HORTATORY ADDRESS TO THE GREEKS BY SAINT JUSTIN, PHILOSOPHER AND MARTYR.

 Alas, with my own eyes I see a dear man pursued around the wall and my heart grieves for him. And what he says about the other gods conspiring agains

 Artemis the archer, sister of the far-shooter. And against Leto stood the strong, helpful Hermes. These and such things Homer taught you about the god

 ...s of you you say have become of piety, some declaring water to be the beginning of all things, others air, others fire, others some other of the af

 Of all of them who had spoken, Thales, the eldest of them all, says that the principle of existing things is water for he says that all things are fr

 having denied it, later says in his conceptions that it is this very thing. Moreover, having formerly declared that everything that has come into bein

 having established for I do not attempt to prove these things from the divine histories among us alone, which you are not yet willing to believe beca

 to organize affairs in Egypt, but also to establish the warrior class with laws. And fourth, they say that Bocchoris the king became a lawgiver, a wis

 it happened that there were once God-fearing men, as you say the oracle declared: Only the Chaldeans obtained wisdom, and also the Hebrews, purely rev

 of wise men or orators, should one wish to make mention, he will find that they have written their own compositions in the letters of the Greeks. But

 it is fitting that it should appear clearly and manifestly. It is necessary, therefore, for you, O men of Greece, foreseeing the things to come and lo

 And in the Oracles it is thus: I adjure you, Heaven, the wise work of the great God, I adjure you, Voice of the Father, which He first uttered, When H

 the poem to fall from its meter, lest he should seem not to have first mentioned the name of the gods. But a little later he sets forth clearly and pl

 he should cause Meletus to be against himself, accusing him before the Athenians and saying: Plato does wrong and is a busybody, not believing in the

 that only disobedience was cast out, but not knowing that they were also persuaded that non-existent gods existed, they passed on the name of the gods

 light, constructs that which comes to be. But perhaps some, not wishing to abandon the doctrines of polytheism, will say that the demiurge himself sai

 having. For it does not seem to me that what was said by Phoenix was said simply: Not even if the god himself should promise me, scraping off old age,

 wishing to confirm what has been said of participation, Plato has written thus in these very words: God, then, as the old saying has it, holding the b

 having heard from one who had come back to life and was relating the things there, has written thus in his very words: For he said that he was present

 poetry, Diodorus, the most renowned of the historians, sufficiently teaches us. For he said that he, having been in Egypt, had learned that Nepenthes,

 to set up the battle-cry of much-lamented war They were eager to place Ossa upon Olympus, but upon Ossa Pelion with its shaking leaves, that heaven m

 and concerning the heaven that came into being that the created heaven, which he also named the firmament, this is the perceptible one that came into

 proclaimed by the name. For, fearing to call the gift of God Holy Spirit, lest he should seem to be an enemy of the Greeks by following the teaching

 supposed them to have the forms of men, you will find that they learned this also from the divine history. For since the history of Moses says, from t

 to you Socrates, the wisest of the wise, to whom even your oracle, as you yourselves say, testifies, saying: Of all men Socrates is the wisest, confes

 It will be easy for you to learn in part the true worship of God from the ancient Sibyl, who teaches you by oracles from some powerful inspiration, th

 it is clear that he said this about the oracle-givers, looking to the oracles of the Sibyl. For he spoke thus: When they succeed in saying many and gr

 Tatian's Address to the Greeks. Do not be so very hostile towards the barbarians, O men of Greece, nor be envious of their doctrines. For what pursuit

 very savagely, having imprisoned his own friend for not wanting to worship him, carried him around like a bear or a leopard. Indeed, he completely fol

 selecting places for their covetousness *** the prominent. But one ought not flatter the leaders with the prospect of kingship, but to wait until the

 I have chosen to order the unordered matter in you, and just as the Word, having been begotten in the beginning, in turn begot our creation for himsel

 not according to fate, but by the free will of those who choose, he foretold the outcomes of future events and he became a hinderer of wickedness thro

 with baubles of the earth he deceived the motherless and orphaned girl. Poseidon sails, Ares delights in wars, Apollo is a cithara player, Dionysus is

 of a kingdom, *** were turned into constellations by the shaping of letters? And how is Kronos, who was fettered and cast out of his kingdom, appointe

 of faith with glory become but the poor man and the most moderate, desiring the things that are his own, more easily gets by. Why, I ask, according to

 were zealous to be but the Lord of all allowed them to luxuriate until the world, having reached its end, should be dissolved, and the judge should a

 refusing a suffering god, they were shown to be fighters against God rather than God-fearing. You too are such men, O Greeks, talkative in words, but

 of the spirit But when the tabernacle is not of such a kind, man excels the beasts only in articulate speech, but in other respects his way of life i

 causes, when they happen, they ascribe to themselves, attacking whenever weariness overtakes them. But there are times when they themselves by a tempe

 For if it were so, much more would he ward off his own enemy from himself for being able to help others also, he will much more become his own avenge

 you? Therefore if you say that one ought not to fear death, sharing our doctrines, die not because of human vainglory, as Anaxarchus did, but for the

 Unable to explain those things, because of the impossibility of their theory, they have blamed the tides, and of the seas, one being weedy and the oth

 For what sort are your teachings? Who would not mock your public festivals, which, being celebrated under the pretext of wicked demons, turn men to di

 providing it, feeding it with the most ungodly bloodshed. For the robber kills for the sake of taking, but the rich man buys gladiators for the sake o

 dedications, and those who read are as with the jar of the Danaids. Why do you divide time for me, saying that one part of it is past, another present

 the conception which I have concerning all things, this I do not hide. Why do you advise me to deceive the state? Why, while saying to despise death,

 but again it will be dissolved, if we obey the word of God and do not scatter ourselves. For he has gained control of our possessions through a certai

 Archilochus flourished around the twenty-third Olympiad, in the time of Gyges the Lydian, five hundred years after the Trojan War. And concerning the

 the nonsense of affairs for the Greeks. For the pursuits of your customs are rather foolish through great glory and behave disgracefully through the w

 seeing the figures of the strife and of Eteocles, and not having thrown them into a pit with Pythagoras who made them, do you destroy along with them

 For what is difficult about men who have been shown to be ignorant being now refuted by a man of like passions? And what is strange, according to your

 maios. The time from Inachus until the capture of Ilium completes twenty generations and the proof is in this manner. The kings of the Argives were th

 our laws, and what the learned men among the Greeks have said, and how many and who they are who have mentioned them, will be shown in the treatise A

 God and what is the creation according to him, I present myself ready to you for the examination of the doctrines, while my way of life according to G

Artemis the archer, sister of the far-shooter. And against Leto stood the strong, helpful Hermes. These and such things Homer taught you about the gods, and not only Homer but also Hesiod. So that, if you believe your chief poets, who also gave the genealogy of your gods, you must either think them to be such, or not believe them to be gods at all. But if you refuse to quote the poets, since you say it was permitted for them to invent myths and to narrate many things mythically, far from the truth, about the gods, what other teachers of your piety do you think you have, or how do you say that they learned it? For it is impossible for those who have not first learned from those who know to understand such great and divine matters. You will surely say, no doubt, the wise men and philosophers; for to these, as to a strong wall, you are accustomed to flee, whenever someone reports to you the opinions of the poets concerning the gods. Therefore, since it is fitting to begin from the ancient and first ones, starting from there I will set forth the opinion of each, being far more ridiculous than the theology of the poets. For Thales the Milesian, who was the first to begin natural philosophy, declared water to be the principle of all things; for he says that all things are from water and into water all things are resolved. And Anaximander after him, coming from the same Miletus, said that the infinite was the principle of all things; for from this, indeed, all things come to be and into this all things are destroyed. Third, Anaximenes, also being from Miletus, says that air is the principle of everything; for from this he says all things come to be and into this all things are resolved. Heraclitus of Metapontum says that fire is the principle of all things; for from fire all things come to be and into fire all things end. Anaxagoras of Clazomenae says that the principles of all things are the like-parts. Archelaus, son of Apollodorus, the Athenian, says that infinite air and the condensation and rarefaction around it are the principle of all things. All these, having their successions from Thales, pursued what was called by them natural philosophy. Then, in order, from another beginning, Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchus, the Samian, calls the principles numbers and symmetries and the harmonies in them, and the elements composed of both, and further, the monad and the indefinite dyad. Epicurus, son of Neocles, the Athenian, says that the principles of existing things are bodies apprehensible by reason, void of emptiness, uncreated, indestructible, neither able to be broken nor to receive shape from their parts nor to be changed, for this reason also apprehensible by reason. Empedocles, son of Meton, of Acragas, four elements, fire, air, water, earth, and two ruling powers, love and strife, of which the one is unitive, the other divisive. See, therefore, the disorder of those who were considered to have become wise among you, whom teach-

Ἄρτεμις ἰοχέαιρα, κασιγνήτη ἑκάτοιο. Λητοῖ δ' ἀντέστη σῶκος ἐριούνιος Ἑρμῆς. Ταῦτα καὶ τοιαῦτα περὶ θεῶν ἐδίδαξεν ὑμᾶς Ὅμηρος, καὶ οὐχ Ὅμηρος μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἡσίοδος. Ὥστε, εἰ μὲν πιστεύετε τοῖς κορυφαιοτάτοις ὑμῶν ποιηταῖς, τοῖς καὶ γενεαλογήσασι τοὺς θεοὺς ὑμῶν, ἀνάγκη ὑμᾶς ἢ τοιούτους αὐτοὺς εἶναι νομί ζειν, ἢ μηθ' ὅλως θεοὺς αὐτοὺς εἶναι πιστεύειν. Eἰ δὲ τοὺς ποιητὰς παραιτεῖσθε λέγειν, ἐπειδὴ μύ θους τε αὐτοῖς πλάττειν ἐξεῖναί φατε καὶ πολλὰ πόῤῥω τῆς ἀληθείας περὶ θεῶν μυθωδῶς διεξιέναι, τίνας ἑτέρους τῆς θεοσεβείας ὑμῶν διδασκάλους ἔχειν οἴεσθε, ἢ πῶς ταύτην αὐτοὺς μεμαθηκέναι φατέ; Ἀδύνατον γὰρ τοὺς μὴ πρότερον παρὰ τῶν εἰδότων μεμαθηκότας τὰ οὕτω μεγάλα καὶ θεῖα πράγματα γινώσκειν. Τοὺς σοφοὺς πάντως δήπου καὶ φι λοσόφους λέξετε· ἐπὶ τούτους γάρ, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τεῖχος ὀχυρόν, καταφεύγειν εἰώθατε, ἐπειδάν τις ὑμῖν τὰς τῶν ποιητῶν περὶ θεῶν ἀπαγγέλλῃ δόξας. Oὐκοῦν ἐπειδήπερ ἀπὸ τῶν πα λαιῶν καὶ πρώτων ἄρξασθαι προσήκει, ἐντεῦθεν ἀρξάμενος τὴν ἑκάστου δόξαν ἐκθήσομαι, πολλῷ γελοιοτέραν τῆς τῶν ποιητῶν θεολογίας οὖσαν. Θαλῆς μὲν γὰρ ὁ Μιλήσιος, ὁ πρῶτος τῆς φυσικῆς φιλοσοφίας ἄρξας, ἀρχὴν εἶναι τῶν ὄντων ἁπάντων ἀπεφήνατο τὸ ὕδωρ· ἐξ ὕδατος γάρ φησι τὰ πάντα εἶναι καὶ εἰς ὕδωρ τὰ πάντα ἀναλύεσθαι. Ἀναξίμανδρος δὲ μετὰ τοῦτον, ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς ὁρμώμενος Μιλήτου, τὸ ἄπει ρον ἀρχὴν ἁπάντων ἔφησεν εἶναι· ἐκ τούτου γὰρ δὴ τὰ πάντα γίνεσθαι καὶ εἰς τοῦτο τὰ πάντα φθείρεσθαι. Τρίτος Ἀναξι μένης, καὶ οὗτος ἐκ τῆς Μιλήτου ὑπάρχων, ἀέρα τοῦ παντὸς ἀρχὴν εἶναι λέγει· ἐκ γὰρ τούτου τὰ πάντα γίνεσθαι καὶ εἰς τοῦτον τὰ πάντα ἀναλύεσθαί φησιν. Ἡράκλειτος ὁ Μετα πόντιος ἀρχὴν τῶν πάντων τὸ πῦρ εἶναι λέγει· ἐκ πυρὸς γὰρ τὰ πάντα γίνεσθαι καὶ εἰς τὸ πῦρ τὰ πάντα τελευτᾶν. Ἀναξαγόρας ὁ Κλαζομένιος ἀρχὰς τῶν πάντων τὰς ὁμοιο μερείας εἶναί φησιν. Ἀρχέλαος ὁ Ἀπολλοδώρου Ἀθηναῖος ἀέρα ἄπειρον καὶ τὴν περὶ αὐτὸν πυκνότητα καὶ μάνωσιν ἀρ χὴν ἁπάντων εἶναι λέγει. Oὗτοι πάντες, ἀπὸ Θαλοῦ τὰς διαδοχὰς ἐσχηκότες, τὴν φυσικὴν ὑπ' αὐτῶν καλουμένην μετῆλθον φιλοσοφίαν. Eἶθ' ἑξῆς ἀφ' ἑτέρας ἀρχῆς Πυθαγόρας Μνησάρχου Σάμιος ἀρχὰς τοὺς ἀριθμοὺς καὶ τὰς συμμετρίας καὶ τὰς ἐν αὐτοῖς ἁρμονίας καλεῖ τά τ' ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων σύνθετα στοι χεῖα, ἔτι μέντοι μονάδα καὶ τὴν ἀόριστον δυάδα. Ἐπίκουρος Νεοκλέους Ἀθηναῖος ἀρχὰς τῶν ὄντων σώματα λόγῳ θεω ρητὰ εἶναι λέγει, ἀμέτοχα κενοῦ, ἀγένητα, ἄφθαρτα, οὔτε θραυσθῆναι δυνάμενα οὔτε διάπλασιν ἐκ τῶν μερῶν λαβεῖν οὔτ' ἀλλοιωθῆναι, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ λόγῳ θεωρητά. Ἐμπεδοκλῆς Μέτωνος ὁ Ἀκραγαντῖνος τέσσαρα στοιχεῖα, πῦρ ἀέρα ὕδωρ γῆν, δύο δὲ ἀρχικὰς δυνάμεις, φιλίαν τε καὶ νεῖκος, ὧν ἡ μέν ἐστιν ἑνωτική, τὸ δὲ διαιρετικόν. Ὁρᾶτε τοίνυν τὴν ἀταξίαν τῶν παρ' ὑμῖν νομισθέντων γεγενῆσθαι σοφῶν, οὓς διδασκά