Against Celsus 4.41
Summary: Celsus calls Noah's ark monstrous but does not even know its true objection; Origen describes the ark as a marvel, built over a hundred years, tapering to a single cubit, vast in area, and preserving the seeds of all animals.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:314–315
Ἑξῆς δὲ τοιαῦτά φησιν· εἶτα κατακλυσμόν τινα καὶ κιβωτὸν ἀλλόκοτον, ἅπαντα ἔνδον ἔχουσαν, καὶ περιστεράν τινα καὶ κορώνην ἀγγέλους, παραχαράττοντες καὶ ῥᾳδιουργοῦντες τὸν Δευκαλίωνα· οὐ γὰρ οἶμαι προσεδόκησαν ὅτι ταῦτʼ εἰς φῶς πρόεισιν, ἀλλʼ ἀτεχνῶς παισὶ νηπίοις ἐμυθολόγησαν. καὶ ἐν τούτοις δὴ ὅρα τὴν ἀφιλόσοφον ἀπέχθειαν τοῦ ἀνδρὸς πρὸς τὴν ἀρχαιοτάτην Ἰουδαίων γραφήν. οὐ γὰρ ἔχων τὴν περὶ κατακλυσμοῦ ἱστορίαν κακολογεῖν οὐδʼ ἐπιστήσας οἷς ἐδύνατο λέγειν κατὰ τῆς κιβωτοῦ καὶ τῶν μέτρων αὐτῆς, καὶ ὡς οὐχ οἷόν τʼ ἦν κατὰ τὸν τῶν πολλῶν νοῦν ἐκλαμβάνοντα τὰ περὶ τῶν „τριακοσίων“ τοῦ μήκους „τῆς κιβωτοῦ“ „πήχεων“ „καὶ πεντήκοντα“ τοῦ πλάτους „καὶ τριάκοντα“ τοῦ ὕψους φάσκειν αὐτὴν κεχωρηκέναι τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς ζῷα, καθαρὰ μὲν ἀνὰ τέσσαρα καὶ δέκα ἀκάθαρτα δὲ ἀνὰ τέσσαρα· ἁπλῶς εἶπεν ἀλλόκοτον, πάντʼ ἔχουσαν ἔνδον. τί γὰρ τὸ ἀλλόκοτον αὐτῆς, ἑκατὸν ἔτεσιν ἱστορουμένης γεγενῆσθαι καὶ συναγομένης ἀπὸ τῶν „τριακοσίων“ τοῦ μήκους „πήχεων“ καὶ τῶν „πεντήκοντα“ τοῦ πλάτους, ἕως οἱ τοῦ ὕψους πήχεις „τριάκοντα“ καταλήξουσιν εἰς ἕνα πῆχυν μήκους καὶ πλάτους; πῶς δʼ οὐχὶ μᾶλλον θαυμαστὸν ἦν τὸ κατασκεύασμα καὶ μεγίστῃ πόλει ἐοικὸς τῷ δυνάμει λέγεσθαι τὰ μέτρα, ὡς ἐννέα μὲν εἶναι μυριάδων τὸ μῆκος κατὰ τὴν βάσιν κατὰ δὲ τὸ πλάτος δισχιλίων πεντακοσίων; πῶς δʼ οὐκ ἦν θαυμάσαι τὴν ἐπίνοιαν τοῦ ἐρηρεισμένην γενέσθαι καὶ δυναμένην ὑπομεῖναι χειμῶνα κατακλυσμοῦ ποιητικόν; καὶ γὰρ οὐ πίσσῃ οὐδʼ ἄλλῃ τινὶ τοιαύτῃ ὕλῃ, ἀσφάλτῳ δὲ στεῤῥῶς ἐκέχριστο. πῶς δʼ οὐ θαυμαστὸν τὸ ζώπυρα παντὸς γένους εἰσάγεσθαι ἔνδον προνοίᾳ θεοῦ. ἵνʼ ἔχῃ πάντων σπέρματα ζῴων πάλιν ἡ γῆ, τοῦ θεοῦ δικαιοτάτῳ ἀνδρὶ χρησαμένου, πατρὶ ἐσομένῳ τῶν μετὰ τὸν κατακλυσμόν;
English · Claude translation
Next he says this: “Then a flood and a monstrous ark holding everything inside, and a dove and a crow as messengers, counterfeiting and recklessly altering the story of Deucalion; for I do not think they expected these things would come to light, but they simply told myths to little children.” In these words too see the man's unphilosophical hatred of the most ancient Scripture of the Jews. For, having nothing to say against the story of the flood, and not noticing what he could have said against the ark and its measurements, namely that if one takes in the common sense what is said of the “three hundred cubits” of the length “of the ark,” the “fifty” of the breadth, and the “thirty” of the height, one could not say that it held the animals of the earth, fourteen of each clean kind and four of each unclean, he simply said “monstrous, holding everything inside.” For what is monstrous about it, when it is recorded to have been built over a hundred years and to have narrowed from the “three hundred cubits” of length and the “fifty” of breadth until the “thirty” cubits of height ended in one cubit of length and breadth? And was not the construction rather marvelous, like a very great city, when its measurements are taken in the sense of squares, so that the length at the base is ninety thousand and the breadth two thousand five hundred? And was it not admirable to conceive it so that it was made firm and could withstand a storm that produced a flood? For it was smeared firmly not with pitch or any other such material, but with asphalt. And is it not marvelous that by God's providence living sparks of every kind were brought inside, so that the earth might again have the seeds of all animals, God having used a most righteous man, who was to be father of those after the flood?
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The allusions are Gen 6:14–16 and 7:2–3; Deucalion's flood is the Greek parallel. Origen takes “clean by sevens” as seven pairs (fourteen) and the unclean as two pairs (four). “In the sense of squares” renders τῷ δυνάμει λέγεσθαι τὰ μέτρα: the ark's cubits are taken as square cubits (300² = 90,000; 50² = 2,500), a view Origen develops in his Homilies on Genesis.
Cite this passage
Origen, Cels. 4.41 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/4/41/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 4.41 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/4/41/).
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