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

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 moves contrary to nature. What marvel that is not devised among you is performed? For they snort and speak shameful things, and they make movements which they ought not, and your daughters and sons watch those who on the stage cleverly teach how to commit adultery. Fine are the auditoriums among you, proclaiming all things that are wickedly practiced at night and delighting the 22.3 listeners with utterances of shameful words. And fine also are your poets, liars and deceivers of their listeners through figures of speech. 23.1 I have seen men weighed down by bodily training and carrying about a burden of their own flesh, for whom prizes and crowns are set forth, the judges summoning them not for bravery, but out of a contentious love of insolence and strife, and the better striker being crowned. And these are the lesser of the evils; but who would not shrink from speaking of the greater ones? Some, having chosen idleness because of their profligacy, sell themselves to be killed; and the hungry man sells himself, but the rich man buys those who will be murderers. And for these things the witnesses take their seats, and the boxers fight as single combatants for nothing, and no one comes down to help. Are such things then well performed by you? For the 23.2 leading man among you assembles the army of murderers, promising to support robbers, and the robbers go forth from him, and you all come together to the spectacle, becoming judges, on the one hand, of the wickedness of the contest-president, and on the other, of the single combatants themselves. And he who did not get to the slaughter is grieved, because he was not condemned to become a spectator of wicked and defiled deeds. You sacrifice animals for the sake of meat-eating, and you buy men for your soul, providing for its man-slaying, nourishing it with most godless sheddings of blood. The robber, then, kills for the sake of taking, but the rich man buys single combatants for the sake of killing. 24.1 What help toward my benefit is the man who rages according to Euripides and reports the matricide of Alcmaeon, who does not even have his own form, but gapes wide and carries a sword and shouting is set on fire and wears an inhuman costume? Away with the fables of Hegesias and Menander, the verse-maker of his tongue. And why should I be amazed at the Pythian flute-player? And why should I be curious about Antgenides the Theban, according to Aristoxenus? We concede to you the things that are not profitable; and you either be persuaded by your own doctrines or likewise give up yours to us. What great and marvelous thing do the philosophers among you accomplish? For they neglect one of their shoulders, letting down much hair, they grow beards, they wear the claws of wild beasts and say they need nothing, but, like Proteus, they need a tanner for their pouch, a weaver for their cloak, a woodcutter for their staff, and because of their gluttony, they need the rich and a cook. O man, who emulates the dog, you do not know God and have turned to the imitation of irrational creatures; and shouting in public with credibility you become your own avenger, and if you do not receive, you revile, and philosophy becomes for you a trade for providing. Follow the doctrines of Plato, and the sophist according to Epicurus 25.2 vehemently opposes you; again you wish to be in accord with Aristotle, and someone according to Democritus reviles you. Pythagoras says he was Euphorbus and is the heir of the doctrine of Pherecydes; but Aristotle rejects the immortality of the soul. And having seditious successions of doctrines, you, being discordant, fight against those who are in agreement with yourselves. Someone says the perfect God is a body, but I say He is without body; that the world is indissoluble, but I say it is dissoluble; that a conflagration happens from time to time, but I say once for all; that the judges are Minos and Rhadamanthus, but I say God Himself; that only the soul is made immortal, but I say also the flesh with it. How do we harm you, O men of Greece? and why do those who 25.3 follow the word of God

κοινωνοῦντας ὑμῶν ταῖς πραγματείαις λοιδορεῖτε. κεχηνέναι πολλῶν ᾀδόντων οὐ θέλω καὶ τῷ νεύοντι καὶ κινουμένῳ παρὰ φύσιν οὐ βούλομαι συνδιατίθεσθαι. τί θαυμαστὸν οὐ παρ' ὑμῖν ἐξηυρημένον διαπράττεται; ῥιναυλοῦσι μὲν γὰρ καὶ λαλοῦσι τὰ αἰσχρά, κινοῦνται δὲ κινήσεις ἃς οὐκ ἐχρῆν, καὶ τοὺς ὅπως δεῖ μοιχεύειν ἐπὶ τῆς σκηνῆς σοφιστεύοντας αἱ θυγατέρες ὑμῶν καὶ οἱ παῖδες θεωροῦσι. καλὰ παρ' ὑμῖν τὰ ἀκροατήρια κηρύττοντα πάνθ' ἅπερ ἐν νυκτὶ μοχθηρῶς πραγματεύεται καὶ τέρποντα τοὺς 22.3 ἀκροατὰς αἰσχρῶν λόγων ἐκφωνήμασιν. καλοὶ δέ εἰσιν ὑμῶν καὶ οἱ ποιηταί, ψευδολόγοι καὶ διὰ σχημάτων ἐξαπατῶντες τοὺς ἀκροωμένους. 23.1 Εἶδον ἀνθρώπους ὑπὸ τῆς σωμασκίας βεβαρημένους καὶ φορτίον τῶν ἐν αὑτοῖς κρεῶν περιφέροντας, οἷς ἔπαθλα καὶ στέφανοι πρόκεινται προκαλουμένων αὐτοὺς τῶν ἀγωνοθετῶν οὐκ ἐπ' ἀνδραγαθίᾳ, ὕβρεως δὲ καὶ στάσεως φιλονεικίᾳ, καὶ τὸν μᾶλλον πλήκτην στεφανούμενον. καὶ ταῦτα μέν ἐστι τῶν κακῶν τὰ ἐλάττονα· τὰ δὲ μείζονα τίς οὐκ ἂν ἐξειπεῖν ὀκνήσειεν; ἀργίαν τινὲς ἐπανῃρημένοι διὰ τὴν ἀσωτίαν ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τὸ φονευθῆναι πιπράσκουσιν· καὶ πωλεῖ μὲν ἑαυτὸν ὁ πεινῶν, ὁ δὲ πλουτῶν ὠνεῖται τοὺς φονεύσοντας. καὶ τούτοις οἱ μαρτυροῦντες καθίζονται, μονομαχοῦσί τε οἱ πυκτεύοντες περὶ οὐδενός, καὶ ὁ βοηθήσων οὐ κάτεισιν. ἆρά γε τὰ τοιαῦτα ὑφ' ὑμῶν καλῶς ἐπιτελεῖται; τὸ μὲν 23.2 γὰρ στρατόπεδον τῶν μιαιφονούντων ὁ προὔχων ἐν ὑμῖν συναγείρει λῃστοτροφεῖν ἐπαγγελλόμενος, οἱ δὲ λῃστεύοντες ἀπ' αὐτοῦ προΐασιν, καὶ πάντες ἐπὶ τὴν θέαν σύνιτε κριταὶ γινόμενοι τοῦτο μὲν πονηρίας ἀγωνοθέτου, τοῦτο δὲ καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν μονομαχούντων. ὁ δὲ τῷ φόνῳ μὴ περιτυχὼν λυπεῖται, διότι μὴ κατεκρίθη πονηρῶν καὶ μιαρῶν ἔργων θεατὴς γενέσθαι. θύετε ζῶα διὰ τὴν κρεωφαγίαν καὶ ἀνθρώπους ὠνεῖσθε τῇ ψυχῇ διὰ τὴν ἀνθρωποσφαγίαν παρεχόμενοι, τρέφοντες αὐτὴν αἱματεκχυσίαις ἀθεωτάταις. ὁ μὲν οὖν λῃστεύων φονεύει χάριν τοῦ λαβεῖν, ὁ δὲ πλουτῶν μονομάχους ὠνεῖται χάριν τοῦ φονεῦσαι. 24.1 Τί μοι συμβάλλεται πρὸς ὠφέλειαν ὁ κατὰ τὸν Εὐριπίδην μαινόμενος καὶ τὴν Ἀλκμαίωνος μητροκτονίαν ἀπαγγέλλων, ᾧ μηδὲ τὸ οἰκεῖον πρόσεστι σχῆμα, κέχηνεν δὲ μέγα καὶ ξίφος περιφέρει καὶ κεκραγὼς πίμπραται καὶ φορεῖ στολὴν ἀπάνθρωπον; ἐρρέτω καὶ τὰ Ἡγησίου μυθολογήματα καὶ Μένανδρος τῆς ἐκείνου γλώττης ὁ στιχοποιός. τί μοι καὶ τεθηπέναι τὸν Πυθικὸν αὐλητήν; τί δέ μοι καὶ κατὰ Ἀριστόξενον τὸν Θηβαῖον Ἀντιγενίδην πολυπραγμονεῖν; παραχωροῦμεν ὑμῖν τὰ μὴ ὠφέλιμα· καὶ ὑμεῖς ἢ πείσθητε τοῖς δόγμασιν ὑμῶν ἢ κατὰ τὸ ὅμοιον τῶν ὑμετέρων ἡμῖν ἐκχωρήσατε. Τί μέγα καὶ θαυμαστὸν οἱ παρ' ὑμῖν ἐργάζονται φιλόσοφοι; θατέρου γὰρ τῶν ὤμων ἐξαμελοῦσι κόμην τε ἐπιειμένοι πολλὴν πωγωνοτροφοῦσιν ὄνυχας θηρίων περιφέροντες καὶ λέγοντες μὲν δεῖσθαι μηδενός, κατὰ δὲ τὸν Πρωτέα σκυτοδέψου μὲν χρῄζοντες διὰ τὴν πήραν, ὑφάντου δὲ διὰ τὸ ἱμάτιον καὶ διὰ τὸ ξύλον δρυοτόμου, διὰ δὲ τὴν γαστριμαργίαν τῶν πλουτούντων καὶ ὀψοποιοῦ. ὁ ζηλῶν ἄνθρωπε τὸν κύνα, τὸν θεὸν οὐκ οἶδας καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ἀλόγων μίμησιν μεταβέβηκας· ὁ δὲ κεκραγὼς δημοσίᾳ μετ' ἀξιοπιστίας ἔκδικος γίνῃ σαυτοῦ, κἂν μὴ λάβῃς, λοιδορεῖς, καὶ γίνεταί σοι τέχνη τοῦ πορίζειν τὸ φιλοσοφεῖν. τοῖς Πλάτωνος ἕπῃ δόγμασι, καὶ ὁ κατ' Ἐπίκουρον σοφιστεύων 25.2 διαπρύσιος ἀνθίσταταί σοι· πάλιν τε εἶναι θέλεις κατὰ τὸν Ἀριστοτέλην, καί τις κατὰ τὸν ∆ημόκριτον λοιδορεῖταί σοι. Πυθαγόρας Εὔφορβος γεγονέναι φησὶ καὶ τοῦ Φερεκύδους δόγματος κληρονόμος ἐστίν· ὁ δὲ Ἀριστοτέλης τῆς ψυχῆς διαβάλλει τὴν ἀθανασίαν. στασιώδεις δὲ ἔχοντες τῶν δογμάτων τὰς διαδοχὰς ἀσύμφωνοι πρὸς τοὺς συμφώνους ἑαυτοῖς διαμάχεσθε. σῶμά τις εἶναι λέγει τὸν τέλειον θεόν, ἐγὼ δὲ ἀσώματον· ἄλυτον εἶναι τὸν κόσμον, ἐγὼ δὲ λυόμενον· ἐκπύρωσιν ἀποβαίνειν κατὰ καιρούς, ἐγὼ δὲ εἰσάπαξ· κριτὰς εἶναι Μίνω καὶ Ῥαδάμανθυν, ἐγὼ δὲ αὐτὸν τὸν θεόν· ἀπαθανατίζεσθαι μόνην τὴν ψυχήν, ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ τὸ σὺν αὐτῇ σαρκίον. Τί βλάπτομεν ὑμᾶς, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἕλληνες; τί δὲ τοὺς 25.3 λόγῳ θεοῦ κατακολουθοῦντας