Chapter X: Book V: has been devoted to the doctrines of the “Naassenes”--a word (3)

From the Panspermia of the heap of the cosmic seed, there escaped and was brought forth the Great Ruler, the chief of the Cosmos, [a being] of unspeakable beauty and greatness. And he, uplifting himself to the firmament thought there was none other above him. And he became brighter and mightier than all below him, save the Sonhood left behind whom he did not know to be wiser than he. This [Ruler] having turned to the fashioning of the Cosmos, first begat for himself a Son better than he, and made him sit at his right hand. And this [place of the Ruler] they declare the Ogdoad. He then builds the whole [Sidenote: p. 493.] heavenly creation. But another Ruler ascended from the Panspermia, greater than all those lying beneath save the Sonhood left behind, but much inferior to the first, and he is called Hebdomad. He is the Creator and Demiurge and Controller of all below him; and he also made for himself a son more foresighted and wiser than he. But all these, they say, are according to the predetermination of that One-Who-Is-Not, and are worlds and boundless spaces.[33] And [Basilides] says that on Jesus who was born of Mary the power of [the] Gospel came, which descended and illumined the Son of the Ogdoad and the Son of the Hebdomad for the illumination and separation and purification of the Sonhood left behind that he might benefit and receive benefits from the souls. And they say that themselves are sons [of God], who for this purpose are in the world, [viz.] that they may purify the souls by their teaching and go on high together with the [third] Sonhood to the presence of the Father above, from whom the first Sonhood proceeded.[34] And they declare that the cosmos shall endure until all the souls together with the Sonhood shall withdraw [from it]. And Basilides is not ashamed to narrate these portents.[35]

[Sidenote: p. 494.] 7. _Justinus._[36]

15. Justinus also daring to [advance] things like these, says thus: “There are three unbegotten principles of the universals, two male [and] one female.” Of the male, one is a certain principle called the Good, and is alone thus called, having foreknowledge of the universals. But the other [male] is the Father of all begotten ones, and has no foreknowledge and is unknown and unseen and is called, they say, Elohim. [But] the female is without foreknowledge, inclined to passion, double-minded, double-bodied, as in the stories about her[37] which we have above related in detail, the upper parts of her down to the groin being a virgin and those [below] a viper. The same is called Edem and Israel. And he declares that these are the principles of the universals wherefrom all things came into being. And [he says] that Elohim came without foreknowledge to desire for the composite virgin, and, companying with her, begat [Sidenote: p. 495.] twelve angels. The names of these are....[38] And of these the paternal ones take sides with the (father); but the maternal ones with the mother. The same are (the trees of Paradise)[39] whereof Moses, speaking allegorically, wrote in the Law. And all things were made by Elohim and Edem; and the animals together with the rest of [creation] come from the beast-like parts, but man from those above the groin. And Edem deposited in [man] the soul which is her power (but Elohim the spirit). But he declares that Elohim having learned [of the light above him] ascended to the presence of the Good One and left Edem behind. Whereat she being angered makes every plot against the spirit of Elohim which is deposited in man. And for his sake, the Father sent Baruch and commanded the Prophets (to speak) so that he might set free the spirit of Elohim and draw all men away from Edem. But he [Sidenote: p. 496.] declares that Heracles became a prophet and that he was worsted by Omphale, that is by Babel, whom they name Aphrodite. And at last in the days of Herod Jesus became the son of Mary and Joseph, to Whom he declares Baruch to have spoken. And that Edem plotted against Him, but could not beguile Him, and therefore made Him to be crucified. Whose spirit [Justinus] says went on high to the Good One. And thus (the spirits) of all who believe these silly and feeble stories will be saved; but the body and soul belonging to Edem, whom the foolish Justinus calls the Earth,[40] will be left behind.[41]

8. _The Docetae._

16. But the Docetae say things like this: That the first God is as the seed of the fig-tree from whom have come three Aeons, like the stem and the leaves and [Sidenote: p. 497.] the fruit. And that these have projected thirty Aeons, each of them (ten). But all are linked together in tens and only differ in arrangement by some being before others.[42] And they projected infinitely boundless Aeons and are all masculo-feminine. And having taken counsel they all came together into one and from this intermediate Aeon was begotten from the Virgin Mary the Saviour of all, like in all things to the seed of the fig-tree, but inferior to it in that He was begotten. For the seed whence the fig-tree [comes] is unbegotten.[43] This then was the great light of the Aeons, complete, receiving no setting in order,[44] containing within itself the forms of all the animals. And [they say] that this [light] shining into the underlying chaos provided a cause to the things which have been and are, and descending from on high impressed [on the] chaos below the forms of the Aeonic exemplars.[45] For the third Aeon which had tripled itself, seeing that all his types were drawn down into the darkness below and not being ignorant of the terrible nature of the darkness and the simplicity of the light, created heaven and having fixed it between, divided in twain the darkness and the light.[46] Then all the forms of the third Aeon having been overcome, [Sidenote: p. 498.] they say, by the darkness, his likeness[47] subsisted as a living fire coming into being by the light. From which, they say, the Great Ruler came to be, of whom Moses talks when he says that this God is a fiery God and a Demiurge who ever transfers the forms[48] of all (Aeons) into bodies. But they declare that it is these souls for whose sake the Saviour came,[49] and showed the way whereby those that had been overcome may escape. And [they say] that Jesus did on that unique power, wherefore He could not be gazed upon by any by reason of the overpowering greatness of His glory. And they say that all things happened to Him as is written in the Gospels.[50]

9. _Monoimus._

17. But the followers of Monoimus the Arab say that [Sidenote: p. 499.] the principle of the All is a First Man[51] and Son of Man, and that the things which have come to pass as Moses says, came into being not by the First Man but by the Son of Man, and not from the whole, but from part of him. And that the Son of Man is Iota, which is the Decad, a dominant number wherein is the substance of all number, whereby every number subsists, and is the birth of the All [viz.] Fire, Air, Water [and] Earth. But this being so, Iota is one and one tittle, a perfect thing from the Perfect, a tittle flowing from on high, having within itself whatever also has the Man the Father of the Son of Man. Therefore [Monoimus] says that the world of Moses came into being in six days, that is, in six powers, from which the cosmos came forth from the one tittle. For cubes and octahedrons and pyramids and all the equal-sided figures like these, whence are made up Fire, Air, Water [and] Earth, have came into being from the numbers left behind in that simple tittle of the Iota which is the Son of Man. When therefore, he says, Moses speaks of a rod turning [Sidenote: p. 500.] towards Egypt he is attributing allegorically the woes[52] of the world to the Iota, nor does he figure more than the ten woes. But if, he says, you wish to understand the All, enquire within thyself who it is who says, “My soul, my flesh, my mind,”[53] and who within thee makes each thing his own as another does to him. Understand that this is a perfect thing from the Perfect who considers all the so-called non-existent and all the existent as peculiar to himself.[54] This then is what Monoimus thinks.

10. _Tatian._

18. But Tatian, like Valentinus and the others, says that there are certain unseen Aeons, by one of whom below the cosmos and the things that are, were fashioned. And he practises a very cynical mode of life, and hardly differs from Marcion in his blasphemies and his rules about marriage.[55]

[Sidenote: p. 501.] 11. _Marcion._[56]

19. Marcion the Pontian, and Cerdo his teacher, also determined that there are three principles of the All, a Good One, a Just One, and Matter. But certain disciples of theirs add to this, saying that there are a Good One, a Just One, a Wicked One, and Matter. But all [agree] that the Good One created nothing wholly;[57] but they say that the Just One, whom some name the Wicked One, but others merely the Just, made all things out of the underlying Matter. For he made them not well but absurdly.[58] For things must need be like their creator. Wherefore they make use of the parable in the Gospels, saying, “A good tree cannot make evil fruits,”[59] and so on, declaring that in this it is said that things were devised wickedly by [the Just One]. And he says that Christ is the son of the Good One and was sent for the salvation of souls. Whom he calls [the] inner man, saying that He appeared as a man, [Sidenote: p. 502.] but was not man, and as incarnate, but was not incarnate, and was manifested in appearance [only], but underwent neither birth nor suffering, but seemed [to do so]. And [Marcion] does not wish that [the] flesh shall rise again. And, saying that marriage is destruction, he leads his disciples to a very Cynical life, thinking thereby to vex the Demiurge by abstaining from the things brought into being or laid down by him.[60]

12. _Apelles._

20. But Apelles, the disciple of [Marcion] displeased with what was said by his teacher, as we have before said, proposed by another theory that there are four Gods, declaring that one is (good) whom the Prophets knew not, but of whom Christ is the Son. And that another is the Demiurge of the All, whom he does not wish to be a god, and another a fiery one who is manifest, and yet another a wicked one: [all of] whom he calls angels. And adding Christ to these, he says that He is the fifth. But he gives heed to a book which he calls _Manifestations_ of a certain Philumene whom he thinks a prophetess. And he says [Sidenote: p. 503.] that Christ did not receive the flesh from the Virgin, but from the adjacent substance of the cosmos. Thus he has written treatises[61] against the Law and the Prophets attempting to discredit them as false speakers and ignorant of God. And he says, like Marcion, that [all] flesh will be destroyed.[62]

13. _Cerinthus._

21. But Cerinthus, who had been trained in Egypt, would have it that the cosmos did not come into being by the First God, but by a certain angelic power far removed and standing apart from the Authority [set] over the universals and ignorant of the God over all things. And he says that Jesus was not begotten from a Virgin, but was the son of Joseph and Mary in the same way as the rest of mankind, and that He excelled all other men in righteousness, moderation and intelligence. And that at the Baptism, there descended upon Him from the Authority over the universals, the Christ in the form of a dove, and that He then preached the unknown God and perfected his powers;[63] [Sidenote: p. 504.] but that at the end of the passion the Christ fell away from Jesus. And Jesus suffered, but the Christ remained passionless, being a spirit of [the] Lord.[64]

14. _Ebionæi._

22. But the Ebionæi say that the cosmos came into being from the true God; but speak of the Christ as does Cerinthus. And they live in all things according to the Law of Moses, thus declaring themselves justified.[65]

15. _Theodotus._

23. Theodotus the Byzantian brought in another heresy such as this, declaring that the universals came into being by the true God. But he says, like the Gnostics before described, that the Christ appeared in some such fashion [as this]. He said that the Christ was a man akin to all, but He differed [from others] in that He by the will of God was born from a Virgin who had been overshadowed by the [Sidenote: p. 505.] Holy Spirit. And that he was not incarnate in the Virgin, but at length at the Baptism the Christ descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove, whence they say He did not before then exercise powers. But he will not have the Christ to be God. And so Theodotus.[66]

16. _Other Theodotians._

24. And others of them say all things like those aforesaid, altering one single thing only in that they accept Melchizedek as some very great power, declaring him to exist above every power. After whose likeness they will have the Christ to be.[67]

17. _Phrygians._

25. But the Phrygians take the beginnings of their heresy from one Montanus and Priscilla and Maximilla, thinking the wenches prophetesses and Montanus a prophet. But [Sidenote: p. 506.] they are considered to speak rightly in what they say about the beginning and the fashioning of the All, and they receive not otherwise the things about the Christ. But they stumble with those aforesaid to whose words they erringly give heed rather than to the Gospels, and they prescribe new and unusual fasts.

26. But others of them approaching the heresy of the Noetians think in like manner concerning the wenches and Montanus, but blaspheme the Father of the universals saying that He is at once Son and Father, seen and unseen, begotten and unbegotten, mortal and immortal. These take their starting-points from one Noetus.[68]

18. _Noetus._

27. And in the same way Noetus, being a Smyrnæan by birth, a garrulous and versatile man, brought in this heresy, which from one Epigonus reached Cleomenes and has so remained with his successors until now. It says that the [Sidenote: p. 507.] Father and God of the universals is one and that He made all things, and became invisible to the things which are when He willed, and then appeared when he wished. And that He is invisible when He is not seen; but visible when He is seen; and unbegotten when He is not begotten, but begotten when He is begotten from a Virgin; and passionless and immortal when He does not suffer and die, but that when [the] Passion comes, He suffers and dies. They think this Father is Himself called Son according to times and circumstances.[69] The heresy of these persons Callistus confirmed, whose life we have faithfully set forth. Who himself gave birth to a heresy, taking starting-points from them, while himself confessing that this Fashioner the All is the Father and God; but that He is spoken of by name and named Son, while in substance He is (one Spirit). For God, he says is a Spirit not other than the Logos nor the Logos than God, and therefore this Person is divided in name indeed, but not in substance. And he names this one God, and says that He was incarnated. And he wishes the Son to be He who was seen and overcome according to [Sidenote: p. 508.] the flesh, but the Father to be He who dwelt within [Him]. He sometimes branches off to the heresy of Noetus and sometimes to that of Theodotus, but holds nothing steadfastly. This now Callistus.

19. _Hermogenes._

28. But one Hermogenes having also wished to say something [new] said that God made all things out of co-existent and underlying matter. For that it is impossible to hold that God created existing things from those which are not.[70]

20. _Elchasaitae._

29. But certain others, as if bringing in something new [and] collecting things from all heresies, prepared a foreign book bearing the name of one Elchasai. These in the same way [as their predecessors] confess that the principles of the All came into being by God, but do not confess Christ to be one. But they say that there is one on high [Sidenote: p. 509.] who is often transferred[71] into [many] bodies, and that he is now in Jesus. Likewise that at one time, this one was born from God, and at another became [the] Spirit, and sometimes was born from a Virgin and sometimes not. And that thereafter he is ever transferred into [many] bodies, and is manifested in many according to [the] times. And they use incantations and baptisms for their confession of the elements.[72] And they are excited about astrology and mathematics and (give heed) to magic (acts). And they say they foreknow the future.[73]

21. [_Title lacking_].[74]

30. (Abraham being commanded) by God, migrates from Mesopotamia and the city of Harran to the part now called Palestine and Judæa but then Canaanitis, concerning which we have in part but not without care handed down the [Sidenote: p. 510.] account in other discourses.[75] Through this occurred the beginning of [the] increase [of population] in Judæa, which got the name from Judah the fourth son of Jacob, of whom it was also called the kingdom, through the royal race being from him. (Abraham)[76] migrates from Mesopotamia (being 75 years old) and being in his hundredth year (begat Isaac). (And Isaac being) 60 years old begat Jacob. And Jacob [when] 87 years old begat Levi. But Levi when 40 years old begat Kohath.[77] And Kohath [was 4] years old when he went down with Jacob into Egypt. Therefore the whole time which Abraham and all his race by Isaac dwelt in the land then called [the] Canaanitis was 215 years.[78] And his (father) was Terah. This, one’s [father] was Nahor, his Serug (his Zeu, his Peleg, his Eber) whence (the Jews) are [Sidenote: p. 511.] called Hebrews. There were 72 (sons of Abraham from whom also were 72) nations, whose names also we have set forth in other books.[79] Nor did we omit this in its place as we wished to show to the learned[80] our affection concerning the Divine and the accurate knowledge concerning the Truth which we have painfully acquired. But the father of this Eber was Shelah, and his Canaan, and his Arphaxad, who was born to Shem; and his father was Noah in whose time the flood over the whole world came to pass, which neither Egyptians, nor Chaldæans, nor Greeks record. For to them the floods in the time of Ogyges and Deacalion were [only] in places. Now in their time[81] were 5 generations, or 435 years.[82] This [Noah] being a most pious man and one who loved God, alone with [his] wife and children and their three wives escaped the coming flood, being saved in an ark, the measurements and remains of which, as we have set forth[83] [elsewhere], are shown to this day in the [Sidenote: p. 512.] mountains called Ararat which are near the land of the Adiabeni. It is then to be observed by those who wish to give a painstaking account how plainly it is shown that the God fearing race are older than all Chaldæans, Egyptians, [or] Greeks. But what need is there to name here those before Noah who both feared and spake with God, when to what has gone before the witness of antiquity is sufficient?

31. But since it seems not unreasonable to show that those nations who occupy themselves with philosophy[84] are later in date than they who feared God, it is right to say both where their race came from, and that when they migrated to these countries, they did not take a name from them, but themselves gained [one] from those who first ruled[85] and dwelt [there]. The three sons of Noah were Shem, Ham and Japhet. From them the whole race of men multiplied and dwelt in every country. For the word of God[86] was confirmed by them which said, “Increase and multiply and fill the earth.”[87] So mighty was this one saying, that 72 children were begotten by the 3 sons, family [Sidenote: p. 513.] by family, of whom 25 were Shem’s, 15 Japhet’s, and 32 Ham’s. And the sons of Ham were, as has been said 32:--his were Canaan, from whom the Canaanites, Misraim, from whom the Egyptians, Cush, from whom the Ethiopians, Phut, from whom the Libyans. These in their own speech unto this day are called by the common name of their ancestors and even in the Greek are named by the names by which they have just been called. But if it were shown that there were formerly none to inhabit their countries, nor a beginning of [any] race[88] of men, yet there are still these sons of Noah, a God-fearing man who was himself a disciple of God-fearing men, thanks to which he escaped the great although temporary threat of [the] waters. How then can it be denied that there were God-fearing men earlier than all Chaldæans, Egyptians [and] Greeks,[89] the father of which [last] was born to that Japhet [and had the] name Jovan, whence [the] Greeks and Ionians? And if the nations who occupy themselves with matters of philosophy are shown to be altogether of much later date than the God-fearing race and the Flood, will not the Barbarian [Sidenote: p. 514.] and whatever races in the world are known and unknown, appear later than these? Wherefore now, do ye Greeks, Egyptians and Chaldæans and every race of men master this argument and learn what is the Divine and what His well-ordered creation from us, the friends of God, who have not been trained in dainty phrase, but in the knowledge of Truth and the practice of moderation find words for His demonstration.[90]

32. One God is the First and Only One and Creator and Ruler of all. He has no coæval, neither boundless chaos, nor immeasureable water, nor solid earth, nor compact air, nor hot fire, nor subtle spirit, nor the blue canopy of great heaven.[91] But He was One, alone with Himself, who when He willed created the things which are, which at first were not, save that He willed to create them as knowing of what they would be. For foreknowledge also is present with Him. He fashioned first the different principles of things to come--fire and spirit,[92] water and earth,--from which different [principles] He made His creation. And some [Sidenote: p. 515.] things He [made of] one substance and some he bound together out of two, others of three and yet others of four. And those that are of one were immortal, for dissolution does not dog them, for that which is one will never be dissolved. But those [made] from two or three or four [substances] are dissoluble, wherefore they are called mortal. For death is called this, the dissolution of what is bound together. We think we have now answered sufficiently those who have sound perception, who, if for love of learning they will enquire further into these substances and the causes of the fashioning of all things, they will learn them by reading our book, treating of “the Substance of the All.”[93] And I think that it is here enough to set forth the causes from ignorance whereof the Greeks glorified with dainty phrase the parts of the creation, but ignored the Creator. Starting wherefrom the heresiarchs, transfiguring into like expressions what was formerly said by [the Greeks] have composed laughable heresies.

33. This God, then, One and Over All having first conceived [Sidenote: p. 516.] in His mind begat [the] Word, not a word in the sense of a voice, but the indwelling Reason[94] of the All. He begot Him alone from the things which are. For the Father Himself was what is, from Whom was the Word, the cause of the begetting of things coming into being, bearing within Himself the will of His begetter, not ignorant of the thought of the Father. For from the time[95] of His coming forth from Him who begat Him, becoming His first-born voice, He holds within Himself the ideas conceived in His Father’s mind. Whence, on the Father ordering the world to come into being, the Word completed it in detail,[96] [thus] pleasing God. And the things which multiply by generation, He formed male and female; but all those for service and ministry he made either males who have no need of females or neither male nor female. For when the first substances [Sidenote: p. 517.] of these came into being [namely] Fire and Spirit, Earth and Water, from the things that were not, neither male nor female things existed. Nor could male and female have come forth from each of these, unless the God who gave the command had willed that the Word should do this service.[97] I confess that angels are [formed] of fire and I say that no females are present with them. But I consider that Sun and Moon and stars were in like manner [formed] of fire and spirit and are neither male nor female. But I say that swimming animals were [formed] of water and that winged ones are male and female.[98] For thus God willed and commanded that the watery substance should be fruitful. In like manner, serpents and wild beasts and all sorts of animals were [formed] from earth and are male and female; for this the nature of begotten things allowed. For whatever things He willed, those God created. These He fashioned by the Word, for they could not have come into being otherwise than they did. But when as He had willed He also created, He called and designated them by name. Thereafter He fashioned the ruler of them all, and equipped him from all substances brought together. Nor did He wish to make a God and fail, nor an angel--be not deceived--but [Sidenote: p. 518.] a man. For had God willed to make thee a God, He could: thou hast the example of the Word. But He willed a man and created thee a man. But if thou dost wish also to become a God, hearken to the Creator and withstand Him not now, so that being found faithful over a little, thou mayest be entrusted with much.[99]

Only the Word of this [God] is from Him. Wherefore He also is God, being the substance of God. But the world is from nothing. Wherefore it is not God and it will be dissolved[100] when the Creator wills. But God who created makes nothing evil; but he creates it fair and good. For He who creates is good. But man when he came into being was an animal with free-will,[101] not having a ruling mind, nor dominating all things by reflection and authority and power, but a slave[102] and full of all contrary [desires].[103] Who, in that he is free to choose produces evil, which when it is completed by accident is nothing unless thou dost make [it].[104] For it is by the thinking and willing something [Sidenote: p. 519.] evil, that it is named evil; which was not from the beginning, but came into being later. [And] as man was free to choose, a Law was laid down by God, not vainly. For if man were not free to will or not to will, what need of a Law?[105] For the Law is not decreed for a dumb beast, but a bridle and a whip; but to man was appointed a commandment and a penalty in respect of what he was to do and not to do. And [the] Law as to this was laid down of old through righteous men. Nearer to our own times, a Law full of majesty and justice was laid down through the Moses aforesaid, a steadfast man and one who loved God.

All these things, the Word of God directs, the First-born Son of [the] Father, the light-bringing voice before dawn.[106] Thereafter there came into being righteous men who loved God. These were called prophets from their showing beforehand the things to come.[107] To whom word came not at one season [only], but through all generations the utterances of things foretold was most clearly brought forward.[108] [Sidenote: p. 520.] Nor did they merely give an answer to those present there at the time, but through several generations also the things to come were foreshadowed. [And this] because speaking of things past they recalled them to mankind; but by showing what was then happening they put away carelessness, and by foretelling the future have made every one of us fearful by the sight of the fulfilment of prophecies and the expectation of the future. Such is our faith, O all ye men who are not persuaded by vain speeches, nor captured by sudden movings of the heart, nor enchanted by plausible and eloquent words, but have not been obdurate to words uttered by Divine power. And these things God commanded [the] Word; and the Word speaking through [the prophets], uttered them for the turning of man from disobedience and emancipating him from the force of Fate, but calling him to liberty by his free choice.[109]

The Father in the last days sent forth this Word, not speaking through a prophet, and not wishing that the Word when proclaimed should be darkly guessed at, but that He should be manifested to the very eyes of all. He, I say, [Sidenote: p. 521.] (sent Him forth) that the world when it beheld Him should be put to shame. For He did not give commandment through the person of prophets, nor affright [the] soul by an angel, but was Himself present and spake. Him we know to have taken body from a Virgin and to have moulded[110] the old man through a new formation. [We know] that He passed in life through every age,[111] so that He might become a law for every age, and that His presence might show forth His manhood as an example[112] to all men; and that through Him it might be proved that God makes nothing evil, and that man as master of himself can will or not will [evil], being capable of both. We know, too, that this man came into being out of the same material[113] as ourselves; for were He not of the same [matter] it would be vain to order that the Teacher be imitated. For had that Man chanced to be of another substance [than ours] why should he order me who am weak by nature to do things like Himself? And [in that case] how is He good and just? But in order that He might not be thought different from us, He underwent toil, and was willing to hunger, and denied not thirst,[114] and was stilled in sleep, and renounced not suffering, and [Sidenote: p. 522.] submitted to death, and manifested resurrection, sacrificing in all this His own manhood, so that thou when suffering may not be faint-hearted, but mayst confess thyself a man and expect also what the Father promised Him.

34. Such is the true word about the Divine.[115] O all ye men, Greeks and Barbarians, Chaldæans and Assyrians, Egyptians and Libyans, Indians and Ethiopians, Celts and ye army-leading Latins,[116] and all ye dwellers in Europe, Asia and Libya.[117] To you I am become a counsellor, being a disciple of the Word who loves man and myself a lover of mankind, so that you may hasten to be taught by us who is the real God and what His well-ordered creation. And that you give not heed to the sophistries of artificial discourses,[118] nor to the crazy promises of plagiarizing heretics, but to the august simplicity of unboastful truth. Through the knowledge of which, you shall escape the coming menace of the judgment of fire, and the unlighted vision of gloomy Tartarus unillumined by the voice of the Word, and [Sidenote: p. 523.] the boiling of the Lake of the eternal Gehenna of flame, and the ever-threatening eye of the angels punished in Tartarus,[119] and the worm which through the filth of the body turns towards the body which threw it forth as for food. And these things thou shalt escape when thou hast been taught the God Who Is. And thou shalt have an immortal body together with an incorruptible soul. And thou shalt receive the kingdom of the heavens, who whilst on earth didst also recognize the heavenly King. But thou shall speak with God and be joint heir with Christ, not enslaved by desires nor sufferings nor diseases.[120] For thou [wilt] have become God. For whatever sufferings thou underwent as man, thou hast shown that thou art a man; but whatever is appurtenant to a God, that God has promised to bestow, because thou hast been made divine, since thou hast been begotten immortal. This is the [true] “Know Thyself,” the knowledge of the Creator God. For to him who knows himself has occurred the being known to Him by whom [Sidenote: p. 524.] he is called. Wherefore now, O men, be not your own enemies, nor hesitate to turn again. For Christ is the God over all, Who has arranged to wash away iniquity from among men, and to make anew the old man who from the beginning was called His image, thus showing forth His love towards thee. Having hearkened to Whose august precepts, and having become a good imitator of the Good One, thou wilt be like unto and be honoured by Him. For God asks no alms,[121] and has made thee God for His own glory.

FOOTNOTES

[Footnote 1: The promises before noted at the end of Books VIII and IX to declare the Doctrine of Truth says nothing of these epitomes, nor do they always accord with the earlier Books which may be supposed to be here epitomized. For a suggested explanation of this discrepancy see Introduction, Vol. I, pp. 18, 19 _supra_. It should also be noted that, while the author omits here any detailed mention of the contents of Books II, III, and IV, he can hardly have had Book I before his eyes at the time of writing, or he would have referred to it directly instead of quoting as he does from Sextus Empiricus. As has been said in the Introduction, the “epitome of the heresies” bears closer relation to Books V-IX, although it omits several heresies included in the epitomized books. That the writer, if not Hippolytus himself, is at any rate writing in his name, is plain from the wording of chap. 5, _infra_, and we can hardly suppose a forger so reckless as not to have read the earlier Books before attempting to epitomize them. On the other hand, it is perfectly conceivable that Hippolytus had in his possession notes from which his earlier Books were written, and that of these only a part remained when he set to work to write Book X. It would seem, therefore, that only some such hypothesis as that given in the Introduction really fits the case.

As to the style of the Book it does not differ materially from that of the others, save in one particular. This is the frequent omission of the definite article, which is so frequent as to arouse suspicion that the scribe may have been here translating from a Latin rather than copying from a Greek original.]

[Footnote 2: This is the main reason for supposing that this Book is that called the _Labyrinth_ which Photius says was by the author of the work _On the Universe_, attributed by the list on the chair to Hippolytus. Cf. Salmon in _D.C.B._, “Hippolytus Romanus.”]

[Footnote 3: All these were probably described in the missing Books II and III, together with Book IV, _supra_.]

[Footnote 4: ἀκαλλώπιστος.]

[Footnote 5: Book I only is concerned with the teachings of the Greek philosophers; but Books II and III must, according to the promise in Vol. I, pp. 63, 64, have contained an exposition of the mystic rites and astrological doctrine, and Book IV is entirely taken up with magic and divination. This is confirmed by the statement in Vol. I, p. 119. Hippolytus must therefore have forgotten this when writing Book X, or at any rate did not have the earlier Books before him.]

[Footnote 6: From here to the end of the section on p. 479 Cr., is a copy from Sextus Empiricus’ work, _Adversus Physicos_, c. 10. So close is this that we are able by its aid to correct by it the faulty text of Sextus, and _vice versâ_. Sextus, as a sceptic, was of course as much opposed to the study of nature as Hippolytus, and was therefore only interested in showing the discrepancies among its teachers. But how does this make the quotation from him an “epitome”?]

[Footnote 7: Not mentioned in Book I.]

[Footnote 8: Karsten, VIII, p. 45.]

[Footnote 9: _Il._, XIV, 201.]

[Footnote 10: _Il._, VII, 99.]

[Footnote 11: Karsten, IX, p. 49.]

[Footnote 12: Said to be a quotation from Euripides’ _Hymns_.]

[Footnote 13: Not mentioned in Book I.]

[Footnote 14: Cf. pp. 83, 84 _supra_.]

[Footnote 15: Not mentioned in Book I.]

[Footnote 16: Not mentioned in Book I.]

[Footnote 17: φυσιολογία.]

[Footnote 18: Cf. p. 371 Cr.]

[Footnote 19: In this chapter on the Naassenes, Hippolytus may be supposed to have had before him either the whole of Book V or the notes from which it was written. We may see, therefore, from this, what his idea of an epitome is. He does not try to condense his former statements so as to give us a bird’s-eye view of the whole heresy, but picks out from them a few sentences which seem to him of special importance. Hence it is only useful to us as a means of checking the text, and brings us no nearer to an appreciation of the doctrines of the sect.]

[Footnote 20: Cf. Vol. I, p. 69 _supra_, where this Ademes is called Akembes and both he and Euphrates are mentioned as astrologers only. In Vol. I, p. 149 also the order is reversed and Ademes is called Celbes. Theodoret, _Haer. Fab._, I, 17, quotes this chapter almost _verbatim_, thereby showing that it was Book X and not Book V which he copied.]

[Footnote 21: Words in ( ) added from Theodoret, _ubi cit._]

[Footnote 22: Cf. Vol. I, pp. 146-148 _supra_, which this chapter follows closely.]

[Footnote 23: Words in ( ) added from Vol. I, p. 161 _supra_. Nearly four lines are wanting here which can be filled from the page quoted.]

[Footnote 24: Throughout this chapter, the summarizer copies closely the former account of the Sethians, for which see Vol. I, pp. 160-169 _supra_. I have not thought it worth while to draw attention to the slight differences in readings, but it is plain that the meaning in both cases was as obscure to the summarizer as it is to us.]

[Footnote 25: φρόνησις. This is evidently taken from the account of Simon’s doctrine in Book VI, c. 12 (p. 6 _supra_), which says that the unseen parts of the fire have φρόνησις “and a share of mind,” without mention of the seen parts. The rest of this chapter, with the exception of the last sentence attributing supreme power to Simon, is substantially, but not exactly word for word, identical with c. 12 of