Tatian, Speech to the Greeks

an encomiast of the good things that remain. And since men and angels followed one who was wiser than the rest because he was first-born, and they dec

so that they might be thought themselves to live in heaven and might show the irrational way of life on earth to be reasonable through the placement o

of pleasure and of inferiority. The rich man sows, and the poor man partakes of the same seed the richest die and the beggars have the same end of li

Babylonians by prognostication listen to us speaking, even as to an oracle-giving oak. And the things previously mentioned are the counter-sophistrie

a rational animal, receptive of mind and knowledge for according to them, even irrational creatures will be shown to be receptive of mind and knowled

Of the sympathies and antipathies according to Democritus, what can we say but this, that according to common speech, an Abderologue is a man from Abd

to robbers. For just as it is their custom to take some captive, then to restore the same ones to their families for a ransom, so also the so-called g

a light unapproachable by the men from here. Those, therefore, who have elaborated geographies, have made a description of the regions as far as was p

You revile those who share in your practices. I do not wish to gape when many are singing, and I do not want to be in accord with one who nods and mov

as you have hated the most defiled? Among us there is no cannibalism you who have been educated have become false witnesses but among you Pelops bec

her lion that was killed by Heracles? What profit would there be in Attic diction and heaps of philosophers and plausible syllogisms and measures of t

Herodotus of Halicarnassus and Dionysius of Olynthus, and after them Ephorus of Cyme and Philochorus the Athenian and Megacleides and Chamaeleon the P

the pursuits and through the women's quarters behaves unseemly. For Lysippus wrought in bronze Praxilla, who said nothing useful through her poems, an

eyes? for she was a courtesan. Lais committed fornication, and the fornicator made her a monument of her fornication. Why do you not respect the forni

is of the age of Moses. 38.1 But there are accurate records of the Egyptians' chronologies, and the interpreter of their writings is Ptolemy, not the

of the Cretan, who came to Sparta, and of Aristaeus of Proconnesus who wrote the *Arimaspeia* and of Asbolus the Centaur and of Bacis and of Drymon an

Of the sympathies and antipathies according to Democritus, what can we say but this, that according to common speech, an Abderologue is a man from Abdera? And just as he who gave his name to the city, being a friend of Heracles, as they say, was devoured by the horses of Diomedes, in the same way also he who boasts of Ostanes the magus will, on the day of consummation, be given over to be the food of eternal fire. And you too, if you do not cease from your laughter, will receive the same punishments as the sorcerers. Wherefore, O Greeks, listen to me as I cry out as if from on high, and do not mockingly transfer your own unreasonableness to the herald of the truth. A disease 17.2 is not destroyed by antipathy, nor is the madman; he is cured by attachments of leather thongs. There are visitations of demons; and the one who is sick, and the one who says he is in love, and the one who hates, and the one who wishes to take revenge, take these as helpers. And this is the manner of their contrivance. For just as the characters of letters and the lines formed from them are not in themselves able to signify what is composed, but men have created them for themselves as signs of their thoughts, knowing from their particular composition how the order of the letters has also been established by law, in like manner also the varieties of roots and the use of sinews and bones are not in and of themselves efficacious, but are a rudimentary system of the 17.3 wickedness of the demons, who, for whatever purpose they have determined each of them to be effective, when they see that the service through them has been accepted by men, they effect it, supposing that men are serving them. How could it be a good thing to minister to adulteries? And how could it be a noble thing to assist those who come to hate certain persons? Or how is it good to attach the help for the mad to matter and not to God? For by an art they divert men from godliness, preparing them to put their trust in herbs and roots; but God, if He had prepared them to do what men wish, would have been a creator of wicked things, since He Himself created everything that is in some way good, but the 17.4 profligacy of the demons has used the things in the world for evil-doing, and the form of wickedness belongs to them and not to the perfect God. For how, while I am alive, could I be least wicked, but when I am dead, the remnant in me, with me doing nothing, that which is neither moved nor perceives, will produce something perceptible? And how will one who has died a most miserable death be able to serve for the punishment of someone? For if this were so, much more would he from himself ward off his own enemy; for being able to help others, he will much more become an avenger of himself. 18.1 Sorcery and every form of it belongs to the same contrivance. For if someone is healed by matter, trusting in it, he will much more be healed by himself paying heed to the power of God. For just as poisons are material compositions, in the same way also healing remedies are of the same substance. But if we decline the baser matter, often some also endeavor to heal through the interweaving of some other of the evil things, and will misuse evil things even for a good purpose. And just as he who has dined with a robber, even if he is not a robber himself, nevertheless partakes of the punishment because he has feasted with him, in the same way also he who is not evil but, having mixed with the base man, 18.2 has made use of him for what is considered good, will be punished for his fellowship with him by the God who judges this man. For why does he who trusts in the administration of matter not wish to trust in God? And for what reason do you not approach the more powerful master, but rather heal yourself as the dog does by means of grass, the deer by a viper, the boar by river crabs, and the lion by monkeys? Why do you deify for me the things in the world? Why, when healing your neighbor, are you called a benefactor? Follow the power of reason: the demons do not heal, but by their art they take men captive; and the most admirable Justin rightly declared that the aforementioned are like 18.3

τῶν κατὰ τὸν ∆ημόκριτον ξυμπαθειῶν τε καὶ ἀντιπαθειῶν τί καὶ λέγειν ἔχομεν ἢ τοῦθ' ὅτι κατὰ τὸν κοινὸν λόγον Ἀβδηρολόγος ἐστὶν ὁ ἀπὸ τῶν Ἀβδήρων ἄνθρωπος; ὥσπερ δὲ ὁ τῇ πόλει τῆς προσηγορίας αἴτιος φίλος ὤν, ὥς φασιν, Ἡρακλέους ὑπὸ τῶν ∆ιομήδους ἵππων κατεβρώθη, τρόπῳ τῷ αὐτῷ καὶ ὁ τὸν μάγον Ὀστάνην καυχώμενος ἐν ἡμέρᾳ συντελείας πυρὸς αἰωνίου βορᾷ παραδοθήσεται. καὶ ὑμεῖς δέ, τοῦ γέλωτος ἢν μὴ ἀποπαύσησθε, τῶν αὐτῶν ὧνπερ καὶ οἱ γόητες τιμωριῶν ἀπολαύσετε. διόπερ, ὦ Ἕλληνες, κεκραγότος ὥσπερ ἀπὸ τοῦ μετεώρου κατακούσατέ μου μηδ' ἐπιτωθάζοντες τὴν ὑμετέραν ἀλογιστίαν ἐπὶ τὸν κήρυκα τῆς ἀληθείας μετάγετε. πάθος 17.2 οὐκ ἔστι δι' ἀντιπαθείας ἀπολλύμενον, οὐδὲ ὁ μεμηνώς· σκυτίδων ἐξαρτήμασι θεραπεύεται. δαιμόνων εἰσὶν ἐπιφοιτήσεις· καὶ ὁ νοσῶν καὶ ὁ λέγων ἐρᾶν καὶ ὁ μισῶν καὶ ὁ βουλόμενος ἀμύνεσθαι τούτους λαμβάνουσιν βοηθούς. τρόπος δὲ αὐτοῖς τῆς μηχανῆς οὗτος. ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ τῶν γραμμάτων χαρακτῆρες στίχοι τε οἱ ἀπ' αὐτῶν οὐ καθ' ἑαυτούς εἰσι δυνατοὶ σημαίνειν τὸ συνταττόμενον, σημεῖα δὲ τῶν ἐννοιῶν σφίσιν αὐτοῖς ἄνθρωποι δεδημιουργήκασι, παρὰ τὴν ποιὰν αὐτῶν σύνθεσιν γινώσκοντες ὅπως καὶ ἡ τάξις τῶν γραμμάτων ἔχειν νενομοθέτηται, παραπλησίως καὶ τῶν ῥιζῶν αἱ ποικιλίαι νεύρων τε καὶ ὀστέων παραλήψεις οὐκ αὐταὶ καθ' ἑαυτὰς δραστικαί τινές εἰσι, στοιχείωσις δέ ἐστι τῆς 17.3 τῶν δαιμόνων μοχθηρίας, οἳ πρὸς ἅπερ ἑκάστας αὐτῶν ἰσχύειν ὡρίκασιν, ἐπειδὰν παρειλημμένην ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων θεάσωνται τὴν δι' αὐτῶν ὑπηρεσίαν, ὑπολαμβάνοντες σφίσιν αὐτοῖς δουλεύειν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἀπεργάζονται. πῶς δ' ἂν ἀγαθὸν μοιχείαις ὑπηρετεῖν; πῶς δὲ καὶ σπουδαῖον πρὸς τὸ μισεῖν τινας παριόντας βοηθεῖν; ἢ πῶς ὕλῃ καλὸν προσάπτειν τὴν εἰς τοὺς μεμηνότας βοήθειαν καὶ μὴ τῷ θεῷ; τέχνῃ γὰρ τῆς θεοσεβείας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους παρατρέπουσι, πόαις αὐτοὺς καὶ ῥίζαις πείθεσθαι παρασκευάζοντες· ὁ δὲ θεός, εἴπερ αὐτὰ πρὸς τὸ ποιεῖν ἅπερ οἱ ἄνθρωποι βούλονται κατεσκευάκει, πονηρῶν ἂν ἦν πραγμάτων δημιουργός, ἐπεὶ αὐτὸς μὲν πᾶν τὸ εὖ πως ἔχον ἐδημιούργησεν, ἡ δὲ τῶν 17.4 δαιμόνων ἀσωτία τοῖς ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ πρὸς τὸ κακοποιεῖν ἐχρήσατο, καὶ τούτων ἐστὶ τῆς κακίας τὸ εἶδος καὶ οὐχὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ τελείου. πῶς γὰρ ἂν ζῶν μὲν ἥκιστα μοχθηρὸς εἴην, νεκροῦ δὲ ὄντος μου λείψανον τὸ ἐν ἐμοὶ μηδὲν ἐμοῦ πράττοντος τὸ μήτε κινούμενον ἀλλὰ μηδὲ αἰσθανόμενον αἰσθητόν τι ἀπεργάσεται; πῶς δὲ ὁ τεθνεὼς οἰκτίστῳ θανάτῳ δυνήσεται πρὸς τιμωρίαν τινὸς ἐξυπηρετῆσαι; τοῦτο γὰρ εἰ οὕτως εἴη, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ τὸν οἰκεῖον ἐχθρὸν ἀμυνεῖται· δυνάμενος γὰρ καὶ ἄλλοις βοηθεῖν ἔκδικος πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἑαυτοῦ καταστήσεται. 18.1 Φαρμακεία δὲ καὶ πᾶν τὸ ἐν αὐτῇ εἶδος τῆς αὐτῆς ἐστιν ἐπιτεχνήσεως. εἰ γάρ τις ὑπὸ τῆς ὕλης θεραπεύεται πιστεύων αὐτῇ, θεραπευθήσεται μᾶλλον αὐτὸς δυνάμει θεοῦ προσανέχων. ὥσπερ γὰρ τὰ δηλητήρια συνθέσεις εἰσὶν ὑλικαί, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ τὰ ἰώμενα τῆς αὐτῆς ὑποστάσεώς ἐστιν. εἰ δὲ τὴν φαυλοτέραν ὕλην παραιτούμεθα, πολλάκις καὶ διὰ τῆς ἐφ' ἕτερον τῶν κακῶν τινος ἐπιπλοκῆς ἰάσασθαί τινες ἐπιτηδεύουσι καὶ τοῖς κακοῖς κἂν πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν καταχρήσονται. καθάπερ δὲ ὁ τῷ λῃστεύοντι συνδειπνήσας, κἂν μὴ λῃστὴς αὐτὸς ᾖ, ἀλλ' ὅμως διὰ τὸ συνεστιαθῆναι τιμωρίας μεταλαμβάνει, τρόπῳ τῷ αὐτῷ καὶ ὁ μὴ κακὸς τῷ δὲ φαύλῳ ἀναμιγεὶς 18.2 πρὸς τὸ νομιζόμενον καλὸν συγχρησάμενος διὰ τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν κοινωνίαν ὑπὸ τοῦ κρίνοντος τοῦτον θεοῦ κολασθήσεται. διὰ τί γὰρ ὁ πιστεύων ὕλης οἰκονομίᾳ πιστεύειν οὐ βούλεται τῷ θεῷ; τίνος δὲ χάριν οὐ τῷ δυνατωτέρῳ προσέρχῃ δεσπότῃ, θεραπεύεις δὲ μᾶλλον αὑτὸν ὥσπερ ὁ μὲν κύων διὰ πόας, ὁ δὲ ἔλαφος δι' ἐχίδνης, ὁ δὲ σῦς διὰ τῶν ἐν ποταμοῖς καρκίνων, ὁ δὲ λέων διὰ τῶν πιθήκων; τί δέ μοι θεοποιεῖς τὰ ἐν κόσμῳ; τί δὲ θεραπεύων τὸν πλησίον εὐεργέτης ἀποκαλῇ; λόγου δυνάμει κατακολούθησον· οὐ θεραπεύουσιν οἱ δαίμονες, τέχνῃ δὲ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους αἰχμαλωτεύουσι· καὶ ὁ θαυμασιώτατος Ἰουστῖνος ὀρθῶς ἐξεφώνησεν ἐοικέναι τοὺς προειρημένους 18.3