Laudator Temporis Acti

R. Hugh Connolly, Didascalia Apostolorum: The Syriac Version Translated and Accompanied by the Verona Latin Fragments (Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2009), p. 12 (1.6):

But avoid all books of the heathen. For what hast thou to do with strange sayings or laws or lying prophecies, which also turn away from the faith them that are young? For what is wanting to thee in the word of God, that thou shouldst cast thyself upon these fables of the heathen? If thou wouldst read historical narratives, thou hast the Book of Kings; but if wise men and philosophers, thou hast the Prophets, wherein thou shalt find wisdom and understanding more than that of the wise men and philosophers; for they are the words of the one God, the only wise. And if thou wish for songs, thou hast the Psalms of David; but if (thou wouldst read of) the beginning of the world, thou hast the Genesis of the great Moses; and if laws and commandments, thou hast the glorious Law of the Lord God. All strange (writings) therefore, which are contrary (to these), wholly avoid.

The Latin (id., p. 13):

Gentiles autem libros penitus ne tetigeris. Quid enim tibi est cum alienis uerbis uel legibus aut pseudoprofetis, quae facile leuioribus hominibus errorem praestant? Nam quid tibi deest in uerbo Dei, ut ad illas gentiles fabulas [as]pergas? Si uis storias † legere, discurre et habes † Regnorum; si autem sofistica et poetica, habes Profetas, in quibus totius poetiae et sofistiae maiorem † narrationem † inuenies, quoniam domini, qui solus est, sapientia et sonitus sunt. Si uero canticorum desideras, habes Psalmos; si autem initium generationis mundi, habes Genesim; aut si leges et praecepta, habes gloriosam domini legem. Ab omnibus igitur his tam alienis et diabolicis scribturis fortiter te abstine.