The First Apology

Moreover, the Son of God, Jesus, even if He were just a man of natural birth, is still worthy to be called the Son of God because of His wisdom; for all writers refer to God as the Father of men and gods. And if we claim that the Word of God was born of God in a unique way, different from ordinary birth, this should not be surprising to you, since you say that Mercury is the divine word of God. And if someone objects that He was crucified, remember that this is similar to those you consider sons of Jupiter, who also suffered as we have described. Their sufferings at death are noted to be diverse, not the same, so His unique sufferings do not make Him lesser than them; rather, as we stated earlier, we will now prove Him superior—or perhaps we have already done so—because His superiority is demonstrated by His actions. And if we say He was born of a virgin, accept this just as you accept the story of Perseus. And in saying that He healed the lame, the paralyzed, and those born blind, we appear to speak of deeds similar to those attributed to Æsculapius.