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Do you bear and thrust forward this way of speech and contemplation, as you yourselves suppose, but as I say, of idle talk and prodigies? Let Paul rebuke you, bitterly reproaching this after the enumeration of the gifts, in which he says: Are all apostles? Are all prophets? and so on.

9 But so be it: you are lofty, and beyond the lofty, and above the clouds, if you will, a seer of the unseen, a hearer of the unutterable, raised up with Elijah, and deemed worthy of a theophany with Moses, and heavenly with Paul. Why do you on the same day fashion others into saints, and ordain theologians, and as it were breathe learning into them, and have you made many councils of unlearned learned men? Why do you bind the weaker with spider webs, as if it were something wise and great? Why do you stir up wasps' nests against the faith? Why do you contrive for us a brood of dialecticians, just as the myths of old did the giants? Why, having gathered into one ravine whatever is frivolous and unmanly among men, like some rabble, and having further effeminized them by flattery, have you created a new workshop of impiety, not unwisely reaping the fruit of their folly? Do you contradict these things too? And are other matters nothing to you? And must your tongue lord it over all, and you cannot restrain the birth-pangs of your speech? You have also other subjects, both many and ambitious. Turn your disease there, with some use. 10 Attack for me Pythagoras' silence, and the Orphic beans, and the newer arrogance about "He himself said." Attack for me Plato's ideas, and the reincarnations and cycles of our souls, and the reminiscences, and the not-so-beautiful loves for the soul through beautiful bodies; Epicurus' atheism, and his atoms, and his unphilosophical pleasure; Aristotle's petty providence, and his technical art, and his mortal arguments concerning the soul, and the human quality of his doctrines; the pride of the Stoa, the gluttonous and vulgar way of the Cynics. Attack for me the void, the full of nonsense, all the monstrous tales about gods or sacrifices, about idols, about good and evil demons, about divination, theurgy, necromancy, the power of stars. But if you deem these things unworthy of discussion, as being trivial and often refuted, but you turn to your own matters, and seek what is ambitious in these; I will offer you broad roads here too. Philosophize for me about the world or worlds, about matter, about the soul, about rational natures better and worse, about resurrection, judgment, retribution, the sufferings of Christ. For in these matters, to succeed is not useless, and to fail is without danger. But we shall meet with God, now in a small way, but a little later perhaps more perfectly, in Christ Jesus himself our Lord, to whom be the glory for ever and ever; amen.

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ταύτην φέρεσθε καὶ ὠθεῖσθε τὴν διὰ λόγου καὶ θεωρίας, ὡς αὐτοὶ οἴεσθε, ὡς δὲ ἐγώ φημι, ἀδολεσχίας καὶ τερατείας; ἐπιτιμάτω Παῦλος ὑμῖν, τοῦτο πικρῶς ὀνειδίζων μετὰ τὴν ἀπαρίθμησιν τῶν χαρισμάτων, ἐν οἷς φησί· Μὴ πάντες ἀπόστολοι; μὴ πάντες προφῆται; καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς.

9 Ἔστω δέ· ὑψηλὸς σύ, καὶ ὑψηλῶν πέρα, καὶ ὑπὲρ τὰς νεφέλας, εἰ βούλει, ὁ τῶν ἀθεάτων θεατής, ὁ τῶν ἀρρήτων ἀκροατής, ὁ μετὰ Ἠλίαν μετάρσιος, καὶ ὁ μετὰ Μωυσέα θεοφανείας ἠξιωμένος, καὶ μετὰ Παῦλον οὐράνιος. τί καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους αὐθήμερον πλάττεις ἁγίους, καὶ χειροτονεῖς θεολόγους, καὶ οἷον ἐμπνεῖς τὴν παίδευσιν, καὶ πεποίηκας λογίων ἀμαθῶν πολλὰ συνέδρια; τί τοῖς ἀραχνίοις ὑφάσμασιν ἐνδεσμεῖς τοὺς ἀσθενεστέρους, ὡς δή τι σοφὸν καὶ μέγα; τί σφηκιὰς ἐγείρεις κατὰ τῆς πίστεως; τί σχεδιάζεις ἡμῖν διαλεκτικῶν ἀνάδοσιν, ὥσπερ οἱ μῦθοι πάλαι τοὺς γίγαντας; τί τῶν ἀνδρῶν ὅσον κοῦφον καὶ ἄνανδρον, ὥσπερ τινὰ συρφετόν, εἰς μίαν χαράδραν συναγαγών, καὶ κολακείᾳ πλέον θηλύνας, καινὸν ἀσεβείας ἐργαστήριον ἐδημιούργησας, οὐκ ἀσόφως τὴν ἄνοιαν αὐτῶν ἐκκαρπούμενος; Ἀντιλέγεις καὶ τούτοις; καὶ οὐδαμοῦ σοι τἄλλα; καὶ τὴν γλῶσσαν δεῖ δυναστεύειν πάντως, καὶ οὐ κατέχεις τὴν ὠδῖνα τοῦ λόγου; ἔχεις καὶ ἄλλας ὑποθέσεις πολλάς τε καὶ φιλοτίμους. ἐκεῖ τρέψον μετὰ τοῦ χρησίμου τὴν νόσον. 10 Βάλλε μοι Πυθαγόρου τὴν σιωπήν, καὶ τοὺς κυάμους τοὺς Ὀρφικούς, καὶ τὴν περὶ τὸ Αὐτὸς ἔφα καινοτέραν ἀλαζονείαν. βάλλε μοι Πλάτωνος τὰς ἰδέας, καὶ τὰς μετενσωματώσεις καὶ περιόδους τῶν ἡμετέρων ψυχῶν, καὶ τὰς ἀναμνήσεις, καὶ τοὺς οὐ καλοὺς διὰ τῶν καλῶν σωμάτων ἐπὶ ψυχὴν ἔρωτας· Ἐπικούρου τὴν ἀθείαν, καὶ τὰς ἀτόμους, καὶ τὴν ἀφιλόσοφον ἡδονήν· Ἀριστοτέλους τὴν μικρολόγον πρόνοιαν, καὶ τὸ ἔντεχνον, καὶ τοὺς θνητοὺς περὶ ψυχῆς λόγους, καὶ τὸ ἀνθρωπικὸν τῶν δογμάτων· τῆς Στοᾶς τὴν ὀφρύν, τῶν Κυνῶν τὸ λίχνον τε καὶ ἀγοραῖον. βάλλε μοι τὸ κενόν, τὸ πλῆρες τῶν ληρημάτων, ὅσα περὶ θεῶν ἢ θυσιῶν, περὶ εἰδώλων, περὶ δαιμόνων ἀγαθῶν τε καὶ κακοποιῶν, ὅσα περὶ μαντείας, θεαγωγίας, ψυχαγωγίας, ἄστρων δυνάμεως, τερατεύονται. εἰ δὲ σὺ ταῦτα μὲν ἀπαξιοῖς λόγου, ὡς μικρά τε καὶ πολλάκις ἐληλεγμένα, περὶ δὲ τὰ σὰ στρέφῃ, καὶ ζητεῖς τὸ ἐν τούτοις φιλότιμον· ἐγώ σοι κἀνταῦθα παρέξομαι πλατείας ὁδούς. φιλοσόφει μοι περὶ κόσμου ἢ κόσμων, περὶ ὕλης, περὶ ψυχῆς, περὶ λογικῶν φύσεων βελτιόνων τε καὶ χειρόνων, περὶ ἀναστάσεως, κρίσεως, ἀνταποδόσεως, Χριστοῦ παθημάτων. ἐν τούτοις γὰρ καὶ τὸ ἐπιτυγχάνειν οὐκ ἄχρηστον, καὶ τὸ διαμαρτάνειν ἀκίνδυνον. θεῷ δὲ ἐντευξόμεθα, νῦν μὲν ὀλίγα, μικρὸν δὲ ὕστερον ἴσως τελεώτερον, ἐν αὐτῷ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας· ἀμήν.