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. Nay 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 instance, there was one Simon, a Samaritan, from a village named Gitton, who under Claudius Cæsar performed magical wonders in your imperial city Rome, through the art and agency of evil spirits; and was regarded 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 SANCTO."

And almost all the Samaritans, and some also in other nations, confess him to be the first of the gods, and

Iliad, B. 4.

The account which Justin here gives of the statue erected to Simon Magus, is followed by TERTULLIAN, (Apol. Sect. 13;) IRENEUS, (Adv. Hæres. Lib. i. c. 20;) EUSEBIUS, (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 inscription, SEMONI SANCO (or SANGO) DEO FIDIO SACRUM SEX. POMPEIUS S. P. F. COL. MUSSIANUS QUINQUENNALIS DECUR BIDENTALIS 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 mistaken. 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 was in the form of Jupiter: (IREN. Adv. Hæres. Lib. i. c. 20. p. 95, 25. "Imaginem quoque Simonis habent factam ad figuram Jovis."CYRIL Cateches. vi. p. 87. Oxon. év elder Aíos EPIPHAN. Hær, 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

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 Samaritan also, from the village of Capparetæa, 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 profess to believe this.

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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, Esculapio Sancto, and the like; and with the very words in dispute, Deo Sancto Apollini Pacifero. GRUTER, Inscript. 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. p. 570; by ANTONIUS VAN DALE, in his Dissertatiuncula de statuâ Simoni Mago erectâ; by VALESIUS, GRABE, and many others. The defenders of Justin's correctness on this point are BARONIUS, Eccles. Hist. Ann. xliv. 55; HALLOIX, in his life of Justin; TILLEMONT, Tom. II. Part 1. p. 341, and p. 176, and JENKIN, in his Defensio S. Augustini 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.

IRENEUS Adv. Hæres. Lib. i. c. 20, and after him, TERTULLIAN de Animâ, c. 34, and THEODORET de Fabulis Hæreticorum, Lib. i. ii. give an account of the strange doctrines maintained by Simon Magus.

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*

P Menander was the disciple of Simon Magus, and the master of Saturninus. For an account of his doctrines, see IRENEUS Adv. Hæres. Lib. i. c. 21. TERTULLIAN de Animâ, c. 23, 50. De Resurrect. Carnis, c. 5. EUSEBIUS Hist. Eccles. iii. 26.

a Marcion lived in the reign of Antoninus: (TERTULLIAN de Præscript. c. 30,) and that this was Antoninus Pius, appears from IRENEUS Adv. Hæres. Lib. iii. c. 4, who states that he flourished in the time of Anicetus, the tenth Bishop of Rome, who lived in the reign of Antoninus Pius. EUSEB. Hist. Eccles. Lib. iv. c. 10, 11, and Chronicon.-IRENEUS gives an account of his tenets. Adv. Hæres, Lib. i. c. 29. TERTLLUIAN wrote five books against Marcion: and the best account of the opinions of that heretic is given by the Bp. of Lincoln,

(a) CATULLUS lxiv. 269, 1xviii. 5.-TIBULLUS i. 3, 52.-OVID, Met. i. 372.CICERO pro P. Sextio, 68.—Pro Milone 31.-In Verrem, i. 19, v. 72.

now teaching his followers to profess, that there is some other GOD, greater than he who created the world. This man, through the assistance of evil spirits, hath caused many in every nation to speak blasphemies, and to deny that the Creator of the universe was GOD; maintaining that some one else, of superior, power, hath exceeded that Creator by executing greater works. And yet all, who have sprung from these sects, as we have stated, are called Christians. In the same manner as those, who do not hold the same opinions as the philosophers, are still included under the common appellation of philosophy. Now whether they are guilty of any of those infamous acts which are reported, such as the putting out of the lights, and promiscuous intercourse, and feeding on human flesh, we know not; but we know that they are not persecuted nor put to death by you, even on account of their peculiar doctrines. We have also a treatise composed against all the heresies which have arisen, which, if you wish to peruse it, we will produce.

36. But we are so far from committing any (such) injustice or impiety (as is implied in the charge of devouring children), that we have learned that none but wicked men expose infants when they are born. First, because we see, that almost all such are brought up in the vilest manner, and for the basest purposes, whether they be male or female: and are every where publicly exposed, even as men of old reared

in his luminous epitome of those books. Bp. KAYE's Account of Tertullian, c. vii. pp. 474-505. EUSEBIUS, (Hist. Eccles. Lib. iv. c. 11,) in quoting this passage, expresses himself as if it occurred in a book of Justin written against Marcion.

These calumnies were constantly brought against the Christians; and are refuted in all their apologies. Compare JUSTIN, Second Apology, p. 50. Dial. cum Tryph. p. 227. TERTULLIAN, Apol. Sect. 2, 7, 8. Ad Nationes i. c. 2. MINUCIUS FELIX, Octavius, Sect. 9, 30. They are mentioned also by the martyrs, who suffered in the persecution after the death of Antoninus Pius, (EUSEB. Hist. Eccles. Lib. v. c. i. p. 133, A,) by ATHENAGORAS (Legat. p. 4,) and by ORIGEN (Contra Celsum, Lib. vi. p. 293, 4,) as having been advanced at the beginning of Christianity. He attributes the origin of the accusation to the Jews. Καὶ δοκεῖ μοι παραπλήσιον Ιουδαίοις πεποιηκέναι (Κέλσος) τοῖς κατὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ Χριστιανισμοῦ διδασκαλίας κατασκεδάσασι δυσφημίαν τοῦ λόγου· ὡς ἄρα καταθύσαντες παιδίον μεταλαμβάνουσιν αὐτοῦ τῶν σαρκῶν.

K. T. X.

for sale herds of oxen, or goats, or sheep, or horses. And ye receive the hire and tribute and custom of these persons, when ye ought to cut them off from the face of your empire. I abstain from mentioning the horrible, and even incestuous, offences which hence frequently occur; the manner in which men sometimes prostitute their children and their wives: or the shocking offerings which are made to her, whom ye call the mother of the gods. And, indeed, in the worship of all those who are accounted gods among you, a serpent is represented as a great symbol and mystery. (Ye accuse us also of extinguishing the lights, that we may give way to gross indulgences :) thus what ye openly practise and hold in honor, as if the divine light (of reason and natural sense of right and wrong) were overthrown and extinguished in you, ye falsely attribute to us: but this brings no blame upon us, who are free from all such abominations, but rather upon those who do them, and bear false witness. For, as ye may learn, by inquiry, from our Scriptures, the leader of the evil demons is by us called the Serpent, and Satan, and the Devil,' who, as CHRIST hath foretold, shall be sent into fire with all his host, and such men as follow him, to be punished for endless ages. For the cause why God hath hitherto delayed the execution of this is the human race. For he foreknows that some shall be saved by repentance, and some perhaps who are not yet born: and at the first he formed the human race intelligent, and able to choose the truth and to be happy," so that all men should be without excuse before GOD; for they are made capable of reason and foresight. But if any one

believes not that GOD cares for such things, such a man must either profess that God exists not at all, or affirm that, if He exists, he delights in evil; or else that he remains as insensible as a stone: and that

Compare SUETONIUS, Caligula: c, 40. This disgraceful tribute was finally removed by a law contained in the code of Justinian, tit. XL. Lib. xi.

Rev. xx. 2. See JUSTIN's Dial. with Trypho, p. 331.

κ εὖ πράττειν.

* ἢ μὴ εἶναι αὐτὸν διὰ τεχνῆς ὁμολογήσει. For διὰ τεχνῆς should pro bably be read either ατεχνώς or δι' ἀνάγκης,

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virtue and vice are nothing; but that men judge actions to be good or bad merely by their own opinion; which is the greatest impiety and injustice.

A second reason for our not exposing infants is, lest any one so exposed should not be taken up, but perish; and thus we should be murderers.

37. Moreover, we either marry at first, for no other object than to rear children, or else abstaining from marriage, continue to live in a state of continence. And already one of our religion, in order to persuade you that promiscuous concubinage is not a religious mystery with us, (as ye falsely allege,) presented a written petition to Felix the governor, at Alexandria, praying that he would permit a physician to mutilate his person; an operation which the physicians there said they were not at liberty to perform, without the governor's leave. And when Felix altogether refused to grant his permission, the young man still persisted in his resolution of continence, satisfied with his own conscience, and that of his Christian brethren. Here

also we may mention Antinous, who lately died,

72 and whom all, through fear (of offending the Emperor Adrian) were eager to worship as a god, knowing well what kind of character he bore, and whence he

was.

And that no one may advance this objection against us, "What should hinder us from believing, that he who by us is called CHRIST, was a man of merely human origin, who performed the wonders, which we speak of, by magical art, and on that account was

y Justin here takes up again the subject of exposing children, from which, in his usual discursive manner, he had deviated, at the beginning of this Section.

Absurd as this objection may appear, it was one which the early Christian Apologists thought it necessary to anticipate, and on that account sometimes laid greater stress on prophecy than on the miracles of CHRIST. Compare IRENEUS Adv. Hæres. Lib. ii. c. 57, LACTANTIUS V. 3. "Disce igitur, si quid tibi cordis (cordi) est, non idcirco à nobis Deum creditum Christum, quia mirabilia fecit, sed quia vidimus in eo facta esse omnia quæ nobis annunciata sunt vaticinio prophetarum. Fecit mirabilia: magum putassemus, ut et vos nuncupatis, (nunc putatis) et Judæi tunc putaverunt, si non illa ipsa facturum Christum prophetæ uno spiritu prædixissent."-In another place (iv. c. 13,) LACTANTIUS replies to the objection, said to have been made by the oracle of Apollo, and assented to by some of the