First Apology

To the Emperor Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius Augustus Caesar, and to his son Verissimus the Philosopher, and to Lucius the Philosopher, the son of Caesar by nature and of Pius by adoption, a lover of learning, and to the sacred Senate and the whole Roman people: on behalf of those of every race of people who are unjustly hated and abused, I, Justin, son of Priscus, son of Bacchius, of Flavia Neapolis in Syria Palestine, myself one of them, have made this address and petition.

Reason directs those who are truly pious and philosophers to honor and love only what is true, declining to follow the opinions of the ancients if they are worthless. For sound reason directs not only that we should not follow those who did or taught anything unjustly, but that the lover of truth must by all means, and even before his own life, choose to say and do what is right, even if death is threatened. You, then, hear yourselves everywhere called pious and philosophers and guardians of justice and lovers of learning; but whether you really are will be shown. For we have come, not to flatter you by these writings, nor to speak to win favor, but to ask you to judge according to strict and searching reason, not held back by prejudice or by a wish to please superstitious people, nor by irrational impulse and long-standing evil rumor, to pass sentence against yourselves. For we have reckoned that we can suffer no harm from anyone, unless we are convicted as workers of evil or proved to be wicked; you can kill us, but you cannot harm us.

But so that no one may think this an unreasonable and reckless saying, we ask that the charges against them be examined, and, if they are proved to be so, that they be punished as it is fitting to punish those convicted. But if no one can prove anything, true reason does not direct you to wrong innocent people because of an evil rumor, or rather yourselves, who think fit to handle matters by passion and not by judgment. Everyone of sound mind will declare this the fair and only just challenge: that subjects should give an irreproachable account of their life and teaching, and that rulers likewise should give their verdict following, not violence and tyranny, but piety and philosophy; for so both rulers and subjects would enjoy the good. For one of the ancients said somewhere, “Unless both rulers and subjects become philosophers, cities cannot be happy.” It is our task, then, to offer all an inspection of our life and teachings, so that we may not ourselves incur the penalty for those who think they are ignorant of our ways, for the faults they commit in their blindness; and it is yours, as reason demands, when you have heard, to be found good judges. For hereafter, having learned, you will have no excuse before God if you do not do what is just.

By the mere designation of a name nothing is judged good or bad apart from the actions implied by the name; indeed, as far as the name with which we are accused goes, we are most excellent. But since we do not think it just to ask to be released because of the name, if we are convicted as evildoers, so again, if we are found to do no wrong either in the designation of the name or in our conduct, it is your concern to take care lest, by unjustly punishing those who are not convicted, you yourselves incur punishment from justice. For neither praise nor punishment could reasonably come from a name, unless something virtuous or base could be shown through deeds. For those accused before you, you do not punish before they are convicted; but in our case you take the name as proof, although, as far as the name goes, you ought rather to punish the accusers. For we are accused of being Christians; but it is not just to hate what is excellent. And again, if one of the accused denies it with his voice, saying he is not a Christian, you release him, as having nothing to convict him of wrongdoing; but if anyone confesses that he is, you punish him because of the confession; when you ought to examine the life both of the one who confesses and of the one who denies, so that by his actions it may be seen what kind of person each is. For just as some, having learned from the teacher Christ not to deny when examined, urge others likewise, so in the same way some who live wickedly perhaps give occasion to those who in any case choose to accuse all Christians of impiety and injustice. But this too is not done rightly; for some assume the name and dress of philosophy who do nothing worthy of their profession; and you know that even those of the ancients who held and taught contrary opinions are called by the one name of philosophers. And some of these taught atheism; and the poets proclaim the licentiousness of Zeus together with his children; and those who follow their teachings are not restrained by you, but you award prizes and honors to those who insult them in fine language.

What, then, could this be? In our case, though we promise to do no wrong and not to hold these godless opinions, you do not examine the charges, but, driven by irrational passion and by the whip of evil demons, you punish without trial and without concern. For the truth shall be told: in ancient times evil demons, making appearances, both defiled women and corrupted boys, and showed terrifying sights to people, so that those who did not judge by reason what was happening were struck with terror; and being carried away by fear and not knowing that these were evil demons, they called them gods, and addressed each by the name that each of the demons had given himself. And when Socrates tried by true reason and searching inquiry to bring these things to light and to lead people away from the demons, the demons themselves, through people who delighted in wickedness, brought it about that he was put to death as an atheist and impious, saying that he was introducing new divinities; and in the same way they are doing the same thing in our case. For not only among the Greeks were these things refuted by reason through Socrates, but also among the barbarians by the Word himself, who took form and became man and was called Jesus Christ; and persuaded by him, we say that the demons who did these things are not only not right, but are evil and unholy demons, whose deeds are not even like those of people who long for virtue.

Hence we are also called atheists; and we confess that we are atheists with regard to such so-called gods, but not with regard to the most true God, the Father of righteousness and self-control and the other virtues, who is unmixed with evil. But him, and the Son who came from him and taught us these things, and the host of the other good angels who follow him and are made like him, and the prophetic Spirit, we worship and adore, honoring them in reason and truth, and handing them on without grudging to everyone who wishes to learn, as we have been taught.

But, someone will say, some have already been arrested and convicted as evildoers. Indeed you often condemn many, when you examine the life of those accused on each occasion, but not because of those who were convicted before. In general we admit this too: just as those among the Greeks who taught what pleased them are all called by the one name of philosophy, though their teachings are contrary, so also among the barbarians the name brought against those who became and were thought wise is common; for all are called Christians. Therefore we ask that the actions of all who are denounced to you be judged, so that the one convicted may be punished as a wrongdoer, but not as a Christian; and if anyone is shown to be blameless, let him be released as a Christian doing no wrong. For we will not ask you to punish the accusers; they are sufficiently punished by their present wickedness and their ignorance of what is good.

Consider that we have said these things for your sake, since it is in our power to deny when examined. But we do not wish to live by telling lies; for, longing for the eternal and pure life, we strive for the life that is with God, the Father and Maker of all, and we hasten to confess, being persuaded and believing that those who have shown God by their works that they followed him and loved the life with him, where evil does not resist, can obtain these things. This, then, to speak briefly, is what we expect and have learned from Christ and teach. And Plato likewise said that Rhadamanthus and Minos would punish the wicked who came before them; we say that the same thing will happen, but by Christ, and to the same bodies united with their souls, which will be punished with eternal punishment, and not for a period of a thousand years only, as he said. If anyone says this is incredible or impossible, this error concerns us and no one else, so long as we are not convicted of doing any wrong in deed.

Nor do we honor with many sacrifices and garlands of flowers those whom people have shaped and set up in temples and called gods, since we know that they are lifeless and dead and do not have the form of God (for we do not think that God has the form that some say they imitate to honor him), but have the names and shapes of those evil demons who appeared. For why need we tell you, who know it, how the craftsmen treat the material, carving and cutting and casting and hammering? And often from dishonorable vessels, changing only the shape by their art and giving it form, they call them gods. This we consider not only irrational but also an insult to God, who has glory and form beyond words, that his name should be given to things that are perishable and need care. And you know well that the craftsmen of these things are licentious and have every vice, not to list them; they even corrupt the slave girls who work with them. O the stupidity, that licentious men should be said to fashion and remake gods to be worshiped, and that such people should be appointed guardians of the temples where they are dedicated, not seeing that it is unlawful even to think or say that men are guardians of gods!

But we have received that God does not need material offerings from human beings, since we see that he himself provides everything; and we have been taught, and are persuaded, and believe, that he accepts only those who imitate the good things that belong to him: self-control and justice and love of humankind and whatever is proper to God, who is called by no given name. And we have been taught that in the beginning, being good, he made all things out of formless matter for the sake of human beings; and if they show themselves by their works worthy of his purpose, we have received that they will be counted worthy to live with him, reigning with him, having become incorruptible and free from suffering. For as in the beginning he made us when we did not exist, so we think that those who choose what pleases him will, because of that choice, be counted worthy of incorruption and of fellowship with him. For our coming into being in the beginning was not our doing; but to follow what is dear to him, choosing it through the rational powers he himself has given, he both persuades us and leads us to faith. And we think it is for the good of all people that they are not prevented from learning these things, but are even urged toward them. For what human laws could not do, the divine Word would have done, if the evil demons had not scattered many false and godless accusations, taking as their ally the evil desire in each person, varied in nature and bent on everything; none of which belongs to us.

And you, hearing that we expect a kingdom, have supposed without examination that we speak of a human one, whereas we speak of the kingdom with God; as is clear also from the fact that when examined by you we confess to being Christians, knowing that death is the penalty laid down for the one who confesses. For if we expected a human kingdom, we would deny it, so as not to be killed, and would try to escape notice, so as to obtain what we expect. But since we do not set our hopes on the present, we do not care about those who kill us, since we must die in any case.

And we are your helpers and allies for peace more than all other people, since we hold that it is impossible for an evildoer, a covetous person, or a conspirator, or a virtuous person, to escape the notice of God, and that each goes to eternal punishment or salvation according to the merit of his actions. For if all people knew this, no one would choose wickedness for a little while, knowing that he goes to eternal condemnation by fire; but he would by every means restrain himself and adorn himself with virtue, so as to obtain the good things from God and be free of the punishments. For those who, because of the laws and punishments you have laid down, try to escape notice when they do wrong, do wrong knowing that it is possible to escape your notice, since you are human; but if they learned and were persuaded that it is impossible to hide anything from God, not only what is done but even what is intended, they would at least because of the penalties be orderly in every way, as you too will agree. But you seem to fear that all may do right, and that you will no longer have anyone to punish; such would be the work of executioners, not of good rulers. And we are persuaded that these things too, as we said before, are brought about by evil demons, who demand sacrifices and worship even from those who live irrationally; but we do not suppose that you, who strive for piety and philosophy, will do anything irrational. But if you too, like the foolish, honor custom before truth, do what you can; but rulers who honor opinion before truth have as much power as robbers in a desert. That you will not succeed, the Word shows, than whom we know no more royal and just ruler after God who begot him. For as all avoid inheriting the poverty or sufferings or dishonor of their fathers, so the sensible person will not choose whatever the Word says one should not choose. That all these things would happen, I say, our Teacher foretold, he who is Son and Apostle of God the Father and Master of all, Jesus Christ, from whom we have also received the name of Christians. Therefore we are confident in all that he taught, since whatever he foretold would happen is seen actually happening; which is the work of God, to say something before it happens and so to show it happening as foretold. We might, then, stop here and add nothing more, reckoning that we ask what is just and true; but since we know that it is not easy to change quickly a soul held by ignorance, we have been eager to add a little, to persuade the lovers of truth, knowing that it is not impossible to flee ignorance when the truth has been set before it.

That we are not atheists, then, since we worship the Maker of this universe, declaring, as we have been taught, that he has no need of blood and libations and incense, praising him as much as we can by the word of prayer and thanksgiving for all that we receive; having received as the only honor worthy of him not to consume by fire what he made for our nourishment, but to offer it to ourselves and to those in need, and, being thankful to him, to send up through the word solemn praises and hymns for our creation and for all the means of health, for the varieties of kinds and the changes of seasons, and sending up petitions that we may be again in incorruption through faith in him: what person of sound mind will not admit? And we will show that we honor with reason the one who became our teacher of these things and was born for this purpose, Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea in the times of Tiberius Caesar, having learned that he is the Son of the true God and holding him in the second place, and the prophetic Spirit in the third rank. For in this they declare our madness, saying that we give the second place after the unchangeable and eternal God, the Begetter of all, to a crucified man, not knowing the mystery in this, to which we urge you to attend as we explain it.

For we warn you beforehand to be on guard, lest the demons whom we have accused deceive you and turn you away from reading and understanding what we say at all (for they strive to have you as their slaves and servants, and sometimes by appearances in dreams, sometimes by magical tricks, they subdue all who do not struggle in any way for their own salvation), just as we too, after being persuaded by the Word, have withdrawn from them and follow the only unbegotten God through his Son. We who once delighted in sexual immorality now embrace self-control alone; we who also used magical arts have now dedicated ourselves to the good and unbegotten God; we who valued above all else the acquisition of money and possessions now bring what we have into a common fund and share with everyone in need; we who hated and killed one another and would not share a common hearth with those not of our own tribe because of their customs, now, since the coming of Christ, live together, and pray for our enemies, and try to persuade those who hate us unjustly, so that they, living according to the good precepts of Christ, may share our good hope of obtaining the same things from God, the Master of all. And so that we may not seem to be playing the sophist, we have thought it good, before the proof, to mention a few of the teachings given by Christ himself; and let it be yours, as powerful rulers, to examine whether we have truly been taught and teach these things. His sayings were brief and concise; for he was no sophist, but his word was the power of God.

About self-control, then, he said this: “Whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery in his heart before God.” And: “If your right eye causes you to stumble, cut it out; for it is better for you to enter the kingdom of heaven with one eye than to be sent with two into the eternal fire.” And: “Whoever marries a woman divorced from another man commits adultery.” And: “There are some who were made eunuchs by men, and some who were born eunuchs, and some who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven; but not all accept this.” So those who by human law contract second marriages are sinners in the sight of our Teacher, as are those who look at a woman to desire her; for not only the one who commits adultery in deed is rejected by him, but also the one who wishes to commit adultery, since not only our deeds are manifest to God but also our thoughts. And many men and women of sixty and seventy years, who were made disciples of Christ from childhood, remain pure; and I boast that I could show such people in every race of mankind. And what shall we say of the countless multitude of those who have turned from licentiousness and learned these things? For Christ called not the righteous or the self-controlled to repentance, but the ungodly and licentious and unjust. He said thus: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” For the heavenly Father desires the repentance of the sinner rather than his punishment. And about loving all people he taught this: “If you love those who love you, what new thing do you do? For even fornicators do this. But I say to you: Pray for your enemies, and love those who hate you, and bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.” And about sharing with those in need and doing nothing for glory he said this: “Give to everyone who asks, and do not turn away the one who wishes to borrow. For if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what new thing do you do? Even the tax collectors do this. But do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust destroy and robbers break in; but store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul? Or what will he give in exchange for it? Store up treasures, then, in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys.” And: “Be kind and merciful, as your Father also is kind and merciful, and makes his sun rise on sinners and the righteous and the wicked. Do not be anxious about what you will eat or what you will wear. Are you not worth more than the birds and the beasts? And God feeds them. Do not be anxious, then, about what you will eat or what you will wear; for your heavenly Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of heaven, and all these things will be added to you. For where the treasure is, there also is the mind of man.” And: “Do not do these things to be seen by people; otherwise you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.”

About being patient and ready to serve all and free from anger, this is what he said: “To the one who strikes your cheek, offer the other also, and do not hinder the one who takes your tunic or cloak. Whoever is angry is liable to the fire. Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Let your good works shine before people, so that seeing them they may marvel at your Father who is in heaven.” For we must not resist; nor does he wish us to imitate the wicked, but he exhorted us by patience and gentleness to lead all people away from shame and the love of evil. This we can show in the case of many who have lived among you: they changed from being violent and tyrannical, overcome either by observing the constancy of their neighbors' lives, or by noticing the strange patience of fellow travelers when they were cheated, or by experience of those they did business with. About not swearing at all, but always speaking the truth, he commanded thus: “Do not swear at all; but let your yes be yes, and your no no; what is more than these comes from the evil one.” And that we must worship God alone he persuaded us, saying: “The greatest commandment is: You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve, with all your heart and with all your strength, the Lord God who made you.” And when someone came to him and said, “Good teacher,” he answered, saying, “No one is good except God alone, who made all things.” And let those who are not found living as he taught be known not to be Christians, even if they speak the teachings of Christ with their tongue; for he said that not those who only speak, but those who also do the works, will be saved. For he said thus: “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. For whoever hears me and does what I say hears the one who sent me. And many will say to me: Lord, Lord, did we not eat and drink and do mighty works in your name? And then I will say to them: Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Then there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when the righteous shine like the sun, and the unrighteous are sent into the eternal fire. For many will come in my name, outwardly clothed in sheepskins, but inwardly being ravenous wolves; by their works you will know them. And every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” And we ask that you too punish those who do not live in accordance with his teachings, but are only called Christians.

And everywhere we try, before all others, to pay the taxes and levies to those appointed by you, as we were taught by him. For at that time some came to him and asked him whether one ought to pay taxes to Caesar. And he answered, “Tell me, whose image does the coin have?” And they said, “Caesar's.” And again he answered them, “Give, then, to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” Therefore we worship God alone, but in other things we gladly serve you, acknowledging you as kings and rulers of men, and praying that with your royal power you may also be found to have sound judgment. But if you disregard us, though we pray and set everything in the open, we shall suffer no harm, since we believe, or rather are persuaded, that each will pay the penalty through eternal fire according to the merit of his deeds, and will be required to give account in proportion to the powers he has received from God, as Christ indicated when he said, “To whom God has given more, from him more will also be required.”

For look at the end of each of the kings who have lived, that they died the death common to all; which, if it led to insensibility, would be a godsend to all the wicked. But since sensation remains for all who have lived, and eternal punishment is laid up, do not neglect to be persuaded and to believe that these things are true. For necromancy, and the divinations by means of uncorrupted boys, and the summoning of human souls, and those whom the magicians call dream-senders and familiar spirits, and all that is done by those skilled in these things, should persuade you that souls are in a state of sensation even after death; and so should those who are seized and thrown about by the souls of the dead, whom all call demon-possessed and mad; and what you call the oracles of Amphilochus and Dodona and Pytho, and all others of the kind; and the teachings of the writers Empedocles and Pythagoras, Plato and Socrates, and the pit in Homer and the descent of Odysseus to see these things, and the teachings of those who have said the same. Accept us at least as you accept them, since we believe in God not less than they but more, we who expect to receive back our own bodies, though they are dead and cast into the earth, saying that nothing is impossible with God.

And to one who considers it, what would seem more incredible than this: if we were not in the body, and someone said that from a small drop of human seed it is possible for bones and sinews and flesh to be formed, such as we see? Let it now be said by way of supposition: if someone told you, when you were not such beings nor born of such, showing the human seed and a painted image, and affirmed that from this such a thing is formed, would you have believed it before seeing it happen? No one would dare to deny it. In the same way, then, unbelief holds you because you have not yet seen a dead man rise. But just as at first you would not have believed that from the small drop such beings could come to be, and yet you see them come to be, in the same way consider that it is not impossible that human bodies, dissolved and scattered like seeds into the earth, will rise in due time at God's command and “put on incorruption.” For what power worthy of God those speak of who say that each thing returns to that from which it came, and that not even God can do anything beyond this, we cannot say; but we see this, that they would not have believed it possible that they themselves and the whole world should ever come to be such as they see, and from such things. And we have learned that it is better to believe even what is impossible to our own nature and to men than to disbelieve like the rest, since we know that our Teacher Jesus Christ said, “What is impossible with men is possible with God.” And he said, “Do not fear those who kill you and after that can do nothing more; but fear the one who after death is able to cast both soul and body into Gehenna.” And Gehenna is the place where those will be punished who have lived unjustly and do not believe that these things will come to pass which God taught through Christ.

And the Sibyl and Hystaspes said that there will be a destruction of corruptible things by fire. And the so-called Stoic philosophers teach that even God himself will be dissolved into fire, and say that the world will come into being again by transformation; but we understand God, the Maker of all, to be superior to things that change. If, then, we say some things like your honored poets and philosophers, and other things more greatly and divinely, and we alone with proof, why are we unjustly hated more than all? For in saying that all things were ordered and made by God we shall seem to state the doctrine of Plato; in saying that there will be a conflagration, that of the Stoics; in saying that the souls of the unjust, being in sensation even after death, are punished, and that those of the good, freed from punishment, live happily, we shall seem to say the same as the poets and philosophers; in saying that one ought not to worship the works of human hands, we say the same as the comic poet Menander and those who have said this; for they declared that the craftsman is greater than what he makes.

And when we say that the Word, who is the first offspring of God, was born without sexual union, Jesus Christ our Teacher, and that he was crucified and died and rose again and ascended into heaven, we bring forward nothing new beyond what you say of those called sons of Zeus. For you know how many sons of Zeus your honored writers speak of: Hermes, the interpreting word and teacher of all; Asclepius, who though a healer was struck by lightning and ascended to heaven; Dionysus, torn to pieces; Heracles, who to escape his toils gave himself to the fire; the Dioscuri, sons of Leda; Perseus, son of Danae; and Bellerophon, born of men, on the horse Pegasus. What shall we say of Ariadne and those who, like her, are said to have been placed among the stars? And what of your emperors who die, whom you always think fit to deify, and you bring forward someone who swears he saw the burned Caesar going up to heaven from the pyre? And what kind of deeds are told of each of the so-called sons of Zeus there is no need to tell those who know, except that these things have been written for the harm and corruption of those being educated; for all think it good to imitate the gods. But far be from a sound soul such a notion about the gods, as that Zeus himself, the ruler and begetter of all according to them, was a parricide and the son of such a father, and, overcome by love of evil and shameful pleasures, went after Ganymede and the many women he seduced, and approved of his sons doing the same. But, as we said before, the evil demons did these things; and we have been taught that only those are made immortal who live holily and virtuously near to God, and we believe that those who live unjustly and do not change will be punished in eternal fire.

And the Son of God, called Jesus, even if he were only a man in the ordinary way, would be worthy to be called Son of God because of his wisdom; for all writers call God the father of men and gods. And if we say that he was born of God in a special way, beyond ordinary birth, as the Word of God, as we said before, let this be something in common with you who say that Hermes is the word that brings messages from God. And if anyone objects that he was crucified, this too is in common with the sons of Zeus you count, who suffered. For their sufferings in death are recorded as not alike but different; so that he does not seem inferior because of the particular kind of his suffering; but, as we promised, we will show as the argument proceeds that he is even superior, or rather it has been shown; for the superior is shown by his deeds. And if we say that he was born of a virgin, let this too be in common with you and Perseus. And when we say that he made the lame and paralyzed and those blind from birth well, and raised the dead, we shall seem to say things like those said to have been done by Asclepius.

And so that this may now also become clear to you: that whatever we say, having learned it from Christ and from the prophets who came before him, alone is true, and is older than all the writers who have lived; and that we ask to be accepted, not because we say the same things as they, but because we speak the truth; and that Jesus Christ alone has been born in a special sense Son of God, being his Word and first-born and power, and, having become man by his will, taught us these things for the change and restoration of the human race; and that before he became man among men, some, I mean the evil demons already mentioned, anticipating it, told through the poets as having happened what they had made up as myths, in the same way that they have also brought about the slanderous and impious deeds said against us, of which there is no witness or proof: of this we will now give proof.

First, that though we say things similar to the Greeks, we alone are hated because of the name of Christ, and though we do no wrong we are put to death as sinners, while others elsewhere worship trees and rivers and mice and cats and crocodiles and many of the irrational animals; and not the same ones are honored by all, but different ones in different places, so that all are impious toward one another because they do not worship the same things. This is the only thing you can charge us with: that we do not worship the same gods as you, nor bring libations and the smoke of fat and garlands and sacrifices to the dead at their tombs. For you know well that the same things are regarded as gods by some, as wild beasts by others, and as sacrificial victims by others.

Second, that people of every race who formerly worshiped Dionysus the son of Semele and Apollo the son of Leto, who did things out of love for males that are shameful even to speak of, and those who worshiped Persephone and Aphrodite, who were driven mad by love of Adonis, whose mysteries you celebrate, or Asclepius or any other of the so-called gods, have despised these through Jesus Christ, though death is threatened, and have dedicated ourselves to the unbegotten and impassible God. We do not believe that he went after Antiope and the others in lust, nor after Ganymede, nor that he was freed with the help of Thetis by that hundred-handed giant, nor that, anxious because of this, he caused Achilles the son of Thetis to destroy many of the Greeks because of his concubine Briseis. And we pity those who believe these things; and we know that the demons are the cause of them.

Third, that even after Christ's ascension into heaven the demons put forward certain men who said that they themselves were gods, who not only were not persecuted by you, but were even counted worthy of honors. There was a certain Simon, a Samaritan, from the village called Gitta, who in the time of Claudius Caesar, through the art of the demons at work in him, performed magical powers in your royal city of Rome and was thought to be a god, and has been honored by you as a god with a statue, which statue was set up on the river Tiber between the two bridges, bearing this Latin inscription: SIMONI DEO SANCTO, “To Simon the holy god.” And almost all the Samaritans, and a few even among other nations, confess and worship him as the first god; and a certain Helena, who went about with him at that time, who had formerly stood in a brothel, they call the first Thought produced by him. And we know that a certain Menander, also a Samaritan, from the village of Capparetaea, a disciple of Simon, also driven by the demons, came to Antioch and deceived many by magical art, and persuaded his followers that they would never die; and even now there are some from him who confess this. And there is a certain Marcion of Pontus, who is even now still teaching those who believe him to think that there is another god greater than the Creator; who through the aid of the demons has made many in every race of people speak blasphemies and deny God the Maker of this universe, and confess that another, as being greater, has done greater works than he. All who take their start from these, as we said, are called Christians, just as those among the philosophers who do not share the same doctrines have in common the name of philosophy applied to them. Whether they also do those infamous things that are told in fables, the overturning of the lamp, and promiscuous intercourse, and eating human flesh, we do not know; but we know that they are not persecuted or put to death by you, at least for their doctrines. And we have also a treatise composed against all the heresies that have arisen, which we will give you if you wish to read it.

But we, so that we may do no wrong and commit no impiety, have been taught that to expose even newborn children is the part of wicked people; first, because we see that almost all of them, not only the girls but also the boys, are brought up to prostitution; and just as the ancients are said to have raised herds of oxen or goats or sheep or grazing horses, so now children are raised only for shameful use; and likewise a multitude of women and effeminate men and those who do unspeakable things stand ready for this abomination in every nation. And you receive wages and levies and taxes from them, when you ought to root them out of your world. And someone who uses them, besides the godless and impious and incontinent intercourse, may perhaps have relations with his own child or relative or brother. And some even prostitute their own children and wives, and some are openly castrated for vice and refer these mysteries to the mother of the gods; and beside every one of those you consider gods a serpent is painted as a great symbol and mystery. And the things openly done and honored among you you ascribe to us, as though we had overturned and extinguished the divine light; which brings no harm to us, who are far from doing any of these things, but rather to those who do them and bear false witness.

For among us the leader of the evil demons is called the serpent and Satan and the devil, as you can learn by searching our writings; and Christ foretold that he will be sent into the fire with his army and the people who follow him, to be punished for endless ages. For the delay in God's not yet doing this has come about for the sake of the human race; for he foreknows that some are going to be saved by repentance, and some perhaps not yet born. And in the beginning he made the human race rational and able to choose the truth and do well, so that all people are without excuse before God; for they have been made rational and able to contemplate. And if anyone does not believe that God cares for these things, he will either confess by some device that he does not exist, or will say that he exists but delights in evil, or remains like a stone, and that there is no virtue or vice, but that people consider these things good or evil only by opinion; which is the greatest impiety and injustice.

And again, lest one of those exposed, not being taken up, should die, and we be murderers. But either we marry in the first place only for the raising of children, or, declining marriage, we live in complete self-control. And already one of ours, to persuade you that promiscuous intercourse is not one of our mysteries, presented a petition in Alexandria to Felix, the governor, asking that a physician be permitted to castrate him; for the physicians there said that they were forbidden to do this without the governor's permission. And when Felix would by no means sign it, the young man remained single and was content with his own conscience and that of those who shared his views. And we have thought it not out of place to mention here also Antinous, who lived recently, whom all were eager to worship as a god through fear, knowing who he was and where he came from.

But so that no one may object to us, “What prevents the one you call Christ, being a man born of men, from having done the mighty works we speak of by magical art, and so seeming to be the Son of God?” we will now give the proof, not trusting those who say so, but being necessarily persuaded by those who prophesied before it happened, because we see with our eyes things happening and having happened as they were prophesied; which will appear to you too, as we think, the greatest and truest proof.

There were, then, among the Jews certain men who were prophets of God, through whom the prophetic Spirit proclaimed beforehand things that were to come to pass, before they happened; and the kings who arose among the Jews from time to time acquired these prophecies, as they were spoken when they were prophesied, in the prophets' own Hebrew language, arranged in books by the prophets themselves, and kept them carefully. And when Ptolemy, king of Egypt, was building a library and trying to collect the writings of all peoples, he heard about these prophecies too, and sent to Herod, who was then king of the Jews, asking that the books of the prophecies be sent to him. And King Herod sent them written in their Hebrew language, as we said. But since what was written in them was not understood by the Egyptians, he again sent and asked him to send men to translate them into the Greek language. And when this was done, the books remained with the Egyptians to this day, and are everywhere among all Jews, who read them but do not understand what is said, but consider us enemies and foes, killing and punishing us, like you, whenever they can, as you can be persuaded. For in the Jewish war that took place recently, Bar Kokhba, the leader of the Jewish revolt, ordered Christians alone to be led away to terrible punishments, unless they would deny Jesus the Christ and blaspheme. In the books of the prophets, then, we found Jesus our Christ foretold as coming, born of a virgin, growing to manhood, healing every disease and every sickness and raising the dead, being envied and not recognized and crucified, dying and rising again and ascending into heaven, and being and being called the Son of God, and that certain people would be sent by him into every race of people to proclaim these things, and that people from the Gentiles would rather believe in him. And he was foretold before he appeared, sometimes five thousand years before, sometimes three thousand, sometimes two thousand, and again one thousand, and at another time eight hundred; for in the succession of generations there arose one prophet after another.

Moses, then, who was the first of the prophets, said in these very words: “A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until he comes for whom it is reserved; and he will be the expectation of the nations, binding his foal to the vine, washing his robe in the blood of the grape.” It is yours, then, to examine carefully and learn until when the Jews had a ruler and king of their own: until the manifestation of Jesus Christ, our Teacher and the interpreter of the prophecies that were not understood, as it was foretold by the divine, holy, prophetic Spirit through Moses that a ruler would not fail from the Jews until he should come for whom the kingdom is reserved. For Judah is the forefather of the Jews, from whom they have their name of Jews; and you, after his manifestation, ruled over the Jews and took possession of all their land. And “He will be the expectation of the nations” signified that people from all the nations will expect him to come again, which you can see with your eyes and be persuaded by the fact; for people of every race expect the one who was crucified in Judea, after whom the land of the Jews was immediately handed over to you as spoil of war. And “Binding his foal to the vine and washing his robe in the blood of the grape” was a symbol showing what would happen to Christ and what he would do. For the foal of an ass stood bound to a vine at the entrance of a village, and he then ordered his acquaintances to bring it to him; and when it was brought, he mounted and sat on it and entered Jerusalem, where the greatest temple of the Jews was, which was afterward destroyed by you; and after this he was crucified, so that the rest of the prophecy might be fulfilled. For “washing his robe in the blood of the grape” foretold the suffering he was to undergo, cleansing by his blood those who believe in him. For what the divine Spirit through the prophet called his robe are the people who believe in him, in whom dwells the seed from God, the Word. And the blood of the grape that was mentioned signifies that the one who would appear would have blood, but not from human seed but from divine power. And the first power after God the Father and Master of all is also the Son, the Word; how he was made flesh and became man we will tell in what follows. For just as it is not man but God who made the blood of the vine, so this also indicated that the blood would come not from human seed but from the power of God, as we said before. And Isaiah, another prophet, prophesying the same things in other words, said thus: “A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a flower shall come up from the root of Jesse; and on his arm shall the nations hope.” And a shining star has risen, and a flower has come up from the root of Jesse: this is Christ. For he was born by the power of God through a virgin of the seed of Jacob, who was the father of Judah, who was shown to be the father of the Jews; and Jesse was his forefather according to the oracle, and he was the son of Jacob and Judah by descent.

And hear again how it was foretold in express words through Isaiah that he would be born of a virgin. It was said thus: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive in the womb and bear a son, and they shall say in his name, God with us.” For what was thought incredible and impossible among men, God foretold through the prophetic Spirit would come to pass, so that when it happened it might not be disbelieved, but believed because it had been foretold. But so that some, not understanding the prophecy we have cited, may not charge us with the very things we charged the poets with, who say that Zeus came to women for the sake of sexual pleasure, we will try to explain the words. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive,” then, signifies that the virgin conceived without intercourse; for if she had had intercourse with anyone, she would no longer be a virgin; but the power of God came upon the virgin and overshadowed her, and caused her to become pregnant while still a virgin. And the angel of God who was sent to the virgin herself at that time announced the good news to her, saying, “Behold, you will conceive in the womb by the Holy Spirit and bear a son, and he will be called Son of the Most High, and you will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins,” as those who recorded all the things about our Savior Jesus Christ taught, whom we believed, since the prophetic Spirit also said through Isaiah, whom we have cited, that he would be born, as we indicated before. It is not right, then, to understand the Spirit and the power from God as anything other than the Word, who is also the first-born of God, as Moses the prophet we have mentioned indicated; and this, coming upon the virgin and overshadowing her, made her pregnant, not by intercourse but by power. And “Jesus,” a name in the Hebrew language, means “savior” in the Greek tongue. Hence the angel also said to the virgin, “And you will call his name Jesus; for he will save his people from their sins.” And that those who prophesy are inspired by no one other than the divine Word, you too, I suppose, will agree.

And hear where on earth he was to be born, as another prophet, Micah, foretold. He said thus: “And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come forth a leader, who will shepherd my people.” Now this is a village in the country of the Jews, thirty-five stades from Jerusalem, in which Jesus Christ was born, as you can also learn from the registers made under Quirinius, your first procurator in Judea.

And hear what was foretold on this point, how Christ after his birth was to be hidden from other people until he grew to manhood, which also came to pass. These are the words: “A child has been born to us, and a young man has been given to us, whose government is upon his shoulders”; which indicated the power of the cross, to which he applied his shoulders when he was crucified, as will be shown more clearly as the argument proceeds. And again the same prophet Isaiah, inspired by the prophetic Spirit, said, “I have spread out my hands to a disobedient and contradicting people, to those who walk in a way that is not good. They now ask of me judgment, and dare to draw near to God.” And again in other words, through another prophet, he says: “They pierced my feet and hands, and cast lots for my clothing.” And David, the king and prophet, who said these things, suffered none of them; but Jesus Christ stretched out his hands, being crucified by the Jews who contradicted him and said that he was not the Christ; and indeed, as the prophet said, they mocked him and set him on the judgment seat and said, “Judge us.” And “They pierced my hands and feet” was a description of the nails fixed in his hands and feet on the cross. And after they crucified him they cast lots for his clothing, and those who crucified him divided it among themselves. And that these things happened you can learn from the Acts drawn up under Pontius Pilate. And that it was expressly foretold that he would sit on the foal of an ass and enter Jerusalem, we will cite the words of the prophecy of another prophet, Zephaniah. They are these: “Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion; proclaim, daughter of Jerusalem; behold, your king comes to you, gentle, riding on an ass and a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.”

But when you hear the words of the prophets spoken as from a person, do not think that they are spoken by the inspired men themselves, but by the divine Word who moves them. For sometimes he speaks as foretelling what is to come to pass, sometimes he speaks as from the person of God, the Master and Father of all, sometimes as from the person of Christ, sometimes as from the person of peoples answering the Lord or his Father; just as can be seen in your own writers, where one is the writer of the whole, but brings in the persons who speak in the dialogue. Not understanding this, the Jews who have the books of the prophets did not recognize Christ even when he came, but they even hate us who say that he has come and show that he was crucified by them, as had been proclaimed beforehand.

And so that this may also become clear to you, these words were spoken from the person of the Father through Isaiah, the prophet mentioned before: “The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master's crib; but Israel does not know me, and my people has not understood. Woe, sinful nation, people full of sins, evil seed, lawless sons; you have forsaken the Lord.” And again elsewhere, when the same prophet likewise speaks from the person of the Father: “What house will you build for me? says the Lord. Heaven is my throne, and the earth the footstool of my feet.” And again elsewhere: “Your new moons and your sabbaths my soul hates; and the great day of fasting and rest I cannot bear; not even if you come to be seen by me will I listen to you. Your hands are full of blood. Even if you bring fine flour, incense, it is an abomination to me; the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls I do not want. For who has required these things from your hands? But loose every bond of injustice, tear apart the knots of forced contracts, cover the homeless and naked, break your bread for the hungry.” You can understand, then, what kind of things are taught through the prophets from the person of God.

And when the prophetic Spirit speaks from the person of Christ, he says this: “I have spread out my hands to a disobedient and contradicting people, to those who walk in a way that is not good.” And again: “I have given my back to scourges and my cheeks to blows, and I did not turn away my face from the shame of spitting. And the Lord became my helper; therefore I was not confounded, but I set my face like a solid rock, and I knew that I would not be put to shame, because he who justifies me is near.” And again when he says: “They cast lots for my clothing, and pierced my feet and hands. But I lay down and slept, and rose again, because the Lord helped me.” And again when he says: “They spoke with their lips, they wagged their heads, saying, Let him save himself.” You can learn that all these things were done to Christ by the Jews. For when he was crucified they curled their lips and wagged their heads, saying, “Let him who raised the dead save himself.”

And when the prophetic Spirit speaks as prophesying what is going to happen, he says this: “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and he shall judge among the nations and rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, and nation shall not take up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war any more.” And that this has happened you can be persuaded. For from Jerusalem twelve men went out into the world, and these were unlearned, unable to speak, but by the power of God they made known to every race of people that they had been sent by Christ to teach all the word of God; and we who formerly killed one another not only do not make war on our enemies, but, so as not to lie or deceive those who examine us, gladly die confessing Christ. For it would have been possible for us to follow the saying, “The tongue has sworn, but the mind is unsworn.” It would be a ridiculous thing that the soldiers enlisted and enrolled by you should hold to their oath to you before their own life and parents and country and all their family, though you can offer them nothing incorruptible, while we, who long for incorruption, should not endure everything in order to receive what we desire from the one who is able to give it.

And hear how it was foretold also about those who proclaimed his teaching and made known his appearing, the prophet and king we mentioned speaking thus through the prophetic Spirit: “Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night proclaims knowledge. There are no speeches nor words whose voices are not heard. Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. In the sun he has set his tabernacle, and he, like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, will rejoice like a giant to run his course.” And besides these, we have thought it good and fitting to mention other words prophesied through the same David, from which you can learn how the prophetic Spirit exhorts people to live, and how it indicates the conspiracy against Christ of Herod, the king of the Jews, and of the Jews themselves, and of Pilate, your procurator among them, with his soldiers; and that he was to be believed by people of every race; and that God calls him Son and has promised to subject all enemies to him; and how the demons, as far as they can, try to escape the power of God the Father and Master of all and of Christ himself; and how God calls all to repentance before the day of judgment comes. They are spoken thus: “Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the pestilent; but his will is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he will meditate day and night. And he will be like the tree planted by the streams of water, which will give its fruit in its season, and its leaf will not fall off, and whatever he does will prosper. Not so the ungodly, not so, but like the chaff which the wind drives from the face of the earth. Therefore the ungodly will not rise in judgment, nor sinners in the council of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, and the way of the ungodly will perish.” “Why did the nations rage, and the peoples devise new things? The kings of the earth stood by, and the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ, saying: Let us break their bonds and cast away their yoke from us. He who dwells in the heavens will laugh at them, and the Lord will mock them; then he will speak to them in his anger, and in his wrath he will trouble them. But I have been set by him as king on Zion his holy mountain, proclaiming the decree of the Lord. The Lord said to me: You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession. You will shepherd them with a rod of iron; like a potter's vessels you will shatter them. And now, kings, understand; be instructed, all who judge the earth. Serve the Lord in fear, and rejoice in him with trembling. Lay hold of instruction, lest the Lord be angry and you perish from the righteous way, when his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who trust in him.”

And again, indicating by another prophecy through the same David that after being crucified Christ would reign, the prophetic Spirit spoke thus: “Sing to the Lord, all the earth, and proclaim his salvation from day to day; for the Lord is great and greatly to be praised, to be feared above all the gods; for all the gods of the nations are images of demons, but God made the heavens. Glory and praise are before his face, and strength and boasting in the place of his holiness. Give glory to the Lord, the Father of the ages. Receive grace, and enter before his face, and worship in his holy courts. Let all the earth fear before his face, and be established and not be shaken. Let them rejoice among the nations: the Lord has reigned from the tree.”

And when the prophetic Spirit speaks of things that are to come as though they had already happened, as may be seen in what we have cited, so that it may not give an excuse to readers, we will make this clear too. Things that are certainly known to be going to happen it foretells as though they had already happened; and that it must be understood so, attend closely with your mind to what is said. David said the words cited fifteen hundred years before Christ became man and was crucified, and no one of those who lived before him gave joy to the nations by being crucified, nor any of those after him. But our Jesus Christ, crucified and dead, rose again, and reigned, having ascended into heaven; and in what was proclaimed from him through the apostles among all the nations there is joy for those who expect the incorruption he has announced.

But so that no one may infer from what we have said that we assert that whatever happens happens by the necessity of fate, because it was foretold as foreknown, we will resolve this too. We have learned from the prophets, and declare it to be true, that punishments and chastisements and good rewards are rendered according to the merit of each person's actions; since if this is not so, but all things happen by fate, nothing at all is in our power; for if it is fated that this person be good and that one wicked, neither is the one to be approved nor the other to be blamed. And again, if the human race does not have the power by free choice to flee what is shameful and choose what is good, it is not responsible for whatever it does. But that it both does right and errs by free choice we prove thus. We see the same person making the change to opposite things. But if it were fated that he be either wicked or good, he would never be capable of opposites and would not change so often; nor would some be good and others wicked, since we would then be declaring fate to be the cause of good and evil and to act contrary to itself; or else that saying mentioned before would seem true, that there is no such thing as virtue or vice, but that things are considered good or evil only by opinion; which, as true reason shows, is the greatest impiety and injustice. But we say that this is inescapable fate: that those who choose the good have worthy rewards, and likewise those who choose the opposite have worthy wages. For God did not make man like the other things, such as trees and four-footed beasts, which can do nothing by choice; for he would not be worthy of reward or praise if he did not choose the good of himself but was made so; nor, if he were evil, would he justly receive punishment, not being such of himself, but being unable to be anything other than what he was made.

And the holy prophetic Spirit taught us these things, telling us through Moses that God spoke thus to the first man who was formed: “Behold, before your face are good and evil; choose the good.” And again through Isaiah, the other prophet, that this was said as from the person of God, the Father and Master of all: “Wash yourselves, become clean, remove the wickedness from your souls; learn to do good, judge for the orphan and plead for the widow; and come, let us reason together, says the Lord; and if your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as wool, and if they are like crimson, I will make them white as snow. And if you are willing and listen to me, you shall eat the good things of the land; but if you do not listen to me, a sword shall devour you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things.” And the words quoted, “A sword shall devour you,” do not mean that the disobedient will be killed by swords; but the sword of God is fire, of which those who choose to do evil become food. That is why it says, “A sword shall devour you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” If it had spoken of a sword that cuts and at once dispatches, it would not have said “devour.” So also Plato, when he said, “The blame belongs to the one who chooses, and God is blameless,” said it taking it from the prophet Moses; for Moses is older even than all the writers among the Greeks. And everything that philosophers and poets have said about the immortality of the soul, or punishments after death, or contemplation of heavenly things, or similar teachings, they were able to understand and explain because they took their starting points from the prophets. Hence there seem to be seeds of truth among all; but they are convicted of not understanding accurately when they contradict themselves. So what we say, that future events have been prophesied, we do not say because they happen by the necessity of fate; but because God foreknows what all people are going to do, and it is his decree that each person will be rewarded according to the merit of his actions, he foretells through the prophetic Spirit that what comes from him will match the merit of what is done, always leading the human race to attention and remembrance, showing that he cares and provides for them. But by the working of the evil demons death was decreed against those who read the books of Hystaspes or of the Sibyl or of the prophets, so that by fear they might turn away those who read them from receiving knowledge of what is good, and keep them as their slaves; which in the end they could not do. For we not only read them without fear, but, as you see, bring them to you for examination, knowing that they will appear acceptable to all; and if we persuade only a few, we shall have gained the greatest things; for, like good farmers, we shall receive the reward from the Master.

And that God, the Father of all, was going to bring Christ into heaven after raising him from the dead, and to keep him there until he strikes down the demons who are his enemies, and the number of those foreknown by him as becoming good and virtuous is completed, for whose sake he has not yet brought about the conflagration, hear what was said through David the prophet. These are the words: “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet. The Lord will send out for you a rod of power from Jerusalem; and rule in the midst of your enemies. With you is the rule in the day of your power, in the splendors of your saints; from the womb before the morning star I begot you.” And the words “He will send out for you a rod of power from Jerusalem” foretold the mighty word that his apostles, going out from Jerusalem, preached everywhere; and although death is decreed against those who teach or even confess the name of Christ, we everywhere both embrace and teach it. And if you too read these words as enemies, you can do no more, as we said before, than kill; which brings no harm to us, but to you and all who are unjustly hostile and do not change brings eternal punishment by fire.

But lest some, reasoning absurdly to turn people away from what we teach, should say that we say that Christ was born one hundred and fifty years ago under Quirinius, and taught what we say he taught later, under Pontius Pilate, and should accuse us as though all people who were born before were not accountable, we will resolve the difficulty beforehand. We have been taught that Christ is the first-born of God, and we have declared above that he is the Word, of whom the whole race of people partakes. And those who lived with the Word are Christians, even if they were thought atheists, such as among the Greeks Socrates and Heraclitus and those like them, and among the barbarians Abraham and Ananias and Azarias and Misael and Elijah and many others, whose deeds or names we now decline to list, knowing that it would be long. So also those who lived before without the Word were useless and enemies to Christ and murderers of those who lived with the Word; but those who lived and live with the Word are Christians, and fearless and untroubled. For what reason, by the power of the Word according to the will of God the Father and Master of all, he was born a man through a virgin and was named Jesus, and was crucified and died and rose again and has ascended into heaven, a sensible person can understand from what has been said at such length. But since the proof of this is not necessary now, we will go on to the more urgent proofs for the present.

Hear, then, what was said by the prophetic Spirit, that the land of the Jews was to be laid waste. The words are spoken as from the person of the peoples wondering at what had happened. They are these: “Zion has become a desert; Jerusalem has become like a desert; the house, our sanctuary, has become a curse, and the glory which our fathers blessed has been burned with fire, and all its glorious things have fallen. And at these things you have held back, and been silent, and humbled us greatly.” And you are convinced that Jerusalem has been laid waste, as was foretold. And it was said also about its desolation, and that none of them would be permitted to live there, through Isaiah the prophet thus: “Their land is a desert; before them their enemies will devour it, and none of them shall dwell in it.” And you know well that it is guarded by you so that no one may be in it, and that death has been decreed against any Jew caught entering it.

And hear what was said, that our Christ was foretold to heal all diseases and raise the dead. These are the words: “At his coming the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be clear; the blind shall see, and the lepers shall be cleansed, and the dead shall rise and walk.” And that he did these things you can learn from the Acts drawn up under Pontius Pilate. And hear what was said through Isaiah, how it was foretold by the prophetic Spirit that he would be put to death together with those who hope in him. These are the words: “Behold how the righteous one has perished, and no one lays it to heart; and righteous men are taken away, and no one considers. The righteous one has been taken away from the presence of injustice, and he will be in peace; his burial has been taken away from the midst.”

And again how it was said through the same Isaiah that the peoples of the Gentiles, who did not expect him, would worship him, but the Jews, who always expected him, would not recognize him when he came; and the words were spoken as from the person of Christ himself. They are these: “I was made manifest to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me; I said, Behold, here I am, to a nation that did not call on my name. I spread out my hands to a disobedient and contradicting people, to those who walk in a way that is not good, but after their sins; the people that provokes me to my face.” For the Jews, having the prophecies and always expecting Christ, did not recognize him when he came, and not only so, but also mistreated him; while those from the Gentiles, who had never heard anything about Christ until his apostles, going out from Jerusalem, made known the things about him and handed over the prophecies, filled with joy and faith, renounced the idols and dedicated themselves to the unbegotten God through Christ. And hear the brief words spoken through Isaiah, that it was foreknown that these slanders would be spoken against those who confess Christ, and how wretched are those who slander him and say that it is good to keep the old customs. They are these: “Woe to those who call sweet bitter, and bitter sweet.”

And hear the prophecies spoken about this: that having become man for us he endured to suffer and be dishonored, and will come again with glory. These are the words: “Because they handed over his soul to death, and he was counted among the lawless, he has borne the sins of many and will make atonement for the lawless. For behold, my Servant will understand, and will be exalted and greatly glorified. As many will be astonished at you, so will your form be without glory before men, and your glory before men; so many nations will marvel, and kings will shut their mouths; for those to whom it was not announced about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand. Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? We announced before him like a child, like a root in a thirsty land. He has no form nor glory; and we saw him, and he had no form nor beauty, but his form was without honor and failing beyond men. A man in affliction, and knowing how to bear sickness, because his face was turned away, he was dishonored and not esteemed. He bears our sins and suffers pain for us, and we reckoned him to be in toil and in affliction and in mistreatment. But he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our sins; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; by his stripes we were healed. All we like sheep went astray; each man went astray in his own way; and he handed him over for our sins, and he, because he was mistreated, does not open his mouth. Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation his judgment was taken away.” After he was crucified, then, even all his acquaintances fell away, having denied him; but afterward, when he had risen from the dead and appeared to them, and taught them to read the prophecies, in which all these things were foretold as going to happen, and they had seen him going up into heaven, and had believed, and received power sent to them from there by him, and gone to every race of people, they taught these things and were called apostles.

And so that the prophetic Spirit might indicate to us that the one who suffers these things has an ancestry that cannot be told and reigns over his enemies, it spoke thus: “Who will tell his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth; because of their lawless deeds he came to death. And I will give the wicked for his burial and the rich for his death; for he did no lawlessness, nor was deceit found in his mouth; and the Lord wills to cleanse him from his wound. If you give an offering for sin, your soul will see a long-lived seed. And the Lord wills to take away his soul from toil, to show him light and to form him with understanding, to justify the righteous one who serves many well; and he himself will bear our sins. Therefore he will inherit many and divide the spoils of the strong, because his soul was handed over to death, and he was counted among the lawless, and he bore the sins of many and was handed over for their lawless deeds.” And hear how he was also to go up into heaven, as was prophesied. It was said thus: “Lift up the gates of heaven; be opened, that the King of glory may enter. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and the Lord mighty.” And hear also what was said about this through Jeremiah the prophet, how he is to come from heaven with glory. These are the words: “Behold, as a son of man he comes upon the clouds of heaven, and his angels with him.”

Since, then, we have shown that all the things that have already happened were proclaimed through the prophets before they happened, it is necessary also to believe that the things likewise prophesied, but still to happen, will certainly happen. For just as the things already done, though proclaimed beforehand and not understood, came to pass, so the rest, even if they are not understood and are disbelieved, will come to pass. For the prophets proclaimed two comings of his: one, which has already happened, as a man dishonored and suffering; and the second, when it has been proclaimed that he will come from heaven with glory, with his angelic host, when he will also raise the bodies of all people who have lived, and will clothe the worthy with incorruption, but will send the unjust, in eternal sensation, into the eternal fire with the evil demons. And we will show that these things too were foretold as going to happen. It was said through Ezekiel the prophet thus: “Joint shall be joined to joint and bone to bone, and flesh shall grow again. And every knee shall bow to the Lord, and every tongue shall confess him.” And hear what was likewise said about what sensation and punishment the unjust will be in. These are the words: “Their worm shall not cease, and their fire shall not be quenched.” And then they will repent, when it will profit them nothing. And what the peoples of the Jews will say and do when they see him coming in glory was prophesied through Zechariah the prophet and spoken thus: “I will command the four winds to gather the scattered children; I will command the north wind to bring them, and the south wind not to hinder. And then in Jerusalem there will be great mourning, not a mourning of mouths or lips, but a mourning of the heart; and they shall not tear their garments, but their minds. Tribe shall mourn to tribe, and then they shall look on him whom they pierced, and they shall say, Why, Lord, did you make us wander from your way? The glory which our fathers blessed has become a reproach to us.”

Though we could cite many other prophecies, we have stopped, reckoning these sufficient for persuasion for those who have ears to hear and understand, and thinking that they can understand that we do not merely speak, like those who made up myths about the so-called sons of Zeus, without being able to prove it. For with what reason would we believe a crucified man, that he is the first-born of the unbegotten God and will himself judge the whole human race, unless we had found testimonies proclaimed about him before he came and became man, and saw them fulfilled in this way: the desolation of the land of the Jews, and people of every nation persuaded by the teaching of his apostles and renouncing the old customs in which they had lived in error, seeing it in ourselves, and knowing that the Christians from the Gentiles are more numerous and more true than those from the Jews and Samaritans? For all the other races of people are called Gentiles by the prophetic Spirit, but the Jewish and Samaritan tribe are called Israel and the house of Jacob. And we will declare the prophecies that it was foretold that believers from the Gentiles would be more numerous than those from the Jews and Samaritans. It was said thus: “Rejoice, barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry out, you who are not in labor; for many are the children of the desolate, more than of her who has the husband.” For all the Gentiles were desolate of the true God, serving the works of hands; but the Jews and Samaritans, who had the word from God handed down to them through the prophets and always expected Christ, did not recognize him when he came, except a few, whom the holy prophetic Spirit foretold through Isaiah would be saved. It spoke as from their person: “Unless the Lord had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom and Gomorrah.” For Sodom and Gomorrah are recorded by Moses as cities of ungodly men, which God overthrew, burning them with fire and brimstone, none of those in them being saved except a certain foreigner, a Chaldean by race, named Lot; with whom his daughters also were saved. And those who wish can see their whole country desolate and burned and remaining barren. And we will declare what was said through Isaiah the prophet, that those from the Gentiles were foreknown as more true and more faithful. He said thus: “Israel is uncircumcised in heart, but the Gentiles in the foreskin.” So many things, then, when they are seen, can with reason bring persuasion and faith to those who embrace the truth and are not lovers of glory nor ruled by passions.

Those who hand down the myths invented by the poets offer no proof to the young who learn them, and we show that they were told by the working of the evil demons to deceive and lead astray the human race. For when they heard it proclaimed through the prophets that Christ would come and that the ungodly among men would be punished by fire, they put forward many to be said to have been sons of Zeus, thinking they could bring people to consider the things about Christ a tale of marvels, like the things said by the poets. And these things were said both among the Greeks and among all the nations, where they heard more of the prophets foretelling that Christ would be believed. But that even when they heard what was said through the prophets they did not understand it accurately, but imitated the things about our Christ like people going astray, we will make plain. Moses, then, the prophet, was, as we said before, older than all writers, and through him, as we indicated before, it was prophesied thus: “A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until he comes for whom it is laid up; and he will be the expectation of the nations, binding his foal to the vine, washing his robe in the blood of the grape.” When the demons heard these prophetic words, they said that Dionysus had been a son of Zeus, and handed down that he was the discoverer of the vine, and they include an ass in his mysteries, and taught that he was torn to pieces and went up into heaven. And since it was not expressly indicated by the prophecy of Moses whether the one who was to come is the Son of God, and whether, riding on a foal, he would remain on earth or go up into heaven, and since the word “foal” could mean the foal of either an ass or a horse, not knowing whether the one foretold would bring the foal of an ass or of a horse as the sign of his coming, and whether he is the Son of God, as we said before, or of a man, they said that Bellerophon too, a man born of men, went up to heaven on the horse Pegasus. And when they heard it said through the other prophet, Isaiah, that he would be born through a virgin and by his own power go up into heaven, they put forward what is said of Perseus. And when they knew that it had been said, as was quoted in the prophecies written above, “Strong as a giant to run his course,” they said that Heracles was strong and traveled over the whole earth. And when again they learned that it had been prophesied that he would heal every disease and raise the dead, they brought forward Asclepius.

But nowhere, in the case of any of the so-called sons of Zeus, did they imitate the being crucified; for it was not understood by them, since everything said about it had been spoken symbolically, as was shown before. And this, as the prophet foretold, is the greatest symbol of his power and rule, as is shown also from the things that fall under our sight. For consider everything in the world, whether it can be managed or have any communication without this figure. The sea is not cut unless this trophy, which is called a sail, stays safe on the ship; the earth is not plowed without it; diggers do not do their work, nor do craftsmen likewise, except with tools that have this shape. And the human form differs from the irrational animals in nothing else than that it is upright and has its hands stretched out, and bears on the face, extending from the forehead, what is called the nose, through which the living creature breathes; and this shows nothing other than the figure of the cross. And so it was said through the prophet thus: “A breath before our face is Christ the Lord.” And your own symbols show the power of this figure, I mean those of the standards and the trophies, with which your processions are made everywhere, showing in them the signs of rule and power, even if you do this without understanding it. And you set up the images of your emperors when they die on this figure, and name them gods in inscriptions. Since, then, we have urged you both by argument and by a visible figure, as far as we could, we know that we are free of blame from now on, even if you do not believe; for our part has been done and finished.

The evil demons were not content to say, before Christ's appearing, that the so-called sons of Zeus had been born; but when he had appeared and come among men, and they learned how he had been foretold through the prophets, and knew that he was believed and expected in every race, again, as we showed before, they put forward others: Simon and Menander from Samaria, who by doing works of magic deceived many and still keep them deceived. For among you, as we said before, in the royal city of Rome, under Claudius Caesar, Simon so astonished the sacred senate and the Roman people that he was considered a god and was honored with a statue, like the other gods honored among you. Therefore we ask that you take the sacred senate and your people as fellow judges of this our petition, so that if anyone is held fast by his teachings, he may learn the truth and be able to flee the error. And the statue, if you wish, destroy.

For the evil demons cannot persuade people that there will be no conflagration for the punishment of the ungodly, just as they were not able to make Christ remain hidden after he came; but this alone they can do: make those who live irrationally, brought up in passion and in evil customs, and who love glory, kill and hate us. Yet we not only do not hate them, but, as is shown, pitying them, we wish to persuade them to change. For we do not fear death, since it is agreed that all will certainly die, and there is nothing new, but the same things in this order of the world. If those who partake of these things are not sated with them even in a year, they ought to attend to our teachings so that they may be forever without suffering and without need. But if they do not believe that there is anything after death, but declare that those who die pass into insensibility, then they do us a kindness by freeing us from the sufferings and needs of this life, and show themselves wicked and haters of mankind and lovers of glory; for they do not kill us as though to release us, but murder us as though to rob us of life and pleasure.

And, as we said before, the evil demons put forward Marcion of Pontus, who even now teaches people to deny God, the Maker of all things in heaven and on earth, and Christ his Son, foretold through the prophets, and proclaims some other god besides the Creator of all, and likewise another son. Persuaded by him, many laugh at us, as though he alone knew the truth, though they have no proof of what they say, but are carried off irrationally, like lambs by a wolf, and become the prey of godless teachings and of demons. For the so-called demons strive for nothing else than to lead people away from God who made them and from Christ his first-begotten; and those who cannot raise themselves from the earth they have nailed, and still nail, to earthly things and things made by hands; while those who set out to contemplate divine things they trip up, and unless they have a sober mind and a pure and passionless life, they throw them into ungodliness.

And so that you may learn that Plato took from our teachers, I mean from the Word speaking through the prophets, his saying that God made the world by changing formless matter, hear the very words spoken through Moses, who was shown above to be the first prophet and older than the writers among the Greeks. Through him the prophetic Spirit, indicating how and from what God made the world in the beginning, spoke thus: “In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. And the earth was invisible and unformed, and darkness was over the abyss; and the Spirit of God was borne over the waters. And God said, Let there be light. And it was so.” So that both Plato and those who say the same things, and we ourselves, have learned, and you too can be persuaded, that by the word of God the whole world came into being out of the underlying things foretold by Moses. And we know that what the poets call Erebus was spoken of before by Moses.

And the physiological discussion in Plato's Timaeus about the Son of God, when he says, “He placed him crosswise in the universe,” he likewise said taking it from Moses. For in the writings of Moses it is recorded that at that time, when the Israelites had gone out from Egypt and were in the wilderness, venomous beasts met them, vipers and asps and every kind of serpent, which killed the people; and that, by inspiration and power that came from God, Moses took bronze and made a figure of a cross, and set it up at the holy tabernacle, and said to the people, “If you look at this figure and believe, you will be saved by it.” And when this was done, he recorded that the serpents died, and handed down that the people thus escaped death. Plato read this and, not knowing it accurately nor understanding that it was a figure of a cross, but taking it for the letter chi, said that the power next to the first God was placed crosswise in the universe. And his speaking of a third came about because, as we said before, he read what was said by Moses, that the Spirit of God was borne over the waters. For he gives the second place to the Word from God, who he said was placed crosswise in the universe, and the third to the Spirit said to be borne over the water, saying, “And the third things about the third.” And hear how the prophetic Spirit foretold through Moses that there would be a conflagration. It spoke thus: “Ever-living fire will come down and devour as far as the abyss below.” It is not, then, that we hold the same opinions as others, but all others say what they say by imitating ours. Among us, then, these things can be heard and learned even from those who do not know the shapes of the letters, people uneducated and barbarous in speech, but wise and faithful in mind, and some of them maimed and bereft of sight; so that one may understand that these things did not come about by human wisdom but are spoken by the power of God.

We will also explain the way in which we dedicated ourselves to God when we were made new through Christ, so that we may not seem to act wrongly in our explanation by leaving this out. As many as are persuaded and believe that the things taught and said by us are true, and promise that they can live accordingly, are taught to pray and to ask God, with fasting, for the forgiveness of their past sins, while we pray and fast with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same manner of regeneration by which we ourselves were regenerated; for in the name of God, the Father and Master of all, and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing in the water. For Christ also said, “Unless you are born again, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.” And that it is impossible for those once born to enter their mothers' wombs is plain to all. And it was said through Isaiah the prophet, as we wrote before, in what way those who have sinned and repent will escape their sins. It was spoken thus: “Wash yourselves, become clean, remove the wickedness from your souls, learn to do good; judge for the orphan and plead for the widow; and come, let us reason together, says the Lord; and if your sins are like scarlet, I will make them white as wool, and if they are like crimson, I will make them white as snow. But if you do not listen to me, a sword shall devour you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things.” And we learned from the apostles this reason for it. Since at our first birth we were born without our knowledge and by necessity, from moist seed by the union of our parents with each other, and grew up in evil customs and wicked ways of life, so that we might not remain children of necessity and ignorance, but of free choice and knowledge, and might obtain forgiveness of the sins we formerly committed, there is named in the water, over the one who has chosen to be born again and has repented of his sins, the name of God, the Father and Master of all; the one who leads the person to be washed to the washing uses this name alone. For no one can utter a name for the ineffable God; and if anyone dares to say that there is one, he is raving with a hopeless madness. And this washing is called illumination, because those who learn these things are illuminated in their understanding. And the one who is illuminated is washed also in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and in the name of the Holy Spirit, who through the prophets foretold all the things about Jesus.

And the demons, hearing of this washing proclaimed through the prophet, brought it about that those who enter their temples and are about to approach them with libations and burnt fat should sprinkle themselves; and they cause them also to wash themselves completely as they come, before they go to the temples where the demons are set up. For the command given by the priests to worshipers entering the temples and the shrines to take off their shoes the demons also imitated, having learned from what happened to Moses, the prophet we mentioned. For at that time, when Moses was ordered to go down to Egypt and bring out the people of the Israelites there, while he was tending the sheep of his mother's brother in the land of Arabia, our Christ spoke with him in the form of fire from a bush and said, “Take off your sandals, and come near and hear.” And he took off his sandals and came near and heard that he was to go down to Egypt and bring out the people of the Israelites there; and he received mighty power from Christ, who spoke with him in the form of fire, and went down and brought out the people, having done great and wonderful things, which, if you wish to learn them, you will learn accurately from his writings.

All the Jews even now teach that the nameless God spoke to Moses. So the prophetic Spirit, rebuking them through Isaiah, the prophet mentioned before, said, as we wrote above: “The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master's manger; but Israel has not known me, and my people has not understood.” And Jesus the Christ, because the Jews did not know what the Father is and what the Son is, likewise rebuking them, himself said: “No one knew the Father except the Son, nor the Son except the Father and those to whom the Son reveals him.” Now the Word of God is his Son, as we said before. And he is called Angel and Apostle; for he himself announces whatever must be known, and is sent to make known whatever is announced; as our Lord himself also said, “He who hears me hears him who sent me.” And this will be made clear also from the writings of Moses. In them it is said thus: “And the angel of God spoke to Moses in a flame of fire out of the bush and said, I am he who is, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of your fathers. Go down into Egypt and bring out my people.” What follows after this you can learn if you wish; for it is not possible to write it all out here. But these words have been given to prove that Jesus the Christ is the Son of God and his Apostle, being formerly the Word, and appearing sometimes in the form of fire, and sometimes in a bodiless image; but now, having become man by the will of God for the human race, he endured also to suffer whatever the demons worked the senseless Jews to inflict on him. They have it expressly said in the writings of Moses: “And the angel of God spoke to Moses in a fire of flame in a bush and said, I am he who is, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob”; and yet they say that the one who said these things is the Father and Maker of all. Therefore the prophetic Spirit also, rebuking them, said: “Israel has not known me, and my people has not understood.” And again Jesus, as we showed, while he was among them said: “No one knew the Father except the Son, nor the Son except the Father and those to whom the Son reveals him.” So the Jews, having always thought that it was the Father of all who spoke to Moses, when it was the Son of God who spoke to him, who is called both Angel and Apostle, are justly rebuked both by the prophetic Spirit and by Christ himself, as knowing neither the Father nor the Son. For those who say that the Son is the Father are shown to know neither the Father nor that the Father of all has a Son; who, being the Word and first-begotten of God, is also God. And formerly he appeared to Moses and the other prophets in the form of fire and in a bodiless image; but now, in the times of your rule, as we said before, having become man through a virgin according to the Father's will, for the salvation of those who believe in him, he endured also to be despised and to suffer, so that by dying and rising again he might conquer death. And what was said to Moses out of the bush, “I am he who is, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob and the God of your fathers,” signifies that those men, even though dead, remain and belong to Christ himself; for they were the first of all people to occupy themselves with the search for God, Abraham being the father of Isaac, and Isaac of Jacob, as Moses also recorded.

And from what has been said before you can understand that the demons, imitating what was said through Moses, brought about the setting up of the image of the so-called Kore at the springs of water, saying that she was the daughter of Zeus. For Moses said, as we wrote before: “In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. And the earth was invisible and unformed, and the Spirit of God was borne over the waters.” In imitation, then, of what was said of the Spirit of God being borne over the water, they said that Kore was the daughter of Zeus. And likewise with wicked intent they said that Athena was the daughter of Zeus, not by intercourse, but, since they knew that God made the world by conceiving it through the Word, they said that Athena was the first conception; which we consider most ridiculous, to present the form of a female as the image of a conception. And likewise their deeds convict the others who are called sons of Zeus.

But we, after we have thus washed the one who has been persuaded and has given his assent, lead him to those who are called brothers, where they are gathered together, to offer common prayers earnestly for ourselves and for the one who has been illuminated and for all others everywhere, that, having learned the truth, we may be counted worthy to be found good citizens also by our deeds and keepers of the commandments, so that we may be saved with eternal salvation. When we have ended the prayers, we greet one another with a kiss. Then bread and a cup of water and mixed wine are brought to the president of the brothers, and he takes them and sends up praise and glory to the Father of all through the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and offers thanksgiving at length for our being counted worthy of these things by him. And when he has finished the prayers and the thanksgiving, all the people present assent, saying, “Amen.” “Amen” in the Hebrew language means “So be it.” And when the president has given thanks and all the people have assented, those who are called among us deacons give to each of those present a share of the bread and wine and water over which thanks have been given, and take it away to those who are not present.

And this food is called among us Eucharist, of which no one may partake except one who believes that the things we teach are true, and has been washed with the washing for the forgiveness of sins and for regeneration, and lives as Christ handed down. For we do not receive these as common bread or common drink; but just as Jesus Christ our Savior, made flesh through the word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so also we have been taught that the food over which thanks have been given through the word of prayer that is from him, from which our blood and flesh are nourished by transformation, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh. For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, handed down that they were thus commanded: that Jesus took bread, gave thanks, and said, “Do this in remembrance of me; this is my body”; and likewise took the cup, gave thanks, and said, “This is my blood”; and gave it to them alone. And the wicked demons imitated this and handed it down to be done in the mysteries of Mithras; for that bread and a cup of water are set out in the rites of one being initiated, with certain formulas, you either know or can learn.

And we afterwards continually remind one another of these things; and those of us who have means help all who are in want, and we are always together with one another. And for all that we receive we bless the Maker of all through his Son Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit. And on the day called the day of the Sun there is a gathering in one place of all who live in cities or in the country, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits. Then, when the reader has stopped, the president in a discourse admonishes and urges the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and send up prayers; and, as we said before, when we have finished our prayer, bread is brought, and wine and water, and the president likewise sends up prayers and thanksgivings, as much as he is able, and the people assent, saying the Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a partaking of the things over which thanks have been given, and they are sent through the deacons to those who are not present. And those who are well off and willing give what each thinks fit, each by his own choice; and what is collected is deposited with the president, and he helps orphans and widows, and those who are in want through sickness or any other cause, and those in prison, and strangers staying among us; and in a word he takes care of all who are in need. And we all hold our common gathering on the day of the Sun, since it is the first day, on which God, having changed the darkness and matter, made the world, and Jesus Christ our Savior rose from the dead on the same day; for they crucified him on the day before Saturn's day, and on the day after Saturn's day, which is the day of the Sun, he appeared to his apostles and disciples and taught them these things, which we have handed over to you also for your consideration.

And if these things seem to you to be reasonable and true, honor them; but if they seem to you nonsense, despise them as nonsensical things, and do not decree death against those who do no wrong, as against enemies. For we tell you beforehand that you will not escape the coming judgment of God if you persist in injustice; and we will cry out: “What is pleasing to God, let that be done!” And though we could demand of you, from a letter of the greatest and most illustrious Caesar Hadrian, your father, that you order trials to be held as we have asked, we have not made our request on the ground that Hadrian so decided, but have made this address and explanation because we know that what we ask is just. But we have also appended the copy of Hadrian's letter, so that you may know that in this also we speak the truth. And this is the copy: To Minucius Fundanus. I have received a letter written to me by Serennius Granianus, a most distinguished man, whom you succeeded. It does not seem to me right to leave the matter uninvestigated, so that people may not be troubled and informers may not be given help in their wrongdoing. If, then, the provincials can clearly support this petition of theirs against the Christians, so as to answer before the judgment seat, let them turn to this course alone, and not to petitions or mere outcries. For it is much more fitting, if anyone wishes to accuse, that you should examine this. If, then, anyone accuses them and shows that they are doing anything contrary to the laws, decide thus according to the seriousness of the offense; but, by Heracles, if anyone brings this forward for the sake of slander, give judgment according to its wickedness and see that you punish it.