Editing Basilides (section)

== ''Acts of the Disputation with Manes'' ==
The writer of ''Acts'' held Basilides responsible for dualism, yet his language on this point is loose, as if he were not sure of his ground; and the quotation which he gives by no means bears him out. It is quite conceivable that his understanding of Basilides came from the dualistic Basilidians of his day, who have given a wrong interpretation to genuine words of their master.<ref>Cf. Uhlhorn, 52 f. {{Verify source|date=April 2011}}</ref> Indeed the description of evil as a ''[[supervenient]]'' nature ''without root'', reads almost as if it were directed against Persian doctrine, and may be fairly interpreted by Basilides's comparison of pain and fear to the rust of iron as natural accidents.{{citation needed|date=April 2011}}<!--for the whole paragraph-->

The identity of the Basilides of the Acts with the Alexandrian has been denied by [[Gieseler]] with some show of reason. It is at least strange that our Basilides should be described simply as a "preacher among the Persians," a character in which he is otherwise unknown; and all the more since he has been previously mentioned with Marcion and [[Valentinus (Gnostic)|Valentinus]] as a heretic of familiar name.<ref>{{harvnb|Hort|1911}} cites Routh, ''Rell. Sac.'' c. 38, p. 138.</ref> On the other hand, it has been justly urged that the two passages are addressed to different persons. The correspondence is likewise remarkable between the "treatises" in at least thirteen books, with an interpretation of a parable among their contents, and the "twenty-four books on the Gospel" mentioned by Agrippa Castor, called ''Exegetica'' by Clement. Thus the evidence for the identity of the two writers may on the whole be treated as preponderating. But the ambiguity of interpretation remains; and it would be impossible to rank Basilides confidently among dualists, even if the passage in the Acts stood alone: much more to use it as a standard by which to force a dualistic interpretation upon other clearer statements of his doctrine.{{sfn|Hort|1911}}