29:29
Ταῦτα οὖν ἰδών, ἔτι δὲ καὶ μυστηρίων μεταλαβών, καὶ τὰς παρὰ πᾶσι θρησκείας δοκιμάσας διὰ θηλυδριῶν καὶ ἀνδρογύνων συνισταμένας, εὑρὼν δὲ παρὰ μὲν Ῥωμαίοις τὸν κατ αὐτοὺς Λατιάριον Δία λύθροις ἀνθρώπων καὶ τοῖς ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνδροκτασιῶν αἵμασι τερπόμενον, Ἄρτεμιν δὲ οὐ μακρὰν τῆς μεγάλης πόλεως τῶν αὐτῶν πράξεων ἐπανῃρημένην τὸ εἶδος, ἄλλον τε ἀλλαχῆ δαίμονα κακοπραγίας ἐπαναστάσεις πραγματευόμενον, κατ ἐμαυτὸν γενόμενος ἐζήτουν ὅτῳ τρόπῳ τἀληθὲς ἐξευρεῖν δύνωμαι. Περινοοῦντι δέ μοι τὰ σπουδαῖα συνέβη γραφαῖς τισιν ἐντυχεῖν βαρβαρικαῖς, πρεσβυτέραις μὲν ὡς πρὸς τὰ Ἑλλήνων δόγματα, θειοτέραις δὲ ὡς πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνων πλάνην· καί μοι πεισθῆναι ταύταις συνέβη διά τε τῶν λέξεων τὸ ἄτυφον καὶ τῶν εἰπόντων τὸ ἀνεπιτήδευτον καὶ τῆς τοῦ παντὸς ποιήσεως τὸ εὐκατάληπτον καὶ τῶν μελλόντων τὸ προγνωστικὸν καὶ τῶν παραγγελμάτων τὸ ἐξαίσιον καὶ τῶν ὅλων τὸ μοναρχικόν. Θεοδιδάκτου δέ μου γενομένης τῆς ψυχῆς συνῆκα ὅτι τὰ μὲν καταδίκης ἔχει τρόπον, τὰ δὲ ὅτι λύει τὴν ἐν κόσμῳ δουλείαν, καὶ ἀρχόντων μὲν πολλῶν καὶ μυρίων ἡμᾶς ἀποσπᾷ τυράννων, δίδωσι δὲ ἡμῖν οὐχ ὅπερ μὴ ἐλάβομεν, ἀλλ ὅπερ λαβόντες ὑπὸ τῆς πλάνης ἔχειν ἐκωλύθημεν
Having seen these things, then, and moreover having taken part in mysteries, and having examined the religious rites that are everywhere maintained through effeminate men and androgynes, and having found among the Romans their Latian Zeus delighting in the gore of men and in the blood that comes from slaughter of men, and Artemis not far from the great city pursuing the same kind of deeds, and one demon here and another there contriving incitements to mischief—being by myself, I sought in what manner I might be able to find out the truth. And while pondering the serious questions, it befell me to chance upon certain barbarian writings, older as compared with the doctrines of the Greeks, but more divine as compared with their error; and it befell me to be persuaded by these, both through the unpretentiousness of the wording, and through the artlessness of those who spoke, and through the easy comprehension of the creation of the whole, and through the foreknowledge of things to come, and through the extraordinary character of the precepts, and through the doctrine of the monarchy of the universe. And my soul having become God-taught, I understood that, while some writings have the character of condemnation, others release the slavery that is in the world, and rescue us from many rulers and ten thousand tyrants, and give us not what we had not received, but what, having received, we were hindered by error from keeping.
我既見了這些事，又曾參與祕儀，並考察過那些四處藉著陰柔之徒與陰陽人所維持的宗教禮儀，又發現羅馬人有他們的「拉提烏斯的宙斯」喜悅人的血污、喜悅那從屠人而來的血，而離大城不遠處的亞底米也從事同類的勾當，又有這裡那裡形形色色的鬼魔策動著惡事的興起——我便獨自一人，尋思要怎樣才能找出真理。當我思索這些嚴肅問題時，碰巧讀到某些化外人的著作；這些著作較之希臘人的學說更為古老，較之他們的迷誤又更為神聖；我因下列緣故被它們說服：其措辭的不矯飾、其著者的質樸無華、其對全體受造之描述的易於領會、其對將來之事的預知、其誡命的卓絕非凡，以及其論宇宙獨一君權之教義。我的魂既受了神的教導，便明白其中有些話帶著定罪的性質，另有些話則釋放世上的奴役，把我們從許多統治者、千萬暴君的手中救拔出來，所賜給我們的，不是我們未曾領受之物，乃是我們已領受、卻因迷誤而被攔阻不得持守之物。