Again, who among men, either after his death or while yet living, taught about virginity and did not account this virtue impossible for human beings? But Christ our Savior and King of all has so prevailed with His teaching on this subject that even children not yet of lawful age promise that virginity which transcends the law.
And who among men has ever been able to penetrate even to Scythians and Ethiopians, or Parthians or Armenians or those who are said to live beyond Hyrcania, or even the Egyptians and Chaldeans, people who give heed to magic and are more than naturally enslaved by the fear of demons and savage in their habits, and to preach at all about virtue and self-control and against the worshiping of idols, as has the Lord of all, the Power of God, our Lord Jesus Christ?
He not only proclaimed the message through His own disciples but also persuaded people in their understanding to lay aside their savage conduct, cease honoring their ancestral gods, recognize Him, and through Him worship the Father.
While they were yet idolaters, the Greeks and Barbarians were always at war with each other, and were even cruel to their own kith and kin. Nobody could travel by land or sea at all unless he was armed with swords, because of their irreconcilable quarrels with each other.
Indeed, the whole course of their life was carried on with the weapons, and the sword with them replaced the staff and was the mainstay of all aid. All this time, as I said before, they were serving idols and offering sacrifices to demons, and for all the superstitious awe that accompanied this idol worship, nothing could wean them from that warlike spirit.
But when they passed over to the teaching of Christ, then—strangely and truly pierced in their understanding—they laid aside the cruelty of murder and no longer held warlike thoughts. Everything among them became peaceful, and from then on they desired what leads to friendship.