{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/002/0020191.htm","path":"chr/ecf/002/0020191.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/002/0020191.htm","text":"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 Ath\u00ean\u00e2 may not be seen\n \u201cBurning with rage and inly wroth with Jove;\u201d\u00a0765\n \n \u201cJuno\u2019s breast\nCould not contain her rage.\u201d 766\nAnd let them be superior to grief:\u2014\np. 139\n \u201cA woful sight mine eyes behold: a man\nI love in flight around the walls! My heart\nFor Hector grieves.\u201d 767\nFor I call even men rude and stupid who give way to anger and grief. But when the \u201cfather of men and gods\u201d mourns for his son,\u2014\n \u201cWoe, woe! that fate decrees my best belov\u2019d\nSarpedon, by Patroclus\u2019 hand to fall;\u201d 768\nand is not able while he mourns to rescue him from his peril:\u2014\n \u201cThe son of Jove, yet Jove preserv\u2019d him not;\u201d\u00a0769\n \nwho 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 Aphrodit\u00e9 be wounded by Diomedes in her body:\u2014\n \u201cThe haughty son of Tydeus, Diomed,\nHath wounded me;\u201d 770\n \u201cMe, awkward me, she scorns; and yields her charms\nTo that fair lecher, the strong god of arms.\u201d 771\n\u201cThe weapon pierced the flesh.\u201d 772\nHe who was terrible in battle, the ally of Zeus against the Titans, is shown to be weaker than Diomedes:\u2014\n \u201cHe raged, as Mars, when brandishing his spear.\u201d\u00a0773\n \nHush! Homer, a god never rages. But you describe the god to me as blood-stained, and the bane of mortals:\u2014\n \u201cMars, Mars, the bane of mortals, stained with blood;\u201d\u00a0774\n \nand you tell of his adultery and his bonds:\u2014\n \u201cThen, nothing loth, th\u2019 enamour\u2019d fair he led,\nAnd sunk transported on the conscious bed.\nDown rushed the toils.\u201d 775\nDo 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:\u2014\n \u201c\u00c6neas, amid Ida\u2019s jutting peaks,\nImmortal Venus to Anchises bore.\u201d 776\nAre 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, 777 he is therefore the slave of desire.\n \u201cFor never yet did such a flood of love,\nFor goddess or for mortal, fill my soul;\nNot for Ixion\u2019s beauteous wife, who bore\nPirith\u00f6us, sage in council as the gods;\nNor the neat-footed maiden Dan\u00e4e,\nA crisius\u2019 daughter, her who Pers\u00e9us bore,\nTh\u2019 observ\u2019d of all; nor noble Ph\u0153nix\u2019 child;\n. . . . . . nor for Semele;\nNor for Alcmena fair; . . .\nNo, nor for Ceres, golden-tress\u00e8d queen;\nNor for Latona bright; nor for thyself.\u201d 778\nHe is created, he is perishable, with no trace of a god in him. Nay, they are even the hired servants of men:\u2014\n \u201cAdmetus\u2019 halls, in which I have endured\nTo praise the menial table, though a god.\u201d 779\n \u201cAnd coming to this land, I cattle fed,\nFor him that was my host, and kept this house.\u201d 780\nAdmetus, 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:\u2014\n \u201cAnd I believed Apollo\u2019s mouth divine\nWas full of truth, as well as prophet\u2019s art.\u201d\n(\u00c6schylus is reproaching Apollo for being a false prophet:)\u2014\n \u201cThe very one who sings while at the feast,\nThe one who said these things, alas! is he\nWho slew my son.\u201d 781\nHom., Od., viii. 308 sq., Pope\u2019s transl.\n139:772 139:773 139:774 139:775\nHom., Od., viii. 296\u2013298, Pope\u2019s transl.\n139:776 139:777\n[\u03bf\u1f30\u03ba\u03bf\u03bd\u03bf\u03bc\u03af\u03b1\u03bd. Kaye, p. 174. And see Paris ed., 1615.]\n139:778 139:779 139:780 139:781\nFrom an unknown play of \u00c6schylus.","title":"Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol II: ATHENAGORAS: Chapter XXI.\u2014Impure Loves Ascribed to the Gods.","type":"page"}