First Apology 2

Justin Martyr · First Apology · ca. 150–155 · Rome · Read in context

Summary: Justin asks the rulers, who claim to be philosophers, to judge by reason, not rumor; they can kill Christians but not harm them.

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Greek text · Rauschen, 8–10

Τοὺς κατὰ ἀλήθειαν εὐσεβεῖς καὶ φιλοσόφους μόνον τἀληθὲς τιμᾶν καὶ στέργειν ὁ λόγος ὑπαγορεύει, παραιτουμένους δόξαις παλαιῶν ἐξακολουθεῖν, ἂν φαῦλαι ὦσιν· οὐ γὰρ μόνον μὴ ἕπεσθαι τοῖς ἀδίκως τι πράξασιν ἢ δογματίσασιν ὁ σώφρων λόγος ὑπαγορεύει, ἀλλʼ ἐκ παντὸς τρόπου καὶ πρὸ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῆς τὸν φιλαλήθη, κἂν θάνατος ἀπειλῆται, τὰ δίκαια λέγειν τε καὶ πράττειν αἱρεῖσθαι δεῖ. Ὑμεῖς μὲν οὖν ὅτι λέγεσθε εὐσεβεῖς καὶ φιλόσοφοι καὶ φύλακες δικαιοσύνης καὶ ἐρασταὶ παιδείας, ἀκούετε πανταχοῦ· εἰ δὲ καὶ ὑπάρχετε, δειχθήσεται. Οὐ γὰρ κολακεύσοντες ὑμᾶς διὰ τῶνδε τῶν γραμμάτων οὐδὲ πρὸς χάριν ὁμιλήσοντες, ἀλλʼ ἀπαιτήσοντες κατὰ τὸν ἀκριβῆ καὶ ἐξεταστικὸν λόγον τὴν κρίσιν ποιήσασθαι προσεληλύθαμεν, μὴ προλήψει μηδʼ ἀνθρωπαρεσκείᾳ τῇ δεισιδαιμόνων κατεχομένους ἢ ἀλόγῳ ὁρμῇ καὶ χρονίᾳ προκατεσχηκυίᾳ φήμῃ κακῇ τὴν καθʼ ἑαυτῶν ψῆφον φέροντας. Ἡμεῖς μὲν γὰρ πρὸς οὐδενὸς πείσεσθαί τι κακὸν δύνασθαι λελογίσμεθα, ἢν μὴ κακίας ἐργάται ἐλεγχώμεθα ἢ πονηροὶ διεγνώσμεθα· ὑμεῖς δʼ ἀποκτεῖναι μὲν δύνασθε, βλάψαι δʼ οὔ.

English · Claude translation

Reason directs those who are truly pious and philosophers to honor and love only what is true, declining to follow the opinions of the ancients if they are worthless. For sound reason directs not only that we should not follow those who did or taught anything unjustly, but that the lover of truth must by all means, and even before his own life, choose to say and do what is right, even if death is threatened. You, then, hear yourselves everywhere called pious and philosophers and guardians of justice and lovers of learning; but whether you really are will be shown. For we have come, not to flatter you by these writings, nor to speak to win favor, but to ask you to judge according to strict and searching reason, not held back by prejudice or by a wish to please superstitious people, nor by irrational impulse and long-standing evil rumor, to pass sentence against yourselves. For we have reckoned that we can suffer no harm from anyone, unless we are convicted as workers of evil or proved to be wicked; you can kill us, but you cannot harm us.

About this passage

Source

Rauschen, 8–10 · Gerhard Rauschen, ed., S. Iustini Apologiae duae, Florilegium Patristicum 2 (Bonn: Hanstein, 1911), 8–114 · Greek text: G. Rauschen, S. Iustini Apologiae duae (Florilegium Patristicum 2, 1911), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Rauschen, FlorPatr 2. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Rauschen (Florilegium Patristicum 2, 1911); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Extrabiblical texts

Plato, Apol. 30c (Plato (works)) · echo, medium confidence

Topics

Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

The last sentence echoes Socrates (Plato, Apology 30c–d).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (digitization slip against Rauschen's printed text (wrong accent)): ἤ δογματίσασιν → ἢ δογματίσασιν.

Cite this passage

Justin, 1 Apol. 2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-1-apology/2/).

Plain text

Justin, 1 Apol. 2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-1-apology/2/).

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