The First Apology

And again, we are afraid to expose children, in case some of them are not picked up and die, making us murderers. Whether we marry, it is only to raise children; or if we abstain from marriage, we live with self-control. To show that promiscuous intercourse is not one of our beliefs, one of us recently submitted a petition to Felix, the governor in Alexandria, asking for permission for a surgeon to make him a eunuch. The surgeons there claimed they were not allowed to do this without the governor's permission. When Felix refused to grant such permission, the young man decided to remain single and was content with his own clear conscience and the approval of those who shared his views. It is also relevant, we think, to mention Antinous, who was recently alive and whom everyone was quick to worship as a god out of fear, even though they knew who he was and where he came from.