1 of γὰρ ὁμοίως Κελσῷ ὑπολαβόντες τετερατεῦσθαι. The word ὁροοίως for- merly stood, in the text of Spencer and Rusus, before τετερατεῦσθαι, but is properly expunged, as arising from the preceding ὁμοίως. Boherellus remarks: ‘ Forte aliud quid exciderit, verbi gratia, τὸ τοῦ Incov.”
3 χερατεύσασθαι. 9 χὸ οὐδέν. 4 Cf. Acts viii. 10, Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 349 ing of Simon. The Dositheans, again, even in former times, did not rise to any eminence, and now they are completely extinguished, so that it is said their whole number does not amount to thirty. Judas of Galilee also, as Luke relates in the Acts of the Apostles,’ wished to call himself some great personage, as did Theudas before him; but as their doctrine was not of God, they were destroyed, and all who obeyed them were immediately dispersed. We do not, then, “cast the dice in - order to divine whither we shall betake ourselves, and whom we shall join,” as if there were many claimants able to draw us after them by the profession of their having come down from God to visit the human race. On these points, however, we have said enough.
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
Accordingly, let us pass on to another charge made by Celsus, who is not even acquainted with the words [of our sacred books], but who, from misunderstanding them, has said that * we declare the wisdom that is among men to be foolish- ness with God;” Paul having said that “the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God.”? Celsus says that “ the reason of this has been stated long ago.” And the reason he imagines to be, “our desire to win over by means of this saying the ignorant and foolish alone.” But, as he himself has intimated, he has said the same thing before; and we, to the best of our ability, replied to it. Notwithstanding this, however, 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. And he quotes the words of Heraclitus, where he says in one passage, that * man's method of action is not regulated by fixed principles, but that of God is;"* and in another, that “a foolish man listens to a demon, as a boy does to a man.” He quotes, more- over, the following from the Apology of Socrates, of which Plato was the author: * For I, O men of Athens, have obtained this name by no other means than by my wisdom. And of what sort is this wisdom? Such, probably, as is human; for 1 Cf. Acts v. 36, 37.? Cf. 1 Cor. iii. 19. S χεκλασμοένον “ply. 4 ἦθος yelp ὠνθρώπειον μὲν οὐκ ἔχει γνώμας, θεῖον δὲ ἔχει.
350 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vi.
in that respect I venture to think that I am in reality wise."! Such are the passages adduced by Celsus. But I shall subjoin also the following from Plato's letter to Hermeas, and Erastus, and Coriscus: * To Erastus and Coriscus I say, although I am an old man, that, in addition to this noble knowledge of ‘forms’ [which they possess], they need a wisdom, with regard to the class of wicked and unjust persons, which may serve as a protective and repelling force against them. For they are inexperienced, in consequence of having passed a large portion of their lives with us, who are moderate? individuals, and not wicked. I have accordingly said that they need these things, in order that they may not be compelled to neglect the true wisdom, and to apply themselves in a greater degree than is proper to that which is necessary and human."
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
According to the foregoing, then, the one kind of wisdom is human, and the other divine. Now the “human” wisdom is that which is termed by us the wisdom of the “world,” which is *foolishness with God;" whereas the * divine"— being dif- ferent from the “human,” because it is * divine" — comes, through the grace of God who bestows it, to those who have evinced their capacity for receiving it, and especially to those who, from knowing the difference between either kind of wis- dom, say, in their prayers to God, * Even if one among the sons of men be perfect, while the wisdom is wanting that comes from Thee, he shall be accounted as nothing." * We maintain, indeed, that *human" wisdom is an exercise for the soul, but that “divine” wisdom is the “end,” being also termed the “strong” meat of the soul by him who has said that “strong meat belongeth to them that are perfect,* even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil? This opinion, moreover, is truly an ancient one, its antiquity not being referred back, as Celsus thinks, merely to Heraclitus and Plato. For before these individuals lived, the prophets distinguished between the two kinds of wisdom. It is sufficient for the present to quote from the words of David 1 Cf. Plato's Apolog. 3 μετρίων ὄντων. 85 Cf. Wisd. of Sol. ix. 6. 4 τέλειοι. 5 Heb. v. 14.
Book vi. ] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 391 what he says regarding the man who is wise, according to divine wisdom, that * he will not see corruption when he beholds wise men dying.'! Divine wisdom, accordingly, being different from faith, is the “first” of the so-called * charismata" of God; and the “second” after it—in the estimation of those who know how to distinguish such things accurately—is what is called “knowledge;”? and the *third"— seeing that even the more simple class of men who adhere to the service of God, so far as they can, must be saved—is faith. And therefore Paul says: “To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit"? And therefore it is no ordinary individuals whom you will find to have participated in the * divine" wisdom, but the more excellent and distinguished among those who have given in their adherence to Chris- tianity; for it is not *to the most ignorant, or servile, or most uninstructed of mankind," that one would discourse upon the topics relating to the divine wisdom. | CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
In designating others by the epithets. of "uninstructed, and servile, and ignorant," Celsus, I suppose, means those who are not acquainted with his laws, nor trained in the branches of Greek learning; while we, on the other hand, deem those to be * uninstructed" who are not ashamed to address [supplications] to inanimate objects, and to call upon those for health that have no strength, and to ask the dead for life, and to entreat the helpless for assistance. And although some may say that these objects are not gods, but only imitations and symbols of real divinities, nevertheless these very individuals, in imagining that the hands of low mechanics" can frame imitations of divinity, are * uninstructed, and servile, and ignorant;" for we assert that the lowest? among us have been set free from this ignorance and want of knowledge, while the most intelligent 4 τοὺς μὴ αἰσχυνομένους ἐν τῷ τοῖς ἀψύχοις προσλαλεῖν, xal περὶ μὲν ὑγείας τὸ ὠσθενὲς ἑπικαλουμένους, περὶ δὲ ζωῆς τὸ νεκρὸν ὠξιοῦντας, περὶ δὲ ἐπικουρίας τὸ ὁπορώτατον ἱκετεύοντας. | 5 βαναύσων. 4 τοὺς ἐσχάτου:.
852 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book v1.
can understand and grasp the divine hope. We do not main- tain, however, that it is impossible for one who has not been trained in earthly wisdom to receive the “divine,” but we do acknowledge that all human wisdom is “folly” in comparison with the “divine.” In the next place, instead of endeavouring to adduce reasons, as he ought, for his assertions, he terms us “sorcerers,” ὁ and asserts that “we 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.” Now he did not observe that from the very beginning our wise men were trained in the external branches of learning: Moses, e.g., in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; Daniel, and Ananias, and Azariah, and Mishael, in all Assyrian learning, so that they were found to surpass in tenfold degree all the wise men of that country. At the present time, moreover, the churches have, in proportion to the multitudes [of ordinary believers], a few * wise" men, who have come over to them from that wisdom which is said by us to be “according to the flesh;" * and they have also some who have advanced from it to that wisdom which is “ divine."
CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XV.
Celsus, in the next place, as one who has heard the subject of humility greatly talked about,° but who has not been at the pains to understand it,’ would wish to speak evil of that humility which is practised among us, and imagines that it is borrowed from some words of Plato imperfectly understood, where he expresses himself in the Laws as follows: ** Now God, according to the ancient account, having in Himself both the beginning. and end and middle of all existing things, proceeds according to nature, and marches straight on.^ He is constantly followed by justice, which is the avenger of all breaches of the divine law: he who is about to become happy follows her closely in humility, and becomingly adorned."? He did not observe, however, that 1 γόητας.? προτροπάδην. 5 τοὺ; χαριεστέρους. 1 χαλεύομεν. 5 Cf. 1 Cor. i. 26. 6 ὡς περιηχηθεὶς τὼ περὶ ταπεινοφροσύνης ς τὸ περ ροσύνης. T μὴ ἐπιμελῶς αὐτὴν νοήσας. 8 εὐθείᾳ περαίνει xara φύσιν παραπορευόμενος. 9 Plato, de Legibus, iv.
Book vi. | ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 353 in writers much older than Plato the following words occur in a prayer: * Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty, neither do I walk in great matters, nor in things too wonderful for me; if I had not been humble,”* etc. Now these words show that he who is of humble mind does not by any means humble himself in an unseemly or inauspicious manner, falling down upon his knees, or casting himself headlong on the ground, putting on the dress of the miserable, or sprinkling himself with dust. But he who is of humble mind in the sense of the prophet, while * walking in great and wonderful things," which are above his capacity—viz. those doctrines that are truly great, and those thoughts that are wonderful—**humbles himself under the mighty hand of God.” If there are some, however, who through their stupidity? have not clearly understood the doctrine of humiliation, and act as they do, it is not our doctrine which is to be blamed; but we must extend our forgiveness to the stupidity? of those who aim at higher things, and owing to their fatuity of mind? fail to attain them. He who is “humble and becomingly adorned,’ is so in a greater degree than Plato’s “humble and becomingly adorned” individual: for he is be- comingly adorned, on the one hand, because “ he walks in things great and wonderful,” which are beyond his capacity; and humble, on the other hand, because, while being in the midst of such, he yet voluntarily humbles himself, not under any one at random, but under * the mighty hand of God,” through Jesus Christ, the teacher of such instruction, “who did not deem equality with God a thing to be eagerly clung to, but made Himself of no reputation, and took on Him the form of a servant, and being found in fashion as a man, humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” * And so great is this doctrine of humiliation, that it has no ordinary individual as its teacher; but our great Saviour Him- self says: ^ Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest for your souls."?
1 Ps. exxxi. 1, 2 (LXX.). The clause, ** If I had not been humble,” seems to belong to the following verse.
3 τῇ ἰδιωτεία. ὃ διὰ τὸν ἰδιωτισμοόν.
4 Cf. Phil. ii. 6, 8. 5 Cf. Matt. xi. 20.
ORIG.—VOL. II. Z 354 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Booz vi.
CHAPTER XVI.
In the next place, with regard to the declaration of Jesus against rich men, when He said, “ 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,”? Celsus alleges that this saying manifestly proceeded from Plato, and that Jesus perverted the words of the philosopher, which were, that “ it was impossible to be dis- tinguished for goodness, and at the same time for riches.”? Now who is there that is capable of giving even moderate attention to affairs—not merely among the believers on Jesus, but among the rest of mankind—that would not laugh at Celsus, on hear- ing that Jesus, who was born and brought up among the Jews, and was supposed to be the son of Joseph the carpenter, and who had not studied literature—not merely that of the Greeks, but not even that of the Hebrews—as the truth-loving Scriptures testify regarding Him,” had read Plato, and being pleased with the opinion he expressed regarding rich men, to the effect that . “it was impossible to be distinguished for goodness and riches at the same time," had perverted this, and changed it into, * 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!” Now, if Celsus had not perused the Gospels in a spirit of hatred and dislike, but had been imbued with a love of truth, he would have turned his attention to the point why a camel—that one of animals which, as regards its physical structure, is crooked—was chosen as an object of comparison with a rich man, and what signifi- cation the “ narrow eye of a needle" had for him who saw that “ strait and narrow was the way that leadeth unto life;"* and to this point also, that this animal, according to the law, is described as * unclean," having one element of acceptability, viz. that it ruminates, but one of condemnation, viz. that it does not divide the hoof. He would have inquired, moreover, how often the camel was adduced as an object of comparison in the sacred Scriptures, and in reference to what objects, that he might thus ascertain the meaning of the Logos concerning the 1 Cf. Matt. xix. 24. 3 Cf. Plato, v. de Legibus.
3 Cf. Matt. xiii. 54, Mark vi. 2, and John vii. 15. * Cf. Matt. vii. 14.
Book vi. | ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS.. $355 rich men. Nor would he have left without examination the fact that “the poor" are termed “blessed” by Jesus, while ( the rich” are designated as “ miserable;" and whether these words refer to the rich and poor who are visible to the senses, or whether there is any kind of poverty known to the Logos which is to be deemed “‘ altogether blessed,” and any rich man who is to be wholly condemned. For even a common individual would not thus indiscriminately have praised the poor, many of whom lead most wicked lives. But on this point we have said enough.
CHAPTER XVII.
Since Celsus, moreover, from a desire to depreciate the accounts which our Scriptures give of the kingdom of God, has quoted none of them, as if they were unworthy of being recorded by bim (or perhaps because he was unacquainted with them), while, on tlie other hand, he quotes the sayings of Plato, both from his Epistles and the Phaedrus, as if these were divinely inspired, but our Scriptures were not, let us set forth a few points, for the sake of comparison with these plausible declarations of Plato, which did not, however, dispose the philosopher to worship in a manner worthy of him the Maker of all things. For he ought not to have adulterated or polluted this worship with what we call “ idolatry,” but what the many would describe by the term “ superstition.” Now, according to a Hebrew figure of speech, it is said of God in the eighteenth Psalm, that * He made darkness His secret place,"! to signify that those notions which should be worthily entertained of God are invisible and unknowable, because God conceals Himself in darkness, as it were, from those who cannot endare the splen- dours of His knowledge, or are incapable of looking at them, partly owing to the pollution of their understanding, which is clothed with the body of mortal lowliness, and. partly owing to its feebler power of comprehending God. And in order that it may appear that the knowledge of God has rarely been vouchsafed to men, and has been found in very few individuals, Moses is related to have entered into the darkness where God was.” And again, with regard to Moses it is said: “ Moses 356 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vr alone shall come near the Lord, but the rest shall not come nigh."! And again, that the prophet may show the depth of the doctrines which relate to God, and which is unattainable by those who do not possess the “ Spirit which searcheth all things, even the deep things of God,” he added: “ The abyss like a garment is His covering."? Nay, our Lord and Saviour, the Logos of God, manifesting that the greatness of the know- ledge of the Father is appropriately comprehended and known pre-eminently by Him alone, and in the second place by those whose minds are enlightened by the Logos Himself and God, declares: * No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father but the Son, and he to whom- soever the Son will reveal Him.”*® For no one can worthily know the * uncreated"* and first-born of all created nature like the Father who begat Him, nor any one the Father like the living Logos, and His Wisdom and Truth. By sharing in Him who takes away from the Father what is called “ darkness," which He * made His secret place," and * the abyss," which is called His “ covering," and in this way unveiling the Father, every one knows the Father who’ is capable of knowing Him.
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
I thought it right to quote these few instances from a much larger number of passages, in which our sacred writers express their ideas regarding God, in order to show that, to those who have eyes to behold the venerable character of Scripture, the sacred writings of the prophets contain things more worthy of reverence than those sayings of Plato which Celsus admires. Now the declaration of Plato, quoted by Celsus, runs as fol- lows: “ All things are around the King of all, and all things | exist for his sake, and he is the cause of all good things. With things of the second rank he is second, and with those of the third rank he is third. The human soul, accordingly, 1 Cf. Ex. xxiv. 2. 2 Cf. Ps. civ. 6. δ Cf. Matt. xi. 27.
* ἀγένητον. Locus diligenter notandus, ubi filius e creaturarum numero diserte eximitur, dum οἐγένητος dicitur. At non dissimulandum in unico Cod. Anglicano secundo legi: τὸν γεννητόν: cf. Origenianorum, lib. ii. queestio 2, num. 289.—RUEUS.
δ ὅτί wor ἂν χωρῇ γιγνώσκειν. Boherellus proposes ὅστις aor. ὧν xepx, etc Book vi.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 357 is eager to learn what these things are, looking to such things as are kindred to itself, none of which is perfect. But as regards the King and those things which I mentioned, there is nothing which resembles them."! I might have mentioned, moreover, what is said of those beings which are called seraphim by the Hebrews, and described in Isaiah,? who cover the face and feet of God, and of those called cherubim, whom Ezekiel? has described, and the postures of these, and of the manner in which God is said to be borne upon the cherubim. But since they are mentioned in a very mysterious manner, on account of the unworthy and the indecent, who are unable to enter into the great thoughts and venerable nature of theology, I have not deemed it becoming to discourse of them in this treatise.
CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XIX.
Celsus in the next place alleges, that ** certain Christians, having misunderstood the words of Plato, loudly boast of a * super-celestial' God, thus ascending beyond the heaven of the Jews" By these words, indeed, he does not make it clear whether they also ascend beyond the God of the Jews, or only beyond the heaven by which they swear. It is not our purpose at present, however, to speak of those who acknowledge another god than the one worshipped by the Jews, but to defend our- selves, and to show that it was impossible for the prophets of the Jews, whose writings are reckoned among ours, to have borrowed anything from Plato, because they were older than he. They did not then borrow from him the declaration, that * all things are around the King of all, and that all exist on account of him;" for we have learned that nobler thoughts than these have been uttered by the prophets, by Jesus Him- self and His disciples, who have clearly indicated the meaning of the spirit that was in them, which was none other than the spirit of Christ. Nor was the philosopher the first to present to view the “ super-celestial" place; for David long ago brought to view the profundity and multitude of the thoughts concern- ing God entertained by those who have ascended above visible things, when he said in the book of Psalms: “ Praise God, ye 1 Cf. Plato, Epist. ii. ad Dionys. 3 Cf. Isa. vi. 2. δ Cf. Ezek. i. and x.
358 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vr.
heaven of heavens; and ye waters that be above the heavens, let them praise the name of the Lord.”’ Ido not, indeed, deny that Plato learned from certain Hebrews the words quoted from the Phedrus, or even, as some have recorded, that he quoted them from a perusal of our prophetic writings, when he said: “No poet here below has ever sung of the super-celestial place, or ever will sing in a becoming manner,” and soon. And in the same passage is the following: “ For the essence, which is both colourless and formless, and which cannot be touched, which really exists, is the pilot of the soul, and is beheld by the understanding alone; and around it the genus of true know- ledge holds this place."? Our Paul, moreover, educated by these words, and longing after things “ supra-mundane” and * super-celestial,” and doing his utmost for their sake to attain them, says in the second Epistle to the Corinthians: “ For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are unseen are eternal.”?
CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XX.
Now, to those who are capable of understanding him, the apostle manifestly presents to view “things which are the objects of perception,” calling them “things seen;” while he terms “unseen,” things which are the object of the under- standing, and cognisable by it alone. He knows, also, that things “seen” and visible are “temporal,” but that things cognisable by the mind, and “not seen,” are “eternal;” and | desiring to remain in the contemplation of these, and being assisted by his earnest longing for them, he deemed all afflic- tion as “light” and as “nothing,” and during the season of afflictions and troubles was not at all bowed down by them, but by his contemplation of [divine] things deemed every calamity a light thing, seeing we also have “a great High Priest,” who by the greatness of His power and understanding * has passed through the heavens, even Jesus the Son of God," who has promised to all that have truly learned divine things, and have 1 Ps. cxlviii. 4. 3 Cf. Plato in Phedro. 3 Cf. 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18.
Book vi. | ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 859 lived lives in harmony with them, to go before them to the things that are supra-mundane; for His words are: “ That where I go, ye may be also."! And therefore we hope, after the troubles and struggles which we suffer here, to reach the highest heavens,’ and receiving, agreeably to the teaching of Jesus, the fountains of water that spring up unto eternal life, and being filled with the rivers of knowledge, shall be united with those waters that are said to be above the heavens, and which praise His name. And as many of us* as praise Him shall not be carried about by the revolution of the heaven, but shall be ever engaged in the contemplation of the invisible things of God, which are no longer understood by us through the things which He hath made from the creation of the world, but seeing, as it was expressed by the true disciple of Jesus in these words, “then face to face;”° and in these, “ When that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part will be done away.” 9 CHAPTER XXI.
CHAPTER XXI.
The Scriptures which are current in the churches of God do not speak of “seven” heavens, or of any definite number at all, but they do appear to teach the existence of * heavens," whether . that means the “spheres” of those bodies which the Greeks call * planets," or something more mysterious. Celsus, too, agreeably to the opinion of Plato,’ asserts that souls can make their way to and from the earth through the planets; while Moses, our most ancient prophet, says that a divine vision was presented to the view of our prophet Jacob,°—a ladder stretching to heaven, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon it, and the Lord supported? upon its top, —obscurely pointing, by this matter of the ladder, either to the same truths which Plato had in view, or to something greater than these. On this subject 1 Cf. John xiv. 8. 3 πρὸς ἄκροις τοῖς ovpavols.
3 χοταμοὺς τῶν θεωρήρεατων.
4 For ὅσον γε Boherellus proposes ὅσος γε, which is adopted in the trans- lation.
5 Cf. 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 6 Cf. 1 Cor. xiii. 10.
7 Of. Plato in Timzxo. 8 Cf. Gen. xxviii. 12, 18.
9 ἐπεστηριγμένον.
360 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Boox v1.
Philo has composed a treatise which deserves the thoughtfal and intelligent investigation of all lovers of truth.
CHAPTER XXII.
After this, Celsus, desiring to exhibit his learning in his treatise against us, quotes also certain Persian mysteries, where he says: “ These things are obscurely hinted at in the accounts of the Persians, and especially in the mysteries of Mithras, which are celebrated amongst them. For in the latter there is a representation of the two heavenly revolutions,—of the movement, viz., of the fixed’ stars, and of that which takes place among the planets, and of the passage of the soul through these. 'The representation is of the following nature: There is a ladder with lofty gates,’ and on the top of it an eighth gate. The first gate consists of lead, the second of tin, the third of copper, the fourth of iron, the fifth of a mixture of metals,’ the sixth of silver, and the seventh of gold. The first gate they assign to Saturn, indicating by the *lead' the slowness of this star; the second to Venus, comparing her to the splendour and softness of tin; the third to Jupiter, being firm* and solid; the fourth to Mercury, for both Mercury and iron are fit to endure all things, and are money-making and laborious;* the fifth to Mars, because, being composed of a mixture of metals, it is varied and unequal; the sixth, of silver, to the Moon; the seventh, of gold, to the Sun,—thus imitating the different colours of the two latter." He next proceeds to examine the reason of the stars being arranged in this order, which is symbolized by the names of the restof matter. Musical reasons, moreover, are added or quoted by the Persian theology; and to these, again, he strives to add a second explanation, con- nected also with musical considerations. But it seems to me, that to quote the language of Celsus upon these matters would be absurd, and similar to what he himself has done, when, in l τῆς τε ἀπλανοῦς.
3 χλίμαξ ὑψίτνλος. Boherellus conjectures ἑστά πυλος.
$ χεραστοὺ νομίσματος. * τὴν χαλκοβάτην καὶ στεῤῥών.
5 σλήμονα yao ἔργων ἁπάντων, καὶ χρηματιστὴν, καὶ πολύκμητον εἶναι, τόν τε σίδηρον καὶ τὸν ᾿ Ἑρμῆν.
© τῆ; λοιπὴ; VAn;. For vans, another reading is πύλης.
Book v1. ] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 361 his accusations against Christians and Jews, he quoted, most inappropriately, not only the words of Plato; but, dissatisfied even with these,’ he adduced in addition the mysteries of the Persian Mithras, and the explanation of them. Now, whatever be the case with regard to these,—whether the Persians and those who conduct the mysteries of Mithras give false or true accounts regarding them,—why did he select these for quotation, rather than some of the other mysteries, with the explanation of them? For the mysteries of Mithras do not appear to be more famous among the Greeks than those of Eleusis, or than those in Egina, where individuals are initiated in the rites of Hecate. But if he must introduce barbarian mysteries with their ex- planation, why not rather those of the Egyptians, which are highly regarded by many,’ or those of the Cappadocians re- garding the Comanian Diana, or those of the Thracians, or even those of the Romans themselves, who initiate the noblest members of their senate?? But if he deemed it inappropriate to institute a comparison with any of these, because they furnished no aid in the way of accusing Jews or Christians, why did it not also appear to him inappropriate to adduce the instance of the mysteries of Mithras?
CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
If one wished to obtain means for a profounder contem- plation of the entrance of souls into divine things, not from the statements of that very insignificant sect from which he quoted, but from books—partly those of the Jews, which are read in their synagogues, and adopted by Christians, and partly from those of Christians alone—let him peruse, at the end of Ezekiel's prophecies, the visions beheld by the pro- phet, in which gates of different kinds are enumerated,* which obscurely refer to the different modes in which divine souls enter into a better world; and let him peruse also, from the Apocalypse of John, what is related of the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and of its foundations and 1 For ὡς ἐκείνοις dpxtiades, Spencer introduced into his text, οὐδ᾽ ἐκείνοις eipxsicba:, which has been adopted in the translation.
2 iy οἷς πολλοὶ σεμνύνονται. 8 ἀπὸ τῆς συγκλήτου βουλῆς.
4 Cf. Ezek. xlviii. 5 ἐπὶ rob κρείττονα, 862 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book vr.
gates! And if he is capable of finding out also the road, which is indicated by symbols, of those who will march on to divine things, let him read the book of Moses entitled Numbers, and let him seek the help of one who is capable of initiating him into the meaning of the narratives concerning the encampments of the children of Israel; viz. of what sort those were which were arranged towards the east, as was the case with the first; and what those towards the south-west and south; and what towards the sea; and what the last were, which were stationed towards the north. For he will see that there is in the respec- tive places a meaning? not to be lightly treated, nor, as Celsus imagines, such as calls only for silly and servile listeners: but he will distinguish in the encampments certain things relating to the numbers that are enumerated, and which are specially adapted to each tribe, of which the present does not appear to us to be the proper time to speak. Let Celsus know, moreover, as well as those who read his book, that in no part of the genuine and divinely accredited Scriptures are “seven” heavens men- tioned; neither do our prophets, nor the apostles of Jesus, nor the Son of God Himself, repeat ee which they borrowed from the Persians or te Cabiri.
CHAPTER XXIV.