To Autolycus 3.8

Summary: The philosophers and poets ascribe incest, lust, and bloodshed to their gods; so the charges of atheism, promiscuity, and cannibalism rebound on them.

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Greek text · Otto 8:210–212

Ἀρνούμενοι γὰρ θεοὺς εἶναι πάλιν ὁμολογοῦσιν αὐτοί, καὶ τούτους πράξεις ἀθέσμους ἐπιτελεῖν ἔφασαν. Καὶ πρώτου γε τοῦ Διὸς οἱ ποιηταὶ εὐφωνότερον ᾄδουσιν τὰς χαλεπὰς πράξεις. Χρύσιππος δέ, ὁ πολλὰ φλυαρήσας, πῶς οὐχὶ εὑρίσκεται σημαίνων τὴν Ἥραν στόματι μιαρῷ συγγίνεσθαι τῷ Διΐ; Τί γάρ μοι καταλέγειν τὰς ἀσελγείας τῆς μητρὸς θεῶν λεγομένης, ἢ Διὸς τοῦ Λατεαρίου διψῶντος αἵματος ἀνθρωπείου, ἢ Ἄττου τοῦ ἀποκοπτομένου, ἢ ὅτι ὁ Ζεὺς ὁ καλούμενος Τραγῳδός, κατακαύσας τὴν ἑαυτοῦ χεῖρα, ὥς φασιν, νῦν παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις θεὸς τιμᾶται; Σιγῶ τὰ Ἀντινόου τεμένη καὶ τὰ τῶν λοιπῶν καλουμένων θεῶν. Καὶ γὰρ ἱστορούμενα τοῖς συνετοῖς καταγέλωτα φέρει. Ἤτοι οὖν περὶ ἀθεότητος αὐτοὶ ὑπὸ τῶν ἰδίων δογμάτων ἐλέγχονται οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα φιλοσοφήσαντες, ἢ καὶ περὶ πολυμιξίας καὶ ἀθέσμου κοινωνίας· ἔτι μὴν καὶ ἀνθρωποβορία παρʼ αὐτοῖς εὑρίσκεται διʼ ὧν συνέγραψαν γραφῶν, καὶ πρώτους γε οὓς τετιμήκασιν θεοὺς ταῦτα πεπραχότας ἀναγράφουσιν.

English · Claude translation

Denying that there are gods, they then acknowledge them again, and say that these gods commit lawless deeds. And first of all the poets sing, in their sweetest tones, the grievous deeds of Zeus. And Chrysippus, who talked a great deal of nonsense, is he not found suggesting that Hera had intercourse with Zeus with a foul mouth? Why should I list the licentiousness of the so-called mother of the gods, or of Zeus Latiaris thirsting for human blood, or of Attis castrated, or how Zeus called Tragoedus, having burned his own hand, as they say, is now honored as a god among the Romans? I pass over in silence the precincts of Antinous and of the other so-called gods; for when these stories are told, they make intelligent people laugh. So those who have philosophized in this way are convicted by their own teachings, whether of atheism or of promiscuity and lawless intercourse; and cannibalism too is found among them in the writings they composed, and they record that the very gods they have honored were the first to do these things.

About this passage

Source
Otto 8:210–212 · Johann Carl Theodor Otto, ed., Theophili episcopi Antiocheni ad Autolycum libri tres, Corpus apologetarum Christianorum saeculi secundi 8 (Jena: Mauke, 1861) · Greek text: J. C. T. Otto, Theophili episcopi Antiocheni ad Autolycum libri tres (Corpus apologetarum Christianorum saeculi secundi 8, 1861), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Otto (1861); made independently of existing English translations.
Topics
Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

  • “Zeus Latiaris thirsting for human blood”: see Tatian, Or. Graec. 29. Antinous: see Tatian, Or. Graec. 10.

Cite this passage

Theophilus, Autol. 3.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/3/8/).

Plain text
Theophilus, Autol. 3.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/3/8/).

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