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the Pharisees say: Do you not hear what these men are saying? Stop them. But he said to them, “If these were silent, the stones would cry out.” For he is the son of David according to the flesh, but the lord of David according to the spirit, with both expressions being powerful and true. For there is nothing counterfeit in the truth. But lest I prolong this subject, I will be content with these testimonies, and I will come to the other matters, refuting the charlatan. 3.81 If the body is of another god, O you, and the soul of another god, what communion is there between the two? And I fear into how great a mass of a depth of thoughts our small mind, because of its feebleness, attempts to peer. Therefore I will restrain myself, so that I may not cause much weariness of reading for those who are able even from one testimony to refute the sorcerer. For to have communion in the same thing is not possible for those who are at odds with one another. but it is the work of one, or the labor of two friends. Since the body and the soul, therefore, exist for the same purpose, it is the work of one God. For there is no division, because both cooperate fittingly and glorify together. But if, according to his account, the rulers, having devoured the soul, made this body a prison for it, how do they again enclose the devoured one in a body? For everything that is eaten is consumed, and that which is consumed also passes into non-existence. But that which passes into non-existence and no longer is, is neither enclosed in any place, nor is there, nor will there be a place of imprisonment for that which does not exist. 44. But often forgetting his own thought, he forgets about what he might have said, and what he once constructs, he refutes the same things again in his ignorance. For at one time he says that the devoured soul * is defined as enclosed in existing bodies, and at another time he defines the same soul as having been seized from the rulers from above out of the panoply of the good God, so that it is no longer devoured, but has been taken captive. But at another time he speaks of the same captive not harmoniously *, but relates the hypothesis concerning it in another way, saying that it was cast down by its own free will as bait by the power from above, like a kid thrown into a pit to hunt a wild beast, so that the beast, being provoked and coming down to take the kid, might itself thus be hunted. And if the power from above, which is the good God or the Light, as he himself names it, sent the kid from its own power, even if it should hunt the beast, nevertheless the kid will first be devoured and the power from above will rather harm itself, submitting a part of itself as food for the beast, 3.82 so that through the part by which it seems to be damaged, it may hunt the beast, and it will no longer overpower the beast by word or will as being strong and supreme and powerful, but it devises many ways and acts craftily, in order to be able to overcome the beast. And if the beast were hunted at all, it has already cast off from its own part the devoured kid, even if it were able to hunt at all. For if the power from above sent the soul here, in order to bind the principalities and the authorities by hunting them through the soul, the purpose did not turn out for the one who planned thus. For even if it sent the soul to hunt, it has been hunted, or to ensnare, it has been ensnared, having come from a pure nature and fallen first into the bond of the material body, and then also into the many absurdities of sins, and from every side the account of the deceiver and the teaching of the sinner fails. 45. Come now, let us see also concerning the Mother of Life, whom he says was put forth from the power above, and that the Mother of Life herself put forth both the first man and the five elements, which are, as he. says: wind, light, water, fire and † matter. and that he, having put these on as preparation for war, came down below and made war with the darkness. But the rulers of the darkness, warring against him, ate from his panoply, which is the soul. O the mimicry of a charlatan, O the mockery

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λέγουσιν οἱ Φαρισαῖοι· οὐκ ἀκούεις τί οὗτοι λέγουσι; κώλυσον αὐτά, ὁ δὲ πρὸς αὐτούς «ἂν οὗτοι σιγήσωσιν, οἱ λίθοι κεκράξονται». υἱὸς μὲν γὰρ ∆αυίδ ἐστι κατὰ σάρκα, κύριος δὲ τοῦ ∆αυὶδ κατὰ πνεῦμα, τῶν ἀμφοτέρων λέξεων δυνατῶν οὐσῶν καὶ ἀληθευουσῶν. οὐδὲν γὰρ ἔστι παραπεποιημένον ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ. Ἀλλὰ ἵνα μὴ μηκύνω τὴν ὑπόθεσιν ταύτην, ἀρκεσθήσομαι ταύταις ταῖς μαρτυρίαις, ἐλεύσομαι δὲ εἰς τὰ ἕτερα, ἐξελέγχων τὸν ἀγύρτην. 3.81 εἰ τὸ σῶμα ἑτέρου θεοῦ, ὦ οὗτος, καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ ἄλλου θεοῦ, τίς κοινωνία τῶν ἀμφοτέρων; καὶ δέδια ὡς εἰς πόσον ὄγκον βυθοῦ διανοημάτων ἐγκύπτειν πειρᾶται ὁ τῆς ἡμῶν βραχύτητος μικρὸς νοῦς. διὸ χαλιναγωγήσω ἐμαυτόν, ἵνα μὴ πολὺν κάματον ποιήσωμαι ἀναγνώσεως τοῖς δυναμένοις καὶ ἀπὸ μιᾶς μαρτυρίας ἐξελέγξαι τὸν γόητα. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ κοινωνεῖν οὐκ ἔστι διαφερομένων πρὸς ἀλλήλους. ἀλλὰ ἑνὸς τὸ ἔργον ἢ δύο φίλων ἡ ἐργασία. τοῦ σώματος τοίνυν καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ὄντων ἑνὸς θεοῦ τὸ ἔργον. οὐ γάρ ἐστι διαίρεσις, διὰ τὸ ἀμφότερα συνεργεῖν πρεπόντως καὶ συνδοξάζειν. εἰ δὲ κατὰ τὸν τούτου λόγον καταφαγόντες οἱ ἄρχοντες τὴν ψυχὴν ἐποίησαν αὐτῇ δεσμὸν τουτοῒ τὸ σῶμα, πῶς τὴν βεβρωμένην αὖθις ἐγκλείουσιν εἰς σῶμα; πᾶν γὰρ τὸ βιβρωσκόμενον ἀναλίσκεται, τὸ δὲ ἀναλισκόμενον καὶ εἰς τὸ ἀνύπαρκτον χωρεῖ. τὸ δὲ χωροῦν εἰς τὸ ἀνύπαρκτον καὶ μηκέτι ὂν οὔτε ἔν τινι τόπῳ περικέκλεισται οὔτε ἔστιν οὔτε γενήσεται αὐτῷ τόπος δεσμωτηρίου τῷ μὴ ὑπάρχοντι. 44. Πολλάκις δὲ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ διανοίας ἐπιλαθόμενος περὶ ὧν δ' ἂν εἴποι ἐπιλανθάνεται, καὶ ἅ ποτε κατασκευάζει, τὰ αὐτὰ πάλιν ἀνασκευάζει ἀγνοῶν. ὁτὲ μὲν γὰρ τὴν ψυχὴν φάσκει τὴν βεβρωμένην * ἐγκατάκλειστον ὁριζόμενος ἐν σώμασι τοῖς οὖσιν, ὁτὲ δὲ ἀφηρπάσθαι ἀπὸ τῶν ἀρχόντων ἄνωθεν ἐκ τῆς πανοπλίας τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ θεοῦ τὴν αὐτὴν ὁρίζεται, ὡς μηκέτι βεβρῶσθαι, ἀλλὰ ᾐχμαλωτεῦσθαι. ποτὲ δὲ τὴν αὐτὴν αἰχμάλωτον ληφθεῖσαν οὐκέτι συνᾳδόντως * λέγει, ἀλλ' ἕτερον τρόπον τὴν κατ' αὐτὴν ὑπόθεσιν διηγεῖται, φάσκων ὡς δέλεαρ αὐτὴν ἑκουσίᾳ γνώμῃ παραβεβλῆσθαι ὑπὸ τῆς ἄνωθεν δυνάμεως, δίκην ἐρίφου ἐν βόθρῳ βληθέντος εἰς τὸ τὸν θῆρα ἀγρεῦσαι, ἐρεθισθέντα τε καὶ κατελθόντα τὸν ἔριφον λαβεῖν, καὶ οὕτως αὐτὸν τὸν θῆρα θηρευθῆναι. καὶ εἰ μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ἰδίας δυνάμεως τὸν ἔριφον ἀπέστειλεν ἡ ἄνω δύναμις, ὅ ἐστιν ὁ ἀγαθὸς θεὸς ἢ τὸ φῶς, ὡς αὐτὸς ὀνομάζει, κἄν τε θηρεύσῃ τὸν θῆρα, τέως πρῶτον ὁ ἔριφος καταβρωθήσεται καὶ μᾶλλον ἑαυτὴν βλάψει ἡ ἄνω δύναμις, μέρος αὐτῆς ὑποβάλλουσα εἰς βρῶμα τῷ θηρί, 3.82 ἵνα δι' οὗ μέρους αὐτὴ ζημιουμένη δόξῃ, τὸν θῆρα θηρεύσῃ, καὶ οὐκέτι ὡς ἰσχύουσα καὶ ὑπερτάτη καὶ δυνατὴ λόγῳ ἢ θελήματι τὸν θῆρα χειρώσεται, ἀλλὰ μηχανᾶται πολυτρόπως καὶ πανουργεύεται, ἵνα δυνηθῇ τοῦ θηρὸς περιγενέσθαι. καὶ εἰ ὅλως θηρευθείη ὁ θήρ, ἤδη ἀπὸ τοῦ ἰδίου μέρους ἀπεβάλετο τὸν ἔριφον τὸν βεβρωμένον, κἄν τε ὅλως δυνηθείη θηρεῦσαι. εἰ γὰρ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπέστειλεν ἐνταῦθα ἡ ἄνω δύναμις, ἵνα διὰ τῆς ψυχῆς πεδήσῃ τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰς ἐξουσίας θηρεύουσα, οὐκ ἀπέβη ὁ σκοπὸς τῇ οὕτω βουλευσαμένῃ. κἄν τε γὰρ ἀπέστειλε τὴν ψυχὴν θηρεῦσαι, τεθήρευται, ἢ παγιδεῦσαι, πεπαγίδευται, ἐλθοῦσα ἀπὸ καθαρᾶς φύσεως καὶ ὑποπεσοῦσα πρῶτον μὲν δεσμῷ σώματος τῆς ὕλης, εἶτα δὲ καὶ πολλαῖς τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἀτοπίαις, καὶ πανταχόθεν διαπίπτει ὁ τοῦ πλάνου λόγος καὶ ἡ τοῦ ἀλιτηρίου διδασκαλία. 45. Φέρε δὴ ἴδωμεν καὶ περὶ τῆς μητρὸς τῆς ζωῆς, ἣν φάσκει ἐκ τῆς ἄνω δυνάμεως προβεβλῆσθαι καὶ αὐτὴν δὲ τὴν μητέρα τῆς ζωῆς προβεβληκέναι τόν τε πρῶτον ἄνθρωπον καὶ τὰ πέντε στοιχεῖα, ἅτινά ἐστιν, ὡς ἐκεῖνος. λέγει· ἄνεμος, φῶς, ὕδωρ, πῦρ καὶ † ὕλη. ταῦτα δὲ ἐνδυσάμενον αὐτὸν ὡς πρὸς κατασκευὴν πολέμου κατελθεῖν κάτω καὶ πολεμῆσαι τῷ σκότει. οἱ δὲ τοῦ σκότους ἄρχοντες πολεμοῦντες αὐτῷ ἔφαγον ἐκ τῆς πανοπλίας αὐτοῦ, ὅ ἐστιν ἡ ψυχή. ὦ ἀγύρτου μιμολογίας, ὦ χλεύης