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| Chapter XII
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Chapter XII.
Accordingly, let us pass on to another charge made
by Celsus, who is not even acquainted with the words (of our sacred
books), but who, from misunderstanding them, has said that “we
declare the wisdom that is among men to be foolishness with God;”
Paul having said that “the wisdom of the world is
foolishness with God.”4338
Celsus says
that “the reason of this has been stated long ago.”
And the reason he imagines to be, “our desire to win over by
means of this saying the ignorant and foolish alone.” But,
as he himself has intimated, he has said the same thing before; and we,
to the best of our ability, replied to it. Notwithstanding this,
however, he wished to show that this statement was an
invention4339
of ours, and
borrowed from the Grecian sages, who declare that human wisdom is of
one kind, and divine of another. And he quotes the words of
Heraclitus, where he says in one passage, that “man’s
method of action is not regulated by fixed principles, but that of God
is;”4340
| 4340 ἦθος
γὰρ
ἀνθρώπειον
μὲν οὐκ ἔχει
γνώμας, θεῖον
δὲ ἔχει. | and in another,
that “a foolish man listens to a demon, as a boy does to a
man.” He quotes, moreover, the following from the
Apology of Socrates, of which Plato was the author:
“For I, O men of Athens, have obtained this name by no other
means than by my wisdom. And of what sort is this wisdom?
Such, probably, as is human; for in that respect I venture to think
that I am in reality wise.”4341
| 4341 Cf. Plato’s
Apolog., v. | Such are
the passages adduced by Celsus. But I shall subjoin also the
following from Plato’s letter to Hermeas, and Erastus, and
Coriscus: “To Erastus and Coriscus I say, although I am an
old man, that, in addition to this noble knowledge of
‘forms’ (which they possess), they need a wisdom, with
regard to the class of wicked and unjust persons, which may serve as a
protective and repelling force against them. For they are
inexperienced, in consequence of having passed a large portion of their
lives with us, who are moderate4342
individuals, and not wicked. I have accordingly said that they
need these things, in order that they may not be compelled to neglect
the true wisdom, and to apply themselves in a greater degree than is
proper to that which is necessary and human.”E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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