Living Poets

{{DISPLAYTITLE:Clement of Alexandria, ''Protrepticus'' 1.3.1 = Orph. 1088 Bernabé}}
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ἐμοὶ μὲν οὖν δοκοῦσιν ὁ Θράικιος ἐκεῖνος Ὀρφεὺς καὶ ὁ Θηβαῖος καὶ ὁ Μηθυμναῖος, ἄνδρες τινὲς οὐκ ἄνδρες, ἀπατηλοὶ γεγονέναι, προσχήματι μουσικῆς λυμηνάμενοι τὸν βίον, ἐντέχνωι τινὶ γοητείαι δαιμονῶντες εἰς διαφθοράς, ὕβρεις ὀργιάζοντες, πένθη ἐκθειάζοντες, τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐπὶ τὰ εἴδωλα χειραγωγῆσαι πρῶτοι (ναὶ μὴν λίθοις καὶ ξύλοις, τουτέστιν ἀγάλμασι καὶ σκιαγραφίαις, ἀνοικοδομῆσαι τὴν σκαιότητα τοῦ ἔθους), τὴν καλὴν ὄντως ἐκείνην ἐλευθερίαν τῶν ὑπ’ οὐρανὸν πεπολιτευμένων ὠιδαῖς καὶ ἐπωιδαῖς ἐσχάτηι δουλείαι καταζεύξαντες.
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To me, therefore, that Thracian Orpheus and that Theban and that Methymnaean—men, and yet unworthy of the name—seem to have been deceivers, who, corrupting life under the pretence of music, being possessed by a spirit of artful sorcery for the purpose of destruction, celebrating crimes in their orgies, making human woes the materials of religious worship, were the first to entice men to idols (nay to build up the stupidity of the nations with blocks of wood and stone—that is, statues and images) subjecting, by their incantations and enchantments, the truly noble freedom of those who lived as free citizens under heaven to the yoke of the most extreme bondage.
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{{CollectionsBoxOtherTranslator
|editor=Sarah Burges Watson
|guides=[[Orpheus: A Guide to Selected Sources|Orpheus]]
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{{#set:Full title=Clement of Alexandria, ''Protrepticus'' 1.3.1 = Orph. 1088 Bernabé}}
{{#set:Short title=Clement of Alexandria, ''Protrepticus'' 1.3.1}}
{{#set:Abbreviated title=Clem. Al. ''Protr.'' 1.31.1}}

[[Category:Orpheus Collections]]