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1. I have shown that the number thirty fails them in every
respect; too few Æons, as they represent them, being at one time
found within the Pleroma, and then again too many [to correspond
with that number]. There are not, therefore, thirty Æons, nor
did the Saviour come to be baptized when He was thirty years
old, for this reason, that He might show forth the thirty
silent31213121    Harvey wishes, without any authority, to
substitute “tacitus” for “tacitos,” but there is no necessity
for alteration. Irenæus is here playing upon the word, according
to a practice in which he delights, and quietly scoffs at the
Sige (Silence) of the heretics by styling those Æons silent who
were derived from her. Æons of their system, otherwise they must
first of all separate and eject [the Saviour] Himself from the
Pleroma of all. Moreover, they affirm that He suffered in the
twelfth month, so that He continued to preach for one year after
His baptism; and the