is more powerful than all, it can never 
be believed the weaker wrenched the spoils from the stronger.’ 
Or if God the Creator was able by violence to bring down 
souls into this world, how can it be that, when they are 
separated from the body and freed from the bonds of cap- 
tivity, the good God shall call them to the sufferance of 
punishment, on the ground that they, either through his 
remissness or weakness, were dragged away to this place, 
and were involved in the body, as in the darkness of igno- 
rance? You seem to me not to know what a father and a 
God is: but I could tell you both whence souls are, and when 
and how they were made ; but it is not permitted to me now 
to disclose these things to you, who are in such error in respect 
of the knowledge of God." Then said Simon: “A time will 
come when you shall be sorry that you did not understand 
me speaking of the ineffable power.” Then said Peter: 
“Give us then, as I have often said, as being yourself a new 
God, or as having yourself come down from him, some new 
sense, by means of which we may know that new God of 
whom you speak ; for those five senses, which God our Creator 

1 Luke xi. 22. 


Dook rr. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 233 


has given us, keep faith to their own Creator, and do not per- 
ceive that there is any other God, for so their nature necessi- 
tates them.” 


CHAP. Lx1.—ZJmagination. 


To this Simon answered: “ Apply your mind to those 
things which I am going to say, and cause it, walking in 
peaceable pathis, to attain to those things which I shall demon- 
strate. Listen now, therefore. Did you never in thought 
reach forth your mind into regions or islands situated far 
away, and remain so fixed in them, that you could not even 
see the people that were before you, or know where your- 
self were sitting, by reason of the delightfulness of those 
things on which you were gazing?” And Peter said: “It 
is true, Simon, this has often occurred to me.” Then Simon 
said: «In this way now reach forth your sense into heaven, 
yea above the heaven, and behold that there must be some 
place beyond the world, or outside the world, in which there 
is neither heaven nor earth, and where no shadow of these 
things produces darkness; and consequently, since there are 
neither bodies in it, nor darkness occasioned by bodies, there 
must of necessity be immense light; and consider of what 
sort that light must be, which is never succeeded by dark- 
ness. For if the light of this sun fills this whole world, how 
great do you suppose that bodiless and infinite light to be? 
So great, doubtless, that this light of the sun would seem to 
be darkness and not light, in comparison.” 


CnAP. LXII.— Peter's experience of imagination. 


When Simon thus spoke, Peter answered: * Now listen 
patiently concerning both these matters, that is, concerning 
the example of stretching out the senses, and concerning the 
immensity of light. I know that I myself, O Simon, have 
sometimes in thought extended my sense, as you say, into 
regions and islands situated afar off, and have seen them 
with my mind not less than if it had been with my eyes. 
When I was at Capernaum, occupied in the taking of fishes, 
and sat upon a rock, holding in my hand a hook attached to 
a line, and fitted for deceiving the fishes, [I was so absorbed] 


234 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox 11. 


that I did not feel a fish adhering to it while my mind eagerly 
ran through my beloved Jerusalem, to which I had frequently 
gone up, waking, for the sake of offerings and prayers. But 
I was accustomed also to admire this Caesarea, hearing of it 
from others, and to long to see it; and I seemed to myself to 
see it, although I had never been in it; and I thought of it 
what was suitable to be thought of a great city, its gates, walls, 
baths, streets, lanes, markets, and the like, in accordance with 
what I had seen in other cities ; and to such an extent was I 
delighted with the intentness of such inspection, that, as you 
said, I neither saw one who was present and standing by me, 
nor knew where myself was sitting.” Then said Simon: 
* Now you say well." 


CHAP. 1,Χ111.---- Peter's reverie. 


Then Peter: “In short, when I did not perceive, through 
the occupation of my mind, that I had caught a very large 
fish which was attached to the hook, and that although it 
was dragging the hook-line from my hand, my brother 
Andrew, who was sitting by me, seeing me in a reverie and 
almost ready to fall, thrusting his elbow into my side as 
if he would awaken me from sleep, said: ‘Do you not see, 
Peter, what a large fish you have caught? Are you out of 
your senses, that you are thus in a stupor of astonishment ? 
Tell me, What is the matter with you?’ But I was angry 
with him for a little, because he had withdrawn me from the 
delight of those things which I was contemplating; then I 
answered that I was not suffering from any malady, but that 
I was mentally gazing on the beloved Jerusalem, and at the 
same time on Cesarea; and that, while I was indeed with 
him in the body, in my mind I was wholly carried away 
thither. But he, I know not whence inspired, uttered a 
hidden and secret word of truth. 


CHAP. LxIv.—Andrew’s rebuke. 


“¢ Give over,’ says he, *O Peter. What is it that you are 
doing? For those who are beginning to be possessed with a 
demon, or to be disturbed in their minds, begin in this way. 
They are first carried away by fancies to some pleasant and 


Book 11.] (ECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 295 


delightful things, then they are poured out in vain and fond 
motions towards things which have no existence. Now this 
happens from a certain disease of mind, by reason of which 
they see not the things which are, but long to bring to their 
sight those which are not. But thus it happens also to those 
who are suffering phrenzy, and seem to themselves to see 
many images, because their soul, being torn and withdrawn 
from its place by excess of cold or of heat, suffers a failure 
of its natural service. But those also who are in distress 
through thirst, when they fall asleep, seem to themselves to 
see rivers and fountains, and to drink ; but this befalls them 
through being distressed by the dryness of the unmoistened 
body. Wherefore it is certain that this occurs through some 
ailment either of the soul or body.’ 


Cuap. Lxv.—Fallacy of imagination. 


* In short, that you may receive the faith of the matter; 
concerning Jerusalem, which I had often seen, I told my 
brother what places and what gatherings of people I had 
. seemed to rflyself to see. But also concerning Cesarea, 
which I had never seen, I nevertheless contended that it was 
such as I had conceived it in my mind and thought. But 
when I came hither, and saw nothing at all like to those 
things which I had seen in phantasy, I blamed myself, and 
observed distinctly, that I had assigned to it gates, and walls, 
and buildings from others which I had seen, taking the like- 
ness in reality from others. Nor indeed can any one imagine 
anything new, and of which no form has ever existed. For 
even if any one should fashion from his imagination bulls 
with five heads, he only forms them with five heads out of 
those which he has seen with one head. And you therefore, 
now, if truly you seem to yourself to perceive anything with 
your thought, and to look above the heavens, there is no 
doubt but that you imagine them from those things which 
you see, placed as you are upon the earth. But if you think 
that there is easy access for your mind above the heavens, 
and that you are able to conceive the things that are there, 
and to apprehend knowledge of that immense light, I think 


206 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book 11. 


that for him who can comprehend these things, it were easier 
to throw his sense, which knows how to ascend thither, into 
the heart and breast of some one of us who stand by, and to 
tell what thoughts he is cherishing in his breast. If therefore 
you can declare the thoughts of the heart of any one of us, 
who is not pre-engaged in your favour, we shall perhaps be 
able to believe you, that you are able to know those things 
that are above the heavens, although these are'much loftier." 


Cuar. Lxv1.—Evistence and conception. 


To this Simon replied: “O thou who hast woven a web of 
many frivolities, listen now. It is impossible that anything 
which comes into a man’s thoughts should not also subsist in 
truth and reality. For things that do not subsist, have no 
appearances ;* but things that have no appearances, cannot 
present themselves to our thoughts.” Then said Peter: “If 
everything that can come into our thoughts has a subsistence, 
then, with respect to that place of immensity which you say 
is outside the world, if one thinks in his heart that it is light, 
and another that it is darkness, how can one and the same 
place be both light and darkness, according to their different 
thoughts concerning it?" Then said Simon: * Let pass for 
the present what I have said; and tell us what you suppose 
to be above the heavens." 


CHAP. Lxvit.— The law teaches of immensity. 


Then said Peter: *If you believed concerning the true 
fountain of light, I could instruct you what and of what 
sort is that which is immense, and should render, not a vain 
fancy, but a consistent and necessary account of the truth, 
and should make use, not of sophistical assertions, but testi- 
monies of the law and nature, that you might know that tho 
law especially contains what we ought to believe in regard to 
immensity. But if the doctrine of immensity is not unknown 
to the law, then assuredly nought else can be unknown to it; 


and therefore it is a false supposition of yours, that there is 


1 That is, have no visible or sensible species, according to the Platonic 
theory of perception. 


Book 11.] LECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 237 


anything of which the law is not cognisant. Much more shall 
nothing be unknown to Him who gave the law. Yet I can- 
not speak anything to you of immensity and of those things 
which are without limit, unless first you either accept our 
account of those heavens which are bounded by a certain 
limit, or else propound your own account of them. But if you 
cannot understand concerning those which are comprehended 
within fixed boundaries, much more can you neither know nor 
learn anything concerning those which are without limit." 


Crap. Lxvirm.— 77e visible and the invisible heaven. 


To this Simon answered: * It seems to me to be better to 
believe simply that God is, and that that heaven which we see 
is the only hcaven in the whole universe.” But Peter said: 
* Not so; but it is proper to confess one God who truly is; 
but that there are heavens, which were made by Him, as also 
the Jaw says, of which one is the higher, in which also is 
contained the visible firmament ; and that that higher heaven 
is perpetual and eternal, with those who dwell in it; but that 
this visible heaven is to be dissolved and to pass away at the 
end of the world, in order that that heaven which is older 
and higher may appear after the judgment to the holy and the 
worthy." "To this Simon answered: “That these things are 
80, as you say, may appear to those who believe them; but to 
him who seeks for reasons of these things, it is impossible that 
they can be produced from tlie law, and especially concerning 
the immensity of light." 


Cnar. Lxix.— Futth and reason. 


Then Peter: “ Do not think that we say that these things 
are only to be received by faith, but also that they are to be 
asserted by reason. For indeed it is not safe to commit 
these things to bare faith without reason, since assuredly truth 
cannot be without reason. And therefore he who has received 
these things fortified by reason, can never lose them ; whereas 
he who receives them without proofs, by an assent to a simple 
statement of them, can neither keep them safely, nor is 
certain if they are true; because he who easily believes, also 


238 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book rr. 


easily yields. But he who has sought reason for those things 
which he has believed and received, as though bound by 
chains of reason itself, can never be torn away or separated 
from those things which he hath believed. And therefore, 
according as any one is more anxious in demanding a reason, 
by so much will he be the firmer in preserving his faith." 


CHAP. Lxx.—Adjournment. 

To this Simon replied: “It is a great thing which you 
promise, that the eternity of boundless light can be shown 
from the law.” And when Peter said, “I shall show it 
whenever you please," Simon answered: * Since now it is a 
late hour, I shall stand by you and oppose you to-morrow ; 
and if you can prove that this world was created, and that 
souls are immortal, you shall have me to assist you in your 
preaching.” Whien he had said thus, he departed, and was 
followed by a third part of all the people who had come with 
him, who were about one thousand men. But the rest with 
bended knees prostrated themselves before Peter; and he, 
invoking upon them the name of God, cured some who had 
demons, healed others who were sick, and so dismissed the 
people rejoicing, commanding them to come early the next day. 
But Peter, when the crowds had withdrawn, commanded the 
table to be spread on the ground, in the open air, in the court 
where the disputation had been held, and sat down together 
with those eleven ; but I dined reclining with some others 
who also had made a beginning of hearing the word of God, 
and were greatly beloved. 


CHAP. LXXI.—Separation from the unclean. 

But Peter, most benignantly regarding me, lest haply 
that separation might cause me sorrow, says to me: “It is 
not from pride, O Clement, that I do not eat with those who 
have not yet been purified; but I fear lest perhaps I should 
injure myself, and do no good to them. For this I would 
have you know for certain, that every one who has at any 
time worshipped idols, and has adored those whom the pagans 
call gods, or has eaten of the things sacrificed to them, is not 
without an unclean spirit; for he has become a guest of 


Book n.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 239 


demons, and has been partaker with that demon of which he 
has formed the image in his mind, either through fear or love.! 
And by these means he is not free from an unclean spirit, 
and therefore needs the purification of baptism, that the 
unclean spirit may go out of him, which has made its abode 
in the inmost affections of his soul, and what is worse, gives 
no indication that it lurks within, for fear it should be 
exposed and expelled. 


Cap. Lxxt1.— The remedy. 


* For these unclean spirits love to dwell in the bodies of 
men, that they may fulfil their own desires by their service, 
and, inclining the motions of their souls to those things which 
they themselves desire, may compel them to obey their own 
lusts, that they may become wholly vessels of demons. One 
of whom is this Simon, who is seized with such disease, and 
cannot now be healed, because he is sick in his will and 
purpose. Nor does the demon dwell in him against his will; 
and therefore, if any one would drive it out of him, since it 
is inseparable from himself, and, so to speak, has now become 
his very soul, he should seem rather to kill him, and to incur 
the guilt of manslaughter. Let no one of you therefore be 
saddened at being separated from eating with us, for every 
one ought to observe that it is for just so long a time as he 
pleases. For he who wishes soon to be baptized is separated 
but foralittle time, but he for a longer who wishes to be 
baptized later. Every one therefore has it in his own power 
to demand a shorter or a longer time for his repentance; and 
therefore it lies with you, when you wish it, to come to our 
table; and not with us, who are not permitted to take food 
with any one who has not been baptized. It is rather 
you, therefore, who hinder us from eating with you, if you 
interpose delays in the way of your purification, and defer 
your baptism.” Having said thus, and having blessed, he 
took food. And afterwards, when he had given thanks to 
God, he went into the house and went to bed; and we all 
did the like, for it was now night. 

11 Cor. x. 20. 


RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 


— 


BOOK IIL 


CnAr. 1. — Pearls before swine. 
|EANTIME Peter, rising at the crowing of the 


cock, and wishing to rouse us, found us awake, 
the evening light still burning; and when, accord- 
ing to custom, he had saluted us, and we had all 
sat down, he thus began. “Nothing is more difficult, my 
brethren, than to reason concerning the truth in the presence 
of a mixed multitude of people. For that which is may not 
be spoken to all as it is, on account of those who hear 
wickedly and treacherously ; yet it is not proper to deceive, 
on account of those who desire to hear the truth sincerely. 
What, then, shall he do who has to address a mixed multi- 
tude? Shall he conceal what is true? How, then, shall he 
instruct those who are worthy? But if he set forth pure 
truth to those who do not desire to obtain salvation, he does 
injury to Him by whom he has been sent, and from whom he 
has received commandment not to throw the pearls of His 
words before swine and dogs,’ who, striving against them with 
arguments and sophisms, roll them in the mud of carnal 
understanding, and by their barkings and base answers break 
and weary the preachers of God's word. Wherefore I also, 
for the most part, by using a certain circumlocution, endea- 
vour to avoid publishing the chief knowledge concerning the 
Supreme Divinity to unworthy ears." Then, beginning from 
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, he briefly and 
1 Matt. vii. 6. 
210 





Book ni] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 241 


plainly expounded to us, so that all of us hearing him wondered 
that men have forsaken the truth, and have turned them- 
selves to vanity. 


Cuar. x11.'—Second day's discussion. 


Dut when the day had dawned, some one came in and 
said: “There is a very great multitude waiting in the court, 
and in the midst of them stands Simon, endeavouring to pre- 
occupy the ears of the people with most wicked persuasions." 
Then Peter, immediately going out, stood in the place where 
he had disputed the day before, and all the people turning to 
him with joy, gave heed to him. But when Simon perceived 
that the people rejoiced at the sight of Peter, and were moved 
to love him, he said in confusion: “I wonder at the folly 
of men, who call me a magician, and love Peter; whereas, 
having knowledge of me of old, they ought to love me rather. 
And therefore from this sign those who have sense may under- 
stand that Peter may rather seem to be the magician, since 
affection is not borne to me, to whom it is almost due from 
acquaintance, but is abundantly expended upon him, to whom 
it is not due by any familiarity." 


CHAP. XIII.— Simon a seducer. 


While Simon was talking on in this style, Peter, having 
saluted the people in his usual way, thus answered: * O 
Simon, his own conscience is sufficient for every one to con- 
fute him; but if you wonder at this, that those who are 
acquainted with you not only do not love you but even hate 
. you, learn the reason from me. Since you are a seducer, you 
profess to proclaim the truth; and on this account you had 
many friends who had a desire to learn the truth. But when 
they saw in you things contrary to what you professed, they 
being, as I said, lovers of truth, began not only not to love 
you, but even to hate you. But yet they did not immediately 


1 Chaps. ii.-xii. are wanting in the mss. of best authority: and it 
seems to us indisputable that they form no part of the original work. 
For this reason, and because we have found them utterly untranslatable, 
we have omitted them. 


Q 


242 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book ur. 


forsake you, because you still promised that you could show 
them what is true. As long, therefore, as no one was present 
who could show them, they bore with you; but since the 
hope of better instruction has dawned upon them, they de- 
spise you, and seek to know what they understand to be better. 
And you indeed, acting by nefarious arts, thought at first 
that you should escape detection. But you are detected. For 
you are driven into a corner, and, contrary to your expecta- 
tion, you are made notorious, not only as being ignorant of the 
truth, but as being unwilling to hear it from those who know 
it. For if you had been willing to hear, that saying would 
have been exemplified in you, of Him who said that ‘there is 
‘nothing hidden which shall not be known, nor covered which 
shall not be disclosed.’””* 


Cnar. x1v.—Simon claims the fulfilment of Peter's promise. 


While Peter spoke these words, and others to the same 
effect, Simon answered: “TI will not have you detain me with 
long speeches, Peter; I claim from you what you promised 
yesterday. You then said that you could show that the law 
teaches concerning the immensity of the eternal light, and 
that there are only two heavens, and these created, and that 
the higher is the abode of that light, in which the ineffable 
Father dwells alone for ever; but that after the pattern of 
that heaven is made this visible heaven, which you asserted is 
to pass away. You said, therefore, that the Father of all is 
one, because there cannot be two infinites; else neither of 
them would be infinite, because in that in which the one sub- 
sists, he makes a limit of the subsistence of the other. Since 
then you not only promised this, but are able to show it from 
the law, leave off other matters and set about this.” Then Peter 
said: “ If I were asked to speak of these things only on your 
account, who come only for the purpose of contradicting, you 
should never hear a single discourse from me; but seeing it 
is necessary that the husbandman, wishing to sow good ground, 
should sow some seeds, either in stony places, or places that 
are to be trodden of men, or in places filled with brambles 

3 Matt. x. 26. 


Book ui. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 243 


and briers (as our Master also set forth, indicating by these 
the diversities of the purposes of several souls),' I shall not 
delay." 


Crap. xv.—Simon’s arrogance. 


Then said Simon: * You seem to me to be angry; but if 
it be so, it is not necessary to enter into the conflict." "Then 
Peter: “I see that you perceive that you are to be convicted, 
and you wish politely to escape from the contest; for what 
have you seen to have made me angry against you, a man 
desiring to deceive so great a multitude, and when you have 
nothing to say, pretending moderation, who also command, 
forsooth, by your authority that the controversy shall be con- 
ducted as you please, and notas order demands?" Then 
Simon : “T shall enforce myself to bear patiently your unskil- 
fulness, that I may show that you indeed wish to seduce the 
people, but that I teach the truth. But now I refrain from 
a discussion concerning that boundless light. Answer me, 
therefore, what I ask of you. Since God, as you say, made 
all things, whence comes evil?" Then said Peter: “To put 
questions in this way is not the part of an opponent, but of a 
learner. If therefore you wish to learn, confess it ; and I shall 
first teach you how you ought to learn, and when you have 
learned to listen, then straightway I shall begin to teach you. 
But if you do not wish to learn, as though you knew all things, 
I shall first set forth the faith which I preach, and do you also 
set forth what you think to be true; and when the profession 
of each of us has been disclosed, let our hearers judge whose 
discourse is supported by truth.” To this Simon answered : 
« This is a good joke: behold a fellow who offers to teach me! 
Nevertheless I shall suffer you, and bear with your ignorance 
and your arrogance. I confess, then, I do wish to learn; let 
us see how you can teach me." 


Cuap. xvi.—Evistence of evil. 


Then Peter said: “If you truly wish to learn, then first 
learn this, how unskilfully you have framed your question ; 
! Luke viii. 5. 


244 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book nr. 


for you say, Since God has created all things, whence is evil ? 
But before you asked this, three sorts of questions should 
have had the precedence: First, Whether there be evil? 
Secondly, What evil is? Thirdly, To whom it is, and 
whence?” To this Simon answered: “Oh thou most un- 
skilful and unlearned, is there any man who does not confess 
that there is evil in this life? Whence I also, thinking that 
you had even the common sense of all men, asked, whence evil 
is; not as wishing to learn, since I know all things, least of 
all from you, who know nothing, but that I might show you 
‘to be ignorant of all things. And that you may not suppose 
that it is because I am angry that I speak somewhat sternly, 
know that Iam moved with compassion for those who are 
present, whom you are attempting to deceive.” Then Peter 
said: “The more wicked are you, if you can do such wrong, 
not being angry; but smoke must rise where there is fire. 
Nevertheless I shall tell you, lest I should seem to take you 
up with words, so as not to answer to those things which you 
have spoken disorderly. You say that all confess the exist- 
ence of evil, which is verily false; for, first of all, the whole 
Hebrew nation deny its existence.” 


Caap. xvir.—JNot admitted by all. 


Then Simon, interrupting his discourse, said: * They do 
rightly who say that there is no evil" Then Peter answered : 
* We do not propose to speak of this now, but only to state 
the fact that the existence of evil is not universally admitted. 
But the second question that you should have asked is, What 
is evil ?—a substance, an accident, or an act? And many 
other things of the same sort. And after that, towards what, 
or how it is, or to whom it is evil,—whether to God, or to 
‘angels, or to men, to the righteous or the wicked, to all or 
to some, to one's self or to no one? And then you should 
inquire, Whence it is ?—whether from God, or from nothing ; 
whether it has always been, or has had its beginning in time ; 
whether it is useful or useless? and many other things 
which a proposition of this sort demands.” To this Simon 
answered : “ Pardon me; I was in error concerning the first 


Book m1. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 245 


question ; but suppose that I now ask first, whether evil is 
or not ?" 


CHAP. xvirr.—JManner of conducting the discussion. 


Then Peter said: *In what way do you put the question ; 
as wishing to learn, or to teach, or for the sake of raising the 
question? If indeed as wishing to learn, I have something 
to teach you first, that coming by consequence and the right 
order of doctrine, you may understand from yourself what 
evilis. But if you put the question as an instructor, I have 
no need to be taught by you, for I have a Master from whom 
I have learned all things. But if you ask merely for the 
sake of raising a question and disputing, let each of us first 
set forth his opinion, and so let the matter be debated. For 
it is not reasonable that you should ask as one wishing to 
learn, and contradict as one teaching, so that after my 
answer it should be in your discretion to say whether I have 
spoken well or ill. Wherefore you cannot stand in the place 
of a gainsayer and be judge of what we say. And therefore, 
as I said, if a discussion is to be held, let each of us state his 
sentiments ; and while we are placed in conflict, these religious 
hearers will be just judges.” : 


Cuap. x1x.— Desire of instruction. 


Then Simon said: “ Does it not seem to you to be absurd 
that an unskilled people should sit in judgment upon our 
sayings?” Then Peter: “It is not so; for what perhaps is 
less clear to one, can be investigated by many, for oftentimes 
even a popular rumour has the aspect of a prophecy. But 
in addition to all this, all these people stand here constrained 
by the love of God, and by a desire to know the truth, and 
therefore all these are to be regarded as one, by reason of their 
affection being one and the same towards the truth; as, on the 
other hand, two are many and diverse, if they disagree with 
each other. But if you wish to receive an indication how all 
these people who stand before us are as one man, consider from 
their very silence and quietness how with all patience, as you 
see, they do honour to the truth of God, even before they 


246 RECOGNITIONS CF CLEMENT. [Boox rir. 


learn it, for they have not yet learned the greater observance 
which they owe to it. Wherefore I hope, through the mercy 
of God, that He will accept the religious purpose of their 
mind towards Him, and will give the palm of victory to him 
who preaches the truth, that He may make manifest to them 
the herald of truth." 


CuaP. Xx.— Common principles. 


Then Simon: “On what subject do you wish the discus- 
sion to be held? Tell me, that I also may define what I 
think, and so the inquiry may begin." And Peter answered : 
«Tf, indeed, you will do as I think right, I would have it 
done according to the precept of my Master, who first of all 
commanded the Hebrew nation, whom He knew to have 
knowledge of God, and that it is He who made the world, 
not that they should inquire about Him whom they knew, 
but that, knowing Him, they should investigate His will and 
His righteousness ; because it is placed in men's power that, 
searching into these things, they may find, and do, and ob- 
serve those things concerning which they are to be judged. 
Therefore He commanded us to inquire, not whence evil 
cometh, as you asked just now, but to seek the righteousness 
of the good God, and His kingdom ; and all these things, says 
He, shall be added to you.”! Then Simon said : * Since these 
things are commanded to Hebrews, as having a right know- 
ledge of God, and being of opinion that every one has it in 
his power to do those things concerning which he is to be 
judged, —but my opinion differs from theirs,—where do you 
wish me to begin ?" 


Cirar. xx1.—Freedom of the will. 


Then said Peter: “1 advise that the first inquiry be, 
whether it be in our power to know whence we are to be 
judged." But Simon said: * Not so; but concerning God, 
about whom all who are present are desirous to hear." "Then 
Peter: “ You admit, then, that something is in the power of 
the will: only confess this, if it is so, and let us inquire, as 

1 Matt. vi. 33. 


BoornuL.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 247 


you say, concerning God." To this Simon answered: * By 
no means." Then Peter said: “If, then, nothing is in our 
power, it is useless for us to inquire anything concerning 
God, since it is not in the power of those who seek to find; 
hence I said well, that this should be the first inquiry, whether 
anything is in the power of the will" Then said Simon: 
* We cannot even understand this that you say, if there is 
anything in the power of the will.” But Peter, seeing that 
he was turning to contention, and, through fear of being 
overcome, was confounding all things as being in general 
uncertain, answered : * How then do you know that it is not 
in the power of man to know anything, since this very thing 
at least you know ?" | 


CHAP. Xxx1I.— Responsibility. 


Then Simon said: *I know not whether I know even 
this; for every one, according as it is decreed to him by fate, 
either does, or understands, or suffers." Then Peter said: 
*«* See, my brethren, into what absurdities Simon has fallen, 
who before my coming was teaching that men have it in their 
power to be wise and to do what they will, but now, driven 
into a corner by the force of my arguments, he denies that man 
has any power either of perceiving or of acting; and yet he 
presumes to profess himself to bea teacher! But tell me how 
then God judges according to truth every one for his doings, 
if men have it not in their own power to do anything? If 
this opinion be held, all things are torn up by the roots; 
vain will be the desire of following after goodness; yea, even 
in vain do the judges of the world administer laws and punish 
those who do amiss, for they had it not in their power not to 
sin ; vain also will be the laws of nations which assign penalties 
to evil deeds. Miserable also will those be who laboriously 
keep righteousness; but blessed those who, living in pleasure, 
exercise tyranny, living in luxury and wickedness. According 
to this, therefore, there can be neither righteousness, nor 
goodness, nor any virtue, nor, as you would have it, any God. 
But, O Simon, I know why you have spoken thus: truly 
because you wish to avoid inquiry, lest you should be openly 





248 RECOG NITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox rr. 


confuted ; and therefore you say that it is not in the power 
of man to perceive or to discern anything. But if this had 
reall been your opinion, you would not surely, before my 
coming, have professed yourself before the people to be a 
teacher. I say, therefore, that man is under his own control." 
Then said Simon: * What is the meaning of being under 
his own control? Tell us.” To this Peter: “If nothing 
can be learned, why do you wish to hear?” And Simon 
said: “ You have nothing to answer to this.” ' 


CHAP. xxrim.— Origin of evil. 


Then said Peter: “I shall speak, not as under compulsion 
from you, but at the request of the hearers. The power of 
choice is the sense of the soul, possessing a quality by which 
it can be inclined towards what acts it wills.’ Then Simon, 
applauding Peter for what he had spoken, said: “ Truly you 
have expounded it magnificently and incomparably, for it is 
my duty to bear testimony to your speaking well. Now if 
you will explain to me this which I now ask you, in all things 
else I shall submit to you. What I wish to learn, then, is 
this: if what God wishes to be, is; and what He does not wish 
to be, is not. Answer me this.” Then Peter: “If you do not 
know that you are asking an absurd and incompetent ques- 
tion, I shall pardon you and explain; but if .you are aware 
that you are asking inconsequently, you do not well.” Then 
Simon said: “TI swear by the Supreme Divinity, whatsoever 
that may be, which judges and punishes those who sin, that 
I know not what I have said inconsequently, or what absurdity 
there is in my words, that is, in those that I have just uttered.” 


Cap. xx1v.— God the author of good, not of evil. 


To this Peter answered: “Since, then, you confess that 
you are ignorant, now learn. Your question demanded our 
deliverance on two matters that are contrary to one another. 
For every motion is divided into two parts, so that a certain 
part is moved by necessity, and another by will; and those 
things which are moved by necessity are always in motion, 
those which are moved by will, not always. For example, 


Book m] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 249 


the sun's motion is performed by necessity to complete its 
appointed circuit, and every state and service of heaven de- 
pends upon necessary motions. But man directs the voluntary 
motions of his own actions. And: thus there are some things 
which have been created for this end, that in their services 
they should be subject to necessity, and should be unable to 
do aught else than what has been assigned to them; and 
when they have accomplished this service, the Creator of all 
things, who thus arranged them according to His will, pre- 
serves them. But there are other things, in which there is 
a power of will, and which have a free choice of doing what 
they will. These, as I have said, do not remain always in that 
order in which they were created ; but according as their will 
leads them, and the judgment of their mind inclines them, 
they effect either good or evil; and therefore He hath pro- 
posed rewards to those who do well, and penalties to those 
who do evil. ° 


Cuap. xxv.— Who hath resisted His will 2” 


“You say, therefore, if God wishes anything to be, it is; 
and if He do not wish it, it is not. But if I were to answer 
that what He wishes is, and what He wishes not is not, you 
would say that then He wishes the evil things to be which are 
done in the world, since everything that He wishes is, and 
everything that He wishes not is not. But if J had answered 
that it is not so that what God wishes is, and what He wishes 
not is not, then you would retort upon me that God must 
then be powerless, if He cannot do what He wills; and you 
would be all the more petulant, as thinking that you had got 
a victory, though you had said nothing to the point. There- 
fore you are ignorant, O Simon, yea very ignorant, how the 
will of God acts in each individual case. For some things, 
as we have said, He has so willed to be, that they cannot be 
otherwise than as they are ordained by Him; and to these 
He has assigned neither rewards nor punishments; but those 
which He has willed to be so that they have it in their power 
to do what they will, He has assigned to them according to 
their actions and their wills, to earn either rewards or punish- 


250 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book m. 


ments. Since, therefore, as I have informed you, all things 
that are moved are divided into two parts, according to the 
distinction that I formerly stated, everything that God wills 
is, and everything that He wills not is not.” 


CHAP. xxvi1.—No goodness without liberty. 


To this Simon answered: “ Was not He able to make us 
all such that we should be good, and that we should not have 
it in our power to be otherwise?” Peter answered: “ This 
also is an absurd question. For if He had made us of an 
unchangeable nature and incapable of being moved away 
from good, we should not be really good, because we could 
not be aught else; and it would not be of our purpose that 
we were good ; and what we did would not be ours, but of the 
necessity of our nature. But how can that be called good 
which is not done of purpose? And on this account the world 
required long periods, until the number of souls which were 
predestined to fill it should be completed, and then that visible 
heaven should be folded up like a scroll, and that which is 
higher should appear, and the souls of the blessed, being 
restored to their bodies, should be ushered into light; but the 
souls of the wicked, for their impure actions being surrounded 
with fiery spirit, should be plunged into the abyss of unquench- 
able fire, to endure punishments through eternity. Now that 
these things are so, the true Prophet has testified to us; con- 
cerning whom, if you wish to know that He is a prophet, I 
shall instruct you by innumerable declarations. For of those 
things which were spoken by Him, even now everything that 
He said is being fulfilled; and those things which He spoke 
with respect to the future are believed to be about to be ful- 
filled, for faith is given to the future from those things which 
have already come to pass.” 


Crap. Xxvit.— The visible heaven ; why made. 


But Simon, perceiving that Peter was clearly assigning a 
reason from the head of prophecy, from which the whole 
question is settled, declined that the discourse should take 
this turn; and thus answered: * Give me an answer to the 


Book m1. | RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 251 


questions that I put, and tell me, if that visible heaven 1s, as 
you say, to be dissolved, why was it made at first?” Peter 
answered : “It was made for the sake of this present life of 
men, that there might be some sort of interposition and separa- 
tion, lest any unworthy one might see the habitation of the 
celestials and the abode of God Himself, which are prepared 
in order to be seen by those only who are of pure heart.! But 
now, that is in the time of the conflict, it has pleased Him 
that those things be invisible, which are destined as a reward 
to the conquerors.” Then Simon said: “If the Creator is 
good, and the world is good, how shall He who is good ever 
destroy that which is good? But if He shall destroy that 
which is good, how shall He Himself be thought to be 
good? But if He shall dissolve and destroy it as evil, how 
shall He not appear to be evil, who has made that which 
is evil?” 


Caap. xxvirt.— Why to be dissolved. 


To this Peter replied: “Since we have promised not to 
run away from your blasphemies, we endure them patiently, 
for you shall yourself render an account for the things that 
you speak. Listen now, therefore. If indeed that heaven 
which is visible and transient had been made for its own sake, 
there would have been some reason in what you say, that it 
ought not to be dissolved. But if it was made not for its 
own sake, but for the sake of something else, it must of 
necessity be dissolved, that that for which it seems to have 
been made may appear. As I might say, by way of illus- 
tration, however fairly and carefully the shell of the egg may 
seem to have been formed, it is yet necessary that it be broken 
and opened, that the chick may issue from it, and that may 
appear for which the form of the whole egg seems to have 
been moulded. So also, therefore, it is necessary that the 
condition of this world pass away, that that sublimer condition 
of the heavenly kingdom may shine forth.” 

1 Matt. v. 8. 


252 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book ri. 


Crap. xxIx.— Corruptible and temporary things made by 
the Incorruptible and Eternal. 


Then Simon: “It does not seem to me that the heaven, 
which has been made by God, can be dissolved. For things 
made by the Eternal One are eternal, while things made by 
a corruptible one are temporary and decaying.” Then Peter: 
“Tt is not so. Indeed corruptible and temporary things of 
all sorts are made by mortal creatures; but the Eternal does 
not always make things corruptible, nor always incorruptible ; 
but according to the will of God the Creator, so will be the 
things which He creates. For the power of God is not 
subject to law, but His will is law to His creatures.” Then 
Simon answered : * I call you back to the first question. You 
said now that God is visible to no one; but when that heaven 
shall be dissolved, and that superior condition of the heavenly 
kingdom shall shine forth, then those who are pure in heart! 
shall see, God; which statement is contrary to the law, for 
there it is written that God said, *None shall see my face 
and live.’”? 


Crap. xxx.—JITow the pure in heart see God. 


Then Peter answered: * To those who do not read the law 
according to the tradition of Moses, my speech appears to be 
contrary to it; but I will show you how it is not contra- 
dictory. God is seen by the mind, not by the body; by the 
spirit, not by the flesh. Whence also angels, who are spirits, 
see God ; and therefore men, as long as they are men, cannot 
sec Him. But after the resurrection of the dead, when they 
shall have been made like the angels, they shall be able to 
see God. And thus my statement is not contrary to the law; 
neither is that which our Master said, * Blessed are they of a 
pure heart, for they shall see God? * For He showed that a 
time shall come in which of men shall be made angels, who 
in the spirit of their mind shall see God.” After these and 
many similar sayings, Simon began to assert with many oaths, 
saying : * Concerning one thing only render me a reason, 
! Matt. v. 8. — * Ex. xxxiii. 20. ὅ Matt. xxii. 90. “ Matt. v. 8. 


Book 1.1 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 253 


whether the soul is immortal, and I shall submit to your will 
in all things. But let it be to-morrow, for to-day it is late." 
When therefore Peter began to speak, Simon went out, and 
with him a very few of his associates; and that for shame. 
But all the rest, turning to Peter, on bended knees prostrated 
themselves before him ; and some of those who were afflicted 
with diverse sicknesses, or invaded by demons, were healed by 
the prayer of Peter, and departed rejoicing, as having obtained 
at once the doctrine of the true God, and also His mercy. 
When therefore the crowds had withdrawn, and only we his 
attendants remained with him, we sat down on couches placed 
on the ground, each one recognising his accustomed place, and 
having taken food, and given thanks to God, we went to sleep. 


CHAP. xxx1.— Diligence tn study. 


But on the following day, Peter, as usual, rising before 
dawn, found us already awake and ready to listen ; and thus 
began: “I entreat you, my brethren and fellow-servants, 
that if any of you is not able to wake, he should not torment 
himself through respect to my presence, because sudden 
change is difficult; but if for a long time one gradually 
accustoms himself, that will not be distressing which comes 
of use. For we had not all the same training; although in 
course of time we shall be able to be moulded into onc habit, 
for they say that custom holds the place of a second nature. 
But I call God to witness that I am not offended, if any one 
is not able to wake; but rather by this, if, when any one 
sleeps all through the night, he does not in the course of the 
day fulfil that which he omitted in the night. For it is 
necessary to give heed intently and unceasingly to the study 
of doctrine, that our mind may be filled with the thought 
of God only; because in the mind which is filled with the 
thought of God, no place will be given to the wicked one.” 


CuaP. XXXII.— Peter's private instruction. 


When Peter spoke thus to us, every one of us eagerly 
assured him, that ere now we were awake, being satisfied 
with short sleep, but that we were afraid to arouse him, 


~ 


254 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox 1112. 


because it did not become the disciples to command the 
master; “and yet even this, O Peter, we had almost ven- 
tured to take upon ourselves, because our hearts, agitated with 
longing for your words, drove sleep wholly from our eyes. 
But again our affection towards you opposed it, and did not 
suffer us violently to rouse you.” Then Peter said: “ Since 
therefore you assert that you are willingly awake through 
desire of hearing, I wish to repeat to you more carefully, and 
to explain in their order, the things that were spoken yester- 
day without arrangement. And this I propose to do through- 
out these daily disputations, that by night, when privacy of 
time and place is afforded, I shall unfold in correct order, and 
by a straight line of explanation, anything that in the con- 
troversy has not been stated with sufficient fulness.” And 
then he began to point out to us how the yesterday's dis- 
cussion ought to have been conducted, and how it could not 
be so conducted on account of the contentiousness or the 
unskilfulness of his opponent; and how therefore he only 
made use of assertion, and only overthrew what was said by 
his adversary, but did not expound his own doctrines either 
completely or distinctly. Then repeating the several matters 
to us, he discussed them in regular order and with full reason. 


CHap. xxxrI.— Learners and cavillers. 


But when the day began to be light, after prayer he went 
out to the crowds and stood in his accustomed place, for the 
discussion ; and seeing Simon standing in the middle of the 
crowd, he saluted the people in his usual way, and said to 
them: *I confess that I am grieved with respect to some 
men, who come to us in this way that they may learn some- 
thing, but when we begin to teach them, they profess that 
they themselves are masters, and while indeed they ask ques- 
tions as ignorant persons, they contradict as knowing ones. 
Dut perhaps some one will say, that he who puts a question, 
puts it indeed in order that he may learn, but when that which 
he hears does not seem to him to be right, it is necessary that 
he should answer, and that seems to be contradiction which 
is not contradiction, but further inquiry. 


Boorc gm] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 299 


Cnr. xxxtv.— Against order is against reason. 


* Let such a one then hear this: The teaching of all doc- 
trine has a certain order, and there are some things which 
must be delivered first, others in the second place, and others 
in the third, and so all in their order; and if these things be 
delivered in their order, they become plain; but if they be 
brought forward out of order, they will seem to be spoken 
against reason. And therefore order is to be observed above 
all things, if we seek for the purpose of finding what we seek. 
For he who enters rightly upon the road, will observe the second 
place in due order, and from the second will more easily find 
the third; and the further he proceeds, so much the more 
will the way of knowledge become open to him, even until 
he arrive at the city of truth, whither he is bound, and which 
he desires to reach. But he who is unskilful, and knows not 
the way of inquiry,—as a traveller in a foreign country, igno- 
rant and wandering, if he will not employ a native of the 
country as a guide, —undoubtedly when he has strayed from 
the way of truth, shall remain outside the gates of life, and 
so, involved in the darkness of black night, shall walk through 
the paths of perdition. Inasmuch therefore, as, if those things 
which are to be sought, be sought in an orderly manner, they 
can most easily be found, but the unskilful man is ignorant 
of the order of inquiry, it is right that the ignorant man 
should yield to the knowing one, and first learn the order of 
inquiry, that so at length he may find tlie method of asking 
and answering." | 


Cuap. Xxxv.— Learning before teaching. 


To this Simon replied: “Then truth is not the property of 
all, but of those only who know the art of disputation, which 
is absurd; for it cannot be, since He is equally the God of 
all, that all should not be equally able to know His will.” 
Then Peter: “ All were made equal by Him, and to all He 
has given equally to be receptive of truth. But that none 
of those who are born, are born with education, but education 
is subsequent to birth, no one can doubt. Since, therefore, 


256 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book rr. 


the birth of men holds equity in this respect, that all are - 
equally capable of receiving discipline, the difference is not 
in nature, but in education. Who does not know that the 
things which any one learns, he was ignorant of before he 
learned them?” Then Simon said: * You say truly." Then 
Peter said : *If then in those arts which are in common use, 
one first learns and. then teaches, how much more ought those 
who profess to be the educators of souls, first to learn, and so 
to teach, that they may not expose themselves to ridicule, if 
they promise to afford knowledge to others, when they them- 
selves are unskilful?”” "Then Simon: “ This is true in respect 
of those arts which are in common use; but in the word of 
knowledge, as soon as any one has heard, he has learned." 


CnBAP. XXXVI.—Self-evidence of the truth. 


Then said Peter: * If indeed one hear in an orderly 
and regular manner, he is able to know what is true; 
but he who refuses to submit to the rule of a reformed 
life and a pure conversation, which truly is the proper 
result of knowledge of the truth, will not confess that he 
‘knows what he does know. For this is exactly what we see 
in the case of some who, abandoning the trades which they 
learned in their youth, betake themselves to other perfor- 
. mances, and by way of excusing their own sloth, begin to 
find fault with the trade as unprofitable.” Then Simon: 
« Ought all who hear to believe that whatever they hear is 
true?” Then Peter: “ Whoever hears an orderly statement 
of the truth, cannot by any means gainsay it, but knows that 
what is spoken is true, provided he also willingly submit to 
the rules of life. But those who, when they hear, are un- 
willing to betake themselves to good works, are prevented by 
the desire of doing evil from acquiescing in those things which 
they judge to be right. Hence it is manifest that it is in the 
power of the hearers to choose which of the two they prefer. 
But if all who hear were to obey, it would be rather a neces- 
sity of nature, leading all in one way. For as no one can be 
persuaded to become shorter or taller, because the force of 
nature does not permit it ; so also, if either all were converted 


Bookn.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 257 


to the truth by a word, or all were not converted, it would be 
the force of nature which compelled all in the one case, and 
none at all in the other, to be converted.” 


CHAP, XXXVII.—God righteous as well as good. 


Then said Simon: “Inform us, therefore, what he who 
desires to know the truth must first learn.” Then Peter: 
* Before all things it must be inquired what it is possible for 
man to find out. For of necessity the judgment of God turns 
upon this, if a man was able to do good and did it not.. And 
therefore men must inquire whether they have it in their power 
by seeking to find what is good, and to do it when they have 
found it; for this is that for which they are to be judged. 
But more than this there is no occasion for any one but a 
prophet to know ; for what is the need for men to know how 
the world was made? This, indeed, would be necessary to 
be learned if we had to enter upon a similar construction. 
But now it is sufficient for us, in order to the worship of: 
God, to know that He made the world; but how He made it 
is no subject of inquiry for us, because, as I have said, it. is 
not incumbent upon us to acquire the knowledge of that art, 
as though we were about to make something similar. But 
neither are we to be judged for this, why we have not learned 
how the world was made, but only for that, if we be without 
knowledge of its Creator. For we shall know that the 
Creator of the world is the righteous and good God, if we 
seek Him in the paths of righteousness. For if we only know 
regarding Him that He is good, such knowledge is not sufficient 
for salvation.: For in the present life not only the worthy, 
but also the unworthy, enjoy His goodness and His benefits. 
But if we believe Him to be not only good, but also righteous, 
and if, according to what we believe concerning God, we 
observe righteousness in the whole course of our life, we 
shall enjoy His goodness for ever. In a word, to the Hebrews, 
whose opinion concerning God was that He is only good, our 
Master said that they should seek also His righteousness;' that 
is, that they should know that He is good indeed in this pre- 

3 Matt. vi. 88. 
R 


258 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.  [Boox ur. 


sent time, that all may live in His goodness, but that He shall 
be righteous at the day of judgment, to bestow eternal rewards 
upon the worthy, from which the unworthy shall be excluded. 


CHAP. XXXVIII.—God’s justice shown at the day of judgment. 


Then Simon: “ How can one and the same being be both 
good and righteous?” Peter answered: “ Because without 
righteousness, goodness would be unrighteousness; for it is 
the part of a good God to bestow His sunshine and rain 
equally on the just and the unjust ;' but this would seem to 
be unjust, if He treated the good and the bad always with 
equal fortune, and were it not that He does it for the sake of 
the fruits, which all may equally enjoy who are born in this 
world. But as the rain given by God equally nourishes the 
corn and the tares, but at the time of harvest the crops are 
gathered into the barn, but the chaff or the tares are burnt 
in the fire,” so in the day of judgment, when the righteous 
-shall be introduced into the kingdom of heaven, and the 
unrighteous shall be cast out, then also the justice of God 
shall be shown. For if He remained for ever alike to the 
evil and the good, this would not only not be good, but even 
unrighteous and unjust; that the righteous and the un- 
righteous should be held by Him in one order of desert." 


Cnar. xxx1x.—Jmmortality of the soul. 


Then said Simon: “ The one point on which I should wish 
to be satisfied is, whether the soul is immortal; for I cannot 
take up the burden of righteousness unless I know first con- 
cerning the immortality of the soul; for indeed if it is not 
immortal, the profession, of your preaching cannot stand." 
Then said Peter: * Let us first inquire whether God is just ; 
for if this were ascertained, the perfect order of religion 
would straightway be established." Then Simon: “ With 
all your boasting of your knowledge of the order of dis- 
cussion, you seem to me now to have answered contrary to 
order; for when I ask you to show whether the soul is 
immortal, you say that we must first inquire whether God 

! Matt. v. 45. ? Matt. iii. 12. 


Book zt] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 259 


is just.” Then said Peter: “That is perfectly right and 
regular.” Simon: “TI should wish to learn how.” 


Cuapr. xu.— Proved by the success of the wicked in this life. 


“Listen, then,” said Peter : * Some men who are blasphemers 
against God, and who spend their whole life in injustice and 
pleasure, die i in their own bed and obtain honourable burial ; 
while others who worship God, and maintain their life 
frugally with all honesty and sobriety, die in deserted places 
for their observance of righteousness, so that they are not 
even thought worthy of burial. Where, then, is the justice 
of God, if there be no immortal soul to suffer punishment in 
the future for impious deeds, or enjoy rewards for piety and 
rectitude?” Then Simon said: “ It is this indeed that makes 
me incredulous, because many well-doers perish miserably, 
and again many evil-doers finish long lives in happiness.” 


. Crap. XLr.— Cavils of Simon. 


Then said Peter: “ This very thing which draws you into 
incredulity, affords to us a certain conviction that there shall 
be a judgment. For since it is certain that God is just, it is 
a necessary consequence that there is another world, in which 
every one receiving according to his deserts, shall prove the 
justice of God. But if all men were now receiving accord- 
ing to their deserts, we should truly seem to be deceivers when 
we say that there is a judgment to come; and therefore this 
very fact, that in the present life a return is not made to 
every one according to his deeds, affords, to those who know 
that God is just, an indubitable proof that there shall be a 
judgment.” Then said Simon: * Why, then, am I not per- 
suaded of it?” Peter: “Because you have not heard the 
true Prophet saying, ‘Seek first His righteousness, and all 
these things shall be added to you"! Then said Simon: 
« Pardon me if I am unwilling to seek righteousness, before 
I know if the soul is immortal.” Then Peter: “ You also 
pardon me this one thing, because I cannot do otherwise than 
the Prophet of truth has instructed me.” Then said Simon: 

1 Matt. vi. 38. 


260 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book 111. 


* Tt is certain that you cannot assert that the soul is immortal, 
and therefore you cavil, knowing that if it be proved to be 
mortal, the whole profession of that religion which you are 
attempting to propagate will be plucked up by the roots. And 
therefore, indeed, I commend your prudence, while I do not 
approve your persuasiveness ; for you persuade many to em- 
brace your religion, and to submit to the restraint of pleasure, 
in hope of future good things; to whom it happens that they 
lose the enjoyment of things present, and are deceived with 
hopes of things future. For as soon as they die, their soul 
shall at the same time be extinguished." 


Cuap, xuu.—“ Full of all subtlety and all mischief.” 


But Peter, when he heard him speak thus, grinding his 
teeth, and rubbing his forehead with his hand, and sighing 
with profound grief, said: * Armed with the cunning of the 
old serpent, you stand forth to deceive souls; and therefore, 
as the serpent is more subtile than any other beast, you pro- 
fess that you are a teacher from the beginning. And again, 
like the serpent you wished to introduce many gods; but 
now, being confuted in that, you assert that there is no God 
at all. For by occasion of I know not what unknown God, 
you denied that the Creator of the world is God, but asserted 
that He is either an evil being, or that He has many equals, 
or, as we have said, that He is not God at all. And when 
you had been overcome in this position, you now assert that 
the soul is mortal, so that men may not live righteously and 
uprightly in hope of things to come. For if there be no 
hope for the future, why should not mercy be given up, and 
men indulge in luxury and pleasures, from which it is mani- 
fest that all unrighteousness springs? And while you intro- 
duce so impious a doctrine into the miserable life of men, 
you call yourself pious, and me impious, because, under the 
hope of future good things, I will not suffer men to take up 
arms and fight against one another, plunder and subvert 
everything, and attempt whatsoever lust may dictate. And 
what will be the condition of that life which you would in- 
troduce, that men will attack and be attacked, be enraged 


Book 11] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 261 


and disturbed, and live always in fear? For those who do 
evil to others must expect like evil to themselves. Do you 
see that you are a leader of disturbance and not of peace, of 
iniquity and not of equity ? But I feigned anger, not because 
I could not prove that the soul is immortal, but because I 
pity the souls which you are endeavouring to deceive. I shall 
speak, therefore, but not as compelled by you; for I know 
how I should speak ; and you will be the only one who wants 
not so much persuasion as admonition. on this subject. But 
those who are really ignorant of this, I shall instruct as is 
suitable." 


CnaP. xLir.—Simon's subterfuges. 


Then says Simon: “If you are angry, I shall neither ask 
you any questions, nor do I wish to hear you." Then Peter: 
* [f you are now seeking a pretext for escaping, you have 
full liberty, and need not use any special pretext. For all 
have heard you speaking all amiss, and have perceived that 
you can prove nothing, but that you only asked questions for 
the sake of contradiction; which any one can do. For what 
difficulty is there in replying, after the clearest proofs have 
been adduced, * You have said nothing to the purpose?’ But 
that you may know that I am able to prove to you in a single 
sentence that the soul is immortal, I shall ask you with respect 
to a point which all know; answer me, and I shall prove to you 
in one sentence that it is immortal.” Then Simon, who had 
thought that he had got, from the anger of Peter, a pretext 
for departing, stopped on account of the remarkable promise 
that was made to him, and said : * Ask me then, and I shall 
answer you what all know, that I may hear in a single sen- 
tence, as you have promised, how the soul is immortal." 


Cnar. XLiv.—Sight or hearing ἢ 


Then Peter: “TI shall speak so that it may be proved to 
you before all the rest. Answer me, therefore, which of the 
two can better persuade an incredulous man, seeing or hear- 
ing?” Then Simon said: “Seeing.” Then Peter: “ Why 
then do you wish to learn from me by words, what is proved 


202 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book 1r. 


to you by the thing itself and by sight?” Then Simon: “T 
know not what you mean.” Then Peter: “If you do not 
know, go now to your house, and entering the inner bed- 
chamber you will see an image placed, containing the figure 
of a murdered boy clothed in purple; ask him, and he will 
inform you either by hearing or seeing. For what need is 
there to hear from him if the soul is immortal, when you 
see it standing before you? For if it were not in being, it 
assuredly could not be seen. But if you know not what 
image I speak of, let us straightway go to your house, with 
ten other men, of those who are here present.” 


CHA». xtv.—A home-thrust. " 


But Simon hearing this, and being smitten by his conscience, 
changed colour and became bloodless; for he was afraid, if 
he denied it, that his house would be searched, or that Peter 
in his indignation would betray him more openly, and so all 
would learn what he was. Thus he answered: “I beseech 
thee, Peter, by that good God who is in thee, to overcome 
the wickedness that is in me. Receive me to repentance, and 
you shall have me as an assistant in your preaching. For 
now I have learned in very deed that you are a prophet of 
the true God, and therefore you alone know the secret and 
hidden things of men." Then said Peter: * You see, brethren, 
Simon seeking repentance; in a little while you shall see him 
returning again to his infidelity. For, thinking that I am a 
prophet, forasmuch as I have disclosed his wickedness, which he 
supposed to be secret and hidden, he has promised that he will 
repent. But itis not lawful for me to lie, nor must I deceive, 
whether this infidel be saved or not saved. For Icall heaven 
and earth to witness, that I spoke not by a prophetic spirit 
what I said, and what I intimated, as far as was possible, to 
the listening crowds; but I learned from some who once were 
his associates in his works, but have now been converted to our 
faith, what things he did in secret. "Therefore I spoke what 


I knew, not what I foreknew.” 


Booxm.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 208 


CHAP. XLVI.—Simon’s rage. 


But when Simon heard this, he assailed Peter with curses 
and reproaches, saying: * Oh most wicked and most deceitful 
of men, to whom fortune, not truth, hath given the victory. 
But I sought repentance not for defect of knowledge, but in 
order that you, thinking that by repentance I should become 
your disciple, might entrust to me all the secrets of your pro- 
fession, and so at length, knowing them all, I might confute 
you. But as you cunningly understood for what reason I 
had pretended penitence, and acquiesced as if you did not 
understand my stratagem, that you might first expose me in 
presence of the people as unskilful, then foreseeing that being 
thus exposed to the people, I must of necessity be indignant, 
and confess that I was not truly penitent, you anticipated me, 
that you might say that I should, after my penitence, again 
return to my infidelity, tliat you might seem to have con- 
quered on all sides, both if I continued in the penitence which 
I had professed, and if I did not continue; and so you should 
be believed to be wise, because you had foreseen these things, 
while I should seem to be deceived, because I did not foresee 
your trick. But you foreseeing mine, have used subtlety and 
circumvented me. But, as I said, your victory is the result 
of fortune, not of truth: yet I know why I did not foresee 
this; because I stood by you and spoke with you in my 
goodness, and bore patiently with you. But now I shall 
show you the power of my divinity, so that you shall quickly 
fall down and worship me. 


CHAP. XLVII.—Simon’s vaunt. 


“T am the first power, who am always, and without be- 
ginning. But having entered the womb of Rachel, I was 
born of her as a man, that I might be visible to men. I have 
flown through the air; I have been mixed with fire, and been 
made one body with it; I have made statues to move; I have 
animated lifeless things ; I have made stones bread ; I have 
flown from mountain to mountain ; I have moved from place 


to place, upheld by angels hands, and have lighted on the 


264 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book ur. 


earth. Not only have I done these things; but even now I 
am able to do them, that by facts I may prove to all, that I 
am the Son of God, enduring to eternity, and that I can 
make those who believe on me endure in like manner for 
ever. But your words are all vain; nor can you perform 
any real works [such as I have now mentioned], as he also 
who sent you is a magician, who yet could not deliver him- 
self from the suffering of the cross." 


CHAP. XLVIII.— Attempts to create a disturbance. 


To this speech of Simon, Peter answered: “ Do not meddle 
with the things that belong to others; for that you are a 
magician, you have confessed and made manifest by the very 
deeds that you have done; but our Master, who is the Son of 
God and of man, is manifestly good ; and that He is truly the 
Son of God has been told, and shall be told to those to 
whom it is fitting. But if you will not confess that you are 
a magician, let us go, with all this multitude, to your house, 
and then it will be evident who is a magician.” While Peter 
was speaking thus, Simon began to assail him with blasphemies 
and curses, that he might make a riot, and excite all so that 
he could not be refuted, and that Peter, withdrawing on 
account of his blasphemy, might seem to be overcome. But 
he stood fast, and began to charge him more vehemently. 


CHAP. XLIX.—Simon’s retreat. 


Then the people in indignation cast Simon from the court, 
and drove him forth from the gate of the house; and only one 
person followed him when he was driven out. Then silence 
being obtained, Peter began to address the people in this 
manner: “ You ought, brethren, to bear with wicked men 
patiently; knowing that although God could cut them off, 
yet He suffers them to remain even till the day appointed, in 
which judgment shall pass upon all. Why then should not 
we bear with those whom God suffers? Why should not we 
bear with fortitude the wrongs that they do to us, when He 
who is almighty does not take vengeance on them, that both 
His own goodness and the impiety of the wicked may be 


Book u.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT, 265 


known? But if the wicked one had not found Simon to be 
his minister, he would doubtless have found another: for it is 
of necessity that in this life offences come, * but woe to that 
man by whom they come ;”* and therefore Simon is rather to 
be mourned over, because he has become a choice vessel for the 
wicked one, which undoubtedly would not have happened had 
he not received power over him for his former sins. For why 
should I further say that he once believed in our Jesus, and 
was persuaded that souls are immortal ?? Although in this he 
is deluded by demons, yet he has persuaded himself that he 
has the soul of a murdered boy ministering to him in what- 
ever he pleases to employ it in; in which truly, as I have 
said, he is deluded by demons, and therefore I spoke to him 
according to his own ideas: for he has learned from the Jews, 
that judgment and vengeance are to be brought forth against 
those who set themselves against the true faith, and do not 
repent. But there are men to whom, as being perfect in 
crimes, the wicked one appears, that he may deceive them, so 
that they may never be turned to repentance. 


CnaAr. L.— Peter's benediction. 


“You therefore who are turned to the Lord by repentance, 
bend to Him your knees.” When he had said this, all the 
multitude bent their knees to God; and Peter, looking towards 
heaven, prayed for them with tears, that God, for His good- 
ness, would deign to receive those betaking themselves to 
Him. And after he had prayed, and had instructed them to 
meet early the next day, he dismissed the multitude. Then, 
according to custom, having taken food, we went to sleep. 


Crap. Lt.— Peter's accessibility. 


Peter, therefore, rising at the usual hour of the night, 
found us waking; and when, saluting us in his usual manner, 
he had taken his seat, first of all Niceta said: “If you will 
permit me, my lord Peter, I have something to ask of you." 
Then Peter said: “I permit not only yon, but all, and not 
only now, but always, that every one confess what moves him, 

1 Matt. xviii. 7. 3 Acts viii. 18. 


266 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. . [Booz nr. 


and the part in his mind that is pained, in order that he may 
obtain healing. For things which are covered with silence, 
and are not made known to us, are cured with difficulty, like 
maladies of long standing; and therefore, since the medicine 
of seasonable and necessary discourse cannot easily be applied 
to those who keep silence, every one ought to declare in what 
respect his mind is feeble through ignorance. But to him 
who keeps silence, it belongs to God alone to give a remedy. 
We indeed also can do it, but by the lapse of a long time. 
For it is necessary that the discourse of doctrine, proceeding 
in order from the beginning, and meeting each single question, 
should disclose all things, and resolve and reach to all things, 
even to that which every one requires in his mind; but that, 
as I have said, can only be done in the course of a long time. 
Now, then, ask what you please." 


Cnar. Li1.—False signs and miracles. 


Then Niceta said: “I give you abundant thanks, O most 
clement Peter; but this is what I desire to learn, how Simon, 
who is the enemy of God, is able to do such and so great 
things? For indeed he told no lie in his declaration of what 
he has done.” To this the blessed Peter thus answered: 
*« God, who is one and true, has resolved to prepare good and 
faithful friends for His first begotten; but knowing that none 
can be good, unless they have in their power that perception 
by which they may become good, that they may be of their 
own intent what they choose to be,—and otherwise they could 
not be truly good, if they were kept in goodness not by pur- 
pose, but by necessity,—has given to every one the power 
of his own will, that he may be what he wishes to be. And 
again, foreseeing that that power of will would make some 
choose good things and others evil, and so that the human 
race would necessarily be divided into two classes, He has 
permitted each class to choose both a place and a king, whom 
they would. For the good King rejoices in the good, and the 
wicked one in the evil. And although I have expounded those 
things more fully to you, O Clement, in that treatise in which 
I discoursed on predestination and the end, yet it is fitting 


Book gm] &ECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 


that I should now make clear to Niceta also, as he a: 
what is the reason that Simon, whose thoughts are | 
God, is able to do so great marvels. 


Cuap. Lrm.—.Self-love the foundation of goodnes: 


« First of all, then, he is evil, in the judgment of Gx 
will not inquire what is advantageous to himself. F 
can any one love another, if he does not love himself? 
whom will that man not be an enemy, who cannot be a 
to himself? In order, therefore, that there might be 
tinction between those who choose good and those who 
evil, God has concealed that which is profitable to m 
the possession of the kingdom of heaven, and has lai 
and hidden it as a secret treasure, so that no one can 
attain it by his own power or knowledge. Yet He hast 
the report of it, under various names and opinions, t 
successive generations, to the hearing of all: so that 
ever should be lovers of good, hearing it, might inqui 
discover what is profitable and salutary to them; b 
they should ask it, not from themselves, but from Hi 
has hidden it, and should pray that access and the 
knowledge might be given to them: which way is ope 
those only who love it above all the good things of this 
and on no other condition can any one even underst 
however wise he may seem; but that those who neg 
inquire what is profitable and salutary to themselves, 
haters and self-enemies, should be deprived of its good 
as lovers of evil things. 


Cuap. L1v.—God to be supremely loved. 


“Tt behoves, therefore, the good to love that [way 
all things, that is, above riches, glory, rest, parents, re 
friends, and everything in the world. But he who ps 
loves this possession of the kingdom of heaven, w 
doubtedly cast away all practice of evil habit, negl 
sloth, malice, anger, and such like. For if you prefer 
these to it, as loving the vices of your own lust moi 
God, you shall not attain to the possession of the hi 





268 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. . [Book nr. 


kingdom ; for truly it is foolish to love anything more than 
God. For whether they be parents, they die; or relatives, 
they do not continue; or friends, they change. But God 
alone is eternal, and abideth unchangeable. He, therefore, 
who will not seek after that which is profitable to himself, is 
evil, to such an extent that his wickedness exceeds the very 
prince of impiety. For he abuses the goodness of God to 
the purpose of his own wickedness, and pleases himself; but 
the other neglects the good things of his own salvation, that 
by his own destruction he may please the evil one. 


Cnr. Lv.— Ten commandments corresponding to the plaques 
of Egypt. 

* On account of those, therefore, who by neglect of their 
own salvation please the evil one, and those who by study of 
their own profit seek to please the good One, ten things have 
been prescribed as a test to this present age, according to the 
number of the ten plagues which were brought upon Egypt. 
For when Moses, according to the commandment of God, 
demanded of Pharaoh that he should let the people. go, and 
in token of his heavenly commission showed signs, his rod 
being thrown upon the ground was turned into a serpent.’ 
And when Pharaoh could not by these means be brought to 
consent, as having freedom of will, again the magicians 
seemed to do similar signs, by permission of God, that the 
purpose of the king might be proved from the freedom of his 
will, whether he would rather believe the signs wrought by 
Moses, who was sent by God, or those which the magicians 
rather seemed to work than actually wrought. For truly he 
ought to have understood from their very name that they 
were not workers of truth, because they were not called mes- 
sengers of God, but magicians, as the tradition also intimates. 
Moreover, they seemed to maintain the contest up to a cer- 
tain point, and afterwards they confessed of themselves, and 
yielded to their superior? Therefore the last plague is in- 
flicted,® the destruction of the first-born, and then Moses is 
commanded to consecrate the people by the sprinkling of 

1 Ex. vii. viii. 3 Ex. viii. 19. ὃ Ex. xii. 


Book nr] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 269 


blood ; and so, gifts being presented, with much entreaty he 
is asked to depart with the people. 


CHAP. Lv1.—Simon resisted Peter, as the magicians Moses. 


* In a similar transaction I see that I am even now engaged. 
For as then, when Moses exhorted the king to believe God, the 
magicians opposed him by a pretended exhibition of similar 
signs, and so kept back the unbelievers from salvation; so also 
now, when I have come forth to teach all nations to believe in 
the true God, Simon thé magician resists me, acting in oppo- 
sition to me, as they also did in opposition to Moses; in order 
that whosoever they be from among the nations that do not 
use sound judgment, they may be made manifest; but that 
those may be saved who rightly distinguish signs from signs." 
While Peter thus spoke, Niceta answered: “I beseech you 
that you would permit me to state whatever occurs to my 
mind." Then Peter, being delighted with the eagerness of 
his disciples, said: “Speak what you will.” 


 Cnar. Lvit.— Miracles of the magicians. 
Then said Niceta: “In what respect did the Egyptians 


sin in not believing Moses, since the magicians wrought like 
signs, even although they were done rather in appearance 
than in truth? For if I had been there then, should I not 
have thought, from the fact that the magicians did like 
things to those which Moses did, either that Moses was a 
magician, or that the magicians wrought their signs by divine 
commission? For I should not have thought it likely that 
the same things could be effected by magicians, even in ap- 
pearance, which he who was sent by God performed. And 
now, in what respect do they sin who believe Simon, since 
they see him do so great marvels? Or is it not marvellous 
to fly through the air, to be so mixed with fire as to become 
one body with it, to make statues walk, brazen dogs bark, 
and other such like things, which assuredly are sufficiently 
wonderful to those who know not how to distinguish? Yea, 
he has also been seen to make bread of stones. But if he 
sins who believes those who do signs, how shall it appear that 


270 . RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book ni. 


he also does not sin who has believed our Lord for His signs 


and works of power ?" 


CHAP. LvIII.— Truth veiled with love. 


"Then said Peter: “I take it well that you bring the truth 
to the rule, and do not suffer hindrances of faith to lurk in 
your soul. For thus you can easily obtain the remedy. Do 
you remember that I said, that the worst of all things is 
when any one neglects to learn what is for his good?” Niceta 
answered: “I remember.” Then Peter: “ And again, that 
God has veiled His truth, that He may disclose it to those 
who faithfully follow Him ? “ Neither,” said Niceta, “have 
I forgotten this.” Then said Peter: * What think you then? 
That God has buried His truth deep in the earth, and has 
heaped mountains upon it, that it may be found by those only 
who are able to dig down into the depths? It is not so; but 
as He has surrounded the mountains and the earth with the 
expanse of heaven, so hath He veiled the truth with the cur- 
tain of His own love, that he alone may be able to reach it, 
who has first knocked at the gate of divine love. 


Cur. LIX.— Good and evil in pairs. 


* For, as I was beginning to say, God has appointed for 
this world certain pairs; and he who comes first of the pairs 
is of evil, he who comes second, of good. And in this is 
given to every man an occasion of right judgment, whether 
he is simple or prudent. For if he is simple, and believes him 
who comes first, though moved thereto by signs and prodigies, 
he must of necessity, for the same reason, believe him who 
comes second; for he will be persuaded by signs and pro- 
digies, as he was before. When he believes this second one, 
he will learn from him that he ought not to believe the 
first, who comes of evil; and so the error of the former is 
corrected by the emendation of the latter. But if he will not 
receive the second, because he has believed the first, he will 
deservedly be condemned as unjust; for unjust it is, that 
when he believed the first on account of his signs, he will not 
believe the second, though he bring the same, or even greater 


Dook zr] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 271 


signs. αὶ if he has not believed the first, it follows that he 
may be moved to believe the second. For his mind has not 
become so completely inactive but that it may be roused by 
the redoubling of marvels. But if he is prudent, he can 
make distinction of the signs. And if indeed he has believed 
in the first, he will be moved to the second by the increase in 
the miracles, and by comparison he will apprehend which are 
better; although clear tests [of miracles] are recognised by all 
learned men, as we have shown in the regular order of our 
discussion. [But if any one, as being whole and not needing a 
physician, is not moved to the first, he will be drawn to the 
second by the very continuance of the thing, and will make a 
distinction of signs and marvels after this fashion ;—he who is 
of the evil one, the signs that he works do good to no one ; but 
those which the good man worketh are profitable to men. 


CHAP. LX.— Uselessness of pretended miracles. 


* For tell me, I pray you, what is the use of showing 
statues walking, dogs of brass or stone barking, mountains 
dancing, of flying through the air, and such like things, which 
you say that Simon did? But those [signs] which are of the 
good One, are directed to the advantage of men, as are those 
which were done by our Lord, who gave sight to the blind 
and hearing to the deaf, raised up the feeble and the lame, 
drove away sicknesses and demons, raised the dead, and did 
other like things, as you see also that Ido. Those signs, there- 
fore, which make for the benefit of men, and confer some 
good upon them, the wicked one cannot do, excepting only at 
the end of the world. For then it shall be permitted him 
to mix up with his signs some good ones, as the expelling 
of demons or the healing of diseases; by this means going 
beyond his bounds, and being divided against himself, and 
fighting against himself, he shall be destroyed. And there- 
fore the Lord has foretold, that in the last times there shall 
be such temptation, that, if it be possible, tho very clect shall 
be deceived ; that is to say, that by the marks of signs being 
confused, even those must be disturbed who seem to be expert 
in discovering spirits and distinguishing miracles. 


272 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. . [Book nr. 


CHAP. LXI.— Ten pairs. 


« The ten pairs of which we have spoken have therefore 
been assigned to this world from the beginning of time. 
Cain and Abel were one pair. The second was the giants 
and Noah; the third, Pharaoh and Abraham; the fourth, 
the Philistines and Isaac; the fifth, Esau and Jacob; the 
sixth, the magicians and Moses the lawgiver; the seventh, 
the tempter and the Son of man; the eighth, Simon and 
I, Peter; the ninth, all nations, and he who shall be sent to 
sow the word among the nations; the tenth, Antichrist and 
Christ. Concerning these pairs we shall give you fuller in- 
formation at another time.” When Peter spoke thus, Aquila 
said: “ Truly there is need of constant teaching, that one may 
learn what is true about everything.” 


Crap. Lxrr.—TÀe Christian life. 


But Peter said: * Who is he that is earnest toward instruc- 
tion, and that studiously inquires into every particular, except 
him who loves his own soul to salvation, and renounces all 
the affairs of this world, that he may have leisure to attend to 
the word of God only? Such is he whom alone the true Pro- 
phet deems wise, even he who sells all that he has and buys 
the one true pearl,’ who understands what is the difference 
between temporal things and eternal, small and great, men 
and God. For he understands what is the eternal hope in 
presence of the true and good God. But who is he that 
loves God, save him who knows His wisdom? And how can 
any one obtain knowledge of God’s wisdom, unless he be 
constant in hearing His word? Whence it comes, that he 
conceives a love for Him, and venerates Him with worthy 
honour, pouring out hymns and prayers to Him, and most 
pleasantly resting in these, accounteth it his greatest damage 
if at any time he speak or do aught else even for a moment of 
time; because, ἴῃ reality, the soul which is filled with the love 
of God can neither look upon anything except what pertains 
to God, nor, by reason of love of Him; can be satisfied with 

! Matt. xiii. 46. 


Book un.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 278 


meditating upon those things which it knows to be pleasing 
to Him. But those who have not conceived affection for Him, 
nor bear His love lighted up in their mind, are as it were 
placed in darkness and cannot see light; and therefore, even 
before they begin to learn anything of God, they immediately 
faint as though worn out by labour; and filled with weariness, 
they are straightway hurried by their own peculiar habits to 
those words with which they are pleased. For it is wearisome 
and annoying to such persons to hear anything about God; 
and that for the reason I have stated, because their mind 
has received no sweetness of divine love." 


CHAP. LXIII.—AÀ deserter from Simon’s camp. 


While Peter was thus speaking, the day dawned; and, 
behold, one of the disciples of Simon came, crying out: “I 
beseech thee, O Peter, receive me, a wretch, who have been 
deceived by Simon the magician, to whom I gave heed as 
to a heavenly God, by reason of those miracles which I saw 
him perform. But when I heard your discourses, I began 
to think him a man, and indeed a wicked man; nevertheless, 
when he went out from this I alone followed him, for I had 
not yet clearly perceived his impieties. But when he saw 
me following him, he called me blessed, and led me to his 
house; and about the middle of the night he said to me, *I 
shall make you better than all men, if you will remain with 
me even till the end. When I had promised him this, he 
demanded of me an oath of perseverance; and having got 
this, he placed upon my shoulders some of his polluted and 
accursed secret things, that I might carry them, and ordered 
me to follow him. But when we came to the sea, he went 
aboard a boat which happened to be there, and took from 
my neck what he had ordered me to carry. And as he came 
out a little after, bringing nothing with him, he must have 
thrown it into the sea. Then he asked me to go with him, 
saying that he was going to Rome, and that there he would 
please the people so much, that he should be reckoned a god, 
and publicly gifted with divine honours. ‘Then,’ said he, ‘if 
you wish to return hither, I shall send you back, loaded with 

8 


274 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. | [Book m. 


all riches, and upheld by various services.’ When I heard 
this, and saw nothing in him in accordance with this pro- 
fession, but perceived that he was a magician and a deceiver, 
I answered: ‘Pardon me, I pray you; for I have a pain in 
my feet, and therefore I am not able to leave Cesarea. 
Besides, I have a wife and little children, whom I cannot 
leave by any means. When he heard this, he charged me 
with sloth, and set out towards Dora, saying, *You will be 
sorry, when you hear what glory I shall get in the city of 
Rome. And after this he set out for Rome, as he said; but 
I hastily returned hither, entreating you to receive me to 
penitence, because I have been deceived by him." 


Caar. Lx1v.— Declaration of Simon's wickedness. 


When he who had returned from Simon had thus spoken, 
Peter ordered him to sit down in the court. And he himself 
going forth, and seeing immense crowds, far more than on 
the previous days, stood in his usual place; and pointing out 
him who had come, began to discourse as follows: “This 
man whom I point out to you, brethren, has just come to 
me, telling me of the wicked practices of Simon, and how he 
has thrown the implements of his wickedness into the sea, 
not induced to do so by repentance, but being afraid lest, 
being detected, he should be subjected to the public laws. 
And he asked this man, as he tells me, to remain with him, 
promising him immense gifts; and when he could not 
persuade him to do so, he left him, reproaching him for 
sluggishness, and set out for Rome.” When Peter had inti- 
mated this to the crowd, the man himself who had returned 
from Simon stood up, and began to state to the people every- 
thing relating to Simon's crimes. And when they were 
' shocked by the things which they heard that Simon had done 
by his magical acts, Peter said : 


ΟΠΑΡ. Lxv.— Peter resolves to follow Simon. 


* Be not, my brethren, distressed by those things that have 
been done, but give heed to the future: for what is passed 
is ended ; but the things which threaten are dangerous to 


Boo 11.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 275 


those who shall fall in with them. For offences shall never 
be wanting in this world,' so long as the enemy is permitted 
to act according to his will; in order that the prudent and 
those who understood his wiles may be conquerors in the 
contests which he raises against them; but that those who 
neglect to learn the things that pertain to the salvation of 
their souls, may be taken by him with merited deceptions. 
Since, therefore, as you have heard, Simon has gone forth to 
preoccupy the ears of the Gentiles who are called to salvation, 
it is necessary that I also follow upon his track, so that what- 
ever disputations he raises may be corrected by us. But 
inasmuch as it is right that greater anxiety should be felt 
concerning you who are already received within the walls of 
life,—for if that which has been actually acquired perish, a 
positive loss is sustained; while with respect to that which 
has not yet been acquired, if it can be got, there is so much 
gain; but if not, the only loss is that there is no gain; 
—in order, therefore, that you may be more and more con- 
firmed in the truth, and the nations who are called to sal- 
vation may in no way be prevented by the wickedness of 
Simon, I have thought good to ordain Zaccheus as pastor 
over you, and to remain with you myself for three months; 
and so to go to the Gentiles, lest through our delaying 
longer, and the crimes of Simon stalking in every direction, 
they should become incurable." - 


CHAP. LXvI.—Zaccheus made bishop of Caesarea; presbyters 
and deacons ordatned. 


At this announcement all the people wept, hearing that 
he was going to leave them; and Peter, sympathizing with 
them, himself also shed tears; and looking up to heaven, he 
said: “Τὸ Thee, O God, who hast made heaven and earth, 
and all things that are in them, we pour out the prayer of 
supplication, that Thou wouldest comfort those who have 
recourse to Thee in their tribulation. For by reason of the 
affection that they have towards Thee, they do love me who 

1 Matt. xviii. 7; Luke xvii. 1. 


276 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.  [Boox rrr. , 


have declared to them Thy truth. Wherefore guard them 
with the right hand of Thy compassion ; for neither Zaccheus 
nor any other man can be a sufficient guardian to them." 
When he had said this, and more to the same effect, he laid 
his hands upon Zaccheus, and prayed that he might blame- 
lessly discharge the duty of his bishopric. Then he ordained 
twelve presbyters and four deacons, and said: “I have 
ordained you this Zaccheus as a bishop, knowing that he 
has the fear of God, and is expert in the Scriptures. You 
ought therefore to honour him as holding the place of Christ, 
obeying him for your salvation, and knowing that whatever 
honour and whatever injury is done to him, redounds to 
Christ, and from Christ to God. Hear him therefore with 
all attention, and receive from him the doctrine of the faith ; 
and from the presbyters the monitions of life; and from the 
deacons the order of discipline. Have a religious care of 
widows; vigorously assist orphans; take pity on the poor; 
teach the young modesty ;—and in a word, sustain one another 
as circumstances shall demand ; worship God, who created 
heaven and earth; believe in Christ; love one another; be 
compassionate to all; and fulfil charity not only in word, but 
in act and deed." 


CHAP. Lxvi1.—Invitation to baptism. 


When he had given them these and such like precepts, 
he made proclamation to the people, saying: *Since I have 
resolved to stay three months with you, if any one desires 
it, let him be baptized ; that, stripped of his former evils, he 
may for the future, in consequence of his own conduct, become 
heir of heavenly blessings, as a reward for his good actions. 
Whosoever will, then, let him come to Zaccheus and give his 
name to him, and let him hear from him the mysteries of the 
kingdom of heaven. Let him attend to frequent fastings, 
and approve himself in all things, that at the end of these 
three months he may be baptized on the day of the festival. 
But every one of you shall be baptized in ever flowing waters, 
the name of the Trine Beatitude being invoked over him ; he 
being first anointed with oil sanctified by prayer, that so at 


Book u.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 277 


length, being consecrated by these things, he may attain a 
perception of holy things."! 


CuaP. LXvIII.— Twelve sent before him. 


And when he had spoken at length on the subject of bap- 
tism, he dismissed the crowd, and betook himself to his usual 
place of abode; and there, while the twelve stood around him 
(viz. Zaccheus and Sophonias, Joseph and Michzus, Eleazar 
and Phineas, Lazarus and Eliseus, I Clement and Nicode- 
mus, Niceta and Aquila), he addressed us to the following 
effect : * Let us, my brethren, consider what is right; for it 
is our duty to bring some help to the nations, which are 
called to salvation. You have yourselves heard ,that Simon 
has set out, wishing to anticipate our journey. Him we 
should have followed step by step, that wheresoever he tries to 
subvert any, we might immediately confute him. But since 
it appears to me to be unjust to forsake those who have been 
already converted to God, and to bestow our care upon those 
who are still afar off, I think it right that I should remain . 
three months with those in this city who have been turned 
to the faith, and should strengthen them; and yet that we 
should not neglect those who are still far off, lest haply, if 
they be long infected with the power of pernicious doctrine, 
it be more difficult to recoverthem. Therefore I wish (only, 
however, if you also think it right), that for Zaccheus, whom 
we have now ordained bishop, Benjamin the son of Saba be 
substituted ; and for Clement (whom I have resolved to have 
always by me, because, coming from the Gentiles, he has a 
great desire to. hear the word of God) there be substituted 
Ananias the son of Safra; and for Niceta and Aquila, who 
have been but lately converted to the faith of Christ, Rubelus 
the brother of Zaccheus, and Zacharias the builder. I wish, 
therefore, to complete the number of twelve by substituting 
these four for the other four, that Simon may feel that I in 
them am always with him.” 

1 This may be translated, ‘that ho may partake of holy things.” 
Cotelerius supposes the words “holy things" to mean the body and 
blood of Christ. 


218 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. . [Boox rm. 


CaP. LxiX.—Arrangements approved by all the brethren. 


Having therefore separated me, Clement, and Niceta and 
Aquila, he said to those twelve: “I wish you the day after 
to-morrow to proceed to the Gentiles, and to follow in the 
footsteps of Simon, that you may inform me of all his pro- 
ceedings. You will also inquire diligently the sentiments of 
every one, and announce to them that I shall come to them 
without delay ; and, in short, in all places instruct the Gentiles 
to expect my coming.” When he had spoken these things, 
and others to the same effect, he said: “You also, my 
brethren, if you have anything to say to these things, say 
on, lest haply it be not right which seems good to me alone.” 
Then all, with one voice applauding him, said: “ We ask you 
rather to arrange everything according to your own judgment, 
and to order what seems good to yourself ; for this we think to 
be the perfect work of piety, if we fulfil what you command." 


Cuar. Lxx.— Departure of the twelve. 


Therefore, on the day appointed, when they had ranged 
themselves before Peter, they said : * Do not think, O Peter, 
that it is a small grief to us that we are to be deprived of the 
privilege of hearing you for three months; but since it is 
good for us to do what you order, we shall most readily obey. 
We shall always retain in our hearts the remembrance of 
your face; and so we set out actively, as you have com- 
manded us.” Then he, having poured out a prayer to the 
Lord for them, dismissed them. And when those twelve 
who had been sent forward had gone, Peter entered, accord- 
ing to custom, and stood in the place of disputation. And a 
multitude of people had come together, even a larger number 
than usual; and all with tears gazed upon him, by reason of 
what they had heard from him the day before, that he was 
about to go forth on account of Simon. Then, seeing them 
weeping, he himself also was similarly affected, although he 
endeavoured to conceal and to restrain his tears. But the 
trembling of his voice, and the interruption of his discourse, 
betrayed that he was distressed by similar emotion. 


Book ut] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 279 


CHAP. LXx1.—Peter prepares the Cesareans for his departure. 


However, rubbing his forehead with his hand, he said: 
“ Be of good courage, my brethren, and comfort your sorrow- 
ful hearts by means of counsel, referring all things to God, 
whose will alone is to be fulfilled and to be preferred in all 
things. For let us suppose for a moment, that by reason of 
the affection that we have towards you, we should act against 
His will, and remain with you, is He not able, by sending 
death upon me, to appoint to me a longer separation from 
you? And therefore it is better for us to carry out this 
shorter separation with His will, as those to whom it is pre- 
scribed to obey God in all things. Hence you also ought to 
obey Him with like submission, inasmuch as you love me 
from no other reason than on account of your love of Him. 
As friends of God, therefore, acquiesce in His will; but also 
judge yourselves what is right. Would it not have seemed 
wicked, if, when Simon was deceiving you, I had been detained 
by the brethren in Jerusalem, and had not come to you, and 
that although you had Zaccheus among you, a good and 
eloquent man? So now also consider that it would be wicked, 
if, when Simon has gone forth to assail the Gentiles, who are 
wholly without a defender, I should be detained by you, and 
should not follow him. Wherefore let us see to it, that we 
do not, by an unreasonable affection, accomplish the will of 
the wicked one. 


Cap. Lxxu1.—JMore than ten thousand baptized. 


“Meantime I shall remain with you three months, as I 
promised. Be ye constant in hearing the word; and at the 
end of that time, if any are able and willing to follow us, 
they may do so, if duty will admit of it. And when I say if 
duty will admit, I mean that no one by his departure must 
sadden any one who ought not to be saddened, as by leaving 
parents who ought not to be left, or a faithful wife, or any 
other person to whom he is bound to afford comfort for God's 
sake.” Meantime, disputing and teaching day by day, he 
filled up the time appointed with the labour of teaching; 


280 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book nr. 


and when the festival day arrived, upwards of ten thousand 
were baptized. 


Cnar. Lxxim.— Tidings of Simon. 


But in those days a letter was received from the brethren 
who had gone before, in which were detailed the crimes of 
Simon, how going from city to city he was deceiving multi- 
tudes, and everywhere maligning Peter, so that, when he 
should come, no one might afford him a hearing. For he 
asserted that Peter was a magician, a godless man, injurious, 
cunning, ignorant, and professing impossible things. —* For," 
says he, “he asserts that the dead shall rise again, which is 
impossible. But if any one attempts to confute him, he is 
cut off by secret snares by him, through means of his attend- 
ants. Wherefore, I also," says he, “when I had vanquished 
him and triumphed over him, fled for fear of his snares, lest 
he should destroy me by incantations, or compass my death by 
plots." They intimated also that he mainly stayed at Tripolis. 


Cnar. LXxIv.—Farewell to Casarca. 


Peter therefore ordered the letter to be read to the people ; 
and after the reading of it, he addressed them and gave them 
full instructions about everything, but especially that they 
should obey Zaccheus, whom he had ordained bishop over 
them. Also he commended the presbyters and the deacons 
to the people, and not less the people to them. And then, 
announcing that he should spend the winter at Tripolis, he 
said: *I commend you to the grace of God, being about to 
depart to-morrow, with God's will But during the whole 
three months which he spent at Cesarea, for the sake of 
instruction, whatever he discoursed of in the presence of the 
people in the day-time, he explained more fully and perfectly 
in the night, in private to us, as more faithful and completely 
approved by him. And at the same time he commanded me, 
because he understood that I carefully stored in my memory 
what I heard, to commit to writing whatever seemed worthy 
of record, and to send it to you, my lord James, as also I did, 
in obedience to his command. 


Book nt] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 281 


CHAP. LXxv.— Contents of Clement's despatches to James. 

The first book,’ therefore, of those that I formerly sent to 
you, contains an account of the true Prophet, and of the pecu- 
liarity of the understanding of the law, according to what the 
tradition of Moses teacheth. The second contains an account 
of the beginning, and whether there be one beginning or many, 
and that the law of the Hebrews knows what immensity is. 
The third, concerning God, and those things that have been 
ordained by Him. The fourth, that though there are many 
that are called gods, there is but one true God, according to 
the testimonies of the Scriptures. The fifth, that there are - 
two heavens, one of which is that visible firmament which 
shall pass away, but the other is eternal and invisible. The 
sixth, concerning good and evil; and that all things are sub- 
jected to good by the Father ; and why, and how, and whence 
evil is, and that it co-operates with good, but not with a good 
purpose ; and what are the signs of good, and what those of 
evil ; and what is the difference between duality and conjunc- 
tion. The seventh, what are the things which the twelve 
apostles treated of in the presence of the people in the temple. 
The eighth, concerning the words of the Lord which seem to 
be contradictory, but are not; and what is the explanation of 
them. The ninth, that the law which has been given by God 
is righteous and perfect, and that it alone can make pure. The 
tenth, concerning the carnal birth of men, and concerning the 
generation which is by baptism; and what is the succession of 
carnal seed in man ; and what is the account of his soul, and 
how the freedom of the will is in it, which, seeing it is not 
unbegotten, but made, could not be immoveable from good. 
Concerning these several subjects, therefore, whatever Peter 
discoursed at Cesarea, according to his command, as I have 
said, I have sent you written in ten volumes. But on the next 
day, as had been determined, we set out from Caesarea with 
some faithful men, who had resolved to accompany Peter. 


1 Coteleriug remarks that these ten books previously sent to James 
(if they ever daistod) ought to be distinguished from the ten books of the 
Recognitions, which were addressed to the same James, but written after 
those now mentioned. 


" 





RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 


——9——— 


BOOK IV. 
Cnar. 1.—Halt at Dora. | 


"n RAVING set out from Cesarea on the way to 
| B Tripoli, we made our first stoppage at a small 
town called Dora, because it was not far distant ; 
and almost all those who had believed through 


the preaching of Peter could scarcely bear to be separated 


from him, but walked along with us, again and again gazing 
upon him, again and again embracing him, again and again 
conversing with him, until we came to the inn. On the 
follewing day we came to Ptolemais, where we stayed ten 
days; and when a considerable number had received the word 
of God, we signified to some of them who seemed particularly 
attentive, and wished to detain us longer for the sake of in- 
struction, that they might, if so disposed, follow us to Tripolis. 
We acted in the same way at Tyre, and Sidon, and Berytus, 
and announced to those who desired to hear further discourses, 
that we were to spend the winter at Tripolis. Therefore, as 
all those who were anxious followed Peter from each city, we 
were a great multitude of elect ones when we entered into 
Tripolis. On our arrival, the brethren who had been sent 
before met us before the gates of the city; and taking us 
under their charge, conducted us to the various. lodgings 
which they had prepared. Then there arose a commotion in 
the city, and a great assemblage of persons desirous to see 
Peter. 


CHAP. 11.— Reception in the house of Mab, 


And when we had come to the house of Maro, in which 
282 


Boox τιν. RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 283 


preparation had been made for Peter,.he turned to the crowd, 
and told them that he would address them the day after to- 
morrow. Therefore the brethren who had been sent before 
assigned lodgings to all who had come with us. Then, when 
Peter had entered into the house of Maro, and was asked to 
partake of food, he answered that he would by no means 
do so, until he had ascertained whether all those that had 
accompanied him were provided with lodgings. Then he 
learned from the brethren who had been sent before, that 
the citizens had received them not only hospitably, but with 
all kindness, by reason of their love towards Peter; so much 
so, that several were disappointed because there were no 
guests for them; for that all had made such preparations, 
that even if many more had come, there would still have 
been a deficiency of guests for the hosts, not of hosts for the 


guests. 


Cuap. 111.—Simon’s flight. 


Thereupon Peter was greatly delighted, and praised the 
brethren, and blessed them, and requested them to remain 
with him. Then, when he had bathed in the sea, and had 
taken food, he went to sleep in the evening; and rising, as 
usual, at cock-crow, while the evening light was still burning, 
he found us all awake. Now there were in all sixteen of us, 
yiz. Peter and I, Clement, Niceta and Aquila, and those 
twelve who had preceded us. Saluting us, then, as was his 
wont, Peter said: “Since we are not taken up with others 
to-day, let us be taken up with ourselves. I shall tell you 
what took place at Cesarea after your departure, and you 
shall tell us of the doings of Simon here.” And while the 
conversation was going on on these subjects, at daybreak 
some of the members of the family came in and told Peter 
that Simon, when he heard of Peter’s arrival, departed in the 
night, on the way to Syria. They also stated that the crowds 
thought that the day which he had said was to intervene was a 
very long time for their affection, and that they were standing 
in impatience before the gate, conversing among themselves 
about those things which they wished to hear, and that they 


- 


284 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book 1v. 


hoped that they should by all means see him before the time 
appointed ; and that as the day became lighter the multitudes 
were increasing, and that they were trusting confidently, 
whatever they might be presuming upon, that they should 
hear a discourse from him. “ Now then,” said they, “ instruct 
us to tell them what seems good to you; for it is absurd that 
so great a multitude should have come together, and should 
depart with sadness, through no answer being returned to 
them. For they will not consider that it is they that have 
not waited for the appointed day, but rather they will think 
that you are slighting them." 


Crap. 1v.— The harvest plenteous. 


Then Peter, filled with admiration, said: “You see, 
brethren, how every word of the Lord spoken prophetically 
is fulfilled. For I remember that He said, * The harvest indeed 
is plenteous, but the labourers are few; ask therefore the 
Lord of the harvest, that He would send out labourers into 
His harvest.’ Behold, therefore, the things which are foretold 
in a mystery are fulfilled. But whereas He said also, * Many 
shall come from the east and the west, from the north and 
the south, and shall recline in the bosom of Abraham, and 
Isaac, and Jacob;" this also is, as you see, in like manner 
fulfilled. Wherefore I entreat you, my fellow-servants and 
helpers, that you would learn diligently the order of preaching, 
and the ways of absolutions, that ye may be able to save the 
souls of men, which by the secret power of God acknowledge 
whom they ought to love, even before they are taught. For 
you see that these men, like good servants, long for him 
whom they expect to announce to them the coming of their 
Lord, that they may be able to fulfil His will when they have 
learned it. The desire, therefore, of hearing the word of 
God, and inquiring into His will, they have from God; and 
this is the beginning of the gift of God, which is given to 
the Gentiles, that by this they may be able to receive the 
doctrine of truth. 

1 Matt. ix. 97, 38. 3 Luke xiii, 29; Matt. viii. 11. 


Dook Iv. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 285 


CHAP. v.—JAMoses and Christ. 


* For so also it was given to the people of the Hebrews from 
the beginning, that they should love Moses, and believe his 
word; whence also it is written: ‘The people believed God, 
and Moses His servant’! ‘What, therefore, was of peculiar 
gift from God toward the nation of the Hebrews, we see now 
to be given also to those who are called from among the 
Gentiles to the faith. But the method of works is put into 
the power and will of every one, and this is their own; but 
to have an affection towards a teacher of truth, this is a gift 
of the heavenly Father. But salvation is in this, that you do 
His will of whom you have conceived a love and affection 
through the gift of God ; lest that saying of His be addressed 
to you which He spoke, * Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do 
not what I say?’? It is therefore the peculiar gift bestowed 
by God upon the Hebrews, that they believe Moses; and the 
peculiar gift bestowed upon the Gentiles is that they love 
Jesus. For this also the Master intimated, when He said, ‘I 
will confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, 
because Thou hast concealed these things from the wise and 
prudent, and hast revealed them to babes? By which it is 
certainly declared, that the people of the Hebrews, who were 
instructed out of the law, did not know Him; but the people 
of the Gentiles have acknowledged Jesus, and venerate Him ; 
on which account also'they shall be saved, not only acknow- 
ledging Him, but also doing His will. But he who is of the 
Gentiles, and who has it of God to believe Moses, ought also 
to have it of his own purpose to love Jesus also. And again, 
the Hebrew, who has it of God to believe Moses, ought to 
have it also of his own purpose to believe in Jesus; so that 
each of them, having in himself something of the divine gift, 
and something of his own exertion, may be perfect by both. 
For concerning such an one our Lord spoke, as of a rich man, 
‘Who brings forth from his treasures things new and old.'* 


! Ex. xiv. 31. 3 Luke vi. 46. 
5 Matt. xi. 25. 4 Matt. xiii. 52. 


286 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. |. [Book iv. 


Cuap. vi.—A congregation. 


‘But enough has been said of these things; for time presses, 
and the religious devotion of the people invites us to address 
them.” And when he had thus spoken, he asked where there 
was a suitable place for discussion. And Maro said: “TI have 
a very spacious hall! which can hold more than five hundred 
men, and there is also a garden within the house; or if it 
please you to be in some public place, all would prefer it, 
for there is nobody who does not desire at least to see your 
face.” Then Peter said: “Show me the hall, or the garden.” 
And when he had seen the hall, he went in to see the garden 
also; and suddenly the whole multitude, as if some one had 
called them, rushed into the house, and thence broke through 
into the garden, where Peter was already standing, selecting 
a fit place for discussion. 


CuHap. vi1.—The sick healed. 


But when he saw that the crowds had, like the waters of a 
great river, poured over the narrow passage, he mounted upon 
a pillar which happened to stand near the wall of the garden, 
and first saluted the people in a religious manner. But some 
of those who were present, and who had been for a long time 
distressed by demons, threw themselves on the ground, while 
the unclean spirits entreated that they might be allowed but for 
one day to remain in the bodies that they had taken possession 
of. But Peter rebuked them, and commanded them to de- 
part; and they went out without delay. After these, others 
who had been afflicted with long-standing sicknesses asked 
Peter that they might receive healing ; and he promised that 
he would entreat the Lord for them as soon as his discourse 
of instruction was completed. Dut as soon as he promised, they 
were freed from their sicknesses ; and he ordered them to sit 
down apart, with those who had been freed from the demons, as 
after the fatigue of labour. Meantime, while this was going 
on, a vast multitude assembled, attracted not only by the 
desire of hearing Peter, but also by the report of the cures 

1 des, in the singular, probably a temple. 


Bookiv.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 287 


which had been accomplished. But Peter, beckoning with 
his hand to the people to be still, and settling the crowds in 
tranquillity, began to address them as follows : 


CHAP. viII.— Providence vindicated. 


* [t seems to me necessary, at the outset of a discourse 
concerning the true worship of God, first of all to instruct 
those who have not as yet acquired any knowledge of the 
subject, that throughout the divine providence must be main- 
tained to be without blame, by which the world is ruled and 
governed. Moreover, the reason of the present undertaking, 
and the occasion offered by those whom the power of God has 
healed, suggest this subject for a beginning, viz. to show that 
for good reason very many persons are possessed of demons, 
that so the justice of God may appear. For ignorance will be 
found to be the mother of almost all evils. But now let us 
come to the reason. 


Cuap. 1x.—State of innocence a state of enjoyment. 


* When God had made man after His own image and 
likeness, He grafted into His work a certain breathing and 
odour of His divinity, that so men, being made partakers of 
His Only-begotten, might through Him be also friends of 
God and sons of adoption. Whience also He Himself, as 
the true Prophet, knowing with what actions the Father is 
pleased, instructed them in what way they might obtain that 
privilege. At that time, therefore, there was among men 
only one worship of God—a pure mind and an uncorrupted 
spirit. And for this reason every creature kept an inviolable 
covenant with the human race. For by reason of their 
reverence of the Creator, no sickness, or bodily disorder, or 
corruption of food, had power over them ; whence it came to 
pass, that a life of a thousand years did not fall into the frailty 
of old age. 


Caap. x.—Sin the cause of suffering. 


“But when men, leading a life void of distress, began to 
think that the continuance of good things was granted them 


288 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox rv. 


not by the divine bounty, but by the chance of things, and to 
accept as a debt of nature, not as a gift of God's goodness, 
their enjoyment without any exertion of the delights of the 
divine complaisance,—men, being led by these things into 
contrary and impious thoughts, came at last, at the instiga- 
tion of idleness, to think that the life of gods was theirs by 
nature, without any labours or merits on their part. Hence 
they go from.bad to worse, to believe that neither is the world 
governed by the providence of God, nor is there any place 
for virtues, since they knew that they themselves possessed 
the fulness of ease and delights, without the assignment of 
any works previously, and without any labours were treated 
as the friends of God. 


Caap. x1.—Sufering salutary. 


“ By the most righteous judgment of God, therefore, labours 
and afflictions are assigned as a remedy to men languishing 
in the vanity of such thoughts. And when labour and tribu- 
lations came upon them, they were excluded from the place 
of delights and amenity. Also the earth began to produce 
nothing to them without labour; and then men’s thoughts 
being turned in them, they were warned to seek the aid of 
their Creator, and by prayers and vows to ask for the divine 
protection. And thus it came to pass, that the worship of 
God, which they had neglected by reason of their prosperity, 
they recovered through their adversity ; and their thoughts 
towards God, which indulgence had perverted, affliction cor- 
rected. So therefore the divine providence, seeing that this 
was more profitable to man, removed from them the ways of 
benignity and abundance, as being hurtful, and introduced 
the way of vexation and tribulation. 


Crap. x11.— Translation of Enoch. 


“But that He might show that these things were done on 
account of the ungrateful, He translated to immortality a 
certain one of the first race of men, because He saw that he 
was not unmindful of His grace, and because he hoped to 


Book 1v.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 289 


call on the name of God ;! while the rest, who were so un- 
grateful that they could not be amended and corrected even 
by labours and tribulations, were condemned to a terrible 
death. Yet amongst them also He found a certain one, who 
was righteous with his house! whom He preserved, having 
enjoined him to build an ark, in which he and those who were 
commanded to go with him might escape, when all things 
should be destroyed by a deluge: in order that, the wicked 
being cut off by the overflow of waters, the world might 
receive a purification ; and he who had been preserved for 
the continuance of the race, being purified by water, might 
anew repair the world. 


Citap. xtII.— Origin of idolatry. | 


* But when all these things were done, men turned again 
to impiety ; and on this account a law was given by God to 
instruct them in the manner of living. But in process of 
time, the worship of God and righteousness were corrupted - 
by the unbelieving and the wicked, as we shall show more 
fully by and by. Moreover, perverse and erratic religions 
were introduced, to which the greater part of men gave them- 
selves up, by occasion of holidays and solemnities, instituting 
drinkings and banquets, following pipes, and flutes, and harps, — 
and diverse kinds of musical instruments, and indulging 
themselves in all kinds of drunkenness and luxury. Hence 
every kind of error took rise; hence they invented groves 
and altars, fillets and victims, and after drunkenness they 
were agitated as if with mad emotions. By this means power 
was given to the demons to enter into minds of this sort, 
so that they seemed to lead insane dances and to rave like 
Bacchanalians ; hence were invented the gnashing of teeth, 
and bellowing from the depth of their bowels; hence a 
terrible countenance and a fierce aspect in men, so that he 
whom drunkenness had subverted and a demon had instigated, 


1 There seems to be here a mixing up of the translation of Enoch with 
the statement that in the days of Enos men began to call on the name 
of the Lord ; Gen. iv. 26. 

3 Gen. vi. 9. 


T 


290 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. | [Boot rv. 


was believed by the deceived and the erring to be filled with 
the Deity. 


Cuap. x1v.—God both good and righteous. 


* Hence, since so many false and erratic religions have 
been introduced into the world, we have been sent, as good 
merchants, bringing unto you the worship of the true God, 
handed down from the fathers, and preserved ; as the seeds of 
which we scatter these words amongst you, and place it in 
your choice to choose what seems to you to beright. For 
if you receive those things which we bring you, you shall not 
only be able yourselves to escape the incursions of the demon, 
but also to drive them away from others; and at the same 
time you shall obtain the rewards of eternal good things. 
But those who shall refuse to receive those things which are 
spoken by us, shall be subject in the present life to diverse 
demons and disorders of sicknesses, and their souls after their 
departure from the body shall be tormented for ever. For 
God is not only good, but also just; for if He were always 
good, and never just to render to every one according to 
his deeds, goodness would be found to be injustice. For it 
were injustice if the impious and the pious were treated by 
Him alike. 


Cuap. xv.—How demons get power over men. 


- «'Therefore demons, as we have just said, when once they 
have been able, by means of opportunities afforded them, to 
convey themselves through base and evil actions into the bodies 
of men, if they remain in them a long time through their own 
negligence, because they do not seek after what is profitable 
to their souls, they necessarily compel them for the future 
to fulfil the desires of the demons who dwell in them. But 
what is worst of all, at the end of the world, when that demon 
shall be consigned to eternal fire, of necessity the soul also 
which obeyed him, shall with him be tortured in eternal fires, 
together with its body which it hath polluted. 


Book rv. | RECOGNITIONS OF CEEMENT. 291 


CnaAP. xvI.— Why they wish to possess men. 


* Now that the demons are desirous of occupying the bodies 
of men, this is the reason. They are spirits having their 
purpose turned to wickedness. "Therefore by immoderate 
eating and drinking, and lust, they urge men on to sin; but 
only those who entertain the purpose of sinning, who, while 
they seem simply desirous of satisfying the necessary cravings 
of nature, give opportunity to the demons to enter into them, 
because through excess they do not maintain moderation. 
For as long as the measure of nature is kept, and legitimate 
moderation is preserved, the mercy of God does not give them 
liberty to enter into men. But when either the mind falls 
into impiety, or the body is filled with immoderate meat or 
drink, then, as if invited by the will and purpose of those 
who thus neglect themselves, they receive power as against 
those who have broken the law imposed by God. 


CnaP. xvil.— The gospel gives power over demons. 


* You see, then, how important is the acknowledgment of 
God, and the observance of the divine religion, which not 
only protects those who believe from the assaults of the 
demon, but also gives them command over those who rule 
over others. And therefore it is necessary for you, who are 
of the Gentiles, to betake yourselves to God, and to keep 
yourselves from all uncleanness, that the demons may be ex- 
pelled, and God-may dwell in you. And at the same time, 
by prayers, commit yourselves to God, and call for His aid 
against the impudence of the demons ; for * whatever things 
ye ask, believing, ye shall receive! But even the demons 
themselves, in proportion as they see faith grow in a man, in 
that proportion they depart from him, residing only in that 
part in which something of infidelity still remains; but from 
those who believe with full faith, they depart without any 
delay. For when a soul has come to the faith of God, it 
obtains the virtue of heavenly water, by which it extinguishes 
the demon like a spark of fire. 

ἢ Matt. xxi. 22. 





292 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book rv. 


Crap. xvir.— This power in proportion to faith. 


‘There is therefore a measure of faith, which, if it be per- 
fect, drives the demon perfectly from the soul; but if it has 
any defect, something on the part of the demon still remains 
in the portion of infidelity; and it is the greatest difficulty 
for the soul to understand when or how, whether fully or 
less fully, the demon has been expelled from it. For if he 
remains in any quarter, when he gets an opportunity, he 
suggests thoughts to men’s hearts; and they, not knowing 
whence they come, believe the suggestions of the demons, 
as if they were the perceptions of their own souls. Thus 
they suggest to some to follow pleasure by occasion of bodily 
necessity ; they excuse the passionateness of others by excess 
of gall; they colour over the madness of others by the vehe- 
mence of melancholy ; and even extenuate the folly of some 
as the result of abundance of phlegm. But even if this were 
so, still none of these could be hurtful to the body, except 
from the excess of meats and drinks; because, when these 
are taken in excessive quantities, their abundance, which the 
natural warmth is not sufficient to digest, curdles into a sort 
of poison, and it, flowing through the bowels and all the veins 
like a common sewer, renders the motions of the body un- 
healthy and base. Wherefore moderation is to be attained in 
all things, that neither may place be given to demons, nor the 
soul, being possessed by them, be delivered along with them 
to be tormented in eternal fires. 


Crap. x1x.— Demons incite to idolatry. 


“There is also another error of the demons, which they sug- 
gest to the senses of men, that they should think that those 
things which they suffer, they suffer from such as are called 
gods, in order that thereby, offering sacrifices and gifts, as if 
to propitiate them, they may strengthen the worship of false 
religion, and avoid us who are interested in their salvation, 
that they may be freed from error ; but this they do, as I have 
said, not knowing that these things are suggested to them by 
demons, for fear they should be saved. It is therefore in the 


Boo 1v.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 293 


power of every one, since man has been made possessed of free- 
will, whether he shall hear us to life, or the demons to destruc- 
tion. Also to some, the demons, appearing visibly under various 
figures, sometimes throw out threats, sometimes promise re- 
lief from sufferings, that they may instil into those whom 
they deceive the opinion of their being gods, and that it may 
not be known that they are demons. But they are not con- 
cealed from us, who know the mysteries of the creation, and 
for what reason it is permitted to the demons to do those 
things in the present world ; how it is allowed them to trans- 
form themselves into what figures they please, and to suggest 
evil thoughts, and to convey themselves, by means of meats 
and of drink consecrated to them, into the minds or bodies of 
those who partake of it, and to concoct vain dreams to further 
the worship of some idol. 


Cuap. xx.—Folly of idolatry. 


* And yet who can be found so senseless as to be persuaded 
to worship an idol, whether it be made of gold or of any other 
metal? To whom is it not manifest that the metal is just that 
which the artificer pleased? How then can the divinity be 
thought to be-in that which would not be at all unless the 
artificer had pleased? Or how can they hope that future 
things should be declared to them by that in which there is 
no perception of present things? For although they should 
divine something, they should not straightway be held to be 
gods; for divination is one thing, divinity is another. For 
the Pythons also seem to divine, yet they are not gods; and, 
in short, they are driven out of men by Christians. And how 
can that be God which is put to flight by a man? But per- 
haps you will say, What as to their effecting cures, and their 
showing how one can be cured? On this principle, physicians 
ought also to be worshipped as gods, for they cure many; 
and in proportion as any one is more skilful, the more he 
will cure. 


CuHapP. xx1.— Heathen oracles. 


“Whence it is evident that they, since they are demoniac 





294 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book rv. 


spirits, know some things both more quickly and more per- 
fectly [than men]; for they are not retarded in their learning 
by the heaviness of a body. And therefore they, as being 
spirits, know without delay and without difficulty what phy- 
sicians attain after a long time and by much labour. It is 
not wonderful, therefore, if they know somewhat more than 
men do; but this is to be observed, that what they know 
they do not employ for the salvation of souls, but for the 
deception of them, that by means of it they may indoctrinate 
them in the worship of false religion. But God, that the 
error of so great deception might not be concealed, and that 
He Himself. might not seem to be a cause of error in per- 
mitting them so great licence to deceive men by divinations, 
and cures, and dreams, has of His mercy furnished men 
with. a remedy, and has made the distinction of falsehood 
and truth patent to those who desire to know. This, there- 
fore, is that distinction : what is spoken by the true God, 
whether by prophets or by diverse visions, is always true ; but 
what is foretold by demons is not always true. It is there- 
fore an evident sign that those things are not spoken by the 
true God, in which at any time there is falsehood ; for in 
truth there is never falsehood. But in the case of those who 
speak falsehoods, there may occasionally be a slight mixture 
of truth, to give as it were seasoning to the falsehoods. 


Crap. xxir.— Why they sometimes come true. 


“But if any one say, What is the use of this, that they 
should be permitted even sometimes to speak truth, and 
thereby so much error be introduced amongst men? let him 
take this for answer: If they had never been allowed to 
speak any truth, then they would not foretell anything at all ; 
while if they did not foretell, they would not be known to be 
demons. But if demons were not known to be in this world, 
the cause of our struggle and contest would be concealed from 
us, and we should suffer openly what was done in secret, that 
is, if the power were granted to them of only acting against 
us, and not of speaking. But now, since they sometimes 
speak truth, and sometimes falsehood, we ought to acknow- 


Bookiv.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 295 


ledge, as I have said, that their responses are of demons, and 
not of God, with whom there is never falsehood. 


Cuap. XXrIII.— Evil not in substance. 


“ But if any one, proceeding more curiously, inquire: What 
then was the use of God's making these evil things, which 
should have so great a tendency to subvert the minds of 
men? To one proposing such a question, we answer that 
we must first of all inquire whether there is any evil in sub- 
stance, And although it would be sufficient to say to him 
that it is not suitable that the creature judge the Creator, 
but that to judge the work of another belongs to him who is 
either of equal skill or equal power; yet, to come directly 
to the point, we say absolutely that there is no evil in sub- 
stance. But if this be so, then the Creator of substance is 
vainly blamed. 


Crap. xxiv.— Why God permits evil. 


* But you will meet me by saying, Even if it has come to 
this through freedom of will, was the Creator ignorant that 
those whom He created would fall away into evil! He ought 
therefore not to have created those who, He foresaw, would 
deviate from the path of righteousness. Now we tell those 
who ask such questions, that the purpose of assertions of the 
sort made by us is to show why the wickedness of those who as 
yet were not, did not prevail over the goodness of the Creator." 
For if, wishing to fill up the number and measure of His 
creation, He had been afraid of the wickedness of those who 
were to be, and like one who could find no other way of re- 
medy and cure, except only this, that He should refrain from 
His purpose of creating, lest the wickedness of those who were 
to be should be ascribed to Him; what else would this show 
but unworthy suffering and unseemly feebleness on the part of 


! There is considerable variety of reading in this sentence, and the precise 
meaning is somewhat obscure. The general sense, however, is sufficiently 
evident, that if God had refrained from creating those who, He foresaw, 
would fall into evil, this would have been to subject His goodness to 
their evil. 


296 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. . [Book rv. 


the Creator, who should so fear the actings of those who as 
yet were not, that He refrained from His purposed creation ? 


CHAP. xxv.—Evil beings turned to good account. 


“But, setting aside these things, let us consider this 
earnestly, that God the Creator of the universe, foreseeing 
the future differences of His creation, foresaw and provided 
diverse ranks and different offices to each of His creatures, 
according to the peculiar movements which were produced 
from freedom of will; so that while all men are of one sub- 
stance in respect of the method of creation, there should yet be 
diversity in ranks and offices, according to the peculiar move- 
ments of minds, to be produced from liberty of will. There- 
fore He foresaw that there would be faults in His creatures ; 
and the method of His justice demanded that punishment 
should follow faults, for the sake of amendment. It behoved, 
therefore, that there should be ministers of punishment, and 
yet that freedom of will should draw them into that order. 
Moreover, those also must have enemies to conquer, who had 
undertaken the contests for the heavenly rewards. Thus, 
therefore, neither are those things destitute of utility which 
are thought to be evil, since the conquered unwillingly acquire 
eternal rewards for those by whom they are conquered. But 
let this suffice on these points, for in process of time even 
more secret things shall be disclosed. 


Cap. xxvr.—AZvil angels seducers. 


* Now therefore, since you do not yet understand how great 
darkness of ignorance surrounds you, meantime I wish to 
explain to you whence the worship of idols began in this 
world. And by idols, I mean those lifeless images which you 
worship, whether made of wood, or earthenware, or stone, or 
brass, or any other metals: of these the beginning was in this 
wise. Certain angels, having left the course of their proper 
order, began to favour the vices of men, and in some measure 
to lend unworthy aid to their lust, in order that by these 
means they might indulge their own pleasures the more; 
and then, that they might not seem to be inclined of their 


Book 1v.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 297 


own accord to unworthy services, taught men that demons 
could, by certain arts—that is, by magical invocations—be 
made to obey men ; and so, as from a furnace and workshop 
of wickedness, they filled the whole world with the smoke 
of impiety, the light of piety being withdrawn. 


CnaPr. xxvir.— Ham the first magician. 


* For these and some other causes, a flood was brought upon 
the world, as we have said already, and shall say again; and 
all who were upon the earth were destroyed, except the family 
of Noah, who survived, with his three sons and their wives. 
One of these, by name Ham, unhappily discovered the 
magical act, and handed down the instruction of it to one of 
his sons, who was called Mesraim, from whom the race of 
the Egyptians and Babylonians and Persians are descended. 
Him the nations who then existed called Zoroaster, admiring 
him as the first author of the magic art; under whose name 
also many books on this subject exist. He therefore, being 
much and frequently intent upon the stars, and wishing to be 
esteemed a god among them, began to draw forth, as it were, 
certain sparks from the stars, and to show them to men, in 
order that the rude and ignorant might be astonished, as with 
a miracle; and desiring to increase this estimation of him, 
he attempted these things again and again, until he was set 
on fire, and consumed by the demon himself, whom he ac- 
costed with too great importunity. 


Cuap. xxvirr.—7'ower of Babel. 


* But the foolish men who were then, whereas they ought to 
have abandoned the opinion which they had conceived of him, 
inasmuch as they had seen it confuted by his mortal punish- 
ment, extolled him all the more. For raising a sepulchre to 
his honour, they went so far as to adore him as a friend of 
God, and one who had been removed to heaven in a chariot 
of lightning, and to worship him as if he were a living star. 
Hence also his name was called Zoroaster after his death—that 
is, living star—by those who, after one generation, had been 
taught to speak the Greek language. In fine, by this example, 


298 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. | [Boox tv. 


even now many worship those who have been struck with light- 
ning, honouring them with sepulchres, and worshipping them 
as friends of God. But this man was born in the fourteenth — 
generation, and died in the fifteenth, in which the tower was 
built, and the languages of men were divided into many. 


CHAP. XXIX.—Fire-worship of the Persians. 


“First among whom is named a certain king Nimrod, the 
magic art having been handed down to him as by a flash, 
whom the Greeks also called Ninus, and from whom the city 
of Nineveh took its name. Thus, therefore, diverse and 
erratic superstitions took their beginning from the magic 
art. For, because it was difficult to draw away the human 
race from the love of God, and attach them to deaf and 
lifeless images, the magicians made use of higher efforts, that 
men might be turned to erratic worship, by signs among the 
stars, and motions brought down as it were from heaven, and 
by the will of God. And those who had been first deceived, 
collecting the ashes of Zoroaster,—who, as we have said, was 
burnt up by the indignation of the demon, to whom he had 
been too troublesome,—brought them to the Persians, that 
they might be preserved by them with perpetual watching, as 
divine fire fallen from heaven, and might be worshipped as a 
heavenly God. 


Crap. xxx.—MHero-worship. 


« By a like example, other men in other places built temples, 
set up statues, instituted mysteries and ceremonies and sacri- 
fices, to those whom they had admired, either for some arts or 
for virtue, or at least had held in very great affection; and 
rejoiced, by means of all things belonging to gods, to hand 
down their fame to posterity; and that especially, because, 
as we have already said, they seemed to be supported by some 
phantasies of magic art, so that by invocation of demons 
something seemed to be done and moved by them towards the 
deception of men. To these they add also certain solemnities, 
and drunken banquets, in which men might with all freedom 
indulge; and demons, conveyed into them in the chariot of 


Boox iv.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 299 
V 

repletioa, might be mixed with their very bowels, and holding 
a place there, might bind the acts and thoughts of men to 
their own\will. Such errors, then, having been introduced 
from the beginning, and having been aided by lust and 
drunkenness, in which carnal men chiefly delight, the religion 
of God, which consisted in continence and sobriety, began to 
become rare amongst men, and to be well-nigh abolished. 


Cuar. XxXI.—Jdolatry led to all immorality. 


“For whereas at first, men worshipping a righteous and 
all-seeing God, neither dared sin nor do injury to their 
neighbours, being persuaded that God sees the actions 
and movements of every one; when religious worship was 
directed to lifeless images, concerning which they were 
certain that they were incapable of hearing, or sight, or 
motion, they began to sin licentiously, and to go forward to 
every crime, because they had no fear of suffering anything 
at the hands of those whom they worshipped as gods. 
Hence the madness of wars burst out; hence plunderings, 
rapines, captivities, and liberty reduced to slavery; each 
one, as he could, satisfied his lust and his covetousness, 
although no power can satisfy covetousness. For as fire, 
the more fuel it gets, is the more extensively kindled and 
strengthened, so also the madness of covetousness is made 
greater and more vehement by means of those things which 
it acquires. 


CHaP. xxxII.—Znvitation. 


* Wherefore begin now with better understanding to resist 
yourselves in those things which you do not rightly desire ; 
if so be that you can in any way repair and restore in your- 
selves that purity of religion and innocence of life which at 
first were bestowed upon man by God, that thereby also the 
hope of immortal blessings may be restored to you. And give 
thanks to the bountiful Father of all, by Him whom He has 
“constituted King of peace, and the treasury of unspeakable 
honours, that even at the present time your sins may be 
washed away with the water of the fountain, or river, or even 


j 
300 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. Dor Iv. 


sea; the threefold name of blessedness being called gver you, 
that by it not only evil spirits may be driven out, if ány dwell 
in you, but also that, when you have forsaken your sins, and 
have with entire faith and entire purity of mind ;believed in 
God, you may drive out wicked spirits and demons from 
others also, and may be able to set others free from suffer- 
ings and sicknesses. For the demons themselves know and 
acknowledge those who have given themselves up to God, 
and sometimes they are driven out by the mers presence of 
such, as you saw a little while ago, how, wher’ we had only 
addressed to you the word of salutation, straightway the 
demons, on account of their respect for our religion, began 
to cry out, and could not bear our presence even for a 
little. 


Coar. xxxut.— The weakest Christian more powerful than 
the strongest demon. 


“Is it, then, that we are of another and a superior nature, and 
that therefore the demons are afraid of us? Nay, we are of 
one and the same nature with you, but we differ in religion. 
But if you will also be [like us], we do not grudge it, but rather 
we exhort you, and wish you to be assured, that when the 
same faith and religion and innocence of life shall be in you 
that is in us, you will have equal and the same power and 
virtue against demons, through God rewarding your faith. 
Tor as he who has soldiers under him, although he may be 
inferior, and they superior to him in strength, yet ‘says to this 
one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh ; 
and to another, Do this, and he doeth it ;'' and this he is able 
to do, not by his own power, but by the fear of Casar; so 
every faithful one commands the demons, although they seem 
to be much stronger then men, and that not by means of his 
own power, but by means of the power of God, who has put 
them in subjection. For even that which we have just 
spoken of, that Cesar is held in awe by all soldiers, and in 
every camp, and in his whole kingdom, though he is but one 
man, and perhaps feeble in respect of bodily strength, this is 

! Matt. viii. 9. 


Book 1v.} | ZECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 801 


not effected but by the power of God, who inspires all with 
fear, that they may be subject to one. 


Cuap. Xxxx1v.— Temptation of Christ. 


« This we would have you know assuredly, that a demon has 
no power against a man, unless one voluntarily submit himself 
to his desires. Whence even that one who is the prince of 
wickedness, approached Him who, as we have said, is ap- 
pointed of God King of peace, tempting Him, and began to 
promise Him all the glory of the world; because he knew that 
when he had offered this to others, for the sake of deceiving 
them, they had worshipped him. Therefore, impious as he 
was, and unmindful of himself, which indeed is the special 
peculiarity of wickedness, he presumed that he should be 
worshipped by Him by whom he knew that he was to be 
destroyed. "Therefore our Lord, confirming the worship of 
one God, answered him: *It. is written, Thou shalt worship 
the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve! And 
he, terrified by this answer, and fearing lest the true religion 
of the one and true God should be restored, hastened straight- 
way to send forth into this world false prophets, and false 
apostles, and false teachers, who should speak indeed in the 
name of Christ, but should accomplish the will of the demon. 


Cuar. xxxv.— False apostles. 


« Wherefore observe the greatest caution, that you believe 
no teacher, unless he bring from Jerusalem the testimonial of 
James the Lord’s brother, or of whosoever may come after 
him. For no one, unless he has gone up thither, and there 
has been approved as a fit and faithful teacher for preaching 
the word of Christ,—unless, I say, he brings a testimonial 
thence, is by any means to be received. But let neither 
prophet nor apostle be looked for by you at this time, besides 
us. For there is one true Prophet, whose words we twelve 
apostles preach; for He is the accepted year of God, having 
us apostles as His twelve months. But for what reason the 
world itself was made, or what diversities have occurred in it, 

1 Matt. iv. 10. - 


902 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boot rv. 


and why our Lord, coming for its restoration, has chosen and 
sent us twelve apostles, shall be explained more at length at 
another time. Meantime He has commanded us to go forth 
to preach, and to invite you to the supper of the heavenly 
King, which the Father hath prepared for the marriage of 
His Son, and that we should give you wedding garments, 
that is, the grace of baptism ; which whosoever obtains, as a 
spotless robe with which he is to enter to the supper of the 
King, ought to beware that it be not in any part of it stained 
with sin, and so he be rejected as unworthy and reprobate. 


CHAP. XXXVI.— The garments unspotted. 


* But the ways in which this garment may be spotted are 
these: If any one withdraw from God the Father and Creator 
of all, receiving another teacher besides Christ, who alone is the 
faithful and true Prophet, and who has sent us twelve apostles 
to preach the word; if any one think otherwise than worthily 
of the substance of the Godhead, which excels all things ;— 
these are the things which even fatally pollute the garment 
of baptism. But the things which pollute it in actions are. 
these: murders, adulteries, hatreds, avarice, evil ambition. 
And the things which pollute at once the soul and the body 
are these: to partake of the table of demons, that is, to taste 
things sacrificed, or blood, or a carcase which is strangled, and 
if there be aught else which has been offered to demons. 
Be this therefore the first step to you of three; which step 
brings forth thirty commands, and the second sixty, and the 
third a hundred,’ as we shall expound more fully to you at 
another time.” 


CHAP. XxxviI.— The congregation dismissed. 


When he had thus spoken, and had charged them to come 
to the same place in good time on the following day, he dis- 
missed the crowds; and when they were unwilling to depart, 
Peter said to them: * Do me this favour on account of the 
fatigue of yesterday's journey; and now go away, and meet 
in good time to-morrow.” And so they departed with joy. 

! Matt. xxii. 2-14. ? Matt. xiii. 28. 


Book i.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 903 


But Peter, commanding me to withdraw a little for the 
purpose of prayer, afterwards ordered the couches to be 
spread in that part of the garden which was covered with 
shade; and every one, according to custom, recognising the 
place of his own rank, we took food. Then, as there was 
still some portion of the day left, he conversed with us con- 
cerning the Lord's miracles; and when evening was come, he 
entered his bed-chamber and went to sleep. 


! Clement being not yet baptized, is represented as not permitted to 
join with the disciples even in prayer. 


RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 


—P 


BOOK V. 


CaP. 1.—Peter’s salutation. 


EWOUT on the following day, Peter rising a little earlier 
| than usual, found us asleep; and when he saw it, 
| he gave orders that silence should be kept for 

7 him, as though he himself wished to sleep longer, 
that we might not be disturbed in our rest. But when we 
rose refreshed with sleep, we found him, having finished his 
prayer, waiting for us in his bed-chamber. And as it was 
already dawn, he addressed us shortly, saluting us according 
to his custom, and forthwith proceeded to the usual place for 
the purpose of teaching; and when he saw that many had 
assembled there, having invoked peace upon them according 
to the first religious form, he began to speak as follows: 





CnaP. 11.—Suffering the effect of sin. 


“God, the Creator of all, at the beginning made man 
after His own image, and gave him dominion over the earth 
and sea, and over the air; as the true Prophet has told us, 
and as the very reason of things instructs us: for man alone 
is rational, and it is fitting that reason should rule over the 
irrational. At first, therefore, while he was still righteous, 
he was superior to all disorders and all frailty ; but when he 
sinned, as we taught you yesterday, and became the servant 
of sin, he became at the same time liable to frailty. This 
therefore is written, that men may know that, as by impiety 
they have been made liable to suffer, so by piety they may 
be made free from suffering ; and not only free from suffering, 
but by even a little faith in God be able to cure the sufferings 

804 


Book v.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 805 


of others. For thus the true Prophet promised us, saying, 
* Verily I say to you, that if ye have faith as a grain of 
mustard seed, ye shall say to this mountain, Remove hence, 
and it shall remove. ! Of this saying you have yourselves 
also had proofs; for you saw yesterday how at our presence 
the demons removed and were put to flight, with those suf- 
ferings which they had brought upon men. 


CHAP; 111.—Faith and unbelief. 


« Whereas therefore some men suffer, and others cure those 
who suffer, it is necessary to know the cause at once of the suf- 
fering and the cure ; and this is proved to be nought else than 
unbelief on the part of the sufferers, and faith on the part of 
those who cure them. For unbelief, while it does not believe 
that there is to be a judgment by God, affords licence to sin, 
and sin makes men liable to sufferings; but faith, believing 
that there is to be a judgment of God, restrains men from 
sin; and those who do not sin are not only free from demons 
and sufferings, but can also put to flight the demons and suf- 
ferings of others. 


Cuap. 1v.—Ignorance the mother of evils. 


* From all these things, therefore, it is concluded that all 
evil springs from ignorance; and ignorance herself, the 
mother of all evils, is sprung from carelessness and sloth, and 
is nourished, and increased, and rooted in the senses of men 
by negligence; and if any one teach that she is to be put to 
flight, she is with difficulty and indignantly torn away, as 
from an ancient and hereditary abode. And therefore we 
must labour for a little, that we may search out the presump- 
tions of ignorance, and cut them off by means of knowledge, 
especially in those who are preoccupied with some erroneous 
opinions, by means of which ignorance is the more firmly 
rooted in them, as under the appearance of a certain kind of 
knowledge ; for nothing is worse than for one to believe that 
he knows what he is ignorant of, and to maintain that to be 
true which is false. This is as if a drunk man should think 

1 Matt. xvii. 19. 
U 


| 906 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book v. 


himself to be sober, and should act indeed in all respects as a 
drunk man, and yet think himself to be sober, and should 
wish to be called so by others. Thus, therefore, are those 
also who do not know what is true, yet hold some appearance 
of knowledge, and do many evil things as if they were good, 
and hasten to destruction as if it were to salvation. 


Cuap. v.—Advantages of knowledge. 


( Wherefore we must, above all things, hasten to the know- 
ledge of the truth, that, as with a light kindled thereat, we 
may be able to dispel the darkness of errors: for ignorance, 
as we have said, is a great evil; but because it has no sub- 
stance, it is easily dispelled by those who are inearnest. For 
ignorance is nothing else than not knowing what is good for 
us; once know this, and ignorance perishes. Therefore the 
knowledge of truth ought to be eagerly sought after; and no 
one can confer it except the true Prophet. For this is the 
gate of life to those who will enter, and the road of good works 
to those going to the city of salvation. 


Cuap. vi.—Free-will. 


« Whether any one, truly hearing the word of the true Pro- 
phet, is willing or unwilling to receive it, and to embrace His 
burden, that is, the precepts of life, he has either in his power, 
for we are free in will. For if it were so, that those who hear 
had it not in their power to do otherwise than they had heard, 
there were some power of nature in virtue of which it wero 
not free to him to pass over to another opinion. Or if, again, 
no one of the hearers could at all receive it, this also were a 
power of nature which should compel the doing of some one 
thing, and should leave no place for the other course. But 
now, since it is free for the mind to turn its judgment to 
which side it pleases, and to choose the way which it approves, 
it is clearly manifest that there is in men a liberty of choice. 


Cua. vit.— Responsibility of knowledge. 


“Therefore, before any one hears what is good for him, it 
is certain that he is ignorant; and being ignorant, he wishes 


Boo v.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 307 


and desires to do what is not good for him; wherefore he is 
not judged for that. But when once he has heard the causes 
of his error, and has received the method of truth, then, if he 
remain in those errors with which he had been long ago pre- 
occupied, he shall rightly be called into judgment, to suffer 
punishment, because he has spent in the sport of errors that 
portion of life which was given him to be spent in living well. 
But he who, hearing those things, willingly receives them, 
and is thankful that the teaching of good things has been 
brought to him, inquires more eagerly, and does not cease 
to learn, until he ascertains whether there be truly another 
world, in which rewards are prepared for the good. And 
when he is assured of this, he gives thanks to God because 
He has shown him the light of truth; and for the future 
directs his actions in all good works, for which he is assured 
that there is a reward prepared in the world to come; while 
he constantly wonders and is astonished at the errors of other 
men, and that no one sees the truth which is placed before 
his eyes. Yet he himself, rejoicing in the riches of wisdom 
which he hath found, desires insatiably to enjoy them, and is 
delighted with the practice of good works ; hastening to attain, 
with a clean heart and a pure conscience, the world to come, 


when he shall be able even to see God, the King of all. 
Crap. vi1.—Desires of the flesh to be subdued. 


* But the sole cause of our wanting and being deprived of 
all these things is ignorance. For while men do not know 
how much good there is in knowledge, they do not suffer the 
evil of ignorance to be removed from them ; for they know 
not how great a difference is involved in the change of one 
of these things for the other. Wherefore I counsel every 
learner willingly to lend his ear to the word of God, and to 
hear with love of the truth what we say, that his mind, receiv- 
ing the best seed, may bring forth joyful fruits by good deeds. 
For if, while I teach the things which pertain to salvation, 
any one refuses to receive them, and strives to resist them 
with a mind occupied by evil opinions, he shall have the cause 
of his perishing, not from us, but from himself. For it is his 


908 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox v. 


duty to examine with just judgment the things which we say, 
and to understand that we speak the words of truth, that, 
knowing how things are, and directing his life in good actions, 
he may be found a partaker of the kingdom of heaven, sub- 
jecting to himself the desires of the flesh, and becoming lord 
of them, that so at length he himself also may become the 
pleasant possession of the Ruler of all. 


* Char. 1x.—The two kingdoms. 


* For he who persists in evil, and is the servant of evil, 
cannot be made a portion of good so long as he persists in 
evil, because from the beginning, as we have said, God insti- 
tuted two kingdoms, and has given to each man the power of 
becoming a portion of that kingdom to which he shall yield 
himself to obey. And since it is decreed by God that no 
one man can be a servant of both kingdoms, therefore endea- 
vour with all earnestness to betake yourselves to the covenant 
and laws of the good King. Wherefore also the true Pro- 
phet, when He was present with us, and saw some rich men 
negligent with respect to the worship of God, thus unfolded 
the truth of this matter: * No one,’ said He, ‘can serve two 
masters ; ye cannot serve God and mammon ;'! calling riches, 
in the language of His country, mammon. 


Cuap. x.—Jesus the true Prophet. 


* He therefore is the true Prophet, who appeared to us, as 
you have heard, in Judza, who, standing in public places, 
by a simple command made the blind see, the deaf hear, cast 
out demons, restored health to the sick, and life to the dead ; 
and since nothing was impossible to Him, He even perceived 
the thoughts of men, which is possible for none but God 
only. He proclaimed the kingdom of God; and we believed 
Him as a true Prophet in all that He spoke, deriving the 
confirmation of our faith not only from His words, but also 
from His works; and also because the sayings of the law, 
which many generations before had set forth His coming, 
were fulfilled in Him; and the figures of the doings of 

1 Matt. vi. 24. 


Book v.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 809 


Moses, and of the patriarch Jacob before him, bore in all 
respects a type of Him. It is evident also that the time of 
His advent, that is, the very time at which He came, was 
foretold by them ; and, above all, it was contained in the sacred 
writings, that He was to be waited for by the Gentiles. And 
all these things were equally fulfilled in Him. 


Cuap. x1.—The expectation of the Gentiles. 


“ But that which a prophet of the Jews foretold, that He 
was to be waited for by the Gentiles,’ confirms above measure 
the faith of truth in Him. For if he had said that He was 
to be waited for by the Jews, he would not have seemed 
to prophesy anything extraordinary, that He whose coming 
had been promised for the salvation of the world should be 
the object of hope to the people of the same tribe with Him- 
self, and to His own nation: for that this would take place, 
would seem rather to be a matter of natural inference than one 
requiring the grandeur of a prophetic utterance. But now, 
whereas the prophets say that all that hope which is set forth 
concerning the salvation of the world, and the newness of the 
kingdom which is to be established by Christ, and all things 
which are declared concerning Him are to be transferred to 
the Gentiles ; the grandeur of the prophetic office is confirmed, 
not according to the sequence of things, but by an incredible 
fulfilment of the prophecy. For the Jews from the begin- 
ning had understood by a most certain tradition that this man 
should at some time come, by whom all things should be re- 
stored ; and daily meditating and looking out for His coming, 
when they saw Him amongst them, and accomplishing the 
signs and miracles, as had been written of Him, being blinded 
with envy, they could not recognise Him when present, in 
the hope of whom they rejoiced while He was absent; yet 
the few of us who were chosen by Him understood it. 


Cuap. xr1.— Call of the Gentiles. 


“ But this happened by the providence of God, that the 
knowledge of this good One should be handed over to the 
1 Gen. xlix. 10. 


) 


310 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox v. 


Gentiles, and those who had never heard of Him, nor had 
learned from the prophets, should acknowledge Him, while 
those who had acknowledged Him in their daily meditations 
should not know Him. For, behold, by you who are now 
present, and desire to hear the doctrine of His faith, and to 
know what, and how, and of what sort is His coming, the 
prophetic truth is fulfilled. For this is what the prophets 
foretold, that He is to be sought for by you, who never heard 
of Him.’ And, therefore, seeing that the prophetic sayings 
are fulfilled even in yourselves, you rightly believe in Him 
alone, you rightly wait for Him, you rightly inquire con- 
cerning Him, that you not only may wait for Him, but also 
believing, you may obtain the inheritance of His kingdom; 
according to what Himself said, that every one is made the 
servant of him to whom he yields subjection.' 


Caap. x111.—Jntitation of the Gentiles. 


“Wherefore awake, and take to yourselves our Lord and 
God, even that Lord who is Lord both of heaven and earth, 
and conform yourselves to His image and likeness, as the true 
Prophet Himself teaches, saying, ‘Be ye merciful, as also 
your heavenly Father is merciful, who makes His sun to rise 
upon the good and the evil, and rains upon the just and the 
unjust. * Imitate Him, therefore, and fear Him, as the com- 
mandment is given to men, ‘Thou shalt worship the Lord 
thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.’* For it is profitable 
to you to serve this Lord alone, that through Him knowing 
the one God, ye may be freed from the many whom ye 
vainly feared. For he who fears not God the Creator of all, 
but fears those whom he himself with his own hands hath 
made, what does he do but make himself subject to a vain 
and senseless fear, and render himself more vile and abject 
than those very things, the fear of which he has conceived 
in his mind? But rather, by the goodness of Him who 
‘inviteth you, return to your former nobleness, and by good 
deeds show that you bear the image of your Creator, that by 


1 188. lxv. 1. 3 John viii. 34. * Luke vi. 86; Matt. v. 45. 
* Deut. vi. 18; Matt. iv. 10. 


Book v.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 811 


contemplation of His likeness ye may be believed to be even 
Ilis sons. 


Cuap. x1v.—Idols unprofitable. 


“ Begin, therefore, to cast out of your minds the vain ideas 
of idols, and your useless and empty fears, that at the same time 
you may also escape the condition of unrighteous bondage. 
For those have become your lords, who could not even have 
been profitable servants to you. For how should lifeless images 
seem fit even to serve you, when they can neither hear, nor 
see, nor feel anything? Yea, even the material of which 
they are made, whether it be gold or silver, or even brass or 
wood, though it might have profited you for necessary uses, 
you have rendered wholly inefficient and useless by fashion- 
ing gods out of it. We therefore declare to you the true 
worship of God, and at the same time warn and exhort the 
worshippers, that by good deeds they imitate Him whom they 
worship, and hasten to return to His image and likeness, as 
we said before. 


ΟΗΔΡ. xv.—Folly of idolatry. 


* But I should like if those who worship idols would tell 
me if they wish to become like to those whom they worship? 
Does any one of you wish to see in such sort as they see? 
or to hear after the manner of their hearing? or to have 
such understanding as they have? Far be this from any of 
my hearers! For this were rather to be thought a curse and 
a reproach to a man, who bears in himself the image of God, 
although he has lost the likeness. What sort of gods, then, 
are they to be reckoned, the imitation of whom would be 
execrable to their worshippers, and to have whose likeness 
would be a reproach? What then? Melt your useless 
images, and make useful vessels. Melt the unserviceable 
and inactive metal, and make implements fit for the use of 
men. But, says one, human laws do not allow us. He says 
swell ; for it is human laws, and not their own power, that pre- 
vents it. What kind of gods, then, are those which are de- 
fended by human laws, and not by their own energies? And 


912 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. . [Boox v. 


so also they are preserved from thieves by watch-dogs and the 
protection of bolts, at least if they be of silver, or gold, or 
even of brass; for those that are of stone and earthenware 
are protected by their own worthlessness, for no one will steal 
a stone or a crockery god. Hence those seem to be the more 
miserable whose more precious metal exposes them to the 
greater danger. Since, then, they can be stolen, since they 
must be guarded by men, since they can be melted, and 
weighed out, and forged with hammers, ought men possessed 
of understanding to hold them as gods? 


CHAP. xv1.— God alone a fit object of worship. 


“Oh ! into what wretched plight the understanding of men 
has fallen! For if it is reckoned the greatest folly to fear 
the dead, what shall we judge of those who fear something 
that is worse than the dead are? For those images are not 
even to be reckoned among the number of the dead, because 
they never were alive. Even the sepulchres of the dead are 
preferable to them, since, although they are now dead, yet 
they once had life; but those whom you worship never pos- 
sessed even such base life as is in all, the life of frogs and 
owls. But why say more about them, since it is enough to 
say to him who adores them: Do you not see that he whom 
you adore sees not, hear that he whom you adore hears not, 
and understand that he understands not ?—for he is the work 
of man’s hand, and necessarily is void of understanding. 
You therefore worship a god without sense, whereas every 
one who has sense believes that not even those things are to 
be worshipped which have been made by God and have 
sense,’ such as the sun, moon, and stars, and all things that 
are in heaven and upon earth. For they think it reasonable, 
that not those things which have been made for the service 
of the world, but the Creator of those things themselves, and 
of the whole world, should be worshipped. For even these 
things rejoice when He is adored and worshipped, and do not 
take it well that the honour of the Creator should be bestowed 


1 It was a very prevalent opinion among the ancient philosophers, that 
the heavenly bodies have some kind of life and intelligence. 


Boox v.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 918 


on the creature. For the worship of God alone is acceptable 
[to them], who alone is uncreated, and all things also are His 
creatures. For as it belongs to him who alone is uncreated to 
be God, so everything that has been created is not truly God. 


Cuap. xvit.—Suggestions of the old serpent. 


* Above all, therefore, you ought to understand the decep- 
tion of the old serpent and his cunning suggestions, who de- 
ceives you as it were by prudence, and as by a sort of reason 
creeps through your senses; and beginning at the head, he 
glides through your inner marrow, accounting the deceiving 
of you a great gain. Therefore he insinuates into your 
minds opinions of gods of whatsoever kinds, only that he may 
withdraw you from the faith of one God, knowing that your 
sin is his comfort. For he, for his wickedness, was con- 
demned from the beginning to eat dust, for that he caused to 
be again resolved into dust him who had been taken from the 
dust, even till the time when your souls shall be restored, 
being brought through the fire; as we shall instruct you 
more fully at another time. From him, therefore, proceed 
all the errors and doubts, by which you are driven from the 
faith and belief of one God. 


CHAP. XVIII.—His first suggestion. 


* And first of all he suggests to men’s thoughts not to hear 
the words of truth, by which they might put to flight the 
ignorance of those things which are evils. And this he does, 
as by the presentation of another knowledge, making a show 
of that opinion which very many hold, to think that they shall 
not be held guilty if they have been in ignorance, and that 
they shall not be called to account for what they have not 
heard; and thereby he persuades them to turn aside from 
hearing the word. But I tell you, in opposition to this, that 
ignorance is in itself a most deadly poison, which is sufficient 
to ruin the soul without any aid from without. And therefore 
there is no one who is ignorant who shall escape through his 
ignorance, but it is certain that he shall perish. For the power 
of sin naturally destroys the sinner. But since the judgment 


314 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox v. 


shall be according to reason, the cause and origin of ignorance 
shall be inquired into, as well as of every sin. For he who is 
unwilling to know how he may attain to life, and prefers to be 
in ignorance lest he thereby be made guilty, from this very 
fact is judged as if he knew and had knowledge. For he knew 
what it was that he was unwilling to hear; and the cunning 
obtained by the artifice of the serpent will avail him nothing 
for an excuse, for he will have to do with Him to whom 
the heart is open. But that you may know that ignorance 
of itself brings destruction, [I assure you that] when the soul 
departs from the body, if it leave it in ignorance of Him by 
whom it was created, and from whom in this world it obtained 
all things that were necessary for its uses, it is driven forth 
from the light of His kingdom as ungrateful and unfaithful. 


Cuap. x1x.—JHis second suggestion. 


* Again, the wicked serpent suggests another opinion to 
men, which many of you are in the habit of bringing forward, 
—that there is, as we say, one God, who is Lord of all; but 
these also, they say, are gods. For as there is one Cesar, 
and he has under him many judges,—for example, prefects, 
consuls, tribunes, and other officers,—in like manner we think, 
that while there is one God greater than all, yet still that 
these gods are ordained in this world, after the likeness of 
those officers of whom we have spoken, subject indeed to that 
greater God, yet ruling us and the things that are in this 
world. In answer to this, I shall show you how, in those very 
things which you propose for deception, you are confuted by 
the reasons of truth. You say that God occupies the place 
of Casar, and those who are called gods represent his judges 
and officers. Hold then, as you have adduced it, by the 
example of Czesar ; and know that, as no one of Czsar's judges 
or administrators, as prefects, proconsuls, generals, or tribunes, 
may lawfully take the name of Czsar,—or else both he who 
should take it and those. who should confer it should be de- 
stroyed together,—so also in this case you ought to observe, that 
if any one give the name of God to any but Himself, and he 
accept it, they shall partake one and the same destruction, by 


Booz v.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 815 


a much more terrible fate than the servants of Cesar. For he 
who offends against Cesar shall undergo temporal destruction; 
but he who offends against Him who is the sole and true God, 
shall suffer eternal punishment, and that deservedly, as having 
injured by a wrongful condition the name which is unique." 


Cup. xx.—Egyptian idolatry. 


* Although this word Gop is not the name of God, but 
meantime that word is employed by men as His name; and 
therefore, as I have said, when it is used reproachfully, the re- 
proach is referred to the injury of the true name. In short, 
the ancient Egyptians, who thought that they had discovered 
the theory of the heavenly revolutions and the nature of the 
stars, nevertheless, through the demon’s blocking up their 
senses, subjected the incommunicable name to all kinds of 
indignity. For some taught that their ox, which is called 
Apis, ought to be worshipped ; others taught that the he-goat, 
others that cats, the ibis, a fish also, a serpent, onions, drains, 
crepitus ventris, ought to be regarded as deities, and innumer- 
able other things, which I am ashamed even to mention.” 


Cuap. xx1.— Egyptian idolatry more reasonable than others. 


When Peter was speaking thus, all we who heard him 
Jaughed. Then said Peter: “ You laugh at the absurdities 
of others, because through long custom you do not see your 
own. For indeed it is not without reason that you laugh at 
the folly of the Egyptians, who worship dumb animals, while 
they themselves are rational. But I will tell you how they 
also laugh at you; for they say, We worship living animals, 
though mortal ; but you worship and adore things which never 
were aliveatall. They add this also, that they are figures and 
allegories of certain powers by whose help the race of men 
is governed. "Taking refuge in this for shame, they fabricate 
these and similar excuses, and so endeavour to screen their 
error. But this is not the time to answer the Egyptians, and 

1 Tho writer means, that insult is offered to that name which belongs 
to God alone by giving it to others, and thus placing it in a position 
which is unjust to it. 


816 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox v. 


leaving the care of those who are present to heal the diseases 
of the absent. For it is a certain indication that you are 
held to be free from sickness of this sort, since you do not 
grieve over it as your own, but laugh at it as that of others. 


CRAP. xx11.—Second suggestion continued. 


* But let us come back to you, whose opinion it is that 
God should be regarded as Casar, and the gods as the 
ministers and deputies of Caesar. Follow me attentively, 
and I shall presently show you the lurking-places of the 
serpent, which lie in the crooked windings of this argument. 
It ought to be regarded by all as certain and beyond doubt, 
that no creature can be on a level with God, because He 
was made by none, but Himself made all things; nop indeed 
can any one be found so irrational, as to suppose that the 
thing made can be compared with the maker. If therefore 
the human mind, not only by reason, but even by a sort of 
natural instinct, rightly holds this opinion, that that is called 
God to which nothing can be compared or equalled, but 
which exceeds all and excels all; how can it be supposed 
that that name which is believed to be above all, is rightly 
given to those whom you think to be employed for the service 
and comfort of human life? But we shall add this also. 
This world was undoubtedly made, and is corruptible, as we 
shall show more fully by and by; meantime it is admitted 
both that it has been made and that it is corruptible. If 
therefore the world cannot be called God, and rightly so, 
because it is corruptible, how shall parts of the world take 
the name of God? For inasmuch as the whole world cannot 
be God, much more its parts cannot. Therefore, if we come 
back to the example of Caesar, you will see how far you aré 
in error. It is not lawful for any one, though a man of the 
same nature with him, to be compared with Cesar: do you 
think, then, that any one ought to be compared with God, 
who excels all in this respect, that He was made by none, 
but Ilimself made all things? But, indeed, you dare not 
give the name of Cesar to any other, because he immediately 
punishes one who offends against him; you dare give that of 


Boox v. | RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 317 


God to others, because He delays the punishment of offenders 
against Him, in order to their repentance. 


Crap. XXIII.— Third suggestion. 


“Through the mouths of others also that serpent is wont 
to speak in this wise: We adore visible images in honour of 
the invisible God. Now this is most certainly false. For 
if you really wished to worship the image of God, you would 
do good to man, and so worship the true image of God in 
him. For the image of God is in every man, though His 
likeness is not in all, but where the soul is benign and the 
mind pure. If, therefore, you wish truly to honour the 
image of God, we declare to you what is true, that you should 
do good to and pay honour and reverence to man, who is 
made in the image of God; that you minister food to the 
hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, hos- 
pitality to the stranger, and necessary things to the prisoner; 
and that is what will be regarded as truly bestowed upon 
God. And so far do these things go to the honour of God's 
image, that he who does not these things is regarded as cast- 
ing reproach upon the divine image. What, then, is that 
honour of God which consists in running from one stone or 
wooden figure to another, in venerating empty and lifeless 
figures as deities, and despising men in whom the image of 
God is of a truth? Yea, rather be assured, that whoever 
commits murder or adultery, or anything that causes suffer- 
ing or injury to men, in all these the image of God is violated. 
For to injure men is a great impiety towards God. When- 
ever, therefore, you do to another what you would not have 
another do to you, you defile the image of God with un- 
deserved distresses. Understand, therefore, that that is the 
suggestion of the serpent lurking within you, which persuades 
you that you may seem to be pious when you worship in- 
sensible things, and may not seem impious when you injure 
sensible and rational beings. 


Cuap. xx1v.—Fourth suggestion. 
* But to these things the serpent answers us with another 


318 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book v. 


mouth, and says: If God did not wish these things to be, then 
they should not be. Iam not telling you how it is that many 
contrary things are permitted to be in this world for the pro- 
bation of every one's mind. But this is what is suitable to 
be said in the meantime: If, according to you, everything 
that was to be worshipped ought not to have been, there 
would have been almost nothing in this world. For what is 
there that you have left without worshipping it? The sun, 
the moon, the stars, the water, the earth, mountains, trees, 
stones, men; there is no one of these that ye have not 
worshipped. According to your saying, therefore, none of 
these ought to have been made by God, that you might not 
have anything that you could worship! Yea, He ought not 
even to have made men themselves to be the worshippers! But 
this is the very thing which that serpent which lurks within 
you desires: for he spares none of you; he would have no 
one of you escape from destruction. But it shall not be so. 
For I tell you, that not that which is worshipped is in fault, 
but he who worships. For with God is righteous judgment ; 
and He judges in one way the sufferer, and in another way 
the doer, of wrong. 


CHap, xxv.— Fifth suggestion. 


“But you say: Then those who adore what ought not to 
be adored, should be immediately destroyed by God, to pre- 
vent others doing the like. But are you wiser than God, that 
you should offer Him counsel?! He knows what to do. For 
with all who are placed in ignorance He exercises patience, 
because He is merciful and gracious; and He foresees that 
many of the ungodly become godly, and that even some of 
those who worship impure statues and polluted images have 
been converted to God, and forsaking their sins and doing 
good works, attain to salvation. But it is said: We ought 
never to have come even to the thought of doing these things. 
You do not know what freedom of will is, and you forget 
that he is good who is so by his own intention; but he who 
is retained in goodness by necessity cannot be called good, 

1 Rom. xi. 34. 


Book v.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 919 


because it is not of himself that he is so. Because, therefore, 
there is in every one liberty to choose good or evil, he either 
acquires rewards, or brings destruction on himself. Nay, it 
is said, God brings to our minds whatsoever we think, What 
mean ye, O men? Ye blaspheme. For if He brings all our 
thoughts into our minds, then it is He that suggests to us 
thoughts of adultery, and covetousness, and blasphemy, and 
every kind of effeminacy. Cease, I entreat of you, these 
blasphemies, and understand what is the honour worthy of 
God. And say not, as some of you are wont to say, that 
God needs not honour from men. Indeed, He truly is in 
need of none ; but you ought to know that the honour which 
you bestow upon God is profitable to yourselves. For what 
is so execrable, as for a man not to render thanks to his 
Creator ? 


CHAP. xxvi.—Sizth suggestion. 


« But it is said: We do better, who give thanks both to 
Himself, and to all with Him. In this you do not understand 
that there is the ruin of your salvation. For it is as if a 
sick man should call in for his cure at once a physician and 
poisoners ; since these could indeed injure him, but not cure 
him ; and the true physician would refuse to mix his remedies 
with their poisons, lest either the man’s destruction should be 
ascribed to the good, or his recovery to the injurious. But you 
say: Is God then indignant or envious, if, when He benefits 
us, our thanks be rendered to others? Even if He be not 
indignant, at all events He does not wish to be the author of 
error, that by means of His work credit should be given to 
a vain idol. And what is so impious, so ungrateful, as to 
obtain a benefit from God, and to render thanks to blocks 
of wood and stone? Wherefore arise, and understand your 
salvation. For God isin need of no one, nor does He re- 
quire anything, nor is He hurt by anything; but we are 
either helped or hurt, in that we are grateful or ungrateful. 
For what does God gain from our praises, or what does He 
lose by our blasphemies? Only [this we must remember], 
that God brings into proximity and friendship with Himself 


920 . RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox v. 


the soul that renders thanks to Him. But the wicked demon 
possesses the ungrateful soul. 


CHAP. XXVII.— Creatures take vengeance on sinners. 


* But this also I would have you know, that upon such souls 
God does not take vengeance directly, but His whole creation 
rises up and inflicts punishments upon the impious; and 
although in the present world the goodness of God bestows 
the light of the world and the services of the earth alike upon 
the pious and the impious, yet not without grief does the sun 
afford his light, and the other elements perform their service, 
to the impious. And, in short, sometimes even in opposition 
to the goodness of the Creator, the elements are wearied out 
by the crimes of the wicked; and thence it is that either the 
fruit of the earth is blighted, or the composition of the air is 
vitiated, or the heat of the sun is increased beyond measure, 
or there is an excessive amount of rain or of cold. Thence 
pestilence, and famine, and death in various forms stalk forth, 
for the creature hastens to take vengeance on the wicked; yet 
the goodness of God restrains it, and bridles its indignation 
against the wicked, and compels it to be obedient to His mercy, 
rather than to be inflamed by the sins and the crimes of men. 
For the patience of God waiteth for the conversion of men, 
as long as they are in this body. 


CHAP. XXVIII.— Eternity of punishments. 


“But if any persist in impiety till the end of life, then as 
soon as the soul, which is immortal, departs, it shall pay the 
penalty of its persistence in impiety. For even the souls of 
the impious are immortal, though perhaps they themselves 
would wish them to end with their bodies. But it is not so; 
for they endure without end the torments of eternal fire, and 
to their destruction they have not the quality of mortality. 
But perhaps you will say to me, You terrify us, O Peter. 
And how shall we speak to you the things which are in reality ? 
Can we declare to you the truth by keeping silence? We 
cannot state the things which are, otherwise than as they are. 
But if we were silent, we should make ourselves the cause of 


Book v. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 921 


the ignorance that is ruinous to you, and should satisfy the 
serpent that lurks within you, and blocks up your senses, who 
cunningly suggests these things to you, that he may make 
you always the enemies of God. But we are sent for this 
end, that we may betray his disguises to you; and melting 
your enmities, may reconcile you to God, that you may be 
converted to Him, and may please Him by good works. For 
man is at enmity with God, and is in an unreasonable and 
impious state of mind and wicked disposition towards Him, 
especially when lie thiuks that he knows something, and is in 
ignorance. But when you lay aside these, and begin to be 
pleased and displeased with the same things which please and 
displease God, and to will what God willeth, then ye shall 
truly be called IIis friends. 


Cuap. XXIX.— God's care of human things. 


“But perhaps some of you will say, God has no care of 
human things ; and if we cannot even attain to the knowledge 
of Him, how shall we attain to His friendship? That God 
does concern Himself with the affairs of men, His government 
of the world bears witness: for the sun daily waits upon it, 
the showers minister to it ; the fountains, rivers, winds, and all 
elements, attend upon it; and the more these things become 
known to men, the more do they indicate God's care over © 
men. For unless by the power of the Most High, the more 
powerful would never minister to the inferior; and by this God 
is shown to have not only a care over men, but some great 
affection, since He has deputed such noble elements to their 
service. But that men may also attain to the friendship of 
God, is proved to us by the example of those to whose prayers 
He has been so favourable, that He has withheld the heaven 
from rain when they wished, and has again opened it when 
they prayed.! And many other things He has bestowed upon 
those who do His will, which could not be bestowed but upon 
His friends. But you will say, What harm is done to God 
if these things also are worshipped by us? If any one of you 
should pay to another the honour that is due to his father, 

11 Kings xvii. xviii; Jas. v. 17, 18. 
x 


322 BECOGSITIOSS OF CLEMENT. [Booz v. 


from whom he has received innumerable benefits, and should 
reverence a stranger and foreigner as his father, should vou 
not think that he was undutiful towards his father, and 
most deserving to be disinherited ? 


Crap. xxx.— Religion of fathers to be abandoned. 

“ Others say, It is wicked if we do not worship those [idols] 
which have come down to us from our fathers, and prove 
false to the religion bequeathed to us by our ancestors. On 
this principle, if any one’s father was a robber or a base 
fellow, he ought not to change the manner of life handed 
down to him by his fathers, nor to be recalled from his 
father’s errors to a better way; and it is reckoned impious 
if one do not sin with his parents, or does not persist in 
impiety with them. Others say, We ought not to be trouble- 
some to God, and to be always burdening Him with complaints 
of our miseries, or with the exigencies of our petitions. How 
foolish and witless an answer! Do you think it is trouble- 
some to God if you thank Him for His benefits, while you do 
not think it troublesome to Him if, for His gifts, you render 
thanks to stocks and stones? And how comes it, that when 
rain is withheld in a long drought, we all turn our eyes to 
heaven, and entreat the gift of rain from God Almighty, and 
all of us with our little ones pour out prayers to God, and 
entreat Ilis compassion? But truly ungrateful souls, when 
they obtain the blessing, quickly forget: for as soon as they 
have gathered in their harvest or their vintage, straightway 
they offer the first-fruits to deaf and dumb images, and pay 
vows in temples or groves for those things which God has 
bestowed upon them, and then offer sacrifices to demons ; and 
having received a favour, deny the bestower of the favour! 


Cira P. xxx1.--Paganism—its enormities. 


“ But some say, These things are instituted for the sake 
of joy, and for refreshing our minds; and they have been 
devised for this end, that the human mind may be relaxed 
for a little from cares and sorrows. See now what a charge 

1 Literally, ** change the bestower of it for another.” 


Doox v.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 323 


you yourselves bring upon the things which you practise. 
If these things have been invented for the purpose of light- 
ening sorrow and affording enjoyment, how is it that the 
invocations of demons are performed in groves and woods? 
What is the meaning of the insane whirlings, and the slashing 
of limbs, and the cutting off of members? How is it that 
mad rage is produced in them? How is insanity pro- 
duced? How is it that women are driven violently, raging 
with dishevelled hair? Whence the shrieking and gnashing 
of teeth? Whence the bellowing of the heart and the 
bowels, and all those things which, whether they are pre- 
tended or are contrived by the ministration of demons, are 
exhibited to the terror of the foolish and ignorant? Are 
these things done for the sake of lightening the mind, or 
rather for the sake of oppressing it? Do ye not yet perceive 
nor understand, that these are the counsels of the serpent 
lurking within you, which draws you away from the appre- 
hension of truth by irrational suggestions of errors, that he 
may hold you as slaves and servants of lust and concupiscence 
and every disgraceful thing? 


CHAP. XxxII.— True religion calls to sobriety and modesty. 


* But I protest to you with the clear voice of preaching, 
that, on the contrary, the religion of God calls you to sobriety 
and modesty; orders you to refrain from effeminacy and 
madness, and by patience and gentleness to prevent the 
inroads of anger; to be content with your own possessions, and 
with the virtue of frugality ; not even when driven by poverty 
to plunder the goods of others, but in all things to observe 
justice; to withdraw yourselves wholly from the idol sacrifices: 
for by these things you invite demons to you, and of your 
own accord give them the power of entering into you ; and so 
you admit that which is the cause either of madness or of 
unlawful love. 


Cap. XXXIIL.— Origin of impiety. 


“Hence is the origin of all impiety; hence murders, 
adulteries, thefts; and a nursery is formed of all evils and 


324 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book v. 


wickednesses, while you indulge in profane libations and 
odours, and give to wicked spirits an opportunity of ruling 
and obtaining some sort of authority over you. For when 
they invade your senses, what do they else than work the 
things which belong to lust and injustice and cruelty, and 
compel you to be obedient to all things that are pleasing to 
them? God, indeed, permits you to suffer this at their 
hands by a certain righteous judgment, that from the very 
disgrace of your doings and your feelings you may under- 
stand how unworthy it is to be subject to demons and not to 
God. Hence also, by the friendship of demons, men are 
brought to disgraceful and base deeds; hence, men proceed 
even to the destruction of life, either through the fire of lust, 
or through the madness of anger through excess of grief, so 
that, as is well! known, some have even laid violent hands 
upon themselves. And this, as we have said, by a just sen- 
tence of God they are not prevented from doing, that they 
may both understand to whom they have yielded themselves 
in subjection, and know whom they have forsaken. 


Crap. xxx1v.— Who are worshippers of God? 


* But some one will say, These passions sometimes befall 
even those who worship God. It is not true. For we say 
that he is a worshipper of God, who does the will of God, and 
observes the precepts of His law. For in God's'estimation he 
is not a Jew who is called a Jew among men (nor is he a 
Gentile that is called a Gentile), but he who, believing in 
God, fulfils His law and does His will, though he be not 
circumcised.? He is the true worshipper of God, who not 
only is himself free from passions, but also sets others free 
from them; though they be so heavy that they are -like 
mountains, he removes them by means of the faith with 
which he believes in God? Yea, by faith he truly removes 
mountains with their trees, if it be necessary. But he who 
seems to worship God, but is neither fortified by a full faith, 

1 The original has here, “ as is often known ;" that is, as people know 


from many instances having occurred within their own knowledge. 
? Rom. ii. 28; Rev. ii. 9. 3 Matt. xvii. 9; Luke xvii. 6. 


Book v.) RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 825 


nor by obedience to the commandments, but is a sinner, has 
given a place in himself, by reason of his sins, to passions, 
which are appointed of God for the punishment of those who 
sin, that they may exact from them the deserts of their sins 
by means of punishments inflicted, and may bring them 
purified to the general judgment of all, provided always that 
their faith do not fail them in their chastisement. For the 
chastisement of unbelievers in the present life is a judgment, 
by which they begin to be separated from future blessings ; 
but the chastisement of those who worship God, while it is 
inflicted upon them for sins into which they have fallen, 
exacts from them the due of what they have done, that, 
preventing the judgment, they may pay the debt of their sin 
in the present life, and be freed, at least in half, from the 
eternal punishments which are there prepared. 


Cnr. xxxv.— Judgment to come. 


* But he does not receive these things as true who does not 
believe that there is to be a judgment of God, and therefore, 
being bound by the pleasures of the present life, is shut out 
from eternal good things; and therefore we do not neglect 
to proclaim to you what we know to be necessary for your 
salvation, and to show you what is the true worship of God, 
that, believing in God, you may be able, by means of good 
works, to be heirs with us of the world to come. But if you 
are not yet convinced that what we say is true, meantime, in 
the first instance, you ought not to take it amiss and to be 
hostile to us because we announce to you the things which 
we consider to be good, and because we do not grudge to 
bestow also upon you that which we believe brings salvation 
to ourselves, labouring, as I have said, with all eagerness, that 
we may have you as fellow-heirs of the blessings which we 
believe are to befall ourselves. But whether those things 
which we declare to you are certainly true, you shall not be 
able to know otherwise than by rendering obedience to the 
things which are commanded, that you may be taught by the 
issue of things, and the most certain end of blessedness, 


326 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book v. 


CuaP. xxxvi.—Conclusion of discourse. 


* And, therefore, although the serpent lurking within you 
occupies your senses with a thousand arts of corruption, and 
throws in your way a thousand obstacles, by which he may 
turn you away from the hearing of saving instruction, all the 
more ought you to resist him, and despising his suggestions, 
to come together the more frequently to hear the word and 
receive instruction from us, because nobody can learn any- 
thing who is not taught." 

And when he had done speaking, he ordered those to be 
brought to him who were oppressed by sicknesses or demons, 
and laid his hands upon them with prayer; and so he dis- 
missed the crowds, charging them to resort to the hearing 
of the word during the days that he was to remain there. 
Therefore, when the crowds had departed, Peter washed his 
body in the waters which ran through the garden, with as 
many of the others as chose to do so; and then ordered the 
couches to be spread on the ground under a very shady tree, 
and directed us to recline according to the order established 
at Cesarea. And thus, having taken food and given thanks 
to God after the manner of the Hebrews, as there was yet 
some portion of the day remaining, he ordered us to question 
him on any matters that we pleased. And although we were 
with him twenty in all, he explained to every one whatever 
he pleased to ask of him; the particulars of which I set down 
in books and sent to you some time ago. And when evening 
came we entered with him into the lodging, and went to sleep, 
each one in his own place. 


RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 


——9—— 


BOOK VL 


Caap. 1.—Diligence in study. 


Ew UT as soon as day began to advance the dawn upon 
| the retiring darkness, Peter having gone into the 
garden to pray, and returning thence and coming 
to us, by way of excuse for awaking and coming 
to us a little later than usual, said this: * Now that the 
spring-time has lengthened the day, of course the night is 
shorter; if, therefore, one desires to occupy some portion of 
the night in study, he must not keep the same hours’ for 
waking at all seasons, but should spend the same length of 
time in sleeping, whether the night be longer or shorter, and 
be exceedingly careful that he do not cut off from the period 
which he is wont to have for study, and so add to his sleep 
and lessen his time of keeping awake. And this also is to be 
observed, lest haply if sleep be interrupted while the food is 
still undigested, the undigested mass load the mind, and by 
the exhalation of crude spirits render the inner sense con- 
fused and disturbed. It is right, therefore, that that part 
also be cherished with sufficient rest, so that, those things 
being sufficiently accomplished which are due to it, the body 
may be able in other things to render due service to the 
mind." 





Cnar. 11.— Much to be done in a little time. 


When he had said this, as very many had already assembled 


1 It will be remembered that the hours were variable periods, and 
began to be reckoned from sunrise. 


827 


328 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book v1. 


in the accustomed place of the garden to hear him, Peter 
went forth; and having saluted the crowds in his usual manner, 
began to speak as follows: * Since, indeed, as land neglected 
by the cultivator necessarily produces thorns and thistles, so 
your sense, by long neglect, has produced a plentiful crop of 
noxious opinions of things and dogmas of false science; there 
is need now of much care in cultivating the field of your 
mind, that the word of truth, which is the true and diligent 
husbandman of the heart, may cultivate it with continual 
instructions. It is therefore your part to render obedience 
to it, and to lop off superfluous occupations and anxieties, lest 
a noxious growth choke the good seed of the word. For it 
may be that a short and earnest diligence may repair a long 
time's neglect; for the time of every, one's life is uncertain, 
and therefore we must hasten to salvation, lest haply sudden 
death seize upon him who delays. 


CHAP. 111.— Righteous anger. 


“ And all the more eagerly must we strive on this account, 
that while there is time, the collected vices of evil custom may 
be cut off. And this you shall not be able to do otherwise, 
than by being angry with yourselves on account of your 
profitless and base doings. For this is righteous and neces- 
sary anger, by which every one is indignant with himself, and 
accuses himself for those things in which he has erred and 
done amiss; and by this indignation a certain fire is kindled 
in us, which, applied as it were to a barren field, consumes 
and burns up the roots of vile pleasure, and rerlders the soil 
of the heart more fertile for the good seed of the word of 
God. And I think that you have sufficiently worthy causes 
of anger, from which that most righteous fire may be kindled, 
if you consider into what errors the evil of ignorance has 
drawn you, and how it has caused you to fall and rush head- 
long into sin, from what good things it has withdrawn you, 
and into what evils it has driven you, and, what is of more 
importance than all the rest, how it has made you liable to 
eternal punishments in the world to come. Is not the fire of 
most righteous indignation kindled within you for all these 


Book vi.} RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 929 


things, now that the light of truth has shone upon ‘you; and. 
does not the flame of that anger which is pleasing to God 
rise within you, that every sprout may be burnt up and 
. destroyed from the root, if haply any shoot of evil concu- 
piscence has budded within you ? 


Cnr. 1v.—WNot peace, but a sword. 


* Hence, also, He who hath sent us, when He had come, 
and had seen that all the world had fallen into wickedness, 
did not forthwith give peace to him who is in error, lest He 
should confirm him in evil; but set the knowledge of truth in 
opposition to: the ruins of ignorance of it, that, if haply men 
would repent and look upon the light of truth, they might 
rightly grieve that they had been deceived and drawn away 
into the precipices of error, and might kindle the fire of 
salutary anger against the ignorance that had deceived them. 
On this account, therefore, He said, *I have come to send fire 
on the earth; and how I wish that it were kindled!'! There 
is therefore a certain fight, which is to be fought by us in 
this life; for the word of truth and knowledge necessarily 
separates men from error and ignorance, as we have often 
seen putrified and dead flesh in the body separated by the 
cutting knife from its connection with the living members. 
Such is the effect produced by knowledge of the truth. For 
it is necessary that, for the sake of salvation, the son, for 
example, who has received the word of truth, be separated 
from his unbelieving parents; or again, that the father be 
separated from his son, or the daughter from her mother. 
And in this manner the battle of knowledge and ignorance, of 
truth and error, arises between believing and unbelieving kins- 
men and relations. And therefore He who has sent us said 
again, ‘I am not come to send peace on earth, but a sword.”? 


Cuap. v.—1Tow the fight begins. 


« But if any one say, How does it seem right for men to 
be separated from their parents? I will tell you how.  Be- 
cause, if they remained with them in error, they would do no 

1 Luke xii. 49. 3 Matt. x. 34. 


330 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. _ [Boox vr. 


good to them, and they would themselves perish with them. 
It is therefore right, and very right, that he who will be saved 
be separated from him who will not. But observe this also, 
that this separation does not come from those who understand 
aright; for they wish to be with their relatives, and to do 
them good, and to teach them better things. But it is the vice 
peculiar to ignorance, that it will not bear to have near it the 
light of truth, which confutes it; and therefore that separa- 
tion originates with them. For those who receive the know- 
ledge of the truth, because it is full of goodness, desire, if it 
be possible, to share it with all, as given by the good God; 
yea, even with those who hate and persecute them: for they 
know that ignorance is the cause of their sin. Wherefore, 
in short, the Master Himself, when He was being led to the 
cross by those who knew Him not, prayed the Father for His 
murderers, and said, * Father, forgive their sin, for they know 
not what they dot’! The disciples also, in imitation of the 
Master, even when themselves were suffering, in like manner 
prayed for their murderers? But if we are taught to pray 
even for our murderers and persecutors, how ought we not to 
bear the persecutions of parents and relations, and to pray 
for their conversion ? 


! 


Cuap. vi.—God to be loved more than parents. 


* Then let us consider carefully, in the next place, what 
reason we have for loving our parents. For this cause, it is 
said, we love them, because they seem to be the authors of 
our life. But our parents are not authors of our life, but 
means of it. For they do not bestow life, but afford the 
means of our entering into this life; while the one and sole 
author of life is God. If therefore we would love the Author 
of our life, let us know that it is He that is to be loved. 
But then it is said, We cannot know Him; but them we 
know, and hold in affection. Be it so: you cannot know 
what God is, but you can very easily know what God is not. 
For how can any man fail to know that wood, or stone, or 
brass, or other such matter, is not God? But if you will not 

1 Luke xxiii. 54. ? Acts vii. 59. 


Book v] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 881 


give your mind to consider the things which you might easily 
apprehend, it is certain that you are hindered in the knowledge 
of God, not by impossibility, but by indolence; for if you had 
wished it, even from these useless images you might have 
been set on the way of understanding. 


Cuap. vit.—The earth made for men. 


* For it is certain that these images are made with iron 
tools; but iron is wrought by fire, which fire is extinguished 
by water. But water is moved by spirit; and spirit has its 
beginning from God. For thus saith the prophet Moses: 
‘In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. But 
the earth was invisible, and unarranged; and darkness was 
over the deep: and the Spirit of God was upon the waters"! 
Which Spirit, like the Creator's hand, by command of God 
separated light from darkness; and after that invisible heaven 
produced this visible one, that He might make the higher 
places a habitation for angels, and the lower for men. For 
your sake, therefore, by command of God, the water which 
was upon the face of the earth withdrew, that the earth 
might produce fruits for you; and into the earth also He 
inserted veins of moisture, that fountains and rivers might 
flow forth from it for you. For your sake it was commanded 
to bring forth living creatures, and all things which could 
serve for your use and pleasure. Is it not for you that the 
winds blow, that the earth, conceiving by them, may bring 
forth fruits? Is it not for you that the showers fall, and the 
seasons change? Is it not for you that the sun rises and 
sets, and the moon undergoes her changes? For you the 
sea offers its service, that all things may be subject to you, 
ungrateful as you are. For all these things shall there not 
be a righteous punishment of vengeance, because beyond all 
else you are ignorant of the bestower of all these things, 
whom you ought to acknowledge and reverence above all? 


Crap. viit.— Necessity of baptism. 


* But now I lead you to understanding by the same paths. 
| 1 Gen. i. 1, 2. 


332 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox v1. 


For you see that all things are produced from waters. But 
water was made at first by the Only-begotten; and the 
Almighty God is the head of the Only-begotten, by whom 
we come to the Father in such order as we have stated above. 
But when you have come to the Father, you will Jearn that 
this is His will, that you be born anew by means of waters, 
which were first created. For he who is regenerated by 
water, having filled up the measure of good works, is made 
heir of Him by whom he has been regenerated in incorrup- 
tion. Wherefore, with prepared minds, approach as sons to 
a father, that your sins may be washed away, and it may be 
proved before God that ignorance was their sole cause. For 
if, after the learning of these things, you remain in unbelief, 
the cause of your destruction will be imputed to yourselves, 
and not to ignorance. And do not suppose that you can 
have hope towards God, even if you cultivate all piety and all 
righteousness, but do not receive baptism. Yea rather, he 
will be worthy of greater punishment, who does good works 
not well; for merit accrues to men from good works, but only 
if they be done as God commands. Now God has ordered 
every one who worships Him to be sealed by baptism; but 
if you refuse, and obey your own will rather than God’s, you 
are doubtless contrary and hostile to His will. 


Crap. 1x.— Use of baptism. 
p 


“But you will perhaps say, What does the baptism of 
water contribute towards the worship of God? In the first 
place, because that which hath pleased God is fulfilled. In 
the second place, because, when you are regenerated and born 
again of water and of God, the frailty of your former birth, 
which you have through men, is cut off, and so at length you 
shall be able to attain salvation ; but otherwise it is impossible. 
For thus hath the true prophet testified to us with an oath: 
* Verily I say to you, That unless a man is born again of 
water, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." 
Therefore make haste ; for there is in these waters a certain 
power of mercy which was borne upon them at the beginning, 

! John iii. 5. 


L4 


Book v.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 902 


and acknowledges those who are baptized under the name 
of the threefold sacrament, and rescues them from future 
punishments, presenting as a gift to God the souls that are 
consecrated by baptism. Betake yourselves therefore to these 
waters, for they alone can quench the violence of the future 
fire; and he who delays to approach to them, it is evident 
that the idol of unbelief remains in him, and by it he is pre- 
vented from hastening to the waters which confer salvation. 
For whether you be righteous or unrighteous, baptism is 
necessary for you in every respect: for the righteous, that 
perfection may be accomplished in him, and he may be born 
again to God; for the unrighteous, that pardon may be vouch- 
safed him of the sins which he has committed in ignorance. 
Therefore all should hasten to be born again to God without 
delay, because the end of every one's life is uncertain. 


Crar. x.—JVecessity of good works. 


« But when you have been regenerated by water, show by 
good works the likeness in you of that Father who hath be- 
gotten you. Now you know God, honour Him as a father ; 
and His honour is, that you live according to His will. And 
His will is, that you so live as to know “nothing of murder 
or adultery, to flee from hatred and covetousness, to put away 
anger, pride, and boasting, to abhor envy, and to count all 
such things entirely unsuitable to you. "There is truly a cer- 
tain peculiar observance of our religion, which is not so much 
imposed upon men, as it is sought out by every worshipper of 
God by reason of its purity. By reason of chastity, I say, of 
which there are many kinds, but first, that every one be care- 
ful that he ‘come not near a menstruous woman ;’ for this 
the law of God regards as detestable. But though the law 
had given no admonition concerning these things, should we 
willingly, like beetles, roll ourselves in filth? For we ought 
to have something more than the animals, as reasonable men, 
and capable of heavenly senses, whose chief study it ought 
to be to guard the conscience from every defilement of the 
heart. 


834 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book v1. 


CHAP. XI.—/nward and outward cleansing. 


* Moreover, it is good, and tends to purity, also to wash the 
body with water. I call it good, not as if it were that prime 
good of the purifying of the mind, but because this of the 
washing of the body is the sequel of that good. For so also 
our Master rebuked some of the Pharisees and scribes, who 
seemed to be better than others, and separated from the 
people, calling them hypocrites, because they purified only 
those things which were seen of men, but left defiled and 
sordid their hearts, which God alone sees. To some there- 
fore of them—not to all—He said, ‘ Woe to you, scribes 
and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye cleanse the outside of 
the cup and platter, but the inside is full of pollution. O 
blind Pharisees, first make clean what is within, and what is 
without shall be clean also.* For truly, if the mind be puri- 
fied by the light of knowledge, when once it is clean and 
clear, then it necessarily takes care of that which is without 
a man, that is, his flesh, that it also may be purified. But 
when that which is without, the cleansing of the flesh, is 
neglected, it is certain that there is no care taken of the 
purity of the mind and the cleanness of the heart. Thus 
therefore it comes to pass, that he who is clean inwardly is 
without doubt cleansed outwardly also, but not always that 
he who is clean outwardly is also cleansed inwardly—to wit, 
when he does these things that he may please men. 


Crap. x11.—Jmportance of chastity. 


* But this kind of chastity is also to be observed, that sexual 
intercourse must not take place heedlessly and for the sake of 
mere pleasure, but for the sake of begetting children. And 
since this observance is found even amongst some of the lower 
animals, it were a shame if it be not observed by men, reason- 
able, and worshipping God. But there is this further reason 
why chastity should be observed by those who hold the true 
worship of God, in those forms of it of which we have spoken, 
and others of like sort, that it is observed strictly even amongst 

1 Matt. xxiii. 25, 26. 


Book vi.} RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 335 


those who are still held by the devil in error, for even amongst 
them there is in some degree the observance of chastity. 
What then? Will you not observe, now that you are re- 
formed, what you observed when you were in error? 


Caap. xir.— Superiority of Christian morality. 


* But perhaps some one of you will say, Must we then ob- 
serve all things which we did while we worshipped idols? Not 
all But whatever things were done well, these you ought 
to observe even now; because, if anything is rightly done by 
those who are in error, it is certain that that is derived from 
the truth; whereas, if anything is not rightly done in the 
true religion, that is, without doubt, borrowed from error. For 
good is good, though it be done by those who are in error; 
and evil is evil, though it be done by those who follow the 
truth. Or shall we be so foolish, thatif we see a worshipper 
of idols to be sober, we shall refuse to be sober, lest we should 
seem to do the same things which he does who worships idols? 
It is not so. But let this be our study, that if those who err 
do not commit murder, we should not even he angry ; if they 
do not commit adultery, we should not even covet another's 
wife; if they love their neighbours, we should love even our 
enemies ; if they lend tothose who liave the means of paying, 
we should give to those from whom we do not hope to receive 
anything. And in all things, we who hope for the inheritance 
of the eternal world ought to excel those who know only the 
present world ; knowing that if their works, when compared 
with our works, be found like and equal in the day of judg- 
ment, there will be confusion to us, because we are found 
equal in our works to those who are condemned on account 
of ignorance, and had no hope of the world to come. 


Cuap. x1v.— Knowledge enhances responsibility. 


* And truly confusion is our worthy portion, if we have 
done no more than those who are inferior to us in know- 
ledge. But if it be confusion to us to be found equal to 
them in works, what shall become of us if the examination 
that is to take place find us inferior and worse than them? 


896 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book vr. 


Hear, therefore, how our true Prophet has taught us con- 
cerning these things ; for, with respect to those who neglect 
to hear the words of wisdom, He speaks thus: ‘The queen 
of the south shall rise in judgment with this generation, and 
shall condemn it, because she came from the ends of the 
earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater 
than Solomon is here, and they hear Him not.’ But with 
respect to those who refused to repent of their evil deeds, 
He spoke thus: * The men of Nineve shall rise in the judg- 
ment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they 
repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater 
than Jonas is here? You see, therefore, how He condemned 
those who were instructed out of the law, by adducing the 
example of those who came from Gentile ignorance, and 
showing that the former were not even equal to those who 
seemed to live in error. From all these things, then, the 
statement that He propounded is proved, that chastity, which 
is observed to a certain extent even by those who live in 
error, should be held much more purely and strictly, in all 
its forms, as we showed above, by us who follow the truth ; 
and the rather because with us eternal rewards are assigned 
to its observance." 


Cuap. xv.—Dishops, presbyters, deacons, and widows 
ordained at Tripolis. 


When he had said these things, and others to the same 
effect, he dismissed the crowds ; and having, according to his 
custom, supped with his friends, he went to sleep. And 
while in this manner he was teaching the word of God for 
three whole months, and converting multitudes to the faith, 
at the Jast he ordered me to fast; and after the fast he con- 
ferred on me the baptism of ever-flowing water, in the foun- 
tains which adjoin the sea. And when, for the grace of re- 
generation divinely conferred upon me, we had joyfully kept 
holiday with our brethren, Peter ordered those who had been 
appointed to go before him, to proceed to Antioch, and there 
to wait three months more. And they having gone, he him- 

1 Matt. xii. 42; Luke xi. 31. 2 Matt. xii. 41; Luke xi. 82. 


Book v.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 337 


self led down to the ‘fountains, which, I have said, are near 
the sea, those who had fully received the faith of the Lord, 
and baptized them; and celebrating! the Eucharist with them, 
he appointed, as bishop over them, Maro, who had entertained 
him in his house, and who was now perfect in all things; 
and with him he ordained twelve presbyters and deacons at 
the same time. He also instituted the order of widows, and 
arranged all the services of the church; and charged them 
all to obey Maro their bishop in all things that he should 
command them. And thus ali things being suitably arranged, 
when the three months were fulfilled, we bade farewell to 
those who were at Tripolis, and set out for Antioch. 
1 Literally, ** breaking the Eucharist.” 


RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 


—DÓÓ——Ó— 


BOOK VII. 


CHAP. 1.—Journey from Tripolis. 


A ΠΤ length leaving Tripolis, a city of Phoenicia, we 
made our first halt at Ortosias, not far from 
Tripolis; and there we remained the next day 
also, because almost all those that had believed in 
the Lord, unable to part from Peter, followed him thus far. 
Thence we came to Antharadus. But because there were 
many in our company, Peter said to Niceta and Aquila: “ As 
there are immense crowds of brethren with us, and we bring 
upon ourselves no little envy as we enter into every city, it 
seems to me that we must take means, without doing so un- 
pleasing a thing as to prevent their following us, to secure 
that the wicked one shall not stir up envy against us on 
account of any display! I wish, therefore, that you, Niceta 
and Aquila, would go before us with them, so that you may 
lead the multitude divided into two sections, that we may 
enter every city of the Gentiles travelling apart, rather than 
in one assemblage. 






CHAP. 11.— Disciples divided into two bands. 


“ But I know that you think it sad to be separated from 
me for the space of at least two days. Believe me, that in 
whatever degree you love me, my affection towards you is 
tenfold greater. But if, by reason of our mutual affection, 
we will not do the things that are right and honourable, such 
love will appear to be unreasonable. And therefore, without 
bating a tittle of our love, let us attend to those things which 
seem useful and necessary ; especially since not a day can 


EHE 


Book vi.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 939 


pass in which you may net be present at my discussions. 
For I purpose to pass through the most noted cities of the 
provinces one by one, as you also know, and to reside three 
months in each for the sake of teaching. Now, therefore, 
co before me to Laodicea, which is the nearest city, and I 
shall follow you after two or three days, so far as I purpose. 
Dut you shall wait for me at the inn nearest to the gate of 
the city ; and thence again, when we have spent a few days 
there, you shall go before me to more distant cities. And 
this I wish you to do at every city, for the sake of avoiding 
envy as much as in us lies, and also that the brethren who 
are with us, finding lodgings prepared in the several cities by 
your foresight, may not seem to be vagabonds." 


Cuap. 111.— Order of march. 


When Peter thus spoke, they of course acquiesced, saying : 
* It does not greatly sadden us to do this, because we are 
ordered by you, who have been chosen by the foresight of 
Christ to do and to counsel well in all things ; but also because, 
while it is a heavy loss not to see our lord Peter for one, or it 
may be two days, yet it is not intolerable. And we think of 
our twelve brethren who go before us, and who are deprived 
of the advantage of hearing and seeing you for a whole month 
out of the three that you stay in every city. "Therefore we 
shall not delay doing as you order, because you order all 
things aright.” And thus saying, they went forward, having 
received instructions that they should speak to the brethren 
who journeyed with them outside the city, and request them 
not to enter the cities in a crowd and with tumult, but apart, 
and divided into two bands. 


Cnar. 1v.— Clement's joy at remaining with Peter. 


But when they were gone, I Clement rejoiced greatly 
because he had kept me with himself, and I said to him : *I 
give thanks to God that you have not sent me forward with 
the others, for I should have died through sadness.” Then 
said Peter: * And what will happen if necessity shall demand 
that you be sent anywhere for the purpose of teaching? 


840 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. . [Book vu. 


Would you die if you were separated from me for a good 
purpose? Would you not put a restraint upon yourself, to 
bear patiently what necessity has laid upon you? Or do you 
not know that friends are always together, and are joined 
in memory, though they be separated bodily; as, on the other 
hand, some persons are near to one another in body, but are 
separate in mind?” 


Cap. v.—Clement’s affection for Peter. 


Then I answered: “Think not, my lord, that I suffer 
these things unreasonably; but there is a certain cause and 
reason of this affection of mine towards you. For I have 
you alone as the object of all my affections, instead of father 
and mother, and brethren; but above all this, is the fact 
that you alone are the cause of my salvation and knowledge 
of the truth. And also this I do not count of least moment, 
that my youthful age is subject to the snares of lusts; 
and I am afraid to be without you, by whose sole presence 
all effeminacy, however irrational it be, is put to shame; 
although I trust, by the mercy of God, that even my mind, 
from what it has conceived through your instruction, shall 
be unable to receive aught else into its thoughts. Besides, 
I remember your saying at Caesarea, ‘If any one wishes 
to accompany me, without violating dutifulness, let him 
accompany me. And by this you meant that he should not 
make any one sad, to whom he ought according to God's 
appointment to cleave ; for example, that he should not leave 
a faithful wife, or parents, or the like. Now from these I 
am entirely free, and so I am fit for following you; and I 
wish you would grant me that I might perform to you the 
service of a servant." 


CnaP. vI.— Peter s simplicity of life. 


Then Peter, laughmg, said: * And do you not think, Cle- 
ment, that very necessity must make you my servant? For 
who else can spread my sheets, and arrange my beautiful 
coverlets? Who will be at hand to keep my rings, and pre- 
pare my robes, which I must be constantly changing ? Who 


ulii... 


Book vi.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 941 


shall superintend my cooks, and provide various and choice 
meats to be prepared by most recondite and various art ; and 
all those things which are procured at enormous expense, 
and are brought together for men of delicate up-bringing, 
yea rather, for their appetite, as for some enormous beast ? 
But perhaps, although you live with me, you do not know 
my manner oflife. I live on bread alone, with olives, and 
seldom even with pot-herbs; and my dress is what you see, 
a tunic with a pallium : and having these, I require nothing 
more. This is sufficient for me, because my mind does not 
regard things present, but things eternal, and therefore no 
present and visible thing delights me. Whence I embrace 
and admire indeed your good mind towards me; and I com- 
mend you the more, because, though you have been accus- 
tomed to so great abundance, you have been able so soon to 
abandon it, and to accommodate yourself to this life of ours, 
which makes use of necessary things alone. For we—that is, 
I and my brother Andrew—have grown up from our child- 
hood, not only orphans, but also extremely poor, and through 
necessity have become used to labour, whence now also we 
easily bear the fatigues of our journeyings. But rather, if 
you would consent and allow it, I, who am a working man, 
could more easily discharge the duty of a servant to you.” 


Cuap. vir.— Peter's humility. 


But I trembled when I heard this, and my tears immediately 
gushed forth, because so great a man, who is worth more 
than the whole world, had addressed such a proposal to me. 
Then he, when he saw me weeping, inquired the reason; 
and I answered him: “ How have I so sinned against you, 
that you should distress me with such a proposal?" Then 
Peter: “If it is evil that I said I should serve you, you were 
first in fault in saying the same thing to me." "Then said I: 
«'The cases are not alike: for it becomes me to do this to 
you ; but it is grievous that you, who are sent as the herald of 
the Most High God to save the souls of men, should say it to 
me.” Then said Peter: “I should agree with you, were it 
not that our Lord, who came for the salvation of the whole 


342 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.  ([Boox vir. 


world, and who was nobler than any creature, submitted to 
be a servant, that He might persuade us not to be ashamed 
to perform the ministry of servants to our brethren.” Then 
said I: * It were foolishness in me to suppose that I can pre- 
vail with you ; nevertheless I give thanks to the providence 
of God, because I have merited to have you instead of 
parents." 


Cnar. vir.— Clements family history. 


Then said Peter: “Is there then no one of your family 
surviving?” I answered: “There are indeed many powerful 
men, coming of the stock of Cesar; for Cesar himself gave 
a wife to my father, as being his relative, and educated along 
with him, and of a suitably noble family. By her my father 
had twin sons, born before me, not very like one another, as 
my father told me; for I never knew them. But indeed 
I have not a distinct recollection even of my mother; but 
I cherish the remembrance of her face, as if I had seen it 
in a dream. My mother's name was Matthidia, my father's 
Faustinianus; my brothers’, Faustinus and Faustus. Now, 
when I was barely five years old, my mother saw a vision— 
so I learned from my father—by which she was warned that, 
unless she speedily left the city with her twin sons, and was 
absent for ten years, she and her children should perish by 
a miserable fate. 


Cnar. 1x.— Disappearance of his mother and brothers. 


‘Then my father, who tenderly loved his sons, put them 
on board a ship with their mother, and sent them to Athens 
to be educated, with slaves and maid-servants, and a sufficient 
supply of money; retaining me only to be a comfort to him, 
and thankful for this, that the vision had not commanded me 
also to go with my mother. And at the end of a year my 
father sent men to Athens with money for them, desiring 
also to know how they did; but those who were sent never 
returned. Again, in the third year, my sorrowful father sent 
other men with money, who returned in the fourth year, and 
related that they had seen neither my mother nor my brothers, 


Le 


Book vi] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 343 


that they had never reached Athens, and that no trace had 
been found of any one of those who had been with them. 


Cuap. x.—Disappearance of his father. 


« My father hearing this, and confounded with excessive 
sorrow, not knowing whither to go or where to seek, went 
down with me.to the harbour, and began to ask of the 
sailors whether any of them had seen or heard of the bodies 
of a mother and two little children being cast ashore any- 
where, four years ago; when one told one story and another 
another, but nothing definite was disclosed to us searching in 
this boundless sea. Yet my father, by reason of the great 
affection which he bore to his wife and children, was fed 
with vain hopes, until he thought of placing me under guar- 
dians and leaving me at Rome, as I was now twelve years 
old, and himself going in quest of them. Therefore he went 
down to the harbour weeping, and going on board a ship, 
took his departure ; and from that time till now I have never 
received any letters from him, nor do I know whether he is 
alive or dead. But I rather suspect that he also has perished, 
either through a broken heart or by shipwreck; for twenty 
years have now elapsed since then, and no tidings of him 
have ever reached me.” 


Cnar. xi.— Different effects of suffering on heathens and 
Christians. 


᾿ Peter, hearing this, shed tears of sympathy, and said to his 
friends who were present: “If any one who is a worshipper 
of God had endured what this man's father has endured, 
immediately men would assign his religion as the cause of 
his calamities; but when these things happen to miserable 
Gentiles, they charge their misfortunes upon fate. I call 
them miserable, because they are both vexed with errors here, 
and are deprived of future hope; whereas, when the wor- 
shippers of God suffer these things, their patient endurance 
of them contributes to their cleansing from sin." 


944 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. ([Boox vr. 


CHAP. χιι.--- Ezcursion to Aradus. 


After this, one of those present began to ask Peter, that 
early next day we should go to a neighbouring island called 
Aradus, which was not more than six furlongs off, to see 
a certain wonderful work that was in it, viz. vine-wood! 
columns of immense size. To this Peter assented, as he was 
very complaisant; but he charged us that, when we left the 
ship, we should not rush all together to see it: “for,” said 
he, “I do not wish you to be noticed by the crowd." When 
therefore, next day, we reached the island by ship in the 
course of an hour, forthwith we hastened to the place where 
the wonderful columns were. They were placed in a cer- 
tain temple, in which there were very magnificent works of 
Phidias, on which every one of us gazed earnestly. 


CHAP. x11.—The beggar woman. 


But when Peter had admired only the columns, being no 
wise ravished with the grace of the painting, he went out, and 
saw before the gates a poor woman asking alms of those who 
went in; and looking earnestly at her, he said: * Tell me, O 
woman, what member of your body is wanting, that you 
subject yourself to the indignity of asking alms, and do not 
rather gain your bread by labouring with your hands which 
God has given you.” But she, sighing, said: “ Would that I 
had hands which could be moved; but now only the appear- 
ance of hands has been preserved, for they are lifeless, and 
have been rendered feeble and without feeling by my gnawing 
of them.” Then Peter said: “ What has been the cause of 
your inflicting so great an injury upon yourself 1" * Want 
of courage," said she, “and naught else; for if I had had 
any bravery in me, I could either have thrown myself from 
a precipice, or cast myself into the depths of the sea, and so 
ended my griefs." 


Crap. x1v.— The woman's grief. 


Then Peter said: “Do you think, O woman, that those 
1 Various reading, ‘‘ glass.” 


Dm, 


Book vi.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 845 


who destroy themselves are set free from torments, and not 
rather that the souls of those who lay violent hands upon 
themselves are subjected to greater punishments?” Then 
said she: “I wish I were sure that souls live in the infernal 
regions, for I would gladly embrace the suffering of the 
penalty of suicide, only that I might see my darling children, 
if it were but for an hour. Then Peter: * What thing is 
it so great, that affects you with so heavy sadness? I should 
like to know. For if you informed me of the cause, I might 
be able both to show you clearly, O woman, that souls do 
live in the infernal regions; and instead of the precipice or 
the deep sea, I might give you some remedy, that you may 
be able to end your life without torment." 


Crap. Xv.— The woman's story. 


Then the woman, hearing this welcome promise, began to 
say: “It is neither easy of belief, nor do I think it necessary 
to tell, what is my extraction, or what is my country. It is 
enough only to explain the cause of my grief, why I have 
rendered my hands powerless by gnawing them. Being born 
of noble parents, and having become the wife of a suitably 
powerful man, I had two twin sons, and after them one other. 
But my husband’s brother was vehemently enflamed with 
unlawful love towards me; and as I valued chastity above all 
things, and would neither consent to so great wickedness, nor 
wished to disclose to my husband the baseness of his brother, 
I considered whether in any way I could escape unpolluted, 
and yet not set brother against brother, and so bring thie 
whole race of a noble family into disgrace. I made up my 
mind, therefore, to leave my country with my two twins, until 
the incestuous love should subside, which the sight of me was 
fostering and enflaming; and I thought that our other son 
should remain to comfort his father to some extent. 


Crap. xvi.— The woman's story continued. 


“ Now in order to carry out this plan, I pretended that I 
had had a dream, in which some deity stood by me in a 
vision, and told me that I should immediately depart from 


946 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book vu. 


the city with my twins, and should be absent until he should 
command me to return; and that, if I did not do so, I should 
perish with all my children. And so it was done. For as 
soon as I told the dream to my husband, he was terrified ; 
and sending with me my twin sons, and also slaves and maid- 
servants, and giving me plenty of money, he ordered me to 
sail to Athens, where I might educate my sons, and that I 
should stay there, until he who had commanded me to depart 
should give me leave to return. While I was sailing along 
with my sons, I was shipwrecked in the night by the violence 
of the winds, and, wretch that I am, was driven to this place ; 
and when all had perished, a powerful wave caught me, and 
cast me upon a rock. And while I sat there with this only 
hope, that haply I might be able to find my sons, I did not 
throw myself into the deep, although then my soul, disturbed 
and drunk with grief, had both the courage and the power 
to do it. 


Crap. xvi1.— The woman's story continued. 


* But when the day dawned, and I with shouting and howl- 
ing was looking around, if I could even see the corpses of my 
unhappy sons anywhere washed ashore, some of those who saw 
me were moved with compassion, and searched, first over the 
sea, and then also along the shores, if they could find either 
of my children. But when neither of them was anywhere 
found, the women of the place, taking pity on me, began to 
comfort me, every one telling her own griefs, that I might 
take consolation from the likeness of their calamities to my 
own. But this saddened me all the more; for my disposition 
was not such that I could regard the misfortunes of others 
as comforts to me. And when many desired to receive me 
hospitably, a certain poor woman who dwells here constrained 
me to enter into her hut, saying that she had had a husband 
who was a sailor, and that he had died at sea while a young 
man, and that, although many afterwards asked her in mar- 
riage, she preferred widowhood through love of her husband. 
‘Therefore,’ said she, ‘we shall share whatever we can gain 
by the labour of our hands.’ 


Book vu.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 847 


CHAP. XvIII.—7 Àhe woman's story continued. 


* And, not to detain you with a long and profitless story, 
I willingly dwelt with her on account of the faithful affection 
which she retained for her husband. But not long after, my 
hands (unhappy woman that I was), long torn with gnawing, 
became powerless, and she who had taken me in fell into 
palsy, and now lies at home in her bed; also the affection of 
those women who had formerly pitied me grew cold. We are 
both helpless. I, as you see, sit begging; and when I get 
anything, one meal serves two wretches. Behold, now you 
have heard enough of my affairs; why do you delay the 
fulfilment of your promise, to give me a remedy, by which 
both of us may end our miserable life without torment ?" 


Crap. x1x.— Peter's reflections on the story. 


While she was speaking, Peter, being distracted with 
much thought, stood like one thunder-struck; and I Clement 
coming up, said: *I have been seeking you everywhere, and 
now what are we to do?" Buthe commanded me to go before 
him to the ship, and there to wait for him ; and because he 
must not be gainsayed, I did as he commanded me. But he, 
as he afterwards told me the whole, being struck with a sort 
of suspicion, asked of the woman her family, and her country, 
and the names of her sons; “and straightway,” he said, “ if 
you tell me these things, I shall give you the remedy." But 
she, like one suffering violence, because she would not confess 
these things, and yet was desirous of the remedy, feigned one 
thing after another, saying that she was an Ephesian, and 
her husband a Sicilian, and giving false names to her sons. 
Then Peter, supposing that she had answered truly, said: 
* Alas! O woman, I thought that some great joy should 
spring up to us to-day; for I suspected that you were a 
certain woman, concerning whom I lately learned certain 
like things." But she adjured him, saying: “I entreat you to 
tell me what they are, that I may know if amongst women 
there be one more unfortunate than myself.” 


948 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.  [Boox vu. 


CHAP. xx.— Peter's statement to the woman. 


Then Peter, incapable of deception, and moved with com- 
passion, began to say: “There is a certain young man among 
those who follow me for the sake of religion and sect, a 
Roman citizen, who told me that he had a father and two 
twin brothers, of whom not one is left to him. ‘My mother, 
he said, ‘as I learned from my father, saw a vision, that she 
should depart from the Roman city for a time with her twin 
sons, else they should perish by a dreadful death; and when 
she had departed, she was never more seen.’ And afterwards 
his father set out to search for his wife and sons, and was 

also lost.” 


CHAP. XXI.—4A discovery. 


When Peter had thus spoken, the woman, struck with 
astonishrhent, fainted. Then Peter began to hold her up, 
and to comfort her, and to ask what was the matter, or what 
she suffered. But she at length, with difficulty recovering 
her breath, and nerving herself up to the greatness of the 
joy which she hoped for, and at the same time wiping her 
face, said: “Is he here, the youth of whom you speak?” 
But Peter, when he understood the matter, said: “Tell me 
first, or else you shall not see him." "Then she said : * I am 
the mother of the youth." . Then says Peter: * What is his 
name?” And she answered: “Clement.” Then said Peter: 
« It is himself ; and he it was that spoke with me a little while 
ago, and whom I ordered to go before me to the ship.’ Then 
she fell down at Peter's feet, and began to entreat him that 
he would hasten to the ship. Then Peter said: “ Yes, if 
you will promise me that you will do as I say.” Then she 
said: *I will do anything ; only show me my only son, for I 
think that in him I shall see my twins also.” Then Peter 
said: * When you have seen him, dissemble for a little time, 
until we leave the island." {1 will do so,” she said. 


CHAP. XXII.—4A happy meeting. 
Then Peter, holding her hand, led her to the ship. And 


Book vu.] “RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 349 


when I saw him giving his hand to the woman, I began to 
laugh ; yet, approaching to do him honour, I tried to substitute 
my hand for his, and to support the woman. But as soon as 
I touched her hand, she uttered a loud scream, and rushed 
into my embrace, and began to devour me with a mother's 
kisses. But I, being ignorant of the whole matter, pushed 
her off as a mad woman; and at the same time, though with 
reverence, I was somewhat angry with Peter. 


CHAP, xx111.—A miracle. 


But he said: * Cease: what mean you, O Clement, my 
son? Do not push away your mother.” But I, as soon as 
I heard these words, immediately bathed in tears, fell upon 
my mother, who had fallen down, and began to kiss her. 
For as soon as I heard, by degrees I recalled her countenance 
to my memory ; and the longer I gazed, the more familiar it 
grew to me. Meantime a great multitude assembled, hearing 
that the woman who used to sit and beg was recognised by 
her son, who was a good man.’ And when we wished to sail 
hastily away from the island, my mother said to me: “ My 
darling son, it is right that I should bid farewell to the 
woman who took me in; for she is poor, and paralytic, and 
bedridden.” When Peter and all who were present heard 
this, they admired the goodness and prudence of the woman; 
and immediately Peter ordered some to go and to bring the 
woman in her bed as she lay. And when she had been 
brought, and placed in the midst of the crowd, Peter said, in 
the presence of all: *If I am a preacher of truth, for con- 
firming the faith of all those who stand by, that they may 
know and believe that there is one God, who made heaven 
and earth, in the name of Jesus Christ, His Son, let this 
woman rise.” And as soon as he had said this, she arose 
whole, and fell down at Peter's feet; and greeting her friend 
and acquaintance with kisses, asked of her what was the 
meaning of it all. But she shortly related to her the whole 
proceeding of the Recognition, so that the crowds standing 
around wondered. 

1 Perhaps, **a man in good position.” 


350 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book vn. 


Cuap. xx1v.—Departure from Aradus. 


Then Peter, so far as he could, and as time permitted, 
addressed the crowds on the faith of God, and the ordi- 
nances of religion ; and then added, that if any one wished 
to know more accurately about these things, he should come 
to Antioch, * where," said he, “we have resolved to stay 
three months, and to teach fully the things which pertain to 
salvation. For if," said he, “men leave their country and 
their parents for commercial or military purposes, and do not 
fear to undertake long voyages, why should it be thought 
burdensome or difficult to leave home for three months for the 
sake of eternal life?” When he had said these things, and 
more to the same purpose, I presented a thousand drachmas 
to the woman who had entertained my mother, and who had 
recovered her health by means of Peter, and in the presence 
of all committed her to the charge of a certain good man, 
the chief person in that town, who promised that he would 
gladly do what we demanded of him. I also distributed a 
little money among some others, and among those women 
who were said formerly to have comforted my mother in her 
miseries, to whom I also expressed my thanks. And after 
this we sailed, along with my mother, to Antaradus. 


CHAP. xxv.—Journeyings. 


And when we had come to our lodging, my mother began 
to ask of me what had become of my father; and I told her 
that he had gone to seek her, and never returned. But she, 
hearing this, only sighed; for her great joy on my account 
lightened her other sorrows. And the next day she journeyed 
with us, sitting with Peter's wife; and we came to Balanez, 
where we stayed three days, and then went on to Pathos, and 
afterwards to Gabala ; and so we arrived at Laodicea, where 
Niceta and Aquila met us before the gates, and kissing us, 
conducted us to a lodging. But Peter, seeing that it wasa 
large and splendid city, said that it was worthy that we should 
stay in it ten days, or even longer. Then Niceta and Aquila 
asked of me who was this unknown woman ; and I auswered: 


Y 
^ 
ὶ 


N 


Book vi.]] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 351 


* [t is my mother, whom God has given back to me by means 
of my lord Peter.” 


Cuap. xxvi.—Recapitulation. 


And when I had said this, Peter began to relate the whole 
matter to them in order, and said: “ When we had come to 
Aradus,' and I had ordered you to go on before us, the same 
day after you had gone, Clement was led in the course of 
conversation to tell me of his extraction and his family, and 
how he had been deprived of his parents, and had had twin 
brothers older than himself, and that, as his father told him, 
his mother once saw a vision, by which she was ordered to 
depart from the city of Rome with her twin sons, else she 
and they should suddenly perish. And when she had told 
his father the dream, he, loving his sons with tender affection, 
and afraid of any evil befalling them, put his wife and sons 
on board a ship with all necessaries, and sent them to Athens 
to be educated. Afterwards he sent once and again persons 
to inquire after them, but nowhere found even a trace of them. 
At last the father himself went on the search, and until now 
he is nowhere [to be found]. When Clement had given me 
this narrative, there came one to us, asking us to go to the - 
neighbouring island of Aradus, to see vine-wood columns of 
wonderful size. I consented; and when we came to the 
place, all the rest went into the interior of the temple; 
but I—for what reason I know not— had no mind to go 
farther. 


CHAP. XXVII.— Recapitulation continued. 


“But while I was waiting outside for them, I began to 
notice this woman, and to wonder in what part of her body 
she was disabled, that she did not seek her living by the 
labour of her hands, but submitted to the shame of beggary. 
I therefore asked of her the reason of it. She confessed that 
she was sprung of a noble race, and was married to a no less 
noble husband, *whose brother, said she, *being inflamed 
by unlawful love towards me, desired to defile his brother's 

1 There is a confusion in the text between Aradus and Antaradus. 





993 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. | [Boox vu. 


bed, "This I abhorring, and yet not daring to tell my hus- 
band of so great wickedness, lest I should stir up war between 
the brothers, and bring disgrace upon the family, judged it 
better to depart from my country with my two twin sons, 
leaving the younger boy to be a comfort to his father. And 
that this might be done with an honourable appearance, I 
thought good to:feign a dream, and to tell my husband that 
there stood by me in a vision a certain deity, who told me to 
set out from the city immediately with my two twins, and 
remain until he should instruct me to return. She told me 
that.her husband, when he heard this, believed her, and sent 
her to Athens, with the twin children to be educated there; 
but that they were driven by a terrible tempest upon that 
island, where, when the ship had gone to pieces, she was 
lifted by a wave upon a rock, and delayed killing herself 
only for this, ‘ until,’ said she, ‘I could embrace at least the 
dead limbs of my unfortunate sons, and commit them to 
burial. But when the day dawned, and crowds had assem- 
bled, they took pity upen me, and threw a garment over me. 
But I, miserable, entreated them with many tears, to search 
if they could find anywhere the bodies of my unfortunate 
sons. And I, tearing all my body with my teeth, with wail- 
ing and howlings cried out constantly, Unhappy woman that 
I am, where is my Faustus? where my Faustinus?" " 


CHar. Xxvitl.—More recognitions. 


And when Peter said this, Niceta and Aquila suddenly 
started up, and being astonished, began to be greatly agitated, 
saying: “O Lord, Thou Ruler and God of all, are these 
things true, or are we in a dream?” Then Peter said: 
* Unless we be mad, these things are true.” But they, after 
a short pause, and wiping their faces, said: “ We are Faus- 
tinus and Faustus: and even at the first, when you began 
this narrative, we immediately fell into a suspicion that the 
matters that you spoke of might perhaps relate to us; yet 
again considering that many like things happen in men’s lives, 
we kept silence, although our hearts were struck by some 
hope. Therefore we waited for the end of your story, that, 


en 


Book vu.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 353 


if it were entirely manifest that it related to us, we might 
then confess it.” And when they had thus spoken, they went 
in weeping to our mother. And when they found her asleep, 
and wished to embrace her, Peter prevented them, saying: 
* Permit me first to prepare your mother’s mind, lest haply 
by the great and sudden joy she lose her reason, and her 
understanding be disturbed, especially as she is now stupified 
with sleep.” 


Crap. xx1x.— Nothing common or unclean.” 


Therefore, when our mother had risen from her sleep, Peter 
began to address her, saying: “I wish you to know, O woman, 
an observance of our religion. We worship one God, who 
made the world, and we keep His law, in which He commands 
us first of all to worship Him, and to reverence His name, to 
honour our parents, and to preserve chastity and uprightness. 
But this also we observe, not to have a common table with 
Gentiles, unless when they believe, and on the reception of 
the truth are baptized, and consecrated by a certain three- 
fold invocation of the blessed name; and then we eat with 
them. Otherwise, even if it were a father or a mother, or 
wife, or sons, or brothers, we cannot have a common table 
with them. Since, therefore, we do this for the special cause 
of religion, let it not seem hard to you that your son cannot 
eat with you, until you have the same judgment of the faith 
that he has.” 


Crap. xxx.—“ Who can forbid water?” 


Then she, when she heard this, said: * And what hinders 
me to be baptized to-day? For even before I saw you I was 
wholly alienated from those whom they call gods, because 
they were not able to do anything for me, although I fre- 
quently, and almost daily, sacrificed to them. And as to 
chastity, what shall I say, when neither in former times did 
pleasures deceive me, nor afterwards did poverty compel me 
tosin? Butlthink you know well enough how great was 
my love of chastity, when I pretended that dream that I 
might escape the snares of unhallowed love, and that I might 

Z 


354 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.  [Boox vn. 


go abroad with my two twins, and when I left this my son 
Clement alone to be a comfort to his father. For if two were 
scarcely enough for me, how much more would it have sad- 
dened their father, if he had had none at all? For he was 
wretched through his great affection towards our sons, so that 
even the authority of the dream could scarce prevail upon 
him to give up to me Faustinus and Faustus, the brothers 
of this Clement, and that himself. should be content with 


Clement alone." 


Cur. xxx1.— Too much joy. 


While she was yet speaking, my brothers could contain 
themselves no longer, but rushed into their mother's embrace . 
with many tears, and kissed her. But she said: * What is 
the meaning of this?” Then said Peter: “ Be not disturbed, 
O woman; be firm. These are your sons Faustinus and 
Faustus, whom you supposed to have perished in the deep; 
but how they are alive, and how they escaped in that horrible 
night, and how the one of them is called Niceta and the other 
Aquila, they will be able to explain to you themselves, and 
we also shall hear it along with you.” When Peter had said 
this, our mother fainted, being overcome with excess of joy; 
and after some time, being restored and come to herself, she 
said : “I beseech you, darling sons, tell me what has befallen 
you since that dismal and cruel night.” 


Cap. xxxu1.— He bringeth them unto their desired haven.” 


Then Niceta began to say: “On that night, O mother, 
when the ship was broken up, and we were being tossed upon 
the sea, supported on a fragment of the wreck, certain men, 
whose business it was to rob by sea, found us, and placed us 
in their boat, and overcoming the power of the waves by 
rowing, by various stretches brought us to Caesarea Stratonis. 
There they starved us, and beat us, and terrified us, that we 
might not disclose the truth; and having changed our names, 
they sold us to a certain widow, a very honourable woman, 
named Justa. She, having bought us, treated us as sons, so 
that she carefully educated us in Greek literature and liberal 


Book vi.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 35 


eC 


arts. And when we grew up, we also attended to philosophic 
studies, that we might be able to confute the Gentiles, by 
supporting the doctrines of the divine religion by philosophic 
disputations. 


Cap. xxx111.— Another wreck prevented. 


* But we adhered, for friendship’s sake, and boyish com- 
panionship, to one Simon, a magician, who was educated 
along with us, so that we were almost deceived by him. For 
there is mention made in our religion of a certain Prophet, 
whose coming was hoped for by all who observe that religion, 
through whom immortal and happy life is promised to be 
given to those who believe in Him. Now we thought that 
this Simon was he. But these things shall be explained to you, 
O mother, at à more convenient season. Meanwhile, when 
we were almost deceived by Simon, a certain colleague of my 
lord Peter, Zaccheus by name, warned us that we should not 
be duped by the magician, but presented us to Peter on 
his arrival, that by him we might be taught the things which 
were sound and perfect. And this we hope will happen to 
you also, even as God has vouchsafed it to us, that we may 
be able to eat and have a common table with you. Thus 
therefore it was, O mother, that you believed that we were 
drowned in the sea, while we were stolen by pirates." 


Cnar. xxxi1v.— Baptism must be preceded by fasting. 

When Niceta had spoken thus, our mother fell down at 
Peter's feet, entreating and beseeching him that both herself 
and her hostess might be baptized without delay; “that,” said 
she, *I may not even for a single day suffer the loss of the 
company and society of my sons.” In like manner, we her 
sons also entreated Peter. But he said: “What! Do you 
think that I alone am unpitiful, and that I do not wish you 
to enjoy your mother's society at meals? But she must fast 
at least one day first, and so be baptized; and this because I 
have heard from her a certain declaration, by which her 
faith has been made manifest to me, and which has given evi- 
dence of her belief ; otherwise she must have been instructed 
and taught many days before she could have been baptized." 


356 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book vir. 


Cnar. xxxv.— Desiring the salvation of others. 


Then said I: “I pray you, my lord Peter, tell us what is that 
declaration which you say afforded you evidence of her faith?” 
Then Peter: * It is her asking that her hostess, whose kind- 
nesses she wishes to requite, may be baptized along with her. 
Now she would not ask that this grace be bestowed upon her 
whom she loves, unless she believed that there is some great 
boon in baptism. Whence, also, I find fault with very many, 
who, when they are themselves baptized and believe, yet do 
nothing worthy of faith with those whom they love, such as 
wives, or children, or friends, whom they do not exhort to 
that which they themselves have attained, [as they would do] 
if indeed they believed that eternal life is thereby bestowed. 
In short, if they see them to be sick, or to be subject to any 
danger bodily, they grieve and mourn, because they are sure 
that in this destruction threatens them. So, then, if they were 
sure of this, that the punishment of eternal fire awaits those 
who do not worship God, when would they cease warning and 
exhorting? Or, if they refused, how would they not mourn and 
bewail them, being sure that eternal torments awaited them? 
Now, therefore, we shall send for that woman at once, and see 
if she loves the faith of our religion; and as we find, so shall 
we act. But since your mother has judged so faithfully con- 
cerning baptism, let her fast only one day before baptism." 


CHAP. xxxvi.—The sons’ pleading. 


But she declared with an oath, in presence of my lord 
Peter's wife, that from the time she recognised her son, she 
had been unable to take any food from excess of joy, except- 
ing only that yesterday she drank a cup of water. Peter's 
wife also bore witness, saying that it was even so. "Then 
Aquila said: * What, then, hinders her being baptized?” 
Then Peter, smiling, said: * But this is not the fast of baptism, 
for it was not done in order to baptism." Then Niceta said: 
* But perhaps God, wishing that our mother, on our recogni- 
tion, should not be separated even for one day from partici- 
pation of our table, pre-ordained this fasting. For as in her 
ignorance she preserved her chastity, that it might profit her 


Book vi.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 2901 


in order to the grace of baptism; so she fasted before she 
knew the reason of fasting, that it might profit her in order to 
baptism, and that immediately, from the beginning of our ac- 
quaintance, she might enjoy communion of the table with us." 


CHAP. xxxvil.— Peter inexorable. 


Then said Peter: ‘ Let not the wicked one prevail against 
us, taking occasion from a mother's love; but let you, and 
me with you, fast this day along with her, and to-morrow 
she shall be baptized: for it is not right that the precepts of 
truth be relaxed and weakened in favour of any person or 
friendship. Let us not shrink, then, from suffering along with 
her, for it is a sin to transgress any commandment. But let 
us teach our bodily senses, which are without us, to be in 
subjection .to our inner senses; and not compel our inner 
senses, which savour the things that be of God, to follow 
the outer senses, which savour the things that be of the 
flesh. For to this end also the Lord commanded, saying: 
* Whosoever shall look upon a woman to lust after her, hath 
committed adultery with her already in his heart, And to 
this He added: ‘If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and 
cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy 
members perish, rather than thy whole body be cast into hell- 
fire. ! He does not say, has offended thee, that you should 
then cast away the cause of sin after you have sinned; but, 
if it offend you, that is, that before you sin you should cut 
off the cause of the sin that provokes and irritates you. But 
let none of you think, brethren, that the Lord commended 
the cutting off of the members. His meaning is, that the 
purpose should be cut off, not the members, and the causes 
Which allure to sin, in order that our thought, borne up on 
the chariot of sight, may push towards the love of God, sup- 
ported by the bodily senses;? and not give loose reins to the 


1 Matt. v. 28, 29. 

? Here à marginal reading is followed. The reading of the text is: 
*' In order that our thought, borne on the chariot of contemplation, may 
hasten on, invisible to the bodily senses, towards the love of God." But 
the translation of aspectus by ‘‘ contemplation " is doubtful. 


358 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox vir. 


eyes of the flesh as to wanton horses, eager to turn their run- 
ning outside the way of the commandments, but may subject 
the bodily sight to the judgment of the mind, and not suffer 
those eyes of ours, which God intended to be viewers and wit- 
nesses of His work, to become panders of evil desire. And 
therefore let the bodily senses as well as the internal thought 
be subject to the law of God, and let them serve His will, 
whose work they acknowledge themselves to be." 


Caap. xxxviti.— Reward of chastity. 


Therefore, as the order and reason of the mystery demanded, 
on the following day she was baptized in the sea, and return- 
ing to the lodging, was initiated in all the mysteries of reli- 
gion in their order. And we her sons, Niceta and Aquila, 
and I Clement, were present. And after this we dined with 
her, and glorified God with her, thankfully acknowledging . 
the zeal and teaching of Peter, who showed us, by the example 
of our mother, that the good of chastity is not lost with God; 
* as, on the other hand,” said he, “ unchastity does not escape 
punishment, though it may not be punished immediately, but 
slowly. But so well pleasing,” said he, “is chastity to God, 
that it confers some grace in the present life even upon those 
who are in error; for future blessedness is laid up for those 
only who preserve chastity and righteousness by the grace of 
baptism. In short, that which has befallen your mother is an 
example of this, for all this welfare has been restored to her 
in reward of her chastity, for the guarding and preserving of 
which continence alone is not sufficient; but when any one 
perceives that snares and deceptions are being prepared, he 
must straightway flee as from the violence of fire or the attack 
of a mad dog, and not trust that he can easily frustrate snares 
of this kind by philosophizing or by humouring them ; but, as 
I have said, he must flee and withdraw to a distance, as your 
mother also did through her true and entire love of chastity. 
And on this account she has been preserved to you, and you 
to her; and in addition, she has been endowed with the know- 
ledge of eternal life.” When he had said this, and much more 
to the same effect, the evening having come, we went to sleep. 


RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 


— 


BOOK VIIL - 


Cnapr. 1— 77e old workman. 


ΟὟ the next morning Peter took my brothers and 
me with him, and we went down to the harbour 
to bathe in the sea, and thereafter we retired to 
a certain secret place for prayer. But a certain 
poor old man, a workman, as he appeared by his dress, began 
to observe us eagerly, without our seeing him, that he might 
see what we were doing in secret. And when he saw us 
praying, he waited till we came out, and then saluted us, and 
said: “If you do not take it amiss, and regard me as an in- 
quisitive and importunate person, I should wish to converse 
with you; for I take pity on you, and would not have you 
err under the appearance of truth, and be afraid of things 
that have no existence; or if you think that.there is anv 
truth in them, then declare it to me. If, therefore, you take it 
patiently, I can in a few words instruct you in what is right ; 
but if it be unpleasant to you, I shall go on, and do my 
business.” To him Peter answered : “Speak what you think 
good, and we will gladly hear, whether it be true or false ; for 
you are to be welcomed, because, like a father anxious on 
behalf of his children, you wish to put us in possession of 
what you regard as good." 





CuapP. rr.— Genesis. 


Then the old man proceeded to say: ‘I saw you bathe in 
the sea, and afterwards retire into a secret place; wherefore 
observing, without your noticing me, what you were doing, I 

859 


360 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book vim. 


saw you praying. Therefore, pitying your error, I waited 
till you came out, that I might speak to you, and instruct you 
not to err in an observance of this sort; because there is 
neither any God, nor any worship, neither is there any pro- 
vidence in the world, but all things are done by fortuitous 
chance and genesis, as I have discovered most clearly for 
myself, being accomplished beyond others in the discipline of 
learning. Do not err, therefore: for whether you pray, or 
whether you do not pray, whatever your genesis contains, that 
shall befall you.” Then I Clement was affected, I know 
not how, in my heart, recollecting many things in him that 
seemed familiar to me; for some one says well, that that 
which is sprung from any one, although it may be long 
absent, yet a spark of relationship is never extinguished. 
Therefore I began to ask of him who and whence he was, 
and how descended. But he, not wishing to answer these 
questions, said: * What has that to do with what I have 
told you? But first, if you please, let us converse of those 
matters which we have propounded; and afterwards, if cir- 
cumstances require, we can disclose to one another, as friends 
to friends, our names, and families, and country, and other 
things connected with these.” Yet we all admired the elo- 
quence of the man, and the gravity of his manners, and the 
calmness of his speech. 


Cuap. 111.—A friendly conference. 


But Peter, walking along leisurely while conversing, was 
looking out for a suitable place for a conference. And when 
he saw a quiet recess near the harbour, he made us sit down ; 
and so he himself first began. Nor did he hold the old man 
in any contempt, nor did he look down upon him because his 
dress was poor and mean. He said, therefore: “ Since you 
seem to me to be a learned man, and a compassionate, inas- 
much as you have come to us, and wish that to be known to 
us which you consider to be good, we also wish to expound to 
you what things we believe to be good and right; and if you 
do not think them true, you will take in good part our good 
intentions towards you, as we do yours towards us.” While 


Book vu] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 961 


Peter was thus speaking, a great multitude assembled. "Then 
said the old man : * Perhaps the presence of a multitude dis- 
concerts you." Peter replied : * Not at all, except only on this 
account, that I am afraid lest haply, when the truth is made 
manifest ia the course of our discussion, you be ashamed in 
presence of the multitude to yield and assent to the things 
which you may have understood to be spoken truly." To 
this the old man answered: “I am not such a fool in my 
old age, that, understanding what is true, I should deny it 
for the favour of the rabble." 


Cnar. 1v.— The question stated. 


Then Peter began to say: * Those who speak the word of 
truth, and who enlighten the souls of men, seem to me to be 
like the rays of the sun, which, when once they have come 
forth and appeared to the world, can no longer be concealed 
or hidden, while they are not so much seen by men, as they 
afford sight to all. "Therefore it was well said by One to the 
heralds of the truth, * Ye are the light of the world, and a city 
set upon a hill cannot be hid; neither do men light a candle 
and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may 
enlighten all who are in the house."!  'Then said the old 
man: “He said well, whoever he is. But let one of you 
state what, according to his opinion, ought to be followed, 
that we may direct our speech to a definite aim. For, in 
order to find the truth, it is not sufficient to overthrow the 
things that are spoken on the other side, but also that one 
should himself bring forward what he who is on the other 
side may oppose. "Therefore, in order that both parties may 
be on an equal footing, it seems to me to be right that each 
of us should first enunciate what opinion he holds. And, if 
you please, I shall begin first. I say, then, that the world 
is not governed according to the providence of God, because 
we see that many things in it are done unjustly and dis- 
orderly; but I say that it is genesis that does and regulates 
all things." 

! Matt, v. 14, 15. 


362 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book vn. 


Crap. v.—Freedom of discussion allowed. 


When Peter was about to reply to this, Niceta, anticipat- 
ing him, said: “ Would my lord Peter allow me to answer 
to this; and let it not be thought forward that I, a young 
man, should have an encounter with an old man, but rather 
let me converse as a son with a father.” Then said the 
old man: “ Not only do I wish, my son, that you should set 
forth your opinions; but also if any one of your associates, 
if any one even of the bystanders, thinks that he knows any- 
thing, let him unhesitatingly state it : we shall gladly hear it ; 
for it is by the contribution of many that the things that are 
unknown are more easily found out. Then Niceta there- 
fore answered: * Do not deem me to have done rashly, my 
father, because I have interrupted the speech of my lord 
Peter; but rather I meant to honour him by doing this. For 
he is a man of God, full of all knowledge, who is not ignorant 
even of Greek learning, because he is filled with the Spirit 
of God, to whom nothing is unknown. But because it is 
suitable to him to speak of heavenly things, I shall answer 
concerning those things which pertain to the babbling of the 
Greeks. But after we have disputed in the Grecian manner, 
and we have come to that point where no issue appears, then 
. he himself, as filled with the knowledge of God, shall openly 
and clearly disclose to us the truth on all matters, so that not 
we only, but also all who are around us as hearers, shall learn 
the way of truth. And therefore now let him sit as umpire; 
and when either of us shall yield, then let him, taking up the 
matter, give an unquestionable judgment.” 


Cuap. vi.—The other side of the question stated. 


When Niceta had thus spoken, those who had assembled 
conversed among themselves: “Is this that Peter of whom 
we heard, the most approved disciple of Him who appeared 
in Judza, and wrought many signs and miracles?” And they 
stood gazing upon him with great fear and veneration, as 
conferring upon the Lord the honour of His good servant. 
Which when Peter observed, he said to them: * Let us hear 


Book vir] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 968 


with all attention, holding an impartial judgment of what 
shall be said by each ; and after their encounter we also shall 
add what may seem necessary.” And when Peter had said 
this, the crowds rejoiced. Then Niceta began to speak as 
follows: * You have laid down, my father, that the world is 
not governed by the providence of God, but that all things 
are subject to genesis, whether the things which relate to the 
dispositions, or those which relate to the doings of every one. 
This I could answer immediately ; but because it is right to 
observe order, we also lay down what we hold, as you yourself 
requested should be done. I say that the world i is governed 
by the providence of God, at least in those things which need 
His government. For He it is alone who holds all things in 
His hand, who also made the world ; the just God, who shall 
at some time render to every one according to his deeds. 
Now, then, you have our position ; go on as you please, either 
overthrowing mine or establishing your own, that I may meet 
your statements. Or if you wish me to speak first, I shall 
not hesitate." 


Cnar. vi.—The way cleared. 


Then the old man answered: * Whether it pleases you, 
my son, to speak first, or whether you prefer that I should 
speak, makes no difference, especially with those who discuss 
in a friendly spirit. However, speak you first, and I will 
gladly hear ; and I wish you may be able even to follow out 
those things that are to be spoken by me, and to put in 
opposition to them those things that are contrary to them, 
and from the comparison of both to show the truth." Niceta 
answered: “If you wish it, I can even state your side of the 
argument, and then answer it." Then the old man: “Show 
me first how you can know what I have not yet spoken, and 
so I shall believe that you can follow out my side of the 
argument." Then Niceta: “ Your sect is manifest, even by 
the proposition which you have laid down, to those who are 
skilled in doctrines of this sort; and its consequence is certain. 
And because I am not ignorant what are the propositions of 
the philosophers, I know what follows from those things 


364 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book vin. 


which you have propounded; especially because I have fre- 
quented the schools of Epicurus in preference to the other 
philosophers. But my brother Aquila has attended more to 
the Pyrrhonists, and our other brother to the Platonists and 
Aristotelians; therefore you have to do with learned hearers." 
Then said the old man: * You have well and logically in- 
formed us how you perceived the things that follow from the 
statements which have been enunciated. But I professed 
something more than the tenet of Epicurus ; for I introduced 
the genesis, and asserted that it is the cause of all the doings 
of men.” 


Crap. vit1.— Instincts. 


When the old man had said this, I Clement said to him: 
* Hear, my father: if my brother Niceta bring you to acknow- 
ledge that the world is not governed without the providence 
of God, I shall be able to answer you in that part which 
remains concerning the genesis; for I am well acquainted 
with this doctrine.” And when I had thus spoken, my brother 
Aquila said: “ What is the use of our calling him father, 
when we are commanded to call no man father upon earth?"! 
Then, looking to the old man, he said, “ Do not take it amiss, 
my father, that I have found fault with my brother for 
calling you father, for we have a precept not to call any one 
by that name.” When Aquila said that, all the assembly of 
the bystanders, as well as the old man and Peter, laughed. 
And when Aquila asked the reason of their all laughing, I 
said to him: “ Because you yourself do the very thing which 
you find fault with in another; for you called the old man 
father.” But he denied it, saying: “I am not aware that I 
called him father.” Meantime Peter was moved with certain 
suspicions, as he told us afterwards; and looking to Niceta, 
he said, “ Go on with what you have proposed.” 


Cnar. 1x.—Simple and compound. 


Then Niceta began as follows: * Everything that is, is 
either simple or compound. That which is simple is without 
! Matt. xxiii. 9. 


Book vu] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 365 


number, division, colour, difference, roughness, smoothness, 
weight, lightness, quality, quantity, and therefore without 
end. But that which is compound is either compounded of 
two, or of three, or even of four [elements], or at all events 
of several; and things which are compounded can also of 
necessity be divided.” The old man, hearing this, said: 
‘You speak most excellently and learnedly, my son.” Then 
Niceta went on: “ Therefore that which is simple, and which 
is without any of those things by which that which subsists 
can be dissolved, is without doubt incomprehensible and 
infinite, knowing neither beginning nor end, and therefore is 
one and alone, and subsisting without an author. But that 
which is compound is subject to number, and diversity, and 
division,—is necessarily compounded by some author, and is 
a diversity collected into one species. That which is infinite 
is therefore, in respect of goodness, a Father; in respect of 
power, a Creator. Nor can the power of creating cease in 
the Infinite, nor the goodness be quiescent; but He is im- 
pelled by goodness to change existing things, and by power 
to arrange and strengthen them. Therefore some things, as 
we have said, are changed, and composed of two or three, 
some of four, others of more elements. But since our inquiry 
at present is concerning the method of the world and its sub- 
stance, which, it is agreed, is compounded of four elements, 
to which all those ten differences belong which we have 
mentioned above, let us begin at these lower steps, and come 
to the higher. For a way is afforded us to intellectual and 
invisible things from those which we see and handle; as is 
contained in arithmetical instructions, where, when inquiry is 
made concerning divine things, we rise from the lower to the 
higher numbers; but when the method respecting present and 
visible things is expounded, the order is directed from the 
higher to the lower numbers. Is it not so?” 


CHAP. X.— Creation implies providence. 
Then the old man said : * You are following it out exceed- 
ingly well? Then Niceta: “Now, then, we must inquire 
concerning the method of the world; of which the first in- 


966 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. | [Book vr. 


quiry is divided into two parts. For it is asked whether 
it has been made or not? And if it has not been made, 
itself must be that Unbegotten from which all things are. 
But if it has been made, concerning this again the question 
is divided into two parts, whether it was made by itself, 
or by another. And if indeed it was made by itself, then 
without doubt providence is excluded. If providence is 
not admitted, in vain is the mind incited to virtue, in vain 
justice is maintained, if there be no one to render to the just 
man according to his merits. But even the soul itself will 
not appear to be immortal, if there be no dispensation of pro- 
vidence to receive it after its escape from the body. 


CHAP. XI.— General or special providence. 


“Now, if it be taught that there is a providence, and 
that the world was made by it, other questions meet us which 
must be discussed. For it will be asked, In what way provi- 
dence acts, whether generally towards the whole, or specially 
towards the parts, or generally also towards the parts, or both 
generally towards the whole, and specially towards the parts? 
But by general providence we mean this: as if God, at first 
making the world, has given an order and appointed a course 
to things, and has ceased to take any further care of what is 
done. But special providence towards the parts is of this 
sort, that He exercises providence over some men or places, 
but not over others. But general over all, and at the same’ 
time special over the parts, is in this wise: if God made all 
things at first, and exercises providence over each individual 
even to the end, and renders to every one according to his 
deeds. 


Cuap. ΧΙ].--- Prayer inconsistent with genesis. 


ἐς Therefore that first proposition, which declares that God 
made all things in the beginning, and having imposed a 
course and order upon things, takes no further account of 
them, affirms that all things are done according to genesis. 
To this, therefore, we shall first reply; and especially to 
those who worship the gods and defend genesis. Assuredly, 


Book vut.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 367 


these men, when they sacrifice to the gods and pray to them, 
hope that they shall obtain something in opposition to genesis, 
and so they annul genesis. But when they laugh at those 
who incite to virtue and exhort to continence, and say that 
nobody can do or suffer anything unless what is decreed to 
him by fate, they assuredly cut up by the roots all worship 
of the Divinity. For why should you worship those from 
whom you can obtain nothing which the method of what is 
decreed does not allow? Let this suffice in the meantime, in 
opposition to these men. But I say that the world is made 
by God, and that it is at some time to be destroyed by Him, 
that that world may appear which is eternal, and which is 
made for this end, that it may be always, and that it may 
receive those who, in the judgment of God, are worthy of it. 
But that there is another and invisible world, which contains 
this visible world within itself,—after we have finished our 
discussion concerning the visible world, we shall come to it 
also. 


CHAP. x111.—A Creator necessary. 


«* Now, in the meantime, that this visible world has been 
made, very many wise men among the philosophers do 
testify. But that we may not seem to make use of asser-. 
tions as witnesses, as though we needed them, let us inquire, 
if you please, concerning its principles. That this visible 
world is material, is sufficiently evident from the fact that it 
is visible. But every body receives [one of] two differentia ; for 
it is either compact and solid, or divided and separate. And 
if the body of which the world was made was compact and 
solid, and that body was parted and divided through diverse 
species and parts according to its differences, there must 
necessarily be understood to have been some one to separate 
the body which was compact and solid, and to draw it into 
many parts and diverse forms; or if all this mass of the world 
was compounded and compacted from diverse and dispersed 
parts of bodies, still there must be understood to have been 
some one to collect into one the dispersed parts, and to in- 
vest these things with their different species. 


368 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. . [Boox vur 


Cuap. x1v.—Mode of creation. 

“ And, indeed, I know that several of the philosophers were 
rather of this opinion, that God the Creator made divisions 
and distinctions from one body, which they call matter, which 
yet consisted of four elements, mingled into one by a certain 
tempering of divine providence. For I think that what some 
have said is vain, that the body of the world is simple, that 
is, without any conjunction ; since it is evident that what is 
simple can neither be a body, nor can be mixed, or propa- 
gated, or dissolved; all which, we see, happen to the bodies 
of the world. For how could it be dissolved if it were simple, 
and had not within it that from which it might be resolved 
and divided? But if bodies seem to be composed of two, or 
three, or even of four elements, —who that has even a small 
portion of sense does not perceive that there must have been 
some one who collected several into one, and preserving the 
measure of tempering, made a solid body out of diverse parts ? 
This some one, therefore, we call God, the Creator of the 
world, and acknowledge Him as the author of the universe. 


CHAP. xv.— Theories of creation. 


“For the Greek philosophers, inquiring into the beginnings 
of the world, have gone, some in one way and some in another. 
In short, Pythagoras says that numbers are the elements of 
its beginnings; Callistratus, that qualities; Alcmzon, that 
contrarieties; Anaximander, that immensity; Anaxagoras, 
that equalities of parts; Epicurus, that atoms; Diodorus, 
that ἀμερῆ, that is, things in which there are no parts; As- 
clepius, that ὄγκοι, which we may call tumours or swellings ; 
the geometricians, that ends; Democritus, that ideas; Thales, 
that water; Ileraclitus, that fire; Diogenes, that air; Par- 
menides, that earth; Zeno, Empedocles, Plato, that fire, 
water, air, and earth. Aristotle also introduces a fifth ele- 
ment, which he called ἀκατονόμαστον ; that is, that which 
cannot be named ; without doubt indicating Him who made 
the world, by joining the four elements into one. Whether, 
therefore, there be two, or three, or four, or more, or innu- 
merable elements, of which the world consists, in every sup- 


7m 


Book vu.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 369 


position there is shown to be a God, who collected many into 
one, and again drew them, when collected, into diverse species ; 
and by this it is proved that the machine of the world 
could not have subsisted without a maker and a disposer. 


Cap. xv1.—The world made of nothing by a Creator. 


* But from this fact also, that in the conjunction of the 
elements, if one be deficient or in excess, the others are 
loosened and fall, is shown that they took their beginning . 
from nothing. For if, for example, moisture be wanting in 
any body, neither will the dry stand; for dry is fed by 
moisture, as also cold by heat; in which, as we have said, if 
one be defective, the whole are dissolved. And in this they 
give indications of their origin, that they were made out of 
nothing. Now if matter itself is proved to have been made, 
how shall its parts and its species, of which the world con- 
sists, be thought to be unmade? But about matter and its 
qualities this is not the time to speak : only let it suffice to have © 
taught this, that God is the Creator of all things, because 
neither, if the body of which the world consists was solid and 
united, could it be separated and distinguished without a 
Creator; nor, if it was collected into one from diverse and 
separate parts, could it be collected and mixed without a 
Maker. Therefore, if God is so clearly shown to be the Creator 
of the world, what room is there for Epicurus to introduce 
atoms, and to assert that not only sensible bodies, but even in- 
tellectual and rational minds, are made of insensible corpuscles? 


Cra». xvil.— Doctrine of atoms untenable. 


* But you will say, according to the opinion of Epicurus, 
that successions of atoms coming in a ceaseless course, and 
mixing with one another, and conglomerating through un- 
limited and endless periods of time, are made solid bodies. 
I do not treat this opinion as a pure fiction, and that, too, 
a badly contrived one; but let us examine it, whatever 
be its character, and see if what is said can stand. For 
they say that those corpuscles, which they call atoms, are 
of different qualities: that some are moist, and therefore 

2A 


970 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book vu. 


heavy, and tending downwards; others dry and earthy, and 
therefore still heavy ; but others fiery, and therefore always 
pushing upwards; others cold and inert, and always re- 
maining in the middle. Since then some, as being fiery, 
always tend upward, and others, as being moist and dry, 
always downwards, and others keep a middle and unequal 
course, how could they meet together and form one body? 
For if any one throw down from a height small pieces of 
straw, for example, and pieces of lead of the same size, will 
the light straws be able to keep up with the pieces of lead, 
though they be equal in size? Nay; the heavier reach the 
bottom far more quickly. So also atoms, though they be 
equal in size, yet, being unequal in weight, the lighter will 
never be able to keep pace with the heavier; but if they 
cannot keep pace, certainly neither can they be mixed or 
form one body. 


Cuap. xvitt.— The concourse of atoms could not make the world. 


‘Then, in the next place, if they are ceaselessly borne about, 
and always coming, and being added to things whose mea- 
sure is already complete, how can the universe stand, when 
new weights are always being heaped upon so vast weights? 
And this also I ask: If this expanse of heaven which we see 
was constructed by the gradual concurrence of atoms, how 
did it not collapse while it was in construction, if indeed the 
yawning top of the structure was not propped and bound by 
any stays? For as those who build circular domes, unless 
they bind the fastening of the central top, the whole falls at 
once; so also the circle of the world, which we see to be 
brought together in so graceful a form, if it was not made 
at once, and under the influence of a single forth-putting 
of divine energy by the power of a Creator, but by atoms 
gradually concurring and constructing it, not as reason de- 
manded, but as a fortuitous issue befell, how did it not fall 
down and crumble to pieces before it could be brought to- 
gether and fastened? And further, I ask this: What is the 
pavement on which the foundations of such an immense mass 
are laid? And again, what you call the pavement, on what 


wae, 


Book vuu.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 971 


does it rest? And again that other, what supports it? And 
so I go on asking, until the answer comes to nothing and 
vacuity ! 


Cuap. x1x.—More difficulties of the atomic theory. 


* But if any one say that atoms of a fiery quality, being 
joined together, formed a body, and because the quality of 
fire does not tend downwards, but upwards, that the nature 
of fire, always pushing upwards, supports the mass of the 
world placed upon it; to this we answer: How could atoms 
of a fiery quality, which always make for the highest place, 
descend to the lower, and be found in the lowest place of 
all, so as to form a foundation for all; whereas rather the 
heavier qualities, that is, the earthy or watery, always come 
before the lighter, as we have said; hence, also, they assert 
that the heaven, as the higher structure, is composed of fiery 
atoms, which are lighter, and always fly upwards? There- 
fore the world cannot have foundations of fire, or any other; 
nor can there be any association or compacting of the heavier 
atoms with the lighter, that is, of those which are always 
borne downwards, with those that always fly upwards. Thus 
it is sufficiently shown that the bodies of the world are con- 
solidated by the union of atoms; and that insensible bodies, 
even if they could by any means concur and be united, 
could not give forms and measures to bodies, form limbs, or 
effect qualities, or express quantities ; all which, therefore, by 
their exactness, attest the hand of a Maker, and show the 
operation of reason, which reason I call the Word, and God. 


Cur. xx.—FPlato’s testimony. 


* But some one will say that these things are done by nature. 
Now, in this, the controversy is about a name. For while it 
is evident that it is a work of mind and reason, what you 
call nature, I call God the Creator. It is evident that neither 
the species of bodies, arranged with so necessary distinctions, 
nor the faculties of minds, could or can be made by irrational 
and senseless work. But if you regard the philosophers as 
fit witnesses, Plato testifies concerning these things in the 


v 


372 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.  [Boox vm. 


Timaus, where, in a discussion on the making of the world, 
he asks, whether it has existed always, or had a beginning, 
and decides that it was made. ‘For,’ says he, ‘it is visible 
and palpable, and corporeal; but it is evident that all things 
which are of this sort have been made; but what has been 
made has doubtless an author, by whom it was made. This 
Maker and Father of all, however, it is difficult to discover; 
and when discovered, it is impossible to declare Him to the 
vulgam' Such is the declaration of Plato; but though he 
and the other Greek philosophers had chosen to be silent 
about the making of the world, would it not be manifest to 
all who have any understanding? For what man is there, 
having even a particle of sense, who, when he sees a. house 
having all things necessary for useful purposes, its roof 
fashioned into the form of a globe, painted with various 
splendour and diverse figures, adorned with large and 
splendid lights; who is there, I say, that, seeing such a 
structure, would not immediately: pronounce that it was 
constructed by a most wise and powerful artificer? And so, 
whe can be found so foolish, as, when he gazes upon the 
fabric of the heaven, perceives the splendour of the sun and 
moon, sees. the courses and beauty of the stars, and their 
paths assigned to them by fixed laws and periods, will not cry 
out that these things are made, not so much by a wise and 
rational artificer, as by wisdom and reason itself ? 


Cuar. xxr.—JMechanical theory. 


* But if you would rather have the opinions of others of the 
Greek philosophers, —and you are acquainted with mechanical 
science,—you are of course familiar with what is their deli- 
verance concerning the heavens. For they suppose a sphere, 
equally rounded in every direction, and looking indifferently 
to all points, and" at equal distances in all directions from the 
centre of the earth, and so stable by its own symmetry, that 
its perfect equality does not permit it to fall off to any side; 
and so the sphere is sustained, although supported by no prop. 
Now if the fabric of the world really has this form, the divine 
work is evident in it. But if, as others think, the sphere is 


PN 


Book vu.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 978 


placed upon the waters, and is supported by them, or floating 
in them, even so the work of a great contriver is shown in it. 


CHAP. xxr1I.— Motions of the stars. 


* But lest the assertion may seem doubtful respecting things 
which are not manifest to all, let us come to those things of 
which nobody is ignorant. "Who disposed the courses of the 
stars with so great reason, ordained their risings and settings, 
and appointed to each one to accomplish the circuit of the 
heavens in certain and regular times? Who assigned to 
some to be always approaching to the setting, and others to 
be returning to the rising? Who put a measure upon the 
courses of the sun, that he might mark out, by his diverse 
motions, hours, and days, and months, and changes of seasons? 
—that he might distinguish, by the sure measurement of ‘his 
course, now winter, then spring, summer, and afterwards 
autumn, and always, by the same changes of the year, com- 
plete the circle with variety, without confusion? Who, I 
say, will not pronounce that the director of such order is the 
very wisdom of God? And these things we have spoken 
according to the relations given us by the Greeks respecting 
the science of the heavenly bodies. 


Crap. xx111.——Providence in earthly things. 


“ But what of those things also which we see on the earth, 
or in the sea? Are we not plainly taught, that not only 
the work, but also the providence, of God is in them? For 
whereas there are on the earth lofty mountains in certain 
places, [the object of this is] that the air, being compressed 
and confined by them through the appointment of God, 
may be forced and pressed out into winds, by which fruits 
may germinate, and the summer heat may be moderated 
when the Pleiades glow, fired with the blaze of the sun. 
But you still say, Why that blaze of the sun, that mode- 
rating should be required? How, then, should fruits be 
ripened which are necessary for the uses of men? But . 
observe this also, that at the meridian axis,' where the 

1 That ia, the equator. 


974 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boor vm 


heat is greatest, there is no great collection of clouds, nor an 
abundant fall of rain, lest disease should be produced among 
the inhabitants; for watery clouds, if they are acted on by 
rapid heat, render the air impure and pestilential. And the 
earth also, receiving the warm rain, does not afford nourish- 
ment to the crops, but destruction. In this who can doubt 
that there is the working of divine providence? In short, 
Egypt, which is scorched with the heat of /Ethiopia, in its 
neighbourhood, lest its air should be incurably vitiated by the 
effects of showers, its plains do not receive rain furnished to 
them from the clouds, but, as it were, an earthly shower from 
the overflow of the Nile. 


CHAP. xx1v.— Rivers and seas. 


* What shall we say of fountains and rivers, which flow with 
perpetual motion into the sea? And, by the divine provi- 
dence, neither does their abundant supply fail, nor does the 
sea, though it receives so great quantities of water, experience 
any increase, but both those elements which contribute to it 
and those which are thus contributed remain in the same 
proportion. But you will say to me: The salt water natu- 
rally consumes the fresh water which is poured into it. 
Well, in this is manifest the work of providence, that it made 
that element salt into which it turned the courses of all the 
waters which it had provided for the use of men. So that 
through so great spaces of time the channel of the sea has 
not been filled, and produced a deluge destructive to the 
earth and to men. Nor will any one be so foolish as to think 
that this so great reason and so great providence has been 
arranged by irrational nature. 


Cuap. xxv.— Plants and animals. 


* But what shall I say of plants, and what of animals? Is 
it not providence that has ordained that plants, when they 
decay by old age, should be reproduced by the suckers or the 
seeds which they have themselves produced, and animals by 
propagation? And by a certain wonderful dispensation of 
providence, milk is prepared in the udders of the dams for the 


O_o 


Book νι] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 975 


animals before they are born ; and as soon as they are born, 
with no one to guide them, they seek out the store of nourish- 
ment provided for them. And not only males are produced, 
but females also, that by means of both the race may be per- 
petuated. But lest this should seem, as some think, to be 
done by a certain order of nature, and not by the appointment 
of the Creator, He has, as a proof and indication of His 
providence, ordained a few animals to preserve their stock on 
the earth in an exceptional way : for example, the crow con- 
ceives through the mouth, and the weasel brings forth through 
the ear; and some birds, such as hens, sometimes produce 
eggs conceived of wind or dust; other animals convert the 
male into the female, and change their sex every year, as 
hares and hyznas, which they call monsters; others spring 
from the earth, and get their bodies from it, as moles ; others 
from ashes, as vipers; others from putrifying flesh, as wasps 
from herse-flesh, bees from ox-flesh ; others from cow-dung, 
as beetles ; others from herbs, as the scorpion from the basil ; 
and again, herbs from animals, as parsley and asparagus from 
the horn of the stag or the she-goat. 


CirAP. XXVI.— Germination of seeds. 


* And what occasion is there to mention more instances 
in which divine providence has ordained the production of 
animals to be effected in various ways, that order being super- 
seded which is thought to be assigned by nature, from which 
not an irrational course of things, but one arranged by his 
own reason, might be evinced? And in this also is there not 
a full work of providence shown, when seeds sown are pre- 
pared by means of earth and water for the sustenance of 
men? For when these seeds are committed to the earth, the 
soil milks upon the seeds, as from its teats, the moisture which 
it has received into itself by the will of God. For there is 
in water a certain power of the spirit given by God from the 
beginning, by whose operation the structure of the body that 
is to be begins to be formed in the seed itself, and to be de- 
veloped by means of the blade and the ear; for the grain of 
seed being swelled by the moisture, that power of the spirit 


376 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.  [Boox vin. 


which has been made to reside in water, running as an in- 
corporeal substance through certain strait passages of veins, 
excites the seeds to growth, and forms the species of the 
growing plants. By means, therefore, of the moist element 
in which that vital spirit is contained and inborn, it is caused 
that not only is it revived, but also that an appearance and 
form in all respects like to the seeds that had been sown is 
reproduced. Now, who that has even a particle of sense will 
think that this method depends upon irrational nature, and 
not upon divine wisdom? Lastly, also these things are done 
in a resemblance of the birth of men ; for the earth seems to 
take the place of the womb, into which the seed being cast, is 
both formed and nourished by the power of water and spirit, 
as we have said above. 


Cnar. xxvII.— Power of water. 


* But in this also the divine providence is to be admired, 
that it permits us to see and know the things that are made, 
but has placed in secrecy and concealment the way and manner 
in which they are done, that they may not be competent to the 
knowledge of the unworthy, but may bé laid open to the 
worthy and faithful, when they shall have deserved it. But 
to prove by facts and examples that nothing is imparted to 
seeds of the substance of the earth, but that all depends upon 
the element of water, and the power of the spirit which is in 
it, —suppose, for example, that a hundred talents’ weight of 
earth are placed in a very large trough, and that there are 
sown in it several kinds of seeds, either of herbs or of shrubs, 
and that water enough is supplied for watering them, and 
that that care is taken for several years, and that the seeds 
which are gathered are stored up, for example of corn or 
barley and other sorts separately from year to year, until the 
seeds of each sort amount to a hundred talents' weight, then 
also let the stalks be pulled up by the roots and weighed; and 
after all these have been taken from the trough, let the earth 
be weighed, it will still give back its hundred talents’ weight 
undiminished. Whence, then, shall we say that all that 
weight, and all the quantity of different seeds and stalks, has 


SAS!TUMM 


Boos vu] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 377 


come? Does it not appear manifestly that it has come from 
the water? For the earth retains entire what is its own, but 
the water which has been poured in all through is nowhere, 
on account of the powerful virtue of the divine condition, 
which by the one species of water both prepares the sub- 
stances of so many seeds and shrubs, and forms their species, 
and preserves the kind while multiplying the increase. 


Cnar. xxvi1.— The human body. 


“From all these things I think it is sufficiently and abun- 
dantly evident that all things are produced ; and the universe 
consists by a designing sense, and not by the irrational opera- 
tion of nature. But let us come now, if you please, to our 
own substance, that is, the substance of man, who is a small 
world [a microcosm] in the great world; and let us consider 
with what reason it is compounded: and from this especially 
you will understand the wisdom of the Creator. For although 
man consists of different substances, one mortal and the other 
immortal, yet, by the skilful contrivance of the Creator, their 
diversity does not prevent their union, and that although the 
substances be diverse and alien the one from the other. For 
the one is taken from the earth and formed by the Creator, 
but the other is given from immortal substances; and yet the 
honour of its immortality is not violated by this union. Nor 
does it, as some think, consist of reason, and concupiscence, 
and passion, but rather such affections seem to be in it, by 
which it may be moved in each of these directions. For the 
body, which consists of bones and flesh, takes its beginning 
from the seed of a man, which is extracted from the marrow 
by warmth, and conveyed into the womb as into a soil, to 
which it adheres, and is gradually moistened from the fountain 
of the blood, and so is changed into flesh and bones, and is 
formed into the likeness of him who injected the seed. 


Cirar. xxix.— Symmetry of the body. 


* And mark in this the work of the Designer, how He has 
inserted the bones like pillars, on which the flesh might be 
sustained and carried. Then, again, how an equal measure is 


378 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.  [Boox vin. 


preserved on either side, that is, the right and the left, so that 
foot answers to foot, hand to hand, and even finger to finger, 
so that each agrees in perfect equality with each; and also 
eye to eye, and ear to ear, which not only are suitable to and 
matched with each other, but also are formed fit for neces- 
sary uses. The hands, for instance, are so made as to be fit 
for work; the feet for walking; the eyes, protected with 
sentinel eyebrows, to serve the purpose of sight; the ears so 
formed for hearing, that, like a cymbal, they vibrate the sound 
of the word that falls upon them, and send it inward, and 
transmit it even to the understanding of the heart; whereas 
the tongue, striking against the teeth in speaking, performs 
the part of a fiddle-bow. The teeth also are formed, some 
for cutting and dividing the food, and handing it over to the 
inner ones; and these, in their turn, bruise and grind it like a 
mill, that it may be more conveniently digested when it is con- 
veyed into the stomach ; whence also they are called grinders. 


Cuar. xxx.— Breath and blood. 


“The nostrils also are made for the purpose of collecting, 
inspiring, and expiring air, that by the renewal of the breath, 
the natural heat which is in the heart may, by means of the 
lungs, be either warmed or cooled, as the occasion may require; 
while the lungs are made to abide in the breast, that by their 
softness they may soothe and cherish the vigour of the heart, 
in which the life seems to abide;—the life, I say, not the 
soul. And what shall I say of the substance of the blood, 
which, proceeding as a river from a fountain, and first borne 
along in one channel, and then spreading through innumer- 
able veins, as through canals, irrigates the whole territory of 
the human body with vital streams, being supplied by the 
agency of the liver, which is placed in the right side, for 
effecting the digestion of food and turning it into blood? 
But in the left side is placed the spleen, which draws to itself, 
and in some way cleanses, the impurities of the blood. 


CHAP. XXXI.— The tntestines. 
* What reason also is employed in the intestines, which are 


Book vu] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 379 


arranged in long circular windings, that they may gradually 
carry off the refuse of the food, so as neither to render places 
suddenly empty, and so as.not to be hindered by the food 
that is taken afterwards! But they are made like a men- 
brane, that the parts that are outside of them may gradually 
receive moisture, which if it were poured out suddenly would 
empty the internal parts; and not hindered by a thick skin, 
which would render the outside dry, and disturb the whole 
fabric of man with distressing thirst. 


CHAP. XXXII.— Generation. 


* Moreover, the female form, and the cavity of the womb, 
most suitable for receiving, and cherishing, and vivifying the 
germ, who does not believe that it has been made as it is by rea- 
son and foresight ?—because in that part alone of her body the 
female differs from the male, in which the fetus being placed, 
is kept and cherished. And again the male differs from the 
female only in that part of his body in which is the power of 
injecting seed and propagating mankind. And in this there 
is a great proof of providence, from the necessary difference 
of members; but more in this, where, under a likeness of form, 
there is found to be diversity of use and variety of office. 
For males and females equally have teats, but only those of 
the female are filled with milk; that, as soon as they have 
brought forth, the infant may find nourishment suited to him. 
But if we see the members in man arranged with such method, 
that in all the rest there is seen to be similarity of form, and a 
difference only in those in which their use requires a differ- 
ence, and we neither see anything superfluous nor anything 
wanting in man, nor in woman anything deficient or in excess, 
who will not, from all these things, acknowledge the operation 
of reason, and the wisdom of the Creator ? 


CHAP, XxXrII.— Correspondences in creation. 


« With this agrees also the reasonable difference of other 
animals, and each one being suited to its own use and service. 
This also is testified by the variety of trees and the diversity 
of herbs, varying both in form and in juices. "This also is 


380 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. |. [Boox vni. 


asserted by the change of seasons, distinguished into four 
periods, and the circle closing the year with certain hours, 
days, months, and not deviating from the appointed reckon- 
ing by a single hour. Hence, in short, the age of the world 
itself is reckoned by a certain and fixed account, and a 
definite number of years. 


CHAP. xxxiv.— Time of making the world. 


“But you will say, When was the world made? And 
why solate? This you might have objected, though it had 
been made sooner. For you might say, Why not also before 
this? And so, going back through unmeasured ages, you 
might still ask, And why not sooner? But we are not now 
discussing this, why it was not made sooner; but whether it 
was made at all. For if it is manifest that it was made, it is 
necessarily the work of a powerful and supreme Artificer; and 
if this is evident, it must be left to the choice and judgment 
of the wise Artificer, when He should please to make it; 
unless indeed you think that all this wisdom, which has con- 
structed the immense fabric of the world, and has piven to 
the several objects their forms and kinds, assigning to them 
a habit not only in accordance with beauty, but also most 
convenient and necessary for their future uses,—unless, I 
say, you think that this alone has escaped it, that it should 
choose a convenient season for so magnificent a work of 
creation. He has doubtless a certain reason and evident 
causes why, and when, and how He made the world; but it 
were not proper that these should be disclosed to those who 
are reluctant to inquire into and understand the things which 
are placed before their eyes, and which testify of His provi- 
dence. For those things which are kept in secret, and are 
hidden within the senses of Wisdom, as in a royal treasury, 
are laid open to none but those who have learned of Him, 
with whom these things are sealed and laid up. It is God, 
therefore, who made all things, and Himself was made by 
none. But those who speak of nature instead of God, and 
declare that all things were made by nature, do not perceive 
the mistake of the name which they use. For if they think 


PL 


Book vu.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 381 


that nature is irrational, it is most foolish to suppose that a 
rational creature can proceed from an irrational creator. 
But if it is Reason—that is, Logos—by which it appears that 
all things were made, they change the name without purpose, 
when they make statements concerning the reason of the 
Creator. If you have anything to say to these things, my 
father, say on.” 


Cnar. xxxv.—A contest of hospitality. 


When Niceta had thus spoken, the old man answered: 
* You indeed, my son, have conducted your argument wisely 
and vigorously ; so much so, that I do not think the subject 
of providence could be better treated. But as it is now late, 
I wish to say some things to-morrow in answer to what vou 
have argued; and if on these you can satisfy me, I shall 
confess myself a debtor to your favour.” And when the old 
man said this, Peter rose up. Then one of those present, a 
chief man of the Laodiceans, requested of Peter and us that 
he might give the old man other clothes instead of the mean 
and torn ones that he wore. This man Peter and we em- 
braced; and praising him for his honourable and excellent 
intention, said: “ We are not so foolish and impious as not 
to bestow the things which are necessary for bodily uses upon 
him to whom we have committed so precious words; and we 
hope that he will willingly receive them, as a father from his 
sons, and also we trust that he will share with us our house 
and our living." While we said this, and that chief man of 
the city strove to take the old man away from us with the 
greatest urgency and with many blandishments, while we the 
more eagerly strove to keep him with us, all the people cried 
out that it should rather be done as the old man himself 
pleased; and when silence was obtained, the old man, with 
an oath, said: “To-day I shall stay with no one, nor take 
anything from any one, lest the choice of the one should 
prove the sorrow of the other; afterwards these things may 
be, if so it seem right." 


382 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. |. [Book vu 


CHAP. XXXVI.—4Arrangements for to-morrow. 


And when the old man had said this, Peter said to the 
chief man of the city: “Since you have shown your good- 
will in our presence, it is not right that you should go away 
sorrowful; but we will accept from you favour for favour. 
Show us your house, and make it ready, so that the discus- 
sion which is to be to-morrow may be held there, and that 
any who wish to be present to hear it may be admitted." 
When the chief man of the city heard this, he rejoiced 
greatly ; and all the people also heard it gladly. . And when 
the crowds had dispersed, he pointed out his house; and the 
old man also was preparing to depart. But I commanded 
one of my attendants to follow the old man secretly, and find 
out where he stayed. And when we returned to our lodging, 
we told our brethren all our dealings with the old man; and 


so, as usual, we supped and went to sleep. 


CHAP. xxxvi1.— The form of sound words, which ye have 
heard of me.” 


But on the following day Peter arose early and called us, 
and we went together to the secret place in which we had 
been on the previous day, for the purpose of prayer. And 
when, after prayer, we were coming thence to the appointed 
place, he exhorted us by the way, saying: * Hear me, most 
beloved fellow-servants: It is good that every one of you, 
according to his ability, contribute to the advantage of those 
who are approaching to the faith of our religion ; and there- 
fore do not shrink from instructing the ignorant, and teach- 
ing according to the wisdom which has been bestowed upon 
you by the providence of God, yet so that you only join the 
eloquence of your discourse with those things which you have 
heard from me, and which have been committed to you. But 
do not speak anything which is your own, and which has not 
been committed to you, though it may seem to yourselves 
to be true; but hold forth those things, as I have said, which 
I myself have received from the true Prophet, and have 
delivered to you, although they may seem to be less full of 


A 


Book vu] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 383 


authority. For thus it often happens that men turn away 
from the truth, while they believe that they have found out, 
by their own thoughts, a form of truth more true and 
powerful." 


Cuar. xxxvilI.— The chief man’s house. 


To these counsels of Peter we willingly assented, saying to 
him that we should do nothing but what was pleasing to him. 
Then said he: “That you may therefore be exercised with- 
out danger, each of you conduct the discussion in my presence, 
one succeeding another, and each one elucidating his own 
questions. Now, then, as Niceta discoursed sufficiently yes- 
terday, let Aquila conduct the discussion to-day; and after 
Aquila, Clement ; and then I, if the case shall require it, will 
add something.” Meantime, while we were talking in this 
way, we came to the house; and the master of the house 
welcomed us, and led us to a certain apartment, arranged 
after the manner of a theatre, and beautifully built. "There 
we found great crowds waiting for us, who had come during 
the night, and amongst them the old man who had argued 
with us yesterday. "Therefore we entered, having Peter in 
the midst of us, looking about if we could see the old man 
anywhere ; and when Peter saw him hiding in the midst of 
the crowd, he called him to him, saying: * Since you possess 
a soul more enlightened than most, why do you hide yourself, 
and conceal yourself in modesty? Rather come hither, and 
propound your sentiments.” 


Cana». xxxIx.— Recapitulation of yesterday's argument. 


When Peter had thus spoken, immediately the crowd began 
to make room for the old man. And when he had come 
forward, he thus began: “ Although I do not remember the 
words of the discourse which the young man delivered yes- 
terday, yet I recollect the purport and the order of it; and 
therefore I think it necessary, for the sake of those who were 
not present yesterday, to call up what was said, and to repeat 
everything shortly, that, although something may have escaped 
me, I may be reminded of it by him who delivered the dis- 


384 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book vin. 


course, who is now present. This, then, was the purport of 
yesterday's discussion : that all things that we see, inasmuch 
as they consist in a certain proportion, and art, and form, and 
species, must be believed to have been made by intelligent 
power; but if it be mind and reason that has formed them, 
it follows that the world is governed by the providence of 
the same reason, although the things which are done in the 
world may seem to us to be not quite rightly done. But it 
follows, that if God and mind is the creator of all things, He 
must also be just; but if He is just, He necessarily judges. 
If He judges, it is of necessity that men be judged with 
respect to their doings; and if every one is judged in respect 
of his doings, there shall at some time be a righteous separa- 
tion between righteous men and sinners. This, I think, was 
the substance of the whole discourse. 


CHAP. XL.— Genests. 


«Tf, therefore, it can be shown that mind and reason 
created all things, it follows that those things which come 
after are also managed by reason and providence. But if un- 
intelligent and blind nature produces all things, the reason of 
judgment is undoubtedly overthrown; and there is no ground 
to expect either punishment of sin or reward of well-doing 
where there is no judge. Since, then, the whole matter de- 
pends upon this, and hangs by this head, do not take it amiss 
if I wish this to be discussed and handled somewhat more 
fully. For in this the first gate, as it were, is shut towards all 
things which are propounded, and therefore I wish first of all 
to have it opened to me. Now therefore hear what my- doc- 
trine is; and if any one of you pleases, let him reply to me: 
for I shall not be ashamed to learn, if I hear that which is 
true, and to assent to him who speaks rightly. The discourse, 
then, which you delivered yesterday, which asserted that all 
things consist by art, and measure, and reason, does not fully 
persuade me that it is mind and reason that has made the 
world; for I have many things which I can show to consist 
by competent measure, and form, and species, and which yet 
were not made by mind and reason. Then, besides, I see 


Book vu] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 385 


that many things are done in the world without arrangement, 
consequence, or justice, and that nothing can be done without 
the course of genesis. This I shall in the sequel prove most 
clearly from my own case.” 


Cnar. xrr.— Te rainbow. 


When tle old man had thus spoken, Aquila answered: 
‘¢ As you yourself proposed that any one who pleased should 
have an opportunity of answering to what you might say, my 
brother Niceta permits me to conduct the argument to-day.” 
Then the old man: * Go on, my son, as you please.” And 
Aquila answered : “ You promised that you would show that 
there are many things in the world which have a form and 
species arranged by equal reason, which yet it is evident 
were not effected by God as their Creator. Now, then, as 
you have promised, point out these things.” ‘Then said the 
old man: * Behold, we see the bow in the heaven assume 
a circular shape, completed in all proportion, and have an 
appearance of reality, which perhaps neither mind could have 
constructed nor reason described ; and yet it is not made by 
any mind. Behold, I have set forth the whole in a word: 
now answer me." 


Crap. XLII.— Types and forms. 


Then said Aquila: “If anything is expressed from a type 
and form, it is at once understood that it is from reason, 
and that it could not be made without mind; since the type 
itself, which expresses figures and forms, was not made with- 
out mind. For example, if wax be applied to an engraved 
ring, it takes the stamp and figure from the ring, which un- 
doubtedly is without sense ; but then the ring, which expresses 
the figure, was engraven by the hand of a workman, and it 
was mind and reason that gave the type to the ring. So 
then the bow also is expressed in the air; for the sun, im- 
pressing its rays on the clouds in the process of rarefaction, 
and affixing the type of its circularity to the cloudy moisture, 
as it were to soft wax, produces the appearance of a bow; 
and this, as I have said, is effected by the reflection of the 

2B 


386 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book vui. 


sun’s brightness upon the clouds, and reproducing the bright- 
ness of its circle from them. Now this does not always take 
place, but only when the opportunity is presented by the 
rarefaction of moistened clouds. And consequently, when 
the clouds again are condensed and unite, the form of the 
bow is dissolved and vanishes. Finally, the bow never is 
seen without sun and clouds, just as the image is not pro- 
duced, unless there be the type, and wax, or some other 
material. Nor is it wonderful if God the Creator in the be- 
ginning made types, from which forms and species may now 
be expressed. But this is similar to that, that in the begin- 
ning God created insensible elements, which He might use 
for forming and developing all other things. But even those 
who form statues, first make a mould of clay or wax, and 
from it the figure of the statue is produced. And then after- 
. wards a shadow is also produced from the statue, which 
shadow always bears the form and likeness of the statue. 
What shall we say then? That the insensible statue forms 
a shadow finished with as diligent care as the statue itself ? 
Or shall the finishing of the shadow be unhesitatingly ascribed 
to him who has also fashioned the statue ? 


CHAP. XLi1.— Things apparently useless and vile made by 
God. 


“Tf, then, it seems to you that this is so, and what has 
been said on this subject is enough, let us come to inquire 
into other matters; or if you think that something is still 
wanting, let us go over it again.” And the old man said: *I 
wish you would go over this again, since there are many other 
things which I see to be made in like manner: for both the 
fruits of trees are produced in like manner, beautifully formed 
and wonderfully rounded; and the appearance of the leaves 
is formed with immense gracefulness, and the green mem- 
brane is woven with exquisite art: then, moreover, fleas, mice, 
lizards, and such like, shall we say that these are made by 
God? Hence, from these vile objects a conjecture is derived 
concerning the superior, that they are by no means formed 
by the art of mind.” “ You infer well,” said Aquila, * con- 


4,À X 


Book viu.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. δὲ 


cerning the texture of leaves, and concerning small animals, 
that from these belief is withdrawn from the superior creatures; 
but let not these things deceive you, that you should think 
that God, working as it were only with two hands, could not 
complete all things that are made; but remember how my 
brother Niceta answered you yesterday, and truly disclosed 
the mystery before the time, as a son speaking with his father, 
and explained why and how things are made which seem to 
be useless." 


CHAP. XLIV.— Ordinate and inordinate. 


Then the old man: “I should like to hear from you why 
those useless things are made by the will of that supreme 
mind?" “Tf,” said he, * it is fully manifest to you that there 
is in them the work of mind and reason, then you will not 
hesitate to say also why they were made, and to declare that 
they have been rightly made.” To this the old man answered: 
(1 am not able, my son, to say that those things which seem 
formed by art are made by mind, by reason of other things 
which we see to be done unjustly and disorderly in the world." 
“Tf,” says Aquila, “those things which are done disorderly do 
not allow you to say that they are done by the providence of 
God, why do not those things which are done orderly compel 
you to say that they are done by God, and that irrational 
nature cannot produce a rational work? For it is certain, 
nor do we at all deny, that in this world some things are done 
orderly, and some disorderly. ‘Those things, therefore, that 
are done rationally, believe that they are done by providence ; 
but those that are done irrationally and inordinately, that 
they befall naturally, and happen accidentally. But I wonder 
that men do not perceive, that where there is sense things 
may be done ordinately and inordinately, but where there is 
no sense neither the one nor the other can be done; for 
reason makes order, and the course of order necessarily pro- 
duces something inordinate, if anything contrary happen to 
disturb order.” Then the old man: “ This very thing I wish 
you to show me.” 


383 HECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book vut. 


Crap. XLv.—Motions of the sun and moon. 

Says Aquila: “I shall do so without delay. Two visible 
signs are shown in heaven—one.of the sun, the other of the 
moon; and these are followed by five other stars, each de- 
scribing its own separate orbit. These, therefore, God has 
placed in the heaven, by which the temperature of the air 
may be regulated according to the seasons, and the order of 
vicissitudes and alternations may be kept. But by means of 
the very same [signs], if at any time plague and corruption 
is sent upon the earth for the sins of men, the air is disturbed, 
pestilence is brought upon animals, blight upon crops, and a 
destructive year in every way upon men; and thus it is that 
by one and the same means order is both kept and destroyed. 
For it is manifest even to the unbelieving and unskilful, that 
the course of the sun, which is useful and necessary to the 
world, and which is assigned by providence, is always kept 
orderly; but the courses of the moon, in comparison of the 
course of the sun, seem to the unskilful to be inordinate and 
unsettled in her waxings and wanings. For the sun moves 
in fixed and orderly periods: for from him are hours, from 
him the day when he rises, from him also the night when he 
sets; from him months and years are reckoned, from him the 
variations of seasons are produced; while, rising to the higher 
regions, he tempers the spring; but when he reaches the top 
of the heaven, he kindles the summer's heats: again, sinking, 
he produces the temper of autumn; and when he returns to 
his lowest circle, he bequeaths to us the rigour of winter's 
cold from the icy binding of heaven. 


Crar. XLVI.—Sun and moon ministers both of good and evil. 


“ But we shall discourse at greater length on these subjects 
at another time. Now, meantime, [we remark that] though 
he is that good servant for regulating the changes of the 
seasons, yct, when chastisement is inflicted upon men accord- 
ing to the will of God, he glows more fiercely, and burns up 
the world with more vehement fires. In like manner also the . 
course of the moon, and that changing which seems to the 
unskilful to be disorderly, is adapted to the growth of crops, 


Book vr.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 389 


and cattle, and all living creatures; for by her waxings and 
wanings, by a certain wonderful contrivance of providence, 
everything that is born is nourished and grows; concerning 
which we could speak more at length and unfold the matter 
in detail, but that the method of the question proposed recalls 
us. Yet, by the very same appliances by which they are 
produced, all things are nourished and increased; but when, 
from any just cause, the regulation of the appointed order is 
changed, corruption and distemper arises, so that chastisement 
may come upon men by the will of God, as we have said 


above. 


CHAP. XLVII.— Chastisements on the righteous and the wicked. 


* But perhaps you will say, What of the fact that, in that 
commion chastisement, like things befall the pious and the 
impious? It is true, and we confess it; but the chastisement 
turns to the advantage of the pious, that, being afflicted in 
the present life, they may come more purified to the future, 
in which perpetual rest is prepared for them, and that at 
the same time even the impious may somewhat profit from 
their chastisement, or else that the just sentence of the future 
judgment may be passed upon them; since in the same 
chastisements the righteous give thanks to God, while the 
unrighteous blaspheme. Therefore, since the opinion of 
things is divided into two parts, that some things are done 
by order and others against order, it ought, from those things 
which are done according to order, to be believed that there 
is a providence; but with respect to those things which are 
done against order, we should inquire their causes from those 
who have learned them by prophetic teaching: for those 
who have become acquainted with prophetic discourse know 
when, and for what reason, blight, hail, and pestilence, and 
such like, have occurred in every generation, and for what 
sins these have been sent as a punishment; whence causes 
of sadness, lamentations, and griefs have befallen the human 
race; whence also trembling sickness has ensued, and that 
this has been from the beginning the punishment of parricide.! 

! (sen. iv, 12, in LXX. 


390 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book vin. 


Crap. XLVUI.—Chastisements for sins. 


“For in the beginning of the world there were none of 
these evils, but they took their rise from the impiety of men; 
and thence, with the constant increase of iniquities, the 
number of evils has also increased. But for this reason 
divine providence has decreed a judgment with respect to 
all men, because the present life was not such that every 
one could be dealt with according to his deservings. Those 
things, therefore, which were well and orderly appointed 
from the beginning, when no causes of evil existed, are net 
to be judged of from the evils which have befallen the world - 
by reason of the sins of men. In short, as an indication 
of the things which were from the beginning, some nations 
are found which are strangers to these evils. For the Seres, 
because they live chastely, are kept free from them all; for 
with them it is unlawful to come at a woman after she has 
conceived, or while she is being purified. No one there eats 
unclean flesh, no one knows aught of sacrifices; all are 
judges to themselves according to justice. For this reason 
they are not chastened with those plagues which we have 
spoken of; they live to extreme old age, and die without 
sickness. But we, miserable as we are, dwelling as it were 
with deadly serpents!—I mean with wicked men—necessarily 
suffer with them the plagues of afflictions in this world, but 
we cherish hope from the comfort of good things to come." 


Cup. XLiX.— God's precepts despised. 


“Tf,” said the old man, “ even the righteous aré tormented 
on account of the iniquities of others, God ought, as fore- 
seeing this, to have commanded men not to do those things 
from which it should be necessary that the righteous be 
afflicted with the unrighteous; or if they did them, He ought 
to have applied some correction or purification to the world.”? 
“God,” said Aquila, “did so command, and gave precepts 
by the prophets how men ought to live; but even these pre- 


1 Ezek. ii. 6. 
3 This rendering is according to a marginal reading. 


Book vu] LRECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 391 


cepts they despised : yea, if any desired to observe them, them 
they afflicted with various injuries, until they drove them 
from their purposed observance, and turned thom to the 
rabble of infidelity, and made them like unto themselves. 


Cuar. L.— The flood. 


“Wherefore, in short, at the first, when all the earth had 
been stained with sins, God brought a flood upon the world, 
which you say happened under Deucalion; and at that time 
He saved a certain righteous man, with his sons, in an ark, 
and with him the race of all plants and animals. And yet 
even those who sprang from them, after a time, again did 
deeds like to those of their predecessors; for those things that 
had befallen them were forgotten, so that their descendants 
did not even believe that the flood had taken place. Where- 
fore God also decreed that there should not be another flood 
in the present world, else there should have been one in every 
generation, according to the account of their sins by reason 
of their unbelief; but He rather granted that certain angels 
who delight in evil should bear sway over the several nations 
—and to them was given power over individual men, yet only 
on this condition, if any one first had made himself subject 
to them by sinning—until He should come who delights in 
good, and by Him the number of the righteous should be 
completed, and by the increase of the number of pious men 
all over the world impiety should be in some measure repressed, 
and it should be known to all that all that is good is done by 
God. ° 


Cuap. Lr.—£Evils brought in by sin. 


‘But by the freedom of the will, every man, while he is 
unbelieving in regard to things to come, by evil deeds runs 
into evils. And these are the things in the world which 
seem to be done contrary to order, which owe their existence 
to unbelicf. Therefore the dispensation of divine providence 
is withal to be admired, which granted to those men in the 
beginning, walking in the good way of life, to enjoy incor- 


ruptible good things; but when they sinned, they gave birth 


392 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.  [Boox vr. 


to evil by sin. And to every good thing evil is joined as by 
a certain covenant of alliance on the part of sin, since indeed 
the earth has been polluted with human blood, and altars 
have been lighted to demons, and they have polluted the 
very air by the filthy smoke of sacrifices ; and so at length the 
elements, being first corrupted, have handed over to men the 
fault of their corruption, as roots [communicate their qualities] 
to the branches and the fruit. 


Crap. Lir.—€ No rose without its thorn.” 


* Observe therefore in this, as I have said, how justly divine 
providence comes to the help of things vitiated ; that, inas- 
much as evils which had derived their origin from sin were 
associated with the good things of God, He should assign two 
chiefs to these two departments. And [accordingly] to Him 
who rejoices in good He has appointed the ordering of good 
things, that He might bring those who believe [in Him] to 
the faith of His providence; but to him who rejoices in evil, 
He has given over those things which are done without order 
and uselessly, from which of course the faith of His provi- 
dence comes into doubt; and thus a just division has been 
made by a just God. Hence therefore it is, that whereas the 
orderly course of the stars produces faith that tle world was 
made by the hand of a designer, on the other hand, the dis- 
turbance of the air, the pestilent breeze, the uncontrolled fire 
of the lightning, cast doubt upon the work of providence. 
For, as we have said, every good thing has its corresponding 
contrary evil thing joined with it; as hail is opposite to the 
fertilizing showers, the corruption of mildew is associated with 
the gentle dew, the whirlwinds of storms are joined with the 
soft winds, unfruitful trees with fruitful, noxious herbs with 
useful, wild and destructive animals with gentle ones. But 
all these things are arranged by God, because that the choice 
of men’s will has departed from the purpose of good, and 
fallen away to evil. 


Cap. Liu.—Lverything has its corresponding contrary. 


« Therefore this division holds in all the things of the world ; 


Book vii.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 393 


and as there are pious men, so there are also impious ; as there 
are- prophets, so also there are false prophets; and amongst 
the Gentiles there are philosophers and false philosophers. 
Also the Arabian nations, and many others, have imitated the 
circumcision of the Jews for the service of their impiety. So 
also the worship of demons is contrary to the divine worship, 
baptism to baptism, laws to the law, false apostles to apostles, 
and false teachers to teachers. And hence it is that among 
the philosophers some assert providence, others deny it; some 
maintain that there is one God, others that there are more 
than one: in short, the matter has come to this, that whereas 
demons are expelled by the word of God, by which it is de- 
clared that there is a providence, the magical art, for the 
confirmation of infidelity, has found out ways of imitating 
this by contraries. Thus has been discovered the method of 
counteracting the poison of serpents by incantations, and the 
effecting of cures contrary to the word and power of God. 
The magic art has also found out ministries contrary to the 
angels of God, placing the calling up of souls and the fig- 
ments of demons in opposition to these. And, not to prolong 
the discourse by a further enumeration, there is nothing what- 
ever that makes for the belief of providence, which has not 
something, on the other hand, prepared for unbelief; and 
therefore they who do not know that division of things, think 
that there is no providence, by reason of those things in the 
world which are discordant from themselves. But do you, 
my father, as a wise man, choose from that division the part 
which preserves order and makes for the belief of providence, 
and do not only follow that part which runs against order and 
neutralizes the belief of providence." 


CHar. Liv.—An illustration. 


To this the old man answered : * Show me a way, my son, 
by which I may establish in my mind one or other of these 
two orders, the one of which asserts, and the other denies, 
providence.” “To one having a right judgment,” says Aquila, 
*the decision is easy. For this very thing that you say, 
order and disorder, may be produced by a contriver, but not 


991 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. | [Boox vu. 


by insensible nature. For let us suppose, by way of illus- 
tration, that a great mass were torn from a high rock, and 
cast down headlong, and when dashed upon the ground were 
broken into many pieces, could it in any way happen that, 
amongst that multitude of fragments, there should be found 
even one which should have any perfect figure and shape?" 
The old man answered: “It is impossible.” * But,” said 
Aquila, “if there be present a statuary, he can by his skilful 
hand and reasonable mind form the stone cut from the moun- 
tain into whatever figure he pleases.” The old man said: 
“That is true.” Therefore,” says Aquila, “ when there is 
not a rational mind, no figure can be formed out of the mass ; 
but when there is a designing mind, there may be both form 
and deformity: for example, if a workman cuts from the 
mountain a block to which he wishes to give a form, he must 
first cut it out unformed and rough ; then, by degrees ham- 
mering and hewing it by the rule of his art, he expresses the 
form which he has conceived in his mind. Thus, therefore, 
from informity or deformity, by the hand of the workman 
form is attained, and both proceed from the workman. In 
like manner, therefore, the things which are done in the world 
are accomplished by the providence of a contriver, although 
they may seem not quite orderly. And therefore, because 
these two ways have been made known to you, and you have 
heard the divisions of them, flee from the way of unbelief, 
lest haply it lead you to that prince who delights in evils ; 
but follow the way of faith, that you may come to that King 
who delighteth in good men.” 


Cuar. Lv.—The two kingdoms. 


To this the old man answered: “ But why was that prince 
made who delights in evil? And from what was he made? 
Or was he not made?” Aquila said: * The treatment of 
that subject belongs to another time; but that you may not 
go away altogether without an answer to this, I shall give a 
few hints on this subject also. God, foreseeing all things 
before the creation of the world, knowing that the men who 
were to be would some of them indeed incline to good, but 


Boo vu] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 395 


others to the opposite, assigned those who should choose the 
: good to His own government and His own care, and called 
them His peculiar inheritance; ! but He gave over the govern- . 
ment of those who should turn to evil to those angels who, 
not by their substance, but by opposition, were unwilling to 
remain with God, being corrupted by the vice of envy and 
pride. Those, therefore, he made worthy princes of worthy 
subjects; yet he so delivered them over to those angels, that 
they have not the power of doing what they will against 
them, unless they transgress the bounds assigned to them 
from the beginning. And this is the bound assigned, that 
unless one first do the will of the demons, the demons have 
no power over him." 


ΟΠΔΡ. LVI.— Origin of evil. 


Then the old man said: * You have stated it excellently, 
my son. It now remains only that you tell me whence is the 
substance of evil: for if it was made by God, the evil fruit 
shows that the root is in fault; for it appears that it also is of 
an evil nature. But if this substance was co-eternal with 
God, how can that which was equally unproduced and co- 
eternal be subject to the other?” “ It was not always,” said 
Aquila; “but neither does it necessarily follow, if. it was 
made by God, that its Creator should be thought to be such 
as is that which has been made by Him. For indeed God 
made the substance of all things; but if a reasonable mind, 
which has been made by God, do not acquiesce in the laws 
of its Creator, and go beyond the bounds of the temperance 
prescribed to it, how does this reflect on the Creator? Or if 
there is any reason higher than this, we do not know it; for 
we cannot know anything perfectly, and especially concerning 
those things for our ignorance of which we are not to be 
judged. But those things for which we are to be judged are 
most easy to be understood, and are despatched almost in a 
word. For almost the whole rule of our actions is summed 
up in this, that what we are unwilling to suffer we should not 
do to others. For as you would not be killed, you must 

1 Dent. xxxii. 8, in LXX. 


396 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. | [Book vu. 


beware of killing another; and as you would not have your 
own marriage violated, you must not defile another's* bed; 
you would not be stolen from, neither must you steal; and 
every matter of men's actions is comprehended within this 
rule." 


CnaAr. Lvir.—7e old man unconvinced. 


Then the old man: * Do not take amiss, my son, what I 
am going to say. Though your words are powerful, yet they 
cannot lead me to believe that anything can be done apart 
from genesis. For I know that all things have happened to 
me by the necessity of genesis, and therefore I cannot be 
persuaded that either to do well or to do ill is in our power; 
and if we have not our actions in our power, it cannot be 
believed that there is a judgment to come, by which either 
punishments may be inflicted on the evil, or rewards bestowed 
on the good. In short, since I see that you are initiated in 
this sort of learning, I shall lay before you a few things from 
the art itself.” “Tf,” says Aquila, “ you wish to add anything 
from that science, my brother Clement will answer you with 
all care, since he has attended more fully to the science of 
mathematics. For I can maintain in other ways that our 
actions are in our own power; but I ought not to presume 
upon those things which I have not learned.” 


Crap. Lvitt.—Sitting in judgment upon God. 


When Aquila had thus spoken, then I Clement said: 
“To-morrow, my father, you shall speak as you please, 
and we will gladly hear you; for I suppose it will also be 
gratifying to you that you have to do with those who are not 
ignorant of the science which you profess.” When, therefore, 
it had been settled between the old man and me, that on the 
following day we should hold a discussion on the subject of 
genesis—whether all things are done under its influence, or 
there be anything in us which is not done by genesis, but by 
the judgment of the mind— Peter rose up, and began to speak 
to the following effect : * To me it is exceedingly wonderful, 
that things which can easily be found out men make difficult 


Book vu.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 997 


by recondite thoughts and words; and those especially who 
think themselves wise, and who, wishing to comprehend the 
will of God, treat God as if He were a man, yea, as if He were 
something less than a man : for no one can know the purpose 
or mind of a man unless he himself reveal his thoughts ; and 
neither can any one learn a profession unless he be for a long 
time instructed by a master. How much more must it be, that 
no one can know the mind or the work of the invisible and 
incomprehensible God, unless He Himself send a prophet to 
declare His purpose, and expound the way of His creation, 
so far as it is lawful for men to learn it! Ilence I think it 
ridiculous when men judge of the power of God in natural 
ways, and think that this is possible and that impossible to 
Him, or this greater and that less, while they are ignorant of 
everything ; who, being unrighteous men, judge the righteous 
God; unskilled, judge the contriver; corrupt, judge the in- 
corruptible; creatures, judge the Creator. 


Crap. Lix.— The true Prophet. 


* But I would not have you think, that in saying this I take 
away the power of judging concerning things; but I give 
counsel that no one walk through devious places, and rush 
into errors without end. And therefore I advise not only 
wise men, but indeed all men who have a desire of knowing 
what is advantageous to them, that they seek after the true 
Prophet; for it is He alone who knoweth all things, and who 
knoweth what and how every man is seeking. For He is 
within the mind of every one of us, but in those who have no 
desire of the knowledge of God and His righteousness, He is 
inoperative ; but Ie works in those who seek after that which 
is profitable to their souls, and kindles in them the light of 
knowledge. Wherefore seek Him first of all; and if you do 
not find Him, expect not that you shall learn anything from 
any other. But He is soon found by those who diligently 
seek IIim through love of the truth, and whose souls are not 
taken possession of by wickedness. For Ile is present with 
those who desire Him in the innocency of their spirits, who 
bear patiently, and draw sighs from the bottom of their hearts 


398 tECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. | [Book vur. 


through love of the truth; but He deserts malevolent minds! 
because as a prophet He knows the thoughts of every one. 
And therefore let no one think that he can find Him by his 
own wisdom, unless, as we have said, he empty his mind of 
all wickedness, and conceive a pure and faithful desire to 
know Him. For when any one has so prepared himself, He 
Himself as a prophet, seeing a mind prepared for Him, of 
His own accord offers Himself to his knowledge. 


CnAP. LX.—His deliverances not to be questioned. 


«'Dherefore, if any one wishes to learn all things, [he can- 
not do it by] discussing them one by one; for, being mortal, 
he shall not be able to trace the counsel of God, and to scan 
immensity itself. But if, as we have said, he desires to learn 
all things, let him seek after the true Prophet ; and when he 
has found Him, let him not treat with Him by questions and 
disputations and arguments; but if He has given any re- 
sponse, or pronounced any judgment, it cannot be doubted 
that this is certain. And therefore, before all things, let the 
true Prophet be sought, and His words be laid hold of. In 
respect to these this only should be discussed by every one, 
that he may satisfy himself if they are truly His prophetic 
words; that is, if they contain undoubted faith of things to 
come, if they mark out definite times, if they preserve the 
order of things, if they do not relate as last those things 
which are first, nor as first those things which were done last, 
if they contain nothing subtle, nothing composed by magic 
art to deceive, or if they have not transferred to themselves 
things which were revealed to others, and have mixed them 
with falsehoods. And when, all these things having been 
discussed by right judgment, it is established that they are 
prophetic words, so they ought to be at once believed con- 
cerning all things on which they have spoken and answered. 


Cuar. Lxr.—/Jgnorance of the philosophers. 


* For let us consider carefully the work of divine provi- 
dence. For whereas the philosophers have introduced certain 
1 Wisd. i. 4. 


Book vui.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 999 


subtile and difficult words, so that not even the terms that 
they use in their discourses can be known and understood by 
all, God has shown that those who thought themselves word- 
farmers are altogether unskilful as respects the knowledge 
of the truth.  Forthe knowledge of things which is imparted 
by the true Prophet is simple, and plain, and brief; which 
those men walking through devious places, and through the 
stony difficulties of words, are wholly ignorant of. There- 
fore, to modest and simple minds, when they see things come 
to pass which have been foretold, it is enough, and more 
than enough, that they may receive most certain knowledge 
from most certain prescience; and for the rest may be 
at peace, having received evident knowledge of the truth. 
For all other things are treated by opinion, in which there 
can be nothing firm. For what speech is there which may 
not be contradicted? And what argument is there that may 
not be overthrown by another argument? And hence it is, 
that by disputation of this sort men can never come to any 
end of knowledge and learning, but find the end of their 
life sooner than the end of their questions. 


Crap. Lx1Ir.—ZEnd of the conference. 


* And, therefore, since amongst these [philosophers] are 
things uncertain, we must come to the true Prophet. Him 
God the Father wished to be loved by all, and accordingly He 
has been pleased wholly to extinguish those opinions which 
have originated with men, and in regard to which there is 
nothing like certainty—that He [the true Prophet] might be 
the more sought after, and that He whom’ they had obscured 
should show to men the way of truth. For on this account 
also God made the world, and by Him the world is filled; 
whence also He is everywhere near to them who seek. IIim, 
though He be sought in the remotest ends of the earth. But 
if any one seek Him not purely, nor holily, nor faithfully, 
IIe is indeed within him, because He is everywhere, and is 

1 If we were to read quam instead of quem, the sense would be: that 


IIe might lay open to men the way of truth which they had blocked up. 
So Whiston. 


400 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. | [Book viu. 


found within the minds of all men; but, as we have said 
before, He is dormant to the unbelieving, and is held to be 
absent from those by whom His existence is not believed." 
And when Peter had said this, and more to the same effect, 
concerning the true Prophet, he dismissed the crowds; and 
when he very earnestly entreated tlie old man to remain with 
us, he could prevail nothing; but he also departed, to return 
next day, as had been agreed upon. And after this, we also, 
with Peter, went to our lodging, and enjoyed our accustomed 
food and rest. 


RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 


———— 


BOOK IX. 


, Cnar. 1.—An explanation. 


PEN the following day, Peter, along with us, hastened 
early to the place in which the discussion had 
been held the day before; and when he saw that 
great crowds had assembled there to hear, and 
saw the old man with them, he said to him: “Old man, it was 
agreed yesterday that you should confer to-day with Clement ; 
and that you should either show that nothing takes place 
apart from genesis, or that Clement should prove that there 
is no such thing as genesis, but that what we do is in our 
own power." 'Tothis the old man answered : “I both remem- 
ber what was agreed upon, and I keep in memory the words 
"which you spoke after the agreement was made, in which 
you taught that it is impossible for man to know anything, 
unless he learn from the true Prophet.” Then Peter said: 
* You do not know what I meant; but I shall now explain 
to you. I spoke of the will and purpose of God, which He 
had before the world was, and by which purpose He made the 
world, appointed times, gave the law, promised a world to 
come to the righteous for the rewarding of their good deeds, 
and decreed punishments to the unjust according to a judi- 
cial sentence. I said that this counsel and this will of God 
cannot be found out by men, because no man can gather the 
mind of God from conjectures and opinion, unless a prophet 
sent by Him declare it. I did not therefore speak of any 
doctrines or studies, that they cannot be found out or known 
without a prophet; for I know that both arts and sciences 
can be known and practised by men, which they have learned, 
not from the true Prophet, but from human instructors. 
2€ 





402 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [ Boox 1x. 


Crap. 11.—Preliminaries. 


« Since, therefore, you profess to be conversant with the 
position of the stars and the courses of the heavenly bodies, 
and that from these you can convince Clement that all things 
are subject to genesis, or that you will learn from him that 
all things are governed by providence, and that we have 
something in our own power, it is now the time for you two 
to set about this.” To this the old man answered: * Now 
indeed it was not necessary to raise questions of this kind, if 
it were possible for us to learn from the true Prophet, and 
to hear in a definite proposition, that anything depends on us 
and on the freedom of our will; for your yesterday's dis- 
course affected me greatly, in which you disputed concerning 
the prophetic power. Whence also I assent to and confirm 
your judgment, that nothing can be known by man with 
certainty, and without doubt, seeing that he has but a short 
period of life, and a brief and slender breath, by which he 
seems to be kept in life. However, since I am understood to 
have promised to Clement, before I heard anything of the 
prophetic power, that I should show that all things are sub- 
ject to genesis, or that I should learn from him that there is 
something in ourselves, let him do me this favour, that he 
first begin, and propound and explain what may be objected : 
for I, ever since I heard from you a few words concerning 
the power of prophecy, have, I confess, been confounded, 
considering the greatness of prescience; nor do I think that 
anything ought to be received which is collected from con- 
jectures and opinion." 


Cuap. 111.— Beginning of the discussion. 


When the old man had said this, I Clement began to 
speak as follows: “ God by His Son created the world as a 
double house, separated by the interposition of this firma- 
ment, which is called heaven; and appointed angelic powers 
to dwell in the higher, and a multitude of men to be 
born in this visible world, from amongst whom He might 
choose friends for His Son, with whom He might rejoice, 


Book ix] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 408 


and who might be prepared for Him as a beloved bride for a 
bridegroom. But even till the time of the marriage, which 
is the manifestation of the world to come, He has appointed 
a certain power, to choose out and watch over the good ones 
of those who are born in this world, and to preserve them for 
His Son, set apart in a certain place of the world, which is 
without sin ; in which there are already some, who are there 
being prepared, as I said, as a bride adorned for the coming 
of the bridegroom. For the prince of this world and of the 
present age is like an adulterer, who corrupts and violates the 
minds of men, and, seducing them from the love of the true 
bridegroom, allures them to strange lovers. 


Cnar. 1v.— Why the evil prince was made. 


* But some one will say, How then was it necessary that 
that prince should be made, who was to turn away the minds 
of men from the true prince? Because God, who, as I have 
said, wished to prepare friends for His Son, did not wish 
them to be such as by necessity of nature could not be aught 
else, but such as should desire of their own choice and will 
to be good; because neither is that praiseworthy which is 
not desirable, nor is that judged to be good which is not 
sought for with purpose. For there is no credit in being 
that from which the necessity of your nature does not admit 
of your changing. Therefore the providence of God has 
willed that a multitude of men should be born in this world, 
that those who should choose a good life might be selected 
from many. And because He foresaw that the present world 
could not consist except by variety and inequality, He gave 
to each mind freedom of motions, according to the diversities 
of present things, and appointed this prince, through his sug- 
gestion of those things which run contrary, that the choice 
of better things might depend upon the exercise of virtue. 


Crap. v.—Necessity of inequality. 


* But to make our meaning plainer, we shall explain it by 
particulars. Was ‘it proper, for example, that all men in 
this world should be kings, or princes, or lords, or teachers, 


404 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox rm. 


or lawyers, or geometers, or goldsmiths, or bakers, or smiths, 
or grammarians, or rich men, or farmers, or perfumers, or 
fishermen, or poor men? It is certain that all could not be 
these. Yet all these professions, and many more, the life of 
men requires, and without these it cannot be passed ; there- 
fore inequality is necessary in this world. For there cannot 
be a king, unless he has subjects over whom he may rule and 
reign; nor can there be a master, unless he has one over 
whom he may bear sway; and in like manner of the rest. 


Cuap. vi.—Arrangements of the world for the exercise 
of virtue. | 

“Therefore the Creator, knowing that no one would come 
to the contest of his own accord, while labour is shunned,— 
that is, to the practice of those professions which we have 
mentioned, by means of which either the justice or the mercy 
of every one can be manifested, —made for men a body sus- 
ceptible of hunger, and thirst, and cold, in order that men, 
being compelled for the sake of supporting their bodies, 
might come down to all the professions which we have men- 
tioned, by the necessity of livelihood. For we are taught to 
cultivate every one of these arts, for the sake of food, and 
drink, and clothing. And in this the purpose of each one's 
mind is shown, whether he will supply the demands of hunger 
and cold by means of thefts, and murders, and perjuries, and 
other crimes of that sort; or whether, keeping justice and 
mercy and continence, he will fulfil the service of imminent 
necessity by the practice of a profession and the labour of 
his hands. For if he supply his bodily wants with justice, 
and piety, and mercy, he comes forth as a victor in the con- 
test set before him, and is chosen as a friend of the Son of 
God. But if he serve carnal lusts, by frauds, iniquities, and 
crimes, he becomes a friend of the prince of this world, and 
of all demons; by whom he is also taught this, to ascribe to 
the courses of the stars the errors of his own evil doings, 
although he chose them of purpose, and willingly. For arts 
are learned and practised, as we have said, under the com- 


pulsion of the desire of food and drink; which desire, when 


Book ix] -RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 405 


the knowledge of the truth comes to any one, becomes 
weaker, and frugality takes its place. For what expense 
have those who use water and bread, and who expect it from 


God ? 


Cap. vi1.— The old and the new birth. 


“There is therefore, as we have said, a certain necessary 
inequality in the dispensation of the world. Since indeed 
all men cannot know all things, and accomplish all works, 
yet all need the use and service of almost all. And on this 
account it is necessary that one work, and another pay him 
for his work; that one be servant, and another be master; 
that one be subject, another be king. But this inequality, 
which is a necessary provision for the life of men, divine 
providence has turned into an occasion of justice, mercy, and 
humanity: that while these things are transacted between 
man and man, every one may have an opportunity of acting 
justly with him to whom he has to pay wages for his work; 
and of acting mercifully to him who, perhaps through sick- 
ness or poverty, cannot pay his debt ; and of acting humanely 
towards those who by their creation seem to be subject to 
him; also of maintaining gentleness towards subjects, and of 
doing all things according to the law of God. For He has 
given a law, thereby aiding the minds of men, that they may 
the more easily perceive how they ought to act with respect 
to everything, in what way they may escape evil, and in what 
way tend to future blessings; and how, being regenerate in 
water, they may by good works extinguish the fire of their 
old birth. For our first birth descends through the fire of 
lust, and therefore, by the divine appointment, this second 
birth is introduced by water, which may extinguish the nature 
of fire ; and that the soul, enlightened by the heavenly Spirit, 
may cast away the fear of the first birth : provided, however, 
it so live for the time to come, that it do not at all seek after 
any of the pleasures of this world, but be, as it were, a 
pilgrim and a stranger,’ and a citizen of another city. 

1 Ps. xxxix. 12. 


406 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [ Boox 1x. 


Cuap. vir1.— Uses of evils. 


* But perhaps you will say, that in those things indeed in 
which the necessity of nature demands the service of arts and 
works, any one may have it in his power to maintain justice, 
and to put what restraint he pleases either upon his desires 
or his actions; but what shall we say of the sicknesses and 
infirmities which befall men, and of some being harassed with 
demons, and fevers, and cold fits, and some being attacked 
with madness, or losing their reason, and all those things 
which overwhelm the race of man with innumerable misfor- 
tunes? To this we say, that if any one consider the reason 
of the whole mystery, he will pronounce these things to be 
more just than those that we have already explained. ' For 
God has given a nature to men, by which they may be taught 
concerning what is good, and to resist evil; that is, they may 
learn arts, and to resist pleasures, and to set the law of God 
before them in all things. And for this end He has permitted 
certain contrary powers to wander up and down in the world, 
and to strive against us, for the reasons which have been 
stated before, that by striving with them the palm of victory 
and the merit of rewards may accrue to the righteous. 


CuHapr. 1x.— Conceived in sin.” 


“From this, therefore, it sometimes happens, that if any 
persons have acted incontinently, and have been willing not 
so much to resist as to yield, and to give harbour to these 
[demons] in themselves, by their noxious breath an intem- 
perate, ill-conditioned, and diseased progeny is begotten. For 
while lust is wholly gratified, and no care is taken in the 
copulation, undoubtedly a weak generation is affected with 
the defects and frailties of those demons by whose instiga- 
tion these things are done. And therefore parents are re- 
sponsible for their children’s defects of this sort, because they 
have not observed the law of intercourse. Though there are 
also more secret causes, by which souls are made subject to 
these evils, which it is not to our present purpose to state, 
yet it behoves every one to acknowledge the law of God, that 


Book 1X. | RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 407 


he may learn from it the observance of generation, and avoid 
causes of impurity, that that which is begotten may be pure. 
For it is not right, while in the planting of shrubs and the 
sowing of crops a suitable season is sought for, and the land 
is cleaned, and all things are suitably prepared, lest haply the 
seed which is sown be injured and perish, that in the case of 
man only, who is over all these things, there should be no 
attention or caution in sowing his seed. 


ΟΗΔΡ. x.—Tow smeared with pitch. 


* But what, it is said, of the fact that some who in their 
childhood are free from any bodily defect, yet in process of 
time fall into those evils, so that some are even violently 
hurried on to death? Concerning these also the account is 
at hand, and is almost the same: for those powers which we 
have said to be contrary to the human race, are in some way 
invited into the heart of every one by many and diverse lusts, 
and find a way of entrance; and they have in them such 
influence and power as can only encourage and incite, but 
cannot compel or accomplish. If, therefore, any one consents 
to them, so-as to do those things which he wickedly desires, 
his consent and deed shall find the reward of destruction and 
the worst kind of death. But if, thinking of the future 
judgment, he be checked by fear, and reclaim himself, so 
that he do not accomplish in action what he has conceived 
in his evil thought, he shall not only escape present destruc- 
tion, but also future punishments. For every cause of sin 
seems to be like tow smeared over with pitch, which imme- 
diately breaks into flame as soon as it receives the heat of fire; 
and the kindling of this fire is understood to be the work of 
demons. If, therefore, any one be found smeared with sins 
and lusts as with pitch, the fire easily gets the mastery of 
him. But if the tow be not steeped in the pitch of sin, but 
in the water of purification and regeneration, the fire of the 
demons shall not be able to be kindled in it. 


Crap, x1.—Fear. 
* But some one wil say, And what shall we do now, 


408 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox 1x. 


whóm it has already happened to us to be smeared with sins 
as with pitch? I answer: Nothing; but hasten to be washed, 
that the fuel of the fire may be cleansed out of you by 
the invoeation of the holy name, and that for the future you 
may bridle your lusts by fear of the judgment to come, and 
with all constancy beat back the hostile powers whenever 
they approach your senses. But you say, If any one fall 
into love, how shall he be able to contain himself, though he 
see before his eyes even that river of fire which they call 
Pyriphlegethon? This is the excuse of those who will not 
be converted to repentance. But now I would not have you 
talk of Pyriphlegethon. Place before you human punish- 
ments, and see what influence fear has. When any one is 
brought to punishment for the crime of love, and is bound to 
the stake to be burned, can he at that time conceive any 
desire of her whom he loved, or place her image before his 
eyes? By no means, you will say. You see, then, that present 
fear cuts off unrighteous desires. But if those who believe 
in God, and who confess the judgment to come, and the 
penalty of eternal fire,—if they do not refrain from sin, it is 
certain that they do not believe with full faith: for if faith 
is certain, fear also becomes certain; but if there be any 
defect in faith, fear also is weakened, and then the contrary 
powers find opportunity of entering. And when they have 
consented to their persuasions, they necessarily become sub- 
ject also to their power, and by their instigation are driven 
to the precipices of sin. 


Cuap. x11.—Astrologers. 


“Therefore the astrologers, being ignorant of such mys- 
teries, think that these things happen by the courses of the 
heavenly bodies: hence also, in their answers to those who go 
to them to consult them as to future things, they are deceived 
in very many instances. Nor is it to be wondered at, for 
they are not prophets; but by long practice, the authors of 
errors find a sort of refuge in those things by which they 
. were deceived, and introduce certain climacteric periods, that 
they may pretend a knowledge of uncertain things. For they 


Book 1x.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 409 


represent these climacterics as times of danger, in which one 
sometimes is destroyed, sometimes is not destroyed, not know- 
ing that it is not the course of the stars, but the operation 
of demons, that regulates these things; and those demons, 
being anxious to confirm the error of astrology, deceive men 
to sin by mathematical calculations, so that when they suffer 
the punishment of sin, either by the permission of God or by 
legal sentence, the astrologer may seem to have spoken truth. 
And yet they are deceived even in this; for if men be quickly 
turned to repentance, and remember and fear the future 
judgment, the punishment of death is remitted to those who 
are converted to God by the grace of baptism. 


Caap. xu.—Retribution here or hereafter. 


“But some one will say, Many have committed even 
murder, and adultery, and other crimes, and have suffered 
no evil. This indeed rarely happens to men, but to those 
who know not the counsel of God it frequently seems to 
happen. But God, who knows all things, knows how and 
why he who sins does sin, and what cause leads each one 
to sin. This, however, is in general to be noticed, that if 
any are evil, not so much in their mind as in their doings, 
and are not borne to sin under the incitement of purpose, 
upon them punishment is inflicted more speedily, and more 
in the present life; for everywhere and always God renders 
to every one according to his deeds, as He judges to be ex- 
pedient. But those who practise wickedness of purpose, so 
that they sometimes even rage against those from whom they 
have received benefits, and who take no thought for repent- 
ance—their punishment He defers to the future. For these 
men do not, like those of whom we spoke before, deserve to 
end the punishment of their crimes in the present life; but 
it is allowed them to occupy the present time as they will, 
because their correction is not such as to need temporal 
chastisements, but such as to demand the punishment of 
eternal fire in hell; and there their souls shall seek repent- 
ance, where they shall not be able to find it. 


410 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox 1x. 


CBAr. x1v.— Knowledge deadens lusts. 


“But if, while in this life, they had placed before their eyes 
the punishments which they shall then suffer, they would 
certainly have bridled their lusts, and would in nowise have 
fallen into sin. For the understanding in the soul has much 
power for cutting off all its desires, especially when it has 
acquired the knowledge of heavenly things, by means.of 
which, having received the light of truth, it will turn away 
from all darkness of evil actions. For as the sun obscures 
and conceals all the stars by the brightness of his shining, 
so also the mind, by the light of knowledge, renders all the 
lusts of the soul ineffective and inactive, sending out upon 
them the thought of the judgment to come as its rays, so 
that they can no longer appear in the soul. 


Cuar. xv.—Fear of men and of God. 


“But as ἃ proof that the fear of God has much efficacy 
for the repressing of lusts, take the example of human fear. 
Who is there among men that does not covet his neigh- 
bour’s goods? And yet they are restrained, and act honestly, 
through fear of the punishment which is prescribed by the 
laws. Through fear, nations are subject to their kings, and 
armies obey with arms in their hands. Slaves, although 
they are stronger than their masters, yet through fear submit 
to their masters’ rule. Even wild beasts are tamed by fear; 
the strongest bulls submit their necks to the yoke, and huge 
elephants obey their masters, through fear. But why do we 
use human examples, when even divine are not wanting? 
Does not the earth itself remain under the fear of precept, 
which it testifies by its motion and quaking? The sea keeps 
its prescribed bounds; the angels maintain peace; the stars 
keep their order, and the rivers their channels: it is certain 
also that demons are put to flight by fear. And not to 
lengthen the discourse by too many particulars, see how the 
fear of God, restraining everything, keeps all things in 
proper harmony, and in their fixed order. How much more, 
then, may you be sure that the lusts of demons which arise 


Ld 


Book 1x.} RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 411 


in your hearts may be extinguished and wholly abolished by 
the admonition of the fear of God, when even the inciters 
of lust are themselves' put to flight by the influence of fear? 
You know that these things are so; but if you have any- 
thing to answer, proceed." 


Crap. xvi.—Imperfect conviction. 


Then said the old man: “My son Clement has wisely 
framed his argument, so that he has left us nothing to say to 
these things; but all his discourse which he has delivered 
on the nature of men has this bearing, that along with the 
fact that freedom of will is in man, there is also some cause 
of evil without him, whereby men are indeed incited by 
various lusts, yet are not compelled to sin; and that for this 
reason, he said, because fear is much more powerful than 
they, and it resists and checks the violence of desires, so that, 
although natural emotions may arise, yet sin may not be 
committed, those demons being put to flight who incite and 
inflame these emotions. But these things do not convince 
me; for I am conscious of certain things from which I 
know well, that by the arrangement of the heavenly bodies 
men become murderers or adulterers, and perpetrate other 
evils; and in like manner honourable and modest women are 
compelled to act well. 


Cnap. xv1r.—A etrological lore. 


“In short, when Mars, holding the centre in his house, 
regards Saturn quarterly, with Mercury towards the centre, 
the full moon coming upon him, in the daily genesis, he pro- 
duces murderers, and those who are to fall by the sword, 
bloody, drunken, lustful, devilish men, inquirers into secrets," 
malefactors, sacrilegious persons, and such like; especially 
when there was no one of the good stars looking on. But 


1 Ch. xvii. and ch. xix.-xxix. are taken in an altered form from the 
writing ascribed to Bardesanes, De Fato. 

2 Conjectural reading, ‘‘ to kill with the sword.” 

3 That is, violators of the sacred mysteries, which was regarded as one 
of the most horrid of crimes. 


412 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox rx. 


again Mars himself, having a quarterly position with respect 
to Venus, in a direction toward the centre, while no good 
star looks on, produces adulterers and incestuous persons. 
Venus with the Moon, in the borders and houses of Saturn, 
if she was with Saturn, and Mars looking on, produces 
women that are viragos, ready for agriculture, building, 
and every manly work, to commit adultery with whom they 
please, and not to be convicted by their husbands, to use no 
delicacy, no ointments, nor feminine robes and shoes, but to 
live after the fashion of men. But the unpropitious Venus 
makes men to be as women, and not to act in any respect as 
men, if she is with Mars in Aries; on the contrary, she pro- 
duces women if she is in Capricorn or Aquarius.” 


Cuap. xvi1.—The reply. 


And when the old man had pursued this subject at great 
length, and had enumerated every kind of mathematical figure, 
and also the position of the heavenly bodies, wishing thereby 
to show that fear is not sufficient to restrain lusts, I answered 
again: “Truly, my father, you have argued most learnedly 
and skilfully; and reason herself invites me to say something 
in answer to your discourse, since indeed I am acquainted 
with the science of mathematics, and gladly hold a conference 
with so learned a man. Listen, therefore, while I reply to 
what you have said, that you may learn distinctly that genesis 
is not at all from the stars, and that it is possible for those 
to resist the assault of demons who have recourse to God; 
and, as I said before, that not only by the fear of God can 
natural lusts be restrained, but even by the fear ‘of men, as 
we shall now instruct you. 


Cuar. x1x.— Refutation of astrology. 


“There are, in every country or kingdom, laws imposed by 
men, enduring either by writing or simply through custom, 
which no one easily transgresses. In short, the first Seres, 
who dwell at the beginning of the world,! have a law not to 


1 That is, the farthest east, not, as some of the annotators suppose, 
from the beginning of the world. 


Book x.]] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 418 


know murder, nor adultery, nor whoredom, and not to commit 
theft, and not to worship idols; and in all that country, 
which is very large, there is neither temple, nor image, nor 
harlot, nor adulteress, nor is any thief brought to trial. But 
neither is any man ever slain there; and no man's liberty of 
will is compelled, according to your doctrine, by the fiery 
star of Mars, to use the sword for the murder of man ; nor 
does Venus in conjunction with Mars compel to adultery, 
although of course with them Mars occupies the middle 
circle of heaven every day. But amongst the Seres the fear 
of laws is more powerful than the configuration of genesis. 


CHAP. xx.— Brahmans. 


“There are likewise amongst the Bactrians, in the Indian 
countries, immense multitudes of Brahmans, who also them- 
selves, from the tradition of their ancestors, and peaceful 
customs and laws, neither commit murder nor adultery, nor 
worship idols, nor have the practice of eating animal food, 
are never drunk, never do anything maliciously, but always 
fear God. And these things indeed they do, though the rest 
of the Indians commit both murders and adulteries, and 
worship idols, and are drunken, and practise other wicked- 
- messes of this sort. Yea, in the western parts of India itself 
there is a certain country, where strangers, when they enter 
it, are taken and slaughtered and eaten; and neither have 
good stars prevented these men from such wickednesses and 
from accursed food, nor have malign stars compelled the 
Brahmans to do any evil. Again, there is a custom among 
the Persians to marry mothers, and sisters, and daughters. 
In all that district the Persians contract incestuous marriages. 


Cuap. xx1.—Districts of heaven. 


* And that those who study mathematics may not have it 
in their power to use that subterfuge by which they say that 
there are certain districts of heaven to which it is granted to 
have some things peculiar to themselves, some of that nation 
of Persians have gone to foreign countries, who are called 
Maguszi, of whom there are some to this day in Media, 


414 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boorix 


others in Parthia, some also in Egypt, and a considerable 
number in Galatia and Phrygia, all of whom maintain the 
form of this incestuous tradition without variation, and hand 
it down to their posterity to be observed, even although they 
have changed their district of heaven; nor has Venus with 
the Moon in the confines and houses of Saturn, with Saturn 
also and Mars looking on, compelled them to have a genesis 
among other men.! 


. CHAP. xx11.— Customs of the Gelones. 


‘Amongst the Geli also there is a custom, that women 
cultivate the fields, build, and do every manly work; and 
they are also allowed to have intercourse with whom they 
please, and are not found fault with by their husbands, or 
called adulteresses: for they have promiscuous intercourse 
everywhere, and especially with strangers; they do not use 
ointments ; they do not wear dyed garments, nor shoes. On 
the other hand, the men of the Gelones are adorned, combed, 
clothed in soft and various-coloured garments, decked with 
gold, and besmeared with ointments, and that not through 
lack of manliness, for they are most warlike, and most keen 
hunters. Yet the whole women of the Gelones had not 
at their birth the unfavourable Venus in Capricornus or 
Aquarius; nor had all their men Venus placed with Mars in 
Aries, by which configuration the Chaldean science asserts 
that men are born effeminate and dissolute. 


Cuap. xxir.— Manners of the Suside. 


“But, further, in Suse the women use ointments, and 
indeed of the best sort, being decked with ornaments and 
precious stones ; also they go abroad supported by the aid of 
their maid-servants, with much greater ambition than the men. 
They do not, however, cultivate modesty, but have intercourse 
indifferently with whomsoever they please, with slaves and 


1 This is a literal translation of text. If we read gemesi for genesim, 
we get: ** nor has Venus, etc., compelled them to keep up this custom in 
the midst of others through the force of genesis." Eusebius reads: ** And 
assuredly Venus, etc., is not found in the genesis of all of them.” 


Boox 1x.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 415 


guests, such liberty being allowed them by their husbands ; 
and not only are they not blamed for this, but they also rule 
over their husbands. And yet the genesis of all the Susian 
women has not Venus with Jupiter and Mars in the middle 
of the heaven in the houses of Jupiter. In the remoter parts 
of the East, if a boy be treated unnaturally, when it is dis- 
covered, he is killed by his brothers, or his parents, or any of 
his relations, and is left unburied. And again, among the 
Gauls, an old law allows boys to be thus treated publicly ; 
and no disgrace is thought to attach to it. And is it 
possible, that all those who are so basely treated among the 
Gauls, have had Lucifer with Mercury in the houses of 
Saturn and the confines of Mars ? 


CHAP. xxiv.— Different customs of different countries. 


“In the regions of Britain several men have one wife; in 
Parthia many women have one husband; and each part of the 
world adheres to its own manners and institutions. None of 
the Amazons have husbands, but, like animals, they go out 
from their own territories once a year about the vernal 
equinox, and live with the men of the neighbouring nation, 
observing a sort of solemnity the while, and when they have 
conceived by them they return; and if they bring forth 
a male child, they cast him away, and rear only females. 
Now, since the birth of all is at one season, it is absurd to 
suppose that in the case of males Mars is at the time in equal 
portions with Saturn, but never in the genesis of females; 
and that they have not Mercury placed with Venus in his 
own houses, so as to produce either painters, or sculptors, 
or money-changers; or in the houses of Venus, so that per- 
fumers, or singers, or poets might be produced. Among the 
Saracens, and Upper Libyans, and Moors, and the dwellers 
about the mouths of the ocean, and also in the remote dis- 
tricts of Germany, and among the Sarmatians and Scythians, 
and all the nations who dwell in the regions of the Pontic 
shore, and in the island Chrysea, there is never found a 
money-changer, nor a sculptor, nor a painter, nor an architect, 
nor a geometrician, nor a tragedian, nor a poet. Therefore 


416 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox 1x. 


the influence of Mercury and Venus must be wanting among 
them. 


Cnr. xxv.— Not genesis, but free-will. 


« ''he Medes alone in all the world, with the greatest care, 
throw men still breathing to be devoured by dogs; yet they 
have not Mars with the Moon placed in Cancer all through 
their daily genesis. The Indians burn their dead, and the 
wives of the dead voluntarily offer themselves, and are burned 
with them. But all the Indian women who are burned alive 
have not the Sun under the earth in nightly genesis, with 
Mars in the regions of Mars. Very many of the Germans 
end their lives by the halter; but all have not therefore the 
Moon with Hora begirt by Saturn and Mars. From all 
this it appears that the fear of the laws bears sway in every 
country, and the freedom of will which is implanted in 
man by the Spirit complies with the laws; and genesis can 
neither compel the Seres to commit murder, nor the Brah- 
mans to eat flesh, nor the Persians to shun incest, nor the 
Indians to refrain from burning, nor the Medes from being 
devoured by dogs, nor the Parthians from having many 
wives, nor the women of Mesopotamia from preserving their 
chastity, nor the Greeks from athletic exercises, nor the 
Gallic boys from being abused; nor can it compel the bar- 
barous nations to be instructed in the studies of the Greeks; 
but, as we have said, each nation observes its own laws 
according to free-will, and annuls the decrees of gemesis by 
the strictness of laws. 


CHAP. xxvi.— Climates. 


* But some one skilled in the science of mathematics will 
say that genesis is divided into seven parts, which they call 
climates, and that over each climate one of the seven heavenly 
bodies bears rule; and that those diverse laws to which we 
have referred are not given by men, but by those dominant 
stars according to their will, and that that which pleases the 
star is observed by men asa law. To this we shall answer, 
in the first place, that the world is not divided into seven 


Bookix] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 417 


parts; and in the second place, that if it were so, we find 
many different laws in one part and one country; and there- 
fore there are neither seven [laws] according to the number 
of the heavenly bodies, nor twelve according to the number 
of the signs, nor thirty-six according to that of the divisions 
of ten degrees ; but they are innumerable. 


CHar. xxviI.— Doctrine of “ climates” untenable. 


* Moreover, we ought to remember the things which have 
been mentioned, that in the one country of India there are 
both persons who feed on human flesh, and persons who ab- 
stain even from the flesh of sheep, and birds, and all living 
creatures; and that the Magussi marry their mothers and 
daughters not only in Persia, but that in every nation where 
they dwell they keep up their incestuous customs. Then, 
besides, we have mentioned also innumerable nations, which 
are wholly ignorant of the studies of literature, and also 
some wise men have changed the laws themselves in several 
places; and some laws have been voluntarily abandoned, 
on account of the impossibility of observing them, or on 
account of their baseness. Assuredly we can easily ascertain 
how many rulers have changed the laws and customs of 
nations which they have conquered, and subjected them to 
their own laws. This is manifestly done by the Romans, 
who have brought under the Roman law and the civil decrees 
almost the whole world, and all nations who formerly lived 
under various laws and customs of their own. It follows, 
therefore, that the stars of the nations which have been con- 
quered by the Romans have lost their climates and their 
portions. 


Crap. xxv1II.—ewish customs. 


“T shall add another thing which may satisfy even the most 
incredulous. All the Jews who live under the law of Moses 
circumcise their sons on the eighth day without fail, and shed 

1 The text reads: ** the incestuous customs of their evils, or of their evil 


persons.” Hilgenfeld (Bardesanes, p. 113) notices that it should be, ** of 
their ancestors.” 


2D 


418 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book 1x. 


. the blood of the tender infant. But no one of the Gentiles 
has ever submitted to this on the eighth day; and, on the 
other hand, no one of the Jews has ever omitted it. How 
then shall the account of genesis stand with this, since Jews 
live in all parts of the world, mixed with Gentiles, and on 
the eighth day suffer the cutting of a member? And no one 
of the Gentiles, but only they themselves, as I have said, do 
this, induced to it not by the compulsion of any star, nor by 
the perfusion! of blood, but by the law of their religion; 
and in whatever part of the world they are, this sign is 
familiar to them. But also the fact that one name is 
among them all, wheresoever they are, does this also come 
through genesis? And also that no child born among them 
is ever exposed, and that on every seventh day they all rest, 
wherever they may be, and do not go upon a journey, and 
do not use fire?? Why is it, then, that no one of the Jews 
is compelled by genesis to go on a journey, or to build, or to 
sell or buy anything on that day? 


Car. XxIX.— Te gospel more powerful than “ genesis.” 


* But I shall give a still stronger proof of the matters in 
hand. For, behold, scarcely seven yearg have yet passed 
since the advent of the righteous and true Prophet; and in 
the course of these, men of all nations coming to Judea, and 
moved both by the signs and miracles which they saw, and 
by the grandeur of His doctrine, received His faith ; and then 
going back to their own countries, they rejected the lawless 
rites of the Gentiles, and their incestuous marriages. In short, 
among the Parthians—as Thomas, who is preaching the gospel 
amongst them, has written to us—not many now are addicted 
to polygamy ; nor among the Medes do many throw their dead 
to dogs; nor are the Persians pleased with intercourse with 
their mothers, or incestuous marriages with their daughters ; 
nor do the Susian women practise the adulteries that were 

1 Probably we should read perfusionem instead of perfusione, and then 


the translation would be: ‘‘ no star compelling, or even urging on them 
the shedding of blood." So Whiston translates. - 


y ' ? Ex. xxxv. 3. 


Book x] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 419 


allowed them ; nor has genesis been able to force those into 
crimes whom the teaching of religion restrained. 


Cuap. XXX.— 6 Genesis" inconsistent with Gods justice. 


* Behold, from the very matter in which we are now en- 
gaged, draw an inference, and from the circumstances in 
which we are now placed deduce a conclusion, how, through 
a rumour only reaching the ears of tien that a Prophet had 
appeared in Judea to teach men with signs and miracles to 
worship one God, all were expecting with prepared and eager 
minds, even before the coming of my lord Peter, that some 
one would announce to them what He taught who had ap- 
peared. But lest I should seem to carry the enumeration too 
far, I shall tell you what conclusion ought to be drawn from 
the whole. Since God is righteous, and since He Himself 
made the nature of men, how could it be that He should 
place genesis in opposition to us, which should compel us to 
sin, and then that He should punish us when we do sin? 
Whence it is certain that God punishes no sinner either in 
the present life or in that to come, except because He knows 
that He could have conquered, but neglected victory. For 
even in the present world He takes vengeance upon men, as 
He did upon those who perished in the deluge, who were all 
destroyed in one day, yea, in one hour, although it is certain 
that they were not all born in one hour according to the order 
of genesis. But it is most absurd to say that it befalls us by 
nature to suffer evils, if sins had not gone before. 


CaP. xxx1I.— Value of knowledge. 


‘And therefore, if we desire salvation, we ought above all 
to seek after knowledge, being sure that if our mind remain 
in ignorance, we shall endure not only the evils of genesis, 
but also whatever other evils from without the demons may 
please, unless fear of laws and of the judgrment to come resist 
all our desires, and check the violence of sinning. For even 
human fear does much good, and also much evil, unknown to 
genesis, as we have shown above. Therefore our mind is sub- 
ject to errors in a threefold manner: from those things which 


420 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book ix. 


come to us through evil custom; or from those lusts which 
the body naturally stirs up in us; or from those which hostile 
powers compel us to. But the mind has it in its own nature to 
oppose and fight against these, when the knowledge of truth 
shines upon it, by which knowledge is imparted fear of the 
judgment to come, which is a fit governor of the mind, and 
which can recall it from the precipices of lusts. "That these 
things, therefore, are m our power, has been sufficiently 
stated. 


Crap. xxx11.—Stublborn facts. 


* Now, old man, if you have anything to say in answer to 
these things, say on.” Then said the old man: * You have 
most fully argued, my son; but I, as I said at the first, am 
prevented by my own consciousness from according assent to 
all this incomparable statement of yours. For I know both 
my own genesis and that of my wife, and I know that those 
things have happened which our genesis prescribed to each oi 
us; and I cannot now be withdrawn by words from those 
things which I have ascertained by facts and deeds. In 
short, since I perceive that you are excellently skilled in this 
sort of learning, hear the horoscope of my wife, and you shall 
find the configuration whose issue has occurred. For she 
had Mars with Venus above the centre, and the Moon setting 
in the houses of Mars and the confines of Saturn. Now this 
configuration leads women to be adulteresses, and to love 
their own slaves, and to end their days in foreign travel and 
in waters. And this has: so come to pass. For she fell in 
love with her slave, and fearing at once danger and reproach, 
she fled with him, and going abroad, where she satisfied her 
love, she perished in the sea." 


CHAP. ΧΧΧΙΙΙ.---αη approaching Recognition. 


Then I answered: * How know you that she cohabited 
with her slave abroad, and died in his society?” Then the 
old man said : * I know it with perfect certainty ; not indeed. 
that she was married to the slave, as indeed I had not even 
discovered that she loved him. But after she was gone, my 


Book Ix. ] WKECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 421 


brother gave me the whole story, telling me that first she had 
loved himself ; but he, being honourable as a brother, would 
not pollute his brother's bed with the stain of incest. But 
she, being both afraid of me, and unable to bear the unhappy 
reproaches (and yet she should not be blamed for that to 
which her genesis compelled her), pretended a dream, and said 
to me: *Some one stood by me in a vision, who ordered me 
to leave the city without delay with my two twins, When 
1 heard this, being anxious for her safety and that of my 
sons, I immediately sent away her and the children, retaining 
with myself one who was younger. For this she said that 
he had permitted who had given her warning in her sleep." 


Cirar. xxxiv.— The other side of the story. 


Then I Clement, understanding that he perchance was 
my father, was drowned in tears, and my brothers also were 
ready to rush forward and to disclose the matter; but Peter 
restrained them, saying: “Be quiet, until I give you per- 
mission.” Therefore Peter, answering, said to the old man: 
“ What was the name of your younger son?” And he said: 
“Clement.” Then Peter: “If I shall this day restore to 
you your most chaste wife and your three sons, will you 
believe that a modest mind can overcome unreasonable im- 
pulses, and that all things that have been spoken by us are 
true, and that genesis is nothing?” Then said the old man: 
* As it is impossible for you to perform what you have pro- 
mised, so it is impossible that anything can take place apart 
from genesis. Then says Peter: “I wish to have all who 
are here present as witnesses that I shall this day hand over 
to you your wife, who is living most chastely, with your three 
sons. And now take a token of these things from this, that I 
know the whole story much more accurately than you do; 
and I shall relate the whole occurrences in order, both that 
you may know them, and that those who are present may 
learn." 


CHAP. xxxv.— Revelations. 
When he had said this, he turned to the crowds, and thus 


422 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boor 1x. 


began: “This person whom you see, O men, in this poor 
garb, is a citizen of the city Rome, descended of the stock 
of Cesar himself. His name is Faustinianus. He obtained 
as his wife a woman of the highest rank, Matthidia by name. 
By her he had three sons, two of whom were twins; and 
the one who was the younger, whose name was Clement, is 
this man!” When he said this, he pointed to me with 
his finger. * And his twin sons are these men, Niceta and 
Aquila, the one of whom was formerly called Faustinus and 
the other Faustus" But as soon as Peter pronounced our 
names, all the old man's limbs were weakened, and he fell 
down in a swoon. But we his sons rushed to him, and 
embraced and kissed him, fearing that we might not be able 
to recall his spirit. And while these things were going on, 
the people were confounded with very wonder. 


CHAP. xxxvI.—JVew revelations. 


But Peter ordered us to rise from embracing our father, 
lest we should kill him; and he himself, laying hold of his 
hand, and lifting him up as from a deep sleep, and gradually 
reviving him, began to set forth to him the whole transactions 
as they had really happened: how his brother had fallen in 
love with Matthidia, and how she, being very modest, had 
been unwilling to inform her husband of his brother’s lawless 
love, lest she should stir up hostility between the brothers, 
and bring disgrace upon the family; and how she had wisely 
pretended a dream, by which she was ordered to depart from 
the city with her twin sons, leaving the younger one with his 
father ; and how on their voyage they had suffered shipwreck 
through the violence of a storm; and how, when they were 
cast upon an island called Antaradus, Matthidia was thrown 
by a wave upon a rock, but her twin children were seized by 
pirates and carried to Cesarea, and there sold to a pious 
woman, who treated them as sons, and brought them up, and 
caused them to be educated as gentlemen ; and how the pirates 
had changed their names, and called the one Niceta and 
the other Aquila; and how afterwards, through [common] 
studies and acquaintanceship, they had adhered to Simon; 


Dook 1x.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 428 


and how they had turned away from him when they saw 
him to be a magician and a deceiver, and had come to 
Zaccheus; and how subsequently they had been associated 
with himself ; and how Clement also, setting out from the 
city for the sake of learning the truth, had, through his 
acquaintance with Barnabas, come to Cesarea, and had 
become known to him, and had adhered to him, and how he 
had been taught by him the faith of his religion; and also 
how he had found and recognised his mother begging at 
Antaradus, and how the whole island rejoiced at his recogni- 
tion of her; and also concerning her sojourn with her most 
chaste hostess, and the cure that he had wrought upon her, 
' and concerning the liberality of Clement to those who had been 
kind to his mother; and how afterwards, when Niceta and 
Aquila asked who the strange woman was, and had heard 
the whole story from Clement, they cried out that they were 
her twin sons Faustinus and Faustus; and how they had un- 
folded the whole history of what had befallen them ; and how 
afterwards, by the persuasion of Peter himself, they were 
presented to their mother with caution, lest she should be 
cut off by the sudden joy. 


CHAP. xxxvir.—4Another Recognition. 


But while Peter was detailing these things in the hearing 
of the old man, in a narrative which was most pleasing to the 
crowd, so that the hearers wept through wonder at the events, 
and through compassion for sufferings incident to humanity,' 
my mother, hearing (I know not how) of the recognition of 
my father, rushed into the middle of us in breathless haste, 
crying out, and saying: * Where is my husband, my lord 
Faustinianus, who has been so long afflicted, wandering from 
city to city in search of me?” While she shouted thus like 
one demented, and gazed around, the old man, running up, 
began to embrace and hug her with many tears. And while 
these things were going on, Peter requested the crowds to 
disperse, saying that it was unseemly to remain longer; but 
that opportunity must be afforded them of seeing one another 

1 Lit. “ through pity of humanity.” 


424 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox 1x. 


more privately. “ But to-morrow,” said he, “if any of you 
wish it, let them assemble to hear the word." 


CHAP. xxxvIII.—'* Angels unawares.” 


When Peter had said this, the crowds dispersed ; and when 
we also were intending to go to our lodging, the master of 
the house said to us: “It is base and wicked that such and 
so great men should stay in a hostelry, when I have almost 
my whole house empty, and very many beds spread, and all 
necessary things provided. But when Peter refused, the 
wife of the householder prostrated herself before him with 
her children, and besought him, saying, “I entreat you, stay 
with us.” But not even so did Peter consent, until the 
daughter of those people who asked him, who ‘had been for a 
long time vexed with an unclean spirit, and bound with chains, 
who had been shut up in a closet, having had the demon 
expelled from her, and the door of the closet opened, came 
with her chains and fell down at Peter's feet, saying: “It is 
right, my lord, that you keep my deliverance-feast here to- 
day, and not sadden me or my parents.” But when Peter 
asked what was the meaning of her chains and of her words, 
her parents, gladdened beyond hope by the recovery of their 
daughter, were, as it were, thunderstruck with astonishment, 
and could not speak; but the servants who were in attend- 
ance said: “This girl has been possessed of a demon from 
her seventh year, and used to cut, and bite, and even to tear 
in pieces, all who attempted to approach her, and this she has 
never ceased to do for twenty years till the present time. Nor 
could any one cure her, or even approach her, for she ren- 
dered many helpless, and even destroyed some; for she was 
stronger than any man, being doubtless strengthened by the 
power of the demon. But now, as ‘you sce, the demon has 
fled from your presence, and the doors which were shut with 
the greatest strength have been opened, and she herself stands 
before you in her sound mind, asking of you to make the day 
of her recovery gladsome both to herself and her parents, and 
to remain with them.” When one of the servants had made 
this statement, and the chains of their own accord were 


Dook 1x.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 425 


loosened from her hands and feet, Peter, being sure that it 
was by his means that soundness was restored to the girl, 
consented to remain with them. And he ordered those also 
who liad remained in the lodging, with his wife, to come 
over ; and every one of us having got a separate bed-chamber, 
we remained; and having taken food in the usual manner, 
and given praises to God, we went to sleep in our several 
apartments. 


RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 


— P 


BOOK X. 


Crap. 1.— Probation. 


ea UT in the morning, after sunrise, I Clement, 
£94 and Niceta and Aquila, along with Peter, came 
to the apartment in which my father and mother 
were sleeping; and finding them still asleep, we 
sat down before the door, when Peter addressed us in 
such terms as these: * Listen to me, most beloved fellow- 
servants: I know that you have a great affection for your 
father; therefore I am afraid that you will urge him too soon 
to take upon himself the yoke of religion, while he is not yet 
prepared for it; and to this he may perhaps consent, through 
his affection for you. But this is not to be depended on; 
for what is done for the sake of men is not worthy of appro- 
bation, and soon falls to pieces. Therefore it seems to me, 
that you should permit him to live for a year according to his 
own judgment; and during that time he may travel with 
us, and while we are instructing others he may hear with 
simplicity ; and as he hears, if he has any right purpose of 
acknowledging the truth, he will himself request that he may 
take up the yoke of religion; or if he do not please to take 
it, he may remain a friend. For those who do not take it up 
heartily, when they begin not to be able to bear it, not only 
cast off that which they had taken up, but by way of excuse, 
as it were, for their weakness, they begin to speak evil of the 
way of religion, and to malign those whom they have not 
been able to follow or to imitate." 

496 






Book x.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 427 


Cuap. 11.—A difficulty. 


To this Niceta answered: * My lord Peter, I say nothing 
against your right and good counsels; but I wish to say one 
thing, that thereby I may learn something that I do not know. 
What if my father should die within the year during which 
you recommend that he should be put off? He will go down 
to hell helpless, and so be tormented for ever Then said 
Peter: *I embrace your kindly purpose towards your father, 
and I forgive you in respect of things of which you are igno- 
rant. Jor do you suppose that, if any one is thought to have 
lived righteously, he shall forthwith be saved? Do you not 
think that he must be examined by Him who knows the 
secrets of men, as to how he has lived righteously, whether 
perchance according to the rule of the Gentiles, obeying their 
institutions and laws; or for the sake of the friendship of 
men; or merely from custom, or any other cause; or from 
necessity, and not on account of righteousness itself, and for 
the sake of God? For those who have lived righteously, for 
the sake of God alone and His righteousness, they shall 
come to eternal rest, and shall receive the perpetuity of the 
heavenly kingdom. For salvation is not attained by force, 
but by liberty; and not through the favour of men, but by 
the faith of God. Then, besides, you ought to consider that 
God is prescient, and knows whether this man is one of His. 
Dut if He knows that he is not, what shall we do with respect 
to those things which have been determined by Him from 
the beginning? But wherein I can, I give counsel: when 
he is awake, and we sit down together, then do you, as if you 
wished to learn something, ask a question about those matters 
which it is fitting for him to learn; and while we speak to 
one another, he will gain instruction. But yet wait first to 
see if he himself ask anything; for if he do so, the occasion 
of discourse will be the fitter. But if he do not ask anything, 
let us by turns put questions to one another, wishing to learn 
something, as I have said. Such is my judgment, state what 
is yours." 


428 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Booz x. 


Crap. 111.—A suggestion. 


And when we had commended his right counsel, I Clement 
said: * In all things, the end for the most part looks back 
upon the beginning, and the issue of things is similar to their 
commencement. I hope, therefore, with respect to. our father 
also, since God by your means has given a good beginning, 
that He will bestow also an ending suitable to the beginning, 
and worthy of Himself. However, I make this suggestion, 
that if, as you have said, we begin to speak, in presence of 
my father, as if for the purpose of discussing some subject, 
or Jearning something from one another, you, my lord Peter, 
ought not to occupy the place of one who has anything to learn; 
for if he see this, he will rather be offended. For he is con- 
vinced that you fully know all things, as indeed youdo. How 
then will it be, if he see you pretending ignorance? This, 
as I have said, will rather hurt him, being ignorant of your 
design. But if we brothers, while we converse among our- 
selves, are in any doubt, let a fitting solution be given by you 
to our inquiry. For if he see even you hesitating and doubt- 
ing, then truly he will think that no one has knowledge of 
the truth.” 


Crap. Iv.—Free inquiry. 


To this Peter answered: * Let us not concern ourselves 
about this; and if indeed it is fitting that he enter the gate 
of life, God will afford a fitting opportunity ; and there shall 
be a beginning from God, and not from man. And there- 
fore, as I have said, let him journey with us, and hear our 
discussions; but because I saw you in haste, therefore I said 
that opportunity must be sought; and when God shall give it, 
do you comply with my advice in what I shall say." While 
we were thus talking, a boy came to tell us that our father 
was now awake; and when we were intending to go in to 
him, he himself came to us, and saluting us with a kiss, after 
we had sat down again, he said: * Is it permitted to one to 
ask a question, if he wishes it; or is silence enforced, after the 
manner of the Pythagoreans?" Then said Peter: * We do 


Book x.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 429 


not compel those who come to us either to keep silence con- 
tinually, or to ask questions; but we leave them free to do 
as they will, knowing that he who is anxious about his sal- 
vation, if he feels pain in any part of his soul, does not suffer 
it to be silent. Dut he who neglects his salvation, no advan- 
tage is conferred upon him if he is compelled to ask, except- 
ing this only, that he may seem to be earnest and diligent. 
Wherefore, if you wish to get any information, ask on." 


CnaAP. v.— Good and evil. 


Then the old man said: “There is a saying very prevalent 
among the Greek philosophers, to the effect that there is in 
reality neither good nor evil in the life of man; but that men 
call things good or evil as they appear to them, prejudiced 
by the use and custom of life. For not even murder is really 
an evil, because it sets the soul free from the bonds of the 
flesh. Further, they say that even just judges put to death 
those who commit crimes; but if they knew homicide to be 
an evil, just men would not do that. Neither do they say 
that adultery is an evil; for if the husband does not know, 
or does not care, there is, they say, no evil in it. Dut neither, 
say they, is theft an evil; for it takes away what one does not 
possess from another who has it. And, indeed, it ought to be 
taken freely and openly; but in that it is done secretly, that 
is rather a reproof of his inhumanity from whom it is secretly 
taken. For all men ought to have the common use of all 
things that are in this world; but through injustice one says 
that this is his, and another that that is his, and so division 
is caused among men. In short, a certain man, the wisest 
among the Greeks,' knowing that these things are so, says that 
friends should have all things common. Now, in all things 
unquestionably wives are included. ' He says also that, as the 
air and the sunshine cannot be divided, so neither ought other 
things to be divided, which are given in this world to all to 
be possessed in common, but should be so possessed. But 
I wished to say this, because I am desirous to turn to well- 


1 Allusion is made to Socrates and community of wives, as stated in 
the Republic of Plato. 


430 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox x. 


doing, and I cannot act well unless I first learn what is good; 
and if I can understand that, I shall thereby perceive what 
is evil, that is, opposite to good. 


Crap. vi.—Peter’s authority. 


* But I should like that one of you, and not Peter, should 
answer what I have said; for it is not fitting to take words 
and instruction at his hand, with questions ; but when he gives 
a deliverance on any subject, that should be held without 
answering again. And therefore let us keep him as an 
umpire ; so that if at any time our discussion does not come to 
an issue, he may declare what seems good to him, and so give 
an undoubted end to doubtful matters. And now therefore I 
could believe, content with his sole opinion, if he expressed any 
opinion ; and this is what I shall do at last. Yet I wish first 
to see if it is possible by discussion to find what is sought. My 
wish therefore is, that Clement should begin first, and should 
show if there is any good or evil in substance or in actions.” 


Cuap. vir.—Clement's argument. 


To this I answered: “ Since indeed you wish to learn from 
me if there is any good or evil in nature or in act, or whether 
it is not rather that men, prejudiced by custom, think some 
things to be good, and others to be evil, forasmuch as they 
have made a division among themselves of common things, 
which ought, as you say, to be as common as the air and the 
sunshine; I think that I ought not to bring before you any 
statements from any other quarter than from those studies 
in which you are well versed, and which you support, so that 
what I say you will receive without hesitation. You assign 
certain boundaries of all the elements and the heavenly bodies, 
and these, you say, meet in some without hurt, as in marriages; 
but in others they are hurtfully united, asin adulteries. And 
you say that some things are general to all, but other things 
do not belong to all, and are not general. But not to make 
a long discussion, I shall speak briefly of the matter. The 
earth which is dry is in need of the addition and admixture 
of water, that it may be able to produce fruits, without which 


Book x.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 481 


man cannot live: this is therefore a legitimate conjunction. 
On the contrary, if the cold of hoar-frost be mixed with the 
earth, or heat with the water, a conjunction of this sort pro- 
duces corruption ; and this, in such things, is adultery.” 


CHAP. Vill.—Admitted evils. 


Then my father answered: “ But as the harmfulness of 
an inharmonious conjunction of elements or stars is imme- 
diatcly betrayed, so ought also adultery to.be immediately 
shown that it is an evil.” Then I: “First tell me this, 
whether, as you yourself have confessed, evils are produced 
from incongruous and inharmonious mixture; and then after 
that we shall inquire into the other matter." Then my father 
said: * The nature of things is as you say, my son.” Then 
I answered: “Since, then, you wish to learn of these things, 
see how many things there are which no one doubts to be 
evils. Do you not think that a fever, a fire, sedition, the 
fall of a house, murder, bonds, racks, pains, mournings, and 
such like, are evils?” Then said my father: “It is true, my 
son, that these things are evil, and very evil ; or, at all events, 
whoever denies that they are evil, let him suffer them !” 


Cnr. IX.— Existence of evil on astrological principles. 


Then I answered: “Since, therefore, I have to deal with 
one who is skilled in astrological science, I shall treat the 
matter with you according to that science, that, taking my 
method from those things with which you are familiar, you 
may the more readily acquiesce. Listen now, therefore: you 
confess that those things which we have mentioned are evils, 
such as fevers, conflagrations, and such like. Now these, 
according to you, are said to be produced by malignant stars, 
such as the humid Saturn and the hot Mars; but things con- 
trary to these are produced by benignant stars, such as the 
temperate Jupiter and the humid Venus. Is it notso?” My 
father answered : “It is so, my son; and it cannot be other- 
wise." Then said I: “Since you say, therefore, that good 
things are produced by good stars—by Jupiter and Venus, for 
example—let us see what is the product where any one of the 


432 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox x. 


evil stars is mixed with the good, and let us understand that 
that is evil. For you lay it down that Venus makes mar- 
riages, and if she have Jupiter in her configuration she makes 
the marriages chaste; but if Jupiter be not regarding, and 
Mars be present, then you pronounce that the marriages 
are corrupted by adultery.” Then said my father: “ It is 
even so.” Then I answered: “ Therefore adultery is an evil, 
seeing that it is committed through the admixture of evil 
stars ; and, to state it in a word, all things that you say that 
the good stars suffer from the mixture of evil stars, are un- 
doubtedly to be pronounced to be evil. Those stars, therefore, 
by whose admixture we have said that fevers, conflagrations, 
and other such like evils are produced,—those, according to 
you, work also murders, adulteries, thefts, and also produce 
haughty and stolid men.” 


Cuap. x.—Ilow to make progress. 


Then my father said: “Truly you have shown briefly 
and incomparably that there are evils in actions; but still I 
should wish to learn this, how God justly judges those who 
sin, as you say, if genesis compels them to sin?” Then I 
answered: “TJ am afraid to speak anything to you, my 
father, because it becomes me to hold you in all honour; 
else I have an answer to give you, if it were becoming." 
Then says my father: * Speak what occurs to you, my son ; 
for it is not you, but the method of inquiry, that does the 
wrong, as a modest woman to an incontinent man, if she is 
indignant for her safety and her honour.” Then I answered: 
* [f we do not hold by the principles that we have acknow- 
ledged and confessed, but if those things which have been 
defined are always loosened by forgetfulness, we shall seem 
to be weaving Penelope's web, undoing what we have done. 
And therefore we ought either not to acquiesce too easily, 
before we have diligently examined the doctrine propounded ; 
or if we have once acquiesced, and the proposition has been 
agreed to, then we ought to keep by what has been once de- 
termined, that we may go on with our inquiries respecting 
other matters.” And my father said: “You say well, my 


Book x. | RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 433 


son ; and I know why you say this: it is because in the dis- 
cussion yesterday on natural causes, you showed that some 
malignant power, transferring itself into the order of the 
stars, excites the lusts of men, provoking them in various 
ways to sin, yet not compelling or producing sins.” To this I 
answered : “It is well that you remember it; and yet, though 
you do remember it, you have fallen into error.” Then said 
my father: * Pardon me, my son; for I have not yet much 
practice in these things: for indeed your discourses yester- 
day, by their truth, shut me up to agree with you; yet in my 
consciousness there are, as it were, some remains of fevers, 
which for a little hold me back from faith, as from health. 
For I am distracted, because I know that many things, yea, 
almost all things, have befallen me according to genesis." 


CuaP. x1.—Test of astrology. 


Then I answered: “TI shall therefore tell you, my father, 
what is the nature of mathematics, and do you act according 
to what I tell you. Goto a mathematician, and tell him first 
that such and such evils have befallen you at such a time, and 
that you wish to learn of him whence, or how, or through 
what stars they have befallen you. He will no doubt answer 
you that a malignant Mars or Saturn has ruled your times, 
or that some one of them has been periodic; or that some 
one has regarded you diametrically, or in conjunction, or 
centrally; or some such answer will he give, adding that in 
all these some one was not in harmony with the malignant 
one, or was invisible, or was in the figure, or was beyond the 
division, or was eclipsed, or was not in contact, or was among 
the dark stars; and many other like things will he answer, 
according to his own reasons, and will condescend upon par- 
ticulars. After him go to another mathematician, and tell 
him the opposite, that such and such goed happened to you 
at that time, mentioning to him the same time, and ask him 
from what parts of your genesis this good has come to you, 
and take care, as I said, that the times are the same with 
those about which you asked concerning evils. And when 
you have deceived him concerning the times, see what figures 

2E 


) 


434 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book x. 


he will invent for you, by which to show that good things 
ought to have befallen you at those very times. For it is 
impossible for those treating of the genesis of men not to find 
in every quarter, as they call it, of the heavenly bodies, some 
stars favourably placed, and some unfavourably; for the 
circle is equally complete in every part, according to mathe- 
matics, admitting of diverse and various causes, from which 
they can take occasion of saying whatever they please. 


Cuar. x11.— Astrology baffled by free-will. 


“For, as usually happens when men see unfavourable 
dreams, and can make nothing certain out of them, when any 
event occurs, then they adapt what they saw in the dream 
to what has occurred; so also is mathematics. For before 
anything happens, nothing is declared with certainty ; but 
after something has happened, they gather the causes of the 
event. And thus often, when they have been at fault, and 
the thing has fallen out otherwise, they take the blame to 
themselves, saying that it was such and such a star which 
opposed, and that they did not see it ; not knowing that their 
error does not proceed from their unskilfulness in their art, 
but from the inconsistency of the whole system. For they 
do not know what those things are which we indeed desire to 
do, but in regard to which we do not indulge our desires. 
But we who have learned the reason of this mystery know the 
cause, since, having freedom of will, we sometimes oppose our 
desires, and sometimes yield to them. And therefore the issue 
of human doings is uncertain, because it depends upon freedom 
of will. For a mathematician can indeed indicate the desire 
which a malignant power produces ; but whether the acting or 
the issue of this desire shall be fulfilled or not, no one can know 
before the accomplishment of the thing, because it depends 
upon freedom of will. And this is why ignorant astrologers 
have invented to themselves the talk about climacterics as 
their refuge in uncertainties, as we showed fully yesterday. 


Cuap. x111.—People admitted. 
* If you have anything that you wish to say to this, say on." 


Book x. | RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 435 


Then my father: * Nothing can be more true, my son, than 
what you have stated." And while we were thus speaking 
among ourselves, some one informed us that a great multitude 
of people were standing outside, having assembled for the 
purpose of hearing. Then Peter ordered them to be ad- 
mitted, for the place was large and convenient. And when 
they had come in, Peter said to us: “If any one of you 
wishes, let him address the people, and discourse concerning 
idolatry.’ To whom I Clement answered: * Your great 
benignity and gentleness and patience towards all encourages 
us, so that we dare speak in your presence, and ask what we 
please ; and therefore, as I said, the gentleness of your dis- 
position invites and encourages all to undertake the precepts 
of saving doctrine. This I never saw before in any one else, 
but in you only, with whom there is neither envy nor indig- 
nation. Or what do you think?” 


Cuap. x1v.— No man has universal knowledge. 


Then Peter said: “These things come not only from envy 
or indignation ; but sometimes there is a bashfulness in some 
persons, lest haply they may not be able to answer fully the 
questions that may be proposed, and so they avoid the discovery 
of their want of skill. But no one ought to be ashamed of 
this, because there is no man who ought to profess that he 
knows all things; for there is only One who knows all things, 
even He who also made all things. For if our Master declared 
that He knew not the day and the hour whose signs even He 
foretold, and referred the whole to the Father, how shall we 
account it disgraceful to confess that we are ignorant of some 
things, since in this we have the example of our Master ? 
But this only we profess, that we know those things which 
we have learned from the true Prophet; and that those 
things have been delivered to us by the true Prophet, which 
He judged to be sufficient for human knowledge.” 


Crap. xv.—Clement’s discourse. 


Then I Clement went on to speak thus: “ At Tripolis, 
when you were disputing against the Gentiles, my lord 


436 .— RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boos x. 


Peter, I greatly wondered at you, that although you were 
instructed by your father according to the fashion of the 
Hebrews and in observances of your own law, and were 
never polluted by the studies of Greek learning, you argued 
so magnificently and so incomparably; and that you even 
touched upon some things concerning the histories of the 
gods, which are usually declaimed in the theatres. But as 
I perceived that their fables and blasphemies are not so 
wel known to you, I shall discourse upon these in your 
hearing, repeating them from the very beginning, if it please 
you." Then says Peter: “Say on; you do well to assist my 
preaching." "Then said I: “I shall speak, therefore, because 
you order me, not by way of teaching you, but of making 
public what foolish opinions the Gentiles entertain of the 


gods, 


Cuap. xvr.— Would that all God's people were prophets.” 


But when I was about to speak, Niceta, biting his lip, 
beckoned to me to be silent. And when Peter saw him, he 
said: * Why would you repress his liberal disposition and 
noble nature, that you would have him be silent for my 
honour, which is nothing? Or do you not know, that if all 
nations, after they have heard from me the preaching of the 
truth, and have believed, would betake themselves to teaching, 
they would gain the greater glory for me, if indeed you think 
me desirous of glory? For what so glorious as to prepare 
disciples for Christ, not who shall be silent, and shall be 
saved alone, but who shall speak what they have learned, 
and shall do good to others? I wish indeed that both you, 
Niceta, and you, beloved Aquila, would aid me in preaching 
the word of God, and the rather because those things in 
which the Gentiles err are well known to you; and not you 
only, but all who hear me, I wish, as I have said, so to hear 
and to learn, that they may be able also to teach: for. the 
world needs many helpers, by whom men may be recalled 
from error.” When he had spoken thus, he said to me: “Go 
on then, Clement, with what you have begun.” 


Boox x.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 437 


Cuap. xvi1.— Gentile cosmogony. 


And I immediately rejoined: * Seeing that when you were 
disputing at Tripolis, as I said, you discoursed much con- 
cerning the gods of the Gentiles profitably and convincingly, I 
desire to set forth in your presence the ridiculous legends con- 
cerning their origin, both that you may not be unacquainted 
with the falsehood of this vain superstition, and that the 
hearers who are present may know the disgraceful character of 
their error. The wise men, then, who are among the Gentiles, 
say that first of all things was chaos; that this, through a 
long time solidifying its outer parts, made bounds to itself 
and a sort of foundation, being gathered, as it, were, into the 
manner and form of a huge egg, within which, in the course 
of a long time, as within the shell of the egg, there was 
cherished and vivified a certain animal; and that afterwards, 
that huge globe being broken, there came forth a certain 
kind of man of double sex, which they call masculo-feminine. 
This they called Phanetas, from appearing, because when it 
appeared, they say, then also light shone forth. And from 
this, they say that there were produced substance, prudence, 
motion, and coition, and from these the heavens and the 
earth were made. From the heaven they say that six males 
were produced, whom they call Titans; and in like manner, 
from the earth six females, whom they called Titanides. 
And these are the names of the males who sprang from the 
heaven: Oceanus, Coeus, Crios, Hyperion, Iapetus, Chronos, 
who amongst us is called Saturn. In like manner, the names 
of the females who sprang from the earth are these: Theia, 
Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Tethys, Hebe. 


Cur. xvii1.—Family of Saturn. 


‘Of all these, the first-born of the heaven took to wife the 
first-born of earth ; the second the second, and in like manner 
all the rest. The first male, therefore, who had married the 
first female, was on her account drawn downwards; but the 
second female rose upwards, by reason of him to whom she 
was married ; and so each doing in their order, remained in 


438 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book x. 


those places which fell to their share by the nuptial lot. 
From their intercourse they assert that innumerable others 
sprang. But of these six males, the one who is called Saturn 
received in marriage Rhea, and having been warned by a 
certain oracle that he who should be born of her should be 
more powerful than himself, and should drive him from his 
kingdom, he determined to devour all the sons that should 
be born to him. First, then, there is born to him a son called 
Aides, who amongst us is called Orcus; and him, for the 
reason we have just stated, he took and devoured. After 
him he begot a second son, called Neptune; and him he 
devoured in like manner. Last of all, he begot him whom 
they call Jupiter; but him his mother Rhea pitying, by 
stratagem withdrew from his father when he was about to 
devour him. And first, indeed, that the crying of the child 
might not be noticed, she made certain Corybantes strike 
cymbals and drums, that by the deafening sound the crying 
of the infant might not be heard. 


CHAP. x1x.— Their destinies. 


“ But when he understood from the lessening of her belly 
that her child was born, he demanded it, that he might 
devour it; then Rhea presented him with a large stone, and 
told him that that was what she had brought forth. And 
. he took it, and swallowed it; and the stone, when it was 
devoured, pushed and drove forth those sons whom he had 
formerly swallowed. "Therefore Orcus, coming forth first, 
descended, and occupies the lower, that is, the infernal 
regions. The second, being above him—he whom they call 
Neptune—is thrust forth upon the waters. The third, who 
survived by the artifice of his mother Rhea, she put upon a 
she-goat and sent into heaven. 


Cnr. xx.— Doings of Jupiter. 


* But enough of the old wife's fables and genealogy of the 
Gentiles ; for it were endless if I should set forth all the genera- 
tions of those whom they call gods, and their wicked doings. 
But by way of example, omitting the rest, I shall detail the 


Book x.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 439 


wicked deeds of him only whom they hold to be tlie greatest 
and the chief, and whom they call Jupiter. For they say 
that he possesses heaven, as being superior to the rest; and 
he, as soon as he grew up, married his own sister, whom 
they call Juno, in which truly he at once becomes like 
a beast. Juno bears Vulcan; but, as they relate, Jupiter 
was not his father. However, by Jupiter himself she became 
mother of Medea; and Jupiter having received a response 
that one who should be born of her should be more powerful 
than himself, and should expel him from his kingdom, took 
her and devoured her. Again Jupiter produced Minerva 
from his brain, and Bacchus from his thigh. After this, 
when he had fallen in love with Thetis, they say that Prome- 
theus informed him that, if he lay with her, he who should 
be born of her should be more powerful than his father ; and 
for fear of this, he gave her in marriage to one Peleus. 
Subsequently he had intercourse with Persephone, who was 
his own daughter by Ceres; and by her he begot Dionysius! 
who was torn in pieces by the Titans. But calling to mind, 
it is said, that perhaps his own father Saturn might beget 
another son, who might be more powerful than himself, and 
might expel him from the kingdom, he went to war with 
his father, along with his brothers the Titans; and having 
beaten them, he at last threw his father into prison, and cut 
off his genitals, and threw them into the sea. But the blood 
which flowed from the wound, being mixed with the waves, 
and turned into foam by the constant churning, produced 
her whom they call Aphrodite, and whom with us they call 
Venus. From his intercourse with her who was thus his 
own sister, they say that this same Jupiter begot Cypris, 
who, they say, was the mother of Cupid. 


Cuap. xx1.—A black catalogue. 


“Thus much of his incests; I shall now speak of his 
adulteries. He defiled Europa, the wife of Oceanus, of 


1 Dionysius appears here and subsequently in the text for Dionysus, 
the Greek god corresponding to the Latin Bacchus. Some of the other 
names are more or less corrupt forms. 


440 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox x. 


whom was born Dodonzus; Helen, the wife of Pandion, 
of whom Muszeus; Eurynome, the wife of Asopus, of whom 
Ogygias; Hermione, the wife of Oceanus, of whom the 
Graces, Thalia, Euphrosyne, Aglaia ; Themis, his own sister, 
of whom the Hours, Eurynomia, Dice, Irene ; Themisto, the 
daughter of Inachus, of whom Arcas: Idea, the daughter of 
Minos, of whom Asterion ; Phoenissa, the daughter of Al- 
phion, of whom Endymion; lo, the daughter of Inachus, 
of whom Epaphus; Hippodamia and Isione, daughters of 
Danaus, of whom Hippodamia was the wife of Olenus, and 
Isione of Orchomenys or Chryses ; Carme, the daughter of 
Phoenix, of whom was born Britomartis, who was an atten- 
dant of Diana; Callisto, the daughter of Lycaon, of whom 
Orcas ; Lybee, the daughter of Munantius, of whom Belus; 
Latona, of whom Apollo and Diana; Leandia, the daughter 
of Eurymedon, of whom Coron; Lysithea, the daughter of 
Evenus, of whom Helenus; Hippodamia, the daughter of 
Bellerophon, of whom Sarpedon; Megaclite, the daughter 
of Macarius, of whom Thebe and Locrus ; Niobe, the daugh- 
ter of Phoroneus, of whom Argus and Pelasgus; Olympias, 
the daughter of Neoptolemus, of whom Alexander; Pyrrha, 
the daughter of Prometheus, of whom Helmetheus; Protogenia 
and Pandora, daughters of Deucalion, of whom he begot 
Z4Ethelius, and Dorus, and Melera, and Pandorus; Thai- 
crucia, the daughter of Proteus, of whom was born Nym- 
pheus; Salamis, the daughter of Asopus, of whom Saracon ; 
Taygete, Electra, Maia, Plutide, daughters of Atlas, of 
whom respectively he begot Lacedsmon, Dardanus, Mer- 
cury, and Tantalus; Phtlia, the daughter of Phoroneus, of 
whom he, begot Achzus; Chonia, the daughter of Aramnus, 
of whom he begot Lacon; Chalcea, a nymph, of whom was 
born Olympus; Charidia, a nymph, of whom Alcanus; 
Chloris, who was the wife of Ampycus, of whom Mopsus was 
born ; Cotonia, the daughter of Lesbus, of whom Polymedes ; 
Hippodamia, the daughter of Anicetus; Chrysogenia, the 
daughter of Peneus, of whom was born Thisszus. 


Boo x] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 441 


CaaAP. xx11.— Vile transformations of Jupiter. 


‘There are also innumerable adulteries of his, of which 
no offspring was the result, which it were tedious to enume- 
rate. But amongst those whom we have mentioned, he 
violated some being transformed, like a magician. In short, 
he seduced Antiope, the daughter of Nycteus, when turned 
into a satyr, and of her were born Amphion and Zethus; 
Alemene, when changed into her husband Amphitryon, and 
of her was born Hercules; ZEgina, the daughter of Asopus, 
when changed into an eagle, of whom ZEacus was born. 
So also he defiled Ganymede, the son of Dardanus, being 
changed into an eagle; Manthea, the daughter of Phocus, 
when changed into a bear, of whom was born Arctos; Dana, 
the daughter of Acrisius, being changed into gold, of whom 
Perseus; Europa, the daughter of Phoenix, changed into a 
bull, of whom were born Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Sarpe- 
don; Eurymedusa, the daughter of Achelaus, being changed 
into an ant, of whom Myrmidon; Thalia, the nymph, being 
changed into a vulture, of whom were born the Palisci, in 
Sicily ; Imandra, the daughter of Geneanus, at Rhodes, being 
changed into a shower; Cassiopeia, being changed into her 
husband Phoenix, and of her was born Anchinos; Leda, the 
daughter of Thestius, being changed into a swan, of whom was 
born Helen; and again the same, being changed into a star, 
and of her were born Castor and Pollux; Lamia, being changed 
into a lapwing ; Mnemosyne, being changed into a shepherd, 
of whom were born the nine Muses ; Nemesis, being changed 
into a goose; the Cadmian Semele, being changed into fire, 
and of her was born Dionysius. By his own daughter Ceres 
he begot Persephone, whom also herself he defiled, being 


changed into a dragon. 


Cuar. xxim.— Why a god? 


* He also committed adultery with Europa, the wife of 
his own uncle Oceanus, and with her sister Eurynome, and 
punished their father ; and he committed adultery with Plute, 
the daughter of his own son Atlas, and condemned Tantalus, 


442 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book x. 


whom she bore to him. Of Larisse, the daughter of Orcho- 
menus, he begot Tityon, whom also he consigned to punish- 
ment. He carried off Dia, the wife of his own son Ixion, 
and subjected him to perpetual punishment; and almost all 
the sons who sprang from his adulteries he put to violent 
deaths; and indeed the sepulchres of almost all of them are 
well known. Yea, the sepulchre of this parricide himself, 
who destroyed his uncles and defiled their wives, who com- 
mitted whoredom with his sisters, this magician of many 
transformations, is shown among the Cretans, who, although 
they know and acknowledge his horrid and incestuous deeds, 
and tell them to all, yet are not ashamed to confess him to 
be a god. Whence it seems to me to be wonderful, yea, 
exceeding wonderful, how he who exceeds all men in wicked- 
ness and crimes, has received that holy and good name which 
is above every name, being called the father of gods and men; 
unless perhaps he who rejoices in the evils of men has per- 
suaded unhappy souls to confer lionour above all others upon 
him whom he saw to excel all others in crimes, in order that 
he might allure all to the imitation of his evil deeds. 


Cuar. xxiv.—Folly of polytheism. 


* But also the sepulchres of his sons, who are regarded 
amongst these [the Gentiles] as gods, are openly pointed out, 
one in one place, and another in another: that of Mercury 
at Hermopolis; that of the Cyprian Venus at Cyprus; that 
of Mars in Thrace; that of Bacchus at 'Thebes, where he is 
said to have been torn in pieces; that of Hercules at Tyre, 
where he was burnt with fire; that of 7Esculapius in Epi- 
daurus. And all these are spoken of, not only as men who 
have died, but as wicked men who have been punished for 
their crimes ; and yet they are adored as gods by foolish men. 


Cuap. xxv.— Dead men deified. 


“But if they choose to argue, and affirm that these are 
rather the places of their birth than of their burial or death, 
the former and ancient doings shall be convicted from those 
at hand and still recent, since we have shown that they wor- 


, 


Book x.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 443 


ship those whom they themselves confess to have been men, 
and to have died, or rather to have been punished; as the 
Syrians worship Adonis, and the Egyptians Osiris; the Tro- 
jans, Hector; Achilles is worshipped at Leuconesus, Patroclus 
at Pontus, Alexander the Macedonian at Rhodes; and many 
others are worshipped, one in one place and another in another, 
whom they do not doubt to have been dead men. Whence it 
follows that their predecessors also, falling into a like error, 
conferred divine honour upon dead men, who perhaps had 
had some power or some skill, and especially if they had 
stupified stolid men by magical phantasies. 


Cnar. xxv1.—Metamorphoses. 


* Hence there has now been added, that the poets also 
adorn the falsehoods of error by elegance of words, and by 
sweetness of speech persuade that mortals have been made 
immortal; yea more, they say that men are changed into 
stars, and trees, and animals, and flowers, and birds, and 
fountains, and rivers. And but that it might seem to be a 
waste of words, I could even enumerate almost all the stars, 
and trees, and fountains, and rivers, which they assert to 
have been made of men; yet, by way of example, I shall 
mention at least one of each class. They say that Andro- 
meda, the daughter of Cepheus, was turned into a star; 
Daphne, the daughter of the river Lado, into a tree; Hya- 
cinthus, beloved of Apollo, into a flower; Callisto into the 
constellation which they call Arctos; Progne and Philomela, 
with Tereus, into birds; that Thysbe in Cilicia was dissolved 
into a fountain; and Pyramus, at the same place, into a 
river. And they assert that almost all the stars, trees, foun- 
tains, and rivers, flowers, animals, and birds, were at one 
time human beings." 


CürAP. XXVII. — nconsistency of polytheists. 


But Peter, when he heard this, said : * According to them, 
then, before men were changed into stars, and the other 
things which you mention, the heaven was without stars, 
and the earth without trees and animals; and tlere were 


411 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Booz x. 


neither fountains, nor rivers, nor birds. And without these, 
how did those men themselves live, who afterwards were 
changed into them, since it is evident that, without these 
things, men could not live upon the earth?” Then I an- 
swered: * But they are not even able to observe the worship 
of their own gods consistently ; for every one of those whom 
they worship has something dedicated to himself, from which 
his worshippers ought to abstain: as they say the olive is 
dedicated to Minerva, the she-goat to Jupiter, seeds to Ceres, 
wine to Bacchus, water to Ostris, the ram to Hammon, the 
stag to Diana, the fish and the dove to the demon of the 
Syrians, fire to Vulcan; and to each one, as I have said, is 
there something specially consecrated, from which the wor- 
shippers are bound to abstain, for the honour of those to 
whom they are consecrated. But were one abstaining from 
one thing, and another from another, by doing honour to 
one of the gods, they incur the anger of all the rest; and 
therefore, if they would conciliate them all, they must ab- 
stain from all things for the honour of all, so that, being 
self-condemned by a just sentence before the day of judg- 
ment, they should perish by a most wretched death through 
starvation. 


CBAP. xxvit1.— Buttresses of Gentilism. 


* But let us return to our purpose. What reason is there, 
yea, rather, what madness possesses the minds of men, that 
they worship and adore as a god, a man whom they not only 
know to be impious, wicked, profane—I mean Jupiter—in- 
cestuous, a parricide, an adulterer, but even proclaim him 
publicly as such in their songs in the theatres? Or if by 
means of these deeds he has deserved to be a god, then also, 
when they hear of any murderers, adulterers, parricides, in- 
cestuous persons, they ought to worship them also as gods. 
But I cannot understand why they venerate in him what 
they execrate in others.” Then Peter answered: “ Since you 
say that you cannot understand it, learn of me why they 
venerate wickedness in him. In the first place, it is that, when 
they themselves do like deeds, they may know that they shall 


ee. 


Book x.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 445 


be acceptable to him, inasmuch as they have but imitated him 
in his wickedness. In the second place, because the ancients 
have left these things skilfully composed in their writings, 
and elegantly engrafted in their verses. And now, by the 
aid of youthful education, since the knowledge of these things 
adheres to their tender and simple minds, it cannot without 
difficulty be torn from them and cast away." 


Caap. xx1x.—A llegories. 


When Peter had said this, Niceta answered: “Do not 
suppose, my lord Peter, but that the learned men of the Gen- 
tiles have certain plausible arguments, by which they support 
those things which seem to be blameworthy and disgraceful. 
And this I state, not as wishing to confirm their error (for 
far be it from me that such a thing should ever come into 
my thought); but yet I know that there are amongst the 
more intelligent of them certain defences, by which they are 
accustomed to support and colour over those things which 
seem to be absurd. And if it please you that I should state 
some of them—for I am to some extent acquainted with them 
—L shall do as you order me.” And when Peter had given 
him leave, Niceta proceeded as follows. 


Crap. xxx.—Cosmogony of Orpheus. 


« All the literature among the Greeks which is written on 
the subject of the origin of antiquity, is based upon many 
authorities, but especially two, Orpheus and Hesiod. Now 
their writings are divided into two parts, in respect of their 
meaning,—that is, the literal and the allegorical; and the 
vulgar crowd has flocked to the literal, but all the eloquence of 
the philosophers and learned men is expended in admiration of 
the allegorical. It is Orpheus, then, who says that at first there 
was chaos, eternal, unbounded, unproduced, and that from it 
all things were made. He says that this chaos was neither 
darkness nor light, neither moist nor dry, neither hot nor cold, 
but that it was all things mixed together, and was always one 
unformed mass; yet that at length, as it were after the 
manner of a huge egg, it brought forth and produced from 


416 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox x. 


itself a certain double form, which had been wrought through 
immense periods of time, and which they call masculo-femi- 
nine, a form concrete from the contrary admixture of such 
diversity ; and that this is the principle of all things, which 
came of pure matter, and which, coming forth, effected a 
separation of the four elements, and made heaven of the two 
elements which are first [fire and air], and earth of the others 
[earth and water]; and of these he says that all things now 
are born and produced by a mutual participation of them. So 
far Orpheus. 


CHAP. XXXI.—Hesiod' s cosmogony. 


* But to this Hesiod adds, that after chaos the heaven and 
the earth were made immediately, from which he says that 
those eleven were produced (and sometimes also he speaks of 
them as twelve) of whom he makes six males and five females. 
And these are the names that he gives to the males: 
Oceanus, Cceus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Chronos, who is 
also called Saturn. Also the names of the females are: 
Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Tethys. And these names 
they thus interpret allegorically. They say that the number 
is eleven or twelve: that the first is nature itself, which also 
they would have to be called Rhea, from flowing; and they 
say that the other ten are her accidents, which also they call 
qualities; yet they add a twelfth, namely Chronos, who with 
us is called Saturn, and him they take to be time. Therefore 
they assert that Saturn and Rhea are time and matter; and 
these, when they are mixed with moisture and dryness, heat 
and cold, produce all things. 


CuaP. xxxi1.—Allegorical interpretation. 


* She therefore (Rhea, or nature), it is said, produced, as it 
were, a certain bubble which had been collecting for a long 
time; and it being gradually collected from the spirit which 
was in the waters, swelled, and being for some time driven over 
the surface of matter, from which it had come forth as from 
a womb, and being hardened by the rigour of cold, and always 
increasing by additions of ice, at length was broken off and 


Boo x] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 447 


sunk into the deep, and drawn by its own weight, went down 
to the infernal regions; and because it became invisible it was 
called Aides, and is also named Orcus or Pluto. And since 
it was sunk from the top to the bottom, it gave place to the 
moist element to flow together; and the grosser part, which 
is the earth, was laid bare by the retirement of the waters. 
They say, therefore, that this freedom of the waters, which 
was formerly restrained by the presence of the bubble, was 
called Neptune after the bubble attained the lowest place. 
After this, when the cold element had been sucked down to 
the lower regions by the concretion of the icy bubble, and the 
dry and the moist element had been separated, there being 
now no hindrance, the warm element rushed by its force and 
lightness to the upper regions of the air, being borne up by 
wind and storm. This storm, therefore, which in Greek is 
called xaravyis, they called egis—that is, a she-goat ; and the 
fire which ascended to the upper regions they called Jupiter; 
wherefore they say that he ascended to Olympus riding on a 
she-goat. 


Cuap. xxx111.—Allegory of Jupiter, etc. 


“ Now this Jupiter the Greeks would have to be called 
from his living, or giving life, but our people from his giving 
succour. They say, therefore, that this is the living sub- 
stance, which, placed in the upper regions, and drawing all 
things to itself by the influence of heat, as by the convolution 
of the brain, and arranging them by the moderation of a 
certain tempering, is said from his head to have produced 
wisdom, whom they call Minerva, who was called '465v» by 
the Greeks on account of her immortality; who, because the 
father of all created all things by his wisdom, is also said to 
have been produced from his head, and from the principal 
place of all, and is represented as having formed and adorned 
the whole world by the regulated admixture of the elements. 
Therefore the forms which were impressed upon matter, that 
the world might be made, because they are constrained by 
the force of heat, are said to be held together by the energy 
of Jupiter. And since there are enough of these, and they 


448 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book x. 


do not need anything new to be added to them, but each 
thing is repaired by the produce of its own seed, the hands 
of Saturn are said to be bound by Jupiter; because, as I 
have said, time now produces from matter nothing new: but 
the warmth of seeds restores all things according to their 
kinds; and no birth of Rhea—that is, no increase of flowing 
matter—ascends further. And therefore they call that first 
division of the elements the mutilation of Saturn, because he 
cannot any more produce a world. 


Cana». xxxtv.— Other allegories. 


* And of Venus they give forth an allegory to this effect. 
When, say they, the sea was put under the air, and when 
the brightness of the heavens shone more pleasantly, being 
reflected from the waters, the loveliness of things, which 
appeared fairer from the waters, was called Venus; and she 
[it] being united with the air as with her [its] own brother, 
so as to produce beauty, which might be the object of 
desire, is said to have given birth to Cupid. In this way, 
therefore, as we have said, they teach that Chronos, who is 
Saturn, is allegorically time; Rhea is matter; Aides—that is, 
Orcus—is the depth of the infernal regions; Neptune is water; 
Jupiter is air—that is, the element of heat; Venus is the 
loveliness of things ; Cupid is desire, which is in all things, and 
by which posterity is propagated, or even the reason of things, 
which gives delight when wisely looked into. Hera—that is, 
Juno—is said to be that middle air which descends from 
heaven to earth. To Diana, whom they call Proserpine, they 
hand over the air below. They say that Apollo is the Sun 
himself, which goes round the heaven; that Mercury is 
speech, by which a reason is rendered for everything; that 
Mars is unrestrained fire, which consumes all things. Bat 
not to delay you by enumerating everything, those who have 
the more abstruse intelligence concerning such things think 
that they give fair and just reasons, by applying this sort of 
allegory to every one of their objects of worship.” 


"νιν 


Book x. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 449 


Cra». xxxv.— Uselessness of these allegories. 

When Niceta had thus spoken, Aquila answered : “ Who- 
ever he was that was the author and inventor of £hese things, 
he seems to me to have been very impious, since he covered 
over those things which seem to be pleasant and seemly, and 
made the ritual of his superstition to consist in base and 
shameful observances, since those things which are written 
according to the letter are manifestly unseemly and base ; and 
the whole observance of their religion consists in these, that 
by such crimes and impieties they may teach men to imitate 
their gods whom they worship. For in these allegories what 
profit can there be to them? For although they are framed 
. so as to be decent, yet no use is derived from them for wor- 
ship, nor for amendment of morals. 


Crar. xxxvi.— The allegories an after-thought. — 


* Whence it is the more evident that prudent men, when 
they saw that the common superstition was so disgraceful, so 
base, and yet they had not learned any way of correcting it, 
or any knowledge, endeavoured with what arguments and in- 
terpretations they could to veil unseemly things under seemly 
speech, and not, as they say, to conceal seemly reasons under 
unseemly fables. For if this were the case, surely their statues 
and their pictures would never be made with [representations 
of] their vices and crimes. The swan, which committed 
adultery with Leda, would not be represented, nor the bull 
which committed adultery with Europa; nor would they turn 
into a thousand monstrous shapes, him whom they think 
better than all. And assuredly, if the great and wise men 
who are amongst them knew that all this is fiction and not 
truth, would not they charge with impiety and sacrilege 
those who should exhibit a picture or carve an image of this 
sort, to the injury of the gods? In short, let them present a 
king of their own time in the form of an ox, or a goose, or 
an ant, or a vulture, and let them write the name of their 
king upon it, and set up such a statue or figure in a public 
place, and they will soon be made to feel the wrong of their 
deed, and the greatness of its punishment. 

2F 


430 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox x. 


CHAP. XXXvVII.—. Like gods, like worshippers. 


* But since those things rather are true which the public 
baseness testifies; and concealments have been sought and 
fabricated by prudent men to excuse them by seemly speeches, 
therefore are they not only not prohibited, but even in the 
very mysteries figures are produced of Saturn devouring his 
sons, and of the boy hidden by the cymbals and drums of the 
Corybantes; and with respect to the mutilation of Saturn, 
what better proof of its truth could there be, than that even 
his worshippers are mutilated, by a like miserable fate, in 
honour of their god? Since then these things are mani- 
festly seen, who shall be found of so little sense, yea, of such 
stolidity, that he does not perceive that those things are true 
concerning the unfortunate gods, which their more unfortu- 
nate worshippers attest by the wounding and mutilation of 
their bodies? 


Cnar. xxxvirL.— Writings of the poets. 


“But if, as they say, these things, so creditably and piously 
done, are dispensed by so discreditable and impious a ritual, 
assuredly he is sacrilegious, whoever either gave forth these 
things at first, or persists in fulfilling them, now that they 
have unhappily been given forth. And what shall we say of 
the books of the poets? Ought not they, if they have de- 
based the honourable and pious deeds of the gods with base 
fables, to be forthwith cast away and thrown into the fire, 
that they may not persuade the still tender age of boys that 
Jupiter himself, the chief of the gods, was a parricide towards 
his parents, incestuous towards his sisters and his daughters, 
and even impure towards boys; that Venus and Mars were 
adulterers, and all those things which have been spoken 
of above? What do you think of this matter, my lord 
Peter?” 


Cap. xxx1x.— All for the best. 


Then he answered: “Be sure, beloved Aquila, that all 
things are done by the good providence of God, that the 


ee, 


Book x.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 451 


cause which was to be contrary to the truth should not only be 
infirm and weak, but also base. For if the assertion of error 
had been stronger and more truth-like, any one who had been 
deceived by it would not easily return to the path of truth. 
If even now, when so many wicked and disgraceful things 
are related concerning the gods of the Gentiles, scarce any one 
forsakes the base error, how much more if there had been in 
it anything seemly and truth-like? For the mind is with 
difficulty transferred from those things with which it has 
been imbued in early youth ; and on this account, as I said, 
it has been effected by divine providence, that the substance 
of error should be both weak and base. But all other things 
also divine providence dispenses fitly and advantageously, 
although the method of the divine dispensation, as good, and 
the best possible, is not clear to us who are ignorant of the 
causes of things.” 


Cuap. xu.—Further information sought. 


When Peter had thus said, I Clement asked Niceta that 
he would explain to us, for the sake of instruction, some 
things concerning the allegories of the Gentiles, which he had 
carefully studied; “for,” said I, “it is useful that when we 
dispute with the Gentiles, we should not be unacquainted with 
these things.” Then said Niceta: “If my lord Peter per- 
mits me, I can do as you ask me.” Then said Peter: “To- 
day I have given you leave to speak in opposition to the 
Gentiles, as you know.” And Niceta said: “Tell me then, 
Clement, what you would have me speak about.” And I said 
to him: “Inform us how the Gentiles represent matters con- 
cerning the supper of the gods, which they had at the marriage 
of Peleus and Thetis. What do they make of the shepherd 
Paris, and what of Juno, Minerva, and Venus, between 
whom he acted as judge? What of Mercury? and what of 
the apple, and the other things which follow in order?” 


Crap. xL1.—Explanation of mythology. 


Then Niceta: “The affair of the supper of the gods stands 
in this wise. They say that the banquet is the world, that 


452 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book x. 


the order of the gods sitting at table is the position of the 
heavenly bodies. "Those whom Hesiod calls the first children 
of heaven and earth, of whom six were males and six females, 
they refer to the number of the twelve signs, which go round 
all the world. They say that the dishes of the banquet are 
the reasons and causes of things, sweet and desirable, which 
in the shape of inferences from the positions of the signs and 
the courses of the stars, explain how the world is ruled and 
governed. Yet they say that these things exist after the free 
manner of a banquet, inasmuch as the mind of every one has 
the option whether he shall taste aught of this sort of know- 
ledge, or whether he shall refrain; and as in a banquet no one 
is compelled, but every one is at liberty to eat, so also the 
manner of philosophizing depends upon the choice of the will. 
They say that discord is the lust of the flesh, which rises up 
against the purpose of the' mind, and hinders the desire of 
. philosophizing; and therefore they say that the time was that 
in which the marriage was celebrated. Thus they make 
Peleus and the nymph Thetis to be the dry and the moist 
element, by the admixture of which the substance of bodies 
is composed. They hold that Mercury is speech, by which 
instruction is conveyed to the mind; that Juno is chastity, 
Minerva courage, Venus lust, Paris the understanding. If 
therefore, say they, it happens that there is in a man a bar- 
barous and uncultivated understanding, and ignorant of right 
judgment, he will despise chastity and courage, and will 
. give the prize, which is the apple, to lust; and thereby ruin 
and destruction will come not only upon himself, but also 
upon his countrymen and the whole race. These things, 
therefore, it is in their power to compose from whatever 
matter they please; yet they can be adapted to every man ; 
because if any one has a pastoral and rustic and uncultivated 
understanding, and does not wish to be instructed, when the 
heat of his body shall make suggestions concerning the 
pleasure of lust, straightway he despises the virtues of studies 
and the blessings of knowledge, and turns his mind to bodily 
pleasures. Ánd hence it is that implacable wars arise, cities 
are destroyed, countries fall, even as Paris, by the abduction 


Book x] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 453 


of Helen, armed the Greeks and the barbarians to their mutual 
destruction.” 


Cuapr. XLII.— Interpretation of Scripture. 


Then Peter, commending his statement, said: * Ingenious 
men, as I perceive, take many verisimilitudes from the things 
which they read ; and therefore great care is to be taken, that 
when the law of God is read, it be.not read according to the 
understanding of our own mind. For there are many sayings 
in the divine Scriptures which can be drawn to that sense 
which every one has preconceived for himself; and this 
ought not to be done. For you ought not to seek a foreign 
and extraneous sense, which you have brought from without, 
which you may confirm from the authority of the Scriptures, 
but to take the sense of truth from the Scriptures themselves ; 
and therefore it behoves you to learn the meaning of thie 
Scriptures from him who keeps it according to the truth 
handed down to him from his fathers, so that he can authori- 
tatively declare what he has rightly received. But when 
one has received an entire and firm rule of truth from the 
Scriptures, it will not be improper if he contribute to the 
establishment of true doctrine anything from common educa- 
tion and from liberal studies, which, it may be, he has attached 
himself to in his boyhood; yet so that, when he has learned 
the truth, he renounce falsehood and pretence." 


CHAP. XLIII.—4 word of exhortation. 


And when he had said this, he looked to our father, and 
said: * You therefore, old man, if indeed you care for your 
soul’s safety, that when you desire it to be separated from 
the body, it may, in consequence of this short conversion, 
find eternal rest, ask about whatever you please, and seek 
counsel, that you may be able to cast off any doubt that 
remains in you. For even to young men the time of life 
is uncertain; but to old men it is not even uncertain, for 
there is no doubt that there is but little time remaining to 
them. And therefore both young and old ought to be very 
earnest about their conversion and repentance, and to be 


454 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boo x. 


taken up with the adornment of their souls for the future 
with the worthiest ornaments, such as the doctrines of truth, 
the grace of chastity, the splendour of righteousness, the 
fairness of piety, and all other things with which it becomes 
a reasonable mind to be adorned. Then, besides, they should 
break off from unseemly and unbelieving companions, and 
keep company with the faithful, and frequent those assemblies 
in which subjects are handled relating to chastity, righteous- 
ness, and piety; to pray to God always heartily, and to ask 
of Him those things which ought to be asked of God; to 
give thanks to Him; to repent truly of their past doings ; in 
some measure also, if possible, by deeds of mercy towards the 
poor, to help their penitence : for by these means pardon will 
be more easily bestowed, and mercy will be sooner shown to 
the merciful. 


CHAP. XLIv.—Earnestness. 


* But if he who comes to repentance is of more advanced 
age, he ought the more to give thanks to God, because, 
having received the knowledge of the truth, after all the 
violence of carnal lust has been broken, there awaits him no 
fight of contest, by which to repress the pleasures of the 
body rising against the mind. It remains, therefore, that he 
be exercised in the learning of the truth, and in works of 
mercy, that he may bring forth fruits worthy of repentance ; 
and that he do not suppose that the proof of conversion is 
shown by length of time, but by strength of devotion and of 
purpose. For minds are manifest to God; and He does not 
take account of times, but of hearts. For He approves if 
any one, on hearing the preaching of the truth, does not 
delay, nor spend time in negligence, but immediately, and 
if I may say so, in the same moment, abhorring the past, 
begins to desire things to come, and burns with love of the 
heavenly kingdom. 


Crap. xLv.—4All ought to repent. 


“Wherefore, let no one of you longer dissemble nor look 
backwards, but willingly approach to the gospel of the king- 


Book x. ] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 49i 


dom of God. Let not the poor man say, When I shall 
become rich, then I shall be converted. God does not ask 
money of you, but a merciful heart and a pious mind. Nor . 
let the rich man delay his conversion by reason of worldly 
care, while he thinks how he may dispose the abundance of 
his fruits; norsay within himself, * What shall I do? where 
shall I bestow my fruits?’ Nor say to his soul, ‘Thou hast 
much goods laid up for many years ; feast and rejoice.’ For 
it shall be said to him, * Thou fool, this night thy soul shall 
be taken from thee, and whose shall those things be which 
thou hast provided ?!! Therefore let every age, every sex, 
every condition, haste to repentance, that they may obtain 
eternal life. Let the young be thankful that they put their 
necks under the yoke of discipline in the very violence of their 
desires. The old also are themselves praiseworthy, because 
they change for the fear of God, the custom of a long timc 
in which they have been unhappily occupied. 


CHAP. XLV1.— The sure word of prophecy. 


* Let no one therefore put off. Let no one delay. For 
what occasion is there for delaying to do well? Or are you 
afraid, lest, when you have done well, you do not find the 
reward as you supposed? And what loss will you sustain 
if you do well without reward? Would not conscience alone 
be sufficient in this? But if you find as you anticipate, 
shall you not receive great things for small, and eternal for 
temporal? But I say this for the sake of the unbelieving. 
For the things which we preach are as we preach them ; 
because they cannot be otherwise, since they have been 
promised by the prophetic word. 


Cuap. xLvi1.— A faithful saying, and worthy of all 
acceptation.” 


* But if any one desires to learn exactly the truth of our 
preaching, let him come to hear, and let him ascertain what 
the true Prophet is; and then at length all doubtfulness will 
cease in him, unless with obstinate mind he resist those things 

1 Luke xii. 17, 19, 20. 


456 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT.  [Boox x. 


which he finds to be true. For there are some whose only 
object it is to gain the victory in any way whatever, and who 
seek praise for this rather than theirsalvation. These ought 
not to have a single word addressed to them, lest both the 
noble word suffer injury, and condemn to eternal death him 
who is guilty of the wrong done to it. For what is there in 
respect of which any one ought to oppose our preaching? or 
in respect of which the word of our preaching is found to be 
contrary to the belief of what is true and honourable? It 
says that the God the Father, the Creator of all, is to be hon- 
oured, as also His Son, who alone knows [im and His will, 
and who alone is to be believed concerning all things which 
He has enjoined. For He alone is the law and the Law- 
giver, and the righteous Judge, whose law decrees that God, 
the Lord of all, is to be honoured by a sober, chaste, just, 
and merciful life, and that all hope is to be placed in Him 
alone. : 


Cnar. xLvit.— Errors of the philosophers. 


* But some one will say that precepts of this sort are given 
by the philosophers also. Nothing of the kind: for they do 
indeed give commandments concerning justice and sobriety, 
but they are ignorant that God is the recompenser of good 
and evil deeds; and therefore their laws and precepts only 
shun a public accuser, but cannot purify the conscience. 
For why should one fear to sin in secret, who does not know 
that there is a witness and a judge of secret things? — Be- 
sides, the philosophers in their precepts add that even the 
gods, who are demons, are to be honoured; and this alone, 
even if in other-respects they seemed worthy of approbation, 
is sufficient to convict them of the most dreadful impiety, and 

. condemn them by their own sentence, since they declare in- 
deed that there is one God, yet command that many be wor- 
shipped, by way of humouring human error. But also the 
philosophers say that God is not angry, not knowing what 
they say. For anger is evil, when it disturbs the mind, so 
that it loses right counsel. But that anger which punishes 
the wicked does not bring disturbance to the mind; but it is 


Pomm 


Book x.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 157 


one and the same affection, so to speak, which assigned re- 
wards to the good and punishment to the evil; for if He 
should bestow blessings upon the good and the evil, and 
confer equal rewards upon the pious and the impious, He 
would appear to be unjust rather than good. 


Crap. xLix.— God's long-suffering. 


“ But you say, Neither ought God to do evil. You say 
truly; nor does He. But those who have been created by 
Him, while they do not believe that they are to be judged, 
indulging their pleasures, have fallen away from picty and 
righteousness. But you will say, If it is right to punish 
the wicked, they ought to be punished immediately when 
they do wickedly. You indeed do well to make haste; but 
He who is eternal, and from whom nothing is secret, inas- 
much as He is without end, in the same proportion is His 
patience extended, and He regards not the swiftness of ven- 
geance, but the causes of salvation. For He is not so much 
pleased with the death as with the conversion of a sinner.! 
Therefore, in short, He has bestowed upon men holy baptism, 
to which, if any one makes haste to come, and for the future 
remains without stain, all his sins are thenceforth blotted out, 
which were committed in the time of his ignorance. 


Cuap. L.—Philosophers not benefactors of men. 


“For what have the philosophers contributed to the life of 
man, by saying that God is not angry with men? Only to 
teach them to have no fear of any punishment or judgment, 
and thereby to take away all restraint from sinners. Or 
what have they benefited the human race, who have said that 
there is no God, but that all things happen by chance and 
accident? What but that men, hearing this, and thinking 
that there is no judge, no guardian of things, are driven 
headlong, without fear of any one, to every deed which either 
rage, or avarice, or lust may dictate. For they truly have 
much benefited the life of man who have said that nothing 
can be done apart from genesis; that is, that every one, 

1 Ezek. xviii. 33. 


458 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book x. 


ascribing the cause of his sin to genesis, might in the midst of 
his crimes declare himself innocent, while he does not wash 
out his guilt by repentance, but doubles it by laying the 
blame upon fate. And what shall I say of those philosophers 
who have maintained that the gods are to be worshipped, and 
such gods as were described to you a little while ago? What 
else was this but to decree that vices, crimes, and base deeds 
should be worshipped? I am ashamed of you, and I pity 
you, if you have not yet discovered that these things were 
unworthy of belief, and impious, and execrable, or if, having 
discovered and ascertained them to be evil, ye have never- 
theless worshipped them as if they were good, yea, even the 
best. 


Crap. Lr.— Christ the true Prophet. 


“Then, besides, of what sort is that which some of the 
philosophers have presumed to speak even concerning God, 
though they are mortal, and can only speak by opinion con- 
cerning invisible things, or concerning the origin of the world, 
since they were not present when it was made, or concerning 
the end of it, or concerning the treatment and judgment of 
souls in the infernal regions, forgetting that it belongs indeed 
to a reasonable man to know things present and visible, but 
that it is the part of prophetic prescience alone to know 
things past, and things future, and things invisible? These 
things, therefore, are not to be gathered from conjectures 
and opinions, in which men are greatly deceived, but from 
faith in prophetic truth, as this doctrine of ours is. For we 
speak nothing of ourselves, nor announce things gathered 
by human judgment; for this were to deceive our hearers. 
But we preach the things which have been committed and 
revealed to us by the true Prophet. And concerning His 
prophetic prescience and power, if any one, as I have said, 
wishes to receive clear proofs, let him come instantly and be 
alert to hear, and we shall give evident proofs by which he 
shall seem not only to hear the power of prophetic prescience 
with his ears, but even to see it with his eyes and handle it 
with his hand; and when he has entertained a sure faith 


Book x.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 459 


concerning Him, he will without any labour take upon him 
the yoke of righteousness and piety ;* and so great sweetness 
will he perceive in it, that not only will he not find fault with 
any labour being in it, but will even desire something further 
to be added and imposed upon him." 


CHAP. Lit.—Appion and Anubion. 


And when he had said this, and more to the same purpose, 
and had cured some who were present who were infirm and 
possessed of demons, he dismissed the crowds, while they 
gave thanks and praised God, charging them to come to the 
same place on the following days also for the sake of hearing. 
And when we were together at home, and were preparing 
to eat, one entering told us that Appion Pleistonices,! with 
Anubion, were lately come from Antioch, and were lodging 
with Simon. Then my father, when he heard this, rejoiced, 
and said to Peter: “If you permit me, I should like to go 
and salute Appion and Anubion, for they are great friends of 
mine; and perhaps I shall be able to persuade Anubion to 
dispute with Clement on the subject of genesis.” Then Peter 
said: * I consent; and I commend you, because you respect 
your friends. But consider how all things occur to you ac- 
cording to your wish by God’s providence; for, behold, not 
only have [the objects of] proper affection been restored to 
you by the appointment of God, but also the presence of your 
friends is arranged for you.” Then said my father: “ Truly 
I consider that it is so as you say.” And when he had said 
this, he went away to Anubion. 


Crap. 1.111.---- Α΄ transformation. 


But we, sitting with Peter the whole night, asking ques- 
tions, and learning of him on many subjects, remained awake 
through very delight in his teaching and the sweetness of 


1 Matt. xi. 30. 

3 The name is generally written Apion. The meaning of Pleistonices 
is doubtful, some supposing that it indicates his birthplace, some his 
father; but generally it is taken as an epithet, and it will then refer to 
his frequent victories in literary contests. 


460 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [ Boox x. 


his words; and when it was daybreak, Peter, looking at me 
and my brothers, said: *I wonder what has befallen your 
father.” And while he was speaking my father came in, and 
found Peter speaking to us about him. And when he had 
saluted he began to apologize, and to explain the reason why 
he had remained abroad. But we, looking at him, were 
horrified; for we saw on him the face of Simon, yet we heard 
the voice of our father. And when we shrank from him, and 
cursed him, my father was astonished at our treating him so 
harshly and barbarously. Yet Peter was the only one who 
saw his natural countenance; and he said to us: * Why do 
you curse your father?" And we, along with our mother, 
answered him: * He appears to us to be Simon, though he 
has our father's voice. Then Peter: * You indeed know 
only his voice, which lias not been changed by the sorceries; 
but to me also his face, which to others appears changed by 
Simon's art, is known to be that of your father Faustinianus.” 
And looking at my father, he said: “ The cause of the dismay 
of your wife and your sons is this,—the appearance of your 
countenance does not seem to be as it was, but the face of 
the detestable Simon appears in you." 


CHAP. Liv.—Lrcitement in Antioch. 


And while he was thus speaking, one of those returned 
who had gone before to Antioch, and said to Peter: “1 wish 
you to know, my lord Peter, that Simon at Antioch, doing 
many signs and prodigies in public, has inculcated upon the 
people nothing but what tends to excite hatred against you, 
calling you a magician, a sorcerer, a murderer; and to such 
an extent has he stirred up hatred against you, that they 
greatly desire, if they can find you anywhere, even to devour 
your flesh. And therefore we who were sent before, seeing 
the city greatly moved against you, met together in secret, 
and considered what ought to be done. 


Crap. Lv.—A stratagem. 


« And when we saw no way of getting out of the difficulty, 
there came Cornelius the centurion, being sent by Cesar to 


Book x. | VECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 461 


the president of Caesarea on public business. Ilim we sent 
for alone, and told him the reason why we were sorrowful, and 
entreated him that, if. he could do anything, he should help 
us. Then he most readily promised that he would straightway 
put him to flight, if only we would aid his plans. And when 
we promised that we would be active in doing everything, 
he said, ‘Cesar has ordered sorcerers to be sought out and 
destroyed in the city of Rome and through the provinces, 
and a great number of them have been already destroyed. 
I shall therefore give out, through my friends, that I am 
come to apprehend that magician, and that I am sent by 
Cesar for this purpose, that he may be punished with the 
rest of his fraternity. Let your people, therefore, who are 
with him in disguise, intimate to him, as if tltey had heard it 
from some quarter, that I am sent to apprehend him; and 
when he hears this, he is sure to take to flight. Or if you 
think of anything better, tell me. Why need I say more?’ 
It was so done by those of ours who were with him, disguised 
for the purpose of acting as spies on him. And when Simon 
learned that this was come upon him, he received the informa- 
tion as a great kindness conferred upon him by them, and 
took to flight. He therefore departed from Antioch, and, as 
we have heard, came hither with Athenodorus. 


Car. Lv1.—Simon's design in the transformation. 


“ All we, therefore, who went before you, considered that 
in the meantime you should not go up to Antioch, till we see 
if the hatred of you which he has sown among the people be 
in any degree lessened by his departure.” When he who had 
come from Antioch had imparted this information, Peter, 
looking to our father, said, “ Faustinianus, your countenance 
has been transformed by Simon Magus, as is evident; for 
he, thinking that he was being sought for by Cesar for 
punishment, has fled in terror, and has placed his own 
countenance upon you, if haply you might be apprehended 
instead of him, and put to death, that so he might cause 
sorrow to your sons.” But my father, when he heard this, 
crying out, said with tears: “ You have judged rightly, O 


462 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book x. 


Peter: for Anubion also, who is very friendly with me, 
began to inform me in a certain mysterious way of his plots; 
but unhappily I did not believe him, because I had done him 
no harm." 


CHAP. LvII.— Great grief. * 


And when all of us, along with my father, were agitated 
with sorrow and weeping, meantime Anubion came to us, 
intimating to us that Simon had fled during the night, making 
for Judea. But seeing our father lamenting and bewailing 
himself, and saying, ‘“‘ Wretch that I am, not to believe when 
I heard that he is a magician! What has befallen wretched 
me, that on one day, being recognised by my wife and my 
sons, I have not been able to rejoice with them, but have been 
rolled back to the former miseries which I endured in my 
wandering !”—but my mother, tearing her dishevelled hair, 
bewailed much more bitterly,—we also, confounded at the 
change of our father's countenance, were, as it were, thunder- 
struck and beside ourselves, and could not understand what 
was the matter. But Anubion, seeing us all thus afflicted, 
stood like one dumb. Then Peter, looking at us his sons, 
said: * Believe me that this is your very father; wherefore 
also I charge you that you respect him as your father. For 
God will afford some opportunity on which he shall be able 
to put off the countenance of Simon, and to recover the 
manifest figure of your father—that is, his own." 


Cnar. LviII.—JHow it all happened. 


Then, turning to my father, he said: *I gave you leave 
to salute Appion and Anubion, who, you said, were your 
friends from boyhood, but not that you should speak with 
Simon." "Then my father said: *I confess I have sinned." 
Then said Ánubion : “I also with him beg and entreat of you 
to pardon the old man—good and noble man as he is. He 
was unhappily seduced and imposed upon by the inagician 
in question; for I will tell you how the thing was done. 
When he came to salute us, it happened that at that very 
time we were standing around him, hearing him tell that he 


Book x.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 463 


intended to flee away that night, for that he had heard that 
some persons had come even to this city of Laodicea to 
apprehend him by command of the emperor, but that he 
wished to turn all their rage against this Faustinianus, who 
has lately come hither. And he said to us: * Only you make 
him sup with us, and I shall compound a certain ointment, 
with which, when he has supped, he shall anoint his face, 
and from that time he shall seem to all to have my coun- 
tenance. But you first anoint your faces with the juice of a 
certain herb, that you may not be deceived as to the change 
of his countenance, so that to all except you he shall seem 
to be Simon." 


CHAP. LIx.—A scene of mourning. 


«* And when he said this, I said to him, ‘And what advan- 
tage will you gain from this deed?’ Then Simon said: ‘In 
the first place, that those who are seeking me may lay hold 
on him, and so give over the search for me. But if he be 
punished by Cesar, that his sons may have much sorrow, 
who forsook me, and fled to Peter, and are now his assistants.’ 
Now I confess to you, Peter, what is true. I did not dare 
then tell Faustinianus; but neither did Simon give us op- 
portunity of speaking with him in private, and disclosing to 
him fully Simon’s design. Meantime, about the middle of 
the night, Simon has fled away, making for Judea. And 
Athenodorus and Appion have gone to convoy him; but I 
pretended bodily indisposition, that I might remain at home, 
and make him return quickly to you, if haply he may in any 
way be concealed with you, lest, being seized by those who 
are in quest of Simon, he be brought before Cesar, and 
perish without cause. And now, in my anxiety about him, I 
have come to see him, and to return before those who have 
gone to convoy Simon come back.” And turning to us, 
Anubion said: “1, Anubion, indeed see the true countenance 
of your father, because I was previously anointed by Simon 
himself, as I have told you, that the real face of Faustinianus 
might appear to my eyes; whence I am astonished and 
wonder at the art of Simon Magus, because you standing 


464 ‘RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book x. 


here do not recognise your father" And while my father 
and mother, and all of ys, wept for the things which had 
befallen, Anubion, moved with compassion, also wept. 


Crap. LX.—A counterplot. 


Then Peter, moved with compassion, promised that he 
would restore the face of our father, saying to him: “ Listen, 
Faustinianus: As soon as the error of your transformed 
countenance shall have conferred some advantage on us, and 
shall have subserved the designs which we have in view, then 
I shall restore to you the true form of your countenance; on 
condition, however, that you first despatch what I shall com- 
mand you.” And when my father promised that he would 
with all his might fulfil everything that he might charge him 
with, provided only that he might recover his own counte- 
nance, Peter thus began: * You have heard with your own 
ears, that one of those who had been sent before has returned 
from Antioch, and told us how Simon, while he was there, 
stirred up the multitudes against me, and inflamed the whole 
city into hatred of me, declaring that I am a magician, and 
a murdercr, and a deceiver, so that they are eager, if they see 
me, even to eat my flesh. Do therefore what I tell you : leave 
Clement with me, and go before us to Antioch, with your 
wife, and your sons Faustus and Faustinus. And I shall 
also send others with you, whom I think fit, who shall observe 
whatsoever I command them. 


CHAP. LXI.—4À mine dug. 


* When therefore you come with them to Antioch, as you 
will be thought to be Simon, stand in a public place, and pro- 
claim your repentance, and say : * I Simon declare to you, and 
confess that all that I said concerning Peter was false: for he 
is neither a seducer, nor a magician, nor a murderer, nor any 
of the things that I spoke against him; but I said all these 
things under the instigation of madness. I therefore entreat 
you, even I myself, who erewhile gave you causes of hatred 
against him, that you think no such thing concerning him. 
But lay aside your hatred; cease from your indignation ; be- 


Book x.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 465 


cause he is truly sent by God for the salvation of the world—a 
disciple and apostle of the true Prophet. Wherefore I advise, 
exhort, and charge you that you hear him, and believe him 
when he preaches to you the truth, lest haply, if you despise ' 
him, your very city suddenly perish. But I will tell you why 
I now make this confession to you. This night an angel of 
God rebuked me for my wickedness, and scourged me 
terribly, because I was an enemy to the herald of the truth. 
Therefore I entreat you, that even if I myself should ever 
again come to you, and attempt to say anything against 
Peter, you will not receive nor believe me. For I confess 
to you, I was a magician, a seducer, a deceiver; but I re- 
pent, for it is possible by repentance to blot out former evil 
d eeds.’ 99 


Crap. Lx11.—A case of conscience. 


When .Peter made this intimation to my father, he an- 
swered: “I know what you wish; do not trouble yourself 
further: for I understand and know what I am to undertake 
when I come to the place." And Peter gave him further 
instruction, saying: “ When therefore you come to the place, 
and see the people turned by your discourse, and laying aside 
their hatred, and returning to their longing for me, send and 
tell me, and I shall come immediately; and when I come, I 
shall without delay set you free from this strange countenance, 
and restore to you your own, which is known to all your 
friends.” And having said this, he ordered my brothers to go 
with him, and at the same time our mother Matthidia, and 
some of our friends. But my mother refused to go along 
with him, and said: “It seems as if I should be an adulteress 
if I were to associate with the countenance of Simon; but 
if I be compelled to go along with him, it is at all events 
impossible that I can lie in the same bed with him; but I do 
not know if I can consent even to go with him." And when 
she stoutly refused, Anubion began to exhort her, saying: 
* Believe me and Peter. But does not even his voice per- 
suade you that he is your husband Faustinianus, whom truly 
I love not less than you do? And, in short, I also myself 

2G 


466 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Boox x. 


shall come with you.” And when Anubion had said this, my 
mother promised that she would go with him. 


CHA». LXIII.—4À pious fraud. 


Then said I: “God arranges our affairs to our liking ; 
for we have with us Ánubion an astrologer, with whom, if 
we come to Antioch, we shall dispute with all earnestness on 
the subject of genesis.” And when our father had set out, 
after the middle of the night, with those whom Peter had 
ordered to accompany him, and with Anubion; in the morn- 
ing, before Peter went to the discussion, those men returned 
who had convoyed Simon, namely Appion and Athenodorus, 
and came to us inquiring after my father. But Peter, when 
he was informed of their coming, ordered them to enter. 
And when they were seated, they asked, “ Where is Faustini- 
anus?" Peter answered : * We do not know ; for since the 
evening that he went to you, no one of his friends lias seen 
him. But yesterday morning Simon came inquiring for 
him ; and because we gave him no answer, I know not what 
he meant, but he said that he was Faustinianus. But when 
nobody believed him, he wept and lamented, and threatened 
that he would destroy himself; and afterwards he went away 
towards the sea." 


CHAP. LXIv.—A competition in lying. 


When Appion heard this, and those who were with him, 
they raised a great howling, saying: * Why have you done 
this? Why did you not receive him?” And when Atheno- 
dorus was going to tell me that it was my father Faustini- 
anus himself, Appion prevented him, and said: “ We have 
learned from some one that he has gone with Simon, and 
that at the entreaty of Faustinianus himself, being unwilling 
to see his sons, because they are Jews. When therefore we 
heard this, we came to inquire after him here; but since he is 
not here, it appears that he must have spoken truly who told 
us that he has gone with Simon. This, therefore, we tell you." 
But I Clement, when I understood the designs of Peter, 
that he wished to make them suppose that the old man would 


Book x.] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 467 


be required at their hands, so that they might be afraid and 
flee away, I began to aid his design, and said to Appion : 
« Listen, dear Appion: what we believe to be good, we wish 
to deliver to our father also; but if he will not receive it, but 
rather, as you say, flees away through abhorrence of us—it 
may perhaps be harsh to say so—we care nothing about him.” 
And when I had said this, they departed, cursing my cruelty, 
and followed the track of Simon, as we learned on the follow- 
ing day. 


Caap. Lxv.—Success of the plot. 


Meantime, while Peter was daily, according to his custom, 
teaching the poople, and working many miracles and cures, 
after ten days came one of our people from Antioch, sent 
by my father, informing us how my father stood in public, 
accusing Simon, whose face indeed he seemed to wear, and 
extolling Peter with unmeasured praises, and commending 
him to all the people, and making them long for him, so that 
all were changed by his speech, and longed to see him; and 
that many had come to love Peter so much, that they raged 
against my father in his character of Simon, and thought of 
laying hands on him, because he had done such wrong to Peter! 
‘¢ Wherefore,” said he, * make haste, lest haply he be mur- 
dered ; for he sent me with speed to you, being in great fear, 
to ask you to come without delay, that you may find him 
alive, and also that you may appear at the favourable moment, 
when the city is growing in affection towards you.” He also 
told us how, as soon as my father entered the city of Antioch, 
the whole people were gathered to him, supposing him to be 
Simon; and he began to make public confession to them all, 
according to what the restoration of the people demanded : 
for all, as many as came, both noble and common, both rich 
and poor, hoping that some prodigies would be wrought by 
him in his usual way, he addressed thus : 


CuapP. Lxv1.— Truth told by lying lips. 


“Tt is long that the divine patience bears with me, Simon, 
the most unhappy of men ; for whatever you have wondered 


468 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. . [Book x. 


at in me was done, not by means of truth, but by the lies 
and tricks of demons, that I might subvert your faith and 
condemn my own soul I confess that all things that I said 
about Peter were lies; for he never was either a magician 
or a murderer, but has been sent by God for the salvation 
of you all; and if from this hour you think that he is to be 
despised, be assured that your very city may suddenly be de- 
stroyed. But, [you will ask,] what is the reason that I make 
this confession to you of my own accord? I was vehemently 
rebuked by an angel of God this night, and most severely 
scourged, because I was his enemy. I therefore entreat you, 
that if from this hour even I myself shall ever open my mouth 
against him, you will drive me from your sight ; for that foul 
demon, who is an enemy to the salvation of men, speaks 
against him through my mouth, that you may not attain to 
life by his means. For what miracle could the magic art 
show you through me? I made brazen dogs bark, and statues 
move, men change their appearances, and suddenly vanish 
from men's sight ; and for these things you ought to have 
cursed the magic art, which bound your souls with devilish 
fetters, that I might show you a vain miracle, that you might 
not believe Peter, who cures the sick in the name of Him by 
whom he is sent, and expels demons, and gives sight to the 
blind, and restores health to the palsied, and raises the dead." 


Cuap. Lxvil.—Faustinianus is himself again. 


Whilst he made these and similar statements, the people 
began to curse him, and to weep and lament because they 
had sinned against Peter, believing him to be a magician or 
wicked man. But the same day, at evening, Faustinianus 
had his own face restored to him, and the appearance of 
Simon Magus left him. Now Simon, hearing that his face on 
Faustinianus had contributed to the glory of Peter, came in 
haste to anticipate Peter, and intending to cause by his art 
that his likeness should be taken from Faustinianus, wlien 
Christ had already accomplished this according to the word 
of His apostle. But Niceta and Aquila, seeing their father’s 
face restored after the necessary proclamation, gave thanks 


Box] RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 469 


to God, and would not suffer him to address the people any 


more. 


CHAP. LXVIII.—Peter'3 entry into Antioch. 

But Simon began, though secretly, to go amongst his 
friends and acquaintances, and to malign Peter more than 
before. "Then all spat in his face, and drove him from the 
city, saying: * You will be chargeable with your own death, 
if you think of coming hither again, speaking against Peter." 
These things being known [at Laodicea], Peter ordered the 
people to meet on the following day; and having ordained one 
of those who followed him as bishop over them, and others 
as presbyters, and having baptized multitudes, and restored 
to health all who were troubled with sicknesses or demons, he 
stayed there three days longer; and all things being properly 
arranged, he bade them farewell, and set out from Laodicea, 
being much longed for by the people of Antioch. And the 
whole city began to hear, through Niceta and Aquila, that 
Peter was coming. Then all the people of the city of 
Antioch, hearing of Peter's arrival, went to meet him, and 
almost all the old men and the nobles came with ashes 
Sprinkled on their heads, in this way testifying their repent- 
ance, because they had listened to the magician Simon, in 
opposition to his preaching. 


Cnr. LxIx.—Peter s thanksgiving. 


Stating these and such like things, they bring to him those 
distressed with sicknesses, and tormented with demons, para- 
lytics also, and those suffering diverse perils; and there was 
an infinite number of sick people collected. And when 
Peter saw that they not only repented of the evil thoughts 
they had entertained of him through means of Simon, but 
also that they showed so entire faith in God, that they be- 
lieved that all who suffered from every sort of ailment could 
be healed by him, he spread out his hands towards heaven, 
pouring out prayers with tears, and gave thanks to God, 
saying: *I bless thee, O Father, worthy of all praise, who 
hast deigned to fulfil every word and promise of Thy Son, 


470 RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. [Book x. 


that every creature may know that Thou alone art God in 
heaven and in earth." . 


CHAP. LXx.— Miracles. 


With such sayings, he went up on a height, and ordered 
all the multitude of sick people to be ranged before him, and 
addressed them all in these words: ** As you see me to be a 
man like to yourselves, do not suppose that you can recover 
your health from me, but through Him who, coming down 
from heaven, has shown to those who believe in Him a per- 
fect medicine for body and soul. Hence let all this people be 
witnesses to your declaration, that with your whole heart you 
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they may know that 
themselves also may be saved by Him.” And when all the 
multitude of the sick with one voice cried out that He is the 
true God whom Peter preaches, suddenly an overpowering 
light of the grace of God appeared in the midst of the people ; 
and the paralytics being cured, began to run to Peter's feet, 
the blind to shout on the recovery of their sight, the lame to 
give thanks on regaining the power of walking, the sick to 
rejoice in restored health; some even who were barely alive, 
being already without consciousness or the power of speech, 
were raised up; and all the lunatics, and those possessed of 
demons, were set free. 


CHAP. LXXI.—Success. 


So great grace of His power did the Holy Spirit show on 
that day, that all, from the least to the greatest, with one 
voice confessed the Lord; and not to delay you with many 
words, within seven days, more than ten thousand men, be- 
lieving in God, were baptized and consecrated by sanctifica- 
tion: so that Theophilus, who was more exalted than all 
the men of power in that city, with all eagerness of desire 
consecrated the great palace of his house under the name of 
a church, and a chair was placed in it for the Apostle Peter 
by all the people; and the whole multitude assembling daily 
to hear the word, believed in the healthful doctrine which 
' was avouched by the efficacy of cures. 


Ν 


\ 
\ 


Book x. | RECOGNITIONS OF CLEMENT. 471 


CHAP. LXXII.-—Happy ending. 


Then I Clement, with my brothers and our mother, spoke 
to our father, asking him whether any remnants of unbelief 
remained in him. And he said: “Come, and you shall see, 
in the presence of Peter, what an increase of faith has grown 
in me." 'Then Faustinianus approached, and fell down at 
. Peter's feet, saying: * The seeds of your word, which the 
field of my mind has received, are now sprung up, and have 
so advanced to fruitful maturity, that nothing is wanting but 
that you separate me from the chaff by that spiritual reaping- 
hook of yours, and place me in the garner of the Lord, 
making me partaker of the divine table.” Then Peter, with 
all alacrity grasping his hand, presented him to me Clement, 
and my brothers, saying: * As God has restored your sons to 
you, their father, so also your sons restore their father to God." 
And he proclaimed a fast to all the people, and on the next 
Lord's day he baptized him; and in the midst of the people, 
taking occasion from his conversion, he related all his fortunes, 
so that the whole city received him as an angel, and paid 
him no less honour than they did to the apostle. [And these 
things being known, Peter ordered the people to meet on the 
following day; and having ordained one of his followers as 
bishop, and others as presbyters, he baptized also a great 
number of people, and restored to health all who had be«n 
distressed with sicknesses.!] 

1 This sentence occurs only in one Ms. 


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8 


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© pude pulo tute indo 
ce e . e 


BEE ES E EE 


SPREE 


a 


MR A See: 


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xlix. 10, 
1 


INDEXES. 


I. 


PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE. 


page 75, note. 
331. 
16, 77. 
218. 


Deut. x. 20, 
xii. 11, 
xlii. 1-3, 
xviii. 15, 
xxxii. 8, 
xxxii. 12, 
xxxii. 39, 

Josh. xxiii. 7, 


2 Chron. vii. 12, 


Job ix. 9, 

Ps. viii. 5, 
xiv. 1-3, 
xviii. 32, 
XXXL. 6, 
xxxix. 12, 
li. 8, 
Ixx. 19, 
]xxxv. 8, 
exxxv. 7, 

Prov. iii. 8, 


ι 


iv. 25, 
vi. 27-29, 
viii. 27, 


xXiv. 21, 22, 61. 


Isa. 1. 16, 17, 


Ixvi. 5, 
Jer. vi. 9, 15, 


473 


4741 INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
Jer. x. 12,13, page 101. Matt. xviii. 7, page 275. 
li. 17, 101. xxi. 22, 291. 
Ezek. ii. 6, 390. xxii. 2-14, 302. 
xviii. 21, 117. xxii. 30, 252. 
Hos. vi. 6, 168. xxiii. 9, 364. 
xii. 6, 117. xxiii. 25, 26, 334. 
xiv. 9, 107. xxiv. 2, 168. 
Joel ii. 16, 117. xxvii. 19, 20, 214. 
Hab. ii. 18, 101. Luke vi. 36, 310. 
Zech. vii. 9, 10, 118. vi. 46, 285. 
Mal. iv. 1, 106. viii. b, 243. 
Matt. iii. 12, 258. x. 5, 6, 213. 
iv. 10, 301, 310. xi. 22, 232. 
v. 8, 207, 251, 252 xi. 31, 32, 336. 
v. 9. 210, 212. xi. 52, 223. 
v. 14, 15, 361. xii. 29, 329. 
v. 28, 29, 118, 357 xii. 52, 214. 
v. 32, 44, 118. xiii. 29, 284. 
v. 45, 258, 310 xvii. 6, 324. 
vi. 3, 119. xviii. 27, 79. 
vi. 24, 308. xix. 44, 158. 
vi. 33, 205, 223, 246, xxiii. 54, 330. 
257, 259. | John i. 1, 88. 
vii. 6, 194, 240 i. 3, 25. 
viii. 9, 300. i. 5, 18. 
viii. 11, 284. iii. 5, 333. 
ix. 13, 168. iv. 24, 8. 
ix. 37, 38, 284. v. 23, 224. 
x. 12-15, 213. viii. 34, 310. 
x. 25, 211. Acts iii. 22, 23, 168. 
x. 26, 242. vii. 59, 330. 
x. 34, 35, 210, 212, 329. | Rory. i. 20, 9, 206. 
xi. 25, 285. ii. 6, 8, 64. 
xi. 27, 224. xi. 34, 320. - 
xi. 30, 459. xiii. 7, 8, 119. 
xii. 7, 168. 1 Cor. ii. 14, 15, 21. 
xii. 25, 213. x. 4, 167. 
xii. 41, 42, 336. x. 30, 239. 
xiii. 23, 302. xi. 9, 64. 
xiii. 26, 272. Eph. vi. 13, 14, 17, 22. 
xiii. 44, 34. ] 'Tim. ii. 2, 119. 
xiii. 52, 285. Tit. i. 12, 33, note. 
xvii. 9, 324. Jas. v. 17, 18, 321. 
xvii. 19, 305. Rev. ii. 9, 324. 
II. 
INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 
Abel and Cain, the story of, 94. of the tree of the knowledge of good 


Abraham, 164; the posterity of, 165. 
Actor, the Greek, descri 
ridiculed, 28. 


174. 
Adam, why ho was forbidden to eat ! Advent, the, of thetrue Prophet, 170. 


and evil, 91; why Eve was formed 
of ἃ rib of, 93; anointed a priest, 





INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 470 


pci quoted respecting judg- 
ments on the wicked, 1 

Aides, 438, 447. 

Alexander the Great, as tutored by 
Aristotle, 6, 7. 

Allegories, the, of Orpheus and 
Hesiod, relating to the heathen 
cosmogony, 445; relating to Jupi- 
ter, 447; relating to Venus, 448; 
an afterthought of the heathen, 
449; of mythology, 451, etc. 

Amazons, strange Btories of the, 
415. 

Amusements, public, of the Greeks, 

Andromeda, 443. 

Angels, guardian, 220. 

Angels, evil, seducers, 296 ; 
sway over nations, 391. 

Angels unawares, E 456. 

Anger, teous, 

Animals and pla plante, illustrative of 
the providence of God, 374. 

laced in the heavens by 
the heathen, 13, 14. 

Animals, worship of, by the Egyp- 
tians, 60, 315. 

Anointing, 173, 174. 

Antioch, excitement at, caused by 
Simon 461. 

Antiquity, the, of the doctrines of 

the Christians, 120. 


Anubion, and Appion, 459; explains 
the of Simon Magus’ trans- 
formation of Faustinianus, 462, 
463; persuades Matthidia to go 
to ‘Antioch with Faustinianus, 
465. 


Aphrodite, 439. 

Apostles, the, their public discus- 
sions with the Jews, 179-188 ; 
tumult raised t, by Saul, 
188; authority of, 214. 

A false, 301. 

Appion and Anubion, 459, 462. 

Aquila, sets forth the impiety of 

imon Magus, 195-302; question 
of, as to responsibility, ; and 
Niceta,—story of their shipwreck, 
351, 352; discovers his mother, 
352; story of their shipwrec wreck, and 
introduction to Simon Magus, told 
Niceta, 354, 355; and Niceta, 
ead with Peter for the imme- 
ate baptism of their mother, 

356 ; discussion with the old 

workman about genesis, 383-399; 

his father, long lost to him, found 


bear 


in the old workman, 420-423; re- 
marks oh the cosmogonical "and 
mytholo pe allegories of the hea- 
then, 44 

Aradus, Peter' s excursion to, and 
occurrences there, 444, 451. 

Aratus, quoted, 72. 

Archil ch us, quoted, 105. ; 

Argive kings, a catalogue of, 42. 

Ar ippus 6. 

Ariston, 6. 

Aristophanes, quoted, 71. 

Aristotle, tutor of Alexander tho 
Great, 6. 

Arts, the Greeks claim the inven- 
tion of, 5; origin of, 95; necessary 
for the exercise of virtue, 404. 

Astrologers, 408, 409. 

Astrological lore, 411, 412 ; refuta- 
tion of, 412, etc. 

Astrology, the existence of evil in 
the world according to, 431, 432; 
test of, 433; batted by free-will, 
434. 


Athene, 447. 

Atoms, the doctrine of, 369; the 
concourse of, could not make a 
world, 370; more difficulties of the 
theory of, 371. 


Ausis, 169. 
Authority, a lic, 214. 
Authors, profane, have no means of 


knowing the truth, 108, 109; their 
mutual contradictions, 109, 10. 
Autolycus, 53, 65. 


Babel, the building of, 96; the tower 
of, raised to Zoroaster, 297. 
Banquet of the gods, the, 451, 452. 
Bal tism, instituted, 169; removes 
e unclean spirit ‘from’ men, 239; 
invitation to, 276; multitudes re- 
ceive, 279; the wedding garment, 
302; the necessity of, 331, 332; 
use of, 332; must be preceded by 
fasting, 355, 357; extinguishes the 
fire of sin, 408. [See ater] — 
Barnabas, arrives in Rome, 146; 
ition of Clement on his be- 
half, 148; Clement’s intercourse 
with, 149; his departure from 
Rome, 150; addresses the Jews at 
Jerusalem, 182. 
Bartholomew, 181. 
Beasts and birds, created the sixth 
day, typical character of, 83. 
Beggar woman, the, of Aradus, 344; 
turns out to be the mother of 
Clement, 345-349. 


Birth, the old and the new, 405. 

Blood and breath, as illustrating the 
divine 378. 

Body, the human, 17; as ilinstral- 
ing divine providence, 911; 

ymmetry of, 377, 378. 
Breath, the, 378. 
Brachmans, the, 413. 


Caiaphas, challenge sent the apostles 
by, 172, 179; answer to the chal- 
LS of, 182, 183; ^ charges Peter 
umption, 
and. Abel, 9; the family of, 
re ‘heir inventions, 95. 
Calisto, 443. 
Cannibalism inculcated by the philo- 
hers, 111. 
Chaldorans, their testimony to the 
antiquity of on 40. 

Chaos, 437, 445. 

Chastity, inculeated by the Scrip- 
tures, 118, 333; the importance of, 
334; its reward, 358. 

Chastisement, the, of the righteous 
and the wicked, 389, 

Christ, why the true "Prophet i is 80 

: called, 173; two comings of, 175, 
187; rojected by the Jews, 175; 
the only Saviour, 176; the saints 
before the coming of, 177; con- 
sistency of His teachin B 211; ac- 
knowledged the God of the Jews, 
223; and Moses, 285; temptation 
of, '301; the true Prophet, 308, 
458, 459. 

Christian, meaning of the name, 61. 

Christian life, the, 27 

Christian morality, 335. 

Christian, the Weakest, more power- 
ful than the strongest demon, 300. 

Christianity, the antiquity of, 120, 
131. 

Christians, the, worship God alone, 
8, 9; their doctrine of creation, 
9; ‘the doctrine of, and of the 
Greeks, ting God, compared, 
27; ha unjustly, 32; the 
doctrines of, fitted for all, 36; the 
women of, vindicated, 37; faleely 
accused, 110; their doetrines of 
God and His law, 114, 115; the 
innocence of, defended, 119; the 
antiquity of the doctrines of, 120; 
flight of, to Jericho, from Jewish 
persecution, 189. 

Chronology, from Adam to Saul, 


a", 


INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 


126-128; from Saul to the 
tivity, 128; Roman, to the 
of Aurelius, 130; leading epochaoi 
131. 

Cleansing, inward and outward, 334. 

Clement, his early history, 143; his 
doubts and distress, 143; his dis- 
satisfaction with the schools, and 
increasing disquiet, 144, 145; his 

' desire to ascertain the truth of the 
doctrine of the immortality of the 
soul, 145; hears of Christ, 146; 
meets with Barnabas at Rome, 
146-149; intercourse with Barna- 
bas, 149, 150; arrives at. Cesarea 
and is introduced to Peter, 150; 
cordial reception of, by Peter, 151; 
his account of bimself to Peter, 
152; instructions given to, by 
Peter, 152-154; requests to be 
Peter's attendant, 154; is by 
Peters instruction, Peter's 
satisfaction with, 154, 156; repe- 
tition of Peter's instructions to, 


158; remarks on the of 
habit, 193; contents of his de- 
spatches to James, 281; not as 


yet baptized, he is not 

to unite "I the disciples in 
rayer, 303; his joy at ramainmg 

T vith I Peter, 339; NA affection for 

Peter, 340; his family history, — 

disappearance of his mother, bro- 

thera, and father, 342, 343; his 

mother found at Aradus as a 

woman, 344-349; reeapitu- 

lation of her story by Peter, 351, 
352; recognition Of his brothers, 
352-354; his mother requests to 
be baptized, 355; his mother re- 
ceives baptism, 258; discussion 
with the old workman about grene- 
sis, 402.420; recognition of his 
o hia m the old γόνον by his 
423; ather 
mother, 424; a rneestion made 
by, to Peter, 428; discussion with 
his father 
evil, 390, ete iceta’s idea 
to, 436; his discourse on the hea- 
then cosmogony and mythology, 
437-445 ; happy ending of 
family history, baptism of his 
father, 471. 

Climacteric periods, 408, 409. 

** Climates” p astrology, 416, 417; 
the doctrine of, untenable, 417. 
Comings of Chriat, the two, 175, 187. 
Commandments, the ten, corre- 


INDEX.OF SUBJECTS. 4717 


sponding ὦ to the ten plagues of 
inh tae 
Community of wives, a, taught by 
Plato in his Republic, 111. 
Conception, 236. 
Conception in sin, 406. 
Confusion of tongues at Babel, 96. 
Consistency of Christ’s teaching, 211. 
Constellations, nativities controlled 
by, according to the heathen, 14. 
Contraries in nature, 392. 
Conversion, the duty of seeking one's 
own, 453, 454. 
Cornelius, the centurion, his strata- 
gem to cause Simon Magus to flee 
Antioch, 460, 461. 
Correspondences i in creation, 379. 
Cosmogony, the Gentile, 437; the, 
of Orpheus, 445; the, of Hesiod, 


446. 

Creation, the, the Christian doctrine 
of, 9; the six days' work of, 76, 
78; of the world, remarks on— 
Hesiod's weak conception, 79; of 
man, 81; an account of, 161, 162; 
implies providence, 365; mode of, 

; theories of, 368; from nothing, 
369; atomic theory untenable, 
309; concourse of atoms could not 
form & world, 370; Plato's testi- 
mony respecting, 371; mechanical 
theory of, 372; correspondences in, 
379, 380. 

Creator, the,.no God above, 229; our 
Father, 231; the Supreme God, 
282; necessary, 367; the world 
made from nothin 

Creatures, the, 
on sinners, 320. 

Crescens, the philosopher, his charac- 


Custos. the, of different countries, 
415, 416; Jewish, 417, 418. 


Cynic philosophers, the, 30. 


Daphne, 443. 

Dayay the six, of creation, 76, 78; the 
typical character of, 82. 

Dead men deified, 442. 

Deluge, the, errors of the Greeks 
about, 121; accurate account of, 


Demons, 12; give rise to su 
tions, 13, 14; worshipped 
18; their severe punish: 

ment, 19; structure of, 21; vain 
display of power by, 21, 22; falsely 
cheep health to their votaries, 
deceive instead of healing, 23; 


stars take n vengeance 


sti 


depravity lies at the root of the 
worship of, 24; how they get 
power over men, 290; why they 
wish to possess men, 291; the 

gospel gives ua power over, 291; 
nel over, In proportion to 
aith, 292; incite to idolatry, ry 
293; their knowledge, 293, 294 
sometimes truth — why! 
294, 295; the weakest Christian 
mightier ‘than the mightiest, 300; 
have no power over ἃ man unleas 
he voluntarily submits to them, 
301; the friendship of, involves 
men in dis , 324; their con- 
nection wi astrology, 409. 

Demoniac, a, healed, 424. 

Depravity, the root of demon-wor- 
ship, 24 


Designing mind, s, seen in creation, 


Desiring the salvation of others, 356. 
Deucalion, 121. 


e, of Tatian, 4. 
Diligence in study recommended, 
253, 327. 


Diogenes, 6. 

Dionysius, diooted, 105. 
Dionysus, 439 

per public, between the 


the Jews, 179, etc., 
185; B6; of Peter with Simon Magus, 
905, etc., 241, etc.; of Niceta, 
Aquila, and Clement with the old 
workman, 359, etc., 383, etc., 
401, etc. 
Disorder and order, in creation, 387. 


Dispersion, the, of the human race, 
9 


Divination, 25. 
Divinities, heathen, ridiculo of the, 
15. 


Dora, Peter at, 282. 
Dositheus and Simon Magus, 197, 
199. 


Earnestness in religion, 454. 
Earth, the, made for man, 331. 
i-e the aye developed from 


Egypt he Taaclites | in, 166. 

idolatry, more reasonablo 

an other forms of idolatry, 315. 

, the, their testimony to 

OBe8, 42; the animal w of, 

60; the kin of, at the time o the 

exodus of Israel, and his succes- 
sors, 123. 


418 


Empedocles, 8, 105. 

Encratites, the, 3. 

Enemies, the love of, 118. 

Enemies of God, men are naturally, 


203. 

Enoch, the translation of, 28. 

Epicurus teaches incest, 112; his 
theory of atoms, 369. 

Error cannot stand with truth, 
215. 

Eternity of punishment, 320. 

Euripides quoted, 73, 104. 

Eva, the Bacchanalian cry of, sup- 
posed by the fathers to be an in- 
vocation of Eve, 93. 

Eve, why she was formed out of a 
rib of Adam, 93. 

Evil, the existence of, 243, 244; de- 
nied by some, 244, 245; origin of, 
248, 395; God not the author of, 
248; does not exist in substance, 
295; why God permits, 295, 296; 
the existence of, on astrological 
principles, 431, 432. 

Evil and good, set over the one 

inst the other, 392. 

Evi the prince of, why made, 394, 

40 


Evil angels, seducers, 296, 297. 
Evil beings, turned to good account, 


296. 

Evil-doers, shall be punished, 104, 
390, 391. 

Evils, the, brought in by sin, 391; 
uses of, 406; admitted, 431. 

Exodus, the, 166, 167. 


Faith, the importance of, in all 
things, 59; and reason, 237; and 
unbelief, 305. 

Fall of man, the, 10. 

Fasting, baptism must be preceded 
by, 355, 357. 

Fate, the heathen view of, 11; the 
sins of men not due to, 16; an 
avenger, 105. 

Faustinianus, father of Clement, 
Peter’s first meeting with, 359; 
his discussion with Peter, etc., 
360, etc.; recognition of, by Cle- 
ment and his brothers, 420, etc.; 
transformed by Simon Magus into 
his own likeness, 459; Simon’s de- 
sign in the transformation of, 461, 


462; how his transformation was 


effected, 462; personates Simon 
Magus to defeat him, 465-468; re- 
Stored to his own form, 468, 469; 
his baptism,.471. 


“ἢ 


INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 


Faustus and Faustinianus, 352. (See 
Aquila and Niceta. ] 

Fear, the ining influence of, 
407, 408; of men and of God, 410. 

Fifth day's work of creation, 82. 

Fire worship, the, of the Persians, 


Flesh, the desires of, to be subdued, 


Flood, history of the, 96, 163; the 
world after the, 164; brought as 
the punishment of evil-doers, 391. 

Form of sound words, the, 382. 

Fourth day's work of creation, the, 
82. 


Frauds, pious, singular illustrations 
of, 460-469. 

Free-will, the sins of men spring 
from, 16; possessed by men, 306, 
403. 


Freedom of the will, 246, 247. 
Friends of the Son of God, the, 402, 


403. 
Friendship with God, 161. 


Gamaliel, stills a tumult raised 
against the apostles, 185; his 
speech, 186. 

Garment of baptism, the, how it 
may be 302. 

Gelones, customs of the, 414. 

Genealogies, fabulous Gentile, 71. 

Generation, as illustrating a design- 
ing mind, 379. . 

Genesis, the truth of the account of 
mane creation and fall inthe book 
of, 89. 

Genesis, discussion about, 359, etc.; 
prayer inconsistent with, 366; fur- 
ther discussions about, 384, etc., 
402, etc.; not it, but free-will, de- 
termines the history of men, 416; 
divided into seven parts or climates, 
416; the gospel more powerf 

418; inconsistent with the 
justice of God, 419; stubborn facta 
in support of, 420; the difficulties 
cle up by recognitions, 421, 


Gentile cosmogony, 437. 

Gentilism, buttresses of, 444. 

Gentiles, the, the call of, 170, 309; 
waited for the true Prophet, 309; 
invitation to, 310. 

Germination of seeds, illustrating 
divine providence, 375. 

Giants, the, 163. 

Gladiators and pugilists described, 


INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 


God, Christians worship Him only, 
8; the Creator, through the Logos, 
9; thanks due to, for all things, 
26; the doctrines of the Christians 
and Greeks respecting, compared, 
27; can be seen by the purged eye 
only, 53; the nature of, 53-55; at- 
tributes of, 55; invisible, but seen 
in His works, ‘66; known by His 
works, 57; will be seen when we 
put on immortality ty, 58; absurd 
opinions of the hilosophers con- 
cerning, 67; why described as 
walking, 88; the Christian doc- 
trine of, 114; unity of, 218, 221; 
the author of good only, 248; His 
will irresistible, 249; all be seen 
by the pure in heart, 252; ri bt- 
eous, 257; His justice, 258, 
to be loved supremely, 26%; both 
good and ri hteous, 90; alone 

ro object of worship, 

312; ee care of human affairs, 
321; who are worahippers of, in 

. to be loved more 

330; why He has made o crea. 
tures, 386; tho folly of sitting in 
jud ent on, 396; created the 
orld by His Son, as & double 
house, 402; His long-suffering, 


457. 

Gods of the heathen, their character 
controlled by fate, 12; ridiculous 
stories of, 15, 71, 72; immorali- 
ties of, 59; despised when made, 
but valuable when bought, 65; 
what becomes of them, 66; Homer 
and Hesiod's opinions of, 68, 69; 
varying doctrines of the hiloso- 
phers respecting, 102; wickedness 
attributed by the heathen writers 
to, 114; many so called, 219; 
things sacred to, 444; why they 
"n" worshi ped, being so vile, 

ow learned Gentiles 
explain t the shameful stories told 
of, 144, 450; the supper of the, 
451, 452. 

Good and evil, 429, 430. 

Good works, the necessity of, 333. 

Goodness, noné without liberty, 250 

Go the, the success of, 171; 
om, power over demons, 291, 

more powerful than genesis, 
418, 419. 

Greeks, the, claim the invention of 
the arts, 5; the doctrine of, and 
of the Christians, ting "God, 
compared, 27; the solemnities of, 


th 
| 


479 
ridiculed, 28, 29; the studies of, 
ridiculed, 31; "te philosophy of 


the Christians more ancient than . 
that of, 35; statues erected un- 
worthily by, 37-40; errors of, re- 
eee the deluge, 121; the pro- 
ets more ancient than the writers 
Ἢ 125, 126; the contrast between 
the writin of, and the writings 
of the Hebrews, 129; why they 
did not mention the Scripture his- 
tories, 1: 
Guardian angels, 220. 


Habit, the power of, 192, 193. 

Ham, the first magician, 297. 

Hand, cutting off the right, 357. 

Harvest, the, plenteous, 284. 

Heaven, the visible and the invisible, 
237; the visible, why made, 250; 
why to be dissolved, 251. 

Hebrew chronolo , 196. 130. 

Hebrews, the, in RyDt, 123; contrast 
between the writings of, and those 
of the Greeks, 129. 

Heraclitus the philosopher, 7 . 

Heroes, Moses more ancient and 
credible than the ancient heathen, 


Hero-worship, 298. 
esiod, his opinions concerning God, 
68, 69; on the origin of the world, 
69, 70; his w conceptions of 
God, 79; his cosmogony, 446 

Hiram king of 


his relations 
with Solomon, 125. 
Holy place, the, for sacrifice, 168. 
Holy Spirit, the necessity of union 
v 20; the prophets inspired 
y, 74. 
Holiness of life enjoined by the pro- 
phets, 99. 
Homer and Hesiod, their views of 
God, 68, 69; quoted, 73, 107. 
Homer and Moses com » 95. 
Hospitality, a contest about, 381. 
Human race, the dispersion of, 98. 
Hyacinthus, 443. 


Idolatry, the absurdities of, 60; the 
origin of, 289, 296; demons incite 
to, 292; the folly of, 293, 311; led 
to all immorality, 299; the Egyp- 
tian, 315. 

Idols unprofitable, 311. 

Ignorance, the mother of evils, 305. 

Image of God, man the, 20. 

Imagination, 232; Peter’s experience 
of, 232, 233; the fallacy of, 235. 


480 

Immensity, the doctrine of, as taught 
by tbe law, 236. 

Immorality, "produced by idolatry, 
299. 

Immortality of the soul, the theory 

, 18, 258. 

Impiety, the origin of, 323. 

Incest, taught by the Stoics and 
Epicureans, 113. 

Inequality, the the necessity of, among 
men, 

Innocence, a tate of, a state of en- 
joyment, 287. 


Innocence, the, of the Christians de- 
fended, 119. 


Instincts ‘manifested, 364. 

Interpretation of Scri 453. 

Intestines, how they illustrate divine 
providence, 378. 

Israelites, the, in TE 166; their 
exodus from in the wilder- 
ness, and at Sinai, 167 ; the sins 
of, 169. 


James the bishop of Jerusalem, 181, 
187; assaulted by the Jews, 188; 
sends Peter to Cesarea to meet 
Simon 189; teachers com- 
ing from erusalem must bring 
testimonials from, 301. 

Jehovah, the only God, 221. 

Jesus, the true het, 308. 

Jewish customs, 417, 418. 

Jews, the, the rejection of Christ by, 
175 ; the animosity of, against do | Matic 
Christians, 178 ; sects of, 178; 
discussions with the apostles, 1 79, 
ete. Ohrist the acknowledged God 


273. 

Jon, the disciples of, 179; the dis- 
ciples of, refuted, 182, 

Judgment to come, 325. 

J ndging € God, ridiculous, 396, 397. 
uno, 439 

J upiter, his deeds, 59; how many of 

e name there are, 60; when born, 

hid by his mother, 438; incests of, 
438, 439; goes to war with his 
father, 439; adulteries of, 439, 440 10; 
vile transformations of, 441 ; 
pulchre of, 442; sepulchres of the 
sons of, 442; allegory of, 447. 


King, the, to be honoured, 61. 

Kingdom of God, the, and His right- 
eousness, 205; righteousness the 
way to, 206. 

Knowledge, the advantages of, 306 ; 
the responsibility which it in- 


INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 


volves, 306; enhances i- 
bility, 335; deadens lust, 410; the 
value of, 419; universal, posseesed 
by none, 435. 

Knowledge, the tree of, righteously 
forbidden by God to man, 90, 91. 


Laodiceans, the, a chief man of, 

offers Peter and his friends hotpi- 
tality, 381; meeting at the house 
of the chief man of, 383. 

Law, the Christian doctrine of God's, 
114, 115; enjoi i 
117. 


Learners and cavillers, 254. 
Learning, necessary before teaching, 


Liberty, no goodness without, 250. 

Life, the ‘Christian, 272. 

Life, oil from the tree of, 173. 

Light, the supreme, Simon Magnus’ 
views of, 224. 

Logos, the, the Creator, 9, 16. 

Love of enemies, 118. 

Love, of self the foundation of good- 
ness, 267. 

Luna, and Simon Magus, 197, 199. 

Lying for religion, a etriking illus- 

ἊΝ 464; competition in, 


Mai. Ham the τες, ἢ 997. 


vof ἂς, 29 of Egypt, 268; miracles 


Mah and fem d- 
ence and relation of, 379. 
Man, the faJl of, 10, 86; not only a 


rational animal, but the image of 
God, 20; the creation of the first, 


84; the ‘first placed Paradise, 
84, 85; rightoowaly forbidden to 
eat of the tree of owledge, 90; 


the goodness of God in g 
him from Paradise, 91; the nature 
of, 92; the earth made for, 331. 

Manetho, the inaccuracy of his state- 
ments respecting Moses and the 
Hebrews, 123, 1 

Maro, Peter stops at the house of, 
289, 283; ine. by Peter 
bishop of Tri 

Matter, ita various forma, 16, 17. 

Matthidia, mother of Clement, her 
disappearance, 342; found at Ar 
dus as & beggar woman, 344; her 


INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 


story, 345-347; Peter's reflections 

on her story,—recognised by Cle- 
ment, 348, 349; recapitulation of 
her story, 351, 352; recognised by 
Aquila and Niceta, 352-354; seeks 
baptism, 353, 355; baptism of, de- 
layed, 356, 357; baptized, 358; 
recognises her husband, 423; ac- 
companies her husband to Antioch, 
465, 466. 

Mechanical theory of creation, the, 

2. 

Medea, 439. 

Medicine, the vanity of, 23, 24. 

Melchizedek, 97. 

Men, naturally enemies of God, 203; 
the responsibility of, notwith- 
standing the arts of deception 
practised on, 204. 

Menander, the poet, quoted, 73. . 

Menander, the Ephesian, quoted, 125. 

Mesraim, 297. 

Metamorphoses, 443. 

Minerva, 447. 

Miracles, false, 266; of the magi- 
cians of Egypt, 269; the useless- 
ness of false, 271. 

Moon, the, its typical character, 82; 
motions of, 388. 

Morality, Christian, its superiority, 
335 


Moses, and Homer compared, 35; 
testimony of the Chaldeans to 
the antiquity of, 40; testimony 
of the Pheenicians to the anti- 

uity of, 41; testimony of the 
tians to the antiquity of, 42; 
more ancient than the heathen 
heroes, 43; summing up of the 
argument for the antiquity of, 44; 
antiquity of, evinced by the reign 
and succession of the Egyptian 
kings, 122, 123; Manetho's inac- 
curate and nonsensical statement 
about, 123, 124; older than all 
other writers, 132; allows the 
Israelites to offer sacrifices, 168; 
and Christ, 285. 
Mother of Clement. (See Matthidia.] 
Motions of the sun, moon, and stars, 


Muses, the, invoked by Hesiod, 69. 

Music, the invention of, 95. 

Mythology, heathen, 437, etc.; ex- 
planation of, 451. 


Nativities, the supposed control of 
the ap Hatione over, 14. (See 


481 


200. 


, bears testimony to the for- 
midableness of the magician, 195; 
leaves Simon Magus and becomes 
a Christian, 205; and Aquila, dis- 
covered to be. Clement’s brothers, 
352, 354; tells the story of his 
own and Aquilas shipwreck, 
354, 355; pleads for the baptism 
of his mother, 356; discussion with 
the old workman, 362-381; recog- 
nises the old workman as his 
father, 420-423; pleads for his 
father’s reception to the church, 
427; admonition to Clement, 436; 
explains the allegories of the hea- 
then, cosmogonical and mytholo- 
gical, 445-449, 451-453. 

Nimrod, 298. 

Noah and his sons, 163, 289. 


Oil from the tree of life, the, with 
which Christ was anointed, 173. 

Olympus, 67. 

Oracles, the heathen, 293, 294. 

Orcus, 438. 

Order, and disorder, 387. 

Order, in instruction, 255. 

Origin of the world, Hesiod on the, 
69, 70. 

Orpheus, the cosmogony of, 445, 446. 

Osiris, 60. 


Paganism , the enormities of, 322. 

Pairs, good and evil, 270; ten, 272. 

Paradise, man placed in, 84; the 
Scripture account of, 85, 86; the 


beauty of, 89; the goodness of 
God in expelling man from, 91. 

Parents, to be loved more than, 
330. 


Peace, and strife, proclaimed by 
Christ, 211; to the sons of, 212; 
and war, 213; and thesword, 229. 

Pearls not to be cast before swine, 
240. 

Persephone, 439. 

Persians, the fire-worship of, 298; un- 
natural customs among, 413, 414. 

Peter the apostle, his cordial recep- 
tion of Clement, 151; instructions 
given by, to Clement, 152-154, 

58; requests Clement to be his 
attendant, 154; his satisfaction 
with Clement, 155; postponement 


2H 


482 


of hisdiscussion with Simon Magus, 
156, 157; further instructions 
given by, to Clement, 158, etc.; 
sent to Cesarea, to meet Simon 
Magus, 189; challenged by Simon 
Magus, 190; his discussion with 
Simon Magus begins, 205, etc.; 
his experience of the fallacy of 
imagination, 233; his reverie, 234; 
reb by Andrew, 234, 235; 
adjournment of his discussion 
with Simon Magus, 238; his dis- 


cussion with Simon M re- 
sumed, 241, etc.; accessibility of, 
265; resolves to follow Simon 


Magus to Rome, 275; appoints a 
bishop, elders, and deacons in 
Caesarea, 275; sends twelve per- 
sons before him, 277; proceeds to 
Tripolis, halts at Dora, and heals 
_ the sick, 286; arrangements made 
by, at Tripolis, 236? leaves Tri- 
polis for Antioch, 338; his sim- 
licity of life, 340; his humility, 
1; his excursion to Aradus, 
where he finds the mother of Cle- 
ment, 434; his reflections on the 
story told by Clement’s mother, 
347; brings her to Clement, 348, 
349; leaves Aradus, 350; recapitu- 
lates the story of Clement’s 
mother, 351; which leads to the 
discovery that Niceta and Aquila 
are her sons, 352-354; uires 
that their mother shall fast before 
receiving baptism, 355-358; finds 
an old workman at the harbour 
who accosts him, 359; arranges for 
a friendly conference with the old 
workman, 360; states the question 
for discussion, 361; has a contest 
of hospitality with the chief man 
of the city, 381; arranges for an- 
other conference at the house of 
the chief man, 382; renews the con- 
ference, 399; discovers the old work- 
man to be the father of Clement, 
421; heals a demoniac daughter of 
the chief man by his presence in 
the house, 424; shows Clement the 
necessity of probation in the case 
of his father, 426; is appointed 
umpire in the further discussion 
with the old man, 430; his words 
about the true Prophet, his Master, 
435; Clement’s urse before, 
435, etc.; remarks of, on Clement's 
speech, 440; Faustinianus, Cle- 
ment’s father, requests his per- 


INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 


mission to visit Appion and Anu- 
bion, 459; Simon 8 excites 
the people of Antioch against, 
460; stratagem suggested to, by 
Cornelius, against Simon Magus, 
460, 461; a counter-plot of, against 
Simon Magus, 464; success. of his 
plot, 467; his entry into Antioch, 
and thanksgiving, 469; miracles 
of, 470; baptizes Faustinianus, 

l 


471. 

Pharisees, the, refuted, 181. 

Philemon, quoted, 113, 114. 

Philip, his encounter with the Jews, 
181. 

Philosophers, the errors and vices 
of, 6, 24, 25; ridicule of, 7, 8; 
boasting and quarrels of, 30; ab- 
surd opinions of, concerning God, 
67; the teaching of, confirm the 
Hebrew prophets, 106; inculcate 
cannibalism, 111; teach a com- 

. munity of wives and atheism, 111, 
112; varying doctrines of, concern- 
ing the gods, 112; uncertain con- 
jectures of, 120; different opinions 
of, 393; their ignorance, 398; errors 
of, in regard to morals, 456; not 
benefactors of men, 457. 

Philosophy, the, of the Christians 
more ancient than that of: the 
Greeks, 35. 

Phoenicians, the, their testimony to 
the antiquity of Moses, 41. 

Pindar quoted, 104. 

Pious frauds, a striking illustration 
of, 460-469. 

Pitch, tow smeared with, 407. 

Plagues, the ten, of Egypt, 268. 

Plants and animals, as illustrating 
the providence of God, 374. 

Plato, and his school, their views of 
God, 67; teaches a community of 
wives, 111; on the immortality of 
the soul, 113; on the antiquity of 
the world, 120; quoted respecting 
creation, 311. 

Poets, the, denounce evil-doers, 104, 


106; the of, confirm the 
Hebrew prophets, 106; the writ- 
ings of, 450. 


Polytheism, Simon Magus argues 
for, 218; Peter's refutation of, 
219; the serpent the author of, 
22] ; inexcusable, 222; the folly 
of, 442. 

|! Polytheists, the inconsistency of, 
443 


Prayer inconsistent with genesis, 366. 


INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 


Precepts from the prophetic books, 
100. 

Priest, the true Prophet a, 174. 
Prince of evil, why was he made, or 
was he not made? 394, 395, 403. 
Probation, the necessity of, before 

ission to the church, 426, 427. 

Prophecy, the word of, 454. 

Prophet, the true, 153, 308; the ad- 
vent of, 170; the rejection of, 170, 
171; why called Christ, 173; a 
Priest also, 174; alone knows all 
things, 397; to be sought for by 
those who wish to learn, 398, 458, 
459. 

Prophets, the, inspired by the Holy 
Ghost, 74; holiness of life enjoined 
by, 99; precepts from the books 
of, 100, etc. ; confirmed by the 
teachings of the Greek poets and 
philosophers, 106; more ancient 
than the Greek writers, 125, 126. 

Providence, opinions of the philo- 
sophers concerning, 72; Ariston 
quoted respecting, 113; vindicated, 
287; implied by creation, 365; 
general and special, 366; seen in 
the motions of the stars, and in 
earthly things, 373; in rivers and 
seas, 374; in plants and animals, 
374, 375; in the germination of 
seeds, 375, 376; in the power of 
water, 376; in the human body, 
377, 378; in the breath, and blood, 
and intestines, 378, 379. 

Prudence, in dealing with opponents, 
194. 

Ptolemy, priest of Mendes, quoted, 42. 

Pugilists and gladiators, 29. 

Punishment, the eternity of, 320. 

Punishment, the, of evil-doers re- 
ferred to by the poets, 104; of the 
righteous and the wicked, 389, 
390; fear of, 408; here and here- 
after, 409. 

Pure in heart, the, 252. 

Pyramus, 443. 


Rainbow, the, 385. 
Recognitions, the, of Clement, an 


account of, 137-139; reason of the , 


title, 349, 352, 420-424. 
Regeneration by water, 332, 405. 
Religion, of one's fathers to be aban- 

doned if bad, 322; the true, calls 

to sobriety and modesty, 323. 
Repentance, 116; the duty of, 454. 
Responsibility, the, of man, 204, 247; 

increased by knowledge, 306. 


488 


Resurrection, the, the Christian doc- 
trine of, 10; proved by analogies, 


Retribution, future, 409. 

Rhea, the wife of Saturn, hides her 
son Jupiter, to preserve him from 
being devoured by his father, 438, 
446-447. ᾿ 

Rib, why Eve was formed of one of 
Adam's, 93. 

Righteous, the, and the wicked, 
chastisements of, 389. 

Righteousness, 117; the way to the 
zipgdom of God, 206; what it is, 


Rivers and seas, as illustrating the 
providence of God, 374. 

Rose without a thorn, a, not to be 
found, 392. . 

Roman chronology to the death of 
Aurelius, 130. 

Rufinus, his preface to the Recog- 
nitions of Clement, 140-142. 

Rulers appointed over all orders of 
being, 173. 


Sabbath, the, 79. 

Sacrifices, allowed for atime, 167,168. 

Sadducees, the, 178, 179; confuted, 

Sainte, th, before the coming of 
aints, the, ore the coming o 
Christ, 177. 

Salvation, the duty of desiring that 
of others, 356. 

Samaritans, the, 179; refuted, 180. 

Satan, instigates Cain to kill Abel, 


Saturn, worshipped by the Romans, 
132; the family of, 437; devours 
his children, 438. 

Saul, raises a tumult against the 
apostles, 188; receives a commis- 
sion against the Christians, 189. 

Sea, the world compared to the, 81. 

Seas and rivers illustrate the pro- 
vidence of God, 374. 

Scribes, the, refuted, 181. 

Scripture, the, the interpretation of, 
453 


Sects of the Jews, 178, 179. 

Seeds, the germination of, as illus- 
trative of the providence of God, 
375. 

Seeing or hearing, which the 
stronger, 261. 

Seeing God, 58, 252. 

Self-love, the foundation of good- 
ness, 267. 

Sense, the sixth, 225. 


484 


Sepulchres of the gods, 442. 

Seres, the, 390, 412. 

Serpent the, 93; the author of poly- 

eism, 221; suggestions of, 313- 
319; to be resisted, 326. 

Sibyl, the, quoted as to the 
66, 103; as to the confusion of 
tongues, 86; reproofs of, to the 
race 1 men, 102. th 

Simon , postponement of his 
discussion - ‘with eter, 156, 157; 
how Peter was sent to meet, 189; 
how he challenged Peter, 190; a 
formidable opponent, 195; the im- 
piety of, 195, 196; history of, 
196; the secret of his magical 
power, 200; professes to be , 
201; professes to have made a boy 
of air, 202; hopelessness of the 
case of, 202; his discussion with 
Peter begins, 205, etc.; his 
subtlety, 216; his creed, 217; 
argues for polytheism, 218; his 
cavils, 223; his presumption, 225; 
his view of the supreme light, 
224; his blasphemy, 227; how he 
learned from the law what the 
law does not teach, 228; his in- 
consistency, 230; adjournment of 
Peter’s discussion with, 238; 
Peter’s discussion with, resumed, 
241; a seducer, 241; his arrogance, 
243; his subterfuges, 260, 261; his 
rage, 263; his vanity, 263, 264; 
his retreat, 264; resisted Peter 
as the Egyptian magicians did 
Moses, 269; a deserter from the 
camp of, 273; sets out for Rome, 
273; is followed by Peter, 274; 
strangó transformation wrought 
upon Faustinianus by, 459; strives 
to excite the people of Antioch 
against Peter, 460; stratagem used 
against, by Peter and Cornelius, 
460 ; his design in the transfor- 
mation of Faustinianus, 461-464; 
counter-plot of Peter against, 464- 
468; is defeated, 469. 

Simonides quoted, 73, 105. 

Simple and compound, 364. 

Simylus quoted, 114. 

Sin, the cause of suffering, 287, 304; 
the punishment of, 389, 390; evils 
brought in by, 391; men conceived 
in, 406 


in, . 

Sinners, the creatures often take 

vengeance on, 320. 

Sins of men, the, not caused by fate, 
16. 


INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 


Six days' work, the, 76; the glory 
of, 78; the typical character of, 
82-84. 

Sixth sense, the, 225. 

Solemnities, the, of the Greeks ridi- 
culed, 28. 

Solomon, his relations with Hiram 
king of Tyre, 124, 125. 

Son of God, the, 402, 403; friends 
of, 403. 

Sophocles quoted, 73, 106. 

Soul, the, the immortality of, 18; 
composite, 20; the eyes of, 53, 


5A. 

Spirit of God, the, dwells with those 
who live justly, 19; necessity of 
union with, 20. 

Spirits, two kinds of, 16, 17; in 
various things, 18. 

Stage, shes of the Greeks ridiculed, 

0 


Stans, Simon Magus so called, 189, 
196, 199. 

Stars, the, motions of, 373. 

Statues, the, erected by the Greeks 
to women, 37, 38; ridicule poured 
on, 39. 

Strangers, humanity to, 116. 

Studies of the Greeks, ridicule of 
the, 31. 

Study, diligence in, 253, 327. 

Sufferings, salutary, 288; the effects 
of sin, 304. 

Sun, moon, and stars, their typical 
character, 82; motions of the, 
388; ministers of good and evil, 
388, 389. 

Superstitions, originated by demons, 

14 


Supper, the, of the gods, 451, 452, 
Susidxy, the customs of the, 414. 
Swine, casting pearls before, 240. 
Sword, not peace, but a, 329. 


Tatian, sketch of the history of, 3, 
4; account of the conversion of, 
33-35. 

Temple, the, of Jerusalem, the anti- 
quity of, 124, 125. 

Temptation, the, of Christ, 301. 

Ten commandments, the, and the 
ten plagues of Egypt, 268. 

Ten pairs, the, 272. 

Th due to God, 322. 

Theophilus of Antioch, his personal 
history, 51, 52; his conversion, 63. 

Thestius, quoted, 73. 

Thetis, 439. - 

Thorn, no rose without its, 392. 


INDEX OF SUBJECTS. 


Thysbe, 443. 

Time of making the world, 380. 

Tow smeared with pitch, 407. 

Tower of Babel, the, 297. 

Transformation, a strange, wrought 
on Faustinianus by Simon Magus, 


459. 

Tree of knowledge, the, God justified 
in forbidding man to eat of the 
fruit of, 90. 

Tree of life, oil from the, 173. 

Tripolis, the disciples at, 336; de- 
parture from, 338. 

Truth, the, being conquered by, 209; 

. error cannot stand with, 215; not 
the property of all, 255; self-evi- 
dence of, 256; veiled with love, 


270. 

Types and forms, 385. 

Types, natural, 82-84. 

Tyrians, the relations of, with the 
Hebrews, 125. 


Unbelief and faith, 305. 

Unclean, the, separation from, 238; 
not to be eaten with, 353. 

Unclean spirits, 239. 

Unity of God, the, 219. 

Useless things, why made, 387. 


Venus the origin of, 439; allegory 

of, 449. 

Vile things, why made by God, 386, 
38 


Virtue, arrangements of the world, 
to secure the exercise of, 404. 
Voice of God, what, 38. 


Walking, why is God described as? 


Warand strife, proclaimed by Christ, 
211, 213. 

Water, the power of, illustrating 
divine providence, 376. 

Water, born of, 332; regeneration 
by, 405, 407. 

Waters, the, things proceeding from, 
blessed, signification of this, 83. 


485 


Wedding garment, baptism the, 302; 
to be kept unspotted, 302. 

Wicked, the, the success of, in this 
life, a proof of immortality, 259; 
and righteous, chastisement of, 

9. 

Will, the freedom of the, 246, 247. 

Will of God, irresistible, 249. 

Wives, a community of, taught by 
Plato, 111. 

Womb, the, 379. 

Women, Christian, vindicated, 37. 

Word, the, the world created by, 
74, 75; begotten of the Father, 
conversed with man in Paradise, 


88. 

Workman, the old, discussion with, 
359; turns out to be Clement's 
father, 421, etc. 

Works, God known by His, 57. 

Works, good, the necessity of, 333. 

World, the, the Christian doctrine 
of the creation of, 9; Hesiod on 
the origin of, 69, 70; made by the 
Word, 74, 75; remarks on the 
creation of, 79; compared to a sea, 
81; made out of nothing by a 
creator, 369; time of the creation 
of,—why not made long before? 
380; arrangementa of, to secure 
the exercise of virtue, 404. 

World, the, after the flood, 164. 

Worship, due to God only, 312. 

Worship of heroes, 298. 

Worshippers of God, who are, 324. 


Worship of the gods, like the 
gods they worship, 450. 
Writings, the, of the Hebrews and 


Greeks contrasted, 129. 


Zacchzus, 205; appointed by Peter 
bishop of Cesarea, 275; rescued 
Aquila and Niceta from Simon 
Magus, 355. 

Zoroaster or Mesraim, a son of Ham, 
regarded as the author of the 
magic art, 297; adored, 297, 298. 


MURRAY AND GIBB, EDINBURGH, 
PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE. 


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