To Autolycus 2.1 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: The second book continues the conversation with Autolycus, now in writing.

Greek text · Otto 8:48

Ἐπειδὴ πρὸ τούτων τῶν ἡμερῶν ἐγένετο λόγος ἡμῖν, ὦ ἀγαθώτατε Αὐτόλυκε, πυθομένου σου τίς μου ὁ θεὸς καὶ διʼ ὀλίγου παρασχόντος σου τὰ ὦτα τῇ ὁμιλίᾳ ἡμῖν, περὶ τῆς θεοσεβείας μου ἐξεθέμην σοι· ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἀποταξάμενοι ἑαυτοῖς μετὰ πλείστης φιλίας ἐπορεύθημεν ἕκαστος εἰς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ οἶκον, καίπερ σκληρῶς τὰ πρῶτά σου ἔχοντος πρὸς ἡμᾶς· οἶδας γὰρ καὶ μέμνησαι ὅτι ὑπέλαβες μωρίαν εἶναι τὸν λόγον ἡμῶν. Σοῦ οὖν μετὰ ταῦτα προτρεψαμένου με, κἂν ἰδιώτης ᾦ τῷ λόγῳ, πλὴν βούλομαί σοι καὶ νῦν διὰ τοῦδε τοῦ συγγράμματος ἀκριβέστερον ἐπιδεῖξαι τὴν ματαιοπονίαν καὶ ματαίαν θρησκείαν ἐν ᾗ κατέχῃ, ἅμα καὶ διʼ ὀλίγων τῶν κατὰ σὲ ἱστοριῶν ὧν ἀναγινώσκεις, ἴσως δὲ οὐδέπω γινώσκεις, τὸ ἀληθὲς φανερόν σοι ποιῆσαι.

English · Claude translation

Some days ago, my excellent Autolycus, we had a conversation. You asked me who my God was, and gave your ears to our discussion for a little while, and I set out for you my religion. Then we said goodbye to each other with great friendliness and went each to his own house, although at first you were harsh toward us; for you know and remember that you thought our teaching foolishness. Since you have urged me since then, I wish, unskilled in speech though I am, to show you now more precisely, in this treatise, the futile labor and vain religion in which you are held fast, and at the same time to make the truth plain to you from a few of your own histories, which you read but perhaps do not yet understand.

About this passage

Source

Otto 8:48 · Johann Carl Theodor Otto, ed., Theophili episcopi Antiocheni ad Autolycum libri tres, Corpus apologetarum Christianorum saeculi secundi 8 (Jena: Mauke, 1861) · Greek text: J. C. T. Otto, Theophili episcopi Antiocheni ad Autolycum libri tres (Corpus apologetarum Christianorum saeculi secundi 8, 1861), 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 Otto, CorpApol 8. 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 Otto (1861); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Scripture

1 Cor 1:18 · echo, medium confidence
2 Cor 11:6 · echo, medium confidence

Cite this passage

Theophilus, Autol. 2.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/2/1/).

Plain text

Theophilus, Autol. 2.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/2/1/).