Early Church Fathers
89 Proinde conjugales.
90 Of this name there are two forms-Ai\noj (Praise) and 'Aeinou=j (Eternal Mind).
91 Or Teleto/j (Teletus). Another form of this Aeon's name is Filhto/j (Philetus = Beloved). Oehler always reads Theletus.
94 Cum virum fortem peroraret...inquit.
95 Tertullian's joke lies in the equivocal sense of this cry, which may mean either admiration and joy, or grief and rage.
96 Audisti: interrogatively.
97 See above, chap. iv. p. 505.
100 Tanta numerorum coagula.
101 The poedagogium was either the place where boys were trained as pages (often for lewd purposes), or else the boy himself of such a character.
102 Oehler reads, "hetaeri (e9tai=roi) et syntrophi." Another reading, supported by Rigaltius, is "sterceiae," instead of the former word, which gives a very contemptuous sense, suitable to Tertullian's irony.
104 Tertullian has, above, remarked on the silent and secret practices of the Valentinians: see chap. i. p. 503.
105 In hunc derivaret.
106 Sed enim.
107 De Patre.
108 Prae vi dulcedinis et laboris.
109 It is not easy to say what is the meaning of the words, "Et in reliquam substantiam dissolvi." Rigaltius renders them: "So that whatever substance was left to her was being dissolved." This seems to be forcing the sentence unnaturally. Irenaeus (According to the Latin translator) says: "Resolutum in universam substantiam," "Resolved into his (the Father's) general substance," i. 2, 2. [Vol. i. p. 317.]
111 So Grabe; but Reaper, according to Neander.
114 Uti quae.
115 Comp. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. vi. 2; Pliny, H. N. x. 58, 60.
118 In haec: in relation to the case of Sophia.
119 Above, in chap. viii. we were told that Nus, who was so much like the Father, was himself called "Father."
120 In censu.
122 Literally, "infirm fruit and a female," i.e. "had not shared in any male influence, but was a purely female production." See our Irenaeus, i. 4. [Vol. I. p. 321.]
123 Ille nus.
124 Iterum: above.
125 Copulationem: The profane reference is to Christ and the Spirit.
126 [A shocking reference to the Spirit which I modify to one of the Divine Persons.]
131 Innati conjectationem.
132 Perpetuitatis: i.e. "what was unchangeable in their condition and nature."
133 Rationem: perhaps "the means."
134 Hac dispositione.
135 Nemo aliud quia alteri omnes.
137 The reader will, of course, see that we give a familiar English plural to these names, as better expressing Tertullian's irony.
140 Nauclerus: "pilot."
141 Tertullian lived in a seaport at Carthage.
143 Christ and the Holy Spirit, [i.e. blasphemously.]
144 Symbolae ratio.
146 Ex aere collaticio. In reference to the common symbola, Tertullian adds the proverbial formula, "quod aiunt" (as they say).
149 De patritus. Irenaeus' word here is patrwnumikw=j ("patronymice").
150 Ex omnium defloratione.
152 Alluding to the olive-branch, ornamented with all sorts of fruits (compare our "Christmas tree"), which was carried about by boys in Athens on a certain festival (White and Riddle).
153 Comparaticium antistatum. The latter word Oehler explains, "ante ipsum stantes;" the former, "quia genus eorum comparari poterat substantiae Soteris" (So Rigaltus).
154 The reader will see how obviously this is meant in Tertullian's "Quod superest, inquis, vos valete et plaudite." This is the well-known allusion to the end of the play in the old Roman theatre. See Quintilian, vi. I, 52; comp. Horace, A.P. 155. Tertullian's own parody to this formula, immediately after, is: "Immo quod superest, inquam, vos audite et proficite.
155 In libero: which may be, however, "beyond the control of Horos."
157 Tertullian's "Dum ita rerum habet" is a copy of the Greek ou#tw tw=n pragma/twn e@xouso.
158 Deflectitur a.
159 Casus sui.
160 Rerum ex liberalitatibus.
161 De actia fuit. [See Vol. I. pp. 320, 321.]
162 It is not necessary, with Rigaltius, to make a difficulty about this, when we remember that Tertullian only refers to a silly conceit of the Valentinians touching the origin of the sacred name.
163 Or does "nec habens supervolare crucem" mean "being unable to elude the cross?" As if Tertullian meant, in his raillery, the pat of Laureolus. Although so often suspended on the gibbet, he had of course as often escaped the real penalty.
164 A notorious robber, the hero of a play by Lutatius Catullus, who is said to have been crucified.