The word invites the foolish to wisdom
We admit that we want to educate everyone with the word of God, even if Celsus does not wish it, so as to give adolescents too the encouragement that suits them, and to show house-slaves how, by taking on a free spirit, they may be made noble by the word. Those among us who champion Christianity say plainly enough that they are debtors “to Greeks and barbarians, to the wise and the foolish” (Romans 1:14). For they do not deny that they must heal the souls of the foolish too, so that, as far as possible, they may lay aside their ignorance and hasten toward greater understanding. They hear Solomon also when he says, “And you who are foolish, apply your heart” (Proverbs 8:5), and, “Whoever of you is most foolish, let him turn aside to me; and to those who lack sense I, Wisdom, give this charge, saying: Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine I have mixed for you; forsake folly, that you may live, and set your understanding straight in knowledge” (Proverbs 9:4–6).
I would also say this, in view of the charges in Celsus’s argument: Do not those who practise philosophy invite adolescents to hear them? Do they not call young men who have lived the worst of lives to better things? And do they not want house-slaves to practise philosophy? Or are we too to accuse philosophers of turning house-slaves toward virtue: Pythagoras, who turned Zamolxis; Zeno, who turned Persaeus; and, only the other day, those who turned Epictetus toward philosophy? Or is it allowed to you Greeks to call adolescents, house-slaves and foolish people to philosophy, while we, when we do this, do not do it out of love for humanity, though we wish to heal every rational nature with the medicine of the word and to bring it into kinship with God, who made all things?
This, then, would be enough in answer to Celsus’s abuse, for it is abuse rather than accusation.
Greek
Ὁμολογοῦμεν δὲ πάντας ἐθέλειν παιδεῦσαι τῷ τοῦ θεοῦ, κἂν μὴ βούληται Κέλσος, λόγῳ, ὥστε καὶ μειρακίοις μεταδιδόναι τῆς ἁρμοζούσης αὐτοῖς προτροπῆς καὶ οἰκότριψιν ὑποδεικνύναι. πῶς ἐλεύθερον ἀναλαβόντες φρόνημα ἐξευγενισθεῖεν ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου. οἱ δὲ παρ᾿ ἡμῖν πρεσβεύοντες τὸν χριστιανισμὸν ἱκανῶς φασιν ὀφειλέται εἶναι „Ἕλλησι καὶ βαρβάροις, σοφοῖς καὶ ἀνοήτοις“· οὐ γὰρ ἀρνοῦνται τὸ καὶ ἀνοήτων δεῖν τὰς ψυχὰς θεραπεύειν, ἵν᾿ ὅση δύναμις ἀποτιθέμενοι τὴν ἄγνοιαν ἐπὶ τὸ συνετώτερον σπεύδωσιν. ἀκούοντες καὶ Σολομῶντος λέγοντος· „οἱ δὲ ἄφρονες ἔνθεσθε καρδίαν“ καί· „ὅς ἐστιν ὑμῶν ἀφρονέστατος, ἐκκλινάτω πρός με, ἐνδεέσι δὲ φρενῶν παρακελεύομαι λέγουσα ἡ σοφία·“ „ἔλθετε. φάγετε τὸν ἐμὸν ἄρτον καὶ πίετε οἶνον. ὃν, ἐκέρασα ὑμῖν· ἀπολείπετε ἀφροσύνην, ἵνα ζήσητε, καὶ κατορθώσατε ἐν γνώσει σύνεσιν.“ εἴποιμ(??)δ᾿ ἂν καὶ ταῦτα διὰ τὰ ἐγκείμενα πρὸς τὸν Κέλσου λόγον· ἆρα οἱ φιλοσοφοῦντες οὐ προκαλοῦνται μειράκια ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκρόασιν; καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ κακίστου βίου νέους οὐ παρακαλοῦσιν ἐπὶ τὰ βελτίονα; τί δὲ τοὺς οἰκότριβας οὐ βούλονται φιλοσοφεῖν; ἢ καὶ ἡμεῖς μέλλομεν ἐγκαλεῖν φιλοσόφοις οἰκότριβας ἐπ᾿ ἀρετὴν προτρεψαμένοις, Πυθαγόρᾳ μὲν τὸν Ζάμολξιν Ζήνωνι δὲ τὸν Περσαῖον καὶ χθὲς καὶ πρώην τοῖς προτρεψαμένοις Ἐπίκτητον ἐπὶ τὸ φιλοσοφεῖν; ἢ ὑμῖν μὲν, ὦ Ἕλληνες, ἔξεστι μειράκια καὶ οἰκότριβας καὶ ἀνοήτους ἀνθρώπους ἐπὶ φιλοσοφίαν καλεῖν· ἡμεῖς δὲ τοῦτο ποιοῦντες οὐ φιλανθρώπως αὐτὸ πράττομεν, τῇ ἀπὸ τοῦ λόγου ἰατρικῇ πᾶσαν λογικὴν φύσιν θεραπεῦσαι βουλόμενοι καὶ οἰκειῶσαι τῷ δημιουργήσαντι πάντα θεῷ; ἤρκει μὲν οὖν καὶ ταῦτα πρὸς τὰς Κέλσου λοιδορίας μᾶλλον ἢ κατηγορίας.