The prophet prays to see the hidden things
Moreover, if the law of Moses had contained nothing written in it to be made known through hidden meanings, the prophet would not have said to God in his prayer: “Uncover my eyes, and I shall perceive your wonders out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). But as it is, he knew that a “veil” of ignorance lies upon the heart of those who read but do not understand what is said figuratively (2 Corinthians 3:15). This “veil is taken away” (2 Corinthians 3:16) as God’s gift, when he hears the one who has done all that lay in his power, who by practice has trained his senses to distinguish good and evil (Hebrews 5:14), and who says again and again in prayer: “Uncover my eyes, and I shall perceive your wonders out of your law” (Psalm 119:18).
Who, reading of a dragon that lives in the river of Egypt, and of fish lurking in its scales (Ezekiel 29:3–4), or of the mountains of Egypt filled “with the dung” of Pharaoh (Ezekiel 32:6), is not moved at once to ask who it is that fills the mountains of the Egyptians with so much of his foul-smelling “dung,” and what the mountains of the Egyptians are? And what are the rivers in Egypt about which this same Pharaoh boasts, saying, “The rivers are mine, and I made them” (Ezekiel 29:3)? And who is the dragon that corresponds to those rivers, as the interpretation will show them to be, and who are the fish in its scales?
But why need I establish further what needs no establishing? Of such things it is said: “Who is wise, and will understand these things? Or who is discerning, and will know them?” (Hosea 14:9). I have extended my argument at some length because I wished to show that Celsus was not right in saying that “the more reasonable among Jews and Christians try somehow to allegorize these things, but they are not such as to admit any allegory; they are plainly fables of the silliest kind.” For it is the stories of the Greeks, far more, that are fables, and not only of the silliest kind but also of the most impious. For our writings have had regard also for the multitude of simpler people, and this the makers of the Greek fictions did not take care to do. That is why Plato, with good reason, banishes such myths and such poems from his own republic (Plato, Republic 2.377b–3.398b).
Greek
Ἀλλὰ καὶ εἴπερ ὁ Μωϋσέως νόμος μηδὲν εἶχεν ἐγγεγραμμένον δι᾿ ὑπονοιῶν δηλούμενον, οὐκ ἂν ὁ προφήτης εὐχόμενος ἔλεγε τῷ θεῷ· „ἀποκάλυψον τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου, καὶ κατανοήσω τὰ θαυμάσιά σου ἐκ τοῦ νόμου σου.“ νυνὶ δὲ ᾔδει ὅτι ἐστί τι „κάλυμμα“ ἀγνοίας ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τῶν ἀναγινωσκόντων καὶ μὴ συνιέντων τὰ τροπολογούμενα ἐπικείμενον· ὅπερ „κάλυμμα περιαιρεῖται“ τοῦ θεοῦ δωρουμένου, ἐπὰν ἐπακούσῃ τῷ παρ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ πάντα ποιήσαντι καὶ διὰ τὴν ἕξιν τὰ αἰσθητήρια γυμνάσαντι πρὸς διάκρισιν καλοῦ καὶ κακοῦ καὶ ἐν τῇ εὐχῇ συνεχέστατα φήσαντι· „ἀποκάλυψον τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου, καὶ κατανοήσω τὰ θαυμάσιά σου ἐκ τοῦ νόμου σου.“ τίς δ᾿ ἀναγινώσκων δράκοντα ἐν τῷ Αἰγυπτίῳ ποταμῷ ζῶντα καὶ τοὺς ἰχθύας ἐμφωλεύοντας αὐτοῦ ταῖς φολίσιν ἢ „ἀπὸ τῶν προχωρημάτων“ τοῦ Φαραὼ πληρούμενα τὰ Αἰγύπτου ὄρη, οὐ προάγεται αὐτόθεν πρὸς τὸ ζητῆσαι, τίς ὁ τοσούτων δυσωδῶν „προχωρημάτων“ αὐτοῦ πληρῶν τὰ Αἰγυπτίων ὄρη καὶ τίνα τὰ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ὄρη καὶ τίνες οἱ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ποταμοὶ, περὶ ὧν αὐχῶν λέγει ὁ προειρημένος Φαραώ· „ἐμοί εἰσιν οἱ ποταμοὶ, καὶ ἐγὼ ἐποίησα αὐτοὺς,“ καὶ τίς ὁ ἀνάλογον τοῖς ἀποδειχθησομένοις ἀπὸ τῆς ἑρμηνείας ποταμοῖς δράκων καὶ τίνες οἱ ἐν ταῖς φολίσιν αὐτοῦ ἰχθύες; καὶ τί με δεῖ ἐπὶ πλέον κατασκευάζειν τὰ μὴ δεόμενα κατασκευῆς. ἐφ᾿ οἷς λέγεται τὸ „τίς σοφὸς καὶ συνήσει ταῦτα; ἢ συνετὸς καὶ ἐπιγνώσεται αὐτά;“ ἐπὶ πλεῖον δ᾿ ἐξέτεινα τὸν λόγον βουλόμενος παραστῆσαι μὴ ὑγιῶς εἰρῆσθαι τῷ Κέλσῳ ὅτι οἱ ἐπιεικέστεροι Ἰουδαίων καὶ Χριστιανῶν πειρῶνταί πως ἀλληγορεῖν αὐτὰ, ἔστι δ᾿ οὐχ οἷα ἀλληγορίαν ἐπιδέχεσθαί τινα ἀλλ᾿ ἄντικρυς εὐηθέστατα μεμυθολόγηται. πολλῷ γὰρ μᾶλλον τὰ Ἑλλήνων οὐ μόνον εὐηθέστατα ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀσεβέστατα μεμυθολόγηται. τὰ γὰρ ἡμέτερα ἐστόχασται καὶ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ἁπλουστέρων. ὅπερ οἱ τὰ Ἑλληνικὰ πλάσματα ποιήσαντες οὐκ ἐφυλάξαντο. διόπερ οὐκ ἀχαρίστως ὁ Πλάτων ἐκβάλλει τῆς ἑαυτοῦ πολιτείας τοὺς τοιουσδὶ μύθους καὶ τὰ τοιαδὶ ποιήματα.