A public death rules out pretence
The Jew in Celsus says that the heroic tales of those who are said to have gone down to Hades and come back up from there are marvel-mongering, taking it that the heroes vanished for a time, stole themselves away from the sight of all men, and afterwards showed themselves as though they had come back up from Hades. For his words seem to suggest something of this kind about Orpheus among the Odrysians, Protesilaus in Thessaly, Heracles at Taenarum, and Theseus too. Come, then, let us show that the account of Jesus’ being raised from the dead cannot be compared with these.
For each of the heroes spoken of in those places could, had he wished, have stolen himself away from human sight and, when he decided, gone back again to those he had left. But since Jesus was crucified before all the Jews, and his body was taken down in the sight of their people (compare John 19:38), how is it possible to invent a like tale, saying that he, like the heroes of the stories, went down to Hades and came back up from there?
We say, too, that perhaps something like this might also be said in defence of Jesus’ crucifixion, especially because of the stories told about the heroes who are thought to have gone down to Hades by force: that if, for the sake of argument, Jesus had died an obscure death, so that his death was not evident to the whole people of the Jews, and then after that had truly risen from the dead, there would have been room for what was suspected about the heroes to be said about him too. Perhaps, then, besides other reasons why Jesus was crucified, this too may contribute to his having died openly on the cross, so that no one could say that he withdrew from human sight of his own accord, and seemed to have died but had not died, but, when he wished, appeared again and staged a marvel of rising from the dead.
Clear and evident, I think, is the argument drawn from his disciples. They gave themselves to a teaching that put their lives in danger, and they would not have taught it with such vigour if they had made up the claim that Jesus had been raised from the dead; and all the while they not only prepared others to despise death but themselves did so long before.
Greek
Ἐπεὶ δὲ τὰς ἡρωϊκὰς ἱστορίας περὶ τῶν εἰς ᾅδου καταβεβηκέναι λεγομένων κἀκεῖθεν ἀνεληλυθέναι τερατείας εἶναί φησιν ὁ παρὰ τῷ Κέλσῳ Ἰουδαῖος. ὡς τῶν ἡρώων ἀφανῶν γενομένων ἐπί τινα χρόνον καὶ ὑπεκκλεψάντων ἑαυτοὺς τῆς ὄψεως πάντων ἀνθρώπων καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιδειξάντων. ὡς ἀπὸ ᾅδου ἀνεληλυθότων (τοιαῦτα γὰρ ἔοικε περὶ τοῦ ἐν Ὀδρύσαις Ὀρφέως καὶ τοῦ ἐν Θεσσαλίᾳ Πρωτεσιλάου καὶ τοῦ ἐπὶ Ταινάρῳ Ἡρακλέος ἔτι δὲ καὶ περὶ Θησέως ἐμφαίνειν αὐτοῦ ἡ λέξις), φέρε παραστήσωμεν ὅτι οὐ δύναται τὸ κατὰ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἱστορούμενον ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγηγέρθαι τούτοις παραβάλλεσθαι. ἕκαστος μὲν γὰρ τῶν λεγομένων κατὰ τοὺς τόπους ἡρώων βουληθεὶς ἂν ἐδυνήθη ἑαυτὸν ὑπεκκλέψαι τῆς ὄψεως τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ πάλιν κρίνας ἐπανελθεῖν πρὸς οὓς καταλέλοιπεν· Ἰησοῦ δὲ σταυρωθέντος ἐπὶ πάντων Ἰουδαίων καὶ καθαιρεθέντος αὐτοῦ τοῦ σώματος ἐν ὄψει τοῦ δήμου αὐτῶν, πῶς οἷόν τε τὸ παραπλήσιον πλάσασθαι λέγειν αὐτὸν αὐτὸν τοῖς ἱστορουμένοις ἥρωσιν εἰς ᾅδου καταβεβηκέναι κἀκεῖθεν ἀνεληλυθέναι; φαμὲν δ᾿ ὅτι μή ποτε πρὸς ἀπολογίαν τοῦ ἐσταυρῶσθαι τὸν Ἰησοῦν καὶ τοιοῦτον λέγοιτ᾿ ἂν, μάλιστα διὰ τὰ περὶ τῶν ἡρώων ἱστορηθέντα τῶν εἰς ᾅδου καταβεβηκέναι βίᾳ νομιζομένων, ὅτι εἰ καθ᾿ ὑπόθεσιν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐτεθνήκει ἀσήμῳ θανάτῳ, οὐχ ὥστε δῆλος εἶναι ἀποθανὼν ὅλῳ τῷ δήμῳ τῶν Ἰουδαίων, εἶτα μετὰ τοῦτ᾿ ἀληθῶς ἦν ἀναστὰς ἐκ νεκρῶν, χώραν εἶχεν ἂν τὸ ὑπονοηθὲν περὶ τῶν ἡρώων καὶ περὶ τούτου λεχθῆναι. μή ποτ᾿ οὖν πρὸς ἄλλοις αἰτίοις τοῦ σταυρωθῆναι τὸν Ἰησοῦν καὶ τοῦτο δύναται συμβάλλεσθαι τῷ αὐτὸν ἐπισήμως ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ ἀποτεθνηκέναι, ἵνα μηδεὶς ἔχῃ λέγειν ὅτι ἑκὼν ὑπεξέστη τῆς ὄψεως τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἔδοξεν ἀποτεθνηκέναι οὐκ ἀποτέθνηκε δὲ (ἀλλ᾿) , ὅτ᾿ ἐβουλήθη, πάλιν ἐπιφανεὶς ἐτερατεύσατο τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνάστασιν; σαφὲς δ᾿ οἶμαι καὶ ἐναργὲς εἶναι τὸ ἐκ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ ἐπιχείρημα, ἐπικινδύνῳ ὡς πρὸς τὸν τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίον διδασκαλίᾳ ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιδεδωκότων, ἣν οὐκ ἂν πλασσόμενοι τὸ ἐγηγέρθαι τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐκ νεκρῶν οὕτως εὐτόνως ἐδίδαξαν, μετὰ τοῦ καὶ αὐτοὶ οὐ μόνον ἑτέρους παρασκευάζειν πρὸς τὸ θανάτου καταφρονεῖν ἀλλ᾿ αὐτοὶ πολὺ πρότερον τοῦτο ποιεῖν.