Clement of Alexandria: EXHORTATION TO THE HEATHEN Complete

Translated by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson.

Clement of Alexandria Home Page  Clement of Alexandria in Print

113 Pages

Page 76

Again, the same writer of comedy, expressing his dissatisfaction with the common usages, tries to expose the impious arrogance of the prevailing error in the drama of the Priestess, sagely declaring:--

"If a man drags the Deity

Whither he will by the sound of cymbals,

He that does this is greater than the Deity;

But these are the instruments of audacity and means of living

Invented by men."

And not only Menander, but Homer also, and Euripides, and other poets in great numbers, expose your gods, and are wont to rate them, and that soundly too. For instance, they call Aphrodite dog-fly, and Hephaestus a cripple. Helen says to Aphrodite:--

"Thy godship abdicate!

Renounce Olympus!" [926]

And of Dionysus, Homer writes without reserve:--

"He, mid their frantic orgies, in the groves

Of lovely Nyssa, put to shameful rout

The youthful Bacchus' nurses; they in fear,

Dropped each her thyrsus, scattered by the hand

Of fierce Lycurgus, with an ox-goad armed." [927]

[926] Il., iii. 406.

[927] Il., vi. 132.

Previous Page / First / Next Page of Clement - Exhortation to the Heathen

Clement of Alexandria Home Page ||| More Church Fathers

Elpenor's Free Greek Lessons

Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/fathers/clement-alexandria/exhortation-heathen.asp?pg=76