The Gnostics

When this work first appeared three-and-twenty years ago itbecame at once an object of unmerited abuse and of equallyunmerited praise. Small divines mistaking it for an insidiousattempt to overthrow opinions as by law established spurtedat it with pens dipped in the milk of the Gospel; whilst underthe very same hallucination Friends of Light lauded it tothe skies-either party equally ignorant both of the subject and of the purpose of my labours. One noted Zoihis (whoserecollections of Homer would seem to be of the same deeplymarkednature as Ensign Blifils) is disgusted at my citing Aidoneus as a title of the God of the Shades; another isastonished at my ignorance in calling Bardanes a Persian whereas he was a native of Pontus; not understanding that my argument was equally valid in spite of the mistake-Pontusbeing originally a province of the empire of Darius and whatis more to the purpose the actual focus whence Mithraicismdiffused itself over the Eoman world.