Refutation of All Heresies 5.7.31

Authorship disputed: The work names no author. Book 1 was long printed among Origen's works as the Philosophumena; after books 4–10 were found in a manuscript from Mount Athos (published 1851), it was assigned to Hippolytus, the usual view today, though some scholars ascribe it to another Roman writer of the same circle. Books 2 and 3 are lost, and book 4 lacks its beginning.

Summary: Homer's description of Hermes' golden wand is quoted.

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Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 146

γὰρ τὸν δημιουργὸν καὶ πατέρα τοῦ ἰδικοῦ κόσμου καλοῦσιν· Ἔχε δὲ ῥάβδον μετὰ χερσὶ καλήν, χρυσείην, τῇ τʼ ἀνδρῶν ὄμματα θέλγει ὧν ἐθέλει, τοὺς δʼ αὖτε καὶ ὑπνώοντας ἐγείρει.

English · Claude translation

they call the fashioner and father of the particular world: "And he held in his hands a fair wand, golden, with which he charms the eyes of men, whomsoever he will, and wakes others again who are sleeping."

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 146 · Ludwig Duncker and F. G. Schneidewin, eds., S. Hippolyti episcopi et martyris Refutationis omnium haeresium librorum decem quae supersunt (Göttingen: Dieterich, 1859); section divisions from Paul Wendland, ed., Hippolytus Werke 3: Refutatio omnium haeresium, GCS 26 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1916) · Greek text: L. Duncker and F. G. Schneidewin, Refutationis omnium haeresium (Göttingen, 1859), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library; section divisions from P. Wendland (GCS 26, 1916), digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin); both CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Duncker–Schneidewin. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Duncker–Schneidewin; made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5 (1886) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made) · Its chapter numbers differ from the standard (Wendland) numbering used here.
Extrabiblical texts
  • Homer, Od. 24.2–4 (Homer, Odyssey) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

  • The verses are Homer, Odyssey 24.2–4.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 5.7.31 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/7/31/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 5.7.31 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/5/7/31/).

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