Part 3
"Further still: If God, like Jupiter in the comedy, being roused from a long sleep, wished to liberate the human race from evils, why did he send only into a corner of the earth this spirit of whom you boast? though he ought in a similar manner to have animated many other bodies, and to have sent them to every part of the habitable globe. The comic poet indeed, in order to excite the laughter of the audience in the theatre, says that Jupiter, after he was roused from his sleep, sent Mercury to the Athenians and Lacedæmonsians:--but do not
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you think that it is a much more ridiculous fiction to assert that God sent his son to the Jews?
"Many--and these, men whose names are not known,--both in temples and out of temples, and some also assembling in cities or armies, are easily excited from any casual cause, as if they possessed a prophetic power. Each of these likewise is readily accustomed to say, 'I am God, or the son of God, or a divine spirit. But I came because the world will soon be destroyed, and you, O men! on account of your iniquities will perish. I wish, however, to save you, and you shall again see me, returning with a celestial army. Blessed is he who now worships me; but I will cast all those who do not, into eternal fire, together with the cities and regions to which they belong. Those men also that do not now know the punishments which are reserved for them, shall afterwards repent and lament in vain: but those who believe in me I will for ever save.' Extending to the multitude these insane and perfectly obscure assertions, the meaning of which no intelligent man is able to discover,--for they are unintelligible and a mere nothing,--they afford an occasion to the stupid and to jugglers of giving to them whatever interpretation they please.
"Again, they do not consider, if the prophets of
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the God of the Jews had predicted that this would be his son, why did this God legislatively ordain through Moses, that the Jews should enrich themselves and acquire power; should fill the earth with their progeny; and should slay and cut off the whole race of their enemies, which Moses did, as he says, in the sight of the Jews; and besides this, threatening that unless they were obedient to these his commands, he should consider them as his enemies;--why, after these things had been promulgated by God, did his son, a Nazarean man, exclude from any access to his father, the rich and powerful, the wise and renowned? For he says that we ought to pay no more attention than ravens do, to food and the necessaries of life*, and that we should be less concerned about our clothing than the lilies of the field. Again, he asserts, that to him who smites us on one cheek we should likewise turn the other**. Whether, therefore, does Moses or Jesus lie? Or, was the Father who sent Jesus forgetful of what he had formerly said to Moses? Or, condemning his own laws, did he alter his opinion, and send a messenger to mankind with mandates of a contrary nature?
* Luke xii. 24.
** Luke vi. 29.
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"The Christians again will say, How can God be known unless he can be apprehended by sense? To this we reply, that such a question is not the interrogation of man, nor of soul, but of _the flesh_. At the same time, therefore, let them hear, if they are capable of hearing any thing, _as being a miserable worthless race, and lovers of body!_ If, closing the perceptive organs of sense, you look upward with the visive power of intellect, and, averting the eye of the _flesh,_ you excite the eye of the soul, you will thus alone behold God*. And if you seek for the leader of this path, you must avoid impostors and enchanters, and those who persuade you to pay attention to [real] idols; in order that you may not be entirely ridiculous, by blaspheming as idols other things which are manifestly Gods**, and venerating that which is in reality more worthless than any image, and which is not even an image, but _a dead body_***; and by investigating a Father similar to it.
* This is most Platonically said by Celsus.
** Such as the sun and moon, and the other heavenly bodies.
*** The Emperor Julian in the fragments of his Arguments against the Christians, 'preserved by Cyril, says, speaking to the Christians: "You do not notice whether any thing is said by the Jews about holiness; but you emulate their rage and their bitterness, overturning temples and altars, and cutting the throats not only of those who remain firm in paternal institutes, but also of...
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"There are essence and generation, the intelligible and the visible. And truth indeed subsists with essence, but error with generation*. Science, therefore, is conversant with truth, but opinion with generation. Intelligence also pertains to, or has the intelligible for its object; but what is visible is the object of sight. And intellect indeed knows the intelligible; but the eye knows that which is visible. What the sun therefore is in the visible region,--being neither the eye, nor sight, but the cause to the eye of seeing, and to the sight of its visive power, to all sensibles of their being generated, and to himself of being perceived;--this the supreme God [or _the good_] is in intelligibles: since he is neither intellect, nor intelligence, nor science, but is the cause, to intellect, of intellectual perception;
...those heretics who are equally erroneous with yourselves, and who do not lament a dead body in the same manner as you do. For neither Jesus nor Paul exhorted you to act in this manner. But the reason is, that they did not expect you would arrive at the power which you have obtained. For they were satisfied if they could deceive maid-servants and slaves, and through these married women, and such men as Cornelius and Sergius; among whom, if you can mention one that was at that time an illustrious character, (and these things were transacted under the reign of Tiberius or Claudius,) believe that I am a liar in all things."
* Generation signifies the whole of that which is visible.
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to intelligence, of its subsistence on account of him; to science, for its possession of knowledge for his sake, and to all intelligibles for their existence as such. He is likewise the cause to truth itself and to essence itself, of their existence, being himself beyond all intelligibles, by a certain ineffable power*. And these are the assertions of men who possess intellect. But if you understand any thing of what is here said, you are indebted to us for it. If, likewise, you think that a certain spirit descending from God announced to you things of a divine nature, this will be the spirit which proclaimed what I have above said, and with which ancient men being replete, have unfolded so many things of a most beneficial nature. If, therefore, you are unable to understand these assertions, be silent, and conceal your ignorance, and do not say that those are blind who see, and that those are lame who run,
* This sentence in the original is as follows: [--------]. But it is requisite to read, conformably to the above translation, [--------]. Celsus has derived what he here says from the Sixth Book of Plato's Republic, and what he says previous to this from the Timæeus of Plato.--See Taylor's translation of these Dialogues.
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you at the same time possessing souls that are in every respect lame and mutilated, and living in body, viz. in that which is dead.
"How much better would it be for you, since you are desirous of innovation, to direct your attention to some one of the illustrious dead, and concerning whom a divine fable may be properly admitted! And if Hercules and Esculapius do not please you, and other renowned men of great antiquity, you may have Orpheus, a man confessedly inspired by a sacred spirit, and who suffered a violent death. But he perhaps has been adopted as a leader formerly by others. Consider Anaxarchus, therefore, who being thrown into a mortar, and bruised in the cruellest manner, most courageously despised the punishment, exclaiming, 'Bruise, bruise the sack of Anaxarchus, for you cannot bruise him.' This, indeed, was uttered by a certain truly divine spirit. Him, however, some physiologists have already vindicated to themselves. In the next place, consider Epictetus, who when his master twisted his leg violently, said, smiling gently and without being terrified, 'You will break my leg;' and when his master had broken his leg, only observed, 'Did I not tell you that you would break it? What thing of this kind did your God utter when
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he was punished*? The sibyl, likewise, whose verses are used by some of you, is far more worthy to be regarded by you as the daughter of God. _But now you have fraudulently and rashly inserted in her verses many things of a blasphemous nature_**; and Christ, who in his life was most reprehensible, and in his death most miserable, you reverence as a God. How much more appropriately might you have bestowed this honour on Jonas when he was under the gourd, or on Daniel who was saved in the den of lions, or on others of whom more prodigious things than these are narrated!
"This is one of the precepts of the Christians: 'Do not revenge yourself on him who injures you; and if any person strikes you on one cheek, turn the other to him also.' And this precept indeed is of very great antiquity, but is recorded in a more rustic
* Christ when on the cross exclaimed, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" But Socrates in his Apology to his Judges, as recorded by Plato, most magnanimously said, "Anytus and Melitus may indeed put me to death, but they cannot injure me."
** The collection of the Sibylline Oracles which are now extant, are acknowledged by all intelligent men among the learned to be for the most part forgeries.--See the account of them by Fabricius in vol. i. of his Bibliootheca Græca,
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manner by Christ. For Socrates is made by Plata in the Crito to speak as follows: 'It is by no means therefore proper to do an injury. By no means. Hence neither is it proper for him who is injured to revenge the injury, as the multitude think it is; since it is by no means fit to do an injury. It does not appear that it is. But what! is it proper or not, O Crito, to be malific? It certainly is not proper, Socrates. Is it therefore just or unjust for a man to be malific to him by whom he has been hurt? for in the opinion of the vulgar it is just. It is by no means just. For to be hurtful to men does not at all differ from injuring them. You speak the truth. Neither, therefore, is it proper to revenge an injury, nor to be hurtful to any man, whatever evil we may suffer from him.' These things are asserted by Plato, who also adds: 'Consider, therefore, well, whether you agree, and are of the same opinion with me in this; and we will begin with admitting, that it is never right either to do an injury, or revenge an injury on him who has acted badly towards us. Do you assent to this principle? For formerly it appeared, and now still appears, to me to be true.' Such, therefore, was the opinion of Plato, and which also was the doctrine of divine men prior to him. Concerning these, however, and other particulars which the Christians have corrupted, enough has been said. For he who
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desires to search further into them, may easily be satisfied.
"But why is it requisite to enumerate how many things have been foretold with a divinely inspired voice, partly by prophetesses and prophets, and partly by other men and women under the influence of inspiration? What wonderful things they have heard from the adyta themselves! How many things have been rendered manifest from victims and sacrifices to those who have used them! How many from other prodigious symbols! And to some persons, divinely luminous appearances have been manifestly present. Of these things indeed the life of every one is full. How many cities, likewise, have been raised from oracles, and liberated from disease and pestilence! And how many, neglecting these, or forgetting them, have perished miserably! How many colonies have been founded from these, and by observing their mandates have been rendered happy! How many potentates and private persons have, from attending to or neglecting these, obtained a better or a worse condition! How many, lamenting their want of children, have through these obtained the object of their wishes! How many have escaped the anger of dæmons! How many mutilated bodies have been healed! And again, how many have immediately suffered for insolent behaviour in
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sacred concerns! some indeed becoming insane on the very spot; others proclaiming their impious deeds, but others not proclaiming them before they perished; some destroying themselves, and others becoming a prey to incurable diseases. And sometimes a dreadful voice issuing from the adyta has destroyed them*.
"In the next place, is it not absurd that you should desire and hope for the resurrection of the body, as if nothing was more excellent or more honourable to us than this; and yet again, that you should hurl this same body into punishments, as a thing of a vile nature? To men, however, who are persuaded that this is true, and who are conglutinated to body, it is not worth while to speak of things of this kind. For these are men who in other respects are rustic and impure, without reason, and labouring under the disease of sedition. Indeed, those who hope that the soul or intellect will exist eternally, whether they are willing to call it pneumatic**, or an intellectual spirit holy and blessed, or a living soul, or the supercelestial and
* See the scientific theory of Oracles unfolded in the Notes to Taylor's translation of Pausanias, vol. iii. p. 259.
** This is said conformably to the opinion of the Stoics.
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incorruptible progeny of a divine and incorporeal nature*, or whatever other appellation they may think fit to give it; those who thus hope, (but I say this in accordance with Divinity,) in this respect think rightly, that those who have lived well in this life will be blessed, but that those who have been entirely unjust, will be involved in endless evils. And neither the Christians nor any other man were ever hostile to this dogma.
"Since men are bound to body, whether they are so for the sake of the dispensation of the whole of things, or in order that they may suffer the punishment of their offences, or in consequence of the soul through certain passions becoming heavy and tending downwards, till through certain orderly periods it becomes purified;--for according to Empedocles, it is necessary that
'From the blest wandering thrice ten thousand times, Through various mortal forms the soul should pass.'--
* This is asserted in accordance with the doctrine of the Platonists.
** This 30,000 times must not be considered mathematically; since it symbolically indicates a certain appropriate measure of perfection. For in units S is a perfect number, as having a beginning, middle, and end. And again, 10 is perfect, because it comprehends all numbers in itself. These numbers, however, were call-...
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This being the case, it is requisite to believe that men are committed to the care of certain inspective guardians of this prison the body.
"That to the least of things, however, are allotted guardian powers, may be learnt from the Egyptians, who say that the human body is divided into thirty-six parts, and that dæmons* or certain etherial gods who are distributed into the same number of parts, are the guardians of these divisions of the body. Some also assert, that there is a much greater number of these presiding powers; different corporeal parts being under the inspection of different powers. The names of these also in the vernacular tongue of the Egyptians are Chnoumën, Chnachoumën, Knat, Sicat, Biou, Erou, Erebiou, Ramanor, Reianoor. What, therefore, should prevent him from making use of these and other powers, who wishes rather to be well than to be ill, to be fortunate rather than to be unfortunate, and to be liberated from such
...ed by the ancients perfect, in a different way from 6, 28, &c.; for these were thus denominated because they are equal to the sum of their parts.
* i. e. beneficent dæmonss; for the ancients divided dæmonss into the beneficent and malevolent. They also considered the former as assisting the soul in its ascent to its pristine state of felicity; but the latter as of a punishing and avenging characteristic.
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tormentors and castigators as these things are thought to be?*
"He, however, who invokes these powers ought to be careful, lest being conglutinated [as it were] to the worship of them, and to a love of the body, he should turn from and become oblivious of more excellent natures. For it is perhaps requisite not to disbelieve in wise men, who say that the greater part of circumterrestrial dæmons are conglutinated to generation, and are delighted with blood, with the odour and vapour of flesh, with melodies and with other things of the like kind**; to which being bound, they are unable to effect any thing superior to the sanction of the body, and the prediction of future events to men and cities. Whatever also pertains to mortal actions they know, and are able to bring to pass.
"If some one should command a worshiper of God either to act impiously, or to say any thing of a most disgraceful nature, he is in no respect whatever to be obeyed; but all trial and every kind of death are to be endured rather than to meditate,
* Vid. Salmas. In fine libri He Annis climactericis.
** See Book II. of Taylor's translation of Porphyry,--On Abstinence from Animal Food.
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and much more to assert, any thing impious concerning God. But if any one should order us to celebrate the Sun or Minerva, we ought most gladly to sing hymns to their praise. For thus you will appear to venerate the supreme God in a greater degree *, if you also celebrate these powers: for piety when it passes through all things becomes more perfect."
EXTRACTS FROM, AND INFORMATION RELATIVE TO, THE TREATISE OF PORPHYRY AGAINST THE CHRISTIANS
This work of Porphyry consisted of Fifteen Books, and is unfortunately lost. It is frequently mentioned by the Fathers of the Church, from whose writings the following particulars are collected.
The First Book appears to have contained a development of the contrariety of the Scriptures, and proofs that they did not proceed from Divinity, but from men. To this end Porphyry especially adduces what Paul writes to the Galatians, chap. ii.
* For as the ineffable principle of things possesses all power and the highest power, he first produced from himself beings most transcendently allied to himself; and therefore, by venerating these, the highest God will be in a greater degree venerated, as being a greater veneration of his power.
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viz. that "when Peter came to Antioch, he withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed." Hence Porphyry infers, "that the Apostles, and indeed the chief of them, did not publicly study the salvation of all men, but that each of them was privately attentive to his own renown." This the Fathers testify in more than one place. See the Commentary of Jerome on the above-mentioned Epistle. Jerome also, in his 89th Epistle to Augustin, informs us that Porphyry says, "that Peter and Paul opposed each other in a puerile contest, and that Paul was envious of the virtue of Peter."
The Third Book treated of the interpretation of the Scriptures, in which Porphyry condemned the mode of explaining them adopted by the commentators, and especially the allegories of Origen. This is evident from a long extract from this work of Porphyry given by Eusebius in Hist. Eccl. lib. i. cap. 13.
The Fourth Book treated of the Mosaic history and the antiquities of the Jews, as we learn from Eusebius, Proep. Evang. lib. i. cap. 9, and from Theo-doret, Serm. ii. Therap.
But the Twelfth Book was the most celebrated of all, in which Porphyry strenuously opposes the
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prophecy of Daniel. Of this work Jerome thus speaks in the Preface to his Commentary on that prophet: "Porphyry's twelfth book is against the prophet Daniel, as he was unwilling to admit that it was written by that prophet, but contends that it was composed by a person in Judæa named Epiphanes, and who lived in the time of Antiochus. Hence he says, that Daniel does not so much narrate future as past events. Lastly, he asserts, that whatever is related as far as to the reign of Antiochus contains a true history; but that all that is said posterior to this time, as the writer was ignorant of futurity, is false."
The Thirteenth Book also, according to Jerome*, was written against the same prophet; in which book, speaking of the "abomination of desolation," as it is called by Daniel, (when standing in the sacred place,) he says many reproachful things of the Christians.
The same Jerome likewise, in Epist. ci., ad Pam-machium, testifies, that Porphyry accuses the history of the Evangelists of falsehood, and says** that Christ, after he had told his brethren that he should
* Vid. lib. iv. Comment, in 24 Cap. Matth.
** Lib. ii. adversus Pelagianos.
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not go up to the feast of tabernacles, yet afterwards went up to it (John vii.). Hence Porphyry accuses him of inconstancy and mutability. Jerome's observation on this is curious, viz. "Nesciens omnia scandala ad carnem esse referenda."
Jerome adds (in Lib. Quasst. Hebraic, in Genesin) "that Porphyry calumniates the Evangelists for making a miracle to the ignorant, by asserting that Christ walked on the sea, calling the lake Genezareth the sea." He likewise says, that Porphyry called the miracles which were performed at the sepulchres of the martyrs, "the delusions of evil demons."
The following remarkable passage from one of the lost writings of Porphyry relative to the Christians, is preserved by Augustin in his Treatise De Civit. lib. xix. cap. 23.
"Sunt spiritus terreni minimi loco terreno quodam malorum dæmonum potestati subjecti. Ab his sapientes Hebræorum, quorum unus iste etiam Jesus fuit, sicut audivisti divina Apollonis oracula quæ superius dicta sunt. Ab his ergo _Hebæi_ dsemonibus pessimis et minoribus spiritibus vetabant religiosos, et ipsis vacare prohibebant: venerari autem magis coelestes Deos, amplius autem venerari Deum patrem. Hoc autem et Dii præcipiunt, et in
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superioibus ostendimus, quemadmodum animadvertere ad Deum monent, et ilium colère ubique imperant. Verum indocti et impiæ naturae, quibus vere Fatum non concessit a Dius dona obtinere, neque habere Jovis immortalis notitiam, non audientes Deos et divinos viros; Deos quidem omnes recusaverunt, prohibitos autem dæmones non solum nullis odiis insequi, sed etiam revereri delegerunt. Deum autem simulantes se colère, ea sola per quae Deus adoratur, non agunt. Nam Deus quidem utpote omnium pater nullius indiget: sed nobis est bene, cum eum per justitiam et castitatem, aliasque virtutes adoramus, ipsam vitam precem ad ipsum fa-cientes, per imitationem et inquisitionem de ipso. Inquisitio enim purgat, imitatio deificat affectionem ad ipsum operando."