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Against the Valentinians

Tertullian

Chapter 10

About this work

Author: Tertullian

Chapter X.—Another Account of the Strange Aberrations of Sophia, and the Restraining Services of Horus. Sophia Was Not Herself, After All, Ejected from the Pleroma, But Only Her Enthymesis.

But some dreamers have given another account of the aberration

‹ Chapter 9 Chapter 11 ›

and

recovery

of

Sophia

.

After

her

vain

endeavours

,

and

the

disappointment

of

her

hope

,

she

was

,

I

suppose

,

disfigured

with

paleness

and

emaciation

,

and

that

neglect

of

her

beauty

which

was

natural

to

one

who

was

deploring

the

denial

of

the

Father

,

—

an

affliction

which

was

no

less

painful

than

his

loss

.

Then

,

in

the

midst

of

all

this

sorrow

,

she

by

herself

alone

,

without

any

conjugal

help

,

conceived

and

bare

a

female

offspring

.

Does

this

excite

your

surprise

?

Well

,

even

the

hen

has

the

power

of

being

able

to

bring

forth

by

her

own

energy

.

They

say

,

too

,

that

among

vultures

there

are

only

females

,

which

become

parents

alone

.

At

any

rate

,

she

was

another

without

aid

from

a

male

,

and

she

began

at

last

to

be

afraid

that

her

end

was

even

at

hand

.

She

was

all

in

doubt

about

the

treatment

of

her

case

,

and

took

pains

at

self

-

concealment

.

Remedies

could

nowhere

be

found

.

For

where

,

then

,

should

we

have

tragedies

and

comedies

,

from

which

to

borrow

the

process

of

exposing

what

has

been

born

without

connubial

modesty

?

While

the

thing

is

in

this

evil

plight

,

she

raises

her

eyes

,

and

turns

them

to

the

Father

.

Having

,

however

,

striven

in

vain

,

as

her

strength

was

failing

her

,

she

falls

to

praying

.

Her

entire

kindred

also

supplicates

in

her

behalf

,

and

especially

Nus

.

Why

not

?

What

was

the

cause

of

so

vast

an

evil

?

Yet

not

a

single

casualty

befell

Sophia

without

its

effect

.

All

her

sorrows

operate

.

Inasmuch

as

all

that

conflict

of

hers

contributes

to

the

origin

of

Matter

.

Her

ignorance

,

her

fear

,

her

distress

,

become

substances

.

Hereupon

the

Father

by

and

by

,

being

moved

,

produces

in

his

own

image

,

with

a

view

to

these

circumstances

the

Horos

whom

we

have

mentioned

above

;

(

and

this

he

does

)

by

means

of

Monogenes

Nus

,

a

male

-

female

(

Æon

)

,

because

there

is

this

variation

of

statement

about

the

Father’s

sex

.

They

also

go

on

to

tell

us

that

Horos

is

likewise

called

Metagogius

,

that

is

,

“

a

conductor

about

,

”

as

well

as

Horothetes

(

Setter

of

Limits

)

.

By

his

assistance

they

declare

that

Sophia

was

checked

in

her

illicit

courses

,

and

purified

from

all

evils

,

and

henceforth

strengthened

(

in

virtue

)

,

and

restored

to

the

conjugal

state

:

(

they

add

)

that

she

indeed

remained

within

the

bounds

of

the

Pleroma

,

but

that

her

Enthymesis

,

with

the

accruing

Passion

,

was

banished

by

Horos

,

and

crucified

and

cast

out

from

the

Pleroma

,

—

even

as

they

say

,

Malum

foras

!

(

Evil

,

avaunt

!

)

Still

,

that

was

a

spiritual

essence

,

as

being

the

natural

impulse

of

an

Æon

,

although

without

form

or

shape

,

inasmuch

as

it

had

apprehended

nothing

,

and

therefore

was

pronounced

to

be

an

infirm

and

feminine

fruit

.

Notes

1
Exitum.
2
Uti quæ.
3
Comp. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. vi. 2; Pliny, H. N. x. 58, 60.
4
Ratione.
5
Exitus.
6
In hæc: in relation to the case of Sophia.
7
Above, in chap. viii. we were told that Nus, who was so much like the Father, was himself called “Father.”
8
In censu.
9
Appendicem.
10
Literally, “infirm fruit and a female,” i.e. “had not shared in any male influence, but was a purely female production.” See our Irenæus, i. 4. [Vol. I. p. 321.]