Against Celsus 7.54

Since, then, he refers us to Heracles, let him present to us memoirs of his sayings and defend his undignified slavery with Omphale, and let him show whether he was worthy of divine honour who took the farmer's ox by force, like a robber, feasted on it, and was delighted at the curses the farmer uttered against him as he ate; so that even to this day the demon of Heracles is related to receive its sacrifice with curses. He invites us to repeat ourselves about Asclepius, though we have spoken of him before; but we are content with that. And what did he admire in Orpheus that he says he admittedly had a holy spirit and lived well? I wonder whether Celsus too, out of rivalry with us and in order to belittle Jesus, now sings the praises of Orpheus, whereas when he read his impious myths about the gods he did not turn away from his poems as deserving, even more than Homer's, to be banished from the good commonwealth; for Orpheus said much worse things than Homer about those who are considered gods. Anaxarchus, indeed, was noble when he said to Aristocreon, tyrant of Cyprus, “Pound, pound the bag of Anaxarchus”; but this is the only thing the Greeks know to admire about Anaxarchus, and on account of it, even if, as Celsus thinks, one ought properly to worship a man for virtue, it would not be reasonable to proclaim Anaxarchus a god. He refers us also to Epictetus, admiring what he said nobly; not, however, so that his saying at the breaking of his leg can be compared with the marvellous deeds and words of Jesus which Celsus disbelieves, for they were spoken with divine power and to this day convert not only some of the simpler people but also many of the more intelligent.