Chapter XLVIII.—Their Cosmogony Framed According to These Mystic Doctrines of Letters.

And by the Mother, they allege, were created first the four elements, which, they say, are fire, water, earth, air; and these have been projected as an image of the tetrad above; and reckoning the energies of these—for instance, as hot, cold, moist, dry—they assert that they accurately portray the Ogdoad.  And next they compute ten powers thus. (There are, they say,) seven orbicular bodies, which they likewise call heavens. There is next a circle containing these within its compass, and this also they name an eighth heaven: and in addition to these, they affirm the existence of both a sun and moon. And these being ten in number, they say, are images of the invisible decade that (emanated) from Logos and Zoe.  (They affirm,) however, that the dodecade is indicated by what is termed the zodiacal circle. For these twelve zodiacal signs, they say, most evidently shadowed forth767    Or, “sketched out” (Irenæus). the daughter of Anthropos and Ecclesia, namely the Dodecade. And since, he says, the upper heaven has been united from an opposite direction to the revolutionary motion, which is most rapid, of the entire (of the signs); and since (this heaven) within its cavity retards, and by its slowness counterpoises, the velocity of those (signs), so that in thirty years it accomplishes its circuit from sign to sign,—they therefore assert that this (heaven) is an image of Horos, who encircles the mother of these, who has thirty names. And, again, (they affirm) that the moon, which traverses the heaven in thirty days, by reason of (these) days portrays the number of the Æons. And (they say) that the sun, performing its circuit, and terminating its exact return to its first position in its orbit in twelve months, manifests the dodecade.  And also (they say) that the days themselves, involving the measure of twelve hours, constitute a type of the empty768    Or, “radiant.” dodecade; and that the circumference of the actual zodiacal circle consists of three hundred and sixty degrees, and that each zodiacal sign possesses thirty divisions.  In this way, therefore, even by means of the circle, they maintain that the image is preserved769    Or, “measured.” of the connection of the twelve with the thirty.770    Massuet gives the following explanation: The sun each day describes a circle which is divided into twelve parts of 30 degrees each, and consists of 360 degrees. And as for each of the hours, where days and nights are equal, 15 degrees are allowed, it follows that in two hours, that is, in the twelfth part of a day, the sun completes a progress of 30 degrees. But, moreover, alleging that the earth was divided into twelve regions, and that according to each particular region it receives one power by the latter’s being sent down from the heavens, and that it produces children corresponding in likeness771    Or, “of the same substance.” unto the power which transmitted (the likeness) by emanation; (for this reason) they assert that earth is a type of the Dodecade above.

[53] Πρῶτον μὲν τὰ τέσσαρα στοιχεῖά [ἃ] φασιν_πῦρ, ὕδωρ, γῆν, ἀέρα_ εἰκόνα προβεβλῆσθαι τῆς ἄνω τετράδος: τάς τε ἐνεργείας αὐτῶν συναριθμοῦντες, οἷον θερμόν, ψυχρόν, ὑγρόν, ξηρόν, λέγουσιν ἀκριβῶς ἐξεικονίζειν τὴν ὀγδοάδα. ἑξῆς [δὲ] δέκα δυνάμεις οὕτω καταριθμοῦσιν: ἑπτὰ [μὲν] σώματα κυκλοειδῆ, ἃ καὶ οὐρανοὺς καλοῦσιν, ἔπειτα τὸν περιεκτικὸν αὐτῶν κύκλον, ὃν καὶ ὄγδοον οὐρανὸν ὀνομάζουσι, πρὸς δὲ τούτοις ἥλιόν τε καὶ σελήνην. καὶ ταῦτα δέκα ὄντα τὸν ἀριθμὸν εἰκόνας λέγουσιν εἶναι τῆς ἀοράτου δεκάδος, τῆς ἀπὸ Λόγου καὶ Ζωῆς [προελθούσης]. τὴν [δὲ] δωδεκάδα [μηνύεσθαι] διὰ τοῦ ζῳδιακοῦ καλουμένου κύκλου: τὰ γὰρ δώδεκα ζῴδια φανερώτατα τὴν τοῦ Ἀνθρώπου καὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας θυγατέρα Δωδεκάδα ἀποσκιάζειν λέγουσι. Καὶ ἐπεὶ ἀντ[επ]εζεύχθη, φασί, τῇ τῶν ὅλων [ἀνα]φορᾷ, ὠκυτάτῃ ὑπαρχούσῃ, ὁ ὑπερ[τε]θεὶς ο(ὐ)ρανός, ὁ πρὸς αὐτῷ τῷ κύτει βαρύνων καὶ ἀντιταλαντεύων τὴν ἐκείνων ὠκύτητα τῇ ἑαυτοῦ βραδυτῆτι, ὡς ἐν τριάκοντα ἔτεσι τὴν περίοδον ἀπὸ σημείου ἐπὶ σημεῖον ποιεῖσθαι, εἰκόνα λέγουσιν αὐτὸν τοῦ Ὅρου, τοῦ τὴν τριακοντώνυμον Μητέρα αὐτῶν περιέχοντος. τὴν σελήνην τε πάλιν, τὸν [ἑαυτῆς] οὐρανὸν ἐκπεριε[ρ]χομένην ἐν τριάκοντα ἡμέραις, διὰ τῶν ἡμερῶν τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν [τριάκοντα] αἰώνων ἐκτυποῦν. καὶ τὸν ἥλιον δέ, ἐν δώδεκα μησὶν ἐκπεριε[ρ]χόμενον καὶ τερματίζοντα τὴν κυκλικὴν αὑτοῦ ἀποκατάστασιν, [διὰ τῶν δώδεκα μηνῶν] τὴν δωδεκάδα φανεροῦν. καὶ αὐτὰς δὲ τὰς ἡμέρας, δώδεκα ὡρῶν τὸ μέτρον ἐχούσ(ας), τύπον τῆς φαεινῆς δωδεκάδος εἶναι. καὶ αὐτοῦ δὲ τοῦ ζῳδιακοῦ κύκλου τὴν περίμετρον εἶναι μοιρῶν τριακοσίων ἑξήκοντα: ἕκαστον [γὰρ] ζῴδιον μοίρας ἔχειν τριάκοντα: οὕτω δὴ καὶ διὰ τοῦ κύκλου τὴν εἰκόνα τῆς συναφείας τῶν δώδεκα πρὸς [τὰ] τριάκοντα τετηρῆσθαι λέγουσιν. ἔτι μὴν καὶ τὴν γῆν εἰς δώδεκα κλίματα διῃρῆσθαι φάσκοντες, καὶ καθ' ἓν ἕκαστον κλίμα ἀνὰ μίαν δύναμιν ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν κατὰ κάθετον ὑποδεχομένην καὶ ὡμοιωμένα τίκτουσαν τέκνα τῇ καταπεμπούσῃ [κατὰ] τὴν ἀπόρροιαν δυνάμει, τύπον [εἶναι] τῆς ἄνω δωδεκάδος.