First Apology
Justin Martyr, First Apology
Justin Martyr
A philosopher’s cloak, put to better use.
- Catch rate
- 120 / 255
- Base research
- 72
- Stat total
- 206
Base stats
Every stat is a checkable fact about the actual book, not a designer's mood. Bars are drawn against the highest value any book reaches.
Why these numbers
The game's own explanation, as a reader sees it in the backpack.
Justin carried the argument into the philosophers’ own arena and made the case on their terms — the First Apology attacks with real force.
Here is the surprise: for all its fame, the First Apology hangs on essentially ONE manuscript, copied in A.D. 1364 — over a thousand years after Justin died for the faith. A text with one late witness cannot defend confidently.
Justin was famous in his own century and is famous now — quickly recalled, quick to the floor.
Cited for this book
The text depends on essentially one manuscript: Parisinus graecus 450, copied in A.D. 1364 — more than a millennium after Justin’s martyrdom.
Development
A book develops as it is read — the fragment becomes the work, the work becomes the corpus.
Moves learned
By levelling up. A book that develops keeps what it knew and learns the rest on its new schedule.
| Lv | Move | Type | Cat. | Pwr | Acc | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seed of the Word | Rationality | Argument | 50 | 100% | 20 |
| 1 | Random Verse | Bible | Argument | 10 | 100% | 30 |
| 6 | Question the Premise | Rationality | Type shift | — | — | 10 |
| 9 | Chapter… | Bible | Scripture | — | — | 15 |
| 12 | What Is Truth? | Rationality | Stat shift | — | 100% | 15 |
Read it: On the Day Called Sunday
The passages the Scriptorium holds on screen, word for word from a public-domain translation. Written in Koine Greek.
“And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things.”
Justin Martyr, First Apology 67 (trans. Dods & Reith, ANF 1, public domain).
“Then we all rise together and pray, and… when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each…”
Justin Martyr, First Apology 67 (trans. Dods & Reith, ANF 1, public domain).
“…and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need.”
Justin Martyr, First Apology 67 (trans. Dods & Reith, ANF 1, public domain).
“…we who formerly delighted in fornication, but now embrace chastity alone… we who valued above all things the acquisition of wealth and possessions, now bring what we have into a common stock, and communicate to every one in need; we who hated and destroyed one another… now, since the coming of Christ, live familiarly with them, and pray for our enemies.”
Justin Martyr, First Apology 14 (trans. Dods & Reith, ANF 1, public domain).
“Brief and concise utterances fell from Him, for He was no sophist, but His word was the power of God.”
Justin Martyr, First Apology 14 (trans. Dods & Reith, ANF 1, public domain).
“But you seem to fear lest all men become righteous, and you no longer have any to punish. Such would be the concern of public executioners, but not of good princes.”
Justin Martyr, First Apology 12 (trans. Dods & Reith, ANF 1, public domain).
“For if, when you have learned the truth, you do not what is just, you will be before God without excuse.”
Justin Martyr, First Apology 3 (trans. Dods & Reith, ANF 1, public domain, lightly modernized).
Justin, philosopher and martyr, born at Flavia Neapolis in Samaria c. A.D. 100. This is addressed to the Emperor Antoninus Pius, his sons, and the Roman Senate, c. A.D. 155–157. Justin was executed at Rome about ten years later.
Chapter 67 is the earliest detailed description of Christian Sunday worship anyone has. Scripture read, a sermon, prayers, the Supper, a collection for the poor — the shape of the service is already there, and it is already recognizable.
Notice who Justin is writing to. He tells the emperor that a ruler who fears an outbreak of righteousness is thinking like an executioner. He was not writing from safety.
Every copy of the Apologies descends from one manuscript: Parisinus graecus 450, copied in A.D. 1364 — twelve centuries after Justin died.