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as being no more after death, they proclaimed Death the conqueror of all and a great god; then, as being in no way subject to accountings because of the release from death, they went on doing things worthy of a myriad deaths, and lived an unlivable life, not taking God into their minds, not expecting the tribunals of divine judgment, not rekindling the memory of their own soul's essence, but employing one dread patron, Death, and having persuaded themselves that the corruption of bodies from this was the dissolution of the whole, they proclaimed Death a great and wealthy god, wherefore also Pluto. And Death was not their only god, but also the things honored before this, which indeed contributed to their life of pleasure. 7.4 For indeed, the pleasure of the flesh was a god to them, a god was nourishment, a god its sprouting, a god the growth of fruit trees, a god the luxury through drunkenness, a god the desire of bodies, a god their pleasure. From this came the mysteries of Demeter and Pherrephatta, and the abduction of Kore by Aidoneus and again her restoration. From this came the rites of Dionysus and Heracles being conquered as by a mightier god, drunkenness. From this came the adulterous orgies of Eros and Aphrodite. From this came Zeus himself mad for women and loving Ganymede, and the licentious fabrications of myths of pleasure-loving and passion-loving gods. 7.5 With so many darts of god-fighting error, then, the terrible barbarians and enemies to the King of all wore down those upon the earth, and they took the entire race captive, so that everywhere on earth pillars of godlessness were raised, and temples and shrines of a falsely-named theology were established in every corner. 7.6 For those then thought to be in power were so enslaved by error, as to offer the murders of their own race and kin as fair sacrifices to their gods and to sharpen their swords against the champions of the truth, and to raise an implacable war and godless hands, not against foreign and estranged enemies, but against table-companions and friends, and against brothers and kin and dearest ones, who indeed by the solemnity of their life and by their sobriety and by the undertakings of true piety had resolved to honor and revere the divine. 7.7 But they, in this way with madness of mind, slaughtered for their own daemons those consecrated to the King of all, while the noble witnesses of true piety, having practiced preferring glorious death for the sake of truth over life itself, considered such tyranny as nothing, and like soldiers of God, having fortified themselves with the virtue of endurance, they made a mockery of every form of death, fire and iron and crucifixions, and wild beasts and the depths of the sea, cutting off of limbs and brandings, gouging out of eyes, mutilations of the entire body, and on top of these, famine and mines and bonds, considering them sweeter than any good thing and all pleasure, through their love and longing for their own King. And likewise, the youthful souls of women were no less manly than the men, some, having undergone the same contests as the men, carried off equal prizes of virtue, while others, dragged to the violation of their bodies, delivered their souls to death more quickly than their bodies to violation, and countless others, at the hands of the rulers of the nations, unable to hear the threat of prostitution even with the tips of their ears, courageously endured every kind of torture and every death sentence. 7.8 But the champions of the great King thus struggled through the contests of the polytheistic host with the firm reasoning of their soul; while the enemies of God and foes of men's salvation, worse than all savage barbarians, rejoiced in such libations of human blood; and their ministers, in turn, offered them such toasts from unjust bloody murder, preparing for them this bitter and impious banquet for the destruction of the common race. 7.9 With things being thus, what was it necessary for God the King of the oppressed to do? Was he to pass by the salvation of his dearest ones and overlook his own people in this way

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ὡς μηκέτ' ὄντες μετὰ θάνατον νικητὴν ἁπάντων καὶ μέγαν θεὸν τὸν Θάνατον ἀνηγόρευον· εἶθ' ὡς εὐθύναις οὐδαμῶς ὑποκείμενοι διὰ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου λύσιν τὰ μυρίων θανάτων ἄξια δρῶντες διῆγον, βίον τε ἔζων ἀβίωτον, οὐ θεὸν ἐν νῷ λαμβάνοντες, οὐ θείας κρίσεως δικαιωτήρια προσδοκῶντες, οὐ τῆς σφῶν κατὰ ψυχὴν οὐσίας τὴν μνήμην ἀναζωπυροῦντες, ἑνὶ δὲ δεινῷ προστάτῃ τῷ Θανάτῳ χρώμενοι, καὶ τὴν ἐκ τούτου τῶν σωμάτων φθορὰν λύσιν τοῦ παντὸς ἑαυτοὺς εἶναι πείσαντες, μέγαν θεὸν καὶ πλούσιον, παρὸ καὶ Πλούτωνα, τὸν Θάνατον ἀνηγόρευον. καὶ Θάνατος ἦν αὐτοῖς θεὸς οὐ μόνος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ πρὸ τούτου τίμια, τὰ δὴ πρὸς ἡδυπαθῆ ζωὴν αὐτοῖς συμβαλλόμενα. 7.4 θεὸς γοῦν αὐτοῖς ἦν ἡ τῶν σαρκῶν ἡδονή, θεὸς ἡ τροφή, θεὸς ἡ τούτων βλάστη, θεὸς ἡ τῶν ἀκροδρύων φυή, θεὸς ἡ διὰ μέθης τρυφή, θεὸς ὁ τῶν σωμάτων πόθος, θεὸς ἡ τούτων ἡδονή. ἔνθεν τὰ ∆ήμητρος καὶ Φερεφάττης μυστήρια καὶ Κόρης ἁρπαγὴ ὑπὸ Ἀϊδωνέως καὶ πάλιν ἡ ταύτης ἀνάδοσις. ἔνθεν ∆ιονύσου τελεταὶ καὶ νικώμενος Ἡρακλῆς ὡς ὑπὸ κρείττονος θεοῦ τῆς μέθης, ἔνθεν Ἔρωτος καὶ Ἀφροδίτης ὄργια μοιχικά. ἔνθεν Ζεὺς αὐτὸς γυναικομανῶν καὶ Γανυμήδους ἐρῶν, φιληδόνων τε θεῶν καὶ φιλοπαθῶν ἀσελγῆ μύθων ἀναπλάσματα. 7.5 τοσούτοις δῆτα βέλεσι θεομάχου πλάνης οἱ δεινοὶ βάρβαροι καὶ τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν ὅλων ἐχθροὶ τοὺς ἐπὶ γῆς κατεπόνουν, καὶ εἷλόν γε τὸ πᾶν γένος ὑποχείριον, ὡς ἁπανταχοῦ γῆς ἀθεότητος ἀνεγεῖραι στήλας νεώς τε καὶ ἱερὰ ψευδωνύμου θεολογίας καθ' ἑκάστην γωνίαν συνίστασθαι. 7.6 οἱ γοῦν τότε κρατεῖν νομιζόμενοι τοσοῦτον καταδεδούλωντο τῇ πλάνῃ, ὡς ὁμοφύλων καὶ συγγενῶν φόνους τοῖς αὐτῶν καλλιερεῖν θεοῖς καὶ τὰ ξίφη θήγειν κατὰ τῶν προμάχων τῆς ἀληθείας, πόλεμόν τε ἄσπονδον καὶ ἀθέους αἴρεσθαι χεῖρας, οὐ κατ' ἐχθρῶν ἀλλοφύλων καὶ ἀπεξενωμένων, κατὰ δὲ τῶν συνεστίων καὶ φίλων, κατά τε ἀδελφῶν καὶ συγγενῶν καὶ φιλτάτων, οἳ δὴ σεμνότητι βίου σωφροσύνῃ τε καὶ θεοσεβείας ἀληθοῦς ἐγχειρήμασι τιμᾶν τὸ θεῖον καὶ σέβειν διεγνώκεσαν. 7.7 ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν ὧδέ πη μανίᾳ φρενῶν τοὺς τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν ὅλων καθωσιωμένους τοῖς αὐτῶν δαίμοσι κατέσφαττον, οἱ δὲ τῆς ἀληθοῦς εὐσεβείας γενναῖοι μάρτυρες καὶ ζωῆς αὐτῆς τὸν ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας εὐκλεῆ θάνατον προτιμᾶν μεμελετηκότες παρ' οὐδὲν τὴν τοσαύτην ἐτίθεντο τυραννίδα, οἷα δὲ θεοῦ στρατιῶται καρτερίας ἀρετῇ φραξάμενοι, πάντα τρόπον θανάτου γέλωτα ἔθεντο, πῦρ καὶ σίδηρον καὶ προσηλώσεις, θῆράς τε ἀγρίους καὶ θαλάττης βυθούς, ἀποτομὰς μελῶν καὶ καυτῆρας, ὀφθαλμῶν ἐξορύξεις, τοῦ παντὸς σώματος ἀκρωτηριασμούς, λιμὸν ἐπὶ τούτοις καὶ μέταλλα καὶ δεσμὰ παντὸς καλοῦ καὶ ἡδονῆς ἁπάσης γλυκίονα ἡγησάμενοι δι' ἔρωτα καὶ πόθον τὸν πρὸς τὸν αὐτῶν βασιλέα. θηλειῶν τε ὡσαύτως νεανικαὶ ψυχαὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν οὐχ ἧττον ἠρρενωμέναι, αἱ μὲν τοὺς αὐτοὺς τοῖς ἀνδράσιν ἀγῶνας ὑποστᾶσαι ἴσα τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀπηνέγκαντο βραβεῖα, αἱ δ' ἐπὶ φθορᾷ τῶν σωμάτων ἑλκόμεναι θᾶττον τὴν ψυχὴν θανάτῳ ἢ τὸ σῶμα τῇ φθορᾷ παραδεδώκασιν, μυρίαι τε ἄλλαι πρὸς τῶν κατ' ἔθνος ἀρχόντων, πορνείας ἀπειλὴν μηδ' ἄκροις ὠσὶν ἐπακοῦσαι δεδυνημέναι, πᾶν εἶδος στρεβλωτηρίων πᾶσάν τε ψῆφον θανατηφόρον εὐθαρσῶς ὑπέστησαν. 7.8 ἀλλ' οἱ μὲν τοῦ μεγάλου βασιλέως πρόμαχοι τῆς πολυθέου στρατιᾶς ὧδέ πη τοὺς ἄθλους ψυχῆς ἐρρωμένῳ λογισμῷ κατηγωνίζοντο· οἱ δ' ἐχθροὶ τῷ θεῷ καὶ τῆς ἀνθρώπων πολέμιοι σωτηρίας, πάντων ἀνημέρων βαρβάρων χείρους, τοιαύταις ἔχαιρον ἀνθρωπίνων αἱμάτων σπονδαῖς· οἵ τ' αὖ τούτων ὑπηρέται τοιαύτας αὐτοῖς προπόσεις ἐξ ἀδίκου μιαιφονίας προὔπινον, πικρὰν ταύτην καὶ δυσσεβῆ πανδαισίαν ἐπ' ὀλέθρῳ τοῦ κοινοῦ γένους αὐτοῖς παρασκευάζοντες. 7.9 τούτων δ' ὧδε ἐχόντων τί ἐχρῆν τὸν τῶν καταπονουμένων βασιλέα θεὸν διαπράξασθαι; ἆρά γε τὴν τῶν φιλτάτων ἀντιπαρελθεῖν σωτηρίαν καὶ παριδεῖν οὕτω τοὺς οἰκείους