Refutation of All Heresies 7.29.4

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.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 384

Οὗτός φησιν εἶναι τὰ πάντα στοιχεῖα, ἐξ ὧν ὁ κόσμος συνέστηκε καὶ ἔστιν, ἕξ, δύο μὲν ὑλικά, γῆν καὶ ὕδωρ, δύο δὲ ὄργανα, οἷς τὰ ὑλικὰ κοσμεῖται καὶ μεταβάλλεται, πῦρ καὶ ἀέρα, δύο δὲ τὰ ἐργαζόμενα τοῖς ὀργάνοις τὴν ὕλην καὶ δημιουργοῦντα, νεῖκος καὶ φιλίαν, λέγων ὧδέ πως· Τέσσαρα τῶν πάντων ῥιζώματα πρῶτον ἄκουε· Ζεὺς [ἀργής], Ἥρη τε φερέσβιος, ἠδʼ Ἀϊδωνεύς, Νῆστις γε ἣ δακρύοις τέγγει κρουνῷ μακρόγιον.

English · Claude translation

He says that all the elements from which the world is constituted and exists are six: two material, earth and water; two instruments, by which the material ones are ordered and changed, fire and air; and two that work the matter with the instruments and fashion it, Strife and Love, speaking somewhat like this: “Hear first the four roots of all things: [shining] Zeus, and life-bearing Hera, and Aidoneus, and Nestis, who with her tears wets the fount of mortals.”

About this passage

Source

Duncker–Schneidewin, 384 · 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.

Extrabiblical texts

Empedocles, frag. 6 (Empedocles (fragments)) · quotation, high confidence

Notes

Translation notes

Empedocles, fragment 6 (Diels–Kranz). The last word of the verse is corrupt in the digital text (μακρόγιον); the rendering follows the usual reading βρότειον, “of mortals.”

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (word division: ἠδʼ (“and”)): ἠ δʼ Ἀϊδωνεύς → ἠδʼ Ἀϊδωνεύς.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 7.29.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/7/29/4/).

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

Plain text

Hippolytus, Haer. 7.29.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/7/29/4/).