The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1: De Principiis; Against Celsus, Book 1 (31/37)

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Book 1.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSTS. 407 CuAPTER X.

In the next place, since our opponents keep repeating those statments about faith, we must say that, considering it as a useful thing for the multitude, we admit that we teach those men to believe without reasons, who are unable to abandon all other employments, and give themselves to an examination of arguments; and our opponents, although thev do not acknowledge it, yet practically do the same. For who is there that, on betaking himself to the study of philo- sophy, and throwing himself into the ranks of some sect, either by chance,’ or because he is provided with a teacher of that school, adopts such a course for any other reason, except that he believes his particular sect to be superior to any other? For, not waiting to hear the arguments of all the other philosophers, and of all the different sects, and the reasons for condemning one system and for supporting another, he in this way elects to become a Stoic, e.g., or a Platonist, or a Peripatetic, or an Epicurean, or a follower of some other school, and is thus borne, although they will not admit it, by a kind of irrational impulse to the practice, say of Stoicism, to the disregard of the others; despising either Platonism, as being marked by greater humility than the others; or Peri- pateticism, as more human, and as admitting with more fairness’ than other systems the blessings of human life. And some also, alarmed at first sight’ about the doctrine of providence, from sceing what happens in the world to the vicious and to the virtuous, have rashly concluded that there is no divine providence at all, and have adopted the views of Epicurus and Celsus.

CHAPTER XI.

Since, then, as reason teaches, we must repose faith in some one of those who have been the introducers of sects among the Greeks or barbarians, why should we not rather believe in God who is over all things, and in Him who LawoxaAnputixas. 7 wearroyv edyvaucvas. 3% axe rourns wposBorr;.

408 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book r.

teaches that worship is due to God alone, and that other things are to be passed by, either as non-existent, or as exist- ing indeed, and worthy of honour, but not of worship and reverence? And respecting these things, he who not only believes, but who contemplates things with the eye of reason, will state the demonstrations that occur to him, and which are the result of careful investigation. And why should it not be more reasonable, seeing all human things are dependent upon faith, to believe God rather than them? For who enters on a voyage, or contracts a marriage, or becomes the father of children, or casts seed into the ground, without believing that better things will result from so doing, although the contrary might and sometimes does happen? And yet the belief that better things, even agreeably to their wishes, will follow, makes all men venture upon uncertain enterprises, which may turn out differently from what they expect. And if the hope and belief of a better future be the support of life in every uncertain enterprise, why shall not this faith rather be rationally accepted by him who believes on better grounds than he who sails the sea, or tills the ground, or marries a wife, or engages in any other human pursuit, in the existence of a God who was the Creator of all these things, and in Him who with surpassing wisdom and divine greatness of mind dared to make known this doctrine to men in every part of the world, at the cost of great danger, and of a death considered infamous, which IIe underwent for the sake of the human race; having also taught those who were persuaded to embrace His doctrine at the first, to proceed, under the peril of every danger, and of ever impending death, to all quarters of the world to ensure the salvation of men ¢ CHAPTER XII.

In the next place, when Celsus says in express words, “ If they would answer me, not as if I were asking for informa- tion, for I am acquainted with all their opinions, but because I take an equal interest in them all, it would be well. And Book 1. ] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 409 if they will not, but will keep reiterating, as they generally do, ‘Do not investigate,’ etc., they must, he continues, ex- plain to me at least of what nature these things are of which they speak, and whence they are derived,” ete. Now, with regard to his statement that he “is acquainted with all our doctrines,” we have to say that this is a boastful and daring assertion; for if he had read the prophets in particular, which are full of acknowledged difficulties, and of declara- tions that are obscure to the multitude, and if he had perused the parables of the Gospels, and the other writings of the law and of the Jewish history, and the utterances of the apostles, and had read them candidly, with a desire to enter into their meaning, he would not have expressed himself with such boldness, nor said that he “ was acquainted with all their doctrines.” Even we ourselves, who have devoted much study to these writings, would not say that “we were ac- quainted with everything,” for we have a regard for truth. Not one of us will assert, “ I know all the doctrines of Epi- curus,” or will be confident that he knows all those of Plato, in the knowledge of the fact that so many differences of opinion exist among the expositors of these systems. For who is so daring as to say that he knows all the opinions of the Stoics or of the Peripatetics? Unless, indeed, it should be the case that he has heard this boast, “ I know them all,” from some ignorant and senseless individuals, who do not perceive their own ignorance, and should thus imagine, from having had such persons as his teachers, that he was ac- quainted with them all. Such an one appears to me to act very much as a person would do who had visited Eeypt (where the Egyptian savans, learned in their country’s literature, are greatly given to philosophizing about those things which are regarded among them as divine, but where the vulgar, hearing certain myths, the reasons of which they do not understand, are greatly elated because of their fancied knowledge), and who should imagine that he is acquainted with the whole circle of Egyptian knowledge, after having been a disciple of the ignorant alone, and without having associated with any of the priests, or having learned the mysteries of the Egyptians from 410 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book ¥.

any other source. And what I have said regarding the learnecl and ignorant among the Egyptians, 1 might have said also of the Persians; among whom there are mysteries, conducted on rational principles by the learned among them, but understood in a symbolical sense by the more superficial of the multitude." And the same remark applies to the Syrians, and Indians, and to all those who have a literature and a mythology.

CHAPTER XIII.’

Dut since Celsus has declared it to be a saying of many Christians, that “the wisdom of this life is a bad thing, but that foolishness is good,” we have to answer that he slanders the gospel, not giving the words as they actually occur in the writings of Paul, where they run as follow: “If any one among you seemcth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.”? The apostle, therefore, does not say simply that “wisdom is foolishness with God,” but “the wisdom of this world.” And again, not, “If any one among you seemeth to be wise, let him become a fool universally;” but, “let him become a fool in this world, that he may become wise.” We term, then, “ the wisdom of this world,” every false system of philosophy, which, according to the Scriptures, is brought to nought; and we call foolishness good, not without restriction, but when a man becomes foolish as to this world. As if we were to say that the Platonist, wno believes in the immortality of the soul, and in the doctrine of its metempsychosis,® incurs the charge of folly with the Stoics, who discard this opinion; and with the Peripatetics, who babble about the subtle- ties of Plato; and with the Epicureans, who call it super- stition to introduce a providence, and to place a God over all things. Moreover, that it is in agreement with the spirit of 1 lao’ ots elas rereral, wpecBeucmevecs sy Aoyinas UO Tay Kap’ avTois Aovyiny, cueBorimac 63 yiveusvees UTO Tay Tap aUTOIS TOAAGY xeel EITOACLLO- ziowy. For yivcucves Ruaus prefers yivasxcusvar, Which is adopted in the translation.

Book:. ] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 411 Christianity, of much more importance to give our assent to doctrines upon grounds of reason and wisdom than on that of faith merely, and that it was only in certain circum- stances that the latter course was desired by Christianity, in order not to leave men altogether without help, is shown by that genuine disciple of Jesus, Paul, when he says: “ For after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.”? Now by these words it is clearly shown that it is by the wisdom of God that God ought to be known. But as this result did not follow, it pleased God a second time to save them that believe, not by “folly” uni- versally, but. by such foolishness as depended on preaching. For the preaching of Jesus Christ as crucified is the “ fool- ishness” of preaching, as Paul also perceived, when he said, “ But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling- block, and to the Greeks foolishness; but to them who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and wisdom of God.”?

CHAPTER XIV.

Celsus, being of opinion that there is to be found among many nations a general relationship of doctrine, enumerates all the nations which gave rise to such and such opinions; but for some reason, unknown to me, he casts a slight upon the Jews, not including them amongst the others, as having either laboured along with them, and arrived at the same conclusions, or as having entertained similar opinions on many subjects. It is proper, therefore, to ask him why he gives credence to the histories of barbarians and Greeks _ respecting the antiquity of those nations of whom he speaks, but stamps the histories of this nation alone as false. For 1"Ers 06 Ors xxi xara TO TH Adye cpioxov, TOAAD OiaQepes preTa Acrvyou xal coPias ouynararibecdas Tos Ooypecoiw, ymtp mere Wiring Tho TisTEDs" wal OTh nate TEpioraow xal Torr EBovaydn O Acros, iva pH wavTN adywLE- Aeic tom Tous adyOpacrouc’ dnAoi 6 tov Inaov yuyoios wadnris, etc.

412 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book 1.

if the respective writers related the events which are found in these works in the spirit of truth, why should we distrust the prophets of the Jews alone? And if Moses and the prophets have recorded many things in their history from a desire to favour their own system, why should we not say the same of the historians of other countries? Or, when the Egyptians or their histories speak evil of the Jews, are they to be believed on that point; but the Jews, when saying the same things of the Egyptians, and declaring that they had suffered great injustice at their hands, and that on this ac- count they had been persecuted by God, are to be charged with falsehood? And this applies not to the Egyptians alone, but to others; for we shall find that there was a con- nection between the Assyrians and the Jews, and that this is recorded in the ancient histories of the Assyrians. And so also the Jewish historians (I avoid using the word “ pro- phets,” that I may not appear to prejudge the case) have related that the Assyrians were enemies of the Jews. Ob- serve at once; then, the arbitrary procedure of this individual, who believes the histories of these nations on the ground of their being learned, and condemns others as being wholly ignorant. For listen to the statement of Celsus: “ There is,” he says, “an authoritative account from the very begin- ning, respecting which there is a constant agreement among all the most learned nations, and cities, and men.” And yet will not call the Jews a learned nation in the same way in which he does the Egyptians, and Assyrians, and Indians, and Persians, and Odrysians, and Samothracians, and Eleusinians.

CHAPTER XV.

How much more impartial than Celsus is Numenius the | Pythagorean, who has given many proofs of being a very eloquent man, and who has carefully tested many opinions, and collected together from many sources what had the appearance of truth; for, in the first book of his treatise On the Good, speaking of those nations who have adopted the opinion that God is incorporeal, he enumerates the Jews Book 1.1 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 413 also among those who hold this view; not showing any reluctance to use even the language of their prophets in his treatise, and to give it a metaphorical signification. It is said, moreover, that Hermippus has recorded in his first book, On Lawgivers, that it was from the Jewish people that Pythagoras derived the philosophy which he introduced among the Grecks. And there is extant a work by the historian Hecatzus, treating of the Jews, in which so high.a character is bestowed upon that nation for its learning, that Herennius Philo, in his treatise on the Jews, has doubts, in the first _ place, whether it is really the composition of the historian; and says, in the second place, that if really his, it is probable that he was carried away by the plausible nature of the Jewish history, and so yielded his assent to their system.

CHAPTER XVI.

I must express my surprise that Celsus should class the Odrysians, and Samothracians, and Eleusinians, and Hyper- boreans among the most ancient and learned nations, and should not deem the Jews worthy of a place among such, either for their learning or their antiquity, although there are many treatises in circulation among the Ecyptians, and Pheenicians, and Greeks, which testify to their existence as an ancient people, but which I have considered it unnecessary to quote. For any one who chooses may read what Flavius Josephus has recorded in his two books, On the Antiquity of the Jews, where he brings together a great collection of writers, who bear witness to the antiquity of the Jewish people; and there exists the Discourse to the Greeks of Tatian the younger, in which with very’ great learning he enumcrates those historians who have treated of the antiquity of the Jewish nation and of Moses. It seems, then, to be not from a love of truth, but from a spirit of hatred, that Celsus makes these statements, his object being to asperse the origin of Christianity, which is connected with Judaism. Nay, he styles the Galactophagi of Homer, and the Druids of the Gauls, and the Getz, most learned and ancient tribes, 414 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. f Boox 3.

on account of the resemblance between their traditions and those of the Jews, although I know not whether any of their histories survive; but the Hebrews alone, as far as in him lies, he deprives of the honour both of antiquity and learning. And again, when making a list of ancient and learned men who have conferred benefits upon their contemporaries [by their deeds], and upon posterity by their writings, he excluded Moses from the number; while of Linus, to whom Celsus assigns a foremost place in his list, there exist neither laws nor discourses which produced a change for the better among any tribes; whereas a whole nation, dispersed throughout the entire world, obey the laws of Moses. Consider, then, whether it is not from open malevolence that he has expelled Moses from his catalogue of learned men, while asserting that Linus, and Muszus, and Orpheus, and Pherecydes, and the Persian Zoroaster, and Pythagoras, discussed these topics, and that their opinions were deposited in books, and have thus been preserved down to the present time. And it is intentionally also that he has omitted to take notice of the inyth, embellished chiefly by Orpheus, in which the gods are described as affected by human weaknesses and passions.

CHAPTER XVII.

In what follows, Celsus, assailing the Mosaic history, finds fault with those who give it a tropical and allegorical signifi- cation. And here one might say to this great man, who inscribed upon his own work the title of a True Discourse, “ Why, good sir, do you make it a boast to have it re- corded that the gods should engage in such adventures as are described by your learned poets and philosophers, and be guilty of abominable intrigues, and of engaging in wars against their own fathers, and of cutting off their secret parts, and should dare to commit and to suffer such enormitics; while Moses, who gives no such accounts respecting God, nor even regarding the holy angels, and who relates deeds of far less atrocity regarding men (for in his writings no one ever ventured to commit such crimes as Kronos did against Uranus, Book 1.] ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 413 _ or Zeus against his father, or that of the father of men and gods, who had intercourse with his own daughter), should be considered as having deceived those who were placed under his laws, and to have led them into error?” And here Celsus seems to me to act somewhat as Thrasymachus the Platonic philosopher did, when he would not allow Socrates to answer regarding justice, as he wished, but said, “ Take care not to say that utility 1s justice, or duty, or anything of that kind.” For in like manner Celsus assails (as he thinks) the Mosaic histories, and finds fault with those who understand them allegorically, at the same time bestowing also some praise upon those who do so, to the effect that they are more im- partial [than those who do not]; and thus, as it were, hc prevents by his cavils those who are able to show the true state of the case from offering such a defence as they would wish to offer.'

CHAPTER XVIII.

And challenging a comparison of book with book, I would say, “‘ Come now, good sir, take down the poems of Linus, and of Muszeus, and of Orpheus, and the writings of Pherecydes, and carefully compare these with the laws of Moses—histories with histories, and ethical discourses with laws and command- ments—- and see which of the two are the better fitted to change the character of the hearer on the very spot, and which to harden? him in his wickedness; and observe that your series of writers display little concern for those readers who are to peruse them at once unaided,® but have composed their philosophy (as you term it) for those who are able to comprehend its metaphorical and allegorical signification; 1 Ojovel xwaveras xaryyoproas, ws Bovrsras, aworoytiocbas Tos Guye- feivous wo miDuxey Exsiy ta =zpayuara. We have taken xwaveras as iniddle. Some propose xwaver. And we have read Bovacyras, a lection which is given by a second hand in one Ms.

2°Exirpives Other readings are éxirpepas and aérooroeWes, which convey the opposite meaning,: — 3 esredey.

435 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUTS. [Boor 1.

whereas Moses, like a distinguished orator who meditates some figure of Rhetoric, and who carefully introduces in every part language of twofold meaning, has done this in his five books: neither affording, in the portion which relates to morals, any handle to his Jewish subjects for committing evil; nor yet giving to the few individuals who were endowed with greater wisdom, and who were capable of investigating his meaning, a treatise devoid of material for speculation. But of your learned poets the very writings would seem no longer to be preserved, although they would have been care- fully treasured up if the readers had perceived any benefit [likely to be derived from them]; whereas the works of Moses have stirred up many, who were even aliens to the manners of the Jews, to the belief that, as these writings testify, the first who enacted these Jaws and delivered them to Moses, was the God who was the Creator of the world. For it became the Creator of the universe, after laying down laws for its government, to confer upon His words a power which might subdue all men in every part of the earth. And this I maintain, having as yet entered into no investi- gation regarding Jesus, but still demonstrating that Moses, who is far inferior to the Lord, is, as the Discourse will show, sreatly superior to your wise poets and philosophers.”

CHAPTER XIX.

After these statements, Celsus, from a secret desire to cast discredit upon the Mosaic account of the creation, which teaches that the world is not yet ten thousand years old, but very much under that, while concealing his wish, intimates his agreement with those who hold that the world is uncreated. Tor, maintaining that there have been, from all eternity, many conflagrations and many deluges, and that the flood which lately took place in the time of Deucalion is compara- tively modern, he clearly demonstrates to those who are able to understand him, that, in his opinion, the world was un- created. But let this assailant of the Christian faith tell us by what arguments he was compelled to accept the statement Book 1. | ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 417 that there have been many conflagrations and many cata- clysms, and that the flood which occurred in the time of Deucalion, and the conflagration in that of Phethon, were more recent than any others. And if he should put forward the dialogues of Plato [as evidence] on these subjects, we shall say to him that it is allowable for us also to believe that there resided in the pure and pious soul of Moses, who ascended above all created things, and united himself to the Creator of the universe, and who made known divine things with far greater clearness than Plato, or those other wise men [who lived] among the Greeks and Romans, a spirit which was divine. And if he demand of us our reasons for such a belief, let him first give grounds for his own unsup- ported assertions, and then we shall show that this view of ours is the correct one.

CHAPTER XX.

And yet, against his will, Celsus is entangled into testi- fying that the world is comparatively modern, and not yet ten thousand years old, when he says that the Greeks con- sider those things as ancient, because, owing to the deluges and conflagrations, they ae not beheld or received any memorials of older events. But let Celsus have, as his authorities for the myth regarding the conflagrations and inundations, those persons who, in his opinion, are the most learned of the Kgyptians, traces of whose wisdom are to be found in the worship of irrational animals, and in arguments which prove that such a worship of God is in conformity with reason, and of a secret and mysterious character. The Egyptians, then, when they boastfully give their own account of the divinity of animals, are to be considered wise; but if any Jew, who has signified his adherence to the law and the lawgiver, refer everything to the Creator of the universe, and the only God, he is, in the opinion of Celsus and those like him, deemed inferior to him who degrades the Divinity not only to the level of rational and mortal animals, but even to that of irrational also!—a view which goes far beyond the ORIG. 2D 418 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Book 1.

mythical doctrine of transmigration, according to which the soul falls down from the summit of heaven, and enters into the body of brute beasts, both tame and savage! And if the Egyptians related fables of this kind, they are believed to convey a philosophical meaning by their enigmas and mys- teries; but if Moses compose and leave behind him histories and laws for an entire nation, they are to be considered as empty fables, the language of which admits of no allegorical meaning | CHAPTER XXI.

The following is the view of Celsus and the Epicureans: “Moses having,” he says, “ learned the doctrine which is to be found existing among wise nations and eloquent men, obtained the reputation of divinity.” Now, in answer to this we have to say, that it may be allowed him that Moses did indeed hear a somewhat ancient doctrine, and transmitted the same to the Hebrews; that if the doctrine which he heard was false, and neither pious nor venerable, and if notwithstanding, he received it and handed it down to those under his authority, he is liable to censure; but if, as you assert, he gave his adherence to opinions that were wise and true, and educated his people by means of them, what, prav, has he done deserving of condemnation? Would, indeed, that not only Epicurus, but Aristotle, whose sentiments regarding providence are not so impious [as those of the former], and the Stoics, who assert that God is a body, had heard such a doctrine! Then the world would not have been filled with opinions which either disallow or enfeeble the ac- tion of providence, or introduce a corrupt corporeal principle, according to which the god of the Stoics is a body, with respect to whom they are not afraid to say that he is caable of change, and may be altered and transformed in all his parts, and, generally, that he is capable of corruption, if there be any one to corrupt him, but that he has the good fortune to escape corruption, because there is none to corrupt.

Whereas the doctrine of the Jews and Christians, which Book 1. | ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. 419 preserves the immutability and unalterableness of the divine ° nature, is stigmatized as impious, because it does not partake of the profanity of those whose notions of God are marked by impiety, but because it says in the supplication addressed to the Divinity, “Thou art the same,”’ it being, moreover, an article of faith that God has said, “I change not.”?

CHAPTER XXII.

After this, Celsus, without condemning circumcision as practised by the Jews, asserts that this usage was derived from the Egyptians; thus believing the Egyptians rather than Moses, who says that Abraham was the first among men who practised the rite. And it is not Moses alone who mentions the name of Abraham, assigning to him great intimacy with God; but many also of those who give them- selves to the practice of the conjuration of evil spirits, employ in their spells the expression “God of Abraham,” pointing out by the very name the friendship [that existed] between that just man and God. And yet, while making use of the phrase “God of Abraham,” they do not know who Abraham is! And the same remark applies to Isaac, and Jacob, and Israel; which names, although confessedly Hebrew, are fre- quently introduced by those Egyptians who profess to pro- duce some wonderful result by means of their knowledge. The rite of circumcision, however, which began with Abraham, and was discontinued by Jesus, who desired that His disciples should not practise it, is not before us for explanation; for the present occasion does not lead us to speak of such things, but to make an effort to refute the charges brought against the doctrine of the Jews by Celsus, who thinks that he will be able the more easily to establish the falsity of Christianity, if, by assailing its origin in Judaism, he can show that the Jatter also is untrue.

420 ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. [Boor 1.