The Hymn of the Soul

common, for which reason Ephraim the Syrian Ephraim Syrus (c. 306–373 AD) was a prominent Syriac deacon and hymnwriter who vigorously defended orthodoxy against Gnostic groups. speaks of Bardesanes as "the teacher of Māni"¹; but they nevertheless differed profoundly, and, if we may trust the testimony of the Arabic writer An-Nadīm, the founder of Manichaeism Mani (216–274 AD) founded a dualistic religion that saw the world as a struggle between Light and Darkness. himself published refutations of the Bardesanists². It is therefore natural, in the case of a Gnostic document composed in Syriac, to begin by inquiring whether it can, with any probability, be ascribed to either of these sects.

That this Poem is not a Manichaean product hardly needs to be stated. The most prominent idea in it, namely that the Soul is "sent" from heaven to earth in order to perform a divine mission, is quite contrary to the principles of Manichaeism; for according to the Manichaean view the conjunction of the soul with the body is the result of a "mixture" of the elements of Light and of Darkness, which took place before the world was fashioned³.

Of the religious teaching of Bardesanes (A.D. 154—222) A Syrian philosopher and scientist known as "the last of the Gnostics," whose followers survived for centuries. very little can be known with certainty. His writings have all been lost, and the celebrated Dialogue on Fate⁴ (or "the Book of the Laws of the Countries"), which was composed by his disciple Philip⁵, is mainly devoted to proving the theory of human free-will, to the almost total exclusion of religion properly so called. So scanty is the evidence on this subject that in recent years some have even doubted whether Bardesanes can rightly be described as a Gnostic⁶. But though we have no trustworthy account of his

¹ original Syriac: "ܗܘ ܗܘܐ ܡܠܦܢܐ ܕܡܐܢܝ" "He was the teacher of Mani" — S. Ephraemi Syri . . . . . Selected Works, ed. Overbeck (Oxford, 1865) p. 63.

² G. Flügel, Mani (Leipsic, 1862) pp. 73, 102, where Māni's "refutation of the Daiṣānites (i.e. Bardesanists) on the subject of the Soul of Life" is mentioned.

³ It may however be worth while to point out that the passage in which the victory of the soul over the power of evil is symbolised by the prince "charming" the serpent to sleep (couplets 58, 59) bears a curious resemblance to the Manichaean myth described by Titus of Bostra (ed. De Lagarde, Bk. i. chap. 17)— original Greek: "Θεασαμένη γὰρ ἡ ὕλη τὴν ἀποσταλεῖσαν δύναμιν, προσεκίσσησε μὲν ὡς ἐρασθεῖσα, ὁρμῇ δὲ πλείονι λαβοῦσα ταύτην κατέπιε καὶ ἐδέθη τρόπον τινὰ ὥσπερ θηρίον. κέχρηνται γὰρ καὶ τῷδε τῷ ὑποδείγματι, ὡς δι᾿ ἐπῳδῆς τῆς ἀποσταλείσης δυνάμεως ἐ코ιμίσθη." "For when Matter term: Hylē (Greek for 'matter'), often viewed as a sentient, evil force in Gnosticism. beheld the power that had been sent, she was moved with desire as if in love, and seizing it with greater force, she swallowed it and was bound in a certain manner like a wild beast. For they use also this illustration: that by the incantation [charm] of the power that was sent, she was lulled to sleep." Instead of "the Hylē," the parallel passage in the Fihrist The 'Fihrist' (The Catalog) was a comprehensive 10th-century Arabic index of books and authors by Ibn al-Nadim. of An-Nadīm (G. Flügel, Mani pp. 54, 87) has "the Primal Devil," which is doubtless a more faithful representation of the Manichaean idea.

⁴ Edited by Cureton in his Spicilegium Syriacum (London, 1855).

⁵ See Wright, A Short History of Syriac Literature (London, 1894) p. 30.

⁶ See F. Nau, An Unpublished Biography of Bardesanes the Astrologer (Paris, 1897).