1-18:18
Ἀποβλέψατε γὰρ πρὸς τὸ τέλος ἑκάστου τῶν γενομένων βασιλέων, ὅτι τὸν κοινὸν πᾶσι θάνατον ἀπέθανον· ὅπερ εἰ εἰς ἀναισθησίαν ἐχώρει, ἕρμαιον ἂν ἦν τοῖς ἀδίκοις πᾶσιν. Ἀλλ ἐπεὶ καὶ αἴσθησις πᾶσι γενομένοις μένει καὶ κόλασις αἰωνία ἀπόκειται, μὴ ἀμελήσητε πεισθῆναί τε καὶ πιστεῦσαι ὅτι ἀληθῆ ταῦτά ἐστι. Νεκυομαντεῖαι μὲν γὰρ καὶ αἱ ἀδιαφθόρων παίδων ἐποπτεύσεις καὶ ψυχῶν ἀνθρωπίνων κλήσεις καὶ οἱ λεγόμενοι παρὰ τοῖς μάγοις ὀνειροπομποὶ καὶ πάρεδροι καὶ τὰ γινόμενα ὑπὸ τῶν ταῦτα εἰδότων πεισάτωσαν ὑμᾶς, ὅτι καὶ μετὰ θάνατον ἐν αἰσθήσει εἰσὶν αἱ ψυχαί, καὶ οἱ ψυχαῖς ἀποθανόντων λαμβανόμενοι καὶ ῥιπτούμενοι ἄνθρωποι, οὓς δαιμονιολήπτους καὶ μαινομένους καλοῦσι πάντες, καὶ τὰ παρ ὑμῖν λεγόμενα μαντεῖα Ἀμφιλόχου καὶ Δωδώνης καὶ Πυθοῦς, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα τοιαῦτά ἐστι, καὶ τὰ τῶν συγγραφέων διδάγματα, Ἐμπεδοκλέους καὶ Πυθαγόρου, Πλάτωνός τε καὶ Σωκράτους καὶ ὁ παρ Ὁμήρῳ βόθρος καὶ ἡ κάθοδος Ὀδυσσέως εἰς τὴν τούτων ἐπίσκεψιν καὶ τῶν τὰ αὐτὰ τούτοις εἰπόντων· οἷς κἂν ὁμοίως ἡμᾶς ἀποδέξασθε, οὐχ ἧττον ἐκείνων θεῷ πιστεύοντας ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον, οἳ καὶ τὰ νεκρούμενα καὶ εἰς γῆν βαλλόμενα πάλιν ἀπολήψεσθαι ἑαυτῶν σώματα προσδοκῶμεν, ἀδύνατον μηδὲν εἶναι θεῷ λέγοντες
For look to the end of each of the kings who have lived: they died the death common to all; and if this issued in unconsciousness, it would be a windfall for all the unjust. But since perception remains for all who have come into being, and eternal punishment is in store, do not neglect to be persuaded and to believe that these things are true. For the necromancies, and the inspections by means of undefiled children, and the summonings of human souls, and those whom the magicians call dream-senders and assistant spirits, and the things done by those who know these arts—let these persuade you that even after death the souls are in a state of perception; and so let the men who are seized and thrown down by the souls of the dead, whom all call demon-possessed and madmen; and the oracles among you called those of Amphilochus and Dodona and Pytho, and whatever else of the kind there is; and the teachings of the writers, of Empedocles and Pythagoras, of Plato and Socrates; and the pit in Homer, and the descent of Odysseus to inspect these things, and the things said by others who spoke the same. Receive us, then, even on the same terms as these, since we believe in God no less than they—rather, even more—we who expect to receive back again our own bodies, dead and cast into the earth, declaring that nothing is impossible to God.
你們且看那些曾活著的君王，各人的結局如何：他們都死了那眾人共有的死；倘若這死歸於毫無知覺，那對一切不義之人豈不成了意外之福。但既然凡受造的都仍存知覺，又有永刑為他們存留，你們就不可疏忽，總要被說服、相信這些事是真的。那些招魂之術、藉純潔孩童的占視、招喚人魂的法、以及術士所謂的差夢者與隨侍之靈、並那些精於此道之人所行的事——讓這些使你們確信：人死之後魂仍存知覺；那些被死人之魂攫住、摔倒的人，眾人都稱之為被鬼附的、瘋癲的，也是如此；你們中間所謂安菲洛科斯、多多納、皮托的神諭，以及其餘一切這類的事；還有眾作家的教訓，恩培多克勒與畢達哥拉斯、柏拉圖與蘇格拉底的，以及荷馬書中的深坑、俄底修斯為查驗這些事下到陰間的描述、並其餘說同樣話之人的論述——這些也都如此。那麼，請你們至少照接納這些人的同樣條件接納我們，因為我們信神並不亞於他們——倒是更深——我們指望那已死、已埋入土中的身體，要再次得回，並宣稱在神凡事都能。