Sacrifice or Death and the Unjust Judge
Martianus orders Achatius to sacrifice or die, and Achatius answers that punishment for worshiping the true God comes from the judges will not from public law.
Martianus said, "Either sacrifice or die." Achatius answered, "The Dalmatians do the same. They are experts at robbery. They block the narrow passes and the lonely places on the road in order to kill, and they hunt each traveler one by one. When a traveler sets foot there, he is held to a single bargain: he must leave either his money or his life. So no one there asks what is reasonable. He asks only what the man who forces him is able to do."
"Your sentence is like theirs. You order an unjust deed to be carried out, or you threaten destruction. I dread nothing. I fear nothing. Public law punishes the fornicator, the adulterer, the thief, the corrupter of males, the sorcerer, and the murderer. If I am guilty of these crimes, I condemn myself before you even speak. But if I am led to punishment because I worship the true God, then I am condemned not by the will of the law but by the will of the judge."
Achatius says the prophet cries out in warning: "There is no one who seeks God; all have turned aside, and together they have become worthless" (Psalms 14:2-3; Romans 3:11-12). So you cannot clear yourself. For it is written: "In whatever judgment a man judges, so he will be judged." And again: "As you judge, so you will be judged, and as you do, so it will be done to you" (Matthew 7:1-2).
Martianus said, "I was not ordered to judge, but to force. So if you show contempt, be certain of punishment." Achatius answered, "And I was commanded never to deny my God. You serve a fragile man of flesh who will soon depart from this world, and whom you know the worms will soon eat. How much more must I obey the most powerful God, whose power endures forever? His is the saying: 'Whoever denies me before men, I also will deny him before my Father who is in heaven' (Matthew 10:33), when I come in the foretold glory and power to judge the living and the dead."
Greek
IV. Martianus ait: Aut sacrifica, aut morere. respondit Achatius: Haec et Dalmatae faciunt, latrocinandi arte callentes: ubi angustias viarum et secreta itineris loca obsederint ad necandum, venantur singulos transeuntes, et ubi quisque viator illuc pedem tulerit, hac pactione constringitur ut aut pecuniam relinquat aut vitam. nemo itaque ibi quid sit rationis interrogat, sed quid possit ille qui cogit. similis est tua sententia, qui aut iniusta impleri praecipis, aut minaris exitium. nihil formido, nihil timeo. ius publicum punit scortatorem, adulterum, furem, corruptorem sexus virilis, maleficum et homicidam. horum si reus sum, ante vocem tuam iam me ipse condemno; sin vero, eo quod deum qui est verus colo, ducor ad poenam; non legis, sed iudicis voluntate condemnor. propheta clamat interminans: Non est qui inquirat deum; omnes declinaverunt, simul inutiles facti sunt. ideo purgare te non potes. scriptum est enim: Omnis in quo iudicat, sic et iudicabitur. et iterum: Ut iudicas, sic et iudicaberis, et ut facis, sic et erit tibi. Martianus ait: Ego non sum iussus iudicare, sed cogere. unde si contempseris, certus esto de poena. respondit Achatius: Et mihi praeceptum est ne quando deum meum negem. si servis homini fragili atque carnali cito ab hoc saeculo recessuro, quem mox a vermibus scis edendum, quanto magis ego potentissimo deo obedire debeo, cuius virtus constat in saecula? et cuius illud est dictum: Qui me denegaverit coram hominibus, et ego denegabo eum coram patre meo, qui est in caelis, cum venero in gloria et virtute praedicta iudicare vivos et mortuos.