THE FIRST BOOK OF SAINT IRENAEUS AGAINST HERESIES.

A small decorative initial Q at the beginning of the text in the left column.

they were hidden in secret, now by the grace of God they have come into the light. For nothing is covered that shall not be revealed, nor hidden that shall not be known. referencing Matthew 10:26 Nor indeed will you demand from us, who live among the Gauls original: "Gallos" and for the most part labor in a barbarian tongue, a skill in words which we have not learned: nor the power of a writer, which we have not strived to acquire: nor the ornament of phrases, nor the power of persuasion, of which we are unskilled and ignorant. But those things which are written to you simply, truly, and in common speech, yet with a benevolent mind, you also will receive with equal benevolence of mind. And you yourself, being more learned than us, will amplify these things as if they were seeds and beginnings received from us. In the wide field of your mind, you will more fruitfully bring forth what has been spoken briefly by us, and what we have related weakly, you will declare with strength to those with whom you associate. And just as we, at your persistent request to understand what their opinion was, have strived not only to make it clear to you, but to provide the means to demonstrate its falsehood: in the same way, you also, for that grace which you have obtained from the Lord, will promptly and with earnest zeal serve others, so that men may no longer be distracted by their speech prepared for persuasion. And it is of this sort:

SCHOLIA OF D. BILLIUS ON THE

Preface of Irenaeus.

Since some Greek exemplars copies have a flaw that was not noticed by Gallasius, it casts a fog over the meaning. For it should be read as esti is, as anyone who pays close attention will easily see. This sentence is very long, into which Irenaeus has crowded many things. He could have said it briefly thus: Since some introduce false doctrines, I have thought it necessary to indicate them to you, so that you may make them clear to those who are with you, and take care lest anyone rush headlong into such monstrous errors.

Repudiated the truth tēn alētheian parapepomphasi they have sent away the truth, that is, as the Apostle speaks, apostrephesthai to turn away from, rejecting, or turning away: not, as Gallasius foolishly translates, beyond what is right and humble.

False Addō I add pseudeis false in the Greek from the ancient interpreter.

Depraving diaphtheirein to corrupt but with dia through/thoroughly omitted, it means to explain the divine oracles in bad faith. These are the words of the Apostle in the second letter to Timothy, chapter 2.

Ignorantly amathōs unlearnedly, ignorantly or coldly, not at all suited for persuasion.

As one who the false original: "Vt qui falsum" In the Greek, for mēde de diakrinein, it should be read mē diakrinein not to discern. This is also how the ancient translation has it, as it now stands.

Deceit and imposture original: "Fraus & impostura" for panyu altogether is the same as apatōn deceiving.
It may seem to be original: "Esse videatur" In the Greek, for phainesthai, read phainetai it appears.
Skill of art original: "Artis folertia" the ancient interpreter seems to have read technēn art/skill in the Accusative case, so that it will be a matter of proving the artifice which is craftily done.

Covering epiballon a covering or cloak I read, not epiballin, agreeing also with the ancient interpreter who translates it as superindumentum outer garment.

They spit out their brains original: "Cerebru experunt" that is, they are endowed with perspicacity insight. Or in the opposite way, it could mean that spitting out the brain is the same as lacking a brain. However, the first sense seems simpler and more correct to me. For I think Irenaeus means this: that not all are capable of the Valentinian doctrine, because many are of sounder mind original: "cerebro" than to be able to endure hearing such monstrous dogmas.

Abyss bython the deep. This is an allusion to the Bythus the Depth or Primal Cause about which he is soon to speak: for bythos signifies the deep.

Among the Gauls original: "Inter Gallos" in the Greek, for dellois, keltais Celts should be restored.
Weakly original: "Imbecilliter" in the Greek it should be read asthenōs without strength.

Matthew 10:26. Luke 8:17.

12:2.

so that you may strongly assert.

Book 5 of the History, chapter 6.

1 Peter, and in the Epistle of Jude.

Catechesis 16. Dialogue 1, chapter 3. Questions on Genesis in the Scriptures.

their doctrines have now come into the open according to the grace of God. For nothing is covered that shall not be manifest: and nothing is hidden that shall not be known. 18 You will not require from us, 19 who dwell among the Celts, and are often called away into a barbarian speech, the art of speech which we have not learned, nor the power of a writer, which we have not aimed for: nor the ornament of words, nor persuasion which we do not know: but simply and truly and 20 plainly original: "idiotice," in the manner of an ordinary person those things which are written to you with love, you will receive with love, and you yourself will increase them within you, being more capable than we are, as if receiving seeds and beginnings from us: and in the breadth 21 of your understanding you will cause those things which were said in few words by us to bear much fruit, and you will strongly present to those with whom you are the things which were weakly reported by us. And just as we labored some time ago, when you sought to learn their opinion, not only to make it manifest to you, 22 but also to provide the assistance to show it to be false: so you also will effectively serve the rest according to the grace which has been given to you by the Lord, so that men may no longer be drawn away by their persuasion, which is of this sort.

by the fault of the interpretation, the printer, or the scribe, even the word in which you can write was omitted: they forge false speeches and vain genealogies. Although the ancient interpreter seems not to have read matoxas vain, but aperantous endless, when he translates it as "infinite": as it is found in Ambrose on 1 Timothy 1:4. The Latin Vulgate has "interminable genealogies": Tertullian in Prescription against Heretics identifies Valentinus when he names "undetermined genealogies." Cornarius also seems to have read the word xeidous: for he writes, "forming false things and vain genealogies." Regarding glass original: "Vitreū" as an insult to it, like the proverb in Jerome's 8th Epistle, which seems to have arisen from this custom of adulterating gems: is a piece of glass worth as much as a true pearl? But in Tertullian's To the Martyrs, chapter 4, we read: Is glass worth so much? How much is a true pearl worth? Lest this word be thought to be used only in the plural. In Pliny and Petronius we find "broken glasses" original: "vitrea fracta".

Though he be unskilled original: "Rudis cū sit" the interpreter seems to have read apeiros unskilled/inexperienced, not akeraios simple/innocent, though he be simple, not uncorrupted or sincere: so a little before, aphēleiotēs simplicity, so that he may deceive the simpler ones.

Which also is of blasphemy against God original: "Quæ et in Deum blasphemationis" the Greek book has eis christon blasphemias blasphemies against Christ, the ancient one seems to have read eis theon against God. A little before, for "they have spat out their own brain," we restore it as "because not all have a brain," which confirms Billy's first explanation, as if spitting out the brain is the same as being endowed with insight. Or, as Gallasius advises, this way of speaking is drawn from doctors, who are accustomed to purge a head weighed down by humors with errhines nasal medicines, and other remedies that draw out phlegm and spit: or from those who by nature have no brain, being hindered by those humors: this therefore convinces us, because not all can detect those things on their own. For when he adds, "so that you also, knowing them, may make all things manifest," he certainly seems to want those monsters to be known, so that their absurdities may be forever forbidden and condemned. Just as when someone knows that what is offered as a gem is actually glass, he rejects and despises it at once. Irenaeus in Book 1, chapter 35: "The victory over them is the manifestation of their opinion." Jerome to Ctesiphon: "To have produced their opinion is to have overcome it."

ANNOTATIONS OF THE REVEREND FATHER FR.

Feu-ardentius.

• This common title of the books of Saint Irenaeus at first made me suspicious, not only because of an old manuscript codex which has it slightly differently, as we have noted in the margin; but also because of Eusebius, who calls these "Five books of the Reprehension and Overthrow of Knowledge Falsely So-Called" original: "Elenchou kai anatropēs tēs pseudōnymou gnōseōs pente". Andrew of Caesarea and Arethas in chapter 16 of the Apocalypse agree with him. Oecumenius also, in the translation by John Hentenius, calls them by the same name: "books against falsely called wisdom." Also: "The Confutation of Knowledge Falsely So-Called." But I was moved more to the same conclusion by Irenaeus himself, who, in the preface to the second book, alludes to this title, saying that he "Argues against the recognition of a false name." And a little after he confirms it thus: "Because it is the detection and overthrow of their opinion (the heretics'), we have so titled the compilation of this work." And again, in the Preface to the fourth book he says: "Sending you this fourth book of the work, which is concerning the detection and overthrow of false knowledge." And again, at the end of the fourth book he writes: "In the remaining books of reproof and overthrow of knowledge falsely so-named, God willing, we shall provide." Finally, in the Preface to the fifth book he says: "In this 5th book, which is concerning the translation of the works of the universe, and the overthrow of knowledge falsely so-named," etc. By these, the title assigned by Eusebius is clearly proven. It is certain, moreover, that Irenaeus appropriately applied Elenchon Refutation to the first book, in which he only unmasks the errors of the heretics: and Anatropēn Overthrow to the following four, in which he refutes them with many very serious arguments.

Because, however, the same common Latin title is supported by the fact that in the same Eusebius earlier in the same chapter, it is cited in Greek as the ancient writing holds: and again in Book 4 of the History, chapter 10, he says the same: "These things he says in the third book against heresies." And in chapter 14: "Thus they have it from the third book against heresies." And again the same Eusebius, in the translation by Rufinus, in chapters 17, 22, and 27 of the same book, calls them "books against heresies." Furthermore, Cyril of Jerusalem calls them "Instructions against Heresies": Jerome also in the Catalog, as well as Theodoret and the interpreters of Procopius of Gaza, "books against heresies": Anastasius of Nicaea, "Sermons against Heresies": the same author writes of Irenaeus, "Who, by attacking these heresies of Scripture, will easily overthrow all the rest." I think this same common, ancient title should be retained even now with the old interpreter: while the other should be placed before the Greek fragments. For this one seems to me more elegant, because it has an allusion to the name of the Gnostics, and at the same time agrees with the words of the Apostle Paul, by which he gravely and sacredly warns us to avoid "the oppositions of knowledge falsely so-called" antheseis tēs pseudōnymou gnōseōs.

1. Insofar as some refuting the truth ] The hyperbaton disruption of normal word order of this beginning is long, but familiar to this author, especially at the beginnings of books: nor can it be easily detected here as in the Greek. I think the reader is kept in suspense by the multitude of members and that long parenthesis, perhaps from some familiar speech rather than written discourse, until one comes to the principal words: "I have considered it a grace." In every way, however, in reading...