To Taurus the Patrician

Slanderers have forced me to go beyond the bounds of moderation, and compel me to write to you, who have graced the highest offices and gained the most distinguished honors. So I beg you to forgive me, for I do not write out of self-importance, but because necessity pushes me forward. It is not that I expect to fall unjustly into trouble and distress, for that is the common lot of all who have sincerely served God. It is because I want to convince your excellency that those who accuse my beliefs are bringing false charges against me. From my mother’s breast I have been raised on the teaching of the apostles. The creed laid down at Nicaea by the holy and blessed fathers I have both learned and teach. All who hold any other opinion I charge with ungodliness. And if anyone persists in claiming that I teach the opposite, let him not bring a charge I have no chance to answer, but prove it against me to my face. For this agrees with the laws of God and of men alike. And to whom is it more fitting to champion the wronged than to you, friend of Christ, who are given freedom to speak out by the distinction of your family, the greatness of your rank, and your foremost place in the law? [a]