On the Origin of the World 19

1Then it was reported to the authorities that the form they had shaped was alive and had stood up, and they were deeply disturbed. They sent seven archangels to learn what had happened.

2They approached Adam. When they saw Eve speaking with him, they said to one another, “What kind of being is this radiant woman? She is like that likeness which appeared to us within the light. Come, let us seize her and cast our seed into her, so that when she is defiled, she will be unable to ascend into her light. Instead, those to whom she gives birth will be under our command. But let us not tell Adam, because he is not one of us. Instead, let us put him into a deep sleep, and while he sleeps, let us teach him that she came from his rib, so that his wife will obey him and he will be lord over her.”

3Because she was a force, Eve laughed at their decision. She made a mist enter their eyes and secretly left her likeness with Adam.

4She entered the tree of knowledge and remained there. They chased after her, and she revealed to them that she had entered the tree and had become a tree. Then the blind beings fell into great fear and fled.

5After they had shaken off their stupor, they approached Adam. When they saw the likeness of this woman [] with him, they were deeply troubled, believing that she was the actual Eve, and they acted impulsively. They approached her, seized her, and cast their seed upon her.

6They did this in wickedness, defiling her by natural and obscene means. First they defiled the seal of her voice, which had spoken with them, saying, “What existed before you?” In this way, they meant to defile, at the consummation (of the age), those who might declare through verbal expression that they were born of the true man. They went astray, unaware that they had defiled their own body, since it was the likeness that the authorities and their angels defiled by every means.