{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">Celsus appears to me to have heard that there are treatises\r\nin existence which contain allegorical explanations of the law\r\nof Moses. These, however, he could not have read; for if he\r\nhad, he would not have said: “The allegorical explanations,\r\nhowever, which have been devised, are much more shameful\r\nand absurd than the fables themselves, inasmuch as they endeavour\r\nto unite with marvellous and altogether insensate folly\r\nthings which cannot at all be made to harmonize.” He seems\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_218\">218</span>to refer in these words to the works of Philo, or to those of\r\nstill older writers, such as Aristobulus. But I conjecture that\r\nCelsus has not read their books, since it appears to me that in\r\nmany passages they have so successfully hit the meaning [of\r\nthe sacred writers], that even Grecian philosophers would have\r\nbeen captivated by their explanations; for in their writings\r\nwe find not only a polished style, but exquisite thoughts and\r\ndoctrines, and a rational use of what Celsus imagines to be\r\nfables in the sacred writings. I know, moreover, that Numenius\r\nthe Pythagorean—a surpassingly excellent expounder of\r\nPlato, and who held a foremost place as a teacher of the\r\ndoctrines of Pythagoras—in many of his works quotes from the\r\nwritings of Moses and the prophets, and applies to the passages\r\nin question a not improbable allegorical meaning, as in his work\r\ncalled <i>Epops</i>, and in those which treat of “Numbers” and of\r\n“Place.” And in the third book of his dissertation on <i>The Good</i>,\r\nhe quotes also a narrative regarding Jesus—without, however,\r\nmentioning His name—and gives it an allegorical signification,\r\nwhether successfully or the reverse I may state on another\r\noccasion. He relates also the account respecting Moses, and\r\nJannes, and Jambres.<a id=\"r703\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f703\"><sup>[703]</sup></a> But we are not elated on account of\r\nthis instance, though we express our approval of Numenius,\r\nrather than of Celsus and other Greeks, because he was willing\r\nto investigate our histories from a desire to acquire knowledge,\r\nand was [duly] affected by them as narratives which were to be\r\nallegorically understood, and which did not belong to the category\r\nof foolish compositions.</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK IV.","Chapter LI."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-272"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"43770b7118032d3195af6cfe74d4cda4e7dcebda1b3a8498756f11fd2a9845cb","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie","W. H. Cairns"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"2TI","chapter":3,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"2 Tim. iii. 8","verse":8,"verse_end":8}],"headings":[],"id":"pg70693-f703","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":"f703","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f703\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r703\">703</a>. </span><abbr class=\"spell\">Cf.</abbr> 2 <abbr title=\"Timothy\">Tim.</abbr> <abbr title=\"three\">iii.</abbr> 8.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f703","text_sha256":"55e702288a208361cfc67757aabfe224457977609cf23cc8894f0c4b6cefa918","verified":false,"work_id":null}