chapter 10 the monism of darkness and the dualism of limit and ...

MONISM OF DARKNESS - DUALISM OF LIMIT AND INDETERMINACY 75
position of primary importance is given to the Orphics. Philodemus,
De pietate 13. 16 sqq. p. 80 Gomerz = VI. 16 sqq. p. 17, A. Henrichs,
Die Kritik der Stoischen Theologie im Pherc. 1428, Cronache
Ercolanensi 4 (1974): âÓ ‰b Ùˇá ‰Â˘Ù¤Úˇˆ (sc. book of the treatise ÂÚd
£ÂáÓ) Ù¿ Ù Âå˜ \OÚʤ· ηd MÔ˘Û·ÖÔÓ àÓ·ÊÂÚfiÌÂÓ· ηd Ùa apple·Ú’
^OÌ‹Úˇˆ ηd ^HÛÈfi‰ˇˆ ηd EéÚÈapple›‰FË Î·d appleÔÈËÙ·Ö˜ ôÏÏÔȘ ó˜ ηd
KÏ¿Óı˘ appleÂÈÚÄÙ·È Û˘ÓÔÈÎÂÈÔÜÓ (sc. Chrysippus) Ù·Ö˜ ‰fiͷȘ ·éÙáÓ
(sc. of the Stoics). In the context of such assimilative associations and
with reference to Orphic doctrine it is attested that he considered
Night to be the very first goddess; op. cit. 14. 18 sqq. p. 81 Gomperz
= VII. 18 p. 18 Henrichs: ηd ‰c ÎàÓ Ùˇá appleÚÒÙˇˆ (sc. book of ÂÚd
º‡Ûˆ˜) ÙcÓ N‡ÎÙ· ıÂ¿Ó ÊËÛÈÓ ÂrÓ·È appleÚˆÙ›ÛÙËÓ.
The Middle Comedy poet Antiphanes (first half of the fourth c.
B.C.) exhibits in one of his plays a theogony 31 like Aristophanes’ in
the Birds. According to Irenaeus, Contra Haereses II, 18,1 II pp. 366-
7 Harvey, Antiphanes spoke more truly and acceptably about the first
principles than the Gnostic Valentinians: ille enim de Nocte et Silentio
Chaos emissum dicit, dehinc de Chao et Nocte Cupidinem, et ex hoc
Lumen, dehinc reliquam secundum eum primam deorum genesim;
post quos rursus secundam deorum generationem inducit et mundi
fabricationem; dehinc de secundis diis narrat hominum
plasmationem. From Silence and Night Chaos springs, from Chaos
and Night Eros, from Eros Light and the first divine Generation
emerge, then the second divine Generation and World-Formation
come out, and later Anthropogony occurs, man being fashioned by
the second gods. Silence corresponds to the hypostasized Quiescence
of Valentinian Gnosis and to ‘the god-nurtured (or, rather, the godnurturing)
silence of the Fathers’ (ıÂÔıÚ¤ÌÌÔÓ· ÛÈÁc ÙáÓ ·Ù¤ÚˆÓ)
of the Chaldaean Oracles (fr. 16 des Places. The Fathers’ silence stands
on the same level as paternal depth, apple·ÙÚÈÎe˜ ‚˘ıfi˜, fr. 18 des Places.
Cf. e.g. Lewy, Chaldaean Oracles and Theurgy p. 160, and also
Heracleitus, Homerica Problemata 65, 3). This presents a dualistic
insertion into the Monism of Darkness of the underlying system:
Night functions as Male vis-à-vis Silence and as Female with reference
to Chaos. In all likelihood X¿Ô˜ is named after ¯‡ÛȘ (pouring forth),
as in the Stoic interpretation of Hesiodic Chaos, to denote the flowing
stream of the Water of Abyss; hence it fits in the ontological plane of
Ocean-Time-Ophioneus, not in the truly presupposed plane of the