72. But your religion
precedes ours by many years, and is therefore, you say, truer,
because it has been supported by the authority of antiquity. And
of what avail is it that it should precede ours as many years as
you please, since it began at a certain time? or what3893
| 3893
Lit., “of what space.” |
are two
thousand years, compared
with so many
thousands of ages? And yet, lest we should seem to
betray our cause by so long neglect, say, if it does not annoy
you, does the
Almighty and
Supreme God seem to you to be something new;
and do those who adore and
worship Him
seem to you to support
and introduce an unheard-of, unknown, and upstart
religion? Is
there anything older than Him? or can anything be found preceding Him
in being,
3894
time,
name? Is not He alone uncreated,
immortal, and
everlasting?
Who is the head
3895
| 3895
So the ms., according to Crusius and
Livineius, reading ac; all edd. except Oehler read
aut—“head (i.e., source) or fountain.” |
and
fountain of things? is not He? To whom does
eternity owe its
name? is it not to Him? Is it not because He is
everlasting, that
the ages go on without end? This is beyond doubt, and true:
the religion which we follow is not new, then, but we have been
late in learning what we should follow and revere, or where we
should both
fix our
hope of
salvation, and employ the aid
given to
save us.
For He had not yet shone forth who was to point out the way to those
wandering
from it, and give the
light of knowledge to those who
were lying in the deepest darkness, and dispel the blindness of their
ignorance.
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