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

having denied it, later says in his conceptions that it is this very thing. Moreover, having formerly declared that everything that has come into being is perishable, he later says that some created things are able to be indissoluble and imperishable. What then is the cause of those who are considered among you to have become wise being in conflict not only with each other but also with themselves? Clearly, that they did not wish to learn from those who know, but thought that by their own human intelligence they were able to know clearly the things in heaven, although indeed they have not even been able to know the things on earth. For instance, some of the philosophers among you say the human soul is in us, while others say it is around us; for not even in this have they chosen to agree with one another, but, as if having divided up their ignorance in different ways, they have chosen also to contend and be in conflict with one another concerning the soul. For some of them say the soul is fire, others air, others mind, others motion, others exhalation, and certain others a power flowing from the stars, others a self-moving number, and others life-producing water. And in general a certain disordered and discordant opinion has prevailed among them, appearing worthy of praise in one thing only to those able to judge rightly, that they have chosen to refute one another as being in error and not speaking the truth. Therefore, since it is not possible to learn anything true concerning piety from your teachers, they having furnished you sufficient proof of their own ignorance through their conflict with one another, I think it follows to go back to our own forefathers, who far preceded in time the teachers among you and taught us nothing from their own imagination, nor disagreed with one another or tried to subvert each other's teachings, but without contention and without conflict received knowledge from God and taught this to us. For it is not possible for men to know such great and divine things either by nature or by human conception, but by the gift that at that time descended from above upon the holy men, who had no need of the art of words nor of speaking contentiously or argumentatively, but to present themselves pure to the working of the divine Spirit, so that the divine plectrum itself, coming down from heaven, using the righteous men as an instrument, a kind of cithara or lyre, might reveal to us the knowledge of divine and heavenly things. For this reason, then, as if from one mouth and one tongue, they taught us consistently and harmoniously with one another concerning God, and concerning the creation of the world, and concerning the formation of man, and concerning the immortality of the human soul and the judgment which is to be after this life, and concerning all things which it is necessary for us to know, and this, having furnished to us the divine teaching in different places and times. I shall begin, then, with the first prophet and lawgiver among us, Moses, first the times in which he lived, with all trustworthy testimony among you from

ἀποφήσας, ὕστερον ἐν τοῖς νοήμασιν αὐτὸ τοῦτ' εἶναι λέγει. Ἔτι μέντοι γε καὶ πᾶν τὸ γενόμενον φθαρτὸν πρότερον ἀπο φηνάμενος εἶναι ὕστερον ἔνια τῶν γινομένων ἄλυτα καὶ ἄφθαρτα δύνασθαι εἶναί φησι. Τί τοίνυν αἴτιον τοῦ μὴ πρὸς ἀλλήλους μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς στασιάζειν τοὺς παρ' ὑμῖν νο μισθέντας γεγενῆσθαι σοφούς; Τὸ μὴ βουληθῆναι δῆλον ὅτι παρὰ τῶν εἰδότων μανθάνειν, ἀλλ' ἑαυτοὺς οἴεσθαι τῇ ἀν θρωπίνῃ αὐτῶν περινοίᾳ τὰ ἐν οὐρανοῖς δύνασθαι γινώσκειν σαφῶς, καίτοι γε μηδὲ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς γνῶναι δυνηθέντες. Τὴν γοῦν ἀνθρωπίνην ψυχὴν ἔνιοι μὲν τῶν παρ' ὑμῖν φιλοσό φων ἐν ἡμῖν, ἕτεροι δὲ περὶ ἡμᾶς εἶναί φασιν· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐν τούτῳ συμφωνεῖν ἀλλήλοις προῄρηνται, ἀλλ', ὥσπερ τὴν ἄγνοιαν διαφόρως μερισάμενοι, καὶ περὶ ψυχῆς φιλονεικεῖν καὶ στασιάζειν πρὸς ἀλλήλους προῄρηνται. Oἱ μὲν γὰρ αὐ τῶν φασι πῦρ εἶναι τὴν ψυχήν, οἱ δὲ τὸν ἀέρα, οἱ δὲ τὸν νοῦν, οἱ δὲ τὴν κίνησιν, οἱ δὲ τὴν ἀναθυμίασιν, ἄλλοι δέ τινες δύ ναμιν ἀπὸ τῶν ἄστρων ·έουσαν, οἱ δὲ ἀριθμὸν κινητικόν, ἕτε ροι δὲ ὕδωρ γονοποιόν. Καὶ ὅλως ἄτακτός τις καὶ ἀσύμφωνος ἡ παρ' αὐτοῖς κεκράτηκε δόξα, ἑνὶ μόνῳ τοῖς ὀρθῶς κρίνειν δυναμένοις ἐπαίνου ἀξία φαινομένη, ὅτι πλανωμένους καὶ μὴ τἀληθῆ λέγοντας ἀλλήλους ἐλέγχειν προῄρηνται. Oὐκοῦν ἐπειδήπερ οὐδὲν ἀληθὲς περὶ θεοσεβείας παρὰ τῶν ὑμετέρων διδασκάλων μανθάνειν ἐστὶ δυνατόν, ἱκανὴν ὑμῖν ἀπόδειξιν τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἀγνοίας διὰ τῆς πρὸς ἀλλήλους στάσεως παρεσχηκότων, ἀκόλουθον ἡγοῦμαι ἀνελθεῖν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἡμετέρους προγόνους, τοὺς καὶ τοὺς χρόνους τῶν παρ' ὑμῖν διδασκάλων πολλῷ προειληφότας καὶ μηδὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ἰδίας αὐτῶν φαντασίας διδάξαντας ἡμᾶς, μηδὲ πρὸς ἀλλήλους διε νεχθέντας ἢ τὰ ἀλλήλων ἀνατρέπειν πειρωμένους, ἀλλὰ ἀφι λονείκως καὶ ἀστασιάστως τὴν παρὰ θεοῦ δεξαμένους γνῶσιν καὶ ταύτην διδάσκοντας ἡμᾶς. Oὔτε γὰρ φύσει οὔτε ἀνθρω πίνῃ ἐννοίᾳ οὕτω μεγάλα καὶ θεῖα γινώσκειν ἀνθρώποις δυ νατόν, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἄνωθεν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἁγίους ἄνδρας τηνικαῦτα κατελθούσῃ δωρεᾷ, οἷς οὐ λόγων ἐδέησε τέχνης οὐδὲ τοῦ ἐρι στικῶς τι καὶ φιλονείκως εἰπεῖν, ἀλλὰ καθαροὺς ἑαυτοὺς τῇ τοῦ θείου πνεύματος παρασχεῖν ἐνεργείᾳ, ἵνα αὐτὸ τὸ θεῖον ἐξ οὐρανοῦ κατιὸν πλῆκτρον, ὥσπερ ὀργάνῳ κιθάρας τινὸς ἢ λύρας τοῖς δικαίοις ἀνδράσι χρώμενον, τὴν τῶν θείων ἡμῖν καὶ οὐρανίων ἀποκαλύψῃ γνῶσιν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο τοίνυν ὥσπερ ἐξ ἑνὸς στόματος καὶ μιᾶς γλώττης καὶ περὶ θεοῦ καὶ περὶ κόσμου κτίσεως καὶ περὶ πλάσεως ἀνθρώπου καὶ περὶ ἀνθρωπίνης ψυχῆς ἀθανασίας καὶ τῆς μετὰ τὸν βίον τοῦτον μελλούσης ἔσεσθαι κρίσεως καὶ περὶ πάντων ὧν ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστιν ἡμῖν εἰδέναι ἀκολούθως καὶ συμφώνως ἀλλήλοις ἐδίδαξαν ἡμᾶς, καὶ ταῦτα ἐν διαφόροις τόποις τε καὶ χρόνοις τὴν θείαν ἡμῖν διδασκαλίαν παρεσχηκότες. Ἄρξομαι τοίνυν ἀπὸ τοῦ πρώτου παρ' ἡμῖν προφήτου τε καὶ νομοθέτου Μωϋσέως, πρότερον τοὺς χρόνους, καθ' οὓς γέγονε, μετὰ πάσης ἀξιοπίστου παρ' ὑμῖν μαρτυρίας ἐκ