Not the wicked but the simple
After charging us with so much, he wants to make it plain that he has other things he could say but passes them over in silence. His words run thus: “These things and the like I find fault with, so as not to list them all; and I say that they do wrong in insulting God, in order to lead on wicked men with empty hopes and persuade them to despise better things, on the ground that if they keep away from them it will be better for them.”
To this one might reply, from what actually happens among those who come to Christianity, that it is not so much the wicked who are led on by the word as the simpler sort and, as most people would call them, the unpolished. For these people, through fear of the punishments that are proclaimed, a fear which moves them and urges them to keep away from the things that bring punishment, try to give themselves to the worship of God that Christianity teaches. And the word so masters them that, through fear of what the word calls eternal punishments (Matthew 25:46), they despise every torment men devise against them, and death with countless pains. No one of sound mind would say that this is the work of wicked choices.
How can self-control and chastity, or generosity and readiness to share, be practised out of a wicked choice? Nor can the fear of God spring from such a choice, the fear to which the word, as something useful for the many, calls those who cannot yet see what is to be chosen for its own sake and choose it as the greatest good, above every promise. From all this it follows that such things do not by nature arise in one who chooses to live in wickedness.
Greek
Μετὰ ταῦτα τοσαῦθ᾿ ἡμᾶς αἰτιασάμενος θέλει ἐμφῆναι ὅτι καὶ ἕτερα ἔχων λέγειν παρασιωπᾷ αὐτά. ἔχει δ᾿ οὕτως αὐτοῦ ἡ λέξις· ταῦτα μὲν αἰτιῶμαι καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα, ἵνα μὴ πάντ᾿ ἀπαριθμῶ, καί φημι πλημμελεῖν αὐτοὺς ἐπηρεάζοντας εἰς τὸν θεὸν, ἵνα πονηροὺς ἀνθρώπους ὑπάγωνται κούφαις ἐλπίσι καὶ παραπείσωσι καταφρονῆσαι τῶν κρειττόνων, ὡς, ἐὰν ἀπέχωνται αὐτῶν, ἄμεινον αὐτοῖς ἔσται. καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα δὲ λέγοιτ᾿ ἂν ἀπὸ τῆς περὶ τῶν προσερχομένων χριστιανισμῷ ἐνεργείας ὅτι οὐ πάνυ τι πονηροὶ ὑπάγονται τῷ λόγῳ ὅσον οἱ ἁπλούστεροι καὶ (ὡς ἂν οἱ πολλοὶ ὀνομάσαιεν) ἄκομψοι. οὗτοι γὰρ φόβῳ τῷ περὶ τῶν κολάσεων τῶν ἀπαγγελλομένων. κινοῦντι αὐτοὺς καὶ προτρέποντι ἐπὶ τὸ ἀπέχεσθαι τούτων, δι᾿ ἃ αἱ κολάσεις. πειρῶνται ἐπιδιδόναι ἑαυτοὺς τῇ κατὰ χριστιανισμὸν θεοσεβείᾳ· ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου κρατούμενοι, ὡς φόβῳ τῶν κατὰ τὸν λόγον ὀνομαζομένων αἰωνίων κολάσεων πάσης τῆς παρ᾿ ἀνθρώποις κατ᾿ αὐτῶν ἐπινοουμένης βασάνου καὶ μετὰ μυρίων πόνων θανάτου καταφρονεῖν· ὅπερ οὐδεὶς ἂν τῶν εὖ φρονούντων φήσαι πονηρῶν προαιρέσεων ἔργον εἶναι. πῶς δ᾿ ἀπὸ προαιρέσεως πονηρᾶς ἐγκράτεια καὶ σωφροσύνη ἀσκεῖται ἢ τὸ μεταδοτικὸν καὶ κοινωνικόν; ἀλλ᾿ οὐδ᾿ ὁ πρὸς τὸ θεῖον φόβος, ἐφ᾿ ὃν ὡς χρήσιμον τοῖς πολλοῖς παρακαλεῖ ὁ λόγος τοὺς μηδέπω δυναμένους τὸ δι᾿ αὑτὸ αἱρετὸν βλέπειν καὶ αἱρεῖσθαι αὐτὸ ὡς μέγιστον ἀγαθὸν καὶ ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν ἐπαγγελίαν· ἐξ ὧν οὐ τοῦτο τῷ κατὰ πονηρίαν αἱρουμένῳ ζῆν ἐγγενέσθαι πέφυκεν.