Chapter XXVII.

Any one who examines the subject will see that Jesus attempted and successfully accomplished works beyond the reach of human power.  For although, from the very beginning, all things opposed the spread of His doctrine in the world, —both the princes of the times, and their chief captains and generals, and all, to speak generally, who were possessed of the smallest influence, and in addition to these, the rulers of the different cities, and the soldiers, and the people,—yet it proved victorious, as being the Word of God, the nature of which is such that it cannot be hindered; and becoming more powerful than all such adversaries, it made itself master of the whole of Greece, and a considerable portion of Barbarian lands, and convened countless numbers of souls to His religion.  And although, among the multitude of converts to Christianity, the simple and ignorant necessarily outnumbered the more intelligent, as the former class always does the latter, yet Celsus, unwilling to take note of this, thinks that this philanthropic doctrine, which reaches to every soul under the sun, is vulgar,51    ἰδιωτικήν. and on account of its vulgarity and its want of reasoning power, obtained a hold only over the ignorant.  And yet he himself admits that it was not the simple alone who were led by the doctrine of Jesus to adopt His religion; for he acknowledges that there were amongst them some persons of moderate intelligence, and gentle disposition, and possessed of understanding, and capable of comprehending allegories.

Ἐξετάζων δέ τις τὰ πράγματα ὄψεται ὅτι μείζω τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ἐτόλμησεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ τολμήσας ἤνυσε. Πάντων γὰρ ἀρχῆθεν ἀντιπραττόντων τῷ σπαρῆναι τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν ὅλην οἰκουμένην, τῶν τε κατὰ καιροὺς βασιλέων καὶ τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῖς ἀρχιστρατήγων καὶ ἡγεμόνων πάντων τε ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν τῶν ἡντινοῦν ἐξουσίαν ἐγκεχειρισμένων ἔτι δὲ καὶ τῶν κατὰ πόλεις ἀρχόντων καὶ στρατιωτικῶν καὶ δήμων, ἐνίκησε μὴ πεφυκὼς κωλύεσθαι ὡς λόγος θεοῦ, καὶ γενόμενος τοσούτων ἀνταγωνιστῶν ἰσχυρότηρος πάσης μὲν Ἑλλάδος ἐπὶ πλεῖον δὲ τῆς βαρβάρου ἐκράτησε καὶ μετεποίησε μυρίας ὅσας ψυχὰς ἐπὶ τὴν κατ' αὐτὸν θεοσέβειαν. Ἀναγκαῖον δ' ἦν ἐν πλήθει κρατουμένων ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου, ὧν πολλαπλασίους οἱ ἰδιῶται καὶ ἀγροικότεροι τῶν ἐν λόγοις γεγυμνασμένων, πολλαπλασίους γενέσθαι τοὺς ἰδιώτας καὶ ἀγροικοτέρους τῶν συνετωτέρων. Ἀλλὰ μὴ βουληθεὶς ταῦτα ὁ Κέλσος κατανοῆσαι, τὴν τοῦ λόγου φιλανθρωπίαν καὶ φθάνουσαν ἐπὶ πᾶσαν ψυχὴν "[ἀπὸ] ἀνατολῆς ἡλίου" οἴεται εἶναι ἰδιωτικήν, διὰ τὸ ἰδιωτικὸν καὶ οὐδαμῶς ἐν λόγοις δυνατὸν ἰδιωτῶν μόνων κρατήσασαν. Καίτοι οὐδ' αὐτὸς ἰδιώτας μόνους φησὶν ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου προσῆχθαι τῇ κατὰ Ἰησοῦν θεοσεβείᾳ· ὁμολογεῖ γὰρ καὶ μετρίους καὶ ἐπιεικεῖς καὶ συνετούς τινας καὶ ἐπ' ἀλληγορίαν ἑτοίμους εἶναι ἐν αὐτοῖς.