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to lead back an enemy's ox, and to help raise up a fallen beast, and not to overlook an enemy in need of help; and how the one called good by him alone threatened Gehenna to the one who calls his brother a fool; and showing himself to be just said: "With the measure you use, it will be measured back to you." But to refute these things is not for the present time; besides, for those who have read the divine Scriptures, the blasphemy is all too easily detected. But Marcion of Pontus, having been taught these things by Cerdon, did not cherish the teaching that had been handed down, but increased the impiety. For he fashioned in his doctrine four unbegotten beings; and one he called both good and unknown, whom he also addressed as the father of the Lord; and another the demiurge and just, whom he also named evil; and in addition to these, matter, being both evil, and under another evil power. The demiurge, having overcome the evil, took matter and out of it created all things; from the purest part, the heaven, and from the rest, the four elements, and from the dregs, Hades and Tartarus. Again, having filtered the purest part of the earth, he constructed, he says, paradise; and taking one clod from this, he formed Adam, having given him the soul from his own substance. From this, he says, is the conflict of the soul and the body, the body striving to drag this down towards that matter, while the soul tries to draw the body up towards the Demiurge. These men also dare to say that the serpent is better than the Demiurge. For the one prevented partaking of the plant of knowledge, while the other strongly urged it. And the impious ones did not perceive that the serpent's counsel brought forth death. Immediately, therefore, some of them even honor 83.376 the serpent. And I myself found among them a bronze serpent in a certain chest, placed with their abominable mysteries. Not only do they blaspheme the Maker, but they also call the patriarchs and the prophets lawless, in order to show the Demiurge to be a lover of evil men. This man accepted only the Gospel according to Luke from the Gospels, and cutting out the genealogy and most other parts; and he cast out the Law, and the Prophets, and the whole Old Testament, as having been given by another God. He says that our Lord Jesus Christ came down to free those who have believed in him from the bondage of the Demiurge; and to have seemed to be a man, while having nothing human, and to have seemed to suffer, having in no way suffered. And he has also cast out the resurrection of bodies, supposing this to be impossible to happen. This man said that Cain, and the Sodomites, and all the other impious men have obtained salvation, having approached the Savior Christ in Hades, and been taken up into the kingdom; but that Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and the patriarchs and the other prophets, and the just, did not share in the freedom given to those others, not having been willing to run to him. For this reason, he says, they were also condemned to dwell in Hades. Such things did Marcion rage against the one who made him, or rather, even much more terrible things than these; for the greater blasphemies I have passed over in silence. I know a certain ninety-year-old elder among them, who, rising in the morning, would wash his own face with the excess of his spittle, and when asked the reason, he said that he does not want to ask the Demiurge and take water from his creations. And when those present said: "How then do you eat, and drink, and clothe yourself, and sleep, and perform the customary mysteries?" he answered that he did this out of necessity, because otherwise he could neither live nor perform the mysteries. And the madman unwillingly confessed that the one called good by him has nothing, but that he enjoys all good things from the creations of the Demiurge

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ἐχθροῦ βοῦν ἐπανάγειν, καὶ τὸ πεπτωκὸς κτῆνος συνανιστά ναι, καὶ μὴ περιορᾷν τὸν ἐχθρὸν βοηθείας δεόμενον· καὶ ὡς ὁ παρ' αὐτοῦ μόνος καλούμενος ἀγαθὸς, τῷ μωρὸν καλοῦντι τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἠπείλησε γέενναν· καὶ δεικνὺς ἑαυτὸν δίκαιον εἶπεν· "Ὧ μέτρῳ μετρεῖτε, ἀντιμετρηθήσεται ὑμῖν." Ἀλλὰ τὸ ταῦτα διελέγ χειν οὐ τοῦ παρόντος καιροῦ· ἄλλως τε καὶ τοῖς τὰς θείας ἀνεγνωκόσι Γραφὰς εὐφώρατος ἄγαν ἡ βλασ φημία. Ὁ δὲ Μαρκίων ὁ Ποντικὸς, ταῦτα παρὰ Κέρδωνος παιδευθεὶς, οὐκ ἔστερξε τὴν παραδοθεῖσαν διδασκαλίαν, ἀλλ' ηὔξησε τὴν ἀσέβειαν. Τέτταρας γὰρ ἀγεννήτους οὐσίας τῷ λόγῳ διέπλασε· καὶ τὸν μὲν ἐκάλεσεν ἀγαθόν τε καὶ ἄγνωστον, ὃν καὶ πατέρα προσηγόρευσε τοῦ Κυρίου· τὸν δὲ δημιουργόν τε καὶ δίκαιον, ὃν καὶ πονηρὸν ὠνόμαζε· καὶ πρὸς τούτοις τὴν ὕλην, κακήν τε οὖσαν, καὶ ὑπ' ἄλλῳ κακῷ τελοῦ σαν. Τὸν δὲ δημιουργὸν περιγενόμενον τοῦ κακοῦ, τὴν ὕλην λαβεῖν τε καὶ ἐκ ταύτης δημιουργῆσαι τὰ σύμπαντα· ἐκ μὲν τοῦ καθαρωτάτου, τὸν οὐρανὸν, ἐκ δὲ τοῦ λοιποῦ, τὰ στοιχεῖα τὰ τέτταρα, ἐκ δὲ τῆς ὑποστάθμης, τὸν ᾅδην καὶ τὸν τάρταρον. Πάλιν δὲ τῆς γῆς τὸ καθαρώτατον διηθήσας, κατεσκεύασε, φησὶ, τὸν παράδεισον· ἐκ δὲ τούτου βῶλον μίαν λα βὼν, ἔπλασε τὸν Ἀδὰμ, ἐκ τῆς οἰκείας οὐσίας δεδω κὼς αὐτῷ τὴν ψυχήν. Ἐντεῦθεν, φησὶν, ἡ διαμάχη τῆς ψυχῆς ἐστι καὶ τοῦ σώματος, τοῦ μὲν σώματος πρὸς τὴν ὕλην ἐκείνην κατασύραι ταύτην φιλονει κοῦντος, τῆς δὲ ψυχῆς ἀνελκύσαι πρὸς τὸν ∆ημιουρ γὸν πειρωμένης τὸ σῶμα. Οὗτοι καὶ τὸν ὄφιν ἀγα θώτερον εἶναι τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ λέγειν τολμῶσιν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ τοῦ τῆς γνώσεως φυτοῦ μεταλαβεῖν διεκώ λυσεν, ὁ δὲ μάλα προέτρεψε. Καὶ οὐ συνεῖδον οἱ δυσσεβεῖς, ὡς ἡ τοῦ ὄφεως συμβουλὴ τὸν θάνατον ἀπεκύησεν. Αὐτίκα τοίνυν τινὲς αὐτῶν καὶ τιμῶσι 83.376 τὸν ὄφιν. Καὶ εὗρον ἔγωγε παρ' αὐτοῖς ὄφιν χαλκοῦν ἔν τινι κιβωτίῳ μετὰ τῶν μυσαρῶν αὐτῶν ἐγκείμε νον μυστηρίων. Οὐ μόνον δὲ τὸν Ποιητὴν βλασφημοῦ σιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς πατριάρχας καὶ τοὺς προφήτας παρανόμους ἀποκαλοῦσιν, ἵνα τὸν ∆ημιουργὸν ἀπο δείξωσι πονηρῶν ἐραστήν. Οὗτος ἐκ μὲν τῶν Εὐαγ γελίων τὸ κατὰ Λουκᾶν ἐδέξατο μόνον, καὶ τὴν γε νεαλογίαν περικόψας τὰ πλεῖστα· τὸν δὲ νόμον, καὶ τοὺς προφήτας, καὶ τὴν Παλαιὰν πᾶσαν ἐκβέ βληκεν, ὡς ὑπ' ἀλλοτρίου δεδομένην Θεοῦ. Κατελη λυθέναι δὲ τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν λέγει, ἵνα τῆς τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ δουλείας τοὺς εἰς αὐτὸν πεπιστευκότας ἐλευθερώσῃ· δόξαι δὲ εἶναι ἄνθρωπον, οὐδὲν ἀνθρώπινον ἔχοντα, καὶ δόξαι παθεῖν οὐδαμῶς πεπονθότα. Ἐκβέβληκε δὲ καὶ τὴν τῶν σωμά των ἀνάστασιν, ἀδύνατον γενέσθαι ταύτην ὑπολαμβά νων. Οὗτος τὸν μὲν Κάϊν, καὶ τοὺς Σοδομίτας, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους δυσσεβεῖς ἅπαντας σωτηρίας ἔφησεν ἀπολελαυκέναι, προσεληλυθότας ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ τῷ Σωτῆρι Χριστῷ, καὶ εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν ἀναληφθῆναι· τὸν δὲ Ἄβελ, καὶ τὸν Ἐνὼχ, καὶ τὸν Νῶε, καὶ τοὺς πατριάρχας τε καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς προφήτας, καὶ τοὺς δικαίους, οὐ μεταλαχεῖν τῆς ἐκείνοις δεδομένης ἐλευθερίας, προσδραμεῖν αὐτῷ μὴ βουληθέντας. Οὗ δὴ χάριν, φησὶ, καὶ τὸν ᾅδην οἰκεῖν κατεκρίθησαν. Τοιαῦτα ὁ Μαρκίων κατὰ τοῦ πεποιηκότος ἐλύττησε, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ τούτων πολλῷ χαλεπώτερα· τὰς γὰρ μείζονας βλασφημίας σιγῇ παραδέδωκα. Οἶδα δὲ τούτων ἕνα τινὰ πρεσβύτην ἐννενηκοντούτην, ὃς ἕωθεν ἀνιστάμενος τῷ τοῦ πτύσματος περιττώματι τὸ οἰ κεῖον ἀπένιπτε πρόσωπον, καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν ἐρωτηθεὶς, ἔφησεν ὡς οὐ βούλεται δεηθῆναι τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ, καὶ ὕδωρ ἐκ τῶν ἐκείνου ποιημάτων λαβεῖν. Τῶν δὲ παρόντων εἰρηκότων· Πῶς οὖν ἐσθίεις, καὶ πίνεις, καὶ περιβάλλῃ, καὶ καθεύδεις, καὶ τὰ νομιζόμενα ἐπιτελεῖς μυστήρια; ὑπολαβὼν ἐξ ἀνάγκης εἶπε τοῦτο ποιεῖν, διὰ τὸ ἑτέρως μήτε ζῇν δύνασθαι, μήτε τελεῖν τὰ μυστήρια. Καὶ ὡμολόγει ἄκων ὁ μεμηνὼς, μηδὲν ἔχειν τὸν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ καλούμενον ἀγαθὸν, ἀλλὰ πάντων ἀπολαύειν τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐκ τῶν τοῦ ∆ημιουργοῦ