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to Him above in the beginning of the Word, he explains: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. But according to their hypothesis, the Word was not made flesh, who indeed never came outside of the Pleroma; but the Saviour of the economy, who was later than the Word. 1.1.20 Learn therefore, you foolish ones, that Jesus who suffered for us, who tabernacled in us, this is He Himself who is the Word of God. For if some other of the Aeons was made flesh for our own salvation, it was likely that the Apostle spoke of another. But if the Word of the Father who descended is Himself also He who ascended, the only-begotten Son of the only God, who was made flesh for men according to the good pleasure of the Father, He has not made His discourse about any other, nor about an Ogdoad, but about the Lord Jesus Christ. For neither according to them did the Word primarily become flesh. But they say that the Saviour put on a psychic body, constructed from the economy by an ineffable providence, in order to become visible and tangible. But flesh is the ancient formation from the dust according to Adam, made by God, which John signified that the Word of God had truly become. And their first and primeval Ogdoad is dissolved. For since the Word, and Only-begotten, and Life, and Light, and Saviour, and Christ, and Son of God are shown to be one and the same, and this one Himself was made flesh for us, the tabernacle-pitching of the Ogdoad is dissolved. And this being dissolved, their whole hypothesis has fallen to pieces, which they, falsely dreaming, run down the Scriptures, having fashioned a hypothesis of their own. Then, collecting words and names that are scattered about, they transfer them, as we have said before, from what is according to nature to what is contrary to nature; doing things similar to those who propose whatever hypotheses come to them, then try to practice them from the poems of Homer, so that the more inexperienced think that Homer composed the epic poems for that hypothesis which was practiced extemporaneously, and many are carried away by the composite sequence of the epics, lest perhaps Homer had not composed these things thus. As the one who writes about Heracles being sent by Eurystheus for the dog in Hades, through the Homeric verses, thus: (for nothing prevents us from mentioning these things also, for the sake of an example, since the attempt is similar and the same for both.) As he said, he sent from his home, groaning heavily, The man Heracles, knower of great deeds, Eurystheus, son of Sthenelus, Perseus' son, To bring from Erebus the dog of hateful Hades. And he went to go, like a mountain-reared lion trusting in his strength, Swiftly through the city; and all his friends followed, Nymphs and unmarried youths, and much-enduring old men, Lamenting piteously, as if he were going to his death. And Hermes sent him off, and also grey-eyed Athene; For she knew in her heart her brother, how he toiled. Who of the uninitiated would not be carried away by these epics, and think that Homer composed them thus for this hypothesis? But he who is experienced in the Homeric subject matter will recognize, suppl. indeed the epics, but will not recognize the hypothesis, knowing that one part of them is said concerning Odysseus, and another concerning Heracles himself, and another concerning Priam, and another concerning Menelaus and Agamemnon. And taking them up, and restoring each one to its own place, he will do away with the hypothesis. So also he who holds fast in himself the unswerving rule of the truth, which he has received through baptism, will recognize the names, and the words, and the parables from the Scriptures, but he will not recognize this blasphemous hypothesis of theirs. For even if he recognizes the mosaic tiles, yet he will not accept the fox in place of the royal image; but restoring each of the things said to its own order, and fitting it to the body of the truth, he will lay bare and show their fabrication to be without substance. But since redemption is lacking in this scene, so that someone, having finished their own mime, might bring on the refuting argument, l. bring on, we thought it good to show first, in what respects the fathers of this myth themselves differ from one another, as from different spirits of the

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αὐτῷ ἄνω ἐν ἀρχῇ Λόγου, ἐπεξηγεῖται· Καὶ ὁ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν. Κατὰ δὲ τὴν ἐκείνων ὑπόθεσιν, οὐχ ὁ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, ὅς γε οὐδὲ ἦλθέ ποτε ἐκτὸς Πληρώματος· ἀλλὰ ὁ τῆς οἰκονομίας μεταγενέστερος τοῦ Λόγου Σωτήρ. 1.1.20 Μάθετε οὖν ἀνόητοι, ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ὁ παθὼν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, ὁ κατασκηνώσας ἐν ἡμῖν, οὗτος αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ Λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἄλλος τις τῶν Αἰώνων ὑπὲρ τῆς ἡμῶν αὐτῶν σωτηρίας σὰρξ ἐγένετο, εἰκὸς ἦν περὶ ἄλλου εἰρηκέναι τὸν Ἀπόστολον. Εἰ δὲ ὁ Λόγος ὁ τοῦ Πατρὸς ὁ καταβὰς, αὐτός ἐστι καὶ ὁ ἀναβὰς, ὁ τοῦ μόνου Θεοῦ μονογενὴς υἱὸς, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Πατρὸς εὐδοκίαν σαρκωθεὶς ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπων, οὐ περὶ ἄλλου τινὸς, οὐδὲ περὶ ὀγδοάδος τὸν λόγον ἐμπεποίηται, ἀλλ' ἢ περὶ τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ Λόγος κατ' αὐτοὺς προηγουμένως σὰρξ γέγονε. Λέγουσι δὲ τὸν Σωτῆρα ἐνδύσασθαι σῶμα ψυχικὸν ἐκ τῆς οἰκονομίας κατεσκευασμένον ἀῤῥήτῳ προνοίᾳ, πρὸς τὸ ὁρατὸν γενέσθαι, καὶ ψηλαφητόν. Σὰρξ δέ ἐστιν ἡ ἀρχαία ἐκ τοῦ χοῦ κατὰ τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἡ γεγονυῖα πλάσις ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἣν ἀληθῶς γεγονέναι τὸν Λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐμήνυσεν ὁ Ἰωάννης. Καὶ λέλυται αὐτῶν ἡ πρώτη καὶ ἀρχέγονος ὀγδοάς. Ἑνὸς γὰρ καὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ δεικνυμένου Λόγου, καὶ Μονογενοῦς, καὶ Ζωῆς, καὶ Φωτὸς, καὶ Σωτῆρος, καὶ Χριστοῦ, καὶ Υἱοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ τούτου αὐτοῦ σαρκωθέντος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, λέλυται ἡ τῆς ὀγδοάδος σκηνοπηγία. Ταύτης δὲ λελυμένης, διαπέπτωκεν αὐτῶν πᾶσα ἡ ὑπόθεσις, ἣν ψευδῶς ὀνειρώττοντες κατατρέχουσι τῶν γραφῶν, ἰδίαν ὑπόθεσιν ἀναπλασάμενοι. Ἔπειτα λέξεις καὶ ὀνόματα σποράδην κείμενα συλλέγοντες, μεταφέρουσι, καθὼς προειρήκαμεν, ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν εἰς τὸ παρὰ φύσιν· ὅμοια ποιοῦντες τοῖς ὑποθέσεις τὰς τυχούσας αὐτοῖς προβαλλομένοις, ἔπειτα πειρωμένοις ἐκ τῶν Ὁμήρου ποιημάτων μελετᾷν αὐτὰς, ὥστε τοὺς ἀπειροτέρους δοκεῖν ἐπ' ἐκείνης τῆς ἐξ ὑπογυίου μεμελετημένης ὑποθέσεως Ὅμηρον τὰ ἔπη πεποιηκέναι, καὶ πολλοὺς συναρπάζεσθαι διὰ τῆς τῶν ἐπῶν συνθέτου ἀκολουθίας, μὴ ἄρα ταῦθ' οὕτως Ὅμηρος εἴη πεποιηκώς. Ὡς ὁ τὸν Ἡρακλέα ὑπὸ Εὐρυσθέως ἐπὶ τὸν ἐν τῷ Ἅδῃ κύνα πεμπόμενον διὰ τῶν Ὁμηρικῶν στίχων γράφων οὕτως· (οὐδὲν γὰρ κωλύει παραδείγματος χάριν ἐπιμνησθῆναι καὶ τούτων, ὁμοίας καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς οὔσης ἐπιχειρήσεως τοῖς ἀμφοτέροις.) Ὡς εἰπὼν, ἀπέπεμπε δόμων βαρέα στενάχοντα Φῶθ' Ἡρακλῆα, μεγάλων ἐπιΐστορα ἔργων, Εὐρυσθεὺς, Σθενέλοιο πάϊς Περσηϊάδαο Ἐξ Ἐρέβευς ἄξοντα κύνα στυγεροῦ Ἀΐδαο. Βῆ δ' ἴμεν, ὥστε λέων ὀρεσίτροφος ἀλκὶ πεποιθὼς, Καρπαλίμως ἀνὰ ἄστυ· φίλοι δ' ἀνὰ πάντες ἕποντο, Νύμφαι τ' ἠΐθεοί τε, πολύτλητοί τε γέροντες, Οἶκτρ' ὀλοφυρόμενοι, ὡσεὶ θάνατόνδε κίοντα. Ἑρμείας δ' ἀπέπεμπεν, ἰδὲ γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη· Ἤιδεε γὰρ κατὰ θυμὸν ἀδελφεὸν, ὡς ἐπονεῖτο. Τίς οὐκ ἂν τῶν ἀπανούργων συναρπαγείη ὑπὸ τῶν ἐπῶν τούτων, καὶ νομίσειεν οὕτως αὐτὰ Ὅμηρον ἐπὶ ταύτης τῆς ὑποθέσεως πεποιηκέναι; Ὁ δ' ἔμπειρος τῆς Ὁμηρικῆς ὑποθέσεως ἐπιγνώσεται, suppl. μὲν τὰ ἔπη, τὴν δ' ὑπόθεσιν οὐκ ἐπιγνώσεται, εἰδὼς ὅτι τὸ μέν τι αὐτῶν ἐστι περὶ Ὀδυσσέως εἰρημένον, τὸ δὲ περὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Ἡρακλέος, τὸ δὲ περὶ Πριάμου, τὸ δὲ περὶ Μενελάου καὶ Ἀγαμέμνονος. Ἄρας δὲ αὐτὰ, καὶ ἓν ἕκαστον ἀποδοὺς τῇ ἰδίᾳ, ἐκποδὼν ποιήσει τὴν ὑπόθεσιν. Οὕτω δὲ καὶ ὁ τὸν κανόνα τῆς ἀληθείας ἀκλινῆ ἐν ἑαυτῷ κατέχων, ὃν διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος εἴληφε, τὰ μὲν ἐκ τῶν γραφῶν ὀνόματα, καὶ τὰς λέξεις, καὶ τὰς παραβολὰς ἐπιγνώσεται, τὴν δὲ βλάσφημον ὑπόθεσιν ταύτην αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐπιγνώσεται. Καὶ γὰρ εἰ τὰς ψηφῖδας γνωρίσει, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀλώπεκα ἀντὶ τῆς βασιλικῆς εἰκόνος οὐ παραδέξεται· ἓν ἕκαστον δὲ τῶν εἰρημένων ἀποδοὺς τῇ ἰδίᾳ τάξει, καὶ προσαρμόσας τῷ τῆς ἀληθείας σωματίῳ, γυμνώσει καὶ ἀνυπόστατον ἐπιδείξει τὸ πλάσμα αὐτῶν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ τῇ σκηνῇ ταύτῃ λείπει ἡ ἀπολύτρωσις, ἵνα τις τὸν μῖμον αὐτὸν l. αὐτῶν περαιώσας τὸν ἀνασκευάζοντα λόγον ἐπενεγκεῖν, l. ἐπενέγκῃ, καλῶς ἔχειν ὑπελάβομεν ἐπιδεῖξαι πρότερον, ἐν οἷς οἱ πατέρες αὐτοὶ τοῦδε τοῦ μύθου διαφέρονται πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ὡς ἐκ διαφόρων πνευμάτων τῆς