Chapter LXIX.

Celsus, then, as if not observing that he was saying anything inconsistent with the words he had just used, “if all were to do the same as you,” adds:  “You surely do not say that if the Romans were, in compliance with your wish, to neglect their customary duties to gods and men, and were to worship the Most High, or whatever you please to call him, that he will come down and fight for them, so that they shall need no other help than his.  For this same God, as yourselves say, promised of old this and much more to those who served him, and see in what way he has helped them and you!  They, in place of being masters of the whole world, are left with not so much as a patch of ground or a home; and as for you, if any of you transgresses even in secret, he is sought out and punished with death.”  As the question started is, “What would happen if the Romans were persuaded to adopt the principles of the Christians, to despise the duties paid to the recognised gods and to men, and to worship the Most High?” this is my answer to the question.  We say that “if two” of us “shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of the Father” of the just, “which is in heaven;”1891    Matt. xviii. 19. for God rejoices in the agreement of rational beings, and turns away from discord.  And what are we to expect, if not only a very few agree, as at present, but the whole of the empire of Rome?  For they will pray to the Word, who of old said to the Hebrews, when they were pursued by the Egyptians, “The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace;”1892    Ex. xiv. 14. and if they all unite in prayer with one accord, they will be able to put to flight far more enemies than those who were discomfited by the prayer of Moses when he cried to the Lord, and of those who prayed with him.  Now, if what God promised to those who keep His law has not come to pass, the reason of its nonfulfilment is not to be ascribed to the unfaithfulness of God.  But He had made the fulfilment of His promises to depend on certain conditions,—namely, that they should observe and live according to His law; and if the Jews have not a plot of ground nor a habitation left to them, although they had received these conditional promises, the entire blame is to be laid upon their crimes, and especially upon their guilt in the treatment of Jesus.

Εἶτα ἑαυτοῦ μὴ ἀκούσας ὁ Κέλσος, τὰ ἀνακόλουθα εἰπόντος τῷ εἰ γὰρ τὸ αὐτό σοι ποιήσειαν ἅπαντες, φησίν· Οὐ μὲν δὴ τοῦτο φήσεις, ὡς, ἂν πεισθέντες σοι Ῥωμαῖοι καὶ τῶν νενομισμένων αὐτοῖς πρὸς θεούς τε καὶ ἀνθρώπους ἀμελήσαντες τὸν σὸν Ὕψιστον, ἢ ὅντινα βούλει, προσκα λέσωνται, καταβὰς ὑπερμαχεῖται αὐτῶν, καὶ οὐδεμιᾶς ἄλλης ἀλκῆς δεήσει. Καὶ γὰρ πρότερον ὁ αὐτὸς θεὸς τοῖς προσέ χουσιν αὐτῷ ταῦτά τε καὶ πολὺ μείζω τούτων, ὡς ὑμεῖς φατε, ὑπισχνούμενος ὁρᾶτε ὅσα ὠφέλησεν ἐκείνους τε καὶ ὑμᾶς· ὧν τοῖς μὲν ἀντὶ [τοῦ] γῆς ἁπάσης εἶναι δεσπόταις οὐδ' ὁποία τις βῶλος οὐδ' ἑστία λείπεται, ὑμῶν δὲ κἂν πλανᾶταί τις ἔτι λανθάνων, ἀλλὰ ζητεῖται πρὸς θανάτου δίκην. Ἐπεὶ δὲ καθ' ὑπόθεσιν ζητεῖ, εἰ πεισθέντες Ῥωμαῖοι τῷ Χριστιανῶν λόγῳ, τῶν πρὸς τοὺς νενομισμένους θεοὺς ἀμελήσαντες καὶ τῶν κατὰ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους προτέρων νόμων, τὸν Ὕψιστον σέβοιντο, τί ἂν ἀπαντήσαι· ἀκουέτω τί ἀρέσκει περὶ τούτων ἡμῖν. Φαμὲν ὅτι, εἴπερ, "ἂν δύο συμφωνῶσιν" ἐξ ἡμῶν "ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς περὶ παντὸς πράγματος, οὗ ἐὰν αἰτήσωνται γενήσεται αὐτοῖς παρὰ τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς πατρὸς" τῶν δικαίων· χαίρει γὰρ συμφωνίᾳ τῶν λογικῶν ζῴων ὁ θεὸς καὶ ἐκτρέπεται τὴν διαφωνίαν· τί χρὴ νομίζειν, εἰ μὴ μόνον ὡς νῦν πάνυ ὀλίγοι συμφωνοῖεν ἀλλὰ πᾶσα ἡ ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων ἀρχή; Εὔξονται γὰρ τῷ καὶ πρότερον εἰπόντι πρὸς τοὺς Ἑβραίους καταδιωκομένους ὑπὸ Αἰγυπτίων λόγῳ· "Κύριος πολεμήσει ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν, καὶ ὑμεῖς σιγήσεσθε", καὶ μετὰ πάσης συμφωνίας εὐξάμενοι πολλῷ πλείονας δυνήσονται καταλῦσαι ἐχθροὺς ἐπιδιώκοντας, ἢ οὓς καθεῖλεν ἡ Μωϋσέως πρὸς τὸν θεὸν βοῶντος καὶ τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ εὐχή. Ἃ δ' ὑπέσχετο ὁ θεὸς τοῖς τηροῦσι τὸν νόμον εἰ μὴ γεγένηται, οὐ τῷ ψεύδεσθαι τὸν θεὸν οὐ γεγένηται ἀλλὰ τῷ ἐπὶ συνθήκαις γεγονέναι τὰς ἐπαγγελίας, ταῖς περὶ τοῦ τηρεῖν τὸν νόμον καὶ τὸν κατὰ τὸν νόμον βίον. Καὶ εἰ οὔτε βῶλος οὔθ' ἑστία Ἰουδαίοις καταλείπεται τοῖς τὰς ἐπαγγελίας ἐπὶ συνθήκαις εἰληφόσιν, αἰτιατέον πᾶσαν μὲν αὐτῶν τὴν παρανομίαν ἐξαιρέτως δὲ τὴν κατὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ.