Dialogue with Trypho 70.5 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: The Perseus myth too is the serpent's imitation.

Greek text · Archambault 1:342–344

Καὶ ὅτι λαός, ὁ εἰς αὐτὸν πιστεύειν προεγνωσμένος, μελετήσειν φόβον κυρίου προέγνωστο, αὗται αἱ λέξεις τῆς προφητείας βοῶσι. Καὶ ὅτι οἱ τὰ γράμματα τῶν γραφῶν ἐπίστασθαι λογιζόμενοι, καὶ ἀκούοντες τῶν προφητειῶν, οὐκ ἔχουσι σύνεσιν, ὁμοίως αὗται αἱ γραφαὶ κεκράγασιν. Ὅταν δέ, ὦ Τρύφων, ἔφην, ἐκ παρθένου γεγεννῆσθαι τὸν Περσέα ἀκούσω, καὶ τοῦτο μιμήσασθαι τὸν πλάνον ὄφιν συνίημι.

English · Claude translation

“And that the people foreknown as going to believe in him were foreknown to meditate on the fear of the Lord, these very words of the prophecy cry out. And that those who reckon that they know the letters of the Scriptures, and hear the prophecies, have no understanding, these Scriptures likewise cry aloud. And when I hear, Trypho,” I said, “that Perseus was born of a virgin, I understand that the deceiving serpent imitated this too.”

About this passage

Source

Archambault 1:342–344 · Georges Archambault, ed., Justin: Dialogue avec Tryphon, 2 vols., Textes et documents pour l'étude historique du christianisme 8, 11 (Paris: Picard, 1909) · Greek text: G. Archambault, Justin: Dialogue avec Tryphon (Paris, 1909), 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 Archambault. 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 Archambault (1909); 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)

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 70.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/70/5/).

Plain text

Justin, Dial. 70.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/70/5/).