And challenging a comparison of book with book, I would say, “Come now,
good sir, take down the poems of Linus, and of Musæus, and of Orpheus,
and the writings of Pherecydes, and carefully compare these with the
laws of Moses—histories with histories, and ethical discourses with laws
and commandments—and see which of the two are the better fitted to
change the character of the hearer on the very spot, and which to
harden[1159] him in his wickedness; and observe that your series of
writers display little concern for those readers who are to peruse them
at once unaided,[1160] but have composed their philosophy (as you term
it) for those who are able to comprehend its metaphorical and
allegorical signification; whereas Moses, like a distinguished orator
who meditates some figure of Rhetoric, and who carefully introduces in
every part language of twofold meaning, has done this in his five books:
neither affording, in the portion which relates to morals, any handle to
his Jewish subjects for committing evil; nor yet giving to the few
individuals who were endowed with greater wisdom, and who were capable
of investigating his meaning, a treatise devoid of material for
speculation. But of your learned poets the very writings would seem no
longer to be preserved, although they would have been carefully
treasured up if the readers had perceived any benefit [likely to be
derived from them]; whereas the works of Moses have stirred up many, who
were even aliens to the manners of the Jews, to the belief that, as
these writings testify, the first who enacted these laws and delivered
them to Moses, was the God who was the Creator of the world. For it
became the Creator of the universe, after laying down laws for its
government, to confer upon His words a power which might subdue all men
in every part of the earth. And this I maintain, having as yet entered
into no investigation regarding Jesus, but still demonstrating that
Moses, who is far inferior to the Lord, is, as the _Discourse_ will
show, greatly superior to your wise poets and philosophers.”
Footnote 1159:
Ἐπιτρίψαι. Other readings are ἐπιστρέψαι and ἀποστρέψαι, which convey
the opposite meaning.
Footnote 1160:
αὐτόθεν.