The Jew mocks the dove at the baptism
But so that we may not seem to pass over his main points on purpose, for lack of an answer, we have decided to answer, as well as we can, each of the things he puts forward, paying attention not to the natural connection and sequence of the subjects but to the order of what is written in his book. Come, then, let us see what he says in slandering the Holy Spirit, seen by the Saviour, as it were bodily, in the form of a dove (Luke 3:22). It is still his Jew who says these things, speaking to the one whom we confess to be our Lord, Jesus: “When you were bathing beside John,” he says, “you say that an apparition of a bird flew down on you out of the air.” Then the Jew he has brought in goes on to ask: “What credible witness saw this apparition, or who heard a voice from heaven adopting you as God's Son (Matthew 3:17)? Except that you say so, and bring in one of those who were punished along with you.”
Greek
Ἵνα δὲ μὴ δοκῶμεν ἑκόντες διὰ τὸ ἀπορεῖν ἀπαντήσεως ὑπερβαίνειν αὐτοῦ τὰ κεφάλαια, ἐκρίναμεν ἕκαστον κατὰ δύναμιν λῦσαι τῶν ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ προτιθεμένων. φροντίσαντες οὐ τοῦ ἐν τῇ φύσει τῶν πραγμάτων εἱρμοῦ καὶ ἀκολουθίας ἀλλὰ τῆς τάξεως τῶν ἐν τῇ βίβλῳ αὐτοῦ ἀναγεγραμμένων. φέρ᾿ οὖν ἴδωμεν, τί ποτε καὶ λέγει διαβάλλων τὸ οἷον σωματικῶς ἑωραμένον ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος πνεῦμα ἅγιον εἴδει περιστερᾶς· ἔστι δ᾿ ὁ Ἰουδαῖος αὐτῷ ἔτι ταῦτα λέγων, πρὸς ὃν ὁμολογοῦμεν εἶναι κύριον ἡμῶν τὸν Ἰησοῦν· λουομένῳ, φησὶ, σοὶ παρὰ τῷ Ἰωάννῃ φάσμα ὄρνιθος ἐξ ἀέρος λέγεις ἐπιπτῆναι. εἶτα πυνθανόμενος ὁ παρ᾿ αὐτῷ Ἰουδαῖός φησι· τίς τοῦτο εἶδεν ἀξιόχρεως μάρτυς τὸ φάσμα, ἢ τίς ἤκουσεν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ φωνῆς εἰσποιούσης σε υἱὸν τῷ θεῷ; πλὴν ὅτι σὺ φῂς καί τινα ἕνα ἐπάγῃ τῶν μετὰ σοῦ κεκολασμένων.