The tower, Sodom and the cleansing fire
I do not know how he thinks that the overthrow of the tower also took place in the same way as the flood that cleansed the earth, as the teaching of Jews and Christians would have it. For even granting that the story of the tower set down in Genesis (Genesis 11:1–9) speaks in no riddles but, as Celsus thinks, is plain, not even so does it appear that this happened to cleanse the earth; unless, perhaps, he thinks that what is called the “confusion” of tongues (Genesis 11:9) was a cleansing of the earth. Whoever is able will give an account of this at a more suitable time, when the task in hand is to set out both what sense the story in that passage has and what its higher meaning is.
He thinks that Moses, who recorded the events of the tower and the confusion of languages, corrupted the stories told about the sons of Aloeus and so recorded such things about the tower. To this it must be said that I do not think anyone told the stories of the sons of Aloeus before Homer, whereas I am persuaded that Moses recorded the events of the tower, which are much older than Homer and even than the invention of Greek letters. Who, then, is more likely to be corrupting whose stories? Do those who tell of the sons of Aloeus corrupt the events of the tower, or does the man who wrote of the tower and the confusion of languages corrupt the stories of the Aloadae? But to impartial hearers Moses plainly appears to be older than Homer.
Moses also tells in Genesis of Sodom and Gomorrah, how they were wiped out by fire because of their sin (Genesis 19:24–25). Celsus compares this with the story of Phaethon, doing everything in keeping with his one mistake, his failure to take account of the antiquity of Moses. For those who tell of Phaethon seem to be younger even than Homer, and Homer is much younger than Moses.
We do not deny, then, the cleansing fire and the destruction of the world for the removal of wickedness and the renewal of the universe, and we say that we have learned this from the prophets, out of the sacred books. Yet once the prophets, who say many things about the future, are shown, as we said above, to have spoken the truth about many things that are past, and to give proof that the divine Spirit was in them, it is plain that we must believe them about the things to come as well, or rather believe the divine Spirit in them.
Greek
Οὐκ οἶδα δ᾿ ὅπως παραπλησίως τῷ κατακλυσμῷ καθήραντι τὴν γῆν, ὡς ὁ Ἰουδαίων καὶ Χριστιανῶν βούλεται λόγος, οἴεται καὶ τὴν τοῦ πύργου κατάῤῥιψιν γεγονέναι. ἵνα γὰρ μηδὲν αἰνίσσηται ἡ κατὰ τὸν πύργον ἱστορία κειμένη ἐν τῇ Γενέσει ἀλλ᾿, ὡς οἴεται Κέλσος, σαφὴς τυγχάνῃ, οὐ δ᾿ οὕτως φαίνεται ἐπὶ καθαρσίῳ τῆς γῆς τοῦτο συμβεβηκέναι· εἰ μὴ ἄρα καθάρσιον τῆς γῆς οἴεται τὴν καλουμένην τῶν γλωσσῶν „σύγχυσιν“· περὶ ἧς ὁ δυνάμενος εὐκαιρότερον διηγήσεται, ἐπὰν τὸ προκείμενον ᾖ παραστῆσαι καὶ τὰ τῆς κατὰ τὸν τόπον ἱστορίας, τίνα ἔχοι λόγον, καὶ τὰ τῆς περὶ αὐτοῦ ἀναγωγῆς. ἐπεὶ δ᾿ οἴεται Μωϋσέα, τὸν ἀναγράψαντα τὰ περὶ τοῦ πύργου καὶ τῆς τῶν διαλέκτων συγχύσεως, παραφθείροντα τὰ περὶ τῶν Ἀλωέως υἱῶν ἱστορούμενα τοιαῦτα περὶ τοῦ πύργου ἀναγεγραφέναι, λεκτέον ὅτι τὰ μὲν περὶ τῶν Ἀλωέως υἱῶν οὐκ οἶμαι πρὸ Ὁμήρου τινὰ εἰρηκέναι, τὰ δὲ περὶ τοῦ πύργου, πολλῷ πρεσβύτερα Ὁμήρου ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν γραμμάτων εὑρέσεως ὄντα, τὸν Μωϋσέα ἀναγεγραφέναι πείθομαι. τίνες οὖν μᾶλλον τὰ τίνων παραφθείρουσιν; ἆρα τὰ περὶ τοῦ πύργου οἱ περὶ Ἀλωέως υἱῶν ἱστοροῦντες, ἢ τὰ τῶν Ἀλωειδῶν ὁ τὰ περὶ τοῦ πύργου καὶ τῆς συγχύσεως τῶν διαλέκτων γράψας; ἀλλὰ φαίνεται τοῖς ἀδεκάστοις ἀκροαταῖς ἀρχαιότερος Μω(??)σῆς ὢν Ὁμήρου. καὶ τὰ περὶ Σοδόμων δὲ καὶ Γομόῤῥων ὑπὸ Μωϋσέως ἱστορούμενα ἐν τῇ Γενέσει, ὡς διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν πυρὶ ἐξαφανισθέντων. παραβάλλει ὁ Κέλσος τῇ κατὰ τὸν Φαέθοντα ἱστορίᾳ, ἑνὶ σφάλματι. τῷ περὶ τοῦ μὴ τετηρηκέναι τὰ τῆς Μωϋσέως ἀρχαιότητος. ἀκολούθως πάντα ποιήσας. οἱ γὰρ τὰ περὶ Φαέθοντος ἱστοροῦντες ἐοίκασι καὶ Ὁμήρου νεώτεροι, τοῦ πολλῷ Μωϋσέως νεωτέρου. οὐκ ἀρνούμεθα οὖν τὸ καθάρσιον πῦρ καὶ τὴν τοῦ κόσμου φθορὰν ἐπὶ καθαιρέσει τῆς κακίας καὶ ἀνακαινώσει τοῦ παντὸς, λέγοντες παρὰ τῶν προφητῶν ἐκ τῶν ἱερῶν βιβλίων μεμαθηκέναι. ἐπὰν μέντοι. ὡς ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω εἰρήκαμεν, πολλὰ περὶ μελλόντων οἱ προφῆται λέγοντες ἀποδεικνύωνται περὶ πολλῶν παρεληλυθότων ἠληθευκέναι καὶ δεῖγμα διδόναι τοῦ θεῖον πνεῦμα ἐν αὐτοῖς γεγονέναι, δῆλον ὅτι καὶ περὶ τῶν μελλόντων πιστευτέον αὐτοῖς, μᾶλλον δὲ τῷ ἐν αὐτοῖς θείῳ πνεύματι.