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Chapter
LXXX.
Seeing, however, that Celsus alleges that
“Christians are won over by us through vain hopes,” we thus
reply to him when he finds fault with our doctrine of the blessed life,
and of communion with God: “As for you, good sir, they also
are won over by vain hopes who have accepted the doctrine of Pythagoras
and Plato regarding the soul, that it is its nature to ascend to the
vault3676 of heaven, and in the super-celestial space
to behold the sights which are seen by the blessed spectators
above. According to you, O Celsus, they also who have accepted
the doctrine of the duration of the soul (after death), and who lead a
life through which they become heroes, and make their abodes with the
gods, are won over by vain hopes. Probably also they who are
persuaded that the soul comes (into the body) from without, and that it
will be withdrawn from the power of death,3677
3677 Τάχα δὲ καὶ
οἱ
πεισθέντες
περὶ τοῦ
θύραθεν νοῦ,
ὡς θανάτου
καινοῦ
διεξαγωγὴν
ἕξοντος, etc. Locus
certe obscurus, cui lucem afferre conatur Boherellus, legendo divisim
ὡς θανάτου καὶ
νοῦ
διεξαγωγὴν
ἕξοντος, ut sensus sit
“morti etiam mentem subductum iri.” Nam si
θύραθεν
ἥκει νοῦς, consequens
est ut θανάτου καὶ
νοῦς
διεξαγωγὴν
ἔχῃ. Cf. Aristot, lib. ii. c. 3, de
generatione animalium.—Spencer. |
would be said by Celsus to be won over by empty hopes. Let him
then come forth to the contest, no longer concealing the sect to which
he belongs, but confessing himself to be an Epicurean,
and let him meet the arguments, which are not lightly advanced among
Greeks and Barbarians, regarding the immortality of the soul, or its
duration (after death), or the immortality of the thinking
principle;3678
3678 ἢ τῆς
τοῦ νοῦ
ἀθανασίας. | and let him prove
that these are words which deceive with empty hopes those who give
their assent to them; but that the adherents of his philosophical
system are pure from empty hopes, and that they indeed lead to hopes of
good, or—what is more in keeping with his opinions—give
birth to no hope at all, on account of the immediate and complete
destruction of the soul (after death). Unless, perhaps, Celsus
and the Epicureans will deny that it is a vain hope which they
entertain regarding their end,—pleasure,—which,
according to them, is the supreme good, and which consists in the
permanent health of the body, and the hope regarding it which is
entertained by Epicurus.3679
3679 Εἰ μὴ ἄρα
Κέλσος καὶ οἱ
᾽Ετικούρειοι
οὐ φήσουσι
κούφην εἶναι
ἐλπίδα τὴν
περὶ τοῦ
τέλους αὐτῶν
τῆς ἡδονῆς,
ἥτις κατ᾽
αὐτούς ἐστι
τὸ ἀγαθὸν, τὸ
τῆς σαρκὸς
εὐσταθὲς
κατάστημα,
καὶ τὸ περὶ
ταύτης
πιστὸν
᾽Επικούρῳ
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