2-11:11
Οὐκ ἂν δὲ οὐδὲ ἐφονευόμεθα οὐδὲ δυνατώτεροι ἡμῶν ἦσαν οἵ τε ἄδικοι ἄνθρωποι καὶ δαίμονες, εἰ μὴ πάντως παντὶ γεννωμένῳ ἀνθρώπῳ καὶ θανεῖν ὠφείλετο· ὅθεν καὶ τὸ ὄφλημα ἀποδιδόντες εὐχαριστοῦμεν. Καίτοι γε καὶ τὸ ξενοφώντειον ἐκεῖνο νῦν πρός τε Κρίσκεντα καὶ τοὺς ὁμοίως αὐτῷ ἀφραίνοντας καλὸν καὶ εὔκαιρον εἰπεῖν ἡγούμεθα. Τὸν Ἡρακλέα ἐπὶ τρίοδόν τινα ἔφη ὁ Ξενοφῶν βαδίζοντα εὑρεῖν τήν τε ἀρετὴν καὶ τὴν κακίαν, ἐν γυναικῶν μορφαῖς φαινομένας. Καὶ τὴν μὲν κακίαν, ἁβρᾷ ἐσθῆτι καὶ ἐρωτοπεποιημένῳ καὶ ἀνθοῦντι ἐκ τῶν τοιούτων προσώπῳ, θελκτικήν τε εὐθὺς πρὸς τὰς ὄψεις οὖσαν, εἰπεῖν πρὸς τὸν Ἡρακλέα ὅτι, ἢν αὐτῇ ἕπηται, ἡδόμενόν τε καὶ κεκοσμημένον τῷ λαμπροτάτῳ καὶ ὁμοίῳ τῷ περὶ αὐτὴν κόσμῳ διαιτήσειν ἀεὶ ποιήσει. Καὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐν αὐχμηρῷ μὲν τῷ προσώπῳ καὶ τῇ περιβολῇ οὖσαν εἰπεῖν· Ἀλλ ἢν ἐμοὶ πείθῃ, οὐ κόσμῳ οὐδὲ κάλλει τῷ ῥέοντι καὶ φθειρομένῳ ἑαυτὸν κοσμήσεις ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἀϊδίοις καὶ καλοῖς κόσμοις. Καὶ πάνθ ὁντινοῦν πεπείσμεθα, φεύγοντα τὰ δοκοῦντα καλά, τὰ δὲ νομιζόμενα σκληρὰ καὶ ἄλογα μετερχόμενον, εὐδαιμονίαν ἐκδέχεσθαι.Ἡ γὰρ κακία, πρόβλημα ἑαυτῆς τῶν πράξεων τὰ προσόντα τῇ ἀρετῇ καὶ ὄντως ὄντα καλὰ διὰ μιμήσεως ἀφθάρτων περιβαλλομένη (ἄφθαρτον γὰρ οὐδὲν ἔχει οὐδὲ ποιῆσαι δύναται), δουλαγωγεῖ τοὺς χαμαιπετεῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, τὰ προσόντα αὐτῇ φαῦλα τῇ ἀρετῇ περιθεῖσα. Οἱ δὲ νενοηκότες τὰ προσόντα τῷ ὄντι καλὰ καὶ ἄφθαρτοι τῇ ἀρετῇ· ὃ καὶ περὶ Χριστιανῶν καὶ τῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄθλου καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τῶν τοιαῦτα πραξάντων, ὁποῖα ἔφασαν οἱ ποιηταὶ περὶ τῶν νομιζομένων θεῶν, ὑπολαβεῖν δεῖ πάντα νουνεχῆ, ἐκ τοῦ καὶ τοῦ φευκτοῦ καταφρονεῖν ἡμᾶς θανάτου λογισμὸν ἕλκοντα
We would not even be put to death, nor would the unjust men and the demons be more powerful than we, were it not that death is in every way owed to every man born; whence also, in paying this debt, we give thanks. And indeed we consider it good and timely now to repeat that saying of Xenophon, against Crescens and those who rave foolishly like him. Xenophon said that Heracles, coming to a certain crossroads, found Virtue and Vice, appearing in the forms of women. And Vice, in soft raiment, with a face made up for love and blooming with such adornments, and at once alluring to the eyes, said to Heracles that, if he would follow her, she would make him live always in pleasure and adorned with the most brilliant adornment, like the adornment about herself. And Virtue, being squalid in face and in dress, said, "But if you obey me, you will adorn yourself not with adornment or beauty that flows away and perishes, but with eternal and beautiful adornments." And we are persuaded that everyone whatever, fleeing the things that seem good and pursuing those reckoned harsh and irrational, awaits happiness. For Vice, throwing around the things that belong to Virtue and are truly good, as a cloak over its own actions, through the imitation of incorruptible things (for it has nothing incorruptible, nor can it produce any), enslaves the groveling among men, casting the base things that belong to it around Virtue. But those who have understood the things that are truly good are also incorruptible in virtue; which everyone of sense ought to suppose concerning both Christians and the athletes and the men who did such things as the poets said about the gods reckoned to be such, from the fact that we despise even the death that is to be fled, drawing this conclusion.
若不是死本來就在各方面為凡生下來的人所必償，我們也不致被殺，那些不義之人與鬼魔也不致比我們更有能力;因此我們償還這所欠的債時，也獻上感謝。並且我們認為，如今針對克瑞斯肯與那些像他一樣愚妄狂言之人，重述色諾芬那句話乃是美好且合時的。色諾芬說，赫拉克勒斯來到一個三岔路口，遇見了德行與惡行，二者以婦女的形像顯現。那惡行身穿柔軟的衣裳，面容飾以媚態、容光煥發，立刻引人注目，便對赫拉克勒斯說，他若跟從她，她必使他常活在宴樂中，得著最華麗的裝飾，如同她自身的裝飾一般。那德行則面容與衣著都顯為樸素，說：「但你若聽從我，你必不以那流逝朽壞的裝飾與美貌妝飾自己，乃以永存美好的裝飾妝飾自己。」我們深信，凡躲避那看似美好之事、而追求那被視為艱苦無理之事的人，必得享福樂。因為惡行將那些屬於德行、真正美善之事，當作外袍披在自己的行為之上，藉著仿效不朽之事（因它本身毫無不朽之物，也不能造出任何不朽之物），便將自己所有的卑劣之事披在德行身上，從而轄制那些卑微下流的人。但那些已明白真正美善之事的人，在德行裡也是不朽的;凡有見識的人，從我們連那本當躲避的死亡都加以藐視這一點推論，便應當對基督徒、對那些勇士、以及那些行了詩人所述那些所謂之神所行之事的人，都作如此看法。