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they most clearly affirm, saying that for each zone one power from the heavens is received vertically, bringing forth children resembling the power that sent down the emanation, to be a most clear type of the Dodecad and of her children. 2.29 And in addition to these things, they say that the Demiurge wished to imitate the boundless and eternal and indefinite and timeless nature of the Ogdoad above, and being unable to represent its permanence and perpetuity, because he himself was the fruit of a Defect, resolved its eternal nature into times and seasons and numbers of many years, thinking by the multitude of times to imitate its boundless nature. And here they say that, since Truth had fled from him, falsehood followed, and for this reason his work will come to an end when the times are fulfilled. 15. And saying such things about the creation, each one of them daily brings forth, as he is able, something newer. For no one is perfect among them who has not brought forth great falsehoods. But from the prophetic writings, how many things they transform, it is necessary to point out and to bring forward the refutation against them. For Moses, they say, beginning his account of creation, right at the beginning pointed out the Mother of all things by saying, “In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth.” Therefore, by naming these four things, God and beginning, heaven and earth, he represented their Tetrad, as they say. And indicating its invisible and hidden nature to say, “But the earth was invisible and unformed.” And the second Tetrad, the offspring of the first Tetrad, they wish him to have spoken of thus, naming the abyss and darkness in themselves and water and the spirit that was borne upon the water. After which, mentioning the Decad, to speak of light and day and night, and the firmament and evening and what is called morning, and dry land and sea, and furthermore the herb and in the tenth place the tree; and so through these ten names to have indicated the ten Aeons. And that the power of the Dodecad was thus represented by him; for he speaks of sun and moon, and stars and seasons, and years and sea-monsters, and also fish and 2.30 reptiles, and birds and four-footed beasts, and wild beasts, and, after all these, as the twelfth, man. Thus they teach that the Triacontad was spoken by the spirit through Moses. But indeed also the formed man, in the image of the power above, has in himself the power from the one source; and this is established in the region of the brain, from which flow four powers in the image of the Tetrad above, called the one, sight; the other, hearing; the third, smell; and the fourth, taste. And they say the Ogdoad is indicated through man thus: having two ears and as many sights, and also two smells and a twofold taste, of bitter and of sweet. But the whole man, they teach, has the whole image of the Triacontad thus: in his hands, through the fingers, he bears the Decad; and in his whole body, divided into twelve members, the Dodecad. And they divide it, just as the body of Truth is divided among them, concerning which we have spoken before. The Ogdoad, therefore, being unspeakable and invisible, is understood as being hidden in the inward parts. 16. And again, the sun, the great luminary, was made on the fourth of the days, they say, because of the number of the Tetrad. And of the tabernacle constructed by Moses, the curtains, having been made of fine linen and jacinth and purple and scarlet, showed the same image among them. And the priest’s robe, adorned with four rows of precious stones, they determine signifies the Tetrad; and if any such things at all are found in the scriptures that can be referred to the number four, they say it was made because of their Tetrad. and the Ogdoad again to be shown

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φάσκοντες καὶ καθ' ἕκαστον κλίμα ἀνὰ μίαν δύναμιν ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν κατὰ κάθετον ὑποδεχομένην καὶ ἐοικότα τίκτουσαν τέκνα τῇ καταπεμπούσῃ τὴν ἀπόρροιαν δυνάμει τύπον εἶναι τῆς δωδεκάδος καὶ τῶν τέκνων αὐτῆς σαφέστατον διαβεβαιοῦνται. 2.29 Πρὸς δὲ τούτοις θελήσαντά φασι τὸν ∆ημιουργὸν τῆς ἄνω Ὀγδοάδος τὸ ἀπέραντον καὶ αἰώνιον καὶ ἀόριστον καὶ ἄχρονον μιμήσασθαι καὶ μὴ δυνηθέντα τὸ μόνιμον αὐτῆς καὶ ἀίδιον ἐκτυπῶσαι, διὰ τὸ καρπὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι Ὑστερήματος, εἰς χρόνους καὶ καιρούς, ἀριθμούς τε πολυετεῖς τὸ αἰώνιον αὐτῆς κατατεθεῖσθαι, οἰόμενον ἐν τῷ πλήθει τῶν χρόνων μιμήσασθαι αὐτῆς τὸ ἀπέραντον. ἐνταῦθά τε λέγουσιν, ἐκφυγούσης αὐτὸν τῆς Ἀληθείας, ἐπηκολουθηκέναι τὸ ψεῦδος, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο κατάλυσιν πληρωθέντων τῶν χρόνων λαβεῖν αὐτοῦ τὸ ἔργον. 15. Καὶ περὶ μὲν τῆς κτίσεως τοιαῦτα λέγοντες, καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἐπιγεννᾷ ἕκαστος αὐτῶν, καθὼς δύναται, καινότερόν τι. τέλειος γὰρ οὐδεὶς ὁ μὴ μεγάλα ψεύσματα παρ' αὐτοῖς καρποφορήσας. ἐκ δὲ τῶν προφητικῶν ὅσα μεταμορφάζουσιν, ἀναγκαῖον μηνύσαντας τὸν ἔλεγχον αὐτοῖς ἐπάγειν. ὁ γὰρ Μωυσῆς, φασίν, ἀρχόμενος τῆς κατὰ τὴν κτίσιν πραγματείας, εὐθὺς ἐν ἀρχῇ τὴν Μητέρα τῶν ὅλων ἐπέδειξεν εἰπών «ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν». τέσσαρα οὖν ταῦτα ὀνομάσας, θεὸν καὶ ἀρχήν, οὐρανὸν καὶ γῆν, τὴν τετρακτὺν αὐτῶν, ὡς αὐτοὶ λέγουσι, διετύπωσεν. καὶ τὸ ἀόρατον δὲ καὶ ἀπόκρυφον αὐτῆς μηνύοντα εἰπεῖν «ἡ δὲ γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκατασκεύαστος». τὴν δὲ δευτέραν τετράδα, γέννημα πρώτης τετράδος, οὕτως αὐτὸν εἰρηκέναι θέλουσιν, ἄβυσσον ὀνομάζοντα καὶ σκότος ἐν σφίσιν αὐτοῖς καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸ ἐπιφερόμενον τῷ ὕδατι πνεῦμα. μεθ' ἣν τῆς δεκάδος μνημονεύοντα φῶς λέγειν καὶ ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτα, στερέωμά τε καὶ ἑσπέραν καὶ ὃ καλεῖται πρωΐ, ξηράν τε καὶ θάλασσαν, ἔτι τε βοτάνην καὶ δεκάτῳ τόπῳ τὸ ξύλον· οὕτω τε διὰ τῶν δέκα ὀνομάτων τοὺς δέκα Αἰῶνας μεμηνυκέναι. τῆς δὲ δωδεκάδος οὕτως ἐξεικονίσθαι παρ' αὐτῷ τὴν δύναμιν· ἥλιον γὰρ λέγειν καὶ σελήνην, ἀστέρας τε καὶ καιρούς, ἐνιαυτούς τε καὶ κήτη, ἔτι τε ἰχθύας καὶ 2.30 ἑρπετά, πετεινά τε καὶ τετράποδα, θηρία τε καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι τούτοις δωδέκατον τὸν ἄνθρωπον. οὕτως ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος τὴν τριακοντάδα διὰ Μωυσέως εἰρῆσθαι διδάσκουσιν. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τὸν πλαστὸν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα τῆς ἄνω δυνάμεως ἔχειν ἐν αὑτῷ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς μιᾶς πηγῆς δύναμιν ἱδρῦσθαι δὲ ταύτην ἐν τῷ κατὰ τὸν ἐγκέφαλον τόπῳ, ἀφ' ἧς ἀπορρεῖν δυνάμεις τέσσαρας κατ' εἰκόνα τῆς ἄνω τετράδος καλουμένας, τὴν μὲν ὅρασιν, τὴν δὲ ἀκοήν, τὴν δὲ τρίτην ὄσφρησιν καὶ τὴν τετάρτην γεῦσιν. τὴν δὲ ὀγδοάδα φασὶν μηνύεσθαι διὰ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οὕτως· ἀκοὰς μὲν δύο ἔχοντος καὶ τοσαύτας ὁράσεις, ἔτι τε ὀσφρήσεις δύο καὶ διπλῆν γεῦσιν, πικροῦ τε καὶ γλυκέος. ὅλον δὲ τὸν ἄνθρωπον πᾶσαν τὴν εἰκόνα τῆς τριακοντάδος οὕτως ἔχειν διδάσκουσιν· ἐν μὲν ταῖς χερσὶ διὰ τῶν δακτύλων τὴν δεκάδα βαστάζειν, ἐν ὅλῳ δὲ τῷ σώματι εἰς δώδεκα μέλη διαιρουμένῳ τὴν δωδεκάδα. διαιροῦσι δὲ αὐτό, καθάπερ τὸ τῆς Ἀληθείας διῄρηται παρ' αὐτοῖς σῶμα, περὶ οὗ προειρήκαμεν. τήν τε οὖν ὀγδοάδα, ἄρρητόν τε καὶ ἀόρατον οὖσαν, ἐν τοῖς σπλάγχνοις κρυβομένην νοεῖσθαι. 16. Ἥλιον δὲ πάλιν, τὸν μέγαν φωστῆρα, ἐν τῇ τετάρτῃ τῶν ἡμερῶν γεγονέναι διὰ τὸν τῆς τετράδος ἀριθμὸν φάσκουσι. τῆς τε σκηνῆς τῆς ὑπὸ Μωυσέως κατασκευασθείσης αἱ αὐλαὶ ἐκ βύσσου καὶ ὑακίνθου καὶ πορφύρας καὶ κοκκίνου γεγονυῖαι τὴν αὐτὴν παρ' αὐτοῖς ἐπέδειξαν εἰκόνα. τόν τε τοῦ ἱερέως ποδήρη, τέσσαρσι στοιχείοις λίθων πολυτελῶν κεκοσμημένον, τὴν τετράδα σημαίνειν διορίζονται· καὶ εἴ τινα ὅλως τοιαῦτα κεῖται ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς εἰς τὸν τῶν τεσσάρων δυνάμενα ἄγεσθαι ἀριθμόν, διὰ τὴν τετρακτὺν αὐτῶν φασι γεγονέναι. τὴν δὲ ὀγδοάδα πάλιν δείκνυσθαι