1-5:5
Τί δὴ οὖν τοῦτ ἂν εἴη; Ἐφ ἡμῶν, ὑπισχνουμένων μηδὲν ἀδικεῖν μηδὲ τὰ ἄθεα ταῦτα δοξάζειν, οὐ κρίσεις ἐξετάζετε, ἀλλὰ ἀλόγῳ πάθει καὶ μάστιγι δαιμόνων φαύλων ἐξελαυνόμενοι ἀκρίτως κολάζετε μὴ φροντίζοντες. Εἰρήσεται γὰρ τἀληθές· ἐπεὶ τὸ παλαιὸν δαίμονες φαῦλοι, ἐπιφανείας ποιησάμενοι, καὶ γυναῖκας ἐμοίχευσαν καὶ παῖδας διέφθειραν καὶ φόβητρα ἀνθρώποις ἔδειξαν, ὡς καταπλαγῆναι τούς, οἳ λόγῳ τὰς γινομένας πράξεις οὐκ ἔκρινον, ἀλλὰ δέει συνηρπασμένοι καὶ μὴ ἐπιστάμενοι δαίμονας εἶναι φαύλους θεοὺς προσωνόμαζον, καὶ ὀνόματι ἕκαστον προσηγόρευον, ὅπερ ἕκαστος ἑαυτῷ τῶν δαιμόνων ἐτίθετο. Ὅτε δὲ Σωκράτης λόγῳ ἀληθεῖ καὶ ἐξεταστικῶς ταῦτα εἰς φανερὸν ἐπειρᾶτο φέρειν καὶ ἀπάγειν τῶν δαιμόνων τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, καὶ αὐτὸν οἱ δαίμονες διὰ τῶν χαιρόντων τῇ κακίᾳ ἀνθρώπων ἐνήργησαν, ὡς ἄθεον καὶ ἀσεβῆ ἀποκτείνεσθαι, λέγοντες καινὰ εἰσφέρειν αὐτὸν δαιμόνια· καὶ ὁμοίως ἐφ ἡμῶν τὸ αὐτὸ ἐνεργοῦσιν. Οὐ γὰρ μόνον ἐν Ἕλλησι διὰ Σωκράτους ὑπὸ λόγου ἠλέγχθη ταῦτα, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν βαρβάροις ὑπ αὐτοῦ τοῦ λόγου μορφωθέντος καὶ ἀνθρώπου γενομένου καὶ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ κληθέντος, ᾧ πεισθέντες ἡμεῖς τοὺς ταῦτα πράξαντας δαίμονας οὐ μόνον μὴ ὀρθοὺς εἶναί φαμεν, ἀλλὰ κακοὺς καὶ ἀνοσίους δαίμονας, οἵ οὐδὲ τοῖς ἀρετὴν ποθοῦσιν ἀνθρώποις τὰς πράξεις ὁμοίας ἔχουσιν
這究竟是甚麼緣故呢？就我們而論，我們雖應許不行不義，也不持這些無神的見解，你們卻不藉審判查驗控告，反倒被無理的情慾、被惡鬼的鞭策所驅使，不經審查、漠不關心地懲治我們。如今真相必要說明：上古時候，惡鬼顯現出來，玷污婦女、敗壞男童、向人顯出可怖之事，使那些不憑理性去判斷所發生之事的人膽戰心驚；他們被懼怕擄去，又不曉得這些是惡鬼，便稱牠們為神，並各按那鬼自取的名稱去稱呼牠。及至蘇格拉底憑真理、憑審慎的查究，設法將這些事揭發出來、要把人從眾鬼中領出來，眾鬼就藉著那些喜愛邪惡的人下手，置他於死地，誣他為無神、不敬虔，說他引進新的鬼神；牠們在我們身上也照樣行這同樣的事。因為這些事不單在希臘人中藉蘇格拉底被理性所駁倒，也在化外人中被那道本身所駁倒——這道取了形體、成為人，被稱為耶穌基督；我們既被祂說服，便宣告那些行這些事的鬼，不僅不是良善的，更是邪惡不潔的鬼，連那些渴慕美德之人的行為，牠們也全然不及。
What then can this be? In our case, though we promise to do no wrong and not to hold these atheistic opinions, you do not examine the charges by trial, but, driven by irrational passion and by the scourge of wicked demons, you punish us without inquiry and without care. For the truth shall be told: in ancient times wicked demons, appearing abroad, defiled women and corrupted boys, and showed terrors to men, so as to strike with dread those who did not judge these occurrences by reason, but, carried away by fear and not knowing that they were wicked demons, called them gods and addressed each by the name which each of the demons gave to himself. And when Socrates tried by true reason and by careful inquiry to bring these things to light and to draw men away from the demons, the demons themselves, through men who delight in wickedness, worked his death as an atheist and impious person, saying that he was introducing new deities; and in the same way they work the same thing in our case. For not only among the Greeks were these things refuted by reason through Socrates, but also among the barbarians by Reason himself, who took form and became man and was called Jesus Christ; and persuaded by him, we declare that the demons who did these things are not only not good, but are wicked and unholy demons, who do not even have deeds resembling those of men who long for virtue.