Celsus
1.
Aulus Cornelius. A celebrated physician. His native city is
unknown; some writers contending for Rome, others for Verona. The time in which he lived has
also been made a subject of controversy, but the most probable opinion is
that he lived in the first half of the first century A.D., and wrote under Tiberius and
Claudius. Celsus composed a large work, on the plan, in some measure, of an
encyclopædia, in which he treated of philosophy, jurisprudence, warfare,
agriculture, and medicine. It was entitled
De Artibus. Unhappily, however,
only the eight books (from the sixth to the fourteenth) which treat of medicine have come
down to us.
Roman literature, otherwise so barren of good medical authorities, can boast of possessing
in Celsus one who, for elegance, terseness, learning, good sense, and practical information,
stands unrivalled. His preface contains an admirable exposition of the principles of the
different schools which had risen up in medicine before his time; and in the remaining part
of the first book there are many pertinent remarks on the best method of preserving the
health. In the second, which treats of the general symptoms and phenomena of diseases in
general, he has drawn freely from Hippocrates. The last part of this book is devoted to the
subject of diet and regimen; and here his views will, with a few exceptions, be admitted by
the unprejudiced to be wonderfully correct. In the third book he has treated of fevers; and
here his distinctions, remarks upon critical days, and treatment will be found to be
particularly deserving of attention. The other parts of his work it is unnecessary to go over
minutely; but one may point out, as particularly valuable, his divisions and treatment of
ulcers. It is remarkable that no ancient writer has treated of the diseases of the sexual
organs with the same precision that he has done. The different shades of cutaneous diseases
he has marked with a surprising degree of precision. But of the whole work the most
interesting part, perhaps, is the seventh book, which treats of the operations of surgery
according to the views of the Alexandrian School. His account of those performed upon the eye
may be instanced as particularly excellent. The operation of lithotomy, as described by him,
though not exactly the same as that now generally practised, has had, even in modern times,
its admirers. Celsus has the merit of being the first author who makes mention of the
application of the ligature to arteries for stopping hemorrhage. The best MSS. of Celsus are
in the Vatican, the Laurentian Library, and in Paris—the oldest being of the tenth
century. They all have a common origin. The best editions are those of Targa
(Padua,
1769, and Verona, 1810); Milligan
(Edinb. 1831); Ritter and Albers
(Cologne, 1835); Renzi
(Naples, 1851); and Daremberg
(Leipzig, 1859). Milligan's edition has a good index, and that of Renzi a good
lexicon. See Kissel,
Celsus, eine hist. Monog. (Giessen, 1844),
and on the Latinity, Brolen,
De Elocutione Celsi (Upsala, 1872);
also the articles
Chirurgia and
Medicina.
2.
A Platonic, or perhaps Epicurean, philosopher who lived about A.D. 180. His name is famous
as that of one of the bitterest enemies of Christianity. From a motive of curiosity, or,
perhaps, in order to be better able to combat the new religion, Celsus caused himself to be
initiated into the mysteries of Christianity, and to be received into that secret society
which St. Clement of Rome is supposed to have founded. It appears, however, that the
sincerity of the neophyte was distrusted, and that he was refused admittance into the
higher ceremonies. The discontent to which this gave rise in the breast of Celsus inflamed
his resentment against the Christians, and he wrote a work against them, entitled
Ἀληθὴς Λόγος, “A true discourse,” in which
he employed all the resources of his intellect and eloquence to paint Christianity as a
ridiculous and contemptible system, and its followers as a sect dangerous to the well-being
of the State. There is no falsehood to which he has not recourse in order to represent in an
untrue light the Christian scheme of morals, to parody and falsify the text of the Old and
New Testaments, and to calumniate the character of Jesus Christ and his disciples. He styles
Christianity a doctrine tending to pervert and corrupt the human race, and exhorts the
government to extirpate the sect if it wishes to save the Empire. The discourse itself is
lost; but Origen, who refuted it, in a work divided into eight books, has given us so
complete an extract from it that by the aid of this we can follow all the principal reasoning
of the author. Celsus wrote also a work against magicians and sorcerers (
Κατὰ Μάγων), which is cited by Origen and Lucian. The latter, who
was his friend, addressed to him his memoir on Alexander, the false prophet, in which he
extols the wisdom of Celsus, his love for truth, and his amiable manners. See
Keim,
Celsus' wahres Wort (1873);
Aubé, La
Polémique Païenne (1878); and
Pélagaud,
Étude sur Celse (1878).
3.
Albinovānus, a friend of Horace,
warned against plagiarism (
Epist. i. 3, 15) and pleasantly ridiculed
(
Epist. i. 8) for his foibles.
