tells the magistrates that Christianity is a stranger upon earth,
and that she expects to meet with enemies in a country which is
not her own. She only asks that she may not be condemned unheard,
and that Roman magistrates will permit her to defend herself;
that the laws of the empire will gather lustre, if judgment be
passed upon her after she has been tried but not if she is
sentenced without a hearing of her cause; that it is unjust to
hate a thing of which we are ignorant, even though it may be a
thing worthy of hate; that the laws of Rome deal with actions,
not with mere names; but that, notwithstanding this, persons have
been punished because they were called Christians, and that
without any accusation of crime.

He then advances to an exposition of the origin, the nature, and
the effects of Christianity, stating that it is founded on the
Hebrew Scriptures, which are the most venerable of all books. He
says to the magistrates: "The books of Moses, in which God has
inclosed, as in a treasure, all the religion of the Jews, and
consequently all the Christian religion, reach far beyond the
oldest you have, even beyond all your public monuments, the
establishment of your state, the foundation of many great
cities--all that is most advanced by you in all ages of history,
and memory of times; the invention of letters, which are the
interpreters of sciences and the guardians of all excellent
things. I think I may say more--beyond your gods, your temples,
your oracles and sacrifices. The author of those books lived a
thousand years before the siege of Troy, and more than fifteen
hundred before Homer." Time is the ally of truth, and wise men
believe nothing but what is certain, and what has been verified
by time. The principal authority of these Scriptures is derived