Celsus says the animals are nearer to God
Wishing to show at still greater length that even notions about the divine are not the special mark of the human race above all mortal things, and to declare that some of the irrational animals too have notions about God, about whom such disagreements have arisen even among the sharpest of men everywhere, Greeks and barbarians alike, he says: “If man is thought to excel the other animals because he has grasped notions of the divine, let those who say so know that many of the other animals too will lay claim to this. And with very good reason. For what could one call more divine than to foreknow and foretell what is to come? This, then, men learn from the other animals, and above all from birds; and those who understand the signs they give are the diviners. If, then, birds and all the other prophetic animals, having foreknowledge from God, teach us through signs, they seem by so much to be nearer by nature to converse with the divine, and to be wiser and dearer to God. The men of understanding say that these creatures also have converse among themselves, plainly holier than ours, and that they themselves somehow understand what is said and show in deed that they understand: when they have foretold that the birds said they would go off somewhere and do this or that, they show them going there and doing just what they had foretold. And nothing seems to keep its oaths better than the elephant, or to be more loyal toward the divine, surely because elephants have knowledge of it.”
See in these words how many questions disputed among philosophers, not only among the Greeks but also among the barbarians, he snatches up and sets out as agreed. These philosophers either discovered, or learned from certain demons, what concerns omen-birds and the other animals from which, it is said, certain prophecies come to men. For first, it has been asked whether there is any art of augury, and in a word any divination through animals, or not. Second, among those who have accepted that divination through birds exists, there is no agreement on the cause of the manner of the divination. For some say that the animals are moved by certain demons or prophetic gods: birds to different flights and different cries, the others to this or that kind of movement. Others say that their souls are more divine and fitted for this, which is most unconvincing.
Greek
Θέλων δ᾿ ἔτι διὰ πλειόνων μηδὲ τὰς περὶ τοῦ θείου ἐννοίας ἐξαιρέτους εἶναι παρὰ τὰ θνητὰ πάντα ἐν τῷ γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἀλόγων ζῴων τινὰ ἀποφῆναι ἐννοοῦντα περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ. περὶ οὗ τοιαῦται διαφωνίαι γεγόνασι καὶ τοῖς ὀξυτέροις τῶν πανταχοῦ ἀνθρώπων, Ἑλλήνων καὶ βαρβάρων, φησὶν ὅτι εἰ δ᾿, ὅτι θείας ἐννοίας ἄνθρωπος ἐπείληπται, νομίζεται ὑπερέχειν τῶν λοιπῶν ζῴων· ἴστωσαν οἱ τοῦτο φάσκοντες ὅτι καὶ τούτου πολλὰ τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων ἀντιποιηθήσεται· καὶ μάλ᾿ εἰκότως· τί γὰρ ἂν φαίη τις θειότερον τοῦ τὰ μέλλοντα προγινώσκειν τε καὶ προδηλοῦν; τοῦτο τοίνυν ἄνθρωποι παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων καὶ μάλιστα παρ᾿ ὀρνίθων μανθάνουσιν· καὶ ὅσοι τῆς ἐκείνων ἐνδείξεως ἐπαΐουσιν, οὗτοι μαντικοί. εἰ δ᾿ ὄρνιθες ἄρα καὶ ὅσα (ἄλλα) ζῷα μαντικὰ ἐκ θεοῦ προγινώσκοντα διὰ συμβόλων ἡμᾶς διδάσκει, τοσοῦτον ἔοικεν ἐγγυτέρω τῆς θείας ὁμιλίας ἐκεῖνα πεφυκέναι καὶ εἶναι σοφώτερα καὶ θεοφιλέστερα. φασὶ δὲ τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἱ συνετοὶ καὶ ὁμιλίας ἐκείνοις εἶναι, δηλονότι τῶν ἡμετέρων ἱερωτέρας, καὶ αὐτοί που γνωρίζειν τὰ λεγόμενα καὶ ἔργῳ δεικνύειν ὅτι γνωρίζουσιν, ὅταν προειπόντες ὅτι ἔφασαν οἱ ὄρνιθες ὡς ἀπίασί ποι καὶ ποιήσουσι τόδε ἢ τόδε δεικνύωσιν ἀπελθόντας ἐκεῖ καὶ ποιοῦντας ἃ δὴ προεῖπον. ἐλεφάντων δὲ οὐδὲν εὐορκότερον οὐδὲ πρὸς τὰ θεῖα πιστότερον εἶναι δοκεῖ, πάντως δή που διότι γνῶσιν αὐτοῦ ἔχουσιν. ὅρα δὲ ἐν τούτοις, ὅσα ζητούμενα παρὰ τοῖς φιλοσοφοῦσιν οὐ μόνον Ἑλλήνων ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν ἐν βαρβάροις, εἴθ᾿ εὑρόντων εἴτε παρά τινων δαιμόνων μαθόντων τὰ περὶ οἰωνῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων, ἀφ᾿ ὧν μαντεῖαί τινες ἀνθρώποις γίνεσθαι λέγονται, συναρπάζει καὶ ὡς ὁμολογούμενα ἐκτίθεται. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἐζήτηται, πότερον ἔστι τις τέχνη οἰωνιστικὴ καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς ἡ διὰ ζῴων μαντικὴ ἢ οὐκ ἔστι· δεύτερον δὲ παρὰ τοῖς παραδεξαμένοις εἶναι τὴν δι᾿ ὀρνίθων μαντικὴν οὐ συμπεφώνηται ἡ αἰτία τοῦ τρόπου τῆς μαντείας· ἐπειδήπερ οἱ μὲν ἀπό τινων δαιμόνων ἢ θεῶν μαντικῶν φασι γίνεσθαι τὰς κινήσεις τοῖς ζῴοις, ὄρνισι μὲν εἰς διαφόρους πτήσεις καὶ εἰς διαφόρους φωνὰς τοῖς δὲ λοιποῖς εἰς τὰς τοιασδὶ κινήσεις ἢ τοιασδὶ, ἄλλοι δὲ θειοτέρας αὐτῶν καὶ πρὸς τοῦτ᾿ ἐπιτηδείους [αὐτῶν] εἶναι τὰς ψυχὰς, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἀπιθανώτατον.