218

our own things and things well-pleasing to God happening to us, so that I might present even the appetite of bodily desire itself as not being improper. For it was given for the procreation of children in reverence and for the glory of the one who made all things, just as seeds are given to the earth for the profusion of a multitude of the good fruits created by God, * I mean also of fruit trees, so also to humanity to fulfill "be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." 4. Such people also use certain apocryphal books, as we have heard, but also in part the accepted books, hunting for those words alone which, weaving them according to their own mind, they handle in another way. For neither was the vine planted by the devil nor did it receive its seed from a serpent, as is clear to everyone. For how could this be, when the Lord himself testifies and says, "I will not drink it from the fruit of this vine, until I drink it new with you in the kingdom of heaven"? And since the truth, flashing its own rays completely according to God's foreknowledge of the evils that would arise, prefigured its words for their refutation, the divine scripture everywhere foretold the refutation of those who were going to rise up against the truth; as somewhere the Lord himself 2.202 expressly states for the refutation of the pitiful and deluded Severus, calling himself the vine: "I am the true vine." If the name of the vine were altogether blameworthy, he would not have made the likeness of the name to himself. But also the apostles say in the so-called ordinance that "the catholic church is a planting of God and a vineyard"; but also the Lord himself again in the gospel, making the parable of the vineyard, that "a certain householder had a vineyard and leased it to farmers and sent seeking fruit and they did not give it," and again, "a certain householder having a vineyard went out seeking laborers for the vineyard at the third hour and the sixth and the ninth and the eleventh"; so that from all this the contrivance of the practice of this deceiver is everywhere wounded by the word of truth. For even if darkness appears when light is not present, with a small spark its overthrowing disappearance will occur. But I have dealt with the heresy briefly because I have already said that, being easily captured, it does not require much effort for the establishment of the truth against it; especially since I think perhaps there are no longer any from it, or at any rate few in the uppermost regions. Passing on from this, as if trampling down a terrible scorpion all at once, let us examine the next ones, invoking the power of God for help both to speak the truth and that I myself may not be harmed, especially when about to reveal the perversity of such a terrible and destructive doctrine.

Against the Tatianists, 20, but in the series, 40. 1. A certain Tatian arose, succeeding these, either being in their time or after them, again setting forth his own teaching of empty speech 2.203. And at first, since he came from the Greeks and possessed a Greek education, he flourished together with Justin the philosopher, a holy man and friend of God, who had believed in Christ from among the Samaritans. For this Justin was a Samaritan by race, but having believed in Christ and having greatly practiced and displayed a life of virtue, in the end, having martyred for Christ, he is deemed worthy of a perfect crown in the city of the Romans under Rusticus the prefect and Hadrian the emperor, being thirty years old in a state of

218

ἴδια καὶ θεῷ εὐάρεστα ἡμῖν συμβαινόντων, ὡς καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν ὄρεξιν τῆς κατὰ τὸ σῶμα ἐπιθυμίας οὐκ ἄτοπον οὖσαν παραστήσαιμ' ἄν. ἔστιν γὰρ πρὸς παιδοποιίαν ἐν σεμνότητι δοθεῖσα καὶ εἰς δόξαν τοῦ ποιήσαντος τὰ πάντα, καθάπερ τῇ γῇ τὰ σπέρματα εἰς ἐπίχυσιν πλήθους τῶν ὑπὸ θεοῦ κεκτισμένων καλῶν γεννημάτων, * δέ φημι καὶ ἀκροδρύων, οὕτως καὶ τῇ ἀνθρωπότητι εἰς τὸ πληρῶσαι τό «αὐξάνεσθε καὶ πληθύνεσθε, καὶ πληρώσατε τὴν γῆν». 4. Κέχρηνται δὲ οἱ τοιοῦτοι καὶ ἀποκρύφοις τισίν, ὡς καὶ ἀκηκόαμεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν μέρει ταῖς ῥηταῖς βίβλοις, λεξιθηροῦντες ἐκεῖνα μόνα, ἅτινα κατὰ τὸν νοῦν αὐτῶν παραπλέκοντες ἑτέρως μεταχειρίζονται. οὔτε γὰρ ἡ ἄμπελος ἐκ διαβόλου πεφύτευται οὔτε ἐξ ὄφεως ἔσχε τὴν σποράν, ὡς παντί τῳ δῆλόν ἐστι. πῶς γὰρ εἴη τοῦτο, αὐτοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἐπιμαρτυροῦντος καὶ λέγοντος ὅτι «οὐ μὴ πίω αὐτὸ ἐκ τοῦ γεννήματος τῆς ἀμπέλου ταύτης, ἕως ἂν πίω αὐτὸ καινὸν μεθ' ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν»; καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἡ ἀλήθεια τὰς ἑαυτῆς ἀκτῖνας ἀποστίλβουσα εἰς τὸ παντελὲς κατὰ πρόγνωσιν θεοῦ τῶν ἐπιφερομένων κακῶν εἰς ἔλεγχον προετύπου τοὺς αὐτῆς λόγους, πανταχοῦ προεθέσπισε τὸ θεῖον γράμμα τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τῶν μελλόντων κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐπεγείρεσθαι· ὡς διαρρήδην αὐτός 2.202 που ὁ κύριος εἰς ἔλεγχον τοῦ ἐλεεινοῦ καὶ πεπλανημένου Σευήρου φάσκει, αὐτὸς ἑαυτὸν τὴν ἄμπελον λέγων «ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή». εἰ δὲ ὅλως ψεκτὸν ἦν τὸ τῆς ἀμπέλου ὄνομα, οὐκ ἂν τοῦ ὀνόματος εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἐποιεῖτο τὴν ὁμοιότητα. ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ἀπόστολοί φασιν ἐν τῇ διατάξει τῇ καλουμένῃ ὅτι «φυτεία θεοῦ καὶ ἀμπελὼν ἡ καθολικὴ ἐκκλησία»· ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος πάλιν ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ ποιούμενος τὴν τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος παραβολήν, ὅτι «ἀνήρ τις οἰκοδεσπότης εἶχεν ἀμπελῶνα καὶ ἐξέδοτο αὐτὸν γεωργοῖς καὶ ἔπεμψε ζητῶν καρπὸν καὶ οὐκ ἔδωκαν», ἀλλὰ καὶ πάλιν «ἀνήρ τις οἰκοδεσπότης ἔχων ἀμπελῶνα ἐξῆλθε ζητῶν ἐργάτας εἰς τὸν ἀμπελῶνα καὶ περὶ τρίτην ὥραν καὶ ἕκτην καὶ ἐνάτην καὶ ἑνδεκάτην»· ὡς ἐξ ἅπαντος τὸ τῆς ἐπιτηδεύσεως σκευώρημα καὶ τούτου τοῦ ἀπατεῶνος πανταχόθεν ἔχειν τὸ τιτρώσκεσθαι λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας. κἄν τε γὰρ ἐπιφαίνεται τὸ σκότος φωτὸς μὴ παρόντος, δι' ὀλίγου σπινθῆρος ἡ αὐτοῦ ἀφάντωσις τῆς ἀνατροπῆς γενήσεται. συντόμως δὲ κέχρημαι τῇ αἱρέσει διὰ τὸ ἤδη ἐξειπεῖν ὅτι εὐάλωτος ὑπάρχουσα οὐ πολλῆς δεῖται ἐργασίας πρὸς σύστασιν τῆς κατ' αὐτῆς ἀληθείας· μάλιστα δὲ ὅτι τάχα οἶμαι καὶ μηκέτι ἐκ ταύτης ὑπάρχειν τινάς, ἀλλ' ἢ ἄρα σπανίους ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτάτω μέρεσιν. Ἀπὸ ταύτης δὲ παρελθόντες, ὥσπερ σκορπίον δεινὸν καταπατήσαντες ἀθρόως, τὰς ἑξῆς διασκοπήσωμεν, θεοῦ τὴν δύναμιν ἐπικαλούμενοι εἰς βοήθειαν τοῦ τε τὸ ἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν καὶ τοῦ αὐτὸν ἐμὲ μὴ βλάπτεσθαι, μάλιστα περὶ τῆς τοιαύτης δεινῆς καὶ ὀλετηρίου τῶν δογμάτων μέλλοντα ὑποφαίνειν κακοτροπίας.

Κατὰ Τατιανῶν ˉκˉ, τῆς δὲ ἀκολουθίας ˉμˉ. 1. Τατιανός τις ἀνέστη τούτους διαδεξάμενος ἤτοι κατὰ τοὺς αὐτῶν χρόνους ὢν ἢ μετ' αὐτοὺς πάλιν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ τῆς κενοφωνίας 2.203 διδασκαλίαν προστησάμενος. καὶ τὰ μὲν πρῶτα, οἷα δὴ ἀπὸ Ἑλλήνων ὁρμώμενος καὶ τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων παιδείας ὑπάρχων, συνακμάζει Ἰουστίνῳ τῷ φιλοσόφῳ, ἀνδρὶ ἁγίῳ καὶ φίλῳ θεοῦ, τῷ ἀπὸ Σαμαρειτῶν εἰς Χριστὸν πεπιστευκότι. οὗτος γὰρ ὁ Ἰουστῖνος Σαμαρείτης ἦν τὸ γένος, εἰς Χριστὸν δὲ πεπιστευκὼς καὶ μεγάλως ἐξασκηθεὶς ἀρετῆς τε βίον ἐνδειξάμενος τὸ τέλος ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ μαρτυρήσας τελείου στεφάνου καταξιοῦται ἐπὶ τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἐπὶ Ῥουστικοῦ ἡγεμόνος καὶ Ἀδριανοῦ βασιλέως, ἐτῶντριάκοντα ὑπάρχων ἐν καθεστώσῃ