§15Age nunc discant Pythagorici, agnoscant Stoici, Plato ipse, unde materia, quam innatam uolunt, et originem et substantiam traxerit in omnem hanc struem mundi; quod nec Mercurius ille Trismegistus, magister omnium physicorum, recogitauit.
Come now, let the Pythagoreans learn, let the Stoics, and Plato himself, recognize whence matter—which they will have to be unbegotten—drew both its origin and substance for all this structure of the world; a thing which even that Hermes Trismegistus, the master of all natural philosophers, never thought of.
audisti conuersionem, genus aliud passionis: ex hac omnis anima huius mundi dicitur constitisse, etiam ipsius Demiurgi. id est dei nostri;
You have heard of conversion, another kind of passion: from this all the soul of this world is said to have consisted, even that of the Demiurge itself, that is, of our God.
audisti maerorem et timorem: ex his initiata sunt cetera.
You have heard of grief and fear: from these the rest had their beginning.
nam ex lacrimis eius uniuersa aquarum natura manauit.
For from her tears the entire nature of waters flowed.
hinc aestimandum, quem exitum duxerit, quantis lacrimarum generibus inundauerit.
Hence it is to be estimated what an outlet she led, with how many kinds of tears she inundated.
habuit et salsas, habuit et amaras et dulces, et calidas et frigidas guttas, et bituminosas et ferruginantes, et sulphurantes utique et uenenatas, ut et Nonacris inde sudauerit. quae Alexandrum occidit, et Lyncestarum inde defluxerit. quae ebrios efficit, et Salmacis inde se soluerit, quae masculos molles.
She had both salty, and bitter, and sweet, and hot and cold drops, and bituminous and irony, and sulphurous indeed and poisonous, so that even Nonacris sweated therefrom, which killed Alexander, and Lyncestae flowed down therefrom, which makes men drunk, and Salmacis dissolved itself therefrom, which makes males soft.
etiam caelestes imbres pipiauit Achamoth, et "nos in cisternis alienos luctus et lacrimas seruare curamus.
Achamoth even whimpered forth heavenly rains, and we take care to preserve foreign griefs and tears in cisterns.
proinde ex consternatione et pauore corporalia elementa ducta sunt.
Accordingly, from her consternation and fear the corporeal elements were derived.
et tamen in tanta circumstantia solitudinis, in tanto circumspectu destitutionis ridebat interdum, qua conspecti Christi recordans; eo de gaudii risu lumen effulsit cuius hoc? prouidentiae? beneficium quale! illam ridere cogebat idcirco, ne semper nos in tenebris moraremur! nec obstupescas: quin laetitia eius tam splendidum elementum radiauerit mundo, cum maestitia quoque eius tam necessarium instrumentum defuderit saeculo? o risum inluminatorem! o fletum rigatorem! et tamen poterat remedio iam agere cum illius loci horrore.
And yet, in so great an environment of solitude, in so great a prospect of destitution, she smiled at times, by remembrance of the Christ she had seen; from that smile of joy light shone forth. Whose benefit was this? Of Providence? What a benefit! He compelled her to smile for this reason, lest we should remain forever in darkness! Nor should you be astonished: why should not her joy have radiated so splendid an element to the world, since her sadness also poured forth so necessary an instrument to the age? O illuminating smile! O watering weeping! And yet she could already have dealt by way of remedy with the horror of that place.
omnem enim obscuritatem eius discussisset, quotiens ridere uoluisset. ♦* uel ne cogeretur desertores suos supplicare.
For she would have dispersed all its darkness as often as she wished to smile... or lest she should be compelled to supplicate her deserters.
§16Conuertitur enim ad preces et ipsa more materno.
For she too turns herself to prayers in a motherly fashion.
sed Christus, quem iam pigebat extra Pleroma proficisci, uicarium praefecti Paracletum Soterem — hic erit Iesus, largito ei patre uniuersorum Aeonum summam potestatem subiciendis eis omnibus, uti in ipso secundum apostolum omnia conderentur — ad eam emittit cum officio atque comitatu coaetaneorum angelorum, credas et cum duodecim fascibus.
But Christ, who was already loath to go outside the Pleroma, sends to her, with the office and companionship of his contemporary angels—you would believe even with twelve fasces—the Savior, the deputy of the governor, the Paraclete—this will be Jesus, the father of all Aeons having granted him supreme power to subject all of them to himself, so that in him, according to the apostle, all things might be founded.
ibi demum, aduentu pompatico eius concussa, Achamoth protinus uelamentum sibi obduxit ex officio primo uenerationis et uerecundiae; dehinc contemplatur eum fructiferumque suggestum.
There at last, shaken by his pompous arrival, Achamoth immediately drew a veil over herself out of the first duty of reverence and modesty; then she contemplates him and his fruitful appearance.
quibus inde conceperat uiribus occurrit illi, xcipcE XiXlps dicens, opinor.
With what strength she had conceived therefrom she runs to meet him, saying, I suppose, 'chaire chaire'.
susceptam ille confirmat atque conformat agnitione iam et ab omnibus iniuriis Passionis expumicat, non eadem neglegentia in exterminium discretis, quam acciderat in casibus matris.
Him whom she received he confirms and conforms now by knowledge, and cleanses her from all the injuries of Passion, not with the same negligence of separating them to destruction as had happened in the misfortunes of her mother.
sed enim exercitata uitia et usu uiriosa confudit atque ita massaliter solidata defixit seorsum, in materiae corporalem paraturam commutans ex incorporali passione, indita habilitate atque natura, qua peruenire mox possent in aemulas aequiperantias corpulentiarum, ut duplex substantiarum condicio ordinaretur, de uitiis pessima, de conuersione passionalis.
But indeed, he mixed together the practiced vices and those corrupt by use, and having thus solidified them like a mass, fixed them apart, changing them from an incorporeal passion into a corporeal preparation of matter, putting into them an ability and nature by which they might soon arrive at the rival equalities of corpulence, so that a double condition of substances might be ordered, the worst from vices, the passional from conversion.
haec erit materia, quae nos commisit cum Hermogene ceterisque, qui deum ex materia, non ex nihilo, operatum cuncta praesumunt.
This will be the matter which has set us at variance with Hermogenes and others, who presume that God wrought all things from matter, not from nothing.
§17Abhinc Achamoth, expedita tandem de malis omnibus, ecce iam proficit et in opera maiora frugescit.
Henceforth Achamoth, delivered at last from all evils, behold, now makes progress and bears fruit in greater works.
prae gaudio enim tanti ex infelicitate successus concalefacta simulque contemplatione ipsa angelicorum luminum, ut ita dixerim, subfermentata — pudet, sed aliter exprimere non est — quodammodo subsuriit intra et ipsa in illos et conceptu statim intumuit spiritali imaginem ipsam, quam ui laetantis (et) ex laetitia prurientis intentionis imbiberat et sibi intimarat.
For being warmed by joy at so great a success from her unhappiness, and at the same time, as I might say, sub-fermented by the very contemplation of the angelic lights—it is a shame, but there is no other way to express it—she in a manner lusted within herself after them, and immediately swelled with a spiritual conception of the very image which she had absorbed and inmostized to herself by the power of her rejoicing and from-joy-itching attention.
peperit denique, et facta est exinde trinitas generum ex trinitate causarum, unum materiale, quod ex passione, aliud animale, quod ex conuersione, tertium spiritale, quod ex imaginatione.
Finally she brought forth, and from that time there was made a trinity of classes from a trinity of causes: one material, which was from passion; another animal, which was from conversion; a third spiritual, which was from imagination.