14:14
Τοιοῦτοί τινές ἐστε καὶ ὑμεῖς, ὦ Ἕλληνες, ῥήμασι μὲν στωμύλοι, γνώμην δὲ ἔχοντες ἀλλόκοτον, καὶ τὴν πολυκοιρανίην μᾶλλον ἤπερ τὴν μοναρχίαν ἐξησκήσατε, καθάπερ ἰσχυροῖς νομίζοντες δαίμοσι κατακολουθεῖν. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ λῃστεύων, ἀπάνθρωπος ὤν, διὰ τόλμης τῶν ὁμοίων ἐπικρατεῖν εἴωθεν, οὕτω καὶ οἱ δαίμονες, εἰς πολλὴν κακίαν ἐξοκείλαντες, τὰς μεμονωμένας παρ ὑμῖν ψυχὰς δι ἀγνοιῶν καὶ φαντασιῶν ἐξηπατήκασιν. Οἵ θνήσκουσι μὲν οὐ ῥᾳδίως, σαρκὸς γὰρ ἀμοιροῦσι· ζῶντες δὲ θανάτου πράττουσιν ἐπιτηδεύματα, τοσαυτάκις καὶ αὐτοὶ θνήσκοντες ὁσάκις ἂν τοὺς ἑπομένους αὐτοῖς τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἐκπαιδεύσωσιν. Ὥσθ ὅπερ ἐστὶν αὐτοῖς περιττὸν ἐν τῷ νῦν, μὴ ὁμοίως τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀποθνήσκειν, τοῦθ ὁπότ ἂν μέλλωσι κολάζεσθαι παρὸν αὐτοῖς· οὐ μεθέξουσιν ἀϊδίου ζωῆς, ἀντὶ θανάτου ἐν ἀθανάτῳ μεταλαμβάνοντες.Ὥσπερ δὲ ἡμεῖς, οἷς τὸ θνήσκειν ῥᾳδίως ἀποβαίνει νῦν, εἰς αὖθις μετὰ ἀπολαύσεως ἢ τὸ ἀθάνατον ἢ τὸ λυπηρὸν μετὰ ἀθανασίας προσλαμβάνομεν, οὕτω καὶ οἱ δαίμονες τῇ νῦν ζωῇ πρὸς τὸ πλημμελεῖν καταχρώμενοι, διὰ παντὸς καὶ διὰ τοῦ ζῆν ἀποθνήσκοντες, εἰς αὖθις ἕξουσιν τὴν αὐτὴν ἀθανασίαν, ὁμοίαν τῆς παρ ὃν ἔζων χρόνον, κατὰ δὲ τὴν σύστασιν ὁμοίαν ἀνθρώποις τοῖς κατὰ γνώμην διαπραξαμένοις ἅπερ αὐτοῖς παρ ὃν ἔζων χρόνον νενομοθετήκασι. Καὶ μήτι γε τοῖς μὲν ἀνθρώποις ἐλάττονα τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐξανθοῦσι τὰ εἴδη διὰ τὸ μὴ πολυχρονίως βιοῦν, τοῖς δὲ προειρημένοις δαίμοσι τὸ πλημμελεῖν μειζόνως ἀποβέβηκε διὰ τὸ ἄπειρον τῆς βιότητος
Such, in some sort, are you also, O men of Greece—glib in words, but holding a strange opinion; and you have practiced polyarchy rather than monarchy, as though you thought it right to follow after strong demons. For just as the robber, being inhuman, is wont through daring to prevail over those like himself, so also the demons, having run aground into great wickedness, have deceived the solitary souls among you through ignorances and phantasms. They do not die easily, for they have no share in flesh; but while living they practice the deeds of death, themselves dying just as often as they teach their followers their sins. Thus what is now superfluous to them—namely, not to die as men do—this, when they are about to be punished, is no longer present to them: they will not share in everlasting life, receiving, instead of death, deprivation in the immortal state. And just as we, to whom dying readily falls now, afterward, with enjoyment, receive either immortality or sorrow together with immortality, so also the demons, who make use of their present life for transgression, dying continually even while they live, will hereafter have the same immortality, like that of the time in which they lived, but in respect of their constitution like that of the men who, by their own will, have practiced the very things which the demons legislated for them during the time they lived. And surely, for men the forms of sin blossom forth more slightly because they do not live for a long time, but for the aforesaid demons transgression has turned out greater on account of the boundlessness of their existence.
希臘人哪，你們也大致是這等人——言詞流利，心思卻乖僻；你們所操練的是多頭統治而非獨一君權，彷彿認為跟隨那些強有力的鬼魔才是對的。原來正如強盜既無人性，便慣於藉膽大妄為轄制與自己同類的人，照樣，那些鬼魔陷入了極大的邪惡，便藉無知與幻象迷惑了你們當中那些孤立的魂。它們不易死，因為它們無分於肉身；但它們活著卻行死亡的勾當，每逢教唆跟隨者犯罪，便自己也死一次。如此，它們如今所多出的——就是不像人那樣死——這在它們將受懲罰之時便不再為它們所有：它們不得有分於永生，倒要在那不朽的狀態中以匱乏代替死亡。又正如我們這些如今容易死的人，日後要帶著享受，得著不朽，或得著連同不朽而來的愁苦，照樣，那些濫用今生去犯罪、甚至活著也不斷死去的鬼魔，日後也要得著同樣的不朽，與它們活著時的光景相同，但就其結局而論，則與那些憑自己心意去行鬼魔在世時所立之事的人相同。誠然，對人而言，罪的種類綻放得較輕微，因為人活的日子不長久；但對前述那些鬼魔而言，因其存在無有窮盡，犯罪便顯得更為深重。