Song of Apologetics against the Jews and Greeks

Contents

Reading pages: 1–549 · 573–1027

1. 1The poet tells how he wandered in error and magic until he read the law and came to know the one God, and he rebukes those who live only for food and wealth.
2. 25Riches are not wrong, but all should read the law and learn why they live and die; God showed his power at the flood and in Egypt and called Abraham.
3. 49God, who gave the law through Moses, foretold Christ's incarnation through many prophets, and the poet, no appointed teacher, opens the prophecies to those still adrift.
4. 73The poet warns the hard-hearted, sets before them the choice between poison and life, and begins to tell who God is.
5. 97God's majesty is hidden even from the angels, but he shows himself in forms suited to those who see him, appeared in fire, and took flesh.
6. 121The eternal God made the world for his glory; what lies beyond our sight we leave aside and hold to the promise of the resurrection, of which the phoenix is an example.
7. 143In the resurrection the body will be restored without pain; man fell through the devil, an angel set over the earth, and after Cain and the flood the builders of the tower sinned again.
8. 167After Babel the nations, deceived by the devil, lived in savagery, until God spoke to one man and made a people for himself; Rebecca's two sons foreshadow two peoples.
9. 191God brought Israel out of Egypt, gave the law, and sent prophets, but the people turned to worldly luxury; Christians are to keep away from the devil's shows and pomp.
10. 215Israel killed the prophets sent to correct it and did not recognize Christ, who came in humble flesh and healed by his word.
11. 237The Jews, failing to recognize Christ, lost their land as Isaiah and Daniel foretold, while a people that was no people received glory, as Jacob took Esau's birthright.
12. 261The prophets foretold Christ's crucifixion (David, Solomon, Jeremiah, Moses); the one God came as the Son and was born in the flesh.
13. 285The prophets foretold that the Gentiles would believe in Christ's name; Christians believe for the sake of eternal life, not for this life's passing goods.
14. 309Christ descended into death to raise Adam and overcame the devil by the cross, the true tree of life, from which believers receive life.
15. 333Isaiah foretold Christ's humiliation and suffering, Malachi the pure offering of the Gentiles to his name.
16. 357The crucifixion of the Creator seems folly, but God came thus by his own counsel, calling himself the Son, as the prophets foretold that God would appear on earth.
17. 381The prophets foretold the faith of the Gentiles in Christ; those who call him a magician are refuted by the fulfilled prophecies, including the loss of their own land.
18. 405Isaiah foretold the virgin birth and the passion; David, the nails, the vinegar and the lots; Amos, the darkness at the crucifixion; and the prophets, Israel's refusal and the hearing of the Gentiles.
19. 429Deuteronomy foretold the precedence of the Gentiles; against the slander that Jesus' body was thrown into a pit, the Psalms proclaim his resurrection and refer to the Lord, not to David.
20. 453The Psalms do not fit David, who was not crucified; Isaiah and Christ himself foretell his glorification and voluntary death.
21. 477Against the slander that Jesus was thrown into a pit, the poet cites his burial and Wisdom's prophecy of the plot against the righteous one who calls God his Father.
22. 501No prophet or king was the righteous one the prophets foretold, for all sinned or died otherwise; only Christ, hanged on the wood, fulfilled the prophecies.
23. 525Christ's crucifixion was necessary for the fall of Adam, and he made a new people of the Gentiles, as Isaiah and Moses foretold, though the Jews claim the law for themselves alone.
24. 549Christ foretold his passion and resurrection, appeared to the apostles, and showed his wounds to Thomas, who confessed him as God and Lord.
25. 573The apostles' miracles in Christ's name refute the slanderers; the poet contrasts the Scriptures with the reading of the classics and the corrupt eloquence of the law courts.
26. 597Advocates and the worldly strive for gain and neglect salvation; the whole hope is faith in the God who hung on the cross, whom Israel failed to recognize because he called himself Son.
27. 621The God who tested Abraham and made animals and an infant speak came hidden in the flesh, and sea, winds, and death obeyed him.
28. 645Christ's miracles, from raising Jairus's daughter to the wine at Cana, did not move his people to recognize him, though pardon remains for those who believe.
29. 669The Jews, who rejected the Son of God foretold by the prophets, admit Gentiles by washings that cannot cleanse the heart.
30. 693The waverer who mixes idolatry with Jewish observances must choose one of the two ways; the Jews, hardened like Pharaoh, were cast out of their land.
31. 717As a father disinherits a murderous son, God has given the inheritance to obedient children, not to the Jews who rejected him.
32. 741Idolaters will be punished in unending fire, and those who live for pleasure, holding that there is nothing after death, reject God's mercy.
33. 765God became man and, born of a virgin, secretly destroyed the death the devil brought; no one can serve both idols and God, and conversion must not be put off.
34. 789At the end of six thousand years the dead will rise incorrupt and see what was promised; the end will begin with the seventh persecution, the Goths' invasion, and King Apollyon.
35. 813The barbarian king takes Rome and spares the Christians; then Nero returns from the dead as a new Cyrus, Elijah prophesies, and Nero is worshiped by Romans and Jews.
36. 837Elijah prophesies, seals the faithful, and brings drought and plagues; the senate, incited, asks Nero to kill the prophets, and at their martyrdom an earthquake strikes the city.
37. 861The two prophets rise and ascend; Nero with two Caesars then persecutes the Christians throughout the world, demanding sacrifice to the images.
38. 885After Nero's three and a half years, Rome falls, and a king from the east comes with many nations, taking Tyre and Sidon, amid signs in heaven and the drying of the Euphrates.
39. 909The king from the east defeats Nero's Caesars, sacks and burns Rome, and goes on to Judea, where he works signs and claims to be immortal.
40. 933Two Antichrists end history, Nero for the Christians and the eastern king for the Jews; when the Jews turn to God, he brings back the hidden tribes from beyond the river, who live in perfect righteousness.
41. 957The hidden people return through a dried-up river, led by an angel, with nature rejoicing before them, and conquer the nations by God's leave.
42. 979The tyrant and his false prophet are defeated by angels and cast into the lake of fire; the saints enter the holy city, the first resurrection follows, and God judges the world by fire.
43. 1003The day of fire comes: the sun is darkened, fire and thunder fall from heaven, the stars fall, and only those marked by Christ are spared.
44. 1027The world is shaken and cleansed by fire, Christ comes from heaven with his angels, the righteous dead rise to meet him in the air, and his crucifiers see his glory before being returned to the depths.