Chapter XI.—The Moral Teaching of the Christians Repels the Charge Brought Against Them.

If I go minutely into the particulars of our doctrine, let it not surprise you. It is that you may not be carried away by the popular and irrational opinion, but may have the truth clearly before you. For presenting the opinions themselves to which we adhere, as being not human but uttered and taught by God, we shall be able to persuade you not to think of us as atheists. What, then, are those teachings in which we are brought up? “I say unto you, Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; pray for them that persecute you; that ye may be the sons of your Father who is in heaven, who causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.”35    Luke vi. 27, 28; Matt. v. 44, 45. Allow me here to lift up my voice boldly in loud and audible outcry, pleading as I do before philosophic princes. For who of those that reduce syllogisms, and clear up ambiguities, and explain etymologies,36    [Kaye, pp. 212–217.] or of those who teach homonyms and synonyms, and predicaments and axioms, and what is the subject and what the predicate, and who promise their disciples by these and such like instructions to make them happy: who of them have so purged their souls as, instead of hating their enemies, to love them; and, instead of speaking ill of those who have reviled them (to abstain from which is of itself an evidence of no mean forbearance), to bless them; and to pray for those who plot against their lives? On the contrary, they never cease with evil intent to search out skilfully the secrets of their art,37    The meaning is here doubtful; but the probably reference is to the practices of the Sophists. and are ever bent on working some ill, making the art of words and not the exhibition of deeds their business and profession. But among us you will find uneducated persons, and artisans, and old women, who, if they are unable in words to prove the benefit of our doctrine, yet by their deeds exhibit the benefit arising from their persuasion of its truth: they do not rehearse speeches, but exhibit good works; when struck, they do not strike again; when robbed, they do not go to law; they give to those that ask of them, and love their neighbours as themselves.

Eἰ δὲ ἀκριβῶς διέξειμι τὸν καθ' ἡμᾶς λόγον, μὴ θαυμάσητε· ἵνα γὰρ μὴ τῇ κοινῇ καὶ ἀλόγῳ συναποφέρησθε γνώμῃ, ἔχητε δὲ τἀληθὲς εἰδέναι, ἀκριβολογοῦμαι· ἐπεὶ καὶ δι' αὐτῶν τῶν δογμάτων οἷς προσέχομεν, οὐκ ἀνθρωπικοῖς οὖσιν ἀλλὰ θεοφάτοις καὶ θεο διδάκτοις, πεῖσαι ὑμᾶς μὴ ὡς περὶ ἀθέων ἔχειν δυνάμεθα. τίνες οὖν ἡμῶν οἱ λόγοι, οἷς ἐντρεφόμεθα; “λέγω ὑμῖν· ἀγαπᾶτε τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ὑμῶν, εὐλογεῖτε τοὺς καταρωμένους, προσεύχεσθε ὑπὲρ τῶν διωκόντων ὑμᾶς, ὅπως γένησθε υἱοὶ τοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, ὃς τὸν ἥλιον αὐτοῦ ἀνατέλλει ἐπὶ πονηροὺς καὶ ἀγαθοὺς καὶ βρέχει ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ἀδίκους.” ἐπιτρέψατε ἐνταῦθα τοῦ λόγου ἐξακούστου μετὰ πολλῆς κραυγῆς γεγονότος ἐπὶ παρρησίαν ἀναγαγεῖν, ὡς ἐπὶ βασιλέων φιλοσόφων ἀπολογούμενον. τίνες γὰρ ἢ τῶν τοὺς συλλογισμοὺς ἀναλυόντων καὶ τὰς ἀμφιβολίας διαλυόντων καὶ τὰς ἐτυμολογίας σαφηνιζόντων ἢ τῶν τὰ ὁμώνυμα καὶ συνώ νυμα καὶ κατηγορήματα καὶ ἀξιώματα καὶ τί τὸ ὑποκείμενον καὶ τί τὸ κατηγορούμενον εὐδαίμονας ἀποτελεῖν διὰ τούτων καὶ τῶν τοιούτων λόγων ὑπισχνοῦνται τοὺς συνόντας, οὕτως ἐκκεκαθαρ μένοι εἰσὶ τὰς ψυχὰς ὡς ἀντὶ τοῦ μισεῖν τοὺς ἐχθροὺς ἀγαπᾶν καὶ ἀντὶ τοῦ, τὸ μετριώτατον, κακῶς ἀγορεύειν τοὺς προκατάρξαντας λοιδορίας εὐλογεῖν, καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐπιβουλευόντων εἰς τὸ ζῆν προσεύχεσθαι; οἳ τοὐναντίον ἀεὶ διατελοῦσι κακῶς τὰ ἀπόρρητα ἑαυτοὺς ταῦτα μεταλλεύοντες καὶ ἀεί τι ἐργάσασθαι ἐπιθυμοῦντες κακόν, τέχνην λόγων καὶ οὐκ ἐπίδειξιν ἔργων τὸ πρᾶγμα πεποιη μένοι. παρὰ δ' ἡμῖν εὕροιτε ἂν ἰδιώτας καὶ χειροτέχνας καὶ γραΐδια, εἰ λόγῳ τὴν ὠφέλειαν παριστᾶν εἰσιν ἀδύνατοι τὴν παρὰ τοῦ λόγου, ἔργῳ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς προαιρέσεως ὠφέλειαν ἐπιδεικνυμένους· οὐ γὰρ λόγους διαμνημονεύουσιν, ἀλλὰ πράξεις ἀγαθὰς ἐπιδεικνύ ουσιν, παιόμενοι μὴ ἀντιτύπτειν καὶ ἁρπαζόμενοι μὴ δικάζεσθαι, τοῖς αἰτοῦσιν διδόναι καὶ τοὺς πλησίον ἀγαπᾶν ὡς ἑαυτούς.