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Œuvres Athénagoras d'Athènes (133-190) Supplicatio pro Christianis A Plea for the Christians

Chapter XXI.--Impure Loves Ascribed to the Gods.

But should it be said that they only had fleshly forms, and possess blood and seed, and the affections of anger and sexual desire, even then we must regard such assertions as nonsensical and ridiculous; for there is neither anger, nor desire and appetite, nor procreative seed, in gods. Let them, then, have fleshly forms, but let them be superior to wrath and anger, that Athênâ may not be seen

"Burning with rage and inly wroth with Jove;" 1

nor Hera appear thus:--

"Juno's breast Could not contain her rage." 2

And let them be superior to grief:--

"A woful sight mine eyes behold: a man I love in flight around the walls! My heart For Hector grieves." 3

For I call even men rude and stupid who give way to anger and grief. But when the "father of men and gods" mourns for his son,--

"Woe, woe! that fate decrees my best belov'd Sarpedon, by Patroclus' hand to fall;" 4

and is not able while he mourns to rescue him from his peril:--

"The son of Jove, yet Jove preserv'd him not;" 5

who would not blame the folly of those who, with tales like these, are lovers of the gods, or rather, live without any god? Let them have fleshly forms, but let not Aphroditae be wounded by Diomedes in her body:--

"The haughty son of Tydeus, Diomed, Hath wounded me;" 6

or by Arês in her soul:--

"Me, awkward me, she scorns; and yields her charms To that fair lecher, the strong god of arms." 7

"The weapon pierced the flesh." 8

He who was terrible in battle, the ally of Zeus against the Titans, is shown to be weaker than Diomedes:--

"He raged, as Mars, when brandishing his spear." 9

Hush! Homer, a god never rages. But you describe the god to me as blood-stained, and the bane of mortals:--

"Mars, Mars, the bane of mortals, stained with blood;" 10

and you tell of his adultery and his bonds:--

"Then, nothing loth, th' enamour'd fair he led, And sunk transported on the conscious bed.

Down rushed the toils." 11

Do they not pour forth impious stuff of this sort in abundance concerning the gods? Ouranos is mutilated; Kronos is bound, and thrust down to Tartarus; the Titans revolt; Styx dies in battle: yea, they even represent them as mortal; they are in love with one another; they are in love with human beings:--

"Aeneas, amid Ida's jutting peaks, Immortal Venus to Anchises bore." 12

Are they not in love? Do they not suffer? Nay, verily, they are gods, and desire cannot touch them! Even though a god assume flesh in pursuance of a divine purpose, 13 he is therefore the slave of desire.

"For never yet did such a flood of love, For goddess or for mortal, fill my soul;

Not for Ixion's beauteous wife, who bore Pirithöus, sage in council as the gods;

Nor the neat-footed maiden Danäe, A crisius' daughter, her who Persaeus bore, Th' observ'd of all; nor noble Phoenix' child;

. . . . . . nor for Semele;

Nor for Alcmena fair; . . .

No, nor for Ceres, golden-tressèd queen;

Nor for Latona bright; nor for thyself." 14

He is created, he is perishable, with no trace of a god in him. Nay, they are even the hired servants of men:--

"Admetus' halls, in which I have endured To praise the menial table, though a god." 15

And they tend cattle:--

"And coming to this land, I cattle fed, For him that was my host, and kept this house." 16

Admetus, therefore, was superior to the god. Prophet and wise one, and who canst foresee for others the things that shall be, thou didst not divine the slaughter of thy beloved, but didst even kill him with thine own hand, dear as he was:--

"And I believed Apollo's mouth divine Was full of truth, as well as prophet's art."

(Aeschylus is reproaching Apollo for being a false prophet:)--

"The very one who sings while at the feast, The one who said these things, alas! is he Who slew my son." 17


  1. Hom., Il., iv. 23. ↩

  2. Ibid., iv. 24. ↩

  3. Ibid., xxii. 168 sq. ↩

  4. Ibid., xvi. 433 sq. ↩

  5. Ibid., xvi. 522. ↩

  6. Ibid., v. 376. ↩

  7. Hom., Od., viii. 308 sq., Pope's transl. ↩

  8. Hom., Il., v. 858. ↩

  9. Hom., Il., xv. 605. ↩

  10. Hom., Il., v. 31, 455. ↩

  11. Hom., Od., viii. 296-298, Pope's transl. ↩

  12. Hom., Il., ii. 820. ↩

  13. [oikonomian. Kaye, p. 174. And see Paris ed., 1615.] ↩

  14. Hom., Il., xiv. 315 sqq. ↩

  15. Eurip., Alcest., 1 sq. ↩

  16. Ibid., 8 sq. ↩

  17. From an unknown play of Aeschylus. ↩

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Traductions de cette œuvre
A Plea for the Christians
Apologie des Chrétiens Comparer
Bittschrift für die Christen (BKV) Comparer
Commentaires sur cette œuvre
Einleitung zu Athenagoras' Bittschrift für die Christen
Introductory Note to the Writings of Athenagoras

Table des matières
  • A Plea For the Christians By Athenagoras the Athenian: Philosopher and Christian
    • Chapter I.--Injustice Shown Towards the Christians.
    • Chapter II.--Claim to Be Treated as Others are When Accused.
    • Chapter III.--Charges Brought Against the Christians.
    • Chapter IV.--The Christians are Not Atheists, But Acknowledge One Only God.
    • Chapter V.--Testimony of the Poets to the Unity of God.
    • Chapter VI.--Opinions of the Philosophers as to the One God.
    • Chapter VII.--Superiority of the Christian Doctrine Respecting God.
    • Chapter VIII.--Absurdities of Polytheism.
    • Chapter IX.--The Testimony of the Prophets.
    • Chapter X.--The Christians Worship the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
    • Chapter XI.--The Moral Teaching of the Christians Repels the Charge Brought Against Them.
    • Chapter XII.--Consequent Absurdity of the Charge of Atheism.
    • Chapter XIII.--Why the Christians Do Not Offer Sacrifices.
    • Chapter XIV.--Inconsistency of Those Who Accuse the Christians.
    • Chapter XV.--The Christians Distinguish God from Matter.
    • Chapter XVI.--The Christians Do Not Worship the Universe.
    • Chapter XVII.--The Names of the Gods and Their Images are But of Recent Date.
    • Chapter XVIII.--The Gods Themselves Have Been Created, as the Poets Confess.
    • Chapter XIX.--The Philosophers Agree with the Poets Respecting the Gods.
    • Chapter XX.--Absurd Representations of the Gods.
    • Chapter XXI.--Impure Loves Ascribed to the Gods.
    • Chapter XXII.--Pretended Symbolical Explanations.
    • Chapter XXIII.--Opinions of Thales and Plato.
    • Chapter XXIV.--Concerning the Angels and Giants.
    • Chapter XXV.--The Poets and Philosophers Have Denied a Divine Providence.
    • Chapter XXVI.--The Demons Allure Men to the Worship of Images.
    • Chapter XXVII.--Artifices of the Demons.
    • Chapter XXVIII.--The Heathen Gods Were Simply Men.
    • Chapter XXIX.--Proof of the Same from the Poets.
    • Chapter XXX.--Reasons Why Divinity Has Been Ascribed to Men.
    • Chapter XXXI.--Confutation of the Other Charges Brought Against the Christians.
    • Chapter XXXII.--Elevated Morality of the Christians.
    • Chapter XXXIII.--Chastity of the Christians with Respect to Marriage.
    • Chapter XXXIV.--The Vast Difference in Morals Between the Christians and Their Accusers.
    • Chapter XXXV.--The Christians Condemn and Detest All Cruelty.
    • Chapter XXXVI.--Bearing of the Doctrine of the Resurrection on the Practices of the Christians.
    • Chapter XXXVII.--Entreaty to Be Fairly Judged.

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