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Of what souls, then, that have died was the moon filled and made full? Tell us. But Manichaeus did not know that there are intelligent men, who are not persuaded by false words, but by the truest proofs. But if we should grant that it is so, which it is not; — may it not be! — and the moon is filled as it waxes from the souls of the Manichaeans, how will such a hypothesis still stand? For if no Manichaean died after the fifteenth day of the moon, but there was a fixed deadline for Manichaeans to die until the fifteenth of the moon, and after the fifteenth no longer to die, until the moon’s cargo is deposited, so that it might begin again from the new moon to be freighted, their lie would then be plausible, but now it is also implausible. For they die every day, and the elements appointed by God know their own course. And again, the cargo of souls in the moon will not stand. 24. And some of them again are willing, according to an invention of villainy * he says, that the mother of all permitted her own power to come down from heaven to steal from the rulers and to despoil them of the power which they had received from above. For he wishes to say that the 3.52 principalities and powers, having warred against the living God and the great and incomprehensible *, seized from him a power, which he also calls soul. And oh, the great absurdity of this. For everyone who is seized and overpowered is inferior. If, therefore, the principalities from their panoply, having overpowered the good God, wrested a power from him, they will be stronger than he. And he, having first yielded to them, is not able afterwards to take back from them the power or panoply that was seized from him, since from the beginning he was unable to withstand his enemies. And otherwise: if, being victorious at some time again, he should take back by force from his adversaries the power seized from him, while the unoriginated root and beginning of evil still remains and is absolutely unable to be destroyed, it will again prevail, warring against him with greater power, and having overcome by some power the power of his which was taken back from the good God, it would take it away again; and according to him, evil will always be resisting and never be contained, perpetually seizing and being seized. But if those whose minds are damaged and who are deceived in every way should also say that, if the good God in due time should free the part of the panoply seized from him, he would then destroy and exterminate the principalities and the powers of the opposing force, and if this will still be, and if the good God will destroy and exterminate at all, the word of the impostor has fallen, who says that the good one is not just, nor does he condemn 3.53 the sinner in judgment, nor hand anyone over to torments, nor kill. For if he attempts to destroy and exterminate the devil or the opposing energy at all, either according to him he will no longer be good, as the account concerning him holds, or if being good he consumes evil, then this one who made heaven and earth will be Lord, as he is in truth, just. «who repays each one according to his works,» who through an excess of goodness provides the good to the good and to the one who has labored in goodness, and assigns what is just to the one who has done evil. And his doctrine is refuted from every side, corrupting the hearts of men toward the opposite things. 25. But I will set forth in order and verbatim, fittingly, his opinion from the things discussed by Archelaus against him in the disputation with him, as Turbo, one of his disciples, of whom I made mention above, himself revealed. When, therefore, Archelaus the bishop and Marcellus questioned Turbo about the teaching of Manes, Turbo answered, saying the things which I have set forth from the book. And it is

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ποίων τοίνυν ψυχῶν τελευτησασῶν ἐνεπίμπλατο ἡ σελήνη καὶ ἐπληροῦτο; λέγε. ἀλλ' ἠγνόει Μανιχαῖος ὅτι εἰσὶ συνετοί, οὐ λόγοις ψευδέσι πειθόμενοι, ἀλλὰ ἀληθεστάταις ἀποδείξεσιν. εἰ δὲ δῶμεν ὅτι οὕτως ἐστὶν ὅπερ οὐκ ἔστι· μὴ γένοιτο καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ψυχῶν τῶν Μανιχαίων γεμίζεται πληρουμένη ἡ σελήνη, πῶς ἔτι συσταθήσεται ἡ τοιαύτη ὑπόθεσις; εἰ γὰρ οὐδεὶς μετὰ τὴν πεντεκαιδεκάτην ἡμέραν τῆς σελήνης Μανιχαίων ἐτελεύτα, ἀλλὰ προθεσμία ἦν ὡρισμένη ἕως πεντεκαιδεκάτης τῆς σελήνης τοὺς Μανιχαίους ἀποθνῄσκειν, μετὰ δὲ πεντεκαιδεκάτην μηκέτι τελευτᾶν, ἕως ἀποτεθῇ ὁ τῆς σελήνης φόρτος, ἵνα ἄρξηται πάλιν ἀπὸ νεομηνίας γομοῦν, πιθανὸν ἄρα ἦν τὸ ψεῦσμα τῶν αὐτῶν, νῦν δὲ καὶ ἀπίθανον. καθ' ἡμέραν γὰρ τελευτῶσι καὶ τὰ ὡρισμένα στοιχεῖα ἐκ θεοῦ τὸν ἴδιον ἐπίστανται δρόμον. καὶ πάλιν οὐ σταθήσεται ὁ περὶ τῶν ψυχῶν ἐν τῇ σελήνῃ γενόμενος γόμος. 24. Καὶ τινὲς μὲν αὐτῶν πάλιν βούλονται κατὰ ἐπίνοιαν πανουργίας * φησί, τὴν μητέρα τῶν ὅλων συγχωρῆσαι δύναμιν ἰδίαν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ κατελθεῖν εἰς τὸ κλέψαι ἀπὸ τῶν ἀρχόντων καὶ ἀποσυλῆσαι ἀπ' αὐτῶν ἣν εἴληφαν ἄνωθεν δύναμιν. βούλεται γὰρ λέγειν ὅτι πολεμήσασαι αἱ 3.52 ἀρχαὶ καὶ ἐξουσίαι τὸν θεὸν τὸν ζῶντα καὶ τὴν μεγάλην καὶ ἀκατάληπτον * ἥρπασαν παρ' αὐτοῦ δύναμιν, ἣν καὶ ψυχὴν ὀνομάζει. καὶ ὦ τῆς πολλῆς τούτου ἀτοπίας. πᾶς γὰρ ἁρπαζόμενος καὶ βιοφορούμενος ὑποβέβηκεν. εἰ τοίνυν αἱ ἀρχαὶ ἀπὸ τῆς πανοπλίας καταδυναστεύσασαι τὸν ἀγαθὸν θεὸν δύναμιν παρ' αὐτοῦ ἀπέσπασαν, ἰσχυρότεραι αὗται ὑπὲρ ἐκεῖνον ἔσονται· ἐκεῖνος δὲ τούτοις τὸ πρῶτον ὑποχωρήσας εἰσαῦθις οὐ δύναται παρ' αὐτῶν ἀφελέσθαι τὴν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ἀφηρπασμένην δύναμιν εἴτ' οὖν πανοπλίαν, ὁ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀντισχεῖν πρὸς τοὺς πολεμίους μὴ δεδυνημένος. καὶ ἄλλως· εἰ δὲ καὶ ποτὲ πάλιν ἐν νίκῃ γενόμενος ἀφέληται ἰσχύσας κατὰ τῶν δι' ἐναντίας τὴν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ἀφηρπασμένην δύναμιν, τῆς τοῦ κακοῦ ῥίζης τε καὶ ἀρχῆς ἀνάρχου ἔτι ἐπιμενούσης καὶ παντελῶς μὴ δυναμένης ἀναιρεθῆναι, αὖθις πάλιν κατισχύσει ἐπιστρατεύσασα ἑαυτῇ περισσοτέραν δύναμιν καὶ τὴν πάλιν αὐτοῦ ληφθεῖσαν ἐκ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ θεοῦ δύναμιν κατά τινα δυναστείαν ἐξισχύσασα πάλιν ἀφαιρήσειε· καὶ ἔσται ἀεὶ κατ' αὐτὸν τὸ κακὸν ἀνθιστάμενον καὶ μηδέποτε ἔχον τὴν κατάληψιν, εἰς τὸ διηνεκὲς ἁρπάζον τε καὶ ἁρπαζόμενον. εἰ δὲ καὶ λέξειαν οἱ τὰς φρένας βεβλαμμένοι ἀπατηθέντες τε κατὰ πάντα τρόπον ὅτι, ἐὰν τῆς πανοπλίας ὁ ἀγαθὸς θεὸς τὸ μέρος τὸ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ἀφαρπαγὲν καιρῷ ἐλευθερώσῃ, τότε τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰς ἐξουσίας τῆς ἐναντίας δυνάμεως ἀφανίσειε καὶ ἐξολοθρεύσειε, καὶ εἰ ἔτι ἔσται τοῦτο καὶ εἰ ὅλως ἀφανίσει ὁ ἀγαθὸς θεὸς καὶ ἐξολοθρεύσει, ἐξέπεσεν ὁ τοῦ ἀγύρτου λόγος, ὁ φάσκων μὴ εἶναι δίκαιον τὸν ἀγαθόν, μηδὲ ἐν κρίσει κατακρίνειν 3.53 τὸν ἁμαρτάνοντα μήτε βασάνοις τινὰ παραδιδόντα μήτε κτείνοντα. εἰ γὰρ ὅλως τὸν διάβολον εἴτ' οὖν τὴν ἀντικειμένην ἐνέργειαν ἀφανίσαι τε καὶ ἐξολοθρεῦσαι πειρᾶται, ἢ κατ' αὐτὸν οὐκέτι ἔσται ἀγαθός, ὡς ὁ περὶ αὐτοῦ περιέχει λόγος, ἢ εἰ ἀγαθὸς ὢν τὸ πονηρὸν ἀναλίσκει, καὶ ἔσται οὗτος ὁ ποιήσας τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν κύριος, ὡς καὶ ἔστιν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, δίκαιος. «ὁ ἑκάστῳ ἀποδιδοὺς κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ,» ὁ δι' ὑπερβολὴν ἀγαθότητος τῷ ἀγαθῷ καὶ κεκμηκότι ἐν ἀγαθότητι παρέχων τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τῷ τὰ φαῦλα δεδρακότι τὸ δίκαιον ἀπονέμων. καὶ πανταχόθεν ἐξελήλεγκται αὐτοῦ ὁ λόγος, ὑποφθείρων καρδίας ἀνθρώπων εἰς τὰ ἐναντία. 25. Κατὰ λέξιν δὲ καθεξῆς ὑποτάξω ἁρμοττόντως τὸ αὐτοῦ φρόνημα ἀπὸ τῶν Ἀρχελάῳ πρὸς αὐτὸν πεπραγματευμένων ἐν τῇ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀντιλογίᾳ, ὡς αὐτὸς ἀπεκάλυψε Τύρβων, εἷς τῶν αὐτοῦ μαθητῶν, περὶ οὗ ἄνω ἐπεμνήσθην. ἐπερωτησάντων τοίνυν τῶν περὶ Ἀρχέλαον τὸν ἐπίσκοπον καὶ Μάρκελλον Τύρβωνα περὶ τῆς τοῦ Μάνη διδασκαλίας, ὁ Τύρβων ἀπεκρίνατο λέγων ἅτινα ἐκ τοῦ βιβλίου παρεθέμην. καὶ ἔστιν