Against Celsus 4.21
Summary: Moses' account of the tower of Babel and of Sodom is far older than the Greek myths of the Aloadae and Phaethon that Celsus says he copied; the prophets, proved true about the past, are to be trusted about the purifying fire to come.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:290–291
Οὐκ οἶδα δʼ ὅπως παραπλησίως τῷ κατακλυσμῷ καθήραντι τὴν γῆν, ὡς ὁ Ἰουδαίων καὶ Χριστιανῶν βούλεται λόγος, οἴεται καὶ τὴν τοῦ πύργου κατάῤῥιψιν γεγονέναι. ἵνα γὰρ μηδὲν αἰνίσσηται ἡ κατὰ τὸν πύργον ἱστορία κειμένη ἐν τῇ Γενέσει ἀλλʼ, ὡς οἴεται Κέλσος, σαφὴς τυγχάνῃ, οὐδʼ οὕτως φαίνεται ἐπὶ καθαρσίῳ τῆς γῆς τοῦτο συμβεβηκέναι· εἰ μὴ ἄρα καθάρσιον τῆς γῆς οἴεται τὴν καλουμένην τῶν γλωσσῶν „σύγχυσιν“· περὶ ἧς ὁ δυνάμενος εὐκαιρότερον διηγήσεται, ἐπὰν τὸ προκείμενον ᾖ παραστῆσαι καὶ τὰ τῆς κατὰ τὸν τόπον ἱστορίας, τίνα ἔχοι λόγον, καὶ τὰ τῆς περὶ αὐτοῦ ἀναγωγῆς. ἐπεὶ δʼ οἴεται Μωϋσέα, τὸν ἀναγράψαντα τὰ περὶ τοῦ πύργου καὶ τῆς τῶν διαλέκτων συγχύσεως, παραφθείροντα τὰ περὶ τῶν Ἀλωέως υἱῶν ἱστορούμενα τοιαῦτα περὶ τοῦ πύργου ἀναγεγραφέναι, λεκτέον ὅτι τὰ μὲν περὶ τῶν Ἀλωέως υἱῶν οὐκ οἶμαι πρὸ Ὁμήρου τινὰ εἰρηκέναι, τὰ δὲ περὶ τοῦ πύργου, πολλῷ πρεσβύτερα Ὁμήρου ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν γραμμάτων εὑρέσεως ὄντα, τὸν Μωϋσέα ἀναγεγραφέναι πείθομαι. τίνες οὖν μᾶλλον τὰ τίνων παραφθείρουσιν; ἆρα τὰ περὶ τοῦ πύργου οἱ περὶ Ἀλωέως υἱῶν ἱστοροῦντες, ἢ τὰ τῶν Ἀλωειδῶν ὁ τὰ περὶ τοῦ πύργου καὶ τῆς συγχύσεως τῶν διαλέκτων γράψας; ἀλλὰ φαίνεται τοῖς ἀδεκάστοις ἀκροαταῖς ἀρχαιότερος Μωϋσῆς ὢν Ὁμήρου. καὶ τὰ περὶ Σοδόμων δὲ καὶ Γομόῤῥων ὑπὸ Μωϋσέως ἱστορούμενα ἐν τῇ Γενέσει, ὡς διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν πυρὶ ἐξαφανισθέντων. παραβάλλει ὁ Κέλσος τῇ κατὰ τὸν Φαέθοντα ἱστορίᾳ, ἑνὶ σφάλματι. τῷ περὶ τοῦ μὴ τετηρηκέναι τὰ τῆς Μωϋσέως ἀρχαιότητος. ἀκολούθως πάντα ποιήσας. οἱ γὰρ τὰ περὶ Φαέθοντος ἱστοροῦντες ἐοίκασι καὶ Ὁμήρου νεώτεροι, τοῦ πολλῷ Μωϋσέως νεωτέρου. οὐκ ἀρνούμεθα οὖν τὸ καθάρσιον πῦρ καὶ τὴν τοῦ κόσμου φθορὰν ἐπὶ καθαιρέσει τῆς κακίας καὶ ἀνακαινώσει τοῦ παντὸς, λέγοντες παρὰ τῶν προφητῶν ἐκ τῶν ἱερῶν βιβλίων μεμαθηκέναι. ἐπὰν μέντοι. ὡς ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω εἰρήκαμεν, πολλὰ περὶ μελλόντων οἱ προφῆται λέγοντες ἀποδεικνύωνται περὶ πολλῶν παρεληλυθότων ἠληθευκέναι καὶ δεῖγμα διδόναι τοῦ θεῖον πνεῦμα ἐν αὐτοῖς γεγονέναι, δῆλον ὅτι καὶ περὶ τῶν μελλόντων πιστευτέον αὐτοῖς, μᾶλλον δὲ τῷ ἐν αὐτοῖς θείῳ πνεύματι.
English · Claude translation
I do not know how he thinks that the overthrow of the tower also took place like the flood that purified the earth, as the teaching of Jews and Christians holds. For even if the story about the tower in Genesis hints at nothing, but, as Celsus thinks, is plain, not even so does it appear that this happened for the purification of the earth; unless perhaps he thinks that the so-called “confusion” of tongues was a purification of the earth. About this, one who is able will give an account more opportunely when the task at hand is to show both what meaning the story of this passage has and what its higher sense is. And since he thinks that Moses, who wrote about the tower and the confusion of languages, corrupted the stories told about the sons of Aloeus and wrote such things about the tower, it must be said that I do not think anyone before Homer spoke about the sons of Aloeus, but I am persuaded that Moses wrote about the tower, things much older than Homer and even than the invention of Greek letters. Who then are the more likely to corrupt whose stories? Those who tell about the sons of Aloeus the stories about the tower, or the one who wrote about the tower and the confusion of languages the stories of the Aloadae? But to unbiased hearers Moses appears older than Homer. And the account given by Moses in Genesis of Sodom and Gomorrah, destroyed by fire because of their sin, Celsus compares with the story of Phaethon, having done everything consistently with one mistake, that of not observing the antiquity of Moses. For those who tell the story of Phaethon seem to be even later than Homer, who is much later than Moses. We do not deny, then, the purifying fire and the destruction of the world for the removal of wickedness and the renewal of the universe, saying that we have learned it from the prophets out of the sacred books. When, as we said above, the prophets, who said much about the future, are shown to have spoken the truth about many things now past and to give evidence that the divine Spirit was in them, it is clear that they must be believed also about the future, or rather the divine Spirit in them must be.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The Aloadae (Otus and Ephialtes) piled mountains to reach heaven (Homer, Odyssey 11.305–320); Phaethon set the earth ablaze driving the Sun's chariot. The allusions are Gen 11:1–9 and Gen 19:24–25. The digital text reads οὐ δʼ οὕτως; corrected to οὐδʼ οὕτως.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (word wrongly divided in the digital text): σαφὴς τυγχάνῃ, οὐ δʼ οὕτως → σαφὴς τυγχάνῃ, οὐδʼ οὕτως.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 4.21 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/4/21/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 4.21 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/4/21/).
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