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later, when we undertake to speak of them individually, I will explain in detail, not to tickle the ears of those hearing or reading, but to work a greater hatred towards them in the intelligent and an aversion from the working of evil, not slandering the sinners, but in truth triumphantly exposing the things done by them. And others glorify the aforesaid Ialdabaoth, stating that he is the first son, as I said, of Barbelo; and for this reason he says one must give him honor, because he revealed many things. Hence also certain books are composed in the name of Ialdabaoth, fashioning also innumerable barbaric names of rulers, as they say, and of powers in each heaven opposed to the soul of man. And great, in a word, is the plot against the race of men that comes about through their error. But others likewise glorify Caulacau, calling a certain ruler thus,1.271 being ambitious to impress the inexperienced through the shock of the names and the artificial barbarism of the name. But to those who are experienced and have received from God the grace of the true knowledge of God concerning each name and hypothesis, how are the untrustworthy teachings of their myth and error not easily refuted? 4. For if they should say Prounikos, the whole thing is an eructation of sensuality and incontinence. For everything called prounikos implies the by-name of lewdness, and the enterprise of corruption. For in the case of those who defile bodies there is a certain Greek expression "he debauched this one"; whence also in myths the Greek deceivers who wrote erotica, speaking of beauty, write thus that beauty is prounikon. But also concerning Caulacau who of those who know would not laugh, that the words well spoken in Hebrew and well interpreted in Greek and still now clear to those who read in Hebrew and having nothing crooked in them, they themselves, sowing error in the simple through illusion, refashion into idolatries and into forms and into hypostatic principles and, so to speak, into statue-makings, for the dissemination of their shameful and mythical art? For Caulacau is written in Isaiah, being a certain word in the twelfth vision, where he says "tribulation upon tribulation, hope upon hope, yet a little, yet a little expect"; so I will also set forth here the Hebrew phrases themselves most perfectly in the very words as they are written; for saulasau saulasau is interpreted tribulation upon tribulation, kaulakau kaulakau hope upon hope, ziersam ziersam yet a little, yet a little expect. Where then is their mythology? Where is the craving for this fantasy-talk? From where the tares in the world? Who forced men to draw destruction upon themselves? For if, knowing,1.272 they remade the names into a fantasy, they have clearly become the cause of their own destruction; but if, being ignorant, they asserted what they did not know, nothing is more wretched than they. For these things are truly foolish, as it is possible for everyone who possesses understanding in God to see. For for the sake of sensuality they destroyed and are destroying both themselves and those persuaded by them. For it is a spirit of error, like a breath in a flute, moving each of the foolish with various movements against the truth. For the flute itself is also an imitation of the serpent, through whom the evil one spoke and deceived Eve. For from that type, by imitation, the flute was fashioned for the deception of men. And behold the figure which the piper himself makes on the flute. For while piping he nods upwards and nods downwards, and he inclines to the right and to the left similarly to that one. For the devil also uses these gestures, that he might show blasphemy against the heavenly things and the things upon the

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ὕστερον, ὅταν περὶ αὐτῶν μονομερῶς λέγειν ἐπιβαλώμεθα, κατὰ λεπτότητα ὑφηγήσομαι, οὐκ εἰς τὸ χρᾶναι ἀκοὰς τῶν ἀκουόντων ἢ ἐντυγχανόντων, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸ τοῖς συνετοῖς ἀπέχθειαν μᾶλλον ἐργάσασθαι πρὸς αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀποτροπὴν τῆς τῶν κακῶν ἐργασίας, οὐ συκοφαντῶν τοὺς ἀλιτηρίους, ἀλλὰ κατ' ἀλήθειαν τὰ παρ' αὐτῶν γινόμενα εἰς τοὐμφανὲς θριαμβεύων. ἕτεροι δὲ τὸν προειρημένον Ἰαλδαβαὼθ δοξάζουσι, φάσκοντες αὐτὸν εἶναι πρῶτον υἱὸν ὡς ἔφην τῆς Βαρβηλώ· καὶ διὰ τοῦτό φησιν δεῖν ἄγειν αὐτῷ τὴν τιμήν, ὅτι πολλὰ ἀπεκάλυψεν. ὅθεν καὶ βιβλία τινὰ ἐξ ὀνόματος τοῦ Ἰαλδαβαὼθ ποιητεύονται, ἐκτυποῦντες καὶ ὀνομασίας μυρίας βαρβαρικὰς ἀρχόντων, ὥς φασιν, καὶ ἐξουσιῶν καθ' ἕκαστον οὐρανὸν ἐναντιουμένων τῇ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ψυχῇ. καὶ πολλὴ ἁπλῶς ἡ διὰ τῆς πλάνης αὐτῶν γινομένη τῷ γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιβουλή. ἄλλοι δὲ τὸν Καυλακαῦ ὡσαύτως δοξάζουσιν, ἄρχοντά τινα τοῦτον οὕτως κα1.271 λοῦντες, φαντασιάζειν φιλοτιμούμενοι τοὺς ἀπείρους διὰ τῆς τῶν ὀνομάτων ἐκπλήξεως καὶ ἐπιπλάστου τῆς τοῦ ὀνόματος βαρβαρωνυμίας. τοῖς δὲ ἐμπείροις καὶ ἐκ θεοῦ λαβοῦσι περὶ ἑκάστης ὀνομασίας καὶ ὑποθέσεως τῆς ἀληθινῆς τοῦ θεοῦ γνώσεως χάριν πῶς οὐκ εὐθυέλεγκτα τοῦ μύθου αὐτῶν καὶ πλάνης τὰ διδάγματα ἀνεχέγγυα; 4. Προύνικον γὰρ ἐὰν εἴπωσι, τὸ ὅλον ἐστὶν ἡδυπαθείας καὶ ἀκρασίας ἐξέρευξις. πᾶν γὰρ τὸ προυνικευόμενον λαγνείας ὑποφαίνει τὸ ἐπώνυμον, φθορᾶς δὲ τὸ ἐπιχείρημα. ἐπὶ τοῖς γὰρ τὰ σώματα διακορεύουσιν Ἑλληνική τίς ἐστιν λέξις τό «ἐπρουνίκευσε τήνδε»· ὅθεν καὶ ἐν μύθοις ἀναγράφουσιν οἱ τὰ ἐρωτικὰ συγγραψάμενοι Ἑλλήνων ἀπατεῶνες περὶ κάλλους λέγοντες οὕτως ὅτι κάλλος προύνικον. ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τοῦ Καυλακαῦ τίς τῶν γινωσκόντων οὐκ ἂν καταγελάσειεν, ὅτι τὰς Ἑβραϊστὶ καλῶς εἰρημένας λέξεις καὶ Ἑλληνιστὶ καλῶς ἑρμηνευθείσας καὶ εἰσέτι νῦν παρὰ τοῖς Ἑβραϊστὶ ἀναγινώσκουσι φανερὰς οὔσας καὶ οὐδὲν σκολιὸν ἐχούσας αὐτοὶ εἰς εἰδωλοποιίας τε καὶ εἰς μορφὰς καὶ εἰς ἐνυποστατικὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ ὡς εἰπεῖν ἀνδριαντοπλασίας, τοῖς ἀφελέσι διὰ φαντασίας τὴν πλάνην ὑποσπείροντες, ἀνατυποῦσιν εἰς τὴν τῆς αἰσχρᾶς αὐτῶν καὶ μυθώδους τέχνης ὑποσποράν; καυλακαῦ γὰρ ἐν τῷ Ἠσαΐᾳ γέγραπται, λέξις τις οὖσα ἐν τῇ δωδεκάτῃ ὁράσει, ἔνθα λέγει «θλίψιν ἐπὶ θλίψιν, ἐλπίδα ἐπ' ἐλπίδι, ἔτι μικρὸν ἔτι μικρὸν προσδέχου»· ὡς καὶ αὐτὰ τὰ Ἑβραϊκὰ ῥήματα τελειότατα ἐνταῦθα παραθήσομαι αὐταῖς λέξεσιν ὥς ἐστι γεγραμμένα· τὸ γὰρ σαυλασαῦ σαυλασαῦ ἑρμηνεύεται θλίψις ἐπὶ θλίψιν, καυλακαῦ καυλακαῦ ἐλπὶς ἐπ' ἐλπίδι, ζιηρσὰμ ζιηρσὰμ ἔτι μικρὸν ἔτι μικρὸν προσδέχου. ποῦ οὖν ἡ τούτων μυθολογία; ποῦ ἡ κίσσησις τῆς φαντασιολογίας; πόθεν τῷ κόσμῳ τὰ ζιζάνια; τίς ὁ ἀναγκάσας εἰς ἑαυτοὺς ἐπισπάσασθαι ὄλεθρον τοὺς ἀνθρώπους; εἰ μὲν γὰρ γινώ1.272 σκοντες μετεποίησαν τὰς ὀνομασίας εἰς φαντασίαν, ἀπωλείας ἑαυτοῖς προφανῶς αἴτιοι γεγόνασιν· εἰ δὲ ἀγνοοῦντες ἃ μὴ ᾔδεισαν ἔφασαν, οὐδὲν αὐτῶν ἀθλιώτερον. μωρὰ γὰρ ταῦτα ὡς ἀληθῶς, ὡς καὶ παντὶ τῷ σύνεσιν ἐν θεῷ κεκτημένῳ ἔνεστιν ἰδεῖν. ἡδυπαθείας γὰρ χάριν ἑαυτούς τε καὶ τοὺς πειθομένους ἀπώλεσαν καὶ ἀπολλύουσιν. πνεῦμα γάρ ἐστι πλάνης, ὥσπερ φύσημα ἐν αὐλῷ διαφόροις κινήσεσιν ἕκαστον τῶν ἀφρόνων κινοῦν κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας. καὶ γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ αὐλὸς μίμημά ἐστι τοῦ δράκοντος, δι' οὗ ἐλάλησεν ὁ πονηρὸς καὶ ἠπάτησε τὴν Εὔαν. ἀπὸ τοῦ τύπου γὰρ ἐκείνου κατὰ μίμησιν ὁ αὐλὸς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις εἰς ἀπάτην κατεσκευάσθη. καὶ ὅρα τὸν τύπον ὃν αὐτὸς ὁ αὐλῶν ἐν τῷ αὐλῷ ποιεῖται. αὐλῶν γὰρ ἄνω ἀνανεύει καὶ κάτω κατανεύει, δεξιά τε κλίνει καὶ εὐώνυμα ὁμοίως ἐκείνῳ. τούτοις γὰρ καὶ ὁ διάβολος τοῖς σχήμασι κέχρηται, ἵνα κατὰ τῶν ἐπουρανίων ἐνδείξηται τὴν βλασφημίαν καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς