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

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 the memorials of wickedness? Why for me, on account of the woman of Periclymenus, who bore thirty children, do you consider it a wonderful thing and a work to be contemplated? For it was good to abominate her who carried off the first-fruits of great incontinence, being likened to the sow among the Romans, who she herself also, on account of the likeness, has been deemed worthy of a more mystic worship, as they say. And Ares committed adultery with Aphrodite, and Andron fashioned for you the Harmonia that came from them. Both trifles and follies Sophron having handed down through his compositions is more famous on account of the art of bronze-working which exists until now; and not only his fables have made the lying Aesop ever-memorable, but also the plastic art according to Aristodemus has shown him to be highly esteemed. Then how are you not ashamed, having so many poetesses for no useful purpose, and countless prostitutes and wicked men, while slandering the modesty of the women among us? What great thing is it for me to learn that Euanthe gave birth in the Peripatos and to have gaped at the art of Callistratus? And to fix one's eyes on the works of Calliades for Neaera? For she was a courtesan. Lais was a prostitute, and the fornicator made her a memorial of her prostitution. Why do you not feel shame for the prostitution of Hephaestion, even if Philon portrays him very artfully? And for what reason have you honored the androgynous Ganymede by Leochares as some important possession, and that little woman putting on an armlet which Praxiteles fashioned? But it was necessary, having rejected every such form, to seek what is truly important, and not, while laying claim to the unmentionable devices of Philainis or Elephantis, to abominate our way of life. These things, then, I have not set forth having learned them from another, but having traveled over much land, and on the one hand having practiced your wisdom, and on the other having encountered many arts and inventions, and last of all having stayed in the city of the Romans and having carefully learned the varieties of statues brought to them from you. For not, as is the custom for many, do I try to strengthen my own opinions with those of others, but of all things of which I myself make an apprehension, of these I also wish to compose the record. Therefore, having bid farewell both to the arrogance of the Romans and to the cold talk of the Athenians *** with incoherent doctrines, I have laid claim to the barbarian philosophy among us; in what manner this is more ancient than the pursuits among you, although having begun to write, but having postponed on account of the urgency of the exposition, now when it is time to speak about its doctrines, *** I will try. For do not be displeased with our instruction, nor contrive against us a contradiction full of nonsense and buffoonery, saying: Tatian, beyond the Greeks and beyond the infinite multitude of those who have philosophized, innovates the doctrines of the barbarians.

νείκους καὶ Ἐτεοκλέους ὁρῶντες τὰ σχήματα καὶ μὴ σὺν τῷ ποιήσαντι Πυθαγόρᾳ καταβοθρώσαντες συναπόλλυτε τῆς κακίας τὰ ὑπομνήματα; τί μοι διὰ τὸν Περικλύμενον γύναιον, ὅπερ ἐκύησε τριάκοντα παῖδας, ὡς θαυμαστὸν ἡγεῖσθε καὶ κατανοεῖν ποίημα; πολλῆς γὰρ ἀκρασίας ἀπενεγκαμένην τὰ ἀκροθίνια βδελύττεσθαι καλὸν ἦν, τῇ κατὰ Ῥωμαίους συῒ παρεικαζο μένην, ἥτις καὶ αὐτὴ διὰ τὸ ὅμοιον μυστικωτέρας, ὥς φασιν, ἠξίωται θεραπείας. ἐμοίχευσεν δὲ Ἄρης τὴν Ἀφροδίτην, καὶ τὴν ἀπ' αὐτῶν Ἁρμονίαν Ἄνδρων ὑμῖν κατεσκεύασεν. λήρους τε καὶ φλυαρίας Σώφρων διὰ συνταγμάτων παραδοὺς ἐνδοξό τερος χάριν τῆς χαλκευτικῆς ἣ μέχρι νῦν ἐστιν· καὶ τὸν ψευδολόγον Aἴσωπον ἀείμνηστον οὐ μόνον τὰ μυθολογήματα, καὶ ἡ κατὰ τὸν Ἀριστόδημον δὲ πλαστικὴ περισπούδαστος ἀπέ δειξεν. εἶτα πῶς οὐκ αἰδεῖσθε τοσαύτας μὲν ἔχοντες ποιητρίας οὐκ ἐπί τι χρήσιμον, πόρνας δὲ ἀπείρους καὶ μοχθηροὺς ἄνδρας, τῶν δὲ παρ' ἡμῖν γυναικῶν διαβάλλοντες τὴν σεμνότητα; τί μοι σπουδαῖον μανθάνειν Eὐάνθην ἐν Περιπάτῳ τεκεῖν καὶ πρὸς τὴν Καλλιστράτου κεχηνέναι τέχνην; καὶ πρὸς τὰ Καλλιάδου Νεαίρᾳ προσέχειν τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς; ἑταίρα γὰρ ἦν. Λαῒς ἐπόρ νευσεν, καὶ ὁ πόρνος αὐτὴν ὑπόμνημα τῆς πορνείας ἐποίησεν. διὰ τί τὴν Ἡφαιστίωνος οὐκ αἰδεῖσθε πορνείαν καὶ εἰ πάνυ Φίλων αὐτὸν ἐντέχνως ποιεῖ; τίνος δὲ χάριν διὰ Λεωχάρους Γανυμήδη τὸν ἀνδρόγυνον ὥς τι σπουδαῖον ἔχοντες κτῆμα τετι μήκατε καὶ ὃ ψελιούμενόν τι γύναιον Πραξιτέλης ἐδημιούργησεν; ἐχρῆν δὲ πᾶν τὸ τοιοῦτον εἶδος παραιτησαμένους τὸ κατὰ ἀλή θειαν σπουδαῖον ζητεῖν καὶ μὴ Φιλαινίδος μηδὲ Ἐλεφαντίδος τῶν ἀρρήτων ἐπινοιῶν ἀντιποιουμένους τὴν ἡμετέραν πολιτείαν βδελύττεσθαι. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν οὐ παρ' ἄλλου μαθὼν ἐξεθέμην, πολ λὴν δὲ ἐπιφοιτήσας γῆν καὶ τοῦτο μὲν σοφιστεύσας τὰ ὑμέτερα, τοῦτο δὲ τέχναις καὶ ἐπινοίαις ἐγκυρήσας πολλαῖς, ἔσχατον δὲ τῇ Ῥωμαίων ἐνδιατρίψας πόλει καὶ τὰς ἀφ' ὑμῶν ὡς αὐτοὺς ἀνακομισθείσας ἀνδριάντων ποικιλίας καταμαθών. οὐ γάρ, ὡς ἔθος ἐστὶ τοῖς πολλοῖς, ἀλλοτρίαις δόξαις τἀμαυτοῦ κρατύνειν πειρῶμαι, πάντων δὲ ὧν ἂν αὐτὸς ποιήσωμαι τὴν κατάληψιν, τούτων καὶ τὴν ἀναγραφὴν συντάσσειν βούλομαι. διόπερ χαί ρειν εἰπὼν καὶ τῇ Ῥωμαίων μεγαλαυχίᾳ καὶ τῇ Ἀθηναίων ψυχρολογίᾳ *** δόγμασιν ἀσυναρτήτοις, τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς βαρ βάρου φιλοσοφίας ἀντεποιησάμην· ἥτις ὃν τρόπον ἐστὶ τῶν παρ' ὑμῖν ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἀρχαιοτέρα, γράφειν μὲν ἀρξάμενος, διὰ δὲ τὸ κατεπεῖγον τῆς ἐξηγήσεως ὑπερθέμενος, νῦν ὅτε καιρὸς περὶ τῶν κατ' αὐτὴν δογμάτων λέγειν, *** πειράσομαι. μὴ γὰρ δυσχεράνητε τὴν ἡμετέραν παιδείαν μηδὲ φλυαρίας καὶ βωμολοχίας μεστὴν ἀντιλογίαν καθ' ἡμῶν πραγματεύσησθε λέ γοντες· Τατιανὸς ὑπὲρ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ὑπέρ τε τὸ ἄπειρον τῶν φιλοσοφησάντων πλῆθος καινοτομεῖ τὰ βαρβάρων δόγματα.