For if I were to care for anybody after you, it would be Paulin, and I can even say
that I would owe it to him more than to my father and more than to you. My father gave me life, and you offered me the throne, but it's Paulin, who taught me the enlightenments
of faith, who deserves my gratitude more than anybody else on this earth. Yes, I owe him my
access to paradise if my innocence and actions allow me to reach it. You know that
he is the one who converted me. None of your scholars could convince me, it was he alone who opened my
eyes, showed me the inconsistency of my religion, and pushed me to enter yours.
You see that the beginning of our friendship was too holy to become, thereafter,
elsewhere. The one who had opened the doors of heaven for me would never have led me on the path to
hell. Also know that even if I was still the Athenian of old times, that is to say, adherent
of that religion where all crimes are allowed by the example of the gods I worshipped, I
would remain just as innocent. Purity is a quality known from all times and by 
all nations, it is so essential to me that nothing can chase it away. Judge if, being of a religion where
modesty is rewarded, I could have act against you and myself. I genuinely believe
that I have made you understand that I could give or not without committing a crime
and that I have shown you with sufficient consistency that Paulin's goodness for you justifies
the goodness that I have for him. Now, regarding the lie that I told in
announcing that I had eaten this fruit, it’s true that I should have told you the truth. But this
mistake does not constitute a crime.
       When you asked me where this apple was, I noticed a disturbance on
your face and anger in your eyes, and the fear of upsetting you overtook me and I did not
think. Consider that if there had been a special relationship between Paulin and me, as soon as you
would have mentioned this apple, I would have suspected that you knew something about it. And in this
case, by false sincerity and by cunning, I would have found an excuse to tell you that
I had sent this fruit to Paulin. But as I had nothing to blame myself for, I made up an
innocent lie to please you without fear that it would be misinterpreted. I made a 
mistake because I was afraid of making one, and an excessively suspicious tenderness made me lose
yours. As I was not prepared for this accusation and I didn't know about the crime
I was being accused of, I then only answered you with tears. My silence and respect were
the only defenses I used to justify myself. A pride a little too scrupulous and austere made me believe that I would tarnish myself by justifying such a thing. I even think
that I would not have spoken to you about it if I didn’t have the intention of distancing myself from you. But Theodosius,
I apologize for everything I said. You are not responsible for my misfortune, I no longer
accuse you. I accept it as a punishment for my past mistakes. I have defended the cause of the Greek gods for too long to win mine today, and it is only fair that 
having fervently supported this cause, I must face the consequences. When I talk about a
truth that matters to me, I do not consider it a lie.