Justin Martyr, Hortatory Address to the Greeks

Chapter II—The poets are unfit to be religious teachers.

Whom, then, ye men of Greece, do ye call your teachers of religion? The poets? It will do your cause no good to say so to men who know the poets; for they know how very ridiculous a theogony they have composed,—as we can learn from Homer, your most distinguished and prince of poets. For he says, first, that the gods were in the beginning generated from water; for he has written thus:2 Iliad, xiv. 302. —

“Both ocean, the origin of the gods, and their mother Tethys”

And then we must also remind you of what he further says of him whom ye consider the first of the gods, and whom he often calls “the father of gods and men;” for he said:3 Iliad, xix. 224.—

“Zeus, who is the dispenser of war to men.”

Indeed, he says that he was not only the dispenser of war to the army, but also the cause of perjury to the Trojans, by means of his daughter;4 That is, Venus, who, after Paris had sworn that the war should be decided by single combat between himself and Menelaus, carried him off, and induced him, though defeated, to refuse performance of the articles agreed upon. and Homer introduces him in love, and bitterly complaining, and bewailing himself, and plotted against by the other gods, and at one time exclaiming concerning his own son:5 Iliad, xvi. 433. Sarpedon was a son of Zeus. —

“Alas! he falls, my most beloved of men!

Sarpedon, vanquished by Patroclus, falls.

So will the fates.”

And at another time concerning Hector:6 Iliad, xxii. 168.—

“Ah! I behold a warrior dear to me

Around the walls of Ilium driven, and grieve

For Hector.”

And what he says of the conspiracy of the other gods against Zeus, they know who read these words:7 Iliad, i. 399, etc. “When the other Olympians—Juno, and Neptune, and Minerva —wished to bind him.” And unless the blessed gods had feared him whom gods call Briareus, Zeus would have been bound by them. And what Homer says of his intemperate loves, we must remind you in the very words he used. For he said that Zeus spake thus to Juno:8 Iliad, xiv. 315. (The passage is here given in full from Cowper’s translation. In Justin’s quotation one or two lines are omitted.) —

“For never goddess pour’d, nor woman yet,

So full a tide of love into my breast;

I never loved Ixion’s consort thus,

Nor sweet Acrisian Danaë, from whom

Sprang Perseus, noblest of the race of man;

Nor Phœnix’ daughter fair, of whom were born

Minos, unmatch’d but by the powers above,

And Rhadamanthus; nor yet Semele,

Nor yet Alcmene, who in Thebes produced

The valiant Hercules; and though my son

By Semele were Bacchus, joy of man;

Nor Ceres golden-hair’d, nor high-enthron’d

Latona in the skies; no—nor thyself

As now I love thee, and my soul perceive

O’erwhelm’d with sweetness of intense desire.”

It is fit that we now mention what one can learn from the work of Homer of the other gods, and what they suffered at the hands of men. For he says that Mars and Venus were wounded by Diomed, and of many others of the gods he relates the sufferings. For thus we can gather from the case of Dione consoling her daughter; for she said to her:9 Iliad, v. 382 (from Lord Derby’s translation). —

“Have patience, dearest child; though much enforc’d

Restrain thine anger: we, in heav’n who dwell,

Have much to bear from mortals; and ourselves

Too oft upon each other suff’rings lay:

Mars had his suff’rings; by Alöeus' sons,

Otus and Ephialtes, strongly bound,

He thirteen months in brazen fetters lay:

Juno, too, suffer’d, when Amphitryon’s son

Thro’ her right breast a three-barb’d arrow sent:

Dire, and unheard of, were the pangs she bore,

Great Pluto’s self the stinging arrow felt,

When that same son of Ægis-bearing Jove

Assail’d him in the very gates of hell,

And wrought him keenest anguish; pierced with pain,

To high Olympus, to the courts of Jove,

Groaning, he came; the bitter shaft remain’d

Deep in his shoulder fix’d, and griev’d his soul.”

But if it is right to remind you of the battle of the gods, opposed to one another, your own poet himself will recount it, saying:10 Iliad, xx. 66 (from Lord Derby’s translation). —

“Such was the shock when gods in battle met;

For there to royal Neptune stood oppos’d

Phœbus Apollo with his arrows keen;

The blue-eyed Pallas to the god of war;

To Juno, Dian, heav’nly archeress,

Sister of Phœbus, golden-shafted queen.

Stout Hermes, helpful god, Latona fac’d.”

These and such like things did Homer teach you; and not Homer only, but also Hesiod. So that if you believe your most distinguished poets, who have given the genealogies of your gods, you must of necessity either suppose that the gods are such beings as these, or believe that there are no gods at all.

Τίνας τοίνυν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἕλληνες, τῆς θεοσεβείας ὑμῶν διδασκάλους εἶναί φατε; Τοὺς ποιητάς; Ἀλλ' οὐ συνοίσει ὑμῖν πρὸς ἄνδρας τὰ τῶν ποιητῶν εἰδότας λέγειν. Ἴσασι γὰρ τὴν ὑπ' αὐτῶν γελοιοτάτην περὶ θεῶν θεογονίαν λεγομένην, ὡς ἔστιν ἡμῖν ἀπὸ τῶν τοῦ κορυφαιοτάτου παρ' ὑμῖν καὶ πρώτου τῶν ποιητῶν Ὁμήρου μανθάνειν. Οὗτος γὰρ πρῶτον μὲν τὴν τῶν θεῶν γένεσιν ἐξ ὕδατος τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐσχηκέναι φησίν. Οὕτω γὰρ γέγραφεν: Ὠκεανόν τε, θεῶν γένεσιν, καὶ μητέρα Τηθύν. Ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ ἃ περὶ τοῦ πρώτου παρ' αὐτοῖς νομιζομένου θεοῦ λέγει, ὃν καὶ πατέρα ὀνομάζει πολλάκις ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε, ἀναγκαῖον ὑπομνῆσαι. Ἔφη γάρ: Ζεύς, ὅστ' ἀνθρώπων ταμίης πολέμοιο τέτυκται. Αὐτὸν τοίνυν οὐ πολέμου ταμίαν μόνον τῷ στρατεύματι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπιορκίας Τρωσὶ διὰ τῆς αὐτοῦ θυγατρὸς αἴτιον γεγενῆσθαί φησι: τοῦτον ἐρῶντα καὶ σχετλιάζοντα καὶ ὀλοφυρόμενον καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἄλλων θεῶν ἐπιβουλευόμενον Ὅμηρος εἰσάγει, καὶ ποτὲ μὲν ἐπὶ τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ παιδὸς λέγοντα: Ὤ μοι ἐγών, ὅτε μοι Σαρπηδόνα, φίλτατον ἀνδρῶν, Μοῖρ' ὑπὸ Πατρόκλοιο Μενοιτιάδαο δαμῆναι! ποτὲ δὲ ὑπὲρ τοῦ Ἕκτορος: Ὢ πόποι, ἦ φίλον ἄνδρα διωκόμενον περὶ τεῖχος Ὀφθαλμοῖσιν ὁρῶμαι: ἐμὸν δ' ὀλοφύρεται ἦτορ. Τίνα δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων θεῶν κατὰ τῆς τοῦ Διὸς ἐπιβουλῆς λέγει, ἴσασιν οἱ ἐντυγχάνοντες τοῖς ἔπεσι τούτοις: Ὁππότε μιν ξυνδῆσαι Ὀλύμπιοι ἤθελον ἄλλοι, Ἥρη τ' ἠδὲ Ποσειδάων καὶ Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη. Καὶ εἰ μὴ τὸν ὃν Βριάρεων καλέουσι ὑπέδεισαν οἱ μάκαρες θεοί, ἐδέδετο ἂν ὑπ' αὐτῶν ὁ Ζεύς. Ὅσα δὲ καὶ περὶ τῆς ἐρωτικῆς τοῦ Διὸς ἀκολασίας Ὅμηρος λέγει, ἀναγκαῖον δι' αὐτῶν ὑμᾶς ὑπομνῆσαι ὧν εἴρηκε ῥητῶν. Ἔφη γὰρ αὐτὸν οὕτω πρὸς τὴν Ἥραν λέγειν: Οὐ γὰρ πώποτέ μ' ὧδε θεᾶς ἔρος οὐδὲ γυναικὸς Θυμὸν ἐνὶ στήθεσσι περιπροχυθεὶς ἐδάμασσεν, Οὐδ' ὁπότ' ἠρασάμην Ἰξιονίης ἀλόχοιο, Οὐδ' ὅτε περ Δανάης καλλισφύρου Ἀκρισιώνης, Οὐδ' ὅτε Φοίνικος κούρης τηλεκλειτοῖο, Οὐδ' ὅτε περ Σεμέλης, οὐδ' Ἀλκμήνης ἐνὶ Θήβῃ, Οὐδ' ὅτε Δήμητρος καλλιπλοκάμοιο ἀνάσσης, Οὐδ' ὁπότε Λητοῦς ἐρικυδέος, οὐδὲ σεῦ αὐτῆς. Τίνα δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων θεῶν ἐκ τῆς Ὁμήρου ποιήσεως ἔξεστι μανθάνειν, καὶ ὅσα ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων πεπόνθασιν, ἀκόλουθόν ἐστιν ὑπομνῆσαι νυνί. Ἄρεα μὲν γὰρ καὶ Ἀφροδίτην ὑπὸ Διομήδους τετρῶσθαι λέγει, πολλῶν δὲ καὶ ἄλλων θεῶν διηγεῖται πάθη. Οὕτω γὰρ ἔστιν ἡμῖν ἀπὸ τῆς παραμυθουμένης τὴν θυγατέρα Διώνης μανθάνειν. Ἔφη γὰρ πρὸς αὐτήν: Τέτλαθι, τέκνον ἐμόν, καὶ ἀνάσχεο, κηδομένη περ. Πολλοὶ γὰρ δὴ τλῆμεν Ὀλύμπια δώματ' ἔχοντες Ἐξ ἀνδρῶν, χαλέπ' ἄλγε' ἐπ' ἀλλήλοισι τιθέντες. Τλῆ μὲν Ἄρης, ὅτε μιν Ὦτος κρατερός τ' Ἐπιάλτης, Παῖδες Ἀλωῆος, δῆσαν κρατερῷ ἐνὶ δεσμῷ: Χαλκέῳ δ' ἐν κεράμῳ δέδετο τρισκαίδεκα μῆνας. Τλῆ δ' Ἥρη, ὅτε μιν κρατερὸς παῖς Ἀμφιτρύωνος Δεξιτερὸν κατὰ μαζὸν ὀϊστῷ τριγλώχινι Βεβλήκει: τότε κέν μιν ἀνήκεστον λάβεν ἄλγος. Τλῆ δ' Ἀΐδης ἐν τοῖσι πελώριος ὠκὺν ὀϊστόν, Εὖτέ μιν ωὐτὸς ἀνήρ, υἱὸς Διὸς αἰγιόχοιο, Ἐν πύλῳ ἐν νεκύεσσι βαλὼν ὀδύνῃσιν ἔδωκεν. Αὐτὰρ ἔβη πρὸς δῶμα Διὸς καὶ μακρὸν Ὄλυμπον Κῆρ ἀχέων, ὀδύνῃσι πεπαρμένος: αὐτὰρ ὀϊστὸς Ὤμῳ ἔνι στιβαρῷ ἠλήλατο, κῆδε δὲ θυμόν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τῆς τῶν λοιπῶν θεῶν ἐξ ἐναντίας μάχης ὑπομνησθῆναι ὑμᾶς προσήκει, αὐτὸς ὑμᾶς ὁ ὑμέτερος ποιητὴς ὑπομνήσει λέγων: Τόσσος ἄρα κτύπος ὦρτο θεῶν ἔριδι ξυνιόντων. Ἤτοι μὲν γὰρ ἔναντα Ποσειδάωνος ἄνακτος Ἵστατ' Ἀπόλλων Φοῖβος, ἔχων ἰὰ πτερόεντα, Ἄντα δ' Ἐνυαλίοιο θεὰ γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη. Ἥρῃ δ' ἀντέστη χρυσηλάκατος κελαδεινὴ Ἄρτεμις ἰοχέαιρα, κασιγνήτη ἑκάτοιο. Λητοῖ δ' ἀντέστη σῶκος ἐριούνιος Ἑρμῆς. Ταῦτα καὶ τοιαῦτα περὶ θεῶν ἐδίδαξεν ὑμᾶς Ὅμηρος, καὶ οὐχ Ὅμηρος μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἡσίοδος. Ὥστε, εἰ μὲν πιστεύετε τοῖς κορυφαιοτάτοις ὑμῶν ποιηταῖς, τοῖς καὶ γενεαλογήσασι τοὺς θεοὺς ὑμῶν, ἀνάγκη ὑμᾶς ἢ τοιούτους αὐτοὺς εἶναι νομίζειν, ἢ μηθ' ὅλως θεοὺς αὐτοὺς εἶναι πιστεύειν.