Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 4.48.10

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: The Little Bear ("dog's tail") signifies the Word as guard dog and begetter.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 120

Κυνόσουρα δέ, φησίν, αὕτη ἡ Ἄρκτος, ἡ κτίσις ἡ δευτέρα, ἡ μικρά, ἡ στενὴ ὁδός, καὶ οὐχὶ ἡ Ἑλίκη. Οὐ γὰρ εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω ἄγει, ἀλλʼ εἰς τὰ ἔμπροσθεν ἐπʼ εὐθείας τοὺς ἑπομένους ὁδηγεῖ, κυνὸς οὖσα. Κύων γὰρ ὁ λόγος, τοῦτο μὲν φρουρῶν καὶ φυλάσσων τὸ ἐπιβουλευόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν λύκων ποίμνιον, τοῦτο δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς κτίσεως τὰ θηρία κυνηγῶν καὶ διαφθείρων, τοῦτο δὲ γεννῶν τὰ πάντα, καί, ὃ δὴ φασί, κύων, τουτέστι γεννῶν.

English · Claude translation

This Bear, he says, is Cynosura, the second creation, the small one, the narrow way, and not Helice. For it does not lead back but guides its followers forward in a straight line, being the dog's. For the Word is a dog, on the one hand guarding and keeping the flock that is plotted against by wolves, on the other hunting and destroying the beasts from creation, and on the other begetting all things; and, as they say, "dog" (kyon), that is, begetting.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 120 · 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.
Scripture
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The play is on κύων "dog" and κύειν "to conceive"; Cynosura means "dog's tail".

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 4.48.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/4/48/10/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 4.48.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/4/48/10/).

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