27

heavens, reducing to the number ω π η, likewise with the alphabet itself having become l. ἀλφ. γεγ. καὶ αὐτὸν π. χ. π., the Father who contains all things, yet is uncontained, subdividing him into a Tetrad, and an Ogdoad, and a Decad, and a Duodecad, and through such multiplications, explaining the ineffable and inconceivable nature, as you say, of the Father? And the one whom you call bodiless and without substance, you construct his substance and his hypostasis from many letters, some being generated from others, you yourself having become a false Daedalus, and a bad craftsman of the all-surpassingly supreme power; and her whom you say is indivisible, you subdivide into voiceless, and vowel, and semivowel sounds; attributing falsely the voiceless element of these to the Father of all things, and to the thought of his Son l. of this, you have cast all those who are persuaded by you into the highest blasphemy and greatest impiety. 1.8.17 Wherefore also justly and fittingly for such audacity of yours the divine elder and herald of the truth has cried out against you in meter, saying thus: O Marcus, idol-maker and wonder-gazer, Skilled in astrology and the magic art, Through which you strengthen the teachings of error, Showing signs to those who are deceived by you, Works of apostate power, Which you furnish as a father of Satan, if Through the angelic power of Azazel to perform Having you as a forerunner of anti-theistic villainy. And these things the God-loving elder said. But we shall attempt to go through briefly the rest of their secret rites, which are lengthy, and to bring into the light what has been hidden for a long time; for thus it may become easily refutable for all. 1.9.1 THEREFORE the generation of their Aeons, and the wandering of the sheep, and its recovery, uniting them into one, these men who reduce all things to numbers attempt to declare more mystically, asserting that all things are composed from a Monad and a Dyad H. were composed; and counting from the Monad up to the four, they thus generate the Decad. For one, and two, and three, and four, when added together, brought forth the number of the ten Aeons. Again, the Dyad, proceeding from itself up to the episemon, for example two and four and six, showed forth the Duodecad. And again, when we count in like manner from the Dyad up to the ten, the 30 was shown, in which are eight and ten and twelve H. an Ogdoad and a Decad and a Duodecad. Therefore the Duodecad, because H. the episemon contained it, because the episemon accompanied it H. accompanying, they call a passion. And for this reason, the mistake having occurred around the twelfth number, the sheep, leaping away, went astray; since they say that the apostasy happened from a Duodecad. In the same way also they divine that one power, being an apostasy from the Duodecad l. having apostatized, was lost; and that this is the woman who lost the drachma, and lit a lamp, and found it. Thus therefore also (upon) the numbers that were left behind, in the case of the drachma the nine, and in the case of the sheep the eleven, being interwoven with each other, produce the number ninety-nine; since nine times eleven becomes ninety-nine. Wherefore also they say that Amen has this number. 1.9.2 But I will not hesitate to report to you also other explanations of theirs, so that from every side you may understand their fruit. For the letter eta, with the ap. Η. deest with the episemon, they wish to be an Ogdoad, being placed in the eighth place from the first H. being placed in the eighth place from Alpha; then again without the episemon, calculating the number of the letters themselves, and adding them up H. putting them together up to eta, they demonstrate the number thirty. For one H. someone beginning from alpha, and ending at eta with the number H. the number of the letters, but subtracting the episemon, and adding together the increase of the letters, will find the number thirty. For up to the theta, the 5th letter, it becomes fifteen; then the number of seven being added to them, completed beta and kappa; eta, which is eight, being added to these, the most wonderful thirty

27

οὐρανοὺς, εἰς ω π η κατάγοντος ἀριθμὸν, ὁμοίως τῷ ἀλφαβήτῳ αὐτὸν γεγονότα l. ἀλφ. γεγ. καὶ αὐτὸν π. χ. π., πάντα χωροῦντα Πατέρα, ἀχώρητον δὲ ὑπάρχοντα, εἰς τετράδα, καὶ ὀγδοάδα, καὶ δεκάδα, καὶ δωδεκάδα ὑπομερίζοντος, καὶ διὰ τῶν τοιούτων πολυπλασιασμῶν, τὸ ἄῤῥητον καὶ ἀνεννόητον, ὡς σὺ φὴς, τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκδιηγουμένου; Καὶ ὃν ἀσώματον καὶ ἀνούσιον ὀνομάζεις, τὴν τούτου οὐσίαν καὶ τὴν ὑπόστασιν ἐκ πολλῶν γραμμάτων, ἑτέρων ἐξ ἑτέρων γεννωμένων, κατασκευάζεις, αὐτὸς ∆αίδαλος ψευδὴς, καὶ τέκτων κακὸς γενόμενος τῆς προπανυπερτάτου δυνάμεως· καὶ ἣν ἀμέριστον φὴς εἶναι, εἰς ἀφώνους, καὶ φωνήεντας, καὶ ἡμιφώνους φθόγγους ὑπομερίζων· τὸ ἄφωνον αὐτῶν τῷ τῶν πάντων Πατρὶ, καὶ τῇ τοῦ υἱοῦ l. τούτου ἐννοίᾳ ἐπιψευδόμενος, εἰς τὴν ἀνωτάτω βλασφημίαν καὶ μεγίστην ἀσέβειαν ἐμβέβληκας ἅπαντας τούς σοι πειθομένους. 1.8.17 ∆ιὸ καὶ δικαίως καὶ ἁρμοζόντως τῇ τοιαύτῃ σου τόλμῃ ὁ θεῖος πρεσβύτης καὶ κήρυξ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐμμέτρως ἐπιβεβόηκέ σοι, εἰπὼν οὕτως· Εἰδωλοποιὲ, Μάρκε, καὶ τερατοσκόπε, Ἀστρολογικῆς ἔμπειρε καὶ μαγικῆς τέχνης, ∆ι' ὧν κρατύνεις τῆς πλάνης τὰ διδάγματα, Σημεῖα δεικνὺς τοῖς ὑπό σου πλανωμένοις, Ἀποστατικῆς δυνάμεως ἐγχειρήματα, Ἃ σὺ χορηγεῖς ὡς πατὴρ Σατανᾶ, εἰ ∆ι' ἀγγελικῆς δυνάμεως Ἀζαζὴλ ποιεῖν Ἔχων σε πρόδρομον ἀντιθέου πανουργίας. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ὁ θεοφιλὴς πρεσβύτης. Ἡμεῖς δὲ τὰ λοιπὰ τῆς μυσταγωγίας αὐτῶν, μακρὰ ὄντα, πειρασόμεθα βραχέως διεξελθεῖν, καὶ τὰ πολλῷ χρόνῳ κεκρυμμένα εἰς φανερὸν ἀγαγεῖν· οὕτω γὰρ ἂν γένοιτο εὐέλεγκτα πᾶσι. 1.9.1 ΤΗΝ οὖν γένεσιν τῶν Αἰώνων αὐτῶν, καὶ τὴν πλάνην τοῦ προβάτου, καὶ ἀνεύρεσιν, ἑνώσαντες ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ, μυστικώτερον ἐπιχειροῦσιν ἀπαγγέλλειν οὗτοι οἱ εἰς ἀριθμοὺς τὰ πάντα κατάγοντες, ἐκ μονάδος καὶ δυάδος φάσκοντες τὰ ὅλα συνεστηκέναι Η. συνεστάναι· καὶ ἀπὸ μονάδος ἕως τῶν τεσσάρων ἀριθμοῦντες οὕτω γεννῶσι τὴν δεκάδα. Μία γὰρ, καὶ δύο, καὶ τρεῖς, καὶ τέσσαρες, συντεθεῖσαι ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ, τὸν τῶν δέκα Αἰώνων ἀπεκύησαν ἀριθμόν. Πάλιν δ' αὖ ἡ δυὰς ἀπ' αὐτῆς προελθοῦσα ἕως τοῦ ἐπισήμου, οἷον δύο καὶ τέσσαρες καὶ ἓξ, τὴν δωδεκάδα ἀπέδειξε. Καὶ πάλιν ἀπὸ τῆς δυάδος ὁμοίως ἀριθμούντων ἡμῶν ἕως τῶν δέκα, ἡ λ ἀνεδείχθη, ἐν ᾗ ὀκτὼ καὶ δέκα καὶ δώδεκα Η. ὀγδοὰς καὶ δεκὰς καὶ δωδεκάς. Τὴν οὖν δωδεκάδα, διὰ τὸν Η. τὸ ἐπίσημον συνεσχηκέναι, διὰ τὸ συνεπακολουθήσασαν Η. συνεπακολουθῆσαν αὐτῇ τὸ ἐπίσημον, πάθος λέγουσι. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο περὶ τὸν δωδέκατον ἀριθμὸν τοῦ σφάλματος γενομένου, τὸ πρόβατον ἀποσκιρτῆσαν πεπλανῆσθαι· ἐπειδὴ τὴν ἀπόστασιν ἀπὸ δωδεκάδος γεγενῆσθαι φάσκουσι. Τῷ αὐτῷ τρόπῳ καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς δωδεκάδος ἀπόστασιν l. ἀποστᾶσαν μίαν δύναμιν ἀπολωλέναι μαντεύονται· καὶ ταύτην εἶναι τὴν γυναῖκα τὴν ἀπολέσασαν τὴν δραχμὴν, καὶ ἅψασαν λύχνον, καὶ εὑροῦσαν αὐτήν. Οὕτως οὖν καὶ (ἐπὶ) τοὺς ἀριθμοὺς τοὺς καταλειφθέντας, ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς δραχμῆς τοὺς ἐννέα, ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ προβάτου τοὺς ἕνδεκα ἐπιπλεκομένους ἀλλήλοις τὸν τῶν ἐνενηκονταεννέα τίκτειν ἀριθμόν· ἐπεὶ ἐννάκις τὰ ἕνδεκα ἐνενηκονταεννέα γίνεται. ∆ιὸ καὶ τὸ ἀμὴν τοῦτον λέγουσιν ἔχειν τὸν ἀριθμόν. 1.9.2 Οὐκ ὀκνήσω δέ σοι καὶ ἄλλως ἐξηγουμένων αὐτῶν ἀπαγγεῖλαι, ἵνα πανταχόθεν κατανοήσῃς τὸν καρπὸν αὐτῶν. Τὸ γὰρ στοιχεῖον τὸ η σὺν μὲν ap. Η. deest μὲν τῷ ἐπισήμῳ ὀγδοάδα εἶναι θέλουσιν, ἀπὸ τοῦ πρώτου ὀγδόου κείμενον τόπου Η. ἀπὸ τοῦ Α ὀγδόῳ κείμενον τόπῳ· εἶτα πάλιν ἄνευ τοῦ ἐπισήμου ψηφίζοντες τὸν ἀριθμὸν αὐτῶν τῶν στοιχείων, καὶ ἐπισυνθέντες Η. συντιθέντες μέχρι τοῦ η, τὴν τριακοντάδα ἐπιδεικνύουσιν. Ἀρξάμενος γὰρ Η. τις ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄλφα, καὶ τελευτῶν εἰς τὸ η τῷ ἀριθμῷ Η. τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν στοιχείων, ὑπεξαιρούμενος δὲ τὸ ἐπίσημον, καὶ ἐπισυντιθεὶς τὴν ἐπαύξησιν τῶν γραμμάτων, εὑρήσει τὸν τῶν τριάκοντα ἀριθμόν. Μέχρι γὰρ τοῦ θ εʹ στοιχείου πεντεκαίδεκα γίνονται· ἔπειτα προστεθεὶς αὐτοῖς ὁ τῶν ἑπτὰ ἀριθμὸς, β καὶ κ ἀπετέλεσε· προσελθὼν τούτοις τὸ η, ὅ ἐστιν ὀκτὼ, τὴν θαυμασιωτάτην τριακοντάδα