Chapter L.

But since he reproaches us with too great an anxiety about the body, let him know that when that feeling is a wrong one we do not share in it, and when it is indifferent we only long for that which God has promised to the righteous.  But Celsus considers that we are inconsistent with ourselves when we count the body worthy of honour from God, and therefore hope for its resurrection, and yet at the same time expose it to tortures as though it were not worthy of honour.  But surely it is not without honour for the body to suffer for the sake of godliness, and to choose afflictions on account of virtue:  the dishonourable thing would be for it to waste its powers in vicious indulgence.  For the divine word says:  “What is an honourable seed?  The seed of man.  What is a dishonourable seed?  The seed of man.”1865    Ecclus. x. 19.  In the LXX. the last clause is, “What is a dishonourable seed?  They that transgress the commandments.”  Moreover, Celsus thinks that he ought not to reason with those who hope for the good of the body, as they are unreasonably intent upon an object which can never satisfy their expectations.  He also calls them gross and impure men, bent upon creating needless dissensions.  But surely he ought, as one of superior humanity, to assist even the rude and depraved.  For society does not exclude from its pale the coarse and uncultivated, as it does the irrational animals, but our Creator made us on the same common level with all mankind.  It is not an undignified thing, therefore, to reason even with the coarse and unrefined, and to try to bring them as far as possible to a higher state of refinement—to bring the impure to the highest practicable degree of purity—to bring the unreasoning multitude to reason, and the diseased in mind to spiritual health.

Ἐπεὶ δ' ὀνειδίζει ἡμῖν καὶ ὡς ποθοῦσι τὸ σῶμα, ἴστω ὅτι, εἰ μὲν ὁ πόθος φαῦλόν ἐστιν, οὐδὲν ποθοῦμεν, εἰ δὲ μέσον, ποθοῦμεν πάντα ὅσα θεὸς τοῖς δικαίοις ἐπαγγέλλεται. Οὕτως οὖν καὶ τὴν τῶν δικαίων ἀνάστασιν ποθοῦμεν καὶ ἐλπίζομεν. Νομίζει δὲ Κέλσος καὶ ἀνομολογούμενα ἡμᾶς ἑαυτοῖς ποιεῖν, ὅπου μὲν ἐλπίζουσι τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἀνάστασιν, ὡς τῆς παρὰ θεοῦ τιμῆς ἀξίου, ὅπου δὲ ῥίπτουσιν αὐτὸ εἰς κολάσεις ὡς ἄτιμον. Οὐδὲν οὖν ἄτιμον τὸ δι' εὐσέβειαν πάσχον καὶ δι' ἀρετὴν περιστάσεις αἱρούμενον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶν ἄτιμον τὸ μετὰ κακίας ἐν ἡδοναῖς κατανα λισκόμενον. Φησὶ γοῦν καὶ ὁ θεῖος λόγος· "Σπέρμα ἔντιμον ποῖον; Σπέρμα ἀνθρώπου· σπέρμα ἄτιμον ποῖον; Σπέρμα ἀνθρώπου." Εἶτ' οἴεται μὴ διαλέγεσθαι δεῖν τοῖς τὰ περὶ τοῦ σώματος ἐλπίζουσιν ὁ Κέλσος ὡς συντετηκόσιν ἀλόγως πράγματι ἀδυνάτῳ τυχεῖν τῶν ἐλπιζομένων ὑπ' αὐτῶν, ἀγροίκους καὶ ἀκαθάρτους αὐτοὺς καλῶν καὶ χωρὶς λόγου συνόντας τῇ στάσει, δέον ὡς φιλάνθρωπον καὶ τοῖς ἀγροικοτέροις βοηθεῖν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ τὸ κοινωνικὸν περιγέγραπται ὥσπερ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀλόγων ζῴων οὕτω καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀγροικοτέρων ἀνθρώ πων, ἀλλ' ἐπ' ἴσης ὁ ποιήσας ἡμᾶς πρὸς πάντας ἀνθρώπους πεποίηκε κοινωνικούς. Ἄξιον οὖν διαλέγεσθαι καὶ ἀγροίκοις καὶ ὅση δύναμις μετάγειν αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τὸ ἀστειότερον καὶ ἀκαθάρτοις καὶ ποιεῖν αὐτούς, ὡς οἷόν τε ἐστί, καθαρωτέρους καὶ τοῖς χωρὶς λόγου ὅ τι ποτ' οὖν φρονοῦσι καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν νοσοῦσιν, ἵνα μηκέτι χωρὶς λόγου τι πράττωσι μηδὲ τὴν ψυχὴν νοσήσωσι.