Justin Martyr, answered from the texts and cited to the page.
Yes, and I have set out the proof in the order of its dates. Those who hand down the myths the poets made bring no proof to the youths who learn them. I say that the myths were uttered by the influence of wicked demons, to deceive and lead astray the human race.1 These spirits heard it proclaimed through the prophets that the Christ was to come and that the ungodly would be punished by fire, and so they put forward many to be called sons of Jupiter, hoping men would take what was said of Christ for marvellous tales like the poets' own.1
Moses is older than all writers, and he foretold that a prince would not fail from Judah until He came for whom it is reserved, binding His foal to the vine and washing His robe in the blood of the grape.1 The demons heard these words, and they said that Bacchus was the son of Jupiter and the discoverer of the vine; they put wine among his mysteries and taught that he was torn in pieces and ascended into heaven.1
I have told Trypho the same thing: the devil copied what Jacob announced and Moses recorded.2 The copy is clumsy because they did not understand what they had heard. Moses had not said whether the foal was an ass's or a horse's, nor whether He who was to come was God's Son or man's, so they sent Bellerophon up to heaven on Pegasus. When Isaiah said that He would be born of a virgin and by His own means ascend into heaven, they pretended that Perseus was meant.1
This is why a resemblance does not trouble me. It is evidence of who came first. Hercules is made strong, a traveller over the world, ascending at his death, and I see the Scripture that speaks of Christ as a giant running his race imitated in him. Asclepius is brought forward as raiser of the dead and healer of every disease, and I see the prophecies of Christ's works imitated there.2
The same is true of the Persians. When the mysteries of Mithras say he was begotten of a rock, and call the place of initiation a cave, I recognise Daniel's stone cut without hands from a great mountain, and Isaiah's man who dwells in the lofty cave of the strong rock, to whom bread is given and whose water is sure.3 That bread and cup are what our Christ gave us in remembrance of His flesh and blood, with thanksgiving.3
When I hear that Perseus was begotten of a virgin, I understand that the deceiving serpent counterfeited this also.3 I confess that these very counterfeits establish me in the knowledge of and faith in the Scriptures.2 So I tell the rulers plainly that I do not ask for acceptance because I say what your writers say. I ask it because I say true things.4
Before He became man, some, moved by these demons, related through the poets as having happened what they had themselves invented, just as they have fabricated the scandalous reports against us, for which there is neither witness nor proof.4 They did not stop when He came. Learning how He had been foretold and that every nation would look for Him, they put forward other men, the Samaritans Simon and Menander, who deceived many by magic and keep them deceived.
Simon so astonished the senate and people of Rome in the reign of Claudius that he was honoured like your other gods with a statue, and I have asked that you destroy it.5 They cannot persuade men that no fire awaits the wicked, nor could they keep Christ hidden when He came. They can only move those who live irrationally, bred in licence and prejudice, to kill and hate us.
We do not hate them; we pity them and call them to repentance.5 We do not fear death, since all must die. If they believe nothing follows death, they prove themselves wicked, inhuman and bigoted, for they kill us with no intention of delivering us.5
The angels who transgressed with women begot the demons, and the demons are the gods the nations worship. Having heard the prophets without understanding them, they put forward sons of Jupiter, the lustrations, and the bread and cup in the rites of Mithras, so that the truth when it came would seem one more fable. They had Socrates killed for exposing them, they raised Simon and Marcion among those called Christians, and they move magistrates to kill Christians for the name.
They cannot compel the will: men are free, God foreknows without fating, and he delays the fire for those still to repent.67
they put forward many to be called sons of Jupiter, under the impression that they would be able to produce in men the idea that the things which were said with regard to Christ were mere marvellous tales, like the things which were said by the poets.The First Apology
I am established in the knowledge of and faith in the Scriptures by those counterfeits which he who is called the devil is said to have performed among the GreeksDialogue with Trypho
And when I hear, Trypho, that Perseus was begotten of a virgin, I understand that the deceiving serpent counterfeited also this.Dialogue with Trypho
we claim to be acknowledged, not because we say the same things as these writers said, but because we say true thingsThe First Apology
they again, as was said above, put forward other men, the Samaritans Simon and Menander, who did many mighty works by magic, and deceived many, and still keep them deceived.The First Apology
But when we are examined, we make no denial, because we are not conscious of any evil, but count it impious not to speak the truth in all things, which also we know is pleasing to God, and because we are also now very desirous to deliver you from an unjust prejudice. Chapter V.--How the angels transgressed.The Second Apology
And with this form you consecrate the images of your emperors when they die, and you name them gods by inscriptions. Since, therefore, we have urged you both by reason and by an evident form, and to the utmost of our ability, we know that now we are blameless even though you disbelieve; for our part is done and finished. Chapter LVI.--The demons still mislead men.The First Apology
The part of his work most foreign to a modern reader and most necessary to his own argument: it is how he can honour the philosophers and refuse every rite of the cults at once.