If all things recur, nothing is in our power
I do not know how Celsus, writing against us, thought it useful to toss in a doctrine that needs a great deal of proof, even if only plausible proof, to establish as far as possible that “the cycle of mortal things is alike from beginning to end, and according to the appointed revolutions it is necessary that the same things always have been, are, and will be.” If this is true, what lies in our power is abolished.
For if “according to the appointed revolutions it is necessary that the same things always have been, are, and will be” in the cycle of mortal things, then clearly Socrates must always practise philosophy and always be accused on the charge of new divinities and of corrupting the young; Anytus and Meletus must always accuse him; and the council on the Areopagus must always vote to condemn him to death by hemlock. In the same way, according to the appointed cycles, Phalaris must always rule as a tyrant, Alexander of Pherae must always commit the same cruelties, and those condemned to Phalaris’s bull must always bellow inside it. If this is granted, I do not know how what lies in our power will be kept safe, or how praise and blame will be reasonable.
Against such a hypothesis this will be said to Celsus: if the cycle of mortal things is always alike from beginning to end, and according to the appointed revolutions it is necessary that the same things always have been, are, and will be, then according to the appointed cycles Moses must always go out of Egypt with the people of the Jews, and Jesus must come again to dwell in this life to do the same things that he has done, not once but countless times, cycle after cycle. Indeed, the same Christians too will exist in the appointed revolutions, and Celsus will write this book again, having written it countless times before.
Greek
Οὐκ οἶδα δὲ πῶς χρήσιμον ἔδοξε τῷ Κέλσῳ καθ᾿ ἡμῶν γράφοντι παραῤῥίψαι δόγμα, πολλῆς δεόμενον κἂν δοκούσης ἀποδείξεως, κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν παριστάσης ὅτι ὁμοία ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς εἰς τέλος ἐστὶν ἡ τῶν θνητῶν περίοδος, καὶ κατὰ τὰς τεταγμένας ἀνακυκλήσεις ἀνάγκη τὰ αὐτὰ ἀεὶ καὶ γεγονέναι καὶ εἶναι καὶ ἔσεσθαι. ὅπερ ἐὰν ᾖ ἀληθὲς. τὸ ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν ἀνῄρηται. εἰ γὰρ κατὰ (τὰς) τεταγμένας ἀνακυκλήσεις ἀνάγκη τὰ αὐτὰ ἀεὶ καὶ γεγονέναι καὶ εἶναι καὶ ἔσεσθαι ἐν τῇ τῶν θνητῶν περιόδῳ. δῆλον ὅτι ἀνάγκη ἀεὶ Σωκράτη μὲν φιλοσοφήσειν καὶ κατηγορηθήσεσθαι ἐπὶ καινοῖς δαιμονίοις καὶ τῇ τῶν νέων διαφθορᾷ, Ἄνυτον δὲ καὶ Μέλητον ἀεὶ κατηγορήσειν αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὴν ἐν Ἀρείῳ πάγῳ βουλὴν καταψηφίσεσθαι αὐτοῦ τὸν διὰ τοῦ κωνείου θάνατον. οὕτω δὲ ἀνάγκη ἀεὶ κατὰ τὰς τεταγμένας περιόδους Φάλαριν τυραννήσειν καὶ τὸν Φεραῖον Ἀλέξανδρον τὰ αὐτὰ ὠμοποιήσειν, τούς τε εἰς τὸν Φαλάριδος ταῦρον καταδικασθέντας ἀεὶ ἐν αὐτῷ μυκήσεσθαι· ἅπερ ἐὰν δοθῇ. οὐκ οἶδ᾿ ὅπως τὸ ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν σωθήσεται καὶ ἔπαινοι καὶ ψόγοι εὐλόγως ἔσονται. λελέξεται δὲ πρὸς τὴν τοιαύτην ὑπόθεσιν τῷ Κέλσῳ ὅτι. εἴπερ ὁμοία ἐστὶν ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς εἰς τέλος ἡ τῶν θνητῶν ἀεὶ περίοδος. καὶ κατὰ τὰς τεταγμένας ἀνακυκλήσεις ἀνάγκη τὰ αὐτὰ ἀεὶ καὶ γεγονέναι καὶ εἶναι καὶ ἔσεσθαι, ἀνάγκη ἀεὶ κατὰ τὰς τεταγμένας περιόδους Μωϋσέα μὲν μετὰ τοῦ λαοῦ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐξελθεῖν ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου. Ἰησοῦν δὲ πάλιν ἐπιδημῆσαι τῷ βίῳ τὰ αὐτὰ ποιήσοντα, ἅπερ οὐχ ἅπαξ ἀλλ᾿ ἀπειράκις κατὰ περιόδους πεποίηκεν· ἀλλὰ καὶ Χριστιανοὶ οἱ αὐτοὶ ἔσονται ἐν ταῖς τεταγμέναις ἀνακυκλήσεσιν, καὶ πάλιν Κέλσος γράψει τὸ βιβλίον τοῦτο. ἀπειράκις αὐτὸ πρότερον γράψας.