{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">I do not understand how Celsus, while admitting the existence\r\nof Providence, at least so far as appears from the language of this\r\nbook, can say that there never existed [at any time] either more\r\nor fewer evils, but, as it were, a fixed number; thus annihilating\r\nthe beautiful doctrine regarding the indefinite<a id=\"r732\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f732\"><sup>[732]</sup></a> nature of\r\nevil, and asserting that evil, even in its own nature,<a id=\"r733\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f733\"><sup>[733]</sup></a> is infinite.\r\nNow it appears to follow from the position, that there never\r\nhave been, nor are now, nor ever will be, more or fewer evils\r\nin the world; that as, according to the view of those who hold\r\nthe indestructibility of the world, the equipoise of the elements\r\nis maintained by a Providence (which does not permit one to\r\ngain the preponderance over the others, in order to prevent the\r\ndestruction of the world), so a kind of Providence presides, as\r\nit were, over evils (the number of which is fixed),<a id=\"r734\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f734\"><sup>[734]</sup></a> to prevent\r\ntheir being either increased or diminished! In other ways,\r\ntoo, are the arguments of Celsus concerning evil confuted, by\r\nthose philosophers who have investigated the subjects of good\r\nand evil, and who have proved also from history that in former\r\ntimes it was without the city, and with their faces concealed by\r\nmasks, that loose women hired themselves to those who wanted\r\nthem; that subsequently, becoming more impudent, they laid\r\naside their masks, though not being permitted by the laws to\r\nenter the cities, they [still] remained without them, until, as\r\nthe dissoluteness of manners daily increased, they dared [finally]\r\neven to enter the cities. Such accounts are given by Chrysippus\r\nin the introduction to his work on <i>Good and Evil</i>. From this\r\nalso it may be seen that evils both increase and decrease, viz.\r\nthat those individuals who were called “Ambiguous”<a id=\"r735\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f735\"><sup>[735]</sup></a> used\r\nformerly to present themselves openly to view, suffering and\r\ncommitting all shameful things, while subserving the passions\r\nof those who frequented their society; but recently they have\r\nbeen expelled [from the city] by the authorities.<a id=\"r736\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f736\"><sup>[736]</sup></a> And of\r\ncountless evils which, owing to the spread of wickedness, have\r\nmade their appearance in human life, we may say that formerly\r\nthey did <i>not</i> exist. For the most ancient histories, which bring\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_230\">230</span>innumerable other accusations against sinful men, know nothing\r\nof the perpetrators of abominable<a id=\"r737\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f737\"><sup>[737]</sup></a> crimes.</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK IV.","Chapter LXIII."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-284"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"ff1129a8a2edd97e5a919f6d77420c1368c698d7ff1045bba8e4e3b0b8225a7a","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-f737","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":"f737","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f737\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r737\">737</a>. </span><span lang=\"grc\">ἀῤῥητοποιοὺς οὐκ ἴσασι.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f737","text_sha256":"64eed95ee5bfe69e323d353e814b57c3ff1e50f594bb94d2708b0b34df6f269d","verified":false,"work_id":null}