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No one is so shameless as to say he has seen. And yet we have slaves, some more, some fewer, whom it is impossible to escape the notice of; but not even one of these has ever lied against us about such things. For of those whom they know do not even endure to see a man justly killed, who could accuse them of either murder or cannibalism? Who is not among those who are zealous for the contests with weapons and with wild beasts, and especially those held by you? But we, believing that to see a man being killed is close to killing him, have forbidden such spectacles. How then can we, who do not even watch, lest we should contract guilt and pollution for ourselves, commit murder? And we who say that those women who use abortifacients commit murder and will have to give an account to God for the abortion, on what grounds do we commit murder? For it is not for the same person to believe that the fetus in the womb is a living being and for this reason an object of God's care, and then to kill it when it has come into life; and not to expose the infant that is born, on the ground that those who expose them are child-murderers, and then again to destroy what has been reared; but we are in all things and in all places consistent and equal, serving the Word and not mastering it. Who then, believing in a resurrection to come for the bodies that will rise again, would make himself a tomb for them? For it is not for the same people to be persuaded that our bodies will rise again and to eat them as if they would not rise again, and to believe that the earth will give back its own dead, but that those whom a man has buried in himself will not be demanded back. On the contrary, it is likely that those who think they will give no account of their life here, whether wicked or good, and that there is no resurrection, but who reckon that the soul perishes with the body and is, as it were, extinguished, would abstain from no deed of daring; but for those who are persuaded that nothing will escape the scrutiny of God, and that the body which has ministered to the irrational impulses and desires of the soul will be punished along with it, there is no reason for them to commit even the smallest sin. But if it seems to anyone great nonsense that a body which has rotted and been dissolved and has vanished should be constituted again, we should not for that reason be likely to incur an opinion of wickedness on account of those who do not believe, but rather of simplicity; for by the arguments with which we deceive ourselves we wrong no one. However, that bodies will rise again not only according to us, but also according to many of the philosophers, it would be superfluous to show at present, lest we should seem to be introducing arguments foreign to the subject at hand, either by speaking about intelligible and sensible things and the constitution of such, or that incorporeal things are older than corporeal things and intelligible things precede sensible things, even if we first encounter sensible things, since corporeal bodies are constituted from incorporeal things according to the synthesis of intelligible bodies,

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οὐδείς ἐστιν οὕτως ἀπηρυθριασμένος ὡς εἰπεῖν ἰδεῖν. καίτοι καὶ δοῦλοί εἰσιν ἡμῖν, τοῖς μὲν καὶ πλείους τοῖς δὲ ἐλάττους, οὓς οὐκ ἔστι λαθεῖν· ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτων οὐδεὶς καθ' ἡμῶν τὰ τηλικαῦτα οὐδὲ κατεψεύσατο. οὓς γὰρ ἴσασιν οὐδ' ἰδεῖν κἂν δικαίως φονευό μενον ὑπομένοντας, τούτων τίς ἂν κατείποι ἢ ἀνδροφονίαν ἢ ἀνθρωποβορίαν; τίς οὐχ ἡ τῶν περὶ σπουδῆς τὰς δι' ὅπλων ἀγωνίας καὶ διὰ θηρίων καὶ μάλιστα τὰς ὑφ' ὑμῶν ἀγομένας ἔχει; ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς πλησίον εἶναι τὸ ἰδεῖν [τὸ] φονευόμενον τοῦ ἀποκτεῖναι νομίζοντες, ἀπηγορεύσαμεν τὰς τοιαύτας θέας. πῶς οὖν οἱ μηδὲ ὁρῶντες ἵνα μὴ ἑαυτοῖς ἄγος καὶ μίασμα προστριψαίμεθα, φονεύειν δυνάμεθα; καὶ οἳ τὰς τοῖς ἀμβλωθριδίοις χρωμένας ἀνδροφονεῖν τε καὶ λόγον ὑφέξειν τῆς ἐξαμβλώσεως τῷ θεῷ φαμεν, κατὰ ποῖον ἀνδροφονοῦμεν λόγον; οὐ γὰρ τοῦ αὐτοῦ νομίζειν μὲν καὶ τὸ κατὰ γαστρὸς ζῷον εἶναι καὶ διὰ τοῦτο αὐτοῦ μέλειν τῷ θεῷ, καὶ παρεληλυθότα εἰς τὸν βίον φονεύειν, καὶ μὴ ἐκτιθέναι μὲν τὸ γεννηθέν, ὡς τῶν ἐκτιθέντων τεκνοκτονούντων, πάλιν δὲ τὸ τραφὲν ἀναιρεῖν· ἀλλ' ἐσμὲν πάντα πανταχοῦ ὅμοιοι καὶ ἴσοι, δουλεύοντες τῷ λόγῳ καὶ οὐ κρατοῦντες αὐτοῦ. Τίς ἂν οὖν ἀνάστασιν πεπιστευκὼς [ἐπὶ] σώμασιν ἀναστη σομένοις ἑαυτὸν παράσχοι τάφον; οὐ γὰρ τῶν αὐτῶν καὶ ἀνα στήσεσθαι ἡμῶν πεπεῖσθαι τὰ σώματα καὶ ἐσθίειν αὐτὰ ὡς οὐκ ἀναστησόμενα, καὶ ἀποδώσειν μὲν νομίζειν τὴν γῆν τοὺς ἰδίους νεκρούς, οὓς δέ τις αὐτὸς ἐγκατέθαψεν αὑτῷ, μὴ ἀπαιτήσεσθαι. τοὐναντίον μὲν οὖν εἰκὸς τοὺς μὲν μήτε λόγον ὑφέξειν τοῦ ἐνταῦθα ἢ πονηροῦ ἢ χρηστοῦ βίου μήτε ἀνάστασιν εἶναι οἰομένους, συναπόλλυσθαι δὲ τῷ σώματι καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ οἷον ἐναποσβέν νυσθαι λογιζομένους, μηδενὸς ἂν ἀποσχέσθαι τολμήματος· τοὺς δὲ μηδὲν ἀνεξέταστον ἔσεσθαι παρὰ τῷ θεῷ, συγκολασθήσεσθαι δὲ καὶ τὸ ὑπουργῆσαν σῶμα ταῖς ἀλόγοις ὁρμαῖς τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ ἐπιθυμίαις πεπεισμένους, οὐδεὶς λόγος ἔχει οὐδὲ τῶν βραχυτάτων τι ἁμαρτεῖν. εἰ δέ τῳ λῆρος πολὺς δοκεῖ τὸ σαπὲν καὶ διαλυθὲν καὶ ἀφανισθὲν σῶμα συστῆναι πάλιν, κακίας μὲν οὐκ ἂν εἰκότως δόξαν ἀποφεροίμεθα διὰ τοὺς οὐ πιστεύοντας, ἀλλ' εὐηθείας· οἷς γὰρ ἀπατῶμεν ἑαυτοὺς λόγοις ἀδικοῦμεν οὐδένα· ὅτι μέντοι οὐ καθ' ἡμᾶς μόνον ἀναστήσεται τὰ σώματα, ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ πολλοὺς τῶν φιλοσόφων, περίεργον ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος δεικνύειν, ἵνα μὴ ἐξαγω νίους τοῖς προκειμένοις ἐπεισάγειν δοκῶμεν λόγους, ἢ περὶ νοητῶν καὶ αἰσθητῶν καὶ τῆς τοιούτων συστάσεως λέγοντες ἢ ὅτι πρεσ βύτερα τὰ ἀσώματα τῶν σωμάτων καὶ τὰ νοητὰ προάγει τῶν αἰσθητῶν κἂν πρώτοις περιπίπτωμεν τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς, συνισταμένων ἐκ μὲν τῶν ἀσωμάτων κατὰ τὴν ἐπισύνθεσιν τῶν νοητῶν σωμάτων,