Chapter XXXVI.

But as he next introduces the case of the favourite of Adrian (I refer to the accounts regarding the youth Antinous, and the honours paid him by the inhabitants of the city of Antinous in Egypt), and imagines that the honour paid to him falls little short of that which we render to Jesus, let us show in what a spirit of hostility this statement is made.  For what is there in common between a life lived among the favourites of Adrian, by one who did not abstain even from unnatural lusts, and that of the venerable Jesus, against whom even they who brought countless other charges, and who told so many falsehoods, were not able to allege that He manifested, even in the slightest degree, any tendency to what was licentious?480    ὡς κἄν τὸ τυχὸν ἀκολασίας κἂν ἐπ᾽ ὀλίγον γευσαμένου.  Nay, further, if one were to investigate, in a spirit of truth and impartiality, the stories relating to Antinous, he would find that it was due to the magical arts and rites of the Egyptians that there was even the appearance of his performing anything (marvellous) in the city which bears his name, and that too only after his decease,—an effect which is said to have been produced in other temples by the Egyptians, and those who are skilled in the arts which they practise.  For they set up in certain places demons claiming prophetic or healing power, and which frequently torture those who seem to have committed any mistake about ordinary kinds of food, or about touching the dead body of a man, that they may have the appearance of alarming the uneducated multitude.  Of this nature is the being that is considered to be a god in Antinoopolis in Egypt, whose (reputed) virtues are the lying inventions of some who live by the gain derived therefrom;481    οὗ ἀρετὰς οἱ μέν τινες κυβευτικώτερον ζῶντες καταψεύδονται. while others, deceived by the demon placed there, and others again convicted by a weak conscience, actually think that they are paying a divine penalty inflicted by Antinous.  Of such a nature also are the mysteries which they perform, and the seeming predictions which they utter.  Far different from such are those of Jesus.  For it was no company of sorcerers, paying court to a king or ruler at his bidding, who seemed to have made him a god; but the Architect of the universe Himself, in keeping with the marvellously persuasive power of His words,482    ἀκολούθως τῇ ἐν τῷ λέγειν τεραστὶως πιστικῇ δυνάμει. commended Him as worthy of honour, not only to those men who were well disposed, but to demons also, and other unseen powers, which even at the present time show that they either fear the name of Jesus as that of a being of superior power, or reverentially accept Him as their legal ruler.483    ὡς κατὰ νόμους αὐτῶν ἄρχοντος.  For if the commendation had not been given Him by God, the demons would not have withdrawn from those whom they had assailed, in obedience to the mere mention of His name.

Ἐπεὶ δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ τὰ περὶ τῶν παιδικῶν Ἀδριανοῦ–λέγω δὲ τὰ περὶ Ἀντινόου τοῦ μειρακίου– καὶ τὰς εἰς αὐτὸν τῶν ἐν Ἀντινόου [πόλει] τῆς Αἰγύπτου τιμὰς οὐδὲν οἴεται ἀποδεῖν τῆς ἡμετέρας πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν τιμῆς, φέρε καὶ τοῦτο ὡς φιλέχθρως λεγόμενον διελέγξωμεν. Τί γὰρ κοινὸν ἔχει ὁ γενόμενος ἐν τοῖς Ἀδριανοῦ παιδικοῖς βίος, οὐδὲ τὸν ἄρρενα ἀπαθῆ γυναικείας νόσου φυλάξαντος, πρὸς τὸν σεμνὸν ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν, οὗ μηδὲ οἱ μυρία κατηγο ρήσαντες καὶ ψευδῆ ὅσα περὶ αὐτοῦ λέγοντες δεδύνηνται κατειπεῖν ὡς κἂν τὸ τυχὸν ἀκολασίας κἂν ἐπ' ὀλίγον γευσα μένου; Ἀλλὰ καὶ εἴπερ φιλαλήθως καὶ ἀδεκάστως τὰ περὶ τὸν Ἀντίνουν ἐξετάζοι τις, μαγγανείας ἂν Αἰγυπτίων καὶ τελετὰς εὕροι τὰς αἰτίας τοῦ δοκεῖν τι αὐτὸν ποιεῖν ἐν Ἀντινόου πόλει καὶ μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν αὐτοῦ· ὅπερ καὶ ἐπ' ἄλλων νεὼν ἱστορεῖται ὑπὸ Αἰγυπτίων καὶ τῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα δεινῶν γεγονέναι, ἔν τισι τόποις ἱδρυόντων δαίμονας μαντικοὺς ἢ ἰατρικοὺς πολλάκις δὲ καὶ βασανίζοντας τοὺς δοκοῦντάς τι παραβεβηκέναι περὶ τῶν τυχόντων βρωμάτων ἢ περὶ τοῦ θιγεῖν νεκροῦ σώματος ἀνθρωπίνου, ἵνα δὴ ἔχοιεν δεδίττεσθαι τὸν πολὺν καὶ ἀπαίδευτον. Τοιοῦτος δέ ἐστι καὶ [ὁ] ἐν Ἀντινόου πόλει τῆς Αἰγύπτου νομισθεὶς εἶναι θεός, οὗ ἀρετὰς οἱ μέν τινες κυβευτικώτερον ζῶντες κατα ψεύδονται, ἕτεροι δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐκεῖ ἱδρυμένου δαίμονος ἀπατώμενοι καὶ ἄλλοι ἀπὸ ἀσθενοῦς τοῦ συνειδότος ἐλεγχό μενοι οἴονται τίνειν θεήλατον ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀντινόου ποινήν. Τοιαῦτα δέ ἐστι καὶ τὰ δρώμενα αὐτῶν μυστήρια καὶ αἱ δοκοῦσαι μαντεῖαι, ὧν πάνυ μακράν ἐστι τὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ. Οὐ γὰρ συνελθόντες γόητες, χάριν τίνοντες βασιλεῖ τινι κελεύοντι ἢ ἡγεμόνι προστάσσοντι, πεποιηκέναι ἔδοξαν αὐτὸν εἶναι θεόν, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ὁ τῶν ὅλων δημιουργὸς ἀκολού θως τῇ ἐν τῷ λέγειν τεραστίως πειστικῇ δυνάμει συνέστησεν αὐτὸν ὡς τιμῆς ἄξιον οὐ τοῖς εὖ φρονεῖν ἐθέλουσι μόνον ἀνθρώποις ἀλλὰ καὶ δαίμοσι καὶ ἄλλαις ἀοράτοις δυνάμεσιν· αἵτινες μέχρι τοῦ δεῦρο ἐμφαίνουσιν ἤτοι φοβούμεναι τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ὡς κρείττονος ἢ σεβασμίως ἀποδεχόμεναι ὡς κατὰ νόμους αὐτῶν ἄρχοντος. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ θεόθεν ἦν αὐτῷ δοθεῖσα σύστασις, οὐκ ἂν καὶ δαίμονες τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ ἀπαγγελλομένῳ μόνον εἴκοντες ἀνεχώρουν ἀπὸ τῶν ὑπ' αὐτῶν πολεμουμένων.