19.  You have now, my friends, heard the defence of my presence here:  if it be deserving of praise, thanks are due for it to God, and to you who called me; if it has fallen below your expectation, I give thanks even on this behalf.  For I am assured that it has not been altogether deserving of censure, and am confident that you also admit this.  Have we at all made a gain97    2 Cor. xii. 17. of this people?  Have we consulted at all our own interests, as I see is most often the case?  Have we caused any vexation to the Church?  To others possibly, with whose idea that they had gained judgment against us by default, we have joined issue in our argument; but in no wise, as far as I am aware, to you.  I have taken no ox of yours,98    1 Kings xii. 2. says the great Samuel, in his contention against Israel on the subject of the king, nor any propitiation for your souls, the Lord is witness among you, nor this, nor that, proceeding at greater length, that I may not count up every particular; but I have kept the priesthood pure and unalloyed.  And if I have loved power, or the height of a throne, or to tread Kings’ courts, may I never possess any distinction, or if I gain it, may I be hurled from it.

ΙΘʹ. Οὗτος ὑμῖν, ὦ ἄνδρες, ὁ τῆς ἐμῆς ἀπόλογος παρουσίας: εἰ μὲν ἐπαινετῶς ἔχων, τῷ Θεῷ χάρις, καὶ ὑμῖν τοῖς καλέσασιν: εἰ δὲ τῆς ἐλπίδος ἐνδεέστερον, καὶ οὕτω χάρις. Οὐ γὰρ πάντη ψεκτῶς, εὖ οἶδα, καὶ ὑμῖν οὐκ ἀπιστῶ λέγουσιν. Μή τι τὸν λαὸν τοῦτον ἐπλεονεκτήσαμεν; μή τι τῶν ἡμετέρων ᾠκονομήσαμεν, ὃ τοὺς πολλοὺς ὁρῶ πάσχοντας; μή τι τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν παρελυπήσαμεν; Ἄλλους μὲν ἴσως, οἷς ἐρήμην ἡμᾶς ᾑρηκέναι νομίζουσι, τὸν ἡμέτερον ἀντεστήσαμεν λόγον: ὑμᾶς δὲ οὐδὲν, ὅσα ἐμαυτῷ συνεπίσταμαι. Οὐ βοῦν ὑμῶν εἴληφα, φησὶ Σαμουὴλ ὁ μέγας, πρὸς τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ὑπὲρ τοῦ βασιλέως διαφερόμενος: οὐ ψυχῶν ὑμῶν ἐξίλασμα, μάρτυς Κύριος ἐν ὑμῖν: οὐ τὸ καὶ τὸ, πλείονα λέγων, ἵνα μὴ αὐτὸς ἀπαριθμῶμαι καθ' ἕκαστον: ἀλλὰ καθαρὰν καὶ ἀκίβδηλον τὴν ἱερωσύνην ἐφύλαξα. Εἰ δὲ δυναστείαν ἠγάπησα, ἢ θρόνων ὕψος, ἢ βασιλέων πατεῖν αὐλὰς, μηδὲ ἄλλο τι λαμπρὸν ἔχοιμι, ἢ ῥίψαιμι κεκτημένος.