Not ten men but thousands
And how is the Jew in Celsus not lying when he says that during his time here “he won over only ten sailors and tax collectors of the most worthless sort, and not even all of these”? For it is plain that even Jews would admit that he won over not ten only, nor a hundred, nor a thousand, but five thousand at once on one occasion and four thousand on another (Matthew 14:21; 15:38). And he won them over so far that they followed him even into desert places, which alone could hold a whole crowd gathered together of those who believed in God through Jesus; and there he showed them not only words but also deeds (Matthew 14:13–21; 15:32–38).
By repeating himself he forces us to do the same, since we take care not to be thought to pass over any of the charges he makes. So in the passage now before us, which comes next in the order of his book that we are following, he says: “If while he lived he persuaded no one himself, but after his death those who wish persuade so many, how is this not utterly absurd?” To keep his reasoning consistent, he ought rather to have said: if after his death not simply those who wish, but those who both wish and are able, persuade so many, how much more reasonable is it that he, while he dwelt in this life, persuaded many times as many by a more powerful word and by his deeds?
Greek
Πῶς δ᾿ οὐ ψεύδεται ὁ λέγων παρὰ τῷ Κέλσῳ Ἰουδαῖος ὅτι παρὼν δέκα ναύτας καὶ τελώνας τοὺς ἐξωλεστάτους μόνους εἷλε καὶ οὐδὲ τούτους ἅπαντας; σαφὲς γὰρ ὅτι καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι ὁμολογήσαιεν ἂν ὅτι οὐ δέκα μόνους εἷλεν οὐδὲ ἑκατὸν οὐδὲ χιλίους, ἀλλ᾿ ἀθρόως ὁτὲ μὲν πέντε χιλιάδας ὁτὲ δὲ τέσσαρας χιλιάδας· καὶ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτόν γε εἷλεν, ὥστε καὶ εἰς τὰς ἐρημίας αὐτῷ ἀκολουθεῖν, τὰς μόνον χωρούσας ἀθρόον τι πλῆθος τῶν πιστευόντων τῷ θεῷ διὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, ἐν αἷς οὐ μόνον λόγους ἀλλὰ καὶ ἔργα αὐτοῖς ἐπεδείκνυτο. ἀναγκάζει δ᾿ ἡμᾶς ταυτολογῶν τὸ παραπλήσιον αὐτῷ ποιεῖν, ἐπεὶ φυλασσόμεθα ὑπολαμβάνεσθαι ὑπερβαίνειν τινὰ τῶν παρ᾿ αὐτῷ λεγομένων ἐγκλημάτων. καὶ ἐν τῷ προκειμένῳ τοίνυν λόγῳ καθ᾿ ἣν ἔχομεν τάξιν τῆς γραφῆς φησιν· εἰ ζῶν μὲν αὐτὸς μηδένα ἔπεισεν, ἀποθανόντος δ᾿ αὐτοῦ πείθουσιν οἱ βουλόμενοι τοσούτους, πῶς τοῦτο οὐχ ὑπεράτοπόν ἐστι; δέον λέγειν ἀκολουθίαν σῴζοντα ὅτι, εἴπερ ἀποθανόντος αὐτοῦ πείθουσιν οὐχ ἁπαξαπλῶς οἱ βουλόμενοι ἀλλ᾿ οἱ βουλόμενοι καὶ δυνάμενοι τοὺς τοσούτους, πόσῳ μᾶλλον εὔλογον αὐτὸν, ἡνίκα τῷ βίῳ ἐπεδήμει, πολλαπλασίους καὶ δυνατωτέρῳ λόγῳ καὶ πράξεσι πεπεικέναι;