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Origen Against Celsus

Chapter XXII.

But this low jester ¹ Celsus, omitting no species of mockery and ridicule which can be employed against us, mentions in his treatise the Dioscuri, and Hercules, and AEsculapius, and Dionysus, who are believed by the Greeks to have become gods after being men, and says that "we cannot bear to call such beings gods, because they were at first men, ² and yet they manifested many noble qualifies, which were displayed for the benefit of mankind, while we assert that Jesus was seen after His death by His own followers;" and he brings against us an additional charge, as if we said that "He was seen indeed, but was only a shadow!" Now to this we reply, that it was very artful of Celsus not here clearly to indicate that he did not regard these beings as gods, for he was afraid of the opinion of those who might peruse his treatise, and who might suppose him to be an atheist; whereas, if he had paid respect to what appeared to him to be the truth, he would not have feigned to regard them as gods. ³ Now to either of the allegations we are ready with an answer. Let us, accordingly, to those who do not regard them as gods reply as follows: These beings, then, are not gods at all; but agreeably to the view of those who think that the soul of man perishes immediately (after death), the souls of these men also perished; or according to the opinion of those who say that the soul continues to subsist or is immortal, these men continue to exist or are immortal, and they are not gods but heroes,--or not even heroes, but simply souls. If, then, on the one hand, you suppose them not to exist, we shall have to prove the doctrine of the soul's immortality, which is to us a doctrine of pre-eminent importance; ⁴ if, on the other hand, they do exist, we have still to prove ⁵ the doctrine of immortality, not only by what the Greeks have so well said regarding it, but also in a manner agreeable to the teaching of Holy Scripture. And we shall demonstrate that it is impossible for those who were polytheists during their lives to obtain a better country and position after their departure from this world, by quoting the histories that are related of them, in which is recorded the great dissoluteness of Hercules, and his effeminate bondage with Omphale, together with the statements regarding AEsculapius, that their Zeus struck him dead by a thunderbolt. And of the Dioscuri, it will be said that they die often--

"At one time live on alternate days, and at another

Die, and obtain honour equally with the gods." ⁶

How, then, can they reasonably imagine that one of these is to be regarded as a god or a hero?

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Contra Celsum

22.

Οὐδὲν δὲ εἶδος τοῦ περὶ ἡμῶν διασυρμοῦ καὶ καταγέλωτος καταλιπὼν ὁ βωμολόχος Κέλσος ἐν τῷ καθ' ἡμῶν λόγῳ Διοσκούρους καὶ Ἡρακλέα καὶ Ἀσκληπιὸν καὶ Διόνυσον ὀνομάζει, τοὺς ἐξ ἀνθρώπων πεπιστευμένους παρ' Ἕλλησι γεγονέναι θεούς, καί φησιν οὐκ ἀνέχεσθαι μὲν ἡμᾶς τούτους νομίζειν θεούς, ὅτι ἄνθρωποι ἦσαν καὶ πρῶτον, καίτοι πολλὰ ἐπιδειξαμένους καὶ γενναῖα ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπων· τὸν δ' Ἰησοῦν ἀποθανόντα ὑπὸ τῶν ἰδίων θιασωτῶν ὦφθαί φαμεν· προσκατηγορεῖ δ' ἡμῶν καὶ ὡς λεγόντων αὐτὸν ὦφθαι, καὶ ταῦτα σκιάν. Καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα δὲ φήσομεν ὅτι δεινῶς ὁ Κέλσος οὔτε σαφῶς παρέστησε μὴ σέβειν τούτους ὡς θεούς – εὐλαβεῖτο γὰρ τὴν δόξαν τῶν ἐντευξομένων αὐτοῦ τῇ γραφῇ, ὑποληψομένων αὐτὸν ἄθεον, εἰ τὰ τῆς φαινομένης αὐτῷ ἀληθείας ἐπρέσβευεν – , οὔτ' αὖ προσεποιήσατο καὶ αὐτὸς αὐτοὺς θεοὺς νομίζειν· πρὸς ἑκάτερον γὰρ ἂν αὐτῶν ἀπεκρινάμεθα.

Φέρε οὖν πρὸς μὲν τοὺς μὴ νομίζοντας αὐτοὺς εἶναι θεοὺς ταῦτ' εἴπωμεν. Ἆρ' οὐδὲ τὴν ἀρχήν εἰσιν οὗτοι, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ οἴονταί τινες περὶ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ψυχῆς ὡς παραχρῆμα διαφθειρομένης, διεφθάρη καὶ τούτων ἡ ψυχή· ἢ κατὰ τὴν δόξαν τῶν λεγόντων ἐπιδιαμένειν ἢ ἀθάνατον αὐτὴν εἶναι ἐπιδιαμένουσιν οὗτοι ἢ ἀθάνατοί εἰσι, καὶ θεοὶ μὲν οὐκ εἰσὶν ἥρωες δέ· ἢ οὐδὲ ἥρωες ἀλλ' ἁπαξαπλῶς ψυχαί; Εἰ μὲν οὖν οὐκ εἶναι ὑπολαμβάνετε αὐτούς, τὸν προηγούμενον ἡμῖν περὶ ψυχῆς κατασκευαστέον λόγον· εἰ δὲ εἰσί, καὶ οὕτω τὸν περὶ ἀθανασίας ἀποδεικτέον οὐ μόνον ἐκ τῶν καλῶς περὶ αὐτῆς εἰπόντων Ἑλλήνων ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὸ ἀρέσκον τοῖς θείοις μαθήμασι. Καὶ δείξομεν ὅτι οὐχ οἷόν τε τούτους πολυθέους γενομένους ἐν χώρᾳ καὶ μερίδι κρείττονι γεγονέναι μετὰ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν ἀπαλλαγήν, φέροντες τὰς περὶ αὐτῶν ἱστορίας, ἐν αἷς ἀναγέγραπται πολλὴ Ἡρακλέους ἀκολασία καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὴν Ὀμφάλην γυναικείως δουλεία, καὶ τὰ περὶ Ἀσκληπιοῦ ὡς κεραυνῷ βληθέντος ὑπὸ τοῦ Διὸς αὐτῶν. Λελέξεται δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ τῶν Διοσκούρων, ὡς

Ἄλλοτε μὲν ζώουσ' ἑτερήμεροι, ἄλλοτε δ' αὖτε

τεθνᾶσιν· τιμὴν δὲ λελόγχασιν ἶσα θεοῖσιν

οἱ πολλάκις ἀποθνῄσκοντες. Πῶς οὖν οἷόν τε κατὰ τὸ εὔλογον τούτων νομισθῆναί τινα θεὸν ἢ ἥρωα;