[Footnote 45: The source of this chapter can hardly have been a written book or MS. The style is distinctly that of Hippolytus himself; the passion for plays on words which he has before exhibited, but has kept under restraint while quoting from serious writers like Basilides and Valentinus, here resumes its sway; and he adds to it a fancy for putting several nominatives in apposition without the τουτέστι which he has heretofore generally employed. This, and the nature of the rhetoric all go to show that he is here quoting not from a written, but from a spoken discourse. The author of this is of course unknown to us; and Hippolytus, who may very likely have forgotten his name, gives us no clue to his identity; but it is fairly clear that he must have been a follower of Valentinus. The Three Aeons who went forth from the first ἀρχὴ τῶν ὅλων correspond to the Nous, Logos and Anthropos who rule over the Valentinian Ogdoad, Decad and Dodecad, and the care taken to bring the number of Aeons up to thirty practically settles this, while the existence of Horos is hinted at, and that of the Sophia is barred only by the attribution of both sexes to all the Aeons. Perhaps, however, the most striking proof of Valentinianism is the myth of all the Aeons coalescing to produce the Jesus who brings salvation, a myth which is not to be found in any other system. If the theory be accepted that Hippolytus’ source for the chapter was a Valentinian sermon, the name of Julius Cassianus as its author deserves consideration. He is described by Clement of Alexandria (_Strom._, III, 13, sqq.) as the founder of Docetism, and as connected with the school of Valentinus, while certain Logia quoted by him appear also in the Valentinian _Excerpta Theodoti_. For other particulars about him see _D.C.B._, s.nn. “Cassianus” and “Docetism.”]