Against Celsus 5.57

That marvellous things have sometimes appeared to human beings has been reported even by the Greeks, not only by those who might be suspected of making up myths, but also by those who have shown in many ways that they practise philosophy genuinely and set out truthfully what reached them. We have read such things in Chrysippus of Soli, some in Pythagoras, and even in some more recent writers who lived only yesterday or the day before, such as Plutarch of Chaeronea in his work On the Soul and Numenius the Pythagorean in the second book of On the Incorruptibility of the Soul. Or is it that if Greeks, and especially the philosophers among them, narrate such things, what they say is not mockery or laughter, nor fictions and myths; but if those devoted to the God of the universe, who for the sake of not uttering even with their voice a falsehood about God accept every outrage even to death, report appearances of angels as having seen them, they are judged unworthy of belief and their words are not ranked among true ones? But it is not reasonable to judge thus about those who tell the truth or lie. For those who train themselves not to be deceived, after much careful research and examination of each subject, declare more slowly and securely that such people are truthful and such others lie in the marvels they report, since not all show themselves worthy of belief, nor are all plainly shown to have handed down fictions and myths to human beings. Further, concerning the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, this too must be said: that at that time one or two angels were seen, announcing that he had risen and caring for those who believed this to their own benefit, is no wonder. And it seems to me not unreasonable that those who always so believe that Jesus has risen, and who show as a fruit of their belief, not to be despised, a vigorous life and a change from the flood of evils, do not live without angels who help them in their turning to God taking hold of them.