Riddles of Egypt and the wisdom of Paul
He also says that we laugh at the Egyptians, although they offer many riddles that are far from contemptible, when they teach that such practices are honours paid to eternal ideas and not, as most people think, to creatures that live for a day; but that we are simpletons, bringing into our narratives about Jesus nothing more solemn than the goats and dogs of the Egyptians.
To this too we will say: My good sir, are you right to extol the Egyptians in your discourse for offering many riddles that are far from contemptible, and obscure narratives about the animals among them, and yet wrong to accuse us, as though you were convinced that we say nothing of substance, and that everything we say is worthless and contemptible, when we set out the things concerning Jesus according to the wisdom of the word to those who are, as it were, mature in Christianity? It is of these, as people fit to hear the wisdom that is in Christianity, that Paul teaches when he says: “We speak wisdom among the mature, yet a wisdom not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are being brought to nothing; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God foreordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age has known” (1 Corinthians 2:6–8).
Greek
Καί φησι γὲ ἡμᾶς τῶν μὲν Αἰγυπτίων καταγελᾶν. καίτοι πολλὰ καὶ οὐ φαῦλα παρεχόντων αἰνίγματα, ἐπὰν ἰδεῶν ἀϊδίων καὶ οὐχ, ὡς δοκοῦσιν οἱ πολλοὶ, ζῴων ἐφημερίων τιμὰς εἶναι τὰ τοιαῦτα διδάσκωσιν· εὐήθεις δ᾿ εἶναι μηδὲν σεμνότερον τράγων καὶ κυνῶν τῶν παρ᾿ Αἰγυπτίοις εἰσάγοντας ἐν ταῖς περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ διηγήσεσι. καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο δὲ φήσομεν· ἆρ᾿. ὦ γενναῖε, τὸ μὲν Αἰγυπτίους πολλὰ καὶ οὐ φαῦλα παρέχεσθαι αἰνίγματα καὶ ἀσαφεῖς διηγήσεις περὶ τῶν παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς ζῴων εὐλόγως ἐπαίρεις τῷ λόγῳ, οὐ δεόντως δὲ ποιεῖς ἡμῶν κατηγορῶν ὡς πειθόμενος μηδὲν ἡμᾶς λέγειν ἀλλὰ πάντα οὐδενὸς λόγου καὶ φαῦλα. ἐπὰν τὰ περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ λόγου σοφίαν διεξοδεύωμεν τοῖς ὡς ἐν χριστιανισμῷ τελείοις· περὶ ὧν ὡς ἱκανῶν ἀκοῦσαι τῆς ἐν χριστιανισμῷ σοφίας διδάσκων ὁ Παῦλός φησι· „σοφίαν δὲ λαλοῦμεν ἐν τοῖς τελείοις. σοφίαν δὲ οὐ τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου οὐδὲ τῶν ἀρχόντων τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου τῶν καταργουμένων· ἀλλὰ λαλοῦμεν θεοῦ σοφίαν ἐν μυστηρίῳ τὴν ἀποκεκρυμμένην, ἣν προώρισεν ὁ θεὸς πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων εἰς δόξαν ἡμῶν, ἣν οὐδεὶς τῶν ἀρχόντων τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου ἔγνωκε.“