What the Ophite diagram really shows
Not content with what comes from the diagram, our noble friend wanted to put in some other things along the way, to swell his charges against us, who have nothing in common with it; and he repeated the doctrines of those people as though they were ours. For he says: “Not the least of their marvels is this: they expound certain things inscribed between the higher circles above the heavens, and among them two in particular, a greater and a smaller, of Son and Father.”
We for our part found in this diagram the greater circle and the smaller, on whose diameter was written “Father and Son.” Between the greater circle, inside which the smaller one lay, and another made up of two circles, the outer yellow and the inner dark blue, was the inscribed partition, shaped like an axe. Above it was a small circle touching the greater of the first two, with “Love” written in it; and below it, touching the circle, one with “Life” written in it. On the second circle, which was entwined with and enclosed two other circles and another figure shaped like a rhombus, was written “Providence of Wisdom.” Inside the area where those two overlapped was “Nature of Wisdom”; above that shared area was a circle in which was written “Knowledge,” and below it another, in which was written “Understanding.”
We have included these things too in our treatise against Celsus, to show our readers that we know, more clearly than he does and not from garbled hearsay, the very things that we too condemn. Whether those who pride themselves on such things also promise some magical sorcery, and whether this is for them the sum of wisdom, we do not affirm; for we have never come across anything of the kind. Celsus, who has often been caught already in false testimony and unreasonable accusations, may know whether he is lying here too, or whether he came upon something of this sort about certain people who are strangers and aliens to the faith and set it out in his own book.
Greek
Οὐκ ἀρκεσθεὶς δ᾿ ὁ γεννάδας τοῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ διαγράμματος ἐβουλήθη ὑπὲρ τοῦ αὐξῆσαι τὰς καθ᾿ ἡμῶν κατηγορίας, τῶν μηδὲν ἐχόντων κοινὸν πρὸς ἐκεῖνο, διὰ μέσου ἄλλ᾿ ἄττα εἰπεῖν, ἐπαναλαβὼν τὰ ἐκείνων ὡσπερεὶ (ἡμ) ετέρων. φησὶ γάρ· θαῦμα δ᾿ αὐτῶν οὐχ ἥκιστα ἐκεῖνο· ἐξηγοῦνται γάρ τινα μεταξὺ τῶν ὑπερουρανίων ἀνωτέρω κύκλων ἐπιγεγραμμένα, ἄλλα τε καὶ δύο ἄττα, μεῖζόν τε καὶ μικρότερον υἱοῦ καὶ πατρός. εὕρομεν δ᾿ ἡμεῖς ἐν τούτῳ τῷ διαγράμματι τὸν μείζονα κύκλον καὶ τὸν μικρότερον, ὧν ἐπὶ τῆς διαμέτρου ἐπεγέγραπτο „πατὴρ καὶ υἱὸς“, καὶ μεταξὺ τοῦ μείζονος, ἐν ᾧ ὁ μικρότερος ἦν, καὶ ἄλλου συγκειμένου ἐκ δύο κύκλων, τοῦ μὲν ἐξωτέρου ξανθοῦ τοῦ δὲ ἐνδοτέρω κυανοῦ, τὸ ἐπιγεγραμμένον διάφραγμα πελε κοειδεῖ σχήματι, καὶ ἀνωτέρω μὲν αὐτοῦ κύκλον βραχὺν ἐχόμενον τοῦ μείζονος τῶν προτέρων, ἐγγεγραμμένον ἔχοντα „ἀγάπην“· κατωτέρω δὲ ἐχόμενον τοῦ κύκλου γεγραμμένον ἔχοντα „ζωήν“· τῷ δὲ δευτέρῳ κύκλῳ ἐνεγέγραπτο, περιπεπλεγμένῳ καὶ ἐμπεριειληφότι ἄλλους δύο κύκλους καὶ ἄλλο σχῆμα ῥομβοειδὲς, „σοφίας πρόνοια,“ καὶ ἔνδον μὲν τῆς κοινῆς αὐτῶν τομῆς „σοφίας φύσις,“ ἀνωτέρω δὲ τῆς κοινῆς αὐτῶν τομῆς κύκλος ἦν. ἐν ᾧ ἐπεγέγραπτο „γνῶσις,“ κατωτέρω δὲ ἄλλος, ἐν ᾧ ἐπεγέγραπτο „σύνεσις.“ καὶ ταῦτα δὲ παρειλήφαμεν εἰς τὸν κατὰ Κέλσου λόγον, ἵνα παραστήσωμεν τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσι τρανότερον ἐκείνου ἐγνωκέναι καὶ οὐκ ἐκ παρακουσμάτων τὰ καὶ ὑφ᾿ ἡμῶν κατηγορούμενα. εἰ δὲ καὶ ὑπισχνοῦνται οἱ ἐπὶ τοῖς τοιούτοις σεμνυνόμενοι μαγικήν τινα γοητείαν, καὶ τοῦτ᾿ ἔστιν αὐτοῖς τὸ τῆς σοφίας κεφάλαιον, ἡμεῖς μὲν οὐ διαβεβαιούμεθα. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἱστορήσαμεν τὸ τοιοῦτον· Κέλσος δ᾿ ἂν εἰδείη, ὁ πολλάκις ἤδη ἁλοὺς ψευδομαρτυριῶν καὶ ἀλόγων κατηγοριῶν, πότερον καὶ ἐν τούτοις ψεύδεται, εἴ τι περί τινων ξένων καὶ ἀλλοτρίων τῆς πίστεως τοιοῦτον καταλαβὼν ἐξέθετο ἐν τῷ ἑαυτοῦ συγγράμματι.