Against Celsus 4.46

Celsus throws in the hatred, I think, of Esau for Jacob, a man admitted by Scripture to be wicked; and, without setting out clearly the story of Simeon and Levi, who avenged the outrage to their sister, violated by the son of the king of Shechem, he accuses them. He speaks of “brothers selling,” meaning the sons of Jacob, and of “a brother sold,” Joseph, and of “a father deceived,” Jacob, since he suspected nothing about his sons when they showed Joseph's “many-colored coat,” but believed them and “mourned for Joseph as lost,” while he was a slave in Egypt. See how hatefully and without love of truth Celsus has gathered material from the history: where the history seemed to him to contain an accusation, he sets it out; but where a notable display of chastity took place, when Joseph did not yield to the passion of his supposed mistress, who now entreated and now threatened, he did not even mention the story. For we might see Joseph as far better than what is recorded of Bellerophon, since he chose to be shut up in prison rather than lose his chaste mind; for though he could have defended himself and pleaded his case against the woman who accused him, he magnanimously kept silent, entrusting his cause to God.