Philosophumena; or, The refutation of all heresies, Volume I
David Hume · en
[Footnote 191: From the starry influences?]
[Footnote 192: John iii. 17.]
[Footnote 193: 1. Cor. xi. 32.]
[Footnote 194: But see n. 4 on last page and text three sentences
earlier.]
[Footnote 195: It was not the world, but the Zodiac that the
astrologers divided into dodecatemories. See Bouché-Leclercq,
_L’Astrologie Gr._, _passim_.]
[Footnote 196: There must be some mistake here. The planetary world,
according to the astronomy of the time, only began at the Moon.]
[Footnote 197: The words which follow, down to the end of this
paragraph, with the exception of one sentence, are taken, not from the
astrologers, but from the opponent Sextus Empiricus. They correspond
to pp. 339 ff. of the Leipzig edition of Sextus and the restorations
from this are shown by round brackets. The whole passage doubtless once
formed the beginning of Book IV of our text, the opening words of which
they repeat. For the probable cause of this needless repetition see the
Introduction, p. 20 _supra_.]
[Footnote 198: Sextus’ comment, not Hippolytus’.]
[Footnote 199: The personal followers of Pythagoras were called
Pythagorics, those who later gave a general assent to his doctrines
Pythagoreans.]
[Footnote 200: An echo of a tradition which seems widespread in Asia.
In the _Pistis Sophia_ it is said that half the signs of the Zodiac
rebelled against the order to give up “the purity of their light” and
joined the wicked Adamas, while the other half remained faithful under
the rule of Jabraoth. Cf. Rev. xii. 7, and the Babylonian legend of the
assault of the seven evil spirits on the Moon.]
[Footnote 201: “Toparch” = ruler of a place. Proastius, “suburban,” or
a dweller in the environs of a town. It here probably means the ruler
of a part of the heavens near or under the influence of a planet.]
[Footnote 202: The bombastic phrases which follow seem to have been
much corrupted and to have been translated from some language other
than Greek. Νυκτόχροος and ὑδατόχροος are not, I think, met with
elsewhere, and the genders are much confused throughout the whole
quotation, Poseidon being made a female deity and Isis a male one.
The more outlandish names have some likeness to the “Munichuaphor,”
“Chremaor,” etc., of the _Pistis Sophia_. There seems some logical
connection between the name of the powers and those born under them,
the lovers being assigned to Eros, and so on.]
[Footnote 203: Cruice points out that “eyes” are here probably written
for “wells,” the Hebrew for both being the same, and refers us to the
twelve wells of Elim in Exod. xv. 27.]
[Footnote 204: Schneidewin here quotes from Berossos the well-known
passage about the woman Omoroca, Thalatth, or Thalassa, who presided
over the chaos of waters and its monstrous inhabitants. See Cory’s
_Ancient Fragments_, p. 25. The name has been generally taken to cover
that of Tiamat whom Bel-Merodach defeated. See Rogers, _Religion of
Babylonia and Assyria_, p. 107.]
[Footnote 205: All Titans, like Kronos himself.]