Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 4.28.6

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: The noise of the onlookers covers the magician's secret actions.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 90

Καὶ λοιπὸν εἴσω παρελθεῖν κελεύει τοὺς παρόντας δάφνας ἔχοντας καὶ σείοντας καὶ κεκραγότας καὶ τὸν φρῆν ἐπικαλοῦντας δαίμονα· καὶ γὰρ ἐπικαλεῖν τούτοις πρέπει καὶ τοῦτο αἰτεῖν παρὰ δαιμόνων ἄξιον, ὃ διʼ αὑτῶν παρέχειν οὐ θέλουσιν ἀπολέσαντες τὰς φρένας. Τὸ δὲ ἄκοσμον τῆς βοῆς καὶ ὁ ψόφος οἷς ἐν ἀπορρήτῳ πεποιηκέναι νομίζεται παρακολουθεῖν ἐκώλυσε. Τίνα δὲ ταῦτα ἐστί, καιρὸς λοιπὸν λέγειν.

English · Claude translation

And then he bids those present come in holding laurel branches, shaking them and shouting and invoking the demon Phren; and indeed it is fitting for them to invoke him and worthy to ask of demons what they will not furnish of themselves, having lost their wits. The disorderly shouting and noise prevented them from following what he is thought to have done in secret. What these things are, it is now time to say.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 90 · 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.

Notes

Translation notes

  • There is a play on the demon's name Phren and φρένες, "wits".

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 4.28.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/4/28/6/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 4.28.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/4/28/6/).

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