{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">I wish, however, to show how Celsus asserts without any good\r\nreason, that each one reveres his domestic and native institutions.\r\nFor he declares that “those Ethiopians who inhabit\r\nMeroe know only of two gods, Jupiter and Bacchus, and\r\nworship these alone; and that the Arabians also know only of\r\ntwo, viz. Bacchus, who is also an Ethiopian deity, and Urania,\r\nwhose worship is confined to them.” According to his account,\r\nneither do the Ethiopians worship Urania, nor the Arabians\r\nJupiter. If, then, an Ethiopian were from any accident to\r\nfall into the hands of the Arabians, and were to be judged\r\nguilty of impiety because he did not worship Urania, and for\r\nthis reason should incur the danger of death, would it be\r\nproper for the Ethiopian to die, or to act contrary to his\r\ncountry’s laws, and do obeisance to Urania? Now, if it would\r\nbe proper for him to act contrary to the laws of his country,\r\nhe will do what is not right, so far as the language of Celsus is\r\nany standard; while, if he should be led away to death, let him\r\nshow the reasonableness of selecting such a fate. I know not\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_309\">309</span>whether, if the Ethiopian doctrine taught men to philosophize\r\non the immortality of the soul, and the honour which is paid to\r\nreligion, they would reverence those as deities who are deemed\r\nto be such by the laws of the country.<a id=\"r973\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f973\"><sup>[973]</sup></a> A similar illustration\r\nmay be employed in the case of the Arabians, if from any\r\naccident they happened to visit the Ethiopians about Meroe.\r\nFor, having been taught to worship Urania and Bacchus alone,\r\nthey will not worship Jupiter along with the Ethiopians; and\r\nif, adjudged guilty of impiety, they should be led away to death,\r\nlet Celsus tell us what it would be reasonable on their part to\r\ndo. And with regard to the fables which relate to Osiris and\r\nIsis, it is superfluous and out of place at present to enumerate\r\nthem. For although an allegorical meaning may be given to the\r\nfables, they will nevertheless teach us to offer divine worship to\r\ncold water, and to the earth, which is subject to men, and all\r\nthe animal creation. For in this way, I presume, they refer\r\nOsiris to water, and Isis to earth; while with regard to Serapis\r\nthe accounts are numerous and conflicting, to the effect that\r\nvery recently he appeared in public, agreeably to certain juggling\r\ntricks performed at the desire of Ptolemy, who wished\r\nto show to the people of Alexandria as it were a visible god.\r\nAnd we have read in the writings of Numenius the Pythagorean\r\nregarding his formation, that he partakes of the essence\r\nof all the animals and plants that are under the control of\r\nnature, that he may appear to have been fashioned into a god,\r\nnot by the makers of images alone, with the aid of profane\r\nmysteries, and juggling tricks employed to invoke demons, but\r\nalso by magicians and sorcerers, and those demons who are\r\nbewitched by their incantations.<a id=\"r974\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f974\"><sup>[974]</sup></a></p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK V.","Chapter XXXVIII."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-365"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"612d5990471a3eefa21a24650d00f47f35da061d1819ca8687bcfc0b2c2bd7ee","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-f974","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":"f974","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f974\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r974\">974</a>. </span><span lang=\"grc\">ἵνα δόξῃ μετὰ τῶν ἀτελέστων τελετῶν, καὶ τῶν καλουσῶν δαίμονας\r\nμαγγανειῶν, οὐχ ὑπὸ ἀγαλματοποιῶν μόνων κατασκευάζεσθαι θεὸς, ἀλλὰ\r\nκαὶ ὑπὸ μάγων, καὶ φαρμακῶν, καὶ τῶν ἐπῳδαῖς αὐτῶν κηλουμένων δαιμόνων.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f974","text_sha256":"6e506fbbb283c72d04e8d2cd23aeac15fee67735b3d6eaef82506919434e74e9","verified":false,"work_id":null}