In contrast to the Marcionites and their practice of mutilating the Scriptures, Irenæus says of the Valentinians (iii. 12, 12): scripturas quidem confitentur, interpretationes vero convertunt, quemadmodum ostendimus in primo libro. There we read (i. 3, 6): καὶ οὐ μόνον ἐκ τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν καὶ τῶν ἀποστολικῶν πειρῶνται τὰς ἀποδείξεις ποιεῖσθαι παρατρέποντες τὰς ἑρμηνείας καὶ ῥᾳδιουργοῦντες τὰς ἐξηγήσεις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ νόμου καὶ προφητῶν. But in i. 11, 9 he says of them: Illi vero qui sunt a Valentino ... suas conscriptiones proferentes, plura habere gloriantur quam sint ipsa evangelia, siquidem in tantum processerunt audaciae, uti quod ab his non olim scriptum est, “veritatis evangelium” titulent, in nihilo conveniens apostolorum evangeliis, ut nec evangelium sit apud eos sine blasphemia. For the continuation and discussion of the passage, see Zahn, _GK._ ii. 748. See also Westcott, _Canon_, p. 298 ff. Zahn (_GK._ ii. 755) endeavours to show that they corrected the text of the manuscripts, by the omission of ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν, _e.g._, in 1 Cor. xv. 29, and the insertion of θεότητες in Col. i. 16. In i. 8, 1, Irenæus accuses them of ἐξ ἀγράφων ἀναγινώσκοντες καὶ τὸ δὴ λεγόμενον ἐξ ἄμμου σχοίνια πλέκεις ἐπιτηδεύοντες. The proverb is from Ahikar. The well-known charge made by Celsus (_Orig. con. Cels._, 2, 27; Koetschau, i. 156) and the answer of Origen refer partly to the re-writing of manuscripts and partly to their alteration: Μετὰ ταῦτά τινας τῶν πιστευόντων φησὶν (Celsus) ὡς ἐκ μέθης ἥκοντας εἰς τὸ ἐφεστάναι αὑτοῖς _μεταχαράττειν_ ἐκ τῆς πρώτης γραφῆς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τριχῇ καὶ τετραχῇ καὶ πολλαχῇ, ἵν’ ἔχοιεν πρὸς τοὺς ἐλέγχους ἀρνεῖσθαι. Μεταχαράξαντας δὲ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ἄλλους οὐκ οἶδα ἢ τοὺς ἀπὸ Μαρκίωνος καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ Οὐαλεντίνου οἶμαι δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἀπὸ Λουκιάνου. Τοῦτο δὲ λεγόμενον οὐ τοῦ λόγου ἐστὶν ἔγκλημα ἀλλὰ τῶν τολμησάντων ῥᾳδιουργῆσαι τὰ εὐαγγέλια. Καὶ ὥσπερ οὐ φιλοσοφίας ἔγκλημά εἰσιν οἱ σοφισταὶ ἢ οἱ Ἐπικούρειοι ἢ οἱ Περιπατητικοὶ ἢ οἵτινές ποτ’ ἂν ὦσιν οἱ ψευδοδοξοῦντες, οὕτως οὐ τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ χριστιανισμοῦ ἔγκλημα οἱ μεταχαράττοντες τὰ εὐαγγέλια καὶ αἱρέσεις ξένας ἐπεισάγοντες τῷ βουλήματι τῆς Ἰησοῦ διδασκαλίας. [Sidenote: Gnostics.] (7) Clement (_Strom._, iii. 39) complains that the Gnostics corrupted the sense of the Scriptures both by arbitrarily misplacing the emphasis (in oral delivery) and by altering the punctuation (in copying manuscripts?); see Zahn, _GK._ i. 424. On Tertullian’s complaint as to the way in which Marcion construed Luke xx. 35, see below, p. 276.