Active c. A.D. 124

Quadratus

of Athens

Worth knowing

The earliest Christian apologist known by name. He addressed a defence of the faith to the Emperor Hadrian.
One paragraph of it survives, quoted by Eusebius. Everything else is lost.
That paragraph makes a checkable claim rather than an argument: some of the people Christ healed were still alive and could be asked.

In Scholar’s Dream, Quadratus has one book

QuadraApology of Quadratus (fragment)History

Quadratus’s quotes in the game

Every quotation from Quadratus that a player meets in Scholar’s Dream, attached to the move that says it. Or see them as a plain list →

In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other, and each thing a book can do in a debate is called a move. Every quote below is spoken by one of those moves. Open “How it works in the game” under a quote to see the move, which books learn it, and which arguments it answers best.

“The works of our Saviour were always present, for they were genuine.”
Quadratus, Apology, in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 4.3.2 (trans. McGiffert, NPNF² 1, public domain).public domain

How it works in the game: the move Eyewitness Appeal

HistoryArgument · power 40 · 100% accurate

In the gamePublic facts, publicly checkable — no rhetorical fog can blur them.

Learned byQuadra (Lv 1)

Strong against

×2"We Are All Religious"an argument · why?

Christianity does not claim to be true because it feels right. It points to public events that people saw, and those can be checked.

×2Ancestral Customan argument · why?

Age does not make a story true, and newness does not make it false. What matters is whether it happened, and the works of Jesus were done in public.

×2Felt Certaintyan argument · why?

Nobody else can check a feeling. The works of Jesus were done in public, in front of people who could say what they saw.

×2Fifteen Booksan argument · why?

Quadratus pointed to people still alive in his day whom Jesus had healed or raised. Witnesses who tell a story differently have still seen the same thing.

×2Mischievous Superstitionan argument · why?

The faith did not spread like a rumour with no source. It began with things done in public, in front of witnesses who could be questioned.

×2Philosophy from Oraclesan argument · why?

The first disciples were not guessing from far away. They saw his works in public, and they were the ones who worshipped him.

×2The Declamationan argument · why?

The Christian case does not rest on fine speaking. It rests on things done in public, and no speech, however beautiful, can make them true or false.

“…those that were healed, and those that were raised from the dead… were also always present… so that some of them lived even to our day.”
Quadratus, Apology, in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 4.3.2 (trans. McGiffert, NPNF² 1, public domain). (trimmed quote)public domain

How it works in the game: the move Works That Remain

HistoryArgument · power 60 · 100% accurate

In the gameQuadratus: some whom Christ healed "remained to our own day."

Learned byQuadra (Lv 10)

Strong against

×2"Waste of Years"an argument · why?

Quadratus could point to people Jesus had healed who were still alive. Learning the record of what God actually did takes more than a weekend, and it is worth the years.

×2Ancestral Customan argument · why?

The faith does not rest on being old or new. It rests on what happened, and Quadratus could still point to people Jesus had healed.

×2Felt Certaintyan argument · why?

Quadratus did not point to a feeling. He pointed to people Jesus had healed, some of them still alive in his own day, whom anyone could go and ask.

×2Fifteen Booksan argument · why?

Quadratus could name people Jesus had healed who were still living. Four accounts that differ in detail still point to things that really happened.

×2Mischievous Superstitionan argument · why?

Quadratus could point to people Jesus had healed who were still alive. A superstition has nobody like that to point to.

Passages you can read in the game

Longer excerpts the Scriptorium holds on screen for a player to sit and read, word for word.

“But the works of our Saviour were always present, for they were genuine: — those that were healed, and those that were raised from the dead, who were seen not only when they were healed and when they were raised, but were also always present.”
Quadratus, Apology, in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 4.3.2 (trans. McGiffert, NPNF² 1, public domain).

from Quadra

“…and not merely while the Saviour was on earth, but also after his death, they were alive for quite a while, so that some of them lived even to our day.”
Quadratus, Apology, in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 4.3.2 (trans. McGiffert, NPNF² 1, public domain).

from Quadra

“To him Quadratus addressed a discourse containing an apology for our religion, because certain wicked men had attempted to trouble the Christians. The work is still in the hands of a great many of the brethren, as also in our own, and furnishes clear proofs of the man’s understanding and of his apostolic orthodoxy.”
Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 4.3.1 (trans. McGiffert, NPNF² 1, public domain) — Eusebius introducing Quadratus.

from Quadra

Words Quadratus’s books borrow from others

Moves these books can learn whose quotation comes from somebody else. The citation on each one names who actually said it.

“Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.”
James 1:19 (WEB).

How it works in the game: the move Steelman

RationalityType shift

In the gameRestate the foe’s position in its strongest form — exposing its true weak point. Lowers the foe’s Defend. Always fair; never a bad move to use.

Learned byQuadra (Lv 4)

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being. As some of your own poets have said.”
Acts 17:28 (WEB) — Paul at the Areopagus, quoting the Athenians’ own poets back to them.

How it works in the game: the move Affirm

Status

In the gamePick the part of the opponent’s case that is true and affirm it. That point can no longer be used against you, and the opponent’s Defend falls sharply. It deals no damage. Affirm something false and you have only agreed with an error.

Learned byQuadra (Lv 17)

Who else was alive

Quadratus against everyone else in the game.

A.D. 1A.D. 50A.D. 100A.D. 150A.D. 200A.D. 250A.D. 300A.D. 350A.D. 400A.D. 450

Matthew Paul John Mark Pliny the Elder Clement of Rome Ignatius An early Christian community Polycarp Claudius Ptolemy Hermas Justin Martyr Aristides Quadratus Melito Unknown authors writing under borrowed names Irenaeus The author of the Epistle to Diognetus Athenagoras Clement of Alexandria Tertullian Marcus Minucius Felix Origen Cyprian Plotinus Lactantius Eusebius Athanasius Eustathius of Sebaste Apollinaris of Laodicea Cyril of Jerusalem Epiphanius of Salamis Gregory of Nazianzus Basil of Caesarea Eunomius of Cyzicus Gregory of Nyssa Ambrose of Milan Jovinian Augustine The Macedonians Helvidius

Solid bar = firm dates · faded = approximate61 authors sit outside this window