| Keywords |
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| ID |
3423 |
| Text |
De civitate Dei (413 - 427) Augustine of Hippo |
| Quotation |
ubi si quaeram, quid sit credibilius, iudaeorum gentem tam longe lateque diffusam in hoc
conscribendum mendacium uno consilio conspirare potuisse et, dum aliis inuident auctoritatem, sibi
abstulisse ueritatem, an septuaginta homines qui etiam ipsi iudaei erant, uno in loco positos, quoniam
rex aegyptius ptolomaeus eos ad hoc opus asciuerat, ipsam ueritatem gentibus alienigenis inuidisse et
communicato istuc fecisse consilio: quis non uideat quid procliuius faciliusque credatur? |
| Translation |
On the face of it, however, which is the more credible alternative: that the Jewish nation, scattered so far and wide, was able to conspire in a single plan to write a false account, and thus deprive themselves of the truth, because they begrudged anyone else a share in the authority of their Scriptures? Or that it was the translators of the Septuagint – Jews themselves, assembled in one place by Ptolemy, the king of Egypt, who had appointed them to their task – who begrudged foreign nations a share in this scriptural truth and agreed to carry out such a plan? Who does not see which of these possibilities is to be the more easily and readily believed? (Trans. Dyson) |
| Quotation source |
Lib. 15, Cap. 13 (lin. 4) |
| Associated use case(s) |
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| Comment |
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