Translation
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Against Heresies
15.
Such are the opinions which prevail among these persons, by whom, like the Lernaean hydra, a many-headed beast has been generated from the school of Valentinus. For some of them assert that Sophia herself became the serpent; on which account she was hostile to the creator of Adam, and implanted knowledge in men, for which reason the serpent was called wiser than all others. Moreover, by the position of our intestines, through which the food is conveyed, and by the fact that they possess such a figure, our internal configuration 1 in the form of a serpent reveals our hidden generatrix.
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The text of this sentence is hopelessly corrupt, but the meaning is as given above. ↩
Translation
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Gegen die Häresien (BKV)
15.
Das also sind ihre Lehren; ein vielköpfiges Ungeheuer gleich der lernäischen Schlange, das aus der Schule des Valentinus entstanden ist. Einige nämlich sagen, die Sophia selbst sei zur Schlange geworden; deshalb habe sie sich gegen den Schöpfer des Adam erhoben und den Menschen die Erkenntnis gebracht, denn die Schlange wird ja das klügste von allen Geschöpfen genannt. Und die gewundene Lage unserer Eingeweide welche die Speise befördern, soll die in uns verborgene Zeugekraft der Schlangengestalt in uns anzeigen.