8. Disproof of It.

With such a man the slanderer thought that I had been on terms of friendship, or rather he did not think so, but like an enemy invented an incredible fiction: for he knows full well that he has lied. I would that, whoever he is, he were present here, that I might put the question to him on the word of Truth itself (for whatever we speak as in the presence of God, we Christians consider as an oath31    Vid. Chrys. in Eph. Nicene Lib., Series I. vol. xiii. p. 58.); I say, that I might ask him this question, which of us rejoiced most in the well-being of the departed Constans? who prayed for him most earnestly? The facts of the foregoing charge prove this; indeed it is plain to every one how the case stands. But although he himself knows full well, that no one who was so disposed towards the departed Constans, and who truly loved him, could be a friend to his enemy, I fear that being possessed with other feelings towards him than I was, he has falsely attributed to me those sentiments of hatred which were entertained by himself.

8 Τοιούτῳ με φίλον ὁ διαβαλὼν ἐνόμισε γεγενῆσθαι· ἢ τάχα οὐδὲ νενόμικεν, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐχθρὸς ἀπιθάνως ἐπλάσατο· οἶδε γὰρ ἀκριβῶς, ὅτι κατεψεύσατο. Ἐβουλόμην δὲ αὐτόν, ὅστις ἐστίν, ἐνταῦθα παρεῖναι, καὶ ἐπ' αὐτῆς τῆς ἀληθείας ἐρωτῆσαι (ἃ γὰρ ὡς Θεοῦ παρόντος λαλοῦμεν, τοῦτον ὅρκον ἔχομεν ἡμεῖς οἱ Χριστιανοί) πότερος ἡμῶν ἔχαιρε, τοῦ μακαρίτου Κώνσταντος ζῶντος, καὶ τίς μᾶλλον ηὔχετο· καὶ ἡ πρώτη διαβολὴ δείκνυσι, καὶ παντὶ τοῦτο δῆλόν ἐστιν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς οἶδεν ἀκριβῶς, ὅτι τῶν οὕτω διακειμένων, καὶ εἴ τις ἠγάπα τὸν μακαρίτην Κώνσταντα, οὐκ ἐγίγνετο φίλος τῷ κατ' ἐκείνου γενομένῳ· εἰ δὲ ἄλλως διέκειτο ἢ ὡς ἡμεῖς, φοβοῦμαι μὴ ἅπερ ὁ μισῶν ἐκεῖνον ἐντεθύμηται, ταῦτα κατεψεύσατο κατ' ἐμοῦ.