Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VI/Archelaus/Acts of Disputation/Chapter IX

by Archelaus

9. I shall explain to you also how it is that the soul is transfused into five bodies.^[1] First of all, in this process some small portion of it is purified; and then it is transfused into the body of a dog, or a camel, or some other animal. But if the soul has been guilty of homicide, it is translated into the body of the celephi;^[2] and if it has been found to have engaged in cutting;^[3] it is made to pass into the body of the dumb. Now these are the designations of the soul,—namely, intelligence, reflection, prudence, consideration, reasoning.^[4] Moreover, the reapers who reap are likened to the princes who have been in darkness from the beginning,^[5] since they consumed somewhat of the panoply of the first man. On this account there is a necessity for these to be translated into hay, or beans, or barley, or corn, or vegetables, in order that in these forms they, in like manner, may be reaped and cut. And again, if any one eats bread, he must needs also become bread and be eaten. If one kills a chicken,^[6] he will be a chicken himself. If one kills a mouse, he will also become a mouse himself. If, again, one is wealthy in this world, it is necessary that, on quitting the tabernacle of his body, he should be made to pass into the body of a beggar, so as to go about asking alms, and thereafter he shall depart into everlasting punishment. Moreover, as this body pertains to the princes and to matter, it is necessary that he who plants a persea^[7] should pass though many bodies until that persea is prostrated. And if one builds a house for himself, he will be divided and scattered among all the bodies.^[8] If one bathes in water, he freezes^[9] his soul; and if one refuses to give pious regard^[10] to his elect, he will be punished through the generations,^[11] and will be translated into the bodies of catechumens, until he render many tributes of piety; and for this reason they offer to the elect whatever is best in their meats. And when they are about to eat bread, they offer up prayer first of all, addressing themselves in these terms to the bread: “I have neither reaped thee, nor ground thee, nor pressed thee, nor cast thee into the baking-vessel; but another has done these things, and brought thee to me, and I have eaten thee without fault.” And when he has uttered these things to himself, he says to the catechumen,^[12] “I have prayed for thee;” and in this manner that person then takes his departure. For, as I remarked to you a little before, if any one reaps, he will be reaped; and so, too, if one casts grain into the mill, he will be cast in himself in like manner, or if he kneads he will be kneaded, or if he bakes he will be baked; and for this reason they are interdicted from doing any such work. Moreover, there are certain other worlds on which the luminaries rise when they have set on our world.^[13] And if a person walks upon the ground here, he injures the earth; and if he moves his hand, he injures the air; for the air is the soul (life) of men and living creatures, both fowl, and fish, and creeping thing. And as to every one^[14] existing in this world, I have told you that this body of his does not pertain to God, but to matter, and is itself darkness, and consequently it must needs be cast in darkness.

Footnotes

1. πῶς μεταγγίζεται ἡ ψυχὴ εἰς πέντε σώματα. But the Codex Bobiensis reads transferuntur; and the Latin version gives “quomodo et animæ in alia quoque corpora transfunduntur” = how the souls are also transfused into other bodies.
2. The text gives κελεφῶν, which is spoken of in Migne as an unknown animal, though κέλεφος (thus accentuated) occurs in ecclesiastical writers in the sense of a leper. It is proposed to read ἐλεφαντιῶν, “of elephants;” and so the Codex Bobiensis gives “elephantorum corpora,” and Codex Casinensis has “in elefantia eorum corpora,” which is probably an error for “in elephantiacorum corpora.” Routh suggests ἐλεφαντείων. [Reliqu. Sac., vol. v. p. 58.]
3. θερίασα, reaping.
4. νοῦς, ἔννοια, φρόνησις, ἐνθύμησις, λογισμός. The Latin version renders, mens, sensus, prudentia, intellectus, cogitatio. Petavius gives, mens, notio, intelligentia, cogitatio, ratiocinatio.
5. τοῖς ἀπαρχῆς οὖσιν εἰς σκότος. But the Latin version gives “qui ex materia orti,” etc.—who, having sprung from matter, are in darkness.
6. ὁρνίθιον.
7. Explained as a species of Egyptian tree, in which the fruit grows from the stem. The Codex Casinensis has the strange reading, per se ad illam, for perseam, etc. See also Epiphanius, num. 9.
8. εἰς τὰ ὅλα σώματα.
9. πήσσει. But the Latin version gives vulnerat, “wounds,” from the reading πλήσσει. [Note 2, p. 176, supra.]
10. εὐσέβειαν. But the Latin version gives alimenta.
11. εἰς τὰς γενεάς. But the Latin version has “pœnis subdetur gehennæ” = will suffer the pains of hell. [Compare p. 185, infra, “Gehen.”]
12. But the Latin version gives, “respondet ad eum qui ei detulit” = he makes answer to the person who brought it to him.
13. The text is, καὶ πάλιν εἰσιν ἕτεροι κόσμοι τινὲς, τῶν φωστήρων δυνάντων ἀπὸ τούτου τοῦ κόσμου, ἐξ ὧν ἀνατέλλουσι. Routh suggests οἴς τινὲς, deleting ἐξ ὧν.
14. Reading εἴ τις, as in the text. Routh suggests εἴ τι, = As to everything existing in this world, I have told you that the body thereof does, etc.