If you are desirous of being instructed in the faith of Manes by me, attend to me for a short space. That man worships two deities, unoriginated, self-existent, eternal, opposed the one to the other. Of these he represents the one as good, and the other as evil, and assigns the name of Light to the former, and that of Darkness to the latter. He alleges also that the soul in men is a portion of the light, but that the body and the formation of matter are parts of the darkness. He maintains, further, that a certain commingling or blending [1483] has been effected between the two in the manner about to be stated, the following analogy being used as an illustration of the same; to wit, that their relations may be likened to those of two kings in conflict with each other, who are antagonists from the beginning, and have their own positions, each in his due order. And so he holds that the darkness passed without its own boundaries, and engaged in a similar contention with the light; but that the good Father then, perceiving that the darkness had come to sojourn on His earth, put forth from Himself a power [1484] which is called the Mother of Life; and that this power thereupon put forth from itself the first man, and the five elements. [1485] And these five elements are wind, [1486] light, water, fire, and matter. Now this primitive man, being endued with these, and thereby equipped, as it were, for war, descended to these lower parts, and made war against the darkness. But the princes of the darkness, waging war in turn against him, consumed that portion of his panoply which is the soul. Then was that first man grievously injured there underneath by the darkness; and had it not been that the Father heard his prayers, and sent a second power, which was also put forth from Himself and was called the living Spirit, and came down and gave him the right hand, and brought him up again out of the grasp of the darkness, that first man would, in those ancient times, have been in peril of absolute overthrow. From that time, consequently, he left the soul beneath. And for this reason the Manichæans, if they meet each other, give the right hand, in token of their having been saved from darkness; for he holds that the heresies have their seat all in the darkness. Then the living Spirit created the world; and bearing in himself three other powers, he came down and brought off the princes, and settled [1487] them in the firmament, which is their body, (though it is called) the sphere. Then, again, the living Spirit created the luminaries, which are fragments of the soul, and he made them thus to move round and round the firmament; and again he created the earth in its eight species. [1488] And the Omophorus [1489] sustains the burden thereof beneath; and when he is wearied with bearing it he trembles, and in that manner becomes the cause of a quaking of the earth in contravention of its determinate times. On account of this the good Father sent His Son forth from His own bosom [1490] into the heart of the earth, and into these lowest parts of it, in order to secure for him the correction befitting him. [1491] And whenever an earthquake occurs, he is either trembling under his weariness, or is shifting his burden from one shoulder to the other. Thereafter, again, the matter also of itself produced growths; [1492] and when these were carried off as spoil on the part of some of the princes, he summoned together all the foremost of the princes, and took from all of them individually power after power, and made up the man who is after the image of that first man, and united [1493] the soul (with these powers) in him. This is the account of the manner in which his constitution was planned.
[1479] The text gives infrendebat; the Codex Bobiensis has infringebat.[It seems to be a proverb, and I have so marked it. We should say, "he chafed like a lion," etc.]
[1480] Ex pueris suis.
[1481] Epiphanius, under this Heresy, num. 7, says that this was a fort situated on the other side of the river Stranga, between Persia and Mesopotamia.
[1482] The section extending from this point on to ch. xii. is found word for word in the Greek of Epiphanius, num. 25.
[1483] mixin de etoi sunkrasin.
[1484] proballein ex autou dunamin. But the Codex Bobiensis gives produxit ex virtute, put forth from His power one, etc. The Codex Casinensis has produxerit et esse virtutem, etc.
[1485] The text is simply kai auten probeblekenai ton proton anthropon, ta pente stoicheia. The Latin, with emendations from the Codex Bobiensis and Epiphanius, gives quâ virtute circumdedit primum hominem, quæ sunt quinque elementa, etc., = with which power He begirt the first man, which is the same as the five elements, etc. With slight differences the Codex Bobiensis reads quâ circumdedit, and the Codex Casinensis, quæ virtute.Petavius pointed out that there is probably an omission in the text here. And from a passage in Epiphanius, Hær., lxvi. n. 45, it has been proposed to fill out the sentence thus: proballein ex heautou dunamin metera tes zoes, kai auten probeblekenai ton proton anthropon, auten de ten metera tes zoes ton te proton anthropon ta pente stoicheia. The sense might then be that the good Father put forth from Himself a power called the Mother of Life, that this Mother of Life put forth the first man, and that the said Mother of Life and the first man put forth (or constituted) the five elements. See the note in Routh's Reliquiæ Sacræ, v. p. 49.
[1486] The Codex Bobiensis omits the ventus, wind.
[1487] The Greek gives estereosen en to stereomati. The Latin version has, "crucifixit eos in firmamento." And Routh apparently favours the reading estaurosen = crucified them, etc. Valesius and the Codex Bobiensis have, "descendens eduxit principes Jesu, exiens in firmamentum quod est," etc.
[1488] eis eide okto. The Latin however, gives et sunt octo, "and they are eight;" thus apparently having read eisi de okto, instead of eis eide okto.
[1489] i.e., one who bears on his shoulders, the upholder.
[1490] Reading ek ton kolpon, de sinibus suis. But the Codex Bobiensis gives de finibus, from His own territories.
[1491] The Greek text is, hopos auto ten prosekousan epitimian do. The Latin gives, "quo illum, ut par erat, coerceret." The Codex Bobiensis reads, "quod illum, ut pareret, coerceret." It is clear also that Petavius read correctly epitimian for epithumian in Epiphanius.
[1492] ta phuta.
[1493] edesen. The Codex Bobiensis gives, "vexit animam in eo."
8. But when the living Father perceived that the soul was in tribulation in the body, being full of mercy and compassion, He sent His own beloved Son for the salvation of the soul. For this, together with the matter of Omophorus, was the reason of His sending Him. And the Son came and transformed Himself into the likeness of man, and manifested [1494] Himself to men as a man, while yet He was not a man, and men supposed that He was begotten. Thus He came and prepared the work which was to effect the salvation of the souls, and with that object constructed an instrument with twelve urns, [1495] which is made to revolve by the sphere, and draws up with it the souls of the dying. And the greater luminary receives these souls, and purifies them with its rays, and then passes them over to the moon; and in this manner the moon's disc, as it is designated by us, is filled up. For he says that these two luminaries are ships or passage-boats. [1496] Then, if the moon becomes full, it ferries its passengers across toward the east wind, and thereby effects its own waning [1497] in getting itself delivered of its freight. And in this manner it goes on making the passage across, and again discharging its freight of souls drawn up by the urns, until it saves its own proper portion of the souls. [1498] Moreover, he maintains that every soul, yea, every living creature that moves, partakes of the substance of the good Father. And accordingly, when the moon delivers over its freight of souls to the æons of the Father, they abide there in that pillar of glory, which is called the perfect air. [1499] And this air is a pillar of light, for it is filled with the souls that are being purified. Such, moreover, is the agency by which the souls are saved. But the following, again, is the cause of men's dying: A certain virgin, fair in person, and beautiful in attire, and of most persuasive address, aims at making spoil of the princes that have been borne up and crucified on the firmament by the living Spirit; and she appears as a comely female to the princes, but as a handsome and attractive young man to the princesses. And the princes, when they look on her in her splendid figure, are smitten with love's sting; and as they are unable to get possession of her, they burn fiercely with the flame of amorous desire, and lose all power of reason. While they thus pursue the virgin, she disappears from view. Then the great prince sends forth from himself the clouds, with the purpose of bringing darkness on the whole world, in his anger. And then, if he feels grievously oppressed, his exhaustion expresses itself in perspiration, just as a man sweats under toil; and this sweat of his forms the rain. At the same time also the harvest-prince, [1500] if he too chances to be captivated by the virgin, scatters pestilence [1501] on the whole earth, with the view of putting men to death. Now this body (of man) is also called a cosmos, i.e., a microcosm, in relation to the great cosmos, i.e., the macrocosm of the universe; and all men have roots which are linked beneath with those above. Accordingly, when this prince is captivated by the virgin's charms, he then begins to cut the roots of men; and when their roots are cut, then pestilence commences to break forth, and in that manner they die. And if he shakes the upper parts of the root mightily, [1502] an earthquake bursts, and follows as the consequence of the commotion to which the Omophorus is subjected. This is the explanation of (the phenomenon of) death.
[1494] But certain codices read et parebat, "and was obedient," in stead of apparebat.
[1495] kadous.
[1496] porthmein.
[1497] apokrousin. The Codex Casinensis has apocrisin; but the Codex Bobiensis gives apocrusin.
[1498] The text gives tes psuches. But from the old Latin version, which has animarum, we may conjecture that ton psuchon was read.
[1499] The Latin version has "vir perfectus,"--a reading which is due apparently to the fact that the author had mistaken the aer of the Greek for aner. [See note 2, p. 176, supra.]
[1500] ho therismos archon. The version of Petavius has, "Sic et princeps alter, messor appellatus." Perhaps the reading should be ho therismou archon.
[1501] loimon. Other codices give famem, as reading limon, famine.
[1502] ean de ta ano tes rhizes pono saluse. It may be also = And if the upper parts of the root shake under the exertion.
9. I shall explain to you also how it is that the soul is transfused into five bodies. [1503] First of all, in this process some small portion of it is purified; and then it is transfused into the body of a dog, or a camel, or some other animal. But if the soul has been guilty of homicide, it is translated into the body of the celephi; [1504] and if it has been found to have engaged in cutting; [1505] it is made to pass into the body of the dumb. Now these are the designations of the soul,--namely, intelligence, reflection, prudence, consideration, reasoning. [1506] Moreover, the reapers who reap are likened to the princes who have been in darkness from the beginning, [1507] since they consumed somewhat of the panoply of the first man. On this account there is a necessity for these to be translated into hay, or beans, or barley, or corn, or vegetables, in order that in these forms they, in like manner, may be reaped and cut. And again, if any one eats bread, he must needs also become bread and be eaten. If one kills a chicken, [1508] he will be a chicken himself. If one kills a mouse, he will also become a mouse himself. If, again, one is wealthy in this world, it is necessary that, on quitting the tabernacle of his body, he should be made to pass into the body of a beggar, so as to go about asking alms, and thereafter he shall depart into everlasting punishment. Moreover, as this body pertains to the princes and to matter, it is necessary that he who plants a persea [1509] should pass though many bodies until that persea is prostrated. And if one builds a house for himself, he will be divided and scattered among all the bodies. [1510] If one bathes in water, he freezes [1511] his soul; and if one refuses to give pious regard [1512] to his elect, he will be punished through the generations, [1513] and will be translated into the bodies of catechumens, until he render many tributes of piety; and for this reason they offer to the elect whatever is best in their meats. And when they are about to eat bread, they offer up prayer first of all, addressing themselves in these terms to the bread: "I have neither reaped thee, nor ground thee, nor pressed thee, nor cast thee into the baking-vessel; but another has done these things, and brought thee to me, and I have eaten thee without fault." And when he has uttered these things to himself, he says to the catechumen, [1514] "I have prayed for thee;" and in this manner that person then takes his departure. For, as I remarked to you a little before, if any one reaps, he will be reaped; and so, too, if one casts grain into the mill, he will be cast in himself in like manner, or if he kneads he will be kneaded, or if he bakes he will be baked; and for this reason they are interdicted from doing any such work. Moreover, there are certain other worlds on which the luminaries rise when they have set on our world. [1515] And if a person walks upon the ground here, he injures the earth; and if he moves his hand, he injures the air; for the air is the soul (life) of men and living creatures, both fowl, and fish, and creeping thing. And as to every one [1516] existing in this world, I have told you that this body of his does not pertain to God, but to matter, and is itself darkness, and consequently it must needs be cast in darkness.