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has become a root of evil, nor is evil a substance. For evil did not always exist, but is adventitious and exists under a pretext in each of those who do evil; but in the one who does not do it, it does not exist, just as has been shown beforehand in the preceding arguments. For the Lord says after he made all things, “behold, all things are very good,” showing that evil is not from the beginning, nor did it exist from the beginning before it began from man; for through us it comes to be and through us it does not come to be. Therefore, since every man is able not to do evil and able to do evil, when he does it, evil exists, but when he does not do it, evil does not exist. Where, then, is the root of evil or the substance of wickedness? 7. But this man has driven on to great folly, asserting that the Power above put forth Nous, and Nous the Logos, and the Logos Phronesis, and Phronesis Dynamis and Sophia, and from Dynamis and Sophia came authorities and powers and angels. And he says that the power and origin 1.264 above all these is Abraxas, because the numerical value of Abraxas is the three hundred and sixty-fifth number, so that from this he tries to establish the testimony of his myth-making of the three hundred and sixty-five heavens. For which heavens he diligently contrives, not incidentally, to divide and establish locations just like the astrologers. For having taken their vain theorems for his own character, both he and those under him have transferred them as a cause for their own idolatrous and erroneous, fabricated teaching. And they wish to make the constitution of these things from similar numerical values, as I said before, of Abraxas having the number three hundred and sixty-five, pretending to show that for this reason the year has the number of three hundred and sixty-five days in its cycle. But his nonsensical argument has fallen. For the year is found to be three hundred and sixty-five days and three hours. Then, from this, he says, man also has three hundred and sixty-five members, so that to each of the powers one member is assigned. Whence also in this his contrived and spurious teaching has fallen; for in man there are 364 members. 8. And wonderfully the blessed Irenaeus, the successor of the apostles, arguing subtly about this, refuted this man's stupidity. For even now the nonsense of Basilides will be overturned, who descended from above and clearly surveyed the things above, or rather, who fell from above, from the mark of truth, that if this heaven was made by the angels under him, and they by those higher, and those higher by those still higher, then is not the Power above, which is also called Abraxas, found to be the one who made all things and the cause of all existing things, and will it not be found that nothing has been made without it, since it is proclaimed by them as the cause and the first archetype, and that the so-called defect 1.265 of this world according to them did not come to be by some other, but from the first principle and cause of the things that came after. But he must be asked, for what reason do you bring us to such a multitude, O you, and not rather to the beginning, that is, to the one God, the almighty? since in any case, whether speaking in this way or that, one must confess the one cause of all as master. But answer also concerning the hypothesis of Christ, O you fabricator of this myth-making business. If Simon the Cyrenian was crucified, then our salvation did not come through Jesus but through Simon, and the world can no longer hope to be saved through Jesus Christ who did not suffer for us. For neither can Simon save, being a mere man and nothing else. And at the same time you vote to condemn the only-begotten son of God with slander, if the good god delivered another in his place, compelling him to death. And so it will be a dream, or rather the work of malice and trickery, such a thing,

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ῥίζα γέγονε κακίας οὔτε ἐνυπόστατον τὸ κακόν ἐστιν. οὐκ ἦν γάρ ποτε τὸ κακόν, ἐπείσακτον δὲ διὰ προφάσεως ἐν ἑκάστῳ τῶν ποιούντων τὸ κακὸν ἔνεστιν· ἐν δὲ τῷ μὴ ποιοῦντι οὐκ ἔστιν, καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς ἄνω λόγοις προδεδήλωται. λέγει γὰρ ὁ κύριος μετὰ τὸ πάντα πεποιηκέναι «ἰδοὺ πάντα καλὰ λίαν», δεικνὺς ὅτι τὸ κακὸν οὐκ ἀρχαΐζει οὐδὲ ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς ὑπῆρχεν πρὸ τοῦ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐνάρξασθαι· δι' ἡμῶν γὰρ γίνεται καὶ δι' ἡμῶν οὐ γίνεται. ἄρα οὖν ἐν τῷ πάντα ἄνθρωπον δύνασθαι μὴ ποιεῖν τὸ κακὸν καὶ δύνασθαι ποιεῖν τὸ κακόν, ὅταν μὲν ποιῇ, ἔστι τὸ κακόν, ὅταν δὲ μὴ ποιῇ, οὐκ ἔστι τὸ κακόν. ποῦ τοίνυν τοῦ κακοῦ ἐστιν ἡ ῥίζα ἢ ἡ ὑπόστασις τῆς πονηρίας; 7. Εἰς δὲ πολλὴν οὗτος ἐλήλακε μωρίαν, φάσκων ὅτι ἡ ἄνω ∆ύναμις τὸν Νοῦν προεβάλετο, ὁ δὲ Νοῦς τὸν Λόγον, ὁ δὲ Λόγος τὴν Φρόνησιν, ἡ δὲ Φρόνησις ∆ύναμιν καὶ Σοφίαν, ἐκ δὲ ∆υνάμεως καὶ Σοφίας ἐξουσίαι καὶ δυνάμεις καὶ ἄγγελοι. λέγει δὲ τὴν ὑπερ1.264 άνω τούτων δύναμιν εἶναι καὶ ἀρχὴν Ἀβρασάξ, διὰ τὸ τὴν ψῆφον τοῦ Ἀβρασὰξ ἔχειν τριακοσιοστὸν ἑξηκοστὸν πέμπτον ἀριθμόν, ὡς ἐκ τούτου τὴν μαρτυρίαν τῆς αὐτοῦ μυθοποιίας τῶν τριακοσίων ἑξήκοντα πέντε οὐρανῶν συνιστᾶν πειρᾶσθαι. οἷς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τοποθεσίας ἴσα τοῖς μαθηματικοῖς διαιρεῖν καὶ συνιστᾶν ἐπιτηδεύων οὐ παρέργως μηχανᾶται. τὰ γὰρ ἐκείνων μάταια θεωρήματα λαβὼν εἰς ἴδιον χαρακτῆρα αὐτός τε καὶ οἱ ὑπ' αὐτὸν εἰς αἰτίαν τῆς ἰδίας εἰδωλοποιοῦ καὶ πεπλανημένης ἐπιπλάστου διδασκαλίας μετήνεγκαν. καὶ βούλονται τὴν σύστασιν τούτων ἀπὸ τῶν ὁμοίων ψήφων ποιεῖσθαι, ὡς προεῖπον, τοῦ Ἀβρασὰξ τῶν τριακοσίων ἑξήκοντα πέντε ἀριθμὸν ἔχοντος, δῆθεν δεικνύντες διὰ τοῦτο ἔχειν τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν τριακοσίων ἑξήκοντα πέντε ἡμερῶν ἀριθμὸν κατὰ περίοδον. πέπτωκε δὲ αὐτοῦ ὁ ληρώδης λόγος. εὑρίσκεται γὰρ ὁ ἐνιαυτὸς τριακοσίων ἑξήκοντα πέντε ἡμερῶν καὶ ὡρῶν τριῶν. εἶτα, ἐντεῦθεν, φησί, καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἔχει τριακόσια ἑξήκοντα πέντε μέλη, ὡς ἑκάστῃ τῶν δυνάμεων ἀπονέμεσθαι ἓν μέλος. ὅθεν καὶ ἐν τούτῳ πέπτωκεν αὐτοῦ ἡ ἐπινενοημένη καὶ νόθος διδασκαλία· ἐν γὰρ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐστὶ ˉτˉξˉδ μέλη. 8. Θαυμαστῶς δὲ ὁ μακάριος Εἰρηναῖος, ὁ τῶν ἀποστόλων διάδοχος, περὶ τούτου λεπτολογῶν διήλεγξε τούτου τὴν ἀβελτερίαν. ἀνατραπήσεται γὰρ καὶ νῦν ἡ φλυαρία τοῦ ἄνωθεν καταβεβηκότος Βασιλείδου καὶ τὰ ἄνω σαφῶς κατοπτεύσαντος, μᾶλλον δὲ ἄνωθεν πεπτωκότος ἀπὸ τοῦ τῆς ἀληθείας σκοποῦ, ὅτι εἰ οὗτος ὁ οὐρανὸς ὑπὸ τῶν κατ' αὐτὸν ἀγγέλων γεγένηται, αὐτοὶ δὲ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνωτέρω καὶ οἱ ἀνωτέρω ὑπὸ τῶν ἔτι ἀνωτέρω, ἄρ' οὖν ἡ ἄνω ∆ύναμις, ἡ καὶ Ἀβρασὰξ καλουμένη, εὑρεθήσεται ἡ τὰ πάντα πεποιηκυῖα καὶ ἡ αἰτία τῶν ὄντων πάντων, καὶ οὐδὲν δίχα αὐτῆς τι γεγενῆσθαι εὑρεθήσεται, ὁπότε αὐτὴ τὸ αἴτιον καὶ τὸ πρῶτον ἀρχέτυπον παρ' αὐτῶν καταγγέλλεται, καὶ τὸ λεγόμενον παρ' αὐτοῖς τοῦ κόσμου τούτου 1.265 ὑστέρημα ὑπό τινος ἑτέρου μὴ γεγενῆσθαι, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης ἀρχῆς καὶ αἰτίας τῶν μετέπειτα γεγονότων. ἐρωτητέον δὲ τὸν αὐτόν, τίνι τῷ λόγῳ ἐπὶ τοσαύτην ἡμᾶς πληθὺν φέρεις, ὦ οὗτος, καὶ μὴ μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχήν, τουτέστιν ἐπὶ τὸν ἕνα θεὸν τὸν παντοκράτορα; ὁπότε ἐξ ἅπαντος ἤτοι οὕτως λέγοντα ἢ οὕτως δεῖ τὸν ἕνα αἴτιον πάντων ὁμολογεῖν δεσπότην. ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὑποθέσεως ἀπόκριναι, ὦ τῆς μυθοποιοῦ πραγματείας ταύτης πλάστα. εἰ Σίμων ἐσταυρώθη ὁ Κυρηναῖος, ἄρα οὐ διὰ Ἰησοῦ ἡ σωτηρία γεγένηται ἡμῶν ἀλλὰ διὰ Σίμωνος, καὶ οὐκέτι ὁ κόσμος ἐλπίσειεν διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ σῴζεσθαι τοῦ μὴ παθόντος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν. οὔτε γὰρ Σίμων δύναται σῴζειν, ἄνθρωπος ὢν ψιλὸς καὶ οὐδὲν ἕτερον. ἅμα δὲ καὶ συκοφαντίαν καταψηφίζῃ τοῦ μονογενοῦς υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ, εἰ ἕτερον ἀνθ' ἑαυτοῦ παρέδωκεν ὁ ἀγαθὸς θεὸς βιασάμενος εἰς φόνον. καὶ ἔσται λοιπὸν ὄναρ, μᾶλλον δὲ κακοηθείας καὶ κυβείας ἔργον τὸ τοιοῦτον,