Titus 1:12-13 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.… It is not often that St. Paul quoted from the treasuries of classic literature, and when he did so he did not draw upon the most celebrated of the Greek poets. The Hymn of Cleanthes gave him a text in his speech on Mars' Hill; the treatise of Epimenides "concerning oracles" furnished him with another. Epimenides was a Cretian poet of religious character and prophetic claims, who visited Athens , and who shortly afterwards died, at the advanced age of a hundred and fifty. He appears to have uttered a terse drastic proverb, a bitter epigrammatic characterisation of his fellow countrymen, a portion of which, "The Cretians are always liars," was quoted by Callimachus in his hymn to Zeus. attributes the whole quotation to Callimachus. , , and , agree to refer this severe indictment against the Cretians to Epimenides, the semi-mythical and prophetic minstrel and priest. The severity of the condemnation did not interfere with the tradition preserved by Diogenes Laertius, that the Cretians did sacrificial honour to him as a god. According to Diogenes, stories manifestly fabulous are told of Epimenides, and he is credited with having written numerous treatises and poems. (H. R. Reynolds, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. |
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