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

breathing roughly is interpreted as the female serpent; But Deo and Kore have already become a mystic drama, and Eleusis holds torches for their wandering and rape and grief. 2.13.1 And it seems to me that the orgies and the mysteries should be etymologized, the former from the wrath of Deo against Zeus, the latter from the pollution that happened concerning Dionysus; and if also from some Myus of Attica, whom Apollodorus says was destroyed in a hunt, there is no objection; 2.13.2 your mysteries have been glorified with funeral honor. It is also possible for you to understand the mysteries in another way as hunt-tales, the letters corresponding; for if some others hunt, yet indeed also such myths hunt the most barbaric of the Thracians, the most senseless of the Phrygians, the superstitious of the Greeks. 2.13.3 May he perish, then, who began this deceit for men, whether Dardanus, who showed the mysteries of the Mother of the gods, or Eetion, who instituted the Samothracian orgies and rites, or that Phrygian Midas, who learned from Odrysus, and then gave to his subjects a skillful deceit. 2.13.4 For the Cypriot islander Cinyras would never persuade me, who dared to deliver the wanton orgies of Aphrodite from night to day, being ambitious to deify a prostitute 2.13.5 a citizen. But others say that Melampus, the son of Amythaon, brought over from Egypt to Greece the festivals of Deo, a sung lamentation. I would say that these were the originators of evil, fathers of godless myths and ruinous superstition, who planted in life the mysteries, a seed of wickedness and destruction. 2.14.1 But now, for it is time, I will expose your orgies themselves as full of deceit and monstrous tales. And if you have been initiated, you will laugh all the more at these honored myths of yours. I speak openly the hidden things, not being ashamed 2.14.2 to say what you are not ashamed to worship. The "foam-born," then, and "Cyprus-born," the one dear to Cinyras (I mean Aphrodite, the "member-loving, because from members she was brought to light," those members of Uranus that were cut off, the lustful ones, that after the cutting forced the wave), as she becomes for you the worthy fruit of licentious parts, [Aphrodite] in the rites of this sea-born pleasure a proof of her birth, a grain of salt and a phallus are given to those being initiated into the art of adultery; and the initiates bring her a coin as lovers to a courtesan. 2.15.1 And the mysteries of Deo and the amorous embraces of Zeus with mother Demeter and the wrath (I know not what to call her anymore, mother or wife) of Deo, on which account she is said to have been named Brimo, the supplications of Zeus and the drink of gall and heart-wrenchings and unmentionable acts; the Phrygians perform the same rites 2.15.2 for Attis and Cybele and the Corybantes. They have babbled that Zeus, having torn off the testicles of the ram, carrying them, threw them into the midst of Deo's bosom, paying a false penalty for the violent embrace, as if he had indeed castrated himself. 2.15.3 The symbols of this initiation, set forth in abundance, I know will move to laughter even you who are not inclined to laugh, because of the refutations; "I have eaten from the drum; I have drunk from the cymbal; I have carried the kernos; I have gone under the bridal chamber." Are not these symbols an outrage? Are not the mysteries a mockery? 2.16.1 And what if I should add the rest? Demeter conceives, and Kore is brought up, and again this same Zeus who begot her has intercourse with Pherephatta, his own daughter, after her mother Deo, forgetting his former defilement, Zeus, father and defiler of a maiden, and he has intercourse as a serpent 2.16.2 having become, who was exposed. At any rate, the symbol of the Sabazian mysteries to the initiates is the god through the bosom; and this is a serpent, drawn through the bosom of those being initiated, 2.16.3 a proof of the intemperance of Zeus. Pherephatta also conceives a bull-formed child; truly, says a certain idolatrous poet, ... a bull the father of a serpent, and a serpent the father of a bull, on the mountain the secret thing,

δασυνόμενον ἑρμηνεύεται ὄφις ἡ θήλεια· ∆ηὼ δὲ καὶ Κόρη δρᾶμα ἤδη ἐγενέσθην μυστικόν, καὶ τὴν πλάνην καὶ τὴν ἁρπαγὴν καὶ τὸ πένθος αὐταῖν Ἐλευσὶς δᾳδουχεῖ. 2.13.1 Καί μοι δοκεῖ τὰ ὄργια καὶ τὰ μυστήρια δεῖν ἐτυμο λογεῖν, τὰ μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ὀργῆς τῆς ∆ηοῦς τῆς πρὸς ∆ία γεγενημένης, τὰ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ μύσους τοῦ συμβεβηκότος περὶ τὸν ∆ιόνυσον· εἰ δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ Μυοῦντός τινος Ἀττικοῦ, ὃν ἐν κυνηγίᾳ διαφθαρῆναι Ἀπολλόδωρος λέγει, οὐ φθόνος· 2.13.2 ὑμῶν δεδόξασται τὰ μυστήρια ἐπιτυμβίῳ τιμῇ. Πάρεστι δὲ καὶ ἄλλως μυθήριά σοι νοεῖν ἀντιστοιχούντων τῶν γραμμάτων τὰ μυστήρια· θηρεύουσι γὰρ εἰ καὶ ἄλλοι τινές, ἀτὰρ δὴ καὶ οἱ μῦθοι οἱ τοιοίδε Θρᾳκῶν τοὺς βαρβαρικωτάτους, Φρυγῶν τοὺς ἀνοητοτάτους, Ἑλλήνων τοὺς δεισιδαίμονας. 2.13.3 Ὄλοιτο οὖν ὁ τῆσδε ἄρξας τῆς ἀπάτης ἀνθρώποις, εἴτε ὁ ∆άρδανος, ὁ Μητρὸς θεῶν καταδείξας τὰ μυστήρια, εἴτε Ἠετίων, ὁ τὰ Σαμοθρᾴκων ὄργια καὶ τελετὰς ὑποστησά μενος, εἴτε ὁ Φρὺξ ἐκεῖνος ὁ Μίδας, ὁ παρὰ τοῦ Ὀδρύσου μαθών, ἔπειτα διαδοὺς τοῖς ὑποτεταγμένοις ἔντεχνον ἀπάτην. 2.13.4 Οὐ γάρ με ὁ Κύπριος ὁ νησιώτης Κινύρας παραπείσαι ποτ' ἄν, τὰ περὶ τὴν Ἀφροδίτην μαχλῶντα ὄργια ἐκ νυκτὸς ἡμέρᾳ παραδοῦναι τολμήσας, φιλοτιμούμενος θειάσαι πόρνην 2.13.5 πολίτιδα. Μελάμποδα δὲ τὸν Ἀμυθάονος ἄλλοι φασὶν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μετακομίσαι τῇ Ἑλλάδι τὰς ∆ηοῦς ἑορτάς, πένθος ὑμνούμενον. Τούτους ἔγωγ' ἂν ἀρχεκάκους φήσαιμι μύθων ἀθέων καὶ δεισιδαιμονίας ὀλεθρίου πατέρας, σπέρμα κακίας καὶ φθορᾶς ἐγκαταφυτεύσαντας τῷ βίῳ τὰ μυστήρια. 2.14.1 Ἤδη δέ, καὶ γὰρ καιρός, αὐτὰ ὑμῶν τὰ ὄργια ἐξε λέγξω ἀπάτης καὶ τερατείας ἔμπλεα. Καὶ εἰ μεμύησθε, ἐπιγελάσεσθε μᾶλλον τοῖς μύθοις ὑμῶν τούτοις τοῖς τιμω μένοις. Ἀγορεύω δὲ ἀναφανδὸν τὰ κεκρυμμένα, οὐκ αἰδού 2.14.2 μενος λέγειν ἃ προσκυνεῖν οὐκ αἰσχύνεσθε. Ἡ μὲν οὖν "ἀφρογενής" τε καὶ "κυπρογενής", ἡ Κινύρᾳ φίλη (τὴν Ἀφροδίτην λέγω, τὴν "φιλομηδέα, ὅτι μηδέων ἐξεφαάνθη," μηδέων ἐκείνων τῶν ἀποκεκομμένων Οὐρανοῦ, τῶν λάγνων, τῶν μετὰ τὴν τομὴν τὸ κῦμα βεβιασμένων), ὡς ἀσελγῶν ὑμῖν μορίων ἄξιος [Ἀφροδίτη] γίνεται καρπός, ἐν ταῖς τελεταῖς ταύτης τῆς πελαγίας ἡδονῆς τεκμήριον τῆς γονῆς ἁλῶν χόνδρος καὶ φαλλὸς τοῖς μυουμένοις τὴν τέχνην τὴν μοιχικὴν ἐπιδίδοται· νόμισμα δὲ εἰσφέρουσιν αὐτῇ οἱ μυούμενοι ὡς ἑταίρᾳ ἐρασταί. 2.15.1 ∆ηοῦς δὲ μυστήρια καὶ ∆ιὸς πρὸς μητέρα ∆ήμητρα ἀφροδίσιοι συμπλοκαὶ καὶ μῆνις (οὐκ οἶδ' ὅ τι φῶ λοιπὸν μητρὸς ἢ γυναικός) τῆς ∆ηοῦς, ἧς δὴ χάριν Βριμὼ προσα γορευθῆναι λέγεται, ἱκετηρίαι ∆ιὸς καὶ πόμα χολῆς καὶ καρδιουλκίαι καὶ ἀρρητουργίαι· ταὐτὰ οἱ Φρύγες τελίσ 2.15.2 κουσιν Ἄττιδι καὶ Κυβέλῃ καὶ Κορύβασιν. Τεθρυλήκασιν δὲ ὡς ἄρα ἀποσπάσας ὁ Ζεὺς τοῦ κριοῦ τοὺς διδύμους φέρων ἐν μέσοις ἔρριψε τοῖς κόλποις τῆς ∆ηοῦς, τιμωρίαν ψευδῆ τῆς βιαίας συμπλοκῆς ἐκτιννύων, ὡς ἑαυτὸν δῆθεν ἐκτεμών. 2.15.3 Τὰ σύμβολα τῆς μυήσεως ταύτης ἐκ περιουσίας παρατε θέντα οἶδ' ὅτι κινήσει γέλωτα καὶ μὴ γελασείουσιν ὑμῖν διὰ τοὺς ἐλέγχους· "Ἐκ τυμπάνου ἔφαγον· ἐκ κυμβάλου ἔπιον· ἐκιρνοφόρησα· ὑπὸ τὸν παστὸν ὑπέδυν." Ταῦτα οὐχ ὕβρις τὰ σύμβολα; Οὐ χλεύη τὰ μυστήρια; 2.16.1 Τί δ' εἰ καὶ τὰ ἐπίλοιπα προσθείην; Κυεῖ μὲν ἡ ∆ημήτηρ, ἀνατρέφεται δὲ ἡ Κόρη, μίγνυται δ' αὖθις ὁ γεννήσας οὑτοσὶ Ζεὺς τῇ Φερεφάττῃ, τῇ ἰδίᾳ θυγατρί, μετὰ τὴν μητέρα τὴν ∆ηώ, ἐκλαθόμενος τοῦ προτέρου μύσους, πατὴρ καὶ φθορεὺς κόρης ὁ Ζεύς, καὶ μίγνυται δράκων 2.16.2 γενόμενος, ὃς ἦν ἐλεγχθείς. Σαβαζίων γοῦν μυστηρίων σύμβολον τοῖς μυουμένοις ὁ διὰ κόλπου θεός· δράκων δέ ἐστιν οὗτος, διελκόμενος τοῦ κόλπου τῶν τελουμένων, 2.16.3 ἔλεγχος ἀκρασίας ∆ιός. Κυεῖ καὶ ἡ Φερέφαττα παῖδα ταυρόμορφον· ἀμέλει, φησί τις ποιητὴς εἰδωλικός, ... ταῦρος πατὴρ δράκοντος καὶ πατὴρ ταύρου δράκων, ἐν ὄρει τὸ κρύφιον,