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PG 6 · cols. 889–972

Athenagoras Atheniensis philosophus Christianus, Legatio pro Christianis (Πρεσβεία περὶ Χριστιανῶν)

Editors' preface

PG 6:889
ΑΘΗΝΑΓΟΡΟΥ
ΑΘΗΝΑΙΟΥ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΟΥ ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΟΥ
ΠΡΕΣΒΕΙΑ ΠΕΡΙ ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΩΝ.
OF ATHENAGORAS
THE ATHENIAN, A CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER
PLEA ON BEHALF OF THE CHRISTIANS.
Αὐτοκράτορσι Μάρκῳ Αὐρηλίῳ Ἀντωνίνῳ, καὶ Λουκίῳ Αὐρηλίῳ Κομμόδῳ, Ἀρμενιακοῖς, Σαρματικοῖς, τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, φιλοσόφοις.
To the Emperors Marcus Aurelius Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus, conquerors of Armenia, conquerors of Sarmatia, and, what is greatest, philosophers.
Editors' notes and page, col. 889

Page

  • running head: (none)
  • marginal letters: A Αὐτοκράτορσι (2) Μάρκῳ; B δὲ ὁ θεράπων; C Λουκίῳ Αὐρηλίῳ.
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: full-width Greek and Latin title lines across cols. 889-890 cut off at right edge at top of column not set (ΑΘΗΝΑΓΟ..., ΑΘΗΝΑΙΟΥ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΟΥ ΧΡ..., ΠΡΕΣΒΕΙΑ ΠΕΡΙ ΧΡ..., ATHENAG..., ATHENIENSIS PHILOSOP..., LEGATIO PRO CH..., Conrado Gesnero inte...)
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1. Ἡ ὑμετέρα, μεγάλοι βασιλέων, οἰκουμένη ἄλλος ἄλλοις ἔθεσι χρῶνται καὶ νόμοις, καὶ οὐδεὶς αὐτῶν, νόμῳ καὶ φόβῳ δίκης, κἂν γελοῖα ᾖ, μὴ στέργειν τὰ πάτρια εἴργεται. Ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν Ἰλιεὺς θεὸν Ἕκτορα λέγει, καὶ τὴν Ἑλένην Ἀδράστειαν
1. In your world, great among kings, different men use different customs and laws, and none of them is barred by law or by fear of punishment from cherishing his ancestral ways, even if they are ridiculous. The man of Ilium calls Hector a god, and Helen Adrasteia
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Editors' notes and page, col. 890

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: title, Περὶ Χριστιανῶν (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 890

Περὶ Χριστιανῶν. Suffridus in suo codice reperit ὑπέρ, quod ei magis arridet quam περί. At immerito prorsus illud περί in suspicionem venit. Praeter exemplum ab Henrico Stephano allatum ex Isocrate in Helenae Encomio: Ἀπολογεῖσθαι μὲν γὰρ προσήκει περὶ τῶν ἀδικεῖν αἰτίαν ἐχόντων, multa alia proferri possunt ex sacris et ecclesiasticis scriptoribus. Sic in libro Job, cap. XLII, 28: Ἰὼβ δὲ ὁ θεράπων μου εὔξεται περὶ ὑμῶν, Job servus meus precabitur pro vobis. Non rara sunt in Scriptura ejusmodi exempla. In epist. Maximiani ad Cyrillum haec leguntur: Μὴ ἀμέλει τῆς περὶ ἡμῶν πρὸς τὸν Δεσπότην Χριστὸν πρεσβείας. Liber pro Judaeis a Philone scriptus, vocatur ab Eusebio ὁ περὶ Ἰουδαίων συνταχθεὶς λόγος, lib. II Hist., cap. 18. Non dubitat Valesius quin legendum sit ὑπὲρ Ἰουδαίων, quia Eusebius lib. VIII Praep. evang., cap. 10, locum profert ἐκ τῆς Φίλωνος ὑπὲρ Ἰουδαίων Ἀπολογίας. Sed cum Suidas librum Philonis περὶ Ἰουδαίων commemoret, cumque Ruffinus locum Eusebii sic vertat, De Judaeis apologeticus liber, quo etiam modo Hieronymus reddidit, nihil prorsus in Eusebio immutandum.

"Concerning Christians" (Peri Christianōn). Suffridus found hyper ("on behalf of") in his manuscript, which pleases him more than peri ("concerning"). But that peri has come under suspicion quite undeservedly. Besides the example brought by Henri Estienne from Isocrates' Encomium of Helen — "For it is fitting to make a defence concerning (peri) those who are charged with wrongdoing" — many others can be brought from the sacred and ecclesiastical writers. So in the book of Job, ch. 42, 28 [as printed]: "And Job my servant shall pray concerning (peri) you," Job my servant shall pray for you. Examples of this kind are not rare in Scripture. In the letter of Maximian to Cyril we read: "Do not neglect your intercession concerning (peri) us before the Lord Christ." The book written by Philo for the Jews is called by Eusebius "the discourse composed concerning (peri) the Jews," Hist. book 2, ch. 18. Valesius does not doubt that one should read hyper Ioudaiōn, because Eusebius, Praep. evang. book 8, ch. 10, quotes a passage "from Philo's Apology on behalf of (hyper) the Jews." But since Suidas mentions Philo's book peri Ioudaiōn, and Rufinus renders the place in Eusebius thus, "an apologetic book on the Jews," which is also how Jerome rendered it, nothing at all is to be changed in Eusebius.

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(2) ‹anchor: Αὐτοκράτορσι› · call in col 890

Αὐτοκράτορσι. Sic uterque Reg. et Clarom. Editi αὐτοκράτορσιν.

"To the emperors" (Autokratorsi). So both Reg. [Royal manuscripts] and Clarom. [the Clermont manuscript]. The editions have autokratorsin.

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(3) ‹anchor: Μάρκῳ Αὐρηλίῳ Ἀντωνίνῳ› · call in col 890

Ἀντωνίνῳ. Codices nonnulli Ἀντωνίῳ. Desunt in codice Etonensi hae voces Ἀντωνίνῳ καὶ Λουκίῳ Αὐρηλίῳ.

"Antoninus." Some manuscripts have Antōniō. The words "Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius" are missing in the Eton manuscript.

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(4) ‹anchor: Λουκίῳ Αὐρηλίῳ Κομμόδῳ› · call in col 890

Κομμόδῳ. Nonnulli codices Κομόδῳ.

"Commodus." Some manuscripts have Komodō (with one m).

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(5) ‹anchor: μεγάλοι βασιλέων› · call in col 890

Μεγάλοι βασιλέων. Legendum existimat H. Stephanus μέγιστοι.

"Great ones among kings." H. Stephanus (Henri Estienne) thinks one should read megistoi ("greatest").

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(6) ‹anchor: οἰκουμένη› · call in col 890

Οἰκουμένη. Sic vocari solet Romanum imperium. Caius apud Josephum Antiq. lib. XIX, p. 653, dicitur malis et sycophantiis replevisse πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἧς ἐπῆρχε, totum orbem cui imperabat; et pag. 666, imperium Romanum vocatur ὑποτελοῦσα Ῥωμαίοις οἰκουμένη. Episcopi Valentis aulae addicti vocantur a Gregorio Naz. orat. 20, p. 338, saevi tetrarchae orbis ipsi parentis, οἱ πικροὶ τετράρχαι τῆς ὑπ' αὐτὸν οἰκουμένης. Vid. epist. 42 S. Basilii. Sic etiam vocantur interdum non latissimae regiones. Hieronymus observat illud Isaiae: Et visitabo super orbis mala, ubi Hebraice dicitur Thebel et Graece οἰκουμένη, non de mundi consummatione intelligendum, sed de Babylonis ruina.

"The inhabited world" (oikoumenē). This is the usual name for the Roman Empire. Gaius, in Josephus, Antiquities book 19, p. 653, is said to have filled with evils and false accusations "the whole oikoumenē which he ruled," the whole world over which he held command; and on p. 666 the Roman Empire is called "the oikoumenē subject to the Romans." The bishops attached to the court of Valens are called by Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 20, p. 338, cruel tetrarchs of the world obedient to him, "the bitter tetrarchs of the oikoumenē under him." See St Basil's letter 42. Sometimes, too, regions that are not very wide are so called. Jerome observes that the saying of Isaiah, "And I will visit evils upon the world," where the Hebrew has Thebel and the Greek oikoumenē, is to be understood not of the end of the world but of the ruin of Babylon.

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(7) ‹anchor: τὴν Ἑλένην Ἀδράστειαν› · call in col 890

Τὴν Ἑλένην Ἀδράστειαν. Mirum sane est Ilienses tantum honoris habuisse Helenae, quae tot illis malorum causa exstiterat. Sed Ilienses, ut observat Eustathius Iliad. Δ, p. 590, et Η, p. 666, Herculem oderant, quamvis urbem non evertisset; Achilli autem, Antilocho, Patroclo, Ajaci, qui eam solo aequaverant, parentare non dubitabant, quia bellum Herculis honorificum Trojae non fuerat, at postremam cladem plurimum laudis et gloriae compensabat. Hinc forte Helenam colere non veriti sunt. Cur autem Helena sub Adrastiae nomine culta fuerit, illustrari potest ex Eustathio, qui docet in Δ Odyss., p. 1488; Helenam ab Homero cum Artemide comparari ac inde scriptores Homero posteriores ansam arripuisse, ut quia Artemis allegorice luna dicitur, Helenam lunarem mulierem fingerent, ut ex mundo lunari delapsam, eamque sursum postea (continues)

"Helen as Adrasteia." It is indeed strange that the people of Ilium paid such honour to Helen, who had been the cause of so many evils for them. But the people of Ilium, as Eustathius observes on Iliad Δ, p. 590, and Η, p. 666, hated Hercules, although he had not overthrown their city; yet they did not hesitate to offer funeral rites to Achilles, Antilochus, Patroclus and Ajax, who had levelled it to the ground, because the war of Hercules had brought Troy no honour, whereas the final disaster made up for it with a great deal of praise and glory. Perhaps that is why they were not afraid to worship Helen. Why Helen was worshipped under the name of Adrasteia can be illustrated from Eustathius, who teaches on Odyssey Δ, p. 1488, that Helen is compared by Homer to Artemis, and that writers after Homer seized on this as a handle, so that, since Artemis is allegorically called the moon, they made Helen out to be a lunar woman, as if she had fallen from the lunar world, and [that] she afterwards (continues)

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Page

  • running head: (none)
  • marginal letters: A Imperatoribus M. Aurelio; B χαι τῆς ὑπ'; C Artemide comparari ac
  • old-edition numerals: 279 before 1.
  • other: facing Latin version, not set; full-width Greek and Latin title lines across cols. 889-890 cut off at left edge at top of column
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Editors' notes and page, col. 891

Footnotes

(8) ‹anchor: ἐπιστάμενος› · call in col 891

Ἐπιστάμενος. Vertit Gesnerus Helenam, veluti Adrastiam, scientes adorant. Sed haec videntur explicari posse ex his quae infra n. 14, leguntur: Ἐπεὶ μὴ τοὺς αὐτοὺς οἷς ἴσασι νομίζομεν. Quod non eosdem, quos ipsi agnoscunt, asciscamus deos. Apud Eusebium Hist. VII, 11, sic Aemilianus alloquitur Dionysium: Θεοὺς γὰρ σέβειν ἐκελεύσθητε καὶ θεοὺς οὓς πάντες ἴσασι. Illud ergo ἐπιστάμενος idem videtur esse ac agnoscens.

"Knowing" (epistamenos). Gesner translated: "knowingly they worship Helen as Adrastia." But this seems explicable from what is read below, n. 14: "since we do not hold [as gods] the same ones whom they know," because we do not adopt the same gods whom they themselves acknowledge. In Eusebius, Hist. 7.11, Aemilian addresses Dionysius thus: "For you were ordered to worship gods, and gods whom all know." That epistamenos, then, seems to mean the same as "acknowledging."

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(9) ‹anchor: Ἀγαμέμνονα› · call in col 891

Ἀγαμέμνονα. Sic vocatur Agamemnon apud Clement. Alex. Protrept., pag. 24, et apud Lycophronem vers. 85, ubi observat Tzetzes sic olim reges appellari solitos fuisse. Idem observat Eustathius in Iliad. p. 166. Saepe alias nomina deorum hominibus affinguntur. Paulo post Athenagoras Erechtheum vocat Neptunum, Agesilaum Plutonem Lactantius lib. I, cap. 11. Observat Clemens Alexandrinus Protrept. p. 36, non reges solum nomina deorum sibi arrogasse, ut Dionysii, seu Bacchi Ptolemaeum quartum et Mithridatem, sed idem ausos esse ipsos etiam privatos, ut Menecratem medicum, et Nicagoram, quorum prior Jupiter, alter Mercurius vocabatur. Hinc etiam Aristarchus Jupiter apud Athenaeum lib. III, cap. 20. Vid. lib. VI, et lib. VII et lib. XIII.

"Agamemnon." Agamemnon is so called [i.e. as a god, Zeus Agamemnon] in Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus, p. 24, and in Lycophron, line 85, where Tzetzes observes that kings were once commonly so named. Eustathius observes the same on the Iliad, p. 166. Often elsewhere the names of gods are attached to men. A little later Athenagoras calls Erechtheus Neptune; Lactantius, book 1, ch. 11, calls Agesilaus Pluto. Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus p. 36, observes that not only did kings claim the names of gods for themselves — as Ptolemy IV and Mithridates that of Dionysus or Bacchus — but private persons also dared the same, such as Menecrates the physician and Nicagoras, the former of whom was called Jupiter, the latter Mercury. Hence also "Aristarchus Jupiter" in Athenaeus, book 3, ch. 20. See book 6, and book 7, and book 13.

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(10) ‹anchor: Τένvην Ὀδίαν› · call in col 891

Τέννην Ὀδίαν. Variae in hunc locum lectiones et conjecturae, de quibus judicium erit eruditi lectoris. Codex Reg. 1 habet τένι ἡοδίαν, secundus Τέvν Ὀδίαν, codex orat. Τένην ὀδίαν. Suffridus in codice suo reperit Ὀτρύνην Ὀδίαν; hinc vertit: Caduceatricem Triviam sive Proserpinam, quam et Ὀδίαν apud Graecos dici, ut Triviam apud Latinos existimat, quia eadem est ac Hecate, et Ὀτρύνην ab impellendo, quia suum habet ut Mercurius caduceum; et mortuos ad inferos deducit. Addit idem Suffridus Phylonoen eamdem esse ac Proserpinam caduceatricem, et tollit καὶ ante Ὀτρύνην. Gesnerus legendum putat Τέννην Τενέδιος, quia, ut ait Cicero III act. in Verr. Tenem apud Tenedios putant esse sanctissimum Deum ac eorum urbem condidisse. Porro sive Tennem, sive Tenem scribas, perinde est. Conon apud Photium cod. 18, scribit cum duplici ν. Langus legit τὴν Ὀδίαν, et compitalem Proserpinam interpretatur, Meursius mavult, τὴν ἐνοδίαν, ac Dianam ita cognominatam esse declarat. lib. I, cap. 2, Miscell. Laconic.

"Tennes Hodia." There are various readings and conjectures on this place, on which the learned reader will judge. Codex Reg. 1 has teni hēodian, the second Tenn Odian, the Oratory manuscript Tenēn odian. Suffridus found Otrynēn Odian in his manuscript; hence he translates "Trivia the herald-staff bearer, or Proserpina," whom he thinks was called Hodia ("of the road") among the Greeks as Trivia was among the Latins, because she is the same as Hecate, and Otrynē from "urging on," because like Mercury she has her herald's staff and leads the dead down to the underworld. The same Suffridus adds that Phylonoe is the same as Proserpina the staff-bearer, and removes the kai before Otrynēn. Gesner thinks one should read Tennēn Tenedios ("Tennes of Tenedos"), because, as Cicero says in the third action against Verres, the people of Tenedos think Tenes a most holy god and the founder of their city. Whether you write Tennes or Tenes makes no difference; Conon, in Photius codex 18, writes it with a double n. Langus reads tēn Hodian, and translates "Proserpina of the crossroads"; Meursius prefers tēn enodian, and states that Diana was so surnamed — Miscellanea Laconica, book 1, ch. 2.

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(11) ‹anchor: ἐθέλωσιν› · call in col 891

Ἐθέλωσιν. Reg. 1, et tres Romani codices θέλωσιν prima manu.

"They wish" (ethelōsin). Reg. 1 and three Roman manuscripts have thelōsin in the first hand.

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(12) ‹anchor: τούτοις πᾶσιν› · call in col 891

Τούτοις πᾶσιν. Clarom. et tres Anglicani codices τούτων πᾶσιν.

"To all these" (toutois pasin). The Clermont manuscript and three English manuscripts have toutōn pasin.

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(13) ‹anchor: ἀπέχωνται› · call in col 891

Ἀπέχωνται. Reg. 1 et uterque Ottobon. ἀπόσχωνται.

"They abstain" (apechōntai). Reg. 1 and both Ottoboni manuscripts have aposchōntai.

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(14) ‹anchor: ἡμῖν δέ› · call in col 891

Ἡμῖν δέ. Monet H. Stephanus legendum esse ἡμῶν δέ, sed videtur loci emendationem tantum inchoasse. Legitur in Reg. 1 et Orat. ἀπεχθάνεται. Unde facile est accuratam et cum iis quae sequuntur congruentem sententiam habere. Quare sic legendum videtur: Ἡμῶν δὲ.. τὸ ὄνομα τί ἀπεχθάνεται; Cum hac scriptura quadrat quod sequitur: Οὐ γὰρ τὰ ὀνόματα, etc. Quare etiamsi retineamus ἀπεχθάνεσθε, legendum erit: Ἡμῶν δὲ τῷ ὀνόματι τί ἀπεχθαίνεσθε. Legitur ὑμῖν δέ in codice Institutionis Pariensis Oratorii.

"But to us" (hēmin de). H. Stephanus advises reading hēmōn de, but seems only to have begun the emendation of the place. Reg. 1 and the Oratory manuscript read apechthanetai ("is hated"). From this it is easy to get an exact sense that agrees with what follows. So it seems one should read: "But our … name, why is it hated?" What follows fits this reading: "For names are not," etc. So even if we keep apechthanesthe, we shall have to read: "But why do you hate our name?" The manuscript of the Paris Oratory reads hymin de.

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(15) ‹anchor: πρὸς ἅπαντα› · call in col 891

Πρὸς ἅπαντα. Reg. 1 et alter Ottobon. habent πρὸς ἅπαντας.

"Towards all things" (pros hapanta). Reg. 1 and the other Ottoboni manuscript have pros hapantas ("towards all people").

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(16) ‹anchor: μηδὲν ἀδικοῦντας› · call in col 891

Μηδὲν ἀδικοῦντας. Reg. 1 et uterque Ottobon. μηδένα ἀδικοῦντας. Ibidem Reg. 1 συγχωρεῖται.

"Doing no wrong" (mēden adikountas). Reg. 1 and both Ottoboni manuscripts have mēdena adikountas ("wronging no one"). In the same place Reg. 1 has synchōreitai.

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(17) ‹anchor: ἐλαύνεσθαι› · call in col 891

Ἐλαύνεσθαι. Dodwelli in hunc locum perabsurda observatio legitur dissert. 11, Cypr. n. 38: Non dicit ipsos persecutionum auctores, inquit, fuis- (continues)

"To be driven" (elaunesthai). A quite absurd remark of Dodwell's on this place is read in his Dissertationes Cyprianicae 11, n. 38: "He does not say that they themselves were the authors of the persecutions," he says, "[that they] had (continues)

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Page

  • running head: 891 ATHENAGORAE PHILOSOPH
  • marginal letters: A Iliensis Hectorem deum; B abstineant maleficio. Nostrum; C narratur homil. 2,; D reges appellari solitos
  • old-edition numerals: 280 before Neptuno
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
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ἐπιστάμενος προσκυνεῖ· ὁ δὲ Λακεδαιμόνιος Ἀγαμέμνονα Δία, καὶ Φυλονόην τὴν Τυνδάρεω θυγατέρα, καὶ Τέννην Ὁδίαν σέβει· ὁ δὲ Ἀθηναῖος Ἐρεχθεῖ Ποσειδῶνι θύει· καὶ Ἀγραύλῳ Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ τελετὰς καὶ μυστήρια ἄγουσι καὶ Πανδρόσῳ, αἳ ἐνομίσθησαν ἀσεβεῖν, ἀνοίξασαι τὴν λάρνακα. Καὶ ἑνὶ λόγῳ, κατὰ ἔθνη καὶ δήμους θυσίας κατάγουσιν, ἃς ἂν ἐθέλωσιν ἄνθρωποι, καὶ μυστήρια. Οἱ δὲ Αἰγύπτιοι καὶ αἰλούρους καὶ κροκοδείλους καὶ ὄφεις καὶ ἀσπίδας καὶ κύνας θεοὺς νομίζουσι. Καὶ τούτοις πᾶσιν ἐπιτρέπετε καὶ ὑμεῖς καὶ οἱ νόμοι· τὸ μὲν οὖν μηδ' ὅλως Θεὸν ἡγεῖσθαι ἀσεβὲς καὶ ἀνόσιον νομίσαντες· τὸ δὲ οἷς ἕκαστος βούλεται χρῆσθαι ὡς θεοῖς, ἀναγκαῖον· ἵνα τῷ πρὸς τὸ θεῖον δέει ἀπέχωνται τοῦ ἀδικεῖν. Ἡμῖν δὲ (καὶ μὴ παρακρουσθῆτε, ὡς οἱ πολλοὶ, ἐξ ἀκοῆς) τῷ ὀνόματι ἀπεχθάνεσθε. Οὐ γὰρ τὰ ὀνόματα μίσους ἄξια, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀδίκημα δίκης καὶ τιμωρίας. Διόπερ τὸ πρᾶον ὑμῶν καὶ ἥμερον καὶ τὸ πρὸς ἅπαντα εἰρηνικὸν καὶ φιλάνθρωπον θαυμάζοντες, οἱ μὲν καθ' ἕνα ἰσονομοῦνται, αἱ δὲ πόλεις πρὸς ἀξίαν τῆς ἴσης μετέχουσι τιμῆς· καὶ ἡ σύμπασα οἰκουμένη τῇ ὑμετέρᾳ συνέσει βαθείας εἰρήνης ἀπολαύουσιν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ οἱ λεγόμενοι Χριστιανοὶ (ὅτι μὴ προνενόησθε καὶ ἡμῶν, συγχωρεῖτε δὲ, μηδὲν ἀδικοῦντας, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάντων, ὡς προϊόντος τοῦ λόγου δειχθήσεται, εὐσεβέστατα διακειμένους καὶ δικαιότατα πρός τε τὸ θεῖον καὶ τὴν ὑμετέραν βασιλείαν, ἐλαύνεσθαι καὶ
knowing her to be such; the Lacedaemonian reveres Agamemnon as Zeus, and Phylonoe the daughter of Tyndareus, and Tennes and Hodia; and the Athenian sacrifices to Erechtheus Poseidon; and the Athenians celebrate both rites and mysteries to Agraulos and Pandrosos, who were deemed guilty of impiety for having opened the chest. And in a word, according to nations and peoples, men perform whatever sacrifices and mysteries they wish. The Egyptians, moreover, reckon even cats, and crocodiles, and serpents, and asps, and dogs to be gods. And to all these both you and the laws grant permission, deeming it impious and unholy to believe in no God at all, and necessary that each man should worship as gods those whom he wishes, in order that through fear of the divine they may refrain from doing wrong. Yet with us (and be not deceived by hearsay, like the multitude) you are displeased because of our name. For names are not worthy of hatred, but wrongdoing is worthy of trial and punishment. Wherefore, admiring your mildness and gentleness, and your peacefulness and humanity towards all, individuals live under equal laws, and cities according to their dignity partake of equal honour, and the whole empire through your wisdom enjoys profound peace. But we who are called Christians, because you have not taken forethought for us also, although we do no wrong, nay, as will be shown as our discourse proceeds, are of all men most piously and most justly disposed towards both the Deity and your empire, you allow to be harassed and
Editors' notes and page, col. 892

Page

  • running head: RAE PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI 892
  • marginal letters: A ἐπιστάμενος (8) προσκυνεῖ·; B κρουσθῆτε, ὡς οἱ; C Latinos existimat, quia; D (14) Ἡμῖν δέ.
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: (none)
PG 6:893
φέρεσθαι καὶ διώκεσθαι, ἐπὶ μόνῳ ὀνόματι προσπολεμούντων ἡμῖν τῶν πολλῶν) μηνῦσαι τὰ καθ' ἑαυτοὺς ἐτολμήσαμεν (διδαχθήσεσθε δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου ἄτερ δίκης καὶ παρὰ πάντα νόμον καὶ λόγον πάσχοντας ἡμᾶς), καὶ δεόμεθα ὑμῶν καὶ περὶ ἡμῶν τι σκέψασθαι, ὅπως παυσώμεθά ποτε ὑπὸ τῶν συκοφαντῶν σφαττόμενοι. Οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰς χρήματα ἡ παρὰ τῶν διωκόντων ζημία, οὐδὲ εἰς ἐπιτιμίαν ἡ αἰσχύνη, ἢ εἰς ἄλλο τι τῶν μειζόνων ἡ βλάβη (τούτων γὰρ καταφρονοῦμεν, κἂν τοῖς πολλοῖς δοκῇ σπουδαῖά γε ὄντα· οὐ μόνον τὸ ἀντιπαίειν, οὐδὲ μὴν δικάζεσθαι τοῖς ἄγουσι καὶ ἁρπάζουσιν ἡμᾶς, μεμαθηκότες· ἀλλὰ τοῖς μὲν, κἂν κατὰ κόῤῥης προσπηλακίζωσι, καὶ τὸ ἕτερον παίειν παρέχειν τῆς κεφαλῆς μέρος· τοῖς δὲ, εἰ τὸν χιτῶνα ἀφαιροῖντο, ἐπιδιδόναι καὶ τὸ ἱμάτιον), ἀλλ' εἰς τὰ σώματα καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς, ὅταν ἀπείπωμεν τοῖς χρήμασιν, ἐπιβουλεύουσιν ἡμῖν, κατασκεδάζοντες ὄχλον ἐγκλημάτων· ἃ ἡμῖν μὲν οὐδὲ μέχρις ὑπονοίας, τοῖς δὲ ἀδολεσχοῦσι καὶ τῷ ἐκείνων πρόσεστι γένει.
carried off and chased, while the multitude make war upon us for the name alone), we have ventured to declare our own case (and you will be taught by our account that we suffer without trial and contrary to all law and reason), and we beseech you to take some thought concerning us also, so that we may at last cease to be slaughtered by false accusers. For the loss inflicted by our persecutors does not touch our money, nor the disgrace our civil honour, nor the injury any other of the greater matters (for these things we despise, even though to the multitude they appear worthy of serious concern, having learned not only not to strike back, nor indeed to go to law with those who plunder and rob us, but to some, even if they smite us on the side of the head in insult, to offer the other part of the head also for smiting, and to others, if they would take away the tunic, to give besides the cloak also), but when we have renounced our property, they plot against our bodies and our souls, pouring down upon us a crowd of accusations, which do not attach to us even so far as suspicion, but belong to the idle talkers themselves and to their race.
2. Καὶ εἰ μέν τις ἡμᾶς ἐλέγχειν ἔχει ἢ μικρὸν ἢ μεῖζον ἀδικοῦντας, κολάζεσθαι οὐ παραιτούμεθα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἥτις πικροτάτη καὶ ἀνηλεὴς τιμωρία, ὑπέχειν ἀξιοῦμεν. Εἰ δὲ μέχρις ὀνόματος ἡ κατηγορία (εἰς γοῦν τὴν σήμερον ἡμέραν ἃ περὶ ἡμῶν λογοποιοῦσιν, ἡ κοινὴ καὶ ἄκριτος τῶν ἀνθρώπων φήμη, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἀδικῶν Χριστιανὸς ἐλήλεγκται), ὑμῶν ἤδη ἔργον τ⟨ῶ⟩ν μεγίστων καὶ φιλανθρώπων καὶ φιλομαθεστάτων βασιλέων ἀποσκευάσαι ἡμῶν νόμῳ τὴν ἐπήρειαν · ἵν' ὥσπερ ἡ σύμπασα ταῖς παρ' ὑμῶν εὐεργεσίαις καὶ καθ' ἕνα κεκοινώνηκε καὶ κατὰ πόλεις, καὶ ἡμεῖς ἔχωμεν ὑμῖν χάριν, σεμνυνόμενοι, ὅτι πεπαύμεθα συκοφαντούμενοι. Καὶ γὰρ οὐ πρὸς τῆς ὑμετέρας δικαιοσύνης, τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους, αἰτίαν λαβόντας ἀδικημάτων, μὴ πρότερον ἢ ἐλεγχθῆναι κολάζεσθαι· ἐφ' ἡμῶν δὲ μεῖζον ἰσχύειν τὸ ὄνομα τῶν ἐπὶ τῇ δίκῃ ἐλέγχων· οὐκ εἰ ἠδίκησέ τι ὁ κρινόμενος, τῶν δικαζόντων ἐπιζητούντων, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸ ὄνομα, ὡς εἰς ἀδίκημα, ἐνυβριζόντων. Οὐδὲν δὲ ὄνομα ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ καὶ δι' αὑτοῦ οὐ πονηρὸν οὔτε χρηστὸν νομίζεται· διὰ δὲ τὰς ὑποκειμένας αὐτοῖς ἢ πονηρὰς ἢ ἀγαθὰς πράξεις, ἢ φλαῦρα ἢ ἀγαθὰ δοκεῖ. Ὑμεῖς δὲ ταῦτα ἴστε φανερώτερον, ὡσανεὶ ἀπὸ φιλοσοφίας καὶ παιδείας πάσης ὁρμώμενοι. Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ οἱ παρ' ὑμῖν κρινόμενοι, κἂν ἐπὶ μεγίστοις φεύγωσι, θαῤῥοῦσιν, εἰδότες, ὅτι ἐξετάσετε
2. And if indeed anyone is able to convict us of doing wrong in either a small or a greater matter, we do not ask to be excused from punishment, but demand to undergo even whatever penalty is most bitter and merciless. But if the accusation goes no further than the name (at least down to the present day the stories they fabricate about us are the common and unexamined rumour of men, and no Christian has been convicted of wrongdoing), it is now your work, as the greatest and most humane and most learned emperors, to remove by law the outrage against us; so that, just as the whole world has shared in the benefactions from you both individually and by cities, we also may give thanks to you, taking pride that we have ceased to be falsely accused. For indeed it does not belong to your justice that others, when charged with wrongdoings, are not punished before they are convicted, whereas in our case the name has greater force than the proofs at the trial, the judges not inquiring whether the person on trial has done any wrong, but insulting the name as though it were a crime. Yet no name in itself and of itself is accounted either evil or good, but because of the evil or good actions underlying them they appear either base or good. And you know these things more clearly, inasmuch as you set out from philosophy and all learning. Wherefore those also who are tried before you, even though they are defendants on the greatest charges, take courage, knowing that you will examine
Editors' notes and page, col. 893

Page

  • running head: 893 LEGATIO PRO CHRIS
  • marginal letters: A φέρεσθαι καὶ; B δόναι καὶ; C τὴν ἐπήρειαν; D τοῦτο καὶ
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: damaged type in τ⟨ῶ⟩ν
PG 6:894
Editors' notes and page, col. 894

Footnotes

(18) ‹anchor: (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 894

Παυσώμεθα. Clarom. et unus ex Anglicanis, παυσόμεθα.

"That we may cease" (pausōmetha). The Clermont manuscript and one of the English ones have pausometha ("we shall cease").

(printed under page 477)

(19) ‹anchor: ἡ κοινὴ› · call in col 894

Ἡ κοινή. Delendum articulum monet H. Stephanus et paulo post legendum φιλανθρωποτάτων.

"The common" (hē koinē). H. Stephanus advises deleting the article, and a little after reading philanthrōpotatōn ("most humane").

(printed under page 477)

(20) ‹anchor: ἡ σύμπασα› · call in col 894

Ἡ σύμπασα. Deesse hic vocem οἰκουμένη aut aliam similem existimat Stephanus, sed forte supplenda magis quam deesse existimanda.

"The whole" (hē sympasa). Stephanus thinks the word oikoumenē ("inhabited world"), or another like it, is missing here; but perhaps it should be thought of as understood rather than missing.

(printed under page 477)

(21) ‹anchor: δικαζόντων ἐπιζητούντων› · call in col 894

Ἐπιζητούντων. Deest in tribus Anglicanis.

"Inquiring" (epizētountōn). Missing in three English manuscripts.

(printed under page 477)

(22) ‹anchor: μεγίστοις φεύγωσι› · call in col 894

Φεύγωσι. Uterque Regius et Orat. φεύγουσι.

"They are prosecuted" (pheugōsi). Both Royal manuscripts and the Oratory manuscript have pheugousi.

(printed under page 477)

Page

  • running head: IO PRO CHRISTIANIS. 894
  • marginal letters: A perio vestro; B si tunicam; C vestrum jam; D haec clarius
  • old-edition numerals: 281 after Sin
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:895
Editors' notes and page, col. 895

Footnotes

(23) ‹anchor: ἐν ἴσῃ τάξει (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 895

Ἐν ἴσῃ τάξει. Ante haec verba videtur deesse conjunctio copulativa, quam quidem in interpretando supplevimus. Henricus Stephanus eam collocat ante εἰδότες, quod idem esse putat ac διὰ τὸ εἰδέναι. Videtur ergo Stephanus sic intellexisse has voces ἐν ἴσῃ τάξει, etc., aequo animo sententiam damnantem et absolventem excipiunt vel exspectant. Mox tres Angl. ἐφ' ὅτῳ. Ducaeus ἐφ' ὅσων. Alii ἐφ' ὅτων.

"In equal order" (en isē taxei). Before these words a copulative conjunction seems to be missing, which we have supplied in translating. Henri Estienne places it before eidotes ("knowing"), which he takes to be the same as dia to eidenai ("because they know"). Stephanus therefore seems to have understood the words en isē taxei, etc., thus: "they receive, or await, with an even mind the sentence that condemns and the sentence that acquits." Just after, three English manuscripts have eph' hotō; Ducaeus (Fronton du Duc) eph' hosōn; others eph' hotōn.

(printed under page 478)

(24) ‹anchor: τοὺς ἀπὸ φιλοσοφίας (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 895

Τοὺς ἀπὸ φιλοσοφίας. Hoc argumentum, quo utitur S. Justinus Apol. I, n. 5, eo majoris est ponderis, quod philosophi statuas et deos irridebant, nec tamen ob eam rem male audiebant, aut sacrificare cogebantur. Cur ergo, inquit Tertullianus Apol. 46, quibus comparamur de disciplina, proinde illis non adaequamur ad licentiam impunitatemque disciplinae? Vel cur et illi, ut pares nostri non urgentur ad officia, quae nos non obeuntes periclitamur? Quis enim philosophum sacrificare aut dejerare aut lucernas meridie vanas proferre compellit? Quinimo et deos vestros palam destruunt, et superstitiones vestras commentariis quoque accusant, laudantibus vobis.

"Those from philosophy." This argument, which St Justin uses in Apology 1, n. 5, carries all the more weight because the philosophers mocked statues and gods, and yet were not ill spoken of for it, nor compelled to sacrifice. "Why then," says Tertullian, Apology 46, "are we not put on a par, as regards freedom and impunity for our teaching, with those to whom we are compared in teaching? Or why are they too, as our equals, not pressed to the duties which we are endangered for not performing? For who compels a philosopher to sacrifice, or to swear, or to set out useless lamps at midday? On the contrary, they openly demolish your gods and attack your superstitions in their writings too, with your applause."

(printed under page 478)

(25) ‹anchor: φήμης ἀποδυσάμενοι› · call in col 895

Ἀποδυσάμενοι. Videtur Athenagoras Justinum imitari et falsas criminationes, ut prava quaedam integumenta considerare, quae Christianae doctrinae, ut ait Justinus Apol. II, n. 13, improbi homines ad alios deterrendos injecerant. Si quis tamen hanc vocem ἀποδυσάμενοι idem esse velit ac postquam depulerimus, non repugnabo, sed tunc legendum erit ἀπολυσάμενοι, ut paulo ante et passim.

"Having stripped off" (apodysamenoi). Athenagoras seems to be imitating Justin, and to regard the false accusations as certain wicked coverings which, as Justin says in Apology 2, n. 13, wicked men had thrown over Christian doctrine to deter others. If anyone, however, would have this word apodysamenoi mean the same as "after we have repelled," I will not object; but then one will have to read apolysamenoi, as a little before and throughout.

(printed under page 478)

(26) ‹anchor: Οἰδιποδείους› · call in col 895

Οἰδιποδείους. Reg. uterque, Orat. et tres Angl. Οἰδιποδίους.

"Oedipodean" (Oidipodeious). Both Royal manuscripts, the Oratory manuscript and three English ones have Oidipodious.

(printed under page 478)

(27) ‹anchor: τῶν ἐναντίων› · call in col 895

Τῶν ἐναντίων. Elegantius et ornatius fore existimat Stephanus si legatur καὶ ἐναντίων, sed inutili prorsus opera, cum locus nec corruptus sit, (continues)

"Of the opposites" (tōn enantiōn). Stephanus thinks it would be more elegant and ornate if one read kai enantiōn; but this is labour wholly wasted, since the place is neither corrupt (continues)

(printed under page 478)

Page

  • running head: 895 ATHENAGORAE PHILOSOPHI
  • marginal letters: A vos judicantur; B losophis judicium; C ctrinae ac; D (none)
  • old-edition numerals: 282 before quae temerarius
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:896
αὐτῶν τὸν βίον, καὶ οὔτε τοῖς ὀνόμασι προσθήσεσθε, ἂν ᾖ κενὰ, οὔτε ταῖς ἀπὸ τῶν κατηγοριῶν αἰτίαις, εἰ ψευδεῖς εἶεν· ἐν ἴσῃ τάξει τὴν καταδικάζουσαν τῆς ἀπολυούσης δέχονται ψῆφον. Τὸ τοίνυν πρὸς ἅπαντας ἴσον καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀξιοῦμεν, μὴ ὅτι Χριστιανοὶ λεγόμεθα, μισεῖσθαι καὶ κολάζεσθαι (τί γὰρ ἡμῖν τὸ ὄνομα πρὸς κακίαν τελεῖ ; ) ἀλλὰ κρίνεσθαι ἐφ' ὅτων ἂν καὶ εὐθύνῃ τις, καὶ ἢ ἀφίεσθαι ἀπολυομένους τὰς κατηγορίας, ἢ κολάζεσθαι τοὺς ἁλισκομένους πονηρούς · μὴ ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι (οὐδεὶς γὰρ Χριστιανὸς πονηρὸς, εἰ μὴ ὑποκρίνεται τὸν λόγον), ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ ἀδικήματι. Οὕτω καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ φιλοσοφίας κρινομένους ὁρῶμεν. Οὐδεὶς αὐτῶν πρὸ κρίσεως διὰ τὴν ἐπιστήμην ἢ τέχνην ἀγαθὸς ἢ πονηρὸς τῷ δικαστῇ εἶναι δοκεῖ· ἀλλὰ δόξας μὲν εἶναι ἄδικος, κολάζεται, οὐδὲν τῇ φιλοσοφίᾳ προστριψάμενος ἔγκλημα (ἐκεῖνος γὰρ πονηρὸς, ὁ μὴ, ὡς νόμος, φιλοσοφῶν· ἡ δὲ ἐπιστήμη ἀναίτιος), ἀπολυσάμενος δὲ τὰς διαβολὰς, ἀφίεται. Ἔστω δὴ τὸ ἴσον καὶ ἐφ' ἡμῶν· ὁ τῶν κρινομένων ἐξεταζέσθω βίος· τὸ δὲ ὄνομα παντὸς ἀφείσθω ἐγκλήματος. Ἀναγκαῖον δέ μοι ἀρχομένῳ ἀπολογεῖσθαι ὑπὲρ τοῦ λόγου, δεηθῆναι ὑμῶν, μέγιστοι αὐτοκράτορες, ἴσους ἡμῖν ἀκροατὰς γενέσθαι, καὶ μὴ τῇ κοινῇ καὶ ἀλόγῳ φήμῃ συναπενεχθέντας προκατασχεθῆναι, ἐπιτρέψαι δὲ ὑμῶν τὸ φιλομαθὲς καὶ φιλάληθες καὶ τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς λόγῳ. Ὑμεῖς τε γὰρ οὐ πρὸς ἀγνοίας ἐξαμαρτήσετε, καὶ ἡμεῖς τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀκρίτου τῶν πολλῶν φήμης ἀποδυσάμενοι, παυσόμεθα πολεμούμενοι.
their life, and will give heed neither to names, if they are empty, nor to charges arising from accusations, if they should be false; in equal rank they receive the vote that condemns and that which acquits. The equality, therefore, that is extended towards all, we also claim: not to be hated and punished because we are called Christians (for what does the name contribute to our wickedness?), but to be tried upon whatever matters anyone may call us to account for, and either to be released when cleared of the accusations, or to have those who are convicted as wicked punished—not for the name (for no Christian is wicked, unless he feigns the teaching), but for the wrongdoing. Thus also we see those who come from philosophy being judged. None of them before trial appears to the judge to be good or wicked on account of his science or art; but if he is found to be unjust, he is punished without fixing any reproach upon philosophy (for he is wicked who does not practise philosophy according to law, whereas the science is blameless), while if he refutes the calumnies, he is released. Let this equality, then, hold in our case also: let the life of those who are on trial be examined, and let the name be absolved of every charge. And it is necessary for me, as I begin to make my defence on behalf of our teaching, to beg of you, greatest emperors, to be impartial hearers towards us, and not to be carried away and prejudiced beforehand by the common and irrational rumour, but to apply your love of learning and love of truth to our doctrine also. For thus you will not err through ignorance, and we, having stripped off the things that come from the unexamined rumour of the multitude, shall cease to be warred against.
3. Τρία ἐπιφημίζουσιν ἡμῖν ἐγκλήματα· ἀθεότητα, Θυέστεια δεῖπνα, Οἰδιποδείους μίξεις. Ἀλλὰ, εἰ μὲν ἀληθῆ ταῦτα, μηδενὸς γένους φείσησθε, ἐπεξέλθετε δὲ τοῖς ἀδικήμασι· σὺν γυναιξὶ καὶ παισὶ προῤῥίζους ἡμᾶς ἀποκτείνατε, εἴ γέ τις ἀνθρώπων ζῇ δίκην θηρίων. Καίτοι γε καὶ τὰ θηρία τῶν ὁμογενῶν οὐχ ἅπτεται, καὶ νόμῳ φύσεως, καὶ πρὸς ἕνα καιρὸν τὸν τῆς τεκνοποιίας, οὐκ ἐπ' ἀδείας μίγνυνται· γνωρίζει δὲ καὶ ὑφ' ὧν ὠφελεῖται. Εἴ τις οὖν καὶ τῶν θηρίων ἀνημερώτερος, τίνα οὖν πρὸς τὰ τηλικαῦτα ὑποσχὼν δίκην, καὶ πρὸς ἀξίαν κεκολάσθαι νομισθήσεται; Εἰ δὲ λογοποιίαι ταῦτα καὶ διαβολαὶ κεναὶ, φυσικῷ λόγῳ πρὸς τὴν ἀρετην τῆς κακίας ἀντικειμένης, καὶ πολεμούντων ἀλλήλοις τῶν ἐναντίων
3. Three charges are bruited abroad against us: atheism, Thyestean banquets, Oedipodean intercourse. Now if these things are true, spare no class, proceed against the crimes; destroy us root and branch with our wives and children, if indeed any human being lives after the manner of wild beasts. And yet even wild beasts do not touch those of their own kind, and by a law of nature mingle for one season only, that of begetting offspring, and not promiscuously; and they also recognize those by whom they are benefited. If anyone, then, is more savage even than the wild beasts, what punishment can he undergo for such great crimes and be thought to have been punished according to his desert? But if these things are fabrications and empty calumnies, since by a natural law vice is opposed to virtue and contraries war against one another
Editors' notes and page, col. 896

Page

  • running head: AE PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI 896
  • marginal letters: A αὐτῶν τὸν; B οὐδὲν τῇ; C παυσόμεθα πολεμούμενοι.; D (none)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: two Latin lines printed across both columns after C (tes peccabitis ... desinemus.) not set
PG 6:897
θείῳ νόμῳ, καὶ τοῦ μηδὲν τούτων ἀδικεῖν, ὑμεῖς μάρτυρες, κελεύοντες μὴ ὁμονοεῖν· πρὸς ὑμῶν λοιπὸν ἐξέτασιν ποιήσασθαι βίου, δογμάτων, τῆς πρὸς ὑμᾶς καὶ τὸν ὑμέτερον οἶκον καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν σπουδῆς καὶ ὑπακοῆς, καὶ οὕτω ποτὲ συγχωρῆσαι ἡμῖν οὐδὲν πλέον τοῖς διώκουσιν ἡμᾶς. Νικήσομεν γὰρ αὐτοὺς, ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας ἀόκνως καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς ἐπιδιδόντες.
by a divine law, and you yourselves are witnesses that we commit none of these wrongdoings, since you command that no one should merely concur; it remains for you to make an examination of our life, our doctrines, our zeal and obedience towards you and your house and the empire, and thus at last to grant to us nothing more than to those who persecute us. For we shall conquer them, unhesitatingly giving up even our souls on behalf of the truth.
4. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἐσμεν ἄθεοι (πρὸς ἓν ἕκαστον ἀπαντήσω τῶν ἐγκλημάτων, μὴ καὶ γελοῖον ᾖ τοὺς λέγοντας μὴ ἐλέγχειν), Διαγόρᾳ μὲν γὰρ εἰκότως ἀθεότητα ἐπεκάλουν Ἀθηναῖοι, μὴ μόνον τὸν Ὀρφικὸν εἰς μέσον κατατιθέντι λόγον, καὶ τὰ ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι καὶ τὰ τῶν Καβείρων δημεύοντι μυστήρια, καὶ τὸ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους, ἵνα τὰς γογγύλας ἑψοῖ, κατακόπτοντι ξόανον· ἄντικρυς δὲ ἀποφαινομένῳ μηδὲ ὅλως εἶναι Θεόν. Ἡμῖν δὲ, διαιροῦσιν ἀπὸ τῆς ὕλης τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ δεικνύουσιν ἕτερον μέν τι εἶναι τὴν ὕλην, ἄλλο δὲ τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ τὸ διὰ μέσου πολὺ (τὸ μὲν γὰρ Θεῖον, ἀγέννητον εἶναι καὶ ἀΐδιον, νῷ μόνῳ καὶ λόγῳ θεωρούμενον· τὴν δὲ ὕλην γενητὴν καὶ φθαρτὴν), μήτι οὐκ ἀλόγως τὸ τῆς ἀθεότητος ἐπικαλοῦσιν ὄνομα ; Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἐφρονοῦμεν ὅμοια τῷ Διαγόρᾳ, τοσαῦτα ἔχοντες πρὸς θεοσέβειαν ἐνέχυρα, τὸ εὔτακτον, τὸ διαπαντὸς σύμφωνον, τὸ μέγεθος, τὴν χροιὰν, τὸ σχῆμα, τὴν διάθεσιν τοῦ κόσμου· εἰκότως ἂν ἡμῖν καὶ ἡ τοῦ μὴ θεοσεβεῖν δόξα καὶ ἡ τοῦ ἐλαύνεσθαι αἰτία προσετρίβετο. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ λόγος ἡμῶν ἕνα Θεὸν ἄγει τὸν τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς ποιητὴν,
4. That, then, we are not atheists (I will meet each one of the charges singly, lest it even be ridiculous not to refute those who say these things): the Athenians indeed reasonably charged Diagoras with atheism, since he not only set forth the Orphic account in public, and divulged the mysteries at Eleusis and those of the Cabiri, and chopped up the wooden statue of Heracles to boil his turnips, but openly declared that there is no God at all. But upon us, who distinguish God from matter, and show that matter is one thing and God another, and that the interval between them is great (for the Divine is unbegotten and eternal, beheld by mind and reason alone, whereas matter is created and perishable), do they not unreasonably fix the name of atheism? For if we thought like Diagoras, while having so many pledges towards godliness—the good order, the perpetual harmony, the greatness, the colour, the shape, the arrangement of the world—both the reputation of not being godly and the cause for being driven out would reasonably be fastened upon us. But since our doctrine holds one God, the Maker of this universe,
Editors' notes and page, col. 897

Page

  • running head: 897 LEGATIO PRO CHRIST
  • marginal letters: A θείῳ νόμῳ; B Ἡρακλέους, ἵνα; C ἡμῶν ἕνα; D est, attendamus.
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: (none)
PG 6:898
Editors' notes and page, col. 898

Footnotes

(28) ‹anchor: κελεύοντες μὴ ὁμονοεῖν (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 898

Κελεύοντες μὴ ὁμονοεῖν. Omisit haec verba Gesnerus, ut parum quadrantia, suspicatur conjungi debere cum his quae praecedunt, ita ut legatur: Θείῳ νόμῳ κελεύοντι μὴ ὁμονοεῖν. Suffridus ac auctor editionis Oxon. nihil mutandum putant; uterque sic interpretatur, quasi dicat Athenagoras vetuisse imperatores, ne ethnici cum Christianis consentirent. Ex quo nulla prorsus sententia erui possit, quamvis diversam uterque eruere conetur. Corrupti loci non difficilis erit emendatio, si, ut par est, attendamus. Lego itaque μὴ μηνύειν; si nihil horum a nobis admitti vos ipsi testes estis, qui nomen nostrum deferri vetatis. Nefas ambigere, quin respiciat Athenagoras ad aliquod imperatorum edictum, ex quo Christianorum eluceret innocentia. At vix ullo edicto imperatores innocentiam Christianorum significantius declararunt, quam cum eorum nomen deferri vetuerunt. Trajanus Plinio secundo rescripserat: Hoc genus inquirendos quidem non esse, oblatos vero puniri oportere, ut ait Tertull. Apologet., c. 2. Adrianus in Epistola ad Minucium Fundanum in ipsos delatores animadverti jusserat, si Christianos solius religionis nomine accusarent. Idem sanxerat Antoninus in epistola ad commune Asiae. M. Aurelius, etsi tam liberaliter cum Christianis non agebat, eos tamen accusari vetuerat paucis annis antequam ei hanc Apologiam Athenagoras offerret. Sicut non palam ab ejusmodi hominibus, inquit Tertullianus Apologet., c. 5, poenam dimovit, ita alio modo palam dispersit, adjecta etiam accusatoribus damnatione et quidem tetriore. Quare cum Marcus Christianos accusari vetaret, accusatis poenam non eximeret, merito Athenagoras illius testimonio Christianorum innocentiam declarari contendit. Quod quidem argumentum sic Tertulliani nervis vibratur Apologet., c. 2: O sententiam necessitate confusam! Negat inquirendos ut innocentes, et mandat puniendos ut nocentes. Parcit et saevit: dissimulat et animadvertit. Quid temetipsam, censura, circumvenis? Si damnas, cur non et inquiris? Si non inquiris, cur non et absolvis? Haec Tertulliani dicta de Trajani edicto haud scio an melius quadrent in edictum M. Aurelii, qui Christianos non solum, ut Trajanus, inquiri, sed etiam accusari vetabat, inflicta accusatoribus gravissima poena, quod a Trajano factum non legimus.

"Commanding not to agree" (keleuontes mē homonoein). Gesner omitted these words as fitting poorly; he suspects they should be joined to what precedes, so as to read: "by a divine law commanding not to agree." Suffridus and the editor of the Oxford edition think nothing should be changed; both interpret as if Athenagoras were saying that the emperors had forbidden the pagans to agree with the Christians. From this no sense at all can be got, though each tries to get a different one. The emendation of the corrupt place will not be difficult if we pay due attention. I therefore read mē mēnyein ("not to inform against"): "if you yourselves are witnesses that none of these things is committed by us, you who forbid our name to be brought to court." It is wrong to doubt that Athenagoras is looking to some edict of the emperors from which the innocence of the Christians shone out. But by hardly any edict did the emperors declare the Christians' innocence more expressly than when they forbade their name to be brought to court. Trajan had written back to Pliny the Younger "that people of this kind were not to be sought out, but if brought forward ought to be punished," as Tertullian says, Apology ch. 2. Hadrian, in his letter to Minucius Fundanus, had ordered that the informers themselves be punished if they accused Christians on the name of their religion alone. Antoninus had decreed the same in his letter to the Common Council of Asia. M. Aurelius, though he did not deal so generously with the Christians, had nevertheless forbidden them to be accused a few years before Athenagoras presented this Apology to him. "Though he did not openly remove the penalty from men of this kind," says Tertullian, Apology ch. 5, "in another way he openly scattered it, by adding a condemnation for the accusers too, and a harsher one." So since Marcus forbade the Christians to be accused, though he did not exempt the accused from punishment, Athenagoras rightly argues that the Christians' innocence is declared by his testimony. This very argument is brandished with Tertullian's force, Apology ch. 2: "O sentence confounded by necessity! It denies they are to be sought out, as innocent, and orders them punished, as guilty. It spares and it rages; it pretends not to see and it punishes. Why, judgement, do you outwit yourself? If you condemn, why do you not also seek out? If you do not seek out, why do you not also acquit?" I rather wonder whether these words of Tertullian about Trajan's edict do not fit better the edict of M. Aurelius, who forbade the Christians not only to be sought out, as Trajan did, but even to be accused, with a very heavy penalty laid on the accusers — which we do not read that Trajan did.

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(29) ‹anchor: τὴν βασιλείαν (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 898

Τὴν βασιλείαν. Reg. 2 et tres Anglicani τῆς βασιλείας.

"The kingdom" (tēn basileian). Reg. 2 and three English manuscripts have tēs basileias.

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(30) ‹anchor: ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας … ἐπιδιδόντες (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 898

Ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας... ἐπιδιδόντες. Videtur ratiocinatio Athenagorae duabus rebus, tanquam fundamento, niti: 1° Moribus tanto veritatis amore inflammatis nihil inesse posse sceleris, quod legum severitatem reformidet; 2° Christianos, dum vitam pro veritate profundunt, non cedere adversariis, nec ab eis vinci, sed potius vincere. His suppositis, sic ratiocinatur Athenagoras: Si nunc Christiani, cum impetrare non possunt ut leges observentur, mortem libenter oppetunt pro veritate; quanto magis causae suae confident et adversarios non metuent, cum accusatoribus non jam nomen Christiani deferendum erit, sed aequabili jure crimina probanda? Forte legendum ἢ τοῖς διώκουσιν.

"For the truth … giving up." Athenagoras's reasoning seems to rest on two things as its foundation: first, that in a way of life fired by so great a love of truth there can be no crime that fears the severity of the laws; second, that the Christians, while they pour out their life for the truth, do not yield to their adversaries nor are conquered by them, but rather conquer. On these premises Athenagoras reasons thus: if Christians now, when they cannot obtain that the laws be observed, willingly meet death for the truth, how much more will they trust their cause and not fear their adversaries when accusers will no longer have to bring the name of Christian to court, but must prove crimes under equal law? Perhaps one should read ē tois diōkousin ("or to those who persecute").

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(31) ‹anchor: γενητὴν καὶ φθαρτήν (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 898

Γενητὴν καὶ φθαρτήν. Unus ex Anglicanis codicibus γεννητὴν καὶ φθαρτήν.

"Come into being and perishable" (genētēn kai phthartēn). One of the English manuscripts has gennētēn ("begotten") kai phthartēn.

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Page

  • running head: IO PRO CHRISTIANIS. 898
  • marginal letters: A et contraria; B phica verba; C scriptionem mundi; D (29) Τὴν βασιλείαν.
  • old-edition numerals: 283 before ac Diagoras
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:899
Editors' notes and page, col. 899

Footnotes

(32) ‹anchor: μὴ τὸν αὐτόν (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 899

Μὴ τὸν αὐτόν. Recte observavit Gesnerus legendum esse ἐσθλόν. Ibidem tres Anglicani καθεστάναι.

"Not the same" (mē ton auton). Gesner rightly observed that one should read esthlon ("noble"). In the same place three English manuscripts have kathestanai.

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(33) ‹anchor: ὡς ἐκεῖνος δογματίζων (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 899

Ὡς ἐκεῖνος δογματίζων. Samuel Petitus Var. Lect. lib. III, cap. 3, legendum putat, ὡς ἔχει νοῦς, δογματίζων, quod idem est ac apte et ut sana mens postulat. Gesnerus legit, ὅτι Θεός, δογματίζων. Editor Oxoniensis, ὡς ἐκεῖνος ὁ Θεὸς δογματίζων, illum Deum esse affirmans. Sed parenthesis, quam apposui, videtur rem expedire, nosque inutilium conjecturarum labore levare. Si quis tamen legere malit οὕτως ἐκεῖνος, sic ille decernens et asseverans; eo probabilior erit haec emendandi ratio, quod vocis οὕτως duae priores litterae facile, ob similitudinem cum praecedentibus, excidere potuerunt.

"As he, laying down doctrine" (hōs ekeinos dogmatizōn). Samuel Petit, Variae Lectiones book 3, ch. 3, thinks one should read hōs echei nous, dogmatizōn, which is the same as "fittingly, and as a sound mind requires." Gesner reads hoti Theos, dogmatizōn ("declaring that [he is] God"). The Oxford editor: hōs ekeinos ho Theos dogmatizōn, "affirming that that one is God." But the parenthesis I have added seems to settle the matter and to spare us the labour of useless conjectures. If anyone, however, prefers to read houtōs ekeinos, "so he, deciding and asserting," this way of emending will be all the more probable because the first two letters of the word houtōs could easily have dropped out through their likeness to what precedes.

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(34) ‹anchor: ὁρᾷς τὸν ὑψοῦ (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 899

Ὁρᾷς τὸν ὑψοῦ. Hos versus Athenagoras deflectit ab ea sententia in quam accipi solent. Sic enim eos interpretatur Cicero lib. II Nat. deorum: Vides sublime fusum immoderatum aethera, / Qui terram tenero circumjectu amplectitur, / Hunc summum habeto Divum, hunc perhibeto Jovem. Liquet Euripidis versus sic a Cicerone reddi, ut aether, qui terram circumplectitur, pro Deo habendus sit. Sed aliter interpretandi necessitatem mihi attulit Athenagoras, qui non aetherem pro Deo haberi ab Euripide existimat, sed eum qui et aetherem et terram complectitur. Nam 1° Euripidem laudat Athenagoras, quod Deum ex operibus in aethere et terra manifestis cognosci doceat. Non aetherem ergo, sed eum, qui aetherem complectitur, Deum ab Euripide credidit agnosci. 2° Euripidem loqui declarat de Deo qui scientia tantum cognoscitur, ἐπὶ τοῦ κατ' ἐπιστήμην νοητοῦ, nedum de aethere hos versus acceperit. Sic interpretandi Euripidis locum fortasse dedit Athenagorae is ejusdem poetae versus, quem citant Justinus in libro De monarchia, et Clemens Alex. Protrept. p. 45: Τὸν πάνθ' ὁρῶντα κ'αὐτὸν οὐχ ὁρώμενον. Qui cuncta cernit, ipse sed non cernitur. Sed illud ὑγραῖς ἐν ἀγκάλαις dubitare non sinit quin aetherem Euripides appellaverit Deum.

"You see the one on high" (Horas ton hypsou). Athenagoras bends these lines away from the sense in which they are usually taken. For Cicero renders them thus, Nature of the Gods book 2: "You see the boundless aether spread on high, / which embraces the earth in its soft encircling: / hold this the highest god, call this one Jove." Clearly Cicero renders Euripides' lines so that the aether which embraces the earth is to be held as God. But Athenagoras has obliged me to interpret otherwise, for he thinks that Euripides holds as God not the aether but him who embraces both aether and earth. For, first, Athenagoras praises Euripides for teaching that God is known from the works manifest in the aether and on earth; so he believed that Euripides acknowledged as God not the aether but him who embraces the aether. Second, he declares that Euripides is speaking of the God who is known only by understanding, "of what is intelligible by knowledge," still less would he have taken these lines of the aether. Perhaps Athenagoras was given this way of interpreting the place in Euripides by that line of the same poet which Justin quotes in his book On the Sole Rule of God, and Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus p. 45: "He who sees all things and is himself not seen." But the words "in moist arms" leave no doubt that Euripides called the aether God.

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Τοῦτον. Duo Anglicani codices, τοῦτο.

"This one" (touton). Two English manuscripts have touto ("this thing").

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Οὐκ οἶδα. Sic codices omnes manu exarati. Male in editis οἶδεν. Caeterum hic versus accuratius a Justino ex Euripidis Hecuba citatur in lib. De monarch.: Ζεύς, ὅστις εἶ Ζεύς, οὐ γὰρ οἶδα πλὴν λόγῳ.

"I do not know" (ouk oida). So all the handwritten manuscripts; the editions wrongly have oiden. This line, moreover, is quoted more exactly by Justin from Euripides' Hecuba in his book On the Sole Rule: "Zeus, whoever Zeus is — for I do not know, except by report."

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(37) ‹anchor: ὄψει τῶν ἀδήλων› · call in col 899

Ὄψει τῶν ἀδήλων. Gesnerus legit ὄψει οὐκ ἀδήλων. Editor Oxoniensis ὄψει τὸν ἄδηλον. Atque haec quidem lucis aliquid his tenebris afferre possunt. Sed cum in utroque Regio et utroque Ottobon. et Orat. legamus τὰ φαινόμενα ἀέρα, αἰθέρος, γῆς, facilis suspicio est illud ἀέρα corruptum esse, et ex alia voce, quam librarii non belle legerint, ortum esse. Cum enim illud ἀέρα, non consentit cum sequentibus vocibus αἰθέρος, γῆς, tum vero in testimonio Euripidis, quod hoc loco explanat Athenagoras, nulla fit mentio aeris, sed tantum aetheris et terrae. Quare pro ἀέρα legendum puto ἑώρα, sicque scribendum: Τὸν δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων ὄψει τὸν ἄδηλον νοῶν, τὰ φαινόμενα ἑώρα αἰθέρος, γῆς.

"By the sight of things unseen" (opsei tōn adēlōn). Gesner reads opsei ouk adēlōn ("by the sight of things not unseen"); the Oxford editor opsei ton adēlon ("the unseen one by sight"). These indeed can bring some light into this darkness. But since in both Royal, both Ottoboni and the Oratory manuscripts we read ta phainomena aera, aitheros, gēs, one readily suspects that aera is corrupt and arose from another word which the copyists misread. For not only does aera not agree with the following words aitheros, gēs, but in the testimony of Euripides which Athenagoras is here explaining there is no mention of the air, only of aether and earth. So for aera I think one should read heōra ("he saw"), and write thus: "Understanding the unseen one from his works by sight, he saw the things manifest in aether and earth."

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(38) ‹anchor: εἷς ταῖς ἀληθείαισιν› · call in col 899

Ἀληθείαισιν. Fronto Ducaeus ἀληθείῃσιν. Reg. 2 et 3, Angl. ἀληθείαις.

"In truth" (alētheiaisin). Fronton du Duc has alētheiēsin; Reg. 2 and 3 and the English manuscripts have alētheiais.

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(39) ‹anchor: τοῦ ἐκείνου πληρουμένην› · call in col 899

Πληρουμένην. Ita codices mss. summo consensu et editiones Ducaei et Oxon. Aliae πληρουμένων. Langus et Gesnerus dum legunt πληρουμένων ἑκάτερος pro ἑκάτερα, mirum in modum aberrarunt. Suffridus hanc amat constructionem: Γαῖαν (continues)

"Filled" (plēroumenēn). So the manuscripts with complete agreement, and the editions of Ducaeus and Oxford; others have plēroumenōn. Langus and Gesner, in reading plēroumenōn hekateros for hekatera, went remarkably astray. Suffridus likes this construction: "the earth (gaian) (continues)

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  • running head: 899 ATHENAGORAE PHILOSOPH
  • marginal letters: A in capitis; B Ulnisque terras; C assentiente circa; D deflectit ab
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:900
αὐτὸν μὲν οὐ γενόμενον (ὅτι τὸ ὂν οὐ γίνεται, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὴ ὂν), πάντα δὲ διὰ τοῦ παρ' αὐτοῦ λόγου πεποιηκότα· ἑκάτερα ἀλόγως πάσχομεν, καὶ κακῶς ἀγορευόμεθα καὶ διωκόμεθα.
Himself not having come into being (because that which is does not come into being, but that which is not), and having made all things through the Word that is from Him, we suffer both things unreasonably, being both evil spoken of and persecuted.
5. Καὶ ποιηταὶ μὲν καὶ φιλόσοφοι οὐκ ἔδοξαν ἄθεοι, ἐπιστήσαντες περὶ Θεοῦ. Ὁ μὲν Εὐριπίδης ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν κατὰ κοινὴν πρόληψιν ἀνεπιστημόνως ὀνομαζομένων θεῶν διαπορῶν·
5. And poets indeed and philosophers have not been deemed atheists for turning their attention to God. Euripides, on the one hand, being in doubt concerning those who according to common preconception are ignorantly named gods, says:
Ὤφειλε δ' εἴπερ ἔστ' ἐν οὐρανῷ Ζεὺς, μὴ τὸν αὐτὸν δυστυχῆ καθιστάναι.
Zeus, if indeed he is in heaven, ought not to render the same man unfortunate.
Ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ κατ' ἐπιστήμην νοητοῦ (ὡς ἐκεῖνος δογματίζων)·
But concerning Him Who is apprehended by knowledge as intelligible (speaking dogmatically, as he does):
Ὁρᾷς τὸν ὑψοῦ τόνδ' ἄπειρον αἰθέρα, Καὶ γῆν πέριξ ἔχονθ' ὑγραῖς ἐν ἀγκάλαις ; Τοῦτον νόμιζε Ζῆνα, τόνδ' ἡγοῦ θεόν.
Do you see on high this boundless aether, and holding the earth around in moist embraces? Deem this to be Zeus, count this to be God.
Τῶν μὲν γὰρ οὔτε τὰς οὐσίας, αἷς ἐπικατηγορεῖσθαι τὸ ὄνομα συμβέβηκεν, ὑποκειμένας ἑώρα,
For in the case of the former he neither saw the underlying substances to which the name chanced to be applied,
(Ζῆνα γὰρ ὅστις ἐστὶ Ζεὺς, οὐκ οἶδα πλὴν λόγῳ),
(For Zeus, whoever Zeus is, I know not save by report),
οὔτε τὰ ὀνόματα καθ' ὑποκειμένων κατηγορεῖσθαι πραγμάτων· ὧν γὰρ αἱ οὐσίαι οὐχ ὑπόκεινται, τί πλέον αὐτοῖς τῶν ὀνομάτων ; Τὸν δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων ὄψει τῶν ἀδήλων νοῶν τὰ φαινόμενα, ἀέρος, αἰθέρος, γῆς. Οὗ οὖν τὰ ποιήματα, καὶ ὑφ' οὗ τῷ πνεύματι ἡνιοχεῖται, τοῦτον κατελαμβάνετο εἶναι Θεὸν (συνᾴδοντος τούτῳ καὶ Σοφοκλέους,
nor that the names are predicated of underlying realities; for of those whose substances do not underlie, what more do they have than the names? Whereas the latter he perceived from His works, understanding the things unseen by the sight of the things that appear—of air, of aether, of earth. Whose, therefore, the works are, and by Whose Spirit they are guided as by reins, Him he apprehended to be God (Sophocles also agreeing with this:
Εἷς ταῖς ἀληθείαισιν, εἷς ἐστιν Θεὸς, Ὃς οὐρανόν τ' ἔτευξε καὶ γαῖαν μακρὰν,
One in very truth, one is God, Who fashioned both heaven and the broad earth,
πρὸς τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ φύσιν τοῦ κάλλους τοῦ ἐκείνου πληρουμένην), ἑκάτερα, καὶ ποῦ δεῖ εἶναι τὸν
regarding the nature of God which is filled with His beauty), teaching both where it is necessary that
Editors' notes and page, col. 900

Page

  • running head: RAE PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI 900
  • marginal letters: A αὐτὸν μὲν; B Καὶ γῆν; C πρὸς τὴν; D haec quidem
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: (none)
PG 6:901
Θεὸν, καὶ ὅτι ἕνα δεῖ εἶναι, διδάσκων.
God should be, and that He must be one.
6. Καὶ Φιλόλαος δὲ, ὥσπερ ἐν φρουρᾷ, πάντα ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ περιειλῆφθαι λέγων, καὶ τὸ ἕνα εἶναι, καὶ τὸ ἀνωτέρω τῆς ὕλης, δεικνύει. Λύσις δὲ καὶ ὄψει· ὁ μὲν ἀριθμὸν ἄῤῥητον ὁρίζεται τὸν Θεὸν, ὁ δὲ τοῦ μεγίστου τῶν ἀριθμῶν τὴν παρὰ τῶν ἐγγυτάτων ὑπεροχήν. Εἰ δὲ μέγιστος μὲν ἀριθμὸς ὁ δέκα, κατὰ τοὺς Πυθαγορικοὺς, ὁ τετρακτύς τε ὢν, καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἀριθμητικοὺς καὶ τοὺς ἁρμονίους περιέχων λόγους, τούτῳ δὲ ἐγγὺς παράκειται ὁ ἐννέα· μονάς ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς, τοῦτ' ἔστιν εἷς. Ἑνὶ γὰρ ὑπερέχει ὁ μέγιστος τὸν ἐγγυτάτω ἐλάχιστον αὐτῷ. Πλάτων δὲ καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης (καὶ οὐχ ὡς ἐπιδεικνύων τὰ δόγματα τῶν φιλοσόφων ἐπ' ἀκριβὲς, οὕτως ἃ εἰρήκασι περὶ Θεοῦ, διέξειμι. Οἶδα γὰρ, ὅτι ὅσον συνέσει καὶ ἰσχύϊ τῆς βασιλείας πάντων ὑπερέχετε, τοσοῦτον καὶ τῷ πᾶσαν παιδείαν ἀκριβοῦν, πάντων κρατεῖτε· οὕτω καθ' ἕκαστον παιδείας μέρος κατορθοῦντες, ὡς οὐδὲ οἱ ἓν αὐτῆς μόριον ἀποτεμνόμενοι. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ἀδύνατον δεικνύειν ἄνευ παραθέσεως ὀνομάτων, ὅτι μὴ μόνοι εἰς μονάδα τὸν Θεὸν κατακλείομεν, ἐπὶ τὰς δόξας ἐτραπόμην)· φησὶν οὖν ὁ Πλάτων· Τὸν μὲν ποιητὴν καὶ πατέρα τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς εὑρεῖν τε ἔργον, καὶ εὑρόντα, εἰς πάντας ἀδύνατον λέγειν· ἕνα τὸν ἀγέννητον καὶ ἀΐδιον νοῶν Θεόν. Εἰ δ' οἶδεν καὶ ἄλλους, οἷον ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην καὶ ἀστέρας, ἀλλ' ὡς γεννητοὺς οἶδεν αὐτούς· Θεοὶ θεῶν, ὧν ἐγὼ δημιουργὸς, πατήρ τε ἔργων, ἀδύνατα ἐμοῦ μὴ θέλοντος. Τὸ μὲν οὖν δεθὲν πᾶν, λυτόν. Εἰ τοίνυν οὐκ ἔστιν ἄθεος Πλάτων, ἕνα τὸν δημιουργὸν τῶν ὅλων νοῶν ἀγέννητον Θεόν· οὐδὲ ἡμεῖς ἄθεοι, ὑφ' οὗ λόγῳ δεδημιούργηται καὶ τῷ παρ' αὐτοῦ πνεύματι συνέχεται τὰ πάντα, τοῦτον εἰδότες καὶ κρατοῦντες Θεόν. Ὁ δὲ Ἀριστοτέλης καὶ οἱ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ, ἕνα ἄγοντες οἱονεὶ ζῶον σύνθετον, ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος συνεστηκότα λέγουσι τὸν Θεὸν, σῶμα μὲν αὐτοῦ τὸ αἰθέριον νομίζοντες, τούς τε πλανωμένους ἀστέρας καὶ τὴν σφαῖραν τῶν ἀπλανῶν κινούμενα κυκλοφορητικῶς, ψυχὴν δὲ, τὸν ἐπὶ τῇ κινήσει τοῦ σώματος λόγον· αὐτὸν μὲν
6. And Philolaus also, saying that all things are encompassed by God as in a stronghold, shows both that He is one and that He is above matter. And Lysis and Opsimus: the one defines God as an ineffable number, and the other as the excess of the greatest of numbers over those nearest to it. And if the greatest number is ten, according to the Pythagoreans, being the tetractys and containing all the arithmetical and the harmonic ratios, and nine lies next to this, God is a monad, that is, one. For by one the greatest exceeds the least that is nearest to it. And as for Plato and Aristotle (and it is not as though making a display of the doctrines of the philosophers with exactness that I thus go through what they have said concerning God; for I know that by so much as you excel all men in intelligence and in the might of your empire, by so much also you surpass all in mastering all learning accurately, succeeding so well in each branch of learning as not even those do who cut off for themselves a single part of it; but since it is impossible to show without citing names that we are not the only ones who confine God to a monad, I have turned to their opinions): Plato, then, says: To find the Maker and Father of this universe is a task, and having found Him, to declare Him to all is impossible; conceiving of one unbegotten and eternal God. And if he knows others also, such as sun and moon and stars, yet he knows them as begotten: Gods of gods, of whom I am Demiurge, and Father of works which are indissoluble save by My will; all that is bound, then, is dissoluble. If, therefore, Plato is not an atheist for conceiving of one unbegotten God, the Demiurge of all things, neither are we atheists, who know and hold fast as God Him by Whose Word all things have been framed and by the Spirit from Whom they are held together. And Aristotle and his followers, holding one God as it were a composite living being, say that He consists of soul and body, accounting as His body the aetherial region and the wandering stars and the sphere of the fixed stars, moving in a circular motion, and as His soul the reason that presides over the motion of the body: Himself indeed
Editors' notes and page, col. 901

Page

  • running head: 901 LEGATIO PRO CHRISTI
  • marginal letters: A Θεὸν, καὶ; B σει καὶ; C τῶν, ἕνα; D editor Oxoniensis
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: (none)
PG 6:902
Editors' notes and page, col. 902

Footnotes

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Εἶναι. Lerum [sic] τὸν Θεὸν tres Angl. codices et Reg. secundus.

"To be" (einai). Three English manuscripts and the second Royal have ton Theon "again" [the printed "Lerum" is evidently for "Iterum"; i.e. they repeat "God"].

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Διδάσκων. Haec ad Sophoclem non referuntur (is enim non docebat, ubi Deum esse oporteat) sed ad Euripidem, qui sublimem illum, cujus ulnis aether et terra continentur, solum Deum esse pronuntiat.

"Teaching" (didaskōn). This is not to be referred to Sophocles (for he was not teaching where God must be), but to Euripides, who declares that "that one on high," in whose arms aether and earth are held, alone is God.

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Ὄψει. Meursius in Denario Pythagorico legit Ὄψιμος pro corrupta hac voce ὄψει.

"By sight" (opsei). Meursius, in his Denarius Pythagoricus, reads Opsimos [a proper name] for this corrupt word opsei.

(printed under page 481)

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Παρὰ τῶν ἐγγυτάτων. Jamdudum monuit Gesnerus legendum τὸν ἐγγυτάτω, ut paulo post legitur.

"From the nearest" (para tōn engytatōn). Gesner advised long ago that one should read ton engytatō, as is read a little later.

(printed under page 481)

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Ἐλάχιστον. Mallet Gesnerus ἀριθμόν, sed nihil mutandum.

"Least" (elachiston). Gesner would prefer arithmon ("number"), but nothing should be changed.

(printed under page 481)

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Ἐτραπόμην. Unus ex Anglicanis ἐπετραπόμην, ac paulo post τὸν δὲ τοῦ παντός.

"I turned" (etrapomēn). One of the English manuscripts has epetrapomēn, and a little after ton de tou pantos.

(printed under page 481)

(46) ‹anchor: εἰς πάντας› · call in col 902

Εἰς πάντας. Tres Anglicani εἰς πλῆθος.

"To all" (eis pantas). Three English manuscripts have eis plēthos ("to the multitude").

(printed under page 481)

(47) ‹anchor: Θεοὶ θεῶν› · call in col 902

Θεοὶ θεῶν. Hic locus aliter apud Platonem in Timaeo ubi pro his vocibus ἀδύνατα ἐμοῦ μὴ θέλοντος, habemus: Δι' ἐμοῦ γενόμενα ἄλυτα ἐμοῦ γε θέλοντος. Ciceronem, qui vertit, «me invito», legisse μὴ θέλοντος probat H. Stephanus.

"Gods of gods" (Theoi theōn). This place reads differently in Plato's Timaeus, where for the words "impossible [to dissolve] unless I will it" we have: "having come into being through me, indissoluble while I so will." H. Stephanus shows that Cicero, who translated "against my will," read mē thelontos.

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Ζῶον σύνθετον. Sic exponitur sententia Aristotelis apud Plutarchum I. De Placit. philosoph., c. 7.

"A composite living being" (zōon syntheton). Aristotle's view is so set out in Plutarch, On the Opinions of the Philosophers, book 1, ch. 7.

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  • running head: O PRO CHRISTIANIS. 902
  • marginal letters: A oporteat, et; B rum placita; C Dii deorum; D nuntiat.
  • old-edition numerals: 284 before 6. Philosophorum
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:903
Editors' notes and page, col. 903

Footnotes

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Ἐπὶ γενέσεις κόσμου, ἐμπεριειληφός. Mendose apud Plutarchum loco jam citato, ἐπὶ γενέσει κόσμου ἐμπεριειληφότος. Vid. Euseb. Praep. Ev. l. XV, c. 14.

"For the generations of the world, having embraced" (epi geneseis kosmou, emperieilēphos). In Plutarch, at the place already cited, it reads faultily epi genesei kosmou emperieilēphotos. See Eusebius, Praep. Ev. book 15, ch. 14.

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Ὡς καὶ τοῖς. Legit Gesnerus οἱ καὶ τοῖς. Sed nihil mutandum.

"As also with the" (hōs kai tois). Gesner reads hoi kai tois; but nothing should be changed.

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Τοσοῦτον δὲ δυνηθέντες. Sic legitur totus hic locus in cod. Clarom: Τοσοῦτον δὲ δυνηθέντες περινοῆσαι, περὶ Θεοῦ ἀξιώσαντες μαθεῖν, ἀλλὰ παρ' αὐτοῦ ἕκαστος. Gesnerus legit τοῦτον δὲ ὅσον μὴ δυνηθέντες· sed cum Athenagorae verba verbis Latinis reddita commodam habeant sententiam, nihil prorsus mutandum est, praeter illud ὃν ante οὐκ ἀξιώσαντες, quod aut tollendum est ut inutile, aut mutandum in οἱ vel ὡς. Cur autem philosophi cum veritatem quaererent, invenire non potuerint, eamdem causam afferunt multi alii scriptores, in primis Lactantius, qui l. I Inst., c. 1, sic loquitur: Neque ego nunc eorum studium reprehendo, qui veritatem scire voluerunt, quia naturam hominis Deus veri adipiscendi cupientissimam facit; sed id arguo, id revinco, quod honestam illorum et optimam voluntatem non sit secutus effectus, quia neque quid esset verum ipsum sciebant, neque quomodo, aut ubi, aut qua mente quaerendum. Et l. IV, c. 2: Quid autem putemus fuisse causae, cur tot ingeniis, totque temporibus summo studio et labore quaesita non reperiretur, nisi quod eam philosophi extra fines suos quaesierunt. Vid. Justinum Cohort.

"But having been able [to grasp] only so much" (tosouton de dynēthentes). In the Clermont manuscript this whole place reads: "having been able to comprehend only so much, thinking fit to learn about God, but each from himself." Gesner reads touton de hoson mē dynēthentes; but since Athenagoras's words, rendered in the Latin, give a suitable sense, nothing at all needs changing except the hon before ouk axiōsantes, which must either be removed as useless or changed to hoi or hōs. Why the philosophers, though they sought the truth, could not find it, many other writers give the same reason, above all Lactantius, who speaks thus in Institutes book 1, ch. 1: "Nor do I now blame the zeal of those who wished to know the truth, for God made human nature most eager to attain the truth; but this I charge, this I refute: that success did not follow their honourable and excellent will, because they neither knew what the truth itself was, nor how, or where, or in what mind it was to be sought." And book 4, ch. 2: "What then are we to think was the reason why, though sought by so many minds and over so many ages with the greatest zeal and labour, it was not found — except that the philosophers sought it outside its proper bounds?" See Justin, Exhortation [to the Greeks].

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Ἐνθέῳ. Unus Angl. ἐν Θεῷ.

"Divine, inspired" (entheō). One English manuscript has en Theō ("in God").

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Παραλιπόντας. Tres Angl. παραλιπόντες, et infra ἔχοιτε.

"Leaving aside" (paralipontas). Three English manuscripts have paralipontes, and below echoite.

(printed under page 482)

Page

  • running head: 903 ATHENAGORAE PHILOSOPHI
  • marginal letters: A ventur; animam; B esse Deum; C ipso Deo; D ciatis. Si
  • old-edition numerals: 285 after istis
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:904
οὐ κινούμενον, αἴτιον δὲ τῆς τούτου κινήσεως γινόμενον. Οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς Στοᾶς, κἂν ταῖς προσηγορίαις κατὰ τὰς παραλλάξεις τῆς ὕλης, δι' ἧς φασι τὸ πνεῦμα χωρεῖν τοῦ Θεοῦ, πληθύνωσι τὸ Θεῖον τοῖς ὀνόμασι, τῷ γοῦν ἔργῳ ἕνα νομίζουσι τὸν Θεόν. Εἰ γὰρ ὁ μὲν Θεὸς πῦρ τεχνικὸν ὁδῷ βαδίζον ἐπὶ γενέσεις κόσμου, ἐμπεριειληφὸς ἅπαντας τοὺς σπερματικοὺς λόγους, καθ' οὓς ἕκαστα καθ' εἱμαρμένην γίγνεται, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ διήκει δι' ὅλου τοῦ κόσμου· ὁ Θεὸς εἷς κατ' αὐτοὺς, Ζεὺς μὲν κατὰ τὸ ζέον τῆς ὕλης, ὀνομαζόμενος· Ἥρα δὲ, κατὰ τὸν ἀέρα· καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ καθ' ἕκαστον τῆς ὕλης μέρος δι' ἧς κεχώρηκε, καλούμενος.
not being moved, but becoming the cause of the motion of this. And those of the Stoa, even though by appellations according to the variations of matter, through which they say the Spirit of God passes, they multiply the Divine by names, yet in fact at least they account God to be one. For if God is an artistic fire proceeding methodically to the generations of the world, encompassing all the seminal principles according to which each thing comes into being according to fate, and His Spirit pervades the whole world, God is one according to them, being named Zeus according to the fervent part of matter, and Hera according to the air, and called by the rest of the names according to each part of matter through which He has passed.
7. Ὅταν οὖν τὸ μὲν εἶναι ἓν τὸ Θεῖον, ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον, κἂν μὴ θέλωσι, τοῖς πᾶσι συμφωνῆται, ἐπὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς τῶν ὅλων παραγινομένοις, ἡμεῖς δὲ κρατύνωμεν τὸν διακοσμήσαντα τὸ πᾶν τοῦτο, τοῦτον εἶναι τὸν Θεόν · τίς ἡ αἰτία, τοῖς μὲν, ἐπ' ἀδείας ἐξεῖναι καὶ λέγειν καὶ γράφειν περὶ τοῦ Θείου ἃ θέλουσιν· ἐφ' ἡμῖν δὲ κεῖσθαι νόμον, οἳ ἔχομεν ὅ τι καὶ νοοῦμεν καὶ ὀρθῶς πεπιστεύκαμεν, ἕνα Θεὸν εἶναι, ἀληθείας σημείοις καὶ λόγοις παραστῆσαι; Ποιηταὶ μὲν γὰρ καὶ φιλόσοφοι, ὡς καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις, ἐπέβαλον στοχαστικῶς, κινηθέντες μὲν, κατὰ συμπάθειαν τῆς παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ πνοῆς, ὑπὸ τῆς αὐτὸς αὑτοῦ ψυχῆς ἕκαστος ζητῆσαι, εἰ δυνατὸς εὑρεῖν καὶ νοῆσαι τὴν ἀλήθειαν· τοσοῦτον δὲ δυνηθέντες ὅσον περινοῆσαι οὐχ εὕρηνται ὂν οὐ παρὰ Θεοῦ περὶ Θεοῦ ἀξιώσαντες μαθεῖν, ἀλλὰ παρ' αὑτοῦ ἕκαστος. Διὸ καὶ ἄλλος ἄλλως ἐδογμάτισεν αὐτῶν καὶ περὶ Θεοῦ καὶ περὶ ὕλης καὶ περὶ εἰδῶν καὶ περὶ κόσμου. Ἡμεῖς δὲ, ὧν νοοῦμεν καὶ πεπιστεύκαμεν, ἔχομεν προφήτας μάρτυρας, οἳ Πνεύματι ἐνθέῳ ἐκπεφωνήκασι καὶ περὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ περὶ τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Εἴποιτε δ' ἂν καὶ ὑμεῖς, συνέσει καὶ τῇ περὶ τὸ ὄντως Θεῖον εὐσεβείᾳ τοὺς ἄλλους προὔχοντες, ὡς ἔστιν ἄλογον, παραλιπόντας πιστεύειν τῷ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ Πνεύματι, ὡς ὄργανα κεκινηκότι τὰ τῶν προφητῶν στόματα, προσέχειν δόξαις ἀνθρωπίναις.
7. Since, therefore, that the Divine is one is for the most part agreed by all, even if unwillingly, when they come to the first principles of all things, and we maintain that He Who ordered this universe is God, what is the reason why those men are allowed with impunity both to speak and to write concerning the Divine whatever they wish, whereas a law is laid upon us, who are able to establish by signs and arguments of truth what we both apprehend and have rightly believed, namely, that God is one? For poets and philosophers, as to other matters also, applied themselves by conjecture, being moved indeed, through affinity with the breath that comes from God, each one by his own soul, to seek whether he were able to find and apprehend the truth; yet having been able to accomplish only so much as to compass it about in thought, they have not been found to grasp that which is, because they did not think fit to learn concerning God from God, but each one from himself. Wherefore also they taught doctrines different one from another concerning both God and matter and forms and the world. But we, for the things which we apprehend and have believed, have prophets as witnesses, who by the divinely inspired Spirit have spoken forth concerning both God and the things of God. And you also would say, since you excel others in intelligence and in piety towards the truly Divine, that it is unreasonable to neglect to believe the Spirit that comes from God, Who moved the mouths of the prophets like instruments, and to give heed to human opinions.
8. Ὅτι τοίνυν εἷς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὁ τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς ποιητὴς Θεὸς, οὑτωσὶ σκέψασθε, ἵν' ἔχητε καὶ τὸν λογισμὸν ἡμῶν τῆς πίστεως. Εἰ δύο ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἢ πλείους ἦσαν θεοὶ, ἤτοι ἐν ἑνὶ καὶ ταὐτῷ ἦσαν, ἢ ἰδίᾳ ἕκαστος αὐτῶν. Ἐν μὲν οὖν ἑνὶ καὶ ταὐτῷ εἶναι οὐκ
8. That, therefore, God the Maker of this universe is one from the beginning, consider in the following way, so that you may have also the reasoning of our faith. If there were two or more gods from the beginning, either they were in one and the same place, or each of them separately. Now to be in one and the same place they
Editors' notes and page, col. 904

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  • running head: AE PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI 904
  • marginal letters: A οὐ κινούμενον; B τὰς ἀρχὰς; C καὶ ἄλλος; D ους ἦσαν
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: (none)
PG 6:905
ἠδύναντο. Οὐ γὰρ εἰ θεοὶ, ὅμοιοι· ἀλλ' ὅτι ἀγένητοι, οὐχ ὅμοιοι. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ γενητὰ ὅμοια τοῖς παραδείγμασι· τὰ δὲ ἀγένητα ἀνόμοια, οὔτε ἀπό τινος, οὔτε πρός τινα γενόμενα. Εἰ δὲ ὡς χεὶρ καὶ ὀφθαλμὸς καὶ ποῦς περὶ ἓν σῶμά εἰσιν, συμπληροῦντες τὰ μέρη, ἕνα ἐξ αὐτῶν συμπληροῦντες, ὁ Θεὸς εἷς· καίτοι ὁ μὲν Σωκράτης, παρ' ὃ γεννητὸς καὶ φθαρτὸς, συγκείμενος καὶ διαιρούμενος εἰς μέρη· ὁ δὲ Θεὸς ἀγένητος καὶ ἀπαθὴς καὶ ἀδιαίρετος. Οὐκ ἄρα συνεστὼς ἐκ μερῶν. Εἰ δὲ ἰδίᾳ ἑκάστου αὐτῶν ὄντος, τοῦ τὸν κόσμον πεποιηκότος, ἀνωτέρω τῶν γεγονότων καὶ περὶ ἃ ἐποίησέ τε καὶ ἐκόσμησε, ποῦ ὁ ἕτερος, ἢ οἱ λοιποί; Εἰ γὰρ ὁ μὲν κόσμος, σφαιρικὸς ἀποτελεσθεὶς, οὐρανοῦ κύκλοις ἀποκέκλεισται, ὁ δὲ τοῦ κόσμου ποιητὴς ἀνωτέρω τῶν γεγονότων ἐπέχων αὐτὸν τῇ τούτων προνοίᾳ, τίς ὁ τοῦ ἑτέρου Θεοῦ ἢ τῶν λοιπῶν τόπος; Οὔτε γὰρ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἐστὶν, ὅτι ἑτέρου ἐστίν· οὔτε περὶ τὸν κόσμον· ὑπὲρ γὰρ τοῦτον ὁ τοῦ κόσμου ποιητὴς Θεός. Εἰ δὲ μήτε ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἐστὶ, μήτε περὶ τὸν κόσμον (τὸ γὰρ περὶ αὐτὸν πᾶν ὑπὸ τούτου κατέχεται), ποῦ ἐστιν; Ἀνωτέρω τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ; ἐν ἑτέρῳ κόσμῳ, ἢ περὶ ἕτερον; ἀλλ' εἰ μὲν ἔστιν ἐν ἑτέρῳ καὶ περὶ ἕτερον, οὔτε περὶ ἡμᾶς ἐστιν ἔτι. Οὔτε γὰρ κόσμου κρατεῖ, οὔτε αὐτὸς δυνάμει μέγας ἐστίν· ἐν γὰρ περιωρισμένῳ τόπῳ ἐστίν. Εἰ δὲ οὔτε ἐν ἑτέρῳ κόσμῳ ἐστὶν (πάντα γὰρ ὑπὸ τούτου πεπλήρωται), οὔτε περὶ ἕτερον (πάντα γὰρ ὑπὸ τούτου κατέχεται), καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν, οὐκ ὄντος ἐν ᾧ ἐστιν. Ἢ τί ποιεῖ, ἑτέρου μὲν ὄντος οὗ ἐστιν ὁ κόσμος, αὐτὸς δὲ ἀνωτέρω ὢν τοῦ ποιητοῦ τοῦ κόσμου, οὐκ ὢν δὲ οὔτε ἐν κόσμῳ, οὔτε περὶ κόσμον; Ἀλλ' ἔστι τὶ ἕτερον, ἵνα που στῇ ὁ γενόμενος κατὰ τοῦ ὄντος, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ αὐτὸν ὁ Θεὸς καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Καὶ τίς ἔσται τόπος, τὰ ὑπὲρ τὸν κόσμον τούτου πεπληρωκότος ; ἀλλὰ προνοεῖ ; Καὶ μὴν οὐδὲν, εἰ μὴ προνοεῖ, πεποίηκεν. Εἰ δὲ μὴ ποιεῖ, μήτε προνοεῖ, μήτε ἐστὶ τόπος ἕτερος ἐν ᾧ ἐστιν εἷς οὗτος ἐξ ἀρχῆς καὶ μόνος ὁ ποιητὴς τοῦ κόσμου Θεός.
could not. For they are not alike because they are gods; rather, because they are unbegotten, they are unlike. For things begotten are like their patterns, whereas things unbegotten are unlike, having come into being neither from anyone nor after the model of anyone. And if, as hand and eye and foot are about one body, filling up the parts and completing one being out of themselves, God is one—yet Socrates, inasmuch as he is begotten and perishable, is compounded and divided into parts, whereas God is unbegotten and impassible and indivisible; therefore He does not consist of parts. But if each of them exists separately, while He Who made the world is above the things that have come into being and about the things which He both made and ordered, where is the second, or the rest? For if the world, having been brought to completion as a sphere, is enclosed by the circles of heaven, and the Maker of the world is above the things that have come into being, governing it by His providence over these things, what is the place of the second god or of the rest? For neither is he in the world, because it belongs to another; nor is he about the world, for God the Maker of the world is above this. And if he is neither in the world nor about the world (for all that surrounds it is occupied by This One), where is he? Above the world and God? In another world, or about another? Yet if he is in another and about another, then he is no longer about us; for neither does he rule the world, nor is he himself great in power, since he is in a circumscribed place. And if he is neither in another world (for all things are filled by This One), nor about another (for all things are occupied by This One), he does not even exist, since there is nothing in which he exists. Or what does he do, when there is another to Whom the world belongs, while he himself is above the Maker of the world, yet is neither in a world nor about a world? Or is there something else, so that he who has come into being over against Him Who is may stand somewhere? Yet above him is God and the things of God. And what place will there be, since This One has filled the regions above the world? Does he, however, exercise providence? Yet surely he has made nothing, if he does not exercise providence. And if he neither makes, nor exercises providence, nor is there another place in which he is, This One from the beginning is the one and only God, the Maker of the world.
9. Εἰ μὲν οὖν ταῖς τοιαύταις ἐννοίαις ἀπηρκούμεθα, ἀνθρωπικὸν ἄν τις εἶναι τὸν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐνόμισεν λόγον. Ἐπεὶ δὲ αἱ φωναὶ τῶν προφητῶν πιστοῦσιν ἡμῶν τοὺς λογισμοὺς (νομίζω καὶ ὑμᾶς, φιλομαθεστάτους καὶ ἐπιστημονεστάτους ὄντας, οὐκ ἀνοήτους γεγονέναι οὔτε τῶν Μωϋσέως, οὔτε τῶν
9. If, then, we were content with such conceptions, someone might think that our doctrine was human. But since the voices of the prophets confirm our reasonings (for I think that you also, being most fond of learning and most versed in knowledge, have not been unacquainted with the writings either of Moses, or of
Editors' notes and page, col. 905

Page

  • running head: 905 LEGATIO PRO CHRISTI
  • marginal letters: A ἠδύναντο. Οὐ; B τὸν τῇ; C τέρῳ ὢν; D ἡμῶν τοὺς
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: two Latin lines printed across both columns after Θεός. (nec facit ... opifex Deus.) not set
PG 6:906
Editors' notes and page, col. 906

Footnotes

(54) ‹anchor: (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 906

Ἀλλὰ ὅτι ἀγένητοι, οὐχ ὅμοιοι. Sic habet codex Clarom. Sic etiam I Reg. nisi quod alia manus haud recens post ἀγένητοι addiderat, ut est in aliis codicibus mss. et editis, τε καὶ γεννητοί; ex quo tota Athenagorae de Dei singularitate disputatio deformabatur. Eadem ratiocinatio occurrit apud Joan. Damasc. lib. V De fide, cap. 5.

"But since unbegotten, not alike" (alla hoti agenētoi, ouch homoioi). So the Clermont manuscript has it. So too the first Royal, except that another, not recent, hand had added after agenētoi, as in other manuscripts and the editions, te kai gennētoi ("and begotten"), by which Athenagoras's whole argument about the oneness of God was disfigured. The same reasoning occurs in John Damascene, On the Faith book 5 [as printed], ch. 5.

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Εἰ γὰρ ὁ μέν. Tres Romani codices εἰ μὲν γὰρ ὁ.

"For if the one" (ei gar ho men). Three Roman manuscripts have ei men gar ho.

(printed under page 483)

(56) ‹anchor: ὁ γενόμενος κατὰ τοῦ ὄντος› · call in col 906

Ὁ γενόμενος κατὰ τοῦ ὄντος. Pugnant haec verba cum Athenagorae sententia, qui de duobus illis diis, quos animi causa fingit, ita disputat, ut utrumque ingenitum et increatum ac proinde dissimilem esse ponat, quemadmodum supra vidimus. Quamobrem has voces in interpretando neglexi; nec assutas esse dubito ab eo, qui prius addiderat similem vocem, καὶ γεννητοί, ut duo illi dii, praeter sententiam Athenagorae, geniti et ingeniti dicerentur.

"He who came into being, against him who is" (ho genomenos kata tou ontos). These words conflict with Athenagoras's thought, who argues about those two gods, whom he imagines for argument's sake, in such a way as to posit that both are unbegotten and uncreated and therefore unlike, as we saw above. So I have left these words out in translating; and I do not doubt they were sewn on by the same person who had earlier added the similar word kai gennētoi, so that those two gods, against Athenagoras's meaning, would be called begotten and unbegotten.

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(57) ‹anchor: ἀλλὰ προνοεῖ› · call in col 906

Προνοεῖ. Reg. 1 προνοῇ. Ibidem Reg. 2, et duo Angl. οὐδέ. Legendum putat Gesnerus οὐδὲ προνοεῖ εἰ μὴ πεποίηκεν. Sed inutilis ejusmodi emendatio loci minime mendosi.

"He provides" (pronoei). Reg. 1 has pronoē. In the same place Reg. 2 and two English manuscripts have oude. Gesner thinks one should read "nor does he provide, if he has not made." But such an emendation of a place that is not at all faulty is useless.

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(58) ‹anchor: τοὺς λογισμούς› · call in col 906

Λογισμούς. Duo Angl. et Clarom. συλλογισμούς.

"Reasonings" (logismous). Two English manuscripts and the Clermont have syllogismous ("syllogisms").

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(59) ‹anchor: νομίζω καὶ ὑμᾶς› · call in col 906

Νομίζω καὶ ὑμᾶς. Legend. νομίζω γὰρ ὑμᾶς, vel νομίζω δέ. Primum testimonium non reperitur quoad verba. In secundo illud, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα, malui reddere, et novissimus, ut in Vulgata.

"I think that you too" (nomizō kai hymas). Read nomizō gar hymas, or nomizō de. The first testimony is not found word for word. In the second, I preferred to render kai meta tauta ("and after these things") as "and the last," as in the Vulgate.

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Page

  • running head: O PRO CHRISTIANIS. 906
  • marginal letters: A uno et; B quae condidit; C setur. Quod; D prophetarum vocibus
  • old-edition numerals: 286 after magna est,
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:907
Editors' notes and page, col. 907

Footnotes

¹ ‹anchor: (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 907 Isa. XLI, 4.

Isaiah 41:4.

² ‹anchor: (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 907 Isa. XLV, 5; XLIII, 10.

Isaiah 45:5; 43:10.

³ ‹anchor: (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 907 Isa. LXVI, 1.

Isaiah 66:1.

(59*) ‹anchor: (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 907 Caret altero membro phrasis, quod quidem, Athenagorae, ut videtur, subintellectum, ab antecedentibus repetendum est; sicque locus explicandus quasi scriptum sit: Ἐπεὶ δὲ . . . . λογισμοὺς (νομίζω γὰρ ὑμᾶς . . . . ἐμπνεῦσαι), οὐκ ἄν τις ἀνθρωπικὸν τὸν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐνόμισε λόγον. EDIT. PATROL.

The sentence lacks its second member, which, being understood by Athenagoras as it seems, is to be supplied from what precedes; and so the place is to be explained as if it were written: "But since … our reasonings (for I think that you … to inspire), no one would have thought our doctrine merely human." EDITORS OF THE PATROLOGIA.

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Πάρεξ ἐμοῦ. Duo Angl. et Reg. 2 add. σώζων.

"Besides me" (parex emou). Two English manuscripts and Reg. 2 add sōzōn ("saving").

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Ὑμῖν. Unus Angl. ὑμῶν, et mox tres γενομένων.

"To you" (hymin). One English manuscript has hymōn, and just after three have genomenōn.

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Διὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ. Reg. 1 et duo Anglicani δι' αὐτοῦ. Legitur tamen in Regio διὰ τοῦ supra lineam. Ibidem mallem συγκροτεῖται pro eo quod omnes editi et mss. habent συγκρατεῖται.

"Through the same" (dia tou autou). Reg. 1 and two English manuscripts have di' autou. In the Royal, however, dia tou is read above the line. In the same place I would prefer synkroteitai ("is welded together") to synkrateitai ("is held together"), which all the editions and manuscripts have.

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(63) ‹anchor: Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος› · call in col 907

Λόγος. Uterque Bodl. ὁ Λόγος.

"Word" (Logos). Both Bodleian manuscripts have ho Logos.

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(64) ‹anchor: ἐν ἰδέᾳ καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ› · call in col 907

Ἐν ἰδέᾳ καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ. Accusatus Petavio Athenagoras, quod Verbum cum Patre usque ad mundi creationem confundat. Sed nihil iniquius hac criminatione. Duo incommoda removet a Filii generatione Athenagoras. Ne quis sibi fingeret Christianos de Filio Dei idem sentire ac poetas de filiis deorum, docet Filium Dei esse Verbum Patris in idea et operatione, ac proinde illius generationem nihil commune habere cum stultis gentilium de divinitate commentis. Rursus ne videretur hunc Λόγον in divinis ideis, veluti quamdam efficientiam et proprietatem, reponere, explanat has voces in idea et operatione, ac demonstrat Dei Filium esse Verbum Patris in idea et operatione, quia secundum ipsum et per ipsum omnia creata sunt, sive quia, ut paulo post legimus, Verbum prodiit ut omnium idea et effectio foret. Itaque Verbum declarat Athenagoras personam esse aequalem Patri, ut quae omnes Patris ideas possideat, et aeque omnipotens sit ac Pater. Nam Verbum in idea et operatione, sive Verbum prodiens ut omnium sit idea et effectio, nihil aliud est quam Verbum in quo mundi exemplar descriptum fuit, et per quod mundus creatus fuit. Notissima est antiquis haec loquendi ratio. Verbum apud Philonem lib. De mundi opificio, p. 5, dicitur esse mundus intelligibilis, sive mundi exemplar, quod idem est ac idea. Vocatur idea apud Clementem, Strom. V, p. 553, idea idearum apud Origenem lib. VI adv. Cels. p. 320. Neque aliud senserunt quicunque omnia in Verbo creata dixerunt. Sic etiam Verbum apud antiquos scriptores vocatur, effectio, sive operatio, quia per eum omnia facta sunt; quale est illud Tertulliani adv. Hermog. c. 20: Erat initium viarum (Sophia) quia cogitatio et dispositio prima Sophiae fit operatio de cogitatu viam operibus instituens. Eadem de causa Verbum appellatur ἐργασία apud Justinum Dialog. n. 114, ἔργον apud Tatianum n. 5, quia nimirum per Verbum omnia creata sunt. Docet ergo Athenagoras Filium nec modo corporeo genitum esse, nec Patris efficientiam aut proprietatem esse, sed veram et coaeternam Genitori personam.

"In idea and operation" (en idea kai energeia). Athenagoras was accused by Petavius of confusing the Word with the Father up to the creation of the world. But nothing is more unfair than this charge. Athenagoras removes two difficulties from the Son's generation. Lest anyone imagine that Christians think of the Son of God what the poets think of the sons of the gods, he teaches that the Son of God is the Word of the Father in idea and operation, and that his generation therefore has nothing in common with the foolish inventions of the pagans about divinity. Again, lest he seem to place this Logos among the divine ideas, as a kind of efficiency or property, he explains the words "in idea and operation" and shows that the Son of God is the Word of the Father in idea and operation because according to him and through him all things were created — or because, as we read a little later, the Word came forth to be the idea and the effecting of all things. So Athenagoras declares the Word to be a person equal to the Father, as possessing all the Father's ideas and being as omnipotent as the Father. For the Word in idea and operation, or the Word coming forth to be the idea and effecting of all things, is nothing else than the Word in whom the pattern of the world was drawn and through whom the world was created. This manner of speaking is very well known to the ancients. In Philo, On the Creation of the World, p. 5, the Word is said to be the intelligible world, or the pattern of the world, which is the same as idea. He is called the idea in Clement, Stromata 5, p. 553, the idea of ideas in Origen, Against Celsus book 6, p. 320. Nor did any who said that all things were created in the Word mean anything else. So too the Word is called by ancient writers the effecting, or operation, because all things were made through him — such as that saying of Tertullian, Against Hermogenes ch. 20: "She (Wisdom) was the beginning of ways, because the thought and first disposition of Wisdom becomes operation, setting out from the thought a way for the works." For the same reason the Word is called ergasia ("work, operation") in Justin, Dialogue n. 114, and ergon ("work") in Tatian n. 5 — because all things were created through the Word. Athenagoras therefore teaches that the Son was neither begotten in a bodily way, nor is an efficiency or property of the Father, but a true person, coeternal with the one who begets him.

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(65) ‹anchor: πρὸς αὐτοῦ› · call in col 907

Πρὸς αὐτοῦ. Valde mihi displicet haec scriptura. Neque enim, ut erudito Bullo visum est, idem valet ac ὑπ' αὐτοῦ, neque ullum afferri possit exemplum, in quo omnia πρὸς τοῦ Λόγου creata dicantur, pro eo quod saepissime usurpatur ὑπὸ τοῦ Λόγου. Sed si legamus πρὸς αὐτόν, praeclara exstabit sententia, nempe omnia secundum Verbum, sive secundum exemplar in Verbo descriptum creata esse. His enim verbis: Πρὸς αὐτοῦ γὰρ καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ πάντα ἐγένετο, continetur explicatio praecedentium, ἐν ἰδέᾳ καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ, nec difficile est animadvertere, quemadmodum Filius Verbum dicitur in operatione, quia omnia per eum facta sunt, ita etiam in idea dici, quia πρὸς αὐτόν omnia facta sunt. Dicebat n. 8: Τὰ δὲ ἀγέννητα ἀνόμοια, οὔτε πρός τινα γενόμενα.

"By him" (pros autou). This reading displeases me greatly. For it does not mean the same as hyp' autou, as the learned Bull thought, nor could any example be brought in which all things are said to be created pros tou Logou, instead of the very commonly used hypo tou Logou. But if we read pros auton, an excellent sense will result: that all things were created according to the Word, that is, according to the pattern drawn in the Word. For the words "For by him and through him all things came to be" contain the explanation of what precedes, "in idea and operation"; and it is not hard to see that, just as the Son is called the Word "in operation" because all things were made through him, so he is also said to be so "in idea" because all things were made pros auton ("after him"). He said at n. 8: "But unbegotten things are unlike, not having come to be after (pros) anything."

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Page

  • running head: 907 ATHENAGORAE PHILOSOPH
  • marginal letters: A Jeremiae et; B 10. Christiani; C est quam; D stianos de
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: facing Latin version, not set; two full-width Greek lines after propulsetis. (βλίων γενομένοις ... ἀποσκευάσησθε.) not set
PG 6:908
Ἠσαΐου καὶ Ἱερεμίου, καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν προφητῶν, οἳ κατ' ἔκστασιν τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς λογισμῶν, κινήσαντος αὐτοὺς τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος, ἃ ἐνηργοῦντο ἐξεφώνησαν· συγχρησαμένου τοῦ Πνεύματος, ὡσεὶ καὶ αὐλητὴς αὐλὸν ἐμπνεῦσαι). Τί οὖν οὗτοι ; Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν · οὐ λογισθήσεται ἕτερος πρὸς αὐτόν. Καὶ πάλιν· Ἐγὼ Θεὸς πρῶτος καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα· καὶ πλὴν ἐμοῦ οὐκ ἔστι Θεός. Ὅμοιος ἔμπροσθεν ἐμοῦ οὐκ ἐγένετο ἄλλος Θεὸς, καὶ μετ' ἐμὲ οὐκ ἔσται. Ἐγὼ ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι πάρεξ ἐμοῦ. Καὶ περὶ τοῦ μεγέθους · Ὁ οὐρανός μοι θρόνος, ἡ δὲ γῆ, ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν μου. Ποῖον οἶκον οἰκοδομήσετέ μοι, ἢ τίς τόπος τῆς καταπαύσεώς μου ; Καταλείπω δὲ ὑμῖν, ἐπ' αὐτῶν τῶν βιβλίων γενομένοις, ἀκριβέστερον τὰς ἐκείνων ἐξετάσαι προφητείας, ὅπως μετὰ τοῦ προσήκοντος λογισμοῦ τὴν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐπήρειαν ἀποσκευάσησθε.
Isaiah and Jeremiah, and of the rest of the prophets, who in an ecstasy of the thoughts within them, as the divine Spirit moved them, uttered forth the things with which they were inspired, the Spirit making use of them just as a flute-player breathes into a flute)—what, then, do these say? The Lord our God: no other shall be accounted of in comparison with Him (Isa. 41:4). And again: I am God, the first and hereafter, and beside Me there is no God. Like unto Me there was no other God before Me, and after Me there shall be none. I am God, and there is none beside Me (Isa. 45:5; 43:10). And concerning His greatness: Heaven is My throne, and the earth is the footstool of My feet. What house will you build for Me, or what is the place of My rest? (Isa. 66:1). But I leave it to you, when you come upon the books themselves, to examine their prophecies more closely, so that with fitting reasoning you may rid yourselves of the abuse aimed at us.
10. Τὸ μὲν οὖν ἄθεοι μὴ εἶναι, ἕνα τὸν ἀγένητον καὶ ἀΐδιον καὶ ἀόρατον καὶ ἀπαθῆ καὶ ἀκατάληπτον καὶ ἀχώρητον, νῷ μόνῳ καὶ λόγῳ καταλαμβανόμενον, φωτὶ καὶ κάλλει καὶ πνεύματι καὶ δυνάμει ἀνεκδιηγήτῳ περιεχόμενον, ὑφ' οὗ γεγένηται τὸ πᾶν διὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ Λόγου καὶ διακεκόσμηται καὶ συγκρατεῖται, Θεὸν ἄγοντες, ἱκανῶς μοι δέδεικται. Νοοῦμεν γὰρ καὶ Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Καὶ μή μοι γελοῖόν τις νομίσῃ τὸ Υἱὸν εἶναι τῷ Θεῷ. Οὐ γὰρ, ὡς ποιηταὶ μυθοποιοῦσιν, οὐδὲν βελτίους τῶν ἀνθρώπων δεικνύντες τοὺς θεοὺς, ἢ περὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς ἢ περὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ πεφρονήκαμεν. Ἀλλ' ἔστιν ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐν ἰδέᾳ καὶ ἐνεργείᾳ. Πρὸς αὐτοῦ γὰρ καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ πάντα ἐγένετο,
10. That, therefore, we are not atheists, holding as God One Who is unbegotten and eternal and invisible and impassible and incomprehensible and uncontainable, apprehended by mind and reason alone, encompassed with ineffable light and beauty and spirit and power, by Whom the universe has come into being through His Word and has been set in order and is held together, has been sufficiently shown by me. For we also apprehend a Son of God. And let no one think it ridiculous in me that God should have a Son. For we have not thought either concerning God the Father or concerning the Son as the poets fabricate myths, showing the gods to be no better than men. But the Son of God is the Word of the Father in idea and in actualizing power; for after Him and through Him all things came into being,
Editors' notes and page, col. 908

Page

  • running head: RAE PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI 908
  • marginal letters: A Ἠσαΐου καὶ; B 10. Τὸ μὲν; C est quam; D aut proprietatem
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: βι- hyphenated at end of para 1; the two full-width Greek lines across cols. 907-908 (βλίων γενομένοις ... ἀποσκευάσησθε.) set by hand at the end of para 1 (QA Q1a)
PG 6:909
ἑνὸς ὄντος τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ. Ὄντος δὲ τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἐν Πατρὶ, καὶ Πατρὸς ἐν Υἱῷ, ἑνότητι καὶ δυνάμει Πνεύματος, νοῦς καὶ Λόγος τοῦ Πατρὸς, ὁ Υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ. Εἰ δὲ δι' ὑπερβολὴν συνέσεως σκοπεῖν ὑμῖν ἔπεισιν, ὁ Παῖς τί βούλεται, ἐρῶ διὰ βραχέων, πρῶτον γέννημα εἶναι τῷ Πατρὶ, οὐχ ὡς γενόμενον (ἐξ ἀρχῆς γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς νοῦς ἀΐδιος ὢν, εἶχεν αὐτὸς ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸν Λόγον, ἀϊδίως λογικὸς ὢν), ἀλλ' ὡς τῶν ὑλικῶν ξυμπάντων ἀποίου φύσεως καὶ γῆς ὀχείας ὑποκειμένων δίκην, μεμιγμένων τῶν παχυμερεστέρων πρὸς τὰ κουφότερα ἐπ' αὐτοῖς, ἰδέα καὶ ἐνέργεια εἶναι προελθών. Συνᾴδει δὲ τῷ λόγῳ καὶ τὸ προφητικὸν Πνεῦμα· Κύριος γὰρ, φησὶν, ἔκτισέ με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ. Καίτοι καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ ἐνεργοῦν τοῖς ἐκφωνοῦσι προφητικῶς ἅγιον Πνεῦμα ἀπόῤῥοιαν εἶναί φαμεν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀποῤῥέον καὶ ἐπαναφερόμενον, ὡς ἀκτῖνα ἡλίου. Τίς οὖν οὐκ ἂν ἀπορήσαι, λέγοντας Θεὸν Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν Θεὸν καὶ Πνεῦμα ἅγιον, δεικνύντας αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν ἐν τῇ ἑνώσει δύναμιν καὶ τὴν ἐν τῇ τάξει διαίρεσιν, ἀκούσας ἀθέους καλουμένους ; Καὶ οὐκ ἐπὶ τούτοις τὸ θεολογικὸν ἡμῶν ἵσταται μέρος· ἀλλὰ καὶ πλῆθος ἀγγέλων καὶ λειτουργῶν φαμεν, οὓς ὁ ποιητὴς καὶ δημιουργὸς κόσμου Θεὸς διὰ τοῦ παρ' αὐτοῦ Λόγου διένειμε, καὶ διέταξε περί τε τὰ στοιχεῖα εἶναι καὶ τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, καὶ τὸν κόσμον καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ τὴν τούτων εὐταξίαν.
the Father and the Son being one. And since the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son by the unity and power of the Spirit, the Son of God is the Mind and Word of the Father. And if in your surpassing intelligence it occurs to you to inquire what the Son means, I will state briefly that He is the first offspring to the Father, not as having come into being (for from the beginning God, being eternal Mind, Himself had within Himself the Word, being eternally rational), but as having come forth to be idea and actualizing power over them when all material things lay beneath like a nature without quality and an inert earth, the denser parts being mingled with the lighter. And the prophetic Spirit also agrees with this account; for The Lord, He says, created Me the beginning of His ways for His works (Prov. 8:22). Moreover, we say that the Holy Spirit Himself also, Who works in those who speak prophetically, is an effluence of God, flowing forth and returning back like a ray of the sun. Who, then, would not be perplexed when he hears those called atheists who speak of God the Father and God the Son and the Holy Spirit, and who declare both their power in union and their distinction in order? Nor does the theological part of our teaching stop at these; but we also say that there is a multitude of angels and ministers, whom God the Maker and Demiurge of the world distributed and appointed through the Word that is from Him to be concerned with the elements and the heavens, and the world and the things in it, and the good order of these.
Editors' notes and page, col. 909

Page

  • running head: 909 LEGATIO PRO CHRIST
  • marginal letters: A ἑνὸς ὄντος; B Πνεῦμα ἀπόῤῥοιαν; C (66) Ἑνότητι; D gressionem nihil
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: (none)
PG 6:910
Editors' notes and page, col. 910

Footnotes

⁴ ‹anchor: (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 910 Prov. VIII, 22.

Proverbs 8:22.

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Ἑνότητι καὶ δυνάμει Πνεύματος. Docet Filium in Patre esse et Patrem in Filio, quia una in utroque divinitas. Hoc enim loco Spiritus nomine divinitas significatur, ut saepe alias apud antiquos ac nominatim ipsum Athenagoram, qui paulo ante dicebat Deum spiritu et virtute non enarrabili circumdatum esse. Deum ait esse Spiritum n. 16.

"By the unity and power of the Spirit" (henotēti kai dynamei Pneumatos). He teaches that the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son, because there is one divinity in both. For in this place divinity is signified by the name Spirit, as often elsewhere among the ancients, and in particular in Athenagoras himself, who said a little earlier that God is encompassed by spirit and by unutterable power. He says that God is Spirit at n. 16.

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Ἐν ἑαυτῷ. Tres Anglicani ἐν αὐτῷ.

"In himself" (en heautō). Three English manuscripts have en autō.

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Γῆς ὀχείας. Clarom. et tres Anglicani γῇ ὡς ὀχείας. Evanescit tota hujus loci difficultas, quae mirum in modum torsit interpretes, si legamus γῆς ἀχρείας et mutemus pravam editionum praecedentium interpunctionem, ἀποίου φύσεως καὶ γῆς, ὀχείας ὑποκειμένων δίκην.

"Of the earth … of mating" (gēs ocheias). The Clermont and three English manuscripts have gē hōs ocheias. The whole difficulty of this place, which has tormented the interpreters remarkably, vanishes if we read gēs achreias ("of useless earth") and change the bad punctuation of the earlier editions, apoiou physeōs kai gēs, ocheias hypokeimenōn dikēn.

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Προελθών. Alia criminatio hic repellenda. Jam vidimus immerito accusari Athenagoram, quod Verbum cum Patre confundat. Non justior accusandi causa, quod Verbum tunc productum fuisse censeat, cum mundus creatus est. Liquet hanc progressionem nihil minus esse quam productionem. 1° Idcirco omnia per Filium creata esse dicit, quia Pater et Filius unum sunt, quia una in utroque divinitas. Erant ergo unum, erat una in utroque divinitas antequam mundus crearetur. 2° Conceptis verbis declarat minime productum fuisse tunc Verbum, sed prodiisse ut idea et effectio foret omnium rerum creandarum. 3° Ejusdem Verbi aeternitati consuluit, cum ait: Ab aeterno enim Deus habebat in seipso Verbum. Erat ergo ab aeterno Verbum in Patre, ac proinde et ipse Pater in Verbo. Nam idcirco, ut jam dixit Athenagoras, Verbum est in Patre, quia uterque unum sunt ac una in utroque divinitas. Cur autem Deus, utpote ab aeterno rationalis, Verbum in seipso dicatur habuisse, explicabimus ad lib. II Theophili. 4° Filium ab aeterno Filium fuisse iisdem rationibus probatur. Hanc enim Filii notionem subjicit, mens et Verbum Patris est. Erat autem mens et Verbum Patris ab aeterno, ut jam probavimus. Sed tamen hanc Filii notionem explicat Athenagoras ex mundi creatione; neque id incommode. Suppeditat enim mundi creatio exemplum, in quo Filius munus sustinuit, Filio Dei, id est, menti et Verbo Patris conveniens; idea omnium exstitit, qui ab aeterno erat mens Patris et omnes ideas Patris acceperat; effectio omnium, qui Verbum erat Patris et ab aeterno omnipotentiam ac totam Patris essentiam acceperat.

"Having come forth" (proelthōn). Another charge must be repelled here. We have already seen that Athenagoras is undeservedly accused of confusing the Word with the Father. There is no juster ground for accusing him of holding that the Word was produced at the time the world was created. Clearly this coming forth is anything but a production. First, he says that all things were created through the Son because the Father and the Son are one, because there is one divinity in both; so they were one, there was one divinity in both, before the world was created. Second, he declares in express words that the Word was not then produced, but came forth to be the idea and the effecting of all the things to be created. Third, he safeguarded the eternity of the same Word when he said: "For God from eternity had the Word in himself." So the Word was in the Father from eternity, and therefore the Father himself in the Word; for, as Athenagoras has already said, the Word is in the Father because the two are one and there is one divinity in both. Why God, as being rational from eternity, is said to have had the Word in himself we shall explain on book 2 of Theophilus. Fourth, that the Son was Son from eternity is proved by the same reasons, for he adds this notion of the Son: he is the mind and Word of the Father. And he was the mind and Word of the Father from eternity, as we have already proved. Yet Athenagoras explains this notion of the Son from the creation of the world — and not unsuitably. For the creation of the world supplies an instance in which the Son performed an office befitting the Son of God, that is, the Father's mind and Word: he who from eternity was the Father's mind and had received all the Father's ideas became the idea of all things; he who was the Father's Word and from eternity had received omnipotence and the whole essence of the Father became the effecting of all things.

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Ἐπαναφερόμενον. Similia de Verbo leguntur apud Ignatium ep. ad Magnes., n. 7. Nec verendum est ne haec a Sabellianis commentis non satis recedant. Idem enim hic dicit de Spiritu, quod antea de Filio; quemadmodum Filius ita progressus est ad mundi creationem, ut semper sit in Patre, ita etiam de Spiritu sentiendum docet. Paulo post, praedicat trium personarum et in unione potentiam et in ordine distinctionem; similia habes n. 12. Vide etiam, n. 24, ubi tres personas unum esse dicit κατὰ δύναμιν, id est, secundum divinitatem.

"Being borne back" (epanapheromenon). Similar things are read of the Word in Ignatius, letter to the Magnesians, n. 7. Nor need one fear that these words do not keep far enough from the inventions of the Sabellians. For he says here of the Spirit the same as earlier of the Son: just as the Son came forth for the creation of the world in such a way as always to be in the Father, so he teaches that we are to think of the Spirit too. A little later he proclaims both the power of the three persons in their union and their distinction in order; you have similar things at n. 12. See also n. 24, where he says the three persons are one kata dynamin, that is, according to the divinity.

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Τίς οὖν οὐκ ἄν. Reg. 1, et Clarom. οὖν et ἄν supra lineam. Deest οὖν in tribus Anglicanis.

"Who then would not" (tis oun ouk an). In Reg. 1 and the Clermont, oun and an are above the line. Oun is missing in three English manuscripts.

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Λέγοντας. Tres Angl. codices λέγοντες, et mox cum Claromontano δεικνύντας αὐτόν. Ibidem in Reg. 2, distinctio apposita post Υἱόν, ut vox Deus referatur ad Spiritum sanctum.

"Saying" (legontas). Three English manuscripts have legontes, and just after, with the Clermont, deiknyntas auton. In the same place in Reg. 2 a stop is placed after Huion ("Son"), so that the word "God" refers to the Holy Spirit.

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Θεολογικόν. Duo codices Anglicani λογικόν, quae scriptura Suffrido sine ulla prorsus ratione arrisit. Satis ex hac voce perspicitur angelis honorem aliquem et cultum a Christianis adhiberi, sed tanto inferiorem eo cultu, qui Deo debetur, quanto res creata distat a Creatore. Quare immerito Barbeyrac in tractatu De doctrina morali Patrum Athenagoram exagitat, quasi haustum e Platonicis fontibus angelorum cultum doceat, ac ethnicis haec legentibus integrum non fuerit non existimare divinitates quasdam inferiores a Christianis coli, et ab eis polytheismum quemdam admitti. Iniquissima sane criminatio post tam multas Athena- (continues)

"Theological" (theologikon). Two English manuscripts have logikon, a reading that pleased Suffridus for no reason at all. From this word it is clear enough that some honour and worship was paid to angels by Christians, but as far below the worship owed to God as the creature is distant from the Creator. So Barbeyrac, in his treatise On the Moral Teaching of the Fathers, harasses Athenagoras without cause, as if he taught a worship of angels drawn from Platonic sources, and as if pagans reading this could not help thinking that certain lower divinities were worshipped by Christians and some kind of polytheism admitted by them. A most unjust charge indeed, after so many of Athena- (continues)

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Page

  • running head: O PRO CHRISTIANIS. 910
  • marginal letters: A eo enim; B operatur, effluentiam; C cat Athenagoras; D (71) Τίς οὖν
  • old-edition numerals: 287 before per eum
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:911
Editors' notes and page, col. 911

Footnotes

⁵ ‹anchor: (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 911 Matth. V, 44.

Matthew 5:44.

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Δογμάτων. Hanc vocem Athenagoras proprie de vivendi praeceptis usurpat, quae quidem a doctrina fidei supra exposita distinguit. Dogmata Christiana Tatianus eodem sensu videtur usurpare n. 27, si quidem ea pravis ethnicorum institutis opponit.

"Of the doctrines" (dogmatōn). Athenagoras uses this word properly of the precepts for living, which he distinguishes from the doctrine of faith set out above. Tatian seems to use "Christian dogmas" in the same sense at n. 27, since he sets them against the depraved institutions of the pagans.

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Προσέχομεν. Tres codices Anglic. et Clarom. προέχομεν.

"We attend to" (prosechomen). Three English manuscripts and the Clermont have proechomen.

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Ὑμῶν. Deest in tribus Anglicanis.

"Your" (hymōn). Missing in three English manuscripts.

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Ἐπιτρέψατε. Reg. 2, ἐπιτρέψασθε. Mox tres Anglicani codices ἀγαγεῖν.

"Allow" (epitrepsate). Reg. 2 has epitrepsasthe. Just after, three English manuscripts have agagein.

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Κατηγορούμενον. Frustra Gesnerus addendum putat διδασκόντων.

"Being accused" (katēgoroumenon). Gesner needlessly thinks didaskontōn ("of those teaching") should be added.

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Οἱ εὐδαίμονας. Articulus additus in editione Oxoniensi ex tribus mss. quibuscum consentit Clarom. In Reg. 2, habetur supra lineam. In eodem Clarom. et 2, Angl. legitur, οἱ διὰ τούτων εὐδαίμονας. Mox duo Angl. καὶ τοὺς προκατάρξαντας.

"Those [who make] happy" (hoi eudaimonas). The article was added in the Oxford edition from three manuscripts, with which the Clermont agrees; in Reg. 2 it is above the line. In the same Clermont and in two English manuscripts one reads hoi dia toutōn eudaimonas ("those who [promise to make] happy by these"). Just after, two English manuscripts have kai tous prokatarxantas.

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Ἑαυτοῖς τὰ τοιαῦτα. Haec scriptura Reg. 2, et trium Angl. longe videtur praeferenda vulgatae, ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ταῦτα, quae sic reddiderant interpretes: Nunquam non pergunt adversus eos, a quibus offensi fuere, nefanda quaevis excogitare. Sed in hac interpretatione vox ταῦτα nec redditur, nec videtur reddi posse. Sed si illam, aut quod pro ea posuimus, nempe τὰ τοιαῦτα, referamus ad supradicta artis sophisticae instituta, non difficilis erit nec obscura sententia. Rhetores et Sophistas exagitat Athenagoras, quod non modo Christianorum virtutem in diligendis inimicis non imitentur, sed etiam ipsi inceptores injuriarum sese praebeant, et dum aliis beatam vitam docendo pollicentur, ipsi artis arcana ad maledicta et malefacta sibi investigare non desinant.

"For themselves such things" (heautois ta toiauta). This reading of Reg. 2 and three English manuscripts seems far preferable to the common one, ep' autous tauta, which the translators had rendered: "They never stop devising every kind of wickedness against those by whom they have been offended." But in this rendering the word tauta is not translated, nor does it seem it could be. If, however, we refer it, or what we have put in its place, ta toiauta, to the institutions of the sophistic art mentioned above, the sense will be neither difficult nor obscure. Athenagoras attacks the rhetors and sophists because not only do they not imitate the Christians' virtue in loving enemies, but they even make themselves the starters of injuries, and while promising others the happy life by their teaching, they never stop searching out for themselves the secrets of their art for abuse and wrongdoing.

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Κακόν. Legitur σκαιόν in Clarom. Atque ita in suo exemplari legerat H. Stephanus.

"Evil" (kakon). The Clermont reads skaion ("perverse"). And H. Stephanus had read so in his copy.

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Page

  • running head: 911 ATHENAGORAE PHILOSOPHI
  • marginal letters: A 11. Christianorum; B liceat, ut; C animo artis; D scripsit, praemisisse
  • old-edition numerals: 288 after possitis,
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:912
11. Εἰ δὲ ἀκριβῶς διέξειμι τὸν καθ' ἡμᾶς λόγον, μὴ θαυμάσητε· ἵνα γὰρ μὴ τῇ κοινῇ καὶ ἀλόγῳ συναποφέρησθε γνώμῃ, ἔχητε δὲ τἀληθὲς εἰδέναι, ἀκριβολογοῦμαι· ἐπεὶ καὶ δι' αὐτῶν τῶν δογμάτων οἷς προσέχομεν, οὐκ ἀνθρωπικοῖς οὖσιν, ἀλλὰ θεοφάτοις καὶ θεοδιδάκτοις, πεῖσαι ὑμᾶς, μὴ ὡς περὶ ἀθέων ἔχειν, δυνάμεθα. Τίνες οὖν ἡμῶν οἱ λόγοι, οἷς ἐντρεφόμεθα ; Λέγω ὑμῖν· Ἀγαπᾶτε τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ὑμῶν, εὐλογεῖτε τοὺς καταρωμένους, προσεύχεσθε ὑπὲρ τῶν διωκόντων ὑμᾶς, ὅπως γένησθε υἱοὶ τοῦ Πατρὸς ὑμῶν τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, ὃς τὸν ἥλιον αὐτοῦ ἀνατέλλει ἐπὶ πονηροὺς καὶ ἀγαθοὺς, καὶ βρέχει ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ἀδίκους. Ἐπιτρέψατε ἐνταῦθα τοῦ λόγου ἐξακούστου μετὰ πολλῆς κραυγῆς γεγονότος, ἐπὶ παῤῥησίαν ἀναγαγεῖν, ὡς ἐπὶ βασιλέων φιλοσόφων ἀπολογούμενον. Τίνες γὰρ ἢ τῶν τοὺς συλλογισμοὺς ἀναλυόντων καὶ τὰς ἀμφιβολίας διαλυόντων καὶ τὰς ἐτυμολογίας σαφηνιζόντων, ἢ τῶν τὰ ὁμώνυμα καὶ συνώνυμα καὶ κατηγορήματα καὶ ἀξιώματα, καὶ τί τὸ ὑποκείμενον, καὶ τί τὸ κατηγορούμενον, οἳ εὐδαίμονας ἀποτελεῖν διὰ τούτων καὶ τῶν τοιούτων λόγων ὑπισχνοῦνται τοὺς συνόντας, οὕτως ἐκκεκαθαρμένοι εἰσὶ τὰς ψυχὰς, ὡς ἀντὶ τοῦ μισεῖν τοὺς ἐχθροὺς, ἀγαπᾷν, καὶ ἀντὶ τοῦ, τὸ μετριώτατον, κακῶς ἀγορεύειν τοὺς προκατάρξαντας λοιδορίας, εὐλογεῖν, καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐπιβουλευόντων εἰς τὸ ζῆν προσεύχεσθαι ; Οἳ τοὐναντίον ἀεὶ διατελοῦσι κακῶς τὰ ἀπόῤῥητα ἑαυτοῖς τὰ τοιαῦτα μεταλλεύοντες, καὶ ἀεί τι ἐργάσασθαι ἐπιθυμοῦντες κακὸν, τέχνην λόγων, καὶ οὐκ ἐπίδειξιν ἔργων, τὸ πρᾶγμα πεποιημένοι. Παρὰ δ' ἡμῖν εὕροιτε ἂν ἰδιώτας καὶ χειροτέχνας καὶ γραΐδια, εἰ λόγῳ ὠφέλειαν παριστᾷν εἰσιν ἀδύνατοι τὴν παρὰ τοῦ λόγου, ἔργῳ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς προαιρέσεως ὠφέλειαν ἐπιδεικνυμένους.
11. And if I go through our teaching with exactness, do not marvel; for I speak with exactness so that you may not be carried away along with the common and irrational opinion, but may be able to know the truth; since even through the precepts themselves to which we adhere, which are not human, but uttered by God and taught by God, we are able to persuade you not to regard us as atheists. What, then, are our teachings, in which we are brought up? I say to you: Love your enemies, bless those who curse, pray for those who persecute you, that you may become sons of your Father Who is in the heavens, Who makes His sun rise upon wicked and good, and sends rain upon just and unjust (Matt. 5:44–45). Permit me at this point, after the discourse has been heard with loud clamour, to rise to outspokenness, as one making his defence before philosopher emperors. For who among those who analyse syllogisms and resolve ambiguities and explain etymologies, or among those who teach homonyms and synonyms and predicates and axioms, and what the subject is and what the predicate is—who promise through these and suchlike discourses to render their associates happy—have their souls so purified as, instead of hating their enemies, to love them, and instead of doing what is most moderate, speaking evil of those who have first begun abuse, to bless them, and to pray for those who plot against their life? On the contrary, they continually persist in wickedly digging up such secret mysteries for themselves, and ever desire to work some evil, having made the matter an art of words and not a demonstration of deeds. Whereas among us you would find unlettered folk and artisans and old women who, if they are unable by speech to set forth the benefit that comes from our teaching, by deed demonstrate the benefit that comes from their moral purpose—
Editors' notes and page, col. 912

Page

  • running head: AE PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI 912
  • marginal letters: A 11. Εἰ δὲ; B γεῖν, ὡς; C τὸ πρᾶγμα; D (80) Ἑαυτοῖς
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: ἐπιδεικνυ- hyphenated across column break
  • other: the word ἐπιδεικνυμένους. was split at the column break and stands whole here (joined on receipt); check that the English reads whole across the break into col 913
PG 6:913
Οὐ γὰρ λόγους διαμνημονεύουσιν, ἀλλὰ πράξεις ἀγαθὰς ἐπιδεικνύουσιν· παιόμενοι μὴ ἀντιτύπτειν, καὶ ἁρπαζόμενοι μὴ δικάζεσθαι, τοῖς αἰτοῦσι διδόναι, καὶ τοὺς πλησίον ἀγαπᾷν ὡς ἑαυτούς.
—for they do not recite speeches from memory, but demonstrate good actions: when struck, not to strike back; and when robbed, not to go to law; to give to those who ask, and to love their neighbours as themselves.
12. Ἆρα τοίνυν, εἰ μὴ ἐφεστηκέναι Θεὸν τῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένει ἐνομίζομεν, οὕτως ἂν ἑαυτοὺς ἐξεκαθαίρομεν ; Οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν. Ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ πεπείσμεθα ὑφέξειν παντὸς τοῦ ἐνταῦθα βίου λόγον τῷ πεποιηκότι καὶ ἡμᾶς καὶ τὸν κόσμον Θεῷ, τὸν μέτριον καὶ φιλάνθρωπον καὶ εὐκαταφρόνητον βίον αἱρούμεθα, οὐδὲν τηλικοῦτον πείσεσθαι κακὸν ἐνταῦθα νομίζοντες, κἂν τῆς ψυχῆς ἡμᾶς ἀφαιρῶνταί τινες, ὧν ἐκεῖ κομιούμεθα τοῦ πράου καὶ φιλανθρώπου καὶ ἐπιεικοῦς βίου παρὰ τοῦ μεγάλου δικαστοῦ. Πλάτων μὲν οὖν Μίνω καὶ Ῥαδάμανθυν δικάσειν καὶ κολάσειν τοὺς πονηροὺς ἔφη · ἡμεῖς δὲ, κἂν Μίνως τις κἂν Ῥαδάμανθυς ᾖ, κἂν ὁ τούτων πατὴρ, οὐδὲ τοῦτόν φαμεν διαφεύξεσθαι τὴν κρίσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Εἶθ' οἱ μὲν τὸν βίον τοῦτον νομίζοντες, Φάγωμεν καὶ πίωμεν, αὔριον γὰρ ἀποθνήσκομεν, καὶ τὸν θάνατον βαθὺν ὕπνον καὶ λήθην τιθέμενοι (ὕπνω καὶ θανάτω διδυμάονε), πιστεύονται θεοσεβεῖν· ἄνθρωποι δὲ, τὸν μὲν ἐνταῦθα ὀλίγου καὶ μικροῦ τινος ἄξιον βίον λελογισμένοι, ὑπὸ μόνου δὲ παραπεμπόμενοι τούτου, ὂν ἴσως Θεὸν καὶ τὸν παρ' αὐτοῦ Λόγον εἰδέναι, τίς ἡ τοῦ Παιδὸς πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα ἑνότης, τίς ἡ τοῦ Πατρὸς πρὸς τὸν Υἱὸν κοινωνία, τί τὸ Πνεῦμα, τίς ἡ τῶν τοσούτων ἕνωσις, καὶ διαίρεσις ἑνουμένων, τοῦ Πνεύματος, τοῦ Παιδὸς, τοῦ Πατρός· πολὺ δὲ καὶ κρείττονα ἢ εἰπεῖν λόγῳ τὸν ἐκδεχόμενον βίον εἰδότες, ἐὰν καθαροὶ ὄντες ἀπὸ παντὸς παραπεμφθῶμεν ἀδικήματος · μέχρι τοσούτου δὲ φιλανθρωπότατοι, ὥστε μὴ μόνον στέργειν τοὺς φίλους (Ἐὰν γὰρ ἀγαπᾶτε, φησὶν,
12. Would we, therefore, if we did not think that God presides over the race of men, thus purify ourselves? None can say so. But since we are persuaded that we shall render an account of all our life here to God Who made both us and the world, we choose the moderate and humane and despised life, thinking that we shall suffer no evil here so great, even if some deprive us of life, compared with the rewards which we shall receive there from the great Judge for a meek and humane and gentle life. Plato indeed said that Minos and Rhadamanthus will judge and punish the wicked; whereas we say that even if one be a Minos or a Rhadamanthus, or their father, not even he will escape the judgement of God. Are those, then, who account this life to be, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die (Isa. 22:13; 1 Cor. 15:32), and who reckon death to be a deep sleep and forgetfulness (sleep and death, twin brethren), believed to be godly; while men who have reckoned the life here to be worth little and some small thing, and who are escorted on their way by this alone—that they know Him Who truly is God and the Word that is from Him, what is the unity of the Son with the Father, what is the communion of the Father with the Son, what is the Spirit, what is the union of these so great, and the distinction of them united, of the Spirit, the Son, the Father—and who know that the life which awaits us is far better than can be told in speech, if we are sent on our way pure from all wrongdoing, and who are to such a degree most humane that they not only love their friends (For if you love, He says,
Editors' notes and page, col. 913

Page

  • running head: 913 LEGATIO PRO CHRISTI
  • marginal letters: A μένους. Οὐ; B θρώπου καὶ; C σις, καὶ; D (85) Καὶ πίωμεν.
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: μένους fragment from preceding column; two Latin lines printed across both columns after ἑαυτούς. (verba declamitant ... diligere.) not set
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Editors' notes and page, col. 914

Footnotes

⁶ ‹anchor: cras enim moriemur› · call in col 914 Isa. XXII, 13.

Isaiah 22:13.

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Παιόμενοι. Duo Anglicani codices παιόμενον. Paulo post tres Anglicani οὕτω ἂν ἑαυτούς, et mox Reg. 2, cum duobus Anglicanis, ἐνταῦθα κακὸν πείσεσθαι

"Being struck" (paiomenoi). Two English manuscripts have paiomenon. A little after, three English manuscripts have houtō an heautous, and just after Reg. 2, with two English manuscripts, entautha kakon peisesthai ("to suffer evil here").

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(83) ‹anchor: (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 914

Τὸν μέτριον. Clarom. τὸ μέτριον.

"The moderate [one]" (ton metrion). The Clermont has to metrion.

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Πρᾴου. Deest conjunctio post hanc vocem in duobus Anglicanis codicibus et Clarom.

"Gentle" (praou). The conjunction after this word is missing in two English manuscripts and the Clermont.

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Καὶ πίωμεν. Haec desunt in Clarom. Desumpta sunt, ut observat Ducaeus, ex Isaiae XXII, 13, et I Cor. XV, 32.

"And let us drink" (kai piōmen). These words are missing in the Clermont. They are taken, as Ducaeus observes, from Isaiah 22:13 and 1 Corinthians 15:32.

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(86) ‹anchor: ὕπνῳ καὶ θανάτῳ διδυμάονε› · call in col 914

Ὕπνω καὶ θανάτω διδυμάονε. Casus sunt tres numeri dualis, nescio quam recte, neque cujus auctoris; malim ego dativo ὕπνῳ καὶ θανάτῳ διδυμάονι. GESN.—Immo διδυμάοσι, v. Iliad. Π, 672. E. P.

"Sleep and death, twins" (hypnō kai thanatō didymaone). These are three cases in the dual number, I know not how correctly, nor from what author; I would prefer the dative hypnō kai thanatō didymaoni. GESNER. — Rather didymaosi; see Iliad 16 (Π), 672. EDITORS OF THE PATROLOGIA.

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(87) ‹anchor: παραπεμπόμενοι› · call in col 914

Παραπεμπόμενοι. Ex hac voce pendet totius loci sententia; vertit Gesnerus: Illum duntaxat ducem pertranseuntes sequimur. Auctor editionis Oxon. In hoc tantummodo incumbimus. Langus: Qui hanc vitam in hoc tantummodo transmittimus. Sic reddendum videtur: Qui hac una re ad futuram vitam perducimur. Paulo post eodem sensu ab Athenagora usurpatur. Nam ne solam fidem requirere videretur, addit aliam conditionem, nempe si puri ab omni delicto perducamur. Sic apud Clementem Alex. Strom. VI, p. 647, cognitio non sine labore comparanda dicitur his qui per angustam viam ad aeternum et beatam salutem perducuntur, τοῖς εἰς τὴν ἀΐδιον καὶ μακαρίαν παραπεμπομένοις σωτηρίαν. Virginitas apud Gregorium Naz. orat. 20, p. 358, dicitur mundum ad mundum transmittere, praesentem nimirum ad futurum, κόσμον κόσμῳ παραπέμπουσαν, τὸν ἐνεστῶτα τῷ μέλλοντι.

"Being escorted" (parapempomenoi). The sense of the whole place hangs on this word. Gesner translated: "Passing through, we follow him alone as guide." The editor of the Oxford edition: "We apply ourselves to this alone." Langus: "We who pass this life in this alone." It seems it should be rendered thus: "We who are brought through to the future life by this one thing." A little later Athenagoras uses it in the same sense; for, lest he seem to require faith alone, he adds another condition, namely "if we are brought through pure from every offence." So in Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 6, p. 647, knowledge, not to be gained without labour, is said to belong to those who by the narrow way are brought through to eternal and blessed salvation, "to those escorted to eternal and blessed salvation." Virginity in Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 20, p. 358, is said to pass the world on to the world — that is, the present to the future — "escorting world to world, the present to the coming."

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(88) ‹anchor: τούτου, ὃν ἴσως› · call in col 914

Ὑπὸ μόνου δὲ παραπεμπόμενοι τούτου, ὃν ἴσως. Sic emendo hunc locum: Ὑπὸ μόνου δὲ παραπεμπόμενοι τοῦ τὸν Θεὸν καὶ τὸν παρ' αὐτοῦ Λόγον εἰδέναι. Cur τοῦ ponendum existimem pro τούτου, ducor auctoritate codicis Reg. 2, ubi postremum τοῦ alia manus addidit. Cum autem librarii alicujus culpa pro his vocibus, ὑπὸ τοῦ τὸν Θεόν, scriptum fuisset, ὑπὸ τούτου ὄν, lector non indoctus videtur apposuisse margini hanc notam, ἴσως Θεόν, fortasse Deum, id est fortasse legere oportet Θεόν. Inde ergo factum, ut hae voces, ἴσως Θεόν, quae sua sponte nihil aliud esse videntur, nisi observatio lectoris naevum animadvertentis, in ipsum contextum reciperentur, neque expungeretur illud τούτου ὄν. Vox Θεόν in eodem Regio codice supra lineam apposita, quod quidem emendationem meam confirmat.

"Escorted only by this, whom perhaps" (hypo monou de parapempomenoi toutou, hon isōs). I emend this place thus: "escorted only by knowing God and the Word who is from him." Why I think tou should be put for toutou, I am led by the authority of the manuscript Reg. 2, where another hand added the final tou. Since through some copyist's fault hypo toutou on had been written for the words hypo tou ton Theon, a not unlearned reader seems to have put this note in the margin, isōs Theon, "perhaps God," that is, perhaps one should read Theon. That is how it happened that these words isōs Theon, which by themselves seem to be nothing but the remark of a reader noticing a flaw, were taken into the text itself, while that toutou on was not struck out. The word Theon is placed above the line in the same Royal manuscript, which confirms my emendation.

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(89) ‹anchor: ἑνότης› · call in col 914

Ἑνότης. Deest in duobus Anglicanis.

"Unity" (henotēs). Missing in two English manuscripts.

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(90) ‹anchor: τῶν τοσούτων› · call in col 914

Τοσούτων. Non improbat hanc scripturam Gesnerus, sed tamen legi posse existimat τούτων vel τῶν τριῶν.

"Of so many" (tosoutōn). Gesner does not reject this reading, but thinks one could read toutōn ("of these") or tōn triōn ("of the three").

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(91) ‹anchor: καὶ κρείττονα› · call in col 914

Κρείττονα. Reg. 2, Clarom. et duo Anglicani κρεῖττον. Suffridi codex τὸ κρεῖττον.

"Better" (kreittona). Reg. 2, the Clermont and two English manuscripts have kreitton; Suffridus's manuscript to kreitton.

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Page

  • running head: O PRO CHRISTIANIS. 914
  • marginal letters: A imperitos homines; B iis conferendum; C Patris cum; D ραπεμπόμενοι τοῦ
  • old-edition numerals: 289 after fuerit,
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
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Editors' notes and page, col. 915

Footnotes

⁷ ‹anchor: (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 915 Matth. V, 46.

Matthew 5:46.

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Ὀρόν. Sic codices Regii et Ottoboniani cum editione Tigurina et codice quo usus est Suffridus. Mallet tamen Suffridus ὄξος, acetum. Gesnerus legendum putat οἶνον vel μύρον vel ὀπόν. Legitur οἶνον in editt. Paris. Salmasius ὀπόν legit Plinian. exercit. p. 369. Sed nihil vetat quominus ὀρόν retineamus; haec lectio probatur Samueli Petito Var. Lect. lib. III, cap. 3, ubi serum lactis vertendum existimat.

"Whey" (oron). So the Royal and Ottoboni manuscripts, with the Zurich edition and the manuscript Suffridus used. Suffridus, however, would prefer oxos, "vinegar." Gesner thinks one should read oinon ("wine") or myron ("perfume") or opon ("juice"). The Paris editions read oinon. Salmasius reads opon, Exercitationes Plinianae p. 369. But nothing prevents our keeping oron; this reading is approved by Samuel Petit, Variae Lectiones book 3, ch. 3, where he thinks it should be translated "whey of milk."

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Ἐπεὶ δέ. Codices tres Anglicani ἐπειδή. Mox unus ex iisdem codicibus τί ἐστι Θεός. Codex Suffridi τί ἐστιν ὁ Θεός.

"But since" (epei de). Three English manuscripts have epeidē. Just after, one of the same manuscripts has ti esti Theos; Suffridus's manuscript ti estin ho Theos.

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Θεολογικοῦ. Codex Suffridi θεωρητικοῦ, quae scriptura Suffrido arridet, quamvis omnino vitiosa sit.

"Theological" (theologikou). Suffridus's manuscript has theōrētikou ("contemplative"), a reading that pleases Suffridus, though it is wholly faulty.

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Εὐωδία. Sic Irenaeus lib. IV, c. 14, n. 3: Ipse quidem nullius horum est indigens: est enim semper plenus omnibus bonis, omnemque odorem suavitatis, et omnes suaveolentium vaporationes habens in se, etiam antequam Moyses esset.

"Sweet savour" (euōdia). So Irenaeus, book 4, ch. 14, n. 3: "He himself has need of none of these things; for he is always full of all good things, and has in himself every odour of sweetness and all the fumes of fragrant things, even before Moses existed."

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(96) ‹anchor: ὅταν› · call in col 915

Ὅταν. Addendum videtur οὖν.

"When" (hotan). It seems oun ("then") should be added.

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(97) ‹anchor: προσφέρειν δέον› · call in col 915

Δέον. Clarom. et tres Anglicani δεῖ.

"It being necessary" (deon). The Clermont and three English manuscripts have dei.

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(98) ‹anchor: περὶ θεῶν μάτην› · call in col 915

Μάτην. Hanc vocem, quae tenebras huic loco offundit, librario alicui in mentem venisse puto ob similitudinem sequentium syllabarum, ἀλλ' Ἀθην. Saepe enim librariis contigit, ut ex duabus similibus vocibus alteram omittere, ita eamdem vocem bis scribere. Sic infra n. 16, vocem μαρτυρεῖ, quae perperam iterabatur, ope cod. Bodleiani sustuli.

"In vain" (matēn). I think this word, which casts darkness over the place, occurred to some copyist because of its likeness to the following syllables, all' Athēn. For it often happens to copyists that, just as they omit one of two similar words, so they write the same word twice. So below, at n. 16, I removed with the help of the Bodleian manuscript the word martyrei, which was wrongly repeated.

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(99) ‹anchor: Κελεὸν καὶ Μετάνειραν› · call in col 915

Μετάνειραν. Menalina dicitur apud Ovidium Fast. lib. IV, legendum Μεγάνειρα. Sic enim Pausanias, Nicander et Diomedes grammaticus. SUFFRIDUS. — Meganirae quoque meminit Apollodorus lib. III, c. 3, et Antonius Liberalis Metamorphos., cap. 8. RECHEMBERG.

"Metaneira." She is called Menalina in Ovid, Fasti book 4; one should read Meganeira, for so Pausanias, Nicander and Diomedes the grammarian. SUFFRIDUS. — Apollodorus also mentions Meganira, book 3, ch. 3, and Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses ch. 8. RECHENBERG.

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Page

  • running head: 915 ATHENAGORAE PHILOSOPHI
  • marginal letters: A enim diligitis; B quidem cur; C Atque illos; D vitatis
  • old-edition numerals: 290 before manus tollamus
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:916
τοὺς ἀγαπῶντας, καὶ δανείζετε τοῖς δανείζουσιν ὑμῖν, τίνα μισθὸν ἕξετε;) τοιοῦτοι δὲ ἡμεῖς ὄντες, καὶ τὸν τοιοῦτον βιοῦντες βίον, ἵνα κριθῆναι διαφύγωμεν, ἀπιστούμεθα θεοσεβεῖν; Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν, μικρὰ ἀπὸ μεγάλων, καὶ ὀλίγα ἀπὸ πολλῶν, ἵνα μὴ ἐπὶ πλεῖον ὑμῖν ἐνοχλοῖμεν· καὶ γὰρ τὸ μέλι καὶ τὸν ὀρὸν δοκιμάζοντες, μικρῷ μέρει τοῦ παντὸς, τὸ πᾶν εἰ καλὸν δοκιμάζουσιν.
those who love you, and lend to those who lend to you, what reward will you have? [Matt. 5:46; Luke 6:32, 34])—when we are such men, and live such a life in order that we may escape condemnation, are we disbelieved when we say that we are godly? These things, however, are small from great, and few from many, lest we trouble you further; for those also who test honey and whey judge by a small part of the whole whether the whole is good.
13. Ἐπεὶ δὲ οἱ πολλοὶ τῶν ἐπικαλούντων ἡμῖν τὴν ἀθεότητα, οὐδ' ὄναρ τί ἐστι, Θεὸν ἐγνωκότες, ἀμαθεῖς καὶ ἀθεώρητοι ὄντες τοῦ φυσικοῦ καὶ τοῦ θεολογικοῦ λόγου, μετροῦντες τὴν εὐσέβειαν θυσιῶν νόμῳ, ἐπικαλοῦσι, τὸ μὴ καὶ τοὺς αὐτοὺς ταῖς πόλεσι θεοὺς ἄγειν· σκέψασθέ μοι, αὐτοκράτορες, ὧδε περὶ ἑκατέρων καὶ πρῶτόν γε περὶ τοῦ μὴ θύειν. Ὁ τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς δημιουργὸς καὶ πατὴρ οὐ δεῖται αἵματος, οὐδὲ κνίσσης, οὐδὲ τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνθῶν καὶ θυμιαμάτων εὐωδίας, αὐτὸς ὢν ἡ τελεία εὐωδία, ἀνενδεὴς καὶ ἀπροσδεής· ἀλλὰ θυσία αὐτῷ μεγίστη, ἂν γιγνώσκωμεν τίς ἐξέτεινε καὶ συνεσφαίρωσε τοὺς οὐρανοὺς, καὶ τὴν γῆν κέντρου δίκην ἥδρασε, τίς συνήγαγε τὸ ὕδωρ εἰς θαλάσσας, καὶ διέκρινε τὸ φῶς ἀπὸ τοῦ σκότους, τίς ἐκόσμησεν ἄστροις τὸν αἰθέρα, καὶ ἐποίησε πᾶν σπέρμα τὴν γῆν ἀναβάλλειν, τίς ἐποίησε ζῶα, καὶ ἄνθρωπον ἔπλασεν. Ὅταν ἔχοντες τὸν δημιουργὸν Θεὸν συνέχοντα καὶ ἐποπτεύοντα ἐπιστήμῃ καὶ τέχνῃ, καθ' ἣν ἄγει τὰ πάντα, ἐπαίρωμεν ὁσίους χεῖρας αὐτῷ, ποίας ἔτι χρείαν ἑκατόμβης ἔχει ;
13. But since most of those who charge us with atheism, not even in a dream knowing what God is, being unlearned and unacquainted with natural and theological science, and measuring piety by the rule of sacrifices, charge us also with not acknowledging the same gods as the cities, consider for me, emperors, both points as follows, and first of all concerning our not sacrificing. The Demiurge and Father of this universe does not need blood, nor the savour of burnt fat, nor the fragrance from flowers and incense, seeing that He Himself is the perfect fragrance, in need of nothing and requiring nothing more; but the greatest sacrifice to Him is if we know Who stretched out and rounded the heavens into a sphere, and established the earth like a centre, Who gathered the water into seas, and divided the light from the darkness, Who adorned the aether with stars, and made the earth cast up every seed, Who made living creatures, and fashioned man. When, holding the Demiurge God Who sustains and watches over all things with the knowledge and art according to which He guides them all, we lift up holy hands to Him, what need has He any longer of a hecatomb?
Καὶ τοὺς μὲν θυσίῃσι καὶ εὐχωλῆς ἀγανῇσι, Λοιβῇ τε κνίσσῃ τε παρατρωπῶσ' ἄνθρωποι, Λισσόμενοι, ὅτε κέν τις ὑπερβαίῃ καὶ ἁμάρτῃ.
And them indeed with sacrifices and gentle vows, with libation and the savour of burnt fat, men turn aside in entreaty, whenever anyone transgresses and sins.
Τί δέ μοι ὁλοκαυτώσεων, ὧν μὴ δεῖται ὁ Θεός; καίτοι προσφέρειν δέον ἀναίμακτον θυσίαν, καὶ τὴν λογικὴν προσάγειν λατρείαν.
What have I to do with whole burnt offerings, which God does not need?—though one ought to offer a bloodless sacrifice, and bring forward the rational service.
14. Ὁ δὲ περὶ τοῦ μὴ προσιέναι καὶ τοὺς αὐτοὺς ταῖς πόλεσι θεοὺς ἄγειν πάνυ αὐτοῖς εὐήθης λόγος. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ οἱ ἡμῖν ἐπικαλοῦντες ἀθεότητα, ἐπεὶ μὴ τοὺς αὐτοὺς οἷς ἴσασι νομίζομεν, σφίσιν αὐτοῖς συμφωνοῦσι περὶ θεῶν μάτην. Ἀλλ' Ἀθηναῖοι μὲν Κελεὸν καὶ Μετάνειραν ἵδρυνται θεούς· Λακεδαιμόνιοι
14. And their argument concerning our not approaching and acknowledging the same gods as the cities is exceedingly foolish on their part. Nay, not even those who charge us with atheism for not acknowledging the same gods as those whom they know agree among themselves concerning the gods in vain. Rather, the Athenians have set up Celeus and Metanira as gods; the Lacedaemonians
Editors' notes and page, col. 916

Page

  • running head: E PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI 916
  • marginal letters: A τοὺς ἀγαπῶντας; B Ὁ τοῦδε; C Καὶ τοὺς; D vitatis, et
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: Λακε- hyphenated across column break
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δὲ Μενέλεων, καὶ θύουσιν αὐτῷ καὶ ἑορτάζουσιν· Ἰλιεῖς δὲ, οὐδὲ τὸ ὄνομα ἀκούοντες, Ἕκτορα φέρουσι · καὶ Χῖοι Ἀρισταῖον, τὸν αὐτὸν καὶ Δία καὶ Ἀπόλλω νομίζοντες· Θάσιοι Θεαγένην, ὑφ' οὗ καὶ φόνος Ὀλυμπίασιν ἐγένετο· Σάμιοι Λύσανδρον, ἐπὶ τοσαύταις σφαγαῖς καὶ τοσούτοις κακοῖς· Ἀλκμὰν καὶ Ἡσίοδος Μήδειαν· καὶ Νιόβην Κίλικες· Σικελοὶ Φίλιππον τὸν Βουτακίδου· Ὀνησίλαον Ἀμαθούσιοι· Ἀμίλκαν Καρχηδόνιοι. Ἐπιλείψει με ἡ ἡμέρα τὸ πλῆθος καταλέγοντα. Ὅταν οὖν αὐτοὶ αὑτοῖς διαφωνῶσι περὶ τῶν κατ' αὐτοὺς θεῶν, τί ἡμῖν μὴ συμφερομένοις ἐπικαλοῦσι ; Τὸ δὲ κατ' Αἰγυπτίους μὴ καὶ γελοῖον ᾖ; Τύπτονται γὰρ ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς τὰ στήθη κατὰ τὰς πανηγύρεις ὡς ἐπὶ τετελευτηκόσι, καὶ θύουσιν ὡς θεοῖς. Καὶ οὐδὲν θαυμαστόν· οἵ γε καὶ τὰ θηρία θεοὺς ἄγουσι, καὶ ξυρῶνται, ἐπεὶ ἀποθνήσκουσι, καὶ θάπτουσιν ἐν ἱεροῖς, καὶ δημοτελεῖς κοπετοὺς ἐγείρουσιν. Ἂν τοίνυν ἡμεῖς, ὅτι μὴ κοινῶς ἐκείνοις θεοσεβοῦμεν, ἀσεβῶμεν, πᾶσαι μὲν πόλεις, πάντα δὲ ἔθνη ἀσεβοῦσιν· οὐ γὰρ τοὺς αὐτοὺς πάντες ἄγουσι θεούς.
Menelaus, and sacrifice to him and keep festival; while the Ilians, who cannot bear even to hear his name, celebrate Hector; and the Chians Aristaeus, accounting him the same as both Zeus and Apollo; the Thasians Theagenes, by whom even murder was committed at Olympia; the Samians Lysander, after so many slaughters and so many evils; Alcman and Hesiod Medea; and the Cilicians Niobe; the Sicilians Philip the son of Butacides; the Amathusians Onesilaus; the Carthaginians Hamilcar. The day will fail me if I recount the multitude. When, therefore, they disagree among themselves concerning their own gods, why do they bring charges against us for not concurring with them? And is not the practice among the Egyptians even ridiculous? For in their temples during their festivals they beat their breasts as over the dead, and sacrifice to them as to gods. And no wonder: seeing that they even account wild beasts to be gods, and shave themselves when they die, and bury them in temples, and raise public lamentations. If, therefore, we are impious because we do not practise religion in common with them, all cities and all nations are impious; for all do not acknowledge the same gods.
Editors' notes and page, col. 917

Page

  • running head: 917 LEGATIO PRO CHRISTI
  • marginal letters: A δαιμόνιοι δὲ; B μαστόν· οἵ; C Ter centum; D Athenagorae peritia
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: δαιμόνιοι fragment from preceding column; two Latin lines printed across both columns after θεούς. (illi pietatem ... nerantur deos.) not set
PG 6:918
Editors' notes and page, col. 918

Footnotes

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Μενέλεων. Illius delubrum in vico Laconico, qui dicebatur Therapne, commemorat Pausanias lib. III, p. 199.

"Menelaus." Pausanias, book 3, p. 199, mentions his shrine in a Laconian village called Therapne.

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Χῖοι. Legendum esse Κεῖοι probat eruditus Oxoniensis editor tum ex his Virgilii (Georg. I, 14) versibus: . . . . et cultor nemorum, cui pinguia Ceae / Ter centum nivei tondent dumeta juvenci; tum etiam ex testimonio Diodori Siculi Bibl. lib. IV, p. 281, ex quo patet Aristaeum non apud Chios, sed apud Cejos pro deo habitum fuisse; citat etiam hujus emendationis auctores Huetium Demonstr., p. 550; Bochartum Geogr. sacr. p. 442: et Rechembergium.

"Chians" (Chioi). The learned Oxford editor shows that one should read Keioi ("Ceans"), both from these lines of Virgil (Georgics 1.14): "… and you, tender of the groves, for whom three hundred snow-white bullocks crop the rich thickets of Cea"; and from the testimony of Diodorus Siculus, Library book 4, p. 281, from which it is clear that Aristaeus was held a god not among the Chians but among the Ceans. He also cites as authors of this emendation Huet, Demonstratio p. 550; Bochart, Geographia sacra p. 442; and Rechenberg.

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Θεαγένην. Lucianus in deorum concilio Thasiorum simplicitatem ridet, qui statuam hujus pugilis febribus mederi putabant. Quod spectat ad caedem ab eo patratam Olympiae, existimat Suffridus memoriam effluxisse Athenagorae, dum in Theagenem confert celeberrimam historiam, quae de Cleomede Astypalaeensi, pugile altero longe clariore, narratur. Non improbabilis haec conjectura Suffridi. Quamvis enim, ut observat Rechembergius, non repugnet, ut caedem Theagenes patraverit; id tamen de Cleomede notum et testatum est, de Theagene autem, excepto Athenagora, silent omnino antiqui scriptores. At ea videtur exstitisse ejusmodi rerum Athenagorae peritia, ut ei haec facta asseveranti, quae alii scriptores nec memorant nec negant, fides non sit deroganda.

"Theagenes." Lucian, in the Assembly of the Gods, laughs at the simplicity of the Thasians, who thought the statue of this boxer cured fevers. As for the killing he committed at Olympia, Suffridus thinks Athenagoras's memory slipped, in transferring to Theagenes the very famous story told of Cleomedes of Astypalaea, another and far more celebrated boxer. This conjecture of Suffridus is not improbable. For although, as Rechenberg observes, it is not impossible that Theagenes committed a killing, yet this is known and attested of Cleomedes, whereas of Theagenes the ancient writers, except Athenagoras, are entirely silent. But Athenagoras seems to have had such knowledge of these matters that, when he asserts facts which other writers neither record nor deny, he should not be disbelieved.

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Σάμιοι Λύσανδρον. Gratum animum videntur Samii hac adulatione significare voluisse ob restitutam a Lysandro eorum rempublicam, ejectis Atheniensibus, ut testatur Plutarchus in Lysandri Vita. Idem scriptor, vivo Lysandro, aras in Graecia erectas, ac victimas narrat oblatas fuisse. Lysandri crudelitas, quam notat Athenagoras, praecipue enituit in occidendis octingentis Milesiis, quos jurisjurandi religione deceptos partim in urbe retinuerat, partim in urbem vocaverat.

"The Samians [worship] Lysander." The Samians seem to have wished by this flattery to show gratitude for Lysander's restoring their commonwealth after the Athenians were driven out, as Plutarch attests in his Life of Lysander. The same writer relates that altars were set up in Greece to Lysander while he was still alive, and victims offered. Lysander's cruelty, which Athenagoras notes, showed itself chiefly in the killing of eight hundred Milesians, whom, deceived by the sanctity of an oath, he had partly kept in the city and partly summoned into it.

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Μήδειαν καὶ Νιόβην. Habent duo Regii, Clarom. et orat. ἢ Νιόβην. Observat Suffridus Medeam ab Hesiodo in Theogonia commemorari, non tamen celebrari ut deam. Hac de causa Samuel Petitus, tum etiam quia Athenagoras hoc loco varias gentium superstitiones, non singulorum poetarum deliria persequitur, hunc locum sic emendat Variar. lect. lib. III, c. 3; Ἀλλὰ μὲν Καδούσιοι Μήδειαν, ἢ Νιόβην Κίλικες. Sed Cadusii colunt et venerantur Medeam tanquam deam, quomodo etiam Cilices Nioben.

"Medea and Niobe." Two Royal manuscripts, the Clermont and the Oratory have ē Niobēn ("or Niobe"). Suffridus observes that Medea is mentioned by Hesiod in the Theogony, but not celebrated as a goddess. For this reason, and also because Athenagoras in this place is going through the superstitions of various peoples, not the ravings of individual poets, Samuel Petit, Variae Lectiones book 3, ch. 3, emends the place thus: "But the Cadusians [worship] Medea, or the Cilicians Niobe." But the Cadusians worship and venerate Medea as a goddess, as the Cilicians do Niobe.

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Τύπτονται γάρ. Sic Julius Firmicus lib. De errore prof. relig., p. 21, edit. Lugd. Batav. an. 1672: Si dii sunt quos colitis, inquit, cur eos lugetis? Cur eos annuis luctibus plangitis? Si lacrymis et luctu digni sunt, cur eos divino honore cumulatis? Similis sententia Xenophanis Colophonii refertur apud Plut. lib. De Osir., p. 379.

"For they beat their breasts" (typtontai gar). So Julius Firmicus, On the Error of Profane Religions, p. 21, Leiden edition of 1672: "If those you worship are gods," he says, "why do you mourn them? Why do you lament them with yearly mournings? If they deserve tears and mourning, why do you heap divine honour on them?" A similar saying of Xenophanes of Colophon is reported in Plutarch, On Osiris, p. 379.

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Πάντα δὲ ἔθνη ἀσεβοῦσιν. Eodem argumento saepe usi sunt alii religionis defensores. Tertullianus Apologet. cap. 13: Cum alii alios colitis, inquit, utique quos non colitis offenditis. Praelatio alterius sine alterius contumelia non potest procedere; quia nec electio sine reprobatione. Jam ergo contemnitis quos reprobando offendere non timetis. Eadem leguntur lib. I, Nat., cap. 10. Hac ratiocinatione Augustinus utendum sibi esse non duxit, quia aliud sibi proponebat. Qua in re, inquit, lib. VII De Civit. Dei, cap. 1, non dico quod facetius ait Tertullianus fortasse quam verius, si dii seliguntur ut bulbi, utique caeteri reprobi judicantur. Non hoc dico; video enim etiam ex selectis seligi aliquos ad aliquid majus atque praestantius. Sicut in militia, cum tirones electi fuerint, ex his quoque eliguntur ad opus aliquod majus armorum. Demonstrare instituebat Augustinus deorum cultu aeternam felicitatem comparari non posse. Huic proposito parum conducebat ethnicos impietatis arguere, quia alios alii deos colebant. At eadem ratiocinatio magnum et praeclarum Tertulliano usum praebebat, quem profecto rejectum non fuisse ab Augustino asseverare licet. Duobus enim illa ratiocinatio stat principiis. 1° Nemini cultum divinum esse deferendum, nisi qui ab omnibus colendus et adorandus sit. 2° Cum Christianos impietatis nomine damnarent ethnici ob cultum diis negatum; jure merito referebant Christiani quod allatum erat ab adversariis.

"And all peoples are impious" (panta de ethnē asebousin). Other defenders of religion often used the same argument. Tertullian, Apology ch. 13: "When you worship some gods and others others," he says, "you certainly offend those you do not worship. Preferring one cannot go forward without insult to another, since there is no choice without rejection. So you already despise those whom you do not fear to offend by rejecting them." The same is read in To the Nations book 1, ch. 10. Augustine did not think he should use this reasoning, because he had another aim. "In this matter," he says, City of God book 7, ch. 1, "I do not say what Tertullian said more wittily perhaps than truly: if gods are selected like onions, the rest are surely judged rejects. I do not say this; for I see that even from the selected some are selected for something greater and more excellent, as in the army, when recruits have been chosen, some of these too are chosen for some greater work of arms." Augustine was setting out to show that eternal happiness cannot be gained by worshipping the gods. To this purpose it helped little to charge the pagans with impiety because different people worshipped different gods. But the same reasoning offered Tertullian a great and splendid use, and one may safely assert that Augustine did not reject it. For that reasoning rests on two principles. First, that divine worship is to be paid to none but one who is to be worshipped and adored by all. Second, since the pagans condemned the Christians under the name of impiety for refusing worship to the gods, the Christians with full right turned back on them what their adversaries had brought against them.

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Πάντες. Deest ea vox in editionibus Parisiensibus.

"All" (pantes). This word is missing in the Paris editions.

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Page

  • running head: O PRO CHRISTIANIS. 918
  • marginal letters: A sentiunt; sed; B cum magnos; C errore prof.; D enim etiam
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:919
Editors' notes and page, col. 919

Footnotes

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Μέσου. Tres Anglicani et Reg. 2, μέσον.

"Of the middle" (mesou). Three English manuscripts and Reg. 2 have meson.

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Καὶ ὁ πηλός... κεραμεύς. Hae voces cum deessent in omnibus editt., restitutae sunt ex mss. codicibus. Reg. 2 et Clarom. et tribus Anglicanis et Suffridi. Habebant editi: Ὡς γὰρ ὁ κεραμεὺς ὁ Θεὸς δημιουργός. Unus ex Anglicanis ὑπακούσασα.

"And the clay … potter" (kai ho pēlos … kerameus). Since these words were missing in all the editions, they have been restored from the manuscripts — Reg. 2 and the Clermont and three English manuscripts and Suffridus's. The editions had: "For as the potter, so God the craftsman." One of the English manuscripts has hypakousasa ("having obeyed").

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Πανδεχής. Reg. 2 et Clarom. cum tribus Anglicanis παντευχής.

"All-receiving" (pandechēs). Reg. 2 and the Clermont, with three English manuscripts, have panteuchēs.

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Εἰργασμένου. Regius uterque et Ottobon. ἐργασαμένου.

"Having been wrought" (eirgasmenou). Both Royal manuscripts and the Ottoboni have ergasamenou ("having wrought").

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Ὡς εἰ. Legendum putat Gesnerus ὥστε.

"So that, if" (hōs ei). Gesner thinks one should read hōste.

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Ὧν ἄν. Haec desunt in Reg. 1, et uno ex Anglicanis. Paulo ante tres Anglicani ἀφικούμενοι et mox unus ex iisdem τύχοιμεν.

"Whatever" (hōn an). These words are missing in Reg. 1 and in one of the English manuscripts. A little before, three English manuscripts have aphikoumenoi, and just after one of the same has tychoimen.

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Ἐπὶ τὸ σεμνόν, etc. Refert Clemens Alex. Protrept. p. 33, illud Heracliti: Καὶ ἀγάλμασι τουτέοισιν εὔχονται, ὁκοῖον εἴ τις δόμοις λεσχηνεύοιτο. His simulacris vota faciunt, velut si quis cum aedibus garriat. Minucius Felix pag. 139: Quod si ingressus aliquam domum, omnia exculta, disposita, ornata vidisses, utique praeesse ei crederes aliquem dominum, et illis bonis rebus multo esse meliorem: ita in hac mundi domo, cum coelum terramque perspicias, providentiam, ordinem, legem, crede esse universitatis Dominum, parentemque, ipsis sideribus et totius mundi partibus pulchriorem.

"To the splendour," etc. (epi to semnon). Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus p. 33, reports that saying of Heraclitus: "And they pray to these statues, as if one were to chat with houses." They make vows to these images, as if someone were chattering with buildings. Minucius Felix, p. 139: "If you entered some house and saw everything finished, arranged and adorned, you would surely believe that some master presided over it, and that he was much better than those fine things. So in this house of the world, when you look upon heaven and earth, their providence, order and law, believe that there is a Lord and Father of the universe, more beautiful than the stars themselves and the parts of the whole world."

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Πάντα. Frustra Gesnerus legendum conjicit ὑπὲρ πάντα.

"In all things" (panta). Gesner needlessly conjectures that one should read hyper panta ("above all things").

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Page

  • running head: 919 ATHENAGORAE PHILOSOPHI
  • marginal letters: A 15. Christiani; B (materia quidem; C aeterno adaequemus; D adornatis; mundus
  • old-edition numerals: 291 before 15. Christiani
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:920
15. Ἀλλ' ἔστωσαν τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἄγοντες· τί οὖν, ἐπεὶ οἱ πολλοὶ διακρῖναι οὐ δυνάμενοι τί μὲν ὕλη, τί δὲ Θεὸς, πόσον δὲ τὸ διὰ μέσου αὐτῶν, προσίασι τοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς ὕλης εἰδώλοις, δι' ἐκείνους καὶ ἡμεῖς οἱ διακρίνοντες καὶ χωρίζοντες τὸ ἀγένητον καὶ τὸ γενητὸν, τὸ ὂν καὶ τὸ οὐκ ὂν, τὸ νοητὸν καὶ τὸ αἰσθητὸν, καὶ ἑκάστῳ αὐτῶν τὸ προσῆκον ὄνομα ἀποδιδόντες, προσελευσόμεθα καὶ προσκυνήσομεν τὰ ἀγάλματα; Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ταὐτὸν ὕλη καὶ Θεὸς, δύο ὀνόματα καθ' ἑνὸς πράγματος, τοὺς λίθους καὶ τὰ ξύλα, τὸν χρυσὸν καὶ τὸν ἄργυρον οὐ νομίζοντες θεοὺς, ἀσεβοῦμεν · εἰ δὲ διεστᾶσι πάμπολυ ἀπ' ἀλλήλων, καὶ τοσοῦτον ὅσον τεχνίτης καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὴν τέχνην αὐτοῦ παρασκευὴ, τί ἐγκαλούμεθα ; Ὡς γὰρ ὁ κεραμεὺς καὶ ὁ πηλὸς (ὕλη μὲν ὁ πηλὸς, τεχνίτης δὲ ὁ κεραμεύς), καὶ ὁ Θεὸς δημιουργὸς, ὑπακούουσα δὲ αὐτῷ ἡ ὕλη πρὸς τὴν τέχνην. Ἀλλ' ὡς ὁ πηλὸς καθ' ἑαυτὸν σκεύη γενέσθαι χωρὶς τέχνης ἀδύνατος, καὶ ἡ πανδεχὴς ὕλη ἄνευ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ διάκρισιν καὶ σχῆμα καὶ κόσμον οὐκ ἐλάμβανεν. Ὡς δὲ οὐ τὸν κέραμον προτιμότερον τοῦ εἰργασμένου αὐτὸν ἔχομεν, οὐδὲ τὰς φιάλας καὶ χρυσίδας τοῦ χαλκεύσαντος · ἀλλ' εἴ τι περὶ ἐκείνας δεξιὸν κατὰ τὴν τέχνην, τὸν τεχνίτην ἐπαινοῦμεν, καὶ οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ τὴν ἐπὶ ταῖς σκεύεσι δόξαν καρπούμενος · καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ὕλης καὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ, τῆς διαθέσεως τῶν κεκοσμημένων, οὐχ ὕλη τὴν δόξαν καὶ τὴν τιμὴν δικαίαν ἔχει, ἀλλ' ὁ δημιουργὸς αὐτῆς Θεός. Ὡς, εἰ τὰ εἴδη τῆς ὕλης ἄγοιμεν θεοὺς, ἀναισθητεῖν τοῦ ὄντος Θεοῦ δόξομεν, τὰ λυτὰ καὶ φθαρτὰ τῷ ἀϊδίῳ ἐξισοῦντες.
15. Yet grant that they acknowledge the same gods: what then? Because the multitude, being unable to distinguish what is matter and what is God, and how great is the interval between them, approach idols made from matter, shall we also on their account—we who distinguish and separate the unbegotten and the begotten, that which is and that which is not, the intelligible and the sensible, and who assign to each of them its fitting name—approach and worship the statues? For if matter and God are the same thing, two names for one reality, then in not accounting stones and wood, gold and silver to be gods, we are impious; but if they are separated very far from one another, as far indeed as the craftsman and the material equipment for his art, why are we accused? For as the potter and the clay (the clay being matter, and the potter the craftsman), so also is God the Demiurge, and matter yields obedience to Him for His art. But as the clay of itself is unable to become vessels without art, so also the all-receiving matter did not take on distinction and shape and order without the Demiurge. And just as we do not hold the earthen vessel in higher honour than him who wrought it, nor the bowls and golden vessels than him who forged them, but if there is anything skilful in them according to art, we praise the craftsman, and it is he who reaps the glory upon the vessels; so also in the case of matter and God, for the arrangement of the things that have been set in order it is not matter that justly has the glory and the honour, but God, its Demiurge. So that, if we were to account the forms of matter to be gods, we shall seem to be insensible of Him Who truly is God, putting things dissoluble and perishable on an equality with the Eternal.
16. Καλὸς μὲν γὰρ ὁ κόσμος, καὶ τῷ μεγέθει περιέχων, καὶ τῇ διαθέσει τῶν τε ἐν τῷ λοξῷ κύκλῳ, καὶ τῶν περὶ τὴν Ἄρκτον, καὶ τῷ σχήματι σφαιρικῷ ὄντι· ἀλλ' οὐ τοῦτον, ἀλλὰ τὸν τεχνίτην αὐτοῦ προσκυνητέον. Οὐδὲ γὰρ οἱ πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἀφικνούμενοι ὑπήκοοι, παραλιπόντες ὑμᾶς τοὺς ἄρχοντας καὶ δεσπότας θεραπεύειν, παρ' ὧν, ὧν ἂν δέοιντο, καὶ τύχοιεν, ἐπὶ τὸ σεμνὸν τῆς καταγωγῆς ὑμῶν καταφεύγουσιν· ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν βασιλικὴν ἑστίαν, τηνάλλως ἐντυχόντες αὐτῇ, θαυμάζουσι καλῶς ἠσκημένην, ὑμᾶς δὲ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν ἄγουσι τῇ δόξῃ. Καὶ ὑμεῖς μὲν οἱ βασιλεῖς ἑαυτοῖς ἀσκεῖτε τὰς καταγωγὰς βασιλικάς· ὁ δὲ κόσμος, οὐχ ὡς δεομένου τοῦ Θεοῦ, γέγονεν. Πάντα γὰρ ὁ Θεός ἐστιν αὐτὸς αὑτῷ, φῶς ἀπρόσιτον, κόσμος τέλειος, πνεῦμα, δύναμις, λόγος. Εἰ τοίνυν ἐμμελὲς ὁ κόσμος ὄργανον καὶ κινούμενον
16. Beautiful indeed is the world, both excelling in its greatness, and in the arrangement both of the things in the oblique circle and of those about the Bear, and in its shape, which is spherical; yet it is not this, but its Craftsman, that must be worshipped. For neither do the subjects who come to you neglect to pay court to you, the rulers and masters from whom they may obtain whatever they need, and betake themselves instead to the magnificence of your residence; rather, when they happen upon the royal palace in passing, they admire it as nobly wrought, but in honour they account you all in all. And you emperors indeed adorn royal residences for yourselves; whereas the world has not come into being as though God stood in need of it. For God is Himself all things to Himself—light unapproachable, a perfect world, spirit, power, reason. If, therefore, the world is a harmonious instrument and
Editors' notes and page, col. 920

Page

  • running head: E PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI 920
  • marginal letters: A 15. Ἀλλ' ἔστωσαν; B δὲ ὁ κεραμεύς; C σοῦντες.; D γωγὰς βασιλικάς
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: κι- hyphenated across column break
  • other: the word κινούμενον was split at the column break and stands whole here (joined on receipt); check that the English reads whole across the break into col 921
PG 6:921
ἐν ῥυθμῷ, τὸν ἁρμοσάμενον καὶ πλήσσοντα τοὺς φθόγγους, καὶ τὸ σύμφωνον ἐπᾴδοντα μέλος, οὐ τὸ ὄργανον, προσκυνῶ. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀγωνιστῶν, παραλιπόντες οἱ ἀθλοθέται τοὺς κιθαριστὰς, τὰς κιθάρας στεφανοῦσιν αὐτῶν. Εἴτε (ὡς Πλάτων φησὶ) τέχνη τοῦ Θεοῦ, θαυμάζων αὐτοῦ τὸ κάλλος, τῷ τεχνίτῃ πρόσειμι · εἴτε οὐσία καὶ σῶμα (ὡς οἱ ἐπὶ τοῦ Περιπάτου), οὐ παραλιπόντες προσκυνεῖν τὸν αἴτιον τῆς κινήσεως τοῦ σώματος Θεὸν, ἐπὶ τὰ πτωχὰ καὶ ἀσθενῆ στοιχεῖα καταπίπτομεν, τῷ ἀπαθεῖ ἀέρι κατ' αὐτοὺς παθητὴν ὕλην προσκυνοῦντες · εἴτε δυνάμεις τοῦ Θεοῦ, τὰ μέρη τοῦ κόσμου νοεῖ τις, οὐ τὰς δυνάμεις προσιόντες θεραπεύομεν, ἀλλὰ τὸν ποιητὴν αὐτῶν καὶ δεσπότην. Οὐκ αἰτῶ τὴν ὕλην ἃ μὴ ἔχει, οὐδὲ, παραλιπὼν τὸν Θεὸν. τὰ στοιχεῖα θεραπεύω, οἷς μηδὲν πλέον ἢ ὅσον ἐκελεύσθησαν ἔξεστιν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ καλὰ ἰδεῖν τῇ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ τέχνῃ, ἀλλ' αὐτὰ τῇ τῆς ὕλης φύσει. Μαρτυρεῖ δὲ τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ καὶ Πλάτων· Ὃν γὰρ οὐρανὸν, φησὶ, καὶ κόσμον ἐπωνόμακεν, πολλῶν μὲν μετέσχηκε μακαρίων παρὰ τοῦ Πατρός · ἀτὰρ οὖν δὴ κεκοινώνηκε σώματος · ὅθεν αὐτῷ μεταβολῆς ἀμοίρῳ τυγχάνειν ἀδύνατον. Εἰ τοίνυν, θαυμάζων τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὰ στοιχεῖα τῆς τέχνης, οὐ προσκυνῶ αὐτὰ ὡς θεοὺς, εἰδὼς τὸν ἐπ' αὐτοῖς τῆς λύσεως λόγον · ὧν οἶδα ἀνθρώπους δημιουργοὺς, πῶς ταῦτα προσείπω θεούς ; σκέψασθε δέ μοι διὰ βραχέων.
moved in rhythm, I worship Him Who tuned it and strikes the notes and sings the concordant melody, not the instrument. For neither in the case of contestants at the games do the judges pass over the cithara-players and crown their citharas. Whether, as Plato says, the world is an art of God, admiring its beauty I approach the Craftsman; or whether it is substance and body, as those of the Peripatos hold, we do not neglect to worship God, the Cause of the motion of the body, and fall down before the beggarly and weak elements, worshipping passible matter with what according to them is impassible air; or whether someone conceives the parts of the world to be powers of God, we do not approach and pay court to the powers, but to their Maker and Master. I do not ask of matter what it does not have, nor, passing over God, do I pay court to the elements, which have power to do nothing more than so much as they were commanded. For even though they are fair to behold through the art of the Demiurge, yet in themselves they remain what they are by the nature of matter. And Plato also bears witness to this account; for That which he has named heaven and world, he says, has shared in many blessed gifts from the Father; yet for all that it has partaken of a body, whence it is impossible for it to be free from change. If, therefore, while admiring the heaven and the elements for their art, I do not worship them as gods, knowing the law of dissolution that is upon them, how shall I address as gods those things whose makers I know to be men? Consider for me briefly.
17. Ἀνάγκη δὲ, ἀπολογούμενον, ἀκριβεστέρους παρέχειν τοὺς λογισμοὺς, καὶ περὶ τῶν ὀνομάτων, ὅτι νεώτερα, καὶ περὶ τῶν εἰκόνων, ὅτι χθὲς καὶ πρώην γεγόνασιν, ὡς λόγος εἰπεῖν. Ἴστε δὲ καὶ ὑμεῖς ταῦτα ἀξιολογώτερον, ὡς ἂν ἐν πᾶσι καὶ ὑπὲρ πάντας τοῖς παλαιοῖς συγγενόμενοι. Φημὶ οὖν Ὀρφέα καὶ Ὅμηρον καὶ Ἡσίοδον εἶναι τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτῶν λεγομένοις θεοῖς. Μαρτυρεῖ δὲ καὶ Ἡρόδοτος· Ἡσίοδον γὰρ καὶ Ὅμηρον ἡλικίην τετρακοσίοις ἔτεσι δοκέω πρεσβυτέρους ἐμοῦ γενέσθαι , καὶ οὐ πλείοσι, τοὺς καὶ γένη καὶ ὀνόματα δόντας. Οὗτοι δέ εἰσιν οἱ ποιήσαντες θεογονίην Ἕλλησι,
17. And it is necessary for me, in making my defence, to furnish more exact reasonings both concerning their names, that they are recent, and concerning their images, that they came into being yesterday and the day before, so to speak. And you yourselves know these things more thoroughly, inasmuch as in all matters and above all men you are conversant with the ancients. I say, then, that Orpheus and Homer and Hesiod are the authors of those who are called gods by them. And Herodotus also bears witness: For Hesiod and Homer I suppose to have been older than myself in point of age by four hundred years, and not more, who gave both lineages and names. And these are they who composed a theogony for the Greeks,
Editors' notes and page, col. 921

Page

  • running head: 921 LEGATIO PRO CHRISTI
  • marginal letters: A νούμενον (17); B τὰ στοιχεῖα; C 17. Ἀνάγκη; D utitur Tertullianus
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: νούμενον fragment from preceding column
PG 6:922
Editors' notes and page, col. 922

Footnotes

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Καὶ κινούμενον. Deest conjunctio in duobus Anglicanis et Reg. utroque.

"And moved" (kai kinoumenon). The conjunction is missing in two English manuscripts and in both Royal ones.

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Πλήσσοντα. Tres Anglicani τὸν πλήσσοντα.

"Striking" (plēssonta). Three English manuscripts have ton plēssonta.

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Τὰς κιθάρας στεφανοῦσιν. Eodem exemplo utitur Tertullianus lib. II ad Nat., cap. 5: Nam in voluptatibus vestris, inquit, non tibiae aut citharae coronam ad praemium adjudicatis, sed artifici, qui tibiam et citharam suavitatis temperet. Vid. Iren. lib. II, cap. 25.

"They crown the lyres" (tas kitharas stephanousin). Tertullian uses the same example, To the Nations book 2, ch. 5: "For in your pleasures," he says, "you award the crown as a prize not to the flute or the lyre, but to the artist who tunes the flute and the lyre to sweetness." See Irenaeus, book 2, ch. 25.

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Εἴτε. Clarom. et tres Anglicani ὥστε εἴτε.

"Whether" (eite). The Clermont and three English manuscripts have hōste eite.

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Καὶ σῶμα. Subaudiendum est Θεοῦ, quae vox paulo ante occurrit. Neque enim Peripateticorum propria fuit haec sententia, mundum esse substantiam et corpus; sed, ut supra n. 7, testatur Athenagoras, Deum Aristoteles ejusque sectatores ex corpore et anima, veluti animal quoddam componebant; et corpus quidem assignabant aetheream substantiam et tum errantia, tum fixa sidera, animam autem, rationem motuum corporis effectricem.

"And body" (kai sōma). "Of God" is to be understood, a word that occurs a little before. For this view — that the world is substance and body — was not peculiar to the Peripatetics; but, as Athenagoras attests above at n. 7, Aristotle and his followers composed God of body and soul like a kind of living being, and assigned as his body the aethereal substance and both the wandering and the fixed stars, and as his soul the reason that brings about the body's motions.

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Τὰ στοιχεῖα. Liquet haec elementa, quae visu praeclara esse propter opificis artem declarat, non esse, aerem aut aquam aut ignem aut terram, sed solem et stellas. Vide l. I Theophili.

"The elements" (ta stoicheia). Clearly these elements, which he declares splendid to the sight because of the maker's art, are not air or water or fire or earth, but the sun and the stars. See Theophilus, book 1.

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Ἔξεστιν. Hanc vocem addidimus ex utroque Reg., utroque Ottobon. Clarom. et Orat. Ibidem tres Anglicani ἢ ὅσον ἐκελεύσθησαν πλέον. Sic etiam Reg. 2, nisi quod deest ἢ ante ὅσον. Legitur illud ἔξεστιν in edit. Oxon.

"It is permitted" (exestin). We have added this word from both Royal, both Ottoboni, the Clermont and the Oratory manuscripts. In the same place three English manuscripts have ē hoson ekeleusthēsan pleon ("more than they were ordered"). So also Reg. 2, except that ē is missing before hoson. Exestin is read in the Oxford edition.

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Φύσει. Hic editi addunt μαρτυρεῖ, quod cum iterum statim occurrat, ac sententiam prorsus deformet, ac desit in Bodleiano secundo, visum est delendum e contextu.

"By nature" (physei). Here the editions add martyrei ("bears witness"); since it occurs again immediately, quite disfigures the sense, and is missing in the second Bodleian manuscript, it seemed right to delete it from the text.

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Καὶ Πλάτων. Deest conjunctio in duobus Anglicanis ac Clarom.

"And Plato" (kai Platōn). The conjunction is missing in two English manuscripts and the Clermont.

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Ἀνθρώπους. Pro hac voce tres Angl. habent αὐτούς.

"Men" (anthrōpous). For this word three English manuscripts have autous ("them").

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(27) ‹anchor: ὡς λόγος› · call in col 922

Λόγος. Legendum esse λόγῳ jamdudum monuit Stephanus. Sic legitur in edit. Frontonis Ducaei.

"Saying" (logos). Stephanus advised long ago that one should read logō. So it is read in Fronton du Duc's edition.

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(28) ‹anchor: ὑπ' αὐτῶν› · call in col 922

Ὑπ' αὐτῶν. Nonnulli codices ἐπ' αὐτῶν.

"By them" (hyp' autōn). Some manuscripts have ep' autōn.

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(29) ‹anchor: τοὺς καὶ … δόντας› · call in col 922

Τοὺς καὶ... δόντας. Has voces, quae in contextu Herodoti non leguntur, nec sine incommodo legerentur, restituendas esse in avitam sedem, post haec verba λεγομένοις θεοῖς admonuit Oxoniensis editor, idque in interpretando secutus sum.

"Who also … gave" (tous kai … dontas). The Oxford editor advised that these words, which are not read in the text of Herodotus and could not be read there without awkwardness, should be restored to their original place after the words legomenois theois ("the so-called gods"); and I have followed this in translating.

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Page

  • running head: O PRO CHRISTIANIS. 922
  • marginal letters: A tentia, ratio.; B sed ad; C 17. Deorum; D ἔξεστιν in
  • old-edition numerals: 292 after citharas
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:923
Editors' notes and page, col. 923

Footnotes

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Ἐνομίζοντο. Duo codices Anglicani ὀνομάζοντο. Legendum conjicit Gesnerus ὠνομάζοντο.

"They were held" (enomizonto). Two English manuscripts have onomazonto; Gesner conjectures one should read ōnomazonto ("they were named").

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Σκιάς. Suffridi codex σκιάν, idque illi magis probatur. Paulo ante habent editiones Parisienses γραφικῆς δὲ καὶ Κράτωνος.

"Shadows" (skias). Suffridus's manuscript has skian ("shadow"), and he approves it more. A little before, the Paris editions have graphikēs de kai Kratōnos.

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Κοροπλαστική. Suffridi codex habet κοροπλαθική, quod quidem ei magis probatur, quia vox κορόπλαθος frequentiori usu teritur quam κοροπλασταί. DECHAIR ibidem leg. ὑπὸ δὴ τῆς Κόρης.

"Modelling of figures" (koroplastikē). Suffridus's manuscript has koroplathikē, which he approves more, because the word koroplathos is in more frequent use than koroplastai. DECHAIR, in the same place, reads hypo dē tēs Korēs ("by the Maiden").

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Καὶ ἀναγλύψας. Conjunctionem suppeditavit codex Claromontanus.

"And having carved" (kai anaglypsas). The Clermont manuscript supplied the conjunction.

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Πλαστικὴν καὶ ἀνδριαντοποιητικήν. Sic emendavi ope Reg. 2, Clarom. et duorum Anglicanorum. Male in editis ἀνδριαντοποιητικὴν καὶ πλαστικήν. Plastice enim, ut ait Plinius lib. XXXIV: Prior quam statuaria fuit. Unde etiam mater statuariae vocatur apud eumdem lib. XXXV, p. 711.

"Modelling and statue-making" (plastikēn kai andriantopoiētikēn). I have so emended with the help of Reg. 2, the Clermont and two English manuscripts; the editions wrongly have andriantopoiētikēn kai plastikēn. For modelling, as Pliny says in book 34, "was earlier than statuary." Hence the same author, book 35, p. 711, also calls it the mother of statuary.

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Μᾶλλόν γε Ἀθηλᾶς. Secum pugnare Gesnero visus est Athenagoras, quia Athenam, quam hic eamdem esse ac Athelam declarat, infra n. 20, ab Athela distinguit. Atque haec causa Langum adduxit, ut has voces μᾶλλόν γε Ἀθηλᾶς, Ἀθηλᾶ γάρ, etc., e contextu in marginem obrepsisse crederet. Sed duae sunt Athelae: altera dicitur e cerebro Jovis prodiisse, et ut ait Eustathius in Iliad. p. 83: Οἱονεὶ ἀθηλός τις οὖσα, ὡς μὴ θηλάσασα. Ὤδινε μὲν γάρ, φασίν, ἡ κεφαλὴ τοῦ Διός. Haec Minerva dicitur et Athena, meritoque eam distinguit Athenagoras ab altera Athela, sive Proserpina, quam Jupiter ex matre suscepit, quaeque idcirco lactata non fuit, quia matri, utpote horrendum monstrum, displicuit.

"Or rather of Athela" (mallon ge Athēlas). Athenagoras seemed to Gesner to contradict himself, because below, at n. 20, he distinguishes from Athela the Athena whom he here declares to be the same as Athela. And this led Langus to believe that the words "or rather of Athela; for Athela," etc., had crept from the margin into the text. But there are two Athelas. One is said to have come forth from the brain of Jupiter, and, as Eustathius says on the Iliad, p. 83, "as being one unsuckled (athēlos), since she was not suckled; for the head of Zeus, they say, was in labour." This one is called Minerva and Athena, and Athenagoras rightly distinguishes her from the other Athela, that is Proserpina, whom Jupiter had by her mother, and who for that reason was not suckled, because she displeased her mother as a horrid monster.

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Οὕτω γὰρ τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐλαίας. Testatur Plutarchus apud Eusebium Praep. evang. l. III, ligneum fuisse Minervae Urbicae simulacrum, quod ab indigenis consecratum asservabatur apud Athenienses. Ξύλινον δὲ τὸ τῆς Πολιάδος ὑπὸ τῶν αὐτοχθόνων ἱδρυθέν, ὃ μέχρι νῦν Ἀθηναῖοι διαφυλάττουσιν. Athenagorae verba οὕτω γάρ quae Gesnerus interpres omiserat, sic redduntur in Oxoniensi editione: Sic enim quod ex olea fabricatum fuit, antiquitus appellabatur. Sed his verbis non simulacri nomen, sed illius species significari videtur: neque Athelae, sed Poliadis simulacrum dicebatur. At quomodo Minerva in hoc simulacro Ἀθηλᾶ effingi potuit, si hac voce ubera illi admota non fuisse significetur? Dicendum ergo Minervam in hoc simulacro cum unica mamilla, ut Amazones solebant, effictam fuisse; vel, illa verba, quae tantum molestiae facessunt, post τὴν καθημένην rejicienda, unde in locum non suum, ut saepe alias contigit, migrare potuerunt. Non repugnat Minervam sedentem in antiquissimo quoque illo simulacro expressam fuisse.

"For so [was called] the one from the olive" (houtō gar to apo tēs elaias). Plutarch, in Eusebius, Praep. evang. book 3, testifies that the image of Minerva of the City was of wood, consecrated by the natives and preserved among the Athenians: "That of Polias, wooden, set up by the original inhabitants, which the Athenians keep to this day." Athenagoras's words houtō gar, which Gesner the translator had omitted, are rendered thus in the Oxford edition: "For so was what was made from the olive called of old." But these words seem to signify not the name of the image but its form; and it was called the image not of Athela but of Polias. Yet how could Minerva be represented in this image as Athēla if this word means that no breasts were given her? We must say, then, that Minerva was shaped in this image with a single breast, as the Amazons were; or else that those words which cause so much trouble should be moved after tēn kathēmenēn ("the seated one"), from which they could have migrated to a place not their own, as has often happened elsewhere. It is not inconsistent that Minerva was shown seated in that very ancient image too.

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(37) ‹anchor: Ἐνδυὸς› · call in col 923

Ἐνδυός. Ἐνδιός dicitur in duobus codicibus Anglicanis; vocatur Ἔνδοιος apud Pausaniam lib. I, p. 47, ubi haec leguntur: Ἔνδοιος ἦν γένος μὲν Ἀθηναῖος, Δαιδάλου δὲ μαθητής· ὃς καὶ φεύγοντι Δαιδάλῳ διὰ τὸν Κάλω θάνατον ἐπηκολούθησεν εἰς Κρήτην. Τούτου καθήμενόν ἐστιν Ἀθηνᾶς ἄγαλμα, ἐπίγραμμα ἔχον, ὡς Καλλίας μὲν ἀναθείη, ποιήσειεν δὲ Ἔνδοιος. Endaeus erat patria Atheniensis, Daedali discipulus, qui Daedalum ob necem Cali fugientem Cretam usque secutus est. Hujus est sedens Minervae simulacrum, cum hac inscriptione: Calliam dedicasse, fecisse Endaeum.

"Endyus." He is called Endios in two English manuscripts; he is called Endoios in Pausanias, book 1, p. 47, where we read: "Endoios was an Athenian by birth, a pupil of Daedalus, who also followed Daedalus to Crete when he fled because of the death of Calos. His is a seated image of Athena, bearing an inscription that Callias dedicated it and Endoios made it." Endaeus was an Athenian by country, a pupil of Daedalus, who followed Daedalus as far as Crete when he fled because of the killing of Calus. His is a seated image of Minerva with this inscription: "Callias dedicated it, Endaeus made it."

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(38) ‹anchor: Θεοδώρου καὶ Τηλεκλέους› · call in col 923

Θεοδώρου καὶ Τηλεκλέους. Theodorum hunc paulo ante Athenagoras Milesium vocat; Plinius Samium fuisse dicit, Hist. nat. lib. VII, c. 56. Sed Plinii sententiam confirmat Pausanias, qui lib. VIII, p. 479, Rhoecum Philaei, et Theodorum Teleclis filium, ambo Samios, aes excudere primos docuisse narrat.

"Of Theodorus and Telecles." A little before, Athenagoras calls this Theodorus a Milesian; Pliny says he was a Samian, Natural History book 7, ch. 56. And Pausanias confirms Pliny's view, relating in book 8, p. 479, that Rhoecus son of Philaeus and Theodorus son of Telecles, both Samians, were the first to teach the casting of bronze.

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Ἰδεκταίου. Τεκταῖον vocat Pausanias lib. II, p. 146, ubi sic loquitur: Μαθητὴς δὲ ὁ Κάλλων ἦν Τεκταίου καὶ Ἀγγελίωνος, οἳ Δηλίοις ἐποίησαν τὸ ἄγαλμα τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος. Ὁ δὲ Ἀγγελίων καὶ Τεκταῖος παρὰ Διποίνῳ καὶ Σκύλλιδι ἐδιδάχθησαν. Discipulus autem fuit Callon Tectaei et Angelionis, qui Samiis simulacrum Apollinis fecerunt. Angelion autem et Tectaeus Dipoeno et Scyllidi operam dederunt.

"Of Idectaeus." Pausanias, book 2, p. 146, calls him Tectaeus, where he speaks thus: "Callon was a pupil of Tectaeus and Angelion, who made the image of Apollo for the Delians. Angelion and Tectaeus were taught by Dipoenus and Scyllis." Callon was a pupil of Tectaeus and Angelion, who made the image of Apollo for the Samians [as printed; the Greek has Delians]. Angelion and Tectaeus studied under Dipoenus and Scyllis.

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Page

  • running head: 923 ATHENAGORAE PHILOSOPHI
  • marginal letters: A originem texuerunt; B Corinthi. His; C probatur. Paulo; D deret. Sed
  • old-edition numerals: 293 before Corinthi.
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:924
καὶ τοῖσι θεοῖσι τὰς ἐπωνυμίας δόντες, καὶ τιμάς τε καὶ τέχνας διελόντες, καὶ εἴδεα αὐτῶν σημήναντες. Αἱ δ' εἰκόνες, μέχρι μήπω πλαστικὴ καὶ γραφικὴ καὶ ἀνδριαντοποιητικὴ ἦσαν, οὐδὲ ἐνομίζοντο· Σαυρίου δὲ τοῦ Σαμίου καὶ Κράτωνος τοῦ Σικυωνίου καὶ Κλεάνθους τοῦ Κορινθίου, καὶ Κόρης Κορινθίας ἐπιγενομένων · καὶ σκιαγραφίας μὲν εὑρεθείσης ὑπὸ Σαυρίου, ἵππον ἐν ἡλίῳ περιγράψαντος, γραφικῆς δὲ ὑπὸ Κράτωνος, ἐν πίνακι λελευκωμένῳ σκιὰς ἀνδρὸς καὶ γυναικὸς ἐναλείψαντος· ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς Κόρης ἡ κοροπλαστικὴ εὑρέθη. Ἐρωτικῶς γάρ τινος ἔχουσα, περιέγραψεν αὐτοῦ κοιμωμένου ἐν τοίχῳ τὴν σκιάν· εἶθ' ὁ πατὴρ ἡσθεὶς ἀπαραλλάκτῳ οὔσῃ τῇ ὁμοιότητι (κέραμον δὲ εἰργάζετο), καὶ ἀναγλύψας τὴν περιγραφὴν, πηλῷ προσανεπλήρωσεν. Ὁ τύπος ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἐν Κορίνθῳ σώζεται. Τούτοις δὲ ἐπιγενόμενοι Δαίδαλος καὶ Θεόδωρος ὁ Μιλήσιος, πλαστικὴν καὶ ἀνδριαντοποιητικὴν προσεξεῦρον. Ὁ μὲν δὴ χρόνος ὀλίγος τοσοῦτος ταῖς εἰκόσι καὶ τῇ περὶ τὰ εἴδωλα πραγματείᾳ, ὡς ἔχειν εἰπεῖν τὸν ἑκάστου τεχνίτην θεοῦ. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἐν Ἐφέσῳ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος, καὶ τὸ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς, μᾶλλόν γε Ἀθηλᾶς (Ἀθηλᾶ γὰρ ὡς οἱ μυστικώτερον, οὕτω γὰρ τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς ἐλαίας τὸ παλαιόν), καὶ τὴν καθημένην Ἐνδυὸς εἰργάσατο μαθητὴς Δαιδάλου· ὁ δὲ Πύθιος ἔργον Θεοδώρου καὶ Τηλεκλέους· καὶ ὁ Δήλιος καὶ ἡ Ἄρτεμις Ἰδεκταίου καὶ Ἀγγελίωνος τέχνη·
and gave the gods their surnames, and distributed their honours and arts, and indicated their forms (Herod. 2.53). And images, so long as modelling and painting and statuary did not yet exist, were not even thought of; but when Saurias the Samian and Craton the Sicyonian and Cleanthes the Corinthian and the Corinthian Maid came upon the scene, shadow-drawing having been invented by Saurias, who traced the outline of a horse in the sun, and painting by Craton, who painted in the shadows of a man and a woman on a whitened tablet, from the Maid clay-figure modelling was invented; for being in love with someone, she traced his shadow on a wall while he was asleep, and then her father, delighted with the exactness of the likeness (he was a potter by trade), carved out the outline and filled it in with clay; the relief is preserved at Corinth even to this day. And Daedalus and Theodorus the Milesian, coming after these, invented modelling and statuary in addition. So short, then, is the time that belongs to images and to the business of idols, that one can name the craftsman of each god. For the image of Artemis at Ephesus, and that of Athena—or rather Athela (for Athela is what she is called by those who speak more mystically; for so the ancient one made from the olive-tree was called)—and the seated figure were wrought by Endoeus, a pupil of Daedalus; the Pythian god is a work of Theodorus and Telecles; and the Delian god and Artemis are the art of Tectaeus and Angelion;
Editors' notes and page, col. 924

Page

  • running head: AE PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI 924
  • marginal letters: A καὶ τοῖσι; B καὶ νῦν; C Minerva in; D nervae simulacrum
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: (none)
PG 6:925
ἡ δὲ ἐν Σάμῳ Ἥρα καὶ ἐν Ἄργει Σμίλιδος χεῖρες, καὶ Φειδίου τὰ λοιπὰ εἴδωλα· ἡ Ἀφροδίτη ἐν Κνίδῳ ἑταίρα, Πραξιτέλους τέχνη· ὁ ἐν Ἐπιδαύρῳ Ἀσκληπιὸς ἔργον Φειδίου. Συνελόντα φάναι, οὐδὲν αὐτῶν διαπέφευγεν τὸ μὴ ὑπ' ἀνθρώπου γεγονέναι. Εἰ τοίνυν θεοὶ, τί οὐκ ἦσαν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ; Τί δαί εἰσι νεώτεροι τῶν πεποιηκότων; Τί δαὶ ἔδει αὐτοῖς, πρὸς τὸ γενέσθαι, ἀνθρώπων καὶ τέχνης; γῆ ταῦτα καὶ λίθοι, καὶ ὕλη, καὶ περίεργος τέχνη.
and the Hera in Samos and in Argos are the handiwork of Smilis, and the remaining idols are by Pheidias; the Aphrodite in Cnidus, a courtesan, is the art of Praxiteles; the Asclepius in Epidaurus is a work of Pheidias. In a word, none of them has escaped being made by man. If, therefore, they are gods, why did they not exist from the beginning? Why, pray, are they younger than those who made them? Why, pray, did they need men and art in order to come into being? These things are earth and stones, and matter, and curious art.
18. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν φασί τινες εἰκόνας μὲν εἶναι ταύτας, θεοὺς δὲ, ἐφ' οἷς αἱ εἰκόνες· καὶ τὰς προσόδους ἃς τούτοις προσίασι, καὶ τὰς θυσίας ἐπ' ἐκείνους ἀναφέρεσθαι καὶ εἰς ἐκείνους γίνεσθαι· μὴ εἶναί τε ἕτερον τρόπον τοῖς θεοῖς ἢ τοῦτον προσελθεῖν (χαλεποὶ δὲ θεοὶ φαίνεσθαι ἐναργεῖς), καὶ τοῦ ταῦθ' οὕτως ἔχειν τεκμήρια παρέχουσι τὰς ἐνίων εἰδώλων ἐνεργείας · φέρε, ἐξετάσωμεν τὴν ἐπὶ τοῖς ὀνόμασι δύναμιν αὐτῶν. Δεήσομαι δὲ ὑμῶν, μέγιστοι αὐτοκρατόρων, πρὸ τοῦ λόγου, ἀληθεῖς παρεχομένῳ τοὺς λογισμοὺς συγγνῶναι. Οὐ γὰρ προκείμενόν μοι ἐλέγχειν τὰ εἴδωλα, ἀλλ' ἀπολυόμενος τὰς διαβολὰς, λογισμὸν τῆς προαιρέσεως ἡμῶν παρέχω. Ἔχοιτε ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν καὶ τὴν ἐπουράνιον βασιλείαν ἐξετάζειν· ὡς γὰρ ὑμῖν πατρὶ καὶ υἱῷ πάντα κεχείρωται, ἄνωθεν τὴν βασιλείαν εἰληφόσιν (βασιλέως γὰρ ψυχὴ ἐν χειρὶ Θεοῦ, φησὶ τὸ προφητικὸν Πνεῦμα), οὕτως ἑνὶ Θεῷ καὶ τῷ παρ' αὐτοῦ Λόγῳ Υἱῷ νοουμένῳ ἀμερίστῳ πάντα ὑποτέτακται. Ἐκεῖνο τοίνυν σκέψασθέ μοι πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων. Οὐκ ἐξ ἀρχῆς, ὥς φασιν, ἦσαν οἱ θεοὶ, ἀλλ' οὕτως γέγονεν αὐτῶν ἕκαστος, ὡς γιγνόμεθα ἡμεῖς· καὶ τοῦτο πᾶσιν αὐτοῖς ξυμφωνεῖ· Ὁμήρου μὲν γὰρ λέγοντος,
18. Since, therefore, some say that these indeed are images, whereas those in whose honour the images are made are gods, and that the processions in which they approach these and the sacrifices are referred to those gods and are offered to them, and that there is no other way to approach the gods than this (for the gods are hard to behold in manifest presence [Il. 20.131]), and as proofs that these things are so they adduce the operations of certain idols—come, let us examine the force that attaches to their names. And I will beg of you, greatest of emperors, before my argument, to pardon me as I furnish true reasonings; for it is not my purpose to refute the idols, but in clearing away the calumnies I furnish an account of our moral purpose. May you be able from yourselves also to examine the heavenly kingdom: for just as all things have been made subject to you, father and son, who have received the sovereignty from above (for the king's soul is in the hand of God [Prov. 21:1], says the prophetic Spirit), so to one God and the Word that is from Him, conceived as Son indivisible from Him, all things are subjected. Consider this for me, therefore, before all else. The gods did not exist from the beginning, as they say, but each of them has come into being in the same way as we ourselves come into being; and in this they all agree: Homer saying,
Ὠκεανόν τε, θεῶν γένεσιν καὶ μητέρα Τηθύν·
Both Oceanus, the origin of the gods, and mother Tethys (Il. 14.201, 302);
Ὀρφέως δὲ (ὃς καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν πρῶτος ἐξεῦρεν, καὶ τὰς γενέσεις διεξῆλθε, καὶ ὅσα ἑκάστοις πέπρακται
and Orpheus (who also first invented their names, and recounted their births, and all that was done by each—
Editors' notes and page, col. 925

Page

  • running head: 925 LEGATIO PRO CHRIS
  • marginal letters: A ἡ δὲ; B ταῦθ' οὕτως; C τως γέγονεν; D (40) Ἡ δὲ
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: πέ- hyphenated across column break
  • other: the word πέπρακται was split at the column break and stands whole here (joined on receipt); check that the English reads whole across the break into col 928
PG 6:926
Editors' notes and page, col. 926

Footnotes

⁸ ‹anchor: in manu Dei› · call in col 926 Prov. XXI, 1.

Proverbs 21:1.

⁸* ‹anchor: μητέρα Τηθύν› · call in col 926 (printed in the Greek, col 925) Il. Ξ, v. 201, 302.

Iliad 14 (Ξ), lines 201, 302.

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Ἡ δὲ ἐν Σάμῳ. Quod ait Athenagoras de Junone Samia, confirmatur a Pausania, qui Junonis Samiae templum antiquum esse probat ex ipso simulacro, quod Smilidis Aeginetae, Euclidis filii, Daedalo aequalis opus esse testatur. Hinc emendari potest quod legitur apud Clementum Alexandrinum Protrept. p. 30: Junonis Samiae statuam scalpro Euclidis factam esse, σμίλῃ τῇ Εὐκλείδου πεποιῆσθαι. Legendum videtur ὑπὸ Σμίλιδος τοῦ Εὐκλείδου πεποιῆσθαι, a Smilide Euclidis filio factam esse.

"And the one in Samos" (hē de en Samō). What Athenagoras says about the Samian Juno is confirmed by Pausanias, who proves that the temple of the Samian Juno is ancient from the image itself, which he attests is the work of Smilis of Aegina, son of Euclides, a contemporary of Daedalus. From this one can emend what is read in Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus p. 30: that the statue of the Samian Juno was made with the chisel of Euclides, "made with the chisel (smilē) of Euclides." It seems one should read "made by Smilis son of Euclides."

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Τί οὐκ ἦσαν. Sic editio Oxoniensis et mss. Aliae editiones: θεοὶ οὐκ ἦσαν. Vitium animadverterat Stephanus et legendum monuerat, ut in textu posuimus.

"Why were they not" (ti ouk ēsan). So the Oxford edition and the manuscripts. Other editions: theoi ouk ēsan ("they were not gods"). Stephanus had noticed the fault and advised reading as we have put in the text.

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Τί δαί. Reg. 2 et tres Anglicani habent τί δέ, et mox τί δὲ ἔδει. Mox tres Anglicani λίθος.

"What then" (ti dai). Reg. 2 and three English manuscripts have ti de, and just after ti de edei. Just after, three English manuscripts have lithos ("stone").

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Χαλεποί. Pars versus 131, l. XX Iliad. deest θεοί in Clarom. et tribus Angl.

"Hard" (chalepoi). Part of line 131 of Iliad book 20; theoi ("gods") is missing in the Clermont and three English manuscripts.

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Μέγιστοι. Duo codices ὦ μέγιστοι. Suffridus in suo codice reperit αὐτοκράτορες, atque ita legendum putat.

"Greatest" (megistoi). Two manuscripts have ō megistoi ("O greatest"). Suffridus found autokratores ("emperors") in his manuscript, and thinks it should be read so.

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Παρέχω. Multi veteres libri παρέχων. Mox Gesnerus legendum putat ἔχετε vel ἔχοιτε ἄν.

"I offer" (parechō). Many old books have parechōn. Just after, Gesner thinks one should read echete or echoite an.

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(46) ‹anchor: ἐπουράνιον βασιλείαν› · call in col 926

Βασιλείαν. Hic editi addunt εἰληφόσιν, excepta editione Oxoniensi. Delendam censuit hanc vocem Stephanus, nec eam agnoscunt Anglic. codices et Clarom. Linea transversa notatur in Regio secundo. Mox codices Anglicani ὥς φησι.

"Kingdom" (basileian). Here the editions, except the Oxford, add eilēphosin ("to those who have received"). Stephanus judged this word should be deleted, and the English manuscripts and the Clermont do not have it; in the second Royal it is marked with a line through it. Just after, the English manuscripts have hōs phēsi.

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(47) ‹anchor: βασιλέως γὰρ ψυχή› · call in col 926

Ψυχή. Liquet hunc locum ab Athenagora de praecipuo quodam in regum vita protegenda praesidio intelligi. Sic intellexit Themistius, orator profanus, qui in orat. 7 ait scriptum esse in litteris Assyriorum: Ὡς ἄρα ὁ νοῦς τοῦ βασιλέως ἐν τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ παλάμῃ δορυφορεῖται· et in oratione 11, τὴν τοῦ βασιλέως καρδίαν ἐν τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ παλάμῃ δορυφορεῖσθαι. Praesidium singulare significat et ipsa illa vox δορυφορεῖσθαι et adjuncta a Themistio explicatio, qui in primo loco manum reges custodientem, in altero manum reges assectantem interpretatur. Mox editi ἑνὶ τῷ Θεῷ. Melius Anglicani codices quos secutus sum.

"Soul" (psychē). Clearly Athenagoras understands this place of a special protection guarding the life of kings. So it was understood by Themistius, a pagan orator, who says in oration 7 that it is written in the writings of the Assyrians "that the mind of the king is guarded in the hand of God," and in oration 11, "that the heart of the king is guarded in the hand of God." Both the word doryphoreisthai ("to be escorted by a guard") itself and the explanation Themistius attaches signify a singular protection: in the first place he interprets it as the hand that guards kings, in the second as the hand that attends kings. Just after, the editions have heni tō Theō; better the English manuscripts, which I have followed.

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(48) ‹anchor: οὕτως γέγονεν› · call in col 926

Γέγονεν. Deest in cod. Clarom.

"Came to be" (gegonen). Missing in the Clermont manuscript.

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Page

  • running head: LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS. 926
  • marginal letters: A simulacra. Venus Cnidia; B alium esse ad; C quem Filium non; D (45) Παρέχω. Multi
  • old-edition numerals: 294 after in
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:927
Editors' notes and page, col. 927

Footnotes

(49) ‹anchor: (call not visible on this foot)› · call in col 927

Ὠκεανός, etc. Legitur hic versus apud Homerum Iliad. Ξ, citatusque est a Justino martyre in Cohort. ad Graecos. Nec mirum est, si eum Orpheo attribuit Athenagoras potius quam Homero; cum ejusmodi versus Orpheo suppositi, et plerumque ex Homero imitatione expressi his, qui fraudem non subolfaciebant, imitatorem Orphei Homerum fuisse persuaderent.

"Ocean," etc. This line is read in Homer, Iliad 14 (Ξ), and is quoted by Justin Martyr in the Exhortation to the Greeks. Nor is it surprising if Athenagoras attributes it to Orpheus rather than to Homer, since lines of this kind, foisted on Orpheus and mostly modelled on Homer by imitation, persuaded those who did not scent the fraud that Homer had been the imitator of Orpheus.

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Αὐτῶν. Legendum censuit Gesnerus αὐτοῦ, unde etiam sic reddidit: Corpus vero medium continebat faciem Dei. Sed retinenda est vulgata lectio. Illud enim Dei caput non in medio corpore situm erat, sed inter duo alia capita, nempe draconis et leonis. Hercules enim erat tempus apud Aegyptios, ut observat Suffridus, eique tria capita affingebant, ut tempus praeteritum, praesens et futurum designarent.

"Of them" (autōn). Gesner judged that one should read autou ("of him"), and so he rendered: "but the middle of the body held the face of a god." But the common reading must be kept. For that head of the god was not placed in the middle of the body but between two other heads, namely of a serpent and a lion. For among the Egyptians Hercules was Time, as Suffridus observes, and they gave him three heads to signify time past, present and future.

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Ὑπερμέγεθες ᾠόν. Haec frustra quaesieris in versibus sub falso Orphei nomine exstantibus; sed Athenagorae testimonium confirmat Plutarchus, qui de Orpheo sic loquitur Sympos. lib. II, p. 636: Οὐχ ὄρνιθος μόνον τὸ ᾠὸν ἀποφαίνει πρεσβύτερον, ἀλλὰ καὶ συλλαβὼν ἅπασαν αὐτῷ τὴν ἁπάντων ὁμοῦ πρεσβυγένειαν ἀνατίθησι. Non modo gallina ovum antiquius facit, sed omnem ei omnium prorsus rerum originis principatum attribuit. Recenset deinde Plutarchus ad firmandam Orphei opinionem animalia, quae ex ovis nasci constat, et idcirco ovum in Bacchi mysteriis ut imaginem illius, qui omnia genuit, et in seipso continet, non absurde consecratum fuisse dicit. Eodem fere ac Orpheus modo Phoenices, teste apud Eusebium Sanchuniathone Praep. evang. lib. I, cap. 10, omnium rerum originem ex limo ac deinde ex ovo quodam repetebant, Aegyptii autem, ut testatur Porphyrius apud eumdem Eusebium lib. III, Praepar., cap. 11, mundi opificem Deum, quem Cneph appellabant, ex ore suo ovum fingebant emisisse; quo ex ovo alium deum genitum esse, apud ipsos Phtha, apud Graecos Vulcanum nomine, illudque ovum interpretabantur mundum. Quod ad limum spectat, iidem Aegyptii, teste Jamblich. De myster. sect. 7, cap. 11, dicebant eum esse τῶν στοιχείων καὶ τῶν περὶ τοῖς στοιχείοις δυνάμεων πασῶν ἀρχηγὸν αἴτιον ἐν πυθμένος λόγῳ προϋποκείμενον, elementorum et omnium in elementis potestatum causam principem instar fundamenti subjectam.

"A huge egg" (hypermegethes ōon). You would look for this in vain among the verses extant under the false name of Orpheus; but Athenagoras's testimony is confirmed by Plutarch, who speaks thus of Orpheus, Table Talk book 2, p. 636: "He not only declares the egg older than the bird, but gathering it all together assigns to it the seniority of all things at once." Not only does he make the egg older than the hen, but he attributes to it the whole primacy of origin of absolutely all things. Plutarch then lists, to support Orpheus's opinion, the animals that are known to be born from eggs, and says that for this reason the egg was not absurdly consecrated in the mysteries of Bacchus as an image of him who begot all things and contains them in himself. In almost the same way as Orpheus, the Phoenicians — on the testimony of Sanchuniathon in Eusebius, Praep. evang. book 1, ch. 10 — derived the origin of all things from slime and then from a certain egg; while the Egyptians, as Porphyry attests in the same Eusebius, Praep. book 3, ch. 11, imagined that God the maker of the world, whom they called Cneph, emitted an egg from his mouth; that from this egg another god was born, named among them Phtha and among the Greeks Vulcan; and they interpreted that egg as the world. As for the slime, the same Egyptians, on the testimony of Iamblichus, On the Mysteries sect. 7, ch. 11, said that it was "the originating cause of the elements and of all the powers in the elements, laid down beforehand as a foundation," the principal cause of the elements and of all the powers in the elements, placed beneath like a foundation.

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Κατενεχθέν. Legitur κάτω κατενεχθέν in uno ex Anglicanis et in codice Suffridi, qui hanc probat scripturam.

"Brought down" (katenechthen). Katō katenechthen ("brought down below") is read in one of the English manuscripts and in Suffridus's manuscript, who approves this reading.

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Οὐρανὸς δέ. Reg. 2 οὐρανὸς δὲ θεός. Mox Reg. 2 et duo Anglicani ἄνδρας τε.

"And Heaven" (ouranos de). Reg. 2 has ouranos de theos. Just after, Reg. 2 and two English manuscripts have andras te.

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Κόττυν, Γύγην. Legitur in nonnullis mss. et editt. Paris. Κόττην. Habent etiam nonnulli codices Γύνην, alius Γύννιν.

"Cottus, Gyges." Some manuscripts and the Paris editions read Kottēn. Some manuscripts also have Gynēn, another Gynnin.

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(55) ‹anchor: οὕνεκα τισάσθην› · call in col 927

Τισάσθην. Haec Scriptura debetur Henrico Stephano. Legitur in codice Claromontano τιμωρήσωσι, in duobus Anglicanis τὶ τιμωρήσωσι, in utroque Regio et tribus Romanis οὕνεκά τι τιμωρήσωσιν ἢ τιμήσωσιν σάσθην, unde Stephanus elegit τισάσθην. Observat Suffridus Titanes hic confundi cum gigantibus quos sola terra genuit, cum primi ex coelo et terra orti fuerint.

"They avenged" (tisasthēn). This reading is owed to Henri Estienne. The Clermont manuscript reads timōrēsōsi, two English manuscripts ti timōrēsōsi, both Royal and three Roman manuscripts houneka ti timōrēsōsin ē timēsōsin sasthēn, from which Stephanus chose tisasthēn. Suffridus observes that the Titans are here confused with the Giants, whom earth alone bore, whereas the former sprang from heaven and earth.

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(56) ‹anchor: τῷ παντί› · call in col 927

Τῷ παντί. Locus valde corruptus. Legitur in Claromontano codice et tribus Anglicanis, τῷ παντὶ ὡς τὴν ἀρχήν, etc. Editor Oxoniensis percommode emendat hoc modo, καὶ τὸ πᾶν· τί ἐκεῖνο τοίνυν;

"To the universe" (tō panti). A badly corrupt place. The Clermont manuscript and three English manuscripts read tō panti hōs tēn archēn, etc. The Oxford editor emends very aptly thus: kai to pan; ti ekeino toinyn? ("and the universe. What, then, is that?").

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(57) ‹anchor: ὂν εἶναι› · call in col 927

Ὂν εἶναι. Tres Anglicani codices ἂν εἶναι. Suffridus et Oxoniensis editor deesse ἔδει existimant; legere malim ὂν νοεῖται.

"Being" (on einai). Three English manuscripts have an einai. Suffridus and the Oxford editor think edei ("it was necessary") is missing; I would prefer to read on noeitai ("is thought of as being").

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Page

  • running head: 927 ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI
  • marginal letters: A que gestas narravit,; B tem dea terra; C stimant, deorum, tum; D (51) Ὑπερμέγεθες ὠόν.
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:928
εἶπε, καὶ πεπίστευται παρ' αὐτοῖς ἀληθέστερον θεολογεῖν· ᾧ καὶ Ὅμηρος τὰ πολλὰ καὶ περὶ θεῶν μάλιστα ἕπεται), καὶ αὐτοῦ τὴν πρώτην γένεσιν αὐτῶν ἐξ ὕδατος συνιστάντος·
told, and is believed among them to theologize more truly; whom Homer also follows in most things and above all concerning the gods), himself also establishing their first generation out of water:
Ὠκεανὸς, ὅσπερ γένεσις πάντεσσι τέτυκται.
Oceanus, who is fashioned as the origin for all.
Ἦν γὰρ ὕδωρ ἀρχὴ κατ' αὐτὸν τοῖς ὅλοις, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ ὕδατος ἰλὺς κατέστη, ἐκ δὲ ἑκατέρων ἐγεννήθη ζῶον δράκων, προσπεφυκυῖαν ἔχων κεφαλὴν λέοντος, διὰ μέσου δὲ αὐτῶν θεοῦ πρόσωπον, ὄνομα Ἡρακλῆς, καὶ Χρόνος. Οὗτος ὁ Ἡρακλῆς ἐγέννησεν ὑπερμέγεθες ὠὸν, ὃ, συμπληρούμενον, ὑπὸ βίας τοῦ γεγεννηκότος ἐκ παρατριβῆς εἰς δύο ἐῤῥάγη. Τὸ μὲν οὖν κατὰ κορυφὴν αὐτοῦ οὐρανὸς εἶναι ἐτελέσθη· τὸ δὲ κατενεχθὲν γῆ. Προῆλθε δὲ καὶ θεὸς γῆ διὰ σώματος· οὐρανὸς δὲ, γῇ μιχθεὶς, γεννᾷ θηλείας μὲν Κλωθὼ, Λάχεσιν, Ἄτροπον· ἄνδρας δὲ ἑκατόγχειρας Κόττυν, Γύγην, Βριάρεων· καὶ Κύκλωπας Βροντὴν καὶ Στεροπὴν καὶ Ἄργον· οὓς καὶ δήσας κατεταρτάρωσεν, ἐκπεσεῖσθαι αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τῶν παίδων τῆς ἀρχῆς μαθών. Διὸ καὶ ὀργισθεῖσα ἡ γῆ τοὺς Τιτᾶνας ἐγέννησε·
For water was according to him the beginning for all things, and from the water mud settled, and out of both was born a living creature, a serpent, having a lion's head grown to it, and between them the face of a god, by name Heracles and Cronus. This Heracles begot a huge egg, which, being filled full, by the force of its begetter was broken in two from friction. The part at its top, then, was completed to be heaven; and the part that sank down, earth. There came forth also a goddess, Earth, with a body; and Heaven, having mingled with Earth, begets as females Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos; and as hundred-handed males Cottys, Gyges, Briareus; and as Cyclopes Brontes and Steropes and Argus; whom also having bound he cast down into Tartarus, having learnt that he would be cast out from his rule by his children. Wherefore also Earth, being enraged, bore the Titans:
Κούρους δ' οὐρανίωνας ἐγείνατο πότνια Γαῖα, Οὓς δὴ καὶ Τιτῆνας ἐπίκλησιν καλέουσιν, Οὕνεκα τισάσθην μέγαν οὐρανὸν ἀστερόεντα.
And queenly Gaia bore heavenly youths, whom indeed they also call by surname Titans, because they avenged themselves upon great starry Heaven.
19. Αὕτη ἀρχὴ γενέσεως περὶ τοὺς κατ' αὐτοὺς θεούς τε καὶ τῷ παντί. Ἐκεῖνο τοίνυν· ἕκαστον γὰρ τῶν τεθεολογημένων ὡς τὴν ἀρχὴν ὂν εἶναι.
19. This is the beginning of generation concerning both the gods according to them and the universe. See this, then: for each of the things to which divinity has been ascribed is supposed to exist from the beginning.
Editors' notes and page, col. 928

Page

  • running head: ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI 928
  • marginal letters: A πρακται εἶπε, καὶ; B δὲ κατενεχθὲν γῆ.; C γὰρ τῶν τεθεολογημένων; D Reg. 2 et duo
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: begins mid-word πρακται (from πέπρακται in col 925)
PG 6:929
Ει γὰρ γεγόνασιν οὐκ ὄντες, ὡς οἱ περὶ αὐτῶν θεολογοῦντες λέγουσιν, οὐκ εἰσίν. Ἢ γὰρ ἀγένητόν τι καὶ ἔστιν ἀΐδιον· ἢ γενητὸν φθαρτόν ἐστι. Καὶ οὐκ ἐγὼ οὕτως, ἑτέρως δὲ οἱ φιλόσοφοι. Τί τὸ ὂν ἀεὶ, γένεσίν τε οὐκ ἔχον· ἢ τί τὸ γενόμενον μὲν, ὂν δὲ οὐδέποτε; Περὶ νοητοῦ καὶ αἰσθητοῦ διαλεγόμενος ὁ Πλάτων, τὸ μὲν ἀεὶ ὂν, τὸ νοητὸν, ἀγέννητον εἶναι διδάσκει· τὸ δὲ οὐκ ὂν, τὸ αἰσθητὸν, γεννητόν· ἀρχόμενον εἶναι καὶ παυόμενον. Τούτῳ καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς Στοᾶς τῷ λόγῳ ἐκπυρωθήσεσθαι τὰ πάντα, καὶ πάλιν ἔσεσθαί φασιν, ἑτέραν ἀρχὴν τοῦ κόσμου λαβόντος. Εἰ δὲ, καίτοι δισσοῦ αἰτίου κατ' αὐτοὺς ὄντος, τοῦ μὲν δραστηρίου καὶ καταρχομένου, καθὸ ἡ πρόνοια· τοῦ δὲ πάσχοντος καὶ τρεπομένου, καθὸ ἡ ὕλη· ἀδύνατον δέ ἐστι καὶ προνοούμενον ἐπὶ ταὐτοῦ μεῖναι τὸν κόσμον γενόμενον· πῶς ἡ τούτων μένει σύστασις, οὐ φύσει ὄντων, ἀλλὰ γενομένων; Τί δὲ τῆς ὕλης κρείττους οἱ θεοὶ, τὴν σύστασιν ἐξ ὕδατος ἔχοντες; Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ κατ' αὐτοὺς ὕδωρ τοῖς πᾶσιν ἀρχή· ἔκ τε ἁπλῶν καὶ μονοειδῶν τί ἂν συστῆναι στοιχείων δύναιτο; Δεῖ δὲ καὶ τῇ ὕλῃ τεχνίτου, καὶ ὕλης τῷ τεχνίτῃ· ἢ πῶς ἂν γένοιτο τὰ ἐκτυπώματα χωρὶς τῆς ὕλης ἢ τοῦ τεχνίτου; Οὔτε πρεσβυτέραν λόγον ἔχει εἶναι τὴν ὕλην τοῦ Θεοῦ· τὸ γὰρ ποιητικὸν αἴτιον προκατάρχειν τῶν γιγνομένων ἀνάγκη.
For if they have come into being when they did not exist, as those who theologize about them say, they do not exist. For either something is unbegotten and is eternal, or being begotten it is perishable. And it is not that I speak thus while the philosophers speak otherwise. What is that which always is, and has no generation; or what is that which comes into being indeed, yet never is? Discoursing concerning the intelligible and the sensible, Plato teaches that that which always is, the intelligible, is unbegotten; whereas that which is not, the sensible, is begotten, beginning to be and ceasing to be. By this reasoning also those of the Stoa say that all things will be consumed by fire and will exist again, the world receiving another beginning. But if, although according to them there is a twofold cause, the one active and ruling, inasmuch as it is providence, and the other passive and changeable, inasmuch as it is matter, it is impossible for the world, having come into being, even when cared for by providence, to remain in the same state, how does the constitution of these gods remain, who do not exist by nature, but have come into being? And how are the gods superior to matter, having their constitution out of water? Yet not even according to them is water the beginning for all things; and out of simple and uniform elements what could be constituted? Moreover, matter also needs a craftsman, and the craftsman needs matter; or how could the moulded forms come into being without matter or the craftsman? Nor is it reasonable that matter should be older than God; for the efficient cause must of necessity precede the things that come into being.
20. Εἰ μὲν οὖν μέχρι τοῦ φῆσαι γεγονέναι τοὺς θεοὺς, καὶ ἐξ ὕδατος την σύστασιν ἔχειν, τὸ ἀπίθανον ἦν αὐτοῖς τῆς θεολογίας, ἐπιδεδειχὼς, ὅτι οὐδὲν γενητὸν, ὃ οὐ καὶ διαλυτὸν, ἐπὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ἂν παρεγενόμην τῶν ἐγκλημάτων. Ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῦτο μὲν διατεθείκασιν αὐτῶν τὰ σώματα· τὸν μὲν Ἡρακλέα, ὅτι θεὸς δράκων ἑλικτός· τοὺς δὲ ἑκατόγχειρας εἰπόντες· καὶ τὴν θυγατέρα τοῦ Διὸς, ἣν ἐκ τῆς μητρὸς Ῥέας καὶ Δήμητρος ἢ Δημήτορος αὐτῆς ἐπαιδοποιήσατο, δύο μὲν κατὰ φύσιν εἶπον ἔχειν ὀφθαλμοὺς, καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ μετώπῳ δύο, καὶ προτομὴν κατὰ τὸ ὄπισθεν τοῦ τραχήλου μέρος, ἔχειν δὲ καὶ κέρατα· διὸ καὶ τὴν Ῥέαν, φοβηθεῖσαν τὸ παιδὸς τέρας, φυγεῖν, οὐκ ἐφεῖσαν αὐτῇ τὴν θηλήν· ἔνθεν μυστικῶς μὲν Ἀθηλᾶ, κοινῶς δὲ Φερσεφόνη καὶ Κόρη
20. If, then, the absurdity of their theology went only so far as to say that the gods have come into being and have their constitution out of water, having demonstrated that nothing is begotten which is not also dissoluble, I would have proceeded to the rest of the charges. But since on the one hand they have described their bodies: speaking of Heracles, that he is a coiled serpent god, and of the hundred-handed ones; and the daughter of Zeus, whom he begot from his mother Rhea, also called Demeter or Demetor herself, they said had two eyes according to nature, and two upon her forehead, and a face at the back part of her neck, and that she also had horns; wherefore Rhea too, frightened at the monster of a child, fled, not affording her the breast; whence mystically she is called Athela, but commonly Phersephone and Core,
Editors' notes and page, col. 929

Page

  • running head: 929 LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS.
  • marginal letters: A Ει γὰρ γεγόνασιν; B νει σύστασις, οὐ; C 20. Εἰ μὲν οὖν; D (57) Φθαρτόν. Editio
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: five full-width facing Latin lines (constituti sunt! ... imperet.) between sections 19 and 20, cut off at right edge, not set
PG 6:930
Editors' notes and page, col. 930

Footnotes

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Φθαρτόν. Editio Oxon. καὶ φθαρτόν ἐστι, et mox οὐκ ἐγὼ μέν. Sed nec in editionibus Parisiensibus nec in nostris codicibus leguntur hae particulae καί et μέν. Platonis verba, quae mox citantur, desumpta sunt ex Timaeo. Ope codicis Clarom. emendavi quod erat in editis αἰσθητόν, γεννητόν.

Φθαρτόν ("perishable"). The Oxford edition has καὶ φθαρτόν ἐστι, and shortly after οὐκ ἐγὼ μέν. But neither in the Paris editions nor in our manuscripts are the particles καί and μέν read. Plato's words, quoted shortly after, are taken from the Timaeus. With the help of the Clermont codex I have corrected what stood in the printed editions as αἰσθητόν, γεννητόν.

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Λαβόντος. Clarom. et tres Anglicani λαβόντας. Infra unus ex Anglicanis ἀδύνατον δὲ καί.

Λαβόντος ("having received"). The Clermont codex and three English manuscripts have λαβόντας. Below, one of the English manuscripts has ἀδύνατον δὲ καί.

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Μένει. Deest ea vox in editionibus Parisiensibus, legitur in aliis et in codicibus mss. Habent στάσις Reg 2, Clarom. et tres Anglicani. Mox Gesnerus et Suffridus malunt τό γε γὰρ κατ' αὐτούς. Sed nihil mutandum.

Μένει ("remains"). This word is missing in the Paris editions; it is read in the others and in the manuscript codices. Regius 2, the Clermont codex and three English manuscripts have στάσις. Shortly after, Gesner and Suffridus prefer τό γε γὰρ κατ' αὐτούς. But nothing should be changed.

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Καὶ ὕλης. Haec verba et quae in eamdem sententiam dicta consequuntur, desunt in Clarom. et tribus Anglicanis, in quibus legitur: Δεῖ δὲ καὶ τῇ ὕλῃ τεχνίτου· οὔτε πρεσβυτέραν, etc.

Καὶ ὕλης ("and of matter"). These words, and what follows said to the same effect, are missing in the Clermont codex and the three English manuscripts, in which one reads: Δεῖ δὲ καὶ τῇ ὕλῃ τεχνίτου· οὔτε πρεσβυτέραν, etc.

(printed under page 495)

(62) ‹anchor: ἂν παρεγενόμην› · call in col 930

Παρεγενόμην. Reg. 2 παραγενοίμην.

Παρεγενόμην ("I would have proceeded"). Regius 2 has παραγενοίμην.

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(63) ‹anchor: θεὸς δράκων› · call in col 930

Θεὸς δράκων. Haec quoque ex Aegyptiorum hausta fontibus. Hercules enim, ut paulo ante dicebat Athenagoras, opifex est mundi, cujus ex ore ovum emissum est. At mundi opificem Aegyptii sub serpentis specie effingebant. Hoc animal Phoenices, inquit Philo Biblius apud Euseb. Praep. I, cap. ult., bonum daemonem appellant, Aegyptii vero Cneph. Cneph autem nomen est mundi opificis apud Aegyptios, ut modo observavimus ex Porphyrii testimonio.

Θεὸς δράκων ("a god, a serpent"). This too is drawn from Egyptian sources. For Hercules, as Athenagoras said a little before, is the maker of the world, from whose mouth the egg was put forth. And the Egyptians represented the maker of the world in the form of a serpent. "This animal the Phoenicians," says Philo of Byblos in Eusebius, Praeparatio [evangelica] I, last chapter, "call the good daemon, but the Egyptians Cneph." And Cneph is the name of the maker of the world among the Egyptians, as we observed just now from the testimony of Porphyry.

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(64) ‹anchor: Δήμητρος αὐτῆς› · call in col 930

Ἢ Δημήτορος αὐτῆς. Sic emendavi ope codicis Claromontani quod in editis legebatur, καὶ Δήμητρος ἢ Δημήτορος τὸν αὐτῆς. Legendum putant Gesnerus et Oxoniensis editor τῆς αὐτῆς. Hinc interpretatur Gesnerus: Eamdem enim illi faciunt.

Ἢ Δημήτορος αὐτῆς ("or Demetor herself"). So, with the help of the Clermont codex, I have corrected what was read in the printed editions: καὶ Δήμητρος ἢ Δημήτορος τὸν αὐτῆς. Gesner and the Oxford editor think τῆς αὐτῆς should be read. Hence Gesner translates: "For they make her the same."

(printed under page 495)

Page

  • running head: LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS. 930
  • marginal letters: A hoc igitur sibi; B nat. Simili ratione; C 20. Absurdæ deorum; D (62) Παρεγενόμην. Reg.
  • old-edition numerals: 295 after de
  • other: facing Latin version, not set; five full-width Latin lines above section 20 cut off at left edge
PG 6:931
Editors' notes and page, col. 931

Footnotes

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Κόρης. Codices nonnulli κόρσης. Ibidem Clarom. et tres Anglicani γενομένης. Reg. 2 γενομένη.

Κόρης ("of Kore"). Some codices have κόρσης. In the same place the Clermont codex and three English manuscripts have γενομένης; Regius 2 has γενομένη.

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Ἀνάγκη. Ponitur post εἰπεῖν in duobus Anglicanis et Reg. secundo.

Ἀνάγκη ("necessity"). It is placed after εἰπεῖν in two English manuscripts and in Regius 2.

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Τί τὸ σεμνόν. Uterque Bodleianus τί σεμνὸν ἢ τί χρηστόν.

Τί τὸ σεμνόν ("what is the dignified thing"). Both Bodleian manuscripts have τί σεμνὸν ἢ τί χρηστόν.

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Αἱ διαθέσεις. Codex Suffridi τίνες αἱ διαθέσεις; atque haec illi scriptura plurimum probatur.

Αἱ διαθέσεις ("the dispositions"). Suffridus's codex has τίνες αἱ διαθέσεις, and this reading greatly commends itself to him.

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(69) ‹anchor: Ἂν δὲ› · call in col 931

Ἂν δέ. Duo Anglicani τὴν δέ, Clarom. τὰν δὲ Φάνης ἄλλην γενεῶν. Unus ex Anglicanis habet γένεσιν. Hunc Phanetem ex ovo profusum fuisse non dixerat Athenagoras illo in loco, ubi de ovo locutus est. Sed difficile non est intelligere, simul cum ovo prodiisse primogenitum illum Deum, qui coelum et terram ovo contenta dicitur condidisse. Idcirco enim Phanes ille draconis speciem dicitur habuisse, quia mundi opifex ita effingi solebat apud Aegyptios. Phanes ille nihil aliud esse videtur quam Minerva. Haec enim, ex Patris capite, ἐκθοροῦσα, prosiliens, ut ait Themistius orat. 3, omnia creavit et coelum ac terram temperavit. Praeterea Metis, cum praegnans Minerva esset, a Jove deglutitur, ut videre est apud Eustathium in Iliad., p. 83, ac deinde Minerva per caput Jovis erupit. Quadrat id cum Phanete, qui a Jove devoratus dicitur. Ex his patet immerito Gesnerum existimasse addendum esse τὴν Μῆτιν post ὑπὸ τοῦ Διός, quod quidem in interpretando sequi non dubitavit.

Ἂν δέ ("and her"). Two English manuscripts have τὴν δέ; the Clermont codex τὰν δὲ Φάνης ἄλλην γενεῶν. One of the English manuscripts has γένεσιν. Athenagoras had not said that this Phanes was poured out of the egg in the place where he spoke of the egg. But it is not hard to understand that the first-born god, who is said to have made the heaven and earth contained in the egg, came forth together with the egg. That is why Phanes is said to have had the form of a serpent: because the maker of the world was customarily represented so among the Egyptians. This Phanes seems to be nothing other than Minerva. For she, ἐκθοροῦσα, "leaping forth" from her Father's head, as Themistius says in Oration 3, created all things and ordered heaven and earth. Moreover, when Metis was pregnant with Minerva, she was swallowed by Jove, as may be seen in Eustathius on the Iliad, p. 83, and then Minerva burst out through Jove's head. This squares with Phanes, who is said to have been devoured by Jove. From this it is clear that Gesner wrongly thought τὴν Μῆτιν should be added after ὑπὸ τοῦ Διός, which indeed he did not hesitate to follow in his translation.

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Καταποθῆναι. Clarom. et tres Anglicani κατατεθῆναι. Sic etiam alius codex citatus a Ducaeo.

Καταποθῆναι ("to be swallowed"). The Clermont codex and three English manuscripts have κατατεθῆναι. So too another codex cited by Ducaeus [Fronton du Duc].

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(71) ‹anchor: ὕλης ἀποκρινομένων› · call in col 931

Ἀποκρινομένων. Clarom. et tres Anglicani ἀποκρινόμενον. Sic etiam Reg. 2 ad marginem. Qui contextum Athenagorae immutaverunt, videntur minus intellexisse vim hujus verbi ἀποκρίνεσθαι et idcirco illud retulisse ad Deum. At verbum illud percommode dicitur de iis, quae e materia educuntur et generantur; idque observavit Gesnerus, cujus observationem confirmat Plutarchus, quo teste apud Euseb. Praep. Evang., lib. I, c. 8, Anaximander docebat infinitum esse causam mundi generationis et corruptionis. Ex eo enim coelos eductos fuisse, ἐξ οὗ δή φησι τούς τε οὐρανοὺς ἀποκεκρῖσθαι.

Ἀποκρινομένων ("of things separated out"). The Clermont codex and three English manuscripts have ἀποκρινόμενον; so too Regius 2 in the margin. Those who altered Athenagoras's text seem not to have understood well the force of this verb ἀποκρίνεσθαι, and so referred it to God. But the verb is said very fittingly of things drawn out of matter and generated; Gesner observed this, and his observation is confirmed by Plutarch, on whose testimony in Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica, book I, ch. 8, Anaximander taught that the infinite is the cause of the world's generation and corruption. "For from it the heavens were drawn out," ἐξ οὗ δή φησι τούς τε οὐρανοὺς ἀποκεκρῖσθαι.

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Καὶ σπέρμα. Deest conjunctio in utroque Regio et uno Anglicano. Paulo ante tres Anglicani, τί δὲ καὶ πρόσιμεν.

Καὶ σπέρμα ("and seed"). The conjunction is missing in both Regii and in one English manuscript. A little before, three English manuscripts have τί δὲ καὶ πρόσιμεν.

(printed under page 496)

Page

  • running head: 931 ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI
  • marginal letters: A Proserpina et Core; B hæc ita se; C conis corpus ac; D Μῆτιν post ὑπὸ
  • old-edition numerals: 296 after ab
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:932
κέκληται, οὐχ ἡ αὐτὴ οὖσα τῇ Ἀθηνᾷ τῇ ἀπὸ τῆς κόρης λεγομένῃ· τοῦτο δὲ, τὰ πραχθέντα ἐπ' ἀκριβὲς αὐτοῖς, ὡς οἴονται, διεξεληλύθασι· Κρόνος μὲν, ὡς ἐξέτεμε τὰ αἰδοῖα τοῦ πατρὸς, καὶ κατέῤῥιψεν αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἅρματος, καὶ ὡς ἐτεκνοκτόνει καταπίνων τῶν παίδων τοὺς ἄρσενας· Ζεὺς δὲ, ὅτι τὸν μὲν πατέρα δήσας κατεταρτάρωσε, καθὰ καὶ τοὺς υἱεῖς ὁ Οὐρανός· καὶ πρὸς Τιτᾶνας περὶ τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐπολέμησε, καὶ ὅτι τὴν μητέρα Ῥέαν ἀπαγορεύουσαν αὐτοῦ τὸν γάμον ἐδίωκε· δρακαίνης δ' αὐτῆς γενομένης, καὶ αὐτὸς εἰς δράκοντα μεταβαλὼν, συνδήσας αὐτὴν τῷ καλουμένῳ Ἡρακλειωτικῷ ἅμματι, ἐμίγη, τοῦ σχήματος τῆς μίξεως σύμβολον ἡ τοῦ Ἑρμοῦ ῥάβδος· εἶθ' ὅτι Φερσεφόνῃ τῇ θυγατρὶ ἐμίγη, βιασάμενος καὶ ταύτην ἐν δράκοντος σχήματι, ἐξ ἧς παῖς Διόνυσος αὐτῷ· ἀνάγκη κἂν τοσοῦτον εἰπεῖν. Τί τὸ σεμνὸν ἢ χρηστὸν τῆς τοιαύτης ἱστορίας, ἵνα πιστεύσωμεν θεοὺς εἶναι τὸν Κρόνον, τὸν Δία, τὴν Κόρην, τοὺς λοιπούς; Αἱ διαθέσεις τῶν σωμάτων; Καὶ τίς ἂν ἄνθρωπος κεκριμένος καὶ ἐν θεωρίᾳ γεγονὼς ὑπὸ θεοῦ γεννηθῆναι πιστεύσαι ἔχιδναν; (Ὀρφεύς·
not being the same as Athena who is named from the pupil of the eye; and on the other hand, they have recounted in detail, as they suppose, the deeds done by them: how Cronus cut off the privy parts of his father and hurled him down from his chariot, and how he murdered his children, swallowing the males among his offspring; and as for Zeus, that having bound his father he cast him down into Tartarus, just as Uranus also did to his sons, and fought against the Titans for the rule, and that he pursued his mother Rhea when she refused marriage with him; and when she became a she-dragon, he himself also changing into a dragon, having bound her together in what is called the Heraclean knot, mingled with her—of which figure of copulation the staff of Hermes is a symbol—and then that he mingled with his daughter Phersephone, violating her also in the form of a dragon, from whom he had a child Dionysus: it is necessary to say at least thus much. What is there reverend or useful in such a story, that we should believe Cronus, Zeus, Core, and the rest to be gods? The dispositions of their bodies? And what man of judgement and practised in contemplation would believe that a viper was begotten by a god? (Orpheus:
Ἂν δὲ Φάνης ἄλλην γενεὴν τεκνώσατο δεινὴν Νηδύος ἐξ ἱερῆς, προσιδεῖν φοβερωπὸν ἔχιδναν, Ἧς χαῖται μὲν ἀπὸ κρατὸς, καλόν τε πρόσωπον Ἦν ἐσιδεῖν, τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ μέρη φοβεροῖο δράκοντος Αὐχένος ἐξ ἄκρου.)
And Phanes begot another dread offspring out of his sacred womb, a viper frightful of aspect to behold, from whose head indeed flowed locks of hair, and fair was its face to look upon, but the remaining parts, from the top of the neck, were those of a terrible dragon.)
ἢ αὐτὸν τὸν Φάνητα δέξαιτο, θεὸν ὄντα πρωτόγονον (οὗτος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ἐκ τοῦ ὠοῦ προχυθείς), ἢ σῶμα ἢ σχῆμα ἔχειν δράκοντος, ἢ καταποθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ Διὸς, ὅπως ὁ Ζεὺς ἀχώρητος γένοιτο; Εἰ γὰρ μηδὲν διενηνόχασι τῶν φαυλοτάτων θηρίων (δῆλον γὰρ ὅτι ὑποδιαλλάσσειν δεῖ τῶν γηΐνων καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ὕλης ἀποκρινομένων τὸ θεῖον), οὐκ εἰσὶ θεοί. Τί δαὶ καὶ πρόσιμεν αὐτοῖς, ὧν κτηνῶν μὲν δίκην ἔχει ἡ γένεσις, αὐτοὶ δὲ θηριόμορφοι καὶ δυσειδεῖς;
Or who would accept that Phanes himself, being a first-born god (for this is he who was poured forth out of the egg), has either the body or the form of a dragon, or was swallowed by Zeus so that Zeus might become infinite? For if they differ in nothing from the vilest wild beasts (since it is clear that the divine must differ from earthly things and those separated off from matter), they are not gods. Why then do we even approach them, whose birth resembles that of cattle, while they themselves are beast-shaped and unsightly?
21. Καίτοι, εἰ σαρκοειδεῖς μόνον ἔλεγον αὐτοὺς καὶ αἷμα ἔχειν καὶ σπέρμα, καὶ πάθη ὀργῆς καὶ ἐπιθυμίας, καὶ τότε ἔδει λῆρον καὶ γέλωτος λόγους
21. And yet, if they said only that they were fleshly and had blood and seed, and passions of anger and desire, even then one ought to regard these tales as nonsense and laughable—
Editors' notes and page, col. 932

Page

  • running head: ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI 932
  • marginal letters: A κέκληται, οὐχ ἡ; B ἐξ ἧς παῖς; C σχῆμα ἔχειν δράκοντος,; D Μῆτιν post ὑπὸ
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: ends mid-word λό- (completed as λόγους in col 933)
  • other: the word λόγους was split at the column break and stands whole here (joined on receipt); check that the English reads whole across the break into col 933
PG 6:933
τούτους νομίζειν· οὔτε γὰρ ὀργὴ, οὔτε ἐπιθυμία καὶ ὄρεξις, οὐδὲ παιδοποιὸν σπέρμα ἐν τῷ Θεῷ. Ἔστωσαν τοίνυν σαρκοειδεῖς, ἀλλὰ κρείττους μὲν θυμοῦ καὶ ὀργῆς· ἵνα μὴ Ἀθηνᾶ μὲν βλέπηται
—for there is neither anger, nor desire and appetite, nor child-begetting seed in God. Let them then be fleshly, yet superior to wrath and anger; so that Athena may not be seen
Σκυζομένη Διῒ πατρὶ, χόλος δέ μιν ἄγριος αἱρεῖ·
Angry at father Zeus, and fierce wrath seizes her;
Ἥρα δὲ θεωρῆται,
nor Hera be beheld:
Ἥρη δ' οὐκ ἔχαδε στῆθος χόλον, ἀλλὰ προσηύδα·
And Hera's breast did not contain her wrath, but she spoke;
κρείττους δὲ λύπης·
and superior to grief:
Ὢ πόποι! ἦ φίλον ἄνδρα διωκόμενον περὶ τεῖχος, Ὀφθαλμοῖσιν ὁρῶμαι· ἐμὸν δ' ὀλοφύρεται ἦτορ.
Alas! Truly a beloved man pursued around the wall I see with my eyes, and my heart laments.
Ἐγὼ μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἀνθρώπους ἀμαθεῖς καὶ σκαιοὺς λέγω τοὺς ὀργῇ καὶ λύπῃ εἴκοντας· ὅταν δὲ πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε ὀδύρηται μὲν τὸν υἱὸν,
For I call even men ignorant and foolish who yield to anger and grief; but when the father of men and gods laments his son,
Αἲ αἳ (λέγων) ὅτε μοι Σαρπηδόνα, φίλτατον ἀνδρῶν, Μοῖρ' ὑπὸ Πατρόκλοιο Μενοιτιάδαο δαμῆναι·
Ah me (saying), when it is fated that Sarpedon, dearest of men to me, be subdued by Patroclus son of Menoetius;
ἀδυνατῇ δὲ ὀδυρόμενος τοῦ κινδύνου ἐξαρπάσαι,
and though lamenting is unable to snatch him from danger,
Σαρπηδὼν, Διὸς υἱός· ὁ δ' οὐδ' ᾧ παιδὶ ἀμύνει·
Sarpedon, son of Zeus; and he does not even defend his own child;
τίς οὐκ ἂν τοὺς ἐπὶ τοῖς τοιούτοις μύθοις φιλοθέους, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀθέους, τῆς ἀμαθίας καταμέμψοιτο; Ἔστωσαν σαρκοειδεῖς· ἀλλὰ μὴ τιτρωσκέσθωσαν, μηδὲ Ἀφροδίτη ὑπὸ Διομήδους τὸ σῶμα,
who would not blame for their ignorance those who over such myths are lovers of the gods, or rather atheists? Let them be fleshly; yet let them not be wounded, nor Aphrodite in her body by Diomedes,
Οὖτα με Τυδέος υἱὸς, ὑπέρθυμος Διομήδης·
The son of Tydeus wounded me, high-spirited Diomedes;
ἢ ὑπὸ Ἄρεως τὴν ψυχήν,
or in her soul by Ares,
Ὡς ἐμὲ χωλὸν ἐόντα Διὸς θυγάτηρ Ἀφροδίτη Αἰὲν ἀτιμάζει, φιλέει δ' ἀΐδηλον Ἄρηα.
How Zeus' daughter Aphrodite ever dishonours me for being lame, and loves destructive Ares.
Διὰ δὲ χρόα καλὸν ἔδαψεν.
And he rent his fair skin through.
Ὁ δεινὸς ἐν πολέμοις, ὁ σύμμαχος κατὰ Τιτάνων τοῦ Διὸς, ἀσθενέστερος Διομήδους φαίνεται·
The terrible one in wars, the ally of Zeus against the Titans, appears weaker than Diomedes:
(Μαίνετο δ' ὡς ὅτ' Ἄρης ἐγχέσπαλος).
(And he raged as when spear-brandishing Ares rages).
Σιώπησον, Ὅμηρε· Θεὸς οὐ μαίνεται. Σὺ δέ μοι καὶ μιαιφόνον καὶ βροτολοιγὸν
Be silent, Homer; God does not rage. Yet you recount the god to me as blood-stained and a bane of mortals
(Ἄρες, Ἄρες, βροτολοιγὲ, μιαιφόνε)
(Ares, Ares, bane of mortals, blood-stained)
ἐξηγῇ τὸν θεὸν, καὶ τὴν μοιχείαν αὐτοῦ διεξίῃς καὶ τὰ δεσμά·
and relate his adultery and his bonds:
Τὼ δ' ἐς δέμνια βάντε κατέδραθον· ἀμφὶ δὲ δεσμοὶ Τεχνήεντες ἔχυντο πολύφρονος Ἡφαίστοιο, Οὐδέ τι κινῆσαι μελέων ἦν.
And the two went into the bed and slept; and around them were poured the cunning bonds of wise Hephaestus, nor was it possible to move any of their limbs.
Οὐ καταβάλλουσι τὸν πολὺν τοῦτον ἀσεβῆ λῆρον
Do they not cast away all this impious nonsense
Editors' notes and page, col. 933

Page

  • running head: 933 LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS.
  • marginal letters: A γους τούτους νομίζειν·; B υἱὸν,; C Διὰ δὲ χρόα; D (73) Αἱρεῖ. Legitur
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: begins mid-word γους (from λό- in col 932); printer's turnover brackets [ρεῖ, [χος, [ἀνδρῶν, [μοὶ in hexameters joined
PG 6:934
Editors' notes and page, col. 934

Footnotes

(9?) ‹anchor: not visible; numeral not visible at the line's start› · call in col 934 Iliad. Δ, v. 23.

Iliad 4, line 23.

(printed under page 497)

(10) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 934

Iliad. Δ, v. 24.

Iliad 4, line 24.

(printed under page 497)

(11) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 934

Iliad. X, v. 168 et 169.

Iliad 22, lines 168 and 169.

(printed under page 497)

(12) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 934

Iliad. Π, v. 434 et 435.

Iliad 16, lines 434 and 435.

(printed under page 497)

(13) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 934

Ibid., v. 522.

Ibid., line 522.

(printed under page 497)

(14) ‹anchor: Διομήδης› · call in col 934

Iliad. E, v. 376.

Iliad 5, line 376.

(printed under page 497)

(15) ‹anchor: Ἄρηα› · call in col 934

Odyss. Θ, 307, 308.

Odyssey 8, 307, 308.

(printed under page 497)

(16) ‹anchor: ἔδαψεν› · call in col 934

Iliad. E, 858.

Iliad 5, 858.

(printed under page 497)

(17) ‹anchor: ἐγχέσπαλος› · call in col 934

Iliad. O, v. 605.

Iliad 15, line 605.

(printed under page 497)

(18) ‹anchor: μιαιφόνε› · call in col 934

Iliad. E, v. 31.

Iliad 5, line 31.

(printed under page 497)

(19) ‹anchor: ἦν› · call in col 934

Odyss. Θ, 308, 309.

Odyssey 8, 308, 309.

(printed under page 497)

(73) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 934

Αἱρεῖ. Legitur apud Homerum ᾕρει. Perperam conjecit H. Stephanus scripsisse Athenagoram αἴρῃ et inde factum αἱρεῖ.

Αἱρεῖ ("takes"). In Homer one reads ᾕρει. H. Stephanus wrongly conjectured that Athenagoras wrote αἴρῃ and that αἱρεῖ came from it.

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(74) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 934

Καὶ ἀνθρώπους. Deest conjunctio in uno ex Anglicanis. Mox editio Oxoniensis ὁ πατήρ.

Καὶ ἀνθρώπους ("and men"). The conjunction is missing in one of the English manuscripts. Shortly after, the Oxford edition has ὁ πατήρ.

(printed under page 497)

(75) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 934

Ὀδύρηται. Clarom. ὀδύρεται.

Ὀδύρηται ("laments"). The Clermont codex has ὀδύρεται.

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(76) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 934

Αἴ, αἴ. Legisse se ait Suffridus in antiquo codice ὤ μοι ἐγών, ut apud Homerum. Λέγων pro ἐγών ex incuria.

Αἴ, αἴ ("alas, alas"). Suffridus says he read ὤ μοι ἐγών in an old codex, as in Homer. Λέγων for ἐγών is a slip.

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(77) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 934

Ἀδυνατῇ. Sic pro ἀδυνατεῖ, emendavit Fronto Ducaeus qui duos codices mss. citat. Ita legendum monuerat Stephanus, atque ita legitur in Reg. 2. Sic etiam habuit prima manu Reg. 1. Retinuit ἀδυνατεῖ utraque editio Parisiensis.

Ἀδυνατῇ ("is unable"). So Fronto Ducaeus corrected it, for ἀδυνατεῖ, citing two manuscript codices. Stephanus had advised that it be read so, and so it is read in Regius 2. Regius 1 also had it so in the first hand. Both Paris editions kept ἀδυνατεῖ.

(printed under page 497)

(78) ‹anchor: μὴ τιτρωσκέσθωσαν› · call in col 934

Τιτρωσκέσθωσαν. Ita Reg. 2 prima manu et tres Anglicani. Editi τιτρωσκέσθω. Paulo post ante haec verba: Διὰ δὲ χρόα καλὸν ἔδαψεν, Gesnerus addendum putat Ἄρης ὑπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ. Sed fortasse Athenagoras, ut in re notissima, necesse esse non putavit admonere haec verba de Marte et Diomede dicta esse.

Τιτρωσκέσθωσαν ("let them be wounded"). So Regius 2 in the first hand and three English manuscripts. The printed editions have τιτρωσκέσθω. A little after, before the words Διὰ δὲ χρόα καλὸν ἔδαψεν, Gesner thinks Ἄρης ὑπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ should be added. But perhaps Athenagoras, the matter being very well known, did not think it necessary to point out that these words were said of Mars and Diomedes.

(printed under page 497)

(79) ‹anchor: αὐτοῦ διεξίῃς› · call in col 934

Διεξίῃς. Uterque Regius, duo Romani codices cum Claromontano et tribus Anglicanis habent διέξῃ. In nonnullis tamen non exstat ι subscriptum. Codex Suffridi διήξεις.

Διεξίῃς ("you recount"). Both Regii, two Roman codices, with the Clermont codex and three English manuscripts, have διέξῃ. In some, however, the iota subscript does not appear. Suffridus's codex has διήξεις.

(printed under page 497)

(80) ‹anchor: Τεχνήεντες ἔχυντο› · call in col 934

Ἔχυντο. Deest in tribus Anglicanis.

Ἔχυντο ("were poured around"). It is missing in three English manuscripts.

(printed under page 497)

(81) ‹anchor: ἀσεβῆ λῆρον› · call in col 934

Λῆρον. Iidem codices λῆρον τὸν ἀσεβῆ. Legendum videtur οὐ καταβαλοῦσι; sic paulo ante σιώπησον, Ὅμηρε.

Λῆρον ("nonsense"). The same codices have λῆρον τὸν ἀσεβῆ. It seems one should read οὐ καταβαλοῦσι; so, a little before, σιώπησον, Ὅμηρε.

(printed under page 497)

Page

  • running head: LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS. 934
  • marginal letters: A oratio nugarum opinionem; B numque deumque lugeat; C Semper dehonestat, amat; D et tres Anglicani.
  • old-edition numerals: 297 before Hei
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:935
Editors' notes and page, col. 935

Footnotes

(20) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 935

Iliad. B, 820, 821.

Iliad 2, 820, 821.

(printed under page 498)

(21) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 935

Iliad. Ξ, 315.

Iliad 14, 315.

(21') ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 935 Alcestis, v. 1, 2.

Alcestis, lines 1, 2.

(21'') ‹anchor: σῴζον οἶκον› · call in col 935 Alcestis, v. 8, 9.

Alcestis, lines 8, 9.

(printed under page 498)

(82) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 935

Ἦ γὰρ θεοί. Editi ἢ γὰρ θεοὶ καὶ οὐχ ἅψεται. Codex Suffridi εἰ γὰρ θεοί, quae quidem illi scriptura probatur, nec non Gesnero. Codex Claromontanus ἢ γὰρ θεοί; ἅψεται, etc., legendo cum interrogationis nota, quam quidem miror in hac tota verborum complexione editori Oxoniensi displicere.

Ἦ γὰρ θεοί ("are they then gods?"). The printed editions have ἢ γὰρ θεοὶ καὶ οὐχ ἅψεται. Suffridus's codex has εἰ γὰρ θεοί, a reading he approves, as does Gesner. The Clermont codex has ἢ γὰρ θεοί; ἅψεται, etc., reading it with a question mark, which I am surprised the Oxford editor dislikes in this whole sequence of words.

(printed under page 498)

(83) ‹anchor: ἐβουφόρβουν ξένῳ› · call in col 935

Ξένῳ. Legitur ξένων in Regio primo et sex aliis. Ibidem monet Oxoniensis editor legi δὴ γαῖαν in Alcest. Euripidis, ubi haec leguntur.

Ξένῳ ("for a host"). Ξένων is read in Regius 1 and six others. In the same place the Oxford editor notes that δὴ γαῖαν is read in Euripides' Alcestis, where these words occur.

(printed under page 498)

(84) ‹anchor: Κἀγὼ τὸ› · call in col 935

Κἀγὼ τό. Sic apud Eusebium Praep. l. XIII, cap. 3. Sic etiam legendum censuit Gesnerus. Editi κἀγώ τι. Tres Anglicani cum codice Suffridi κἀγώ τοι. Ibidem Reg. 2, et duo Anglicani habent Φοῖβον.

Κἀγὼ τό ("and I [thought] the"). So in Eusebius, Praeparatio, book XIII, ch. 3; Gesner also judged it should be read so. The printed editions have κἀγώ τι; three English manuscripts with Suffridus's codex have κἀγώ τοι. In the same place Regius 2 and two English manuscripts have Φοῖβον.

(printed under page 498)

(85) ‹anchor: τέγγει κρούνωμα› · call in col 935

Δακρύοις τέγγει κρούνωμα. Sic restituit H. Stephanus, cum antea legeretur, ut in plerisque mss. δακρυόεις τ' ἐπικούρου νομῷ.

Δακρύοις τέγγει κρούνωμα ("moistens the spring with tears"). So H. Stephanus restored it, whereas before it was read, as in most manuscripts, δακρυόεις τ' ἐπικούρου νομῷ.

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(86) ‹anchor: ἡ γῆ› · call in col 935

Ἥρα δὲ ἡ γῆ. Plutarchus in libro De placit. philosoph. sententiam Empedoclis aliter ac Athenagoras explanat, ac Junonem interpretatur aerem, Plutonem terram. Sed quia Juno saepe alias ab antiquis terra dicitur, frustra immutetur Athenagorae contextus, ut mutandum opinatus est Langus.

Ἥρα δὲ ἡ γῆ ("and Hera the earth"). Plutarch, in the book On the Opinions of the Philosophers, explains Empedocles' view otherwise than Athenagoras does, and takes Juno as air and Pluto as earth. But since Juno is often elsewhere called earth by the ancients, Athenagoras's text would be changed to no purpose, as Langus thought it should be changed.

(printed under page 498)

Page

  • running head: 935 ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI
  • marginal letters: A jicient? Cœlus castratur,; B Neque quando Phœnicis; C Ego esse credebam,; D nec Pluto: ex
  • old-edition numerals: 298 before Genitus
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:936
περὶ τῶν θεῶν; Οὐρανὸς ἐκτέμνεται, δεῖται καὶ καταταρταροῦται Κρόνος, ἐπανίστανται Τιτᾶνες, Στὺξ ἀποθνήσκει κατὰ τὴν μάχην. Ἤδη καὶ θνητοὺς αὐτοὺς δεικνύουσιν· ἐρῶσιν ἀλλήλων, ἐρῶσιν ἀνθρώπων·
concerning the gods? Uranus is castrated, Cronus is bound and cast down into Tartarus, the Titans rise up in revolt, Styx dies in the battle. Already they even show them to be mortal; they love one another, they love human beings:
Αἰνείας, τὸν ὑπ' Ἀγχίσῃ τέκε δῖ' Ἀφροδίτη Ἴδης ἐν κνημοῖσι, θεὰ βροτῷ εὐνηθεῖσα.
Aeneas, whom bright Aphrodite bore under Anchises in the spurs of Ida, a goddess bedded with a mortal.
Οὐκ ἐρῶσιν; οὐ πάσχουσιν; ᾘ γὰρ θεοὶ, ἅψεται αὐτῶν ἐπιθυμία; Κἂν σάρκα θεὸς κατὰ θείαν οἰκονομίαν λάβῃ, ἤδη δοῦλός ἐστιν ἐπιθυμίας;
Do they not love? Do they not suffer passion? For inasmuch as they are gods, will desire touch them? Even if a god should assume flesh according to a divine dispensation, is he thereby a slave of desire?
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' ὅτε περ Λητοῦς ἐρικυδέος, οὐδέ σευ αὐτῆς.
For never yet did love of goddess or of woman, poured round about the heart within my breast, so subdue me: neither when I loved the Ixionian wife, nor when I loved fair-ankled Danae, daughter of Acrisius, nor the daughter of far-famed Phoenix, nor Semele, nor Alcmena in Thebes, nor Demeter the fair-haired queen, nor glorious Leto, nor yourself.
Γενητός ἐστι, φθαρτός ἐστιν, οὐδὲν ἔχων Θεοῦ. Ἀλλὰ καὶ θητεύουσιν ἀνθρώποις·
He is begotten, he is perishable, having nothing of God. Moreover, they even serve men for hire:
Ὦ δώματ' Ἀδμήτει', ἐν οἷς ἔτλην ἐγὼ Θῆσσαν τράπεζαν αἰνέσαι, θεός περ ὤν.
O halls of Admetus, in which I endured to be content with a menial table, though being a god.
καὶ βουκολοῦσιν·
And they tend cattle:
Ἐλθὼν δ' ἐς αἶαν τήνδ' ἐβουφόρβουν ξένῳ, Καὶ τόνδ' ἔσωζον οἶκον.
And having come to this land I tended cattle for my host, and preserved this house.
Οὐκοῦν κρείττων Ἄδμητος τοῦ θεοῦ. Ὦ μάντι καὶ σοφὲ, καὶ προειδὼς τοῖς ἄλλοις τὰ ἐσόμενα, οὐκ ἐμαντεύσω τοῦ ἐρωμένου τὸν φόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔκτεινας αὐτοχειρὶ τὸν φίλον.
Therefore Admetus is superior to the god. O prophet and wise one, who foreknow for others the things that shall be, you did not prophesy the murder of your beloved, but even slew your friend with your own hand.
Κἀγὼ τὸ Φοίβου θεῖον ἀψευδὲς στόμα Ἤλπιζον εἶναι, μαντικῇ βρύον τέχνῃ.
And I hoped that the divine mouth of Phoebus was unerring, abounding in prophetic art.
(Ὡς ψευδόμαντιν κακίζει τὸν Ἀπόλλω ὁ Αἰσχύλος)
(Thus Aeschylus reproaches Apollo as a false prophet:)
Ὅδ' αὐτὸς ὑμνῶν, αὐτὸς ἐν θοίνῃ παρὼν, Αὐτὸς τάδ' εἰπὼν, αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ κτανὼν Τὸν παῖδα τὸν ἐμόν.
He himself who sang the hymn, himself who was present at the feast, himself who spoke these things, he himself is the one who slew my child.
22. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἴσως πλάνη ποιητικὴ, φυσικὸς δέ τις ἐπ' αὐτοῖς καὶ τοιοῦτος λόγος,
22. But these things perhaps are poetic error, while there is also some such physical explanation for them as this:
Ζεὺς ἀργὴς (ὥς φησιν Ἐμπεδοκλῆς) Ἥρη τε φερέσβιος, ἠδ' Ἀϊδωνεὺς, Νῆστίς θ' ἣ δακρύοις τέγγει κρούνωμα βρότειον.
Bright Zeus (as Empedocles says) and life-bringing Hera, and Aidoneus, and Nestis who moistens with tears the mortal spring.
Εἰ τοίνυν Ζεὺς μὲν τὸ πῦρ, Ἥρα δὲ ἡ γῆ, καὶ ὁ ἀὴρ Ἀϊδωνεὺς, καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ Νῆστις, στοιχεῖα δὲ ταῦτα, τὸ πῦρ, τὸ ὕδωρ, ὁ ἀήρ· οὐδεὶς αὐτῶν θεὸς, οὔτε Ζεὺς, οὔτε Ἥρα, οὔτε Ἀϊδωνεύς· ἀπὸ γὰρ τῆς ὕλης διακριθείσης ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡ τούτων σύστασίς τε καὶ γένεσις.
If therefore Zeus is fire, and Hera is earth, and Aidoneus is air, and Nestis is water, and these—fire, water, air—are elements, none of them is a god, neither Zeus, nor Hera, nor Aidoneus; for from matter separated out by God is both their constitution and generation.
Editors' notes and page, col. 936

Page

  • running head: ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI 936
  • marginal letters: A περὶ τῶν θεῶν;; B Οὐδ' ὅτε Φοίνικος; C Κἀγὼ τὸ Φοίβου; D οὔτε Ζεὺς, οὔτε
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: printer's turnover brackets [ρέσβιος, ἠδ' Ἀϊδωνεὺς, and [τειον. in hexameters joined
PG 6:937
Πῦρ, καὶ ὕδωρ, καὶ γαῖα, καὶ ἠέρος ἤπιον ὕψος, Καὶ φιλίη μετὰ τοῖσιν.
Fire, and water, and earth, and the gentle height of air, and Love among them.
Ἃ χωρὶς τῆς φιλίας οὐ δύναται μένειν, ὑπὸ τοῦ νείκους συγχεόμενα. Πῶς ἂν οὖν εἴποι τις ταῦτα εἶναι θεούς; Ἀρχικὸν ἡ φιλία, κατὰ τὸν Ἐμπεδοκλέα· ἀρχόμενα τὰ συγκρίματα· τὸ δὲ ἀρχικὸν, κύριον. Ὡς ἐὰν μίαν καὶ τὴν τοῦ τε ἀρχομένου καὶ τοῦ ἄρχοντος δύναμιν θῶμεν, λήσομεν ἑαυτοὺς ἰσότιμον τὴν ὕλην τὴν φθαρτὴν καὶ ῥευστὴν καὶ μεταβλητὴν τῷ ἀγεννήτῳ καὶ ἀϊδίῳ καὶ διαπαντὸς συμφώνῳ ποιοῦντες Θεῷ. Ζεὺς ἡ ζέουσα οὐσία κατὰ τοὺς Στωϊκούς· Ἥρα ὁ ἀὴρ, καὶ τοῦ ὀνόματος, εἰ αὐτὸ αὐτῷ ἐπισυνάπτοιτο, συνεκφωνουμένου· Ποσειδῶν, ἡ πόσις. Ἄλλοι δὲ ἄλλως φυσιολογοῦσιν· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀέρα διφυῆ, ἀρσενόθηλυν τὸν Δία λέγουσιν· οἱ δὲ καιρὸν εἰς εὐκρασίαν τρέποντα τὸν χρόνον· διὸ καὶ μόνος Κρόνον διέφυγεν. Ἀλλ' ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς Στοᾶς ἔστιν εἰπεῖν· Εἰ ἕνα τὸν ἀνωτάτω Θεὸν ἀΐδιόν τε καὶ ἀγέννητον νομίζετε, συγκρίματα δὲ ἴσα ἡ τῆς ὕλης ἀλλαγὴ, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ διὰ τῆς ὕλης κεχωρηκὸς κατὰ τὰς παραλλάξεις αὐτῆς, ἄλλο καὶ ἄλλο ὄνομα μεταλαγχάνειν φατέ· σῶμα μὲν τὰ εἴδη τῆς ὕλης τοῦ Θεοῦ γενήσεται, φθειρομένων δὲ τῶν στοιχείων κατὰ τὴν ἐκπύρωσιν, ἀνάγκη συμφθαρῆναι ὁμοῦ τοῖς εἴδεσι τὰ ὀνόματα, μόνου μένοντος τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ὧν οὖν σωμάτων φθαρτὴ ἡ κατὰ τὴν ὕλην παραλλαγὴ, τίς ἂν ταῦτα πιστεύσαι θεούς; Πρὸς δὲ τοὺς λέγοντας τὸν μὲν Κρόνον χρόνον, τὴν δὲ Ῥέαν γῆν· τὴν μὲν συλλαμβάνουσαν ἐκ τοῦ Κρόνου καὶ ἀποτίκτουσαν (ἔνθεν καὶ μήτηρ νομίζεται πάντων), τὸν δὲ γεννῶντα καὶ καταναλίσκοντα· καὶ εἶναι τὴν μὲν τομὴν τῶν ἀναγκαίων ὁμιλίαν τοῦ ἄῤῥενος πρὸς τὸ θῆλυ, τέμνουσαν καὶ καταβάλλουσαν σπέρμα εἰς μήτραν, καὶ γεννῶσαν ἄνθρωπον, ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν, ὅ ἐστιν Ἀφροδίτη, ἔχοντα· τὴν δὲ μανίαν τοῦ Κρόνου τροπὴν καιροῦ φθείρουσαν ἔμψυχα καὶ ἄψυχα· τὰ δὲ δεσμὰ καὶ τὸν τάρταρον χρόνον ὑπὸ καιρῶν τρεπόμενον καὶ ἀφανῆ γινόμενον· πρὸς τοίνυν τούτους φαμέν· Εἴτε χρόνος ἐστὶν ὁ Κρόνος, μεταβάλλει· εἴτε καιρὸς, τρέπεται· εἴτε σκότος, ἢ πάγος, ἢ οὐσία ὑγρὰ, οὐδὲν αὐτῶν μένει· τὸ δὲ Θεῖον καὶ ἀθάνατον καὶ ἀκίνητον καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον. Οὔτε ἄρα ὁ Κρόνος, οὔτε τὸ ἐπ' αὐτῷ εἴδωλον θεός. Περὶ δὲ τοῦ Διὸς, εἰ μὲν ἀήρ ἐστι γεγονὼς ἐκ Κρόνου, οὗ τὸ μὲν ἄρσεν
Which things cannot remain without Love, being confounded by Strife. How then could anyone say that these are gods? Love is the ruling principle, according to Empedocles; the compounds are the things ruled; and the ruling principle is sovereign. So that if we posit one and the same power both for that which is ruled and for that which rules, we shall unawares be making perishable and fluid and changeable matter equal in honour to the unbegotten and eternal and ever self-consistent God. Zeus is the boiling substance according to the Stoics; Hera is the air (ἀήρ), the name itself also sounding thus if it is joined to itself; Poseidon is drink (πόσις). And others give other physical explanations; for some say that Zeus is two-natured air, male-female; while others say that he is the season that turns time to a mild temperature, wherefore also he alone escaped Cronus. But in the case of those of the Stoa one may say: If you consider the supreme God to be one, both eternal and unbegotten, and say that the compounds are equal in number to the change of matter, and that the spirit of God having pervaded matter receives one name after another according to its variations, then the forms of matter will become the body of God, and when the elements are destroyed in the conflagration, the names must of necessity be destroyed together with the forms, the spirit of God alone remaining. Who then would believe those bodies to be gods whose variation according to matter is perishable? And in reply to those who say that Cronus is time (χρόνος), and Rhea earth—she conceiving from Cronus and bringing forth (whence she is also considered the mother of all), and he begetting and consuming; and that the cutting off of the privy parts is the intercourse of the male with the female, cutting off and casting seed into the womb, and begetting a human being, who has within himself desire, which is Aphrodite; and that the madness of Cronus is the change of season destroying animate and inanimate things; and that the bonds and Tartarus are time changed by the seasons and disappearing—to these, then, we say: Whether Cronus is time, he changes; or whether he is season, he turns; or whether he is darkness, or frost, or moist substance, none of them remains; whereas the Divine is both immortal and immovable and unchangeable. Neither Cronus, therefore, nor the image made for him is a god. And concerning Zeus, if on the one hand he is air born from Cronus, of which the male part is
Editors' notes and page, col. 937

Page

  • running head: 937 LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS.
  • marginal letters: A Πῦρ, καὶ ὕδωρ,; B οἱ δὲ καιρὸν; C καὶ μήτηρ νομίζεται; D (87) Καὶ φιλίη.
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: (none)
PG 6:938
Editors' notes and page, col. 938

Footnotes

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Καὶ φιλίη. Ante haec verba alius apud Sextum philosophum versus legitur, quem H. Stephanus apud Athenagoram omissum fuisse existimat, is nempe: Νεῖκός τ' οὐλόμενον δίχα τῶν ἀτάλαντον ἁπάντῃ. Ex quo nonnulli sex principia Empedocli attribuunt. Sed cum hoc loco Athenagoras sententiam Empedoclis ad duo principia revocet, nempe amicitiam quae imperat et ea quibus imperat amicitia, hic versus non incuria librariorum, sed consilio Athenagorae praetermissus.

Καὶ φιλίη ("and Love"). Before these words another verse is read in Sextus the philosopher, which H. Stephanus thinks was omitted in Athenagoras, namely: Νεῖκός τ' οὐλόμενον δίχα τῶν ἀτάλαντον ἁπάντῃ. From it some attribute six principles to Empedocles. But since in this place Athenagoras reduces Empedocles' view to two principles, namely the Love that rules and the things Love rules, this verse was left out not by the copyists' carelessness but by Athenagoras's design.

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Ἃ χωρὶς τῆς φιλίας, κ. τ. λ. Quamvis vitiosa non sit hujus loci interpunctio aut interpretatio, videtur tamen utraque melius se habitura, si hunc in modum immutetur: Ἃ χωρὶς φιλίας οὐ δύναται μένειν, ὑπὸ νείκους συγχεόμενα, πῶς ἂν οὖν εἴποι τις ταῦτα εἶναι θεούς; Quae sine amicitia permanere non possunt, discordia autem confunduntur, haec quomodo deos esse quisquam dixerit? — Ex Addendis et Emendandis.

Ἃ χωρὶς τῆς φιλίας, etc. ("things which without Love…"). Although the punctuation and translation of this passage are not faulty, both would seem better if changed in this way: Ἃ χωρὶς φιλίας οὐ δύναται μένειν, ὑπὸ νείκους συγχεόμενα, πῶς ἂν οὖν εἴποι τις ταῦτα εἶναι θεούς; "Things which cannot endure without Love, and are confounded by Strife — how could anyone say these are gods?" — From the Addenda and Corrigenda.

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Συγχεόμενα. Sic plerique codices mss. Editi χεόμενα.

Συγχεόμενα ("confounded"). So most manuscript codices. The printed editions have χεόμενα.

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Ὡς ἐάν. Legendum, ut Gesnerus et editor Oxoniensis monuere, ὥστε ἐάν.

Ὡς ἐάν ("as if"). One should read, as Gesner and the Oxford editor advised, ὥστε ἐάν.

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Ἐπισυνάπτοιτο. Edit. Oxon. ἐπισυνάπτοιο.

Ἐπισυνάπτοιτο ("were joined on"). The Oxford edition has ἐπισυνάπτοιο.

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Συνεκφωνουμένου. Conjiciunt nonnulli legendum συμφωνουμένου.

Συνεκφωνουμένου ("uttered together"). Some conjecture that συμφωνουμένου should be read.

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Τὸν Δία. Tres Anglicani τινὲς Δία. Clarom. τινὲς διαλέγουσιν.

Τὸν Δία ("Zeus"). Three English manuscripts have τινὲς Δία; the Clermont codex τινὲς διαλέγουσιν.

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Ἴσα. Gesnerus mallet ὅσα. Idem erit sensus, si legamus, ἴσα τῇ τῆς ὕλης ἀλλαγῇ. In duobus Anglic. et Clarom. 2, legitur ἡ τῆς ὕλης κεχωρηκός, caeteris omissis. Codex Eton. retinet vocem ἀλλαγή, caetera omittit.

Ἴσα ("equally"). Gesner would prefer ὅσα. The sense will be the same if we read ἴσα τῇ τῆς ὕλης ἀλλαγῇ. In two English manuscripts and Clermont 2 one reads ἡ τῆς ὕλης κεχωρηκός, the rest omitted. The Eton codex keeps the word ἀλλαγή and omits the rest.

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Αὐτῆς. Tres Angl. αὐτοῦ et paulo post φατέον μὲν ὄντος.

Αὐτῆς ("of it"). Three English manuscripts have αὐτοῦ, and a little after φατέον μὲν ὄντος.

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Νομίζεται πάντων. Sic plerique mss. Editi πάντων νομίζεται.

Νομίζεται πάντων ("is reckoned [mother] of all"). So most manuscripts. The printed editions have πάντων νομίζεται.

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Τὸ ἐπ' αὐτῷ εἴδωλον. His verbis non videtur (continues)

Τὸ ἐπ' αὐτῷ εἴδωλον ("the image made of him"). By these words it does not seem (continues)

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Page

  • running head: LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS. 938
  • marginal letters: A Ignis, aqua, et; B aerem biformem, masculo-feminam; C ad eos spectat,; D (89) Συγχεόμενα. Sic
  • old-edition numerals: 299 after mutationes
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:939
Editors' notes and page, col. 939

Footnotes

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(continued) designari simulacrum ex aere aut ligno factum, sed aliena species sub qua depingebatur Saturnus, sive ficta illa temporis imago, ad quam illius facta revocari solebant. Videtur hunc locum sic intellexisse Tertullianus, cujus verba eo libentius referam, quod et antiquis Athenagoras non plurimum cognitus fuit, et Tertulliano ejus vestigia prementi opem ac lucem afferre potest in explendis lacunis. Sic igitur Tertullianus lib. II ad Nat. cap. 12: Aut Saturnus fuit aut tempus. Quomodo Saturnus, si tempus? Aut si Saturnus, quomodo tempus? Utrumque enim non potes corporale in eo confirmare. Quid autem prohibuit tempus coli in sua qualitate, et non in specie hominis; aut fabulam hominis in sua specie, non in temporis qualitate? Quid sibi vult intellectio ista, nisi foedas materias mentitis argumentationibus colorare? Saturnum neque ideo qui... d..... tempus (neque adeo qui Deum dicis, das esse tempus), aut dum eum tempus facis, jam nec hominem vis fuisse.

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Τί δεῖ. Τί δέ Reg. 2, Clarom et 2 Angl. Addendum ὑμῖν post verbum existimat Gesnerus; sed ea vox facile suppletur.

Τί δεῖ ("what need"). Regius 2, the Clermont codex and two English manuscripts have Τί δέ. Gesner thinks ὑμῖν should be added after the verb; but that word is easily supplied.

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Τὴν φρόνησιν. Legendum ἣν φρόνησιν. Mox tres Anglic. τὴν φύσιν. Ibidem Reg. 2 et tres Anglic. καὶ περὶ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς pro ἢ ἃ περὶ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς. In Reg. 1, ἢ περὶ Ἀθηνᾶς et ἃ supra lineam.

Τὴν φρόνησιν ("wisdom"). One should read ἣν φρόνησιν. Shortly after, three English manuscripts have τὴν φύσιν. In the same place Regius 2 and three English manuscripts have καὶ περὶ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς for ἢ ἃ περὶ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς. In Regius 1, ἢ περὶ Ἀθηνᾶς, with ἃ above the line.

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Λέγουσιν. Ita tres Angl. et Clarom. cum Ducaeo et Oxon. Aliae editiones λέγοντες. Gesnerus bis legit πάντα.

Λέγουσιν ("they say"). So three English manuscripts and the Clermont codex, with Ducaeus and the Oxford edition. The other editions have λέγοντες. Gesner reads πάντα twice.

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Περὶ Πελώρου. Saepe librarii eamdem syllabam, eamdemque vocem bis scripsere imprudentes. Saepe etiam eorumdem incuria nonnullae voces e sua sede in aliam migrarunt. Utrumque vitium videtur huic corruptissimo loco accidisse. Crediderim enim scripsisse Athenagoram ἢ περὶ Ὥρου, unde factum a librariis, praepositione ob negligentiam repetita περὶ Πελώρου, atque has voces collocandas esse post καλεῖται. Si cui minus placeant hae conjecturae, legere poterit cum Suffrido μετ' Ὥρου pro περὶ Πελώρου. Notum est enim ex Plutarcho lib. De Iside, cap. 5, ut idem vir eruditus observat, Isidem, ubi didicit dispersa a Typhone membra Osiridis fuisse, Butim venisse, ubi educabatur Orus, quem probabile est a matre assumptum, ut Osiridis membra simul quaererent.

Περὶ Πελώρου ("about Pelorus"). Copyists often carelessly wrote the same syllable or the same word twice; often too through their carelessness some words wandered from their own place into another. Both faults seem to have befallen this very corrupt passage. For I should think Athenagoras wrote ἢ περὶ Ὥρου, from which the copyists, repeating the preposition through negligence, made περὶ Πελώρου, and that these words belong after καλεῖται. If these conjectures do not please someone, he may read with Suffridus μετ' Ὥρου for περὶ Πελώρου. For it is known from Plutarch, On Isis, ch. 5, as the same learned man observes, that Isis, when she learned that Osiris's limbs had been scattered by Typhon, came to Butus, where Orus was being brought up, whom it is probable his mother took with her so that they might seek Osiris's limbs together.

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(3) ‹anchor: τῷ λόγῳ› · call in col 939

Τῷ λόγῳ. Melius fortasse, ut conjicit Gesnerus, τοῦ λόγου.

Τῷ λόγῳ ("by reason"). Better perhaps, as Gesner conjectures, τοῦ λόγου.

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Καί τι γάρ. Legendum καίτοι γε, ut monuit Gesnerus. Ibidem Reg. uterque εἰ θεολογοῦσιν. Deest ἢ in Clarom. et tribus Anglicanis.

Καί τι γάρ. One should read καίτοι γε, as Gesner advised. In the same place both Regii have εἰ θεολογοῦσιν. Ἢ is missing in the Clermont codex and three English manuscripts.

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Βεβαιοῦσι. Tres Anglicani praemittunt οὐ. Sic etiam Reg. 2. Sed alia manu supra lineam. Ibidem Clarom. ἀπ' αὐτοῖς.

Βεβαιοῦσι ("they confirm"). Three English manuscripts put οὐ before it; so too Regius 2, but in another hand above the line. In the same place the Clermont codex has ἀπ' αὐτοῖς.

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(6) ‹anchor: ἡ πρὸς ταῦτα› · call in col 939

Ἡ πρὸς ταῦτα. Legit Gesnerus πρὸς ταύτας. Legendum videtur ἡ πρὸς ταύτας... ἢ γῆς.

Ἡ πρὸς ταῦτα ("the [union] with these"). Gesner reads πρὸς ταύτας. It seems one should read ἡ πρὸς ταύτας... ἢ γῆς.

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Ἀποπίπτοντες. Sic editiones Ducaei et Oxoniensis, et codices Clarom. et Suffridi et duo Anglicani et Reg. secundus alia manu. In aliis editis et mss. ἀποπίπτοντας.

Ἀποπίπτοντες ("falling short"). So the editions of Ducaeus and Oxford, and the codices of Clermont and Suffridus, two English manuscripts, and Regius 2 in another hand. In other printed editions and manuscripts, ἀποπίπτοντας.

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(8) ‹anchor: καὶ ὑπερκύψαι› · call in col 939

Ὑπερκύψαι. Sic editio Oxon. cum codicibus Reg. 2, Clarom. tribus Anglic. et Suffridi. Eodem verbo utitur Athenagoras infra n. 26. Aliae editiones ὑποκύψαι.

Ὑπερκύψαι ("to rise above"). So the Oxford edition, with the codices Regius 2, Clermont, three English manuscripts and Suffridus's. Athenagoras uses the same verb below, no. 26. The other editions have ὑποκύψαι.

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Συντετήκασιν. Sic uterque Regius codex, quibus favent alii codices. Legitur enim in uno ex Romanis συντετήκησαν, in alio συντετήκεισαν, in duobus Anglicanis συντεθείκασιν. Editi συνεστή- (continues)

Συντετήκασιν ("they have melted down"). So both Regius codices, and other codices support them: for in one of the Roman ones one reads συντετήκησαν, in another συντετήκεισαν, in two English manuscripts συντεθείκασιν. The printed editions have συνεστή- (continues)

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Page

  • running head: 939 ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI
  • marginal letters: A summum frigus, aut; B Osiride, quo occiso; C ropa et Taurus,; D Saturnum neque ideo
  • old-edition numerals: 300 after Semelen,
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:940
ὁ Ζεὺς, τὸ δὲ θῆλυ Ἥρα (διὸ καὶ ἀδελφὴ καὶ γυνή), ἀλλοιοῦται· εἰ δὲ καιρὸς, τρέπεται. Οὔτε δὲ μεταβάλλει, οὔτε μεταπίπτει τὸ Θεῖον. Τί δεῖ πλέον λέγοντα ἐνοχλεῖν, οἳ ἄμεινον τὰ παρ' ἑκάστοις τῶν πεφυσιολογηκότων οἴδατε; ἢ οἷα περὶ τῆς φύσεως ἐνόησαν οἱ συγγραψάμενοι· ἢ ἃ περὶ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς, τὴν φρόνησιν διὰ πάντων διήκουσάν φασιν· ἢ περὶ τῆς Ἴσιδος, ἣν φύσιν αἰῶνος, ἐξ ἧς πάντες ἔφυσαν, καὶ δι' ἧς πάντες εἰσὶ, λέγουσιν· ἢ περὶ τοῦ Ὀσίριδος, οὗ σφαγέντος ὑπὸ Τυφῶνος τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ περὶ Πελώρου τοῦ υἱοῦ, ἡ Ἶσις ζητοῦσα τὰ μέλη, καὶ εὑροῦσα ἤσκησεν εἰς ταφήν· ἡ ταφὴ ἕως νῦν Ὀσιριακὴ καλεῖται. Ἄνω γὰρ καὶ κάτω περὶ τὰ εἴδη τῆς ὕλης στρεφόμενοι, ἀποπίπτουσι τῷ λόγῳ θεωρητοῦ Θεοῦ· τὰ δὲ στοιχεῖα καὶ τὰ μόρια αὐτῶν θεοποιοῦσιν, ἄλλοτε ἄλλα ὀνόματα αὐτοῖς τιθέμενοι· τὴν μὲν τοῦ σίτου σπορὰν Ὄσιριν (ὅθεν, φασὶ, μυστικῶς ἐπὶ τῇ ἀνευρέσει τῶν μελῶν ἢ τῶν καρπῶν ἐπιλεχθῆναι τῇ Ἴσιδι· Εὑρήκαμεν, συγχαίρομεν)· τὸν δὲ τῆς ἀμπέλου καρπὸν Διόνυσον· καὶ Σεμέλην αὐτὴν τὴν ἄμπελον, καὶ κεραυνὸν τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου φλόγα. Καί τι γὰρ πάντα μᾶλλον ἢ θεολογοῦσιν οἱ τοὺς μύθους θεοποιοῦντες, οὐκ εἰδότες, ὅτι οἷς ἀπολογοῦνται ὑπὲρ τῶν θεῶν, τοὺς ἐπ' αὐτοῖς λόγους βεβαιοῦσι. Τί ἡ Εὐρώπη καὶ ὁ Ταῦρος καὶ ὁ Κύκνος καὶ ἡ Λήδα πρὸς γῆν καὶ ἀέρα, ἵν' ᾖ πρὸς ταῦτα μιαρὰ τοῦ Διὸς μίξις, ἡ γῆς καὶ ἀέρος; Ἀλλ' ἀποπίπτοντες τοῦ μεγέθους τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ὑπερκύψαι τῷ λόγῳ (οὐ γὰρ ἔχουσι συμπάθειαν εἰς τὸν οὐράνιον τόπον) οὐ δυνάμενοι, ἐπὶ τὰ εἴδη τῆς ὕλης συντετήκασιν, καὶ καταπίπτοντες, τὰς τῶν στοιχείων τροπὰς θεοποιοῦσιν· ὅμοιον εἰ καὶ ναῦν τις, ἐν ᾗ ἔπλευσεν, ἀντὶ
Zeus and the female part Hera (wherefore she is both sister and wife), he is altered; and if on the other hand he is season, he turns. Yet the Divine neither changes nor falls away. Why need I trouble you by saying more, who know better the views held by each of those who have discoursed on nature? Either what the writers have thought concerning nature; or what they say concerning Athena, whom they call prudence pervading all things; or concerning Isis, whom they call the nature of the age, from whom all grew and through whom all exist; or concerning Osiris, upon whose slaughter by his brother Typhon with Pelorus his son, Isis sought his limbs, and having found them decked them for burial; which burial is even until now called Osiriac. For turning up and down about the forms of matter, they fall away from the God Who is contemplated by reason; and they deify the elements and their parts, applying different names to them at different times: calling the sowing of wheat Osiris (whence, they say, at the finding of the limbs or of the fruits there is mystically addressed to Isis: We have found, we rejoice together), and the fruit of the vine Dionysus, and the vine itself Semele, and the flame of the sun the thunderbolt. For indeed those who make gods out of the myths do anything rather than theologize, not knowing that by the very arguments with which they make defence for the gods, they confirm the stories told about them. What have Europa and the Bull and the Swan and Leda to do with earth and air, that Zeus' abominable intercourse with them should be that of earth and air? But falling short of the greatness of God, and not being able to rise above by reason (for they have no sympathy towards the heavenly place), they pine away over the forms of matter, and falling down, deify the turnings of the elements; just as if someone should take the ship in which he sailed in place of
Editors' notes and page, col. 940

Page

  • running head: ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI 940
  • marginal letters: A ὁ Ζεὺς, τὸ; B ποιοῦσιν, ἄλλοτε ἄλλα; C καὶ καταπίπτοντες, τὰς; D Gesnerus. Ibidem Reg.
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: (none)
PG 6:941
τοῦ κυβερνήτου ἄγοι. Ὡς δὲ οὐδὲν πλέον νεὼς, κἂν ᾖ πᾶσιν ἠσκημένη, μὴ ἐχούσης τὸν κυβερνήτην· οὐδὲ τῶν στοιχείων ὄφελος διακεκοσμημένων, δίχα τῆς παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ προνοίας. Ἥ τε γὰρ ναῦς καθ' ἑαυτὴν οὐ πλευσεῖται, τά τε στοιχεῖα χωρὶς τοῦ δημιουργοῦ οὐ κινηθήσεται.
the pilot. Yet just as there is no advantage in a ship, even if it be equipped with all things, when it does not have the pilot, so neither is there any benefit in the elements, though arrayed in order, apart from the providence that comes from God. For neither will the ship sail of itself, nor will the elements be moved apart from the Creator.
23. Εἴποιτε ἂν οὖν συνέσει πάντας ὑπερέχοντες· Τίνι οὖν τῷ λόγῳ ἔνια τῶν εἰδώλων ἐνεργεῖ, εἰ μή εἰσι θεοὶ ἐφ' οἷς ἱδρυόμεθα τὰ ἀγάλματα; Οὐ γὰρ εἰκὸς τὰς ἀψύχους καὶ ἀκινήτους εἰκόνας καθ' ἑαυτὰς ἰσχύειν χωρὶς τοῦ κινοῦντος. Τὸ μὲν δὴ κατὰ τόπους καὶ πόλεις καὶ ἔθνη γίγνεσθαί τινας ἐπ' ὀνόματι εἰδώλων ἐνεργείας οὐδ' ἡμεῖς ἀντιλέγομεν· οὐ μὴν, εἰ ὠφελήθησάν τινες, καὶ αὖ ἐλυπήθησαν ἕτεροι, θεοὺς νομιοῦμεν τοὺς ἐφ' ἑκάτερα ἐνεργήσαντας. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ᾧ λόγῳ νομίζετε ἰσχύειν τὰ εἴδωλα, καὶ τίνες οἱ ἐνεργοῦντες, ἐπιβατεύοντες αὐτῶν τοῖς ὀνόμασιν, ἐπ' ἀκριβὲς ἐξητάκαμεν. Ἀναγκαῖον δέ μοι μέλλοντι δεικνύειν τίνες οἱ ἐπὶ τοῖς εἰδώλοις ἐνεργοῦντες, καὶ ὅτι μὴ θεοὶ, προσχρήσασθαί τισι καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ φιλοσοφίας μάρτυσι. Πρῶτος Θαλῆς διαιρεῖ (ὡς οἱ τὰ ἐκείνου διαιροῦντες, ἀκριβοῦντες μνημονεύουσιν) εἰς Θεὸν, εἰς δαίμονας, εἰς ἥρωας. Ἀλλὰ Θεὸν μὲν τὸν νοῦν τοῦ κόσμου ἄγει, δαίμονας δὲ οὐσίας νοεῖ ψυχικάς· καὶ ἥρωας τὰς κεχωρισμένας ψυχὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἀγαθοὺς μὲν τὰς ἀγαθὰς, κακοὺς δὲ τὰς φαύλας. Πλάτων δὲ τὰ ἄλλα ἐπέχων, καὶ αὐτὸς εἴς τε τὸν ἀγέννητον Θεὸν, καὶ τοὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀγεννήτου εἰς κόσμον τὸν οὐρανοῦ γεγονότας, τούς τε πλάνητας
23. You might say, then, as you surpass all men in understanding: By what reason, then, do some of the idols work effects, if those for whom we set up the statues are not gods? For it is not likely that inanimate and immovable images have power of themselves apart from one who moves them. Now that in various places and cities and nations certain workings take place in the name of idols, not even we deny; yet, if some have been benefited and others in turn harmed, we shall not consider those who have worked for either side to be gods. Moreover, we have also inquired accurately into the reason why you think the idols have power, and who those are that work in them, usurping their names. And as I am about to show who those are that work at the idols, and that they are not gods, it is necessary for me to make use also of some witnesses from philosophy. First Thales divides (as those who expound his doctrines accurately record) into God, into demons, into heroes. Yet he reckons God to be the mind of the world, and conceives demons to be psychical substances; and heroes to be the separated souls of men, good heroes being the good souls, and bad ones the base souls. And Plato, while withholding assent in other matters, himself also divides both into the unbegotten God and into those made by the Unbegotten for the adornment of heaven, both the planets—
Editors' notes and page, col. 941

Page

  • running head: 941 LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS.
  • marginal letters: A τοῦ κυβερνήτου ἄγοι.; B καὶ πόλεις καὶ; C λας. Πλάτων δὲ; D non absimiles hac
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: three full-width facing Latin lines (omnibus rebus instructa sit, ... opifice non movebuntur.) between sections 22 and 23, cut off at right edge, not set; ends mid-word πλά- (completed as πλάνητας in col 944)
  • other: the word πλάνητας was split at the column break and stands whole here (joined on receipt); check that the English reads whole across the break into col 944
PG 6:942
Editors' notes and page, col. 942

Footnotes

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(continued) κασι. Scriptura, quam in contextum recepimus, quaeque infra iterum occurrit n. 26, confirmatur his Theodoreti verbis, I adv. Graecos, p. 477: Μόνοις γὰρ τοῖς ὁρατοῖς συντετήκατε, καὶ τὰ χειρόκμητα ξόανα σέβοντες τὴν περὶ τῆς ἀοράτου φύσεως διδασκαλίαν οὐ δέχεσθε. Solis enim visibilibus rebus intabescitis et manufacta simulacra venerantes, doctrinam de invisibili natura non admittitis.

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Νομιοῦμεν. Clarom., tres Anglicani et Suffridi codex νοοῦμεν quod quidem Suffrido magis arridet. Tatianus n. 18, Justini auctoritate fretus effectus daemonum eo redigit, ut morbo, quem inflixerant, deleto, hominem pristinae valetudini restituant; non absimiles hac in re latronibus, qui quos ceperunt, pretio restituunt. Tertullianus Justinum et Tatianum imitatur, cum ait Apolog. cap. 22: Laedunt enim primo, dehinc remedia praecipiunt, ad miraculum nova, sive contraria, post quae desinunt laedere et curasse creduntur. Huc spectat quod Minucius Felix cap. 27, et S. Cyprianus De idol. van. dicunt, daemones remissis quae constrinxerant videri curasse. Lactantius l. II, c. 15: Prodesse enim eos putant, cum nocere desinunt, qui nihil possunt quam nocere. Eusebius lib. V Praep. evangel. daemones hominibus illudere existimat cum multis aliis artibus, tum curationibus corporum, quae postquam propria sua daemonum operatione laeserunt, rursus iidem, dum laedere desinunt, morbis solutos relinquunt. Θεραπείαις τε σωμάτων, ἃ διὰ τῆς οἰκείας αὐτῶν δαιμονικῆς ἐνεργείας ἀφανῶς αὐτοὶ λυμαινόμενοι, πάλιν οἱ αὐτοὶ διὰ τῆς ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀνέσεως ἐλευθέρους τῶν παθῶν ἠφίεσαν. Inter hos omnes scriptores convenit, morbos interdum immitti a daemonibus, neque ea res Scripturam reverentibus dubia esse possit; sed dum dicunt ea a daemonibus sanari quae laeserant, id de morbis per inanem speciem immissis et eodem modo sanatis intelligunt. Neque enim morbi, qui languorem afferrent et ea quae ad sensuum perfunctiones necessaria sunt, immutarent, solo daemonum discessu, et eorum, quae constrinxerant, remissione sanari dicerentur. Praeterea iidem scriptores, ut infra videbimus ad n. 27, totam rem inanibus visis et somniis magna ex parte perfici declarant. Dubitat Irenaeus an magi daemones a se immissos ejicere possint, nedum morbos, Deo permittente, inflictos sanare. Nec enim caecis possunt donare visum, neque surdis auditum, neque omnes daemones effugare, praeter eos qui ab ipsis immittuntur, si tamen et hoc faciunt, lib. II, c. 31, n. 2.

Νομιοῦμεν ("we shall reckon"). The Clermont codex, three English manuscripts and Suffridus's codex have νοοῦμεν, which indeed pleases Suffridus more. Tatian, no. 18, relying on Justin's authority, reduces the demons' doings to this: that once the disease they had inflicted is removed, they restore the man to his former health; not unlike robbers in this, who restore for a ransom those they have taken. Tertullian imitates Justin and Tatian when he says, Apology ch. 22: "For first they do harm, then they prescribe remedies, new to the point of wonder, or contrary ones, after which they stop harming and are believed to have cured." To this points what Minucius Felix, ch. 27, and St Cyprian, On the Vanity of Idols, say: that the demons, by releasing what they had bound, seem to have cured. Lactantius, book II, ch. 15: "For they think they do good when they stop doing harm, who can do nothing but harm." Eusebius, Praeparatio evangelica book V, holds that the demons delude men by many other arts and especially by cures of bodies, which, after harming them by their own demonic working, the same demons, when they stop harming, leave freed of their diseases: Θεραπείαις τε σωμάτων, ἃ διὰ τῆς οἰκείας αὐτῶν δαιμονικῆς ἐνεργείας ἀφανῶς αὐτοὶ λυμαινόμενοι, πάλιν οἱ αὐτοὶ διὰ τῆς ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀνέσεως ἐλευθέρους τῶν παθῶν ἠφίεσαν. All these writers agree that diseases are sometimes sent by demons, nor can the matter be doubtful to those who revere Scripture; but when they say that the demons heal what they had harmed, they mean diseases sent by an empty appearance and healed in the same way. For diseases that brought on weakness and altered what is necessary to the working of the senses would not be said to be healed merely by the demons' departure and the release of what they had bound. Moreover the same writers, as we shall see below at no. 27, declare that the whole thing is accomplished for the most part by empty visions and dreams. Irenaeus doubts whether magicians can cast out the demons they themselves sent, much less heal diseases inflicted by God's permission: "For they cannot give sight to the blind nor hearing to the deaf, nor put to flight all demons, except those sent by themselves, if indeed they do even this," book II, ch. 31, no. 2.

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Ἐξητάκαμεν. Gesnerus mallet ἐξετάσωμεν.

Ἐξητάκαμεν ("we have examined"). Gesner would prefer ἐξετάσωμεν.

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(12) ‹anchor: Θαλῆς διαιρεῖ› · call in col 942

Διαιρεῖ. Idem Gesnerus addi posse non incommode existimat τὸ Θεῖον, sed satis est illud subintelligere. In codice Suffridi post verbum διαιρεῖ addebatur οὐσίας τὰς λογικάς. Libentius assentior Gesnero verbum διαιροῦντες satis incommode ibidem occurrere, ac multo nitidiorem fore orationem, si expungeretur.

Διαιρεῖ ("divides"). The same Gesner thinks τὸ Θεῖον could be added without awkwardness, but it is enough to understand it. In Suffridus's codex οὐσίας τὰς λογικάς was added after the verb διαιρεῖ. I more readily agree with Gesner that the word διαιροῦντες occurs rather awkwardly in the same place, and that the sentence would be much neater if it were struck out.

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Τὰς φαύλας. Uterque Regius τὰς φαύλους. Duo Romani τοὺς φαύλους. Frustra Suffridus legendum putat τὰς κακάς, ut similia similibus respondeant.

Τὰς φαύλας ("the bad ones"). Both Regii have τὰς φαύλους; two Roman codices τοὺς φαύλους. Suffridus vainly thinks τὰς κακάς should be read, so that like may answer to like.

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Τὸν οὐρανοῦ. Unus ex Anglic. τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, quod Gesnero magis placet.

Τὸν οὐρανοῦ ("the [world] of heaven"). One of the English manuscripts has τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, which pleases Gesner more.

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Page

  • running head: LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS. 942
  • marginal letters: A coitus sit. Sed; B et immobiles statuas; C mundi mentem existimat;; D mittente, inflictos sanare.
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: facing Latin version, not set; three full-width Latin lines above section 23 cut off at left edge
PG 6:943
Editors' notes and page, col. 943

Footnotes

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Γέ που. Reg. 2 et tres Angl. γέ τοι. Legitur δέ που apud Platonem edit. Francofurt. in Timaeo unde haec desumpta.

Γέ που ("surely"). Regius 2 and three English manuscripts have γέ τοι. In Plato, Frankfurt edition, in the Timaeus, from which these words are taken, δέ που is read.

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Εἰδόσιν. Legitur εἰδότων in octo codicibus mss., nempe utroque Reg., utroque Rom. Orat., et tribus Angl. Sic etiam habet Clemens Alexandrinus Strom. V, p. 589, qui quidem hunc Platonis locum ad prophetas nostros violenter detorquet.

Εἰδόσιν ("[to them] knowing"). Εἰδότων is read in eight manuscript codices, namely both Regii, both Roman codices of the Oratory, and three English manuscripts. So too Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis V, p. 589, who indeed forcibly twists this passage of Plato to our prophets.

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Λέγωσιν. Legitur λέγουσιν apud Platonem.

Λέγωσιν ("they may say"). Λέγουσιν is read in Plato.

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Περὶ αὐτῶν θεῶν. Gesnerus scribi vult καὶ περὶ τούτων τῶν θεῶν, quomodo scriptum in ms. et excuso Platonis codice, quo usus est Suffridus. At in Bodl. et Eton. et in edit. Platonis Francofurt. legitur περὶ τούτων τῶν θεῶν. DECHAIR.

Περὶ αὐτῶν θεῶν ("about the gods themselves"). Gesner wants καὶ περὶ τούτων τῶν θεῶν written, as it stands in the manuscript and printed copy of Plato that Suffridus used. But in the Bodleian and Eton manuscripts and in the Frankfurt edition of Plato περὶ τούτων τῶν θεῶν is read. DECHAIR.

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Ἐγεννήθησαν. Legitur ἐγενήθην apud Platonem.

Ἐγεννήθησαν ("they were begotten"). Ἐγενήθην is read in Plato.

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Φόρκυς. Codices nonnulli Φόρκος et sic edit. Oxon. Ibidem apud Plat. Φόρκυς τε καὶ Κρόνος καὶ Ῥέα.

Φόρκυς ("Phorcys"). Some codices have Φόρκος, and so the Oxford edition. In the same place Plato has Φόρκυς τε καὶ Κρόνος καὶ Ῥέα.

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Τούτων. Plat. τοὺς τούτων.

Τούτων ("of these"). Plato has τοὺς τούτων.

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Θεόν. Reg. 2 Θεῖον. Tres codices Anglicani λαμβανόμενον.

Θεόν ("God"). Regius 2 has Θεῖον. Three English codices have λαμβανόμενον.

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Ἐξειπεῖν. Legendum ἐξειπών, ut monuit Gesnerus. Ibidem frustra Suffridus legendum putat τὸ ἀϊδίως ὂν pro τὸ ὄντως ὄν, quamvis ita invenerit in suo codice ms.

Ἐξειπεῖν ("to declare"). One should read ἐξειπών, as Gesner advised. In the same place Suffridus vainly thinks τὸ ἀϊδίως ὂν should be read for τὸ ὄντως ὄν, although he found it so in his manuscript codex.

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Ἀποχεόμενον. Reg. 2 et duo Angl. ἐπιχεόμενον.

Ἀποχεόμενον ("poured out"). Regius 2 and two English manuscripts have ἐπιχεόμενον.

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(25) ‹anchor: θεοὺς δυναμένους› · call in col 943

Δυναμένους. Legendum δυνάμενος Suffridus et Gesnerus monuerunt.

Δυναμένους ("being able"). Suffridus and Gesner advised that δυνάμενος should be read.

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Αὐτῷ. Reg. 2 τούτῳ.

Αὐτῷ ("by him"). Regius 2 has τούτῳ.

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Ἑτέρῳ. Gesnerus putat addendum esse γάρ. Idem erit sensus si legamus ὃς ἑτέρῳ.

Ἑτέρῳ ("by another"). Gesner thinks γάρ should be added. The sense will be the same if we read ὃς ἑτέρῳ.

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Page

  • running head: 943 ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI
  • marginal letters: A tem qui cætera; B Saturno autem et; C gnant et gignantur; D alio nomine appellare
  • old-edition numerals: 301 after facta
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:944
καὶ τοὺς ἀπλανεῖς ἀστέρας, καὶ εἰς δαίμονας τέμνει. Περὶ ὧν δαιμόνων αὐτὸς ἀπαξιῶν λέγειν, τοῖς περὶ αὐτῶν εἰρηκόσιν προσέχειν ἀξιοῖ. Περὶ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων δαιμόνων εἰπεῖν, καὶ γνῶναι τὴν γένεσιν, μεῖζον ἢ καθ' ἡμᾶς. Πειστέον δὲ τοῖς εἰρηκόσιν ἔμπροσθεν, ἐγγόνοις μὲν θεῶν οὖσιν, ὡς ἔφασαν, σαφῶς γέ που τοὺς ἑαυτῶν προγόνους εἰδόσιν. Ἀδύνατον οὖν θεῶν παισὶν ἀπιστεῖν, κἄνπερ ἄνευ εἰκότων καὶ ἀναγκαίων ἀποδείξεων λέγωσιν· ἀλλὰ, ὡς οἰκεῖα φασκόντων ἀπαγγέλλειν, ἑπομένους τῷ νόμῳ πιστευτέον. Οὕτως οὖν κατ' ἐκείνους καὶ ἡμῖν ἡ γένεσις περὶ αὐτῶν τῶν θεῶν ἐχέτω καὶ λεγέσθω. Γῆς τε καὶ Οὐρανοῦ παῖδες Ωκεανός τε καὶ Τηθὺς ἐγεννήθησαν· τούτων δὲ, Φόρκυς, Κρόνος τε καὶ Ῥέα, καὶ ὅσοι μετὰ τούτων· ἐκ δὲ Κρόνου τε καὶ Ῥέας Ζεὺς, Ἥρα τε, καὶ πάντες, οὓς ἴσμεν πάντας ἀδελφοὺς λεγομένους αὐτῶν· ἔτι τε τούτων ἄλλους ἐκγόνους. Ἆρ' οὖν ὁ τὸν ἀΐδιον νοῦν καὶ λόγῳ καταλαμβανόμενον περινοήσας Θεὸν, καὶ τὰ ἐπισυμβεβηκότα αὐτῷ ἐξειπεῖν, τὸ ὄντως ὂν, τὸ μονοφυὲς, τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ἀποχεόμενον, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἀλήθεια· καὶ περὶ πρώτης δυνάμεως· καὶ ὡς περὶ τὸν πάντων Βασιλέα πάντα ἐστὶ, καὶ ἐκείνου ἕνεκεν πάντα, καὶ ἐκεῖνο αἴτιον πάντων· καὶ περὶ δύο καὶ τρία, δεύτερον δὲ περὶ τὰ δεύτερα, καὶ τρίτον περὶ τὰ τρίτα· περὶ τῶν ἐκ τῶν αἰσθητῶν γῆς τε καὶ οὐρανοῦ λεγομένων γεγονέναι, μεῖζον ἢ καθ' ἑαυτὸν τἀληθὲς μαθεῖν ἐνόμισεν; Ἢ οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν; ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ ἀδύνατον γεννᾷν καὶ ἀποκυΐσκεσθαι θεοὺς ἐνόμισεν, ἑπομένων τοῖς γιγνομένοις τελῶν, καὶ τὸ τούτου ἀδυνατώτερον, μεταπεῖσαι τοὺς πολλοὺς ἀβασανίστως τοὺς μύθους παραδεχομένους· διὰ ταῦτα μεῖζον ἢ καθ' ἑαυτὸν γνῶναι καὶ εἰπεῖν ἔφη περὶ τῆς τῶν ἄλλων δαιμόνων γενέσεως, οὔτε μαθεῖν, οὔτε ἐξειπεῖν γεννᾶσθαι θεοὺς δυναμένους. Καὶ τὸ εἰρημένον αὐτῷ, Ὁ δὴ μέγας ἡγεμὼν ἐν οὐρανῷ Ζεὺς, ἐλαύνων πτηνὸν ἅρμα, πρῶτος πορεύεται διακοσμῶν πάντα καὶ ἐπιμελούμενος· τῷ δὲ ἕπεται στρατιὰ θεῶν τε καὶ δαιμόνων, οὐκ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀπὸ Κρόνου λεγομένου ἔχει Διός. Ἔστι γὰρ ἐν τούτῳ ὄνομα τῷ ποιητῇ τῶν ὅλων· δηλοῖ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Πλάτων, ἑτέρῳ σημαντικῷ προσειπεῖν αὐτὸν οὐκ ἔχων, τῷ δημώδει ὀνόματι, οὐχ ὡς ἰδίῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλ' εἰς σαφήνειαν, ὅτι μὴ δυνατὸν
—and the fixed stars, and into demons. Concerning which demons, declining to speak himself, he thinks it right to give heed to those who have spoken about them: To speak concerning the other demons and to know their generation is beyond us; but one must believe those who have spoken before, since they were offspring of gods, as they said, and knew their own ancestors clearly enough. It is impossible, then, to disbelieve the children of gods, even though they speak without probable and necessary demonstrations; rather, since they profess to report family matters, we must follow the law and believe them. Thus, then, according to them let the generation concerning these gods be held and stated by us also. Of Earth and Heaven were born as children Oceanus and Tethys; and of these, Phorcys, Cronus and Rhea, and all who were with them; and from Cronus and Rhea, Zeus and Hera and all whom we know to be called their brethren, and besides these others, their offspring. Did he, then, who had comprehended the eternal Mind and the God apprehended by reason, and who had set forth the attributes belonging to Him—that which truly is, the single in nature, the good pouring forth from Him, which is truth—and who had spoken concerning the first power, and how around the King of all are all things, and for His sake are all things, and He is the cause of all things, and concerning two and three, the second around the second things, and the third around the third things: did he consider it beyond himself to learn the truth concerning those who are said to have come into being from the sensible earth and heaven? Surely that cannot be said! Rather, because he considered it impossible for gods to beget and to be brought forth, since an end follows upon things that come into being, and what is still more impossible than this, to persuade the multitude who uncritically accept the myths to change their minds, for this reason he declared it beyond himself to know and to speak concerning the generation of the other demons, as being able neither to learn nor to declare that gods are begotten. And what was said by him—Now the great leader in heaven, Zeus, driving a winged chariot, goes first, ordering all things and caring for them; and him follows a host of gods and demons—does not refer to the Zeus who is said to be from Cronus. For here the name is applied to the Maker of the universe; and Plato himself makes this clear: not having another significant title by which to address Him, he used the popular name, not as proper to God, but for clearness, because it is not possible
Editors' notes and page, col. 944

Page

  • running head: ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI 944
  • marginal letters: A νητας καὶ τοὺς; B Ῥέα, καὶ ὅσοι; C καὶ ἀποκυΐσκεσθαι θεοὺς; D ὡς ἰδίῳ τοῦ
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: begins mid-word νητας (from πλά- in col 941)
PG 6:945
εἰς πάντας φέρειν κατὰ δύναμιν τὸν Θεὸν, προσεχρήσατο, ἐπικατηγορήσας τὸ μέγας, ἵνα διαστείλῃ τὸν οὐράνιον ἀπὸ τοῦ χαμᾶθεν, τὸν ἀγέννητον ἀπὸ τοῦ γεννητοῦ, τοῦ νεωτέρου μὲν οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς, νεωτέρου δὲ Κρητῶν, οἳ ἐξέκλεψαν αὐτὸν, μὴ ἀναιρεθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός.
to carry God to all men according to His power, and he added the predicate great so as to distinguish the heavenly from the earthly, the unbegotten from the begotten, who is younger than heaven and earth, and younger than the Cretans who stole him away so that he might not be destroyed by his father.
24. Τί δαὶ δεῖ, πρὸς ὑμᾶς πάντα λόγον κεκινηκότας, ἢ ποιητῶν μνημονεύειν, ἢ καὶ ἑτέρας δόξας ἐξετάζειν; τοσοῦτον εἰπεῖν ἔχοντι· Εἰ καὶ μὴ ποιηταὶ καὶ φιλόσοφοι ἕνα μὲν εἶναι ἐπεγίνωσκον Θεὸν, περὶ δὲ τούτων οἱ μὲν ὡς περὶ δαιμόνων, οἱ δὲ ὡς περὶ ὕλης, οἱ δὲ ὡς περὶ ἀνθρώπων γενομένων ἐφρόνουν, ἡμεῖς τε ἂν εἰκότως ξενηλατούμεθα, διαιρετικῷ λόγῳ καὶ περὶ Θεοῦ καὶ ὕλης καὶ περὶ τῆς τούτων αὐτῶν οὐσίας κεχρημένοι. Ὡς γὰρ Θεόν φαμεν, καὶ Υἱὸν τὸν Λόγον αὐτοῦ, καὶ Πνεῦμα ἅγιον, ἑνούμενα μὲν κατὰ δύναμιν, τὸν Πατέρα, τὸν Υἱὸν, τὸ Πνεῦμα, ὅτι Νοῦς, Λόγος, Σοφία, Υἱὸς τοῦ Πατρὸς, καὶ ἀπόῤῥοια, ὡς φῶς ἀπὸ πυρὸς, τὸ Πνεῦμα· οὕτως καὶ ἑτέρας εἶναι δυνάμεις κατειλήμμεθα περὶ τὴν ὕλην ἐχούσας καὶ δι' αὐτῆς· μίαν μὲν τὴν ἀντίθεον· οὐχ ὅτι ἀντιδοξοῦν τι ἐστὶ τῷ Θεῷ, ὡς τῇ φιλίᾳ τὸ νεῖκος, κατὰ τὸν Ἐμπεδοκλέα, καὶ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ νὺξ, κατὰ τὰ φαινόμενα (ἐπεὶ, κἂν εἰ ἀνθειστήκει τι τῷ Θεῷ, ἐπαύσατο τοῦ εἶναι, λυθείσης αὐτοῦ τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ δυνάμει καὶ ἰσχύϊ τῆς συστάσεως), ἀλλ' ὅτι τῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀγαθῷ, ὃ κατὰ συμβεβηκός ἐστιν αὐτῷ, καὶ συνυπάρχον, ὡς χρόα σώματι, οὗ ἄνευ οὐκ ἔστιν (οὐχ ὡς μέρους ὄντος, ἀλλ' ὡς κατ' ἀνάγκην συνόντος παρακολουθήματος ἡνωμένου καὶ συγκεχρωσμένου, ὡς τῷ πυρὶ ξανθῷ εἶναι, καὶ τῷ αἰθέρι κυανῷ), ἐναντίον ἐστὶ τὸ περὶ τὴν ὕλην ἔχον πνεῦμα, γενόμενον μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ, καθὸ οἱ λοιποὶ ὑπ' αὐ-
24. Why then need one, speaking to you who have explored every department of learning, either mention the poets or examine other opinions as well, when it suffices to say thus much? Even if the poets and philosophers did not acknowledge that God is one, and concerning these gods thought of them some as demons, others as matter, and others as having been men, would we justly be banished for employing a distinguishing account both concerning God and matter and concerning their respective substances? For just as we assert God, and the Son His Word, and the Holy Spirit, united indeed according to power—the Father, the Son, the Spirit—because the Son is the Mind, Word, Wisdom of the Father, and the Spirit is an effluence, as light from fire; so also we apprehend that there exist other powers occupied with matter and working through it: one indeed being the power opposed to God—not that there is anything counterbalancing God, as Strife is to Love according to Empedocles, and night to day according to appearances (since, even if anything had stood opposed to God, it would have ceased to exist, its constitution being dissolved by the power and might of God), but because to the goodness of God, which belongs to Him as an attribute and is coexistent with Him, as colour to a body, without which it does not exist (not as being a part, but as an attendant property necessarily coexisting with Him, united and blended with Him, as it belongs to fire to be yellow and to the ether to be dark blue), is opposed the spirit that is occupied with matter, which was brought into being indeed by God, just as the rest of the angels were made by Him—
Editors' notes and page, col. 945

Page

  • running head: 945 LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS.
  • marginal letters: A εἰς πάντας φέρειν; B Υἱὸν τὸν Λόγον; C νου, ὡς τῷ; D bus prædicare, seu
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: ends mid-word αὐ- (completed as αὐτοῦ in col 948)
  • other: the column ends with the half-word αὐ- and col 948 does not begin with its rest: left as printed; join the word where its rest stands
PG 6:946
Editors' notes and page, col. 946

Footnotes

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Κατὰ δύναμιν. Immerito has voces expungit Gesnerus, nisi addatur ἀνθρωπίνην. Neque Gesnerus hunc locum intellexit, quem ita reddit: Deum enim summum illum in vulgus efferre, homini possibile non est; neque ipse Oxoniensis editor, qui sic emendat: Quod fieri non possit, ut pro potentia Deum vulgo patefaciamus. Non viderunt eruditi viri Athenagoram non suis verbis loqui, sed Platonis, qui difficultatem Dei apud omnes praedicandi, non ex Dei majestate infinita, non ex praedicantis imbecillitate repetit, sed ex malo audientium affectu, quos laederet ejusmodi praedicatio. Unde Athenagoras impossibile esse statuit ex Platonis sententia, id est valde periculosum, apud omnes Deum pro viribus praedicare, seu quod idem est, in vulgus efferre quidquid de Deo mens acutior investigaverit. Respicit igitur ad haec verba Platonis, supra citata n. 6: Τὸν μὲν οὖν ποιητὴν καὶ πατέρα τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς εὑρεῖν τε ἔργον, καὶ εὑρόντα εἰς πάντας ἀδύνατον λέγειν.

Κατὰ δύναμιν ("according to power"). Gesner wrongly strikes out these words unless ἀνθρωπίνην is added. Nor did Gesner understand this passage, which he renders thus: "For it is not possible for man to make that supreme God known to the crowd"; nor the Oxford editor himself, who corrects it so: "Because it cannot be that we make God known to the crowd according to [our] power." These learned men did not see that Athenagoras is speaking not in his own words but in Plato's, who derives the difficulty of proclaiming God to all not from God's infinite majesty, nor from the weakness of the one proclaiming, but from the bad disposition of the hearers, whom such a proclamation would harm. Hence Athenagoras, following Plato's view, lays down that it is impossible — that is, very dangerous — to proclaim God to all as far as one can, or, what is the same, to make known to the crowd whatever a keener mind has found out about God. He is therefore looking back to these words of Plato quoted above, no. 6: Τὸν μὲν οὖν ποιητὴν καὶ πατέρα τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς εὑρεῖν τε ἔργον, καὶ εὑρόντα εἰς πάντας ἀδύνατον λέγειν.

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Τί δαί. Reg. 2 et tres Anglicani τί δέ. Quod sequitur ad ipsum referri posset in hunc modum: Quid attinet apud vos, omne doctrinae genus scrutando aut poetarum meminisse, etc. Illud κεκινηκότας affine est, ut observat Gesnerus, proverbio, Omnem lapidem movere, satisque convenit homini argumenta undique exquirenti ad causae defensionem. Ita hunc locum intellexit Suffridus, unde etiam paulo post legit εἰπεῖν ἔχοντας.

Τί δαί ("why then"). Regius 2 and three English manuscripts have τί δέ. What follows could be referred to it in this way: "What point is there, among you, in searching every kind of learning or recalling the poets," etc. That κεκινηκότας is akin, as Gesner observes, to the proverb "to move every stone," and suits well a man seeking arguments from every side for the defence of his case. So Suffridus understood this passage, and hence a little after he also reads εἰπεῖν ἔχοντας.

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Ξενηλατούμεθα. Legendum ξενηλατοίμεθα vel ἐξενηλατούμεθα monet Stephanus. Quanquam ei magis placet ut legatur: Εἰ καὶ ποιηταὶ... ἀνεικότως ξενηλατούμεθα.

Ξενηλατούμεθα ("we are driven out as strangers"). Stephanus advises reading ξενηλατοίμεθα or ἐξενηλατούμεθα. Though he prefers that one read: Εἰ καὶ ποιηταὶ... ἀνεικότως ξενηλατούμεθα.

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Πνεῦμα. Tres Anglic. ἅγιον Πνεῦμα.

Πνεῦμα ("Spirit"). Three English manuscripts have ἅγιον Πνεῦμα.

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Κατὰ δύναμιν. Frustra Gesnerus legere mallet τρία μὲν κατὰ δύναμιν, ἑνούμενα δὲ κατ' οὐσίαν. Δύναμις hoc loco idem est ac οὐσία et divinitas.

Κατὰ δύναμιν ("in power"). Gesner would vainly prefer to read τρία μὲν κατὰ δύναμιν, ἑνούμενα δὲ κατ' οὐσίαν. Δύναμις in this place is the same as οὐσία and divinity.

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Καὶ δι' αὐτῆς. Valde mihi displicent haec verba, quae commodum sensum non videntur assequi posse, sive cum Gesnero reddamus, quae vel circa materiam vel intra eam versantur, sive cum Lango, circa materiam versantes et per eam consistentes. Sed si pro ἐχούσας legamus ἀρχούσας, quae quidem levissima est immutatio, paucis verbis expressam habebimus totam Athenagorae de angelis sententiam, quos et materiae praefectos fuisse, et quidquid juvant aut nocent per materiam id praestare mox docebit. Ita interpretari coactus sum, cum aliter commodam sententiam elicere non possem.

Καὶ δι' αὐτῆς ("and through it"). These words displease me greatly, since they seem unable to yield a fitting sense, whether we render with Gesner "which move either about matter or within it," or with Langus "moving about matter and subsisting through it." But if for ἐχούσας we read ἀρχούσας — a very slight change — we shall have Athenagoras's whole view of the angels expressed in a few words: he will shortly teach that they were set over matter, and that whatever help or harm they do, they do through matter. I was forced to interpret it so, since I could draw no fitting sense from it otherwise.

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Κατὰ συμβεβηκός. Sic etiam supra n. 23, τὰ συμβεβηκότα αὐτῷ. Quae quidem loquendi ratio interdum significat accidens; unde Clemens Strom. V, p. 587: Deus μήτε συμβεβηκός τι, μηδὲ ᾧ συμβέβηκέ τι, neque est accidens, neque ei quidquam accidit. Sed tamen eadem voce interdum ea, quae alicui rei necessario conveniunt, sive attributa significantur, velut cum ait Eusebius Demonstr. evangel. lib. IV, p. 148: Ἡ μὲν αὐγὴ οὐ κατὰ προαίρεσιν τοῦ φωτὸς ἐκλάμπει, κατά τι δὲ τῆς οὐσίας συμβεβηκὸς ἀχώριστον. Splendor non ex luminis proposito et voluntate splendet, sed secundum quiddam, quod essentiae inseparabiliter convenit. Ambigua videri non debet Athenagorae sententia, cum diserte declaret hac voce ea significari, quae nec pars Dei esse possunt, nec ab eo separari.

Κατὰ συμβεβηκός ("as an attribute"). So too above, no. 23, τὰ συμβεβηκότα αὐτῷ. This way of speaking sometimes signifies an accident; hence Clement, Stromateis V, p. 587: God μήτε συμβεβηκός τι, μηδὲ ᾧ συμβέβηκέ τι, "is neither an accident, nor does anything befall him." But the same word sometimes signifies what necessarily belongs to a thing, that is, attributes, as when Eusebius says, Demonstratio evangelica book IV, p. 148: Ἡ μὲν αὐγὴ οὐ κατὰ προαίρεσιν τοῦ φωτὸς ἐκλάμπει, κατά τι δὲ τῆς οὐσίας συμβεβηκὸς ἀχώριστον, "The radiance shines not from the purpose and will of the light, but according to something that belongs inseparably to its essence." Athenagoras's meaning ought not to seem ambiguous, since he expressly declares that by this word are signified things which can neither be a part of God nor be separated from him.

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Συγκεχρωσμένου. Reg., 1 συγκεχραμένου.

Συγκεχρωσμένου ("coloured through with"). Regius 1 has συγκεχραμένου.

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Page

  • running head: LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS. 946
  • marginal letters: A Dei proprio, sed; B modum enim Deum; C eique insita et; D mox docebit. Ita
  • old-edition numerals: 302 after et
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:947
Editors' notes and page, col. 947

Footnotes

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Τοῦτο γάρ. Gesnerus praemittendum putat διά.

Τοῦτο γάρ ("for this"). Gesner thinks διά should be put before it.

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Πρόνοιαν. Hic addendum ἔχοι aut aliquod simile verbum, ut monet Gesnerus. Generalis illa providentia, quam Deo tribuit Athenagoras, non sic accipienda est, quasi rebus particularibus ita praeficiat legatos suos, ut nullam ipse illarum procurationem gerat. Tam stulta opinio non potest affingi Athenagorae, qui infra lib. De resur. n. 18, pronuntiat nihil neque in coelo, neque in terra a gubernatione et providentia Dei destitui, sed ad omnia, sive non videantur, sive videantur, sive parva sint, sive magna, pervenire Creatoris sollicitudinem. Quare providentia illa generalis in eo posita, quod, cum angeli, pro naturae suae conditione, paucis tantum rebus providere possint, Deus omnia prorsus regat et gubernet. Unde illam providentiam Athenagoras παντελικὴν et γενικὴν vocat. Methodius apud Photium cod. 234, ita hunc locum Athenagorae citat, ut eum non modo de providentia Dei non detrahere existimaverit, sed etiam idoneum ad Dei dominatum astruendum judicaverit. Sic enim habet: Τούτων γὰρ ἡ τῶν ἀγγέλων σύστασις τῷ Θεῷ ἐπὶ προνοίᾳ γεγονέναι τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ διακεκοσμημένοις, ἵνα, τὴν παντελικὴν καὶ γενικὴν ὁ Θεὸς ἔχων τῶν ὅλων πρόνοιαν, ᾖ τὸ κῦρος καὶ τὸ κράτος ἁπάντων αὐτὸς ἀνηρτημένος.

Πρόνοιαν ("providence"). Here ἔχοι or some similar verb should be added, as Gesner advises. The general providence that Athenagoras assigns to God is not to be taken as if he set his deputies over particular things in such a way that he himself exercised no care of them. So foolish an opinion cannot be fastened on Athenagoras, who below, in the book On the Resurrection, no. 18, declares that nothing in heaven or on earth is left without God's government and providence, but that the Creator's care reaches to all things, whether unseen or seen, whether small or great. So that general providence consists in this: that whereas the angels, by the condition of their nature, can provide for only a few things, God rules and governs absolutely everything. Hence Athenagoras calls that providence παντελικὴν and γενικήν. Methodius, in Photius, codex 234, quotes this passage of Athenagoras in such a way that he not only did not think it detracted from God's providence, but even judged it apt for establishing God's dominion. For he has: Τούτων γὰρ ἡ τῶν ἀγγέλων σύστασις τῷ Θεῷ ἐπὶ προνοίᾳ γεγονέναι τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ διακεκοσμημένοις, ἵνα, τὴν παντελικὴν καὶ γενικὴν ὁ Θεὸς ἔχων τῶν ὅλων πρόνοιαν, ᾖ τὸ κῦρος καὶ τὸ κράτος ἁπάντων αὐτὸς ἀνηρτημένος.

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Τὴν δὲ ἐπὶ μέρους. Sine causa Gesnerus legendum putat τὴν δὲ τῶν ἐπὶ μέρους.

Τὴν δὲ ἐπὶ μέρους ("and the particular"). Gesner without reason thinks τὴν δὲ τῶν ἐπὶ μέρους should be read.

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Οἷοι γεγόνασιν. Uterque Reg. et duo Angl. γεγόνασιν οἷοι. Methodius haec describendo partim ipsa verba immutat, partim ipsam sententiam, aut saltem liberius interpretatur. Ait enim diabolum invidia in hominem concepta peccasse, ac deinde caeteros mulierum amore captos fuisse: καὶ οἱ μὲν λοιποὶ ἐφ' ὧν αὐτὸς ἐποίησε καὶ διετάξατο ὁ Θεὸς ἔμειναν· αὐτὸς δὲ ἐνύβρισε καὶ πονηρὸς περὶ τὴν τῶν πεπιστευμένων ἐγένετο διοίκησιν, φθόνον ἐγκισσήσας καθ' ἡμῶν· ὥσπερ καὶ οἱ μετὰ ταῦτα σαρκῶν ἐρασθέντες καὶ ταῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἰς φιλοτησίαν ὁμιλήσαντες θυγατράσιν.

Οἷοι γεγόνασιν ("such as they became"). Both Regii and two English manuscripts have γεγόνασιν οἷοι. Methodius, in transcribing this, partly alters the words themselves, partly the sense itself, or at least interprets more freely. For he says that the devil sinned through envy conceived against man, and that the others were then taken with love of women: καὶ οἱ μὲν λοιποὶ ἐφ' ὧν αὐτὸς ἐποίησε καὶ διετάξατο ὁ Θεὸς ἔμειναν· αὐτὸς δὲ ἐνύβρισε καὶ πονηρὸς περὶ τὴν τῶν πεπιστευμένων ἐγένετο διοίκησιν, φθόνον ἐγκισσήσας καθ' ἡμῶν· ὥσπερ καὶ οἱ μετὰ ταῦτα σαρκῶν ἐρασθέντες καὶ ταῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἰς φιλοτησίαν ὁμιλήσαντες θυγατράσιν. ("And the others remained in the things for which God made and appointed them; but he himself became insolent and wicked in the administration of what was entrusted to him, having conceived envy against us; as did those who afterwards fell in love with flesh and consorted in love with the daughters of men.")

(printed under page 504)

(40) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 947

Ἕτεροι τῶν. Deest articulus in Regio primo. Tres Anglicani, ἕτεροι τοῦ.

Ἕτεροι τῶν ("others of the"). The article is missing in Regius 1. Three English manuscripts have ἕτεροι τοῦ.

(printed under page 504)

(41) ‹anchor: καὶ θεολογικῆς› · call in col 947

Καὶ θεολογικῆς. Haec ad contextus emendationem addidit Oxoniensis editor, ex tribus desumpta codicibus. Reperiuntur etiam ad marginem in Regio secundo.

Καὶ θεολογικῆς ("and theological"). The Oxford editor added these words to correct the text, taking them from three codices. They are also found in the margin in Regius 2.

(printed under page 504)

(42) ‹anchor: δαίμονες, ὁμοίας› · call in col 947

Ὁμοίας... ποιούμενοι. Haec desunt in Clarom. et duobus Anglicanis.

Ὁμοίας... ποιούμενοι ("similar... making"). These words are missing in the Clermont codex and two English manuscripts.

(printed under page 504)

(43) ‹anchor: οἱ δαίμονες› · call in col 947

Οἱ δαίμονες. Legitur γίγαντες in codice Suffridi, quae scriptura immerito ei probatur ac Gesnero. Nam gigantes Athenagoras eosdem esse ac daemones declarat; in quo quidem facile conciliatur cum Justino, qui in Apol. II, n. 5, daemones ex angelorum cum mulieribus consuetudine genitos fuisse testatur.

Οἱ δαίμονες ("the demons"). Γίγαντες is read in Suffridus's codex, a reading he and Gesner wrongly approve. For Athenagoras declares that the giants are the same as the demons; in which he is easily reconciled with Justin, who in Apology II, no. 5, testifies that the demons were begotten from the intercourse of angels with women.

(printed under page 504)

Page

  • running head: 947 ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI
  • marginal letters: A strationi præfectus. Hoc; B munere sibi commisso; C Scimus falsa loqui; D tiat nihil neque
  • old-edition numerals: 303 after scilicet,
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:948
τοῦ γεγόνασιν ἄγγελοι, καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τῇ ὕλῃ καὶ τοῖς τῆς ὕλης εἴδεσι πιστευσάμενον διοίκησιν. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ τῶν ἀγγέλων σύστασις τῷ Θεῷ ἐπὶ προνοίᾳ γέγονε τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ διακεκοσμημένοις, ἵνα τὴν μὲν παντελικὴν καὶ γενικὴν ὁ Θεὸς τῶν ὅλων πρόνοιαν, τὴν δὲ ἐπὶ μέρους, οἱ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς ταχθέντες ἄγγελοι. Ὡς δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, αὐθαίρετον καὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ τὴν κακίαν ἐχόντων (ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἂν οὔτ' ἐτιμᾶτε τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς, οὔτ' ἐκολάζετε τοὺς πονηροὺς, εἰ μὴ ἐπ' αὐτοῖς ἦν καὶ ἡ κακία καὶ ἡ ἀρετή· καὶ οἱ μὲν σπουδαῖοι περὶ ἃ πιστεύονται ὑφ' ὑμῶν, οἱ δὲ ἄπιστοι εὑρίσκονται), καὶ τὸ κατὰ τοὺς ἀγγέλους ἐν ὁμοίῳ καθέστηκεν. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλοι αὐθαίρετοι δὴ, οἷοι γεγόνασιν ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἔμειναν, ἐφ' οἷς αὐτοὺς ἐποίησεν καὶ διέταξεν ὁ Θεός· οἱ δὲ ἐνύβρισαν καὶ τῇ τῆς οὐσίας ὑποστάσει καὶ τῇ ἀρχῇ· οὗτός τε ὁ τῆς ὕλης καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ εἰδῶν ἄρχων, καὶ ἕτεροι τῶν περὶ τὸ πρῶτον τοῦτο στερέωμα (ἴστε δὲ μηδὲν ἡμᾶς ἀμάρτυρον λέγειν, ἃ δὲ τοῖς προφήταις ἐκπεφώνηται, μηνύειν)· ἐκεῖνοι μὲν, εἰς ἐπιθυμίαν πεσόντες παρθένων, καὶ ἥττους σαρκὸς εὑρεθέντες· οὗτος δὲ, ἀμελήσας, καὶ πονηρὸς περὶ τὴν τῶν πεπιστευμένων γενόμενος διοίκησιν. Ἐκ μὲν οὖν τῶν περὶ τὰς παρθένους ἐχόντων, οἱ καλούμενοι ἐγεννήθησαν γίγαντες. Εἰ δέ τις ἐκ μέρους εἴρηται περὶ τῶν γιγάντων καὶ ποιηταῖς λόγος, μὴ θαυμάσητε, τῆς κοσμικῆς σοφίας, καὶ θεολογικῆς, ὅσον ἀλήθεια πιθανοῦ διαφέρει, διαλλαττουσῶν, καὶ τῆς μὲν οὔσης ἐπουρανίου, τῆς δὲ ἐπιγείου. Καὶ κατὰ τὸν ἄρχοντα τῆς ὕλης
—and was entrusted with the administration over matter and the forms of matter. For to this end the constitution of the angels was made by God for providence over the things ordered by Him, so that God might exercise the universal and general providence over the whole, and the angels appointed over them might exercise the particular providence over the parts. And just as in the case of men, who have both virtue and vice as a matter of free choice (since you would neither honour the good nor punish the wicked, unless both vice and virtue were in their own power; and some are found diligent in the things entrusted to them by you, while others are found unfaithful), so also it stands in like manner with the angels. For some of them—having free choice indeed, such as they were made by God—remained in the things for which God made them and appointed them; whereas others outraged both the constitution of their nature and their office: namely, this ruler of matter and of the forms in it, and others of those set about this first firmament (and you know that we say nothing without witness, but declare the things that have been proclaimed by the prophets)—those, on the one hand, having fallen into desire for virgins and having been found overcome by the flesh, and this one, on the other hand, having been negligent and having become wicked in the administration of the things entrusted to him. From those, then, who went after the virgins were born the so-called giants. And if some account has been spoken in part by the poets also concerning the giants, do not wonder: worldly wisdom and theological wisdom differing as much as truth differs from plausibility, the one being heavenly and the other earthly. Indeed according to the ruler of matter himself,
Ἴσμεν ψεύδεα πολλὰ λέγειν ἐτύμοισιν ὅμοια.
We know how to speak many false things like unto true.
25. Οὗτοι τοίνυν οἱ ἄγγελοι οἱ ἐκπεσόντες τῶν οὐρανῶν, περὶ τὸν ἀέρα ἔχοντες καὶ τὴν γῆν, οὐκέτι εἰς τὰ ὑπερουράνια ὑπερκύψαι δυνάμενοι· καὶ αἱ τῶν γιγάντων ψυχαὶ, οἳ περὶ τὸν κόσμον εἰσὶ πλανώμενοι δαίμονες, ὁμοίας κινήσεις οἱ μὲν αἷς ἔλαβον συστάσεσιν οἱ δαίμονες, οἱ δὲ αἷς ἔσχον ἐπιθυμίαις
25. These angels, therefore, who fell from the heavens, haunting the air and the earth, no longer able to rise above into the regions beyond the heavens, together with the souls of the giants, which are the demons wandering about the world, produce movements corresponding, the demons to the constitutions they received, and the angels to the desires they had—
Editors' notes and page, col. 948

Page

  • running head: ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI 948
  • marginal letters: A τοῦ γεγόνασιν ἄγγελοι,; B σαν καὶ τῇ; C Ἴσμεν ψεύδεα πολλὰ; D ἔμειναν· αὐτὸς δὲ
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: begins mid-word τοῦ (from αὐ- in col 945); ends mid-word ἐπι- (completed as ἐπιθυμίαις in col 949)
  • other: the word ἐπιθυμίαις was split at the column break and stands whole here (joined on receipt); check that the English reads whole across the break into col 949
PG 6:949
οἱ ἄγγελοι, ποιούμενοι. Ὁ δὲ τῆς ὕλης ἄρχων, ὡς ἔστιν ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν γινομένων ἰδεῖν, ἐναντία τῷ ἀγαθῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπιτροπεύει καὶ διοικεῖ·
—while the ruler of matter, as may be seen from the very things that happen, directs and administers things in opposition to the goodness of God:
Πολλάκι μοι πραπίδων διῆλθε φροντὶς Εἴτε τύχα, εἴτε δαίμων τὰ βιότια κραίνει· Παρά τ' ἐλπίδα καὶ παρὰ δίκαν Τοὺς μὲν ἀπ' οἴκων δ' ἀναπίπτοντας Ἄτερ βίου, τοὺς δὲ εὐτυχοῦντας ἄγει.
Oftentimes has the anxious thought passed through my mind, whether fortune or a deity rules the affairs of mortal life; for both contrary to hope and contrary to justice it drives some, cast down from their homes, destitute of livelihood, while others it leads on in prosperity.
Τὸ παρ' ἐλπίδα καὶ δίκην εὖ πράττειν ἢ κακῶς ἐν ἀφασίᾳ τὸν Εὐριπίδην ἐποίησε, τίνος ἡ τοιαύτη τῶν περιγείων διοίκησις, ἐν ᾗ εἴποι τις ἄν·
Faring well or ill contrary to hope and justice put Euripides at a loss as to whose is such an administration of earthly affairs, wherein one might say:
Πῶς οὖν τάδ' εἰσορῶντες, ἢ θεῶν γένος Εἶναι λέγωμεν, ἢ νόμοισι χρώμεθα;
How then, beholding these things, can we either say that there is a race of gods, or observe laws?
Τοῦτο καὶ τὸν Ἀριστοτέλη ἀπρονόητα εἰπεῖν τὰ κατωτέρω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐποίησε, καίτοι τῆς ἀϊδίου ἐπίσης ἡμῖν μενούσης προνοίας τοῦ Θεοῦ·
This also caused Aristotle to say that the things below heaven are uncared for by providence, although the eternal providence of God remains equally with us—
(Ἡ γῆ δ' ἀνάγκη κἂν θέλῃ, κἂν μὴ θέλῃ Φύουσα ποίαν τἀμὰ πιαίνει βοτά·)
(And the earth of necessity, whether it will or not, bringing forth grass fattens my flocks;)
τῆς δ' ἐπὶ μέρους πρὸς ἀλήθειαν οὐ πρὸς δόξαν χωρούσης ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀξίους, καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν κατὰ τὸ κοινὸν συστάσεως νόμῳ λόγου προνοουμένων. Ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ αἱ ἀπὸ τοὐναντίου πνεύματος δαιμονικαὶ κινήσεις καὶ ἐνέργειαι τὰς ἀτάκτους ταύτας ἐπιφορὰς παρέχουσιν, ἤδη καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἄλλον ἄλλως καὶ καθ' ἕνα καὶ κατὰ ἔθνη, μερικῶς καὶ κοινῶς κατὰ τὸν τῆς ὕλης λόγον καὶ τῆς πρὸς τὰ θεῖα συμπαθείας, ἔνδοθεν καὶ ἔξωθεν κινοῦσαι· διὰ τοῦτό τινες, ὧν δόξαι οὐ μικραὶ, ἐνόμισαν οὐ τάξει τινὶ τὸ πᾶν τοῦτο συνεστάναι, ἀλλ' ἀλόγῳ τύχῃ ἄγεσθαι καὶ φέρεσθαι· οὐκ εἰδότες, ὅτι τῶν μὲν περὶ τὴν τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου σύστασιν οὐδὲν ἄτακτον οὐδὲ ἀπημελημένον, ἀλλ' ἕκαστον αὐτῶν γεγονὸς λόγῳ· διὸ οὐδὲ τὴν ὡρισμένην ἐπ' αὐτοῖς παραβαίνουσι τάξιν· ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος κατὰ μὲν τὸν πεποιηκότα καὶ αὐτὸς εὐτάκτως ἔχει, καὶ τῇ κατὰ τὴν γένεσιν φύσει, καὶ ἕνα καὶ κοινὸν ἐπεχούσῃ λόγον, καὶ τῇ κατὰ τὴν πλάσιν διαθέσει, οὐ παραβαινούσῃ τὸν ἐπ' αὐτῇ νόμον, καὶ τῷ τοῦ βίου τέλει, ἴσῳ καὶ κοινῷ μένοντι· κατὰ δὲ τὸν ἴδιον ἑαυτοῦ λόγον καὶ τὴν τοῦ ἐπέχοντος ἄρχοντος, καὶ τῶν παρακολουθούντων δαιμόνων ἐνέργειαν, ἄλλος ἄλλως φέρεται καὶ κινεῖται· κοινὸν πάντες τὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἔχοντες λογισμόν.
—while the particular providence proceeds in accordance with truth and not opinion towards the worthy, and all other things are cared for generally according to the law of their constitution by reason. But since the demonic movements and workings proceeding from the opposing spirit bring about these disorderly onset-impulses, moving men also in different ways, both individually and by nations, partially and in common, according to the proportion of matter and of sympathy with things divine, from within and from without; on this account some men, of no small repute, have supposed that this universe is not constituted in any order, but is led and borne along by irrational chance—not knowing that of the things belonging to the constitution of the whole world nothing is disorderly or neglected, but each of them has been made by reason, wherefore they do not transgress the order appointed for them; and man himself also, so far as concerns his Maker, is well ordered, both by his nature according to birth, which holds one common principle, and by his disposition according to his formation, which does not transgress the law appointed for it, and by the end of life, which remains equal and common; whereas according to his own peculiar reason and the working of the ruling prince who holds sway and of the attendant demons, one man is borne and moved in one way and another in another, though all have in common the reasoning faculty within them.
26. Καὶ οἱ μὲν περὶ τὰ εἴδωλα αὐτοὺς ἕλκοντες, οἱ δαίμονές εἰσιν οἱ προειρημένοι, οἱ προστετηκότες
26. And those who draw them to the idols are the aforesaid demons, who cleave greedily
Editors' notes and page, col. 949

Page

  • running head: 949 LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS.
  • marginal letters: A θυμίαις οἱ ἄγγελοι,; B Πῶς οὖν τάδ'; C κατὰ τὸν τῆς; D γειαν, ἄλλος ἄλλως
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: begins mid-word θυμίαις (from ἐπι- in col 948); two full-width facing Latin lines (ex ipsis rebus, ... exercet.) near top, cut off at right edge, not set
PG 6:950
Editors' notes and page, col. 950

Footnotes

(44) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 950

Πολλάκι. Hos versus, qui inter Incert. Tragoed. Euripidis reperiuntur, ita edidimus, ut habentur in editione Oxon. Athenagorae et Cantabrig. Euripidis. Pro ultima voce ἄγει legendum videtur ἀεί, ita ut hae voces τοὺς μέν, τοὺς δέ referantur ad κραίνει. Mox legendum videtur τίνος ἤ.

Πολλάκι ("often"). These verses, which are found among the fragments of uncertain tragedies of Euripides, we have printed as they stand in the Oxford edition of Athenagoras and the Cambridge edition of Euripides. For the last word ἄγει it seems ἀεί should be read, so that the words τοὺς μέν, τοὺς δέ refer to κραίνει. Shortly after it seems τίνος ἤ should be read.

(printed under page 505)

(45) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 950

Εἰσορῶντες. Reg. 1 et 2, Anglic. εἰσορῶντας. Mox Reg. 2, εἰ νόμοισι. Sunt etiam hi versus ex Incert. Tragoed. Euripidis.

Εἰσορῶντες ("beholding"). Regius 1 and 2 and the English manuscripts have εἰσορῶντας. Shortly after, Regius 2 has εἰ νόμοισι. These verses too are from Euripides' uncertain tragedies.

(printed under page 505)

(46) ‹anchor: Ποίαν› · call in col 950

Ποίαν. Editi φύουσαν οἴαν, excepto Ducaeo qui habet φύουσα πόαν. Euripides in Cyclope, ut observat editor Oxoniensis, τίκτουσα ποίαν. Legendum videtur ἀνάγκῃ.

Ποίαν ("grass"). The printed editions have φύουσαν οἴαν, except Ducaeus, who has φύουσα πόαν. Euripides in the Cyclops, as the Oxford editor observes, has τίκτουσα ποίαν. It seems ἀνάγκῃ should be read.

(printed under page 505)

(47) ‹anchor: συστάσεως νόμῳ› · call in col 950

Τὸ κοινὸν... νόμῳ. Sic uterque Reg. et Clarom. et tres Anglic. Editi τὸν κοινὸν συστάσεως νόμον.

Τὸ κοινὸν... νόμῳ ("by the common... law"). So both Regii, the Clermont codex and three English manuscripts. The printed editions have τὸν κοινὸν συστάσεως νόμον.

(printed under page 505)

(48) ‹anchor: τοῦ ἐπέχοντος› · call in col 950

Ἐπέχοντος. Duo Anglic. ἀπέχοντος. Ibidem deest ἄρχοντος in Clarom. Mox vox ἄλλος desumpta ex editione Oxoniensi cum deesset in Parisiensibus.

Ἐπέχοντος ("of the one holding sway"). Two English manuscripts have ἀπέχοντος. In the same place ἄρχοντος is missing in the Clermont codex. Shortly after, the word ἄλλος is taken from the Oxford edition, since it was missing in the Paris editions.

(printed under page 505)

Page

  • running head: LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS. 950
  • marginal letters: A dæmones, naturæ et; B Ergo hæc videntes; C tim et communiter,; D communis manet, ordinate
  • old-edition numerals: 304 after contrario
  • other: facing Latin version, not set; full-width Latin line near top cut off at left edge
PG 6:951
Editors' notes and page, col. 951

Footnotes

(49) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 951

Ἐφ' ἑτέρων. Mallet Gesnerus ἐφ' ἑτέροις. Ibidem unus ex Anglic. αὐτοὺς μὲν εἶναι.

Ἐφ' ἑτέρων ("in the case of others"). Gesner would prefer ἐφ' ἑτέροις. In the same place one of the English manuscripts has αὐτοὺς μὲν εἶναι.

(printed under page 506)

(50) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 951

Νερυλλίνου. Nonnulli codices Νερυλλῖν et ad marg. Νερυλλίνης.

Νερυλλίνου ("of Neryllinus"). Some codices have Νερυλλῖν, and in the margin Νερυλλίνης.

(printed under page 506)

(51) ‹anchor: δι' αὐτὰ› · call in col 951

Δι' αὐτά. Editor Oxoniensis legit δι' αὐτόν.

Δι' αὐτά ("on account of them"). The Oxford editor reads δι' αὐτόν.

(printed under page 506)

(52) ‹anchor: τὸν ἀνδριάντα› · call in col 951

Ἀνδριάντα. Duo Anglicani codices ἄνδρα.

Ἀνδριάντα ("statue"). Two English codices have ἄνδρα.

(printed under page 506)

(53) ‹anchor: τί δαὶ› · call in col 951

Τί δαί. Reg. 2 et duo Anglicani τί δέ. Mox iidem codices cum alio Anglic. καθ' ἑαυτόν.

Τί δαί ("what then"). Regius 2 and two English manuscripts have τί δέ. Shortly after, the same codices with another English one have καθ' ἑαυτόν.

(printed under page 506)

(54) ‹anchor: ἐνεργεῖ καὶ ζῶντος› · call in col 951

Ἐνεργεῖ καὶ ζῶντος. Legendum ἐνήργει. Mortuus enim erat Neryllinus, cum haec scriberet Athenagoras, quamvis non multo ante mortuus, ut patet ex superioribus verbis: Ὃς ἀνὴρ τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς. Illud etiam νῦν, quae nunc efficere statua dicitur, probat legendum esse ἐνήργει, ita ut his, quae tunc statua efficere dicebatur, ea opponantur, quae ipso vivente et aegrotante Neryllino, effecerat.

Ἐνεργεῖ καὶ ζῶντος ("it works, even while living"). One should read ἐνήργει. For Neryllinus was dead when Athenagoras wrote this, though he had died not long before, as is clear from the earlier words: Ὃς ἀνὴρ τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς. The word νῦν too, "what the statue is now said to effect," proves that ἐνήργει should be read, so that what the statue was then said to effect is set against what he had effected while Neryllinus himself was alive and sick.

(printed under page 506)

(55) ‹anchor: εἰς γῆν› · call in col 951

Εἰς γῆν. Mallet Oxon. editor καὶ εἰς γῆν. Malim καθελκομένη εἰς γῆν.

Εἰς γῆν ("towards the earth"). The Oxford editor would prefer καὶ εἰς γῆν. I should prefer καθελκομένη εἰς γῆν.

(printed under page 506)

Page

  • running head: 951 ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI
  • marginal letters: A jam diximus, dæmones,; B ficus est. Alios; C (Infelix Paris forma; D nunc illas imagines
  • old-edition numerals: 305 after natura?
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:952
τῷ ἀπὸ τῶν ἱερείων αἵματι, καὶ ταῦτα περιλιχμώμενοι· οἱ δὲ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀρέσκοντες θεοὶ, καὶ ταῖς εἰκόσιν ἐπονομαζόμενοι, ὡς ἔστιν ἐκ τῆς κατ' αὐτοὺς ἱστορίας εἰδέναι, ἄνθρωποι γεγόνασιν. Καὶ τοὺς μὲν δαίμονας εἶναι τοὺς ἐπιβατεύοντας τοῖς ὀνόμασι, πίστις ἡ ἑκάστου αὐτῶν ἐνέργεια. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀποτέμνουσι τὰ αἰδοῖα, οἱ περὶ τὴν Ῥέαν· οἱ δὲ ἐγκόπτουσιν ἢ ἐντέμνουσιν, οἱ περὶ τὴν Ἄρτεμιν. Καὶ ἡ μὲν ἐν Ταύροις φονεύει τοὺς ξένους. Ἐῶ γὰρ τοὺς ταῖς μαχαίραις καὶ τοῖς ἀστραγάλοις αἰκιζομένους αὑτοὺς λέγειν, καὶ ὅσα εἴδη δαιμόνων. Οὐ γὰρ Θεοῦ κινεῖν ἐπὶ τὰ παρὰ φύσιν.
to the blood from the sacrificial victims and lick these round about; whereas the gods that please the multitude, and after whom the images are named, as may be known from their own history, were men. And that it is the demons who usurp the names, the working of each of them is proof. For some cut off their privy parts, those connected with Rhea; while others slash or gash themselves, those connected with Artemis. And the goddess among the Taurians slays strangers. For I pass over speaking of those who lacerate themselves with knives and knuckle-bone scourges, and all the kinds of demons there are. For it does not belong to God to move men to things contrary to nature.
Ὅταν δ' ὁ δαίμων ἀνδρὶ πορσύνῃ κακὰ, Τὸν νοῦν ἔβλαψε πρῶτον.
But when the demon prepares evils for a man, he first harms his mind.
Ὁ δὲ Θεὸς, τελείως ἀγαθὸς ὢν, ἀϊδίως ἀγαθοποιός ἐστιν. Τοῦ τοίνυν ἄλλους μὲν εἶναι τοὺς ἐνεργοῦντας, ἐφ' ἑτέρων δὲ ἀνίστασθαι τὰς εἰκόνας, ἐκεῖνο μέγιστον τεκμήριον, Τρωὰς καὶ Πάριον· ἡ μὲν, Νερυλλίνου εἰκόνας ἔχει, ὃς ἀνὴρ τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς· τὸ δὲ Πάριον, Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Πρωτέως. Τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου ἔτι ἐπὶ τῆς ἀγορᾶς καὶ ὁ τάφος καὶ ἡ εἰκών. Οἱ μὲν οὖν ἄλλοι ἀνδριάντες τοῦ Νερυλλίνου, κόσμημά εἰσι δημόσιον (εἴπερ καὶ τούτοις κοσμεῖται πόλις), εἷς δὲ αὐτῶν καὶ χρηματίζειν καὶ ἰᾶσθαι νοσοῦντας νομίζεται· καὶ θύουσί τε δι' αὐτὰ, καὶ χρυσῷ περιαλείφουσι, καὶ στεφανοῦσι τὸν ἀνδριάντα οἱ Τρωαδεῖς. Ὁ δὲ τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ ὁ τοῦ Πρωτέως (τοῦτον δ' οὐκ ἀγνοεῖτε ῥίψαντα ἑαυτὸν εἰς τὸ πῦρ περὶ τὴν Ὀλυμπίαν), ὁ μὲν καὶ αὐτὸς λέγεται χρηματίζειν· τῷ δὲ τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου
Whereas God, being perfectly good, is eternally beneficent. Now of the fact that those who work effects are one set of beings, while the images are set up in honour of others, Troas and Parium are the greatest proof: the former has images of Neryllinus, a man of our own time; and Parium has images of Alexander and Proteus. Both the tomb and the image of Alexander are still in the marketplace. Now the other statues of Neryllinus are a public ornament (if indeed a city is adorned by such things), but one of them is thought both to give oracles and to heal the sick; and on account of these things the people of Troas offer sacrifices, and smear the statue with gold, and crown it. And as for the statue of Alexander and that of Proteus (and you are not ignorant that the latter threw himself into the fire near Olympia), the one of Proteus is also said to give oracles; while to that of Alexander—
(Δύσπαρι, εἶδος ἄριστε, γυναιμανὲς)
(Ill-starred Paris, fairest in form, woman-mad)—
δημοτελεῖς ἄγονται θυσίαι καὶ ἑορταὶ, ὡς ἐπηκόῳ Θεῷ. Πότερον οὖν ὁ Νερυλλῖνος καὶ ὁ Πρωτεὺς καὶ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρός εἰσιν οἱ ταῦτα ἐνεργοῦντες περὶ τὰ ἀγάλματα, ἢ τῆς ὕλης ἡ σύστασις; ἀλλ' ἡ μὲν ὕλη, χαλκός ἐστιν· τί δαὶ χαλκὸς δύναται καθ' αὑτόν; ὃν μεταποιῆσαι πάλιν εἰς ἕτερον σχῆμα ἔξεστιν, ὡς τὸν ποδονιπτῆρα ὁ παρὰ τῷ Ἡροδότῳ Ἄμασις. Ὁ Νερυλλῖνος καὶ ὁ Πρωτεὺς καὶ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος, τί πλέον τοῖς νοσοῦσιν; ἃ γὰρ ἡ εἰκὼν λέγεται νῦν ἐνεργεῖν, ἐνεργεῖ καὶ ζῶντος καὶ νοσοῦντος Νερυλλίνου.
sacrifices and festivals are celebrated at public expense, as to a god who hears prayer. Are Neryllinus and Proteus and Alexander, then, the ones who work these effects about the statues, or is it the constitution of the matter? Yet the matter is bronze; and what can bronze do of itself, which may be refashioned again into another shape, as Amasis in Herodotus did with the foot-basin? And what more can Neryllinus and Proteus and Alexander do for the sick? For what the image is said to work now, it worked even while Neryllinus was alive and sick.
27. Τί οὖν; Πρῶτα μὲν αἱ τῆς ψυχῆς ἄλογοι καὶ ἰνδαλματώδεις περὶ τὰς δόξας κινήσεις, ἄλλοτε ἄλλα εἴδωλα, τὰ μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ὕλης ἕλκουσι, τὰ δὲ αὑταῖς ἀναπλάττουσι καὶ κυοῦσι. Πάσχει δὲ τοῦτο ψυχὴ μάλιστα τοῦ ὑλικοῦ προσλαβοῦσα καὶ ἐπισυγκραθεῖσα πνεύματος, οὐ πρὸς τὰ οὐράνια καὶ τὸν τούτων ποιητὴν, ἀλλὰ κάτω πρὸς τὰ ἐπίγεια βλέπουσα, καθολικῶς εἰς γῆν, ὡς μόνον αἷμα καὶ σὰρξ, οὐκέτι πνεῦμα καθαρὸν γιγνομένη. Αἱ οὖν ἄλογοι αὗται καὶ
27. What then? First, the irrational and fantastic movements of the soul about opinions draw to themselves at different times different images, some from matter, while others they fashion and conceive for themselves. And a soul suffers this above all when it partakes of and is blended with the material spirit, looking not towards heavenly things and their Maker, but downwards towards earthly things, wholly towards the earth, becoming as it were mere blood and flesh, and no longer pure spirit. These irrational and
Editors' notes and page, col. 952

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  • running head: ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI 952
  • marginal letters: A τῷ ἀπὸ τῶν; B ἐστιν. Τοῦ τοίνυν; C (Δύσπαρι, εἶδος ἄριστε,; D εἴδωλα, τὰ μὲν
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: (none)
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ἰνδαλματώδεις τῆς ψυχῆς κινήσεις εἰδωλομανεῖς ἀποτίκτουσι φαντασίας. Ὅταν δὲ ἁπαλὴ καὶ εὐάγωγος ψυχὴ, ἀνήκοος μὲν καὶ ἄπειρος λόγων ἐῤῥωμένων, ἀθεώρητος δὲ τοῦ ἀληθοῦς, ἀπερινόητος δὲ τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ ποιητοῦ τῶν ὅλων, ἐναποσφραγίσηται ψευδεῖς περὶ αὑτῆς δόξας· οἱ περὶ τὴν ὕλην δαίμονες, λίχνοι περὶ τὰς κνίσσας καὶ τὸ τῶν ἱερείων αἷμα ὄντες, ἀπατηλοὶ δὲ ἀνθρώπων, προσλαβόντες τὰς ψευδοδόξους ταύτας τῶν πολλῶν τῆς ψυχῆς κινήσεις, φαντασίας αὐτοῖς, ὡς ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων καὶ ἀγαλμάτων, ἐπιβατεύοντες αὐτῶν τοῖς νοήμασιν, εἰσρεῖν παρέχουσι· καὶ ὅσα καθ' αὑτὴν, ὡς ἀθάνατος οὖσα, λογικῶς κινεῖται ψυχὴ, ἢ προμηνύουσα τὰ μέλλοντα, ἢ θεραπεύουσα τὰ ἐνεστηκότα, τούτων τὴν δόξαν καρποῦνται οἱ δαίμονες.
fantastic movements of the soul, therefore, bring forth idol-mad imaginations. And when a tender and easily led soul, unacquainted and inexperienced with sound arguments, unobservant of the truth, and uncomprehending of the Father and Maker of the universe, has stamped upon itself false opinions about itself, the demons that haunt matter, being greedy for the savour of burnt offerings and the blood of sacrificial victims, and deceivers of men, laying hold of these false-opinioned movements of the soul of the multitude, cause imaginations to stream into them as though coming from the idols and statues, invading their thoughts; and whatever rational movements a soul makes of itself, as being immortal—either foretelling the future or healing things present—of these the demons reap the glory.
28. Ἀναγκαῖον δὲ ἴσως, κατὰ τὰ προειρημένα, περὶ τῶν ὀνομάτων ὀλίγα εἰπεῖν. Ἡρόδοτος μὲν οὖν καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ τοῦ Φιλίππου ἐν τῇ πρὸς τὴν μητέρα ἐπιστολῇ (ἑκάτεροι δὲ ἐν τῇ Ἡλιουπόλει, καὶ Μέμφι καὶ Θήβαις, εἰς λόγους τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν ἀφῖχθαι λέγονται), φασὶ παρ' ἐκείνων ἀνθρώπους αὐτοὺς γενέσθαι, μαθεῖν. Ἡρόδοτος μέν· Ἤδη ὦν τῶν αἱ εἰκόνες ἦσαν, τοιούτους ἀπεδείκνυσάν σφεας αὐτοὺς ἐόντας, θεῶν δὲ πολλὸν ἀπηλλαγμένους. Τὸ δὲ πρότερον τῶν ἀνδρῶν τούτων, θεοὺς εἶναι τοὺς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἄρχοντας, οὐκ ἐόντας ἅμα τοῖσι ἀνθρώποισι· καὶ τούτων ἀεὶ ἕνα τὸν κρατέοντα εἶναι· ὕστερον δὲ αὐτῆς βασιλεῦσαι Ὥρον τὸν Ὀσίρεως παῖδα, τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα Ἕλληνες ὀνομάζουσι. Τοῦτον καταπαύσαντα Τυφῶνα, βασιλεῦσαι ὕστατον Αἰγύπτου. Ὄσιρις δέ ἐστι Διόνυσος καθ' Ἑλλάδα γλῶσσαν. Οἵ τε οὖν ἄλλοι, καὶ τελευταῖος βασιλεὺς Αἰγύπτου (παρὰ δὲ τούτων εἰς Ἕλληνας ἦλθε τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν θεῶν) Ἀπόλλων ὁ Διονύσου καὶ Ἴσιδος (ὡς ὁ αὐτὸς Ἡρόδοτος λέγει· Ἀπόλλωνα δὲ καὶ Ἄρτεμιν Διονύσου
28. And it is perhaps necessary, in accordance with what has been said before, to say a few words concerning the names. Herodotus, then, and Alexander the son of Philip in his letter to his mother (and each of them is said to have conversed with the priests in Heliopolis and Memphis and Thebes) say that they learnt from them that the gods were men. Herodotus says: Now those whose images these were, they showed to have been such as themselves, and far removed from gods; and that before these men, the rulers in Egypt were gods, not dwelling together with men, and that of these one was always the supreme ruler; and that last over it ruled Horus the son of Osiris, whom the Greeks name Apollo; and that he, having deposed Typhon, ruled last over Egypt. Now Osiris is Dionysus in the Greek tongue. Both the others, therefore, and the last king of Egypt (and from these the names of the gods came to the Greeks), Apollo the son of Dionysus and Isis—as the same Herodotus says: Apollo and Artemis they say are children of Dionysus
Editors' notes and page, col. 953

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  • running head: 953 LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS.
  • marginal letters: A ἰνδαλματώδεις τῆς ψυχῆς; B δόξαν καρποῦνται οἱ; C Ὥρον τὸν Ὀσίρεως; D contagionis, inquit, aspiratio
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: (none)
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Editors' notes and page, col. 954

Footnotes

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Ἐναποσφραγίσηται. Tres Anglicani codices προσφραγίσεται.

Ἐναποσφραγίσηται ("stamps upon"). Three English codices have προσφραγίσεται.

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Περὶ αὐτῆς. Duo Anglic. περὶ αὐτῶν.

Περὶ αὐτῆς ("about it"). Two English manuscripts have περὶ αὐτῶν.

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Φαντασίας αὐτοῖς. Fraudem daemonum eodem modo exponunt alii scriptores. Δι' ὀνείρων, ait Tatianus n. 18, τὴν εἰς αὐτοὺς πραγματευόμενοι δόξαν, per somnia illis opinionem de se injiciunt. Tertullianus, Apol. 22: Eadem igitur obscuritate contagionis, inquit, aspiratio daemonum et angelorum, mentis quoque corruptelas agit furoribus, et amentiis foedis, ac saevis libidinibus, cum erroribus variis, quorum iste potissimus, quo deos istos captis et circumscriptis hominum mentibus commendat. Quod ait Eusebius lib. V Praep. evang., cap. 2: Stolidos et faciles animos a daemonibus in errorem induci nescio quibus simulacrorum motibus, κινήσεσί τισι τῶν ξοάνων, id explicandum videtur ex verbis Athenagorae. Illi enim simulacrorum motus aliud esse nihil videntur, quam phantasiae illae, quas tanquam a simulacris daemones immittunt in animos infirmos. Similia docent Minucius Felix cap. 27 et Cyprianus qui illius verbis utitur pro suis in libro De Vanit. idol., et Lactantius lib. II, cap. 14. Quidquid autem hoc loco dicitur ab Athenagora, promissa explicatio est illorum effectuum, quos n. 23, sub nomine simulacrorum edi fatebatur. Huc autem redit tota illius disputatio: statuae nihil possunt sua sponte; Neryllinus et Proteus et Alexander nihilo efficaciores; inani ergo specie daemones hominibus illudunt. Tatianus n. 18, Justini auctoritate fretus, negat daemones sanare: Minucius et Cyprianus eo redigunt daemonum molitiones, ut curasse videantur. Nihil aliud possunt quam nocere, inquit Lactantius lib. II, cap. 15. Ex his autem asseverare possumus nullam prorsus fidem apud primos Christianos habuisse Cornelium Tacitum, dum narrat Hist. lib. IV, Alexandriae hominem caecum et alium manu aegrum, monitu Serapidis, ad Vespasianum confugisse, ac petente altero, ut genas et oculorum orbes dignaretur respergere oris excremento; altero, ut vestigio Caesaris calcaretur, imperatorem Serapidi paruisse ac statim utrumque sanatum. Mox Gesnerus legit ὀνόμασι pro νοήμασι. At Tertullianus modo citatus ita hunc locum imitatur, ut legisse videatur νοήμασι.

Φαντασίας αὐτοῖς ("[presenting] fancies to them"). Other writers explain the demons' deceit in the same way. "Δι' ὀνείρων," says Tatian, no. 18, "τὴν εἰς αὐτοὺς πραγματευόμενοι δόξαν: through dreams they instil into them an opinion about themselves." Tertullian, Apology 22: "By the same obscurity of contagion," he says, "the breath of demons and angels also works corruptions of the mind, with frenzies and foul madness and savage lusts, with various errors, of which this is the chief, that it commends these gods to the captured and ensnared minds of men." What Eusebius says, Praeparatio evangelica book V, ch. 2 — that dull and pliable minds are led into error by the demons through some sort of movements of the images, κινήσεσί τισι τῶν ξοάνων — seems to be explained from Athenagoras's words. For to him those movements of the images seem to be nothing other than the fancies which the demons send into weak minds as if from the images. Minucius Felix, ch. 27, teaches the like, and Cyprian, who uses his words as his own in the book On the Vanity of Idols, and Lactantius, book II, ch. 14. Whatever Athenagoras says in this place is the promised explanation of those effects which in no. 23 he admitted were produced under the name of the images. His whole argument comes to this: the statues can do nothing of themselves; Neryllinus and Proteus and Alexander are no more effective; therefore the demons mock men with an empty appearance. Tatian, no. 18, relying on Justin's authority, denies that the demons heal; Minucius and Cyprian reduce the demons' contrivances to this, that they seem to have cured. "They can do nothing but harm," says Lactantius, book II, ch. 15. From this we can affirm that Cornelius Tacitus had no credit whatever among the first Christians, when he relates, Histories book IV, that at Alexandria a blind man and another sick in the hand, at the prompting of Serapis, fled to Vespasian, the one asking that he deign to sprinkle his cheeks and eyeballs with spittle, the other that he be trodden by Caesar's foot; that the emperor obeyed Serapis, and both were at once healed. Shortly after, Gesner reads ὀνόμασι for νοήμασι. But Tertullian, just quoted, imitates this passage in such a way that he seems to have read νοήμασι.

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Μέμφι. Sic plerique codices mss., editiones Paris. Μέμφει.

Μέμφι ("Memphis"). So most manuscript codices; the Paris editions have Μέμφει.

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Αὐτούς. Pro hac voce legitur πάντας apud Herodotum, lib. II, cap. 144.

Αὐτούς ("them"). For this word πάντας is read in Herodotus, book II, ch. 144.

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Ὕστερον. Herodot. ὕστατον.

Ὕστερον ("later"). Herodotus has ὕστατον.

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Ὀσίρεως. Herodot. Ὀσίριος.

Ὀσίρεως ("of Osiris"). Herodotus has Ὀσίριος.

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  • running head: LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS. 954
  • marginal letters: A spiritus, depressa. Illæ; B tur, sive futura; C cum Typhonem 306; D tius lib. II,
  • old-edition numerals: 306 after Typhonem
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
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Editors' notes and page, col. 955

Footnotes

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Σωτηρίαν. Herodot. lib. II, cap. 156, καὶ σώτειραν.

Σωτηρίαν ("safety"). Herodotus, book II, ch. 156, has καὶ σώτειραν.

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Εὐσεβείας. Reg. 2, Clarom. et duo Angl. θεοσεβείας. Quod autem primos illos reges Aegyptiorum Athenagoras coelesti ortos dicit origine, id ex Herodoti sententia, nec sine aliqua dicit ironia. Hos enim natos humano more et nutritos et inter homines regnasse probat, ut originem illis non coelestem, sed terrenam fuisse demonstret.

Εὐσεβείας ("piety"). Regius 2, the Clermont codex and two English manuscripts have θεοσεβείας. That Athenagoras says those first kings of the Egyptians sprang from a heavenly origin, he says following Herodotus's view, and not without some irony. For he proves that they were born and reared in human fashion and reigned among men, so as to show that their origin was not heavenly but earthly.

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Θηλείας. Herodot. lib. II, cap. 41, θηλέας et mox Ἴσιος, quae vox eodem modo antea legitur apud eumdem Herodotum. Mox legitur in Clarom. et duobus Anglicanis ἐστὰν ἐν δαμάλης σχήματι ἰδεῖν. Haec etiam supra lineam scripta in Reg. 2. Praeterea Clarom. addit ἔστιν. Melius in 2 Angl. τοὺς μὲν οὖν καθαρούς.

Θηλείας ("female"). Herodotus, book II, ch. 41, has θηλέας, and shortly after Ἴσιος, a word read in the same way earlier in the same Herodotus. Shortly after, the Clermont codex and two English manuscripts read ἐστὰν ἐν δαμάλης σχήματι ἰδεῖν; this is also written above the line in Regius 2. The Clermont codex further adds ἔστιν. Better in two English manuscripts: τοὺς μὲν οὖν καθαρούς.

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Ἰοῦν. Plerique codices Ἰώ aut Ἰῶ.

Ἰοῦν ("Io"). Most codices have Ἰώ or Ἰῶ.

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Ἔξω ἤ. Sic emendavi ope ipsius Herodoti contextus lib. II, c. 3, quod in editis nostris legebatur ἐξ ὧν. Legitur etiam apud Herodotum μόνον, et deest ἐλάχιστα.

Ἔξω ἤ ("except"). So I corrected, with the help of Herodotus's own text, book II, ch. 3, what was read in our printed editions as ἐξ ὧν. In Herodotus μόνον is also read, and ἐλάχιστα is missing.

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Συνάπτων τὸ ἀΐδιον αὐτοῖς γένος. Ut antea coelestem originem, animi causa, diis illis affingebat, ita nunc Mercurium aeterno cum illis genere conjunctum dicit. Quare nec cum editore Oxoniensi legendum ἀνθρώπινον pro ἀΐδιον, nec cum Gesnero et Suffrido, συμφωνοῦσι μὴ εἶναι ἀΐδιον αὐτοῖς γένος, sed supplendum tantummodo λέγουσι.

Συνάπτων τὸ ἀΐδιον αὐτοῖς γένος ("joining to them an everlasting lineage"). As before he attributed a heavenly origin to those gods for amusement's sake, so now he says Mercury is joined with them by an everlasting lineage. So neither should ἀνθρώπινον be read for ἀΐδιον with the Oxford editor, nor with Gesner and Suffridus συμφωνοῦσι μὴ εἶναι ἀΐδιον αὐτοῖς γένος; only λέγουσι needs to be supplied.

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Καταλέγοιμι. Tres Anglic. codices λέγοιμι.

Καταλέγοιμι ("I should list"). Three English codices have λέγοιμι.

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Μὴ νενομίσθαι. Legit Gesnerus μὴ βασιλεῖς ὄντας αὐτοὺς νενομίσθαι. Sed iniquum prorsus est emendare velle quidquid in antiquis scriptoribus non elegantissimum et ornatissimum videtur.

Μὴ νενομίσθαι ("not to have been reckoned"). Gesner reads μὴ βασιλεῖς ὄντας αὐτοὺς νενομίσθαι. But it is altogether unjust to want to correct whatever in ancient writers does not seem most elegant and most polished.

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Τοὺς ἄλλους. Clarom. et tres Anglic.: τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τοὺς ἄλλους θνητούς.

Τοὺς ἄλλους ("the others"). The Clermont codex and three English manuscripts have τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τοὺς ἄλλους θνητούς.

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Μαθήματα. Legendum παθήματα Gesnerus dudum admonuit. Sequens Herodoti locus legitur in eodem lib. II, cap. 61.

Μαθήματα ("teachings"). Gesner long ago advised that παθήματα should be read. The following passage of Herodotus is read in the same book II, ch. 61.

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Τοίχου. Addit Herodotus lib. II, c. 170: Καὶ ἐν τῷ τεμένει ὀβελοὶ ἑστᾶσι μεγάλοι λίθινοι.

Τοίχου ("wall"). Herodotus, book II, ch. 170, adds: Καὶ ἐν τῷ τεμένει ὀβελοὶ ἑστᾶσι μεγάλοι λίθινοι ("And in the precinct stand great stone obelisks").

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  • running head: 955 ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI
  • marginal letters: A quam, quos cœlesti; B perhiberi diceret, etiam; C urbe Busiridis festum; D σώτειραν.
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
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καὶ Ἴσιδος λέγουσιν εἶναι παῖδας· Λητὼ δὲ τροφὸν αὐτοῖς σωτηρίαν γενέσθαι·) οὓς οὐρανίους γεγονότας, πρώτους βασιλέας ἔσχον· πὴ μὲν ἀγνοίᾳ τῆς ἀληθοῦς περὶ τὸ Θεῖον εὐσεβείας, πὴ δὲ χάριτι τῆς ἀρχῆς θεοὺς ὁμοῦ ταῖς γυναιξὶν αὐτῶν ἦγον. Τοὺς μέν νυν καθαροὺς βοῦς τοὺς ἔρσενας, καὶ τοὺς μόσχους οἱ πάντες Αἰγύπτιοι θύουσι· τὰς δὲ θηλείας οὔ σφιν ἔξεστι θύειν, ἀλλ' ἱραί εἰσι τῆς Ἴσιδος, τῆς ἄγαλμα ἐὸν γυναικήϊον βούκερών ἐστιν, κατάπερ οἱ Ἕλληνες τὴν Ἰοῦν γράφουσι. Τίνες δ' ἂν μᾶλλον ταῦτα πιστευθεῖεν λέγοντες, ἢ οἱ κατὰ διαδοχὴν γένους, παῖς παρὰ πατρὸς, ὡς τὴν ἱερωσύνην, καὶ τὴν ἱστορίαν διαδεχόμενοι; οὐ γὰρ τοὺς σεμνοποιοῦντας ζακόρους τὰ εἴδωλα, εἰκὸς ἀνθρώπους αὐτοὺς γενέσθαι ψεύδεσθαι. Εἴ τι μὲν οὖν Ἡρόδοτος ἔλεγε, περὶ τῶν θεῶν, ὡς περὶ ἀνθρώπων, ἱστορεῖν Αἰγυπτίους, καὶ λέγοντι τῷ Ἡροδότῳ· Τὰ μέν νυν θεῖα τῶν ἀπηγημάτων, οἷα ἤκουον, οὐκ εἰμὶ πρόθυμος διηγεῖσθαι, ἔξω ἢ τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτέων μοῦνα ἐλάχιστα· μὴ πιστεύειν ὡς μυθοποιῷ ἔδει· ἐπεὶ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος καὶ Ἑρμῆς ὁ Τρισμέγιστος ἐπικαλούμενος, συνάπτων τὸ ἀΐδιον αὐτοῖς γένος, καὶ ἄλλοι μυρίοι (ἵνα μὴ καθ' ἕκαστον καταλέγοιμι), οὐδὲν λόγος ἔτι καταλείπεται, βασιλεῖς ὄντας αὐτοὺς μὴ νενομίσθαι θεούς. Καὶ ὅτι μὲν ἄνθρωποι, δηλοῦσι μὲν καὶ Αἰγυπτίων οἱ λογιώτατοι, οἳ θεοὺς λέγοντες αἰθέρα, γῆν, ἥλιον, σελήνην, τοὺς ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους θνητοὺς νομίζουσι, καὶ ἱερὰ τοὺς τάφους αὐτῶν. Δηλοῖ δὲ καὶ Ἀπολλόδωρος ἐν τῷ Περὶ θεῶν. Ἡρόδοτος δὲ καὶ τὰ μαθήματα αὐτῶν φησι μυστήρια. Ἐν δὲ Βουσίρι πόλι, ὡς ἀνάγουσι τῇ Ἴσι τὴν ὁρτὴν, εἴρηται πρότερόν μοι. Τύπτονται γὰρ δὴ μετὰ τὴν θυσίην πάντες καὶ πᾶσαι, μυριάδες κάρτα πολλαὶ ἀνθρώπων. Τὸν δὲ τύπτονται τρόπον, οὔ μοι ὅσιόν ἐστι λέγειν. Εἰ θεοὶ, καὶ ἀθάνατοι· εἰ δὲ τύπτονται, καὶ τὰ πάθη ἐστὶν αὐτῶν μυστήρια, ἄνθρωποι· ὡς αὐτὸς Ἡρόδοτος· Εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ αἱ ταφαὶ τοῦ οὐχ ὅσιον ποιεῦμαι ἐπὶ τοιούτῳ πρήγματι ἐξαγορεύειν τοὔνομα, ἐν Σάϊ, ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τῆς Ἀθηναίης, ὄπισθεν τοῦ νηοῦ παντὸς, τοῦ τῆς Ἀθηναίης ἐχόμεναι τοίχου. Λίμνη δ' ἐστὶν
and Isis, and that Leto became their nurse and preserver—whom, having been of heavenly origin, they had as their first kings: partly through ignorance of true piety towards the Divine, and partly in gratitude for their rule, they esteemed them gods together with their wives. Now pure male cattle and calves all the Egyptians sacrifice; but the females they are not permitted to sacrifice, rather they are sacred to Isis, whose image, being feminine, is cow-horned, just as the Greeks depict Io. And who could be more worthy of belief in saying these things than those who in succession of family, son from father, receive both the history and the priesthood? For it is not likely that the temple-wardens who exalt the idols would falsely say that they were men. If, then, Herodotus alone had said that the Egyptians related histories about the gods as about men, even when Herodotus says: Now of the divine matters in the narratives, such as I heard, I am not eager to relate them, save only their names alone to a very slight extent, one ought not to have believed him even as a teller of myths; but since Alexander, and Hermes surnamed Trismegistus, who links his own eternal race with theirs, and countless others (not to enumerate them one by one) say the same, no room is left any longer to doubt that, being kings, they were considered gods. And that they were men is shown also by the most learned of the Egyptians, who while calling ether, earth, sun, and moon gods, consider the rest to have been mortal men, and their tombs temples. Apollodorus also shows the same in his work On the Gods. And Herodotus calls even their sufferings mysteries: How they celebrate the festival of Isis in the city of Busiris has been told by me before. For after the sacrifice all the men and women beat their breasts, very many tens of thousands of people; but in what manner they beat their breasts (and for whom), it is not pious for me to say. If they are gods, they are also immortal; but if people beat their breasts for them, and their sufferings are mysteries, they are men; as Herodotus himself says: There are also the burial-places of him whose name I count it impious to utter in connection with such a matter, in Sais, in the sanctuary of Athena, behind the whole temple, adjoining the wall of Athena. And there is a lake
Editors' notes and page, col. 956

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  • running head: ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI 956
  • marginal letters: A καὶ Ἴσιδος λέγουσιν; B σθαι. Εἴ τι; C μαθήματα αὐτῶν φησι; D (68) Συνάπτων τὸ
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: (none)
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ἐχομένη λιθίνῃ κρηπῖδι κεκοσμημένη ἐν κύκλῳ, μέγεθος, ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκέει, ὅση περ ἡ ἐν Δήλῳ, ἡ Τροχοειδὴς καλεομένη. Ἐν δὲ τῇ λίμνῃ ταύτῃ τὰ δείκηλα τῶν παθέων αὐτοῦ νυκτὸς καλέουσι μυστήρια Αἰγύπτιοι. Καὶ οὐ μόνον ὁ τάφος τοῦ Ὀσίριδος δείκνυται, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταριχεία· Ἐπεάν σφισι κομισθῇ νεκρὸς, δεικνύασι τοῖσι κομίσασι παραδείγματα τῶν νεκρῶν ξύλινα τῇ γραφῇ μεμιμημένα· καὶ τὴν μὲν σπουδαιοτάτην αὐτέων φασὶν εἶναι τοῦ οὐχ ὅσιον ποιεῦμαι οὔνομα ἐπὶ τοιούτῳ πρήγματι ὀνομάζειν.
adjoining it, adorned with a stone curb round about, in size, as it seems to me, as large as the one in Delos called the Wheel-shaped. And in this lake the Egyptians perform by night the representations of his sufferings, which they call mysteries. And not only is the tomb of Osiris shown, but also his embalming: Whenever a corpse is brought to them, they show to those who brought it wooden models of corpses, imitated by painting; and the most elaborate of them they say is that of him whose name I count it impious to mention in connection with such a matter.
29. Ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἑλλήνων οἱ περὶ ποίησιν καὶ ἱστορίαν σοφοὶ περὶ μὲν Ἡρακλέους·
29. Moreover, those among the Greeks who are wise in poetry and history say concerning Heracles:
Σχέτλιος, οὐδὲ θεῶν ὄπιν ἠδέσατ' οὐδὲ τράπεζαν, Τὴν οἱ παρέθηκεν· ἔπειτα δὲ πέφνε καὶ αὐτὸν Ἴφιτον.
Wretched man, he neither revered the vengeance of the gods nor the table which he had set before him; and afterwards he slew Iphitus himself also.
Τοιοῦτος ὢν, εἰκότως μὲν ἐμαίνετο· εἰκότως δὲ, ἀνάψας πυρὰν, κατέκαυσεν αὑτόν. Περὶ δὲ Ἀσκληπιοῦ Ἡσίοδος μέν·
Being such a man, deservedly indeed did he go mad, and deservedly, having kindled a pyre, did he burn himself to death. And concerning Asclepius, Hesiod says:
Πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε Ὅτ' ἐχώσατ', ἀπ' Οὐλύμπου δὲ βαλὼν ψολόεντι κεραυνῷ Ἔκτανε Λητοΐδην φίλον, σὺν θυμὸν ὀρίνων.
The father of men and of gods was wroth, and hurling from Olympus with a smoking thunderbolt he slew the beloved son of Leto, rousing his spirit.
Πίνδαρος δέ·
And Pindar says:
Ἀλλὰ κέρδει καὶ σοφία δέδεται. Ἔτραπεν κἀκεῖνον ἀγάνορι μισθῷ χρυσὸς ἐν χερσὶν φανείς. Χερσὶ δ' ἄρα Κρονίων, Ῥίψαις δι' ἀμφοῖν ἀμπνοὰν Στέρνων κάθελεν Ὠκέως· αἴθων δὲ κεραυνὸς ἐνέσκηψε μόρον.
Yet even wisdom is bound by gain. Gold appearing in his hands with a splendid reward turned him also aside. Therefore the son of Cronus with his hands, hurling through both men, swiftly took away the breath of their breasts, and the blazing thunderbolt hurled down doom.
Ἢ τοίνυν θεοὶ ἦσαν, καὶ οὔτε αὐτοὶ πρὸς χρυσὸν εἶχον
Either, therefore, they were gods, and neither had any greed for gold themselves—
(Ὦ χρυσὲ, δεξίωμα κάλλιστον βροτοῖς, Ὡς οὔτε μήτηρ ἡδονὰς τοιάσδ' ἔχει, Οὐ παῖδες.
(O gold, fairest welcome to mortals, such pleasures as neither mother has, nor children:
Ἀνεπιδεὲς γὰρ καὶ κρεῖττον ἐπιθυμίας τὸ Θεῖον), οὔτε ἀπέθνησκον· ἢ ἄνθρωποι γεγονότες, καὶ πονηροὶ δι' ἀμαθίαν ἦσαν, καὶ χρημάτων ἐλάττους. Τί με πολλὰ λέγειν, ἢ Κάστορος ἢ Πολυδεύκους μνημονεύοντα, ἢ Ἀμφιάρεω, οἳ, ὡς εἰπεῖν λόγῳ, χθὲς καὶ πρώην ἄνθρωποι ἐξ ἀνθρώπων γεγονότες, θεοὶ νομίζονται· ὁπότε καὶ Ἰνὼ μετὰ τὴν μανίαν καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς μανίας πάθη θεὸν δοξάζουσι γεγονέναι;
—for the Divine is in need of nothing and superior to desire), nor did they die; or else, having been men, they were both wicked through ignorance and overcome by love of money. Why need I say much, mentioning either Castor or Polydeuces, or Amphiaraus, who, so to speak, having been born yesterday and the day before as men from men, are considered gods, when even Ino, after her madness and the sufferings consequent upon her madness, they suppose to have become a goddess?
Πόντου πλάνητες· Λευκοθέαν ἐπώνυμον.
Wanderers of the sea call her by surname Leucothea.
Καὶ τὸν παῖδα αὐτῆς·
And her son:
Σεμνὸς Παλαίμων ναυτίλοις κεκλήσεται.
He shall be called by sailors reverend Palaemon.
30. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ὡς ἀπόπτυστοι καὶ θεοστυγεῖς δόξαν ἔσχον εἶναι θεοὶ, καὶ ἡ θυγάτηρ τῆς Δερκετοῦς Σεμίραμις, λάγνος γυνὴ καὶ μιαιφόνος, ἔδοξε Συρία θεός· καὶ διὰ τὴν Δερκετὼ καὶ τὰς
30. For if, detestable and hated by God as they were, they obtained the reputation of being gods, and the daughter of Derceto, Semiramis, a lustful and blood-stained woman, was esteemed a Syrian goddess; and on account of Derceto both the
Editors' notes and page, col. 957

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  • running head: 957 LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS.
  • marginal letters: A ἐχομένη λιθίνῃ κρηπῖδι; B Τὴν οἱ παρέθηκεν·; C νὸς ἐνέσκηψε μόρον.; D Πόντου πλάνητες· Λευκοθέαν
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: printer's turnover bracket [κεραυνῷ in hexameter joined; broken ρ in χρυσὲ looks like χουσὲ
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Editors' notes and page, col. 958

Footnotes

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Ἴφιτον. Haec ab aliquo insuta conjicit Stephanus. Legi Odyss. Φ prope initium monet Oxon. editor Versus Hesiodi non reperiri monet Gesnerus; Pindari autem exstare Pyth. 3. [Lege Χώσατ'.]

Ἴφιτον ("Iphitus"). Stephanus conjectures that these words were stitched in by someone. The Oxford editor notes that they are read in Odyssey 21, near the beginning. Gesner notes that the verses of Hesiod are not found, but that Pindar's are extant, Pythian 3. [Read Χώσατ'.]

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Δεξίωμα. Sic uterque Reg. δεξίαμα in 3 Angl. ἀξίωμα in editis. Ὡς additum a Stephano ex aliis hos versus Euripidis citantibus. Mox Suffrid., τί δεῖ με.

Δεξίωμα ("welcome gift"). So both Regii; δεξίαμα in three English manuscripts; ἀξίωμα in the printed editions. Ὡς was added by Stephanus from others who quote these verses of Euripides. Shortly after, Suffridus has τί δεῖ με.

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Ὡς ἀπόπτυστοι. Mallet Gesnerus οἱ ἀπόπτυστοι.

Ὡς ἀπόπτυστοι ("as abominable"). Gesner would prefer οἱ ἀπόπτυστοι.

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Ἔδοξε Συρία θεός. Observat Suffridus, cum historiae monumentis non quadrare id quod de Semiramide pronuntiat Athenagoras, nisi forte illam brevi admodum tempore hoc deae Syriae nomen habuisse dicamus. Sed minus attendit vir eruditus deam Syram idem hoc loco non esse ac celeberrimam illam Syriam deam, quae praecipuum erat Syriorum numen; sed idem ac unam ex illis quae (continues)

Ἔδοξε Συρία θεός ("she was thought a Syrian goddess"). Suffridus observes that what Athenagoras declares about Semiramis does not square with the records of history, unless perhaps we say that she bore this name of the Syrian goddess for a very short time. But the learned man did not sufficiently notice that "a Syrian goddess" in this place is not the same as that most celebrated Syrian Goddess, who was the chief deity of the Syrians, but the same as one of those which (continues)

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  • running head: LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS. 958
  • marginal letters: A dine, ut mihi; B Quam ei apposuerat;; C Vel igitur dii; D Cognominatam naufragi Leucotheam.
  • old-edition numerals: 307 after habentur
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
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Editors' notes and page, col. 959

Footnotes

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(continued) a Syriis colebantur. Quidquid enim honoris Semiramidi delatum dicit Athenagoras, id illam non sua sponte habuisse dicit, sed propter matrem Dercetum, quam proinde longe filia venerabiliorem apud Syros fuisse statuit.

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Δεκάτῃ γενεῇ. Legitur in libris Sibyllinis δεκάτη γενεή, sed prorsus mendose, ut ex Tertulliano, quem mox citabimus, perspici potest.

Δεκάτῃ γενεῇ ("in the tenth generation"). In the Sibylline books δεκάτη γενεή is read, but quite wrongly, as can be seen from Tertullian, whom we shall quote shortly.

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Βασίλευσε. Sic emendavit editor Oxoniensis ex ipsis versibus Sibyllinis pro eo quod erat in editis βασιλεύς. Ibidem editi οὐρανοὺς ἐκάλεσσαν. In Sibyllinis libris edit. Galei legitur οὐρανοῦ ἐξεκάλεσσαν. Mallem οὓς ἐκάλεσσαν. Hos versus ita legebat Tertullianus, uti eos emendandos puto. Sic enim interpretatur II ad Nat., cap. 12: Decima genitura hominum, ex quo cataclysmum prioribus accidit, regnavit Saturnus et Titan et Tamfetus, coeli et terrae fortissimi filii.

Βασίλευσε ("reigned"). So the Oxford editor corrected it from the Sibylline verses themselves, for what stood in the printed editions as βασιλεύς. In the same place the printed editions have οὐρανοὺς ἐκάλεσσαν. In the Sibylline books, Gale's edition, οὐρανοῦ ἐξεκάλεσσαν is read. I should prefer οὓς ἐκάλεσσαν. Tertullian read these verses as I think they should be corrected; for he renders them so, Ad Nationes II, ch. 12: "In the tenth generation of men, after the flood befell the earlier ones, Saturn and Titan and Tamfetus reigned, the mightiest sons of heaven and earth."

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Γαῖάν τε καὶ οὐρανόν. Legitur γαίης τε καὶ οὐρανοῦ in versibus Sibyllinis, ut observavit editor Oxoniensis.

Γαῖάν τε καὶ οὐρανόν ("earth and heaven"). Γαίης τε καὶ οὐρανοῦ is read in the Sibylline verses, as the Oxford editor observed.

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Οἱ πρώτιστοι. Malunt οἱ προφέριστοι Gesnerus et Suffridus, atque ita legitur in versibus Sibyllinis. Sed multo aptior nostra lectio; nec dubium quin ita legerit Tertullianus, qui in loco jam laudato utitur Sibyllae auctoritate, ut probet Saturnum coeli et terrae filium dici, non quod vere e coelo et terra genitus fuerit, sed quia ignoti erant ejus parentes, et cum venisset in Italiam, rudes tunc agebantur et oculi et mentes hominum et quolibet novi viri aspectu quasi divino commoverentur, nedum et regis et quidem primi. Patet ex hac ultima voce Saturnum et Titanem et Japetum, etsi decima generatione regnarunt, primos tamen hominum dici, quia primi regnarunt, et quia antiquissimi fuere. Apud Justinum Cohort. n. 21, antiquissimi homines vocantur primi homines.

Οἱ πρώτιστοι ("the very first"). Gesner and Suffridus prefer οἱ προφέριστοι, and so it is read in the Sibylline verses. But our reading is much more apt; nor is there any doubt that Tertullian read it so, who in the passage already cited uses the Sibyl's authority to prove that Saturn is called the son of heaven and earth, not because he was truly begotten of heaven and earth, but because his parents were unknown, and when he came into Italy "men's eyes and minds were then rude, and they were stirred by the sight of any new man as by something divine, much more by that of a king, and indeed the first." It is clear from this last word that Saturn and Titan and Japetus, though they reigned in the tenth generation, are nonetheless called the first of men, because they reigned first and because they were most ancient. In Justin, Exhortation no. 21, the most ancient men are called the first men.

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Φιλανθρωπίᾳ. Sanctus Athanasius in orat. adv. gentes id testatur contigisse διὰ φόβον τοῦ προστάξαντος, ob metum illius qui id praeceperat. Sed metus ille non tam videtur esse terror animis injectus, quam metus displicendi charissimis ob beneficia regibus, nempe Adriano et Antonino, quos Athenagoras M. Aurelii parentes appellat. Erat sane Adrianus lenitate et humanitate longe inferior Antonino; sed cum magna illius in Aegyptios beneficia exstiterint, non mirum si ab hominibus superstitiosis cultum Antinoi facile impetravit. Huc accessit gratia et auctoritas Antonini, quem ex testimonio Athenagorae operam dedisse colligimus, ut instituta ab Adriano impietas, eo mortuo, non abrogaretur.

Φιλανθρωπίᾳ ("out of kindness"). St Athanasius, in the oration Against the Gentiles, testifies that this happened διὰ φόβον τοῦ προστάξαντος, "out of fear of him who had commanded it." But that fear seems not so much a terror struck into their minds as the fear of displeasing kings who were very dear to them for their benefactions, namely Hadrian and Antoninus, whom Athenagoras calls the forebears of Marcus Aurelius. Hadrian was certainly far inferior to Antoninus in mildness and humanity; but since his benefactions to the Egyptians were great, it is no wonder that he easily obtained from superstitious men the worship of Antinous. To this was added the favour and authority of Antoninus, who, we gather from Athenagoras's testimony, took pains that the impiety instituted by Hadrian should not be abolished after his death.

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Ἐπισκιάσειν. Clarom. et tres Anglicani, ἐπισκιάζειν.

Ἐπισκιάσειν ("to overshadow"). The Clermont codex and three English manuscripts have ἐπισκιάζειν.

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  • running head: 959 ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI
  • marginal letters: A mata est, ac; B alios autem ob; C tenebris involvis, ignarus
  • old-edition numerals: 308 before Regnavit Saturnus
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:960
περιστερὰς καὶ τὴν Σεμίραμιν σέβουσι Σύροι (τὸ γὰρ ἀδύνατον, εἰς περιστερὰν μετέβαλεν ἡ γυνή· ὁ μῦθος παρὰ Κτησίᾳ)· τί θαυμαστὸν τοὺς μὲν ἐπὶ ἀρχῇ καὶ τυραννίδι ὑπὸ τῶν κατ' αὐτοὺς κληθῆναι θεοὺς, (Σίβυλλα, μέμνηται δ' αὐτῆς καὶ Πλάτων·
the Syrians worship doves and Semiramis (for what is impossible, the woman changed into a dove: the story is in Ctesias)—what wonder is it that some were called gods by their contemporaries on account of their rule and sovereignty (the Sibyl, and Plato also mentions her:
Δὴ τότε δὴ δεκάτῃ γενεῇ μερόπων ἀνθρώπων, Ἐξ οὗ δὴ κατακλυσμὸς ἐπὶ προτέρους γένετ' ἄνδρας, Καὶ βασίλευσε Κρόνος, καὶ Τιτὰν, Ἰαπετός τε, Γαίης τέκνα φέριστα καὶ Οὐρανοῦ, ἐξεκάλεσσαν Ἄνθρωποι, Γαῖάν τε καὶ Οὐρανὸν οὔνομα θέντες, Οὕνεκα οἱ πρώτιστοι ἔσαν μερόπων ἀνθρώπων.)
Then indeed in the tenth generation of articulate-speaking men, after the flood had come upon the former men, both Cronus reigned, and Titan, and Iapetus, whom men called the noblest children of Earth and Heaven, giving them the name of Earth and Heaven, because they were the very first of articulate-speaking men.)
τοὺς δ' ἐπ' ἰσχύϊ, ὡς Ἡρακλέα καὶ Περσέα, τοὺς δ' ἐπὶ τέχνῃ, ὡς Ἀσκληπιόν; Οἷς μὲν οὖν ἢ αὐτοὶ οἱ ἀρχόμενοι τιμῆς μετεδίδοσαν, ἢ αὐτοὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες, οἱ μὲν φόβῳ, οἱ δὲ καὶ αἰδοῖ, μετεῖχον τοῦ ὀνόματος. Καὶ Ἀντίνοος φιλανθρωπίᾳ τῶν ὑμετέρων προγόνων πρὸς τοὺς ὑπηκόους ἔτυχε νομίζεσθαι θεός. Οἱ δὲ μετ' αὐτοὺς, ἀβασανίστως παρεδέξαντο.
and others for their strength, like Heracles and Perseus, and others for their art, like Asclepius? Those, then, to whom either the subjects themselves gave a share of honour, or the rulers themselves, some out of fear, and others also out of reverence, shared in the name. And Antinous, through the benevolence of your ancestors towards their subjects, came to be regarded as a god. And those after them accepted it without examination.
Κρῆτες ἀεὶ ψεῦσται· καὶ γὰρ τάφον, ὦ ἄνα, σεῖο Κρῆτες ἐτεκτήναντο· σὺ δ' οὐ θάνες.
Cretans are always liars; for a tomb, O king, of yours the Cretans fashioned, yet you did not die.
Πιστεύων, Καλλίμαχε, ταῖς γοναῖς τοῦ Διὸς, ἀπιστεῖς αὐτοῦ τῷ τάφῳ· καὶ νομίζων ἐπισκιάσειν τἀληθὲς, καὶ τοῖς ἀγνοοῦσι κηρύσσεις τὸν τεθνηκότα. Κἂν μὲν τὸ ἄντρον βλέπῃς, τὸν Ῥέας ὑπομιμνήσκῃ τόκον· ἂν δὲ τὴν σορὸν ἴδῃς, ἐπισκοτεῖς τῷ τεθνηκότι, οὐκ εἰδὼς, ὅτι μόνος ἀΐδιος ὁ ἀγέννητος Θεός. Ἢ γὰρ ἄπιστοι οἱ ὑπὸ τῶν πολλῶν καὶ ποιητῶν λεγόμενοι μῦθοι περὶ τῶν θεῶν, καὶ περισσὴ ἡ περὶ αὐτοὺς εὐσέβεια (οὐ γάρ εἰσιν ὧν ψευδεῖς οἱ λόγοι)· ἢ, εἰ ἀληθεῖς αἱ γενέσεις, οἱ ἔρωτες, αἱ μιαιφονίαι, αἱ κλοπαὶ, αἱ ἐκτομαὶ, οἱ κεραυνοὶ, οὐκέτ' εἰσὶ, παυσάμενοι εἶναι· ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐγένοντο, οὐκ ὄντες. Τίς γὰρ τοῖς μὲν πιστεύειν λόγος, τοῖς δὲ ἀπιστεῖν, ἐπὶ
Believing, Callimachus, in the birth of Zeus, you disbelieve in his tomb; and thinking that you will overshadow the truth, you proclaim even to those who do not know it that he is dead. And if you look at the cave, you call to mind the childbirth of Rhea; but if you see the coffin, you cast a shadow over the dead man, not knowing that the unbegotten God alone is eternal. For either the myths told about the gods by the multitude and the poets are incredible, and reverence towards them is superfluous (for those of whom the accounts are false do not exist); or, if the births, the loves, the murders, the thefts, the castrations, the thunderbolts are true, they no longer exist, having ceased to be, since they also came into being when they were not. For what reason is there to believe some things and disbelieve others, when
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  • running head: ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI 960
  • marginal letters: A περιστερὰς καὶ τὴν; B τοὺς δ' ἐπ' ἰσχύϊ; C κότι, οὐκ εἰδὼς; D Apud Justinum (foot)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
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τὸ σεμνότερον περὶ αὐτῶν τῶν ποιητῶν ἱστορηκότων; Οὐ γὰρ ἂν δι' οὓς ἐνομίσθησαν θεοὶ, σεμνοποιήσαντας τὴν κατ' αὐτοὺς ἱστορίαν, οὗτοι τὰ πάθη τὰ αὐτῶν ἐψεύσαντο. Ὡς μὲν οὖν οὔκ ἐσμεν ἄθεοι, Θεὸν ἄγοντες τὸν ποιητὴν τοῦδε τοῦ παντὸς, καὶ τὸν παρ' αὐτοῦ Λόγον, κατὰ δύναμιν τὴν ἐμήν, εἰ καὶ μὴ πρὸς ἀξίαν, ἐλήλεγκται.
the poets have related their stories in order to exalt them? For those through whom they were considered gods, and who exalted the history concerning them, would not have falsely invented their sufferings. That we are not atheists, therefore, acknowledging as God the Maker of this universe and the Word from Him, has been proved according to my ability, even if not worthily.
31. Ἔτι δὲ καὶ τροφὰς καὶ μίξεις λογοποιοῦσιν ἀθέους καθ' ἡμῶν, ἵνα τε μισεῖν νομίζοιεν μετὰ λόγου, καὶ οἰόμενοι τῷ δεδίττεσθαι, ἢ τῆς ἐνστάσεως ἀπάξειν ἡμᾶς τοῦ βίου, ἢ πικροὺς καὶ ἀπαραιτήτους, τῇ τῶν αἰτιῶν ὑπερβολῇ, τοὺς ἄρχοντας παρασκευάσειν· πρὸς εἰδότας παίζοντες, ὅτι ἄνωθέν πως ἔθος, καὶ οὐκ ἐφ' ἡμῶν μόνον, κατά τινα θεῖον νόμον καὶ λόγον παρηκολούθηκε, προσπολεμεῖν τὴν κακίαν τῇ ἀρετῇ. Οὕτω καὶ Πυθαγόρας μὲν ἅμα τριακοσίοις ἑτέροις κατεφλέχθη πυρὶ, Ἡράκλειτος δὲ καὶ Δημόκριτος, ὁ μὲν τῆς Ἐφεσίων πόλεως ἠλαύνετο, ὁ δὲ τῆς Ἀβδηριτῶν, ἐπικατηγορούμενος μεμηνέναι· καὶ Σωκράτους Ἀθηναῖοι θάνατον κατέγνωσαν. Ἀλλ' ὡς ἐκεῖνοι οὐδὲν χείρους εἰς ἀρετῆς λόγον διὰ τὴν τῶν πολλῶν δόξαν, οὐδ' ἡμῖν οὐθὲν ἐπισκοτεῖ πρὸς ὁσιότητα βίου ἡ παρά τινων ἄκριτος βλασφημία. Εὐδοξοῦμεν γὰρ παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ. Πλὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα ἀπαντήσω τὰ ἐγκλήματα. Ὑμεῖς μὲν οὖν καὶ δι' ὧν εἴρηκα, εὖ οἶδα ἀπολελογῆσθαι ἐμαυτόν. Συνέσει γὰρ πάντας ὑπερφρονοῦντες, οἷς ὁ βίος ὡς πρὸς στάθμην τὸν Θεὸν κανονίζεται, ὅπως ἀνυπαίτιος καὶ ἀνεπίληπτος ἑκάστου ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος αὐτῷ γένοιτο, ἴστε τούτους μηδ' εἰς ἔννοιάν ποτε τοῦ βραχυτάτου ἐλευσομένους ἁμαρτήματος. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἕνα τὸν ἐνταῦθα βίον βιώσεσθαι πεπείσμεθα, κἂν ὑποπτεύειν ἐνῆν, δουλεύοντας σαρκὶ καὶ αἵματι, ἢ κέρδους ἢ ἐπιθυμίας ἐλάττους γενομένους ἁμαρτεῖν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐφεστηκέναι μὲν οἷς ἐννοοῦμεν, οἷς λαλοῦμεν, καὶ νύκτωρ καὶ μεθ' ἡμέραν τὸν Θεὸν οἴδαμεν, πάντα δὲ φῶς αὐτὸν ὄντα, καὶ τὰ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ἡμῶν ὁρᾷν, πεπείσμεθα, τοῦ ἐνταῦθα ἀπαλλαγέντες βίου, βίον ἕτερον βιώσεσθαι ἀμείνονα ἢ κατὰ τὸν ἐνθάδε, καὶ ἐπουράνιον, οὐκ ἐπίγειον (ὡς ἂν μετὰ Θεοῦ καὶ σὺν Θεῷ ἀκλινεῖς καὶ ἀπαθεῖς τὴν
31. Moreover they also fabricate godless feasts and intercourses against us, both that they may think they hate us with reason, and supposing that by terrifying us they will either draw us away from our way of life, or render the rulers bitter and inexorable through the excess of the charges; trifling with those who know that from of old somehow the custom has followed, and not in our case only, in accordance with a certain divine law and principle, for wickedness to make war on virtue. Thus Pythagoras too, together with three hundred others, was burned with fire, and Heraclitus and Democritus, the one was driven out of the city of the Ephesians, and the other from that of the Abderites, accused of being mad; and the Athenians condemned Socrates to death. But just as those men were in no way worse in respect of virtue on account of the opinion of the multitude, neither does the indiscriminate slander of certain persons cast any shadow upon us as regards holiness of life. For we are held in good repute with God. Nevertheless I will also meet these charges. As for you, indeed, even by what I have already said, I know well that I have cleared myself. For surpassing all men in intelligence, you know that those whose life is regulated with God as its rule, so that each one of us as a man may be blameless and irreproachable before Him, will never come even to the thought of the slightest sin. For if we were persuaded that we should live only this life here, there might have been room to suspect that, being enslaved to flesh and blood, or overcome by gain or desire, we might sin. But since we know that God is present both by night and by day to what we think and what we speak, and that He is wholly light and sees the things in our heart, we are persuaded that when we are released from this life here we shall live another life, better than that here, and heavenly, not earthly (since with God and together with God we shall abide unwavering and impassible as to the
Editors' notes and page, col. 961

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  • running head: 961 LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS.
  • marginal letters: A τὸ σεμνότερον περὶ; B ἔθος, καὶ οὐκ; C ται, ὅπως ἀνυπαίτιος
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
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Editors' notes and page, col. 962

Footnotes

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Παρασκευάσειν. Tres Angl. παρασκευάζειν.

Παρασκευάσειν ("to furnish"). Three English manuscripts have παρασκευάζειν.

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Θεῖον νόμον. Idem dixit Athenagoras n. 3. Uterque locus illustratur ex libro De resurrectione, qui sic incipit: Παντὶ δόγματι καὶ λόγῳ, τῆς ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ἀληθείας ἐχομένῳ, παραφύεταί τι ψεῦδος. Παραφύεται δὲ οὐκ ἐξ ὑποκειμένης τινὸς ἀρχῆς κατὰ φύσιν ὁρμώμενον, ἢ τῆς καθ' αὐτὸ ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἕκαστον αἰτίας, ἀλλὰ ὑπὸ τῶν τὴν ἔκθεσμον σπορὰν ἐπὶ διαφθορᾷ τῆς ἀληθείας τετιμηκότων σπουδαζόμενον. Sententiae omni ac doctrinae, quae quidem cum rerum veritate consentiat, adnascitur aliquid mendacii. Adnascitur autem non ex subjecto aliquo principio secundum naturam productum, aut ex propria cujusque rei causa, sed ab iis, qui semen adulterinum ad corruptionem veritatis cordi habent, de industria excogitatum.

Θεῖον νόμον ("a divine law"). Athenagoras said the same at no. 3. Both passages are illustrated from the book On the Resurrection, which begins thus: Παντὶ δόγματι καὶ λόγῳ, τῆς ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ἀληθείας ἐχομένῳ, παραφύεταί τι ψεῦδος. Παραφύεται δὲ οὐκ ἐξ ὑποκειμένης τινὸς ἀρχῆς κατὰ φύσιν ὁρμώμενον, ἢ τῆς καθ' αὐτὸ ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἕκαστον αἰτίας, ἀλλὰ ὑπὸ τῶν τὴν ἔκθεσμον σπορὰν ἐπὶ διαφθορᾷ τῆς ἀληθείας τετιμηκότων σπουδαζόμενον. "Upon every opinion and teaching that agrees with the truth of things some falsehood grows up alongside. It grows up not as produced by nature from some underlying principle, or from the proper cause of each thing, but as deliberately devised by those who set their hearts on a spurious seed for the corruption of the truth."

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Οὐθέν. Tres Anglicani οὐδέν.

Οὐθέν ("nothing"). Three English manuscripts have οὐδέν.

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Ὑμεῖς μὲν οὖν. Legendum ὑμῖν, ut monuit H. Stephanus, atque ita videtur scriptum prima manu fuisse in Regio primo.

Ὑμεῖς μὲν οὖν ("you then"). One should read ὑμῖν, as H. Stephanus advised; and so it seems to have been written in the first hand in Regius 1.

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(88) ‹anchor: ἄνθρωπος αὐτῷ› · call in col 962

Ἑκάστου ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος αὐτῷ. Sic Reg. 1, et Orat. At Clarom. et tres Angl. habent αὐτῶν. Edit. Paris. αὐτοῦ. Legendum putat Gesnerus ἕκαστος ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος, minus animadvertens hominem hoc loco appellari animam, ac proinde hominem uniuscujusque esse animam uniuscujusque. Unde Theophilus infra l. I, n. 2: Δεῖξόν μοι τὸν ἄνθρωπόν σου, κἀγώ σοι δείξω τὸν Θεόν μου. Demonstra mihi hominem tuum, et ego ostendam tibi Deum meum. Et Tatianus n. 15: Μόνος δ' ἄνθρωπος εἰκὼν καὶ ὁμοίωσις Θεοῦ. Nihil ergo mutandum in his Athenagorae verbis, quae sic reddenda essent, si verbum verbo redderetur: ut uniuscujusque nostrum homo extra noxiam apud eum et reprehensionem sit.

Ἑκάστου ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος αὐτῷ ("the man of each of us, before him"). So Regius 1 and the Oratory codex. But the Clermont codex and three English manuscripts have αὐτῶν; the Paris editions αὐτοῦ. Gesner thinks ἕκαστος ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος should be read, not noticing that in this place the soul is called "the man," and so the man of each one is the soul of each one. Hence Theophilus below, book I, no. 2: Δεῖξόν μοι τὸν ἄνθρωπόν σου, κἀγώ σοι δείξω τὸν Θεόν μου, "Show me your man, and I will show you my God." And Tatian, no. 15: Μόνος δ' ἄνθρωπος εἰκὼν καὶ ὁμοίωσις Θεοῦ. So nothing should be changed in these words of Athenagoras, which, if rendered word for word, would read: "so that the man of each of us may be without fault and reproach before him."

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Ὁρᾶν. Deest illud verbum in tribus Anglicanis, in quibus etiam paulo post desideratur ἕτερον et τὴν ψυχήν. Oxoniensis editor legendum conjicit καὶ πεπείσμεθα. Legendum potius videtur καὶ τοῦ ἐνταῦθα, atque ita visum Gesnero.

Ὁρᾶν ("to see"). That word is missing in three English manuscripts, in which a little after ἕτερον and τὴν ψυχήν are also wanting. The Oxford editor conjectures that καὶ πεπείσμεθα should be read. It seems rather that καὶ τοῦ ἐνταῦθα should be read, and so Gesner thought.

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  • running head: LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS. 962
  • marginal letters: A ratio ut alia; B criminum magnitudine, principes; C dimus; sed tamen
  • old-edition numerals: 309 after neque
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
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Editors' notes and page, col. 963

Footnotes

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Matth. V, 28.

Matthew 5:28.

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Γυναικὶ δ' ἰδίᾳ ἀδελφῇ. Reg. 2 et Rom. uterque γυναικὶ δ' ἀδελφῇ. Reg. 1 γυναικὶ διαδελφῇ. Clarom. et tres Anglicani γυναικὶ καὶ ἀδελφῇ.

Γυναικὶ δ' ἰδίᾳ ἀδελφῇ ("to a woman, his own sister"). Regius 2 and both Roman codices have γυναικὶ δ' ἀδελφῇ; Regius 1 γυναικὶ διαδελφῇ; the Clermont codex and three English manuscripts γυναικὶ καὶ ἀδελφῇ.

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Βασιλεὺς ἐθέλων καὶ Θυέστης. Locus corruptus, sed qui restitui possit et sanari, si legamus βασιλεῦσαι ἐθέλων καὶ ἐκδικηθῆναι, omissa illa voce Θυέστης, quam editor Oxoniensis probe vidit e margine, in qua aliquis notaverat de Thyeste Athenagoram loqui, in ipsum contextum obrepsisse.

Βασιλεὺς ἐθέλων καὶ Θυέστης ("a king wishing, and Thyestes"). A corrupt passage, but one that can be restored and healed if we read βασιλεῦσαι ἐθέλων καὶ ἐκδικηθῆναι, leaving out the word Θυέστης, which, as the Oxford editor rightly saw, crept into the text itself from the margin, where someone had noted that Athenagoras was speaking of Thyestes.

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Μεμοίχευκεν. Tres Anglicani addunt αὐτήν.

Μεμοίχευκεν ("has committed adultery"). Three English manuscripts add αὐτήν.

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Μηδὲν πλέον. Sic Clarom. et tres Anglicani. Editi μηδὲν τὸ πλέον.

Μηδὲν πλέον ("nothing more"). So the Clermont codex and three English manuscripts. The printed editions have μηδὲν τὸ πλέον.

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Δεσπότης. Melius sane δεσπόται, ut habent Parisienses editiones ex conjecturis Gesneri et Suffridi. Alloquitur enim duos imperatores Athenagoras. Sed quia in omnibus mss. legitur δεσπότης, nihil mutandum duxi. Supra lineam in Regio 2, habetur ὦ.

Δεσπότης ("lord"). Better certainly δεσπόται, as the Paris editions have it from the conjectures of Gesner and Suffridus; for Athenagoras is addressing two emperors. But since δεσπότης is read in all the manuscripts, I thought nothing should be changed. Above the line in Regius 2 there is ὦ.

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Νόμος ὅς. Plerique codices mss. νόμος ἤ.

Νόμος ὅς ("a law which"). Most manuscript codices have νόμος ἤ.

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Ἀδελφοὺς καί. Haec deerant in edit. Paris. At in omnibus leguntur mss.

Ἀδελφοὺς καί ("brothers and"). These words were missing in the Paris editions. But they are read in all the manuscripts.

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Λέγοντος τοῦ λόγου. Videtur haec Athenagoras ex apocrypha aliqua scriptura deprompsisse; sic enim citari solet Scriptura. Vid. Clementem Alex. Paedag. III, p. 257.

Λέγοντος τοῦ λόγου ("as the word says"). Athenagoras seems to have drawn this from some apocryphal writing; for Scripture is customarily cited so. See Clement of Alexandria, Paedagogus III, p. 257.

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Προσκύνημα. Ad marginem Regii 2 legitur πρόσχυμα.

Προσκύνημα ("the greeting of reverence"). In the margin of Regius 2 one reads πρόσχυμα.

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  • running head: 963 ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI
  • marginal letters: A stris latent, videre; B rore usus est; C demonstrabam doctrinam nostram; D ab æterna vita
  • old-edition numerals: 310 after usus
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
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ψυχὴν, οὐχ ὡς σάρκες, κἂν ἔχωμεν, ἀλλ' ὡς οὐράνιον πνεῦμα, μενοῦμεν)· ἢ συγκαταπίπτοντες τοῖς λοιποῖς χείρονα καὶ διὰ πυρὸς (οὐ γὰρ καὶ ἡμᾶς ὡς πρόβατα ἢ ὑποζύγια, πάρεργον, καὶ ἵνα ἀπολοίμεθα καὶ ἀφανισθείημεν, ἔπλασεν ὁ Θεός), ἐπὶ τούτοις οὐκ εἰκὸς ἡμᾶς ἐθελοκακεῖν, οὐδ' αὐτοὺς τῷ μεγάλῳ παραδιδόναι κολασθησομένους δικαστῇ.
soul, not as flesh, even though we have it, but as heavenly spirit), or, falling together with the rest, a worse one and through fire (for God did not fashion us also like sheep or beasts of burden, as a by-work, and that we should perish and be annihilated)—on these terms it is not likely that we should wilfully do evil, or deliver ourselves up to the great Judge to be punished.
32. Τοὺς μὲν οὖν θαυμαστὸν οὐδὲν λογοποιεῖν περὶ ἡμῶν ἃ περὶ τῶν σφετέρων λέγουσι θεῶν, καὶ τὰ πάθη αὐτῶν δεικνύουσι μυστήρια. Χρῆν δ' αὐτοὺς, εἰ δεινὸν τὸ ἐπ' ἀδείας καὶ ἀδιαφόρως μίγνυσθαι κρίνειν ἔμελλον, ἢ τὸν Δία μεμισηκέναι, ἐκ μητρὸς μὲν Ῥέας, θυγατρὸς δὲ Κόρης πεπαιδοποιημένον, γυναικὶ δ' ἰδίᾳ ἀδελφῇ χρώμενον· ἢ τὸν τούτων ποιητὴν Ὀρφέα, ὅτι καὶ ἀνόσιον ὑπὲρ τὸν Θυέστην καὶ μιαρὸν ἐποίησε τὸν Δία. Καὶ γὰρ οὗτος τῇ θυγατρὶ κατὰ χρησμὸν ἐμίγη, βασιλεὺς ἐθέλων καὶ Θυέστης ἐκδικηθῆναι. Ἡμεῖς δὲ τοσοῦτον ἀδιάφοροι εἶναι ἀπέχομεν, ὡς μηδὲ ἰδεῖν ἡμῖν πρὸς ἐπιθυμίαν ἐξεῖναι. Ὁ γὰρ βλέπων, φησὶ, γυναῖκα πρὸς τὸ ἐπιθυμῆσαι αὐτῆς, ἤδη μεμοίχευκεν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ. Οἷς οὖν μηδὲν πλέον ἔξεστιν ὁρᾷν, ἢ ἐφ' ἃ ἔπλασεν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὁ Θεὸς, ἡμῖν φῶς αὐτοὺς εἶναι· καὶ οἷς τὸ ἰδεῖν ἡδέως, μοιχεία, ἐφ' ἕτερα τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν γεγονότων, μέχρις ἐννοίας κριθησομένοις· πῶς ἂν οὗτοι ἀπιστηθεῖεν σωφρονεῖν; Οὐ γὰρ πρὸς ἀνθρωπικοὺς νόμους ὁ λόγος ἡμῖν, οὓς ἄν τις γενόμενος πονηρὸς καὶ λάθοι (ἐν ἀρχῇ δὲ ὑμῖν, δεσπότης, θεοδίδακτον εἶναι τὸν καθ' ἡμᾶς λόγον ἐπιστούμην)· ἀλλ' ἔστιν ἡμῖν νόμος ὃς δικαιοσύνης μέτρον ἐποίησεν αὐτοὺς καὶ τοὺς πέλας ἔχειν· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ καθ' ἡλικίαν, τοὺς μὲν υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας νοοῦμεν, τοὺς δὲ ἀδελφοὺς ἔχομεν καὶ ἀδελφάς· καὶ τοῖς προβεβηκόσι τὴν τῶν πατέρων καὶ μητέρων τιμὴν ἀπονέμομεν. Οὓς οὖν ἀδελφοὺς καὶ ἀδελφὰς καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τοῦ γένους νοοῦμεν ὀνόματα, περὶ πολλοῦ ἡμῖν ἀνύβριστα καὶ ἀδιάφθορα αὐτῶν τὰ σώματα μένειν· πάλιν ἡμῖν λέγοντος τοῦ λόγου· Ἐάν τις διὰ τοῦτο ἐκ δευτέρου καταφιλήσῃ, ὅτι ἤρεσεν αὐτῷ· καὶ ἐπιφέροντος· Οὕτως οὖν ἀκριβώσασθαι τὸ φίλημα, μᾶλλον δὲ τὸ προσκύνημα δεῖ· ὡς, εἴπου μικρὸν τῇ διανοίᾳ παραθολωθείη, ἔξω ἡμᾶς τῆς αἰωνίου τιθέντος ζωῆς.
32. It is no wonder, then, that they fabricate about us the things that they say about their own gods, and exhibit their passions as mysteries. Yet they ought, if they were going to judge promiscuous and indifferent intercourse a dreadful thing, either to have hated Zeus, who begot children from his mother Rhea and his daughter Cora, and took his own sister to wife, or Orpheus, the inventor of these tales, because he made Zeus even more unholy and polluted than Thyestes; for the latter lay with his daughter in accordance with an oracle, wishing to be king and, as Thyestes, to avenge himself. We, however, are so far from being indifferent that we are not permitted even to look with desire. For he who looks, He says, at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery in his heart (Matt. 5:28). How then could those who are not permitted to see anything more than that for which God fashioned the eyes, namely that they should be a light to us, and for whom looking with pleasure is adultery, the eyes having been made for other purposes, and who are to be judged even as far as a thought—how could such men be disbelieved as to living chastely? For our account is not with human laws, which a man might be wicked and yet escape (and at the beginning, sovereigns, I assured you that our doctrine is taught by God); but we have a law which has made it the measure of righteousness to treat ourselves and our neighbours alike. Therefore according to age we regard some as sons and daughters, others we hold as brothers and sisters, and to the aged we assign the honour due to fathers and mothers. Those, therefore, whom we regard as brothers and sisters and by the other names of kinship, we count it of great importance that their bodies should remain uninsulted and uncorrupted, the word again saying to us: If anyone kisses a second time because it pleased him; and adding: Thus, then, the kiss, or rather the salutation, must be guarded with care, since, if it should be sullied ever so little by the thought, it places us outside eternal life.
Editors' notes and page, col. 964

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  • running head: ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI 964
  • marginal letters: A ψυχὴν, οὐχ ὡς; B ἀδελφῇ (90) χρώμενον; C στούμην)· ἀλλ' ἔστιν; D ἡμᾶς τῆς αἰωνίου
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: two full-width facing Latin lines (quam pecora ... magno judici) after δικαστῇ not set
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33. Ἐλπίδα οὖν ζωῆς αἰωνίου ἔχοντες, τῶν ἐν τούτῳ τῷ βίῳ καταφρονοῦμεν, μέχρι καὶ τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς ἡδέων. Γυναῖκα μὲν ἕκαστος ἡμῶν, ἣν ἠγάγετο κατὰ τοὺς ὑφ' ἡμῶν τεθειμένους νόμους, νομίζων, καὶ ταύτην μέχρι τοῦ παιδοποιήσασθαι. Ὡς γὰρ ὁ γεωργὸς, καταβάλλων εἰς γῆν τὰ σπέρματα, ἄμητον περιμένει, οὐκ ἐπισπείρων· καὶ ἡμῖν μέτρον ἐπιθυμίας ἡ παιδοποιία. Εὕροις δ' ἂν πολλοὺς τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν, καὶ ἄνδρας καὶ γυναῖκας, καταγηράσκοντας ἀγάμους, ἐλπίδι τοῦ μᾶλλον συνέσεσθαι τῷ Θεῷ. Εἰ δὲ τὸ ἐν παρθενίᾳ καὶ ἐν εὐνουχίᾳ μεῖναι, μᾶλλον παρίστησι τῷ Θεῷ, τὸ δὲ μέχρις ἐννοίας καὶ ἐπιθυμίας ἐλθεῖν ἀπάγει· ὧν τὰς ἐννοίας φεύγομεν, πολὺ πρότερον τὰ ἔργα παραιτούμεθα. Οὐ γὰρ μελέτῃ λόγων, ἀλλ' ἐπιδείξει καὶ διδασκαλίᾳ ἔργων τὰ ἡμέτερα· ἢ οἷός τις ἐτέχθη, μένειν, ἢ ἐφ' ἑνὶ γάμῳ. Ὁ γὰρ δεύτερος εὐπρεπής ἐστι μοιχεία. Ὅς γὰρ ἂν ἀπολύσῃ, φησὶ, τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, καὶ γαμήσῃ ἄλλην,
33. Having, therefore, the hope of eternal life, we despise the things in this life, even to the pleasures of the soul. Each of us reckons as his wife the woman whom he has married according to the laws laid down by us, and her only so far as is for the begetting of children. For as the husbandman, casting the seeds into the earth, awaits the harvest without sowing more upon them, so for us the measure of desire is the begetting of children. And you would find many among us, both men and women, growing old unmarried, in the hope of being more closely united to God. Now if remaining in virginity and in the state of a eunuch brings one nearer to God, while going even so far as thought and desire draws one away, we shun all the more the deeds of those things of which we flee the thoughts. For our affairs consist not in the study of words, but in the demonstration and teaching of deeds: either to remain as one was born, or to abide in a single marriage; for a second marriage is a specious adultery. For whoever puts away, He says, his wife, and marries another,
Editors' notes and page, col. 965

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  • running head: 965 LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS.
  • marginal letters: A 33. Ἐλπίδα οὖν; B ἢ οἷός τις
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  • other: ἄλ- split across column break to col. 968
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Editors' notes and page, col. 966

Footnotes

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Ὑφ' ἡμῶν. Nullus dubito quin legendum sit ὑφ' ὑμῶν. 1° Quidquid praecipue discrepabat inter Christianorum et Romanorum matrimonia, id a Christo, non ab ipsis Christianis institutum erat, matrimonio nimirum ad Sacramenti dignitatem evecto. Quare immerito dixisset Athenagoras: Uxorem unusquisque nostrum secundum leges a nobis positas ducit. 2° Tabulae nuptiales, de quibus Tertullianus lib. II ad uxorem, cap. 3, secundum leges Romanas fiebant, et si qua repudii necessitas superveniret, id quoque ex earumdem legum more fiebat, ut patet ex muliere Christiana, de qua Justinus loquitur initio Apol. II. Mirum ergo non videtur si Christianos Athenagoras secundum leges Romanas matrimonium inire dicat. Quin etiam proprias leges hac in re jactare et Christianum jus Romano opponere, oratio fuisset ad placandos imperatores non valde idonea.

"By us" (ὑφ' ἡμῶν). I have no doubt that we should read ὑφ' ὑμῶν ("by you"). 1° Whatever chiefly distinguished the marriages of Christians from those of Romans had been instituted by Christ, not by the Christians themselves, marriage having, that is, been raised to the dignity of a Sacrament. So Athenagoras would wrongly have said: "Each of us takes a wife according to laws laid down by ourselves." 2° Marriage contracts, of which Tertullian speaks, To his Wife book II, ch. 3, were made according to Roman law, and if any necessity of divorce arose, that too was done according to the custom of the same laws, as is clear from the Christian woman of whom Justin speaks at the beginning of Apology II. So it does not seem strange if Athenagoras says that Christians contract marriage according to the Roman laws. Indeed, to boast of their own laws in this matter and to set Christian law against Roman would have been speech not at all suited to placating the emperors.

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Ἐν παρθενίᾳ καὶ εὐνουχίᾳ μεῖναι. Idem perpetuae virginitatis propositum declarant, quae paulo post leguntur, οἷός τις ἐτέχθη μένειν. Id enim dici solere de iis, qui se perpetuae continentiae voto obstringunt, jam observavimus ad Justini Apol. I, n. 29. Hanc Ecclesiae doctrinam perspicere licet in insigni Clementis Alexandrini testimonio, quod et mendis et prava interpretatione deformatum restituere in suum nitorem aggrediar. Sic igitur Clemens Strom. III, p. 459 edit. Paris., 546 edit. Oxon.: Ἡ πρόθεσίς τε ἑκάστου, τοῦ τε ἑαυτὸν εὐνουχίσαντος, τοῦ τε αὖ γάμῳ διὰ παιδοποιίαν συζεύξαντος, ἀνενδότως πρὸς τὸ ἧττον διαμένειν ὀφείλει. Propositum et illius, qui semetipsum castravit, et illius, qui se propter liberorum procreationem matrimonio conjunxit, ita perseverare debet, ut minime deflectat ad id quod inferius est. Qui se ergo castraverunt propter regnum coelorum, hi se irrevocabili obstrinxerunt voto. Deinde Clemens idem statuit de iis qui a conjugio ad perfectiorem statum transeunt: Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἐπιτεῖναι οἷός τε ἔσται τὸν βίον, μείζονα ἀξίαν ἐν Θεῷ αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ περιποιήσεται, καθαρῶς ἅμα καὶ λελογισμένως ἐγκρατευσάμενος· εἰ δέ, ὑπερβὰς ὃν εἵλετο κανόνα εἰς μείζονα δόξαν, ἔπειτα ἀποπέσῃ, πρὸς τὴν ἐλπίδα. Ἔχει γὰρ ὥσπερ ἡ εὐνουχία, οὕτω καὶ ὁ γάμος ἰδίας λειτουργίας καὶ διακονίας τῷ Κυρίῳ διαφερούσας. Doctissimus Oxoniensis editor existimat post τὴν ἐλπίδα aliquid hujusmodi excidisse, ne tamen animum despondeat, ita ut is, qui post susceptum continentiae propositum cadit redeundo ad id quod reliquerat, is lapsum suum hac ratione consolari possit, quod ut castitas, ita etiam matrimonium suas habeat virtutes. Sed quod hic dicitur de matrimonii virtutibus, non eo spectat, ut illius usum repetere liceat his qui perfectiorem statum amplexi sunt. Nam lapsum vocat hanc agendi rationem S. Clemens, atque ut perstantibus in suscepta continentia uberiorem mercedem promittit, ita cadentibus gravissimas minas intentat. Quare vulnus hujus loci sanabitur, si legamus, πῶς τὴν ἐλπίδα ἔχοι; illud ἔχοι facile excidere potuit ob similem vocem ἔχει, quae proxime sequitur. Sic ergo totum hunc locum interpretor: Quod si vitam ad perfectius intendere potuerit, majus meritum apud Deum sibi ipse comparabit ob servatam pure et rationi consentanee continentiam. Sed si postquam transcendit, majoris gloriae causa, electum vitae genus, ceciderit; quomodo spem habebit? Habet enim ut castitas, ita et matrimonium proprias perfunctiones et ministeria, quae Domino probantur. Spem aufert cadentibus, quandiu scilicet ad promissam continentiam non redibunt; quod autem addit de laudabilibus matrimonii perfunctionibus, eo manifeste spectat, ut qui hunc statum elegerunt, non temere ad perfectiorem transcurrant.

Ἐν παρθενίᾳ καὶ εὐνουχίᾳ μεῖναι ("to remain in virginity and continence"). The same purpose of perpetual virginity is declared by the words read a little after, οἷός τις ἐτέχθη μένειν. For we have already observed, on Justin's Apology I, no. 29, that this is customarily said of those who bind themselves by a vow of perpetual continence. This teaching of the Church can be seen in a notable testimony of Clement of Alexandria, which, disfigured as it is both by errors and by a bad translation, I shall try to restore to its lustre. So Clement, Stromateis III, p. 459 of the Paris edition, 546 of the Oxford: Ἡ πρόθεσίς τε ἑκάστου, τοῦ τε ἑαυτὸν εὐνουχίσαντος, τοῦ τε αὖ γάμῳ διὰ παιδοποιίαν συζεύξαντος, ἀνενδότως πρὸς τὸ ἧττον διαμένειν ὀφείλει: "The purpose both of him who has made himself a eunuch and of him who has joined himself in marriage for the begetting of children ought to persevere so as by no means to turn aside to what is lower." Those, then, who made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven bound themselves by an irrevocable vow. Then Clement lays down the same of those who pass from marriage to a more perfect state: Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἐπιτεῖναι οἷός τε ἔσται τὸν βίον, μείζονα ἀξίαν ἐν Θεῷ αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ περιποιήσεται, καθαρῶς ἅμα καὶ λελογισμένως ἐγκρατευσάμενος· εἰ δέ, ὑπερβὰς ὃν εἵλετο κανόνα εἰς μείζονα δόξαν, ἔπειτα ἀποπέσῃ, πρὸς τὴν ἐλπίδα. Ἔχει γὰρ ὥσπερ ἡ εὐνουχία, οὕτω καὶ ὁ γάμος ἰδίας λειτουργίας καὶ διακονίας τῷ Κυρίῳ διαφερούσας. The very learned Oxford editor thinks that after τὴν ἐλπίδα something of this kind has dropped out, "yet let him not lose heart," so that one who, after taking up the purpose of continence, falls by returning to what he had left, might console his lapse by this reasoning, that marriage, like chastity, has its own virtues. But what is said here about the virtues of marriage is not meant to let those who have embraced the more perfect state return to its use. For St Clement calls this way of acting a lapse, and as he promises a richer reward to those who persevere in the continence they have undertaken, so he threatens the gravest penalties to those who fall. So the wound in this passage will be healed if we read πῶς τὴν ἐλπίδα ἔχοι; that ἔχοι could easily have dropped out because of the similar word ἔχει, which follows next. So I translate this whole passage: "If he can raise his life to what is more perfect, he will gain for himself a greater merit with God, for having kept continence purely and reasonably. But if, after he has gone beyond the kind of life he chose, for the sake of greater glory, he falls, how will he have hope? For marriage, like chastity, has its own functions and ministries, which are approved by the Lord." He takes hope away from those who fall, so long, that is, as they do not return to the continence they promised; and what he adds about the praiseworthy functions of marriage plainly aims at this, that those who have chosen that state should not rashly hurry on to a more perfect one.

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Εὐπρεπής ἐστι μοιχεία. Non solus Athenagoras de digamis justo severius visus est judicare. Consuli potest longa series ejusmodi testimoniorum apud Cotelerium p. 64, in notis ad Pastoris lib. II. Non tamen praetermittendum quid sentiat Athenagoras, cum praesertim Tillemontius, quo viro nemo aequior, nemo ad vituperandum tardior, Athenagorae verbis adductus sit, ut eum e Montanistis unum fuisse non affirmaret quidem, sed tamen suspicaretur. Equidem satis causae esse non puto ut in hanc suspicionem vocetur. Nam 1° Cum monogamia maximo esset in pretio apud Christianos, secundae autem nuptiae, etsi non omnino inconcessae, aliqua tamen ignominia notarentur, digamis a sacra communione ad tempus remotis; quid mirum si monogamiam Athenagoras, ut commune Christianorum institutum commendat? Similiter Theophilus Antiochenus lib. III ad Autol.: Apud Christianos, inquit, monogamia servatur. Et Minucius Felix: Cupiditatem procreandi aut unam sentimus, aut nullam. 2° Metaphora non carent hae voces: Occultus est adulter. Lenit enim asperiorem criminationem dum occultum vocat adulterium; ac secundas nuptias nulla lege interdictas fatetur, si quidem tunc manifestum esset vitium. Hanc igitur vim habet decorum illud et occultum adulterium ut digamus per quamdam metaphoram, ac sensu quodam subtiliore et longius petito adulter sit, quia videlicet, ut addit Athenagoras, discedit ab ea matrimonii ratione, quam Deus ab initio instituerat, unica uxore Adamo concessa.

Εὐπρεπής ἐστι μοιχεία ("is a respectable adultery"). Athenagoras is not alone in seeming to judge the twice-married more severely than is just. A long series of such testimonies can be consulted in Cotelier, p. 64, in the notes to book II of the Shepherd. Yet Athenagoras's view must not be passed over, especially since Tillemont — no man fairer, none slower to censure — was led by Athenagoras's words, not indeed to affirm, but still to suspect, that he was one of the Montanists. For my part I do not think there is enough reason for him to be brought under this suspicion. For 1°, since monogamy was held in the highest esteem among Christians, while second marriages, though not altogether forbidden, were nonetheless marked with some disgrace, the twice-married being kept from holy communion for a time, what wonder if Athenagoras commends monogamy as the common practice of Christians? Likewise Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus book III: "Among Christians," he says, "monogamy is kept." And Minucius Felix: "We know either one desire of begetting, or none." 2°, these words are not without metaphor: "He is a hidden adulterer." For he softens the harsher charge by calling it hidden adultery, and admits that second marriages are forbidden by no law, since otherwise the fault would then be manifest. So that "respectable" and "hidden" adultery means that the twice-married man is an adulterer by a kind of metaphor, in a subtler and more far-fetched sense, because, as Athenagoras adds, he departs from the plan of marriage that God had established from the beginning, when one wife was granted to Adam.

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Editors' prose

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  • running head: LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS. 966
  • marginal letters: A 33. Quam casti; B tationes fugimus, eorum; C Habet enim ut castitas (foot); D autem nuptiae (foot)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
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Editors' notes and page, col. 967

Footnotes

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Matth. XIX, 9.

Matthew 19:9.

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Εἰς τοῦ γένους κοινωνίαν. Ita codex Clarom. et tres Anglicani et Ducaeus, quibus favet Reg. 2, ubi εἰς additum est post lineam. Deest in aliis haec praepositio. Ut autem nihil desit ad sensus integritatem, legendum, ut in interpretatione expressimus, τὴν σαρκὸς πρὸς σάρκα κατὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν πρόσμιξιν. Sed molestum forte videbitur, quod Athenagoras iisdem utatur rationibus, quibus Tertullianus catholicam sententiam impugnat in libro De monogamia. Revocat enim Tertullianus ad primam matrimonii institutionem cap. 4. Profert etiam cap. 9, latam a Christo legem adversus divortium. Sed saepe ex iisdem principiis diversae consecutiones eruuntur. Cum enim haec duo argumenta, de quibus diximus, tum multa alia Hieronymus ex libro Tertulliani De monogamia mutuatur in epist. 91, alias 11, non ut secundas nuptias, ut Tertullianus, prohibitas et impermissas, sed ut propter intemperantiam concessas esse demonstret. Primam matrimonii institutionem pariter objiciunt digamis auctor Constitut. apost. lib. III, cap. 2. Clemens Alex. Strom. III, p. 461.

Εἰς τοῦ γένους κοινωνίαν ("for the fellowship of the race"). So the Clermont codex, three English manuscripts and Ducaeus, supported by Regius 2, where εἰς has been added after the line. This preposition is missing in the others. So that nothing may be lacking to the completeness of the sense, one should read, as we have expressed it in the translation, τὴν σαρκὸς πρὸς σάρκα κατὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν πρόσμιξιν. But it may perhaps seem troubling that Athenagoras uses the same arguments with which Tertullian attacks the Catholic view in the book On Monogamy. For Tertullian goes back to the first institution of marriage in ch. 4, and in ch. 9 he also brings forward the law laid down by Christ against divorce. But often different conclusions are drawn from the same principles. For Jerome borrows both these two arguments of which we have spoken and many others from Tertullian's book On Monogamy in Letter 91 (elsewhere 11), not to show, as Tertullian does, that second marriages are forbidden and not permitted, but that they are allowed on account of incontinence. The author of the Apostolic Constitutions, book III, ch. 2, likewise sets the first institution of marriage against the twice-married; so Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis III, p. 461.

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Θεούς. Tres Angl. θεοῖς.

Θεούς ("gods"). Three English manuscripts have θεοῖς.

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Οὐ γάρ. Duo Angl. et Reg. 2, οὐδέ.

Οὐ γάρ ("for not"). Two English manuscripts and Regius 2 have οὐδέ.

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Ἀπαρκεῖ. 2 Angl. ἐπαρκεῖ.

Ἀπαρκεῖ ("it suffices"). Two English manuscripts have ἐπαρκεῖ.

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Δικαιοσύνη. Uterque Regius, Clarom. et 2 Angl. δικαιοσύνης.

Δικαιοσύνη ("justice"). Both Regii, the Clermont codex and two English manuscripts have δικαιοσύνης.

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Ἀνεξικάκοις. Tres Angl. ἀλεξικάκοις.

Ἀνεξικάκοις ("forbearing"). Three English manuscripts have ἀλεξικάκοις.

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(9) ‹anchor: ἔστι πάσασθαι› · call in col 967

Πάσασθαι. Tres Angl. et Reg. 2, σπάσασθαι.

Πάσασθαι ("to taste"). Three English manuscripts and Regius 2 have σπάσασθαι.

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(10) ‹anchor: αὐτοὺς ἔρηται› · call in col 967

Ἔρηται. Tres Anglicani εἴρηται, et sic videtur prima manu habuisse Reg. 1.

Ἔρηται ("asks"). Three English manuscripts have εἴρηται, and Regius 1 seems to have had this in the first hand.

(printed under page 514)

Page

  • running head: 967 ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI
  • marginal letters: A continentur, ut quisque; B lis quidem temperant; C æquitatem descriptas vim
  • old-edition numerals: 311 after nuptiis.
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:968
μοιχᾶται· οὔτε ἀπολύειν ἐπιτρέπων ἧς ἔπαυσέ τις τὴν παρθενίαν, οὔτε ἐπιγαμεῖν. Ὁ γὰρ ἀποστερῶν ἑαυτὸν τῆς προτέρας γυναικὸς, καὶ εἰ τέθνηκε, μοιχός ἐστι παρακεκαλυμμένος, παραβαίνων μὲν τὴν χεῖρα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὅτι ἐν ἀρχῇ ὁ Θεὸς ἕνα ἄνδρα ἔπλασε καὶ μίαν γυναῖκα· λύων δὲ τὴν σάρκα πρὸς σάρκα κατὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν πρὸς μίξιν εἰς τοῦ γένους κοινωνίαν.
commits adultery (Matt. 19:9); neither permitting a man to put away her whose virginity he has ended, nor to marry another in addition. For he who deprives himself of his former wife, even if she has died, is a cloaked adulterer, transgressing on the one hand the hand of God, because in the beginning God fashioned one man and one woman, and dissolving on the other hand the union of flesh with flesh for intercourse towards the fellowship of the race.
34. Ἀλλ' οἱ τοιοῦτοι (ὢ τί ἂν εἴποιμι τὰ ἀπόῤῥητα;) ἀκούομεν τὰ τῆς παροιμίας, Ἡ πόρνη τὴν σώφρονα. Οἱ γὰρ ἀγορὰν στήσαντες πορνείας, καὶ καταγωγὰς ἀθέσμους πεποιημένοι τοῖς νέοις πάσης αἰσχρᾶς ἡδονῆς, καὶ μηδὲ τῶν ἀρσένων φειδόμενοι, ἄρσενες ἐν ἄρσεσι τὰ δεινὰ κατεργαζόμενοι· ὅσων σεμνότερα καὶ εὐειδέστερα σώματα, παντοίως αὐτὰ ὑβρίζοντες· ἀτιμοῦντες καὶ τὸ ποιητὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καλόν (οὐ γὰρ αὐτοποίητον ἐπὶ γῆς τὸ κάλλος, ἀλλὰ ὑπὸ χειρὸς καὶ γνώμης πεμπόμενον τοῦ Θεοῦ), οὗτοι δὲ ἃ συνίσασιν αὐτοῖς καὶ τοὺς σφετέρους λέγουσι θεοὺς, ἐπ' αὐτῶν, ὡς σεμνὰ, καὶ τῶν θεῶν αὐτὰ αὐχοῦντες, ταῦτα ἡμᾶς λοιδοροῦνται· κακίζοντες οἱ μοιχοὶ καὶ παιδερασταὶ τοὺς εὐνούχους, καὶ μονογάμους· οἱ δίκην ἰχθύων ζῶντες (καὶ γὰρ οὗτοι καταπίνουσι τὸν ἐμπεσόντα, ἐλαύνοντες ὁ ἰσχυρότερος τὸν ἀσθενέστερον· καὶ τοῦτό ἐστι σαρκῶν ἅπτεσθαι ἀνθρωπικῶν, τὸ κειμένων νόμων, οὓς ὑμεῖς καὶ οἱ ὑμέτεροι πρόγονοι πρὸς πᾶσαν δικαιοσύνην ἐξετάσαντες ἐθήκατε, παρὰ τούτους αὐτοὺς βιάζεσθαι), ὡς μηδὲ τοὺς ὑφ' ὑμῶν καταπεμπομένους ἡγεμόνας τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐξαρκεῖν ταῖς δίκαις, οἷς οὐδὲ παιομένοις μὴ παρέχειν ἑαυτοὺς, οὐδὲ κακῶς ἀκούουσι μὴ εὐλογεῖν ἔξεστιν· οὐ γὰρ ἀπαρκεῖ δίκαιον εἶναι (ἔστι δὲ δικαιοσύνη ἴσα ἴσοις ἀμείβειν), ἀλλ' ἀγαθοῖς καὶ ἀνεξικάκοις εἶναι πρόκειται.
34. Yet being such as we are (O why should I speak of things unutterable?), we hear the words of the proverb: The harlot reproves the chaste woman. For those who have set up a market-place of fornication, and have established lawless resorts of every shameful pleasure for the young, and do not even spare males, males working dreadful things with males, outraging in every way the bodies that are more honourable and comelier, and dishonouring the created beauty of God (for beauty on earth is not self-made, but sent by the hand and counsel of God)—these very men rail at us with the things of which they are conscious in themselves and which they attribute to their own gods, boasting of them among themselves as noble and worthy of the gods; the adulterers and pederasts reviling the eunuchs and the once-married; those who live after the manner of fishes (for these too swallow up whoever falls in their way, the stronger chasing the weaker; and this is in truth to feed upon human flesh, when laws have been laid down which you and your ancestors enacted after examining them with a view to all justice, to use violence against these very laws), so that not even the governors of the provinces sent down by you suffice for the lawsuits—against us, who are not permitted even when struck not to offer ourselves, nor when evil spoken of not to bless: for it is not enough to be just (and justice is to return like for like), but it is set before us to be good and patient of evil.
35. Τίς οὖν εὖ φρονῶν εἴποι, τοιούτους ὄντας ἡμᾶς, ἀνδροφόνους εἶναι; οὐ γὰρ ἔστι πάσασθαι κρεῶν ἀνθρωπικῶν, μὴ πρότερον ἀποκτείνασί τινα. Τὸ πρότερον οὖν ψευδόμενοι· τὸ δεύτερον, κἂν μέν τις αὐτοὺς ἔρηται, εἰ ἑωράκασιν ἃ λέγουσιν, οὐδεὶς οὕτως ἀπηρυθριασμένος, ὡς εἰπεῖν ἰδεῖν. Καίτοι καὶ δοῦλοί εἰσιν ἡμῖν, τοῖς μὲν
35. Who then in his right mind would say, when we are such, that we are murderers? For it is not possible to taste human flesh without first having killed someone. Lying, therefore, in the former charge, as to the second, if anyone asks them whether they have seen what they say, no one is so brazen-faced as to say that he has seen it. And yet we too have slaves, some
Editors' notes and page, col. 968

Page

  • running head: ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI 968
  • marginal letters: A λην, μοιχᾶται· οὔτε; B ἄρσεσι τὰ δεινὰ; C ταπεμπομένους ἡγεμόνας τῶν; D alias 11, non
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: λην broken from ἄλ- in col. 965; two full-width facing Latin lines after κοινωνίαν (ominem finxit ... dissolvat) and two after πρόκειται (n satis ... simus) not set
PG 6:969
καὶ πλείους, τοῖς δὲ ἐλάττους· οὓς οὐκ ἔστι λαθεῖν· ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτων οὐδεὶς καθ' ἡμῶν τὰ τηλικαῦτα οὐδὲ κατεψεύσατο. Οὓς γὰρ ἴσασιν οὐδ' ἰδεῖν κἂν δικαίως φονευόμενον ὑπομένοντας, τούτων τίς ἂν κατείποι ἢ ἀνδροφονίαν, ἢ ἀνθρωποβορίαν; Τίς οὐχὶ τῶν περὶ σπουδῆς τὰς δι' ὅπλων ἀγωνίας καὶ διὰ θηρίων, καὶ μάλιστα τὰς ὑφ' ὑμῶν ἀγομένας, ἔχει; Ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς πλησίον εἶναι τὸ ἰδεῖν τὸν φονευόμενον τοῦ ἀποκτεῖναι νομίζοντες, ἀπηγορεύσαμεν τὰς τοιαύτας θέας. Πῶς οὖν μηδὲ ὁρῶντες, ἵνα μὴ ἑαυτοῖς ἄγος καὶ μίασμα προστριψαίμεθα, φονεύειν δυνάμεθα; Καὶ οἳ τὰς τοῖς ἀμβλωθριδίοις χρωμένας, ἀνδροφονεῖν τε καὶ λόγον ὑφέξειν τῆς ἐξαμβλώσεως τῷ Θεῷ φαμὲν, κατὰ ποῖον ἀνδροφονοῦμεν λόγον; Οὐ γὰρ τοῦ αὐτοῦ, νομίζειν μὲν καὶ τὸ κατὰ γαστρὸς ζῶον εἶναι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο αὐτοῦ μέλειν τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ παρεληλυθότα εἰς τὸν βίον, φονεύειν· καὶ μὴ ἐκτιθέναι μὲν τὸ γεννηθὲν, ὡς τῶν ἐκτιθέντων τεκνοκτονούντων, πάλιν δὲ τὸ τραφὲν ἀναιρεῖν· ἀλλ' ἐσμὲν πάντα πανταχοῦ ὅμοιοι καὶ ἴσοι, δουλεύοντες τῷ λόγῳ καὶ οὐκ ἄρχοντες αὐτοῦ.
having more, and others fewer, from whom it is impossible to hide; yet not even one of these has falsely uttered such great charges against us either. For when men are known not to endure even seeing someone put to death, though justly, who could accuse them of either murder or cannibalism? Who does not reckon among matters of eager interest the contests with weapons and with wild beasts, and especially those held by you? Yet we, deeming that to see a man put to death is nigh to killing him, have renounced such spectacles. How then, when we do not even look upon them, lest we should attach pollution and defilement to ourselves, are we able to commit murder? And when we say that women who use drugs to procure abortion commit murder and will render an account of the abortion to God, on what principle do we commit murder? For it does not belong to the same person to regard even the fetus in the womb as a living being, and therefore an object of care to God, and then to murder those who have come forth into life; and not to expose what has been born, on the ground that those who expose them are slayers of their children, and then again to destroy what has been reared; but we are in all things and everywhere alike and the same, serving reason and not ruling over it.
36. Τίς ἂν οὖν, ἀνάστασιν πεπιστευκὼς, ἐπὶ σώμασιν ἀναστησομένοις ἑαυτὸν παράσχοι τάφον; Οὐ γὰρ τῶν αὐτῶν, καὶ ἀναστήσεσθαι ἡμῶν πεπεῖσθαι τὰ σώματα, καὶ ἐσθίειν αὐτὰ ὡς οὐκ ἀναστησόμενα· καὶ ἀποδώσειν μὲν νομίζειν τὴν γῆν τοὺς ἰδίους νεκροὺς, οὓς δέ τις αὐτὸς ἐγκατέθαψεν αὐτῷ, μήτε ἀπαιτηθήσεσθαι. Τοὐναντίον μὲν οὖν εἰκὸς, τοὺς μὲν μήτε λόγον ὑφέξειν τοῦ ἐνταῦθα ἢ πονηροῦ ἢ χρηστοῦ βίου, μήτε ἀνάστασιν εἶναι οἰομένους, συναπόλλυσθαι δὲ τῷ σώματι καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ οἷον ἐναποσβέννυσθαι λογιζομένους, μηδενὸς ἂν ἀποσχέσθαι τολμήματος· τοὺς δὲ μηδὲν ἀνεξέταστον ἔσεσθαι παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ, συγκολασθήσεσθαι δὲ καὶ τὸ ὑπουργῆσαν σῶμα ταῖς ἀλόγοις ὁρμαῖς τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ ἐπιθυμίαις πεπεισμένους, οὐδεὶς λόγος ἔχει οὐδὲ τῶν βραχυτάτων τι ἁμαρτεῖν. Εἰ δέ τῳ λῆρος πολὺς δοκεῖ, τὸ σαπὲν καὶ διαλυθὲν καὶ ἀφανισθὲν σῶμα συστῆναι πάλιν, κακίας μὲν οὐκ ἂν εἰκότως δόξαν ἀποφεροίμεθα διὰ τοὺς οὐ πιστεύοντας, ἀλλ' εὐηθείας.
36. Who then, believing in a resurrection, would offer himself as a tomb for bodies that are to rise again? For it does not belong to the same men both to be persuaded that our bodies will rise again, and to eat them as though they will not rise again; and to think that the earth will give back its own dead, while those whom a man has himself buried within himself will not be demanded back. On the contrary, therefore, it is likely that those who suppose that they will render no account of their life here, whether wicked or good, and that there is no resurrection, and who reckon that the soul perishes together with the body and is, as it were, extinguished within it, will refrain from no audacious deed; whereas for those who are persuaded that nothing will go unexamined before God, and that the body also which has ministered to the irrational impulses and desires of the soul will be punished together with it, there is no reason to commit even any of the slightest sins. And if to anyone it seems great nonsense that the body which has rotted and been dissolved and disappeared should be put together again, we could not reasonably incur a reputation for wickedness on account of those who do not believe, but rather for simplicity;
Editors' notes and page, col. 969

Page

  • running head: 969 LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS.
  • marginal letters: A καὶ πλείους, τοῖς; B κατὰ γαστρὸς ζῶον; C χρηστοῦ βίου, μήτε
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: one full-width facing Latin line (et æquales ... imperantes) after αὐτοῦ not set; εὐη- split across column break to col. 972
PG 6:970
Editors' notes and page, col. 970

Footnotes

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Οὐδεὶς καθ' ἡμῶν. Testatur Justinus in minore Apol. n. 12, nonnullos Christianorum servos aut pueros aut mulierculas horrendis tormentis coactos fuisse fabulosa illa flagitia in Christianos fingere. Hoc ipso anno quo scribebat Athenagoras, id est anno 117, idem Lugduni contigerat, nonnullis servis tormentorum metu Thyesteas coenas et concubitus Oedipodeos indicantibus, ut discimus ex Epist. Eccles. Vien. et Lugd. apud Euseb. lib. V, cap. 1. Sed forte non habebat in memoria Athenagoras quod apud Justinum legitur; forte scribebat antequam martyres Lugduni torquerentur, aut saltem antequam illorum martyrii fama ad ipsius aures perveniret. Atque etiamsi rem non ignorasset, quia tamen haec indicia non sponte, non horrore criminis delata, sed cruciatibus expressa, liquido potuit ea floccifacere, ac innocentiam Christianorum nullo hactenus judicio laesam asseverare. Simili modo Tertullianus decantata illa crimina nunquam a servis, quos tamen latere non possent, comprehensa fuisse demonstrat. Oro vos, inquit, lib. I ad Nat. cap. 7, extraneis unde notitia? cum etiam justa et licita mysteria omnem arbitrii (leg. arbitrum) extraneum caveant, nisi illicita minus spernunt. Legendum videtur, minus cernunt. Id est nisi forte extranei in cernendis illicitis mysteriis minus curiosi sunt. Si retineatur illud spernunt, legendum erit magis pro minus. Pergit Tertullianus: At quin extraneis tam honorare (leg. ignorare) quam confingere magis competit... (sed forte) domesticorum curiositas furata est per rimulas et cavernas. Quid? cum domestici eos (leg. reos) vobis prodant, a nullis (enim) magis prodimur; quanto magis si atrocitas tanta sit, quae justitiae indignationis omnem familiaritatis fidem rumpit, non potuerit continere quod horruit mens, quod expavit oculus?

"No one against us." Justin testifies in the shorter Apology, no. 12, that some slaves of Christians, or children, or poor women, forced by horrible tortures, invented those fabled crimes against the Christians. In the very year in which Athenagoras was writing, that is the year 117 [so the scan appears to read; the Lyons martyrdoms are of 177], the same thing had happened at Lyons, when some slaves, in fear of torture, alleged Thyestean banquets and Oedipodean intercourse, as we learn from the Letter of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons in Eusebius, book V, chapter 1. But perhaps Athenagoras did not have in mind what is read in Justin; perhaps he was writing before the martyrs at Lyons were tortured, or at least before the report of their martyrdom reached his ears. And even if he had not been unaware of the matter, yet because these allegations were brought not freely, not from horror of the crime, but wrung out by torments, he could plainly set them at naught, and assert that the innocence of the Christians had so far been harmed by no judicial finding. In the same way Tertullian shows that those much-repeated crimes were never detected by slaves, from whom they could not have been hidden. "I ask you," he says, Ad Nationes book I, chapter 7, "whence have outsiders knowledge, when even just and lawful mysteries guard against every outside witness (arbitrii; read arbitrum), unless illicit ones are less scorned (minus spernunt)?" It seems one should read "minus cernunt", that is, unless perhaps outsiders are less curious in observing illicit mysteries. If "spernunt" is kept, one must read "magis" for "minus". Tertullian continues: "But it suits outsiders as much to honour (honorare; read ignorare, 'to be ignorant') as to invent ... (but perhaps) the curiosity of the household has stolen it through chinks and crannies. What then? When those of the household betray them (eos; read reos, 'the accused') to you — by none (indeed) are we more betrayed — how much more, if the atrocity were so great as to break all the trust of familiarity through the indignation of justice, could it not have contained what the mind shuddered at, what the eye was terrified to see?"

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Ἀνδροφονίαν. Tres Angl. ἀνδροφονίας et mox ἀνθρωποβορίας.

"Murder." Three English manuscripts read ἀνδροφονίας ("murders"), and shortly after ἀνθρωποβορίας ("man-eatings").

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Τὸν φονευόμενον. Ita Reg. 1. Editi τὸ φονευόμενον.

"The one being slain" (masculine). So Regius 1. The printed editions have τὸ φονευόμενον (neuter).

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Ἄρχοντες. Clarom. et tres Anglicani κρατοῦντες.

"Rulers." The Claromontanus and three English manuscripts read κρατοῦντες ("those in power").

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(15) ‹anchor: μήτε λόγον› · call in col 970

Μήτε λόγον. Tres Angl. μὴ λόγον. Sic etiam Reg. 1, sed secunda manu.

"Nor an account." Three English manuscripts read μὴ λόγον. So also Regius 1, but in a second hand.

(printed under page 515)

Page

  • running head: LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS. 970
  • marginal letters: A dens ut vidisse; B ras dicimus, quomodo; C non repetitum iri
  • old-edition numerals: 312 after servi,
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:971
Editors' notes and page, col. 971

Footnotes

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Τῶν νοητῶν σωμάτων. Ut sibi Athenagoras constet in instituta divisione, legendum: Συνισταμένων ἐκ μὲν τῶν ἀσωμάτων, κατὰ τὴν ἐπισύνθεσιν, τῶν σωμάτων· ἐκ δὲ τῶν νοητῶν, τῶν αἰσθητῶν. Vidit Suffridus addendum esse τῶν αἰσθητῶν.

"Of the intelligible bodies." For Athenagoras to be consistent in the division he has set up, one should read: "the bodies being composed, by combination, of incorporeal things, and the sensible things of intelligible ones." Suffridus saw that τῶν αἰσθητῶν ("of the sensible things") must be added.

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(17) ‹anchor: πάντων ὑποχειρίων› · call in col 971

Ὑποχειρίων. Sic et Reg. uterque et duo Romani codices, et Orat. quibus etiam favent duo Anglicani, in quibus legitur ὑποχειρῶν. Editi ἐπιχειρίων, excepta tamen Frontonis Ducaei editione, qui similia apponit Tertulliani et Prudentii testimonia, quorum primus sic loquitur Apol. c. 30: Precantes sumus omnes semper pro omnibus imperatoribus, vitam illis prolixam, imperium securum, domum tutam, exercitum fortem, senatum fidelem, populum probum, orbem quietum. Sic autem Prudentius in Agone S. Romani: Placanda nobis pro triumphis principis Delubra; faustus ut secundet gloriam Procinctus, utque subjugatis hostibus, Ductor quietum frenet orbem legibus.

"Subject." So also both Regii, two Roman codices, and the Oratorian, which two English manuscripts also support, in which ὑποχειρῶν is read. The printed editions have ἐπιχειρίων, except however the edition of Fronton du Duc, who adds similar testimonies of Tertullian and Prudentius, the first of whom speaks thus, Apology chapter 30: "We are all ever praying for all the emperors: for long life for them, a secure empire, a safe house, a brave army, a faithful senate, an upright people, a quiet world." And Prudentius thus, in the Contest of St Romanus: "We must appease the shrines for the prince's triumphs, that a happy campaign may further his glory, and that, the enemy subdued, the leader may rein a quiet world with laws."

(printed under page 516)

(18) ‹anchor: πρὸς ἡμῶν› · call in col 971

Καὶ πρὸς ἡμῶν. Ita Reg. uterque, Clarom., Orat. et duo Romani. Unus ex Anglicanis ἡμᾶς. Editi καὶ πρὸς ὑμῶν, quae scriptura Gesnero et Suffrido displicuit, nec immerito. Quale enim hoc acumen exstitisset, etiam imperatorum interesse, ut et eorum imperium augeatur, et omnibus obsequium suum praestantibus stabiliatur. At de Christianis Athenagoras, ut ostenderet quantum imperatorum causa cuperent, praeclare ait eos in publicis commodis et in prosperis imperatorum rebus sua etiam commoda inventuros sperare.

"In our interest too." So both Regii, the Claromontanus, the Oratorian and two Roman codices. One of the English manuscripts has ἡμᾶς. The printed editions have καὶ πρὸς ὑμῶν ("in your interest too"), a reading that displeased Gesner and Suffridus, and not without reason. For what point would there have been in saying that it was in the emperors' interest too that their empire be increased and made firm by all rendering it obedience? But Athenagoras, to show how much the Christians desired the emperors' good, says excellently of them that they hope to find their own advantage too in the public advantage and in the emperors' prosperity.

(printed under page 516)

Page

  • running head: 971 ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI
  • marginal letters: A et dissolutum corpus; B lium, constent corpora; C incrementis imperium vestrum
  • old-edition numerals: 313 before disserentes,
  • other: facing Latin version, not set
PG 6:972
Οἷς γὰρ ἀπατῶμεν ἑαυτοὺς λόγοις, ἀδικοῦμεν οὐδένα. Ὅτι μέντοι οὐ καθ' ἡμᾶς μόνον ἀναστήσεται τὰ σώματα, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ πολλοὺς τῶν φιλοσόφων, περίεργον ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος δεικνύειν, ἵνα μὴ ἐξαγωνίους τοῖς προκειμένοις ἐπεισάγειν δοκῶμεν λόγους, ἢ περὶ νοητῶν καὶ αἰσθητῶν καὶ τῆς τούτων συστάσεως λέγοντες, ἢ ὅτι πρεσβύτερα τὰ ἀσώματα τῶν σωμάτων καὶ τὰ νοητὰ προάγει τῶν αἰσθητῶν, κἂν πρώτοις περιπίπτωμεν τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς, συνισταμένων ἐκ μὲν τῶν ἀσωμάτων κατὰ τὴν ἐπισύνθεσιν τῶν νοητῶν σωμάτων, ἐκ δὲ τῶν νοητῶν. Οὐ γὰρ κωλύει, κατὰ τὸν Πυθαγόραν καὶ τὸν Πλάτωνα, γενομένης τῆς διαλύσεως τῶν σωμάτων, ἐξ ὧν τὴν ἀρχὴν συνέστη, ἀπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν αὐτὰ καὶ πάλιν συστῆναι. Ἀλλ' ἀνακείσθω μὲν ὁ περὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως λόγος.
for by the arguments with which we deceive ourselves we wrong no one. That it is not according to us alone, however, that bodies will rise again, but also according to many of the philosophers, it is superfluous to show at present, lest we should seem to introduce arguments foreign to the matters in hand, by speaking either of intelligible and sensible things and their constitution, or that incorporeal things are older than bodies and intelligible things precede sensible things, even if we encounter sensible things first, since the intelligible bodies are constituted out of incorporeal things by combination, and the others out of intelligible things. For nothing prevents, according to Pythagoras and Plato, when the dissolution of bodies has taken place, their being constituted again from the same elements out of which they were constituted at the beginning. But let the discourse concerning the resurrection be deferred.
37. Ὑμεῖς δὲ, ὦ πάντα ἐν πᾶσι φύσει καὶ παιδείᾳ χρηστοὶ καὶ μέτριοι καὶ φιλάνθρωποι, καὶ τῆς βασιλείας ἄξιοι, διαλελυμένῳ μὲν τὰ ἐγκλήματα, ἐπιδεδειχότι δὲ, ὅτι καὶ θεοσεβεῖς καὶ ἐπιεικεῖς καὶ ψυχὰς κεκολασμένοι, τὴν βασιλικὴν κεφαλὴν ἐπινεύσατε. Τίνες γὰρ καὶ δικαιότεροι ὧν δέονται τυχεῖν, ἢ οἵτινες περὶ μὲν τῆς ἀρχῆς τῆς ὑμετέρας εὐχόμεθα, ἵνα παῖς μὲν παρὰ πατρὸς κατὰ τὸ δικαιότατον διαδέχησθε τὴν βασιλείαν, αὔξησιν δὲ καὶ ἐπίδοσιν καὶ ἡ ἀρχὴ ὑμῶν, πάντων ὑποχειρίων γιγνομένων, λαμβάνῃ; Τοῦτο δ' ἐστὶ καὶ πρὸς ἡμῶν, ὅπως ἤρεμον καὶ ἡσύχιον βίον διάγοιμεν, αὐτοὶ δὲ πάντα τὰ κεκελευσμένα προθύμως ὑπηρετοῖμεν.
37. Do you, therefore, O sovereigns who are in all respects, both by nature and by education, good and moderate and humane, and worthy of the empire, now that I have refuted the charges and have shown that we are pious towards God, and gentle, and chastened in soul, nod your royal assent to me. For who are more justly entitled to obtain what they ask than we, who pray for your government, that son from father, as is most just, you may succeed to the kingdom, and that your empire also may receive increase and advancement, as all men become subject to you? And this is also to our advantage, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life (1 Tim. 2:2), and may ourselves readily perform all that is commanded.
Editors' notes and page, col. 972

Page

  • running head: ATHENAGORÆ PHILOSOPHI CHRISTIANI LEGATIO PRO CHRISTIANIS. 972
  • marginal letters: A θείας. Οἷς γὰρ; B λόγος.; C νων, λαμβάνῃ; Τοῦτο; D cis commodis et
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: θείας broken from εὐη- in col. 969; three full-width facing Latin lines (hibet secundum ... sedeamus) after λόγος not set