Second Apology 12

For I myself, too, when I delighted in the teachings of Plato, and heard the Christians slandered, but saw them fearless before death and all other things thought fearful, understood that it was impossible that they were living in vice and love of pleasure. For what lover of pleasure or incontinent man, or one who thinks it good to feed on human flesh, could welcome death, so as to be deprived of his good things, and would not rather try by every means to go on living this present life forever and escape the notice of the rulers, much less denounce himself to be put to death? Now the evil demons have even brought it about through certain wicked men that this was done. For these men, having put some to death on the false charges brought against us, dragged to torture servants of our people, or children, or poor women, and by fearful torments forced them to confess those fabled things which they themselves openly do; and since none of these things belongs to us, we do not care, having the unbegotten and ineffable God as witness of our thoughts and deeds. For why did we not also publicly confess these things to be good, and show them to be divine philosophy, saying that we perform the mysteries of Kronos in killing a man, and in being filled with blood, as it is said, doing the same as is done for the idol honored among you, on which not only the blood of irrational animals is sprinkled but also human blood, the pouring out of the blood of the slain being done by the most distinguished and noble man among you; and that, becoming imitators of Zeus and the other gods in the corruption of males and in shameless intercourse with women, we bring as our defense the writings of Epicurus and of the poets? But since we persuade people to flee these teachings and those who have done and imitate them, as we have now striven to do in this address, we are attacked in many ways; but we do not care, since we know that God is the just overseer of all. Would that even now someone would stand on a high platform and cry out with a tragic voice: “Be ashamed, be ashamed, you who charge the innocent with what you openly do, and cast on these men what belongs to yourselves and to your gods, of which they have not the least share. Change your minds; become sober.”