As I have noticed that the English translation of the collection of Celsus' fragments from Origen's Against Celsus has disappeared from the web, I thought, I should let you have access to them again (with slight alterations). In the nearer future, I will check further both the collection (originally compiled by Niall Mc Closkey):
FRAGMENTS FROM ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS
[The text in regular type is from Celsus, in
italic type from Origen.]
Book
I
6.
It is by the names of certain demons, and by the use of incantations, that the
Christians appear to be possessed of (miraculous) power.
It
was by means of sorcery that He was able to accomplish the wonders which He
performed; and that foreseeing that others would attain the same knowledge, and
do the same things, making a boast of doing them by help of the power of God,
He excludes such from His kingdom.
If
they [sorcerers] are justly excluded, while He Himself is guilty of the same
practices, He is a wicked man; but if He is not guilty of wickedness in doing
such things, neither are they who do the same as He.
26.
A few years ago he began to teach this doctrine, being regarded by Christians
as the Son of God.
28.
For he [Celsus] represents the Jew disputing with Jesus, and confuting Him, as
he thinks, on many points; and in the first place, he accuses Him of having invented his birth from a virgin, and upbraids Him with
being born in a certain Jewish village, of a poor woman of the country, who
gained her subsistence by spinning, and who was turned out of doors by her
husband, a carpenter by trade, because she was convicted of adultery; that
after being driven away by her husband, and wandering about for a time, she
disgracefully gave birth to Jesus, an illegitimate child, who having hired
himself out as a servant in Egypt on account of his poverty, and having there
acquired some miraculous powers, on which the Egyptians greatly pride
themselves, returned to his own country, highly elated on account of them, and
by means of these proclaimed himself a God.
32.
But let us now return to where the Jew is introduced, speaking of the mother of
Jesus, and saying that "when she was pregnant she was turned out of
doors by the carpenter to whom she had been betrothed, as having been guilty of
adultery, and that she bore a child to a certain soldier named Panthera.
39.
If the mother of Jesus was beautiful, then the god whose nature is not to
love a corruptible body, had intercourse with her because she was beautiful.
It
was improbable that the god would entertain a passion for her, because she was
neither rich nor of royal rank, seeing no one, even of her neighbours, knew
her.
When
hated by her husband, and turned out of doors, she was not saved by divine
power, nor was her story believed. Such things, he says, have no
connection with the kingdom of heaven.
41.
And it is a Jew who addresses the following language to Him whom we acknowledge
to be our Lord Jesus: When you were bathing, says the Jew, beside
John, you say that what had the appearance of a bird from the air alighted upon
you. What credible witness beheld this appearance? or who heard a voice from
heaven declaring you to be the Son of God? What proof is there of it, save your
own assertion, and the statement of another of those individuals who have been
punished along with you?
50.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: Why should it be you alone, rather than innumerable
others, who existed after the prophecies were published, to whom these
predictions are applicable?
[Celsus'
Jewish critic]: The prophecies referred to the events of his life may also suit
other events as well.
[Celsus'
Jewish critic]: If you say that every man, born according to the decree of Divine
Providence, is a son of God, in what respect should you differ from another?
Countless individuals will convict Jesus of falsehood, alleging that those
predictions which were spoken of him were intended of them.
58.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: Chaldeans are spoken of by Jesus as having been
induced to come to him at his birth, and to worship him while yet an infant as
a God, and to have made this known to Herod the tetrarch; and that the latter
sent and slew all the infants that had been born about the same time, thinking
that in this way he would ensure his death among the others; and that he was
led to do this through fear that, if Jesus lived to a sufficient age, he would
obtain the throne.
61.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: But if, then, this was done in order that you might
not reign in his stead when you had grown to man's estate; why, after you did
reach that estate, do you not become a king, instead of you, the Son of God,
wandering about in so mean a condition, hiding yourself through fear, and
leading a miserable life up and down?
62.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: Jesus having gathered around him ten or eleven persons
of notorious character, the very wickedest of tax-gatherers and sailors
fishermen and tax-gatherers, who had not acquired even the merest elements of
learning, fled in company with them from place to place, and obtained his
living in a shameful and importunate manner.
66.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: What need, moreover, was there that you,
while still an infant, should be conveyed into Egypt? Was it to escape being
murdered? But then it was not likely that a God should be afraid of death; and
yet an angel came down from heaven, commanding you and your friends to flee,
lest ye should be captured and put to death! And was not the great God, who had
already sent two angels on your account, able to keep you, His only Son, there
in safety?
67.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: The old mythological fables which attributed a divine
origin to Perseus, and Amphion, and Aeacus, and Minos were not believed by us.
Nevertheless, that they might not appear unworthy of credit, they represented
the deeds of these personages as great and wonderful, and truly beyond the
power of man; but what hast thou done that is noble or wonderful either in deed
or in word? Thou hast made no manifestation to us, although they challenged you
in the temple to exhibit some unmistakable sign that you were the Son of God.
68.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]:; and he adds: Well, let us believe that these cures, or the resurrection,
or the feeding of a multitude with a few loaves, from which many fragments
remained over, or those other stories of a marvelous nature were
actually wrought by you. These are nothing more than
the tricks of jugglers, who profess
to do more wonderful things, and to the feats performed by those who have been
taught by Egyptians, who in the middle of the market-place, in return for a few
obols, will impart the knowledge of their most venerated arts, and will expel
demons from men, and dispel diseases, and invoke the souls of heroes, and
exhibit expensive banquets, and tables, and dishes, and dainties having no real
existence, and who will put in motion, as if alive, what are not really living
animals, but which have only the appearance of life. Since, then, these persons
can perform such feats, shall we of necessity conclude that they are 'sons of
God,' or must we admit that they are the proceedings of wicked men under the
influence of an evil spirit?
69.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: Such a body as yours could not have belonged to God.
The body of god would not have been so generated as you, O Jesus, were.
70.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: The body of a god is not nourished with such food….But
the body of a god does not make use of such a voice as that of Jesus, nor
employ such a method of persuasion as he.
71.[Celsus'
Jewish critic]: These tenets of his were those of a wicked and God-hated
sorcerer.
Book
II
1.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: The converts from Judaism. have forsaken the
law of their fathers, in consequence of their minds being led captive by Jesus;
that they have been most ridiculously deceived, and that they have become
deserters to another name and to another mode of life.
4.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: If any one predicted to us that the Son of God was to
visit mankind, he was one
of our prophets, and the prophet of our God?
John,
who baptized Jesus, was a Jew.
5.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: The resurrection of the dead, and the divine judgment,
and of the rewards to be bestowed upon the just, and of the fire which is to
devour the wicked, are stale doctrines and there is nothing new in your
teaching upon these points.
8.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: Many other persons would appear such as Jesus was,
to those who were willing to be deceived.
[Celsus'
Jewish critic]: The charge is brought against the Jews by the Christian
converts that they have not believed in Jesus as in God.
[Celsus'
Jewish critic]: How should we who have made known to all men that there
is to come from God one who is to punish the wicked, treat him with disregard
when he came? Was it that we might be chastised more than others?
9.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: How should we deem him to be a God, who not only in
other respects, as was currently reported, performed none of his promises, but
who also, after we had convicted him, and condemned him as. deserving of
punishment, was found attempting to conceal himself, and endeavouring to escape
in a most disgraceful manner, and who was betrayed by those whom he called
disciples?
[Celsus'
Jewish critic]: One who was a God could neither flee nor be led away a
prisoner; and least of all could he be deserted and delivered up by those who
had been his associates, and had shared all things in common, and had had him
for their teacher, who was deemed to be a Saviour, and a son of the greatest
God, and an angel.
15.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: The disciples of Jesus, having no undoubted fact on
which to rely, devised the fiction that he foreknew everything before it
happened
16.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: The disciples of Jesus wrote such accounts
regarding him, by way of extenuating the charges that told against him: as if
any one were to say that a certain person was a just man, and yet were to show
that he was guilty of injustice; or that he was pious, and yet had committed
murder; or that he was immortal, and yet was dead; subjoining to all these
statements the remark that he had foretold all these things.
[Celsus'
Jewish critic]: For ye do not even allege this, that he seemed to wicked men to
suffer this punishment, though not undergoing it in reality; but, on the
contrary, ye acknowledge that he openly suffered.
[Celsus'
Jewish critic]: How is it credible that Jesus could have predicted these
things? and how could the dead man be immortal?
17.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: What god, or spirit, or prudent man would not,
on foreseeing that such events were to befall him, avoid them if he could;
whereas he threw himself headlong into those things which he knew beforehand
were to happen?
18.
[Celsus' Jewish critic] How is it that, if Jesus pointed out beforehand both
the traitor and the perjurer, they did not fear him as a God, and cease, the
one from his intended treason, and the other from his perjury?
20.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: These events, he says, he predicted as being a
God, and the prediction must by all means come to pass. God, therefore, who
above all others ought to do good to men, and especially to those of his own
household, led on his own disciples and prophets, with whom he was in the habit
of eating and drinking, to such a degree of wickedness, that they became
impious and unholy men. Now, of a truth, he who shared a man's table would not
be guilty of conspiring against him; but after banqueting with God, he became a
conspirator. And, what is still more absurd, God himself plotted against the
members of his own table, by converting them into traitors and villains!
24.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: Why does he mourn, and lament, and pray to
escape the fear of death, expressing himself in terms like these: 'O Father, if
it be possible, let this cup pass from Me?'
27.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: After this, some of the believers, like persons who in a fit of drunkenness lay violent hands upon themselves, have later corrupted the Gospel from its first Scripture, bu also later modeling it threefold, fourfold and many-fold, so that they might be able to answer objections.
32.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: The makers of the genealogies, from a feeling of
pride, made Jesus to be descended from the first man, and from the kings of the
Jews. and the carpenters wife could not have been ignorant of the
fact, had she been of such illustrious descent.
33
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: But, what great deeds did Jesus perform as
being a God? Did he put his enemies to shame, or bring to a ridiculous
conclusion what was designed against him?
34
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: But, he continues, no calamity
happened even to him who condemned him, as there did to Pentheus, viz., madness
or disception.
35.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: If not before, yet why now, at least, does he not give
some manifestation of his divinity, and free himself from this reproach, and
take vengeance upon those who insult both him and his Father?
41.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: He did not show himself to be pure from all evil.
43.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: You will not, I suppose, say of him, that, after
failing to gain over those who were in this world, he went to Hades to gain
over those who were there.
45.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: In the next place, those who were his associates while
alive, and who listened to his voice, and enjoyed his instructions as their
teacher, on seeing him subjected to punishment and death, neither died with
him, nor for him, nor were even induced to regard punishment with contempt, but
denied even that they were his disciples, whereas now ye die along with him.
48
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: the Christians deemed Jesus to be the Son
of God, because he healed the lame and the blind. and moreover,
because, as they assert, he raised the dead.
49.
O light and truth! he distinctly declares, with his own voice, as ye yourselves
have recorded, that there will come to you even others, employing miracles of a
similar kind, who are wicked men, and sorcerers; and he calls him who makes use
of such devices, one Satan. So that Jesus himself does not deny that these
works at least are not at all divine, but are the acts of wicked men; and being
compelled by the force of truth, he at the same time not only laid open the
doings of others, but convicted himself of the same acts. Is it not, then, a
miserable inference, to conclude from the same works that the one is God and
the other sorcerers? Why ought the others, because of these acts, to be
accounted wicked rather than this man, seeing they have him as their witness
against himself? For he has himself acknowledged that these are not the works
of a divine nature, but the inventions of certain deceivers, and of thoroughly
wicked men.
53.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: Is it not a wretched inference from the same
acts, to conclude that the one is a God, and the others sorcerers?
54.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: By what, then, were you induced (to become his
followers)? Was it because he foretold that after his death he would rise
again?
54.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: Come now, let us grant to you that the prediction was
actually uttered. Yet how many others are there who practise such juggling
tricks, in order to deceive their simple hearers, and who make gain by their
deception?--as was the case, they say, with Zamolxis in Scythia, the slave of
Pythagoras; and with Pythagoras himself in Italy; and with Rhampsinitus in
Egypt (the latter of whom, they say, played at dice with Demeter in Hades, and
returned to the upper world with a golden napkin which he had received from her
as a gift); and also with Orpheus among the Odrysians, and Protesilaus in
Thessaly, and Hercules at Cape Taenarus, and Theseus. But the question is,
whether any one who was really dead ever rose with a veritable body. Or do you
imagine the statements of others not only to be myths, but to have the
appearance of such, while you have discovered a becoming and credible
termination to your drama in the voice from the cross, when he breathed his
last, and in the earthquake and the darkness? That while alive he was of no
assistance to himself, but that when dead he rose again, and showed the marks
of his punishment, and how his hands were pierced with nails: who beheld this?
A half-frantic woman, as you state, and some other one, perhaps, of those who
were engaged in the same system of delusion, who had either dreamed so, owing
to a peculiar state of mind, or under the influence of a wandering imagination
bad formed to himself an appearance according to his own wishes, which has been
the case with numberless individuals; or, which is most probable, one who
desired to impress others with this portent, and by such a falsehood to furnish
an occasion to impostors like himself.
58.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: Do you imagine the statements of others not only to be
myths, but to have the appearance of such, while you have discovered a becoming
and credible termination to your drama in the voice from the cross, when he
breathed his last?
61.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: Jesus accordingly exhibited after His death
only the appearance of wounds received on the cross, and was not in reality so
wounded as He is described to have been.
63.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: if Jesus desired to show that his power was
really divine, he ought to have appeared to those who had ill-treated him, and
to him who had condemned him, and to all men universally.
70.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: And who that is sent as a messenger ever
conceals himself when he ought to make known his message?
[Celsus'
Jewish critic]: While he was in the body, and no one believed upon him, he
preached to ail without intermission; but when he might have produced a
powerful belief in himself after rising from the dead, he showed himself
secretly only to one woman, and to his own boon companions.
[Celsus'
Jewish critic]: While undergoing his punishment he was seen by all, but after
his resurrection only by one.
72.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]: If he wished to remain hid, why was there heard
a voice from heaven proclaiming him to be the Son of God? And if he did not
seek to remain concealed, why was he punished? or why did he die?
73.
[Celsus' Jewish critic]:His having wished, by the punishments which He
underwent, to teach us also to despise death required that after His
resurrection He should openly summon all men to the light, and instruct them in
the object of His coming.
79
The conclusion of all these arguments regarding Jesus is thus stated by the
Jew: He was therefore a man, and of such
a nature, as the truth itself proves, and reason demonstrates him to be.
Book
VII
53.
Seeing you are so eager for some novelty, how much better it would have been if
you had chosen as the object of your zealous homage some one of those who died
a glorious death, and whose divinity might have received the support of some
myth to perpetuate his memory! Why, if you were not satisfied with Hercules or
Aesculapius, and other heroes of antiquity, you had Orpheus, who was
confessedly a divinely inspired man, who died a violent death. But perhaps some
others have taken him up before you. You may then take Anaxarchus, who, when
cast into a mortar, and beaten most barbarously, showed a noble contempt for
his suffering, and said, 'Beat, beat the shell of Anaxarchus, for himself you
do not beat,'--a speech surely of a spirit truly divine. But others were before
you in following his interpretation of the laws of nature. Might you not, then,
take Epictetus, who, when his master was twisting his leg, said, smiling and.
unmoved, 'You will break my leg;' and when it was broken, he added, Did I not
tell you that you would break it?' What saying equal to these did your god'
utter under suffering? If you had said even of the Sibyl, whose authority some
of you acknowledge, that she was a child of God, you would have said something
more reasonable. But you have had the presumption to include in her writings
many impious things, and set up as a god one who ended a most infamous life by
a most miserable death. How much more suitable than he would have been Jonah in
the whale's belly, or Daniel delivered from the wild beasts, or any of a still
more portentous kind!
Book
I
2.
Judaism, upon which Christianity depends, is barbarous in its origin. They
deserve credit for their ability in discovering true doctrines but the Greeks
are more skillful than any others in judging, establishing, and reducing to
practice the discoveries of barbarous nations.
Book
IV
2.
But that certain Christians and (all) Jews should maintain, the former that there
has already descended, the latter that there will descend, upon the earth a
certain God, or Son of a God, who will make the inhabitants of the earth
righteous, is a most shameless assertion, and one the refutation of which does
not need many words.
3.
What is the meaning of such a descent upon the part of God? Was it in order to
learn what goes on amongst men? Does he not know all things?
Then
he does know, but does not make (men) better, nor is it possible for him by
means of his divine power to make (men) better.
5. The
illustrious Celsus, taking occasion I know not from what, next raises an
additional objection against us, as if we asserted that "God Himself
will come down to men." He imagines also that it follows from this,
that He has left His own abode.
If
you were to change a single one, even the least, of things on earth, all things
would be overturned and disappear.
6.
Now God, being unknown amongst men, and deeming himself on that account to have
less than his due, would desire to make himself known, and to make trial both
of those who believe upon him and of those who do not, like those of mankind
who have recently come into the possession of riches, and who make a display of
their wealth; and thus they testify to an excessive but very mortal ambition on
the part of God.
Nay,
not even with the desire to try those who do or who do not believe upon Him,
does He, by His unspeakable and divine power, Himself take up His abode in
certain individuals, or send His Christ.
God
does not desire to make himself known for his own sake, but because he wishes
to bestow upon us the knowledge of himself for the sake of our salvation, in
order that those who accept it may become virtuous and be saved, while those
who do not accept may be shown to be wicked and be punished." And yet,
after making such a statement, he raises a new objection, saying:
"After so long a period of time, then, did God now bethink himself of
making men live righteous lives, but neglect to do so before?
10
it is perfectly manifest that they babble about God in a way that is neither
holy nor reverential; and he imagines that we do these things to excite
the astonishment of the ignorant, and that we do not speak the truth
regarding the necessity of punishments for those who have sinned. And
accordingly he likens us to those who in the Bacchic mysteries introduce
phantoms and objects of terror.
11
The belief has spread among them, from a misunderstanding of the accounts of
these occurrences, that after lengthened cycles of time, and the returns and
conjunctions of planets, conflagrations and floods are wont to happen, and
because after the last flood, which took place in the time of Deucalion, the
lapse of time, agreeably to the vicissitude of all things, requires a
conflagration and this made them give utterance to the erroneous opinion that
God will descend, bringing fire like a torturer.
14.
And again," he says, "let us resume the subject from the
beginning, with a larger array of proofs. And I make no new statement, but say
what has been long settled. God is good, and beautiful, and blessed, and that
in the best and most beautiful degree. But if he come down among men, he must
undergo a change, and a change from good to evil, from virtue to vice, from
happiness to misery, and from best to worst. Who, then, would make choice of
such a change? It is the nature of a mortal, indeed, to undergo change and
remoulding, but of an immortal to remain the same and unaltered. God, then,
could not admit of such a change.
18.
God either really changes himself, as these assert, into a mortal body, and the
impossibility of that has been already declared; Or else he does not undergo a
change, but only causes the beholders to imagine so, and thus deceives them,
and is guilty of falsehood. Now deceit and falsehood are nothing but evils, and
would only be employed as a medicine, either in the case of sick and lunatic
friends, with a view to their cure, or in that of enemies when one is taking
measures to escape danger. But no sick man or lunatic is a friend of God, nor
does God fear any one to such a degree as to shun danger by leading him into
error.
20.
According to Celsus, the Jews say that (human) life, being filled with
all wickedness, needed one sent from God, that the wicked might be punished,
and all things purified in a manner analogous to the first deluge which
happened.
21.
But I do not understand how he can imagine the overturning of the tower
(of Babel) to have happened with a similar object to that of the deluge, which
effected a purification of the earth, according to the accounts both of Jews
and Christians.
The
destruction by fire, moreover, of Sodom and Gomorrah on account of their sins, related
by Moses in Genesis, is compared by Celsus to the story of Phaethon.
22
The Christians, making certain additional statements to those of the Jews,
assert that the Son of God has been already sent on account of the sins of the
Jews; and that the Jews hating chastised Jesus, and given him gall to drink,
have brought upon themselves the divine wrath.
23.
In the next place, ridiculing after his usual style the race of Jews and
Christians, he compares them all to a flight of bats or to a swarm of ants
issuing out of their nest, or to frogs holding council in a marsh, or to worms
crawling together in the comer of a dunghill, and quarreling with one another
as to which of them were the greater sinners, and asserting that God shows and
announces to us all things beforehand; and that, abandoning the whole world,
and the regions of heaven, and this great earth, he becomes a citizen among us
alone, and to us alone makes his intimations, and does not cease sending and
inquiring, in what way we may be associated with him for ever. And in his
fictitious representation, he compares us to worms which assert that there
is a God, and that immediately after him, we who are made by him are altogether
like unto God, and that all things have been made subject to us,--earth, and
water, and air, and stars,--and that all things exist for our sake, and are
ordained to be subject to us. And, according to his representation, the
worms--that is, we ourselves--say that "now, since certain amongst us
commit sin, God will come or will send his Son to consume the wicked with fire,
that the rest of us may have eternal life with him. And to all this he
subjoins the remark, that such wranglings would be more endurable amongst
worms and frogs than betwixt Jews and Christians.
31.
After this, wishing to prove that there is no difference between Jews and
Christians, and those animals previously enumerated by him, he asserts that the
Jews were fugitives from Egypt, who never performed anything worthy of
note, and never were held in any reputation or account.
He
states that they were never held in any reputation or account because no remarkable event in their history is found recorded by
the Greeks
33.
Immediately after this, Celsus, assailing the contents of the first book of
Moses, which is entitled "Genesis," asserts that the Jews
accordingly endeavoured to derive their origin from the first race of jugglers
and deceivers, appealing to the testimony of dark and ambiguous words, whose
meaning was veiled in obscurity, and which they misinterpreted to the unlearned
and ignorant, and that, too, when such a point had never been called in
question during the long preceding period.
And
he hazarded the assertion, in speaking of those names, from which the Jews
deduce their genealogies, that
never, during the long antecedent period, has there been any dispute about
these names, but that at the present time the Jews dispute about them with
certain others.
36.
Celsus in the next place, producing from history other than that of the
divine record, those passages which bear upon the claims to great antiquity put
forth by many nations, as the Athenians, and Egyptians, and Arcadians,
and Phrygians, who assert that certain individuals have existed among them who
sprang from the earth, and who each adduce proofs of these assertions, says:
"The Jews, then, leading a grovelling life in some comer of Palestine, and
being a wholly uneducated people, who had not heard that these matters had been
committed to verse long ago by Hesiod and innumerable other inspired men, wove
together some most incredible and insipid stories, viz., that a certain man was
formed by the hands of God, and had breathed into him the breath of life, and
that a woman was taken from his side, and that God issued certain commands, and
that a serpent opposed these, and gained a victory over the commandments of
God; thus relating certain old wives' fables, and most impiously representing
God as weak at the very beginning (of things), and unable to convince even a
single human being whom He Himself had formed.
He
imagines that Hesiod and the innumerable"
others, whom he styles inspired men, are older than Moses and his
writings--that very Moses who is shown to be much older than the time of the
Trojan war!
37 He
charges us, moreover, with introducing a man formed by the hands of God and
given breath.
41.
They speak, in the next place, of a deluge, and of a monstrous ark, having
within it all things, and of a dove and a crow as messengers, falsifying and
recklessly altering the story of Deucalion; not expecting, I suppose, that
these things would come to light, but imagining that they were inventing
stories merely for young children.
43.
Altogether absurd, and out of season, he continues, is the (account of
the) begetting of children where, although he has mentioned no names, it is
evident that he is referring to the history of Abraham and Sarah. Cavilling
also at the conspiracies of the brothers, he allies either to the story
of Cain plotting against Abel, or, in addition, to that of Esau against Jacob;
and (speaking) of a father's sorrow, he probably refers to that of Isaac
on account of the absence of Jacob, and perhaps also to that of Jacob because
of Joseph having been sold into Egypt. And when relating the crafty
procedure of mothers, I suppose he means the conduct of Rebecca, who
contrived that the blessing of Isaac should descend, not upon Esau, but upon
Jacob. Now if we assert that in all these cases God interposed in a very
marked degree, what absurdity do we commit?
He
says that God presented his sons with asses,
and sheep, and camels.
44.
He has characterized the story of Lot and his daughters (without examining
either its literal or its figurative meaning) as worse than the crimes of
Thyestes.
46.
Celsus, moreover, sneers at the hatred of Esau.
Although
not clearly stating the story of Simeon and Levi he inveighs against their
conduct.
brothers
selling (one another), alluding to the sons of Jacob; and of a brother
sold, Joseph to wit; and of a father deceived, viz., Jacob.
47.
Celsus next, for form's sake, and with great want of precision, speaks of
the dreams of the chief butler and chief baker.
He
adds: He who had been sold behaved kindly
to his brethren (who had sold him), when they were suffering from hunger, and
had been sent with their asses to purchase (provisions); although he has not
related these occurrences (in his treatise).
He
relates, further, that Joseph, who
had been sold as a slave, was restored to liberty, and went up with a solemn
procession to his father's funeral, and thinks that the narrative furnishes
matter of accusation against us, as he makes the following remark: By whom
(Joseph, namely) the illustrious and divine nation of the Jews, after growing
up in Egypt to be a multitude of people, was commanded to sojourn somewhere
beyond the limits of the kingdom, and to pasture their flocks in districts of
no repute.
48.
In the next place, as if he had devoted himself solely to the manifestation
of his hatred and dislike of the Jewish and Christian doctrine, he says:
The more modest of Jewish and Christian writers give all these things an allegorical
meaning; and, Because they are ashamed of these things, they take refuge
in allegory.
49.
If Celsus had read the Scriptures in an impartial spirit, he would not have
said that our writings are incapable of admitting an allegorical meaning.
50.
The more modest among the Jews and Christians endeavour somehow to give these
stories an allegorical signification, although some of them do not admit of
this, but on the contrary admit that they are exceedingly silly inventions.
51.
The allegorical explanations, however, which have been devised are much more
shameful and absurd than the fables themselves, inasmuch as they endeavour to
unite with marvelous and altogether insensate folly things which cannot at all
be made to harmonize.
Book
V
2.
O Jews and Christians, no God or son of a God either came or will come down (to
earth). But if you mean that certain angels did so, then what do you call them?
Are they gods, or some other race of beings? Some other race of beings
(doubtless), and in all probability demons.
6.
The first point relating to the Jews which is fitted to excite wonder, is that
they should worship the heaven and the angels who dwell therein, and yet pass
by and neglect its most venerable and powerful parts, as the sun, the moon, and
the other heavenly bodies, both fixed stars and planets, as if it were possible
that 'the whole' could be God, and yet its parts not divine; or (as if it were
reasonable) to treat with the greatest respect those who are said to appear to
such as are in darkness somewhere, blinded by some crooked sorcery, or dreaming
dreams through the influence of shadowy spectres, while those who prophesy so
clearly and strikingly to all men, by means of whom rain, and heat, and clouds,
and thunder (to which they offer worship), and lightnings, and fruits, and all
kinds of productiveness, are brought about,--by means of whom God is revealed
to them,--the most prominent heralds among those beings that are above,--those
that are truly heavenly angels,--are to be regarded as of no account!
14.
It is folly on their part to suppose that when God, as if He were a cook,
introduces the fire (which is to consume the world), all the rest of the human
race will be burnt up, while they alone will remain, not only such of them as
are then alive, but also those who are long since dead, which latter will arise
from the earth clothed with the self-same flesh (as during life); for such a
hope is simply one which might be cherished by worms. For what sort of human
soul is that which would still long for a body that had been subject to
corruption? Whence, also, this opinion of yours is not shared by some of the
Christians, and they pronounce it to be exceedingly vile, and loathsome, and
impossible; for what kind of body is that which, after being completely
corrupted, can return to its original nature, and to that self-same first
condition out of which it fell into dissolution? Being unable to return any
answer, they betake themselves to a most absurd refuge, viz., that all things
are possible to God. And yet God cannot do things that are disgraceful, nor
does He wish to do things that are contrary to His nature; nor, if (in
accordance with the wickedness of your own heart) you desired anything that was
evil, would God accomplish it; nor must you believe at once that it will be
done. For God does not rule the world in order to satisfy inordinate desires,
or to allow disorder and confusion, but to govern a nature that is upright and
just. For the soul, indeed, He might be able to provide an everlasting life;
while dead bodies, on the contrary, are, as Heraclitus observes, more worthless
than dung. God, however, neither can nor will declare, contrary to all reason,
that the flesh, which is full of those things which it is not even honourable
to mention, is to exist for ever. For He is the reason of all things that
exist, and therefore can do nothing either contrary to reason or contrary to
Himself.
25.
As the Jews, then, became a peculiar people, and enacted laws in keeping with
the customs of their country, and maintain them up to the present time, and
observe a mode of worship which, whatever be its nature, is yet derived from
their fathers, they act in these respects like other men, because each nation
retains its ancestral customs, whatever they are, if they happen to be
established among them. And such an arrangement appears to be advantageous, not
only because it has occurred to the mind of other nations to decide some things
differently, but also because it is a duty to protect what has been established
for the public advantage; and also because, in all probability, the various
quarters of the earth were from the beginning allotted to different
superintending spirits, and were thus distributed among certain governing
powers, and in this manner the administration of the world is carried on. And
whatever is done among each nation in this way would be rightly done, wherever
it was agreeable to the wishes (of the superintending powers), while it would
be an act of impiety to get rid of the institutions established from the
beginning in the various places.
33.
Let the second party come forward; and I shall ask them whence they come, and
whom they regard as the originator of their ancestral customs. They will reply,
No one, because they spring from the same source as the Jews themselves, and
derive their instruction and superintendence from no other quarter, and
notwithstanding they have revolted from the Jews.
34.
We might adduce Herodotus as a witness on this point, for he expresses himself
as follows: 'For the people of the cities Mares and Apis, who inhabit those
parts of Egypt that are adjacent to Libya, and who look upon themselves as
Libyans, and not as Egyptians, finding their sacrificial worship oppressive,
and wishing not to be excluded from the use of cows' flesh, sent to the oracle
of Jupiter Ammon, saying that there was no relationship between them and the
Egyptians, that they dwelt outside the Delta, that there was no community of
sentiment between them and the Egyptians, and that they wished to be allowed to
partake of all kinds of food. But the god would not allow them to do as they
desired, saying that that country was a part of Egypt, which was watered by the
inundation of the Nile, and that those were Egyptians who dwell to the south of
the city of Elephantine, and drink of the river Nile.' Such is the narrative of
Herodotus. But," continues Celsus, "Ammon in divine things would not
make a worse ambassador than the angels of the Jews, so that there is nothing
wrong in each nation observing its established method of worship. Of a truth,
we shall find very great differences prevailing among the nations, and yet each
seems to deem its own by far the best. Those inhabitants of Ethiopia who dwell
in Meroe worship Jupiter and Bacchus alone; the Arabians, Urania and Bacchus
only; all the Egyptians, Osiris and Isis; the Saites, Minerva; while the
Naucratites have recently classed Serapis among their deities, and the rest
according to their respective laws. And some abstain from the flesh of sheep,
and others from that of crocodiles; others, again, from that of cows, while
they regard swine's flesh with loathing. The Scythians, indeed, regard it as a
noble act to banquet upon human beings. Among the Indians, too, there are some
who deem themselves discharging a holy duty in eating their fathers, and this
is mentioned in a certain passage by Herodotus. For the sake of credibility, I
shall again quote his very words, for he writes as follows: 'For if any one
were to make this proposal to all men, viz., to bid him select out of all
existing laws the best, each would choose, after examination, those of his own
country. Men each consider their own laws much the best, and therefore it is
not likely than any other than a madman would make these things a subject of
ridicule. But that such are the conclusions of all men regarding the laws, may
be determined by many other evidences, and especially by the following
illustration. Darius, during his reign, having summoned before him those Greeks
who happened to be present at the time, inquired of them for how much they
would be willing to eat their deceased fathers? their answer was, that for no
consideration would they do such a thing. After this, Darius summoned those
Indians who are called Callatians. who are in the habit of eating their
parents, and asked of them in the presence of these Greeks, who learned what
passed through an interpreter, for what amount of money they would undertake to
burn their deceased fathers with fire? on which they raised a loud shout, and bade
the king say no more. Such is the way, then, in which these matters are
regarded. And Pindar appears to me to be right in saying that 'law' is the king
of all things.
41.
If, then, in these respects the Jews were carefully to preserve their own law, they
are not to be blamed for so doing, but those persons rather who have forsaken
their own usages, and adopted those of the Jews. And if they pride themselves
on it, as being possessed of superior wisdom, and keep aloof from intercourse
with others, as not being equally pure with themselves, they have already heard
that their doctrine concerning heaven is not peculiar to them, but, to pass by
all others, is one which has long ago been received by the Persians, as
Herodotus somewhere mentions. 'For they have a custom,' he says, 'of going up
to the tops of the mountains, and of offering sacrifices to Jupiter, giving the
name of Jupiter to the whole circle of the heavens.'
And
I think that it makes no difference whether you call the highest being Zeus, or
Zen, or Adonai, or Sabaoth, or Ammoun like the Egyptians, or Pappaeus like the
Scythians. Nor would they be deemed at all holier than others in this respect,
that they observe the rite of circumcision, for this was done by the Egyptians
and Colchians before them; nor because they abstain from swine's flesh, for the
Egyptians practised abstinence not only from it, but from the flesh of goats,
and sheep, and oxen, and fishes as well; while Pythagoras and his disciples do
not eat beans, nor anything that contains life. It is not probable, however,
that they enjoy God's favour, or are loved by Him differently from others, or
that angels were sent from heaven to them alone, as if they had had allotted to
them 'some region of the blessed,' for we see both themselves and the country
of which they were deemed worthy. Let this band, then, take its departure,
after paying the penalty of its vaunting, not having a knowledge of the great
God, but being led away and deceived by the artifices of Moses, having become
his pupil to no good end.
52.
Let us then pass over the refutations which might be adduced against the claims
of their teacher, and let him be regarded as really an angel. But is he the
first and only one who came (to men), or were there others before him? If they
should say that he is the only one, they would be convicted of telling lies
against themselves. For they assert that on many occasions others came, and
sixty or seventy of them together, and that these became wicked, and were cast
under the earth and punished with chains, and that from this source originate
the warm springs, which are their tears; and, moreover, that there came an
angel to the tomb of this said being--according to some, indeed, one, but
according to others, two--who answered the women that he had arisen. For the
Son of God could not himself, as it seems, open the tomb, but needed the help
of another to roll away the stone. And again, on account of the pregnancy of
Mary, there came an angel to the carpenter, and once more another angel, in
order that they might take up the young Child and flee away (into Egypt). But
what need is there to particularize everything, or to count up the number of
angels said to have been sent to Moses, and others amongst them? If, then, others
were sent, it is manifest that he also came from the same God. But he may be
supposed to have the appearance of announcing something of greater importance
(than those who preceded him), as if the Jews had been committing sin, or
corrupting their religion, or doing deeds of impiety; for these things are
obscurely hinted at.
54.
And so he is not the only one who is recorded to have visited the human race,
as even those who, under pretext of teaching in the name of Jesus, have
apostatized from the Creator as an inferior being, and have given in their
adherence to one who is a superior God and father of him who visited (the
world), assert that before him certain beings came from the Creator to visit
the human race.
59.
The Jews accordingly, and the Christians have the same God.
It
is certain, indeed, that the members of the great Church admit this, and adopt
as true the accounts regarding the creation of the world which are current
among the Jews, viz., concerning the six days and the seventh.
61.
Some of them will concede that their God is the same as that of the Jews, while
others will maintain that he is a different one, to whom the latter is in
opposition, and that it was from the former that the Son came. There is a third
class who call certain persons "carnal," and others
"spiritual" and there are some who give themselves out as Gnostics.
There are some who accept Jesus, and who boast on that account of being
Christians, and yet would regulate their lives, like the Jewish multitude, in
accordance with the Jewish law.
62.
Certain Simonians exist who worship Helene, or Helenus, as their teacher, and
are called Helenians, certain Marcellians, so called from Marcellina, and
Harpocratians from Salome, and others who derive their name from Mariamme, and
others again from Martha and Marcionites, whose leader was Marcion.
63.
There are others who have wickedly invented some being as their teacher and
demon, and who wallow about in a great darkness, more unholy and accursed than
that of the companions of the Egyptian Antinous.
65.
You may hear all those who differ so widely saying, 'The world is crucified to
me, and I unto the world'.
Those
Christians who have made progress in their studies say that they are possessed
of greater knowledge than the Jews.
Book
I
9
Celsus urges us to follow reason and a rational guide in accepting
doctrines because anyone who believes people without so doing is certain to be
deceived. He compares those who believe without rational thought to the begging
priests of Cybele and soothsayers and to the worshippers of Mithras and
Sabazius and whatever else one may meet such as apparitions of Hecate and or
some other daimons. For just as among them scoundrels frequently take advantage
of the lack of education of gullible people and lead them wherever they wish so
also this happens among the Christians. Some Christians do not even wish to
give or to receive a reason for what they believe and use such expressions as
`Do not ask questions: just believe', and` Thy faith will save thee. He
writes also that some Christians say: `The wisdom in the world is evil, and
foolishness a good thing''
Book
III
10.
Christians at first were few in number, and held the same opinions; but
when they grew to be a great multitude, they were divided and separated, each
wishing to have his own individual party: for this was their object from the
beginning."
12.
Being thus separated through their numbers, they confute one another, still
having, so to speak, one name in common, if indeed they still retain it. And
this is the only thing which they are yet ashamed to abandon, while other
matters are determined in different ways by the various sects.
14.
Their union is the more wonderful, the more it can be shown to be based on no
substantial reason. And yet rebellion is a substantial reason, as well as the
advantages which accrue from it, and the fear of external enemies. Such are the
causes which give stability to their faith.
16.
Christians weave together erroneous opinions drawn from ancient sources, and
trumpet them aloud, and sound them before men, as the priests of Cybele clash
their cymbals in the ears of those who are being initiated in their mysteries.
44
The following are the rules laid down by them. Let no one come to us who has
been instructed, or who is wise or prudent (for such qualifications are deemed
evil by us); but if there be any ignorant, or unintelligent, or uninstructed,
or foolish persons, let them come with confidence. By which words,
acknowledging that such individuals are worthy of their God, they manifestly
show that they desire and are able to gain over only the silly, and the mean,
and the stupid, with women and children.
50
Nay, we see, indeed, that even those individuals, who in the market-places
perform the most disgraceful tricks, and who gather crowds around them, would
never approach an assembly of wise men, nor dare to exhibit their arts among
them; but wherever they see young men, and a mob of slaves, and a gathering of
unintelligent persons, thither they thrust themselves in, and show themselves
off.
55
We see, indeed, in private houses workers in wool and leather, and fullers, and
persons of the most uninstructed and rustic character, not venturing to utter a
word in the presence of their elders and wiser masters; but when they get hold
of the children privately, and certain women as ignorant as themselves, they
pour forth wonderful statements, to the effect that they ought not to give heed
to their father and to their teachers, but should obey them; that the former
are foolish and stupid, and neither know nor can perform anything that is
really good, being preoccupied with empty trifles; that they alone know how men
ought to live, and that, if the children obey them, they will both be happy
themselves, and will make their home happy also. And while thus speaking, if
they see one of the instructors of youth approaching, or one of the more
intelligent class, or even the father himself, the more timid among them become
afraid, while the more forward incite the children to throw off the yoke,
whispering that in the presence of father and teachers they neither will nor
can explain to them any good thing, seeing they turn away with aversion from
the silliness and stupidity of such persons as being altogether corrupt, and
far advanced in wickedness, and such as would inflict punishment upon them; but
that if they wish (to avail themselves of their aid,) they must leave their
father and their instructors, and go with the women and their playfellows to
the women's apartments, or to the leather shop, or to the fuller's shop, that
they may attain to perfection;--and by words like these they gain them over.
75
The teacher of Christianity acts like a person who promises to restore patients
to bodily health, but who prevents them from consulting skilled physicians, by
whom his ignorance would be exposed.
We
do not betake ourselves then to
young persons and silly rustics, saying to them, Flee from physicians. Nor
do we say, See that none of you lay hold of knowledge; nor do we assert
that knowledge is an evil; nor are we mad enough to say that
knowledge causes men to lose their soundness of mind. We would not even say
that any one ever perished through wisdom; and although we give
instruction, we never say, Give heed to me, but "Give heed to
the God of all things, and to Jesus, the giver of instruction concerning Him.
And none of us is so great a braggart as to say what Celsus put in the mouth of
one of our teachers to his acquaintances, I alone will save you. Observe
here the lies which he utters against us! Moreover, we do not assert that true
physicians destroy those whom they promise to cure."
76 And
he produces a second illustration to our disadvantage, saying that the
Christian teacher acts like a drunken man, who, entering a company of
drunkards, should accuse those who are sober of being drunk.
77 He
next likens our teacher to one suffering from ophthalmia, and his
disciples to those suffering from the same disease, and says that
such an one amongst a company of those who are afflicted with ophthalmia,
accuses those who are sharp-sighted of being blind.
78
These charges I have to bring against them, and others of a similar nature, not
to enumerate them one by one, and I affirm that they are in error, and that
they act insolently towards God, in order to lead on wicked men by empty hopes,
and to persuade them to despise better things, saying that if they refrain from
them it will be better for them.
Book
VI
1.
These things are stated much better among the Greeks (than in the Scriptures).
and in a manner which is free from all exaggerations and promises on the part
of God, or the Son of God.
10.
You see how Plato, although maintaining that (the chief good) cannot be
described, in words, yet, to avoid the appearance of retreating to an
irrefutable position, subjoins a reason in explanation of this difficulty, as
even 'nothing' might perhaps be explained in words.
Plato
is not guilty of boasting and falsehood, giving out that he has made some new
discovery, or that he has come down from heaven to announce it, but
acknowledges whence these statements are derived. Accordingly, we do not say to
each of our hearers, 'Believe, first of all, that He whom I introduce to
thee is the Son of God although he was shamefully bound, and disgracefully
punished, and very recently was most contumeliously treated before the eyes of
all men. Believe it even the more (on that account)'.
11.
If these (meaning the Christians) bring forward this person, and others, again,
a different individual (as the Christ), while the common and ready cry of all
parties is, 'Believe, if thou wilt be saved, or else begone,' what shall those
do who are in earnest about their salvation? Shall they cast the dice, in order
to divine whither they may betake themselves, and whom they shall join?
12.
Christians declare the wisdom that is among men to be foolishness with God
because of their desire to win over by means of this saying the ignorant and
foolish alone.
14.
Christians are sorcerers who flee away with headlong speed from the more
polished class of persons, because they are not suitable subjects for our
impositions, while we seek to decoy those who are more rustic.
12.
He wished to show that this statement was an invention of ours, and borrowed
from the Grecian sages, who declare that human wisdom is of one kind, and
divine of another
15.
He imagines that [the subject of humility] is borrowed from some words of Plato
imperfectly understood.
16.
This saying, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God," manifestly
proceeded from Plato, and that Jesus perverted the words of the philosopher.
19.
Certain Christians, having misunderstood the words of Plato, loudly boast of a
'super-celestial' God thus ascending beyond the heaven of the Jews.
22.
These things are obscurely hinted at in the accounts of the Persians, and
especially in the mysteries of Mithras, which are celebrated amongst them.
24.
He who would investigate the Christian mysteries, along with the aforesaid
Persian, will, on comparing the two together, and on unveiling the rites of the
Christians, see in this way the difference between them.
29.
What could be more foolish or insane than such senseless wisdom? For what
blunder has the Jewish lawgiver committed? and why do you accept, by means, as
you say, of a certain allegorical and typical method of interpretation, the
cosmogony which he gives, and the law of the Jews, while it is with
unwillingness, O most impious man, that you give praise to the Creator of the
world, who promised to give them all things; who promised to multiply their
race to the ends of the earth, and to raise them up from the dead with the same
flesh and blood, and who gave inspiration to their prophets; and, again, you
slander Him! When you feel the force of such considerations, indeed, you
acknowledge that you worship the same God; but when your teacher Jesus and the
Jewish Moses give contradictory decisions, you seek another God, instead of
Him, and the Father!
34.
They continue to heap together one thing after another,--discourses of
prophets, and circles upon circles, and effluents from an earthly church, and
from circumcision; and a power flowing from one Prunicos, a virgin and a living
soul; and a heaven slain in order to live, and an earth slaughtered by the
sword, and many put to death that they may live, and death ceasing in the
world, when the sin of the world is dead; and, again, a narrow way, and gates
that open spontaneously. And in all their writings (is mention made) of the
tree of life, and a resurrection of the flesh by means of the 'tree,' because,
I imagine, their teacher was nailed to a cross, and was a carpenter by craft;
so that if he had chanced to have been cast from a precipice, or thrust into a
pit, or suffocated by hanging, or had been a leather-cutter, or stone-cutter,
or worker in iron, there would have been (invented) a precipice of life beyond
the heavens, or a pit of resurrection, or a cord of immortality, or a blessed
stone, or an iron of love, or a sacred leather! Now what old woman would not be
ashamed to utter such things in a whisper, even when making stories to lull an
infant to sleep?
39.
Those who employ the arts of magic and sorcery, and who invoke the barbarous
names of demons act like those who, in reference to the same things, perform
marvels before those who are ignorant that the names of demons among the Greeks
are different from what they are among the Scythians.
What
need to number up all those who have taught methods of purification, or
expiatory hymns, or spells for averting evil, or (the making of) images, or
resemblances of demons, or the various sorts of antidotes against poison (to be
found) in clothes, or in numbers, or stones, or plants, or roots, or generally
in all kinds of things?
40.
I have seen in the hands of certain presbyters belonging to the Christian faith
barbarous books which contain the names and marvellous doings of demons; and
these presbyters of our faith professed to do no good, but all that was
calculated to injure human beings.
42.
Certain most impious errors are committed by them, due to their extreme
ignorance, in which they have wandered away from the meaning of the divine
enigmas, creating an adversary to God, the devil, and naming him in the Hebrew
tongue, Satan. Now, of a truth, such statements are altogether of mortal
invention, and not even proper to be repeated, viz., that the mighty God, in
His desire to confer good upon men, has yet one counterworking Him, and is
helpless. The Son of God, it follows, is vanquished by the devil; and being
punished by him, teaches us also to despise the punishments which he inflicts,
telling us beforehand that Satan, after appearing to men as He Himself had
done, will exhibit great and marvellous works, claiming for himself the glory
of God, but that those who wish to keep him at a distance ought to pay no
attention to these works of Satan, but to place their faith in Him alone. Such
statements are manifestly the words of a deluder, planning and manoeuvring
against those who are opposed to his views, and who rank themselves against
them.
The
ancients allude obscurely to a certain war among the gods, Heraclitus speaking
thus of it: 'If one must say that there is a general war and discord, and that
all things are done and administered in strife.' Pherecydes, again, who is much
older than Heraclitus, relates a myth of one army drown up in hostile array
against another, and names Kronos as the leader of the one, and Ophioneus of
the other, and recounts their challenges and struggles, and mentions that
agreements were entered into between them, to the end that whichever party
should fall into the Ocean should be held as vanquished, while those who had
expelled and conquered them should have possession of heaven. The mysteries
relating to the Titans and Giants also had some such (symbolical) meaning, as
well as the Egyptian mysteries of Typhon, and Horus, and Osiris."
These
are not like the stories which are related of a devil, or demon, or, as he
remarks with more truth, of a man who is an impostor, who wishes to establish
an opposite doctrine.
Homer
refers obscurely to matters similar to those mentioned by Heraclitus, and
Pherecydes, and the originators of the mysteries about the Titans and Giants,
in those words which Hephaestus addresses to Hera as follows:--"Once in
your cause I felt his matchless might,/ Hurled headlong downward from the ethereal
height." and in those of Zeus to Hera:--"Hast thou forgot, when,
bound and fix'd on high,/ From the vast concave of the spangled sky,/ I hung
thee trembling in a golden chain,/ And all the raging gods opposed in vain?/
Headlong I hurled them from the Olympian hall,/ Stunn'd in the whirl, and
breathless with the fall." The words of Zeus addressed to Hera are the
words of God addressed to matter; and the words addressed to matter obscurely
signify that the matter which at the beginning was in a state of discord (with
God), was taken by Him, and bound together and arranged under laws, which may
be analogically compared to chains; and that by way of chastising the demons
who create disorder in it, he hurls them down headlong to this lower
world." These words of Homer were so understood by Pherecydes, when he
said that beneath that region is the region of Tartarus, which is guarded by
the Harpies and Tempest, daughters of Boreas, and to which Zeus banishes any
one of the gods who becomes disorderly. With the same ideas also are closely
connected the peplos of Athena, which is beheld by all in the procession of the
Panathenoea. For it is manifest from this that a motherless and unsullied demon
has the mastery over the daring of the Giants.
The
Son of God is punished by the devil, and teaches us that we also, when punished
by him, ought to endure it. Now these statements are altogether ridiculous. For
it is the devil, I think, who ought rather to be punished, and those human
beings who are calumniated by him ought not to be threatened with chastisement.
47.
I can tell how the very thing occurred, viz., that they should call him 'Son of
God.' Men of ancient times termed this world, as being born of God, both his
child and his son. Both the one and other 'Son of God,' then, greatly resembled
each other.
49.
Moreover, their cosmogony is extremely silly.
The
narrative of the creation of man is exceedingly silly.
Perhaps
Moses wrote these words with no serious object in view, but in the spirit of
the writers of the old Comedy, who have sportively related that "Proetus
slew Bellerophon," and that "Pegasus came from Arcadia.
50.
Moses and the prophets, who have left to us our books, not knowing at all what
the nature of the world is, and of man, have woven together a web of sheer
nonsense.
The
Spirit of the universal God mingled itself in things here below as in things
alien to itself.
Certain
wicked devices directed against His Spirit as if by a different creator from
the great God, and which were tolerated by the Supreme Divinity, needed to be
completely frustrated.
The
great God, after giving his spirit to the creator, demands it back again. What
god gives anything with the intention of demanding it back? For it is the mark
of a needy person to demand back (what he has given), whereas God stands in
need of nothing.
Why,
when he lent (his spirit), was he ignorant that he was lending it to an evil
being?
Why
does he pass without notice a wicked creator who was counter-working his
purposes?
53.
Why does he send secretly, and destroy the works which he has created? Why does
he secretly employ force, and persuasion, and deceit? Why does he allure those
who, as ye assert, have been condemned or accused by him, and carry them away
like a slave-dealer? Why does he teach them to steal away from their Lord? Why
to flee from their father? Why does he claim them for himself against the
father's will? Why does he profess to be the father of strange children?
Venerable,
indeed, is the god who desires to be the father of those sinners who are
condemned by another (god), and of the needy, and, as themselves say, of the
very offscourings (of men), and who is unable to capture and punish his
messenger, who escaped from him!
If
these are his works, how is it that God created evil? And how is it that he
cannot persuade and admonish (men)? And how is it that he repents on account of
the ingratitude and wickedness of men? He finds fault, moreover, with his own
handwork, and hates, and threatens, and destroys his own off-spring? Whither
can he transport them out of this world, which he himself has made?"
54.
How is He incapable of persuading and admonishing men?
59.
But if he does not destroy his own offspring, whither does he convey them out
of this world which he himself created?
60.
By far the most silly thing is the distribution of the creation of the world
over certain days, before days existed: for, as the heaven was not yet created,
nor the foundation of the earth yet laid, nor the sun yet revolving, how could
there be days?
Moreover,
taking and looking at these things from the beginning, would it not be absurd
in the first and greatest God to issue the command, Let this (first thing) come
into existence, and this second thing, and this (third); and after
accomplishing so much on the first day, to do so much more again on the second,
and third, and fourth, and fifth, and sixth?
61.
After this, indeed, he is weary, like a very bad workman, who stands in need of
rest to refresh himself!
It
is not in keeping with the fitness of things that the first God should feel
fatigue, or work with His hands, or give forth commands.
Book
I
1
The Christians entered into secret associations with each other contrary to
law.
The
love-feasts [ag©pai] of the Christians, have their origin in the common danger,
and are more binding than any oaths.
3
Christians teach and practise their favourite doctrines in secret, and
they do this to ,some purpose, seeing they escape the penalty of death which is
imminent. The dangers are comparable with those which were encountered by such
men as Socrates for the sake of philosophy.
5.
The Christians do not consider those to be gods that are made with hands, on
the ground that it is not in conformity with right reason (to suppose) that
images, fashioned by the most worthless and depraved of workmen, and in many
instances also provided by wicked men.
Book
III
59
That I bring no heavier charge than what the truth compels me, any one may see
from the following remarks. Those who invite to participation in other
mysteries, make proclamation as follows: 'Every one who has clean hands, and a
prudent tongue;' others again thus: 'He who is pure from all pollution, and
whose soul is conscious of no evil, and who has lived well and justly.' Such is
the proclamation made by those who promise purification from sins. But let us
hear what kind of persons these Christians invite. Every one, they say, who is
a sinner, who is devoid of understanding, who is a child, and, to speak generally,
whoever is unfortunate, him will the kingdom of God receive. Do you not call
him a sinner, then, who is unjust, and a thief, and a housebreaker, and a
poisoner, and a committer of sacrilege, and a robber of the dead? What others
would a man invite if he were issuing a proclamation for an assembly of
robbers?
62
Christians say that it was to sinners that God has been sent. Why
was he not sent to those who were without sin? What evil is it not to have
committed sin?
God
will receive the unrighteousness man if he humble himself on account of his
wickedness, but He will not receive the righteous man, although he look up to
Him, (adorned) with virtue from the beginning.
63
Those persons who preside properly over a trial make those individuals who
bewail before them their evil deeds to cease from their piteous wailings, lest
their decisions should be determined rather by compassion than by a regard to
truth; whereas God does not decide in accordance with truth, but in accordance
with flattery.
All
men, then, without distinction, ought to be invited, since all indeed are
sinners.
64
What is this preference of sinners over others?
65
The Christians utter these exhortations for the conversion of sinners, because
they are able to gain over no one who is really good and righteous, and
therefore open their doors to the most unholy and abandoned of men.
And
yet, indeed, it is manifest to every one that no one by chastisement, much less
by merciful treatment, could effect a complete change in those who are sinners
both by nature and custom, for to change nature is an exceedingly difficult
thing. But they who are without sin are partaken of a better life.
70
Christians assert that God will be able to do all things but He will not desire
to do anything wicked, even if one were to admit that He has the power, but not
the will, to commit evil.
71
Their God, like those who are overcome with pity, being Himself overcome,
alleviates the sufferings of the wicked through pity for their wailings, and
casts off the good, who do nothing of that kind, which is the height of
injustice.
73.
No wise man believes the Gospel, being driven away by the multitudes who adhere
to it.
Book
VII
62.
Let us pass on to another point. They cannot tolerate temples, altars, or
images. In this they are like the Scythians, the nomadic tribes of Libya, the
Seres who worship no god, and some other of the most barbarous and impious
nations in the world. That the Persians hold the same notions is shown by
Herodotus in these words: 'I know that among the Persians it is considered
unlawful to erect images, altars, or temples; but they charge those with folly
who do so, because, as I conjecture, they do not, like the Greeks, suppose the
gods to be of the nature of men.' Heraclitus also says in one place: 'Persons
who address prayers to these images act like those who speak to the walls,
without knowing who the gods or the heroes are.' And what wiser lesson have
they to teach us than Heraclitus? He certainly plainly enough implies that it
is a foolish thing for a man to offer prayers to images, whilst he knows not
who the gods and heroes are. This is the opinion of Heraclitus; but as for
them, they go further, and despise without exception all images. If they merely
mean that the stone, wood, brass, or gold which has been wrought by this or
that workman cannot be a god, they are ridiculous with their wisdom. For who,
unless he be utterly childish in his simpliCity, can take these for gods, and
not for offerings consecrated to the service of the gods, or images
representing them? But if we are not to regard these as representing the Divine
Being, seeing that God has a different form, as the Persians concur with them
in saying, then let them take care that they do not contradict themselves; for
they say that God made man His own image, and that He gave him a form like to
Himself. However, they will admit that these images, whether they are like or
not, are made and dedicated to the honour of certain beings. But they will hold
that the beings to whom they are dedicated are not gods, but demons, and that a
worshipper of God ought not to worship demons.
68.
In the first place, I would ask why we are not to serve demons? Is it not true
that all things are ordered according to God's will, and that His providence
governs all things? Is not everything which happens in the universe, whether it
be the work of God, of angels, of other demons, or of heroes, regulated by the
law of the Most High God? Have these not had assigned them various departments
of which they were severally deemed worthy? it not just, therefore, that he who
worships God should serve those also to whom God has assigned such power? Yet
it is impossible, he says, for a man to serve many masters.
70.
Is not everything which happens in the universe, whether it be the work of God,
of angels, of other demons, or of heroes, regulated by the law of the Most High
God? Have these not had assigned to them various departments of which they were
severally deemed worthy? Is it not just, therefore, that he who serves God
should serve those also to whom God has assigned such power?" To which he
adds, "It is impossible, they say, for a man to serve many masters."
Book
VIII
2. In
a passage previously quoted Celsus asks us why we do not worship demons, and
he represents us as answering that it is impossible to serve many masters.
This, he goes on to say, is the language of sedition, and is only used
by those who separate themselves and stand aloof from all human society. Those
who speak in this way ascribe," as he supposes, "their own feelings
and passions to God. It does hold true among men, that he who is in the
service of one master cannot well serve another, because the service which he
renders to the one interferes with that which he owes to the other; and no one,
therefore, who has already engaged himself to the service of one, must accept
that of another. And, in like manner, it is impossible to serve at the same
time heroes or demons of different natures. But in regard to God, who is subject
to no suffering or loss, it is," he thinks, "absurd to be
on our guard against serving more gods, as though we had to do with demi-gods,
or other spirits of that sort." He says also, "He who serves
many gods does that which is pleasing to the Most High, because he honours that
which belongs to Him." And he adds, "It is indeed wrong to give
honour to any to whom God has not given honour." "Wherefore," he
says, "in honouring and worshipping all belonging to God, we will not
displease Him to whom they all belong.
11.
And indeed he who, when speaking of God, asserts that there is only one who may
be called Lord, speaks impiously, for he divides the kingdom of God, and raises
a sedition therein, implying that there are separate factions in the divine
kingdom, and that there exists one who is His enemy.
14.
If you should tell them that Jesus is not the Son of God, but that, God is the
Father of all, and that He alone: ought to be truly worshipped, they would not
consent to discontinue their worship of him who is their leader in the
sedition. And they call him Son of God, not out of any extreme reverence for
God, but from an extreme desire to extol Jesus Christ.
15.
That I may give a true representation of their faith, I will use their own
words, as given in what is called A Heavenly Dialogue: 'If the Son is mightier
than God and the Son of man is Lord over Him, who else than the Son can be Lord
over that God who is the ruler over all things? How comes it, that while so
many go about the well, no one goes down into it? Why art thou afraid when thou
hast gone so far on the way? Answer: Thou art mistaken, for I lack neither
courage nor weapons.' Is it not evident, then, that their views are precisely
such as I have described them to be? They suppose that another God, who is
above the heavens, is the Father of him whom with one accord they honour, that
they may honour this Son of man alone, whom they exalt under the form and name
of the great God, and whom they assert to be stronger than God, who rules the
world, and that he rules over Him. And hence that maxim of theirs, 'It is
impossible to serve two masters,' is maintained for the purpose of keeping up
the party who are on the side of this Lord.
17.
Christians shrink from raising altars, statues, and temples; and this, he
thinks, has been agreed upon among us as the badge or distinctive mark of a
secret and forbidden society.
21.
God is the God of all alike; He is good, He stands in need of nothing, and He
is without jealousy. What, then, is there to hinder those who are most devoted
to His service from taking part in public feasts.
24.
If these idols are nothing, what harm will there be in taking part in the
feast? On the other hand, if they are demons, it is certain that they too are
God's creatures, and that we must believe in them, sacrifice to them according
to the laws, and pray to them that they may be propitious.
28.
If in obedience to the traditions of their fathers they abstain from such
victims, they must also abstain from all animal food, in accordance with the
opinions of Pythagoras, who thus showed his respect for the soul and its bodily
organs. But if, as they say, they abstain that they may not eat along with
demons, I admire their wisdom, in having at length discovered, that whenever
they eat they eat with demons, although they only refuse to do so when they are
looking upon a slain victim; for when they eat bread, or drink wine, or taste
fruits, do they not receive these things, as well as the water they drink and
the air they breathe, from certain demons, to whom have been assigned these
different provinces of nature?
33.
We must either not live, and indeed not come into this life at all, or we must
do so on condition that we give thanks and first-fruits and prayers to demons,
who have been set over the things of this world: and that we must do as long as
we live, that they may prove good and kind."
34.
The learned Greeks say that the human soul at its birth is placed under the
charge of demons.
35.
The satrap of a Persian or Roman monarch, or ruler or general or governor, yea,
even those who fill lower offices of trust or service in the state, would be
able to do great injury to those who despised them; and will the satraps and
ministers of earth and air be insulted with impunity?
37.
If they who are addressed are called upon by barbarous names, they will have
power, but no longer will they have any if they are addressed in Greek or
Latin.
38.
He next represents Christians as saying what he never heard from any
Christian; Behold, they are made to say, I go up to a statue of
Jupiter or Apollo, or some other god: I revile it, and beat it, yet it takes no
vengeance on me
39.
Do you not see, good sir, that even your own demon is not only reviled, but
banished from every land and sea, and you yourself, who are as it were an image
dedicated to him, are bound and led to punishment, and fastened to the stake,
whilst your demon--or, as you call him, 'the Son of God'--takes no vengeance on
the evil-doer?
41.
You mock and revile the statues of our gods; but if you had reviled Bacchus or
Hercules in person, you would not perhaps have done so with impunity. But those
who crucified your God when present among men, suffered nothing for it, either
at the time or during the whole of their lives. And what new thing has there
happened since then to make us believe that he was not an impostor, but the Son
of God? And forsooth, he who sent his Son with certain instructions for
mankind, allowed him to be thus cruelly treated, and his instructions to perish
with him, without ever during all this long time showing the slightest concern.
What father was ever so inhuman? Perhaps, indeed, you may say that he suffered
so much, because it was his wish to bear what came to him. But it is open to
those whom you maliciously revile, to adopt the same language, and say that
they wish to be reviled, and therefore they bear it with patience; for it is
best to deal equally with both sides,--although these (gods) severely punish
the scorner, so that he must either flee and hide himself, or be taken and
perish.
43.
Of those gods whom you load with insults, you may in like manner say that they
voluntarily submit to such treatment, and therefore they bear insults with
patience; for it is best to deal equally with both sides. Yet these severely
punish the scorner, so that he must either flee and hide himself, or be taken
and perish.
45.
What need is there to collect all the oracular responses, which have been
delivered with a divine voice by priests and priestesses, as wall as by others,
whether men or women, who were under a divine influence?--all the wonderful
things that have been heard issuing from the inner sanctuary?--all the
revelations that have been made to those who consulted the sacrificial
victims?--and all the knowledge that has been conveyed to men by other signs
and prodigies? To some the gods have appeared in visible forms. The world is
full of such instances. How many cities have been built in obedience to
commands received from oracles; how often, in the same way, delivered from
disease and famine! Or again, how many cities, from disregard or forgetfulness
of these oracles, have perished miserably! How many colonies have been
established and made to flourish by following their orders! How many princes
and private persons have, from this cause, had prosperity or adversity! How
many who mourned over their childlessness, have obtained the blessing they
asked for! How many have turned away from themselves. the anger of demons! How
many who were maimed in their limbs, have had them restored! And again, how
many have met with summary punishment for showing want of reverence to the
temples--some being instantly seized with madness, others openly confessing
their crimes, others having put an end to their lives, and others having become
the victims of incurable maladies! Yea, some have been slain by a terrible
voice issuing from the inner sanctuary.
48.
Just as you, good sir, believe in eternal punishments, so also do the priests
who interpret and initiate into the sacred mysteries. The same punishments with
which you threaten others, they threaten you. Now it is worthy of examination,
which of the two is more firmly established as true; for both parties contend
with equal assurance that the truth is on their side. But if we require proofs,
the priests of the heathen gods produce many that are clear and convincing,
partly from wonders performed by demons, and partly from the answers given by
oracles, and various other modes of divination.
49.
Besides, is it not most absurd and inconsistent in you, on the one hand, to
make so much of the body as you do--to expect that the same body will rise
again, as though it were the best and most precious part of us; and yet, on the
other, to expose it to such tortures as though it were worthless? But men who
hold such notions, and are so attached to the body, are not worthy of being
reasoned with; for in this and in other respects they show themselves to be
gross, impure, and bent upon revolting without any reason from the common
belief. But I shall direct my discourse to those who hope for the enjoyment of
eternal life with God by means of the soul or mind, whether they choose to call
it a spiritual substance, an intelligent spirit, holy and blessed, or a living
soul, or the heavenly and indestructible offspring of a divine and incorporeal
nature, or by whatever name they designate the spiritual nature of man. And
they are rightly persuaded that those who live well shall be blessed, and the
unrighteous shall all suffer everlasting punishments. And from this doctrine
neither they nor any other should ever swerve.
53.
Since men are born united to a body, whether to suit the order of the universe,
or that they may in that way suffer the punishment of sin; or because the soul
is oppressed by certain passions until it is purged from these at the appointed
period of time,--for, according to Empedocles, all mankind must be banished
from the abodes of the blessed for 30,000 periods of time,--we must therefore
believe that they are entrusted to certain beings as keepers of this
prison-house.
55.
They must make their choice between two alternatives. If they refuse to render
due service to the gods, and to respect those who are set over this service,
let them not come to manhood, or marry wives, or have children, or indeed take
any share in the affairs of life; but let them depart hence with all speed, and
leave no posterity behind them, that such a race may become extinct from the
face of the earth. Or, on the other hand, if they will take wives, and bring up
children, and taste of the fruits of the earth, and partake of all the
blessings of life, and bear its appointed sorrows (for nature herself hath
allotted sorrows to all men; for sorrows must exist, and earth is the only
place for them), then must they discharge the duties of life until they are
released from its bonds, and render due honour to those beings who control the
affairs of this life, if they would not show themselves ungrateful to them. For
it would be unjust in them, after receiving the good things which they
dispense, to pay them no tribute in return.
58.
Let any one inquire of the Egyptians, and he will find that everything, even to
the most insignificant, is committed to the care of a certain demon. The body
of man is divided into thirty-six parts, and as many demons of the air are
appointed to the care of it, each having charge of a different part, although
others make the number much larger. All these demons have in the language of
that country distinct names; as Chnoumen, Chnachoumen, Cnat, Sicat, Biou, Erou,
Erebiou, Ramanor, Reianoor, and other such Egyptian names. Moreover, they call
upon them, and are cured of diseases of particular parts of the body. What,
then, is there to prevent a man from giving honour to these or to others, if he
would rather be in health than be sick, rather have prosperity than adversity,
and be freed as much as possible from all plagues and troubles?
60.
Care, however, must be taken lest any one, by familiarizing his mind with these
matters, should become too much engrossed with them, and lest, through an
excessive regard for the body, he should have his mind turned away from higher
things, and allow them to pass into oblivion. For perhaps we ought not to
despise the opinion of those wise men who say that most of the earth-demons are
taken up with carnal indulgence, blood, odours, sweet sounds, and other such
sensual things; and therefore they are unable to do more than heal the body, or
foretell the fortunes of men and cities, and do other such things as relate to
this mortal life.
62.
We must offer sacrifices to them, in so far as they are profitable to us, for
to offer them indiscriminately is not allowed by reason.
63.
The more just opinion is, that demons desire nothing and need nothing, but that
they take pleasure in those who discharge towards them offices of piety.
We
must never in any way lose our hold of God, whether by day or by night, whether
in public or in secret, whether in word or in deed, but in whatever we do, or
abstain from doing.
If
this is the case, what harm is there in gaining the favour of the rulers of the
earth, whether of a nature different from ours, or human princes and kings? For
these have gained their dignity through the instrumentality of demons."
65.
We are not so mad as to stir up against us the wrath of kings and
princes, which will bring upon us sufferings and tortures, or even death.
66.
But if any one commands you to celebrate the sun, or to sing a joyful triumphal
song in praise of Minerva, you will by celebrating their praises seem to render
the higher praise to God; for piety, in extending to all things, becomes more
perfect.
67.
Men seem to do the greater honour to the great God when we sing hymns in honour
of the sun and Minerva.
If
you are commanded to swear by a human king, there is nothing wrong in that. For
to him has been given whatever there is upon earth; and whatever you receive in
this life, you receive from him.
68.
We must not disobey the ancient writer, who said long ago, 'Let one be king,
whom the son of crafty Saturn appointed;. If you set aside this maxim, you will
deservedly suffer for it at the hands of the king. For if all were to do the
same as you, there would be nothing to prevent his being left in utter solitude
and desertion, and the affairs of the earth would fall into the hands of the
wildest and most lawless barbarians; and then there would no longer remain
among men any of the glory of your religion or of the true wisdom.
69.
You surely do not say that if the Romans were, in compliance with your wish, to
neglect their customary duties to gods and men, and were to worship the Most
High, or whatever you please to call him, that he will come down and fight for
them, so that they shall need no other help than his. For this same God, as
yourselves say, promised of old this and much more to those who served him, and
see in what way he has helped them and you! They, in place of being masters of
the whole world, are left with not so much as a patch of ground or a home; and
as for you, if any of you transgresses even in secret, he is sought out and
punished with death.
71.
Surely it is intolerable for you to say, that if our present rulers, on
embracing your opinions, are taken by the enemy, you will still be able to
persuade those who rule after them; and after these have been taken you will
persuade their successors and so on, until at length, when all who have yielded
to your persuasion have been taken some prudent ruler shall arise, with a
foresight of what is impending, and he will destroy you all utterly before he
himself perishes.
72.
If only it were possible that all the inhabitants of Asia, Europe, and Libya,
Greeks and Barbarians, all to the uttermost ends of the earth, were to come
under one law! but any one who thinks this possible, knows nothing.
73.
Celsus urges us to help the king with all our might, and to labour with
him in the maintenance of justice, to fight for him; and if he requires it, to
fight under him, or lead an army along with him.
75.
Celsus also urges us to take office in the government of the country, if
that is required for the maintenance of the laws and the support of religion.
Book
VII
3.
They set no value on the oracles of the Pythian priestess, of the priests of
Dodona, of Clarus, of Branchidae, of Jupiter Ammon, and of a multitude of
others; although under their guidance we may say that colonies were sent forth,
and the whole world peopled. But those sayings which were uttered or not
uttered in Judea, after the manner of that country, as indeed they are still
delivered among the people of Phoenicia and Palestine--these they look upon as
marvellous sayings, and unchangeably true.
9.
There are many who, although of no name, with the greatest facility and on the
slightest occasion, whether within or without temples, assume the motions and
gestures of inspired persons; while others do it in cities or among armies, for
the purpose of attracting attention and exciting surprise. These are accustomed
to say, each for himself, 'I am God; I am the Son of God; or, I am the Divine
Spirit; I have come because the world is perishing, and you, O men, are
perishing for your iniquities. But I wish to save you, and you shall see me
returning again with heavenly power. Blessed is he who now does me homage. On
all the rest I will send down eternal fire, both on cities and on countries.
And those who know not the punishments which await. them shall repent and
grieve in vain; while those who are faithful to me I will preserve
eternally.'" Then he goes on to say: "To these promises are added
strange, fanatical, and quite unintelligible words, of which no rational person
can find the meaning: for so dark are they, as to have no meaning at all; but
they give occasion to every fool or impostor to apply them to suit his own purposes.
12.
Those who support the cause of Christ by a reference to the writings of the
prophets can give no proper answer in regard to statements in them which
attribute to God that which is wicked, shameful, or impure.
13.
In their books God does the most shameless deeds, or suffers the most shameless
sufferings.
For
what better was it for God to eat the flesh of sheep, or to drink vinegar and
gall, than to feed on filth?
14.
But pray, if the prophets foretold that the great God--not to put it more harshly--would
become a slave, or become sick or die; would there be therefore any necessity
that God should die, or suffer sickness, or become a slave, simply because such
things had been foretold? Must he die in order to prove his divinity? But the
prophets never would utter predictions so wicked and impious. We need not
therefore inquire whether a thing has been predicted or not, but whether the
thing is honourable in itself, and worthy of God. In that which is evil and
base, although it seemed that all men in the world had foretold it in a fit of
madness, we must not believe. How then can the pious mind admit that those
things which are said to have happened to him, could have happened to one who
is God?
15.
If these things were predicted of the Most High God, are we bound to believe
them of God simply because they were predicted?
Although
the prophets may have foretold truly such things of the Son of God, yet it is
impossible for us to believe in those prophecies declaring that He would do or
suffer such things.
18.
Will they not besides make this reflection? If the prophets of the God of the
Jews foretold that he who should come into the world would be the Son of this
same God, how could he command them through Moses to gather wealth, to extend
their dominion, to fill the earth, to put their enemies of every age to the
sword, and to destroy them utterly, which indeed he himself did--as Moses
says--threatening them, moreover, that if they did not obey his commands, he
would treat them as his avowed enemies; whilst, on the other hand, his Son, the
man of Nazareth, promulgated laws quite opposed to these, declaring that no one
can come to the Father who loves power, or riches, or glory; that men ought not
to be more careful in providing food than the ravens; that they were to be less
concerned about their raiment than the lilies; that to him who has given them
one blow, they should offer to receive another? Whether is it Moses or Jesus
who teaches falsely? Did the Father, when he sent Jesus, forget the commands
which he had given to Moses? Or did he change his mind, condemn his own laws,
and send forth a messenger?
20.
It was foretold to the Jews, that if they did not obey the law, they would be
treated in the same way as they treated their enemies
Book
I
12.
If they [the Christians] would be willing to answer my questions, which I do
not put as one who is trying to understand their beliefs (for I know them all),
all would be well. But if they will not consent but say, as they usually do,
`Do not ask questions', and so on, then it will be necessary to teach them the
nature of the doctrines which they affirm, and the source from which they come.
14.
There is an authoritative account from the very beginning, respecting which
there is a constant agreement among all the most learned nations, and cities,
and men.
21
Moses having learned the doctrine which is to be found existing among wise
nations and eloquent men, obtained the reputation of divinity.
24.
These herdsmen and shepherds concluded that there was but one God, named
either the Highest, or Adonai, or the Heavenly, or Sabaoth, or called by some
other of those names which they delight to give this world; and they knew
nothing beyond that.
It
makes no difference whether the God who is over all things be called by the
name of Zeus, which is current among the Greeks, or by that, e.g., which is in
use among the Indians or Egyptians".
Book
III
3.
In the next place, miracles were performed in all countries, or at least in
many of them, as Celsus himself admits, instancing the case of Aesculapius,
who conferred benefits on many, and who foretold future events to entire cities,
which were dedicated to him, such as Tricca, and Epidaurus, and Cos, and
Pergamus; and along with Aesculapius he mentions Aristeas of
Proconnesus, and a certain Clazomenian, and Cleomedes of Astypalaea.
22
The Dioscuri, and Hercules, and Aesculapius, and Dionysus, who are believed by
the Greeks to have become gods after being men, but Christians cannot
bear to call such beings gods, because they were at first men, and yet they
manifested many noble qualifies, which were displayed for the benefit of
mankind, while they assert that Jesus was seen after His death by His own followers,
as if they said that "He was seen indeed, but was only a shadow!
24.
A great multitude both of Greeks and Barbarians acknowledge that they have
frequently seen, and still see, no mere phantom, but Aesculapius himself,
healing and doing good, and foretelling the future.
37
They will not endure his being compared with Apollo or Zeus.
39
Faith, having taken possession of our minds of Christians, makes them yield the
assent which they give to the doctrine of Jesus.
42.
Well, after he has laid aside these qualities, he will be a God: (and if so),
why not rather Aesculapius, and Dionysus, and Hercules?
43
Christians ridicule those who worship Jupiter, because his tomb is pointed out
in the island of Crete; and yet they worship him who rose from the tomb,
although ignorant of the grounds on which the Cretans observe such a custom.
Book
IV
52.
Of such a nature do I know the work to be, entitled Controversy between one
Papiscus and Jason, which is fitted to excite pity and hatred instead of
laughter. It is not my purpose, however, to confute the statements contained in
such works; for their fallacy is manifest to all, especially if any one will
have the patience to read the books themselves. Rather do I wish to show that
Nature teaches this, that God made nothing that is mortal, but that His works,
whatever they are, are immortal, and theirs mortal. And the soul is the work of
God, while the nature of the body is different. And in this respect there is no
difference between the body of a bat, or of a worm, or of a frog, and that of a
man; for the matter is the same, and their corruptible part is alike.
57.
The multitude affirm at the present time that a snake should be formed out of a
dead man, growing out of the marrow of the back, and that a bee should spring
from an ox, and a wasp from a horse, and a beetle from an ass, and, generally,
worms from the most of bodies of animals.
58.
Irrational animals are more beloved by God than we, and have a purer knowledge
of divinity.
60.
A common nature pervades all the previously mentioned bodies, and one which
goes and returns the same amid recurring changes.
It
is one nature which goes and returns the same through all bodies amid recurring
changes.
61.
No product of matter is immortal.
On
this point these remarks are sufficient; and if any one is capable of hearing
and examining further, he will come to know (the truth).
62.
There neither were formerly, nor are there now, nor will there be again, more
or fewer evils in the world (than have always been). For the nature of all
things is one and the same, and the generation of evils is always the same.
65.
It is not easy, indeed, for one who is not a philosopher to ascertain the
origin of evils, though it is sufficient for the multitude to say that they do
not proceed from God, but cleave to matter, and have their abode among mortal
things; while the course of mortal things being the same from beginning to end,
the same things must always, agreeably to the appointed cycles, recur in the
past, present, and future.
69.
Neither have visible things been given to man (by God), but each individual
thing comes into existence and perishes for the sake of the safety of the whole
passing agreeably to the change, which I have already mentioned, from one thing
to another.
There
will neither be more nor less good and evil among mortals.
God
does not need to amend His work afresh. But it is not as a man who has
imperfectly designed some piece of workmanship, and executed it unskillfully,
that God administers correction to the world, in purifying it by a flood or by
a conflagration.
70.
Although a thing may seem to you to be evil, it is by no means certain that it
is so; for you do not know what is of advantage to yourself, or to another, or
to the whole world.
73.
Is it not ridiculous to suppose that, whereas a man, who became angry with the
Jews, slew them all from the youth upwards, and burned their city (so powerless
were they to resist him), the mighty God, as they say, being angry, and
indignant, and uttering threats, should, (instead of punishing them,) send His
own Son, who endured the sufferings which He did?
But
that I may speak not of the Jews alone (for that is not my object), but of the
whole of nature, as I promised, I will bring out more clearly what has been already
stated.
74.
He next, in many words, blames us for asserting that God made all things
for the sake of man.
All
things came into existence not more for the sake of man than of the irrational
animals.
So
in a far greater degree are Celsus and they who think with him guilty of
impiety towards the God who makes provision for rational beings, in asserting
that His arrangements are made in no greater degree for the sustenance of human
beings than for that of plants, and trees, and herbs, and thorns.
75.
Thunders, and lightnings, and rains are not the works of God.
Even
if one were to grant that these were the works of God, they are brought into
existence not more for the support of us who are human beings, than for that of
plants, and trees, and herbs, and thorns.
Although
you may say that these things, viz., plants, and trees, and herbs, and thorns,
grow for the use of men, why will you maintain that they grow for the use of
men rather than for that of the most savage of irrational animals?
76.
We indeed by labour and suffering earn a scanty and toilsome subsistence, while
all things are produced for them without their sowing and ploughing.
77.
But if you will quote the saying of Euripides, that 'The Sun and Night are to
mortals slaves,' why should they be so in a greater degree to us than to ants
and flies? For the night is created for them in order that they may rest, and
the day that they may see and resume their work.
78.
If one were to call us the lords of the animal creation because we hunt the
other animals and live upon their flesh, we would say, Why were not we rather
created on their account, since they hunt and devour us? Nay, we require nets
and weapons, and the assistance of many persons, along with dogs, when engaged
in the chase; while they are immediately and spontaneously provided by nature
with weapons which easily bring us under their power.
79.
With respect to your assertion, that God gave you the power to capture wild
beasts, and to make your own use of them, we would say that, in all
probability, before cities were built, and arts invented, and societies such as
now exist were formed, and weapons and nets employed, men were generally caught
and devoured by wild beasts, while wild beasts were very seldom captured by
men.
The
world was uncreated and incorruptible, and that it was only the things on earth
which underwent deluges and conflagrations, and that all these things did not
happen at the same time."
80.
In this way God rather subjected men to wild beasts.
81.
If men appear to be superior to irrational animals on this account, that they
have built cities, and make use of a political constitution, and forms of
government, and sovereignties, this is to say nothing to the purpose, for ants
and bees do the same. Bees, indeed, have a sovereign, who has followers and
attendants; and there occur among them wars and victories, and slaughterings of
the vanquished, and cities and suburbs, and a succession of labours, and
judgments passed upon the idle and the wicked; for the drones are driven away
and punished.
83.
The ants set apart in a place by themselves those grains which sprout forth,
that they may not swell into bud, but may continue throughout the year as their
food,
84.
When ants die, the survivors set apart a special place (for their interment),
and that their ancestral sepulchres such a place is.
And
when they [the ants] meet one another they enter into conversation, for which
reason they never mistake their way; consequently they possess a full endowment
of reason, and some common ideas on certain general subjects, and a voice by
which they express themselves regarding accidental things.
85.
Come now, if one were to look down from heaven upon earth, in what respect
would our actions appear to differ from those of ants and bees?
86.
In certain individuals among the irrational creation there exists the power of
sorcery.
If,
however, men entertain lofty notions because of their possessing the power of
sorcery, yet even in that respect are serpents and eagles their superiors in
wisdom; for they are acquainted with many prophylactics against persons and
diseases, and also with the virtues of certain stones which help to preserve
their young. If men, however, fall in with these, they think that they have
gained a wonderful possession.
88.
If, because man has been able to grasp the idea of God, he is deemed superior
to the other animals, let those who hold this opinion know that this capacity
will be claimed by many of the other animals; and with good reason: for what
would any one maintain to be more divine than the power of foreknowing and
predicting future events? Men accordingly acquire the art from the other
animals, and especially from birds. And those who listen to the indications
furnished by them, become possessed of the gift of prophecy. If, then, birds,
and the other prophetic animals, which are enabled by the gift of God to
foreknow events, instruct us by means of signs, so much the nearer do they seem
to be to the society of God, and to be endowed with greater wisdom, and to be
more beloved by Him. The more intelligent of men, moreover, say that the
animals hold meetings which are more sacred than our assemblies, and that they
know what is said at these meetings, and show that in reality they possess this
knowledge, when, having previously stated that the birds have declared their
intention of departing to some particular place, and of doing this thing or the
other, the truth of their assertions is established by the departure of the
birds to the place in question, and by their doing what was foretold. And no
race of animals appears to be more observant of oaths than the elephants are,
or to show greater devotion to divine things; and this, I presume, solely
because they have some knowledge of God.
97.
How impious, indeed, is the assertion of this man, who charges us with
impiety, that not only are the irrational animals wiser than the human
race, but that they are more beloved by God (than they)!
The
assemblies of the irrational animals are more sacred than ours.
Intelligent
men say that these animals hold assemblies which are more sacred than ours, and
that they know what is spoken at them, and actually prove that they are not
without such knowledge, when they mention beforehand that the birds have
announced their intention of departing to a particular place, or of doing this
thing or that, and then show that they have departed to the place in question,
and have done the particular thing which was foretold.
99.
All things, accordingly, were not made for man, any more than they were made
for lions, or eagles, or dolphins, but that this world, as being God's work,
might be perfect and entire in all respects. For this reason all things have
been adjusted, not with reference to each other, but with regard to their
bearing upon the whole. And God takes care of the whole, and (His) providence
will never forsake it; and it does not become worse; nor does God after a time
bring it back to himself; nor is He angry on account of men any more than on
account of apes or flies; nor does He threaten these beings, each one of which
has received its appointed lot in its proper place.
Book
VI
62.
He has neither mouth nor voice.
God
possesses nothing else of which we have any knowledge.
63.
Neither did He make man His image; for God is not such an one, nor like any
other species of (visible) being.
64.
God partakes of form or colour nor does He even partake of "motion".
He
is not to be reached by word.
He
cannot be expressed by name.
He
has undergone no suffering that can be conveyed by words.
Deity
is beyond all suffering.
66.
How, then, shall I know God? and how shall I learn the way that leads to Him?
And how will you show Him to me? Because now, indeed, you throw darkness before
my eyes, and I see nothing distinctly.
Those
whom one would lead forth out of darkness into the brightness of light, being
unable to withstand its splendours, have their power of vision affected and
injured, and so imagine that they are smitten with blindness.
68.
Celsus asks us how we think we know God, and how we shall be saved by Him.
69.
Celsus, however, asserts that the answer which we give is based upon a
probable conjecture, admitting that he describes our answer in the following
terms: Since God is great and difficult to see, He put His own Spirit into
a body that resembled ours, and sent it down to us, that we might be enabled to
hear Him and become acquainted with Him.
71.
He imagines that we, in calling God a Spirit, differ in no respect in
this particular from the Stoics among the Greeks, who maintain that "God
is a Spirit, diffused through all things, and containing all things within
Himself."
72.
As the Son of God, who existed in a human body, is a Spirit, this very Son of
God would not be immortal.
He
next becomes confused in his statements, as if there were some of us who did not admit that God is a Spirit, but maintain that
only with regard to His Son, and he thinks that he can answer us by saying
that there is no kind of spirit which lasts for ever.
He
proceeds, in the next place, to assume what we do not maintain, that God must necessarily have given up the ghost; from which
also it follows that Jesus could not have risen again with His body. For God
would not have received back the spirit which He had surrendered after it had
been stained by contact with the body.
73.
Had He wished to send down His Spirit from Himself, what need was there to
breathe it into the womb of a woman? For as one who knew already how to form
men, He could also have fashioned a body for this person, without casting His
own Spirit into so much pollution; and in this way He would not have been
received with incredulity, if He had derived His existence immediately from
above.
74.
How could he, who was punished in such a manner, be shown to be God's Son,
unless these things had been predicted of him?
75.
Since a divine Spirit inhabited the body (of Jesus), it must certainly have
been different From that of other beings, in respect of grandeur, or beauty, or
strength, or voice, or impressiveness, or persuasiveness. For it is impossible
that He, to whom was imparted some divine quality beyond other beings, should
not differ from others; whereas this person did not differ in any respect from
another, but was, as they report, little, and ill-favoured, and ignoble.
77.
Since a divine Spirit inhabited the body (of Jesus), it must certainly have
been different from that of other beings in respect of grandeur, or voice, or
strength, or impressiveness, or persuasiveness.
78.
Again, if God, like Jupiter in the comedy, should, on awaking from a lengthened
slumber, desire to rescue the human race from evil, why did He send this Spirit
of which you speak into one corner (of the earth)? He ought to have breathed it
alike into many bodies, and have sent them out into all the world. Now the
comic poet, to cause laughter in the theatre, wrote that Jupiter, after
awakening, despatched Mercury to the Athenians and Lacedaemonians; but do not
you think that you have made the Son of God more ridiculous in sending Him to
the Jews?
81.
Although knowing all things, He was not aware of this, that He was sending His
Son amongst wicked men, who were both to be guilty of sin, and to inflict
punishment upon Him.
Book
VII
32.
Our teaching on the subject of the resurrection is not, as Celsus imagines,
derived from anything that we have heard on the doctrine of metempsychosis.
33.
As Celsus supposes that we uphold the doctrine of the resurrection in
order that we may see and know God, he thus follows out his notions on the
subject: After they have been utterly refuted and vanquished, they still,
as if regardless of all objections, come back again to the same question, 'How
then shall we see and know God? how shall we go to Him?'
35.
Seeking God, then, in this way, we have no need to visit the oracles of
Trophonius, of Amphiaraus, and of Mopsus, to which Celsus would send us,
assuring us that we would there see the gods in human form, appearing to us
with all distinctness, and without illusion.
The
gods who are in human form do not show themselves for once, or at intervals,
like him who has deceived men, but they are ever open to intercourse with those
who desire it.
36.
Again they will ask, 'How can we know God, unless by the perception of the
senses? for how otherwise than through the senses are we able to gain any
knowledge?' This is not the language of a man; it comes not from the soul, but
from the flesh. Let them hearken to us, if such a spiritless and carnal race
are able to do so: if, instead of exercising the senses, you look upwards with
the soul; if, turning away the eye of the body, you open the eye of the mind
thus and thus only will you be able to see God. And if you seek one to be your
guide along this way, you must shun all deceivers and jugglers, who will
introduce you to phantoms. Otherwise you will be acting the most ridiculous
part, if, whilst you pronounce imprecatious upon those others that are
recognised as gods, treating them as idols, you yet do homage to a more
wretched idol than any of these, which indeed is not even an idol or a phantom,
but a dead man, and you seek a father like to him.
42.
You perceive, then, how divine men seek after the way of truth, and how well
Plato knew that it was impossible for all men to walk in it. But as wise men
have found it for the express purpose of being able to convey to us some notion
of Him who is the first, the unspeakable Being,--a notion, namely; which may
represent Him to us through the medium of other objects,--they endeavour either
by synthesis, which is the combining of various qualities, or by analysis,
which is the separation and setting aside of some qualities, or finally by
analogy;--in these ways, I say, they endeavour to set before us that which it
is impossible to express in words. I should therefore be surprised if you could
follow in that course, since you are so completely wedded to the flesh as to be
incapable of seeing ought but what is impure.
45.
Things are either intelligible, which we call substance--being; or visible,
which we call becoming: with the former is truth; from the latter arises error.
Truth is the object of knowledge; truth and error form opinion. Intelligible
objects are known by the reason, visible objects by the eyes; the action of the
reason is called intelligent perception, that of the eyes vision. As, then,
among visible things the sun is neither the eye nor vision, but that which
enables the eye to see, and renders vision possible, and in consequence of it
visible things are seen, all sensible things exist and itself is rendered
visible; so among things intelligible, that which is neither reason, nor
intelligent perception, nor knowledge, is yet the cause which enables the
reason to know, which renders intelligent perception possible; and in
consequence of it knowledge arises, all things intelligible, truth itself and
substance have their existence; and itself, which is above all these things,
becomes in some ineffable way intelligible. These things are offered to the
consideration of the intelligent; and if even you can understand any of them,
it is well. And if you think that a Divine Spirit has descended from God to
announce divine things to men, it is doubtless this same Spirit that reveals
these truths, and it was under the same influence that men of old made known
many important truths. But if you cannot comprehend these things, then keep
silence; do not expose your own ignorance, and do not accuse of blindness those
who see, or of lameness those who run, while you yourselves are utterly lamed
and mutilated in mind, and lead a merely animal life--the life of the body,
which is the dead part of our nature.
58.
They have also a precept to this effect, that we ought not to avenge ourselves
on one who injures us, or, as he expresses it, 'Whosoever shall strike thee on
the one cheek, turn to him the other also.' This is an ancient saying, which
had been admirably expressed long before, and which they have only reported in
a coarser way. For Plato introduces Socrates conversing with Crito as follows:
'Must we never do injustice to any?' 'Certainly not.' 'And since we must never
do injustice, must we not return injustice for an injustice that has been done
to us, as most people think?' 'It seems to me that we should not.' 'But tell me,
Crito, may we do evil to any one or not?' 'Certainly not, O Socrates.' 'Well,
is it just, as is commonly said, for one who has suffered wrong to do wrong in
return, or is it unjust?' 'It is unjust. Yes; for to do harm to a man is the
same as to do him injustice.' 'You speak truly. We must then not do injustice
in return for injustice, nor must we do evil to any one, whatever evil we may
have suffered from him.' Thus Plato speaks; and he adds, 'Consider, then,
whether you are at one with me, and whether, starting from this principle, we
may not come to the conclusion .that it is never right to do injustice, even in
return for an injustice which has been received; or whether, on the other hand,
you differ from me, and do not admit the principle from which we started. That
has always been my opinion, and is so still. Such are the sentiments of Plato,
and indeed they were held by divine men before his time. But let this suffice
as one example of the way in which this and other truths have been borrowed and
corrupted. Any one who wishes can easily by searching find more of them.
Compiled
by Niall Mc Closkey from volume 4 of The ante-Nicene fathers : translations
of the writings of the fathers down to A.D. 325, the Rev. Alexander
Roberts, D.D., and James Donaldson, LL.D., editors; American reprint of the
Edinburgh edition, revised and chronologically arranged, with brief prefaces
and occasional notes, by A. Cleveland Coxe, D.D. Buffalo, Christian Literature
Pub. Co., 1886-87
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