Chapter LVII.

But observe whether this Jew of Celsus does not talk very blindly, in saying that it is impossible for any one to rise from the dead with a veritable body, his language being:  “But this is the question, whether any one who was really dead ever rose again with a veritable body?”  Now a Jew would not have uttered these words, who believed what is recorded in the third and fourth books of Kings regarding little children, of whom the one was raised up by Elijah,279    Cf. 1 Kings xvii. 21, 22.  [3 Kings, Sept. and Vulg.  S.] and the other by Elisha.280    Cf. 2 Kings iv. 34, 35.  [4 Kings, Sept. and Vulg.  S.]  And on this account, too, I think it was that Jesus appeared to no other nation than the Jews, who had become accustomed to miraculous occurrences; so that, by comparing what they themselves believed with the works which were done by Him, and with what was related of Him, they might confess that He, in regard to whom greater things were done, and by whom mightier marvels were performed, was greater than all those who preceded Him.

Πρόσχες δὲ εἰ μὴ πάνυ τυφλῶς ὁ παρὰ τῷ Κέλσῳ Ἰουδαῖος ὡς ἀδυνάτου ὄντος τοῦ ἀνίστασθαί τινα ἐκ νεκρῶν αὐτῷ σώματί φησιν· Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνο σκεπτέον, εἴ τις ἀληθῶς ἀποθανὼν ἀνέστη ποτὲ αὐτῷ σώματι. Οὐκ ἂν γὰρ εἶπεν ὁ Ἰουδαῖος ταῦτα, πιστεύων τοῖς ἐν τῇ τρίτῃ τῶν Βασιλειῶν ἀναγεγραμμένοις καὶ τῇ τετάρτῃ περὶ παιδαρίων, ὧν τὸν μὲν ἕτερον Ἠλίας ἀνέστησεν τὸν δὲ λοιπὸν ὁ Ἐλισσαῖος. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο δ' οἶμαι καὶ τὸν Ἰησοῦν οὐκ ἄλλῳ ἔθνει ἢ Ἰουδαίοιςἐπιδεδημηκέναι, τοῖς ἐθάσι γενομένοις πρὸς τὰ παράδοξα, τῇ παραθέσει τῶν πεπιστευμένων πρὸς τὰ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γενόμενα καὶ περὶ αὐτοῦ ἱστορούμενα ὅπως παραδέξωνται ὅτι οὗτος, περὶ ὃν γέγονε μείζονα καὶ ὑφ' οὗ ἐπετελέσθη παραδοξότερα, πάντων ἐκείνων μείζων ἦν.