Where Celsus’s rule of ancestral worship leads
I wish to show how unreasonable Celsus is in saying that each one should worship what is his own and ancestral. He says that the Ethiopians who live at Meroe know only two gods, Zeus and Dionysus, and worship these alone, and that the Arabians likewise know only two, Dionysus, as the Ethiopians do, and Urania, who is their own. By his account, then, the Ethiopians do not worship Urania, nor do the Arabians worship Zeus.
Suppose, then, that an Ethiopian, through some turn of events, finds himself among the Arabians and is thought impious for not worshipping Urania, and on this account is in danger of death. Will it be fitting for the Ethiopian to die, or to act against his ancestral customs and worship Urania? If it will be fitting for him to act against his ancestral customs, he will do what is not holy, so far as Celsus’s arguments go. But if he should be led away to death, let Celsus show what is reasonable about choosing death; for I do not know whether the Ethiopians’ teaching instructs them to reflect as philosophers on the immortality of the soul and on the honour that piety earns, if they worship the gods recognised by their ancestral laws.
The same can be said of the Arabians, if through some turn of events they come to stay among the Ethiopians around Meroe. These too, having been taught to worship only Urania and Dionysus, will not worship Zeus with the Ethiopians; and if, being thought impious, they should be led away to death, let Celsus say what they would reasonably do.
As for the myths about Osiris and Isis, it is needless, and not the right moment, for us to recount them now. And even if the myths are interpreted figuratively, they will teach us to worship lifeless water and the earth that lies beneath men and all animals; for so, I think, they reinterpret Osiris as water and Isis as earth. About Serapis there is a long and conflicting story. He came into public view only yesterday or the day before, through certain sorceries of Ptolemy, who wished to show the people of Alexandria a god, as it were, made manifest. We have read in Numenius the Pythagorean about how he was fashioned, namely that he shares in the substance of all the animals and plants that nature governs. The aim was that, with the help of unhallowed rites and of sorceries that summon demons, he should seem to be fashioned into a god not only by makers of statues but also by magicians and sorcerers, and by the demons charmed by their incantations.
Greek
Βούλομαι δὲ παραστῆσαι, τίνα τρόπον οὐκ εὐλόγως ὁ Κέλσος φησὶν ἕκαστον τὰ οἰκεῖα καὶ πάτρια σέβειν. φησὶ γὰρ οὗτος τοὺς οἰκοῦντας τὴν Μερόην Αἰθίοπας δύο μόνους εἰδέναι θεοὺς, Δία καὶ Διόνυσον, καὶ αὐτοὺς μόνους σέβειν τοὺς δ᾿ Ἀραβίους καὶ αὐτοὺς δύο μόνους, Διόνυσον μὲν ὡς καὶ Αἰθίοπες, Οὐρανίαν δὲ ἰδίαν. κατὰ τὴν ἱστορίαν αὐτοῦ οὔτ᾿ Αἰθίοπες Οὐρανίαν σέβουσιν οὔτε Ἀράβιοι Δία. ἆρ᾿ οὖν ἐάν τις Αἰθιόπων, ἔκ τινος περιστάσεως γενόμενος παρὰ τοῖς Ἀραβίοις, ἀσεβὴς εἶναι νομισθῇ ὡς τὴν Οὐρανίαν οὐ σέβων καὶ παρὰ τοῦτο τὴν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ κινδυνεύῃ, καθήξει τῷ Αἰθίοπι ἀποθανεῖν ἢ παρὰ τὰ πάτρια ποιεῖν καὶ προσκυνεῖν τὴν Οὐρανίαν; εἰ μὲν γὰρ παρὰ τὰ πάτρια ποιεῖν αὐτὸν καθήξει, οὐχ ὅσιον ποιήσει ὅσον ἐπὶ τοῖς τοῦ Κέλσου λόγοις· εἰ δὲ τὴν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ ἀπαχθείη, παραστησάτω τὸ εὔλογον τοῦ αἱρεῖσθαι θάνατον, οὐκ οἶδα εἰ τοῦ Αἰθιόπων λόγου φιλοσοφεῖν διδάσκοντος περὶ ψυχῆς ἀθανασίας καὶ τιμῆς τῆς ἐπὶ εὐσεβείᾳ, εἰ (κατὰ) τοὺς πατρίους νόμους σέβοιεν νομιζομένους θεούς. τὸ δ᾿ ὅμοιον ἔστιν εἰπεῖν καὶ περὶ Ἀραβίων, ἔκ τινος περιστάσεως ἐπιδημησάντων Αἰθίοψι τοῖς περὶ Μερόην. καὶ οὗτοι γὰρ μόνους διδαχθέντες σέβειν Οὐρανίαν καὶ Διόνυσον οὐ προσκυνήσουσι τὸν Δία μετὰ τῶν Αἰθιόπων· καὶ ἀσεβεῖν νομισθέντες εἰ τὴν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ [ἂν] ἀπάγοιντο, τί ἂν εὐλόγως ποιήσαιεν, λεγέτω ὁ Κέλσος. τοὺς δὲ περὶ Ὄσιριν καὶ Ἶσιν μύθους περισσόν ἐστιν ἡμῖν νῦν καταλέγειν καὶ οὐκ εὔκαιρον. κἂν τροπολογῶνται δὲ οἱ μῦθοι. τὸ ἄψυχον ἡμᾶς ὕδωρ σέβειν διδάξουσι καὶ τὴν ὑποκειμένην ἀνθρώποις καὶ πᾶσι ζῴοις γῆν. οὕτω γὰρ οἶμαι μεταλαμβάνουσι τὸν μὲν Ὄσιριν εἰς ὕδωρ τὴν δὲ Ἶσιν εἰς γῆν. περὶ δὲ Σαράπιδος πολλὴ καὶ διά φωνος ἱστορία, χθὲς καὶ πρώην εἰς μέσον ἐλθόντος κατά τινας μαγγανείας τοῦ βουληθέντος Πτολεμαίου οἱονεὶ ἐπιφανῆ δεῖξαι τοῖς ἐν Ἀλεξανδρείᾳ θεόν. ἀνέγνωμεν δὲ παρὰ Νουμηνίῳ τῷ Πυθαγορείῳ περὶ τῆς κατασκευῆς αὐτοῦ, ὡς ἄρα πάντων τῶν ὑπὸ φύσεως διοικουμένων μετέχει οὐσίας ζῴων καὶ φυτῶν· ἵνα δόξῃ μετὰ τῶν ἀτελέστων τελετῶν καὶ τῶν καλουσῶν δαίμονας μαγγανειῶν οὐχ ὑπὸ ἀγαλματοποιῶν μόνων κατασκευάζεσθαι θεὸς ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπὸ μάγων καὶ φαρμακῶν καὶ τῶν ἐπῳδαῖς αὐτῶν κηλουμένων δαιμόνων.