Book VI.
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Contents.
The following are the contents of the sixth book of the Refutation of all Heresies:--
What the opinions are that are attempted (to be established) by Simon, and that his doctrine derives its force from the (lucubrations) of magicians and poets.
What are the opinions propounded by Valentinus, and that his system is not constructed out of the Scriptures, but out of the Platonic and Pythagorean tenets.
And what are the opinions of Secundus, and Ptolemæus, and Heracleon, as persons also who themselves advanced the same doctrines as the philosophers among the Greeks, but enunciated them in different phraseology.
And what are the suppositions put forward by Marcus and Colarbasus, and that some of them devoted their attention to magical arts and the Pythagorean numbers.
Chapter I. [607] --The Ophites the Progenitors of Subsequent Heresies.
Whatever opinions, then, were entertained by those who derived the first principles (of their doctrine) from the serpent, and in process of time [608] deliberately [609] brought forward into public notice their tenets, we have explained in the book preceding this, (and) which is the fifth of the Refutation of Heresies. But now also I shall not be silent as regards the opinions of (heresiarchs) who follow these (Ophites in succession); nay, not one (speculation) will I leave unrefuted, if it is possible to remember all (their tenets), and the secret orgies of these (heretics) which one may fairly style orgies,--for they who propagate such audacious opinions are not far distant from the anger (of God),--that I may avail myself of the assistance of etymology.
[607] [Presuming that all who are disposed to study this work will turn to Dr. Bunsen's first volume (Hippol.), I have not thought it wise to load these pages with references to his interesting reviewal.]
[608] kata teleiosin ton chronon. This is Bunsen's emendation. The textual reading is meiosin.
[609] hekousios: Bunsen suggests anosios, i.e., profanely.
Chapter II.--Simon Magus.
It seems, then, expedient likewise to explain now the opinions of Simon, [610] a native of Gitta, a village of Samaria; and we shall also prove that his successors, taking a starting-point from him, have endeavoured (to establish) similar opinions under a change of name. This Simon being an adept in sorceries, both making a mockery of many, partly according to the art of Thrasymedes, in the manner in which we have explained above, [611] and partly also by the assistance of demons perpetrating his villany, attempted to deify himself. (But) the man was a (mere) cheat, and full of folly, and the Apostles reproved him in the Acts. [612] With much greater wisdom and moderation than Simon, did Apsethus the Libyan, inflamed with a similar wish, endeavour to have himself considered a god in Libya. And inasmuch as his legendary system does not present any wide divergence from the inordinate desire of that silly Simon, it seems expedient to furnish an explanation of it, as one worthy of the attempt made by this man.
[610] See Irenæus, Hæres., i. 19, 20; Tertullian, Præscript., c. xlvi.; Epiphanius, Hæres., xxi.; Theodoret, Hæret. Fab., i. 1; St. Augustine, De Hæres., 1. See the apology of Justin Martyr (vol. i., this series, p. 171), who says, "There was a Samaritan, Simon, a native of the village called Gitto, who, in the reign of Claudius Cæsar, and in your royal city of Rome, did mighty acts of magic, by virtue of the art of the devils operating in him." Simon's history and opinions are treated of largely in the Recognitions of Clement. See vol. iii. of the Edinburgh series, pp. 156-271; [vol. viii. of this series].
[611] In book iv. of The Refutation.
[612] Acts viii. 9-24.
Chapter III.--Story of Apsethus the Libyan.
Apsethus [613] the Libyan inordinately longed to become a god; but when, after repeated intrigues, he altogether failed to accomplish his desire, he nevertheless wished to appear to have become a god; and he did at all events appear, as time wore on, to have in reality become a god. For the foolish Libyans were accustomed to sacrifice unto him as to some divine power, supposing that they were yielding credence to a voice that came down from above, from heaven. For, collecting into one and the same cage a great number of birds,--parrots,--he shut them up. Now there are very many parrots throughout Libya, and very distinctly these imitate the human voice. This man, having for a time nourished the birds, was in the habit of teaching them to say, "Apsethus is a god." After, however, the birds had practised this for a long period, and were accustomed to the utterance of that which he thought, when said, would make it supposed that Apsethus was a god, then, opening the habitation (of the birds), he let forth the parrots, each in a different direction. While the birds, however, were on the wing, their sound went out into all Libya, and the expressions of these reached as far as the Hellenic country. And thus the Libyans, being astonished at the voice of the birds, and not perceiving the knavery perpetrated by Apsethus, held Apsethus to be a god. Some one, however, of the Greeks, by accurate examination, perceiving the trick of the supposed god, by means of those same parrots not only refutes, but also utterly destroys, that boastful and tiresome fellow. Now the Greek, by confining many of the parrots, taught them anew to say, "Apsethus, having caged us, compelled us to say, Apsethus is a god." But having heard of the recantation of the parrots, the Libyans, coming together, all unanimously decided on burning Apsethus.
[613] Miller refers us to Apostolius' Proverb., s.v. psaphon. Schneidewin remarks that Maximus Tyrius relates almost a similar story concerning one Psapho, a Libyan, in his Dissert. (xxxv.), and that Apostolius extracted this account and inserted it in his Cent., xviii. p. 730, ed. Leutsch, mentioning at the same time a similar narrative from Ælian's Hist., xiv. 30. See Justin., xxi. 4, and Pliny, Nat. Hist., viii. 16.