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Oratio ad Graecos

35

Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν οὐ παρ' ἄλλου μαθὼν ἐξεθέμην, πολλὴν δὲ ἐπιφοιτήσας γῆν καὶ τοῦτο μὲν σοφιστεύσας τὰ ὑμέτερα, τοῦτο δὲ τέχναις καὶ ἐπινοίαις ἐγκυρήσας πολλαῖς, ἔσχατον δὲ τῇ Ῥωμαίων ἐνδιατρίψας πόλει καὶ τὰς ἀφ' ὑμῶν ὡς αὐτοὺς ἀνακομισθείσας ἀνδριάντων ποικιλίας καταμαθών. οὐ γάρ, ὡς ἔθος ἐστὶ τοῖς πολλοῖς, ἀλλοτρίαις δόξαις τἀμαυτοῦ κρατύνειν πειρῶμαι, πάντων δὲ ὧν <ἂν> αὐτὸς ποιήσωμαι τὴν κατάληψιν, τούτων καὶ τὴν ἀναγραφὴν συντάσσειν βούλομαι. διόπερ χαίρειν εἰπὼν καὶ τῇ Ῥωμαίων μεγαλαυχίᾳ καὶ τῇ Ἀθηναίων ψυχρολογίᾳ () δόγμασιν ἀσυναρτήτοις, τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς βαρβάρου φιλοσοφίας ἀντεποιησάμην· ἥτις ὃν τρόπον ἐστὶ τῶν παρ' ὑμῖν ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἀρχαιοτέρα, γράφειν μὲν ἀρξάμενος, διὰ δὲ τὸ κατεπεῖγον τῆς ἐξηγήσεως ὑπερθέμενος, νῦν ὅτε καιρὸς περὶ τῶν κατ' αὐτὴν δογμάτων λέγειν, () πειράσομαι. μὴ γὰρ δυσχεράνητε τὴν ἡμετέραν παιδείαν μηδὲ φλυαρίας καὶ βωμολοχίας μεστὴν ἀντιλογίαν καθ' ἡμῶν πραγματεύσησθε λέγοντες· Τατιανὸς ὑπὲρ τοὺς Ἕλληνας ὑπέρ <τε> τὸ ἄπειρον τῶν φιλοσοφησάντων πλῆθος καινοτομεῖ τὰ βαρβάρων δόγματα. τί γὰρ χαλεπὸν ἀνθρώπους πεφηνότας ἀμαθεῖς ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπου νῦν ὁμοιοπαθοῦς συνελέγχεσθαι; τί δὲ καὶ ἄτοπον κατὰ τὸν οἰκεῖον ὑμῖν σοφιστὴν γηράσκειν ἀεὶ πάντα διδασκομένους;

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Address of Tatian to the Greeks

Chapter XXXV.--Tatian Speaks as an Eye-Witness.

The things which I have thus set before you I have not learned at second hand. I have visited many lands; I have followed rhetoric, like yourselves; I have fallen in with many arts and inventions; and finally, when sojourning in the city of the Romans, I inspected the multiplicity of statues brought thither by you: for I do not attempt, as is the custom with many, to strengthen my own views by the opinions of others, but I wish to give you a distinct account of what I myself have seen and felt. So, bidding farewell to the arrogance of Romans and the idle talk of Athenians, and all their ill-connected opinions, I embraced our barbaric philosophy. I began to show how this was more ancient than your institutions, ¹ but left my task unfinished, in order to discuss a matter which demanded more immediate attention; but now it is time I should attempt to speak concerning its doctrines. Be not offended with our teaching, nor undertake an elaborate reply filled with trifling and ribaldry, saying, "Tatian, aspiring to be above the Greeks, above the infinite number of philosophic inquirers, has struck out a new path, and embraced the doctrines of Barbarians." For what grievance is it, that men manifestly ignorant should be reasoned with by a man of like nature with themselves? Or how can it be irrational, according to your own sophist, ² to grow old always learning something?