A Plea for the Christians 11

If I go through our teaching in detail, do not be surprised. I speak precisely so that you may not be carried away by common and irrational opinion but may be able to know the truth; for by means of the very teachings we hold, which are not human but spoken and taught by God, we can persuade you not to regard us as atheists. What, then, are the words on which we are brought up? “I say to you: love your enemies, bless those who curse you, pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven, who makes his sun rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the just and the unjust.” Allow me at this point to raise my voice and speak out boldly, as one making his defense before philosopher-kings. Who among those who analyze syllogisms and resolve ambiguities and explain etymologies, or among those who teach about homonyms and synonyms, predicates and propositions, and what is the subject and what the predicate, and who promise to make their pupils happy by these and similar teachings, have so purified their souls as to love their enemies instead of hating them, and, instead of reviling (to say the least) those who first insulted them, to bless them, and to pray for those who plot against their lives? On the contrary, they are forever wickedly digging out these secrets of their art for themselves, always wanting to do some harm, since they have made their business an art of words and not a display of deeds. But among us you would find uneducated people, craftsmen, and old women, who, if they cannot prove in words the benefit of our teaching, show in deeds the benefit of their choice. They do not recite speeches but show good actions: when struck they do not strike back, when robbed they do not go to court, they give to those who ask, and they love their neighbors as themselves.