Chapter XII.—Basilides Adopts the “Entelecheia” Of Aristotle.

This, then, constitutes the entelecheiaof the natural organic body, according to Aristotle, (viz.,) a soul operating in the body, without which the body is able to accomplish nothing; (I mean nothing) that is greater, and more illustrious, and more powerful, and more wise than the body.810    Miller’s text has “the soul,” which Duncker and Cruice properly correct into “body.” The account, therefore, which Aristotle has previously rendered concerning the soul and the body, Basilides elucidates as applied to the Great Archon and his Son.  For the Archon has generated, according to Basilides, a son; and the soul as an operation and completion, Aristotle asserts to be an entelecheia of a natural organic body. As, therefore, the entelecheia controls the body, so the Son, according to Basilides, controls the God that is more ineffable than ineffable (entities). All things, therefore, have been provided for, and managed by the majesty811    Μεγαλειότητος, a correction from μεγάλης. of the Great Archon; (I mean) whatever objects exist in the æthereal region of space as far as the moon, for from that quarter onwards air is separated from æther. When all objects in the æthereal regions, then, were arranged, again from (the conglomeration of) all germs another Archon ascended, greater, of course, than all subjacent (entities), with the exception, however, of the Sonship that had been left behind, but far inferior to the First Archon. And this (second Archon) is called by them Rhetus.812    A correction from “Arrhetus.” And this Topos is styled Hebdomad, and this (Archon) is the manager and fabricator of all subjacent (entities). And He has likewise made unto Himself out (of the conglomeration of) all germs, a son who is more prudent and wise than Himself, similarly to what has been stated to have taken place in the case of the First Archon. That which exists in this quarter (of the universe) constitutes, he says, the actual conglomeration and collection of all seeds; and the things which are generated are produced according to nature, as has been declared already by Him who calculates on things future, when they ought813    This passage is very obscure, and is variously rendered by the commentators. The above translation follows Schneidewin’s version, which yields a tolerably clear meaning. (to be), and what sort they ought (to be), and how they ought (to be). And of these no one is Chief, or Guardian, or Creator. For (a) sufficient (cause of existence) for them is that calculation which the Non-Existent One formed when He exercised the function of creation.

[24] _Αὕτη [δ'] ἔστιν ἡ κατ' Ἀριστοτέλην σώματος φυσικοῦ ὀργανικοῦ ἐν(τ)ελέχεια, ψυχὴ ἐνεργοῦσα τῷ σώματι, ἧς δίχα τὸ σῶμα ἐργάζεσθαι οὐδὲν δύναται μεῖζον καὶ ἐπιφανέστερον καὶ δυνατώτερον καὶ σοφώτερον [τῆς ψυχῆς]. ὃν λόγον οὖν Ἀριστοτέλης ἀποδέδωκε περὶ τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τοῦ σώματος πρότερος [ὤν, τοῦτον] Βασιλείδης περὶ τοῦ μεγάλου ἄρχοντος καὶ τοῦ κατ' αὐτὸν υἱοῦ διασαφεῖ. τόν τε γὰρ υἱὸν ὁ ἄρχων κατὰ Βασιλείδην γεγέν[ν]ηκεν, τήν τε ψυχὴν ἔργον καὶ ἀποτέλεσμα [τοῦ σώματ]ός φησιν εἶναι ὁ Ἀριστοτέλης, φυσικοῦ σώματος ὀργανικοῦ ἐντελέχειαν. ὡς οὖν ἡ ἐντελέχεια διοικεῖ τὸ σῶμα, οὕτως ὁ υἱὸς διοικεῖ κατὰ Βασιλείδην τὸν ἀρρήτων ἀρρητότερον θεόν. _ Πάντα οὖν ἐστι προνοούμενα καὶ διοικούμενα ὑπὸ [τῆς μεγάλης] τοῦ ἄρχοντος τοῦ μεγάλου τὰ αἰθέρια_ἅτινα μέχρι [τῆς] σελήνης ἐστίν: ἐκεῖθεν γὰρ ἀὴρ αἰθέρος διακρίνεται. _κεκοσμημένων οὖν πάντων τῶν αἰθερίων πάλιν, [φησίν,] ἀπὸ τῆς πανσπερμίας ἄλλος ἄρχων ἀνέβη, μείζων μὲν [τοι] πάντων τῶν ὑποκειμένων χωρὶς μέντοι τῆς καταλελειμμένης υἱότητος, πολὺ δὲ ὑποδεέστερος τοῦ πρώτου ἄρχοντος. ἔστι δὲ καὶ οὗτος ἄρρητος ὑπ' αὐτῶν λεγόμενος, καὶ καλεῖται ὁ τόπος οὗτος Ἑβδομάς. καὶ πάντων τῶν ὑποκειμένων οὗτός ἐστι [ποιητὴς καὶ] διοικητὴς καὶ δημιουργός, ποιήσας καὶ αὐτὸς ἑαυτῷ υἱὸν ἐκ τῆς πανσπερμίας [καὶ αὐτὸς] ἑαυτοῦ φρονιμώτερον καὶ σοφώτερον, παραπλησίως τοῖς ἐπὶ τοῦ πρώτου [ἄρχοντος] λελεγμένοις. τὰ δ' ἐν τῷ διαστήματι τούτῳ ὁ σωρὸς αὐτός ἐστι, φησί, καὶ ἡ πανσπερμία. καὶ γίνεται κατὰ φύσιν τὰ γινόμενα, ὡς φθάσαν[τα] τεχθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ τὰ μέλλοντα γενέσθαι ὅτε δεῖ καὶ οἷα δεῖ καὶ ὡς δεῖ λελογισμένου [οὐκ ὄντος θεοῦ]. καὶ τούτων ἐστὶν ἐπιστάτης ἢ φροντιστὴς ἢ δημιουργὸς οὐδείς: ἀρκεῖ γὰρ αὐτοῖς ὁ λογισμὸς ἐκεῖνος, [ὃν] ὁ οὐκ ὢν [θεὸς] ὅτε [κόσμον] ἐποίει ἐλογίζετο.