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Hortatory Address to the Greeks

Justin Martyr

Chapter 24

About this work

Author: Justin Martyr

Chapter XXIV.—Agreement of Plato and Homer.

How, then, does Plato banish Homer from his

‹ Chapter 23 Chapter 25 ›

republic

,

since

,

in

the

embassy

to

Achilles

,

he

represents

Phœnix

as

saying

to

Achilles

,

“

Even

the

gods

themselves

are

not

inflexible

,

”

though

Homer

said

this

not

of

the

king

and

Platonic

maker

of

the

gods

,

but

of

some

of

the

multitude

whom

the

Greeks

esteem

as

gods

,

as

one

can

gather

from

Plato’s

saying

,

“

gods

of

gods

?

”

For

Homer

,

by

that

golden

chain

,

refers

all

power

and

might

to

the

one

highest

God

.

And

the

rest

of

the

gods

,

he

said

,

were

so

far

distant

from

his

divinity

,

that

he

thought

fit

to

name

them

even

along

with

men

.

At

least

he

introduces

Ulysses

saying

of

Hector

to

Achilles

,

“

He

is

raging

terribly

,

trusting

in

Zeus

,

and

values

neither

men

nor

gods

.

”

In

this

passage

Homer

seems

to

me

without

doubt

to

have

learnt

in

Egypt

,

like

Plato

,

concerning

the

one

God

,

and

plainly

and

openly

to

declare

this

,

that

he

who

trusts

in

the

really

existent

God

makes

no

account

of

those

that

do

not

exist

.

For

thus

the

poet

,

in

another

passage

,

and

employing

another

but

equivalent

word

,

to

wit

,

a

pronoun

,

made

use

of

the

same

participle

employed

by

Plato

to

designate

the

really

existent

God

,

concerning

whom

Plato

said

,

“

What

that

is

which

always

exists

,

and

has

no

birth

.

”

For

not

without

a

double

sense

does

this

expression

of

Phœnix

seem

to

have

been

used

:

“

Not

even

if

God

Himself

were

to

promise

me

,

that

,

having

burnished

off

my

old

age

,

He

should

set

me

forth

in

the

flower

of

youth

.

”

For

the

pronoun

“

Himself

”

signifies

the

really

existing

God

.

For

thus

,

too

,

the

oracle

which

was

given

to

you

concerning

the

Chaldæans

and

Hebrews

signifies

.

For

when

some

one

inquired

what

men

had

ever

lived

godly

,

you

say

the

answer

was

:

—

“Only the Chaldæans and the Hebrews found wisdom, Worshipping God Himself, the unbegotten King.”

Notes

50
Iliad, ix. 497.
51
That is, by the challenge of the chain introduced—Iliad, viii. 18.
52
Iliad, ix. 238.