Animal instinct and the riddles of Proverbs
Suppose that other antidotes too are known to the animals. What does this do to show that it is not nature but reason that finds these things in the animals? For if reason were what found them, there would not be found in snakes, in a fixed and limited way, this one thing alone (or say a second and a third as well), and some other thing in the eagle, and so with the rest of the animals; there would be as many as are found among men. As it is, the very fact that the aids are fitted, in a fixed way, to the particular nature of each animal makes it plain that there is no wisdom or reason in them, but a natural constitution suited to such things for the preservation of the animals, a constitution made by the Word.
And yet, had I wished to meet Celsus head on in this matter, I could have used a passage of Solomon from Proverbs, which runs thus: “There are four things that are least upon the earth, but these are wiser than the wise: the ants, who have no strength, who prepare their food in summer; and the rock badgers, a people not strong, who have made their homes in the rocks; the locust has no king, and marches in good order at a single word of command; and the lizard, which leans on its hands and is easily caught, dwells in the strongholds of a king” (Proverbs 30:24–28). But I do not use these words as though their meaning were plain. In keeping with the title (for the book is entitled Proverbs), I search into them as riddles. For it is the custom of these men to divide into many kinds the sayings that show one thing on their face and announce another in a hidden sense, and one of these kinds is the proverb. That is why in our Gospels too it is written that our Saviour said: “These things I have spoken to you in proverbs; the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in proverbs” (John 16:25). It is not, then, the ants we see that are wiser even “than the wise” (Proverbs 30:24), but those that are signified, as it were, in the form of proverbs. The same must be said of the other animals.
Celsus, however, thinks the books of Jews and Christians utterly simple and unlearned, and supposes that those who interpret them allegorically do so by forcing the intention of the writers. Let Celsus, then, stand refuted by these things too, as one who slanders us to no purpose; and let his argument about snakes and eagles, in which he declared them wiser than men, stand refuted as well.
Greek
Ἔστω δὲ καὶ ἄλλα ὑπὸ τῶν ζῴων γινώσκεσθαι ἀλεξιφάρμακα. τί οὖν τοῦτο πρὸς τὸ μὴ φύσιν ἀλλὰ λόγον εἶναι τὸν εὑρίσκοντα ταῦτα ἐν τοῖς ζῴοις; εἰ μὲν γὰρ λόγος ἦν ὁ εὑρίσκων, οὐκ ἂν ἀποτεταγμένως τόδε τι μόνον εὑρίσκετο ἐν ὄφεσιν, ἔστω καὶ δεύτερον καὶ τρίτον, καὶ ἄλλο τι ἐν ἀετῷ καὶ οὕτως ἐν τοῖς λοιποῖς ζῴοις. ἀλλὰ τοσαῦτα ἂν, ὅσα καὶ ἐν ἀνθρώποις· νυνὶ δὲ φανερὸν ἐκ τοῦ ἀποτεταγμένως πρός τινα ἑκάστου φύσιν ζῴου νενευκέναι βοηθήματα ὅτι οὐ σοφία οὐδὲ λόγος ἐστὶν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀλλά τις φυσικὴ πρὸς τὰ τοιάδε σωτηρίας ἕνεκεν τῶν ζῴων κατασκευὴ, ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου γεγενημένη. καίτοι γε εἰ ἐβουλόμην ὁμόσε χωρεῖν τῷ Κέλσῳ κατὰ ταῦτα, ἐχρησάμην ἂν Σολομῶντος λέξει ἀπὸ τῶν Παροιμιῶν οὕτως ἐχούσῃ· „τέσσαρα δ᾿ ἐστὶν ἐλάχιστα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ταῦτα δέ ἐστι σοφώτερα τῶν σοφῶν· οἱ μύρμηκες, οἷς μὴ ἔστιν ἰσχὺς, οἳ ἑτοιμάζονται ἐν θέρει τὴν τροφήν· καὶ οἱ χοιρογρύλλιοι. ἔθνος οὐκ ἰσχυρὸν, οἳ ἐποιήσαντο ἐν πέτραις τοὺς ἑαυτῶν οἴκους· ἀβασίλευτός ἐστιν ἡ ἀκρὶς, καὶ στρατεύει ἀπὸ ἑνὸς κελεύσματος εὐτάκτως· καὶ ἀσκαλαβώτης χερσὶν ἐρειδόμενος καὶ εὐάλωτος ὢν οἰκεῖ ἐν ὀχυρώμασι βασιλέως.“ ἀλλ᾿ οὐ συγχρῶμαι ὡς σαφέσι τοῖς ῥητοῖς, ἀκολούθως δὲ τῇ ἐπιγραφῇ (ἐπιγέγραπται γὰρ τὸ βιβλίον Παροιμίαι) ζητῶ ταῦτα ὡς αἰνίγματα. ἔθος γὰρ τοῖς ἀνδράσι τούτοις τὰ ἕτερον μέν τι αὐτόθεν δηλοῦντα ἕτερον δὲ ἐν ὑπονοίᾳ ἀπαγγέλλοντα διαιρεῖν εἰς εἴδη πολλὰ, ὧν (ἓν) εἶναι τὰς παροιμίας. διὸ καὶ ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις ἡμῶν γέγραπται ὁ σωτὴρ ἡμῶν εἰρηκέναι· „ταῦτ᾿ ἐν παροιμίαις λελάληκα ὑμῖν· ἔρχεται ὥρα ὅτε οὐκέτι ἐν παροιμίαις λαλήσω ὑμῖν.“ οὐχ οἱ αἰσθητοὶ τοίνυν μύρμηκες σοφώτεροι καὶ „τῶν σοφῶν“ εἰσιν ἀλλ᾿ οἱ δηλούμενοι ὡς ἐν εἴδει παροιμιῶν. οὕτω δὲ λεκτέον καὶ περὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ζῴων· ἀλλὰ πάνυ ἁπλούστατα νομίζει εἶναι καὶ ἰδιωτικὰ ὁ Κέλσος τὰ Ἰουδαίων καὶ Χριστιανῶν βιβλία καὶ οἴεται τοὺς ἀλληγοροῦντας αὐτὰ βιαζομένους τὸ βούλημα τῶν γραψάντων τοῦτο ποιεῖν. ἐληλέγχθω οὖν καὶ διὰ τούτων ὁ Κέλσος μάτην ἡμᾶς διαβάλλων· ἐληλέγχθω δὲ αὐτοῦ καὶ ὁ περὶ ὄφεων καὶ ἀετῶν λόγος, ἀποφηνάμενος εἶναι τούτους ἀνθρώπων σοφωτέρους.