Protrepticus

 Raging for corruptions, celebrating insolence, deifying sorrows, the first to lead men by the hand to idols, yes, indeed, to stones and wood, that is,

 May inspire, and which may receive the 1.5.4 lord. yes, indeed, david the king, the harpist, whom we mentioned a little before, was exhorting towards

 And to statues and to certain such images having bound them fast with the wretched bond of superstition, that which is indeed said, bringing living me

 Let her who does not give birth hear let her who does not travail break forth with a cry, for the children of the desolate are more than of her who

 Breathing roughly is interpreted as the female serpent but deo and kore have already become a mystic drama, and eleusis holds torches for their wande

 A herdsman, the goad, calling the narthex a herdsman's goad, i suppose, which the bacchants indeed wreathe. 2.17.1 do you wish that i should narrate t

 And the swineherd eubouleus from whom sprang the hierophantic family of the eumolpidae and kerykes, 2.20.3 this very one at athens. and indeed (for i

 A teacher of the woman's 2.24.2 disease to the other scythians. for which reason (for it must by no means be concealed), it comes over me to wonder in

 They have fabricated certain saviors, the dioscuri and heracles, averter of evil, and asclepius the physician. 2.27.1 these are the slippery and harmf

 Apollodorus says, and callimachus, phoebus is appointed over the sacrifices of asses among the hyperboreans. and the same poet elsewhere says, fat sac

 And of gods. he was so poured out in matters of love, as to desire all, and to fulfill his desire upon all. at any rate, he was filled with women no

 Is fashioned in the manner of a member and sits upon the branch, fulfilling the promise to the dead man. a mystical memorial of this passion, phalli a

 Is taught to be prudent. the myth is laid bare for you leda died, the swan died, the eagle died. you seek your zeus? do not meddle with the sky, but

 2.39.8 they acclaimed. but heraclides in *foundations of temples* says that in acarnania, where the actium promontory is and the temple of actian apol

 He records 3.42.7 to have offered a whole burnt-offering. and erechtheus the attic and marius the roman sacrificed their own daughters of whom the on

 In athens, on the acropolis, is that of cecrops, as antiochus says in the ninth book of his histories. and what of erichthonius? was he not buried in

 The so-called palladium, fallen from heaven, which diomedes and odysseus are said to have stolen from ilium, and to have entrusted to demophon, was ma

 Nor insult the blooming youth keep it pure, that it may be beautiful. become a king of beauty, not a tyrant let it remain free then i will recogniz

 Worshippers of stones, having learned by deed not to worship senseless matter, being overcome by the need itself, are destroyed by superstition but t

 And private individuals dignified themselves with divine titles, as menecrates the physician, who was surnamed zeus. why must i list alexarchus (he wa

 4.56.4 offspring of the earth, all these things that you see? why then, o foolish and empty-minded ones (for i will say it again), having blasphemed t

 They boast, having enrolled them as their own household slaves, having made them compelled slaves by their incantations. therefore, the remembered mar

 You shall make, says the prophet, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above and that is in the 4.62.3 earth beneath. would we, then, still s

 Those who worship it have suffered for others named this fire hephaestus. 5.65.1 but the magi of the persians have honored fire, as have many of the

 Of truth, do you show that those who have trusted in you are subjected to a flow and current and disorderly eddies? and why do you fill my life with i

 By counsel but indeed they raise pure arms to heaven, rising early from bed, always cleansing their skin with water, and they honor only the one who

 A comfort of the gods, images of stone, or bronze or gold-wrought or ivory figures and allotting sacrifices to them and empty festivals, thus we thin

 You will empty injustice. 8.77.1 now that the other things have been duly completed by us in order, it is time to turn to the prophetic writings for

 I swear by myself. but he is vexed with the idolaters, saying to whom have you likened the lord? or to what likeness have you likened him? did a car

 For how is it permitted for the foreigner to enter? but when, i suppose, he is enrolled and made a citizen and receives the father, then he will be i

 The wanderers of the hebrews for they are said not to have entered into the rest because of unbelief, until, having followed the successor of moses,

 10.89.1 but to overturn a custom handed down to us from our fathers, you say, is not reasonable. and why, then, do we not use our first food, milk, to

 Demands repentance. but i want to ask you, if it does not seem absurd to you that you, men, having been born a creation of god and having received you

 Punishment? why do we not accept the gift? why do we not choose the better things, god instead of the wicked one, and prefer wisdom to idolatry, and e

 10.98.3 promised? who has promised immortality? only the creator of all things, the father, the master-craftsman, fashioned us, man, such a living s

 To wipe away the hindrances to salvation, both pride and wealth and fear, uttering this very poetic saying: where, indeed, do i carry these many posse

 They inhumanly attempt to slaughter him who teaches humanely, who calls them to righteousness, neither awaiting the grace from above nor shunning the

 A portion to those who have turned to any part of life, and to consider wisdom the same waveless harbor of salvation 10.107.3 through which those who

 He who also was, through what he taught and showed, having presented himself, our truce-bearer and reconciler and savior, the word, a life-giving, pea

 Since you were not ashamed of your brother. 11.114.1 let us then take away, let us take away the forgetfulness of the truth having cast down the igno

 The trumpet with its great blast sounded, gathered soldiers, and announced war but christ, having breathed a peaceful melody to the ends of the earth

 Bound, you shall be loosed from all corruption, the word of god will steer you, and the holy spirit will bring you to anchor in the harbors of the hea

 12.121.1 let us hasten, let us run, o god-loving and god-like images of the word [men] let us hasten, let us run, let us take up his yoke, let us mou

they boast, having enrolled them as their own household slaves, having made them compelled slaves by their incantations. Therefore, the remembered marriages and child-makings and childbirths of the gods, and the adulteries that are sung, and the feasts that are satirized, and the laughter introduced during drinking-bouts, urge me to cry out, even if I wish to be silent: alas 4.58.4 for the godlessness. You have made heaven a stage, and the divine has become a drama for you, and you have burlesqued what is holy with the masks of demons, having satirized true piety with superstition. 4.59.1 But he, playing the lyre, struck up a prelude to sing beautifully sing for us, Homer, that beautiful song, about the love of Ares and fair-crowned Aphrodite, how first they lay together in the house of Hephaestus secretly; and he gave many gifts, and shamed the marriage-bed and couch of lord Hephaestus. 4.59.2 Stop the song, Homer; it is not beautiful, it teaches adultery; we have begged off even our ears from committing fornication. For we, we are the ones who bear about the image of God in this living and moving statue, in man, a cohabiting image, a counsellor, a companion, a fellow-guest, a fellow-sufferer, a fellow-sufferer for us. We have become a votive offering to God for Christ's sake. 4.59.3 "we are the chosen race, the royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, who once were not a people, but now are the people of God"; who according to John are not "from below," but have learned everything from him who came from above, who have understood the economy of God, who have practiced "walking in newness of life." 4.60.1 But the many do not think these things; but having cast off shame and fear, at home they depict the lewd acts of the demons. At any rate, having given their attention to certain painted tablets hung up rather high, they have decorated their bedchambers with licentiousness, thinking 4.60.2 licentiousness piety; and lying on their couch, even during their very embraces, they gaze upon that naked Aphrodite, bound in the embrace, and the erotic bird fluttering around Leda's femininity, approving the picture, they impress it on their seal-rings, using the licentiousness of Zeus as a fitting seal. 4.61.1 These are the archetypes of your sensuality, these are the theologies of your insolence, these are the teachings of the gods who commit fornication with you. "For what each one wishes, that he also believes," according to the Athenian orator. And what other images of yours are there, certain Pans and naked maidens and drunken satyrs and erections of the private parts, laid bare in paintings, 4.61.2 being convicted of incontinence. And already, when you behold publicly the painted figures of all licentiousness, are you not ashamed, but you even guard them more when they are set up, just as you do the images of your gods, having consecrated at home pillars of shamelessness, engraving on an equal basis the positions of Philaenis 4.61.3 with the labors of Heracles. Of these things we announce an amnesty not only from the use, but also from the sight and the very hearing of them. Your ears have played the harlot, your eyes have committed fornication, and, what is stranger, even before the 4.61.4 embrace your glances have committed adultery. O you who have done violence to man and who have furiously torn away the divine element of his creation for refutation, you disbelieve everything, in order that you may be given over to passion; and you believe in idols, emulating their incontinence, but you disbelieve in God, not bearing self-control; and you have hated the better things, but have honored the worse things, having become spectators of virtue, but champions of vice. 4.62.1 "Blessed" alone therefore, so to speak, are all those with one accord, according to the Sibyl, who shall renounce all temples when they see them, and altars, vain foundations of deaf stones, and stone images and man-made statues, defiled with the blood of living things, and with sacrifices of four-footed animals, of two-footed, of winged creatures, and with slaughters of beasts. 4.62.2 For indeed it has been openly forbidden to us to practice a deceptive art. "For you shall not

αὐχοῦσιν, οἰκέτας αὐτοὺς ἑαυτοῖς καταγράψαντες, τοὺς κατηναγκασμένους δούλους ταῖς ἐπαοι δαῖς πεποιηκότες. Γάμοι τε οὖν ἔτι καὶ παιδοποιίαι καὶ λοχεῖαι θεῶν μνημονευόμεναι καὶ μοιχεῖαι ᾀδόμεναι καὶ εὐωχίαι κωμῳδούμεναι καὶ γέλωτες παρὰ πότον εἰσαγόμενοι προτρέπουσι δή με ἀνακραγεῖν, κἂν σιωπῆσαι θέλω· οἴμοι 4.58.4 τῆς ἀθεότητος. Σκηνὴν πεποιήκατε τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὸ θεῖον ὑμῖν δρᾶμα γεγένηται καὶ τὸ ἅγιον προσωπείοις δαιμονίων κεκωμῳδήκατε, τὴν ἀληθῆ θεοσέβειαν δεισιδαι μονίᾳ σατυρίσαντες. 4.59.1 Αὐτὰρ ὃ φορμίζων ἀνεβάλλετο καλὸν ἀείδειν ᾆσον ἡμῖν, Ὅμηρε, τὴν φωνὴν τὴν καλήν, ἀμφ' Ἄρεως φιλότητος ἐυστεφάνου τ' Ἀφροδίτης ὡς τὰ πρῶτα μίγησαν ἐν Ἡφαίστοιο δόμοισι λάθρῃ· πολλὰ δ' ἔδωκε, λέχος δ' ᾔσχυνε καὶ εὐνὴν Ἡφαίστοιο ἄνακτος. 4.59.2 Κατάπαυσον, Ὅμηρε, τὴν ᾠδήν· οὐκ ἔστι καλή, μοιχείαν διδάσκει· πορνεύειν δὲ ἡμεῖς καὶ τὰ ὦτα παρῃτήμεθα· ἡμεῖς γάρ, ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν οἱ τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ θεοῦ περιφέροντες ἐν τῷ ζῶντι καὶ κινουμένῳ τούτῳ ἀγάλματι, τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, σύνοικον εἰκόνα, σύμβουλον, συνόμιλον, συνέστιον, συμπαθῆ, ὑπερπαθῆ· ἀνάθημα γεγόναμεν τῷ θεῷ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ· 4.59.3 "ἡμεῖς τὸ γένος τὸ ἐκλεκτόν, τὸ βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα, ἔθνος ἅγιον, λαὸς περιούσιος, οἱ ποτὲ οὐ λαός, νῦν δὲ λαὸς τοῦ θεοῦ"· οἱ κατὰ τὸν Ἰωάννην οὐκ ὄντες "ἐκ τῶν κάτω", παρὰ δὲ τοῦ ἄνωθεν ἐλθόντος τὸ πᾶν μεμαθηκότες, οἱ τὴν οἰκονομίαν τοῦ θεοῦ κατανενοηκότες, οἱ "ἐν καινότητι ζωῆς περιπατεῖν" μεμελετηκότες. 4.60.1 Ἀλλ' οὐ ταῦτα φρονοῦσιν οἱ πολλοί· ἀπορρίψαντες δὲ τὴν αἰδῶ καὶ τὸν φόβον οἴκοι τοὺς τῶν δαιμόνων ἐγγρά φονται πασχητιασμούς. Πινακίοις γοῦν τισὶ καταγράφοις μετεωρότερον ἀνακειμένοις προσεσχηκότες ἀσελγείᾳ τοὺς θαλάμους κεκοσμήκασι, τὴν ἀκολασίαν εὐσέβειαν νομί 4.60.2 ζοντες· κἀπὶ τοῦ σκίμποδος κατακείμενοι παρ' αὐτὰς ἔτι τὰς περιπλοκὰς ἀφορῶσιν εἰς τὴν Ἀφροδίτην ἐκείνην τὴν γυμνήν, τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ συμπλοκῇ δεδεμένην, καὶ τῇ Λήδᾳ περιποτώμενον τὸν ὄρνιν τὸν ἐρωτικὸν τῆς θηλύτητος, ἀποδεχόμενοι τὴν γραφήν, ἀποτυποῦσι ταῖς σφενδόναις, σφραγῖδι χρώμενοι καταλλήλῳ τῇ ∆ιὸς ἀκολασίᾳ. 4.61.1 Ταῦτα ὑμῶν τῆς ἡδυπαθείας τὰ ἀρχέτυπα, αὗται τῆς ὕβρεως αἱ θεολογίαι, αὗται τῶν συμπορνευόντων ὑμῖν θεῶν αἱ διδασκαλίαι· "ὃ γὰρ βούλεται, τοῦθ' ἕκαστος καὶ οἴεται" κατὰ τὸν Ἀθηναῖον ῥήτορα. Οἷαι δὲ αὖ καὶ ἄλλαι ὑμῶν εἰκόνες, πανίσκοι τινὲς καὶ γυμναὶ κόραι καὶ σάτυροι μεθύον τες καὶ μορίων ἐντάσεις, ταῖς γραφαῖς ἀπογυμνούμεναι, 4.61.2 ἀπὸ τῆς ἀκρασίας ἐλεγχόμεναι. Ἤδη δὲ ἀναφανδὸν τῆς ἀκολασίας ὅλης τὰ σχήματα ἀνάγραπτα πανδημεὶ θεώμενοι οὐκ αἰσχύνεσθε, φυλάττετε δὲ ἔτι μᾶλλον ἀνακείμενα, ὥσπερ ἀμέλει τῶν θεῶν ὑμῶν τὰς εἰκόνας, στήλας ἀναισχυν τίας καθιερώσαντες οἴκοι, ἐπ' ἴσης ἐγγραφόμενοι τὰ Φιλαι 4.61.3 νίδος σχήματα ὡς τὰ Ἡρακλέους ἀθλήματα. Τούτων οὐ μόνον τῆς χρήσεως, πρὸς δὲ καὶ τῆς ὄψεως καὶ τῆς ἀκοῆς αὐτῆς ἀμνηστίαν καταγγέλλομεν. Ἡταίρηκεν ὑμῖν τὰ ὦτα, πεπορνεύκασιν οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ καὶ τὸ καινότερον πρὸ τῆς 4.61.4 συμπλοκῆς αἱ ὄψεις ὑμῖν μεμοιχεύκασιν. Ὦ βιασάμενοι τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ τὸ ἔνθεον τοῦ πλάσματος ἐλέγχει ἀπαράξαντες, πάντα ἀπιστεῖτε, ἵνα ἐκπαθαίνησθε· καὶ πιστεύετε μὲν τοῖς εἰδώλοις ζηλοῦντες αὐτῶν τὴν ἀκρασίαν, ἀπιστεῖτε δὲ τῷ θεῷ σωφροσύνην μὴ φέροντες· καὶ τὰ μὲν κρείττω μεμισήκατε, τὰ δὲ ἥττω τετιμήκατε, ἀρετῆς μὲν θεαταί, κακίας δὲ ἀγωνισταὶ γεγενημένοι. 4.62.1 "Ὄλβιοι" μόνοι τοίνυν, ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, ὁμοθυμαδὸν ἐκεῖνοι πάντες κατὰ τὴν Σίβυλλαν οἳ ναοὺς πάντας ἀπαρνήσονται ἰδόντες καὶ βωμούς, εἰκαῖα λίθων ἱδρύματα κωφῶν, καὶ λίθινα ξόανα καὶ ἀγάλματα χειροποίητα, αἵματι ἐμψύχῳ μεμιασμένα καὶ θυσίαισι τετραπόδων, διπόδων, πτηνῶν θηρῶν τε φόνοισιν. 4.62.2 Καὶ γὰρ δὴ καὶ ἀπηγόρευται ἡμῖν ἀναφανδὸν ἀπατηλὸν ἐργάζεσθαι τέχνην. "Οὐ γὰρ