Against Celsus 2.21 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Koetschau 1:151–152

Ὅρα δὲ καὶ τὸ ἐπιπόλαιον καὶ τὸ ἄντικρυς ψεῦδος τῆς τοιαύτης τοῦ Κέλσου λέξεως. ἀποφηναμένου ὅτι ἀνθρώπῳ μὲν ὁ κοινωνήσας τραπέζης οὐκ ἂν αὐτῷ ἐπιβουλεύσειεν· εἰ δὲ ἀνθρώπῳ οὐκ ἂν ἐπιβουλεύσειε. πολλῷ πλέον ὁ θεῷ συνευωχηθεὶς οὐκ ἂν αὐτῷ ἐπίβουλος ἐγίνετο. τίς γὰρ οὐκ οἶδεν ὅτι πολλοὶ κοινωνήσαντες ἁλῶν καὶ τραπέζης ἐπεβούλευσαν τοῖς συνεστίοις; καὶ πλήρης ἐστὶν ἡ Ἑλλήνων καὶ βαρβάρων ἱστορία τοιούτων παραδειγμάτων· καὶ ὀνειδίζων γε ὁ Πάριος ἰαμβοποιὸς τὸν Λυκάμβην, μετὰ „ἅλας καὶ τράπεζαν“ συνθήκας ἀθετήσαντα. φησὶ πρὸς αὐτόν· ὅρκον δʼ ἐνοσφίσθης μέγαν ἅλας τε καὶ τράπεζαν. οἷς δὲ μέλει τῆς ἐν ἱστορίαις φιλομαθίας, ὅλοις γενομένοις αὐτῆς καὶ καταλιποῦσι τὰ ἀναγκαιότερα περὶ τοῦ ὡς δὴ βιωτέον μαθήματα. πλείονα παραθήσονται δεικνύντες ὡς οἱ κοινωνήσαντες τραπέζης τισὶν ἐπεβούλευσαν αὐτοῖς.

English · Claude translation

See also how superficial and how plainly false is this statement of Celsus. He declared that a man who had shared another's table would not plot against him; and if he would not plot against a man, much more would one who had feasted with a god not become his plotter. For who does not know that many who shared salt and table have plotted against their companions at table? The history of Greeks and barbarians is full of such examples. And the iambic poet of Paros, reproaching Lycambes for breaking agreements made over “salt and table,” says to him: “You set aside a great oath, both salt and table.” Those who care for learning in histories, who have given themselves wholly to it and left aside the more necessary lessons about how one ought to live, will cite more examples showing that those who shared a table with some have plotted against them.

About this passage

Source

Koetschau 1:151–152 · Paul Koetschau, ed., Origenes Werke 1–2: Gegen Celsus, GCS 2–3 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1899) · Greek text: P. Koetschau, Origenes Werke 1–2 (GCS 2–3, 1899), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Koetschau, GCS 2–3. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Koetschau, GCS 2–3; made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 4 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Extrabiblical texts

Archilochus, fragment 173 (Archilochus) · quotation, high confidence

Notes

Translation notes

The poet of Paros is Archilochus, whose attack on Lycambes is famous; the line is Archilochus, fragment 173 West. The digital text reads σλοις, evidently ὅλοις (“wholly”).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (misread letter in the digital text): σλοις γενομένοις → ὅλοις γενομένοις.

Cite this passage

Origen, Cels. 2.21 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/21/).

Plain text

Origen, Cels. 2.21 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/2/21/).