Chapter LXVIII.

But after this, Celsus, having a suspicion that the great works performed by Jesus, of which we have named a few out of a great number, would be brought forward to view, affects to grant that those statements may be true which are made regarding His cures, or His resurrection, or the feeding of a multitude with a few loaves, from which many fragments remained over, or those other stories which Celsus thinks the disciples have recorded as of a marvellous nature; and he adds:  “Well, let us believe that these were actually wrought by you.”  But then he immediately compares them to the tricks of jugglers, who profess to do more wonderful things, and to the feats performed by those who have been taught by Egyptians, who in the middle of the market-place, in return for a few obols, will impart the knowledge of their most venerated arts, and will expel demons from men, and dispel diseases, and invoke the souls of heroes, and exhibit expensive banquets, and tables, and dishes, and dainties having no real existence, and who will put in motion, as if alive, what are not really living animals, but which have only the appearance of life.  And he asks, “Since, then, these persons can perform such feats, shall we of necessity conclude that they are ‘sons of God,’ or must we admit that they are the proceedings of wicked men under the influence of an evil spirit?”  You see that by these expressions he allows, as it were, the existence of magic.  I do not know, however, if he is the same who wrote several books against it.  But, as it helped his purpose, he compares the (miracles) related of Jesus to the results produced by magic.  There would indeed be a resemblance between them, if Jesus, like the dealers in magical arts, had performed His works only for show; but now there is not a single juggler who, by means of his proceedings, invites his spectators to reform their manners, or trains those to the fear of God who are amazed at what they see, nor who tries to persuade them so to live as men who are to be justified137    ὡς δικαιωθησομένους. by God.  And jugglers do none of these things, because they have neither the power nor the will, nor any desire to busy themselves about the reformation of men, inasmuch as their own lives are full of the grossest and most notorious sins.  But how should not He who, by the miracles which He did, induced those who beheld the excellent results to undertake the reformation of their characters, manifest Himself not only to His genuine disciples, but also to others, as a pattern of most virtuous life, in order that His disciples might devote themselves to the work of instructing men in the will of God, and that the others, after being more fully instructed by His word and character than by His miracles, as to how they were to direct their lives, might in all their conduct have a constant reference to the good pleasure of the universal God?  And if such were the life of Jesus, how could any one with reason compare Him with the sect of impostors, and not, on the contrary, believe, according to the promise, that He was God, who appeared in human form to do good to our race?

Ἑξῆς δὲ τούτοις ὁ Κέλσος ὑπιδόμενος τὰ ἐπιδειχθη σόμενα ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ γεγενημένα μεγάλα, περὶ ὧν ὀλίγα ἀπὸ πολλῶν εἰρήκαμεν, προσποιεῖται συγχωρεῖν ἀληθῆ εἶναι ὅσα περὶ θεραπειῶν ἢ ἀναστάσεως ἢ περὶ ἄρτων ὀλίγων θρεψάντων πολλοὺς ἀναγέγραπται, ἀφ' ὧν λείψανα πολλὰ καταλέλειπται, ἢ ὅσα ἄλλα οἴεται τερατευσαμένους τοὺς μαθητὰς ἱστορηκέναι, καὶ ἐπιφέρει αὐτοῖς· Φέρε πιστεύ σωμεν εἶναί σοι ταῦτ' εἰργασμένα. Καὶ εὐθέως κοινοποιεῖ αὐτὰ πρὸς τὰ ἔργα τῶν γοήτων, ὡς ὑπισχνουμένων θαυμα σιώτερα, καὶ πρὸς τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν μαθόντων ἀπὸ Αἰγυπτίων ἐπιτελούμενα, ἐν μέσαις ἀγοραῖς ὀλίγων ὀβολῶν ἀποδιδο μένων τὰ σεμνὰ μαθήματα καὶ δαίμονας ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπων ἐξελαυνόντων καὶ νόσους ἀποφυσώντων καὶ ψυχὰς ἡρώων ἀνακαλούντων δεῖπνά τε πολυτελῆ καὶ τραπέζας καὶ πέμματα καὶ ὄψα τὰ οὐκ ὄντα δεικνύντων καὶ ὡς ζῷα κινούντων οὐκ ἀληθῶς ὄντα ζῷα ἀλλὰ μέχρι φαντασίας φαινόμενα τοιαῦτα, καί φησιν· Ἆρ' ἐπεὶ ταῦτα ποιοῦσιν ἐκεῖνοι, δεήσει ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ἡγεῖσθαι υἱοὺς εἶναι θεοῦ; Ἢ λεκτέον αὐτὰ ἐπιτη δεύματα εἶναι ἀνθρώπων πονηρῶν καὶ κακοδαιμόνων; Ὁρᾷς οὖν ὡς διὰ τούτων οἱονεὶ παραδέχεται μαγείαν εἶναι, οὐκ οἶδα εἰ ὁ αὐτὸς ὢν τῷ γράψαντι κατὰ μαγείας βιβλία πλείονα· πλὴν ὡς χρήσιμον αὐτῷ εἰς τὰ προκείμενα τοῖς ἀπὸ μαγείας ὁμοιοῖ τὰ περὶ Ἰησοῦ ἱστορούμενα. Καὶ ἦν ἂν ὅμοια, εἰ μέχρι ἀποδείξεως ὁμοίως τοῖς μαγγανεύουσιν ἔφθανεν δείξας· νυνὶ δὲ οὐδεὶς μὲν τῶν γοήτων δι' ὧν ποιεῖ ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν ἠθῶν ἐπανόρθωσιν καλεῖ τοὺς θεασαμένους οὐδὲ φόβῳ θεοῦ παιδαγωγεῖ τοὺς καταπλαγέντας τὰ θεάματα οὐδὲ πειρᾶται πείθειν οὕτω ζῆν τοὺς ἰδόντας, ὡς δικαιωθη σομένους ὑπὸ θεοῦ· καὶ οὐδὲν τούτων ποιοῦσι γόητες, ἐπειδὴ οὐ δύνανται ἢ μηδὲ βούλονται μηδὲ θέλουσι πραγμα τεύσασθαι τὰ περὶ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων διορθώσεως, ἅτε καὶ αὐτοὶ πλήρεις ὄντες αἰσχίστων καὶ ἐπιρρητοτάτων ἁμαρτη μάτων· ὁ δὲ δι' ὧν ἐποίει παραδόξων ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν ἠθῶν ἐπανόρθωσιν τοὺς θεωροῦντας τὰ γινόμενα καλῶν, πῶς οὐκ εἰκὸς ὅτι παρεῖχεν ἑαυτὸν οὐ μόνον τοῖς γνησίοις αὐτοῦ μαθηταῖς ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς παράδειγμα ἀρίστου βίου; Ἵνα καὶ οἱ μαθηταὶ προτραπῶσιν ἐπὶ τὸ διδάσκειν κατὰ τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ βούλημα τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ οὐ πλέον διδαχθέντες ἀπὸ τοῦ λόγου ἢ καὶ τοῦ ἤθους καὶ τῶν παραδό ξων, ὡς χρὴ βιοῦν, πάντα πράττωσι κατ' ἀναφορὰν τοῦ ἀρέσκειν τῷ ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεῷ. Εἰ δὲ τοιοῦτος ἦν ὁ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ βίος, πῶς εὐλόγως ἄν τις αὐτὸν τῇ προαιρέσει τῶν γοήτων παραβάλοι καὶ μὴ κατ' ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ [θεοῦ] θεὸν εἶναι πιστεύοι ἐν ἀνθρωπίνῳ φανέντα σώματι ἐπ' εὐεργεσίᾳ τοῦ γένους ἡμῶν;