2. Insincerity of this charge.

But forasmuch as they pretend to charge me with cowardice, it is necessary that I should write somewhat concerning this, whereby it shall be proved that they are men of wicked minds, who have not read the sacred Scriptures: or if they have read them, that they do not believe the divine inspiration of the oracles they contain. For had they believed this, they would not dare to act contrary to them, nor imitate the malice of the Jews who slew the Lord. For God having given them a commandment, ‘Honour thy father and thy mother,’ and, ‘He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death5    Matt. xv. 4.;’ that people established a contrary law, changing the honour into dishonour, and alienating to other uses the money which was due from the children to their parents. And though they had read what David did, they acted in contradiction to his example, and accused the guiltless for plucking the ears of corn, and rubbing them in their hands on the Sabbath day6    Luke vi. 1. sqq.. Not that they cared either for the laws, or for the Sabbath, for they were guilty of greater transgressions of the law on that day: but being wicked-minded, they grudged the disciples the way of salvation, and desired that their own private notions should have the sole pre-eminence. They however have received the reward of their iniquity, having ceased to be an holy nation, and being counted henceforth as the rulers of Sodom, and as the people of Gomorrah7    Isa. i. 10, 11.. And these men likewise, not less than they, seem to me to have received their punishment already in their ignorance of their own folly. For they understand not what they say, but think that they know things of which they are ignorant; while the only knowledge that is in them is to do evil, and to frame devices more and more wicked day by day. Thus they reproach us with our present flight, not for the sake of virtue, as wishing us to shew manliness by coming forward (how is it possible that such a wish can be entertained by enemies in behalf of those who run not with them in the same career of madness?); but being full of malice, they pretend this, and buzz8    περιβομβεῖν, Nic. Def. 14, note 1; Greg. Naz. Orat. 27. n. 2. all around that such is the case, thinking, foolish as indeed they are, that through fear of their revilings, we shall yet be induced to give ourselves up to them. For this is what they desire: to accomplish this they have recourse to all kinds of schemes: they pretend themselves to be friends, while they search as enemies, to the end that they may glut themselves with our blood, and put us also out of the way, because we have always opposed and do still oppose their impiety, and confute and brand their heresy.

2 Ἐπειδὴ δὲ προσποιοῦνται δειλίαν ἐγκαλεῖν, ἀναγκαῖον ὀλίγα περὶ τούτου γράψαι. ∆ειχθήσονται γὰρ ἐκ τούτου πονηροί τε τὸν τρόπον καὶ μὴ ἐντετυχηκότες ταῖς θείαις γραφαῖς, ἢ ἐντυχόντες μὲν μὴ πιστεύοντες δὲ εἶναι θεόπνευστα τὰ λόγια τὰ ἐν αὐταῖς. Εἰ γὰρ ἐπίστευον, οὐκ ἂν παρὰ μὲν ταύτας ἐτόλμων, τὴν δὲ κακοήθειαν τῶν κυριοκτόνων Ἰουδαίων ἐζήλουν. Καὶ γὰρ τοῦ Θεοῦ δεδωκότος ἐντολήν· «τίμα τὸν πατέρα σου καὶ τὴν μητέρα σου» καὶ «ὁ κακολογῶν πατέρα ἢ μητέρα θανάτῳ τελευτάτω», ἀντενομοθέτουν κἀκεῖνοι, τὴν τιμὴν εἰς ἀτιμίαν μεταφέροντες, καὶ ἀργυρίου τὸ πρὸς τοὺς γονέας καθῆκον παρὰ τῶν τέκνων ἀντικαταλλάσσοντες· καὶ ἀναγινώσκοντες δὲ τὰς τοῦ ∆αυὶδ πράξεις, ἀντεμελέτων αὐταῖς καὶ ᾐτιῶντο τοὺς ἀναιτίους τίλλοντας στάχυας καὶ ψώχοντας ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ σαββάτου. Ἔμελε δὲ αὐτοῖς οὔτε τῶν νόμων οὔτε διὰ τὸ σάββατον, ἐν αὐτῷ γὰρ μᾶλλον παρηνόμουν· ἀλλ' ὅτι τὸν τρόπον ὄντες πονηροί, τοῖς τε μαθηταῖς ἐφθόνουν σῳζομένοις, καὶ μόνον ἠβούλοντο τὰ τῆς ἰδίας γνώμης κρατεῖν. Ἐκεῖνοι μὲν οὖν τῆς ἰδίας παρανομίας ἔχουσι τὰ ἐπίχειρα, ἀνίεροι γενόμενοι καὶ λοιπὸν «ἄρχοντες Σοδόμων καὶ λαὸς Γομόρρας» χρηματίζοντες. Καὶ αὐτοὶ δὲ οὐδὲν ἧττον ἐκείνων δοκοῦσίν μοι τὴν ἐπιτιμίαν ἔχειν, ἤδη τὴν τῆς ἰδίας ἀλογίας ἄγνοιαν. Οὔτε γὰρ νοοῦσιν ἃ λέγουσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ νομίζουσιν εἰδέναι ἅπερ ἀγνοοῦσι· μόνη δὲ γνῶσις ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐστι τοῦ κακοποιεῖν, καὶ καθ' ἡμέραν χείρονα χείροσιν ἐφευρίσκειν. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ τὴν νῦν φυγὴν ἡμῶν, οὐκ ἐπ' ἀρετῇ θέλοντες ἡμᾶς ἀνδραγαθήσασθαι, διαβάλλουσι· πόθεν γὰρ εὐχὴ τοιαύτη παρ' ἐχθροῖς ὑπὲρ «τῶν μὴ συντρεχόντων αὐτοῖς» ἐν τῇ κακοφροσύνῃ; Ἀλλὰ κακοήθεις ὄντες, σχηματίζονται τοιαῦτα περιβομβεῖν, νομίζοντες εὐήθεις ὄντες ἀληθῶς αὐτοί, ὡς ἄρα δέει τῆς παρ' αὐτῶν λοιδορίας προσάξομεν ἑαυτούς ποτε αὐτοῖς. Θέλουσι γὰρ καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πάντα περιτρέ χουσι· καὶ ὑποκρίνονται μὲν ὡς φίλοι, ἐρευνῶσι δὲ ὡς ἐχθροί, ἵνα αἱμάτων ἐμφορηθέντες ἐκποδὼν ποιήσωσι καὶ ἡμᾶς, ὅτι κατὰ τῆς ἀσεβείας αὐτῶν ἐφρονήσαμεν ἀεὶ καὶ φρονοῦμεν, καὶ τὴν αἵρεσιν αὐτῶν ἐλέγχοντες στηλιτεύομεν.