The Lives of the Saints Volume 1 - St. Patrick's Basilica

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the object of his desires? It is therefore evident that he could not
foresee things to come, since he was in the dark as to his own fate: and
as clear that he could be no god, who was thus cheated by a creature.
All know likewise that he had a base passion for Hyacinth, a beautiful
boy, and was so awkward as to break the head of that minion, the fond
object of his criminal passion, with a quoit. Is not he also that god
who, with Neptune, turned mason, hired himself to a king, (Laomedon of
Troy,) and built the walls of a city? Would you {684} oblige me to
sacrifice to such a divinity, or to Esculapius, thunderstruck by
Jupiter? or to Venus, whose life was infamous, and to a hundred such
monsters, to whom you offer sacrifice? No, though my life itself
depended on it, ought I to pay divine honors to those whom I should
blush to imitate, and of whom I can entertain no other sentiments than
those of contempt and execration? You adore gods, the imitators of whom
you yourselves would punish." MARTIAN.-"It is usual for you Christians
to raise several calumnies against our gods; for which reason I command
you to come now with me to a banquet in honor of Jupiter and Juno, and
acknowledge and perform what is due to their majesty." ACACIUS.-"How can
I sacrifice to a man whose sepulchre is unquestionably in Crete? What!
Is he risen again?" MARTIAN.-"You must either sacrifice or die."
ACACIUS.-"This is the custom of the Dalmatian robbers; when they have
taken a passenger in a narrow way, they leave him no other choice but to
surrender his money or his life. But, for my part, I declare to you that
I fear nothing that you call do to me. The laws punish adulterers,
thieves, and murderers. Were I guilty of any of those things, I should
be the first man to condemn myself. But if my whole crime be the adoring
of the true God, and I am on this account to be put to death, it is no
longer a law but an injustice." MARTIAN.-"I have no order to judge but
to counsel you to obey. If you refuse, I know how to force you to a
compliance." ACACIUS.-"I have a law which I will obey: this commands me
not to renounce my God. If you think yourself bound to execute the
orders of a man who in a little time hence must leave the world, and his
body become the food of worms, much more strictly am I bound to obey the
omnipotent God, who is infinite and eternal, and who hath declared,
_Whoever shall deny me before men, him will I deny before my Father_."
MARTIAN.-"You now mention the error of your sect which I have long
desired to be informed of: you say then that God hath a son?"
ACACIUS.-"Doubtless he hath one." MARTIAN.-"Who is this son of God?"
ACACIUS.-"The Word of truth and grace." MARTIAN.-"Is that his name?"
ACACIUS.-"You did not ask me his name, but what he is." MARTIAN.-"What
then is his name?" ACACIUS.-"Jesus Christ." Martian having inquired of
the saint by what woman God had this son, he replied, that the divine
generation of the Word is of a different nature from human generation,
and proved it from the language the royal prophet makes use of in the
forty-fourth psalm. MARTIAN.-"Is God then corporeal?" ACACIUS.-"He is
known only to himself. We cannot describe him; he is invisible to us in