if we do this. And when we are examined, we do not deny, because we are conscious of no evil in ourselves, but we consider it impious not to be truthful in all things, which we know is also dear to God, and we are now eager to deliver you from your unjust prejudice. But if this thought should also occur to anyone that, if we confessed God as our helper, we would not, as we say, be overpowered and punished by the unjust, I will resolve this also. God, who made the whole world, and subjected earthly things to men, and arranged the heavenly elements for the increase of fruits and the changes of seasons, and set a divine law for them, which things He seems to have made for the sake of men, He entrusted the providence of men and of the things under heaven to the angels whom He appointed over them. But the angels, transgressing this appointment, were defeated by intercourse with women and begot children, who are those that are called demons. And in addition, they afterwards enslaved the human race to themselves; partly by magical writings, partly by fears and punishments they inflicted, and partly by teaching them about sacrifices and incenses and libations, of which they had become needy after being enslaved to lustful passions; and they sowed among men murders, wars, adulteries, intemperance, and all wickedness. Whence also the poets and mythologists, not knowing that it was the angels and the demons born of them who did these things to men and women, and cities and nations, which they wrote about, ascribed them to God Himself, and to those who were begotten as His sons by seed, and to the brothers of those spoken of as His, and to their children likewise, Poseidon and Pluto. For they addressed each by the name that each of the angels had given to himself and to his children. But the Father of all has no name given to Him, being unbegotten; for whoever has a name applied to him has an older one who gave the name. But "Father" and "God" and "Creator" and "Lord" and "Master" are not names, but appellations derived from His good deeds and His works. But His Son, the one properly called Son, the Word who was with Him and was begotten before the works, when in the beginning He created and ordered all things through Him, is called Christ, because He was anointed and because God ordered all things through Him, a name which itself also contains an unknown meaning, in the same way that the appellation "God" is not a name, but an opinion of an ineffable reality, innate in the nature of men. But "Jesus" has the name and significance both of a man and of a savior.

ἐὰν τοῦτο πράξωμεν. ἐξεταζόμενοι δὲ οὐκ ἀρνούμεθα διὰ τὸ συνεπίστασθαι ἑαυτοῖς μηδὲν φαῦλον, ἀσεβὲς δὲ ἡγούμενοι μὴ κατὰ πάντα ἀληθεύειν, ὃ καὶ φίλον τῷ θεῷ γινώσκομεν, ὑμᾶς δὲ καὶ τῆς ἀδίκου προλήψεως ἀπαλλάξαι νῦν σπεύδοντες. Eἰ δέ τινα ὑπέλθοι καὶ ἡ ἔννοια αὕτη ὅτι, εἰ θεὸν ὡμολογοῦμεν βοηθόν, οὐκ ἄν, ὡς λέγομεν, ὑπὸ ἀδίκων ἐκρα τούμεθα καὶ ἐτιμωρούμεθα, καὶ τοῦτο διαλύσω. ὁ θεὸς τὸν πάντα κόσμον ποιήσας καὶ τὰ ἐπίγεια ἀνθρώποις ὑποτάξας καὶ τὰ οὐράνια στοιχεῖα εἰς αὔξησιν καρπῶν καὶ ὡρῶν μεταβολὰς κοσμήσας καὶ θεῖον τούτοις νόμον τάξας, ἃ καὶ αὐτὰ δι' ἀν θρώπους φαίνεται πεποιηκὼς, τὴν μὲν τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τῶν ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανὸν πρόνοιαν ἀγγέλοις, οὓς ἐπὶ τούτοις ἔταξε, παρέδωκεν. οἱ δ' ἄγγελοι, παραβάντες τήνδε τὴν τάξιν, γυναικῶν μίξεσιν ἡττήθησαν καὶ παῖδας ἐτέκνωσαν, οἵ εἰσιν οἱ λεγόμενοι δαίμονες. καὶ προσέτι λοιπὸν τὸ ἀνθρώ πειον γένος ἑαυτοῖς ἐδούλωσαν· τὰ μὲν διὰ μαγικῶν γραφῶν, τὰ δὲ διὰ φόβων καὶ τιμωριῶν, ὧν ἐπέφερον, τὰ δὲ διὰ δι δαχῆς θυμάτων καὶ θυμιαμάτων καὶ σπονδῶν, ὧν ἐνδεεῖς γε γόνασι μετὰ τὸ πάθεσιν ἐπιθυμιῶν δουλωθῆναι· καὶ εἰς ἀνθρώ πους φόνους, πολέμους, μοιχείας, ἀκολασίας καὶ πᾶσαν κακίαν ἔσπειραν. ὅθεν καὶ ποιηταὶ καὶ μυθολόγοι, ἀγνοοῦντες τοὺς ἀγγέλους καὶ τοὺς ἐξ αὐτῶν γεννηθέντας δαίμονας ταῦτα πρᾶξαι εἰς ἄρρενας καὶ θηλείας καὶ πόλεις καὶ ἔθνη, ἅπερ συνέ γραψαν, εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν θεὸν καὶ τοὺς ὡς ἀπ' αὐτοῦ σπορᾷ γε νομένους υἱοὺς καὶ τῶν λεχθέντων ἐκείνου ἀδελφῶν καὶ τέκνων ὁμοίως τῶν ἀπ' ἐκείνων, Ποσειδῶνος καὶ Πλούτωνος, ἀνήνεγκαν. ὀνόματι γὰρ ἕκαστον, ὅπερ ἕκαστος ἑαυτῷ τῶν ἀγγέλων καὶ τοῖς τέκνοις ἔθετο, προσηγόρευσαν. Ὄνομα δὲ τῷ πάντων πατρὶ θετόν, ἀγεννήτῳ ὄντι, οὐκ ἔστιν· ᾧ γὰρ ἂν καὶ ὄνομά τι προσαγορεύηται, πρεσβύ τερον ἔχει τὸν θέμενον τὸ ὄνομα. τὸ δὲ πατὴρ καὶ θεὸς καὶ κτίστης καὶ κύριος καὶ δεσπότης οὐκ ὀνόματά ἐστιν, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῶν εὐποιϊῶν καὶ τῶν ἔργων προσρήσεις. ὁ δὲ υἱὸς ἐκεί νου, ὁ μόνος λεγόμενος κυρίως υἱός, ὁ λόγος πρὸ τῶν ποιη μάτων καὶ συνὼν καὶ γεννώμενος, ὅτε τὴν ἀρχὴν δι' αὐτοῦ πάντα ἔκτισε καὶ ἐκόσμησε, Χριστὸς μὲν κατὰ τὸ κεχρῖσθαι καὶ κοσ μῆσαι τὰ πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ τὸν θεὸν λέγεται, ὄνομα καὶ αὐτὸ περιέχον ἄγνωστον σημασίαν, ὃν τρόπον καὶ τὸ θεὸς προσαγό ρευμα οὐκ ὄνομά ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ πράγματος δυσεξηγήτου ἔμφυτος τῇ φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων δόξα. Ἰησοῦς δὲ καὶ ἀνθρώπου καὶ σωτῆρος ὄνομα καὶ σημασίαν ἔχει.