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

...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 aforementioned things, and all of these using certain plausible arguments for the construction of things that did not seem right to them and attempting to show their own dogma as preferable. These things have been said by them. How then is it safe, O men of Greece, for those wishing to be saved to think they can learn the true religion from these, who were not even able to persuade themselves not to be at variance with one another nor to appear opposed to one another’s opinion? But perhaps those not wishing to depart from that ancient and old error say that they have received the account of religion not from the aforementioned, but from those philosophers considered among them to be most renowned and most perfect in virtue, Plato and Aristotle; for they say that these have learned the perfect and true religion. But I would first gladly ask of those who say these things, from whom they say they have learned to know them; for it is impossible for those who have not learned such great and divine things from some who know to either know them themselves or be able to teach others correctly. And secondly, I think it is necessary to examine the opinions of these men too; for we shall see if each of them will not be found saying things contrary to the other. And if we should find that these men also do not agree with each other, I think it is easier to know their ignorance clearly too. For Plato, as if he had come down from above and had seen all things in heaven accurately, says that the highest god is in the fiery substance. But Aristotle, in his discourse to Alexander the Macedonian, setting forth a certain brief definition of his own philosophy, clearly and manifestly refutes Plato's opinion, saying that God is not in the fiery substance; but, fashioning a fifth, ethereal and immutable body, he says that He is in it. For he has written thus: Not as some of those who err concerning the divine say that God is in the fiery substance. Then, as if not content with the blasphemy against Plato, he even calls Homer as a witness for the proof of the things said by him concerning the ethereal body—Homer, who was cast out of his Republic as a liar and an imitator of idols that are the third remove from the truth, as he himself said. For he has written: For thus also Homer said: "But Zeus obtained the broad heaven in the aether and the clouds"; wishing to show his own opinion to be credible from the testimony of Homer, being ignorant that if he should use Homer as a witness to prove that he himself speaks the truth, many of the things that seem right to him will be shown to be untrue. For Thales the Milesian, who first began philosophy among them, having taken the pretext from him, will reject his primary opinions concerning first principles. For of Aristotle himself God and matter to be principles

λους ὑμῶν τῆς θεοσεβείας γεγενῆσθαί φατε, τῶν μὲν ὕδωρ ἀποφηναμένων ἀρχὴν ἁπάντων εἶναι, τῶν δὲ ἀέρα, τῶν δὲ πῦρ, τῶν δὲ ἄλλο τι τῶν προειρημένων, καὶ πάντων τούτων πιθανοῖς τισι λόγοις πρὸς κατασκευὴν τῶν μὴ καλῶς δοξάν των αὐτοῖς χρωμένων καὶ τὸ ἴδιον δόγμα προτιμότερον ἐπι χειρούντων δεικνύναι. Ταῦθ' ὑπ' αὐτῶν εἴρηται. Πῶς οὖν ἀσφαλές, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἕλληνες, τοῖς σώζεσθαι βουλομένοις παρὰ τούτων οἴεσθαι δύνασθαι τὴν ἀληθῆ θεοσέβειαν μαν θάνειν, τῶν μηδ' ἑαυτοὺς πεῖσαι δυνηθέντων τὸ μὴ πρὸς ἀλλήλους στασιάζειν μηδ' ἐναντίοι τῆς ἀλλήλων φαίνεσθαι δόξης; Ἀλλ' ἴσως οἱ τῆς ἀρχαίας καὶ παλαιᾶς ἐκείνης ἀπο στῆναι μὴ βουλόμενοι πλάνης οὔ φασι παρὰ τῶν προειρημέ νων, ἀλλὰ παρὰ τῶν ἐνδοξοτάτων καὶ τελειοτάτων ἐν ἀρετῇ νομισθέντων εἶναι παρ' αὐτοῖς φιλοσόφων, τὸν περὶ τῆς θεο σεβείας παρειληφέναι λόγον, Πλάτωνός τε καὶ Ἀριστοτέλους· τούτους γὰρ τὴν τελείαν καὶ ἀληθῆ φασι μεμαθηκέναι θεοσέ βειαν. Ἐγὼ δὲ πρῶτον μὲν ἡδέως ἂν πυθοίμην τῶν ταῦτα λεγόντων, παρὰ τίνων αὐτοὺς μεμαθηκότας εἰδέναι φασίν· ἀδύνατον γὰρ τοὺς τὰ οὕτω μεγάλα καὶ θεῖα μὴ παρά τινων εἰδότων μεμαθηκότας ἢ αὐτοὺς εἰδέναι ἢ ἑτέρους δύνασθαι διδάσκειν ὀρθῶς. ∆εύτερον δὲ οἶμαι δεῖν καὶ τὰς τούτων ἐξε τάσαι δόξας· εἰσόμεθα γάρ, εἰ μὴ καὶ τούτων ἑκάτερος τἀ ναντία θατέρῳ φανήσεται λέγων. Eἰ δὲ καὶ τούτους μὴ συμ φωνοῦντας ἀλλήλοις εὕροιμεν, ·ᾴδιον οἶμαι καὶ τὴν τούτων ἄγνοιαν γινώσκειν σαφῶς. Πλάτων μὲν γάρ, ὡς ἄνωθεν κατεληλυθὼς καὶ τὰ ἐν οὐρανοῖς ἅπαντα ἀκριβῶς ἑωρακώς, τὸν ἀνωτάτω θεὸν ἐν τῇ πυρώδει οὐσίᾳ εἶναι λέγει. Ἀριστο τέλης δέ, ἐν τῷ πρὸς Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν Μακεδόνα λόγῳ σύν τομόν τινα τῆς ἑαυτοῦ φιλοσοφίας ἐκτιθέμενος ὅρον, σαφῶς καὶ φανερῶς τὴν Πλάτωνος ἀναιρεῖ δόξαν, οὐκ ἐν τῇ πυρώδει οὐσίᾳ τὸν θεὸν εἶναι λέγων· ἀλλά, πέμπτον αἰθέριόν τι καὶ ἀμετάβλητον ἀναπλάττων σῶμα, ἐν τούτῳ αὐτὸν εἶναί φησιν. Γέγραφε γοῦν οὕτως· Oὐχ ὡς ἔνιοι τῶν περὶ τὸ θεῖον πλημμελούντων ἐν τῇ πυρώδει οὐσίᾳ τὸν θεὸν εἶναί φασιν. Eἶτα, ὥσπερ μὴ ἀρκούμενος ἐπὶ τῇ κατὰ Πλάτωνος βλα σφημίᾳ, καὶ τὸν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τῆς πολιτείας ἐκβληθέντα ὡς ψεύ στην καὶ τρίτον τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας εἰδώλων, ὡς αὐτὸς ἔφη, μιμητὴν ὄντα Ὅμηρον εἰς ἀπόδειξιν τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ περὶ τοῦ αἰθερίου σώματος λεγομένων καλεῖ μάρτυρα. Γέγραφε γάρ· Oὕτως γοῦν καὶ Ὅμηρος ἔφη· Ζεὺς δ' ἔλαχ' οὐρανὸν εὐρὺν ἐν αἰθέρι καὶ νεφέλῃσιν· βουλόμενος ἐκ τῆς Ὁμήρου μαρτυρίας ἀξιόπιστον τὴν ἑαυτοῦ δεικνύναι δόξαν, ἀγνοῶν ὅτι, εἰ Ὁμήρῳ πρὸς ἀπόδειξιν τοῦ ἀληθῆ ἑαυτὸν λέγειν μάρτυρι χρῷτο, πολλὰ τῶν αὐτῷ δο ξάντων οὐκ ἀληθῆ φανήσεται ὄντα. Θαλῆς γὰρ ὁ Μιλήσιος, ὁ πρῶτος παρ' αὐτοῖς τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἄρξας, τὴν πρόφασιν παρ' αὐτοῦ λαβὼν τὰς πρώτας αὐτοῦ περὶ ἀρχῶν ἀθετήσει δόξας. Aὐτοῦ γὰρ Ἀριστοτέλους θεὸν καὶ ὕλην ἀρχὰς εἶναι