The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 4

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Chapter I.--Order of Contents.

It will follow, I think, that I should treat of martyrdom, and of who
the perfect man is. With these points shall be included what follows in
accordance with the demands of the points to be spoken about, and how
both bond and free must equally philosophize, whether male or female in
sex. And in the sequel, after finishing what is to be said on faith and
inquiry, we shall set forth the department of symbols; so that, on
cursorily concluding the discourse on ethics, we shall exhibit the
advantage which has accrued to the Greeks from the barbarian
philosophy. After which sketch, the brief explanation of the Scriptures
both against the Greeks and against the Jews will be presented, and
whatever points we were unable to embrace in the previous Miscellanies
(through having respect necessarily to the multitude of matters), in
accordance with the commencement of the poem, purposing to finish them
in one commentary. In addition to these points, afterwards on
completing the sketch, as far as we can in accordance with what we
propose, we must give an account of the physical doctrines of the
Greeks and of the barbarians, respecting elementary principles, as far
as their opinions have reached us, and argue against the principal
views excogitated by the philosophers.

It will naturally fall after these, after a cursory view of theology,
to discuss the opinions handed down respecting prophecy; so that,
having demonstrated that the Scriptures which we believe are valid from
their omnipotent authority, we shall be able to go over them
consecutively, and to show thence to all the heresies one God and
Omnipotent Lord to be truly preached by the law and the prophets, and
besides by the blessed Gospel. Many contradictions against the
heterodox await us while we attempt, in writing, to do away with the
force of the allegations made by them, and to persuade them against
their will, proving by the Scriptures themselves.

On completing, then, the whole of what we propose in the commentaries,
on which, if the Spirit will, we ministering to the urgent need, (for
it is exceedingly necessary, before coming to the truth, to embrace
what ought to be said by way of preface), shall address ourselves to
the true gnostic science of nature, receiving initiation into the minor
mysteries before the greater; so that nothing may be in the way of the
truly divine declaration of sacred things, the subjects requiring
preliminary detail and statement being cleared away, and sketched
beforehand. The science of nature, then, or rather observation, as
contained in the gnostic tradition according to the rule of the truth,
depends on the discussion concerning cosmogony, ascending thence to the
department of theology. Whence, then, we shall begin our account of
what is handed down, with the creation as related by the prophets,
introducing also the tenets of the heterodox, and endeavouring as far
as we can to confute them. But it shall be written if God will, and as
He inspires; and now we must proceed to what we proposed, and complete
the discourse on ethics.
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Chapter II.--The Meaning of the Name Stromata or Miscellanies.

Let these notes of ours, as we have often said for the sake of those
that consult them carelessly and unskilfully, be of varied
character--and as the name itself indicates, patched together--passing
constantly from one thing to another, and in the series of discussions
hinting at one thing and demonstrating another. "For those who seek for
gold," says Heraclitus, "dig much earth and find little gold." But
those who are of the truly golden race, in mining for what is allied to
them, will find the much in little. For the word will find one to
understand it. The Miscellanies of notes contribute, then, to the
recollection and expression of truth in the case of him who is able to
investigate with reason. And you must prosecute, in addition to these,
other labours and researches; since, in the case of people who are
setting out on a road with which they are unacquainted, it is
sufficient merely to point out the direction. After this they must walk
and find out the rest for themselves. As, they say, when a certain
slave once asked at the oracle what he should do to please his master,
the Pythian priestess replied, "You will find if you seek." It is truly
a difficult matter, then, as turns out, to find out latent good; since


"Before virtue is placed exertion,

And long and steep is the way to it,

And rough at first; but when the summit is reached,

Then is it easy, though difficult [before]."

"For narrow," in truth, "and strait is the way" of the Lord. And it is
to the "violent that the kingdom of God belongs." [2680]

Whence, "Seek, and ye shall find," holding on by the truly royal road,
and not deviating. As we might expect, then, the generative power of
the seeds of the doctrines comprehended in this treatise is great in
small space, as the "universal herbage of the field," [2681] as
Scripture saith. Thus the Miscellanies of notes have their proper
title, wonderfully like that ancient oblation culled from all sorts of
things of which Sophocles writes:--


"For there was a sheep's fleece, and there was a vine,

And a libation, and grapes well stored;

And there was mixed with it fruit of all kinds,

And the fat of the olive, and the most curious

Wax-formed work of the yellow bee."

Just so our Stromata, according to the husbandman of the comic poet
Timocles, produce "figs, olives, dried figs, honey, as from an
all-fruitful field;" on account of which exuberance he adds:--


"Thou speakest of a harvest-wreath not of husbandry."

For the Athenians were wont to cry:--


"The harvest-wreath bears figs and fat loaves,

And honey in a cup, and olive oil to anoint you."

We must then often, as in winnowing sieves, shake and toss up this the
great mixture of seeds, in order to separate the wheat.
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[2680] Matt. vii. 14, xi. 12, vii. 7.
[2681] Job v. 25.
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Chapter III.--The True Excellence of Man.

The most of men have a disposition unstable and heedless, like the
nature of storms. "Want of faith has done many good things, and faith
evil things." And Epicharmus says, "Don't forget to exercise
incredulity; for it is the sinews of the soul." Now, to disbelieve
truth brings death, as to believe, life; and again, to believe the lie
and to disbelieve the truth hurries to destruction. The same is the
case with self-restraint and licentiousness. To restrain one's self
from doing good is the work of vice; but to keep from wrong is the
beginning of salvation. So the Sabbath, by abstinence from evils, seems
to indicate self-restraint. And what, I ask, is it in which man differs
from beasts, and the angels of God, on the other hand, are wiser than
he? "Thou madest him a little lower than the angels." [2682] For some
do not interpret this Scripture of the Lord, although He also bore
flesh, but of the perfect man and the gnostic, inferior in comparison
with the angels in time, and by reason of the vesture [of the body]. I
call then wisdom nothing but science, since life differs not from life.
For to live is common to the mortal nature, that is to man, with that
to which has been vouchsafed immortality; as also the faculty of
contemplation and of self-restraint, one of the two being more
excellent. On this ground Pythagoras seems to me to have said that God
alone is wise, since also the apostle writes in the Epistle to the
Romans, "For the obedience of the faith among all nations, being made
known to the only wise God through Jesus Christ;" [2683] and that he
himself was a philosopher, on account of his friendship with God.
Accordingly it is said, "God talked with Moses as a friend with a
friend." [2684] That, then, which is true being clear to God, forthwith
generates truth. And the gnostic loves the truth. "Go," it is said, "to
the ant, thou sluggard, and be the disciple of the bee;" thus speaks
Solomon. [2685] For if there is one function belonging to the peculiar
nature of each creature, alike of the ox, and horse, and dog, what
shall we say is the peculiar function of man? He is like, it appears to
me, the Centaur, a Thessalian figment, compounded of a rational and
irrational part, of soul and body. Well, the body tills the ground, and
hastes to it; but the soul is raised to God: trained in the true
philosophy, it speeds to its kindred above, turning away from the lusts
of the body, and besides these, from toil and fear, although we have
shown that patience and fear belong to the good man. For if "by the law
is the knowledge of sin," [2686] as those allege who disparage the law,
and "till the law sin was in the world;" [2687] yet "without the law
sin was dead," [2688] we oppose them. For when you take away the cause
of fear, sin, you have taken away fear; and much more, punishment, when
you have taken away that which gives rise to lust. "For the law is not
made for the just man," [2689] says the Scripture. Well, then, says
Heraclitus, "They would not have known the name of Justice if these
things had not been." And Socrates says, "that the law was not made for
the sake of the good." But the cavillers did not know even this, as the
apostle says, "that he who loveth his brother worketh not evil;" for
this, "Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt
not steal; and if there be any other commandment, it is comprehended in
the word, Thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself." [2690] So also is
it said, "Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." [2691] And "if he that loveth his
neighbour worketh no evil," and if "every commandment is comprehended
in this, the loving our neighbour," the commandments, by menacing with
fear, work love, not hatred. Wherefore the law is productive of the
emotion of fear. "So that the law is holy," and in truth "spiritual,"
[2692] according to the apostle. We must, then, as is fit, in
investigating the nature of the body and the essence of the soul,
apprehend the end of each, and not regard death as an evil. "For when
ye were the servants of sin," says the apostle, "ye were free from
righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things in which ye are
now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now, being made
free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto
holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death:
but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
[2693] The assertion, then, may be hazarded, that it has been shown
that death is the fellowship of the soul in a state of sin with the
body; and life the separation from sin. And many are the stakes and
ditches of lust which impede us, and the pits of wrath and anger which
must be overleaped, and all the machinations we must avoid of those who
plot against us,--who would no longer see the knowledge of God "through
a glass."


"The half of virtue the far-seeing Zeus takes

From man, when he reduces him to a state of slavery."

As slaves the Scripture views those "under sin" and "sold to sin," the
lovers of pleasure and of the body; and beasts rather than men, "those
who have become like to cattle, horses, neighing after their
neighbours' wives." [2694] The licentious is "the lustful ass," the
covetous is the "savage wolf," and the deceiver is "a serpent." The
severance, therefore, of the soul from the body, made a life-long
study, produces in the philosopher gnostic alacrity, so that he is
easily able to bear natural death, which is the dissolution of the
chains which bind the soul to the body. "For the world is crucified to
me, and I to the world," the [apostle] says; "and now I live, though in
the flesh, as having my conversation in heaven." [2695]
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[2682] Ps. viii. 5.
[2683] Rom. xvi. 26, 27.
[2684] Ex. xxxiii. 11.
[2685] Prov. vi. 6, 8.
[2686] Rom. iii. 20.
[2687] Rom. v. 13.
[2688] Rom. vii. 6.
[2689] 1 Tim. i. 9.
[2690] Rom. xiii. 8-10.
[2691] Luke x. 27.
[2692] Rom. vii. 12, 14.
[2693] Rom. vi. 20-23.
[2694] Jer. v. 8, etc.
[2695] Gal. vi. 14; Phil. iii. 20.
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Chapter IV.--The Praises of Martyrdom.

Whence, as is reasonable, the gnostic, when galled, obeys easily, and
gives up his body to him who asks; and, previously divesting himself of
the affections of this carcase, not insulting the tempter, but rather,
in my opinion, training him and convincing him,--


"From what honour and what extent of wealth fallen,"

as says Empedocles, here for the future he walks with mortals. He, in
truth, bears witness to himself that he is faithful and loyal towards
God; and to the tempter, that he in vain envied him who is faithful
through love; and to the Lord, of the inspired persuasion in reference
to His doctrine, from which he will not depart through fear of death;
further, he confirms also the truth of preaching by his deed, showing
that God to whom he hastes is powerful. You will wonder at his love,
which he conspicuously shows with thankfulness, in being united to what
is allied to him, and besides by his precious blood, shaming the
unbelievers. He then avoids denying Christ through fear by reason of
the command; nor does he sell his faith in the hope of the gifts
prepared, but in love to the Lord he will most gladly depart from this
life; perhaps giving thanks both to him who afforded the cause of his
departure hence, and to him who laid the plot against him, for
receiving an honourable reason which he himself furnished not, for
showing what he is, to him by his patience, and to the Lord in love, by
which even before his birth he was manifested to the Lord, who knew the
martyr's choice. With good courage, then, he goes to the Lord, his
friend, for whom he voluntarily gave his body, and, as his judges
hoped, his soul, hearing from our Saviour the words of poetry, "Dear
brother," by reason of the similarity of his life. We call martyrdom
perfection, not because the man comes to the end of his life as others,
but because he has exhibited the perfect work of love. And the ancients
laud the death of those among the Greeks who died in war, not that they
advised people to die a violent death, but because he who ends his life
in war is released without the dread of dying, severed from the body
without experiencing previous suffering or being enfeebled in his soul,
as the people that suffer in diseases. For they depart in a state of
effeminacy and desiring to live; and therefore they do not yield up the
soul pure, but bearing with it their lusts like weights of lead; all
but those who have been conspicuous in virtue. Some die in battle with
their lusts, these being in no respect different from what they would
have been if they had wasted away by disease.

If the confession to God is martyrdom, each soul which has lived purely
in the knowledge of God, which has obeyed the commandments, is a
witness both by life and word, in whatever way it may be released from
the body,--shedding faith as blood along its whole life till its
departure. For instance, the Lord says in the Gospel, "Whosoever shall
leave father, or mother, or brethren," and so forth, "for the sake of
the Gospel and my name," [2696] he is blessed; not indicating simple
martyrdom, but the gnostic martyrdom, as of the man who has conducted
himself according to the rule of the Gospel, in love to the Lord (for
the knowledge of the Name and the understanding of the Gospel point out
the gnosis, but not the bare appellation), so as to leave his worldly
kindred, and wealth, and every possession, in order to lead a life free
from passion. "Mother" figuratively means country and sustenance;
"fathers" are the laws of civil polity: which must be contemned
thankfully by the high-souled just man; for the sake of being the
friend of God, and of obtaining the right hand in the holy place, as
the Apostles have done.

Then Heraclitus says, "Gods and men honour those slain in battle;" and
Plato in the fifth book of the Republic writes, "Of those who die in
military service, whoever dies after winning renown, shall we not say
that he is chief of the golden race? Most assuredly." But the golden
race is with the gods, who are in heaven, in the fixed sphere, who
chiefly hold command in the providence exercised towards men. Now some
of the heretics who have misunderstood the Lord, have at once an
impious and cowardly love of life; saying that the true martyrdom is
the knowledge of the only true God (which we also admit), and that the
man is a self-murderer and a suicide who makes confession by death; and
adducing other similar sophisms of cowardice. To these we shall reply
at the proper time; for they differ with us in regard to first
principles. Now we, too, say that those who have rushed on death (for
there are some, not belonging to us, but sharing the name merely, who
are in haste to give themselves up, the poor wretches dying through
hatred to the Creator [2697] )--these, we say, banish themselves
without being martyrs, even though they are punished publicly. For they
do not preserve the characteristic mark of believing martyrdom,
inasmuch as they have not known the only true God, but give themselves
up to a vain death, as the Gymnosophists of the Indians to useless
fire.

But since these falsely named [2698] calumniate the body, let them
learn that the harmonious mechanism of the body contributes to the
understanding which leads to goodness of nature. Wherefore in the third
book of the Republic, Plato, whom they appeal to loudly as an authority
that disparages generation, says, "that for the sake of harmony of
soul, care must be taken for the body," by which, he who announces the
proclamation of the truth, finds it possible to live, and to live well.
For it is by the path of life and health that we learn gnosis. But is
he who cannot advance to the height without being occupied with
necessary things, and through them doing what tends to knowledge, not
to choose to live well? In living, then, living well is secured. And he
who in the body has devoted himself to a good life, is being sent on to
the state of immortality.
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[2696] Matt. xix. 29.
[2697] Demiurgus.
[2698] [hoi pseudonumoi, i.e., the gnostic heretics. Clement does not approve of the surrender of a good name to false pretenders.]
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Chapter V.--On Contempt for Pain, Poverty, and Other External Things.

Fit objects for admiration are the Stoics, who say that the soul is not
affected by the body, either to vice by disease, or to virtue by
health; but both these things, they say, are indifferent. And indeed
Job, through exceeding continence, and excellence of faith, when from
rich he became poor, from being held in honour dishonoured, from being
comely unsightly, and sick from being healthy, is depicted as a good
example, putting the Tempter to shame, blessing his Creator; bearing
what came second, as the first, and most clearly teaching that it is
possible for the gnostic to make an excellent use of all circumstances.
And that ancient achievements are proposed as images for our
correction, the apostle shows, when he says, "So that my bonds in
Christ are become manifest in all the palace, and to all the rest; and
several of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are
much more bold to speak the word of God without fear," [2699] --since
martyrs' testimonies are examples of conversion gloriously sanctified.
"For what things the Scripture speaks were written for our instruction,
that we, through patience and the consolation of the Scriptures, might
have the hope of consolation." [2700] When pain is present, the soul
appears to decline from it, and to deem release from present pain a
precious thing. At that moment it slackens from studies, when the other
virtues also are neglected. And yet we do not say that it is virtue
itself which suffers, for virtue is not affected by disease. But he who
is partaker of both, of virtue and the disease, is afflicted by the
pressure of the latter; and if he who has not yet attained the habit of
self-command be not a high-souled man, he is distraught; and the
inability to endure it is found equivalent to fleeing from it.

The same holds good also in the case of poverty. For it compels the
soul to desist from necessary things, I mean contemplation and from
pure sinlessness, forcing him, who has not wholly dedicated himself to
God in love, to occupy himself about provisions; as, again, health and
abundance of necessaries keep the soul free and unimpeded, and capable
of making a good use of what is at hand. "For," says the apostle, "such
shall have trouble in the flesh. But I spare you. For I would have you
without anxiety, in order to decorum and assiduity for the Lord,
without distraction." [2701]

These things, then, are to be abstained from, not for their own sakes,
but for the sake of the body; and care for the body is exercised for
the sake of the soul, to which it has reference. For on this account it
is necessary for the man who lives as a gnostic to know what is
suitable. Since the fact that pleasure is not a good thing is admitted
from the fact that certain pleasures are evil, by this reason good
appears evil, and evil good. And then, if we choose some pleasures and
shun others, it is not every pleasure that is a good thing.

Similarly, also, the same rule holds with pains, some of which we
endure, and others we shun. But choice and avoidance are exercised
according to knowledge; so that it is not pleasure that is the good
thing, but knowledge by which we shall choose a pleasure at a certain
time, and of a certain kind. Now the martyr chooses the pleasure that
exists in prospect through the present pain. If pain is conceived as
existing in thirst, and pleasure in drinking, the pain that has
preceded becomes the efficient cause of pleasure. But evil cannot be
the efficient cause of good. Neither, then, is the one thing nor the
other evil. Simonides accordingly (as also Aristotle) writes, "that to
be in good health is the best thing, and the second best thing is to be
handsome, and the third best thing is to be rich without cheating."

And Theognis of Megara says:--


"You must, to escape poverty, throw

Yourself, O Cyrnus, down from

The steep rocks into the deep sea."

On the other hand, Antiphanes, the comic poet, says, "Plutus (Wealth),
when it has taken hold of those who see better than others, makes them
blind." Now by the poets he is proclaimed as blind from his birth:--


"And brought him forth blind who saw not the sun."

Says the Chalcidian Euphorion:--


"Riches, then, and extravagant luxuries,

Were for men the worst training for manliness."

Wrote Euripides in Alexander:--


"And it is said,

Penury has attained wisdom through misfortune;

But much wealth will capture not

Sparta alone, but every city."

"It is not then the only coin that mortals have, that which is white
silver or golden, but virtue too," as Sophocles says.

Chapter VI.--Some Points in the Beatitudes.

Our holy Saviour applied poverty and riches, and the like, both to
spiritual things and objects of sense. For when He said, "Blessed are
they that are persecuted for righteousness' sake," [2702] He clearly
taught us in every circumstance to seek for the martyr who, if poor for
righteousness' sake, witnesses that the righteousness which he loves is
a good thing; and if he "hunger and thirst for righteousness' sake,"
testifies that righteousness is the best thing. Likewise he, that weeps
and mourns for righteousness' sake, testifies to the best law that it
is beautiful. As, then, "those that are persecuted," so also "those
that hunger and thirst" for righteousness' sake, are called "blessed"
by Him who approves of the true desire, which not even famine can put a
stop to. And if "they hunger after righteousness itself," they are
blessed. "And blessed are the poor," whether "in spirit" or in
circumstance"--that is, if for righteousness' sake. It is not the poor
simply, but those that have wished to become poor for righteousness'
sake, that He pronounces blessed--those who have despised the honours
of this world in order to attain "the good;" likewise also those who,
through chastity, have become comely in person and character, and those
who are of noble birth, and honourable, having through righteousness
attained to adoption, and therefore "have received power to become the
sons of God," [2703] and "to tread on serpents and scorpions," and to
rule over demons and "the host of the adversary." [2704] And, in fine,
the Lord's discipline [2705] draws the soul away gladly from the body,
even if it wrench itself away in its removal. "For he that loveth his
life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life shall find it," [2706]
if we only join that which is mortal of us with the immortality of God.
It is the will of God [that we should attain] the knowledge of God,
which is the communication of immortality. He therefore, who, in
accordance with the word of repentance, knows his life to be sinful
will lose it--losing it from sin, from which it is wrenched; but losing
it, will find it, according to the obedience which lives again to
faith, but dies to sin. This, then, is what it is "to find one's life,"
"to know one's self."

The conversion, however, which leads to divine things, the Stoics say,
is affected by a change, the soul being changed to wisdom. And Plato:
"On the soul taking a turn to what is better, and a change from a kind
of nocturnal day." Now the philosophers also allow the good man an exit
from life in accordance with reason, in the case of one depriving him
of active exertion, so that the hope of action is no longer left him.
And the judge who compels us to deny Him whom we love, I regard as
showing who is and who is not the friend of God. In that case there is
not left ground for even examining what one prefers--the menaces of man
or the love of God. And abstinence from vicious acts is found, somehow,
[to result in] the diminution and extinction of vicious propensities,
their energy being destroyed by inaction. And this is the import of
"Sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and come, follow Me" [2707]
--that is, follow what is said by the Lord. Some say that by what "thou
hast" He designated the things in the soul, of a nature not akin to it,
though how these are bestowed on the poor they are not able to say. For
God dispenses to all according to desert, His distribution being
righteous. Despising, therefore, the possessions which God apportions
to thee in thy magnificence, comply with what is spoken by me; haste to
the ascent of the Spirit, being not only justified by abstinence from
what is evil, but in addition also perfected, by Christlike
beneficence. [2708] In this instance He convicted the man, who boasted
that he had fulfilled the injunctions of the law, of not loving his
neighbour; and it is by beneficence that the love which, according to
the gnostic ascending scale, is Lord of the Sabbath, proclaims itself.
[2709] We must then, according to my view, have recourse to the word of
salvation neither from fear of punishment nor promise of a gift, but on
account of the good itself. Such, as do so, stand on the right hand of
the sanctuary; but those who think that by the gift of what is
perishable they shall receive in exchange what belongs to immortality
are in the parable of the two brothers called "hirelings." And is there
not some light thrown here on the expression "in the likeness and
image," in the fact that some live according to the likeness of Christ,
while those who stand on the left hand live according to their image?
There are then two things proceeding from the truth, one root lying
beneath both,--the choice being, however, not equal, or rather the
difference that is in the choice not being equal. To choose by way of
imitation differs, as appears to me, from the choice of him who chooses
according to knowledge, as that which is set on fire differs from that
which is illuminated. Israel, then, is the light of the likeness which
is according to the Scripture. But the image is another thing. What
means the parable of Lazarus, by showing the image of the rich and
poor? And what the saying, "No man can serve two masters, God and
Mammon?"--the Lord so terming the love of money. For instance, the
covetous, who were invited, responded not to the invitation to the
supper, not because of their possessing property, but of their
inordinate affection to what they possessed. "The foxes," then, have
holes. He called those evil and earthly men who are occupied about the
wealth which is mined and dug from the ground, foxes. Thus also, in
reference to Herod: "Go, tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and
perform cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be
perfected." [2710] For He applied the name "fowls of the air" to those
who were distinct from the other birds--those really pure, those that
have the power of flying to the knowledge of the heavenly Word. For not
riches only, but also honour, and marriage, and poverty, have ten
thousand cares for him who is unfit for them. [2711] And those cares He
indicated in the parable of the fourfold seed, when He said that "the
seed of the word which fell unto the thorns" and hedges was choked by
them, and could not bring forth fruit. It is therefore necessary to
learn how to make use of every occurrence, so as by a good life,
according to knowledge, to be trained for the state of eternal life.
For it said, "I saw the wicked exalted and towering as the cedars of
Lebanon; and I passed," says the Scripture, "and, lo, he was not; and I
sought him, and his place was not found. Keep innocence, and look on
uprightness: for there is a remnant to the man of peace." [2712] Such
will he be who believes unfeignedly with his whole heart, and is
tranquil in his whole soul. "For the different people honour me with
their lips, but their heart is far from the Lord." [2713] "They bless
with their mouth, but they curse in their heart." [2714] "They loved
Him with their mouth, and lied to Him with their tongue; but their
heart was not right with Him, and they were not faithful to His
covenant." Wherefore "let the false lips become speechless, and let the
Lord destroy the boastful tongue: those who say, We shall magnify our
tongue, and our lips are our own; who is Lord over us? For the
affliction of the poor and the groaning of the needy now will I arise,
saith the Lord; I will set him in safety; I will speak out in his
case." [2715] For it is to the humble that Christ belongs, who do not
exalt themselves against His flock. "Lay not up for yourselves,
therefore, treasures on the earth, where moth and rust destroy, and
thieves break through and steal," [2716] says the Lord, in reproach
perchance of the covetous, and perchance also of those who are simply
anxious and full of cares, and those too who indulge their bodies. For
amours, and diseases, and evil thoughts "break through" the mind and
the whole man. But our true "treasure" is where what is allied to our
mind is, since it bestows the communicative power of righteousness,
showing that we must assign to the habit of our old conversation what
we have acquired by it, and have recourse to God, beseeching mercy. He
is, in truth, "the bag that waxeth not old," the provisions of eternal
life, "the treasure that faileth not in heaven." [2717] "For I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy," [2718] saith the Lord. And they
say those things to those who wish to be poor for righteousness' sake.
For they have heard in the commandment that "the broad and wide way
leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in by it." [2719] It
is not of anything else that the assertion is made, but of profligacy,
and love of women, and love of glory, and ambition, and similar
passions. For so He says, "Fool, this night shall thy soul be required
of thee; and whose shall those things be which thou hast prepared?"
[2720] And the commandment is expressed in these very words, "Take
heed, therefore, of covetousness. For a man's life does not consist in
the abundance of those things which he possesses. For what shall it
profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" [2721] "Wherefore I
say, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for your
body, what ye shall put on. For your life is more than meat, and your
body than raiment." [2722] And again, "For your Father knoweth that ye
have need of all these things." "But seek first the kingdom of heaven,
and its righteousness," for these are the great things, and the things
which are small and appertain to this life "shall be added to you."
[2723] Does He not plainly then exhort us to follow the gnostic life,
and enjoin us to seek the truth in word and deed? Therefore Christ, who
trains the soul, reckons one rich, not by his gifts, but by his choice.
It is said, therefore, that Zaccheus, or, according to some, Matthew,
the chief of the publicans, on hearing that the Lord had deigned to
come to him, said, "Lord, and if I have taken anything by false
accusation, I restore him fourfold;" on which the Saviour said, "The
Son of man, on coming to-day, has found that which was lost." [2724]
Again, on seeing the rich cast into the treasury according to their
wealth, and the widow two mites, He said "that the widow had cast in
more than they all," for "they had contributed of their abundance, but
she of her destitution." And because He brought all things to bear on
the discipline of the soul, He said, "Blessed are the meek: for they
shall inherit the earth." [2725] And the meek are those who have
quelled the battle of unbelief in the soul, the battle of wrath, and
lust, and the other forms that are subject to them. And He praises
those meek by choice, not by necessity. For there are with the Lord
both rewards and "many mansions," corresponding to men's lives.
"Whosoever shall receive," says He, "a prophet in the name of a
prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward; and whosoever shall receive
a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a
righteous man's reward; and whoso shall receive one of the least of
these my disciples, shall not lose his reward." [2726] And again, the
differences of virtue according to merit, and the noble rewards, He
indicated by the hours unequal in number; and in addition, by the equal
reward given to each of the labourers--that is, salvation, which is
meant by the penny--He indicated the equality of justice; and the
difference of those called He intimated, by those who worked for
unequal portions of time. They shall work, therefore, in accordance
with the appropriate mansions of which they have been deemed worthy as
rewards, being fellow-workers in the ineffable administration and
service. [2727] "Those, then," says Plato, "who seem called to a holy
life, are those who, freed and released from those earthly localities
as from prisons, have reached the pure dwelling-place on high." In
clearer terms again he expresses the same thing: "Those who by
philosophy have been sufficiently purged from those things, live
without bodies entirely for all time. Although they are enveloped in
certain shapes; in the case of some, of air, and others, of fire." He
adds further: "And they reach abodes fairer than those, which it is not
easy, nor is there sufficient time now to describe." Whence with
reason, "blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted;"
[2728] for they who have repented of their former evil life shall
attain to "the calling" (klesin), for this is the meaning of being
comforted (paraklethenai). And there are two styles of penitents.
[2729] That which is more common is fear on account of what is done;
but the other which is more special, the shame which the spirit feels
in itself arising from conscience. Whether then, here or elsewhere (for
no place is devoid of the beneficence of God), He again says, "Blessed
are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." And mercy is not, as
some of the philosophers have imagined, pain on account of others'
calamities, but rather something good, as the prophets say. For it is
said, "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice." [2730] And He [2731]
means by the merciful, not only those who do acts of mercy, but those
who wish to do them, though they be not able; who do as far as purpose
is concerned. For sometimes we wish by the gift of money or by personal
effort to do mercy, as to assist one in want, or help one who is sick,
or stand by one who is in any emergency; and are not able either from
poverty, or disease, or old age (for this also is natural disease), to
carry out our purpose, in reference to the things to which we are
impelled, being unable to conduct them to the end we wished. Those, who
have entertained the wish whose purpose is equal, share in the same
honour with those who have the ability, although others have the
advantage in point of resources. [2732] And since there are two paths
of reaching the perfection of salvation, works and knowledge, He called
the "pure in heart blessed, for they shall see God." [2733] And if we
really look to the truth of the matter, knowledge is the purification
of the leading faculty of the soul, and is a good activity. Some things
accordingly are good in themselves, and others by participation in what
is good, as we say good actions are good. But without things
intermediate which hold the place of material, neither good nor bad
actions are constituted, such I mean as life, and health, and other
necessary things or circumstantials. Pure then as respects corporeal
lusts, and pure in respect of holy thoughts, he means those are, who
attain to the knowledge of God, when the chief faculty of the soul has
nothing spurious to stand in the way of its power. When, therefore, he
who partakes gnostically of this holy quality devotes himself to
contemplation, communing in purity with the divine, he enters more
nearly into the state of impassible identity, so as no longer to have
science and possess knowledge, but to be science and knowledge.

"Blessed, then, are the peacemakers," [2734] who have subdued and tamed
the law which wars against the disposition of the mind, the menaces of
anger, and the baits of lust, and the other passions which war against
the reason; who, having lived in the knowledge both of good works and
true reason, shall be reinstated in adoption, which is dearer. It
follows that the perfect peacemaking is that which keeps unchanged in
all circumstances what is peaceful; calls Providence holy and good; and
has its being in the knowledge of divine and human affairs, by which it
deems the opposites that are in the world to be the fairest harmony of
creation. They also are peacemakers, who teach those who war against
the stratagems of sin to have recourse to faith and peace. And it is
the sum of all virtue, in my opinion, when the Lord teaches us that for
love to God we must gnostically despise death. "Blessed are they," says
He, "who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for they shall be
called the sons of God;" [2735] or, as some of those who transpose the
Gospels [2736] say, "Blessed are they who are persecuted by
righteousness, for they shall be perfect." And, "Blessed are they who
are persecuted for my sake; for they shall have a place where they
shall not be persecuted." And, "Blessed are ye when men shall hate you,
when they shall separate you, when they shall cast out your name as
evil, for the Son of man's sake;" [2737] if we do not detest our
persecutors, and undergo punishments at their hands, not hating them
under the idea that we have been put to trial more tardily than we
looked for; but knowing this also, that every instance of trial is an
occasion for testifying.
__________________________________________________________________
[2699] Phil. i. 13, 14.
[2700] Rom. xv. 4.
[2701] 1 Cor. vii. 28, 32, 35.
[2702] Matt. v. 10.
[2703] John. i. 12.
[2704] Luke x. 19.
[2705] [Canons Apostolical (so called), li. liii. But see [72]Elucidation I.]
[2706] [Matt. x. 39; John xii. 25. S.]
[2707] Matt. xix. 21.
[2708] kuriake eupoiia
[2709] [If love, exerting itself in doing good, overruled the letter of the Sabbatic law, rise to this supremacy of love, which is, of itself, "the fulfilling of the law."]
[2710] Luke xiii. 32.
[2711] [He regards the estate of marriage and the estate of poverty, as gifts redounding to the benefit of those who accept them as such, and adapt themselves to the same, as stewards.]
[2712] Ps. xxxvii. 35-37.
[2713] Isa. xxix. 13 (ho eteros inserted).
[2714] Ps. lxii. 4.
[2715] Ps. xii. 3-5.
[2716] Matt. vi. 19.
[2717] Luke xii. 33.
[2718] Rom. ix. 15.
[2719] Matt. vii. 13.
[2720] Luke xii. 20.
[2721] Matt. xvi. 26.
[2722] Matt. vi. 31; Luke xii. 22, 23.
[2723] Matt. vi. 32, 33; Luke xii. 30, 31.
[2724] Luke xix. 8, 9, 10.
[2725] Matt. v. 5.
[2726] Matt. x. 41, 42.
[2727] Translated as completed, and amended by Heinsius. In the text it is plainly mutilated and corrupt.
[2728] Matt. v. 4.
[2729] [Clement describes the attrition of the schoolmen (which they say suffices) with the contrition exacted by the Gospel. He knows nothing but the latter, as having promise of the Comforter.]
[2730] Hos. vi. 6; Matt. ix. 13, xii. 7.
[2731] [Matt. v. 7. S.]
[2732] [A cheering comment on the widow's mites, and the apostolic principle of 2 Cor. viii. 12.]
[2733] [Matt. v. 8. S.]
[2734] [Matt. v. 9. S].
[2735] Matt. v. 10.
[2736] [Note that thus in the second century there were those (scholiasts) who interlined and transposed the Gospels, in mss.]
[2737] Luke vi. 22.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter VII.--The Blessedness of the Martyr.

Then he who has lied and shown himself unfaithful, and revolted to the
devil's army, in what evil do we think him to be? He belies, therefore,
the Lord, or rather he is cheated of his own hope who believes not God;
and he believes not who does not what He has commanded.

And what? Does not he, who denies the Lord, deny himself? For does he
not rob his Master of His authority, who deprives himself of his
relation to Him? He, then, who denies the Saviour, denies life; for
"the light was life." [2738] He does not term those men of little
faith, but faithless and hypocrites, [2739] who have the name inscribed
on them, but deny that they are really believers. But the faithful is
called both servant and friend. So that if one loves himself, he loves
the Lord, and confesses to salvation that he may save his soul. Though
you die for your neighbour out of love, and regard the Saviour as our
neighbour (for God who saves is said to be nigh in respect to what is
saved); you do so, choosing death on account of life, and suffering for
your own sake rather than his. And is it not for this that he is called
brother? he who, suffering out of love to God, suffered for his own
salvation; while he, on the other hand, who dies for his own salvation,
endures for love to the Lord. For he being life, in what he suffered
wished to suffer that we might live by his suffering.

"Why call ye me Lord, Lord," He says, "and do not the things which I
say?" [2740] For "the people that loveth with their lips, but have
their heart far away from the Lord," [2741] is another people, and
trust in another, and have willingly sold themselves to another; but
those who perform the commandments of the Lord, in every action
"testify," by doing what He wishes, and consistently naming the Lord's
name; and "testifying" by deed to Him in whom they trust, that they are
those "who have crucified the flesh, with the affections and lusts."
"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." [2742] "He
that soweth to his flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he
that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."
[2743]

But to those miserable men, witness to the Lord by blood seems a most
violent death, not knowing that such a gate of death is the beginning
of the true life; and they will understand neither the honours after
death, which belong to those who have lived holily, nor the punishments
of those who have lived unrighteously and impurely. [2744] I do not say
only from our Scriptures (for almost all the commandments indicate
them); but they will not even hear their own discourses. For the
Pythagorean Theano writes, "Life were indeed a feast to the wicked,
who, having done evil, then die; were not the soul immortal, death
would be a godsend." And Plato in the Phaedo, "For if death were
release from everything," and so forth. We are not then to think
according to the Telephus of AEschylus, "that a single path leads to
Hades." The ways are many, and the sins that lead thither. Such deeply
erring ones as the unfaithful are, Aristophanes properly makes the
subjects of comedy. "Come," he says, "ye men of obscure life, ye that
are like the race of leaves, feeble, wax figures, shadowy tribes,
evanescent, fleeting, ephemeral." And Epicharmus, "This nature of men
is inflated skins." And the Saviour has said to us, "The spirit is
willing, but the flesh is weak." [2745] "Because the carnal mind is
enmity against God," explains the apostle: "for it is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed, can be. And they that are in the flesh
cannot please God." And in further explanation continues, that no one
may, like Marcion [2746] regard the creature as evil. "But if Christ be
in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because
of righteousness." And again: "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall
die. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us. If we
suffer with Him, that we also may be glorified together as joint-heirs
of Christ. And we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them that are called according to the purpose. For
whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the
image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren.
And whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called,
them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified."
[2747]

You see that martyrdom for love's sake is taught. And should you wish
to be a martyr for the recompense of advantages, you shall hear again.
"For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what
a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it." [2748] "But if we also
suffer for righteousness' sake," says Peter, "blessed are we. Be not
afraid of their fear, neither be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in
your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to him that asks a
reason of the hope that is in you, but with meekness and fear, having a
good conscience; so that in reference to that for which you are spoken
against, they may be ashamed who calumniate your good conversation in
Christ. For it is better to suffer for well-doing, if the will of God,
than for evil-doing." But if one should captiously say, And how is it
possible for feeble flesh to resist the energies and spirits of the
Powers? [2749] well, let him know this, that, confiding in the Almighty
and the Lord, we war against the principalities of darkness, and
against death. "Whilst thou art yet speaking," He says, "Lo, here am
I." See the invincible Helper who shields us. "Think it not strange,
therefore, concerning the burning sent for your trial, as though some
strange thing happened to you; But, as you are partaken in the
sufferings of Christ, rejoice; that at the revelation of His glory ye
may rejoice exultant. If ye be reproached in the name of Christ, happy
are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth on you." [2750] As
it is written, "Because for Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we
are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we
are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us." [2751]


"What you wish to ascertain from my mind,

You shall not ascertain, not were you to apply

Horrid saws from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet,

Not were you to load me with chains,"

says a woman acting manfully in the tragedy. And Antigone, contemning
the proclamation of Creon, says boldly:--


"It was not Zeus who uttered this proclamation."

But it is God that makes proclamation to us, and He must be believed.
"For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation. Wherefore the Scripture saith,
"Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be put to shame." [2752]
Accordingly Simonides justly writes, "It is said that virtue dwells
among all but inaccessible rocks, but that she speedily traverses a
pure place. Nor is she visible to the eyes of all mortals. He who is
not penetrated by heart-vexing sweat will not scale the summit of
manliness." And Pindar says:--


"But the anxious thoughts of youths, revolving with toils,

Will find glory: and in time their deeds

Will in resplendent ether splendid shine."

AEschylus, too, having grasped this thought, says:--


"To him who toils is due,

As product of his toil, glory from the gods."

"For great Fates attain great destinies," according to Heraclitus:--


"And what slave is there, who is careless of death?"

"For God hath not given us the spirit of bondage again to fear; but of
power, and love, and of a sound mind. Be not therefore ashamed of the
testimony of our Lord, or of me his prisoner," he writes to Timothy.
[2753] Such shall he be "who cleaves to that which is good," according
to the apostle, [2754] "who hates evil, having love unfeigned; for he
that loveth another fulfilleth the law." [2755] If, then, this God, to
whom we bear witness, be as He is, the God of hope, we acknowledge our
hope, speeding on to hope, "saturated with goodness, filled with all
knowledge." [2756]

The Indian sages say to Alexander of Macedon: "You transport men's
bodies from place to place. But you shall not force our souls to do
what we do not wish. Fire is to men the greatest torture, this we
despise." Hence Heraclitus preferred one thing, glory, to all else; and
professes "that he allows the crowd to stuff themselves to satiety like
cattle."


"For on account of the body are many toils,

For it we have invented a roofed house,

And discovered how to dig up silver, and sow the land,

And all the rest which we know by names."

To the multitude, then, this vain labour is desirable. But to us the
apostle says, "Now we know this, that our old man is crucified with
Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should
not serve sin." [2757] Does not the apostle then plainly add the
following, to show the contempt for faith in the case of the multitude?
"For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as appointed
to death: we are made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to
men. Up to this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked,
and are beaten, and are feeble, and labour, working with our hands.
Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we
entreat; we are become as it were the offscourings of the world."
[2758] Such also are the words of Plato in the Republic: [2759] "The
just man, though stretched on the rack, though his eyes are dug out,
will be happy." The Gnostic will never then have the chief end placed
in life, but in being always happy and blessed, and a kingly friend of
God. Although visited with ignominy and exile, and confiscation, and
above all, death, he will never be wrenched from his freedom, and
signal love to God. "The charity which bears all things, endures all
things," [2760] is assured that Divine Providence orders all things
well. "I exhort you," therefore it is said, "Be followers of me." The
first step to salvation [2761] is the instruction accompanied with
fear, in consequence of which we abstain from what is wrong; and the
second is hope, by reason of which we desire the best things; but love,
as is fitting, perfects, by training now according to knowledge. For
the Greeks, I know not how, attributing events to unreasoning
necessity, own that they yield to them unwillingly. Accordingly
Euripides says:--


"What I declare, receive from me, madam:

No mortal exists who has not toil;

He buries children, and begets others,

And he himself dies. And thus mortals are afflicted."

Then he adds:--


"We must bear those things which are inevitable according to nature,
and go through them:

Not one of the things which are necessary is formidable for mortals."

And for those who are aiming at perfection there is proposed the
rational gnosis, the foundation of which is "the sacred Triad." "Faith,
hope, love; but the greatest of these is love." [2762] Truly, "all
things are lawful, but all things are not expedient," says the apostle:
"all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not." [2763] And,
"Let no one seek his own advantage, but also that of his neighbour,"
[2764] so as to be able at once to do and to teach, building and
building up. For that "the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness
thereof," is admitted; but the conscience of the weak is supported.
"Conscience, I say, not his own, but that of the other; for why is my
liberty judged of by another conscience? For if I by grace am partaker,
why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? Whether
therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of
God." [2765] "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the
flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty
through God to the demolition of fortifications, demolishing thoughts,
and every high thing which exalteth itself against the knowledge of
Christ." [2766] Equipped with these weapons, the Gnostic says: O Lord,
give opportunity, and receive demonstration; let this dread event pass;
I contemn dangers for the love I bear to Thee.


"Because alone of human things

Virtue receives not a recompense from without,

But has itself as the reward of its toils."

"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of
mercies, kindness, humbleness, meekness, long-suffering. And above all
these, love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God
reign in your hearts, to which also ye are called in one body; and be
thankful," [2767] ye who, while still in the body, like the just men of
old, enjoy impassibility and tranquillity of soul.
__________________________________________________________________
[2738] John i. 4.
[2739] Matt. vi. 30.
[2740] Luke vi. 46.
[2741] Isa. xxix. 15.
[2742] Gal. v. 24, 25.
[2743] Gal. vi. 8.
[2744] [This is important testimony as to the primitive understanding of the awards of a future life.]
[2745] Matt. xxvi. 41.
[2746] [See book iii., cap iii., supra.]
[2747] Rom. viii. 7, 8, 10, 13, 17, 18, 28, 29, 30.
[2748] Rom. vii. 24, 25.
[2749] In allusion to Eph. vi. 12.
[2750] 1 Pet. iv. 12, 13, 14.
[2751] Rom. viii. 36, 37.
[2752] Rom. x. 10, 11.
[2753] 2 Tim. i. 7, 8; Rom. viii. 15.
[2754] Rom. xii. 9.
[2755] Rom. xiii. 8.
[2756] Instead of megistoi, read from Rom. xv. 13, 14, mestoi.
[2757] Rom. vi. 6.
[2758] 1 Cor. iv. 9, 11, 12, 13.
[2759] [ii. 5. Compare Cicero's Rep., iii. 17.]
[2760] 1 Cor. xiii. 7.
[2761] For somatos read oterias.
[2762] 1 Cor. xiii. 13. [Not without allusion to the grand Triad, however. p. 101, this volume.]
[2763] 1 Cor. x. 23.
[2764] 1 Cor. x. 24.
[2765] 1 Cor. x. 26, 28, 29, 30, 31.
[2766] 2 Cor. x. 3, 4, 5.
[2767] Col. iii. 12, 14, 15.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter VIII.--Women as Well as Men, Slaves as Well as Freemen, Candidates for the Martyr's Crown.

Since, then, not only the AEsopians, and Macedonians, and the
Lacedaemonians endured when subjected to torture, as Eratosthenes says
in his work, On Things Good and Evil; but also Zeno of Elea, when
subjected to compulsion to divulge a secret, held out against the
tortures, and confessed nothing; who, when expiring, bit out his tongue
and spat it at the tyrant, whom some term Nearchus, and some Demulus.
Theodotus the Pythagorean acted also similarly, and Paulus the friend
of Lacydes, as Timotheus of Pergamus says in his work on The Fortitude
of Philosophers, and Achaicus in The Ethics. Posthumus also, the Roman,
when captured by Peucetion, did not divulge a single secret; but
putting his hand on the fire, held it to it as if to a piece of brass,
without moving a muscle of his face. I omit the case of Anaxarchus, who
exclaimed, "Pound away at the sack which holds Anaxarchus, for it is
not Anaxarchus you are pounding," when by the tyrant's orders he was
being pounded with iron pestles. Neither, then, the hope of happiness
nor the love of God takes what befalls ill, but remains free, although
thrown among the wildest beasts or into the all-devouring fire; though
racked with a tyrant's tortures. Depending as it does on the divine
favour, it ascends aloft unenslaved, surrendering the body to those who
can touch it alone. A barbarous nation, not cumbered with philosophy,
select, it is said, annually an ambassador to the hero Zamolxis.
Zamolxis was one of the disciples of Pythagoras. The one, then, who is
judged of the most sterling worth is put to death, to the distress of
those who have practiced philosophy, but have not been selected, at
being reckoned unworthy of a happy service.

So the Church is full of those, as well chaste women as men, who all
their life have contemplated the death which rouses up to Christ.
[2768] For the individual whose life is framed as ours is, may
philosophize without Learning, whether barbarian, whether Greek,
whether slave--whether an old man, or a boy, or a woman. [2769] For
self-control is common to all human beings who have made choice of it.
And we admit that the same nature exists in every race, and the same
virtue. As far as respects human nature, the woman does not possess one
nature, and the man exhibit another, but the same: so also with virtue.
If, consequently, a self-restraint and righteousness, and whatever
qualities are regarded as following them, is the virtue of the male, it
belongs to the male alone to be virtuous, and to the woman to be
licentious and unjust. But it is offensive even to say this.
Accordingly woman is to practice self-restraint and righteousness, and
every other virtue, as well as man, both bond and free; since it is a
fit consequence that the same nature possesses one and the same virtue.
[2770] We do not say that woman's nature is the same as man's, as she
is woman. For undoubtedly it stands to reason that some difference
should exist between each of them, in virtue of which one is male and
the other female. Pregnancy and parturition, accordingly, we say belong
to woman, as she is woman, and not as she is a human being. But if
there were no difference between man and woman, both would do and
suffer the same things. As then there is sameness, as far as respects
the soul, she will attain to the same virtue; but as there is
difference as respects the peculiar construction of the body, she is
destined for child-bearing and housekeeping. "For I would have you
know," says the apostle, "that the head of every man is Christ; and the
head of the woman is the man: for the man is not of the woman, but the
woman of the man. For neither is the woman without the man, nor the man
without the woman, in the Lord." [2771] For as we say that the man
ought to be continent, and superior to pleasures; so also we reckon
that the woman should be continent and practiced in fighting against
pleasures. "But I say, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the
lusts of the flesh," counsels the apostolic command; "for the flesh
lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. These,
then, are contrary" (not as good to evil, but as fighting
advantageously), he adds therefore, so that ye cannot do the things
that ye would. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are,
fornication uncleanness, profligacy, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities,
strifes, jealousies, wrath, contentions, dissensions, heresies,
envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of which I tell you
before, as I have also said before, that they which do such things
shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, temperance, goodness,
faith, meekness." [2772] He calls sinners, as I think, "flesh," and the
righteous "spirit." Further, manliness is to be assumed in order to
produce confidence and forbearance, so as "to him that strikes on the
one cheek, to give to him the other; and to him that takes away the
cloak, to yield to him the coat also," strongly, restraining anger. For
we do not train our women like Amazons to manliness in war; since we
wish the men even to be peaceable. I hear that the Sarmatian women
practice war no less than the men; and the women of the Sacae besides,
who shoot backwards, feigning flight as well as the men. I am aware,
too, that the women near Iberia practice manly work and toil, not
refraining from their tasks even though near their delivery; but even
in the very struggle of her pains, the woman, on being delivered,
taking up the infant, carries it home. Further, the females no less
than the males manage the house, and hunt, and keep the flocks:--


"Cressa the hound ran keenly in the stag's track."

Women are therefore to philosophize equally with men, though the males
are preferable at everything, unless they have become effeminate.
[2773] To the whole human race, then, discipline and virtue are a
necessity, if they would pursue after happiness. And how recklessly
Euripides writes sometimes this and sometimes that! On one occasion,
"For every wife is inferior to her husband, though the most excellent
one marry her that is of fair fame." And on another:--


"For the chaste is her husband's slave,

While she that is unchaste in her folly despises her consort.

.  .  .  .  For nothing is better and more excellent,

Than when as husband and wife ye keep house,

Harmonious in your sentiments."

The ruling power is therefore the head. And if "the Lord is head of the
man, and the man is head of the woman," the man, "being the image and
glory of God, is lord of the woman." [2774] Wherefore also in the
Epistle to the Ephesians it is written, "Subjecting yourselves one to
another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves to your own
husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also
Christ is the head of the Church; and He is the Saviour of the body.
Husbands, love your wives, as also Christ loved the Church. So also
ought men to love their wives as their own bodies: he that loveth his
wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh." [2775]
And in that to the Colossians it is said, "Wives, submit yourselves to
your own husbands, as is fit in the Lord. [2776] Husbands, love your
wives, and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in
all things; for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, provoke not
your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Servants, be obedient
in all things to those who are your masters according to the flesh; not
with eye-service, as men-pleasers; but with singleness of heart,
fearing the Lord. And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as serving the
Lord and not men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward
of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer
shall receive the wrong, which he hath done; and there is no respect of
persons. Masters, render to your servants justice and equity; knowing
that ye also have a Master in heaven, where there is neither Greek nor
Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond, free:
but Christ is all, and in all." [2777] And the earthly Church is the
image of the heavenly, as we pray also "that the will of God may be
done upon the earth as in heaven." [2778] "Putting on, therefore,
bowels of mercy, gentleness, humbleness, meekness, long-suffering;
forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if one have a
quarrel against any man; as also Christ hath forgiven us, so also let
us. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of
perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which ye
are called in one body; and be thankful." [2779] For there is no
obstacle to adducing frequently the same Scripture in order to put
Marcion [2780] to the blush, if perchance he be persuaded and
converted; by learning that the faithful ought to be grateful to God
the Creator, who hath called us, and who preached the Gospel in the
body. From these considerations the unity of the faith is clear, and it
is shown who is the perfect man; so that though some are reluctant, and
offer as much resistance as they can, though menaced with punishments
at the hand of husband or master, both the domestic and the wife will
philosophize. Moreover, the free, though threatened with death at a
tyrant's hands, and brought before the tribunals, and all his
substances imperilled, will by no means abandon piety; nor will the
wife who dwells with a wicked husband, or the son if he has a bad
father, or the domestic if he has a bad master, ever fail in holding
nobly to virtue. But as it is noble for a man to die for virtue, and
for liberty, and for himself, so also is it for a woman. For this is
not peculiar to the nature of males, but to the nature of the good.
Accordingly, both the old man, the young, and the servant will live
faithfully, and if need be die; which will be to be made alive by
death. So we know that both children, and women, and servants have
often, against their fathers', and masters', and husbands' will,
reached the highest degree of excellence. Wherefore those who are
determined to live piously ought none the less to exhibit alacrity,
when some seem to exercise compulsion on them; but much more, I think,
does it become them to show eagerness, and to strive with uncommon
vigour, lest, being overcome, they abandon the best and most
indispensable counsels. For it does not, I think, admit of comparison,
whether it be better to be a follower of the Almighty than to choose
the darkness of demons. For the things which are done by us on account
of others we are to do always, endeavouring to have respect to those
for whose sake it is proper that they be done, regarding the
gratification rendered in their case, as what is to be our rule; but
the things which are done for our own sake rather than that of others,
are to be done with equal earnestness, whether they are like to please
certain people or not. If some indifferent things have obtained such
honour as to appear worthy of adoption, though against the will of
some; much more is virtue to be regarded by us as worth contending for,
looking the while to nothing but what can be rightly done, whether it
seem good to others or not. Well then, Epicurus, writing to Menoeceus,
says, "Let not him who is young delay philosophizing, and let not the
old man grow weary of philosophizing; for no one is either not of age
or past age for attending to the health of his soul. And he who says
that the time for philosophizing is not come or is past, is like the
man who says that the time for happiness is not come or has gone. So
that young [2781] as well as old ought to philosophize: the one, in
order that, while growing old, he may grow young in good things out of
favour accruing from what is past; and the other, that he may be at
once young and old, from want of fear for the future."
__________________________________________________________________
[2768] [The Edin. Translator says "courted the death;" but surely (meletesanton) the original merely states the condition of Christians in the second century, "dying daily," and accepting in daily contemplation the very probable death "by which they should glorify God."]
[2769] [Note the Catholic democracy of Christianity, which levels up and not downward.]
[2770] [This vindication of the equality of the sexes is a comment on what the Gospel found woman's estate, and on what it created for her among Christians.]
[2771] 1 Cor. xi. 3, 8, 11.
[2772] [Gal. v. 16, 17, 19-23. S.]
[2773] [The Edin. Trans. has "best at everything," but I have corrected it in closer accord with the comparative degree in the Greek.]
[2774] 1 Cor. xi. 3, 7.
[2775] Eph. v. 21-29.
[2776] [It is a sad token of our times that some women resent this law of the Christian family. In every society there must be presidency even among equals; and even Christ, though "equal to the Father," in the Catholic theology, is yet subordinate. See Bull, Defens. Fid., Nicaen. Works, vol. v. p. 685.]
[2777] Col. iii. 18-25, iv. 1, iii. 11.
[2778] Matt. vi. 10.
[2779] Col. iii. 12-15. [Again let us note this Catholic democracy of the Christian brotherhood (see p. 416, supra), for which indeed we should be thankful as Christ's freemen.]
[2780] [Book iii. cap. iii., supra.]
[2781] [He who studies the Sapiential books of the Bible and Apocrypha and the Sermon on the Mount, is a philosopher of the sort here commended.]
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter IX.--Christ's Sayings Respecting Martyrdom.

On martyrdom the Lord hath spoken explicitly, and what is written in
different places we bring together. "But I say unto you, Whosoever
shall confess in Me before men, the Son of man also shall confess
before the angels of God; but whosoever shall deny Me before men, him
will I deny before the angels." [2782] "Whosoever shall be ashamed of
Me or of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him
shall the Son of man also be ashamed when He cometh in the glory of His
Father with His angels. Whosoever therefore shall confess in Me before
men, him will I also confess before my Father in heaven. [2783] "And
when they bring you before synagogues, and rulers, and powers, think
not beforehand how ye shall make your defence, or what ye shall say.
For the Holy Spirit shall teach you in the same hour what ye must say."
[2784] In explanation of this passage, Heracleon, the most
distinguished of the school of Valentinians, says expressly, "that
there is a confession by faith and conduct, and one with the voice. The
confession that is made with the voice, and before the authorities, is
what the most reckon the only confession. Not soundly: and hypocrites
also can confess with this confession. But neither will this utterance
be found to be spoken universally; for all the saved have confessed
with the confession made by the voice, and departed. [2785] Of whom are
Matthew, Philip, Thomas, Levi, and many others. And confession by the
lip is not universal, but partial. But that which He specifies now is
universal, that which is by deeds and actions corresponding to faith in
Him. This confession is followed by that which is partial, that before
the authorities, if necessary, and reason dictate. For he will confess
rightly with his voice who has first confessed by his disposition.
[2786] And he has well used, with regard to those who confess, the
expression in Me,' and applied to those who deny the expression Me.'
For those, though they confess Him with the voice, yet deny Him, not
confessing Him in their conduct. But those alone confess in Him,' who
live in the confession and conduct according to Him, in which He also
confesses, who is contained in them and held by them. Wherefore He
never can deny Himself.' And those deny Him who are not in Him. For He
said not, Whosoever shall deny' in Me, but Me.' For no one who is in
Him will ever deny Him. And the expression before men' applies both to
the saved and the heathen similarly by conduct before the one, and by
voice before the other. Wherefore they never can deny Him. But those
deny Him who are not in Him." So far Heracleon. And in other things he
seems to be of the same sentiments with us in this section; but he has
not adverted to this, that if some have not by conduct and in their
life "confessed Christ before men," they are manifested to have
believed with the heart; by confessing Him with the mouth at the
tribunals, and not denying Him when tortured to the death. And the
disposition being confessed, and especially not being changed by death
at any time, cuts away all passions which were engendered by corporeal
desire. For there is, so to speak, at the close of life a sudden
repentance in action, and a true confession toward Christ, in the
testimony of the voice. But if the Spirit of the Father testifies in
us, how can we be any more hypocrites, who are said to bear testimony
with the voice alone? But it will be given to some, if expedient, to
make a defence, that by their witness and confession all may be
benefited--those in the Church being confirmed, and those of the
heathen who have devoted themselves to the search after salvation
wondering and being led to the faith; and the rest seized with
amazement. So that confession is by all means necessary. [2787] For it
is in our power. But to make a defence for our faith is not universally
necessary. For that does not depend on us. "But he that endureth to the
end shall be saved." For who of those who are wise would not choose to
reign in God, and even to serve? So some "confess that they know God,"
according to the apostle; "but in works they deny Him, being abominable
and disobedient, and to every good work reprobate." [2788] And these,
though they confess nothing but this, will have done at the end one
good work. Their witness, then, appears to be the cleansing away of
sins with glory. For instance, the Shepherd [2789] says: "You will
escape the energy of the wild beast, if your heart become pure and
blameless." Also the Lord Himself says: "Satan hath desired to sift
you; but I have prayed." [2790] Alone, therefore, the Lord, for the
purification of the men who plotted against Him and disbelieved Him,
"drank the cup;" in imitation of whom the apostles, that they might be
in reality Gnostics, and perfect, suffered for the Churches which they
founded. So, then, also the Gnostics who tread in the footsteps of the
apostles ought to be sinless, and, out of love to the Lord, to love
also their brother; so that, if occasion call, enduring without
stumbling, afflictions for the Church, "they may drink the cup." Those
who witness in their life by deed, and at the tribunal by word, whether
entertaining hope or surmising fear, are better than those who confess
salvation by their mouth alone. But if one ascend also to love, he is a
really blessed and true martyr, having confessed perfectly both to the
commandments and to God, by the Lord; whom having loved, he
acknowledged a brother, giving himself up wholly for God, resigning
pleasantly and lovingly the man when asked, like a deposit. [2791]
__________________________________________________________________
[2782] Luke xii. 8.
[2783] Matt. x. 32.
[2784] Luke xii. 11, 12.
[2785] [Rom. x. 10. The indifference of our times is based on an abuse of the principle that God sees the heart, and needs no public (sacramental) profession of faith. Had this been Christ's teaching, there would have been no martyrs and no visible Church to hand down the faith.]
[2786] [Rom. x. 10. The indifference of our times is based on an abuse of the principle that God sees the heart, and needs no public (sacramental) profession of faith. Had this been Christ's teaching, there would have been no martyrs and no visible Church to hand down the faith.]
[2787] [Absolutely necessary (i.e., open profession of Chirst) to the conversion of others, and the perpetuation of the Christian Church.]
[2788] Tit. i. 16.
[2789] [See p. 18, this volume.]
[2790] Luke xxii. 31, 32.
[2791] [As a reflection of the condition and fidelity of Christians, still "sheep for the slaughter." At such a period the tone and argument of this touching chapter are suggestive.]
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter X.--Those Who Offered Themselves for Martyrdom Reproved.

When, again, He says, "When they persecute you in this city, flee ye to
the other," [2792] He does not advise flight, as if persecution were an
evil thing; nor does He enjoin them by flight to avoid death, as if in
dread of it, but wishes us neither to be the authors nor abettors of
any evil to any one, either to ourselves or the persecutor and
murderer. For He, in a way, bids us take care of ourselves. But he who
disobeys is rash and foolhardy. If he who kills a man of God sins
against God, he also who presents himself before the judgment-seat
becomes guilty of his death. And such is also the case with him who
does not avoid persecution, but out of daring presents himself for
capture. Such a one, as far as in him lies, becomes an accomplice in
the crime of the persecutor. And if he also uses provocation, he is
wholly guilty, challenging the wild beast. And similarly, if he afford
any cause for conflict or punishment, or retribution or enmity, he
gives occasion for persecution. Wherefore, then, we are enjoined not to
cling to anything that belongs to this life; but "to him that takes our
cloak to give our coat," not only that we may continue destitute of
inordinate affection, but that we may not by retaliating make our
persecutors savage against ourselves, and stir them up to blaspheme the
name. [2793]
__________________________________________________________________
[2792] Matt. x. 23.
[2793] [An excellent rendering, which the Latin translator misses (see ed. Migne, ad loc.), the reference being to Jas. ii. 7.]
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XI.--The Objection, Why Do You Suffer If God Cares for You, Answered.

But, say they, if God cares for you, why are you persecuted and put to
death? Has He delivered you to this? No, we do not suppose that the
Lord wishes us to be involved in calamities, but that He foretold
prophetically what would happen--that we should be persecuted for His
name's sake, slaughtered, and impaled. So that it was not that He
wished us to be persecuted, but He intimated beforehand what we shall
suffer by the prediction of what would take place, training us to
endurance, to which He promised the inheritance, although we are
punished not alone, but along with many. But those, it is said, being
malefactors, are righteously punished. Accordingly, they unwillingly
bear testimony to our righteousness, we being unjustly punished for
righteousness' sake. But the injustice of the judge does not affect the
providence of God. For the judge must be master of his own opinion--not
pulled by strings, like inanimate machines, set in motion only by
external causes. Accordingly he is judged in respect to his judgment,
as we also, in accordance with our choice of things desirable, and our
endurance. Although we do not wrong, yet the judge looks on us as doing
wrong, for he neither knows nor wishes to know about us, but is
influenced by unwarranted prejudice; wherefore also he is judged.
[2794] Accordingly they persecute us, not from the supposition that we
are wrong-doers, but imagining that by the very fact of our being
Christians we sin against life in so conducting ourselves, and
exhorting others to adopt the like life.

But why are you not helped when persecuted? say they. What wrong is
done us, as far as we are concerned, in being released by death to go
to the Lord, and so undergoing a change of life, as if a change from
one time of life to another? Did we think rightly, we should feel
obliged to those who have afforded the means for speedy departure, if
it is for love that we bear witness; and if not, we should appear to
the multitude to be base men. Had they also known the truth, all would
have bounded on to the way, and there would have been no choice. But
our faith, being the light of the world, reproves unbelief. "Should
Anytus and Melitus kill me, they will not hurt me in the least; for I
do not think it right for the better to be hurt by the worse," [says
Socrates]. So that each one of us may with confidence say, "The Lord is
my helper; I will not fear: what shall man do to me?" [2795] "For the
souls of the righteous are in the hand of the Lord, and no plague shall
touch them." [2796]
__________________________________________________________________
[2794] [Self-condemned. A pathetic description of the indifference of the Roman law to the rights of the people. Pilates all were these judges of Christ's followers or Gallios at best.]
[2795] Ps. cxviii. 6.
[2796] Wisd. iii. 1. [This is pronounced canonical Scripture by the Trent theology, and yet the same theology asserts a purgatory to which none but the faithful are committed.]
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XII.--Basilides' Idea of Martyrdom Refuted.

Basilides, in the twenty-third book of the Exegetics, respecting those
that are punished by martyrdom, expresses himself in the following
language: "For I say this, Whosoever fall under the afflictions
mentioned, in consequence of unconsciously transgressing in other
matters, are brought to this good end by the kindness of Him who brings
them, but accused on other grounds; so that they may not suffer as
condemned for what are owned to be iniquities, nor reproached as the
adulterer or the murderer, but because they are Christians; which will
console them, so that they do not appear to suffer. And if one who has
not sinned at all incur suffering--a rare case--yet even he will not
suffer aught through the machinations of power, but will suffer as the
child which seems not to have sinned would suffer." Then further on he
adds: "As, then, the child which has not sinned before, or committed
actual sin in itself, but has that which committed sin, when subjected
to suffering, gets good, reaping the advantage of many difficulties; so
also, although a perfect man may not have sinned in act, while he
endures afflictions, he suffers similarly with the child. Having within
him the sinful principle, but not embracing the opportunity of
committing sin, he does not sin; so that he is not to be reckoned as
not having sinned. For as he who wishes to commit adultery is an
adulterer, although he does not succeed in committing adultery; and he
that wishes to commit murder is a murderer, although he is unable to
kill; so also, if I see the man without sin, whom I specify, suffering,
though he have done nothing bad, I should call him bad, on account of
his wishing to sin. For I will affirm anything rather than call
Providence evil." Then, in continuation, he says expressly concerning
the Lord, as concerning man: "If then, passing from all these
observations, you were to proceed to put me to shame by saying,
perchance impersonating certain parties, This man has then sinned; for
this man has suffered;--if you permit, I will say, He has not sinned;
but was like a child suffering. If you were to insist more urgently, I
would say, That the man you name is man, but that God is righteous:
"For no one is pure," as one said, from pollution.'" [2797] But the
hypothesis of Basilides [2798] says that the soul, having sinned before
in another life, endures punishment in this--the elect soul with honour
by martyrdom, the other purged by appropriate punishment. How can this
be true, when the confessing and suffering punishment or not depends on
ourselves? For in the case of the man who shall deny, Providence, as
held by Basilides, is done away with. I will ask him, then, in the case
of a confessor who has been arrested, whether he will confess and be
punished in virtue of Providence or not? For in the case of denying he
will not be punished. But if, for the sake of escaping and evading the
necessity of punishing such an one, he shall say that the destruction
of those who shall deny is of Providence, he will be a martyr against
his will. And how any more is it the case, that there is laid up in
heaven the very glorious recompense to him who has witnessed, for his
witnessing? If Providence did not permit the sinner to get the length
of sinning, it is unjust in both cases; both in not rescuing the man
who is dragged to punishment for righteousness' sake, and in having
rescued him who wished to do wrong, he having done it as far as
volition was concerned, but [Providence] having prevented the deed, and
unjustly favoured the sinner. And how impious, in deifying the devil,
and in daring to call the Lord a sinful man! For the devil tempting us,
knowing what we are, but not knowing if we will hold out, but wishing
to dislodge us from the faith, attempts also to bring us into
subjection to himself. Which is all that is allowed to him, partly from
the necessity of saving us, who have taken occasion from the
commandment, from ourselves; partly for the confusion of him who has
tempted and failed; for the confirmation of the members of the Church,
and the conscience of those who admire the constancy [displayed]. But
if martyrdom be retribution by way of punishment, then also faith and
doctrine, on account of which martyrdom comes, are co-operators in
punishment--than which, what other absurdity could be greater? But with
reference to these dogmas, whether the soul is changed to another body,
also of the devil, at the proper time mention will be made. But at
present, to what has been already said, let us add the following: Where
any more is faith in the retribution of sins committed before martyrdom
takes place? And where is love to God, which is persecuted and endures
for the truth? And where is the praise of him who has confessed, or the
censure of him who has denied? And for what use is right conduct, the
mortification of the lusts, and the hating of no creature? But if, as
Basilides himself says, we suppose one part of the declared will of God
to be the loving of all things because all things bear a relation to
the whole, and another "not to lust after anything," and a third "not
to hate anything," by the will of God these also will be punishments,
which it were impious to think. For neither did the Lord suffer by the
will of the Father, nor are those who are persecuted persecuted by the
will of God; since either of two things is the case: either persecution
in consequence of the will of God is a good thing, or those who decree
and afflict are guiltless. But nothing is without the will of the Lord
of the universe. It remains to say that such things happen without the
prevention of God; for this alone saves both the providence and the
goodness of God. We must not therefore think that He actively produces
afflictions (far be it that we should think this!); but we must be
persuaded that He does not prevent those that cause them, but overrules
for good the crimes of His enemies: "I will therefore," He says,
"destroy the wall, and it shall be for treading under foot." [2799]
Providence being a disciplinary art; [2800] in the case of others for
each individual's sins, and in the case of the Lord and His apostles
for ours. To this point says the divine apostle: "For this is the will
of God, even your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication:
that each one of you should know how to possess his vessel in
sanctification and honour; not in the lust of concupiscence, as the
Gentiles who know not the Lord: that none of you should overreach or
take advantage of his brother in any matter; because the Lord is the
avenger in respect of all such, as we also told you before, and
testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but to
holiness. Wherefore he that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who
hath also given His Holy Spirit to you." [2801] Wherefore the Lord was
not prohibited from this sanctification of ours. If, then, one of them
were to say, in reply, that the martyr is punished for sins committed
before this embodying, and that he will again reap the fruit of his
conduct in this life, for that such are the arrangements of the [divine
administration], we shall ask him if the retribution takes place by
Providence. For if it be not of the divine administration, the economy
of expiations is gone, and their hypothesis falls to the ground; but if
expiations are by Providence, punishments are by Providence too. But
Providence, although it begins, so to speak, to move with the Ruler,
yet is implanted in substances along with their origin by the God of
the universe. Such being the case, they must confess either that
punishment is not just, and those who condemn and persecute the martyrs
do right, or that persecutions even are wrought by the will of God.
Labour and fear are not, then, as they say, incident to affairs as rust
to iron, but come upon the soul through its own will. And on these
points there is much to say, which will be reserved for future
consideration, taking them up in due course.
__________________________________________________________________
[2797] Job. xiv. 4.
[2798] [This exposition of Basilides is noteworthy. It is very doubtful, whether, even in poetry, the Platonic idea of pre-existence should be encouraged by Christians, as, e.g., in that sublimest of moderns lyrics, Wordsworth's ode on Immortality and Childhood.]
[2799] Isa. v. 5.
[2800] The text has paideutikes technes tes toiade, for which Sylburgius suggests toiasde, as translated above.
[2801] 1 Thess. iv. 3-8.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XIII.--Valentinian's Vagaries About the Abolition of Death Refuted.

Valentinian, in a homily, writes in these words: "Ye are originally
immortal, and children of eternal life, and ye would have death
distributed to you, that ye may spend and lavish it, and that death may
die in you and by you; for when we dissolve the world, and are not
yourselves dissolved, ye have dominion over creation and all
corruption." For he also, similarly with Basilides, supposes a class
saved by nature, and that this different race has come hither to us
from above for the abolition of death, and that the origin of death is
the work of the Creator of the world. Wherefore also he so expounds
that Scripture, "No man shall see the face of God, and live," as if He
were the cause of death. Respecting this God, he makes those allusions
when writing in these expressions: "As much as the image is inferior to
the living face, so much is the world inferior to the living AEon. What
is, then, the cause of the image? The majesty of the face, which
exhibits the figure to the painter, to be honoured by his name; for the
form is not found exactly to the life, but the name supplies what is
wanting in the effigy. The invisibility of God co-operates also in
order to the faith of that which has been fashioned." For the Creator,
called God and Father, he designated as "Painter," and "Wisdom," whose
image that which is formed is, to the glory of the invisible One; since
the things which proceed from a pair are complements, and those which
proceed from one are images. But since what is seen is no part of Him,
the soul comes from what is intermediate, which is different; and this
is the inspiration of the different spirit, and generally what is
breathed into the soul, which is the image of the spirit. And in
general, what is said of the Creator, who was made according to the
image, they say was foretold by a sensible image in the book of Genesis
respecting the origin of man; and the likeness they transfer to
themselves, teaching that the addition of the different spirit was
made; unknown to the Creator. When, then, we treat of the unity of the
God who is proclaimed in the law, the prophets, and the Gospel, we
shall also discuss this; for the topic is supreme. [2802] But we must
advance to that which is urgent. If for the purpose of doing away with
death the peculiar race has come, it is not Christ who has abolished
death, unless He also is said to be of the same essence with them. And
if He abolished it to this end, that it might not touch the peculiar
race, it is not these, the rivals of the Creator, who breathe into the
image of their intermediate spirit the life from above--in accordance
with the principle of their dogma--that abolish death. But should they
say that this takes place by His mother, [2803] or should they say that
they, along with Christ, war against death, let them own their secret
dogma that they have the hardihood to assail the divine power of the
Creator, by setting to rights His creation, as if they were superior,
endeavouring to save the vital image which He was not able to rescue
from corruption. Then the Lord would be superior to God the Creator;
for the son would never contend with the father, especially among the
gods. But the point that the Creator of all things, the omnipotent
Lord, is the Father of the Son, we have deferred till the discussion of
these points, in which we have undertaken to dispute against the
heresies, showing that He alone is the God proclaimed by Him.

But the apostle, writing to us with reference to the endurance of
afflictions, says, "And this is of God, that it is given to you on
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for
His sake; having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to
be in me. If there is therefore any consolation in Christ, if any
comfort of love, if any communion of spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
fulfil ye my joy, that ye may be of the same mind, having the same
love, unanimous, thinking one thing. And if he is offered on the
sacrifice and service of faith, joying and rejoicing" [2804] with the
Philippians, to whom the apostle speaks, calling them "fellow-partakers
of joy," [2805] how does he say that they are of one soul, and having a
soul? Likewise, also, writing respecting Timothy and himself, he says,
"For I have no one like-souled, who will nobly care for your state. For
all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's." [2806]

Let not the above-mentioned people, then, call us, by way of reproach,
"natural men" (psukikoi), nor the Phrygians [2807] either; for these
now call those who do not apply themselves to the new prophecy "natural
men" (psukikoi), with whom we shall discuss in our remarks on
"Prophecy." [2808] The perfect man ought therefore to practice love,
and thence to haste to the divine friendship, fulfilling the
commandments from love. And loving one's enemies does not mean loving
wickedness, or impiety, or adultery, or theft; but the thief, the
impious, the adulterer, not as far as he sins, and in respect of the
actions by which he stains the name of man, but as he is a man, and the
work of God. Assuredly sin is an activity, not an existence: and
therefore it is not a work of God. Now sinners are called enemies of
God--enemies, that is, of the commands which they do not obey, as those
who obey become friends, the one named so from their fellowship, the
others from their estrangement, which is the result of free choice; for
there is neither enmity nor sin without the enemy and the sinner. And
the command "to covet nothing," not as if the things to be desired did
not belong to us, does not teach us not to entertain desire, as those
suppose who teach that the Creator is different from the first God, not
as if creation was loathsome and bad (for such opinions are impious).
But we say that the things of the world are not our own, not as if they
were monstrous, not as if they did not belong to God, the Lord of the
universe, but because we do not continue among them for ever; being, in
respect of possession, not ours, and passing from one to another in
succession; but belonging to us, for whom they were made in respect of
use, so long as it is necessary to continue with them. In accordance,
therefore, with natural appetite, things disallowed are to be used
rightly, avoiding all excess and inordinate affection.
__________________________________________________________________
[2802] [Kaye, p. 322.]
[2803] [See the Valentinian jargon about the Demiurge (rival of the true Creator), in Irenaeus, vol. i. p. 322, this series.]
[2804] Phil. i. 29, 30; ii. 1, 2, 17.
[2805] Phil. i. 7.
[2806] Phil. ii. 20, 21.
[2807] [Kaye, p. 405.]
[2808] [The valuable note of Routh, on a fragment of Melito, should be consulted. Reliquiae, vol i. p. 140.]
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XIV.--The Love of All, Even of Our Enemies.

How great also is benignity! "Love your enemies," it is said, "bless
them who curse you, and pray for them who despitefully use you," [2809]
and the like; to which it is added, "that ye may be the children of
your Father who is in heaven," in allusion to resemblance to God.
Again, it is said, "Agree with thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art
in the way with him." [2810] The adversary is not the body, as some
would have it, but the devil, and those assimilated to him, who walks
along with us in the person of men, who emulate his deeds in this
earthly life. It is inevitable, then, that those who confess themselves
to belong to Christ, but find themselves in the midst of the devil's
works, suffer the most hostile treatment. For it is written, "Lest he
deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officers
of Satan's kingdom." "For I am persuaded that neither death," through
the assault of persecutors, "nor life" in this world, "nor angels," the
apostate ones, "nor powers" (and Satan's power is the life which he
chose, for such are the powers and principalities of darkness belonging
to him), "nor things present," amid which we exist during the time of
life, as the hope entertained by the soldier, and the merchant's gain,
"nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature," in consequence of the
energy proper to a man,--opposes the faith of him who acts according to
free choice. "Creature" is synonymous with activity, being our work,
and such activity "shall not be able to separate us from the love of
God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." [2811] You have got a
compendious account of the gnostic martyr.
__________________________________________________________________
[2809] Matt. v. 44, 45.
[2810] Matt. v. 25.
[2811] Rom. viii. 38, 39.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XV.--On Avoiding Offence.

"We know that we all have knowledge"--common knowledge in common
things, and the knowledge that there is one God. For he was writing to
believers; whence he adds, "But knowledge (gnosis) is not in all,"
being communicated to few. And there are those who say that the
knowledge about things sacrificed to idols is not promulgated among
all, "lest our liberty prove a stumbling-block to the weak. For by thy
knowledge he that is weak is destroyed." [2812] Should they say,
"Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, ought that to be bought?" adding,
by way of interrogation, "asking no questions," [2813] as if equivalent
to "asking questions," they give a ridiculous interpretation. For the
apostle says, "All other things buy out of the shambles, asking no
questions," with the exception of the things mentioned in the Catholic
epistle of all the apostles, [2814] "with the consent of the Holy
Ghost," which is written in the Acts of the Apostles, and conveyed to
the faithful by the hands of Paul himself. For they intimated "that
they must of necessity abstain from things offered to idols, and from
blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication, from which
keeping themselves, they should do well." It is a different matter,
then, which is expressed by the apostle: "Have we not power to eat and
to drink? Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as the rest
of the apostles, as the brethren of the Lord and Cephas? But we have
not used this power," he says, "but bear all things, lest we should
occasion hindrance to the Gospel of Christ;" namely, by bearing about
burdens, when it was necessary to be untrammelled for all things; or to
become an example to those who wish to exercise temperance, not
encouraging each other to eat greedily of what is set before us, and
not to consort inconsiderately with woman. And especially is it
incumbent on those entrusted with such a dispensation to exhibit to
disciples a pure example. "For though I be free from all men, I have
made myself servant to all," it is said, "that I might gain all. And
every one that striveth for mastery is temperate in all things." [2815]
"But the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." [2816] For
conscience' sake, then, we are to abstain from what we ought to
abstain. "Conscience, I say, not his own," for it is endued with
knowledge, "but that of the other," lest he be trained badly, and by
imitating in ignorance what he knows not, he become a despiser instead
of a strong-minded man. "For why is my liberty judged of by another
conscience? For if I by grace am a partaker, why am I evil spoken of
for that for which I give thanks? Whatever ye do, do all to the glory
of God" [2817] --what you are commanded to do by the rule of faith.
__________________________________________________________________
[2812] 1 Cor. viii. 1, 7, 9, 11.
[2813] 1 Cor. x. 25.
[2814] Acts xv. 24, etc.
[2815] 1 Cor. ix. 19-25.
[2816] 1 Cor. x. 26.
[2817] 1 Cor. x. 28-31.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XVI.--Passages of Scripture Respecting the Constancy, Patience, and Love of the Martyrs.

"With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. Wherefore the Scripture saith,
Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed; that is, the word of
faith which we preach: for if thou confess the word with thy mouth that
Jesus is Lord, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved." [2818] There is clearly described the
perfect righteousness, fulfilled both in practice and contemplation.
Wherefore we are "to bless those who persecute us. Bless, and curse
not." [2819] "For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of a good
conscience, that in holiness and sincerity we know God" by this
inconsiderable instance exhibiting the work of love, that "not in
fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation
in the world." [2820] So far the apostle respecting knowledge; and in
the second Epistle to the Corinthians he calls the common "teaching of
faith" the savour of knowledge. "For unto this day the same veil
remains on many in the reading of the Old Testament," [2821] not being
uncovered by turning to the Lord. Wherefore also to those capable of
perceiving he showed resurrection, that of the life still in the flesh,
creeping on its belly. Whence also he applied the name "brood of
vipers" to the voluptuous, who serve the belly and the pudenda, and cut
off one another's heads for the sake of worldly pleasures. "Little
children, let us not love in word, or in tongue," says John, teaching
them to be perfect, "but in deed and in truth; hereby shall we know
that we are of the truth." [2822] And if "God be love," piety also is
love: "there is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear."
[2823] "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." [2824]
And again, to him who desires to become a Gnostic, it is written, "But
be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in love,
in faith, in purity." [2825] For perfection in faith differs, I think,
from ordinary faith. And the divine apostle furnishes the rule for the
Gnostic in these words, writing as follows: "For I have learned, in
whatsoever state I am, to be content. I know both how to be abased, and
I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both
to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to lack. I can do all
things through Him who strengtheneth me." [2826] And also when
discussing with others in order to put them, to shame, he does not
shrink from saying, "But call to mind the former days, in which, after
ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; partly,
whilst ye were made a gazing-stock, both by reproaches and afflictions;
and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. For
ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took with joy the spoiling of
your goods, knowing that you have a better and enduring substance. Cast
not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of
reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after doing the will of
God, ye may obtain the promise. For yet a little while, and He that
cometh will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith:
and if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we
are not of them that draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe
to the saving of the soul." [2827] He then brings forward a swarm of
divine examples. For was it not "by faith," he says, this endurance,
that they acted nobly who "had trial of mockeries and scourgings, and,
moreover, of bonds and imprisonments? They were stoned, they were
tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheep-skins
and goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the
world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts, in mountains, in dens,
and caves of the earth. And all having received a good report, through
faith, received not the promise of God" (what is expressed by a
parasiopesis is left to be understood, viz., "alone"). He adds
accordingly, "God having provided some better thing for us (for He was
good), that they should not without us be made perfect. Wherefore also,
having encompassing us such a cloud," holy and transparent, "of
witnesses, laying aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily
beset us, let us run with patience the race set before us, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." [2828] Since, then, he
specifies one salvation in Christ of the righteous, [2829] and of us he
has expressed the former unambiguously, and saying nothing less
respecting Moses, adds, "Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater
riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he had respect to the
recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the
wrath of the king: for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible."
[2830] The divine Wisdom says of the martyrs, "They seemed in the eyes
of the foolish to die, and their departure was reckoned a calamity, and
their migration from us an affliction. But they are in peace. For
though in the sight of men they were punished, their hope was full of
immortality." [2831] He then adds, teaching martyrdom to be a glorious
purification, "And being chastened a little, they shall be benefited
much; because God proved them," that is, suffered them to be tried, to
put them to the proof, and to put to shame the author of their trial,
"and found them worthy of Himself," plainly to be called sons. "As gold
in the furnace He proved them, and as a whole burned-offering of
sacrifice He accepted them. And in the time of their visitation they
will shine forth, even as sparks run along the stubble. They shall
judge the nations, and rule over the peoples, and the Lord shall reign
over them forever." [2832]
__________________________________________________________________
[2818] Rom. x. 10, 11, 8, 9.
[2819] Rom. xii. 14.
[2820] 2 Cor. i. 12.
[2821] 2 Cor. iii. 14.
[2822] 1 John iii. 18, 19.
[2823] 1 John iv. 16, 18.
[2824] 1 John v. 3.
[2825] 1 Tim. iv. 12.
[2826] Phil. iv. 11-13.
[2827] Heb. x. 32-39.
[2828] Heb. xi. 36-40, xii. 1, 2.
[2829] Who lived before Christ. [Moses was a Christian.]
[2830] Heb. xi. 26, 27. [Moses suffered "the reproach of Christ."]
[2831] Wisd. iii. 2, 3, 4.
[2832] Wisd. iii. 5, 6, 7, 8.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XVII.--Passages from Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians on Martyrdom.

Moreover, in the Epistle to the Corinthians, the Apostle [2833] Clement
also, drawing a picture of the Gnostic, says: [2834] "For who that has
sojourned among you has not proved your perfect and firm faith? and has
not admired your sound and gentle piety? and has not celebrated the
munificent style of your hospitality? and has not felicitated your
complete and sure knowledge? For ye did all things impartially, and
walked in the ordinances of God;" and so forth.

Then more clearly: "Let us fix our eyes on those who have yielded
perfect service to His magnificent glory. Let us take Enoch, who, being
by his obedience found righteous, was translated; and Noah, who, having
believed, was saved; and Abraham, who for his faith and hospitality was
called the friend of God, and was the father of Isaac." "For
hospitality and piety, Lot was saved from Sodom." "For faith and
hospitality, Rahab the harlot was saved." "From patience and faith they
walked about in goat-skins, and sheep-skins, and folds of camels' hair,
proclaiming the kingdom of Christ. We name His prophets Elias, and
Eliseus, and Ezekiel, and John."

"For Abraham, who for his free faith was called the friend of God,' was
not elated by glory, but modestly said, I am dust and ashes.' [2835]
And of Job it is thus written: Job was just and blameless, true and
pious, abstaining from all evil.'" [2836] He it was who overcame the
tempter by patience, and at once testified and was testified to by God;
who keeps hold of humility, and says, "No one is pure from defilement,
not even if his life were but for one day." [2837] "Moses, the servant
who was faithful in all his house,' said to Him who uttered the oracles
from the bush, Who am I, that Thou sendest me? I am slow of speech, and
of a stammering tongue,' to minister the voice of God in human speech.
And again: I am smoke from a pot.'" "For God resisteth the proud, but
giveth grace to the humble." [2838]

"David too, of whom the Lord, testifying, says, I found a man after my
own heart, David the son of Jesse. With my holy oil I anointed him.'
[2839] But he also says to God, Pity me, O God, according to Thy mercy;
and according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my
transgression. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me
from my sin. For I know my transgression, and my sin is ever before
me.'" [2840] Then, alluding to sin which is not subject to the law, in
the exercise of the moderation of true knowledge, he adds, "Against
Thee only have I sinned, and done evil in Thy sight." [2841] For the
Scripture somewhere says, "The Spirit of the Lord is a lamp, searching
the recesses of the belly." [2842] And the more of a Gnostic a man
becomes by doing right, the nearer is the illuminating Spirit to him.
"Thus the Lord draws near to the righteous, and none of the thoughts
and reasonings of which we are the authors escape Him--I mean the Lord
Jesus," the scrutinizer by His omnipotent will of our heart, "whose
blood was consecrated [2843] for us. Let us therefore respect those who
are over us, and reverence the elders; let us honour the young, and let
us teach the discipline of God." For blessed is he who shall do and
teach the Lord's commands worthily; and he is of a magnanimous mind,
and of a mind contemplative of truth. "Let us direct our wives to what
is good; let them exhibit," says he, "the lovable disposition of
chastity; let them show the guileless will of their meekness; let them
manifest the gentleness of their tongue by silence; let them give their
love not according to their inclinations, but equal love in sanctity to
all that fear God. Let our children share in the discipline that is in
Christ; let them learn what humility avails before God; what is the
power of holy love before God, how lovely and great is the fear of the
Lord, saving all that walk in it holily; with a pure heart: for He is
the Searcher of the thoughts and sentiments, whose breath is in us, and
when He wills He will take it away."

"Now all those things are confirmed by the faith that is in
Christ.Come, ye children,' says the Lord, hearken to me, and I will
teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man that desireth life, that
loveth to see good days? ' [2844] Then He subjoins the gnostic mystery
of the numbers seven and eight.Stop thy tongue from evil, and thy lips
from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good. Seek peace, and
pursue it.' [2845] For in these words He alludes to knowledge (gnosis),
with abstinence from evil and the doing of what is good, teaching that
it is to be perfected by word and deed. The eyes of the Lord are on the
righteous, and His ears are to their prayer. But the face of God is
against those that do evil, to root out their memory from the earth.
The righteous cried, and the Lord heard, and delivered him out of all
his distresses.' [2846] Many are the stripes of sinners; but those who
hope in the Lord, mercy shall compass about.'" [2847] "A multitude of
mercy," he nobly says, "surrounds him that trusts in the Lord."

For it is written in the Epistle to the Corinthians, "Through Jesus
Christ our foolish and darkened mind springs up to the light. By Him
the Sovereign Lord wished us to taste the knowledge that is immortal."
And, showing more expressly the peculiar nature of knowledge, he added:
"These things, then, being clear to us, looking into the depths of
divine knowledge, we ought to do all things in order which the
Sovereign Lord commanded us to perform at the appointed seasons. Let
the wise man, then, show his wisdom not in words only, but in good
deeds. Let the humble not testify to himself, but allow testimony to be
borne to him by another. Let not him who is pure in the flesh boast,
knowing that it is another who furnishes him with continence. Ye see,
brethren, that the more we are subjected to peril, the more knowledge
are we counted worthy of."
__________________________________________________________________
[2833] [The use of this title is noticeable here, on many accounts, as historic.]
[2834] [See vol. i. p. 5-11, et seqq. S.]
[2835] Gen. xviii. 27.
[2836] Job i. 1.
[2837] Job xvi. 4, 5, Sept.
[2838] Jas. iv. 6; 1 Pet. v. 5.
[2839] Ps. lxxxix. 21.
[2840] Ps. li. 1-4.
[2841] Ps. li. 6.
[2842] Prov. xx. 27.
[2843] hegiasthe. Clemens Romanus has edothe. [Vol. i. p. 11, this series.]
[2844] Ps. xxxiv. 12.
[2845] Ps. xxxiv. 13, 14.
[2846] Ps. xxxiv. 15-17.
[2847] Ps. xxxii. 10.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XVIII.--On Love, and the Repressing of Our Desires.

"The decorous tendency of our philanthropy, therefore," according to
Clement, "seeks the common good;" whether by suffering martyrdom, or by
teaching by deed and word,--the latter being twofold, unwritten and
written. This is love, to love God and our neighbour. "This conducts to
the height which is unutterable. [2848] Love covers a multitude of
sins. [2849] Love beareth all things, suffereth all things.' [2850]
Love joins us to God, does all things in concord. In love, all the
chosen of God were perfected. Apart from love, nothing is well pleasing
to God." "Of its perfection there is no unfolding," it is said. "Who is
fit to be found in it, except those whom God counts worthy?" To the
point the Apostle Paul speaks, "If I give my body, and have not love, I
am sounding brass, and a tinkling cymbal." [2851] If it is not from a
disposition determined by gnostic love that I shall testify, he means;
but if through fear and expected reward, moving my lips in order to
testify to the Lord that I shall confess the Lord, I am a common man,
sounding the Lord's name, not knowing Him. "For there is the people
that loveth with the lips; and there is another which gives the body to
be burned." "And if I give all my goods in alms," he says, not
according to the principle of loving communication, but on account of
recompense, either from him who has received the benefit, or the Lord
who has promised; "and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains,"
and cast away obscuring passions, and be not faithful to the Lord from
love, "I am nothing," as in comparison of him who testifies as a
Gnostic, and the crowd, and being reckoned nothing better.

"Now all the generations from Adam to this day are gone. But they who
have been perfected in love, through the grace of God, hold the place
of the godly, who shall be manifested at the visitation of the kingdom
of Christ." Love permits not to sin; but if it fall into any such case,
by reason of the interference of the adversary, in imitation of David,
it will sing: "I will confess unto the Lord, and it will please Him
above a young bullock that has horns and hoofs. Let the poor see it,
and be glad." For he says, "Sacrifice to God a sacrifice of praise, and
pay to the Lord thy vows; and call upon me in the day of trouble, and I
will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." [2852] "For the
sacrifice of God is a broken spirit." [2853]

"God," then, being good, "is love," it is said. [2854] Whose "love
worketh no ill to his neighbour," [2855] neither injuring nor revenging
ever, but, in a word, doing good to all according to the image of God.
"Love is," then, "the fulfilling of the law;" [2856] like as Christ,
that is the presence of the Lord who loves us; and our loving teaching
of, and discipline according to Christ. By love, then, the commands not
to commit adultery, and not to covet one's neighbour's wife, are
fulfilled, [these sins being] formerly prohibited by fear.

The same work, then, presents a difference, according as it is done by
fear, or accomplished by love, and is wrought by faith or by knowledge.
Rightly, therefore, their rewards are different. To the Gnostic "are
prepared what eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath entered into
the heart of man;" but to him who has exercised simple faith He
testifies a hundredfold in return for what he has left,--a promise
which has turned out to fall within human comprehension.

Come to this point, I recollect one who called himself a Gnostic. For,
expounding the words, "But I say unto you, he that looketh on a woman
to lust after, hath committed adultery," [2857] he thought that it was
not bare desire that was condemned; but if through the desire the act
that results from it proceeding beyond the desire is accomplished in
it. For dream employs phantasy and the body. Accordingly, the
historians relate the following decision of Bocchoris the just. [2858]
A youth, falling in love with a courtezan, persuades the girl, for a
stipulated reward, to come to him next day. But his desire being
unexpectedly satiated, by laying hold of the girl in a dream, by
anticipation, when the object of his love came according to
stipulation, he prohibited her from coming in. But she, on learning
what had taken place, demanded the reward, saying that in this way she
had sated the lover's desire. They came accordingly to the judge. He,
ordering the youth to hold out the purse containing the reward in the
sun, bade the courtezan take hold of the shadow; facetiously bidding
him pay the image of a reward for the image of an embrace.

Accordingly one dreams, the soul assenting to the vision. But he dreams
waking, who looks so as to lust; not only, as that Gnostic said, if
along with the sight of the woman he imagine in his mind intercourse,
for this is already the act of lust, as lust; but if one looks on
beauty of person (the Word says), and the flesh seem to him in the way
of lust to be fair, looking on carnally and sinfully, he is judged
because he admired. For, on the other hand, he who in chaste love looks
on beauty, thinks not that the flesh is beautiful, but the spirit,
admiring, as I judge, the body as an image, by whose beauty he
transports himself to the Artist, and to the true beauty; exhibiting
the sacred symbol, the bright impress of righteousness to the angels
that wait on the ascension; [2859] I mean the unction of acceptance,
the quality of disposition which resides in the soul that is gladdened
by the communication of the Holy Spirit. This glory, which shone forth
on the face of Moses, the people could not look on. Wherefore he took a
veil for the glory, to those who looked carnally. For those, who demand
toll, detain those who bring in any worldly things, who are burdened
with their own passions. But him that is free of all things which are
subject to duty, and is full of knowledge, and of the righteousness of
works, they pass on with their good wishes, blessing the man with his
work. "And his life shall not fall away"--the leaf of the living tree
that is nourished "by the water-courses." [2860] Now the righteous is
likened to fruit-bearing trees, and not only to such as are of the
nature [2861] of tall-growing ones. And in the sacrificial oblations,
according to the law, there were those who looked for blemishes in the
sacrifices. They who are skilled in such matters distinguish propension
[2862] (orexis) from lust (epithumia); and assign the latter, as being
irrational, to pleasures and licentiousness; and propension, as being a
rational movement, they assign to the necessities of nature.
__________________________________________________________________
[2848] [See vol. i. p. 18. S.]
[2849] Jas. v. 20; 1 Pet. iv. 8.
[2850] 1 Cor. xiii. 7.
[2851] 1 Cor. xiii. 1, 3.
[2852] Ps. l. 14, 15.
[2853] Ps. li. 17.
[2854] 1 John iv. 8, 16.
[2855] Rom. xiii. 10.
[2856] Rom. xiii. 10.
[2857] Matt. v. 28.
[2858] [Or, "the Wise." See Rawlinson, Herodotus, ii. p. 317.]
[2859] i.e., of blessed souls.
[2860] Ps. i. 3.
[2861] The text here has thusian, for which phusin has been suggested as probably the true reading.
[2862] orexis the Stoics define to be a desire agreeable to reason; epithumia, a desire contrary to reason.
__________________________________________________________________

Chap. XIX.--Women as well as Men Capable of Perfection.

In this perfection it is possible for man and woman equally to share.
It is not only Moses, then, that heard from God, "I have spoken to thee
once, and twice, saying, I have seen this people, and lo, it is
stiff-necked. Suffer me to exterminate them, and blot out their name
from under heaven; and I will make thee into a great and wonderful
nation much greater than this;" who answers not regarding himself, but
the common salvation: "By no means, O Lord; forgive this people their
sin, or blot me out of the book of the living." [2863] How great was
his perfection, in wishing to die together with the people, rather than
be saved alone!

But Judith too, who became perfect among women, in the siege of the
city, at the entreaty of the elders went forth into the strangers'
camp, despising all danger for her country's sake, giving herself into
the enemy's hand in faith in God; and straightway she obtained the
reward of her faith,--though a woman, prevailing over the enemy of her
faith, and gaining possession of the head of Holofernes. And again,
Esther perfect by faith, who rescued Israel from the power of the king
and the satrap's cruelty: a woman alone, afflicted with fastings,
[2864] held back ten thousand armed [2865] hands, annulling by her
faith the tyrant's decree; him indeed she appeased, Haman she
restrained, and Israel she preserved scathless by her perfect prayer to
God. I pass over in silence Susanna and the sister of Moses, since the
latter was the prophet's associate in commanding the host, being
superior to all the women among the Hebrews who were in repute for
their wisdom; and the former in her surpassing modesty, going even to
death condemned by licentious admirers, remained the unwavering martyr
of chastity.

Dion, too, the philosopher, tells that a certain woman Lysidica,
through excess of modesty, bathed in her clothes; and that Philotera,
when she was to enter the bath, gradually drew back her tunic as the
water covered the naked parts; and then rising by degrees, put it on.
And did not Leaena of Attica manfully bear the torture? She being privy
to the conspiracy of Harmodius and Aristogeiton against Hipparchus,
uttered not a word, though severely tortured. And they say that the
Argolic women, under the guidance of Telesilla the poetess, turned to
flight the doughty Spartans by merely showing themselves; and that she
produced in them fearlessness of death. Similarly speaks he who
composed the Danais respecting the daughters of Danaus:--


"And then the daughters of Danaus swiftly armed themselves,

Before the fair-flowing river, majestic Nile [2866] ,"

and so forth.

And the rest of the poets sing of Atalanta's swiftness in the chase, of
Anticlea's love for children, of Alcestis's love for her husband, of
the courage of Makaeria and of the Hyacinthides. What shall I say? Did
not Theano the Pythagorean make such progress in philosophy, that to
him who looked intently at her, and said, "Your arm is beautiful," she
answered "Yes, but it is not public." Characterized by the same
propriety, there is also reported the following reply. [2867] When
asked when a woman after being with her husband attends the
Thesmophoria, said, "From her own husband at once, from a stranger
never." Themisto too, of Lampsacus, the daughter of Zoilus, the wife of
Leontes of Lampsacus, studied the Epicurean philosophy, as Myia the
daughter of Theano the Pythagorean, and Arignote, who wrote the history
of Dionysius.

And the daughters of Diodorus, who was called Kronus, all became
dialecticians, as Philo the dialectician says in the Menexenus, whose
names are mentioned as follows--Menexene, Argia, Theognis, Artemesia,
Pantaclea. I also recollect a female Cynic,--she was called Hipparchia,
a Maronite, the wife of Crates,--in whose case the so-called
dog-wedding was celebrated in the Poecile. Arete of Cyrene, too, the
daughter of Aristippus, educated her son Aristippus, who was surnamed
Mother-taught. Lastheneia of Arcis, and Axiothea of Phlius, studied
philosophy with Plato. Besides, Aspasia of Miletus, of whom the writers
of comedy write much, was trained by Socrates in philosophy, by
Pericles in rhetoric. I omit, on account of the length of the
discourse, the rest; enumerating neither the poetesses Corinna,
Telesilla, Myia, and Sappho; nor the painters, as Irene the daughter of
Cratinus, and Anaxandra the daughter of Nealces, according to the
account of Didymus in the Symposiaci. The daughter of Cleobulus, the
sage and monarch of the Lindii, was not ashamed to wash the feet of her
father's guests. Also the wife of Abraham, the blessed Sarah, in her
own person prepared the cakes baked in the ashes for the angels; and
princely maidens among the Hebrews fed sheep. Whence also the Nausicaae
of Homer went to the washing-tubs.

The wise woman, then, will first choose to persuade her husband to be
her associate in what is conducive to happiness. And should that be
found impracticable, let her by herself earnestly aim at virtue,
gaining her husband's consent in everything, so as never to do anything
against his will, with exception of what is reckoned as contributing to
virtue and salvation. But if one keeps from such a mode of life either
wife or maid-servant, whose heart is set on it; what such a person in
that case plainly does is nothing else than determine to drive her away
from righteousness and sobriety, and to choose to make his own house
wicked and licentious.

It is not then possible that man or woman can be conversant with
anything whatever, without the advantage of education, and application,
and training; and virtue, we have said, depends not on others, but on
ourselves above all. Other things one can repress, by waging war
against them; but with what depends on one's self, this is entirely out
of the question, even with the most strenuous persistence. For the gift
is one conferred by God, and not in the power of any other. Whence
licentiousness should be regarded as the evil of no other one than of
him who is guilty of licentiousness; and temperance, on the other hand,
as the good of him who is able to practice it.
__________________________________________________________________
[2863] Ex. xxxii. 9, 10, 32.
[2864] So rendered by the Latin translator, as if the reading were tethlimmene.
[2865] Sylburguis' conjecture of hoplismenas instead of hoplisamenas is here adopted.
[2866] Sylburguis' conjecture of hoplismenas instead of hoplisamenas is here adopted.
[2867] [Theano. See, also, p. 417. [73]Elucidation II.]
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XX.--A Good Wife.

The woman who, with propriety, loves her husband, Euripides describes,
while admonishing,--


"That when her husband says aught,

She ought to regard him as speaking well if she say nothing;

And if she will say anything, to do her endeavour to gratify her
husband."

And again he subjoins the like:--


"And that the wife should sweetly look sad with her husband,

Should aught evil befall him,

And have in common a share of sorrow and joy."

Then, describing her as gentle and kind even in misfortunes, he adds:--


"And I, when you are ill, will, sharing your sickness bear it;

And I will bear my share in your misfortunes."

And:--


"Nothing is bitter to me,

For with friends one ought to be happy,

For what else is friendship but this?"

The marriage, then, that is consummated according to the word, is
sanctified, if the union be under subjection to God, and be conducted
"with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience, and the body washed with pure water, and
holding the confession of hope; for He is faithful that promised." And
the happiness of marriage ought never to be estimated either by wealth
or beauty, but by virtue.

"Beauty," says the tragedy,--


"Helps no wife with her husband;

But virtue has helped many; for every good wife

Who is attached to her husband knows how to practice sobriety."

Then, as giving admonitions, he says:--


"First, then, this is incumbent on her who is endowed with mind,

That even if her husband be ugly, he must appear good-looking;

For it is for the mind, not the eye, to judge."

And so forth.

For with perfect propriety Scripture has said that woman is given by
God as "an help" to man. It is evident, then, in my opinion, that she
will charge herself with remedying, by good sense and persuasion, each
of the annoyances that originate with her husband in domestic economy.
And if he do not yield, then she will endeavour, as far as possible for
human nature, to lead a sinless life; whether it be necessary to die,
in accordance with reason, or to live; considering that God is her
helper and associate in such a course of conduct, her true defender and
Saviour both for the present and for the future; making Him the leader
and guide of all her actions, reckoning sobriety and righteousness her
work, and making the favour of God her end. Gracefully, therefore, the
apostle says in the Epistle to Titus, "that the elder women should be
of godly behaviour, should not be slanderers, not enslaved to much
wine; that they should counsel the young women to be lovers of their
husbands, lovers of their children, discreet, chaste, housekeepers,
good, subject to their own husbands; that the word of God be not
blasphemed." [2868] But rather, he says, "Follow peace with all men,
and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: looking
diligently, lest there be any fornicator or profane person, as Esau,
who for one morsel surrendered his birth-right; and lest any root of
bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled."
[2869] And then, as putting the finishing stroke to the question about
marriage, he adds: "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed
undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." [2870] And
one aim and one end, as far as regards perfection, being demonstrated
to belong to the man and the woman, Peter in his Epistle says, "Though
now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations; that the trial of your faith, being much more precious
than that of gold which perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might
be found unto praise, and honour, and glory at the revelation of Jesus
Christ; whom, having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him
not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable, and full of glory,
receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls." [2871]
Wherefore also Paul rejoices for Christ's sake that he was "in labours,
more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft." [2872]
__________________________________________________________________
[2868] Tit. ii. 3-5.
[2869] Heb. xiii. 14-16.
[2870] Heb. xiii. 4.
[2871] 1 Pet. i. 6-9.
[2872] 2 Cor. xi. 23.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XXI.--Description of the Perfect Man, or Gnostic.

Here I find perfection apprehended variously in relation to Him who
excels in every virtue. Accordingly one is perfected as pious, and as
patient, and as continent, and as a worker, and as a martyr, and as a
Gnostic. But I know no one of men perfect in all things at once, while
still human, though according to the mere letter of the law, except Him
alone who for us clothed Himself with humanity. Who then is perfect? He
who professes abstinence from what is bad. Well, this is the way to the
Gospel and to well-doing. But gnostic perfection in the case of the
legal man is the acceptance of the Gospel, that he that is after the
law may be perfect. For so he, who was after the law, Moses, foretold
that it was necessary to hear in order that we might, according to the
apostle, receive Christ, the fulness of the law. [2873] But now in the
Gospel the Gnostic attains proficiency not only by making use of the
law as a step, but by understanding and comprehending it, as the Lord
who gave the Covenants delivered it to the apostles. And if he conduct
himself rightly (as assuredly it is impossible to attain knowledge
(gnosis) by bad conduct); and if, further, having made an eminently
right confession, he become a martyr out of love, obtaining
considerable renown as among men; not even thus will he be called
perfect in the flesh beforehand; since it is the close of life which
claims this appellation, when the gnostic martyr has first shown the
perfect work, and rightly exhibited it, and having thankfully shed his
blood, has yielded up the ghost: blessed then will he be, and truly
proclaimed perfect, "that the excellency of the power may be of God,
and not of us," as the apostle says. Only let us preserve free-will and
love: "troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not
in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not
destroyed." [2874] For those who strive after perfection, according to
the same apostle, must "give no offence in anything, but in everything
approve themselves not to men, but to God." And, as a consequence, also
they ought to yield to men; for it is reasonable, on account of abusive
calumnies. Here is the specification: "in much patience, in
afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in
imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings, in
pureness, in knowledge, in long-suffering, in kindness, in the Holy
Ghost, in love unfeigned, in the word of truth, in the power of God,"
[2875] that we may be the temples of God, purified "from all filthiness
of the flesh and of the spirit." "And I," He says, "will receive you;
and I will be to you for a Father, and ye shall be to Me for sons and
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." [2876] "Let us then," he says,
"perfect holiness in the fear of God." For though fear beget pain, "I
rejoice," he says, "not that ye were made sorry, but that ye showed
susceptibility to repentance. For ye sorrowed after a godly sort, that
ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh
repentance unto salvation not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the
world worketh death. For this same thing that ye sorrowed after a godly
sort, what earnestness it wrought in you; yea, what clearing of
yourselves; yea, what compunction; yea, what fear; yea, what desire;
yea, what zeal; yea, revenge! In all things ye have showed yourselves
clear in the matter." [2877] Such are the preparatory exercises of
gnostic discipline. And since the omnipotent God Himself "gave some
apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and
teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all attain to
the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a
perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ;"
[2878] we are then to strive to reach manhood as befits the Gnostic,
and to be as perfect as we can while still abiding in the flesh, making
it our study with perfect concord here to concur with the will of God,
to the restoration of what is the truly perfect nobleness and
relationship, to the fulness of Christ, that which perfectly depends on
our perfection.

And now we perceive where, and how, and when the divine apostle
mentions the perfect man, and how he shows the differences of the
perfect. And again, on the other hand: "The manifestation of the Spirit
is given for our profit. For to one is given the word of wisdom by the
Spirit; to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit;
to another faith through the same Spirit; to another the gifts of
healing through the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to
another prophecy; to another discernment of spirits; to another
diversities of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: and
all these worketh the one and the same Spirit, distributing to each one
according as He wills." [2879] Such being the case, the prophets are
perfect in prophecy, the righteous in righteousness, and the martyrs in
confession, and others in preaching, not that they are not sharers in
the common virtues, but are proficient in those to which they are
appointed. For what man in his senses would say that a prophet was not
righteous? For what? did not righteous men like Abraham prophesy?


"For to one God has given warlike deeds,

To another the accomplishment of the dance,

To another the lyre and song," [2880]

says Homer. "But each has his own proper gift of God" [2881] --one in
one way, another in another. But the apostles were perfected in all.
You will find, then, if you choose, in their acts and writings,
knowledge, life, preaching, righteousness, purity, prophecy. We must
know, then, that if Paul is young in respect to time [2882] --having
flourished immediately after the Lord's ascension--yet his writings
depend on the Old Testament, breathing and speaking of them. For faith
in Christ and the knowledge of the Gospel are the explanation and
fulfilment of the law; and therefore it was said to the Hebrews, "If ye
believe not, neither shall you understand;" [2883] that is, unless you
believe what is prophesied in the law, and oracularly delivered by the
law, you will not understand the Old Testament, which He by His coming
expounded.

Chapter XXII.--The True Gnostic Does Good, Not from Fear of Punishment or
Hope of Reward, But Only for the Sake of Good Itself.

The man of understanding and perspicacity is, then, a Gnostic. And his
business is not abstinence from what is evil (for this is a step to the
highest perfection), or the doing of good out of fear. For it is
written, "Whither shall I flee, and where shall I hide myself from Thy
presence? If I ascend into heaven, Thou art there; if I go away to the
uttermost parts of the sea, there is Thy right hand; if I go down into
the depths, there is Thy Spirit." [2884] Nor any more is he to do so
from hope of promised recompense. For it is said, "Behold the Lord, and
His reward is before His face, to give to every one according to his
works; what eye hath not seen, and ear hath not heard, and hath not
entered into the heart of man what God hath prepared for them that love
Him." [2885] But only the doing of good out of love, and for the sake
of its own excellence, is to be the Gnostic's choice. Now, in the
person of God it is said to the Lord, "Ask of Me, and I will give the
heathen for Thine inheritance;" [2886] teaching Him to ask a truly
regal request--that is, the salvation of men without price, that we may
inherit and possess the Lord. For, on the contrary, to desire knowledge
about God for any practical purpose, that this may be done, or that may
not be done, is not proper to the Gnostic; but the knowledge itself
suffices as the reason for contemplation. For I will dare aver that it
is not because he wishes to be saved that he, who devotes himself to
knowledge for the sake of the divine science itself, chooses knowledge.
For the exertion of the intellect by exercise is prolonged to a
perpetual exertion. And the perpetual exertion of the intellect is the
essence of an intelligent being, which results from an uninterrupted
process of admixture, and remains eternal contemplation, a living
substance. Could we, then, suppose any one proposing to the Gnostic
whether he would choose the knowledge of God or everlasting salvation;
and if these, which are entirely identical, were separable, he would
without the least hesitation choose the knowledge of God, deeming that
property of faith, which from love ascends to knowledge, desirable, for
its own sake. This, then, is the perfect man's first form of doing
good, when it is done not for any advantage in what pertains to him,
but because he judges it right to do good; and the energy being
vigorously exerted in all things, in the very act becomes good; not,
good in some things, and not good in others; but consisting in the
habit of doing good, neither for glory, nor, as the philosophers say,
for reputation, nor from reward either from men or God; but so as to
pass life after the image and likeness of the Lord.

And if, in doing good, he be met with anything adverse, he will let the
recompense pass without resentment as if it were good, he being just
and good "to the just and the unjust." To such the Lord says, "Be ye,
as your Father is perfect."

To him the flesh is dead; but he himself lives alone, having
consecrated the sepulchre into a holy temple to the Lord, having turned
towards God the old sinful soul.

Such an one is no longer continent, but has reached a state of
passionlessness, waiting to put on the divine image. "If thou doest
alms," it is said, "let no one know it; and if thou fastest, anoint
thyself, that God alone may know," [2887] and not a single human being.
Not even he himself who shows mercy ought to know that he does show
mercy; for in this way he will be sometimes merciful, sometimes not.
And when he shall do good by habit, he will imitate the nature of good,
and his disposition will be his nature and his practice. There is no
necessity for removing those who are raised on high, but there is
necessity for those who are walking to reach the requisite goal, by
passing over the whole of the narrow way. For this is to be drawn by
the Father, to become worthy to receive the power of grace from God, so
as to run without hindrance. And if some hate the elect, such an one
knows their ignorance, and pities their minds for its folly.

As is right, then, knowledge itself loves and teaches the ignorant, and
instructs the whole creation to honour God Almighty. And if such an one
teaches to love God, he will not hold virtue as a thing to be lost in
any case, either awake or in a dream, or in any vision; since the habit
never goes out of itself by falling from being a habit. Whether, then,
knowledge be said to be habit or disposition; on account of diverse
sentiments never obtaining access, the guiding faculty, remaining
unaltered, admits no alteration of appearances by framing in dreams
visionary conceptions out of its movements by day. Wherefore also the
Lord enjoins "to watch," so that our soul may never be perturbed with
passion, even in dreams; but also to keep the life of the night pure
and stainless, as if spent in the day. For assimilation to God, as far
as we can, is preserving the mind in its relation to the same things.
And this is the relation of mind as mind.

But the variety of disposition arises from inordinate affection to
material things. And for this reason, as they appear to me, to have
called night Euphrone; since then the soul, released from the
perceptions of sense, turns in on itself, and has a truer hold of
intelligence (phronesis). [2888] Wherefore the mysteries are for the
most part celebrated by night, indicating the withdrawal of the soul
from the body, which takes place by night. "Let us not then sleep, as
do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in
the night; and they that are drunken, are drunken in the night. But let
us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and
love, and as an helmet the hope of salvation." [2889] And as to what,
again, they say of sleep, the very same things are to be understood of
death. For each exhibits the departure of the soul, the one more, the
other less; as we may also get this in Heraclitus: "Man touches night
in himself, when dead and his light quenched; and alive, when he sleeps
he touches the dead; and awake, when he shuts his eyes, he touches the
sleeper." [2890] "For blessed are those that have seen the Lord,"
[2891] according to the apostle; "for it is high time to awake out of
sleep. For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night
is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works
of darkness, and put on the armour of light." [2892] By day and light
he designates figuratively the Son, and by the armour of light
metaphorically the promises.

So it is said that we ought to go washed to sacrifices and prayers,
clean and bright; and that this external adornment and purification are
practiced for a sign. Now purity is to think holy thoughts. Further,
there is the image of baptism, which also was handed down to the poets
from Moses as follows:--


"And she having drawn water, and wearing on her body clean clothes."
[2893]

It is Penelope that is going to prayer:--


"And Telemachus,

Having washed his hands in the hoary sea, prayed to Athene." [2894]

It was a custom of the Jews to wash frequently after being in bed. It
was then well said,--


"Be pure, not by washing of water, but in the mind."

For sanctity, as I conceive it, is perfect pureness of mind, and deeds,
and thoughts, and words too, and in its last degree sinlessness in
dreams.

And sufficient purification to a man, I reckon, is thorough and sure
repentance. If, condemning ourselves for our former actions, we go
forward, after these things taking thought, [2895] and divesting our
mind both of the things which please us through the senses, and of our
former transgressions.

If, then, we are to give the etymology of episteme, knowledge, its
signification is to be derived from stasis, placing; for our soul,
which was formerly borne, now in one way, now in another, it settles in
objects. Similarly faith is to be explained etymologically, as the
settling (stasis) of our soul respecting that which is.

But we desire to learn about the man who is always and in all things
righteous; who, neither dreading the penalty proceeding from the law,
nor fearing to entertain hatred of evil in the case of those who live
with him and who prosecute the injured, nor dreading danger at the
hands of those who do wrong, remains righteous. For he who, on account
of these considerations, abstains from anything wrong, is not
voluntarily kind, but is good from fear. Even Epicurus says, that the
man who in his estimation was wise, "would not do wrong to any one for
the sake of gain; for he could not persuade himself that he would
escape detection." So that, if he knew he would not be detected, he
would, according to him, do evil. And such are the doctrines of
darkness. If, too, one shall abstain from doing wrong from hope of the
recompense given by God on account of righteous deeds, he is not on
this supposition spontaneously good. For as fear makes that man just,
so reward makes this one; or rather, makes him appear to be just. But
with the hope after death--a good hope to the good, to the bad the
reverse--not only they who follow after Barbarian wisdom, but also the
Pythagoreans, are acquainted. For the latter also proposed hope as an
end to those who philosophize. Whereas Socrates [2896] also, in the
Phaedo, says "that good souls depart hence with a good hope;" and
again, denouncing the wicked, he sets against this the assertion, "For
they live with an evil hope." With him Heraclitus manifestly agrees in
his dissertations concerning men: "There awaits man after death what
they neither hope nor think." Divinely, therefore, Paul writes
expressly, "Tribulation worketh, patience, and patience experience, and
experience hope; and hope maketh not ashamed." [2897] For the patience
is on account of the hope in the future. Now hope is synonymous with
the recompense and restitution of hope; which maketh not ashamed, not
being any more vilified.

But he who obeys the mere call, as he is called, neither for fear, nor
for enjoyments, is on his way to knowledge (gnosis). For he does not
consider whether any extrinsic lucrative gain or enjoyment follows to
him; but drawn by the love of Him who is the true object of love, and
led to what is requisite, practices piety. So that not even were we to
suppose him to receive from God leave to do things forbidden with
impunity; not even if he were to get the promise that he would receive
as a reward the good things of the blessed; but besides, not even if he
could persuade himself that God would be hoodwinked with reference to
what he does (which is impossible), would he ever wish to do aught
contrary to right reason, having once made choice of what is truly good
and worthy of choice on its own account, and therefore to be loved. For
it is not in the food of the belly, that we have heard good to be
situated. But he has heard that "meat will not commend us," [2898] nor
marriage, nor abstinence from marriage in ignorance; but virtuous
gnostic conduct. For the dog, which is an irrational animal, may be
said to be continent, dreading as it does the uplifted stick, and
therefore keeping away from the meat. But let the predicted promise be
taken away, and the threatened dread cancelled, and the impending
danger removed, and the disposition of such people will be revealed.
__________________________________________________________________
[2873] Deut. xviii. 15; Rom. x. 4.
[2874] 2 Cor. iv. 8, 9.
[2875] 2 Cor. vi. 3-7.
[2876] 2 Cor. vii. 1, vi. 16, 17, 18.
[2877] 2 Cor. vii. 1-11.
[2878] Eph. iv. 11, 12, 13.
[2879] 1 Cor. xii. 7-11.
[2880] Iliad, xiii. 730.
[2881] 1 Cor. vii. 7.
[2882] [[74]Elucidation III.]
[2883] Isa. vii. 9.
[2884] Ps. cxxxix. 7-10.
[2885] Isa. xl. 10; lxii. 11; Ps. lxii. 12; Rev. xxii. 12; Rom. ii. 6.
[2886] Ps. ii. 8.
[2887] Matt. vi. 2, etc.
[2888] Euphrone is plainly "kindly, cheerful."
[2889] 1 Thess. v. 6-8.
[2890] As it stands in the text the passage is unintelligable, and has been variously amended successfully.
[2891] Clement seems to have read Kurion for kairon in Rom. xiii. 11.
[2892] Rom. xiii. 11, 12.
[2893] Homer, Odyss., iv. 750, 760; xvii. 48, 58.
[2894] Odyss., ii. 261.
[2895] Explaining metanoeo etymologically.
[2896] [[75]Elucidation IV.]
[2897] Rom. v. 3-5.
[2898] 1 Cor. viii. 8.
__________________________________________________________________

Chapter XXIII.--The Same Subject Continued.

For it is not suitable to the nature of the thing itself, that they
should apprehend in the truly gnostic manner the truth, that all things
which were created for our use are good; as, for example, marriage and
procreation, when used in moderation; and that it is better than good
to become free of passion, and virtuous by assimilation to the divine.
But in the case of external things, agreeable or disagreeable, from
some they abstain, from others not. But in those things from which they
abstain from disgust, they plainly find fault with the creature and the
Creator; and though in appearance they walk faithfully, the opinion
they maintain is impious. That command, "Thou shall not lust," needs
neither the necessity arising from fear, which compels to keep from
things that are pleasant; nor the reward, which by promise persuades to
restrain the impulses of passion.

And those who obey God through the promise, caught by the bait of
pleasure, choose obedience not for the sake of the commandment, but for
the sake of the promise. Nor will turning away from objects of sense,
as a matter of necessary consequence, produce attachment to
intellectual objects. On the contrary, the attachment to intellectual
objects naturally becomes to the Gnostic an influence which draws away
from the objects of sense; inasmuch as he, in virtue of the selection
of what is good, has chosen what is good according to knowledge
(gnostikos), admiring generation, and by sanctifying the Creator
sanctifying assimilation to the divine. But I shall free myself from
lust, let him say, O Lord, for the sake of alliance with Thee. For the
economy of creation is good, and all things are well administered:
nothing happens without a cause. I must be in what is Thine, O
Omnipotent One. And if I am there, I am near Thee. And I would be free
of fear that I may be able to draw near to Thee, and to be satisfied
with little, practising Thy just choice between things good and things
like.

Right mystically and sacredly the apostle, teaching us the choice which
is truly gracious, not in the way of rejection of other things as bad,
but so as to do things better than what is good, has spoken, saying,
"So he that giveth his virgin in marriage doeth well; and he that
giveth her not doeth better; as far as respects seemliness and
undistracted attendance on the Lord." [2899]

Now we know that things which are difficult are not essential; but that
things which are essential have been graciously made easy of attainment
by God. Wherefore Democritus well says, that "nature and instruction"
are like each other. And we have briefly assigned the cause. For
instruction harmonizes man, and by harmonizing makes him natural; and
it is no matter whether one was made such as he is by nature, or
transformed by time and education. The Lord has furnished both; that
which is by creation, and that which is by creating again and renewal
through the covenant. And that is preferable which is advantageous to
what is superior; but what is superior to everything is mind. So, then,
what is really good is seen to be most pleasant, and of itself produces
the fruit which is desired--tranquillity of soul. "And he who hears
Me," it is said, "shall rest in peace, confident, and shall be calm
without fear of any evil." [2900] "Rely with all thy heart and thy mind
on God." [2901]

On this wise it is possible for the Gnostic already to have become God.
"I said, Ye are gods, and [2902] sons of the highest." And Empedocles
says that the souls of the wise become gods, writing as follows:--


"At last prophets, minstrels, and physicians,

And the foremost among mortal men, approach;

Whence spring gods supreme in honours."

Man, then, genetically considered, is formed in accordance with the
idea of the connate spirit. For he is not created formless and
shapeless in the workshop of nature, where mystically the production of
man is accomplished, both art and essence being common. But the
individual man is stamped according to the impression produced in the
soul by the objects of his choice. Thus we say that Adam was perfect,
as far as respects his formation; for none of the distinctive
characteristics of the idea and form of man were wanting to him; but in
the act of coming into being he received perfection. And he was
justified by obedience; this was reaching manhood, as far as depended
on him. And the cause lay in his choosing, and especially in his
choosing what was forbidden. God was not the cause.

For production is twofold--of things procreated, and of things that
grow. And manliness in man, who is subject to perturbation, as they
say, makes him who partakes of it essentially fearless and invincible;
and anger is the mind's satellite in patience, and endurance, and the
like; and self-constraint and salutary sense are set over desire. But
God is impassible, free of anger, destitute of desire. And He is not
free of fear, in the sense of avoiding what is terrible; or temperate,
in the sense of having command of desires. For neither can the nature
of God fall in with anything terrible, nor does God flee fear; just as
He will not feel desire, so as to rule over desires. Accordingly that
Pythagorean saying was mystically uttered respecting us, "that man
ought to become one;" for the high priest himself is one, God being one
in the immutable state of the perpetual flow [2903] of good things. Now
the Saviour has taken away wrath in and with lust, wrath being lust of
vengeance. For universally liability to feeling belongs to every kind
of desire; and man, when deified purely into a passionless state,
becomes a unit. As, then, those, who at sea are held by an anchor, pull
at the anchor, but do not drag it to them, but drag themselves to the
anchor; so those who, according to the gnostic life, draw God towards
them, imperceptibly bring themselves to God: for he who reverences God,
reverences himself. In the contemplative life, then, one in worshipping
God attends to himself, and through his own spotless purification
beholds the holy God holily; for self-control, being present, surveying
and contemplating itself uninterruptedly, is as far as possible
assimilated to God.

Chapter XXIV.--The Reason and End of Divine Punishments.

Now that is in our power, of which equally with its opposite we are
masters,--as, say to philosophize or not, to believe or disbelieve. In
consequence, then, of our being equally masters of each of the
opposites, what depends on us is found possible. Now the commandments
may be done or not done by us, who, as is reasonable, are liable to
praise and blame. And those, again, who are punished on account of sins
committed by them, are punished for them alone; for what is done is
past, and what is done can never be undone. The sins committed before
faith are accordingly forgiven by the Lord, not that they may be
undone, but as if they had not been done. "But not all," says
Basilides, [2904] "but only sins involuntary and in ignorance, are
forgiven;" as would be the case were it a man, and not God, that
conferred such a boon. To such an one Scripture says, "Thou thoughtest
that I would be like thee." [2905] But if we are punished for voluntary
sins, we are punished not that the sins which are done may be undone,
but because they were done. But punishment does not avail to him who
has sinned, to undo his sin, but that he may sin no more, and that no
one else fall into the like. Therefore the good God corrects for these
three causes: First, that he who is corrected may become better than
his former self; then that those who are capable of being saved by
examples may be driven back, being admonished; and thirdly, that he who
is injured may not be readily despised, and be apt to receive injury.
And there are two methods of correction--the instructive and the
punitive, which we have called the disciplinary. It ought to be known,
then, that those who fall into sin after baptism [2906] are those who
are subjected to discipline; for the deeds done before are remitted,
and those done after are purged. It is in reference to the unbelieving
that it is said, "that they are reckoned as the chaff which the wind
drives from the face of the earth, and the drop which falls from a
vessel." [2907]

Chapter XXV.--True Perfection Consists in the Knowledge and Love of God.

"Happy he who possesses the culture of knowledge, and is not moved to
the injury of the citizens or to wrong actions, but contemplates the
undecaying order of immortal nature, how and in what way and manner it
subsists. To such the practice of base deeds attaches not," Rightly,
then, Plato says, "that the man who devotes himself to the
contemplation of ideas will live as a god among men; now the mind is
the place of ideas, and God is mind." He says that he who contemplates
the unseen God lives as a god among men. And in the Sophist, Socrates
calls the stranger of Elea, who was a dialectician, "god:" "Such are
the gods who, like stranger guests, frequent cities. For when the soul,
rising above the sphere of generation, is by itself apart, and dwells
amidst ideas," like the Coryphaeus in Theaetetus, now become as an
angel, it will be with Christ, being rapt in contemplation, ever
keeping in view the will of God; in reality


"Alone wise, while these flit like shadows." [2908]

"For the dead bury their dead." Whence Jeremiah says: "I will fill it
with the earth-born dead whom mine anger has smitten." [2909]

God, then, being not a subject for demonstration, cannot be the object
of science. But the Son is wisdom, and knowledge, and truth, and all
else that has affinity thereto. He is also susceptible of demonstration
and of description. And all the powers of the Spirit, becoming
collectively one thing, terminate in the same point--that is, in the
Son. But He is incapable of being declared, in respect of the idea of
each one of His powers. And the Son is neither simply one thing as one
thing, nor many things as parts, but one thing as all things; whence
also He is all things. For He is the circle of all powers rolled and
united into one unity. Wherefore the Word is called the Alpha and the
Omega, of whom alone the end becomes beginning, and ends again at the
original beginning without any break. Wherefore also to believe in Him,
and by Him, is to become a unit, being indissolubly united in Him; and
to disbelieve is to be separated, disjoined, divided.

"Wherefore thus saith the Lord, Every alien son is uncircumcised in
heart, and uncircumcised in flesh" (that is, unclean in body and soul):
"there shall not enter one of the strangers into the midst of the house
of Israel, but the Levites." [2910] He calls those that would not
believe, but would disbelieve, strangers. Only those who live purely
being true priests of God. Wherefore, of all the circumcised tribes,
those anointed to be high priests, and kings, and prophets, were
reckoned more holy. Whence He commands them not to touch dead bodies,
or approach the dead; not that the body was polluted, but that sin and
disobedience were incarnate, and embodied, and dead, and therefore
abominable. It was only, then, when a father and mother, a son and
daughter died, that the priest was allowed to enter, because these were
related only by flesh and seed, to whom the priest was indebted for the
immediate cause of his entrance into life. And they purify themselves
seven days, the period in which Creation was consummated. For on the
seventh day the rest is celebrated; and on the eighth he brings a
propitiation, as is written in Ezekiel, according to which propitiation
the promise is to be received. [2911] And the perfect propitiation, I
take it, is that propitious faith in the Gospel which is by the law and
the prophets, and the purity which shows itself in universal obedience,
with the abandonment of the things of the world; in order to that
grateful surrender of the tabernacle, which results from the enjoyment
of the soul. Whether, then, the time be that which through the seven
periods enumerated returns to the chiefest rest, [2912] or the seven
heavens, which some reckon one above the other; or whether also the
fixed sphere which borders on the intellectual world be called the
eighth, the expression denotes that the Gnostic ought to rise out of
the sphere of creation and of sin. After these seven days, sacrifices
are offered for sins. For there is still fear of change, and it touches
the seventh circle. The righteous Job says: "Naked came I out of my
mother's womb, and naked shall I return there;" [2913] not naked of
possessions, for that were a trivial and common thing; but, as a just
man, he departs naked of evil and sin, and of the unsightly shape which
follows those who have led bad lives. For this was what was said,
"Unless ye be converted, and become as children," [2914] pure in flesh,
holy in soul by abstinence from evil deeds; showing that He would have
us to be such as also He generated us from our mother--the water.
[2915] For the intent of one generation succeeding another is to
immortalize by progress. "But the lamp of the wicked shall be put out."
[2916] That purity in body and soul which the Gnostic partakes of, the
all-wise Moses indicated, by employing repetition in describing the
incorruptibility of body and of soul in the person of Rebecca, thus:
"Now the virgin was fair, and man had not known her." [2917] And
Rebecca, interpreted, means "glory of God;" and the glory of God is
immortality. [2918] This is in reality righteousness, not to desire
other things, but to be entirely the consecrated temple of the Lord.
Righteousness is peace of life and a well-conditioned state, to which
the Lord dismissed her when He said, "Depart into peace." [2919] For
Salem is, by interpretation, peace; of which our Saviour is enrolled
King, as Moses says, Melchizedek king of Salem, priest of the most high
God, who gave bread and wine, furnishing consecrated food for a type of
the Eucharist. And Melchizedek is interpreted "righteous king;" and the
name is a synonym for righteousness and peace. Basilides, however,
supposes that Righteousness and her daughter Peace dwell stationed in
the eighth sphere.

But we must pass from physics to ethics, which are clearer; for the
discourse concerning these will follow after the treatise in hand. The
Saviour Himself, then, plainly initiates us into the mysteries,
according to the words of the tragedy: [2920] --


"Seeing those who see, he also gives the orgies."

And if you ask,


"These orgies, what is their nature?"

You will hear again:--


"It is forbidden to mortals uninitiated in the Bacchic rites to know."

And if any one will inquire curiously what they are, let him hear:--


"It is not lawful for thee to hear, but they are worth knowing;

The rites of the God detest him who practices impiety."

Now God, who is without beginning, is the perfect beginning of the
universe, and the producer of the beginning. As, then, He is being, He
is the first principle of the department of action, as He is good, of
morals; as He is mind, on the other hand, He is the first principle of
reasoning and of judgment. Whence also He alone is Teacher, who is the
only Son of the Most High Father, the Instructor of men.

Chapter XXVI.--How the Perfect Man Treats the Body and the Things of the
World.

Those, then, who run down created existence and vilify the body are
wrong; not considering that the frame of man was formed erect for the
contemplation of heaven, and that the organization of the senses tends
to knowledge; and that the members and parts are arranged for good, not
for pleasure. Whence this abode becomes receptive of the soul which is
most precious to God; and is dignified with the Holy Spirit through the
sanctification of soul and body, perfected with the perfection of the
Saviour. And the succession of the three virtues is found in the
Gnostic, who morally, physically, and logically occupies himself with
God. For wisdom is the knowledge of things divine and human; and
righteousness is the concord of the parts of the soul; and holiness is
the service of God. But if one were to say that he disparaged the
flesh, and generation on account of it, by quoting Isaiah, who says,
"All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass:
the grass is withered, and the flower has fallen; but the word of the
Lord endureth for ever;" [2921] let him hear the Spirit interpreting
the matter in question by Jeremiah, "And I scattered them like dry
sticks, that are made to fly by the wind into the desert. This is the
lot and portion of your disobedience, saith the Lord. As thou hast
forgotten Me, and hast trusted in lies, so will I discover thy hinder
parts to thy face; and thy disgrace shall be seen, thy adultery, and
thy neighing," and so on. [2922] For "the flower of grass," and
"walking after the flesh," and "being carnal," according to the
apostle, are those who are in their sins. The soul of man is
confessedly the better part of man, and the body the inferior. But
neither is the soul good by nature, nor, on the other hand, is the body
bad by nature. Nor is that which is not good straightway bad. For there
are things which occupy a middle place, and among them are things to be
preferred, and things to be rejected. The constitution of man, then,
which has its place among things of sense, was necessarily composed of
things diverse, but not opposite--body and soul.

Always therefore the good actions, as better, attach to the better and
ruling spirit; and voluptuous and sinful actions are attributed to the
worse, the sinful one.

Now the soul of the wise man and Gnostic, as sojourning in the body,
conducts itself towards it gravely and respectfully, not with
inordinate affections, as about to leave the tabernacle if the time of
departure summon. "I am a stranger in the earth, and a sojourner with
you," it is said. [2923] And hence Basilides says, that he apprehends
that the election are strangers to the world, being supramundane by
nature. But this is not the case. For all things are of one God. And no
one is a stranger to the world by nature, their essence being one, and
God one. But the elect man dwells as a sojourner, knowing all things to
be possessed and disposed of; and he makes use of the things which the
Pythagoreans make out to be the threefold good things. The body, too,
as one sent on a distant pilgrimage, uses inns and dwellings by the
way, having care of the things of the world, of the places where he
halts; but leaving his dwelling-place and property without excessive
emotion; readily following him that leads him away from life; by no
means and on no occasion turning back; giving thanks for his sojourn,
and blessing [God] for his departure, embracing the mansion that is in
heaven. "For we know, that, if the earthly house of our tabernacle be
dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan,
desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: if so
be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we walk by
faith, not by sight," [2924] as the apostle says; "and we are willing
rather to be absent from the body, and present with God." The rather is
in comparison. And comparison obtains in the case of things that fall
under resemblance; as the more valiant man is more valiant among the
valiant, and most valiant among cowards. Whence he adds, "Wherefore we
strive, whether present or absent, to be accepted with Him," [2925]
that is, God, whose work and creation are all things, both the world
and things supramundane. I admire Epicharmus, who clearly says:--


"Endowed with pious mind, you will not, in dying,

Suffer aught evil. The spirit will dwell in heaven above;"

and the minstrel [2926] who sings:--


"The souls of the wicked flit about below the skies on earth,

In murderous pains beneath inevitable yokes of evils;

But those of the pious dwell in the heavens,

Hymning in songs the Great, the Blessed One."

The soul is not then sent down from heaven to what is worse. For God
works all things up to what is better. But the soul which has chosen
the best life--the life that is from God and righteousness--exchanges
earth for heaven. With reason therefore, Job, who had attained to
knowledge, said, "Now I know that thou canst do all things; and nothing
is impossible to Thee. For who tells me of what I know not, great and
wonderful things with which I was unacquainted? And I felt myself vile,
considering myself to be earth and ashes." [2927] For he who, being in
a state of ignorance, is sinful, "is earth and ashes;" while he who is
in a state of knowledge, being assimilated as far as possible to God,
is already spiritual, and so elect. And that Scripture calls the
senseless and disobedient "earth," will be made clear by Jeremiah the
prophet, saying, in reference to Joachim and his brethren "Earth,
earth, hear the word of the Lord; Write this man, as man
excommunicated." [2928] And another prophet says again, "Hear, O
heaven; and give ear, O earth," [2929] calling understanding "ear," and
the soul of the Gnostic, that of the man who has applied himself to the
contemplation of heaven and divine things, and in this way has become
an Israelite, "heaven." For again he calls him who has made ignorance
and hardness of heart his choice, "earth." And the expression "give
ear" he derives from the "organs of hearing," "the ears," attributing
carnal things to those who cleave to the things of sense. Such are they
of whom Micah the prophet says, "Hear the word of the Lord, ye peoples
who dwell with pangs." [2930] And Abraham said, "By no means. The Lord
is He who judgeth the earth;" [2931] "since he that believeth not, is,"
according to the utterance of the Saviour, "condemned already." [2932]
And there is written in the Kings [2933] the judgment and sentence of
the Lord, which stands thus: "The Lord hears the righteous, but the
wicked He saveth not, because they do not desire to know God." For the
Almighty will not accomplish what is absurd. What do the heresies say
to this utterance, seeing Scripture proclaims the Almighty God to be
good, and not the author of evil and wrong, if indeed ignorance arises
from one not knowing? But God does nothing absurd. "For this God," it
is said, "is our God, and there is none to save besides Him." [2934]
"For there is no unrighteousness with God," [2935] according to the
apostle. And clearly yet the prophet teaches the will of God, and the
gnostic proficiency, in these words: "And now, Israel, what doth the
Lord God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, and walk in all
His ways, and love Him, and serve Him alone?" [2936] He asks of thee,
who hast the power of choosing salvation. What is it, then, that the
Pythagoreans mean when they bid us "pray with the voice"? As seems to
me, not that they thought the Divinity could not hear those who speak
silently, but because they wished prayers to be right, which no one
would be ashamed to make in the knowledge of many. We shall, however,
treat of prayer in due course by and by. But we ought to have works
that cry aloud, as becoming "those who walk in the day." [2937] "Let
thy works shine," [2938] and behold a man and his works before his
face. "For behold God and His works." [2939] For the gnostic must, as
far as is possible, imitate God. And the poets call the elect in their
pages godlike and gods, and equal to the gods, and equal in sagacity to
Zeus, and having counsels like the gods, and resembling the
gods,--nibbling, as seems to me, at the expression, "in the image and
likeness." [2940]

Euripides accordingly says, "Golden wings are round my back, and I am
shod with the winged sandals of the Sirens; and I shall go aloft into
the wide ether, to hold convene with Zeus."

But I shall pray the Spirit of Christ to wing me to my Jerusalem. For
the Stoics say that heaven is properly a city, but places here on earth
are not cities; for they are called so, but are not. For a city is an
important thing, and the people a decorous body, and a multitude of men
regulated by law as the church by the word--a city on earth
impregnable--free from tyranny; a product of the divine will on earth
as in heaven. Images of this city the poets create with their pen. For
the Hyperboreans, and the Arimaspian cities, and the Elysian plains,
are commonwealths of just men. And we know Plato's city placed as a
pattern in heaven. [2941]
__________________________________________________________________
[2899] 1 Cor. vii. 38, 35.
[2900] Prov. i. 33.
[2901] Prov. iii. 5.
[2902] Ps. lxxxii. 6.
[2903] thein ... Oeos.
[2904] [[76]Elucidation V.]
[2905] Ps. l. 21.
[2906] loutron. [See [77]Elucidation VI.]
[2907] Ps. i. 4: Isa. xl. 15.
[2908] Hom., Odyss., x. 495.
[2909] Jer. xxxiii. 5.
[2910] Ezek. xliv. 9, 10.
[2911] Ezek. xliv. 27.
[2912] The jubilee. [[78]Elucidation VII.]
[2913] Job i. 21.
[2914] Matt. xviii. 3.
[2915] i.e., Baptism.
[2916] Job [xviii. 5.; Prov. xiii. 9.]
[2917] Gen. xxiv. 16.
[2918] [On Clement's Hebrew, see [79]Elucidation VIII.]
[2919] Mark v. 34.
[2920] Eurip., Bacchae, 465, etc.
[2921] Isa. xl. 6-8.
[2922] Jer. xiii. 24-27.
[2923] Gen. xxiii. 4; Ps. xxxix. 12.
[2924] 2 Cor. v. 1, 2, 3, 7.
[2925] 2 Cor. v. 9.
[2926] Pindar, according to Theodoret.
[2927] Job xlii. 2, 3, 6.
[2928] Jer. xxii. 29, 30.
[2929] Isa. i. 2.
[2930] Mic. i. 2, where, however, the concluding words are not found.
[2931] Gen. xviii. 25.
[2932] John iii. 18.
[2933] Where?
[2934] Isa. xlv. 21.
[2935] Rom. ix. 14.
[2936] Deut. x. 12
[2937] Rom. xiii. 13.
[2938] Matt. v. 16.
[2939] Isa. lxii. 11.
[2940] Gen. i. 26.
[2941] [Elucidation IX.]

The Pastor of Hermas - Introductions

The Pastor of Hermas: Book 1

The Pastor of Hermas: Book 2

The Pastor of Hermas: Book 3

Tatian the Assyrian's Address to the Greeks

Fragments - Tatian the Assyrian

Theophilus of Antioch - Introduction

Theophilus of Antioch to Autolycus: Book 1

Theophilus of Antioch to Autolycus: Book 2

Theophilus of Antioch to Autolycus: Book 3

Athenagoras

A Plea for Christians by Athenagoras the Athenian: Philosopher and Christian

The Treatise of Athenagoras the Athenian, Philosopher and Christian, on the Resurrection of the Dead

Clement of Alexandria - Introductory Note

Exhortation to the Heathen

The Instructor (Paedagogus) - Book 1

The Instructor (Paedagogus) - Book 2

The Instructor (Paedagogus) - Book 3

Elucidations - Clement of Alexandria

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 1

Elucidations - Purpose of the Stromata

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 2

Elucidations - The Stromata, Book 2

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 3

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 4

Elucidations - The Stromata, Book 4

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 5

Elucidations - The Stromata, Book 5

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 6

Elucidations - The Stromata, Book 6

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 7

Elucidations - The Stromata, Book 7

The Stromata, or Miscellanies - Book 8

Elucidations - The Stromata, Book 8

Fragments of Clemens Alexandrinus

Clemens Alexandrinus on the Salvation of the Rich Man

Elucidations - Clemens Alexandrinus on the Salvation of the Rich Man