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to prepare them to work against each other through the desire for her which she had cast into them. And holding her so that she could not ascend upwards, they had intercourse with her, each one in each body of a womanly and feminine condition, as she was transferred from female bodies into different bodies of human nature and of beasts and of the others, so that through what they themselves do, both killing and being killed, they might work a diminution of themselves through the shedding of blood, then she, gathering her power, might again be able to ascend to heaven. 3. “She was then the one among the Greeks and Trojans and on high before the world came to be and after the world who had made equivalent things through the invisible powers. She is the one now with me and because of her I have come down. And she was expecting my presence; for she is the Thought, the one called Helen in Homer. And for this reason Homer is compelled to describe her standing on a tower and by a torch to signal to the Greeks the plot against the Phrygians. But he characterized through the torch, as I said, the indication of the light from above.” Therefore also the wooden horse devised in Homer, which the Greeks think was deliberately made, the sorcerer said again that it is the ignorance of the nations; and “as the Phrygians, dragging it in ignorance, brought on their own destruction, so also the nations, that is, the men 1.242 outside of my knowledge, through ignorance draw destruction upon themselves.” But he also said that Athena was the same one, the one called by him Thought, the deceiver forsooth using the words of the holy apostle Paul and changing the truth into his own falsehood, the “put on the breastplate of faith and the helmet of salvation and greaves and a sword and a shield,” the impostor turning all these things spoken by the apostle for the sake of solid reasoning and faith of a pure life and the power of the divine and heavenly word, into mockery henceforth and nothing else, in the manner of the mime-acting of Philistion. “For what?” he says, “he mysteriously fashioned all these things into types of Athena.” Therefore he said again, as I said before, indicating that woman with him who was taken by him from Tyre, the namesake of the ancient Helen, calling her all things: both Thought and Athena and Helen and the rest, “and because of her,” he says, “I have come down; for this is what is written in the gospel: ‘the lost sheep’.” But he has also handed down a certain image to his followers, as if it were of himself, and they worship it in the form of Zeus; and likewise he has handed down another image of Helen to them in the form of Athena, and those deceived by him worship these. 4. And he proposed mysteries of shame and of the filth of bodies, so that I may narrate more decently, of men through their emission, and of women 1.243 through their customary menstrual flow, being gathered for mysteries by a most shameful collection. and that these are the mysteries of life and of the most perfect knowledge; which indeed is for one who has obtained understanding from God to consider an abomination and death rather than life. And the same man proposes certain names of principalities and authorities, and he speaks of different heavens, and in each firmament and heaven he sets forth certain powers and he sets out barbaric names for them; and that it is not possible for anyone to be saved otherwise, unless one should learn this mystic teaching and offer such sacrifices to the father of all through these principalities and authorities. And this age, he says, was constructed by principalities and authorities of wickedness in a state of defect. And he teaches the corruption and destruction of the flesh, but only the purification of souls, and of these, if through his errant knowledge in

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αὐτοὺς εἰς ἑαυτοὺς ἐργάσασθαι παρασκευάσαι δι' ἣν ἐνέβαλεν εἰς αὐτοὺς πρὸς ἑαυτὴν ἐπιθυμίαν. καὶ συνέχοντες αὐτὴν τοῦ μὴ ἄνω δύνασθαι ἀνιέναι συνεγίνοντο αὐτῇ, ἕκαστος ἐν ἑκάστῳ σώματι γυναικείας καὶ θηλυκῆς σχέσεως, μεταγγιζομένης αὐτῆς ἀπὸ σωμάτων θηλυκῶν εἰς σώματα διάφορα ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεώς τε καὶ κτηνῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων, ἵνα δι' ὧν αὐτοὶ ἐργάζονται, κτείνοντές τε καὶ κτεινόμενοι, μείωσιν ἑαυτῶν διὰ τῆς τοῦ αἵματος προχύσεως ἐργάζωνται, εἶτα ἐκείνη τὴν δύναμιν συλλεγομένη πάλιν αὖθις εἰς οὐρανὸν ἀναβῆναι δυνηθῇ. 3. «Ἦν δὲ αὕτη τότε ἡ ἐπὶ τοῖς Ἕλλησί τε καὶ Τρωσὶ καὶ ἀνωτάτω πρὶν ἢ τὸν κόσμον γενέσθαι καὶ μετὰ τὸν κόσμον διὰ τῶν ἀοράτων δυνάμεων τὰ ἰσότυπα πεποιηκυῖα. αὐτὴ δέ ἐστιν ἡ νῦν σὺν ἐμοὶ καὶ διὰ ταύτην κατελήλυθα. καὶ αὕτη δὲ προσεδόκα τὴν ἐμὴν παρουσίαν· αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ Ἔννοια, ἡ παρὰ Ὁμήρῳ Ἑλένη καλουμένη. καὶ τούτου ἕνεκενἀναγκάζεται αὐτὴν διαγράφειν Ὅμηρος ἐπὶ πύργου ἑστηκέναι καὶ διὰ λαμπάδος ὑποφαίνειν τοῖς Ἕλλησι τὴν κατὰ τῶν Φρυγῶν ἐπιβουλήν. ἐχαρακτήριζε δὲ διὰ τῆς λαμπηδόνος, ὡς ἔφην, τὴν τοῦ ἄνωθεν φωτὸς ἔνδειξιν.» διὸ καὶ τὸν παρὰ τῷ Ὁμήρῳ δούρειον ἵππον μεμηχανημένον, ὃν νομίζουσιν Ἕλληνες ἐπίτηδες γεγενῆσθαι, ἔλεγε πάλιν ὁ γόης ὅτι ἄγνοιά ἐστι τῶν ἐθνῶν· καί «ὡς οἱ Φρύγες ἕλκοντες αὐτὸν ἀγνοίᾳ τὸν ἴδιον ὄλεθρον ἐπεσπάσαντο, οὕτω γὰρ καὶ τὰ ἔθνη τουτέστιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι 1.242 οἱ ἐκτὸς τῆς ἐμῆς γνώσεως διὰ τῆς ἀγνοίας ἕλκουσιν ἑαυτοῖς τὴν ἀπώλειαν». ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἀθηνᾶν πάλιν τὴν αὐτὴν ἔλεγε τὴν παρ' αὐτῷ Ἔννοιαν καλουμένην, χρώμενος δῆθεν ὁ πλάνος ταῖς τοῦ ἁγίου ἀποστόλου Παύλου φωναῖς μεταποιῶν τε τὴν ἀλήθειαν εἰς τὸ αὐτοῦ ψεῦδος, τό «ἐνδύσασθε τὸν θώρακα τῆς πίστεως καὶ τὴν περικεφαλαίαν τοῦ σωτηρίου καὶ κνημῖδας καὶ μάχαιραν καὶ θυρεόν», πάντα ταῦτα ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ Φιλιστίωνος μιμολογίας ὁ ἀπατεὼν τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀποστόλου εἰρημένα διὰ στερεὸν λογισμὸν καὶ πίστιν ἁγνῆς ἀναστροφῆς καὶ δύναμιν θείου λόγου καὶ ἐπουρανίου εἰς χλεύην λοιπὸν καὶ οὐδὲν ἕτερον μεταστρέφων. «τί γάρ;» φησί, «ταῦτα πάντα εἰς Ἀθηνᾶς τύπους μυστηριωδῶς ἐσχημάτιζε». διὸ πάλιν ἔλεγεν, ὡς προεῖπον, ὑποφαίνων ἐκείνην τὴν μετ' αὐτοῦ γυναῖκα τὴν ἀπὸ Τύρου ληφθεῖσαν αὐτῷ, τὴν ὁμώνυμον τῆς παλαιᾶς Ἑλένης, τὰ πάντα ταύτην καλῶν καὶ Ἔννοιαν καὶ Ἀθηνᾶν καὶ Ἑλένην καὶ τὰ ἄλλα, «καὶ διὰ ταύτην,φησί, καταβέβηκα· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ γεγραμμένον ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ τὸ πρόβατον τὸ πεπλανημένον». ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰκόνα τινὰ παραδέδωκε τοῖς αὐτοῦ ὡς δῆθεν αὐτοῦ οὖσαν καὶ προσκυνοῦσι ταύτην ἐν εἴδει ∆ιός· ἄλλην δὲ ὡσαύτως Ἑλένης εἰκόνα παραδέδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐν σχήματι Ἀθηνᾶς, καὶ προσκυνοῦσι ταύτας οἱ παρ' αὐτοῦ ἠπατημένοι. 4. Μυστήρια δὲ ὑπέθετο αἰσχρότητος ῥύσεώς τε σωμάτων, ὅπως σεμνότερον ὑφηγήσωμαι, ἀνδρῶν μὲν διὰ τῆς ἀπορροίας, γυναικῶν 1.243 δὲ διὰ τῶν κατ' ἐθισμὸν τῶν ἐμμηνίων συλλογῇ τινι αἰσχροτάτῃ εἰς μυστήρια συναγομένων. καὶ ταῦτα εἶναι μυστήρια ζωῆς γνώσεώς τε τῆς τελειοτάτης· ὅπερ μάλιστα ὑπάρχει τῷ τὴν σύνεσιν ἐκ θεοῦ κεκτημένῳ βδελυρίαν μᾶλλον ἡγεῖσθαι καὶ θάνατον ἤπερ ζωήν. ὀνόματα δέ τινα ὁ αὐτὸς ὑποτίθεται ἀρχῶν τε καὶ ἐξουσιῶν, οὐρανούς τε διαφόρους φησί, καθ' ἕκαστον δὲ στερέωμα καὶ οὐρανὸν δυνάμεις τινὰς ὑφηγεῖται καὶ ὀνόματα βαρβαρικὰ τούτοις ἐκτίθεται· μὴ ἄλλως δὲ δύνασθαι σῴζεσθαί τινα, εἰ μή τι ἂν μάθοι ταύτην τὴν μυσταγωγίαν καὶ τὰς τοιαύτας θυσίας τῷ πατρὶ τῶν ὅλων διὰ τῶν ἀρχῶν τούτων καὶ ἐξουσιῶν προσφέρειν. εἶναι δὲ τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦτον ἀπὸ ἀρχῶν καὶ ἐξουσιῶν, φησί, τῆς κακίας ἐν ἐλαττώματι κατεσκευασμένον. φθορὰν δὲ ὑφηγεῖται σαρκὸς καὶ ἀπώλειαν, μόνον ψυχῶν δὲ κάθαρσιν καὶ τούτων εἰ διὰ τῆς αὐτοῦ πεπλανημένης γνώσεως ἐν