inty. He was a hearer, as
we have seen, of Justin Martyr in Rome; and if the chronology of this
father had been established beyond the reach of doubt, we should be
treading on firm ground. On this point however there has been much
variety of opinion. The prevailing view is, or was, in favour of placing
Justin's death as late as A.D. 163-165, on the authority of Eusebius;
but the most careful investigations of recent criticism have tended
towards a much earlier date [274:1]. The literary activity of Tatian
seems to have begun about the time of Justin Martyr's death; and after
this we have to allow for his own career, first as an orthodox
Christian, and then as a heretic. When Irenaeus wrote his first book,
Tatian was no longer living, as may be inferred from the language of
this father [274:2]: and this book must have been written before A.D.
190, and may have 'been written as early as A.D. 178 [274:3]. Again, if
we may assume that the 'Assyrian,' whom the Alexandrian Clement mentions
among his teachers [274:4], was Tatian, as seems highly probable, we
have another indication of date. The first book of the _Stromateis_, in
which this fact is recorded, was itself written about A.D. 194 or 195;
and Clement there speaks of the Assyrian as one of his earlier masters,
whom he had met with in the East, before he settled down under the
tuition of Pantaenus at Alexandria. In like manner Tatian's connection
with Rhodon would point roughly to the same conclusion. On the whole, we
shall perhaps not be far wrong if we place the literary activity of
Tatian at about A.D. 155-170. It may have begun some few years earlier,
or it may have extended some few years later.

Tatian was a voluminous writer; but of several writings mentioned by the
ancients only one has come down to us, his _Apology_ or _Address to the
Greeks_. It was written after the death of Justin, but apparently not
very long after. At all events it would seem to have been composed
before he had separated from the Church and set himself up as a
heretical teacher. Its date therefore is dependent on the uncertain
chronology of Justin. The author of _Supernatural Religion_ speaks of it
as 'generally dated between A.D. 170-175,' and seems himself to
acquiesce in this view. Though I think this date probably several years
too late, the point is not worth contending for.

As a rule, the early Apologies abstain from quotations, whether from the
Old Testament or from the New. The