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Let us say that we saw him grant sight to the blind, which none of us ever witnessed; and that he gave hearing to the deaf, which none of us ever heard; and that he cleansed lepers and raised the dead. And to speak collectively, the things which we neither saw done by him nor heard spoken, let us contend that these things were truly performed. 3.4.50 But since even his final end had a death that was notorious and public, so that it was not possible for him to hide it, let us also explain this away unswervingly, testifying very shamelessly, that he associated with all of us after coming back to life from the dead, and shared in our usual hearth and food. 3.4.51 Let shamelessness and inflexibility be preserved by us all, and let our frenzy remain until death. For what is so strange about dying for nothing? What harm is there in bearing scourgings and tortures on the body for no reasonable cause, and if need be, to experience imprisonment, dishonor, and insult for nothing true. And let this now be practiced by us.” 3.5.52 “Let us all lie together in harmony, and let us invent stories for no one's benefit, neither our own, nor that of those being deceived, nor indeed of him who is being deified by our lies. 3.5.53 Let us extend the lie not only to our fellow countrymen, but also going forth to all people, let us fill the whole inhabited world with the stories composed about him. And from this point on, let us legislate for all the nations things contrary to the beliefs about their ancestral gods which have existed among them from of old. 3.5.54 Let us command the Romans themselves, first of all, not to worship those whom their forefathers considered gods, and let us proceed also to Greece, and preach against their wise men, let us not leave the Egyptians alone, but let us also make war on their gods, not brandishing the things that were done against them before by Moses, but setting in opposition to them the death of our teacher as a kind of terror, and the report concerning the gods that has gone forth from them from of old to all men, let us abolish not with mere words and speeches, but by the power of the crucified teacher, 3.5.55 let us go also to the other barbarian land, and let us overturn the traditions among them all. And let none of us be lacking in zeal.” 3.5.56 “For the contest of our ventures is not small, since no ordinary prizes await us, but the punishments from the laws of each people, as is likely, namely bonds and tortures and imprisonments, and fire and sword, and crosses and wild beasts, for which we must be most eager and must go to meet these evils, having our teacher as an example. 3.5.57 For what could be nobler than this, to become enemies to both gods and men for no reason, and never to enjoy anything pleasant, nor to have the benefit of loved ones, nor to obtain wealth, nor to acquire any hope of good at all, but to wander and to deceive at random and in vain? For this was to our advantage, both to be set in opposition to all the nations and to fight against the gods acknowledged by all from of old, and to proclaim that the teacher who died before our eyes is God and the Son of God, for whom we ourselves are ready to die, having learned nothing true or beneficial from him. 3.5.58 For this reason, then, we must honor him all the more, if he has helped us in no way, and we must do all things to glorify his name, and we must endure all insults and punishments, and we must accept every form of death for the sake of nothing true. For truth is perhaps an evil, but falsehood has the opposite of evil. 3.5.59 Therefore let us say that he also raised the dead, and cleansed lepers, and drove out demons, and was the doer of other wondrous works, though we are conscious of nothing of the sort with him, but inventing all things for ourselves and deceiving whomever we can; and if anyone should not be persuaded, we ourselves at least, for what we have composed, will draw down upon ourselves the wages of our deceit.” 3.5.60 Do these things seem plausible to you, or do such things seem to hold to true reason? And could anyone persuade himself, that such things

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λέγωμεν ἑωρακέναι αὐτὸν τυφλοῖς τὸ βλέπειν κεχαρισμένον, ὃ οὐδείς ποθ' ἡμῶν ἱστόρησεν· καὶ κωφοῖς τὴν ἀκοὴν παρασχεῖν, ὃ οὐδείς ποθ' ἡμῶν ἤκουσεν· λεπρούς τε καθαρίσαι καὶ νεκροὺς ἐγεῖραι. καὶ συλλήβδην εἰπεῖν, ἃ μήτε εἴδομεν πρὸς αὐτοῦ πραχθέντα μήτε ἠκούσαμεν λεχθέντα, ταῦτα ὡς ἀληθῶς πεπραγμένα διατεινώμεθα. 3.4.50 ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ καὶ ἡ ἐσχάτη αὐτοῦ τελευτὴ περιβόητον ἔσχεν καὶ διαφανῆ τὸν θάνατον, ὡς μὴ δύνασθαι αὐτὸν ἐπικρύψασθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτον ἡμεῖς ἀδιαστρέπτως ἐπιλυώμεθα, μαρτυροῦντες εὖ μάλα ἀναιδῶς, ὅτι δὴ πᾶσιν ἡμῖν μετὰ τὸ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναβιῶσαι συνεγένετο, ἑστίας τε καὶ τροφῆς συνήθους ἐκοινώνησεν. 3.4.51 φυλαττέσθω δ' ἡμῖν πᾶσιν τὸ ἀναιδὲς καὶ ἀδιάτρεπτον, μενέτω δὲ ἡ ἔκστασις μέχρι θανάτου· τί γὰρ καὶ ἄτοπον ὑπὲρ τοῦ μηδενὸς ἀποθνῄσκειν; τί δὲ καὶ λυπεῖ μηδενὸς εὐλόγου χάριν μάστιγας καὶ βασάνους κατὰ τοῦ σώματος φέρειν, εἰ δὲ δέοι καὶ δεσμωτηρίων πειρᾶσθαι ἀτιμιῶν τε καὶ ὕβρεων ὑπὲρ οὐδενὸς ἀληθοῦς. καὶ τοῦθ' ἡμῖν ἤδη μεμελετήσθω.» 3.5.52 «Ψευδώμεθα δὴ πάντες ὁμοῦ συμφώνως, καὶ πλαττώμεθα ἐπ' οὐδενὸς ὠφελείᾳ, οὔθ' ἡμῶν οὔτε τῶν ἀπατωμένων, οὐδὲ μὴν αὐτοῦ τοῦ τὰ ψευδῆ πρὸς ἡμῶν ἐκθειαζομένου. 3.5.53 τείνωμεν δὲ τὸ ψεῦδος μὴ ἐπὶ μόνους τοὺς ὁμοεθνεῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς πάντας προελθόντες ἀνθρώπους, καὶ σύμπασαν τὴν οἰκουμένην καταπλήσωμεν τῶν περὶ αὐτοῦ συντιθεμένων. ἤδη δὲ ἐντεῦθεν νομοθετῶμεν πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἀντίστροφα ταῖς ἐξ αἰῶνος παρ' αὐτοῖς περὶ τῶν πατρῴων θεῶν δόξαις. 3.5.54 κελεύωμεν Ῥωμαίοις αὐτοῖς πρώτιστα πάντων μὴ σέβειν οὓς ἡγοῦντο θεοὺς οἱ προπάτορες, παρίωμεν δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἑλλάδα, καὶ τοῖς τούτων σοφοῖς ἀντικηρύττωμεν, μηδ' Αἰγυπτίους ἀνῶμεν, πολεμῶμεν δὲ καὶ τοὺς τούτων θεούς, μὴ τὰ Μωσέως πρόσθεν κατ' αὐτῶν γενόμενα ἀνατεινόμενοι, τὸν δὲ τοῦ ἡμετέρου διδασκάλου θάνατον ὥσπερ τι φόβητρον αὐτοῖς ἀντιτάττοντες, καὶ τὴν ἀπ' αἰῶνος ἐξ αὐτῶν εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους προελθοῦσαν περὶ θεῶν φήμην μὴ ῥηματίοις καὶ λόγοις δυνάμει δὲ τοῦ σταυρωθέντος διδασκάλου καταλύωμεν, 3.5.55 ἀπίωμεν καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ἄλλην βάρβαρον γῆν, καὶ τὰ παρὰ τοῖς πᾶσιν ἀνατρέπωμεν. προθυμίας δὲ μηδεὶς ἡμῶν λειπέσθω». 3.5.56 «Οὔτε γὰρ μικρὸς ὁ ἆθλος τῶν τολμωμένων, ἐπεὶ μὴ τὰ τυχόντα βραβεῖα ἡμᾶς ἐκδέξεται, ἀλλ' αἱ ἀπὸ τῶν παρ' ἑκάστοις, ὡς εἰκός, νόμων τιμωρίαι, δεσμὰ δηλαδὴ καὶ βάσανοι καὶ φυλακαί, πῦρ τε καὶ σίδηρος, καὶ σταυροὶ καὶ θῆρες, ὧν μάλιστα προθυμητέον καὶ τοῖς κακοῖς ὁμόσε χωρητέον, ὑπόδειγμα τὸν διδάσκαλον κεκτημένοις. 3.5.57 τί γὰρ τούτων γένοιτ' ἂν κάλλιον ἐχθροὺς καὶ θεοῖς καὶ ἀνθρώποις ἐπ' οὐδενὶ λόγῳ καταστῆναι, καὶ μή ποτε ἡδέος ἀπολαῦσαί τινος, μήτε τῶν φιλτάτων ὄνασθαι, μήτε χρημάτων τυχεῖν, μήτε τινὸς ἀγαθοῦ τὸ παράπαν ἐλπίδα κτήσασθαι, εἰκῆ δὲ καὶ μάτην πλανᾶσθαι καὶ πλανᾶν; τοῦτο γὰρ ἦν τὸ συμφέρον καὶ τὸ φέρεσθαι ἐξ ἐναντίας πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν καὶ τὸ θεοῖς μὲν τοῖς ἐξ αἰῶνος παρὰ πᾶσιν ὡμολογημένοις πολεμεῖν, τὸν δ' ὑπ' ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν ἀποθανόντα διδάσκαλον θεὸν εἶναι καὶ θεοῦ παῖδα κηρύττειν, ὑπὲρ οὗ καὶ αὐτοὺς θνῄσκειν ἑτοίμους εἶναι, μηδὲν ἀληθὲς παρ' αὐτοῦ μηδ' ὠφέλιμον μεμαθηκότας. 3.5.58 ταύτῃ δ' οὖν καὶ μᾶλλον τιμητέον αὐτόν, εἰ μηδὲν ἡμᾶς ὤνησεν, πάντα τε ἐπὶ τῷ δοξάσαι αὐτοῦ τὴν προσηγορίαν ποιητέον, καὶ πάσας ὕβρεις καὶ τιμωρίας ὑπομενετέον, πάντα τε τρόπον ἀναδεκτέον θανάτου ὑπὲρ μηδενὸς ἀληθοῦς. κακὸν γὰρ ἴσως ἀλήθεια, τὸ δὲ ψεῦδος ἔχει τοῦ κακοῦ τὸ ἐναντίον. 3.5.59 διὸ λέγωμεν, ὅτι καὶ νεκροὺς ἤγειρεν, καὶ λεπροὺς ἐκαθάρισεν, καὶ δαίμονας ἤλασεν, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων παραδόξων ἔργων γέγονεν ποιητής, μηδὲν μὲν τοιοῦτον αὐτῷ συνεγνωκότες, ἑαυτοῖς δὲ τὰ πάντα πλαττόμενοι καὶ πλανῶντες μὲν οὓς δυνατόν· εἰ δὲ μὴ πείθοιτό τις, ἀλλ' αὐτοί γε ὑπὲρ ὧν συντεθείμεθα τἀπίχειρα τῆς πλάνης καθ' ἑαυτῶν ἐφελκόμενοι.» 3.5.60 Ἆρά σοι πιθανὰ ταῦτα ἢ καὶ ἀληθοῦς ἐχόμενα λόγου τὰ τοιαῦτα εἶναι δοκεῖ; καὶ πείσειέ τις ἂν ἑαυτόν, ὡς τοιαῦτα