[15.24] Allusion to the adventure of the poet Stesichorus. [15.25] Iren. _Adv._ hær. I. xxiii. 2-4; Homil. Pseudo-Clem., ii. 23. [15.26] Philosophum. VI. i. 16. [15.27] See _Vie de Jesus_, p. 247-249. [15.28] Ibid. p. 247, note 4. [15.29] _Chron. Samarit._ c. 10 (edit. Juynboll Leyden, 1848). Cf. Reland, _De Sam._ § 7; _Dissertat. miscell._ Part II. Gesenius, _Comment de Sam. Theol._ (Halle, 1824), p. 24, etc. [15.30] In a quotation given in the Philosophumena, VI. i. 16, is a citation from the synoptical gospels which seems to be given as from the text of the "Great Exposition." But this may be an error. [15.31] Homil. Pseudo-Clem. II. 23-24. [15.32] Iren. _Adv. hær._ I. xxiii. 3. _Philosophum._ VI. i. 19. [15.33] Homil. Pseudo-Clem. ii. 22. Recogn. II. 14. [15.34] Iren. _Adv._ hær. II. præf. III. præf. [15.35] See the Epistle (probably authentic) of Paul to the Colossians, i. 15, &c. [15.36] Epiph. _Adv._ hær. L. xxx. 1. [15.37] An argument for the latter hypothesis is, that Simon's sect soon changed into a school of fortune-tellers, and for the manufacture of philters and charms. _Philosoph._ VI. i. 20. Tertull. De Anima, 57. [15.38] Philosophum. VI. i. 20. Cf. Orig. _Contra Cels._ i. 57; vi. 11. [15.39] Hegesip. in Euseb. _Hist. Eccl._ iv. 22; Clem. Alex. _Strom._ vii. 17; _Constit. apost._ vi. 8, 16; xviii. 1, &c. Justin, Apol. i. 26, 56; Iren. _Adv. hær._ I. xxiii. init. Theod. Hær. fol. I. i. 2. Tertull. _De Præscr._ 47; De Anima, 50. [15.40] The most celebrated is that of Dositheus. [15.41] _Act._ viii. 9; Iren. _Adv. hær._ xxiii. 1. [15.42] _Philosophum._ VI. i. 19-20. The author attributes these perverse doctrines only to Simon's disciples; but if the disciples entertained them, the master must have shared them in some degree. [15.43] We shall hereafter see what these narrations signify. [15.44] The inscription SIMONI DEO SANCTO, stated by Justin to exist in the island (_Apol._ I. 26) of the Tiber, and mentioned also by other Fathers, was a Latin inscription to the Sabine deity Semo Sancus, SEMONI-DEO-SANCO. There was in fact discovered under Gregory XIII. in the island of St. Bartholomew, an inscription now in the Vatican bearing that dedication. V. Baronius, _Ann. Eccl._ 44; Orelli, Inser. Lat. No. 1860. There was at this spot on the island of the Tiber a college of _bidentales_ in honor of Semo-Sancus, with many inscriptions of the same kind. Orelli, No. 1861. (Mommsen, Inscr. Lat. regni Neapol. No. 6770). Comp. Orelli, No. 1859. Henzen, No. 6999; Mabillon, _Museum Ital._ I. 1st part, p. 84. Orelli, No. 1862, is not to be relied on. (See _Corp._ Inscr. Lat. I. No. 542.)