Antinous is no match for Jesus
After this Celsus thinks that the story of Hadrian’s favourite (I mean the story of the youth Antinous, and the honours paid him by the people of the city of Antinous in Egypt) falls in no way short of the honour we pay to Jesus. Come, then, let us refute this too, as something said out of spite. For what has the life lived as the favourite of Hadrian, who did not even keep the male youth free from womanish disorder, in common with our revered Jesus? Even those who brought countless accusations against him and told every kind of lie about him have not been able to charge him with tasting even the least licentiousness, even for a short time.
Moreover, if anyone were to examine the facts about Antinous with a love of truth and without partiality, he would find that the sorceries and rites of the Egyptians are the causes of his seeming to do something in the city of Antinous even after his death. The same is reported to have been done in the case of other temples by Egyptians and by those skilled in such matters, who settle in certain places demons that give oracles or heal, and that often also torment those who seem to have transgressed in the matter of ordinary foods or of touching a dead human body, so that they may seem to strike fear into the uneducated multitude. Such too is the one who has come to be thought a god in the city of Antinous in Egypt. Some people, who live rather like cheats, invent false tales of his mighty deeds; others, deceived by the demon settled there, and others again, convicted by a weak conscience, suppose that they are paying a penalty sent by a god from Antinous. Such too are the mysteries they perform and their supposed oracles, from which the things of Jesus are very far removed.
For it was not sorcerers, coming together to repay a favour to some king who gave orders or some governor who commanded it, who were thought to have made him a god. It was the Maker of the universe himself who, in keeping with the marvellously persuasive power in his speaking, commended him as worthy of honour, not only to men who are willing to be of sound mind, but also to demons and other invisible powers. To this day these show either that they fear the name of Jesus as stronger than they, or that they reverently accept him as their lawful ruler. For if his commendation had not been given him by God, the demons too would not withdraw from those they assail, yielding at the mere pronouncing of his name.
Greek
Ἐπεὶ δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ τὰ περὶ τῶν παιδικῶν Ἀδριανοῦ (λέγω δὲ τὰ περὶ Ἀντινόου τοῦ μειρακίου καὶ τὰς εἰς αὐτὸν τῶν ἐν Ἀντινόου (πόλει) τῆς Αἰγύπτου τιμὰς) οὐδὲν οἴεται ἀποδεῖν τῆς ἡμετέρας πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν τιμῆς, φέρε καὶ τοῦτο ὡς φιλέχθρως λεγόμενον διελέγξωμεν. τί γὰρ κοινὸν ἔχει ὁ γενόμενος ἐν τοῖς Ἀδριανοῦ παιδικοῖς βίος, οὐδὲ τὸν ἄῤῥενα ἀπαθῇ γυναικείας νόσου φυλάξαντος. πρὸς τὸν σεμνὸν ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν, οὗ μηδὲ οἱ μυρία κατηγορήσαντες καὶ ψευδῆ ὅσα περὶ αὐτοῦ λέγοντες δεδύνηνται κατειπεῖν ὡς κἂν τὸ τυχὸν ἀκολασίας κἂν ἐπ᾿ ὀλίγον γευσαμένου; ἀλλὰ καὶ εἴπερ φιλαλήθως καὶ ἀδεκάστως τὰ περὶ τὸν Ἀντίνου ἐξετάζοι τις, μαγγανείας ἂν Αἰγυπτίων καὶ τελετὰς εὕροι τὰς αἰτίας τοῦ δοκεῖν τι αὐτὸν ποιεῖν ἐν Ἀντινόου πόλει καὶ μετὰ τὴν τελευτὴν αὐτοῦ· ὅπερ καὶ ἐπ᾿ ἄλλων νεὼν ἱστορεῖται ὑπὸ Αἰγυπτίων καὶ τῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα δεινῶν γεγονέναι, ἔν τισι τόποις ἱδρυόντων δαίμονας μαντικοὺς ἢ ἰατρικοὺς πολλάκις δὲ καὶ βασανίζοντας τοὺς δοκοῦντάς τι παραβεβηκέναι περὶ τῶν τυχόντων βρωμάτων ἢ περὶ τοῦ θιγεῖν νεκροῦ σώματος ἀνθρωπίνου, ἵνα δοκοῖεν δεδίττεσθαι τὸν πολὺν καὶ ἀπαίδευτον. τοιοῦτος δέ ἐστι καὶ ἐν Ἀντινόου πόλει τῆς Αἰγύπτου νομισθεὶς εἶναι θεὸς, οὗ ἀρετὰς οἱ μέν τινες κυβευτικώτερον ζῶντες καταψεύδονται, ἕτεροι δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἐκεῖ ἱδρυμένου δαίμονος ἀπατώμενοι καὶ ἄλλοι ἀπὸ ἀσθενοῦς τοῦ συνειδότος ἐλεγχόμενοι οἴονται τίνειν θεήλατον ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀντινόου ποινήν. τοιαῦτα δέ ἐστι καὶ τὰ δρώμενα αὐτῶν μυστήρια καὶ αἱ δοκοῦσαι μαντεῖαι, ων πάνυ μακράν ἐστι τὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ. οὐ γὰρ συνελθόντες γόητες, χάριν τίνοντες βασιλεῖ τινι κελεύοντι ἢ ἡγεμόνι προστάσσοντι, πεποιηκέναι ἔδοξαν αὐτὸν εἶναι θεὸν, ἀλλ᾿ αὐτὸς ὁ τῶν ὅλων δημιουργὸς ἀκολούθως τῇ ἐν τῷ λέγειν τεραστίως πιστικῇ δυνάμει συνέστησεν αὐτὸν ὡς τιμῆς ἄξιον οὐ τοῖς εὐφρονεῖν ἐθέλουσι μόνον ἀνθρώποις ἀλλὰ καὶ δαίμοσι καὶ ἄλλαις ἀοράτοις δυνάμεσιν· αἵτινες μέχρι τοῦ δεῦρο ἐμφαίνουσιν ἤτοι φοβούμεναι τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ὡς κρείττονος ἤ σεβασμίως ἀποδεχόμεναι ὡς κατὰ νόμους αὐτῶν ἄρχοντος. εἰ γὰρ μὴ θεόθεν ἦν αὐτῷ δοθεῖσα σύστασις, οὐκ ἂν καὶ δαίμονες τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ ἀπαγγελλομένῳ μόνον εἴκοντες ἀνεχώρουν ἀπὸ τῶν ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν πολεμουμένων.