To Autolycus 2.28
Summary: God made Eve from Adam's rib to show that one God made both, and marriage fulfills Adam's prophecy; Satan, a fallen angel, deceived Eve and is still invoked in the Bacchic cry “Euan.”
Greek text · Otto 8:134–138
Ἐκβληθεὶς δὲ Ἀδὰμ ἐκ τοῦ παραδείσου οὕτως ἔγνω Εὔαν τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, ἣν ὁ θεὸς ἐποίησεν αὐτῷ εἰς γυναῖκα ἐκ τῆς πλευρᾶς αὐτοῦ. Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ οὐχ ὡς μὴ δυνάμενος κατʼ ἰδίαν πλάσαι τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, ἀλλὰ προηπίστατο ὁ θεὸς ὅτι ἤμελλον οἱ ἄνθρωποι πληθὺν θεῶν ὀνομάζειν. Προγνώστης οὖν ὢν καὶ εἰδὼς ὅτι ἡ πλάνη ἤμελλεν διὰ τοῦ ὄφεως ὀνομάζειν πληθὺν θεῶν τῶν οὐκ ὄντων (ἑνὸς γὰρ ὄντος θεοῦ, ἔκτοτε ἤδη ἐμελέτα ἡ πλάνη πληθὺν θεῶν ὑποσπείρειν καὶ λέγειν Ἔσεσθε ὡς θεοί), μήπως οὖν ὑπολημφθῇ ὡς ὅτι ὅδε μὲν ὁ θεὸς ἐποίησεν τὸν ἄνδρα, ἕτερος δὲ τὴν γυναῖκα, διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐποίησεν τοὺς δύο ἄμφω. Οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἵνα διὰ τούτου δειχθῇ τὸ μυστήριον τῆς μοναρχίας τῆς κατὰ τὸν θεόν, ἅμα ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἵνα πλείων ᾖ ἡ εὔνοια εἰς αὐτούς. Πρὸς μὲν οὖν τὴν Εὔαν ὁ Ἀδὰμ εἰπών· Τοῦτο νῦν ὀστοῦν ἐκ τῶν ὀστῶν μου καὶ σὰρξ ἐκ τῆς σαρκός μου, ἔτι καὶ ἐπροφήτευσεν λέγων· Τούτου ἕνεκεν καταλείψει ἄνθρωπος τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν μητέρα καὶ προσκολληθήσεται πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν· ὃ δὴ καὶ αὐτὸ δείκνυται τελειούμενον ἐν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς. Τίς γὰρ ὁ νομίμως γαμῶν οὐ καταφρονεῖ μητρὸς καὶ πατρὸς καὶ πάσης συγγενείας καὶ πάντων τῶν οἰκείων, προσκολλώμενος καὶ ἑνούμενος τῇ ἑαυτοῦ γυναικί, εὐνοῶν μᾶλλον αὐτῇ; Διὸ καὶ μέχρι θανάτου πολλάκις ὑπεύθυνοι γίνονταί τινες διὰ τὰς ἑαυτῶν γαμετάς. Ταύτην τὴν Εὔαν, διὰ τὸ ἀρχῆθεν πλανηθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ ὄφεως καὶ ἀρχηγὸν ἁμαρτίας γεγονέναι, ὁ κακοποιὸς δαίμων, ὁ καὶ σατὰν καλούμενος, ὁ τότε διὰ τοῦ ὄφεως λαλήσας αὐτῇ, ἕως καὶ τοῦ δεῦρο ἐνεργῶν ἐν τοῖς ἐνθουσιαζομένοις ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ ἀνθρώποις, Εὐὰν ἐκκαλεῖται. Δαίμων δὲ καὶ δράκων καλεῖται διὰ τὸ ἀποδεδρακέναι αὐτὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ· ἄγγελος γὰρ ἦν ἐν πρώτοις. Καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ τούτου πολὺς ὁ λόγος· διὸ τανῦν παραπέμπομαι τὴν περὶ αὐτῶν διήγησιν· καὶ γὰρ ἐν ἑτέροις ἡμῖν γεγένηται ὁ περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγος.
English · Claude translation
After Adam had been cast out of the garden, he knew Eve his wife, whom God had made for him as a wife out of his rib. God did this not because he was unable to form the man's wife separately, but because he knew beforehand that human beings would name a multitude of gods. Knowing the future, he knew that error, through the serpent, would name a multitude of gods that do not exist; for though God is one, error was already then planning to sow the idea of many gods, saying, “You will be like gods.” So, lest it be supposed that one god made the man and another the woman, he did not make the two of them separately. Moreover, God made the man's wife together with him so that the mystery of God's sole sovereignty might be shown by it, and so that their affection for each other might be the greater. When Adam said to Eve, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh,” he also prophesied, saying, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”; and this is shown fulfilled in us ourselves. For who that marries lawfully does not set less store by mother and father and all his kindred and his whole household, being joined and united to his own wife and loving her more? That is why some even become liable to death for the sake of their wives. To this Eve, because she was deceived by the serpent at the beginning and became the originator of sin, the evil demon also called Satan, who then spoke to her through the serpent and is still at work to this day in the people possessed by him, cries out “Euan.” He is called “demon” and “dragon” (δράκων) because he ran away (ἀποδεδρακέναι) from God; for at first he was an angel. There is much to say about him, so I pass over the account for now; I have spoken about him elsewhere.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- “Euan” (εὐάν) was the ritual cry of the worshipers of Dionysus; Theophilus hears in it the name of Eve (Εὔα), invoked by the demon who deceived her.
- The account of Satan “elsewhere” refers to a lost work of Theophilus.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (misprint: κάσης for πάσης (“all”); misprint: ὄψεως for ὄφεως (“serpent”)): καὶ κάσης συγγενείας → καὶ πάσης συγγενείας; πλανηθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ ὄψεως → πλανηθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ ὄφεως; ὁ τότε διὰ τοῦ ὄψεως λαλήσας → ὁ τότε διὰ τοῦ ὄφεως λαλήσας.
Cite this passage
Theophilus, Autol. 2.28 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/2/28/).
Plain text
Theophilus, Autol. 2.28 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/2/28/).
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