Chapter XXXIX.—The Quaternion Exhibits
“Truth.”
And (Marcus alleged) that the Quaternion, after
having explained these things, spoke as follows: “Now, I
wish also to exhibit to you Truth herself, for I have brought her down
from the mansions above, in order that you may behold her naked, and
become acquainted with her beauty; nay, also that you may hear her
speak, and may marvel at her wisdom. Observe,” says the
Quaternion, “then, first, the head above, Alpha (and long) O; the
neck, B and P[si]; shoulders, along with hands, G and C[hi]; breasts,
Delta and P[hi]; diaphragm,
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Eu;
belly, Z and T;
pudenda
, Eta and S; thighs, T[h]
and R; knees, Ip; calves, Ko; ankles, Lx[si]; feet, M and
N.” This is in the body of Truth, according to
Marcus. This is the figure of the element; this the character of
the letter. And he styles this element Man, and affirms it to be
the source of every word, and the originating principle of every sound,
and the realization in speech of everything that is ineffable, and a
mouth of taciturn silence. And this is the body of (Truth)
herself. But do you, raising aloft the conceiving power of the
understanding, hear from the mouths of Truth (of) the Logos, who is
Self-generator
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and
Progenitor.
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Hippolytus’ text has been here corrected from that of
Irenæus.
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This is
a correction from Progenitor, on the authority of Irenæus and
Epiphanius.
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Προπάτορα
:
Irenæus reads
Πατρόδορα
, which is adopted by Schneidewin, and translated
patrium
.