The Stoics’ Socrates born again
What we hold about the resurrection has now been said in part, as far as room allowed for the present; for we have composed a work on the resurrection elsewhere, where we examined the questions of this subject at greater length. Now we must deal, as is reasonable, with what Celsus says. He has neither understood what is written among us nor been able to judge that the meaning of those wise men must not be thought to be represented by people who profess nothing more than faith in the Christians’ teaching.
Come, let us show that men who are not to be despised for their logical theory and their dialectical inquiries have said things that are wholly absurd; and if any teachings are to be sneered at as base old wives’ tales, it is theirs rather than ours.
The Stoics say that periodically a conflagration of the universe takes place, and after it a reordering of the world, with everything exactly the same as in the former ordering. Those of them who were ashamed of the doctrine have said that a slight and very small difference arises from cycle to cycle compared with what was in the cycle before. These men say that in the next cycle things will be as follows: Socrates will again be the son of Sophroniscus and an Athenian, and Phaenarete, married to Sophroniscus, will give birth to him again.
So even if they do not use the name of resurrection, they point to the thing itself: Socrates, starting from the seed of Sophroniscus, will rise again and be formed in the womb of Phaenarete, and having been brought up in Athens he will be a philosopher, as though his former philosophy also were rising again and would be just the same as before. Anytus and Meletus too will rise again as accusers of Socrates, and the council of the Areopagus will condemn Socrates. What is more laughable still, Socrates will put on clothes exactly the same as in the former cycle, and he will live in exactly the same poverty and in exactly the same city of Athens as in the former cycle. Phalaris will be a tyrant again, and his bronze bull will bellow with the voices of those inside it, men exactly the same as those condemned in the former cycle. Alexander of Pherae will be a tyrant again, with cruelty exactly the same as before, condemning men exactly the same as those he condemned before.
Why need I list the Stoics’ philosophical teaching on such matters? Celsus does not laugh at it, but perhaps even reveres it, since Zeno seems to him wiser than Jesus.
Greek
Ἀλλ᾿ ἐπεὶ τὰ μὲν ἡμέτερα περὶ ἀναστάσεως, ὡς ἐνεχώρει, ἀπὸ τοῦ μέρους ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος λέλεκται (συντέτακται γὰρ ἡμῖν περὶ ἀναστάσεως ἐν ἄλλοις, ἐπὶ πλεῖον ἐξετάσασι τὰ κατὰ τὸν τόπον). τὰ δὲ τοῦ Κέλσου νῦν χρὴ κατὰ τὸ εὔλογον διαλαβεῖν, μήτε νοήσαντος τὸ παρ᾿ ἡμῖν γεγραμμένον μήτε κρῖναι δυναμένου ὅτι οὐ δεῖ τὸ βούλημα τῶν σοφῶν ἐκείνων ἀνδρῶν νομίζειν πρεσβεύεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν πλεῖον πίστεως μηδὲν ἐπαγγελλομένων τῆς πρὸς τὸν Χριστιανῶν λόγον· φέρε παραστήσωμεν ὅτι ἀνδράσιν οὐκ εὐκαταφρονήτοις τῆς λογικῆς ἕνεκεν θεωρίας καὶ τῶν διαλεκτικῶν σκεμμάτων σφόδρα ἀπεμφαίνοντα λέλεκται. καὶ εἰ χρὴ μυχθίζειν ὡς ταπεινοὺς καὶ γραώδεις λόγους, ἐκείνους μᾶλλον χρὴ ἢ τοὺς ἡμετέρους. φασὶ δὴ οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς Στοᾶς κατὰ περίοδον ἐκπύρωσιν τοῦ παντὸς γίνεσθαι καὶ ἑξῆς αὐτῇ διακόσμησιν, πάντ᾿ ἀπαράλλακτα ἔχουσαν ὡς πρὸς τὴν προτέραν διακόσμησιν. ὅσοι δ᾿ αὐτῶν ᾐδέσθησαν το δόγμα, ὀλίγην εἰρήκασι παραλλαγὴν καὶ σφόδρα βραχεῖαν γίνεσθαι κατὰ περίοδον τοῖς ἐπὶ τῆς πρὸ αὐτῆς περιόδου. οὗτοι δ᾿ οἱ ἄνδρες φασὶ τῇ ἑξῆς περιόδῳ τοιαῦτα ἔσεσθαι, καὶ Σωκράτην μὲν πάλιν Σωφρονίσκου υἱὸν καὶ Ἀθηναῖον ἔσεσθαι, καὶ τὴν Φαιναρέτην γημαμένην Σωφρονίσκῳ πάλιν αὐτὸν γεννήσειν. κἂν μὴ ὀνομάζωσιν οὖν τὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ὄνομα, τὸ πρᾶγμά γε δηλοῦσιν, ὅτι Σωκράτης ἀπὸ σπερμάτων ἀρξάμενος ἀναστήσεται τῶν Σωφρονίσκου καὶ ἐν τῇ ὑστέρᾳ Φαιναρέτης διαπλασθήσεται καὶ ἀνατραφεὶς Ἀθήνῃσι φιλοσοφήσει, οἱονεὶ καὶ τῆς πρότερον φιλοσοφίας ἀνισταμένης καὶ ὁμοίως ἀπαραλλάκτου τῇ προτέρᾳ ἐσομένης. καὶ Ἄνυτος δὲ καὶ Μέλητος ἀναστήσονται πάλιν Σωκράτους κατήγοροι, καὶ ἡ ἐξ Ἀρείου πάγου βουλὴ καταδικάσεται τὸν Σωκράτην. τὸ δὲ τούτων γελοιότερον, τὰ ἀπαράλλακτα ἱμάτια τοῖς ὡς πρὸς τὴν προτέραν περίοδον Σωκράτης ἐνδύσεται, ἐν ἀπαραλλάκτῳ πενίᾳ καὶ ἀπαραλλάκτῳ πόλει ταῖς Ἀθήναις τῇ πρὸς τὴν προτέραν περίοδον ἐσόμενος. καὶ Φάλαρις μὲν τυραννήσει πάλιν, ὁ δὲ χάλκεος αὐτοῦ ταῦρος τῶν ἀπαραλλάκτων τῇ προτέρᾳ ἀνθρώπων περιόδῳ κατακριθέντων μυκήσεται ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν ἔνδον φωνῆς. Ἀλέξανδρός τε ὁ Φεραῖος πάλιν τυραννήσει, τὴν ἀπαράλλακτον ἔχων ὠμότητα τῇ προτέρᾳ καὶ τοὺς ἀπαραλλάκτους καταδικάζων ὡς καὶ τοὺς προτέρους. καὶ τί με δεῖ καταλέγειν τὸ περὶ τῶν τοιούτων δόγμα τοῖς ἀπὸ τῆς Στοᾶς πεφιλοσοφημένον καὶ μὴ γελώμενον ὑπὸ Κέλσου ἀλλὰ τάχα καὶ σεμνυνόμενον, ἐπεὶ δοκεῖ αὐτῷ ὁ Ζήνων τοῦ Ἰησοῦ εἶναι σοφώτερος;