A Source Book for Ancient Church History - Mirrors

282 A Source Book for Ancient Church History[256]the vapor, the burning heat, the fiery wind, the poison, and thedarkness.This bright shining Primal Being was in immediate proximitywith the dark Primal Being, so that no wall of partition wasbetween them and the Light touched the Darkness on its broadside. The Light is unlimited in its height, and also to the righthand and to the left; the Darkness, however, is unlimited in itsdepth, and also to the right hand and to the left.From this Dark-Earth rose Satan, not so that he himself waswithout beginning, although his parts were in their elementswithout beginning. These parts joined themselves together fromthe elements and formed themselves into Satan. His head waslike that of a lion, his trunk like that of a dragon, his wings asthose of a bird, his tail like that of a great fish, and his fourfeet like the feet of creeping things. When this Satan had beenformed from the Darkness—his name is the First Devil—then hebegan to devour and to swallow up and to ruin, to move about tothe right and to the left, and to get down into the deep, so thathe continually brought ruin and destruction to every one whoattempted to overmaster him. Next he hastened up on high andperceived the rays of light, but felt an aversion to them. Thenwhen he saw how these rays by reciprocal influence and contactwere increased in brilliancy, he became afraid and crept togetherinto himself, member by member, and withdrew for union andstrengthening back to his original constituent parts. Now oncemore he hastened back into the height, and the Light-Earth noticedthe action of Satan and his purpose to seize and to attackand to destroy. But when she perceived this thereupon the worldæon of Insight perceived it, then the æon of Wisdom, the æonof Discretion, the æon of the Understanding, and then the æonof Gentleness. Thereupon the King of the Paradise of Lightperceived it and reflected on means to gain the mastery overhim. His armies were indeed mighty enough to overcome him;he had the wish, however, to accomplish this himself. Therefore