Greek wonder-tales and Plato’s oath
Then, after other passages of Plato showing that the good is known to “few,” because the many, filled “with a contempt that is not right” and “with a lofty and empty hope,” speak of certain things as true “as though they had learned something grand” (Plato, Seventh Letter 341e), he says that Plato, though he had said this beforehand, still does not tell tales of wonder, nor does he stop the tongue of anyone who wishes to weigh what it is that he professes, nor does he bid people believe straight away: “God is of such a kind, and he has a Son of such a kind, and this Son came down and talked with me.”
To this I reply that Aristander, I think, wrote of Plato that he was not the son of Ariston but of an apparition that came to Amphictione in the form of Apollo; and many other Platonists have said such things in their accounts of Plato’s life. And as for Pythagoras, who told a great many marvels, who showed his ivory thigh at a festival gathering of the Greeks, who claimed he recognized the shield he had used when he was Euphorbus, and who is said to have appeared in two cities on one day, what need is there even to speak?
Anyone who wants to charge that tales of wonder are told about Plato and Socrates will cite the swan that was presented to Socrates in a dream, and the teacher who said, when the young man was presented to him, “So this was the swan.” He will also take up as a tale of wonder the third eye that Plato saw he himself had. Malicious people, who wish to speak evil of what has appeared to those who stand above the many, will never lack slander and abuse; they will also mock the divine sign of Socrates as a fiction.
We, then, are not telling tales of wonder when we relate the things about Jesus, and his true disciples did not write such stories about him. But Celsus, who professes to know everything and quotes many passages of Plato, deliberately, I think, keeps silent about the teaching on the Son of God that is stated by Plato in the letter to Hermias and Coriscus. Plato’s words run thus: “and swearing by the God of all things, leader of what is and of what is to be, Father and Lord of the ruling principle and cause; whom, if we truly practise philosophy, we shall all know clearly, as far as is possible for blessed human beings” (Plato, Sixth Letter 323d).
Greek
Εἶτά φησι μετὰ ἄλλας λέξεις Πλατωνικὰς, δηλούσας ὅτι „ὀλίγοις“ ἐστὶ γνωστὸν τὸ ἀγαθὸν, ἐπεὶ οἱ πολλοὶ μετὰ „καταφρονήσεως οὐκ ὀρθῆς“ „ὑψηλῆς καὶ χαύνης ἐλπίδος“ πληρωθέντες „ὡς σεμνὰ ἄττα“ μεμαθηκότες λέγουσί τινα ὡς ἀληθῆ, ὅτι ταῦτα προειρηκὼς ὁ Πλάτων ὅμως οὐ τερατεύεται οὐδ᾿ ἀποφράττει τοῦ προαιρεῖσθαι βουλομένου, τί ποτε ἐστὶν ὃ ἐπαγγέλλεται, τὴν γλῶτταν, οὐδ᾿ αὐτόθεν κελεύει φθάσαντας πιστεύειν ὅτι τοιόσδε ἐστὶν ὁ θεὸς καὶ υἱὸν ἔχει τοιόνδε, καὶ οὗτος κατελθὼν ἐμοὶ διελέξατο. καὶ πρὸς ταῦτά φημι ὅτι περὶ μὲν Πλάτωνος Ἀρίστανδρος οἶμαι ἀνέγραψεν ὡς οὐκ Ἀρίστωνος υἱοῦ ἀλλὰ φάσματος, ἐν Ἀπόλλωνος εἴδει προσελθόντος τῇ Ἀμφικτιόνῃ· καὶ ἄλλοι δὲ πλείονες τῶν Πλατωνικῶν ἐν τῷ Πλάτωνος βίῳ τοιαῦτ᾿ εἰρήκασι· περὶ δὲ Πυθαγόρου, πλεῖστα ὅσα τερατευσαμένου καὶ δείξαντος μὲν ἐν πανηγύρει Ἑλλήνων ἐλεφάντινον τὸν μηρὸν ἀνεγνωρικέναι δὲ φήσαντος τὴν ἀσπίδα, ᾗ ἐχρῆτο, ὅτ᾿ Εὔφορβος ἦν, καὶ ἐν μιᾷ λεγομένου ἡμέρᾳ ἐν δύο πεφηνέναι πόλεσι, τί χρὴ καὶ λέγειν; ὁ δὲ βουλόμενος κατηγορεῖν ὡς τερατείας ἱστορουμένης περὶ Πλάτωνος καὶ Σωκράτους ἐκθήσεται καὶ τὸν συνιστάμενον Σωκράτει καθ᾿ ὕπνον κύκνον καὶ τὸν διδάσκαλον εἰπόντα ἐπὶ τῇ συστάσει τοῦ νεανίσκου· „οὗτος ἄρα ὁ κύκνος ἦν.“ ἀλλὰ καὶ ὃν τρίτον εἶδεν ὀφθαλμὸν ἑαυτὸν ἔχοντα ὁ Πλάτων εἰς τερατείαν ἀναλήψεται. οὐ λείψει δὲ τοὺς κακοήθεις καὶ κακηγορεῖν βουλομένους τὰ τοῖς κρείττοσι παρὰ τοὺς πολλοὺς ἐπιφανέντα, διαβολὴ καὶ κακηγορία· οἵτινες καὶ τὸ Σωκράτους δαιμόνιον ὡς πλάσμα χλευάσουσιν. οὐ τερατευόμεθα οὖν τὰ περὶ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ διηγούμενοι, οὐδ᾿ οἱ γνήσιοι αὐτοῦ μαθηταὶ τοιούτους ἀνέγραψαν λόγους περὶ αὐτοῦ. ὁ δὲ πάντ᾿ ἐπαγγελλόμενος εἰδέναι Κέλσος καὶ πολλὰ τῶν Πλάτωνος παρατιθέμενος ἑκὼν οἶμαι σιωπᾷ τὸν περὶ υἱοῦ θεοῦ λόγον, τὸν παρὰ Πλάτωνι λελεγμένον ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἑρμείαν καὶ Κορίσκον ἐπιστολῇ. οὕτω δὲ ἔχει ἡ τοῦ Πλάτωνος λέξις· „καὶ τὸν τῶν πάντων θεὸν ἡγεμόνα τῶν τε ὄντων καὶ τῶν μελλόντων, τοῦ τε ἡγεμονικοῦ καὶ αἰτίου πατέρα καὶ κύριον ἐπομνύντας· ὃν, ἂν ὄντως φιλοσοφῶμεν, εἰσόμεθα πάντες (σαφῶς) εἰς δύναμιν ἀνθρώπων εὐδαιμόνων.“