To Autolycus 1.9
Summary: The pagan gods were dead men, and the poets tell of their crimes and misfortunes.
Greek text · Otto 8:28–30
Καὶ τὰ μὲν ὀνόματα ὧν φῂς σέβεσθαι θεῶν ὀνόματά ἐστιν νεκρῶν ἀνθρώπων. Καὶ τούτων τίνων καὶ ποταπῶν; Οὐχὶ Κρόνος μὲν τεκνοφάγος εὑρίσκεται καὶ τὰ ἑαυτοῦ τέκνα ἀναλίσκων; Εἰ δὲ καὶ Δία τὸν παῖδα αὐτοῦ εἴποις, κατάμαθε κἀκείνου τὰς πράξεις καὶ τὴν ἀναστροφήν. Πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι ἐν Ἴδῃ ὑπὸ αἰγὸς ἀνετράφη, καὶ ταύτην σφάξας κατὰ τοὺς μύθους καὶ ἐκδείρας ἐποίησεν ἑαυτῷ ἔνδυμα. Τάς τε λοιπὰς πράξεις αὐτοῦ, περί τε ἀδελφοκοιτίας μοιχείας καὶ παιδοφθορίας, ἄμεινον Ὅμηρος καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ ποιηταὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ ἐξηγοῦνται. Τί μοι τὸ λοιπὸν καταλέγειν περὶ τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ, Ἡρακλέα μὲν ἑαυτὸν καύσαντα, Διόνυσον δὲ μεθύοντα καὶ μαινόμενον, καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα τὸν Ἀχιλλέα δεδιότα καὶ φεύγοντα καὶ τῆς Δάφνης ἐρῶντα καὶ τὸν Ὑακίνθου μόρον ἀγνοοῦντα, ἢ Ἀφροδίτην τὴν τιτρωσκομένην, καὶ Ἄρεα τὸν βροτολοιγόν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἰχῶρα ῥέοντα τούτων τῶν λεγομένων θεῶν; Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν μέτριον εἰπεῖν, ὅπου γε θεὸς εὑρίσκεται μεμελισμένος ὁ καλούμενος Ὄσιρις, οὗ καὶ κατʼ ἔτος γίνονται τελεταὶ ὡς ἀπολλυμένου καὶ εὑρισκομένου καὶ κατὰ μέλος ζητουμένου· οὔτε γὰρ εἰ ἀπόλλυται νοεῖται, οὔτε εἰ εὑρίσκεται δείκνυται. Τί δέ μοι λέγειν Ἄττην ἀποκοπτόμενον, ἢ Ἄδωνιν ἐν ὕλῃ ῥεμβόμενον καὶ κυνηγετοῦντα καὶ τιτρωσκόμενον ὑπὸ συός, ἢ Ἀσκληπιὸν κεραυνούμενον, καὶ Σάραπιν τὸν ἀπὸ Σινώπης φυγάδα εἰς Ἀλεξάνδρειαν γεγονότα, ἢ τὴν Σκυθίαν Ἄρτεμιν καὶ αὐτὴν φυγάδα γεγονυῖαν καὶ ἀνδροφόνον καὶ κυνηγέτιν καὶ τοῦ Ἐνδυμίωνος ἐρασθεῖσαν; Ταῦτα γὰρ οὐχ ἡμεῖς φαμεν, ἀλλὰ οἱ καθʼ ὑμᾶς συγγραφεῖς καὶ ποιηταὶ κηρύσσουσιν.
English · Claude translation
The names of the gods you say you worship are the names of dead men. And what men, and of what kind? Is not Kronos found to be a devourer of children, consuming his own offspring? And if you mention Zeus his son, learn his deeds and his conduct too. First, he was nursed on Ida by a goat, and, according to the myths, he killed her, flayed her, and made himself a garment of her skin. His other deeds, his incest with his sister, his adulteries, and his corruption of boys, are better told by Homer and the other poets. Why should I list the rest, about his sons: Heracles who burned himself, Dionysus drunk and raving, Apollo who feared Achilles and fled from him, who loved Daphne and did not foresee the death of Hyacinthus; or Aphrodite wounded, and Ares the bane of mortals, and even the ichor flowing from these so-called gods? And these are mild things to mention, when a god called Osiris is found torn limb from limb, for whom rites are held every year as though he were lost and found and sought limb by limb; for no one knows whether he is lost, and no one shows whether he is found. Why should I speak of Attis castrated, or Adonis roaming the woods and hunting and wounded by a boar, or Asclepius struck by lightning, and Sarapis who fled from Sinope to Alexandria, or the Scythian Artemis, herself a fugitive, a murderess and a huntress, who fell in love with Endymion? It is not we who say these things; your own historians and poets proclaim them.
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Theophilus, Autol. 1.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/1/9/).
Plain text
Theophilus, Autol. 1.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/1/9/).
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