* It may be objected tlmt nothing haa been said »bo«t th« Simon of C.\'prus mentioTied in Jos. ArU. xx. vii. 4. In the opinion of the present writer the two Simons have nothing to do with one another, and the resemblance of names count* tof nothing. There are said to be twenty-four SimoiiB In the IndeK to Josephus.
SIMON MAGUS
SDIPLICITY
527
period, wlose claims are even more improbalile than those of Apollonius of Tyana or Alexander of Abonoteiclins. His mind is a medley of Hellen- ism, Judaism, and Orientalism ; out of this he forms a system, in which he himself occupies the first position. The influence of Christianity and then the opposition to it give a certain vitality and force to tlie ideas he sujrgests, and in other hands they become fertile and prolilic. Later Gnostics were more definitely Cliristian. The founders of the sects never claimed Divine honours for themselves. They discarded more extravagant features. Uiit they shared with Simon the funda- mental doctrine that the Creator of the world was an inferior and, perhaps, a malevolent deity.*
vii. Simon Magus and simony. — In another direction the name of Simon has become used universally for the sin of attempting to purchase spiritual gifts or spiritual preferment for money. Both sorts were included under the sin of Simon. The earliest example seems to be from the Apos- toliial Canonx, where it is said : ' If any bishop, presbj'ter, or deacon obtain this dignity for money, both he that is ordained and the ordainer shall be deposed, and also cut oil' from all communion, as Simon Magus was bj' Peter.' And the instance is often quoted in later canons. The use of the term appears to have arisen through the Canon Law.
viii. Si.MON Magus and the Faust Legend.— There are some curious coincidences, if they are nothing more, between the legend of Simon and the story of Faust. The hero of that legend is sup- posed to have been a certain Dr. Fau.st, of Knitt- lingen, who died in 1540. The legend appears first in a written form in 15S7, and was obviously tlie result of a fertile imagination. It is quite possible that in building up tlie story reminiscences direct or indirect of the legend of Simon Magus may have come in. The following are points of re- semblance: (1) firsth' and most clearly the intro- duction of Helena in both ; (•!) the name Faustus ; (3) the hoinuncuhis ; (4) in Simon Magus himself we may have a suggestion of Mephistopheles. This connexion may be due to direct literary in- fluence, or we may have here two dill'erent versions of a theme whicli has been common at various times, the contest between Religion and Magic — a contest which we have to believe is far older and more universal than was once thought.
LiTRRATURB. — (1) On Simon Majrus generally. The two most coniplete expositionH of the two opposing points of view are by Slnller in Herzog, /i£2 xiv. «.»., and by Lipsius in Sciienlicl's lliMLfxiatn, v. 301-.S21. For older works see Mosheim, Iiut. hist. eccl. i. 389. There are accounts in all the works on heresies in the I'jirly Church, of which the most useful is that of Uilgcnfcld, die KeUtrieju-hichte des UrchrixUnthums, pp. 163 and 453. The most cnmplete account in English is that by Salmon in Did. Chr. llinr). iv. 681. Other treatises referred to are Simson, ' I.ieben und Lehre Simon des Magiers,' in Z. /. Airt. Theol, 1841, iii. 39 ; Baur, Das Manichdische JidigioTuuti/stem, Tiibin^en, 1831, 467, Die Chrittliche Gnosie, Tubingen, 1836, p. SOOfl.
('2) On Simon and Paul see Baur, 'Die Christuspartie in Korinth," in Tiibinger Zeittchri/t, 1S31-34, p. 116 ff., J'autut (1845), p.86fl., -nsa. |2pp. 97ff.,'.;4Clt.],B(W Chriitenthum der drei eriten Jahrhunderie^, p. 8511. : Hilgenfeld, Die ClemerUin- When Ilceonnitionen und Homilien (1848), p. 317(1., 'Der Magicr Simon," in ZFWTh, 1808, p. 867 fl. ; Zeller, Apottel- ayrhichte, 108(1. (i. p. 260, Eng. tr.); Volkmar, ' iibcr den bimon Magus der Apostelgcschicbte,' in Theot. Jahrbiicher, 1866, p. 270 IT.
(3) The Apocryphal Aete may be KoA in Lipsius, Acta Apott4>torujti Apocrypha, which supersedes all previous editions. Lipsius' criticism will be found in Die QueUen der rimieclicn
•The criticisms of Renan (il. 164) are interesting and worth
auoting. 'Simon de Getton fut le chef d'un mouvement re- gieux, para]l6te & celui du Ohristianisme^ qu'on peut regarder comme une sorte de contrefa^on Samaritainc rfe I'osuvre de Jtmt . . .(ft. 269). HiJltne, significant par 14 qu'elle 6Ult I'oblet de I'unlvervclle pursuite, la cause Atemelle de dispute entrcles homines, celle qui sc venge de sea ennemls en les rendant aveuglcs : th{>me bizarre oui mal compris ou travesM A deasein, drona lieu chei les p6res de I'iglise aux oontea lea plui banals.'
Pelna-Sa{je krititch untersucht, Kiel, 1872, and In Die Apohy- phen Apoetelgetchichten und Apostetterjfnden, ii. 1, Braunsch- weijj, Ibi". In the latter volume he very much modifies hil earlier conclusions.
(4) On the Clementines may be mentioned Schliemann, Die Clementinen, Hamburg, 1844; Uhlhom, Die Homilien und Becognitionen des Clemens Jiomantis, Gottingen, 1S54 ; Hilgen- feld, Die Clementinischen liccojnitionen und Homilien^ Jena, 1S48, and in Theol. JahrltHcher, 18.'4, 1868; Lehmonn, Die Clementinisehen Schri/ten ; Lipsius in Frotestantiiche Kir- chenzeitunrj , 1SC9, pp. 477-4S2 ; and, in English, Salmon's art. in the Diet. ChT. Biog.
(5) On Simon and the Faust legend see Zahn, Cyprian von Anfiochien und die dcutsche Fausttage, Erlangen, 1882; and Kuno Fischer, Die Fausteafje. A. C. HeaDLAM.