coming to Colossæ about this time to buy wool, and finding Philemon
well-nigh despaired of, spoke to him concerning a certain sect of
the Jews who, said he, were marvellously skilled in exorcising evil
spirits and in the healing of certain diseases, adding, however, that
not all the Jews possessed this power, but only those who worshipped a
certain Chrestus or Christus, in whose name they adjured the demons.
Then another, a dyer from Ephesus, confirmed his report, saying that
the Jews which worship not this Christus, persecute the others, calling
them “magicians;” and, said he, “not many weeks ago, at Ephesus, when
some of the Jews which worship not Christus, had assayed to drive out
evil spirits in this name, the man that was possessed leaped upon them,
and overcame them, and drove them away grievously wounded.” “By what
name, then,” asked my master, “are these Jewish magicians known?” “At
first,” replied Eriopolus, “they were called Nazarenes or Galileans,
but, of late, they go by the name of Christians (so at least the common
people call them), and there are certain of them scattered up and down
in several cities of Asia, and one of more than common note among them,
Paulus by name, is at this time tarrying at Ephesus. But for the most
part they congregate now in Antioch, although, as I have heard, the
root and origin of the sect is at Jerusalem, the chief city of Judæa.”
Hearing this my master determined to journey to Antioch to make inquiry
of this new sect; and Artemidorus also himself now encouraged him in
his purpose, judging that anything was better than thus to remain
at home brooding over his ill-health and imagining evil. Apphia also
assented. So in the spring of that year (it was the second year of the
Emperor Nero, and I was at that time in the twenty-first year of my
age) we made ready for our journey. Though I loved to see new sights
and faces, after the manner of youth, I was nevertheless loth to go
on so superstitious an errand; and besides, I despised the Jews, so
far as I knew them, as being a gain-loving people, full of pernicious
superstitions, and so inhospitable as not even to eat with strangers.
However, I would not willingly have suffered Philemon in his melancholy
to go alone, even had I been his friend and not his slave. When we
were to set forth, Artemidorus bade me write to him, as often as I had
occasion, concerning the Jews at Antioch, and especially concerning
this new sect; “for,” said he, “to those who have taken their stand
upon the hill of Truth, it is sweet to look down upon the wanderings
of them that stray in error, wherefore I ever take pleasure in the
hearing of some new superstition or error among men.” So I promised
that I would send him letters as often as messengers went to Asia from
Philemon.
Our journey was first by land to Ephesus through a very fertile
country; and thence by sea to Seleucia, a city which lies at the mouth
of the river Orontes, and it is as it were the harbor of Antioch; which
lies higher up the river, about forty miles by reason of the wanderings
of the stream, but by the road distant no more than a score of miles
or less. If I admired the country between Colossæ and Ephesus, the
fruitfulness of the soil, the greatness of the mountains, and the
beauty of Ephesus itself and the far-famed temple of Ephesian Artemis,
much more did I admire the city of Antioch, which is the third city of
the empire for greatness, coming next after Rome and Alexandria; and
it lies along the river Orontes, for the space of four or five miles,
stretching between the clear waters of the river and the high mountain
called Silpius, surrounded by a wall not less than five and thirty
cubits high and ten cubits in thickness. Being very spacious and indeed
equal to three or four large cities in amplitude, it is divided into
four wards or demes; and it has royal streets, built by kings desiring
to do favor to the citizens of so goodly a city, and called after the
names of the sovereigns that built them, namely, the street of Herod,
the street of Seleucus, and others. Through the midst there runs a
broad street adorned with four ranks of columns forming two covered
colonnades with a wide road between, and along the whole street (which
is more than thirty-six furlongs in length) there are statues and busts
beautifully wrought of white marble. Greek names have been given to
all the region round about, such as Pieria, Peneus, Tempe, Castalia,
insomuch that to hear the names of the villages one might fancy oneself
in the haunts of the Muses; and not two hours distant from the city
there lies a fair large garden or _paradise_ (as the people in these
parts call it) Daphne by name, which the citizens of Antioch often
frequent, and it is full of all manner of flowers and goodly trees and
watered with a great abundance of streams, and noted for the worship
of Adonis. Such and so full of all manner of delight was the place
in which I now found myself, a city no less populous than spacious
(for it numbered as many as five hundred thousand souls) and no less
full of mirth than of beauty; for the people of Antioch are known
throughout the world for their gayety. Here therefore I laid aside the
austerity of my recent thoughts, and forgetting questions of religion
and philosophy I disposed myself to be merry with the multitude of
those who were making merry around me, so far at least as I could be
permitted to do so by the duty of constant attendance on Philemon;
and, if I had had my own desire, I should never have set foot in any
synagogue of Jews or Christian.
But blessed be thou, O Guide of the misguided, who didst not suffer me
for ever to stray in the paths of false pleasure and in the ways which
lead to delusion, but in due course thou didst bring me to the door of
thy fold; and though I stumbled at the threshold, yet didst thou not
suffer me to fall for ever, but didst still uphold me and step by step
didst turn me back again to the pastures of eternal peace.
THE END OF THE SECOND BOOK.
THE THIRD BOOK.
§ 1. OF MY FIRST THOUGHTS CONCERNING THE CHRISTIANS.
I am now to describe how I first came to the knowledge of the brethren
in Antioch, though I attained not yet to the truth. For I stumbled at
questions of philosophy and of tradition, and therefore I entered not
into the fold of Christ. But the main reason for my failure was (as I
now think), first, that I came not in faith, and secondly that I came
not to Christ and the teaching of Christ himself, but rather to a sort
of doubtful disputations about Christ, which, whether a man believe or
disbelieve in them, do not contain the revelation of the Lord Jesus.
Concerning this part of my life I am in a strait what to set down
and what to pass over. For if I should endeavor to call to mind and
repeat all the evil things that, in the days of my ignorance, I said
and thought about the Saints, then I fear lest I should seem profane
and almost blasphemous, thus a second time reviling the Lord Jesus in
speaking evil of his church. But if on the other hand I gloss over the
truth, blanching and extenuating my error and presumptuousness, then
I seem to be dealing falsely and hypocritically, making myself to be
better than I was, instead of magnifying the mercies of the Lord shown
forth upon one that was perverse and obstinate in error. In this
perplexity having chanced to light upon certain letters which I sent
at this time to Artemidorus by his request (but he, long afterwards,
not many days before his death, delivered them to me and bade me
keep them), these same letters (which till of late I had altogether
forgotten) it now seems good to me to set down faithfully word for
word, neither altering nor extenuating anything. The first letter shows
how I was unwilling at the beginning to go into the synagogue, and what
slanders the common people falsely reported about the brethren, which
I in my folly supposed at that time to be true. The next (after the
reply of Artemidorus rebuking me for my proneness to believe the rumors
of the common people) shows how I went for the first time into the
congregation of the faithful, and how the Lord began even at that time
to draw me towards himself.
“ONESIMUS TO ARTEMIDORUS, HEALTH.
“Concerning Antioch and all the pleasures of this delightful city I
wrote to you in my former letter; but whereas you marvel because I have
as yet written nothing touching the Jews; you must know that up to this
time we have found no occasion to be present at their worship. For we
find that there is a greater discord than we had supposed between this
new sect of the Jews and the rest, insomuch that the latter will scarce
own the new sect to be Jews, nor do they frequent the same temples nor
practice the same kind of worship. Hence it happens that these new
Jews, out of fear to be persecuted, do all things in secret, having
no public processions nor sacrifices, and allowing none to see the
statue of their god (if indeed any of the Jews have any god at all)
and celebrating their mysteries in great privacy. However, all the
philosophers with whom I have spoken, as well as the men of rank in the
city (such as are among Philemon’s acquaintance), agree that it is a
vile and execrable superstition, which would fain subvert all laws and
all the dignity and peace of the empire. It is also commonly reported
that none are admitted to their sacred rites until they have committed
some monstrous crime; so that, whereas in other religions the priests
of the several mysteries say, ‘Let none approach but the pure,’ the
priests of this sect on the other hand say, ‘Whosoever is a murderer,
whoso a thief, whoso an adulterer, let him draw near that he may be
initiated; for all such does our god invite.’ Likewise the common folk
say that at their sacred rites a most shameful sacrifice is made of a
little child, on whose flesh and blood these wretches feast as if they
were the choicest dainties, and also that brothers and sisters among
them commonly practice incest. But all this I write, not of my own
knowledge, but from the general report, which notwithstanding comes
from so many different witnesses, that I cannot doubt but it is mainly
true. However, I will write no more concerning these people till I have
somewhat to say of my own seeing or hearing. But for my part I could
be well pleased if the good Philemon would be persuaded not to seek
further into this superstition.
“In my last letter I omitted, in so great a multitude of new things, to
make mention of a garden belonging to one Onias, a citizen here, which
contains not only many goodly flowers, but also runlets and fountains
of water quaintly devised, and many apes and peacocks for show and for
amusement, and above all several parrots, of which one has been so
excellently trained to speak, that it surpasses by far any starling or
any other talking bird that I have ever heard before; and the common
people say it is possessed. But even you would marvel to see with what
aptness and semblance of understanding it collects and most seasonably
utters the sayings of those around it, reminding me not a little of the
saying which I have often heard from your lips that the reason of some
inferior animals borders upon the reason of man himself. Farewell.”
“ARTEMIDORUS TO ONESIMUS, HEALTH.
“Whereas you write that you have resolved to make no further mention
of these innovating Jews until you find out something of your own
knowledge concerning them, more weighty than such old wives’ fables as
are reported by the common rabble, by lazy philosophers, and by pompous
town-councillors, all of them indifferent to truth and accuracy, so I
beseech you for the future to carry out this resolution; for, believe
me, knowledge is not to be thus cheaply and painlessly acquired without
judgment and labor. But I hope that before very long you may have
discovered something certain of this sect, no less worthy of reporting
than your experiences of the parrot of Onias.”
§ 2. OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHRISTIANS.
“ONESIMUS TO ARTEMIDORUS, HEALTH.
“Having been now twice present in their temple or synagogue I have much
to say of these Christians.
“It happened that, about ten days ago, the friend with whom my master
lodges, introduced to us a certain merchant of Cyrene who had some
slight acquaintance with one Lucius, a man of Cyrene, and a notable
teacher among this sect. So by his means we were invited to be present
at their synagogue on a day when the uninitiated are called together,
as many as desire to make a trial of the new religion or to learn
the truth about it. When we were all assembled to the number of four
or five hundred, there stood up one Simeon, surnamed Niger, who
delivered a speech by no means so foolish as I had thought likely, and
it was to this effect: There was but one God, he said, who had made
no distinctions of nations, as Greeks, barbarians, Scythians and the
rest, but all men of one blood, intending them to be one brotherhood.
This God sent unto mankind signs and testimonies of his good will,
giving unto all nations the sun and moon and stars to be for signs and
seasons; moreover to the Jews he sent special messengers, or prophets,
to proclaim his will. But when, notwithstanding all these testimonies,
mankind still disobeyed the divine will, it seemed good to the superior
god to send down to them no longer a prophet or common messenger, but a
son, as if the time had arrived when they should no longer grope after
God, but apprehend the divine nature.
“Then this Simeon went on to affirm that this son of god had verily
come into the world about threescore years ago, during the reign of
the Emperor Augustus, in the shape of a man, one Jesus (called also
the Nazarene, because he was of the city of Nazareth in the north of
Palestine), who had proclaimed a Gospel or Good News, namely, that God
is the Father of men, not merely their Maker, but their Father, loving
all men as parents love their children. Moreover the Son had manifested
the Father’s nature by many works, especially by healing the souls of
men, not only taking away sins, but also giving unto his disciples the
power to take away sins. In a word the Son had done for the Father, if
one might trust Simeon, much the same deeds as Apollo is said to have
done in early times for Zeus, introducing into the world purifications
of the soul. Then also (quoting, as I was told, from some of the
ancient books of the Jews) Simeon declared that this Jesus of Nazareth
was the Redeemer of whom those books had prophesied; for, said he, ‘to
them that sat in darkness Jesus hath shown forth the light of truth,
he hath opened the eyes of them that were blinded by sin and ignorance
and caused those whose souls were maimed and were crippled with vice to
walk straight in the paths of virtue, and he hath raised up them that
were dead in sin.’
“Now followed a marvellous paradox, or rather what our friend Evagoras
the rhetorician would call a _bathos_. For it was actually confessed
before us all by this same Simeon that this son of god, who had
wrought all these marvellous works, was slain in the sixteenth year of
the Emperor Tiberius, and this, not in battle nor in a tumult, but
by command of the governor Pontius Pilatus, dying the death of the
vilest criminal, being actually crucified! And, not content with this
ignominy, they confess also that he was most shamefully insulted and
scourged before his death, and that he was rescued neither from insult
nor from death by the superior god whom they call the Father. But to
compensate for all these disgraces, the speaker affirmed in the first
place that this death constituted some kind of sacrifice or expiation,
wherein this Christus played at once the part of priest and victim,
offering himself up for the sins of the whole world (he having been no
unwilling sacrifice but having surrendered himself to death and having
indeed predicted his own death as a prophet); and in the second place,
as the crowning marvel of all, he affirmed that the superior god had
raised up the inferior, that is the Son, after the latter had lain
for several days in the tomb, insomuch that, long after his death, he
appeared to many of his disciples, of whom some are still living as
witnesses.
“‘Nursery tales’—replies my wise preceptor, nor do I say otherwise. But
what filled me with astonishment, almost more than was fitting, was to
note the gravity, earnestness and sobriety and yet at the same time
the enthusiasm wherewith Simeon delivered himself, especially when he
bore witness to the rising again of Christus (for by this name Jesus is
commonly known among them); speaking as if at that very moment he were
standing in the presence of him that was risen from the dead, and yet
enjoining chastity, truthfulness, honesty, and all other virtue, with
such a calmness that not a few of those present, and Philemon among the
rest, were well-nigh carried away with the force of the man’s belief,
and themselves persuaded to believe the like. Nor could I altogether
marvel; for it was not possible to suppose that the man was a knave or
cheat; yet neither did he appear to be a madman, and certainly he spake
not as a fool.
“But I omit too long the main matter for which Philemon came hither,
the healing of diseases. Concerning this, Simeon said little; rather
taking it for granted, as I judged, than arguing of it or dwelling
upon it at any length. But he said that signs had been wrought both
by Christus and by his disciples, in the casting out of devils and in
the healing of sickness; and he appealed to some of those present, as
if they knew this of their own knowledge. Afterwards I spoke with many
of them on this matter. Almost all told me that they knew others who
had been healed of divers diseases, and some few (not more than three)
affirmed that they themselves had been healed of palsy, two of them by
one Paulus, of whom I made mention above, and the other by this same
Simeon. Of the rest whom they averred to have been healed, some were
said to have been healed by Paulus, others by one Petrus, a man of
great repute among them, others by this Simeon and not a few by one
Philippus, who is even now (as they tell me) sojourning in Hierapolis.
Of these sick folk some have been wholly healed and immediately; others
partly and only by degrees; but for the most part more completely and
suddenly than any cures wrought by Asclepius. The diseases are mostly
palsies (which abound here) and also fevers, and partial dumbness
or lameness, and the more severe kind of ophthalmia; but the most
common is that kind of insanity which by the common people is termed
‘possession.’
“Of this latter kind one instance I myself witnessed on the very day
on which I heard Simeon thus discourse; and it was wrought by Simeon
himself in the synagogue. For after he had made an end of the first
part of his discourse, he began to call upon all the people to repent,
saying that the superior god whom he named the Father, would speedily
judge all the world in righteousness, punishing the bad and rewarding
the good, and in that day the Son,—namely, that very Christus whom
Pontius had crucified,—should come again with great glory. Hereon one
cried out in the assembly after the manner of demented people, saying,
‘Avaunt! Away! Away from me!’ adding loud exclamations against the
name of Jesus. Simeon forthwith ceased from speaking, and looking very
intently on the man’s countenance caused him to be brought near, and
stretching out his hand as with authority in a loud voice adjured I
know not what evil spirit to go forth from the man. The demented man
immediately fell to the ground as one dead; but Simeon took him by the
hand, and raised him up and restored him to his friends; and he went
forth from the building delivered from his disease.
“The man happened to be the brother of our host’s door-keeper; and
his madness was confirmed to me by many witnesses, as being of long
continuance, yea, and I myself had seen him in a pitiable plight,
gibbering and gaping as one mad in our court-yard a full month before;
and our host himself (who is no friend to the Christians) constantly
affirmed that he had been mad for the space of at least fourteen years.
Wherefore thus much is certain and not to be denied, that a man who was
demented for fourteen years, up till the seventh day of this month,
is now on the fourteenth day of this month in his sound mind and to
all appearance likely to remain therein; and this has been wrought by
certain words uttered by this Simeon Niger. Now if this effect proceeds
from natural causes, as the great Epicurus would doubtless assert, the
causes (none the less) seem worthy to be sought out and examined.
“When the madman was led forth delivered from his disease, I had
much ado to prevent the worthy Philemon from standing up publicly
and praying that he also might be initiated into the sacred rites of
this new religion by means of purification with water; which they
practice not many times, as with us, but once for all, and with more
than usual solemnity; and I suppose that Christus himself instituted
this purification; at all events no one is admitted without it. But
I besought the excellent man not to do so rash a thing with such
precipitate haste, and at least to wait till he should have discovered
whether those who are initiated into the Christian rites, are also
to submit themselves to the whole of the law which the more ancient
religion of the Jews enjoins upon that nation. For the time I succeeded
and kept him from his purpose. But I could wish that Archippus or
Apphia were here present with him, and I not alone. For I greatly fear
that, if he be so violently moved a second time, I may no longer be
able to restrain him. Concerning the second visit to the synagogue,
having many things to write, and the messenger of Philemon being
already on the point to depart, I must defer what I would further say
to another occasion.
“One matter had almost slipped my memory; and it is perhaps hardly
worth setting down. Going this day to the garden of Adonis I saw the
youths and maidens passing in procession through the golden gate of
Daphne; and there calling to my mind other processions such as I had
seen in my youth (but this far surpassed them all) I remembered how I
was wont as a child to make comparisons between a certain Diosdotus, a
priest of Zeus of a goodly presence and lofty stature, and a certain
unknown wandering priest or juggler, mean of aspect, bald-headed and
hook-nosed, who in my presence had healed one that was lame and known
to have been lame for thirty years. This happened when I was a mere
child, scarcely (as I think) past my tenth year; but to-day it came
into my mind that both that wandering priest and this Simeon—albeit
differing greatly in countenance and appearance, Simeon being tall and
the other short or inclining to shortness—nevertheless agreed in this
one point, that they spoke of things invisible not only as if they saw
them, but also in such wise as to make others fancy that they saw them.
And, if I err not, that prophet also spoke, as did Simeon, concerning
a certain Son of God whom the superior God had sent into the world.
Wherefore I now conjecture that that same wandering prophet belonged to
no gods of the Greeks, but was, even as this Simeon, a Jew, and one of
this sect that believes in Christus.
“One other matter also I omitted to mention, that this new religion
makes no distinction between those of different nations, nor between
rich and poor, slaves and free; for all that belong to the sect
are esteemed citizens of one nation, or rather, brothers of one
family; and certainly I noted in the synagogue that there were
observed no distinctions of wealth or rank; for whether a man were
a town-councillor or a water-carrier, it was all one; we all sat
together. Farewell.”
§ 3. HOW ARTEMIDORUS QUESTIONED ME FURTHER CONCERNING THE CHRISTIANS.
“ARTARTEMIDORUS TO ONESIMUS, HEALTH.