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

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 avenger. And sorcery and every form in it is of the same artifice. For if someone is healed by matter, trusting in it, he will be healed much more by applying himself to the power of God. For just as poisons are material compositions, in the same way also healing remedies are of the same substance. But if we reject the baser matter, often some also contrive to heal through the complication of some other evil, and they will even misuse evils for a good end. And just as one who has supped with a robber, even if he is not a robber himself, yet nevertheless partakes of punishment for having feasted with him, in the same way also he who is not evil, but having mingled with the base man and used him for a supposed good, will be punished for his communion with him by the God who judges him. For why does he who trusts in the economy of matter not wish to trust in God? And for what reason do you not approach the more powerful master, but rather heal yourself as the dog does by means of grass, the deer by means of a viper, the boar by means of river crabs, and the lion by means of monkeys? Why do you deify for me the things in the world? Why, when healing your neighbor, are you called a benefactor? Follow the power of reason: demons do not heal, but by artifice they take men captive; and the most admirable Justin rightly declared that the aforementioned are like robbers. For just as it is their custom to take some captive, and then to restore the same for a ransom to their own people, so also the so-called gods, visiting the limbs of certain persons, then through dreams contriving glory for themselves, and having commanded such persons to come forth publicly in the sight of all, when they have enjoyed the encomiums, flying away from the sick, circumscribing the disease they had contrived, restore the men to their former state. But you, not having the comprehension of these things, are instructed by us who know, *** saying to despise death and to practice self-sufficiency. For the philosophers among you are so far from this discipline that some receive six hundred gold pieces annually from the Roman emperor for no useful purpose except so that they may not even have their beards hanging down for free. Crescens, at any rate, who nested in the great city, surpassed all in pederasty, and was very given to avarice. And he who despised death so feared death himself that he contrived to encompass Justin, just as he did me, with an evil death, because in preaching the truth he convicted the philosophers of being gluttons and impostors. For whom should the philosopher have persecuted, if not only

γὰρ εἰ οὕτως εἴη, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ τὸν οἰκεῖον ἐχθρὸν ἀμυνεῖται· δυνάμενος γὰρ καὶ ἄλλοις βοηθεῖν ἔκδικος πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἑαυτοῦ καταστήσεται. Φαρμακεία δὲ καὶ πᾶν τὸ ἐν αὐτῇ εἶδος τῆς αὐτῆς ἐστιν ἐπιτεχνήσεως. εἰ γάρ τις ὑπὸ τῆς ὕλης θεραπεύεται πι στεύων αὐτῇ, θεραπευθήσεται μᾶλλον αὐτὸς δυνάμει θεοῦ προ σανέχων. ὥσπερ γὰρ τὰ δηλητήρια συνθέσεις εἰσὶν ὑλικαί, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ τὰ ἰώμενα τῆς αὐτῆς ὑποστάσεώς ἐστιν. εἰ δὲ τὴν φαυλοτέραν ὕλην παραιτούμεθα, πολλάκις καὶ διὰ τῆς ἐφ' ἕτε ρον τῶν κακῶν τινος ἐπιπλοκῆς ἰάσασθαί τινες ἐπιτηδεύουσι καὶ τοῖς κακοῖς κἂν πρὸς τὸ ἀγαθὸν καταχρήσονται. καθάπερ δὲ ὁ τῷ λῃστεύοντι συνδειπνήσας, κἂν μὴ λῃστὴς αὐτὸς ᾖ, ἀλλ' ὅμως διὰ τὸ συνεστιαθῆναι τιμωρίας μεταλαμβάνει, τρόπῳ τῷ αὐτῷ καὶ ὁ μὴ κακὸς τῷ δὲ φαύλῳ ἀναμιγεὶς πρὸς τὸ νο μιζόμενον καλὸν συγχρησάμενος διὰ τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν κοινωνίαν ὑπὸ τοῦ κρίνοντος τοῦτον θεοῦ κολασθήσεται. διὰ τί γὰρ ὁ πιστεύων ὕλης οἰκονομίᾳ πιστεύειν οὐ βούλεται τῷ θεῷ; τίνος δὲ χάριν οὐ τῷ δυνατωτέρῳ προσέρχῃ δεσπότῃ, θεραπεύεις δὲ μᾶλλον αὑτὸν ὥσπερ ὁ μὲν κύων διὰ πόας, ὁ δὲ ἔλαφος δι' ἐχίδνης, ὁ δὲ σῦς διὰ τῶν ἐν ποταμοῖς καρκίνων, ὁ δὲ λέων διὰ τῶν πιθήκων; τί δέ μοι θεοποιεῖς τὰ ἐν κόσμῳ; τί δὲ θεραπεύων τὸν πλησίον εὐεργέτης ἀποκαλῇ; λόγου δυνάμει κατακολούθησον· οὐ θεραπεύουσιν οἱ δαίμονες, τέχνῃ δὲ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους αἰχμαλωτεύουσι· καὶ ὁ θαυμασιώτατος Ἰουστῖνος ὀρθῶς ἐξεφώνησεν ἐοικέναι τοὺς προειρημένους λῃσταῖς. ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκείνοις ἔθος ἐστὶ ζωγρεῖν τινας, εἶτα τοὺς αὐτοὺς μισθοῦ τοῖς οἰκείοις ἀποκαθιστᾶν, οὕτω καὶ οἱ νομιζόμενοι θεοὶ τοῖς τινων ἐπιφοιτῶντες μέλεσιν, ἔπειτα δι' ὀνείρων τὴν εἰς αὑτοὺς πραγματευόμενοι δόξαν δημοσίᾳ τε τοὺς τοιούτους προϊ έναι κελεύσαντες πάντων ὁρώντων, ἐπειδὰν τῶν ἐγκωμίων ἀπολαύσωσιν, ἀποπτάμενοι τῶν καμνόντων, ἣν ἐπραγματεύσαντο νόσον περιγράφοντες, τοὺς ἀνθρώπους εἰς τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἀποκα θιστῶσιν. Ὑμεῖς δὲ τούτων οὐκ ἔχοντες τὴν κατάληψιν παρ' ἡμῶν τῶν εἰδότων ἐκπαιδεύεσθε, *** λέγοντες θανάτου κατα φρονεῖν καὶ τὴν αὐτάρκειαν ἀσκεῖν. οἱ γὰρ παρ' ὑμῖν φιλόσοφοι τοσοῦτον ἀποδέουσι τῆς ἀσκήσεως ὥστε παρὰ τοῦ Ῥωμαίων βασιλέως ἐτησίους χρυσοῦς ἑξακοσίους λαμβάνειν τινὰς εἰς οὐδὲν χρήσιμον ἢ ὅπως μηδὲ τὸ γένειον δωρεὰν καθειμένον αὑτῶν ἔχωσιν. Κρίσκης γοῦν ὁ ἐννεοττεύσας τῇ μεγάλῃ πόλει παι δεραστίᾳ μὲν πάντας ὑπερήνεγκεν, φιλαργυρίᾳ δὲ πάνυ προσεχὴς ἦν. θανάτου δὲ ὁ καταφρονῶν οὕτως αὐτὸς ἐδεδίει τὸν θάνατον ὡς καὶ Ἰουστῖνον καθάπερ καὶ ἐμὲ ὡς κακῷ τῷ θα νάτῳ περιβαλεῖν πραγματεύσασθαι, διότι κηρύττων τὴν ἀλή θειαν λίχνους καὶ ἀπατεῶνας τοὺς φιλοσόφους συνήλεγχεν. τίνας δ' ἂν καὶ ἔδει διῶξαι τὸν φιλόσοφον εἰ μὴ μόνους