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

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 immediately to the sun, but to await the full moon and the arrival of the other souls? Therefore, when the moon wanes from the full moon, <ἡ> where does the departing power remain during this time, until the moon, having been emptied of the former souls like a deserted city, receives a second colony again? For some treasury ought to have been set apart in some part of the earth or of the clouds or of some other place, where the souls, being gathered together, become ready for the journey to the moon. But again another difficulty. Why then is it not filled immediately, or why does it wait for the fifteen days again? And no less wonderful than what has been said is this, that never since men remember has the moon been filled within fifteen days, not even at the time of the flood of Deucalion and still more at the time of Phoroneus, when almost everything on earth was destroyed and it happened that a great deal of the power was separated from matter. And besides these things, it would be fitting to consider likewise the productivity of generations and their unproductiveness and destructions, and since these things do not likewise occur in order, neither should the order of the full moons nor of the wanings be so observed.

23 Not incidentally should this also be added, that if the divine power which is enclosed in matter is infinite, what the sun and moon effect can do nothing towards diminishing it—for what is left is again infinite after the finite has been taken; but if it is finite, there ought to have been a perception in so long a time of how much of this power has been diminished from the world; but everything remains the same. And what myths do these things not surpass in incredibility, when they say that man is a creation according to the image of matter seen in the sun? For images are phantoms of archetypes; but if they leave the image in the sun, where is the paradigm, in accordance with which the image was fashioned for them? For they will not say that man himself is the true man, nor the divine power—for this they mix with matter, but they say the image is seen in the sun, which came to be, according to them, from the later separation from matter, but not even the demiurgic cause—for they say this was sent down for the salvation of the divine power, and according to them this must certainly be placed before the sun, since upon its arrival the sun and the moon happened to be separated from matter, but they say the image is seen in the sun. "Matter has made," they say, "man." In what manner, or how? For it is not even possible to imagine this. For besides man being thus, according to them, an image of an image and having no substance, it is not even possible to come to the thought of how man is the work of matter; for to reason and to perceive does not even belong to matter, according to them. And who, according to them, is man? Is it the mixture of soul and body, or the one or the other, or is mind above the whole soul? But if it is mind, how could the better be the work of the worse? If it is soul—and they say this is the divine power—how, by taking away God, the divine power, do they subject this to the creation of matter? But if they leave only the body, let them remember again that this is in itself motionless, whereas they say the substance of matter is motion. But indeed, since they think that nothing is brought to matter of itself, it is not reasonable to suppose that what is composed of these things is its work. And indeed, that what is made by something is in every way inferior to it seems to be indisputable,

δὲ βαρύ, οὐδ' ἀρχὴν πρὸς σελήνην ἀφικέσθαι οἷόν τε. τίνα δὲ λόγον ἔχει τὸ πρῶτον ἀφικόμενον πρὸς σελήνην μὴ εὐθὺς πρὸς ἥλιον ἀνα πέμπεσθαι, ἀλλ' ἐκδέχεσθαι τὴν πανσέληνον καὶ τὰς τῶν ἄλλων ψυχῶν ἐπιδημίας; ὅτε τοίνυν ἀπὸ τῆς πανσελήνου ἡ σελήνη μειοῦται, <ἡ> ἀποχωριζομένη δύναμις τὸν χρόνον τοῦτον ποῦ μένει, ἕως ἂν κενω θεῖσα ἡ σελήνη τῶν προτέρων ψυχῶν καθάπερ πόλις ἔρημος δευτέραν πάλιν δέξηται ἀποικίαν; χρῆν γὰρ ἀφωρίσθαι καὶ θησαυρόν τινα ἔν τινι μέρει τῆς γῆς ἢ τῶν νεφελῶν ἢ ἑτέρου τόπου τινός, ἔνθα αἱ ψυχαὶ συναγειρόμεναι ἕτοιμαι γίγνονται πρὸς τὴν ἐπιδημίαν τὴν πρὸς σελήνην. ἀλλὰ πάλιν ἀπορία ἑτέρα. διὰ τί τοίνυν οὐκ εὐθὺς πληροῦται ἢ διὰ τί πάλιν τὰς πεν τεκαίδεκα ἡμέρας περιμένει; οὐκ ἔλαττον δὲ τῶν εἰρη μένων θαυμαστὸν καὶ τοῦτο, τὸ μηδέποτε ἀφ' οὗ μέ μνηνται οἱ ἄνθρωποι τὴν σελήνην ἐντὸς πεντεκαίδεκα ἡμερῶν πεπληρῶσθαι, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ τοῦ ἐπὶ ∆ευκαλίωνος καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον ἐπὶ Φορωνέως, ὅτε πάντα ὡς εἰπεῖν τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς διεφθάρη καὶ πολλὴν τὴν δύναμιν συνέβη διακεκρίσθαι τῆς ὕλης. χωρὶς δὲ τούτων καὶ φορὰς γενεῶν καὶ ἀφορίας καὶ φθορῶν ὁμοίως σκοπεῖν προσῆκεν, ὧν ὡσαύτως μὴ γινομένων κατὰ τάξιν χρῆν μηδὲ τὴν τάξιν τῶν πανσελήνων μηδὲ τῶν μειώσεων οὕτω τηρεῖσθαι.

23 οὐ παρέρ γως δὲ οὐδὲ τοῦτο προσακτέον, ὅτι εἰ μὲν ἄπειρός ἐστιν ἡ ἐναπειλημμένη τῇ ὕλῃ δύναμις θεία, πρὸς τὸ μειοῦσθαι αὐτὴν οὐδὲν δύναται ἃ διαπραγματεύονται ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη-τὸ γὰρ λειπόμενον πάλιν ἄπειρον ἀπὸ πεπερασμένου τοῦ ληφθέντος· εἰ δέ ἐστιν πεπε ρασμένη, χρῆν αἴσθησιν γενέσθαι ἐν τοσούτῳ χρόνῳ, πόσον ποτὲ τῆς δυνάμεως ταύτης ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου ἐμειώθη· ἀλλὰ πάντα ὁμοίως μένει. Τίνας δὲ μύθους οὐχ ὑπερβέβηκεν τῷ ἀπιθάνῳ καὶ ταῦτα, ὅτε κατὰ τὴν ὀφθεῖσαν ἐν ἡλίῳ εἰκόνα τῆς ὕλης τὸν ἄνθρωπον δημιούργημα εἶναι λέγωσιν; καὶ γὰρ εἰκόνες εἴδωλά εἰσιν τῶν ἀρχετύπων· εἰ δ' ἐν ἡλίῳ τὴν εἰκόνα καταλείπουσιν, ποῦ τὸ παράδειγμα, πρὸς ὅπερ ἡ εἰκὼν αὐτοῖς ἀναπέπλασται; οὐ γὰρ δὴ αὐτόν γε τὸν ἄνθρωπον φήσουσιν τὸν ὄντως ἄνθρωπον εἶναι, οὐδὲ τὴν δύναμιν τὴν θείαν ταύτην μὲν γὰρ πρὸς τὴν ὕλην μιγνύουσιν, ἐν ἡλίῳ δὲ τὴν εἰκόνα ἑωρᾶσθαι λέγουσιν, ὃς ἐγένετο κατ' αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς πρὸς τὴν ὕλην ὕστερον διακρίσεως, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὴν δημιουργι κὴν αἰτίαν-ταύτην γὰρ ἐπὶ σωτηρίᾳ τῆς θείας δυ νάμεως καταπεπέμφθαι φασίν, καὶ πρὸ ἡλίου κατ' αὐτοὺς πάντως γε ταύτην τακτέον, ἐπειδήπερ ἀφιγμένης αὐ τῆς τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην τῆς ὕλης ἀποκεκρίσθαι συμβέβηκεν, ἐν ἡλίῳ δὲ τὴν εἰκόνα ἑωρᾶσθαι λέγουσιν. «πεποίηκεν δὲ ἡ ὕλη» φασὶν «τὸν ἄνθρωπον.» τίνι ποτὲ τρόπῳ ἢ πῶς; οὐδὲ γὰρ πλάσασθαί γε τοῦτο δυνατόν. πρὸς γὰρ τῷ εἴδωλον εἰδώλου τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὑπάρχειν οὕτω γε κατ' αὐτοὺς καὶ μηδεμίαν ἔχειν ὑπόστασιν, ἔτι οὐδὲ εἰς ἔννοιάν ἐστιν ἥκειν δυνάμενον, πῶς τῆς ὕλης ἔργον ἐστὶν ὁ ἄνθρωπος· τὸ γὰρ λογίζεσθαι καὶ αἴσθεσθαι οὐδὲ τῆς κατ' αὐτοὺς ὕλης ἐστίν. τίς δὲ κατ' αὐτοὺς ὁ ἄνθρωπος; ἆρά γε τὸ ἐκ τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος μῖγμα ἢ τὸ ἕτερον ἢ ὅλης ψυχῆς ἀνωτέρω νοῦς; ἀλλ' εἴτε νοῦς ἐστιν, πῶς τὸ κάλλιον γένοιτ' ἂν τοῦ χείρονος ἔργον; εἴτε ψυχή-ταύτην δὲ τὴν θείαν δύναμιν εἶναι λέγουσιν, πῶς ἀφαιρούμενοι τὸν θεὸν τὴν θείαν δύναμιν, ταύτην ὑπὸ τὴν τῆς ὕλης δημι ουργίαν κατατάττουσιν; εἰ δὲ τὸ σῶμα μόνον κατα λείπουσιν, ἀναμιμνῃσκέσθωσαν πάλιν ὅτι τοῦτο καθ' ἑαυτὸ ἀκίνητον, τῆς δὲ ὕλης τὴν οὐσίαν κίνησιν εἶναί φασιν. ἀλλὰ μὴν ὅτε γε οὐδὲν καθ' ἑαυτὸ ἐπὶ τὴν ὕλην ἄγεσθαι οἴονται, οὐδὲ τὸ ἐκ τούτων συνεστὸς εὔλογον ταύτης ἔργον εἶναι ὑπολαμβάνειν. καὶ μὴν τὸ γινόμενον ὑπό του ὅτι πάντως χεῖρον ἐκείνου, ἀναμφισβήτητον εἶναι δοκεῖ,