ics seem pretty
generally to place the two Apologies in the years 147-150 A.D. and
the Dialogue against Tryphon a little later. Dr. Keim indeed would
throw forward the date of Justin's writings as far as from 155-160
on account of the mention of Marcion [Endnote 89:1], but this is
decided by both Hilgenfeld [Endnote 89:2] and Lipsius to be too
late. I see that Mr. Hort, whose opinion on such matters deserves
high respect, comes to the conclusion 'that we may without fear of
considerable error set down Justin's First Apology to 145, or
better still to 146, and his death to 148. The Second Apology, if
really separate from the First, will then fall in 146 or 147, and
the Dialogue with Tryphon about the same time' [Endnote 89:3]

No definite conclusion can be drawn from the title given by Justin to
the work or works he used, that of the 'Memoirs' or 'Recollections' of
the Apostles, and it will be best to leave our further enquiry quite
unfettered by any assumption in respect to them. The title certainly
does not of necessity imply a single work composed by the Apostles
collectively [Endnote 89:4], any more than the parallel phrase 'the
writings of the Prophets' [Endnote 89:5] ([Greek: ta sungrammata ton
prophaeton]), which Justin couples with the 'Memoirs' as read together
in the public services of the Church, implies a single and joint
production on the part of the Prophets. This hypothesis too is open to
the very great objection that so authoritative a work, if it existed,
should have left absolutely no other trace behind it. So far as the
title is concerned, the 'Memoirs of the Apostles' may be either a
single work or an almost indefinite number. In one place Justin says
that the Memoirs were composed 'by His Apostles and their followers'
[Endnote 90:1], which seems to agree remarkably, though not exactly,
with the statement in the prologue to St. Luke. In another he says
expressly that the Memoirs are called Gospels ([Greek: ha kaleitai
euangelia]) [Endnote 90:2]. This clause has met with the usual fate of
parenthetic statements which do not quite fall in with preconceived
opinions, and is dismissed as a 'manifest interpolation,' a gloss
having crept into the text from the margin. It would be difficult to
estimate the exact amount of probability for or against this theory,
but possible at any rate it must be allowed to be; and though the
_prima facie_ view of the genuineness of the words is supported by
another place i