• 4>t Swarvv ($aei\h*v. H. Stephanus proposes to read its Sh nvcrSy /3a<ri\iuv, “ as wise princes.”
h Justin has IxKoxpov alm» — the word tiuco^o* being taken from the following verse, for 1 f « X «.
JUSTIN MARTYR.
continue in immaculate virginity; and it is my boast to be able to display such before the whole human race. For why should we mention also the innumerable multitude of those, who have been converted from a life of incontinence, and learned these precepts? For Christ called not the righteous nor the chaste to re- pentance, but the ungodly, and the incontinent, and the unjust. For thus he said; “ 1 came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.,,m For our hea- venly Father prefers the repentance of a sinner to his punishment.
19. Again, concerning the love of all men he thus taught: “If ye love those who love you, what new thing do ye? for even the fornicators also do the same. But I say unto you, Pray for your enemies, and love those that hate you, and bless those that curse you; and pray for those that despitefully use you.”» And that we should give to them that are in need, and do nothing for the sake of vain-glory, he thus said; “ Give to every one that asketh of you, and from him that would borrow of you turn not ye away:”°- “ For if ye lend to them from whom ye hope to receive, what new thing do ye? for even the publicans do the same.”? “ But lay not ye up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through: but lay up for yourselves treasures in the heavens, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt.”* “ For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall he give in exchange for it?” r “ Lay up therefore treasure in the heavens, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt.” And, “ Be ye good and merciful, as your Father also is good and merciful; and maketh his sun to rise upon the sinners, and the righteous, and the wicked.”* ^ “ Take no thought what ye shall eat, or what ye M shall put on: are ye not better than the fowls and the beasts? Yet God feedeth them. Therefore take no thought, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall put pn; * Matt. vi. 19, 20. * Matt. xvi. 26. Luke ix. 25.
THE APOLOGY OF for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But seek ye the kingdom of heaven, and all these things shall be added unto you. 1 For where the treasure is, there also is the mind of man.”* And, “ Do not these things to be seen of men: other- wise ye have no reward with your Father which is in heaven.”* 20. That we should also patiently endure evil, and be kind to all, and not give way to wrath, he taught us in these words: “ Unto him that smiteth thee upon the cheek, turn also the other: and him that taketh away thy coat or thy cloak hinder not.” y “ And whosoever is angry is in danger of the fire.” 1 * * * “ And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, follow him twain.”* “ Let your good works shine before men, that they may see them, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” b For we must not oppose: neither would he that we should imitate bad men, but hath commanded us by patience and meekness to withdraw all men from shameful and evil lusts. Which also we can show to have actually taken place among us, in many, who have been subdued and changed from violent and tyrannical men, either by imitating the constancy of their neigh- bors’ lives, or by observing the unusual patience of those with whom they travelled, when they were de- frauded on the way, or by experiencing the faithfulness of those with whom they had any dealings.
21. That we should not swear at all, but speak the truth always, he thus commanded us: “ Swear not at all: but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” 6 And that we should worship God only, he thus taught us, saying, “The greatest commandment is, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve, with all thy heart, and with all thy strength, even the Lord who created thee.” d And when a certain man came to him, and said, “ Good master;” he an- 1 Matt. vi. 25, &c. Luke zii. 22, 24, Ac.
■ Matt. vi. 21. Luke xii. 34. * Matt. vi. 1, 9.
swered and said, “ There is none good save one, that i» God, who created all things.” e 22. Now whosoever are found not to live as Christ taught them, let it be publicly known that they are not Christians, although they should profess with their tongue the doctrines of Christ. For he declared, ^ that not they who only profess, b’it they who do his works shall be saved. For thus he said: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven, ” f “ For he that heareth me, and doeth what I say, heareth him that sent me.” f “ And many shall say unto me, Lord,. Lord, have we not eaten, and drunk, h and done mighty works, in thy name l and then will I say unto them. Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity.” 1 “ Then shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth'; when the righteous shall shine as the sun: but the unrighteous shall be sent into eternal fire.? ’ k “ For many shall come in my name, covered outwardly with sheep’s clothing, but inwardly being ravening wolves: by their works ye shall know them. But every tree, which bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” 1 And we even entreat, that those who live not agreeably to their doctrines, but are merely called Christians, may be punished by you.
23. We make it also our principal endeavor in every place to pay tribute and custom to such officers as are appointed by you, even as we have been taught by him. For “ at that time certain came unto him, and asked him* whether it were lawful to pay tribute unto Caesar. And he answered, Tell me, whose image doth the tribute money bear? They said unto him Caesar’s. Then again answered he them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things which are God’s.” 08 Wherefore we worship h The Greek has oi ty oy ih>6^an i<p&yoptv Kal btioptv, gal &vvdpu& brotfaaitiv; Ashton proposes to read ©4* bumov oov tydyoycv gall-nt6fin % ito) r$ ©y Mitari ivvdfuis iwotficapev. Compare Luke xiii. 26. t Matt. Yii. 22. Luke xiii. 26. k Matt. xiii. 42, &c.
142 THB APOLOGY OF [§ 24.
God only: but in all other matters we joyfully serve you, confessing that ye are kings and rulers; and pray- ing that ye may be found to possess, together with your royal power, a sound and discerning mind. If, how- ever, notwithstanding we. thus pray, and openly lay every thing before you, ye yet treat us with contempt, we shall receive no ipjury, believing, yea rather being firmly persuaded, that every one, if his deeds shall so deserve, shall receive the punishment of eternal fire; and that an account will be required of him, in propor- tion to the powers which he hath received from God; as Christ hath declared, saying, “To whomsoever God hath given much, of him shall be much required.” 11 24. For look to the end of each of the Emperors who have already reigned, that they died the common death of all men: and well would it be for the wicked,® if this were'merely a passage into a state of insensi- gg bility. But since both sense remains in all who have ever lived, and eternal punishment is reserved (for the wicked), take heed that ye be persuaded and believe that these things are true. For the very acts of necromancy, p the inspection of the bodies of pure children,’ (for the purpose of divination,) the calling n Luke xii. 48.
n Luke xii. 48.
0 Ipnaiov Av %v to7s AUkois iraoiv. Justin seems to allude to a similar phrase in his master Plato: d pev ijv 6 Odvaros rov vavros AvaWayi), Ippaiov viv %v rots KaKOis AirodavoVoi. Phado. p. 107.
p See Tertullian’s Apology, Sect. 23.
* Justin here refers to a barbarous practice frequently alluded to by writers both of ecclesiastical and profane history. Immaculate child- ren of both sexes were slain, and their entrails inspected for the pur- pose of divination, under the persuasion that the souls of the victims were then present, and revealed the knowledge of futurity to those who consulted them.
Thus Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, as preserved by Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. Lih. vii. c. 10, relates that, in the ninth persecution under Valerian, the emperor was instructed by the chief of the Magi of Egypt, in many abominable rites, and taught “ to murder wretched infants, and sacrifice the children of miserable parents; and to examine their tender entrails.’* T e\iras 6e Avdyvovs koI payyavdas ifaylorovs teal Upovpytas AKaXXtep^rovs inirtXtiv iiroTtQipcvos, ratios uOXlovs i*oa$drruv % Kal r/oa Sver/jvuv iraripwv Karadvetv, teal aitXdyyya vcoycvi ) iiaipuv. Eusebius also, in two places, mentions among the enormi- ties perpetrated by the tyrant Maxentius, that he filled up the measure of his guilt by having recourse to magical arts, among which was the inspection of the entrails of new-born children. r H Si rflv kukQv rip rvpdvvy KopuvU ini yoijrdav f}Xavvt‘ payiKais Invotais rort plv ywaixas JUSTIN MARTYR* JUSTIN MARTYR* forth of human souls, and those whom your magicians call senders of dreams, and familiar spirits/ and the practices of those who are skilled in such matters, may induce you to believe that souls after death are still in a state of sensibility. To these may be added the men who are seized and thrown down by the souls of the departed/ who are commonly called demoniac and mad; and what are styled oracles among you, such of those of Amphilochus, and Dodone, the Pythian, and the like: the opinions also of writers, such as Empedo- cles, Pythagoras, Plato, and Socrates: the trench men- tioned by Homer/ and the descent of Ulysses to see iyietipovas dvaayt^nvTag y rori Si vcoyvuv <nt\dyyya fipttpmv Supevvwyfvov* Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. Lib. viii. c. 14. Vit. Const. Lib. i. c. 36.
Socrates states the same brutal treatment to have been used by the Pagans toward the Christians, in the time of Julian, in various cities, and particularly at Athens and Alexandria. “ At that time, the Gentiles made a furious attack upon the Christians: and those who called themselves philosophers were gathered together. They established also certain horrid rites, so that they even slew many young children, both male and female, for the purpose of inspecting their entrails, and also tasted their flesh.” T» jvucavTa k at ol "EAA» jves rwv XpiartavityvTiav Karirptyov- qvfiftoid re t&v <pt\oco<f>e7v Xeydurotv lylvcro. K al rcXcrdg nvag avvloraoav, d>s k al airXayxvoaKOiroSptvoi xatSag k araOteiv d<p06povs, afytvag k al OrjXtlas, xal tuv aapiciav diroycveaOai. SOCRAT. Hist, Eccles. Lib. iii. c. 13.
In the work called the Recggnitions of Clement, which is at least as old as the time of Origen, by whom it is cited, ( Philocal. c. 23,) Simon Magus is made to say; “ By means of ineffable adjurations I called up the soul of an immaculate boy, who had been put to a violent death, and caused it to stand by me: and by its means whatever I command is effected.” And again, (“The soul freed from the body) possesses the faculty of foreknowledge: whence it is called forth for necromancy.” “ Pueri incorrupti et violenter necati animam adjura- mentis ineffabilibus evocatam adsistere mihi feci; et per ipsam fit omne quod jubeo.” “ Statim et prcescientiam habet (anima), propter quod evocatur ad necromantiam.” Recognit. Clemenlis t Lib. ii. c. 13.
r xapcSpoi. Valesius in his notes on Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. Lib. iv. c. 17, shows that by this word were meant spirits, who assisted the Magicians and performed their orders. Iren*:us, Adv. Hot. Lib. i. c. 20, says that the followers of Simon Magus had both the kinds of spirits here mentioned. “Q,ui dicuntur parcdri et oniropompi et quaecunque sent alia perierga apud eos studiosd exercentur.”
■ Such as the demoniacs, described in Matt. viii. 28. Mark v. 3. Luke vii. 25. Josephus, {Bell. Jud. VII, vi. 3,) in like manner describes demons as the spirits of wicked men. T& ydp KuXotpsva Saip6via t ravra Si irovypuv Itrriv uvOp&nwv met para, rots Cwoiv tlaSvdptva xal KTtlvovra rods florjddas fd) Tvyxdvovras% airy (h B adpas) ifcAatfvci.
ifcAatfvci.
THE APOLOGY OF these things; together with the tenets of those who have spoken to the same effect. Give us, now, but the same degree of credit which you give to them; inas- much as our confidence in (the power of) God is not less, but greater, than theirs: for we expect that we shall each again take upon us our bodies which are dead and cast into the earth, holding that nothing is impossible to God.
25. And if any one considered the matter well, would this appear more incredible than it would, if we were not in the body, and any one should assert that it was possible for bones, and tendons, and flesh to be formed, as we see in the human body, out of a minute drop of seminal matter? For let us suppose an imaginary" case. If ye w'ere not such as ye are, nor of such an origin, and any one should show you the generating substance, and a painted representation (of the human form), and should persist in affirming that the one could be pro- duced from the other, would yeljelieve him before ye saw the effect produced? No one would be bold enough to assert, that ye would. In the same manner, ye now disbelieve, because ye never saw a dead man raised to life. But even, as ye would not at first have believed, that from a little drop of seminal matter such bodies could be formed, which yet, ye see, are formed; so consider that it is not impossible for human bodies, decomposed, and, like seed, resolved ifcto earth, to arise, in due season, at the command of God, and to put on incorruption.“ We pretend not to say, how u The argument heTe used by Justin, is frequently employed by the early Christian writers. Tertullian de Resurrect. Carnia, c. 11, says, “ Idoneus est reficere (carnem), qui fecit: quanto plus est fecisse, quam refecisse: initium dedisse, quam reddidisse. Ita resti- tutionem carnis faciliorem credas institutione.” See also Tertullian, Apol. c. 48. Irenjeus argues, with a plain reference to this passage of Justin, how much more difficult it is that bones, and tendons, and veins, and the rest of the body made after the fashion of a man, should be caused to exist, and to become a pious and rational being, when as yet it exhted not, than that, having once been made and resolved into earth, it should be restored to a form which it once possessed, even if it should have been reduced to the same state in which it was, before it was first made man. — K ohrep iroXA$ Svaxo Xutrepov sal urirrirtpov ix ftil 8vn*v icrtiav re xal vttipwv — xal rrjf Xoinijs riff xard rbv dvdpvrov olxovoplaSy xoifjaai els rd ilvai, xal lp\pv\ov, xal Xoyixbv uircpydaaodat ) rb ytyovbs, beura dvaXvBlv els rilv yijv — abOig iiroKaraarticmiy sis hcetva \ JUSTIN MARTYR.
\ JUSTIN MARTYR.
worthy an estimate of divine power they form, who maintain that every thing returns to its original whence it proceeded, and that beyond this even God can do nothing: but we plainly see this, that they would not have believed it possible, for beings like themselves, and for the whole wofld, to have existed, and to have had their origin, in the manner which their own observation now discovers.
26. We have already assumed that it is better to believe things, which in their own nature and by the power of men are impossible, than to disbelieve as others do. Since we know how our master Jesus Christ said, “ The things which are impossible with men, are possible with God.” x He said also, “ Fear yd not them that kill you, and after that are able to do nothing: but fear him, who after death, is able to cast both soul and body into hell.”* 27. Now hell is the place, where those shall be punished who have lived unrighteously, and have not believed that the things shall come to pass, which God hath taught through Christ. And even the Sibyl* and Hystaspes declared that there should be a destruc- tion of corruptible things by fire. And those who are styled Stoic philosophers* teach, that God himself will Athenagoras, in his argumentative treatise on the Resurrection of the body, lays great stress upon the same reasoning. Athenag. de Resurrectione Carnis, p. 43, A. 59, A. See also the Apostolical Con - stilutions, Lib. v. Sect. 43. 7. p. 308.
* bc6ffsi SI rropdg paXepov Karapdicrijs ’jLK&paTog' 6X((ei Si yaiav, <pXl(u Si ddXaaaav, Kal irdXov ovpdviov, sal fipara, sal ktIciv al>r»)v E Is lv x<*vt6eei, sal ds KaOapbv SiaXt^n.
Carm. Sib. Lib. iii.
Theophilus (ad Autolycum, Lib. ii. p. 114, D. 116, A.) appeals in like manner to the Sibyl. The author of the Qucestiones et Respon- sion es ad Orthodoxos, a work falsely ascribed to Justin, says that Clement of Rome, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, appeals to the writings of the Sibyl, as testifying that the world should be destroyed by fire. In the present Epistle of Clement there is no such allusion. Grotius (de Veritate Rel. Christ, i. 22,) has accumulated several instances of the same tradition.
* See Justin Martyr’s Second Apology, p. 45. — Cicero De Natura Deorum, ii. 46.
Vol. IV.— 13 THIS APOLOGY O?
be rewired into fire; and affirm that the world shall be renewed by a change. But we entertain far higher notions respecting God, the Creator of all things, than that he should be subject to any change.
28. If then in some things we hold the same opinions with the poets and philosophers, whom ye honor, and in others entertain views more sublime and more worthy of the divine nature, and if we alone are able to prove what we say, why are we ui\justly hated above all men? For when we affirm that all things were ordered and made by Gop, we hold apparently the same doctrine as Plato: when we speak of a destruc- tion by fire, we agree with the Stoics: in maintaining that the souls of the unjust are punished, retaining their consciousness even after death, and the souls of good men live happily, free from pain, we assent to what your poets and philosophers declare: b when we say that we ought not to worship the works of men’s hands, we agree with Menander the comic poet, and others who hold the same opinions; for they have shown that the Creator is greater than the creature. And when we affirm that the Word, which is the first* begotten of God, was born without carnal knowledge, even Jesus Christ opr Master, and that he was crucified, and died, and rose again and ascended into heaven, we advance no new thing different from what is maintained respecting those, whom ye call the sons of Jupiter.® 29. For ye well know how many sons your approved writers attribute to Jupiter: Mercury, the word of interpretation and the teacher of all men; Esculapius, who was a physician, and yet struck with lightning and taken np into heaven; Bacchus, who was torn in * Theophilus of Antioch, {ad Autolycum, Lib. ii. p. 115,) and Clemens Alexandrinus, (Stiomata, Lib. iv. p. 541,) have collected many passage* of Heathen poets and philosophers, agreeing with different tenets of the Christian religion.
6 The object which Justin has in view, in the ensuing part of his Apology, although now void of interest, was important at toe time in which it was written, when the Heathen world was given up to idolatry. He endeavors to show that the Gentiles could not consistently make it a matter of accusation against the Christians, that they believed in the in- carnation of Jesus Christ (he Son of God, when they themselves held opinions, which were fully as incredible, respecting their Alee gods.
JUSTIN MARTYR.
pieces; Hercules, who burned himself upon the pile to escape his torments; Castor and Pollux, the sons of Leda; Perseus the son of Dan&e; and Bellerophon, born of human race, and carried away upon the horse Pegasus.*. For why should I speak of Ariadne,* and others also, like her, who were said to be raised among the stars of heaven? Nay, ye determine that the very Emperors, who die among you, shall always become immortal; and bring forward some one to swear that he saw Caesar, who was burnt, going up to heaven out of the funeral pile.' Neither is it necessary that 1 should relate to you, who already know well, of what kind were the actions of each of those who were called the sons of Jupiter; I need only say, that the writings, in which they are recorded, tend only to corrupt and pervert® the minds of those who learn them: for all take a pride in being imitators of the gods. Now far be from every sound mind such conceptions concerning the gods, that even the very leader and father of them all, as they account Jupiter, should be a parricide, as his father also was; f should be a slave of the worst and basest passions, as in the instance of Ganymede and his adulteries with many women, and receive with approbation his sons who acted in like manner. But, as we have before said, the evil spirits did these things. And we have been taught that they only are immor- talized, who live holily and virtuously before God: believing also that they who live an unjust life, and repent not, shall be punished in eternal fire.
30. But Jesus, who is called the Son of God, even if he had been but a man, in this ordinary sense, would yet by his wisdom have deserved to be called the Son of God; for all writers call Him God, who is the Father of gods and men: but if we say that he was begotten of God, in a manner far different from ordid Justin alludes to the same story respecting Bellerophon in Sect 71. The mythological history was not, however, that Bellerophon was carried to heaven on Pegasus, but that he made the attempt and failed.
e elf SutyOop&v sol xapArpoirfivi < The word “ parricide” does not always strictly mean the murderer of a parent. Jupiter was said to have dethroned, and, by some, to have imprisoned Saturn; and Saturn was accused of using still greater violence to hie own father, Castas or Uranus.
THE APOLOGY OF KB1, nary generation, being the Word of God, as we have before said, let this be considered a correspondence with your own tenets, when ye call Mercury the word gg who bears messages from God. And if any one • objects to us, that he was crucified; this too is a point of correspondence with those whom ye call the sons of Jupiter, and yet allow to have suffered, as we before stated. For the sufferings of their deaths are related to have been not similar to his, but different; 5 so that he seems not to have been inferior to them even in the peculiar manner of h'is death: nay, in the progress of our address we shall show, as we promised, that he is even superior: or rather this is already shown; for he that is superior appears to be so from his deeds. Again, if we affirm that he was born of a virgin; let this be considered a point in which he agrees with what you (fabulously) ascribe to Perseus. And whereas we say that he made those whole, who were lame, palsied, and blind h from their birth, and raised the dead; in this too we ascribe to him actions similar to those which are said to have been performed by Esculapius.
31. We desire also to make it fully apparent to you, that those things only which we affirm, and have learned from Christ and the prophets who went before him, are the truth, and more ancient than (what is recorded by) all other writers; and we do not require to be believed, because in some particulars we agree with them, but because we say the truth; and Jesus Christ, who alone was properly born the Son of God, being his Word, and First-begotten and Power, and by his counsel made man, hath taught us these things, for the reformation and improvement of the human race. Before he was made man and dwelt among men, some, 1 * In Sect. 72, Justin argues that the mystery of the cross was never imitated by any of the false gods.
h irnpoiis. This seems a better reading than xovrjpo^s. Thirlbt shows that the word is used by Justin to signify “ the blind” as in Trypho, p. 295.
f ‘ <P®4oairris rives rods rpoeipijftivovg k&kovs Satpovas, riv xotrirHv us ytv6p.tr a elxov, & ftvdoxoiffaavres l<py<ra*' Sv rpdxov k ai ri xaB* f/ft&x \ty6ptya xai &oe(tof lpy a ivffpynvav. — There is probably some omission or errorin the Greek text. The assertion of Justin seems ta he, that the demons, whom he supposes to have inspired the Heathen mt the instigation of those evil spirits of which we have spoken, declared through the fictions which the poets uttered, that these events had already happened; as also they have fabricated those infamous and impious actions which are reported of ns, without witness or proof. Of this our refutation follows.
32. In the first place, we alone, although we express nothing but what is similar to the professions of the Greeks, are hated on account of the name of C&nrsT, and, although innocent, are put to death as trans- gressors: whereas other persons, in different places, worship trees and rivers, and mice, and cats, and crocodiles, and {many) other brute beasts. Yet the same animals are not held sacred by all, but some in one place and some in another; so that all are accounted impious one to the other, for not worshipping the same objects. — And this is the only thing of which ye can accuse us, that we worship not the same gods which ye worship, and offer not libations, and the perfume of the fat of beasts, to the dead, nor crowns and sacrifices to images. k — or ye well know that the same things gg are regarded by. some as gods, by others as beasts, and by others again as victims.
33. In the second place, we out of every nation, who formerly worshipped Bacchus the son of Semele, and Apollo the son of Latona, whose infamous abomina- tions it is a shame even to mention, together with Proserpine and Venus, who were inflamed with passion for Adonis, and whose mysteries ye celebrate, or any others of those who are called gods, do now for the sake of Jesus Christ despise all these, even under the threat of death: and dedicate ourselves to God who is unbegotten 1 and without passions; of whom we believe not (as ye believe of Jupiter) that under the influence of base passion he followed Antiope, or others in like manner, or Ganymede, nor that he was loosed from poets and mythologists, had obtained some imperfect knowledge of the actions which Christ should perforin, ana purposely framed the stones of the false gods so as to anticipate them.
k tv ypa^ats vr&pdvovg. SaI.MASIUS reads lv jto<pa,U crcipdvovs, CTOWns sewed together.
i dytwfiTt*, See note (q) on Ignatius 1 Epistle to the Ephesians, THE APOLOGY OF bonds by (Briareus) with a hundred hands at the solicitation of Thetis; nor on that account was anxious that Achilles, the son of Thetis, should slay many of the Greeks,™ for his concubine Briseis. ^fay we pity those who believe such fables, and are persuaded that evil spirits are the authors of them.
34. In the third place, even after the ascension of Christ into heaven, the evil spirits have put forward certain men, who said that they were gods: and these men were so far from being persecuted by you, that they were thought worthy even of honors. For in- stance, there was one Simon, a Samaritan, from a village named Gitton, who under Claudius Caesar per- formed magical wonders in your imperial city Rome, through the art and agency of evil spirits; and was re- garded as a god, and had a statue erected to him among you. This statue stood by the river Tiber, between the two bridges, having upon it this Latin inscription, SIMONI DEO 6ANCT0.* And almost all the Samaritans, and some also in other nations, confess him to be the first of the gods, and * Iliad } B.4.
n The account which Justin here gives of the statue erected to Simon Magus, is followed by Tertulli an, (Apol. Sect. 13;) Ihenjeds, ( Adv. Hares. Lib. i. c. 20;) Eusebios, (Hist. Eccles, Lib. ii. c. 13,) and many others of the Fathers; and was not doubted till the year 1574, when a stone was dug up in the island of the Tiber, with the inscrip- tion, SEMONI BANCO (or 8ANGO) DEO FIDIO SACRUM SEX. POMPEIUS S. P. F. COL. MUSSIANUS ClUINOUENNALIS DECOR BIDENT ALI8 DONUM DEDIT.
Since that time, many have supposed that the similarity of names led Justin into an error; and that he attributed to Simon Magus an honor which was really paid to Semo Sancus, a god of the Sabines.
It is certainly possible enough that Justin should have been mis- taken. But it must be observed that the inscriptions, although similar, are not the same, the order of the words being different: that the statue to Simon Magus is said (Justin, Apol. Sect. 73,) to have been dedicated by the Roman people, whereas that to Semo Sancus is a private offering of Sextus Pompeius. The statue of Simon Magus wasin the form of Jupiter: (Iren. Adv. Hares. Lib. i. c. 20. p. 95, 25. “Imaginem quoque Simoms. habent Jactam adfiguram Jams.” — Cyril. Cateches. vi. p. 87. Oxon. h diet A lot Epiphan. Hot. xxi. c. 3;) that of Semo represented Hercules.
The objections of Valesius (in Euseb. Hist. Eccles, Lib. ii. c. 13,) and of Basnage, (Exercit. Hist, p. 573,) founded on the assertion that JUSTIN MARTYR, even worship him; and say that a certain Helena, who travelled with him at that time, and formerly had been a prostitute, was the first Intelligence ° which proceeded from him* We know also that one Menander, » a Sa- maritan also, from the village of Capparetaea, a disciple of Simon, received power from the evil spirits, and being in Antioch deceived many by magical art. He persuaded also his followers that he should never ^ die; and still there are some of his sect who pro- 7U fess to believe this.
35. There is also Marcion of Pontus,* who is even the Romans never attached the epithet sanctus to their gods, nor employed the Words Deo Sancto in an inscription, are proved to be incorrect. There are numerous passages of the poets, and of Cicero, (*) in which sanctus is so used: and inscriptions are extant with the words, Apollini Sancto, JEsculapio Sancto, and the like; and with the very words in dispute, Deo Sancto Apollini Pacifero. Gruter, Inacript. xxxviii. 7.
It is also said, but I know not on what authority, that the statue attributed to Simon Magus was of brass, whereas that discovered was of stone.
The accuracy of Justin is questioned by Basnage, Exercit. Histor.
р. 570; by Antonius Van Dale, in his Dissertaiiuncula de statud Simoni Mago erecta; by Valesius, Grabe, and many others. The defenders of Justih’s correctness on this point are Baronius, Eccles. Hist. Ann. xliv. 55; Halloix, in his life of Justin; Tillemont, Tom. ii. Part i. p. 341, and p. 176, and Jenrin, in his Defensio S. August ini adversus Joan. Phereponi Animadversiones, p. 176. Thirlby, in his notes on the passage, pretends to defend the accuracy of Justin; and, in his usual way between jest and earnest, brings much information to bear upon the point.
• Irenjeus Adv. Hteres. Lib. i. c. 20, and after him, Tertullian de Animd, c. 34, and Theodoret de Fabulis Htereticorum, Lib. L ii. give an account of the strange doctrines maintained by Simon p Menander was the disciple of Simon Magus, and the master of Satuminus. For an account of his doctrines, see Irenjeus Adv. Hteres. Lib. i. c. 21. Tertullian de Animd, c. 23, 50. De Resurrect. Carnis, c. 5. Eusebius Hist. Eccles. iii. 26.