Chapter XXXIV.—The Vast Difference in Morals Between the Christians and Their Accusers.

But though such is our character (Oh! why should I speak of things unfit to be uttered?), the things said of us are an example of the proverb, “The harlot reproves the chaste.” For those who have set up a market for fornication and established infamous resorts for the young for every kind of vile pleasure,—who do not abstain even from males, males with males committing shocking abominations, outraging all the noblest and comeliest bodies in all sorts of ways, so dishonouring the fair workmanship of God (for beauty on earth is not self-made, but sent hither by the hand and will of God),—these men, I say, revile us for the very things which they are conscious of themselves, and ascribe to their own gods, boasting of them as noble deeds, and worthy of the gods. These adulterers and pæderasts defame the eunuchs and the once-married (while they themselves live like fishes;132    [An allusion to the fable of the Sargus; and see Burton’s Anat. Mel., p. 445.] for these gulp down whatever falls in their way, and the stronger chases the weaker: and, in fact, this is to feed upon human flesh, to do violence in contravention of the very laws which you and your ancestors, with due care for all that is fair and right, have enacted), so that not even the governors of the provinces sent by you suffice for the hearing of the complaints against those, to whom it even is not lawful, when they are struck, not to offer themselves for more blows, nor when defamed not to bless: for it is not enough to be just (and justice is to return like for like), but it is incumbent on us to be good and patient of evil.

Ἀλλ' οἱ τοιοῦτοι (ὤ, τί ἂν εἴποιμι τὰ ἀπόρρητα;) ἀκούομεν τὰ τῆς παροιμίας “ἡ πόρνη τὴν σώφρονα”. οἱ γὰρ ἀγορὰν στήσαντες πορνείας καὶ καταγωγὰς ἀθέσμους πεποιημένοι τοῖς νέοις πάσης αἰσχρᾶς ἡδονῆς καὶ μηδὲ τῶν ἀρσένων φειδόμενοι, ἄρσενες ἐν ἄρσεσι τὰ δεινὰ κατεργαζόμενοι, ὅσων σεμνότερα καὶ εὐειδέστερα σώματα, παντοίως αὐτὰ ὑβρίζοντες, ἀτιμοῦντες καὶ τὸ ποιητὸν τοῦ θεοῦ καλόν (οὐ γὰρ αὐτοποίητον ἐπὶ γῆς τὸ κάλλος, ἀλλὰ ὑπὸ χειρὸς καὶ γνώμης πεμπόμενον τοῦ θεοῦ), οὗτοι δὲ ἃ συνίσασιν αὑτοῖς καὶ τοὺς σφετέρους λέγουσι θεούς, ἐπ' αὐτῶν ὡς σεμνὰ καὶ τῶν θεῶν ἄξια αὐχοῦντες, ταῦτα ἡμᾶς λοιδοροῦνται, κακίζοντες οἱ μοιχοὶ καὶ παιδερασταὶ τοὺς εὐνούχους καὶ μονο γάμους, οἱ δίκην ἰχθύων ζῶντες (καὶ γὰρ οὗτοι καταπίνουσι τὸν ἐμπεσόντα, ἐλαύνοντες ὁ ἰσχυρότερος τὸν ἀσθενέστερον, καὶ τοῦτό ἐστι σαρκῶν ἅπτεσθαι ἀνθρωπικῶν, τὸ κειμένων νόμων, οὓς ὑμεῖς καὶ οἱ ὑμέτεροι πρόγονοι πρὸς πᾶσαν δικαιοσύνην ἐξετάσαντες ἐθήκατε, παρὰ τούτους αὐτοὺς βιάζεσθαι, ὡς μηδὲ τοὺς ὑφ' ὑμῶν καταπεμπομένους ἡγεμόνας τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐξαρκεῖν ταῖς δίκαις) οἷς οὐδὲ παιομένοις μὴ παρέχειν ἑαυτοὺς οὐδὲ κακῶς ἀκούουσιν μὴ εὐλογεῖν ἔξεστιν· οὐ γὰρ ἀπαρκεῖ δίκαιον εἶναι (ἔστι δὲ δικαιοσύνη ἴσα ἴσοις ἀμείβειν), ἀλλ' ἀγαθοῖς καὶ ἀνεξικάκοις εἶναι πρόκειται.