Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 4.8.1

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 speculators follow Plato's account of the circles of the Same and the Other.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 64

Ἱκανὸν οὖν λογίζομαι ἐξειπεῖν τὰ ὑπʼ αὐτῶν τερατολογούμενα. Διὸ τοῖς ἐπιτόμοις χρησάμενος ὧν αὐτοὶ λέγουσιν, ἐπὶ τὰ ἕτερα τραπήσομαι. Λέγουσι δὲ ταῦτα· κράτος ἔδωκεν ὁ δημιουργήσας τῇ ταὐτοῦ καὶ ὁμοίου περιφορᾷ· μίαν γὰρ αὐτὴν ἄσχιστον εἴασε, τὴν δὲ ἐντὸς σχίσας ἑξαχῆ ἑπτὰ κύκλους ἀνίσους κατὰ τὴν τοῦ διπλασίου καὶ τριπλασίου διάστασιν ἑκάστην, οὐσῶν ἑκατέρων τριῶν, κατὰ τὰ ἐναντία μὲν ἀλλήλοις προσέταξεν ἰέναι τοὺς κύκλους, τάχει δὲ τρεῖς μὲν ὁμοίως, τοὺς δὲ τέσσαρας ἀλλήλοις τε καὶ τοῖς τρισὶν ἀνομοίως, ἐν λόγῳ δὲ φερομένους.

English · Claude translation

I think it sufficient, then, to state the marvels they tell. Therefore, using summaries of what they themselves say, I shall turn to other matters. They say this: "The maker gave mastery to the revolution of the same and like; for he left it one and undivided, but the inner one he split six times into seven unequal circles, each according to the interval of the double and the triple, there being three of each; and he commanded the circles to go in directions contrary to one another, three at the same speed, and the other four at speeds unlike one another and unlike the three, but moving in ratio."

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 64 · 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.
Extrabiblical texts
  • Plato, Tim. 36c–d (Plato (works)) · quotation, high confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotation is from Plato, Timaeus 36c–d.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 4.8.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/4/8/1/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 4.8.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/4/8/1/).

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