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

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 have run to the Father are good fathers of children, and those who have understood the Son are good sons to their parents, and those who are mindful of the Bridegroom are good husbands to their wives, and those who have been redeemed from the ultimate slavery are good masters of their servants. 10.108.1 O the beasts are more blessed than the error among men; it feeds on ignorance, as you do, but it does not feign the truth; there are no kinds of flatterers among them, fish are not superstitious, birds do not worship idols, it is awestruck by heaven alone, since, 10.108.2 being deprived of reason, it cannot understand God. Then are you not ashamed, having made yourselves more irrational than the irrational creatures, you who have been worn down through so many ages in godlessness? You have been children, then youths, then young men, then men, but 10.108.3 never good. Respect even your old age, being at the sunset of your life be temperate, and even at the end of your life acknowledge God, so that the end of your life may take up for you the beginning of salvation. You have grown old in superstition, come young 10.108.4 to piety; God will approve guileless children. Let the Athenian, then, follow the laws of Solon, and the Argive those of Phoroneus, and the Spartan those of Lycurgus, but if you enroll yourself as God's, then heaven is your fatherland, 10.108.5 and God your lawgiver. And what are the laws? "You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not corrupt boys, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall love the Lord your God." And there are also the supplements to these, eloquent laws and holy words written in their very hearts: "you shall love your neighbor as yourself," and "to him that strikes you on the cheek, offer also the other," and "you shall not covet, for by desire alone you have committed adultery." 10.109.1 How much better, then, for men not even to wish to desire what they should not, than to obtain their desires? But you do not endure to bear the austerity of salvation, just as with foods we delight in the sweet ones, preferring them for the smoothness of their pleasure, but the bitter things, roughening the sense, heal and make us well, but the austerity of medicines strengthens those weak in stomach; so custom delights and tickles, but custom thrusts one into the pit, while truth leads one up to heaven, "rough" at first, "but a good nurse of youth"; 10.109.2 and this women's quarter is august, and the senate is temperate; nor is it hard to approach nor impossible to grasp, but it is our nearest inhabitant, as the all-wise Moses says enigmatically, dwelling in the three parts of us, 10.109.3 "in hands and mouth and heart." This is a genuine symbol of truth being fulfilled by the three together, counsel and deed and word. For do not fear this either, that the many and delightful things which you imagine will rob you of wisdom; you yourself will willingly overcome the foolishness of custom, just as children, having become men, have cast away their toys. 10.110.1 Indeed, with unsurpassable speed and accessible good-will the divine power, shining upon the earth, filled the universe with the seed of salvation. For the Lord would not have accomplished so great a work in so little time without divine care, being despised in appearance, worshipped in deed, the purifying and saving and gentle one, the divine Word, the most manifest true God, who was made equal to the Lord of all, because He was His son and "the 10.110.2 Word was in God," neither when He was first proclaimed, being disbelieved, nor when, having taken on the mask of a man and having re-formed in the flesh the saving drama of humanity, 10.110.3 He acted it, being unknown; for He was a genuine champion and a fellow-champion of His creation, and being most quickly spread to all men, rising more quickly than the sun from the paternal will itself, He most easily shone upon us, the God, and from where He was

τοῖς ἐφ' ὁτιοῦν τοῦ βίου τραπεῖσι μέρος, ὅρμον τε τὴν αὐτὴν ἀκύμονα σωτηρίας σοφίαν νομίζειν· 10.107.3 δι' ἣν ἀγαθοὶ μὲν πατέρες τέκνων οἱ τῷ πατρὶ προσδεδρα μηκότες, ἀγαθοὶ δὲ γονεῦσιν υἱοὶ οἱ τὸν υἱὸν νενοηκότες, ἀγαθοὶ δὲ ἄνδρες γυναικῶν οἱ μεμνημένοι τοῦ νυμφίου, ἀγαθοὶ δὲ οἰκετῶν δεσπόται οἱ τῆς ἐσχάτης δουλείας λελυτρωμένοι. 10.108.1 Ὢ μακαριώτερα τῆς ἐν ἀνθρώποις πλάνης τὰ θηρία· ἐπινέμεται τὴν ἄγνοιαν, ὡς ὑμεῖς, οὐχ ὑποκρίνεται δὲ τὴν ἀλήθειαν· οὐκ ἔστι παρ' αὐτοῖς κολάκων γένη, οὐ δεισιδαι μονοῦσιν ἰχθύες, οὐκ εἰδωλολατρεῖ τὰ ὄρνεα, ἕνα μόνον ἐκπλήττεται τὸν οὐρανόν, ἐπεὶ θεὸν νοῆσαι μὴ δύναται 10.108.2 ἀπηξιωμένα τοῦ λόγου. Εἶτ' οὐκ αἰσχύνεσθε καὶ τῶν ἀλόγων σφᾶς αὐτοὺς ἀλογωτέρους πεποιηκότες, οἳ διὰ τοσούτων ἡλικιῶν ἐν ἀθεότητι κατατέτριφθε; Παῖδες γεγόνατε, εἶτα μειράκια, εἶτα ἔφηβοι, εἶτα ἄνδρες, χρηστοὶ 10.108.3 δὲ οὐδέποτε. Κἂν τὸ γῆρας αἰδέσθητε, ἐπὶ δυσμαῖς τοῦ βίου γενόμενοι σωφρονήσατε, κἂν ἐπὶ τέλει τοῦ βίου τὸν θεὸν ἐπίγνωτε, ὡς δὴ τὸ τέλος ὑμῖν τοῦ βίου ἀρχὴν ἀναλάβοι σωτηρίας. Γηράσατε πρὸς δεισιδαιμονίαν, νέοι ἀφίκεσθε 10.108.4 πρὸς θεοσέβειαν· παῖδας ἀκάκους ἐγκρινεῖ θεός. Ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἀθηναῖος τοῖς Σόλωνος ἑπέσθω νόμοις καὶ ὁ Ἀργεῖος τοῖς Φορωνέως καὶ ὁ Σπαρτιάτης τοῖς Λυκούργου, εἰ δὲ σεαυτὸν ἀναγράφεις τοῦ θεοῦ, οὐρανὸς μέν σοι ἡ πατρίς, 10.108.5 ὁ δὲ θεὸς νομοθέτης. Τίνες δὲ καὶ οἱ νόμοι; "Οὐ φονεύσεις, οὐ μοιχεύσεις, οὐ παιδοφθορήσεις, οὐ κλέψεις, οὐ ψευδο μαρτυρήσεις, ἀγαπήσεις κύριον τὸν θεόν σου." Εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ τούτων τὰ παραπληρώματα, λόγιοι νόμοι καὶ ἅγιοι λόγοι ἐν αὐταῖς ἐγγραφόμενοι ταῖς καρδίαις· "ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν", καὶ "τῷ τύπτοντί σε εἰς τὴν σιαγόνα πάρεχε καὶ τὴν ἄλλην", καὶ "οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις, ἐπιθυμίᾳ γὰρ μόνῃ μεμοίχευκας." 10.109.1 Πόσῳ γοῦν ἄμεινον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τοῦ τυγχάνειν τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν ἀρχὴν μηδὲ ἐπιθυμεῖν ἐθέλειν ὧν μὴ δεῖ; Ἀλλ' ὑμεῖς μὲν τὸ αὐστηρὸν τῆς σωτηρίας ὑπομένειν οὐ καρτερεῖτε, καθάπερ δὲ τῶν σιτίων τοῖς γλυκέσιν ἡδόμεθα διὰ τὴν λειότητα τῆς ἡδονῆς προτιμῶντες, ἰᾶται δὲ ἡμᾶς καὶ ὑγιάζει τὰ πικρὰ τραχύνοντα τὴν αἴσθησιν, ἀλλὰ τοὺς ἀσθενεῖς τὸν στόμαχον ῥώννυσιν ἡ τῶν φαρμάκων αὐστηρία, οὕτως ἥδει μὲν καὶ γαργαλίζει ἡ συνήθεια, ἀλλ' ἣ μὲν εἰς τὸ βάραθρον ὠθεῖ, ἡ συνήθεια, ἣ δὲ εἰς οὐρανὸν ἀνάγει, ἡ ἀλήθεια, "τραχεῖα" μὲν τὸ πρῶτον, "ἀλλ' ἀγαθὴ κουροτρό 10.109.2 φος"· καὶ σεμνὴ μὲν ἡ γυναικωνῖτις αὕτη, σώφρων δὲ ἡ γερουσία· οὐδέ ἐστι δυσπρόσιτος οὐδὲ ἀδύνατος λαβεῖν, ἀλλ' ἔστιν ἐγγυτάτω ἔνοικος ἡμῶν, ᾗ φησιν αἰνιττόμενος ὁ πάνσοφος Μωυσῆς, τρισὶ τοῖς καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐνδιαιτωμένη 10.109.3 μέρεσι, "χερσὶ καὶ στόματι καὶ καρδίᾳ." Σύμβολον τοῦτο γνήσιον τρισὶ τοῖς πᾶσι συμπληρουμένης τῆς ἀληθείας, βουλῇ καὶ πράξει καὶ λόγῳ μηδὲ γὰρ τόδε δείμαινε, μή σε τὰ πολλὰ καὶ ἐπιτερπῆ φανταζόμενα ἀφέληται σοφίας· αὐτὸς ἑκὼν ὑπερβήσῃ τὸν λῆρον τῆς συνηθείας, καθάπερ καὶ οἱ παῖδες τὰ ἀθύρματα ἄνδρες γενόμενοι ἀπέρριψαν. 10.110.1 Τάχει μὲν δὴ ἀνυπερβλήτῳ εὐνοίᾳ τε εὐπροσίτῳ ἡ δύναμις ἡ θεϊκὴ ἐπιλάμψασα τὴν γῆν σωτηρίου σπέρματος ἐνέπλησε τὸ πᾶν. Οὐ γὰρ ἂν οὕτως ἐν ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ τοσοῦτον ἔργον ἄνευ θείας κομιδῆς ἐξήνυσεν ὁ κύριος, ὄψει καταφρο νούμενος, ἔργῳ προσκυνούμενος, ὁ καθάρσιος καὶ σωτήριος καὶ μειλίχιος, ὁ θεῖος λόγος, ὁ φανερώτατος ὄντως θεός, ὁ τῷ δεσπότῃ τῶν ὅλων ἐξισωθείς, ὅτι ἦν υἱὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ "ὁ 10.110.2 λόγος ἦν ἐν τῷ θεῷ", οὔθ' ὅτε τὸ πρῶτον προεκηρύχθη, ἀπιστηθείς, οὔθ' ὅτε τὸ ἀνθρώπου προσωπεῖον ἀναλαβὼν καὶ σαρκὶ ἀναπλασάμενος τὸ σωτήριον δρᾶμα τῆς ἀνθρω 10.110.3 πότητος ὑπεκρίνετο, ἀγνοηθείς· γνήσιος γὰρ ἦν ἀγωνιστὴς καὶ τοῦ πλάσματος συναγωνιστής, τάχιστα δὲ εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους διαδοθεὶς θᾶττον ἡλίου ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀνατείλας τῆς πατρικῆς βουλήσεως, ῥᾷστα ἡμῖν ἐπέλαμψε, τὸν θεόν, ὅθεν τε ἦν