Pupils who turned against their teachers
Childish, too, seem to me such claims as this: that “a good general, who has led many tens of thousands, has never been betrayed; no, nor even a wicked robber chief, captain of utter villains, since he seemed useful to those with him. But he, betrayed by those under him, neither led them as a good general, nor, after deceiving his disciples, did he inspire in those he had deceived even the goodwill, if I may call it so, that men feel toward a robber chief.” For one could find many accounts of generals betrayed by their own people, and of robber chiefs captured because of men who did not keep their agreements with them. But let it be granted that no general or robber chief was ever betrayed: what does this contribute toward making it a point against Jesus that one of his pupils became his betrayer?
Since Celsus professes philosophy, we would ask him: was it a charge against Plato that Aristotle, after hearing him for twenty years, left him and attacked his teaching on the immortality of the soul, and called Plato’s Ideas “twitterings” (Aristotle, Posterior Analytics 1.22, 83a33)? We might press the difficulty further and say: was Plato no longer strong in dialectic, or able to establish what he had thought out, once Aristotle had left him, and are Plato’s doctrines false for that reason? Or is it possible that, while Plato was right, as those who follow his philosophy would say, Aristotle proved wicked and ungrateful toward his teacher?
Chrysippus, too, is plainly attacking Cleanthes in many places in his writings, bringing in new views against what Cleanthes had taught, though Cleanthes had been his teacher when Chrysippus was still young and only beginning in philosophy. Yet Aristotle is said to have studied with Plato for twenty years, and Chrysippus to have spent no short time with Cleanthes; but Judas did not spend even three years with Jesus. From what is written in the lives of the philosophers one could find many things like those for which Celsus blames Jesus on account of Judas. The Pythagoreans used to build empty tombs for those who, after being turned to philosophy, ran back to ordinary life; and Pythagoras and his followers were not, for that reason, weak in argument and proof.
Greek
Παιδαριώδη δέ μοι δοκεῖ καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα, ὅτι στρατηγὸς μὲν ἀγαθὸς καὶ πολλῶν μυριάδων ἡγησάμενος οὐδεπώποτε προὐδόθη, ἀλλ᾿ οὐδὲ λῄσταρχος πονηρὸς καὶ παμπονήρων ἄρχων, ὠφέλιμος τοῖς συνοῦσιν εἶναι δοκῶν· αὐτὸς δὲ προδοθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν ὑπ᾿ αὐτῷ οὔτε ὡς στρατηγὸς ἦρξεν ἀγαθὸς, οὔτ᾿ ἀπατήσας τοὺς μαθητὰς κἂν τὴν ὡς πρὸς λῄσταρχον, ἵν᾿ οὕτως ὀνομάσω, εὔνοιαν ἐνεποίησε τοῖς ἀπατηθεῖσι. πολλὰς γὰρ ἄν τις εὕροι ἱστορίας περὶ στρατηγῶν προδοθέντων ὑπὸ τῶν οἰκείων καὶ λῃσταρχῶν ἁλόντων διὰ τοὺς μὴ τηρήσαντας τὰς πρὸς αὐτοὺς συνθήκας. ἀλλ᾿ ἔστω μηδένα στρατηγῶν προδεδόσθαι ἢ λῃσταρχῶν· τί τοῦτο συμβάλλεται πρὸς τὸ κατὰ Ἰησοῦ εἶναι τὸ ἕνα τῶν φοιτητῶν προδότην αὐτοῦ γεγονέναι; ἐπεὶ δὲ φιλοσοφίαν προβάλλεται ὁ Κέλσος, πυθοίμεθ᾿ ἂν αὐτοῦ ὅτι ἆρα Πλάτωνος ἦν κατηγορία τὸ μετὰ εἴκοσιν ἔτη τῆς παρ᾿ αὐτῷ ἀκροάσεως ἀποφοιτήσαντα τὸν Ἀριστοτέλη κατηγορηκέναι μὲν τοῦ περὶ τῆς ἀθανασίας τῆς ψυχῆς λόγου, Πλάτωνος δὲ „τερετίσματα“ τὰς ἰδέας ὠνομακέναι; ἔτι δὲ προσαποροῦντες καὶ τοιαῦτα λέγοιμεν ἄν· ἆρα Πλάτων οὐκέτι δυνατὸς ἦν ἐν διαλεκτικῇ οὐδ᾿ ἱκανὸς παραστῆσαι τὰ νενοημένα, ἐπεὶ ἀπεφοίτησεν αὐτοῦ Ἀριστοτέλης, καὶ παρὰ τοῦτο ψευδῆ τὰ Πλάτωνός ἐστι δόγματα; ἢ δύναται καὶ ἀληθοῦς ὄντος Πλάτωνος, ὡς ἂν λέγοιεν οἱ κατ᾿ αὐτὸν φιλοσοφοῦντες. Ἀριστοτέλης πονηρὸς καὶ ἀχάριστος πρὸς τὸν διδάσκαλον γεγονέναι; ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Χρύσιππος πολλαχοῦ τῶν συγγραμμάτων ἑαυτοῦ φαίνεται καθαπτόμενος Κλεάνθους, καινοτομῶν παρὰ τὰ ἐκείνῳ δεδογμένα, γενομένῳ αὐτοῦ διδασκάλῳ ἔτι νέου καὶ ἀρχὰς ἔχοντος φιλοσοφίας. καίτοι γε Ἀριστοτέλης μὲν εἴκοσιν ἔτεσι λέγεται πεφοιτηκέναι Πλάτωνι, οὐκ ὀλίγον δὲ χρόνον καὶ ὁ Χρύσιππος παρὰ τῷ Κλεάνθει πεποιῆσθαι τὰς διατριβάς· ὁ δὲ Ἰούδας παρὰ τῷ Ἰησοῦ οὐδὲ τρία διέτριψεν ἔτη. ἀπὸ δὲ τῶν γεγραμμένων ἐν τοῖς βίοις τῶν φιλοσόφων πολλὰ ἄν τις εὕροι τοιαῦτα, ἐφ᾿ οἷς ἐγκαλεῖ τῷ Ἰησοῦ διὰ τὸν Ἰούδαν ὁ Κέλσος. οἱ δὲ Πυθαγόρειοι κενοτάφια ᾠκοδόμουν τοῖς μετὰ τὸ προτραπῆναι ἐπὶ φιλοσοφίαν παλινδρομήσασιν ἐπὶ τὸν ἰδιωτικὸν βίον· καὶ οὐ παρὰ τοῦτο ἀσθενὴς ἦν λόγῳ καὶ ἀποδείξεσι Πυθαγόρας καὶ οἱ ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ.