Chapter XXII.—Origin of the Devil, in the Criminal Excess of the Sorrow of Achamoth. The Devil, Called Also Munditenens, Actually Wiser Than the Demiurge, Although His Work.

The odium felt amongst them220    Infamia apud illos. against the devil is the more excusable,221    Tolerabilior. even because the peculiarly sordid character of his origin justifies it.222    Capit: “capax est,” nimirum “infamiæ” (Fr. Junius). For he is supposed by them to have had his origin in that criminal excess223    Ex nequitia. of her224    Achamoth’s. sorrow, from which they also derive the birth of the angels, and demons, and all the wicked spirits. Yet they affirm that the devil is the work of the Demiurge, and they call him Munditenens225    Irenæus’ word is Κοσμοκράτωρ; see also Eph. vi. 12. (Ruler of the World), and maintain that, as he is of a spiritual nature, he has a better knowledge of the things above than the Demiurge, an animal being. He deserves from them the pre-eminence which all heresies provide him with.

CAPUT XXII.

Tolerabilior infamia est apud illos in diabolum, vel quia origo sordidior capit; ex nequitia enim moeroris illius deputatur, ex qua angelorum et daemonum et omnium spiritalium malitiarum genituras notant Et tamen diabolum quoque opus demiurgi affirmant, et munditenentem appellant, et superiorum magis gnarum defendunt, ut spiritalem natura, quam demiurgum, ut animalem. Meretur ab illis praelationem, 0576B cui omnes haereses procurantur .