80 The text has "qui in labe facti sunt;" but, according to Harvey, "the sense requires plhrwmati instead of ektrwmati in the original."
81 Viz., the "Dii majorum gentium" of the Gentiles.
82 Referring to numbers like 4, 5, 6, which do not correspond to any important fact in creation, as 7 e.g., does to the number of the planets.
83 The Latin text is here scarcely intelligible, and is variously pointed by the editors.
84 Harvey explains "his" as here denoting "in his," but we are at a loss to know how he would translate the passage. It is in the highest degree obscure.
85 The text is here doubtful: Harvey proposes to read "qui" instead of "quae," but we prefer "quod" with Grabe. The meaning is, that three hundred and sixty-five is more than forty-five Ogdoads (45 x 8 = 360).
86 "Operositatem." corresponding to pragmateian, lit. manufacture.
87 Efficabiliter in the Latin text is thought to correspond to energwj in the original Greek.
88 Si is inserted by most of the editors; and although Harvey argues for its omission, we agree with Massuet in deeming it indispensable.
91 It seems needless to insert an "et" before this word, as Harvey suggests, or, as an alternative, to strike out the first "Nun Propatoris."
92 Some read "caecutientes" instead of "circumeuntes," as above.
95 "Postgenitum quidem reliquis," the representative, according to Grabe, of apogonon men loipoij in the Greek. Harvey remarks that twn loipwn would have been better, and proposes to read "progenitum" in the Latin; but we do not see any necessity for change.
96 "Incapabilis et incomprehensibilis," corresponding to axwrhtoj kai akatalhptoj in the Greek.
97 Literally, "to these knowing," "his scientibus."
99 It seems necessary to read "se quidem" instead of "si quidem," as in the mss.
100 Although Sophia was a feminine Aeon, she was regarded as being the father of Enthymesis, who again was the mother of the Valentinians.
101 Stieren refers for this allusion to Meineke's edition of the Reliquioe Menan. et Philem., p. 116.
102 Matt. xii. 36. [The serious spirit of this remark lends force to it as exposition.]
104 "Parvum emissum"-a small emission.
105 That is, there could be no need for its descending into them that it might increase, receive form, and thus be prepared for the reception of perfect reason.
107 As Massuet here remarks, we may infer from this passage that Irenaeus believed souls to be corporeal, as being possessed of a definite form,-an opinion entertained by not a few of the ancients. [And, before we censure them, let us reflect whether their perceptions of "the carnal mind" as differing from the spirit of a man, may not account for it. 1 Thess. v. 23.]
108 Comp. 1 Cor. xv. 44; 2 Cor. v. 4. [As a Catholic I cannot accept everything contained in the Biblical Psychology of Dr. Delitzsch, but may I entreat the reader who has not studied it to do so before dismissing the ideas of Irenaeus on such topics. A translation has been provided for English readers, by the Messrs. T. & T. Clark of Edinburgh, 1867.]
109 The meaning apparently is, that by the high position which all these in common occupied, they proved themselves, on the principles of the heretics, to belong to the favoured "seed," and should therefore have eagerly have welcomed the Lord. Or the meaning may be, "hurrying together to that relationship," that is, to the relationship secured by faith in Christ.
110 1 Cor. i. 26, 28, somewhat loosely quoted.
111 "Male tractant;" literally, handle badly.
112 Or, "from the twelfth number"-the twelfth position among the apostles.
113 Acts i. 20, from Ps. cix. 8.
114 The text is here uncertain. Most editions read "et quae non cederet," but Harvey prefers "quae non accederet" (for "accideret"), and remarks that the corresponding Greek would be kai ou tuxon, which we have translated as above.
116 Ps. lxviii. 18; Eph. iv. 8.
117 Luke x. 19; [Mark xvi. 17, 18.]
118 Though the reading "substituit" is found in all the mss. and editions, it has been deemed corrupt, and "sustinuit" has been proposed instead of it. Harvey supposes it the equivalent of upesthse, and then somewhat strangely adds "for apesthse." There seems to us no difficulty in the word, and consequently no necessity for change.
119 Compare, in illustration of this sentence, book i. 4, 1, and i. 4, 5.
123 This passage is hopelessly corrupt. The editors have twisted it in every direction, but with no satistactory result. Our version is quite as far from being certainly trustworthy as any other that has been proposed, but it seems something like the meaning of the words as they stand. Both the text and punctuation of the Latin are in utter confusion.
125 "Si" is wanting in the mss.MSS;. and early editions, and Harvey pleads for its exclusion, but the sense becomes clearer through inserting it.