§1Nos quidem neque expavescimus neque pertimescimus ea quae ab ignorantibus patimur, cum ad hanc sectam utique suscepta condicione eius pacti venerimus, ut etiam animas nostras auctorati in has pugnas accedamus, ea quae deus repromittit consequi optantes et ea quae diversae vitae comminatur pati timentes.
Indeed, we neither dread nor fear those things which we suffer from ignorant people, since we have come to this sect having accepted the condition of that agreement, namely, that we enter into these combats having bound even our own lives, desiring to attain what God promises and fearing to suffer what He threatens for the opposite life.
Denique cum omni saevitia vestra concertamus etiam ultro erumpentes, magisque damnati quam absoluti gaudemus.
In short, we contend against all your cruelty, even breaking forth of our own accord, and we rejoice more when condemned than when acquitted.
Itaque hunc libellum non nobis timentes misimus, sed vobis et omnibus inimicis nostris, nedum amicis.
Therefore, we have sent this letter, not fearing for ourselves, but for you and for all our enemies, let alone our friends.
Ita enim disciplina iubemur diligere inimicos quoque et orare pro iis qui nos persequuntur, ut haec sit perfecta et propria bonitas nostra, non communis.
For we are so commanded by our teaching to love even our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us, so that this may be our perfect and peculiar goodness, not a common one.
Amicos enim diligere omnium est, inimicos autem solorum Christianorum.
For to love friends is common to all, but to love enemies belongs only to Christians.
Qui ergo dolemus de ignorantia vestra, et miseremur erroris humani, et futura prospicimus, et signa eorum cottidie intentari videmus, necesse est vel hoc modo erumpere ad proponenda vobis ea quae palam non vultis audire.
We, therefore, who grieve over your ignorance, and pity human error, and look forward to the future, and see the signs of it daily threatening, must of necessity break out, if only in this way, to set before you those things which you do not wish to hear openly.
§2Nos unum deum colimus, quem omnes naturaliter nostis, ad cuius fulgura et tonitrua contremiscitis, ad cuius beneficia gaudetis.
We worship one God, whom you all know by nature, at whose lightnings and thunders you tremble, and in whose benefits you rejoice.
Ceteros et ipsi putatis deos esse quos nos daemonas scimus.
The others, whom you yourselves think to be gods, we know to be demons.
Tamen humani iuris et naturalis potestatis est unicuique quod putaverit colere, nec alii obest aut prodest alterius religio.
Yet it is a matter of human right and natural power for each one to worship what he thinks fit; nor does one person's religion harm or benefit another.
Sed nec religionis est cogere religionem, quae sponte suscipi debeat, non vi, cum et hostiae ab animo libenti expostulentur.
But it is not the part of religion to compel religion, which ought to be adopted voluntarily, not by force, since even sacrifices are required from a willing mind.
Ita etsi nos compuleritis ad sacrificandum, nihil praestabitis diis vestris.
Thus, even if you compel us to sacrifice, you will render no service to your gods.
Ab invitis enim sacrificia non desiderabunt, nisi si contentiosi sunt; contentiosus autem deus non est.
For they will not desire sacrifices from those who are unwilling, unless they are contentious; but God is not contentious.
Denique qui est verus, omnia sua ex aequo et profanis et suis praestat, ideoque et iudicium constituit aeternum de gratis et ingratis.
In short, He who is true provides all His gifts equally to the profane and to His own, and therefore He has also established an eternal judgment concerning the grateful and the ungrateful.
Tamen nos, quos sacrilegos existimatis, nec in furto umquam deprehendistis, nedum in sacrilegio.
Yet you have never caught us, whom you account sacrilegious, even in a theft, let alone in sacrilege.
Omnes autem, qui templa dispoliant et per deos iurant et eosdem colunt, et Christiani non sunt et sacrilegi tamen deprehenduntur.
On the other hand, all those who plunder temples, swear by the gods, and worship them, are not Christians, and yet are caught in sacrilege.
Longum est, si retexamus, quibus aliis modis et derideantur et contemnantur omnes dii ab ipsis cultoribus suis.
It would be a long story if we were to unravel in what other ways all the gods are both mocked and despised by their very own worshipers.
Sic et circa maiestatem imperatoris infamamur, tamen numquam Albiniani nee Nigriani vel Cassiani inveniri potuerunt Christiani, sed idem ipsi qui per genios eorum in pridie usque iuraverant, qui pro salute eorum hostias et fecerant et voverant, qui Christianos saepe damnaverant, hostes eorum sunt reperti.
In the same way, we are defamed regarding the majesty of the emperor; yet no Albinians, nor Nigerians, nor Cassians could ever be found among the Christians. On the contrary, those very same people who up to the day before had sworn by their genius, who had both offered and vowed sacrifices for their safety, and who had often condemned Christians, were found to be their enemies.
Christianus nullius est hostis, nedum imperatoris, quem sciens a deo suo constitui necesse est ut et ipsum diligat et revereatur et honoret et salvum velit cum toto Romano imperio, quousque saeculum stabit: tamdiu enim stabit.
A Christian is enemy to no one, let alone to the emperor, whom, knowing that he is appointed by his own God, he must of necessity love, revere, honor, and wish safe, with the whole Roman Empire, as long as the world shall stand; for so long will it stand.
Colimus ergo et imperatorem sic quomodo et nobis licet et ipsi expedit, ut hominem a deo secundum et quicquid est a deo consecutum et solo deo minorem.
Therefore, we worship the emperor also, in such a way as is both lawful for us and expedient for him, as a man second to God, having received from God whatever he is, and inferior to God alone.
Hoc et ipse volet.
This he himself will also wish.
Sic enim omnibus maior est, dum solo vero deo minor est.
For in this way he is greater than all, while he is inferior only to the true God.
Sic et ipsis diis maior eat, dum et ipsi in potestate sunt eius.
In this way he is also greater than the gods themselves, while they themselves are in his power.
Itaque et sacrificamus pro salute imperatoris, sed deo nostro et ipsius, sed quomodo praecepit deus, pura prece.
Therefore we also sacrifice for the safety of the emperor, but to our God and his, and in the manner God has commanded, with pure prayer.
Non enim eget deus, conditor universitatis, odoris aut sanguinis alicuius.
For God, the creator of the universe, has no need of any odor or blood.
Haec enim daemoniorum pabula sunt.
These are indeed the food of demons.
Daemones autem non tantum respuimus, verum et revincimus et cottidie traducimus et de hominibus expellimus, sicut plurimis notum est.
But as for demons, we not only reject them, but we also refute them, and daily expose them, and cast them out of men, as is well known to very many.
Ita nos magis oramus pro salute imperatoris, ab eo eam postulantes qui praestare potest.
Thus we pray more for the safety of the emperor, requesting it from Him who is able to grant it.
Et utique ex disciplina patientiae divinae agere nos satis manifestum esse vobis potest, cum tanta hominum multitudo, pars paene maior civitatis cuiusque, in silentio et modestia agimus, singuli forte noti magis quam omnes, nec aliunde noscibiles quam de emendatione vitiorum pristinorum.
And indeed, that we act in accordance with the discipline of divine patience can be sufficiently manifest to you, since we, so great a multitude of men, almost the larger part of every city, conduct ourselves in silence and modesty, known perhaps more as individuals than as a whole body, and recognizable from no other source than the reformation of our former vices.
Absit enim, ut indigne feramus ea nos pati quae optamus, aut ultionem a nobis aliquam machinemur, quam a deo expectamus.
For far be it from us that we should take it ill to suffer those things which we wish, or plot any vengeance of our own, which we expect from God.