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The Second Apology

Justin Martyr

Chapter 11

About this work

A shorter defense responding to recent judicial violence against Christians and arguing that persecution, philosophical reason, human freedom, and Christian hope must be judged justly.

Author: Justin Martyr
Date: c. AD 150–160
Origin: Rome
Genre: Apology

Chapter XI.—How Christians view death.

But neither should we be put to death, nor

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would

wicked

men

and

devils

be

more

powerful

than

we

,

were

not

death

a

debt

due

by

every

man

that

is

born

.

Wherefore

we

give

thanks

when

we

pay

this

debt

.

And

we

judge

it

right

and

opportune

to

tell

here

,

for

the

sake

of

Crescens

and

those

who

rave

as

he

does

,

what

is

Xenophon

.

Hercules

,

says

Xenophon

,

coming

to

a

place

where

three

ways

met

,

found

Virtue

and

Vice

,

who

appeared

to

him

in

the

form

of

women

:

Vice

,

in

a

luxurious

dress

,

and

with

a

seductive

expression

rendered

blooming

by

such

ornaments

,

and

her

eyes

of

a

quickly

melting

tenderness

,

said

to

Hercules

that

if

he

would

follow

her

,

she

would

always

enable

him

to

pass

his

life

in

pleasure

and

adorned

with

the

most

graceful

ornaments

,

such

as

were

then

upon

her

own

person

;

and

Virtue

,

who

was

of

squalid

look

and

dress

,

said

,

But

if

you

obey

me

,

you

shall

adorn

yourself

not

with

ornament

nor

beauty

that

passes

away

and

perishes

,

but

with

everlasting

and

precious

graces

.

And

we

are

persuaded

that

every

one

who

flees

those

things

that

seem

to

be

good

,

and

follows

hard

after

what

are

reckoned

difficult

and

strange

,

enters

into

blessedness

.

For

Vice

,

when

by

imitation

of

what

is

incorruptible

(

for

what

is

really

incorruptible

she

neither

has

nor

can

produce

)

she

has

thrown

around

her

own

actions

,

as

a

disguise

,

the

properties

of

virtue

,

and

qualities

which

are

really

excellent

,

leads

captive

earthly

-

minded

men

,

attaching

to

Virtue

her

own

evil

properties

.

But

those

who

understood

the

excellences

which

belong

to

that

which

is

real

,

are

also

uncorrupt

in

virtue

.

And

this

every

sensible

person

ought

to

think

both

of

Christians

and

of

the

athletes

,

and

of

those

who

did

what

the

poets

relate

of

the

so

-

called

gods

,

concluding

as

much

from

our

contempt

of

death

,

even

when

it

could

be

escaped

.

Notes

19
Another reading is πρὸς τὰς ὄψεις, referring to the eyes of the beholder; and which may be rendered, “speedily fascinating to the sight.”
20
Καὶ φευκτοῦ θανάτου may also be rendered, “even of death which men flee from.”