"But who are you, most excellent man?" So I replied to him in jest.[1]
Then he told me frankly both his name and his family. "Trypho," says he, "I am called; and I am a Hebrew of the circumcision, and having escaped from the war[2] lately carried on there, I am spending my days in Greece, and chiefly at Corinth."
"And in what," said I, "would you be profited by philosophy so much as by your own lawgiver and the prophets?"
"Why not?" he replied. "Do not the philosophers turn every discourse on God? and do not questions continually arise to them about His unity and providence? Is not this truly the duty of philosophy, to investigate the Deity?"
"Assuredly," said I, "so we too have believed. But the most[3] have not taken thought of this, whether there be one or more gods, and whether they have a regard for each one of us or no, as if this knowledge contributed nothing to our happiness; nay, they moreover attempt to persuade us that God takes care of the universe with its genera and species, but not of me and you, and each individually, since otherwise we would surely not need to pray to Him night and day. But it is not difficult to understand the upshot of this; for fearlessness and licence in speaking result to such as maintain these opinions, doing and saying whatever they choose, neither dreading punishment nor hoping for any benefit from God. For how could they? They affirm that the same things shall always happen; and, further, that I and you shall again live in like manner, having become neither better men nor worse. But there are some others,[4] who, having supposed the soul to be immortal and immaterial, believe that though they have committed evil they will not suffer punishment (for that which is immaterial is insensible), and that the soul, in consequence of its immortality, needs nothing from God."
And he, smiling gently, said, "Tell us your opinion of
- ↑ In jest, no doubt, because quoting a line from Homer, Il. ii. 123, τίς δὲ σύ ἐσσι, φέριστε, καταθνητῶν ἀνθώπων.
- ↑ The war instigated by Bar Cochba.
- ↑ The opinions of Stoics.—Otto.
- ↑ The Platonists.
