Library Pseudo-Clement Clementine Homilies
Homily 4, Chapter 23: Whither Shall I Go from Your Presence?
When I had thus spoken, Appion broke in upon my discourse. What!
said he; do not the laws of the Greeks also forbid wickedness, and punish adulterers?
Then said I: Then the gods of the Greeks, who acted contrary to the laws, deserve punishment. But how shall I be able to restrain myself, if I suppose that the gods themselves first practised all wickednesses as well as adultery, and did not suffer punishment; whereas they ought the rather to have suffered, as not being slaves to lust? But if they were subject to it, how were they gods?
Then Appion said: Let us have in our eye not the gods, but the judges; and looking to them, we shall be afraid to sin.
Then I said: This is not fitting, O Appion: for he who has his eye upon men will dare to sin, in hope of escaping detection; but he who sets before his soul the all-seeing God, knowing that he cannot escape His notice, will refrain from sinning even in secret.
English translation in Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VIII (eds. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson; Buffalo: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886). Public domain. Digital text via New Advent Church Fathers.