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A Plea for the Christians
Chapter XXXII.--Elevated Morality of the Christians.
It is, however, nothing wonderful that they should get up tales about us such as they tell of their own gods, of the incidents of whose lives they make mysteries. But it behoved them, if they meant to condemn shameless and promiscuous intercourse, to hate either Zeus, who begat children of his mother Rhea and his daughter Korae, and took his own sister to wife, or Orpheus, the inventor of these tales, which made Zeus more unholy and detestable than Thyestes himself; for the latter defiled his daughter in pursuance of an oracle, and when he wanted to obtain the kingdom and avenge himself. But we are so far from practising promiscuous intercourse, that it is not lawful among us to indulge even a lustful look. "For," saith He, "he that looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery already in his heart." 1 Those, then, who are forbidden to look at anything more than that for which God formed the eyes, which were intended to be a light to us, and to whom a wanton look is adultery, the eyes being made for other purposes, and who are to be called to account for their very thoughts, how can any one doubt that such persons practice self-control? For our account lies not with human laws, which a bad man can evade (at the outset I proved to you, sovereign lords, that our doctrine is from the teaching of God), but we have a law which makes the measure of rectitude to consist in dealing with our neighbour as ourselves. 2 On this account, too, according to age, we recognise some as sons and daughters, others we regard as brothers and sisters, 3 and to the more advanced in life we give the honour due to fathers and mothers. On behalf of those, then, to whom we apply the names of brothers and sisters, and other designations of relationship, we exercise the greatest care that their bodies should remain undefiled and uncorrupted; for the Logos 4 again says to us, "If any one kiss a second time because it has given him pleasure, [he sins];" adding, "Therefore the kiss, or rather the salutation, should be given with the greatest care, since, if there be mixed with it the least defilement of thought, it excludes us from eternal life." 5
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Matt. v. 28. ↩
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Otto translates: "which has made us and our neighbours attain the highest degree of rectitude." The text is obscure, but the above seems the probably meaning; comp. Matt. xxii. 39, etc. ↩
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[Hermas, p. 47, [11]note, and p. 57, this volume; Elucidation, [12]ii.] ↩
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[The Logos never said, "it excludes us from eternal life:" that is sure; and the passage, though ambiguous, is not so interpreted in the Latin of Gesner. Jones remarks that Athenagoras never introduces a saying of our Lord in this way. Compare Clem. Alexandrin. (Paedagogue, b. iii. cap. v. p. 297, Edinburgh Series), where he quotes Matt. v. 28, with variation. Lardner (cap. xviii. sec. 20) gives a probable explanation. Jones on The Canon (vol. i. p. 436) is noteworthy. Kaye (p. 221) does not solve the puzzle.] ↩
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Probably from some apocryphal writing. [Come from what source it may, it suggests a caution of the utmost importance to Americans. In the newer parts of the country, the practice, here corrected, as cropped out among "brothers and sisters" of divers religious names, and consequent scandals have arisen. To all Christians comes, the apostolic appeal, "Let it not be once named among you."] ↩
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Apologie des Chrétiens
XXXII.
Il ne faut pas s'étonner si nos ennemis nous imputent les crimes qu'ils attribuent à leurs dieux, dont ils célèbrent les passions sous le nom de mystères. Mais du moins, puisqu'ils réprouvent si fort en nous les unions incestueuses formées dans l'ombre et au hasard, ils auraient dû montrer d'abord leur aversion pour Jupiter, qui eut de enfants de Rhéa, sa mère, et de sa fille Proserpine, et qui épousa sa propre sœur ; ou condamner Orphée, l'inventeur de ces turpitudes, cet Orphée qui nous a représenté Jupiter plus infâme que Thyeste lui-même. Car ce dernier, en souillant sa propre fille, ne fit qu'obéir à un oracle qui lui assurait que c'était le seul moyen de se venger et de conserver son royaume. Pour nous, nous sommes si éloignés de semblables crimes, qu'il ne nous est pas même permis de regarder une femme avec un mauvais désir :
« Celui qui regarde une femme avec la pensée du mal, dit notre maître, a déjà commis l'adultère dans son cœur. »
Comment seraient-ils des impudiques, ceux qui ne se servent de leurs yeux que pour éclairer le corps, selon l'intention du créateur; ceux, dis-je, qui se croient comptables devant Dieu non seulement de leurs actions, mais encore de leurs pensées, et pour qui un regard trop complaisant est un adultère, parce que les yeux ont été faits pour un autre usage? Car il n'en est pas de la loi que nous observons comme des lois humaines auxquelles le méchant peut quelquefois se soustraire : ainsi que je vous le démontrais naguère, grands princes, c'est notre Dieu qui nous l'a donnée, et cette divine loi règle tous nos devoirs envers nous-mêmes et envers le prochain.
Selon la différence de l'âge, nous regardons les uns comme nos enfants, les autres comme nos frères et nos sœurs, et nous honorons les vieillards comme nos pères et nos mères; aussi avons-nous grand soin de conserver l'innocence de ceux que nous regardons comme nos parents, et a qui nous donnons ces doux noms de famille; l'Écriture, parlant du baiser dont le plaisir serait le motif, ajoute : « Il faut donner avec la plus grande précaution le baiser ou plutôt la salutation, parce qu'elle nous exclut de la vie éternelle, pour peu qu'elle souille la pensée. »