{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">Let it be granted, however, that there are other prophylactics\r\nagainst poisons known to animals: what does that avail to\r\nprove that it is not nature, but reason, which leads to the discovery\r\nof such things among them? For if reason were the\r\ndiscoverer, this one thing (or, if you will, one or two more\r\nthings) would not be (exclusive<a id=\"r804\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f804\"><sup>[804]</sup></a> of all others) the sole discovery\r\nmade by serpents, and some other thing the sole discovery of\r\nthe eagle, and so on with the rest of the animals; but as many\r\ndiscoveries would have been made amongst them as among\r\nmen. But now it is manifest from the determinate inclination\r\nof the nature of each animal towards certain kinds of\r\nhelp, that they possess neither wisdom nor reason, but a natural\r\nconstitutional tendency implanted by the Logos<a id=\"r805\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f805\"><sup>[805]</sup></a> towards such\r\nthings in order to ensure the preservation of the animal. And,\r\nindeed, if I wished to join issue with Celsus in these matters, I\r\nmight quote the words of Solomon from the book of Proverbs,\r\nwhich run thus: “There be four things which are little upon\r\nthe earth, but these are wiser than the wise: The ants are a\r\npeople not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;\r\nthe conies<a id=\"r806\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f806\"><sup>[806]</sup></a> are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses\r\nin the rocks; the locusts have no king, yet go they forth in\r\norder at one command; and the spotted lizard,<a id=\"r807\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f807\"><sup>[807]</sup></a> though leaning\r\nupon its hands, and being easily captured, dwelleth in kings’\r\nfortresses.”<a id=\"r808\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f808\"><sup>[808]</sup></a> I do not quote these words, however, as taking\r\nthem in their literal signification, but, agreeably to the title of\r\nthe book (for it is inscribed “Proverbs”), I investigate them\r\nas containing a secret meaning. For it is the custom of these\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_254\">254</span>writers [of Scripture] to distribute into many classes those writings\r\nwhich express one sense when taken literally,<a id=\"r809\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f809\"><sup>[809]</sup></a> but which\r\nconvey a different signification as their hidden meaning; and\r\none of these kinds of writing is “Proverbs.” And for this\r\nreason, in our Gospels too, is our Saviour described as saying:\r\n“These things have I spoken to you in proverbs, but the time\r\ncometh when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs.”<a id=\"r810\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f810\"><sup>[810]</sup></a>\r\nIt is not, then, the <i>visible</i> ants which are “wiser even than the\r\nwise,” but they who are indicated as such under the “proverbial”\r\nstyle of expression. And such must be our conclusion\r\nregarding the rest of the animal creation, although Celsus\r\nregards the books of the Jews and Christians as exceedingly\r\nsimple and commonplace,<a id=\"r811\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f811\"><sup>[811]</sup></a> and imagines that those who give\r\nthem an allegorical interpretation do violence to the meaning\r\nof the writers. By what we have said, then, let it appear\r\nthat Celsus calumniates us in vain, and let his assertions that\r\nserpents and eagles are wiser than men also receive their\r\nrefutation.</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK IV.","Chapter LXXXVII."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-310"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"4aa4130833abd8d2082785102435b629a0d7217623034f92ff12d33a7b683899","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-f807","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":"f807","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f807\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r807\">807</a>. </span><span lang=\"grc\">ἀσκαλαβώτης.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f807","text_sha256":"1d89bb9b6a6b67c439237878aec3e4930effd733c1bd9364093e7e2042c5c4ae","verified":false,"work_id":null}