Oration to the Greeks 21
Summary: The incarnation is no more absurd than the Greek myths of gods in human form; and allegorizing the myths only abolishes the gods.
Greek text · Otto 6:90–94
Οὐ γὰρ μωραίνομεν, ἄνδρες Ἕλληνες, οὐδὲ λήρους ἀπαγγέλλομεν, θεὸν ἐν ἀνθρώπου μορφῇ γεγονέναι καταγγέλλοντες. Οἱ λοιδοροῦντες ἡμᾶς συγκρίνατε τοὺς μύθους ὑμῶν τοῖς ἡμετέροις διηγήμασι. Δηΐφοβος, ὥς φασιν, ἦν ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ διὰ τὸν Ἕκτορα, καὶ χάριν Ἀδμήτου Φοῖβος ἀκειρεκόμης τὰς εἰλίποδας βοῦς ἐποίμαινε, καὶ πρεσβύτις ἀφικνεῖται πρὸς τὴν Σεμέλην ἡ τοῦ Διὸς γαμετή. Τοιαῦτα δὲ μελετῶντες πῶς ἡμᾶς διαγελᾶτε; Τέθνηκεν ὑμῶν ὁ Ἀσκληπιός, καὶ ὁ τὰς πεντήκοντα παρθένους μιᾷ νυκτὶ Θεσπιάσι διακορεύσας βορᾷ πυρὸς ἑαυτὸν παραδοὺς οἴχεται. Προμηθεὺς τῷ Καυκάσῳ προσαρτηθεὶς τιμωρίαν χάριν τῆς εἰς ἀνθρώπους εὐεργεσίας ὑπήνεγκεν. Φθονερὸς ὁ Ζεὺς καθʼ ὑμᾶς, καὶ κρύπτει τὸν ὄνειρον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις βουλόμενος ἀπόλλυσθαι. Διόπερ ἀποβλέψαντες πρὸς τὰ οἰκεῖα ἀπομνημονεύματα κἂν ὡς ὁμοίως μυθολογοῦντας ἀποδέξασθε. Καὶ ἡμεῖς μὲν οὐκ ἀφραίνομεν, φλήναφα δὲ τὰ ὑμέτερα. Γένεσιν ἂν λέγητε θεῶν, καὶ θνητοὺς αὐτοὺς ἀποφανεῖσθε. Διὰ τί γὰρ οὐ κύει νῦν ἡ Ἥρα; Πότερον γεγήρακεν, ἢ τοῦ μηνύσαντος ὑμῖν ἀπορεῖται; Πείσθητέ μοι νῦν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἕλληνες, μηδὲ τοὺς μύθους μηδὲ τοὺς θεοὺς ὑμῶν ἀλληγορήσητε. Κἂν γὰρ τοῦτο πράττειν ἐπιχειρήσητε, θεότης ἡ καθʼ ὑμᾶς ἀνῄρηται καὶ ὑφʼ ὑμῶν· οἱ γὰρ τοιοῦτοι παρʼ ὑμῖν ὄντες οἱ δαίμονες, ὁποῖοι καὶ λέγονται, φαῦλοι τὸν τρόπον εἰσίν, ἢ μεταγενόμενοι πρὸς τὸ φυσικώτερον οὔκ εἰσιν οἷοι καὶ λέγονται. Σέβειν δὲ τῶν στοιχείων τὴν ὑπόστασιν οὔτʼ ἂν πεισθείην, οὔτʼ ἂν πείσαιμι τὸν πλησίον. Καὶ Μητρόδωρος δὲ ὁ Λαμψακηνὸς ἐν τῷ περὶ Ὁμήρου λίαν εὐήθως διείλεκται, πάντα εἰς ἀλληγορίαν μετάγων. Οὔτε γὰρ Ἥραν οὔτε Ἀθηνᾶν οὔτε Δία τοῦτʼ εἶναί φησιν ὅπερ οἱ τοὺς περιβόλους αὐτοῖς καὶ τεμένη καθιδρύσαντες νομίζουσι, φύσεως δὲ ὑποστάσεις καὶ στοιχείων διακοσμήσεις. Καὶ τὸν Ἕκτορα δὲ καὶ τὸν Ἀχιλλέα δηλαδὴ καὶ τὸν Ἀγαμέμνονα καὶ πάντας ἁπαξαπλῶς Ἕλληνάς τε καὶ βαρβάρους σὺν τῇ Ἑλένῃ καὶ τῷ Πάριδι, τῆς αὐτῆς φύσεως ὑπάρχοντας, χάριν οἰκονομίας ἐρεῖτε παρεισῆχθαι, οὐδενὸς ὄντος τῶν προειρημένων ἀνθρώπων. Ταῦτα δὲ ἡμεῖς προετείναμεν ὥσπερ ἐπὶ ὑποθέσεως· τὴν γὰρ ἡμετέραν περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ κατάληψιν οὐδὲ συγκρίνειν ὅσιον τοῖς εἰς ὕλην καὶ βόρβορον κυλινδουμένοις.
English · Claude translation
We are not fools, men of Greece, nor are we talking nonsense, when we proclaim that God was born in human form. You who revile us, compare your myths with our accounts. Athena, as they say, took the form of Deiphobus for Hector's sake; for Admetus's sake Phoebus of the unshorn hair herded the shambling cattle; and the wife of Zeus came to Semele as an old woman. When you study such things, how can you laugh at us? Your Asclepius died; and he who deflowered the fifty maidens at Thespiae in one night gave himself as food to the fire and is gone. Prometheus, fastened to the Caucasus, was punished for his kindness to human beings. According to you Zeus is envious, and hides the dream from people because he wants them to perish. So look at your own records, and accept us at least as telling similar stories. We are not out of our minds; it is your stories that are nonsense. If you speak of the birth of gods, you will show that they are mortal too. Why is Hera not pregnant now? Has she grown old, or has she no one to tell you? Believe me now, men of Greece: do not allegorize your myths and your gods. For if you try to do this, the divinity you believe in is abolished, and by you yourselves: either your demons are such as they are said to be, and then they are base in character; or, turned into something belonging to nature, they are not what they are said to be. I could not be persuaded to worship the substance of the elements, nor could I persuade my neighbor to. Metrodorus of Lampsacus, too, in his work On Homer, argued very foolishly, turning everything into allegory. He says that neither Hera nor Athena nor Zeus is what those who built enclosures and precincts for them think, but manifestations of nature and arrangements of the elements. And you will say, of course, that Hector and Achilles and Agamemnon, and all the Greeks and barbarians together with Helen and Paris, being of the same nature, were introduced for the sake of the plot, and that none of these persons existed. But we have put these things forward only for the sake of argument; for it is not right even to compare our understanding of God with those who wallow in matter and mud.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The Homeric episodes: Athena disguised as Deiphobus (Iliad 22.226–247); Apollo serving Admetus as a herdsman; Hera disguised as Semele's old nurse. “Phoebus of the unshorn hair” is a Homeric epithet (Iliad 20.39).
- “He who deflowered the fifty maidens” is Heracles, who died on the pyre on Mount Oeta.
- “Hides the dream” may refer to the deceptive dream Zeus sends Agamemnon (Iliad 2.1–34); the wording is obscure.
- Metrodorus of Lampsacus (fifth century BC) interpreted the Homeric heroes and gods as parts of nature.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (accent: grave on Κἂν before a following word; accent: grave on κἂν before a following word; accent: grave on ἂν before a following word; accent: grave on ἢ before a following word): κἄν ὡς ὁμοίως → κἂν ὡς ὁμοίως; Γένεσιν ἄν λέγητε → Γένεσιν ἂν λέγητε; ἤ τοῦ μηνύσαντος → ἢ τοῦ μηνύσαντος; Κἄν γὰρ τοῦτο → Κἂν γὰρ τοῦτο.
Cite this passage
Tatian, Or. Graec. 21 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tatian-oration/21/).
Plain text
Tatian, Or. Graec. 21 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tatian-oration/21/).
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