26. This he says: There were three unbegotten principles of the universals,[297] two male and one female. And [Sidenote: p. 228.] of the male, one is called the Good One, he alone being thus called, and he has foreknowledge of the universals. And the second is the Father of all begotten things, not having foreknowledge and being (unknowable and)[298] invisible. But the female is without foreknowledge, passionate, two-minded, two-bodied, in all things resembling Herodotus’ myth, a virgin to the groin and a viper below, as says Justinus. And this maiden is called Edem and Israel. These, he says, are the principles of the universals, their roots and sources, by which all things came into being, beside which nothing was. Then the Father without foreknowledge, beholding the semi-virgin, who was Edem, came to desire of her. This Father, he says, is called Elohim.[299] Not less did Edem desire Elohim, and desire brought them together into one favour of love. And the Father from such congress begot on Edem twelve angels of his own. And the names of these angels of the Father are: Michael, Amen, Baruch, Gabriel, Esaddæus.[300]... And the names of the angels of the Mother which Edem created are likewise set down. These are: Babel, Achamoth, Naas, Bel, Belias, [Sidenote: p. 229.] Satan, Saêl, Adonaios, Kavithan, Pharaoh, Karkamenos, Lathen.[301] Of these twenty-four angels the paternal ones join with the Father and do everything in accordance with his will, but the maternal angels (side) with the Mother, Edem. And he says that Paradise is the multitude of these angels taken together; concerning which Moses says: “God planted a Paradise in Edem towards the East,”[302] that is, towards the face of Edem that Edem might ever behold Paradise, that is, the angels. And the angels of this Paradise are allegorically called trees,[303] and Baruch, the third angel of the Father, is the Tree of Life, and Naas, the third angel of the Mother is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.[304] For thus, he says, the (words) of Moses ought to be interpreted, saying: Moses declared them covertly, because all do not come to the truth.
But he says also when Paradise was produced from the mutual pleasure of Elohim and Edem, the angels of Elohim taking (dust) from the fairest earth, that is, not from the beast-like parts of Edem, but from the man-like and cultivated regions of the earth above the groin, create man. But from the beast-like parts, he says, the wild beasts and [Sidenote: p. 230.] other animals are produced. Now they made man as a symbol of their[305] unity and good-will and placed in him the powers of each, Edem (supplying) the soul and Elohim the spirit.[306] And there thus came into being a certain seal, as it were and actual memorial of love and an everlasting sign of the marriage of Elohim and Edem, (to wit) a man who is Adam. And in like manner also, Eve came into being as Moses has written, an image and a sign and a seal to be for ever preserved of Edem. And there was likewise placed in Eve the image, a soul from Edem but a spirit from Elohim. And commands were given to them, “Increase and multiply and replenish the earth,”[307] that is Edem, for so he would have it written. For the whole of her own power Edem brought to Elohim as it were some dowry in marriage. Whence, he says, in imitation of that first marriage, women unto this day bring freely to their husbands in obedience to a certain divine and ancestral law (a dowry) which is that of Edem to Elohim.