§6Igitur hoc libello, quo demonstrationem solum praemittentes sumus illius arcani, ne quem ex nominibus tam peregrinis et coactis et compactis et ambiguis caligo suffundat, quomodo iis usuri sumus, prius demandabo.
Therefore, in this book, in which we are only presenting a demonstration of that secret, lest anyone be clouded by names so strange, forced, patched up, and ambiguous, I shall first point out how we are going to use them.
quorundam enim de Graeco interpretatio non occurrit ad expeditam proinde nominis formam, quorundam nec de sexu genera conueniunt, quorundam usitatior in Graeco notitia est.
For the translation of some from Greek does not readily yield a convenient form of name in Latin; for some, the genders do not agree with their sex; and for some, the Greek term is more familiar.
itaque plurimum Graeca ponemus; significantiae per paginarum limites aderunt, nec Latinis quidem deerunt Graeca, sed in lineis desuper notabuntur, ut signum hoc sit personalium nominum propter ambiguitates eorum, quae cum alia significatione communicant.
Therefore, we shall mostly use Greek terms; their meanings will be present at the margins of the pages, nor will the Greek be lacking even in Latin passages, but will be marked in lines above, so that this may be a sign of personal names because of their ambiguities, which share another meaning.
quamquam autem distulerim congressionem, solam interim professus narrationem, sicubi tamen indignitas meruerit suggillari, non erit delibationi transfunctoria expugnatio.
However, although I have postponed the conflict, professing in the meantime only a narrative, yet if anywhere their shameful unworthiness deserves to be mocked, the attack will not be perfunctory even in this initial taste.
congressionis lusionem deputa, lector, ante pugnam; ostendam, sed non imprimam uulnera.
Reader, count this play of conflict as a rehearsal before the battle; I will show, but not inflict, wounds.
si et ridebitur alicubi, materiis ipsis satisfiet.
And if there is laughter anywhere, the subject matter itself will be satisfied.
multa sic digna sunt reuinci, ne grauitate adonerentur.
Many things are worthy of being refuted in this way, lest they be burdened with gravity.
uanitati proprie festiuitas cedit.
Jollity is properly conceded to vanity.
congruit et ueritati ridere, quia laetans de aemulis suis ludere [quia] secura est.
It is also fitting for truth to laugh, because in her security she is glad to play with her rivals.
curandum plane, ne risus eius rideatur, si fuerit indignus; ceterum ubicumque dignus risus, officium est.
Care must clearly be taken lest her laughter be laughed at, if it should be unworthy; otherwise, wherever laughter is worthy, it is a duty.
denique hoc modo incipiam.
Finally, I shall begin in this manner.
§7Primus omnium [Ennius] poeta Romanus \'caenacula maxima ca. eIP simpliciter pronuntiauit, elati situs nomine uel quia Iouem illic epulantem legerat apud Homerum.
First of all, the Roman poet Ennius simply pronounced 'the greatest chambers of heaven' (caenacula maxima), either in the name of its elevated site, or because he had read in Homer of Jupiter feasting there.
sed haeretici quantas supernitates supernitatum et quantas sublimitates sublimitatum in habitaculum dei sui cuiusque suspenderint extulerint expanderint, mirum est.
But it is wonderful how many heights of heights and how many sublimities of sublimities the heretics have suspended, raised up, and expanded for the habitation of each of their gods.
etiam creatori nostro Enniana caenacula in aedicularum disposita sunt forma.
Even for our Creator, the Ennian chambers are arranged in the form of small shrines.
aliis atque aliis pergulis superstructis et unicuique deo per totidem scalas distributis, quot haereses fuerint, meritorium factus est mundus.
With one after another lean-to built on top, and distributed to each god by as many ladders as there were heresies, the world has been made a lodging house.
insulam Feliculam credas tanta tabulata caelorum.
You would believe the great storeys of the heavens to be the Felicula block.
nescio ubi illic etiam Valentinianorum deus ad summas tegulas habitat.
I know not where in that place even the god of the Valentinians dwells, right up to the highest roof tiles.
hunc substantialiter quidem Αἰῶνα Τέλειον appellant, personaliter uero Προπάτορα et Προαρχήν, etiam Bython, quod in sublimibus habitanti minime congruebat.
They call him substantially indeed 'Perfect Aeon' (Aiona Teleion), but personally 'Forefather' (Propatora) and 'First Beginning' (Proarchen), and also Bythos (Depth), which was least fitting for one dwelling in the heights.
innatum inmensum infinitum inuisibilem aeternumque definiunt, quasi statim probent esse, si talem definiant, qualem scimus esse debere.
They define him as unborn, immense, infinite, invisible, and eternal, as if they immediately prove that he exists, if they define him such as we know he ought to be.
sic et ante omnia fuisse (non) ut dicatur, sed ut sit expostulo nec aliud magis in huiusmodi denoto, quam quod post omnia inueniuntur qui ante omnia fuisse dicuntur, et quidem non sua.
Thus also, I demand not that he is said to have been before all things, but that he actually was; nor do I point out anything more in this sort of thing than that those who are said to have been before all things are found after all things, and indeed not by their own power.
se<det> itaque Bythos iste infinitis retro aeuis in maxima et altissima quiete, in otio plurimo placidae et, ut ita dixerim, stupentis diuinitatis, qualem iussit Epicurus.
Therefore, this Bythos sits in infinite ages past in the greatest and deepest quiet, in the extreme leisure of a placid and, so to speak, stunned divinity, such as Epicurus commanded.
et tamen quem solum uolunt, dant ei secundam in ipso et cum ipso personam, Ennoian, quam et Charin et Sigen insuper nominant.
And yet, though they wish him to be alone, they give him a second person in himself and with himself, Ennoia (Thought), whom they also call Charis (Grace) and Sige (Silence).
et forte accedit in illa commendatissima quiete monere eum de proferendo tandem initio rerum a semetipso.
And perhaps it happens in that most commended quiet that she prompts him at last to produce the beginning of things from himself.
hoc uice seminis in Sige sua uelut in genitalibus uuluae locis collocat.
This, in place of seed, he deposits in his Sige, as if in the generative parts of a womb.
suscipit illa statim et praegnans efficitur et parit, utique silentio, Sige.
She immediately receives it and is made pregnant and gives birth, certainly in silence, Sige.
et quem parit? Nus est, simillimum patri et parem per omnia.
And whom does she bear? It is Nus (Mind), most like his father and equal in all things.
denique solus hic capere sufficit inmensam illam et incomprehensibilem magnitudinem patris.
In short, he alone is sufficient to comprehend that immense and incomprehensible magnitude of the father.
ita et ipse pater dicitur et initium omnium et proprie Monogenes.
Thus he himself is also called 'father' and 'beginning of all things' and properly 'Monogenes' (Only-begotten).
atquin non proprie, siquidem non solus agnascitur.
And yet not properly, since he is not born alone.
nam cum illo processit et femina, cui Veritas (nomen). [Monogenes, quia prior genitus, quanto congruentius Protogenes uocaretur!] ergo Bythos et Sige, Nus et Veritas prima quadriga defenditur Valentinianae factionis, matrix et origo cunctorum.
For with him there also came forth a female, whose name is Veritas (Truth). [Monogenes, because he was born first, how much more fittingly would he be called Protogenes!] Therefore, Bythos and Sige, Nus and Veritas are maintained as the first tetrad of the Valentinian faction, the matrix and origin of all things.
namque ibidem Nus simul accepit prolationis suae officium, emittit et ipse ex semetipso Sermonem et Vitam.
For in that very place, Nus, as soon as he received the office of his own production, himself also emits from himself Logos (Word) and Zoe (Life).
quae si retro non erat, utique nec in Bytho.
If this was not before, certainly it was not in Bythos either.
et quale est, ut in deo uita non fuerit? sed et haec soboles, ad initium uniuersitatis et formati(onem) Pleromatis totius emissa, facit fructum: Hominem et Ecclesiam procreat.
And what sort of thing is it, that in God life should not have been? But this offspring also, emitted for the beginning of the universe and the formation of the whole Pleroma, produces fruit: it procreates Homo (Man) and Ecclesia (Church).
habes ogdoadem, tetradem duplicem, ex coniugationibus masculorum et feminarum, cellas, ut ita dixerim, primordialium Aeonum, fraterna conubia Valentinianorum deorum, census omnia sanctitatis et maiestatis haereticae.
You have the ogdoad, a double tetrad, from the couplings of males and females, the chambers, so to speak, of the primordial Aeons, the brother-sister marriages of the Valentinian gods, the entire registry of heretical holiness and majesty.
nescio criminum an numinum turbam, certe fontem reliquae fecunditatis.
I know not whether it is a crowd of crimes or of divinities, but certainly the fountain of the remaining fecundity.