Refutation of All Heresies 7.29.26

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: Empedocles speaks of a third, intelligible power: teachings held with pure attention stay and grow, and all things have understanding.

Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.

BothGreekEnglish

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 392

Εἶναι δέ φησι καὶ νοητὴν τρίτην τινὰ δύναμιν, ἣν καὶ ἐκ τούτων ἐπινοεῖσθαι δύνασθαι, λέγων ὧδέ πως· εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἐν σφαδίνησιν ὑπὸ πραπίδεσιν ἐρείσας εὐμενέως καθαρῇσιν ἐποπτεύεις μελέτῃσιν, ταῦτα δέ σοι μάλα πάντα διʼ αἰῶνος παρέσονται. Ἄλλα τε πόλλʼ ἀπὸ τῶνδε κτ.... αὐτὰ γὰρ αὔξει ταῦτʼ εἰς ἔθος ἕκαστον, ὅπη φύσις ἐστὶν ἑκάστῳ. Εἰ δὲ σὺ τάλλʼ οἱῶν ἐπιρέξεις οἷα κατʼ ἄνδρας μυρία δῆλα πέλονται τάτʼ ἀμβλύνουσι μέριμναι, σῆς ἄφαρ ἐκλείψουσι περιπλομένοιο χρόνοιο, σφῶν αὐτῶν ποθέοντα φίλην ἐπὶ γέναν ἱκέσθαι. Πάντα γὰρ ἴσθι φρόνησιν ἔχειν καὶ γνωματοσισον.

English · Claude translation

And he says there is also a third, intelligible power, which can be conceived from these, speaking somewhat as follows: “For if, setting them firmly under your stout understanding, you gaze on them kindly with pure exercises, all these will be with you through life, and many others from these … for these of themselves increase each into its own character, wherever each has its nature. But if you reach out for other things, such as the countless wretched things among men that blunt their cares, they will quickly leave you as time revolves, longing to reach their own dear kind. For know that all things have understanding and a share of thought.”

About this passage

Source

Duncker–Schneidewin, 392 · 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; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.

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

Empedocles, frag. 110 (Empedocles (fragments)) · quotation, high confidence

Notes

Translation notes

Empedocles, fragment 110. The verses are badly corrupt in the digital text (e.g. οἱῶν, γνωματοσισον) and a gap is marked; the rendering follows the general sense of the fragment.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 7.29.26 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/7/29/26/).

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Plain text

Hippolytus, Haer. 7.29.26 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/7/29/26/).

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