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

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 if anyone should say that the books of Moses and of the other prophets were also written in the letters of the Greeks, let him know, by encountering outside histories, that Ptolemy, the king of Egypt, having established a library in Alexandria and having gathered books from everywhere and filled it, then learned that it so happened that ancient histories written in the letters of the Hebrews were accurately preserved, and wishing to know what was written, summoned seventy wise men from Jerusalem, who knew both the Greek and Hebrew language, and commanded them to translate the books. And so that, being free from all disturbance, they might translate more quickly, he ordered that not in the city itself, but seven stades away where the Pharos happens to have been built, small cells be made, equal in number to the translators, in order that each one might complete the translation privately by himself, having commanded the attendants in charge that they should receive every service, but be prevented from conversation with one another, so that the accuracy of the translation might be able to be known also through their agreement. And when he learned that the seventy men had used not only the same sense but also the same words, and had not deviated from their agreement with one another by so much as a single word but had written the same things about the same things, he was astonished and judged them worthy of honor, as men beloved of God, and with many gifts he commanded them to return to their own country, and having divinized the books, as was fitting, he dedicated them there. These things are not myths we report to you, O men of Greece, nor fabricated histories; but having been in Alexandria ourselves and having seen the traces of the cells in the Pharos still preserved, and having heard from those there who have received it as ancestral tradition, we report these things, which you may also learn from others, and especially from the wise and esteemed men who have written histories about these things, both Philo and Josephus, and many others. But if anyone of those accustomed to contradict readily should say that these books belong not to us but to the Jews, because they are still preserved even now in their synagogues, and should say that we claim in vain to have learned piety from them, let him know from the very things written in the books that the teaching from them pertains not to them but to us. But the fact that the books pertaining to our piety are still preserved even now among the Jews has come about as a work of divine providence on our behalf; for so that we, by bringing them forth from the church, might not provide a pretext of foul play to those who wish to blaspheme us, we think it right that they be brought forth from the synagogue of the Jews, so that from the very books still preserved among them, how the things written for our instruction by the holy men are just

σόφων ἢ ·ητόρων μνημονεῦσαι βούλοιτο, εὑρήσει τούτους τὰ ἑαυτῶν συγγράμματα τοῖς τῶν Ἑλλήνων γεγραφότας γράμ μασιν. Eἰ δέ τις φάσκοι καὶ τὴν Μωϋσέως καὶ τῶν ἄλλων προφητῶν τοῖς τῶν Ἑλλήνων γεγράφθαι γράμμασι, γνώτω, ταῖς ἔξωθεν ἐντυχὼν ἱστορίαις, ὅτι Πτολεμαῖος ὁ τῆς Aἰγύ πτου βασιλεύς, βιβλιοθήκην ἐν τῇ Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ κατασκευάσας καὶ πανταχόθεν συναγαγὼν βιβλία καὶ πληρώσας αὐτήν, ἔπειτα μαθὼν ὅτι ἀρχαίας ἱστορίας τοῖς τῶν Ἑβραίων γράμμασι γε γραμμένας σώζεσθαι ἀκριβῶς συμβαίνει, γνῶναι τὰ γεγραμμένα βουλόμενος, σοφοὺς ἄνδρας ἑβδομήκοντα, τοὺς καὶ τὴν Ἑλλή νων καὶ Ἑβραίων διάλεκτον εἰδότας, ἑρμηνεῦσαι αὐτοῖς τὰς βίβλους προσέταξεν, ἀπὸ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ μεταστειλάμενος. Καὶ ἵνα πάσης ὀχλήσεως ἐκτὸς ὄντες θᾶττον ἑρμηνεύσωσι, προσέταξεν αὐτοῖς μὴ ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ πόλει, ἀλλὰ ἀπὸ ἑπτὰ στα δίων ἔνθα τὸν φάρον ᾠκοδομῆσθαι συμβαίνει, ἰσαρίθμους τῶν ἑρμηνευόντων οἰκίσκους γενέσθαι μικρούς, ἐπὶ τῷ ἕκαστον ἰδίᾳ καθ' ἑαυτὸν τὴν ἑρμηνείαν πληρῶσαι, προστάξας τοῖς ἐφεστῶσιν ὑπηρέταις πάσης μὲν αὐτοὺς θεραπείας τυγχάνειν, εἴργεσθαι δὲ τῆς πρὸς ἀλλήλους ὁμιλίας, ἵνα τὸ τῆς ἑρμηνείας ἀκριβὲς καὶ διὰ τῆς τούτων συμφωνίας γνωσθῆναι δυνηθῇ. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἔγνω τοὺς ἑβδομήκοντα ἄνδρας μὴ μόνον τῇ αὐτῇ δια νοίᾳ ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῖς αὐταῖς λέξεσι χρησαμένους, καὶ μηδὲ ἄχρι μιᾶς λέξεως τῆς πρὸς ἀλλήλους συμφωνίας διημαρτηκότας ἀλλὰ τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν γεγραφότας, ἐκπλαγεὶς καὶ τιμῆς αὐτοὺς ἀξίους, ὡς θεοφιλεῖς ἄνδρας, διέγνω, μετὰ πολλῶν δὲ δώρων αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν ἑαυτῶν πατρίδα ἐπανελθεῖν προσέταξε, τὰς δὲ βίβλους ἐκθειάσας, ὡς εἰκός, ἐκεῖσε ἀνέ θηκεν. Ταῦτα οὐ μύθους ὑμῖν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἕλληνες, οὐδὲ πε πλασμένας ἱστορίας ἀπαγγέλλομεν· ἀλλ' αὐτοὶ ἐν τῇ Ἀλε ξανδρείᾳ γενόμενοι καὶ τὰ ἴχνη τῶν οἰκίσκων ἐν τῇ Φάρῳ ἑωρακότες ἔτι σωζόμενα, καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἐκεῖ ὡς τὰ πάτρια παρειληφότων ἀκηκοότες, ταῦτα ἀπαγγέλλομεν, ἃ καὶ παρ' ἑτέρων ἔξεστιν ὑμῖν μανθάνειν, καὶ μάλιστα παρ' αὐτῶν τῶν περὶ τούτων ἱστορησάντων σοφῶν καὶ δοκίμων ἀνδρῶν, Φί λωνός τε καὶ Ἰωσήπου, καὶ ἑτέρων πλειόνων. Eἰ δέ τις φάσκοι τῶν προχείρως ἀντιλέγειν εἰθισμένων, μὴ ἡμῖν τὰς βί βλους ταύτας ἀλλὰ Ἰουδαίοις προσήκειν, διὰ τὸ ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς αὐτῶν σώζεσθαι, καὶ μάτην ἡμᾶς ἐκ τούτων φάσκειν τὴν θεοσέβειαν μεμαθηκέναι λέγοι, γνώτω ἀπ' αὐτῶν τῶν ἐν ταῖς βίβλοις γεγραμμένων ὅτι οὐκ αὐτοῖς ἀλλ' ἡμῖν ἡ ἐκ τούτων διαφέρει διδασκαλία. Τὸ δὲ παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις ἔτι καὶ νῦν τὰς τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ θεοσεβείᾳ διαφερούσας σώζεσθαι βίβλους θείας προνοίας ἔργον ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν γέγονεν· ἵνα γὰρ μὴ ἐκ τῆς ἐκκλησίας προκομίζοντες πρόφασιν ·ᾳδιουργίας τοῖς βλασφημεῖν ἡμᾶς βουλομένοις παράσχωμεν, ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν Ἰουδαίων συναγωγῆς ταύτας ἀξιοῦμεν προκομίζεσθαι, ἵνα ἀπ' αὐτῶν τῶν ἔτι παρ' αὐτοῖς σωζομένων βιβλίων, ὡς ἡμῖν τὰ πρὸς διδασκαλίαν ὑπὸ τῶν ἁγίων ἀνδρῶν γραφέντα δίκαια