33

they bear any God-befitting token of theology or whether they spring from below somewhere, from a long-standing and demonic error, are worthy of laughter or rather of shame, 2.2.64 or rather, worthy of pity for those who are still blinded. And these things the admirable Clement plainly discloses in his *Protrepticus* to the Greeks, a man who has come through the experience of all things, but has rather quickly turned away from error, as one redeemed from evils by the saving Word and through the evangelical teaching. Hear, then, a few things of these as well. 2.3.1 IV. CONCERNING THE UNSPOKEN RITES AND THE HIDDEN MYSTERIES

OF THE POLYTHEISTIC ERROR "Do not, then, be curious about godless inner shrines, nor the mouths of chasms full of marvels, or the cauldron of Thesprotia, or the tripod of Cirrha, or the bronze vessel of Dodona, but the ancient oak honored in the desert sands and the oracle there, withered along with the oak itself, 2.3.2 leave behind to the myths that have grown old. For the spring of Castalia has fallen silent, and another spring at Colophon, and the other prophetic streams have likewise died, and indeed, empty of their vanity, though late, have nevertheless been exposed, 2.3.3 flowing away along with their own myths. Recount to us also the useless oracles of the other art of divination (mantikē), or rather madness (manikē), the Clarian, the Pythian, the Didymaean, 2.3.4 that of Amphiaraus, of Apollo, of Amphilochus; and if you wish, deconsecrate along with them the observers of portents and the observers of birds and the interpreters of dreams. And bringing them, set them up together beside the Pythian: the diviners by flour and the diviners by barley and the ventriloquists still honored among the many. Yes, indeed, let the inner shrines of the Egyptians and the necromancies of the Tyrrhenians be handed over to darkness. These are truly the mad sophistries of unbelieving men and the gambling dens of unmixed error. 2.3.5 Fellow-traders in this sorcery are goats trained for divination and ravens taught by men to give oracles to men. 2.3.6 And what if I should recount to you the mysteries? I will not dance them out, as they say Alcibiades did, but I will strip bare, according to the word of truth, the sorcery hidden in them, and those very ones called your gods, whose rites are mysteries, I will roll out as on the stage of life to the spectators of truth. 2.3.7 Bacchants celebrate the rites of Dionysus Mainoles, observing the sacred month with a feast of raw flesh, and they consummate the distributions of flesh from their murders, crowned with snakes, crying out Eva, Eva, that Eve through whom error followed. 2.3.8 And a consecrated serpent is a sign of the Bacchic orgies. At any rate, according to the precise Hebrew language, the name Eva, when aspirated, is interpreted 'the female serpent'. And Deo and Kore have already become a mystic drama, and Eleusis holds torches for their wandering and rape and grief. 2.3.9 And it seems to me that the orgies (orgia) and the mysteries (mysteria) should be etymologized, the former from the rage (orgē) of Deo which was against Zeus, the latter from the abomination (mysos) that happened concerning Dionysus. But if also from a certain Myus of Attica, whom Apollodorus says was killed in a hunt, there is no objection to your having glorified the mysteries with funeral honors. 2.3.10 It is also possible for you to think of the mysteries (mysteria) otherwise as myth-teries (mytheria), with the letters corresponding. For they hunt, if any others do, and indeed such myths hunt the most barbaric of the Thracians, the most senseless of the Phrygians, 2.3.11 the most superstitious of the Greeks. Perish, then, he who began this deceit for men, whether it was Dardanus who introduced the myths of the gods as the mysteries, or Eetion who established the orgies and rites of the Samothracians, or that Phrygian Midas, who, having learned from Odrysus, then handed down a contrived deceit to his subjects. 2.3.12 For Cinyras the Cyprian islander would never persuade me, the

33

θεολογίας ἐχούσης τι θεοπρεπὲς δεῖγμα φέρουσιν ἢ κάτωθέν ποθεν ἀπὸ μακρᾶς καὶ δαιμονικῆς πλάνης ὁρμῶνται, γέλωτος ἢ καὶ μᾶλλον αἰσχύνης, 2.2.64 μᾶλλον δὲ τοῖς ἔτι τυφλώττουσιν οἴκτου ὄντα ἄξια. ταῦτα δὲ Κλήμης ὁ θαυμάσιος ἐν τῷ πρὸς Ἕλληνας Προτρεπτικῷ διαρρήδην ἐκκαλύπτει, πάντων μὲν διὰ πείρας ἐλθὼν ἀνήρ, θᾶττόν γε μὴν τῆς πλάνης ἀνανεύσας, ὡς ἂν πρὸς τοῦ σωτηρίου λόγου καὶ διὰ τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς διδασκαλίας τῶν κακῶν λελυτρωμένος. βραχέα δ' οὖν καὶ τούτων ἐπάκουσον· 2.3.1 δʹ. ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΑΠΟΡΡΗΤΩΝ ΤΕΛΕΤΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΤΩΝ ΚΡΥΦΙΩΝ ΜΥΣΤΗΡΙΩΝ

ΤΗΣ ΠΟΛΥΘΕΟΥ ΠΛΑΝΗΣ «Ἄδυτα τοίνυν ἄθεα μὴ πολυπραγμονεῖτε, μηδὲ βαράθρων στόματα τερατείας ἔμπλεα ἢ λέβητα Θεσπρώτειον ἢ τρίποδα Κιρραῖον ἢ ∆ωδωναῖον χαλκεῖον, γεράνδρυον δὲ ψάμμοις ἐρήμαις τετιμημένον καὶ τὸ αὐτόθι μαντεῖον 2.3.2 αὐτῇ δρυῒ μεμαρασμένον μύθοις γεγηρακόσι καταλείψατε. σεσίγηται γοῦν ἡ Κασταλίας πηγὴ καὶ Κολοφῶνος ἄλλη πηγή, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὁμοίως τέθνηκε νάματα μαντικὰ καὶ δὴ τοῦ τύφου κενὰ ὀψὲ μέν, ὅμως δ' οὖν διελήλεγκται 2.3.3 τοῖς ἰδίοις συνεκρεύσαντα μύθοις. διήγησαι ἡμῖν καὶ τῆς ἄλλης μαντικῆς, μᾶλλον δὲ μανικῆς τὰ ἄχρηστα χρηστήρια, τὸν Κλάριον, τὸν Πύθιον, τὸν ∆ιδυ2.3.4 μέα, τὸν Ἀμφιάρεω, τὸν Ἀπόλλω, τὸν Ἀμφίλοχον· εἰ δὲ βούλει, καὶ τερατοσκόπους καὶ οἰωνοσκόπους καὶ τοὺς ὀνείρων κριτὰς ἀνιέρου σὺν αὐτοῖς· στῆσον δὲ ὁμοῦ παρὰ τὸν Πύθιον ἄγων τοὺς ἀλευρομάντεις καὶ κριθομάντεις καὶ τοὺς εἰσέτι παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς τετιμημένους ἐγγαστριμύθους· ναὶ μὴν ἄδυτα Αἰγυπτίων καὶ Τυρρηνῶν νεκυομαντεῖαι σκότῳ παραδιδόσθων· μανικὰ ταῦτα ὡς ἀληθῶς ἀνθρώπων ἀπίστων σοφιστήρια καὶ πλάνης ἀκράτου κυβευτήρια. 2.3.5 συνέμποροι τῆσδε τῆς γοητείας αἶγες αἱ ἐπὶ μαντικὴν ἠσκημέναι καὶ κόρακες ἀνθρώποις χρᾶν ὑπ' ἀνθρώπων διδασκόμενοι. 2.3.6 Τί δ' εἴ σοι καταλέγοιμι τὰ μυστήρια; οὐκ ἐξορχήσομαι μὲν ὥσπερ Ἀλκιβιάδην λέγουσιν, ἀπογυμνώσω δὲ εὖ μάλα ἀνὰ τὸν τῆς ἀληθείας λόγον τὴν γοητείαν τὴν ἐγκεκρυμμένην αὐτοῖς, καὶ αὐτούς γε τοὺς καλουμένους ὑμῶν θεούς, ὧν αἱ τελεταὶ μυστικαί, οἷον ἐπὶ σκηνῆς τοῦ βίου τοῖς ἀληθείας ἐκκυ2.3.7 κλήσω θεαταῖς. ∆ιόνυσον Μαινόλην ὀργιάζουσι Βάκχοι ὠμοφαγίᾳ τὴν ἱερομηνίαν ἄγοντες καὶ τελίσκουσι τὰς κρεανομίας τῶν φόνων, ἀνεστεμμένοι τοῖς ὄφεσιν, ἐπολολύζοντες Εὖαν Εὖαν ἐκείνην, δι' ἣν ἡ πλάνη παρηκολού2.3.8 θησε. καὶ σημεῖον ὀργίων Βακχικῶν ὄφις ἐστὶ τετελεσμένος. αὐτίκα γοῦν κατὰ τὴν ἀκριβῆ τῶν Ἑβραίων φωνὴν τὸ ὄνομα τὸ Εὖα δασυνόμενον ἑρμηνεύεται ὄφις ἡ θήλεια. ∆ηὼ δὲ καὶ Κόρη δρᾶμα ἤδη ἐγενέσθην μυστικὸν καὶ τὴν πλάνην καὶ τὴν ἁρπαγὴν καὶ τὸ πένθος αὐταῖν Ἐλευσὶς δᾳδουχεῖ. 2.3.9 Καί μοι δοκεῖ τὰ ὄργια καὶ τὰ μυστήρια δεῖν ἐτυμολογεῖν, τὰ μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ὀργῆς τῆς ∆ηοῦς τῆς πρὸς ∆ία γεγενημένης, τὰ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ μύσους τοῦ συμβεβηκότος περὶ τὸν ∆ιόνυσον· εἰ δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ Μυοῦντός τινος Ἀττικοῦ, ὃν ἐν κυνηγίᾳ διαφθαρῆναι Ἀπολλόδωρος λέγει, οὐ φθόνος ὑμῶν δεδοξάσθαι 2.3.10 τὰ μυστήρια ἐπιτυμβίῳ τιμῇ. πάρεστιν δὲ καὶ ἄλλως μυθήριά σοι νοεῖν, ἀντιστοιχούντων τῶν γραμμάτων, τὰ μυστήρια. θηρεύουσι γάρ, εἰ καὶ ἄλλοι τινές, ἀτὰρ δὴ καὶ οἱ μῦθοι οἱ τοιοίδε Θρᾳκῶν τοὺς βαρβαρικωτάτους, Φρυγῶν 2.3.11 τοὺς ἀνοητοτάτους, Ἑλλήνων τοὺς δεισιδαίμονας. ὄλοιτο οὖν ὁ τῆσδε ἄρξας τῆς ἀπάτης ἀνθρώποις, εἴτε ὁ ∆άρδανος ὁ μύθους θεῶν καταδείξας τὰ μυστήρια, εἴτε Ἠετίων ὁ τὰ Σαμοθρᾴκων ὄργια καὶ τελετὰς ὑποστησάμενος, εἴτε ὁ Φρὺξ ἐκεῖνος ὁ Μίδας, ὁ παρὰ τοῦ Ὀδρύσου μαθών, ἔπειτα διαδοὺς 2.3.12 τοῖς ὑποτεταγμένοις ἔντεχνον ἀπάτην. οὐ γάρ με ὁ Κύπριος ὁ νησιώτης Κινύρας παραπείσαι ποτ' ἄν, τὰ