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| The Sethians Support Their Doctrines by an Allegorical Interpretation of Scripture; Their System Really Derived from Natural Philosophers and from the Orphic Rites; Adopt the Homeric Cosmogony.
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Chapter XV.—The
Sethians Support Their Doctrines by an Allegorical Interpretation of
Scripture; Their System Really Derived from Natural Philosophers and
from the Orphic Rites; Adopt the Homeric Cosmogony.
These are the statements which the
patrons531
| 531
προστάται.
This is a military expression applied to those placed in the foremost
ranks of a battalion of soldiers; but it was also employed in civil
affairs, to designate, for instance at Athens, those who protected the
μέτοικοι
(aliens), and others without the rights of citizenship.
Προστάτης
was the Roman Patronus. | of the Sethian
doctrines make, as far as it is possible to declare in a few
words. Their system, however, is made up (of tenets) from natural
(philosophers), and of expressions uttered in reference to different
other subjects; and transferring (the sense of) these to the
Eternal532
Logos, they
explain them as we have declared. But they assert likewise that
Moses confirms their doctrine when he says, “Darkness, and mist,
and tempest.” These, (the Sethian) says, are the three
principles (of our system); or when he states that three were born in
paradise—Adam, Eve, the serpent; or when he speaks of three
(persons, namely) Cain, Abel, Seth; and again of three (others)—Shem,
Ham,533
| 533 It is
written Cham in the text. | Japheth; or when
he mentions three patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; or when he
speaks of the existence of three days before sun and moon; or when he
mentions three laws—prohibitory, permissive, and adjudicatory of
punishment. Now, a prohibitory law is as follows: “Of
every tree that is in paradise thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil thou mayest not eat.”534
But in the passage, “Come
forth from thy land and from thy kindred, and hither into a land which
I shall show thee,”535
this law, he says, is permissive; for one who is so disposed may
depart, and one who is not so disposed may remain. But a law
adjudicatory of punishment is that which makes the following
declaration: “Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt
not kill, thou shalt not steal;”536
for a penalty is awarded to each of these
acts of wickedness.
The entire system of their doctrine, however, is
(derived) from537
the ancient
theologians Musæus, and Linus, and Orpheus,538
| 538
These belong to the legendary period of Greek philosophy.
Musæus flourished among the Athenians, Linus among the Thebans,
and Orpheus among the Thracians. They weaved their physical
theories into crude theological systems, which subsequently suggested
the cosmogony and theogony of Hesiod. See the translator’s
Treatise on Metaphysics, chap. ii. pp. 33, 34. | who elucidates especially the ceremonies
of initiation, as well as the mysteries themselves. For their
doctrine concerning the womb is also the tenet of Orpheus; and the
(idea of the) navel,539
| 539
ὀυφαλος: some read with
greater probability φαλλὸς, which means
the figure, generally wooden, of a membrum virile. This
harmonizes with what Hippolytus has already mentioned respecting
Osiris. A figure of this description was carried in solemn
procession in the orgies of Bacchus as a symbol of the generative power
of nature. The worship of the Lingam among the Hindoos is of the
same description. |
which is harmony,540
| 540 ἁρμονία (Schneidewin).
Cruise reads ἀνδρεία (manliness),
which agrees with φαλλὸς (see preceding
note). For φαλλὸς Schneidewin reads
ὀμφαλός (navel). | is (to be found)
with the same symbolism attached to it in the Bacchanalian orgies of
Orpheus. But prior to the observance of the mystic rite of
Celeus, and Triptolemus, and Ceres, and Proserpine, and Bacchus in
Eleusis, these orgies have been celebrated and handed down to men in
Phlium of Attica.541
| 541 “Of
Achaia” (Meinekius, Vindic. Strab., p. 242). | For
antecedent to the Eleusinian mysteries, there are (enacted) in Phlium
the orgies542
| 542 The
reading in Miller is obviously incorrect, viz., λεγομένη
μεγαληγορία,
for which he suggests μεγάλη
ἑορτή. Several other
emendations have been proposed, but they scarcely differ from the
rendering given above, which is coincident with what may be learned of
these mysteries from other sources. | of her denominated
the “Great (Mother).” There is, however, a portico in
this (city), and on the portico is inscribed a representation,
(visible) up to the present day, of all the words which are spoken (on
such occasions). Many, then, of the words inscribed upon that
portico are those respecting which Plutarch institutes discussions in
his ten books against543
| 543
πρὸς, or it
might be rendered “respecting.” A reference, however,
to the catalogue of Empedocles’ works, given by Fabricius (t. v.
p. 160), shows that for πρὸς we should read εις. |
Empedocles. And in the greater544
| 544
πλείοσι: Miller
would read πυλεῶσι. i.e.,
gateways. | number of these books is also drawn the
representation of a certain aged man, grey-haired, winged,545
| 545 Or
πετρωτὸς,
intended for πετρώδης,
“made of stone.” [A winged phallus was worn by
the women of Pompeii as an ornament, for which Christian women
substituted a cross. See vol. iii., this series, p. 104.] | having his pudendum
erectum, pursuing a retreating woman of azure
colour.546
| 546
κυανοειδῆ:
some read κυνοειδῆ, i.e.,
like a dog. | And over the
aged man is the inscription “phaos
ruentes,” and over the woman “pereëphicola.”547
| 547 Some
read Persephone (Proserpine) Phlya. | But “phaos
ruentes”548
| 548 For
“phaos ruentes” some read “Phanes rueis,” which
is the expression found in the Orphic hymn (see Cruice’s
note). | appears to be the
light (which exists), according to the doctrine of the Sethians, and
“phicola”
the darkish water; while the space in the midst of these seems to be a
harmony constituted from the spirit that is placed between. The
name, however, of “phaos ruentes” manifests, as they
allege, the flow from above of the light downwards. Wherefore one
may reasonably assert that the Sethians celebrate rites among
themselves, very closely bordering upon those orgies of the
“Great (Mother” which are observed among) the
Phliasians. And the poet likewise seems to bear his testimony to
this triple division, when he remarks, “And all things have been
triply divided, and everything obtains its (proper)
distinction;”549
| 549
Iliad, xv. 189. (See the passage from Hesiod given
at the end of book i. of The Refutation.) | that is, each
member of the threefold division has obtained (a particular)
capacity. But now, as regards the tenet that the subjacent water
below, which is dark, ought, because the light has set (over it), to
convey upwards and receive the spark borne down from (the light)
itself; in the assertion of this tenet, I say, the all-wise Sethians
appear to derive (their opinion) from Homer:—
“By earth I sware, and yon broad Heaven above,
And Stygian stream beneath, the weightiest oath
Of solemn power, to bind the blessed
gods.”550
| 550
Iliad, xv. 36–38 (Lord Derby’s translation);
Odyssey, v. 185–187. |
That is, according to Homer, the gods suppose water to be
loathsome and horrible. Now, similar to this is the doctrine of
the Sethians, which affirms (water) to be formidable to the
mind.551
| 551 Miller
reasonably proposes for τῷ
νοΐ the reading στοιχείο
ν, “which affirms water to be a formidable
element.” | E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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