No More Learning

] afterwards Emperor.

Tiberius by a letter excused himself to the Senate, for not having paid
his last offices to his mother; and, though he rioted in private
luxury without abatement, pleaded "the multitude of public affairs. "
He likewise abridged the honours decreed to her memory, and, of a
large number, admitted but very few: for this restriction he pretended
modesty, and added, "that no religious worship should be appointed her;
for that the contrary was her own choice. " Nay, in a part of the same
letter, he censured _feminine friendships_; obliquely upbraiding the
Consul Fusius, a man highly distinguished by the favour of Augusta, and
dexterous to engage and cajole the affections of women; a gay talker,
and one accustomed to play upon Tiberius with biting sarcasms; the
impressions of which never die in the hearts of Princes.

From this moment, the domination waxed completely outrageous and
devouring: for while she lived, some refuge still remained, as the
observance of Tiberius towards his mother was ever inviolate; nor durst
Sejanus arrogate precedence of the authority of a parent: but now, as
let loose from all restraint, they broke out with unbridled fury: so
that letters were despatched avowedly against Agrippina and Nero; and as
they were read in the Senate soon after the death of Augusta, the
people believed them to have been sent before and by her suppressed. The
expressions were elaborately bitter; and yet by them no hostile purpose
of taking arms, no endeavour to change the State, was objected to the
youth; but only "the love of boys, and other impure pleasures:" against
Agrippina he durst not even feign so much; and therefore arraigned
"her haughty looks, her impetuous and stubborn spirit. " The Senate
were struck with deep silence and affright: but, as particular men will
always be drawing personal favour from public miseries, there were
some who, having no hopes founded upon uprightness, demanded that "they
should proceed upon the letters:" amongst these the foremost in zeal was
Cotta Messalinus, with a terrible motion: but, the other leading men,
and chiefly the magistrates, were embarrassed by fear: for Tiberius,
though he had sent them a flaming invective, left all the rest a riddle.

In the Senate was one Junius Rusticus, appointed by the Emperor to keep
a journal of their proceedings, and therefore thought well acquainted
with his purposes. This man, by some fatal impulse (for he had never
before shown any instance of magnanimity) or blinded by deceitful
policy, while forgetful of present and impending dangers, he dreaded
future possibilities, joined the party that hesitated, and even warned
the Consuls "not to begin the debate:" he argued "that in a short moment
the highest affairs might take a new turn: and an interval ought to be
allowed to the old man to change his passion into remorse. " At the same
time, the people, carrying with them the images of Agrippina and Nero,
gathered about the Senate, and proclaiming their good wishes for the
prosperity of the Emperor, cried earnestly, "that the letters were
counterfeit; and, against the consent of the Prince, the doom of his
family was pursued:" so that nothing tragical was that day transacted.
There were also dispersed amongst them several speeches, said to have
been uttered in Senate by the Consulars, as their motions and advices
against Sejanus; but all framed, and with the more petulance as the
several authors exercised their satirical wit in the dark. Hence Sejanus
boiled with greater rage, and hence had a handle for branding the
Senate, "that by them the anguish and resentments of the Prince were
despised: the people were revolted; popular and disaffected harangues
were publicly read and listened to: new and arbitrary acts of Senate
were passed and published: what more remained, but to arm the populace
and place at their head, as leaders and Imperial commanders, those whose
images they had already chosen for standards? "

Tiberius having therefore repeated his reproaches against his grandson
and daughter-in-law: having chastised the people by an edict, and
complained to the Senate, "that by the fraud of a single Senator the
Imperial dignity should be battled and insulted, required that the whole
affair should be left to himself, entire and untouched. " The Senate
hesitated no longer, but instantly proceeded, not now in truth to
decree penalties and capital vengeance; for that was forbid them; but to
testify "how ready they were to inflict just punishments, and that they
were only interrupted by the power and pleasure of the Prince. ". . .

[_Here begins a lamentable chasm in this "Annal" for almost three years;
and by it we have lost the detail of the most remarkable incidents in
this reign, the exile of Agrippina into the Isle of Pandataria; of
Nero, into that of Pontia; and the murder of both there by the orders of
Tiberius: the conspiracy and execution of Sejanus, with that of all
his friends and dependents: the further wickedness of Livia, and her
death. _]

Now though the rage of the populace was expiring, and though most men
were mollified by former executions; it was determined to condemn the
other children of Sejanus. They were therefore carried both to prison,
the boy sensible of his impending doom; but the girl so ignorant, that
she frequently asked; "For what offence? and whither did they drag her?
she would do so no more; and they might take the rod and whip her. "
The writers of that time relate, "that as it was a thing unheard, for
a virgin to suffer capital punishment, she was deflowered by the
executioner just before he tied the rope; and that being both strangled,
the tender bodies of these children were cast into the place where the
carcasses of malefactors are exposed, before they are flung into the
Tiber. ". . .




BOOK VI

A. D. 32-37.


Cneius Domitius and Camillus Scribonianus had begun their Consulship,
when the Emperor, having crossed the channel between Capreae [Footnote:
Capri. ] and Surrentum, [Footnote: Sorrento. ] sailed along the shore
of Campania; unresolved whether he should proceed to Rome; or
counterfeiting a show of coming, because he had determined not to come.
He often approached to the neighbourhood of the city, and even visited
the gardens upon the Tiber; but at last resumed his old retirement,
the gloomy rocks and solitude of the sea, ashamed of his cruelties, and
abominable lusts; in which he rioted so outrageously, that after the
fashion of royal tyrants, the children of ingenuous parentage became the
objects of his pollution: nor in them was he struck with a lovely face
only, or the graces of their persons; but in some their amiable and
childish innocence, in others their nobility and the glory of their
ancestors, became the provocatives of his unnatural passion. Then
likewise were devised the filthy names, till then unknown, of the
_Sellarii_ and _Spintriae_, expressing the odious lewdness of the place,
and the manifold postures and methods of prostitution practised in it.
For supplying his lust with these innocent victims, he entertained, in
his service professed procurers, to look them out and carry them off.
The willing they encouraged with presents, the backward they terrified
with threats; and upon such parents or kindred as withheld the infants,
they exercised force, seizure, and, as upon so many captives, every
species of licentious rage.

At Rome in the beginning of the year, as if the iniquities of Livia
had been but just discovered, and not even long since punished, furious
orders were passed against her statues too, and memory; with another,
"that the effects of Sejanus should be taken from the public treasury,
and placed in that of the Emperor:" as if this vain translation could
any wise avail the State. And yet such was the motion of these great
names, the Scipios, the Silani, and the Cassii; who urged it, each
almost in the same words, but all with mighty zeal and earnestness: when
all on a sudden, Togonius Gallus, while he would be thrusting his own
meanness amongst names so greatly illustrious, became the object of
derision: for he besought the Prince "to choose a body of Senators
of whom twenty, drawn by lot and under arms, should wait upon him and
defend his person, as often as he entered the Senate. " He had been weak
enough to credit a letter from the Emperor, requiring "the guard and
protection of one of the Consuls, that he might return in safety from
Capreae to Rome. " Tiberius however returned thanks to the Senate for
such an instance of affection; but as he was wont to mix pleasantry with
things serious, he asked, "How was it to be executed? what Senators were
to be chosen? who to be omitted? whether always the same, or a continued
succession? whether young Senators, or such as had borne dignities?
whether those who were Magistrates, or those exercising no magistracy?
moreover what a becoming figure they would make, grave Senators, men of
the gown, under arms at the entrance of the Senate! in truth he held not
his life of such importance, to have it thus protected by arms. " So much
in answer to Togonius, without asperity of words; nor did he farther,
than this, press them to cancel the motion.

But Junius Gallio escaped not thus. He had proposed "that the Praetorian
soldiers, having accomplished their term of service, should thence
acquire the privilege of sitting in the fourteen rows of the theatre
allotted to the Roman knights. " Upon him Tiberius fell with violent
wrath, and, as if present, demanded, what business had he with the
soldiers? men whose duty bound them to observe only the orders of the
Emperor, and from the Emperor alone to receive their rewards. Gallio had
forsooth discovered a recompense which had escaped the sagacity of the
deified Augustus? Or was it not rather a project started by a mercenary
of Sejanus, to raise sedition and discord; a project tending to debauch
the rude minds of the soldiers with the show and bait of new honour; to
corrupt their discipline, and set them loose from military restrictions?
This reward, had the studied flattery of Gallio; who was instantly
expelled the Senate, and then Italy: nay, it became a charge upon him,
that his exile would be too easy, having for the place of it chosen
Lesbos, an island noble and delightful; he was therefore haled back to
Rome and confined a prisoner in the house of a Magistrate. Tiberius
in the same letter demanded the doom of Sextus Paconianus, formerly
Praetor, to the extreme joy of the Senate, as he was a man bold and
mischievous, one armed with snares, and continually diving into the
purposes and secret transactions of all men; and one chosen by Sejanus,
for plotting the overthrow of Caligula. When this was now laid open,
the general hate and animosities long since conceived against him, broke
violently out, and had he not offered to make a discovery, he had been
instantly condemned to death.

The next impeached was Cotta Messalinus, the author of every the
most bloody counsel, and thence long and intensely hated. The first
opportunity was therefore snatched to fall upon him with a combination
of crimes; as that he had called Caius Caligula by the feminine name of
_Caia Caligula_, and branded him with constuprations of both kinds; that
when he celebrated among the Priests the birthday of Augusta, he had
styled the entertainment a _funeral supper_; and that complaining of the
great sway of Marcus Lepidus, and of Lucius Arruntius, with whom he had
a suit about money, he had added; "they indeed will be supported by the
Senate, but I by my little Tiberius. " [Footnote: Tiberiolus meus. ] Of
all this he stood exposed to conviction by men of the first rank in
Rome; who being earnest to attack him, he appealed to Caesar: from whom
soon after a letter was brought in behalf of Cotta; in it he recounted
"the beginning of their friendship," repeated "his many good services
to himself," and desired "that words perversely construed, and humorous
tales told at an entertainment, might not be wrested into crimes. "

Most remarkable was the beginning of that letter; for in these words he
introduced it: "What to write you, Conscript Fathers, or in what
manner to write, or what at all not to write at this instant; if I can
determine, may all the Deities, Gods and Goddesses, doom me still
to more cruel agonies than those under which I feel myself perishing
daily. " So closely did the bloody horror of his cruelties and infamy
haunt this man of blood, and became his torturers! Nor was it at random
what the wisest of all men [Footnote: Socrates. ] was wont to affirm,
that if the hearts of tyrants were displayed, in them might be seen
deadly wounds and gorings, and all the butcheries of fear and rage;
seeing what the severity of stripes is to the body, the same to the
soul is the bitter anguish of cruelty, lust, and execrable pursuits.
To Tiberius not his imperial fortune, not his gloomy and inaccessible
solitudes could ensure tranquillity; nor exempt him from feeling and
even avowing the rack in his breast and the avenging furies that pursued
him.

After this, it was left to the discretion of the Senate to proceed as
they listed against Caecilianus the Senator, "who had loaded Cotta with
many imputations;" and it was resolved, "to subject him to the same
penalties inflicted upon Aruseius and Sanquinius, the accusers of
Lucius Annuntius. " A more signal instance of honour than this had never
befallen Cotta; who noble in truth, but through luxury indigent, and,
for the baseness of his crimes, detestable, was by the dignity of
this amends equalled in character to the most venerable reputation and
virtues of Arruntius.

About the same time died Lucius Piso, the Pontiff; and, by a felicity,
then rare in so much splendour and elevation, died by the course of
nature. The author he never himself was of any servile motion, and ever
wise in moderating such motions from others, where necessity enforced
his assent. That his father had sustained the sublime office of Censor,
I have before remembered: he himself lived to fourscore years, and for
his warlike feats in Thrace, had obtained the glory of triumph. But from
hence arose his most distinguished glory, that being created Governor
of Rome, a jurisdiction newly instituted, and the more difficult, as
not yet settled into public reverence, he tempered it wonderfully and
possessed it long.

For, of old, to supply the absence of the Kings, and afterwards of the
Consuls, that the city might not remain without a ruler, a temporary
Magistrate was appointed to administer justice, and watch over
exigencies: and it is said that by Romulus was deputed Denter Romulius;
Numa Marcius, by Tullus Hostilius; and by Tarquin the Proud, Spurius
Lucretius. The same delegation was made by the Consuls; and there
remains still a shadow of the old institution, when during the Latin
festival, one is authorised to discharge the Consular function.
Moreover, Augustus during the Civil Wars, committed to Cilnius Maecenas
of the Equestrian Order, the Government of Rome and of all Italy.
Afterwards, when sole master of the Empire, and moved by the immense
multitude of people and the slowness of relief from the laws, he chose
a Consular to bridle the licentiousness of the slaves, and to awe such
turbulent citizens as are only quiet from the dread of chastisement.
Messala Corvinus was the first invested with this authority, and in a
few days dismissed, as a man insufficient to discharge it. It was then
filled by Taurus Statilius, who, though very ancient, sustained it with
signal honour. After him Piso held it for twenty years, with a credit so
high and uninterrupted, that he was distinguished with a public funeral,
by decree of the Senate.

A motion was thereafter made in Senate by Quinctilianus, Tribune of the
People, concerning a Book of the Sibyl, which Caninius Gallus, one
of the College of Fifteen, had prayed "might be received by a decree
amongst the rest of that Prophetess. " The decree passed without
opposition, but was followed by letters from Tiberius. In them having
gently chid the Tribune, "as young and therefore unskilled in the
ancient usages," he upbraided Gallus, "that he who was so long practised
in the science of sacred ceremonies, should without taking the opinion
of his own college, without the usual reading and deliberation with
the other Priests, deal, by surprise, with a thin Senate, to admit a
prophetic book of an uncertain author. " He also advertised them "of
the conduct of Augustus, who, to suppress the multitude of fictious
predictions everywhere published under the solemn name of the Sibyl, had
ordained, that within a precise day, they should be carried to the City
Praetor; and made it unlawful to keep them in private hands. " The same
had likewise been decreed by our ancestors, when after the burning of
the capitol in the Social War, the Rhymes of the Sibyl (whether there
were but one, or more) were everywhere sought, in Samos, Ilium, and
Erythrae, through Africa too and Sicily and all the Roman colonies, with
injunctions to the Priests, that, as far as human wit could enable them,
they would separate the genuine. Therefore, upon this occasion also, the
book was subjected to the inspection of the Quindecimvirate.

Under the same Consuls, the dearth of corn had nigh raised a sedition.
The populace for many days urged their wants and demands in the public
theatre, with a licentiousness towards the Emperor, higher than usual.
He was alarmed with this bold spirit, and censured the Magistrates and
Senate, "that they had not by the public authority quelled the people. "
He recounted "the continued supplies of grain which he had caused to be
imported; from what provinces, and in how much greater abundance than
those procured by Augustus. " So that for correcting the populace,
a decree passed framed in the strain of ancient severity: nor less
vigorous was the edict published by the Consuls. His own silence, which
he hoped would be taken by the people as an instance of moderation, was
by them imputed to his pride.

In the meanwhile, the whole band of accusers broke loose upon those who
augmented their wealth by usury, in contradiction to a law of Caesar
the Dictator, "for ascertaining the terms of lending money, and holding
mortgages in Italy;" a law waxed long since obsolete, through the
selfish passions of men, sacrificing public good to private gain. Usury
was, in truth, an inveterate evil in Rome, and the eternal cause of
civil discord and seditions, and therefore restrained even in ancient
times, while the public manners were not yet greatly corrupted. For,
first it was ordained by a law of the twelve tables, "that no man should
take higher interest than twelve in the hundred;" when, before, it was
exacted at the pleasure of the rich. Afterwards by a regulation of the
Tribunes it was reduced to six, and at last was quite abolished. By the
people, too, repeated statutes were made, for obviating all elusions,
which by whatever frequent expedients repressed, were yet through
wonderful devices still springing up afresh. Gracchus the Praetor was
therefore now appointed to inquire into the complaints and allegations
of the accusers; but, appalled with the multitude of those threatened
by the accusation, he had recourse to the Senate. The Fathers also were
dismayed (for of this fault not a soul was guiltless) and sought and
obtained impunity from the Prince; and a year and six months were
granted for balancing all accounts between debtors and creditors,
agreeably to the direction of the law.

Hence a great scarcity of money: for, besides that all debts were at
once called in; so many delinquents were condemned, that by the sale of
their effects, the current coin was swallowed up in the public treasury,
or in that of the Emperor. Against this stagnation, the Senate had
provided, "that two-thirds of the debts should by every creditor be
laid out upon lands in Italy. " But the creditors warned in the whole;
[Footnote: Demanded payment in full. ] nor could the debtors without
breach of faith divide the payment. So that at first, meetings and
entreaties were tried; and at last it was contested before the Praetor.
And the project applied as a remedy; namely, that the debtor should
sell, and the creditor buy, had a contrary operation: for the usurers
hoarded up all their treasure for purchasing of lands, and the plenty
of estates to be sold, miserably sinking the price; the more men were
indebted, the more difficult they found it to sell. Many were utterly
stripped of their fortunes; and the ruin of their private patrimony drew
headlong with it that of their reputation and all public preferment.
The destruction was going on, when the Emperor administered relief, by
lending a hundred thousand great sesterces [Footnote: About £830,000. ]
for three years, without interest; provided each borrower pawned to the
people double the value in inheritance. [Footnote: Gave a security to
the State, on landed property. ] Thus was credit restored; and by degrees
private lenders too were found.

About the same time, Claudia, daughter to Marcus Silanus, was given in
marriage to Caligula, who had accompanied his grandfather to Capreae,
having always hid under a subdolous guise of modesty, his savage and
inhuman spirit: even upon the condemnation of his mother, even for the
exile of his brothers, not a word escaped him, not a sigh, nor groan.
So blindly observant of Tiberius, that he studied the bent of his temper
and seemed to possess it; practised his looks, imitated the change and
fashion of his dress, and affected his words and manner of expression.
Hence the observation of Passienus the Orator, grew afterwards famous,
"that never lived a better slave nor a worse master. " Neither would I
omit the presage of Tiberius concerning Galba, then Consul. Having sent
for him and sifted him upon several subjects, he at last told him in
Greek, "and thou, Galba, shalt hereafter taste of Empire;" signifying
his late and short sovereignty. This he uttered from his skill in
astrology, which at Rhodes he had leisure to learn; and Thrasullus for
his teacher, whose capacity

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Arguments Of Celsus, Porphyry, And The
Emperor Julian, Against The Christians, by Thomas Taylor

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Title: Arguments Of Celsus, Porphyry, And The Emperor Julian, Against The Christians
Also Extracts from Diodorus Siculus, Josephus, and Tacitus,
Relating to the Jews, Together with an Appendix

Author: Thomas Taylor

Release Date: October 10, 2011 [EBook #37696]

Language: English


*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARGUMENTS OF CELSUS ***




Produced by David Widger






ARGUMENTS OF CELSUS, PORPHYRY, and THE EMPEROR JULIAN, AGAINST THE
CHRISTIANS;

ALSO EXTRACTS FROM DIODORUS SICULUS, JOSEPHUS, AND TACITUS, RELATING TO
THE JEWS, TOGETHER WITH AN APPENDIX;

CONTAINING:

THE ORATION OF LIBANIUS IN DEFENCE OF THE TEMPLES

OF THE HEATHENS, TRANSLATED BY DR. LARDNER;

AND EXTRACTS FROM BINGHAM'S ANTIQUITIES

OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.


By [Thomas Taylor]


MDCCCXXX.


"For if indeed Julian had caused all those that were under his dominion
to be richer than Midas, and each of the cities greater than Babylon
once was, and had also surrounded each of them with a golden wall, but
had corrected none of the existing errors respecting divinity, he would
have acted in a manner similar to a physician, who receiving a body
full of evils in each of its parts, should cure all of them except the
eyes. "--Liban. Parental, in Julian, p. 285.




INTRODUCTION.

"I HAVE often wished," says Warburton in a letter to Dr. Forster,
October 15, 1749, "for a hand capable of collecting all the fragments
remaining of Porphyry, Celsus, Hierocles, and Julian, and giving them
to us with a just, critical and theological comment, as a defy to
infidelity. It is certain we want something more than what their ancient
answerers have given us. This would be a very noble work*. "

The author of the following Collectanea has partially effected what Dr.
Warburton wished

* See Barker's Parriana, vol. ii. p. 48.

{iv}

to see accomplished; for as he is not a _divine_, he has not attempted
in his Notes to confute Celsus, but has confined himself solely to an
illustration of his meaning, by a citation of parallel passages in other
ancient authors.

As the answer, however, of Origen to the arguments of Celsus is very
futile and inefficient, it would be admirable to see some one of the
learned divines with which the church at present abounds, leap into the
arena, and by vanquishing Celsus, prove that the Christian religion
is peculiarly adapted to the present times, and to the interest of the
priests by whom it is professed and disseminated.

The Marquis D'Argens published a translation in French, accompanied
by the Greek text, of the arguments of the Emperor Julian against
the Christians; and as an apology for the present work, I subjoin the
following translation of a part of his preliminary discourse, in which
he defends that publication.

"It may be that certain half-witted gentleman

{v}

may reproach me for having brought forward a work composed in former
times against the Christians, in the vulgar tongue. To such I might
at once simply reply, that the work was preserved by a Father of the
Church; but I will go further, and tell them with Father Petau, who gave
a Greek edition of the works of Julian, that if those who condemn the
authors that have published these works, will temper the ardour of their
zeal with reason and judgement, they will think differently, and will
distinguish between the good use that may be made of the book, and the
bad intentions of the writer.

"Father Petau also judiciously remarks, that if the times were not gone
by when dæmons took the advantage of idolatry to seduce mankind, it
would be prudent not to afford any aid, or give the benefit of any
invective against Jesus, or the Christian religion to the organs of
those dæmons; but since by the blessing of God and the help of the
cross, which have brought about our salvation, the monstrous dogmas of
Paganism are buried in oblivion,

{vi}

we have nothing to fear from that pest; there is no weighty reason for
our rising up against the monuments of Pagan aberration that now remain,
and totally destroying them. On the contrary, the same Father Petau
says, that it is better to treat them as the ancient Christians treated
the images and temples of the gods. At first, in the provinces in
which they were in power, they razed them to the very foundations, that
nothing might be visible to posterity that could perpetuate impiety, or
the sight of which could recall mankind to an abominable worship. But
when the same Christians had firmly established their religion, it
appeared more rational to them, after destroying the altars and statues
of the gods, to preserve the temples, and by purifying them, to make
them serviceable for the worship of the true God. The same Christians
also, not only discontinued to break the statues and images of the
gods, but they took the choicest of them, that were the work of the most
celebrated artists, and set them up in public places to ornament their
cities, as well as to recall to the memory of those who beheld them, how
gross

{vii}

the blindness* of their ancestors had been, and how powerful the grace
that had delivered them from it. "

The Marquis d'Argens further observes: "It were to be wished, that
Father Petau, having so judiciously considered the works of Julian, had
formed an equally correct idea of the person of that Emperor. I cannot
discover through what caprice he takes it amiss, that a certain learned
Professor** has praised the civil virtues of Julian, and condemned the
evidently false calumnies that almost all the ecclesiastical authors
have lavished upon him; and amongst the rest Gregory and Cyril, who
to the good arguments they have adduced against the false reasoning of
Julian, have added insults which ought never to have been used by any
defender of truth. They have cruelly

* The Heathens would here reply to Father Petau. Which is
the greater blindness of the two,-- ours, in worshipping the
images of deiform processions from the ineffable principle
of things, and who are eternally united to him; or that of
the Papists, in worshipping the images of worthless men

** Monsieur de la Bletric.

{viii}

calumniated this Emperor to favour _their good cause_, and confounded
the just, wise, clement, and most courageous prince, with the Pagan
philosopher and theologian; when they ought simply to have refuted him
with argument, in no case with insult, and still less with calumnies so
evidently false, that during fourteen centuries, in which they have
been so often repeated, they have never been accredited, nor enabled to
assume even an air of truth. "

A wise Christian philosopher, La Mothe, Le Vayer, in reflecting on
the great virtues with which Julian was endowed, on the contempt he
manifested for death, on the firmness with which he consoled those who
wept around him, and on his last conversation with Maximus and Priscus
on the immortality of the soul, says, "that after such testimonies of
a virtue, to which _nothing appears to be wanting but the faith to give
its professor a place amongst the blessed_*, we have cause to wonder
that

* According to this _wise Christian philosopher_ therefore,
not only all the confessedly wise and virtuous

Heathens that lived posterior, but those also who lived anterior to the
promulgation of the Christian religion, will have no place hereafter
among the blessed.

{ix}

Cyril should have tried to make us believe, that Julian was a mean and
cowardly prince*. Those who judge of men that lived in former ages by
those who have lived in more recent times, may feel little surprise at
the proceedings of Cyril. It has rarely happened that long animosity and
abuse have not been introduced into religious controversies. "

After what has been above said of Julian, I deem it necessary to
observe, that Father Petau is egregiously mistaken in supposing that
Cyril has preserved the whole of that Emperor's arguments against the
Christians: and the Marquis D'Argêns is also mistaken when he says, that
"the passages of Julian's text which are

* This is by no means wonderful in Cyril, when we consider
that he is, with the strongest reason, suspected of being
the cause of the murder of Hypatia, who was one of the
brightest ornaments of the Alexandrian school, and who was
not only a prodigy of learning, but also a paragon of
beauty.

{x}

abridged or omitted, aire very few. " For Hieronymus in Epist. 83. _Ad
Magnum Oratorem Romanum_, testifies that this work consisted of seven
books; three of which only Cyril attempted to confute, as is evident
from his own words, [--Greek--] "Julian wrote three books against the
holy Evangelists. " But as Fabricius observes, (in Biblioth. Græc. tom.
vii. p. 89. ) in the other four books, he appears to have attacked the
remaining books of the Scriptures, i. e. the books of the Old Testament.

With respect, however, to the three books which Cyril has endeavoured to
confute, it appears to me, that he has only selected such parts of these
books as he thought he could most easily answer. For that he has not
given even the substance of these three books, is evident from the
words of Julian himself, as recorded by Cyril. For Julian, after certain
invectives both against Christ and John, says, "These things, therefore,
we shall shortly discuss, when we come particularly to consider

{xi}

the monstrous deeds and fraudulent machinations of the Evangelists*. "
There is no particular discussion however of these in any part of the
extracts preserved by Cyril.

That the work, indeed, of Julian against the Christians was of
considerable extent, is evident from the testimony of his contemporary,
Libanius; who, in his admirable funeral oration on this most
extraordinary man, has the following remarkable passage: "But when the
winter had extended the nights, Julian, besides many other beautiful
works, attacked the books which make a man of Palestine to be a God, and
the son of God; and in _a long contest_, and with strenuous arguments,
evinced that what is said in these writings is ridiculous and nugatory.
And in the execution of this work he appears to have excelled in wisdom
the Tyrian old man. **

* [--Greek--]

** viz. Porphyry, who was of Tyre, and who, as is well
known, wrote a work against the Christians, which was
publicly burnt by order of the Emperor Constantine.

{xii}

In asserting this however, may the Tyrian be propitious to me, and
benevolently receive what I have said, he having been vanquished by his
son*. "

With respect to Celsus, the author of the following Fragments, he lived
in the time of the Emperor Adrian. and was, if Origen may be credited,
an Epicurean philosopher. That he might indeed, at some former period of
his life, have been an Epicurean maybe admitted; but it would be highly
absurd to suppose that he was so when he wrote this invective against
the Christians; for the arguments which he mostly employs show that he
was well skilled m the philosophy of Plato: and to suppose, as Origen
does, that he availed himself of arguments in

* [--Greek--]

[xiii]

which he did not believe, and consequently conceived to be erroneous, in
order to confute doctrines which he was persuaded are false, would be
to make him, instead of a philosopher, a fool. As to Origen, though he
abandoned philosophy for Christianity, he was considered as heterodox
by many of the Christian sect. Hence, with some of the Catholics,
his future salvation became a matter of doubt*; and this induced the
celebrated Johannes Picus Mirandulanus, in the last of his _Theological
conclusions according to his own opinion_, to say: "Rationabilius est
credere Uriginem esse salvum, quam credere ipsum esse damnatum," _i. e.
It is more reasonable to believe that Origen is saved, than that he is
damned. _

I shall conclude this Introduction with the following extract.

* 'In Prato Spiritual! , c. 26, quod citatur, à VIL Synodo,
et à Johanne Diacono, lib. ii. c. 45. vitas B. Gregorii
narratur fevelatio, qua Origines viras est in Gehenna ignis
cum Alio et Netftorio. "*--Fobric. BMiotk Grate torn. v. p.
216

{xiv}

Directions of Dr. Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln, to a young divine.

"It will be of great use for a divine to be acquainted with the arts,
knavery, and fraud of the Roman inquisitor, in purging, correcting, or
rather corrupting authors in all arts and faculties. For this purpose
we may consult the _Index Expurgatorius_.
By considering this Index, we
come to know the best editions of many good books.

"1st. The best books; that is, those that are condemned.

"2nd. The best editions; viz. those that are dated before the _Index_,
and consequently not altered.

"3rd. The _Index_ is a good common place book, to point out who has
written well against the Church, p. 70.

"Ockam is damned in the _Index_, and therefore we may be sure he was
guilty of telling some great truth, p. 41. *"

* The Bishop's rule is as good for one church as for
another, and every church has its Index.




THE ARGUMENTS OF CELSUS AGAINST THE CHRISTIANS

[Illustration: Celsus]

"THE Christians are accustomed to have private assemblies, which are
forbidden by the law. For of assemblies some are public, and these are
conformable to the law of the land; but others are secret, and these are
such as are hostile to the laws; among which are the Love Feasts of the
Christians *.

* Why the Romans punished the Christians:

"It is commonly regarded as a very curious and remarkable
fact, that, although the Romans were disposed to tolerate
every other religious sect, yet they frequently persecuted
the Christians with unrelenting cruelty. This exception, so
fatal to a peaceable and harmless sect, must have originated
in circumstances which materially distin-. . .

{2}

"Men who irrationally assent to anything, resemble those who are
delighted with jugglers and enchanters, &c. For as most of these are
depraved characters, who deceive the vulgar, and persuade them to assent
to whatever they please, this also takes place with the Christians. Some
of these are not willing either to give or receive a reason for what
they believe; but are accustomed to say, 'Do not investigate, but
believe, your faith will save you.

. . . guished them from the votaries of every other religion. The
causes and the pretexts of persecution may have varied at
various periods; but there seems to have been one general
cause which will readily be apprehended by those who are
intimately acquainted with the Roman jurisprudence. From the
most remote period of their history, the Romans had
conceived extreme horror against all nocturnal meetings of a
secret and mysterious nature. A law prohibiting nightly
vigils in a temple has even been ascribed, perhaps with
little probability, to the founder of their state. The laws
of the twelve tables declared it a capital offence to attend
nocturnal assemblies in the city. This, then, being the
spirit of the law, it is obvious that the nocturnal meetings
of the primitive Christians must have rendered them objects
of peculiar suspicion, and exposed them to the animadversion
of the magistrate. It was during the night that they usually
held their most solemn and religious assemblies; for a
practice which may be supposed to have arisen from their
fears, seems to have been continued from the operation of
other causes. Misunderstanding the purport of certain
passages of Scripture, they were. . .

{3}

'For the wisdom of the world is bad, but folly is good*,'

"The world, according to Moses, was created at a certain time, and has
from its commencement existed for a period far short of ten thousand
years,--The world, however, is without a beginning; in consequence of
which there have been from all eternity many conflagrations, and
many deluges, among the latter of which the most recent is that of
Deucalion**.

. . . led to imagine that the second advent, of which they lived
in constant expectation, would take place during the night;
and they were accustomed to celebrate nightly vigils at the
tombs of the saints and martyrs. In this case, therefore,
they incurred no penalties peculiar to the votaries of a new
religion, but only such as equally attached to those who,
professing the public religion of the state, were yet guilty
of this undoubted violation of its laws. "--Observations on
the Study of the Civil Law, by Dr. Irving, Edin. 1820. p.
11.

"It is not true that the primitive Christians held their assemblies in
the night time to avoid the interruptions of the civil power: but the
converse of that proposition is true in the utmost latitude; viz. that
they met with molestations from that quarter, because their assemblies
were nocturnal. "--Elements of Civil Law, by Dr. Taylor, p. 579.

* See Erasmus's Praise of Folly, towards the end.

** See on this subject the Tinusus of Plato.

{4}

"Goatherds and shepherds among the Jews, following Moses as their
leader, and being allured by rustic deceptions, conceived that there is
[only] one God.

"These goatherds and shepherds were of opinion that there is one God,
whether they delight to call him the Most High, or Adonai, or Celestial,
or Sabaoth, or to celebrate by any other name the fabricator of this
world*; for they knew nothing farther. For it is of no consequence,
whether the God who is above all things, is denominated, after the
accustomed manner of the Greeks, Jupiter, or is called by any other
name, such as that which is given to him by the Indians or Egyptians. "

Celsus, assuming the person of a Jew, represents him as speaking to
Jesus, and reprehending him for many things. And in the first place he
reproaches him with feigning that he was born of a virgin; and says,
that to his disgrace he was born in a Judaic village from a poor Jewess,
who obtained the means

* In the original there is nothing more than [--------] i.
e. this world; but it is necessary to read, conformably to
the above translation, [--------]. For the Jews did not
celebrate the world, but the Maker of the world, by these
names.

{5}

of subsistence by manual labour. He adds, That she was abandoned by her
husband, who was a carpenter, because she had been found by him to
have committed adultery. Hence, in consequence of being expelled by her
husband, becoming an ignominious vagabond, she was secretly delivered
of Jesus, who, through poverty being obliged to serve as a hireling in
Egypt, learnt there certain arts for which the Egyptians are famous.
Afterwards, returning from thence, he thought so highly of himself,
on account of the possession of these [magical] arts, as to proclaim
himself to be a God. Celsus also adds, That the mother of Jesus became
pregnant with him through a soldier, whose name was Panthera*.

"Was therefore the mother of Jesus beautiful, and was God connected with
her on account of her beauty, though he is not adapted to be in love
with a corruptible body? Or is it not absurd to suppose that God
would be enamoured of a woman who was neither fortunate nor of royal
extraction, nor even scarcely known to her neighbours; and who was also
hated and ejected by the carpenter her

* The same thing is said of Jesus in a work called "The
Gospel according to the Jews, or Toldoth Jesu. " See Chap. I.
and II. of that work.

{6}

husband, so as neither to be saved by her own credulity nor by divine
power? These things, therefore, do not at all pertain to the kingdom of
God. "

Celsus, again personifying a Jew, says to Christ, "When you were washed
by John, you say that the spectre of a bird flew to you from the air.
But what witness worthy of belief saw this spectre? Or who heard a voice
from heaven, adopting you for a son of God, except yourself, and some
one of your associates, who was equally a partaker of your wickedness
and punishment?

"Jesus having collected as his associates ten or eleven infamous men,
consisting of the most wicked publicans and sailors, fled into different
places, obtaining food with difficulty, and in a disgraceful manner. "

Again, in the person of a Jew, Celsus says to Christ, "What occasion
was there, while you were yet an infant, that you should be brought to
Egypt, in order that you might not be slain? For it was not fit that a
God should be afraid of death. But an angel came from heaven, ordering
you and your associates to fly, lest being taken you should be put to
death. For the great God [it seems] could not

{7}

preserve you, his own son, m your own country, but sent two angels on
your account. "

The same Jew in Celsus also adds, "Though we do not believe in the
ancient fables, which ascribe a divine origin to Perseus, Amphion,
Æacus, and Minos, yet at the same time their deeds are demonstrated to
be mighty and admirable, and truly superhuman, in order that what
is narrated of their origin may not appear to be improbable. " But
(speak-ing to Jesus) he says, "What beautiful or admirable thing have
you said or done, though you was (sp) called upon in the temple to give
some manifest sign that you were the son of God? "

Celsus, pretending not to disbelieve in the miracles ascribed to Christ,
says to him, "Let us grant that these things were performed by you; but
they are common with the works of enchanters, who promise to effect
more wonderful deeds than these, and also with what those who have been
taught by the Egyptians to perform in the middle of the forum for a
few oboli; such as expelling dæmons from men, dissipating diseases by a
puff, evocating the souls of heroes, exhibiting sumptuous suppers, and
tables covered with food, which have no reality. These magicians also
represent animals as moving, which are not in reality animals, but
merely appear

{8}

to the imagination to be such. --Is it fit, therefore» that we should
believe these men to be the sons of God, because they worked these
wonders? Or ought we not rather to say, that these are the arts of
depraved and unhappy men! "

Again the Jew says, "It is but recently, and as it were yesterday, since
we punished Christ; and you, who are [in no respect superior to] keepers
of oxen, have abandoned the laws of your ancestors and country. Why
likewise do you begin from our sacred institutions, but afterwards in
the progress [of your iniquity] despise them? For you have no other
origin of your dogma, than our law. Many. other such persons also as
Jesus was, may be seen by those who wish to be deceived. How too is it
probable that we, who have declared to all men that a person would be
sent by God as a punisher of the unjust, should treat him ignominiously,
if such a person had appeared among us? Again: How can we think him to
be a God, who, that I may omit other things, performed, as we learn,
nothing that was promised? And when, being condemned by us, he was
thought worthy of punishment, having concealed himself and fled, was
most disgracefully made a prisoner; being betrayed by those whom he
called his disciples? If, however, he was a God, it was not proper that
he should either fly, or be led

{9]

away captive. And much less was it fit, that, being considered as a
saviour and the son of the greatest God, and; also the messenger of this
God, by his familiars and private associates, he should be deserted and
betrayed by them. But what _excellent_ general, who was the leader of
many myriads of men, was ever betrayed by his soldiers? Indeed, this
has not happened even to the chief of a band of robbers, though a man
depraved, and the captain of men still more depraved than himself, when
to his associates he appeared to be useful. But Christ, who was betrayed
by those of whom he was the leader, though not as a good commander, nor
in such a way as robbers would behave to their captain, could not obtain
the benevolence of his deluded followers. --Many other things also, and
such as are true, respecting Jesus might be adduced, though they are not
committed to writing by his disciples; but these I willingly omit. His
disciples also falsely pretended, that he foreknew and foretold every
thing that happened to him.

"The disciples of Jesus, not being able to adduce any thing respecting
him that was obviously manifest, falsely assert that he foreknew all
things; and have written other things of a similar kind respecting lum.
This, however, is just the same as if some one should assert that a
certain person is a just

{10}

man, and notwithstanding this should show that he acted unjustly; that
he is a pious man, and yet a murderer; and, though immortal, died;
at the same time adding to all these assertions, that he had a
foreknowledge of all things.

"These things Jesus said after he had previously declared that he was
God, and it was entirely necessary that what he had predicted should
take place. He therefore, though a God, induced his disciples and
prophets, with whom he ate and drank, to become impious. It was,
however, requisite that he should have been beneficial to all men, and
particularly to his associates. No one likewise would think of betraying
the man, of whose table he had been a partaker. But here the associate
of the table of God became treacherous to him; God himself, which is
still more absurd, making those who had been hospitably entertained by
him to be his impious betrayers. "

The Jew in Celsus also says, that "What is asserted by the Jewish
prophets may be much more probably adapted to ten thousand other persons
than to Jesus. Besides, the prophets say, that he who was to come would
be a great and powerful king, and would be the lord of the whole earth,
and of all nations and armies: but no one would

{11}

infer from such like symbols and rumours, and from such ignoble
arguments, that Christ is the son of God.

"As the sun, which illuminates all other things, first shows himself [to
be the cause of light], thus also it is fit that this should have been
done by the son of God*. But the Christians argue sophistically, when
they say that the son of God is _the word itself_. And the accusation
is strengthened by this, that _the word_ which was announced by the
Christians to be the son of God, was not a pure and holy _word_, but a
man who was most disgracefully punished and put to death.

"What illustrious deed did Jesus accomplish worthy of a God, who beholds
from on high with contempt [the trifling pursuits of] men, and derides
and considers as sport terrestrial events?

"Why too did not Jesus, if not before, yet now at least, [i. e. when he
was brought before Pilate,] exhibit some divine indication respecting
himself; liberate himself from this ignominy, and punish those

* Celsus means that Christ should have given indubitable
evidence, by his sayings, his deeds, and by all that
happened to him, that he was the son of God.

{12}

who had insulted both him and his father? What kind of ichör also or
blood dropped from his crucified body? was it,. . . . . such as from the
blest immortals flows? "*

The Jew in Celsus further adds: "Do you reproach us with this, O most
faithful men, that we do not conceive Christ to be God, and that we do
not accord with you in believing that he suffered these things for the
benefit of mankind, in order that we also might despise punishment?
Neither did he persuade any one while he lived, not even his own
disciples, that he should be punished, and suffer as he did: nor did he
exhibit himself [though a God] as one liberated from all evils.

"Certainly you Christians will not say, that Christ, when he found
that he could not induce the inhabitants on the surface of the earth to
believe in his doctrines, descended to the infernal regions, in order
that he might persuade those that dwelt there. But if inventing absurd
apologies by which you are ridiculously deceived, what should hinder
others also, who have perished miserably, from being ranked among angels
of a more divine order? "

* See Iliad, V, ver. S40.

{13}

The Jew in Celsus further observes, on comparing Christ with robbers,
"Some might in a similar manner unblushingly say of a robber and a
homicide, who was punished for his crimes, that he was not a robber but
a God; for he predicted to his associates that he should suffer what he
did suffer.

"The disciples of Jesus, living with him, hearing his voice, and
embracing his doctrines, when they saw that he was punished and put to
death, neither died with nor for him, nor could be persuaded to despise
punishment; but denied that they were his disciples. Why, therefore, do
not you Christians [voluntarily] die with your master? "

The Jew in Celsus also says, that "Jesus made converts of ten sailors,
and most abandoned publicans; but did not even persuade all these to
embrace his doctrines.

"Is it not also absurd in the extreme, that so many should believe
in the doctrines of Christ now he is dead, though he was not able to
persuade any one [genuinely] while he was living?

"But the Christians will say, We believe Jesus to be the son of God,
because he cured the lame and the blind, and, as you assert, raised the
dead.

{14}

"O light and truth, which clearly proclaims in its own words, as you
write, that other men, and these depraved and enchanters, will come
among you, possessing similar miraculous powers! Christ also feigns that
a certain being, whom he denominates Satan, will be the source of these
nefarious characters: so that Christ himself does not deny that these
arts possess nothing divine, and acknowledges that they are the works
of depraved men. At the same time likewise, being compelled by truth, he
discloses both the arts of others and his own. Is it not, therefore, a
miserable thing, to consider, from the performance of the same deeds,
this man to be a God, but others to be nothing more than enchanters? For
why, employing his testimony, should we rather think those other workers
of miracles to be more depraved than himself? Indeed Christ confesses
that these arts are not indications of a divine nature, but of certain
impostors, and perfectly wicked characters. "

After this, the Jew in Celsus says to his fellow-citizens who believed
in Jesus, as follows: "Let us grant you that Jesus predicted his
resurrection: but how many others have employed such-like prodigies,
in order by a fabulous narration to effect what they wished; persuading
stupid auditors to believe in these miracles? Zamolxis among the

{15}

Scythians, who was a slave of Pythagoras, used this artifice; Pythagoras
also himself, in Italy; and in Egypt, Rhampsinitus. For it is related
of the latter that he played at dice with Ceres in Hades, and that
he brought back with him as a gift from her a golden towel. Similar
artifices were likewise employed by Orpheus among the Odryssians;
by Protesilaus among the Thessalians; and by Hercules and Theseus in
Tænarus. This, however, is to be considered,--whether any one who in
reality died, ever rose again in the same body: unless you think that
the narrations of others are fables,but that your catastrophe of the
drama will be found to be either elegant or probable, respecting what
was said by him who expired on the cross, and the earthquake, and the
darkness, which then according to you ensued. To which may be added,
that he who when living could not help himself, arose, as you say, after
he was dead, and exhibited the marks of his punishment, and his hands
which had been perforated on the cross. But who was it that saw this?
A furious woman, as you acknowledge, or some other of the same magical
sect; or one who was under the delusion of dreams, and who voluntarily
subjected himself to fallacious phantasms,--a thing which happens
to myriads of the human race. Or, which is more probable, those who
pretended to see this were such as wished to astonish others by

{16}

this prodigy, and, through a false narration of this kind, to give
assistance to the frauds of other impostors.

"Is it to be believed that Christ, when he was alive, openly announced
to all men what he was; but when it became requisite that he should
procure a strong belief of his resurrection from the dead, he should
only show himself secretly to one woman and to his associates?

"If also Christ wished to be concealed, why was a voice heard from
heaven, proclaiming him to be the son of God? Or, if he did not wish
to be concealed, why did he suffer punishment, and why did, he
[ignominiously] die? "

The Jew in Celsus likewise adds, "These things therefore we have adduced
to you from your own writings, than which we have employed no other
testimony, for you yourselves are by them confuted. Besides, what God
that ever appeared to men, did not procure belief that he was a God,
particularly when he appeared to those who expected his advent? Or why
was he not acknowledged by those, by whom he had been for a long time
expected? We certainly hope for a resurrection in the body, and that we
shall have eternal life. We

{17}

also believe that the paradigm and primary leader of this, will be he
who is to be sent to us; and who will show that it is not impossible for
God to raise _any one_ with his body that he pleases. "

After this, Celsus in his own person says, "The Christians and Jews most
stupidly contend with each other, and this controversy of theirs about
Christ differs in nothing from the proverb about the contention for the
shadow of an ass*. There is also nothing venerable in the investigation
of the Jews and Christians with each other; both of them believing that
there was a certain prophecy from a divine spirit, that a saviour of the
human race would appear on the earth, but disagreeing in their opinion
whether he who was predicted had appeared or not.

"The Jews originating from the Egyptians deserted Egypt through
sedition, at the same time despising the religion of the Egyptians.
Hence the

* This proverb is mentioned by Apuleius at the end of the
Ninth Book of his Metamorphosis. There is also another Greek
proverb mentioned by Menander, Plato, and many others,
[--------], concerning the shadow of an ass, which is said of
those who are anxious to know things futile, frivolous, and
entirely useless. These two proverbs Apuleius has merged
into one.

{18}

same thing happened to the Christians afterwards, who abandoned the
religion of the Jews, as to the Jews who revolted from the Egyptians;
for the cause to both of their innovation was a seditious opposition to
the common* and established rites of their country.

"The Christians at first, when they were few, had but one opinion; but
when they became scattered through their multitude, they were again and
again divided into sects, and each sect wished to have an establishment
of its own. For this was what they desired to effect from the beginning.

"But after they were widely dispersed one sect opposed the other, nor
did any thing remain common

to them except the name of Christians; and even this they were at the
same time ashamed to leave as a common appellation: but as to other
things, they were the ordinances of men of a different persuasion.

"What however is still more wonderful is this, that their doctrine may
be [easily] confuted, as consisting of no hypothesis worthy of belief.
But their

* In the original [--------], but it is necessary to read,
conformably to the above translation, [--------]

{19}

dissension among themselves, the advantage they derive from it, and
their dread of those who are not of their belief, give stability to
their faith.

"The Christians ridicule the Egyptians, though they indicated many and
by no means contemptible things through enigmas, when they taught that
honours should be paid to _eternal_ ideas, and not, as it appears to the
vulgar, to diurnal animals*. " Celsus adds, that "The Christians
stupidly introduce nothing more venerable than the goats and dogs of the
Egyptians in their narrations respecting Jesus.

"What is said by a few who are considered as Christians, concerning the
doctrine of Jesus and the precepts of Christianity, is not designed for
the wiser, but for the more unlearned and ignorant part of mankind. For
the following are their precepts: 'Let no one who is erudite accede
to us, no one who is wise, no one who is prudent (for these things are
thought by us to be evil); but let any one who is unlearned, who is
stupid, who is an infant in understanding boldly come to us. ' For the
Christians openly acknowledge that such as these are worthy

* See on this subject the Treatise of Plutarch respecting
Isis and Osiris.

{20}

to be noticed by their God; manifesting by this, that they alone wish
and are able to persuade the ignoble, the insensate, slaves, stupid
women, and little children and fools.

"We may see in the forum infamous characters and jugglers* collected
together, who dare not show their tricks to intelligent men; but
when they perceive a lad, and a crowd of slaves and stupid men, they
endeavour to ingratiate themselves with such characters as these.

"We also may see in their own houses, wool-weavers, shoemakers,
fullers, and the most illiterate and rustic men, who dare not say any
thing in the presence of more elderly and wiser fathers of families;
but when they meet with children apart from their parents, and certain
stupid women with them, then they discuss something of a wonderful
nature; such as that it is not proper to pay attention to parents and
preceptors, but that they should be persuaded by them. For, say they,
your parents and preceptors are delirious and stupid, and neither know
what is truly good, nor are able to effect it, being prepossessed with
trifles of an unusual nature. They

* Celsus, as we are informed by Origen, compares the
Christians with men of this description.

{21}

add, that they alone know how it is proper to live, and that if children
are persuaded by them, they will be blessed, and also the family to
which they belong. At the same time likewise that they say this, if
they see any one of the wiser teachers of erudition approaching, or the
father of the child to whom they are speaking, such of them as are more
cautious defer their discussion to another time; but those that are
more audacious, urge the children to shake off the reins of parental
authority, whispering to them, that when their fathers and preceptors
are present, they neither wish nor are able to unfold to children what
is good, as they are deterred by the folly and rusticity of these men,
who are entirely corrupted, are excessively depraved, and would punish
them [their true admonishers]. They further add, that if they wish
to be instructed by them, it is requisite that they should leave their
parents and preceptors, and go with women and little children, who are
their playfellows, to the conclave of women, or to the shoemaker's
or fuller's shop, that they may obtain perfection [by embracing their
doctrines].

"That I do not however accuse the Christians more bitterly than truth
compels, may be conjectured from hence, that the criers who call men to
other mysteries proclaim as follows: 'Let him approach,

{22}

whose hands are pure, and whose words are wise. ' And again, others
proclaim: 'Let him approach, who is pure from all wickedness, whose soul
is not conscious of any evil, and who leads a just and upright life. '
And these things are proclaimed by those who promise a purification from
error. Let us now hear who those are that are called to the Christian
mysteries. '_Whoever is a sinner, whoever is unwise, whoever is a
fool, and whoever, in short, is miserable, him the kingdom of God will
receive_. ' Do you not therefore call a sinner, an unjust man, a thief,
a housebreaker, a wizard, one who is sacrilegious, and a robber of
sepulchres? What other persons would the crier nominate, who should call
robbers together?

"God, according to the Christians, descended to men; and, as consequent
to this, it was fancied that he had left his own proper abode.

"God, however, being unknown among men [as the Christians say], and in
consequence of this appearing to be in a condition inferior to that of
a divine being, was not willing to be known, and therefore made trial of
those who believed and of those who did not believe in him; just as
men who have become recently rich, call on God as a witness of their
abundant and entirely mortal ambition.

{23}

"The Christians have asserted nothing paradoxical or new concerning a
deluge or a conflagration, but have perverted the doctrine of the
Greeks and barbarians, that in long periods of time, and recursions and
concursions of the stars, conflagrations and deluges take place; and
also that after the last deluge, which was that of Deucalion, the period
required, conformably to the mutation of wholes, a conflagration*.
This the Christians, however, have perverted by representing God as
descending with fire as a spy.

"Again, we will repeat and confirm by many arguments, an assertion which
has nothing in it novel, but was formerly universally acknowledged. God
is good, is beautiful and blessed, and his very nature consists in that
which is most beautiful and the best. If therefore he descended to men,
his nature must necessarily be changed. But the change must be from good
to evil, and from the beautiful to the base, from felicity to
infelicity, and from that which is most excellent to that which is most
worthless.