There can be no doubt that there existed in the first century a Simon, a Samaritan, a pretender to divine authority and supernatural powers; who, for a time, had many followers; who stood in a certain relation to Christianity; and who may have held some opinions more or less similar to those entertained by the most famous heretics of the early ages, the Gnostics. Irenæus calls this Simon the father of all heretics. ‘All those,’ he says, ‘who in any way corrupt the truth, or mar the preaching of the Church, are disciples and successors of Simon, the Samaritan magician.’ Simon gave himself forth as a god, and carried about with him a beautiful woman named Helena, whom he represented as the first conception of his—that is, of the divine—mind, the symbol or manifestation of that portion of spirituality which had become entangled in matter.[188] The incidents of the story of Simon Magus have been often and variously treated. 1. By Quintin Matsys: Peter refuses the offer of Simon Magus—‘Thy money perish with thee!’ Here Peter wears the mitre of a bishop: the picture is full of coarse but natural expression. 2. ‘Peter and Paul accused before Nero:’ the fresco in the Brancacci Chapel, attributed by Kugler to Filippino Lippi, is certainly one of the most perfect pieces of art, as a dramatic composition, which we have before the time of Raphael. To the right the emperor is seated on his throne, on each side his ministers and attendants. The countenances are finely varied; some of them animated by attention and curiosity, others sunk in deep thought. The two apostles, and their accuser Simon Magus, are in front. Simon, a magnificent figure, who might serve for a Prospero, lays his hand on the vest of Peter, as if to drag him forward; Paul stands aside with quiet dignity; Peter, with a countenance full of energetic expression, points contemptuously to the broken idol at his feet. For the felicity and animation with which the story is told, and for propriety, grace, and grandeur, Raphael has not often exceeded this picture. 3. Another of the series of the life of Peter in the Brancacci Chapel is the resuscitation of the youth, who in the legend is called the nephew of the emperor; a composition of numerous figures. In the centre stands St. Peter, and before him kneels the youth; a skull and a few bones are near him—a naïve method of expressing his return from death to life. The variety of expression in the countenances of the assembled spectators is very fine. According to the custom of the Florentine school at that time, many are portraits of distinguished persons; and, considering that the fresco was painted at a period most interesting in the Florentine history (A.D. 1440), we have much reason to regret that these can no longer be discriminated.