Protrepticus

 Raging for corruptions, celebrating insolence, deifying sorrows, the first to lead men by the hand to idols, yes, indeed, to stones and wood, that is,

 May inspire, and which may receive the 1.5.4 lord. yes, indeed, david the king, the harpist, whom we mentioned a little before, was exhorting towards

 And to statues and to certain such images having bound them fast with the wretched bond of superstition, that which is indeed said, bringing living me

 Let her who does not give birth hear let her who does not travail break forth with a cry, for the children of the desolate are more than of her who

 Breathing roughly is interpreted as the female serpent but deo and kore have already become a mystic drama, and eleusis holds torches for their wande

 A herdsman, the goad, calling the narthex a herdsman's goad, i suppose, which the bacchants indeed wreathe. 2.17.1 do you wish that i should narrate t

 And the swineherd eubouleus from whom sprang the hierophantic family of the eumolpidae and kerykes, 2.20.3 this very one at athens. and indeed (for i

 A teacher of the woman's 2.24.2 disease to the other scythians. for which reason (for it must by no means be concealed), it comes over me to wonder in

 They have fabricated certain saviors, the dioscuri and heracles, averter of evil, and asclepius the physician. 2.27.1 these are the slippery and harmf

 Apollodorus says, and callimachus, phoebus is appointed over the sacrifices of asses among the hyperboreans. and the same poet elsewhere says, fat sac

 And of gods. he was so poured out in matters of love, as to desire all, and to fulfill his desire upon all. at any rate, he was filled with women no

 Is fashioned in the manner of a member and sits upon the branch, fulfilling the promise to the dead man. a mystical memorial of this passion, phalli a

 Is taught to be prudent. the myth is laid bare for you leda died, the swan died, the eagle died. you seek your zeus? do not meddle with the sky, but

 2.39.8 they acclaimed. but heraclides in *foundations of temples* says that in acarnania, where the actium promontory is and the temple of actian apol

 He records 3.42.7 to have offered a whole burnt-offering. and erechtheus the attic and marius the roman sacrificed their own daughters of whom the on

 In athens, on the acropolis, is that of cecrops, as antiochus says in the ninth book of his histories. and what of erichthonius? was he not buried in

 The so-called palladium, fallen from heaven, which diomedes and odysseus are said to have stolen from ilium, and to have entrusted to demophon, was ma

 Nor insult the blooming youth keep it pure, that it may be beautiful. become a king of beauty, not a tyrant let it remain free then i will recogniz

 Worshippers of stones, having learned by deed not to worship senseless matter, being overcome by the need itself, are destroyed by superstition but t

 And private individuals dignified themselves with divine titles, as menecrates the physician, who was surnamed zeus. why must i list alexarchus (he wa

 4.56.4 offspring of the earth, all these things that you see? why then, o foolish and empty-minded ones (for i will say it again), having blasphemed t

 They boast, having enrolled them as their own household slaves, having made them compelled slaves by their incantations. therefore, the remembered mar

 You shall make, says the prophet, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above and that is in the 4.62.3 earth beneath. would we, then, still s

 Those who worship it have suffered for others named this fire hephaestus. 5.65.1 but the magi of the persians have honored fire, as have many of the

 Of truth, do you show that those who have trusted in you are subjected to a flow and current and disorderly eddies? and why do you fill my life with i

 By counsel but indeed they raise pure arms to heaven, rising early from bed, always cleansing their skin with water, and they honor only the one who

 A comfort of the gods, images of stone, or bronze or gold-wrought or ivory figures and allotting sacrifices to them and empty festivals, thus we thin

 You will empty injustice. 8.77.1 now that the other things have been duly completed by us in order, it is time to turn to the prophetic writings for

 I swear by myself. but he is vexed with the idolaters, saying to whom have you likened the lord? or to what likeness have you likened him? did a car

 For how is it permitted for the foreigner to enter? but when, i suppose, he is enrolled and made a citizen and receives the father, then he will be i

 The wanderers of the hebrews for they are said not to have entered into the rest because of unbelief, until, having followed the successor of moses,

 10.89.1 but to overturn a custom handed down to us from our fathers, you say, is not reasonable. and why, then, do we not use our first food, milk, to

 Demands repentance. but i want to ask you, if it does not seem absurd to you that you, men, having been born a creation of god and having received you

 Punishment? why do we not accept the gift? why do we not choose the better things, god instead of the wicked one, and prefer wisdom to idolatry, and e

 10.98.3 promised? who has promised immortality? only the creator of all things, the father, the master-craftsman, fashioned us, man, such a living s

 To wipe away the hindrances to salvation, both pride and wealth and fear, uttering this very poetic saying: where, indeed, do i carry these many posse

 They inhumanly attempt to slaughter him who teaches humanely, who calls them to righteousness, neither awaiting the grace from above nor shunning the

 A portion to those who have turned to any part of life, and to consider wisdom the same waveless harbor of salvation 10.107.3 through which those who

 He who also was, through what he taught and showed, having presented himself, our truce-bearer and reconciler and savior, the word, a life-giving, pea

 Since you were not ashamed of your brother. 11.114.1 let us then take away, let us take away the forgetfulness of the truth having cast down the igno

 The trumpet with its great blast sounded, gathered soldiers, and announced war but christ, having breathed a peaceful melody to the ends of the earth

 Bound, you shall be loosed from all corruption, the word of god will steer you, and the holy spirit will bring you to anchor in the harbors of the hea

 12.121.1 let us hasten, let us run, o god-loving and god-like images of the word [men] let us hasten, let us run, let us take up his yoke, let us mou

raging for corruptions, celebrating insolence, deifying sorrows, the first to lead men by the hand to idols, yes, indeed, to stones and wood, that is, to statues and paintings, to build up the perversity of the custom, having yoked that truly beautiful freedom of those who live under heaven to the direst slavery by songs and incantations. 1.3.2 But my singer is not of such a kind, nor has he come to put an end, at some distant time, to the bitter slavery of the tyrannizing demons; but transferring us to the gentle and loving yoke of piety, he calls back to heaven again those 1.4.1 who have been cast down to earth. He alone, at any rate, of all who have ever been, tamed the most difficult of wild beasts, men: the fickle among them, birds; the deceitful, reptiles; the passionate, lions; the pleasure-loving, swine; and the rapacious, wolves. And the foolish are stones and wood; and moreover a man immersed in ignorance is more senseless than stones. 1.4.2 Let the prophetic voice come forward as our witness, a singer in harmony with truth, pitying those worn down by ignorance and folly: "for God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones." He, having pitied the great ignorance and hard-heartedness of those who were petrified against the truth, raised up a seed of piety, sensible of virtue, 1.4.3 from those stones, from the nations that had put their trust in stones. Again, then, certain venomous and treacherous hypocrites who assail righteousness he somewhere called a "brood of vipers"; but if any of these serpents should willingly repent, following the Word, he becomes a "man of God." And others he allegorizes as "wolves" clothed in sheep's fleeces, hinting at those who are rapacious in human form. And so, all these fiercest of beasts and such stones the heavenly song itself transformed into gentle men. 1.4.4 "For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various pleasures and lusts, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another," as the apostolic scripture says; "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us." See how powerful the new song has been; it has made men out of stones and men out of beasts. And those who were otherwise dead, who had no share in the life that truly is, having only become hearers of the song, came back to life. 1.5.1 This indeed also ordered the universe melodiously and tuned the discord of the elements into an order of concord, so that the whole world might become for him a harmony. And he let loose the sea, but has forbidden it to encroach upon the land; and conversely he made the land, while in motion, firm, and fixed it as a boundary for the sea; yes, and he softened the rush of fire with air, as if mixing a Dorian harmony with a Lydian; and the harsh coldness of the air he tamed by the interweaving of fire, melodiously mixing these lowest notes of the universe. 1.5.2 And indeed the pure song, the support of all things and the harmony of all, stretched from the center to the extremities and from the extremities to the center, harmonized this universe, not according to Thracian music, which is like Jubal's, but according to the ancestral will of God, which David emulated. 1.5.3 But he who is from David and before him, the Word of God, scorning the lyre and the cithara, inanimate instruments, but this world and indeed also the little world, man, both his soul and his body, having tuned them by the Holy Spirit, he plays to God through the many-voiced instrument and sings to the instrument, which is man. "For you are a cithara and a flute and a temple to me;" a cithara because of the harmony, a flute because of the spirit, a temple because of the word, so that the one might sound, and the other

δαιμονῶντες εἰς διαφθοράς, ὕβρεις ὀργιάζοντες, πένθη ἐκθειάζοντες, τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐπὶ τὰ εἴδωλα χειραγωγῆσαι πρῶτοι, ναὶ μὴν λίθοις καὶ ξύλοις, τουτέστιν ἀγάλμασι καὶ σκιαγραφίαις, ἀνοικο δομῆσαι τὴν σκαιότητα τοῦ ἔθους, τὴν καλὴν ὄντως ἐκείνην ἐλευθερίαν τῶν ὑπ' οὐρανὸν πεπολιτευμένων ᾠδαῖς καὶ ἐπῳδαῖς ἐσχάτῃ δουλείᾳ καταζεύξαντες. 1.3.2 Ἀλλ' οὐ τοιόσδε ὁ ᾠδὸς ὁ ἐμὸς οὐδ' εἰς μακρὰν καταλύσων ἀφῖκται τὴν δουλείαν τὴν πικρὰν τῶν τυραννούντων δαιμό νων, ὡς δὲ τὸν πρᾶον καὶ φιλάνθρωπον τῆς θεοσεβείας μετάγων ἡμᾶς ζυγὸν αὖθις εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἀνακαλεῖται τοὺς 1.4.1 εἰς γῆν ἐρριμμένους. Μόνος γοῦν τῶν πώποτε τὰ ἀργαλεώτατα θηρία, τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ἐτιθάσευεν, πτηνὰ μὲν τοὺς κούφους αὐτῶν, ἑρπετὰ δὲ τοὺς ἀπατεῶνας, καὶ λέοντας μὲν τοὺς θυμικούς, σύας δὲ τοὺς ἡδονικούς, λύκους δὲ τοὺς ἁρπακτικούς. Λίθοι δὲ καὶ ξύλα οἱ ἄφρονες· πρὸς δὲ καὶ λίθων ἀναισθητότερος ἄνθρωπος ἀγνοίᾳ βεβαπτισ 1.4.2 μένος. Μάρτυς ἡμῖν προφητικὴ παρίτω φωνή, συνῳδὸς ἀληθείας, τοὺς ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ καὶ ἀνοίᾳ κατατετριμμένους οἰκτείρουσα· "δυνατὸς γὰρ ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τῶν λίθων τούτων ἐγεῖραι τέκνα τῷ Ἀβραάμ". Ὃς κατελεήσας τὴν ἀμαθίαν τὴν πολλὴν καὶ τὴν σκληροκαρδίαν τῶν εἰς τὴν ἀλήθειαν λελιθωμένων ἤγειρεν θεοσεβείας σπέρμα ἀρετῆς αἰσθόμενον 1.4.3 ἐκ λίθων ἐκείνων, τῶν λίθοις πεπιστευκότων ἐθνῶν. Αὖθις οὖν ἰοβόλους τινὰς καὶ παλιμβόλους ὑποκριτὰς ἐφοδεύοντας δικαιοσύνῃ "γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν" κέκληκέ που· ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτων εἴ τις τῶν ὄφεων μετανοήσαι ἑκών, ἑπόμενος δὴ τῷ λόγῳ "ἄνθρωπος" γίνεται "θεοῦ". "Λύκους" δὲ ἄλλους ἀλληγορεῖ προβάτων κῳδίοις ἠμφιεσμένους, τοὺς ἐν ἀνθρώπων μορφαῖς ἁρπακτικοὺς αἰνιττόμενος. Καὶ πάντα ἄρα ταῦτα ἀγριώτατα θηρία καὶ τοὺς τοιούτους λίθους ἡ οὐράνιος ᾠδὴ αὐτὴ μετεμόρφωσεν εἰς ἀνθρώπους ἡμέρους. 1.4.4 "Ἦμεν γάρ, ἦμέν ποτε καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀνόητοι, ἀπειθεῖς, πλανώμενοι, δουλεύοντες ἡδοναῖς καὶ ἐπιθυμίαις ποικίλαις, ἐν κακίᾳ καὶ φθόνῳ διάγοντες, στυγητοί, μισοῦντες ἀλλή λους", ᾗ φησιν ἡ ἀποστολικὴ γραφή· "ὅτε δὲ ἡ χρηστότης καὶ ἡ φιλανθρωπία ἐπεφάνη τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν θεοῦ, οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων τῶν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ, ἃ ἐποιήσαμεν ἡμεῖς, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ αὐτοῦ ἔλεος ἔσωσεν ἡμᾶς". Ὅρα τὸ ᾆσμα τὸ καινὸν ὅσον ἴσχυσεν· ἀνθρώπους ἐκ λίθων καὶ ἀνθρώπους ἐκ θηρίων πεποίηκεν. Οἱ δὲ τηνάλλως νεκροί, οἱ τῆς ὄντως οὔσης ἀμέτοχοι ζωῆς, ἀκροαταὶ μόνον γενόμενοι τοῦ ᾄσματος ἀνεβίωσαν. 1.5.1 Τοῦτό τοι καὶ τὸ πᾶν ἐκόσμησεν ἐμμελῶς καὶ τῶν στοιχείων τὴν διαφωνίαν εἰς τάξιν ἐνέτεινε συμφωνίας, ἵνα δὴ ὅλος ὁ κόσμος αὐτῷ ἁρμονία γένηται. Καὶ θάλατταν μὲν ἀνῆκεν λελυμένην, γῆς δὲ ἐπιβαίνειν κεκώλυκεν αὐτήν, γῆν δ' ἔμπαλιν ἐστερέωσεν φερομένην καὶ ὅρον αὐτὴν ἔπηξεν θαλάττης· ναὶ μὴν καὶ πυρὸς ὁρμὴν ἐμάλαξεν ἀέρι, οἱονεὶ ∆ώριον ἁρμονίαν κεράσας Λυδίῳ· καὶ τὴν ἀέρος ἀπηνῆ ψυχρότητα τῇ παραπλοκῇ τοῦ πυρὸς ἐτιθάσευεν, τοὺς 1.5.2 νεάτους τῶν ὅλων φθόγγους τούτους κιρνὰς ἐμμελῶς. Καὶ δὴ τὸ ᾆσμα τὸ ἀκήρατον, ἔρεισμα τῶν ὅλων καὶ ἁρμονία τῶν πάντων, ἀπὸ τῶν μέσων ἐπὶ τὰ πέρατα καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἄκρων ἐπὶ τὰ μέσα διαταθέν, ἡρμόσατο τόδε τὸ πᾶν, οὐ κατὰ τὴν Θρᾴκιον μουσικήν, τὴν παραπλήσιον Ἰουβάλ, κατὰ δὲ τὴν πάτριον τοῦ θεοῦ βούλησιν, ἣν ἐζήλωσε ∆αβίδ. 1.5.3 Ὁ δὲ ἐκ ∆αβὶδ καὶ πρὸ αὐτοῦ, ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος, λύραν μὲν καὶ κιθάραν, τὰ ἄψυχα ὄργανα, ὑπεριδών, κόσμον δὲ τόνδε καὶ δὴ καὶ τὸν σμικρὸν κόσμον, τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ψυχήν τε καὶ σῶμα αὐτοῦ, ἁγίῳ πνεύματι ἁρμοσάμενος, ψάλλει τῷ θεῷ διὰ τοῦ πολυφώνου ὀργάνου καὶ προσᾴδει τῷ ὀργάνῳ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ. "Σὺ γὰρ εἶ κιθάρα καὶ αὐλὸς καὶ ναὸς ἐμοί·" κιθάρα διὰ τὴν ἁρμονίαν, αὐλὸς διὰ τὸ πνεῦμα, ναὸς διὰ τὸν λόγον, ἵν' ἣ μὲν κρέκῃ, τὸ δὲ