Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume IV/Origen/Origen Against Celsus/Book V/Chapter XL

Chapter XL.

But since, after Celsus had spoken to the above effect of the different kinds of laws, he adds the following remark, &#8220;Pindar appears to me to be correct in saying that law is king of all things,&#8221; let us proceed to discuss this assertion.&#160; What law do you mean to say, good sir, is &#8220;king of all things?&#8221;&#160; If you mean those which exist in the various cities, then such an assertion is not true.&#160; For all men are not governed by the same law.&#160; You ought to have said that &#8220;laws are kings of all men,&#8221; for in every nation some law is king of all.&#160; But if you mean that which is law in the proper sense, then it is this which is by nature &#8220;king of all things;&#8221; although there are some individuals who, having like robbers abandoned the law, deny its validity, and live lives of violence and injustice.&#160; We Christians, then, who have come to the knowledge of the law which is by nature &#8220;king of all things,&#8221; and which is the same with the law of God, endeavour to regulate our lives by its prescriptions, having bidden a long farewell to those of an unholy kind.