Refutation of All Heresies 6.40.3

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 trick used an effervescent drug smeared in the empty cup, which foamed up as the wine was poured.

Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 298

Καὶ τούτου δὲ τὴν τέχνην ὁμοίως ἐν τῇ προειρημένῃ βίβλῳ ἐξεθέμεθα δείξαντες πλεῖστα φάρμακα δυνάμενα αὔξησιν παρασχεῖν ἐπιμιγέντα οὕτως ὑγραῖς οὐσίαις, μάλιστα οἴνῳ κεκερασμένῳ, ὧν ἕν τι φάρμακον ἐν τῷ κενῷ ποτηρίῳ κρύβδην ἔ... ος... χρισ.. ὡς μηδὲν ἔχον δείξας, ἐπιχέων ἐκ τ... καὶ ἐπαναχέων, ἀναλυομένου τοῦ φαρμάκου ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ ὑγροῦ μίξεως, ὄντος φυσώδους, πλεονασμὸς τοῦ κεράσματος ἐγίνετο καὶ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον ηὔξανεν, ἐς ὅσον ἐπαναχυνόμενον ἐκινεῖτο, τοιαύτης οὔσης τῆς τοῦ φαρμάκου φύσεως·

English · Claude translation

The technique of this too we set out likewise in the book mentioned before, showing very many drugs able to produce an increase when mixed with liquid substances, especially mixed wine. One such drug he secretly … smeared in the empty cup, and showed it as having nothing in it; then, pouring in from … and pouring back, as the drug dissolved by being mixed with the liquid, since it was effervescent, the mixture increased, and it grew as much as it was stirred by the pouring back, such being the nature of the drug;

About this passage

Source

Duncker–Schneidewin, 298 · 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; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.

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

Heresy

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 6.40.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/6/40/3/).

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

Plain text

Hippolytus, Haer. 6.40.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/6/40/3/).

Refutation of All Heresies 6.40.3

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 298

English · Claude translation

About this passage

Notes

Translation notes

Cite this passage