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

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 wise man and one distinguished in sagacity. After him, it is said that Amasis the king attended to the laws, whom they record to have set in order the matters concerning the nomarchs and concerning the entire administration of Egypt. And sixth, it is said that Darius, the father of Xerxes, applied himself to the laws of the Egyptians. These things, O men of Greece, those outside our religion have written when recording the history of the antiquity of Moses, saying that they learned all these things from Egyptian priests, among whom not only was Moses born, but he was also deemed worthy to partake of all Egyptian education, because he was adopted into the place of a son by the daughter of the king and, for the aforementioned reason, was deemed worthy of great care, as the wisest of the historiographers record, who also chose to write down his life and his deeds and the high standing of his lineage, namely Philo and Josephus. For they, recording the history of the Jews, say that Moses was of Chaldean lineage; and when his ancestors migrated from Phoenicia to Egypt on account of a famine, they say the man was born there, whom, on account of his surpassing virtue, God determined to honor, and deemed him worthy to become a ruler and general and lawgiver of his own people, when He judged it right that the multitude of the Hebrews should return from Egypt to their own land. To him first God granted the divine and prophetic gift that was at that time coming down from above upon holy men, and prepared him to become the first teacher of our religion, then after him the other prophets, who also themselves obtained the same gift as he and taught us the same things concerning the same matters. These we say have become the teachers of our religion, having taught us nothing from their own human intellect, but from the gift given to them from above by God. But you, since on account of the former error of your fathers you do not think it necessary to obey these men, who do you say have become trustworthy teachers of your religion? For it is impossible, as I have often said, for those who have not first learned such great and divine things from those who know them, either to know them themselves or to be able to teach others correctly. Therefore, since the affairs of your philosophers have been sufficiently refuted by what has been said before, appearing full of all ignorance and deceit, having now surely abandoned the philosophers, just as before the poets, you will turn to the deceit of the oracles; for so I have heard some say. Therefore I think it consistent to say now to you at the proper time what I have previously heard you say about them. For when someone asked, as you yourselves say, your oracle, what men

γάσασθαι τῶν κατ' Aἴγυπτον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ μάχιμον ἔθνος νομοθεσίαις στήσασθαι. Τέταρτον δέ φασι νομοθέτην γε γενῆσθαι Βόκχοριν τὸν βασιλέα, σοφόν τινα καὶ πανουργίᾳ διαφέροντα. Μετὰ δὲ τοῦτον προσελθεῖν λέγεται τοῖς νό μοις Ἄμασιν τὸν βασιλέα, ὃν ἱστοροῦσι τὰ περὶ τοὺς νομάρχας διατάξαι καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν σύμπασαν οἰκονομίαν τῆς Aἰ γύπτου. Ἕκτον δὲ λέγεται τὸν Ξέρξου πατέρα ∆αρεῖον τοῖς νόμοις ἐπιστῆναι τοῖς τῶν Aἰγυπτίων. Ταῦτα, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἕλληνες, οἱ ἔξωθεν τῆς ἡμετέρας θεοσεβείας περὶ τῆς ἀρχαιότητος Μωϋσέως ἱστοροῦντες γεγρά φασι, καὶ ταῦτα πάντα παρ' Aἰγυπτίων ἱερέων μεμαθηκέναι φήσαντες, παρ' οἷς οὐκ ἐτέχθη Μωϋσῆς μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πά σης τῆς Aἰγυπτίων παιδεύσεως μετασχεῖν ἠξιώθη, διὰ τὸ ὑπὸ θυγατρὸς βασιλέως εἰς παιδὸς ᾠκειῶσθαι χώραν καὶ διὰ τὴν προειρημένην πρόφασιν πολλῆς ἠξιώσθαι σπουδῆς, ὡς ἱστο ροῦσιν οἱ σοφώτατοι τῶν ἱστοριογράφων, οἱ καὶ τὸν βίον αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰς πράξεις καὶ τὸ τοῦ γένους ἀξίωμα ἀναγράψασθαι προελόμενοι, Φίλων τε καὶ Ἰώσηπος. Oὗτοι γάρ, τὰς Ἰου δαίων ἱστοροῦντες πράξεις, ἀπὸ μὲν τοῦ Χαλδαίων γένους τὸν Μωϋσέα γεγενῆσθαί φασι· τῶν δὲ προγόνων αὐτοῦ διὰ λιμοῦ πρόφασιν ἀπὸ τῆς Φοινίκης ἐπὶ τὴν Aἴγυπτον μεταναστάντων ἐκεῖ τὸν ἄνδρα τετέχθαι φασίν, ὃν δι' ὑπερβάλλουσαν ἀρετὴν ὁ θεὸς τιμῆσαι προὔθετο, καὶ ἄρχοντα καὶ στρατηγὸν καὶ νο μοθέτην γενέσθαι τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ γένους ἠξίωσεν, ὁπηνίκα ἀπὸ τῆς Aἰγύπτου τὸ τῶν Ἑβραίων πλῆθος ἐπὶ τὴν οἰκείαν χώραν ἐπανελθεῖν ἐδικαίωσεν. Τούτῳ πρῶτον ὁ θεὸς καὶ τὴν ἄνω θεν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἁγίους ἄνδρας θείαν καὶ προφητικὴν τηνικαῦτα κατιοῦσαν παρέσχε δωρεάν, καὶ πρῶτον τῆς θεοσεβείας ἡμῶν διδάσκαλον γενέσθαι παρεσκεύασεν, εἶτα μετ' αὐτὸν τοὺς λοι ποὺς προφήτας, τοὺς καὶ αὐτοὺς τῆς αὐτῆς αὐτῷ τυχόντας δω ρεᾶς καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν διδάξαντας ἡμᾶς. Τού τους ἡμεῖς τῆς ἡμετέρας θρησκείας διδασκάλους γεγενῆσθαί φαμεν, μηδὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης αὐτῶν διανοίας διδάξαντας ἡμᾶς, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς ἄνωθεν αὐτοῖς παρὰ θεοῦ δοθείσης δωρεᾶς. Ὑμεῖς δέ, ἐπειδὴ διὰ τὴν προτέραν τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν πλάνην τούτοις πείθεσθαι οὐκ οἴεσθε δεῖν, τίνας διδα σκάλους ὑμῶν ἀξιοπίστους τῆς θεοσεβείας γεγενῆσθαί φατε; Ἀδύνατον γάρ, ὥσπερ πολλάκις ἔφην, τὰ οὕτω μεγάλα καὶ θεῖα τοὺς μὴ πρότερον παρὰ τῶν εἰδότων μεμαθηκότας ἢ αὐ τοὺς εἰδέναι ἢ ἑτέρους δύνασθαι διδάσκειν ὀρθῶς. Oὐκοῦν ἐπειδήπερ ἱκανῶς ἐκ τῶν προειρημένων τὰ τῶν φιλοσόφων ὑμῶν ἐλήλεγκται πράγματα πάσης ἀγνοίας καὶ ἀπάτης φανέντα πλήρη, ἀφέμενοί που λοιπὸν πάντως τῶν φιλοσόφων, ὥσπερ πρότερον τῶν ποιητῶν, ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν χρηστηρίων ἀπάτην τρα πήσεσθε· οὕτω γὰρ ἀκήκοα λεγόντων τινῶν. Oὐκοῦν ἀκόλου θον ἡγοῦμαι, ἃ παρ' ὑμῶν πρότερον περὶ αὐτῶν ἀκήκοα λε γόντων, ταῦτα ἐν καιρῷ νυνὶ πρὸς ὑμᾶς εἰπεῖν. Ἐρομένου γάρ τινος, ὡς αὐτοί φατε, τὸ παρ' ὑμῖν χρηστήριον, τίνας