Apology

Then I went to one man after another, being not unconscious of the enmity which I provoked, and I lamented and feared this: but necessity was laid upon me,—the word of God, I thought, ought to be considered first. And I said to myself, Go I

they almost made me forget who I was—so persuasively did they speak; and yet they have hardly uttered a word of truth.

And yet, I know that my plainness of speech makes them hate me, and what is their hatred but a proof that I am speaking the truth?