DISSERTATION ON THE ANCIENTS

...sacred Magic, where it is narrated, The unspeakable doctrine of the Persians, which Zastrades A Greek corruption of the name Zoroaster. introduced: or concerning Zarvam Zurvan, the Persian personification of Infinite Time., whom he makes the prince of all, and calls Fortune. That he, after an offering was made so that he might beget Hormisdas Ahura Mazda, the Zoroastrian God of light., begot both him and Satan Ahriman, the spirit of darkness and evil. besides; and furthermore concerning the mixing of their blood. For these things—as the distinguished Andreas Schottus A Belgian Jesuit scholar (1552–1629) known for his translations of Greek classics. of the Society of Jesus, the Latin editor of Photius, advises here—are not of the Persians, but the ravings of the Gnostics Early Christian-era dualists who claimed secret knowledge (gnosis). taken from a book of the revelations of Zoroaster forged by them. Therefore, it should not be surprising if Theodore Likely Theodore of Mopsuestia, an influential 4th-century bishop and theologian. could not at all distinguish the Gnostic fables, sold by the Gnostics as the Persian religion, from the truth. I have said these things against the opinion of (1) Jakob Brucker A German historian of philosophy (1696–1770)., who contends that the Persian Magi established one supreme God as the first true author of all: whom (2) Bayle Pierre Bayle (1647–1706), author of the influential "Historical and Critical Dictionary." rightly calls dualists, because they admitted two contrary eternal and unbegotten principles.

CHAPTER II.

V. There are very many witnesses that both Scythianus A legendary figure in anti-Manichaean literature, said to have traveled to India and Egypt before Mani.—who showed himself not as a companion but as a leader to Mani—and Mani himself plucked their errors from the opinions of the ancient philosophers. Among these, (3) Archelaus, Bishop of Mesopotamia, who disputed with Mani in a very crowded assembly, relates that Scythianus, the precursor of Mani, learned the two opposing principles of good and evil from Pythagoras: and showed himself a defender of this kind of duality. Scythianus, he says, introduces that duality contrary to itself, which he himself received from Pythagoras, just as all other followers of this dogma do, who all [defend] dualities...

(1) Jakob Brucker, History of Philosophy, vol. 1, book 2, chapter 2, on Chaldean Philosophy, page 122.
(2) Pierre Bayle, Critical Dictionary, vol. 4, article on Zoroaster, note F.
(3) Archelaus in Zacagni, Ecclesiastical Collection, vol. 1, num. 51, page 96.