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of the one who was sent. And who might this be but our Lord Jesus, who was sent from his God and Father? Quietly, because of nothing empty-sounding nor feigned *, but in truth * his holy bride, who is called a dove by him because of the harmlessness and gentleness and utmost purity of the creature in the songs of Solomon. And it is a marvel how the others, not being his, but having called themselves by his name, he named concubines and queens because of the ruling name, by which each one, inscribing "Christ" upon herself, is glorified. But even if there are eighty concubines, who are the heresies, and then maidens of whom there is no number, he says, "My dove, my perfect one, is one," that is, she, the holy bride and catholic church; a dove, as I said, because of the gentleness and harmlessness and purity of the creature, and perfect because of receiving perfect grace and knowledge from God from the Savior himself through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the bridegroom himself, interpreted as "one who is sent," that is, Siloam, has water that flows quietly, that is, a teaching that is quiet and noiseless and unostentatious and unboastful. And his bride is also a quiet dove, having neither venom nor sharp teeth nor stingers, like all these 2.44 serpent-like ones who gush forth venom, each one striving to prepare some poison for the world and to corrupt those persuaded by him; of whom this one also happens to be one, whom I have been eager here to expose through the divine word and help from above, and to be crushed like a tarantula, a reptile called four-jawed, or like a head cut from an amphisbaena, the two-headed viper, to be broken in short order. But having passed him by, I will again examine the next ones, and going through them, I will ask through prayer to speak the things concerning them according to truth, and to harm no one, nor be harmed myself.

Against the Heracleonites ˉιˉ, and in the sequence ˉλˉ. 1. A certain Heracleon succeeds this Colorbasus, from whom the Heracleonites are named, being no less practiced in their empty talk *. And whatever they say, he also defines in every way, as one who springs from them and has wiped off the venom from them; but having supposedly fashioned something more beyond them in himself, he wishes to surpass them, so that he might also make a congregation for himself of those who have been deceived. For all these, having fashioned themselves into a hundred-headed or hundred-handed body, have imitated the one once fabled by the poets of the Greeks, Cottus or Briareus, whom they also call Aegaeon, or Gyes, or the one called Argus of the many eyes. such as those they monstrously portray in their rhapsodies, composing poetry and saying that one has 2.45 a hundred hands and sometimes fifty heads and sometimes a hundred, and another a hundred eyes—and for this reason they say that Hermes is called Argeiphontes, as having slain Argus of the many eyes—, so also each of these, wishing to establish a principality for himself, has named himself a head, introducing other things beyond the vain labor and manic teaching of his masters. But so that I do not extend the composition of the preface to great length, I will come to the matter at hand. 2. This Heracleon, therefore, and the Heracleonites from him, as I said before, speak similarly to Marcus and some of those before him concerning the Ogdoads, I mean the one above and the one below; and then he also perhaps holds the opinion of the syzygies of the thirty Aeons. And he himself also claims that the Father above all things is Man, whom he also named Bythos. And he wishes also

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τοῦ ἀπεσταλμένου. τίς δ' ἂν εἴη οὗτος ἀλλ' ἢ ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς, ὁ ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ ἀπεσταλμένος; ἡσυχῆ δὲ διὰ τὸ μηδὲν κενόφωνον μηδὲ ἐπίπλαστον *, ἀλλὰ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ * τὴν ἁγίαν αὐτοῦ νύμφην, τὴν παρ' αὐτῷ περιστερὰν καλουμένην διὰ τὸ ἄκακον καὶ ἥμερον καὶ καθαρώτατον τοῦ ζῴου ἐν τοῖς ᾄσμασι τοῦ Σολομῶνος. καὶ ἔστι θαυμάσαι ὡς τὰς μὲν ἄλλας μὴ οὔσας αὐτοῦ, ἐπὶ δὲ τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ ἑαυτὰς κεκληκυίας, παλλακίδας ὠνόμασε καὶ βασιλίσσας διὰ τὸ βασιλεῦον ὄνομα, ὃ ἑκάστη Χριστὸν ἐπιγραφομένη ἑαυτῇ σεμνύνεται. ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ ὀγδοήκοντά εἰσι παλλακαί, αἵτινές εἰσιν αἱ αἱρέσεις, ἔπειτα δὲ νεάνιδες ὧν οὐκ ἔστιν ἀριθμός, φησί «μία ἐστὶ περιστερά μου, τελεία μου» τουτέστιν αὐτὴ ἡ ἁγία νύμφη καὶ καθολικὴ ἐκκλησία· περιστερὰ μὲν ὡς ἔφην διὰ τὸ ἥμερον καὶ ἄκακον καὶ καθαρὸν τοῦ ζῴου, τελεία δὲ διὰ τὸ τὴν τελείαν ἐκ θεοῦ λαβεῖν χάριν καὶ γνῶσιν παρ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ σωτῆρος διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου. αὐτὸς οὖν ὁ νυμφίος, ὁ ἀπεσταλμένος ἑρμηνευόμενος τουτέστιν Σιλωάμ, ὕδωρ ἔχει πορευόμενον ἡσυχῆ τουτέστιν διδασκαλίαν ἄδουπον καὶ ἀψοφοποιὸν καὶ ἀφαντασίαστον καὶ ἀκόμπαστον. ἡ δὲ αὐτοῦ νύμφη καὶ αὐτὴ ἥσυχος περιστερά, μήτε ἰὸν ἔχουσα μήτε μυλοστομίδας μήτε κέντρα, ὡς οὗτοι πάντες οἱ 2.44 ἑρπετόμορφοι καὶ ἰὸν ἀναβλυστάνοντες, ἕκαστος φιλοτιμησάμενος δηλητήριόν τι τῷ κόσμῳ κατασκευάσαι καὶ λυμήνασθαι τοὺς αὐτῷ πεισθέντας· ὧν καὶ οὗτος εἷς ὢν τυγχάνει ὁ ἐνταῦθά μοι σπουδασθεὶς φωραθῆναι διὰ θείου λόγου καὶ βοηθείας τῆς ἄνωθεν καὶ συντριβῆναι δίκην φαλαγγίου τετραγνάθου ἑρπετοῦ καλουμένου ἢ ὡς ἀπὸ ἀμφισβαίνης τῆς δικεφάλου ἐχίδνης τμηθεῖσα κεφαλὴ ἐν συντομίᾳ κατακλασθῆναι. παρελθὼν δὲ τοῦτον πάλιν τὰς ἑξῆς διασκοπήσω καὶ ταύτας διεξιὼν δι' εὐχῆς αἰτήσω τὰ μὲν κατ' αὐτὰς κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ἐξειπεῖν, μηδένα δὲ βλάψαι ἢ αὐτὸς βλαβῆναι.

Κατὰ Ἡρακλεωνιτῶν ˉιˉ, τῆς δὲ ἀκολουθίας ˉλˉ. 1. Ἡρακλέων τις τοῦτον τὸν Κολόρβασον διαδέχεται, ἀφ' οὗπερ οἱ Ἡρακλεωνῖται καλούμενοι, οὐδὲν ἧττον τῆς παρὰ τούτοις κενοφωνίας * ἠσκημένος. καὶ ὅσα μὲν ἐκεῖνοι λέγουσι καὶ οὗτος ὁρίζεται κατὰ πάντα τρόπον, οἷα δὴ ἐξ αὐτῶν ὁρμώμενος καὶ παρ' αὐτῶν τὸν ἰὸν ἀπομαξάμενος· περισσότερον δὲ δῆθεν ὑπὲρ ἐκείνους ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἀνατυπωσάμενός τινα βούλεται ἐκείνους ὑπεραίρειν, ἵνα καὶ ἑαυτῷ συναγωγὴν ποιήσηται τῶν ἠπατημένων. οὗτοι γὰρ πάντες εἰς ἑκατοντακέφαλον ἑαυτοὺς ἀνατυπώσαντες σῶμα ἢ ἑκατοντάχειρον, τόν ποτε μυθευόμενον παρὰ τοῖς τῶν Ἑλλήνων ποιηταῖς ἐμιμήσαντο Κόττον ἢ Βριάρεων ὃν καὶ Αἰγαίωνα καλοῦσιν ἢ Γύην ἢ τὸν καλούμενον Ἄργον τὸν πολυόφθαλμον. οἵους ἐκεῖνοι ἐν ταῖς ἑαυτῶν ῥαψῳδίαις τερατεύονται, ποιητευόμενοι καὶ λέγοντες ἔχειν τὸν μὲν 2.45 ἑκατὸν χεῖρας καὶ ποτὲ μὲν πεντήκοντα κεφαλὰς ποτὲ δὲ ἑκατόν, τὸν δὲ ἑκατὸν ὀφθαλμούς-καὶ τούτου ἕνεκα φασὶ τὸν Ἑρμῆν καλεῖσθαι Ἀργειφόντην, ὡς τὸν Ἄργον τὸν πολυόφθαλμον πεφονευκότα-, οὕτω καὶ τούτων ἕκαστος βουλόμενος ἑαυτῷ ἀρχὴν προστήσασθαι κεφαλὴν ἑαυτὸν ὠνόμασεν, ἕτερα ὑπεισφέρων παρὰ τὴν τῶν διδασκάλων αὐτοῦ ματαιοπονίαν καὶ μανιώδη διδασκαλίαν. ἵνα δὲ μὴ εἰς πολὺ μῆκος ἐλάσω τοῦ προοιμίου τὴν σύνταξιν, ἐλεύσομαι εἰς τὸ προκείμενον. 2. Ἡρακλέων τοίνυν οὗτος καὶ οἱ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ Ἡρακλεωνῖται ὡς προεῖπον ὁμοίως Μάρκῳ καί τισι τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ περὶ τῶν Ὀγδοάδων φάσκει, τῆς ἄνω φημὶ καὶ τῆς κάτω· ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ τὰς συζυγίας τῶν τριάκοντα Αἰώνων ἴσως δοξάζει. ἄνθρωπον δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς φάσκει εἶναι τὸν ἄνω τῶν ὅλων Πατέρα, ὃν καὶ Βυθὸν προσηγόρευσεν. βούλεται δὲ καὶ