Refutation of All Heresies 1.19.16

Hippolytus of Rome · Refutation of All Heresies · ca. 222–235 · Rome · Read in context

Authorship disputed: The work names no author. Book 1 was long printed among Origen's works as the Philosophumena; after books 4–10 were found in a manuscript from Mount Athos (published 1851), it was assigned to Hippolytus, the usual view today, though some scholars ascribe it to another Roman writer of the same circle. Books 2 and 3 are lost, and book 4 lacks its beginning.

Summary: Plato's four virtues each lie between two vices, and possessing them brings happiness.

BothGreekEnglish

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 34–36

εἶναι γὰρ αὐτοῖς καὶ καλῶς καὶ κακῶς χρῆσθαι. Τὰς μὲν οὖν ἀρετὰς κατὰ τιμὴν ἀκρότητας εἶναι φησι, κατὰ δὲ οὐσίαν μεσότητας· τιμιώτερον μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲν ἀρετῆς. Τὸ δὲ ὑπερβάλλον αὐτῶν ἢ ἐνδέον εἰς κακίαν τελευτᾶν, οἷον τέσσαράς φησιν εἶναι ἀρετὰς φρόνησιν, σωφροσύνην, δικαιοσύνην, ἀνδρείαν. Τούτων ἑκάστῃ παρακολουθεῖν δύο κακίας, καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν καὶ μείωσιν, οἷον τῇ μὲν φρονήσει ἀφροσύνην κατὰ μείωσιν, πανουργίαν δὲ καθʼ ὑπερβολήν, τῇ δὲ σωφροσύνῃ ἀκολασίαν κατὰ μείωσιν, σκαιότητα καθʼ ὑπερβολήν, τῇ δὲ δικαιοσύνῃ μειονεξίαν κατὰ μείωσιν, πλεονεξίαν καθʼ ὑπερβολήν, τῇ δὲ ἀνδρείᾳ δειλίαν κατὰ μείωσιν, θρασύτητα καθʼ ὑπερβολήν, ταύτας δὲ ἐγγενομένας τὰς ἀρετὰς ἀνθρώπῳ ἀπεργάζεσθαι αὐτὸν τέλειον καὶ παρέχειν αὐτῷ εὐδαιμονίαν.

English · Claude translation

for it is possible to use them both well and badly. The virtues, he says, are extremes in value but means in substance; for nothing is more valuable than virtue. What exceeds or falls short of them ends in vice. For example, he says there are four virtues, prudence, temperance, justice, courage. Each of these is attended by two vices, by excess and by deficiency: prudence by folly through deficiency and cunning through excess; temperance by licentiousness through deficiency and boorishness through excess; justice by getting too little through deficiency and greed through excess; courage by cowardice through deficiency and rashness through excess. These virtues, when they are present in a man, make him perfect and give him happiness.

About this passage

Source: Duncker–Schneidewin, 34–36 · Ludwig Duncker and F. G. Schneidewin, eds., S. Hippolyti episcopi et martyris Refutationis omnium haeresium librorum decem quae supersunt (Göttingen: Dieterich, 1859); section divisions from Paul Wendland, ed., Hippolytus Werke 3: Refutatio omnium haeresium, GCS 26 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1916) · Greek text: L. Duncker and F. G. Schneidewin, Refutationis omnium haeresium (Göttingen, 1859), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library; section divisions from P. Wendland (GCS 26, 1916), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin); both CC BY-SA 4.0
Text: As printed in Duncker–Schneidewin. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation: Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Duncker–Schneidewin; made independently of existing English translations.
Compare: Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5 (1886) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Its chapter numbers differ from the standard (Wendland) numbering used here.
Topics: Ethics

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 1.19.16 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/1/19/16/).

The SBL abbreviation for this work has not been checked yet.

Plain text

Hippolytus, Haer. 1.19.16 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/1/19/16/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage