Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">After Celsus has finished speaking of the bees, in order to\r\ndepreciate (as far as he can) the cities, and constitutions, and\r\ngovernments, and sovereignties not only of us Christians, but\r\nof all mankind, as well as the wars which men undertake on\r\nbehalf of their native countries, he proceeds, by way of digression,\r\nto pass a eulogy upon the ants, in order that, while\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_249\">249</span>praising them, he may compare the measures which men take\r\nto secure their subsistence with those adopted by these insects,<a id=\"r790\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f790\"><sup>[790]</sup></a>\r\nand so evince his contempt for the forethought which makes\r\nprovision for winter, as being nothing higher than the irrational\r\nprovidence of the ants, as he regards it. Now might not some\r\nof the more simple-minded, and such as know not how to look\r\ninto the nature of all things, be turned away (so far, at least, as\r\nCelsus could accomplish it) from helping those who are weighed\r\ndown with the burdens [of life], and from sharing their toils,\r\nwhen he says of the ants, that “they help one another with\r\ntheir loads, when they see one of their number toiling under\r\nthem?” For he who needs to be disciplined by the word, but\r\nwho does not at all understand<a id=\"r791\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f791\"><sup>[791]</sup></a> its voice, will say: “Since,\r\nthen, there is no difference between us and the ants, even when\r\nwe help those who are weary with bearing their heavy burdens,\r\nwhy should we continue to do so to no purpose?” And would\r\nnot the ants, as being irrational creatures, be greatly puffed up,\r\nand think highly of themselves, because their works were compared\r\nto those of men? while men, on the other hand, who\r\nby means of their reason are enabled to hear how their philanthropy<a id=\"r792\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f792\"><sup>[792]</sup></a>\r\ntowards others is contemned, would be injured, so\r\nfar as could be effected by Celsus and his arguments: for he\r\ndoes not perceive that, while he wishes to turn away from\r\nChristianity those who read his treatise, he turns away also the\r\nsympathy of those who are not Christians from those who bear\r\nthe heaviest burdens [of life]. Whereas, had he been a philosopher,\r\nwho was capable of perceiving the good which men may\r\ndo each other, he ought, in addition to not removing along with\r\nChristianity the blessings which are found amongst men, to have\r\nlent his aid to co-operate (if he had it in his power) with those\r\nprinciples of excellence which are common to Christianity and\r\nthe rest of mankind. Moreover, even if the ants set apart in a\r\nplace by themselves those grains which sprout forth, that they\r\nmay not swell into bud, but may continue throughout the year\r\nas their food, this is not to be deemed as evidence of the existence\r\nof <i>reason</i> among ants, but as the work of the universal\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_250\">250</span>mother, Nature, which adorned even irrational animals, so\r\nthat even the most insignificant is not omitted, but bears traces\r\nof the reason implanted in it by nature. Unless, indeed, by\r\nthese assertions Celsus means obscurely to intimate (for in\r\nmany instances he would like to adopt Platonic ideas) that all\r\nsouls are of the same species, and that there is no difference\r\nbetween that of a man and those of ants and bees, which is the\r\nact of one who would bring down the soul from the vault of\r\nheaven, and cause it to enter not only a human body, but that\r\nof an animal. Christians, however, will not yield their assent\r\nto such opinions: for they have been instructed before now that\r\nthe human soul was created in the image of God; and they see\r\nthat it is impossible for a nature fashioned in the divine image\r\nto have its [original] features altogether obliterated, and to\r\nassume others, formed after I know not what likeness of irrational\r\nanimals.</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK IV.","Chapter LXXXIII."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-306"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"cbdcf29dbc919c873cae678f772411b092847d488febf9d3ccc87b3b75d1244f","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie","W. H. Cairns"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg70693-f790","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Project Gutenberg metadata: Public domain in the USA. Existing 1872 English edition; listed translators died 1889 and 1872. Electronic transcription subject to Project Gutenberg reuse terms.","source_anchor":"f790","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f790\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r790\">790</a>.  </span><span lang=\"grc\">παραβάλῃ τῷ λόγῳ πρὸς τοὺς μύρμηκας.</span> <span lang=\"la\">“Verba: τῷ λόγῳ πρὸς τοὺς\r\nμύρμηκας addititia videntur et recidenda.”</span>—<span class=\"sc\">Ruæus.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f790","text_sha256":"7eb590b8223602cc8796d0fb7c5602f13a813cd6cbc7dc2c8ae1af1ce5ff48ab","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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