Tertullian

“ If that prince was a pious man, then the Christians are impious; if he was just, if he was pure, then the Christians are unjust and impure; if he was not a public enemy, we are enemies of our country: what sort of men we are, our persecutor himself shows, since he of course punished what produced hostility to himself. ”

“ But why should others be able if you are unable? Why should you be able if others are unable? What would you wish impunity (and) eternity to stand you in? [38] Do you suppose that these (blessings) can be bought by us at any price? Have Christians teeth of a different sort from others? ”

“ And up to the present time it is mere report which fights against the Christians. No doubt it has a strong support in the wickedness of the human mind, and utters its falsehoods with more success among cruel and savage men. For the more inclined you are to maliciousness, the more ready are you to believe evil; in short, men more easily believe the evil that is false, than the good which is true. ”

“ Since, therefore, the Christians are not their own betrayers, it follows that it must be strangers. Now I ask, how could strangers obtain knowledge of us, when even true and lawful mysteries exclude every stranger from witnessing them, unless illicit ones are less exclusive? ”

“ Now this, I must say, [18] surpasses all admiration, that that was once for all detected and divulged which is being for ever repeated, unless, forsooth, we have by this time ceased from the reiteration of such things [19] (as are alleged of us) . But we are called still by the same (offensive) name, and we are supposed to be still engaged in the same practices, and we multiply from day to day; the more [20] we are, to the more become we objects of hatred. Hatred increases as the material for it increases. ”

“ Now, do let me ask you, Will such things, when reported by strangers, bear to be spread about (as charges against us) ? It is impossible for such persons to understand proceedings in which they take no part. [25] The first step of the process is perpetrated with artifice; our feasts and our marriages are invented and detailed [26] by ignorant persons, who had never before heard about Christian mysteries. ”

“ Two hundred and fifty years, then, have not yet passed since our life began. During the interval there have been so many criminals; so many crosses have obtained immortality; [11] so many infants have been slain ”