24. Why should I go into particulars? I saw the man before his actions exactly what I afterwards found him in his actions; and were any present of those who were then with me and heard my words, they would without hesitation bear testimony to what I say; to whom I exclaimed as soon as I had observed these signs, "What an evil the Roman world is breeding!" at once making the prediction and praying against myself that I might turn out a false prophet; for that were better than for the world to be filled with these evils, and such a monstrosity make its appearance as never was seen before; though there are many celebrated deluges on record, and conflagrations, and quakings and yawnings of the earth, and men yet more savage, and beasts of strange sort and composite form, such as Nature has made out of caprice. Thus he has met with an end well suited to his folly, for God did not show His wonted long-suffering in this case, where His clemency had been an evil unto many, and had occasioned much dejection to the upright, and much arrogance in sinners; as though there were no one to superintend our affairs, nor either Providence or Retribution, but that blind Chance carried on and turned about everything----a notion springing from a wicked mind, and one that is in a dangerous condition as regards the highest subjects.

ΚΔʹ. Τί ἂν τὰ καθ' ἕκαστον γράφοιμι; Τοῦτον πρὸ τῶν ἔργων ἐθεασάμην, ὃν καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων ἐγνώρισα. Καὶ εἴ μοι παρῆσάν τινες τῶν τηνικαῦτα συνόντων καὶ ἀκουσάντων, οὐ χαλεπῶς ἂν ἐμαρτύρησαν: οἷς, ἐπειδὴ ταῦτα ἐθεασάμην, εὐθὺς ἐφθεγξάμην: Οἷον κακὸν ἡ Ῥωμαίων τρέφει! καὶ προαγορεύσας, καὶ γενέσθαι ψευδόμαντις ἐμαυτοῦ κατευξάμενος. Κρεῖσσον γὰρ ἢ τούτων πλησθῆναι τὴν οἰκουμένην κακῶν, καὶ τοιοῦτον ἀναφανῆναι τέρας, οἷον οὔπω πρότερον: πολλῶν μὲν ἐπικλυσμῶν θρυλλουμένων, πολλῶν δὲ ἐμπρησμῶν, καὶ βρασμῶν γῆς, καὶ χασμάτων, ἔτι δὲ ἀνδρῶν ἀπανθρωποτάτων καὶ θηρίων ἀλλοκότων τε καὶ συνθέτων, ὧν ἡ φύσις ἐκαινοτόμησε. Ταύτῃ τοι καὶ τέλος ἄξιον ἠνέγκατο τῆς ἀπονοίας: ἐνταῦθα μόνον οὐκ ἀνασχομένου τοῦ Θεοῦ τῆς συνήθους μακροθυμίας, ἔνθα πολλοῖς κακὸν ἦν τὸ φιλάνθρωπον, καὶ πολλὴν μὲν ἔμελλε παρέξειν ἀθυμίαν τοῖς κατορθοῦσι, πολλὴν δὲ τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσι καταφρόνησιν: ὡς οὐκ ἐφορῶντος οὐδενὸς τὰ ἡμέτερα, οὐδὲ οὔσης τινὸς κυβερνήσεως ἢ ἀντιδόσεως, ἀλλὰ τοῦ αὐτομάτου τὸ πᾶν φέροντός τε καὶ περιτρέποντος: ὃ διανοίας ἐστὶ πονηρᾶς καὶ λίαν ἐπισφαλῶς περὶ τῶν μεγίστων διακειμένης.