Chapter XLV.

Let us see what Celsus next goes on to say.  It is as follows:  “What need is there to collect all the oracular responses, which have been delivered with a divine voice by priests and priestesses, as well as by others, whether men or women, who were under a divine influence?—all the wonderful things that have been heard issuing from the inner sanctuary?—all the revelations that have been made to those who consulted the sacrificial victims?—and all the knowledge that has been conveyed to men by other signs and prodigies?  To some the gods have appeared in visible forms.  The world is full of such instances.  How many cities have been built in obedience to commands received from oracles; how often, in the same way, delivered from disease and famine!  Or again, how many cities, from disregard or forgetfulness of these oracles, have perished miserably!  How many colonies have been established and made to flourish by following their orders!  How many princes and private persons have, from this cause, had prosperity or adversity!  How many who mourned over their childlessness, have obtained the blessing they asked for!  How many have turned away from themselves the anger of demons!  How many who were maimed in their limbs, have had them restored!  And again, how many have met with summary punishment for showing want of reverence to the temples—some being instantly seized with madness, others openly confessing their crimes, others having put an end to their lives, and others having become the victims of incurable maladies!  Yea, some have been slain by a terrible voice issuing from the inner sanctuary.”  I know not how it comes that Celsus brings forward these as undoubted facts, whilst at the same time he treats as mere fables the wonders which are recorded and handed down to us as having happened among the Jews, or as having been performed by Jesus and His disciples.  For why may not our accounts be true, and those of Celsus fables and fictions?  At least, these latter were not believed by the followers of Democritus, Epicurus, and Aristotle, although perhaps these Grecian sects would have been convinced by the evidence in support of our miracles, if Moses or any of the prophets who wrought these wonders, or Jesus Christ Himself, had come in their way.

Ἴδωμεν δὲ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς οὕτως ἔχοντα· Τί δεῖ καταλέγειν ὅσα ἐκ χρηστηρίων τοῦτο μὲν προφῆται καὶ προφήτιδες τοῦτο δὲ ἄλλοι κάτοχοι καὶ ἄνδρες καὶ γυναῖκες ἐνθέῳ φωνῇ προεῖπον; Ὅσα δὲ ἐξ ἀδύτων αὐτῶν ἠκοῦσθησαν θαυμάσια; Ὅσα δὲ ἐξ ἱερείων καὶ θυμάτων τοῖς χρωμένοις ἐδηλώθη, ὅσα δ' ἐξ ἄλλων τεραστίων συμβόλων; Τοῖς δ' ἐναργῆ παρέστη φάσματα. Μεστὸς τούτων ὁ πᾶς ἐστι βίος. Πόσαι μὲν πόλεις ἐκ χρηστηρίων ὠρθώθησαν καὶ νόσους ἀπέθεντο καὶ λιμούς, πόσαι δ' ἀμελήσασαι τούτων ἢ ἐκλαθόμεναι κακῶς ἐφθάρησαν; Πόσαι δ' εἰς ἀποικίαν ἐστάλησαν καὶ μετελθοῦσαι τὰ προσταχθέντα εὐδαιμόνησαν; Πόσοι δυνάσται πόσοι δ' ἰδιῶται παρὰ τοῦτο ἄμεινον ἢ χεῖρον ἀπήλλαξαν; Πόσοι μὲν [ἐπὶ] ἀπαιδίᾳ δυσφοροῦντες ὧν ἐδεήθησαν σχόντες δαιμόνων μῆνιν διέφυγον; Πόσαι σωμάτων πηρώσεις ἰάθησαν; Πόσοι δ' αὖ πρὸς τοῖς ἱεροῖς ὑβρίσαντες αὐτίκα ἑάλωσαν, οἱ μὲν ἔκφρονες αὐτοῦ ταύτῃ κρατηθέντες οἱ δὲ ἐξαγγείλαντες ἃ ἔδρασαν οἱ δὲ σφᾶς αὐτοὺς διειργασμένοι οἱ δὲ νόσοις ἀνηκέστοις ἐνδεθέντες; Ἤδη δὲ καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀδύτων φωνὴ βαρεῖα καθεῖλέν τινας. Καὶ οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως ταῦτα ὡς ἐναργῆ ὁ Κέλσος προφέρεται καὶ τὰ παρ' ἡμῖν ἀναγεγραμμένα τεράστια, εἴτ' ἰουδαϊκὰ εἴτε καὶ περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ καὶ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ, μύθους εἶναι νενόμικε. Τί γὰρ οὐχὶ τὰ μὲν ἡμέτερά ἐστιν ἀληθῆ, ἃ δὲ λέγει Κέλσος ἀναπλάσματα μυθικά; Οἷς οὐδ' Ἑλλήνων φιλόσοφοι αἱρέσεις πεπιστεύκασιν, ὥσπερ ἡ ∆ημοκρίτου καὶ ἡ Ἐπικούρου καὶ ἡ Ἀριστοτέλους, τάχα ἂν πεπιστευκυῖαι διὰ τὴν ἐνάργειαν τοῖς ἡμετέροις, εἰ παρατετεύχεισαν Μωϋσεῖ ἤ τινι τῶν τὰ παράδοξα ποιησάντων προφητῶν ἢ καὶ αὐτῷ τῷ Ἰησοῦ.