20. And the Sibyl, and Hystaspes, have said, that there Hea-
Creation of the body gives 'probability to its resurrection.
believe it); for the same reason then, because you have never Apol. yet seen a man rise from the dead, unbelief has possession ^'^^' of you ; but as at first you would not believe that it was possible for men to be created such as they are from this little drop of fluid, and yet you see that they are
; consider, that in the same manner when human bodies have undergone dissolution, and, like seed, are resolved into dust, it is not impossible that they should in time, and at the command of God, rise again, and put on immortality : for what power at all worthy of God, is ascribed to Him by those who assert, that every thing will return to that from which it was created, and ' that beyond this not even God Himself is able to do any thing more.
We cannot say; but of this we are sure, that these would not have believed it possible that they . could ever be such as they see that both they and the whole universe are, and created from such materials.
We consider it better to believe even in what is impossible to our nature and to men, than, like the rest, to be without belief: for we know that our Master Jesus Christ has said, that what is impossible with men^ is possible ivith God ; and, Mat. 19,
Fear not them that kill you, and after that have no power ^o^^^^. ^^ do any thing ; but fear Him Who after He hath killed is ablets, to cast both soul and body into Gehenna, This Gehenna is a place where all will be punished who live unrighteously, and who believe not that what God has taught through Christ, will come to pass.
20. And the Sibyl, and Hystaspes, have said, that there Heashould be a dissolution of things corruptible, by fire
; and those sayings, philosophers who are termed Stoics, teach that God Himself shall be resolved into the same element, and say, that again, after this change, the world shall be formed anew ; but we know, that God, the Creator of the Universe, is superior to all things mutable.
If therefore we assert on certain points things like those poets and philosophers whom you honour, but speak on others more convincingly and divinely than they, and if we only have proof, why are we thus unjustly hated beyond all ?
For in our assertion that all things were ordered and created by God, we are found to speak the language of Plato, and, in our opinion that there will be a y^"^ conflagration, we use that of the Stoics; but in our doctrine
Men have been supposed hy others to he deified.
Just, that the souls of the wicked will be punished, and are in a ^^'^'^state of sensation after death ; whilst those of the righteous are freed from torment, and remain in bliss ; we teach like the poets and philosophers.
In denying that we ought to worship the work of men's hands, we agree with Menander the Comedian, and others of his opinion ; for they have said that the workman is greater than his work.
Men 21. And, when we say that the Word, Who is the firstby Heat>egotten of God, and our Master Jesus
Christ, was born thens. without scxual union ; and that He was crucified, and died, and rose again, and ascended into Heaven, we introduce nothing different to that which you say of those whom you call the sons of Jupiter ; for you are aware how many sons the writers of repute among you assign to him :
Mercury, the interpreting word, and the teacher of all ; jEsculapius also, who as being also the healer of diseases, was struck by a thunder bolt, and ascended into Heaven ; Bacchus, who was torn in pieces ; Hercules, who committed himself to the flames to escape his sufferings ; and the Dioscuri, sons of Leda ; and Perseus the son of Danae ; and Bellerophon, the son of human parents, on his horse Pegasus'; and what shall I say of Ariadne, and those who, like her, are said to have been placed among the stars ? And why do you ahvays think right to deify your departed Emperors, and produce one to swear that he saw Caesar ascend to Heaven from his funeral pile'' ?
Nor is it necessary for me to recount to you who know them already, what kind of actions are ascribed to each of those who are termed the sons of Jupiter; except that they are recorded for the corruption and ruin of your youth^, for every one thinks it good to be imitator of the gods.
But be such a thought of the gods far from every pure mind, to suppose that Jupiter himself, whom they > u^'
'hirov.
For confirmation of ii. 10, and TertuUian, 1. ad Nat. c. 10. our version we may with the Beneand lib. ii. c. 7. flictine refer to §. 54. of this Apology, ' Corruption and ruin of your youth.
" And they vsay that Bellerophon himWe follow the Benedictine edition in self, a man born of human parents, thus rendering these words.
The Ms. went up into Heaven upon his horse text is Zia<p6pau koX TrpoTp6in]v, the Pegasus," eV '/ttttou U-nydaov. profit and incitement.
Otto, with ^ Ben. refers to Suetonius, Vit. AuDecker, and Braunius, retain these gusti. and the derision of the practice words, considering them to be spoken by Seneca in his Colocyntosis.
Tatian. in irony.