constituted the ὀγδοάς. 137 Again, from λoyos and on were derived ten:-Bulòs (a second of the name, unless we ought rather to read βύθιος) and μίξις, ἀγήρατος and ἕνωσις, αὐτοφυής and ἡδονὴ, ἀκίνητος and σύγκρασις, μονογενής (a second of the name) and μακαρία. From ἄνθρωπος and ἐκκλησία were derived twelve :—παράκλητος and πίστις, πατρικὸς and ἐλπὶς, μητρικός and ἀγάπη, 138 αίνος and σύνεσις, ἐκκλησιαστικός and μακαριότης, 139 θελητὸς and σοφία. In forming these pairs of Æons, it was evidently the intention of Valentinus to couple together a male and a female Eon; a masculine being regularly joined to a feminine noun. 140 Tertullian, therefore, retains the Greek nouns; least, in translating them into Latin, the distinction should disappear. We have now reached the number of thirty Eons, which constituted what Valentinus called the Tλnpwua, the fullness of the celestial body.

Το νους

To vous 111 alone, among the derived Æons, was imparted the full knowledge of the Su

137

c. 8.

Compare Irenæus, L. i. c. 1. In the Scorpiace, c. 10. we find the name aßaσkavтos among the Eons of Valentinus.

138 Irenæus has devous.

139 In several instances we find φιλητὸς instead of θελητος, probably by the mistake of the transcriber.

140 c. 6.

141

cc. 9, 10..

preme God. He would have communicated it to the rest; but his mother, ayn, interposed to prevent the communication. They, in consequence, pined with the secret desire of being admitted to the knowledge of the Father. This desire at length became so violent in σοφία, the youngest of the family of the Æons, that she would have been destroyed by its very intensity, and thus one of the members of the Pleroma would have been lost, had she not been preserved by opos, who was sent forth from the Father for this very purpose, at the request of vous. The various emotions, however, by which σopia was agitated during the continuance of her desire, gave rise to new existences; for to them is to be traced the origin of matter, of ignorance, of fear, of grief. The desire itself-called évoúμnois, which the translator of Irenæus interprets concupiscentia cum passione -was separated by opos from its parent copia, and driven out of the Pleroma. To opos, on account of the part which he had acted in restoring copia to the Pleroma, were given the names of Meraywyeùs, ὁροθέτης, σταῦρος, (or rather perhaps σταυρωτής, because he had crucified the desire which preyed upon σοφία,) λυτρωτής or redeemer, and καρπιστής or restorer to liberty.

KK

Having thus described the error of σοφία, the last-born Æon, and her recovery from it, Valentinus 142 proceeded to say that vous sent forth another couple of Eons, Christ and the Holy Spirit. The office of Christ was to instruct the Eons in the nature of the union which subsisted between the different pairs in the Pleroma, and in the mode of arriving at the comprehension of the Supreme Father. The office of the Holy Spirit was to render them, after their instruction by Christ, grateful to the Father, and contented with the degree of knowledge which they possessed. 143 Calm and tranquillity being thus restored to the Pleroma by the exertions of Christ and the Holy Spirit, all the Eons, in honour of the Father, contributed, as it were into a common stock, each his most excellent gift. Out of these contributions was formed the brightest star and most perfect fruit of the Pleroma, Jesus;— who was also called σωτήρ, χριστός, λόγος, and Távτα, because All had contributed to his formation. Angels also were created to be his attendants; but Tertullian says that he could not ascertain whether they were supposed to be of the same substance or essence with their Lord.

So much for the interior of the Pleroma.

142

c. 11.

143

c. 12.

ενθύμησις,

144 With respect to what was without it, we have seen that the intense desire which agitated copía-and which Valentinus called sometimes évouμnois, sometimes. 145 Achamoth-was driven from the Pleroma, into the outer regions of darkness; where she remained like an abortion, shapeless and imperfect. In this state Christ, at the suggestion of opos, regarded her with an eye of pity, and with the assistance of the Holy Spirit gave her a form. She retained in her new condition some savour of her former incorruption; and sensible of her fall sought to be re-admitted to the regions of light, but was prevented by opos. In consequence of her disappointment, she was assailed by those evils which before afflicted her parent, copiafear, grief, and ignorance. To these was now added the desire of conversion to Christ who gave her life. From her various emotions and affections, arose all the substances in this material world. From her desire of conversion, arose every living soul, even that of the Demiurge,

146

145 Tertullianus, c. 14. hoc nomen ininterpretabile vocat, et mox addit, Achamoth unde, adhuc quæritur. Fenardentius vero recte deducit a Sapientia. Irenæus. Ed. Grabe. p. 19.

note 3.

т: т

146 c. 15. The reader will observe that whatever took place without the Pleroma was, as it were, a copy of what took place within it. Thus the formation of matter, here described, corresponds to the formation of matter within the Pleroma, mentioned in cc. 9, 10. See c. 23.

the God of mankind. From her grief and tears, the element of water-from her fear, the corporeal elements-from her smile, which was caused by the recollection of having seen Christ, light. 147 In the extremity of her distress she at length had recourse to prayer to Christ; who sent to her the Saviour Jesus, with his train of attendant angels. 148 The ecstasy, into which she was thrown by their appearance, caused her to produce three different kinds of existencesmaterial, animal, and spiritual. Out 149 of the animal she formed the Demiurge, called also by the Valentinians unтρоrатwρ, and king. The name of Father, which is included in untρoTаTOρ, was applied to him in the case of animal substances, which they placed on on the right; that of Demiurge in the case of material substances, which they placed on the left; and that of King indifferently, in both

cases.

world.

The 150 Demiurge created this visible

To 151 the devil, Valentinus gave the name of KоσμокρaTwp or Munditenens, and appeared in some respects to place him above the Demi

147

c. 16.

148

c. 17. De Animâ, c. 21.

149 c. 18. See de Præscriptione Hæreticorum, cc. 7, 34. The name unτρоTатwp was applied to him, because he was merely the agent of his mother in creating the visible world.