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cooperating, he says, the Savior came to help the good. This one first called marriage a teaching of the devil. He also legislates to abstain from animate things. He said that some of the prophecies were spoken by the world-making angels, and others by Satan; and that this one is an angel, who particularly opposes the God of the Jews. 4. - Concerning Basilides and Isidore. But Basilides, despising these myths as insignificant, fabricated others more impious. For he said that the Unbegotten Mind first begot, and from the Mind the Word was projected, and from the Word Prudence, and from Prudence Wisdom and Power, and from these, angels and archangels; and that these created the heaven; and that from their emanation other angels came into being, who made another heaven similar to the first; then 83.349 again from their emanation others came into being, and these too fashioned another heaven, and those from them in turn another, and so the emanation that came into being and the creation of the heavens continued up to the three hundred and sixty-fifth; and that the angels inhabiting the last heaven, the one seen by us, created the world, and divided the lordship of the earth among themselves, and that one was allotted the administration of the Jews, and that he rules the others; but when he wished to subject all the nations to his own, the other rulers opposed him, and the Unbegotten, seeing these things, sent his first-born Mind, whom he also named Christ, in order to save those who chose to believe; but he says that this one in no way suffered, but that Simon the Cyrenian endured the passion, having been thought to be Christ; and that Christ, watching from afar, laughed at the madness of the Jews, and then afterwards departed to him who sent him. He said that one ought to believe, not in the one who was crucified, but in the one who seemed to have been crucified. For thus, he says, it is possible to be delivered from the dominion of the world-makers. This man also denied the resurrection of the flesh, and he too said that the prophecies came from angels, and that the law was given by the ruler of the Jews. He ordered to partake of food offered to idols without fear, and to perform forbidden acts indiscriminately. And these men, like those from Menander and Simon, also use incantations, and sorceries, and all kinds of enchantments. And having fabricated names of angels, they said that some hold the first heaven, others the second, and so on up to the three hundred and sixty-fifth. They name the Savior and Lord Caulacau. They call these things unspeakable, and not accessible and comprehensible to all, but to one in a thousand. He says their ruler is Abraxas; for the numerical value of the name signifies the number of the 365 heavens. Basilides also had prophets, Barcabbas and Barcoph, and some others similarly barbarous. He also fabricated other myths more abominable than these, which I have not included because of the harm to those who would read them. And Isidore, the son of Basilides, with some additions, strengthened the mythology of his father. Agrippa, also called Castor, and Irenaeus, and Clement the Stromatist, and Origen, championing the truth, argue against these men. 5. - Concerning Carpocrates and Epiphanes. But Carpocrates, an Alexandrian by race, he too by angels the

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συμπραττόντων, ἦλθε, φησὶν, ὁ Σωτὴρ ἐπαμῦναι τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς. Τὸν δὲ γάμον οὗτος πρῶτος τοῦ διαβόλου διδασκαλίαν ὠνόμασε. Νομοθετεῖ δὲ καὶ ἐμψύχων ἀπέχεσθαι. Τῶν δὲ προφητειῶν τὰς μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν κοσμοποιῶν ἀγ γέλων ἔφησεν εἰρῆσθαι, τὰς δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ Σατανᾶ· καὶ τοῦτον δὲ ἄγγελον εἶναι, διαφερόντως ἀντιπράτ τοντα τῷ τῶν Ἰουδαίων Θεῷ. ∆ʹ. -Περὶ Βασιλίδου καὶ τοῦ Ἰσιδώρου. Ὁ δὲ Βασιλίδης, τούτων ὡς εὐτελῶν καταφρονή σας τῶν μύθων, ἑτέρους δυσσεβεστέρους ἀνέπλασεν. Ἔφησε γὰρ τὸν Ἀγέννητον Νοῦν πρῶτον γεννῆσαι, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ Νοὸς προβληθῆναι τὸν Λόγον, Φρόνησιν δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ Λόγου, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς Φρονήσεως Σοφίαν καὶ ∆ύναμιν, ἐκ δὲ τούτων ἀγγέλους καὶ ἀρχαγγέλους· τούτους δὲ δημιουργῆσαι τὸν οὐρανόν· ἐκ δὲ τῆς τούτων ἀποῤῥοίας ἄλλους γενομένους ἀγγέλους, ἄλ λον οὐρανὸν ποιῆσαι τῷ πρώτῳ προσόμοιον· εἶτα 83.349 πάλιν ἐκ τῆς τούτων ἀποῤῥοίας ἑτέρους φύντας, τεκτήνασθαι καὶ τούτους ἕτερον οὐρανὸν, καὶ τοὺς ἐκ τούτων πάλιν ἄλλον, καὶ μέχρι τριακοσιοστοῦ καὶ ἑξηκοστοῦ πέμπτου διαρκέσαι τὴν γενομένην ἀπόῤ ῥοιαν, καὶ τὴν τῶν οὐρανῶν δημιουργίαν· τοὺς δὲ τὸν οὐρανὸν τὸν ἔσχατον, τὸν ὑφ' ἡμῶν ὁρώμενον, οἰκοῦντας ἀγγέλους δημιουργῆσαι τὸν κόσμον, καὶ τὴν τῆς γῆς διανείμασθαι δεσποτείαν, ἕνα δὲ κληρω θῆναι τὴν τῶν Ἰουδαίων οἰκονομίαν, καὶ τοῦτον ἄρ χειν τῶν ἄλλων· βουληθέντι δὲ τούτῳ τοῖς οἰκείοις ἅπαντα ὑποτάξαι τὰ ἔθνη, τοὺς ἄλλους ἄρχοντας ἀντιπράξασθαι, τὸν δὲ Ἀγέννητον ταῦτα θεώμενον τὸν πρωτόγονον αὐτοῦ Νοῦν ἀποστεῖλαι, ὃν καὶ Χριστὸν προσηγόρευσεν, ὥστε σῶσαι τοὺς πιστεῦσαι προαιρουμένους· παθεῖν δὲ τοῦτον οὐδαμῶς λέγει, ἀλλὰ Σίμωνα τὸν Κυρηναῖον ὑπομεῖναι τὸ πάθος νομισθέντα εἶναι Χριστόν· τὸν δὲ Χριστὸν πόῤῥωθεν ὁρῶντα, γελᾷν τῶν Ἰουδαίων τὴν ἀπόνοιαν, εἶθ' ὕστερον ἀπελθεῖν πρὸς τὸν ἀποστείλαντα. Χρῆναι δὲ πιστεύειν ἔλεγεν, οὐκ εἰς τὸν ἐσταυρωμένον, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸν ἐσταυρῶσθαι δόξαντα. Οὕτω γὰρ, φησὶ, δυ νατὸν τῆς τῶν κοσμοποιῶν δυναστείας ἀπαλλαγῆναι. Ἠρνήθη δὲ καὶ οὗτος τῆς σαρκὸς τὴν ἀνάστασιν, τὰς δὲ προφητείας καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπ' ἀγγέλων ἔφησε γεγενῆσθαι, τὸν δὲ νόμον ὑπὸ τοῦ ἄρχοντος τεθῆναι τῶν Ἰουδαίων. Τῶν δὲ εἰδωλοθύτων ἀδεῶς μεταλαμ βάνειν προσέταξε, καὶ τὰς ἀπειρημένας πράξεις ἀδια κρίτως ἐπιτελεῖν. Καὶ οὗτοι δὲ, ὁμοίως τοῖς ἀπὸ Με νάνδρου καὶ Σίμωνος, καὶ ἐπῳδαῖς χρῶνται, καὶ γοητείαις, καὶ παντοδαπαῖς μαγγανείαις. Καὶ ἀγ γέλων δὲ ὀνόματα διαπλάσαντες, τοὺς μὲν τὸν πρῶ τον ἔχειν ἔφασαν οὐρανὸν, τοὺς δὲ τὸν δεύτερον, καὶ ἐφεξῆς μέχρι τοῦ πέμπτου καὶ ἑξηκοστοῦ καὶ τρια κοσιοστοῦ. Τὸν δὲ Σωτῆρα καὶ Κύριον Καυλακαύαν ὀνομάζουσι. Ταῦτα δὲ ἄῤῥητα εἶναι καλοῦσι, καὶ οὐ πᾶσι χωρητὰ καὶ καταληπτὰ, ἀλλὰ ἑνὶ ἀπὸ χιλίων. Εἶναι δὲ τὸν ἄρχοντα αὐτῶν φησιν Ἀβρασάξ· ἡ γὰρ ψῆφος τοῦ ὀνόματος τῶν τξεʹ οὐρανῶν σημαίνει τὸν ἀριθμόν. Εἶχε δὲ καὶ προφήτας ὁ Βασιλίδης, Βαρκάβαν καὶ Βαρκὼφ, καὶ ἑτέρους τινὰς παρα πλησίως βαρβάρους. Καὶ ἄλλους δὲ τούτων μυσα ρωτέρους ἀνέπλασε μύθους, οὓς διὰ τὴν τῶν ἐντευ ξομένων οὐκ ἐντέθεικα βλάβην. Καὶ Ἰσίδωρος δὲ, ὁ τοῦ Βασιλίδου υἱὸς, μετά τινος ἐπιθήκης τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς μυθολογίαν ἐκράτυνε. Καταγωνίζονται δὲ τούτους, Ἀγρίππας, ὁ καὶ Κάστωρ ἐπίκλην, καὶ Εἰρηναῖος, καὶ Κλήμης ὁ Στρωματεὺς, καὶ Ὠριγένης, τῆς ἀληθείας ὑπερμαχοῦντες. Εʹ. -Περὶ Καρποκράτους καὶ Ἐπιφάνους. Ὁ δὲ Καρποκράτης, Ἀλεξανδρεὺς ὢν τὸ γένος, ὑπὸ μὲν ἀγγέλων καὶ αὐτὸς τὴν