Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 4.48.9

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, by which the Phoenicians steer, stands for the narrow way of the few.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 120

Μικρὰ δέ τις ἡ ἑτέρα Ἄρκτος οἱονεί τις εἰκὼν τῆς δευτέρας κτίσεως τῆς κατὰ θεὸν κτισθείσης· ὀλίγοι γάρ, φησίν, εἰσὶν οἱ διὰ τῆς στενῆς ὁδοῦ πορευόμενοι· στενὴν δὲ λέγουσιν εἶναι τὴν Κυνοσουρίδα, πρὸς ἣν ὁ Ἄρατός φησιν ὅτι οἱ Σιδόνιοι ναυτίλλονται. Σιδονίους δὲ ἀπὸ μέρους εἴρηκεν ὁ Ἄρατος Φοίνικας διὰ τὸ εἶναι τὴν Φοινίκων σοφίαν θαυμαστήν, Φοίνικας δὲ εἶναι Ἕλληνες λέγουσι τοὺς ἀπὸ τῆς Ἐρυθρᾶς θαλάσσης κατοικήσαντας εἰς τοῦτον τὸν χῶρον, οὗ καὶ νῦν οἰκοῦσι, τοῦτο γὰρ Ἡροδότῳ δοκεῖ.

English · Claude translation

The other Bear is a small one, as it were an image of the second creation, created according to God; for few, he says, are those who travel by the narrow way. They say the Cynosure is narrow, by which Aratus says the Sidonians sail. Aratus called the Phoenicians Sidonians from a part, because the wisdom of the Phoenicians is marvelous; and the Greeks say the Phoenicians are those who came from the Red Sea to settle in this land where they still live; for so it seems to Herodotus.

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
Extrabiblical texts
  • Aratus, Phaen. 39–44 (Aratus, Phaenomena) · allusion, high confidence
  • Herodotus, Hist. 1.1 (Herodotus, Histories) · allusion, high confidence
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusions are Matt 7:14, Aratus, Phaenomena 39–44, and Herodotus 1.1.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 4.48.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/4/48/9/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 4.48.9 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/4/48/9/).

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