Dialogue with Trypho 4.6 · Sophia Scriptura

Summary: The Platonist doctrine of transmigration as punishment is questioned.

Greek text · Archambault 1:24

Οὐκ ἔχω εἰπεῖν, ἦν δʼ ἐγώ. Αἱ δὲ ἀνάξιαι ταύτης τῆς θέας κριθεῖσαι τί πάσχουσιν; ἔφη. Εἴς τινα θηρίων ἐνδεσμεύονται σώματα, καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶ κόλασις αὐτῶν. Οἴδασιν οὖν ὅτι διὰ ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν ἐν τοιούτοις εἰσὶ σώμασι καὶ ὅτι ἐξήμαρτόν τι; Οὐ νομίζω.

English · Claude translation

“I cannot say,” I said. “And what happens to those judged unworthy of this sight?” he said. “They are imprisoned in the bodies of certain wild beasts, and this is their punishment.” “Do they know, then, that it is for this reason that they are in such bodies, and that they have sinned?” “I do not think so.”

About this passage

Source

Archambault 1:24 · Georges Archambault, ed., Justin: Dialogue avec Tryphon, 2 vols., Textes et documents pour l'étude historique du christianisme 8, 11 (Paris: Picard, 1909) · Greek text: G. Archambault, Justin: Dialogue avec Tryphon (Paris, 1909), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Archambault (1909); made independently of existing English translations.

Cite this passage

Justin, Dial. 4.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/4/6/).

Plain text

Justin, Dial. 4.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/4/6/).