Chapter III.

After this, Celsus proceeding to speak of the Christians teaching and practising their favourite doctrines in secret, and saying that they do this to some purpose, seeing they escape the penalty of death which is imminent, he compares their dangers with those which were encountered by such men as Socrates for the sake of philosophy; and here he might have mentioned Pythagoras as well, and other philosophers.  But our answer to this is, that in the case of Socrates the Athenians immediately afterwards repented; and no feeling of bitterness remained in their minds regarding him, as also happened in the history of Pythagoras.  The followers of the latter, indeed, for a considerable time established their schools in that part of Italy called Magna Græcia; but in the case of the Christians, the Roman Senate, and the princes of the time, and the soldiery, and the people, and the relatives of those who had become converts to the faith, made war upon their doctrine, and would have prevented (its progress), overcoming it by a confederacy of so powerful a nature, had it not, by the help of God, escaped the danger, and risen above it, so as (finally) to defeat the whole world in its conspiracy against it.

Μετὰ ταῦτα περὶ τοῦ κρύφα Χριστιανοὺς τὰ ἀρέσκοντα ἑαυτοῖς ποιεῖν καὶ διδάσκειν εἰπών, καὶ ὅτι οὐ μάτην τοῦτο ποιοῦσιν, ἅτε διωθούμενοι τὴν ἐπηρτημένην αὐτοῖς δίκην τοῦ θανάτου, ὁμοιοῖ τὸν κίνδυνον κινδύνοις τοῖς συμβεβη κόσιν ἐπὶ φιλοσοφίᾳ ὡς Σωκράτει· ἐδύνατο λέγειν καὶ ὡς Πυθαγόρᾳ καὶ ἄλλοις φιλοσόφοις. Λεκτέον δὲ πρὸς τοῦτο ὅτι ἐπὶ Σωκράτει μὲν εὐθέως Ἀθηναῖοι μετενόησαν, καὶ οὐδὲν παρέμεινεν αὐτοῖς περὶ αὐτοῦ πικρὸν οὐδ' ἐπὶ Πυθα γόρᾳ· οἱ γοῦν Πυθαγόρειοι ἐπὶ πλεῖον τὰς διατριβὰς συνεστήσαντο ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ, τῇ κληθείσῃ μεγάλῃ Ἑλλάδι· ἐπὶ δὲ Χριστιανοῖς ἡ Ῥωμαίων σύγκλητος βουλὴ καὶ οἱ κατὰ καιρὸν βασιλεῖς καὶ τὰ στρατιωτικὰ καὶ οἱ δῆμοι καὶ οἱ τῶν πιστευόντων συγγενεῖς προσπολεμήσαντες τῷ λόγῳ ἐκώλυσαν ἂν αὐτὸν νικηθέντα ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν τοσούτων ἐπιβουλῆς, εἰ μὴ θείᾳ δυνάμει ὑπερέκυψε καὶ ὑπερανέβη, ὡς νικῆσαι ὅλον κόσμον αὐτῷ ἐπιβουλεύοντα.