For He also became man, as we have said before, according to the will of God the Father, being born for the sake of believing men and for the destruction of the demons; and now you can learn this from the things happening before your eyes. For many demon-possessed people throughout the whole world and in your city, many of our men, the Christians, adjuring them in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, have healed and still do heal those who had not been cured by all the other exorcists and enchanters and druggists, rendering powerless and driving out the demons which possess men. Whence also God delays to bring on the confusion and dissolution of the whole world, by which the wicked angels and demons and men shall cease to be, because of the seed of the Christians, which He knows in its nature is a cause. For if this were not so, it would not have been possible for you to do these things still and be acted upon by the wicked demons; but the fire of judgment would have come down and would have unsparingly judged all things, just as before the flood left no one but the one alone with his own, who is called Noah among us, but Deucalion among you, from whom again so many have been born, of whom some are wicked and some are good. For so we say the conflagration will happen, but not, as the Stoics, according to the principle of the transformation of all things into one another, which seemed most shameful; nor that men act or suffer what happens by fate, but that by free choice each one does right or sins, and that by the working of wicked demons the good, such as Socrates and those like him, are persecuted and are in bonds, while Sardanapalus and Epicurus and those like them seem to be prosperous in abundance and glory. Not understanding this, the Stoics declared that all things happen by the necessity of fate. But that God in the beginning made the race both of angels and of men with free will, they will justly receive punishment in eternal fire for whatever they may transgress. For this is the nature of every created being, to be capable of vice and of virtue; for none of them would be praiseworthy, if it did not have the power to turn to both. And this is also shown by the men everywhere who have legislated and philosophized according to right reason, from their dictating that certain things are to be done, and from certain things one must abstain. And the Stoic philosophers, in their teaching on ethics, steadfastly honor the same principles, so that it is clear that in their teaching on principles and incorporeal things they are not successful.

καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἄνθρωπος, ὡς προέφημεν, γέγονε κατὰ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς βουλὴν ἀπο κυηθεὶς ὑπὲρ τῶν πιστευόντων ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἐπὶ καταλύσει τῶν δαιμόνων· καὶ νῦν ἐκ τῶν ὑπ' ὄψιν γινομένων μαθεῖν δύ νασθε. δαιμονιολήπτους γὰρ πολλοὺς κατὰ πάντα τὸν κόσμον καὶ ἐν τῇ ὑμετέρᾳ πόλει πολλοὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων ἀνθρώπων, τῶν Χριστιανῶν, ἐπορκίζοντες κατὰ τοῦ ὀνόματος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, τοῦ σταυρωθέντος ἐπὶ Ποντίου Πιλάτου, ὑπὸ τῶν ἄλλων πάν των ἐπορκιστῶν καὶ ἐπᾳστῶν καὶ φαρμακευτῶν μὴ ἰαθέντας, ἰάσαντο καὶ ἔτι νῦν ἰῶνται, καταργοῦντες καὶ ἐκδιώκοντες τοὺς κατέχοντας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους δαίμονας. Ὅθεν καὶ ἐπιμένει ὁ θεὸς τὴν σύγχυσιν καὶ κατά λυσιν τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου μὴ ποιῆσαι, ἵνα καὶ οἱ φαῦλοι ἄγγελοι καὶ δαίμονες καὶ ἄνθρωποι μηκέτι ὦσι, διὰ τὸ σπέρμα τῶν Χριστιανῶν, ὃ γινώσκει ἐν τῇ φύσει ὅτι αἴτιόν ἐστιν. ἐπεὶ εἰ μὴ τοῦτο ἦν, οὐκ ἂν οὐδὲ ὑμῖν ταῦτα ἔτι ποιεῖν καὶ ἐνερ γεῖσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν φαύλων δαιμόνων δυνατὸν ἦν, ἀλλὰ τὸ πῦρ τὸ τῆς κρίσεως κατελθὸν ἀνέδην πάντα διέκρινεν, ὡς καὶ πρότερον ὁ κατακλυσμὸς μηδένα λιπὼν ἀλλ' ἢ τὸν μόνον σὺν τοῖς ἰδίοις παρ' ἡμῖν καλούμενον Νῶε, παρ' ὑμῖν δὲ ∆ευ καλίωνα, ἐξ οὗ πάλιν οἱ τοσοῦτοι γεγόνασιν, ὧν οἱ μὲν φαῦλοι, οἱ δὲ σπουδαῖοι. οὕτω γὰρ ἡμεῖς τὴν ἐκπύρωσίν φαμεν γε νήσεσθαι, ἀλλ' οὐχ, ὡς οἱ Στωϊκοί, κατὰ τὸν τῆς εἰς ἄλληλα πάντων μεταβολῆς λόγον, ὃ αἴσχιστον ἐφάνη· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ καθ' εἱμαρμένην πράττειν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἢ πάσχειν τὰ γινόμενα, ἀλλὰ κατὰ μὲν τὴν προαίρεσιν ἕκαστον κατορθοῦν ἢ ἁμαρτάνειν, καὶ κατὰ τὴν τῶν φαύλων δαιμόνων ἐνέργειαν τοὺς σπουδαίους, οἷον Σωκράτην καὶ τοὺς ὁμοίους, διώκεσθαι καὶ ἐν δεσμοῖς εἶναι, Σαρδανάπαλον δὲ καὶ Ἐπίκουρον καὶ τοὺς ὁμοίους ἐν ἀφθονίᾳ καὶ δόξῃ δοκεῖν εὐδαιμονεῖν. ὃ μὴ νοήσαντες οἱ Στωϊκοὶ καθ' εἱμαρμένης ἀνάγκην πάντα γίνεσθαι ἀπεφήναντο. ἀλλ' ὅτι αὐτεξούσιον τό τε τῶν ἀγγέλων γένος καὶ τῶν ἀν θρώπων τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐποίησεν ὁ θεός, δικαίως ὑπὲρ ὧν ἂν πλημμε λήσωσι τὴν τιμωρίαν ἐν αἰωνίῳ πυρὶ κομίσονται. γεννητοῦ δὲ παντὸς ἥδε ἡ φύσις, κακίας καὶ ἀρετῆς δεκτικὸν εἶναι· οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἦν ἐπαινετὸν οὐδὲν αὐτῶν, εἰ οὐκ ἦν ἐπ' ἀμφότερα τρέ πεσθαι καὶ δύναμιν εἶχε. δεικνύουσι δὲ τοῦτο καὶ οἱ παντα χοῦ κατὰ λόγον τὸν ὀρθὸν νομοθετήσαντες καὶ φιλο σοφήσαντες ἄνθρωποι ἐκ τοῦ ὑπαγορεύειν τάδε μὲν πράττειν, τῶνδε δὲ ἀπέχεσθαι. καὶ οἱ Στωϊκοὶ φιλόσοφοι ἐν τῷ περὶ ἠθῶν λόγῳ τὰ αὐτὰ τιμῶσι καρτερῶς, ὡς δηλοῦσθαι ἐν τῷ περὶ ἀρχῶν καὶ ἀσωμάτων λόγῳ οὐκ εὐοδοῦν αὐτούς.