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7/te Manichees. Sect. IV. 365
therefore two souls in man, two active principles ; one the
source and cause of vicious passions, deriving- its origin
from matter, the other the cause of the ideas of just and
right, and of inclinations to follow those ideas, deriving its
original from Ciod.
XI. Though the Manichees did not receive the Old Testament,
nor admit the Mosaic account of the creation, they
supposed the world to have had a beginning, as we have seen
already; and Adam and Eve to have been the first pair,
and the parents of mankind. This appears from the very
beginning!' of the famous Epistle of the Foundation.
The Manichees, as Augustine says, believed that in Adam
was a large portion of light; that is, of the celestial substance.
Again, we learn from him that'' ' they said Adam
' and Eve were made by the princes of darkness; but Adam
' had in him a great abundance of the particles of light, Avith
' but few particles of darkness: for that reason he lived
' holily a good while. At length the adverse part in him
' prevailed, and he knew Eve.' So then conjugal commerce
was the first sin of these parents of mankind.
And, in The Acts of Archelaus, it is said thaf^ the princes,
having- made Adam after the form of the first man whom
they had seen, made Eve likewise, giving- her some of their
own concupiscence, that she might deceive Adam.
XII. Hence we may be led to conclude that the Manichees
must condenm marriage ; and indeed those words of
St. Paul, 1 Tim. iv. 3, are often applied to them. Mani
himself says that^ " concupiscence is the root of all evil,"
quoting in that sense 1 Tim. vi. 10. It may be thought
that' condemning- all manner of concupiscence, however
P De eo igitur, de quo mihi significasti, dicens, nosse te cupere, cujus-
modi sit nativitas Adae et Evse, &c. ap. Aug. Contr. Ep. Manich. c. 12. n. 14.
•i Talis est namque apud vos opinio de Adanio et Eva. Longa fabula est,
sedex ea adtingam quod in praesentia satis est. Adam dicitis sic a parentibus
suis genitum, abortivis illis principibus tenebrarnin, ut maximana partem lucis
haberet in anima, et perexiguam gentis adversae. Qui cum sancte viverent
propter exsuperantem copiam boni, commotam tanien in eo fuisse adversam
illam partem, ut ad concnbitum declinaretur ; ita eum lapsum esse et peccasse,
sed vixisse postea sanctiorem. De Mor. Manich. c. 19. n. 73.
' Tijv St Euav ojjiOKjjg tKTKJav, dovTtg avry ik rtjg ETTiOvfuag avro)v, npog to
(Kmrarrjaai tov ASafi. ap. Arch. n. 10. p. 20.
^ Toile denique malignae hujus stirpis radicem, etstatim teipsum spiritalem
contemplaris. Radix enim, ait scriptura, omnium malorum concupiscentia.
Ap. Aug. Op. Imp. 1. 3. c. 175. Vid. et c. 176, 186, 187.
' Modus quoque nascendi duplex est, unus ille furoris et intemperantiae
proprius, quo sumus a generatoribus turpiter et per libidinem sati ; alius vero
honestatis et sanctimoniae, quo in Christo Jesu per Spiritum Sanctum sub
bonorum doctrinis disciplinati sumus ad fidem, &c. Faust. 1. 24. c. 1.