Second Apology 15 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Rauschen, 134–136

[Καὶ τοῦ ἐν τῷ ἐμῷ ἔθνει ἀσεβοῦς καὶ πλάνου σιμωνιανοῦ διδάγματος κατεφρόνησα.] Ἐὰν δὲ ὑμεῖς τοῦτο προγράψητε, ἡμεῖς τοῖς πᾶσι φανερὸν ποιήσαιμεν, ἵνα εἰ δύναιντο μεταθῶνται· τούτου γε μόνου χάριν τούσδε τοὺς λόγους συνετάξαμεν. Οὐκ ἔστι δὲ ἡμῶν τὰ διδάγματα κατὰ κρίσιν σώφρονα αἰσχρά, ἀλλὰ πάσης μὲν φιλοσοφίας ἀνθρωπείου ὑπέρτερα· εἰ δὲ μή, κἂν σωταδείοις καὶ φιλαινιδείοις καὶ ἀρχεστρατείοις καὶ ἐπικουρείοις καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς τοιούτοις ποιητικοῖς διδάγμασιν οὐχ ὅμοια, οἷς ἐντυγχάνειν πᾶσι, καὶ λεγομένοις καὶ γεγραμμένοις, συγκεχώρηται. Καὶ παυσόμεθα λοιπόν, ὅσον ἐφʼ ἡμῖν ἦν πράξαντες, καὶ προσεπευξάμενοι τῆς ἀληθείας καταξιωθῆναι τοὺς πάντη πάντας ἀνθρώπους. Εἴη οὖν καὶ ὑμᾶς ἀξίως εὐσεβείας καὶ φιλοσοφίας τὰ δίκαια ὑπὲρ ἑαυτῶν κρῖναι.

English · Claude translation

[And I despised the ungodly and deceitful teaching of Simon among my own nation.] And if you publish this, we will make it known to all, so that, if they can, they may change their minds; for this alone we composed this address. And our teachings, by sober judgment, are not shameful, but higher than all human philosophy; and if not, they are at least not like the teachings of Sotades and Philaenis and Archestratus and Epicurus and other such poetic writings, which all are allowed to read, both spoken and written. And we will now stop, having done what was in our power, and having prayed besides that all people everywhere may be counted worthy of the truth. May you, then, judge rightly for yourselves, as befits piety and philosophy.

About this passage

Source

Rauschen, 134–136 · Gerhard Rauschen, ed., S. Iustini Apologiae duae, Florilegium Patristicum 2 (Bonn: Hanstein, 1911), 114–136 · Greek text: G. Rauschen, S. Iustini Apologiae duae (Florilegium Patristicum 2, 1911), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Rauschen, FlorPatr 2. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Rauschen (Florilegium Patristicum 2, 1911); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Its chapter order differs: our 3–7 are its 4–8, our 8 is its 3.

Scripture

1 Tim 2:4 · echo, medium confidence
Acts 8:9 · allusion, low confidence

Topics

Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

The first sentence, printed in square brackets by the editor, seems out of place; some editors move it to the end of chapter 14 or regard it as a note. Simon Magus came from Samaria, Justin's homeland (1 Apol. 26).
Sotades, Philaenis, and Archestratus were authors of obscene or gluttonous verse; Epicurus was the philosopher of pleasure.
This chapter has the same number in older editions and in ANF.

Cite this passage

Justin, 2 Apol. 15 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-2-apology/15/).

Plain text

Justin, 2 Apol. 15 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-2-apology/15/).