Oration to the Greeks 31
Summary: Tatian begins his proof that Moses is older than Homer by showing that the Greeks cannot even agree on when Homer lived.
Greek text · Otto 6:118–126
Νῦν δὲ προσῆκον μοι νομίζω παραστῆσαι πρεσβυτέραν τὴν ἡμετέραν φιλοσοφίαν τῶν παρʼ Ἕλλησιν ἐπιτηδευμάτων. Ὅροι δὲ ἡμῖν κείσονται Μωυσῆς καὶ Ὅμηρος, τῷ ἑκάτερον αὐτῶν εἶναι παλαιότερον, καὶ τὸν μὲν ποιητῶν καὶ ἱστορικῶν εἶναι πρεσβύτερον, τὸν δὲ πάσης βαρβάρου σοφίας ἀρχηγόν. Καὶ ὑφʼ ἡμῶν νῦν εἰς σύγκρισιν παραλαμβανέσθωσαν· εὑρήσομεν γὰρ οὐ μόνον τῆς Ἑλλήνων παιδείας τὰ παρʼ ἡμῖν ἀλλὰ ἔτι καὶ τῆς τῶν γραμμάτων εὑρέσεως ἀνώτερα. Μάρτυρας δὲ οὐ τοὺς οἴκοι παραλήψομαι, βοηθοῖς δὲ μᾶλλον Ἕλλησι χρήσομαι· τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἄγνωμον, ὅτι μηδὲ ὑφʼ ὑμῶν παραδεκτέον, τὸ δʼ ἂν ἀποδεικνύηται θαυμαστόν, ὅταν ὑμῖν διὰ τῶν ὑμετέρων ὅπλων ἀντερείδων ἀνυπόπτους παρʼ ὑμῶν τοὺς ἐλέγχους λαμβάνω. Περὶ γὰρ τῆς ποιήσεως τοῦ Ὁμήρου, γένους τε αὐτοῦ καὶ χρόνου καθʼ ὃν ἤκμασεν, προηρεύνησαν οἱ πρεσβύτατοι, Θεαγένης τε ὁ Ῥηγῖνος κατὰ Καμβύσην γεγονώς, Στησίμβροτός τε ὁ Θάσιος καὶ Ἀντίμαχος ὁ Κολοφώνιος, Ἡρόδοτός τε ὁ Ἁλικαρνασσεὺς καὶ Διονύσιος ὁ Ὀλύνθιος· μετʼ ἐκείνους Ἔφορος ὁ Κυμαῖος καὶ Φιλόχορος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, Μεγακλείδης τε καὶ Χαμαιλέων οἱ Περιπατητικοί· ἔπειτα γραμματικοὶ Ζηνόδοτος, Ἀριστοφάνης, Καλλίμαχος, Κράτης, Ἐρατοσθένης, Ἀρίσταρχος, Ἀπολλόδωρος. Τούτων δὲ οἱ περὶ Κράτητα πρὸ τῆς Ἡρακλειδῶν καθόδου φασὶν αὐτὸν ἠκμακέναι, μετὰ τὰ Τρωϊκὰ ἐνδοτέρω τῶν ὀγδοήκοντα ἐτῶν· οἱ δὲ περὶ Ἐρατοσθένη μετὰ ἑκατοστὸν ἔτος τῆς Ἰλίου ἁλώσεως· οἱ δὲ περὶ Ἀρίσταρχον κατὰ τὴν Ἰωνικὴν ἀποικίαν, ἥ ἐστι μετὰ ἑκατὸν καὶ τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη τῶν Ἰλιακῶν· Φιλόχορος δὲ μετὰ τὴν Ἰωνικὴν ἀποικίαν, ἐπὶ ἄρχοντος Ἀθήνῃσιν Ἀρχίππου, τῶν Ἰλιακῶν ὕστερον ἔτεσιν ἑκατὸν ὀγδοήκοντα· οἱ δὲ περὶ Ἀπολλόδωρον μετὰ τὴν Ἰωνικὴν ἀποικίαν ἔτεσιν ἑκατόν, ὅπερ γένοιτο ἂν ὕστερον τῶν Ἰλιακῶν ἔτεσι διακοσίοις τεσσαράκοντα. Τινὲς δὲ πρὸ τῶν ὀλυμπιάδων ἔφασαν αὐτὸν γεγονέναι ἔτεσιν ἐνενήκοντα, τουτέστι μετὰ τὴν Ἰλίου ἅλωσιν ἔτεσι τριακοσίοις ἑπτακαίδεκα· ἕτεροι δὲ κάτω τὸν χρόνον ὑπήγαγον, σὺν Ἀρχιλόχῳ γεγονέναι τὸν Ὅμηρον εἰπόντες· ὁ δὲ Ἀρχίλοχος ἤκμασε περὶ ὀλυμπιάδα τρίτην καὶ εἰκοστήν, κατὰ Γύγην τὸν Λυδόν, τῶν Ἰλιακῶν ὕστερον ἔτεσι πεντακοσίοις. Καὶ περὶ μὲν τοῦ χρόνου τοῦ προειρημένου ποιητοῦ, λέγω δὲ Ὁμήρου, συστάσεως τε καὶ τῶν εἰπόντων περὶ αὐτοῦ ἀσυμφωνίας τοῖς ἐπʼ ἀκριβὲς ἐξετάζειν δυναμένοις αὐτάρκως ἡμῖν ὡς ἐπὶ κεφαλαίων εἰρήσθω. Δυνατὸν γὰρ ψευδεῖς ἀποφήνασθαι καὶ τὰς περὶ τοὺς λόγους δόξας. Παρʼ οἷς γὰρ ἀσυνάρτητός ἐστιν ἡ τῶν χρόνων ἀναγραφή, παρὰ τούτοις οὐδὲ τὰ τῆς ἱστορίας ἀληθεύειν δυνατόν. Τί γὰρ τὸ αἴτιον τῆς ἐν τῷ γράφειν πλάνης, εἰ μὴ τὸ συντάττειν τὰ μὴ ἀληθῆ;
English · Claude translation
Now I think it proper to show that our philosophy is older than the pursuits of the Greeks. Moses and Homer will serve as our landmarks, since each of them is very ancient, the one the oldest of poets and historians, the other the founder of all barbarian wisdom. Let us now take them for comparison; for we shall find that our teachings are older not only than the culture of the Greeks, but even than the invention of letters. I will not take witnesses from among our own people, but will rather use Greeks as my helpers. The former would be unreasonable, since you would not accept them; but the latter would be a remarkable proof, when I fight you with your own weapons and obtain from you evidence that is beyond suspicion. The oldest writers have inquired into the poetry of Homer, his family, and the time in which he flourished: Theagenes of Rhegium, who lived in the time of Cambyses, Stesimbrotus of Thasos, Antimachus of Colophon, Herodotus of Halicarnassus, and Dionysius of Olynthus; after them Ephorus of Cyme and Philochorus of Athens, and the Peripatetics Megaclides and Chamaeleon; then the grammarians Zenodotus, Aristophanes, Callimachus, Crates, Eratosthenes, Aristarchus, and Apollodorus. Of these, Crates and his school say that Homer flourished before the return of the Heraclids, within eighty years after the Trojan War; Eratosthenes and his school, after the hundredth year from the capture of Troy; Aristarchus and his school, at the time of the Ionian migration, which was 140 years after the Trojan War; Philochorus, after the Ionian migration, when Archippus was archon at Athens, 180 years after the Trojan War; Apollodorus and his school, 100 years after the Ionian migration, which would be 240 years after the Trojan War. Some have said that he lived 90 years before the Olympiads, that is, 317 years after the capture of Troy; others brought the date lower, saying that Homer lived at the same time as Archilochus; and Archilochus flourished about the twenty-third Olympiad, in the time of Gyges the Lydian, 500 years after the Trojan War. Concerning the date of that poet, I mean Homer, his origin, and the disagreement among those who have written about him, let this summary suffice for those able to examine the matter precisely. For it is possible to show that the opinions about his poems are also false: where the record of dates is inconsistent, the historical accounts cannot be true either. For what is the cause of error in writing, if not setting down what is untrue?
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- Chapters 31–41 argue from chronology that Moses is older than all Greek culture, an argument later used by Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius.
- The Greek text has Φιλόχορος with a small letter; it is capitalized here as a name.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (proper name printed with a small letter): φιλόχορος δὲ μετὰ → Φιλόχορος δὲ μετὰ.
Cite this passage
Tatian, Or. Graec. 31 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tatian-oration/31/).
Plain text
Tatian, Or. Graec. 31 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tatian-oration/31/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text