For if they say that things done by men happen according to fate, or that God is nothing apart from things that change and are altered and are resolved into the same elements always, they will be shown to have an understanding only of corruptible things, and that God himself, both through the parts and through the whole, comes to be in all evil, or that there is no evil nor virtue; which is contrary to every sound conception, and reason, and mind. And those from the Stoic doctrines, since they have been decent in their ethical reasoning, as also in some things the poets were, because of the innate seed of the Word in every race of men, we know have been hated and killed; Heraclitus, as we said before, and Musonius in our own times and others, we know. For as we have indicated, the demons have always worked to have all those who strive to live in any way according to reason and to flee evil be hated. And it is no wonder if the demons, being convicted, work to have those hated much more who live not according to a part of the seminal Word, but according to the knowledge and contemplation of the whole Word, which is Christ; who will receive their deserved punishment and penalty, being shut up in eternal fire. For if they are already conquered by men through the name of Jesus Christ, this is an indication of the future punishment in eternal fire that will be for them and for those who serve them. For so all the prophets foretold would happen, and Jesus our teacher taught. And lest anyone should say what is said by those called philosophers, that what is said by us, that the unjust are punished in eternal fire, is mere bragging and a scare tactic, and that we demand that men live virtuously through fear and not because it is good and pleasing, I will answer this briefly, that if this is not so, then either there is no God, or, if He exists, He does not care for men, and there is no virtue nor vice, and, as we said before, the lawgivers unjustly punish those who transgress good ordinances. But since they are not unjust, nor their Father, who through the Word teaches to do the same things as He, those who agree with them are not unjust. But if anyone puts forward the different laws of men, saying that among some men certain things are considered good, and others shameful, while among others the things shameful to the former are good, and the good things are considered shameful, let him also hear what is said about this, and we know that the wicked angels have ordained laws similar to their own wickedness, in which those who have become like them rejoice

εἴτε γὰρ καθ' εἱμαρμένην φήσουσι τὰ γινόμενα πρὸς ἀνθρώπων γίνεσθαι, ἢ μηδὲν εἶναι θεὸν παρὰ τρεπόμενα καὶ ἀλλοιούμενα καὶ ἀνα λυόμενα εἰς τὰ αὐτὰ ἀεί, φθαρτῶν μόνων φανήσονται κατάληψιν ἐσχηκέναι καὶ αὐτὸν τὸν θεὸν διά τε τῶν μερῶν καὶ διὰ τοῦ ὅλου ἐν πάσῃ κακίᾳ γινόμενον ἢ μηδὲν εἶναι κακίαν μηδ' ἀρε τήν· ὅπερ καὶ παρὰ πᾶσαν σώφρονα ἔννοιαν καὶ λόγον καὶ νοῦν ἐστι. Καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν Στωϊκῶν δὲ δογμάτων, ἐπειδὴ κἂν τὸν ἠθικὸν λόγον κόσμιοι γεγόνασιν, ὡς καὶ ἔν τισιν οἱ ποιηταὶ, διὰ τὸ ἔμφυτον παντὶ γένει ἀνθρώπων σπέρμα τοῦ λόγου, μεμισῆσθαι καὶ πεφονεῦσθαι οἴδαμεν· Ἡράκλειτον μέν, ὡς προέφημεν, καὶ Μουσώνιον δὲ ἐν τοῖς καθ' ἡμᾶς καὶ ἄλλους οἴδαμεν. ὡς γὰρ ἐσημάναμεν, πάντας τοὺς κἂν ὁπωσδήποτε κατὰ λόγον βιοῦν σπουδάζοντας καὶ κακίαν φεύγειν μισεῖσθαι ἀεὶ ἐνήργησαν οἱ δαίμονες. οὐδὲν δὲ θαυμαστόν, εἰ τοὺς οὐ κατὰ σπερματικοῦ λόγου μέρος, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ παντὸς λόγου, ὅ ἐστι Χριστοῦ, γνῶσιν καὶ θεωρίαν πολὺ μᾶλλον μι σεῖσθαι οἱ δαίμονες ἐλεγχόμενοι ἐνεργοῦσιν· οἳ τὴν ἀξίαν κόλασιν καὶ τιμωρίαν κομίσονται ἐν αἰωνίῳ πυρὶ ἐγκλεισθέντες. εἰ γὰρ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἤδη διὰ τοῦ ὀνό ματος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἡττῶνται, δίδαγμά ἐστι τῆς καὶ μελλού σης αὐτοῖς καὶ τοῖς λατρεύουσιν αὐτοῖς ἐσομένης ἐν πυρὶ αἰωνίῳ κολάσεως. οὕτως γὰρ καὶ οἱ προφῆται πάντες προε κήρυξαν γενήσεσθαι, καὶ Ἰησοῦς ὁ ἡμέτερος διδάσκαλος ἐδί δαξε. Ἵνα δὲ μή τις εἴπῃ τὸ λεγόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν νομι ζομένων φιλοσόφων, ὅτι κόμποι καὶ φόβητρά ἐστι τὰ λεγόμενα ὑφ' ἡμῶν ὅτι κολάζονται ἐν αἰωνίῳ πυρὶ οἱ ἄδικοι, καὶ διὰ φόβον ἀλλ' οὐ διὰ τὸ καλὸν εἶναι καὶ ἀρεστὸν ἐναρέτως βιοῦν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἀξιοῦμεν, βραχυεπῶς πρὸς τοῦτο ἀποκρινοῦ μαι, ὅτι, εἰ μὴ τοῦτό ἐστιν, οὔτε ἔστι θεός, ἤ, εἰ ἔστιν, οὐ μέλει αὐτῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ οὐδέν ἐστιν ἀρετὴ οὐδὲ κακία, καί, ὡς προέφημεν, ἀδίκως τιμωροῦσιν οἱ νομοθέται τοὺς παραβαί νοντας τὰ διατεταγμένα καλά. ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἄδικοι ἐκεῖνοι καὶ ὁ αὐτῶν πατήρ, τὰ αὐτὰ αὐτῷ πράττειν διὰ τοῦ λόγου διδάσκων, οἱ τούτοις συντιθέμενοι οὐκ ἄδικοι. ἐὰν δέ τις τοὺς διαφόρους νόμους τῶν ἀνθρώπων προβάληται, λέ γων ὅτι παρ' οἷς μὲν ἀνθρώποις τάδε καλά, τὰ δὲ αἰσχρὰ νενό μισται, παρ' ἄλλοις δὲ τὰ παρ' ἐκείνοις αἰσχρὰ καλά, καὶ τὰ καλὰ αἰσχρὰ νομίζεται, ἀκουέτω καὶ τῶν εἰς τοῦτο λεγομένων καὶ νόμους διατάξασθαι τῇ ἑαυτῶν κακίᾳ ὁμοίους τοὺς πονη ροὺς ἀγγέλους ἐπιστάμεθα, οἷς χαίρουσιν οἱ ὅμοιοι γενόμενοι