The outcome proves the prophecy true

Superficial too is this remark: “For surely even when a man who is being plotted against learns of it in advance and tells the plotters beforehand, they give it up and are on their guard.” For many have plotted even against people who had learned of the plot in advance.

Next, as though drawing the conclusion of his argument, he says: “So it was not because these things had been foretold that they happened, for that is impossible; but since they happened, the foretelling is proved false. For it is altogether impossible that those who had heard beforehand should still betray and deny.” But once his premises have been overturned, the conclusion is overturned with them: “It was not because these things had been foretold that they happened.” We say that these things both happened, as things that could happen, and that, since they happened, the foretelling is shown to be true; for truth about things to come is judged by the outcome. False, then, is what he said in these terms, that the foretelling is proved false; and Celsus has said to no purpose: “For it is altogether impossible that those who had heard beforehand should still betray and deny.”