Justin Martyr, Hortatory Address to the Greeks

Chapter XXVIII.—Homer’s obligations to the sacred writers.

And not only Plato, but Homer also, having received similar enlightenment in Egypt, said that Tityus was in like manner punished. For Ulysses speaks thus to Alcinous when he is recounting his divination by the shades of the dead:59 Odyssey, xi, 576 (Pope’s translation, line 709). —

“There Tityus, large and long, in fetters bound,

O’erspread nine acres of infernal ground;

Two ravenous vultures, furious for their food,

Scream o’er the fiend, and riot in his blood,

Incessant gore the liver in his breast,

Th’ immortal liver grows, and gives th’ immortal feast.”

For it is plain that it is not the soul, but the body, which has a liver. And in the same manner he has described both Sisyphus and Tantalus as enduring punishment with the body. And that Homer had been in Egypt, and introduced into his own poem much of what he there learnt, Diodorus, the most esteemed of historians, plainly enough teaches us. For he said that when he was in Egypt he had learnt that Helen, having received from Theon’s wife, Polydamna, a drug, “lulling all sorrow and melancholy, and causing forgetfulness of all ills,”60 Odyssey, iv. 221; [Milton’s Comus, line 675]. brought it to Sparta. And Homer said that by making use of that drug Helen put an end to the lamentation of Menelaus, caused by the presence of Telemachus. And he also called Venus “golden,” from what he had seen in Egypt. For he had seen the temple which in Egypt is called “the temple of golden Venus,” and the plain which is named “the plain of golden Venus.” And why do I now make mention of this? To show that the poet transferred to his own poem much of what is contained in the divine writings of the prophets. And first he transferred what Moses had related as the beginning of the creation of the world. For Moses wrote thus: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,”61 Gen. i. 1. then the sun, and the moon, and the stars. For having learned this in Egypt, and having been much taken with what Moses had written in the Genesis of the world, he fabled that Vulcan had made in the shield of Achilles a kind of representation of the creation of the world. For he wrote thus:62 Iliad, xviii. 483.—

“There he described the earth, the heaven, the sea,

The sun that rests not, and the moon full-orb’d;

There also, all the stars which round about,

As with a radiant frontlet, bind the skies.”

And he contrived also that the garden of Alcinous should preserve the likeness of Paradise, and through this likeness he represented it as ever-blooming and full of all fruits. For thus he wrote:63 Odyssey, vii. 114 (Pope’s translation, line 146.). —

“Tall thriving trees confess’d the fruitful mould;

The reddening apple ripens here to gold.

Here the blue fig with luscious juice o’erflows,

With deeper red the full pomegranate glows;

The branch here bends beneath the weighty pear,

And verdant olives flourish round the year.

The balmy spirit of the western gale

Eternal breathes on fruits, untaught to fail;

Each dropping pear a following pear supplies,

On apples apples, figs on figs arise.

The same mild season gives the blooms to blow,

The buds to harden, and the fruits to grow.

Here order’d vines in equal ranks appear,

With all th’ united labours of the year.

Some to unload the fertile branches run,

Some dry the blackening clusters in the sun,

Others to tread the liquid harvest join.

The groaning presses foam with floods of wine.

Here are the vines in early flower descry’d

Here grapes discoloured on the sunny side,

And there in autumn’s richest purple dy’d.”

Do not these words present a manifest and clear imitation of what the first prophet Moses said about Paradise? And if any one wish to know something of the building of the tower by which the men of that day fancied they would obtain access to heaven, he will find a sufficiently exact allegorical imitation of this in what the poet has ascribed to Otus and Ephialtes. For of them he wrote thus:64 Odyssey, xi. 312 (Pope’s translation, line 385). —

“Proud of their strength, and more than mortal size,

The gods they challenge, and affect the skies.

Heav’d on Olympus tottering Ossa stood;

On Ossa, Pelion nods with all his wood.”

And the same holds good regarding the enemy of mankind who was cast out of heaven, whom the Sacred Scriptures call the Devil,65 The false accuser; one who does injury by slanderous accusations. a name which he obtained from his first devilry against man; and if any one would attentively consider the matter, he would find that the poet, though he certainly never mentions the name of “the devil,” yet gives him a name from his wickedest action. For the poet, calling him Ate,66 ᾽Ατη, the goddess of mischief, from whom spring all rash, blind deeds and their results. says that he was hurled from heaven by their god, just as if he had a distinct remembrance of the expressions which Isaiah the prophet had uttered regarding him. He wrote thus in his own poem:67 Iliad, xix. 126. —

“And, seizing by her glossy locks

The goddess Ate, in his wrath he swore

That never to the starry skies again,

And the Olympian heights, he would permit

The universal mischief to return.

Then, whirling her around, he cast her down

To earth. She, mingling with all works of men,

Caused many a pang to Jove.”

Καὶ οὐχ ὁ Πλάτων μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ Ὅμηρος, ὁμοίως καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ μαθών, τὸν Τιτυὸν ὁμοίως τιμωρεῖσθαι ἔφη. Οὕτω γὰρ ἐν τῇ νεκυομαντείᾳ Ὀδυσσεὺς τῷ Ἀλκινόῳ διηγεῖται λέγων: Καὶ Τιτυὸν εἶδον, Γαίης ἐρικυδέα υἱόν, Κείμενον ἐν δαπέδῳ: ὁ δ' ἐπ' ἐννέα κεῖτο πέλεθρα, Γῦπε δέ μιν ἑκάτερθε παρημένω ἧπαρ ἔκειρον. Ἧπαρ γὰρ οὐ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀλλὰ τὸ σῶμα ἔχειν δηλοῖ. Τὸν αὐτὸν δὴ τρόπον καὶ Σίσυφον καὶ Τάνταλον μετὰ σώματος τὴν τιμωρίαν ὑπέχειν γέγραφεν. Ὅτι δὲ Ὅμηρος ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ γέγονε καὶ πολλὰ ὧν ἐκεῖ μεμάθηκεν εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ μετήνεγκεν ποίησιν, ἱκανῶς διδάσκει ἡμᾶς Διόδωρος, ὁ τῶν ἱστοριογράφων ἐνδοξότατος. Ἔφη γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ γενόμενον μεμαθηκέναι, ὅτι τὸ Νηπενθές, ἄχολόν τε κακῶν ἐπίληθες ἁπάντων φάρμακον, ἡ Ἑλένη λαβοῦσα παρὰ τῆς Θῶνος γυναικὸς Πολυδάμνας εἰς τὴν Σπάρτην ἐκόμισε: κἀκείνῳ τῷ φαρμάκῳ ἔφη Ὅμηρος χρησαμένην τὴν Ἑλένην παῦσαι τὸν ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ Τηλεμάχου παρὰ Μενελάου γενόμενον θρῆνον. Καὶ χρυσῆν δὲ Ἀφροδίτην ὠνόμασεν ἐκ τῆς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἱστορίας: ἔγνω γὰρ καὶ τέμενος χρυσῆς Ἀφροδίτης ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ λεγόμενον καὶ πεδίον χρυσῆς Ἀφροδίτης ὀνομαζόμενον. Καὶ τοῦ χάριν τούτων γέγονε μνήμη νυνί; Ἵνα δείξωμεν τὸν ποιητὴν καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς θείας τῶν προφητῶν ἱστορίας πολλὰ εἰς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ μεταβαλόντα ποίησιν: καὶ πρῶτον τῆς κοσμοποιΐας ὑπὸ Μωϋσέως τὴν εἰρημένην ἀρχήν. Οὕτω γὰρ Μωϋσῆς γέγραφεν: Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν, εἶτα ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ ἀστέρας. Ταῦτα γὰρ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ μαθών, καὶ τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ τοῦ κόσμου γενέσει γραφεῖσιν ἀρεσθείς, ἐν τῇ τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως ἀσπίδι τὸν Ἥφαιστον ὥσπερ εἰκόνα τινὰ τῆς κοσμοποιΐας κατασκευάσαι παρεσκεύασεν. Οὕτω γὰρ γέγραφεν: Ἐν μὲν γαῖαν ἔτευξ', ἐν δ' οὐρανόν, ἐν δὲ θάλασσαν, Ἠέλιον τ' ἀκάμαντα σελήνην τε πλήθουσαν, Ἐν δέ τε τείρεα πάντα, τά τ' οὐρανὸς ἐστεφάνωται. Καὶ τοῦ παραδείσου δὲ εἰκόνα τὸν Ἀλκινόου κῆπον σώζειν πεποίηκεν, ἀειθαλῆ τε αὐτὸν καὶ καρπῶν πλήρη διὰ τῆς εἰκόνος ἐπιδεικνύς. Οὕτω γὰρ γέγραφεν: Ἔνθα δὲ δένδρεα μακρὰ πεφύκει τηλεθόωντα, Ὄγχναι καὶ ῥοιαὶ καὶ μηλέαι ἀγλαόκαρποι Συκέαι τε γλυκεραὶ καὶ ἐλαῖαι τηλεθόωσαι. Τάων οὔποτε καρπὸς ἀπόλλυται οὐδ' ἐπιλείπει Χείματος οὐδὲ θέρους, ἐπετήσιος, ἀλλ' ἀεὶ αὔρη Ζεφυρίη πνείουσα τὰ μὲν φύει, ἄλλα δὲ πέσσει. Ὄγχνη ἐπ' ὄγχνῃ γηράσκει, μῆλον δ' ἐπὶ μήλῳ, Αὐτὰρ ἐπὶ σταφυλῇ σταφυλή, σῦκον δ' ἐπὶ σύκῳ. Ἔνθα δὲ οἱ πολύκαρπος ἀλωὴ ἐῤῥίζωται: Τῆς ἕτερον μὲν θειλόπεδον λευρῷ ἐνὶ χώρῳ Τέρσεται ἠελίῳ, ἑτέρας δ' ἄρα τε τρυγόωσιν, Ἄλλας δὲ τραπέουσι: πάροιθε δέ τ' ὄμφακές εἰσιν, Ἄνθος ἀφιεῖσαι, ἕτεραι δ' ὑποπερκάζουσιν. Ταῦτα τὰ ῥήματα οὐ φανερὰν καὶ σαφῆ μίμησιν τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ πρώτου προφήτου Μωϋσέως περὶ τοῦ παραδείσου λεχθέντων δηλοῖ; Εἰ δέ τις καὶ εἰς τὴν τοῦ πύργου ποίησιν ἀφορᾶν ἐθέλοι, δι' ἧς οἱ τὸ τηνικαῦτα ἄνδρες τὴν εἰς οὐρανὸν ἄνοδον δύνασθαι κατασκευάζειν ἑαυτοῖς ᾤοντο, εὑρήσει καὶ ταύτην ἱκανὴν δι' ἀλληγορίας μίμησιν ὑπὸ τοῦ ποιητοῦ διά τε Ὤτου καὶ Ἐπιάλτου γινομένην. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ὁ ποιητὴς περὶ αὐτῶν ἔφη: Οἵ ῥα καὶ ἀθανάτοισιν ἀπειλήτην ἐν Ὀλύμπῳ Φυλόπιδα στήσειν πολυάϊκος πολέμοιο: Ὄσσαν ἐπ' Οὐλύμπῳ μέμασαν θέμεν, αὐτὰρ ἐπ' Ὄσσῃ Πήλιον εἰνοσίφυλλον, ἵν' οὐρανὸς ἀμβατὸς εἴη. Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ ἀπ' οὐρανῶν κατενεχθέντος ἐχθροῦ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος, ὃν διάβολον αἱ θεῖαι γραφαὶ καλοῦσιν, ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον διαβολῆς ταύτης τῆς προσηγορίας τυχόντα: καὶ εἴ τις ἀκριβῶς σκοπεῖν ἐθέλοι, εὕροι ἂν τὸν ποιητὴν τοῦ μὲν διαβόλου ὀνόματος οὐδαμῶς μεμνημένον, ἐκ δὲ τῆς κακίστης αὐτοῦ πράξεως τὴν ὀνομασίαν πεποιημένον: Ἄτην γὰρ αὐτὸν ὁ ποιητὴς ὀνομάζων ὑπὸ τοῦ κατ' αὐτοὺς θεοῦ καθῃρῆσθαι αὐτὸν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ λέγει, ὥσπερ ἀκριβῶς τῶν ὑπὸ Ἡσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου περὶ αὐτοῦ εἰρημένων μεμνημένος ῥητῶν. Οὕτως ἐν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ποιήσει γέγραφεν: Αὐτίκα δ' εἷλ' Ἄτην κεφαλῆς λιπαροπλοκάμοιο, Χωόμενος φρεσὶν ᾗσι, καὶ ὤμοσε καρτερὸν ὅρκον Μήποτ' ἐς Οὔλυμπόν τε καὶ οὐρανὸν ἀστερόεντα Αὖτις ἐλεύσεσθαι Ἄτην, ἣ πάντας ἀᾶται. Ὣς εἰπὼν ἔῤῥιψεν ἀπ' οὐρανοῦ ἀστερόεντος, Χειρὶ περιστρέψας: τάχα δ' ἵκετο ἔργ' ἀνθρώπων.