The Second Apology

But neither should we be put to death, nor would wicked men and devils be more powerful than us, if death wasn't a debt owed by every person who is born.

Therefore, we give thanks when we pay this debt. And we consider it right and fitting to recount here, for the sake of Crescens and those who rave like he does, what Xenophon relates. Hercules, Xenophon says, came to a place where three roads met and encountered Virtue and Vice, who appeared to him as women: Vice, in a luxurious dress with a seductive expression enhanced by her adornments, and her eyes full of immediate tenderness, told Hercules that if he followed her, she would always ensure he lived a life of pleasure adorned with the finest ornaments like those on her own person; and Virtue, who looked shabby and poorly dressed, said, "But if you obey me, you will adorn yourself not with passing ornaments or beauty, but with everlasting and precious graces." And we are convinced that everyone who avoids things that seem good and earnestly pursues what seems difficult and strange achieves blessedness.

For Vice, by mimicking what is incorruptible (since she neither has nor can create what is truly incorruptible), disguises her actions with the qualities of virtue and what is truly excellent, leading astray earthly-minded people by attaching her evil qualities to Virtue.

But those who understand the true excellences are also incorrupt in virtue. And every sensible person should think this of both Christians and athletes, and of those who did what poets say about the so-called gods, concluding this from our disdain for death, even when it could be avoided.