Against Celsus 4.64
Summary: Though the nature of the universe is one, its states vary, as a man's moral state varies, so evils increase and decrease, and providence cleanses the world by flood and fire.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:334–335
Πῶς ἐκ τούτων καὶ τῶν παραπλησίων οὐ καταγέλαστος φαίνεται Κέλσος, οἰόμενος τὰ κακὰ μήτε πλείω μήτε ἥττω γενέσθαι ποτʼ ἄν; εἰ γὰρ καὶ μία τῶν ὅλων φύσις καὶ ἡ αὐτὴ, οὐ πάντως καὶ ἡ τῶν κακῶν γένεσις ἀεὶ ἡ αὐτή. ὡς γὰρ μιᾶς καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς οὔσης τῆς τοῦδέ τινος ἀνθρώπου φύσεως οὐκ ἀεὶ τὰ αὐτά ἐστι περὶ τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰς πράξεις, ὁτὲ μὲν οὔτε λόγον ἀνειληφότος ὁτὲ δὲ μετὰ τοῦ λόγου κακίαν, καὶ ταύτην ἤτοι ἐπὶ πλεῖον ἢ ἐπʼ ἔλαττον χεομένην, καὶ ἔστιν ὅτε προτραπέντος ἐπʼ ἀρετὴν καὶ προκόπτοντος ἐπὶ πλεῖον ἢ ἐπʼ ἔλαττον καὶ ἐνίοτε φθάνοντος καὶ ἐπʼ αὐτὴν τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐν πλείοσι θεωρίαις γινομένην ἢ ἐν ἐλάττοσιν. οὕτως ἔστιν εἰπεῖν μᾶλλον καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν ὅλων φύσεως ὅτι, εἰ καὶ μία ἐστὶ καὶ ἡ αὐτὴ τῷ γένει, ἀλλʼ οὐ τὰ αὐτὰ ἀεὶ οὐδʼ ὁμογενῆ συμβαίνει ἐν τοῖς ὅλοις· οὔτε γὰρ εὐφορίαι ἀεὶ οὔτʼ ἀφορίαι ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ ἐπομβρίαι οὔτε αὐχμοί· οὕτω δὲ οὐδὲ ψυχῶν κρειττόνων εὐφορίαι τεταγμέναι ἢ ἀφορίαι, καὶ χειρόνων ἐπὶ πλεῖον χύσις ἢ ἐπʼ ἔλαττον. καὶ ἀναγκαῖός γε τοῖς ἀκριβοῦν πάντα κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν βουλομένοις ὁ περὶ τῶν κακῶν λόγος, οὐ μενόντων ἀεὶ ἐν ταὐτῷ διὰ τὴν ἤτοι τηροῦσαν τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς πρόνοιαν ἢ κατακλυσμοῖς καὶ ἐκπυρώσεσι καθαίρουσαν, καὶ τάχα οὐ τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ. δεομένῳ καθαρσίου, ὅταν πολλὴ ἡ κακία γένηται ἐν αὐτῷ.
English · Claude translation
How, from these and similar facts, does Celsus not appear ridiculous, thinking that evils could never become more or fewer? For even if the nature of the universe is one and the same, it does not follow at all that the origin of evils is always the same. For just as, though the nature of this or that particular man is one and the same, the state of his ruling faculty, his reason, and his actions is not always the same (at one time he has not yet acquired reason, at another he has vice together with reason, and this spread either more or less widely; and sometimes he has been turned toward virtue and makes more or less progress, and occasionally he even attains virtue itself, and that in more or in fewer contemplations), so one can say still more of the nature of the universe that, even if it is one and the same in kind, the same things, or things of the same kind, do not always happen in the universe. For there are not always good harvests, nor always bad ones, nor always floods of rain, nor always droughts; and in the same way neither the good harvests nor the bad of better souls are fixed, nor is the outpouring of worse souls always greater or less. And for those who wish to examine everything as precisely as possible, the account of evils is necessary: evils do not always remain at the same level, because of the providence that either preserves what is on earth or cleanses it by floods and conflagrations, and perhaps not only what is on earth but also what is in the whole world, when it needs cleansing because vice has become great in it.
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Origen, Cels. 4.64 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/4/64/).
Plain text
Origen, Cels. 4.64 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-celsum/4/64/).
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