Alexander of Lycopolis, Treatise on Manichaean Opinions

Tractatus de placitis manichaeorum

Upon matter, which will be mixed with it throughout for the death of matter will be the separation of this power from it at some later time. thus, th

A rebellion of matter against god. but i would not say that these things are insufficient to persuade those who approach the argument without examinat

Will subsist, the mover and the moved for which of them, then, does he vote, that we may posit that one first with god?

Will be separated. for there is one place for the heavy, and another for the intermediate, and for the light, for to the one belongs the above, to ano

To god, when they say he arranged the plot against matter, because it desired the beautiful. with what that he had did god wish to punish matter? for

13 and what things does he say are evils? for concerning the sun and the moon, he leaves out nothing but concerning the heaven and the stars, if he s

It requires nourishment. for those living things that were immortal have been set free from decay and growth, such as the sun and moon and stars, alth

18 for the wise thing said by them is this, that just as we see that when the soul is separated from the body the body itself is destroyed, so too whe

The divine power, if indeed it is subject to passion and divisible throughout its whole self, and one part of it becomes sun, and another, moon? for t

Is heavy, nor is it possible for it to reach the moon at all. what reason is there for that which first arrives at the moon not to be sent up immediat

For thus the world is worse than the creator and than the artisans, as many as are their works. if therefore man is the work of matter, he is certainl

To use a worse way of life, how is it reasonable? and if the divine power is greater in these things, what use are such things for nourishment, since

The word finds to be altogether, or the last of all things and able with difficulty to arrive at a spurious notion. but is the lightless fire indeed g

the divine power, if indeed it is subject to passion and divisible throughout its whole self, and one part of it becomes sun, and another, moon? For they say these are purely of the divine power. But this was what we said was peculiar to matter, that being nothing in itself, but receiving the shapes and the qualities, all defined things come to be. If, therefore, as from one substrate of the divine power only sun and moon have come to be, and these are different and different, why should not something else also come to be? But if all things shall come to be, the consequence is clear, that the divine power is itself also matter, being fashioned according to the shapes. But if nothing other <than> sun and moon are the things that come to be from the divine power, then the things confined in all beings are sun and moon, and each of the stars is sun and moon or the other, and each of the land animals and of the birds and of the amphibians. But that not even those who perform the wonders would accept these things, I think is clear to everyone.

21 For those investigating the things after this, the path is not straight but more difficult to face than the one before. For they say that the sun and moon have suffered nothing strange in their mixture with matter; then how the other things were diminished contrary to their own nature, they cannot say. For if, even when the divine power was by itself, it was so constituted that one part of it was beautiful and another more beautiful, <and> according to the myth of the Hippocentaurs, who were men down to their chests but the rest were horses—both animals are beautiful, but man is more beautiful—so also in the case of the divine power it is possible to conceive one part of it as excelling in beauty and another as being inferior in this respect, and in the case of matter, one part exists having a certain excess of evil <.....> the others being different and different <.....>, the argument would be different. For it would have been possible to suppose that the sun and moon, being more prudent from the beginning, selected the less evil parts of matter for the mixture, in order to remain in their own virtue, since such great evils were too weak to overpower such a great superiority in goodness; but the other parts of it had fallen, not without providence, yet not with equal providence, to enjoy more of the evil in it, each according to its quantity. But since nothing different is said by them about this power, but it is considered to be uniform throughout its whole self, the argument is incredible that in the mixture one part remained unharmed while the other partook of some evil.

22 And they say that both sun and moon, having gradually separated the divine power from matter, send it away to God, with the moon from the new moons until the full moon receiving it into herself, then <gi>ving it to the sun, and the sun conveying it to God. But if they had frequented even a little the doors of astronomers, they would not have suffered these things, nor would they have been ignorant that the moon, being according to some devoid of its own light, is illuminated by the sun, and that its phases are according to its distances from the sun, and it becomes a full moon when it is one hundred and eighty degrees away from the sun, and it is a conjunction when it is borne on the same degree as the sun. Then, how is it not wondrous how the many souls, being from different sources—for they might be from the world itself and from animals and plants and nymphs and demons, and among these, birds, land animals, amphibians are distinguished by their appearance—yet one uniform body always and throughout appears to us in the moon. And what of the continuity of this body, and when the moon is at the half, appearing as a semicircle, and when it is gibbous, as such <..?..> again, how are they taken up to the moon, or using what kind of vehicle? For if it is light, like fire, it is likely it would not reach only as far as the moon, but would go up through everything; if

ἡ θεία δύναμις, εἰ δή ἐστιν παθητὴ καὶ διαιρετὴ [η] διὰ πάσης αὐτῆς καὶ τὸ μέν τι αὐτῆς γίνεται ἥλιος, τὸ δὲ σελήνη; καθαρῶς γὰρ ταῦτα εἶναί φασιν τῆς θείας δυνάμεως. τοῦτο δὲ ἦν ὃ ἐλέγομεν ἴδιον τῆς ὕλης εἶναι, τὸ μηδέν τι οὖσαν καθ' ἑαυτὴν δεχομένην δὲ τὰ σχήματα καὶ τὰς ποιότη τας πάντα γίγνεσθαι τὰ διωρισμένα. εἰ οὖν ὡς ἀφ' ἑνὸς ὑποκειμένου τῆς θείας δυνάμεως μόνον γέγονεν ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη, ταῦτα δὲ ἕτερα καὶ ἕτερα, διὰ τί μὴ καὶ ἄλλο τι γένηται; εἰ δὲ πάντα γενήσεται, τὸ συμ βαῖνον φανερόν, ὅτι ἡ θεία δύναμις ὕλη καὶ αὐτή, πρὸς τὰ σχήματα ποιουμένη. εἰ δὲ οὐδὲν ἕτερον <ἢ> ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη τὰ ἐκ τῆς θείας δυνάμεώς ἐστι γιγνόμενα, τὰ ἐναπειλημμένα ἄρα πᾶσιν τοῖς οὖσιν ἥλιός ἐστιν καὶ σελήνη καὶ ἕκαστος τῶν ἀστέρων ἥλιός ἐστιν καὶ σελήνη ἢ τὸ ἕτερον, καὶ τῶν χερσαίων ζῴων καθ' ἕκαστον καὶ τῶν πτηνῶν καὶ τῶν ἀμφιβίων. ταῦτα δὲ ὅτι οὐδὲ οἱ τὰ θαύματα δεικνύντες ἀποδέ ξαιντο ἄν, οἶμαι παντί τῳ δῆλον εἶναι.

21 Τὸ δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπισκοποῦσιν οὐκ εὐθεῖα ἡ ὁδὸς ἀλλὰ δυσαντοτέρα τῆς παρελθούσης. λέγουσιν γὰρ μηδὲν ἄτοπον πεπονθέναι κατὰ τὴν σύμμιξιν πρὸς τὴν ὕλην ἥλιον καὶ σελήνην· εἶτα πῶς τὰ ἄλλα ἠλατ τώθη παρὰ τὴν ἰδίαν φύσιν οὐκ ἔχουσι λέγειν. εἰ μὲν γὰρ καὶ ὅτε καθ' αὑτὴν ἦν ἡ θεία δύναμις οὕτως εἶχεν ὥστε τὸ μέν τι αὐτῆς εἶναι καλὸν τὸ δὲ κάλλιον, <καὶ> κατὰ τὸν τῶν Ἱπποκενταύρων μῦθον, οἳ τὸ μὲν ἄχρι στηθῶν ἄνθρωποι ἦσαν τὸ λοιπὸν δὲ ἵπποι καλὰ μὲν ἑκάτερα τὰ ζῷα κάλλιον δὲ ὁ ἄνθρωπος, οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς θείας δυνάμεως ἔστιν ἐπινοῆσαι τὸ μέν τι αὐτῆς τῷ καλῷ διαφέρον τὸ δὲ ἐλαττούμενον κατὰ τοῦτο, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ὕλης δὲ τὸ μὲν ὑπάρχει ὑπερ βολήν τινα ἔχον κακίας <.....> τὰ ἕτερα μὲν ἕτερα καὶ ἕτερα <.....>, ἄλλος ἂν ἦν λόγος. ἐνεδέχετο γὰρ ὑπολαβεῖν ὅτι ἐμφρονέστερ' ὄντα ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη τὰ ἧττον πονηρὰ τῆς ὕλης εἰς τὴν σύμμι ξιν ἐξελέξατο, ἵνα μένῃ ἐπὶ τῆς ἰδίας ἀρετῆς, ἐξασθε νησάντων τηλικῶνδε πονηρευμάτων ἐκβιάσασθαι το σαύτην ὑπεροχὴν ἐν τῷ ἀγαθῷ· τὰ δὲ ἄλλα μέρη αὐτῆς ἦν πεσόντα, οὐκ ἀπρονοήτως μέν, οὐ μὴν μετὰ τῆς ἴσης προνοίας, ἀπολαῦσαι μᾶλλον κακίας τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ κατὰ τὸ ποσὸν ἕκαστον. ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὐδὲν διά φορον περὶ τῆς δυνάμεως ταύτης παρ' αὐτῶν λέγεται ἀλλ' ὁμοία διὰ πάσης αὐτῆς θεωρεῖται, ἀπίθανος ὁ λόγος ὅτι ἐν μὲν τῇ συμμίξει τὸ μὲν ἔμεινεν ἀκέραιον τὸ δὲ μετέσχεν κακίας τινός.

22 Λέγουσι δὲ ὅτι καὶ ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη τὴν θείαν δύναμιν κατὰ μικρὸν διακρίναντες ἀπὸ τῆς ὕλης πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀποπέμπουσιν, τῆς σελήνης ἐν ταῖς νουμηνίαις μέχρι τῆς πανσελήνου εἰς ἑαυτὴν δεχομένης ταύτην εἶτα τῷ ἡλίῳ <δι>δούσης, τοῦ δὲ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν παραπέμποντος. εἰ δ' ἦσαν καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν εἰς ἀστρονόμων θύρας φοιτήσαντες, οὐκ ἂν ταῦτα πεπόν θεσαν οὔτε ἠγνόησαν ἂν ὅτι ἡ σελήνη κατά τινας ἄμοιρος οὖσα ἰδίου φωτός ὑπὸ τοῦ ἡλίου καταλάμ πεται, καὶ ὅτι οἱ σχηματισμοὶ αὐτῆς εἰσιν παρὰ τὰς τοῦ ἡλίου διαστάσεις, πανσέληνός τε γίγνεται ὅταν ἀπέχῃ τοῦ ἡλίου τὰς ἑκατὸν καὶ ὀγδοήκοντα μοίρας, σύνοδος δὲ ὅταν ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς τῷ ἡλίῳ φέρηται μοίρας. ἔπειτα δὲ πῶς οὐ θαυμαστὸν ὅπως ποτὲ πολ λαὶ οὖσαι αἱ ψυχαὶ καὶ ἀπὸ διαφόρων καὶ γὰρ τοῦ κόσμου αὐτοῦ καὶ ζῴων καὶ φυτῶν καὶ νυμφῶν καὶ δαιμόνων εἶεν ἂν καὶ ἐν τούτοις πτηνῶν χερσαίων ἀμφιβίων διακρίνονται τῇ ὄψει, ἀλλ' ἕν τι σῶμα ὅμοιον ἀεὶ διὰ παντὸς φαίνεται ἡμῖν ἐν τῇ σελήνῃ. τί δὲ καὶ τὸ συνεχὲς τοῦ σώματος τούτου καὶ ὅτε μὲν διχότομός ἐστιν ἡ σελήνη, φαινόμενον ἡμικύκλιον, ὅτε δὲ ἀμφίκυρτος, τοιοῦτον <..;..> πάλιν πῶς ἀνα λαμβάνονται ἐπὶ τὴν σελήνην ἢ ποίῳ χρώμεναι ὀχή ματι; εἰ μὲν γὰρ κοῦφόν ἐστιν οἷον πῦρ, οὐκ ἄχρι τῆς σελήνης μόνον εἰκὸς γενέσθαι ἄν, ἀλλ' ἄνωθεν διὰ παντός· εἰ