Before we begin our reply, we have to remark that the endeavour to show,
with regard to almost any history, however true, that it actually
occurred, and to produce an intelligent conception regarding it, is one
of the most difficult undertakings that can be attempted, and is in some
instances an impossibility. For suppose that some one were to assert
that there never had been any Trojan war, chiefly on account of the
impossible narrative interwoven therewith, about a certain Achilles
being the son of a sea-goddess Thetis and of a man Peleus, or Sarpedon
being the son of Zeus, or Ascalaphus and Ialmenus the sons of Ares, or
Æneas that of Aphrodite, how should we prove that such was the case,
especially under the weight of the fiction attached, I know not how, to
the universally prevalent opinion that there was really a war in Ilium
between Greeks and Trojans? And suppose, also, that some one disbelieved
the story of Œdipus and Jocasta, and of their two sons Eteocles and
Polynices, because the sphinx, a kind of half-virgin, was introduced
into the narrative, how should we demonstrate the reality of such a
thing? And in like manner also with the history of the Epigoni, although
there is no such marvellous event interwoven with it, or with the return
of the Heracleidæ, or countless other historical events. But he who
deals candidly with histories, and would wish to keep himself also from
being imposed upon by them, will exercise his judgment as to what
statements he will give his assent to, and what he will accept
figuratively, seeking to discover the meaning of the authors of such
inventions, and from what statements he will withhold his belief, as
having been written for the gratification of certain individuals. And we
have said this by way of anticipation respecting the whole history
related in the Gospels concerning Jesus, not as inviting men of
acuteness to a simple and unreasoning faith, but wishing to show that
there is need of candour in those who are to read, and of much
investigation, and, so to speak, of insight into the meaning of the
writers, that the object with which each event has been recorded may be
discovered.