Moses older than the Greek sages; day one
Clement, Africanus, and Tatian — and from those of the circumcision Josephus and Justus — each told, from old history in his own way, that the inspired Moses flourished in the time of Inachus. Inachus stands seven hundred years before the Trojan war. One of the saints, making a most careful reckoning of the times against the years of Inachus, found the most holy Jacob a contemporary; Moses he found with Josephus. For inventing a parallel chronicle, he set beside each other the ruler in every nation, and gathered the years of the kingdoms of the Chaldeans, Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Lydians, Hebrews, Egyptians, Athenians, Argives, Sicyonians, Lacedaemonians, Corinthians, Thessalians, Macedonians, Latins — later called Romans — and […] the years of each nation’s kings, setting Abraham’s years against those of the Assyrian queen Semiramis. For under Semiramis the blessed Abraham was known; Josephus places him under Inachus; Moses under Cecrops, whom the children of the Greeks call first of Attica three hundred years before the Trojan affairs — so that Moses is oldest among the ancient sages of the Greeks, earlier than Homer and Hesiod and the Trojan matters, than Heracles, Musaeus, Linus, Chiron, Orpheus, the Dioscuri, Asclepius, Dionysus, Hermes, Apollo, and the Greek mysteries and rites and even the deeds of Zeus; earlier too than Deucalion’s flood, Phaethon’s burning, Erichthonius born of Hephaestus and earth, and the rape of Kore. For all these came after Cecrops, whom Homer and Hesiod fall far short of in years. And if they are younger than these, they are much lower still than Moses’ age. So Moses was shown the most divine teacher of truth among all the wise. Spitting out what is called Egyptian wisdom, he spoke best of this world’s framing — clearly inspired with the truth by the God over all, the Maker of the whole. For he says: In the beginning God made the heaven and the earthAnd many among the Greeks who dared to teach the opposite were sunk into a deep of ignorance. Doctrines put forward from human thought are […] and without ballast. Among them no word stands unmoved — the later always overthrowing the earlier — so the faithful need not labor to refute them; they suffice for one another’s overturning. What shape and substance heaven is, Isaiah teaches us, saying: He who set the heaven as a vault — hinting it is thin, not solid or thick — as elsewhere: He who established the heaven as smokeAnd the psalm says the earth is fixed on the waters: He founded it upon the seas, and prepared it upon the riversAnd how this is we must not pry into, but believe. For the simplicity of faith is stronger than reasoned proofs; God’s judgments are unreachable and incomprehensible. So on the first day God made the heaven and the earth and the light, and in a sharp turn of time lit everything — and this light is the corruptible one. Before it, a dark shadowing held things when heaven was stretched round and made the leftover place lightless. Outside heaven there is unshadowed, incorruptible, eternal light in which angels dwell, of which Solomon says: Light for the righteous forever — into which those who have lived well also take their rest. You will grasp this…
Greek
Κλήμης μὲν οὖν, καὶ Ἀφρικανὸς καὶ πρὸς τούτοις Τατιανὸς, τῶν δὲ ἐκ περιτομῆς Ἰώσηπος, καὶ Ἰοῦστοςκατὰ Ἴναχον ἀκμάσαι τὸν θεσπέσιον Μωϋσέα ἱστόρησαν, ἰδίως ἔκαστος ἐκ παλαιᾶς ἱστορίας ὑποσχὼν τὴν ἀπόδειξιν. Ἴναχος δὲ ἑπτακοσίοις ἔτεσι τὸ Ἰλιακὸν προτερεῖ πόλεμον. Τῶν δὲ ἁγίων τις ἀκριβεστάτην τῶν χρόνων ποιησάμενος τοῖς χρόνοις Ἰνάχου, τὸν μὲν ἁγιώτατον εὗρεν Ἰακὼβ συνακμάσαντα· Μωϋσέα δὲ Ἰώσηπος. Χρονικοῦ γὰρ κανόνος σύνταξιν ἐπινοήσας ἐκ παραλλήλου, ἀντιπαρέθηκε τὸν παρ' ἑκάστῳ ἔθνει δυναστεύοντα. Συνήγαγε δὲ χρόνους τῆς βασιλείας Χαλδαίων, Ἀσσυρίων, Μήδων, Περσῶν, Λυδῶν, Ἑβραίων, Αἰγυπτίων, Ἀθηναίων,Ἀργείων, Σικυωνίων, Λακεδαιμονίων, Κορινθίων, Θετταλῶν, Μακεδόνων, Λατίνων, τῶν ὕστερον κληθέντων Ῥωμαίων. Καὶ τούτων τοὺς χρόνους ἐπὶ ταυτ.....σας ἑκάστου ἔθνους τῶν βασιλέων συνεκ..... χρόνους, ἀντιπαρατιθεὶς τὰ ἔτη τῆς βασιλείας Ἀσσυρίων βασιλίδος, τουτέστι τῆς Σεμιράμεως Ἀβραὰμ τοῖς ἔτεσι. Κατὰ γὰρ τὴν Σεμίραμιν Ἀβραὰμ ὁ μακάριος ἐγνωρίζετο· ὁ δὲ Ἰώσηππος κατὰ Ἴναχον· Μωϋσῆς δὲ κατὰ Κέκροπα, ὃν πρὸ τῶν Ἰλιακῶν ἔτεσι τριακοσίοις ......... πρῶτον τῆς Ἀττικῆς Ἑλλήνων παῖδες, ὡς εἶναι τῶν παρ' Ἕλλησιν ἀρχαίων σοφῶν τὸν Μωϋσέα πρεσβύτατον, Ὁμήρου λέγων καὶ Ἡσιόδου, καὶ τῶν Τρωϊκῶν, Ἡρακλέους τε, καὶ Μουσαίου, καὶ Λίνου, ἔτι τε Χείρωνος, Ὀρφέως, ∆ιοσκούρων, Ἀσκληπιοῦ, ∆ιονύσου, Ἑρμοῦ,Ἀπόλλωνος, καὶ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν μυστηρίων, καὶ τελετῶν, καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν ∆ιὸς πράξεων· ἔτι δὲ τοῦ κατὰ ∆ευκαλίωνα κατακλυσμοῦ, καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ Φαέθοντος ἐκπυρώσεως, Ἐριχθονίου τε γενέσεως ἐξ Ἡφαίστου καὶ γῆς, καὶ Κόρης ἁρπαγῆς. Οὗτοι γὰρ πάντες 709 ὑπῆρξαν μετὰ Κέκροπα, ὃν πολλὰ Ὅμηρος καὶ Ἡσίοδος τοῖς χρόνοις ὑποβεβήκασιν. Εἰ δὲ τούτων ἐλαττοῦνται τοῖς ἔτεσι, πολὺ δήπου τῆς Μωϋσέως ὑπάρχουσιν ἡλικίας κατώτεροι. Οὗτος τοίνυν τῶν σοφῶν πάντων διδάσκαλος ἀνεδείχθη τῆς ἀληθείας θειότατος. Τὴν γὰρ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων λεγομένην διαπτύσας σοφίαν, ἄριστα περὶ τῆσδε τοῦ κόσμου διεξῆλθε συστάσεως, ὑπ' αὐτοῦ δηλονότι τοῦ ἐπὶ πάντων Θεοῦ καὶ δημιουργοῦ τοῦ παντὸς ἐμπνευσθεὶς τὴν ἀλήθειαν. Λέγει γάρ· Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. Καὶ πολλοὶ τῶν παρ' Ἕλλησι τἀναντία τούτων διεξιέναι τολμήσαντες εἰς βυθὸν ἀγνοίας κατηκοντίσθησαν. Τὰ γὰρ ἐξ ἀνθρωπίνης διανοίας προφερόμενα δόγματα σαφῆ ....άνει καὶ ἀνερμάτιστα. Οὐδεὶς γὰρ παρ' αὐτοῖς ἕστηκε λόγος ἀκίνητος, ἀεὶ τοῦ δευτέρου τὸν πρὸ αὐτοῦ καταβάλλοντος· ὥστε μηδὲν ἔργον εἶναι τοῖς πιστοῖς, τἀκείνων ἐλέγχειν, ἀρκούντων ἐκείνων ἀλλήλοις πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν ἀνατροπήν. Ὁποῖος δὲ τὸ σχῆμα καὶ τὴν οὐσίαν ὁ οὐρανός ἐστι, διδάσκει ἡμᾶς Ἡσαΐας λέγων· Ὁ στήσας τὸν οὐρανὸν ὡσεὶ καμάραν· αὐτοῦ λεπτὴν, καὶ οὐ στερεὰν, οὐδὲ παχεῖαν αἰνιττόμενος εἶναι, ὡς καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ φησιν· Ὁ στερεώσας τὸν οὐρανὸν ὡσεὶ καπνόν. Τὴν δὲ γῆν φάσκει ὁ ψαλμὸς ἐπὶ τῶν ὑδάτων ἐνηρεῖσθαι, λέγων· Αὐτὸς ἐπὶ θαλασσῶν ἐθεμελίωσεν αὐτὴν, καὶ ἐπὶ ποταμῶν ἡτοίμασεν αὐτήν. Καὶ τὸ πῶς οὐ δεῖ πολυπραγμονεῖν, ἀλλὰ πιστεύειν. Τὸ γὰρ ἁπλοῦν τῆς πίστεως ἰσχυρότερον ὑπάρχει λογικῶν ἀποδείξεων· ἀνέφικτα γὰρ καὶ ἀκατάληπτά ἐστι τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰ κρίματα. Τῇ πρώτῃ οὖν ἡμέρᾳ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ τὴν γῆν, καὶ τὸ φῶς· καὶ πάντα ὀξείᾳ καιροῦ ῥοπῇ κατεφώτισε· τοῦτο δέ ἐστι τὸ φθαρτόν. Πρὸ γὰρ τούτου σκιάσματι περιεῖχε σκοτεινὸν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ περιταθέντος, καὶ πάντα ὅσα συνεῖχε, καὶ τὸν ἀπολειφθέντα τόπον ἀφεγγῆ καταστήσαντος. Ἔξωθεν δὲ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ φῶς εἶναι ἀσκίαστον, καὶ ἄφθαρτον, καὶ αἰώνιον, ἐν ᾧ ἄγγελοι διαιτῶνται, περὶ οὗ φησι Σολομῶν· Φῶς δικαίοις διὰ παντὸς, εἰς ὃ καὶ οἱ καλῶς βιώσαντες ἀναπαύονται. Νοήσεις δὲ τούτου
About this text
Commentary on the six days of creation (PG marks Spurious) attributed to Eustathius of Antioch.
Original English Translation — new OET from PG 18 Greek.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 18 (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.