Celsus and Porphyry (q.v.) are the two early literary opponents of
Christianity who have most claim to consideration, and it is worth
noticing that, while they agree alike in high aims, in skilful address
and in devoted toil, their religious standpoints are widely dissimilar.
Porphyry is above all a pure philosopher, but also a man of deep
religious feeling, whose quest and goal are the knowledge of God;
Celsus, the friend of Lucian, though sometimes called Epicurean and
sometimes Platonist, is not a professed philosopher at all, but a man of
the world, really at heart an agnostic, like Caecilius in Minucius Felix
(q.v.), whose religion is nothing more or less than the Empire. He is
keen, positive, logical, combining with curious dashes of scepticism
many genuine moral convictions and a good knowledge of the various
national religions and mythologies whose relative value he is able to
appreciate. "His manner of thought is under the overpowering influence
of the eclectic Platonism of the time, and not of the doctrine of the
Epicurean school. He is a man of the world, of philosophic culture, who
accepts much of the influential Platonism of the time but has absorbed
little of its positive religious sentiment. In his antipathy to
Christianity, which appears to him barbaric and superstitious, he gives
himself up to the scepticism and satire of a man of the world through
which he comes in contact with Epicurean tendencies." He quotes
approvingly from the _Timaeus_ of Plato: "It is a hard thing to find out
the Maker and Father of this universe, and after having found him it is
impossible to make him known to all." Philosophy can at best impart to
the fit some notion of him which the elect soul must itself develop. The
Christian on the contrary maintained that God is known to us as far as
need be in Christ, and He is accessible to all. Another sharp antithesis
was the problem of evil. Celsus made evil constant in amount as being
the correlative of matter. Hence his scorn of the doctrine of the
resurrection of the body held then in a very crude form, and his
ridicule of any attempt to raise the vulgar masses from their
degradation. The real root of the difficulty to Platonist as to Gnostic
was his sharp antithesis of form as good and matter as evil.
Place and date.
Opinion at one time inclined to the view that the _True Word_ was
written in Rome, but the evidence (wholly internal) points much more
decisively to an Egyptian, and in particular an Alexandrian origin. Not
only do the many intimate references to Egyptian history and customs
support this position, but it is clear that the Jews of Celsus are not
Western or Roman Jews, but belong to the Orient, and especially to that
circle of Judaism which had received and assimilated the idea of the
Logos.
The date also is clearly defined. Besides the general indication that
the Empire was passing through a military crisis, which points to the
long struggle waged by Marcus Aurelius against the Marcomanni and other
Germanic tribes, there is a reference (_Contra Celsum_, viii. 69) to the
rescript of that emperor impressing on governors and magistrates the
duty of keeping a strict watch on extravagances in religion. This edict
dates from 176-177, and inaugurated the persecution which lasted from
that time till the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180. During these years
Commodus was associated with Marcus in the imperium, and Celsus has a
reference to this joint rule (viii. 71).
Value in the history of Christianity.
Celsus shows himself familiar with the story of Jewish origins. Any
pagan who wished to understand and criticize Christianity intimately had
to begin by learning from the Jews, and this accounts for the opening
chapters of his argument. He has a good knowledge of Genesis and Exodus,
refers to the stories of Jonah, Daniel (vii. 53) and Enoch (v. 52), but
does not make much use of the Prophets or the Psalter. As regards the
New Testament his position is closely in agreement with that reflected
in the contemporary _Acts of the Martyrs of Scili_. He speaks of a
Christian collection of writings, and knew and used the gospels, but was
influenced less by the fourth than by the Synoptics. There is more
evidence of Pauline ideas than of Pauline letters.
The gnostic sects and their writings were well known to him (viii. 15
and vi. 25), and so was the work of Marcion. There are indications, too,
of an acquaintance with Justin Martyr and the Sibylline literature (vii.
53, op. v. 61). "He is perfectly aware of the internal differences
between Christians, and he is familiar with the various stages of
development in the history of their religion. These are cleverly
employed in order to heighten the impression of its instability. He
plays off the sects against the Catholic Church, the primitive age
against the present, Christ against the apostles, the various revisions
of the Bible against the trustworthiness of the text and so forth,
though he admits that everything was not really so bad at first as it is
at present."
The _True Word_ had very little influence either on the mutual
relations of Church and State, or on classical literature. Echoes of it
are found in Tertullian and in Minucius Felix, and then it lay forgotten
until Origen gave it new life. A good deal of the neo-Platonic polemic
naturally went back to Celsus, and both the ideas and phrases of the
_True Word_ are found in Porphyry and Julian, though the closing of the
New Testament canon in the meantime somewhat changed the method of
attack for these writers.
Of more importance than these matters is the light which the book sheds
on the strength of the Church about the year 180. It is of course easy
to see that Celsus had no apprehension of the spiritual needs even of
his own day which it was the Christian purpose to satisfy, that he could
not grasp anything of the new life enjoyed by the poor in spirit, and
that he underrated the significance of the Church, regarding it simply
as one of a number of warring sections (mostly Gnostic), and so seeing
only a mark of weakness. And yet, there is all through an undercurrent
which runs hard against his surface verdicts, and here and there comes
to expression. He is bound to admit that Christianity has been stated
reasonably; against the moral teaching of Jesus he can only bring the
lame charge of plagiarism, and with the Christian assertion that the
Logos is the Son of God he completely accords. Most suggestive, however,
is his closing appeal to the Christians. "Come," he says, "don't hold
aloof from the common regime. Take your place by the emperor's side.
Don't claim for yourselves another empire, or any special position." It
is an overture for peace. "If all were to follow your example and
abstain from politics, the affairs of the world would fall into the
hands of wild and lawless barbarians" (viii. 68). Forced to admit that
Christians are not _infructuosi in negotiis_, he wants them to be good
citizens, to retain their own belief but conform to the state religion.
It is an earnest and striking appeal on behalf of the Empire, which was
clearly in great danger, and it shows the terms offered to the Church,
as well as the strength of the Church at the time. Numerically,
Christians may have formed perhaps a tenth of the population, i.e. in
Alexandria there would be fifty or sixty thousand, but their power in a
community was out of all proportion to their mere numbers.
LITERATURE.--Th. Keim, _Celsus' Wahres Wort_ (1873); Pelagaud, _Etude
sur Celse_ (1878); K.J. Neumann's edition in _Scriptores Graeci qui
Christianam impugnaverunt religionem_, and article in Hauck-Herzog's
_Realencyk. fur prot. Theol._, where a very full bibliography is
given. See also W. Moeller, _Hist, of the Chr. Church_, i. 169 ff.; A.
Harnack, _Expansion of Christianity_, ii. 129 ff.; J.A. Froude, _Short
Studies_, iv.
CELT, or KELT, the generic name of an ancient people, the bulk of whom
inhabited the central and western parts of Europe. (For the sense of a
primitive stone tool, see the separate article, later.) Much confusion
has arisen from the inaccurate use of the terms "Celt" and "Celtic." It
is the practice to speak of the dark-complexioned people of France,
Great Britain and Ireland as "black Celts," although the ancient writers
never applied the term "Celt" to any dark-complexioned person. To them
great stature, fair hair, and blue or grey eyes were the characteristics
of the Celt. The philologists have added to the confusion by classing as
"Celtic" the speeches of the dark-complexioned races of the west of
Scotland and the west of Ireland. But, though usage has made it
convenient in this work to employ the term, "Celtic" cannot be properly
applied to what is really "Gaelic."
The ancient writers regarded as homogeneous all the fair-haired peoples
dwelling north of the Alps, the Greeks terming them all _Keltoi_.
Physically they fall into two loosely-divided groups, which shade off
into each other. The first of these is restricted to north-western
Europe, having its chief seat in Scandinavia. It is distinguished by a
long head, a long face, a narrow aquiline nose, blue eyes, very light
hair and great stature. Those are the peoples usually termed Teutonic by
modern writers. The other group is marked by a round head, a broad face,
a nose often rather broad and heavy, hazel-grey eyes, light chestnut
hair; they are thick-set and of medium height. This race is often termed
"Celtic" or "Alpine" from the fact of its occurrence all along the great
mountain chain from south-west France, in Savoy, in Switzerland, the Po
valley and Tirol, as well as in Auvergne, Brittany, Normandy, Burgundy,
the Ardennes and the Vosges. It thus stands midway not only
geographically but also in physical features between the "Teutonic" type
of Scandinavian and the so-called "Mediterranean race" with its long
head, long face, its rather broad nose, dark brown or black hair, dark
eyes, and slender form of medium height. The "Alpine race" is commonly
supposed to be Mongoloid in origin and to have come from Asia, the home
of round-skulled races. But it is far more probable that they are the
same in origin as the dark race south of them and the tall fair race
north of them, and that the broadness of their skulls is simply due to
their having been long domiciled in mountainous regions. Thus the
"Celtic" ox (_Bos longifrons_), from remote ages the common type in the
Alpine regions, is characterized by the height of its forehead above the
orbits, by its highly-developed occipital region, and its small horns.
Not only do animals change their physical characteristics in new
environment, but modern peoples when settled in new surroundings for
even one or two centuries, e.g. the American of New England and the Boer
of South Africa, prove that man is no less readily affected by his
surroundings.
The northern race has ever kept pressing down on the broad-skulled,
brown-complexioned men of the Alps, and intermixing with them, and at
times has swept right over the great mountain chain into the tempting
regions of the south, producing such races as the Celto-Ligyes,
Celtiberians, Celtillyrians, Celto-Thracians and Celto-Scythians. In its
turn the Alpine race has pressed down upon their darker and less warlike
kindred of the south, either driven down before the tall sons of the
north or swelling the hosts of the latter as they swept down south.
As the natives of the southern peninsula came into contact with these
mixed people, who though differing in the shape of the skull
nevertheless varied little from each other in speech and colour of their
hair and eyes, the ancient writers termed them all "Keltoi." But as the
most dreaded of these Celtic tribes came down from the shores of the
Baltic and Northern Ocean, the ancients applied the name Celt to those
peoples who are spoken of as Teutonic in modern parlance. The Teutons,
whose name is generic for Germans, appear in history along with the
Cimbri, universally held to be Celts, but coming from the same region as
the Guttones (Goths) by the shores of the Baltic and North Sea. Again,
the Germani themselves first appear in the Celtic host destroyed by
Marcellus at Clastidium in 225 B.C. All the true Celtae or Galatae in
France had come across the Rhine; the Belgic tribes in northern France
were Cimbri, who also had crossed the Rhine: in Caesar's day the Germans
were still constantly crossing that river, and so-called Gauls who lived
near the Germans, e.g. the Treveri, closely resembled the latter in
their habits, while in later times were to come Goths and Franks from
beyond the great river. It is then not strange that the Gallic name for
a henchman (_ambactus_) is the same as the Gothic (_ambahts_).
The earliest invaders, under the name of Celtae, had occupied all
central Gaul, doubtless mixing with the aboriginal Ligurians and
Iberians, who, however, maintained themselves respectively in the later
Provence and in Aquitania. The Celts had firmly established themselves
by the 7th century B.C. and we know not how long before, the Bituriges
(whose name survives in Berri) being the dominant tribe. In the Alps and
the Danube valley some of the Celts had dwelt from the Stone Age; there
they had developed the working of copper, discovered bronze (an alloy of
copper and tin), and the art of smelting iron (see HALLSTATT). The
Umbrians, who were part of the Alpine Celts, had been pressing down into
Italy from the Bronze Age, though checked completely by the rise of the
Etruscan power in the 10th century B.C. The invention of iron weapons
made the Celts henceforth irresistible. One of the earliest movements
after this discovery was probably that of the Achaeans of Homer, who
about 1450 B.C. invaded Greece (see ACHAEANS), bringing with them the
use of iron and brooches, the practice of cremating the dead, and the
style of ornament known as Geometric. Later the Cimmerians (see SCYTHIA
and CIMMERII) passed down from the Cimbric Chersonese, doubtless
following the amber routes, and then turned east along the Danube, some
of their tribes, e.g. the Treres, settling in Thrace, and crossing into
Asia; others settled in southern Russia, leaving their name in the
Crimea; then when hard pressed by the Scythians most of them passed
round the east end of the Euxine into Asia Minor, probably being the
people known as Gimirri on Assyrian monuments, and ravaged that region,
the relics of the race finally settling at Sinope.
At the beginning of the 6th century B.C. the Celts of France had grown
very powerful under the Biturigian king Ambigatus. They appear to have
spread southwards into Spain, occupying most of that country as far
south as Gades (Cadiz), some tribes, e.g. Turdentani and Turduli,
forming permanent settlements and being still powerful there in Roman
times; and in northern central Spain, from the mixture of Celts with the
native Iberians, the population henceforward was called Celtiberian.
About this time also took place a great invasion of Italy; Segovisus and
Bellovisus, the nephews of Ambigatus, led armies through Switzerland,
and over the Brenner, and by the Maritime Alps, respectively (Livy V.
34). The tribes who sent some of their numbers to invade Italy and
settle there were the Bituriges, Arverni, Senones, Aedui, Ambarri,
Carnuti and Aulerci.
Certain material remains found in north Italy, e.g. at Sesto Calende,
may belong to this invasion. The next great wave of Celts recorded was
that which swept down on north Italy shortly before 400 B.C. These
invaders broke up in a few years the Etruscan power, and even occupied
Rome herself after the disaster on the Allia (390 B.C.). Bought off by
gold they withdrew from Rome, but they continued to hold a great part of
northern Italy, extending as far south as Sena Gallica (_Sinigaglia_),
and henceforward they were a standing source of danger to Rome,
especially in the Samnite Wars, until at last they were either subdued
or expelled, e.g. the Boii from the plains of the Po. At the same time
as the invasion of Italy they had made fresh descents into the Danube
valley and the upper Balkan, and perhaps may have pushed into southern
Russia, but at this time they never made their way into Greece, though
the Athenian ladies copied the style of hair and dress of the Cimbrian
women. About 280 B.C. the Celts gathered a great host at the head of the
Adriatic, and accompanied by the Illyrian tribe of Autariatae, they
overthrew the Macedonians, overran Thessaly, and invaded Phocis in order
to sack Delphi, but they were finally repulsed, chiefly by the efforts
of the Aetolians (279 B.C.). The remnant of those who returned from
Greece joined that part of their army which had remained in Thrace, and
marched for the Hellespont. Here some of their number settled near
Byzantium, having conquered the native Thracians, and made Tyle their
capital. The Byzantines had to pay them a yearly tribute of 80 talents,
until on the death of the Gallic king Cavarus (some time after 220 B.C.)
they were annihilated by the Thracians. The main body of the Gauls who
had marched to the Hellespont crossed it under the leadership of
Leonnorius and Lutarius. Straightway they overran the greater part of
Asia Minor, and laid under tribute all west of Taurus, even the Seleucid
kings. At last Attila, king of Pergamum, defeated them in a series of
battles commemorated on the Pergamene sculptures, and henceforth they
were confined to a strip of land in the interior of Asia Minor, the
Galatia of history. Their three tribes--Trocmi, Tolistobogians and
Tectosages--submitted to Rome (189 B.C.), but they remained autonomous
till the death of their king Amyntas, when Augustus erected Galatia into
a province. Their descendants were probably the "foolish Galatians" to
whom St Paul wrote (see GALATIA).
Ancient writers spoke of all these Gauls as Cimbri, and identified them
with the Cimmerians of earlier date, who in Homeric times dwelt on the
ocean next to the Laestrygones, in a region of wintry gloom, but where
the sun set not in summer. Nor was it only towards the south and the
Hellespont that the Celtic tide ever set. They passed eastward to the
Danube mouth and into southern Russia, as far as the Sea of Azov,
mingling with the Scythians, as is proved by the name Celto-scyths.
Mithradates VI. of Pontus seems to have negotiated with them to gain
their aid against Rome, and Bituitus, a Gallic mercenary, was with him
at his death.
The Celts had continually moved westwards also. The Belgae, who were
Cimbric in origin, had spread across the Rhine and given their name to
all northern France and Belgium (_Gallia Belgica_). Many of these tribes
sent colonies over into south-eastern Britain, where they had been
masters for some two centuries when Caesar invaded the island (see
BRITAIN). But there is evidence that from the Bronze Age there had been
settlers in northern Britain who were broad-skulled and cremated their
dead, a practice which had arisen in south Germany in the early Bronze
Age or still earlier. It is not unlikely that, as tradition states,
there were incursions of Celts from central Gaul into Ireland during the
general Celtic unrest in the 6th century B.C. It is certain that at a
later period invaders from the continent, bringing with them the later
Iron Age culture, commonly called La Tene, which had succeeded that of
Hallstatt, had settled in Ireland. Not only are relics of La Tene
culture found in Ireland, but the oldest Irish epics celebrate tall,
fair-haired, grey-eyed heroes, armed and clad in Gallic fashion, who had
come from the continent. The Celts in Italy, in the Balkan, in France
and in Britain, overspread the Indo-European peoples, who differed from
themselves but slightly in speech. The Celts represented Indo-European q
by p, whilst the Greeks, Illyrians, Thracians, Ligurians, and aborigines
of France, Britain and Ireland represented it by k, c or qu. The
Umbrian-Sabellian tribes had the same phonetic peculiarity as the Celts.
Thus Gallic _petor_ (_petor-ritum_, "four-wheeler"), Umbrian _petur_,
Homeric [Greek: pisures], Boeotian (Achaean) [Greek: pettares], Welsh
_pedwar_; but Gaelic _cethir_, Lat. _quatuor_. The Celts are thus
clearly distinguished from the Gaelic-speaking dark race of Britain and
Ireland, and in spite of usage it must be understood that it is strictly
misleading to apply the term Celtic to the latter language.
See also Ridgeway, _Early Age of Greece_, vol. i., and _Oldest Irish
Epic_; Ripley, _The Races of Europe_; Sergi, _The Mediterranean Race_.
(W. Ri.)