21.  Two ways were known to us, the first of greater value, the second of smaller consequence:  the one leading to our sacred buildings and the teachers there, the other to secular instructors.  All others we left to those who would pursue them—to feasts, theatres, meetings, banquets.  For nothing is in my opinion of value, save that which leads to virtue and to the improvement of its devotees.  Different men have different names, derived from their fathers, their families, their pursuits, their exploits:  we had but one great business and name—to be and to be called Christians of which we thought more than Gyges28    Gyges is said to have had a ring by means of which he could make himself invisible, and by thus using it was able to seize on the Kingdom of Lydia. of the turning of his ring, if this is not a legend, on which depended his Lydian sovereignty:  or than Midas29    Midas, said to have had the power granted of turning everything he touched to gold.  Accordingly, as this power took effect on his food, he died of hunger. did of the gold through which he perished, in answer to his prayer that all he had might turn to gold—another Phrygian legend.  For why should I speak of the arrow of the Hyperborean Abaris,30    Abaris, a Hyperborean priest of Apollo, who was said to have given him an arrow, on which he rode through the air. or of the Argive Pegasus,31    Pegasus, called Argive, because caught near to Argos, the winged horse, by the aid of which Bellerophon was said to have destroyed the Chimæra. to whom flight through the air was not of such consequence as was to us our rising to God, through the help of, and with each other?  Hurtful as Athens was to others in spiritual things, and this is of no slight consequence to the pious, for the city is richer in those evil riches—idols—than the rest of Greece, and it is hard to avoid being carried along with their devotees and adherents, yet we, our minds being closed up and fortified against this, suffered no injury.  On the contrary, strange as it may seem, we were thus the more confirmed in the faith, from our perception of their trickery and unreality, which led us to despise these divinities in the very home of their worship.  And if there is, or is believed to be, a river32    A river, etc.  The Alpheus, a river of Arcadia. flowing with fresh water through the sea, or an animal33    Animal.  The salamander, a lizard said to be impervious to the action of fire.  Plin. N. H. x. 67. which can dance in fire, the consumer of all things, such were we among all our comrades.

Δύο μὲν ἐγνωρίζοντο ἡμῖν ὁδοί: ἡ μὲν πρώτη καὶ τιμιωτέρα, ἡ δὲ δευτέρα καὶ οὐ τοῦ ἴσου λόγου: ἥ τε πρὸς τοὺς ἱεροὺς ἡμῶν οἴκους καὶ τοὺς ἐκεῖσε διδασκάλους φέρουσα, καὶ ἡ πρὸς τοὺς ἔξωθεν παιδευτάς. Τὰς ἄλλας δὲ τοῖς βουλομένοις παρήκαμεν ἑορτάς, θέατρα, πανηγύρεις, συμπόσια. Οὐδὲν γὰρ οἶμαι τίμιον, ὃ μὴ πρὸς ἀρετὴν φέρει, μηδὲ ποιεῖ βελτίους τοὺς περὶ αὐτὸ σπουδάζοντας. Ἄλλοις μὲν οὖν ἄλλαι προσηγορίαι τινές εἰσιν, ἢ πατρόθεν ἢ οἴκοθεν, ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἢ πράξεων: ἡμῖν δὲ τὸ μέγα πρᾶγμα καὶ ὄνομα, Χριστιανοὺς καὶ εἶναι καὶ ὀνομάζεσθαι: ᾧ πλέον ἐφρονοῦμεν ἢ τῇ στροφῇ τῆς σφενδονῆς ὁ Γύγης, εἴπερ μὴ μῦθος ἦν, ἐξ ἧς Λυδῶν ἐτυράννησεν: ἢ τῷ χρυσῷ ποτε Μίδας, δι' ὃν ἀπώλετο, ἐπιτυχὼν τῆς εὐχῆς καὶ πάντα χρυσὸν κτησάμενος, ἄλλος οὗτος Φρύγιος μῦθος. Τὸν γὰρ Ἀβάριδος ὀϊστὸν τί ἂν λέγοιμι τοῦ Ὑπερβορέου ἢ τὸν Ἀργεῖον Πήγασον, οἷς οὐ τοσοῦτον ἦν τὸ δι' ἀέρος φέρεσθαι ὅσον ἡμῖν τὸ πρὸς Θεὸν αἴρεσθαι δι' ἀλλήλων καὶ σὺν ἀλλήλοις. Εἴπω τι συντομώτερον: βλαβεραὶ μὲν τοῖς ἄλλοις Ἀθῆναι τὰ εἰς ψυχήν: οὐ γὰρ φαύλως τοῦτο ὑπολαμβάνεται τοῖς εὐσεβεστέροις: καὶ γὰρ πλουτοῦσι τὸν κακὸν πλοῦτον εἴδωλα, μᾶλλον τῆς ἄλλης Ἑλλάδος, καὶ χαλεπὸν μὴ συναρπασθῆναι τοῖς τούτων ἐπαινέταις καὶ συνηγόροις: ἡμῖν δ' οὐδεμία παρὰ τούτων ζημία τὴν διάνοιαν πεπυκνωμένοις καὶ πεφραγμένοις. Τοὐναντίον μὲν οὖν, εἴ τι χρὴ καὶ παράδοξον εἰπεῖν, εἰς τὴν πίστιν ἐντεῦθεν ἐβεβαιώθημεν, καταμαθόντες αὐτῶν τὸ ἀπατηλὸν καὶ κίβδηλον, ἐνταῦθα δαιμόνων καταφρονήσαντες, οὗ θαυμάζονται δαίμονες. Καὶ εἴ τις ἔστιν ἢ πιστεύεται ποταμός, δι' ἅλμης ῥέων γλυκύς, ἢ ζῷον ἐν πυρὶ σκαῖρον, ᾧ τὰ πάντα ἁλίσκεται, τοῦτο ἦμεν ἡμεῖς ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἥλιξι.