The Stromata, or Miscellanies

“One God there is 'midst gods and men supreme;
In form, in mind, unlike to mortal men.”

And again:—

“But men have the idea that gods are born,
And wear their clothes, and have both voice and shape.”

And again:—

“But had the oxen or the lions hands,
Or could with hands depict a work like men,
Were beasts to draw the semblance of the gods,
The horses would them like to horses sketch,
To oxen, oxen, and their bodies make
Of such a shape as to themselves belongs.”

Let us hear, then, the lyric poet Bacchylides speaking of the divine:—

“Who to diseases dire never succumb,
And blameless are; in nought resembling men.”

And also Cleanthes, the Stoic, who writes thus in a poem on the Deity: —

“If you ask what is the nature of the good, listen—
That which is regular, just, holy, pious,
Self-governing, useful, fair, fitting,
Grave, independent, always beneficial,
That feels no fear or grief, profitable, painless,
Helpful, pleasant, safe, friendly,
Held in esteem, agreeing with itself: honourable,
Humble, careful, meek, zealous,
Perennial, blameless, ever-during.”

And the same, tacitly vilifying the idolatry of the multitude, adds:—

“Base is every one who looks to opinion,
With the view of deriving any good from it.”

We are not, then, to think of God according to the opinion of the multitude.

“For I do not think that secretly,
Imitating the guise of a scoundrel,
He would go to your bed as a man,”

says Amphion to Antiope. And Sophocles plainly writes:—

“His mother Zeus espoused,
Not in the likeness of gold, nor covered
With swan's plumage, as the Pleuronian girl
He impregnated; but an out and out man.”

He further proceeds, and adds:—

“And quick the adulterer stood on the bridal steps.”

Then he details still more plainly the licentiousness of the fabled Zeus:—

“But he nor food nor cleansing water touched,
But heart-stung went to bed, and that whole night
Wantoned.”

But let these be resigned to the follies of the theatre.

Heraclius plainly says: “But of the word which is eternal men are not able to understand, both before they have heard it, and on first hearing it.” And the lyrist Melanippides says in song:—

“Hear me, O Father, Wonder of men,
Ruler of the ever-living soul.”

And Parmenides the great, as Plato says in the Sophist, writes of God thus:—

“Very much, since unborn and indestructible He is,
Whole, only-begotten, and immoveable, and unoriginated.”

Hesiod also says:—

“For He of the immortals all is King and Lord.
With God none else in might may strive.”

Nay more, Tragedy, drawing away from idols, teaches to look up to heaven. Sophocles, as Hecatæus, who composed the histories in the work about Abraham and the Egyptians, says, exclaims plainly on the stage:—

“One in very truth, God is One,
Who made the heaven and the far-stretching earth,
The Deep's blue billow, and the might of winds.
But of us mortals, many erring far
In heart, as solace for our woes, have raised
Images of gods— of stone, or else of brass,
Or figures wrought of gold or ivory;
And sacrifices and vain festivals
To these appointing, deem ourselves devout.”

And Euripides on the stage, in tragedy, says:—

“Do you this lofty, boundless Ether see,
Which holds the earth around in the embrace
Of humid arms? This reckon Zeus,
And this regard as God.”

And in the drama of Pirithous, the same writes those lines in tragic vein:—

“You, self-sprung, who on Ether's wheel
Has universal nature spun,
Around whom Light and dusky spangled Night,
The countless host of stars, too, ceaseless dance.”

For there he says that the creative mind is self-sprung. What follows applies to the universe, in which are the opposites of light and darkness.

Æschylus also, the son of Euphorion, says with very great solemnity of God:—

“Ether is Zeus, Zeus earth, and Zeus the heaven;
The universe is Zeus, and all above.”

I am aware that Plato assents to Heraclitus, who writes: “The one thing that is wise alone will not be expressed, and means the name of Zeus.” And again, “Law is to obey the will of one.” And if you wish to adduce that saying, “He that has ears to hear, let him hear,” you will find it expressed by the Ephesian to the following effect: “Those that hear without understanding are like the deaf. The proverb witnesses against them, that when present they are absent.”

But do you want to hear from the Greeks expressly of one first principle? Timæus the Locrian, in the work on Nature, shall testify in the following words: “There is one first principle of all things unoriginated. For were it originated, it would be no longer the first principle; but the first principle would be that from which it originated.” For this true opinion was derived from what follows: “Hear,” it is said, “O Israel; the Lord your God is one, and Him only shall you serve.”

“Lo He all sure and all unerring is,”

says the Sibyl.

Homer also manifestly mentions the Father and the Son by a happy hit of divination in the following words:—

“If Outis, alone as you are, offers you violence,
And there is no escaping disease sent by Zeus,—
For the Cyclopes heed not Ægis-bearing Zeus.”

And before him Orpheus said, speaking of the point in hand:—

“Son of great Zeus, Father of Ægis-bearing Zeus.”

And Xenocrates the Chalcedonian, who mentions the supreme Zeus and the inferior Zeus, leaves an indication of the Father and the Son. Homer, while representing the gods as subject to human passions, appears to know the Divine Being, whom Epicurus does not so revere. He says accordingly:—

“Why, son of Peleus, mortal as you are,
With swift feet me pursuest, a god
Immortal? Have you not yet known
That I am a god?”

For he shows that the Divinity cannot be captured by a mortal, or apprehended either with feet, or hands, or eyes, or by the body at all. “To whom have you likened the Lord? Or to what likeness have you likened Him?” says the Scripture. Has not the artificer made the image? Or the goldsmith, melting the gold, has gilded it, and what follows.

The comic poet Epicharmus speaks in the Republic clearly of the Word in the following terms:—

“The life of men needs calculation and number alone,
And we live by number and calculation, for these save mortals.”

He then adds expressly:—

“Reason governs mortals, and alone preserves manners.”

Then:—

“There is in man reasoning; and there is a divine Reason.
Reason is implanted in man to provide for life and sustenance,
But divine Reason attends the arts in the case of all,
Teaching them always what it is advantageous to do.
For it was not man that discovered art, but God brought it;
And the Reason of man derives its origin from the divine Reason.”

The Spirit also cries by Isaiah: “Wherefore the multitude of sacrifices? Says the Lord. I am full of holocausts of rams, and the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls I wish not;” and a little after adds: “Wash you, and be clean. Put away wickedness from your souls,” and so forth.

Menander, the comic poet, writes in these very words:—

“If one by offering sacrifice, a crowd
Of bulls or kids, O Pamphilus, by Zeus.
Or such like things; by making works of art,
Garments of gold or purple, images
Of ivory or emerald, deems by these
God can be made propitious, he does err,
And has an empty mind. For the man must prove
A man of worth, who neither maids deflowers,
Nor an adulterer is, nor steals, nor kills
For love of worldly wealth, O Pamphilus.
Nay, covet not a needle's thread. For God
You sees, being near beside you.”...

“I am a God at hand,” it is said by Jeremiah, “and not a God afar off. Shall a man do anything in secret places, and I shall not see him?”

And again Menander, paraphrasing that Scripture, “Sacrifice a sacrifice of righteousness, and trust in the Lord,” thus writes:—

“And not a needle even that is
Another's ever covet, dearest friend;
For God in righteous works delights, and so
Permits him to increase his worldly wealth,
Who toils, and ploughs the land both night and day.
But sacrifice to God, and righteous be,
Shining not in bright robes, but in your heart;
And when you hear the thunder, do not flee,
Being conscious to yourself of nought amiss,
Good sir, for you God ever present sees.”

“Whilst you are yet speaking,” says the Scripture, “I will say, Lo, here I am.”

Again Diphilus, the comic poet, discourses as, follows on the judgment:—