CHAPTER XXI.
The disciples of Pythagoras, too, and of Plato, although they appear to hold the incorruptibility of the world, yet fall into similar errors. For as the planets, after certain definite cycles, assume the same positions, and hold the same relations to one another, all things on earth will, they assert, be like what they ORIG.—VOL. II. T 290 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Boox v.
were at the time when the same state of planetary relations existed in the world. From this view it necessarily follows, that when, after the lapse of a lengthened cycle, the planets come to occupy towards each other the same relations which they occupied in the time of Socrates, Socrates will again be born of the same parents, and suffer the same treatment, being accused by Anytus and Melitus, and condemned by the Council of Areopagus! The learned among the Egyptians, moreover, hold similar views, and yet they are treated with respect, and do not incur the ridicule of Celsus and such as he; while we, who maintain that all things are administered by God in pre portion to the relation of the free-will of each individual, and are ever being brought into a better condition, so far as they admit of being so,! and who know that the nature of our free-will ad- mits of the occurrence of contingent events? (for it is incapable of receiving the wholly unchangeable character of God), yet do not appear to say anything worthy of a testing examination.
CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXII.
Let no one, however, suspect that, in speaking as we do, we belong to those who are indeed called Christians, but who se aside the doctrine of the resurrection as it is taught in Scrip- ture. For these persons cannot, so far as their principles apply, at all establish that the stalk or tree which springs Up comes from the grain of wheat, or anything else [which was cast into the ground]; whereas we, who believe that that which is “sown” is not “quickened” unless it die, and that there is sown not that body that shall be (for God gives ita body as it pleases Him, raising it in incorruption after it δ sown in corruption; and after it is sown in dishonour, raising it in glory; and after it is sown in weakness, raising it i power; and after it is sown a natural body, raising it a spiritual), —we preserve both the doctrine® of the church of Christ and the grandeur of the divine promise, proving also the possibility of its accomplishment not by mere assertion, but by arguments: knowing that although heaven and earth, and the things ths 1 scored τὸ ἐνδεχόμενον. 3 καὶ τὴν rov iQ' ἡμὶν φύσιν γιγνώσκοντε; ἐνθεχεμένον & ἐνδέχεται. 3 βούλημα. | Book v. | ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 291 are in them, may pass away, yet His words regarding each individual thing, being, as parts of a whole, or species of a genus, the utterances of Him who was God the Word, who was in the beginning with God, shall by no means pass away. For we desire to listen to Him who said: “ Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."!
CHAPTER XXIII.
We, therefore, do not maintain that the body which has undergone corruption resumes its original nature, any more than the grain of wheat which has decayed returns to its former condition. But we do maintain, that as above the grain of wheat there arises a stalk, so a certain power? is implanted in the body, which is not destroyed, and from which the body is raised up in incorruption. The philosophers of the Porch, however, in consequence of the opinions which they hold regarding the unchangeableness of things after a certain cycle, assert that the body, after undergoing complete corruption, will return to its original condition, and will again assume that first natare from which it passed into a state of dissolution, establishing these points, as they think, by irresistible arguments? We, however, do not betake ourselves to a most absurd refuge, saying that with God all things are possible; for we know how to under- stand this word “all” as not referring either to things that are “non-existent” or that are inconceivable. But we maintain, at the same time, that God cannot do what is disgraceful, since then He would be capable of ceasing to be God; for if He do anything that is disgraceful, He is not God. Since, however, he lays it down as a principle, that “ God does not desire what is contrary to nature,” we have to make a distinction, and say that if any one asserts that wickedness is contrary to nature, while we maintain that * God does not desire what is contrary to nature,"—either what springs from wickedness or from an irrational principle,—yet, if such things happen according to the word and will of God, we must at once necessarily hold that they are not contrary to nature. Therefore things which are done by God, although they may be, or may appear to some to 1 Cf. Matt. xxiv. 85; cf. Mark xiii. 31. 3 λόγος. 8 δ,αλεκτικαὶς εἰνάγκαις.
292 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
be incredible, are not contrary to nature. And if we must press the force of words,’ we would say that, in comparison with what is generally understood as “ nature,” there are certain things which are beyond its power, which God could at any time do; as, e.g., in raising man above the level of human nature, and causing him to pass into a better and more divine condition, and preserving him in the same, so long as he who is the object of His care shows by his actions that he desires [the continuance of His help].
CHAPTER XXIV.
Moreover, as we have already said that for God to desire any- thing unbecoming Himself would be destructive of His existence as Deity, we will add that if man, agreeably to the wickedness of his nature, should desire anything that is abominable,? God can- not grant it. And now it is from no spirit of contention that we answer the assertions of Celsus; but it is in the spirit of truth that we investigate them, as assenting to his view that “He is the God, not of inordinate desires, nor of error and disorder, but of a nature just and upright,” because He is the source of all that is good. And that He is able to provide an eternal life for the soul we acknowledge; and that He possesses not only the “ power,” but the * will" In view, therefore, of these considerations, we are not at all distressed by the assertion of Heraclitus, adopted by Celsus, that “dead bodies are to be cast out as more worthless than dung;” and yet, with reference even to this, one might say that dung, indeed, ought to be cast out, while the dead bodies of men, on account of the soul by which they were inhabited, especially if it had been virtuous, ought not to be cast out. For, in harmony with those laws which are based upon the principles of equity, bodies are deemed worthy of sepulture, with the honours accorded on such occasions, that no insult, so far as can be helped, may be offered to the soul which dwelt within, by casting forth the body (after the soul has departed) like that of the animals. Let it not then be held, contrary to reason, that it is the will of God to declare that the grain of wheat is not immortal, but the stalk which springs from it, while the body which is sown in corruption is not, but that which is raised by Him in incorruption. But 1 εἰ δὲ χοὴ 8:Θιασμένως ὀνομάσαι. 3 βδελυρον.
Book v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 293 according to Celsus, God Himself is the reason of all things, while according to our view it is His Son, of whom we say in philosophic language, * In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God;"! while in our judgment also, God cannot do anything which is contrary to reason, or contrary to Himself.
CHAPTER XXV.
Let us next notice the statements of Celsus, which follow the preceding, and which are as follow: “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 re- spects 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 advan- tageous, 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 ad- vantage; and also because, in all probability, the various quar- ters 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." By these words Celsus shows that the Jews, who were formerly Egyptians, subsequently became a * peculiar people," and enacted laws which they care- fully preserve. And not to repeat his statements, which have been already before us, he says that it is advantageous to the Jews to observe their ancestral worship, as other nations care- fully attend to theirs. And he further states a deeper reason why it is of advantage to the Jews to cultivate their ancestral 1 Cf. John i. 1. 2 xal xarà τὸ ἐπιχώριον νόμους θέμενοι.
ὃ τὰ μέρη τῆς γῆς ἐξ dox; ἄλλα ἄλλοις ἐπόπται; νενερημένα. * xai κατά τινα; ἐπικρατείας διειληριμένα. 5 χαραλύειν.
294 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Boor v.
customs, in hinting dimly that those to whom was allotted the office of superintending the country which was being legis lated for, enacted the laws of each land in co-operation with its legislators. He appears, then, to indicate that both the country of the Jews, and the nation which inhabits it, are superintended by one or more beings, who, whether they were one or more, co-operated with Moses, and enacted the laws of the Jews.
CHAPTER XXVI.
‘We must,” he says, “observe the laws, not only because it has occurred to the mind of others to decide some things differently, but because it is a duty to protect what has been enacted 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 distributed among certain governing powers, and in this manner the administration of the world is carried on.” Thus Celsus as if he had forgotten what he had said against the Jews, now includes them in the general eulogy which he passes upon all who observe their ancestral customs, remarking: * And what- ever is done among each nation in this way, would be rightly done whenever agreeable to the wishes [of the superintendents]" And observe here, whether he does not openly, so far as he can, express a wish that the Jew should live in the observance of his own laws, and not depart from them, because he would commit an act of impiety if he apostatized; for his words are: “Tt would be an act of impiety to get rid of the institutions established from the beginning in the various places.” Now! should like to ask him, and those who entertain his views, who it was that distributed the various quarters of the earth from the beginning among the different superintending spirits; and especially, who gave the country of the Jews, and the Jewish people themselves, to the one or more superintendents to whom it was allotted? "Was it, as Celsus would say, Jupiter who assigned the Jewish people and their country to a certain spirit or spirits? And was it Ais wish, to whom they were thus assigned, to enact among them the laws which prevail, or wa it against his will that it was done? ‘You will observe that, whatever be his answer, he is in a strait. But if the various Boox v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 295 quarters of the earth were not allotted by some one being to the various superintending spirits, then each one at random, and without the superintendence of a higher power, divided the earth according to chance; and yet such a view is absurd, and destructive in no small degree of the providence of the God who presides over all things.
CHAPTER XXVII.
Any one, indeed, who chooses, may relate how the various quarters of the earth, being distributed among certain governing powers, are administered by those who superintend them; but let him tell us also how what is done among each nation is. done rightly when agreeable to the wishes of the superin- tendents. Let him, for example, tell us whether the laws of the Scythians, which permit the murder of parents, are right laws; or those of the Persians, which do not forbid the mar- riages of sons with their mothers, or of daughters with their own fathers. But what need is there for me to make selections from those who have been engaged in the business of enacting laws among the different nations, and to inquire how the laws are rightly enacted among each, according as they please the superintending powers? Let Celsus, however, tell us how it would be an act of impiety to get rid of those ancestral laws which permit the marriages of mothers and daughters; or which pronounce a man happy who puts an end to his life by hanging, or declare that they undergo entire purification who deliver themselves over to the fire, and who terminate their existence by fire; and how it is an act of impiety to do away with those laws which, for example, prevail in the Tauric Chersonese, regarding the offering up of strangers in sacrifice to Diana, or among certain of the Libyan tribes regarding the sacrifice of children to Saturn. Moreover, this inference follows from the dictum of Celsus, that it is an act of impiety on the part of the Jews to do away with those ancestral laws which forbid the worship of any other deity than the Creator of allthings. And it will follow, according to his view, that piety is not divine by its own nature, but by a certain [external] arrangement and appointment. For it is an act of piety among certain tribes to worship a crocodile, and to eat what is an 296 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
object of adoration among other tribes; while, again, with others jt is a plous act to worship a calf, and among others, again, to regard the goat as a god. And, in this way, the same indi- vidual will be regarded as acting piously according to one set of laws, and impiously according to another; and this is the most absurd result that can be conceived!
CHAPTER XXVIII.
It is probable, however, that to such remarks as the above, the answer returned would be, that he was pious who kept the laws of his own country, and not at all chargeable with impiety for the non-observance of those of other lands; and that, again, he who was deemed guilty of impiety among certain nations was not really so, when he worshipped his own gods, agreeably to his country’s laws, although he made war against, and even feasted on,’ those who were regarded as divinities among those nations which possessed laws of an opposite kind. Now, observe here whether these statements do not exhibit the greatest con- fusion of mind regarding the nature of what is just, and holy, and religious; since there is no accurate definition laid down of these things, nor are they described as having a peculiar cha- racter of their own, and stamping as religious those who act according to their injunctions. If, then, religion, and piety, and righteousness belong to those things which are so only by comparison, so that the same act may be both pious and impious, according to different relations and different laws, see whether it will not follow that temperance? also is a thing of compari- son, and courage as well, and prudence, and the other virtues, than which nothing could be more absurd} What we have said, however, is sufficient for the more general and simple class of answers to the allegations of Celsus. But as we think it likely that some of those who are accustomed to deeper investigation will fall in with this treatise, let us venture to lay down some considerations of a profounder kind, conveying a mystical and secret view respecting the original distribution of the various quarters of the earth among different superintending spirits; and let us prove to the best of our ability, that our doctrine is free from the absurd consequences enumerated above.
Δ χκαταθοινᾶται. 3 σωφοοσυνὴ Booz v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 297 CHAPTER XXIX.
It appears to me, indeed, that Celsus has misunderstood some of the deeper reasons relating to the arrangement of terrestrial affairs, some of which are touched upon! even in Grecian his- tory, when certain of those who are considered to be gods are introduced as having contended with each other about the possession of Attica; while in the writings of the Greek poets also, some who are called gods are represented as acknowledging that certain places here are preferred by them? before others. The history of barbarian nations, moreover, and especially that of Egypt, contains some such allusions to the division of the so-called Egyptian nomes, when it states that Athena, who obtained Sais by lot, is the same who also has possession of Attica. And the learned among the Egyptians can enumerate innumerable instances of this kind, although I do not know whether they include the Jews and their country in this division. And now, so far as testimonies outside the word of God bearing on this point are concerned, enough have been adduced for the present. We say, moreover, that our prophet of God and His genuine servant Moses, in his song in the book of Deuteronomy, makes a statement regarding the portioning out of the earth in the following terms: * When the Most High divided the nations, when He dispersed the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the angels of God; and the Lord's portion was His people Jacob, and Israel the cord of His inheritance"? And regarding the distribution of the nations, the same Moses, in his work entitled Genesis, thus expresses himself in the style of a historical narrative: * And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech; and it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there." * A little further on he continues: “ And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men had built. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they have begun to do: and now nothing will be restrained from 1 ἐφάπτεται. 2 οἰκειοτέρους.
3 Cf. Deut. xxxii. 8, 9 (LXX.). * Cf. Gen. xi. 1, 2.
298 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Boox v.
them which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not under- stand one another’s speech. And the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city and the tower. "Therefore is the name of it called Confusion;! because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did " the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”? In the treatise of Solomon, moreover, on * Wisdom," and on the events at the time of the confusion of languages, when the division of the earth took place, we find the following regard- ing Wisdom: * Moreover, the nations. in their wicked con- spiracy being confounded, she found out the righteous, and preserved him blameless unto God, and kept him strong in his tender compassion towards his son."? But on these subjects much, and that of a mystical kind, might be said; in keeping with which is the following: “ It is good to keep close the secret of a king,” *—in order that the doctrine of the entrance of souls into bodies (not, however, that of the transmigration from one body into another) may not be thrown before the common understanding, nor what is holy given to the dogs, nor pearls be cast before swine. For such a procedure would be impious, being equivalent to a betrayal of the mysterious - declarations of God's wisdom, of which it has been well said: * Into a malicious soul wisdom shall not enter, nor dwell in a body subject to sin.^* It is sufficient, however, to represent in the style of a historic narrative what is intended to convey a secret meaning in the garb of history, that those who have the capacity may work out for themselves all that relates to the subject.
CHAPTER XXX.
[The narrative, then, may be understood as follows.] All the people upon the earth are to be regarded as having used one divine language, and so long as they lived harmoniously together were preserved in the use of this divine language, and they remained without moving from the east so long as EE 3 Cf. Gen. xi. 5-9. * Cf. Wisd, of Sol. x. 5. * Ct. Tobit xii. 7. 5 Cf. Wied. of Sol. i. 4.
Boor v.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 299 they were imbued with the sentiments of the “light,” and of the “reflection” of the eternallight. But when they departed from the east, and began to entertain sentiments alien to those of the east,” they found a place in the land of Shinar (which,. when interpreted, means “ gnashing of teeth," by way of indi- cating symbolically that they had lost the means of their sup- port), and in it they took up their abode. Then, desiring to gather together material things,’ and to join to heaven what had no natural affinity for it, that by means of material things they might conspire against such as were immaterial, they said, * Come, let us make bricks, and burn them with fire." Accord-: ingly, when they had hardened and compacted these materials of clay and mattef, and had shown their desire to make brick into stone, and clay into bitumen, and by these means to build a city and a tower, the head of which was, at least in their con- ception, to reach up to the heavens, after the manner of the * high things which exalt themselves against the knowledge of God,”-each one was handed over (in proportion to the greater or less departure from the east which had taken place among them, and in proportion to the extent in which bricks had been converted into stones, and clay into bitumen, and building carried on out of these materials) to angels of character more or less severe, and of a nature more or less stern, until they had paid the penalty of their daring deeds; and they were conducted by those angels, who imprinted on each his native language, to the different parts of the earth according to their deserts: some, for example, to a region of burning heat, others to a country which chastises its inhabitants by its cold; others, again, to a land exceedingly difficult of cultivation, others to one less so in degree; while a fifth were brought into a land filled with wild beasts, and a sixth to a country com- paratively free of these.
CHAPTER XXXI.
Now, in the next place, if any one has the capacity, let him understand that in what assumes the form of history, and which . contains some things that are literally true, while yet it conveys l ἐς ὅσον εἰσὶ τὼ τοῦ Φωτὸ; καὶ τοῦ axed φωτὸς dibíoy ἀπανγάσματος Qpo- νοῦντες. 2 ἐλλότρια ἀνατολῶν Φρονοῦντες. 3 τὰ τῆς ὕλης.
300 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v.
a deeper meaning, those who preserved their original language