Against Celsus 4.38

Then, since his aim was to disparage what is written, he also ridiculed the words, “God cast a trance upon Adam, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs and filled up flesh in its place; and he built the rib which he took from Adam into a woman,” and so on, without even setting out the wording, which could make the hearer notice that it is spoken figuratively. And he did not choose even to let on that such things are interpreted allegorically, although he says in what follows that “the more reasonable of the Jews and Christians, ashamed of these things, try somehow to allegorize them.” One may say to him: Are the things said by your inspired Hesiod in the form of a myth about the woman allegorized, that she was given to men by Zeus as “an evil in exchange for fire,” while the woman taken from the side of the man who slept after a “trance,” and built by God, seems to you to have been said without any reason or hidden meaning? But it is not fair not to laugh at the former as myth but to admire it as philosophy in myth, while resting one's understanding on the bare wording of the latter, sneering and thinking it will have no meaning. For if one must accuse what is said in hidden meanings for the sake of the bare wording, see whether Hesiod's words will not rather incur laughter, a man, as you say, inspired, who wrote such things: “And Zeus the cloud-gatherer said to him in anger: ‘Son of Iapetus, knowing counsels beyond all others, you rejoice that you stole fire and deceived my mind, a great bane to yourself and to men who will come. To them in exchange for fire I will give an evil in which all may delight in their hearts, embracing their own evil.’ So he spoke; and the father of men and gods brought it to pass. And he bade famous Hephaestus as quickly as possible to mix earth with water, to put in it a human voice and strength, and to liken her in face to the immortal goddesses, the fair, lovely form of a maiden; and Athena to teach her works, to weave the intricate web; and golden Aphrodite to pour grace about her head, and painful longing and limb-wearying cares; and he bade Hermes, the guide, the slayer of Argus, to put in her a shameless mind and a thievish character. So he spoke, and they obeyed Zeus, son of Cronus, the lord. At once the famous Lame God formed from earth the likeness of a modest maiden, by the counsels of the son of Cronus; and the goddess, grey-eyed Athena, girded and adorned her; and the divine Graces and queenly Persuasion put golden necklaces about her body; and the fair-haired Hours crowned her with spring flowers; and Pallas Athena fitted every adornment to her body. And in her breast the guide, the slayer of Argus, fashioned lies and wily words and a thievish character, by the counsels of loud-thundering Zeus; and the herald of the gods put speech in her, and named this woman Pandora, because all who have homes on Olympus gave her a gift, a bane to men who eat bread.” Laughable at once too is what is said about the jar: “For before, the tribes of men lived on the earth apart from and without evils, and without hard toil and grievous diseases, which bring death to men. But the woman, taking the great lid from the jar with her hands, scattered them, and devised grievous cares for men. Hope alone remained there within, in the unbreakable house, under the lip of the jar, and did not fly out of doors; for before that she put back the lid of the jar.” To one who allegorizes these things solemnly, whether he succeeds in his allegory or not, we shall say: Is it permitted to the Greeks alone to philosophize in hidden meaning, and also to the Egyptians and to those barbarians who pride themselves on mysteries and truth, while the Jews alone, their lawgiver and their writers, seemed to you the most foolish of all men, and this nation alone has had no share of any power of God, a nation taught so nobly to ascend to the unbegotten nature of God, to look to him alone, and to expect hopes from him alone?