Celsus invents a claim no Christian made
Then again, as is his habit, Celsus muddles things together in what follows, saying what none of us has ever written. For he says something like this: “Nor is it tolerable when you say that, if those who now reign over us are persuaded by you and are taken captive, you will persuade those who reign after them, then others, if they too are taken, and others after others, until, when all who are persuaded by you are being taken, some one government, coming to its senses and foreseeing what is happening, will wipe you all out, race and all, before it is itself destroyed.”
There is no call to speak about this, for none of us says about those who now reign that, if they are persuaded and are taken, we will in turn persuade those after them, and when those are taken we will again persuade the next. And where did he get the idea he has thrown out here, that, as later rulers are always persuaded by us in succession and are taken because they do not defend themselves against the enemy, some one government, coming to its senses and foreseeing what is happening, will wipe us out, race and all? It seems rather that here, stringing one piece of nonsense onto another, he has also blurted this out from his own head.
Greek
Εἶτα πάλιν, ὡς ἔθος τῷ Κέλσῳ. φύρει ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς λέγων ἃ οὐδεὶς ἡμῶν ἀνέγραψε· φησὶ γὰρ τοιαῦτα· οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ ἐκεῖνο ἀνεκτόν σου λέγοντος, ὡς, ἂν οἱ νῦν βασιλεύοντες ἡμῶν σοι πεισθέντες ἁλῶσι. τοὺς αὖθις βασιλεύοντας πείσεις εἶτ᾿ ἄλλους, ἂν κἀκεῖνοι ἁλῶσι, καὶ ἄλλους ἐπ᾿ ἄλλοις, μέχρι πάντων τῶν σοι πειθομένων ἁλισκομένων μία τις ἀρχὴ σωφρονήσασα καὶ προειδομένη τὸ συμβαῖνον πάντας ὑμᾶς, πρὶν αὐτὴν προαπολέσθαι, παγγενεὶ διολέσει. εἰπεῖν δὲ περὶ τούτων οὐχ αἱρεῖ λόγος, οὐ γὰρ λέγει τις ἡμῶν περὶ τῶν νῦν βασιλευόντων ὅτι, ἐὰν πεισθέντες ἁλῶσι, τοὺς μετ᾿ αὐτοὺς πάλιν πείσομεν, κἀκείνων ἁλόντων πάλιν τοὺς ἑξῆς πείσομεν. πόθεν δὲ καὶ ἀπέῤῥιψεν ὅτι κατὰ διαδοχὴν ἀεὶ τῶν ὑστέρων πειθομένων ἡμῖν καὶ ἁλισκομένων διὰ τὸ μὴ ἀμύνεσθαι τοὺς πολεμίους μία τις ἀρχὴ σωφρονήσασα καὶ προειδομένη τὸ συμβαῖνον παγγενεὶ ἡμᾶς διολέσει; ἀλλ᾿ ἔοικε φλυαρίας ἐν τούτοις ἑξῆς συνάπτων καὶ τοῦτ᾿ ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ ἀπεῤῥοιβδηκέναι.