[201:3].

I turn again to Anastasius; and I read in him that 'the above-mentioned
interpreters' gave these explanations of paradise to counteract the
teaching of divers heretics, among whom he especially mentions the
Ophites who 'offered the greatest thanksgivings to the serpent, on the
ground that by his counsels, and by the transgression committed by the
woman, the whole race of mankind had been born' [202:1]. This notice
again confirms the view which I adopted, that it was the design of
Papias to supply an antidote to the false exegesis of the Gnostics. Thus
everything hangs together, and we seem to have restored a lost piece of
ancient exegesis. If this restoration is uncertain in its details, it
has at least materially strengthened my position, that the two sayings
of the elders respecting paradise, quoted by Irenaeus, must be
attributed to the same authority, Papias, whom Irenaeus cites by name in
the intermediate passage relating to the millennial kingdom. I must add
my belief also that very considerable parts of the fifth book of
Irenaeus, which consists mainly of exegesis, are borrowed from the
exegetical work of Papias. It is the unpardonable sin of Papias in the
eyes of Eusebius, that he has misled subsequent writers, more especially
Irenaeus, on these eschatological subjects. This is speaking testimony
to the debt of Irenaeus. Literary property was not an idea recognized by
early Christian writers. They were too much absorbed in their subject to
concern themselves with their obligations to others, or with the
obligations of others to them. Plagiarism was not a crime, where they
had all literary things in common. Hippolytus, in his chief work,
tacitly borrows whole paragraphs, and even chapters, almost word for
word, from Irenaeus. He mentions his name only twice, and does not
acknowledge his obligations more than once [202:2]. The liberties, which
Hippolytus takes with his master Irenaeus, might well have been taken by
Irenaeus himself with his predecessor Papias.

4. Eusebius tells us that Papias 'relates also another story concerning
a woman accused of many sins before the Lord,' and he adds that it is
'contained in the Gospel according to the Hebrews.'

The story in question is allowed to be the narrative of the woman taken
in adultery, which appears in the common texts of the Fourth Gospel,
vii. 53-viii. 11. In the oldest Greek MS which contains this pericope,
the _Codex Bezae_, the words 'taken in ad