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he might appropriate men. For since the human race is for the most part easily captured through pleasure, and the nature's facility towards this passion is great, readily falling from harsher practices to the smoothness of pleasure, in order that he might especially enlist for himself many associates in the disease of his doctrines. For this reason he becomes pleasant to those initiated by him, casting off the arduous and toilsome aspect of virtue as implausible for the reception of the mystery 1.1.54. And what things they teach in secret and what they proclaim and bring into the open, those who through deceit have received the pollution, and that secret initiation and what things they are taught by the solemn hierophant of the mysteries, and the manner of baptisms and the advocacy of nature and all such things, if anyone has leisure to learn with exactness, let him question those for whom it is no risk to utter any of the unseemly things through their mouth; but we shall be silent. For it is not pious for those who have learned to honor purity even in word to remember such things while making accusations, nor to defile the treatise with the more licentious of the narratives, even if truth is present in what is said. 1.1.55 But the reason we have mentioned the things that have been said is that just as for Aetius impiety was a source of revenue [the evil art of Aristotle], in the same way it was also possible for the well-trained disciple, equally with his teacher, to live sumptuously on the simplicity of the deceived. What great wrong then has Basil of the Euxine Pontus done, or Eustathius of Armenia, about whom the long parenthesis of the history is laid bare? How have they harmed the purpose of their life? And why did they not rather nourish their new opinion to a greater extent? For whence did it come about for them to be known and to be named to such an extent, if not through those men, 1.1.56 if indeed their accuser speaks the truth against them? For 20those men being of good repute20, as the author testifies, to judge as worthy opponents for themselves those who have no means of being known reasonably becomes a reason for high-mindedness for those who are set against men supposed to possess more than others; and from this resulted the overshadowing of the lowliness and obscurity of their former life, and from the things that followed, their being well-known, which in other respects are things to be fled by those who have sense (for no one of sound mind would pray to be thought great in evil), but to such people this seems the ultimate limit of good fortune. Just as they say a certain obscure and lowly man in Asia, desiring to become famous among the Ephesians, did not even conceive of any great and splendid deed (for he was not even able), but became more distinguished than those known for the greatest things, by devising some excess of harm against the Ephesians. For 1.1.57 there was a certain public work among them, conspicuous for all its splendor and costliness, and the man, having destroyed that masterpiece with fire, confessed, when judged for his audacity, the passion of his soul, that esteeming it a great thing to be known by many, he contrived that by the magnitude of the evil the name 1.1.58 of the one who had dared it should be remembered along with it. Such also is the basis of renown for these men, except insofar as it has its variation toward the greater in evil. For they do not ruin inanimate buildings, but the very living edifice of the church, having injected something like a fire, the delusion of their doctrine. 1.1.59 But I shall postpone the discussion about the doctrine to its proper time. For the present, however, let us examine what sort of truth he has employed, who in his prefaces complained of being hated by the unbelievers for speaking the truth; for it is perhaps not inopportune, having learned from discussions outside the doctrine how he stands regarding the truth, to use this as evidence also with respect to the doctrines. For ‘he who is faithful,’ he says, ‘in a very little is faithful also in much, and he who is unrighteous in a very little is unrighteous also in much.’ 1.1.60 For intending to write the 20Defense of the Defense20, this new and strange title and subject of the treatise, he states the reason for such a paradoxical statement not

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ἀνθρώπων προσοικειώσαιτο. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ εὐάλωτόν ἐστιν ὡς τὰ πολλὰ δι' ἡδονῆς τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, καὶ πολλὴ πρὸς τὸ πάθος τοῦτο τῆς φύσεώς ἐστιν ἡ εὐκολία, ἐκ τῶν τραχυτέρων ἐπιτηδευμάτων πρὸς τὸ τῆς ἡδονῆς λεῖον ἑτοίμως καταπιπτούσης, ὡς ἂν μάλιστα κοινωνοὺς ἑαυτῷ πολλοὺς τῆς νόσου τῶν δογμάτων προσεταιρίσαιτο. τούτου χάριν ἡδὺς γίνεται τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ τελουμένοις, τὸ πρόσαντες καὶ ἐπίπονον τῆς ἀρετῆς ὡς ἀπίθανον εἰς τὴν τοῦ μυστη 1.1.54 ρίου παραδοχὴν ἀποβάλλων. καὶ οἷα μὲν διδάσκουσιν ἐν ἀπορρήτοις καὶ ὅσα ἐκλαλοῦσιν καὶ εἰς τὸ ἐμφανὲς ἄγουσιν οἱ δι' ἀπάτης παραδεδεγμένοι τὸ μίασμα, τήν τε ἀπόρρητον ἐκείνην μυσταγωγίαν καὶ οἷα παρὰ τοῦ σεμνοῦ τῶν μυστη ρίων ἱεροφάντου διδάσκονται, βαπτισμῶν τε τρόπον καὶ φύ σεως συνηγορίαν καὶ πάντα τὰ τοιαῦτα, εἴ τινι σχολὴ δι' ἀκριβείας μαθεῖν, ἐκείνους διερωτάτω οἷς ἀνεύθυνον φέρειν τι τῶν ἀπρεπῶν διὰ στόματος· ἡμεῖς δὲ σιγήσομεν. οὐδὲ γὰρ κατηγοροῦντας μεμνῆσθαι τῶν τοιούτων εὐαγὲς τοὺς καὶ λόγῳ τιμᾶν μαθόντας τὴν καθαρότητα οὐδὲ τοῖς ἐκμελε στέροις τῶν διηγημάτων καταρρυπαίνειν τὴν συγγραφήν, κἂν ἡ ἀλήθεια τοῖς λεγομένοις προσῇ. 1.1.55 Πλὴν οὗ χάριν τῶν εἰρημένων ἐμνήσθημεν, ὅτι καθά περ τῷ Ἀετίῳ πορισμὸς ἦν ἡ ἀσέβεια [ἡ Ἀριστοτέλους κακοτεχνία], τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ τῷ κατηρτισμένῳ μαθητῇ κατὰ τὸ ἴσον τῷ διδασκάλῳ λιπαρῶς ἐμβιοτεύειν τῇ ἁπλό τητι τῶν ἀπατηθέντων ὑπῆρξε. τί οὖν τοσοῦτον ἠδίκηκεν ὁ κατὰ τὸν Εὔξεινον Πόντον Βασίλειος ἢ ὁ κατὰ τὴν Ἀρμενίαν Εὐστάθιος, περὶ ὧν ἡ μακρὰ παρενθήκη τῆς ἱστο ρίας ἐξυπτιάζεται; τί τὸν τοῦ βίου σκοπὸν αὐτῶν λελυπή κασι; τί δὲ οὐχὶ μᾶλλον τὴν καινὴν αὐτῶν δόξαν ἐπὶ τὸ μεῖζον ἔθρεψαν; πόθεν γὰρ αὐτοῖς τὸ γνωσθῆναι καὶ εἰς τοσοῦτον ὀνομασθῆναι ἢ οὐχὶ διὰ τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐκείνων προσ 1.1.56 γέγονεν, εἴπερ ἀληθεύει κατ' αὐτῶν ὁ κατήγορος; τὸ γὰρ 20εὐδοκίμους ὄντας ἐκείνους20, καθὼς ὁ συγγραφεὺς μαρ τυρεῖ, ἀξιομάχους ἑαυτοῖς κρῖναι τοὺς μηδαμόθεν ἔχοντας τὸ γινώσκεσθαι ἀφορμὴ τοῦ μέγα φρονεῖν εἰκότως καθίσταται τοῖς ἀντιταχθεῖσι πρὸς τοὺς πλέον ἔχειν ὑπειλημμένους τῶν ἄλλων· ἐκ δὲ τούτου περιῆν τὸ συσκιάζεσθαι μὲν τοῦ προ τέρου βίου τὸ ταπεινὸν καὶ ἀνώνυμον, ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα γνωρίμους εἶναι, ἃ φευκτὰ μὲν ἄλλως ἐστὶν τοῖς γε νοῦν ἔχουσιν (οὐ γὰρ ἄν τις εὔξαιτο τῶν εὖ φρονούντων μέγας ἐν κακῷ νομισθῆναι), τοῖς δὲ τοιούτοις ὁ ἀκρότατος ὅρος τῆς εὐκληρίας δοκεῖ· καθάπερ φασὶ τῶν ἀδόξων τινὰ καὶ ταπεινῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν ὀνομαστὸν γενέσθαι παρ' Ἐφεσίοις ἐπιθυμήσαντα μέγα μέν τι καὶ λαμπρὸν ἔργον μηδὲ εἰς νοῦν βαλέσθαι (μηδὲ γὰρ δύνασθαι), γενέσθαι δὲ τῶν ἐπὶ τοῖς μεγίστοις γνωρισθέντων διασημότερον, ὑπερ βολήν τινα βλάβης ἐξευρόντα κατὰ τῶν Ἐφεσίων. εἶναι μὲν 1.1.57 γάρ τι τῶν δημοσίων παρ' αὐτοῖς λαμπρότητι πάσῃ καὶ πο λυτελείᾳ περίβλεπτον, τὸν δὲ ἄνθρωπον πυρὶ τὴν μεγαλουρ γίαν ἐκείνην ἐξαφανίσαντα ὁμολογῆσαι τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς πάθος ἐπὶ τῇ τόλμῃ κρινόμενον, ὅτι τὸ παρὰ πολλῶν γνωσθῆναι μέγα ποιούμενος ἐπενόησε τῷ μεγέθει τοῦ κακοῦ τὸ ὄνομα 1.1.58 τοῦ τετολμηκότος συμμνημονεύεσθαι. τοιαύτη καὶ τούτοις ἡ τῆς περιφανείας ὑπόθεσις, πλὴν ὅσον πρὸς τὸ μεῖζον ἐν τῷ κακῷ τὴν παραλλαγὴν ἔχει. οὐ γὰρ ἀψύχοις οἰκοδομήμασιν, ἀλλ' αὐτῇ τῇ ζώσῃ οἰκοδομίᾳ τῆς ἐκκλησίας διαλυμαίνονται, οἷόν τι πῦρ τὴν τοῦ δόγματος ἐνέντες παραφοράν. 1.1.59 Ἀλλὰ τὸν μὲν περὶ τοῦ δόγματος λόγον εἰς τὸν ἴδιον καιρὸν ὑπερθήσομαι. τέως δὲ νῦν ὁ διὰ τὸ ἀληθεύειν μισεῖσθαι παρὰ τῶν ἀπίστων ἐν προοιμίοις αἰτιασάμενος οἵᾳ κέχρηται τῇ ἀληθείᾳ σκοπήσωμεν· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἴσως ἀπὸ καιροῦ καὶ διὰ τῶν ἔξω τοῦ δόγματος λόγων ὅπως ἔχει περὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν μαθόντας τεκμηρίῳ τούτῳ καὶ πρὸς τὰ δόγ ματα χρήσασθαι. Ὁ γὰρ πιστός, φησίν, ἐν ἐλαχίστῳ καὶ ἐν πολλῷ πιστός ἐστι, καὶ ὁ ἐν ἐλαχίστῳ ἄδικος καὶ ἐν πολλῷ 1.1.60 ἄδικός ἐστι. μέλλων γὰρ τὴν 20Ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀπολογίας ἀπολογίαν20 συγγράφειν, τὴν καινὴν καὶ παράλογον ταύτην τοῦ λόγου καὶ ἐπιγραφὴν καὶ ὑπόθεσιν, τὴν αἰτίαν λέγει τῆς τοιαύτης παραδοξολογίας οὐχ