MANICHAEAN LITERATURE 599
THE KEPHALAIA
Kephalaion 26
1
Mani speaks:
The primal man is a great distinguished figure
whose treasure has been stolen
and who tries to recover it.
So he descends from the skies to find his sons,^3
to liberate them and regain his treasure
which is scattered among his enemies.^4
Again he is someone whose two sons are kidnapped.^5
He comes to liberate them.
So the primal man glows in the skies
for his sons who are lost to him.
They are his soul of life, each one in two powers, making four of them.
Again the ship of the day^6 is a powerful spear.
Inside the ship the great spirit is a wise artisan
who adorns and lines up all the weapons for combat.^7
Again the living spirit is a warrior
who comes to a prince made prisoner of war
and liberates him from the hands of his enemies.^8
The messenger^9 too is someone rare
because of the treasure ... hand
of his prisoners ... these light powers,- Kephalaia 26 and 38: translated by Iain Gardner, The Kephalaia of the Teacher: The Edited
Coptic Manichaean Texts in Translation with Commentary (Leiden 8c New York: E. J. Brill, 1995),
PP- 77-78> 93-105; revised in verse by Willis Barnstone. Reprinted by permission of Brill Acade-
mic Publishers. - The sons are light trapped in darkness.
- The forces of darkness.
- Light trapped in darkness, again.
- The sun.
- Arrangements are made for the cosmic struggle between light and darkness.
- The living spirit liberates the primal man.
- The third messenger.