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

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 suppose the Demeter and Kore of Praxiteles and the mystic Iacchus to be gods, or the arts of Lysippus, or the hands of Apelles, which have indeed clothed matter with the form of the divine glory? But you for your part persist in seeing that the statue is constructed to be as beautiful as possible, but you do not care that you yourselves not be rendered like the statues through insensibility; 4.62.4 At any rate, the prophetic word refutes the custom very clearly and concisely, that "all the gods of the nations are idols of demons; but God made the heavens" and the things in heaven. 4.63.1 At any rate, some, wandering from this, I know not how, worship divine art, yet not God, both the sun and the moon and the other choir of stars, irrationally supposing these to be gods, the instruments of time. "For by his word they were established, and by the spirit of 4.63.2 his mouth all their host." But human art creates houses and ships and cities and paintings, but God—how could I say all that he makes? Behold the whole world, it is his work; and heaven and sun and angels and men are "the works of his fingers." 4.63.3 So great is the power of God. His will alone is world-making; for God alone has made, since he alone is truly God; by his mere willing he creates, and upon 4.63.4 his merely wishing, the coming-into-being follows. Here a choir of philosophers turns aside, who, while confessing that man was most beautifully made for the contemplation of heaven, worship the things that appear in heaven and are apprehended by sight. For even if the works in heaven are not human, 4.63.5 they have at any rate been created for humans. And let none of you worship the sun, but long for the sun's maker, nor deify the world, but seek out the world's creator. Only divine wisdom, it seems, then, is left as a refuge for one who is about to arrive at the gates of salvation; from here, as from some sacred sanctuary, man, hastening to salvation, is no longer led away captive by any of the demons. 5.64.1 But let us run through, if you wish, also the opinions of the philosophers, as many as they boast of concerning the gods, if somehow we might even find philosophy itself making matter into idols for the sake of vainglory, if we might also be able to show in passing that it deifies certain demons while dreaming of the truth. 5.64.2 The elements, then, they left as first principles, having celebrated them: Thales the Milesian, water; and Anaximenes, also a Milesian, air, whom Diogenes of Apollonia later followed. But Parmenides the Eleatic introduced fire and earth as gods, but only one of them, fire, both Hippasus the Metapontine and Heraclitus the Ephesian supposed to be god. For Empedocles the Acragantine, falling into plurality, counts strife and friendship in addition to these four elements. 5.64.3 Atheists indeed are these too, having worshipped matter with a certain unwise wisdom, and while not honoring stones or wood, they deified earth, the mother of these, and while not 5.64.4 fashioning a Poseidon, they worship water itself. For what else is Poseidon but a certain moist substance named from drinking? just as, of course, the warlike Ares is named from 5.64.5 violence and destruction. For which reason it seems to me that many, having fixed a sword in the ground, sacrifice to it as to Ares; and this is a Scythian custom, as Eudoxus says in the second book of his *Circuit of the Earth*. And of the Scythians, the Sauromatae, as Hicesius says in his work *On Mysteries*, revere a short sword. 5.64.6 For this very reason also the followers of Heraclitus the fire as primeval

ποιήσεις," φησὶν ὁ προφήτης, "παντὸς ὁμοίωμα, ὅσα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἄνω καὶ ὅσα ἐν τῇ 4.62.3 γῇ κάτω." Ἦ πού γ' ἂν ἔτι τὴν Πραξιτέλους ∆ήμητρα καὶ Κόρην καὶ τὸν Ἴακχον τὸν μυστικὸν θεοὺς ὑπολάβοιμεν ἢ τὰς Λυσίππου τέχνας ἢ τὰς χεῖρας τὰς Ἀπελλικάς, αἳ δὴ τῆς θεοδοξίας τὸ σχῆμα τῇ ὕλῃ περιτεθείκασιν; Ἀλλ' ὑμεῖς μὲν ὅπως ποτὲ ὁ ἀνδριὰς ὅτι μάλιστα ὡραιότατος τεκταίνηται, προσκαρτερεῖτε, ὅπως δὲ αὐτοὶ μὴ ὅμοιοι δι' ἀναισθησίαν τοῖς ἀνδριᾶσιν ἀποτελεσθῆτε, οὐ φροντίζετε· 4.62.4 πάνυ γοῦν ἐμφανῶς καὶ συντόμως ὁ προφητικὸς ἐλέγχει τὴν συνήθειαν λόγος ὅτι "πάντες οἱ θεοὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν δαιμονίων εἰσὶν εἴδωλα· ὁ δὲ θεὸς τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ἐποίησεν" καὶ τὰ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ. 4.63.1 Πλανώμενοι γοῦν τινες ἐντεῦθεν οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως θείαν μὲν τέχνην, πλὴν ἀλλ' οὐ θεὸν προσκυνοῦσιν ἥλιόν τε καὶ σελήνην καὶ τὸν ἄλλον τῶν ἀστέρων χορόν, παραλόγως τούτους θεοὺς ὑπολαμβάνοντες, τὰ ὄργανα τοῦ χρόνου. "Τῷ γὰρ λόγῳ αὐτοῦ ἐστερεώθησαν καὶ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ 4.63.2 στόματος αὐτοῦ πᾶσα ἡ δύναμις αὐτῶν." Ἀλλ' ἡ μὲν ἀνθρωπεία τέχνη οἰκίας τε καὶ ναῦς καὶ πόλεις καὶ γραφὰς δημιουργεῖ, θεὸς δὲ πῶς ἂν εἴποιμι ὅσα ποιεῖ; Ὅλον ἴδε τὸν κόσμον, ἐκείνου ἔργον ἐστίν· καὶ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἥλιος καὶ ἄγγελοι καὶ ἄνθρωποι "ἔργα τῶν δακτύλων αὐτοῦ." 4.63.3 Ὅση γε ἡ δύναμις τοῦ θεοῦ. Μόνον αὐτοῦ τὸ βούλημα κοσμοποιία· μόνος γὰρ ὁ θεὸς ἐποίησεν, ἐπεὶ καὶ μόνος ὄντως ἐστὶ θεός· ψιλῷ τῷ βούλεσθαι δημιουργεῖ καὶ τῷ 4.63.4 μόνον ἐθελῆσαι αὐτὸν ἕπεται τὸ γεγενῆσθαι. Ἐνταῦθα φιλοσόφων παρατρέπεται χορὸς πρὸς μὲν τὴν οὐρανοῦ θέαν παγκάλως γεγονέναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὁμολογούντων, τὰ δὲ ἐν οὐρανῷ φαινόμενα καὶ ὄψει καταλαμβανόμενα προσκυ νούντων. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ μὴ ἀνθρώπινα τὰ ἔργα τὰ ἐν οὐρανῷ, 4.63.5 ἀλλὰ γοῦν ἀνθρώποις δεδημιούργηται. Καὶ μὴ τὸν ἥλιόν τις ὑμῶν προσκυνείτω, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἡλίου ποιητὴν ἐπιποθείτω, μηδὲ τὸν κόσμον ἐκθειαζέτω, ἀλλὰ τὸν κόσμου δημιουργὸν ἐπιζητησάτω. Μόνη ἄρα, ὡς ἔοικεν, καταφυγὴ τῷ μέλλοντι ἐπὶ τὰς σωτηρίους ἀφικνεῖσθαι θύρας ὑπολείπεται σοφία θεϊκή· ἐντεῦθεν ὥσπερ ἐξ ἱεροῦ τινος ἀσύλου οὐδενὶ οὐκέτι ἀγώγιμος τῶν δαιμόνων ὁ ἄνθρωπος γίνεται σπεύδων εἰς σωτηρίαν. 5.64.1 Ἐπιδράμωμεν δέ, εἰ βούλει, καὶ τῶν φιλοσόφων τὰς δόξας, ὅσας αὐχοῦσι περὶ τῶν θεῶν, εἴ πως καὶ φιλοσο φίαν αὐτὴν κενοδοξίας ἕνεκεν ἀνειδωλοποιοῦσαν τὴν ὕλην ἐφεύρωμεν, εἰ καὶ δαιμόνια ἄττα ἐκθειάζουσαν κατὰ παρα δρομὴν παραστῆσαι δυνηθῶμεν ὀνειρώττουσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν. 5.64.2 Στοιχεῖα μὲν οὖν ἀρχὰς ἀπέλιπον ἐξυμνήσαντες Θαλῆς ὁ Μιλήσιος τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ Ἀναξιμένης ὁ καὶ αὐτὸς Μιλήσιος τὸν ἀέρα, ᾧ ∆ιογένης ὕστερον ὁ Ἀπολλωνιάτης κατηκο λούθησεν. Παρμενίδης δὲ ὁ Ἐλεάτης θεοὺς εἰσηγήσατο πῦρ καὶ γῆν, θάτερον δὲ αὐτοῖν μόνον, τὸ πῦρ, θεὸν ὑπειλή φατον Ἵππασός τε ὁ Μεταποντῖνος καὶ ὁ Ἐφέσιος Ἡράκλειτος· Ἐμπεδοκλῆς γὰρ ὁ Ἀκραγαντῖνος εἰς πλῆθος ἐμπεσὼν πρὸς τοῖς τέτταρσι στοιχείοις τούτοις νεῖκος καὶ φιλίαν καταριθμεῖται. 5.64.3 Ἄθεοι μὲν δὴ καὶ οὗτοι, σοφίᾳ τινὶ ἀσόφῳ τὴν ὕλην προσκυνήσαντες καὶ λίθους μὲν ἢ ξύλα οὐ τιμήσαντες, γῆν δὲ τὴν τούτων μητέρα ἐκθειάσαντες καὶ Ποσειδῶνα μὲν 5.64.4 οὐκ ἀναπλάττοντες, ὕδωρ δὲ αὐτὸ προστρεπόμενοι. Τί γάρ ἐστί ποτε ἕτερον Ποσειδῶν ἢ ὑγρά τις οὐσία ἐκ τῆς πόσεως ὀνοματοποιουμένη; ὥσπερ ἀμέλει ὁ πολέμιος Ἄρης ἀπὸ 5.64.5 τῆς ἄρσεως καὶ ἀναιρέσεως κεκλημένος. Ἧι καὶ δοκοῦσί μοι πολλοὶ μάλιστα τὸ ξίφος μόνον πήξαντες ἐπιθύειν ὡς Ἄρει· ἔστι δὲ Σκυθῶν τὸ τοιοῦτον, καθάπερ Εὔδοξος ἐν δευτέρᾳ Γῆς περιόδου λέγει. Σκυθῶν δὲ οἱ Σαυρομάται, ὥς φησιν Ἱκέσιος ἐν τῷ Περὶ μυστηρίων, ἀκινάκην σέβουσιν. 5.64.6 Τοῦτο τοι καὶ οἱ ἀμφὶ τὸν Ἡράκλειτον τὸ πῦρ ὡς ἀρχέγονον