Traduction Masquer
Against the Valentinians

Chapter III.--The Folly of This Heresy. It Dissects and Mutilates the Deity. Contrasted with the Simple Wisdom of True Religion. To Expose the Absurdities of the Valentinian System is to Destroy It.

Let, then, the serpent hide himself as much as he is able, and let him wrest ¹ all his wisdom in the labyrinths of his obscurities; let him dwell deep down in the ground; let him worm himself into secret holes; let him unroll his length through his sinuous joints; ² let him tortuously crawl, though not all at once, ³ beast as he is that skulks the light. Of our dove, however, how simple is the very home!--always in high and open places, and facing the light! As the symbol of the Holy Spirit, it loves the (radiant) East, that figure of Christ. ⁴ Nothing causes truth a blush, except only being hidden, because no man will be ashamed to give ear thereto. No man will be ashamed to recognise Him as God whom nature has already commended to him, whom he already perceives in all His works, ⁵ --Him indeed who is simply, for this reason, imperfectly known; because man has not thought of Him as only one, because he has named Him in a plurality (of gods), and adored Him in other forms. Yet, ⁶ to induce oneself to turn from this multitude of deities to another crowd, ⁷ to remove from a familiar authority to an unknown one, to wrench oneself from what is manifest to what is hidden, is to offend faith on the very threshold. Now, even suppose that you are initiated into the entire fable, will it not occur to you that you have heard something very like it from your fond nurse ⁸ when you were a baby, amongst the lullabies she sang to you ⁹ about the towers of Lamia, and the horns of the sun? ¹⁰ Let, however, any man approach the subject from a knowledge of the faith which he has otherwise learned, as soon as he finds so many names of Aeons, so many marriages, so many offsprings, so many exits, so many issues, felicities and infelicities of a dispersed and mutilated Deity, will that man hesitate at once to pronounce that these are "the fables and endless genealogies" which the inspired apostle ¹¹ by anticipation condemned, whilst these seeds of heresy were even then shooting forth? Deservedly, therefore, must they be regarded as wanting in simplicity, and as merely prudent, who produce such fables not without difficulty, and defend them only indirectly, who at the same time do not thoroughly instruct those whom they teach. This, of course, shows their astuteness, if their lessons are disgraceful; their unkindness, if they are honourable. As for us, however, who are the simple folk, we know all about it. In short, this is the very first weapon with which we are armed for our encounter; it unmasks ¹² and brings to view ¹³ the whole of their depraved system. ¹⁴ And in this we have the first augury of our victory; because even merely to point out that which is concealed with so great an outlay of artifice, ¹⁵ is to destroy it.

Edition Masquer
Adversus Valentinianos

3

[1] abscondat itaque se serpens quantum potest, totamque prudentiam in latebrarum ambagibus torqueat, alte habitet, in casca detrudat, per amfractus seriem suam evolvat; tortuose procedat nec semel totus, lucifuga bestia; nostrae columbae etiam domus simplex in editis semper et apertis et ad lucem. amat figura spiritus sancti orientem Christi figuram. [2] Nihil veritas erubescit nisi solummodo abscondi, quia nec pudebit ullum aures ei dedere, eum deum recognoscere quem iam illi natura commisit, quem cotidie in operibus omnibus sentit, hoc solum minus notum quod unicum non putavit, quod in numero nominavit, quod in aliis adoravit. [3] alioquin a turba eorum et aliam frequentiam suadere, a domestico principatu ad incognitum transmovere, a manifesto ad occultum retorquere de limine fidem offendere est. iam si et in totam fabulam initietur nonne tale aliquid recordabitur se in infamia inter somni difficultates a nutricula audisse, Lamiae turres et pectines Solis. [4] sed qui ex alia conscientia venerit fidei, si inveniat tot nomina Aeonum, tot conjugia, tot genimina, tot exitus, tot eventus felicitates infelicitates dispersae atque concisae divinitatis, dubitabitne ibidem pronuntiare has esse fabulas et genealogias indeterminatas quas apostoli spiritus, his iam tunc pullulantibus seminibus haereticis, damnare praevenit? [5] merito itaque non simplices, merito tantummodo prudentes, qui talia neque facile producunt neque exerte defendunt sed nec omnes quos edocent, perdocent. utique astute, ut pudenda, ceterum inhumane, si honesta. tamen simplices nos omnia scimus. denique hunc primum cuneum congressionis armavimus detectorem et designatorem totius conscientiae illorum primamque hanc victoriam auspicamur quia quod tanto impendio absconditur, etiam solummodo demonstrare destruere est.