M INUCIUS FELIX. 49D you do not condemn theirsacred ritesinstitutedin honour of serpents,and crocodiles,and other beasts,and birds,and fishes,of which ifany one were to killone of these gods,he is even punished with death. These same Egyptians,to gether with very many of you, are not more afraidof Isis than they are of the pungency of onions,nor of Serapis more than they tremble at the basestnoisesproduced by the foulnessof theirbodies. He alsowho fablesagainstus about our adorationof the secretpartsof the priest,triesto confer upon us what belongs reallyto himself. [Istaenim impudicitiaeeorum forsitansacrasint,apud quos sexusomnis membris omnibus prostat,apud quos totaimpudicitiavocatur urbanitas; qui scortorumlicentiaeinvident,qui medios viros lambunt, libidinosoore inguinibus inha?rescunt,homines malae linguaeetiam si tacerent,quos priustasdescitimpudi citiaesuae quam pudescit.] Abomination ! they sufferon themselves such evildeeds,as no age is so effeminateas to be ableto bear,and no slaveryso cruelas to be compelledto endure. CHAPTEE XXIX. Akgument. — Nor is it more true tliata man fastenedto a crosson accountof hiscrimesisworshippedby Christians, for theybelievenot only thatHe was innocent,but with reason thatHe was God. But, on the otherhand, the heathensinvokethedivinepowers of kingsraisedintogods by tliemselves; theypray toimages,and beseechtheirgenii. " These, and such as these infamous things,we are not at libertyeven to hear; it is even disgracefulwith any more words to defend ourselvesfrom such charges. For you pre tend thatthosethingsare done by chasteand modest persons, which we should not believeto be done at all,unlessyou proved that they were true concerning yourselves.For in that you attributeto our religionthe worship of a criminal and hiscross,you wander farfrom the neighbourhoodof the