(1) And I subjected all their powers. For as I came downward, no one saw me. For I was altering my shapes, changing from form to form. And so when I was at their gates I assumed their likeness. For I passed them by quietly, and I was viewing the places, and I was neither afraid nor ashamed, for I was undefiled. And I was speaking with them, mingling with them through those who are mine, and trampling on those who are harsh to them with zeal, and quenching the flame. And I was doing all these things because of my desire to accomplish what I desired by the will of the father above.

(2) The whole greatness of the fatherhood of the spirit was at rest in its places. And I was with him, since I have a thought of a single emanation from the eternal ones and the unknowable ones, undefiled and immeasurable. I placed the small thought in the world, having disturbed them and frightened the whole multitude of the angels and their ruler. And I was visiting them all with fire and flame because of my thought. And everything pertaining to them was brought about because of me. And there came about a disturbance and a fight around the seraphim and cherubim, since their glory will fade, and there was confusion around Adonaios on both sides and around their dwelling, up to the world ruler and the one who said, "Let us seize him." Others again said, "The plan will certainly not materialize." For Adonaios knows me because of hope. And I was in the mouths of lions. And as for the plan that they devised about me to release their error and their senselessness, I did not succumb to them as they had planned. And I was not afflicted at all. Those who were there punished me, yet I did not die in reality but in appearance, in order that I not be put to shame by them because these are my kinsfolk. I removed the shame from me, and I did not become fainthearted in the face of what happened to me at their hands. I was about to succumb to fear, and I suffered merely according to their sight and thought so that no word might ever be found to speak about them. For my death, which they think happened, happened to them in their error and blindness, since they nailed their man unto their death. Their thoughts did not see me, for they were deaf and blind. But in doing these things, they condemn themselves. Yes, they saw me; they punished me. It was another, their father, who drank the gall and the vinegar; it was not I. They struck me with the reed; it was another, Simon, who bore the cross on his shoulder. It was another upon whom they placed the crown of thorns. But I was rejoicing in the height over all the wealth of the rulers and the offspring of their error, of their empty glory. And I was laughing at their ignorance.

There was a great disturbance in the whole earthly area, with confusion and flight, as well as in the plan of the rulers. And some were persuaded, when they saw the wonders that were being accomplished by me. And all those fled, those of the race that descended from the one who fled from the throne to the Sophia of hope, since she had earlier given the sign concerning us and all the ones with me—those of the race of Adonaios. Others also fled, as though sent from the world ruler and those with him, and brought every kind of punishment upon me. And there was a flight of their mind about what they would counsel concerning me, thinking that their own greatness is all, and speaking false witness, moreover, against the human and the whole greatness of the assembly. It was not possible for them to know who is the father of truth, the human of greatness. They took the name because of contact with ignorance—which is a burning and a vessel created to destroy Adam, whom they had made, in order to cover up those who are theirs in the same way. But they, the rulers, of the place of Yaldabaoth, reveal the realm of the angels, which human beings were seeking because they did not know the human of truth. For Adam, whom they had formed, appeared to them. And a fearful disturbance came about throughout their entire dwelling, lest the angels surrounding them rebel. For on account of those who were offering praise I died, but not really, because their archangel was vacuous.

(1) As came to Clymene, to be made certain Of that which he had heard against himself, He who makes fathers chary still to children, Even such was I, and such was I perceived By Beatrice and by the holy light That first on my account had changed its place. Therefore my Lady said to me: "Send forth The flame of thy desire, so that it issue Imprinted well with the internal stamp; Not that our knowledge may be greater made By speech of thine, but to accustom thee To tell thy thirst, that we may give thee drink." "O my beloved tree, (that so dost lift thee, That even as minds terrestrial perceive No triangle containeth two obtuse, So thou beholdest the contingent things Ere in themselves they are, fixing thine eyes Upon the point in which all times are present,) While I was with Virgilius conjoined Upon the mountain that the souls doth heal, And when descending into the dead world, Were spoken to me of my future life Some grievous words; although I feel myself In sooth foursquare against the blows of chance.

(1) "It came to pass then, when that time came on,--and I was in the world of men, sitting with you in this region, which is the Mount of Olives,--that Adamas looked down out of the twelve æons and looked down at the regions of the chaos and saw his demon power which is in the chaos, that no light at all was in it, because I had taken its light from it; and he saw it, that it was dark and could not go to his region, that is to the twelve moons. Thereon Adamas again remembered Pistis Sophia and became most exceedingly wroth against her, thinking that it was she who had imprisoned his power in the chaos, and thinking that it was she who had taken its light from it. And he was exceedingly embittered; he piled wrath on wrath and emanated out of himself a dark emanation and another, chaotic and evil, the violent [one], so as through them to harass Pistis Sophia. And he made a dark region in his region, so as to constrain Sophia therein. And he took many of his rulers; they pursued after Sophia, in order that the two dark emanations which Adamas had emanated, might lead her into the dark chaos which he had made, and constrain her in that region and harass her, until they should take her whole light from her, and Adamas should take the light from Pistis Sophia and give it to the two dark violent emanations, and they should carry it to the great chaos which is below and dark, and cast it into his dark power which is chaotic, if perchance it might be able to come to his region, because it had become exceedingly dark, for I had taken its light-power from it. "It came to pass then, when they pursued after Pistis Sophia, that she cried out again and sang praises to the Light, since I had said unto her: 'If thou shalt be constrained and singest praises unto me, I will come quickly and help thee.' It came to pass then, when she was constrained,--and I sat with you in this region, that is on the Mount of Olives,--that she sang praises to the Light, saying:

(5) There where the name thereof becometh void Did I arrive, pierced through and through the throat, Fleeing on foot, and bloodying the plain; There my sight lost I, and my utterance Ceased in the name of Mary, and thereat I fell, and tenantless my flesh remained. Truth will I speak, repeat it to the living; God's Angel took me up, and he of hell Shouted: 'O thou from heaven, why dost thou rob me? Thou bearest away the eternal part of him, For one poor little tear, that takes him from me; But with the rest I'll deal in other fashion!' Well knowest thou how in the air is gathered That humid vapour which to water turns, Soon as it rises where the cold doth grasp it. He joined that evil will, which aye seeks evil, To intellect, and moved the mist and wind By means of power, which his own nature gave; Thereafter, when the day was spent, the valley From Pratomagno to the great yoke covered With fog, and made the heaven above intent, So that the pregnant air to water changed; Down fell the rain, and to the gullies came Whate'er of it earth tolerated not;

(1) "It came to pass then, when those tyrants saw the great light which was about me, that the great Adamas, the Tyrant, and all the tyrants of the twelve æons, all together began to fight against the light of my vesture, desiring to hold it fast among them, in order to delay in their rulership. This then they did, not knowing against whom they fought.

(3) It was my cross that the world did not accept, my apparent exaltation, my third baptism in a revealed image. When they had fled from the fire of the seven authorities, and the sun of the powers of the rulers set, darkness overtook them. And the world became poor. After they bound him with many restraints, they nailed him to the cross, and they fastened him with four nails of brass. The veil of his temple he tore with his hands. There was a trembling that overcame the chaos of the earth, for the souls that were in the sleep below were released, and they arose. They walked about boldly, having shed jealousy of ignorance and unlearnedness beside the dead tombs; having put on the new human; having come to know that perfect blessed one of the eternal and incomprehensible father and the infinite light, which is I. When I came to my own and united them with myself, there was no need for many words, for our thought was with their thought. Therefore they knew what I was saying, for we took counsel about the destruction of the rulers. And therefore I did the will of the father, who is I.

(2) "'1. Why doth the mighty [one] boast himself in his wickedness? "'2. Thy tongue hath studied unrighteousness all the day long; as a sharp razor hast thou practised craft. "'3. Thou lovedst wickedness more than goodness; thou lovedst to speak unrighteousness more than righteousness. "'4. Thou lovedst all words of submerging and a crafty tongue. "'5. Wherefor will God bring thee to naught utterly, and will uproot thee and drag thee out from thy dwelling-place, and will root out thy root and cast it away from the living. (Selah.) "'6. The righteous will see and be afraid, and they will mock at him and say: "'7. Lo, a man who made not God for his helper, but trusted to his great riches and was mighty in his vanity. "'8. But I am as a fruit-bearing olive-tree in the house of God. I have trusted in the grace of God from all eternity. "'9. And I will confess unto thee, for thou hast dealt faithfully with me; and I will wait on thy name, for it is auspicious in the presence of thy holy [ones].' "This then is now, therefore, my Lord, the solution of the eleventh repentance of Pistis Sophia. While thy light-power hath roused me, I have spoken it according to thy desire."

(3) And know that the transgression which rebuts By direct opposition any sin Together with it here its verdure dries. Therefore if I have been among that folk Which mourns its avarice, to purify me, For its opposite has this befallen me." "Now when thou sangest the relentless weapons Of the twofold affliction of Jocasta," The singer of the Songs Bucolic said, "From that which Clio there with thee preludes, It does not seem that yet had made thee faithful That faith without which no good works suffice. If this be so, what candles or what sun Scattered thy darkness so that thou didst trim Thy sails behind the Fisherman thereafter?" And he to him: "Thou first directedst me Towards Parnassus, in its grots to drink, And first concerning God didst me enlighten. Thou didst as he who walketh in the night, Who bears his light behind, which helps him not, But wary makes the persons after him, When thou didst say: 'The age renews itself, Justice returns, and man's primeval time, And a new progeny descends from heaven.'