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| Chapter LXVII
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Chapter
LXVII.
I do not understand how Celsus should deem it of
advantage, in writing a treatise against us, to adopt an opinion which
requires at least much plausible reasoning to make it appear, as far as
he can do so, that “the course of mortal things is the same from
beginning to end, and that the same things must always, according to
the appointed cycles, recur in the past, present, and
future.” Now, if this be true, our free-will is
annihilated.3970
| 3970 τὸ ἐφ᾽ ἡμῖν
ἀνῄρηται. | For if, in
the revolution of mortal things, the same events must perpetually occur
in the past, present, and future, according to the appointed cycles, it
is clear that, of necessity, Socrates will always be a philosopher, and
be condemned for introducing strange gods and for corrupting the
youth. And Anytus and Melitus must always be his accusers, and
the council of the Areopagus must ever condemn him to death by
hemlock. And in the same way, according to the appointed cycles,
Phalaris must always play the tyrant, and Alexander of Pheræ
commit the same acts of cruelty, and those condemned to the bull of
Phalaris continually pour forth their wailings from it. But if
these things be granted, I do not see how our free-will can be
preserved, or how praise or blame can be administered with
propriety. We may say further to Celsus, in answer to such a
view, that “if the course of moral things be always the same from
beginning to end, and if, according to the appointed cycles, the same
events must always occur in the past, present, and future,” then,
according to the appointed cycles, Moses must again come forth from
Egypt with the Jewish people, and Jesus again come to dwell in human
life, and perform the same actions which (according to this view) he
has done not once, but countless times, as the periods have
revolved. Nay, Christians too will be the same in the appointed
cycles; and Celsus will again write this treatise of his, which he has
done innumerable times before.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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