Chapter XXXIV.

For we inquire of all those who employ such invocations of God, saying:  Tell us, friends, who was Abraham, and what sort of person was Isaac, and what power did Jacob possess, that the appellation “God,” when joined with their name, could effect such wonders?  And from whom have you learned, or can you learn, the facts relating to these individuals?  And who has occupied himself with writing a history about them, either directly magnifying these men by ascribing to them mysterious powers, or hinting obscurely at their possession of certain great and marvellous qualities, patent to those who are qualified to see them?761    εἴτε καὶ αὐτόθεν σεμνύνουσαν ἐν ἀποῤῥήτοις τοὺς ἄνδρας, εἴτε καὶ δι᾽ ὑπονοιῶν αἰνισσμένην τινὰ μεγάλα καὶ θαυμάσια τοῖς θεωρῆσαι αὐτὰ δυναμένοις ;  And when, in answer to our inquiry, no one can show from what history—whether Greek or Barbarian—or, if not a history, yet at least from what mystical narrative,762    μυστικῆς ἀναγραφῆς. the accounts of these men are derived, we shall bring forward the book entitled “Genesis,” which contains the acts of these men, and the divine oracles addressed to them, and will say, Does not the use by you of the names of these three ancestors of the race, establishing in the clearest manner that effects not to be lightly regarded are produced by the invocation of them, evidence the divinity of the men?763    ἐροῦμέν τε· ὅτι μήποτε τὸ καὶ ὑφ᾽ ὑμῶν παραλαμβάνεσθαι τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν τριῶν τούτων γεναρχῶν τοῦ ἔθνους, τῇ ἐναργείᾳ καταλαμβανόντων, οὐκ εὐκαταφρόνητα ἀνύεσθαι ἐκ τῆς κατεπικλήσεως αὐτῶν, παρίστησι τὸ θεῖον τῶν ἀνδρῶν.  Guietus would expunge the words τῇ ἐναργείᾳ καταλαμβανόντων.  And yet we know them from no other source than the sacred books of the Jews!  Moreover, the phrases, “the God of Israel,” and “the God of the Hebrews,” and “the God who drowned in the Red Sea the king of Egypt and the Egyptians,” are formulæ764    [See p. 511, supra, on the formula of benediction and exorcism, and compare Num. vi. 24.] frequently employed against demons and certain wicked powers.  And we learn the history of the names and their interpretation from those Hebrews, who in their national literature and national tongue dwell with pride upon these things, and explain their meaning.  How, then, should the Jews attempt to derive their origin from the first race of those whom Celsus supposed to be jugglers and deceivers, and shamelessly endeavour to trace themselves and their beginning back to these?—whose names, being Hebrew, are an evidence to the Hebrews, who have their sacred books written in the Hebrew language and letters, that their nation is akin to these men.  For up to the present time, the Jewish names belonging to the Hebrew language were either taken from their writings, or generally from words the meaning of which was made known by the Hebrew language.

Πυνθανόμεθα γὰρ ἁπάντων τῶν χρωμένων ταῖς τοιαύταις τοῦ θεοῦ κατακλήσεσιν· εἴπατε ἡμῖν, ὦ οὗτοι, τίς ὁ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ πηλίκος ὁ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ ποίας δυνάμεως γέγονεν ὁ Ἰακώβ, ὡς τὴν θεὸς προσηγορίαν ἁρμοζομένην αὐτῶν τῷ ὀνόματι τηλικάσδε ποιεῖν δυνάμεις; Καὶ παρὰ τίνων μεμαθήκατε ἢ δύνασθε μαθεῖν τὰ περὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν τούτων; Τίς δὲ καὶ ἐπραγματεύσατο ἀναγράψαι τὴν περὶ αὐτοὺς ἱστορίαν, εἴτε καὶ αὐτόθεν σεμνύνουσαν ἐν τοῖς ῥητοῖς τοὺς ἄνδρας εἴτε καὶ δι' ὑπονοιῶν αἰνισσομένην τινὰ μεγάλα καὶ θαυμάσια τοῖς θεωρῆσαι αὐτὰ δυναμένοις; Εἶτ' ἐπὰν πυθομένων ἡμῶν μηδεὶς ἔχῃ παραστῆσαι ἀφ' οἵας δή ποτε ἱστορίας, εἴτε ἑλληνικῆς εἴτε καὶ βαρβαρικῆς ἢ οὐχ ἱστορίας ἀλλά τινος μυστικῆς ἀναγραφῆς τὰ περὶ τῶν ἀνδρῶν τούτων· ἡμεῖς προσοίσομεν τὴν ἐπιγεγραμμένην Γένεσιν, περιέχουσαν τὰς πράξεις τῶν ἀνδρῶν τούτων καὶ τοὺς τοῦ θεοῦ χρησμοὺς πρὸς αὐτούς, ἐροῦμέν τε ὅτι μή ποτε τὸ καὶ ὑφ' ὑμῶν παραλαμβάνεσθαι τὰ ὀνόματα τῶν τριῶν τούτων γεναρχῶν τοῦ ἔθνους, τῇ ἐναργείᾳ καταλαμβανόντων οὐκ εὐκατα φρόνητα ἀνύεσθαι ἐκ τῆς κατεπικλήσεως αὐτῶν, παρίστησι τὸ θεῖον τῶν ἀνδρῶν; Οὓς οὐδαμόθεν ἢ ἀπὸ τῶν ἱερῶν παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις βιβλίων παραλαμβάνομεν. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ ὁ θεὸς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ὁ θεὸς τῶν Ἑβραίων καὶ ὁ θεὸς ὁ καταποντώσας ἐν τῇ ἐρυθρᾷ θαλάσσῃ τὸν Αἰγυπτίων βασιλέα καὶ τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους πολλάκις ὀνομάζεται παραλαμβανόμενος κατὰ δαιμόνων ἤ τινων πονηρῶν δυνάμεων. Μανθάνομεν δὲ τὴν περὶ τὰ ὀνομαζόμενα ἱστορίαν καὶ τὴν τῶν ὀνομάτων ἑρμηνείαν ἀπὸ Ἑβραίων, τῶν τοῖς πατρίοις γράμμασι καὶ τῇ πατρίῳ διαλέκτῳ ταῦτα σεμνυνόντων καὶ διηγουμένων· πῶς οὖν Ἰουδαῖοι ἅτε ἐπιχειρήσαντες ἑαυτοὺς γενεαλογεῖν ἀπὸ πρώτης σπορᾶς τούτων, οὓς γόητας καὶ πλανήτας ἀνθρώπους ὑπείληφεν εἶναι ὁ Κέλσος, ἀναισχύντως ἐπιχειροῦσιν ἑαυτοὺς καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν αὑτῶν ἐπὶ τούτους ἀνάγειν, ὧν τὰ ὀνόματα ἑβραϊκὰ τυγχάνοντα μαρτυρεῖ Ἑβραίοις, τὰ ἱερὰ αὐτῶν βιβλία ἐν Ἑβραίων ἔχουσι διαλέκτῳ καὶ γράμμασιν, ὅτι οἰκεῖόν ἐστι τὸ ἔθνος αὐτῶν τοῖς ἀνδράσι τούτοις; Καὶ γὰρ μέχρι τοῦ δεῦρο τὰ ἰουδαϊκὰ ὀνόματα, τῆς Ἑβραίων ἐχόμενα διαλέκτου, ἤτοι ἀπὸ τῶν γραμμάτων αὐτῶν ἐλήφθη ἢ καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς ἀπὸ τῶν σημαινομένων ὑπὸ τῆς Ἑβραίων φωνῆς.