Iudicabit autem et eos qui putativum inducunt. Quemadmodum enim ipsi vere se putant disputare, quando magister eorum putativus fuit? Aut quemadmodum firmum quid habere possunt ab eo, si putativus et non veritas erat? Quomodo autem ipsi salutem vere participare possunt, si ille, in quem credere se dicunt, semetipsum putativum ostendebat? Putativum est igitur, et non veritas, omne apud eos: et nunc iam quaeretur, ne forte cum et ipsi homines non sint sed muta animalia, hominum umbras apud plurimos proferant.
My translation
{“A presbyter and disciple of the apostles once said to me [sc. Irenaeus]… }
He [the spiritual disciple of 1 Corinthians 2:15] will also judge those who speak of an alleged Christ. How can such persons imagine themselves to be saying something, if they had only an alleged teacher? Or how could they take something from him really solid, if he hadn’t been true, but only alleged? And how can they have a true share in salvation, if He, in whom they say they believe, only allegedly revealed himself? But then everything about them is likewise a conjecture, and not the truth. And one might ask if they are not really human, but dumb beasts, who pass for shadows among the masses.”
Roberts & Donaldson
“He shall also judge those who describe Christ as [having become man] only in [human] opinion. For how can they imagine that they do themselves carry on a real discussion, when their Master was a mere imaginary being? Or how can they receive anything stedfast from Him, if He was a merely imagined being, and not a verity? And how can these men really be partaken of salvation, if He in whom they profess to believe, manifested Himself as a merely imaginary being? Everything, therefore, connected with these men is unreal, and nothing [possessed of the character of] truth; and, in these circumstances, it may be made a question whether (since, perchance, they themselves in like manner are not men, but mere dumb animals) they do not present, in most cases, simply a shadow of humanity.”
Keble:
And he shall judge those also who bring in an unreal Christ. For how think they to argue truly themselves, when their Master was unreal? Or how can they have from him any thing to be depended on, if He was imaginary, and not the Truth? And how can they themselves truly partake of salvation, if He in whom they say they believe, exhibited Himself in appearance only? With them, therefore, all is unreal, and not the Truth: and the question shall now be added, whether haply they are bearing about in the sight of the many shadows of men, being themselves not men, but dumb creatures?