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of the Athenians. Having a war against the Lacedaemonians, he urged Tereus to be an ally; this man was tyrant of the Thracians. But he said that he would not ally with him unless he promised his elder daughter to him in marriage. For Pandion had two daughters, Procne and Philomela, who loved each other so much as to suggest the opinion of either one that if one should suffer anything by circumstance, the other would do these things to herself of her own accord. He therefore promises Procne to Tereus ... he led her home, and had a child by her. And when much time had passed, she desired to see her own sister and begged her husband to go to Athens and bring her sister to her. So having gone and asked Pandion, he takes the other sister, Philomela. But on the way, like a barbarian, having become drunk, he deflowers the girl. And blushing at the deed, he cuts out Philomela's tongue so that she might not speak of the unholy act, and abandons her on the way. But she, like a Greek woman and highly skilled in the arts of weaving, wove a robe and on it she depicted the tragic story, and sends it to her sister. And she, having learned what had happened, brings her sister to herself; and taking the son she had by Tereus, she cut him up and having cooked him served him to her husband when he came from the hunt. And he, having learned the deed and become furious, pursued her with her sister. Therefore Zeus, taking pity on them, changed one into a swallow and the other into a nightingale, and thus they ended their flight. 5.40 The fortieth, concerning Priapus; This is an idol made in the likeness of a small child, which has a member hanging from it, larger for its age, which they call a phallus. The pagans say in their myth that this one is the son of Dionysus and Aphrodite; but those who know their mysteries say that he was born in drunkenness and pleasure, and for this reason he is named Priapus; for someone overcome by pleasure and drunkenness has an erect member. 39.τ COLLECTION AND EXPLANATION OF THE HISTORIES MENTIONED BY SAINT GREGORY IN HIS ORATION ON THE HOLY LIGHTS Y THE BEGINNING AGAIN JESUS MY 39.1 These are not the births of Zeus and the thefts of the tyrant of the Cretans. The theologians of the Greeks say that Zeus was born from Cronus, and that having been born he was saved in this way. Cronus, having become the consort of Rhea, would take the children she bore him and swallow them. and as this happened with many, Rhea remained childless. Therefore when she gave birth to Zeus, fearing that this infant also would be swallowed and perish, she wrapped a stone in swaddling clothes and gave it to Cronus to swallow as if it were the infant, but she hid Zeus away in Crete. and she set the Corybantes and the Curetes by the infant to dance and clap and clash their weapons, and to make a certain sound capable of masking and drowning out the sound from the child's crying, so that Cronus would not learn where he was hidden, seize him, and swallow him. Now therefore he calls Cronus the child-hating Father, and Zeus the whimpering child. And he calls the Curetes those who with the Corybantes were ordered by Rhea to dance. These Curetes and Corybantes are demons. And he calls the armed dance the pyrrhic. For they made a certain clash with their shields in order to drown out the child's crying. And he said "of the tyrant of the Cretans" because while the theologians of the Greeks say that both Cronus and Zeus became gods, the popular history, which divine Gregory also puts forth, says that this Zeus was a tyrant of Crete. and his subjects, wishing to flatter him, mythologized that he had his birth from the god Cronus and Rhea, since he was a man; wherefore he added "Even if the Greeks are displeased." For the Greeks do not want him to be a man and tyrant of the Cretans, but a god. 39.2 Nor the castrations of the Phrygians and flutes and Corybantes. This story is also found in the histories of the Invectives. It is this. In Phrygia Rhea was worshipped, the mother of the gods, of Zeus, Poseidon and Pluto and Hera, mother of these gods, and wife of Cronus. Therefore for her in Phrygia certain rites were performed. and the frenzied

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Ἀθηναίων. Πόλεμον δὲ πρὸς Λακεδαιμονίους ἔχων προὔτρεπεν εἰς σύμμαχον τὸν Τηρέα· τύραννος δὲ Θρᾳκῶν οὗτος. Ὁ δὲ μὴ πρότερον συμμαχήσειν ἔφασκεν εἰ μὴ τὴν πρεσβυτέραν αὐτῷ θυγατέρα πρὸς γάμον καθυπόσχοιτο. Εἶχε γὰρ δύο θυγατέρας ὁ Πανδίων, Πρόκνην καὶ Φιλομήλαν, αἱ τοσοῦτον ἀλλήλαις ἔστεργον ὡς ὑποθεῖναι γνώμην ὁποτέρας ὡς εἴ τι δ' ἃν ἐκ περιστάσεως ἡ μία πάθοι, ταῦτα αὐθαιρέτως ἑαυτῇ δράσειν τὴν ἑτέραν. Καθυπισχνεῖται οὖν τῷ Τηρεῖ τὴν Πρόκνην ... ἀπήγαγεν οἴκαδε, καὶ ἐπαιδοποίησεν ἐξ αὐτῆς. Χρόνου δὲ πολλοῦ παριππεύσαντος ἐπεθύμησε τὴν ἰδίαν ἀδελφὴν ἰδεῖν καὶ ἠντιβολεῖ τὸν ἑαυτῇ ἄνδρα εἰς Ἀθήνας ἐλθόντα ἀγαγεῖν αὐτῇ τὴν ἀδελφήν. Ἐλθὼν οὖν καὶ ἀξιώσας τὸν Πανδίωνα λαμβάνει καὶ τὴν ἑτέραν ἀδελφὴν τὴν Φιλομήλαν. Κατὰ δὲ τὴν ὅδον οἵα δὴ βάρβαρος οἰνηθεὶς διαπαρθενεύει τὴν παῖδα. Ἐπερυθριῶν δὲ τῷ δράματι, γλωσσοτομεῖ τὴν Φιλομήλαν ὅπως τὸ ἀθέμιτον μὴ ἐξείποι πρᾶξιν καὶ καταλιμπάνει αὐτὴν κατὰ τὴν ὅδον. Ἡ δὲ οἵα Ἑλληνὶς καὶ ἄριστα τὰς ταλασίας ἐξησκημένη φάρος τι ἱστουργήσασα καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ τὴν δραματουργίαν καθυφανεῖσα, πέμπει τῇ ἀδελφῇ. Ἡ δὲ γνοῦσα τὸ γεγονός, τὴν μὲν ἀδελφὴν κομίζει πρὸς ἑαυτήν· λαβοῦσα δὲ τὸν υἱὸν ὃν εἶχε ἐκ τοῦ Τηρέως, ἐκρεανόμησε καὶ ἑψήσασα παρέθηκε τῷ ἀνδρὶ ἐλθόντι ἐκ θήρας. Ὁ δὲ γνοῦς τὸ δρᾶμα καὶ ἔνθους γενόμενος κατεδίωκεν ταύτην μετὰ τῆς ἀδελφῆς. Ταύτας οὖν κατοικτειρήσας ὁ Ζεύς, μετέβαλε τὴν μὲν εἰς χελιδόνα, τὴν δὲ εἰς ἀηδόνα, καὶ οὕτω τοῦ δρόμου κατέληξαν. 5.40 Τεσσαρακοστὴ ἡ κατὰ τὸν Πρίαπον· Τοῦτο εἴδωλόν ἐστι παιδίῳ μικρῷ ἀπεικασμένον, ὃ αἰδοῖον ἀπηρτημένον ἔχον τῇ ἡλικίᾳ μεῖζον, ὃ καλοῦσι φαλλόν. Τοῦτο μυθεύουσιν οἱ ἔξω ∆ιονύσου καὶ Ἀφροδίτης εἶναι υἱόν· οἱ δὲ τὰ τούτων εἰδότες μυστήριά φασιν ἐν μέθῃ καὶ ἡδονῇ τοῦτον φῦναι, ταύτῃ τοι καὶ Πρίαπον ὀνομάζεσθαι· ἡδονῇ γὰρ καὶ μέθῃ τις κρατηθείς, εὐθυτενὲς τὸ αἰδοῖον ἴσχει. 39.τ ΣΥΝΑΓΩΓΗ ΚΑΙ ἘΞΗΓΗΣΙΣ ὯΝ ἘΜΝΗΣΘΗ ἹΣΤΟΡΙΩΝὉ ἘΝ ἉΓΙΟΙΣ ΓΡΗΓΟΡΙΟΣἘΝ ΤΩΙ ἘΙΣ ΤΑ ΦΩΤΑ ΛΟΓΩΙ Υ Ἡ ἈΡΧΗ ΠΑΛΙΝ ἸΗΣΟΥΣ Ὁ ἘΜΟ39.1 Οὐ ∆ιὸς ταῦτα γοναὶ καὶ κλοπαὶ τοῦ Κρητῶν τυράννου. Τὸν ∆ία οἱ θεολόγοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐκ Κρόνου λέγουσι γεννηθῆναι, καὶ γεννηθέντα περισωθῆναι τοιῶσδε. ὁ Κρόνος τῇ Ῥέᾳ γενόμενος σύνοικος, ἅπερ ἔτικτεν αὐτῷ παιδία, λαμβάνων κατέπινεν. καὶ οὕτως ἐπὶ πολλῶν τούτου γινομένου, ἄτεκνος ἔμενεν ἡ Ῥέα. ὅτε οὖν ἐγέννησε τὸν ∆ία, φοβουμένη μήπως καὶ τὸ βρέφος τοῦτο καταποθὲν ἀπόληται, λίθον μὲν σπαργανώσασα δέδωκε τῷ Κρόνῳ ὡς βρέφος καταπιεῖν, τὸν δὲ ∆ία ὑπεξέθετο ἐν τῇ Κρήτῃ. καὶ παρέστησε τῷ βρέφει τοὺς Κορύβαντας καὶ τοὺς Κουρῆτας ὀρχεῖσθαι καὶ κροτεῖν καὶ κτυπεῖν τὰ ὅπλα αὐτῶν, καὶ γίνεσθαί τινα ἦχον τὸν δυνάμενον ὑποκλέπτειν καὶ παρακρούειν τὸν ἐξ τοῦ κλαυθμοῦ τοῦ παιδίου ἦχον, ἵνα μὴ μαθὼν ὁ Κρόνος ποῦ κέκρυπται λαβὼν καταπίῃ. Νῦν οὖν Πατέρα μὲν λέγει μισότεκνον τὸν Κρόνον, παιδίον δὲ κλαυθμυριζόμενον τὸν ∆ία. τοὺς Κουρῆτας δὲ λέγει τοὺς μετὰ τῶν Κορυβάντων ταχθέντας παρὰ τῆς Ῥέας ὀρχεῖσθαι. δαίμονες δὲ οὗτοι οἱ Κουρῆται καὶ οἱ Κορύβαντες. ἐνόπλιον δὲ ὄρχησιν λέγει τὴν πυρρίχην. κτύπον γάρ τινα ἐν ταῖς ἀσπίσιν ἐποίουν οὗτοι πρὸς τὸ ὑπερηχεῖσθαι τὸν κλαυθμὸν τοῦ παιδίου. Κρητῶν δὲ τυράννου εἶπεν ὅτι οἱ μὲν θεολόγοι τῶν Ἑλλήνων θεὸν λέγουσι γενέσθαι καὶ τὸν Κρόνον καὶ τὸν ∆ία, ἡ δὲ δημώδης ἱστορία, ἣν καὶ τίθεται ὁ θεῖος Γρηγόριος, λέγει ὅτι ὁ Ζεὺς οὗτος τύραννος ἦν Κρήτης. καὶ θέλοντες αὐτὸν θεραπεύειν οἱ ὑπήκοοι ἐμυθολόγουν ὡς ἐκ Κρόνου θεοῦ καὶ Ῥέας ἔχει τὴν γέννησιν, ἐπεὶ ἄνθρωπος ἦν· διὸ ἐπήγαγεν Κἂν Ἕλληνες ἀπαρέσκωνται. οἱ γὰρ Ἕλληνες οὐ θέλουσιν αὐτὸν εἶναι ἄνθρωπον καὶ τύραννον Κρητῶν, ἀλλὰ θεόν. 39.2 Οὐδὲ Φρυγῶν ἐκτομαὶ καὶ αὐλοὶ καὶ Κορύβαντες. αὕτη ἡ ἱστορία κεῖται καὶ ἐν ταῖς τῶν Στηλιτευτικῶν ἱστορίαις. ἔστι δὲ αὕτη. Ἐν τῇ Φρυγίᾳ ἐσεβάσθη Ῥέα ἡ μήτηρ τῶν θεῶν, ∆ιός, Ποσειδῶνος καὶ Πλούτωνος καὶ Ἥρας, μήτηρ μὲν θεῶν τούτων, γυνὴ δὲ τοῦ Κρόνου. ταύτῃ οὖν ἐν τῇ Φρυγίᾳ ἐγίνοντο τελεταί τινες. καὶ ἐνθουσιῶντες οἱ