38

a magician, that some were prophesied by the world-making angels, and others by Satan. For he says that Satan himself is an angel, who opposes the world-making angels, and especially the God of the Jews. 3. But when this beastly man says these things, he will surely somehow be shown to be himself confessing one God and leading everything back to one unity of monarchy. For if the angels have made man, and the angels in turn have the cause of their being from the power above, then they themselves are not the cause of the creation of man, but the power from above which made the angels, from whom the creation of man also consists. For the tool is not the cause of the things made by it, but the one who performs the action through the tool by which the work is done, as it is also written "shall the saw glorify itself without him that draws it" and so forth. Thus we see that neither is the sword the cause of the murder, but the one who attempted the murder with the sword, and the wax-molding tool cannot by itself make the things being molded, but the one who worked the wax-molding tool and the molded form. Therefore the angels are not the cause, but the one who made the angels, even if he had not commanded them not to make man. For either he condemns the power above of ignorance and lack of knowledge of future events, which are accomplished against its will, or that by its own good pleasure * it has made the angels for the useful construction of man, which it wished to construct, having made the angels, and not having commanded them not to carry out the undertaking, that is, the molding of man, as his mythical artistry contains. 1.252 4. Or therefore the mythologer must be asked again: Did the power above know what they were about to do? Yes, he says. Therefore if it knew, it did it and not they; but if it knew but did not wish it, and they undertook the undertaking themselves against its will, for what reason did it not prevent it? And if it was unable to prevent it, first, this is a defect, because it created the angels made by it for opposition and provocation to itself; and second, that being able it did not prevent it, but cooperated in the evil work done by the angels. And if it did not cooperate and, though willing, was not able to prevent it, there is much weakness in the one that willed and was not able, and the host of angels made by it would be stronger than it itself, which is the cause of the angels made by it. In every way, therefore, the hypothesis of the heresy is convicted as falling rather into inconsistency and not into truth. But if it knew, but by necessity made them who were about to do what is not right against its will, it will fall into another defect again, and not one perfection will be found in the power above according to his argument. And we might add, asking him: Tell us, O you, who peeped through windows—so that I may mock your nonsense in this way—and in peeping observed how the angels were created and then spied upon their * artistry concerning the human creature and traced out the contrivance of the power above, Did these know what they were forming, or were they ignorant? And being ignorant, by whom were they compelled to accomplish * in ignorance? No, he says, they were not ignorant; for they knew what they were about to do. Did the power from above, then, know that they were about to attempt this, or was it ignorant? It was not ignorant. Did it then make them so that they would do this, or not? No, he says; for it made them only, but they undertook to make a creature against the power above. Therefore they knew, but that power above was ignorant according to your argument, O most foolish of all men. And so it will be that the constitution of men is a composition and the angels who are its cause are in knowledge, but the power that made the angels

38

γόης τὰς μὲν ὑπὸ τῶν κοσμοποιῶν ἀγγέλων πεπροφητεῦσθαι, τὰς δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ Σατανᾶ. καὶ αὐτὸν γὰρ τὸν Σατανᾶν ἄγγελον φάσκει, ἀντιπράττοντα τοῖς κοσμοποιοῖς ἀγγέλοις, μάλιστα δὲ τῷ θεῷ τῶν Ἰουδαίων. 3. Ὅταν δὲ ταῦτα φάσκῃ ὁ κτηνώδης, πάντως που καὶ αὐτὸς δειχθήσεται ἕνα θεὸν ὁμολογῶν καὶ ἐπὶ μίαν ἑνότητα μοναρχίας ἀνάγων τὸ πᾶν. εἰ γὰρ οἱ ἄγγελοι τὸν ἄνθρωπον πεποιήκασιν, ἄγγελοι δὲ πάλιν ἀπὸ τῆς ἄνωθεν δυνάμεως τὸ αἴτιον ἐσχήκασι τοῦ εἶναι, ἄρα οὐκ αὐτοὶ αἴτιοι τοῦ πλάσματος τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἀλλὰ ἡ ἄνωθεν δύναμις ἡ τοὺς ἀγγέλους ποιήσασα, ἐξ ὧν καὶ ἡ πλάσις τοῦ ἀνθρώπου συνέστηκε. καὶ γὰρ οὐκ αἴτιον τὸ ἐργαλεῖον τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ γινομένων, ἀλλὰ ὁ ἐνεργῶν τὸ ἐνέργημα διὰ τοῦ ἐργαλείου δι' οὗ τὸ ἔργον γίνεται, ὡς καὶ γέγραπται «μὴ δοξασθήσεται πρίων ἄνευ τοῦ ἕλκοντος αὐτόν» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. οὕτω δὲ ὁρῶμεν ὅτι οὔτε ἡ μάχαιρα αἰτία τοῦ φόνου, ἀλλὰ ὁ τῇ μαχαίρᾳ τὸν φόνον ἐπιχειρήσας καὶ οὐ τὸ κηροπλαστεῖον δύναται δι' ἑαυτοῦ ποιεῖν τὰ πλασσόμενα, ἀλλὰ ὁ τὸ κηροπλαστεῖον καὶ τὸ πλάσμα ἐργασάμενος. οὐκοῦν οὐδὲ οἱ ἄγγελοι αἴτιοι, ἀλλ' ὁ τοὺς ἀγγέλους ποιήσας, εἰ καὶ μὴ ἦν παραγγείλας αὐτοῖς τοῦ μὴ ποιῆσαι ἄνθρωπον. ἢ γὰρ καταψηφίζεται τῆς ἄνω δυνάμεως ἄγνοιαν καὶ ἀγνωσίαν τῶν μελλόντων ἔσεσθαι, παρὰ τὸ αὐτῆς θέλημα ἐπιτελουμένων, ἢ εὐδοκίᾳ τῇ ἑαυτῆς * τοὺς ἀγγέλους πεποιηκέναι πρὸς τὸ χρήσιμον τὴν κατασκευὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, οὗ ἤθελε κατασκευάζειν ποιήσασα τοὺς ἀγγέλους, καὶ μὴ ἐντειλαμένη τοῦ μὴ ἐπιτελέσαι τὸ ἐπιχείρημα τουτέστι τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὸ πλαστεῖον, ὡς ἡ αὐτοῦ μυθώδης τεχνουργία περιέχει. 1.252 4. Ἢ οὐκοῦν πάλιν τὸν μυθολόγον ἐρωτητέον· ᾔδει ἡ ἄνω δύναμις ὅ τι μέλλουσι πράττειν; ναί, φησίν. ἄρα γοῦν εἰ ᾔδει, αὐτὴ πεποίηκε καὶ οὐκ αὐτοί· εἰ δὲ ᾔδει μὲν οὐκ ἤθελε δέ, παρὰ δὲ τὴν αὐτῆς γνώμην ἐπεχείρησαν τὸ ἐπιχείρημα αὐτοί, τίνι τῷ λόγῳ οὐ κεκώλυκεν; εἰ δὲ ἀδυνάτως ἔσχεν τοῦ κωλῦσαι, πρώτη φαυλότης, ὅτι καθ' ἑαυτῆς τοὺς ὑπ' αὐτῆς γεγονότας ἀγγέλους εἰς ἀντίθεσιν ἑαυτῆς καὶ παροξυσμὸν κατεσκεύασε, δεύτερον δέ, ὅτι δυναμένη οὐ κεκώλυκεν, ἀλλὰ συνήργησεν εἰς τὸ πονηρὸν ἔργον τὸ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀγγέλων γεγενημένον. εἰ δὲ οὐ συνήργησε καὶ βουληθεῖσα οὐκ ἠδυνήθη κωλῦσαι, πολλή τις ἀσθένεια ἐν τῇ θελησάσῃ καὶ μὴ δυνηθείσῃ, καὶ μᾶλλον ἰσχυρότερον εἴη τὸ ὑπ' αὐτῆς γενόμενον τῶν ἀγγέλων στῖφος ἢ αὐτὴ ἡ αἰτία οὖσα τῶν ὑπ' αὐτῆς γεγονότων ἀγγέλων. ἐξ ἅπαντος τοίνυν ἁλίσκεται ἡ τῆς αἱρέσεως ὑπόθεσις ἀσυστασίᾳ μᾶλλον περιπίπτουσα καὶ οὐκ ἀληθείᾳ. εἰ δὲ ἐγίνωσκε μέν, ἀνάγκῃ δὲ ἐποίει τούτους ὃ μὴ θέμις ἐστὶ μέλλοντας πράττειν παρὰ τὸ αὐτῆς βούλημα, ἐλαττώσει ἑτέρᾳ περιπεσεῖται πάλιν καὶ οὐδὲ ἓν πλήρωμα εὑρεθήσεται ἐν τῇ ἄνω δυνάμει κατὰ τὸν αὐτοῦ λόγον. ἔτι δὲ προσθείημεν αὐτὸν ἐρωτῶντες· λέγε ἡμῖν, ὦ οὗτος, ὁ διὰ θυρίδων παρακύψας ἵνα οὕτως χλευάσω τὴν σοῦ ληρῳδίαν καὶ ἐν τῷ παρακύπτειν σκοπήσας ὡς ἐκτίσθησαν οἱ ἄγγελοι καὶ τὴν ὑπ' αὐτῶν περὶ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον πλάσμα * τεχνουργίαν τότε κατοπτεύσας καὶ τῆς ἄνωθεν δυνάμεως ἐξιχνεύσας τὴν μηχανοποιίαν, ᾔδεισαν οὗτοι τί πλάσσουσιν ἢ ἠγνόουν; ἀγνοοῦντες δὲ ὑπὸ τίνος ἠναγκάζοντο τὸ ἐν ἀγνωσίᾳ * ἐπιτελεῖν; οὐχί, φησίν, οὐκ ἠγνόουν· ᾔδεισαν γὰρ ὃ ἔμελλον πράττειν. ἡ τοίνυν ἄνωθεν δύναμις ᾔδει τούτους τοῦτο μέλλοντας ἐπιχειρεῖν ἢ ἠγνόει; οὐκ ἠγνόει. ἐποίησεν οὖν αὐτοὺς ἵνα τοῦτο πράξωσιν ἢ μή; οὐχί, φησίν· ἐποίησε γὰρ αὐτοὺς μόνον, οὗτοι δὲ παρὰ τὴν ἄνω δύναμιν ἐπεχείρησαν πρὸς τὸ ποιῆσαι πλάσμα. οὐκοῦν οὗτοι μὲν ᾔδεισαν, ἐκείνη δὲ ἡ ἄνω δύναμις ἠγνόει κατὰ τὸν σοῦ λόγον, ὦ πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἀβέλτερε. καὶ ἔσται μὲν ἡ τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατασκευὴ σύστασις καὶ οἱ αἴτιοι ταύτης ἄγγελοι ἐν γνώσει, ἡ δὲ τοὺς ἀγγέλους ποιήσασα δύναμις