Sophia Scriptura

Refutation of All Heresies 9.25.3

Hippolytus of Rome · Refutation of All Heresies · ca. 222–235 · Rome · Read in context

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: They bury their excrement with a small trowel in secluded places and then wash.

Greek text · Duncker–Schneidewin, 482

Ταῖς δὲ ἄλλαις ἡμέραις ἐπὰν ἀποπατίσαι θέλοιεν, βόθρον ὀρύξαντες ποδιαῖον τῇ σκαλίδι (τοιοῦτον γάρ ἐστι τὸ ἀξινάριον, ὃ τοῖς προσιοῦσι μαθητεύεσθαι πρώτως διδόασι), καὶ περικαλύψαντες τὸ ἱμάτιον ἱζάνουσι, φάσκοντες μὴ δεῖν ὑβρίζειν τὰς αὐγάς, ἔπειτα τὴν ἀνασκαφεῖσαν γῆν ἐπεμβάλλουσιν εἰς τὸν βόθρον, καὶ τοῦτο ποιοῦσιν ἐκλε[γό]μενοι [τοὺς] ἐρημοτέρους τόπους. Ἐπὰν δὲ τοῦτ[ο ποιήσωσ]ιν, εὐθὺς ἀπολούονται ὡς μιαινούσης τῆς ἐκκρίσεως.

English · Claude translation

On other days, when they wish to relieve themselves, they dig a pit a foot deep with the trowel (for such is the small hatchet they give first to those who come to be disciples), and covering themselves with their cloak they squat, saying that one must not insult the rays of the sun; then they throw the dug-up earth back into the pit. And they do this choosing the more deserted places. And when they have done this, they wash at once, as though the excretion defiled.

About this passage

Source
Duncker–Schneidewin, 482 · 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.
Scripture
Extrabiblical texts
  • Josephus, B.J. 2.148–149 (Josephus (works)) · allusion, high confidence

Notes

Translation notes

  • Compare Josephus, Jewish War 2.148–149, and Deut 23:12–14. Bracketed letters are editorial restorations.

Cite this passage

Hippolytus, Haer. 9.25.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/25/3/).

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Plain text
Hippolytus, Haer. 9.25.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/hippolytus-refutatio/9/25/3/).

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