Athenagoras, Legatio sive Supplicatio pro Christianis

Οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλοι, αὐθαίρετοι δὴ οἷοι γεγόνασιν ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἔμειναν ἐφ᾿ οἷς αὐτοὺς ἐποίησεν καὶ διέταξεν ὁ θεός, οἱ δὲ ἐνύβρισαν καὶ τῇ τῆς οὐσίας ὑποστάσει καὶ τῆς ἀρχῇ, οὗτός τε ὁ τῆς ὕλης καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ εἰδῶν ἄρχων καὶ ἕτεροι τῶν περὶ τὸ πρῶτον τοῦτο στερέωμα (ἴστε δὲ μηδὲν ἡμᾶς ἀμάρτυρον λέγειν, ἃ δὲ τοῖς προφήταις ἐκπεφώνηται μηνύειν), ἐκεῖνοι μὲν εἰς ἐπιθυμίαν πεσόντες παρθένων καὶ ἥττους σαρκὸς εὑρεθέντες, οὗτος δὲ ἀμελήσας καὶ πονηρὸς περὶ τὴν τῶν πεπιστευμένων γενόμενος διοίκησιν.

For the others, being free in their choice, as indeed they had been made by God, remained in the things for which God made and appointed them; but some outraged both the constitution of their being and their rule: both this ruler of matter and of the forms in it, and others of those about this first firmament (and know that we say nothing unattested, but report what has been proclaimed by the prophets); those fell into desire for virgins and were found weaker than the flesh, while this one became negligent and wicked in the management of what had been entrusted to him.

Ἐκ μὲν οὖν τῶν περὶ τὰς παρθένους ἐχόντων οἱ καλούμενοι ἐγεννήθησαν γίγαντες. Εἰ δέ τις ἐκ μέρους εἴρηται περὶ τῶν γιγάντων καὶ ποιηταῖς λόγος, μὴ θαυμάσητε, τῆς κοσμικῆς σοφίας καὶ θεολογικῆς ὅσον ἀλήθεια πιθανοῦ διαφέρει διαλλαττουσῶν, καὶ τῆς μὲν οὔσης ἐπουρανίου, τῆς δὲ ἐπιγείου· καὶ κατὰ τὸν ἄρχοντα τῆς ὕλης Ἴσμεν ψεύδεα πολλὰ λέγειν ἐτύμοισιν ὁμοῖα.

From those, then, who went after the virgins were born the so-called giants. And if something about the giants has been said in part by the poets too, do not be surprised: worldly wisdom and theological wisdom differ as much as truth differs from plausibility, the one being heavenly and the other earthly; and, in keeping with the ruler of matter, “we know how to tell many falsehoods like the truth.”

Οὗτοι τοίνυν οἱ ἄγγελοι οἱ ἐκπεσόντες τῶν οὐρανῶν, περὶ τὸν ἀέρα ἔχοντες καὶ τὴν γῆν, οὐκέτι εἰς τὰ ὑπερουράνια ὑπερκύψαι δυνάμενοι, καὶ αἱ τῶν γιγάντων ψυχαὶ οἱ περὶ τὸν κόσμον εἰσὶ πλανώμενοι δαίμονες, ὁμοίας κινήσεις οἱ μὲν αἷς ἔλαβον συστάσεσιν, οἱ δαίμονες, οἱ δὲ αἷς ἔσχον ἐπιθυμίαις, οἱ ἄγγελοι, ποιούμενοι.

These angels, then, who fell from the heavens and keep about the air and the earth, no longer able to peer up into the realms above the heavens, together with the souls of the giants, are the demons who wander about the world, producing movements that match, the demons the natures they received, the angels the desires they conceived.

Ὁ δὲ τῆς ὕλης ἄρχων, ὡς ἔστιν ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν γινομένων ἰδεῖν, ἐναντία τῷ ἀγαθῷ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπιτροπεύει καὶ διοικεῖ. Πολλάκι μοι πραπίδων διῆλθε φροντίς, Εἴτε τύχα εἴτε δαίμων τὰ βιότια κραίνει, Παρὰ τ᾿ ἐλπίδα καὶ παρὰ δίκαν Τοὺς μὲν ἀπ᾿ οἴκων ἀναπίπτοντας Ἄτερ βίου, τοὺς δ᾿ εὐτυχοῦντας ἄγει.

And the ruler of matter, as can be seen from the very things that happen, directs and governs in opposition to the goodness of God. “Often the thought has passed through my mind whether chance or a deity rules the affairs of life, bringing, against hope and against justice, some to fall from their homes without a livelihood, and others to prosper.”

Ὁ δὲ Νερυλλῖνος καὶ ὁ Πρωτεὺς καὶ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος τί πλέον τοῖς νοσοῦσιν; Ἃ γὰρ ἡ εἰκὼν λέγεται νῦν ἐνεργεῖν, ἐνήργει καὶ ζῶντος καὶ νοσοῦντος Νερυλλίνου.

And Neryllinus and Proteus and Alexander: what more do they do for the sick? For what the statue is now said to accomplish, it was accomplishing even while Neryllinus was alive and sick.