Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 9.10.2

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: Heraclitus holds light and darkness, good and evil to be one, and mocks Hesiod for separating day and night.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 444–446

Τοιγαροῦν οὐδὲ σκότος οὐδὲ φῶς, οὐδὲ πονηρὸν οὐδὲ ἀγαθὸν ἕτερόν φησιν εἶναι ὁ Ἡράκλειτος, ἀλλὰ ἓν καὶ τὸ αὐτό. Ἐπιτιμᾷ γοῦν Ἡσιόδῳ, ὅτι ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτα οἶδεν· ἡμέρα γὰρ, φησί, καὶ νύξ ἐστιν ἕν, λέγων ὧδέ πως· Διδάσκαλος δὲ πλείστων Ἡσίοδος· τοῦτον ἐπίστανται πλεῖστα εἰδέναι, ὅστις ἡμέρην καὶ εὐφρόνην οὐκ ἐγίνωσκεν· ἔστι γὰρ ἕν.

English · Claude translation

Accordingly Heraclitus says that neither darkness nor light, neither evil nor good, is different, but one and the same. At any rate he reproaches Hesiod because he knew day and night; for day and night, he says, are one, saying somewhat thus: “The teacher of most is Hesiod; they are sure he knew most things, who did not recognize day and night; for they are one.”

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 444–446 · 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
  • Heraclitus, frag. 57 (Heraclitus (fragments)) · quotation, high confidence
  • Hesiod, Theog. 124 (Hesiod, Theogony) · allusion, medium confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • Heraclitus, fragment 57; the reference is to Hesiod, Theogony 124.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.10.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/10/2/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 9.10.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/10/2/).

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