98. In which place I am first astonished that the man so accurately acquainted with all this, had not observed, or else had purposely overlooked that text, "The wicked man shall perish in an evil way, and so shall everyone that denieth God;" nay (what is going further than this), whilst he was plaguing such as stood fast in their confession, and was entangling them in such troubles as he himself richly deserved to fall into. If, therefore, according to the rule he prescribes, "that we must be such as above described, and abide within the limits defined," he is able to prove that fact ⁸⁴----then judgment is passed on him that he is the worse of the two, or else that this conduct is well-pleasing to his own gods; and inasmuch as habits are divided into two kinds (I mean Virtue and Vice), he proves that the better part is set apart for us, the worse cast contemptuously to his side. Let him allow this, and then we shall gain our cause by the testimony of our adversaries and those prosecuting us. But if they make any pretence to generosity and clemency, in speech at least if not in action, and are not so devoid of shame (even though they be very wicked and delight in evil gods) as to assert that Vice, like one of two snares, belongs to them----let them show in that case how and where it is just that we when wronged shall endure it patiently, whilst they should not spare us who spare them? View the matter in this way: seasons of power have come to us as well as to you, revolving and changing from one side to the other. What has ever happened to your party from the Christians of the kind that has often happened to the Christians from your party? Of what liberty of speech have we debarred you? Against whom have we stirred up furious mobs, or officials going far beyond their instructions? Whom have we brought into peril of his life, or rather, whom have we expelled from their offices and honours that belong by right to the best men? And to sum up all, upon whom have we inflicted anything like what has often been perpetrated by your side, and often been threatened? Not even yourselves can say this, you who cast in our teeth our own gentleness and humanity.⁸⁵

ϞΗʹ. Οὗ τοῦτο πρῶτον θαυμάζω, πῶς τούτοις μὲν ἀκριβῶς καθωμίλησεν, ἐκεῖνο δὲ οὐκ ἀνέγνω, ἢ ἑκὼν παρέδραμεν: ὅτι Κακὸς κακῶς ἀπολεῖται; πᾶς ὁ τὸ Θεῖον ἐξαρνησάμενος, καὶ ὃ τούτου μεῖζόν ἐστι, τοὺς ἐμμένοντας τῇ ὁμολογίᾳ περιωθῶν, καὶ τοιούτοις κακοῖς περιβάλλων, οἷς αὐτὸς περιπεσεῖν ἦν ἄξιος. Εἰ μὲν οὖν ὥσπερ ἡμᾶς τοιούτους εἶναι νομοθετεῖ, καὶ τοῖς ὡρισμένοις ἐμμένειν, οὕτω δύναται δεῖξαι, καὶ αὐτῷ τὸ κάκιστον εἶναι προστεταγμένον, ἢ τοῖς αὐτοῦ θεοῖς ἐν καλῷ τοῦτο τυγχάνον: καὶ εἰς δύο ταῦτα διῃρημένων τῶν ἕξεων, ἀρετήν τε, φημὶ, καὶ κακίαν, ἡμῖν μὲν ἀποκεκρίσθαι τὴν κρείσσω μοῖραν, αὐτοῖς δὲ ἀπεῤῥίφθαι τὴν χείρονα: λεγέτω τοῦτο, καὶ οὕτω νικήσομεν ὑπὸ μάρτυσι τοῖς ἐχθροῖς, καὶ τοῖς διώκουσι τὰ ἡμέτερα: εἰ δὲ καὶ αὐτοί τι μεταποιοῦνται καλοκἀγαθίας καὶ ἡμερότητος, λόγῳ γοῦν, εἰ καὶ μὴ τοῖς ἔργοις αὐτοῖς, καὶ οὐχ οὕτως εἰσὶν ἀναίσχυντοι, κἂν σφόδρα ὦσι κακοὶ, καὶ πονηροῖς θεοῖς χαίροντες, ὥστε φάσκειν ὥσπερ ἄλλον τινὰ κλῆρον προσήκειν αὐτοῖς τὴν κακίαν: δειξάτωσαν πῶς ἢ ποῦ δίκαιον ἡμᾶς μὲν καὶ πάσχοντας καρτερεῖν, αὐτοὺς δὲ μηδὲ φειδομένων φείδεσθαι: σκόπει γὰρ οὕτω. Τῶν μὲν ἡμῖν γεγονότων καιρῶν τοῦ δύνασθαι, τῶν δὲ ὑμῖν ἄλλοτε ἄλλως τούτων περιτρεχόντων τε καὶ μεθισταμένων, τί τοιοῦτο παρὰ Χριστιανῶν ποτε συνέβη τοῖς ὑμετέροις, οἷα παρ' ὑμῶν πολλάκις Χριστιανοῖς; Ποίας παῤῥησίας ὑμᾶς ἀπεστερήσαμεν; Τίσι δήμους ἐπανεστήσαμεν ζέοντας; τίσιν ἄρχοντας, πλείω τῶν ἐπιταττομένων ὑπηρετοῦντας; Τίσι τὸν περὶ ψυχῆς ἐπηγάγομεν κίνδυνον; Μᾶλλον δὲ τίνας ἀρχῶν ἀπηλάσαμεν, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τιμῶν αἳ τοῖς ἀρίστοις ὀφείλονται; Καὶ συνελόντα φάναι, τίνι τι τοιοῦτον ἐπενηνόχαμεν, οἷα πολλὰ παρ' ὑμῶν τὰ μὲν ἐτολμήθη, τὰ δὲ ἠπειλήθη; Ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἂν αὐτοὶ φαίητε, οἱ τὸ ἥμερον ἡμῖν ἐγκαλοῦντες καὶ τὸ φιλάνθρωπον.