Chapter X.—Another Account of the Strange Aberrations of Sophia, and the Restraining Services of Horus.  Sophia Was Not Herself, After All, Ejected from the Pleroma, But Only Her Enthymesis.

But some dreamers have given another account of the aberration113    Exitum. and recovery of Sophia. After her vain endeavours, and the disappointment of her hope, she was, I suppose, disfigured with paleness and emaciation, and that neglect of her beauty which was natural to one who114    Uti quæ. 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 energy.115    Comp. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. vi. 2; Pliny, H. N. x. 58, 60. 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 treatment116    Ratione. of her case, and took pains at self-concealment. Remedies could 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 behalf, and especially Nus. Why not? What was the cause of so vast an evil? Yet not a single casualty117    Exitus. befell Sophia without its effect. All her sorrows operate. Inasmuch as all that conflict of hers contributes to the origin 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 circumstances118    In hæc: in relation to the case of Sophia. the Horos whom we have mentioned above; (and this he does) by means of Monogenes Nus, a male-female (Æon), because there is this variation of statement about the Father’s119    Above, in chap. viii. we were told that Nus, who was so much like the Father, was himself called “Father.” sex. They also go on to tell us that Horos is likewise called Metagogius, that is, “a conductor about,” as well as Horothetes (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 restored to the conjugal state: (they add) that she indeed remained within the bounds120    In censu. of the Pleroma, but that her Enthymesis, with the accruing121    Appendicem. Passion, was banished by Horos, and crucified and cast out from the Pleroma,—even as they say, Malum foras! (Evil, avaunt!) Still, that was a spiritual essence, as being the natural impulse of an Æon, although without form or shape, inasmuch as it had apprehended nothing, and therefore was pronounced to be an infirm and feminine fruit.122    Literally, “infirm fruit and a female,” i.e. “had not shared in any male influence, but was a purely female production.” See our Irenæus, i. 4. [Vol. I. p. 321.]

CAPUT X.

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Sed quidam exitum Sophiae, et restitutionem, aliter somniaverunt. Post irritos conatus et spei dejectionem, deformatam eam pallore credo, et macie et incuria formae, uti quae patrem non minus denegatum dolebat quam amissum. Dehinc illo moerore ex semetipsa sola, nulla opera conjugii concepit, et procreat foeminam. Miraris haec? Et gallina sortita est de suo parere. Sed et vultures foeminas tantum aiunt: et tamen sine masculo mater . Primo quidem contristari propter inconsummationem generatinis: metuere postremo ne finis quoque insisteret: haerere de ratione casus: curare de occultatione. Remedia nusquam. Ubi enim jam tragoediae et comoediae, a quibus forma mutuaretur exponendi, quod citra pudorem 0557B erat natum? Dum in malis res est, suspicit, convertit ad patrem, sed incassum enisa, et vires deserebant, in preces succidit . Tota etiam 0558A propinquitas pro ea supplicat, vel maxime Nus quidni? caussa mali tanti. Nullus tamen Sophiae exitus vacuit , omnes aerumnae ejus operantur. Siquidem et illa tunc conflictatio in Materiae originem pervenit, ignorantia, pavor , moeror, substantiae fiunt. Ibi demum pater aliquando motus, per Monogeneu Nun, quem supra diximus Horon, in haec promit in imagine sua foemina mare , quia de patris sexu ita variant. Adjiciunt autem, Horon, etiam Metagogea (id est circumductorem) vocari, et Horotheten. Hujus praedicant opera, et repressam ab illicitis, et purgatam a malis, et deinceps confirmatam Sophiam, et conjugio restitutam, et ipsam quidem in Pleromatis censu remansisse. Euthymesin vero ejus et illam appendicem Passionem ab Horo 0558B relegatam et crucifixam, et extra eum factam, Malum, quod aiunt, foras: spiritalem tamen substantiam illam, ut naturalem quemdam impetum Aeonis , 0559A sed informem et inspeciatam, quatenus nihil apprehendisset: ideoque fructum infirmum, et foeminam pronuntiatam.