Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VIII/Pseudo-Clementine Literature/The Clementine Homilies/Homily VI/Chapter 6

by Anonymous

Chapter VI.—Phanes and Pluto.

“This egg, then, which was the first substance, growing somewhat hot, was broken by the living creature within, and then there took shape and came forth something;^[1] such as Orpheus also speaks of, where he says, ‘when the capacious egg was broken,’^[2] etc.  And so by the mighty power of that which appeared (phaneis) and came forth, the globe attained coherency, and maintained order, while it itself took its seat, as it were, on the summit of heaven, there in ineffable mystery diffusing light through endless ages.  But the productive matter left inside the globe, separated the substances of all things.  For first its lower part, just like the dregs, sank downwards of its own weight; and this they called Pluto from its gravity, and weight, and great quantity (polu) of underlying matter, styling it the king of Hades and the dead.^[3]

Footnotes

1. Wieseler corrects to “some such being,” etc.; and below, “of him who appeared,” etc.; and “he took his seat.”
2. The first word of this quotation gives no sense, and has been omitted in the translation.  Lobeck suggests “at its prime;” Hermann, “Heracapeian;” Duentzer, “ancient;” and Wieseler, “white.”
3. [Comp. Recognitions, x. 32.—R.]