The sons of God and the tears of angels
But let us be more generous and grant him what he did not see in what is written in Genesis, that “the sons of God, seeing that the daughters of men were beautiful, took wives for themselves from all whom they chose” (Genesis 6:2). Even so, we shall persuade those who can hear the intention of prophecy that about these things too one of those before us referred these words to the teaching about souls, souls that had come to desire the life of men in the body; and he said, interpreting figuratively, that this is what is meant by “daughters of men.” Yet however things may stand with the sons of God who desired the daughters of men, the passage does nothing to help Celsus show that Jesus was not the only one to have visited men as an angel, Jesus, who has plainly become the Saviour and benefactor of all who turn away from the flood of wickedness.
Then, mixing up and confusing what he heard, however he heard it, and things written wherever they were written, whether held by Christians to be divine or not, he says that the sixty or seventy who came down together are punished by being put in bonds in the earth. And he cites as from Enoch, though without naming him, the words “that is why the hot springs are their tears,” a thing neither said nor heard in the churches of God. For no one was so foolish as to give the angels who came down from heaven bodily tears like those of men. And if we must jest in answer to what Celsus labours at so earnestly against us, it must be said that no one would have called the hot springs, most of which are sweet, the tears of the angels, since the nature of tears is salty; unless, of course, Celsus's angels weep sweet tears.
Greek
Ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα καὶ εὐγνωμονέστερον αὐτῷ δῶμεν ἃ μὴ ἑώρακεν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐν τῇ Γενέσει γεγραμμένων. ὅτι „ἰδόντες οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ θεοῦ τὰς θυγατέρας τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὅτι καλαί εἰσιν, ἔλαβον ἑαυτοῖς γυναῖκας ἀπὸ πασῶν ὧν ἐξελέξαντο“· οὐδὲν ἧττον καὶ περὶ τούτων τοῖς δυναμένοις ἀκούειν προφητικοῦ βουλήματος πείσομεν ὅτι καὶ τῶν πρὸ ἡμῶν τις ταῦτα ἀνήγαγεν εἰς τὸν περὶ ψυχῶν λόγον, ἐν ἐπιθυμίᾳ γενομένων τοῦ· ἐν σώματι ἀνθρώπων βίου. ἅπερ τροπολογῶν ἔφασκε λελέχθαι „θυγατέρας ἀνθρώπων.“ πλὴν ὅπως ποτ᾿ ἂν ἔχῃ καὶ τὰ περὶ τοὺς ἐπιθυμήσαντας θυγατέρων ἀνθρώπων υἱοὺς θεῶν, οὐδὲν αὐτῷ συμβάλλεται ὁ λόγος πρὸς τὸ μὴ μόνον τὸν Ἰησοῦν ὡς ἄγγελον ἐπιδεδημηκέναι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, σωτῆρα καὶ εὐεργέτην ἐναργῶς πάντων τῶν μεταβαλλόντων ἀπὸ τῆς χύσεως τῆς κακίας γεγενημένον. εἶτα φύρων καὶ συγχέων ἃ ὅπως ποτὲ ἤκουσε καὶ τὰ ὅπου ποτ᾿ οὖν γεγραμμένα, εἴτε δεδογμένα θεῖα εἶναι παρὰ Χριστιανοῖς εἴτε καὶ μὴ, φησὶ τοὺς ὁμοῦ καταβεβηκότας ἑξήκοντα ἢ ἑβδομήκοντα κολάζεσθαι δεσμοῖς ὑποβληθέντας ἐν γῇ. καὶ φέρει ὡς ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἐνὼχ, οὐκ ὀνομάζων αὐτὸν, τό· ὅθεν καὶ τὰς θερμὰς πηγὰς εἶναι τὰ ἐκείνων δάκρυα, πρᾶγμα οὔτε λεγόμενον οὔτ᾿ ἀκουόμενον ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις τοῦ θεοῦ. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀνόητος οὕτως τις ἦν. ἵνα σωματοποιήσῃ δάκρυα παραπλήσια τοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐν τοῖς καταβεβηκόσιν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἀγγέλοις. καὶ εἰ χρή γε παίζειν πρὸς τὰ καθ᾿ ἡμῶν σπουδαζόμενα τῷ Κέλσῳ, λεκτέον ὅτι οὐκ ἄν τις εἶπε τὰς θερμὰς πηγὰς, ὧν αἱ πλεῖσται γλυκεῖαί εἰσι, δάκρυα εἶναι τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἐπεὶ ἡ φύσις τῶν δακρύων ἐστὶν ἁλμυρά· εἰ μὴ ἄρα οἱ κατὰ τὸν Κέλσον ἄγγελοι γλυκέα δακρύουσιν.