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he commanded believers not to pay attention to them, nor to shudder at the threats of the laws, but to act as free men whatever they might wish; for they would obtain salvation not through good works, but through grace. For this reason, indeed, the members of his company dared every licentiousness, and used all sorts of sorceries, contriving certain love-potions and charms, and practicing the other things proper to sorcery as divine mysteries. And having made an image of him in the form of Zeus, and of Helen in the likeness of Athena, they offered incense and poured libations to them, and worshipped them as gods, calling themselves Simonians. From this most bitter root sprang the Cleobians, Dositheans, Gorthenians, Masbotheans, Adrianists, Eutychetes, Cainites. But all these, having devised some small variations of the impious heresy, did not last for very long, but were handed over to complete oblivion. II. -Concerning Menander. A certain Menander, himself also a Samaritan, hailing from a village called Chabraï, succeeded to his sorcery, but did not call himself the first power; for he said this one was unknown; but boasting that he had been sent by that one, he called himself Savior, and said that the angels, much like Simon, had been projected by the Ennoia, and that these had created the world; and that those baptized into him are saved, and are made superior even in this life, and receive power to easily overcome the world-making powers. Against these wrote Justin, who became an advocate of the truth in the guise of a philosopher and was crowned with the crown of martyrdom, and Irenaeus, whom we have also mentioned before; and this man too was an apostolic man; and Origen, who practiced great learning. Having this man as their teacher, Saturnilus and Basilides, the one boasting Antioch neighboring the river Orontes as his native land, 83.348 and Basilides Alexandria, fabricated myths contrary both to their teacher and to each other; and both lived in the time of Hadrian Caesar. III. -Concerning Saturnilus. But I will first set forth the mythology of Saturnilus. This one, much like Menander, said that there is one Father who is altogether unknown; and that this one created angels, and the other powers; and that a certain seven of these made the world, and formed man, and he says that they themselves said, "Let us make man in our image and likeness." But since the creature was unable to stand upright, but crawled like a worm, the divine power, he says, taking pity, sent down a spark of life, and perfected the imperfect man; and that this spark of life, after the dissolution of the living being, runs back up to the power that sent it. And he said that the Savior and Lord was not only uncreated, but also unbegotten, and bodiless, and without form; and that he appeared to men by phantasm rather than in truth. And he has said that the God of the Jews is one of the angels. Then, forgetting his own creation (for he had called the Savior unbegotten), he says that the Father of Christ, wishing to destroy the God of the Jews along with the other angels, sent Christ into the world for the salvation of the men who believe in him. He says there are two differences among men, and that some are good, and others are wicked, and that they have received this difference in their nature. Of the wicked demons for the wicked

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πιστεύοντας ἐκέλευσε μὴ προσέχειν ἐκείνους, μηδὲ φρίττειν τῶν νόμων τὰς ἀπειλὰς, ἀλλὰ πράττειν ὡς ἐλευθέρους ἅπερ ἂν ἐθελήσωσιν· οὐ γὰρ διὰ πράξεων ἀγαθῶν, ἀλλὰ διὰ χάριτος τεύξεσθαι τῆς σωτηρίας. Οὗ δὴ χάριν οἱ τῆς τούτου συμμορίας πᾶσαν ἐτόλμων ἀσέλγειαν, καὶ μαγγανείαις ἐχρῶντο παντοδαπαῖς, ἐρωτικά τινα καὶ ἀγώγιμα μηχανώμενοι, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὅσα τῆς γοητείας ἴδια ὡς θεῖα μετιόντες μυστήρια. Καὶ τούτου μὲν ἐν τύπῳ ∆ιὸς εἰκόνα κατασκευάσαν τες, τῆς δέ γε Ἑλένης ἐν τῷ εἴδει τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς, ταύταις ἐθυμίων καὶ ἔσπενδον, καὶ ὡς θεοὺς προσ εκύνουν, Σιμωνιανοὺς ἑαυτοὺς ὀνομάζοντες. Ἐκ τῆσδε τῆς πικροτάτης ἀνεφύησαν ῥίζης, Κλεοβανοὶ, ∆οσι θεανοὶ, Γορθηνοὶ, Μασβόθεοι, Ἀδριανισταὶ, Εὐτυχηταὶ, Καϊνισταί. Ἀλλ' οὗτοι πάντες, σμικράς τινας ἐναλλαγὰς τῆς δυσσεβοῦς ἐπινενοηκότες αἱρέσεως, οὐκ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον διήρκεσαν, ἀλλὰ λήθῃ παντελεῖ παρεδόθησαν. Βʹ. -Περὶ Μενάνδρου. Μένανδρος δέ τις, καὶ αὐτὸς Σαμαρείτης, ἀπὸ Χαβραῒ κώμης οὕτω καλουμένης ὁρμώμενος, τὴν μὲν ἐκείνου διεδέξατο γοητείαν, ἑαυτὸν δὲ οὐ τὴν πρώτην ὠνόμασε δύναμιν· ἄγνωστον γὰρ ἔφησε ταύτην· ἀλλ' ὑπ' ἐκείνης ἀπεστάλθαι βρενθυόμενος Σωτῆρα ἑαυτὸν προσηγόρευσε, τοὺς δὲ ἀγγέλους, τῷ Σίμωνι παραπλησίως, ὑπὸ τῆς ἐννοίας ἔφησε προ βληθῆναι, καὶ τούτους τὸν κόσμον δημιουργῆσαι· σώζεσθαι δὲ τοὺς εἰς αὐτὸν βαπτιζομένους, καὶ κρείττους ἀποτελεῖσθαι κἀν τῷδε τῷ βίῳ, καὶ λαμ βάνειν δύναμιν εἰς τὸ ῥᾷστα τῶν κοσμοποιῶν δυνά μεων περιγίνεσθαι. Κατὰ τούτων συνέγραψεν Ἰουστῖ νος ὁ ἐν φιλοσόφου σχήματι τῆς ἀληθείας γεγενημένος συνήγορος, καὶ τὸν τοῦ μαρτυρίου ἀναδησάμενος στέφανον, καὶ Εἰρηναῖος, οὗ καὶ πρόσθεν ἐμνήσθη μεν· ἀποστολικὸς δὲ καὶ οὗτος ἀνήρ· καὶ Ὠριγένης, ὁ πολυμάθειαν ἀσκήσας. Τοῦτον ἐσχηκότες διδάσκαλον Σατορνῖλος, καὶ Βασιλίδης, ὁ μὲν αὐχῶν πατρίδα τὴν Ἀντιόχειαν τὴν Ὀρόντῃ τῷ ποταμῷ γειτονεύουσαν, 83.348 ὁ δὲ Βασιλίδης τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν, ἐναντίους καὶ τῷ διδασκάλῳ καὶ ἀλλήλοις ἀνέπλασαν μύθους· ἄμφω δὲ ἐπὶ Ἀδριανοῦ τοῦ Καίσαρος ἐγένοντο. Γʹ. -Περὶ Σατορνίλου. Ἐγὼ δὲ τὴν Σατορνίλου πρῶτον ἐπιδείξω μυθο λογίαν. Οὗτος, τῷ Μενάνδρῳ παραπλησίως, ἕνα ἔφησεν εἶναι Πατέρα παντάπασιν ἄγνωστον· τοῦτον δὲ ἀγγέλους δημιουργῆσαι, καὶ τὰς ἄλλας δυνά μεις· ἑπτὰ δέ τινας ἐκ τούτων τὸν κόσμον ποιῆσαι, καὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον διαπλάσαι, καὶ αὐτούς φησιν εἰ ρηκέναι τὸ, "Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν." Τοῦ δὲ πλάσματος ἀνορθοῦσθαι μὴ δυναμένου, ἀλλὰ σκώληκος δίκην ἑρπύζοντος, οἰκτείρασα, φησὶν, ἡ θεία δύναμις, ζωῆς σπινθῆρα κατέπεμψε, καὶ τὸν ἀτελῆ ἄνθρωπον ἐτελεσιούργησε· τοῦτον δὲ τὸν σπινθῆρα τῆς ζωῆς μετὰ τὴν τοῦ ζώου διάλυσιν, ἀνατρέχειν πρὸς τὴν ἀποστείλα σαν δύναμιν. Τὸν δὲ Σωτῆρα καὶ Κύριον οὐκ ἀγένη τον μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀγέννητον ἔφησε, καὶ ἀσώμα τον, καὶ ἀνείδεον· φαντασίᾳ δὲ μᾶλλον, οὐκ ἀληθείᾳ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐπιφανῆναι. Τὸν δὲ τῶν Ἰουδαίων Θεὸν ἕνα τῶν ἀγγέλων εἴρηκεν εἶναι. Εἶτα τοῦ πλάσματος ἐπιλησθεὶς (ἀγέννητον γὰρ προσηγόρευσε τὸν Σωτῆρα), τὸν πατέρα φησὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, κατα λῦσαι βουλόμενον μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων ἀγγέλων καὶ τὸν τῶν Ἰουδαίων Θεὸν, ἀποστεῖλαι τὸν Χριστὸν εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ τῶν εἰς αὐτὸν πιστευόντων ἀνθρώπων. ∆ύο τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἶναι λέγει διαφορὰς, καὶ τοὺς μὲν εἶναι ἀγαθοὺς, τοὺς δὲ πονηροὺς, καὶ ταύτην ἐν φύσει τὴν διαφορὰν εἰληφέναι. Τῶν δὲ πονηρῶν δαιμόνων τοῖς πονηροῖς