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connects with what I have said before; being from Cephallenia on his father's side, and having lived for a period of seventeen years, he ended his life very quickly, as the Lord rids us of the wicked like thorns, providing something better for the world. But after his death, those led astray by him did not refrain from the plague from him. For in Samos he is still honored as a god even to this day; for having established a precinct for him, the inhabitants perform sacrifices and rites at the new moon, and they set up altars to him and erected a famous museum in his name, which is called the museum of Epiphanes. For the Cephallenians, driven to such delusion, sacrifice to him and pour libations and feast in his established precinct and sing hymns to him. And because of the excess of his education, both general and Platonic, all the deceit came from him for the aforementioned people, both in the heresy and in the other error, I mean the one which turned the inhabitants to idol-madness. At any rate, this Epiphanes associated with Secundus and his followers. For he copied his venomousness, I mean the verbiage of the corrupting serpentine 1.443 destruction. 4. And they say that Isidore, in his exhortations, became the cause of his depravity. But whether he himself held the same opinions and was motivated by them, or whether having learned from philosophers he himself was also some kind of exhorter, we have not been able to know very clearly about Isidore. However, all these men patch together the same doctrine. First, then, Epiphanes himself, along with his father and leader of the heresy Carpocrates and his followers, legislated that the wives of men be common, taking the pretext from Plato's *Republic* and fulfilling his own desire. And from here he makes his beginning, saying, as it is written in the gospel of the Savior saying that there are three kinds of eunuchs, the one made a eunuch by men, and the one from birth, and the one who voluntarily made himself a eunuch for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, and he says: "Those, therefore, become eunuchs by necessity, not by reason. But those who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, because of the things that happen in marriage, they say, take this consideration, fearing the occupation with providing for necessities. And to the 'it is better to marry than to burn, do not cast your soul into fire,' he says the apostle says; day and night resisting and fearing, lest you fall from continence. For a soul that comes to resist is divided from hope." "Resist, therefore," as I have already said, bringing forth the argument of the exhortation into the 1.444 midst, Isidore says word for word in his *Ethics*: "a contentious woman, that you may not be torn away from the grace of God, and having ejaculated the fire, pray with a good conscience. But when, he says, your thanksgiving falls into petition and you stand for the future, not having succeeded, so as not to stumble, marry." Then again he says, "But some young man is either poor or prone, that is, weak, and does not wish to marry according to the word, let him not be separated from the brother." And contriving for himself some shameful suspicions, the wretched man dramatizes, "for let him say," he says, "that 'I have entered into the holy places, I can suffer nothing.'" "But if he has a suspicion, let him say: 'Brother, lay your hand on me, that I may not sin,' and he will receive help, both intellectual and sensory. Let him only wish to accomplish what is good and he will succeed." Then again he says: "Sometimes we say with our mouth: 'we do not want to sin,' but the mind is set on sinning. Such a person, through fear, does not do what he wishes, so that punishment may not be imputed to him. But humanity has some things that are necessary and natural, and some that are only natural; it has clothing which is necessary and natural, and sexual relations are natural, but not necessary";

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προεῖπον συνάπτεται· ἀπὸ Κεφαλληνίας μὲν τὸ πρὸς πατρὸς γένος ὤν, ἑπτακαιδεκαετῆ δὲ βιώσας χρόνον θᾶττον τὸν βίον κατέστρεψεν, τοῦ κυρίου ὥσπερ ἀκάνθας τοὺς φαύλους ἀπαλλάσσοντος, κρεῖττόν τι περὶ τῆς οἰκουμένης προνοοῦντος. μετὰ δὲ τὴν αὐτοῦ τελευτὴν οἱ πρὸς αὐτοῦ πεπλανημένοι τῆς ἀπ' αὐτοῦ πληγῆς οὐκ ἀπέσχοντο. ἐν Σάμῳ γὰρ ὡς θεὸς ἔτι καὶ εἰς δεῦρο τιμᾶται· τέμενος γὰρ αὐτῷ ἱδρύσαντες οἱ ἐπιχώριοι θυσίας καὶ τελετὰς ἐπιτελοῦσι κατὰ νεομηνίαν, βωμοὺς δὲ αὐτῷ ἔστησαν καὶ μουσεῖον εἰς ὄνομα αὐτοῦ περίπυστον ἀνεστήσαντο, τὸ δὴ Ἐπιφάνους μουσεῖον καλούμενον. θύουσι γὰρ αὐτῷ οἱ Κεφαλλῆνες εἰς τοσαύτην πλάνην ἐληλακότες καὶ σπένδουσι καὶ ἐν τῷ ἱδρυμένῳ αὐτοῦ τεμένει εὐωχοῦνται ὕμνους τε αὐτῷ ᾄδουσι. δι' ὑπερβολὴν δὲ τῆς ἐκείνου παιδείας, ἐγκυκλίου τε καὶ Πλατωνικῆς, ἡ πᾶσα τοῖς προειρημένοις κατά τε τὴν αἵρεσιν καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἑτέραν πλάνην, λέγω δὲ τὴν εἰς εἰδωλομανίαν τοὺς ἐπιχωρίους τρέψασαν, γέγονεν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ἀπάτη. συνήπτετο γοῦν οὗτος ὁ Ἐπιφάνης Σεκούνδῳ καὶ τοῖς ἀμφ' αὐτόν. τὴν γὰρ αὐτοῦ ἰοβολίαν ἀπεμάξατο, λέγω δὲ τὴν τῆς ἀδικούσης ἑρπετώδους 1.443 φθορᾶς περιττολογίαν. 4. Ἰσίδωρον δὲ φάσκουσιν ἐν παραινέσεσι τῆς αὐτοῦ μοχθηρίας αἴτιον γεγενῆσθαι. εἰ δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς τὰ ἴσα φρονῶν καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν ὁρμώμενος ἐτύγχανεν ἢ ἐκ φιλοσόφων μαθὼν παραινετικός τις καὶ αὐτὸς ὑπῆρχεν, οὐ πάνυ σαφῶς περὶ τοῦ Ἰσιδώρου γνῶναι ἠδυνήθημεν. πλὴν οὗτοι πάντες καττύουσι τὴν ἴσην πραγματείαν. Πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ἐνομοθέτει αὐτὸς ὁ Ἐπιφάνης σὺν τῷ αὐτοῦ πατρί τε καὶ προστάτῃ τῆς αἱρέσεως Καρποκράτει καὶ τοῖς ἀμφ' αὐτὸν κοινὰς εἶναι τὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων γυναῖκας, ἔκ τε τῶν Πλάτωνος Πολιτειῶν τὴν πρόφασιν λαβὼν καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐκτελῶν. ἐντεῦθεν δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν ποιεῖται λέγων, ὡς ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ ἐμφέρεται τοῦ σωτῆρος φάσκοντος τρεῖς μὲν εὐνούχους εἶναι, τόν τε ἐξ ἀνθρώπων εὐνουχιζόμενον καὶ τὸν ἐκ γεννητῆς καὶ τὸν διὰ τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν ἑαυτὸν ἑκουσίως εὐνουχίσαντα, καί φησιν· «οἱ τοίνυν κατὰ ἀνάγκην, οὐ κατὰ λόγον εὐνοῦχοι γίνονται. οἱ δὲ ἕνεκα τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν ἑαυτοὺς εὐνουχίσαντες, διὰ τὰ ἐκ τοῦ γάμου συμβαίνοντα, φασί, τὸν ἐπιλογισμὸν τοῦτον λαμβάνουσιν, τὴν περὶ τὸν πορισμὸν τῶν ἐπιτηδείων ἀσχολίαν δεδιότες. καὶ τῷ «βέλτιον γαμῆσαι ἢ πυροῦσθαι, μὴ εἰς πῦρ ἐμβάλῃς τὴν ψυχήν σου», φησὶ λέγειν τὸν ἀπόστολον· ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς ἀντέχων καὶ φοβούμενος, μὴ τῆς ἐγκρατείας ἀποπέσῃς. πρὸς γὰρ τὸ ἀντέχειν γινομένη ψυχὴ μερίζεται τῆς ἐλπίδος». «ἀντέχου τοίνυν» ὡς ἤδη προεῖπον, τῆς παραινέσεως εἰς 1.444 μέσον φέρων τὸν λόγον φησὶ κατὰ λέξιν ὁ Ἰσίδωρος ἐν τοῖς Ἠθικοῖς «μαχίμης γυναικός, ἵνα μὴ ἀποσπασθῇς τῆς χάριτος τοῦ θεοῦ, τό τε πῦρ ἀποσπερματίσας εὐσυνειδήτως προσεύχου. ὅταν δέ, φησίν, ἡ εὐχαριστία σου εἰς αἴτησιν ὑποπέσῃ καὶ στῇς εἰς τὸ λοιπόν, οὐ κατορθώσας, μὴ σφαλῆναι, γάμησον». εἶτα πάλιν φησίν «ἀλλὰ νέος τις ἢ πένης ἐστὶν ἢ κατωφερὴς τουτέστιν ἀσθενὴς καὶ οὐ θέλει γῆμαι κατὰ τὸν λόγον, οὗτος τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ μὴ χωριζέσθω». αἰσχρὰς δέ τινας ὑπονοίας ἑαυτῷ προσποριζόμενος δραματουργεῖ ὁ τάλας «λεγέτω» γάρ φησιν «ὅτι εἰσελήλυθα ἐγὼ εἰς τὰ ἅγια, οὐδὲν δύναμαι παθεῖν». ἐὰν δὲ ὑπόνοιαν ἔχῃ, εἰπάτω· «ἀδελφέ, ἐπίθες μοι χεῖρα, ἵνα μὴ ἁμαρτήσω, καὶ λήψεται βοήθειαν καὶ νοητὴν καὶ αἰσθητήν. θελησάτω μόνον ἀπαρτίσαι τὸ καλὸν καὶ ἐπιτεύξεται». εἶτα πάλιν φησίν «ἐνίοτε τῷ μὲν στόματι λέγομεν· οὐ θέλομεν ἁμαρτῆσαι, ἡ δὲ διάνοια ἔγκειται εἰς τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν. ὁ τοιοῦτος διὰ φόβον οὐ ποιεῖ ὃ θέλει, ἵνα μὴ ἡ κόλασις αὐτῷ ἐλλογισθῇ. ἡ δὲ ἀνθρωπότης ἔχει ἀναγκαῖά τινα καὶ φυσικά, τινὰ δὲ φυσικὰ μόνα· ἔχει τὸ περιβάλλεσθαι τὸ ἀναγκαῖον καὶ φυσικόν, φυσικὸν δὲ καὶ τὸ τῶν ἀφροδισίων, οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον δέ»·