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A Letter to Origen from Africanus About the History of Susanna

Julius Africanus

A Letter to Origen from Africanus

About this work

Africanus questions the authenticity of Susanna by comparing textual forms, wordplay, historical setting, and Hebrew transmission, prompting Origen’s surviving response in defense of the narrative’s use.

Author: Julius Africanus
Date: c. AD 240
Origin: Palestine
Genre: Letter

A Letter to Origen from Africanus

About the History of Susanna.

Greeting, my lord and son, most

Section 2 ›

worthy

Origen

,

from

Africanus

.

In

your

sacred

discussion

with

Agnomon

you

referred

to

that

prophecy

of

Daniel

which

is

his

youth

.

This

at

that

time

,

as

was

meet

,

I

accepted

as

genuine

.

Now

,

however

,

I

cannot

understand

how

it

escaped

you

that

this

part

of

the

book

is

spurious

.

For

,

in

sooth

,

this

section

,

although

apart

from

this

it

is

elegantly

written

,

is

plainly

a

more

modern

forgery

.

There

are

many

proofs

of

this

.

When

Susanna

is

condemned

to

die

,

the

prophet

is

seized

by

the

Spirit

,

and

cries

out

that

the

sentence

is

unjust

.

Now

,

in

the

first

place

,

it

is

always

in

some

other

way

that

Daniel

prophesies

—

by

visions

,

and

dreams

,

and

an

angel

appearing

to

him

,

never

by

prophetic

inspiration

.

Then

,

after

crying

out

in

this

extraordinary

fashion

,

he

detects

them

in

a

way

no

less

incredible

,

which

not

even

Philistion

the

play

-

writer

would

have

resorted

to

.

For

,

not

satisfied

with

rebuking

them

through

the

Spirit

,

he

placed

them

apart

,

and

asked

them

severally

where

they

saw

her

committing

adultery

.

And

when

the

one

said

,

“

Under

a

holm

-

tree

”

(

prinos

)

,

he

answered

that

the

angel

would

saw

him

asunder

(

prisein

)

;

and

in

a

similar

fashion

menaced

the

other

who

said

,

“

Under

a

mastich

-

tree

”

(

schinos

)

,

with

being

rent

asunder

(

schisthenai

)

.

Now

,

in

Greek

,

it

happens

that

“

holm

-

tree

”

and

“

saw

asunder

,

”

and

“

rend

”

and

“

mastich

-

tree

”

sound

alike

;

but

in

Hebrew

they

are

quite

distinct

.

But

all

the

books

of

the

Old

Testament

have

been

translated

from

Hebrew

into

Greek

.

Notes

1
[See Routh’s Reliquiæ, vol. ii. p. 115; also Euseb., i. 7, and Socrates, ii. 35. He ranks with the great pupils of the Alexandrian school, with which, however, he seems to have had only a slight personal relation. Concerning this Epistle to Origen, and the answer of the latter, consult Routh’s very full annotations (ut supra, pp. 312–328). Concerning Gregory Thaumaturgus, the greatest of Origen’s pupils, we shall know more when we come to vol. vi. of this series. He died circa 270.]