1. In beginning this sixth book, we desire, holy Ambrose, to meet the charges brought by Celsus against Christians, not, as might be supposed, what he has borrowed from philosophy. For he quoted numerous passages, mainly from Plato, making common property of such portions of the sacred Scriptures as might mislead even an intelligent reader, alleging that they have been "better expressed by Greeks, and without the violent expedient of a message supposed to come from God or from the Son of God." Now we maintain that if the aim of those who represent the truth is to do as much good as possible to |63 as many as possible, and out of love for men to win over to the truth, as far as may be, every single man, not only the quick and ready, but also him that is void of understanding: or, to put it another way, not Greeks only, nor Barbarians only,----and it is a mark of great humanity if a man is capable of converting rustics and ignorant folk,----it is obvious that a speaker must cultivate a style both popular and profitable, and such as will win everybody's ear. And men who tell us that they say farewell to the ignorant as being no better than slaves, and to such as have no ear for the close connection of the words and the order of the incidents, and who therefore pay attention only to hearers who have had a literary and scientific bringing up, these men reduce the fellowship of the Gospel to very narrow limits.