{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">But this low jester<a id=\"r302\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f302\"><sup>[302]</sup></a> Celsus, omitting no species of mockery\r\nand ridicule which can be employed against us, mentions in his\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_102\">102</span>treatise the Dioscuri, and Hercules, and Æsculapius, and\r\nDionysus, who are believed by the Greeks to have become\r\ngods after being men, and says that “we cannot bear to call\r\nsuch beings gods, because they were at first men,<a id=\"r303\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f303\"><sup>[303]</sup></a> and yet they\r\nmanifested many noble qualities, which were displayed for the\r\nbenefit of mankind, while we assert that Jesus was seen after\r\nHis death by His own followers;” and he brings against us an\r\nadditional charge, as if we said that “He was seen indeed, but\r\nwas only a shadow!” Now to this we reply, that it was very\r\nartful of Celsus not here clearly to indicate that he did not\r\nregard these beings as gods, for he was afraid of the opinion\r\nof those who might peruse his treatise, and who might suppose\r\nhim to be an atheist; whereas, if he had paid respect to what\r\nappeared to him to be the truth, he would not have <i>feigned</i> to\r\nregard them as gods.<a id=\"r304\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f304\"><sup>[304]</sup></a> Now to either of the allegations we are\r\nready with an answer. Let us, accordingly, to those who do\r\n<i>not</i> regard them as gods reply as follows: These beings, then,\r\nare not gods at all; but agreeably to the view of those who\r\nthink that the soul of man perishes immediately [after death],\r\nthe souls of these men also perished; or according to the\r\nopinion of those who say that the soul continues to subsist or\r\nis immortal, these men continue to exist or are immortal, and\r\nthey are not gods but heroes,—or not even heroes, but simply\r\nsouls. If, then, on the one hand, you suppose them <i>not</i> to exist,\r\nwe shall have to prove the doctrine of the soul’s immortality,\r\nwhich is to us a doctrine of pre-eminent importance;<a id=\"r305\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f305\"><sup>[305]</sup></a> if, on\r\nthe other, they <i>do</i> exist, we have <i>still</i> to prove<a id=\"r306\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f306\"><sup>[306]</sup></a> the doctrine of\r\nimmortality, not only by what the Greeks have so well said\r\nregarding it, but also in a manner agreeable to the teaching of\r\nHoly Scripture. And we shall demonstrate that it is impossible\r\nfor those who were polytheists during their lives to obtain\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_103\">103</span>a better country and position after their departure from this\r\nworld, by quoting the histories that are related of them, in\r\nwhich is recorded the great dissoluteness of Hercules, and his\r\neffeminate bondage with Omphale, together with the statements\r\nregarding Æsculapius, that their Zeus struck him dead by a\r\nthunderbolt. And of the Dioscuri, it will be said that they\r\ndie often—</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK III.","Chapter XXII."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-154"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"acd9e6882f0650997049aa7a8d5b42c5f29cb90680ade6c73ba6e749f1d7ff67","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-f302","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":"f302","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f302\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r302\">302</a>. </span><span lang=\"grc\">βωμολόχος.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f302","text_sha256":"5ea75cdbd2ad4f68197dff03d17207bb2e85923282be11cb35f793db60208f44","verified":false,"work_id":null}