...ing plots against you and has plundered the marriage equally? Why do you consider this one an enemy, but worship the one who is like him? And why do you blame your wife for living licentiously, while you have honored Aphrodite with temples? And if these things had been said by others, it would have seemed to be a mere accusation and not the truth; but as it is, your own poets sing of these things, and the histories among you proclaim them. Come then, men of Greece, and share in an incomparable wisdom, and be instructed by the divine Word, and learn of an incorruptible king, and recognize his heroes who never work slaughter for peoples. For our general himself does not desire strength of body and beauty of form, nor the arrogance of high birth, but a pure soul, fortified by holiness, and the commands of our king, and divine deeds, as they penetrate the soul through the power of the Word (O peaceful trumpet of the soul at war, O banisher of terrible passions, O teaching that extinguishes the fire within!), which does not make poets, nor prepare philosophers, nor eloquent orators, but by its teaching makes mortals immortal, humans gods, and transports them from earth to the regions above Olympus. Come, be instructed; become as I am, for I too was as you are. These things captured me, both the divine nature of the instruction and the power of the Word; for just as a good charmer, having made a dreadful reptile crawl out of its den, puts it to flight, so the Word drives out the dreadful passions of sense from the very depths of the soul, first desire, through which every evil springs up, enmities, strifes, jealousy, contentions, wraths, and things like these. When desire, therefore, has been driven out, the soul becomes calm and serene. And having been released from the evils that flow around its neck, it goes away to him who made it; for it must be restored to that from which it departed.

μενος ἐπιβουλεύει σοι καὶ ἐπ' ἴσου τὸν γάμον σεσύληκε; Τί τοῦτον ἐχθρὸν ἡγῇ, τὸν δὲ ὅμοιον αὐτῷ σέβῃ; Τί δὲ μέμφῃ σου τὴν γυναῖκα ἀκολάστως ζῶσαν, τὴν δὲ Ἀφροδίτην ναοῖς τετίμηκας; Καὶ εἰ μὲν ταῦτα ὑφ' ἑτέρων ἦν εἰρημένα, κατηγορία ἔδοξεν εἶναι ψιλὴ καὶ οὐκ ἀλήθεια· νῦν δὲ ταῦτα οἱ ὑμέτεροι ᾄδουσι ποιηταί, καὶ αἱ παρ' ὑμῖν κεκράγασιν ἱστορίαι. Ἔλθετε λοιπόν, ἄνδρες Ἕλληνες, καὶ σοφίᾳ ἀπαρα μιλλήτῳ κοινωνήσατε, καὶ θείῳ λόγῳ παιδεύθητε, καὶ μά θετε βασιλέα ἄφθαρτον, καὶ τοὺς τούτου ἥρωας ἐπίγνωτε οὔποτε λαοῖς φόνον ἐργαζομένους. Aὐτὸς γὰρ ἡμῶν ὁ στρα τηγὸς οὐ βούλεται σωμάτων ἀλκὴν καὶ τύπων εὐμορφίαν οὐδ' εὐγενείας φρύαγμα, ἀλλὰ ψυχήν τε καθαράν, ὁσιότητι τετει χισμένην, καὶ τὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ἡμῶν συνθήματα, καὶ πράξεις θείας, ὡς διὰ λόγου δυνάμεως εἰς ψυχὴν διικνουμένης (ὢ σάλ πιγξ εἰρηνικὴ ψυχῆς πολεμουμένης, ὢ παθῶν δεινῶν φυγα δευτήριον, ὢ πυρὸς ἐμψύχου σβεστικὸν διδασκάλιον!), ἥτις οὐ ποιητὰς ποιεῖ, οὐ φιλοσόφους κατασκευάζει οὐδὲ ῥήτορας δει νούς, ἀλλὰ παιδεύουσα ποιεῖ τοὺς θνητοὺς ἀθανάτους, τοὺς βροτοὺς θεούς, ἐκ γῆς δὲ μετάγει εἰς τοὺς ὑπὲρ Ὄλυμπον ὅρους. Ἔλθετε, παιδεύθητε· γίνεσθε ὡς ἐγώ, ὅτι κἀγὼ ἤμην ὡς ὑμεῖς. Ταῦτά με εἷλε, τό τε τῆς παιδείας ἔνθεον καὶ τὸ τοῦ λόγου δυνατόν· ὅτι καθάπερ ἐπαοιδὸς ἀγαθὸς ἐκ φωλεοῦ ἐξερπύσαι ποιήσας φυγαδεύει δεινὸν ἑρπετόν, οὕτως ὁ λόγος ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς μυχῶν τὰ δεινὰ τῆς αἰσθή σεως ἀπελαύνει πάθη, πρῶτον ἐπιθυμίαν, δι' ἧς πᾶν δεινὸν φύεται, ἔχθραι ἔρεις ζῆλος ἐριθεῖαι θυμοὶ καὶ τὰ ὅμοια τού τοις. Ἐπιθυμίας οὖν ἀπελαθείσης εὔδιος ἡ ψυχὴ καὶ γαλη νιῶσα γίνεται. Παραλυθεῖσα δὲ τῶν περὶ τὸν τράχηλον αὐ τῆς κακῶν περιῤῥεόντων ἀπέρχεται πρὸς τὸν ποιήσαντα αὐτήν· δεῖ γὰρ ἀποκατασταθῆναι ὅθεν ἀπέστη.