駁瑟蘇斯 第 1 章 第 13/42 段

The Metapontines say that Aristeas himself appeared to them in their country and bade them set up an altar to Apollo, and beside it to erect a statue bearing the name of Aristeas of Proconnesus;

for he told them that Apollo had come to their country alone of all the Italiotes, and that he himself—the one now called Aristeas—had followed him;

and that at that time, when he followed the god, he was a raven.

And having said these things, he vanished; and the Metapontines say that they sent to Delphi to inquire of the god what the apparition of the man might be.

And the Pythia bade them obey the apparition, and that if they obeyed, it would turn out better for them.

And they, accepting this, fulfilled it.

And now there stands a statue bearing the name of Aristeas beside the very image of Apollo, and round about it are laurel trees;

and the image is set up in the market-place."

Let so much, then, be said concerning Aristeas. Now in reply to the story about Aristeas it must be said that, if Celsus had set it forth merely as a piece of history, without thereby indicating his own assent and his acceptance of it as true, we should have met his argument in another way;

but since he says that the man vanished supernaturally and again appeared manifestly, that he visited many places throughout the inhabited world and announced marvellous things, and moreover cites the oracle of Apollo who charged the Metapontines to reckon Aristeas among the gods—and sets all this forth as if on his own behalf and in agreement with it—we shall thus frame our argument against him:

And do they strive so hard over such prodigies, that for their sake men should both live in extraordinary fashion and die violent deaths? Set yourself, then, midway between what has been written about Aristeas and what is recorded about Jesus, and see whether—from the outcome, and from those who have been benefited unto the amendment of their characters and unto reverence toward the God who is over all—one may not say that one ought to believe that the things recorded about Jesus did not come to pass without God, but not the things about Aristeas of Proconnesus.

For with what purpose providence wrought these marvels concerning Aristeas, and what benefit it intended to confer upon the human race in displaying such great things—as you suppose—you cannot say.

But we, when we relate the things concerning Jesus, offer no ordinary defence for their having come to pass: namely, that God willed to establish, through Jesus, the doctrine that brings salvation to men—a doctrine confirmed by the apostles as by foundations of the rising edifice of Christianity, and increasing also in the succeeding times, in which not a few cures and certain other manifestations, by no means contemptible, are wrought in the name of Jesus.

And what sort of being, too, is this Apollo who charges the Metapontines to reckon Aristeas among the gods? And with what purpose does he do this, and what benefit does he dispense to the Metapontines from honoring him as a god, if they should now reckon as a god one who was a man a little before? But the supports adduced for Aristeas seem to you worthy of account, namely those of Apollo, the demon among us who has obtained as his prerogative drink-offering and savour of sacrifice—whereas the foretellings of the God over all and of His holy angels, made through the prophets not after Jesus had come but before He sojourned in the life of men, do not move you to marvel both at the prophets who received the divine Spirit and at Him who was prophesied by them? Whose coming into the world it came to pass was proclaimed beforehand, so many years earlier and through so many, that the whole nation of the Jews, hanging upon the expectation that He who was hoped for would come, fell to disputing among themselves once Jesus had come; and a great multitude of them confessed Christ and believed Him to be the One foretold, while those who did not believe, despising the gentleness of those who—because of Jesus' teachings—would not so much as raise the slightest sedition, dared to do such things against Jesus as His disciples, in their love of truth and candor, recorded, not stealing away from the marvellous account about Him that which seemed to the many to bring shame upon the word of the Christians.

For Jesus Himself willed, and so did His disciples, that those who came to Him should believe not in His divinity and His marvels only—as though He had not shared in human nature, nor taken upon Himself the flesh among men that lusts against the spirit;

but they saw that the power which had descended into human nature and into human circumstances, and had taken upon itself a human soul and body, by being believed in—together with the more divine things—contributed to the salvation of those who believe, seeing that from Him a divine and a human nature began to be woven together, so that the human nature might, by communion with that which is more divine, become divine, not in Jesus alone but in all those who, together with believing, take up the life which Jesus taught, leading up to friendship with God and communion with Him every one who lives according to the precepts of Jesus.

So then, according to Celsus, Apollo wills that the Metapontines should reckon Aristeas among the gods.

But since the Metapontines deemed the plain evidence concerning Aristeas—who was a man, and perhaps not even a worthy one—to be of more account than the oracle concerning him, which declared him worthy as a god or of divine honors, for this reason they were unwilling to obey Apollo; and thus no one regards Aristeas as a god.

...it was to the advantage of the demons and of those who regard them as gods; for this reason the earthly demons—reckoned to be gods by those who have not been instructed concerning demons—as well as those who serve them, sought to hinder the spreading of the teaching of Jesus;

for they saw that the drink-offerings and the savour of sacrifice, in which they greedily delighted, were being abolished through the prevailing of the teachings of Jesus.

But the God who sent Jesus, having broken up every plot of the demons, caused the gospel of Jesus to prevail everywhere throughout the inhabited world for the conversion and amendment of men, and caused churches to arise everywhere, having a citizenship set over against the assemblies of the superstitious, the licentious, and the unjust;

for of such sort everywhere are the multitudes who order their citizenship in the churches of the cities.

And the churches of God, taught by Christ, when compared with the assemblies of the peoples among whom they sojourn, are as lights in the world.

For who would not admit that even the worse members of the church, and those who in comparison with the better are inferior, are nevertheless far better than the assemblies of the peoples? For the church of God at Athens, so to speak, is a gentle and steadfast thing, inasmuch as it desires to please the God who is over all;

whereas the assembly of the Athenians is seditious, and in no way to be compared with the church of God there.

And you will say the same about the church of God at Corinth and the assembly of the people of the Corinthians, and, so to speak, about the church of God at Alexandria and the assembly of the people of the Alexandrians.

And if the candid hearer of this examine matters with a love of truth, he will marvel at Him who both planned and was able to accomplish the establishing everywhere of churches of God, sojourning beside the assemblies of the peoples in each city.

And in the same way, if you compare the council of a church of God with the council in each city, you would find that some councillors of the church are worthy, if there is anywhere in the universe a city of God, to hold citizenship in that city;

but the councillors everywhere display in their own characters nothing worthy of the superiority of rank by which they seem to surpass their fellow-citizens.

And in the same way the ruler of a church in each city is also to be compared with the ruler of those in the city;

so that you may perceive that even in the case of the very most failing councillors and rulers of a church of God, who live more slackly than the more vigorous ones, one may nonetheless on the whole find a superiority in their advancement toward the virtues over the characters of those who serve as councillors and rulers in the cities.

And if these things are so, how is it not reasonable to suppose, concerning Jesus, who was able to accomplish so much, that there was in Him no ordinary divinity—but no longer either in Aristeas of Proconnesus, even if Apollo wills to reckon him among the gods, nor in those whom Celsus enumerates when he says that no one regards as a god Abaris the Hyperborean, who had such power that he could be borne along on an arrow? For with what purpose did the divinity that bestowed it upon Abaris the Hyperborean, to be borne along on an arrow, grant him so great a gift? To what end was the human race benefited? Or what did that man himself gain from being borne along on an arrow? Granted even that these things are by no means fabrications, but came to pass through some cooperation of a demon.

But if my Jesus is said to be taken up in glory, I perceive the divine economy: that He who wrought this to come to pass, God, was thereby commending the Teacher to those who beheld it;

so that, as men contending not on behalf of human teachings but of divine instruction, they might devote themselves with all their power to the God who is over all, and do all things for the sake of pleasing Him, as those who shall receive, according to their desert, in a divine tribunal, whatever they have done well or ill in this life.

But since after this Celsus also spoke about the Clazomenian, adding to the story as he tells it:

"...they contrived—" in order that the things prophesied concerning Jesus and the things said by Him might either be slandered as fabrications like those, or, as having nothing more than the others, be not at all marveled at.

Now my Jesus said concerning His own soul—which was separated from the body not according to the necessity common to men, but according to the marvellous authority given to Him also concerning this—the words:

"No one takes my soul from me, but I lay it down of myself.

I have authority to lay it down, and again I have authority to take it up." For since He had authority to lay it down, He laid it down when He said:

"Father, why have you forsaken me?" and, having cried with a loud voice, He gave up the spirit, anticipating the executioners at crucifixions, who break the legs of those being crucified—and break them for this reason, that the victims may not undergo punishment any longer.

And He took up the soul when He manifested Himself to His disciples, having foretold concerning these matters, against the Jews who disbelieved Him:

"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." And He said this concerning the temple of His body, the prophets too having proclaimed beforehand such a thing through many, and through this:

"Moreover my flesh also shall rest in hope;

for you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will you let your holy one see corruption." And Celsus showed that he had read a good many Greek histories, by citing also the things concerning Cleomedes of Astypalaea:

whom he records as having gone down into a chest, and, though shut up inside it, was not found within, but had flown out by some supernatural lot, when certain men, in order to seize him, had broken open the chest.

And this too, even if it is not a fabrication—as it seems likely to be a fabrication—is not to be compared with the things about Jesus;

since of those marvels not one token of the divinity ascribed to them is found in the life of men, whereas of Jesus there are the churches of those who have been benefited, and the prophecies spoken concerning Him, and the cures wrought in His name, and the knowledge and reason concerning Him, attended with wisdom, found among those who have been earnest to ascend from bare faith and to search out the meaning in the divine Scriptures according to the precepts of Jesus, who said:

"Search the Scriptures," and according to the purpose of Paul who taught that we ought to know how to answer each one as is fitting, and also of him who said:

"Always be ready to give a defence to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the faith that is in you." But if he wishes it to be granted that it is not a fabrication, let him say with what purpose the power above man caused him to fly out of the chest by some supernatural lot.

For if he will present something worthy of account, and a purpose of God worthy of Him, which bestowed such a thing on Cleomedes, we shall judge what must be said to him;

but if he is at a loss to say even anything plausible on the point—clearly, so far as concerns no reason being found—we shall either side with those who do not accept the story and bring a charge against the history as untrue, or we shall say that some demonic thing, akin to what is exhibited by sorcerers through deceit of the eyes, wrought also the things concerning the Astypalaean;

concerning whom Celsus supposes that he uttered some divine oracle, namely that by some supernatural lot he flew out of the chest.

Now I for my part suppose that Celsus knew of these instances only.

And in order that he might seem to be willingly passing over similar instances, he said this:

"And one could mention many others of this sort."

Be it so, then, and let it be granted that there have been many such men, who in no way benefited the human race: what among these things could be found at all comparable to the work of Jesus and the marvels concerning Him, about which we have spoken at greater length? After this he supposes that we have done something like those who—as Celsus says—worship a man who was captured and put to death, just as the Getae worship Zalmoxis, the Cilicians Mopsus, the Acarnanians Amphilochus, the Thebans Amphiaraus, and the Lebadians Trophonius.

And in these matters too we shall convict him of having unreasonably likened us to the aforesaid people.

...away from the divine—as being more fitting for demons that have, I know not how, established themselves in some place which they either pre-occupy, or, having been brought thither through certain rites and sorceries, they as it were inhabit—we have stood in awe of Jesus, who turned our mind away from everything perceptible, as being not only corruptible but also destined to be destroyed, and led it up to the honoring, together with an upright life, of the God who is over all, with the prayers which we offer to Him through Him who is as it were midway between the nature of the unbegotten and that of all begotten things, who both brings to us the benefits from the Father, and, in the manner of a high priest, conveys our prayers to the God who is over all.

And I would gladly, in reply to this man who somehow speaks such things, prate a little in a manner befitting him:

Are then these whom you have enumerated nothing at all, and is there no power in Lebadeia connected with Trophonius, nor in Thebes about the shrine of Amphiaraus, nor in Acarnania about Amphilochus, nor in Cilicia about Mopsus? Or is there in such places some being, whether daemon or hero or even a god, working things greater than belong to man? For if he says that there is nothing else, neither daemonic nor divine, about these, let him now confess his own opinion, being an Epicurean and not thinking the same things as the Greeks, neither acknowledging daemons nor even revering gods as the Greeks do; and let him be convicted of having brought forward in vain the things he stated before, as though accepting them to be true, and likewise the things added in what follows.

But if he shall say that those enumerated are either daemons or heroes or even gods, let him see that by what he has said he will establish what he does not wish, namely that Jesus too was something of this kind;

wherefore he too has been able to demonstrate to not a few of mankind that he came from God to sojourn among the human race.

But once he has admitted this, see whether he will not be compelled to declare him mightier than those with whom he has reckoned him;

since of those none forbids the honours paid to others, but this one, confident in himself as being more powerful than all of them, forbids the acceptance of these as wicked daemons who have seized in advance places upon the earth, because they cannot lay hold of the purer and more divine region, where the grossnesses arising from the earth and from the countless evils within it do not reach.

And since after these things he thinks that the matters concerning Hadrian's favourite—I mean those concerning the youth Antinous—and the honours paid to him in Antinoöpolis in Egypt fall nothing short of our honour toward Jesus, come, let us refute this also as something said in a hostile spirit.

For what has the life that took place among Hadrian's favourites in common—a life that did not even keep the male free from the womanish disease—with our reverend Jesus, against whom not even those who brought countless accusations and uttered all manner of falsehoods about him have been able to charge that he tasted even the slightest license, even for a little while? But indeed, if anyone were to examine the affairs concerning Antinous truthfully and without bias, he would find that Egyptian sorceries and rites were the causes of his seeming to do anything in Antinoöpolis, even after his death;

as is recorded by the Egyptians and by those skilled in such arts to have happened in the case of other shrines as well, when in certain places they set up daemons that give oracles or healings, and that often torment those who seem to have transgressed in regard to certain foods or to touching a human corpse, so that they might be able to terrify the multitude of the uneducated.

Of such a kind too is the one in Antinoöpolis of Egypt who is reckoned to be a god, whose virtues some, living rather like dice-cheats, falsely ascribe to him, while others, being deceived by the daemon established there, and still others, being convicted by their own weak conscience, suppose that they are paying a god-sent penalty from Antinous.

Of such a kind too are their performed mysteries and their reputed oracles, from which the things of Jesus are very far removed;

as is manifest not only to men who are willing to think rightly, but also to daemons and to other invisible powers;

which up to the present manifest themselves as either fearing the name of Jesus as that of one greater, or reverently accepting it as that of one who rules according to their own laws.

For if his establishment had not been given him from God, the daemons too would not have withdrawn from those they were warring against, yielding merely to the proclamation of his name.

Now the Egyptians, having been taught to revere Antinous, will tolerate it if you compare Apollo or Zeus with him, since they exalt Antinous by reckoning him together with those gods;

for in these things too Celsus clearly speaks falsely, saying:

"Even if you should compare with him Apollo or Zeus, they will not tolerate it."

But to Christians, who have learned that their eternal life consists in knowing the only true God over all and Jesus Christ whom He sent, and who have learned also that all the gods of the nations are gluttonous daemons that hover about the sacrifices and the blood and the exhalations from the sacrifices, to deceive those who have not taken refuge in the God over all—while the divine and holy angels of God are of another nature and purpose than all the daemons upon the earth, and that these are known to very few, namely to those who have inquired intelligently and carefully concerning such matters—if you should compare Apollo and Zeus, or any of those worshipped with savour of fat and blood and sacrifices, they will not tolerate it;

some, on account of their great simplicity, not knowing how to give an account of what they do, but well-meaningly keeping what they have received; others, with arguments not to be despised but indeed more profound and, as a Greek might say, esoteric and pertaining to higher contemplation, in which there is much discourse about God and about those honoured by God through the only-begotten Word of God by participation in deity, and on this account also in name.

And great too is the discourse concerning the divine angels, and concerning those who are contrary to the truth but have been deceived, and out of deception proclaim themselves to be gods, or angels of God, or good daemons, or heroes formed from the transformation of a good human soul.

And such Christians will also establish that, just as many in philosophy seem to be in the truth—either having deceived themselves with persuasive arguments, or having rashly assented to things brought forward and discovered by others—so too among the souls outside bodies, and among angels and daemons, there are some who, drawn on by plausibilities, have come to proclaim themselves gods.

And on account of such considerations—since persons perfectly exact according to strict reasoning cannot be found among men—it was deemed safe to entrust oneself to no one, being but a man, as to a god, except to the One over all alone, as to an arbiter, namely Jesus Christ, who both contemplated these things most profoundly and delivered them to a few.

Now concerning Antinous, or any other such figure, whether among the Egyptians or among the Greeks, there is a faith—if I may so call it—that is ill-fated;

but concerning Jesus there is a faith that would either seem to be fortunate or has even been put to the test through rigorous examination—seeming to be fortunate among the many, but rigorously tested and examined among very, very few.

And even if I say there is a certain faith that is, as the many would name it, fortunate, concerning this too I refer the matter to Him who knows the causes of the things apportioned to each one who comes to sojourn in the life of men.

And the Greeks too will say that even among those reckoned to be wisest, good fortune is in many respects a cause—for instance, concerning such-and-such teachers and the meeting with better ones (there being also those who teach the contrary doctrines), and concerning a rearing among better people.

For with many the circumstances of their rearing have been of such a kind that they were not even permitted to gain a notion of the better things, but always, even from earliest age, were either among the favourites of licentious men or of masters, or in some other misfortune that hindered the soul from looking upward.

And it is altogether likely that the causes of these things lie within the principles of providence; but for them to come down to the level of men is no easy matter.

...a faith of whatever sort that has taken possession beforehand.

For one would have had to declare, on account of the different upbringings, the differences of the faiths among men, according as they believe more fortunately or more unfortunately;

and from this to ascend to the conclusion that, even to those who are quicker-witted—so as actually to be thought more rational and to attach themselves more rationally to their many tenets—what is called good fortune and what is called ill fortune cooperate.

But enough concerning these matters.

What follows in Celsus must be carefully considered, in which he says that in us too faith produces, by taking prior possession of our soul, this sort of assent concerning Jesus.

For truly faith does produce in us such assent;

but see whether faith itself does not of itself present what is praiseworthy, when we entrust ourselves to the God over all, giving thanks to Him who has guided us to such a faith, and saying that he did not without God dare and accomplish so great a work;

and we believe also in the purposes of those who wrote the Gospels, inferring their piety and conscientiousness, which are manifest in their writings, since they contain nothing spurious, nor cunning like a dice-cheat, nor fabricated, nor knavish.

For it stands before us that souls which had not learned such things as the knavish sophistry among the Greeks teaches—possessing much plausibility and acuteness—and the rhetoric that rolls about in the law-courts, could not have so fabricated matters as to be able of themselves to have that which leads to faith and to a life proportionate to that faith.

And I think that Jesus too, for this very reason, willed to make use of such teachers of his doctrine, so that there might be no room at all for the suspicion of plausible sophistries, but that it might shine forth clearly to those able to understand that the guilelessness of the writers' purpose—having much of what I might call simplicity—was deemed worthy of a more divine power, which accomplishes far more than the elaborate array of words and the composition of phrases, and the sequence ordered with the divisions and technical artistry of Greek learning, can seem capable of accomplishing.

And see whether the contents of our faith, agreeing from the outset with the common notions, do not transform those who hear what is said with a fair mind.

For even if the distortion has been able—with much catechizing pleading on its behalf—to implant in the many the doctrine about images as being gods, and about the things made from gold and silver and ivory and stone as being worthy of worship;

yet the common notion demands that one conceive that God is in no way corruptible matter, nor is He honoured in lifeless materials shaped by men, as though these came to be in the image of, or as certain symbols of, that One.

Wherefore at once the things concerning images are stated—that they are not gods—and the things concerning such handiworks—that they are not comparable to the Maker—and a little is said concerning the God over all who has made and holds together and governs the universe.

And at once, as if recognizing its kindred, the rational soul casts away the things it formerly supposed to be gods, and takes up a natural love toward its Creator; and because of that love toward Him it most heartily welcomes also the one who first presented these things to all the nations through the disciples whom he prepared, whom he sent forth with divine power and authority to proclaim the word concerning God and His kingdom.

But since he accuses us—I no longer know how many times—concerning Jesus, that being from a mortal body we deem him to be God and think we are acting piously in this, it is superfluous to say anything further on this point, for more has been said in the foregoing;

nevertheless let those who accuse us know that the one whom we deem and have been persuaded from the beginning to be God and Son of God, this one is Very-Reason itself, and Very-Wisdom itself, and Very-Truth itself;

but as for his mortal body and the human soul in him, we say that, by their not merely fellowship but also union and intermingling with that One, they have taken on the greatest things, and, having shared in His deity, have been transformed into God.

[the soul] wills to clothe itself with [such bodies], and often, laying aside its former ones, takes up better and different ones.

For if such things are sound, what is wonderful in the quality of the mortal element in the body of Jesus being changed, by the providence of God who so willed, into an ethereal and divine quality? Celsus therefore did not speak as a logician when he compared the human flesh of Jesus with gold and silver and stone, saying that the former is more corruptible than the latter.

For, according to strict reasoning, neither is one imperishable thing more imperishable than another imperishable, nor is one perishable thing more perishable than another perishable.

But even granting it to be more corruptible, nevertheless to this also we shall say that, if it is possible for the matter underlying all qualities to exchange its qualities, how is it not also possible for the flesh of Jesus, having exchanged its qualities, to have become such as that which dwelling in the ether and in the regions above it must needs be—no longer having the properties peculiar to fleshly weakness and those things which Celsus named more polluted? In doing which he was not acting philosophically;

for that which is properly polluted is such as it is from vice;

but the nature of a body is not polluted;

for it is not in so far as it is the nature of a body that it has the source of pollution, namely vice.

Then, since suspecting our defence he says concerning the change of his body: "But having laid these aside, he will then, forsooth, be a god;"

we shall say: "Why then not rather Asclepius and Dionysus and Heracles?"