Homilies

I, Clement, a citizen of Rome, was able to live chastely even in my early youth, because from boyhood my mind turned the desire within me aside into despondency and labours. For a train of thought was with me, which had its beginning I know not whence, and kept reminding me frequently of death: that when I died I should not exist, and no one would ever make any mention of me, since boundless time carries all things of all men into oblivion; that I should be as one who does not exist, not knowing those who do not exist, neither knowing nor known, neither having come to be nor coming to be. And I asked: was the world ever made? And before it was made, what then was there? For if it always was, it will also always be; but if it came into being, it will also be dissolved. And after its dissolution, what will there be again, unless perhaps silence and oblivion? Or perhaps there will be something which it is not now possible to conceive.

Turning over these and similar thoughts unceasingly, I know not from what source, I was so painfully grieved that I grew pale and wasted away. And what was most dreadful: whenever I resolved to thrust the care away as useless, the suffering grew all the sharper. I was vexed at this, not knowing that I had in my thought a good companion, which became for me the cause of a blessed immortality, as I afterwards learned by experience and gave thanks to God, the Lord of all. For by the thought that at first afflicted me I was compelled to come to the inquiry into things and to the finding of them; and then I pitied those whom at the beginning, through ignorance, I had been inclined to call blessed.

Being, then, from boyhood in such reasonings, I frequented the schools of the philosophers for the sake of learning something certain. And I saw nothing else there than the overturning and establishing of doctrines, strife and contentiousness, the arts of syllogisms and the contrivance of premises. At one time the argument prevailed, let us say, that the soul is immortal; at another, that it is mortal. Whenever, then, the argument prevailed that it is immortal, I rejoiced; but whenever that it is mortal, I was grieved; and again I was yet more despondent because I could not settle either view firmly in my mind. Yet I perceived that opinions on these questions are taken as false or true according to those who defend them, and do not appear as they are in truth. Having at last come to see that conviction is formed not according to the questions defended but that opinions are carried off according to their defenders, I was still more dizzied in the matter. Therefore I groaned from the depth of my soul; for I was neither able to establish anything, nor could I shake off the care of such matters, though I wished to, as I have already said. For even when I often ordered myself to be quiet, somehow, I know not how, the reasoning about such things stole in upon me again with pleasure.

And again, being at a loss, I said to myself: “Why do I labour in vain, since the matter is plain? If after death I shall not exist, it is not fitting that I should grieve now while I exist. Let me keep the grieving, then, for that time when, not existing, I shall not grieve. But if I shall exist, what does grieving now gain me?” And immediately after this another thought came to me. I said: “Unless perhaps I am to suffer there something worse than what grieves me now, if I have not lived piously, and I shall be handed over, as some philosophers say, to Pyriphlegethon and Tartarus, like Sisyphus or Tityus or Ixion or Tantalus, and shall be punished in Hades for ever.” And again I answered myself, saying: “But these things are not so.” And again I said: “But what if they are? Since the matter is not clear,” I said, “it is safer for me rather to live piously. Yet how shall I be able, for the sake of righteousness and looking to an uncertain hope, to master the pleasures of the body? Nor have I been fully assured what is righteous and pleasing to God, nor do I know whether the soul is immortal or mortal; no sure argument is found, and I cannot rest from such reasonings.”

What, then, must I do? This: I will go to Egypt and make friends with the hierophants and prophets of the shrines; and I will seek out a magician, and when I have found him I will persuade him with much money to perform a calling-up of a soul, what is called necromancy, as though I were inquiring about some business. But the inquiry will be to learn whether the soul is immortal. And the soul's answer that it is immortal will not come to me from its speaking or my hearing, but only from its being seen, so that, seeing it with my own eyes, I may have a sufficient and adequate proof, from its mere appearing, that it exists; and no longer will the uncertain words of hearing be able to overturn what the eyes have themselves seen. Nevertheless I laid this very plan before a philosopher of my acquaintance, who advised me in many ways not to dare it. “For if the soul does not obey the magician,” he said, “you will live with an evil conscience, as one who has acted against the laws that forbid these practices; and if it does obey, then besides living with an evil conscience, I think the cause of piety, for whose sake you ventured it, will no longer prosper for you. For they say that the divine is hostile to those who trouble souls after their release from the body in death.” When I heard this I became more hesitant to attempt such a thing; yet I did not give up my first purpose, but was despondent, as one hindered in his impulse.

And not to recount such things to you at length: while I was in the midst of such reasonings and affairs, a report, beginning quietly in the reign of Tiberius Caesar, from the spring season, grew greater all the time and passed through the world like a truly good messenger of God, unable to keep silent and conceal the will of God. It grew greater and stronger on every occasion, saying that someone in Judea, beginning in the spring season, was proclaiming to the Jews the kingdom of the eternal God, which he said they would enjoy if they amended their way of life; and that, so that he might be believed to speak these things full of divinity, he was doing many wonderful signs and wonders by his command alone, as having received authority from God. For he makes the deaf hear and the blind see, makes the crippled walk, raises up the lame, drives away every disease, and puts every demon to flight; even scabby lepers, merely looking at him from a distance, go away healed; and the dead, when brought to him, are raised; and there is nothing he cannot do. And as time went on, through the greater number of those who arrived it grew much greater and firmer, no longer, I say, a report, but the truth of the matter. For now at last meetings were being held in various places for counsel and inquiry as to who he might be who had appeared, and what he meant to say.

And in that same year, at the autumn season, a certain man stood in a public place and cried out, saying: “Men of Rome, listen! The Son of God is now in Judea, promising eternal life to all who are willing, if they live according to the will of the Father who sent him. Therefore change your ways from the worse to the better, from things temporal to things eternal. Know that there is one God, the heavenly one, whose world you inhabit unrighteously before his righteous eyes. But if you change and live according to his will, you will be brought into another age and, becoming everlasting, will enjoy his unspeakable good things. But if you disobey, your souls after the dissolution of the body will be cast into the place of fire, where, punished everlastingly, they will repent to no profit. For the time for repentance is each one's present life.” When I heard this, I was grieved that no one out of such great crowds, having heard so great a message, said: “I will go to Judea to see whether this man speaks the truth in saying that the Son of God has come to dwell in Judea for the sake of a good and eternal hope, revealing the will of the Father who sent him.” For what they say he preaches is no small thing: for some, he affirms, their souls, being eternal, will enjoy eternal good things; for others, cast into unquenchable fire, they will be punished for ever.

Saying this about others, I also addressed myself, saying: “Why do I blame others, when I am guilty of the same negligence? But I will set out for Judea, after first settling my affairs.” And indeed, when I had so resolved, a long time of delay followed, since the affairs of life are hard to disentangle. At last, however, considering the nature of life, how it lies in wait for those who are in haste, entangling them in hope, and also how much time I had already had stolen from me while tossed about by hopes, and that we men die while thus kept busy, I left all my affairs as they were and set out for the sea. Having come to the harbour and put to sea, I was carried by contrary winds to Alexandria instead of Judea; and being detained there for lack of winds, I associated with the philosophers and told them of the report and the words of the one who had appeared in Rome. They answered: “Of one who appeared in Rome we know nothing; but about the one who has arisen in Judea, who is called by report the Son of God, we have heard from many who have come from there, and have learned of all the wonders he did as he spoke.”

When I said that I wished to meet one of those who had seen him, they immediately led me off, saying: “There is a man here who has not only seen him but is from that country, a Hebrew named Barnabas, who says that he himself is one of his disciples; he lodges somewhere here and readily tells the words of his promise to those who wish to hear.” So I went with them. And having come, I stood with the crowd that was present, listening to his words; and I perceived that he spoke the truth, not with dialectical art, but setting forth simply and without preparation the things he had heard and seen the Son of God, who had appeared, do and say. And he produced many witnesses of the wonders and words spoken of by him, even from the crowd that was standing there.

Since the crowds were well disposed toward what was said without artifice, the philosophers, who set out from worldly learning, began to laugh at him and mock him, jeering and disparaging him with boundless insolence, using their syllogisms as though they were great weapons. But he, thrusting aside their nonsense, did not enter into their crafty questioning, but went on undaunted with what he was saying. At one point someone asked him why the gnat was made so that, though it is very small and has six feet, it also has wings, while the elephant, the largest of animals, is wingless and has only four feet. But he, after the question, took up again the speech that had been interrupted, as though answering the question, resuming the discourse he had set before himself from the start, using at each interruption only this preface: “We have a command only to tell you the words and wonderful deeds of him who sent us; and instead of logical demonstration we offer you as witnesses many of those standing here among you, whose faces I remember, as living images, sufficient testimony. For the rest, it is in your power to yield or to disobey. But I will not cease telling you what is to your advantage, for to be silent is loss to me, but to disobey is harm to you. I could indeed give you the answers to your idle problems, if you asked out of love of the truth. But to tell you now the cause of the different making of the gnat and the elephant is not timely, when you do not know the God of all things.”

When he said this, they broke out as though by agreement into disorderly laughter, trying to silence him and put him at a loss, as a barbarian possessed by a demon. But I, seeing this, and seized, I know not how, with zeal, could no longer bear to keep silent in my pious anger, but cried out boldly, saying: “With good reason has God made his will incomprehensible to you, foreseeing that you would be unworthy, as is evident now to those who have discerning minds. For now that heralds of his will have been sent out, not professing the art of the grammarians but setting forth his will in simple and guileless words, so that anyone at all who hears may understand what is said, as of a will that does not wish, from some jealous disposition, to withhold itself from anyone, here you are, besides not understanding what is to your advantage, laughing, to your own harm, at the truth, which has lived among barbarians to your condemnation; and now that it has come to dwell among you, you will not receive it as a guest, because of your licentiousness and the plainness of its words, lest you be proved to be lovers of words but not truth-loving philosophers. How long will you be learning to speak, you who do not know how to speak? For many of your words are not worth one word. What then will your whole Greek multitude say, become as one soul, if there is to be a judgment, as this man says? ‘Why, O God, did you not proclaim your will to us?’ Will you not surely hear, if you are counted worthy of an answer, this: ‘I, knowing before the foundation of the world all the choices that would be made, met each one secretly beforehand according to what he deserved. And wishing to assure of this very thing those who have taken refuge with me, namely why I did not allow my will to be proclaimed publicly from the beginning in former generations, I have now, at the end of the age, sent out heralds of my will; and they are insulted and mocked by those who wish to gain nothing and who have earnestly refused my friendship.’ O great injustice! The heralds are in danger even of malice, and that from the very men who are called to salvation.

“For this wrong now done to my heralds would have been done from the beginning to all of them, if the unworthy had been called to salvation from the beginning. For what is now unjustly done by them serves as a defence of my just providence: that I rightly did not wish, from the beginning, to expose to insult publicly and to no profit the word worthy of honour, but chose that it be kept in silence as precious, not from those who were worthy from the beginning, to whom I also imparted it, but from these and such as these, who, as you see, are unworthy, who hate me and do not wish to love themselves.’ And now, stop laughing at this man; ask me about what he proclaims, or, if you ask, let whoever wishes answer. But like shameless dogs you bark, closing with disorderly noise the ears of those who wish to be saved, unrighteous and hateful to God, and diverting to unbelief the reasoning that saves. How will you be able to obtain pardon, when you insult the man who promises to tell you of the divinity of God, whom you ought, even if he spoke no truth at all, to have received for his good will toward you?”

As I was saying these things and more to the same effect, there arose a great commotion among the crowds. Some, as pitying Barnabas, took my side; but others, being foolish, gnashed their teeth at me fiercely. And since evening had now come on, I took Barnabas by the hand and led him, against his will, by force to my house, and there I made him stay, so that no one might lay hands on him. And after staying a few days and briefly instructing me a little in the true doctrine, as far as one could in a few days, he said that he was hastening to Judea for the sake of the festival of his religion, and because he wished for the future to be with his own countrymen.

It was clear to me that he had grown weary of staying. For when I said, “Only set out for me the words of the man who appeared, which you heard, and I, adorning them with my own speech, will proclaim the will of God; and then within a few days I will sail with you, for I greatly long to be in the land of Judea, and perhaps I will even live with you all the rest of my life,” he answered on hearing this: “If you wish to see our affairs and learn what is to your advantage, sail with me at once; or else I will tell you today the signs of my dwelling-place and of the persons you wish to find, so that you may come and visit us whenever you wish. For tomorrow I am going home.” Seeing him unmoved, I went with him to the harbour; and having learned from him the signs of the dwellings of which he spoke, I said to him: “If it were not that tomorrow I am to collect something owed me, I would sail with you at once; but I shall overtake you soon.” And having said this and commended him to the masters of the ship, I returned in sorrow, remembering my good and dear friend.

After staying some days, and not being able to recover the whole debt, I neglected the remainder for the sake of speed, since it was a hindrance, and I too sailed for Judea, and in fifteen days arrived at Caesarea Stratonis. When I had landed and was looking for lodging, I learned that a certain man called Peter, the most esteemed disciple of the man who had appeared in Judea and done signs and wonders, was to hold a discussion the next day with Simon, the Samaritan from Gitta. On hearing this I asked to be shown his lodging; and when I had learned it I stood at the gate. The people there asked who I was and where I came from. And behold, Barnabas came out, and as soon as he saw me he embraced me, rejoicing greatly and weeping. And taking me by the hand he led me in to where Peter was, saying to me: “This is Peter, whom I told you of as the greatest in the wisdom of God, and to whom I have spoken of you unceasingly. Go in as one expected, for I have told him truly of your good qualities and have also revealed your purpose, so that he too longs to see you. I therefore bring you to him with my own hands as a great gift.” And having said this he presented me, saying: “This is Clement, Peter.”

And the good Peter, as soon as he heard the name, ran to me and kissed me, and having made me sit down, said at once: “You did well to receive as your guest Barnabas, the herald of the truth, in honour of the God who is, nobly, not ashamed and not fearing the rage of the uneducated crowds. You will be blessed. For as you received the ambassador of the truth with all honour, so the truth itself will make you, who are a stranger, a citizen of its own city. And then you will rejoice greatly, because, having now lent a small favour, the goodwill of kind words, you will be heir of everlasting good things that cannot be taken away. And do not trouble to tell me of your character, for the truthful Barnabas has told us everything about you, mentioning you kindly almost every day. And to tell you briefly, as to a true friend, what lies before us: if nothing hinders you, travel with us, sharing in the word of truth, which I intend to preach from city to city as far as Rome itself. And you too, say whatever you wish.”

I set out my purpose from the beginning, and how I had been exhausted by insoluble inquiries, and everything that I made known to you at the beginning, so that I need not write the same things again. And I said: “I am ready to travel with you, for this, I know not how, I wish with joy. But first I wish to be fully assured about the truth, so that I may know whether the soul is mortal, or whether it is immortal and, being everlasting, is to be judged for what it has done here; and, if so, what it is that is righteous and pleasing to God; and whether the world came into being, and why it came into being; and whether it will not be dissolved, or whether it will be dissolved; and whether it will be better, or will not exist at all.” And, not to speak in detail, I said that I wished to learn these things and what follows from them. And he answered: “I will give you, Clement, the knowledge of the things that are, in brief; and hear it now at once.”

“The will of God has become obscure in many ways. First there is bad upbringing, evil companionship, dreadful habit, unworthy conversation, wrong prejudgment, and through these, error; then fearlessness, unbelief, sexual immorality, love of money, vainglory, and countless other evils of the kind. Like a great mass of smoke filling the world, which is like one house, these have darkened the sight of the men who dwell within, and have not allowed them to look up and perceive God the Creator from his handiwork and to learn what pleases him. Therefore those within who love the truth must cry out from their breasts and call for help, with truth-loving reason, so that someone who is inside the house full of smoke may come near and open the door, so that the light of the sun outside may be let into the house, and the smoke of the fire within may be driven out.”

“The helper, then, I call the true Prophet, who alone is able to enlighten the souls of men, so that we may be able to see with our own eyes the way of eternal salvation. Otherwise it is impossible, as you yourself know, having said a little earlier that every thesis is overturned and established, and the same thesis is held true or false according to the ability of its defender, so that theses no longer appear as they are, but take from their defenders the appearance of being or not being true or false. For this reason the whole matter of piety needed a true prophet, to tell us things as they are, and how we must believe about all things. So one must first test the prophet by every prophetic examination and, having recognized him as true, thereafter believe him in everything, and no longer examine each thing he says one by one, but accept his words as certain, received seemingly by faith but in fact by a sure judgment. For by one proof at the beginning and a precise examination on every side, the whole has been received by right reasoning. Therefore before all things one must seek the true Prophet, because without him it is impossible for men to have anything certain.”

And so he gave me rest, setting out for me who he is and how he is found; and he truly made him discoverable to me, showing to my ears, by his discourse on the Prophet, the truth more plainly than things seen with the eyes, so that I was astonished and wondered how no one perceives what all men seek though it lies before them. However, having written down the discourse about the Prophet at his command, he had the volume sent to you from Caesarea Stratonis, saying that he had instructions from you to write and send you year by year his discourses and acts. Still, on that one first day, while only making a beginning about the Prophet of the truth, he gave me full assurance about everything. And then he said: “Observe from now on the discussions I hold with those who oppose us; and even if I should come off worse, I am not afraid that you will waver about the truth handed on to you, knowing well that it is I who seemed to be worsted, not the doctrine handed on to us through the Prophet. But I hope not to come off worse even in the argument of examination, before those who have understanding, I mean lovers of truth, who can discern which words are persuasive, artful, and delightful, and which are plain and simple, trusting only in the truth that comes through them.”

When he had said this, I answered: “Already I give thanks to God; for as I wished to be fully assured, so he has granted me. But be so free from care about me that I will never waver; so much so that even if you yourself should ever wish to move me from the prophetic doctrine, you would not be able, so well do I know what I have received. And do not think that I promise you something great in this very thing, that I will never waver. For neither I nor any man who has heard the discourse about the Prophet will ever be able to waver concerning the true doctrine, once he has heard and understood what the truth of the prophetic promise is. Take courage, then, in the doctrine willed by God, for every art of wickedness has been conquered. Against prophecy neither the arts of words nor the devices of sophisms can do anything, nor syllogisms, nor any other contrivance, if indeed he who has heard the true Prophet truly longs for the truth and does not, under pretext of truth, look to something else. So, my lord Peter, do not be despondent, as though you had given the greatest good to one without perception. You have given it to one who perceives the grace, and who cannot be led astray from the truth that has been given. For I know that it is one of the things a man desires, both to receive quickly and not to obtain slowly. I know, then, not to despise, because of its speed, what has been given me, which is incomparable and alone secure.”

When I had said this, Peter said: “I give thanks to God both for your salvation and for my own enjoyment. For I truly rejoice, knowing that you have recognized how great prophecy is. Since, then, as you said, even if I myself should ever wish (which God forbid) to move you to another doctrine, I should not be able to persuade you, begin from tomorrow on to be present with me in the discussions with our opponents. And tomorrow I am to meet Simon the magician.” Having said this, he took food by himself, and told me also to take food. And after blessing the food and giving thanks, when he had eaten his fill, he explained to me the reason for this very thing, and added: “May God grant you to become like me in all things, and, when you have been baptized, to share the same table with me.” Having said this he bade me rest; for the nature of the body was now demanding sleep.

On the following day, then, I, Clement, woke while it was still night, and learned that Peter was awake and conversing about the worship of God with those who were with him. They were sixteen, and I have decided to set down their names too, as I learned each of them in the course of time, so that you may know who they were. First of them was Zacchaeus, formerly a tax collector, and Sophonias his brother; Joseph and his foster-brother Michaeas; also Thomas and Eliezer, the twins; and Aeneas and Lazarus, the priests; and further Elisha, and Benjamin the son of Saphra; likewise Rubelus and Zacharias, the builders; Ananias and Haggai of Jamnia; and also Nicetes and Aquila, the companions. However, I went in, greeted them, and sat down, as he bade me.

He broke off the discourse in hand and, as though excusing himself, assured me why he had not woken me to hear the discussion: he gave as the reason the upset from the voyage, and wishing that to pass off, he had let me rest. “For whenever the soul is taken up with what the body lacks, it does not receive as it deserves the teaching offered to it. For this reason I do not wish to converse with those who are deeply grieved by some misfortune, or immoderately angry, or turned to the madness of love, or pushed about by the cares of life, or troubled by any other passions; for the soul, falling under these, as I said, and suffering with the suffering body, has its own understanding taken up as well.”

“And let no one say, ‘Then we must not offer consolation and admonition to those who do wrong.’ I say: if one can accomplish something, let him offer it; if not, let him yield to the occasion. For I know that everything has its own time. Therefore we must give people the words that strengthen the soul before the affliction comes, so that if anything evil should come upon them, the mind, armed beforehand with right reason, may be able to endure what is brought upon it. For then the mind knows how to join with him who has helped it by good counsel, even at the height of the battle.”

“However, Clement, I have learned that in Alexandria Barnabas set out for you fully the discourse about prophecy; is it not so?” And I answered: “Yes, and very well.” And Peter said: “Then is it not necessary that the present time, which could serve us for other discourses that you do not know, should not be spent on those that you know?” I said: “You speak rightly, Peter. But grant me this, since I have decided to be with you always: to explain continually the discourse about the Prophet, to one who hears it gladly; for without it, as I learned from Barnabas, it is impossible to learn the truth.”

And Peter, greatly pleased at this, answered: “Already the correction of you has reached its end, since you have recognized the greatness of the unerring prophecy, without which no one can obtain the supreme good. For though there are many and various good things among those that are or can come to be, the most blessed of all, whether it is eternal life, or lasting health, or perfect understanding, or light, or joy, or incorruption, or anything else that is or can be an excellent good in the nature of things, cannot be obtained otherwise than by first knowing things as they are; and one cannot attain that knowledge otherwise than by first recognizing the Prophet of the truth.”

“Now the Prophet of the truth is he who always knows all things: things past as they happened, things present as they are happening, things to come as they will be; sinless, merciful, alone entrusted with guiding men to the truth. Read, and you will find that those who thought they had found the truth by themselves did not. For this is the proper work of a prophet, to reveal the truth, as it is the sun's proper work to bring the day. Therefore all who ever desired to know the truth but did not have the good fortune to learn it from him died still seeking it without finding it. For how could one who seeks the truth receive it from his own ignorance? Even if he found it, not recognizing it, he would pass it by as though it were not. Nor again will he be able to lay hold of the truth from another who professes to have it, but likewise out of ignorance, except only in matters of conduct, and then only such conduct as can be known by reasonableness, which gives each one, from his not wishing to be wronged, the knowledge that he ought not to wrong another.”

“All, then, who have ever sought the truth, trusting that they could find it by themselves, have been ensnared. This is what happened both to the philosophers of the Greeks and to the more learned of the barbarians. For, applying themselves by conjecture to visible things, they made pronouncements about things unseen, thinking that whatever occurred to them was true. As though they knew the truth, those who are still seeking the truth reject some of the notions that occur to them and confirm others, as though they knew, while not knowing which are true and which false. And those who are still seeking the truth lay down doctrines about the truth, not knowing that he who seeks the truth cannot learn it from his own error. For, as I said, he cannot recognize it even when it is present, since he does not know it.”

“What persuades each one who seeks to learn by himself is not at all the truth, but what pleases him. Since, then, one thing pleases one and another another, one man holds one thing as true and another another. But the truth is what seems good to the Prophet, not what is pleasant to each. For the one would be many, if what pleases were true, which is impossible. For this reason also the lovers of words among the Greeks, not lovers of wisdom, approaching things by conjecture, laid down many and various doctrines, thinking that the internal consistency of their premises was the truth, not knowing that, since they had set down false first principles for themselves, their conclusions agreed only with their principles.”

“Therefore one must set everything aside and entrust oneself to the Prophet of the truth alone, whom we can all judge, whether he is a prophet, even if we are altogether unlearned, unskilled in sophistries, inexperienced in geometry, and uninitiated in music. For God, as the guardian of all, has made the finding of him easy for all, so that neither barbarians should be too weak to find him nor Greeks unable. The way of finding him is easy indeed; and it is this.”

“If he is a prophet, he is able to know how the world came to be, and what happens in it, and what will be at the end. If he has foretold something to us which we have known to have come to pass at last, we rightly believe him, from what has already happened, that what is to come will also come to pass, as one who not only knows but foreknows. To whom, then, having even a little understanding, is it not plain that one must believe him above all others concerning what God has decided, him who alone of all men knows without having learned? Therefore, if anyone will not grant to such a one, I mean one who has foreknowledge through the divinity of the Spirit in him, that he knows the truth, but grants knowledge to someone else, is he not lacking in sense, having granted to one who is not a prophet what he would not grant a prophet to know?”

“Therefore before all things one must seek the Prophet with all judgment by means of the prophetic promise; and having known him, follow without hesitation the other words of his teaching; and, confident about what is hoped for, live by that first judgment, knowing that he who said these things has not the nature to lie. Therefore, if afterwards anything he has said seems to us not well said, we must know that it was not said badly, but that we have not understood what is well. For ignorance does not rightly judge knowledge, just as knowledge by nature cannot truly judge foreknowledge; but foreknowledge gives knowledge to the ignorant.”

“Therefore, my dear Clement, if you wish to know the things that concern God, you may learn them from him alone, because he alone knows the truth. For if any of the others knows anything, he has received it from him or from his disciples. And this is his will and true proclamation: that there is one God, whose work the world is, who, being righteous, will surely one day render to each according to his deeds.”

“For it is altogether necessary that one who says that God is righteous by nature should also believe that the souls of men are immortal. Otherwise, where is his righteousness, when some who have lived piously have been ill-treated and sometimes violently killed, while some who have been utterly impious, having lived in luxury and costly living, died the common death of men? Since, then, God, beyond all contradiction, being good, is also righteous, and he will not be known to be righteous otherwise than if the soul is immortal after its separation from the body, so that the wicked man, having come into Hades, as one who received his good things here, may be punished there for his sins, while the good man, punished here for his sins, may there, as in the bosom of the righteous, be made heir of good things: since, then, God is righteous, it is plain to us both that there is a judgment and that souls are immortal.”

“But if anyone, as Simon the Samaritan thinks, will not grant to God that he is righteous, to whom can one still grant it, or even that it can come to be? For if the root of all things does not have it, one must necessarily conclude that it cannot be found in human nature, as in the fruits. If it is found in men, how much more in God! But if righteousness is found nowhere, neither with God nor with men, then neither is unrighteousness at all. But righteousness exists; for it is because righteousness exists that anything is called unrighteous; just as, when something is compared with righteousness and found to be contrary to it, it is called unrighteousness.”

“Hence, then, God, teaching men the truth of the things that are, being himself one, divided all extremes in pairs and as opposites. From the beginning, being himself the one and only God, he made heaven and earth, day and night, light and fire, sun and moon, life and death. Among these he made man alone free in his own choice, with the capacity to become righteous or unrighteous. For him also he reversed the order of the pairs, setting before him first the small things and afterwards the great, such as world and age. The present world is temporary, but the one to come is everlasting; first comes ignorance, then knowledge. So too he ordered the leaders of prophecy. For since the present world is female, bringing forth souls as a mother bears children, while the age to come is male, receiving his own children as a father, therefore in this world the prophets come after, as sons of the age to come, having the knowledge of men. If men of piety had understood this mystery, they would never have gone astray; and even now they would have known that Simon, who is now making a stir among everyone, is a fellow-worker of error and deceit. The account of the prophetic rule is as follows.”

“As in the beginning God, being one, like a right hand and a left, made first the heaven and then the earth, and so in order established all the pairs; but with men he no longer does so, but reverses all the pairs. For whereas with him the first things are the better and the second the lesser, with men we find the opposite: the first worse, the second better. Straightway, then, from Adam, who was made in the image of God, there came first the unrighteous Cain, and second the righteous Abel. Again, from the man whom you Greeks call Deucalion, two images of spirits were sent out, I mean of the unclean and of the clean: the black raven, and second the white dove. And from Abraham, the founder of our nation, two first sons were born: first Ishmael, then Isaac, who was blessed by God. And from Isaac himself likewise again two: Esau the impious and Jacob the pious. So in order came first, as firstborn to the world, the high priest, and then the lawgiver.”

“Likewise the pair that ought to have come with Elijah was willingly left over for another time, having resolved to enjoy it at another, fitting time. Therefore he who was among those born of women came first, and then he who was among the sons of men came second. Following this order, one can understand to whom Simon belongs, who came before me first to the Gentiles, and to whom I belong, who came after him and followed him as light follows darkness, knowledge ignorance, and healing disease. So, as the true Prophet has told us, a false gospel must first come by some deceiver, and then, after the destruction of the holy place, a true gospel must be secretly sent abroad for the correction of the heresies that are to come. And after this, at the end, Antichrist must again come first, and then our true Christ, Jesus, appear; and after this, when the eternal light has risen, all the things of darkness will vanish.”

“Since, then, as I said, some do not know the rule of the pairs, they do not understand who Simon is, who went before me. For if he were known, he would not be believed; but now, being unknown, he has been wrongly believed. He who does the deeds of those who hate has been loved; the enemy has been received as a friend; though he is death, he has been longed for as a saviour; though he is fire, he has been thought to be light; though he is a deceiver, he is listened to as one who speaks the truth.” When I, Clement, heard this, I said: “I should like to learn who this man is who is so great a deceiver.” And Peter said: “If you wish to learn, you can know it from those from whom I too have learned everything about him accurately.”

“There is among us a certain Justa, a Syrophoenician, a Canaanite by race, whose little daughter was gripped by a grievous disease. She came to our Lord crying out and begging him to heal her little daughter. But he, though entreated by us as well, said: ‘It is not lawful to heal the Gentiles, who are like dogs, because they use various foods and practices, since the table of the kingdom has been given to the sons of Israel.’ Hearing this, and asking to share, like a dog, in the crumbs that fall from that same table, she changed what she was, living in the same way as the sons of the kingdom, and obtained healing for her daughter, as she had asked. For he who at first would not heal her as a Gentile, because it was not lawful, would not have healed her had she remained a Gentile and continued in the same way of life.”

“She, then, having taken up the lawful way of life, was cast out of her own house, together with the daughter who had been healed, by her husband, who thought otherwise than we do. But she, keeping faith with her covenants, and being well off, herself remained a widow, and gave her daughter in marriage to a man who was well disposed to the true faith, and poor. And being bereft of her daughter also by reason of the marriage, she bought two boys and educated them, and had them in the place of sons. These, having been educated together with Simon the magician from boyhood, have learned all about him. For so great was their friendship that they were eager to join with him in everything he wished.”

“They met Zacchaeus, who had come to stay here, and received from him the word of the truth; repenting of their former innovations, they quickly condemned Simon, whose every secret they knew. As soon as I arrived here, they came to me with the woman who had brought them up and were commended to me by him; and from then on they have always been with me, enjoying the teachings of the truth.” Having said this, Peter sent for them and bade them set out for me accurately everything about Simon. And they, calling God to witness that they would tell no lie, set it out.

Aquila began to speak first, as follows: “Listen, our dearest brother, so that you may know accurately everything about the man: whose son he is, who he is, and from where; what it is that he does, and how, and why. This Simon is the son of Antonius and Rachel, a Samaritan by race, from the village of Gitthae, six schoeni from the city. Having trained himself thoroughly in Alexandria, and become very powerful in magic, and being puffed up, he wishes to be thought a supreme power, above even the God who created the world. And sometimes, hinting that he himself is the Christ, he calls himself the Standing One. He uses this title as one who will stand for ever, and has no cause of corruption so that his body should fall. And he says neither that God, who created the world, is the Most High, nor does he believe that the dead will be raised. He rejects Jerusalem and puts forward Mount Gerizim instead. He proclaims himself in place of our true Christ. The things of the Law he allegorizes according to his own presuppositions. And he says there will be a judgment, but does not expect one; for if he were persuaded that he would be judged by God, he would not dare to be impious even toward God himself. Hence some, not knowing that he uses piety as a veil to steal away the things of the truth, and faithfully believing the hope and judgment of which he speaks in some fashion, are perishing.”

“And his entry into the teaching of religion came about in this way. There was a certain John, a day-baptist, who was also the forerunner of our Lord Jesus, according to the rule of the pairs. And as the Lord had twelve apostles, bearing the number of the twelve months of the sun, so also he had thirty chief men, filling out the monthly reckoning of the moon. In that number there was one woman, called Helen, so that not even this might be without design. For a woman, being half a man, left the number thirty incomplete, as with the moon, whose course in the month does not make a complete circuit. Of these thirty the first and most esteemed with John was Simon; and the reason he did not become head after John's death was this.”

“He had gone away to Egypt to practise magic when John was killed; and Dositheus, desiring the leadership, spread a false report of Simon's death and succeeded to the head of the sect. Not long afterwards Simon returned and, laying strong claim to the position as his own, met Dositheus; yet he did not demand the position, knowing that one who has already obtained leadership is not removed against his will. Therefore, with pretended friendship, he gave himself for a while to the second place under Dositheus. But after a few days, being ranked among the thirty fellow-disciples, he began to slander Dositheus secretly as not handing on the teachings faithfully; and he said that he did this not out of envy but out of ignorance. And once Dositheus, perceiving that Simon's artful slander was undermining the opinion the many had of him, so that they no longer thought him to be the Standing One, came in anger to the usual meeting-place, found Simon, and struck him with a rod; but the rod seemed to pass through Simon's body as though through smoke. Astonished at this, Dositheus said to him: ‘If you are the Standing One, I too worship you.’ When Simon said, ‘I am,’ Dositheus, knowing that he himself was not the Standing One, fell down and worshipped; and, ranking himself with the twenty-nine chief men, he set Simon in his own place of repute. And so, not many days later, while Simon stood, Dositheus himself fell and died.”

“Simon, taking Helen with him, goes about and, as you see, stirs up the crowds even to this day. He says that he has brought this Helen down from the highest heavens to the world, as being the mistress, the all-mother being and Wisdom, for whose sake, he says, Greeks and barbarians fought, having imagined an image of the truth; for she who truly is was then with the first God. Allegorizing plausibly such things, fashioned together with Greek myths, he deceives many, especially by doing many marvellous wonders, so that if we had not known that he does them by magic, we too would have been deceived. But since we were his fellow-workers at first, while in doing such things he did no injury to the cause of religion, now that in his great madness he has begun to try to deceive those who are pious, we have withdrawn from him.”

“For he even began to commit murder, as he himself disclosed to us, as a friend to friends: that he separated the soul of a child from its own body by secret oaths, to be his helper in producing the apparitions he wished; and he painted the boy's likeness on an image, which he keeps set up in the inner room where he sleeps. He says that he once formed this boy out of air by divine transformations, and, having drawn his form, gave him back again to the air. And he explains how he did it, thus. First, he says, the spirit of the man, turned into the nature of heat, drew in and absorbed the surrounding air like a cupping-glass; then, when it had come within the form of the spirit, he turned it into water; and since it could not be poured out, because of the cohesion of the spirit, he said he changed the air in it into the nature of blood; and the blood, congealing, made flesh; and then, when the flesh had solidified, he produced a man not from earth but from air. And so, having persuaded himself that he could make a new man, he said that he reversed the transformations and gave him back again to the air. In telling this to others he was believed; but by us, who were present at the rite, he was piously disbelieved. Therefore, condemning him for impiety, we withdrew from him.”

When Aquila had said this, his brother Nicetes said: “It is necessary, Clement our brother, that I should recall what Aquila has left out. First, God is witness that we did nothing impious together with him, but only watched as he did it. As long as he displayed harmless tricks, we even enjoyed them; but when he said that he did by divinity what was done by magic, to deceive the pious, we no longer put up with him, although he promised us much: first, that statues of us would be thought worthy of temples, that we would be regarded as gods and worshipped by the crowds, glorified by kings, thought worthy of public honours, and enriched with boundless wealth.”

“These things, and others thought greater than these, he promised us, if only, remaining with him, we would keep silent about the evil of his undertaking, so that his deceit might prosper. Yet we did not agree; rather, we advised him to cease from such madness, saying to him: ‘Simon, we remember our friendship with you from boyhood and, out of affection, advise you what is to your advantage. Cease from such daring. You cannot be a god. Fear the God who truly is; know that you are a man and that the time of your life is short. Even if you become very rich or even become king, in the short time of your life little comes to be enjoyed; and what is gained impiously quickly flees and secures eternal punishment for the one who dared it. Therefore we advise you to fear God, by whom the soul of each is to be judged for what it has done here.’”

“On hearing this he laughed. And when we said, ‘Why do you laugh at us when we advise you for your good?’ he said: ‘I laugh at your foolish supposition that you believe the soul of man is immortal.’ And I said: ‘We do not wonder, Simon, that you try to deceive us, but we are astonished by what reasoning you deceive even yourself. Tell me, Simon: even if no one else has been fully assured that the soul is immortal, surely you and we have: you, as having separated one from a human body, conversed with it, and commanded it; and we, as having been present, heard the command, and clearly seen what was ordered.’ Simon said: ‘I know what you are saying; but you do not know what you are talking about.’ And Nicetes said: ‘Since you know, say it; but if you do not know, do not think that by saying that you know and we do not, you can deceive us. For we are not such children that you can sow in us a crafty suspicion that you know some secret, and so, tormented with desire, take us and keep us in your power.’”

“And Simon said: ‘That I separated a soul from a human body, I know that you know; but that it is not the soul of the dead man that serves me, since it does not exist, but some demon who pretends to be the soul is at work, this I know you do not know.’ And Nicetes said: ‘We have heard many incredible things in our life, but we did not expect to hear anything more senseless than this. For if a demon pretends to be the soul of the dead, what need is there for the soul to be separated from the body? Did we not ourselves, being present, hear you adjuring the soul of the body? And how, when one is adjured, does another, who was not adjured, obey as though in fear? And when you were once questioned by us why the attendances sometimes cease, did you not say that a soul, having completed the time above the earth which it was to spend in the body, goes to Hades? And did you not add that the souls of those who died their own natural death, since they go straight to Hades and are kept under guard there, are not easily allowed to come?’”

“When Nicetes had said this, Aquila himself said again: ‘I should like to learn from you this one thing, Simon: whether it is a soul or a demon that is adjured, what does it fear, that it does not disregard the oaths?’ And Simon said: ‘Because it knows that it will suffer punishment if it disobeys.’ And Aquila said: ‘Then if the soul comes when adjured, there is also a judgment. If, then, souls are immortal, there is certainly also a judgment. And if you say that those adjured for an evil deed are condemned when they disobey, how are you not afraid to compel them, since those compelled are punished for disobedience? For that you have not yet suffered for what you have done is because there is not yet a judgment, when you will pay the penalty for what you compelled, while what was compelled will be pardoned, as having honoured the oath above the evil deed.’ Hearing this, he was enraged, and threatened us with death unless we kept silent about what he was doing.”

When Aquila had said this, I, Clement, asked what, then, were the wonders that he does. And they told me that he makes statues walk; he rolls on fire and is not burned; sometimes he even flies; he makes loaves out of stones; he becomes a serpent, is transformed into a goat, becomes two-faced, changes himself into gold; he opens locked doors, melts iron, and at dinners presents images of every kind of form; he makes the vessels in his house be seen moving as if of themselves to serve him, those who carry them not being seen. I was amazed as I heard them say this; and many bore witness that they had themselves been present and seen such things.

When this had been said, the good Peter himself also began to speak: “You must perceive, brothers, the truth of the rule of the pairs, from which whoever does not depart cannot be led astray. For since, as we have said, we see all things existing in pairs and as opposites, and as first comes night, then day; first ignorance, then knowledge; first disease, then healing: so the things of error come first into life, and then the truth comes after, as the physician after the disease. For instance, when our God-loving nation was about to be redeemed from the ill-treatment of the Egyptians, first, through the rod that was turned into a serpent, which was given to Aaron, the plagues came; and then the healings were brought by the prayers of Moses. And now, when the Gentiles are about to be redeemed from the worship of idols, wickedness again, as though it were reigning, has anticipated and first sent its own ally, like a serpent, this Simon whom you see, doing wonders to astonish and deceive, not healing signs for conversion and salvation. Therefore you too must understand from the wonders that are done who is the worker of whom. If he does useless wonders, he is a servant of wickedness; but if he does beneficial ones, he is a leader of the good.”

“Useless, then, are the signs that you yourselves have said Simon did: I mean making statues walk, rolling on burning coals, becoming a dragon, being transformed into a goat, flying in the air, and all such things, which, not being done for the healing of men, are by nature apt to deceive many. But the signs of compassionate truth are kind to men, such as you have heard that the Lord did, and that I after him accomplish by prayers. Most of you stand here as witnesses: some freed from all kinds of disease, others from demons; some restored in their hands, others in their feet; some who have recovered their eyes, others their hearing; and all else that a man can do who has become possessed of a spirit that loves mankind.”

When Peter had said this, toward dawn Zacchaeus came in to us, greeted us, and said to Peter: “Simon postpones the discussion to tomorrow, for today happens to be his sabbath, which comes every eleven days.” And Peter answered him: “Tell Simon: let it be as you wish; and know that we are ready to meet you, by God-loving providence, whenever you wish.” And Zacchaeus, having heard this, went out to deliver the answer.

But he, seeing me despondent, asked the reason and learned from me that it came from nothing else than the postponement of the discussion. He said: “He who has come to believe, my dear Clement, that the world is governed by the good providence of God is not vexed at whatever things befall, since he has granted that under the ordering of the Higher things come to an outcome that is for the best. Hence, knowing that God is righteous, and living with a good conscience, he knows how by right reason to shake off from his soul whatever grief befalls, because it must come to fulfil some unknown good. And now, do not let the postponement of the discussion by Simon the magician grieve you; for perhaps by the providence of God it has come about for your benefit. Therefore, since you are one of our own, I will not hesitate to tell you.”

“Some of our companions are with Simon by pretence, as though persuaded by his most godless error, so that, learning his plans, they may reveal them to us, in order that we may be able to deal suitably with a clever man. And now I have learned from them what arguments he intends to use in the discussion. Knowing this, I gave thanks to God, and I called you blessed because of the postponement of the discussion. For, being equipped by me before the discussion concerning the arguments he is to bring forward to unsettle the ignorant, you will be able to be a hearer who does not stumble.”

“For the Scriptures have taken in many falsehoods against God, for this reason. When the prophet Moses, by the will of God, had handed on the Law, together with its explanations, to certain chosen men, seventy in number, so that they too might instruct those of the people who wished, not long afterwards the Law, when it was written down, took in certain falsehoods also, against the Law of God who made heaven and earth and all things in them; the Evil One having dared to work this for some just reason. And this happened by design and judgment, so that it might be shown who dare to listen gladly to what is written against God, and who, out of love for him, not only disbelieve what is said against him but will not even bear to hear it at all, even if it should be true, judging it far safer to run a risk for a faith that speaks well of God than to live with an evil conscience by blasphemous words.”

“Simon, then, as I learn, intends to come forward and quote those very passages in the Scriptures that have been added against God for the sake of trial, so that he may be able to draw away as many wretched people as he can from their love of God. For we do not wish to say publicly that they have been added to the books, since by alarming the unlearned crowds we would be doing the will of the wicked Simon himself. For those who lack discernment might flee from us as impious; or, as though not only the blasphemous passages were false, they might fall away from the word altogether. Therefore we are obliged to go along with the false passages and, by questioning him in turn about them, to bring him to a loss; and to those who are well disposed we give, privately and after a trial of their faith, the solution concerning the passages spoken against God, which has one short road. And it is this.”

“Everything said or written against God is false. And that we say this truly, not only for the sake of speaking well of God but also for the sake of truth, I will fully show as the discourse proceeds a little further. Hence you, my dearest Clement, ought not to be grieved that Simon has put off the discussion for this one present day. For today, being equipped before the discussion concerning the passages added to the Scriptures, you ought not to waver in the discussion concerning the only and good God, who also made the world. Rather, you will wonder in the discussion how the impious, passing over the multitude of things said in the Scriptures on God's behalf, gladly seek out and bring forward the things said against him; and so the hearers, through ignorance, believing what is said against God, become cast out of his kingdom. Therefore you, having learned the mystery of the Scriptures by occasion of the postponement, and having gained the not sinning against God, will rejoice beyond comparison.”

And I, Clement, having heard this, said: “I truly rejoice and give thanks to God, the benefactor in all things. But he himself knows that I shall not be able to think anything other than to think everything on God's behalf. So do not suppose that I ask as one doubting the words spoken by God, or those yet to be spoken, but so that, having learned, I may myself be able to teach another who wishes in good faith to learn. Tell me, therefore, what are the falsehoods added to the Scriptures, and how they are really false.” And Peter answered: “Even if you had not asked me, I would have given in due order, as I went on, the proof I promised. But hear how the Scriptures tell many lies against him, so that you may know when you read them.

“What will be said will suffice by way of example. But I do not think, my dear Clement, that anyone who preserves even a little love and good feeling toward God can accept, or even hear, what is said against him. For how can anyone have a soul devoted to the one Ruler and become holy, if he has come to believe that there are many gods and not one? And even if there is one, if he finds him involved in many improprieties, who will be eager to become holy, when he expects that the Ruler of all, because of the improprieties of his own nature, will not punish the wrongdoing of others?”

“Therefore far be it from us to believe that the Lord of all, who created heaven and earth and all things in them, shares his rule with others, or that he lies. For if he lies, who then speaks the truth? Or that he makes trial as one who does not know; then who foreknows? And if he reconsiders and repents, who is perfect in mind and steadfast in purpose? If he is jealous, who is beyond comparison? If he hardens hearts, who makes wise? If he makes blind and deaf, who has given sight and hearing? If he counsels men to despoil others, who upholds righteousness? If he mocks, who is sincere? If he is powerless, who can do all things? If he does injustice, who is just? If he creates evil things, who will do good things? If he does evil, who does good?”

“If he desires the fat mountain, whose are all things? If he lies, who speaks the truth? If he dwells in a tent, who is without bounds? If he longs for the savour of fat, and sacrifices and offerings and libations, who is without need, who is holy, who is pure, who is perfect? If he delights in lamps and lampstands, who set the luminaries in the heaven? If he dwells in thick darkness and gloom and storm and smoke, who is the light that lights the greatest age? If he approaches with trumpets and war-cries and darts and arrows, what is the calm that all things await? If he himself loves wars, who wants peace? If he himself creates evil things, who makes good things? If he himself is without affection, who loves mankind? If he himself is not faithful in what he promises, who will be believed? If he himself loves the wicked and adulterers and murderers, who will be a righteous judge? If he himself repents, who is steadfast? If he himself chooses the wicked, who receives the good?”

“Therefore, my child Clement, take care not to think anything else about God than that he alone is God and Lord and Father, good and righteous, Creator, long-suffering, merciful, nourisher, benefactor, ordaining love of mankind, counselling purity, eternal, making men eternal, beyond comparison, dwelling in the souls of the good, uncontained and yet contained; he who fixed the great age in the infinite as a centre; who spread out the heaven and compacted the earth, stored up the water, arranged the stars in the heaven, made springs gush from the earth, made fruits grow, raised up the mountains, set bounds to the sea, and ordered the winds and breezes; who by the spirit of his counsel securely made fast the enveloping body in the boundless deep.”

“He is our judge, to whom we must look as we set our souls right, thinking everything on his behalf, speaking well of him, persuaded that he alone is good, who by his long-suffering brings into the open the rashness of all. And he, at the end of all things, will sit as righteous judge over each of those who have dared what they ought not.”

Having heard this, I, Clement, said: “Truly this is the worship of God; this is truly piety.” And again I said: “I should like, then, to learn why the books were written in this way. For I remember that you said it was to expose those who would dare to believe anything said against God. But since you allow us to ask, we venture to ask at your bidding: if anyone should wish to say to us, dearest Peter, ‘What is written is true, even if what is said against God seems false to you,’ how shall we answer him?”

And Peter answered: “You did well to ask, for it will serve for your security. But listen. Since the things said against God by the Scriptures are many, and the hour presses because it is evening, ask about any one saying you wish, and I will resolve it, showing it to be false; not only because it is said against God, but because it is really false.” And I answered: “I wish to learn how, when the Scriptures say that God does not know, you can prove that he knows.”

And Peter answered: “You have put forward something that can easily be refuted. But hear how God is ignorant of nothing, but even foreknows. What I ask you, answer me first: the one who wrote the books and said how the world was created, and that God does not foreknow, was he a man or not?” And I said: “A man.” And Peter answered: “Then, being a man, how could he know without falsehood how the world was created, and that God does not foreknow?”

And I, now perceiving the solution, said with a smile: “Because he was a prophet.” And Peter said: “If, then, the prophet, being a man, was ignorant of nothing, because he had received foreknowledge from God, how then was he himself ignorant, who gave man the power of foreknowing, being God?” And I said: “You have spoken rightly.” And Peter said: “Consider this further with me. Since we have agreed that God foreknows all things, it is altogether necessary that the Scriptures that say he is ignorant are lying, and those that say he knows are telling the truth.” And I said: “It must be so.”

And Peter said: “If, then, some things in the Scriptures are true and others false, with good reason our Teacher said, ‘Be approved money-changers,’ since some of the words in the Scriptures are genuine and others counterfeit. And to those who were led astray by the false Scriptures he fittingly showed the cause of their error, saying: ‘You are in error for this reason, that you do not know the true things of the Scriptures; and for this reason you are ignorant also of the power of God.’” And I said: “Very well said.”

And Peter answered: “With good reason, then, I neither believe anything against God, nor do I allow myself to think impiously against the righteous men recorded in the Law. For, as I am persuaded, neither was Adam a transgressor, who was fashioned by the hands of God; nor was Noah a drunkard, who was found righteous above the whole world; nor did Abraham live with three wives at once, who for his self-control was counted worthy of many descendants; nor did Jacob consort with four, two of whom were sisters, he who became the father of twelve tribes and signified the coming of our Teacher; nor was Moses a murderer, nor did he learn to judge from a priest of an idol, he who prophesied the Law of God for all the age and was attested as a faithful steward because of his right understanding.”

“However, I will give you the solution of these also, together with similar matters, in due time. For the rest, as you see, since evening has come on, let what has been said today suffice. But whenever you wish, ask us boldly about whatever you want, and we will gladly and readily resolve it.” And having said this, he rose. And so, having taken food, we turned to sleep; for night had come on.

When two days had passed and the third was dawning, I, Clement, and the others who were with us were roused about the second cock-crowing for the discussion with Simon, and we found the lamp still burning and Peter on his knees in prayer. When he had finished his supplication, he turned, and seeing us ready to listen, he said:

“I want you to know that those who, by our arrangement, keep company with Simon so as to learn his plans and pass them on to us, so that we may be able to adapt ourselves to the variety of his wickedness, have sent and informed us, saying: ‘Today Simon, as he arranged, is ready to come before everyone and prove from the Scriptures that the one who created heaven and earth and all that is in them is not the supreme God, but another, unknown and supreme, God of gods as though in things unspeakable, who sent two gods, of whom one is the one who created the world and the other the one who gave the Law.’ And he contrives to say this in order to undermine beforehand the right faith of those who are about to worship the one and only God, who created heaven and earth.”

“When I heard this, how could I not be disheartened? Therefore I wanted you too, the brothers who are with me, to know that I am grieved in soul beyond measure, seeing the evil one wakeful for the testing of human beings, while human beings are utterly careless of their own salvation. For he has contrived, for those from the Gentiles who are about to be persuaded that the earthly images are not gods, to bring in opinions about many other gods, so that if they cease from their mania for many gods, they may be deceived into speaking otherwise, or even worse, against the monarchy of God, so that, never having preferred the doctrine of the monarchy, they may never be able to obtain mercy. For the sake of this audacity Simon comes to make war on us, armed with the false passages of the Scriptures. And what is worse, he is not afraid to teach such things against the true God from the prophets in whom he has not believed.”

“Against us, who have received from our forefathers the worship of the God who created all things, and also the mystery of the books that are able to deceive, he will have no power; but against those from the Gentiles, who have been brought up with the belief in many gods and do not know the false things in the Scriptures, he will have great power. And not only he: if anyone else relates to those from the Gentiles some empty myth against God, like a dream, richly adorned, he will be believed, because from childhood their minds have been accustomed to accept what is said against God. But there will be some rare ones among them, a few out of a multitude, who through right-mindedness will not be willing even so much as to hear an evil word against the God who created all things; to these alone among the Gentiles will it be granted to be saved. So let none of you blame Simon altogether, or anyone else; for nothing happens unjustly, since even the false things of the Scriptures have a reasonable place, for testing.”

And I, Clement, on hearing this said, “How do you say, lord, that even the false things of the Scriptures have a reasonable place for the testing of human beings?” He answered: “The false things of the Scriptures were allowed to be written at the demand of wickedness, for a certain just reason. And I say ‘reasonably’ for this reason. In matters concerning God, the evil one, who loves God no less than the good one does, falls short of the good one in one thing only: he does not pardon even those who are impious through ignorance, but out of affection for the one against whom the impiety is committed he desires the destruction of the impious, while the good one desires to bring them healing. For the good one wishes to heal all by repentance, but he saves only those who have come to know God. Those who do not know him he does not heal, not because he does not wish to, but because it is not permitted to give the good things prepared for the sons of the kingdom to those who, through lack of discernment, have become like irrational animals.”

“Such is the nature of the one and only God, who made the world, created us, and has provided all things: when anyone is once within the bounds of godliness and does not blaspheme his Holy Spirit, he draws the soul to himself by its affection toward him, under the form of his love toward it. Even if a person is a sinner, the soul, after being punished according to the desert of what it has done, is by nature destined to be saved. But if anyone denies him, or in some other way commits impiety against him in word, and afterwards repents, he will be punished for the sins he committed against him, but he will be saved, because he turned and loved. And perhaps the abundance of his piety and supplication will even release him from punishment, since, along with his repentance, he has offered his ignorance as the ground for pardon of the sin. But those who have not repented will meet their end through the punishment of fire, even if in all other respects they are most holy. But, as I said, after being punished with eternal fire for a fifth of a measured age, they will be extinguished. For those who have been impious toward the only everlasting God can no longer exist forever.”

“Impiety against him is this: to die, while within the profession of godliness, saying that there is another God, whether greater or lesser, or saying in any way that there is a God besides him who truly is. For he who truly is, is the one whose form the body of man bears; for whose sake the heaven and all the stars, though superior in substance, submitted to serve what is inferior in substance, because of the form of the superior one. God has done such great good to man above all, so that, loving the benefactor for the multitude of his benefits, he might through that very love be saved into the second age as well.”

“Human affection toward God, then, is sufficient for salvation. Knowing this, the evil one, while we hasten to sow in the souls of those from the Gentiles who are about to believe the affection toward the one and only God that makes immortal, the evil one himself, having against the ignorant a weapon sufficient for their destruction, is eager to sow the notion of many gods, or even of one who is superior, so that, having conceived and been persuaded of what is unlawful, they may die as though under the charge of adultery and be cast out of his kingdom.”

“So everyone deserves to be cast out who is willing even so much as to hear anything of the kind against the monarchy of God. But if anyone, trusting in the Scriptures, dares even to listen to what is said against God, let him first consider this with me: if anyone fashions for himself a plausible doctrine as he pleases and then pores over them, he will be able to bring many testimonies from them for the doctrine he has fashioned. How then can one be bold against God on the strength of these writings, in which everyone’s opinion is to be found?”

“For example, Simon, who is to dispute with us in public tomorrow, dares to speak against the monarchy of God, intending to bring many sayings from the Scriptures themselves to show that there are many gods, and that one of them is not the one who created the world but one higher than he; and indeed he is able to produce written proofs. And we too are able to show clearly many passages from them that there is one God, this one who created the world, and there is no other besides him. But if anyone wishes to say something else, he too will be able to produce from them proofs, as he wishes, about whatever he wishes. For the Scriptures say all things, so that none of those who inquire without right-mindedness may find the truth, but only what he wants, the truth being kept for the right-minded. And right-mindedness is to preserve our affection toward the one who is the cause of our existence.”

“Therefore before all things one must know that he finds it from nowhere except from the Prophet of truth. And the true Prophet is the one who always knows all things, and moreover the thoughts of all, who is sinless, as being fully assured about the judgment of God. Therefore we ought not to take his foreknowledge for granted, but ask whether his foreknowledge can stand without any other support. For physicians foretell things having the patient’s pulse as their underlying material; some foretell from birds, others from sacrifices, and others from many different kinds of underlying material; and yet they are not prophets.”

“But if anyone should wish to say that the foretelling done by such means is like the truly innate foreknowledge, he is greatly deceived. For such things show only what is present, and these only if they speak truly; yet in another way even they are useful to me, for they establish that foreknowledge exists. But the foreknowledge of the one and true one not only knows what is present, but extends its prophecy without limit as far as the coming age itself, and needs nothing to be understood. It does not prophesy obscure and ambiguous things, so that what is said would need another prophet to be understood, but things plain and simple, just as our Teacher and Prophet, by an innate and ever-flowing Spirit, always knew all things.”

“Therefore he confidently set forth what was to come, I mean sufferings, places, set times. For, being an unerring prophet, surveying all things with the boundless eye of the soul, he knows what is hidden. But if we too grant, as the many do, that even the true prophet foreknows not always but sometimes, when he has the Spirit and through it, but is ignorant when he does not have it, if we suppose this, we both deceive ourselves and will ensnare others. For such a thing belongs to those who rave in frenzy under a spirit of disorder, who get drunk beside altars and gorge themselves on the savour of sacrifices.”

“For if someone who wishes to profess prophecy is allowed to be believed when he is caught lying, on the ground that at that moment he did not have the holy Spirit of foreknowledge, he will not be easily refuted, though he is a false prophet. For where he says many things and hits on a few, he is believed to have the Spirit then, although he says the first things last and the last first, what has happened as if it were to come and what is to come as if it had already happened, and moreover things incoherent, or taken from others and transformed, some mutilated, shapeless, senseless, ambiguous, inglorious, obscure, crying out with every kind of bad conscience.”

“But our Teacher prophesied nothing of this kind. As I have already said, being a prophet by an innate and ever-flowing Spirit and knowing all things always, he confidently and clearly set forth, as I said before, sufferings, places, appointed times, manners, limits. For example, foretelling about the sanctuary, he said: ‘Do you see these buildings? Truly I tell you, stone upon stone shall not be left here that shall not be pulled down; and this generation shall not pass away before the destruction begins. For they will come and sit down here, and surround it with a palisade, and slaughter your children here.’ In the same way he also spoke in plain words of what would follow, things we can see with our own eyes, so that the deed might come to pass among those to whom the word was spoken. For the Prophet of truth utters the word of proof for the faith of his hearers.”

“There are, however, many heralds of error, who have one leader, the leader of wickedness; just as the leader of godliness, being himself one in the word of truth, will in his own times have as his prophets all who are found pure. And the cause of the great error of those who have gone astray is this: that they did not first understand the doctrine of the pairs. I shall not cease to set it out to you in private on each occasion, in summary, for to speak of it in detail would take long. So be for me truth-loving judges of what is said.”

“I will now begin to speak. If someone will not grant that the man brought forth by the hands of God, who made all things, had God’s great and holy Spirit of foreknowledge, how does the one who assigns it to another, born of a foul drop, not sin most gravely? And I do not think he will obtain pardon, even if he was deceived by a spurious scripture into thinking terrible things against the Father of all. For whoever insults an image, and that of an eternal king, has the sin referred to the one in whose likeness the image was. ‘But,’ someone says, ‘the divine Spirit left him when he sinned.’ Then it sinned along with him; and how does the one who says this not endanger himself? ‘But he received the Spirit after he had sinned.’ Then it is given to the unjust; and where is justice? ‘But it is supplied to the just and the unjust.’ That is the most unjust of all. So every lie, even if aided by countless contrivances, is bound to be refuted, even if after a long time.”

“Do not be deceived. Our father was ignorant of nothing. For even the Law that is publicly current, though it covers him with a charge of ignorance because of the unworthy, sends those who long for truth to him, saying: ‘Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders and they will declare it to you.’ This is the father you should have sought out. But you did not ask whose is the time of the kingdom, whose the seat of prophecy, although he points to himself by saying: ‘The scribes and the Pharisees have sat down on the seat of Moses; whatever they say to you, listen to them.’ Listen to them, he said, as those entrusted with the key of the kingdom, which is knowledge, which alone can open the gate of life, through which alone one may enter eternal life. ‘But indeed,’ he says, ‘they hold the key, but to those who wish to enter they do not grant it.’”

“For this reason, I say, he himself, rising from the seat, as a father on behalf of his children, proclaiming what had been handed down in secret to the worthy from the beginning of the age, extending his mercy even to the Gentiles and pitying the souls of all, disregarded his own blood. For, having been counted worthy to be king of the coming age, he contends against the one who has received, for an appointed time and by law, the kingdom of the present. And the greatest thing, which grieved him deeply, is this: those for whom he fought as for his children made war on him through ignorance. And yet he loved even those who hated him, wept for the disobedient, blessed those who reviled him, prayed for those who were hostile. And he not only did these things as a father, but also taught his disciples to do the like, as toward brothers. This is a father, this is a prophet; this is reasonable, that he should be king of his own children, so that by the affection of the father for the children and the heartfelt honour of the children toward the father eternal peace may come about. For when the reasonable one reigns, true joy about the one who reigns comes upon those who are ruled.”

“But turn with me to the first word of truth. If someone will not grant that the man brought forth by the hands of God had the holy Spirit of Christ, how is the one who grants it to another, born of a foul drop, not guilty of the greatest impiety? And he shows the greatest piety if he does not grant it to another but says that he alone has it who from the beginning of the world, changing his forms together with his names, runs through the world, until, reaching his own times and anointed by God’s mercy for his labours, he will have rest forever. He has been honoured to rule and be lord over all things in the air, on the earth, and in the waters; and besides this he had the breath of the one who made man, the ineffable garment of the soul, so that he might be immortal.”

“He alone, being the true prophet, gave each living creature its fitting name according to the worth of its nature, as its maker did. For whatever he named, that was also the name given by the maker to the creature. How then could he still need to partake of a tree to know what is good or evil? He was given a command. But these things are believed by the undiscerning, who have supposed that an irrational beast was more effective than God, who created them and all things.”

“With him, however, a female nature was created as his partner, falling far short of him, as derived being falls short of being, as the moon of the sun, as fire of light. She, as female, rules over the present world, which is like herself, and is believed to be the first prophetess, announcing prophecy among all those born of women. But the other, being male as the son of man, holds first place in the coming age, which is male, and in its excellent things.”

“Let there then be for us two kinds of prophecy, the one male; and let it be laid down that the first, being male, is placed second in the order of coming forth, while the second, being female, was appointed to come first in the procession of the pairs. The one that is among those born of women, being female and announcing the things of the present world, wishes to be believed to be male. Therefore, stealing the seeds of the male and covering them over with the seeds of her own flesh, she brings forth the offspring, that is, the words, as wholly her own. And she promises to give present earthly wealth as a dowry, wishing to exchange the slow for the quick, the small for the greater.”

“She not only dares to speak and hear of many gods, but even believes that she herself will become one; and in hope of becoming what she has no nature to be, she loses even what she has. As a female in her monthly courses, she is bloodied on the pretext of sacrifices, and so defiles those who touch her. And when she conceives and bears temporary kings, she stirs up wars that shed much blood. Those who long to learn the truth from her, by saying all contrary things and offering many different services, she keeps always seeking and never finding anything, until death itself. For from the beginning a cause of death has lain before blind men; for by prophesying deceptive, ambiguous, and crooked things she deceives those who believe her.”

“Therefore she gave her firstborn an ambiguous name, calling him Cain, which admits a double interpretation. For it is interpreted both ‘possession’ and ‘jealousy’, since he would in time be jealous about a wife, or possessions, or the affection of the parents toward her. But if none of these should happen, even so the name ‘possession’ has been aptly hit upon; for she first acquired him, and he was of use to her. For he was a murderer and a liar, and unwilling to be at rest from his sins, not even on condition of ruling. Moreover, those who came forth in his line were the first adulterers; and there came psalteries and harps and smiths of weapons of war. Therefore the prophecy of his descendants, too, full of adulterers and psalteries, stealthily stirs up wars through pleasures.”

“But he who among the sons of men has innate prophecy of the soul as his own, plainly, as male, announcing the hopes of the coming age, named his son Abel, which without any ambiguity is interpreted ‘mourning’. For he gives his sons their deceived brothers to mourn for. He does not lie to them when he promises them comfort in the coming age. Saying that one God alone is to be prayed to, he neither speaks of gods himself nor believes another who does. The good he has he keeps and increases still more. He hates sacrifices, blood, libations; he loves the chaste, the pure, the holy. He quenches the fire of altars, abolishes wars, teaches peace, commands self-control, cleanses sins, sanctions marriage, permits continence, leads all to purity, makes them merciful, prescribes righteousness, seals the perfect among them, and reveals the word of rest. He prophesies plainly, speaks clearly, often reminds of the eternal fire of punishment, constantly proclaims the kingdom of God, points to heavenly riches, promises glory that cannot be taken away, and shows the forgiveness of sin by deed.”

“What need is there to say more? The male is wholly truth, the female wholly error; and the one born of male and female speaks falsely in some things and truly in others. For the female, surrounding the white seed of the male with her own blood as with red fire, props up her weakness with the alien supports of bones; and delighting with the passing bloom of the flesh and robbing reason of its strength by brief pleasures, she leads most people into adultery, and so deprives them of the good bridegroom to come. For every human being is a bride whenever, sown by the true Prophet with the white word of truth, he is enlightened in mind.”

“Therefore one must listen to the one Prophet of truth alone, knowing that the word sown by another incurs the charge of adultery and is cast out of his kingdom, as by the bridegroom. And for those who know the mystery, death also comes through adultery of the soul. Whenever the soul is sown by others, then, as having committed sexual immorality or adultery, it is abandoned by the Spirit; and so the living body, the life-giving Spirit having departed, is dissolved into earth, and the punishment deserved for the sin is rendered to the soul at the time of judgment, after the body’s dissolution; just as among men a woman caught in adultery is first cast out of the house and afterwards brought to trial for condemnation.”

As Peter was about to reveal this mystical word to us fully, Zacchaeus came and said: “Now at last, Peter, it is time for you to go out and hold the discussion. For a great crowd has gathered in the courtyard and is waiting for you, and in the middle of it stands Simon, escorted by it like a war-leader by his spearmen.” When Peter heard this, he told me to withdraw for the prayer, since I had not yet received the baptism that brings salvation, and said to those who were already perfected: “Let us rise and pray that God, in his unfailing compassion, may work with me as I set out for the salvation of the human beings he created.” Having said this and prayed, he went out into the open part of the courtyard, which was large, where many had gathered to watch, his eminence having made them more eager to hear.

So he stood, and seeing the whole people gazing at him in deep silence, and Simon the magus standing in the middle, he began to speak thus: “Peace be to all of you who are ready to give your right hands to the truth of God. This is his great and incomparable gift in the present world, which the one who sent us, the unerring prophet of what is supremely advantageous, commanded us to pronounce upon you as a greeting before the words of teaching, so that if there is among you any child of peace, peace may take hold of him through our teaching; but if any of you does not wish to receive it, then we, shaking off from our feet as a testimony the dust of the roads, which we have carried in our toils and brought to you so that you might be saved, may go away to the houses and cities of others.”

“And truly we tell you: it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than to remain in the place of disobedience: first, because you did not of yourselves perceive what is reasonable; second, because having heard of us you did not come to us; third, because even when we came you disobeyed. Therefore, sparing you, we pray that our peace may come upon you as a free gift. If then you wish to have it, you must readily undertake not to do wrong and nobly bear being wronged, which human nature could not endure unless it first received the knowledge of what is supremely advantageous, that is, to know the just nature of the one who is above all, that he avenges and punishes on behalf of those who are wronged and benefits the godly forever.”

“You then, as right-minded servants of God, perceiving of yourselves what is reasonable, take up the way of life that pleases him, so that, loving him and being loved by him, you may have what is advantageous forever. For he alone is fully able to provide it, who brought into being things that were not, fashioned heaven, compacted the earth, bounded the sea, stored up what is in Hades, and filled all things with air.”

“He alone turned the one first and uniform substance into four contraries; then, mixing them, he made countless blends from them, so that, turned into contrary natures and mixed, they might produce the pleasure of life from the pairing of opposites. Likewise he alone, having fashioned hosts of angels and spirits by a nod of his will, filled the heavens, as he also adorned the visible firmament with stars, for which he fixed paths and appointed courses. He compacted the earth for the growth of fruits; he bounded the sea, marking off a dwelling on the dry land; he stores up what is in Hades, naming it the place of souls; and he filled all things with air, so that all living creatures might breathe without fear in order to live.”

“O the great, wise hand of God, which makes all things in all! For a countless multitude of birds has been made by him, and a varied one, each differing from another in every respect, I mean in colours, beaks, claws, looks, dispositions, voices, and all the rest. And how many different forms of plants, distinguished by countless colours, qualities, and scents! And how many creatures of the dry land and of the waters, whose shapes, forms, postures, colour, ways of life, dispositions, natures, and number it is impossible to tell! And besides these, the multitude and heights of mountains, the varieties of stones, fearful recesses, springs, rivers, lakes, seas, harbours, islands, forests, the whole inhabited world, and uninhabited places.”

“And how many other things there are that are unknown, having escaped human conjecture! And of the things within our grasp, who among men knows a single limit? I mean: how the heaven revolves, how the stars are borne along, what forms they have and what constitutes their life, what their airy paths are; whence the blasts of the winds are driven round and have their different effects; whence the springs gush unfailingly, and rivers, ever flowing, reach the sea, and neither is the place they come from emptied nor the place they go to filled; how far the boundless depth of limitless Tartarus extends; on what the all-encompassing heaven is suspended; how clouds gush from the air and are drunk back into the air; what the nature is of thunders and lightnings, snows, hail, mist, ice, storms, rains, hovering clouds; and how he forms plants and animals, and these continually brought to completion in countless varieties with all precision.”

“Yet if anyone considers the whole carefully by reason, he will find that God made it for the sake of man. For rains come for the sake of fruits, so that man may partake of them and animals be fed, to be useful to man. And the sun shines to turn the air into four seasons, so that each season may supply man with its own goods. And springs gush so that drink may be given to men. Moreover, who is lord over creation, as far as is possible? Is it not man, who has received wisdom to till the earth, sail the sea, hunt swimming creatures, birds, and beasts, calculate the course of the stars, mine the earth, sift the sea, found cities, appoint kings, make laws, judge, perceive the invisible God, know the names of angels, drive out demons, try to stop diseases with medicines, find charms against venomous reptiles, and devise antidotes?”

“If you are right-minded, O man, and have come to know the God who has done you good in all things, you could even be immortal, since the things created for your sake owe their continuance to your gratitude. And even now you can become incorruptible, if you recognize him whom you failed to know, if you love him whom you forsook, if you pray to him alone, who is able to punish and to save your body and soul. Therefore consider above all that no one rules with him, no one shares his name, that which is called ‘God’. For he alone is both called God and is God; it is not permitted either to think or to say that there is another. If anyone should dare to, his soul is destined to be punished eternally.”

When Peter had said this, Simon, from the edge of the crowd, said with a loud voice: “Why do you wish by lying to deceive the unlearned crowd standing around you, persuading them that it is not permitted either to think or to say that there are gods, when the public books of the Jews say that there are many gods? And now, before everyone, I wish to debate with you from those very books about the need to believe in gods: first about the God you spoke of, showing that he is not the supreme and all-powerful being, in that he is without foreknowledge, imperfect, needy, not good, and subject to many, indeed countless, grievous passions. When this has been shown from the Scriptures, as I say, it follows that there is another, not written of, who has foreknowledge, is perfect, lacks nothing, is good, and is free from all grievous passions. But the one you call creator is marked by the opposite qualities.”

“For instance, Adam, made in his likeness, is created blind and is handed over without knowledge of good or evil, and is found a transgressor, cast out of paradise, and punished with death. Likewise the one who formed him, since he does not see everywhere, says at the overthrow of Sodom: ‘Come, let us go down and see whether they are doing according to their outcry that comes to me; and if not, that I may know’; and so he shows himself ignorant. And in what he says about Adam, ‘Let us cast him out, lest perhaps he stretch out his hand and touch the tree of life and eat and live forever’, in saying ‘lest perhaps’ he is ignorant, and in adding ‘lest perhaps he eat and live forever’ he is also envious. And that it is written, ‘God considered that he had made man’, shows him both repenting and ignorant; for ‘considered’ is a reflection by which someone, not knowing the outcome of what he wants, wishes to make it certain, or it belongs to one who regrets what did not turn out as he intended. And that it is written, ‘And the Lord smelled a sweet odour’, belongs to one in need; and to take pleasure in the savour of flesh is not the mark of a good being. And to tempt, as it is written, ‘And the Lord tempted Abraham’, is the mark of one who is evil and does not know how the endurance will end.”

In this way Simon seemed to show from many passages of the Scriptures that God is subject to every passion. And Peter said: “Answer me: does the wicked and utterly depraved man love to convict himself in the things in which he sins?” Simon said: “He does not.” Peter said: “How then can God be wicked and depraved, if the evils publicly written against him were added by his own will?” Simon said: “It is possible that the reproof against him was written by another power, not by his choice.” Peter said: “Then let us inquire into this first. If he convicted himself by his own will, as you agreed a moment ago, he is not depraved; but if it was by another power, we must inquire and examine with all our strength whether someone has subjected him, who alone is good, to all these evils.”

Simon said: “You are plainly running away from hearing the charge against your God from the Scriptures.” Peter said: “You seem to me to be doing that yourself. For whoever runs away from the order of inquiry does not want a true examination to take place. So I, keeping to order and wishing first to know who the writer was, am plainly wishing to walk the straight road.” Simon said: “First admit that if what is written against the creator is true, he is not higher than all, since according to the Scriptures he is subject to every depravity; and afterwards we will inquire about the writer.” Peter said: “So that I may not seem unwilling to inquire because I object to your lack of order, I answer: I say that even if what is written against God were true, it does not yet show God to be depraved.” Simon said: “How can you establish that?”

Peter said: “Because the opposite has been written to the sayings that speak ill of him; for which reason neither can be confirmed.” Simon said: “How then, when some Scriptures say he is evil and others good, can one recognize the truth?” Peter said: “Whatever sayings of the Scriptures agree with the creation he made are true, and whatever are contrary to it are false.” Simon said: “How can you show that the Scriptures contradict themselves?” Peter said: “You say that Adam was made blind, which he was not. For he would not have pointed anything out to a blind man when he gave him a command, saying, ‘But from the tree of knowing good and evil you shall not eat.’” Simon said: “It meant that his mind was blind.” Peter said: “How could he be blind in mind, who before tasting the plant gave all the living creatures fitting names in agreement with the one who created him?” Simon said: “If Adam had foreknowledge, why did he not foresee the serpent that would deceive his wife?” Peter said: “If Adam did not have foreknowledge, how did he give his sons, as soon as they were born, names suited to their future deeds, calling the first Cain, which is interpreted ‘jealousy’, who out of jealousy killed his brother Abel, which is interpreted ‘mourning’? For over him, the first to be murdered, his parents mourned.”

“But if Adam, being God’s work, had foreknowledge, much more did the God who made him. And false is what is written, ‘God considered’, as though he used reasoning because of ignorance; and ‘the Lord tempted Abraham’, to know whether he would endure; and what is written, ‘Let us go down and see whether they are doing according to their outcry that comes to me; and if not, that I may know.’ And not to lengthen my discourse too much: whatever sayings ascribe ignorance to him, or anything else grievous, are overturned by other sayings that say the contrary, and are shown to be false. And that he truly foreknows, he says to Abraham: ‘Knowing, you shall know that your seed shall be a sojourner in a land not its own, and they shall enslave it and afflict and humble them four hundred years; but the nation they serve I will judge. After this they shall come out here with much baggage; but you shall go to your fathers in peace, nourished in a good old age. And in the fourth generation they shall return here; for the sins of the Amorites are not yet filled up until now.’”

“What then? Does not Moses too foretell the sins of the people and announce beforehand their dispersion among the nations? And if he gave Moses the power to foreknow, how could he himself not have it? But he has it. And if he has it, as we have shown, then what is written, ‘he considered’, ‘he repented’, ‘I will go down and see’, and all such things, is superfluous. For these things, foreknown before they happened, as they were going to turn out, reach their outcome through a wise dispensation without any change of mind.”

“That he did not desire sacrifices is shown by the fact that those who craved meat were killed as soon as they tasted it, and, buried in a mound, it was called ‘the graves of craving’. He who was displeased from the beginning at the slaughter of animals, not wishing them to be killed, did not command sacrifices as one who desired them, and from the beginning did not require them. For without the slaughter of animals sacrifices cannot be performed, nor can the firstfruits be offered. And how can one who established a pure heaven, who created the sun to shine with light for all, and who fixed for the countless stars an unchanging order of courses, dwell with darkness and gloom and tempest (for this too is written)? So, Simon, God’s handwriting, I mean the heaven, shows the pure and steadfast mind of its maker.”

“Thus the slanderous sayings about the God who created heaven are both cancelled by the contrary sayings set beside them and refuted by creation. For they were not written by a prophetic hand; and so they also appear contrary to the hand of God, who created all things.” And Simon said: “How can you prove that?”

Peter said: “The Law of God was given through Moses, unwritten, to seventy wise men, to be handed down, so that the commonwealth might be governed by succession. But after Moses was taken up, it was written by someone, though not by Moses. For in the Law itself it is written: ‘And Moses died, and they buried him near the house of Phogor, and no one knows his burial place to this day.’ Could the dead Moses write, ‘Moses died’? And in the time after Moses, some five hundred years or more, it is found lying in the temple that had been built, and after about another five hundred years it is carried off, and in the time of Nebuchadnezzar it is burned and destroyed. And so, being written after Moses and many times lost, even this confirmed Moses’ foreknowledge: foreseeing its disappearance, he did not write it; but those who wrote it, being convicted of ignorance because they did not foresee its disappearance, were not prophets.”

Simon said: “Since, as you said, what concerns God can be understood by comparison with creation, how is it possible to recognize the other things in the Law, which come from the tradition of Moses and are true but are mixed with the false?” Peter said: “A certain passage was recorded without error in the written Law, by the providence of God, so as to show clearly which of the things written are true and which false.” Simon said: “Tell us which it is.”

Peter said: “I will tell you at once. It is written in the first book of the Law, near the end: ‘A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until he comes for whom it is reserved; and he is the expectation of the nations.’ If then anyone can recognize the one who came after ruler and leader failed from Judah, and who was to be expected by the nations, he will be able from what has been fulfilled to recognize that the passage is true and that the one who has come is true; and by obeying his teaching he will know which things in the Scriptures are true and which are false.” Simon said: “I understand that you mean your Jesus, as the one prophesied by the Scripture. Let it be granted, then, that it is so. Tell me, then, how he taught you to distinguish the Scriptures.”

Peter said: “That the true things are mixed with the false, I remember he said somewhere when he was blaming the Sadducees: ‘For this reason you err, not knowing the true things of the Scriptures; for which reason you are ignorant of the power of God.’ And if he charged them with not knowing the true things of the Scriptures, it is clear that there are false ones. And also by saying, ‘Be approved money-changers’, since there are approved and counterfeit words. And by saying, ‘Why do you not perceive what is reasonable in the Scriptures?’ he makes firmer the mind of one who is right-minded by his own choice.”

“And it is clear that, although the Scriptures were available, he sent people to the scribes and teachers as those who knew the true things of the existing law. And his saying, ‘I did not come to destroy the law’, while he appeared to be destroying it, was the mark of one indicating that what he destroyed was not part of the law. And his saying, ‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but one iota or one stroke shall not pass from the law’, indicated that what passes away before heaven and earth was not part of the true law.”

“Since, then, while heaven and earth still stand, sacrifices, kingdoms, prophecies among those born of women, and such things have passed away, as not being commands of God, he therefore says: ‘Every plant which the heavenly Father did not plant shall be rooted up.’ For this reason, being himself the true prophet, he said: ‘I am the gate of life; whoever enters through me enters into life’, since there is no other teaching able to save. Therefore he also cried out, saying, ‘Come to me, all who labour’, that is, those who seek the truth and do not find it. And again: ‘My sheep hear my voice.’ And elsewhere: ‘Seek and find’, since the truth does not lie in plain view.”

“Moreover, a voice was heard from heaven bearing witness and saying: ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him.’ And besides this, wishing to show more fully that they had gone astray, he declared that the prophets, from whom they affirmed they had learned, died desiring the truth without having learned it, saying: ‘Many prophets and kings desired to see what you see and to hear what you hear; and truly I tell you, they neither saw nor heard.’ Moreover he said: ‘I am the one of whom Moses prophesied, saying: “The Lord our God will raise up for you a prophet from your brothers, as he did me; hear him in all things. And whoever does not hear that prophet shall die.”’”

“Therefore it is impossible to attain the truth without his teaching, even if one should seek for ever where what is sought is not to be found. But it was, and is, in the word of our Jesus. Indeed, knowing the true things of the Law, when the Sadducees asked on what ground Moses allowed a woman to marry seven, he said: ‘Moses permitted it to you because of your hardness of heart. For from the beginning it was not so. For he who created man from the beginning made him male and female.’”

“To those who think, as the Scriptures teach, that God swears, he said: ‘Let your yes be yes and your no, no; for what is more than these comes from the evil one.’ To those who say that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob died, he said: ‘He is not the God of the dead but of the living.’ To those who suppose that God tempts, as the Scriptures say, he said: ‘The evil one is the tempter’, the one who also tempted him. To those who suppose that God does not foreknow, he said: ‘For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things before you ask him.’ And to those who believe, as the Scriptures say, that he does not see all things, he said: ‘Pray in secret, and your Father who sees what is hidden will reward you.’”

“To those who think that he is not good, as the Scriptures say, he said: ‘From whom will a son ask bread, and he give him a stone? Or ask a fish, and he give him a serpent? If then you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him and to those who do his will!’ To those who affirm that he is in the Temple, he said: ‘Do not swear by heaven, for it is God’s throne, nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet.’ To those who had presumed that God desires sacrifices, he said: ‘God desires mercy and not sacrifices’, the knowledge of himself and not whole burnt offerings.”

“To those who are persuaded that he is evil, as the Scriptures say, he said: ‘Do not call me good; for the good one is one.’ And again: ‘Be good and merciful, as the Father who is in the heavens, who makes the sun rise on the good and the evil, and brings the rain on the just and the unjust.’ And to those who have been deceived into supposing many gods, as the Scriptures say, he said: ‘Hear, Israel: the Lord your God is one Lord.’”

Yet Simon, seeing that Peter was drawing him to use the Scriptures as Jesus had taught, was unwilling that the examination should turn to the doctrine of God, even though Peter changed the examination into question and answer, as Simon himself had requested. The inquiry, however, went on for three days. And as the fourth was dawning, he set off by night toward Tyre in Phoenicia. Not many days later some of the forerunners came and said to Peter: “Simon, working great wonders in Tyre, has astounded many there and has made you hated by many slanders.”

When Peter heard this, he had the crowd of hearers assemble the following night. When they had come together, he said: “As I set out for the nations that speak of many gods, to preach and teach that God is one, who created heaven and earth and all that is in them, so that by loving him they may be saved, wickedness has forestalled me by the law of the pair and sent Simon ahead, so that people, if they cease to speak of many gods, rejecting those so called on earth, may think that there are many gods in heaven; so that, never having honoured the good of the monarchy, they may perish utterly after punishment. And most terrible of all: since the true word has incomparable strength, he forestalls me with slanders and persuades them not to receive me at all, lest the slanderer be exposed as in truth a devil, and the true word, once shown forth, be believed. I must therefore overtake him quickly, so that the slander may not, by gaining time, prevail completely over everyone.”

“Since, then, someone must be appointed in my place to fill my position, let us all with one mind ask God to make plain which of us is the best, so that, sitting on the seat of Christ, he may govern his church piously. Who then will be appointed? For by God’s counsel that man is declared blessed ‘whom his master will set over the service of his fellow servants, to give them their food in its season; not thinking and saying in his heart, “My master is delaying his coming,” and beginning to beat his fellow servants, eating and drinking with the sexually immoral and the drunken. And the master of that servant will come at an hour he does not expect and on a day he does not know, and will cut him in two, and will put his unfaithful part with the hypocrites.’”

“But if anyone of those present who is able to instruct human ignorance shrinks back, caring only for his own rest, let him too expect to hear: ‘Wicked and slothful servant, you ought to have put my money with the bankers, and on my coming I would have collected what is mine. Throw the useless servant into the outer darkness.’ And rightly; for, he says, ‘It is yours, O man, to test my words as silver and money are tested with the bankers.’ The multitude of the faithful, then, must obey some one person, so that they may continue in concord. For what ends in the rule of one authority, in the image of monarchy, allows those who submit to enjoy peace because of good order; but when all, loving to rule, are unwilling to submit to one alone, they are bound to fall altogether because of division.”

“But let what happens before your eyes also persuade you: how, now that there are many kings throughout the earth, wars are constantly breaking out. For each has the rule of another as a pretext for war. But if there is one leader of the whole, he has nothing to make war about and keeps perpetual peace. In the end, then, God appoints for those counted worthy of eternal life one king of the whole in the age to come, so that through monarchy an unfailing peace may come about. So all must follow some one person as guide, honouring him as an image of God; and the guide must know the way that leads into the holy city.”

“And whom else of those present shall I choose than Zacchaeus, into whose house the Lord also went and rested, judging him worthy to be saved?” Having said this, he laid his hand on Zacchaeus, who was standing by, and pressed him to sit in his own seat. But Zacchaeus fell at his feet and begged him to release him from ruling, promising and saying: “Whatever a ruler must do, I will do; only grant me not to have this name. For I shrink from putting on the name of ruler, since it is full of bitter envy and danger.”

Peter said: “If you shrink from this, do not be called ruler, but ‘the one appointed’, since the Lord has allowed this to be said by saying: ‘Blessed is that man whom his master will appoint over the service of his fellow servants.’ But if you do not wish it to be known at all that you have authority to govern, you seem to me not to know that the acknowledged authority of the one who presides has great power to restrain the multitude. For everyone obeys the one who has received authority, having his conscience as a strong constraint. And do you not know for certain that you are to rule not as the rulers of the Gentiles, but as a servant ministering to them, as a father to the wronged, as a physician visiting them, as a shepherd guarding them; in short, having every care for their salvation? Or do you think I do not know what labours I am forcing you to take on, in asking that you be judged by crowds whom no one can possibly please? But to win God’s approval by doing well is entirely possible. Therefore I ask you to accept it willingly, for God’s sake, for Christ’s sake, for the salvation of the brothers, for their good order and your own benefit.”

“And consider the other point too: just as governing the church of Christ brings labour and danger, so much the greater is the reward; but greater too is the punishment for the one who is able and refuses. So, since I know you are more learned than those present, I want you to lend out the good teachings with which you have been entrusted by the Lord, so that you may hear, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’, and not, like the one who hid the one talent, be found charged and liable to punishment. But if you do not wish to be appointed good guardian of the church, point out another in your place, more learned and more faithful than you. But you will not be able to; for you were with the Lord, witnessed his wonderful deeds, and have learned the governing of a church.”

“Your task is to command what is needed; the brothers’ task is to submit and not to disobey. If they submit, they will be saved; if they disobey, they will be punished by the Lord, because the one who presides has been entrusted with the place of Christ. Therefore honour or insult shown to the one who presides is carried to Christ, and from Christ it is carried up to God. I have said this so that the brothers themselves may not be ignorant of the danger of disobeying you: whoever disobeys you when you command disobeys Christ, and whoever disobeys Christ provokes God.”

“The church, then, like a city built on a height, must have a God-loving order and good government. Before all, let the bishop be heeded as ruler in what he says. Let the presbyters be diligent that what is commanded is done. Let the deacons go round and look after the bodies and souls of the brothers, and report to the bishop. Let all the rest of the brothers accept being wronged; but if they wish to have judgment about the wrongs done to them, let them be reconciled before the presbyters, and let the presbyters refer the settlement to the bishop.”

“Let them urge on marriages, not only of the young but also of those advanced in years, lest seething desire, by occasion of sexual immorality or adultery, bring a plague on the church. For above every sin the impiety of adultery is hated by God, because it destroys not only the one who sinned but also those who eat and associate with him; for it is like rabies, in that it is its nature to pass on its own madness. For the sake of chastity, then, let not only the presbyters but everyone be eager to bring about marriages. For the sin of the adulterer forces its way to come upon all. To press the brothers to chastity is the first almsgiving; for it is care of the soul, while food for the body is only refreshment.”

“Yet if you love your brothers, you will take nothing from them, but will share with them what you have: you will feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the sick, help those in prison as far as you can, readily receive strangers into your own dwellings, and hate no one. How you ought to be godly your own mind will teach you, if you are right-minded. But above all, if I must say it to you, meet together more often, every hour if possible, and at least on the appointed days of assembly. For if you do this, you are within walls of refuge; for leaving the ranks is the beginning of destruction. So let no one stay away from the gathering on the pretext of some petty grievance against a brother. For if any of you stays away from the assembly, he will be counted among those who scatter the church of Christ and will be cast out with the adulterers. For like an adulterer he has separated himself on some pretext, under the influence of the spirit within him, and has given the evil one room against him, and the evil one will snatch him as a sheep found outside the fold.”

“Only, listen to your bishop, and do not tire of giving him all honour, knowing that by honouring him you carry it to Christ, and from Christ you carry it up to God; and he repays the giver many times over. Honour, then, the throne of Christ; for you were commanded to honour even the seat of Moses, even though those who sit on it are considered sinners. These things have been said to you sufficiently. As for him, I think it superfluous to tell him how to live blamelessly, since he is an approved disciple of the one who taught me too.”

“However, brothers, some things you should not wait to hear, but should perceive for yourselves what is reasonable. Zacchaeus alone, having given himself wholly to being occupied for you, having a belly to feed and no leisure for himself, how can he provide the food he needs? Is it not reasonable that all of you should provide for his living, not waiting for him to ask you? For that is the part of a beggar, and he would rather die of hunger than bring himself to do it. And how will you not be punished, if you do not consider that the worker is worthy of his wages? And let no one say, ‘Is the word freely given being sold, then?’ Far from it. For if someone who has the means to live takes anything, he sells the word; but if one who has not takes food in order to live, as the Lord too accepted it at dinners and among friends, having nothing, he who alone possesses all things, he does not sin. Accordingly, honour presbyters, catechists, useful deacons, widows who have lived well, orphans as children of the church; and whenever there is need of some means for a necessity, contribute all together. Show godliness toward one another, not shrinking from enduring anything whatever for your own salvation.”

Having said this, he laid his hand on Zacchaeus, saying: “Master and Lord of all, Father and God, keep the shepherd safe with the flock. You are the cause, you the power; we are what is helped, you the helper, the physician, the saviour, the wall, the life, the hope, the refuge, the joy, the expectation, the rest. In short, you are all things to us. Work with us for the everlasting possession of salvation; deliver, protect. You can do all things, for you are ruler of rulers and Lord of lords, master of kings. Give authority to the one who presides to loose what must be loosed and to bind what must be bound. Make him wise. Through him keep the church of your Christ safe as a fair bride. For yours is eternal glory, praise to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, to all the ages. Amen.”

Having said this, he then said: “All of you who wish to be baptized, begin fasting from tomorrow, receive the laying on of hands every day, and ask about whatever you wish. For I intend to stay with you ten more days.” After three days, when he had begun to baptize, he called me, Aquila, and Nicetes and said: “Since I intend to set out for Tyre in seven days, I want you to leave at once, lodge secretly with Bernice the Canaanite, daughter of Justa, and learn from her and write to me accurately what concerns Simon. For it will help me greatly to prepare myself for it. So go at once in peace.” And so, leaving him baptizing, as he had commanded, we went ahead of him to Tyre in Phoenicia.

Leaving Caesarea Stratonis, I, Clement, together with Nicetes and Aquila, entered Tyre in Phoenicia, and, according to the instruction of Peter who had sent us, we lodged with Bernice, daughter of Justa the Canaanite. She received us most gladly; eager to show me great honour, and affection to Aquila and Nicetes, and speaking freely out of joy as with old acquaintances, she treated us kindly and hospitably pressed us to refresh ourselves. Seeing, then, that she was imposing a short delay on us, I said: “You do well to hasten to fulfil the duties of love; but the fear of our God must come before it. For, having a contest on hand for many souls, we are afraid to put our own rest before their salvation.”

“For we hear that Simon the magus, defeated in the debate with our lord Peter at Caesarea, fled at once and is doing much harm here. For by slandering Peter with everything contrary to the truth he carries off the souls of many. Himself a magician, he calls Peter a magician; himself a deceiver, he denounces Peter as a deceiver; and though he came off worse in the debates before everyone and ran away, he claims that he won, and keeps enjoining that Peter must not be listened to, as if he cared for them, so that they might not be bewitched by a terrible magician.”

“Having learned this, our lord Peter sent us ahead to investigate what had been reported to him, so that, if it is so, he may learn it from our letter, and on coming may refute Simon face to face on the points on which he has slandered him. Since, then, the danger of many souls lies before us, we are for this reason neglecting our bodily rest for a little, and we wish to learn truthfully from you, who live here, whether what we have heard is true. Please tell us everything now.”

When Bernice was asked, she said: “These things are as you have heard; but hear the other things about Simon himself, which perhaps you do not know. By making phantoms and apparitions appear in the middle of the marketplace by day, he astounds the whole city; and when he goes out, statues move and many shadows go before him, which he says are the souls of the dead. Many who tried to expose him as a sorcerer he soon reconciled to himself on the pretext of a feast; he sacrificed an ox, entertained them, and then struck them with various diseases and subjected them to demons. In short, having harmed many, he is supposed to be a god, and besides being feared he is also highly honoured.”

“So I do not think anyone will be able to put out so great a fire once it has been kindled. For no one doubts what he professes; everyone affirms that it is so. Therefore, so that you may not be endangered, I urge you not to attempt anything against him before Peter comes, who alone will be able to contend against so great a power, since he is the most approved disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ. For I fear the man so much that, if he had not already come off worse in debate with my lord Peter on another occasion, I would have advised you to persuade even Peter himself not to try to measure himself against Simon.”

And I said: “If our lord Peter did not know that he alone prevails over that man’s power, he would not have sent us ahead with instructions to find out secretly about Simon and write to him.” But since evening had come, we shared salt and went to sleep. At dawn an acquaintance of Bernice came and said that Simon had sailed for Sidon, leaving behind, of his disciples, Appion Pleistonices, a man of Alexandria, a grammarian by profession, whom I recognized as a friend of my father’s; Annubion of Diospolis, an astrologer; and Athenodorus the Athenian, a follower of the teaching of Epicurus. Having learned about Simon, we wrote everything down early that morning and sent it to Peter, and then went out for a walk.

And Appion met us, not only with the two companions already named, but with about thirty other men. As soon as he saw me, he greeted and kissed me and said: “This is Clement, of whose noble birth and liberal upbringing I have often spoken to you: a man related to the family of Tiberius Caesar and trained in all Greek learning, who has been deceived by a barbarian called Peter into doing and saying the things of the Jews. So I ask you to join me in the effort to set him right. And in your presence I ask him: let him tell me, since he thinks he has given himself to piety, how he is not guilty of the greatest impiety in abandoning his ancestral ways and turning aside to barbarian customs.”

I answered: “I accept your good will toward me, but I reject your ignorance. Your intention is good, because you want me to be among the things you consider good; but your knowledge, not being right, is trying to ensnare me under the pretext of friendship.” Appion said: “Does it seem ignorance to you for one who keeps his ancestral customs to think as the Greeks do?” I answered: “One who chooses to be godly must not keep his ancestral ways at all costs, but must keep them if they are godly and shake them off if they are ungodly. For it can happen that someone whose father is ungodly, wishing to be godly, does not want to follow his father’s way.” Appion answered: “What then? Are you saying your father lived an evil life?” I said: “His life was not evil, but his belief was.” Appion said: “I want to hear what his evil opinion was.” I said: “That he believed the false and evil myths of the Greeks.” Appion asked: “What are these false and evil myths of the Greeks?” I said: “The wrong notion about gods, which, if you are patient, you will hear together with those who love learning.”

“So before the discussion let us now withdraw to some quieter place; there I will speak with you. The reason I want to speak privately is this: neither the many nor even all who practise philosophy approach the judgment of what is real with sincerity. For we know that many even of those who pride themselves on philosophy are vainglorious, or have put on the philosopher’s cloak for gain and not for virtue itself; and if they do not find what they practise philosophy for, they turn to mockery. Because of such people, let us choose a place suitable for private conversation.”

And one of them, a rich man who owned a place nearby with evergreen foliage, said: “Since the heat is scorching, let us withdraw a little from the city to my gardens.” So they went on and sat down where there were pure streams of cool water and the green shade of all kinds of trees. There I gladly sat down, and the others around me; and keeping silent, instead of asking me in words, they made it plain by gazing at me that they were demanding the proof of my claim. And so I began to speak as follows.

“Great, men of Greece, is the difference between truth and custom. For truth, when sought sincerely, is found; but custom, whatever kind is received, true or false, is strengthened by itself without judgment, and the one who received it is neither glad when it is true nor troubled when it is false. For such a person has believed not by judgment but by preconception, having entrusted his hope to the opinion of those before him on an uncertain chance. And it is not easy to strip off the ancestral garment, even if it is plainly shown to him to be foolish and ridiculous.”

“For example, I say that the whole of Greek education is a most grievous invention of an evil demon. Some of them introduced many gods, and these evil and subject to every passion, so that whoever wishes to do the like may not even feel shame, which is proper to a human being, since he has as his example the evil and indecent lives of the gods of mythology. And by not even feeling shame, such a person shows no hope of repentance. Others introduced fate, the so-called genesis, contrary to which no one can suffer or do anything. This is the same as the first. For one who thinks that no one can do or suffer anything contrary to genesis easily turns to sin, and having sinned does not repent of his impieties, offering the excuse that he was compelled by genesis to do them; and since he cannot correct genesis, he does not even feel shame for his sins.”

“Others introduce a motion without providence, as though all things were carried round of themselves, with no master set over them. To think this, as we have said, is the most grievous of all opinions. For, as if there were no one presiding, providing, and allotting to each according to desert, they readily do whatever they can, because they have no fear. Hence those who think such things are not easily, or perhaps not at all, brought to self-control, for they do not foresee the danger that would turn them back. But the teaching of the Jews, whom you call barbarians, is most pious, introducing one Father and Creator of this universe, by nature good and just: good, in that he forgives the sins of those who repent; just, in that after repentance he visits on each according to the worth of what he has done.”

“This teaching, even if it were a myth, would not be without benefit for life, since it is pious. For each person, in expectation of being judged by the all-seeing God, receives a stronger impulse toward self-control. And if the teaching is also true, it frees the one who has lived with self-control from eternal punishment, and blesses him besides with the everlasting and ineffable good things that come from God.”

“But I return to the very first opinion of the Greeks, which tells in myths that there are many gods, subject to every passion. And so as not to spend much time on what is certain by setting out the impious deeds of each of the so-called gods, I will not recount all their loves, those of Zeus and Poseidon, of Pluto and Apollo, of Dionysus and Heracles, and of each one singly; for you yourselves are not ignorant of them, starting as you do from Greek education, and you were taught their lives so that, as imitators of the gods, you might do the like.”

“I will begin with the most kingly Zeus himself. His father Cronus, as you say, swallowed his own children, and cut off the genitals of his father Uranus with a sickle of adamant, and so showed to those who emulate the mysteries of the gods a pattern of piety toward parents and love toward children. Zeus himself bound his own father and shut him up in Tartarus, and he punishes the other gods. For those who wish to do unspeakable things, he begot Metis and swallowed her; but Metis was seed, for it is impossible to swallow a baby. To give pederasts an excuse, he carries off Ganymede. Helping adulterers in their adultery, he himself is often found an adulterer. He encourages the murder of brothers, having united with his sisters Hera and Demeter and the heavenly Aphrodite, whom some call Dodona. For those who wish to have intercourse with their daughters, he becomes from the myths an evil example by uniting with Persephone. He committed countless other impieties, so that because of his surpassing incontinence the myth might be made a dogma by the impious, that he is a god.”

“One may reasonably be moderately indignant with unlearned people about such notions. But what need is there even to speak of those who start from education? Some of them, claiming to be grammarians and sophists, affirm that such deeds are worthy of gods. For being incontinent themselves, they seize on this mythical pretext and boldly commit indecencies as imitators, forsooth, of their betters.”

“For this reason those who live in the country sin much less than they do, since they have not been wickedly initiated into the things by which those who dare these deeds were initiated, having learned impiety from an evil education. For those who from childhood learn their letters through such myths implant the impious deeds of the so-called gods in their minds while the soul is still tender. So as they grow older these bear fruit like evil seeds sown in the soul; and worst of all, the impieties that have taken root cannot easily be cut out, even when as grown men they perceive them to be grievous. For each person likes to remain in what he has been accustomed to from childhood; and so, since custom has hardly less power than nature, they become hard to turn toward the good things that were not sown in their souls from the beginning.”

“Therefore the young must not be content with corrupting lessons, and those in their prime must carefully refrain from listening to the mythology of the Greeks. For their lessons are much worse than ignorance, as we have shown from those who live in the country, who sin less because they have not been educated in what the Greeks teach. So their myths must be shunned, and their theatres and books, and, if it were possible, their cities too. For being full of evil teachings and breathing them out, they pass on what they themselves suffer to those who associate with them, like rabies to those near them. And worst of all, whoever among them is more highly educated has been turned much further away from thinking according to nature.”

“Some of them, who even claim to be philosophers, class such sins as indifferent and call those who are angered by such deeds foolish. For such things, they say, are not sins by nature, but have been forbidden by positive laws made by wise men of old, because they knew that people, with their easily swayed souls, are greatly vexed by such things and make war on one another; and for this reason the wise men laid down a law and forbade such things as sins. But it is ridiculous to think so. For how are things not sins that cause tumults, murders, and every disturbance? Do not ruined lives and many other evils spring from adultery?”

“‘But why,’ someone says, ‘if a husband does not know that his wife is committing adultery, is he not jealous, not angry, not troubled, and does not make war? So such things are not evil by nature; it is the irrational opinion of men that makes them terrible.’ But I say that even if these terrible things do not happen, it can happen that through intimacy with the adulterer she leaves her husband, or plots against him while living with him, or gives the adulterer what her husband has gained by his labour; or, conceiving by the adulterer while her husband is abroad, she may out of shame at being exposed wish to destroy what is in her womb, and so become a child-killer, or perish along with it in destroying it. And if she conceives by the adulterer while her husband is at home and bears a child, the child grows up not knowing his father and thinking one who is not his father to be so; and so the man who is not the father leaves his livelihood at his death to another man’s child. And how many other evils naturally tend to spring from adultery! And the hidden evils we do not know. For just as a rabid dog destroys those it touches by passing on its invisible madness, so the hidden evil of adultery, even when unknown, brings about the cutting off of the family line.”

“But let this be passed over for now. This we all know: that men in general are uncontrollably angered by it, that wars have been stirred up over it, households overturned, cities captured, and countless other things. For this reason I fled for refuge to the holy God and Law of the Jews, having given my faith on a secure judgment, that the Law has been laid down from the just judgment of God, and that the soul will certainly receive, somewhere or other, according to the worth of what it has done.”

When I had said this, Appion added to the discussion: “What then? Do not the laws of the Greeks also forbid wicked deeds and punish adulterers?” I said: “Then the gods of the Greeks, who did things contrary to the laws, deserve punishment. And how shall I be able to discipline myself, if I suppose that the gods themselves were the first to commit, along with adultery, every grievous deed, and have not paid the penalty, though they ought all the more to pay it, since they are not slaves to desire? And if they were subject to it, how were they gods?” Appion said: “Let our standard be no longer the gods, but the judges; looking to them, we shall be afraid to sin.” I said: “It is not the same, Appion. For one who has a human being as his standard will dare to sin in the hope of escaping notice; but one who has set the all-seeing God before his own soul, knowing that he cannot escape his notice, will refuse even to sin in secret.”

When Appion heard this, he said: “Ever since I heard that you were associating with Jews, I knew that your mind had been changed. For it was well said by someone, ‘Bad company corrupts good morals.’” I said: “Then good company corrects bad morals.” Appion said: “Today I was set on learning your position; that is why we let you speak first. Tomorrow, here, if you please, when the same friends have gathered, I will show that our gods are neither adulterers, nor murderers, nor corrupters of boys, nor have they lain with sisters or daughters; but the ancients, wishing only lovers of learning to know the mysteries, veiled them in the myths you have spoken of. For in their account of nature they say that Zeus (Zēn) is the seething substance, Cronus is time, and Rhea the ever-flowing nature of water. But, as I promised, tomorrow at dawn, when you have gathered, I will explain each form by allegory and reveal the truth of things.” To this I said: “Tomorrow do as you promised; but already now, hear something about the very things you are going to say.”

“If the deeds of the gods were good and were veiled in advance by evil myths, great wickedness is shown in the one who covered them, because he hid what is honourable under evil stories, so that no one should become its imitator. But if they truly did impious deeds, he ought, on the contrary, to have covered them with good stories, so that people, looking to them as their betters, might not attempt to sin in the same way.” When I had said this, those present were plainly beginning to take a liking to what I had said. For they repeatedly and earnestly begged me to come without fail the next day, and then departed.

So on the following day in Tyre, as we had agreed, I came to the quiet place. I saw the others there, together with some more people, and greeted them; but not having seen Appion, I asked why he was not present. Someone said that he had been in poor bodily health since the evening before. When I said it would be right to set out at once and visit him, nearly all of them asked me first to speak with them and only then go and visit him. So, since everyone was of one mind, I began to speak.

"When I left here yesterday, friends, I confess that I was so anxious about the coming inquiry with Appion that I could not get to sleep. As I lay awake, the trick I had played on him in Rome came into my mind. It was like this. From boyhood I, Clement, loved the truth and sought what matters for the soul; I spent my time arguing against views and building them up, and since I could find nothing complete, my folly ran me aground on illness. While I was laid up, Appion came to stay in Rome. He was a friend of my father's, he lodged with me, and on learning that I was bedridden he came in to me, as one not unversed in medicine, and asked the cause of my being laid up. I knew the man well: he held the Jews in bitter hatred, so much that he had written many books against them; and he had taken up this very Simon as a friend, not out of love of learning, but because he knew him to be a Samaritan who hated the Jews and had come out against them. That is why he had made him his intimate, so that he could learn something from him to use against the Jews.

"Knowing this about Appion in advance, as soon as he asked me the cause of my illness I answered with pretence that I was suffering what young men suffer and was sick at heart. To this he said, 'My child, speak boldly, as to a father: what is the sickness of your soul?' I sighed again with pretence, as though ashamed to speak about love, and by my silence and my downcast look I gave him the impression I wanted to convey. He, truly convinced that I was in love with a woman, said: 'There is nothing in life that cannot find help. When I myself was young, I fell in love with a most distinguished woman; not only did I think it impossible to win her, I did not even hope ever to speak to her. Yet I came across an Egyptian who was thoroughly expert in the arts of the magi, became his friend, and revealed my love to him. Not only did he put himself at my service for everything I wanted, but, being more generous still toward me, he did not grudge teaching me the incantation by which I won her. Through his secret guidance, trusting the generosity of my teacher, I won her once, and my love ceased.

"'So if you too have suffered something of the kind, as men do, take heart and trust me to free you from care: within seven days I will certainly make you win her.' When I heard this, keeping my own aim in view, I said: 'Forgive me if I do not quite believe that magic is real; I have already had experience of many who promised much and deceived me. Still, your promise moves me and leads me to hope. But when I think it over I fear that the demons may sometimes not obey the magi in what they are commanded.'

"Appion said: 'Grant that I know these things better than you. But so that you may not think you have heard nothing from me on the point you raised, learn how the demons are compelled to obey the magi in what they are commanded. Just as it is impossible for a soldier to gainsay his commander, and the commanders themselves cannot disobey the king (for anyone who opposes those set over him is certainly thought to deserve punishment), so it is impossible for the demons not to serve the angels who command them; when adjured by them, they yield trembling, well aware that if they disobey they will certainly be punished. And the angels themselves, when adjured by the magi in the name of the one above them, obey, lest they be condemned for disobedience and perish. For if all beings, living and rational as they are, did not foresee the penalty that comes from the higher power, there would be confusion, with everything in revolt against everything else.'

"I said: 'Then what the poets and philosophers say is right, that in Hades the souls of the ungodly are judged and punished for what they dared to do, like Ixion and Tantalus, Tityus and Sisyphus, and the daughters of Danaus, and all the others who were once ungodly here? And if that is not so, how could magic be real?' When he said that things in Hades are indeed so, I asked: 'Why then are we ourselves not afraid of magic, convinced as we are of the penalty in Hades for adultery? For I do not agree that it is just to force an unwilling woman into adultery; but if someone undertakes to persuade her, I am ready for that, and will be grateful as well.'

"Appion said: 'Do you not think it is the same whether you win her by magic or trick her with words?' I said: 'Not at all the same; the two are far apart. The one who compels an unwilling woman by the force of magic undergoes the severest penalty, as one who has plotted against a chaste woman; but the one who persuades by speech, and leaves the choice to her own authority and will, has not used force. And I think the one who persuaded will be punished less than the one who forced. So if you can persuade her, I will be grateful when I have won her; otherwise I would rather die than force an unwilling woman by violence.'

"Appion, genuinely at a loss, said: 'What am I to say to you? One moment you pray to win her, as one tormented by love; the next, as though not in love, you put fear before desire, and you think that if you persuade her you will go unpunished as one who has not sinned, but if you win her by the force of magic you will pay the penalty. Do you not know that in every matter it is the outcome that is judged, the fact that it happened, and that how it happened is not examined? If you commit adultery, will you really be condemned as ungodly when you managed it by magic, but acquitted of the sin of adultery when you managed it by persuasion?' I said: 'Because I am in love and am set on winning the one I love, I must choose one or the other; but I will choose, if possible, to win her by flattery rather than by magic. Yet it is not easy to persuade her even by flattery, for the woman is very much a philosopher.'

"Appion said: 'That makes me all the more hopeful that I can persuade her as you wish, if only we can speak with her.' I answered, 'Impossible.' Appion asked whether it was possible to send her a letter. I said, 'That is possible.' Appion said: 'This very night I will write a book, a praise of adultery, which you will take from me and send to her; and I hope she will be persuaded and consent.' Appion wrote that book and gave it to me. I thought of it during this night, and remembered that I happen to have it with me, among the other books I carry about." Having told this, I showed the book to those present, and since they wished to hear it I read it; and having read it I said: "This, men, is the education of the Greeks, which provides a noble pretext for sinning without fear." The book ran as follows.

"Without names, because of the laws that come from foolish men. By the commands of Eros, the most ancient child of all, as a favour. I know that you devote yourself to philosophy and, for virtue's sake, aspire to the life of those who are better. And who could be better than the gods among all beings, and philosophers among human beings? For they alone know which deeds are bad or good by nature, and which are thought so by the laying down of laws, though they are not. For example, some have supposed that the act called adultery is bad, though it is good in every respect. For it takes place by the commands of Eros, for the increase of life. And Eros is the most ancient of all the gods. Without Eros there can be no mixing or begetting of elements, gods, human beings, irrational animals, or anything else. We are all instruments of Eros. He is the craftsman who works through us, the mind that dwells in the souls of all that is begotten. So we do not desire of ourselves, but when we are commanded by him we long to do his will. If, when we desire by his will, we try to master the desire for the sake of so-called chastity, how can we not commit the greatest impiety, acting against the most ancient of gods and men?

"But let all doors be opened to him, and let all the wretched laws men have made be repealed. They were laid down for jealous men, who are ruled by folly and unwilling to understand what is reasonable, and who, moreover, suspect those called adulterers; with good reason they are mocked by Zeus himself through the laws he laid down by means of Minos and Rhadamanthys. For Eros, once he has come to dwell in souls, cannot be held back; the passion of lovers is not voluntary. For example, Zeus himself, the giver of these laws, lay with countless women. Some wise men say that he was a benefactor in the begetting of children, sometimes bestowing his union on human beings as a gift; and with those whom he knew would take offence at the favour, he changed his form so as to go unrecognized, in order neither to grieve them nor to seem to act against the laws he himself had laid down. So you who devote yourself to philosophy ought, for the sake of a good life, to imitate those admitted to be better, whose unions have been beyond counting.

"So as not to waste time on more proofs than needed, I will begin with Zeus himself, the father of gods and men, and point out some of his unions; to recall them all is impossible because of their number. Hear, then, of the unions of great Zeus himself which, because of the jealousy of foolish men, went unnoticed by means of his transformations. First of all, wishing to free the wise from the sin of adultery, when he was about to marry, knowing that at a first bedding he would be counted an adulterer by the many, though he was not, he secured his sinless marriage by means of what, as I said, only seems a sin. For he married Hera, his own sister, taking the likeness of a cuckoo's wing, and from her were born Hebe and Eileithyia. For he brought forth Metis without union with anyone, as Hera did Hephaestus.

"Next he lies with a sister of his, born of Ouranos and the Sea from the castration of Ouranos by Kronos: Eros and Cypris, whom they also call Dodone. He also lies with Antiope, daughter of Nycteus, likened to a satyr; from her Amphion and Zethus were born. He comes to Alcmene, wife of Amphitryon, made like Amphitryon her husband; from her Heracles was born. He approaches Aegina, daughter of Asclepius, having become an eagle; from her Aeacus is born. He beds Amalthea, daughter of Phocus, likened to a bear. Upon Danae, daughter of Acrisius, he poured down as gold; from her Perseus sprang up. To Callisto, daughter of Lycaon, he turned wild as a lion, and she bears another, Arcas. With Europa, daughter of Phoenix, he came together by means of a bull; from her sprang Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Sarpedon. With Eurymedusa, daughter of Achelous, he became an ant; from her came Myrmidon. With a nymph of Hersaeus he became a vulture; from her came the ancient sages of Sicily. With Hima, the earth-born, in Rhodes he came together by means of a rainstorm; from her came Pargaeus, Cronius, and Cytus. He took Ospia as bride, made like Phoenix her husband; from her Anchinous was born to him. With Nemesis, daughter of Thestius, who was also taken to be Leda, he became a swan or a goose and fathered Helen; and again, having become a star, he produced Castor and Polydeuces. For Lamia he took the form of a hoopoe.

"Having likened himself to a shepherd, he makes Mnemosyne mother of the Muses. Blazing as fire, he weds Semele, daughter of Cadmus, and from her brings Dionysus to birth. In the likeness of a serpent he deflowers his own daughter Persephone, who was also reputed to be the wife of his brother Pluto. And with many other women he lay without any transformation, since their husbands felt no jealousy as though at a sin, but knew well that by sharing their wives freely he begot for them, as a gift, Hermeses, Apollos, Dionysuses, Endymions, and all the others we have named, surpassing in beauty because of his union.

"So as not to spend my time on an endless account: you will find that all the gods after Zeus had unions freely. Foolish people call them the adulteries of the gods; yet the gods did not even avoid unions with males as shameful, but practised this too as seemly. For example, Zeus himself loved Ganymede; Poseidon, Pelops; Apollo, Cinyras, Zacynthus, Hyacinthus, Phorbas, Hylas, Admetus, Cyparissus, Amyclas, Troilus, Branchus, Tymnius, Parus, Potnieus, Orpheus; Dionysus, Laonis, Ampelus, Hymenaeus, Hermaphroditus, Achilles; Asclepius, Hippolytus; Hephaestus, Peleus; Pan, Daphnis; Hermes, Perseus, Chrysus, Thersus, Odrysus; Heracles, Abderus, Dryops, Iocastus, Philoctetes, Hylas, Polyphemus, Haemon, Chonus, Eurystheus.

"So I have set before you, dearest, some of the loves of all the more famous gods, that you may know that jealousy about this arises only among foolish human beings. That is why they are mortal and pass their lives in grief: because what the gods thought good, they, out of their own jealousy, declared to be bad. You will therefore be happy from now on if you imitate gods and not human beings. For when human beings see you guarding what is thought to be chastity, they praise you because of their own passion, but they do you no good; while the gods, seeing you make yourself like them, will both praise you and do you good.

"Consider how many beloved ones they rewarded: some they set among the stars, and to others they gave benefits through their children and their helpers. For example, Zeus set Callisto among the stars as the one called the Little Bear, which some call the Dog's Tail. Poseidon placed the Dolphin in heaven on account of Amphitrite. And Orion, son of Euryale the daughter of Minos, he counted worthy of the stars on account of Euryale his mother. Dionysus placed the crown of Ariadne. Zeus set among the stars the eagle that helped him carry off Ganymede, and Ganymede himself in the honour of the Water-bearer; and he honoured the bull on account of Europa. Moreover, as a favour to Leda he made Castor, Polydeuces, and Helen stars; Perseus on account of Danae, Arcas on account of Callisto, the Virgin, who is also Justice, on account of Themis, and Heracles on account of Alcmene. I will not go on at greater length; it would be long to tell one by one how many others the gods have benefited on account of their many beloved ones through their unions with human beings, unions that the foolish forbid as evil deeds, not knowing that pleasure is the great enjoyment among human beings.

"Do not the famous sages, too, prefer pleasure, and lie with whatever women they wished? First among them is the teacher of Greece, of whom Phoebus himself said, 'Of all men Socrates is wisest.' Does he not propose that in Lacedaemon, the best-governed city, wives be held in common, and does he not cover the beautiful Alcibiades under his cloak? Antisthenes the Socratic writes that one must not reject what is called adultery. And his disciple Diogenes, does he not openly and publicly have intercourse with Lais, for the price of carrying her on his shoulders? Does not Epicurus put pleasure first? Does not Aristippus, perfuming his whole body, give himself up to Aphrodite? Does not Zeno, hinting at indifference, say that the divine is through all things, so that it may be understood by the intelligent that whoever one lies with, one lies as it were with oneself, and that it is superfluous to forbid what are called adulteries, or unions with mother, daughter, sister, or children? And Chrysippus in his erotic letters mentions the image at Argos, which puts the face of Hera to the genitals of Zeus.

"I know that these things seem frightening and most shameful to those uninitiated into the truth, but not to the gods and philosophers of the Greeks, nor to the mysteries of Dionysus and Demeter. But above all these, so that I may not waste my time telling the lives of all the gods and philosophers, let there be two supreme examples for you: among the gods, Zeus; among philosopher men, Socrates. As for the rest, understand them from what I have written to remind you, and take care never to grieve a lover of yours; for if you act contrary to the gods and heroes, you will be judged impious and will undergo the fitting punishment. But if you give yourself to every lover, you will obtain their benefaction as one who imitates the gods. For the rest, dearest, remembering the mysteries I have revealed to you, show me your choice by letter. Farewell."

Well then, having received this book from Appion as though I would really send it to my beloved, I made up a reply as if she had written back to it, and the next day, when Appion came, I gave it to him as supposedly her answer. It ran as follows. Copy of a letter to Appion, as if from the beloved.

"I am amazed that, having praised me for wisdom, you write to me as to a fool. Wishing to persuade me into your passion, you drew your examples from the myths about the gods, setting Eros over all gods and men as the most ancient of all, as you said; and you were not afraid to blaspheme, so that you might corrupt my soul and outrage my body. But Eros, who lives in desires, is not the founder of the gods. For if he desires willingly, he is his own passion and his own punishment, and one who suffers by his own will could not be a god. But if he loves union unwillingly, and passes through our souls, using our bodies as instruments, and is carried into intercourse with the objects of his thought, then the one who makes him love and carries him along is greater than he; and again, if that one who carries him is himself carried by another longing, another will be found greater who carries him; and so there comes an endless regress of lovers, which is impossible. So there is neither a carrier nor a carried; it is the lover's own appetite that is the passion, growing with hope and dwindling with despair.

"Those unwilling to master shameful desire tell lies about the gods, so that by pointing to the gods as having done the same things first they may escape blame for what they do. For if the so-called gods committed their adulteries for the sake of begetting children and not out of licentiousness, why did they also lie with males? 'But,' he says, 'as a favour to their beloved ones they set them among the stars.' Then were there no stars before this, until heaven was adorned with stars by adulterers as a cover for licentiousness? And how is it that the descendants of those set among the stars are punished in Hades: Atlas weighed down, Tantalus tormented by thirst, Sisyphus pushing a rock, Tityus with his entrails dug out, Ixion ceaselessly whirled on a wheel? And how did the lovers, being gods, set among the stars those whom they defiled, without granting this to themselves?

"So they were not gods, but riddling images of tyrants. For a tomb of Kronos is shown in the Caucasus mountains, not in heaven but on earth, the tomb of a savage man who devoured his children. And the tomb of the licentious Zeus of myth, who likewise swallowed his daughter Metis, is to be seen in Crete; and at the Acherusian lake the tombs of Pluto and Poseidon; of Helios in Astra, and of Selene in Carcoi; of Hermes in Hermopolis; of Ares in Thrace; of Aphrodite in Cyprus; of Dionysus in Thebes; and of the others in other places. In any case, the tombs of these so-called gods are there to be seen. For they were human beings, and wicked ones at that, and magicians. They would not otherwise have become sole rulers, I mean the Zeus of myth and Dionysus, unless by transformation they overpowered whomever they wished for whatever they themselves wished.

"If we must emulate their lives, let us imitate not only their adulteries but also their tables. For Kronos swallowed his own children, and Zeus likewise his own daughter. What more need be said? Pelops became a dinner for all the gods. So let us too, before our unlawful marriage, prepare a similar dinner for the gods; that way the dinner would be worthy of the marriage. But you would never submit to that, any more than I would submit to committing adultery. Besides this, you threaten me with the wrath of Eros as a mighty god. Eros is not a god, as he is thought to be; he is a desire that arises from the constitution of a living creature for the succession of life, by the providence of the one who made all things, so that the whole race may never fail, but, by the inducement of pleasure, another may come into being from the substance of the one who is to die, born beforehand of lawful marriage, so that he may know his own father and care for him in old age. This, those born of adultery could not do, having no natural affection for those who begot them.

"Since, then, erotic desire arises, as I said, for the sake of succession through legitimate increase, parents who care for chastity ought to train their children before desire comes, by means of books that teach self-control, and to accustom them early to better words, since habit is a second nature. Besides this, they should often remind them of the punishments laid down by the laws, so that, using fear as a bridle, they may not run headlong into unseemly pleasures. It is also fitting, before desire reaches its full strength, to satisfy the natural passion of that age by marriage, having first persuaded them not to gaze at the beauty of another woman.

"For whenever our mind first takes the imprint of the beloved's beauty with delight, forever seeing her form as in a mirror, it is tormented through memory; if it does not obtain what it desires, it plans ways to obtain it, and if it does obtain it, the desire grows all the more, like fire well supplied with fuel, especially when fear has not first been stamped on the lover's soul before the passion. For as water quenches fire, so fear is what quenches irrational desire. That is why I, having learned from a certain Jew to understand and to do what befits God, am not easily caught into adultery by lying myths. As for you, if you wish and strive to be self-controlled, with your soul inflamed with love, may God help you and grant you healing."

"When Appion heard the pretended reply, he said: 'Is it without reason that I hate the Jews? Now some Jew or other has met this woman, brought her over to his religion, and persuaded her to be chaste; and from now on it is impossible for her to enter into union with anyone else. For such people set God before themselves as the one who oversees all actions, and they persevere resolutely in chastity, since they cannot escape his notice.'

"When I heard this I said to Appion: 'Now I will confess the truth to you. I was not in love with a woman or with anyone else; my soul was wholly spent on other desires and on the discovery of true doctrines. Until now, though I have examined many opinions of philosophers, I have inclined to none of them except that of the Jews alone, since one of their merchants, who sells linen, came to stay here in Rome and, by a happy chance, set before me quite simply the belief in one sole ruler.'

"When Appion heard the truth from me, he who hates the Jews without reason, neither knowing nor wishing to know what their faith is, flew into a thoughtless rage and at once left Rome in silence. Since then I have met him now for the first time, and I naturally suspect that his anger from that time remains. But in your presence I will ask him what he can say about the so-called gods, whose lives, told in myths as full of every passion, are deliberately sung in public for the imitation of their like, and whose tombs, as I said, are shown in various places, besides their human passions."

Having heard this from me beforehand, the others, eager to learn what would follow, went with me as if to visit Appion. We found him already bathed and at a table ready laid. So we examined the question of the gods only a little. But he, understanding, I think, our intention, promised to have something to say about the gods the next day, and appointed the same place, as where he would hold the discussion. With this promise we thanked him and went home, each to his own.

On the third day I came with my closest companions to the appointed place in Tyre, and found Appion sitting between Anubion and Athenodorus, with many other educated men waiting for us. Not at all dismayed, I greeted them and sat down facing Appion, who soon began to speak: "I wish to begin first and come quickly from here to the question at issue. Before you joined us, my child Clement, Anubion here and Athenodorus, who with the others heard you speaking yesterday, told me how in Rome, in helping you as a lover, I told many lies about the gods, calling them pederasts, licentious, lying with mothers, sisters, and daughters, and giving themselves to countless adulteries. But you ought to have known, my child, that I did not write such things because I thought them of the gods; rather, out of affection for you, I hid the truth from you. If you wish, hear it now from me.

"The wisest of the men of old, who had learned all truth by their own labours, hid their knowledge from the unworthy, who had no longing for divine teaching, so that they should not receive it. For twelve children were not born of Ouranos and his mother Gē, as the myth counts them: the males Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Kronos; the females Thea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Demeter, Tethys, Rhea. Nor did Kronos cut off the genitals of his father Ouranos with a sickle of adamant, as you say, and fling them into the deep; nor was Aphrodite born from the drops of blood that flowed from Ouranos's wound. Nor again did Kronos lie with Rhea, beget Pluto first, and swallow him, fearing because of an ordinance of Prometheus that a child born of him might grow nobler than he and take his kingdom from him. He did not beget Poseidon second and swallow him likewise. Rhea the mother did not hide Zeus, born after these, and give Kronos something else to swallow when he demanded him. Kronos, when he had swallowed it, was not squeezed and did not cast out those swallowed before, so that first Pluto, swallowed first, came out, after him Poseidon, and third Zeus. Nor, as they say, did Zeus, saved by his mother's forethought, go up to heaven and depose his father from the kingdom. He did not punish his father's brothers. He did not come down in longing for mortal women. He did not have shameful intercourse with sisters or daughters, with his brothers' wives, or with boys. Nor did he beget Metis and swallow her, so as to make Athena spring from his brain, from Metis, and to bear from his thigh Dionysus, who they say was torn to pieces by the Titans. He does not hold a banquet at the wedding of Thetis and Peleus. He did not drive Strife away from the wedding. Strife herself, dishonoured, did not devise battle and discord for the guests. She did not take a golden apple from the gardens of the Hesperides and inscribe on it, 'A gift for the beautiful one.' Then they tell the myth that Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite find the apple and come quarrelling to Zeus; he did not judge them himself, but sent them by Hermes to the shepherd Paris to be judged for beauty. But neither were goddesses judged, nor did Paris give the apple to Aphrodite. Aphrodite, so honoured, did not repay him with marriage to Helen. For the honour paid to a goddess would not have become the pretext for a war of all nations, and that to the ruin of the one who received the honour and who was kin to Aphrodite's own race. But, as I said, my child, such things have a meaning of their own, a philosophical one, that can be expressed by allegory, so that you will be amazed when you hear it." I said, "I beg you, do not torment me by putting it off." He said, "Do not fear; I will not delay, but will begin to speak at once."

"There was a time when there was nothing but chaos, an undifferentiated mixture of disordered elements still heaped together. Nature itself agrees with this, and great men have understood it to be so. As a witness among those great in wisdom I will offer you the greatest, Homer himself, who says of that original confusion: 'But may you all become water and earth,' as though all things had their origin from there and, after the dissolution of the moist and earthy substance, are restored again to their first nature, which is chaos. Hesiod in the Theogony says, 'First of all Chaos came to be.' 'Came to be' clearly means that it was generated, as things that come into being, and not that it always was, as things unbegotten. Orpheus likens chaos to an egg, in which the confusion of the first elements lay. What Hesiod posits as chaos, Orpheus calls an egg, generated, put forth from the infinite mass of matter, and it came to be in this way.

"The fourfold matter was alive, an entire infinite deep, ever flowing and borne along without order, pouring forth countless incomplete mixtures now one way and now another, and therefore dissolving them again by its disorder, gaping, as it were, and unable to be bound together for the birth of a living creature. Then it happened once that this infinite sea, driven round by its own nature with a natural motion, flowed in an orderly way from itself into itself, like a whirlpool, and mixed the substances; and so from all of them the richest part, the most suited for the birth of a living creature, flowed down as into a funnel to the middle of the whole, and by the whirl that carried everything it sank to the depth, drew in the spirit lying around, and, conceived as in a most fertile womb, produced a distinct formation. For as a bubble is apt to form in liquid, so a spherical hollow was conceived, closed on every side. Then, having conceived within itself and being borne upward by the divine spirit it had taken in, this very great offspring came forth into the light, a living creation brought forth, as it were, from the whole infinite deep, like an egg in its roundness and like a bird in the swiftness of its flight.

"So understand Kronos, I beg you, as Chronos, Time, and Rhea as the flowing of the moist substance: for all matter, carried along by time, brought forth heaven, which encloses everything, spherical like an egg. At first the elements united it, full of fertile marrow and able to bring forth colours of every kind; and yet, from one substance and one colour, it bore the appearance of every kind. For as in the egg of the peacock the colour seems one, but in potency holds in itself countless colours of the bird that is to be completed, so too the living egg brought forth from infinite matter, moved by the underlying and ever-flowing matter, displays changes of every kind. For within its circumference a living being, male and female, is formed by the providence of the divine spirit within it, whom Orpheus calls Phanes, because when he appeared the whole universe shone out from him, by the brightness of fire, the most splendid of the elements, brought to completion in the moist substance. Nor is this incredible, since in glow-worms too nature has given us, as an example, a moist light to see.

"Then the first-formed egg, warmed by the living being within, breaks open, and the being, now formed, comes out, as Orpheus too says: '... when the capacious egg was split.' And so, when the one who came forth had appeared with great power, the hollow received its harmony and took on its ordered arrangement, while he himself sits enthroned as on the summit of heaven, shining in unspeakable places over the infinite age. The fertile matter left within the hollow, over a long time, as the natural heat seethed beneath it, separated the substances of all things. For its lowest part, first, like a sediment, sank down by its weight; because of its dragging, its heaviness, and the great mass of the underlying substance they called it Pluto, and declared it king of Hades and of the dead.

"This first, abundant, filthy, and rough substance, then, they say was swallowed by Kronos, that is Time, in a natural sense, because it sank down below. After the first sediment, the water that flowed together and floated on the first deposit they called Poseidon. The remaining third, the purest and highest, being transparent fire, they named Zēn because of the seething nature in it; for fire, since it tends upward, was not swallowed by Time, Kronos, into the depths; but, as I said, the fiery substance, being life-giving and tending upward, flew up into the air itself, which is also most intelligent because of its purity. So by his own heat Zeus, that is, the seething substance, draws up what was left in the underlying moisture, the finest and divine spirit, which they called Metis.

"This spirit, reaching the summit of the aether itself and being drunk in by it, like moisture mixed with heat, produced a constant throbbing, and so begets understanding, which they also call Pallas because of its throbbing: it is most skilful wisdom, by which the craftsman of the aether fashioned the whole world. From Zeus himself, the hottest aether that pervades all, the air reaches down to the places here; they call it Hera. And since it falls below the purest substance of the aether, being female, as it were, in purity when compared with the stronger, it was reasonably considered the sister of Zeus, as born of the same substance, but his wife because it lies beneath him as a woman does.

"Hera is taken for the temperate mixture of the air, which is why she is most fertile; while Athena, whom they also call Pallas, since she cannot produce offspring because of her extreme heat, was held to be a virgin. So too Artemis is interpreted; they take her for the lowest recess of the air, and since she is barren through extreme cold they likewise called her a virgin. Dionysus, as the one who troubles the mind, is their name for the turbid and intoxicating compound formed from the vapours above and below. The water beneath the earth, which is one by nature, but runs through all the passages of the land and is divided into many parts, as if cut to pieces, they called Osiris. They take Adonis for the seasons of ripeness, Aphrodite for mixing and generation, Demeter for the earth, Kore for seeds, and some take Dionysus for the vine.

"Understand all such things, I beg you, as having a similar allegory. Consider Apollo to be the sun as it goes round, the offspring of Zeus, whom they also called Mithras, as he completes the circuit of the year. The many transformations of Zeus, who pervades everything, are to be understood as changes, and his countless wives as years or generations. For the power that comes from the aether itself and passes through the air, uniting with each year and generation, changes it in different ways, and so begets or destroys the fruits of the seasons. The ripe fruits are called his children, and the barren seasons that come at certain times are the signs he gives to the foolish.

While Appion was giving these allegories, I was lost in thought and seemed not to be following what he said. So he broke off his speech and said to me, "If you are not following what I say, why am I speaking at all?" I answered: "Do not suppose that I have no grasp of what you are saying. I understand it perfectly, since this is not the first time I have heard it. And so that you may know that I am not ignorant of what you are saying, I will summarize what you have said, and I will complete, in order, the allegories you left out, as I heard them from others." Appion said, "Do as you say."

I answered: "I pass over, for now, a precise account of the living egg brought forth from infinite matter by a lucky mixture, from which, when it broke, according to some, Phanes leapt out, male and female. I cut short all of that, up to the point where the broken hollow received its harmony, with its marrow-like matter left behind; and I run briefly over the account of what came into being within it, summarizing it with what follows. For there were born, as you say, of Kronos and Rhea, that is, of time and matter, first Pluto, the sediment that sank below; second Poseidon, the moist substance that floated on the heaviest nature below; and third, the highest, which is aether, that is Zeus. It was not swallowed, but, being hot and strong and upward-tending by nature, flew up, as if by some impulse, into the highest and most commanding aether.

"The bonds of Kronos are the binding together of heaven and earth, as I have heard others also interpret; the cutting off of the parts is the separation and distinction of the elements, since all things were cut off and separated by their own nature, so that each was set in its own place; and time no longer begets, but the things begotten through it make their successions by the law of nature. Aphrodite, who rose up out of the deep, is the fertile substance from the moisture; the warm spirit mixing with it produces the love of union and brings to completion the beauty of the world.

"The wedding banquet, at which Zeus gave the dinner for Thetis the Nereid and the handsome Peleus, has this allegory, so that you may know, Appion, that we have heard such things even without you. The banquet is the world; the twelve are the heavenly supports of its divisions, which they call the signs of the zodiac; Prometheus is forethought, by which all things came to be; Peleus is the clay (pēlos) taken from the earth, devised for the making of man and mixed with the Nereid, that is, with water. From the mixing of the two, water and earth, the first man, not begotten but formed complete, was called Achilles, because he did not put his lips to breasts. He is also the prime of life, which, if it desires Polyxena, as being alien and foreign to the truth, is slain by the venom of a serpent, death creeping in by an arrow at the heel and footstep.

"So Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Strife, the apple, Hermes, the judgment, and the shepherd hint at a meaning of this kind. Hera is dignity; Athena, courage; Aphrodite, pleasures; Hermes, the reason that interprets; the shepherd Paris, irrational and barbarous impulse. If, then, in the prime of life, the reason that shepherds the soul happens to be barbarous, neglects what is beneficial, thrusts aside courage and self-control, and chooses pleasures alone, giving the victory to desire alone in the hope of receiving delights from it in return, then the one who did not judge rightly will get his delight to the ruin of himself and his own. Strife is the vice that loves contention. The golden apple of the Hesperides would be wealth, which sometimes draws even the self-controlled, like Hera, into idleness, makes the courageous, like Athena, more contentious over things that do not befit them, and, like Aphrodite, destroys the soul's beauty under the pretext of luxury. To put it briefly, wealth provokes everyone to evil strife.

"Heracles, who killed the serpent that ruled and guarded wealth, is the genuine and philosophical mind, which, stripped of every vice, travels round the world, visiting souls and bringing to their senses those it meets, I mean men who are like bold lions, or cowardly deer, or wild boars, or many-shaped hydras. Likewise all the other labours Heracles is said to have performed are riddles of intellectual virtue. Let what has been said suffice for now; to speak of each one, all time would not be enough.

"Yet I am amazed that those who hid these things in crooked riddles and covered them with evil myths, when they could have been made known clearly, piously, and usefully in plain, straightforward speech, are called prudent and wise by you, though they, as if led on by an evil demon, have ensnared almost all mankind. For either these are not riddles but real sins of the gods, and one ought not to have exposed them, nor to have set them before human beings for imitation at all; or else what was falsely said to have been done by the gods was expressed in riddles, and then, Appion, those whom you call wise have sinned, because by covering things holy with unholy myths they encouraged human beings to sin, and that while outraging those whom they themselves held to be gods.

"So do not think such men wise; they are demons, who put forward evil stories as coverings of good deeds, so that those who wish to imitate their betters might emulate the deeds of the so-called gods. Those deeds I did not conceal when I spoke on the day before this: I mean parricides, child-murders, impious unions with mothers, daughters, and sisters, indecent adulteries, unions of males with males, and foul unspeakable acts, besides countless other such lawless unions. More impious than these are those who wish such things to be thought true, so that they may not be ashamed when they do the same. If they wished to be pious, then, as I said just now, even if the gods had really done the evil things sung about them, they ought, out of honour for the gods, to have covered what was unseemly with more becoming myths, and not the reverse, as you say: throwing evil and unseemly coverings over deeds that were good, which, when allegorized, can barely be understood even with toil. And when some did understand them, they gave those people, in return for much labour, the benefit of not being led astray, though they could have been spared the labour; while those who were led astray they utterly destroyed. Still, I approve of those who allegorize toward the more dignified sense, such as those who expressed in a riddle that wisdom sprang from the head of Zeus. But perhaps this seems more likely to me: that those outrages were dared by wicked men who robbed the gods of their honour."

"Nor do we find the poets' allegory of all the gods consistent. For example, on the ordering of the universe, the poets sometimes say that nature, sometimes that mind, was the author of the whole creation. They say the first motion and mixing of the elements came from nature, but that they were set in order by the providence of mind. Some declare that the universe was made by nature, but since they cannot prove this beyond objection, because of the skill shown in the making, they weave in the providence of mind as well, as if they could carry off even the very wise. But we say to them: if the world came from spontaneous nature, how did it acquire proportion and order, which can come only from surpassing wisdom and can be grasped only by knowledge, which alone can examine such things precisely? And if all things received their blending and ordering by wisdom, as must be the case, how could they still have come about by chance?

"So those who wished to allegorize divine things in a shameful way, such as Metis being swallowed by Zeus, have fallen into a difficulty. They do not understand that those who have given crooked physical explanations of the gods have done away with the very existence of the gods, dissolving their forms by allegory into the substances of the world. It is more plausible, then, to say that the gods of whom they sing were certain evil magicians, wicked men who, transforming themselves by magic, broke up marriages and corrupted lives, and who, to people of old who did not know what magic is, seemed to be gods because of what they did. Their deaths and their tombs are shown in various cities.

"For example, as I said on another occasion, in the Caucasus mountains is shown the grave of a certain Kronos, a man, a savage tyrant who killed his children. His son, named Zeus, became worse still; having appeared by the power of magic as ruler of the world, he broke up many marriages and punished his father along with his uncles; and when he died in this way, the Cretans show his tomb. In Mesopotamia there lie a certain Helios at Patrae and a Selene at Carae; Hermes, a man, in Egypt; Ares in Thrace; Aphrodite in Cyprus; Asclepius at Epidaurus; and the tombs of many others like them are to be seen.

"So, plainly, to those who understand rightly, they are agreed to have been men. Their contemporaries, perceiving that they were mortal, paid little attention to them when they died, but the long lapse of time surrounded them with the reputation of gods. Do not be surprised that those who lived in the time of Asclepius and Heracles, or of Dionysus or any other of that age, were deceived, since the people there worship Hector at Ilium and Achilles on the island of Leuke, the Opuntians worship Patroclus, and the Rhodians Alexander of Macedon.

"Indeed, among the Egyptians even now a man is worshipped as a god before his death. This is a lesser impiety, that the Egyptians assign divine honours to a living man; but the most ridiculous of all is that they worship birds, reptiles, and all kinds of animals. For most people neither think nor act with judgment. But look at the most shameful thing of all: the one whom they themselves call father of gods and men they depict in intercourse with Leda, and many paint him, label him Zeus, and set him up publicly on a panel. To avenge this outrage, I could wish that they would paint their present king in a shameful embrace, as they have dared to do with Zeus, and set it up publicly, so that at least from the anger of a king who reigns for a time, and he a mere man, they might learn by punishment that due honour must be paid. I say this to you not as one who already knows the true God; but I candidly confess that, even if I do not know who God is, I think I know clearly what God is.

"For example, the first four elements cannot be God, since they came from another; nor the mixing, nor the blending, nor the generation; nor the visible hollow that contains everything; nor the sediment that flows together in Hades; nor the water floating on it; nor the seething substance; nor the air that reaches from it down to the places here. For the four elements, if they had been separated from one another, could not have mixed for the generation of a living creature without some great craftsman; or if they were always joined to one another, even so they are fitted together by a craftsman mind to suit the limbs and parts of the living creature, so that it may preserve the proportion of each to each, may have a well-defined form, and so that all within may receive the fitting harmony. Likewise the craftsman mind fixes precisely the proper places of each with all beauty of form. To put it briefly: nothing else that a living creature must have was lacking to this great living creature of the whole revolving universe.

"So we must conceive of an unbegotten craftsman who either brought together the elements when they were apart, or, when they were together, blended them skilfully for the generation of a living creature and completed one work out of them all. For it is impossible for a very wise work to be completed without some greater mind. Nor can love be the craftsman of all things, nor desire, nor strength, nor anything else of that kind, since such things are by nature passive, coming and going. Nor is that which is carried along by another God, nor that which is changed by time or nature and dissolved into non-existence."

While I was discussing these things with Appion, Peter arrived from Caesarea, and crowds gathered in Tyre, hurrying to meet him and to thank him for his coming. Appion withdrew with only Anubion and Athenodorus, while all the rest of us hurried out to meet Peter. I was the first to receive him before the gates, and I led him to his lodging. When we had arrived, we dismissed the crowds, and when he asked me to tell what had happened I concealed nothing. I reported Simon's slanders and the monstrous apparitions he had produced, the diseases he had sent after the feast from the sacrifice of oxen, and that of the sick some had stayed there in Tyre, while others had gone with Simon to Sidon, at the time I came, to be healed by him, and that I had learned that none of them had obtained healing from him. I also told Peter about the discussion I had had with Appion. He praised and blessed me for my affection and my encouragement, took some salt, and because of the fatigue of the journey gave himself up to the rest of sleep that he so much needed.

On the fourth day of our stay in Tyre, when Peter went out about dawn, not a few people from the neighbourhood and a great many from Tyre itself met him and cried out, saying, "May God have mercy on us through you; may he heal us through you." Peter stood on a high stone so that he could be seen by all, and, after greeting them in the manner of those who fear God, began as follows.

"God, who created heaven and the universe, does not lack an occasion for the salvation of those who wish to be saved. So let no one rashly accuse him of not loving mankind, even over things that seem bad. For the outcomes of what happens to human beings are unknown to them, and are suspected of turning out badly, but are known to God as sure to turn out well. For example, Simon, who is the left-hand power of God and has authority to do harm to those who do not know God, was able to afflict you with diseases. These, permitted by the good providence of God, compelled you to look about for the one who can heal, to find him, and, on the occasion of bodily healing, to accept what pleases God and be persuaded to think rightly, so that together with the bodies that will be saved you may have your souls saved as well.

"I learn, then, that he sacrificed oxen and feasted you in the middle of the marketplace, and that you, carried away with much wine, made friends with the ruler of the evil demons together with the demons themselves, and so most of you were seized by these sufferings, having drawn the sword of destruction on yourselves with your own hands, because of ignorance. For the demons would not have had power over you if you had not first shared a table with their ruler. For from the beginning a law was laid down by God, who created all things, for the two rulers, the one on the right and the one on the left, that neither of them should have power over anyone unless that person had first shared a table with the one who wishes to do him good or harm. So, just as by partaking of the sacrifices offered to demons you were enslaved to the leader of wickedness, so, if you stop this and take refuge with God through the good leader on the right, doing what he wills with honours that involve no sacrifice, know well that along with the healing of your bodies you will have your souls in health too. For he alone, who destroys through the left hand, can make alive through the right; likewise he can strike, and raise up the one who has fallen.

"That is why, having first been deceived by Simon, the forerunner, you died to God in your souls and were struck in your bodies. But you can in the same way, the second time, by repentance, as I said, accepting what pleases God, both restore your bodies to health and recover your souls. What pleases God is this: to pray to him; to ask of him, as the one who gives all things by a law of judgment; to abstain from the table of demons; not to taste dead flesh; not to touch blood; to wash oneself clean from every defilement; and, in a word, all the rest that the Jews who worship God have heard, you too must all hear, taking one mind in many bodies: whatever good things each one wishes for himself, let him plan the same for his neighbour. Each of you would understand what is good if he were to reason with himself in this way: you do not want to be murdered; do not murder another. You do not want your wife to be seduced into adultery by another; do not commit adultery with another's wife. You do not want anything of yours stolen; steal nothing from another. And so, understanding from yourselves what is reasonable and doing it, you will become dear to God and obtain healing; otherwise you will be tormented in your bodies in the present age and punished in your souls in the age to come.

Instructed and healed by Peter in this way within a few days, they were baptized. Then, because of his further wonders, all the rest of the people sat in the middle of the marketplaces in sackcloth and ashes, repenting of the sins they had committed before. When the people in Sidon heard this, they did the same, and sent suppliants to Peter, since they could not come to him themselves because of their diseases. Peter stayed not many days in Tyre; he instructed all its inhabitants, freed them from all kinds of sufferings, established a church, appointed for them as bishop one of the presbyters who accompanied him, and set out for Sidon. When Simon learned that Peter was coming, he at once ran away to Berytus with Appion and his companions.

As Peter entered Sidon, they brought many on beds and laid them before him. He said to them: "Do not think that I can do anything to heal you; I am a mortal man, myself liable to fall into many sufferings. But I do not grudge showing you the way by which you will be able to be saved, since I myself learned from the Prophet of truth the decrees that God fixed before the foundation of the world: I mean for what evil deeds he appointed that human beings should be harmed by the leader of wickedness, and likewise for what good deeds he decreed that those who first believe in him as their healer should be saved in their bodies, and then have their souls restored to incorruption.

"Knowing, then, these good and evil deeds, I set them before you in advance as two ways, showing by which people walk and perish, and by which they travel and are saved, guided by God. The way of those who perish is broad and very smooth, destroying them without toil; the way of those who are saved is narrow and rough, but at the end it saves those who have gone through it with toil. Over these two ways preside unbelief and faith. Those who have preferred pleasures travel by unbelief, and because of these pleasures they have not even taken care to seek what is to their advantage. They do not know, however, that God's purposes are not like human ones. First, he knows the thoughts of all, and each is called to account not only for attempting but also for intending. Those who attempt to think good things and fail are far less impious than those who do not attempt good things at all. For God himself decided that those who fall away while knowing what is good should be punished moderately, in proportion to human failings, and saved. But those who have neglected even to learn what is better from the start, even if they do countless other good deeds, if they are not in the religion that he himself has appointed, will incur the charge of negligence and will be extinguished by the greatest and complete punishment.

"The religion he has appointed is this: to worship him alone, to believe the Prophet of truth alone, to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins, and so, by the most pure dipping, to be born again to God through the saving water; not to partake of the table of demons, I mean things sacrificed to idols, carcasses, things strangled, things caught by wild beasts, and blood; not to live impurely; to wash after intercourse with a woman; and the women themselves also to keep the separation of menstruation; and for all to be self-controlled, to do good, not to do wrong, and to look for eternal life from God who can do all things, asking with prayers and constant petitions to receive it." Peter gave such exhortations in Sidon too, and within a few days many there repented, believed, and were healed. He established a church, appointed one of the presbyters who accompanied him as their bishop, and left Sidon.

As soon as he set foot in Berytus, there was an earthquake. The crowds came to Peter saying, "Help us! We are afraid that we may all be utterly destroyed." Then Simon, emboldened, together with Appion, Anubion, Athenodorus, and his other companions, cried out publicly to the crowds against Peter: "Flee this man, men! He is a magician, believe me. He caused the earthquake for you himself, and he stirred up the diseases himself, to terrify you as if he were God." Simon's party told other such lies about Peter, as though he had power beyond human strength. When the crowds gave him silence, Peter smiled a little and said with startling boldness: "Men, I admit that, if God wills, I am able to do what these men say; and besides this I am ready, if you do not obey me in what I say, to overturn your whole city from its foundations."

The crowds were afraid and promised to do readily whatever he commanded them. "Then let none of you," Peter said, "either converse with these sorcerers or mix with them." As soon as the crowds heard this short command, they took clubs and chased them until they had driven them entirely out of the city. Their sick and demon-possessed came in and threw themselves at Peter's feet. Seeing this, and wishing to relieve their terror, he said to them:

"If I could cause earthquakes and do whatever I wished, I would not, I tell you, destroy Simon with his companions (for I was not sent for the ruin of human beings); rather I would make him my friend, so that he might not slander my true preaching and hinder many from salvation. But, believe me, he is the magician, he is the slanderer, he is the servant of wickedness against those who do not know the truth. That is why he can bring diseases on sinners, having the sinners themselves as fellow workers of the power against them. But I am a servant of God who made all things, a disciple of his right-hand Prophet. So, being his apostle, I speak the truth. Serving the good one, I also drive away diseases; for I was sent second, since disease goes before and healing follows. Through that evil-working magician you fell sick because you disbelieved God; through me, if you believe him, you will be healed. For in this way, having experienced his power and turned to doing good, you may also have your souls saved.

When he said this, they all lay on their knees before his feet. He raised his hands to heaven, prayed to God, and healed them all by prayer alone. He stayed not a few days with the people of Berytus, accustomed many to the worship of the one God and baptized them, appointed one of the presbyters who accompanied him as their bishop, and left for Byblus. When he arrived there and learned that Simon had not stayed with them even one day but had set off at once for Tripolis, he stayed with them a few days, healed not a few, and trained them in the Scriptures; then he went to Tripolis on Simon's track, having chosen to pursue him rather than to avoid him.

As Peter entered Tripolis, the more studious from Tyre and Sidon, Berytus and Byblus, and many from the neighbouring districts came in with him; and not least, crowds from the city itself came streaming together, wishing to see him. The brothers he had sent ahead to learn exactly about the city in general and Simon's doings, so as to report to him when he came, met us in the suburbs. They received him and led him to the house of Maroones.

When he had come to the very gate of the lodging, he turned to the crowds and promised to speak to them about the worship of God the day after next. When he had gone in, those sent ahead were preparing lodgings for those who had come with him; and those who received and lodged them did not fall short of the eagerness of those who asked it. Peter, knowing nothing of this, when we asked him to take food, said that he would not eat before those who had come with him had been given rest. We answered that this had already been done: out of affection for you all had been eagerly received, so that those who had no one to lodge were exceedingly grieved. When Peter heard this, he was delighted at their prompt kindness, blessed them, and went out; he bathed in the sea, came in, took food with those who had gone ahead, and, as evening came on, went to sleep.

About the second cock-crow he woke and found us awake. We were sixteen in all with him: Peter himself, I Clement, Nicetes and Aquila, and the twelve who had gone ahead. He greeted us and said: "Today, not being occupied with those outside, we are free for one another. So I will tell you what has happened since we left Tyre, and you tell me more exactly what Simon has done here." When we had exchanged our accounts in turn, one of our acquaintances came in and reported to Peter: "Simon, learning that you had arrived, set out on the road to Syria. The crowds, thinking this one night as long as a year and unable to wait for the day you appointed, are standing before the doors, talking with one another in groups and gatherings about Simon's deceit: that he raised their hopes, promised to refute you on many charges when you came, and, when he learned you had arrived, fled by night. But they themselves long to hear you. I do not know how a rumour spread that you are going to speak to them today. So, so that they may not be worn out for a long time and go away for nothing, you yourself know what you ought to do."

Peter, marvelling at the eagerness of the crowds, answered: "You see, brothers, how the words of our Lord are plainly fulfilled. For I remember that he said, 'Many will come from east and west, from north and south, and will recline in the bosoms of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' But he also says, 'Many are called, but few chosen.' That they have come, being called, has been fulfilled. But since this is not their own doing but that of God who called them and made them come, for this alone they have no reward, because it is not their own doing but his who brought it about. But if, after being called, they do good deeds, which is their own doing, then for this they will have a reward.

"For neither are the Hebrews who believe Moses, but do not keep what was spoken through him, saved, unless they keep what was spoken to them. For their believing Moses did not come about by their own will, but from God, who said to Moses, 'Behold, I come to you in a pillar of cloud, so that the people may hear me speaking to you and may believe you for ever.' Since, then, both for the Hebrews and for those called from the Gentiles, believing the teachers of truth comes from God, while good deeds are left to each to do by his own judgment, the reward is justly paid to those who do well. For there would have been no need either of Moses or of the coming of Jesus if people had been willing to understand what is reasonable of themselves; nor does salvation come from believing teachers and calling them lords.

"For this reason Jesus is hidden from the Hebrews, who have taken Moses as their teacher, and Moses is hidden from those who have believed Jesus. For since there is one teaching through both, God accepts one who has believed either of them. But believing a teacher is for the sake of doing what God says. That this is so, our Lord himself says: 'I give thanks to you, Father of heaven and earth, because you hid these things from wise elders and revealed them to nursing infants.' So God himself hid the teacher from some, as already knowing what they must do, and revealed him to others, as not knowing what they ought to do.

"So the Hebrews are not condemned for not knowing Jesus, because of the one who hid him, provided that, doing what was commanded through Moses, they do not hate the one they did not know. Nor again are those from the Gentiles who did not know Moses condemned, because of the one who concealed him, provided that they too, doing what was spoken through Jesus, do not hate the one they did not know. And some will gain nothing by calling the teachers lords but not doing the work of servants. For this reason our Jesus said to someone who kept calling him Lord but did none of the things he commanded, 'Why do you call me "Lord, Lord," and do not do what I say?' For it is not saying that will profit anyone, but doing. So in every way there is need of good works. But if anyone is counted worthy to recognize both as preaching one teaching, that man is reckoned rich in God, having understood both the ancient things as new in time and the new things as old."

While Peter was saying this, the crowds came in where Peter was, as if someone had called them. Seeing the great crowd flowing gently toward him like the quiet stream of a river, he said to Maroones, "Where do you have a place here better able to hold the crowds?" Maroones led him to an open-air garden, and the crowds followed. Peter stood on the base of a statue, not very high, and, as soon as he had greeted the crowd in the manner of those who fear God, knowing that many of the crowds standing by had long been troubled by demons and many sufferings, and were groaning and wailing and falling down in supplication, he rebuked them, ordered them to keep quiet, promised healing after he had spoken, and began to speak as follows.

"As I begin my discourse on the worship of God to people who are entirely ignorant of everything, and whose minds have been stained by the slanders of Simon, our adversary, I have thought it necessary first to speak about why God, who made all things, must not be blamed. I begin from no other point than the very occasion that he, by his providence, has opportunely put before us, so that it may be known that the many have with good reason been held fast by many demons and seized by strange sufferings, so that in this too the justice of God may appear. And those who blame him through ignorance, now that they have learned how they ought to think, will call themselves back from their former accusation by speaking well of him and doing good, putting forward their ignorance as the cause of their evil daring, so as to obtain pardon.

"It is like this. The only good God made all things well and handed them over to man, who was made in his image. The man who came into being, breathing the divinity of the one who made him, was a true prophet and knew all things. For the honour of the Father who had given him everything, and for the salvation of the sons born of him, he kept, like a true father, his goodwill toward the children born of him, wishing them, for their own good, to love God and to be loved by him. He made known the way that leads to God's friendship, teaching by what human actions God, the only and universal Lord, is pleased; and having made known what seems good to him, he laid down for all an eternal law, which could neither be burned by enemies, nor corrupted by any impious person, nor hidden away in one place, but could be read by all. So, from their obedience to the law, they had everything in abundance: the finest of fruits, years that were perfect, free from grief and disease, given without fear, with every mildness of weather.

"But since they had not first experienced evils, they became insensible to the gift of good things, and through abundant food and luxury they turned to ingratitude, so that they even thought there was no providence, since they had not first laboured for righteousness and received good things as a reward, none of them having fallen into any suffering, disease, or other necessity that would lead them, as is natural for people afflicted through wrongdoing, to look about for God who is able to heal them. But immediately after the contempt that came from fearlessness and carefree luxury, a just punishment met them, following as if by an orderly harmony, driving away the good things as having done harm and bringing in evils instead as beneficial.

"For of the spirits who inhabit heaven, the angels who dwell in the lowest region, vexed at the ingratitude of human beings toward God, asked to come into human life, so that, becoming truly human, they might by a better way of life convict those who had been ungrateful to him and subject each of them on the spot to the punishment he deserved. When they had asked and received this, they changed themselves into every kind of nature, since they were of a more divine substance and could easily be transformed into anything. They became precious stone, and splendid pearl, and purple of the finest kind, and glorious gold, and every costly material. They fell into the hands of some and into the laps of others, and willingly let themselves be stolen by them. They also changed into four-footed beasts, reptiles, fish, and birds, and into whatever they wished. These things your poets too sing about carelessly, from want of fear of God, ascribing to one the many and different deeds of them all.

"But when, having become these things, they had convicted the greedy people who seized them, and had changed themselves into human nature, in order to live holy lives, show that such a life is possible, and bring the ungrateful to account, then, since they had become human in every respect, they also had human desire; and, overcome by it, they slipped into intercourse with women. Having joined with them, being bound fast in defilement and wholly emptied of their first power, they could not change back their limbs, which had been turned from fire, into the original purity of their own nature. For their fire had ended in flesh because of the weight of desire, and so they travelled the impious road downward. They are held fettered by the bonds of flesh and strongly bound, and for this reason they were no longer able to go back up to heaven.

"After intercourse, when they were asked for what they had been at first and could no longer supply it, because after their defilement they could not make themselves anything else, and wishing to please their beloved women, they showed them, in place of themselves, the marrow of the earth, I mean the flowers of the mines: gold, bronze, silver, iron, and the like, together with all the most precious stones. Along with these bewitched stones they also handed down the arts for dealing with each of these things. They showed them magic and taught them astronomy, the powers of roots, and whatever could never have been discovered by human thought, as well as the casting of gold and silver and the like, and the varied dyeing of garments. In short, everything that serves the adornment and delight of women is the invention of the demons who were bound in flesh.

"From their bastard union bastard human beings were born, far taller than men, whom they afterward called giants; not serpent-footed and waging war on God, as the blasphemous myths of the Greeks sing, but beastly in their ways, greater than human beings in size, since they came from angels, but less than angels, since they had been born of women. God, then, knowing that they had become savage like beasts, and that the world was not enough to satisfy them (for it was made to the measure of human beings and for human use), in order that they might not, for lack of food, turn to eating animals against nature and seem blameless, as though they had dared this out of necessity, God the almighty rained manna on them, suited to every variety of desire, and they enjoyed whatever they wished. But they, because of their bastard nature, were not pleased with the purity of that food and longed only for the taste of blood. So they were the first to taste flesh.

"The human beings who lived with them then, for the first time, eagerly did the same. So we are not born good or bad, but we become so; and once accustomed, we are hard to draw away. When the irrational animals then ran short, the bastard men tasted human flesh too; for it was no longer a long step for them to destroy flesh like their own, having tasted it before in other forms.

"Through the great outpouring of blood, the pure air was defiled by an unclean vapour and became diseased, and it made those who breathed it sickly, so that from then on human beings died before their time. The earth, greatly defiled by these things, then for the first time cast up venomous and destructive creatures. So, since everything had gone from bad to worse because of the beastly demons, God resolved to remove them like bad leaven, so that each generation, descending from its seed and becoming like the one before it and equally impious, might not empty the coming age of saved men. For this reason, having told one righteous man beforehand that he would be preserved in an ark, together with his three sons and their wives and the rest, he sent water in a flood, so that when all had been consumed, the world, thoroughly cleansed, might be handed back pure to the one preserved in the ark for a second beginning of life. And so it happened.

"Since the souls of the dead giants were greater than human souls, as they had also surpassed them in body, they were called by a new name, as a new race. To them, as survivors in the world, a law was laid down by God, through an angel, on how they must live. For being bastards by birth, from the fire of angels and the blood of women, and therefore likely to desire something of their own peculiar kind, they were forestalled by a just law. For an angel was sent to them by God, making known his will and saying:

"'This is the decision of God who oversees all: that you shall rule over no human being and trouble no one, unless someone willingly makes himself your slave by worshipping you, sacrificing and pouring libations to you, sharing your table, or doing anything else that ought not to be done, or shedding blood, or tasting flesh, or filling himself with the remains of a beast, or with what has died or been strangled, or with anything else unclean. Those who take refuge in my law you shall not only not touch, but you shall also pay them honour and flee from their presence. For whatever seems good to them, since they are righteous, against you, that you will have to suffer. But if any of those devoted to me sin, by committing adultery, practising magic, living impurely, or doing anything else that does not please me, then by my command they will have to suffer something at your hands or at the hands of others. And when they repent, I will judge their repentance, whether it deserves pardon or not, and give my verdict.' You ought, then, to remember these things, knowing well that not even your thoughts can escape him."

"Having given them such commands, the angel departed. But you are still ignorant of this law: that anyone who worships demons, or sacrifices to them, or shares their table, becomes their slave, as if under evil masters, and will share in every punishment that comes from them. And through this ignorance, having wasted away at their altars and filled yourselves with them, you have come under their power, and you do not know that you are being outraged in your bodies in every way. You must know that the demons have power over no one unless he has first shared their way of life. For not even their ruler can do anything against the law that God has set in motion against them, and so he has no power over anyone who has not worshipped him; nor can anyone receive from them anything he wants, nor be harmed in anything, as you may learn.

"For the temporary king once came to the king of our religion, not using force, since that was not permitted, but urging and persuading, because being persuaded lies within each person's own power. So, coming as king of present things to the king of things to come, he said: 'All the kingdoms of the present world are subject to me; the gold and the silver and all the luxury of this world are under my authority. So fall down and worship me, and I will give you all these things.' He said this knowing that, once he had been worshipped, he would have power over him too, and so would rob him of the coming glory and kingdom. But he, knowing everything, not only did not worship him but did not wish to take any of the things under his control; for he bound himself and those who are his by a pledge, namely, that from then on it is not lawful even to touch the things handed over to the devil. So he answered: 'It is written, You shall fear the Lord your God, and serve him only.'

"The king of the impious, having tried in many ways to lead the king of the pious to his will and being unable, stopped, though he still attempted to hunt him in the rest of his life. But you, being ignorant of the law laid down beforehand, have come under his power through your evil deeds. So you have been defiled in body and soul. In the present you are outraged by sufferings and demons, and in the future you will have your souls punished. You are not the only ones who have suffered this through ignorance: so have some of our own nation, who, having been taken beforehand by the leader of wickedness through evil deeds, were then called, as to a dinner, by a father celebrating his son's wedding, and did not obey. In place of those who disobeyed because they had been taken beforehand, the father who is celebrating the wedding for his son has commanded us, through the Prophet of truth, to go to the crossroads, that is, to you, and to clothe you with the clean wedding garment, which is baptism, which is for the forgiveness of the evil deeds you have done. And he brings the good into God's dinner through their change of mind, even if at first they were left out of the feast.

"If, then, you wish to become a garment of the divine Spirit, hasten first to strip off your filthy prejudice, which is an unclean spirit and a foul covering. You cannot put this off in any other way unless you are first baptized, with good deeds; and so, having become pure in body and soul, you will enjoy the eternal kingdom that is to come. So do not trust idols or share their foul table; do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not hate those whom it is not just to hate, do not steal, and do not set your hand to any evil deeds at all. Otherwise, deprived of the hope of the good things to come, in the present you will be crushed by evil demons and grievous sufferings, and in the age to come you will be punished with eternal fire. What has been said to you today is enough. For the rest, those of you troubled by sufferings, stay for healing; and of the others, those who wish may go in peace."

When he had said this, everyone stayed, some to be healed, others to see those who received healing. Peter only laid his hands on them and prayed, and healed them, so that those healed at once were overjoyed, and those who watched were greatly amazed, praised God, and believed with firm hope. Then they went home with those who had been healed, having been told to gather earlier the next day. When they had gone, Peter stayed there with his close companions, took food, and rested in sleep.

On the following day Peter went out with his companions, came to the place of the day before, took his stand, and began to speak: "God destroyed with water all the people of old, who had acted impiously; but finding one godly man out of them all, he caused him to be saved in an ark with his three sons and their wives. From this one can see his nature: it takes no account of a crowd of the impious, but does not neglect the salvation of one who is godly. The greatest impiety of all, then, is to abandon the one Master of all and to worship many gods that do not exist.

"If, then, while I explain and show you that this is the greatest sin, which can destroy you all, the thought slips into your mind that you will not perish because you are great crowds, you are deceived. For you have the example of the world that was flooded long ago; and yet their sin was far less than yours. They sinned against their equals, by murder or by adultery; but you sin against the God of all, worshipping lifeless images instead of him or alongside him, and flinging his divine name upon every kind of senseless matter. First, then, you have been unfortunate in not recognizing the difference between monarchy and polyarchy: monarchy produces concord, while polyarchy brings about wars. For the one does not fight with itself, but the many have occasion to take up battle with one another.

"So it was that immediately after the flood Noah, who lived on for three hundred and fifty years, continued in concord with the crowds descended from him, being king after the image of the one God. But after his death many of his descendants longed for kingship, and, hastening to reign, each devised how he might achieve it: one by war, another by deceit, another by persuasion, and others in other ways. Among them was one of the race of Ham, the father of Mestrem, from whom the tribes of the Egyptians, the Babylonians, and the Persians multiplied.

"From this race there arose in due succession a man who had received the magic arts, named Nebrod, who like a giant chose to set his mind against God; the Greeks called him Zoroaster. After the flood he longed for kingship, and being a great magician he compelled by magic arts the star of the evil one who now reigns, the star that presides over the world's horoscope, to grant him kingship. But that one, being a ruler and having authority over the one who was forcing him, in anger poured out the fire of kingship, both to show himself compliant to the adjuration and to punish the one who had first compelled him.

"By this lightning, then, that fell from heaven to earth, the magician Nebrod was killed, and from what had happened he was renamed Zoroaster, because the living stream of the star was brought down upon him. But the foolish people of that time, supposing that his soul had been fetched away by the thunderbolt because of his friendship with God, buried what remained of his body and honored the tomb with a temple among the Persians, where the fire had come down, and worshipped him as a god. Following this example the rest there also bury those who die by thunderbolt as friends of God, honor them with temples, and set up statues in the likeness of the dead. From there those who held power in various places likewise imitated them: most of them honored with temples and wooden images the tombs of those they loved, even though they had not died by thunderbolt, and, lighting altars, commanded that they be worshipped as gods. Long afterward, through the length of time, later generations believed they really were gods.

"Although in the beginning there was one kingdom, many divisions arose in this way. The Persians first took coals from the lightning that fell from heaven and kept them alive with fuel of their own; honoring the fire as a heavenly god, and being the first to worship it, they were honored by the fire itself with the first kingdom. After them the Babylonians stole coals from the fire there, carried them safely to their own land, worshipped them, and themselves reigned in turn. The Egyptians did likewise, calling the fire in their own language Phthas, which is translated Hephaestus; and the first who reigned among them is called by its name. Those who reigned in various places followed the same method, set up shrines and lit altars in honor of the fire; but most of them had their kingdoms extinguished.

"But they did not cease worshipping the wooden images, because of the wicked contrivance of the magicians, who found for them pretexts that could hold them fast to the vain worship. Having set up the images with magical rites, they appointed festivals for them with sacrifices, libations, flutes and clapping. Deceived by these pretexts, the foolish, although their kingdom has been taken away, do not abandon the rites they have taken up; so far have they preferred pleasure, that is, error, to the truth. After their drinking they even raise shrieks beside the altar, their soul from its depths, as if through dreams, foretelling to them the punishment to come for such deeds.

"Since many religions, then, have come and gone in human life, we have come to you like good merchants, bringing the religion handed down to us from our forefathers and preserved, showing it to you like seeds of plants and placing it under your judgment and authority. Choose what seems good to you. If you choose ours, you will be able not only to escape demons and the sufferings that come from demons, but, putting such beings to flight and being entreated by them, you will also enjoy the good things that will last forever.

"Otherwise, on the contrary, being abused by demons in this present life with strange sufferings, at your departure from the body you will have your souls also punished forever; truly, not because God condemns, but because evil deeds carry such a judgment. For the demons, having power through the food offered to them, are admitted into your bodies by your own hands. Lurking there a long time, they become blended with the soul as well. And through the negligence of those who do not think, or do not wish, to help themselves, at the dissolution of the body the soul, united to the demon, is compelled to be carried by it to whatever places it wishes. Worst of all, when at the consummation of all things the demon is first handed over to the purifying fire, the soul that is mingled with it is compelled to be punished unspeakably, while the demon rejoices. For the soul, being from light, cannot bear the alien flame of the fire and is tormented; but the demon, being in the substance of its own kind, rejoices greatly, having become a bond, hard to break, of the soul it has swallowed up.

"The reason why demons are eager to enter human bodies is this. Being spirits, they have a desire for food and drink and sexual intercourse; but they cannot partake of these, because they are spirits and need organs suited to their use. So they enter human bodies, so that, having obtained organs to serve them, they may be able to get what they want: food, by means of the man's teeth, or intercourse, by means of his genitals. Therefore the most fitting help for putting demons to flight is abstinence, fasting, and hardship. For if they enter a human body for the sake of partaking, clearly they are driven out by hardship. But since some, being fiercer, contend stubbornly and remain in the punished body although they are punished with it, one must therefore flee to God with prayers and petitions, abstaining from every unclean occasion, so that the hand of God may be able to touch the person for healing, as one who is pure and believing.

"In one's prayers one must also confess that one has fled to God for refuge, and protest against the demon's slowness to leave, not its insensibility. For all things happen for the one who believes, but nothing for the one who does not. That is why the demons themselves, knowing the measure of faith of those they master, measure out the length of their stay in proportion to it. So they stay on with unbelievers, they linger with those of weak faith, but with those who fully believe and do good they cannot remain even for a moment. For the soul, turned by faith in God as though into the nature of water, quenches the demon like a spark of fire. Each person's task, then, is to think out how to put his own demon to flight. For the demons mingle with souls and, so that a man may neglect his own salvation, they insert into each one's mind thoughts leading to what they wish.

"Hence many, not knowing by what they are moved, assent to the evil thoughts suggested by the demons as though to the reasoning of their own soul. So they become slower to come to those who can save them, and do not know that they are being consumed by the very demons lying in wait for them. The demons lurking in their souls lead them to think that what troubles them is not a demon but a bodily disease, such as acrid humor, or bile, or phlegm, or an excess of blood, or inflammation of the membranes, or something else. But even if it were so, not even this is exempt from being a kind of demon. For the universal and earthy soul, which pervades all foods and is taken in more abundantly with more food, is itself united, as to a kindred thing, with the spirit, which is the soul of man; while the material part of the food, united with the body, is left in it as a terrible poison. That is why moderation is good in all things.

"Some of the malicious demons lie in wait in another way. At first they do not even show that they are there, so that no effort is made against them; but at the right moment, on the pretext of anger, or love, or something else, they suddenly do violence to the body, by sword, or noose, or precipice, or some other means, and at last they bring the deceived souls of those with whom they have been mingled to the point of punishment, as we said, when they pass into the purifying fire. Others, ensnared in another way, do not come to us, deceived by the suggestions of the malicious demons: they think they suffer these things at the hands of the gods themselves because they have neglected them, that they can reconcile them by sacrifices, and that they must not come to us but on the contrary flee and hate us. And so they hate and flee those who pity them most and who pursue them to do them good.

"So, hating and fleeing us, they are ensnared, not knowing where their thoughts against their own salvation come from. For we cannot force them to turn to salvation against their will, since we do not now have so much authority over them; nor can they of themselves recognize the demon's evil suggestion, for they do not know from where the thoughts of evil are put into them. These are the demons who appear in whatever forms they wish and terrify them. Sometimes they even prescribe cures for the sick, and so carry off from those already deceived the reputation of gods. They escape the notice of the many that they are demons, but not ours, for we know their secret: why they do such things, transforming themselves in dreams against those over whom they have authority, terrifying some, and giving oracles to others, demanding sacrifices and bidding them feast with them, so that they may drink down their souls.

"For as fearsome snakes draw sparrows to themselves by their breath, so the demons, mingling with the mind of those who share their table by means of the food and drink, draw them to their own will, transforming themselves in dreams into the forms of the images in order to increase the error. For the wooden image is neither a living thing nor has it a divine spirit; it is the demon that appeared who made use of its form. How many have appeared to others in dreams in the same way, and when they met one another awake and compared what was seen in the dream, it did not agree? So that such a thing is no longer an appearance in a dream but is the offspring either of a demon or of the soul, which gives forms to present fears and desire; for the soul whose mind is struck by fear gives birth to forms through dreams. But if you think that the images are alive and can do such things, set them on a balance, with the beam level and the counterweight placed in the other pan, and ask them to become either heavier or lighter. If that happens, they are alive; but it does not happen. And even if it should, such a thing is not yet a god. For this can be done by a demon's finger. Worms move too, and are not called gods.

"That each person's soul pictures forms of demons according to its preconceptions, and that the so-called gods do not really appear, is clear from the fact that they do not appear to Jews. But someone will say: How then do they give oracles foretelling the future? This too is false. But grant that it is true: such a thing is still not a god. For if something prophesies, it is not therefore a god; pythons also prophesy, yet they are uprooted by us as demons and put to flight. But someone will say: They prescribe cures for some. It is false; but grant that it is so: such a thing is still not a god. Physicians too heal many, and they are not gods. But, he says, physicians do not always heal those whom they care for, whereas these heal even by oracles. But the demons know the remedies truly suited to each disease. Therefore, being knowledgeable physicians able to heal, and healing those diseases that can be healed by men, but being also prophetic and knowing when each disease will be cured of itself, they prescribe their cures at that moment, in order to claim the credit for themselves.

"Otherwise, why do they give their oracles about cures only after a long time? And why, if they can do everything, do they not make the cure without administering anything? And for what reason do they prescribe cures to some who pray, but sometimes give no oracle to others, even those closer to them? So it is that whenever a cure is going to happen of itself, they promise it, in order to claim the credit. Others, who fell ill and prayed and recovered of themselves, credited those whom they had invoked and set up votive offerings. But those who failed after praying cannot dedicate their failures. Indeed, if the relatives of the dead, or some of the sufferers themselves, had gathered the failures together, you would have found the failures more than the successes. But no one who has been taken in by them wishes to bring the evidence against them to light, out of shame or fear; on the contrary, they hide the absurdities they believe in.

"How many also invent oracles and cures supposedly performed by them, and confirm them with oaths? How many have hired themselves out, undertaking by certain contrivances to appear to suffer something, and after announcing it, when their ailment has been reversed by a counter-remedy, say that the cure was given by oracle, so that they may credit it to the senseless object of worship? How many of the images were from the start consecrated by magic art so that they might send dreams and give oracles? And yet in the course of time these too failed. How many use sorcery, wishing to strengthen such things? In any case, if something prophesies or heals, it is not therefore a god.

"For God can do all things. He is good and just, now being patient with all, so that those who are willing may repent of the evil they have done and live well, and in the day in which all things are judged may enjoy what they deserve. Begin now, therefore, obeying God for the sake of good knowledge, to oppose your evil desires and thoughts, so that you may be able to recover the saving religion first handed down to humankind. For so good things will at once spring up for you, and once you have received them you will leave off the experience of evils for the rest of your life. But give thanks to the Giver, reigning forever over unspeakable goods with the King of peace. For the present, having washed yourselves in an ever-flowing river or spring, or even in the sea, with the thrice-blessed invocation, you will not only be able to drive out the spirits lurking in you, but yourselves no longer sinning and believing God without doubting, you will drive out the evil spirits and cruel demons of others, together with terrible diseases. Sometimes they will flee when you merely look at them. For they know those who have given themselves to God. So, honoring them, they flee in fear, just as you saw yesterday: when I had put off praying for the sufferers until after the address, the afflictions themselves cried out out of respect for our religion, not able to bear it even for a short hour.

"Do not suppose, then, that we do not fear demons because we are of a different nature. We are of the same nature as you, but not of the same religion. Therefore, being not a little but altogether better than you, we do not begrudge your becoming such as we are; on the contrary, we advise it, knowing that all these beings honor and fear, beyond what they understand, those who have been made God's own.

"For just as the soldiers under one of Caesar's tribunes know to honor the one who has received authority because of the authority of him who gave it, so much that the officers say to one, 'Come,' and he comes, and to another, 'Go,' and he goes, so also he who has given himself to God, being faithful, is obeyed when he merely speaks to demons and diseases, and the demons give way, although they are much stronger than those who command them. For by unspeakable power God subjects to whom he wills the mind of each. As many governors, with all their camps and cities, fear Caesar, though he is a man, because each one's heart hastens to honor the image of the universal ruler (for all things, enslaved by the will of God to fear, do not know the reason), so also all the spirits that cause suffering, struck with fear in some natural way, honor and flee the one who takes refuge in God and carries righteous faith in his heart like God's image.

"And yet, even if all demons with all diseases flee from you, you are not to rejoice in this alone, but in this: that because you are pleasing to God your names are written in heaven as of those who live forever. So the divine holy [name?] serves for putting demons to flight for another's healing. We say this not as denying that one must help others, but because one must not grow conceited over it and neglect oneself. Sometimes demons flee from certain lawless men because of the honored name; and both the one who drives them out and the one who witnesses it are ensnared. The one who drives them out is ensnared, as though he had been honored for his righteousness, not knowing the demon's malice: for at one and the same time it honored the name and, by fleeing, wrapped the ungodly man in the conceit of righteousness and so deceived him into not repenting. The one who witnessed it, thinking that he has kept company with a godly man in the exorcist, hastens to the same way of life and perishes. Sometimes demons even pretend to flee from oaths that are not directed to God, so that having deceived people they may destroy them when they wish.

"This, then, we want you to know as well: unless someone gives himself up as a slave to demons, as I said a little earlier, the demon has no authority over him. So if you choose to worship one God, abstain from the table of demons, take up self-control with love of others and righteousness, are baptized for the forgiveness of sins with the thrice-blessed invocation, and give yourselves as far as you can to the perfection of purity, you can be rescued from everlasting punishment and be made heirs of eternal goods." Having said this, he told those troubled by afflictions to come forward; and so many came forward, having gathered because of the experience of those healed the day before. He laid his hands on them and prayed, healing them at once; and having instructed them and the others to meet earlier in the morning, he bathed, took food, and slept.

On the third day in Tripolis Peter rose from sleep earlier than usual and went into the garden, where there was a large water tank into which plenty of water flowed continually. There he bathed and then prayed, and sat down; and seeing us sitting around him and gazing at him as if wanting to hear something, he said:

"There seems to me to be a great difference between those who are ignorant and those who have gone astray. The ignorant man seems to me like a man who does not wish to set out for a prosperous city because he does not know the good things there; but the one who has gone astray is like one who has learned of the good things of the city, but in setting out has turned aside from the path of the road and so has wandered off. So there seems to me to be a great difference between those who worship idols and those who wander within the worship of God. Those who worship idols do not know eternal life, and for that reason they do not even long for it; for what they do not know they cannot love. But those who have chosen to worship the one God and have learned that eternal life is given to the good, if they believe or do anything contrary to what pleases God, are like those who have left the city of punishment to go to the prosperous city and have strayed from the straight road on the way.

While he was discussing this with us, one of our people who had been appointed to make such announcements came in to report to him: "My lord Peter, great crowds are standing before the doors." When he gave permission, a great crowd came in. He rose, stood on the base he had used the day before, greeted them in the manner of the religion, and said: "God created heaven and earth and made all that is in them, as the true Prophet has told us; and man, made after his image and likeness, was appointed to rule and be lord over the creatures of the air, the earth and the waters. This can be seen from the facts themselves: by his intelligence he brings down what is in the air, brings up what is in the deep, and hunts what is on the earth, even creatures much greater than he in strength, I mean elephants, lions, and the like.

"While man was righteous he was above all sufferings, being unable, with his immortal body, to experience pain; but when he sinned, as we showed yesterday and the day before, having become a slave of sin he fell under all sufferings, deprived of every good thing by a just judgment. For it was not reasonable that, when the Giver had been abandoned, the gifts should remain with the ungrateful. So out of his surpassing compassion he sent his Prophet, so that we might enjoy, together with the first goods, the eternal goods to come as well. And the Prophet commanded us to tell you what you must think and do. Choose, then, what lies within your power. What you must think is this: to worship God who made all things. If you take him into your mind, you will receive from him, together with the first good things, the eternal goods to come.

"You will be able to persuade yourselves of what is profitable if, as though charming it, you say to the fearsome serpent lurking in your heart: 'You shall fear the Lord God and serve him alone.' By every reckoning it is profitable to fear him alone, not as unjust but as just. For one fears an unjust being lest one be unjustly destroyed, and a just one lest one be caught in sin and punished. Through fear of him, then, you can be freed from many harmful fears. For if you do not fear the one Lord and Maker of all, you will be slaves of all evils to your own harm, I mean of demons and sufferings and of everything that can harm in any way.

"Take courage, then, and draw near to God, you who were made in the beginning to rule and be lords over all things, who have his image in your body and likewise have in your mind the likeness of his judgment. But since by acting like irrational animals you have lost the human soul out of your soul, you have become like swine and the prey that demons demand. If, then, you accept the law of God, you become human beings. For one cannot say to irrational animals, 'You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal,' and the rest. Do not, therefore, begrudge yourselves, when you are called back, the entrance into your first nobility. It is possible, if you become like God through good deeds. And being reckoned his sons because of the likeness, you will be able to be restored as masters of all things.

"Begin, then, to strip off the harmful fears of empty idols, so that you may escape an unjust slavery. For those things have become your masters which are useless to you even as slaves. I mean the matter of lifeless images, which are of no use even to serve you. For it does not hear, or see, or feel, nor can it even move. Would any of you wish to see as it sees, to hear as it hears, to feel and to move as it does? Far be it from anyone to insult any human being with such an insult, since he carries about the image of God, even if he has lost the likeness.

"Restore your gods, then, the ones of gold and silver or made of any other material, to their original nature, I mean into bowls and basins and all the other things that can be useful for your service; and these good things given to you from the beginning will be able to be restored. But perhaps you will say: 'The laws of our rulers do not allow us to do this.' Well said: it is laws, and not the power of the idle objects of worship themselves, which have none. How then have you regarded them as gods, when they are avenged by human laws, watched by dogs, guarded by crowds? And that, if they are of gold, silver or bronze; the ones of stone or clay are guarded by their worthlessness, since no one wants to steal a god of stone or clay. So your gods made of costlier material are exposed to great danger. How can they be gods at all, when they are stolen, melted down, weighed, and kept under guard?

"O the minds of wretched men, who fear things deader than the dead! I cannot even call them dead, since they have never lived, unless they are the tombs of men of old. For sometimes someone who comes to unfamiliar places does not know whether the temples he sees are memorials of dead men or of the so-called gods; but when he asks and hears that they belong to gods, he worships, without shame that, if he had not learned by inquiring, he would have passed by as though it were a dead man's monument, since the resemblance is the same. However, I need not give much proof against such superstition. It is easy for anyone who wishes to see that the idol is nothing, unless someone cannot see. But even now, hear that it does not hear, and understand that it does not understand. For the hands of a man who died made it. And if its maker has died, how will what he made not be destroyed? Why then do you worship the work of a mortal, which is completely senseless? Those who have reason do not worship even living creatures, nor flatter the elements made by God, I mean heaven, sun, moon, lightning, sea and all that is in them, judging rightly that they must not worship even the things he has made, but must revere God, their Maker and Provider. For they themselves rejoice in this, that no one has attached to them the honor due to their Maker.

"For to him alone belongs the honored glory of being alone unbegotten, while all other things are begotten. As it is proper to the unbegotten to be God, so whatever has come into being is not truly God. Before everything, then, you must understand the malicious scheme of the serpent who deceives you from within, who cleverly deceives you with the promise of better reasoning, creeping from your brain into your spinal marrow and counting your deception a great gain.

"For he knows the law from the beginning: if only he brings you to the notion of any so-called gods, so that you sin against the good of the monarchy, your downfall becomes his gain. The reason is this: since he was condemned to eat earth, he has authority to eat the one who through sin has been dissolved into earth and become earth, as your souls pass into the belly of his fire. So, in order that you may suffer these things, he suggests to you every notion against yourselves.

"For from him all the deceptive suppositions against the monarchy are sown in your mind to your harm. First, so that you may not hear the words of true religion and drive out ignorance, the cause of evils, he lies in wait under the pretext of knowledge, first of all making use of one presumption against everyone: the thought, and the bad decision, that if someone does not hear the word of true religion, he is not liable to judgment. So some, deceived in this way, do not want to hear, so that they may remain ignorant, not knowing that ignorance itself is by itself a sufficient deadly poison. For if someone takes a deadly poison unknowingly, does he not die? So by nature sins destroy the sinner, even if he does unknowingly what he ought not.

"And if judgment follows disobedience to words, much more will God destroy those who would not accept his worship. For the one who does not want to learn, so that he may not be liable, is already judged as one who knows; for he knew what it is that he does not want to hear. So no contrivance can serve as a defense before God who knows the heart. Flee, therefore, the serpent's cunning notion put into your mind. And even if someone ends this present life truly ignorant, he will have a charge against him: that having lived so long he did not know who was the benefactor of himself and of the food supplied to him; and as senseless and ungrateful, a very unworthy servant, he will be rejected from the kingdom of God.

"The fearsome serpent also suggests to you another supposition, to think and to say what nearly most of you do say: 'We too know that there is one Lord of all, but these also are gods. For just as there is one Caesar, but he has under him administrators, consuls, prefects, tribunes, centurions, and decurions, in the same way, since there is one great God as there is one Caesar, these too are gods after the manner of subordinate powers, subject to him but governing us.' Listen, then, you who have been smeared by him with this notion as with a fearsome poison (I mean the evil notion of this comparison), so that you may know what is good and what is evil; for you have not yet recovered your sight, since you do not even look into the things you put forward.

"For if you say that God has the so-called gods as subordinate powers, as Caesar does, you are not even keeping to your own comparison. If you kept to it, you should know this: as it is not lawful to give the name of Caesar to another, whether consul or prefect or tribune or anyone else (for the one who gives it will not live, and the one who takes it will be put to death), so, by your own comparison, it is not lawful for the name of God to be given to another; for whoever tries either to take it or to give it perishes. And if an insult against a man incurs punishment, much more will those who call others gods be subject to eternal punishment for insulting God. And rightly so, because you have subjected to every insult you could the name handed down to you to honor, for his monarchy. For 'God' is not in fact his own name; but you received it, and insulted what was given you so that, as you might use it, it would be reckoned as honor to his true name. Yet you have subjected it to every insult.

"For instance, the founders of your Egyptians, who boast of their knowledge of the heavens and profess to distinguish the natures of the stars, because of an evil notion lurking in them, subjected the name to every dishonor as far as they could. Some of them handed down the worship of a bull called Apis, others of a goat, others of a cat, others of a snake, and even of a fish, and of onions, and of stomach winds, and of sewers, and of the limbs of irrational animals, and of countless other utterly hateful absurdities.

When Peter said this, the crowd standing by laughed. And Peter said in response to the laughter: "You laugh at their practices, not knowing that you are laughed at much more by them. You laugh at each other's practices, but you do not see your own, having been led into deception by bad custom. That you are indeed right to laugh at the Egyptians I agree, since, being rational, they worship irrational animals, which certainly die. But hear how they in turn laugh at you. 'We,' they say, 'even if we worship things that die, at least worship things that once lived; but you revere things that never lived.' Besides this they say: 'Wishing to honor the form of the one God, and not finding what kind it is, we chose to honor every form.' And yet, saying such things, they think their judgment more correct than yours.

"So you should answer them: 'You lie. You do not revere these things out of honor for the true God, for then you would all worship every form, not as you do. Some of you, who suppose the divine to be an onion, and others who revere stomach winds, fight each other; and so all of you alike, each preferring one thing, find fault with the things of others. With differing judgment one reveres one limb of the same animal and another another.' Yet those of them who still breathe something of right reason, ashamed of the obvious disgrace, try to turn these things into allegories, wishing by a further folly to strengthen the deadly elements of their deception. We would refute the allegories too, if we were there, where so foolish a passion has prevailed as to produce a very great sickness in their thinking. For one should apply the plaster not to the healthy part of the body but to the part that suffers. Since, then, by laughing at the Egyptians you have shown that you are not persuaded by their views, it was reasonable that, being here with you, I should provide the cure for the disease you do suffer from.

"Whoever chooses to worship God must before all else know what alone is proper to God's nature, which cannot belong to another, so that, looking to his distinctive property and not finding it in another, he may never be deceived into granting to another that he is God. It is proper to God that he alone, as the maker of all things, is also greater than all: greater in power, as maker, than all the rest; in greatness, as infinite, than what is bounded; in form, the most beautiful; in happiness, the most blessed; in mind, the most perfect. Likewise in all other things he has a pre-eminence beyond comparison. Since, then, as I said, it is proper to God to be greater than all things, and the world that contains all things was made by him, it must be said that nothing made by him can bear equal comparison with him.

"What does not have the incomparable, the unsurpassable, and what lacks nothing in any way or respect cannot be God, inasmuch as it has come into being. How much less could its parts reasonably be called god! By parts I mean those you call gods, made of gold and silver, bronze and stone, or of any other material, and these fashioned by a mortal hand. Nevertheless, let us see in addition how the fearsome serpent, through a human mouth, poisons with his suggestions those who are deceived.

"For many say: 'In our objects of worship we do not revere the gold or the silver or wood or stone; we too know that these are nothing but lifeless matter and the craft of a mortal man. But the spirit that dwells in them, this we call god.' See the malice of those who say this. Since what is seen is easily refuted as being nothing, they have fled to the invisible, as though they could not be refuted in what is hidden. Yet such people agree with us in part, that half of the images among them is not God but senseless matter. It remains for them to show how we are to believe that it has a divine spirit. But they cannot demonstrate to us that it is so, since it is not; nor do we believe them when they say they have seen it. We, however, will give them proofs that it has nothing divine, so that lovers of truth, hearing the refutation, may turn away from the raving supposition that these things are animated.

"First of all, if you revere them as animated, you also worship the tombs of men of old, who admittedly never had a divine spirit. So you do not speak the truth on this point either. Besides, if your objects of worship were really animated, they would move of themselves, they would have a voice, they would shake off the spider webs on them, they would drive off those who wish to plot against them and steal them, they would easily catch those who strip off the votive offerings. But as it is, they do none of these things; rather, like condemned prisoners, and especially the more valuable of them, they are kept under guard, as we said at the beginning. Why do the rulers not demand tribute and taxes from you on their account, as if you reaped great profit from what is there? Why have they not often been plundered by enemies, broken up, and shared out? Do not the priests themselves, more than the worshippers outside, having passed judgment on their own useless worship, steal away many of the offerings?

"'Yes,' someone says, 'but the thieves were caught by the gods' providence.' It is false. How many of them were not caught? And if they say that the gods have power because some thieves have been arrested, they are mistaken. For of grave robbers too some are found and some escape notice, and surely those who are arrested are not detected by the power of the dead. We may think something similar about the gods who are stolen and plundered. 'But,' someone says, 'the gods who are in them do not care about their own wooden images.' Why then do you tend them, wiping them, washing them, cleaning them, crowning them, sacrificing to them? From this, then, recognize that you do not act with right reason either. For just as you weep over the dead, so you sacrifice and pour libations to your gods.

"Nor does it agree any longer with the comparison of Caesar and the powers under him to call them administrators, when you take all the care of them, as I said, tending your images in every way. For they, having no power, do nothing. Otherwise tell us: what do they administer? What do they do comparable to what local governors do? What do they accomplish comparable to God's stars? Do they give light like the sun, they for whom you light lamps? Can they, like the clouds that bring rain, bring showers, when they cannot even move themselves unless people lift them? Or do they supply fruits, they for whom you provide sacrifices from the earth by your labors? So they can do nothing.

"And even if they could do something, you would not be right to call them gods, since it is not lawful to name even the elements gods, through which good things are supplied. Only him who ordered them to accomplish all things for our use and commanded them to serve man do we, by right reason, name God. You, not perceiving his kindness, have proclaimed the elements that were assigned to you as servants to be masters over you. And why speak of elements? You have made lifeless images and not only worship them but think fit to be subject to them like slaves in everything. Because of this, through your own folly, you have come under the power of demons. Yet through the knowledge of God himself, by good deeds, you can become masters again, command the demons as slaves, and as sons of God be made heirs of the eternal kingdom."

Having said this, he ordered the demon-possessed and those seized by diseases to be brought to him. When they were brought, he laid his hands on them, prayed, and sent them away healthy, reminding them and the rest of the crowds to attend here for as many days as he stayed and taught. When the others had withdrawn, Peter bathed in the water tank there with those who wished, and ordering a place to be spread on the ground under a thick canopy of trees for the shade, he had each of us recline according to rank; and so we took food. Having blessed and given thanks to God for the enjoyment, according to the customary faith of the Hebrews, since there was still much time left he allowed us to ask about whatever we wished. And though there were twenty of us, he answered each one who asked in turn. When evening came on, we went with him into the most spacious room of the lodging, and there we all slept.

On the fourth day in Tripolis Peter rose, and finding us awake he greeted us and went out to the water tank to bathe and pray; and we did likewise after him. When we had prayed together and sat down before him, he gave a talk on the need to keep pure. And when it was now day, he allowed the crowds to come in. When the crowd had come in, he greeted many as usual and began to speak.

"Since, through the great neglect you have shown to your own harm, your mind has sprouted the many harmful notions of the religions, and you have become like land gone wild for lack of a farmer, you need a long time for cleansing, so that your mind, receiving the true word imparted to you like good seed, may not choke it with evil cares and make it unfruitful in the works that can save. Therefore those who care for their own salvation must listen more constantly, so that the absurdities that have multiplied over long times may be matched, in the short time that remains, by constant effort toward cleansing. Since, then, each of you has the end of his own time hidden from him, hasten to root out the many thorns of your hearts, and not little by little; otherwise you will not be able to be cleansed, for you have lain wild a long time.

"But you will not bear to undertake the great effort needed for your cleansing unless you become angry with yourselves and rebuke yourselves for the things in which, like worthless men, you were ensnared by agreeing with your evil desires, so that you may be able to set your righteous anger upon your mind like fire upon a field gone wild. If you do not have righteous fire (I mean anger against evil desires), learn from what good things you have been lured away, for what punishment you have been made ready, and by whom you have been deceived; and so your mind, becoming sober and kindled like fire into anger by the teaching of him who sent us, may be able to consume the evils of desire. Believe me: if you are willing, you will be able to set everything right.

"You are the image of the invisible God. So let those who wish to be godly not say that idols are God's image and must therefore be worshipped. For the image of God is man. Whoever wishes to be godly toward God does good to man, because the human body bears the image of God. Not all, however, bear the likeness any longer, but only the pure mind of a good soul. Yet since we know that man was made after the image and likeness of God, we tell you to show your godliness toward him, so that the kindness may be credited to God, whose image he is. You must therefore offer honor to the image of God, which is man, in this way: food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, care to the sick, shelter to the stranger, and to him who is in prison, appearing and helping as far as possible. And not to speak case by case: whatever good things a person wishes for himself, let him provide the same to another in need; and then a good reward can be credited to him for his godliness toward the image of God. By the same reasoning, if he will not undertake to do these things, he will be punished for neglecting the image.

"What sort of thing is it, then, to say that you worship every form for the sake of godliness toward God, while in everything you outrage man, who is truly God's image, murdering, committing adultery, stealing, and dishonoring him in many other ways? You ought not to do a single evil thing by which a man is grieved; but as it is, you do everything by which a man is disheartened, for even injustice brings dejection. That is why you murder, take away his goods, and whatever else you know you would not wish to suffer. You, deceived into wickedness by some malicious reptile through the notion of a knowledge of many gods, act impiously toward the true image, which is man, while you think you are godly toward senseless things.

"Some say: 'If he did not wish these things to exist, they would not exist; he would have destroyed them.' I too say that this will certainly happen, when people have shown their choice toward him, and so a change of the present world will come about. But even so, if you want him to act so that none of the objects of worship should exist, tell us: what existing thing have you not worshipped? Do not some of you worship the sun, others the moon, others water, others earth, others mountains, others plants, others seeds, and others even a man, as in Egypt? Then God ought to have allowed nothing to exist, not even you, so that there would be nothing worshipped and nothing worshipping. Truly this is what the fearsome serpent lurking in you wishes to happen, for he does not spare you. But it will not be so. The thing worshipped does no wrong, for it suffers violence from the one who wishes to worship it. Even if an unjust judgment is given by all men, it is not so with God. For it is not just that the one who suffers and the one who contrived it should receive the same punishment, unless the thing itself willingly accepts the honor of the only Most Honored.

"'But,' someone says, 'the worshippers themselves should be destroyed by the true God, so that no one else does this.' But you are not wiser than God, that you should give him advice as one more prudent. He knows what he is doing. He is patient with all who are in ungodliness, as a merciful and kind father, knowing that the ungodly also become godly. And of those very people who worship shameful and senseless things, many have come to their senses and ceased to worship them and to sin, and Greeks too have been saved by their prayers to the true God.

"'But he should have made us from the beginning so that we would not think about such things at all.' Those who say this do not know what free will is, and how it is possible to be truly good: the one who is good by his own choice is truly good, but the one made good by another through necessity is not truly good, because he is not what he is by his own choice. Since, then, each person's freedom brings about what is truly good and shows what is truly evil, God contrived that in each person enmity or friendship should arise through circumstances. 'No,' someone says, 'but everything we think, he himself makes us think.' Stop! Why do you who say this blaspheme further? For if in everything we think we are moved by him, you are saying that he is the cause of sexual immoralities, debaucheries, greed, and every blasphemy. Stop speaking ill of him, you who ought to speak well of him and give him every honor. And do not say, 'God does not claim honor.' For even if he claims nothing, you, looking to what is just, ought to repay with a thankful voice the one who has done you good in everything.

"'But,' someone says, 'we do better when we give thanks to him and to all the others together.' Saying this, you do not know the plot against you. For just as, when many physicians who can do nothing promise to cure one sick man, the one who can truly heal does not apply his remedy, reckoning that if he cures him others will take the credit, so God too, when he is asked together with many who can do nothing, does not grant his benefits. 'What then,' someone says, 'is God indignant at this, if another takes the credit when he heals?' I say that even if he is not indignant, he at least does not agree to become an accomplice in the deception. For if he did the good, the idol that did nothing would also be believed to have had power. And I say to you as well: if the one who is infatuated with senseless things had not been harmed by the nature of the case, perhaps he would have tolerated even this; through whom you have begun to think reasonably about salvation. For God, being without need, himself needs nothing and is not harmed; it is we who are helped or harmed. For just as Caesar is neither harmed when he is slandered nor helped when he is thanked, but safety comes to the one who thanks and ruin to the one who slanders, so those who speak well of God help him not at all but save themselves; and likewise those who blaspheme do him no wrong but are themselves destroyed.

"'But,' someone says, 'the case of a man and of God is not alike.' I too agree that it is not alike. For the punishment is greater for one who has committed a greater impiety, and less for one who has sinned against a lesser. As God is greater than all, so the one who acts impiously against him will undergo greater punishment, as having sinned against the greater; not that God avenges himself with his own hand, but the whole creation is indignant at it and by nature pursues the offender. The sun will not give the blasphemer its light, nor the earth its fruits, nor the spring its water, nor will the ruler appointed in Hades give his soul rest; for even now, while the appointed term of the world still stands, the whole creation is indignant. That is why the sky does not provide full rains, nor the earth its fruits, so that very many suffer harm. Even the air itself, inflamed with anger, is changed into pestilential action. Yet as for all the good things we enjoy, by his mercy God constrains creation to kindness toward us. So the whole creation is hostile to you who dishonor the Creator of all.

"Even if you escape punishment by the dissolution of the body, how will you be able, through corruption, to escape your soul, which is incorruptible? For the soul even of the ungodly is immortal, and it would be better for them not to have it incorruptible. For it is punished by the unquenchable fire with endless torment, and not dying, it cannot find an end to its misery. But perhaps one of you will say: 'You are frightening us, Peter.' Teach us, then, how we can keep silent and still tell things as they are; for we cannot make them known to you in any other way. If we keep silent, you are ensnared by evils through ignorance; if we speak, we are suspected of frightening you on a false premise. How then shall we charm the evil one who lurks in your soul and cunningly sows in you notions hostile to God under the pretext of friendship toward God? Be reconciled to yourselves: taking refuge in him with good deeds is for your own salvation. Irrational desire in you is a kind of enmity against God, for under the appearance of wisdom it strengthens ignorance.

"Others say: 'God does not care for us.' This too is false. For if he really did not care, he would not make his sun rise on the good and the evil, nor bring his rain on the just and the unjust. Others say: 'We are more godly, since we worship both him and the images.' I do not think that if someone said to a king, 'I give you equal honor with what I give to corpses and to discarded dung,' he would come off well. But someone will say: 'Do you call our objects of worship dung?' Yes, I say. For you have made them useless to yourselves by counting them as objects of worship, when their material might perhaps have been useful for something else, even for use as manure. But now it is not useful even for this, since you have reshaped it and worship it. How can you say you are more godly, you who are the most ungodly of all, who by this one incomparable sin truly incur the destruction of the soul, if you persist? For if a son who has received many benefits from his father gives to someone else who is not his father the honor owed to his father, he is certainly disinherited; but when he lives according to his father's mind and gives thanks for his benefits, he rightly becomes heir.

"Others say: 'We shall act impiously if we abandon the objects of worship handed down to us from our fathers; for it is like guarding a deposit.' By this reasoning, then, if someone's father is a robber or lives shamefully, the son ought not to come to his senses and choose the better, lest he act impiously? How foolish are those who say, 'We worship these so that we may not trouble him,' as if God were troubled by those who speak well of him, and not troubled by those who ungratefully blaspheme him! Why, then, when there is a withholding of rain, do you all look to heaven and offer prayers and supplications, and when you obtain it, quickly forget? For when you have reaped or gathered the vintage, you at once give the firstfruits to the idols, which are nothing, quickly forgetting God your benefactor. And so it goes forever. And coming to the temples and performing sacrifices, you feast. That is why some of you say: 'These things were well devised for comfort and for the sake of feasting.'

"O foolish people! Be just judges of what is said. If one had to give oneself here to bodily enjoyment by some feast, which is better: a feast by rivers and woods and groves, where there are banquets and drinking parties and shady places, or where there is the madness of demons, the cutting of hands and the castration of genitals, frenzies and manias, locks of hair let loose, boastings, ecstasies and shrieks, and all those things done with pretense to astonish the foolish, so that you may offer your due prayers and thanksgivings to things deader than the dead?

"And why do you do these things with delight? Since the serpent lurking in you, who sowed in you the fruitless desire, does not wish to tell you, I will remind you. It is like this. In the worship of God it is proclaimed that one must be sober, self-controlled, master one's anger, not appropriate what belongs to others, and live justly, fairly, steadily, gently, and rather punish oneself with want than, having nothing, take another's goods unjustly to satisfy oneself. But among the so-called gods the opposite happens. You do enjoin some things to make an impression of righteousness; but even if you did all the precepts, ignorance of God alone is enough to bring punishment on you. Besides, gathering in the places you have given to them, you gladly get drunk and light altars, whose drifting smell of sacrifice, by the authority granted them, draws even the blind and deaf spirits to the place where they can smell it. And so of those there, some are filled with frenzy, others with strange foods, others turn to debauchery, others to thefts and murders. For the vapor of the blood there and the libation of wine itself glut the unclean spirits, which, lurking in you, make you take pleasure in what is done there, surround you in dreams with false apparitions, and punish you with countless afflictions. For under the pretext of the so-called sacrificial meats you are filled with cruel demons, who also cleverly escape your notice and destroy you, so that you do not perceive the plot against you. On the pretext of some insult, or necessity, or love, or anger, or grief, they remove people from life by the noose, or by drowning them in water, or throwing them from a cliff, or by suicide, or apoplexy, or some other affliction.

"But none of us can suffer any such thing; rather, the demons are punished by us, when, having entered someone, they beg us to let them come out slowly. But someone will say: 'Perhaps some of the God-fearing also fall into such afflictions.' I say that this is impossible. For the God-fearing man I speak of is the one who is truly God-fearing, not one who is merely called so, but one who truly carries out the deeds of the law given to him. If someone acts impiously, he is not godly. In the same way, if a foreigner does the law, he is a Jew; if he does not, he is a Greek. For the Jew, believing God, does the law, and by that faith he removes the other afflictions too, which are like mountains and heavy. But the one who does not do the law clearly deserts his post through not believing God; and so, as a sinner and not a Jew, because of his sin he is overpowered by the afflictions appointed to punish sinners. By the will of God fixed from the beginning, punishment justly follows those who worship him, on account of their transgressions. This happens so that, having exacted the sin like a debt through torment, it may present those who have turned back pure at the judgment of all things. For as luxury here brings the wicked the loss of eternal goods, so punishments are sent upon Jews who transgress to exact payment, so that, paying for the transgression here, they may be freed from eternal punishment there.

"But you cannot say this, for you do not believe that things there are as we say, I mean, where recompense is made to all. For this reason, not knowing what is profitable, you are ensnared by temporary pleasures so as not to obtain the eternal. That is why we try to give you proofs of what is profitable, so that, fully convinced of the promises of true religion, you may through good deeds inherit with us the age free from grief. Until you get to know us, do not be angry with us as though we were lying about the good things we wish for you. What we have judged to be true and good we have not begrudged bringing to you; on the contrary, we have hastened to make you fellow heirs of the good things we have come to understand. For so one must speak to unbelievers. But that we are truly speaking the truth about what we say, you will not be able to know in any other way unless you first listen with a love of truth.

"So for the present, even if the serpent lurking in you wants to ensnare you in countless ways, suggesting evil thoughts and distractions, you ought all the more to strive against him by listening to us constantly. For you who have been so thoroughly deceived must sit with us and learn how to charm him; otherwise it is impossible. By charming I mean opposing their evil counsels with reason.

"Hence the Prophet of truth, knowing that the world had gone far astray and seeing that it had agreed with wickedness, did not love peace with it, since that peace rested on error. So to the end he brings war on all who are of one mind for wickedness, setting truth against error; and casting like fire into those who have come to their senses anger against the one who ensnared them, an anger like a sword, and holding out the word, he destroys ignorance by knowledge, as though cutting and separating the living from the dead. So, while wickedness is being conquered by the knowledge of the law, war held the whole world. For the sake of salvation a son who yielded was separated from his disobedient father, or a father from his child, a mother from her daughter, a daughter from her mother, and in short relatives from relatives and friends from companions.

"And let no one say: 'How is it just for parents to be separated from children and children from parents?' It is just, entirely so. For if, staying with them without helping them at all, they also perished with them, how is it not just that the one who wishes to be saved should be separated from the one who does not, but who wants him to perish too? Besides, those who had understood the better way did not themselves wish to be separated, but to stay with them and help them by instruction in better things. It was the disobedient, unwilling to listen to them, who made war on them, separating them, persecuting them, hating them. But those who suffered these things, pitying those ensnared by ignorance, prayed with the instruction of wisdom for those who mistreated them, having learned that ignorance is the cause of sin. For the Teacher himself, when he was nailed to the cross, prayed to the Father that the sin of those killing him be forgiven, saying: 'Father, forgive them their sins, for they do not know what they do.' Becoming imitators of the Teacher, they too, in their sufferings, prayed for those who mistreated them, as they had been taught. So they did not separate from their parents out of hatred, since they made constant prayers even for those who were not their parents or relatives but had become their enemies, and they try to love them, as they were commanded.

"But tell me: how do you love your parents? If it is always with an eye to what is just, I rejoice with you; but if it is by chance, then no, for you can become their enemies on a small pretext. And if you love them knowingly, tell us what parents are. You will say: 'The founders of one's race.' Why then have you not loved the founder of the race of all things, if indeed you undertook to do this with a just understanding? But even now you will say: 'We have not seen him.' Why then, without seeking him, do you flatter senseless things? What then? Even if it was hard for you to know what God is, you could not fail to know what is not God, so as to reason that God is not wood, not stone, not bronze, not anything else made of perishable matter.

"Were they not shaped by iron, and was not the iron that shaped them softened by fire, and is not fire itself quenched by water? And does not water have its motion from spirit, and does not the spirit have the beginning of its going forth from God who made all things? For so the prophet Moses said: 'In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. And the earth was invisible and unformed, and darkness was over the abyss, and the Spirit of God was borne over the water.' This Spirit, at God's word, like his hand, fashions all things, separating light from darkness, and after the invisible heaven spreading out the visible one, so that the regions above might be inhabited by the angels of light, and those below governed by man together with all the things made for his sake.

"For your sake, O man, God commanded the water on the face of the earth to withdraw, so that the earth might be able to bring you fruits; and he made channels to provide you with springs, so that riverbeds might appear and living creatures be brought forth; in short, so that everything might be at your service. Are not the winds borne for your sake to bring on the fruits, and the rains, and the changes of season? The sun and moon, with the other stars, accomplish their risings and settings for your sake, and rivers and lakes with the seas serve you. So, senseless one, as the greater honor was given to you, so for your ingratitude the greater punishment by fire has been prepared, because you would not know him whom you ought to have known before all things.

"Even now, recognize the cause of all things from the lesser: reason that water makes all things, that water receives its generation from the motion of spirit, and that spirit has its beginning from the God of all. So you should have reasoned, in order that by reason you might be able to arrive at God, so that you may recognize your own race and, being born again by the first-born water, may be made heir of the parents who begot you to incorruption.

"Come readily, then, as a son to a father, so that God may set down ignorance as the cause of your sins. But if even after being called you are unwilling or delay, you will perish by the just judgment of God, unwanted because you did not want. And do not think that, even if you become more godly than all the godly who ever lived, you will ever be able to attain hope if you are unbaptized. On the contrary, for this very reason you will undergo greater punishment, because you did good works not in a good way. For doing good is good when it is done as God commanded. But if you are unwilling to be baptized as he has decided, you serve your own will and set yourself against his counsel.

"But perhaps someone will say: 'What does being baptized with water contribute to godliness?' First, that you do what has pleased God. Second, being born again to God from water, because of fear, you exchange your first birth, which came about from desire, and so you can obtain salvation; otherwise it is impossible. For so the Prophet swore to us, saying: 'Truly I say to you, unless you are born again by living water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.' Therefore come. For there is something merciful there from the beginning, borne upon the water, which rescues from the coming punishment those who are baptized with the thrice-blessed invocation, offering to God as gifts the good deeds of the baptized done after their baptism. So flee to the water, for it alone can quench the violence of the fire. Whoever is still unwilling to come to it still carries the spirit of madness, because of which he will not come to the living water for his own salvation.

"Come, then, whether you are righteous or unrighteous. If you are righteous, the only thing you lacked for salvation was to be baptized, for the forgiveness of what was done in ignorance. If you are unrighteous, there remains for you good conduct after baptism in proportion to your ungodliness. So, whether you are righteous or unrighteous, hasten to be born to God, because delay brings danger, since the appointed time of death is unknown; and show by good deeds your likeness to the Father who begets you from water. As a lover of truth, honor the true God as father. And the honor due to him is that you live as he, being righteous, wishes. The will of the righteous one is that there be no wrongdoing. Wrongdoing is murdering, committing adultery, hating, being greedy, and the like; and there are many kinds of these.

"But along with these one must bring in something which has nothing in common with conduct toward other people but is proper to the worship of God: I mean keeping pure, not having intercourse with one's own wife while she is in her monthly separation, because the law of God commands this. And what if purity were not also bound up with the worship of God? You would gladly roll about like dung beetles. Therefore, as human beings who have something more than irrational animals, namely reason, cleanse your heart of evils by heavenly reasoning, and wash your body with bathing. For keeping pure is truly so, not because purity of body comes before cleansing of heart, but because cleanliness follows goodness. For our Teacher, too, reproved as hypocrites certain of the Pharisees and scribes among you, who are set apart and, as scribes, know the matters of the law better than others, because they kept pure only in what appears to men and neglected the purity of the heart, which is seen by God alone.

"So he used this explicit saying, truly, of the hypocrites among them, not of all; for of some he said that they should even be obeyed, because they had been entrusted with the seat of Moses. But to the hypocrites he said: 'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside it is full of filth. Blind Pharisee, clean first the inside of the cup and the dish, so that their outside also may become clean.' And rightly. For when the mind has been enlightened by knowledge, the one who has learned can be good, and becoming clean follows from that. For from the understanding within comes good care of the body without. As care for the understanding cannot come from indifference toward the body, so the pure man can cleanse both the outside and the inside; but the one who cleanses the outside does it looking to the praise of men, and from the praise of those who see it he has nothing with God.

"To whom is it not evident that it is better not to have intercourse with a woman during her period, but only after she has been purified and has washed? And after intercourse, too, one must wash. If you are reluctant to do this, recall how you pursued the various parts of purity when you worshipped senseless idols. Be ashamed that here, where you ought to take on, I do not say more, but simply the whole of purity, you become more hesitant. Consider, then, who it was that made you do those things there, and you will understand who it is that casts hesitation about purity into you here.

"But one of you will say: 'Must we then do all that we did among the idols?' I tell you: not all, but whatever you did well, and here more. For whatever is done well in error depends on the truth, just as, if anything is done badly in the truth, it comes from error. So take back what is your own from every quarter, not what belongs to others; and do not say, 'If those in error do something good, we ought not to do it.' For by this reasoning, if someone who worships idols does not murder, we ought to murder, because the one in error does not murder.

"No; rather, if those in error do not murder, let us not even be angry; if the one in error does not commit adultery, let us not even think of it in the first place; if the one in error loves the one who loves him, let us love even those who hate us; if the one in error lends to those who have, let us lend even to those who do not. In short, we who hope to inherit the endless age ought to do better than the good done by those who know only the present one, knowing that if on the day of judgment their works are examined beside ours and found equal in doing good, we shall be put to shame, while they, having acted against themselves through error, will perish. I have spoken of shame in this sense, that we did not do more than those whom we have also surpassed in knowledge. And if it is shameful to show them an equal, and not greater, doing of good, how much more if we show less than their doing of good?

"That on the day of judgment the deeds of those who have known the truth are indeed weighed against the good deeds of those in error, the One who does not lie himself taught us. To those who neglected to come and listen to him he said: 'The queen of the south will rise with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here, and you do not believe.' And to those among the people who would not repent at his preaching he said: 'The men of Nineveh will rise with this generation and condemn it, because when they heard they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater is here, and no one believes.' So, setting against all their ungodliness those from the nations who had done well, to condemn those in the true religion who had not done even equal good to those in error, he admonished those who have reason to do not only as much good as the nations, but more. My discourse ran on from the occasion of the need to observe the monthly separation and to wash after intercourse, and not to refuse such purity even if those in error practice it; for those in error who do well, without being saved, serve for the condemnation of those in the true religion, because their regard for purity is due to error and not to the worship of the true Father and God of all."

Having said this he dismissed the crowds, and as usual, having shared salt with his dearest friends, he rested. So, acting and discoursing in this way each time, he steadily brought people over to the law of God, refuting the supposed gods together with the supposed doctrine of birth-fate, and showing that there is no chance but the world is governed by providence.

When three months had been completed, he told me to fast for some days, and taking me to the springs near the sea, he baptized me as in ever-flowing water. When our brothers had feasted over my God-given rebirth, not many days later he turned to the presbyters in the presence of the whole church and charged them, saying: "Our Lord and Prophet who sent us told us that the evil one, having disputed with him forty days and being able to do nothing against him, promised to send apostles from among his own followers to deceive. Therefore remember above all: receive no apostle or teacher or prophet who has not first compared his preaching with James, who was called the brother of my Lord and was entrusted with governing the church of the Hebrews in Jerusalem, and who has not come to you with witnesses; so that the wickedness that disputed with the Lord for forty days and could do nothing may not afterward, falling like lightning from heaven to earth, send out a preacher against you, just as it has now put Simon forward against us, preaching in the name of our Lord under pretext of truth and sowing error. For this reason the one who sent us said: 'Many will come to me in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves; by their fruits you will know them.'"

Having said this, he sent the forerunners ahead to Antioch of Syria, telling them to wait there for the following day. When they had gone, Peter, from great crowds who had been persuaded, drove out diseases, afflictions, and demons; he baptized them in the springs near the sea, broke the eucharist, and appointed as bishop Maroones, who had received him and was by now perfected. He set apart twelve presbyters, designated deacons, and established the order of widows; and having spoken about the common good and what was profitable for the good order of the church, and having advised them to obey the bishop Maroones, now that three months had been completed he took leave of those in Tripolis of Phoenicia and set out on the road to Antioch of Syria.

So we left Tripolis in Phoenicia to go to Antioch in Syria, and on the same day we came to Orthosia and stayed there. Because it was near the city we had left, and almost everyone had already heard the preaching, we stayed only one day there and set out for Antaradus. Since many were travelling with us, Peter spoke with Nicetes and Aquila, saying: “Because the great crowd of our fellow travellers draws no small envy upon us as we enter each city, I have found it necessary to consider how neither they may be grieved by being prevented from being with us, nor we, by becoming conspicuous, may fall under the envy of wickedness. For this reason I want you, Nicetes and Aquila, to go ahead of me, dividing them into two groups scattered apart, and entering the cities of the Gentiles unnoticed.”

“I know that you are downcast, having heard that you must do this and be separated from me by a distance of not even two whole days. So I want you to know that we who persuaded you love you, who were persuaded, many times more than you, if indeed at all, love us who persuaded you. Loving one another, then, let us take thought for safety as far as it lies with us, by not doing whatever we wish without reason. Besides, you will not miss a single day of my discourses. For, as you also know, I have decided to stay for some days in the more notable cities of the provinces and to hold discussions there. So for now go ahead to Laodicea, which is nearest to us, and after two or three days, as far as my intention goes, I will overtake you. Wait for me at the gates, you alone, because of the commotion, so that we may enter together with you quietly. And from there likewise, after staying some days, others in your place will go ahead in turn to the places beyond, preparing lodgings.”

When Peter had said this, they were compelled to agree, saying: “It does not greatly grieve us, lord, to do this, since you command it. First, because you were chosen by the providence of God as one worthy to understand and to counsel everything well. Besides, for the most part it is only for two days that, because we must go ahead, we are separated from you. These days are many indeed when it comes to not seeing you, our lord Peter; yet we reckon that those who are sent much farther ahead will be grieved more, since they are ordered to wait for you longer in each city and are pained at being deprived longer of seeing your longed-for face. And we, no less downcast than they, do not object to doing as you command for the common good.” Having said this, they nevertheless went ahead, with instructions to speak to the travelling crowd at the first inn, so that they might enter the cities scattered apart from one another.

When they had gone, I, Clement, rejoiced greatly that he had ordered me to be with him. And I said in answer: “I thank God that you have not sent me away like the others, since I would have died of grief.” But he said: “What then? If there is ever need for you to be sent somewhere for the sake of instruction, will you die because you are separated from me for a little while for a good purpose? Will you not rather reason with yourself and cheerfully bear what is laid on you by necessity? Or do you not know that friends are together in memory even when they are apart in body? Just as some who are together in body are away from their friends in soul through forgetfulness.”

And I answered: “Do not think, then, lord, that I was going to feel grief foolishly; rather, it was from quite sound reasoning. For since I have you, my lord, in place of all, father and mother and brothers and relatives, you who became for me, through God, the cause of the saving truth, I find in having you in place of all the greatest consolation. Besides, fearing also the natural desire of my youth, I was anxious lest, if I were left without you, being a younger man, I should be overcome by desire; whereas now I am so resolved that, unless through some wrath of God, it is impossible for me to leave you. But since it is much better and safer for me to be with you, whom my mind has rightly come to revere, I therefore pray to be with you always. Besides, I remember that you said in Caesarea: ‘If anyone wishes to travel with me, let him travel piously.’ By ‘piously’ you meant that no one should grieve anyone in a way contrary to God, for example by leaving parents, or a like-minded wife, or any others devoted to godliness. So I am in every way a suitable travelling companion for you; and if you would grant me the greatest favour, allow me to do for you the services of a slave.”

When Peter heard this, he laughed and said: “What then do you think, Clement? Will you not be put in the place of my slaves by sheer necessity? For who will look after my many fine linen garments, together with my rings and shoes? And who will prepare the sweet and costly dishes, which, being varied, need many skilled cooks, and all those things that are procured with all greed and prepared for effeminate men, for their desire as for a great beast? But such a wish has crept into you, perhaps because you do not understand and do not know my way of life: that I use only bread and olives, and rarely vegetables; and that I have one garment and a worn cloak, this very one I have on, and I need no other, nor anything else. For in these I have even more than enough. For my mind, seeing all the eternal good things there, looks at none of the things here. Still, I accept your good intention, and I praise it with wonder: how you, a man from costly habits, have easily changed your life to what is necessary. For from childhood, I and Andrew, my brother by blood and also my brother according to God, were not only brought up as orphans but, through poverty and hardship, were also accustomed to labour; so now we easily bear the fatigues of the roads. So if you would listen to me, you would allow me, a working man, to perform the part of a slave for you.”

When I heard this I began to tremble and weep, that such a word should be spoken by a man to whom all men of the present generation are inferior in the word of knowledge and piety. When he saw me in tears, he asked the reason for my tears. And I said: “What great sin have I committed that you should say such a thing to me?” And Peter answered: “If I have spoken wrongly in saying I would serve you, you sinned first, in asking me to do this.” And I said: “It is not the same. It is very fitting for me to do this; but for you, the herald of God who saves our souls, to do this for me is a grievous thing.” And Peter answered: “I would have agreed with you, except that our Lord, who came for the salvation of the whole world, and who alone is noble above all, submitted to slavery, in order to persuade us not to be ashamed to do the services of slaves for our brothers, even if we are very nobly born.” And I said: “If I think I can overcome you in argument, I am a fool; but I give thanks to the providence of God that I have been counted worthy to have you in place of parents.”

And Peter asked: “Do you really have no one of your family?” And I answered: “There are indeed many great men, relatives of Caesar. Hence Caesar himself gave my father, as one who had been brought up with him, a wife who was his own kinswoman. From her we were born three sons, two before me, who were twins and were very like one another, as my father himself told me. For I do not really know either them or the mother who bore me, but I recall their appearance dimly, as in dreams. My mother was called Mattidia, my father Faustus, and of my brothers one was called Faustinus and the other Faustinianus. After I, the third, was born to them, my mother saw a dream, as my father related, that unless she took her twin sons away with her and left the city of Rome to live abroad for ten years, she and they would die by a death of utter destruction.”

“My father, who loved his children, provided them amply with male and female slaves, put them on a ship, and sent them to Athens to be educated together, but kept me, his only remaining son, with him for his consolation. And for this I give much thanks, that the dream had not ordered me too to leave the city of Rome with my mother. When a year had passed, my father sent money to Athens for his family, and at the same time to learn how they were doing. But those who went did not come back. In the third year my father, downcast, sent others likewise with provisions, who came back in the fourth year reporting that they had seen neither my mother nor my brothers, that they had never even arrived in Athens, and that they had found not so much as a trace of any of those who had gone with them.”

“When my father heard this, he was stunned with great grief, and not knowing where to turn to search for them, he took me and went down to Portus, and asked many people again and again where each of them had seen or heard of a shipwreck in the last four years. One said one place, another another. He asked in turn whether they had seen the body of a woman with little children cast up by the sea. When many said they had seen corpses in many places, my father groaned as he heard it; yet, troubled in his heart, he kept asking unreasonably, as if he were trying to search the vastness of the sea. But he was to be forgiven, since through his affection for those he was seeking he fed himself on empty hopes. And at last he placed me under guardians and left me in Rome, twelve years old, and went down in tears to Portus, boarded a ship, put to sea, and went on the search. From that time to this day I have received no letters from him, nor do I know for certain whether he is alive or dead. Rather, I suspect that he too has died somewhere, either overcome by grief or overtaken by shipwreck. A sign of this is that it is now the twentieth year since then, during which I have heard nothing true about him.”

When Peter heard this, he wept for sympathy, and at once said to the faithful companions who were with him: “If some godly man had suffered what this man's father has suffered, people would at once have attached the cause to the doctrine of godliness, blaming the evil one. So it happens that the wretched Gentiles suffer such things too, and we godly people do not know it. And I have rightly called them wretched, because here they wander, and they do not obtain the hope there. For those who suffer afflictions in godliness suffer them for the payment of their transgressions.”

When Peter had said this, one of our number took courage and asked him on behalf of all to sail over early the next morning to Aradus, the island opposite, less, I think, than thirty stadia away, to see the two vine-wood columns there, which are of very great girth. The obliging Peter agreed, saying: “When you get out of the boat, do not go many of you together to see what you desire; for I do not want the citizens' eyes turned toward us.” And so we sailed and in a short hour landed on the island. Getting out of the boat, we went in to where the vine-wood columns were, and at the same time one looked at one and another at another of the works of Phidias.

Peter alone did not think it necessary to go and look at the sights there. But noticing a woman who sat outside before the doors and kept begging for food, he said: “Woman, which of your limbs is lacking, that you have accepted such a disgrace, I mean begging, and do not rather work with the hands God has given you and earn your daily food?” She groaned and answered: “Would that I had hands able to work! But now they keep only the shape of hands; they are dead, tortured by my own biting.” And Peter asked: “What is the reason you have suffered this dreadful thing?” She answered: “Weakness of soul, and nothing more. For if I had had a man's courage, there was a cliff or a deep sea from which I could have thrown myself and put an end to the evils that torment me.”

And Peter said: “What then? Do you think, woman, that those who kill themselves are altogether freed from punishment? Are not rather the souls of those who die in this way punished in Hades with a worse punishment for their self-murder?” She said: “Would that I were persuaded that souls really are found alive in Hades! Then I would gladly die, despising the punishment, so that I might see my beloved ones even for one hour.” And Peter said: “I would like to learn, woman, what it is that grieves you. For if you tell me, in return for this favour I will fully convince you that souls live in Hades, and instead of a cliff or a deep sea I will give you a remedy, so that you may be able to pass from this life without torment.”

The woman, not understanding what had been said ambiguously, and pleased with the promise, began to speak thus: “If I told you my family and country, I do not think I could ever convince anyone. Besides, what difference does it make to you to learn that, rather than only the reason why in my anguish I have deadened my hands with biting? Still, I will tell you my story, so far as it is possible for you to hear it. I was of very noble birth, and by the order of a certain ruler I became the wife of a man who was his relative. After twin children I had another son. But my husband's brother fell madly in love with me, wretched woman that I am, though I greatly loved chastity. Not wishing either to consent to my lover or to disclose to my husband his brother's love for me, I considered how I might neither defile myself by committing adultery, nor dishonour my husband's bed, nor set brother at war with brother, nor expose the whole family, which is a great one, to the reproach of all. As I said, I decided to leave the city with my twin children for a time, until the foul love of the man who flattered me to my dishonour should cease. The other son, however, I left with his father, to stay with him for his comfort.”

“But so that this might be done, I thought of inventing a dream, as though someone had stood by me at night and said: ‘Woman, leave the city at once with your twin children for a time, until I tell you to come back here; otherwise you will suddenly die a miserable death together with your husband and all your children.’ And so I did. For as soon as I had told my husband the false dream, he became very afraid and sent me by sea to Athens with my two sons, with male and female slaves and plenty of money, to educate the sons, ‘until,’ he said, ‘the one who gave the oracle decides that you should come back to me.’ But as I, wretched woman, was sailing with my children, I was driven by the violence of the winds to these parts; the ship broke up at night, and I was shipwrecked. When all the rest had died, I alone, unhappy one, was struck by a violent wave and thrown onto a rock. Sitting on it, miserable as I was, in the hope of finding my children alive I did not throw myself into the deep then, when, with my soul drunk with the waves, I could easily have done it.”

“But when morning came, crying loudly and wailing bitterly, I looked all around, seeking the dead bodies of my poor little ones. The local people took pity on me, seeing me naked; they first clothed me, and then searched the deep, looking for my children. And when they found nothing of what they sought, some of the hospitable women came to comfort me, each telling her own misfortunes, so that I might find comfort in the like calamity of others; but that grieved me the more. For I said I was not so wicked as to find comfort in the misfortunes of others. And when many were asking to take me into their homes, a certain poor woman of this place pressed me hard and made me come to her dwelling, saying to me: ‘Take courage, woman. My husband too, a sailor, died at sea while he was still young; and since then, though many have asked me in marriage, I have chosen to remain a widow, out of longing for my husband. What we can both earn with our hands we shall share.’”

“Not to lengthen my story with unnecessary words, I lived with her because of her love for her husband. Not long afterwards my hands, wretched woman that I am, became paralysed from my biting, and the woman who took me in was completely bound up by some disease and lies helpless in the house. So since the pity of the women of former days has faded, and both I and she at home are disabled, I have sat here begging for a long time, as you see, and what I obtain I take to my fellow sufferer for our food. Let this be enough said about my affairs. Now what hinders you from fulfilling your promise to give me the remedy, so that I may give it also to her, who wishes to die, and so I too may be able to pass from life, as you said?”

When the woman had said this, Peter seemed to stand lost in many thoughts. I came up and said: “I have been going around looking for you for a long while; and now what are we to do?” Peter ordered me to go ahead and wait for him at the boat. Since it was not possible to contradict him when he gave an order, I did what I was told. But Peter, his heart throbbing with a slight suspicion, as he himself afterwards told me everything, questioned the woman, saying: “Tell me, woman, your family and your city and the names of your children, and I will give you the remedy at once.” She, under pressure and unwilling to tell, yet eager to receive the remedy, cleverly said one thing for another. So she said that she was an Ephesian and her husband a Sicilian, and she likewise changed the names of her three children. Peter, thinking she spoke the truth, said: “Alas, woman! I thought I would celebrate a great joy this day, suspecting that you were someone I thought of, whose affairs I have heard and know exactly.” But she adjured him, saying: “Please tell me, so that I may know whether there is any woman more wretched than I.”

Peter, not knowing that she was lying, out of pity for her began to tell the truth: “A certain young man now accompanies me, eager for the doctrines of godliness, a Roman citizen, who tells me how he has a father and two twin brothers but sees none of them. ‘For my mother,’ he says, ‘as my father told me, saw a dream and left the city of Rome for a time with her twin children, so as not to die an evil death; and having gone away with them she cannot be found. And her husband, his father, himself also went in search of them and cannot be found.’”

When Peter had said this, the woman, who had been listening intently, fainted as if from shock. Peter went up, held her, and urged her to recover herself, persuading her to confess what it was that she was feeling. She, like one whose body is limp after drunkenness, collected herself so as to be able to bear the greatness of the joy she hoped for, and, rubbing her face, said: “Where is this young man?” Peter, who now understood the whole matter, said: “You tell me first; otherwise you cannot see him.” She said hastily: “I am the young man's mother.” And Peter said: “What is his name?” She said: “Clement.” And Peter said: “It is he, and he was the one who spoke to me a little while ago, whom I ordered to wait for me at the boat.” She fell at Peter's feet and begged him to hurry to the boat. And Peter said: “If you keep our agreement, I will do this too.” She said: “I will do everything; only show me my only child. For through him I shall think I see my two children who died here.” And Peter said: “When you see him, keep quiet until we leave the island.” She said: “I will do so.”

So Peter took her by the hand and led her to the boat. When I saw him leading a woman by the hand, I laughed, and coming up, out of respect for him, I tried to lead her by the hand in his place. As soon as I touched her hand, she cried out loudly, as a mother would, embraced me, and kissed me warmly, her son. But I, knowing nothing of the matter, shook her off as a madwoman, but out of respect for Peter I held myself back.

But Peter said: “Stop! What are you doing, my son Clement, shaking off your own mother?” When I heard this I burst into tears, and falling down beside my mother, who had fallen, I kissed her. For as soon as this was said to me, I somehow dimly recalled her face. Great crowds ran together to see the beggar woman, saying to one another that her son, a distinguished man, had recognized her. When we wanted to leave the island at once with my mother, my mother said: “My dear child, it is right that I should take leave of the woman who took me in, who is poor and completely paralysed and lies helpless in her house.” When Peter heard this, he admired the woman's good disposition, as did all the crowds standing around. And at once Peter ordered some to go and bring the woman on a bed. When the bed had been brought and set down, Peter said in the hearing of all the crowds: “If I am a herald of the truth, then for the faith of those standing by, that they may know that there is one God, who made the world, let her rise up at once healed.” As soon as Peter had said this, the woman rose up healed and fell at Peter's feet; and kissing her old friend, she asked what this meant. She told her briefly the whole story of the recognition, and those who heard were astonished. Then my mother too, seeing that her hostess had been healed, begged that she also might obtain healing. And he laid his hand on her and healed her too.

Then Peter spoke to them about God and the worship due to him, adding at the end: “If anyone wishes to learn these things exactly, let him come to Antioch, where I have decided to stay for many days, and learn what concerns his salvation. For if you know how to leave your native lands for the sake of trade or military service and go away to distant places, surely you will not refuse to travel even a three days' journey for eternal salvation.” After Peter's address I gave the healed woman, in the presence of the whole crowd, a thousand drachmas for her support, entrusting her to a good man, the first man of the city, who by nature was glad to do this. I also distributed money to many others, and thanked the women who had once comforted my mother; then I sailed across to Antaradus with my mother, Peter, and the rest of our companions; and so we went on to our lodging.

When we had arrived, had taken food, and had given thanks as usual, while there was still time I said to Peter: “My mother, my lord Peter, has done a work of love for humanity in remembering the woman who took her in.” And Peter answered: “Do you really think, Clement, that your mother did a work of love for humanity in repaying the woman who took her in after the shipwreck? Or did you say this as a great compliment to your mother? If you said it not as a compliment but as the truth, you seem to me not to know what the greatness of love for humanity is: it is affection toward anyone whatever, simply because he is a human being, without anything that naturally induces it. Indeed, I do not yet dare to call even the hostess who received your mother after the shipwreck a lover of humanity. For she was moved by pity and persuaded to become the benefactress of a woman who had suffered shipwreck, who was mourning her children, a stranger, naked, alone, and bitterly lamenting her calamities. When she was in so many calamities, who, even among the ungodly, would not have pitied her on seeing her? So not even the hostess appears yet to have done a work of love for humanity; she was moved to kindness by pity at countless calamities. How much more is it true that your mother, who has become well off and has repaid her hostess, did a work not of love for humanity but of friendship! There is a great difference between friendship and love for humanity: friendship arises from exchange, while love for humanity, without anything that naturally induces it, loves and does good to every human being simply as a human being. If, then, the hostess who showed pity had done good even to enemies who had wronged her, showing them pity, she would have been a lover of humanity. But one who is a friend or an enemy for some reason is the friend or enemy of that reason, not of the human being.”

And I answered: “Then does not even the hostess seem to you a lover of humanity, since she did good to a stranger whom she did not know?” And Peter said: “I can call her merciful, but I do not dare call her a lover of humanity, just as I would not call a mother a lover of her children; for she is led to love them by her birth-pangs and by rearing them. As the lover is won by familiarity and the marriage bed, and the friend by exchange, so the one who pities is won by misfortune. Yet the merciful person is close to the lover of humanity, because he is persuaded to do good without seeking to receive anything; but he is not yet a lover of humanity.” And I said: “By what deeds, then, can someone be a lover of humanity?” And Peter answered: “Since I see that you long to hear what the work of love for humanity is, I will not hesitate to tell you. A lover of humanity is one who does good even to his enemies. Hear why this is so. Love for humanity is male and female: its female part is called mercy, and its male part is named love toward one's neighbour. And a human being's neighbour is every human being, not just one particular person; for the bad and the good, the enemy and the friend, are all human beings. So one who practises love for humanity must be an imitator of God, doing good to the just and the unjust, as God himself provides his sun and his rains to all in the present world. But if you want to do good to the good and no longer to the bad, or even to punish them, you are undertaking to do the work of a judge, not striving to have love for humanity.”

And I said: “Then is not God, who will one day judge, as you teach us, a lover of humanity?” And Peter said: “You are saying the opposite of the truth. It is because he judges that he is a lover of humanity. For, loving and pitying those who have been wronged, he punishes those who did the wrong.” And I said: “Then if I too do good to the good and punish the wrongdoers insofar as they have wronged human beings, am I not a lover of humanity?” And Peter answered: “If, together with foreknowledge, you also had authority to judge, you would do this rightly: because of having received the authority, you would condemn those whom God created; and because of the foreknowledge, you would judge without error, acquitting some as just and condemning others as unjust.” And I said: “You have spoken rightly and truly, for it is impossible for someone without foreknowledge to judge rightly. Sometimes some appear good while secretly committing unlawful deeds, and some good people are taken to be bad through the slander of enemies. And even if someone judges who has authority to torture and to examine, not even so would it come about that he judges entirely justly. For some who were murderers endured the tortures and were released as innocent, while others who were innocent could not endure the tortures, lied against themselves, and were punished as guilty.”

And Peter said: “These things too are fair enough; but hear the greater point. When some people sin or do well, some of the things they now do are their own and some are not their own. It is just that each should be punished for his own sins and rewarded for his own good deeds. But it is impossible for anyone except a prophet alone, who has foreknowledge, to know which of the things done by someone are his own and which were not; for all are seen as done through him.” And I said: “I would like to learn how, of wrongs and good deeds, some are one's own and others not one's own.”

And Peter answered: “The prophet of truth said: ‘Good things must come, and blessed,’ he says, ‘is he through whom they come; likewise evil things must come, but woe to him through whom they come.’ Now if evil things come through evil people, and good things are brought through good people, then to each must belong what is his own, being good or bad; and, because of what he did before, the later good or evil things come through him, which, being his own by his choice, have been arranged by God's providence to pass through him. This, then, is God's judgment: that, as in a contest, the one who has passed through every hardship and been found blameless is counted worthy of eternal life. For those who by their own will have advanced in good things are tested by those who by their own will have remained in wickedness: they are persecuted, hated, reviled, plotted against, struck, defrauded, slandered, pressed into forced service, insulted, suffering all those things by which it seems reasonable to become angry and to rush to retaliation.”

“But the Teacher, knowing that those who do these things unjustly are already condemned for earlier sins, and that the spirit of wickedness works these things through the condemned, counselled us to pity these people, insofar as they are human beings and have become instruments of wickedness through sin, as those who practise love for humanity; and, as far as it lies with those who are wronged, even to release the wrongdoers from their condemnation, so that, like the sober helping the drunk, they may help them with prayers, fastings, and blessings, not resisting, not retaliating, so as not to drive them to sin still more. For when someone has been altogether destined to suffer, it is not reasonable for him to be angry with the one through whom the suffering comes, but to reason that even if that man had not afflicted him, since he was altogether going to be afflicted, he would have suffered through another. Why then am I angry with the one who treated me so, when I was in any case destined to suffer? Moreover, if under pretext of retaliation we do the same as the wicked, then we the good, doing the same as the wicked second rather than first, differ from them only in that. And as I said, one should not be angry, knowing that by God's providence the wicked punish the good. So those who are harsh with those who punish them sin, as insulting the messengers of God; but those who honour those thought to do them wrong and treat them in the opposite way show piety toward God, who so decided.”

And I answered this: “Then those who do wrong are not guilty, since it is by the judgment of God that they wrong the righteous.” And Peter said: “Indeed they sin greatly, for they have given themselves up to sinning. Hence God, who knows all, chooses them to punish justly those who have repented of their former sins, so that for the righteous the evils committed before their repentance may be forgiven through such punishment. But to the ungodly punishers, who desire to afflict and are unwilling to repent, it has been permitted to afflict the righteous so as to fill up the measure of their own punishment. For without God's will not even a sparrow can fall into a snare; so too the hairs of the righteous are numbered by God.”

“The righteous man is the one who fights against nature for the sake of what is reasonable. For example, it belongs to all by nature to love those who love them; the righteous man tries to love even his enemies and to bless those who revile him, and moreover to pray for his enemies and to pity those who wrong him. Therefore he refrains from doing wrong first even when wronged, and he blesses those who curse him, forgives those who strike him, gives way to those who persecute him, greets those who do not greet him, shares what he has with those who have not, persuades the angry, reconciles the enemy, exhorts the disobedient, instructs the unbeliever, comforts the mourner, bears it when insulted, is not angry when met with ingratitude. Having given himself to loving his neighbour as himself, he does not fear poverty, but, sharing his goods with those who have not, he becomes poor. Nor does he punish one who sins. For one who loves his neighbour as himself, as he knows that when he himself has sinned he does not wish to be punished, so he does not punish those who sin. And as he wishes to be treated kindly, to be blessed, to be honoured, and to have all his sins forgiven, this he does for his neighbour, loving him as himself. In a word, what he wishes for himself he wishes also for his neighbour. For this is the law of God and of the prophets; this is the teaching of the truth. These things, then, perfect love toward every human being, are the male part of love for humanity; and pitying is its female part: that is, to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to visit the sick, to receive the stranger, to appear and help, as far as possible, one who is in prison, in short, to pity the one in misfortune.”

When I heard this I said: “These things can be done; but to do good to enemies, bearing all their insults, I do not think is possible for human nature.” And Peter answered: “You are right; for love for humanity, being the cause of immortality, is given at a great price.” And I said: “How then can one come to grasp it?” And Peter answered: “It can be grasped, my dear Clement, if one is fully convinced that enemies, by afflicting for a time those whom they hate, become for them the cause of release from eternal punishment; and more than that, they will love them greatly as benefactors. And the way to obtain it, my dear Clement, is one only: the fear of God. For one who fears God cannot at first love his neighbour as himself; when commanded to do so, it does not come to his soul. But through the fear of God he can do the deeds of those who love; and then, when he has done the deeds of love, loving is brought to fear as a bride to a bridegroom. And so, giving birth to thoughts of love for humanity, it makes its possessor immortal, as a faithful image of God, whose nature cannot be outraged by corruption.” When he had set out for us this discourse on love for humanity, evening came on, and we turned to sleep.

At daybreak Peter came in and said: “Let Clement, with his mother Mattidia and my wife, sit together in the carriage.” And so it was done. As we set out on the road to Balaneae, my mother asked me how my father was. And I said: “He went out in search of you and of my twin brothers Faustinus and Faustinianus, and cannot be found. I think he died long ago, either overtaken by shipwreck, or lost on the road, or wasted away by grief.” When she heard this, she burst into tears and groaned in grief; but, rejoicing at having found me, she somewhat dulled the grief the memory brought. So we reached Balaneae. On the next day we came to Paltus, and from there to Gabala; and on the day after we reached Laodicea. And there, before the gates, Nicetes and Aquila met us, kissed us, and brought us to our lodging. Peter, seeing a fine and great city, said: “It is worth staying here some days. For, as a rule, a large population is better able to produce those we seek.” Nicetes and Aquila asked me who this strange woman was. And I said: “My mother, whom God granted me to recognize through my lord Peter.”

When I had said this, Peter told them everything in summary: how, when they had gone ahead, I, Clement, had told him my family history, and my mother's departure with her twin children on the pretext of the invented dream, and also my father's departure in search of her; and then how Peter himself, after hearing this, went onto the island, met the woman, saw her begging, asked the reason for her begging, and learned her family, her way of life, the invented dream, and the names of her children: mine, who had been left with my father, and those of the twin children who had travelled with her and who were supposed to have died in the deep.

When Peter had told this in summary, Nicetes and Aquila were astonished and said: “Master and lord of all, is this true, or is it a dream?” And Peter said: “Unless we are asleep, it is true.” They waited a little, deep in thought, and said: “We are Faustinus and Faustinianus. From the beginning of your account we looked at each other and guessed much about ourselves, wondering whether what was said might concern us, since we reasoned that many similar things happen in life; so we kept silent, though our hearts were throbbing. But when we saw toward the end of the account that the things said concerned us, then we declared who we were.” Having said this, they went in to their mother in tears, and finding her asleep, they wanted to embrace her at once. But Peter stopped them, saying: “Let me bring you and present you to your mother, in case she should lose her senses from such great and sudden joy, since she is asleep and her spirit is held fast by sleep.”

When she had had enough sleep and was awake, Peter brought them to her and began to say: “I want you to know, woman, the way of life of our religion. We worship one God, who made the world that you see, and we keep his law, which contains first of all to worship him alone and to hallow his name, to honour parents, to be chaste, and to live uprightly. Besides this, since we do not live indiscriminately, we do not partake of the table of the Gentiles, because we cannot even eat with them, since they live impurely. But when we have persuaded them to think and to do the things of the truth, and have baptized them with a thrice-blessed invocation, then we eat with them. For even if it were a father or a mother, or a wife, or a child, or a brother, or anyone else who has a natural claim on our affection, we cannot venture to eat with him; for we do this out of religion. So do not consider it an insult that your son does not eat with you, until you think and do the same things.”

When she heard this, she said: “What then prevents me from being baptized today? Even before I saw you, I had turned away from the so-called gods, reasoning that, though I sacrificed to them a great deal, almost every day, they did not stand by me in my needs. And what need is there even to speak of adultery? For not even when I was rich did luxury lead me astray into it, nor has the poverty that followed been able to force me into it, since I cling to my chastity as the greatest beauty, for whose sake I fell into such great trouble. But I do not think you are unaware, my lord Peter, that the greater part of desire arises from good cheer. So I, who was chaste in good cheer, do not give myself up to pleasures in despondency. But do not think that even now my soul has been freed from affliction, although it has received some comfort through the recognition of Clement. For the despondency over my two children comes in again and dims what joy I have. For I could be consoled for them, that they perished in the sea, but not that, besides this, they perished body and soul outside the walls of the worship of God. And their father, my husband, as I learned from Clement, went out to seek me and our sons and has not been seen for so many years; surely he has died. For the poor man, loving me because of my chastity, also loved his children. So, deprived of all of us whom he loved above all things, the old man died of the deepest despondency.”

As their mother said this, the sons, who were listening as Peter had advised, could no longer contain themselves, but rose up and embraced her, weeping much and kissing her. She said: “What is the meaning of this?” And Peter answered: “Set your mind firmly, woman, so that you may enjoy your children. For these are Faustinus and Faustinianus, your sons, who you said had died in the deep. How they are alive, though they died, as far as you knew, on that most dreadful night, and how one of them is now called Nicetes and the other Aquila, they themselves will be able to tell you; for we, with you, have yet to learn it.” When Peter said this, our mother rejoiced so greatly that she almost died from faintness. When we had revived her, she sat up, and coming to herself she said: “Please, my beloved children, tell us what happened to you after that dreadful night.”

And Nicetes, from now on Faustinus, began to speak: “On that same night, when, as you know, the ship was breaking up, some men who did not fear to practise piracy on the deep took us up, put us in a boat, and rowing, sometimes carried us along the coast, sometimes sent for provisions, and brought us to Strato's Caesarea. There, while we wept, by hunger, fear, and blows, so that we should not rashly say anything they did not want, and also by changing our names, they managed to sell us. A certain woman, a proselyte to the Jews, a very distinguished person, named Justa, bought us and kept us as her children, and had us carefully educated in all Greek learning. When we came to years of understanding, we both came to love her religion and laboured at our studies, so that in debating with the other nations we might be able to refute them concerning their error. We also studied the philosophers thoroughly, especially the most godless, I mean the teachings of Epicurus and Pyrrho, so that we might be better able to overturn them.”

“Having been brought up almost together with a certain Simon, a magician, we were in danger of being deceived by way of friendship. There is a doctrine about a certain man, at whose appearance the multitude of those who have worshipped God will live in his kingdom without death and without grief; but this, mother, will be explained to you more exactly in due time. When we were about to be deceived by Simon, a companion of our lord Peter named Zacchaeus took us up and warned us not to be deceived by the magician, and when Peter arrived he brought us to him, so that he might fully assure us and persuade us of what concerns the worship of God. So we pray, mother, that you too may share in the good things we have been counted worthy of, so that we may be able to share salt and table together. This, then, mother, is the reason why you thought we were dead: on that most dreadful night we were taken up at sea by pirates, and you thought we had perished.”

When Faustinus had said this, our mother fell at Peter's feet, begging and asking him to send for her hostess and to baptize both of them at once, “so that,” she said, “not a single day may pass, from the day I recovered my children, on which I do not eat with them.” When we too joined our mother in asking the same, Peter said: “What do you think? Am I alone heartless, that I do not wish you to eat with your mother by baptizing her today? But she must fast at least one day before being baptized. And that only because she simply spoke a word on her own behalf which I perceived to be a sufficient interpreter of her faith; otherwise she would have needed many days to be cleansed of her paganism.”

And I said: “Tell us what word she spoke by which she showed her faith.” And Peter said: “Her request that her hostess and benefactress should be baptized with her. She would not have asked for this to be given to the woman she loves, unless she herself had first come to regard baptism as a great gift. Hence I condemn many who, after being baptized and saying that they believe, do nothing worthy of faith, and do not urge those whom they love, I mean their wives or sons or friends, to this. For if they had believed that God gives eternal life with good works, they would have urged those they loved to be baptized without delay. But one of you will say: ‘They love them and care for them.’ That is foolish. For why, when they see them sick, or being led away to death, or suffering some other hardship, do they lament and pity them? In the same way, if they had believed that eternal fire awaits those who do not worship God, they would not have ceased admonishing them, or, seeing them disobedient, grieving over them as unbelievers, being fully assured of the punishment awaiting them. And now I will send for the hostess and question her whether she chooses to love the law proclaimed through us; and so we will do what must be done accordingly.”

“But since your mother is faithfully disposed toward baptism, let her fast at least one day before baptism.” But she swore: “For two of the past days, while I told the woman about the recognition, I could not take food for great joy, except only a little water yesterday.” And Peter's wife confirmed the oath, saying: “Truly she has not tasted anything.” And Aquila, or rather from now on Faustinus, said: “Then nothing prevents her from being baptized.” And Peter laughed and answered: “But that is not a baptismal fast which was not kept for the sake of baptism.” And Faustinus answered: “Perhaps God, wishing that our mother should not be separated from our table on any day since she recognized us, arranged the fast beforehand. For as she lived chastely in her ignorance, doing what befits the truth, so now too perhaps God arranged that she should fast one day beforehand, in her ignorance, for the sake of the true baptism, so that from the first day of recognizing us she might be able to share salt with us.”

And Peter said: “Let not wickedness overcome us, finding a pretext in providence and in your affection for your mother. Rather, let you, and I with you, continue the fast today, and tomorrow she will be baptized. For the hour of today is not suitable for baptism either.” And so we all agreed that it should be so.

That same evening we all enjoyed Peter's teaching. Taking occasion from what had happened to our mother, he showed us why the outcomes of chastity are good, while those of adultery are grievous and by nature bring destruction on a whole family, if not quickly, then at least slowly. “So greatly,” he said, “do the deeds of chastity please God, that even to those who are in error he grants some small favour for it in this present life (for salvation there is given only to those who have been baptized because of their hope in him and who act rightly with chastity). You have seen this happen in the case of your mother, I mean the good things at the end. Perhaps, if she had committed adultery, she would have been killed. Therefore God, pitying her for her chastity, turned away the death that threatened her and gave back the children who had been taken from her.”

“But perhaps someone will say: ‘How many have perished because of chastity!’ I say that it was because they did not perceive the danger. For a woman who perceives that someone loves her or that she loves someone must at once flee all contact with him, as from a blazing fire or a rabid dog. This is what the mother who bore you did, truly loving the good of chastity. Therefore she was preserved and, together with us, received the knowledge of the eternal kingdom. The woman who wishes to be chaste must know that, envied by wickedness, she has many plotting against her under pretext of love. But if she remains honourable in the one resolve to be chaste, she will win the victory over all and be saved. For even if someone should do all good things, for the one sin of adultery he must be punished, as the prophet said.”

“The chaste woman who does the will of God becomes a good reminder of his first creation: that God, being one, created one woman for one man. She remains still more chaste if she does not forget the creation, foresees the punishment, and is not ignorant of the loss of eternal goods. The chaste woman, delighting in those who wish to be saved, is a godly example to those who worship God; for she is a law of good living. She who wishes to be chaste cuts off the occasions of reproach; and if, giving no occasion, she is reviled as by an enemy, she is blessed and avenged by God. The chaste woman longs for God, loves God, delights God, glorifies God; she gives men no occasion for reproach. The chaste woman perfumes the church with good honour and glorifies it for its dignity; moreover she is the praise of her teachers, and a fellow worker with them in their chastity.”

“The chaste woman is adorned as for her bridegroom, the Son of God, clothed in holy light. Her beauty is the good order in her soul. She breathes the perfume of a good name. She wears fine things: she is clothed with modesty. She wears precious pearls, the words that make for chastity. She is white when she has been made radiant in mind. She looks in a fine mirror, gazing on God. She uses fine adornment, admonishing her soul with the fear of God. Beautiful is the woman, not bound in chains of gold, but freed from passing desires. The chaste woman is longed for by the great King; she is betrothed to him, kept for him, loved by him. The chaste woman gives no occasion to be desired, except to her own husband. The chaste woman is grieved when she is desired by another. The chaste woman loves her husband from the heart, kisses him, soothes him, pleases him, serves him, obeys him in everything, except where it would mean disobeying God. For she who obeys God is chaste in soul and pure in body without guards.”

“Foolish, therefore, is every husband who separates his wife from the fear of God. For she who does not fear God does not fear her husband either. If she does not fear God, who sees what is unseen, how will she be chaste toward one who does not see? And how will she be chaste who does not come to hear the words that make for chastity? How will she receive admonition? And how will she be chaste without guards, if she is not taught the coming judgment of God, nor fully assured of the eternal loss that follows a little pleasure? So, on the contrary, compel her, even against her will, always to come to the word that makes for chastity; coax her.”

“But much better if you lead her by the hand and come, so that you yourself may also become chaste. For you will wish to become chaste, so that you may know the fulfilment of an honourable marriage; and you will not hesitate, if you desire it, I mean to become a father, to love your own children and be loved by your own children. He who wishes to have a chaste wife is himself chaste: he renders the marriage bed that is due, eats with her, keeps company with her, comes with her to the word that makes for chastity, does not grieve her, does not quarrel without cause, does not make himself hateful, provides what good things he can, and where he lacks, makes up for what grieves her with tenderness. The chaste wife does not wait to be coaxed; she acknowledges her husband as lord, bears poverty with him when he is poor, goes hungry with him when he is hungry, travels with him when he travels, comforts him when he is grieved, and, even if she has the larger dowry, submits as though she had nothing. And the husband, even if he has a poor wife, should count her chastity a great dowry. The chaste wife uses food and drink sparingly, so that the weight of a pampered body may not drag the soul down to lawless desires. Moreover she does not keep private company with young men, and is wary even of old men; she rejects unruly laughter; giving herself to God alone, she does not go astray; she delights to hear honourable words, and rejects those not spoken for the sake of chastity.”

“God is witness: one adultery is many murders. And the terrible thing is that the dreadfulness and ungodliness of its murders is not seen. For when blood is shed, a dead body lies there, and the horror of the calamity strikes all. But the murders of the soul by adultery, though more dreadful, because they are not seen by men, give those who dare them an unhesitating impulse. Know, O man, whose breath you have for your life, and you will not wish it to be defiled. By adultery alone is the breath of God defiled. And for this reason it drags the one who defiled it into fire; for it hastens to hand over the one who outraged it to eternal punishment.”

As Peter said this, he saw the good and chaste Mattidia weeping for joy, and thinking she was grieved at the memory of what had happened, he said: “Take courage, woman. While many have suffered many evils because of adultery, you have suffered because of chastity, and for this reason you did not die. And even if you had died, you would have had your soul saved. You left your native Rome because of chastity; but through it you found the truth, the diadem of the everlasting kingdom. You were in danger in the deep, and did not die; and if you had died, the deep itself would have become for you, dying for chastity, a baptism for the salvation of your soul. You were deprived of your children for a little while, but they, being of legitimate birth, have been found in better circumstances. Starving, you begged for food, but you did not defile your body by sexual immorality. You tormented your body, but you saved your soul. You fled from an adulterer, so that you might not defile your husband's bed; but because of your chastity, God, who knows your flight, will fill the place of your husband. Grieved and left alone, you were deprived of husband and children for a little while; but you would have had to leave all of them at the appointed time of death. It is better that you were willingly deprived of them for chastity than if, after a time, you had perished unwillingly in your very sins.”

“It is much better, then, that the first things should be painful. For while they are present they do not grieve very much, in the hope that they will pass, and they even give joy in the expectation of something better. But above all I want you to know how much chastity pleases God. The chaste woman is God's choice, God's good pleasure, God's glory, God's child. So great a good is chastity. Were it not that there was a law that not even a righteous person may enter the kingdom of God unbaptized, perhaps the erring among the Gentiles could have been saved by chastity alone. For this reason I am very sad about those in error who are chaste, because, having chosen to be chaste without good hope, they are reluctant to be baptized. Therefore they are not saved; for God's decree stands that no one unbaptized shall enter his kingdom.” When he had said this, and more besides, we turned to sleep.

Much earlier than usual, Peter woke up, came in to us, roused us, and said: “Let Faustinus and Faustinianus, together with Clement and the members of the household, follow me, so that we may go to a sheltered place by the sea and be able to baptize her out of sight.” When we reached the shore, having found a calm and clean place between some rocks, he baptized her. We brothers, together with our brother and some others, withdrew out of regard for the women and bathed, and then came and took the women with us; and so, going to a secluded place, we prayed. Then Peter sent the women ahead because of the crowd, telling them to go to the lodging by another road, and allowed only us men to be with our mother and those same women. So we came to the lodging and, waiting for him to come, talked with one another. After some hours Peter came, broke the bread with thanksgiving, put salt on it, and gave it first to our mother and after her to her sons. And so we ate with her and blessed God.

Then Peter, seeing that the crowd had come in, sat down, told us to sit beside him, and first explained, to satisfy us, why after sending us ahead from the baptism he himself had come later. He gave this reason. “As soon as you left,” he said, “an old workman came in with us, carefully hiding himself; he had been spying on us beforehand, as he himself later confessed, to see what we would do when we went into the sheltered place, and when he came out he followed secretly. Coming up in a convenient place and greeting me, he said: ‘I have been following you a long time, wanting to meet you, but I was ashamed, in case you should be angry with me as a busybody. But now, if you wish, I will tell you what seems to me true.’ And I answered: ‘Tell us what seems good to you, and we will welcome you, even if what you say is not really good, since you have wished with a good intention to say what seems good to you.’”

“And the old man began to speak thus: ‘When I saw you, after bathing in the sea, withdraw to the hidden place, I came up and spied secretly on what you might be doing when you went into the secluded spot; and when I saw you praying, I withdrew. But I pitied you and waited, so that I might speak to you as you came out and persuade you not to be deceived. For there is neither God nor providence, but all things are subject to genesis, as I have been fully convinced by what I have suffered, having studied the science carefully for a long time. So do not be deceived, my son. Whether you pray or not, you must suffer what comes from genesis. For if prayers or doing good had any power, I would myself be in better circumstances. And now, unless this poor clothing of mine misleads you, you will not disbelieve what I say. Once I was in great abundance of livelihood; I sacrificed much to the gods and gave to those in need; and yet, though I prayed and was pious, I could not escape what was fated.’ And I said: ‘What is it that you have suffered?’ He answered: ‘There is no need to tell it now; perhaps at the end you will hear who I am and of what family, and in what circumstances of life I have been. But now I want you to be fully convinced that all things are subject to genesis.’”

“And I said: ‘If all things are subject to genesis, and you are fully convinced that this is so, you are thinking contrary to yourself when you give advice. For if even thinking is impossible apart from genesis, why do you labour in vain advising that something should happen which cannot happen? Moreover, even if genesis exists, do not hurry to persuade me not to worship the Lord even of the stars, who, if he wills that something should not happen, has the power to prevent it. For the subject must always obey what rules it. But to worship the so-called gods, if genesis prevails, is superfluous. For nothing happens contrary to what fate has decided, nor can they themselves do anything, being subject to their own universal genesis. If genesis exists, it is contradictory that it should not be the first ruler, or else it cannot be subject; for the unoriginate, as unoriginate, has nothing older than itself.’”

“While we were speaking to each other in this way, a large crowd gathered. Then, looking at the crowd, I said: ‘I and my people, having received from our ancestors the worship of God and the command not to give heed to genesis, I mean the science of astrology, for this reason have not studied it. So I am not skilled in astrology; but I will set out what I am skilled in. Since I cannot overturn genesis from the science of genesis itself, I want to show in another way that affairs are governed by providence and that each person will receive honour or punishment according to what he does, whether now or later, it makes no difference to me, except that each will certainly receive the fruit of what he has done. The proof that there is no genesis is this. If any of those standing here has been deprived of his eyes, or has a crippled hand, or a lame foot, or any other bodily defect that admits of no return to health and lies beyond every promise of medicine, which not even astrologers promise to heal, because nothing of the kind has happened in the long course of ages, then I, praying to God, will provide the healing, though from genesis such a thing could never have been restored. When this has happened, do not those who blaspheme God, the creator of all things, sin?’ The old man answered: ‘Is it blasphemy, then, to say that all things are subject to genesis?’ And I answered: ‘Certainly. For if all the sins, impieties, and debaucheries of human beings come from the stars, and the stars were appointed by God to do these things so as to become the causes of all evils, then the sins of all are referred to him, who set genesis in the stars.’”

“And the old man answered: ‘Truly you have spoken greatly, but my own knowledge stands in the way of all your incomparable proof. For I am an astrologer, and once, living in Rome, I became friends with a man related to Caesar, and knew the horoscope of him and of his wife; and having seen their deeds actually come to pass in accordance with their horoscope, I cannot be persuaded by your argument. For her horoscope had the configuration that makes women adulteresses, in love with their own slaves, and dying in the waters abroad. And that is how it happened. For she fell in love with her own slave, and not bearing the disgrace, she fled with him, went abroad, lived with him, and perished in the sea.’”

“And I answered: ‘How do you know that the woman who fled married the slave when she was abroad, and died after marrying him?’ And the old man said: ‘I know the truth for certain: not that she married him, since I did not even know that she was in love; but after her departure her husband's brother told me the whole story of her love: how he, being honourable, as a brother would, would not defile his brother's bed; and how the poor woman, both wanting him and ashamed before him and of the disgrace (for she is not to be blamed, since she was compelled by her horoscope to do and suffer these things), invented a dream, whether true or false I cannot say. For he said she had said that someone had stood by her in a vision and ordered her, “Leave the city of Rome at once with your children.” Her husband, anxious that she be saved with the sons, at once sent them to Athens to be educated, with their mother and slaves, and kept with him a third, younger son, since the one who gave the dream had allowed him to stay with him. When much time had passed and he received no letters from her, after sending to Athens many times, he himself took me, as the most faithful of all his friends, and set out on the search. I shared many labours with him on the journey willingly, remembering that in his former prosperity he had made me a partner in everything, loving me above his other friends. We sailed from there and so came to these parts of Syria; we put in at Seleucia, and after we left the ship, not many days later he died of despondency. I came here and, giving myself to work, have earned my food with my hands from then until now.’”

“When the old man had said this, I realized from what he said that the old man he said had died was he himself, your father. So I did not wish to tell him about you until I had informed you. But having learned where he lodged and told him where I lodged, for the sake of certainty I asked only this: ‘What was the old man's name?’ He said: ‘Faustus.’ ‘And the names of the twin sons?’ He answered: ‘Faustinus and Faustinianus.’ ‘And of the third son?’ He said: ‘Clement.’ ‘And what was their mother's name?’ He said: ‘Mattidia.’ So, moved to tears with sympathy, I dismissed the crowds and came to you, so that I might tell you these things after the sharing of salt. I did not want to tell you before sharing the salt, in case you should be overcome by grief and spend the day of baptism mourning, when even the angels rejoice.” When Peter said this, we all wept, with our mother. Seeing us weeping, he said: “Now let each of you bear what has been said nobly, in the fear of God. For your father did not die today; he died long ago, as you yourselves have said by conjecture.”

When Peter had said this, our mother could not bear it and cried out: “Alas, my husband! Loving us, you died by your own decision, while we are alive, see the light, and take food!” Before this one cry had ceased, the old man came in, and as he was about to ask the reason for the outcry, he looked at the woman and said: “Alas, what does this mean? Whom do I see?” Coming closer and looking more carefully, and being recognized in turn, he embraced her. Both almost fainted from sudden joy; wishing to speak to each other, they were seized with speechlessness and could not master their overwhelming joy. But soon our mother said: “I have you, Faustus, dearest to me in all things! How is it that you are alive, whom we heard a little while ago to be dead? But these are our sons, Faustinus, Faustinianus, and Clement.” When she said this, the three of us fell upon him and kissed him, and somehow dimly recalled his appearance.

Seeing this, Peter said: “Are you Faustus, this woman's husband and the father of her children?” He said: “I am.” And Peter said: “How then did you tell me your own story as about another, speaking of labours and grief and a tomb?” And our father answered: “Being a relative of Caesar and not wishing to be discovered, I shaped the account as about someone else, so that I might not be recognized as the one I am. For I knew that if I were recognized, the local governors would hear of it, call me back to do Caesar a favour, and invest me again with a prosperous life, which I had renounced. For having judged those whom I loved most to be dead, I could not give myself up to the luxury of life.”

And Peter said: “You did this as you decided. But about genesis, were you insisting on it while lying, or affirming it as the truth?” And our father said: “I will not lie to you: I affirmed genesis as truly existing. For I am not uninitiated in the science. Besides, I had with me a certain man, the best of astrologers, an Egyptian named Annubion, who became my friend at the beginning of my travels and showed me the death of my wife and children.” And Peter said: “Are you not then convinced by the facts that the teaching of genesis does not hold?” And our father answered: “I must set before you all that comes into my mind, so that as I hear your answers I may learn your refutations of them. I know that astrologers are often wrong, and often right. So I suspect that where they are exact they are right, and where they err they do so from ignorance; so that I suppose that the science holds, but that they are wrong only through ignorance, since not everyone can be exact about everything.” And Peter answered: “Beware lest, where they are right, they hit on the truth by chance and do not speak from exact knowledge. For among many things said, some must necessarily come true.” And the old man said: “How then is it possible to be fully convinced about this, whether the teaching of genesis holds or not?”

When both were silent, I said: “Since I know the science exactly, and my lord and my father do not, I would like, if Annubion himself were here, to hold a discussion with him in my father's presence. For in this way the matter could come to light, since the inquiry would be between one expert and another of the same craft.” And our father answered: “Where then is it possible to meet Annubion?” And Peter said: “In Antioch; for I learn that Simon the magician is there, whom Annubion follows as his inseparable companion. So when we arrive there, if we find them, the inquiry can take place.” And so, after much conversation, rejoicing at the recognition and giving thanks to God, as evening came on we turned to sleep.

At daybreak our father, with our mother and her three sons, came in to where Peter was, greeted him, and sat down; then we sat down too, at his bidding. And Peter, looking at our father, said: “I am eager for you to become of one mind with your wife and children, so that you may share their life here, and there too, after the soul has been separated from the body, may be with them free from grief. For does it not grieve you, and them, very greatly not to be together?” And my father said: “Very much indeed.” And Peter: “If, then, being separated from one another here grieves you, how much more will it grieve you—since after death you are certainly bound not to be with one another—that you, a wise man, are separated from your own because of the reasoning of your opinion; and how much more will they be pained, knowing that because you think otherwise eternal punishment awaits you, by the sentence of an express decree?”

And the father said: “But, my dearest friend, there is no such thing as souls being punished in Hades, since the soul dissolves into air the moment it leaves the body.” And Peter said: “Until we persuade you about this, answer me: does it not seem to you that, while you, not believing in the punishment, are not grieved, they, being convinced of it, cannot help being distressed about you?” And the father: “What you say follows.” And Peter: “Why then will you not free them from their very great grief over you by assenting to our religion—I do not mean out of embarrassment, but out of fair-mindedness—listening to what I say to you and judging whether these things are so or not? If they are as we say, you will both enjoy the company of your dearest ones here and rest with them there; but if in examining the arguments you show that what we say is some false fable, you will do well in this way too: you will have brought them round to your own opinion, you will stop them leaning on empty hopes, and you will free them from false fears.”

And the father: “You seem to me to be saying many reasonable things.” And Peter said: “What is it, then, that keeps you from coming to our faith? Tell me, so that we may begin by speaking to that. For many things hold people back. Those who are persuaded are held back by the busyness of buying, of business, of farming, of cares, and the like; the unbelievers, of whom you are one, by suppositions: thinking either that gods who do not exist are gods, or that all things are subject to Genesis, or to chance, or that souls are mortal, or even that our teaching is false, on the ground that there is no providence.”

“But I say that all things are governed by the providence of God, as appears from what has happened to you: that you and your family were parted for so many years. For since, had they been with you, they might perhaps not have listened to the message of godliness, it was so arranged that there should be the journey abroad with their mother, the shipwreck, the supposed death, the sales into slavery, and moreover their being educated in the godless doctrines of the Greeks, so that, knowing them, they might be the better able to refute them; on top of this, that they should come to love the message of godliness and be able to join me and help me in my preaching; and further, that their brother Clement should come too, and so their mother be recognized and be fully assured of the worship of the Godhead; and that not long afterwards the twin children should be recognized and recognize her, and on the next day meet you and receive back their own. So swift a harmony, running together from every side toward one purpose, I do not think can be without providence.”

And the father began to say to Peter: “Do not think, my dearest Peter, that I have not been turning over in my mind the message you preach. Indeed, at the end of this past night, when Clement was urging me strongly toward the truth you preach, I answered: ‘What newer command can anyone give than what the ancients advised?’ He smiled gently and said: ‘There is a great difference, father, between the words of godliness and those of philosophy. For the word of truth has its proof from prophecy, while the word of philosophy, offering fine phrases, seems to present its proofs from conjectures.’ Having said this, he set out for me by way of example the teaching on love of humankind which you had taught him, and it seemed to me rather most unjust. I shall tell you how. He said it was just to offer to one who strikes one's cheek the other as well, and to one who takes one's garment to give the cloak also, and to go two miles with one who compels one to go one, and so on.”

And Peter answered: “But you thought unjust what is most just. If you please, listen.” And the father said: “Very gladly.” And Peter: “Suppose there are two hostile kings with their territories divided, and one of the subjects of the one is caught in the territory of the other and for that reason owes his life: if he is let off the penalty with a slap instead of death, does not the one who let him off plainly appear humane?” And the father said: “Certainly.” And Peter said: “And what if this same man takes something belonging to someone, or anything else, and when caught at it gives back double, though he owes four times the amount and death besides, as one caught within the enemy's borders: does it not seem to you that the one who took the double and let him off death is humane?” And the father said: “So it appears.” And Peter: “Well then, must not one who is in another's kingdom, and that of a wicked enemy, flatter everyone for the sake of staying alive, yield all the more to those who press him into service, greet those who do not greet him, reconcile enemies, not quarrel with those who are angry, give his own things freely to everyone who asks, and so on?” And the father: “He would reasonably submit to all of it, if he prefers staying alive to these things.”

And Peter: “Are not, then, those you said were wronged themselves the trespassers, since they are in another's kingdom, and are they not taking more than their due in whatever they possess? Those thought to do wrong grant to each person on the opposite side as much as they allow him to keep. For these things belong to those who have chosen the present things, and they are so humane as to allow the others to live. So much for the illustration; now hear the thing itself. The prophet of truth, when he was present, taught us that the Creator and God of all things assigned two kingdoms to two beings, a good one and an evil one: to the evil one he gave the kingdom of the present world, together with law, so that he should have authority to punish those who do wrong; to the good one, the eternal age to come. And he made each human being free, with authority to assign himself to whom he will, either to the present evil or to the coming good. Those who choose the present things have authority to be rich, to live in luxury, to take their pleasure, and to do whatever they can; for they will have nothing of the good things to come. But those who have decided to take the things of the coming kingdom may not regard as their own the things here, since they belong to a foreign king—except only water and bread, and these procured with sweat, for the sake of living (since it is not permitted to die by one's own will), and also one garment, for one is not allowed to stand naked, because of the all-seeing heaven.”

“If, then, you wish to hear the exact account of the matter, those you said a little while ago were wronged are rather the ones who do wrong. For those who have chosen the things to come live alongside the evil ones among the present things, enjoying many of the same things as they: life itself, light, bread, water, clothing, and some other such things. But those whom you thought to do wrong will share nothing with the good men in the things to come.” And the father answered: “Now that you have persuaded me that the wrongdoers are themselves wronged and the wronged have rather the advantage, the whole matter seems to me still more thoroughly unjust: those who seem to do wrong concede much to those who have chosen the things to come, while those who seem to be wronged are themselves doing wrong, because there they do not grant to those who conceded things to them here the same things they themselves were granted.” And Peter: “Not even this is unjust, because each has the authority to choose the present or the future things, whether they be small or great. One who chooses by his own judgment and will is not wronged—I mean not even if he chooses the small things, since the great ones were set before him, as the small ones were too.” And the father said: “You are right; for a certain wise man of the Greeks has said: ‘The blame is the chooser's; God is blameless.’”

“But explain this further point to me as well. I remember Clement telling me that we suffer wrongs and afflictions for the forgiveness of sins.” And Peter: “That too is right. For we who have chosen the things to come, in so far as we possess more—whether clothing or food or drink or anything else—possess sins, because we ought to have nothing, as I explained a little while ago. To all, possessions are sins. The loss of them, in whatever way it comes, is the removal of sins.” And the father said: “That follows, since you distinguished two domains of the two kings, with each of those under their authority free to choose what he will. But do we really suffer justly?” And Peter: “Most justly. For since the rule for those who are saved is, as I said, that no one should own anything, yet many people have many possessions—which is another name for sins—for this reason, out of God's surpassing love for humankind, afflictions are brought on those who do not live with a pure heart, so that, because of their great love for God, they may be saved from eternal punishments by temporary penalties.”

And the father: “But do we not see many ungodly people who are poor? Are these too, on that account, among the saved?” And Peter: “Not at all. For the poverty of the poor man is not acceptable if he longs for what he should not. So some are rich in money by their intention, and are punished as desiring to have more. Nor is anyone at all righteous simply by being poor. For a person can be poor in money and yet desire, or even do, what above all he should not: he may worship idols, or blaspheme, or commit sexual immorality, or live without distinction of right and wrong, or swear falsely, or lie, or live as an unbeliever. But our teacher pronounced the faithful poor blessed, and them not as having given anything—for they had nothing—but as committing no sin, and as not being condemned for the one thing of not giving alms, since they had nothing.” And the father: “Truly, on your premise, things seem to be quite in order; so I have made up my mind to hear the whole teaching in its order.”

And Peter: “Then, since from now on you are eager to learn the matters of our religion, I must set out the teaching in order, beginning from God himself and showing that he alone must be called God, and that others must neither be called gods nor thought to be so, and that whoever does otherwise must be punished eternally, as having committed the greatest impiety against the very Lord of all.” Having said this, he laid his hands on those troubled by afflictions, on the sick and the demon-possessed, prayed, healed them, and dismissed the crowds. Then he went in, took salt with his closer companions, and slept.

At daybreak Peter went out and, taking his stand at the usual place of discussion, saw a large crowd gathered. Just as he was about to speak, one of his deacons came in, saying: “Simon arrived from Antioch yesterday evening and, having learned that you promised to give the discourse on the sole rule of God, is ready to come upon you while you speak, together with Athenodorus the Epicurean, to contradict publicly every argument you may put forward for the sole rule.” While the deacon was saying this, look, Simon himself came in with Athenodorus and some other companions. And before Peter could say anything, he spoke first.

“I have learned that yesterday you promised Faustus to show today—setting out your discourse in order and beginning from the Lord of all things himself—that he alone must be called God, and that others must neither be called nor thought gods, and that whoever does otherwise must be punished eternally. Above all I am truly astonished at your forethought, that you hoped to win over to your will a wise man, and an old man at that. But you will not achieve your plans, all the less because I am present and will refute your false arguments. For perhaps, had I not been present, the wise old man would have been deceived, since he is unacquainted with the books publicly believed among the Jews. For now I will pass over many words, so that I may refute your promise the sooner. So begin what you promised to say, before us who know the Scriptures. But if, ashamed of being refuted, you wish to abandon your promise before us, that in itself is sufficient proof that you are lying, since you did not dare to speak before those who know the Scriptures. And now why do I wait for you to speak, when I have the greatest witness of your promise in the old man standing here?” Having said this he looked at the father and said: “Tell me, most honored of all men, did not this man promise to show you today that God is one, and that one must neither call nor think any other God, and that whoever does otherwise, as committing the greatest sin, must be punished eternally? Or will you not answer me?”

And the father said: “You would rightly be demanding testimony from me, Simon, if Peter had first denied it; but as it is, I shall not be ashamed to say what must be said. I think you want to argue while burning with anger, which is unfitting for you to do and for us to listen to, because it means watching a fight, not being helped toward the truth. So, knowing from Greek education how those who inquire ought to proceed, I will remind you of it. Let each of you set out his own doctrine, and let the arguments be aimed at the other's. For if Peter alone sets out his view while you keep yours silent, some argument you put forward might bear hard on both his view and yours; and then, though both of you were defeated by the argument, both would not appear defeated: the one who set out his view would, but the one who did not, though equally defeated, would not be seen to be so, and might even be thought to have won.” And Simon answered: “I will do as you say; but I am afraid that, already prejudiced by his arguments, you will not be a truth-loving judge.”

And the father answered: “Do not force me to agree with you without judgment so that I may seem a truth-loving judge. If you want to hear the truth, it is your view that I am rather prejudiced in favor of.” And Simon: “How are you prejudiced, when you do not know what I think?” And the father: “That is easy to know; hear how. You promised to prove that Peter lies in saying there is one God. Now one who undertakes to convict of falsehood a man who says there is one, as though he himself were speaking the truth, does not say the same thing. For if he says the same as the man he accuses of lying, he too is lying; but if he proves his case by saying the opposite, then he is speaking the truth. You therefore call the one who says there is one God a liar on no other ground than that you hold there are many gods. And I too say there are many gods. So, before the inquiry, I say the same as you: I am rather prejudiced in your favor. On this score you need not be anxious about me; Peter should be, since I still think the opposite of him. Yet after your inquiry I hope, as a truth-loving judge who has put off his prejudice, to agree with the argument that prevails.” When the father had said this, a quiet murmur of praise arose from the crowds at his speaking in this way.

And then Peter said: “I am ready to do as the arbiter of the debate has said, and at once, without any delay, I will set out my view about God. I say that there is one God, who made heaven and earth and all things in them; and it is not permitted either to call or to think another God.” And Simon: “But I say that the Scriptures believed among the Jews speak of many gods, and that God is not displeased at this, since he himself has spoken of many gods through his Scriptures.”

“For instance, in the very first utterance of the law he is seen to speak of them as like himself. It is written that, when the first man had a command from God to eat of every tree in paradise but not to eat of the tree of knowing good and evil, the serpent, through the woman, persuaded them to eat by promising that they would become gods, and made them see; and then God said to them, now that their eyes were opened: ‘Behold, Adam has become like one of us.’ So the serpent, in saying ‘You will be like gods,’ evidently spoke as though there were gods—the more so as God confirmed it, saying: ‘Behold, Adam has become like one of us.’ Thus the serpent, who said there were many gods, did not lie. Again, the written words ‘You shall not revile the gods, and you shall not speak evil of the rulers of your people’ point to many gods, whom he does not want even to be reviled. And elsewhere it is written: ‘Has another god dared to come and take for himself a nation out of the midst of a nation, as I, the Lord God?’ In saying ‘Has another god dared,’ he spoke as though there were others. And elsewhere: ‘Let the gods who did not make heaven and earth perish’—as though it were only those who did not make them that are to perish. And elsewhere he says: ‘Take heed to yourself, lest you go and serve other gods, whom your fathers did not know’—as though there were other gods, whom he tells them not to follow. And again: ‘The names of other gods shall not come up upon your lips.’ Here too he speaks of many gods, whose names he does not want named. And again it is written: ‘The Lord your God, he is God of gods.’ And again: ‘Who is like you, Lord, among the gods?’ And again: ‘God, the Lord of gods.’ And again: ‘God stood in the assembly of gods; in their midst he judges gods.’ So I wonder how, with so many sayings bearing written witness that there are many gods, you have firmly asserted that one must neither speak of them nor think they exist. Now then, what have you to say to these plain statements? Say it before everyone.”

And Peter said: “Hear a rather brief answer to what you have said. The very law that often spoke of gods says to the Jewish people: ‘Behold, to the Lord your God belongs the heaven of heaven and all that is in them’—embracing everything, so that even if there are gods, they are under him, that is, under the God of the Jews. And again: ‘For the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath, and there is no other besides him.’ And elsewhere the Scripture says to the Jewish people: ‘The Lord your God, he is God of gods’—as if to say that, even if there are gods, they are under the God of the Jews. And elsewhere Scripture says of him: ‘The great and true God, who does not show partiality and will not take a gift, executing justice for the orphan and the widow.’ In calling the God of the Jews great and true and one who executes justice, Scripture indicated that the others are small and not true. And elsewhere too Scripture says: ‘As I live, says the Lord, there is no other God besides me. I am first, I am after these things; besides me there is no God.’ And again: ‘You shall fear the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’ And again: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.’ So many sayings seal it with an oath that God is one and that besides him there is no God. So I wonder how, with so many sayings testifying that there is one God, you say there are many.”

And Simon: “My argument from the beginning was against you: to refute you from the Scriptures as lying when you say that one must not speak of gods. So I showed many written sayings to prove that the divine Scriptures themselves speak of many gods.” And Peter: “The very Scriptures that speak of many gods themselves warned us, saying: ‘The names of other gods shall not come up upon your lips.’ So I did not speak against what is written, Simon.” And Simon: “Hear something on this point yourself, Peter. You seem to me to sin in speaking against them, when Scripture says: ‘You shall not revile, and you shall not speak evil of the rulers of the people.’” And Peter: “I do not sin, Simon, in foretelling their destruction in keeping with the Scriptures. For thus it is written: ‘Let the gods who did not make heaven and earth perish.’ It said this not as though some had made them and are not to perish, as you interpreted it. For it is made plain that the maker is one by what is written at the very beginning: ‘In the beginning God made heaven and earth’; and it did not say ‘the gods.’ And elsewhere it says: ‘The firmament proclaims the work of his hands.’ And in another place it is written: ‘The heavens themselves will perish, but you will remain forever.’”

And Simon said: “Against my showing from the Scriptures—which I presented clearly—that there are many gods, you have brought the same number of sayings, or even more, from the same Scriptures, to show that God is one, and he the God of the Jews. And against my saying that one must not revile gods, you replied, to show that the maker is one, that those who did not make heaven and earth must perish. And against my saying that one must speak of gods, since the Scriptures speak of them too, you showed further that their names must not be uttered, since the same Scripture says the names of other gods are not to be uttered. Since, then, the same Scriptures say at one time that there are many gods and at another that there is only one, and at one time that they are not to be reviled and at another that they are, what are we to conclude from this, except that the Scriptures themselves lead us astray?”

And Peter said: “They do not lead astray; they test, and bring into the open the evil intent against God that lurks within each person like a serpent. For they lie before us like many different molds. Each person, then, having his own intent like wax, looks them over and finds everything in them, and by pressing upon them his intent, which, as I said, is like wax, takes the impression of whatever kind of God he says there is. Since, then, whatever anyone wishes to think about God he finds in them, for this reason one person takes from them the impression of the forms of many gods, while we have taken the impression of the form of him who is, recognizing the true type from our own shape. Moreover, our inner soul has been clothed with his image for immortality. If I abandon its begetter, by just judgment the soul too must abandon me, having recognized me as unjust by that very act of daring; and as leaving one who is unjust it will justly leave me; and so, after punishment, deprived of its help, I shall perish. But if there is another God, let a man first put on another form, another shape, so as to recognize the new God through his body's new shape. But if the shape should change, would not the substance of the soul change too? And if that changes, I am no longer myself, having become another in both shape and substance. So let him form other men, if he is another God. But there is none; if there were, he would have formed them. Since, then, he has not formed any, let him, as one who does not exist, leave the one who exists to him who exists. For there is no such God, except in Simon's opinion alone. I accept no other God but only the one who created me.”

And Simon: “Since I see you speaking rather often on behalf of the God who formed you, learn from me how you are impious even toward him. Those who formed man appear to be two, as the Scripture says: ‘And God said, Let us make man according to our image and likeness.’ ‘Let us make’ signifies two, or more, but not one.”

And Peter answered: “It is the one God who said to his Wisdom, ‘Let us make man.’ In this Wisdom he himself always rejoiced, as in his own spirit. She is united to God as the soul is, but is extended from him as a hand, fashioning the universe. For this reason too one man came into being, and from him the female came forth; and being one in kind, it is a pair. For by extension and contraction the unit is regarded as a pair. So I do right in offering all honor to one God, as to parents.” And Simon said: “What then? Even if the Scriptures speak of other gods, will you not accept them?”

And Peter answered: “Whether the Scriptures or the prophets speak of gods, they speak so to test the hearers. For thus it is written: ‘If a prophet arises among you, giving you signs and wonders, and that sign and wonder then comes to pass, and he says to you, Let us go and serve other gods, whom your fathers did not know, you shall not listen to that prophet; let your hands be the first upon him to stone him. For he tried to turn you away from the Lord your God. And if you say in your heart, How did he do that sign or wonder? you shall surely know that the tempter was testing you, to know whether you fear the Lord your God.’ That it was ‘the tempter’ who was testing is what had been said; but after the removal to Babylon it appears otherwise. For God, who knows all things, as can be shown from many passages, would not have tested in order that he himself might know—he who foreknows all things. If you wish, let us discuss this, and I will show that God foreknows. But the statement that he does not know, being a falsehood, has been shown to be written—this too—as a test. Thus we, Simon, can be made to stumble neither by the Scriptures nor by anyone else: we are not deceived into accepting many gods, nor do we assent to any statement made against God.”

“For we ourselves know from the Scriptures that angels have been called gods—I mean, for example, the one who spoke from the bush and the one who wrestled with Jacob; and also the Emmanuel who is born, and the one called mighty God. Moses too became a god to Pharaoh, though in reality he was a man. And further there are the idols of the nations. But for us there is one God, one who made the creatures and set all things in order; whose Son also is the Christ, and by obeying him we recognize what is false in the Scriptures. Moreover, supplied by the fathers with what is true in the Scriptures, we know only one who made the heavens and the earth, the God of the Jews and of all who choose to worship him. This the fathers, having established it as true by God-loving reasoning, handed down to us, so that we may know that whatever is said against God is false. And I will say something more, going further still: if this is not as I have said, may it be my lot, and the lot of those who love the truth, to run a risk for speaking well of the God who made us.”

Hearing this, Simon said: “Since one must not believe even a prophet who gives wonders if he says one must believe in another god—and you know that he deserves death as well—then your teacher too, having given signs and wonders, was reasonably put to death.” And Peter answered: “Our Lord neither said that there are gods besides the one who created all things, nor proclaimed himself to be God; but he reasonably called blessed the one who called him Son of the God who set all things in order.” And Simon answered: “Does it not seem to you, then, that one who is from God is God?” And Peter said: “Tell us how this can be. For we cannot say this to you, because we did not hear it from him.”

“Besides this, it is proper to the Father not to have been begotten, and to the Son to have been begotten; and what is begotten is not compared with what is unbegotten or self-begotten.” And Simon said: “Even if it is not the same in its origin?” And Peter said: “One who is not in every respect the same as another cannot have all the same names as he.” And Simon: “That is asserting, not proving.” And Peter: “Why do you not see that the one happens to be self-begotten or unbegotten, while what is begotten cannot be called the same—not even if the one begotten is of the same substance as the one who begot him? Learn this too: human bodies have immortal souls, clothed with the breath of God; and having come forth from God they are of the same substance, yet they are not gods. But if they are gods, then by this reasoning the souls of all human beings—the dead, the living, and those yet to be born—are gods. And if, to keep up the contest with me, you say that they too are gods, what great thing is it any longer for Christ to be called God? For he has what everyone has.”

“We call God him whose property cannot belong to another. For just as, being infinite in every direction, he is for that reason called boundless, and it is altogether necessary—since no other can be infinite as he is—that he be called boundless (and if anyone says it is possible, he lies; for two things infinite in every direction cannot exist together, since the one is bounded by the other), so it is by nature that the unbegotten is one. And if he is in a shape, even so the incomparable is one. For this reason he is also called Most High, because, being above all, he has all things subject to him.”

And Simon: “Is ‘God,’ which everyone says, his ineffable name, then, that you insist so strongly even about a name, that it must not be given to another?” And Peter said: “I know that this is not some ineffable name of his, but the one used by human agreement. Yet if you give it to another, you will attach to another the unspoken name as well, by the logic of intention. The name that is spoken goes before the one that is not spoken. By this reasoning an insult is reckoned against what has not yet been spoken, by the same reasoning by which honor paid to what is known passes on to what is not yet known.”

And Simon said: “I should like to know, Peter, whether you truly believe that the human form has been molded after his form.” And Peter: “Truly, Simon, I am fully convinced that it is so.” And Simon: “Then how can death dissolve the body, when it has been molded with the greatest of seals?” And Peter: “It is the form of the righteous God. So when a person begins to do wrong, the likeness in him flees, and so the body is dissolved, so that the form may vanish and an unrighteous body may not have the form of the righteous God. The dissolution, however, happens not to the seal but to the body that was sealed. And without the one who sealed it, what was sealed is not dissolved; so not even dying is possible without judgment.” And Simon: “What need was there, then, to give the form of such a being to the man raised up from the earth?” And Peter: “It came about through the love for humankind of God who made him. For in respect of substance all things are superior to human flesh—I mean the ether, the sun, the moon, the stars, the air, the water, the fire, in a word all the rest—and these, having come into being for the service of man and being superior in substance, gladly submit to serve what is inferior in substance, because of the form of the superior. For as those who honor a clay statue of a king have their honor pass to him whose form the clay bears, so the whole creation gladly serves the man who came from the earth, looking to that one's honor.”

“See, Simon, what a God you want to persuade us to be ungrateful to! And the earth bears you, perhaps wishing to see who will dare to think as you do. For you were the first to dare what no one has dared; you were the first to utter what we have heard for the first time. We are the first and only ones to have seen, in the face of such impiety as yours, the boundless patience of God—of none other than the Creator of the world, against whom you dared to be impious. And the earth did not open in chasms, and fire was not sent down from heaven and did not go out to burn men up, and rain was not withheld, and no multitude of wild beasts was sent from the thickets, and the deadly wrath of God did not begin against us ourselves because of one who sins, as for a spiritual adultery—which is worse than adultery of the flesh. For is it not God, the Creator of heaven and earth, who punished sins in those days? Otherwise, blasphemed now in the greatest way, he would be punishing in the greatest way now too. But on the contrary he is patient and calls to repentance, keeping stored in his treasuries the arrows that bring an end, for the end of the ungodly; these he will let loose like living creatures when he takes his seat to render judgment to his enemies. So let us fear the righteous God, whose form the body bears for the honor of man.”

When Peter had said this, Simon answered: “Since I see you hinting cleverly that some things written in the books against the Creator are not true, tomorrow I will show from your teacher's own words that he says the Creator is not the highest God.” Having said this, Simon went out. And Peter said to the crowds standing by: “Even if Simon can harm us in nothing else concerning God, at least he keeps you from hearing the words that can cleanse the soul.” When Peter had said this, there was much murmuring in the crowds, as they said: “What need is there to let him come in here and speak his blasphemies against God?” Hearing this, Peter said: “Would that the talk against God, for the testing of human beings, might stop with Simon! For there will be, as the Lord said, false apostles, false prophets, heresies, and desires for preeminence; and these, as I suppose, taking their beginning from Simon, who blasphemes God, will join in saying the same things against God as Simon.” Having said this with tears, he beckoned the crowds with his hand, and when they came he laid his hands on them, prayed, and dismissed them, telling them to gather earlier. Having said this, groaning, he went in and slept without taking food.

On the next day, then, Peter, being about to dispute with Simon, woke earlier than usual and prayed; and just as he finished, Zacchaeus came in, saying: “Simon is sitting outside, talking with about thirty of his own people.” And Peter said: “Let him talk until a crowd gathers, and then let us begin the dispute, so that, having heard what he says, we may fit our answer to it and go out and discuss.” And so it was. Zacchaeus went out, and coming back in not long after, he reported to Peter the words Simon had spoken against him.

He said: “He accuses you, Peter, of being a servant of wickedness, very powerful in magic, and of filling people's souls with fantasies worse than idolatry. That you are a magician he thought he could prove in this way, saying: ‘I am aware that, of the arguments I think over by myself, I remember not one when I come to dispute with him. For while he is speaking and I am busying my mind with recalling what I had planned to say when I came to him, I hear nothing at all of what he says. Since, then, I suffer nothing like this with anyone else, but with him alone, how am I not bewitched by him? And that what he teaches is worse than idolatry will be clear to anyone with sense once I have shown it. For there is no other benefit than for the soul to become free of images of every kind. For when it pictures a form it is bound by fear, and, anxious about how it will fare, it wastes away and is altered, or becomes demon-possessed; and when it is demon-possessed, it seems to most people to be in its right mind.’”

“‘This is what Peter offers you under the promise of making you sound-minded. For under the pretext of one God he seems to free you from many lifeless idols, which do little harm to their worshipers, since they are seen with their own eyes to be stone or bronze or gold or some other lifeless material. So, knowing that what is seen is nothing, the soul cannot be seized by fear of the visible in the same way. But when, through a deceiving teaching, it looks to a fearful God, it is thrown off its natural foundations. I say this not to urge you to worship idols, but because Peter, while seeming to free your souls from fearful images, fills each of your minds with a more fearful image, introducing God in a form—and a supremely just one at that—on which fear follows, and dread for the soul that contemplates it, dread that can loosen even the sinews of right reasoning. For a mind caught in such a storm has its clearness troubled, like the deep by a violent wind. Therefore, if he comes for your benefit, let him not, while seeming to dispel the mild fears that arise from lifeless forms, bring in instead a fearful form of God. But does God have a form? If he has, he is in a shape. And if he is in a shape, how is he not circumscribed? And if circumscribed, he is in a place. And if he is in a place, he is less than the place that contains him. And if he is less than something, how is he greater than all, or highest? So much for that.’”

“‘That he does not truly believe even what his teacher said is plain, for he preaches the opposite. When his teacher said to someone, as I learn, “Do not call me good, for the good is one,” in saying “good” he no longer means that just one whom the Scriptures proclaim, who kills and makes alive—kills those who sin, and makes alive those who live according to his will. That he really did not call the Creator good is clear to anyone able to reflect. For although the Creator was known to Adam, whom he formed, and to Enoch, who pleased him, and to Noah, whom he saw to be righteous, and likewise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and also to Moses and the people and the whole world, Jesus, this Peter's teacher, came and said: “No one knew the Father except the Son, as no one knows the Son except the Father, and those to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” If, then, the one who was present was himself the Son, from his coming he revealed to whom he wished the one who was unknown to all. And so the Father was unknown to all before him, and so was not the one known to all.’”

“‘And in saying this Jesus does not even agree with himself. For sometimes, in other sayings taken from the Scriptures, he presents God as fearful and just, saying: “Do not be afraid of the one who kills the body but can do nothing to the soul; fear him who can cast both body and soul into the Gehenna of fire. Yes, I tell you, fear him.” And that he really meant that this one is to be feared as a just God—the one to whom, he says, those who are wronged cry out—he shows by telling a parable on this point and adding its interpretation: “If, then, the judge of unrighteousness acted thus because he was entreated again and again, how much more will the Father avenge those who cry to him day and night? Or do you think that, because he is patient with them, he will not do it? I tell you, he will do it, and quickly.” Now one who speaks of God as avenging and rewarding presents him as just by nature, and not good. Further, he gives thanks to the Lord of heaven and earth. If he is Lord of heaven and earth, he is acknowledged to be the Creator; and being Creator, he is just. Calling him sometimes good and sometimes just, he does not agree with himself even so. Thirdly, his wise disciple insisted yesterday that direct sight is more trustworthy than an apparition, not knowing that direct sight can be merely human, while an apparition is acknowledged to come from the divinity.’”

“By saying these things and the like, Peter, as he stands outside speaking to the crowds, Simon seems to me to be unsettling most of them. So go out at once and undo his false arguments by the power of truth.” When Zacchaeus had said this, Peter prayed as usual and went out; and standing in the same place as the day before and greeting the crowds after the custom of godliness, he began to speak thus: “Our Lord Jesus, being a true prophet—as I will fully convince you about this too at the proper time—made brief pronouncements on matters that bear on the truth, for these two reasons. First, because he was speaking to godly people, who knew how to believe what he declared by bare pronouncement; for what was said was not foreign to their customs. Second, because, having a set time for preaching, he did not use the method of proof, so as not to spend the whole of the set time on arguments; otherwise it would have happened that, busy with solving a few arguments that the soul can understand by its own labor, he would not have brought forward more of the words that bear on the truth. For he declared what he wished as to a people able to understand—and we were among them. And whenever, rarely, we did not understand something he had said, we asked him privately, so that nothing he said should be beyond our understanding.”

“Knowing, then, that we knew all he had said and were able to supply the proofs, when he sent us to the ignorant nations to baptize them for the forgiveness of sins, he commanded us first to teach them. Of these commandments this is the first and great one: to fear the Lord God and to serve him alone. And he said we should fear that God whose angels—the angels of the least of the faithful among us—stand in heaven, always beholding the face of the Father. For he has a form, for the sake of his first and only beauty, and all limbs, not for use. For he does not have eyes in order to see with them, since he sees on every side, being in body incomparably more brilliant than the seeing spirit in us, and more resplendent than any light, so that in comparison with him the light of the sun would be reckoned darkness. Nor does he have ears in order to hear, for he hears on every side; he thinks, moves, acts, makes. He has the most beautiful form for man's sake, so that the pure in heart may be able to see him, and rejoice for all they have endured. For with his own form, as with the greatest seal, he molded man, so that man might rule and be lord over all, and all things might serve him. Therefore, since he judged that he himself is the All, and man his image—he himself being invisible, while his image, man, is visible—whoever wishes to worship him honors his visible image, which is man. Whatever, then, anyone does to a human being, whether good or bad, passes to him. That is why the judgment that comes from him will go forth, allotting to each according to his desert: for he avenges his own form.”

“But someone will say: ‘If he has a form, he also has a shape and is in a place; and if he is in a place and contained by it, as being less, how is he great above all? And how can he be everywhere, if he is in a shape?’ To one who says this, the first thing to say is that the Scriptures persuade us to think and believe such things about him, and we know that those passages are true which are attested by our Lord Jesus Christ, at whose command we must give you the proofs that it is so. First I will speak about place. The place of God is the nonexistent, while God is the existent; and the nonexistent is not compared with the existent. For how can place be something existent? Unless it is a second space, such as heaven, earth, water, air, and any other body there may be that fills its void—which is called void for this reason, that it is nothing. For ‘nothing’ is a more fitting name for it. What is called void is, as it were, a vessel holding nothing, except that the vessel itself is empty, if indeed it is a vessel. For it is altogether necessary that what exists be in what is nothing. By this nonexistent I mean what some call place, which is nothing. And being nothing, how is it compared with the existent, except among opposites—so that the existent is not, and the nonexistent is called place? But even if it is something, though many examples press to come forth from me as proof, I will use only one, to show that the container is not always superior to what it contains. The sun is a round shape and is wholly surrounded by air; yet it brightens the air, warms it, cuts through it; if it is absent, the air is wrapped in darkness, and whatever part of it the sun leaves grows cold as if it were dying; but by the sun's rising it is lit again, and wherever it is warmed by it, it is adorned with greater beauty. And the sun does these things by imparting itself, though it has a circumscribed substance. What, then, prevents God—the Creator and Lord of this and of all things—while himself being in shape and form and beauty, from having what he imparts from himself extended without limit?”

“There is, then, one who is truly God, who presides in a superior form, being twice over the heart of what is above and below, and pouring forth from himself, as from a center, the life-giving and incorporeal power. All things—with the stars and regions of heaven, air, water, earth, fire, and whatever else there is—are shown to be a substance infinite in height, boundless in depth, immeasurable in breadth, extending threefold into infinity the life-giving and wise nature that comes from him. This infinity, then, going out from him on every side, must have as its heart him who truly is above all, in a shape; and wherever he is, he is as it were in the middle of the infinite, being the boundary of the universe. Beginning from him, then, the extensions have their nature from the boundless. One of them, taking its beginning from him, extends upward in height, another downward in depth, another to the right, another to the left, another forward, another backward; and looking to these as to a number equal on every side, he completes the world in six intervals of time, being himself the rest, and having the boundless age to come as his image, being beginning and end. For in him the six infinites end, and from him they take their extension into the infinite.”

“This is the mystery of the seventh. For he is the rest of all things, and to those who in small measure imitate his greatness he grants himself as their rest. He alone is, in one respect, comprehensible, having his extensions reaching from him into the infinite. For he is comprehensible and incomprehensible, near and far, here and there, being the only one; and through the sharing of his mind, infinite on every side, by which the souls of all breathe, they have life. And if they are separated from the body and are found to have longing for him, they are borne into his bosom, immortal, as in wintertime the mists of the mountains, drawn by the rays of the sun, are borne up to it. What love, then, can we conceive, if we contemplate his beauty of form with the mind! Otherwise it is impossible. For it is impossible for there to be beauty without form, or for it to draw anyone to love of itself, or for anyone even to think he sees God if God has no appearance.”

“But some, being strangers to the truth and allies of wickedness, say under a pretext of glorifying him that he has no shape, so that, being formless and without appearance, he may be visible to no one, so that he may not be longed for. For a mind that does not see the form of God is empty of him. And how can anyone pray, having no one to flee to, no one to lean on? For having nothing to meet him, he is thrown off his foundation into the void. ‘Yes,’ he says, ‘one ought not to fear God, but to love him.’ I say so too. But a good conscience from each good deed will provide this love; and good deeds come from fearing. ‘But fear,’ he says, ‘strikes the soul with terror.’ But I say that it does not strike it with terror, but wakens it and turns it back. Perhaps it would rightly be said that one ought not to fear God, if we human beings did not fear many other things—I mean plots from our fellows, and further wild beasts, reptiles, diseases, sufferings, demons, and countless other things. Let him, then, who requires us not to fear God rescue us from these, so that we may not fear them either. But if he cannot, why does he begrudge us being freed from countless fears by one fear, the fear of the Just One; being able, by a little faith in him, to remove countless sufferings, our own and others'; while also expecting a reward of good things, and, through fear of God who sees all, doing no evil and so continuing in peace even in the present?”

“Thus a grateful service toward the true Master sets one free from all others. If, then, it is possible for anyone not to sin without fearing God, let him not fear; for he may, out of love for him, refrain from doing what does not please him. For it is written that we should fear, and it is also commanded that we should love, so that each may use the remedy suited to his own temperament. It is right, then, to fear him, because he is just. So whether you fear or love, do not sin. Would that one who fears were able to master lawless pleasures, not to desire what belongs to another, to practice kindness, to be self-controlled, to act justly! For I see some who, imperfect in their fear of him, sin a great deal. Let us fear God, then, and not only because he is just; for in pitying those who are wronged he punishes those who have done the wrong. As water quenches fire, so fear takes away the desire for evil. One who teaches fearlessness is himself without fear; and one who does not fear does not even believe there will be a judgment: he increases his desires, practices magic, and slanders others for what he himself does.”

Hearing this, Simon interrupted and said: “I know whom you are aiming at with these words. But so that I may not spend my time on what I do not wish by saying the same things myself in refuting you, answer on the points we agreed. You declared that you had understood your teacher's teachings adequately because you saw and heard him present, by direct sight, and that it is not possible for anyone else to have the like by a vision or an apparition. That this is false I will show. One who hears someone by direct sight is not at all fully assured of what is said. For his mind can reason whether what appears is perhaps lying, being a man. But an apparition, in the very act of being seen, gives the seer confidence that it is divine. Answer me this first.”

And Peter said: “You proposed to speak to one point and answered on another. For you proposed that one could understand more by hearing from an apparition than from direct sight; but as you went on, you tried to persuade us that one who hears through an apparition is surer than one who hears by direct sight. Indeed, it was on this ground that you claimed to know the things of Jesus better than I, as having heard his word through an apparition. But I will answer what was proposed at the start. The prophet, having first given full assurance that he is a prophet, is believed with certainty in what he says directly, since he has already been recognized as true; and, questioned and examined as the learner wishes, he answers. But one who trusts an apparition, or a vision and a dream, is on unsafe ground; for he does not know whom he is trusting. It may be an evil demon or a deceiving spirit, pretending in what it says to be what it is not. And if one should wish to ask who it is that appeared, it can say of itself whatever it likes. And so, like an evil thing, it flashes out, stays as long as it wishes, and is extinguished, not staying with the inquirer for questioning as long as he wished. And one who sees by dreams cannot even ask about what he wishes; for the reasoning of a sleeper is not under his own control. So it is that we, who long to learn about many things, in our dreams ask about other things, or without asking hear about things that do not concern us, and on waking we are disheartened because we neither heard nor examined what we desired to learn.”

And Simon said: “Even if you say that apparitions are not always truthful, yet visions and dreams, being sent by God, do not lie about whatever they may wish to say.” And Peter said: “You said rightly that, being sent by God, they do not lie. But it is uncertain whether the one who saw has seen a God-sent dream.” And Simon: “If the one who has seen is righteous, what he has seen is true.” And Peter: “You said rightly. But who is righteous, if he needs a vision to learn what he must learn and to do what he must do?” And Simon: “Grant me this, that only the righteous can see a true vision, and I will answer you on that point. For I hold that an ungodly man does not see a true dream.” And Peter: “He does; and on this I can give proof both from reasoning and from Scripture, though I do not promise to persuade you. For one who has inclined to the love of a wicked woman does not turn his mind to another, good in every way, for a lawful life together; sometimes, though they know the better one well, being already captured, they love the worse. You too are suffering something like this without knowing it.” And Simon said: “Leave this aside and speak to what you promised. For it seems to me impossible that ungodly people should be given dreams by God in any way at all.”

And Peter said: “I remember that I promised to show it, and to give the proof of this both from reasoning and from Scripture. Now hear me as I speak. We know many people—if you are fair-minded (for I have those standing by as judges)—who worship idols, commit adultery, and sin in every way, yet see visions and true dreams, and some also apparitions of demons. For I say that the fleshless form of the Father or of the Son cannot be seen, because the eyes of mortals are dazzled by the exceeding light. So it is not because God begrudges it that he is not seen by man, who has been turned into flesh, but because he spares him. For one who sees him cannot live. For the excess of light dissolves the flesh of the one who sees, unless by the ineffable power of God the flesh is changed into the nature of light, so that it can see light, or the substance of light is changed into flesh, so that it can be seen by flesh. For to see the Father without being changed belongs to the Son alone. It is not so for the righteous: in the resurrection of the dead, when their bodies have been changed into light and they have become like the angels, then they will be able to see him. Indeed, even if one of the angels is sent to be seen by a human being, he is changed into flesh, so that he can be seen by flesh. For no one can see the fleshless power not only of the Son, but even of an angel. And if anyone sees an apparition, let him understand that it comes from an evil demon.”

“But that the ungodly too see true visions and dreams is plain, and I can prove it from Scripture. In the law it is written that Abimelech, who was ungodly and wished to defile the wife of righteous Abraham by lying with her, heard from God in his sleep, as the Scripture says, that he was not to touch her, because she was living with a husband. And Pharaoh too, an ungodly man, saw a dream about the plenty and the failure of the wheat, and Joseph, interpreting it, said that the dream had come from God. And Nebuchadnezzar, who worshiped idols and ordered those who worshiped God to be thrown into fire, sees a dream of the whole length of the age. And let no one say: ‘But none of the ungodly sees a vision while awake.’ That is false. For Nebuchadnezzar himself, having ordered three men to be thrown into fire, looked into the furnace and said of a fourth: ‘I see the fourth like a son of God.’ And yet, though they saw apparitions and visions and true dreams, they were ungodly. So it does not at all follow that one who sees visions and dreams and apparitions is godly. For in the godly person the truth wells up in his innate and pure mind—not striven for by a dream, but given to the good through understanding.”

“For in this way the Son was revealed to me by the Father. So I know what the power of revelation is, having learned it from my own case. For as soon as the Lord asked who people said he was, and I had heard others saying one thing and another about him, it came up into my heart—and I do not know how—and I said: ‘You are the Son of the living God.’ And he, calling me blessed, told me that it was the Father who had revealed it; and from then on I learned that to learn without being taught, without apparition and dreams, is revelation. And truly it is so. For in the soul placed in us by God all the truth is present as a seed; but it is covered and uncovered by the hand of God, who works knowing what each deserves. But for something to be made known from outside, through apparitions and dreams, is plainly a sign not of revelation but of wrath. Indeed it is written in the law that God, angry with Aaron and Miriam, said: ‘If a prophet arises from among you, I will make myself known to him through visions and dreams, but not so as to Moses my servant; for I will speak to him in plain appearance and not through dreams, as one speaks to his own friend.’ You see how the words of wrath come through visions and dreams, but those to a friend mouth to mouth, in plain appearance, and not through riddles and visions and dreams, as to an enemy.”

“If, then, our Jesus appeared to you too in a vision, made himself known, and spoke with you, it was as one angry with an adversary; that is why he spoke through visions and dreams, or through revelations that come from outside. But can anyone be made wise enough to teach through an apparition? And if you say, ‘It is possible,’ why did the teacher remain and converse for a whole year with people who were awake? And how shall we believe you even in this, that he appeared to you? And how did he appear to you, when you hold views contrary to his teaching? But if you became an apostle by being seen by him and taught for a single hour, proclaim his sayings, interpret his teachings, love his apostles, and do not fight with me, who was with him. For you have stood against me as an opponent—against me, the firm rock, the foundation of the church. If you were not an adversary, you would not be slandering me and reviling the preaching given through me, so that I may not be believed when I tell what I myself heard from the Lord when I was with him—as though, plainly, I were condemned and you approved. Or if you say that I am condemned, you are accusing God, who revealed the Christ to me, and you are attacking him who called me blessed because of that revelation. But if you truly wish to work together with the truth, first learn from us what we learned from him, and, having become a disciple of the truth, become our fellow worker.”

Hearing this, Simon said: “Far be it from me to become a disciple either of him or of you! For I am not ignorant of what one needs to know. What I asked as though I were learning, I asked in order to find out whether you can show that an apparition is less clear than direct sight. But you said what you pleased; you did not show it. And now, tomorrow I will come to you for the discussion about God, whom you insist is the Creator, and I will show that he is not the highest good; and I will prove that your teacher said the same things as I, and that you did not understand him.” Having said this he went out, not wishing to hear a reply to what he had put forward.

At daybreak, when Peter came out to hold the discussion, Simon spoke first and said: "Yesterday, as I was leaving, I promised you that I would return today and, in debate, show that the one who fashioned the world is not the highest God, but that there is another, who alone is good and has remained unknown until now. To begin with, then: do you say that the Creator himself is also the lawgiver, or not? If he is the lawgiver, he is just; and being just, he is not good. And if he is not good, then Jesus was proclaiming another when he said, 'Do not call me good; for the good one is one, the Father who is in the heavens.' But in a lawgiver, being just and being good do not agree." And Peter said: "First tell us in what kind of actions you think the good one is shown, and in what kind the just one, so that we may aim our arguments at the mark." And Simon said: "You tell me first what you think the good is, or the just."

And Peter said: "So as not to waste the time by arguing too contentiously, though I might justly demand that you give the answers to my questions, I will myself give the answers to what I asked, as you wish. I say that the good one is the one who bestows, as I see the Creator himself doing, providing the sun for the good and the bad, and the rain for the just and the unjust." And Simon said: "That is most unjust, that he provides the same things to the just and the unjust." And Peter said: "Then tell us from here on how he would be good in what he does." And Simon said: "It is for you to say." And Peter said: "I will say it. If, in providing the same things to the good and just and to the bad and unjust, he is by your account not even just, and if, had he given good things to the good and bad things to the bad, you would reasonably call him just, then what other course of action would be left to him, if not this way: providing temporary things to the bad, in case they should change, and eternal things to the good, if they persevere? And so, in giving to all and yet granting favor according to difference, his justice is good; and he is the more long-suffering in this, if he forgives sins to sinners who repent, and also appoints eternal life for those who have done well. But in judging at the end and assigning to each according to his desert, he is just. If this is rightly so, admit it."

And Simon said: "I have said it once: every lawgiver, looking to what is just, is just." And Peter said: "If it belongs to the good one not to lay down a law, and to the just one to lay it down, then even so the Creator is good and just: good, because from the times of Adam until Moses he evidently did not lay down the law in writing; and from Moses to these present times, as it is written, he is also just." And Simon said: "Show from the sayings of your teacher that it belongs to the same being to be good and just. For to me it seems impossible that the lawgiver, if he is good, should be the same one who is just." And Peter said: "Hear, then, that the good one is also just. Our teacher himself, to the Pharisee who said, 'What shall I do to inherit eternal life?', first said, 'Do not call me good; for the good one is one, the Father who is in the heavens'; and at once went on to say, 'But if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.' And when he said, 'Which ones?', he referred him to those of the law. He would not have sent him back to the commandments of the just one if he were pointing to some other as the good one. That the just is one thing and the good another, I myself also admit; but you do not know that it belongs to the same being to be good and just. For he is good in being long-suffering now toward those who repent and receiving them; but he is just when, in judging, he assigns to each according to his desert."

And Simon said: "How then, when the Creator who also formed Adam was known, and known to the righteous under the law, and moreover to the just and the unjust and to the whole world, does your teacher, coming after all these, say: 'No one knew the Father except the Son, as no one knows even the Son except the Father, and those to whom the Son wishes to reveal him'? He would not have said this unless he were announcing some Father who is in secret, whom the law also calls the Most High, from whom no voice, either good or evil, has been heard (as Jeremiah too testifies in the Lamentations); who, according to the number of the sons of Israel who went into Egypt, who were seventy, having also marked out the boundaries of the nations by seventy languages, gave the Hebrews as a portion to his own Son, who is also called Lord and who arranged heaven and earth, and appointed him to be God of gods, of the gods, I mean, who have received the other portions of the nations. Laws, then, came forth from all the said gods for their own portions, which are all the other nations. Likewise, from the Son of the Lord of all came forth the law that is in force among the Hebrews. And this was established so that, if anyone takes refuge in someone's law, he becomes part of the portion of that one whose law he undertook to keep. No one knew the Most High who is in secret, that he is Father, just as no one knew his Son, that he is Son. So you, for one, in giving to the Son what belongs to the secret Most High, do not know that he is the Son, while the Most High is the Father of the Jesus whom you call the Christ."

When Simon had said this, Peter said to him: "Can you solemnly swear by that very one that you believe this: not by the one you now say is in secret, but by the one you believe in but do not confess? For you talk nonsense, putting some things in place of others. So if you solemnly declare that you believe what you are saying, I will answer you. But if you stand debating with me things you do not believe, you force me to beat the empty air." And Simon said: "I heard it from one of your disciples." And Peter said: "Do not bear false witness." And Simon said: "Do not abuse me, you most reckless man." And Peter said: "Until you name the one who said it, you are a liar." And Simon said: "Suppose that I made this up, or heard it from someone else: answer me on this. For if it cannot be overthrown, I have learned that this is the truth." And Peter said: "If it is a human fabrication, I will not answer it; but if you have been gripped by the supposition that it is true, admit that very thing to me, and I too have something to say about it." And Simon said: "Once and for all, I think this is so. If you have something to say to it, answer."

And Peter said: "If this is so, you are committing the greatest impiety. For if it belongs to the Son, who arranged heaven and earth, to reveal his Father who is in secret to whom he wishes, then, as I said, you are committing the greatest impiety by revealing him to those to whom that one did not reveal him." And Simon said: "But he himself wishes me to reveal him." And Peter said: "You do not understand what I am saying, Simon. But listen and understand. In saying, 'to whom the Son wishes to reveal him', he does not mean that such a person learns by some teaching, but by revelation alone. Revelation is what lies hidden, in an unspeakable way, in the hearts of all people, and is unveiled without a voice by his will. And so one comes to know, not by being taught, but by understanding. Yet the one who has understood may not demonstrate this to another, since he himself was not taught it; nor can he reveal it, since he is not himself the Son, unless he says that he himself is the Son. But you are not the Standing One, the Son. For if you were the Son, you would certainly know those who are worthy of such a revelation. But you do not know. For if you knew, you would do what those who know do."

And Simon said: "I confess I did not understand what you mean by 'you would do what those who know do'." And Peter said: "If you did not understand, you cannot know the mind of each person either; and if you do not know that, you do not know those worthy of the revelation; and if you do not know them, you are not the Son. But the Son knows; therefore he reveals to whom he wishes, as to those who are worthy." And Simon said: "Do not deceive yourself: I do know the worthy, and I am not the Son. But what this means, 'he reveals to whom he wishes', I did not understand as you put it. And I said I did not understand, not as one who does not know, but as one who knows that those standing here did not understand, so that you might state it more clearly, so that those for whose sake we are holding this inquiry may grasp it." And Peter said: "I cannot state it more clearly; you yourself, since you have understood it, explain it." And Simon said: "I am under no necessity to say what is yours to say." And Peter said: "You seem to me, Simon, not to understand it and to be unwilling to admit it, so that you may not be caught in ignorance and shown not to be the Standing One, the Son. For this is what you are hinting at, even if you do not wish to say it plainly. So I know your intentions from what you hint, being the disciple of the true Prophet, not a prophet. But you, not understanding even what is said plainly, wish to call yourself the Son, while you stand against us." And Simon said: "I will take away every excuse from you. I confess I did not understand what it means, even 'to whom the Son wishes, he reveals'. Say it, then, more clearly."

And Peter said: "Since you have at least in form admitted that you do not understand, answer me what I ask you, and you will learn. Tell me: do you say that the Son, whoever he is, is just, or not?" And Simon said: "Most just." And Peter said: "Being just, why does he not reveal to all, but to whom he wishes?" And Simon said: "Because, being just, he wishes to reveal to the worthy." And Peter said: "Is it not necessary, then, that he should know the mind of each, so as to reveal to the worthy?" And Simon said: "It must necessarily be so." And Peter said: "Then he alone has reasonably been appointed to reveal, since he alone knows the mind of each; and not you, who cannot even understand what we are saying."

When Peter said this, praise came from the crowds. But Simon, having been caught out, blushed with shame, and rubbing his forehead said: "So they say that I, the magician, am being beaten by Peter, and even outreasoned. But if someone has been outreasoned, it does not follow that, having been tripped up, he holds a truth that has been defeated. For the weakness of the one who defends it is not the truth of the one who wins. However, I tell you that I have judged all those standing here worthy to know the Father who is in secret. Therefore, when I reveal him to them publicly, you yourself are angry out of envy with me, who wish to benefit them."

And Peter said: "Since you spoke in this way to please the crowds that are present, I will speak, not to please them, but truly. Tell me, how do you know that all those standing here are worthy, when, as you set it out, not a single one agreed with you? For their giving praise to me against you is not the act of people who agree with you, but with me, to whom they gave the praise as having spoken rightly. But since God, being just, judges the mind of each, which you say is true, he would not have wished this to be given to those on the right through the left hand, for the same reason that one who receives something from a thief is himself liable too. So for this reason he did not wish them to receive what is brought by you, but through the Son appointed to reveal. For to whom is it reasonable to reveal the Father, if not to the Son alone, because he knows who is worthy of such a revelation? So this cannot be taught or learned, but is revealed by an ineffable hand to the one worthy to know it."

And Simon said: "It contributes much to victory for one who fights to use his own weapons. For what someone loves he can also defend sincerely, and what is sincerely defended has no ordinary strength. Therefore from now on I will set out what I really think. I say that there is a certain power in secret, unknown to all, even to the Creator himself, as Jesus himself also said, without understanding what he uttered. For sometimes out of much talking one hits upon the truth without knowing what one says. I mean what he said about this: 'No one knew the Father.'" And Peter said: "Then do not claim any longer to know what is his." And Simon said: "I do not claim to believe what is his; but I am debating with you about what he happened to hit upon." And Peter said: "So as not to give you an excuse for flight, I will inquire with you as you wish. But I call all to witness that you do not believe even the argument you have just stated. For I know what you think; and so that you may not think I am lying, I will lay open to you what is yours, so that you may know that you are debating with one who knows."

"We, Simon, do not say that from the great power, which is also called the sovereign one, two angels were sent, one to create the world and the other to lay down the law; nor that each, when he came, proclaimed himself as the absolute author of what he himself had made; nor that there is a Standing One, who will stand, and who is the adversary. Learn how you do not believe even this hypothesis of yours. The power which you say is in secret is full of ignorance. For it did not foreknow the ingratitude of the angels sent by it." And Simon, greatly enraged at Peter's saying this, cut him short as he spoke, saying: "Why do you talk nonsense, you rash man, most reckless of all, crudely laying bare the secret things before crowds in your ignorance?" And Peter said: "Why do you begrudge the hearers present being benefited?" And Simon said: "Do you admit, then, that such knowledge is a benefit?" And Peter said: "I admit it. For falsehood, once known, is a benefit, because it keeps one from falling into it through ignorance." And Simon said: "You seem to me unable to reply to what I put to you. I say that your teacher too says that there is a Father in secret."

And Peter said: "I will answer what you wish, concerning the saying, 'No one knew the Father except the Son, nor does anyone know the Son except the Father, and those to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.' First, I am amazed that, when this saying admits countless interpretations, you chose the more dangerous one, declaring that the saying was spoken to express ignorance of the Creator and of all things made by him. For, first, the saying can have been spoken against all the Jews, who thought that David was the father of Christ, and that Christ himself was his son, and did not know him to be the Son of God. Therefore it is fittingly said, 'No one knew the Father', since they all named David instead of God; and in going on to say, 'as no one knows even the Son', since they did not know that he was the Son; and the words 'to whom the Son wishes to reveal him' are rightly said, for he who is the Son from the beginning was alone appointed to reveal to whom he wishes. And so it is possible that Adam, the first-formed, was not ignorant of him; that Enoch, who was well pleasing, did not fail to know him; that Noah the righteous was not unaware of him; that Abraham the friend did not fail to understand him; that Isaac did not fail to perceive him; that Jacob, who wrestled, did not fail to believe him; and that he was not left unrevealed to all the worthy among the people."

"But if, as you say, the knowledge is now to be revealed to all through Jesus, how is it not most unjust, by your account, that those men did not know him, though they were seven pillars of the world and able to please the most just God, while so many from the nations, who are now impious in every way, do know him? Were these men, better than anyone, not counted worthy to know? And how is that good which is not just? Unless you mean to call good not the one who benefits those who have acted justly, but the one who loves even those who do not believe, so as to reveal to them the secret things which he did not wish to reveal to the just. Such conduct befits neither a good nor a just being, but one who hates the godly. Are you, Simon, perhaps the Standing One, since you make bold to say these things, which were never said in this way?"

And Simon, indignant at this, said: "Blame your own teacher, who said, 'I confess to you, Lord of heaven and earth, that what was hidden from the wise you have revealed to sucking babes.'" And Peter said: "The saying was not spoken in that way; but I will first speak as though it had been said as you thought. Even if our Lord had said, 'What was hidden from the wise, the Father revealed to babes', not even so would it be thought to point to another God and Father besides the one who created the world. For the hidden things of which he spoke may well belong to the Creator himself, since Isaiah too says, 'I will open my mouth in parables, and I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.' Do you now admit that the prophet was not ignorant of the hidden things which Jesus says were hidden from the wise and revealed to babes? And how could the Creator be ignorant of them, when his prophet Isaiah was not ignorant of them? But in fact our Jesus did not say 'what was hidden'; he said something that seems harsher. For he said, '[You hid these things from the wise and] revealed them to sucking babes.' And the words 'you hid' imply that the things had once been known to them. For with them was laid up the key of the kingdom of heaven, that is, the knowledge of the secret things."

"And do not say, 'He acted impiously toward the wise in hiding these things from them.' Far be it from us to suppose that. For he did not act impiously; but since they hid the knowledge of the kingdom, and neither entered themselves nor allowed those who wished to enter, for this reason, in justice, as they themselves hid the ways from those who wished to walk in them, so also the secret things were hidden from them, so that as they did, the same might be done to them, and with the measure with which they measured it might be measured to them equally. For to the one worthy to know, what he does not know is owed; but from the one who is unworthy, even if he seems to have it, it is taken away, even if he is wise in other matters; and it is given to the worthy, even if in the time of their discipleship they are babes."

"And if someone says, 'Nothing was hidden from the sons of Israel, since it is written, "Nothing has escaped you, Israel; for do not say, Jacob, 'The way was hidden from me'"', one should understand that the things that concern the kingdom had been hidden from them, but the way that leads into the kingdom, which is a manner of life, had not been hidden. That is why he says, 'For do not say that the way was hidden from me.' And the way is the manner of life, since Moses also says, 'Behold, I have set before your face the way of life and the way of death.' And the teacher said in agreement, 'Enter through the narrow and afflicted way, through which you will enter into life.' And elsewhere, when someone asked, 'What shall I do to inherit eternal life?', he pointed to the commandments of the law."

"And from the fact that Isaiah says in the person of God, 'But Israel did not know me, and the people did not understand me', it does not follow that Isaiah too was hinting at another God besides the known Creator. Rather, by another riddle he was calling the known God unknown, in the sense that the people, not knowing the just disposition of the known God, sinned, and did not suppose that they would be judged by the good God. That is why, after saying, 'But Israel did not know me, and the people did not understand me', he goes on to say, 'Woe, sinful nation, a people full of sins.' For through ignorance of his justice, as I said, having no fear, they became full of sins, supposing him to be only good, as though he would not punish their sins."

"And some sinned in this way, from a supposition, lacking judgment, based on his goodness; others from the opposite. For, supposing that the sayings of the Scriptures against God, which are unjust and false, were true, they did not know his real divinity and power. Therefore, as though he were ignorant and delighted in slaughter, and let the wicked off for gifts of sacrifices, and moreover deceived and lied and did all unjust things, they themselves, in sinning, claimed to be acting piously, since they did things like God. For this reason they were also unchangeable for the better, and when admonished did not turn back. For they had no fear, as they were making themselves like God through such actions."

"Against those who think him to be such, one might reasonably say it was spoken: 'No one knew the Father except the Son, as no one knows even the Son except the Father.' And rightly so. For if they had known, they would not have sinned by believing the books written against God, in truth, as a test. But elsewhere too he says, wishing to show them more clearly the cause of their error: 'This is why you err, not knowing the true things of the Scriptures; for which reason you are ignorant also of the power of God.' Therefore every person who wishes to be saved must become, as the teacher said, a judge of the books written as a test. For he said this: 'Become approved money-changers.' And money-changers are needed because the counterfeit coins are mixed with the genuine."

When Peter had said this, Simon, pretending to be astounded at what was said about the Scriptures, said as if alarmed: "Far be it from me and from those who love me to listen to your words! As long as I did not know that you held these views about the Scriptures, I bore with you and debated; but now I withdraw. Indeed, I ought to have retired at the beginning, when I heard you say, 'I believe no one who says anything against the Creator of the world: not angels, not prophets, not Scriptures, not priests, not teachers, not anyone else, even if someone works signs and wonders, even if he flashes visibly in the air, or makes revelations through visions or dreams.' Who, then, can persuade you, whether rightly or wrongly, to think anything other than what you have decided, when you abide so firmly and immovably in your own knowledge?"

When Simon had said this and was about to go out, Peter said to him: "Hear this one thing more from me, and then go where you wish." And when Simon turned back and stayed, Peter said: "I know how you were struck when you heard me say then, 'Whoever says anything at all against the God who created the world, I do not believe him.' Now hear something greater still. If in truth the God who created the world is in his disposition such as the Scriptures describe him, and even if he is in some other way incomparably evil, as neither the Scriptures have been able to say nor anyone else could even conceive, just the same I will not cease to worship him alone and to do his will. For I want you to know and be persuaded that one who has no affection for his own Maker can never have it for another either. And if he has it for another, he has it against nature, and does not realize that he has his love for unjust things from the evil one, since he cannot keep faith firmly even with that other. And if after all there is some other above the Creator, he, being good, will accept me all the more for this, that I love my own Father; but he will not accept you, knowing that you abandoned the one who is by nature your Maker (I do not say Father) in the hope of something greater, caring nothing for what is reasonable. So, if you find one better even than him, he knows that you will some day abandon him too, the more so because he has not become your Father, since you abandoned even the one who is truly your Father."

"But you will say, 'He knows that there is no other above him, and for that reason he cannot be abandoned.' Thanks, then, to there not being one! But he knows that your disposition is ready for ingratitude. And if, knowing you to be ungrateful, he accepts you, while knowing me to be grateful he does not admit me, then by your own reasoning he is irrational, since he does not act reasonably. So, Simon, you do not realize that you are a servant of wickedness." And Simon answered: "Then tell us where evil comes from." And Peter said: "Since today you were first to go out, and said that from now on you would not listen to me as a blasphemer, tomorrow, if you wish to learn, I will explain it to you when you come, and I will allow you to question me as you wish, without contentiousness." And Simon said: "I will do as I see fit." And having said this he went away. But of those who had come in with him not one went out with him; instead, falling at Peter's feet, they begged to obtain pardon for having been carried away by Simon, and to be received as penitents. And Peter, admitting both those who repented and the rest of the crowds, laid his hands on them, praying and healing those among them who were sick; and so, dismissing them, he told them to come early at daybreak. And having said this, he went in with his usual companions and did the customary things for the rest they needed, as evening had come on.

The next day Peter came out earlier than usual, and seeing Simon waiting for him with many others, he greeted the crowd and began to speak. But as soon as he began, Simon cut in and said: "Leave out these long preambles of yours and answer my questions on the matter before us. For I perceive, from what I have heard you say from the beginning, that you have no other aim than to show by every device that the Creator himself alone is the blameless God, and that you have so great a desire in your resolve to maintain this that you dare to call false even certain passages of the Scriptures that clearly speak against him. For this reason I have resolved today to prove that it is impossible for him, being the Creator of all things, to be blameless. And I can begin the proof at once, if you will answer me what I ask you."

"Do you say that there is a leader of evil, or not? If you say there is not, I can prove from many sayings, including those of your teacher, that there is. But if you candidly admit that the evil one exists, I will build my argument on that." And Peter said: "It is impossible for me to deny a saying of my teacher. Therefore I admit that the evil one exists, because the teacher, who spoke the truth in all things, said many times that he exists. To begin with, he acknowledges that the evil one conversed with him and tempted him for forty days. And I know that he said elsewhere, 'If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand?' And he declared that he had seen the evil one falling like lightning from heaven. And elsewhere he said, 'The one who sowed the bad seed is the devil.' And again, 'Give no occasion to the evil one.' And in giving counsel he said, 'Let your yes be yes, and your no, no; what is more than these is from the evil one.' And in the prayer that he handed down we have it said, 'Deliver us from the evil one.' And elsewhere he promised the ungodly: 'Go away into the outer darkness, which the Father prepared for the devil and his angels.' And not to draw out my argument at length, I know that my teacher said many times that the evil one exists. Therefore I too agree that he exists. Now, if you have anything to say on this basis, as you promised, say it."

And Simon said: "Since, then, you have candidly admitted from the Scriptures that there is an evil one, tell also how he came to be, if indeed he came to be, and by whom, and why." And Peter said: "Forgive me, Simon, if I do not dare to say what is not written. If you say it is written, show it. But if, since it is not written, you cannot show it either, why should we run the risk of making pronouncements about things not written? Is it that we do not believe we shall be judged, or believe we shall be judged only about what we do and not also about what we say as believers, and so speak about God more rashly?" But Simon, perceiving that this had been said against his own recklessness, said: "Let me run the risk; but do not take what you call blasphemy as a pretext for withdrawing. For I perceive that you want to back away so as to escape refutation before the crowds: at one moment as though afraid to hear blasphemy, at another because it is not written how, by whom, and why the evil one came to be, and one must not dare to say more than Scripture. So, as a devout man, you affirm only this, that he exists. But in contriving this you deceive yourself, not knowing that if it is blasphemy to inquire precisely about the evil one, the blame falls on me, the accuser, not on you, who plead God's cause. And if what is being sought is unwritten, and for that reason you are unwilling to inquire, there are certain adequate ways which can show what is sought no less than the Scriptures. For instance, is it not necessary that the evil one, whom you too say exists, is either originated or unoriginated?"

And Peter said: "It is necessary." And Simon said: "Then, if he is originated, he came to be through the God who made all things: either begotten as a living being, or put forth from his substance and then arising externally through a mixture; or the matter from which he came was outside God, whether living or lifeless; or he came to be through God himself, or from himself, or arose out of things that did not exist; or he belongs to the class of things that are relative; or he always was. Since every way, I think, is here divided out for finding him, those who travel one of them must necessarily find him. So one must travel each way in seeking his origin, and, having found the one who is responsible, recognize that he is blameworthy. Or how does it seem to you?"

And Peter said: "It seems to me that, if he is shown to have been made by God, the one who made him need not on that account be blamed, since his usefulness might perhaps be found more necessary than anything. And if he is shown not to have come into being, as one who always existed, not even so is the Creator blameworthy, or less than the greatest of all, even if he could not put an end to a beginning without beginning, since it is not in its nature; or if, being able, he does not destroy him, judging it unjust to put an end to what has had no beginning, and pardoning one who is evil by nature, because he cannot become anything else, even if he had the desire to become so. And if, wishing to make him good, he cannot, even so he is good, because he wishes to, though he cannot; and in his very inability he is the most powerful of all, since the power is not left to another. But if there is some other who is able and does not set it right, then, in that he is able and does not set it right, he is admitted to be evil, since he does not stop him, as though pleased with what is done by him. And if he too is unable, better is the one who, in the face of that inability, does not shrink from benefiting us as far as he can."

And Simon said: "When you have discussed each of the points I put forward, I will show you the cause of evil. Then I will also answer what you have said, and prove that the God whom you call blameless is open to blame." And Peter said: "Since I perceive from what you have said from the beginning that you are intent on nothing else than to subject God to blame as the leader of evil, I have resolved to travel with you along every way you wish and to show that God is beyond all blame." And Simon said: "You say this as one who loves the God whom you have imagined, but you do not speak the truth." And Peter said: "And you speak as a wicked man who hates the God of whom you are ignorant, letting out blasphemous words." And Simon said: "Remember that you likened me to the leader of evil." And Peter said: "I admit I lied in likening you to the evil one; I was forced to it because I could not find your equal, or anyone worse. That is why I likened you to the evil one: because you are in fact far more wicked even than the leader of evil. For no one can show that the evil one spoke against God, but all of us present can testify that you speak against him boldly." And Simon said: "One who seeks the truth owes no one any favor contrary to what is. Otherwise why seek at all? And why could I not also give up examining things precisely, and spend all my time in praise of a God whom I do not know?"

And Peter said: "You are not so blessed as to sing his praises, nor indeed can you do this good thing; for you would be full of him. For so our truthful teacher said: 'Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.' Hence you, overflowing with an evil will through ignorance, speak against the only good God, and are not yet suffering as you deserve for what you have dared to say. Or do you think there will be no judgment? Perhaps you think there is not even a God. Hence, not grasping his great long-suffering, you stretch yourself further toward madness." And Simon said: "Do not hope to shame me with fear into not seeking from you the truth about your illustrations. For I long for the truth so much that for its sake I do not shrink even from facing danger. But now, if you have anything to say, answer what I put to you at the start."

And Peter said: "Since you force us to dare to speak as if we had precisely found out God's workings, and that though we are men who cannot even precisely understand the workings of our equals, I will, for the sake of those standing here, discuss what you wish, instead of keeping the most reverent silence. I agree with you that there is a leader of evil, whose origin Scripture has not dared to state either truly or falsely. But let us examine together, in many ways, how he came to be, if he came to be, and of the views that present themselves let us choose the more reverent. For among probable views this one is firmly held: that it is fitting to ascribe the more reverent to God; all the more when all suppositions have been sifted and another adequate and less dangerous one lies at hand. But I promise you now, before the inquiry, that every way of inquiry can show that God alone is blameless."

"But, as you said, if the evil one is originated, either he was begotten as a living being, or was put forth by God from his substance, or was mixed externally, or his will arose by the mixture; or it happened that, without mixture and without God's will, he came to be out of things that did not exist, or by God; or he came to be nowhere and in no way; or the matter from which he came, whether living or lifeless, was outside God; or he fashioned himself, or was made by God; or he belongs to the class of things that are relative; or he always was. For we cannot say that he does not exist, since we have agreed that he does." And Simon said: "You have divided well all the ways of it, the chief point of the matter. It remains for me to examine the division and show you that the Creator is open to blame; and it is your task to prove, as you promised, that he is beyond all blame. But I wonder whether you will be able. First, if the evil one was begotten by God as a living being, it follows that he has the same wickedness as the one who put him forth." And Peter said: "Not at all. For we see many men who are good and have begotten bad children, and others who are bad and have had good ones, others who are bad and produce good ones, and others who are good and have fathered both bad and good. For instance, the first man who was fashioned begot unjust Cain and just Abel." To this Simon said: "You act foolishly in using human examples when discussing God." And Peter said: "Then speak to us about God without using human examples, but in such a way that what is said can be understood. But you will not be able to."

"For instance, what did you say at the beginning? If the evil one was begotten from God, being of the same substance with him, he is also evil. But when I showed from the very example you yourself gave that the bad come from the good and the good from the bad, you did not accept it, saying that the example was human. So now I do not accept even that God begot, since begetting belongs to human beings, not to God. And God cannot be good or bad, just or unjust, nor wise, nor a living being, nor anything else that can belong to human beings; for such things belong to human beings. And if, when inquiring about God, we must not ascribe to him the good things that belong to human beings, then nothing remains to think or say, except to inquire only into what concerns his will, which he himself has allowed us to understand, so that when we are judged we may be without excuse for the things we knew and did not keep."

And Simon, hearing this, said: "You will not shame me into keeping silent about his substance and inquiring only about his will. For it is possible both to think and to speak about his substance, I mean from the good things that belong to human beings. For example, living and dying belong to a human being; but to God belongs not dying but living, and living eternally. Again, it belongs to human beings to be bad and good, but to God to be incomparably good. And not to draw out my argument at length, the better of the things belonging to human beings belong eternally to God." And Peter said: "Tell me, Simon: does it belong to human beings to beget bad and good children, and to do bad and good things?" And Simon said: "It does." And Peter said: "Since you have said that one must assign to God the better of the things that belong to human beings, then, while human beings beget bad and good, God can beget only the good; and while human beings do bad and good, he alone delights in doing good. Is it so, or not? Is it not reasonable, by way of the good things that belong to human beings, to assign to him the better? And so he alone is the cause of all good things."

And Simon said: "Then, if God is the cause of good things only, what remains to think, except that some other principle begot the evil one, or that evil is unbegotten?" And Peter said: "Neither did some other power beget the evil one, nor is evil unbegotten, as I will show at the end; for now my task is to prove, as I promised from the beginning, that God is blameless in every way. We have granted, then, that God has incomparably the better of the things that belong to human beings. Therefore it is possible that he became the one who put forth the four substances, hot and cold, wet and dry. By nature, as being at first simple and unmixed, they had no desire toward anything else; but when they had been put forth by God and mixed outside him, they became a living being with a will to destroy the wicked. And so, since all things were begotten from him, the evil one is neither from elsewhere, nor did he receive his wickedness from the God who made all things, in whom it cannot exist. For the substances, being different, were put forth from him carefully distinguished; and when they had been mixed outside him by his art, the desire for the destruction of the wicked came upon them by his will. But the wickedness that has come about cannot destroy the good, not even if it wished, for by law it has power over sinners. So, not knowing the ways of each person, it puts them to the test, and having convicted them, punishes them." And Simon said: "Since he is able to mix the elements and to make a mixture for whatever wills he wishes to arise, why did he not make each one's mixture such as to choose the good?"

And Peter said: "The question now before us is how the evil one came to be, if indeed he came to be, and by whom. Whether it was blamelessly, I will show when I have gone through the argument now before us; then I will show how and why he came to be, and fully prove that the one who made him is blameless. But we said that four substances were put forth by God. And so, by the will of him who combined them, the will directed against the wicked came about as he wished. For if it had come about against his will, or from some other substance or occasion, the mixture would not have been securely in God's control, and perhaps, against his will, leaders of evil would keep arising, warring against his purposes. But it is impossible that this should be so. For no living thing, least of all one fit to rule, can come about by accident; for everything that comes to be must come to be by someone."

And Simon said: "But what if matter, being coeval with him and equal in power, puts forth leaders against him as his enemy, hindering his purposes?" And Peter said: "If matter is eternal, it is not anyone's enemy either. For what always exists is also free from passion, and what is free from passion is blessed, and what is blessed cannot become capable of enmity, since by its eternal constitution it has no fear of being deprived of anything. And how would matter not rather love the Creator, since …