Section 1

UNDER the first two headings readers have been made acquainted with all those pieces from the Mandæan John-Book that can be held to have in any sense a historic intention. To these are now added a few extracts of such specimens of the rest of the contents as do not require a commentary. We will begin with 'The Fisher of Souls' tractate from the John-Book. It seems to me to throw great light on the symbolic phrase of the gospels, indeed to give it a background, and not to be explained in reverse order as the Mandæan expansion of an isolated Christian expression. THE FISHER OF SOULS SAGA (§§ 36-39) 1 . In the Name of Great Life may hallowed Light be glorified. A FISHER am I, a Fisher who elect is among fishers. A Fisher am I who among the fishers is chosen, the Head of all catchers of fish. I know the shallows of the waters, the inner . . . and the . . . I fathom; I come to the net-grounds, to the shallows and all fishing-spots, and search the marsh in the dark all over. My boat is not cut off [from the others] and I shall not be stopped in the night. I see the fish 2 in (? on) the dike. I pressed forward on the way with a . . . that was not of iron. I covered (?) the . . . which was for us an obstruction. Aside did I push the swimmers p. 72 who hinder Life's way. On my head I set up a . . . in whose shadow the fish sit. The fisher-trident which I have in my hand, is instead a margnā select, a staff of pure water, at whose sight tremble the fishers. I sit in a boat of glory and come into this world (Tibil) of the fleeting. I come to the water's surface; thither to the surface of the water I drew, and I drew to the crossing's surface. I come in a . . . , in slow, steady course. The water by my boat is not ruffled, and no sound of my boat is heard. Before me stands Hibil (Abel), at my side Shitil (Seth) of sweet name is to be seen, close by me, close in front of me, Anōsh (Enoch) sits and proclaims. They say: "O Father, Good Fisher, hallo! O Fisher of loveable name!" Close by me, close near my boat, I hear the uproar (?) of the fishers, the fishers who eat fish, 1 and their stench rushes on me,—the uproar of the fishers and the uproar of their mongers who revile and curse one another. Everyone accuses the other. The buyer says to the fisher: "[Take back?] thy fish! They are stinking already, and no one wants to buy them off of me. Thou makest the catch far out at sea, 2 so that loss falls on the buyer."