ow waggest thou
tongue against them, and, in brief, how durst thou be so mighty
brazen-faced? What is the manner of thy proof that the Crucified is
God, and these be none?" Then replied Nachor, disdaining even to
answer the speaker. He beckoned with his hand to the multitude to keep
silence, and opening his mouth, like Balaam's ass, spake that which he
had not purposed to say, and thus addressed the king.

XXVII.

"By the providence of God, O king, came I into the world; and when I
contemplated heaven and earth and sea, the sun and moon, and the other
heavenly bodies, I was led to marvel at their fair order. And, when I
beheld the world and all that therein is, how it is moved by law, I
understood that he who moveth and sustaineth it is God. That which
moveth is ever stronger than that which is moved, and that which
sustaineth is stronger than that which is sustained. Him therefore I
call God, who constructed all things and sustaineth them, without
beginning, without end, immortal, without want, above all passions, and
failings, such as anger, forgetfulness, ignorance, and the like. By him
all things consist. He hath no need of sacrifice, or drink-offering,
or of any of the things that we see, but all men have need of him.

"Now that I have said thus much concerning God, according as he hath
granted me to speak concerning himself, come we now to the human race,
that we may know which of them partake of truth, and which of error.
It is manifiest to us, O king, that there are three races of men in
this world: those that are worshippers of them whom ye call gods, and
Jews, and Christians. And again those who serve many gods are divided
into three races, Chaldeans, Greeks and Egyptians, for these are to the
other nations the leaders and teachers of the service and worship of
the gods whose name is legion. Let us therefore see which of these
hold the truth, and which error.

"The Chaldeans, which knew not God, went astray after the elements and
began to worship the creature rather than their Creator, and they made
figures of these creatures and called them likenesses of heaven, and
earth and sea, of sun and moon, and of the other elements or
luminaries. And they enclose them in temples, and worship them under
the title of gods, and guard them in safety lest they be stolen by
robbers. They have not understood how that which guardeth is ever
greater than that which is guarded, and that the maker is greater t