Octavius opens his reply: truth, not eloquence, must settle the debate
Octavius, the Christian friend, begins his reply to Caecilius's attack on Christianity, addressing the narrator Marcus and the assembled friends.
Octavius replied: "I will speak as best I can, and you must strive with me to wash away the bitter stain of insults with a stream of truthful words. I will not conceal at the outset that my friend Natalis's opinion has wavered, wandering and slippery, so that we must ask whether it has been disturbed by cunning, or whether it has tottered through error. For he has varied between believing in the gods and freeing himself from fear, so that by the uncertainty of his proposition the intention of our response might be founded on even less certainty. But I do not want to see cunning in my Natalis, and I do not believe it: subtle urbanity is far from his simplicity. What then? As a man who does not know the right way, when, as happens, one road splits into several, because he does not know the way, sticks anxiously and dares neither to choose each one nor to approve them all: so it is with a man who has no stable judgment of truth, as unreliable suspicion scatters. Thus his doubtful opinion is dispersed. It is no wonder, then, if Caecilius is repeatedly tossed among contrary and conflicting positions, seething and wavering. To prevent this from happening any further, I will refute and disprove him. Although the things that have been said are diverse, once the one truth has been confirmed and proved, he must neither doubt nor wander any longer.
And since my brother's mind has burst out, saying that he is aggrieved, angry, indignant, and pained that uneducated, poor, and inexperienced people should debate about heavenly matters, let him know that all human beings, without distinction of age, sex, or rank, have been created capable and fit for reason and perception, and that wisdom has not been obtained by fortune, but implanted by nature. Indeed, even the philosophers themselves, or any others who have gone down in memory as discoverers of arts, before their mental skill produced the brilliance of their names, were considered common, untaught, half-naked: so true is it that the rich, entangled in their own resources, are accustomed to admire gold more than heaven, while our poor people have both devised wisdom and handed down learning to others. From this it is clear that talent is not given by wealth nor acquired by study, but is generated with the very formation of the mind.
So no one should be indignant or pained if anyone inquires about divine things and brings forward what he thinks, since what is required is not the authority of the speaker, but the truth of the argument itself. And indeed, the more unpolished the speech, the more brilliant the reason, because it is not colored by the pomp of eloquence and charm, but, as it is, is upheld by the rule of what is right."
Latin
Et Octauius: Dicam equidem, ut potero pro uiribus, et adnitendum tibi mecum est, ut conuiciorum amarissimam labem uerborum ueracium flumine diluamusnec dissimulabo principio ita Natalis mei errantem, uagam, lubricam nutasse sententiam, ut sit nobis ambigendum, utrum uersutia turbata sit, an uacillauerit per errorem.
nam mcerim aeos creaere, mteum se aeliberare uariauit, ut propositionis incerto incertior responsionis nostrae intentio fundaretur. sed in Natali meo uersutiam nolo, non credo: procul est ab eius simplicitate subtilis urbanitas. quid igitur?
ut qui rectam uiam nescit, ubi, ut fit, in plures una cliffinditur, [quia uiam nescit] haeret anxius nec singulas audet eligere nec uniuersas probare: sic cui non est ueri stabile iudicium, prout infida suspicio spargitur.
ita eius dubia opinio dissipatur. nullum itaque miraculum est, si Caecilius identidem in contrariis ac repugnantibus iactetur, aestuet, fluctuetur. quod ne fiat ulterius, conuincam et redarguam. quamuis sint diuersa quae dicta sunt, una ueritate confirmata probataque nec dubitandum ei de cetero est nec uagandum.
et quoniam mens frater erupit, aegre se ferre, stomachari, indignari, dolere, inliteratos, pauperes, inperitos de rebus caelestibus disputare, sciat omnes homines sine dilectu aetatis, sexus, dignitatis rationis et sensus capaces et habiles procreatos nec fortuna nanctos, sed natura insitos esse sapientiam: quin. ipsos etiam philosophos, uel si qui alii artium repertores in memorias exierunt, priusquam sollertia mentis parerent nominis claritatem, habitos esse plebeios, indoctos, seminudos: adeo diuites facultatibus suis inligatos magis aurum suspicere consuesse quam caelum, nostrates pauperes et commentos esse prudentiam et tradidisse ceteris disciplinam. unde apparet ingenium non dari facultatibus nec studio parari, sed cum ipsa mentis formatione generari.
nihil itaque indignandum uel dolendum, si quicumque de diuinis quaerat, quae sentiat proferat, cum non disputantis auctoritas, sed disputationis ipsius ueritas requiratur. atque etiam, quo imperitior sermo, hoc inlustrior ratio est, quoniam non fucatur pompa facundiae et gratiae, sed, ut est, recti regula sustinetur.