Cum Abderiten Protagoram Athenienses viri consulte potius quam profane de divinitate disputantem et expulerint suis finibus et in contione eius scripta deusserint, quid? homines (sustinebitis enim me impetum susceptae actionis liberius exerentem) homines, inquam, deploratae, inlicitae ac desperatae factionis grassari in deos non ingemescendum est? Qui de ultima faece collectis imperitioribus et mulieribus credulis sexus sui facilitate labentibus plebem profanae coniurationis instituunt, quae nocturnis congregationibus et ieiuniis sollemnibus et inhumanis cibis non sacro quodam, sed piaculo foederatur, latebrosa et lucifuga natio, in publicum muta, in angulis garrula, templa ut busta despiciunt, deos despuunt, rident sacra, miserentur miseri (si fas est) sacerdotum, honores et purpuras despiciunt, ipsi seminudi! Pro mira stultitia et incredibilis audacia!
When Protagoras of Abdera, by way of debate rather than of profanity, discussed the godhead, the men of Athens expelled him from their borders, and burned his writings in the market-place. Is it not then deplorable that a gang'excuse my vehemence in using strong language for the cause I advocate'a gang, I say, of discredited and proscribed desperadoes band themselves against the gods? Fellows who gather together illiterates from the dregs of the populace and credulous women with the instability natural to their sex, and so organize a rabble of profane conspirators, leagued together by meetings at night and ritual fasts and unnatural repasts, not for any sacred service but for piacular rites, a secret tribe that shuns the light, silent in the open, but talkative in hid corners; they despise temples as if they were tombs; they spit upon the gods; they jeer at our sacred rites; pitiable themselves, they pity (save the mark) our priests; they despise titles and robes of honour, going themselves half-naked! What a pitch of folly! what wild impertinence!
final_alignments\Minucius_Felix_Octavius.json