Note 6 — INTRODUCTION.
Thomas Taylor translation
For so the Christians were called by the heathens, when the religion of the latter was rapidly declining, and that of the former had gained the ascendency. Thus Porphyry, in a passage preserved by Theodoret, (in lib. i. De Curat. Græc. Superst.) Χαλκοδετος γαρ η προς θεους οδος, αιπεινη τε και τραχεια, ης πολλας ατραπους Βαρβαροι μεν εξευρον, Ελληνες δε επλανηθησαν, οι δε κρατουντες ηδη και διεφθειραν. i.e. “For the way which leads to the Gods is bound with chains of brass, and is arduous and rough, many paths of which were indeed discovered by the Barbarians; but the Greeks have wandered from them, and they are entirely corrupted by those who now prevail.”
This passage of Porphyry, derived its origin from the following oracle of Apollo, preserved by Eusebius:
Αιπεινη γαρ οδος μακαρων τρηχεια τε πολλον, Χαλκοδετοις τα πρωτα διοιγομενη πυλεωσιν. Ατραπετοι δε εασσιν αθεσφατοι εγγεγαυιαι, Ας πρωτοι μεροπων επ’ απειρονα πρηξιν εφηναν Οι το καλον πινοντες υδωρ Νειλωτιδος αιης· Πολλας και Φοινικες οδους μακαρων εδαησαν, Ασσυριοι Λυδοι τε, και Εβραιων γενος ανδρων.
But for Εβραιων, in the last line, I read Χαλδαιων, it not being at all reasonable to suppose that an oracle of Apollo would say that the Hebrews knew many paths which led to the knowledge of the Gods. It is probable, therefore, that either Aristobulus the Jew, well known for interpolating the writings of the heathens, or the wicked Eusebius, as he is called by the Emperor Julian, has fraudulently substituted the former word for the latter. The Oracle, with this emendation, will be in English as follows:
The path by which to deity we climb Is arduous, rough, ineffable, sublime; And the strong massy gates, through which we pass In our first course, are bound with chains of brass. Those men the first who of Egyptian birth Drank the fair water of Nilotic earth, Disclosed by actions infinite this road, And many paths to God Phœnicians show’d. This road the Assyrians pointed out to view, And this the Lydians and Chaldeans knew.
But when Porphyry says that the Greeks have wandered from the path which leads to divinity, he alludes to their worshipping men as Gods; which, as I have shown in the Introduction to my translation of Proclus On the Theology of Plato, is contrary to the genuine doctrine of the heathen religion; and was the cause of its corruption, and final extinction, among the Greeks and Romans.