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

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 inhabitants of Asia, and in addition the Macedonians, as Diogenes says in the first book of his *Persica*. Why should I enumerate the Sauromatae, whom Nymphodorus in his *Barbarian Customs* relates worship fire, or the Persians and the Medes and the Magi? Dinon says that these sacrifice in the open air, 5.65.2 considering only fire and water to be images of the gods. I have not hidden their ignorance either. For even if they think they are completely escaping error, they slip into another deceit; they have not supposed images of the gods to be wood and stones like the Greeks, nor yet ibises and ichneumons like the Egyptians, but fire and water, like philosophers. 5.65.3 However, Berossus, in the third book of his *Chaldaica*, shows that after many cycles of years they worshipped anthropomorphic images, this having been introduced by Artaxerxes, the son of Darius Ochus, who first set up the statue of Aphrodite Anaitis in Babylon and Susa and Ecbatana, and showed it to the Persians and Bactrians and Damascus and Sardis 5.65.4 for worship. Let the philosophers then confess that their teachers were Persians or Sauromatae or Magi, from whom they have learned the atheism of their venerated first principles, being ignorant of the ruler who is the maker of all things and the creator of the principles themselves, the unoriginated God, but turning to these "poor" and "weak," as the apostle says, "elements" made for the service of men. 5.66.1 And of the other philosophers, as many as went beyond the elements and investigated something higher and more extraordinary, some of them hymned the infinite, as did Anaximander (he was a Milesian) and Anaxagoras of Clazomenae and the Athenian Archelaus. These two indeed both set mind over the infinite, but Leucippus the Milesian and Metrodorus of Chios also left two principles, it seems, 5.66.2 the full and the void; and to these two Democritus of Abdera, taking them, added the images. For indeed Alcmaeon of Croton thought that the stars were gods, being ensouled. I will not be silent about their shamelessness; Xenocrates (he was of Chalcedon) hints at seven gods, the planets, and an eighth, the 5.66.3 cosmos composed of all the fixed stars. Nor indeed will I pass over those of the Stoa, who say that the divine pervades all matter, even the most worthless, who utterly disgrace 5.66.4 philosophy. Having come this far, I think it is not difficult to also mention those of the Peripatos; and the father of the school himself, not understanding the father of all, thinks that the so-called "highest" is the soul of the universe; that is, by supposing the soul of the cosmos to be God, he impales himself. For he who limits providence to as far as the moon itself, then, by considering the cosmos to be God, falls into contradiction, decreeing as God that which is without a share of 5.66.5 God. And that Theophrastus of Eresus, the disciple of Aristotle, conjectures God to be in one place heaven, in another, spirit. For of Epicurus alone will I willingly be forgetful, who thinks that God cares for nothing, being in all things impious. For what of Heraclides of Pontus? Is there any way in which he himself is not also dragged down to the images of Democritus? 6.67.1 And a great crowd of such men flows in upon me, introducing a kind of bogey, an absurd shadow-painting of foreign demons, telling myths with an old woman's chatter; far from it that we should permit men to listen to such words, with which we are not accustomed to console even our own children when they are whimpering, as the saying goes, by telling them stories, fearing to rear up along with them the atheism proclaimed by these would-be wise men, who know the truth no more than infants. 6.67.2 For what, O by the

σέβοντες πεπόνθασιν· τὸ γὰρ πῦρ τοῦτο ἕτεροι Ἥφαιστον ὠνόμασαν. 5.65.1 Περσῶν δὲ οἱ Μάγοι τὸ πῦρ τετιμήκασι καὶ τῶν τὴν Ἀσίαν κατοικούντων πολλοί, πρὸς δὲ καὶ Μακεδόνες, ὥς φησι ∆ιογένης ἐν αʹ Περσικῶν. Τί μοι Σαυρομάτας κατα λέγειν, οὓς Νυμφόδωρος ἐν Νομίμοις βαρβαρικοῖς τὸ πῦρ σέβειν ἱστορεῖ, ἢ τοὺς Πέρσας καὶ τοὺς Μήδους καὶ τοὺς Μάγους; Θύειν ἐν ὑπαίθρῳ τούτους ὁ ∆ίνων λέγει, θεῶν 5.65.2 ἀγάλματα μόνα τὸ πῦρ καὶ ὕδωρ νομίζοντας. Οὐκ ἀπεκρυ ψάμην οὐδὲ τὴν τούτων ἄγνοιαν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ τὰ μάλιστα ἀποφεύγειν οἴονται τῆς πλάνης, ἀλλ' εἰς ἑτέραν κατολισθαί νουσιν ἀπάτην· ἀγάλματα μὲν θεῶν οὐ ξύλα καὶ λίθους ὑπειλήφασιν ὥσπερ Ἕλληνες οὐδὲ μὴν ἴβιδας καὶ ἰχνεύμονας καθάπερ Αἰγύπτιοι, ἀλλὰ πῦρ τε καὶ ὕδωρ ὡς φιλόσοφοι. 5.65.3 Μετὰ πολλὰς μέντοι ὕστερον περιόδους ἐτῶν ἀνθρωποειδῆ ἀγάλματα σέβειν αὐτοὺς Βήρωσσος ἐν τρίτῃ Χαλδαϊκῶν παρίστησι, τοῦτο Ἀρταξέρξου τοῦ ∆αρείου τοῦ Ὤχου εἰσηγησαμένου, ὃς πρῶτος τῆς Ἀφροδίτης Ἀναΐτιδος τὸ ἄγαλμα ἀναστήσας ἐν Βαβυλῶνι καὶ Σούσοις καὶ Ἐκβα τάνοις Πέρσαις καὶ Βάκτροις καὶ ∆αμασκῷ καὶ Σάρδεσιν 5.65.4 ὑπέδειξε σέβειν. Ὁμολογούντων τοίνυν οἱ φιλόσοφοι τοὺς διδασκάλους τοὺς σφῶν Πέρσας ἢ Σαυρομάτας ἢ Μάγους, παρ' ὧν τὴν ἀθεότητα τῶν σεβασμίων αὐτοῖς μεμαθήκασιν ἀρχῶν, ἄρχοντα τὸν πάντων ποιητὴν καὶ τῶν ἀρχῶν αὐτῶν δημιουργὸν ἀγνοοῦντες, τὸν ἄναρχον θεόν, τὰ δὲ "πτωχὰ" ταῦτα καὶ "ἀσθενῆ", ᾗ φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, τὰ εἰς τὴν ἀνθρώπων ὑπηρεσίαν πεποιημένα "στοιχεῖα" προστρε πόμενοι. 5.66.1 Τῶν δὲ ἄλλων φιλοσόφων ὅσοι τὰ στοιχεῖα ὑπερ βάντες ἐπολυπραγμόνησάν τι ὑψηλότερον καὶ περιττότερον, οἳ μὲν αὐτῶν τὸ ἄπειρον καθύμνησαν, ὡς Ἀναξίμανδρος (Μιλήσιος ἦν) καὶ Ἀναξαγόρας ὁ Κλαζομένιος καὶ ὁ Ἀθηναῖος Ἀρχέλαος. Τούτω μέν γε ἄμφω τὸν νοῦν ἐπεστησάτην τῇ ἀπειρίᾳ, ὁ δὲ Μιλήσιος Λεύκιππος καὶ ὁ Χῖος Μητρό δωρος διττάς, ὡς ἔοικεν, καὶ αὐτὼ ἀρχὰς ἀπελιπέτην τὸ 5.66.2 πλῆρες καὶ τὸ κενόν· προσέθηκε δὲ λαβὼν τούτοιν τοῖν δυεῖν τὰ εἴδωλα ὁ Ἀβδηρίτης ∆ημόκριτος. Ὁ γάρ τοι Κροτωνιάτης Ἀλκμαίων θεοὺς ᾤετο τοὺς ἀστέρας εἶναι ἐμψύχους ὄντας. Οὐ σιωπήσομαι τὴν τούτων ἀναισχυντίαν· Ξενοκράτης (Καλχηδόνιος οὗτος) ἑπτὰ μὲν θεοὺς τοὺς πλανήτας, ὄγδοον δὲ τὸν ἐκ πάντων τῶν ἀπλανῶν συνεστῶτα 5.66.3 κόσμον αἰνίττεται. Οὐδὲ μὴν τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς Στοᾶς παρελεύ σομαι διὰ πάσης ὕλης καὶ διὰ τῆς ἀτιμοτάτης τὸ θεῖον διήκειν λέγοντας, οἳ καταισχύνουσιν ἀτεχνῶς τὴν φιλοσο 5.66.4 φίαν. Οὐδὲν δὲ οἶμαι χαλεπὸν ἐνταῦθα γενόμενος καὶ τῶν ἐκ τοῦ Περιπάτου μνησθῆναι· καὶ ὅ γε τῆς αἱρέσεως πατήρ, τῶν ὅλων οὐ νοήσας τὸν πατέρα, τὸν καλούμενον "ὕπατον" ψυχὴν εἶναι τοῦ παντὸς οἴεται· τουτέστι τοῦ κόσμου τὴν ψυχὴν θεὸν ὑπολαμβάνων αὐτὸς αὑτῷ περιπείρεται. Ὁ γάρ τοι μέχρι τῆς σελήνης αὐτῆς διορίζων τὴν πρόνοιαν, ἔπειτα τὸν κόσμον θεὸν ἡγούμενος περιτρέπεται, τὸν ἄμοιρον τοῦ 5.66.5 θεοῦ θεὸν δογματίζων. Ὁ δὲ Ἐρέσιος ἐκεῖνος Θεόφραστος ὁ Ἀριστοτέλους γνώριμος πῇ μὲν οὐρανόν, πῇ δὲ πνεῦμα τὸν θεὸν ὑπονοεῖ. Ἐπικούρου μὲν γὰρ μόνου καὶ ἑκὼν ἐκλήσομαι, ὃς οὐδὲν μέλειν οἴεται τῷ θεῷ, διὰ πάντων ἀσεβῶν. Τί γὰρ Ἡρακλείδης ὁ Ποντικός; Ἔσθ' ὅπῃ οὐκ ἐπὶ τὰ ∆ημοκρίτου καὶ αὐτὸς κατασύρεται εἴδωλα. 6.67.1 Καὶ πολύς μοι ἐπιρρεῖ τοιοῦτος ὄχλος, οἱονεὶ μορμώ τινα δαιμονίων παρεισάγων ξένων ἄτοπον σκιαγραφίαν, μυθολογῶν ὕθλῳ γραϊκῷ· πολλοῦ γε δεῖ ἀνδράσιν ἐπιτρέ πειν ἀκροᾶσθαι τοιούτων λόγων, οἷς μηδὲ τοὺς παῖδας τοὺς ἑαυτῶν, τοῦτο δὴ τὸ λεγόμενον, κλαυθμυριζομένους ἐθίζομεν παρηγορεῖσθαι μυθίζοντες, ὀρρωδοῦντες συνανατρέφειν αὐτοῖς ἀθεότητα τὴν πρὸς τῶν δοκήσει σοφῶν δὴ τούτων καταγγελλομένην, μηδέν τι νηπίων μᾶλλον τἀληθὲς εἰδότων. 6.67.2 Τί γάρ, ὢ πρὸς τῆς