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SECT. III.

MANI's Predeceffors, and Works.

1. His Predeceffors.

1. SCYTHIAN. 2.

TEREBINTH. II. His Works.

T will be proper in the next place to give Seat. III. an account of Mani's works.

I. But it is requifite, that I beforehand take His Prenotice of two perfons, spoken of as Mani's deceffors. predeceffors, and (a) fometimes called his mafters, Scythian and Terebinth; both expressly named in the long paffage of Socrates, transcribed at the begining of this chapter.

1. It has been the prevailing opinion of Scythian learned men, that Scythian lived in the apo

ftolic age, or near it. Epiphanius (b) pla

(a) TÉS MÁVEvt Sidaoxánus. Vid. Anathem. ap. Coteler. Clem. Recogn. l. 4. c. 27. in.

Sect. III. ceth him near the time of the Apoftles, which

(c) Cave thinks may be understood with so great latitude, as to leave room to suppose, that Scythian lived to near the end of the second centurie.

In the Acts of Archelaus, Scythian is faid (d) to have lived in the time of the Apostles. But that seems not very consistent with what follows, where (e) it is faid, that Terebinth was a difciple of Scythian, and intimate with him. And Mani, who appeared not in the world till after the midle of the third centurie, is faid to have been the flave and adopted fon of the woman at whose house Terebinth dyed.

Indeed, there is reafon to believe, that Scythian was contemporarie with Mani, as (f) fome

(c) Tradit Epiphanius ipfum Hierofolyma profectum wegi τός χρόνος τῶν ἀποςόλων. [Η. 66. n. 3. p. 620. 4.] Quod laxiori quidem fenfu de faeculo aevum apoftolicum proxime fecuto intelligendum eft; adeo ut vergente ad exitum faeculo fecundo diem fatalem obiiffe cenferi poteft. Cav. H. 1. T. 1. p. 140. Oxon. 1740.

(d) Scythianus nomine apoftolorum tempore fuit fectae hujus auctor et princeps. Arch. n. 51. p. 95.

(e) Difcipulum habuit quendam nomine Terebinthum. Arch. n. 52. p. 96. quia ergo aliquantulum temporis Ille vero dife

fecum ifti ambo decreverunt foli habitare;
cipulus, qui cum eo fuerat converfatus, ib.

(f) fome learned men have perceived. For Sect. III. (g) in Photius is exprefs mention made of a *) letter of Mani to Scythian.

Archelaus in one place fays, that (b) Scythian was of the countrey of Scythia. But afterwards he says, he (i) was a Saracen or Arabian, which is alfo fayd by (k) Cyril and (1) Epiphanius. Photius too says, not very differently from (m) Archelaus, that Scythian (n) was defcended from the Saracens, but chose to live in Egypt, and particularly at Alexandria.

(f) Hunc Scythianum Manetis adhuc aetate vixiffe non dubito, licet aetate ac fenio eum praeceffit. Certe ex Manetis epiftola ad Scythianum fragmentum a me infra afferetur. Fabr. Bib. Gr. T. v. p. 280. Vid. et Beaufobre Hift. des Manich. T. i. p. 26. et 63.

(3) Καὶ μὴν καὶ ὁ μανιχαι ο πρὸς σκυθιανὸν ἐπιςέλλων — ap. Phot. in Eulogio cod. 230. p. 849.

(*) See a French tranflation of the fragment of that letter in B. T. i. p. 45.

(b)

n. 51. p. 95..

quidam ex Scythia, Scythianus nomine. Arch.

(i) Quique Scythianus ipfe ex genere Saracenorum fuit, et captivam quandam accepit uxorem de fuperiore Thebaide, quae eum fuafit habitare in Ægypto, magis quam in defertis. ib. n. 52. p. 96.

(k)

σαρακηνὸς τὸ γενός. Cat. 6. n. 22.

(1) — ἀπὸ τῆς σαρακηνίας ὁρμωμένο. Η. 66. n. 1. (m) See before note (i).

(κ) Σκυθιανός τις τὴν πατρίδα αιγύπτιον, τὸ δὲ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων γένα σαρακηνὸς τὴν ἀλεξανδρίαν εκει

Manich. 1. 1. c. 12. in.

Ph. contr

Se&t, III.

2. Terebinth, reckoned another predeceffor Terebinth of Mani, is fayd by (0) Epiphanius to have been a learned man, as well as Scythian. The common account of this man in (p) Archelaus, (q) Cyril, (r) Epiphanius, and others, is, that after the death of his master Scythian, he went into Perfia, or the countrey of Babylon: where he changed his name from Terebinth to Buddas, and gave out, that he was born of a virgin, and brought up by an angel in the mountains; and that at last he was thrown off the top of a house by (s) an angel, or fome other fpirit, where he had

vocari non

ex quar

(α) ἦν γὰρ καὶ τῷ ἐν γράμμασιν ἐπιμελέςατα πεπαιδευ μév. H. 66. n. 3. p. 620. D. (p) — et Babyloniam petiit, quae nunc provincia habetur a Perfis, quo cum veniffet, talem de fe famam pervulgavit ipfe Terebinthus, dicens fe jam Terebinthum, fed alium Buddam nomine, dam autem virgine natum fe efle, fimul et ab angelo in montibus enutritum. Tunc deinde mane primo afcendit folarium quoddam excelfum, ubi nomina quaedam coepit invocare, Hacc eo cogitante juftiffimus Deus fub terras eum detrudi per spiritum jubet, et continuo de fummo dejectus, exanime corpus deorfum praecipitatum eft, quod anus illa miferta collectum locis folitis fepeliit. Arch. c. 52. p. 97. (q). Cyr. Cat. vi. n. 23.

(r) Haer.66. n. 3.

($)

621. A.

ὑπὸ ἀγγέλη καταχθεὶς κατέπεσε. Εpiph. ib. 7.

had gone up very early one morning to form fome facred rites.

per

As for his changing his name, in all probability there was no bad defign in that; Buddas (t) being in the Babylonian language equivalent to Terebinth, which in Greek fignifyes a certain tree.

What is fayd of his pretending to have been born of a virgin, and educated in the mountains, must needs be a fiction: because, as (u) Beaufobre obferves, the Manicheans univerfally denyed the poffibility of fuch a birth, and always fuppofed, that (x) Mani himself was born in the ordinarie way.

As for the manner of his death, there is no reason to receive the account of it, as true, from thofe who have fuffered themfelves to be imposed upon in fo many particulars. But it is not improbable, that Terebinth often went to the upper part of the houfe

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(t) Qui in Perfiam concedens, ut melius celaretur, tranftulit nomen fuum in Buddam, (rectius Butm, feu Budm,) Terebinthum fignificans. Hyde, p. 280. Conf. Beauf. Hift. de Manich. T. i. p. 53. 54. 55.

(u) T. i. p. 56.

(x)

cur hominem fufceptum a Spiritu Sancto Manichaeum, non putatis turpe, natum ex utroque fexu praedicare? Aug. contr. Ep. Fund. c. 7. n. 8. Cum enim vos non timeatis vifcera et fanguinem Manichaei de humano concubitu venientem, id, ib, Vid, et, Alex, Lyc, p. 14. D.

Sect. III.