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| Chapter LXIII
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Chapter
LXIII.
I do not understand how Celsus, while admitting
the existence of Providence, at least so far as appears from the
language of this book, can say that there never existed (at any time)
either more or fewer evils, but, as it were, a fixed number; thus
annihilating the beautiful doctrine regarding the indefinite3953
nature of evil, and asserting that evil,
even in its own nature,3954
is infinite.
Now it appears to follow from the position, that there never have been,
nor are now, nor ever will be, more or fewer evils in the world; that
as, according to the view of those who hold the indestructibility of
the world, the equipoise of the elements is maintained by a Providence
(which does not permit one to gain the preponderance over the others,
in order to prevent the destruction of the world), so a kind of
Providence presides, as it were, over evils (the number of which is
fixed),3955
| 3955 τοσοῖσδε
τυγχάνουσιν. | to prevent their
being either increased or diminished! In other ways, too, are the
arguments of Celsus concerning evil confuted, by those philosophers who
have investigated the subjects of good and evil, and who have proved also from history
that in former times it was without the city, and with their faces
concealed by masks, that loose women hired themselves to those who
wanted them; that subsequently, becoming more impudent, they laid aside
their masks, though not being permitted by the laws to enter the
cities, they (still) remained without them, until, as the dissoluteness
of manners daily increased, they dared even to enter the cities.
Such accounts are given by Chrysippus in the introduction to his work
on Good and Evil. From this also it may be seen that evils
both increase and decrease, viz., that those individuals who were
called “Ambiguous”3956
used formerly to
present themselves openly to view, suffering and committing all
shameful things, while subserving the passions of those who frequented
their society; but recently they have been expelled by the
authorities.3957
And of
countless evils which, owing to the spread of wickedness, have made
their appearance in human life, we may say that formerly they did
not exist. For the most ancient histories, which bring
innumerable other accusations against sinful men, know nothing of the
perpetrators of abominable3958
| 3958 ἁῤῥητοποιους
οὐκ ἴσασι. |
crimes.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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