The book of Enoch : translated from Professor Dillmann's Ethiopic ...

General Introduction. 39
esse potuisse. But Tertullian proceeds to show that this was
possible : cum Enoch filio suo Matusalae nihil aliud mandaverit
quam ut notitiam eorum posteris suis traderet. He then
pronounces the singular critical canon : Cum
Enoch eadem
scriptura etiam de domino praedicarit, a nobis quidem nihil
omnino rejiciendum est, quod pertineat ad nos ... A Judaeis
potest jam videri propterea rejecta, sicut et cetera fere quae
Christum sonant . . . Eo
accedit quod Enoch apud Judam
apostolum testimonium possidet. II. 10 (quoted on viii. 1).
Be Idol, iv (quoted on xix. 1). Cf. also Be Idol, ix ; Be
Virg. Veland. vii : Si enim propter angelos, scilicet quos
legimus a deo et caelo excidisse ob concupiscentiam feminarum,
&c.
' Be Idol, xv : Haec
igitur ab initio praevidens spiritus
sanctus etiam ostia in superstitionem ventura praececinit per
antiquissimum propheten Enoch.
Clemens Alex. Eclogae Prophet. Ed. Dindorf, iii. 456 (quoted
on xix. 3) ; iii. 474 (quoted on viii. 2. 3) ; Strom, iii. 9 (quoted
on xvi. 3).
Origen (185-254) does not regard Enoch as inspired, and
yet he does not wholly reject it. Cf. Contra Celsum, v. 52.
Celsus argues that other ayyzXoi descended to the earth before
Christ: kXOeiv yap kcu aXkovs Kiyovai irokXaias kclL o^iov ye
k£r)K0VTa 7/ £(3bojjLriKOVTa' ovs hrj yeveo-Qat kcikovs kol KokdCeaOat
beo-pols virol3\r]6€VTa$ Iv yfj' o0€V ml tcis depths irr)yas ehau
ra €K€LV(ov b&Kpva. In a lengthy rejoinder Origen remarks, v.
54
: kv rais eKKX-qa-iais ov iravv cfyiperai o>? 0da ra k-niyeypa^iva
tov 'Ei^x fiifiXia. That Origen was undecided as to the
value to be attached to Enoch is clearer from the following
passages. In Joannem y vi. 25
(Lommatsch. i. 241) : g>? ei> rw
'Ei>a>x yeypanrai, el ra>