Persuading outsiders of the judgment to come
For we too, first of all, because of the many, indeed countless, things that have persuaded us to live according to Christianity, wish, as far as we can, to win all men over to the whole of the Christian teaching. But where we find people already prejudiced by slander against Christians, so that, imagining that Christians are not even pious, they will not so much as lend their ears to those who offer to teach them the things of the divine word, there, out of love for mankind, we take our stand as best we can, so that by establishing at least the doctrines about eternal punishment for the ungodly, we may bring even those who are unwilling to become Christians to accept that teaching.
In the same way we wish to instil conviction about those who have lived well too, since we see that even those who are strangers to the faith say many of the same things as we do about a sound way of life. For one would not find anyone who has wholly lost the common notions about what is noble and what is shameful, what is just and what is unjust.
Let all men, then, seeing the world and the ordered motion in it of the heavens and of the fixed stars, and the order of the so-called planets, which move contrary to the motion of the world; seeing also the tempering of the air for the good of living things, and above all of men, and the abundance of things made for the sake of men, beware of doing anything displeasing to the Creator of the universe and of their own souls and of the mind within them. And let them be convinced that they will be punished for their sins, and that they will be led by Him who orders each according to his desert to rewards in proportion to their right actions or to the works they have duly performed. And let all men be convinced that for their better deeds they will fare well, while the wicked will be wretchedly handed over to toils and torments for their injustices, their licentiousness and intemperance, and also for their unmanliness, their cowardice, and all their folly.
Greek
Καὶ γὰρ ἡμεῖς προηγουμένως μὲν διὰ τὰ πείσαντα ἡμᾶς πολλὰ καὶ μυρία κατὰ χριστιανισμὸν βιοῦν πάντας ἀνθρώπους ὅση δύναμις ὅλοις τοῖς Χριστιανῶν λόγοις οἰκειοῦν βουλόμεθα· ὅπου δὲ προκαταλαμβανομένους εὑρίσκομεν τῇ πρὸς Χριστιανοὺς διαβολῇ, ὡς μηδὲ παρέχειν τὰ ὦτα φαντασίᾳ τοῦ μηδὲ εὐσεβεῖς εἶναι Χριστιανοὺς τοῖς τὰ τοῦ θείου λόγου διδάσκειν ἐπαγγελλομένοις τινὰς, ἐκεῖ κατὰ τὸ φιλάνθρωπον ὅση δύναμις ἱστάμεθα, ἵνα κἂν τὰ περὶ αἰωνίου κολάσεως ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀσεβοῦντας δόγματα κατασκευάσαντες παραδέξασθαι ποιήσωμεν τὸν λόγον καὶ τοὺς μὴ θέλοντας χριστιανίζειν. οὕτω δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν εὖ βιωσάντων πεῖσμα ἐμποιεῖν θέλομεν, ὁρῶντες ὅτι πολλὰ τῶν κατὰ τὸν ὑγιῆ βίον καὶ οἱ τῆς πίστεως ἀλλότριοι ὁμοίως ἡμῖν λέγουσιν· οὐδὲ γὰρ τὰς κοινὰς ἐννοίας περὶ καλῶν καὶ αἰσχρῶν καὶ δικαίων (καὶ ἀδίκων) εὕροι τις ἂν πάντως ἀπολωλεκότα. πάντες οὖν ἄνθρωποι, ὁρῶντες τὸν κόσμον καὶ τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ τεταγμένην οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ ἀπλανεῖ κίνησιν τῶν τε φερομένων ἐναντίως τῇ τοῦ κόσμου κινήσει λεγομένων πλανήτων τάξιν, ὁρῶντες δὲ καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀέρων καὶ πρὸς τὸ χρήσιμον ζῴοις καὶ μάλιστα ἀνθρώποις κρᾶσιν καὶ τὴν ἀφθονίαν τῶν δι᾿ ἀνθρώπους δεδημιουργημένων. εὐλαβείσθωσαν δυσάρεστόν τι ποιῆσαι τῷ δημιουργῷ τοῦ παντὸς καὶ τῶν ψυχῶν αὐτῶν καὶ τοῦ ἐν αὐταῖς νοῦ αὐτῶν, καὶ πεπείσθωσαν κολασθήσεσθαι μὲν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἁμαρτανομένοις ἀχθήσεσθαι δὲ ἀνάλογον τοῖς κατορθωθεῖσιν ἢ τοῖς καθηκόντως ἀποδοθεῖσιν ὑπὸ τοῦ κατ᾿ ἀξίαν ἕκαστον οἰκονομοῦντος ἐπὶ τὰ ἀνάλογον τοῖς κατορθωθεῖσιν ἢ καθηκόντως ἀποδοθεῖσιν ἔργοις (γέρα) · καὶ πεπείσθωσαν πάντες ἄνθρωποι εὖ μὲν ἐπὶ τοῖς βελτίοσιν ἀπαλλάξοντες κακοὶ δὲ κακῶς πόνοις καὶ βασάνοις παραδοθησόμενοι ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀδικήμασι καὶ ταῖς ἀσελγείαις καὶ ἀκολασίαις ἔτι δὲ ἐπὶ τῇ (ἀν) ανδρίᾳ καὶ δειλίᾳ καὶ ἐπὶ πάσῃ τῇ ἀφροσύνῃ.