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"For in a great house, he says, there are not only vessels of gold, and 83.385 of silver, but also of wood, and of earthenware, and some for honor, and some for dishonor." And he shows both the free will of the judgment, and that the mind is sovereign, and able to easily change its own inclination to whatever it wishes. For he speaks thus: "If anyone cleanses himself from these, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, and useful, prepared for every good work." And he wrote similar things in the first Epistle. "For this charge, he says, I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you might wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, have suffered shipwreck concerning the faith; of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme." And through these things he taught clearly that a lawless life is the foundation of impiety. For he called a good conscience a pure life. And he said that those who rejected this have suffered shipwreck concerning the faith. And again: "But reject profane and old wives' fables." And again: "If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is puffed up, knowing nothing, but wrangling over words, and sick about questions," and so forth. And after a little: "The love of money is a root of all evils, which some coveting have strayed from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." And at the very end he cries out exhortingly: "O Timothy, guard the deposit, turning away from profane empty babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge, which some professing have erred concerning the faith." These things clearly show that while they were still preaching, many leaders of abominable heresies appeared. And he also foretells that after their departure, some will teach empty doctrines to those who are persuaded by them. "For the Spirit, he says, expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, in the hypocrisy of liars whose own conscience is seared, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth." And in the second, having foretold many accusations of the people who would be after them, he also added these things: "For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and 83.388 never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith." Then he also foretells that their falsehood is easily detected: "But they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was." But I have brought forward the apostolic testimonies, wishing to show that while they were still cultivating, the common enemy sowed the tares of the heresies. But the all-wise Master did not prevent the sowing of the evil seeds; but he changed most of the tares into wheat; and cities, and villages bear witness, having been freed from the tares of Simon, and of Menander, and of Cleobius, and of Dositheus, and of Gortheus, and of Hadrian, and of Saturnilus, and of Basilides, and of Isidore, and of Carpocrates, and of Epiphanes, and simply of all the other such tares. For the Master called the ripened wheat those who had been deceived by them. But a few, very easily counted, and these scattered in some of the cities, remained in that of Valentinus, and of Marcion, and of Manes...

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"Ἐν μεγάλῃ γὰρ, φησὶν, οἰκίᾳ οὐκ ἔστι μόνον χρυσᾶ σκεύη, καὶ 83.385 ἀργυρᾶ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ξύλινα, καὶ ὀστράκινα, καὶ ἃ μὲν εἰς τιμὴν, ἃ δὲ εἰς ἀτιμίαν." ∆είκνυσι δὲ καὶ τὸ τῆς γνώμης αὐθαίρετον, καὶ τὸν νοῦν αὐτοκράτορα ὄντα, καὶ ῥᾳδίως τὴν οἰκείαν μετατιθέναι ῥοπὴν ἐφ' ὅπερ ἂν ἐθέλῃ δυνάμενον. Λέγει δὲ οὕτως· "Ἐάν τις ἐκκαθάρῃ ἑαυτὸν ἀπὸ τῶν τοιούτων, ἔσται σκεῦος εἰς τιμὴν ἡγιασμένον, καὶ εὔχρηστον, εἰς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν ἡτοιμασμένον." Παραπλήσια δὲ κἀν τῇ προτέρᾳ γέγραφεν Ἐπιστολῇ. "Ταύτην γὰρ, φησὶ, τὴν παραγγελίαν παρατίθεμαί σοι, τέκνον Τιμόθεε, κατὰ τὰς προαγούσας ἐπὶ σὲ προ φητείας, ἵνα στρατεύῃ ἐν αὐταῖς τὴν καλὴν στρα τείαν, ἔχων πίστιν καὶ ἀγαθὴν συνείδησιν, ἥν τινες ἀπωσάμενοι, περὶ τὴν πίστιν ἐναυάγησαν· ὧν ἐστιν Ὑμέναιος καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος, οὓς παρέδωκα τῷ Σατανᾷ, ἵνα παιδευθῶσι μὴ βλασφημεῖν." Σαφῶς δὲ διὰ τούτων ἐδίδαξεν, ὡς ὁ παράνομος βίος ὑποβάθρα τῆς ἀσεβείας. Τὴν γὰρ ἀγαθὴν συνείδησιν τὸν καθα ρὸν προσηγόρευσε βίον. Ἐκείνους δὲ ἔφη ταύτην ἀπωσαμένους ναυαγῆσαι περὶ τὴν πίστιν. Καὶ πά λιν· "Τοὺς δὲ βεβήλους καὶ γραώδεις μύθους παραιτοῦ." Καὶ αὖθις· "Εἴ τις ἑτεροδιδασκαλεῖ, καὶ μὴ προσέρχεται ὑγιαίνουσι λόγοις τοῖς τοῦ Κυ ρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, καὶ τῇ κατ' εὐσέβειαν διδασκαλίᾳ, τετύφωται μηδὲν ἐπιστάμενος, ἀλλὰ λογομαχῶν, καὶ περὶ ζητήσεις νοσῶν," καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· "Ῥίζα πάντων τῶν κακῶν ἐστιν ἡ φιλαργυρία, ἧς τινες ὀρεγόμενοι, ἀπεπλα νήθησαν ἀπὸ τῆς πίστεως, καὶ ἑαυτοὺς περιέπειραν ὀδύναις πολλαῖς." Καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ δὲ τῷ τέλει παρα κελευστικῶς βοᾷ· "Ὦ Τιμόθεε, τὴν παρακαταθή κην φύλαξον, ἐκτρεπόμενος τὰς βεβήλους κενο φωνίας, καὶ ἀντιθέσεις τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως, ἥν τινες ἐπαγγελλόμενοι περὶ τὴν πίστιν ἠστόχησαν." Ταῦτα μὲν σαφῶς δηλοῖ, ὡς αὐτῶν ἔτι κηρυττόντων ἀνεφάνησαν πολλοὶ τῶν μυσαρῶν αἱρέσεων ἀρχηγοί. Προαγορεύει δὲ καὶ ὡς μετὰ τὴν αὐτῶν ἐκδημίαν, κενά τινες τούς σφισι πειθομένους διδάξουσι δόγ ματα. "Τὸ γὰρ Πνεῦμα, φησὶν, ῥητῶς λέγει, ὅτι ἐν ὑστέροις καιροῖς ἀποστήσονταί τινες τῆς πίστεως, προσέχοντες πνεύμασι πλάνοις, καὶ διδασκαλίαις δαιμονίων, ἐν ὑποκρίσει ψευδολόγων, κεκαυτηρια σμένων τὴν ἰδίαν συνείδησιν, κωλυόντων γαμεῖν, ἀπέχεσθαι βρωμάτων, ἃ ὁ Θεὸς ἔκτισεν εἰς μετάλη ψιν μετ' εὐχαριστίας τοῖς πιστοῖς καὶ ἐπεγνωκόσι τὴν ἀλήθειαν." Κἀν τῇ δευτέρᾳ δὲ πολλὰς τῶν μετ' αὐτοὺς ἐσομένων ἀνθρώπων κατηγορίας προειπὼν, καὶ ταῦτα προστέθεικεν· "Ἐκ τούτων γάρ εἰσιν οἱ ἐνδύνοντες εἰς τὰς οἰκίας, καὶ αἰχμαλωτίζοντες γυ ναικάρια σεσωρευμένα ἁμαρτίαις, ἀγόμενα ἐπι θυμίαις ποικίλαις, πάντοτε μανθάνοντα, καὶ 83.388 μηδέποτε εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν δυνάμενα· ὃν τρόπον δὲ Ἰάννης καὶ Ἰαμβρὴς ἀντέστησαν Μωϋσῇ, οὕτως καὶ οὗτοι ἀνθίστανται τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, ἄν θρωποι κατεφθαρμένοι τὸν νοῦν, ἀδόκιμοι περὶ τὴν πίστιν." Εἶτα προλέγει καὶ τὸ τῆς ψευδολογίας εὐφώ ρατον· "Ἀλλ' οὐ προκόψουσιν ἐπὶ πλεῖστον· ἡ γὰρ ἄνοια αὐτῶν ἔκδηλος ἔσται πᾶσιν, ὡς καὶ ἡ ἐκεί νων ἐγένετο." Ἐγὼ δὲ τὰς ἀποστολικὰς παρήγαγον μαρτυρίας, δεῖξαι βουλόμενος, ὡς ἔτι γεωργούντων αὐτῶν ὁ κοινὸς δυσμενὴς παρέσπειρε τῶν αἱρέσεων τὰ ζιζάνια. Ἀλλ' ὁ πάνσοφος ∆εσπότης, τὴν μὲν τῶν πονηρῶν σπερμάτων καταβολὴν οὐκ ἐκώλυσε· τὰ δὲ πλεῖστα τῶν ζιζανίων εἰς σῖτον μετέβαλε· καὶ μαρτυροῦσι καὶ πόλεις, καὶ κῶμαι, καὶ τῶν Σίμωνος, καὶ τῶν Μενάνδρου, καὶ Κλεοβίου, καὶ ∆οσιθέου, καὶ Γορθέου, καὶ Ἀδριανοῦ, καὶ Σατορ-νίλου, καὶ Βασιλίδου, καὶ Ἰσιδώρου, καὶ Καρποκρά τους, καὶ Ἐπιφάνους, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἁπαξαπλῶς τῶν τοιούτων ζιζανίων ἀπηλλαγμέναι. Τοὺς γὰρ ὑπ' ἐκείνων βουκοληθέντας πυροὺς ὡρίμους ὁ ∆εσπότης ὠνόμασεν. Ὀλίγοι δέ τινες ἄγαν εὐαρίθμητοι, καὶ οὗτοι σποράδες ἔν τισι τῶν πόλεων, τὴν Βαλεντίνου, καὶ Μαρκίωνος, καὶ τοῦ Μάνεντος διέμειναν περι