Chapter XIV.—Simon Refuted.

“But if, as you say, it will be possible to know Him, because He is now revealed to all through Jesus,^13841384    The text is corrupt.  We have placed διὰ τὸ after εἰδέναι. are you not stating what is most unjust, when you say that these men did not know Him, who were the seven pillars of the world, and who were able to please the most just God, and that so many now from all nations who were impious know Him in every respect?  Were not those who were superior to every one not deemed worthy to know Him?^13851385    Another reading is:  “Were not those deemed better worthy than any one else to know Him?”  And how can that be good which is not just? unless you wish to give the name of ‘good,’ not to him who does good to those who act justly, but to him who loves the unjust, even though they do not believe, and reveals to them the secrets which he would not reveal to the just.  But such conduct is befitting neither in one who is good nor just, but in one who has come to hate the pious.  Are not you, Simon, the standing one, who have the boldness to make these statements which never have been so made before?”