are poor, or that kings are always born of kings? But it appears folly to waste time upon such an argument as this, seeing it is well known that, even in our own days, some who are poorer than Mary are descended from ancestors of wealth and distinction, and that rulers of nations and kings have sprung from persons of no reputation.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
* But,” continues Celsus, “ what great deeds did Jesus per- form as being a God? Did he put his enemies to shame, or bring to a ridiculous conclusion what was designed against 88 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Doox rr.
him?” Now to this question, although we are able to show the striking and miraculous character of the events which, be- fell Him, yet from what other source can we furnish an answer than from the Gospel narratives, which state that “ there was an earthquake, and that the rocks were split asunder, and the tombs opened, and the veil of the temple rent in twain from top to bottom, and that darkness prevailed in the day-time, the sun failing to give light?” But if Celsus believe the Gospel accounts when he thinks that he can find in them matter of charge against the Christians, and refuse to believe them when they establish the divinity of Jesus, our answer to him is: * Sir,* either disbelieve all the Gospel narratives, and then no longer imagine that you can found charges upon them; or, in yielding your belief to their statements, look in admiration on the Logos of God, who became incarnate, and who desired to confer benefits upon the whole human race. And this feature evinces the nobility of the work of Jesus, that, down to the present time, those whom God wills are healed by His name. And with regard to the eclipse in the time of Tiberius Cesar, in whose reign Jesus appears to have been crucified, and the great earthquakes which then took place, Phlegon too, I think, has written in the thirteenth or fourteenth book of his Chronicles.”* CHAPTER XXXIV.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
This Jew of Celsus, ridiculing Jesus, as he imagines, is described as being acquainted with the Bacche of Euripides, in which Dionysus says: * The divinity himself will liberate me whenever I wish."* Now the Jews are not much acquainted with Greek literature; but suppose that there was a Jew so well versed in it [as to . make such a quotation on his part appropriate], how [does it follow] that Jesus could not liberate Himself, because He did not do so? For let him believe from our own Scriptures that 1 Cf. Matt. xxvii. 51, 52; cf. Luke xxiii. 44, 45. 3 ὦ οὗτος.
8 On Phlegon, cf. note in Migne, pp. 828, 854. * Eurip. Bacche, v. 498 (ed. Dindorf).
Boox n. } ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 89 Peter obtained his freedom after having been bound in prison, an angel having loosed his chains; and that Paul, having been bound in the stocks along with Silas in Philippi of Macedonia, was liberated by divine power, when the gates of the prison — were opened. But it is probable that Celsus treats these ac- counts with ridicule, or that he never read them; for he would probably say in reply, that there are certain sorcerers who are able by incantations to unloose chains and to open doors, so that he would liken the events related in our histories to the doings of sorcerers. “ But,” he continues, “no calamity happened even to him who condemned him, as there did to Pentheus, viz. madness or discerption.”* And yet he does not know that it was not so much Pilate that condemned Him (who knew that “for envy the Jews had delivered Him”), as the Jewish nation, which has been condemned by God, and rent in pieces, and dispersed over the whole earth, in a degree far beyond what happened to Pentheus. Moreover, why did he inten- tionally omit what is related of Pilate’s wife, who beheld a vision, and who was so moved by it as to send a message to her husband, saying: * Have thou nothing to do with that just man; for I have suffered many things this day in a dream be- cause of him?"? And again, passing by in silence the proofs | of the divinity of Jesus, Celsus endeavours to cast reproach upon Him from the narratives in the Gospel, referring to those who mocked Jesus, and put on Him the purple robe, and the crown of thorns, and placed the reed in His hand. From what source now, Celsus, did you derive these statements, save from the Gospel narratives? And did you, accordingly, see that they were fit matters for reproach, while they who recorded them did not think that you, and such as you, would turn them into ridicule; but that others would receive from them an example how to despise those who ridiculed and mocked Him on account of His religion, who appropriately laid down His life for its sake? Admire rather their love of truth, and that of the Being who bore these things voluntarily for the sake of men, and who endured them with all constancy and long-suffering. For it is not recorded that He uttered any lamentation, or that after His condemnation He either did or uttered anything unbecoming.
1 Of. Euseb. Hist. Eccles. b. ii. c. vii. 2 Matt. xxvii. 19.
40 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Boox rr.
CHAPTER XXXV.
But in answer to this objection, “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 ven- geance upon those who insult both him and his Father?" We have to reply, that it would be the same thing as if we were to say to those among the Greeks who accept the doctrine of providence, and who believe in portents, Why does God not punish those who insult the Divinity, and subvert the doctrine of providence? For as the Greeks would answer such objec- tions, so would we, in the same, or a more effective manner. There was not only a portent from heaven—the eclipse of the sun—but also the other miracles, which show that the crucified One possessed something that was divine, and greater than was possessed by the majority of men.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Celsus next says: “ What is the nature of the ichor in the body of the crucified Jesus? Is it * such as flows in the bodies of the immortal gods?'"! He puts this question in a spirit of mockery; but we shall show from the serious narratives of the Gospels, although Celsus may not like it, that it was no mythic and Homeric ichor which flowed from the body of Jesus, but that, after His death, “one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and there came thereout blood and water. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true, and he knoweth that he saith the truth.”? Now, in other dead bodies the blood congeals, and pure water does not flow forth; but the miraculous feature in the case of the dead body of Jesus was, that around the dead body blood and water flowed forth from the side. But if this Celsus, who, in order to find matter of accusation against Jesus and the Christians, extracts from the Gospel even passages which are incorrectly inter- preted, but passes over in silence the evidences of the divinity of Jesus, would listen to divine portents, let him read the Gospel, and see that even the centurion, and they who with him kept watch over Jesus, on seeing the earthquake, and the 1 Cf. Iliad, vi. 940. 3 Cf. John xix. 34, 35.
Book 11. } ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 41 events that occurred, were greatly afraid, saying, ^ This man was the son of God.”'
CHAPTER XXXVII.
After this, he who extracts from the Gospel narrative those statements on which he thinks he can found an accusation, makes the vinegar and the gall a subject of reproach to Jesus, saying that *he rushed with open mouth? to drink of them, and could not endure his thirst as any ordinary man frequently endures it^ Now this matter admits of an explanation of a peculiar and figurative kind; but on the present occasion, the statement that the prophets predicted this very incident may be accepted as the more common answer to the objection. For in the sixty-ninth Psalm there is written, with reference to Christ: * And they gave me gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink"? Now, let the Jews say who it is that the prophetic writing represents as uttering these words; and let them adduce from history one who received gall for his food, and to whom vinegar was given as drink. Would they venture to assert that the Christ whom they expect still to come might be placed in such circumstances? Then we would say, What prevents the prediction from having been already accomplished? For this very prediction was uttered many ages before, and is sufficient, along with the other prophetic utterances, to lead him who fairly examines the whole matter to the conclusion that Jesus is He who was prophesied of as Christ, and as the Son of God.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
The Jew next remarks: ^ You, O sincere believers,‘ find fault with us, because we do not recognise this individual as God, nor agree with you that he endured these [sufferings] for the benefit of mankind, in order that we also might despise punishment.” Now, in answer to this, we say that we blame the Jews, who have been brought up under the training of the law and the prophets (which foretell the coming of Christ), because they neither refute the arguments which we lay before them to prove that He is the Messiah,’ adducing such refuta- 1 Cf. Matt. xxvii. 04. 2 χανδὸν. 3 Ps. lxix. 21. 4 ὦ κιστότατοι. 5 χὸν Χριστὸν.
42 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book 11.
tion as a defence of their unbelief; nor yet, while not offering any refutation, do they believe in Him who was the subject of prophecy, and who clearly manifested through His disciples, even after the period of His appearance in the flesh, that He under- went these things for the benefit of mankind; having, as the object of His first advent, not to condemn men and their actions! before He had instructed them, and pointed out to them their duty,’ nor to chastise the wicked and save the good, but to dis- seminate His doctrine in an extraordinary * manner, and with the evidence of divine power, among the whole human race, as the prophets also have represented these things. And we blame them, moreover, because they did not believe in Him who gave evidence of the power that was in Him, but asserted that He cast out demons from the souls of men through Beelzebub the prince of the demons; and we blame them because they slander the philanthropic character of Him, who overlooked not only no city, but not even a single village in Judea, that He might everywhere announce the kingdom of God, accusing Him of leading the wandering life of a vagabond, and passing an anxious existence in a disgraceful body. But there is no disgrace in enduring such labours for the benefit of all those who may be able to understand Him.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
And how can the following assertion of this Jew of Celsus appear anything else than a manifest falsehood, viz. that Jesus * having gained over no one during his life, not even his own disciples, underwent these punishments and sufferings?” For from what other source sprang the envy which was aroused against Him by the Jewish high priests, and elders, and scribes, save from the fact that multitudes obeyed and followed Him, and were led into the deserts not only by the persuasive* lan- guage of Him whose words were always appropriate to His hearers, but who also by His miracles made an impression on those who were not moved to belief by His words? And is it not a manifest falsehood to say that “he did not gain over even his own disciples," who exhibited, indeed, at that time some l τὰ ἀνθρώπων. 2 μαρτύρασθαι περὶ τῶν πρακχτέων. 8 χαραδόξως. 4 τῆς τῶν λόγων αὑτοῦ εἰκολουθίας.
Book 11.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS.. 48 symptoms of human weakness arising from cowardly fear—for they had not yet been disciplined to the exhibition of full courage—but who by no means abandoned the judgments which they had formed regarding Him as the Christ? For Peter, after his denial, perceiving to what a depth of wicked- ness he had fallen, * went out and wept bitterly;" while the others, although stricken with dismay on account of what had happened to Jesus (for they still continued to admire Him), had, by His glorious appearance,’ their belief more firmly established than before that He was the Son of God.
CHAPTER XL.
CHAPTER XL.
It is, moreover, in a very unphilosophical spirit that Celsus imagines our Lord's pre-eminence among men to consist, not in the preaching of salvation and in a pure morality, but in acting contrary to the character of that personality which He had taken upon Him, and in not dying, although He had assumed mortality; or, if dying, yet at least not such a death as might serve as a pattern to those who were to learn by that very act how to die for the sake of religion, and to comport themselves boldly through its help, before those who hold erroneous views on the subject of religion and irreligion, and who regard religious men as altogether irreligious, but imagine those to be most reli- gious who err regarding God, and who apply to everything rather than to God the ineradicable? idea of Him [which is implanted in the human mind], and especially when they eagerly rush to _ destroy those who have yielded themselves up with their whole soul (even unto death), to the clear evidence of one God who is over all things.
CHAPTER XLI.
CHAPTER XLI.
In the person of the Jew, Celsus continues to find fault with Jesus, alleging that *he did not show himself to be pure from all evil.” Let Celsus state from what “evil” our Lord did not show Himself to be pure. If he means that He was not pure from what is properly termed “evil,” let him clearly prove the existence of any wicked work in Him. But if he deems poverty and the cross to be evils, and conspiracy on the part of wicked men, then it is clear that he would say that evil 1 ἐπιφανείας. 3 τὴν περὶ αὐτοῦ οεἰδιάστροφον ἔννοιαν.
44 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Boox m.
had happened also to Socrates, who was unable to show himself pure from evils. And how great also the other band of poor men is among the Greeks, who have given themselves to philosophical pursuits, and have voluntarily accepted a life of poverty, is known to many among the Greeks from what is re- corded of Democritus, who allowed his property to become pasture for sheep; and of Crates, who obtained his freedom by bestowing upon the Thebans the price received for the sale of his possessions. Nay, even Diogenes himself, from excessive poverty, came to live in a tub; and yet, in the opinion of no one possessed of moderate understanding, was Diogenes on that account considered to be in an evil (sinful) condition.
CHAPTER XLII.
CHAPTER XLII.
But further, since Celsus will have it that * Jesus was not irreproachable," let him instance any one of those who adhere to His doctrine, who has recorded anything that could truly furnish ground of reproach against Jesus; or-if it be not from these that he derives his matter of accusation against Him, let him say from what quarter he has learned that which has in- duced him to say that He is not free from reproach. Jesus, however, performed all that He promised to do, and by which He conferred benefits upon His adherents. And we, continu- ally seeing fulfilled all that was predicted by Him before it happened, viz. that this gospel of His should be preached throughout the whole world, and that His disciples should go among all nations and announce His doctrine; and, moreover, that they should be brought before governors and kings on no other account than because of His teaching; we are lost in wonder at Him, and have our faith in Him daily confirmed. And I know not by what greater or more convincing proofs Celsus would have Him confirm His predictions; unless, in- deed, as seems to be the case, not understanding that the Logos had become the man Jesus, he would have Him to be subject to no human weakness, nor to become an illustrious pattern to men of the manner in which they ought to bear the calamities of life, although these appear to Celsus to be most lamentable and disgraceful occurrences, seeing that he regards labour! to l πόνον.
l πόνον.
Boox 11.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 45 be the greatest of evils, and pleasure the perfect good,—a view accepted by none of those philosophers who admit the doctrine of providence, and who allow that courage, and fortitude, and magnanimity are virtues. Jesus, therefore, by His sufferings cast no discredit upon the faith of which He was the object; but rather confirmed the same among those who would approve of manly courage, and among those who were taught by Him that what was truly and properly the happy life was not here below, but was to be found in that which was called, according to His own words, the “coming world;” whereas in what is called the “present world" life is a calamity, or at least the first and greatest struggle of the soul.'
CHAPTER XLIII.
CHAPTER XLIII.
Celsus next addresses to us the following remark: “ 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.” But whether he like it or not, we assert that not only while Jesus was in the body did He win over not a few persons merely, but so great a number, that a conspiracy was formed against Him on account of the multi- tude of His followers; but also, that when He became a soul, without the covering of the body, He dwelt among those souls which were without bodily covering, converting such of them as were willing to Himself, or those whom He saw, for reasons known to Him alone, to be better adapted to such a course.
CHAPTER XLIV.
Celsus in the next place says, with indescribable silliness: * If, after inventing defences which are absurd, and by which ye were ridiculously deluded, ye imagine that you really make a good defence, what prevents you from regarding those other individuals who have been condemned, and have died a miser- able death, as greater and more divine messengers of heaven [than Jesus] ^ Now, that manifestly and clearly there is no similarity between Jesus, who suffered what is described, and those who have died a wretched death on account of their sorcery, or whatever else be the charge against them, is patent 1 ἀγῶνα τὸν πρῶτον xal μέγιστον τῆς ψυχῆς.
46 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Boox τι.
to every one. For no one can point to any acts of a sorcerer which turned away souls from the practice of the many sins which prevail among men, and from the flood of wickedyess (in the world)! But since this Jew of Celsus compares Him to robbers, and says that “any similarly shameless fellow might be able to say regarding even a robber and murderer whom punishment had overtaken, that such an one was not a robber, but a god, because he predicted to his fellow-robbers that he would suffer such punishment as he actually did suffer," it might, in the first place, be answered, that it is not because He predicted that He would suffer such things that we enter- tain those opinions regarding Jesus which lead us to have con- fidence in Him, as one who has come down to us from God. And, in the second place, we assert that this very comparison? has been somehow foretold in the Gospels; since God was numbered with the transgressors by wicked men, who desired rather a “murderer” (one who for sedition and murder had been cast into prison) to be released unto them, and Jesus to be crucified, and who crucified Him between two robbers. Jesus, indeed, is ever crucified with robbers among His genuine dis- ciples and witnesses to the truth, and suffers the same condem- nation which they do among men. And we say, that if those persons have any resemblance to robbers, who on account of their piety towards God suffer all kinds of injury and death, that they may keep it pure and unstained, according to the teaching of Jesus, then it is clear also that Jesus, the author of such teaching, is with good reason compared by Celsus to the captain of a band of robbers. But neither was He who died for the common good of mankind, nor they who suffered because of their religion, and alone of all men were persecuted because of what appeared to them the right way of honouring God, put to death in accordance with justice, nor was Jesus persecuted without the charge of impiety being incurred by His persecutors. CHAPTER XLV.
But observe the superficial nature of his argument respect- ing the former disciples of Jesus, in which he says: “In the next place, those who were his associates while alive, and who l τῆς κατὼ τὴν κακίαν Φύσεως. 3 καὶ ταῦτα.
Boox n. } ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. - 4 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." And here he believes the sin which was committed by the dis- ciples while they were yet beginners and imperfect, and which is recorded in the Gospels, to have been actually committed, in order that he may have matter of accusation against the gospel; but their upright conduct after their transgression, when they behaved with courage before the Jews, and suffered countless cruelties at their hands, and at last suffered death for the doctrine of Jesus, he passes by in silence. For he would neither hear the words of Jesus, when He predicted to Peter, *« When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands,”? etc., to which the Scripture adds, * This spake He, signifying by what death he should glorify God;” nor how James the brother of John—an apostle, the brother of an apostle—was slain with the sword by Herod for the doctrine of Christ; nor even the many instances of boldness displayed by Peter and the other apostles because of the gospel, and * how they went forth from the presence of the Sanhedrim after being scourged, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name,” " and so surpassing many of the instances related by the Greeks of the fortitude and courage of their philo- sophers. From the very beginning, then, this was inculcated as a precept of Jesus among His hearers, which taught men to despise the life which is eagerly sought after by the multi- tude, but to be earnest in living the life which resembles that of God. | CHAPTER XLVI.
But how can this Jew of Celsus escape the charge of false- hood, when he says that Jesus, * when on earth, gained over to himself only ten sailors and tax-gatherers of the most worthless character, and not even the whole of these?” Now it is cer- tain that the Jews themselves would admit that He drew over not ten persons merely, nor a hundred, nor a thousand, but 48 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book rr.
on one occasion five thousand at once, and on another four thousand; and that He attracted them to such a degree that they followed Him even into the deserts, which alone could contain the assembled multitude of those who believed in God through Jesus, and where He not only addressed to them dis- courses, but also manifested to them His works. And now, through his tautology, he compels us also to be tautological, since we are careful to guard against being supposed to pass over any of the charges advanced by him; and therefore, in reference to the matter before us, following the order of his treatise as we have it, he says: ‘Is it not the height of absur- dity to maintain, that if, while he himself was alive, he won over not a single person to his views, after his death any who wish are able to gain over such a multitude of individuals?” Whereas he ought to have said, in consistency with truth, that if, after His death, not simply those who will, but they who have the will and the power, can gain over so many proselytes, how much more consonant to reason is it, that while He was alive He should, through the greater power of His words and deeds, have won over to Himself manifold greater numbers of adherents? CHAPTER XLVII.
He represents, moreover, a statement of his own as if it were an answer to one of his questions, in which he asks: “ By what train of argument were you led to regard him as the Son of God?” For he makes us answer that “we were won over to him, because! we know that his punishment was undergone to bring about the destruction of the father of evil.” Now we were won over to His doctrine by innumerable other con- siderations, of which we have stated only the smallest part in the preceding pages; but, if God permit, we shall continue to enumerate them, not only while dealing with the so-called 7Tue Discourse of Celsus, but also on many other occasions. And, as if we said that we consider Him to be the Son of God be- cause He suffered punishment, he asks: * What then? have not many others, too, been punished, and that not less disgrace- 1 The reading in the text is εἰ xai ἴσμεν; for which both Bohereau and De la Rue propose ἐπεὶ ἴσμεν, which has been adopted in the translation: cf. ἐπεὶ ἐκολάσθη, infra.
Book n. | ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 49 fully?" And here Celsus acts like the most contemptible enemies of the gospel, and like those who imagine that it fol- lows as a consequence from our history of the crucified Jesus, that we should worship those who have undergone crucifixion!
CHAPTER XLVIII.
Celsus, moreover, unable to resist the miracles which Jesus is recorded to have performed, has already on several occasions spoken of them slanderously as works of sorcery; and we also on several occasions have, to the best of our ability, replied to his statements. And now he represents us as saying that “ we deemed Jesus to be the Son of God, because he healed the lame and the blind.” And he adds: “ Moreover, as you assert, he raised the dead.” That He healed the lame and the blind, and that therefore we hold Him to be the Christ and the Son of God, is manifest to us from what is contained in the pro- phecies: ** Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear; then shall the lame man leap as an hart.”! And that He also raised the dead, and that it is no fiction of those who composed the Gospels, is shown by this, that if it had been a fiction, many individuals would have been represented as having risen from the dead, and these, too, such as had been many years in their graves. But as it is no fiction, they are very easily counted of whom this is related to have happened; viz. the daughter of the ruler of the syna- gogue (of whom I know not why He said, “She is not dead, but sleepeth,” stating regarding her something which does not apply to all who die); and the only son of the widow, on whom He took compassion and raised him up, making the bearers of the corpse to stand still; and the third instance, that of Lazarus, who had been four days in the grave. Now, regarding these cases we would say to all persons of candid mind, and especially to the Jew, that as there were many lepers in the days of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was healed save Naaman the Syrian, and many widows in the days of Elijah the prophet, to none of whom was Elijah sent save to Sarepta in Sidonia (for the widow there had been deemed worthy by a divine decree of the miracle which was wrought by the pro- 50 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book rr.
phet in the matter of the bread); so also there were many dead in the days of Jesus, but those only rose from the grave whom the Logos knew to be fitted for a resurrection, in order that the works done by the Lord might not be merely symbols of certain things, but that by the very acts themselves He might gain over many to the marvellous doctrine of the gospel. I would say, moreover, that, agreeably to the promise of Jesus, His disciples performed even greater works than these miracles of Jesus, which were perceptible only to the senses! For the eyes of those who are blind in soul are ever opened; and the ears of those who were deaf to virtuous words, listen readily to the doctrine of God, and of the blessed life with Him; and many, too, who were lame in the feet of the * inner man," as Scrip- ture calls it, having now been healed by the word, do not simply leap, but leap as the hart, which is an animal hostile to serpents, and stronger than all the poison of vipers. And these lame who have been healed, receive from Jesus power to trample, with those feet in which they were formerly lame, upon the Serpents and scorpions of wickedness, and generally upon all the power of the enemy; and though they tread upon it, they sustain no injury, for they also have become stronger than the poison of all evil and of demons.
CHAPTER XLIX.
CHAPTER XLIX.
Jesus, accordingly, in turning away the minds of His dis- ciples, not merely from giving heed to sorcerers in general, and those who profess in any other manner to work miracles— for His disciples did not need to be so warned—but from such as gave themselves out as the Christ of God, and who tried by certain apparent? miracles to gain over to them the disciples of — Jesus, said in a certain passage: “ Then, if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth; behold, he is in the secret chambers, believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and 1 ὧν 'IncoUg αἰσθητῶν. 3 φαντασιῶν. - Boox n. | ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 51