69:1
Sed et illud apud Alexandriam gestum est, quod etiam Thoraces Serapis, qui per singulas quasque domos in parietibus, in ingressibus, in postibus etiam ac fenestris erant, ita abscissi sunt omnes et abrasi, ut ne vestigium quidem usquam, vel numinis appellatio, aut ipsius, aut cujuslibet alterius daemonis remaneret; sed pro his Crucis Dominicae signum unusquisque in postibus, in ingressibus, in fenestris, in parietibus, columnisque depingeret. Quod cum factum esse hi qui superfuerant ex Paganis viderent, in recordationem rei magnae ex traditione sibimet antiquitus commendata venisse perhibentur:
但在亞歷山大也行了這事：連塞拉皮斯的胸像——它們原在家家戶戶的牆上、門口、門框、甚至窗戶上——全都被削去刮淨，以致任何地方連一點痕跡、連那神明的名稱（無論是他的、還是任何別的鬼魔的）都不留存；眾人卻在門框、門口、窗戶、牆壁與柱子上，畫上主十字架的記號取而代之。當異教徒中存留的人見此事已成，據說便想起一件從古代藉傳統交付給他們的大事：
But this too was done at Alexandria, that even the busts of Serapis, which were on the walls of each and every house, in the entrances, in the doorposts also and the windows, were all so cut away and scraped off, that not even a trace anywhere, nor the name of the deity—whether of him or of any other demon—remained; but in their place each one painted the sign of the Lord's Cross on the doorposts, in the entrances, in the windows, on the walls and columns. When those who survived of the pagans saw that this had been done, they are said to have come into the recollection of a great matter, handed down to them from antiquity by tradition:
69:2
Signum hoc nostrum Dominicae Crucis inter illas quas dicunt ίερατικὰς, id est, sacerdotales literas, habere Aegyptii dicuntur velut unum ex caeteris literarum, quae apud illos sunt, elementis. Cujus literae seu vocabuli hanc esse asserunt interpretationem: Vita ventura. Dicebant ergo hi qui tunc admiratione rerum gestarum convertebantur ad fidem, ita sibi ab antiquis traditum, quod haec quae nunc coluntur, tamdiu starent, quamdiu viderent signum istud venisse, in quo esset vita. Unde accidit ut magis hi qui erant ex sacerdotibus vel ministris templorum, ad fidem converterentur, quam illi quos errorum praestigiae et deceptionum machinae delectabant.
據說埃及人把我們這主十字架的記號，列在他們所謂的「ίερατικάς」、即「祭司文字」之中，作為他們所有文字符號中的一個。他們斷言這字母或字詞的解釋乃是：「將來的生命。」因此，那些當時因驚嘆所行之事而歸信的人說，古人如此傳給他們：如今所敬拜之物，只能屹立到他們看見這記號來臨為止，而在這記號中乃有生命。由此便發生這樣的事：那些原是祭司或廟宇侍役的人，反倒比那些以謬誤的幻術與騙局機關為樂的人更多歸信。
the Egyptians are said to hold this our sign of the Lord's Cross among those which they call ίερατικάς, that is, priestly letters, as one of the rest of the characters which exist among them. And of this letter or word they assert this to be the interpretation: 'The life to come.' Those, therefore, who were then being converted to the faith through admiration of the things done, said that it had thus been handed down to them by the ancients, that the things now worshipped would stand only so long until they should see this sign come, in which was life. Whence it came about that those who were of the priests or ministers of the temples were converted to the faith rather than those whom the illusions of errors and the contrivances of deceptions delighted.