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I will proceed again to the refutation of another heresy, having sufficiently crushed his venomousness. For in him there is change and doubt, since he is a deceiver, but has clothed himself in the form of the name of Christ, like the monstrous, serpentine destruction conceived from the wind-eggs of asps and other vipers, as the prophet says, "They broke the eggs of asps, and he who was about to eat of their eggs found a wind-egg, and in it a basilisk." But, as I said, having struck him with the power of Christ through the words of truth and having made his pestilence disappear, let us go on to the next, beloved.

1.246 Against Menander, the 2nd from the coming of Christ, but of the sequence the 22nd.

1. Next in order after this follows a certain Menander, who, originating from the Samaritans, became a disciple of this Simon for a time. And he himself likewise said that the world was made by angels, and he said that he himself had been sent down as a power of God from above. And having wrought a greater imposture than the former for the deceit of men, he said that he himself had been sent for salvation, supposedly to gather some into his own mystery so that they would not be dominated by the angels and principalities and powers who made the world. Weaving all things similarly to his own teacher, he did not cease from sorceries and other enchantments *, and he differed in nothing in his teaching except only that he said he was greater than his teacher who was before him. 2. And he himself, having been caught, will be overthrown by the same words of the refutation of the truth, falling into the same defect as his teacher. † For this one was overthrown and his heresy has ceased for the most part. But I will pass over this and, proceeding in my account, I will come again to another. For in fact the ancients tell a story, how from many asps gathered in a single earthenware vessel and 1.247 deposited in the foundations of the four corners of each precinct of the idols built in Egypt, and if any of these was found to be stronger than the others, it attacked the others and devoured them; and remaining by itself and not finding food, it turned around and, beginning to eat from its own tail, devoured up to a certain part * of its body; and so it remained, no longer complete, but being half a serpent. Therefore they called this one the Asp-Gorgon, so that we may understand that this was an ancient thing, but is no longer found now, but has vanished; just as this heresy also, having completely perished, has from us its refutation, but has itself been made to disappear by the power of Christ. And passing over this one also, let us go on to the next, beloved. Against Saturnilus, the 3rd from the coming of the Lord, but of the sequence

the 23rd.

1. After this man a certain Saturnilus arose, he also taking his starting points from there, I mean from Menander and the previous ones. This man, having settled in Syria, that is, in Antioch near Daphne, introduced a great deal of art and experience of error to the world. For these two became fellow-disciples, both Basilides and Saturnilus; and Basilides for his part, having gone to Egypt, there the dark things of his depth of

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ἐφ' ἑτέρας πάλιν βαδιοῦμαι αἱρέσεως ἔλεγχον, τούτου τὴν ἰοβολίαν ἱκανῶς συντρίψας. ἔστιν γὰρ ἐν αὐτῷ μεταβολὴ καὶ ἐνδοιασμός, πλάνου μὲν ὄντος αὐτοῦ μορφὴν δὲ ὀνόματος Χριστοῦ ἐνδυσαμένου, ὡς ἡ τῶν ἐκτρωμάτων ἑρπετώδης ἐξ οὐρίων ᾠῶν ἀσπίδων κυϊσκομένη φθορὰ καὶ ἄλλων ἐχιδνῶν, ὥς φησιν ὁ προφήτης «ᾠὰ ἀσπίδων ἔρρηξαν, καὶ ὁ μέλλων τῶν ᾠῶν αὐτῶν φαγεῖν ηὗρεν οὔριον καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ βασιλίσκον». ἀλλὰ τῇ δυνάμει ὡς ἔφην τοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦτον παίσαντες διὰ τῶν τῆς ἀληθείας λόγων καὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ λύμην ἀφανίσαντες ἐπὶ τὰς ἑξῆς ἴωμεν, ἀγαπητοί.

1.246 Κατὰ Μενάνδρου, ˉβ ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίας, τῆς δὲ ἀκολουθίας ˉκˉβ.

1. Ταύτῃ καθεξῆς συνέπεται Μένανδρός τις, ὃς ἀπὸ Σαμαρειτῶν ὁρμώμενος ἐγένετο μαθητεύων τούτῳ τῷ Σίμωνι ἐν χρόνῳ τινί. ὁμοίως δὲ ἔλεγεν καὶ αὐτὸς τὸν κόσμον γεγονέναι ὑπὸ ἀγγέλων, ἑαυτὸν δὲ ἔλεγεν ἄνωθεν δύναμιν θεοῦ καταπεπέμφθαι. μείζονα δὲ κυβείαν οὗτος ὑπὲρ τὸν πρότερον ἐργασάμενος πρὸς ἀπάτην τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἔλεγεν ἑαυτὸν πεπέμφθαι εἰς σωτηρίαν, δῆθεν εἰς τὸ συναγαγεῖν τινὰς εἰς τὸ ἑαυτοῦ μυστήριον διὰ τὸ μὴ ὑπὸ τῶν τὸν κόσμον πεποιηκότων ἀγγέλων καὶ ἀρχῶν καὶ ἐξουσιῶν κατακυριευθῆναι. ὅμοια δὲ τῷ ἑαυτοῦ διδασκάλῳ τὰ πάντα συνυφαίνων καὶ γοητείαις καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις μαγγανείαις * οὐ διέλειπεν, οὐδὲν δὲ διήλλαττε τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ ἀλλ' ἢ μόνον ὅτι ἑαυτὸν ἔλεγε μείζονα μᾶλλον ἢ τὸν πρὸ αὐτοῦ ὄντα αὐτοῦ διδάσκαλον. 2. Τῷ δὲ αὐτῷ ἐλαττώματι ᾧ καὶ ὁ αὐτοῦ διδάσκαλος περιέπεσε καὶ αὐτὸς ἁλοὺς διὰ τῶν αὐτῶν τοῦ ἐλέγχου τῆς ἀληθείας λόγων ἀνατραπήσεται. † ἀνετράπη γὰρ οὗτος καὶ ἔληξεν ἡ αὐτοῦ αἵρεσις ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον. ὑπερβήσομαι δὲ καὶ ἐφ' ἑτέραν πάλιν προκόπτων τῇ ὑφηγήσει ἐλεύσομαι. τῷ γὰρ ὄντι οἱ παλαιοὶ ἱστοροῦσι μῦθον, ὡς ἐκ πολλῶν ἀσπίδων συνηγμένων ἐν ἄγγει ἑνὶ ὀστρακίνῳ καὶ 1.247 κατατεθεισῶν ἐν τοῖς θεμελίοις τῶν τεσσάρων γωνιῶν ἑκάστου τεμένους τῶν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ οἰκοδομηθέντων εἰδώλων, καὶ εἴ τις τούτων ἰσχυροτέρα ηὕρηται παρὰ τὰς ἄλλας, ἐπελθοῦσα ταῖς ἑτέραις κατέφαγε· μείνασα δὲ καθ' ἑαυτὴν καὶ τροφῆς μὴ εὐποροῦσα, στραφεῖσα αὕτη καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς κέρκου αὐτῆς ἐσθίειν ἀρξαμένη ἕως μέρους τινὸς * τοῦ σώματος κατέφαγε· καὶ οὕτως ἔμεινεν οὐκέτι τελεία, ἀλλὰ ἥμισυ ὑπάρχουσα ἑρπετοῦ. διὸ καὶ ἀσπιδογοργόνα ταύτην ἐκάλεσαν, ὥστε νοεῖν ἡμᾶς τὸ παλαιὸν μὲν εἶναι τοῦτο, νῦν δὲ μηκέτι τοῦτο εὑρισκόμενον, ἀλλὰ ἠφανίσθαι· ὡς καὶ αὕτη παντελῶς ἀπολομένη ἔχει μὲν παρ' ἡμῶν τὴν ἀντιλογίαν, αὐτὴ δὲ διὰ τῆς δυνάμεως Χριστοῦ ἠφάνισται. καὶ ταύτην δὲ ὑπερβάντες ἐπὶ τὰς ἑξῆς ἴωμεν, ἀγαπητοί. Κατὰ Σατορνίλου, ˉγ ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ κυρίου παρουσίας, τῆς δὲ ἀκολουθίας

ˉκˉγ.

1. Μετὰ τοῦτον Σατορνῖλός τις ἀνέστη, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐκεῖθεν τὰς ἀφορμάς, ἀπὸ Μενάνδρου φημὶ καὶ τῶν πρώην λαβών. οὗτος πρὸς τῇ Συρίᾳ κατοικήσας, τουτέστιν Ἀντιοχείᾳ τῇ πρὸς ∆άφνην, πολλήν τινα τέχνην καὶ ἐμπειρίαν πλάνης τῷ κόσμῳ παρεισήνεγκεν. δύο γὰρ οὗτοι ἐγένοντο συσχολασταί, Βασιλείδης τε καὶ Σατορνῖλος· καὶ ὁ μὲν Βασιλείδης πρὸς τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ χωρήσας ἐκεῖσε τὰ σκοτεινὰ αὐτοῦ τοῦ βάθους τῆς