To Autolycus 3.1 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Otto 8:190

Θεόφιλος Αὐτολύκῳ χαίρειν. Ἐπειδὴ οἱ συγγραφεῖς βούλονται πληθὺν βίβλων συγγράφειν πρὸς κενὴν δόξαν, οἱ μὲν περὶ θεῶν καὶ πολέμων ἢ χρόνων, τινὲς δὲ καὶ μύθων ἀνωφελῶν καὶ τῆς λοιπῆς ματαιοπονίας, ἧς ἤσκεις καὶ σὺ ἕως τοῦ δεῦρο, κἀκείνου μὲν τοῦ καμάτου οὐκ ὀκνεῖς ἀνεχόμενος, ἡμῖν δὲ συμβαλὼν ἔτι λῆρον ἡγῇ τυγχάνειν τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας, οἰόμενος προσφάτους καὶ νεωτερικὰς εἶναι τὰς παρʼ ἡμῖν γραφάς, διὸ δὴ κἀγὼ οὐκ ὀκνήσω ἀνακεφαλαιώσασθαί σοι παρέχοντος θεοῦ τὴν ἀρχαιότητα τῶν παρʼ ἡμῖν γραμμάτων, ὑπόμνημά σοι ποιούμενος διʼ ὀλίγων, ὅπως μὴ ὀκνήσῃς ἐντυγχάνειν αὐτῷ, ἐπιγνῷς δὲ τῶν λοιπῶν συνταξάντων τὴν φλυαρίαν.

English · Claude translation

Theophilus to Autolycus, greeting. Writers like to compose a multitude of books for the sake of empty glory, some about gods and wars or chronology, some about useless myths and other futile labor, in which you too have been engaged up to now. You do not shrink from putting up with that toil; yet when you talk with us you still think that the word of truth is nonsense, supposing that our Scriptures are recent and newfangled. For this reason I too will not shrink from summing up for you, God permitting, the antiquity of our writings, and I am making a brief memorandum of it for you, so that you may not shrink from reading it, and may recognize the nonsense of the other writers.

About this passage

Source

Otto 8:190 · 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)

Topics

Scripture and canon

Notes

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (misprint: διὰ for διὸ (“for this reason”)): διὰ δὴ κἀγὼ οὐκ ὀκνήσω → διὸ δὴ κἀγὼ οὐκ ὀκνήσω.

Cite this passage

Theophilus, Autol. 3.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/3/1/).

Plain text

Theophilus, Autol. 3.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/3/1/).