[285] Irenæus has φαεινῆς, “radiant,” and the text κενῆς, “empty”; Irenæus’ Latin version “non apparentes” or invisible. Probably μεγάλης was the original word.
[286] κατὰ κάθετον. Macmahon thinks this refers to the position of the sun, which is unnecessary.
[287] Irenæus omits the words “of the Ogdoad.”
[288] κατάλυσιν λαβεῖν, “receive dissolution.”
[289] καινότερα. The text has κενώτερα, “more inane.”
[290] περιεργίας, “bye-work.”
[291] Κολάρβασος. The name which is repeated by Tertullian, Philaster and Theodoret can be traced back to the single passage in Irenæus, where it appears in connection with the name Σιγή as “the Sige of Colarbasus.” A German commentator long since suggested that it was not the name of a brother heretic or follower of Marcus, but a corruption of the words קל־ארבע Qol-Arba, or the “Voice of the Four,” and this seems now generally accepted. As most if not all of Marcus’ pretended revelations are said to have been dictated to him by an apparition of the Supreme Tetrad, he may well have called the book in which they were written and which seems to have been known to Irenæus, by some such name.
[292] It seems needless to point out that the whole of these chapters dealing with the real or supposed successors of Valentinus is taken direct from Irenæus, and that they have no relation to any other author.
p. 333.