Against Celsus 7.28
Summary: Celsus claims Christians borrowed their hope of a better land from Homer's Elysian plain and Plato's pure earth, but Origen answers that Moses, older than all Greek writing, promised a good land that is not earthly Judaea.
Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:178–180
Μετὰ (δὲ) τὰ περὶ θεοῦ, ἐν οἷς ἡμᾶς συκοφαντεῖ, πυνθάνεται ἡμῶν· ποῖ ἀπεῖναι μέλλομεν; καὶ τίνα ἐλπίδα ἔχομεν; καὶ ὡς ἀποκριναμένων, τίθησι δῆθεν ἡμετέρας φωνὰς οὕτως ἐχούσας· εἰς ἄλλην γῆν, ταύτης κρείττονα. καὶ πρὸς τοῦτό φησιν· ἱστόρηται θείοις ἀνδράσι παλαιοῖς εὐδαίμων βίος ψυχαῖς εὐδαίμοσιν· ὠνόμασαν δὲ [οἱ δὲ] οἱ μὲν μακάρων νήσους. οἱ δὲ „Ἠλύσιον πεδίον“ ἀπὸ τῆς λύσεως τῶν ἔνθεν κακῶν, ὥσπερ καὶ Ὅμηρος· ἀλλά σʼ ἐς Ἠλύσιον πεδίον καὶ πείρατα γαίης ἀθάνατοι πέμψουσι, τῇ περ ῥηίστη βιοτή. Πλάτων δὲ ἀθάνατον τὴν ψυχὴν ἡγούμενος ἐκείνην τὴν χώραν, ἔνθα στέλλεται, ἄντικρυς „γῆν“ ὠνόμασεν οὕτως· „πάμμεγά τι εἶναι“ φήσας „αὐτὸ, καὶ ἡμᾶς οἰκεῖν τοὺς μέχρι Ἡρακλείων στηλῶν ἀπὸ Φάσιδος ἐν σμικρῷ τινι μορίῳ. ὥσπερ περὶ τέλμα μύρμηκας ἢ βατράχους περὶ τὴν θάλασσαν οἰκοῦντας, καὶ ἄλλους ἄλλοθι πολλοὺς ἐν (πολλοῖς) τοιούτοις τόποις οἰκεῖν. εἶναι γὰρ πανταχῇ περὶ τὴν γῆν πολλὰ κοῖλα καὶ παντοδαπὰ καὶ τὰς ἰδέας καὶ τὰ μεγέθη, εἰς ἃ συνεῤῥυηκέναι τό τε ὕδωρ καὶ τὴν ὁμίχλην καὶ τὸν ἀέρα· αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν γῆν καθαρὰν ἐν καθαρῷ κεῖσθαι τῷ οὐρανῷ.“ ὑπολαμβάνει τοίνυν ὁ Κέλσος τὰ περὶ τῆς ἄλλης γῆς κρείττονος καὶ πολλῷ ταύτης διαφερούσης εἰληφέναι ἡμᾶς ἀπό τινων νομιζομένων αὐτῷ θείων παλαιῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ μάλιστα Πλάτωνος, τοῦ ἐν τῷ Φαίδωνι περὶ γῆς καθαρᾶς ἐν καθαρῷ κειμένης οὐρανῷ φιλοσοφήσαντος· οὐχ ὁρῶν ὅτι Μωϋσῆς, ὁ πολλῷ καὶ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν γραμμάτων ἀρχαιότερος, εἰσήγαγε τὸν θεὸν ἐπαγγελλόμενον τὴν ἁγίαν γῆν καὶ „ἀγαθὴν καὶ πολλὴν, ῥέουσαν γάλα καὶ μέλι“ τοῖς κατὰ τὸν νόμον ἑαυτοῦ βιώσασιν, οὐδʼ ὡς οἴονταί τινες τὴν „ἀγαθὴν, “ τὴν κάτω νομιζομένην Ἰουδαίαν, κειμένην καὶ αὐτὴν ἐν τῇ ἀρχῆθεν κατηραμένῃ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τῆς παραβάσεως τοῦ Ἀδὰμ γῇ. τὸ γὰρ „ἐπικατάρατος ἡ γῆ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις σου· ἐν λύπαις φαγῇ αὐτὴν πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς ζωῆς σου“ περὶ ὅλης εἴρηται τῆς γῆς, ἣν „ἐν λύπαις, “ τουτέστι πόνοις, ἐσθίει πᾶς ἄνθρωπος „ἐν τῷ Ἀδὰμ“ ἀποθανὼν, καὶ ἐσθίει „πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς“ ἑαυτοῦ „ζωῆς.“ καὶ ὡς „ἐπικατάρατος“ πᾶσα ἡ γῆ „ἀκάνθας καὶ τριβόλους ἀνατελεῖ“ „πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς ζωῆς“ τοῦ ἐν τῷ Ἀδὰμ ἐκβληθέντος ἀπὸ τοῦ παραδείσου, καὶ „ἐν ἱδρῶτι τοῦ προσώπου“ ἑαυτοῦ ἐσθίει πᾶς ἄνθρωπος τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἄρτον. „ἕως ἐπιστρέψει εἰς τὴν γῆν, ἐξ ἧς ἐλήφθη.“ πολὺν μὲν οὖν ἔχει λόγον ὅλα τὰ κατὰ τὸν τόπον τοῦτον, δυνάμενον εἰς τὴν σαφήνειαν τῶν λέξεων κατασκευασθῆναι· ὀλίγοις δʼ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἠρκέσθημεν, βουλόμενοι ἀπολῦσαι περισπασμοῦ, τοῦ ὡς περὶ τῆς Ἰουδαίας γῆς ὑπολαμβάνοντος εἰρῆσθαι τὰ περὶ ἀγαθῆς γῆς. ἣν ὁ θεὸς ὑπισχνεῖται τοῖς δικαίοις.
English · Claude translation
After his remarks about God, in which he slanders us, he asks us: Where are we going to go? And what hope do we have? And as though we had answered, he sets out supposedly our words, thus: To another land, better than this one. To this he says: A happy life for happy souls has been recorded by divine men of old; some named it the Isles of the Blessed, others “the Elysian plain,” from their release (lysis) from the evils here, as Homer says: “But the immortals will send you to the Elysian plain and the ends of the earth, where life is easiest.” And Plato, who held the soul to be immortal, openly called that region to which it is sent “earth,” thus: saying that “it is something very great, and that we who live from the Phasis to the Pillars of Heracles inhabit a small part of it, like ants or frogs around a marsh, living around the sea; and that many others live elsewhere in many such places. For there are everywhere around the earth many hollows, of all kinds in form and size, into which water and mist and air have flowed together; but the earth itself lies pure in the pure heaven.” Celsus supposes, then, that we have taken what concerns the other land, better and far superior to this, from certain men of old whom he considers divine, and especially from Plato, who philosophized in the Phaedo about the pure earth lying in the pure heaven. He does not see that Moses, who is much older even than Greek letters, introduced God promising the holy land, “good and large, flowing with milk and honey,” to those who lived according to his law; not, as some think, the “good” land that is considered to be Judaea here below, which itself lies in the earth cursed from the beginning in the works of Adam's transgression. For “Cursed is the earth in your works; in sorrow you shall eat of it all the days of your life” is said of the whole earth, of which every man who has died “in Adam” eats “in sorrow,” that is, in toil, and eats of it “all the days of” his “life.” And, being “cursed,” the whole earth “will bring forth thorns and thistles” “all the days of the life” of him who was cast out of paradise in Adam; and every man eats his bread “in the sweat of his face,” “until he returns to the earth from which he was taken.” The whole passage admits of much discussion that could be worked out to clarify the words; but for the present we have been content with a little, wishing to remove the distraction of supposing that what is said about the good land which God promises to the righteous is said about the land of Judaea.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Homer, Odyssey 4.563–565, Plato, Phaedo 109a–b, Exod 3:8, and Gen 3:17–19, with an allusion to 1 Cor 15:22. Elysion is fancifully derived from λύσις, “release.” The editor deletes a repeated οἱ δέ (“others”) before “some named it.”
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 7.28 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/28/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 7.28 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/7/28/).
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