The Proof of Virgins, Martyrs and the Cross

Now these arguments of ours are not mere words. They have the witness of actual experience to their truth. Let anyone who wishes go and see the proof of virtue in the virgins of Christ and in the young men who practice holy chastity, and the assurance of immortality in the great company of his martyrs. And let anyone come who wants to test by experience what we have just said. In the very presence of the deceit of demons, the fraud of oracles and the wonders of magic, let him use the sign of that cross which they laugh at, and he will see how by it demons flee, oracles cease, and all magic and witchcraft is brought to nothing. [a]

Who, then, is this Christ, and how great is he, who by his own name and presence overshadows and brings to nothing everything on every side, who alone is strong against all, and who has filled the whole world with his teaching? Let the Greeks tell us, who love to laugh and feel no shame. For if he is a man, how has one man surpassed the power of all those whom they themselves hold to be gods, and by his own power proved them to be nothing? But if they call him a magician, how can it be that all magic is destroyed by a magician, instead of being strengthened? If he had conquered particular magicians, or overcome just one, it would be fair for them to think that he outdid the rest by superior skill. But if his cross has won the victory over absolutely all magic, and over its very name, it must be plain that the Savior is not a magician, since even the demons whom the other magicians call on flee from him as their Master.

Who he is, then, let the Greeks tell us, whose only serious pursuit is joking. Perhaps they might say that he too was a demon, and that this was the source of his strength. But let them say it as they will; they will be the ones laughed at, for they can be put to shame once more by our earlier proofs. For how can he be a demon who drives the demons out? If he simply drove out particular demons, it might fairly be held that he overcame the lesser ones by the help of the chief of the demons, just as the Jews said to him when they wanted to insult him. But if at the naming of his name all the madness of the demons is rooted out and chased away, it must be clear that here too they are wrong, and that our Lord and Savior Christ is not, as they think, some demonic power. So if the Savior is neither simply a man, nor a magician, nor some demon, but by his own Godhead has brought to nothing and overshadowed the teaching of the poets, the delusion of the demons and the wisdom of the pagans, it must be plain, and everyone will admit, that this is the true Son of God, the Word and Wisdom and Power of the Father from the beginning. This is why his works, too, are not the works of a man. They are recognized to be above man and truly the works of God, both from the facts themselves and from comparison with the rest of mankind.