IV. Of these great men and doctors and soldiers of
the truth and victors, you are the nurslings and offspring; of these
neither times nor tyrants, reason nor envy, nor fear, nor accuser, nor
slanderer, whether waging open war against them, or plotting secretly;
nor any who appeared to be of our side, nor any stranger, nor
gold—that hidden tyrant, through which now almost everything is
turned upside down and made to depend on the hazard of a die; nor
flatteries nor threats, nor long and distant exiles (for they only
could not be affected by confiscation, because of their great riches,
which were—to possess nothing) nor anything else, whether absent
or present or expected, could induce to take the worse part, and to be
anywise traitor to the Trinity, or to suffer loss of the Godhead.
On the contrary indeed, they grew strong by dangers, and became more
zealous for true religion. For to suffer thus for Christ adds to
one’s love, and is as it were an earnest to high-souled men of
further conflicts. These, O Egypt, are thy present tales and
wonders.