94. "Not so," say those who venerate his memory, and are making up for us this "new god," this "sweet-tempered, philanthropic personage," and this because he proclaimed, "Let not the Christians be persecuted, but let them suffer whatever their persecutors think fit," in such manner clearing him from the charge of persecution. And yet no one ever thought the Hydra gentle because it raised aloft nine heads instead of a single one (if it be right to believe the fable); nor yet the Chimera of Patara, because it had three, and those of different kinds, to make it as formidable as possible; or Cerberus in Hell, because he has three also, and all alike; or the sea-monster, Scylla, because she has six round about her, and those greatly to be shunned; and yet they say her upper parts are fair, gentle, and not unpleasing to the view, for so far she was a young woman, having some share of the same nature with ourselves; but from thence downwards the canine and bestial heads were there for no good, seizing upon whole fleets at once, and differing nought in point of dangerousness from the Charybdis on the opposite side. Or dost thou upbraid the shafts and the stones of archers and slingers, and not the men that sling and shoot them? Or again, the hounds of the hunters, and the drugs of the poisoners, and the horns and the claws of butting bulls and of tearing beasts? And shall those who employ these instruments stand out of it and get no part of the blame for the atrocities these instruments commit? Such conduct shows great want of reason, and truly needs a sophist to defend his own crimes, and by the power of his eloquence to disguise the truth. But it is impossible that he shall disguise himself, though he turn himself into many shapes, and become of all kinds by means of his devices; even though he should put on the "Helmet of Pluto," as the saying is, or the Ring of Gyges, and by using the turning of the beasil steal himself away. On the contrary, the more he attempts to escape and to turn himself away, so much the more is he convicted before Truth, who sits in judgment (and before persons of any intelligence in these matters), of both doing and attempting things that not even he would be able to defend as justly done: so easily convicted is wickedness, and on all sides inconsistent with itself.

ϞΔʹ. Οὒ, φασὶν οἱ τὰ ἐκείνου σέβοντες, καὶ τὸν νέον ἡμῖν θεὸν ἀναπλάττοντες, τὸν ἡδὺν καὶ φιλάνθρωπον: ἀλλ' ὅτι μὴ δημοσίᾳ, διωκέσθωσαν Χριστιανοὶ, προὔθηκε, καὶ πάντα πασχέτωσαν, ὅσα δοκεῖ τοῖς διώκουσιν, ἀφιέντες αὐτὸν τῆς τοῦ διώκειν αἰτίας. Τὴν ὕδραν δὲ οὐδεὶς πώποτε εἶπεν ἥμερον, ὅτι ἐννέα κεφαλὰς ἀντὶ μιᾶς προὐβάλλετο, εἴ τι τῷ μύθῳ πειστέον: οὐδὲ τὴν Παταρικὴν Χίμαιραν, ὅτι τρεῖς καὶ ἀνομοίους, ὥστε εἶναι φοβερωτέραν: ἢ τὸν ἐν ᾅδου Κέρβερον, ὅτι τοσαύτας τε καὶ ὁμοίας: ἢ τὸ θαλάττιον κακὸν τὴν Σκύλλαν, ὅτι ἓξ ἐν κύκλῳ καὶ φευκτοτάτας: καίτοι γε τὰ ἄνω, φασὶν, αὐτῆς χρηστὰ καὶ φιλάνθρωπα, καὶ εἰς ὄψιν οὐκ ἀηδῆ: κόρη γὰρ ἦν πρὸς ἡμᾶς τι συγγενὲς ἔχουσα: αἱ δὲ ἀπὸ τούτου κυνώδεις κεφαλαὶ καὶ θηριώδεις οὐδενὸς ἦσαν ἀγαθοῦ, στόλους ὅλους ἁρπάζουσαι καὶ μηδὲν εἰς κίνδυνον διαφέρουσαι τῆς ἀντιθέτοι Χαρύβδεως. Ἢ καὶ τῶν τοξοτῶν σὺ καὶ τῶν σφενδονιτῶν τὰ βέλη καὶ τοὺς λίθους καταιτιάσῃ, ἀλλ' οὐ τοὺς σφενδονῶντας καὶ τοὺς τοξεύοντας; ἔτι δὲ τῶν κυνηγετῶν τοὺς κύνας, καὶ τῶν φαρμακέων τὰ δηλητήρια, καὶ τῶν κεραττόντων βοῶν καὶ σπαραττόντων θηρίων τὰ κέρατα καὶ τοὺς ὄνυχας: οἱ δὲ χρώμενοι τούτοις ἐκτὸς στήσονται καὶ οὐ μεθέξουσι τῆς ὧν τολμῶσιν αἰτίας; Πολλῆς ταῦτα τῆς ἀλογίας, καὶ ὄντως σοφιστοῦ δεόμενα, τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ συνηγοροῦντος κακοῖς, καὶ τῇ τοῦ λόγου δυνάμει τὸ ἀληθὲς συγκαλύπτοντος. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔστι: ὅπως ἑαυτὸν ἀποκρύψει, οὐδ' ἂν πολλὰ στραφῇ καὶ παντοῖος γένηται ταῖς ἐπινοίαις, οὐδ' εἰ τὴν Ἄϊδος κυνέην, ὃ δὴ λέγεται, περιθέμενος, ἢ τῷ δακτυλίῳ Γύγου, καὶ τῇ στροφῇ τῆς σφενδόνης χρησάμενος, ἑαυτὸν ἀποκλέψειε: τοὐναντίον μὲν οὖν, ὅσῳ φεύγειν ἐπιχειρεῖ καὶ διαδιδράσκειν, τοσούτῳ πλέον ἁλίσκεται παρὰ ἀληθείᾳ δικαζούσῃ, καὶ τοῖς συνετωτέροις τούτων κριταῖς, ὡς ταῦτα πράττων τε καὶ τολμῶν, οἷς οὐδ' ἂν αὐτὸς ὡς δικαίως πραττομένοις ἔχῃ συνηγορεῖν: οὕτως εὐάλωτόν ἐστιν ἡ πονηρία, καὶ πανταχόθεν ἑαυτῇ περιπίπτουσα.