HORTATORY ADDRESS TO THE GREEKS BY SAINT JUSTIN, PHILOSOPHER AND MARTYR.

 Alas, with my own eyes I see a dear man pursued around the wall and my heart grieves for him. And what he says about the other gods conspiring agains

 Artemis the archer, sister of the far-shooter. And against Leto stood the strong, helpful Hermes. These and such things Homer taught you about the god

 ...s of you you say have become of piety, some declaring water to be the beginning of all things, others air, others fire, others some other of the af

 Of all of them who had spoken, Thales, the eldest of them all, says that the principle of existing things is water for he says that all things are fr

 having denied it, later says in his conceptions that it is this very thing. Moreover, having formerly declared that everything that has come into bein

 having established for I do not attempt to prove these things from the divine histories among us alone, which you are not yet willing to believe beca

 to organize affairs in Egypt, but also to establish the warrior class with laws. And fourth, they say that Bocchoris the king became a lawgiver, a wis

 it happened that there were once God-fearing men, as you say the oracle declared: Only the Chaldeans obtained wisdom, and also the Hebrews, purely rev

 of wise men or orators, should one wish to make mention, he will find that they have written their own compositions in the letters of the Greeks. But

 it is fitting that it should appear clearly and manifestly. It is necessary, therefore, for you, O men of Greece, foreseeing the things to come and lo

 And in the Oracles it is thus: I adjure you, Heaven, the wise work of the great God, I adjure you, Voice of the Father, which He first uttered, When H

 the poem to fall from its meter, lest he should seem not to have first mentioned the name of the gods. But a little later he sets forth clearly and pl

 he should cause Meletus to be against himself, accusing him before the Athenians and saying: Plato does wrong and is a busybody, not believing in the

 that only disobedience was cast out, but not knowing that they were also persuaded that non-existent gods existed, they passed on the name of the gods

 light, constructs that which comes to be. But perhaps some, not wishing to abandon the doctrines of polytheism, will say that the demiurge himself sai

 having. For it does not seem to me that what was said by Phoenix was said simply: Not even if the god himself should promise me, scraping off old age,

 wishing to confirm what has been said of participation, Plato has written thus in these very words: God, then, as the old saying has it, holding the b

 having heard from one who had come back to life and was relating the things there, has written thus in his very words: For he said that he was present

 poetry, Diodorus, the most renowned of the historians, sufficiently teaches us. For he said that he, having been in Egypt, had learned that Nepenthes,

 to set up the battle-cry of much-lamented war They were eager to place Ossa upon Olympus, but upon Ossa Pelion with its shaking leaves, that heaven m

 and concerning the heaven that came into being that the created heaven, which he also named the firmament, this is the perceptible one that came into

 proclaimed by the name. For, fearing to call the gift of God Holy Spirit, lest he should seem to be an enemy of the Greeks by following the teaching

 supposed them to have the forms of men, you will find that they learned this also from the divine history. For since the history of Moses says, from t

 to you Socrates, the wisest of the wise, to whom even your oracle, as you yourselves say, testifies, saying: Of all men Socrates is the wisest, confes

 It will be easy for you to learn in part the true worship of God from the ancient Sibyl, who teaches you by oracles from some powerful inspiration, th

 it is clear that he said this about the oracle-givers, looking to the oracles of the Sibyl. For he spoke thus: When they succeed in saying many and gr

 Tatian's Address to the Greeks. Do not be so very hostile towards the barbarians, O men of Greece, nor be envious of their doctrines. For what pursuit

 very savagely, having imprisoned his own friend for not wanting to worship him, carried him around like a bear or a leopard. Indeed, he completely fol

 selecting places for their covetousness *** the prominent. But one ought not flatter the leaders with the prospect of kingship, but to wait until the

 I have chosen to order the unordered matter in you, and just as the Word, having been begotten in the beginning, in turn begot our creation for himsel

 not according to fate, but by the free will of those who choose, he foretold the outcomes of future events and he became a hinderer of wickedness thro

 with baubles of the earth he deceived the motherless and orphaned girl. Poseidon sails, Ares delights in wars, Apollo is a cithara player, Dionysus is

 of a kingdom, *** were turned into constellations by the shaping of letters? And how is Kronos, who was fettered and cast out of his kingdom, appointe

 of faith with glory become but the poor man and the most moderate, desiring the things that are his own, more easily gets by. Why, I ask, according to

 were zealous to be but the Lord of all allowed them to luxuriate until the world, having reached its end, should be dissolved, and the judge should a

 refusing a suffering god, they were shown to be fighters against God rather than God-fearing. You too are such men, O Greeks, talkative in words, but

 of the spirit But when the tabernacle is not of such a kind, man excels the beasts only in articulate speech, but in other respects his way of life i

 causes, when they happen, they ascribe to themselves, attacking whenever weariness overtakes them. But there are times when they themselves by a tempe

 For if it were so, much more would he ward off his own enemy from himself for being able to help others also, he will much more become his own avenge

 you? Therefore if you say that one ought not to fear death, sharing our doctrines, die not because of human vainglory, as Anaxarchus did, but for the

 Unable to explain those things, because of the impossibility of their theory, they have blamed the tides, and of the seas, one being weedy and the oth

 For what sort are your teachings? Who would not mock your public festivals, which, being celebrated under the pretext of wicked demons, turn men to di

 providing it, feeding it with the most ungodly bloodshed. For the robber kills for the sake of taking, but the rich man buys gladiators for the sake o

 dedications, and those who read are as with the jar of the Danaids. Why do you divide time for me, saying that one part of it is past, another present

 the conception which I have concerning all things, this I do not hide. Why do you advise me to deceive the state? Why, while saying to despise death,

 but again it will be dissolved, if we obey the word of God and do not scatter ourselves. For he has gained control of our possessions through a certai

 Archilochus flourished around the twenty-third Olympiad, in the time of Gyges the Lydian, five hundred years after the Trojan War. And concerning the

 the nonsense of affairs for the Greeks. For the pursuits of your customs are rather foolish through great glory and behave disgracefully through the w

 seeing the figures of the strife and of Eteocles, and not having thrown them into a pit with Pythagoras who made them, do you destroy along with them

 For what is difficult about men who have been shown to be ignorant being now refuted by a man of like passions? And what is strange, according to your

 maios. The time from Inachus until the capture of Ilium completes twenty generations and the proof is in this manner. The kings of the Argives were th

 our laws, and what the learned men among the Greeks have said, and how many and who they are who have mentioned them, will be shown in the treatise A

 God and what is the creation according to him, I present myself ready to you for the examination of the doctrines, while my way of life according to G

causes, when they happen, they ascribe to themselves, attacking whenever weariness overtakes them. But there are times when they themselves by a tempest of their own folly shake the constitution of their body; who, struck by the word of God's power, depart in fear, and the sick person is healed. For concerning the sympathies and antipathies according to Democritus, what can we say but this, that according to the common saying, the man from Abdera is an Abderan fool? And just as he who gave the city its name, being a friend, as they say, of Heracles, was devoured by the horses of Diomedes, in the same way also he who boasts in the magus Ostanes on the day of consummation will be given over as food for eternal fire. And you too, if you do not cease from laughter, will receive the same punishments as the sorcerers. Therefore, O Greeks, listen to me as I cry out as if from on high, and do not, by mocking, transfer your own unreasonableness to the herald of the truth. A malady is not destroyed by antipathy, nor is the madman; cured by attachments of leather straps. They are visitations of demons; and the one who is sick, and the one who says he loves, and the one who hates, and the one who wishes to take revenge, take these for their assistants. And this is the manner of their contrivance. For just as the characters of letters and the lines from them are not able in themselves to signify what is composed, but are signs of thoughts that men have created for themselves, understanding from their particular composition how the order of the letters has been established, in like manner also the varieties of roots and the takings of sinews and bones are not themselves effective in themselves, but it is an elemental system of the wickedness of the demons, who, for whatever purposes they have determined each of them is powerful, whenever they see the service through them taken up by men, they work their effects, supposing that the men are serving them. How could it be good to minister to adulteries? How could it also be virtuous to help those who come forward to hate some people? Or how is it noble to attribute the help for the mad to matter and not to God? For by an artifice of piety they turn men aside, preparing them to obey herbs and roots; but God, if indeed He had made them for doing what men want, would have been a creator of evil things, since He Himself created everything that is in some way good, but the profligacy of the demons has used the things in the world for evil-doing, and the form of this wickedness is theirs and not of the perfect God. For how could I, while living, be in no way wicked, but when I am dead, the remnant in me, with me doing nothing, which is neither moved nor perceives, will accomplish something perceptible? And how will one who has died a most pitiable death be able to render service for the punishment of someone? this

αἰτίας, ἐπειδὰν συμβαίνωσιν, ἑαυτοῖς προσγράφουσιν, ἐπιόντες ὁπόταν καταλαμβάνῃ κάματος. ἔστι δὲ ὅτε καὶ αὐτοὶ χειμῶνι τῆς σφῶν ἀβελτερίας κραδαίνουσιν τὴν ἕξιν τοῦ σώματος· οἳ λόγῳ θεοῦ δυνάμεως πληττόμενοι δεδιότες ἀπίασιν, καὶ ὁ κάμνων θεραπεύεται. Περὶ γὰρ τῶν κατὰ τὸν ∆ημόκριτον ξυμπαθειῶν τε καὶ ἀντιπαθειῶν τί καὶ λέγειν ἔχομεν ἢ τοῦθ' ὅτι κατὰ τὸν κοινὸν λόγον Ἀβδηρολόγος ἐστὶν ὁ ἀπὸ τῶν Ἀβδήρων ἄνθρω πος; ὥσπερ δὲ ὁ τῇ πόλει τῆς προσηγορίας αἴτιος φίλος ὤν, ὥς φασιν, Ἡρακλέους ὑπὸ τῶν ∆ιομήδους ἵππων κατεβρώθη, τρόπῳ τῷ αὐτῷ καὶ ὁ τὸν μάγον Ὀστάνην καυχώμενος ἐν ἡμέρᾳ συντελείας πυρὸς αἰωνίου βορᾷ παραδοθήσεται. καὶ ὑμεῖς δέ, τοῦ γέλωτος ἢν μὴ ἀποπαύσησθε, τῶν αὐτῶν ὧνπερ καὶ οἱ γόητες τιμωριῶν ἀπολαύσετε. διόπερ, ὦ Ἕλληνες, κεκραγότος ὥσπερ ἀπὸ τοῦ μετεώρου κατακούσατέ μου μηδ' ἐπιτωθάζον τες τὴν ὑμετέραν ἀλογιστίαν ἐπὶ τὸν κήρυκα τῆς ἀληθείας με τάγετε. πάθος οὐκ ἔστι δι' ἀντιπαθείας ἀπολλύμενον, οὐδὲ ὁ μεμηνώς· σκυτίδων ἐξαρτήμασι θεραπεύεται. δαιμόνων εἰσὶν ἐπιφοιτήσεις· καὶ ὁ νοσῶν καὶ ὁ λέγων ἐρᾶν καὶ ὁ μισῶν καὶ ὁ βουλόμενος ἀμύνεσθαι τούτους λαμβάνουσιν βοηθούς. τρό πος δὲ αὐτοῖς τῆς μηχανῆς οὗτος. ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ τῶν γραμ μάτων χαρακτῆρες στίχοι τε οἱ ἀπ' αὐτῶν οὐ καθ' ἑαυτούς εἰσι δυνατοὶ σημαίνειν τὸ συνταττόμενον, σημεῖα δὲ τῶν ἐννοιῶν σφίσιν αὐτοῖς ἄνθρωποι δεδημιουργήκασι, παρὰ τὴν ποιὰν αὐτῶν σύνθεσιν γινώσκοντες ὅπως καὶ ἡ τάξις τῶν γραμμάτων ἔχειν νενομοθέτηται, παραπλησίως καὶ τῶν ·ιζῶν αἱ ποικι λίαι νεύρων τε καὶ ὀστέων παραλήψεις οὐκ αὐταὶ καθ' ἑαυτὰς δραστικαί τινές εἰσι, στοιχείωσις δέ ἐστι τῆς τῶν δαιμόνων μοχθηρίας, οἳ πρὸς ἅπερ ἑκάστας αὐτῶν ἰσχύειν ὡρίκασιν, ἐπει δὰν παρειλημμένην ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων θεάσωνται τὴν δι' αὐτῶν ὑπηρεσίαν, ὑπολαμβάνοντες σφίσιν αὐτοῖς δουλεύειν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἀπεργάζονται. πῶς δ' ἂν ἀγαθὸν μοιχείαις ὑπηρετεῖν; πῶς δὲ καὶ σπουδαῖον πρὸς τὸ μισεῖν τινας παριόν τας βοηθεῖν; ἢ πῶς ὕλῃ καλὸν προσάπτειν τὴν εἰς τοὺς με μηνότας βοήθειαν καὶ μὴ τῷ θεῷ; τέχνῃ γὰρ τῆς θεοσεβείας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους παρατρέπουσι, πόαις αὐτοὺς καὶ ·ίζαις πεί θεσθαι παρασκευάζοντες· ὁ δὲ θεός, εἴπερ αὐτὰ πρὸς τὸ ποιεῖν ἅπερ οἱ ἄνθρωποι βούλονται κατεσκευάκει, πονηρῶν ἂν ἦν πραγμάτων δημιουργός, ἐπεὶ αὐτὸς μὲν πᾶν τὸ εὖ πως ἔχον ἐδημιούργησεν, ἡ δὲ τῶν δαιμόνων ἀσωτία τοῖς ἐν τῷ κό σμῳ πρὸς τὸ κακοποιεῖν ἐχρήσατο, καὶ τούτων ἐστὶ τῆς κακίας τὸ εἶδος καὶ οὐχὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ τελείου. πῶς γὰρ ἂν ζῶν μὲν ἥκιστα μοχθηρὸς εἴην, νεκροῦ δὲ ὄντος μου λείψανον τὸ ἐν ἐμοὶ μη δὲν ἐμοῦ πράττοντος τὸ μήτε κινούμενον ἀλλὰ μηδὲ αἰσθα νόμενον αἰσθητόν τι ἀπεργάσεται; πῶς δὲ ὁ τεθνεὼς οἰκτίστῳ θανάτῳ δυνήσεται πρὸς τιμωρίαν τινὸς ἐξυπηρετῆσαι; τοῦτο