estigation will fall in with this treatise, let us venture to lay
down some considerations of a profounder kind, conveying a mystical and
secret view respecting the original distribution of the various quarters
of the earth among different superintending Spirits."[134] He says that
Celsus has misunderstood the deeper reasons relating to the arrangement
of terrestrial affairs, some of which are even touched upon in Grecian
history. Then he quotes Deut. xxxii. 8-9: "When the Most High divided
the nations, when he dispersed the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of
the people according to the number of the Angels of God; and the Lord's
portion was his people Jacob, and Israel the cord of his inheritance."
This is the wording of the Septuagint, not that of the English
authorised version, but it is very suggestive of the title the "Lord"
being regarded as that of the Ruling Angel of the Jews only, and not of
the "Most High," _i.e._ God. This view has disappeared, from ignorance,
and hence the impropriety of many of the statements referring to the
"Lord," when they are transferred to the "Most High," _e.g._ Judges i.
19.

Origen then relates the history of the Tower of Babel, and continues:
"But on these subjects much, and that of a mystical kind, might be said;
in keeping with which is the following: 'It is good to keep close the
secret of a king,' Tobit xii. 7, in order that the doctrine of the
entrance of souls into bodies (not, however, that of the transmigration
from one body into another) may not be thrown before the common
understanding, nor what is holy given to the dogs, nor pearls be cast
before swine. For such a procedure would be impious, being equivalent to
a betrayal of the mysterious declarations of God's wisdom.... It is
sufficient, however, to represent in the style of a historic narrative
what is intended to convey a secret meaning in the garb of history, that
those who have the capacity may work out for themselves all that relates
to the subject."[135] He then expounds more fully the Tower of Babel
story, and writes: "Now, in the next place, if any one has the capacity
let him understand that in what assumes the form of history, and which
contains some things that are literally true, while yet it conveys a
deeper meaning...."[136]

After endeavouring to show that the "Lord" was more powerful than the
other superintending Spirits of the different quarters of the earth, and
that he sent his people forth to be p