To Autolycus 2.23 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Otto 8:120

Τὸν οὖν ἄνθρωπον ὁ θεὸς πεποίηκεν ἐν τῇ ἕκτῃ ἡμέρᾳ, τὴν δὲ πλάσιν αὐτοῦ πεφανέρωκεν μετὰ τὴν ἑβδόμην ἡμέραν, ὁπότε καὶ τὸν παράδεισον πεποίηκεν, εἰς τὸ ἐν κρείσσονι τόπῳ καὶ χωρίῳ διαφόρῳ αὐτὸν εἶναι. Καὶ ὅτι ταῦτά ἐστιν ἀληθῆ, αὐτὸ τὸ ἔργον δείκνυσιν. Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν κατανοῆσαι τὴν μὲν ὠδῖνα, ἣν πάσχουσιν ἐν τῷ τοκετῷ αἱ γυναῖκες, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο λήθην τοῦ πόνου ποιοῦνται, ὅπως πληρωθῇ ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος εἰς τὸ αὐξάνεσθαι καὶ πληθύνεσθαι τὸ γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων; Τί δʼ οὐχὶ καὶ τὴν τοῦ ὄφεως κατάκρισιν, πῶς στυγητὸς τυγχάνει ἕρπων ἐπὶ τῇ κοιλίᾳ καὶ ἐσθίων γῆν, ὅπως καὶ τοῦτο ᾖ εἰς ἀπόδειξιν ἡμῖν τῶν προειρημένων;

English · Claude translation

God, then, made the human being on the sixth day, but made known how he was formed only after the seventh day, when he also made the garden, so that he might be in a better place and a distinct region. That these things are true, the facts themselves show. How can one fail to observe the pangs women suffer in childbirth, and how afterward they forget the pain, so that God's word might be fulfilled, that the human race should increase and multiply? And what of the condemnation of the serpent, how loathsome it is, creeping on its belly and eating dust, so that this too might be a proof to us of what was said before?

About this passage

Source

Otto 8:120 · 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

Gen 3:16 · allusion, high confidence
John 16:21 · echo, medium confidence
Gen 1:28 · allusion, medium confidence
Gen 3:14 · allusion, high confidence

Notes

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (misprint: κῶς for πῶς; misprint: πλάσεν for πλάσιν (“formation”); stray raised point in the digital text): τὴν δὲ πλάσεν αὐτοῦ → τὴν δὲ πλάσιν αὐτοῦ; λήθην· τοῦ πόνου → λήθην τοῦ πόνου; κῶς στυγητὸς → πῶς στυγητὸς.

Cite this passage

Theophilus, Autol. 2.23 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/2/23/).

Plain text

Theophilus, Autol. 2.23 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/2/23/).