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

poetry, Diodorus, the most renowned of the historians, sufficiently teaches us. For he said that he, having been in Egypt, had learned that Nepenthes, a drug that banishes sorrow and brings forgetfulness of all evils, Helen received from Polydamna, the wife of Thon, and brought to Sparta; and Homer said that Helen, using that drug, stopped the lamentation that arose from Menelaus in the presence of Telemachus. And he called her golden Aphrodite from the history in Egypt; for he knew both a precinct of golden Aphrodite said to be in Egypt and a plain named of golden Aphrodite. And for what reason has mention of these things been made now? In order that we may show that the poet also transformed many things from the divine history of the prophets into his own poetry; and first, the beginning of the creation of the world spoken of by Moses. For thus Moses has written: In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth, then the sun and moon and stars. For having learned these things in Egypt, and being pleased with the things written by him on the generation of the world, he had Hephaestus construct on the shield of Achilles a sort of image of the creation of the world. For thus he has written: Therein he wrought the earth, therein the heaven, therein the sea, and the unwearied sun, and the moon at the full, and therein all the constellations wherewith heaven is crowned. And he has made the garden of Alcinous preserve an image of paradise, showing it through the image to be both ever-blooming and full of fruits. For thus he has written: And there grew tall trees blossoming, pear-trees and pomegranates, and apple-trees with their bright fruit, and sweet figs, and olives blossoming. Of these the fruit is never lost nor fails, winter or summer, throughout the year, but ever the breeze of the West wind blowing brings some to birth and ripens others. Pear upon pear ripens, apple upon apple, yea, and cluster upon cluster of the grape, and fig upon fig. There, too, a fruitful vineyard was planted for him; one part of this, a warm spot on level ground, is drying in the sun, while other grapes they are gathering, and others, too, they are treading in the wine-press; and in front are unripe grapes that have cast their blossom, and others that are turning purple. Do not these words show a clear and manifest imitation of the things said by the first prophet, Moses, concerning paradise? But if anyone should wish to look also at the story of the tower, by means of which the men of that time thought they could build for themselves an ascent to heaven, he will find this too to be a sufficient imitation through allegory made by the poet through Otus and Ephialtes. For thus the poet also spoke about them: Who even threatened the immortals in Olympus

ποίησιν, ἱκανῶς διδάσκει ἡμᾶς ∆ιόδωρος, ὁ τῶν ἱστοριογρά φων ἐνδοξότατος. Ἔφη γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐν Aἰγύπτῳ γενόμενον με μαθηκέναι, ὅτι τὸ Νηπενθές, ἄχολόν τε κακῶν ἐπίληθες ἁπάντων φάρμακον, ἡ Ἑλένη λαβοῦσα παρὰ τῆς Θῶνος γυναικὸς Πο λυδάμνας εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην ἐκόμισε· κἀκείνῳ τῷ φαρμάκῳ ἔφη Ὅμηρος χρησαμένην τὴν Ἑλένην παῦσαι τὸν ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ Τηλεμάχου παρὰ Μενελάου γενόμενον θρῆνον. Καὶ χρυσῆν δὲ Ἀφροδίτην ὠνόμασεν ἐκ τῆς ἐν Aἰγύπτῳ ἱστορίας· ἔγνω γὰρ καὶ τέμενος χρυσῆς Ἀφροδίτης ἐν Aἰγύπτῳ λεγόμενον καὶ πεδίον χρυσῆς Ἀφροδίτης ὀνομαζόμενον. Καὶ τοῦ χάριν τούτων γέγονε μνήμη νυνί; Ἵνα δείξωμεν τὸν ποιητὴν καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς θείας τῶν προφητῶν ἱστορίας πολλὰ εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ μεταβαλόντα ποίησιν· καὶ πρῶτον τῆς κοσμοποιΐας ὑπὸ Μωϋσέως τὴν εἰρημένην ἀρχήν. Oὕτω γὰρ Μωϋσῆς γέγραφεν· Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν, εἶτα ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ ἀστέρας. Ταῦτα γὰρ ἐν Aἰγύπτῳ μαθών, καὶ τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ τοῦ κόσμου γενέσει γραφεῖσιν ἀρεσθείς, ἐν τῇ τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως ἀσπίδι τὸν Ἥφαιστον ὥσπερ εἰκόνα τινὰ τῆς κοσμοποιΐας κατασκευάσαι παρεσκεύασεν. Oὕτω γὰρ γέγραφεν· Ἐν μὲν γαῖαν ἔτευξ', ἐν δ' οὐρανόν, ἐν δὲ θάλασσαν, Ἠέλιον τ' ἀκάμαντα σελήνην τε πλήθουσαν, Ἐν δέ τε τείρεα πάντα, τά τ' οὐρανὸς ἐστεφάνωται. Καὶ τοῦ παραδείσου δὲ εἰκόνα τὸν Ἀλκινόου κῆπον σώζειν πε ποίηκεν, ἀειθαλῆ τε αὐτὸν καὶ καρπῶν πλήρη διὰ τῆς εἰκόνος ἐπιδεικνύς. Oὕτω γὰρ γέγραφεν· Ἔνθα δὲ δένδρεα μακρὰ πεφύκει τηλεθόωντα, Ὄγχναι καὶ ·οιαὶ καὶ μηλέαι ἀγλαόκαρποι Συκέαι τε γλυκεραὶ καὶ ἐλαῖαι τηλεθόωσαι. Τάων οὔποτε καρπὸς ἀπόλλυται οὐδ' ἐπιλείπει Χείματος οὐδὲ θέρους, ἐπετήσιος, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ αὔρη Ζεφυρίη πνείουσα τὰ μὲν φύει, ἄλλα δὲ πέσσει. Ὄγχνη ἐπ' ὄγχνῃ γηράσκει, μῆλον δ' ἐπὶ μήλῳ, Aὐτὰρ ἐπὶ σταφυλῇ σταφυλή, σῦκον δ' ἐπὶ σύκῳ. Ἔνθα δὲ οἱ πολύκαρπος ἀλωὴ ἐῤῥίζωται· Τῆς ἕτερον μὲν θειλόπεδον λευρῷ ἐνὶ χώρῳ Τέρσεται ἠελίῳ, ἑτέρας δ' ἄρα τε τρυγόωσιν, Ἄλλας δὲ τραπέουσι· πάροιθε δέ τ' ὄμφακές εἰσιν, Ἄνθος ἀφιεῖσαι, ἕτεραι δ' ὑποπερκάζουσιν. Ταῦτα τὰ ῥήματα οὐ φανερὰν καὶ σαφῆ μίμησιν τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ πρώτου προφήτου Μωϋσέως περὶ τοῦ παραδείσου λεχθέν των δηλοῖ; Eἰ δέ τις καὶ εἰς τὴν τοῦ πύργου ποίησιν ἀφορᾶν ἐθέλοι, δι' ἧς οἱ τὸ τηνικαῦτα ἄνδρες τὴν εἰς οὐρανὸν ἄνοδον δύνασθαι κατασκευάζειν ἑαυτοῖς ᾤοντο, εὑρήσει καὶ ταύτην ἱκανὴν δι' ἀλληγορίας μίμησιν ὑπὸ τοῦ ποιητοῦ διά τε Ὤτου καὶ Ἐπιάλτου γινομένην. Oὕτω γὰρ καὶ ὁ ποιητὴς περὶ αὐτῶν ἔφη· Oἵῥα καὶ ἀθανάτοισιν ἀπειλήτην ἐν Ὀλύμπῳ