# Mockery of the Pagan Philosophers

- Author: [Hermias](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/hermias/)
- Latin title: *Irrisio gentilium philosophorum*
- Date: 3rd–6th century (disputed) (disputed)
- Source: J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologiae cursus completus, Series Graeca 6 (Paris: Migne, 1857)

- Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator
- Editions and translations: H. Diels, Doxographi Graeci (Berlin: Reimer, 1879), 649–656
- Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hermias-irrisio/
- Passages: 6

## Irrision of the Gentile Philosophers 1

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hermias-irrisio/1/#p-1
- Source: PG 6
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Hermias opens his satire by setting the philosophers' conflicting definitions of the soul against Paul's word that the world's wisdom is foolishness with God.

### Greek text

Παῦλος ὁ μακάριος ἀπόττολος, τοῖς τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἃ τὴν Λαχωνιχὴν παροιχοῦσι Κορινθίοις γράφων, Ὧ ἀγαπητοὶ, ἀπεφήνατο λέγων, ἡ σοςία τοῦ κόσμου τούτου μωρία παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ, οὐχ ἀσχόπως εἰπών. Δοχεῖ γάο μοι τὴν ἀρχὴν εἰληφέναι ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν ἀγγέλων ἀποστασίας" δι᾽ ἣν αἴτίαν οὐδὲ σύμφωνα οὐδὲ ὁμόλογα οἱ φιλόσοφοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους «λέγοντες, ἐχτίθενται τὰ δόγματα. Οἱ μὲν γάρ φασιν αὐτῶν ψυχὶν εἶναι τὸ πῦρ, οἷον Δημόχριτος, τὸν ἀέρα, οἱ Στωϊχοί" οἱ δὲ τὸν νοῦν" οἱ δὲ τὴν χίνησιν, Ἡράχλειτος" οἱ δὲ τὴν ἀναθυμίασιν" οἱ δὲ δύναμιν ἀπὸ τῶν ἄστρων ῥέουσαν' οἱ δὲ ἀριθμὸν κινητικὸν, Πυθαγόραςφ᾽ οἱ δὲ ὕδωρ γονοποιὸν, Ἵππων" οἱ δὲ στοιχεῖον ἀπὸ στοιχείων" οἱ δὲ ἁρμονίαν, Δείναρχος" οἱ δὲ τὸ αἷμα, Κριτίας" οἱ δὲ τὸ πνεῦμα" οἱ δὲ τὴν μονάδα, [|υθαγόρας, καὶ οἱ παλαιοὶ τὰ ἐναντία. Πόσοι λόγοι περὶ τούτων; ᾿Ἐπιχειρήσεις πόσαι; Πόσαι δὲ καὶ σοφιστῶν ἐριζόντων μᾶλλον ἢ τἀληθὲς εὑρισχόντων;

### English translation (Claude)

Paul, the blessed apostle, writing to the Corinthians who live in Greece bordering on Laconia, declared, beloved, saying: “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God”; and he did not say it without purpose. For it seems to me to have taken its beginning from the apostasy of the angels; and for this reason the philosophers set out their doctrines saying things neither consistent nor in agreement with one another. For some of them say that the soul is fire, as Democritus; others, air, as the Stoics; others, mind; others, motion, as Heraclitus; others, exhalation; others, a power flowing from the stars; others, number with power of motion, as Pythagoras; others, generative water, as Hippo; others, an element from elements; others, harmony, as Dinarchus; others, blood, as Critias; others, breath; others, the monad, as Pythagoras; and the ancients, the opposites. How many arguments about these things! How many attempts! And how many of sophists contending rather than finding the truth!

### Scripture references

- 1 Cor 3:19: quotation, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Hermias, Mockery of the Pagan Philosophers, chapter 1 (PG 6). “Bordering on Laconia” renders τὴν Λακωνικὴν παροικοῦσι, the text's own geography. The philosophers' opinions are reported as Hermias gives them. 1 Cor 3:19.

### Citation (SBL)

Hermias, Irris. 1 (PG 6; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hermias-irrisio/1/#p-1).

## Irrision of the Gentile Philosophers 2

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hermias-irrisio/1/#p-2
- Source: PG 6
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Hermias mocks the philosophers who turn his soul into every creature and toss him from Anaxagoras to Parmenides, Anaximenes, Empedocles, Protagoras, Thales, Anaximander, Archelaus, Plato and Aristotle.

### Greek text

᾿Αλλὰ γὰρ ἕστω' στασιάζουσι μὲν περὶ τῆς ψυγῆς» τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ περὶ αὐτῆς ὁμονοοῦντες ἀπεφήναντο. Καὶ ἄλλοι τὴν ἡδονὴν, αὐτῆς ὁ μέν τις ἀγαθὸν χαλεῖ, ὁ δέ τις χαχὸν, ὁ δ᾽ αὖ μέσον ἀγαθοῦ καὶ χχχοῦ. Τὴν δὲ φύσιν αὐτῆς οἱ μὲν ἀθάνατόν φασιν, οἰδὲ θνητὴν, οἱ δὲ πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐπιδιαμένηυσαν, οἱ ἃ ἀποθηριοῦσιν αὐτὴν, οἱ δὲ εἰς ἀτόμους διαλύουσιν, οἱ δὲ τρὶς ἐνσωματοῦσιν, οἱ δὲ τρισχιλίων ἑτῶν περιόδους αὐτῇ ὁρίζουσιν. Καὶ γὰρ εἰ μηδὲ ἔχα- τὸν ἔτη ζῶντες περὶ τρισχιλίων ἑτῶν μελλόνλα ἐπαγγέλλονται. Ταῦτα οὖν τί χρὴ χαλεῖν; ὑς εἰ ἐμοὶ δοχεῖ, τερατείαν, ἣ ἄνοιαν, ἣ μανίαν, ἣ ἣ ὁμοῦ πάντα. Εἰ μέν τι ἀληθὲς εὑρήκχασιν ({} μι ἄσμενος αὐτοῖς πεισθήσομαι. Εἰ δὲ ἀντισπῶσι τὸ ψυχὴν, καὶ ἀνθέλχουσιν ἄλλως εἰς ἄλλην φύσι ἕτερος δὲ εἰς ἑτέραν οὐσίαν, ὕλην δὲ ἐξ ὕλης μὲπ ( τῶν πραγμάτων. Νῦν μὲν ἀθάνατός εἰμι, τ γέγηθα᾽ νῦν δ᾽ αὖ θνητὸς γίνομαι, καὶ δακρύω" ἐρι δὲ εἰς ἀτόμους διαλύομαι" ὕδωρ γίνομαε, καὶ ἀὴρ νομαι, πῦρ γίνομαι" εἶτα μετ᾽ ὀλίγον οὔτε ἀὴρ ει πῦρ᾽ θηρίον με ποιεῖ, ἰχθύν με ποιεῖ. Πάλο οὖν ἀδελφοὺς ἔχω δελφῖνα: ὅταν δὲ ἐμαντὸν ἂν ᾿ φοδοῦμαι τὸ σῶμα, καὶ οὐχ οἶδα ὅπως αὐτὸ τ: λέσω, ἄνθρωπον, ἣ χύνα, ἣ λύχον, ἢ ταῦρον, ἣ ὕρνν ἣ ὄφιν, ἣ δράχοντα, ἣ χίμαιραν. Εὶς πάντα 1}: θηρία ὑπὸ τῶν φιλοσοφούντων μεταθάλλομαι, γἱ ἄφωνα, εὔφωνα, ἄλογα, λογιχά" νήχομαι, ἕπτ; μαι, πέτομαι, ἕρπω, θέω, χαθίζω. Ἔστι δὲ ὁ Ἐῇ πεδοχλῇς, καὶ θάμνον με ποιεῖ, ὅ, Ὅπου τοίνυν τὴν ἀνθρώπου Ψυχὴν ὁμογνυῖῦ νως εὑρεῖν οὐχ οἷόν τε τοῖς φιλοσοφοῦσι, σχολῇ Υἱ περὶ τῶν θεῶν ἣ περὶ κόσμον δύναιντο τἀληϑὲς φήνασθαι. Καὶ γὰρ ταύτην ἀνδρείαν ἔχουσιν, ἕνι εἰ τὴν ἐμπληξίαν εἴπω’ εἰ γὰρ τὴν ἰδίαν ψυγὶ εὑρεῖν οὐ δυνάμενοι, οὐ ζητοῦσι τὴν φύσιν τὶ θεῶν αὐτῶν καὶ οἱ τὸ ἴδιον σῶμα οὐχ εἰδότες τί! τοῦ χόσμου φύσιν περιεργάζονται' πάνν γοῦν τεῇ τὰς ἀρχὰς τῆς φύσεως ἀνθίστανται ἀλλήλοις. Ὅτι μὲν ᾿Αναξαγόρας παραλάδῃ με, ταῦτα παιξεε" ᾿Αρχὴ πάντων ὁ νοῦς, καὶ οὗτος αἴτιος καὶ χύρϑι τῶν ὅλων, καὶ παρέχει τάξιν τοῖς ἀτάκτοις, καὶ χέν σιν τοῖς ἀχινήτοις, καὶ διάχρισιν τοῖς μεμιγμένης καὶ κόσμον τοῖς ἀχόσμοις. Ταῦτα λέγων ᾿Αναξαγύροι ἐστί μοι φίλος, καὶ τῷ δόγματι πείθομαι. ᾿Αλλ᾽ ἐν θίστανται τούτου Μέλισσος καὶ Παρμενίδης. Ὁ μὴν Παρμενίδης καὶ ποιητιχοῖὶς ἔπεσιν ἀναχη- Α ρύσσει τὴν οὐσίαν ἕν εἶναι, καὶ ἀΐδιον, καὶ ἄπειρον, καὶ ἀχίνητον, καὶ παντὶ ὅμοιον. Πάλιν οὖν εἰς τοῦτο τὸ δόγμα οὐχ οἵδ᾽ ὅπως μεταδάλλομαι" ὁ Παρμενίδης τὸν ᾿Αναξαγόραν τῆς ἐμῆς ἐξήλασεν. Ἐπειδὰν δὲ ἡγήσωμαι δόγμα ἔχειν ἀχίνητον, φῆμι, τὸ πᾶν ἐστιν ἀὴρ, καὶ οὗτος πυχνούμενος καὶ συνιστάμενος ὕδωρ καὶ ἀὴρ γίνεται, ἀραιούμενος δὲ καὶ διαχεόμενος, αἰθὴρ καὶ πῦρ. Εἰς δὲ τὴν αὐτοῦ φύσιν ἐπανιὼν, ἀὴρ ἀραιός. Εἰ δὲ καὶ πυχνωθῆ, φησὶν, ἐξαλλάσσεται. Καὶ πάλιν αὐτῷ τοῦτὸ (2 μεθαρμόζομαι, καὶ τὸν ᾿Αναξιμένην φιλῶ. ὁ. Ὁ δὲ Ἐμπεδοχλῇς ἄντιχρυς ἔστηχεν ἐμόριμώμενος, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς Αἴτνης μέγα βοῶν’ ᾿Αρκαὶ τῶν πάντων ἔχθρα καὶ φιλία, ἡ μὲν συνάγουσα, ἡ δὲ διαχρί- Β νουσα᾽ καὶ τὸ νεῖχος αὐτῶν ποιεῖ τὰ πάντα. Ὁρίζοἐαι δὲ αὑτὰ καὶ ὅμοια, καὶ ἀνόμοια, καὶ ἄπειρα, καὶ πέρας ἔχηντα, καὶ ἀΐδια, καὶ γινόμενα. Εὖγε, ὦ Ἐμπεδόχλεις, ἕπομαί σοι καὶ μέχρι τῶν χρατήρων τοῦ πυρός. ᾿Αλλ᾽ ἐπὶ θάτερα Πρωταγόρας ἑστηχὼς ἀνθέλχει με, φάσχων: Ὅρος καὶ χρίσις τῶν πραγμάτων ὁ ἄνθρωπος" καὶ τὰ μὲν ὑποπίπτοντα ταῖς αἰσθήσεσίν ἔστι πράγματα, τὰ δὲ μὴ ὑποπίπτοντα οὖχ ἔστιν ἐν τοῖς εἴδεσι τῆς οὐσίας. Τούτῳ τῷ λόγῳ χολαχευόμενος ὑπὸ Πρωταγόρου, τέρπομαι, ὅτι τὸ πᾶν ἣ τὸ πλεῖστον τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ μένει. ᾿Αλλαχόθεν δὲ μοι θαλῆς τὴν ἀλήθειαν νεύει, ὁριζόμενος" ὕδωρ τοῦ παντὸς ἀρχὴν, καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ὑγροῦ τὰ πάντα συνίσταται, καὶ εἰς ὑγρὸν ἀναλύεται, καὶ ἡ γῆ ἐπὶ ὕδατος ὀχεῖται. Διὰ τί τοίνυν μὴ πεισθῶ θαλῇ τῷ πρεσδυτάτῳ τῶν Ἰώνων; ᾿Αλλ᾽ ὁ πολίτης αὐτὸς ᾿Αναξίμανδρος τοῦ ὑγροῦ πρεσδυτέραν ἀρχὴν εἶναι λέγει τὴν ἀΐδιον χίνησιν, καὶ ταύτῃ τὰ μὲν γεννᾶσθαι, τὰ δὲ φθείρεσθαι. Καὶ δὴ τοίνυν πιστὸς ᾿Αναὅ. Καὶ μὴν οὐκ εὐδοχιμεῖ ᾿Αρχέλαος, ἀποφαινόμενος τῶν ὅλων ἀρχὰς θερμὸν καὶ ψυχρόν; ᾿Αλλὰ καὶ τούτου πάλιν ὁ μεγαλόφωνος Πλάτων οὐχ ὁμολογεῖ, λέγων ἀρχὰς εἶναι Θεὸν καὶ ὕλην καὶ παράδειγμα. Νῦν μὲν καὶ δὴ πέπεισμαι. Πῶς γὰρ οὐ μέλω πιστεύειν φιλοσόφῳ τῷ τοῦ Διὸς ἅρμα πεποιηχότι; Κατόπιν δὲ αὐτοῦ μαθητὴς ᾿Αριστοτέλης ἕστηχε, ζηλοτυπῶν τὸν διδάσχαλον τῆς ἁρματοποιίας.  … σχειν. Καὶ τὸ μὲν ποιοῦν ἀπαθὲς εἶναι, τὸν αἰθέρα. Τὸ δὲ πάσχον ἔχον ποιότητας τέσσαρας, ξηρότητα, ὑγρότητα, θερμότητα, ψυχρότητα' τῇ γὰρ τούτων εἰς ἄλληλα μεταδολῇ πάντα γίνεται καὶ φθείρεται.  … γνώμης στήσομαι, καὶ μηκέτι μοι μηδὲ εἷς "λόγος

### English translation (Claude)

But let it be: they quarrel about the soul, but declared the rest in agreement about it. And others … one calls it good, another evil, another midway between good and evil. As to its nature, some say it is immortal, others mortal, others that it lasts for a short while; others turn it into a beast, others dissolve it into atoms, others give it a body three times, others fix for it periods of three thousand years. And indeed men who do not live even a hundred years promise what will come after three thousand years. What then should one call these things? As it seems to me, a prodigy, or folly, or madness, or all of them together. If they have found some truth, … I will gladly be persuaded by them. But if they drag the soul about and pull it, one into one nature and another into another substance, matter from matter … of things. Now I am immortal, and I rejoice; now again I become mortal, and I weep; now I am dissolved into atoms; I become water, I become air, I become fire; then after a little I am neither air nor fire; one makes me a beast, one makes me a fish. Again, then, I have dolphins as brothers. But when I look at myself, I am afraid of my body, and do not know what to call it, man or dog or wolf or bull or bird or serpent or dragon or chimaera. I am changed by the philosophers into all the beasts, of land, of water, of the air, many-shaped, wild, tame, dumb, voiced, irrational, rational; I swim, I fly, I soar, I creep, I run, I sit. And then comes Empedocles and makes me a bush. [3] Where, then, the philosophers cannot find the human soul in agreement, they could hardly declare the truth about the gods or about the world. For they have such courage (or should I call it stupidity?) that, being unable to find their own soul, they search out the nature of the gods themselves; and not knowing their own body, they busy themselves about the nature of the world. At least concerning the principles of nature they are wholly opposed to one another. When Anaxagoras takes me aside, he teaches me this: “Mind is the principle of all things, and it is the cause and lord of the universe, and gives order to things without order, motion to things unmoved, distinction to things mixed, and adornment to things unadorned.” When Anaxagoras says this he is my friend, and I am persuaded by his doctrine. But Melissus and Parmenides stand against him. Parmenides indeed proclaims, in poetic verses too, that being is one, eternal, infinite, immovable and alike in every part. Again, then, I am shifted, I know not how, to this doctrine; Parmenides has driven Anaxagoras out of my mind. But when I think I hold an unmoved doctrine, … I say, the universe is air, and this, condensed and thickened, becomes water and [earth], but rarefied and diffused, ether and fire; and returning to its own nature, rarefied air. And if it is condensed, he says, it is changed. And again I shift to this man, and I love Anaximenes. [4] But Empedocles stands opposite, roaring and shouting from Etna: “The principles of all things are hatred and love, the one bringing together, the other separating; and their strife makes all things. I define them as both like and unlike, infinite and limited, eternal and coming to be.” Well done, Empedocles! I follow you even to the craters of fire. But on the other side Protagoras stands and draws me back, saying: “The limit and judge of things is man; and the things that fall under the senses are things, but those that do not fall under them do not exist among the forms of being.” Flattered by Protagoras with this argument, I am delighted that the whole, or most of it, remains with man. But from another side Thales nods the truth to me, defining water as the principle of the universe: from the moist all things are composed and into the moist they are dissolved, and the earth rides on water. Why, then, should I not believe Thales, the oldest of the Ionians? But his fellow citizen Anaximander says that eternal motion is a principle older than the moist, and by it some things come to be and others perish. So then Anaximander is to be believed. [5] And is not Archelaus well regarded, declaring hot and cold the principles of all things? But again the grand-voiced Plato does not agree with him, saying that the principles are God and matter and pattern. Now at last I am persuaded. For how should I not believe the philosopher who built the chariot of Zeus? But behind him stands his pupil Aristotle, jealous of his teacher's chariot-building. … the active is impassible, the ether; and the passive has four qualities, dryness, moisture, heat and coldness; for by the change of these into one another all things come to be and perish. … I will take my stand on [his] opinion, and let no argument any longer …

### Extrabiblical texts

- Plato, Phaedr. 246e (Plato (works)): allusion, medium confidence
- Empedocles (Empedocles (fragments)): allusion, high confidence
- Anaxagoras (Anaxagoras): allusion, high confidence
- Aristotle (Aristotle (works)): allusion, medium confidence

### Translation notes

- This ref holds chapters 2–5 ([3], [4], [5]; the numeral of 2 is not visible). Migne's Latin and notes are removed at several points; words lost there are marked “…” (among them the clause introducing Anaximenes, and the start of Aristotle's definition of the principles as the active and the passive). In chapter 2 the scan's “its pleasure” (τὴν ἡδονὴν αὐτῆς) is probably corrupt (Migne's note suggests “its power” or “its form”). Plato's “chariot of Zeus” alludes to Phaedrus 246e.

### Citation (SBL)

Hermias, Irris. 2 (PG 6; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hermias-irrisio/1/#p-2).

## Irrision of the Gentile Philosophers 6

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hermias-irrisio/1/#p-6
- Source: PG 6:117
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Hermias continues his mockery with Pherecydes, Leucippus, Democritus, Heraclitus, Epicurus, Cleanthes and the Academic sceptics, who declare that nothing can be known.

### Greek text

᾿Αλλὰ τί δὴ τὰ πάθοιμ᾽ ἄν; νευροχοκοῦσι Ὑάρ μου τὴν ψυχὴν ἀρχαιότεροι τούτων γέροντες" Φερεχύδης μὲν ἀρχὰς εἶναι λέγων Ζῆνα, καὶ Χθονίην. καὶ Κρόνον" Ζῆνα μὲν τὸν αἰθέρα, Χθονίην δὲ τὴ" γῆν, Κρόνον δὲ τὸν χρόνον. Ὁ μὲν αἰθὴρ τὸ ποιοῦν, ἡ δὲ γῆ τὸ πάσχον, ὁ δὲ χρόνος ἐν ᾧ τὰ γινόμενα. Ζηλότυποι τοίνυν τῶν γερόντων πρὸς ἀλλήλους. Ταῦτα γάρ τοι πάντα ὁ Λεύχιππος λῆρον ἡγούμενος, ἀρχὰς εἶναί φησι τὰ ἄπειρα, καὶ ἀχίνητα, καὶ ἐλάχιστα' καὶ τὰ μὲν λεπτομερῇ, ἄνω χωρήσαντα,  … στάντα, ὕδωρ καὶ γῆν. Μέχρι ποῦ τὰ τοσαῦτα διδάσχομαι, μηδὲν ἀληθὲς μανθάνων; Πλὴν εἰ μῆτι γε Δημόχριτος ἀπαλλάξει με τῆς πλάνης, ἀποφαινόμενὸς ἀρχὰς τὸ ὃν, καὶ τὸ μὴ ὄν καὶ τὸ μὲν ὃν πλῆρες, τὸ δὲ μὴ ὃν χενόν᾽ τὸ δὲ πλῆρες ἐν τῷ χενῷ τροπῇ, ἢ ῥυθμῷ ποιεῖ τὰ πάντα - ἴσως ἂν τῷ χαλῷ Δημοχρίτῳ, καὶ βουλοίμην ἂν σὺν αὐτῷ γελᾷν, εἰ μὴ μεταπείθοι μὲν" Ἡράκλειτος, χλαίων ὁμοῦ καὶ λέγων" ᾿Αρχὴ τῶν ὅλων τὸ πῦρ" δύο δὲ αὖτοῦ πάθη, ἀραιότης καὶ πυχνότης, ἡ μὲν ποιοῦσα, ἡ δὲ πάσχουσα" ἡ μὲν συγχρίνουσα, ἡ δὲ διαχρίνουσα. ἽἹχκανῶς ἔχει μοι, χἂν ἤδη μεθύω ταῖς τοσαύταις ἀρχαῖς. ᾿Αλλά με παραχαλεῖ χἀχεῖθεν Ἐπίχουρος, μη" δαμῶς ὑδρίσαι τὸ χαλὸν αὐτοῦ δόγμα, τῶν ἀτόμων καὶ τοῦ χενοῦ" τῇ γὰρ τούτων συμπλοχῇ πολυτρότῳ καὶ πολυσχηματίστῳ τὰ πάντα γίνεται καὶ φθεί- Ἴ. Οὐχ ἀντιλέγω σοι, βέλτιστε ἀνδρῶν Ἐπίχουρε᾽ ἀλλ᾽ ὁ Κλεάνθης, ἀπὸ τοῦ φρέατος ἑπάρας τὴν χεφαλὴν, καταγελᾷ σου τοῦ δόγματος, καὶ αὐτὸς ἀνειμῶ τὰς ἀληθεῖς ἀρχὰς, Θεὸν καὶ ὕλην" καὶ τὴν μὲν γῆν μεταδαλεῖν εἰς ὕδωρ, τὸ δὲ ὕδωρ εἰς ἀέρα, τὸν δὲ ἀέρα φέρεσθαι, τὸ δὲ πῦρ εἰς τὰ περίγεια χωρεῖν, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν δι᾽ ὅλου τοῦ χόσμου διήχειν, ἧς μέρος μετέχοντας ἡμᾶς ἐμψυχοῦσθαι. Τούτων τοίνυν τοσούτων ὄντων, ἄλλο μοι πλῆθος ἀπὸ Λιθύης τούτων ὁμιληταὶ, πάντα τὰ τῶν ἄλλων δόγματα χαπαπατοῦντες, αὐτοὶ δὲ ἀποφαινόμενοι διαῤῥήδην ἀχατάληπτα εἶναι τὰ πάντα, καὶ ἀεὶ τῇ ἀληθεί φαντασίαν ἀεὶ " παραχεῖσθαι ψευδῆ. Τί τοίνυν πάθω τοσοῦ: τῳ χρόνῳ ταλαιπωρήσας;; πῶς δέ μου τῆς γνώμης ἐχχέω τὰ τοσαῦέία δόγματα; Εἰ γὰρ μηδὲν εἴη καταληπτὸν, ἀλήθεια μὲν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων οἴχεται, ἡ ὃ τ ὅπων ἐπιστήμην ἔχει.

### English translation (Claude)

But what is to become of me? For older men than these cut the sinews of my soul: Pherecydes, saying that the principles are Zen and Chthonie and Cronos: Zen the ether, Chthonie the earth, Cronos time; the ether the active, the earth the passive, time that in which things come to be. The old men, then, are jealous of one another. For Leucippus, thinking all these things nonsense, says that the principles are infinite, unmoved and smallest bodies; and that the fine-particled went upward … and settled, water and earth. How long shall I be taught so many things and learn nothing true? Unless indeed Democritus will free me from error, declaring the principles to be being and non-being; being is the full and non-being the empty; and the full in the empty makes all things by turning or shape. Perhaps I would [be persuaded] by the good Democritus, and would like to laugh with him, if Heraclitus did not win me over, weeping and saying: “The principle of all things is fire; and it has two affections, rarity and density, the one active, the other passive; the one combining, the other separating.” I have enough already, and I am drunk with so many principles. But from that side Epicurus exhorts me by no means to insult his fine doctrine of the atoms and the void; for by their manifold and many-shaped interweaving all things come to be and perish. [7] I do not contradict you, Epicurus, best of men; but Cleanthes, raising his head from the well, laughs at your doctrine, and draws up himself the true principles, God and matter: that earth changes into water, water into air, air is borne upward, and fire goes to the regions about the earth; and that the soul pervades the whole world, and by sharing a part of it we are ensouled. These being so many, another crowd comes upon me from Libya … their followers, trampling on all the doctrines of others, and themselves declaring outright that all things are incomprehensible, and that a false impression always lies beside the true. What, then, is to become of me, after toiling so long? How shall I pour so many doctrines out of my mind? For if nothing is comprehensible, truth departs from men, and …

### Extrabiblical texts

- Pherecydes of Syros, Pherecydes (Pherecydes of Syros (fragments)): allusion, high confidence
- Epicurus (Epicurus (sayings and fragments)): allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- This ref holds chapters 6 and 7 ([7]). Migne's notes are removed in chapter 6, where the account of Leucippus loses some words (“…”); the names of the Libyan sceptics (Carneades and Clitomachus) are lost in chapter 7, and the last sentence is garbled.

### Citation (SBL)

Hermias, Irris. 6 (PG 6:117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hermias-irrisio/1/#p-6).

## Irrision of the Gentile Philosophers 8

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hermias-irrisio/1/#p-8
- Source: PG 6:117
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Hermias mocks the Pythagorean geometry of the elements.

### Greek text

Ἄλλοι τοίνυν ἀπὸ τῆς παλαιᾶς φυλῆς, Πυθαγόρᾶς καὶ οἱ τούτου συμφυλέται, σεμνοὶ καὶ σιωπηλοὶ, παραδιδόασιν ἄλλα μοι δόγματα, ὥσπερ μυστήρια, καὶ τοῦτο δὴ τὸ μέγα καὶ ἀπόῤῥητον τὸ ΕΦΗ ᾿Αρχὴ τῶν πάντων ἣἡ μονάς" ἐχ δὲ τῶν σχημάτων αὑτῆς καὶ ἐχ τῶν ἀριθμῶν τὰ στοιχεῖα γίνετῶι, Καὶ τούτων ἑχάστου τὸν ἀριθμὸν, καὶ τὸ σχῆμα, καὶ τὸ μέτρον οὕτω πὼς ἀποφαίνεται" Τὸ μὲν πῦρ ὑπὸ τεσσάρων καὶ εἴχοσι τριγώνων ὀρθογωνίων συμ- Ἔχαστον ἰσόπλευρον σύγχειται ἐχ τριγώνων ἕξ ὅθεν δὴ καὶ πυραμίδι προσειχάζουσιν αὐτό. Ὁ δὲ ἀὴρ ὑπὸ τεσσαράκοντα ὀχτὼ τριγώνων συμπληροῦ-  … ταέδρῳ, ὃ περιέχεται ὑπὸ ὀχτὼ τριγώνων ἰδοπλεύῥων, ὧν ἔχαστον εἰς ἐξ ὀρθογώνια διαιρεῖται, ὥστε γίνεσθαι τεσσαράχοντα ὀχτὼ τὰ πάντα. Τὸ δὲ ἴδωρ, ὑπὸ ἑκατὸν εἴχοσι περιεχόμενον" εἰχάζετῶι δὲ εἰχοσαέδρῳ, ὃ δὴ συνέστηχεν ἐξ ἴσων καὶ ἰσοπλεύρων τριγώνων εἴχοσι " ς΄ δὲ χρη!.... Ὁ δὲ αἰθὴρ ὅμοιός ἔστε δωδεχαέδρῳ. Ἡ γῆ συμπληροῦται ἐχ τριγώνων μὲν η’ καὶ μ΄’, περιέχεται δὲ καὶ τετραγώνας ἰσοπλεύροις ἕξ’ ἔστι δὲ ὁμοία χύδῳ. Ὁ γὰρ χύθυ; ὑπὸ ς’ τετραγώνων περιέχεται, ὧν ἕχαστον εἰς ὃ τρίγωνα" ὥστε γίνεται τὰ πάντα χδ΄. 

### English translation (Claude)

Others from the ancient tribe, Pythagoras and his fellow tribesmen, solemn and silent, hand on to me other doctrines, like mysteries, and this great and unspeakable “He said”: “The principle of all things is the monad; and from its figures and from the numbers the elements come to be.” And of each of these he declares the number, the figure and the measure thus: fire is made up of twenty-four right-angled triangles … each equilateral consisting of six triangles; whence they liken it to a pyramid. Air is made up of forty-eight triangles … [likened to an oc]tahedron, which is enclosed by eight equilateral triangles, each of which is divided into six right-angled ones, so that there are forty-eight in all. Water is enclosed by a hundred and twenty; it is likened to an icosahedron, which consists of twenty equal and equilateral triangles … The ether is like a dodecahedron. The earth is made up of forty-eight triangles and is enclosed by six equilateral squares; it is like a cube. For the cube is enclosed by six squares, each of which [is divided] into four triangles, so that there are twenty-four in all.

### Translation notes

- Chapter 8. Migne's notes are removed at two points and at the end; words lost there are marked “…”. The figures for the earth (forty-eight, then twenty-four triangles) are inconsistent in the text as printed; Migne's note (in ref 9) gives a corrected version.

### Citation (SBL)

Hermias, Irris. 8 (PG 6:117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hermias-irrisio/1/#p-8).

## Irrision of the Gentile Philosophers 9

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hermias-irrisio/1/#p-9
- Source: PG 6:117
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Hermias imagines himself measuring the ether, the sea and the earth with Pythagoras's cubit.

### Greek text

Τὸν μὲν δὴ χόσμον ὁ Πυθαγόρας μετρεῖ. Κὶ 9. Ἐγὼ δὲ, πάλιν ἔνθεος γενόμενος, τῆς μὲν οἰχίας καὶ τατρίδος, καὶ τῆς γυναιχὸς, καὶ τῶν παιδίων χαταφρονῶ, καὶ τούτων οὐχέτι μοι μέλει" εἰς δὲ τὸν αἰθέρα αὐτὸν αὐτὸς ἀνέρχομαι, καὶ τὸν πῆχυν παρὰ Πυθα- Τύρου λαθὼν, μετρεῖν ἄρχομαι τὸ πῦρ. Οὐ γὰρ ἀπόχρὴ μετρῶν ὁ Ζεύς" ἀλλ᾽ εἰ μὴ καὶ τὸ μέγα ζῶον, τὸ μέγα σῶμα, ἡ μεγάλη ψυχὴ, αὐτὸς εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀνέθοιμι, καὶ μετρήσαιμι τὸν αἰθέρα, οἴχεται ἡ τοῦ Δὴς ἀρχῇ. Ἐπειδὰν δὲ μετρήσω, καὶ ὁ Ζεὺς τιρ ἐμοῦ μάθῃ, πόσας γωνίας ἔχει τὸ πῦρ' πάλιν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ καταδαίνω, καὶ φαγὼν ἐλαίας καὶ σῦχα χα λάχανα, τὴν ταχίστην ἐπὶ τὸ ὕδωρ στέλλομαι, καὶ χατὰ πῆχυν καὶ δάχτυλον καὶ ἡμιδάχτυλον μετρῶ τὴν ὑγρὰν οὐσίαν, καὶ τὸ βάθος αὐτῆς ἀναμετρῶ, ἵνα καὶ τὸν Ποσειδῶνα διδάξω πόσης ἄρχει θαλάσσης. Τὴν μὲν γῆν ἅπασαν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ παρέρχομει, συλλέγων αὐτῆς τὸν ἀριθμὸν καὶ τὸ μέτρον, καὶ τὰ σχήματα. Πέπεισμαι γὰρ, ὅτι τοῦ χόσμου πάντα ([ οὐδὲ σπιθαμὴν παρήσω, τοιοῦτος καὶ τηλιχοῦτος ὧν. Οἵδα δὲ ἐγὼ καὶ τῶν ἀστέρων τὸν ἀριθμὸν, καὶ τῶν ἰχθύων, καὶ τῶν θηρίων, καὶ ζυγῷ τὸν χόσμον ἱστὰς, εὐκόλως τὸν σταθμὸν αὐτοῦ δύναμαι μαθεῖν. ᾿Αμοὶ ὑὲν δὴ ταῦτα μέχρι νῦν ἐσπούδαχεν ἡ ψυχή μον, τῶν ὅλων ἄρχειν.

### English translation (Claude)

Pythagoras, then, measures the world. But I, inspired once more, despise my house and country, my wife and children, and no longer care for them; but I go up myself into the ether, and taking the cubit from Pythagoras I begin to measure the fire. For Zeus's measuring is not enough; but unless I too, the great animal, the great body, the great soul, go up to heaven and measure the ether, the rule of Zeus is gone. And when I have measured, and Zeus has learned from me how many angles fire has, I come down again from heaven, and having eaten olives and figs and vegetables, I set off with all speed to the water, and by cubit and finger and half-finger I measure the moist substance and its depth, that I may teach Poseidon too how great a sea he rules. The whole earth I traverse in one day, collecting its number and measure and figures. For I am persuaded that of the world … I will not pass over even a span, being so great and so mighty. I know also the number of the stars and of the fishes and of the beasts, and setting the world on a balance I can easily learn its weight. Hitherto my soul has been bent on these things, to rule the universe.

### Translation notes

- Chapter 9. Migne's notes (with a corrected version of the Pythagorean figures) are removed. A word is lost after “of the world”.

### Citation (SBL)

Hermias, Irris. 9 (PG 6:117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hermias-irrisio/1/#p-9).

## Irrision of the Gentile Philosophers 10

- URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hermias-irrisio/1/#p-10
- Source: PG 6:117
- Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27

Summary: Epicurus's infinite worlds drive Hermias into endless measuring; he concludes that the philosophers' inquiry is endless and useless.

### Greek text

Προσχύψας δέ μοί φησιν Ἐπίχουρος" Σὺ μὲν δὴ κόσμον ἕνα μεμέτρηχας, ὦ φιλότης" εἰσὶ δὲ χόσμοι πολλοὶ καὶ ἄπειροι. Πάλιν οὖν ἀναγχάζομαι εἰπεῖν οὐρανοὺς πολλοὺς, αἰθέρας ἄλλους, καὶ τούτους πολλούς. "Αγε δὴ μηχέτι μέλλων, ἐπισιτιασάμενος ὀλίγων ἡμερῶν εἰς τοὺς Ἐπιχουρείους  … Ὠχεανὸν εὐχόλως ὑπερίπταμαι. Εἰσελθὼν δὲ εἰς χόσμον καινὸν, καὶ ὥσπερ εἰς ἄλλην πόλιν, μετρῶ τὰ πάντα ὀλίγαις ἡμέραις. Κἀχεῖθεν ὑπερδαένω πάλιν εἰς κόσμον" εἶτα εἰς τέταρτον, καὶ πέμπτον, καὶ δέχατον, καὶ ἑχατοστὸν, καὶ χιλιοστὸν, καὶ μέχρι ποῦ; Ἤδη γάρ μοι σκότος ἀγνοίας ἅπαντα, καὶ ἀπάτη μέλαινα, καὶ ἄπειρος πλάνη, καὶ ἀτελὴς φαντασία, καὶ ἀκατάληπτος ἄγνοια" πλὴν εἰ μέλλων χατὰ τὰς ἀτόμους αὐτὰς ἀριθμεῖν, ἐξ ὧν οἱ τοσοῦτοι χόσμοι γεγόνασιν, ἵνα μηδὲν ἀνεξέταστον παραλείπω" μάλιστα τῶν οὕτω ἀναγκαίων καὶ ὠφελίμων ἐξ ὧν οἶχος καὶ πόλις εὐδαιμονεῖ. Ταῦτα μὲν τοίνυν διεξῆλθον, βουλόμενος δεῖξαι τὴν ἐν τοῖς δόγμασιν οὖσαν αὑτῶν ἐναντιότητα, καὶ ὡς εἰς ἄπειρον αὐτοῖς καὶ ἀόριστον πρόεισιν ἡ ζήτησις τῶν πραγμάτων, καὶ τὸ τέλος αὐτῶν ἀτέχμαρτον, καὶ ἄχρηστον, ἔργῳ μῆ" δενὶ προδήλῳ καὶ λόγῳ σαφεῖ βεδαιούμενον. 

### English translation (Claude)

But Epicurus, peeping in, says to me: “You have measured one world, my friend; but there are many worlds, infinite in number.” Again, then, I am compelled to speak of many heavens, other ethers, and many of them. Come then, delaying no longer, having taken provisions for a few days, [I set off] to the Epicurean … I easily fly over Ocean. And entering a new world, as into another city, I measure everything in a few days. And from there I pass over again into a [third] world; then into a fourth, and a fifth, and a tenth, and a hundredth, and a thousandth; and how far? For already everything is to me darkness of ignorance, black deceit, endless wandering, imperfect fancy and incomprehensible ignorance; unless I am to count the very atoms from which so many worlds have come to be, so as to leave nothing unexamined, especially of things so necessary and useful, by which house and city prosper. I have gone through these things, then, wishing to show the contradiction in their doctrines, and how their inquiry into things proceeds without end or limit, and their goal is unascertainable and useless, confirmed by no evident deed and no clear reasoning.

### Extrabiblical texts

- Epicurus (Epicurus (sayings and fragments)): allusion, high confidence

### Translation notes

- Chapter 10, the end of the work. Migne's notes are removed in the middle and at the end.

### Citation (SBL)

Hermias, Irris. 10 (PG 6:117; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hermias-irrisio/1/#p-10).