Tertullian: Adversus Valentinianos

[1] Valentiniani, frequentissimum plane collegium inter haereticos, quia plurimum ex apostatis veritatis et ad fabulas facile est et disciplina non terretur, nihil magis curant quam occultare quod praedicant, si tamen praedicant qui occultant. custodiae officium conscientiae officium est. confusio praedicatur dum religio adserveratur.

[1] The Valentinians, plainly the most numerous college among the heretics, because it is for the most part composed of apostates from the truth and is facile toward fables and is not terrified by discipline, care for nothing more than to conceal what they proclaim—if, indeed, they proclaim who conceal. The office of custody is an office of conscience. Confusion is proclaimed while religion is being kept.

nam et illa Eleusinia, haeresis et ipsa Atticae superstitionis, quod tacent, pudor est.

for even those Eleusinian rites, themselves a heresy of Attic superstition, it is out of shame that they keep silent.

[2] idcirco et aditum prius cruciant diutius initiant quam consignant, cum epoptas ante quinquennium instituunt ut opinionem suspendio cognitionis aedificent atque ita tantam maiestatem exhibere videantur quantam praestruxerunt cupiditatem. sequitur silentii officium;

[2] therefore they also torment the approach, initiating longer than they seal, since they appoint epopts five years beforehand, so that they may build up opinion by a suspension of knowledge, and thus seem to exhibit as great a majesty as the desire they have prebuilt. there follows the office of silence;

[3] attente custoditur quod tarde invenitur, ceterum tota in adytis divinitas, tota suspira epoptarum, totum signaculum linguae: simulacrum membri virilis revelatur. sed naturae venerandum nomen allegorica dispositio praetendeus, patrocinio coactae figurae sacrilegium obscurat etconvicium falsis simulacris excusat. proinde quos nunc destinamus haereticos sanctis nominibus et titulis et argumentis verae religionis vanissima atque turpissima figmenta configurantes--facili caritate ex divinae copiae occasione quia de multis multa succedere est--Eleusinia Valentiniana fecerunt lenocinia, sancta silentio magno, sola taciturnitate caelestia.

[3] what is found late is guarded attentively; moreover the whole divinity is in the adyta, the whole sighs of the epopts, the whole signet of the tongue: the simulacrum of the male member is revealed. but, putting forward the venerable name of Nature by an allegorical disposition, with the advocacy of a forced figure it obscures the sacrilege and excuses the reproach with false simulacra. accordingly, those whom we now designate heretics, configuring the most vain and most base figments with holy names and titles and the arguments of true religion—by easy indulgence from the occasion of divine abundance, since from many things many things can be made to fit—have made Eleusinian Valentinian lenocinia, things holy by great silence, heavenly by mere taciturnity.

[4] si bona fide quaeras, concreto vultu, suspenso supercilio "altum est" aiunt. si subtiliter temptes, per ambiguitates bilingues communem fidem adfirmat. si scire te subostendas, negant quicquid agnoscunt.

[4] if you inquire in good faith, with a set countenance and a suspended eyebrow, they say, "it is deep." If you try subtly, one affirms the common faith through double‑tongued ambiguities. If you intimate that you know, they deny whatever they acknowledge.

si comminus certes astuta simplicitate suam caedem dispergunt. ne discipulis quidem propriis ante commitunt quam suos fecerint. habent artificium quo prius persuadeant quam edocent.

if you contend at close quarters, by astute simplicity they disperse the slaughter aimed at themselves. Not even to their own disciples do they entrust it before they have made them their own. They have an artifice by which they persuade before they instruct.

veritas autem docendo persuadetnon suadendo docet.

Truth, however, persuades by teaching; it teaches not by persuading.

CAP II.

CHAPTER 2.

[1] Ideoque simplices notamur apud illos, ut hoc tantum non etiam sapientes, quasi statim deficere cogatur a simplicitate sapientia, domino utramque ingente, "estote prudentes ut serpentes et simplices ut columbae." aut si nos propterea insipientes quia simplices, num ergo et illi propterea non simplices quia sapientes? nocentissimi autem qui non simplices sicut stultissimi qui non sapientes.

[1] Therefore we simple folk are branded among them, as if for this very reason we were not also wise, as though wisdom were straightway compelled to fail from simplicity, though the Lord enjoins both: "be prudent as serpents and simple as doves." Or if we are on that account unwise because we are simple, are they then on that account not simple because they are wise? Most noxious, however, are those who are not simple, just as most stupid are those who are not wise.

[2] et tamen malim meam partem meliori sumi vitio, si forte. praestat minus sapere quam peius, errare quam fallere. porro facies dei spectatur in simplicitate quaerendi ut docet ipsa Sophia, non quidem Valentini, sed Salomonis.

[2] and yet I would rather incur the better fault, if perchance. it is preferable to be less wise than to be wise in a worse way, to err rather than to deceive. furthermore, the face of God is beheld in the simplicity of seeking, as Sophia herself teaches—not indeed that of Valentinus, but of Solomon.

deinde infantes testimonium Christi sanguine litaverunt; pueros vocem qui crucem clamant? nec pueri nec infantes, id est simplices non erant;

then infants consecrated the testimony of Christ with blood; boys—have they a voice, who cry “To the cross!”? neither boys nor infants, that is, they were not simple;

[3] repuerascere nos et apostolus iubet secundum deum, ut malitia infantes per simplicitatem ita demum sapientes sensibus; simul dedit sapientiae ordinem de simplicitate manandi.

[3] to become children again the apostle also bids us according to God, that in malice we be infants through simplicity, and thus at length wise in the senses; at the same time he gave the order of wisdom, to flow from simplicity.

[4] in summa: Christum columba demonstrare solita est, serpens vero temptare; illa et a primordio divinae pacis praeco, ille a primordio divinae imaginis praedo. its facilius simplicitas sola deum et agnoscere poterit et ostendere, prudentia sola concuterepotius et prodere.

[4] in sum: the dove has been wont to demonstrate Christ, but the serpent to tempt; she too from the beginning a herald of divine peace, he from the beginning a plunderer of the divine image. thus the more easily simplicity alone will be able both to acknowledge God and to show him forth, whereas prudence alone will rather shake and betray.

CAP. III.

CHAPTER 3.

[1] abscondat itaque se serpens quantum potest, totamque prudentiam in latebrarum ambagibus torqueat, alte habitet, in casca detrudat, per amfractus seriem suam evolvat; tortuose procedat nec semel totus, lucifuga bestia; nostrae 10 columbae etiam domus simplex in editis semper et apertis et ad lucem. amat figura spiritus sancti orientem Christi figuram.

[1] Let the serpent, then, hide itself as much as it can, and twist all its prudence in the ambages of its lurking-places; let it dwell deep, thrust itself into blind places, and evolve its own series through anfractuous windings; let it proceed tortuously and not all at once entire, a lucifugous beast; the home of our 10 dove, too, is simple, ever on heights and open and toward the light. The figure of the Holy Spirit loves the East, the figure of Christ.

[2] Nihil veritas erubescit nisi solummodo abscondi, quia nec pudebit ullum aures ei dedere, eum deum recognoscere quem iam illi natura commisit, quem cotidie in operi- 15 bus omnibus sentit, hoc solum minus notum quod unicum non putavit, quod in numero nominavit, quod in aliis adoravit.

[2] Truth blushes at nothing except only to be hidden, for nor will it shame anyone to give ears to it, to recognize that God whom nature has already committed to him, whom he daily senses in all work- 15 s, this alone being less known: that he did not think it the unique one, that he named it in number, that he adored it in others.

[3] alioquin a turba eorum et aliam frequentiam suadere, adomestico principatu ad incognitum transmovere, a manifesto ad occultum retorquere de limine fidem offendere est. iam si et in totam fabulam initietur nonne tale aliquid recordabitur se in infamia inter somni difficultates a nutricula audisse, Lamiae turres et pectines Solis.

[3] otherwise, to persuade away from their crowd and to another concourse, to remove from a domestic principate to the unknown, to twist from the manifest to the occult, is to make faith stumble from the threshold. Now if one be even initiated into the whole fable, will he not recall that he heard something of this sort, under infamy, amid the difficulties of a dream, from a nurse—Lamia’s towers and the Sun’s combs.

[4] sed qui ex alia conscientia venerit fidei, si inveniat tot nomina Aeonum, tot conjugia, tot genimina, tot exitus, tot eventus felicitates infelicitates dispersae atque concisae divinitatis, dubitabitne ibidem pronuntiare has esse fabulas et genealogias indeterminatas quas apostoli spiritus, his iam tunc pullulantibus seminibus haereticis, damnare praevenit?

[4] but whoever shall have come to the Faith from another conscience, if he should find so many names of Aeons, so many conjugal pairings, so many begettings, so many issues, so many events—felicities and infelicities—of a divinity scattered and cut up, will he hesitate thereupon to pronounce that these are fables and indeterminate genealogies, which the Spirit of the apostles, with these heretical seeds already then sprouting, preemptively condemned?

[5] merito itaque non simplices, merito tantummodo prudentes, qui talia neque facile producunt neque exerte defendunt sed nec omnes quos edocent, perdocent. utique astute, ut pudenda, ceterum inhumane, si honesta. tamen simplices nos omnia scimus.

[5] deservedly therefore, not the simple, deservedly only the prudent, who neither easily produce such things nor strenuously defend them, and not even all those whom they teach do they thoroughly teach. Of course, astutely, as things to be ashamed of; otherwise, inhumanely, if honorable. Yet we simple folk know all things.

denique hunc primum cuneum congressionis armavimus detectorem et designatorem totius conscientiae illorum primamque hanc victoriam auspicamur quia quod tanto impendio absconditur, etiam solummodo demonstrare destruere est.

Finally, we have armed this first wedge of engagement, the detector and designator of their whole conscience, and we auspicate this first victory, because that which is hidden with such great expenditure, even merely to demonstrate it is to destroy it.

CAP. IV.

CHAPTER 4.

[1] novimus inquam optime originem quoque ipsorum et scimus cur Valentinianos appellemus, licet non esse videantur, abscesseruat enim a conditore sed minime origo deletur et si forte mutetur: testatio est ipsa mutatio. speraverat episcopatum Valentinus quia et ingenio poterat et eloquio, sed alium ex martyrii praerogativa loca potitum indignatus, de ecclesia authenticae regulae abrupit. ut solent animi pro prioratu exciti praesumptione ultionis accendi,

[1] we know, I say, very well their origin also and we know why we call them Valentinians, although they seem not to be such, for they have withdrawn from the founder; but origin is by no means deleted even if by chance it be altered: the change itself is an attestation. Valentinus had hoped for the episcopate, since he was able both by talent and by eloquence, but, indignant that another had obtained the place by the prerogative of martyrdom, he broke away from the church of the authentic rule. as minds are wont, stirred for primacy, to be inflamed by the presumption of vengeance,

[2] ad expugnandum conversus veritatem et cuiusdam veteris opinionis semitam nactus Colorbaso viam delineavit. eam postmodum Ptolomaeus intravit, nominibus et numeris Aeonum distinctis in personales substantias, sed extra deum determinatas, quas Valentinus in ipsa summa divinitatis (ut sensus et affectus, motus) incluserat. deduxit et Heracleon inde tramites quosdam et Secundus et magus Marcus.

[2] turned to assaulting the truth and, having found the path of a certain ancient opinion, with Colorbasus he sketched out the way. Thereafter Ptolemaeus entered it, distinguishing the Aeons by names and numbers into personal substances, but determined outside God—those which Valentinus had enclosed within the very summit of divinity (as senses and affections, motions). Heracleon too drew out from there certain byways, and Secundus, and the mage Marcus.

[3] multum circa imagines legis Theotimus operatus est. ita nusquam iam Valentinus et tamen Valentiniani qui per Valentinum. soius ad hodiernum Antiochiae Axionicus memoriam Valentini integra custodia regularum eius consolatur.

[3] Theotimus has labored much around the images of the law. Thus Valentinus is now nowhere, and yet there are Valentinians who are through Valentinus. Alone to this day at Antioch Axionicus, by the integral custody of his rules, consoles the memory of Valentinus.

alioquin tantum se huic haeresi suadere permissum est quantum lupae feminae formam cotidie supparare solemne est.

otherwise, it has been permitted to commend itself to this heresy only so far as it is customary daily to match the appearance to that of a she‑wolf female.

[4] quidni, cum spiritale illud semen suum sic in unoquoque recenseant? si ali- quid novi adstruxerint revelationem statim appellant praesumptionem et charisma ingenium, nec unitatem sed diversitatem. ideoque prospicimus, seposita alla solemni dissimulatione sua, plerosque dividi quibusdam articulis.

[4] Why not, since they so reckon that spiritual seed of theirs in each individual? If they have added anything new, they immediately call it a revelation—presumption and a charisma of genius—not unity but diversity. And therefore we foresee, their other solemn dissimulation set aside, that many are divided in certain articles.

etiam bona fide dicturos "hoc ita non est" et "hoc aliter accipio" et "hoc non agnosco." varietate enim innovatur regularum facies; habet etiam colores ignorantiarum. CAP V.

even in good faith they will say "this is not so" and "I take this otherwise" and "I do not acknowledge this." For by variety the rules’ face is innovated; it also has the colors of ignorances. CHAPTER 5.

[1] mihi autem cum archetypis erat limes principalium magistrorum, non cum affectatis ducibus passivorum discipulorum. nec undique dicemur ipsi nobis finxisse materias quas tot iam viri sanctitate et praestantia insignes, nec solum nos- tra antecessores sed ipsorum haeresiarcharum contemporales, instructissimis voluminibus et prodiderunt et retuderuntut Iustinus, philosophus et martyr; ut Miltiades, ecclesiarum sophista; ut Irenaeus, omnium doctrinarum curiosissimus explorator; ut Proculus noster, virginis senectae et Christianae eloquentiae dignitas, quos in omasi opere fidei quemadmodum in isto optaverim adsequi;

[1] But for me the boundary-line was with the archetypes of the principal masters, not with the affected leaders of passive disciples. Nor shall we on any side be said to have fashioned for ourselves the subjects which so many men already, distinguished for sanctity and excellence—both not only our predecessors but the contemporaries of the heresiarchs themselves—have in most well-equipped volumes both set forth and blunted: as Justin, philosopher and martyr; as Miltiades, a sophist of the churches; as Irenaeus, the most curious explorer of all doctrines; as our Proculus, the dignity of a virgin old age and of Christian eloquence—whom in the whole work on faith, just as in this one, I would have wished to match;

[2] aut si in totum haereses non sunt, ut qui eas pellunt finxisse credantur, mentietur apostolus praedicator illarum. porro si sunt, non aliae erunt quam quae retractantur. nemo tam otiosus fertur, stilo ut materias habens fingat.

[2] Or if heresies do not exist at all, so that those who expel them are believed to have invented them, the apostle, their preacher, will be lying. Furthermore, if they do exist, they will be no others than those which are being gone over anew. No one is reported so idle as, having materials for the stylus, to fabricate them.

CAP. VI.

CHAPTER 6.

[1] igitur hoc libello quo demonstrationem solum praemittentes illius arcani, ne quem ex nominibus tam peregrinis et coac- tis et compactis et ambiguis caligo suffundat, quomodo iis usuri sumus, prius demandabo: quorundam enim de Graeco interpretatio non occurrit ad expeditam proinde nominis formae; quorundam nec de sexu genera conveniunt; quorundam usi- tatior in Graeco notitia est.

[1] therefore, in this little book—in which, while pre-placing only a demonstration of that arcane matter, lest any caliginous gloom be poured over someone from names so peregrine and coac- ted and compact and ambiguous—how we shall use them I will first lay down: for of some, a translation from the Greek does not present itself so as to yield an expeditious form of the name; for some, the genders do not agree as to sex; for some, the more usual notice is in Greek.

[2] itaque plurimum Graeca pone- mus; significentiae per paginarum limites aderunt, nec Latinis quidem deerunt Graeca sed in lineis desuper notabuntur ut signum hoc sit personalium nominum propter ambiguitates eorum quae cum alia significatione communicant. quamquam distulerim congestionem, solam interim professus narrationem, sicubi tamen indignitas meruerit suggillari non erit delibatione transpunctatoria expugnatio. congressionis lusi- onem deputa, lector, ante pugnam; ostendam sed non imprimam vulnera.

[2] therefore we shall set down for the most part Greek; significations will be present along the limits of the pages, nor indeed will Greek be lacking to the Latin, but it will be noted in lines above, so that this may be a sign of personal names, on account of the ambiguities of those which share with another signification. although I have deferred the congestion, having professed meanwhile the narration alone, yet if anywhere unworthiness shall have deserved to be pilloried, there will not be an expugnation by a transpunctatory delibation. reckon it, reader, a play of engagement before the battle; I will show the wounds but I will not imprint them.

[3] si et ridebitur alicubi, materiis ipsis satisfiet. multa sic digna sunt revinci ne gravitate adornentur. vanitati proprie festivitas cedit.

[3] If there is laughter anywhere, the matters themselves will satisfy it. Many things are thus worthy to be refuted, lest they be adorned with gravity. Festivity properly belongs to vanity.

congruit et veritate ridere quia laetans, de aemulis suis ludere quia secura est. cur- andum plane ne risus eius rideatur si fuerit indignus. ceterum ubicumque dignus risus, officium est.

It is congruent also for Truth to laugh because she is rejoicing, to sport with her rivals because she is secure. Care must plainly be taken lest her laughter be laughed at, if it should be unworthy. Moreover, wherever laughter is worthy, it is a duty.

denique hocmodo incipiam.

Finally, in this way I shall begin.

CAP. VII.

CHAPTER 7.

[1] primus omnium Ennius poeta Romanus "caenacula maxima caeli" simpliciter pronuntiavit elati situs nomine vel quia Iovem illic epulantem legerat apud Homerum. sed haeretici quantas supernitates supernitatum et quantas sublimitates sublimitatum in habitaculum dei sui cuiusque suspenderint extulerint expanderint, mirum est.

[1] first of all, Ennius, the Roman poet, plainly pronounced "the greatest upper-rooms of heaven," under the name of a lofty site, or because he had read in Homer that Jupiter was feasting there. but the heretics, how great supernities of supernities and how great sublimities of sublimities they have suspended, exalted, and expanded into the habitation of each one’s own god, it is a wonder.

[2] etiam creatori nostro Enniana caenacula in aedicularum disposita sint forma, aliis atque aliis pergulis superstructis et unicuique deo per totidem scalas distributis, quot haereses fuerint. meritorium fac- tus est mundus.

[2] even for our Creator, the Ennian upper rooms are arranged in the form of little aediculae, with one pergola after another superbuilt, and with as many staircases assigned to each god as there have been heresies. the world has been made a lodging-house for hire.

[3] Insulam Feliculam credas tanta tabulata caelorum nescio ubi. illic etiam Valentinianorum deus adsummas tegulas habitat. hunc substantaliter quidem ai0w~na te&leion appellant; personaliter vero propa&tora et proarxh&n etiam Bython--quod in sublimibus habitanti min- ime congruebat.

[3] You would suppose a Felicula tenement, with so many stories of the heavens, I know not where. There too the god of the Valentinians dwells up under the topmost tiles. This one, substantially, they call a perfect Aeon; personally, however, the Progenitor and the Proarchē, and even Bythos--which by no means suited one dwelling in the heights.

innatum immensum infinitum invisibilem aeternumque definiunt, quasi statim probent esse si talem definiant qualem scimus esse debere. sic et ante omnia fuisse dicatur.

they define him as unbegotten, immense, infinite, invisible, and eternal, as if they immediately proved him to exist by defining him as such as we know he ought to be. thus let it also be said that he existed before all things.

[4] sed ut sit expostulo nec aliud magis in hiuismodi denoto quam quod post omnia inveniuntur qui ante omnia fuisse dicuntur, et quidem non sua. sit itaque Bythos iste infinitis retro aevis in maxima et altissima quiete, in otio plurimo placidae et--ut ita dixerim--stupentis divinitatis, qualem iussit Epicurus.

[4] but let it be, I demand; nor do I note anything more in things of this sort than that those who are said to have been before all things are found after all things, and indeed not of themselves. Let, therefore, this Bythos have existed through infinite ages past in the greatest and highest quiet, in very abundant leisure of a placid and--so to speak--stupefied divinity, such as Epicurus enjoined.

[5] et tamen quem solum volunt, dant ei secundam in ipso et cum ipso personam, Ennonian, quam et Charin et Sigen insuper nominant. et forte accedunt in illa commendatissima quiete movere eum de proferendo tandem initio rerum a semetipso. hoc vice seminis in Sige sua velunt in genitablibus vulvae locis collocat.

[5] and yet to him whom they wish to be the Only One, they give a second person in him and with him, Ennoia, whom moreover they also name Charis and Sige. and perhaps they go so far, in that most-commended quiet, as to move him to bring forth at last the beginning of things from himself. this, in place of seed, they collocate in his Sige, as if in the genital places of the womb.

suscipit illa statim et praegnans efficitur et parit (utique silentio) Sige. et quem parit? Nus est simillimum Patri et parem per omnia.

she immediately takes it up and becomes pregnant, and she gives birth (of course, in silence) to Sige. And whom does she bear? Nous is most similar to the Father and equal in all things.

[6] denique solus hic capere sufficit immensam illam et incomprehensibilem magnitudinem Patris. ita et ipse Pater dicitur et initium omnium et proprie Monogenes; atquin non proprie siquidem non solus agnoscitur. nam cum illo processit et femina cui Veritas nomen.

[6] finally, this one alone suffices to grasp that immense and incomprehensible magnitude of the Father. thus he himself is called Father and the beginning of all things, and properly Monogenes; but indeed not properly, since he is not acknowledged as alone. for along with him there also proceeded a female whose name is Truth.

Monogenes quia prior genitus quanto congruentius Protogenes vocaretur. ergo Bythos et Sige, Nus et Veritas prima quadriga defenditur Valentinianae factionis, matrix et origo cunctorum. namque ibidem Nus simul accepit prolationis suae officium, emittit et ipse ex semetipso Sermonem et Vitam--

Because he was earlier begotten, the Monogenes, how much more fittingly would he be called Protogenes. Therefore Bythos and Sige, Nus and Truth: the first quadriga is maintained in the Valentinian faction, the matrix and origin of all. For there likewise Nus at once received the office of his own prolation, and he too sends forth from himself Sermon and Life--

[7]quae si retro non erat, utique nec in Bytho; et quale est ut in deo vita non fuerit! sed et haec suboles, ad initium universitatis et formati Pleromatis totius emissa, facit fructum: Hominem et Ecclesiam procreat.

[7]which if formerly it was not, certainly not in Bythos; and what sort is it that in god Life should not have been! But even this offspring, sent forth to the beginning of the universe and of the whole formed Pleroma, makes fruit: it procreates Man and Church.

[8] habes ogdoadem, tetradem duplicem ex coniugationibus masculorum et feminarum, cellas ut ita dixerim primordialium Aeonum, fraterna conubia Valentinianorum, deorum, census omnis sanctitatis et maiestatis haereticae, nescio criminum an numinum turbam, certe fontem reliquae fecunditatis.

[8] you have the ogdoad, a double tetrad from the conjugations of males and females, the cells, so to speak, of the primordial Aeons, the fraternal marriages of the Valentinians, of gods, the census of all the sanctity and heretical majesty, I know not whether a crowd of crimes or of numina, certainly the fount of the remaining fecundity.

CAP. VIII.

CHAPTER 8.

[1] ecce enim secunda tetras, Sermo et Vita, Homo et Ecclesia, quod in Patris gloria fruticasset huic numero gestientes et ipsi tale quid Patri de suo offere, alios ebulliunt fetus-proinde coniugales per copulam utriusque naturae: hac et Sermo et Vita decuriam Aeonum simul fundunt; illac Homo et Ecclesia duos amplius aequiperando parentibus, quia et ipso duo cum illis decem tot efficiunt quot ipsi procreaverunt.

[1] For behold the second tetrad, Discourse and Life, Man and Church, since that which had put forth shoots in the Father’s glory made this number rejoice, they too, eager to offer something of their own to the Father, bubble forth other offspring—accordingly conjugal through the copula of both natures: on this side both Discourse and Life pour out together a decury of Aeons; on that side Man and Church [produce] two more, equalizing their parents, because these very two, along with those ten, make as many as their parents themselves procreated.

[2] reddo nunc nomina quos decuriam dixi: Bythios et Mixis, Ageratos et Henosis, Autophyes et Hedone, Acinetos et Syncrasis, Monogenes et Macaria. contra duodenariusnumerus hi erunt: Paracletus et Pistis, Patricos et Elpis, Metricos et Agape, Aeinus et Synesis, Ecclesiasticus et Macariotes, Theletus et Sophia. cogor hic, quid ista nomina desiderent, proferre de pari exemplo:

[2] I now render the names which I said were a decury: Bythios and Mixis, Ageratos and Henosis, Autophyes and Hedone, Acinetos and Syncrasis, Monogenes and Macaria. Over against them, these will be the duodenary number: Paracletus and Pistis, Patricos and Elpis, Metricos and Agape, Aeinus and Synesis, Ecclesiasticus and Macariotes, Theletus and Sophia. I am compelled here, what these names desiderate, to proffer from a like example:

[3] in scholis Karthaginensibus fuit quidam frigidissimus rhetor Latinus, Phosphorus nomine. cum virum fortem peroraret "venio (inquit) ad vos, optimi cives, de proelio cum Victoria mea, cum Felicitate vestra, Ampliatus Gloriosus Fortunatus Max- imus Triumphalis." et scholastici statim familiae Phosphori feu~ acclamant.

[3] in the Carthaginian schools there was a most frigid Latin rhetor, by the name Phosphorus. when he was perorating about a brave man: "I come (he says) to you, best citizens, from battle with my Victory, with your Felicity, Ampliatus Gloriosus Fortunatus Max- imus Triumphalis." and the schoolboys at once—the household of Phosphorus—cry out "pheu~."

[4] audisti Fortunatam et Hedonen et Acinetum et Theletum; acclama familiae Ptolomaei feu~. hoc erit Pleroma illud arcanum, divinitatis tricenariae plenitudo. videamus quae sint istorum privilegia numerorum-- quaternarii et octonarii et duodenarii.

[4] you have heard Fortunata and Hedone and Acinetus and Theletus; acclaim the household of Ptolemy, “pheu~.” this will be that secret Pleroma, the fullness of the thirtyfold divinity. let us see what the prerogatives of those numbers are-- the quaternary and the octonary and the duodenary.

[5] interim in tricenario fecunditas tota deficit; castrata est vis et potestas et libido genitalis Aeonum--quasi non et numerorum tanta adhuc coagula superessent et nulla alia de paedagogio nomina. quare enim non et quinquaginta et centum procreantur? quare non et Sterceiae et Syntrophi nominantur?

[5] meanwhile, in the thirtyfold the whole fecundity fails; the force and power and generative libido of the Aeons is castrated--as if there were not still such great coagula of numbers left over, and no other names from the schoolroom. Why then are not fifty and a hundred begotten? Why are they not also named Sterceiae and Syntrophi?

CAP. IX.

CHAPTER 9.

[1] sed et hoc exceptio personarum est quod solus ille Nus ex omnibus immensi Patris fruitur notione guadens et exultans, illis utique maerentibus. plane Nus et quantum in ipso fuit et voluerat et temptaverat ceteris quoque communicare quae norat, quantus et quam incomprehensibilis Pater. sed inter- cessit mater Sige, illa scilicet quae et ipsis haereticis suis tacere praescribit, etsi de Patris nutu aiunt factum volentis omnes in desiderium sui accendi.

[1] but this too is respect of persons, that that Nous alone out of all enjoys the notion of the immense Father, rejoicing and exulting, while they, to be sure, are mourning. plainly, Nous, so far as lay in himself, had both wished and attempted to communicate to the others also the things he knew—how great and how incomprehensible the Father. but the mother Sige inter- vened, that one, namely, who even prescribes her own heretics to be silent, although they say it was done at the nod of the Father, willing that all be kindled into desire of himself.

[2] itaque dum macerantur intra semetipsos, dum tacita cupidine cognoscendi Patrem uruntur, paene scelus factum est. namque ex illis duodecim Aeonibus quos Homo et Ecclesia ediderant novissima natu Aeon--viderit soloecismus,Sophia nomen est--incontinentia sui sine coniugis Theleti societate prorumpit in patrem inquirere et genus contrahit vitii quod exorsum quidem fuerat in illis aliis, qui circa Nun, in hunc autem, id est in Sophiam, derivarat, ut solent vitia in corpore alibi connata in aliud membrum perniciem suam efflare.

[2] and so, while they are being macerated within themselves, while they are burned with a tacit desire of knowing the Father, almost a crime came to pass. for from those twelve Aeons whom Man and Church had brought forth, the youngest in birth Aeon--let the solecism see to itself; the name is Sophia--through her own incontinence, without the fellowship of her spouse Theletes, bursts forth to inquire into the Father, and contracts a kind of vice which had indeed taken its beginning in those others who are around Nun, but had been diverted into this one, that is, into Sophia, as vices in the body, begotten elsewhere, are wont to breathe out their bane into another member.

[3] sed enim sub praetexto dilectionis in Patrem aemulatio superabat in Nun solum de Patre gaudentem. ut vero impossibilia contendens Sophia frustra erat et vincitur difficultate et extenditur affectione; modico abfuit prae vi dulcendinis et laboris devorari et in reliquam substantiam dissolvi. nec alias quam pereundo cessasset nisi bono fato in Horon incur- sasset (quaedam et huic vis est: fundamentum, universitatis illius extrinsecus custos) quem et Crucem appellant et Lytrotem et Carpisten.

[3] but indeed under the pretext of love toward the Father, emulation was prevailing against Nun, who alone was rejoicing over the Father. But as Sophia, contending for impossibilities, was in vain, she is overcome by the difficulty and is stretched by affection; she was but a little short, by the force of sweetness and of toil, of being devoured and of being dissolved into the rest of the substance. nor would she have ceased otherwise than by perishing, had she not, by good fate, run upon Horon incur- sasset (there is to this one too a certain force: the foundation, the external guardian of that universe), whom they also call the Cross and the Lytrotes and the Carpistes.

[4] ita Sophia periculo exempta et tarde persuasa de inclinata investigatione Patris, conquievit et totam Enthymesin (animationem) cum passione quae insuper accederat exposuit. CAP X.

[4] thus Sophia, exempted from danger and slowly persuaded from the inclined investigation of the Father, grew quiet and set forth her whole Enthymesis (animation) together with the passion which, moreover, had supervened. CHAPTER 10.

[1] sed quidam exitum Sophia et restitutionem aliter somniaver- unt: post inritos conatus et spei deiectionem deformatam eam; (pallore, credo, et macie et incuria. proprie utique patrem non minus denegatum dolebat quam amissum.) dehinc in illo maerore ex semetipsa sola nulla opera coniugii concepit et procreat feminam. miraris hoc?

[1] but certain people dreamed the exit of Sophia and her restitution differently: after vain attempts and a dejection of hope, her deformed; (with pallor, I believe, and emaciation and neglect. Properly, to be sure, she was grieving that the Father was no less denied than lost.) then, in that mourning, from herself alone, with no work of conjugal union she conceived and procreates a female. do you marvel at this?

et gallina sortita est de suo parere, sed et vultures feminas tantum aiunt.

and the hen has been allotted to bear of herself, but they also say that vultures are females only.

[2] et tamen sine masculo mater et metuere postremo ne finis quoque insisteret, haerere de ratione casus, curare de occultatione. remedia nusquam: ubi enim iam tragoediae atque comoediae a quibus forma mutuaretur exponendi quod citra pudorem natum? dum in malis res est, suscipit convertit ad patrem, sed incassum enisa et vires deserebant, in preces succedit.

[2] and yet, a mother without a male, and at last she feared lest an end too should set in; she stuck fast on the rationale of the mishap, she took thought for concealment. Remedies nowhere: for where now are the tragedies and the comedies, from which a form might be borrowed for exposing what was born short of modesty? While the affair stands amid evils, she takes it up and turns toward the Father, but having striven in vain, and as her forces were deserting her, she passes over into prayers.

tota enim propinquitas pro ea supplicat, vel maxime Nus. (quid? in causa mali tanti?) nullus tamen Sophiae exitus vacuit:

for all the kindred supplicate on her behalf, and most of all Nus. (What? in the case of so great an evil?) nonetheless no exit for Sophia was vacant:

[3] omnes aerumnae eius operantur, siquidem et illa tunc conflictatio in materiae originem pervenit. ignorantia, pavor, maeror substantiae fiunt. ibi demum pater motus aliquando quem supra diximus Horon per Monogenem Nun in haec promit in imagine sua femina-marem, quia et de patris sexu ita variant.

[3] All her afflictions are at work, since indeed that conflict then reaches to the origin of matter. Ignorance, fear, mourning become substances. Thereupon at last the Father, moved at length, sends forth—whom above we called Horon—through the Only-Begotten Nun into these things, in his own image, a female-male, because they likewise vary thus concerning the Father’s sex.

adiciunt autem Horon etiam Metagogea (circumductorem) vocari et Horotheten.

they add, moreover, that Horon is also called Metagogea (a circumductor) and Horothetes.

[4] huius praedicant opera et repressam ab inlicitis et purgatam a malis et dienceps confirmatam Sophiam et coniugio restitutam, et ipsam quidem in Pleromatis censu remansisse, Enthymesin vero eius et illam appendicem passionem ab Horo relegatam et crucifixam et extra eum factam--

[4] they proclaim as the works of this one also: that Sophia was repressed from illicit things and purged from evils and thereafter confirmed and restored to conjugal union, and that she herself indeed remained in the census of the Pleroma, but her Enthymesis—and that appendage, the passion—was by Horos relegated and crucified and made outside him--

[5]malum, quod aiunt, foras. spiritalem tamen substantiam illam ut naturalem quendam impetum Aeonis sed informem et inspeciatam, quatenus nihil adprehendisset, ideoque fructum infirmum et feminam pronuntiatam.

[5]the evil, as they say, outside. yet that spiritual substance as a certain natural impetus of the Aeon, but formless and without species, inasmuch as it had apprehended nothing; and on that account pronounced an infirm fruit and a female.

[1] igitur post Enthymesin extorrem et matrem eius Sophiam coniugi reducem ille iterum Monogenes ille Nus, otiosus plane de Patris cura atque prospectu, solidandis rebus et Pleromati muniendo iamque figendo ne qua eiusmodi rursus concussio incuteret, novam excludit copulationem, Christum et Spiritum Sanctum, turpissimam putem duorum masculorum--

[1] therefore, after Enthymesis was an exile and her mother Sophia restored to her consort, that Only-begotten, that Nous, again, quite at leisure as regards the Father’s care and providence, for the solidifying of things and for fortifying and now fixing the Pleroma, lest any shock of this sort strike again, brings out a new coupling, Christ and the Holy Spirit—a most shameful, I should think, of two males--

[2]aut femina erit Spiritus Sanctus et vulneratur a femina masculus. munus enim his datur unum: procurare concinnationem Aeonum et ab eius officii societate duae scholae protinus, duae cathedrae, inauguratio quaedam dividendae doctrinae Valentini. Christi erat inducere Aeonas naturam coniugiorum--vides quam rem plane--et Innati coniectationem et idoneos efficere generandi in se agnitionem Patris, quod capere eum non sit neque comprehendere non visu denique non auditu compotiri eius nisi per Monogenem.

[2]or else the Holy Spirit will be a female, and by a female the male is wounded. For one function is given to them: to procure the concinnation of the Aeons; and from the partnership of that office, straightway two schools, two cathedras, a kind of inauguration of the doctrine of Valentinus to be divided. It was Christ’s to introduce to the Aeons the nature of marriages—you see what a thing, plainly—and the conjecture about the Innate, and to render them fit for generating within themselves the recognition of the Father, since it is not possible to seize or to comprehend him, nor—by sight, and finally not by hearing—to obtain participation in him, except through the Monogenes.

[3] et tamen tolerabo quod ita discunt patrem nosse--ne nos et illud! magis denotabo doctrinae perversitatem quod docebantur incomprehensibile quidem Patris causam esse perpetuitatis ipsorum, comprehensibile vero eius generationis illorum et formationis esse rationem. hac enim dispositione illud, opinor, insinuatur expedire deum non appre-bendi siquidem inapprehensibile eius perpetuitatis est causa.

[3] and yet I will tolerate that they thus learn to know the Father—let it not be so with us too! rather I will denote the perversity of the doctrine, namely that they were taught that the Father’s being incomprehensible is the cause of their perpetuity, but that his being comprehensible is the rationale of their generation and formation. for by this disposition, that, I suppose, is insinuated: that it is expedient that God not be apprehended, since his inapprehensibility is the cause of their perpetuity.

(4) apprehensibile autem non perpetuitatis, sed nativitatis et formationis, egentium perpetuitatis.

(4) but apprehensible is not of perpetuity, but of nativity and formation, of those in need of perpetuity.

[4] filium autem constituunt apprehensibile patris; quomodo tamen apprehendatur tum prolatus Christus edocuit. Spiritus vero Sancti propria ut de doctrinae studio omnes peraequati gratiarum actionem prosegui nossent et veram inducerentur quietem.

[4] but they constitute the Son apprehensible of the Father; yet how he is apprehended Christ, then brought forth, taught. As for the proper things of the Holy Spirit, so that all, equalized with respect to zeal for doctrine, might know to prosecute thanksgiving and might be led into true quiet.

CAP. XII.

CHAPTER 12.

[1] itaque omnes et forma et scientia peraequantur facti omnes quod unusquisque; nemo aliud quia alteri omnes. refunduntur in Nun omnes in Homines, in Theletos, aeque feminae in Sigas, in Zoas, in Ecclesias, in Fortunatas, ut Ovidius Metamorphoses suas delevisset si hodie maiorem cognovisset.

[1] and so all are equalized both in form and in science, all made what each one is; no one is other, since they are all for one another. they are poured back into Nun, all into Humans, into Theletes; likewise the women into Silences, into Zoas, into Churches, into Fortunate Ones, such that Ovidius would have erased his Metamorphoses if today he had known a greater one.

[2] exinde refecti sunt et constabiliti sunt et in requiem ex veritate compositi magno cum gaudii fructu hymnis Patrem concinunt. diffundebatur et ipse laetitia et utique bene cantantibus filiis, nepotibus. quidni diffunderetur omni iocunditate, Pleromate liberato.

[2] thereafter they were restored and made firm, and, composed into rest from Truth, with a great fruit of joy they sing in concert hymns to the Father. he too overflowed with joy, and assuredly so, with his sons and grandchildren singing well. why should he not be poured out with every jocundity, the Pleroma having been freed.

quis nauclerus non etiam cum dedecore laetatur? videmus cotidie nauticorum lascivias gaudiorum.

What shipmaster does not even rejoice with disgrace? We see every day the lasciviousnesses of nautical rejoicings.

[3] itaque ut nautae ad symbolam semper exultant, tale aliquid et Aeones; unum iam omnes etiam forma nedum sententia, convenientibus ipsis quoque novis fratribus et magistris Christo et Spirito Sancto, quod optimum atque pulcherrimum unusquisque florebat conferunt in medium. vane, opinor; si enim unum erant omnes ex supra dicta peraequatione, vacabat symbolae ratio quae ferme ex varietatis gratia constat.

[3] And so, just as sailors always exult for a contribution-feast, something of the sort do the Aeons too; all now one even in form, to say nothing of sentiment, with their own new brothers and masters—Christ and the Holy Spirit—likewise convening, each contributes into the common midst whatever each was flourishing in as best and most beautiful. In vain, I suppose; for if by the aforesaid equalization all were one, the rationale for a contribution stood vacant, which for the most part subsists by the favor of variety.

[4] unum omnes bonum conferebant quod omnes erant; de modo forsitan fuerit ratio aut de forma ipsius iam peraequationis. igitur ex aere colla- ticio, quod aiunt, in honorem et gloriam Patris pulcherrimum Pleromatis sidus fructumque perfectum compingunt Iesum. eum cognominant Soterem et Christum et Sermonem de patritis et Omnia iam ut ex omnium defloratione constructum: Graculum Aesopi, Pandoram Hesiodi, Acci Patinam, Nestoris Cocetum, Miscellaneam Ptolomaei.

[4] they all contributed one good, which they all were; perhaps there was a reckoning about the measure or about the form of the equalization itself. therefore out of a contributory bronze, as they say, in honor and glory of the Father, they piece together Jesus, the most beautiful star of the Pleroma and the perfect fruit. they surname him Savior and Christ and the Word from paternal things and the All, now as constructed from the gleaning of all: Aesop’s Jackdaw, Hesiod’s Pandora, Accius’s Patina, Nestor’s Concoction, Ptolemy’s Miscellany.

[5] quam proprius fuit de aliquibus Osciae scurris Pancapipannirapiam vocari a tam otiosis auctoribus nominum. ut autem tantum sigillarium extrinsecus quoque inornasset, satellites ei angelos proferunt par genus; si inter se, potest fiere, si vero Soteri consubstantivos-ambigue enim positura inveni--quae erit eminentia eius inter satellites coaequales?

[5] how much more fitting it would have been to be called Pancapipannirapia by some Oscan buffoons, by such idle authors of names. and, moreover, in order that he might have adorned such a sigillarium even from the outside, they produce for him angels as satellites, a kindred stock; if among themselves, it can be; but if consubstantial with Soter—for I have found the wording ambiguous--what will be his eminence among satellites his equals?

CAP. XIII.

CHAPTER 13.

[1] continet hic igitur ordo primam professionem pariter et nascentium et nubentium et generatium Aeonum, Sophiae ex desi- derio Patris periculosissimum casum. Hori oportunissimum auxilium, Enthymeseos et coniunctae Passionis expiatum, Christi et Spiritu Sancti paedagogatum, Aeonum tutelarem reformatum, Soteris pavoninum ornatum, Angelorum comparaticum antistatum.

[1] therefore this order contains the first profession equally both of the Aeons being born, and marrying, and begetting; the most perilous fall of Sophia from desire for the Father; for Horus the most opportune aid; the expiation of Enthymesis and of the conjoined Passion; the pedagogy by Christ and the Holy Spirit; the tutelary guardianship of the Aeons reformed; the pavonine ornament of Soter; the paired presidency of the Angels.

[2] quod superest, inquis, vos valete et plaudite. immo quod superest, inquam, vos erudite et proicite.ceterum haec intra coetum Pleromatis decucurisse dicuntur prima tragoediae scaena, alia autem trans siparium coturnatio est--extra Pleroma dico. et tamen hic exitus sub sinu Patris intra ambitum Hori custodis; qualis extra iam inlibero ubi deus non est?

[2] as for what remains, you say, farewell and applaud. nay rather, as for what remains, I say, educate yourselves and cast it away.Moreover these things are said to have run their course within the assembly of the Pleroma—the first scene of the tragedy; but another buskined acting is beyond the siparium—I mean outside the Pleroma. and yet this outcome is under the Father’s bosom, within the ambit of Horus the guardian; what sort will it be outside, now in the unfree, where God is not?

CAP. XIV.

CHAPTER 14.

[1] namque Enthymesis sive iam Achamoth, quod abhinc scripta hoc solo ininterpretabili nomine, ut cum vitio individuae passionis explosa est in loca luminis aliena, quod Pleromatis res est, in vacuum atque inane illud Epicuri, miserabilis etiam de loco est. certe nec forma nec facies ulla, defectiva scilicet et abortiva genitura. dum ita rerum habet, flectitur a superioribus Christus, deducitur per Horon aborsum ut illud informet de suis viribus solius substantiae, non etiam scientiae, forma.

[1] For indeed Enthymesis, or now Achamoth—since from this point she is written under this single uninterpretable name—when, through the fault of a solitary passion, she was cast out into places alien to the light (which is the affair of the Pleroma), into that vacuum and void of Epicurus, is pitiable even on account of her place. Certainly there is neither any form nor any face—an issue, to wit, defective and abortive. While matters stand thus, Christ is bent from the supernals, is led down through Horon to the abortive one, in order to inform it with a form from his own powers of substance only, not also of science.

[2] et tamen cum aliquo peculio relinquitur, id erat odor incorruptibilitatis quo compos se casus sui potiorum desiderio suppararetur. hac misericordia functus non sine Spiritus Sancti societate recurrit Christus in Pleroma. usus est rerum ex liberalitatibus quoque nomina accedere: Enthymesis de actu fuit, Achamoth unde adhuc quaeritur, Sophia de matre manat, Spiritus Sanctus ex angelo.

[2] and yet she is left with some peculium; this was the odor of incorruptibility, by the possession of which she might be made on a par with the superiors’ desire on account of her fall. having performed this mercy, not without the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, Christ returns into the Pleroma. they made use of the usage that from liberalities too names accrue to things: Enthymesis was from the act, Achamoth from whence it is still inquired, Sophia emanates from the mother, the Holy Spirit from the angel.

[3] accipit Christi a quo derelictam se statim senserat desiderium. itaque prosiluit et ipsa lumen eius inquirere. quem si omnino non noverat ut invisibiliter operatum quomodo lumen eius ignotum cum ipso requirebat?

[3] she receives a desire for Christ, by whom she had at once felt herself abandoned. And so she too sprang forth to inquire after his light. Whom, if she in no way knew as having operated invisibly, how was she seeking his unknown light along with him?

tamen temptavit et fortasse adprehendisset si non idem Horos qui matri eius tam prospere venerat nunc tam importune filiae occurrisset ut etiam inclamaverit in eam "Iao"--quasi "porro quirites" aut "fidem Caesaris."

nevertheless she tried, and would perhaps have seized him, if the same Horos who had come so prosperously to her mother had not now so inopportunely met the daughter, so that he even shouted at her “Iao”—as if “porro quirites” or “fidem Caesaris.”

[4] inde invenitur "Iao" in scripturis. ita depulsa quominus pergeret nec habens supervolare Crucem, id est Horon, quia nullum Catulli Laureolum fuerit exercitata, ut destituta ut passioni illi suae intricata multiplici atque perplexae, omni genere eius coepit adfligi: maerore quod non perpetrasset inceptum, metu ne sicut luce ita et vita orbaretur, tum ignorantia. nec ut mater eius, illa enim Aeon, at haec pro conditione deterius insurgente adhuc et alio fluctu, conversionis scilicet in Christum a quo vivificata fuerat et in hanc ipsam conversionem temperata.

[4] thence “Iao” is found in the Scriptures. Thus, driven back from going further and not having the ability to overfly the Cross, that is, Horon, since she had been exercised in no “Laureolus of Catullus,” so that, abandoned and entangled in that her passion, manifold and perplexed, she began to be afflicted with every kind of it: with grief that she had not accomplished what she had begun, with fear lest, as she had been deprived of light, so also she might be bereft of life, then with ignorance. Nor as her mother—for that one is an Aeon—but she, with her condition rising up worse and with yet another surge, namely of a conversion toward Christ by whom she had been made alive and tempered into this very conversion.

CAP. XV.

CHAPTER 15.

[1] age nunc discant Pythagorici, agnoscant Stoici, Plato ipse, unde materiam quam innatam volunt et originem et substantiam traxerit in omnem hanc struem mundi, quod nec Mercurius ille Trismegistus, magister omnium physicorum, recogitavit.

[1] Come now, let the Pythagoreans learn, let the Stoics acknowledge, and Plato himself, whence the matter which they wish to be ingenerate, and its origin and substance, has been drawn for all this whole mass of the world—a thing which not even that Mercury Trismegistus, the master of all natural philosophers, has reflected upon.

[2] audisti conversionem genus aliud passionis. ex hac omnis anima huius mundi dicitur constitisse, etiam ipsius Demiurgi, id est dei nostri. audisti maerorem et timorem; ex his initiata sunt cetera; nam ex lacrimis eius universa aquarum natura manavit.

[2] you have heard of conversion, another genus of passion. from this every soul of this world is said to have been constituted, even that of the Demiurge himself, that is, of our god. you have heard of grief and fear; from these the rest were initiated; for from his tears the entire nature of waters emanated.

[3] hinc aestimandum quem exitum duxerit, quantis lacrimarum generibus inundaverit. habuit et salsas,habuit et amaras et dulces et calidas et frigidas guttas et bituminosas et ferruginantes et sulphurantes, utique et venenatas ut et Nonacris inde sudaverit quae Alexandrum occidit, et Lyncestarum inde defluxerit quae ebrios efficit, et Salmacis inde se solverit quae masculos molles.

[3] From this one must reckon what outcome it drew, with how many kinds of tears it overflowed. It had both salty,had both bitter and sweet and hot and cold drops, and bituminous and ferruginous and sulphurous, and of course poisonous ones too, so that even Nonacris from there sweated, which killed Alexander; and from there the Lyncestian spring flowed down, which makes men drunk; and from there Salmacis relaxed herself, which makes males soft.

[4] caelestes imbres pipiavit Achamoth et nos in cisternis etiam alienos luctus et lacrimas servare curamus, proinde ex consternatione et pavore corporalia elementa ducta sunt. et tamen in tanta circumstantia solitudinis, in tanto circumspectu destitutionis ridebat interdum qua conspecti Christi recordans. eodem gaudii risu lumen effulsit.

[4] the heavenly showers Achamoth piped out, and we in cisterns even take care to preserve others’ griefs and tears; accordingly from consternation and fear the corporeal elements were drawn. And yet, amid so great a circumstance of solitude, in so great a circumspect view of destitution, she would sometimes laugh, recalling that sight of Christ. By that same smile of joy, light flashed forth.

[5] cuius hoc providentiae beneficium! quae illam ridere cogebat idcirco ne semper nos in tenebris moraremur. nec obstupescas quin laetitia eius tam splendidum elementum radiaverit mundo cum maestitia quoque eius tam necessarium instrumentum defuerit saeculo.

[5] What beneficence of Providence this is!—which compelled her to laugh for this reason, lest we should always dwell in the darkness. And do not be astonished that her joy irradiated so splendid an element to the world, since her sadness too, so necessary an instrument, had been lacking to the age.

o risum illuminatorem! o fletum rigatorem! et tamen poterat remedio iam agere cum illius loci horrore-omnem enim obscuritatem eius discussisset quotiens ridere voluisset--vel ne cogeretur desertores suos supplicare.

o laughter, illuminator! o weeping, irrigator! and yet she could already act with a remedy against the horror of that place- for she would have dispelled all its obscurity whenever she wished to laugh--or lest she be compelled to supplicate her deserters.

CAP. XVI.

CHAPTER 16.

[1] convertitur enim ad preces et ipsa more materno, sed Christus quem iam pigebat extra Pleroma proficisci vicarium praeficit. Paracletum Soterem (hic erit Iesus largito et Patre universorum Aeonum summam potestatem subiciendis eis omnibus uti in ipso secundum Apostolum omnia conderentur) ad eam emittit cum officio atque comitatu coaetaneorum angelorum; credas et cum duodecim fascibus.

[1] for she too turns to prayers in a motherly manner; but Christ, whom it already irked to set out beyond the Pleroma, appoints a deputy. He dispatches to her the Paraclete Soter (this will be Jesus, with the Father of all the Aeons having bestowed the highest authority for subjugating them all, so that in him, according to the Apostle, all things might be established) with the commission and the retinue of coeval angels; you would believe even with twelve fasces.

[2] ibidem adventu pompatico eius concussa Achamoth protinus velamentum sibi obduxit ex officio primo venerationis et verecundiae. dehinc contemplatur eum fructiferumque suggestum; quibus inde conceperat viribus occurit illi ku&rie xai=re. hic opinor susceptam ille confirmat atque conformat agnitione iam et ab omnibus iniuriis passionis expumicat non eadem neglegentia in exterminium discre- tis quae acciderat in casibus matris.

[2] There, at his pompatic arrival, Achamoth, shaken, straightway drew a veil over herself as a primary office of veneration and modesty. Then she contemplates him and the fruitful dais; by the powers which she had then conceived from that sight she runs to meet him: “Hail, Lord!” Here, I suppose, he confirms the one thus received and conforms her by recognition, and he cleanses her from all the injuries of passion, not with the same negligence into extermination which had occurred in the mishaps of her mother.

[3] sed enim exercitata vitia et usu viriosa confudit atque ita massaliter solidata defixit seorsum in materiae incorporalem paraturam commutans ex incorporali passione, indita habilitate atque natura qua pervenire mox posset in aemulas aequiperantias corpulentiarum ut duplex substantiarum conditio ordinaretur: de vitiis pessima, de conversione passionalis. haec erat materia quae nos commisit cum Hermogene ceterisque qui deum ex materia, non ex nihilo, operatum cuncta praesumunt.

[3] but indeed, the vices, exercised and made virulent by use, she threw together, and thus, mass-wise solidified, she fixed them apart, converting, from an incorporeal passion, into an incorporeal preparation of matter, an aptitude and a nature having been imparted by which she might soon be able to arrive at emulous equiparities of corpulences, so that a twofold condition of substances might be ordered: from the vices, a worst one; from the conversion, a passional one. this was the matter which engaged us against Hermogenes and the rest who presume that God worked all things out of matter, not out of nothing.

CAP. XVII.

CHAPTER 17.

[1] abhinc Achamoth expedita tandem de malis omnibus ecce iam proficit et in opera maiora frugescit. prae gaudio enim tanti ex infelicitate successus concalefacta simulque contemplatione ipsa angelicorum luminum, ut ita dixerim, subfermentata--pudet sed aliter exprimere non est--quodammodo subsuriit intra et ipsa in illos et conceptu statim intumuitspiritali ad imaginem ipsam quam vi laetantis ex laetitia prurientis intentionis imbiberat et sibi intimarat.

[1] From this point Achamoth, at last freed from all evils, behold, now makes progress and fructifies into greater works. For, heated through from the joy of so great a success out of ill‑fortune, and at the same time, by the very contemplation of the angelic lights—so to speak, sub‑fermented—it is shameful, but there is no other way to express it—in a certain manner she came into heat within, and she too toward them, and straightway swelledwith a spiritual conception to the very image which, by the force of a prurient intention rejoicing from joy, she had imbibed and had internalized to herself.

[2] peperit denique et facta est exinde trinitas generum ex trinitate causarum: unum materiale quod ex passione, aliud animale quod ex conversione, tertium spiritale quod ex imaginatione.

[2] she bore, finally, and thereafter there came to be a trinity of kinds from a trinity of causes: one material, which is from passion; another animal, which is from conversion; a third spiritual, which is from imagination.

CAP. XVIII.

CHAPTER 18.

[1] hac auctoritate--trium scilicet liberorum--agendis rebus exercitior facta, formare singula genera constituit. sed spiritale quidem non ita potuit attingere ut et ipsa spiritalis; fere enim paria et consubstantiva in alterutrum valere societas naturae negavit.

[1] by this authority--namely, of three children--made more practiced for managing affairs, she determined to form each several kind. But the spiritual she could not so attain, since she herself was not spiritual; for the society of nature denied that things almost equal and consubstantial should have efficacy one upon the other.

[2] eo animo se unum ad animale convertit prolatis Soteris disciplinis. et primum--quod cum magno horrore blasphemiae et pronuntiandum et legendum est et audiendum--deum fingit hunc nostrum et omnium praeter haereticorum, Patrem et Demiurgem et Regem universorum quae post illum, ab illo enim--si tamen ab illo, et non ab ipsa potius Achamoth a qua occulto, nihil sentiens eius et velut sigillario extrinsecus ductu, in omnem operationem movebatur.

[2] With that mind he turned himself alone to the animal class, having brought forward the disciplines of the Soter. And first—which with great horror of blasphemy must be pronounced and read and heard—he fashions as god this one of ours, and of all except the heretics, the Father and the Demiurge and the King of all things which are after him; for from him—if indeed from him, and not rather from Achamoth herself, by whom, unbeknownst to him, sensing nothing of her and, as if by a seal-bearer’s external guidance, he was moved into every operation.

[3] denique ex hac personarum in operibus ambiguitate nomen illi Metropatoris miscuerunt distinctis appellationibus ceteris secundum status et situs operum: ut animalium quidem substantiarum quas ad dextram commendant Patrem nuncupant, materialium vero quas ad laevam delegant Demiurgem nominent, Regem autem communiter in universitatem.

[3] finally, out of this ambiguity of persons in works they mixed in to him the name of Metropator, with the other appellations distinguished according to the statuses and positions of the works: so that, of the animal substances which they commend to the right, they denominate him Father; of the material ones which they delegate to the left, they name him Demiurge, but King in common over the universe.

CAP. XIX.

CHAPTER 19.

[1] sed nec nominum proprietas competit proprietati operum de quibus nomina cum deberet illa haec omnia vocitari a qua res agebantur--nisi quod iam nec ab illa! cum enim dicant Achamoth in honorem Aeonum imagines commentatam, rursus hoc in Soterem auctorem detorquent qui per illam sit operatus, ut ipsam quidem imaginem Patris invisibilis et incogniti daret, incognitam licet et invisibilem Demiurgo. eundem autem Demiurgum Nun filium effingeret.

[1] but neither does the propriety of the names suit the propriety of the works, on account of which the names ought all to be called from that one by whom the things were being done—unless now not even from her! for while they say that Achamoth, in honor of the Aeons, contrived images, they in turn twist this onto Soter as the author, who operated through her, to the effect that she indeed gave the image of the invisible and unknown Father—albeit unknown and invisible to the Demiurge; and that she portrayed this same Demiurge as the son of Nun.

Archangeli vero, Demiurgi opus, reliquos Aeonas experimerent.

But the Archangels, the work of the Demiurge, would express the remaining Aeons.

[2] cum imagines audio tantas trium, quaero, non vis nunc ut imagines rideam perversissimi pictoris illorum: feminam Achamoth imaginem Patris, et ignarum matris Demiurgum--multo magis Patris--imaginem Nu non ignorantis Patrem, et angelos famulos simulacra dominorum? hoc est mulum de asino pingere et Ptolomaeum describere de Valentino.

[2] when I hear such great images of the three, I ask, do you not wish now that I should laugh at the images of their most perverse painter: the female Achamoth as the image of the Father, and the Demiurge, ignorant of the mother—much more of the Father—as the image of Nu, not ignorant of the Father, and the angels, servants, as simulacra of the masters? this is to paint a mule from an ass and to delineate Ptolemaeus from Valentinus.

CAP. XX.

CHAPTER 20.

[1] igitur Demiurgus extra Pleromatis limites constitutus in ignominiosa aeterni exilii vastitate novam provinciam condit, hunc mundum, repurgata confusione et distincta diversitate duplici substantiae illius detrusae, animalium et materialium. ex incorporalibus corpora aedificat gravia levia sublimantia et vergentia caelestia atque terrena. tum ipsam caelorum septemplicem scaenam solio desuper suo finit;

[1] therefore the Demiurge, established outside the limits of the Pleroma, in the ignominious vastness of eternal exile, founds a new province, this world, the confusion having been purged and the diversity of the double substance of that which had been thrust down—of the animal and the material—having been distinguished. from incorporeals he builds bodies, heavy and light, soaring upward and inclining, celestial and terrestrial. then he bounds the sevenfold scene of the heavens with his own throne from above;

[2] unde et Sabbatum dictum est ab hebdomade sedis suae et Ogdoada mater Acha-moth ab argumento ogdoadis primigenitalis. caelos autem noerou_j deputant et interdum angelos eos faciunt sicut et ipsum Demiurgum, sicut et Paradisum Archangelum quartum quoniam et hunc supra caelum tertium pangunt, ex cuius virtute sumpserit Adam deversatus illic inter nubeculas et arbusculas.

[2] whence also the Sabbath is called from the hebdomad of its own seat, and the Ogdoad, the mother Acha-moth, from the argument of the primigenital Ogdoad. but they assign the heavens as noetic, and sometimes they make them angels, as also the Demiurge himself, and likewise Paradise the fourth Archangel, since they also set this above the third heaven, from whose virtue Adam took, having sojourned there among little clouds and little shrubs.

[3] satis meminerat Ptolomaeus puerilium dicibulorum, in mari poma nasci et in arbore pisces; sic et in caelestibus nuceta praesumpsit. operatur Demiurgus ignorans et ideo fortasse non scit arbores in sola terra institui oportere. plane mater sciebat; quidni suggerebat quae et effectum suum ministrabat?

[3] Ptolemy had remembered well enough the childish sayings, that apples grow in the sea and fish on a tree; so too in the heavenly he presumed nut-groves. the Demiurge operates in ignorance and therefore perhaps does not know that trees ought to be instituted only on the earth. plainly the Mother knew; why did she not suggest it, she who also was ministering her own effect?

sed tantum fastigium filio extruens per ea opera quae illum et patrem et deum et regem ante Valentinianorum ingenia testantur, cur sibi quoque ipsa noluit esse nota, postea quaeram.

but only constructing such a pinnacle for the son through those works which testify him, before the ingenuities of the Valentinians, to be both Father and God and King, why she herself did not wish to be known to him as well, I will inquire later.

CAP. XXI.

CHAPTER 21.

[1] interim tenendum Sophiam cognominari et Terram et Matrem et (quod magis rideas) etiam Spiritum Sanctum quasi marem Terram. ita omnem illi honorem contulerunt feminae, puto et barbam-ne dixerim cetera. alioquin Demiurgus adeo rerum non erat com pos--de animalis scilicet census invalitudine spiritalia accedere--ut se solum ratus contionaretur "ego deus et absque me non est."

[1] meanwhile it must be held that Sophia is surnamed both Earth and Mother and (which may make you laugh even more) even the Holy Spirit, as though Earth were a male. thus they have conferred every honor upon that woman, I suppose even a beard—shall I say?—and the rest. otherwise the Demiurge was so far from being compos of affairs—namely, because of the infirmity of the animal order that spiritual things be approached— that, thinking himself alone, he harangued, "I am God and apart from me there is none."

[2] certe tamen non fuisse se retro sciebat. ergo et factum intellegebat et factitatorem facti esse quemcumque. quomodo ergo solus sibi videbatur etsi non certus, saltim suspectus de aliquo factitore?

[2] Yet surely he knew that he himself had not existed before. Therefore he understood both that he was made, and that there was—whoever he might be—a factor of the fact. How then did he seem to himself to be alone, even if not certain, at least suspecting some factor?

CAP. XXII.

CHAPTER 22.

[1] tolerabilior infamia est apud illos in diabolum vel quia origo sordidior capit. ex nequitia enim maeroris illius deputatur ex qua angelorum et daemonum et omnium spiritalium malitiarum genituras notant.

[1] The infamy is more tolerable among them in the case of the devil, indeed because it takes its origin from a more sordid source. For it is assigned from the iniquity of that sorrow, from which they note the genitures of angels and of demons and of all spiritual malices.

[2] et tamen diabolum quoque opus Demiurgi adfirmant et Munditenentem appellant et superiorum magis gnarum defendunt ut spiritalem natura quam Demiurgum et animalem. meretur ab illis praelationem cui omnes haere-ses procurantur.

[2] And yet they also affirm the devil to be a work of the Demiurge, and call him the World-Holder, and they maintain him to be more cognizant of the higher things, as spiritual by nature, than the Demiurge, who is animal. He deserves from them preferment, for whom all heresies are procured.

CAP. XXIII.

CHAPTER 23.

[1] singularium autem potestatum arces his finibus collocant: in summis summitatibus praesidet tricenarius Pleroma Horo signante lineam extremam; inferius illum metatur medietatem Achamoth filium calcans; subest enim Demiurgus in hebdomade sua;

[1] but the citadels of the singular powers they place within these borders: on the highest summits the thirtyfold Pleroma presides, with Horos marking the outer line; lower down, Achamoth measures that middle, treading on her son; for the Demiurge is beneath, in his Hebdomad;

[2] magis diabolus in isto nobiscum convenit mundo coelemen- tato et concorporificato, ut supra editum est, ex Sophiae utilissimis casibus, qua nec aerem haberet, reciprocandi spiritus spatium, teneram omnium corporum vestem, colorum omnium iudicem, organum temporum, si non et istum Sophiae maestitia colasset--sicut animalia metus, sicut conversio eius ipsum Demiurgum.

[2] rather, the Devil in this agrees with us about the world, co-elemented and co-corporified, as has been set forth above, from Sophia’s most useful accidents—without whom he would not even have air, the space for the breath to reciprocate, the tender garment of all bodies, the judge of all colors, the organ of times—if Sophia’s sadness had not filtered even this; just as animals [are] from fear, so too from her conversion the Demiurge himself.

[3] his omnibus elementis atque corporibus ignis inflabellatus est. cuius originaiem Sophiae passionem quia nondum ediderunt ego argumentabor motiunculis eius excussam; credas enim illam in tantis vexationibus etiam febricitasse. CAP XXIV.

[3] By all these elements and bodies a fire has been fanned. As for the origin of it—the passion of Sophia—since they have not yet published it, I will argue it to have been shaken out by her little motions; for you might believe that in such great vexations she even was feverish. CHAPTER 24.

[1] cum talia de deo vel de diis, qualia de homine figmenta? molitus enim mundum Demiurgus ad hominem manus confert et substantiam ei capit non ex ista, inquiunt, arida quam nos unicam novimus terram--quasi non, etsi arida postmodum, adhuc tamen tunc aquis ante segregatis superstite limo, siccaverit --sed ex invisibili corpore materiae illius scilicet philosophicae de fluxili et fusili eius, quod unde fuerit audeo aestimare quia nusquam est:

[1] that there are such figments about God or the gods, as about man? For, having wrought the world, the Demiurge applies his hands to man and takes for him substance not from this, they say, dry earth which we know as the sole earth--as though he had not, although dry afterward, yet at that time, the waters having previously been separated, dried out with the surviving slime--but from an invisible body, namely of that matter, philosophic, from its fluxile and fusile part, which whence it was I dare to estimate, since it is nowhere:

[2] si enim fusili et fluxile liquoris est qualitas, liquor autem omnis de Sophiae fletibus fluxit, sequitur ut limum ex pituitis et gramis Sophiae constitisse credamus quae lacrimarum proinde sunt faeces, sicut aquarum quod desidet limus est. figulat ita hominem Demiurgas et de afflatu suo animat. sic erit et choicus et animalis ad imaginem et similitudinem factus quadruplex res: ut imago quidem choicus deputetur--materialis scilicet etsi non ex materia Demiurgus; similitudo autem animalis--hoc enim et Demiurgus.

[2] for if fusile and fluxile is the quality of liquid, but every liquid flowed from Sophia’s weepings, it follows that we should believe the slime to have consisted of the phlegms and grumes of Sophia, which are accordingly the feces of tears, just as what settles from waters is slime. Thus the Demiurge potter-makes the man and animates him from his own breath. Thus he will be both choic and animal, made according to image and likeness, a quadruple thing: so that the image indeed is reckoned choic—material, to wit, although the Demiurge is not from Matter; but the likeness, animal—for this indeed is the Demiurge.

[3] habes duos. interim carnalem superficiem postea aiunt choico supertextam et hanc esse pelliceam tunicam ob-noxiam sensui.

[3] you have two. meanwhile they say that the carnal surface was afterwards overlaid upon the choic, and that this is the skin tunic, ob-noxious to sense.

CAP. XXV.

CHAPTER 25.

[1] inerat autem in Achamoth ex substantia Sophiae matris peculium quoddam seminis spiritalis sicut et ipsa; Achamoth in filio Demiurgo sequestraverat ne hoc quidem gnaro. (accipe industriam clandestinae providentiae huius.)

[1] There was, moreover, in Achamoth, from the substance of Sophia the mother, a certain peculium of spiritual seed, just as she herself; Achamoth had sequestered this in her son the Demiurge, he not even aware of this. (Accept the industry of this clandestine providence.)

[2] ad hoc enim et deposuerat et occultaverat ut, cum Demiurgus animam mox de suo afflatu in Adam communicaret, pariter et semen illud spiritale quasi per canalem animae derivaretur in choicum atque ita feturatum in corpore materiali velut in utero et adultum illic idoneum inveniretur suscipiendo quandoque sermoni perfecto.

[2] For to this end she had both deposited and concealed it, so that, when the Demiurge should presently communicate the soul to Adam from his own afflatus, at the same time that spiritual seed would be conveyed, as if through the canal of the soul, into the choic (clayey), and thus, having been gestated in the material body as in a womb and having become adult there, it might be found suitable for receiving at some time the perfect Word.

[3] itaque cum Demiurgus traducem animae suae committit in Adam, latuit homo spiritalis flatui eius insertus et pariter corpori inductus quia non magis semen noverat matris Demiurgus quam ipsam. hoc semen Ecclesiam dicunt, Ecclesiae supernae speculum et Hominis, censum proinde eum ab Achamoth deputantes quemadmodum animalem a Demiurgo, choicum substantis a)rxh~j, carnem materia. habes novum id est quadruplum Geryontem.

[3] and so, when the Demiurge commits the offshoot of his soul into Adam, the spiritual Man lay hidden, inserted into his breath and likewise brought into the body, because the Demiurge knew the seed of the Mother no more than he knew herself. This seed they call the Church, a mirror of the supernal Church and of the Man, accordingly assigning him by census to Achamoth, just as the animal [being] to the Demiurge, the choic one to the substance of the Archē, the flesh to matter. You have a new—namely, a fourfold—Geryon.

CAP. XXVI.

CHAPTER 26.

[1] sic et exitum singulis dividunt: materiali quidem, id est carnali, quem et sinistrum vocant, indubitatum interitum; animali vero quem et dextrum appellant dubitatum eventum utpote inter materialem spiritalemque nutanti et illac debito qua plurimum adnuerit. ceterum spiritalem emitti in animalis comparationem ut erudiri cum eo et exerceri in conversationibus possit.

[1] thus too they divide the outcome for individuals: for the material, that is, the carnal—whom they also call the left-hand—an indubitable destruction; but for the animal (i.e., psychic), whom they call the right-hand, a doubtful outcome, as being poised between the material and the spiritual and owing its due thither to which it has most assented. moreover, the spiritual is sent out into association with the animal, so that it may be educated together with it and trained in ways of life.

[2] indiguisse enim animalem etiam sensibilium disciplinarum. in hoc et paraturam mundi prospectam, in hoc et Soterem in mundo repraesentatum, in salutem scilicet animalis. alia adhuc compositione monstruosum volunt illum prosicias earum substantiarum induisse quarum summam saluti esset redacturus: ut spiritalem quidem susceperit ab Acha-moth, animalem vero quem mox a Demiurgo induit Christum, ceterum corporalem ex animali substantia sed miro et inenarrabili rationis ingenio constructam administrationis causa interim tulisse quo congressui et conspectui et contactui et defunctui ingratis subiaceret.

[2] for the animal (psychic) one had needed even the disciplines of sensibles. In view of this, both the preparation of the world was foreseen, and in view of this the Soter was represented in the world, namely for the salvation of the animal. By yet another composition they want that monstrous one to have put on the prosopias—personae—of those substances whose sum he was to reduce to salvation: that the spiritual, indeed, he received from Acha-moth; but the animal—namely the Christ which he shortly put on—from the Demiurge; moreover the corporal, from animal substance but constructed by a wondrous and ineffable device of reason, he bore for the sake of administration for the time, in order that he might be subject to meeting, and to sight, and to touch, and to dying, however unwelcome.

materiale autem nihil in illo fuisse utpote salutis alienum--quasi aliis fuerit neces- sarius quam egentibus salutem. et totum hoc ut carnis nostrae habitum alienando a Christo a spe etiam salutisexcipiant.

but that there was nothing material in him, as being alien to salvation— as though it were necessary for any others than those in need of salvation. And by alienating all this, that is, the condition of our flesh, from Christ, they even exclude it from the hope of salvation.

CAP. XXVI.

CHAPTER 26.

[1] nunc reddo de Christo in quem tanta licentia Iesum inserunt quidem quanta spiritale semen animali cum inflatu infulciunt, fartilia nescio quae commenti et Hominum et deorum suorum: esse etiam Demiurgo suum Christum filium naturalem denique animalem, prolatum ab ipso, promulgatum prophetis, in praepositionum quaestionibus positum, id est per virginem non ex virgine editum quia delatus in virginem transmeatoria potius quam generatorio more processerit per ipsam non ex ipsa, non matrem eam sed viam passus.

[1] now I render about Christ, into whom with such license they insert Jesus as great as that with which they cram the spiritual seed into the animal with an inflation, having devised I-know-not-what stuffings both of Men and of their own gods: that there is also for the Demiurge his own Christ, a natural son, in fine animal, proffered by him, promulgated to the prophets, set in questions of prepositions, that is, “through a virgin,” not “from a virgin,” brought forth, because, having been carried down into the virgin, he proceeded in a transmeatory rather than a generative manner—through her, not from her—treating her not as a mother but as a way.

[2] super hunc itaque Christum devolasse tunc in baptismatis sacramento Iesum per effigiem columbae. fuisse autem et in Christo etiam ex Achamoth spiritalis seminis condimentum ne marceresceret scilicet reliqua farsura. nam in figuram principalis tetradis quattuor eum substantiis stipant: spiritali Achamothiana, animali Demiurgina, corporali inenarrativa, et illa Sotericiana, id est columbina.

[2] upon this Christ, therefore, Jesus then flew down in the sacrament of baptism by the effigy of a dove. and that there was also in Christ, from Achamoth, a seasoning of spiritual seed, lest the remaining stuffing should grow flaccid. for, into the figure of the principal tetrad, they pack him with four substances: spiritual, Achamothian; animal, Demiurgic; corporeal, ineffable; and that Soterician, that is, columbine.

et Soter quidem permansit in Christo impassibilis inlaesibilis inapprehensibilis. denique cum ad prehensiones venitur, discessit ab illo in cognitione Pilati;

and Soter indeed remained in Christ impassible, un-injurable, inapprehensible. finally, when it comes to apprehensions, he departed from him at Pilate’s judicial cognition;

[3] proinde nec matris semen admisit iniurias aeque insubditivum et ne ipsi quidem Demiurgo compertum. patitur vero animalis et carneus Christus in delineationem superioris Christi qui Achamoth formando substantivali non agnitionali forma Cruci, ed est Horo, fuerat innixus. ita omnia in imagines surgent, plane et ipsi imaginarii Christiani.

[3] accordingly neither did the mother’s seed admit injuries, equally insubordinate and not known even to the Demiurge himself. But the animal and carnal Christ suffers, as a delineation of the superior Christ, who, while fashioning Achamoth with a substantial, not agnitional, form, had leaned upon the Cross, that is, Horos. Thus all things will rise as images, plainly even the imaginary Christians themselves.

CAP. XXVIII.

CHAPTER 28.

[1] interea Demiurgus omnium adhuc nescius etsi aliquid et ipse per prophetas contionabitur ne huius quidem operis sui intellegens--dividunt enim et prophetiale patrocinium in Achamoth, semen, in Demiurgum--ubi adventum Soteris accepit propere et ovanter accurrit cum omnibus suis viribus--cen- turio de evangelio--et de omnibus inluminatus ab illo etiam suam discit quod successurus sit in locum matris.

[1] meanwhile the Demiurge, as yet ignorant of everything, although he too will harangue something through the prophets, not even understanding this work of his own— for they even divide the prophetic patronage between Achamoth, the Seed, and the Demiurge— when he received the arrival of the Soter, he runs up promptly and exultantly with all his forces— the cen- turion of the Gospel— and, illuminated by him about all things, he also learns his own, namely that he is to succeed to his mother’s place.

[2] ita exinde securus dispensationem mundi huius vel maxime ecclesiae protegendae nomine quanto tempore oportuit insequitur.

[2] thus thereafter, secure, he pursues the dispensation of this world, most especially under the name of protecting the Church, for as long a time as was fitting.

CAP. XXIX.

CHAPTER 29.

[1] colligam nunc ex disperso ad concludendum quae de totius generis humani dispositione iusserunt. triformem naturam primordio professi et tamen inunitam in Adam, inde iam dividunt per singulares generum proprietates nacti occasionemdistinctionis huiusmodi ex posteritate ipsius Adae moralibus quoque differentiis tripertita.

[1] I will now gather from the scattered, to conclude, what they have prescribed concerning the disposition of the whole human race. Having professed at the primordial outset a triform nature, and yet united in Adam, from there they now divide it according to the individual properties of the kinds, having seized an occasion for such a distinction from the posterity of Adam himself, tripartite also by moral differences.

[2] Cain et Abel, Seth fontes quodammodo generis humani in totidem derivant argumenta naturae atque sententiae: choicum, saluti degeneratum, ad Cain redigunt; animale, mediae spei deliberatum, ad Abel componunt; spiritale, certae saluti praeiudicatum, in Seth recondunt. sic et animas ipsas duplici proprietate discernunt, bonas et malas secundum choicum statum ex Cain et ani- malem ex Abel.

[2] Cain and Abel, Seth, in a certain manner the sources of the human race, divert into just so many arguments of nature and of sentiment: the choic, degenerated from salvation, they refer back to Cain; the animal, determined to a middle hope, they assign to Abel; the spiritual, prejudged to certain salvation, they lay up in Seth. Thus too they distinguish the souls themselves by a double property, good and bad: according to the choic state from Cain, and the ani- mal from Abel.

[3] spiritalem enim ex Seth de obvenientia super- ducunt iam non naturam sed indulgentiam ut quos Achamoth de superioribus in animas bonas depluat, id est animali censui inscriptas. choicum enim genus, id est malas animas, numquam capere salutaria; immutabilem enim et irreformabilem naturae pronuntiaverunt. id ergo granum seminis spiritalis modicum et parvulum iactu sed eruditu huius fides augetur atque provehitur, ut supra diximus, animaeque hoc ipso ita ceteris praeverterant ut Demiurgus tunc ignorans magni eas fecerit.

[3] for the spiritual, indeed, from Seth they derive by an adventitious superinduction, now not as nature but as indulgence, so that Achamoth from the superior regions may rain down upon good souls, that is, those inscribed in the animal census. for the choic genus, that is, evil souls, can never grasp salvific things; for they have pronounced the nature immutable and irreformable. therefore that small and very little grain of spiritual seed, by casting but in being instructed, has its faith increased and carried forward, as we said above, and the soul by this very thing had thus outstripped the others, so that the Demiurge, then ignorant, valued them highly.

[4] ex earum ergo laterculo et in reges et in sacerdotes allegere consueverat; quae nunc quoque si plenam atque perfectam notitiam apprehenderint istarum neniarum naturificatae iam spiritalis condicionis germanitate certam obtinebunt salutem immo omnimodo debitam.

[4] accordingly, from their roll he had been accustomed to elect both into kings and into priests; and these, even now, if they shall apprehend full and perfect knowledge of these nonsense-ditties, already naturalized by the kinship of the spiritual condition, will obtain sure salvation—nay, in every way due.

CAP. XXX.

CHAPTER 30.

[1] ideoque neo operationes necessarias sibi existimant neo ulla disciplinae mania observant martyrii quoque eludentes necessitatem qua volant interpretatione. hanc enim regulam ani- mali semini praestitutam ut salutem quam non de privilegio status possidemus de suffragio actus elaboremus. nobis enim inscriptura huius seminis qui imperfectae scientiae sumus qua non norimus Theletum et utique abortui deputatur (quod mater illorum!).

[1] and so they reckon neither necessary operations for themselves nor do they observe any duties of discipline, likewise eluding the necessity of martyrdom by whatever interpretation they wish. for this rule has been prescribed for the animal seed: that we work out the salvation—which we do not possess by privilege of status—by the suffrage of act. for to us belongs the inscription of this seed, we who are of imperfect knowledge, whereby we do not know Theletus, and assuredly it is assigned to an abortion (which is their Mother!).

[2] sed nobis quidem--vae si excesserimus in aliquod disciplinae iugum, si obtorpuerimus in operibus sanctitatis atque iustitiae, si confitendum alibi nescio ubi et non sub potestatibus istius saeculi apud tribunalia praesidum optaverimus.

[2] but for us indeed--woe if we shall have gone over into any yoke of discipline, if we shall have grown torpid in works of sanctity and justice, if we shall have chosen that confession be made elsewhere I know not where and not under the powers of this age at the tribunals of the governors.

[3] illi vero et de passivitate vitae et diligentia delictorum generositatem suam vindicent blandiente suis Achamoth quoniam et ipsa delinquendo proficit. nam et honorandorum coniugiorum supernorum gratia edicitur apud illos meditandum atque celebrandum semper sacramentum "comiti," id est feminae, adhaerendi. alioquin degenerem nec legitimum veritatis qui deversatus in mundo non amaverit feminam nec se ei iunxerit.

[3] but they, indeed, both from the passivity of life and the diligence of delicts vindicate their nobility, their Achamoth flattering them, since she too by delinquency makes progress. For even for the sake of the supernal marriages that are to be honored, it is decreed among them that the sacrament of adhering to a “companion,” that is, to a woman, is always to be meditated upon and celebrated. Otherwise, he who, having sojourned in the world, shall not have loved a woman nor joined himself to her is degenerate and not legitimate of the truth.

et quid facient spadones quos videmus apudillos?

and what will the eunuchs do whom we see among them?

CAP. XXXI.

CHAPTER 31.

[1] superest de consummatione et dispensatione mercedis: ubi Achamoth totani massam seminis sui presserit dein colligere in horreum coeperit, vel cum ad molas delatum et defarinatum in consparsione salutari absconderit donec totum confrequentetur, tunc consummatio urgebit. igitur imprimis ipsa Achamoth de regione medietatis de tabulato secundo in summumtransferetur restituta Pleromati. statim excinit compacticius ille Soter--Sponsus scilicet; ambo coniugium novum fient --hic erit in scripturis sponsus et sponsalis Pleroma.

[1] what remains is on the consummation and the dispensation of the reward: when Achamoth shall have pressed the whole mass of her seed and then shall have begun to gather it into the granary, or when, having been carried to the millstones and defarinated in a saving sprinkling she shall have hidden it until the whole is leavened, then the consummation will urge. therefore, first of all, Achamoth herself from the region of the Middle, from the second story, will be transferred into the highest, restored to the Pleroma. straightway that patchwork Soter strikes up—namely, the Bridegroom; both will become a new marriage—here in the Scriptures will be the bridegroom and the bridal Pleroma.

[2] credas enim ubi de loco in locum transmigratur leges quoque Iulias intervenire. sicut et scaenem et Demiurgus tunc de hebdomade caelesti in superiora mutabit in vacuum iam caenaculum matris sciens iam nec videns illam. nam si ita erat, semper ignorare maluisset.

[2] For you would believe that, where one transmigrates from place to place, the Julian laws also intervene. Just so too the Demiurge will then change the scene from the celestial hebdomad into the higher regions, the Mother’s upper room now empty, now knowing her and no longer seeing her. For if it was so, he would always have preferred to be ignorant.

CAP. XXXII.

CHAPTER 32.

[1] humana vero gens in hoc exitus ibit: choicae et materialis notae totum in interitum quia omnis caro foenum. et anima mortalis apud illos nisi quae salutem fide invenerit. iustorum animae, id est nostrae, ad Demiurgum in medietatis receptacula transmittentur--agimus gratias, contenti erimus cum deo nostro deputaci qua census animalis.

[1] but indeed the human race will go to this end: of the choic and material stamp, the whole into destruction, because all flesh is grass. and the soul is mortal with them, except for the one which has found salvation by faith. the souls of the just, that is, ours, will be transmitted to the Demiurge into the receptacles of the middle—we give thanks—we shall be content to be assigned with our god, as is the enrollment of the animal class.

nihil in Pleromacis palatium admittitur nisi spiritale examen Valentini.

Nothing is admitted into the palace of the Pleroma except the spiritual examination of Valentinus.

[2] illic itaque primo despoliantur homines ipsi, id est interiores; despoliare est autem deponere animas quibus induti videbantur, easque Demiurgo suo reddent quas ab eo averterant. ipsi autem spiritus in totum fient intellectuales neque detentui neque conspectui obnoxii, atque ita invisibiliter in Pleroma recipiuntur. furtim si ita est.

[2] There, then, first the men themselves are despoiled, that is, the inner ones; to despoil, however, is to put off the souls with which they seemed to have been clothed, and to return them to their Demiurge, from whom they had turned them away. But the spirits themselves will become wholly intellectual and subject neither to detention nor to sight, and thus are invisibly received into the Pleroma. By stealth, if that is so.

[3] quid deinde? angelis distribuentur satellitibus Soteris. in filios putas?

[3] what then? they will be distributed to the angels, satellites of Soter. into sons, do you think?

non. sed in adparatores? ni istud quidem.

no. but into the preparers? not even that.

sed in imagines? utinam vel hoc. in quid ergo si non pudet dicere?

But into images? Would that at least this. Into what, therefore, if it is not shameful to say?

in sponsas! tunc illi sabinas raptas inter se de matrimoniis ludent. haec erat spiritalium merces, hoc prae- mium credendi.

against the brides! then they, about marriages, will make sport among themselves with the Sabine women carried off. this was the wage of the spirituals, this the pre- mium of believing.

[4] fabulae tales utiles ut Marcus aut Gaius in hac carne barbatus et in hac anima severus maritus pater avus proavus--certe quod sufficit masculus--in nyphone Pleromatis ab angelo. . . tacendo iam dixi; et forsitan parias aliquem novissimum Aeonem. his nuptiis recte deducendis pro face et flammeo tunc credo ille ignis arcanus erumpet et universam substantiam depopulatus ipse quoque decineratis omnibus in nihilum finietur et nulla iam fabula.

[4] such fables are useful, to the effect that Marcus or Gaius—bearded in this flesh and in this soul a severe husband, father, grandfather, great‑grandfather—surely, what suffices, a male—be married in the bridal‑chamber of the Pleroma by an angel . . . by keeping silence I have already said it; and perhaps you would beget some most‑recent Aeon. For these nuptials to be duly conducted, in place of torch and flammeum then, I believe, that arcane fire will burst forth and, having ravaged the whole substance, it too, with all things reduced to ashes, will be finished into nothing—and no fable any more.

[5] sed ne ego temerarius qui tantum sacramentum etiam inludendo prodiderim. verendum mihi est ne Achamoth quae se nec filio agnitam voluit insaniet, ne Theletus irascatur, ne Fortunata acerbetur. et tamen homo sum Demiurgi; illuc habeo devertere ubi post excessum omnino non obnubitur, ubi superindui potius quam despoliari, ubi etsi despolior sexui meo, deputor angelis non angelus non angela; nemo mihi quicquam faciet quem nec tunc masculum inveniet.

[5] but lest I be temerarious, who should have betrayed so great a sacrament even by mocking. I must fear lest Achamoth, who did not wish herself to be acknowledged even by her son, run mad; lest Theletus be angered; lest Fortunata grow bitter. and yet I am a man of the Demiurge; I have to turn aside thither where after departure nothing at all is overclouded, where it is to be super-clothed rather than despoiled, where, even if I am despoiled of my sex, I am deputed to the angels—no angel, no angeless; no one will do anything to me, me whom not even then he will find to be male.

CAP. XXXIII.

CHAPTER 33.

[1] producam denique velut epicitharisma post fabulam tantam etiam illa quae, ne ordini obstreperent et lectoris intentionem interiectione dispargerent, hunc malui in locum distulisse aliter atque aliter commendata ab emendatioribus Ptolomaei. exstiterunt enim de schola ipsius discipuli supermagistrum qui duplex coniugium Bytho suo adfingerent, Cogitationem et Voluntatem.

[1] I will bring forward, finally, as it were an epicitharisma after so great a fable, even those matters which, lest they clash against the order and scatter the reader’s intention by an interjection, I preferred to defer to this place, commended now in one way, now in another by the more emended followers of Ptolemaeus. For there arose from his own school disciples beyond the master who would affix to their Bythus a double conjugium, Thought and Will.

[2] una enim sans non erat Cogitatio qua nihil producere potuisset. ex duabus facillime prolatum secundum coniugium Monogenem et Veritatem, ad imaginem quidem Cogitationis feminam Veritatem, ad imaginem Voluntatis marem Monogenem. Voluntatis enim vis, ut quae effectum praestat Cogitationi, viritatis obtinet censum.

[2] for Cogitation alone was not sufficient—without Will she could have produced nothing. From the two the second conjugium was most easily brought forth, Monogenes and Truth: after the image of Cogitation, indeed, a female, Truth; after the image of Will, a male, Monogenes. For the force of Will, as that which affords effect to Cogitation, holds the reckoning of virility.

CAP. XXXIV.

CHAPTER 34.

[1] pudiciores alii honorem divinitatis recordati ut etiam unius coniugis dedecus ab eo avellerent maluerunt nullum Bytho sexum deputare et fortasse hoc dominum non hic deus neutro genere pronuntiant.

[1] others, more modest, recalling the honor of divinity, so that they might even tear away from him the disgrace of a single spouse, preferred to assign Bythus no sex; and perhaps for this reason they pronounce him “lord,” not “this god,” as of neither gender.

[2] alii contra magis et masculum et feminam dicunt ne apud solos Lunenses Hermaphroditum existimet annalium commentator Fenestella.

[2] others, on the contrary, say rather that he is both male and female, lest Fenestella, commentator of the Annals, suppose that the Hermaphrodite exists among the Lunensians alone.

CAP. XXXV.

CHAPTER 35.

[1] sunt qui nec principatum Bytho defendunt sed postumatum, ogdoadem ante omnia praemittentes ex tetrade quidem et ipsum sed et aliis nominibus derivatam. primo enim constituunt Proarchen, secondo Anennoeton, tertio Arrheton, quarto Aoraton.

[1] there are some who defend not the primacy of Bythos but his being last-born, putting the Ogdoad before all things, derived from a Tetrad—both himself indeed and others too derived by names. For first they establish Proarchen, second Anennoeton, third Arrheton, fourth Aoraton.

[2] ex Proarche itaque processisse primo et quinto loco Archen, ex Anennoeto secondo et sexto loco Acatalepton, ex Arrheto tertio et septimo loco Anonomaston, ex Invisibili quarto et ottavo loco Agenneton. hoc quae ratio disponat ut singula binis locis et quidem tam intercisis nascantur malo ignorare quam discere. quid enim recti habent quae tam perverse proferuntur?

[2] From Proarche, therefore, there proceeded, in the first and fifth place, Arche; from Anennoetos, in the second and sixth place, Acatalepton; from Arrhetos, in the third and seventh place, Anonomaston; from the Invisible, in the fourth and eighth place, Agenneton. What rationale arranges this—that the individual items are born in double places, and indeed so cut up—I would rather be ignorant of than learn. For what do those things have of rectitude which are brought forward so perversely?

CAP. XXXVI.

CHAPTER 36.

[1] quanto meliores qui totum hoc taedium de medio amoliti nullum Aeonem voluerunt alium ex alio per gradus revera Gemonios structam, sed mappa quod aiunt missa semel octoiugum istam ex Propatore et Ennoea eius excusam. ex ipso denique rerum motu nomina gerunt:

[1] how much better are those who, having removed all this tedium out of the way, wanted no Aeon one from another through steps—truly a structure like the Gemonian steps—but, as they say, with the starting-cloth once let fall, this eight-yoked team hammered out from the Propatēr and his Ennoea. finally, they bear their names from the very motion of things:

[2] cum (inquiunt) cogitavit proferre, hoc Pater dictus est; cum protulit quia vero protulit, hic Veritas appellata est. cum semetipsum voluit probare, hoc Homo pronuntiatus est. quos autem praecogitavit cum protulit, tane Ecclesia nuncupata est.

[2] when (they say) he cogitated to bring forth, he was called Father; when he brought forth, since indeed he brought forth, this was called Truth. when he wished to prove himself, this was pronounced Man. but those whom he pre-cogitated, when he brought them forth, then Church was named.

sonuit Homo Sermonem, et hic est primogenitus filius; et Sermoni accessit Vita, et ogdoas prima conclusa est. sed hoc taedium omninopusillum.

Man sounded the Word, and this is the firstborn son; and to the Word Life acceded, and the first ogdoad was concluded. But this tedium is altogether very petty.

CAP. XXXVII.

CHAPTER 37.

[1] accipe alia ingenia circulatoria insignioris apud eos magistri qui et pontificali sua auctoritate in hunc modum censuit: "est (inquit) ante omnia Proarche inexcogitabile et inenarrabile innominabile quod ego nomino Monoteta. cum hac erit alia virtus quam et ipsam appello Honoteta.

[1] receive other conjuring contrivances of a more notable master among them, who also by his pontifical authority judged in this manner: "There is (he says) before all things a Proarche, inconceivable and inenarrable, unnameable, which I call Monoteta. With this there will be another power, which I likewise call Honoteta."

[2] Monotes et Henotes, id est Solitas et Unitas, cum unum essent protulerunt non proferentes initium omnium intellectuale innascibile invisibile quod Sermo Monada vocavit. huic adest consubstan- tiva virtus quam appellat Unionem. hae igitur virtutes,Solitas, Unitas Singularitas, Unio, ceteras prolationes Aeonum propagarunt." o differentia, mutetur Unio et Unitas et Singularitas et Solitas quaqua designaveris--unum est.

[2] Monotes and Henotes, that is Solitude and Unity, since they were one, brought forth, not bringing forth, the intellectual beginning of all things, innascible, invisible, which the Word called Monad. With this there is present a consubstan- tial power which he calls Union. These virtues, therefore, Solitude, Unity Singularity, Union, propagated the other prolations of the Aeons." o difference, let Union and Unity and Singularity and Solitude be changed however you may designate--it is one.

CAP. XXXVIII.

CHAPTER 38.

[1] humanior iam Secundus ut brevior, ogdoadem in duas tetradas dividens, in dexteram et sinistram, in lumen et tenebras, tantum quod desultricem et defectricem illam virtutem non vult ab aliquo deducete Aeonum sed a fructibus de substantiavenientibus.

[1] Secundus, now more humane in that he is briefer, dividing the Ogdoad into two Tetrads, into right and left, into light and darkness, only that he does not wish that desultory and defecting power to be derived from any one of the Aeons but from the fruits coming from the Substance.

CAP. XXXIX.

CHAPTER 39.

[1] de ipso iam domino Iesu quanta diversitas scinditur: hi ex omnium Aeonum flosculis eum construunt: illi ex solis decem constitisse contendunt quos Sermo et Vita protulerunt. inde et in ipsum Sermonis et Vitae concurrerint tituli. isti ex duodecim potius ex Hominis et Ecclesiae fetu ideoque Filium Hominis avite pronuntiatum.

[1] about the Lord Jesus himself already, what a diversity is split: these construct him out of the little blossoms of all the Aeons; those contend that he was constituted from only ten, whom Word and Life brought forth. Hence even upon him the titles of Word and Life have converged. These others rather [say] from twelve, from the offspring of Man and Church, and therefore “Son of Man” pronounced by ancestral tradition.

alii a Christo et Spiritu Sancto constabiliendae conversitati provisis confictum et inde paternae appellationis heredem.

others that he was fabricated by Christ and the Holy Spirit, with provisions supplied for the fellowship to be established, and from that the heir of the paternal appellation.

[2] sunt qui Filium Hominis non aliunde conceperint dicendum quam quia ipsum Patrem pro magno nominis sacramento Hominem appellasse se praesumpserit, ut quid amplius speres de dius dei fide cui nunc adaequaris. talia ingenia superfruticant apud illos ex materni seminis redundantia. atque ita insolescentes doctrinae Valentinianorum in silvas iam exoleverunt Gnosticorum.

[2] There are those who have conceived that “Son of Man” should be said from no other source than because the Father himself, as a great sacrament of the Name, presumed to call himself “Man,” so that what more could you hope for from the faith of the God to whom you are now being equated? Such ingenuities overgrow luxuriantly among them from the redundancy of the maternal seed. And thus, waxing insolent, the doctrines of the Valentinians have now grown out into the forests of the Gnostics.

EXPLICIT LIBER TERTULLIANI ADVERSUS VALENTINIANOS

HERE ENDS THE BOOK OF TERTULLIAN AGAINST THE VALENTINIANS