Epiphanius of Salamis, Panarion

are both, as he says “they will come and recline in the bosoms of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven and they will rest from east and west” and so on, and again the prophecy concerning him from the person of David, “The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand” and again what was said by him to the Pharisees “Have you never read, the stone which the builders rejected?” and as Luke affirms that the savior himself, after he rose from the dead, was seen on the road by those with Nathanael and Cleopas and admonished them from the psalms and from the prophets “that thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day.” And there is nothing at all discordant between the incarnate presence of Christ and the prophecies of the prophets. 7. But let this suffice concerning the heresy of Saturnilus, so that I do not waste time involved in his foolish inquiries and their refutations. Having passed from this one, I will next declare that of Basilides, his schoolmate, who was also deceived with him. For these men share the same things, having borrowed the venom from one another according to the clear proverb, as an asp borrowing venom from a viper. For they are of the same school and council with one another, but each stands by himself, having established his heresy, and they have drawn their evil from one another, but have established discord among themselves. 1.256 Whether, therefore, this one, like a viper, having partaken from those above, has transmitted it to Basilides, or that one to this one, nevertheless, let their venom, being destructive and coming from such reptiles, be left behind by us, having been obscured and destroyed by the teaching of the Lord like an antidote. But let us, calling upon God, proceed to the next things, O beloved.

Against Basilides 4, and in the sequence 24.

1. Basilides, then, as has been shown above, having directed his journey to the land of the Egyptians, made his residence there, then he comes to the parts of Prosopites and Athribites, and not only so, but also around the Saite and Alexandrian and Alexandriopolitan area, that is, the nome. For the Egyptians call the surrounding district or region of each city a nome. You might find, O lover of learning, this also for your own benefit toward a love of learning and clarity, for a pious understanding and phrasing of the things that lie in the divine scripture, which throw some into perplexity through inexperience. For where in the holy prophet Isaiah you might find written concerning the nomes of Egyptian cities such as Tanis or Memphis or the nome of Bubastis, it signifies the perimeter of the given city. And let this be explained for the sake of the love of learning. At any rate, in these places the aforementioned impostor was living, from which places it appears that his heresy, flourishing even to this day, took its pretext from his teaching. And he begins to preach an excess beyond his schoolmate, the magician left in Syria, so that, by narrating things beyond that man, 1.257 he might seem to fantastically impress the listeners more, and to please and gather a crowd greater than his companion Saturnilus. And then, suggesting some fantastic myth-makings, he begins thus to tell us dire and destructive things, not truly beginning from his own thought, but taking pretexts from Saturnilus and Simon who was mentioned before; but he wishes to handle them differently and to narrate the things with greater pomp

εἰσιν ἀμφότεραι, ὡς λέγει «ἐλεύσονται καὶ ἀνακλιθήσονται ἐν κόλποις Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακὼβ ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν καὶ ἀναπαύσονται ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν καὶ δυσμῶν» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, πάλιν δὲ τὸ ἐκ προσώπου ∆αυὶδ περὶ αὐτοῦ προφητευόμενον, τό «εἶπεν ὁ κύριος τῷ κυρίῳ μου, κάθου ἐκ δεξιῶν μου» καὶ πάλιν τὸ παρ' αὐτοῦ λεγόμενον τοῖς Φαρισαίοις «οὐδέποτε ἀνέγνωτε, λίθον ὃν ἀπεδοκίμασαν οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες;» καὶ ὡς ὁ Λουκᾶς διαβεβαιοῦται αὐτὸν τὸν σωτῆρα μετὰ τὸ ἀναστῆναι ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν ὦφθαι κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ναθαναὴλ καὶ τὸν Κλεόπαν καὶ τούτους νενουθετηκέναι ἀπὸ τῶν ψαλμῶν καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν προφητῶν «ὅτι οὕτως ἔδει παθεῖν τὸν Χριστὸν καὶ ἀναστῆναι ἐκ νεκρῶν τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ». καὶ οὐδὲν ἔστιν ὅλως διαφωνοῦν ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐνσάρκου παρουσίας πρὸς τὰς τῶν προφητῶν προφητείας. 7. Ἀλλ' ἕως τούτου περὶ τῆς Σατορνίλου αἱρέσεως εἰρήσθω, ἵνα μὴ ἀναλίσκω χρόνους περὶ τὰς μωρὰς αὐτοῦ ζητήσεις καὶ τὰς τούτων ἀνατροπὰς ἐνειλούμενος. ἐκ ταύτης δὲ παρελθὼν ἑξῆς τὴν Βασιλείδου τοῦ συσχολαστοῦ τούτου, τοῦ καὶ συνηπατημένου δηλώσω. μετέχουσι γὰρ οὗτοι τῶν αὐτῶν, ὡς ἀπ' ἀλλήλων τὸν ἰὸν δανεισάμενοι κατὰ τὴν ἐναργῆ παροιμίαν, ὡς ἀσπὶς παρ' ἐχίδνης ἰὸν δανειζομένη. ὁμοῦ γάρ εἰσι τῆς σχολῆς καὶ συνεδρίου ἀλλήλων, καθ' ἑαυτὸν δὲ ἕστηκεν ἑκάτερος τὴν αἵρεσιν προστησάμενος, καὶ τὴν μὲν κακίαν παρ' ἀλλήλων ἠρανίσαντο, τὴν δὲ διαφωνίαν ἐν αὑτοῖς ἐνε1.256 στήσαντο. εἴτε οὖν οὗτος δίκην ἐχίδνης παρὰ τῶν ἀνωτάτω μετασχὼν τῷ Βασιλείδῃ μεταδέδωκεν ἢ ἐκεῖνος τούτῳ, ὅμως ὀλέθριος ὢν ὁ τούτων ἰὸς καὶ ἀπὸ τοιούτων ἑρπετῶν ὁρμώμενος διὰ τῆς τοῦ κυρίου διδασκαλίας ἀντιδότου δίκην ἀμαυρωθείς τε καὶ ἀφανισθεὶς ὑφ' ἡμῶν καταλελείφθω. ἡμεῖς δὲ θεὸν ἐπικαλούμενοι ἐπὶ τὰς ἑξῆς ἴωμεν, ὦ ἀγαπητοί.

Κατὰ Βασιλείδου ˉδ, τῆς δὲ ἀκολουθίας ˉκˉδ.

1. Βασιλείδης μὲν οὖν, καθὰ ἄνω προδεδήλωται, ἐν τῇ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων χώρᾳ στειλάμενος τὴν πορείαν ἐκεῖσε τὰς διατριβὰς ἐποιεῖτο, εἶτα ἔρχεται εἰς τὰ μέρη τοῦ Προσωπίτου καὶ Ἀθριβίτου, οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τὸν Σαΐτην καὶ Ἀλεξάνδρειαν καὶ Ἀλεξανδρειοπολίτην χῶρον ἤτοι νομόν. νομὸν γὰρ οἱ Αἰγύπτιοί φασι τὴν ἑκάστης πόλεως περιοικίδα ἤτοι περίχωρον. εὕροις δ' ἄν, ὦ φιλολόγε, καὶ τοῦτο εἰς σαυτοῦ ὠφέλειαν πρὸς φιλομάθειαν καὶ σαφήνειαν, εἰς εὐσεβῆ σύστασιν καὶ φράσιν τῶν ἐν τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ κειμένων, τῶν εἰς ἀπορίαν τινὰς ἐμβαλλόντων δι' ἀπειρίαν. ὅπου γὰρ ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ προφήτῃ Ἠσαΐᾳ εὕροις γεγραμμένον περὶ νομῶν πόλεων Αἰγυπτιακῶν οἷον Τάνεως ἢ Μέμφεως ἢ νομοῦ τῆς Βουβάστου, τὴν περίμετρον τῆς τυχούσης πόλεως σημαίνει. καὶ τοῦτο φιλομαθείας ἕνεκεν ἑρμηνευέσθω. ἦν γοῦν ἐν τούτοις τοῖς τόποις ὁ προειρημένος ἀγύρτης τὴν διαβίωσιν ἔχων, ἐξ ὧν φαίνεται ἡ καὶ εἰς δεῦρο ἀκμάζουσα αὐτοῦ αἵρεσις ἐκ τῆς αὐτοῦ διδασκαλίας λαβοῦσα τὴν πρόφασιν. καὶ ἄρχεται μὲν κηρύττειν ὑπερβολὴν ὑπὲρ τὸν συσχολαστὴν αὐτοῦ γόητα τὸν καταλειφθέντα ἐπὶ τῆς Συρίας, ἵνα δῆθεν τὰ ὑπὲρ ἐκεῖνον 1.257 διηγούμενος δόξῃ φαντασιάζειν πλέον τοὺς ἀκούοντας, ἀρέσκεσθαί τε καὶ συναγείρειν πλῆθος ὑπὲρ τὸν ἑταῖρον αὐτοῦ Σατορνῖλον. καί τινας λοιπὸν φαντασιώδεις μυθοποιίας ὑποβαλλόμενος ἄρχεται μὲν οὕτως τὰ ἀληθῆ δὲ εἰπεῖν οὐκ ἀπὸ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἐννοίας ἐναρξάμενος ἡμῖν τὰ δεινά τε καὶ ὀλετήρια, ἀλλὰ προφάσεις λαβὼν ἐκ τοῦ Σατορνίλου καὶ Σίμωνος τοῦ προεληλεγμένου· βούλεται δὲ ἑτέρως αὐτὰ μεταχειρίζειν καὶ εἰς ὄγκον μείζονα διηγεῖσθαι τὰ