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the man was afflicted down there; and when he prayed, the father heard, as you said, and sent another power, put forth by him, called the living spirit. Lift up your mask, O comic poet Menander. For being that man, you cover yourself, narrating the works of adulterers and of drunkenness; for nothing in you is stable. For by introducing the poems of the Greeks instead of the truth, you deceive those who have been deluded by you. For perhaps Hesiod was wiser than you, narrating his poems about the theogony, perhaps Orpheus, perhaps Euripides. For even if they narrated laughable things, it is clear that being poets, they poetized things that are not; but you narrate them as if they are, so that you may work a greater deception. 47. You claim that this living spirit, having descended below, gave its right hand and brought up from the darkness the one called by you the first man, the one who was in danger below in the lower regions, the one who descended to save the devoured soul and was not able to save it, but was himself endangered; having been sent for salvation, he was endangered and needed another to be sent again for his salvation. How much more would the soul be in danger, for which the first 3.85 man, having been sent, came and was endangered? But also a second was sent to save. which you claim is this living spirit itself. Did the father then, out of repentance, send one who was still stronger, so that he might become the savior of the first man, or was he ignorant that the first one was powerless, and supposing that he would save, but when he was endangered, having learned later by experience, he puts forth and sends another? And great is the absurdity, O Manichaean, and incoherent is the nonsense of your entire teaching. And he says again that the spirit, having descended, gave its right hand and brought up the first man who was endangered. For this reason he has handed down a mystery to his own disciples, to give the right hand when they meet one another, for the sake of a sign, as ones saved from darkness. For he claims that all things are in darkness, except himself alone. For even the blind, rather for the sake of mockery from those who see, shunning what is ill-spoken, hear that they see a great deal. 48. Then he says again, working out for us certain other constructions and architectures, as if he were present there and imagining things that are not, that then this living spirit created, he says, the world. And it, bearing three other powers and having descended, brought up the archons and crucified them in the firmament, which is their body, the sphere. And with the word "brought up," this brutish man does not understand how he contradicts himself and blames what is praiseworthy in his system and brings what is blameworthy to praise, in the manner of one who is drunk and carried away and talks nonsense, one thing for another. For he claims that the archons, existing below in the darkness, are of an evil substance and * the place of corruption. And if from this corruption and if from the realm of darkness the spirit, having forced the archons, brought them up to the regions above, ostensibly for punishment, making a transfer from vile places, it moved them to the regions above for punishment, no longer will the regions above be good and of a living substance, but rather of death, and the regions below will no longer be for punishment, but of some good essence; from which place the spirit, wishing to change the archons to punishment, moved them from pleasant and necessary things to the place of punishment, so that it might thus 3.86 punish them. And otherwise: if the spirit made the world, how can you say again that the world was not made by God? And if the firmament happens to be the body of the archons, on what cross, then, did it fix the archons? For at one time you say they have been fixed in the firmament, and at another time you define the firmament itself as their body. And great is your incoherence of words, which has no consistency with the truth; * as an enemy that has come upon us in all things, or rather upon yourself and those of your opinion

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ἐθλίβη ἐκεῖ κάτω ὁ ἄνθρωπος· εὐξαμένου δὲ αὐτοῦ ἤκουσεν ὁ πατήρ, ὡς ἔφης, καὶ ἀπέστειλεν ἑτέραν δύναμιν προβληθεῖσαν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ, λεγομένην πνεῦμα ζῶν. ἔπαρόν σου τὸ προσωπεῖον, ὦ κωμῳδοποιὲ Μένανδρε. ἐκεῖνος γὰρ ὢν σεαυτὸν σκεπάζεις, μοιχῶν ἔργα διηγούμενος καὶ μέθης· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐν σοὶ καθέστηκε. τῶν γὰρ Ἑλλήνων τὰ ποιήματα ἀντὶ τῆς ἀληθείας παρεισφέρων πλανᾷς τοὺς ὑπὸ σοῦ ἠπατημένους. τάχα γὰρ ὑπὲρ σὲ Ἡσίοδος ἐφρόνησε τὰ περὶ τῆς θεογονίας ποιητεύματα διηγησάμενος, τάχα Ὀρφεύς, τάχα Εὐριπίδης. ἐκεῖνοι γὰρ κἂν καταγέλαστα διηγήσαντο, δῆλοί εἰσιν ὅτι ποιηταὶ ὑπάρχοντες ἐποιητεύσαντο τὰ οὐκ ὄντα· σὺ δὲ ὡς ὄντα διηγῇ, ἵνα τὴν πλάνην περισσοτέραν ἐργάσῃ. 47. Τοῦτο φάσκεις τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ζῶν κατελθὸν κάτω δεδωκέναι δεξιὰν καὶ ἀνενηνοχέναι ἀπὸ τοῦ σκότους τὸν πρῶτον λεγόμενον παρὰ σοὶ ἄνθρωπον, τὸν κάτω ἐν τοῖς κατωτέροις κινδυνεύσαντα, τὸν κατελθόντα σῶσαι τὴν βεβρωμένην ψυχὴν καὶ μὴ δυνηθέντα σῶσαι, ἀλλὰ αὐτὸν κεκινδυνευκότα· εἰς σωτηρίαν ἀπεσταλμένος ἐκινδύνευσε καὶ ἐπεδεήθη ἑτέρου πάλιν ἀπεσταλμένου πρὸς τὴν τούτου σωτηρίαν. πόσῳ γε μᾶλλον ἡ ψυχὴ κινδυνεύσειε, δι' ἣν ὁ ἀπεσταλμένος πρῶτος 3.85 ἄνθρωπος ἐλθὼν ἐκινδύνευσεν; ἀλλὰ καὶ δεύτερον ἀπεσταλμένον εἰς τὸ σῶσαι. ὅπερ φάσκεις εἶναι αὐτὸ πνεῦμα ζῶν. κατὰ μετάμελον ἄρα ὁ πατὴρ ἀπέστειλε τὸν ἔτι ἰσχυρότερον, ἵνα τοῦ πρώτου ἀνθρώπου σωτὴρ γένηται, ἢ ἠγνόει μὲν ἐκεῖνον ἀδυνατοῦντα τὸν πρῶτον, καὶ ὑπολαμβάνων ὅτι σώσει, κινδυνεύσαντος δὲ αὐτοῦ ὕστερον διὰ τῆς πείρας ἐγνωκὼς προβάλλεται καὶ ἀποστέλλει; καὶ πολλή τίς ἐστιν ἡ ἀτοπία, ὦ Μανιχαῖε, καὶ ἀσύστατον τὸ παρὰ σοῦ ληρολόγημα τῆς πάσης διδασκαλίας. φάσκει δὲ πάλιν ὅτι κατελθὸν τὸ πνεῦμα ἔδωκε δεξιὰν καὶ ἀνήνεγκε τὸν πρῶτον κινδυνεύσαντα ἄνθρωπον. διὰ τοῦτο μυστήριον τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ μαθηταῖς παραδέδωκεν εἰς τὸ ἐπιδιδόναι δεξιάν, ὅταν ἀλλήλοις συναντήσωσι, σημείου χάριν, ὡς ἀπὸ σκότους σωθέντες. ἐν γὰρ τῷ σκότει πάντα φάσκει εἶναι, πλὴν αὐτοῦ μόνου. καὶ γὰρ οἱ τυφλοὶ χλεύης ἕνεκα μᾶλλον παρὰ τῶν ὁρώντων τὸ κακόφημον ἐκκλίνοντες πολὺ βλέποντες ἀκούουσι. 48. Εἶτα φάσκει πάλιν, ἑτέρας τινὰς κατασκευὰς ἡμῖν καὶ ἀρχιτεκτονίας ἐργαζόμενος, ὡς παρὼν ἐκεῖσε καὶ φανταζόμενος τὰ μὴ ὄντα, ὅτι τότε τοῦτο τὸ ζῶν πνεῦμα ἔκτισε, φησί, τὸν κόσμον. καὶ αὐτὸ τρεῖς ἑτέρας δυνάμεις φορέσαν καὶ κατελθὸν ἀνήνεγκε τοὺς ἄρχοντας καὶ ἐσταύρωσεν ἐν τῷ στερεώματι, ὅ ἐστιν αὐτῶν σῶμα ἡ σφαῖρα. καὶ τῷ μὲν «ἀνήνεγκεν» οὔτε νοεῖ ὁ κτηνώδης πῶς ἑαυτῷ ἀντιμάχεται καὶ τὰ παρ' αὐτῷ ἐπαινετὰ ψέγει καὶ τὰ ψογιζόμενα εἰς ἔπαινον φέρει, δίκην μεθύοντος καὶ παραφερομένου καὶ ἕτερα ἀνθ' ἑτέρων παραλαλοῦντος. φάσκει γὰρ τοὺς ἄρχοντας κάτω ὑπάρχοντας ἐν τῷ σκότει πονηρᾶς εἶναι ὑποστάσεως καὶ * φθορᾶς τὸ χωρίον. καὶ εἰ ἐκ ταύτης τῆς φθορᾶς καὶ εἰ ἐκ τοῦ μέρους τοῦ σκότους τὸ πνεῦμα βιασάμενον τοὺς ἄρχοντας εἰς τὰ ἄνω ἀνήνεγκεν, ἐπὶ τιμωρίᾳ δῆθεν, φαύλων τε χωρίων τὴν μετάστασιν ποιούμενον ἐπὶ τιμωρίᾳ μετέσπασεν εἰς τὰ ἄνω, οὐκέτι ἔσται τὰ ἄνω ἀγαθὰ καὶ ὑποστάσεως ζωτικῆς, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον θανάτου καὶ τὰ κάτω οὐκέτι τιμωρία, ἀλλὰ ἀγαθῆς τινος οὐσίας· ἐξ οὗ τόπου βουληθὲν τὸ πνεῦμα εἰς τιμωρίαν μεταβαλεῖν τοὺς ἄρχοντας ἀπὸ τῶν ἡδέων καὶ ἀναγκαίων ἐπὶ τὸν τιμωρὸν τόπον μετήγαγεν, ἵν' οὕτως αὐτοὺς 3.86 τιμωρήσοιτο. καὶ ἄλλως· εἰ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸν κόσμον πεποίηκε, πῶς πάλιν λέγεις τὸν κόσμον μὴ ὑπὸ θεοῦ γεγενῆσθαι; καὶ εἰ τῶν ἀρχόντων τυγχάνει σῶμα τὸ στερέωμα, ἐν ποίῳ ἄρα σταυρῷ προσέπηξε τοὺς ἄρχοντας; ποτὲ μὲν γὰρ λέγεις αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ στερεώματι πεπῆχθαι, ποτὲ δὲ αὐτὸ τὸ στερέωμα σῶμα τῶν αὐτῶν ὁρίζῃ. καὶ πολλή σου ἡ ἀσυναρτησία τῶν λόγων, ἥτις οὐδεμίαν ἀκολουθίαν πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἔχει· * ὡς ἐν πᾶσιν ἡμῖν ἐπιφοιτήσας πολέμιος, μᾶλλον δὲ ἑαυτῷ καὶ τοῖς σου τὴν γνώμην