Proof that Against Heresies was Originally Written in Latin

[Secret Alias]

Thus the Ogdoad generates, by these means, ninety-nine. And since the twelfth AEon, by her defection, left eleven in the heights above, they maintain

that therefore the position of the letters is a true coordinate of the method of their calculation for Lambda is the eleventh in order among the letters, and represents the number thirty, and also forms a representation of the arrangement of affairs above, since, on from Alpha, omitting Episemon, the number of the letters up to Lambda, when added together according to the successive value of the letters, and including Lambda itself, forms the sum of ninety-nine; but that this Lambda, being the eleventh in order, descended to seek after one equal to itself, so as to complete the number of twelve letters, and when it found such a one, the number was completed, is manifest from the very configuration of the letter; for Lambda being engaged, as it were, in the quest of one similar to itself, and finding such an one, and clasping it to itself, thus filled up the place of the twelfth, the letter Mu (M) being composed of two Lambdas. Wherefore also they, by means of their "knowledge," avoid the place of ninety-nine, that is, the defection--a type of the left hand,--but endeavour to secure one more, which, when added to the ninety and nine, has the effect of changing their reckoning to the right hand.

But the Greek Mu doesn't look like two lambdas. Only the Roman letter M has that quality.

[Secret Alias]

The solution would be to assume the author was referring to the archaic letter San https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_(letter) which does have an 'M' shape

[Secret Alias]

If the M shaped letter the Marcosians referred to here was 'san' then it explains the story a little better. San was the 900 https://books.google.com/books?id=wD-UR ... EQ6AEIKTAA

[Secret Alias]

Actually I think I found the exact same idea in Pico the 900 Theses - a book which has the distinction of being the first book ever banned by the Papacy. Under the footnote for the statement:

Every square number symbolizes the soul http://www.simardartizanfarm.ca/pdf/1581.pdf

The translator writes "literally 'every plane equilateral number' cf above pp 32, 40 where we find that the square number 900 (30 x 30) symbohzed "the excited soul turning back mto itself through the fi-enzy of the muses"—which explains why Pico included exactly 900 theses in his text.

In other words two lambdas = (30 x 30) = san (M) = 900. This is a Marcosian doctrine which Irenaeus originally reported but was garbled in translation to accommodate the Roman letter M. In fact it was clearly about san = 900. In other words, the Marcosians took an interest in the letter san and the number 900. This is a very big discovery!

The text of the nine hundred theses was printed by Eucharius Silber in Rome on 7 December 1486, following several intense months of composition. The projected length of the debate is uncertain, but we know that Pico planned to spend the full winter of 1486—1487 in Rome and that he transferred most of his large household and library there for the project. According to a papal complaint, Pico had the theses posted in various public places in the holy city and had them pubUshed "in other parts of the world."

[Ben C. Smith]

But the Greek Mu doesn't look like two lambdas. Only the Roman letter M has that quality.

Does that not depend on the manuscript or inscription?

Straight M, Latin:



Straight M, Greek:



Sloped M, Latin:



Sloped M, Greek:

[Secret Alias]

True. I've abandoned that first thought. I now think that Pico provides me with the essential clue I was looking for. Now it is just a matter of determining his source - and I believe a common source for the Marcosians:

^ In any event, numerological symboHsm shows up pervasively in the theses, much of it hinting at deeper mystical and eschatological goals underlying Pico's project. The structure of the two main parts of the nine hundred theses was apparently planned around the two types of "perfect numbers" most commonly acknowledged in the West—numbers Like six and twenty-eight composed of the sum of all their factors,^^ and the Pythagorean decad, which was "perfect" and "every number," as the Apology tells us, since beyond it we count "by repetition. "^'^

.. The theses, he informed Benevieni, had recendy grown from seven to nine hundred and had threatened to reach a thousand. But it was proper to halt at the "mystical" number nine hundred, Pico wrote, "for if my doctrine of numbers is correct, this is the symbol of the excited soul turning back into itself through the frenzy of the muses.
"^"

30 (Λ) x 30 (Λ) = 900 (M)

This is what Pico developed his thesis around. It is surely what the Marcosians framed their doctrine (corruptly referenced in Irenaeus).

[Ben C. Smith]

True. I've abandoned that first thought.

You are not always easy to keep up with.

[Secret Alias]

I know. My mind gives up on things rather quickly. I always tell my son I must have found an amazing woman that I always stuck with her.

[Secret Alias]

This:

30 (Λ) x 30 (Λ) = 900 (M)

Has to be what the Marcosians were on about:

for Lambda is the eleventh in order among the letters, and represents the number thirty, and also forms a representation of the arrangement of affairs above, since, on from Alpha, omitting Episemon, the number of the letters up to Lambda, when added together according to the successive value of the letters, and including Lambda itself, forms the sum of ninety-nine; but that this Lambda, being the eleventh in order, descended to seek after one equal to itself, so as to complete the number of twelve letters, and when it found such a one, the number was completed, is manifest from the very configuration of the letter; for Lambda being engaged, as it were, in the quest of one similar to itself, and finding such an one, and clasping it to itself, thus filled up the place of the twelfth, the letter Mu (M) being composed of two Lambdas

[Secret Alias]

If Jesus is the one Λ and he is looking for his partner Λ together they make the divine M or perhaps as it was symbolized by the heretics Καρποκράτης = 900. But clearly Pico couldn't have known the Marcosian doctrine and all the copies of Irenaeus are corrupt. He must have developed the Λ x Λ = M from a Greek mathematical/Platonic/Pythagorean source. But what is the source?