Judgment must come after death, since it does not come in this life
Athenagoras has just argued that the corruptible body must put on incorruptibility so that each person may receive what he did through the body; he now turns to those who disagree about first principles and argues that if there is no judgment, human life is worse than that of beasts, but if there is judgment, it cannot be found in this life.
Against those who acknowledge providence and accept the same principles as we do, but then somehow fall away from their own assumptions, one could use arguments like these, and many more besides, if one wished to expand what has been said briefly and in summary. But against those who differ about the first principles, it would perhaps be well to lay down another starting point before these, joining with them in perplexity about their opinions and examining together with them such questions as this: Has human life been utterly overlooked, and the whole of existence, with some deep darkness poured over the earth, hiding in ignorance and silence both human beings themselves and their deeds? Or is it far more certain to believe that the maker stands over his own works, as overseer of all things that in any way exist or come to be, and judge of deeds and purposes?
For if no judgment anywhere ever comes upon what human beings have done, they will have nothing more than the brute animals. Rather, they will fare more miserably than even those. They restrain their passions and devote themselves to piety and justice or the rest of virtue, while the beastly life is best, virtue is folly, the threat of penalty is a broad joke, serving every pleasure is the greatest good, and the common doctrine of all these and their one law is the motto dear to the licentious and lustful: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." For the end of such a life is not even pleasure, as some say, but complete insensibility.
But if the maker of human beings has any care for his own works, and the distinction between those who have lived well or badly is preserved somewhere, then either it happens in the present life, while those who have lived according to virtue or vice are still alive, or after death, when they are in separation and dissolution. But according to neither of these alternatives is it possible to find just judgment preserved. For neither do the good in the present life receive the rewards of virtue, nor do the wicked receive those of vice.
I pass over saying that, if the nature in which we now exist were preserved, mortal nature could not bear a penalty proportionate to the greater number or weight of the offenses committed. For a robber or ruler or tyrant who has unjustly killed thousands upon thousands could not pay the penalty for these things with one death. And one who holds no true opinion about God, but lives in every outrage and blasphemy, neglecting divine things, overthrowing laws, outraging children and women alike, unjustly razing cities, burning houses with their inhabitants, devastating the countryside, and with these things destroying peoples and nations or even a whole race, how could he in a corruptible body suffice for a penalty proportionate to these deeds, when death anticipates what is deserved and mortal nature is not sufficient even for one of the things he has done? So neither in the present life is judgment according to what is deserved shown, nor after death.
Greek
Πρὸς μὲν οὖν τοὺς ὁμολογοῦντας τὴν πρόνοιαν καὶ τὰς αὐτὰς ἡμῖν παραδεξαμένους ἀρχάς, εἶτα τῶν οἰκείων ὑποθέσεων οὐκ οἶδ᾿ ὅπως ἐκπίπτοντας, τοιούτοις χρήσαιτ᾿ ἄν τις λόγοις καὶ πολλῷ πλείοσι τούτων, εἴ γε πλατύνειν ἐθέλοι τὰ συντόμως καὶ κατ᾿ ἐπιδρομὴν εἰρημένα. Πρὸς δέ γε τοὺς περὶ τῶν πρώτων διαφερομένους ἴσως ἂν ἔχοι καλῶς ἑτέραν ὑποθέσθαι πρὸ τούτων ἀρχήν, συνδιαποροῦντας αὐτοῖς περὶ ὧν δοξάζουσι, καὶ τοιαῦτα συνδιασκεπτομένους, ἆρά γε πάντη καθάπαξ ἡ τῶν ἀνθρώπων παρῶπται ζωὴ καὶ σύμπας ὁ βίος, ζόφος δέ τις βαθὺς κατακέχυται τῆς γῆς, ἀγνοίᾳ καὶ σιγῇ κρύπτων αὐτούς τε τοὺς ἀνθρώπους καὶ τὰς τούτων πράξεις, ἢ πολὺ τούτων ἀσφαλέστερον τὸ δοξάζειν ὅτι τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ ποιήμασιν ἐφέστηκεν ὁ ποιήσας, πάντων τῶν ὁπωσοῦν ὄντων ἢ γινομένων ἔφορος, ἔργων τε καὶ βουλευμάτων κριτής. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ μηδεμία μηδαμοῦ τῶν ἀνθρώποις πεπραγμένων γίνοιτο κρίσις, οὐδὲν ἕξουσι πλεῖον τῶν ἀλόγων ἄνθρωποι· μᾶλλον δὲ κἀκείνων πράξουσιν ἀθλιώτερον, οἱ τὰ πάθη δουλαγωγοῦντες καὶ φροντίζοντες εὐσεβείας καὶ δικαιοσύνης ἢ τῆς ἄλλης ἀρετῆς, ὁ δὲ κτηνώδης βίος ἄριστος, ἀρετὴ δὲ ἀνόητος, δίκης δὲ ἀπειλὴ γέλως πλατύς, τὸ δὲ πᾶσαν θεραπεύειν ἡδονὴν ἀγαθὸν τὸ μέγιστον, δόγμα δὲ κοινὸν τούτων ἁπάντων καὶ νόμος εἷς τὸ τοῖς ἀκολάστοις καὶ λάγνοις φίλον Φάγωμεν καὶ πίωμεν, αὔριον γὰρ ἀποθνήσκομεν. Τοῦ γὰρ τοιούτου βίου τέλος οὐδὲ ἡδονὴ κατά τινας, ἀλλ᾿ ἀναισθησία παντελής. Εἰ δέ ἐστί τις τῷ ποιήσαντι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τῶν ἰδίων ποιημάτων φροντὶς καὶ σώζεταί που τῶν εὖ ἢ κακῶς βεβιωμένων ἡ διάκρισις, ἤτοι κατὰ τὸν παρόντα βίον, ζώντων ἔτι τῶν κατ᾿ ἀρετὴν ἢ κακίαν βεβιωκότων, ἢ μετὰ θάνατον, ἐν χωρισμῷ καὶ διαλύσει τυγχανόντων. Ἀλλὰ κατ᾿ οὐδέτερον τῶν εἰρημένων εὑρεῖν δυνατὸν σωζομένην τὴν δικαίαν κρίσιν· οὔτε γὰρ οἱ σπουδαῖοι κατὰ τὴν παροῦσαν ζωὴν φέρονται τὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐπίχειρα, οὔτε μὴν οἱ φαῦλοι τὰ τῆς κακίας. Παρίημι γὰρ λέγειν ὅτι, σωζομένης τῆς φύσεως ἐν ᾗ νῦν ἐσμέν, οὔθ᾿ ἡ θνητὴ φύσις ἐνεγκεῖν οἷά τε τὴν σύμμετρον δίκην πλειόνων ἢ βαρυτέρων φερομένων πλημμελημάτων. Ὅ τε γὰρ μυρίους ἐπὶ μυρίοις ἀνελὼν ἀδίκως λῃστὴς ἢ δυνάστης ἢ τύραννος οὐκ ἂν ἑνὶ θανάτῳ λύσειε τὴν ἐπὶ τούτοις δίκην· ὅ τε μηδὲν περὶ θεοῦ δοξάζων ἀληθές, ὕβρει δὲ πάσῃ καὶ βλασφημίᾳ συζῶν, καὶ παρορῶν μὲν τὰ θεῖα, καταλύων δὲ νόμους, ὑβρίσας δὲ παῖδας ὁμοῦ καὶ γυναῖκας, κατασκάψας δὲ πόλεις ἀδίκως, ἐμπρήσας δὲ οἴκους μετὰ τῶν ἐνοικούντων καὶ δηϊώσας χώραν, καὶ τούτοις συναφανίσας δήμους καὶ λαοὺς ἢ καὶ σύμπαν ἔθνος, πῶς ἂν ἐν τῷ φθαρτῷ σώματι πρὸς τὴν τούτοις σύμμετρον ἀρκέσειε δίκην, προλαμβάνοντος τοῦ θανάτου τὸ κατ᾿ ἀξίαν καὶ μηδὲ πρὸς ἕν τι τῶν εἰργασμένων τῆς θνητῆς ἐξαρκούσης φύσεως; Οὔτ᾿ οὖν κατὰ τὴν παροῦσαν ζωὴν ἡ κατ᾿ ἀξίαν δείκνυται κρίσις οὔτε μετὰ θάνατον.