CHAP. IX. — OTHER CAPRICIOUS FEATURES IN THE SYSTEM. THE ^ONS UNEQUAL IN ATTRI- BUTES. THE SUPERIORITY OF NUS; THE VA- GARIES OF SOPHIA RESTRAINED BY HOROS. GRAND TITLES BORNE BY THIS LAST POWER.
But, further, there is an "acceptance" of persons," inasmuch as Nus alone among them all enjoys the knowledge of the immeasurable Father, joyous and exulting, while they of course pine in sorrow. To be sure, Nus, so far as in him lay, both wished and tried to impart to the others also all that he had learnt about the greatness and incomprehensibility of the Father; but his mother, Sige, inter- posed— she who (you must know) imposes silence even on her own beloved heretics; " al- though they affirm that this is done at the will of the Father, who will have all to be inflamed * Frigidissimus.
* Cum virum fortem peroraret...inquit.
3 Tertullian's joke lies in the equivocal sense of this cry, which may mean either admiration and joy, or grief and rage.
4 Audisti: interroRatively.
5 See above, chap. iv. p. 505.
* Privilegia. 7 Castrata.
" Tanta numerorunj coagula.
9 The padagogiiitn was either the place where boys were trained as pages (often for lewd purposes), or else the boy himself of such a character.
'-'Oehler reads, " hetaeri (fraipoi) et syntrophi." Another reading, supported by Rigaltius, is "sterceiae, instead of the fonner word, which gives a very contemptuous sense, suitable to Tertullian's irony.
" Exceptio.
'^TertuUian has, above, remarked on the silent and secret prac- tice? of the Valeatinians: sec chap. i. p. 503.
with a longing after himself. Thus, while they are tormenting themselves with these in- ternal desires, while they are burning with the secret longing to know the Father, the crime is almost accomplished. For of the twelve .^ons which Homo and Ecclesia had pro- duced, the youngest by birth (never mind the solecism, since Sophia (Wisdom) is her name), unable to restrain herself, breaks away with- out the society of her husband Theletus, in quest of the Father and contracts that kind of sin which had indeed arisen amongst the others who were conversant with Nus but had flowed on to this ^on,^^ that is, to Sophia; as is usual with maladies which, after arising in one part of the body, spread abroad their infection to some other limb. The fact is,'"* under a pretence of love to the Father, she was overcome with a desire to rival Nus, who alone rejoiced in the knowledge of the Father. '5 But when Sophia, straining after impossible aims, was disappointed of her hope, she is both overcome with difficulty, and racked with affection. Thus she was all but swallowed up by reason of the charm and toil (of her research),'* and dissolved into the remnant of his substance;'' nor would there have been any other alternative for her than perdition, if she had not by good luck fallen in with Horos {Limit). He too had considera- ble power. He is the foundation of the great'" universe, and, externally, the guar- dian thereof. To him they give the additional names of Crux {Cross), and Lytrotes {Re- dce?ner,) and Carpistes {Emancipator)."^ When Sophia was thus rescued from danger, and tardily persuaded, she relinquished further research after the Father, found repose, and laid aside all her excitement,™ or Enthymesis {Desire,) along with the passion which had come over her.
CHAP. X. — ANOTHER ACCOUNT OF THE STRANGE ABERRATIONS OF SOPHIA, AND THE RESTRAIN- ING SERVICES OF HOROS. SOPHIA WAS NOT HERSELF, AFTER ALL, EJECTED FROM THE PLEROMA, BUT ONLY HER ENTHYMESIS.
But some dreamers have given another ac- count of the aberration =" and recovery of ■3 In hunc derivaret.
'4Sed enim.
»5 De Patre.
16 prae vi dulcedinis et laboris.
»7 It is not easy to say what is the meaning of the words, " Et in reliquam substantiam dissolvi." Rigaltius renders them: "So that whatever substance was left to her was being dissolved." This seems to be forcing the sentence unnaturally. Irenaeus (ac- cording to the I^tin translator) says: " Resolutum in universam substantiam," " Resolved into his (the Father's) general sub- stance," i. 2, 2. [Vol. I. p. 317.]
•Blllius.
'9 So Grabe; but Reader, according to Neander.
soAnimationem.
2' Exitum.
CHAP. XI.]
AGAINST THE VALENTINIANS.
Sophia. After her vain endeavours, and the disappointment of her hope, she was, I sup- pose, disfigured with paleness and emacia- tion, and that neglect of her beauty which was natural to one who' was deploring the denial of the Father, — an affliction which was no less painful than his loss. Then, in the midst of all this sorrow, she by herself alone, without any conjugal help, conceived and bare a female offspring. Does this excite your surprise? Well, even the hen has the power of being able to bring forth by her own en- ergy.' They say, too, that among vultures there are only females, which become parents alone. At any rate, she was another without aid from a male, and she began at last to be afraid that her end was even at hand. She was all in doubt about the treatment ^ of her case, and took pains at self-concealment. Reme- dies cou/d nowhere be found. For where, then, should we have tragedies and comedies, from which to borrow the process of exposing what has been born without connubial modesty? While the thing is in this evil plight, she raises her eyes, and turns them to the Father. Having, however, striven in vain, as her strength was failing her, she falls to praying. Her entire kindred also supplicates in her be- half, and especially Nus. Why not? What was the cause of so vast an evil? Yet not a single casualty* befell Sophia without its effect. All her sorrows operate. Inasmuch as all that conflict of hers contributes to the oiigin of Matter. Her ignorance, her fear, her distress, become substances. Hereupon the Father by and by, being moved, produces in his own image, with a view to these circiun- stances s the Horos whom we have mentioned above; (and this he does) by means of Mono- genes Nus, a male-female (.^on), because there is this variation of statement about the Father's* sex. They also go on to tell us that Horos is likewise called Metagogius, that is, "a conductor about," as well as Horo- thetes {Setter of Limits). By his assistance they declare that Sophia was checked in her illicit courses, and purified from all evils, and henceforth strengthened (in virtue), and re- stored to the conjugal state: (they add) that she indeed remained within the bounds ' of the Pleroma, but that her Enthymesis, with the accruing* Passion, was banished by Horos, and crucified and cast out from the Pleroma, — even as they say. Malum foras!
• Uti quae.
3 Ratione.
4 Exitus.
5 In haec: in relation to the case of Sophia.
6 Above, in chap. viii. we were told that Nus, who was so much like the Father, was himself called " Father."
7 In censu.
B Appendicem.
(Evil, avaunt!) Still, that was a spiritual es- sence, as being the natural impulse of an Aiow^ although without form or shape, inasmuch as it had apprehended nothing, and therefore was pronounced to be an infirm and feminine fruit. 9 CHAP. XI. — THE PROFANE ACCOUNT GIVEN OF THE ORIGIN OF CHRIST AND THE HOLY GHOST STERNLY REBUKED. AN ABSURDITY RESPECT- ING THE ATTAINMENT OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD ABLY EXPOSED.
Accordingly, after the banishment of the Enthymesis, and the return of her mother Sophia to her husband, the (illustrious) Mono- genes, the Nus, '"released indeed from all care and concern of the Father, in order that he might consolidate all things, and defend and at last fix the Pleroma, and so prevent any concussion of the kind again, once more " emits a new couple'^ (blasphemously named). I should suppose the coupling of two males to be a very shameful thing, or else the one '^ must be a female, and so the male is dis- credited '"* by the female. One divinity is as- signed in the case of all these, to procure a complete adjustment among the yEons. Even from this fellowship in a common duty two schools actually arise, two chairs, '^ and, to some extent,'* the inauguration of a division in the doctrine of Valentinus. It was the function of Christ to instruct the.^ons in the nature of theii conjugal relations '^ (you see what the whole thing was, of course!), and how to form some guess about the unbegot- ten,'* and to give them the capacity of genera- ting within themselves the knowledge of the Father; it being impossible to catch the idea of him, or comprehend him, or, in short, even to enjoy any perception of him, either by the eye or the ear, except through Monogenes (the Only-begotten). Well, I will even grant them what they allege about knowing the Father, so that they do not refuse us (the at- tainment of) the same. I would rather point out what is perverse in their doctrine, how they were taught that the incomprehensible part of the Father was the cause of their own perpetuity,'^ whilst that which might be com- 9 Literally, " infirm fruit and a female," i.e. " had not shared in any male influence, but was a purely female production." See our Jrenteus, i. 4. [Vol. I. p. 321.]
10 Ille nus.
" Iterum: above.
'2 Copulationem: The profane reference is to Christ and the Spirit.
'3 fA shocking reference to the Spirit which I modify to one of the Divine Persons.]
14 Vulneratur.
'5 Cathedra:.
'^Quaedam.
»7Conjugiorum.
'8 Innati conjectationem.
19 Perpetuitatis: i.e. " what was unchangeable in their condition and nature."
5io AGAINST THE VALENTINIANS.
[chap. XIII.
prehended of him was the reason ' of their generation and formation. Now by these several positions ^ the tenet, I suppose, is in- sinuated, that it is expedient for God not to be apprehended, on the very ground that the incomprehensibility of His character is the cause of perpetuity; whereas what in Him is comprehensible is productive, not of perpetu- ity, but rather of conditions which lack per- petuity— namely, nativity and formation. The Son, indeed, they made capable of com- prehending the Father. The manner in which He is comprehended, the recently produced Christ fully taught them. To the Holy Spirit, however, belonged the special gifts, whereby they, having been all set on a com- plete par in respect of their earnestness to learn, should be enabled to offer up their thanksgiving, and be introduced to a true tranquillity.
CHAP. XII. — THE STRANGE JUMBLE OF THE PLEROMA. THE FRANTIC DELIGHT OF THE MEMBERS THEREOF. THEIR JOINT CONTRIBU- TION OF PARTS SET FORTH WITH HUMOROUS IRONY.
Thus they are all on the self-same footing in respect of form and knowledge, all of them having become what each of them severally is; none being a different being, because they are all what the others are.^ They are all turned into* Nuses, into Homos, into The- letuses;5 and so in the case of the females, into Siges, into Zoes, into Ecclesias, into Forunatas, so that Ovid would have blotted out his own Metamorphoses if he had only known our larger one in the present day. Straightway they were reformed and thor- oughly established, and being composed to rest from the truth, they celebrate the Father in a chorus* of praise in the exuberance of their joy. The Father himself also revelled ^ in the glad feeling; of course, because his children and grandchildren sang so well. And why should he not revel in absolute delight? Was not the Pleroma freed (from all danger)? What ship's captain^ fails to rejoice even with indecent frolic? Every day we observe the uproarious ebullitions of sailors' joys.' Therefore, as sailors always exult over the reckoning they pay in common, so do these Mori's, enjoy a similar pleasure, one as they ' Rationem; perhaps " the means." »Hacdispositione.
3 Nemo aliud quia alteri omnes.
4 Refunduntur.
5 The reader will, of course, see that we give a familiar Enghsh plural to these names, as better expressing TertuUian's irony.
* Concinunt.
7 Diffundebatur.
"Nauclerus: "pilot."
<> Tertullian lived in a seaport at Carthage.
now all are in form, and, as I may add,'" in feeling too. With the concurrence of even their new brethren and masters," they con- tribute into one common stock the best and most beautiful thing with which they are sev- erally adorned. Vainly, as I suppose. For if they were all one by reason by the above- mentioned thorough equalization, there was no room for the process of a common reckon- ing,'^ which for the most part consists of a pleasing variety. They all contributed the one good thing, which they all were. There would be, in all probability, a formal pro- cedure '3 in the mode or in the form of the very equalization in question. Accordingly, out of the donation which they contributed '* to the honour and glory of the Father, they jointly fashion '^ the most beautiful constella- tion of the Pleroma, and its perfect fruit, Jesus. Him they also surname'^ Soter [Saviour) and Christ, and Sermo [JFord) after his ancestors;'' and lastly Omnia (A// Things), as formed from a universally culled nosegay,'^ /ike the jay of ^sop, the Pandora of Hesiod, the bowl'' of Accius, the honey- cake of Nestor, the miscellany of Ptolemy. How much nearer the mark, if these idle title-mongers had called him Pancarpian, after certain Athenian customs.-" By way of adding external honour also to their wonder- ful puppet, they produce for him a body-guard of angels of like nature. If this be their mu- tual condition, it may be all right; if, how- ever, they are consubstantial with Soter (for I have discovered how doubtfully the case is stated), where will be his eminence when sur- rounded by attendants who are co-equal with himself?
CHAP. XIII. — FIRST PART OF THE SUBJECT, TOUCHING THE CONSTITUTION OF THE PLER- OMA, BRIEFLY RECAPITULATED. TRANSITIOIf TO THE OTHER PART, WHICH IS LIKE A PLAY OUTSIDE THE CURTAIN.
In this series, then, is contained the first emanation of ^ons, who are alike born, and are married, and produce offspring: there are the most dangerous fortunes of Sophia in her ardent longing for the Father, the most sea- sonable help of Horos, the expiation of her loNedum.
" Christ and the Holy Spirit, [i.e. blasphemously.]
J^Symbolae ratio.
'3 Ratio.
'4 Ex aere coUaticio. In reference to the common synibolu^ Tertuiiian adds the proverbial formula, "quodaiunt" (as they say).
'SCorapingunt.
'6 Cognommant.
'8 Ex omnium defloratione.
'9 Patina.
»o Alluding to the olive-branch, ornamented with all soru of fruits (compare our " Christmas tree "), which was carried about \>y boys in Athens on a certain festival (White and Riddle).
CHAP. XV.]
AGAINST THE VALENTINIANS.
Enthymesis and accruing Passion, the in- struction of Christ and the Holy Spirit, their tutelar reform of the ^ons, the piebald or- namentation of Soter, the consubstantial retinue' of the angels. All that remains, according to you, is the fall of the curtain and the clapping of hands.' What remains, in my opinion, however, is, that you should hear and take heed. At all events, these things are said to have been played out within the company of the Pleroma, the first scene of the tragedy. The rest of the play, how- ever, is beyond the curtain — I mean outside of the Pleroma. And yet if it be such within the bosom of the Father, within the embrace of the guardian Horos, what must it be out- side, in free space,^ where God did not exist?
CHAP. XIV. — THE ADVENTURES OF ACHAMOTH OUTSIDE THE PLEROMA. THE MISSION OF CHRIST IN PURSUIT OF HER. HER LONGING FOR CHRIST. HOROS' HOSTILITY TO HER. HER CONTINUED SUFFERING.
For Enthymesis, or rather Achamoth — be- cause by this inexplicable* name alone must she be henceforth designated — when in com- pany with the vicious Passion, her inseparable companion, she was expelled to places devoid of that light which is the substance of the Pleroma, even to the void and empty region of Epicurus, she becomes wretched also be- cause of the place of her banishment. She io indeed without either form or feature, even an untimely and abortive production. Whilst she is in this plight,^ Christ descends from * the heights, conducted by Horos, in order to impart form to the abortion, out of his own energies, the form of substance only, but not of knowledge also. Still she is left with some property. She has restored to her the odour of immortality, in order that she might, under its influence, be overcome with the desire of better things than belonged to her present plight.' Having accomplished His merciful mission, not without the assistance of the Holy Spirit, Christ returns to the Pleroma. It is usual out of an abundance of things^ for names to be also forthcoming. Enthyme- • Comparaticium antistatum. The latter word Oehler ex- plains, "ante ipsum stantes; " the former, •' quia genus eorum comparari poterat substantiae Soteris " (so Rigaltus).
2 The reader will see how obviously this is meant in TertuUian's '•Quod superest, inquis, vos valete et plaudite.'' This is the well-known allusion to the end of the play in the old Roman theatre. See Quintilian, vi. i, 52; comp. Horace, A. P. 155. TertuUian's own parody to this formula, immediately after, is: '■ Immo quod superest, inquam, vos audite et proficite.
3 In libero: which may be, however, "beyond the control of Horos."
4 Ininterpretabili.
5 TertuUian's " Dum ita rerum habet " is a copy of the Greek •i'Tio TMV irpaytiaTuv i\ov<rci, * Rerum ex liberalitatibus.
9De actia fuit. [See Vol. I. pp. 320, 321.]
sis came from action;' whence Achamoth came is still a question; Sophia emanates from the Father, the Holy Spirit from an angel. She entertains a regret for Christ immediately after she had discovered her desertion by him. Therefore she hurried forth herself, in quest of the light of Him Whom she did not at all discover, as He operated in an invisible manner; for how else would she make search for His light, which was as unknown to her as He was Himself? Try, however, she did, and perhaps would have found Him, had not the self-same Horos, who had met her mother so opportunely, fallen in with the daughter quite as unseasonably, so as to exclaim at her lAO! just as we hear the cry " Porro Quirites ' ' ("Out of the way, Romans!"), or else " Fidem Caesaris! " (" By the faith of Cae- sar! "), whence (as they will have it) the name lAO comes to be found is the Scrip- tures.'" Being thus hindered from proceed- ing further, and being unable to surmount " the Cross, that is to say, Horos, because she had not yet practised herself in the part of Catullus' Laureolus," and given over, as it were, to that passion of hers in a manifold and complicated mesh, she began to be af- flicted with every impulse thereof, with sor- row,— because she had not accomplished her enterprise, with fear, — lest she should lose her life, even as she had lost the light, with con- sternation, and then with ignorance. But not as her mother (did she suffer this), for she was an ^on. Hers, however, was a worse suffering, considering her condition; for an- other tide of emotion still overwhelmed her, even of conversion to the Christ, by Whom she had been restored to life, and had been directed '^ to this very conversion.
chap. xv. strange account of the origin of matter, from the various affections of achamoth. the waters from her tears; light from her smile.
Well, now, the Pythagoreans may learn, the Stoics may know, Plato himself (may dis- cover), whence Matter, which they will have to be unborn, derived both its origin and sub- stance for all this pile of the world — (a mys- tery) which not even the renowned "• Mercu- rius Trismegistus, master (as he was) of all J° It is not necessary, with Rigaltius, to make a difficulty about this, when we remember that TertuUian only refers to a silly con- ceit of the Valentinians touching the origin of the sacred name.
" Or does " nee habens superz'olare crucem " mean " being un- able to elude the cross?" As if TertuUian meant, in his raillery, to say, that Achamoth had not the skill of the player who played the part of Laureolus. Although so often suspended on the gib- bet, he had of course as often escaped the real penalty.
>= A notorious robber, the hero of a play by Lutatius CatuUus who is said to have been crucified.
'3 Temperata.
MlUe.
AGAINST THE VALENTINIANS.
[chap. XVII.
physical philosophy, thought out.' You have just heard of "Conversion," one element in the " Passion " (we have so often mentioned). Out of this the whole life of the world, = and even that of the Demiurge himself, our God, is said to have had its being. Again, you have heard of " sorrow " and " fear." From these all other created things ^ took their be- ginning. For from her " tears flowed the en- tire mass of waters. From this circumstance one may form an idea of the calamity ^ which she encountered, so vast were the kinds of the tears wherewith she overflowed. She had salt tear-drops, she had bitter, and sweet, and warm, and cold, and bituminous, and ferrugi- nous, and sulphurous, and even* poisonous, so that the Nonacris exuded therefrom which killed Alexander; and the river of the Lyn- cestae ' flowed from the same source, which produces drunkenness; and the Salmacis® was derived from the same source, which ren- ders men effeminate. The rains of heaven Achamoth whimpered forth,' and we on our part are anxiously employed in saving up in our cisterns the very wails and tears of an- other. In like manner, from the " consterna- tion " and "alarm" (of which we have also heard), bodily elements were derived. And yet amidst so many circumstances of solitude, in this vast prospect of destitution, she oc- casionally smiled at the recollection of the sight of Christ, and from this smile of joy light flashed forth. How great was this be- neficence of Providence, which induced her to smile, and all that we might not linger for ever in the dark! Nor need you feel as- tonished how '" from her joy so splendid an element" could have beamed upon the world, when from her sadness even so necessary a provision " flowed forth for man. O illumina- ting smile! O irrigating tear! And yet it might now have acted as some alleviation amidst the horror of her situation; for she might have shaken off all the obscurity thereof as often as she had a mind to smile, even not to be obliged to turn suppliant to those who had deserted her.'^ CHAP. XVI. — ACHAMOTH PURIFIED FROM ALL IMPURITIES OF HER PASSION BY THE PARA- CLETE, ACTING THROUGH SOTER, WHO OUT OF THE ABOVE-MENTIONED IMPURITIES ARRANGES MATTER, SEPARATING ITS EVIL FROM THE BETTER QUALITIES.
She, too, resorts to prayers, after the man- ' Recogitavit.
1 " Omnis anima hujus raundi" may, however, mean " every liv- ing soul." So Bp. Kaye, On Tertullian, p. 487, 3 Cetera.
4 Achamoth's.
5 Exitum. *Utique.
ner of her mother. But Christ, Who now felt a dislike to quit the Pleroma, appoints the Paraclete as his deputy. To her, therefore, he despatches Soter,'" (who must be the same as Jesus, to whom the Father imparted the supreme power over the whole body of the ^ons, by subjecting them all to him, so that "by him," as the apostle says, "all things were created " ^^), with a retinue and cortege of contemporary angels, and (as one may sup- pose) with the dozen fasces. Hereupon Acha- moth, being quite struck with the pomp of his approach, immediately covered herself with a veil, moved at first with a dutiful feeling of veneration and modesty; but afterwards she surveys him calmly, and his prolific equipage. '* With such energies as she had derived from the contemplation, she meets him with the salutation, Kvpie, ^aipe (" Hail, Lord ")! Upon this, I suppose, he receives her, confirms and conforms her in knowledge, as well as cleanses '' her from all the outrages of Pas- sion, without, however, utterly severing them, with an indiscriminateness like that which had happened in the casualties which befell her mother. For such vices as had become in- veterate and confirmed by practice he throws together; and when he had consolidated them in one mass, he fixes them in a separate body, so as to compose the corporeal condition of Matter, extracting out of her inherent, incor- poreal passion such an aptitude of nature '® as might qualify it to attain to a reciprocity of bodily substances, '» which should emulate one another, so that a twofold condition of the substances might be arranged; ofie full of evil through its faults, //le other susceptible of passion from conversion. This will prove to be Matter, which has set us in battle array against Hermogenes, and all others who pre- sume to teach that God made all things out of Matter, not out of nothing.
CHAP. XVII. — ACHAMOTH IN LOVE WITH THE ANGELS. A PROTEST AGAINST THE LASCIVIOUS FEATURES OF VALENTINIANISM. ACHAMOTH BECOMES THE MOTHER OF THREE NATURES.
Then Achamoth, delivered at length from all her evils, wonderful to tell =° goes on and 7 These two rivers, with their peculiar qualities, are mentioned by Pliny, H.N. ii. 10J3; [and the latter by Milton against Salmasius.]
8 Ovid. Metam. iv. 286.
9 Pipiavit. «o Qui. "As light.
12 Instrumentum: water is meant. '3 Christ and the Holy Spirit. Oehler. •4 Saviour: another title of their Paraclete. ■SColi. 16.
'* Fructiferumque suggestum. '7 Expumicat.
'8 Habilitatem atque naturam. We have treated this as a hendia, dys.
'9 yEquiparantias corpulentiaruro. 20 Ecce.
CHAI'. XX.]
AGAINST THE VALENTINIANS.