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to have of the pursuits of wickedness. 1.5.1 But you might know the chief point of the first and greatest benefit of the saving word, if you would take into your mind the superstitious error of the ancient idolatry, by which the whole human race was long ago worn down by the necessities of demons; from which, as if from the gloomiest darkness, having removed Greeks and barbarians alike by divine power to the intellectual and most luminous day of the true piety of the all-sovereign God, He 1.5.2 led them all over. And why must we prolong our speech, trying to prove that we have not dedicated ourselves by an irrational faith, but by sober and beneficial reasonings which contain the manner of true piety, when our present subject is occupied entirely with this very point? We exhort and encourage those who are fit to follow the proofs of reason to take care for wisdom and to receive the proofs of our doctrines more rationally, "and to be ready to give an answer to every man 1.5.3 that asketh us a reason of the hope that is in us"; but since not all are such, as the Word is philanthropic and turns no one away at all, but heals every person with suitable medicines and calls the unlearned and the common person to the cure of their ways, it is reasonable that in our introduction, as we lead the beginners of the more simple sort, women and children and the multitude of the common folk, to the pious life, we receive sound faith as a kind of medicine, implanting in them right opinions concerning God's providence and the soul's immortality 1.5.4 and the virtuous life. Or do we not see that those who skillfully heal the sick in body have themselves through much practice and training mastered the principles of medicine and operate in all things rationally, while those who come to them for healing offer themselves in faith and in hope of better things, understanding nothing precisely of the scientific theories, but depending only on good hope and faith? 1.5.5 And the best of physicians, coming forward, commands with knowledge both what one must guard against and what it is proper to do, just like some ruler and lord, and the patient obeys as if to a king and lawgiver, 1.5.6 believing that what has been commanded will be beneficial to him. So also students receive the words of instruction from their teachers, believing that the lesson will be good for them. Indeed, no one would take up philosophy before believing that the profession would benefit him. And one man has straightway chosen the doctrines of Epicurus, another emulates the Cynic life, another philosophizes according to Plato, and another according to Aristotle, and yet another has preferred the Stoic doctrines above all, each one embracing what seemed good to him as beneficial, with better hope and faith. 1.5.7 Thus also have men pursued the common arts, some the military life, and others the commercial life, again having preconceived by faith that the pursuit would provide them with a livelihood. And the first unions and fellowships of marriages began from a good faith in the hope of begetting 1.5.8 children. And again one sails into the unknown, having put forth no other anchor of safety than faith alone and good hope. And again another farms, and having cast the seed into the earth, he sits waiting for the turn of the season, believing that what has perished on the earth and been covered by floods of rain will again, as if from the dead, come back to life. And one setting out on a long journey from his own country to a foreign land again brings with him hope and faith as good 1.5.9 guides. And what else? Since you find that the whole life of men depends on these two, hope and faith, why indeed do you marvel if the better things concerning the soul are delivered to some through faith, to those who have no leisure to be instructed more rationally in particular details, while for others it is possible to pursue the reasons themselves and to learn the proofs of what is believed? 1.5.10 But in

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ἔχειν τῶν τῆς κακίας ἐπιτηδευμάτων. 1.5.1 Κεφάλαιον δὲ τῆς πρώτης καὶ μεγίστης εὐεργεσίας τοῦ σωτηρίου λόγου γνοίης ἄν, εἰ ἐν νῷ λάβοις τὴν δεισιδαίμονα πλάνην τῆς παλαιᾶς εἰδωλολατρίας, ᾗ τὸ σύμπαν ἀνθρώπων γένος δαιμόνων ἀνάγκαις πάλαι πρότερον κατατετρύχωτο· ἧς ὥσπερ ἀπὸ σκοτίας ζοφωδεστάτης Ἕλληνας ὁμοῦ καὶ βαρβάρους δυνάμει θείᾳ μεταστησάμενος ἐπὶ νοερὰν καὶ φωτεινοτάτην ἡμέραν τῆς ἀληθοῦς εὐσεβείας τοῦ παμβασιλέως θεοῦ τοὺς 1.5.2 πάντας μετηγάγετο. καὶ τί χρὴ μηκύνειν ἀποδεικνύναι πειρωμένους ὅτι μηδὲ ἀλόγῳ πίστει ἑαυτοὺς ἀνεθήκαμεν, σώφροσι δὲ καὶ ὠφελίμοις λόγοις τὸν τῆς ἀληθοῦς εὐσεβείας τρόπον περιέχουσι, τῆς παρούσης ὑποθέσεως αὐτὸ δὴ τοῦτο καθόλου πραγματευομένης; τοὺς μὲν ἐπι τηδείως ἔχοντας ἕπεσθαι λόγων ἀποδείξεσι προτρέπομεν καὶ παρακαλοῦμεν φρονήσεως ἐπιμέλεσθαι καὶ λογικώτερον τῶν δογμάτων τὰς ἀποδείξεις παραλαμβάνειν «ἑτοίμους τε εἶναι πρὸς ἀπολογίαν παντὶ τῷ 1.5.3 ἐπερωτῶντι ἡμᾶς τὸν λόγον τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς ἐλπίδος»· ἐπεὶ δὲ μὴ πάντες τοιοῦτοι, φιλανθρώπου τυγχάνοντος τοῦ λόγου καὶ μηδένα μηδαμῶς ἀποτρεπομένου, πάντα δὲ ἄνθρωπον τοῖς καταλλήλοις ἰωμένου φαρμάκοις καὶ τὸν ἀμαθῆ καὶ ἰδιώτην ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν τρόπων θεραπείαν παρακαλοῦντος, εἰκότως ἐν εἰσαγωγῇ τοὺς ἀρχομένους τῶν ἰδιωτικωτέρων, γύναια καὶ παῖδας καὶ τὸ τῶν ἀγελαίων πλῆθος, ἐπὶ τὸν εὐσεβῆ βίον χειραγωγοῦντες ὡς ἐν φαρμάκου μοίρᾳ τὴν ὑγιῆ πίστιν παραλαμβάνομεν, ὀρθὰς δόξας περὶ θεοῦ προνοίας καὶ περὶ ψυχῆς ἀθανασίας 1.5.4 καὶ περὶ τοῦ κατ' ἀρετὴν βίου ἐντιθέντες αὐτοῖς. ἢ οὐχ οὕτως καὶ τοὺς τὰ σωμάτων κάμνοντα ἐπιστημόνως ἰωμένους ὁρῶμεν αὐτοὺς μὲν διὰ πλείστης ἀσκήσεως καὶ παιδείας τοὺς κατὰ ἰατρικὴν λόγους ἀνειληφότας καὶ πάντα λογικῶς χειρουργοῦντας, τούς γε μὴν ἐπὶ θεραπείᾳ προσιόντας αὐτοῖς πίστει ἑαυτοὺς καὶ τῇ τῶν χρηστοτέρων ἐλπίδι παρέχοντας καὶ τῶν μὲν κατὰ τὴν ἐπιστήμην θεωρημάτων μηδὲν ἀκριβῶς ἐπαΐοντας, μόνης δὲ τῆς ἀγαθῆς ἐλπίδος τε καὶ πίστεως ἐξηρ1.5.5 τημένους; καὶ ὁ μὲν τῶν ἰατρῶν ἄριστος εἰς μέσον παρελθὼν ἅ τε χρὴ προφυλάττεσθαι καὶ ἃ προσήκει δρᾶν ὥσπερ τις ἄρχων καὶ κύριος μετ' ἐπιστήμης προστάττει, ὁ δ' ὡς βασιλεῖ καὶ νομοθέτῃ πείθεται 1.5.6 πιστεύων συνοίσειν αὐτῷ τὸ προστεταγμένον. οὕτω καὶ μαθηταὶ παρὰ διδασκάλων λόγους παιδείας ἀποδέχονται πιστεύσαντες ἀγαθὸν αὐτοῖς ἔσεσθαι τὸ μάθημα, ναὶ μὴν καὶ φιλοσοφίας οὐ πρότερόν τις ἐφάψαιτο ἢ πιστεύσας συνοίσειν αὐτῷ τὸ ἐπάγγελμα, καὶ ὁ μέν τις αὐτόθεν εἵλετο τὰ Ἐπικούρου, ὁ δὲ τὸν Κυνικὸν ζηλοῖ βίον, ἄλλος κατὰ Πλάτωνα φιλοσοφεῖ καὶ κατ' Ἀριστοτέλην ἕτερος καὶ πάλιν ἄλλος πάντων τὰ Στωϊκὰ προετίμησεν, ἑκάστου χρηστοτέρᾳ ἐλπίδι τε καὶ πίστει 1.5.7 τὸ δόξαν ὡς συνοῖσον ἀγαπήσαντος. οὕτως καὶ τέχνας ἄνθρωποι τὰς μέσας μετῆλθον καὶ ἄλλοι τὸν στρατιωτικόν, ἄλλοι δὲ τὸν ἐμπορικὸν βίον, πίστει πάλιν προειληφότες βιοποριστικὸν αὐτοῖς ἔσεσθαι τὸ ἐπιτήδευμα. καὶ γάμων δὲ αἱ πρῶται σύνοδοι καὶ κοινωνίαι τῆς κατὰ παι1.5.8 δοποιίαν ἐλπίδος ἐξ ἀγαθῆς ἐνήρξαντο πίστεως. καὶ πλεῖ τις αὖθις εἰς ἄδηλον, οὐδ' ἄλλην προβεβλημένος τῆς σωτηρίας ἄγκυραν ἢ μόνην τὴν πίστιν καὶ τὴν ἀγαθὴν ἐλπίδα· καὶ γεωργεῖ πάλιν ἄλλος καὶ τὸν σπόρον εἰς γῆν ἀπορρίψας κάθηται τῆς ὥρας τὴν τροπὴν ἐκδεχόμενος. πιστεύων τὸ φθαρὲν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ πλημμυρίσιν ὑετῶν καλυφθὲν αὖθις ὥσπερ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναβιώσεσθαι· πορείαν δέ τις μακρὰν ἐπ' ἀλλοδαπῆς ἐκ τῆς οἰκείας στελλόμενος πάλιν τὴν ἐλπίδα καὶ τὴν πίστιν ἀγαθὰς ὁδη1.5.9 γοὺς ἑαυτῷ συνεπάγεται. καὶ τί γὰρ ἄλλ' ἢ τὸν πάντα τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίον δυοῖν τούτων ἀνηρτημένον, ἐλπίδος τε καὶ πίστεως, καταλαμβάνων τί δὴ θαυμάζεις εἰ καὶ τὰ κρείττονα κατὰ ψυχὴν τοῖς μὲν διὰ πίστεως παραδίδοται, οἷς οὐ σχολὴ λογικώτερον τὰ κατὰ μέρος παιδεύεσθαι, τοῖς δὲ καὶ τοὺς λόγους αὐτοὺς πάρεστι μετιέναι καὶ τὰς ἀποδείξεις τῶν πρεσβευομένων μανθάνειν; 1.5.10 Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἐν