Celsus appears to me to have heard that there are treatises in existence
which contain allegorical explanations of the law of Moses. These,
however, he could not have read; for if he had, he would not have said:
“The allegorical explanations, however, which have been devised, are
much more shameful and absurd than the fables themselves, inasmuch as
they endeavour to unite with marvellous and altogether insensate folly
things which cannot at all be made to harmonize.” He seems to refer in
these words to the works of Philo, or to those of still older writers,
such as Aristobulus. But I conjecture that Celsus has not read their
books, since it appears to me that in many passages they have so
successfully hit the meaning [of the sacred writers], that even Grecian
philosophers would have been captivated by their explanations; for in
their writings we find not only a polished style, but exquisite thoughts
and doctrines, and a rational use of what Celsus imagines to be fables
in the sacred writings. I know, moreover, that Numenius the
Pythagorean—a surpassingly excellent expounder of Plato, and who held a
foremost place as a teacher of the doctrines of Pythagoras—in many of
his works quotes from the writings of Moses and the prophets, and
applies to the passages in question a not improbable allegorical
meaning, as in his work called _Epops_, and in those which treat of
“Numbers” and of “Place.” And in the third book of his dissertation on
_The Good_, he quotes also a narrative regarding Jesus—without, however,
mentioning His name—and gives it an allegorical signification, whether
successfully or the reverse I may state on another occasion. He relates
also the account respecting Moses, and Jannes, and Jambres.[703] But we
are not elated on account of this instance, though we express our
approval of Numenius, rather than of Celsus and other Greeks, because he
was willing to investigate our histories from a desire to acquire
knowledge, and was [duly] affected by them as narratives which were to
be allegorically understood, and which did not belong to the category of
foolish compositions.
Footnote 703:
Cf. 2 Tim. iii. 8.